Table of Contents

• Introduction
  
• Lire, and her History
  
  • Picking a job

• Using Lire
  
  • The Key Concept
    
  • The Basics
    
  • Practicing the Basics
• Arch Ranger
  
  • Movement
    
  • Shooting, Combos, and Grabs
    
  • "Otto"
    
  • PvP Strategy
• Conclusion
  
• Videos and Links
  
• Notes

*Note that the guide is outdated, and it's going to need a bit of reformatting as this is basically a copy of the guide from its original forum. Formatting will come quickly; updates to the guide to reflect changes KoG has made will not come so quickly.

The main version of this guide is located on the Official North American Grand Chase Forum, which can be found here:

http://forum.grandchaseonline.com/forum/main-forum/gameplay/character-skills/tips-tricks/74423-the-full-blown-guide-to-lire-and-arch-ranger-%E2%80%94-by-shields

---Note: It's important to recognize that since this is intended to be a collaboration, not all sections of the guide are written by myself. Any sections that aren't contributed by me, Shields, will have a quotation marker around it, naming its author at the beginning of it.

Included at the bottom of the guide is also a section giving credit to all writers that have added to the guide, as well as a list of all of their works.

Now, on to the introduction...




Hi there. As the title suggests, my name is Shields, and I've decided to write a full guide to Lire, and the job Archer Ranger. If you take the time to fully read this guide, I promise you you will already be better at Lire. This guide will mainly be devoted to the PvP usage of Lire. Heck, I may not mention dungeons at all. However, regardless of this being geared towards PvP or not, anything you learn here can still be applied towards dungeoning.

I realized that there weren't any real guides to Lire (that you can completely refer to, and not be lost/finding bits throughout many threads) out there, besides a few threads purely on WHAT Lire is.

Guides, for example, covering things like: Lire has 3 mp bars. The first one is big shot.

If this is what you're looking for, you've come to the wrong place; however, I will briefly go over basics, and also leave links to other threads that go more in depth on other things in the appropriate sections.

The main point of this guide is to learn how to use Lire efficiently, effectively, and well, properly. This is NOT a guide that talks about Lire's Skill Tree. Like I said earlier, I WILL refer to other threads about ST and go over it briefly, but I won't tell you how to be what people consider " Pro" With Archer ST.

Now that I've gotten what I WONT be going over out of the way, here's a few things I will be: The core concepts of Lire, and how to use basic techniques properly; an introduction and small speech ABOUT lire; how to aim, and methods of improving your aim; how to move, shoot proper combos, etc with Lire; and as a main point of the guide on my part, how to fully master the Arch Ranger job.

As the title states, the portions of the guide I have written cover the Class of Lire, and the Job I know best, Arch Ranger. If I can find players skilled enough with the other three Lire jobs that have the writing skills to make guides, there will eventually be updates to the guide to include sections over Archer, Crossbow, and Nova.

Lire. One of the most hated class of pvp. Why is this? Why are there so many rooms with the rule " No lires" ? The main reason is due to the fact that there are sooo many people out there these days using lire in the most annoying, and in my opinion, the least effective ways possible.

As most of you know, this includes running + shooting, ST abuse, and just plain newb tactics. I use the word Newb, and not noob, because newb refers to being unknowledgeable, while noob refers to knowingly being a bad sport.

So what do you do? The easiest route, and chosen by most, is to simply give into, or just not even try to improve your lire skills beyond a point of the simple easy-win tactics. People choose this, because, well, you can usually get the pvp wins without putting forth as much effort as other harder tactics include.

If you want to actually become skilled with lire, read on. If you're convinced that using ST and cheap tactics is the way to go, you're welcome to leave now.

Picking a job

Picking a job to use as your main can be tough, especially if you don't have all the info in front of your face for each job to choose from. Of course, you will start out with Archer, as that is the first job you can use. However, it might be to your advantage to have a job decided ahead of time. Here are some statistics, and my personal opinion on each job. Of course, I'll be a tad bias towards Arch Ranger, because that's what I main.

Archer
This is the first, and for a certain amount of time the only job you can use for lire. It is generally a slower job, at first anyways, due to the fact it can only dash in short bursts, and cannot air dash. However, it makes up for that with double jumping. Double jump lets you reach places other classes cannot, in that way at least. It allows you to move up and down between ledges faster then you would by going around.

It's arrows are shot at an angle. This can be seen both as an advantage, or a disadvantage.

Archer ST
Archer ST. The epiphany of the "Noob Lire". I consider this a fifth job to lire, because it is very different from using Non ST archer. Skill Tree for Archer, as of now, Is pretty much the 'easiest' way to use lire, and win a match. This is due to the fact that it gives you extra speed and movement, with the air dash, and several skills that make killing people extremely easy.

I DO NOT recommend using this, as using ST is the same as taking crack. Things may get awesome for you for a while, but eventually that high will be gone, with a bunch of your friends looking down upon you. Also, it can get to be addicting, using an easy win technique. Not only this, but if you take the time to get good with other lire jobs, you can surpass Lire's ST in every way possible, making it a waste to use it.

The ONLY exception in my eyes to use Archer ST is if you're already extremely good with a different lire job, and just using the ST to give you a tad boost to your already exceptional skills.

I understand that if you're starting out with lire, you run into the concept of Archer ST almost immediately when you start leveling up. My advice to you is to either A: ignore it, if you plan on using Archer as your main, or B: only use the basic skills given to you for it, and move on to another Job when you get the chance.

Cross Bow

Originally posted by Oliver:

Crossbow, the demon of the roll. Crossbow may be considered the easiest job Lire has due to its ability to roll through attacks and pump out arrows faster than a disgruntled English teacher on the last spelling test. There's no double jump here, just a single jump that reaches generally the same height as a double. No air dash, either. For the most part, you're gonna be planted to the ground and making a speedy getaway when an enemy draws near.

Arrows are shot one after the other for four rounds with a "knock down" variant being fired last, as well as for your dash shots. The first volley will simply push back, not stun, making it excellent for crowd control. Your jump attack will shoot continuously in a downward angle, and if you press down while jumping to shoot, you'll let loose a full pelt of some acid rain. Also noteable is Crossbow's ability to perform a shadow drop while in the air.

Easy? Complicated? You decide. I'd say it's the easiest to pick up with only a medium effort to master.
(And don't forget to practice that no-delay first bar, son.)

