Post by seikonya on Dec 24, 2020 7:32:40 GMT -8
I saved this in the hopes of nsms coming back and guess I was right but in a wrong way ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Low Dex/Dexless Warrior(Fighter) Guide by SeikoNya
Introduction
Dexless warriors aims to put all Ability Points (AP) in to STR in order to maximize damage at a drawback of lower DEX allocated, which can sometimes cause your attacks to miss. They circumvent this by getting the needed accuracy from equipments scrolled for dex/accuracy. This guide aims to combine numerous different guides and add my own opinion on not only the dexless aspect, but also the Fighter branch of the warrior altogether.
To give a bit of background, I had a lv100+ dexless crusader on NSMS, and currently have a dexless crusader which I started completely unfunded. I personally love playing around the accuracy mechanic that other classes don't get to experience in depth. I'll be adding more information as I continue to play in Melodies. Feel free to comment!
Dexless warriors can be quite expensive to maintain due to the amount of prerequisite gear you need in order to train effectively. If you plan to make this your second character, I recommend making a cleric as they can save on potion costs through heal and can be used for hs/bless bot while training (make sure you create it on a different account). You can also make a spearman instead for HB and keep for LPQ/DoC.
There's a lot of information here, feel free to take your time and read the parts that are relevant to you. Oh and good news! Found a way to make the formatting look half decent using 1x1 tables. Still though, this new forum layout kinda sucks.
Ability Points
STR: Increases Maximum and Minimum damage
DEX: Increases Minimum damage and Accuracy (0.8)
INT: Increases Maximum MP on Level up (every 10 INT grants 1 additional MP per lvl)
LUK: Increases Accuracy (0.5)
When creating a new character, getting 13 on STR is extremely unlikely and may take a very long time to get. I would personally take anything that looks like (STR 11 DEX 5) or (STR 12) even with one other point going in to INT or LUK. My stats were STR 11 DEX 5 INT 4 LUK 5 in Melodies, and STR 12 DEX 4 INT 5 LUK 4 in NSMS.
You can increase the maximum MP by switching to equipment with INT just before leveling up, but it's a very minor buff that isn't necessary (especially with no hp washing). Allocate all 5 ability points in to STR each time you level up until level 10.
Question of DEX
Attack range formula:
Max damage = (STR * 1h/2h + DEX) * Weapon Attack / 100
Min damage = (STR * 1h/2h * 0.9 * Mastery + DEX) * Weapon Attack / 100
For 1h swords use 4.0, For 2h swords use 4.6
Here, you will have to decide whether to go Low Dex or Dexless. A few things to keep in mind; as you can see from the attack range formula, STR scales significantly better than DEX (About 4 times as much) while also making each point of weapon attack worth more damage.
Currently maple weapons and zhelms are not avaliable to us, which makes dexless extremely difficult. Once they are available however, accuracy in the late game is less of a problem. Early on, you can equip weapons like Fish Spear or Pig Illustrated which gives a bonus to accuracy.
In my personal opinion, 40 DEX is more than you need unless you're looking to use a stonetooth sword (requires 120 DEX) and it can make leveling alot faster by being able to hit enemies a few levels earlier. If you don't decide to add DEX, there will be somewhat of a roadblock during the transition from different mobs such as; green mushrooms (18.4 acc) to horny mushrooms (25.8 acc) to pink teddies (51.5 acc) to golems (73.6 acc) to wolf spiders (110.4 acc). If you do decide to add DEX, follow this general level guide;
Level 12 = 14 DEX
Level 17 = 21 DEX
Level 23 = 28 DEX
Level 30 = 32 DEX
Level 35 = 40 DEX
Accuracy Calculator: screamingstatue.com/accuracymain.php
You can also use the Accuracy calculator to see exactly how much accuracy you need. Put your level and accuracy stat next to the pink boxes and select a mob from the list (I usually sort by level). The calculator will output 4 numbers; 100% Ref Acc (Accuracy required to hit 100% at MONSTER level), 100% Hit Acc (Accuracy required to hit 100% at YOUR level), Hit Ratio (Your current chance to hit in %) and 1% Hit Acc (Accuracy required to hit 1% at YOUR level). Oh and it doesn't seem to have the leafre mobs in the "All Worlds" list, so you'll have to click on the leafre button to see their accuracy requirements.
