RNG not all what it cracked up to be

Ok so today I got the RNG job and I noticed right away that at these low levels it sucks bad.

You don't get the good armor and the hand-to-hand bonus for having a MNK subclass didn't do jack squat. I am just wondering if I should sub a mage for this job or at least get some advice so its not so tedieous to lvl up like WHM is.

You shouldn't be fighting with hand-to-hand as a Ranger, you should be shooting things. Your sub-job doesn't really matter much at all in the first stretch of levels, just like it doesn't matter much with most jobs during those low levels. My recommendation would be to start subbing Ninja once dual-wield and utsusemi: ichi are available.

IMO when leveling any job from 1-10 sub WAR for mage jobs and WHM for melee jobs but once u reach 10-11 and u go to Valkurm Dunes sub WHM for mage and WAR/NIN/MNK/THF depending on ur job. When u get RNG to 24 it is a must that u use /NIN for Utsusemi:Ichi since ur not going to want to take damage while pulling IT mobs.

But like Necronopticous said ur subjob at low lvls dont matter.

My recommendation for 1-10 is to sub WHM, use daggers, and start learning the ranges in which your shots will do optimal damage using the compass with your desired ranged weapon.

Once thats over, i would sub WAR whenever you can for the extra power if you are holding lots of R.Acc, otherwise /NIN is good if you have lots of R.ATK. But i would have both availible for subbing. /WAR can give you numbers close to or beyond the damage of a RNG pre-patch of /ra, however /NIN gives you some safety and option to get two bonuses on a weapon. So have both ready is my recommendation.

You should not get hit or take minimal damage until level 58ish when you fight raptors that run faster than you, for just about most other mobs, they will not hit you if you are far away from them while pulling so /NIN is not a necessity imo until then. /THF is useless for RNG since Sneak Attack doesnt stack with ranged attacks nor does it offer anything until 30 before, and /MNK is useless unless you want extra HP. However /DRG from 20-30 with that Attack Bonus and Jump make it a viable option until level 30 when /WAR gives you Berserk.

And dont use hand to hand on RNG...thats not what they are there for. Have all your subs ready and know your sweet spots and monster run speeds.

EDIT: Ah yeah i forgot RNGs can use Axes...yes use those when needing to melee, thanks for reminding me Zaph. Daggers are more for parties and stat bonuses.

I always sub WHM when I'm soloing the early levels unless I have someone PL'ing me, which isn't often. I haven't leveled RNG since the nerf, and I only took it to level 20 a long time before that, so I can't much comment on how soloing the first ten levels goes. I can imagine that since ranged attacks are dependant on distance and a sweetspot now, soloing becomes difficult with ranged attacks seeing as when you're soloing the mob gets right up in your face. If you must fight hand-to-hand, use an axe.

My suggestion would be to fight worms. They stay in place, obviously, so you can sit in your sweetspot and just unload on them. There's plenty of different worms in different areas that should support you levels 1-10. I'm not quite sure of the levels, but the various worms in Ronfaure and KRT should probably do the trick. After that, if you want to solo a bit further, you can solo worms in the Maze of Shakrami.

I went through my Brady Guide's monster list by area and pieced together the best sequencial set of worms I could find. Brady Guide doesn't acknowledge the existance of Korroloka Tunnel, and I know those are popular worms to EXP on around the same time as Maze of Shakrami, so try there around the same level, I imagine. Be careful though - in my experience, worms are always pretty well defended by roaming beastmen. They're lucrative EXP. I soloed my blm to 25 on worms alone. Just watch your back. Just as the worm is a tasty morsel to you, you are to the beastmen. I can't remember how many times I had to zone from a winning battle after hearing Gaaauuuurrruuuhn! and getting a whack to red HP from behind.

Mob Name - Locale - mob's min-max lvl
Tunnel Worm - Gustaberg/Ronfuare - 1-1
Tunnel Worm - Zeruhn Mines - 1-3
Carrion Worm - King Ransperre's Tomb - 2-5
Stone Eater - Dagruff Wadi - 3-5
Stone Eater - King Ransperre's Tomb 5-7
Wadi Grub - Dagruff Wadi - 9-12
Rock Eater - King Ransperre's Tomb - 14-16
Maze Maker - Maze of Shakrami - 18-21
??? - Koroloka Tunnel - ??? (similar to Shakrami?)

Shakrami worms become non IT once you hit 15ish, but worms in Korroloka are viable in ITness til 18. So its a little tad bit stronger, so stay in Shakrami for a little longer.

I dunno, but I did VT/IT stuff at level 1 with RNG.

I love the wide scan on Rng ! its the best for farming !

thanks for all the good advice out there. Here is something else besides the worm idea that worked great. I got in a two man pt and just used my bow while the other tanked. That right there lvled up archery really quick. but again thanks for the good advice

RNG is the only job I have yet to be in a party with, so I guess they aren't all that popular anymore.

The popularity of a job is pretty sporatic (sp (?)) Rng was popular like 5 months or so ago on Garuda ... now i hardly see them >.<
I have a lvl 6 Rng i only use for wide scan to Farm but DAMN ! Widescan ROCKS !!!