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Thread: [Battle Mage] Unfunded Battle Mage Guide!

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    Default [Battle Mage] Unfunded Battle Mage Guide!

    Guide For the Unfunded Battle Mage!

    Major Update: So, it seems PQs have been revamped. I know next to nothing about PQs, but the ones I did on my recent character were extraordinarily helpful in some real hell levels. That said, I can only imagine how they are otherwise : D.

    I highly recommend doing any PQ you can at whatever level you are whenever you get bored of training. They've become really good exp. I intend to make a new character to more accurately update this information, but I wanted to mention it here for now.


    Updates:
    Version .991 So, I missed out on Chaos and Ascension. I've attempted to do a quick edit for this guide to compensate for that, and hopefully I did alright for a first time through. I'll try and come back more thoroughly with PQ information later, as I see that as being one of the most important updates.
    Version .99: This is almost done! Levels are finished, now I need to format and edit. There's more fine tuning I want to do, but not tonight!
    Version .33: Finished first and second job. To be done: Third job, fourth job, discussion on skills, FAQ.
    Version .35 Added a bit more to third job, but ran out of time. Hopefully can resume later tonight.

    Hello, I'm Aberrence of Scania server. I just started a BaM and noticed a severe lack of guides. The guides that do exist tend to be similar in their information, and I found that by branching out of those guides I found excellent places to train and different ideas.

    I played way back when, before fourth job ever came out. I started with an I/L mage, and quit at level 51. Then I came back eventually and created a Crossbowman, mostly because they were cheap. I quickly fell in love with them and ended up going all the way to a level 81 Sniper (ShadowEragon) after about a year and a half of work. At level 81, I had every skill available to Sniper, and if I was getting 8% experience per hour I was getting AMAZING exp.

    That said, I quickly quit again. I did not want to spend another year waiting for fourth job to come out, nor did I want to train until level 120. I quit for about 4 years, and somebody told me I should come check it out again, that they made it better.

    When I found out the leveling rate had quickened so fast that you could get to level 70 in a week with less than 5 hours of play per day, I was excited. I wanted to try a new class, so I went back to my first love, the mage. Battle Mage sounded cool, so I rolled with it. And thus we begin.


    Why Battle Mage?

    Pros:
    TELEPORT MASTERY. I realize other mages get this but it's still a huge pro.
    Speaking of teleport, teleport in first job.
    Auras are a great boon to you and your party.
    Hitting 6 monsters starting from first job.
    More HP than other mages. Not having to rely on magic guard is nice.
    No deciding whether you want to do wands or staves 8D
    Party Shield is an awesome skill
    A lot of speed and hard hitting moves, less weak AoE damage.

    Cons:
    Less MP than other mages
    No elemental strengths
    Can't use wands, which tend to be cheaper to use
    Only one "spike damage" skill until 3rd job, and you must use your blows to use it.
    No Nocturnal Staff from Cleaning up the Streets (level 50 quest)



    AP:

    LUKless. I personally don't suggest going LUKless, unless you're filthy rich and can get ridiculous amounts of LUK from your equips (I'm talking like Chaos Zakum helm, horntail pendant, beautifully scrolled earrings with great potential, an epic cape...etc). I have this opinion because I believe the amount of INT you recieve does not outweigh the great magic attack you can get from the higher level staves.

    For the general mage, you want your LUK to be LUK = (Your Level) + 3. That said, the "general" mage still will want to cap their LUK. I'd say the top you'll want your LUK to be is about 60. That said however, I do not suggest taking this route either.

    Low LUK. Now this is what I'll go ahead and suggest. All this means is you cap your LUK at a very low number. Depending on what you personally want, I'd say between 20-40 LUK. Since this guide is for unfunded, I'll go ahead and edit that to saying if you want a Dark Ritual, Kage, or higher (other than Domesday, since that requires less LUK than Kage) then I'd definitely say no lower than 30. As an example, I started at 35 LUK. I'll explain my reasonings for suggesting this later, but in my opinion this will give you the highest amount of damage and isn't impossible to do unfunded. What I need to say now is, Low LUK is not as great a boon to your damage as I originally thought it would be. Therefore, if you want to ignore Low LUK and just add LUK normally, understand this:

    You will have less MP
    You still need to cap your LUK at 50, 60 at the latest for now. Once you hit end game, you can make more informed decisions on your LUK.


    Regardless of whether you go low LUK or the general mage, one thing you'll want to do is look ahead and save your LUK. What I mean by this is say you're level 10. You have your beginner's staff, which doesn't require you any LUK. The next staff you want is Wizard Staff at level 25, which will require 28 LUK from you. If you have 5LUK to start (I can't remember how they let you do that), you would need just need 23 more LUK. That would be about 5 levels. so, don't put any LUK in from levels 10-20, INT only. Then starting at level 21, put all 5 of your AP points in LUK until you have enough LUK for your weapon.

    The reason I suggest to do this is because of the MP bonus you get from INT. The more INT you have upon leveling up, the more MP you'll gain per level up. So if you're waiting to put all your LUK in until you actually need it, on average you'll have higher INT per level up than somebody who constantly kept putting LUK in with their INT per level. Therefore, you'll also have more MP than that mage.

    IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE:

    If you read, it says I -started- at 35 LUK. I'm currently at 48 base LUK. Yes, I highly reccomend keeping your LUK as low as possible for as long as possible. The real rule here is: have enough LUK to equip your weapon. You really shouldn't be aiming for any more than that, unless you're intending on changing weapons, or trying to gather enough LUK to swap out say, a LUK scrolled cape for an INT scrolled cape.

    That said, if you need more LUK and can't seem to find a feasible way to reach that goal, no shame in putting a few extra points in. Really though, make sure you've exhausted all options.



    Alright, as this is the guide for the unfunded Battle Mage (BaM) I will do this in 10 level spans explaining equips, skill trees, and training places for each. This guide will be written off personal experience. I came back after a 5 or 6 year hiatus from Maple. Everything had change. I had sold all of my equips on all of my characters, and then used the mesos to buy more epic equips and sell those for NX, so I had no equips and no mesos. The new, wide selection of classes was intimidating to me and I couldn't find much help for which class to pick.

    My BaM is currently only level 80, (Upon the most recent update of this guide, , I am 155) so this guide will stop around there until I am able to update it more. I may not be the best person to write an amazing guide expressing many different viewpoints and a vast knowledge of the BaM, but I am somebody who has just recently experienced leveling a BaM without any funds from another character, and I believe I've been successful. I haven't even gotten bored yet! Which is saying something.

    That said, let us begin: A punk-ass character who loves hide and go seek but can't fight worth a damn.

    Levels 1-10

    Equipment:


    Whatever you start with. Seriously, don't bother buying anything. You won't be here for long.

    Skill points:

    I'm not going to bother with a skill tree here. Use your beginner skill points on your beginner skills. Potion Mastery will be useful to you forever, so will Infiltrate. I never even used Crystal Throw so I'm not sure what it does, but it sounds good. Go with it first, then Infiltrate, then Potion Mastery.

    Training:

    Not a whole lot to say about these levels. You're a Citizen (Beginner) and you're weak. Just make sure to play the hide and seek game, do the quests offered to you in Edelstien, and you'll be just fine. If you're really into grinding, any of the places the quests send you to will be fine for training. That said, I don't suggest grinding. The quests are better experience. The less you have to deal with being a weak beginner the better.

    Make sure you do not level beyond 10 without making your job advancement. If you talk to Ferdi at level 10 he will give you the invitation to your job advancement. Just double click it, and talk to the job instructor of your choice.

    But obviously your choice is Battle Mage. Great choice. Let's continue.

    Oh. Also, the Resistance hide out is on the top level, towards the left of Edelstein. It's a pipe that comes down from a building and has a portal animation when you walk near it. I know it took me a while to find it since they didn't exactly tell you where it was.

    Levels 10-20


    Equipment:

    Alright, you're out of the beginner levels! However since you're unfunded, I still don't suggest you buy anything. These levels are going to go really fast and updating your equipment here would just be...well, a waste of money. If you've followed my advice and only spent your AP on INT, you'll be plenty powerful enough to kill whatever you need to while still using your Beginner's Staff and whatever clothes you wear. If you really want to upgrade your staff, hold off until you get the free Old Wooden Staff from your quests. It's the Request of the Test Subject 3 quest at level 18. If you're really that tired of your clothes and want to update those, well then tough cookies I suppose. I don't think it's worth your mesos.

    As far as potions go, use the blue potions you get off the ground for mana, and the red/orange/white potions you get off the ground for HP. No sense in buying pots if you don't need to.

    Skill Points:


    Level 10: +3 Triple Blow (3) +1 Teleport (1) +1 Finisher (1)
    Level 11: +3 Triple Blow (6)
    Level 12: +3 Triple Blow (9)
    Level 13: +3 Triple Blow (12)
    Level 14: +3 Triple Blow (15)
    Level 15: +3 Triple Blow (18)
    Level 16: +2 Triple Blow (MAX) +1 Teleport (2)
    Level 17: +3 Teleport (5)
    Level 18: +3 Teleport (8)
    Level 19: +3 Teleport (11)
    Level 20: +3 Teleport (14)


    Result:
    Triple Blow (MAX)
    Teleport (14)
    The Finisher (1)

    As I said previously, this guide is being made off my personal experience. I'm a big fan of having more than 1 skill to start off with. Level 1 teleport will eat away your MP, for sure, but it's still a great tool to have in case you need it and it does its job at level 1. Same goes for The Finisher, it's not exactly super strong at level 1, but if a monster you're killing has a bit of HP left The Finisher is good for FINISHING it off. Haha. See what I did there? Moving on.

    Triple Blow is maxed first because it's your bread and butter. You better get used to seeing walls of numbers like that, you'll be seeing them forever. Once that's maxed, I like mobility. Triple Blow was strong enough to 2HKO (2 hit knockout) if not OHKO (One hit knock out) every monster I ran into. Therefore,I didn't see the need for more damage from Dark Aura or the Finisher. Teleport is maxed second because I like mobility and again, didn't feel like I needed more damage. Plus I felt cool using Teleport to travel, and having it maxed is a lot less MP to feel cool.

    I should note that if mobility is not important to you, then don't max teleport second. I'd choose Dark Aura over The Finisher, as Dark Aura will increase all your damage and not just one skill.

    But this guide is based off my personal experiences and therefore my biggest suggestion goes to Teleport first.

    Training:

    I should preface by saying I like training on things that are at least 3 above my level. You'll only hit 85% of the time, but I feel like it's better experience. Also, I take drops into account when I pick a training spot, so if I can find something 3-6 levels above me that drops something I'd like, I normally will pick that spot. That way I can stay there for multiple levels. With how quick leveling is in Maple Story now, minimizing travel time between 5-6 levels is awesome. This is not to say once that monster becomes only 1-2 levels above me I change spots. I will typically stay at that spot until I am equal in level or one above, then leave, unless I love the drops : D.

    Training at lower level spots is not necessarily bad either. If you can kill them quickly and they give you good experience, levels hardly matter. Don't leave a training spot based on what level you are, leave it if you're no longer satisfied with the experience rate you're getting there.

    All that is void if they drop something you really want. 8D

    ANYWAY.

    To get to 14, the training quests are definitely superior. On the way to 20, I suggest just doing the storyline quests. You'll be at 20 pretty quickly and won't feel like you've been grinding. If you are that set on grinding though...

    Patrol Robots: Are ok at 14 for some pretty safe training. You could stay here until 15 if you really wanted to. If you're female, they'll drop a Black Split armor for you, males get the level 23 White Doros Robe. Which is ridiculously ugly. The black split looks fine but if you're that set on getting it it'll be easier to just buy it from the store. It's not expensive, I just don't think it's necessary either.

