Ranger

The Ranger (レンジャー, Renjā) is a recurring, nature-themed vocation in the Dragon Quest series. Eschewing the typical Robin Hood designs seen in other games, DQ rangers are modeled after the inhabitants of the great steppes such as the Mongolians and American Indians.

A Wetling, Ogre, and Dwarf as rangers in Dragon Quest X

Characteristics

The Ranger's statistics vary from game to game, though there is a consistent focus on evasiveness and providing party support. In Dragon Quest VI, the Ranger increases Agility, Wisdom, and gives the party an increased chance to flee from battle at higher ranks, though it decreases several other attributes as well. In Dragon Quest IX, the Ranger is most Deft of all vocations, and serves as a physically oriented jack-of-all-trades by providing buffs, healing, and above-average damage output even from the back row. Though the vocation's only high stat is deftness, their tool-set is broad enough to cover a wide variety of circumstances while providing relief for the party's main healer, and also inflict tremendous damage through the powerful Wolf Whistle skill. Dragon Quest X slightly modifies the Ranger from IX, giving it access to the lightening element via a high-voltage arrow skill.

Thematically, the Ranger's focus on avoiding combat through silently navigating the field and dungeons without detection, having a greater chance to flee from foes, dodging attacks through the use of smoke techniques such as Mist Me, and the ability to summon animals to aid in battle makes them closer to the typical Ninja seen in RPGs more so than the usual forest-dwelling sniper present in other games.

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation

A character requires mastery of the Merchant, Thief and Monster Master vocations to become a Ranger. Becoming a Ranger allows a character to flee battle more easily at higher ranks. Note that vocation flee rates stack with base encounter flee rates; I.E. being at rank 1 does not cut the base chance in half.

Vocation trait

Rank	Flee Rate
1	1/8
2	1/8
3	3/8
4	3/8
5	5/8
6	5/8
7	5/8
8	8/8

Stat Changes

Statistics	Change
Battles to Master	199
Strength	-10%
Agility	+20%
Resilience	-20%
Wisdom	+10%
Max HP	-10%
Max MP	+20%
Trait	Increased chance of fleeing the enemy
Mastery Bonus	+20 Agility

• In the SFC and DS versions of 'VI', the Ranger's MP is reduced by 30%

Abilities

Level	Title	Learns	Battles Needed	Target	Info	MP
1	Woodcutter	Holy Protection	1	Party	Generates a holy aura that keeps weaker monsters away.	4
2	Trailblazer	Venom Mist	20	One group	Envenomates a group of enemies.	0
3	Gatherer	Safe Passage	50	Party	Travel with impunity across terrain that would otherwise cause harm.	2
4	Trapper	Stomp	80	All enemies	Creates a violent vibration that shakes up enemies.	0
5	Tracker	Dazzleflash	110	Enemy group	Blinds the enemy with a bright flash of light.	0
6	Stalker	Defending Champion	140	Self	Greatly reduces the damage inflicted by physical attacks.	0
7	Predator	Pyre o' Fire	170	One enemy	A pillar of flame that singes the enemy.	0
8	King of the Hunt	Backdraft	200	Self	Whips up a tailwind that reflects an enemy breath attack.	0

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past

The Ranger vocation does not appear at all in either version of Dragon Quest VII; due to a localization error, the Armamentalist vocation was dubbed the Ranger in the PSX script.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

The Hero must finish the quest Ranger Changer to unlock this vocation. By talking to a person at the base of the Heights of Loneliness, the player can accept a quest which involves poisoning Hocus Chimeras and then letting them die by poison, nothing else. After doing this 3 times, the ranger vocation is unlocked.

Rangers have the unique skillset Ruggedness, and can also use skill points to learn Axe, Bow, Boomerang, and Fisticuffs skills. Their Coup-de-Grace is "Brownie Boost," which increases attack, defense, and applies Insulate.

Stats

Attribute	Starting stats	Maximum stats
Level	1	99
HP	31	510
MP	14	229
Strength	18	305
Agility	16	264
Resilience	14	241
Magical Might	0	0
Magical Mending	12	200
Deftness	30	500
Charm	4	61

Ruggedness

Name	Description	Required points	Accolade
Soothe Sayer	Calms an enraged enemy	4	Backpacker
Natural Deftness +10	Permanently adds 10 to deftness	10	Happy Camper
Mercy	Gives a weakened enemy a chance to escape	16	Outdoorsman/woman
Natural Agility +20	Permanently adds 20 to agility	22	Forest Dweller
Vanish	Hides party on field; reduces user's chance of being attacked	32	Wild Child
Natural Resilience +20	Permanently adds 20 to resilience	42	Survivalist
Mist Me	Summons fog that thwarts enemy attacks	55	Bushcraftsman/woman
Natural Deftness +30	Permanently adds 30 to deftness	68	Talented tracker
Wolf Whistle	Summons two wolves to attack enemy	82	Pathfinder
Natural Deftness +60	Permanently adds 60 to deftness	100	King/Queen of the Jungle

Spells

Name	MP	Level	Target	Description
Safe Passage	2	3	Party	Travel with impunity across harmful terrain.
Squelch	2	4	One ally	Cures a single ally of the effects of poison.
Evac	3	7	Party	Exit instantly from dungeons, caves, and towers.
Heal	2	10	One ally	Restores at least 30 HP to a single ally.
Insulate	4	12	One ally	Protects a party member from breath-based attacks.
Tingle	2	16	Party	Cures all party members of the effects of paralysis.
Cock-a-doodle-doo	2	18	Party	Awakens any sleeping party members.
Midheal	4	22	One ally	Restores at least 75 HP to a single ally.
Zing	8	24	One ally	Resurrects a fallen ally, but sometimes fails.
Insulatle	8	26	Party	Protects the whole party from breath-based attacks.
Moreheal	8	34	One ally	Restores at least 165 HP to a single ally.