You can also input custom level and avoid ranges at the bottom. Ice turtles are level 45 and seem to have 18 avoid (requiring around 66 accuracy or more), and Ice Golems are level 60 and seem to have around 22 avoid (requiring around 81 accuracy or more, not 100% sure about this one).
Skill Points
1st Job skill point allocation
LV 10 : Improving HP Recovery 1 [1/16]
LV 11 : Improving HP Recovery 3 [4/16]
LV 12 : Improving HP Recovery 1 [5/16], Improving Max HP Increase 2 [2/10]
LV 13~14 : Improving Max HP Increase 3 [8/10]
LV 15 : Improving Max HP Increase 2 [MAX], Power Strike 1 [1/20]
LV 16~21 : Slash Blast 3 [18/20]
LV 22 : Slash Blast 2 [MAX], Power Strike 1 [2/20]
LV 23~28 : Power Strike 3 [MAX]
LV 29~30 : Endure 3 [6/8]
Summary – Total 61 SP
Improving HP Recovery [5/16] / Improving Max HP Increase [MAX] / Power Strike [MAX] / Slash Blast [MAX] / Endure [6/8] / Iron Body [0/20]
Get 5 Improving HP Recovery in order to get Improving Max HP Increase maxed ASAP in order to build HP pool. Slash blast maxed first in order to mob and train fast and efficient. Power strike and slash blast will be used until 4th job so definitely maxed. Endure is added last for utility. I personally like endure because some maps you won't be able to find a safe place to sit on a chair and it helps saving a small amount of potions when you're afk. Improving HP recovery is not great compared to endure cause chairs exist. Weapon defence gained from Iron Body becomes irrelevant later in the game and does not work with rage.
2nd Job skill point allocation
LV 30 : Sword Mastery 1 [1/20]
LV 31~36 : Sword Mastery 3 [19/20]
LV 37~38 : Sword Booster 3 [6/20]
LV 39~44 : Rage 3 [18/20]
LV 45: Rage 2 [MAX], Power Guard 1 [1/30]
LV 46~54 : Power Guard 3 [28/30]
LV 55: Power Guard 2 [MAX], Save 1 SP [1 Unspent]
LV 56~64 : Save 3 SP [28 Unspent]
LV 65 : Final Attack Sword 30 [MAX], Sword Booster 1 [7/20]
LV 66~69 : Sword Booster 3 [19/20]
LV 70 : Sword Booster 1 [MAX], Sword Mastery 1 [MAX], Endure 1 [7/8]
Summary – Total 121 SP
Sword Mastery [MAX] / Sword Booster [MAX] / Axe Mastery [0/20] / Axe Booster [0/20]
Final Attack [MAX] / Rage [MAX] / Power Guard [MAX] / Endure [7/8]
Please refer to Final Attack section below. You can use an axe if you really want, but swords offer stable damage and faster attack speeds that axes can't provide. While axes may have higher max damage, they have lower min damage which makes it inconsistent when it comes to ensuring 1 hit kills. Also at 4th job, Brandish acts as one swing and one stab which helps sword users and hurts axe users.
Get Sword Mastery ASAP to get the much needed accuracy and increase minimum damage. You can add the last point if the +1 accuracy will make you hit the mob 100%, but if not leave it at 19.
Here's a part that I've yet to test, Sword booster at max rank adds +2 to weapon speed but I'm not sure if it starts at +1 then adds another at rank 10 like mage's Magic booster. If it does, add points until rank 10.
Rage is added for the extra damage (use pills until rank 9+) and Power Guard is added next for damage reduction. From here, you'll save 27 points until you can fully invest in final attack, otherwise the extra attack does minimal damage and you will lose out on dps. Remaining points go to maxing booster and adding 1 extra point to endure.
About Final Attack
After PS it does 250% damage to one monster very quickly (good for single targets). However after SB it splits the damage unevenly: roughly 167%, 55.6%, 18.5%, 6.17%, 2.06%, and 0.686%, i.e. 2/3 of the damage to the first target and then 1/3 of the previous damage to each subsequent target. Do note that if you hit fewer than 6 enemies then the percentages won't even add up to the full 250% (will always split damage by 6) and that FA is one of the few skills that can go below the minimum cap of 1 damage (and hence show as a miss).
ex: If your average SB damage is ~800 then your average following FA damage would be ~1336, 445, 148, 49, 16, 5
Attack Speed Info
There seems to be random increases of 30ms while holding down the attack button. Your attack speed can never go above Faster (2). Faster (3) + booster and Faster (2) + booster register as Faster (2) speed, not 1. Below is the attack speed in ms of each of the stages. You're looking for stages between Faster (2) and Fast (4) since booster adds 2 ranks of speed. You can see that even though a fast (5) sword is only 30ms slower than a fast (4) sword, with booster it's still a 60ms difference. Fast (4) swords are really good.