Arch Ranger
Arch Ranger has to be my favorite lire job, hands down. Your movement for AR is very much like other melee classes, with regular running/dashing, with air dashing added. You cannot do most of the "Steps" of other classes, like Shadow step or Flash step, but you can get your speed going extremely fast regardless. It all depends on how skilled you are with it.

Its arrows are shot similar to Archer, except they are larger arrows, and are shot at a nearly straight angle. Meaning no arch in your shot when you aim at people. AR also has the ability to do a "1.5" jump, shooting an arrow straight down to give you a boost higher after a regular jump.

Along with that, it is probably the most " melee" like job of lire, with combos that actually hit, knock up, knock down people, etc with your bow itself. In my opinion this is the Job with the most potential out of all of them. You can be as crappy, or as pro as possible with this. It's all on you.

Nova
Nova is a sort of "improved" version of Archer, along with being a sort of half-breed between AR and archer. Your arrows are shot like archers, with and arch, but are more so " shot out" then " released" from your bow. Also, Nova allows you to do constant running, instead of just short dashes. However, you cannot air dash with nova.

Along with that, if you try to do the regular ol Backshot, it will instead have you slide forward, kicking enemies in front of you. You can still do a backshot with nova, but you just need to hit an extra button before doing it.

--------------------------------------------------------

Now that you know the jobs, it's up to you to pick one. Choose!~

Like I said, I won't be going into the basics of lire, besides movement, shooting, grabbing, etc. This is not a guide to archer, but a guide to lire in general. Of course, this is excluding Crossbow, as Crossbow is completely different from the other jobs.

The Key Concept:
There is one key concept you must learn throughout your career as a lire. Synchronization. Being able to hit the commands, in the right order, at a fast rate is what makes you faster, and, well, better.

The Basics:
Shooting

Shooting. The Z button. The first thing you learn how to do.

For lire, shooting includes many different things. Things you may not even notice yourself starting out with lire. It includes aiming, combos, speed, and even movement. There isn't much to the core concept of " shoot" itself, besides hitting the Z button, over and over. I will go into the details throughout other parts of the section.

------------Quick Tip: When shooting with lire, if you hold a directional key forward ( not dash, simply walking), you can move a small bit while your shooting starts. A very helpful tip is to shoot while falling off ledges. To do this, you must walk towards the end of a ledge, and time it so that you start your shooting, right when you get to the end, doing all this while continuing to walk forward. By doing this, you can shoot full combos, while falling through the air.

Aiming

Aiming is pretty much self explanatory. This is how you control where your arrows go after you hit the Z button. When starting out, learning how to aim properly can be a challenge. However, for you newbies out there, I will try to explain the best I can on how to aim itself.

When shooting arrows, you can use the up and down keys to move your bow, up and down. When you start spamming the Z button to fire arrows, there is a delay before your first arrows let loose. During this delay is when you use the keys to change the direction of your arrows.

When you start changing the arrow's direction, you need to hold down the up/down key until it gets to the angle you want . Do not hit the key over and over.

------------Quick Tip: The key to aiming properly is knowing how long it takes after holding down the directional key to release it, stopping your bow from moving. This is how you learn to just look to the screen, and know, subconsciously, " If I hold down the up key for 0.8 seconds, it will aim at this spot on the map"

------------Quick Tip # 2: The easy way to aim and shoot a stream of arrows is done by: Holding down the Z key, changing your direction, then once you have your direction start spamming the Z key . The time you would be holding down the Z key, however, is only about 0.5- 2 seconds max, so be careful, and practice your timing. If you hold Z for too long you will end up releasing a skill on accident.

Combos
Every time you shoot arrows, you MUST -with VERY VERY FEW exceptions- make a combo out of it. If you simply hit z, z, z, z, you will be left vulnerable, and shooting very slowly. For Archer and Nova, you'll probably only be using the " Back Shot Combo". For Arch Ranger, there is a second combo to make out of shooting, but we will go into that later. For now, Back Shot Combo.

The back shot combo is a fairly simple command. after releasing your third arrow, Dash( the opposite direction to which you are facing). For example, I'm facing right, and hit z,z,z. Then I would hit the command << immediately after the third arrow lets loose.

Upon hitting the backwards dash, you let loose a final fourth arrow. this completes your combo shooting, and you can immediately start shooting another combo, or move away afterwards.

Note that I don't say " after the third time I hit Z". This is because, well, you SHOULDN'T be simply hitting z,z,z <<. I will go into this in the Quick Tip.

------------Quick Tip: When shooting, you should not simply hit Z Z Z, followed by a Dash to form a combo. The easy, proper way of shooting is to well, spam Z as fast as you can, waiting for arrows to be released, followed by a dash for the combo. Sometimes if I'm fast enough, I hit Z 10+ times before doing my dash for back shot combo. This is because the game has a limit to how fast the arrows can be released. The key to making combos, like I said, is waiting for the third arrow to be released from the bow, and then making your combo.

------------Quick Tip #2: When in advanced pvp gameplay, I sometimes simply spam Z CONSTANTLY, over and over, hitting the command for combo making whenever the right amounts of arrows have been shot. The way I use it, however, does not involve camping. I will explain later on how to keep spamming z, making combos, and not camping.

------------Note: You can start a combo upon the release of your second arrow. However, I only recommend doing this in speedy, dangerous situations. It's always better to do the full 3 arrows before making a combo. Do NOT get in the habit of two arrows + dash. This is a very bad habit to get into. You will definitely use this, but do not use it as your basic shooting combo.

Movement

Movement for lire depends largely on the job you are using, so I won't be going into much on how to move "fast" in this section, or how the jobs move or anything like that. I will explain better movement for Arch Ranger in a later section, and I'll explain how to go through ledges, and other basics here.

Ok. One of the key ways to move in pvp is by using the ledges. Every time you land on a new ledge, you are allowed to dash again. So... you can get moving faster by going through the ledges, then if you were just running on a flat area.

To dash through a ledge, to down below, the command is:

>>V

Another way to improve your movement speed is by using a back shot immediately after you hit the dash button. Doing this will shoot an arrow after you dash, giving you an extra little boost to your dash when done. The command for a back shot is this : << Z. So basically, hit Z right after you dash.