Revocation Award

• Medal of Freedom

Dragon Quest X

Rangers were added to the game in the version 1.1 update. The stat spread and abilities are similar to the previous game, and the class has the highest deftness by far once again. The biggest difference between IX and X for the ranger is that the tenth game gives them access to Rubblerouser, Boulderbringer, Mountainmover and Ridgeraiser as their sole offensive spells.

NOTE:The parenthetical translations of the Japanese names are merely placeholders for convenience and are not to be taken as official Square Enix terms

Ruggedness

Japanese name	English name	Description	MP	Required points
みのがす	Mercy	Spares weaker monsters who flee the battlefield. No experience points or gold is gained, but vamoosing monsters can still drop items.	2	2
全職業できようさ+20	Natural deftness +20	Permanently increases deftness by 20 in all vocations	N/A	12
てなずける (To tame, to win over, etc)	N/A	Targeted monster fights on the party's behalf for one minute	0	22
全職業でみりょく+20	Natural charm +20	Permanently increases charm by 20 in all vocations	N/A	34
メタルトラップ (Metal trap)	N/A	Sets a trap that prevents enemies from fleeing for 15 seconds Works on all monsters, including Metal slimes	1	46
全職業できようさ+20	Natural deftness +20	Permanently increases deftness by 20 in all vocations Total of +40	N/A	54
まもりのきり	Mist me	Clouds user in mist that voids breath skills for 120 seconds This includes status ailment breath skills	5	68
全職業でかいふく魔力+20	Natural magical mending +20	Permanently increases magical mending by 20 in all vocations	N/A	78
全職業できようさ+20	Natural deftness +20	Permanently increases deftness by 20 in all vocations Total of +60	N/A	82
オオカミアタック	Wolf whistle	Summons a wolf to attack one enemy twice Damage is based on deftness, max of 175~185 per strike at 500 Ignores defence stat, but is effected by defending & defensive skills	6	100
先制攻撃率アップ (Preemptive strike chance up)	N/A	Raises the chance to get the drop on enemies	N/A	110
きようさ+20	Natural deftness +30	Increases deftness by 30 while character is a ranger Total of +90	N/A	120
あんこくのきり (Mist of darkness, blackness, gloom, etc)	N/A	A fog is produced that lowers the strength and attack spell resistance of all enemies in range by one stage Affected enemies are also blinded Duration is 120 seconds	4	130
ジバルンバ	Ridgeraiser	Unlocks the Ridgeraiser spell	16	140
フェンリルアタック (Fenrir attack)	N/A	Summons a white wolf to attack a random enemy four times Damage based on deftness, algorithm unknown Unaffected by Dazzle & blinding skills Ignores defence stat, but is effected by defending & defensive skills		150
ケルベロスロンド (Cerberus rondo)	N/A	Summons the hound of Hades to attack one enemy three times, with a chance to Sap the target per strike Damage based on deftness, cap of approximately 320 per strike at 700 Each strike ignores defence stat, but has a 50% chance to miss.	10	180
紅蓮蝶のきり(Mist of the crimson-lotus butterfly)	N/A	Produces a fog that raises the party's attack by two stages (40%) and voids one enemy breath skill	8	200

Spells

Name	MP	Level	Target	Description
Evac	3	3	Party	Exit instantly from dungeons, caves, and towers.
Heal	2	6	One ally	Restores at least 30 HP
Cock-a-doodle-doo	2	10	One ally	Cures Snooze
Rubblerouser	4	12	Proximity	Sets a seal on the ground that will explode after a duration and hit nearby enemies for 18~24earth damage.
ザオ (Zao)	5	15	One ally	50% chance to revive party member at 1 HP
Insulate	2	19	One ally	Reduces breath damage by up to 40% for 120 seconds
Boulderbringer	8	23	Proximity	Sets a seal on the ground that will explode after a duration and hit nearby enemies for 52~68 earth damage.
Midheal	4	25	One ally	Restores at least 80 HP
Dazzle	3	29	Proximity	Blinds enemies, reducing accuracy
Zing	8	38	One ally	50% chance to revive party member at half HP
Insulatle	4	44	Party	Reduces breath damage by up to 40% for 120 seconds
Moreheal	10	68	One ally	Restores at least 164 HP
Mountainmover	16	69	Proximity	Sets a seal on the ground that will explode after a duration and hit nearby enemies for 130~150 earth damage.
Oomphle	4	72	One ally	Raises party member's attack by 40% for 120 seconds

Dragon Quest Walk

Rangers as they appear in Walk

The ranger vocation was added to the game in the January 2020 update. Unlocking it requires that a player reach level 50 in the thief and martial artist vocations, the latter of which due to the monster master not being present in the game. The vocation's weapon choices are Boomerangs, Claws, Knives, and Whips

Trivia

• The rank accolades for the Japanese version of VI are taken from the Super Sentai series of tokusatsu television programs, rather than any bushcraft or survivalist terms. They are:

• White ranger (シロレンジャー)
• Yellow ranger (キレンジャー)
• Red ranger (アカレンジャー)
• Blue ranger (アオレンジャー)
• Black ranger (クロレンジャー)
• Power ranger (パワーレンジャー)
• Mega ranger (メガレンジャー)
• King ranger (キングレンジャー)

• Due to their natural deftness and the alterations done to stealing mechanics in Dragon Quest IX, a Ranger will typically be better at robbing monsters than a Thief if no stat boosting items are equipped.

See also

• Fur vest

Gallery

• 

  The Hero using Backdraft in VI's V-Jump guidebook

• 

  Human stock art of the Ranger vocation in X