Smaller ms = faster attacks
(number in bracket) = difference between Normal (6)
- Power Strike/Slash Blast/Charged Blow/Normal Attack
Faster (2): 600ms (-210ms)
Faster (3): 660ms (-150ms)
Fast (4): 720ms (-90ms)
Fast (5): 750ms (-60ms)
Normal (6): 810ms
Slow (7): 870ms (+60ms)
Slow (8): 900ms (+90ms)
[11:54 AM] SeikoNya: - Final Attack (stab -> stab)
Faster (2): 540ms + 390ms (-180ms, -120ms)
Faster (3): 570ms + 420ms (-150ms, -90ms)
Fast (4): 630ms + 450ms (-90ms, -60ms)
Fast (5): 660ms + 480ms (-60ms, -30ms)
Normal (6): 720ms + 510ms
Slow (7): 750ms + 540ms (+30ms, +30ms)
Slow (8): 810ms + 570ms (+90ms, +60ms)
- Final Attack (any other combo)
Faster (2): 540ms + 450ms (-180ms, -120ms)
Faster (3): 570ms + 480ms (-150ms, -90ms)
Fast (4): 630ms + 510ms (-90ms, -60ms)
Fast (5): 660ms + 540ms (-60ms, -30ms)
Normal (6): 720ms + 570ms
Slow (7): 750ms + 600ms (+30ms, +30ms)
Slow (8): 810ms + 660ms (+90ms, +90ms)
In conclusion: Final attack does wonders for Power Strike but loses out a bit of DPS with Slash Blast at 2nd job. However, Final attack allows us to charge combo at 3rd job much faster and is resource efficient (Does not cost extra hp/mp), therefore FA is a good skill for Fighters.
3rd Job skill point allocation
LV 70: Combo Attack 1 [1/30]
LV 71~76: Combo Attack 3 [19/30]
LV 77: Combo Attack 2 [21/30], Coma 1 [1/30]
LV 78~86: Coma 3 [28/30]
LV 87: Coma 2 [MAX], Combo Attack 1 [22/30]
LV 88~89: Combo Attack 3 [28/30]
LV 90: Combo Attack 2 [MAX], Panic 1 [1/30]
LV 91~99: Panic 3 [28/30]
LV 100: Panic 2 [MAX], Shout 1 [1/30]
LV 101~106: Improving MP Recovery 3 [18/20]
LV 107: Improving MP Recovery 2 [MAX], Shout 1 [2/30]
LV 108~116: Shout 3 [29/30]
Lv 117: Shout 1 [MAX], Armor Crash 2 [2/20]
Lv 118~119: Armor Crash 3 [8/20]
Lv 120: Armor Crash 2 [10/20], Endure 1 [MAX]
Summary – Total 151 SP
Combo Attack [MAX] / Coma [MAX] / Panic [MAX] / Shout [MAX] / Improving MP Recovery [MAX] / Armor Crash [10/20] / Shield Mastery [0/20] / Endure [MAX]
Combo Attack grants you Orbs each time you attack an enemy, which increases your damage%. I couldn't find any information on how much damage% each of the orbs give you, but I have tested and confirmed that the buff alone without orbs will not grant you the damage%. From what I can tell, you get the damage% that is on the tooltip at max combo.
Having considered this, I am currently testing how putting 21 points on to Combo Attack for the 5th orb, then maxing Coma before finishing off Combo Attack. I think this has an advantage when it comes to training at wolf spiders (Which happens to be at around this level), as the high burst from coma is more beneficial than overall damage with your slash blast (which is a "minor" increase of 184% -> 220% compared to Coma benefiting off each orb). I'll come back to this one after I do some testing.
Panic is added next to allow high damage hits during boss fights or especially tough enemies. 1 point of shout is taken for utility (I don't find it very useful), and Improving MP Recovery is maxed to save on expensive mana potions. Shout is maxed out last and remaining points go to Armor Crash (You'll rarely ever use this) and Endure.
