Ranger: the class that always has a partner

The ranger pairs medium armour with a permanent companion. The pet here is not cosmetic and not a 30-second summon; it is the class mechanic, with you from your first minute in the game onward.

For anyone playing alone, this is the most comfortable class in the game. There is always somebody else taking hits.

How pets work

You have four slots: two for land, two for water. One fights at a time, and you can swap in the middle of combat.

The swap is a tactic rather than a spare tyre. Each pet carries a useful ability, so switching acts as a fifth button in your kit.

A pet has four skills: three shared across its animal family and one unique to the species. Bears resemble each other, and each bear still does one thing of its own.

Hunting rare pets is a layer of the game by itself. Plenty of players comb the corners of maps purely for that.

The pet, in numbers

Eighteen families, sixty-six individual pets. That is not a cosmetic list, because attributes are shared across a family: every bear draws from the same pool, every feline from another.

Power, toughness, vitality, precision and condition damage all scale with your level, so a pet is never left behind. Ferocity, healing power and the duration attributes are fixed, and the only thing that moves them is your own traits.

Which means the choice between two felines is a choice of one unique skill, not a choice of strength. Take the animal you like looking at.

When the pet goes down you lose a third of yourself.

The commands sit on F1 to F4: attack my target, use the beast skill, return to me, swap.

Swapping costs 20 seconds in combat. If the pet went down first, that becomes 35 seconds, and the game is not subtle about wanting you to keep it alive.

A downed pet does not die the way you do. It becomes invulnerable, loses all aggro, and cannot be healed by anything. It gets up on its own once you leave combat, crawling back to 50% health and then the rest of the way if nothing new attacks you.

There is a small cruelty in watching an animal you have carried through a hundred maps go flat on the ground while you finish the fight without it. Rangers get attached. That is the point of the class.

Skill types

Command issues pet orders and shares boons through it. Signet gives a passive until pressed. Survival keeps you alive. Spirit summons allies that stand and strengthen the group. Trap places ground triggers.

Weapons

Two-handed: greatsword, longbow, short bow, staff, hammer, spear. Main-hand: axe, dagger, mace, sword. Off-hand: axe, dagger, mace, torch, warhorn.

The classic newcomer setup is longbow plus something for melee: shoot at range while the pet holds the target, then swap when something reaches you.

What it brings to a group

Through Druid the ranger spent years as the game’s main healer. The balance has shifted since, and the ranger is still one of the few classes that offers a group real healing rather than only boons.

In the open world and the story it is convenient in a flat, practical way: fewer deaths, less running back from a waypoint.

The elite specialisations

Druid (Heart of Thorns) adds Celestial Avatar, a form with its own set of healing skills. Classic support.

Soulbeast (Path of Fire) adds Beastmode: you merge with the pet and take its abilities for yourself. The pet leaves the field and you grow stronger. The simplest option for solo play.

Untamed (End of Dragons) runs on Unleash, alternating the buff between yourself and the pet. The most hands-on pet control of the four.

Galeshot (Visions of Eternity) brings the Cyclone Bow and an archery focus.

Advice for a newcomer

Take a longbow, take whatever pet you find first, and go play. The class asks for no preparation and no research.

After 80, look at Soulbeast if you play solo and Druid if groups appeal to you.

The comparison against the other eight sits in the overview.