    Strange Signs: wouldn't be bad at level 14, and you could stay there for a while. They don't drop anything spectacular for you though.

    Serpents: you could start at level 15-16, and you could stay until 18-19, depending on when you're comfortable. No great drops, again.

    Water Thief Monster
    would be good around 17-18, and you could be here all the way until 20 if you'd like. No decent drops once again.
    Dust Box: would work around 19-20, and you could be here until 22-23. I'm unsure as to what they drop as far as equipment goes.

    You'll notice I'm keeping you in Edelstien. This is simply because I don't believe it's worth leaving due to how quickly you'll go through these levels, and because I'm strongly suggesting you just do the quests here. They'll get you close to, if not past 20 in no time.

    If you hate quests, and really desire a grinding spot, try out Blue Ribbon Pigs on Victoria island. They can get you from 10-20, if you so desire.

    20-30

    Equipment:


    Alright, the only thing I'll suggest you leave Edelstien for is the Marbas hat.Grendel the Really Old will have a quest for you at level 18. He'll ask you to kill this demon Marbas. Marbas is not the easiest guy to kill at level 20, but it's not impossible. Just come prepared with potions. Probably orange or white potions for HP and blue potion for MP. The hat itself gives +12 int and +20 MP though, making it sorta worth it (even if it is outrageously ugly. Transparent hats is only $1.80 from the cash shop! Wouldn't take too many surveys). If you check though, the damage boost really isn't that great. It's up to you.

    You can use the Old Wooden Staff at 20 if you'd like to, but then you would have to start adding LUK earlier. I'd wait until the Wizard Staff at 25, and start adding LUK at level 21 so you can equip it. If you have the funds, it'd be awesome to 100% Scroll it for INT (there're a myriad of 100% scroll NPCs in victoria island, just look them up and where they're at). You'd need 500,000 meso to do it, but if you've managed to scrounge that together I think it's absolutely worth it. I say this because I'm going to suggest you use the Wizard Staff until level 43. I know it seems a long way away, but hear me out. It will take you 28 LUK to get the Wizard Staff. If you have ANY equips that are +LUK, equip them, and don't go all the way to 28 LUK. This way you can add INT only until probably about level 60. The Nocturnal Staff (usable at level 43) is awesome (and sexy). It also doesn't require any LUK. A Maple Llama Staff would also work.

    Nocturnal Staves can be found for 2-5mil on Scania if you're good about hunting the Free Market, which really isn't much. Maple Llama I'm unsure about, but they'll likely be scrolled and therefore more expensive than the Nocturnal Staff. This is just my suggestion, however. If you really don't want to use those staves, I'll supply the monsters to get some of the staves in between Wizard Staff and Evil Wings so you can hunt them. Again, I wouldn't suggest buying the staves though.

    You're probably wanting some different clothes now as well. My big secret is...I never bought any. I used a bathrobe from Showa Town for the +10 speed until level 60. I'm not certain of what you could do, because I didn't want to add the LUK to get different equips. If anybody has suggestions, I'm open to them.

    With potions, I'd continue using the blue potions you find from monsters for mana. If you haven't already, I'd switch to orange or white potions for HP at this point, as the monsters will start hitting you for about as much as a red potion can heal.

    Skill Points:


    Level 21: +1 Teleport (MAX) +2 Dark Aura (2)
    Level 22: +3 Dark Aura (5)
    Level 23: +3 Dark Aura (8)
    Level 24: +3 Dark Aura (11)
    Level 25: +3 Dark Aura (14)
    Level 26: +1 Dark Aura (MAX) +2 Finisher (3)
    Level 27: +3 Finisher (6)
    Level 28: +3 Finisher (9)
    Level 29: +3 Finisher (12)
    Level 30: +3 Finisher (MAX)



    While Dark Aura is a GREAT skill to have and as soon as you get it you should always have it on (until you get your other auras, anyway) at these low levels the damage boost it gives isn't -huge-. It's still something though, which is why I suggest it before The Finisher. Oh how I do love The Finisher. In your later levels this thing will become a beast (I'm hitting around 20K with it at level 80, I can hit over 200K with it at 148 now,) and the bonus of hitting 6 monsters with it is FANTASTIC. In these low levels though, I didn't find it important, and therefore I suggest maxing it last. You'll be missing out on damage, unless you find yourself doing really poorly in terms of killing ability, you'll be fine.

    Training:

    Eventually you'll get tired of me saying this but, Quests again are a great boon to your training! Also, these levels take a little more time, so leaving Edelstien becomes more acceptable. But this just opens you up to a whole new world of quests! I'd say whenever you leave Edelstien to get your Marbas hat, you stick around Victoria Island and do the quests in those cities. However I will admit these are the first of the levels where quests alone are not likely to bump you to 30 without you going insane. Therefore, monsters!



    Dust Boxes, as said last time, can probably last you until around 23.

    Street Lights: You can start here around 22-23. They can last you until about 26. They'll drop some Red Jewelry Shoes for you. Not awesome but, they're shoes.


    Muddy Swamp Monsters
    can be started the same time as Streetlights, but they won't be as good. The spawn is worse there. They do drop your level 30 Circle Winded Staff however.

    Mixed Golems:
    were my place of residence from about 23-26. The spawn is alright at Golem Temple IV and they'll drop a nice selection of robes for you if you so desire. Also, Scroll for Earring LUK 100% and Scroll for Shield LUK 100% drop here, which could be useful to you later on ; ). Don't count on getting them though, scroll drops are rare. The spawn is rather low for such a close ranged char, but your mobility should help with that.

    ZOMBIE LUPINS:. I love Zombie Lupins. Decent spawn of them, the only bad part would be how much jumping you've gotta do to get to the different platforms. Also, they drop Esther Shields! You'll definitely want one of these, so this is a great place to spend some time. You can start here around 25-26, and stay here until 30 as far as I'm concerned, just because of the Esther Shield drop. EDIT: So far, I've only ever gotten Mystic Shields from these guys. The drop list I used could very potentially be wrong.

    Don't forget about the variety of quests on Victoria Island and Edelstien though. They're a nice break from the grind, and some give decent rewards or open quests that will give you decent rewards in the future.


    30-40

    Equipment:
    As I said earlier, I held onto my bath robe for +10 speed until level 58. Whether or not I recommend this or not I can't be sure of, since I didn't take long at all to hit level 58. As far as weapons and such go, again, I just did my wizard staff until I got a Nocturnal Staff at level 43. My reasoning, as I'm sure you know by now, is simply that I wanted to keep my luk as low as possible for as long as possible. This was to maximize how much MP I got per level up. I found I was doing enough damage to level at an insane rate regardless. Again, if somebody has suggestions as to what equipment you should get here I'm all ears. I know the king pepe stuff is here, that's free and pretty decent equips. I still don't suggest putting any more LUK than you need for a wizard staff though, so there's that.

    Once you're at about 2-3K MP I suggest switching over to Sorceror Elixers. They're more expensive, yes, but you'll save a ton of space and time with them.

    Skill Points:

    Level 30: Quadruple Blow +1 (1) Blood Drain +1 (1) Dark Chain +1 (1)
    Level 31: Staff Mastery +3 (3)
    Level 32: Staff Mastery +2 (2) Staff Booster +1 (1)
    Level 33: Staff Booster +3 (4)
    Level 34: Staff Booster +3 (7)
    Level 35: Staff Booster +3 (10)
    Level 36: Staff Mastery +3 (8)
    Level 37: Staff Mastery +3 (11)
    Level 38: Staff Mastery +3 (14)
    Level 39: Staff Mastery +3 (17)
    Level 40: Staff Mastery +3 (MAX)


    If you couldn't tell yet, I like having my new skills quickly, but only so long as they'll benefit some. 1 blood drain isn't huge, but it will heal you some. If you're hitting around the 1K range, you'll be healed 10. If you do that to 6 monsters, you'll be healed 60. As you can see, maxing blood drain is a foolish idea because of how easy it is to heal 10% of your HP even IF you're only able to heal 1% of your damage. I know right now I'm hitting around 60K (can you tell where I took a small break in writing this guide?) and my max HP is 4K. 1% of 60K is 600, and 10% of my HP is only 400. This to me is noticeable enough that I feel it's worth it. At level 1 it lasts for just over a minute too, so you don't constantly have to recast.

    Dark Chain is forever useful starting from level 1. At level 1 it pulls monsters to you and does weak damage. At level 20 it pulls monsters to you and does mediocre damage. Regardless, it pulls monsters to you, and that's what you'll be using it for.

    Enough staff mastery to get staff booster, and then staff booster to 10. At level 10 staff booster lasts 60 seconds, which is around the time your blood drain will last! (If you haven't already, make a buff macro, and put these two skills in). Since staff booster never gets -better-, only lasts longer, you can keep it at 10 for a while.

    Staff Mastery is AWESOME. The +40% critical rate will be super noticeable in your training, and the magic attack helps too. I'm not sure what staff mastery +50% is, but I assume it has something to do with your balance. Regardless, this skill will see a larger increase in your damage than if you were to rank Quadruple Blow first. Quadruple Blow at level 1 outdamages your Triple Blow at level 20 (364% damage as compared to 315%, with an extra chance to crit), so swap out trip blow for quad blow.

    NOTE: BLOOD DRAIN IS A BUFF, NOT A PASSIVE SKILL. DO NOT GO LIKE 20 LEVELS WITHOUT REALIZING THAT LIKE I DID.


    Training:

    Ok, seriously this time. I know I've said it a lot, but AT LEAST from 30-36, do the mushroom kingdom quests. I'm tempted not to even list monsters to train on just so you don't have any idea where to go because none of you know how to use hidden street and look up monsters yourself.

    Really though. These quests will level you so quickly, and leveling by questing > leveling by grinding, every time. Besides, you get The Mushroom Guardian medal, which gives +2 to every stat. Very much worth it, you'll be using that for a long long time.

    So that said. Mushroom Kingdom from 30-36. Yeah. No other options. None.

    ...

    Oh fine.

    Whiners.


    I will highly suggest Kerning Mall then. Except not really, because you'll hate yourself for it later, but Kerning Mall is the best spot for these levels if you MUST grind. To get there just take the subway to Kerning Square.


    Bubble Tea.
    Of all types. I'd say cherry and mango would be fine for around level 30-34ish. At like 32 you could go to Melon and have an equally fun time. Lots of good drops from these guys. Moon shoes of varying colors, some hats, even a White Chaos Robe from the Mango variety. I REALLY DON'T SUGGEST IT THOUGH SINCE YOU'LL SPEND PLENTY OF TIME HERE LATER.

    Moving on...

    The claw games aren't great training in my humble opinion. The initital transformation gives the bulk of the experience and then the dolls just become annoying with how many there are. They do have ok drops though. Cape for LUK 100% would be useful for you if you got some, seeing as you want to get some LUK from your equips. Gold Moon Shoes are good...yeah. You could do the Yeti and Jr. Pepe versions around levels 33-36, and the mushroom and pigs from 34-37. I'm really not a fan though.

    I liked Mannequins for around 36. 36-39 or so you could do kid mannequins, and after those you can move to the male and female mannequins to the left or right up through level 40. Again, these are in Kerning Mall. They'll be good experience due to their crazy high spawn rate and the flatness of the map. If you can find a buddy to take the top of a map while you take the bottom or vice versa, you can make some pretty nice experience in a party. Also these maps rarely get crowded. The female mannequin will drop a Dark Starlight for male mages which could be handy if you have the LUK to equip it, and the male will give you some gloves (red noel). The Kid variety will drop you a few hats as well. Always nice to find equips, provided you've managed to gather the luk for them.


