Let's talk Manastones

In this article I plan on covering the basics of Manastones for the Ranger community. I will be discussing basic mechanics and moderate strategy when it comes to what stones we benefit from the most. There are some universal no-no's for the Ranger when it comes to manastone strategy but please always remember that there should never be a catch-all build. Know your play style and stone accordingly. And experimentation is part of the fun.




Meet Mr. Manastone.
Every Aion toon comes with the ability to "install" manastones. Not every stone can go in every slot (changed from 1.0 where you could). Socketing stones can either fail or succeed (a failed attempt will destroy the stone). The success of a socket is determined by the difference in level between the stone and the item. The higher the stone over the item, the more chance you have.

So many options, so little time.
But what stones do we equip? There are so many! For this article I will be focusing on 5 stats: HP, crit, attack, accuracy, and evasion.

Accuracy: Ranger's highest "natural stat". At level 30 we have close to 1000 accuracy without stones and enchants. For this reason, using accuracy stones shouldn't be happening since we already have plenty of this stat naturally.


HP: No one could argue that HP is worthless but every class must balance offense and defense so this comes down to a personal choice. Do you want to sacrifice damage for more survivability? Rangers shine in survivability so typically HP stones will present missed opportunities to increasing our lackluster DPS. PvP is the only area where a Ranger should consider HP though. In PvE situations, if you are doing things correctly you shouldn't be getting hit much (kite or tank taking damage).

Crit: Let that word sink into your head. Crit is a very good thing. Not only will increased crit chance boost your DPS, but it will increase stun/knock back procs. A stunned enemy is a dead enemy. The more stuns that occur in battle, the less chance an enemy has to close distance on you (or friends), cast spells etc. Casters hate interrupts. This also allows you to increase distance if you are staying mobile. High crit will make you that much more annoying (one thing us rangers love to be).

Attack: This stat will increase your base damage. This stat, like HP will come down to personal choice. Do you want more consistent and predictable damage with less stun/knockback/interupts? The ranger class is a very bursty class by default so this stat will curb that a bit. Rather or not that is a good thing is personal preference.

Evasion: Like HP, this stat falls under the "why are you getting hit" category but I wanted to make mention of one point. One strategy to consider is placing evasion on your melee weapons. There are situations were a Ranger can benefit from switching to melee so it won't hurt to have some evasion when you switch to melee mode. Remember that the stats coming from weapons and stones are only active when that item is equipped. The idea here is when that bow is out you shouldn't be getting hit with melee damage so evasion is less useful. When those daggers are out you are obviously in a melee situation. Just something to consider/think about.

So what do I do then?
At the end of the day manastones come down to personal choice and play style. That being said, my personal preference leans more towards crit. My plan for the NA release is Crit > Atk > HP with evasion on melee weapons. If I can help it, I will be going purely with crit. I find the knockback/stun proc too invaluable to how I play. I like to kite and the more times the enemy stops in his tracks, the less I am getting hit.

In PvP, many will argue HP is important. Time will tell if it is an absolute necessity in PvP but the verdict from live servers seemed mixed at this point. There have been reports of high level Abyss farmers going with all Atk but it seems to me that Atk and Crit can be interchangeable depending on if you are relying on stuns or or wanting a more consistent DPS. Bursty DPS is less predictable but I think that makes battle more interesting.

Focusing on attack will allow you to be more methodical in your play style since you will have a better idea how much DPS you will be outputting in most situations as apposed to relying on the chance to crit. A crit player needs to play more on their toes and react to the ever changing situation, which I find more exciting or enjoyable. In the end, personal preference should determine what you socket. Personal preference shouldn't allow you to use magic boost, parry, shield defense, or MP stones though!

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