------------Note: The way nova runs is different from the other lire jobs. Basically, doing the backshot command will make you do a sliding kick ahead of you. This does improve your speed, but it may be more efficient to simply run at times. I personally cannot say which is better, because I don't use Nova.

Grabbing
Grabbing is a key concept to pvp. Like movement, grabbing changes depending on which job/character you use. Basically, when you are walking/ running at your opponent, when you get close enough to the point you are touching them on screen, hitting Z will start a grab.

Grabs are very important in pvp for a few reasons. First off, it is a lag killer. In some situations, it's the only way you can do damage on people that lag severely. Grabbing also can be a key roll in several combos.

-----------Quick Tip: Grabbing can be done more then once at a time, called " Double grabbing", or "Ledge Grabbing", along with "Delay grabing", where you grab, use a skill, and then grab them again right at the moment they get up, preventing them from even having a chance to get away or counter attack you. I will explain this all in a different section of the guide.

Practicing the Basics

Ok. This section will be talking about how to improve your basic skills for lire. A large amount of it has to do with simply playing a lot, and doing things right, but I'll talk about a few exercises you can do here to improve things. I will post a video at one point showing all of these exercises being done, so you can make sure you're doing them right.

Aiming Exercises]
Exercise #1:
Here is a basic exercise to improve your aiming, among other things. Go to practice mode, and start a match with Elven Forest as the map, using whatever lire job you want to main. Make sure to pick an opponent without a berserk.

Then, move to the bottom left section of the map, probably about where you spawned. Move your opponent to a spot on the left side of the map, and proceed to shoot at him from there. Make sure to stay in that same spot every time you do shoot at the dummy. You can move slightly backwards after your combos finish, of course, due to the backshot combo moving you after you shoot. But make sure to walk forward again before shooting.

After you've shot from that spot, move either your spot, or the dummy's spot on the map, and continue this until you decide to stop or just get bored. Doing this will increase aim, help you get your combos down properly, and several other things.

Exercise #2:

The second way to practice aiming is during a match. The idea is, you pick a certain point on the background of the map, and use that as a guide as how far high or low to aim, to hit an opponent off screen.

For example: I'm at gorge, in the left corner. I know that if I move my bow to aim at the second cliff in the background, the arrows I shoot will hit on the bottom right section of the map. ( This is made up, so don't actually look for that second cliff, Lol. However, there are cliffs there to use to setup aiming properly. Just not what I mentioned).

Movement Exercises

There isn't much to practicing movement, besides just doing it properly, and very often. a nice way to warm up though is to do this command -Note this only applies for Arch Ranger+ ST Archer- :

^ >> ^ << ^ >> (repeat)

The result, if done right, is a V like movement, jumping back and forth on a fixed point. This exercise can only be done for Arch Ranger, and ST Archer w/ Air dashing.

Ok. Now we can move onto the in-depth stuff, of the job I use, Arch Ranger (AR). The point of this part of the guide is to teach you how to use AR, and excel with it. This will be very lengthy, and detailed (Yes, more detailed then the other stuff above).

---Caution--- This guide to Arch Ranger is not for beginners. If you're new to lire, and are still learning the things shown above, I recommend getting fairly decent with lire before reading this. You don't need to be great in pvp or anything, but please make sure you have some sort of grasp for lire first. Especially if Lire is your first character you're using.

The way Arch Ranger moves is very different compared to the other jobs of lire. As it says above, you can air dash, do a constant run, etc. Instead of just running, though, you need to learn how to dash over and over. The result, is as fast as you're going to get without actually doing a "Step".

Part 1:

Starting out, you can do a form of moving I like to call " The bunny hop". Basically, you hit the right directional commands, fast enough, and at the right time, creating a sort of hopping around the room. Here is the command:

^.... >>^....>>^

( The .... represents the wait before you hit the next string of commands. You hit the next set as you start falling back towards the ground.)

Part 2:

Once you get the hang of doing the bunny hop, it's time to incorporate that into your regular routine of running around. The faster you can move, the better, BUT. It's all about synchronization with your commands, and hitting them at the correct time. Usually when running around a map, the command is something like this:

<< ^ << ^>>^>>^>>

That's just an example of moving around. You need to understand that the speed at which you hit the keys also affects what happens on screen. If I hit <<^<< all at once, super fast, it's going to turn into a quick dash/ Diagonal jump dash. If you do the command at a slow rate, it will become just you floating around, dashing mid air.

Now, if you do certain commands at a fast rate, with pauses, that can become something entirely different. It could be the beginning of your long attack combo, it can be you faking out an opponent, etc., which I will get into in other sections.

Rocket Step:

It may be called a few different things, but I've decided to go with Rocket step. Basically, it's a set of commands hit that will make you do an immediate diagonal dash forward. The dash is so powerful, it can do things from going through people, to doing super quick air grabs, to skimping through entire skills people run at you with.

Here is the command. It's a tad complicated at first, but easy to do once you've got it down.:

V> + ^>

The keys combined together are hit at the EXACT same time. Meaning when you rocket step right, it's -one slap down on the keyboard for V>, one slap down on the keyboard for ^> .

Once you have this mastered, You'll find yourself using it very often.

--------------Note: There are other ways to perform Rocket Step, but In my opinion this is the most effective, easiest to master+use constant way of performing it.

--------------Note 2: The only disadvantage to Rocket Step, is that you cannot do it on a platform. At least, it is EXTREMELY hard to do. I never bothered with it, but here is the command for the lesser version of Rocket Step:

>+ ^>

( You have to hit the ^ before the >. If anything, that will be the hardest part in learning this version of it.)

Getting around:

There is a final trick you can use to get around the map with AR, called Shootdown. Basically, you jump up, and at the climax of your jump, hit Down+Z to shoot an arrow straight down, which shoots you up a tad higher then you could normally reach in a jump, reaching ledges you would normally have to go around to get to.

Here is the command, which is a little tricky to master:

^ , v (Held), Z (With v still held), (Release v at the climax of your boost, so you don't fall down whatever ledge you're trying to get to)

It's fairly easy to do, but hard to master and use to its full potential. In most cases if you don't already know what you're doing, using this move will more than likely just leave you more vulnerable than you should be. I recommend not bothering with it until you're already very skilled with AR.

