Ranger class series

The Ranger class series is a tri-elemental class series available to the Jupiter Adepts, the Mercury Adepts and to a lesser extent, the Mars Adepts. Mars and Mercury Djinn are required for the Jupiter Adepts to become this class, while Mars and Jupiter Djinn are required for the Mercury Adepts. The ability to access this class by Mars Adepts is a vastly overlooked quirk in The Lost Age and beyond and requires Mercury and Jupiter Djinn.

This class series's Djinn cadence is similar in structure to the Ninja, Dragoon, and Medium class series. In terms of Psynergy, it mixes together the Jupiter and Mercury Ascetics, sacrificing the Plasma, Prism, and Wish series for the privilege of having three elements of wide-range attack Psynergy available at once.

The class series, when at its highest stage of Warlock and compared to the other series at their highest respective stages, has excellent Agility (tying with the Wizard and surpassed only by the Master) and very high PP, and average HP and Attack, but lower Defense. The series has high Luck. Noteworthy Psynergy from an endgame perspective includes Ward/Resist and Break, and the heaviest area-of-effect Psynergy it has is Pyroclasm. Average stats from an endgame perspective are 155% (162% if you don't factor in Luck).

Notes on Class Names

 * Hover your cursor over class names for alt-text of series' Japanese names.

Analysis
While lacking the hard-hitting Psynergy like Prism and Plasma of the White Mage class series, the Ranger Class series has three offensive, damage dealing Psynergy series in three elements (Douse, Slash, and Volcano), a boast that can't be made by any other Tri-Elemental class series available to Jupiter and Mercury adepts (the Medium and White Mage classes). On top of that, the Ranger's PP pool will tend to last a very, very long time with Pyroclasm being the most expensive Psynergy weighing in at a paltry 29 PP.

The average attack stat can be further augmented by Piers, Ivan, Karis, Amiti and Sveta and their ability to wield stronger weapons than the other Mercury and Jupiter adepts.

The Ranger class series might be one of the best classes (if not the best) for Piers, given that he is more warrior oriented like Isaac and Felix, yet most of his classes are caster oriented like the Hermit and White Mage. From his mono-elemental mariner class, he loses some health, but his defense is a little better and his PP and Agility stats are significantly better, all the while maintaining the same attack and luck. Amiti benefits as well, trading 20% health for higher PP and Agility, beneficial when considering his status as a mage-styled Adept. In addition, the class matches up well with the Sagittarius Bow, which he often wields. The increase in Mars and Jupiter Power serve to bolster the Bow's secondary Unleashes.

It should be noted that the Ranger series is the only Tri-elemental class series that has Break, although it is learned later than other classes (34 as opposed to every other class which learns it at 30) and the only Tri-elemental that has Bind.

As a Partial Class
The Ranger class is available to Mars Adepts Jenna, Garet, Tyrell, and Eoleo with a massive 6 Water or Wind and 3 Wind or Water Djinn set to them.

Statistically, the 160% PP stat is among the better either can achieve, however, unlike the 150% Attack stat for Ivan, Sheba, and Karis in the Ninja class, the various Mars Adepts have classes which can equal that stat (the Master in the Ninja class) or better it (the War Adept in the Page Class). The same applies for the 160% agility: it can be bested elsewhere and for a far less demanding lineup of Djinn. At the same time, the health, attack and defense statistics ALL leave something to be desired for them.

Given the high demand of Djinn, weak stats and decent Psynergy lineup, the Ranger does not serve as a very good class for any of the Mars Adepts, and shouldn't be placed high on the priority, even if attempting to utilize the Item Dependents. There exist far better options for partial classes that should be considered (notably the Ninja for Ivan, Sheba, and Karis or the Fire or Water Monk in the Pilgrim classes for Garet, Jenna, Tyrell, and Eoleo).