Equipment
You can buy 100% DEX/accuracy scrolls for 35000 mesos each at henesys general store. If you have a bunch of mesos already, it can make the early-game alot more easier.
1st Job Equipment
Fish Spear: They're hard to get without another character doing the level 30 quest Kenta's Research. You can ask around for one but they provide a small boost to accuracy and are not necessary.
Pig Illustrated: Pretty much a must get. You can get this as a chance from level 23 quest "Camila's Gem" but there's a chance you get the Ribboned Pig Headband instead. If you're unlucky, you can ask around for one and put some one handed BW scrolls you happen to find or buy them cheap. You'll probably use this until your sword mastery gives more accuracy for using a sword.
Cigarette: You can get this from Kerning City armor store for an expensive 250000 mesos. They provide only 3 DEX (2.4 acc) so it's what I consider a luxury item.
(Not in LSMS)
Old Raggedy Cape: You can get this from level 25 quest "Mystery of Niora Hospital". If you've been hunting slimes, you should've gotten a bunch of 100% cape DEX scrolls for 5 DEX. Save 60% cape DEX for a YAC if you happen to get them, don't waste them here.
Attack/ACC BWG: You can get the gloves from showa exchange quest and yes, ACC BWG is OK. Although a high attack bwg is a must later on, if you're really struggling for accuracy, gloves for DEX 10/30% provides 7.4 acc PER SCROLL. Try to have 2~3 of those work in a glove and you can fill the rest with att scrolls. 15acc 8~10atk gloves to me sounds pretty damn good. Farming the BWGs though...
Bamboo Hats: You can get the green one from KPQ, but if there's not enough people, you can get a brown one which provides 3 LUK (1.5acc) and scroll them with 100%s
Blue Old Wincosin, Brown Bandana: If you get lucky with the gach, you can get one of these which are probably the best accuracy helmet before zhelm.
Shutter Shades: If you can get lucky with the gach, you can get one of these glasses that have 3 slots and a minor stat, look for Green or White ones (I believe white gives weapon attack?). You can obtain eye accessory for acc 60% scrolls at Ice Golems.
Sniper Potion: You can try ask around for characters in Ludi to buy the pills for you, but you can use these in the meantime.
2nd Job Equipment
Lionheart: A fast (4) 2h sword. What's not to love?
Red Whip: With its +15 speed and a speed pill, I use it to get around and look for golden mobs. You can also take some time to try get the icarus cape with speed.
Glowing Whip: If you somehow have this, you can use this until you get a japanese map. It has a ridiculous 70 weapon attack at level 40!
Japanese Map: You won't be able to get this unless you have a high level character or buy it from someone, but this will probably going to be your main weapon for a long while. It is the highest level fast(4) speed weapon that works wonders due to combo.
Sniper Pills, Speed Pills: You'll probably have these up 100% of the time, unless you can hit the mobs 100%. Speed Pills reduces the time between moving from mob to mob which speeds up grinding.
Pink/Yellow Adventure Cape: Scroll PAC for STR, Scroll YAC for DEX. You can get PAC from gach and YAC from showa exchange quest.
Goblin Cap: +3 DEX, +2 LUK (3.4 acc). Great if you can't get a ZHelm or the gach helms. Get this from the level 60 quest "Goblin at Black Mountain". You can choose to take the cape from the quest but PAC does alot better.
3~4 DEX warrior boots: Scroll them for DEX, save the jump scrolls. You can farm Emerald Hildon Boots and they work great.
Maple Weapons: When they are available, these will be a must to hit high-avoid mobs or to train at new mobs a few levels earlier.
Attack Shields: You can obtain Shield for Att 70% scrolls at Ice Golems. Try to save them for Maple shields as they have 10 slots available to scroll and hope to RNGesus that it doesn't blow up.
Zakum Helmet: When we have a team to run Zakum in the future, this is going to be a staple item for pretty much any class/build.
3rd Job Equipment
Blue Screamer/Devil's Sunrise: Take the attack of your Japanese map and multiply it by 1.21, then add 4~5 attack. The result is the normal(6) 2h sword you're looking for. Take in to account the amount of attacks needed to kill a mob; If you can kill a mob with 2 hits using a normal speed sword but 3 hits using a fast sword, normal speed is superior. If it takes the same amount of hits, fast speed is superior.