Like it says above, AR's arrows are shot at a very straight angle. Also, like I said earlier, every time you shoot needs to become a combo.
I say this, because if you simply hit z,z,z,z , you are left vulnerable, and you're not staying in constant movement. One of the key things to fighting with lire is to always be moving.

Basic Combos

There are two combos you can make out of regular shooting. Back Shot combo, and the Forward Slash combo. Here is the Command for Back Shot combo:

z,z,z, <<

And here's the command for the Forward Slash combo:

z, z, z ^

The Forward Slash combo does 3 shots, and then slashes the area in front of you, pushing you forward. This slash is designed to knock opponents up into the air.

-----------------Quick Tip: When doing the Forward Slash combo, it's sometimes ( and a lot of the time) easier/ more efficient to shoot twice, instead of three times before hitting ^ to slash. This is because usually you do the forward slash combo simply for movement, or knocking people up that are close to you. So you usually want to get it done in a hurry.

-----------------Note: Like I said earlier, you cannot simply hit the command for these as : z z z ^ . It needs to be you, spamming Z, and when the third arrow RELEASES from your bow, is when you hit the directional command for it, dictating what happens. Not when you hit the third Z key.

-----------------Note #2: There is a third combo you can create from regular shooting, called Arrow stab. Basically, you stab your arrow in front of you after the shooting is done. I HIGHLY recommend never using this, as it is ineffective, and in normal lag situations ( even your least laggy pvps), it sometimes doesn't even connect. The reason I didn't mention this move above is because it's so ineffective.

Combination of the Combos

You can combine these two combos, together, creating a constant stream of arrows being shot off. Basically, you do a backshot combo at them, then do a forward slash combo. The slash probably wont hit anything, but it moves you forward, making it so you are constantly moving around, yet giving them a full dose of Arrow.

After the Slash combo, you can either do another Slash, or choose to do a backshot combo. It's up to you, depending on where you want to move during your combo chain.

The Air grab Combo

One of the very powerful combos for AR is the air grab combo. It's basically a Forward slash combo, followed by you grabbing the opponent in the air, that you just knocked up there w/ your combo. Here is the command:

Z, Z, Z, ^, >^>>Z (Again, it's usually better to just do the slash after the second, and not waiting for the third arrow)

Shoot them, pop them up, and immediately jump up there and air grab ( the >>Z at the end is the air grab part).

----------------Note: The reason for the > before the ^ in >^>>Z, is because you need to get that extra little umph of distance closed between you before going up for the grab.

----------------Note 2: >^>>Z needs to be done very fast. It's hard to do in Practice mode, but generally very very much easier to do while in a pvp match. If you can master the Air grab combo in Practice mode, you'll have no problem at all in a real match.

Double Grab (Ledge Grab)

With the right setup, you are able to grab your opponent, and then grab them a second time before they even touch the ground. The key to this, is by grabbing someone near a ledge, and as they start to fall off the ledge, going up to grab them a second time.

The key to this is to grab them at just the right distance, so that when they get pushed away by your grab, they don't just go over the edge, but they are AT the edge, and eventually fall off of it by just being so close to the edge.

You know you've set it up right for a double grab, when they actually "fidget " over the edge. That is the time for you to grab a second time.



----------------Section Note: I do not mention, nor recommend using the commands " >>Z, or ^^Z" at any time, due to the fact that they are "flimsy", and just plain ineffective in game unless you have a very good understanding of the timing of the hitboxes on these attacks, as well as reading lag during a real pvp match.

Otto tends to be a big factor when pvping W/ AR. HOWEVER, I Highly recommend learning most of the stuff mentioned above before attempting to do otto. For now, here is an explanation of what it is, and how it can be useful.

The term Otto, in GC, means basically " To perform a certain action over and over that normally could not be done."

An example of plain otto, is on Elesis. If you're on a ledge, with an enemy in front of you, if you hit v Z v Z v Z over and over, fast enough, it will make Elesis attack the enemy in front of you very fast, doing multiple air attacks, yet still standing on the ledge. Another form of otto is Battle Mages " Grab otto", which basically allows you to grab an opponent over and over for as long as you want, without the person ever able to even get up.

Those are some of the regular ottos of GC. Usually, they are frowned upon in PvP, and are even banned from use during official Grand Chase tournaments.

However, Lire + Arch Ranger's otto works differently from those above. Her otto is called " Manual Otto". Manual otto is a series of commands hit over and over, allowing you to to air attacks, in place -or general area-, over and over.

----------------Note: Manual Otto is allowed in tournaments, but limited to only five shots at a time, if the opponent is unable to break free from it.

Forward Otto

Forward manual otto for AR is fairly simple to perform, but takes lots, AND LOTS of practice to master, get fast with it, continuously, etc. Here is the command for it :

>>^ Z (Facing Right)

Forward otto lets you move forward, while shooting down wards as you dash and jump. The drawback to simply using regular otto, is that since you are constantly moving forwards with it, you'll just hit a wall or fall off a ledge eventually. The key to using manual otto properly, is incorporating Backwards otto with it.

Back Otto

Back otto is a tad more complicated, but again easy to perform. It is also, like forward otto, very hard to get fast + coordinated with it.

Here is the command:

<<^> Z ( Facing Right )

Back otto can be used in two different situations. The first, being incorporated into Forwards ottoing, which I will mention in the next part called " Regular Otto".

The second, is up against a wall. By using back otto while next to a wall, this allows you to do it over and over and over, at a very fast rate. Doing so is very effective in situations where someone is below you, allowing you to trap them in your manual otto, until they run out of HP.

Regular Otto

Regular otto is what I call using Forward and Back otto in unison. When you're on a ledge, you can create a continuous stream off arrows shot off, by ottoing from above. To do this, you simply have to use Forward otto, then back Otto. Then forward, then back.

Of course, you would end up adding an extra forward or backwards otto depending on where you are, and what the situation calls for. If you're looking to pin someone down with it, you probly want to move around less with it. If you are just ottoing to try to hit people period, it may be smarter to cover more area.

Introduction to fighting

When you start out in pvp, there are a few things you need to understand about it. First off, is that pvp is a mind game, even in it's most basic forms. You may not realize this at first. Many don't even realize it til later in their pvp careers, but knowing this now will help you excel faster, and more then the people around you. When I call it a mind game, I mean knowing your opponent.

The second thing you need to understand is, that you must know your limits. Knowing how fast you can move, or how fast you can do something may be what decides if you live or die.