    If you don't like the kerning mall, my other suggestion goes to Jr. Kitties. This is a nickname to the Jr. Cellions, Jr. Lioners, and Jr. Grupins you can find at Orbis. The reason this isn't my primary suggestion is that you've gotta go all the way to Orbis for them. But, Orbis is a pretty place, and a change of scenery can be nice. That said, Jr. Kitties you can start around level 33-34. If you wanted, you could probably stay there up through 38-40, depending on how much you like it there. The Jr. Lioners will give you a Blood Chaos Robe or a Blue Starlight (both for male, sorry women) which are handy if you can equip them. They also give diamond ore. Diamond is nice no matter what game you're playing.Jr. Grupins will drop some level 35 shoes for you, which is alright I guess. The Jr. Cellions however will give Dark Chaos Robes, also nice. They like to drop some earrings (always a chance for some nice hidden potential earrings, maybe you'll get +LUK or +Int!) as well as give nice experience.

    I should mention three other things about these levels.

    1) Mushroom Kingdom Quests. Yes, they are that good, and ALL the monsters in those quests are good training as well if you feel like grinding there. You can grind and quest at the same time!

    2) Blake's Dream Quests. This quest series starts at level 35, and basically shows you around Kerning Mall. This is important because Kerning Mall will be an excellent training spot up through 45 if you really wanted to go that long. Also I feel questing just helps keep a person sane, especially during these lower levels when quests will still level you up instead of spending two hours to get 10% from a quest.

    3) Subani's Legacy Quest. This quest is a level 36 quest in New Leaf City. It's an easy quest to do, and it'll net you a 60% Glove for Attack scroll. Price will vary depending on server but in general: it'll net you enough money to get something pretty.


    40-50


    Equipment: Get. Yourself. A Nocturnal Staff. If you do the glove for attack quest I mentioned previously, at level 43 you should have far more than enough to buy yourself a nocturnal staff. If you've been following my advice you'll still be using that level 25 wizard staff and you'll have close to 28 LUK. Preferably you're getting some LUK from equips and have even less than that, but at maximum hopefully you have 28. The great thing about this Nocturnal Staff is it requires 0 LUK! So this will be a HUUUUUUUGE upgrade in magic attack and you won't have to add any LUK to benefit from this. Unfortunately, since you are a resistance character, you won't be getting a Nocturnal Staff from the level 50 Cleaning Up The Streets quest in New Leaf City.

    If you have a level 50 I/L, F/P, or Cleric then I highly suggest you do the quest on them and send the Nocturnal Staff over your way. You can try scrolling it, (I personally failed 5 60%'s and then an addition 2 10%'s on mine) or you can just 100% it for MA. It depends on how much money you have. If you've got quite the surplus, by all means, scroll away and I wish you the best of luck. However if you're short on money (I'd say if you bought 7 60% staff scrolls and you're left with <5mil, you're too short on money. But then, I play Scania so I can't say for certain) then I'd just say 100% it. It'll cost 490K to 100% it and the difference in M.ATT will be noticeable.

    As far as gloves, shoes, cape, etc. go...Hm. If you want you can nab yourself an Icarus Cape, but it won't really be any good since you can't get potential on it. Still, an additional 10 speed never hurt anybody if you get the Icarus (2) cape, and it's free from the quest. Shoes, gloves, overall...if you have enough LUK from something to equip any decent equipment, by all means go for it. Once again, this guide is for the unfunded BaM, and at this point I still feel like the levels go by so fast it's not worth the meso to constantly change equips. The mushroom kingdom gloves give a bit of magic attack, so those are helpful in that regard. I wore those for quite some time. If you can find yourself some 3% int earrings or a 3% int cape, I highly suggest buying it. It'll last you until you're bored with those earrings or cape or until you have the money to get something better.

    Also, this again depends on how you've been doing on money, but you're approaching the levels where you're actually going to want to be getting new equips. This means you'll need LUK. It is at this point I suggest deciding if you want to stay low LUK. Regardless of whether or not you want to stay low LUK, you'll want to think about when you're going to cap your LUK. I'd honestly suggest no higher than 60 LUK. But I digress.

    Depending on how you're doing for money, you may want to scroll either a cape or shield for LUK. It seems kinda dumb, since that cape or shield won't be worth as much as if you scrolled it for something else, but that's the genius of it. As an unfunded BaM, cheaper is better. With me suggesting low LUK, the fact that cape for LUK and shield for LUK being generally cheap in price is a huge advantage.

    So if you have the money, I'd say give it a shot. The more LUK you can get from these the better right now. I said this earlier but I'll say it again. Scrolling for LUK instead of adding LUK may seem identical to just going normal LUK and scrolling for INT. However, by adding LUK, if you ever get the money to get better equips and therefore have a surplus of LUK, you can't ever get that back. Whereas by going low LUK and scrolling for LUK, if you get the money, you can stay low LUK, have enough LUK from things like a Targa, a horntail pendant, a Czak Helm, or potential'd items and then sell your old equips scrolled for LUK (a thief would prolly like a LUK scrolled cape. A LUK scrolled shield is a bit harder to sell, but finding the right person would make it worth at least what you spent scrolling it) and replace them with new equips scrolled for INT.


    This is also a money thing, but if you somehow got amazingly lucky and have enough money to buy a Zhelm, you could do that. It's a hat that will last you forever if you wanted it to, or you could always upgrade around level 80 for a Targa or 100 for a Czak Helm. That's a pretty wide level range, and you could skip the Targa if you felt so inclined expanding the level range even further.

    Anyway, these are my suggestions. I personally have +25 LUK just from my cape and shield (that me, the person who failed 5 60%'s and 2 10%'s on a nocturnal staff, scrolled himself). If you have 28 LUK from the wizard staff, +25 would give you enough to equip a level 50 overall, the level 50 glove, and the level 50 shoes. I (somewhat regrettingly, wish I would've stayed lower) capped my LUK at 35 so +25 LUK allowed me to equip my level 60 gear. Since it is so cheap to scroll for LUK with capes and sheilds, I do in fact suggest this.

    Of course if you decide to go normal LUK just hold out as long as you can and then slap your LUK on up to whatever you need for your weapon of choice. If you plan to hang onto the Nocturnal Staff until evil wings, wait until around level 60 and then start adding LUK. By level 65 you should have enough LUK to equip evil wings (assuming you have SOME LUK items. Which really shouldn't be tough).


    PHEW. Bet you'd never see a long equipment section coming out of me huh? Let's continue on our journey to level 50!

    Oh wait. Potions. By now you should seriously be using Sorceror Elixers. Those will last you quite some time. White potions could probably sustain you, but whenever you feel you're in danger (like when you can't heal fast enough) go ahead and switch to Barbarian Elixers. Barbarian Elixers can last forever as far as I'm concerned, unless you're bossing. Blood Drain is a powerful, powerful training tool.



    Skill Points:

    Level 41: Quadruple Blow +3 (4)
    Level 42: Quadruple Blow +3 (7)
    Level 43: Quadruple Blow +3 (10)
    Level 44: Quadruple Blow +3 (13)
    Level 45: Quadruple Blow +3 (16)
    Level 46: Quadruple Blow +3 (19)
    Level 47: Quadruple Blow +1 (MAX) Yellow Aura +2 (2)
    Level 48: Yellow Aura +3 (5)
    Level 49: Yellow Aura +3 (8)
    Level 50: Yellow Aura +3 (11)

    10 levels into your 2nd job and you haven't even begun maxing your main attacking skill?! Well, I do say it's high time for that.

    Since QBlow is your main method of attack, it's definitely worth leveling to max. Staff Mastery gave you the largest buff in your damage so it was ranked first, QBlow will give you the second largest so it's ranked second.

    Yellow Aura is something I tend to use more often than Dark Aura now that I'm using a Slow staff. It will increase training efficiency crazy amounts. Once you start using it, especially combined with staff booster, you'll be able to feel the difference on the occasions that you switch to Dark Aura. Therefore I suggest ranking it after QBlow. The other option here is Dark Chain. Since you're using that to pull your monsters to you, increasing the damage it does will obviously increase your overall output.

    Personally, I did not exactly spam dark chain. Therefore to me, the damage output wasn't as awesome as the speed I got from Yellow Aura. If you're a person who uses Dark Chain CONSTANTLY, then if you feel so inclined go ahead and max it before Yellow Aura. As for me, I enjoyed my speed, and therefore will suggest Yellow Aura first.

    Training:


    And we begin the levels where questing may not cut it! If you see any quests you really want to do, by all means have a blast with it. However at this point I can't think of anything.

    ROMBOTS
    : Rombot grinding at the Monster Carnival PQ can bring you all the way until 50 if you feel like it. Just go to the Monster Carnival PQ area on ch1 and say J>Rombot Grind. Ask them to explain exactly what to do to you. It's not very hard, and it's fast experience.

    Latest Hits Compilation/Greatest oldies (CD's): These are good experience for you. Flat Maps are glorious for you. However, I found them rather boring. They will drop a White Guiltian though, which is useful if you can equip it. Also, scroll for claw 60% is likely to sell for a half decent price. Nice training spot. You can start here as early as 37 if you really wanted, and stay up through 45 I'd imagine. I don't suggest staying in one spot for that long for your sanity's sake, but you could do it.

    Lunar/Luster Pixies: This isn't the -best- place ever because of the amount of climbing you've gotta do to train here. However they're not normally crowded, and the Lunar Pixies will drop quite a bit of equipment for you. You can start here from 37 and stay until about 43-44 if you moved to Luster Pixies at level 40-41. Not my favorite training spot though.

    Ratz/Black Ratz:
    You could start either of these around level 40-42 range depending on how confident you are in your damage. I'm not sure why but I have a strange affection for training on these guys. Probably the fact that I love how the Silver Crow (crossbow) looks and Ratz drop those, combined with I think the Arc Staff is sexy and Black Ratz drop -those-. Though I do not suggest using Arc Staff, since your Nocturnal Staff is better. Still, a decent training place. Not the best, but decent.

    Jr. Yetis: I've no idea why, but I LOVE Jr. Yetis. Always have. It's a cool training spot, I love sliding xD. I feel as if sliding speeds up the training, actually. I use the first map to the right of El Nath. I think a part of me just enjoyed exploring new areas, but I got at least 3 levels here. They don't drop anything spectacular, unfortunately.

    Big Kitties:
    Now THIS is a training spot. This is -the- training spot. Big Kitties, like little kitties, encompass Lioners, Grupins, and Cellions. All three of these guys drop great things! The Cellions give Glove for ATT 100% and 60% Spear for ATT, as well as a nice selection of earrings. Lioners have a potential to drop Chaos Scrolls, along with cape for LUK 100%, your level 50 gloves, and your level 50 overall if you're female. The Grupins drop 60% Staff for M.ATT, which is obviously useful for you. They also give a selection of earrings, and another overall for females. On top of this, if you go to the map Stairway to the Sky I, you will make FANTASTIC experience. This is my training spot of choice for you. From as early as 43 if you're daring, all the way to 50 if you like it enough, you could be here. It is crazy fast experience from the 45-48 range. I LOVED this spot, and I almost wanna go back to it.

    Retz: The counterpart to Ratz, if you decided to train in Ludi. You can start these aroudn level 43-44 if you so desire. They will give your level 50 overalls if you're a male, some earrings, and a pole arm 60% ATT scroll. Decent training spot, again.