Level 60/70 Top/Bottom: This might come as a surprise, but reasons are explained in the level 100 top/bottom section below. You can use the bottomwear for DEX scrolls you might get while training at Ice Golems! Make sure you get the variant that gives the most DEX/acc.
Battle Lord/Empress Overalls: Use any overall DEX scrolls you get on these, you won't get anything better for a long while (possibility of timeless oa).
You'll probably want to look in to your end-game gear at this point;
Red Katana: Highest level 1h fast(4) sword. With an attack shield, it is capable of doing the highest DPS than any other setup. Gets especially good at 4th job due to brandish increasing the range of your attacks, and enabling the blocking skill. Try to get it above 100 attack.
Stonetooth Sword: A fast(5) 2h sword that requires 120 DEX. You'll have to have some DEX added to wear this.
Facestompers: Only boots with Weapon Attack. Weapon Attack is alot more beneficial to Dexless warriors than other warriors. Try scroll them for Jump which provides DEX + Utility while Shoes for DEX gives Accuracy + Avoid (not very useful).
High attack BWG/SCG: You can get SCG from gach if you're lucky, which are basically a free 10% and 60% scrolled BWG. Try aim for 15+ att once you have a decent glove!
Neo/Lucida Top/Bottom: This is actually debatable when it comes to dexless characters. OA for DEX 10/30% provides 5 DEX and 3 acc with 10 slots, while the only available Bottom for DEX 70% provides a measly 2 DEX and 1 acc with 7 slots. Also getting topwear for STR is no easy task. But this part is entirely up to you, depending on the scrolls and gear availability you have. Also, how come the male version gets more accuracy while the female version gets MP? So unfair!
4th Job Equipment
Timeless Equipment: Apparently the mobs at Neo Tokyo has a chance to drop timeless equipment. These will probably replace some of your equipment provided that you can actually acquire them.
Horned Tail Necklace: Good luck!
Training
These maps are just a guideline, and you can train on these at your own pace. You might end up training on these maps earlier/later depending on your accuracy, damage and mesos spent on potions. You can also improve your xp gain through good pathing. For example, if the map involves alot of vertical movement(Tree, Orbis Tower, FoG) I tend to clear from bottom to top and jump straight down to the bottom.
Interms of PQs, I haven't had the chance to do them since there weren't enough players around. But if you manage to find a group, that would probably be the best way to level compared to grinding. You can also make multiple characters to run the whole thing yourself, which is a great way to farm different scrolls (Especially overall for dex scrolls).
Pig Beach - Ribbon Pig, Pig, Red Snail, Blue Snail, Iron Hog of Doom: You can try and ask someone take on the Iron Hog of Doom for you and it won't spawn again for a while. This map is "ok" until you get your Slash Blast. I personally didn't enjoy this map as much as how other guides praise it to be.
The Tree that grew II - Slime, Stump, Snail: You can slash blast away at the crazy mob density if you can keep up with the potion costs. You can stay here for a while if you can't hit green mushrooms reliably.
The Forest of Wisdom - Green Mushroom, Slime, Snail: Another excellent mob density on the top sections, bottom sections require a bit of a walk. The middle tree trunks take you up while the right tree trunks take you down. Great map if you can hit the green mushrooms.
The Land of Wild Boar II - Wild Boar, Dark Axe Stump, Dark Stump: Again, great mob density and it becomes alot easier from here as you get the Pig Illustrated weapon.
Cloud Terrace <1> - Pink Teddy, Brown Teddy: The map is quite horizontal which makes you walk a bit, but the density here is good and the xp is great. You can go around here and the previous map in-between spawns to train more efficiently.
Hidden Tower - Rombot, King Block Golem, Block Golem: Not a huge fan of this map, low mob density with high health and defence makes it hard to train on. They do have low avoid which makes them easier to hit though.
Orbis Tower <2nd Floor> - Igloo Turtle: Not the best map layout and "ok" density, but they drop useful scrolls such as Dark scroll for Gloves for ATT 30% and Dark scroll for Shoes Dex 70%. They also drop generous amounts of equips to make profit from. I personally enjoyed training on this map.