For example:

You're fighting a very fast elesis. If you know that there is no possible way you can get fast enough to avoid her attack, then it would be wise to do A: Be patient, and wait for her to come to you, and skill. Or B: Go on an offensive.

Lastly, you need to understand that almost anything is possible with Arch Ranger. There is no " impossible " things to beat with it. Hopefully that gives you inspiration to better yourself when you find an obstacle that is hard to get past.

Speed, and your keyboard


The key to becoming fast with AR, is to time your movements, and being able to execute the right commands. If you just hit >>^>>, You'll obviously not go very fast.

When timing your movements, you need to know when to perform the dash after you're up in the air. When you do your air dash, you need to be dashing into the ground, or a platform. This is because then you can immediately dash again after you hit the surface.

Another key thing to being fast is being able to think ahead a couple of seconds, already hitting the commands/ having them ready to be hit.

For example, I can look ahead of me, and see that there is a platform, then a platform ahead of that one approximately a second away from it. So, I would hit the command " <<^..<<^<<^", all at once, while I'm still on the ground level. By the time I finish my command I'm just getting to the spot I wanted to be at a second ago.

Of course, speed largely depends on how fast you can hit the keys. Not only that, but being able to hit the keys at the correct intervals, at a very fast rate. This all comes with lots and lots of practice. Don't worry about being Speedy Gonzales when you start out with AR. I sure wasn't.

Lastly, and this is also a bigy, is your keyboard. Certain keyboards have better key command rates then others. What this means, is that if you hit <<^>Z<<^>Z<<^>Z<<^>Z all at once, extremely fast, on a keyboard you got back in 1998, your character will not perform all those commands you just hit. This is because certain keyboards can only register a small amount of commands at a time, on certain keys. So, with lower end keyboards, there WILL BE a limit to what you can do.

Now, I'm not telling you to go out there and spend $150 on a high end keyboard, but if you got a better quality one then usually you'll notice a big difference in what you can do with AR.

Also note, though, that certain keys have larger registering rates then others. Here is an example, from my own personal keyboard, which happens to be a Logitech G15 Keyboard.

When I just got my G15, I had noticed that I wasn't able to move very fast with my arrow keys. I later learned that my arrow keys only had a key registering rate of about 2-3 at a time. So, I ended up changing my keys for GC movement to letter keys, which I guessed (correctly) would have the highest registering rate. My movement keys are now " l;'p ", instead of simply the arrow keys.

You may want to try changing your key settings if you feel you are being limited to your commands (one of the more commonly used key sets is the numberpad's keys). If that doesn't work, and you feel you can go much faster then you are allowed to, you can try getting a better keyboard.

Prediction

Prediction is the name of the game. Being able to predict your opponents movements gives you an edge in pvp you could never imagine. I'll do my best here to explain how prediction works, and hopefully you catch on on your own. The only problem with teaching prediction, is that it isn't teachable in words, besides giving situationals over it. A lot of learning prediction is all on you, pvping a lot.

One part of prediction is simply pvp'ing, over and over, and comprehending what just happened after you win or lose. Knowing that " Ok. that lire just spun backwards and knelt down. That means she's going to do a trap shot." Of course, that's just a very basic form of prediction, but that IS prediction.

Counting MP

Being able to count your opponents MP is a big factor on predicting their movements. The amount of MP they have at the moment usually dictates all of their movements. If they have 3 bars of MP, they're probably going to be more aggressive then if they had no MP at all. This idea tends to change the higher skill level your opponent is, but it always dictates their movements in some form or fashion.

To count MP, if you don't already know how to, is to simply compare their MP gauge to yours. This is easy at the start of a match, but tends to get very challenging as you move on in the match. If you have 1 MP bar when the match starts, obviously he does too. If you both have 3 bars, and he just did a 1 bar, then he has 2 bars of MP, and is probably about to regenerate his 3 bars again. This is the concept of counting MP.

When you know their MP, you can start manipulating them. This is also very similar to Sieghart, when he rages. This is a great example of how this sort of thing works. Almost all the time, when a Sieg has his 2 or 3 bars of MP, they go into rage mode.

Of course, they want to get that skill off as soon as possible, before rage dies out, so you KNOW they are going to use a skill within that time period, unless they are smart ( There are about 2-3 out there that I know of that are this smart, so don't worry about that). When fighting them, if they rage, OBVIOUSLY it isn't very smart to go charging at them or sticking around in front of them.

If you know they are about to MP, you can either A : counter it with your own MP, B: Run away from it, or C: Perform a sneak attack, and counter his MP attack with a charge at him of your own from behind, after he starts his skill. I'll go into this later.

---------------Note: Counting MP doesn't always work right now, since in Season 3 people can make their MP regenerate faster with Props. Also, the new character, Dio, doesn't even have MP. So basically, it's impossible to count MP vs. a Dio. Your best bet is to play it safe, and don't dare try to attack him in a MP war ( I'll go into this later ).

Studying your opponent

Studying your opponent is a great way to predict their movements, regardless of Class. By pvping someone over and over, you'll eventually learn how the fight. If you know that they will choose one direction, instead of another, when they are forced to choose a path, you can be ready to get them when they take that path.

Here is one of my greatest examples of studying your opponent, done in a real match:

I was facing off against another AR, in some friendly 1v1s (well, maybe not so friendly). They were able to beat me the first two matches in a row. Whenever I threw out my strategy against him, he always did a certain technique, which happened to be falling down on me with arrows. After the second match, I had it figured out.

So, on the third match, I purposely did the same thing I had done the last match, which made him try to come down on me again with arrows. At the last second, I pulled out of my technique, getting out of the way of his arrows ( Because I knew what was coming, BEFORE it happened), and was able to wail on him from there. EVERY TIME I would set things up to make him do that move, and EVERY TIME I wailed on him afterwards. I won 10 consecutive matches in the row, upon which he rage quit.

Whenever you fight someone you plan on fighting more then once, it's always wise to study how they work. If you can find out what they will end up doing ahead of time, you have them beat.

Lire Vs. Lire
Facing off against other lires seems to be many peoples weak points, which is IMO a down right shame, because that proves what skill you REALLY have. Here, I'll try to explain some of the strategy that goes into fighting other lires.