    Truckers: I suppose you could train here o.o I personally never touched it, so I can't say how good of a spot it might be (I was at Big Kitties, lol). But they'll drop some level 60 equips which would be nice, and a yellow umbrella! An equip that's cool to have for fun. You could start aroudn level 44-45 I suppose, and stay until 50 if you like the exp.

    Pepe
    : From 45-50 you could be here. I never trained here, but Pepe drops a Hall Staff, and I promised to let you guys know of all the staves. They give some level 50 overalls (male AND female this time) and a 60% bow for ATT.

    Brown Teddies:
    I imagine this would be a decent spot. Again, I didn't try. Yellow Umbrella again, which is fun to have. Scroll for glove for ATT 100%, which should sell for something. Dark Arten is a good glove, and the level 50 overall for men drops here. You could come here as early as 46 but I don't suggest staying past 50.

    Copper Drake:
    Unfortunately you can't -get- here until level 50 :<. Otherwise I feel like this would be an AMAZING training spot around level 47. Still, at level 50, these guys will be pretty good experience for you. They drop Cape for LUK 100% scrolls, which you might want : )

    Gryphons:
    They drop Thorns. But they also will cause you frustration beyond your wildest imagination. I don't suggest this place. If you really want...you can come around level 48. =\

    Dead Scarecrows: Amazing experience. Absolutley fantastic. Also nearly impossible to get a map in. If you can find a map, you can start here around 47-48, and probably stay here until 60 or maybe even later than that. They're awesome, no doubt about it. Just everybody knows that, so good luck.

    As you can see, from 48-50 training slows down a bit. Just a bit though. The Rombot Grind is probably the best experience you're going to get in that realm, with Big Kitties following right behind. Rombot Grind has a chance for you to get the Monster PQ Necklace which will give +1 or 2 to all stats. Pretty nice deal, if you ask me.


    50-60

    First off, congrats on hitting level 50! I always feel like level 50 is some sort of big milestone. You probably have really started to get a feel for BaM, so there will be less explanation from here on out. Preference comes into play more

    And that said, let us begin:

    Equipment:

    By this point you should definitely have your Nocturnal Staff. For people who have decided not to go low LUK, I suppose you can grab a thorns at 55 if you wish. For those who are following my advice, hang onto the Nocturnal Staff, UNLESS you've managed to accumulate some nice LUK equips and want to switch to Thorns. Otherwise, don't waste your money on Thorns. Save your money for LUK equips so you can equip Evil Wings. Equipping Evil Wings is your goal!

    Hopefully you've gotten a few LUK equips around level 58, because switching over to an Ankakakakamoon/rune is nice. It looks pretty good, nice and mage-like. Obviously you're going to want a blue or red one since it gives the most LUK, and you can hang onto this for quite a while if you want. If you like how a Calas/Calaf looks better though then 1) you're odd and 2) you can go ahead and stay with that until you find another overall you like more.

    From here on out, the equipment section is going to be very short. Shorter than normal. I will just list suggestions from now on, since you should start to have a feel for what you want to do. Also, this is a guide for the UNFUNDED BaM. If you are funded, I'm going to assume you know to just buy your way through everything and scroll for epicness. By this I mean, don't bother scrolling your shield for LUK. Get yourself an awesome Dep Star with some nice potentialed equips that'll add yourself enough LUK, and scroll your shield for M.ATT. Most people cannot do this however, so I will just assume if you're that rich you're smart enough to figure it out. My suggestions, therefore, are this:

    Get a Zhelm at level 50 if you can afford it, or wait until level 80+ and get a Targa.
    Don't bother with Thorns.
    Scroll an Esther Shield for LUK.
    Scroll a cape for LUK.
    Get a Red/Blue Ankakakakamoon/rune at level 58.
    Use whatever gloves/shoes you can find. If you happen to find 2 or 3% INT gloves or shoes, keep them. Keep them forever. And by forever I mean keep them until you can afford better ones. Same goes with earrings.

    Potions:
    Barbarian Elixers/Sorceror Elixers.



    Skill Points:


    Level 51: Yellow Aura +3 (14)
    Level 52: Yellow Aura +3 (17)
    Level 53: Yellow Aura +3 (MAX)
    Level 54: Staff Boost +3 (13)
    Level 55: Staff Boost +3 (16)
    Level 56: Staff Boost +1 (17) Blood Drain +2 (3)
    Level 57: Blood Drain +3 (6)
    Level 58: Dark Chain +3 (4)
    Level 59: Dark Chain +3 (7)
    Level 60: Dark Chain +3 (10)


    Finish off yellow aura for reasons explained previously. Blue Aura, to me, is useless at this point in your Maple experience, so I'm going to go ahead and save that for last. Having Staff Boost at 17 and Blood Drain at 6 means they recast at similar points in time, and they'll last long enough that you aren't stopping every ten monsters to recast. This is where we'll keep them forever, because even though Blue Aura is useless, Advanced Blue Aura is -not-. You need 20 Blue Aura for ABA, so we're going to max it. That just leaves Dark Chain, which you'll be leveling to 20 soon. We're basically leveling it now because we're out of options. The improved damage is nice though!


    Training:

    Dead Scarecrows: As I said before, these guys are fantastic. Stay until 60 if you'd like. Hell, you might even be able to stay until 65. Just have fun getting a map.

    Pink Teddies: You can start here around 48 most likely. This will be a nice relaxing training spot for you, as it's not likely to be very crowded and they don't hit hard. They drop level 60 shoes which is nice, as well as Steely Throwing Knives, which should sell for something pretty.

    Drakes: Start here at level 50, and stay as late as 56-57 if you really want. This is a GREAT training spot, especially if you can find somebody to share with. Sharing gets to be a little weird here with two people; having a party of 3 people would be ideal. They give Scroll for Cape for INT 10%, Scroll for Cape for LUK 60%, and Icicles. The cape scrolls will be nice for you, and the Icies might sell for something. Might. They also drop level 50 shoes which are great.

    Hectors: I trained here for a while just for fun (and more importantly, for leathers). I liked getting leathers to make into work gloves and sell. It's not great money, but it's easy money and that's always welcome. They have overall for STR 60% scrolls and shoes for jump 60%. No equipment for you though =\ Minus a potential cape, if you're lucky. Not a bad training spot, you can come around level 50 and stay until level 57 if you're liking the drops you get. I don't suggest being here that long though.

    Panda Teddies: Like pink teddies. Relaxing, uncrowded. They give Scroll for Wand 60% and 60% Chaos scroll. Some level 50 shoes for you as well. Start here around level 51, stay until 58 if you so desire.

    Lucida
    : These could be useful to you, as they drop Dark Anakamoons and Red Anakarunes. The rest of the things they drop are so-so however, and I don't know how the experience is here. Try these around level 51, and I don't know how long you could stay. At least until 55.

    Red Drakes: Significantly more dangerous than their previous Drake counterparts due to their fireballs they like to spit =x. Also good experience however, and they'll drop some nice level 60 gloves for ya! Overall armor for Dex 60% will sell for something nice too. Due to their fireball attack, I don't suggest starting here until you're level 54, and honestly Drakes will still be fine experience then. Stay until around 57 maybe.

    Bloctopus: The only reason I even suggest these guys is because they drop Glove for ATT 60%. I'm not sure how the experience is here, I never bothered. They drop a level 60 hat for you though. Try around 51-52, stay as late as you'd like since they have that epic drop.

    Moon Bunnies:
    I kinda liked these guys. The map is relatively flat and you can get some interesting angles with Quadruple Blow on that hill. They'll drop good gloves and shoes for you, as well as leather. I do so enjoy leather. You can try here around level 53 and stay as late as 58-59.

    Ice Drake:
    Also pretty dangerous guys, but they drop scroll for earring 60%. If you want you can start here around level 54-55, and stay up through 60 probably. The map is kinda weird and big though so I can't verify they'd be good experience. Girls, they'll drop a nice level 60 robe for you.

    Toy Trojans: GREAT map. Also very busy. Sadly, they don't drop any equipment for you. On the plus side, they drop 60% staff for magic ATT. Also they drop earrings, which are always a plus. The map is flat and the spawn is high so this is a great spot but also gets very crowded. Start here around level 54-55, and you can stay up through 60 if you'd like.

    Hodori: I've no idea why I did it, but I spent a long time on these guys. Up through 61 if I remember correctly. They don't drop any magician equipment, the map is big and kind of a pain to traverse, and the only good thing they really drop is Scroll for Cape 60% and the standard Equip Enhance/Potential Scrolls. All the same, I stayed here for a long time, lol. I think it was during a 2x experience event. I did manage to find a potential scroll here too xD. Start as early as 55 and you can stay through 60 if you'd like. It does have nice spawn, and you'll rarely ever get anybody in here. Oh, and the map I used was Tiger Forest I.

    Dark Drake: Like all the rest of the elemental Drakes, a tad dangerous and not really worth training on. They do drop Red Anakamoons though, and that's worthwhile. Also scroll for 2 handed swords 60% for ATT and Steelys are noteable drops here. The experience is probably not so nice due to how this map looks however. Start around 56-57, stay until 60 if you'd like.

    Scaredy Scarlion/Ratatula: I've no idea how good of experience these guys are. Like I said, I stayed at Hodori for a loooooooong time. These are probably ok though, and you could likely start around 56-57. The Scaredy Scarlion will drop a cape and some earrings which are great since they could have hidden potential. Girls, the Ratatula will drop your level 60 Overall. You could stay here until 61-62 maybe? I've no idea to be honest.

    Wild Kargo:
    I'm also not sure about this spot, but I know Wild Kargo have pretty decent spawn, and I like their drops. Scroll for Earring LUK 60%, Scroll for Knuckles for ATT 60%, Shoes Dex 10%, Topwear LUK 100%, Chaos Scroll 60%, Blue Anakarune, and Red Magic Cape. Also Black Crystal ore and Gold Ore, just to throw on some extra bonuses. You could start around 58 and stay until the experience becomes unbearably slow. I'd guess that's around 63, but I can't be sure.


    I want to point out something here. Wild Kargos have 5,500 HP and give 194 experience. Dead Scarecrows have nearly half that HP amount, and give 220 experience. This is how good Dead Scarecrows are for experience.

    Level 60-70

    Equipment:

    I suggest having an Anakarune/Moon at this point. Red or Blue preferably. If you can get a % INT overall, keep it. Keep for a long, long time.
    Again I will suggest a Zhelm if you can afford.
    If you can manage to scape out a Deputy Star, go for it.
    Looking for % INT gloves, shoes, and earrings would be greatly beneficial.
    EVIL WINGS. Try getting one. Evil Wings is a fast enoguh staff that with Staff Booster you will have maxed out attack speed. This means you can always substitute Dark Aura for Yellow Aura, meaning more damage constistently. More damage = good. And it's sexy. EW is sexy.
    If you haven't gotten a belt from Dojo yet, at least get the white belt. It won't take long and you're at a high enough level that it won't take too terribly long. Just use the dimensional mirror to get to the dojo.

    Barbarian/Sorcerer Elixers for potions.

    Skill Points:


    Level 61: Dark Chain +3 (13)
    Level 62: Dark Chain +3 (16)
    Level 63: Dark Chain +3 (19)
    Level 64: Dark Chain +1 (MAX) Blue Aura +2 (2)
    Level 65: Blue Aura +3 (5)
    Level 66: Blue Aura +3 (8)
    Level 67: Blue Aura +3 (11)
    Level 68: Blue Aura +3 (14)
    Level 69: Blue Aura +3 (17)
    Level 70: Blue Aura +3 (MAX)


    Finishing up Dark Chain because you can and you want Advanced Dark Chain in your next job. Blue Aura needs to be maxed for Adv Blue Aura later.