Forest of Golems - Mixed Stone Golem, Dark Stone Golem, Lupin, Curse Eye: I don't have to explain to anyone how insane this map is, excellent mob density, excellent map layout, slow moving enemies, great drops such as Gloves for Att 60% and Dark Crystal Ores needed for 3rd job advancement, what's not to love?
Golem's Temple I - Ice Golem, Lupin, Fierry: The map layout isn't great, mob density is alright, drop rate is horrendous (you'll barely get your potion money back), requires more accuracy than FoG. So why train here? While their drop rate is extremely low, the scrolls they drop makes up for all the disadvantages. Eye accessory for Acc 60%, Bottomwear for DEX 70% and the most important Shield for Att 70% all drop from these guys! You'll probably want to come back here later to farm more scrolls, so might aswell level while getting them.
Wolf Spider Cavern - Wolf Spiders: These guys are a large step-up from golems and you will need either a zhelm or a maple weapon to hit these reliably. They require 110+ accuracy, have 4 times the HP of Ice Golems, moves quite fast and hits hard, but the xp they give is unmatched compared to other maps at this level. You'll occasionally get the Blue Screamer that you can try scroll and Illbis to sell if you're lucky, but otherwise you'll lose alot of mesos here just for the potions. Try to be careful while farming here by taking advantage of terrain and knockback, and you might save a bunch of mesos for another run.
Low Dex/Dexless Warrior(Fighter) Guide by SeikoNya
Introduction
Dexless warriors aims to put all Ability Points (AP) in to STR in order to maximize damage at a drawback of lower DEX allocated, which can sometimes cause your attacks to miss. They circumvent this by getting the needed accuracy from equipments scrolled for dex/accuracy. This guide aims to combine numerous different guides and add my own opinion on not only the dexless aspect, but also the Fighter branch of the warrior altogether.
To give a bit of background, I had a lv100+ dexless crusader on NSMS, and currently have a dexless crusader which I started completely unfunded. I personally love playing around the accuracy mechanic that other classes don't get to experience in depth. I'll be adding more information as I continue to play in Melodies. Feel free to comment!
Dexless warriors can be quite expensive to maintain due to the amount of prerequisite gear you need in order to train effectively. If you plan to make this your second character, I recommend making a cleric as they can save on potion costs through heal and can be used for hs/bless bot while training (make sure you create it on a different account). You can also make a spearman instead for HB and keep for LPQ/DoC.
There's a lot of information here, feel free to take your time and read the parts that are relevant to you. Oh and good news! Found a way to make the formatting look half decent using 1x1 tables. Still though, this new forum layout kinda sucks.
Ability Points
STR: Increases Maximum and Minimum damage
DEX: Increases Minimum damage and Accuracy (0.8)
INT: Increases Maximum MP on Level up (every 10 INT grants 1 additional MP per lvl)
LUK: Increases Accuracy (0.5)
When creating a new character, getting 13 on STR is extremely unlikely and may take a very long time to get. I would personally take anything that looks like (STR 11 DEX 5) or (STR 12) even with one other point going in to INT or LUK. My stats were STR 11 DEX 5 INT 4 LUK 5 in Melodies, and STR 12 DEX 4 INT 5 LUK 4 in NSMS.
You can increase the maximum MP by switching to equipment with INT just before leveling up, but it's a very minor buff that isn't necessary (especially with no hp washing). Allocate all 5 ability points in to STR each time you level up until level 10.
Question of DEX
Attack range formula:
Max damage = (STR * 1h/2h + DEX) * Weapon Attack / 100
Min damage = (STR * 1h/2h * 0.9 * Mastery + DEX) * Weapon Attack / 100
For 1h swords use 4.0, For 2h swords use 4.6
Here, you will have to decide whether to go Low Dex or Dexless. A few things to keep in mind; as you can see from the attack range formula, STR scales significantly better than DEX (About 4 times as much) while also making each point of weapon attack worth more damage.
Currently maple weapons and zhelms are not avaliable to us, which makes dexless extremely difficult. Once they are available however, accuracy in the late game is less of a problem. Early on, you can equip weapons like Fish Spear or Pig Illustrated which gives a bonus to accuracy.