When you go against a lire, you have to think like they do. Obviously, since you are a lire yourself, it shouldn't be that hard. Wrong. It's actually fairly hard to figure out what they will do, unless you fight the same person enough times to just observe and remember. However, there IS a nice little system of mine I've made to decide how to fight them. First though, I'll explain what you need to do just fighting them in general.

First off, you always need to be moving, no matter what. This includes combos, running around using backshot, otto'ing, etc. A nice way to keep yourself moving in combos is using the forward slash and backwards combo's in unison, like I mentioned earlier. This screws up your opponents prediction skills on what you will do next.

When you know how your opponent will act and places they will go, you normally would shoot ahead to the spot you think they will end up at. When facing faster lires, you may find yourself missing them alot. This is because of two reasons.

One, being that they are smart and will shoot at you, move to a new spot, and start shooting again. When you just shoot at the spot the arrows came from, you'll probably not hit them unless they decide to sit there. The second reason, is due to what I call " contact Lag". Contact lag is where on your screen, you hit them with your arrow, but on their screen, it skidded past them, not counting as dmg. It looks like to you that you just hit them, but no Dmg actually occurs. This is why you need to shoot where they WILL be, instead of where they are at that moment.

-----------------------Tip #1 A nice way to dodge arrows, and counter attack, is to be extra aggresive, and actually rocket step past them, and turning around quickly to shoot on them, while they are still busy shooting the other direction.

————————-Note: I will go into the strategies for you to use in a different section.

The System

Ok, now for my system. Here is how it works:

The idea is, that every lire is at a certain “skill level”. Depending on their skill level, will dictate how they act, their speed, and their prediction/strategy skills. I will list skill levels 1-10, 10 being the greatest lires to ever walk the face of the earth.

1: When being shot at, people of this level will either try to move away, slowly, or just ignore it and keep shooting, hoping they hit you first.

2: People of this level will move around occasionally, but still tend to camp a lot and just pray they kill you.

3: These people tend to move around more so then others, and are starting to learn how things work.

4: They will (for ST Lires) start depending on ST more. This is actually an advantage to you, because hopefully you know how ST works, and you can avoid their moves and counter their faint ST strategy with a powerful one of your own.

5: These people will start understand how to win the matches, with small prediction abilities, and have fairy decent technique to themselves ( speed, arrow shooting, combos, etc.). This is where you need to start thinking ahead of time. These people will shoot, move, shoot, repeat.

6: These lires will probably have at least learned how to do most of the regular moves for lire. They tend to move a lot, also being able to shoot at you with pretty good accuracy. This is where you need to start considering ” If I shoot above them, will they run into it? Or will they run forward and shoot from there.”

7: This is when they get really dangerous. They know about all the normal concepts, and are starting to gain good prediction/ technique skills. These are the type of people you need to think:
” Ok, wait. If I shoot ahead, will they see that coming? So.. should I just shoot at the same spot they were just at, maybe they will camp to try to avoid my predicted arrows….”

8: This is what divides people from the rest of the lires in the server. They are very fast, and good at what they do. These are the people that you need to think ” Oh crap.. If I shoot above them, then that would leave me vulnerable from below, which they will probably go, catching me off guard…”

9: Deadly. Purely deadly. This is when RAW strategy comes into play. I won’t bother with making a thought process for this, because it would be too long to understand. When you face these kinds of people, you need to have strategies set out 3 moves ahead. It’s a chess game now.

10: They have it all. They’re the fastest, the smartest, and have the best technique out there. If you aren’t on the same level as them, you probably don’t have a chance, unless good ol’ luck is on your side. When fighting these people, you need to consider every possible outcome, and perform the best possible.

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When fighting an opponent, you should be able to quickly learn what level they are at. If they are, for example, at level 7, you’d need to implement that into your strategy, by predicting that they will be more agile/smart then usual. If they are at level 2, you should probably stop yourself, and remember they are level 2, and just shoot at the same spot you shot at a second ago.

You also need to know, or try to guess what level of a lire you are. Not only will this help you decide how to fight them, it is also a nice way to set goals for yourself.

Strategies:

Strategy is how you move, shoot, skill, perform your combos, create new combos, etc etc. This is what you figure out you’ll do, once you know what your opponent will do.

Here, is mainly a list of “combos” I’ve created,and do on a daily basis. I say ” combos” because they are really like 3-4 combos mixed together, or just manipulations of the system ( manipulation is a poor choice of words, but it’s really just finding new ways to fight. It’s not like ledge otto or infinite grabbing or anything like that).

The Stun Strategy (Vs. Melee classes)

Ok. Basically, the stun strategy consists of you being aggressive, and cautious at the same time. The idea is, to to several one or two shot attacks, while running around the opponent. Note that this is NOT running away. I mean running around as in the immediate area surrounding the opponent.

When you hit an opponent with one of these shots, it will of course make then react to it, either by arrow defense, or just taking damage. This is called a “Stun”. While the person is stunned, this is where you would dive in and A: Use a skill, B: Grab,or C: setup a string of regular combos on them.

The attacks you would use to stun involve lots of quick forward/back otto’s (WHILE you’re practically right next to them) via ground or air, and some few backshots. Don’t try to do full shooting combos for this Strategy. The Forward/Back otto’s involve mostly quick dashes into the air, and hitting Z as you fall, then dashing around right after you release the shot.

For Example: I’m vsing a Ronan. He charges at me. I run at him, dash into the air, where I’m right behind him mid air, immediately turn, and hit Z, to shoot him in the back as I fall. Then, when he’s hit and stunned, immediately right after I fall, dashing back at him and grabbing during that stun phase.

This example was only a one-stun+grab combo, but sometimes the stun strategy can go for very long periods of time before you get the shot to go in and really do damage to them. Remember, this isn’t running away and shooting. This is running around, them, dodging attacks, and stunning for openings.

The Fake out Strategy (Vs. Ranged classes)

This is a fairly short and simple strategy you’d use while facing ranged classes, like lire or arme. Basically, you pretend to setup a strategy to move one way and attack, while really you go about a third/half way there, and immediately turn back around to the previous spot, catching them off guard.

Note though, that to make them fall for it, you usually need to start shooting from the fake spot, or something to draw their attention there. That way, when you’re not on their screen, they ASSUME you are in that spot, when you really just dived back to the last spot to start attacking them off guard.

