Weapon of Choice:
Starting off Non-REMA, I believe I should be using Holliday & Teller with Delve ammo for both? Are there any MAB ammos that can be amassed? I believe they are sadly only obtainable in singles from NMs.
Also where can I quiver delve ammo? There's a page for them on BGwiki but no info on them.
Yes, though for Bow you could also get a Nobility (from Sinister Reign), which is also an excellent non-RMEA option. Teller would need VERY strong augments to beat it. Steinthor from Albumen T4 Reisenjima is also a good non-RMEA bow, but good chance that if you are killing Albumen you're able to get an Aeonic anyway.
That being said, you'll probably be using gun for almost everything anyway, so don't feel like you need to go too nuts on any bow.
Quiver/Pouch NPC is the same NPC as always, Nokkhi Jinjahl in whatever nation is 1st place in Conquest (trade a carnation along with the ammo to be quivered).
RNG has no real sources for MAB ammo outside of RMEA ammo - stuff like the Animikii Bullet is more designed for COR to use with Quick Draw and not expend, not really a thing for non-RMEA RNG.
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Subjob:
Not sure how debatable this is.. When should I use SAM or WAR? /NIN dual wield Malevolence have any use outside of when shadows are needed?
/WAR or /SAM for physical oriented mobs (i.e., Last Stand/Jishnu situations). Perun+1/Nusku Shield is the standard setup for both. I personally find /WAR more frequently useful for Fencer (TP Bonus +200/Crit rate +3%), Berserk, Warcry. /SAM STP+15 (and to a lesser extent, Meditate/Sekkanoki) may not even change your x-hit, though at least Trueflight has some significant benefit from TP overflow (Last Stand not so much).
/DNC or /NIN are for when Trueflight is better damage (i.e., probably anything that isn't especially light magic resistant), primarily for that second dagger. /DNC is better offensively, thanks to Skillchain Bonus trait (SC damage +8%). /NIN is better defensively with shadows, but there's a good chance that's largely irrelevant in current content where RNG is particularly useful (I find myself going /DNC at leas 9 times out of 10 when I want a DW sub). /NIN also gets 10 more DW if for whatever reason you want to melee... but I tend to find it more useful to just shoot for TP (though I guess a CP party might be more DW melee friendly).
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Double Shot:
I think I'll be changing quite a lot of pieces when this is up. Should I be using it on cooldown and is it worth to lose all the STP? How bad is balancing the spinning plates of diff gear if I eventually have Gandiva AM and doubleshot up?
Double Shot is amaaaazziiiinnng. Relic +2/+3 body and Oshosi pieces (especially head & feet) are great for it, along with Ambu cape that you'll no doubt want to be using anyway. Double Shot makes an even bigger DPS difference for Empy (where white damage is a significantly higher portion of the TP/WS split than other weapons), but it's great for both. Oshosi head is worth giving up even the amazing TP generation of Relic head to me.
Personally, I think a decent balance is:
1) General purpose STP/default Racc set
2) Double Shot set
3) High Racc set
And for Empy users in particular (but also viable for anyone interested in a crit set), add a 4th set:
4) Heavy crit dmg/rate set (for Empy AM up)
I just put a macro for each set in my macro bar, and hit em to shoot in the appropriate midshot set.
For preshot sets, you can adjust Rapid Shot/Snapshot based on level of Flurry you have (no Flurry, Flurry I, Flurry II). Could do a toggle in .lua if you use GS. If you don't, I like the method of just using three consecutive different macro pages (one for each level of flurry) and otherwise duplicating the pages.
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Camouflage:
Seems to only be useful in scenarios I don't want to WS because of mechanics or not wanting to ruin people's fabulous Skillchains!
Yeah, also nice for minimizing enmity for a short time - especially nice while building TP safely at the start of a fight, after a big hate reset, etc. Empy RNG may get more out of it with Camo JPs adding sweet, sweet crit rate for those AM3 crit procs.
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Trueshot:
Is this even viable on anything except fodder?
Probably not. Tends to be that where you use RNG, you're doing it to stay out of AoE range and still do damage - so standing far enough away to be out of range is definitely the priority over being in the sweet spot for True Shot.
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Merits:
Am I right to assume
5/5 Sharpshot 5/5 Rapid Shot
5/5 Snapshot 5/5 Recycle Rate (I believe because of Relic Head)
Yep.
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Job Point priority:
Should this be my order?
Double Shot --> Velocity Shot --> Sharpshot = Decoy Shot = Barrage --> rest
More or less, yeah. That's definitely a reasonable progression. Again, the more you care about crits, Camo might move up some in priority (I think I did Double > Velocity > Sharpshot > Camo).
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Essential REM armor:
Quick look makes me think to only really get
Artifact: Head, Body, Hands
Relic: Head, Body, Legs
Empyrean: Body, Hands
Yeah that's pretty fair.
AF: I kinda like legs/feet for high Racc sets too (don't forget to add Racc+15 per additional piece set bonus), but I'm kinda with you that I don't know I'd call them "essential" like the others.
Relic: Yeah. Head is a killer TP piece (Recycle augment is amaaaziiiing), Body is a killer Double Shot piece, Legs are great for WS.
Empy: If you aren't using hands for some sort of Archery/STP set, you COULD skip these if you have any Herculean TH augmented gear and/or Chaac Belt though. You do want to try to use Bounty Shot in TH+4 worth of gear though (Empy hands Bounty Shot = TH+2). Legs aren't a bad STP/crit option, though lacking in Racc and I'm with you on not including them as an "essential".
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Any other info and tips for playstyle is greatly appreciated especially for any gear that is easily overlooked that "augments 'x'" or increases duration.
- Weatherspoon Ring is massive for Trueflight.
- Read some of the recent Arcadian Jerkin +3 testing, it's a BEAST with the rate at which it turns Double Shot into Triple Shot.
- You mentioned Gandiva (possible goal?). It's definitely a monster of a physical weapon, but it is rather limited - JR or bust. Gun is a lot more flexible, with a good physical WS option in Last Stand, and excellent magical WS in Trueflight (and WF to a much lesser extent). If you're gonna make multiple RNG RMEA, Gandiva is definitely an awesome option to have. If you want to just get one RMEA that more solidly covers all of your bases (or one to start with and then add to the collection later), one of the marksmanship RMEA are the way to go for strong physical AND magical damage. Any of Fomalhaut, Gastraphetes, or Armageddon can work this way (and if it matters to you, Fomal/Arma can pull double duty as high end COR weapons too).
- Magical WS generate a lot less enmity than spamming JR/Last Stand. Something to keep in mind that I think separates the smart RNGs from some of the Aeonic bandwagon. Good use of Decoy Shot (especially great when you're dumping lots of hate on the tank during Double Shot) and use of magical WS can be a total life saver, which is sort of the point of using rangers in the first place in most situations.