    Even if you do not follow my skill path in the order I suggest, I highly, highly highly highly suggest following the points I give. The only places I would say you should swap is Blood Drain at 5 and Staff Booster at 18 if you want to. Dark Chain, Yellow Aura, Quadruple Blow, and Blue Aura all NEED to be maxed for your next job. That means Staff Booster and Blood Drain cannot be maxed, period. Staff Booster never gets any better, it just lasts longer. Since it's a buff, it's convenient for you if you just make it last about as long as Blood Drain. Blood Drain level 1 is effective enough to get the maximum 10% of your HP healed even if you're only able to heal 1% of your damage, therefore anything past level 1 is just helping your buff time, much like Staff Booster.

    Please, please, please do not put anything more than 6 into Blood Drain. For the sake of your BaM.

    Training:

    At this point, you're probably getting to be old hat at this whole finding a training spot thing. So I'm going to explain less in this section as well. I'll note important drops, but it's up to you to look up anything in particular you want to find. I suggest hidden street, if you haven't figured that out yet.

    Robos/Master Robos: Everybody has regaled me with tales of how awesome these guys are for experience. I didn't bother, personally. But they're supposed to be amazing experience from levels 59-65, if you'd like to give them a try.

    Tauromacis/Spears: I ALWAYS wanted to try this place. I never did. But I feel like it'd be really cool for training spots. Levels 60-66 were what I wanted to try here. But again, I never did, because I blew through these levels in 2x experience. Girls, you can get your level 70 overall here.

    Block Golems
    : Start here around level 60, they drop a variety of shoes and gloves for you. If you don't have an Anakarune yet girls, there's another chance to get one here. Not sure how the experience is.

    King Block Golems: They drop level 70 shoes and Red Whips. I always wanted a Red Whip, I don't know why ^_^;. Unsure how the experience is. Start around 62.

    Banard Grays: EEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLL WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGS. This was where I was at from level 61-66. I wanted Evil Wings, and I wanted it bad. I got quite the variety here, enough to scroll myself a half decent one because I had so many tries. They'll also give you a level 70 glove, which is cool. The experience from these guys is best on the first map you see them on. They're decent experience, really. But they do hurt a little bit, and it's not -fantastic- experience. I loved it anyway, just because of the Evil Wings drop. This is not a very crowded spot either, so it's always a bonus.

    Mateon
    : Do the Omega Sector quests for your level and you'll kill plenty enough of these guys. Alright experience, they don't drop anything spectacular. Start around 63 if you really wanna.

    Jr. Balrog:
    Not really training, but it's a fun bossing option, and bossing is awesome! You'll probably kill quite a few Tauromacis and Taurospears on your way to this guy, and killing him will give you alright experience, as well as some AWESOME drops. Like Evil Wings! And more importantly, every weapon for ATT/M.ATT 60% scrolls. Level 70 is ideal for this guy, but you could probably start killing him at level 60. Just might be hard if somebody comes to KS you.

    Rowdy Puppet
    : People've told me this is great training as well. To do this, take the quest in the Black Wing's Hideout. Never complete it though, just forfiet it whenever you get kicked out and do it again. Your own guaranteed map, and it's supposedly good experience. Sounds like a good deal to me : D. Start here around 62-63, stay through 70 if you wish.

    Desert Rabbit (F): If you want to go here, start around 64-65. No awesome drops, but the map is flat. Probably good experience, and you get to explore a new area!

    Desert Rabbit (M)
    : Like the female versions, but with better drops.

    Jester Scarlion: Start 64-65 if you want to train here. They give Esther Shields, which is really really cool. A 3INT Esther Shield would be amazing! Level 70 Overall/Shoes for all.

    Plateons
    : I LOVED THIS PLACE. If you go to Hidden Street: Plateon Field you will make some amazing experience from these guys. This is the first place to really learn what will become a pretty staple technique for your training. To train here effectively, telecast through the entire map with your Quadruple Blow. Then simply wait at the edge of the map, Dark chain the Plateons in, and Quad Blow + The Finisher everybody to death. You'll kill so fast you won't have to worry about getting hit, and Blood Drain will keep you healed easily. Clear the top two platforms whenever they get full, and then jump back down and kill some more. You can start here as early as 64 if you're confident, and stay up until 70. Probably later than that, but better spots will open up when you get your third job skills. No outstanding drops however.

    Twisted Jester
    : The Dead Scarecrows of the 60's. This place, is fantastic training. It will take a long time to kill one of these, but on the flip side they'll give 1.3K experience per kill. No fantastic drops, just amazing experience. If you CAN find a map, train here. Just straight up, train here. However, good luck finding a map. Your best bet is to share wtih friends, or make friends by sharing. Or just be a Dawn Warrior, evdiently. You can start here as early as level 60 if you honestly want to try, but the experience will really pick up around level 65. And you can stay past level 80. ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE: There is another map, called Toy Room. This spawns four Jesters and is perfectly acceptable to solo. Still a KS fest, I still avoid these guys at all costs, but it's a good map too.



    70-80
    Congratulations on getting to third job! It's a great accomplishment, and you'll notice a difference IMMEDIATELY. Well, let's break it down.

    Equipment:

    This is the beginning of the end of your equipment line for a long, long time. If you can find gloves, shoes, or an overall in these levels that gives at the least +3% int, KEEP IT. Keep it and treasure it forever (and by forever I mean until you're filthy rich and can buy even better things). As far as your weapon goes, it depends. If you scrolled a *****in' Evil Wings, I'd say you can go ahead and skip the Dark Ritual. If you didn't manage to do that, you'll probably pick up a Dark Ritual at Sand Rats. Or if you're like me, you'll pick up more than you can hold (I counted, I ended up with 14 Dark Rituals. However I did abuse a 2x exp and drop event at sand rats, so there ya go). Dark Ritual...is meh, to me. I personally think it looks dumb, but the stats are for sure superior to an unscrolled Evil Wings.

    That said, you can always pick up a DR here and 100% scroll the best one you get until you get to Kage. Or, if you get a DR with a nice Potential (%M.ATT or %Int, anyone?) you can hang onto that. Just for the love of everything holy, don't 100% something with great potential. At least TRY and scroll it. And not with 10%'s :<.

    Sorceror Elixers and Barb Elixers still work here, but you may be getting into the realm of Mana Bulls instead of Sorc. Elixers. If you are at 3.5-4K MP, I'd say you can make the switch to Mana Bulls. You can hold out until 5K if you feel like Mana Bulls are too pricey, but you'll definitely want to switch over eventually.

    Skill Tree:
    Level 70: +1 Quint Blow (1) +1 Teleport Mastery (1) +1 Dark Shock (1)
    Level 71: +1 Advanced Dark Chain (1) +1 Conversion (1) +1 Body Boost (1)
    Level 72: +3 Battle Mastery (3)
    Level 73: +3 Battle Mastery (6)
    Level 74: +3 Battle Mastery (9)
    Level 75: +3 Battle Mastery (12)
    Level 76: +3 Battle Mastery (15)
    Level 77: +3 Battle Mastery (18)
    Level 78: +2 Battle Mastery (MAX) +1 Quint Blow (2)
    Level 79: +3 Quint Blow (5)
    Level 80: +3 Quint Blow (8)

    As usual with me, I like to get at least 1 in any useful skill before I max anything. In this case, the 1 in Tele Mastery is because it is TOTALLY BADASS AND I LOVE THAT SKILL. The 1 in Conversion is in case you decide to do any sort of bossing (such as bigfoot and headless horseman for your dep star, yeah?). 1 in Quint Blow because it's your main attacking skill, 1 in Dark Shock because it'll do a ton of damage especially to large groups. 1 in Advanced Dark Chain to replace your current Dark Chain (twice the range and more damage is nice). I understand at this point in time (March 2nd, 2011) that putting 1 point in Body Boost is not possible. I wish I could tell you how awesome Body Boost was. I wish I could sing its praises to all of you. Unfortunately I've NO IDEA how Body Boost is because I wanted to rank it forever ago and haven't been able to due to a glitch. That said, I'll put Body Boost in where I -would- have liked to have it. Whether or not I think this is a good idea after I get to experience it may change.

    Battle Mastery before Quint Blow for the same reason as Staff Mastery before Quad Blow in 2nd job. More of a damage increase from Battle Mastery than you'd get from Quint Blow. That said, Quint Blow gives you the second biggest increase, so there you are, your second skill maxed.

    Training:

    As I said previously, I assume you've all mastered where you want to train right now. I'll leave basic ideas, plus a couple of random ones that you may not think about, but I'm expecting you guys to understand my implications.

    Twisted Jesters: Duh. You can stay here until 85 if you'd please. Maybe even 90. I don't know, it's a good training spot, just crowded beyond belief.

    Plateons: These would probably still be good experience through level 72-73.

    Cactus
    : Kinda a weird shaped map, but not bad for exp. You can start here right at 70 if you please, and stay until 75 if you wanted, but I wouldn't suggest it. Drops a glove for you, which is nice.

    Royal Cactus: They drop Evil Wings if you wanted another shot at those (I did). The map is small and flat but I found the spawn to be a tad slow at the rate I was killing. You can come here about level 72-73 and be just fine, and stay up through level 76 but...I wouldn't suggest longer than that. Spawn just isn't fast enough. Try Meercats if you don't want Evil Wings.

    Meercats
    : Similar to Royal Cacti, however with a bigger map and much, much faster spawn. No great drops unfortunately. A level 70 glove is all you get. You can start here at the same time as the Royal Cactus, but stay here longer if you wish. 79 tops.

    Sand Rats: These guys reminded me of Pokemon, lol. They're great experience though. The map is totally flat and the spawn is fantastic. Dark Rituals are promising, and a few of their other drops sell for decent amounts as well. 60% shield LUK might be useful for you too :D. Start here around 74-75 and stay up through 80 if you'd like.

    Kiyo: Ok training I'd guess, I never trained here. Gives you a level 70 Overall however, which is nice. Start around 76-77 and stay through 82 if you wanna.

    Scorpions:
    The map to the left of the sand rat map (two maps before Magentia) with the sand rat/scorpion combo is GREAT training for you. The spawn rate is through the roof, and Scorpions give level 90 shoes, a level 90 Overall, and level 80 gloves. You can start on that map and be safe at about 78-79, but if you want to give it a shot at 77 I won't stop you. Normally these maps aren't too too crowded so yeah. Everybody won't leave Jesters : P. Stay up through 84-85 if you're liking it here.

    Iron Mutae: At level 80, I'd say go to these guys. Just period. The experience rate here is crazy high, and they drop level 90 gloves, level 80 boots, level 90 boots, and a hat if you haven't gotten one. Plus 60% Staff scrolls, which are always a plus. At level 80 start here, and stay all the way through 85-86.

    80-90

    Equipment:

    You can start collecting your equips you wanna keep for good now. A % int equip for every option (glove, helm, shield, shoe, overall, earring, etc.) is what you want to try and aim for here. I suppose I should mention now:

    If you NEVER see yourself getting a horntail pendant, it's probably worth putting some extra AP into LUK eventually. The way magic attack works post Big Bang means you get some MAJOR damage from magic attack. As an example, I recently acquired 6% INT earrings. When I unequipped my 3% int, 6M.ATT earrings and put on my new, clean 6% INT earrings my damage actually went down. By like 200.

    That said, magic attack is wonderful. So if the decision comes to putting another 10AP into LUK to gain 20-30 M.ATT from a new staff, it's definitely worth it.

