Ragnarok unofficial tactical guide

[Forward]

Disclaimer
This guide is meant to help new players how to behave on public Ragnarok servers, what to do and what not to do, and how to contruibute to the team in a best way. While this guide contains it's 'do' and 'do not' - it is not NI rules and not pretends to be. Just some advices from fellow veteran player.

0. Support
When you come to play Ragnarok other players expect you to have support items. Please buy Heavy Barricade (prices vary from 150-300k) before saving 750k for a hero class. You will sell it for same money later.

1. Class choice
Current NI meta is heavily ranged-oriented. Generally you have 3 options: shoot from a bow, shoot from a crossbow, throw something.

A. Shoot from a bow (Warden)
If you choose a bow, it's always Warden. It's best suited to conveniently kill distant targets and still have very high DPS on cades. In addition there are cheap Warden-locked items, Warden's Bow and Warden's Arrows early, Huntress and Dark Piercing Arrows later.
Other archer classes are inferior in terms of DPS. Your only job as an archer is dealing damage, so say other classes no.

B. Shoot from crossbow (Repeaterman, Pavise [Champion], Chosen Marksman (CM))
If you prefer a crossbow you have little more options to choose. Repeaterman is a best short-to-mid-range DPS and usually is on top of the leaderboard. Pavise is a flexible class which is always useful. CM by my opinion is only worth making when you've got a Dead Shot, but still not bad class without one. Aventurier is whatever, in theory the class is made for kiting, but in reality Repeaterman is much better at kiting.

C. Throw something (MP, Legio[nnaire], Mara[deur], Halb[erdier], Hoplite)
Best suitable for kiting. Great mobility and good DPS. MP is fastest, Legio is toughest, and other three trade some DPS off for slashing ability, which is off-meta, but classes are still playable. Craftable Throwing Spears are early-game choice, then Angon or Severance.

D. Infantry classes not to make (Royal Guard (RG), Jugg[ernaut], Zwei[handler])
Only RG might be used in a serious play, and it's never first character to make.

2. Leveling
It's strongly adviseable to level up infantry characters (RG/Legio) via Pikeman, then respec on level 52. This way you will contribute to the team while leveling, instead of being just training dummy. Why pikeman? Because gear-wise it's cheapest. And if you've got a Severance you can use it from levels 39-52 on Pikeman, and then on Legionnaire.
Respec costs like 100k and you can easily get these money back just for getting extra kills (albeit with faster leveling).

3. Building
When you're on server with experienced players, please don't build main cades. You can use Normal barricades and deployable shields to protect your position from enemy fire, however, if these cades are not used by anyone.

4. Positioning
Playing on some maps requires whole team being on one side of the map. Maps like King of the Hill, Nordic Village, Offshore and others. Be with your team, do not split bots and not pull them around cades.
If you're an archer your position is in the back. On above. Do not come in front of the cades to meet waves. It's MP/Legio bread and butter not yours. Space and peeking spots are limited, do your job and let them do theirs.
Do not double peek.
If someone is occupied the peeking spot from first wave don't steal it after respawn.

5. Prioritizing targets
If there are bots at cades they are priority. Protecting cades is most important.
On wave 9 stand with your team, do not peek anything. Let experienced players do the job. Have autoblock on. If Loki is on you just block him. Away from cades. Don't panic; just spam block, the team will do the rest.
On wave 12 if Thor is melee at cades he should be focused ASAP. Or lured from cades away with fast character (MP), while others clear the rest.

6. Saving, toming, barreling, DFCing
Do not kill the last bot, when someone asked to 'save' or 'save last'. Do not use tomes mid-wave. If team is low on tomes, don't use tomes at all except asked. Let more experienced players to use barrels and only use them when all veteran players are dead and it's only way to prevent team wipe. When asked to DFC drop your gear (to be able to pick it fast later), quickly switch to spectator slot and back. If you're not DFCing it's your job to use a tome as soon as possible.

7. Useful abbreviations
'h' - heal
't' - tome
'b' - barrel
'r' - ready
'dfc' - die for cades

8. Useful commands
/stats - displays stats of item in a main hand
/dmg - enables damage output
/nextmap - shows next map
/help - shows commands list

9. Default NI-specific keys
6 - healing
7 - building
i - shows cades HP
m - shows minimap
n - changes minimap zoom


Be polite and respect others, and they will be polite and respect you.

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There are many new players in the mod, all guides are heavily outdated so I decided to write my own. You can propose fixes and additions here.

[Tyler James]

thx for the time and effort put into this useful guide.

some of my own experience that i think relates to this guide is that as far as public rag runs chosen marksman is normally leading the team in kills, instead of repeaterman, as there's a lot of peeking/sniping involved in the process and chosen marksman outperforms other heroes in terms of damage, accuracy and consistency combined. But there's no denying repeaterman is far more efficient on event-specific maps where cades are nicely prepared with everyone much closer to the frontline.

Additionally, crossbow heroes in general are less affected by ping/latency in that u can get 100+ kills in ragnarok easily with ur ping well above 250.

[Forward]

thx for the time and effort put into this useful guide.

some of my own experience that i think relates to this guide is that as far as public rag runs chosen marksman is normally leading the team in kills, instead of repeaterman, as there's a lot of peeking/sniping involved in the process and chosen marksman outperforms other heroes in terms of damage, accuracy and consistency combined. But there's no denying repeaterman is far more efficient on event-specific maps where cades are nicely prepared with everyone much closer to the frontline.

Additionally, crossbow heroes in general are less affected by ping/latency in that u can get 100+ kills in ragnarok easily with ur ping well above 250.

Thank you for kind words.

Many classes can be on top of the leaderboard, but what makes CM unique and makes people want CM in the team is an ability to bring best bolts (and best crossbow, as some people like to have a repeater for cade bots and Dead Shot or Eagle for distant targets) into the run. But even without best gear CM might be solid choice for a new player as well, it is definitely a good class. I will consider changing wording in that section and adding your ping insight, need some time and maybe other responses.

[Hoc]

Current NI meta is heavily ranged-or
                      D. Infantry classes not to make
                                        It is sad       
  Remember how it all began with a wall of shields, slashers, and archers must first of all kill long-range combatants. Each class was busy with their own business. Passing the map is happiness. And now everything looks like a big shooting range and who will kill more. Of course, without discipline and barricades will not help. In vain did the developers create subclasses? Conclusion: throw bows and forward to hand-to-hand combat.
 And someone else killed Thor or Odin with a kick