definitely the little +3 will make a difference, the increased dps over ranger boots/imbunes multiplied by all the team members will really seperate the good teams from the bad ones, also ranger boots offer higher mage defence than snakeskin, imbuned rings also doing the same, and def bonuses are very valuable when it comes to nex, because she will choose to hit you instead of the other team members and i guarantee u will tele out early because you are out of supplies if you are lacking defense. that being said, since you are new to nex and cant afford rangers atm, i suggest that u get ur imbunes firsts, then join some non-ranger boots teams until u get a split, and then u can afford to upgrade to rangers.