    However a HTP, along with a Targa gives you +50LUK already. It shouldn't be very difficult to get a shield with like 6-8LUK, along with LUK from medals (the mushroom kingdom medal gives +2 and you can get that at level 35ish), and if you're starting from about 30-40LUK as I suggested that already gets you to 90-100LUK. This isn't including anything you get from shoes, overalls, etc. so reaching 120ish LUK shouldn't be difficult. Therefore, if you can see yourself getting a HTP (In Scania I know they go for like 150-200m, which isn't TOO crazy expensive) I'd hold off adding LUK as long as you can.

    As for the big 16x staves, well, by that point you can decide if you wanna spare some AP.

    TO SUMMARIZE: Shoot for %INT on all your equips, and understand that if you're still using a Dark Ritual around 110-120, it may be worth it to add some LUK AP for the bigger badder staves due to new magic attack formulas.

    BLEH. Less long equipment sections, please.

    Skill Points:

    Level 81: +3 Quint Blow (11)
    Level 82: +3 Quint Blow (14)
    Level 83: +3 Quint Blow (17)
    Level 84: +3 Quint Blow (MAX)
    Level 85: +3 Teleport Mastery (4)
    Level 86: +3 Teleport Mastery (7)
    Level 87: +3 Teleport Mastery (MAX)
    Level 88: +3 Body Boost (4)
    Level 89: +3 Body Boost (7)
    Level 90: +3 Body Boost (10)

    OH MY LAWD BODY BOOST IS FINALLY FIXED. And GOD DAMN is it sexy. I'm still a huge fan of Teleport Mastery though and it only takes 3 levels to max it out, but if you really don't care much for Teleport Mastery and want more Body Boost, go ahead and start Body Boost before Teleport Mastery.

    As a point of reference, level 11 Body Boost at level 115ish raised my damage from 80-85K max to over 100K max. Body Boost will give you some serious damage boosts. But I still love Teleport Mastery so yeah, I'd say it's worth ranking before Body Boost.


    Training:

    The 80's fly by. Probably some of the fastest levels I experienced.

    Iron Mutae: Starting from level 80, or even a level or two earlier if you'd like, this place is FANTASTIC. You can stay until 86-88ish. I'm not sure if they're exp/hp ratio just kicks ass or what it is, but the exp here is ridiculous. They also drop a real nice glove and some good shoes for you, as well as a 60% Staf for M.ATT! Perfect, no?

    Scorpions: As before, these guys are fine. Still drop the same things, and I still highly recommend the sand rat/scorpion map. I wouldn't recommend staying past 84 though.

    Straw/Wooden Target Dummy
    : These straw guys drop an overall for you guys, a level 88 one to boot. It'll be one you can keep. Otherwise, no spectacular drops. The map is flat and decently fast spawn though, so I imagine it'd be good exp. However I never trained here, so I can't say.

    Sand Dwarf/Dark Sand Dwarf: Never trained here either. But you could start 81-82. No...great drops, but the map is flat so the exp might be nice. Try it out if you're looking for a change of pace!

    Vikerola: Looking at these guys, they have a nice exp/HP ratio. Really nice. Be safe to be here around 85 and could prolly take them to 90. However from what I remember the spawn is low, and no great drops. Still, worth looking into.

    Mithril Mutae: IF you're bored of Iron Mutae, or don't need the drops they have, try out the Mithril counterpart. They drop Kages, which you could never have too many of, and probably give slightly better exp around 85. I liked them, and stayed until 87ish.

    Roids/Neo Huroids: These guys are the NEXT place to be after Iron Mutae/Mithril Mutae. The map with both of these guys has great, great spawn. No fantastic drops, a few overalls for the ladies and shoes here and there but...the exp is so amazing, it outweighs the lack of drops. Start here around 85, stay as late as 95 if you'd like.



    90-100


    Equipment:

    You are now at the point where you can start gathering equips for a long, long time. I scrolled myself a nice kage (120 M.ATT, 3% int) and have used it since. I'm currently level 128, so yeah. I'm also still using my oriental fury coat, my 3% int dark pachone, my 3% int Enigma shoes, etc.

    The equipment you want to be aiming for is an HTP and a Czak/Targa. If you can get % int on those, DO IT. Also, a Flamekeeper's Cordon looks real real nice. Scrolled for M.ATT, of course. However those tend to be...pricey, to say the least. Especially when you chaos scroll them and the stats go poof. :<

    Skill Points:


    Level 91: +3 Body Boost (13)
    Level 92: +3 Body Boost (16)
    Level 93: +3 Body Boost (19)
    Level 94: +1 Body Boost (MAX) +2 Dark Shock (3)
    Level 95: +3 Dark Shock (6)
    Level 96: +3 Dark Shock (9)
    Level 97: +3 Dark Shock (12)
    Level 98: +3 Dark Shock (15)
    Level 99: +3 Dark Shock (18)
    Level 100: +2 Dark Shock (MAX) +1 The Reaper (2)

    Body Boost is sexy etc. etc.. I liked Dark Shock more than I liked The Reaper. Especially with Dark Shock cooldown going to 5 seconds. It's REAL nice to do 1000% damage every 5 seconds. But if you don't like it much, swap The Reaper for Dark Shock.

    Training:



    Roids/Neo Huroids: As I said before, you can stay here until 95ish if you'd like. Still good exp.

    MP3: I should mention this, because nobody ever told me. MP3 IS A MAP. NOT A MONSTER. It stands for Mysterious Path 3, and has a collection of Slimy's and Selkie Jrs, and is supposed to be AWESOME experience. Also supposed to be AWESOMELY crowded. Now I never trained there so I can't say, but it's supposed to be great starting at 90 all the way through 100.

    Homuns: Starting at 90 these guys might be a good idea. The exp is probably good, due to the flat map with decent spawn thing again. The exp will likely really slow down by 95 though.

    AF Androids:
    Again at 90, you can give these guys a shot. I don't know how the exp is, but it doesn't matter. They drop Finishing Blow 20. On Scania, these things were going for 100mil for a while. I think the price is closer to 70mil now, but it's still a lot of meso. Plus they drop the level 95 staff, an overall for you girls, and some shoes. All in all, try them out.
    There was a change to Mastery Books, these guys don't drop your specific books anymore. I don't believe this is a viable training spot anymore.

    Gallopera: Everybody said this place was crazy crowded, impossible to get a map, KSfest, etc. But whenever I was here, I never had those problems. One KS war with a bishop who tried REAL hard to KS me (couldn't, but tried) and ended up giving up and asking me to party and giving me HS. So yeah. This is a NICE training map and I highly suggest it. Power Elixers are a sweet and common drop from these guys, as well as shoes, overalls for male and females, and a glove. Not to mention 60% Glove ATT. Great training spot. Start as early as 90 if you're bold, stay through 100 if you'd like.

    Bellflower Root: I dunno. This map always seemed like it might be ok. Give it a try around 93-94 if you want. No great drops though.

    Broken DF Android:
    Maybe? They drops shoes and an overall for you girls but...I've no idea. Possibly, however.

    Homunculus:
    These guys drop 60% staff and 60% helmet int, along with steelys and a cape. So half-decent drops, and a nice flat map. Worth a try! Around 95-96. Don't stay too long.

    Oremunchers: You can give these guys a try by level 98. Honestly, I'd suggest it. They drop ADA30, Finishing Blow 20, FB30, and the level 95 Staff. The exp isn't terrible here, even if their defense is a tad high. Those skill books make them absolutely worth it though. Definitely a place worth trying. The exp will slow down considerably by level 105 though.
    There was a change to Mastery Books, these guys don't drop your specific books anymore. I don't believe this is a viable training spot anymore.

    100-120


    Just going to combine these two sections, as it's kind a home stretch from here. I should warn you however, the 110-120 stretch is KILLER. Seems no matter where you go, the exp is slow. BUT YOU'RE SO CLOSE TO FOURTH JOB AND LIONHEART CASTLE SO LET'S GO GO GO.

    Equipment: Same as last time. Aim for %int equips, aim for a Horntail Pendant and a Czak or Targa. Don't worry about upgrading equipment anymore, unless it's an upgrade on stats. For instance, don't upgrade from an Oriental Fury Coat to a Bazura/Varuna, upgrade from a 6 int overall to a 16 int overall to a 3% int overall, based on what you can afford. Also, if you're not using Honsters and Manabulls by now, you should start. Soon, you'll be using conversion to train. By that time, you best be using Honsters. Also if you start using Honsters, you best be training with conversion because it'll be more efficient for your Honsters to have double your HP. Mana bulls are a must by this point in time.

    GET AN ELEMENTAL STAFF IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT! See end game equipment for more details!

    Skill Points:

    Level 101: +3 The Reaper (5)
    Level 102: +3 The Reaper (8)
    Level 103: +3 The Reaper (11)
    Level 104: +3 The Reaper (14)
    Level 105: +3 The Reaper (17)
    Level 106: +3 The Reaper (MAX)
    Level 107: +3 Conversion (3)
    Level 108: +3 Conversion (6)
    Level 109: +3 Conversion (9)
    Level 110: +1 Conversion (MAX) +2 The Reaper
    Level 111: +3 Advanced Dark Chain (5)
    Level 112: +3 Advanced Dark Chain (8)
    Level 113: +3 Advanced Dark Chain (11)
    Level 114: +2 Advanced Dark Chain (13) +1 Advanced Blue Aura (2)
    Level 115: +3 Advanced Blue Aura (5)
    Level 116: +3 Advanced Blue Aura (8)
    Level 117: +3 Advanced Blue Aura (11)
    Level 118: +3 Advanced Blue Aura (14)
    Level 119: +3 Advanced Blue Aura (17)
    Level 120: +3 Advanced Blue Aura (MAX)

    WHOOOOOOOOOOO fourth job is in your near future! Lemme break it down here. If you went The Reaper first instead of Dark Shock, finish that up. Honestly, I'm afraid I'm waiting -too- long for conversion. It's possible that you want it sooner, but it's maxed by 110 which is when you should start using it so...it's a wash. Let me know if you guys don't like how it works out for ya. The Reaper...honestly kinda blows. I don't like this skill much at all. Albeit he's cute and kinda fun to have...but his damage just isn't up to snuff. The chance of him appearing is so small, and he stays for such a short period of time...it's just not really that good of a skill. With the Chaos update, The Reaper is actually a useful guy. Pretty strong damage, stays out 150% longer than he used to, and it makes it pretty worth it. I like it now! Highly recommend maxing it, and keeping ADC at 13 instead. ABA is still useful, so max it.

    Training:

    Training gets weird around here. All the exp slows to the point where there's pretty much one spot with fast exp, and everywhere else just sucks in comparison, but might have better drops, or maybe you just want a break. Anyway, bossing is always fun by this point, and if you can get into a party somewhere, do it!

    PQing: I'm no expert when it comes to PQing. I came back to this game after Ascension and found out they actually changed it so it's viable for leveling quickly. Cool! That said, Pirate Lord PQ, Romeo and Juliet PQ, Orbis PQ, Forest of Poison Haze...they were all good exp during this time. I don't know exactly which PQs are good experience in these levels, but hey man. Try them out for sure! Whether it's Ludi or anything, just give it a try. I'll make a character that does nothing but level from PQs next, so I can get a feel for which are good and when but man. I made a new char recently and Romeo and Juliet/Pirate PQ were godsends. They made 11x go by pretty quickly. Try them out!

    Captains and Kru: Starting from 100-102, depending on your confidence in your skills, these guys are great training. I personally stayed until 112, so yeah. you can stay here for some time. They don't drop anything too fantastic, a lot of Gold Drop Earrings and White Gaia Capes. The exp is just too good to pass up though. Plus, if you can't find a map, there's always the Captains Mini-Dungeon which is also great exp. Not as good of spawn, but good exp regardless. Sadly...I don't like saying this but...this is really the only viable training spot until about 110. So if you get bored, PQ!