Aggression (Vs. Anything)

The idea behind Aggression, is to well, be aggressive with all of your movements. This means charging in at them, (while still dodging attacks), employing other things like the stun strategy, running at them with an otto, charging in with skills, etc. Fairly simple concept.

Remember, that this is just one strategy you use for one part of the fight. Don’t ALWAYS be aggressive, otherwise you won’t have enough strategy in place eventually, and you’ll more then likely get yourself killed. Don’t be afraid to take a step back and assess the situation. This brings me to my next strategy.

Avoidance (Vs. Anything)

Avoidance is the opposite of Aggression (Obviously). Avoidance involves you taking a step back from the fight, assessing the situation at hand, thinking up new strategies and how to stay alive.

This would generally be used in those last drops of HP situations, where you’re being overwhelmed and about to die. Don’t be afraid to run for small increments of time if you have to, but don’t feel good about doing it either.

Manipulation (Vs. Anything)

Manipulation is usually a “Joke” strategy I use in situations where I know that I’m going to win as long as I keep it up. Basically, you set things up to trick your opponent into doing something, say running at you with a skill, when you already saw it coming 3 minutes ago, and you just want to see him miss you while you fly past it, and coming up on him.

However, sometimes this isn’t just as a joke. Sometimes you can use this for things like: making opponents attack each other in survivals, make them set themselves up for you so you can attack, etc.

Manipulation is all a mind game, so I can’t really explain HOW to do it. It’s just simply being smarter then them, and being able to control the situation.

Manual Otto Madness (Vs. Survival Rooms)

In short, I HATE, AND I MEAN HATE survivals. This is because most of the time it involves noob tactics, running, camping, etc to win the match. Of course, you can’t always avoid survivals, and some of you out there might enjoy them. So, here is one of the few “newbie” tactics I’ll explain here, to help you survive in survival games.

Basically, at the start of a match, your priority is to get to the high ground, and otto. Corner otto, run up and down the ledges and otto, and stay in one place ottoing back and forth, left/right, etc. etc. etc.

Of course, if you see someone running at you, it’s probably a good idea to dodge them as they’ll probably have skills waiting for you, from all the annoying arrows, but meh.

Support (Vs. Teams)

Sometimes when you’re team pvping, you need to realize you can’t work on your own, and charge in tearing everything apart. This strategy involves sitting back, and shooting the opponents that your teamates are fighting. This will usually give your teamates that small lead on them to take them down.

Note a few things. One, that constantly shooting an elesis they are fighting will just cause them to berserk, hurting your own teamates. Also, you usually have someone chasing you down to stop the arrow fire, so be careful when using this strategy.

Sometimes when using this strategy, it’s wise to run around the room, dodging whoever is chasing you, while still giving your teammates support from a distance.

The Infinite Combo Technique (Vs. Anyone that doesn't have Berzerk)

The infinite combo technique is very very hard to pull off, mainly due to the everchanging lag in this game. Basically, you do a foward slash combo, and immediately start a second one as they are mid air after you knocked them up there, instead of just going for an air grab. When done correctly, you can juggle them for as long as you’d like.

One of the hardest parts about doing this move is maintaining it after you've ran out of room on the map, sense this moves slowly moves them to the left or right depending on which way you face. To actually maintain it indefinitely, you have to be extremely fast, to the point where you can reposition yourself on the other side of your target while they're knocked up, allowing you to continue juggling back in the direction you came from.

The 1hko Technique

Ok. I went over this briefly in my second video, but I’ll explain it here as well. Back before they nerfed lire’s ST MP regen shared skill, you could do a skill combo that would instantly kill opponents, no matter what. To do this attack, you simply had to run up to an opponent, perform the MP regen move, and do a chakra.

At this point, you’re already gaining enough MP for a first bar, even though you just started your chakra. When you start to fall down from the chakra, immediately use the first bar you’ve gained, doing a hyper shot on them. This would freeze the opponent, letting chakra REVERBERATE on them, and instantly kill them. Most of the time they would respawn before the hyper shot ever hit them, because the game ASSUMED they were already dead. [outdated due to mp regen not happening mid skill anymore]

---Update: Now with fourth bars released, this can be performed without having to worry about charging MP at all. As long as you have all four bars ready, simply charge and release your hyper shot as you fall, like stated above.

For a reference on what it looks like, in a watered down state [before fourth bars came out], please watch the end of the in game lire guide video below.

Grab Wars

Grab wars occur when you and your opponent grab each other at the same time. When this happens, you can grab the opponent again right afterwards, usually even if they tried to run away or use a skill. The catcher though, is that they can too. Of course, this leads to a grab war, where you and the opponent grab each other at the same time, over and over.

One way to win these, is by this: Right after you finish your grab, move backwards from them a few steps, and dash back in to grab again. When done right they usually perform a dash attack instead of a grab, letting you grab them. However, if they do the exact same thing, you’re back where you started. At this point, it’s just whoever holds out longest and wins the grab war.

———————-Caution: Some classes/jobs, like Striker, can grab you, and pull off an air attack right afterwards, while you are just finishing your grab. You have to know ahead of time if they can do this or not, to prevent yourself from getting grabbed. When you grab each other for the first time, you should know ” Ok, he’s going to jump attack and grab again.” and simply rocket step , dash, or skill at that point when he does go to air attack.

Skills, and Using them Properly

Here I will explain how to use the 3 MP skills you have for Arch Ranger, and properly. When I say properly, I mean in the most effective, and usually the least ” Newbish” ways possible

]--------------Character Update Note: After the PvP Balance patch White Wind was drastically buffed and simplified. These instructions still apply; however, it is MUCH easier now to pull off consecutive hits with this skill. Along with that, Chakra has been buffed to increase damage and the amount of frames that hit opponents, making it more powerful now. Of course, following this part of the guide will still yield stronger and more efficient use of AR skills.

Hyper Shot

This skill is generally used a lot, but should not be spammed. There are a couple of effective ways to use this.

1. Ledge release- This is basically performed by: Running towards a ledge, and at the end of the ledge, when you are about to fall off of it, releasing a Hyper shot. When performed correctly, you will fall off the ledge, while doing a hyper shot on your way down.

2. Delay, and Delay Grabbing- When you release a Hyper shot, it freezes everything in the area for less then a second or so. Delay can help your partner come in, and for example, grab them, while they are stuck in that half second of freezing delay.