    Ghost Pirates: You could...theoretically start here around 107-108...but it's not going to be good exp until 110+. Probably not even until 111-112. You're gonna need it one day soon. Anyway, these guys are good enough exp, and I'm sure you're itching for a new map by now. Stay here until like 113-115

    Fun fact: Assuming you're 110 right now, you can Zakum legitimately! Kinda weird thought to me, since the last time I played the only people who could Zakum were the proest of the pros.

    Blood Harps: I always thought about training here around 110, but never got around to it. They drop some interesting things though. Hwabis, Clean Slate scrolls...yeah.

    Death Teddies: Not too bad. By level 112-113 you can start here. They'll drop some shoes for you, a 60% Staff M.ATT scroll, and a 60% Helmet INT. Decent experience however.

    Dual Ghost Pirates: These were a breath of fresh air for me at 114. These guys felt like crazy fast experience. It didn't last long, but it felt like it. I'd pretty much recommend them until 120. At my high point here I was able to clear the map twice before buffs ran out. Good luck!

    Master Death Teddies: Sigh...I feel bad writing this. All of these places are just ok. At about 115 you can start here. No great drops, but the map is better than normal death teddies.

    Yetis: I dunno. Give it a shot if you'd like. Never tried myself.

    Kentaurus: I kept meaning to try these guys, but meh. Experience is alright here. 11x's really suck for experience.

    Spirit Vikings: They drop Ilbi's, and a level 88 overall for men. The exp here is pretty good but the map is big and awkward. You can start here around 116-117, and go through 120 if you'd like. The map is really strange though. You'll see when you try it out.

    Phantom Watch: Everybody used to rave about these guys too. Experience is so-so.

    Gigantic Spirit Vikings: Now this place I still like. The map is straightforward, the spawn is good, and they drop helmet for INT 60%. I still go here when I'm looking for a break. You can start around 119-120.

    ANnnnnnnnnnnnd I really can't get away without mentioning this any longer. I'm hesistant for a few reasons, but here goes:

    LIONHEART CASTLE. -The- training spot to be at starting at level 115. I'd hold out until 117 if you can, but if you've got some friends who'll take you in at 115, do it. This place has the fastest experience you can get from level 115-level 200. Not kidding. Or exaggerating. Any. At all. From 115, I'd do Crocky the Gatekeepers. Starting at 120-122, move to Bearwolves. Forget Reindeers. Eventually Castle Golems are supposed to be good, but you need Stance for that. I should mention a few things, however.

    1) You will do nothing but lose money here. They eat up HP pots like crazy, and don't drop anything.
    2) You NEED a party of 6 people. The more people you have here, the more experience you get. No seriously, I mean numerically the more people. You get +50% experience for every party member in the map. So yeah, you need to party.
    3) This place is the reason skill books inflated. They drop almost nothing. Certainly no skillbooks. Therefore, since people don't train at places with skillbooks now, prices go up.
    4) It's crazy fast experience. You want to try and get a Bishop or Priest in your party for sure, but the experience is INSANE. I went form 126-128 in an hour. Not kidding.

    So yeah. Lionheart castle, from 115, all the way to level cap, is the best experience you can get. No arguments about it.

    120+

    YOU HIT FOURTH JOB! CONGRATULATIONS! You're going to love it. However from here on out, training is at Lionheart Castle for fast exp. If you're looking to make money, just go elsewhere. If you really hate LHC and want the next best experience (which is, no exaggeration, about 5-10 times worse depending on your level) here goes.

    Equipment:

    Aim for the best you can get now. It's just a matter of affording the next best thing. Just remember, keep enough LUK for your weapon. Don't worry about trying to accumulate more LUK if you're not planning to change your weapon. If you need the LUK though, there's no harm in adding some if you don't see ANY way to get more.

    A Chaos Horntail Pendant, Czak, and all unique %int equips are what you want now. Good luck getting it! But that's your final goal.

    AND FORGET EVERYTHING I EVER SAID FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET AN ELEMENTAL STAFF! Even if it's the level 103 one and you're level 150, get the elemental staff. Let me share this with you:

    I had a 146 M.Att clean reverse staff. This reverse staff ALSO had 6% int on it. It is, however sadly, Slow (8) speed.

    I now have a 118 M.Att clean level 103 (obviously) Elemental Staff. It has no potential. It is Fast (4) speed.

    Upon testing at bearwolves, I got an average of a 6 second faster killing speed with the Elemental Staff. This may not seem like much, but at nearly a minute per kill, that's a 10% faster killing speed, and I haven't even scrolled this monster yet. 28 less m.att, 6% less int, and I still kill faster. That is the power of an Elemental Staff.

    Honsters and Mana Bulls for pots, obviously.

    Skill Points:

    Here're my suggestions, in general.

    Level 120: Finishing Blow +1 (1) Dark Genesis +1 (1) Twister Spin +1 (1)
    Level 121: Advanced Dark Aura +1 (1) Advanced Yellow Aura +1 (1) Party Shield +1 (1)
    Level 122: Maple Warrior +3 (3)

    And from here your priorties are, in descending order:

    Advanced Dark Aura
    Finishing Blow
    Energize
    Stance/Party Shield
    Dark Genesis/Twister Spin
    Maple Warrior
    Advanced Yellow Aura

    The reason I say this is because chances are, you're going to get SP faster than you'll get Skill Books. So if you're at level 10 ADA and haven't gotten a mastery book to pass yet, start finishing blow. The Stance/Party Shield and Twister Spin/Dark Genesis order is close. It depends on how often you're bossing. Stance and Party Shield are good for bossing. Twister Spin and Dark Genesis are really for the lulz, but still powerful skills for training. So yeah. Just rank as you please, really. I'd just suggest getting one of everything useful first : ). The 3 in Maple Warrior is for the +2% int for 90 seconds, which should match up with the rest of your buffs.

    Training:

    In the 120's, you can do Gigantic Spirit Vikings, and move to Grim Phantom Watches. At 125, you had best be killing Pap 2 times a day. Good experience for sure.

    Werewolves and Lycanthropes will be your next spot of choice by about level 127-13x. Supposedly Rexton's are good in the early 13x's, and I know Zombies are good from all the time I spent there on my Sniper back when they were a 6x monster. >_<.

    Bains are decent at 130, as are Wyvrens.

    Skelegons used to be good in the 14x's? No idea how they are now.

    Anything in the Temple of Time by 140 should be decent.

    Bah. So on and so forth. Training at this point is basically LHC, or whatever you wanna do for fun. Train at whatever's around your level if you don't wanna train at LHC. Also, don't forget about bossing! Bossing will be the most fun thing you can do, and make you the most money!

    Also worth mentioning now are PQs! PQs have been revamped so that the average party level will determine how much exp you get. This means that if you and some high level buddies do Dragon Rider PQ, you'll likely get some decent exp out of it. I've yet to confirm how much, but I figured I'd throw this in.

    Basically, congratulations on fourth job, now you're a big enough kid to go and decide for yourself! It's your character, do what you want!

    And now I bid you farewell. o.o7

    Please give me some feedback!


    Again, real quick thanks to hidden-street.net, and a HUUUUUGE thanks to my guild, KoM, for helping me get back into Maple after a five year hiatus and answering my constant barrage of questions from levels 1-70, and then a slight pelting of questions since then


    FAQs:


    I've noticed a lot of similar questions asked, or questions that I personally had to ask a ton of people myself. I thought I'd add them at the end here.


    Dark Aura, Yellow Aura, Blue Aura, so many options! I just don't know what to use!

    A very fair question! Let me break this down the I can.

    Simple Version: Dark Aura is better than Yellow Aura is better than Blue Aura. Simple, but not as useful.

    Blue Aura is typically only used when you have two other BaMs in your party and they've got the other two auras covered. I rarely find myself using this Aura. The only time I legitimately did is when everybody at LHC said they were fine with our killing speed, but thought they were using too many potions so I gave everybody some extra defense.

    Yellow Aura is really tough. Ideally, you'll use a Fast (4) staff, which booster bumps up to Fastest (2), which is the fastest achievable attacking speed in the game and therefore Yellow Aura becomes obsolete. If you are not in this situation, then you can join the never ending debate on which aura is more useful.
    Yellow Aura increases your attack speed one step, which is definitely noticeable and totally awesome. Through first and second job, Yellow Aura does tend to be more useful because you're already one hitting the monsters desirable to train on. The damage buff from Dark Aura would be nice if you weren't killing the monsters so quickly the extra damage mattered. Typically in the first two jobs, this is not the case, and Yellow Aura is better for you.

    Starting in the 100's, really flaring up around 110-115, it becomes a much tougher debate between Dark Aura and Yellow Aura. I like the extra damage myself, especially with Body Boost thrown in the mix. The damage from Body Boost is insane and makes Dark Aura FAR superior to Yellow Aura 50% of the time, unless you're OHKOing the monsters and extra damage doesn't matter. The question is, do you normally use Yellow Aura then switch to Dark Aura before boosting, or is Dark Aura better, or is Yellow Aura better....it's a long, long debate.

    My answer is go with what feels right, there is no definite answer. I like the extra damage more, plus I find constantly switching Auras to be a burden. Others like the speed from Yellow Aura more. Hey, it's your character, you decide.

    There are so many training places! You expect me to switch this often?

    Well certainly not! I'm just giving multiple suggestions, especially for those who often like a change of scenery. Once you get into the high levels (150+) you'll understand the pain of grinding in its fullest. You'll see the beauty in taking things slow and not being in constant go mode. But hey, if you wanna stay in one spot, more power to you! Start earlier than I suggest and stay later!

    You don't mention many quests, do you not like questing?

    Questing...Argh. I should like questing, really I should. I enjoy the break from the grind, but I get annoyed with quests that end up being a grind for less exp, so I start to get annoyed. But if you can find away to not see the quest as grinding, excellent!

    I think you should definitely consider doing the quests available to you at the levels you get them. It truly is a nice break, and it'll be good exp if you do the quests meant for your level, I promise! Cover up your exp bar with your skills or something, you'll see how quickly you level when you're not constantly staring at it! Plus you get some really nice prizes from a lot of these quests.

    I hate your skillbuilds! Blood Drain and Reaper are awesome!

    I love Blood Drain and Reaper, and I agree with you! Currently however, putting much more than 6 points in Blood Drain is an absolutely worthless idea! At my level I have 7000 HP Even with max blood drain, I can only heal 10% of that with any given move, so 700 HP. If I had level 1 Blood Drain, it would take 1% of my damage and turn that into HP. So to heal 10% at level 1 blood drain, I would need to deal about 70,000 damage. Let me tell you something. TELEPORT MASTERY does 70K damage for me. My blow skill, dark shock, everything else hits well over 150-200K damage. If you had level TWO blood drain and could heal 2% of your damage, you'd only need to hit 35K to heal fully.

    As for Reaper, right now I still don't consider it worth maxing. I love my little guy, he just doesn't help me enough. This may change when the updates in chaos come out! I'll let you know then. I do not begrudge anybody who sacrifices some Advanced Dark Chain for Reaper, that is totally up to you.

    Blood Drain isn't. Don't max it. I'll keel you.

    The Finisher feels so slow! Is it even worth using?
    I agree, it does feel slow! It ruins your nice combo string of Finishing Blows, doesn't it?!

    Let me tell you though, it's worth it. The 15% damage ignore means that it will almost always do more damage than whatever Blow skill you used did for damage.

    However, the highest DPS a BaM can reach is even more complex than a simple Finishing Blow -> Finisher combo. Give this one a try:

    Finishing Blow -> Teleport Up -> The Finisher -> Teleport Up -> Finishing Blow -> Teleport Up -> The Finisher etc. etc.

    I swear by it, and I've had multiple people at Basil help me out with this one, it is the highest DPS a Battle Mage can reach when attacking one monster for a long period of time. It's complex, yes. But isn't it a lot more fun than simply holding down 1 key? It takes a tad bit (tad, tad bit) more skill to pull this off consistently! Go practice!

    For fun, I'll post the results I got from testing:

    Average time to kill a Bearwolf with no body boost (because body boost may run out before the bearwolf dies, and would skew results) and finishing blow only (holding down the key to reduce skill lag, even): 1:30 seconds.

    Average time to kill a Bearwolf with no body boost and my combo: 58 seconds.

    This is also done with an Elemental staff, so the combo should be at its hardest to pull off and yet somehow I still do it consistently ; )

    3 Maple Warrior so early in 4th job, what?!

    Alright so I'm probably weird here, but it's my guide, I'll do what I want. I don't ALWAYS train at LHC. The place drives me crazy bored to be honest with you, but the exp is truly that hot. Therefore when I solo, I like to have a bit of MW on me. 3 Maple Warrior adds 2% to your int, so say like another equip's worth of Int, AND it lasts 90 seconds. The Reaper/Staff Booster/Blood Drain should all also last at close to 90 seconds, so you can just throw it in with the rest of your buffs!

    I know Tesi suggested you raise in to 5 in case you find MW20 cheap and want to try and pass it. It's an option, but I didn't want to put any more into it than I had so I've kept mine at 3.

    My M.ATT is XXX my range is XXX I have XXX %int am I doing ok?!

    Yes, you're doing fine. Regardless of what you have. Most importantly, have fun. My character certainly isn't godly, and I have a blast. I started with 400K, not enough to buy -anything-. I think I blew it on staff M.ATT 100% scrolls for my wizard staff. I loved playing this class even with the crappy equipment.

    You can always upgrade when you get the meso. Don't worry about how you're doing, just play the game!

    Can I add you? I'm on Scania and want some more help!

    If you truly want more help, feel free to PM me here or chat me in game. I probably will not add you however. I don't want my Buddy List to be spammed with questions, I much prefer seeing my friends talk.

    You're so pro can I donate 1bil for the help you've given me?

    Yes, yes you can. I also wish this was a frequently asked question. :<

    UNFUNDED Battle Mage guide?! The things you suggest on here cost billions of meso!

    This is true! The equips I suggest getting for end game will cost you billions of meso. Easily. However the Unfunded part comes in the beginning, where I guide you through spending very minimal meso until around level 50, and then start to give more expensive items for the people out there who have a natural hand for making money.

    This guide will help you if you are unfunded, but by the time you're third or especially fourth job, it won't matter that you're unfunded. You've a high leveled character, fund yourself!


    Also, this guide is posted on Hiddenstreet forums and SouthPerry forums. Without my permission this guide as a whole or any part of it cannot be posted on any other site. Even with my permission, I require citation. Thanks : )
    Last edited by Aberrence; 29th December 2011 at 01:50 PM. Reason: Ascension Updates

  2. #2
    Jr. Necki jitenp's Avatar
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    very detailed thank you, the other BaM guide is nowhere as good as this. can u possibly go more in depth of 3rd job and 4th job? i was lost on what to do in 3rd job but this will probably help me a lot

    BuckshotEye-8x Cannoneer
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    [05-06, 19:18] Tesiqurasa: jitenp is hot <----took you long enough

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    When I made a BaM I maxed Teleport first. What matters early-game to mid-game is your hit:kill ratio - Pretty much 99% of the time, you're not going to see a difference in how many hits it takes to kill a monster by raising a skill that only gives you an extra +19% damage a hit, especially early/mid-game. I was pretty much overkilling everything by ~2x its HP from 10~20; once you pass 20 your Triple Blow's basically going to be almost maxed anyway.

    In that way, having a low-cost, higher distance Teleport helps more because it allows you to spam it, get around faster and therefore hit more monsters.

    Also, from levels 10~20 you can just sit at Blue Ribbon Pigs at Vic Island, it's the best training for those levels.
    I prefer not to change locations often, so this is basically my general leveling/training guide:
    Spoiler!
    Last edited by emailbox; 21st February 2011 at 10:05 PM.

    bolt202/veil225/feint200

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    Quote Originally Posted by jitenp View Post
    very detailed thank you, the other BaM guide is nowhere as good as this. can u possibly go more in depth of 3rd job and 4th job? i was lost on what to do in 3rd job but this will probably help me a lot
    Absolutely, I will be updating this once I get the free time. Unfortunately I have a lot to do this week. A lab report, two tests, and work on top of that. However next free chance I get I'll likely be working on it and of course I'll be updating 3rd and 4th job. My next goal is to get to 120, and work on some formatting for this guide.




    emailbox, I will update the beginning of each 10 level training section with a spot I think you could stay for the entire 10 level span if you'd like. Honestly it never occurred to me that people LIKE staying in one spot, but if that's what floats your boat I can think of a spot no doubt.

  5. #5
    Jr. Necki jitenp's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aberrence View Post
    Absolutely, I will be updating this once I get the free time. Unfortunately I have a lot to do this week. A lab report, two tests, and work on top of that. However next free chance I get I'll likely be working on it and of course I'll be updating 3rd and 4th job. My next goal is to get to 120, and work on some formatting for this guide.




    emailbox, I will update the beginning of each 10 level training section with a spot I think you could stay for the entire 10 level span if you'd like. Honestly it never occurred to me that people LIKE staying in one spot, but if that's what floats your boat I can think of a spot no doubt.
    after ure done with desert rabbits, id stay in ariant and kill stuff there. jesters will be crowded and even if u manage to find an empty channel, u wont be able to hold for long. i was in ariant at 73 and was killing Royal Cactus in 3 quint blows and they gave me 500 exp each
    and they have a mini dungeon where it is awesome by using dark chains, u just pull everyone near and quint them to maple hell

    BuckshotEye-8x Cannoneer
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    [05-06, 19:18] Tesiqurasa: jitenp is hot <----took you long enough

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    Quote Originally Posted by jitenp View Post
    after ure done with desert rabbits, id stay in ariant and kill stuff there. jesters will be crowded and even if u manage to find an empty channel, u wont be able to hold for long. i was in ariant at 73 and was killing Royal Cactus in 3 quint blows and they gave me 500 exp each
    and they have a mini dungeon where it is awesome by using dark chains, u just pull everyone near and quint them to maple hell
    Thanks for the suggestions : )

    I've actually got a lot of ideas myself. In the past month I've gone from 1-106 on my BaM so the training spots are still very fresh in my mind. As I said, I like to switch spots often, so I tested quite a few.

    It just takes quite a deal of physical time to write something like this, and I don't have the time to type out another 50 levels right now, so until I do it'll just stay like this for now.

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    Jr. Necki jitenp's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aberrence View Post
    Thanks for the suggestions : )

    I've actually got a lot of ideas myself. In the past month I've gone from 1-106 on my BaM so the training spots are still very fresh in my mind. As I said, I like to switch spots often, so I tested quite a few.

    It just takes quite a deal of physical time to write something like this, and I don't have the time to type out another 50 levels right now, so until I do it'll just stay like this for now.
    lol it took me two months to get to 75 :P. its ok this guide is good

    BuckshotEye-8x Cannoneer
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    [05-06, 19:18] Tesiqurasa: jitenp is hot <----took you long enough

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    Interesting guide. Definitely detailed and nice to read. I can't find any real flaws in it either.

    I maxed Reaper, and I do like it. It gets a lot better between levels 13 and 20. But that's personal preference... Since I'm funded, the extra 50% or so damage from Adv. Chain wasn't going to make or break my hits-to-kill ratio.

    Oh, where you said that Barbs are good til forever... True, but once you have more than 5,600 HP, it'll be cheaper to use Honsters. That happens, without Conversion, late in 3rd job or in 4th, depending on how much HP you get from equips. But whenever you find yourself using Conversion to train, Honsters'll be much cheaper. Personally, since I started training with Conversion around level 113, I spend a lot less on potions. It costs me way less than one Mana Bull to cast, and since I have the higher max HP, I can let my HP ebb and flow to let Drain do a more efficient job at recovering my HP, meaning I don't actually use the Honsters unless I've been doing a lot of chatting, or while I'm looking for a map and not killing. I was burning a lot of Barbs simply not to die, even if I could've regenned it with Drain eventually... I didn't want to be at the point where the monsters could 1hko me. Plus, Honsters are more compact in my inventory for the same amount of healing.
    Spoiler!

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    Jr. Necki jitenp's Avatar
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    Oh how I do love The Finisher. In your later levels this thing will become a beast (I'm hitting around 20K with it at level 80) and the bonus of hitting 6 monsters with it is FANTASTIC.
    You are joking, right? In my opinion, Finisher is THE WORST attack that BaMs have.
    1. You need to use a Blow move to even activate Finisher.
    2.Finisher is replaced by Dark Chain(which can be used to pull monsters first toward you and then you can use a blow to kill them.)
    3. Dark Chains gets replaced by Advanced Dark Chains(basically the same as dark chains with added range)

    BuckshotEye-8x Cannoneer
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    [05-06, 19:18] Tesiqurasa: jitenp is hot <----took you long enough

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    Quote Originally Posted by jitenp View Post
    You are joking, right? In my opinion, Finisher is THE WORST attack that BaMs have.
    1. You need to use a Blow move to even activate Finisher.
    Yes, you do. But if you need 2 blow moves to kill the monster, The Finisher comes out faster than another blow move. Also, The Finisher will consistently do far more damage than your blow move will, so if you need to three hit a monster with blow, blow + finisher may get the job done for you. If it doesn't. blow + finisher + a teleport will.
    2.Finisher is replaced by Dark Chain(which can be used to pull monsters first toward you and then you can use a blow to kill them.)
    Judging from the level you have posted here, I can assume you're still training at either Twisted Jesters, Ariant, or if you've figured it out yet, the sexy experience that is Iron Mutae. That said, I understand why you may think this. Generally at those levels, as long as your equips are decent a dark chain + blow skill will kill off sandrats/scorpions. A teleport mastery will finish them off otherwise. However, as you get into higher levels, advanced dark chain might be scoring 25K hits max. Just as an example, we'll take the Captain monster into account, since it is such a wonderful training spot.

    Let's preface by noting that a Captain has 75K HP.

    At level 105 you might be hitting 25K max with advanced dark chain and a critical hit. That'll leave 50K HP left for the captain. Your blow skill might do between 20K-35K. If you hit 20K with it, this still leaves an additional 30K HP left to take out. A second blow skill could possibly do it, but The Finisher, as I said previously, will come out faster and consistently do higher damage than the blow skill. The Finisher also has less lag -after- the Blow is used allowing you to telecast through or away from the Captain more quickly, allowing for higher training efficiency. Adv Dark Chain has a HUGE lag time after the skill is used before telecasting. Mobility is key for a BaM.

    All this said, Dark Chain in no way -replaces- Finisher, it simply compliments it.

    3. Dark Chains gets replaced by Advanced Dark Chains(basically the same as dark chains with added range)
    The above comment I wrote should nip this one in the bud as well

    All this said, I strongly suggest you take another look into this skill. It is highly beneficial to your training regime when used correctly and very powerful for bossing.

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