A way to use this delay yourself, is to create “delay grabs”. Delay grabbing is basically you grabbing an opponent, then running at them while they are on the ground. When you are next to them, while they are just getting up, use another Hyper shot. When timed right, this will freeze them, while they are just getting up from the grab, giving you a second or two time to go in and grab them a second time. This can be chained several times in a row.

3. Avoiding Skills- In a scary situation, say someone is coming right at you with a 3rd bar, and you can’t get out of the way, you can very quickly let off a Hyper shot or other skill to avoid the skill. Whenever you are using a skill, you are invincible, no matter what. There of course is some limits to this, for example, at the VERY beginning/ end of your skills, you are not completely invincible.

White Wind

White Wind is generally a hard skill to pull off correctly, but when done right can be devastating. This is one of the very few skills, maybe the only one, where you can fully control it, and move around throughout the whole skill.

The idea behind using wind correctly, is drag. Drag occurs when an opponent gets caught in your wind, and is hit by on of the inner whirlwinds, and knocked into the next inner whirlwind, moving them along as they get it by it.

To pull off drag, the most basic way is to use wind, go up and hit them, and just pull away with it. This is usually just to SEE the drag, to know what you’re learning about. In a real situation, if you’re next to each other and you wind, you should go forward at them, drag back, and go forward again, and back again, in quickly movements. When done right results in more damage then simply using wind, and going straight at them, probably knocking them down.

Another, more effective way to use wind is by catching them with it as they fall. As a person is dashing/falling through the air, if you get under them in time and use wind, you can drag them around a lot, doing severe damage.

The final main way to use wind, is for right after someone does a skill, usually when the skill is like a healing skill, or a skill where you can walk through them. While they are finishing their skill, you go at them, use wind, and move back and forth, fast, around them in a small area. This will usually just 1hko them. So much for your healing from fatals Amy!

Chakra

Ahh chakra. This is what some people [used to] consider a very weak skill. However, it can be used in very effective ways. I already mentioned the 1hko technique for it above in strategies. That is one way to use chakra. Here is some other main ways.

The first way to use it is by running off ledges with it. This is done the exact same way it was done for hyper shots, mentioned earlier. Simply run at a ledge, and at the end of it, release a chakra while still running. At this point, you are in mid air shooting up the chakra. During this time, you are able to move left +right, as you fall, to move the chakra. The chakra will land at the last point you’re at when you fall to the ground. To use this effectively, use the chakra, and move toward the opponent. As they run away from it, simply move with them as you fall, making it impossible for them to avoid it.

-----------------Note: One of the most effective places to do this is by going off of the two ledges in the middle of the Elven Forest map.

-----------------Note #2: Adjust use accordingly to each map you're on. If, for example, you are on Elven forest, you can estimate how close to the sides of the map chakra will reach. When dragging your chakra towards your opponent, keep in mind that after a certain point left or right your chakra will go off the map, wasting a part of the area you could have covered.


The second way to use chakra is by being extra aggressive with it. Basically, when you know your opponent doesn’t have MP, or they just spawned, run right at them with a chakra, letting it off right next to them. Whenever it hits them, use this delay/stun time to pull off a grab. Note that you may have to pull off a quick rocket step grab to catch them as they try to get away. [this may no longer be possible due to changes in pvp's skill delay system]

—————–Note: To do this, you have to time it perfectly, so that 1: the chakra actually does damage to them, and 2, that you pull off the grab after they've been hit by the chakra, but before they are knocked down on the ground or have time to get away.

I hope you all enjoyed my very lengthy and in-depth guide to Arch ranger, along with the shorter guide to Lire. I worked hard on this and I know that the people reading this have improved and have enjoyed the guide.

So, thank you for taking the time to read it, and good luck on your career as a Lire.

Note that I had originally planned to create a video montage of me pvping, to show how I personally fight, and me using most of the things mentioned here. However, since the in-game recording system refuses to work properly, and I usually don’t get “recordable worthy fights” every day, it’s extremely hard for me to make the video as of now. However, in the future, I might come back and add one last video, showing me kick **** with AR~

Once again, thank you for reading my guide. If you’ve read through it all you’ve already improved with lire.

This is Shields, Signing Off~

Here is a set of videos, showing aspects of Arch Ranger. This is so that you can see how to do most of these things, make sure you do them right, etc.

——–Note: You may need to view some of the videos outside of the guide here.

Video guide to Combos, Shooting, and Grabs


As the title suggests, this guide is a screen capture of me showing how to do most of the combos, shooting, otto, etc, along with how to do a double grab, and a special ” Treat” which I will talk about later at the end of it.

——Note: Got an email from Youtube. Looks like my video got blocked in Germany for using the music haha, so I apologize to all of you Germans out there playing NAGC, even though you should probably be on a different server there.

Footage of Archer ST Combos


Here is a good example of some ways to use Archer ST, with creativeness / user skill in mind, performed by xGdx~


Links to other Guides

Here is a list of Links to other guides that talk about the concepts I don’t mention in this guide, mainly Lire severe basics, guides to other Lire jobs not talked about here, and guides to core pvp concepts, such as Grabbing, which I also don’t go into very much detail here.

As of now, there are about 6 or so guides out there for Lire, and her jobs. Here are the links of the ones I feel are reliable enough to go off of. These explain things from the simple concepts of Mp skills, to Full guides to jobs.

[---------------------------]

These guides will help those looking to do the following: Learn Basic lire concepts, Pre-ST Archer, ST Archer, Xbow, and Nova. There are no real guides to AR up till now ( Mine here).

Here are some guides focused on core PvP concepts I don’t go into very much detail here.

[---------------------------]

[/b]

Credits
Art:

-Credit for all art used in the guide goes towards PhenixGirl and Zecks. Thanks for the help~

Writers:

• Oliver
  
  • Crossbow Introduction

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Notes
Looking for Writers!...

The Guide on my part is finished. However, my ultimate goal is to have talented Lire users write guides to the other aspects that I myself can't cover, simply because I'm not experienced enough with them.

As of now, I'm looking for people to write guides for : Archer, Xbow, Nova, and a section over Guan.

If you're interested, please send me a message via the forum PM system @ http://Forum.grandchaseonline.com (My nickname there is Shields), or just post here in the thread.