In my personal opinion, 40 DEX is more than you need unless you're looking to use a stonetooth sword (requires 120 DEX) and it can make leveling alot faster by being able to hit enemies a few levels earlier. If you don't decide to add DEX, there will be somewhat of a roadblock during the transition from different mobs such as; green mushrooms (18.4 acc) to horny mushrooms (25.8 acc) to pink teddies (51.5 acc) to golems (73.6 acc) to wolf spiders (110.4 acc). If you do decide to add DEX, follow this general level guide;
Level 12 = 14 DEX
Level 17 = 21 DEX
Level 23 = 28 DEX
Level 30 = 32 DEX
Level 35 = 40 DEX
Accuracy Calculator: screamingstatue.com/accuracymain.php
You can also use the Accuracy calculator to see exactly how much accuracy you need. Put your level and accuracy stat next to the pink boxes and select a mob from the list (I usually sort by level). The calculator will output 4 numbers; 100% Ref Acc (Accuracy required to hit 100% at MONSTER level), 100% Hit Acc (Accuracy required to hit 100% at YOUR level), Hit Ratio (Your current chance to hit in %) and 1% Hit Acc (Accuracy required to hit 1% at YOUR level). Oh and it doesn't seem to have the leafre mobs in the "All Worlds" list, so you'll have to click on the leafre button to see their accuracy requirements.
You can also input custom level and avoid ranges at the bottom. Ice turtles are level 45 and seem to have 18 avoid (requiring around 66 accuracy or more), and Ice Golems are level 60 and seem to have around 22 avoid (requiring around 81 accuracy or more, not 100% sure about this one).
Skill Points
1st Job skill point allocation
LV 10 : Improving HP Recovery 1 [1/16]
LV 11 : Improving HP Recovery 3 [4/16]
LV 12 : Improving HP Recovery 1 [5/16], Improving Max HP Increase 2 [2/10]
LV 13~14 : Improving Max HP Increase 3 [8/10]
LV 15 : Improving Max HP Increase 2 [MAX], Power Strike 1 [1/20]
LV 16~21 : Slash Blast 3 [18/20]
LV 22 : Slash Blast 2 [MAX], Power Strike 1 [2/20]
LV 23~28 : Power Strike 3 [MAX]
LV 29~30 : Endure 3 [6/8]
Summary – Total 61 SP
Improving HP Recovery [5/16] / Improving Max HP Increase [MAX] / Power Strike [MAX] / Slash Blast [MAX] / Endure [6/8] / Iron Body [0/20]
Get 5 Improving HP Recovery in order to get Improving Max HP Increase maxed ASAP in order to build HP pool. Slash blast maxed first in order to mob and train fast and efficient. Power strike and slash blast will be used until 4th job so definitely maxed. Endure is added last for utility. I personally like endure because some maps you won't be able to find a safe place to sit on a chair and it helps saving a small amount of potions when you're afk. Improving HP recovery is not great compared to endure cause chairs exist. Weapon defence gained from Iron Body becomes irrelevant later in the game and does not work with rage.
2nd Job skill point allocation
LV 30 : Sword Mastery 1 [1/20]
LV 31~36 : Sword Mastery 3 [19/20]
LV 37~38 : Sword Booster 3 [6/20]
LV 39~44 : Rage 3 [18/20]
LV 45: Rage 2 [MAX], Power Guard 1 [1/30]
LV 46~54 : Power Guard 3 [28/30]
LV 55: Power Guard 2 [MAX], Save 1 SP [1 Unspent]
LV 56~64 : Save 3 SP [28 Unspent]
LV 65 : Final Attack Sword 30 [MAX], Sword Booster 1 [7/20]
LV 66~69 : Sword Booster 3 [19/20]
LV 70 : Sword Booster 1 [MAX], Sword Mastery 1 [MAX], Endure 1 [7/8]
Summary – Total 121 SP
Sword Mastery [MAX] / Sword Booster [MAX] / Axe Mastery [0/20] / Axe Booster [0/20]
Final Attack [MAX] / Rage [MAX] / Power Guard [MAX] / Endure [7/8]
Please refer to Final Attack section below. You can use an axe if you really want, but swords offer stable damage and faster attack speeds that axes can't provide. While axes may have higher max damage, they have lower min damage which makes it inconsistent when it comes to ensuring 1 hit kills. Also at 4th job, Brandish acts as one swing and one stab which helps sword users and hurts axe users.
Get Sword Mastery ASAP to get the much needed accuracy and increase minimum damage. You can add the last point if the +1 accuracy will make you hit the mob 100%, but if not leave it at 19.
Here's a part that I've yet to test, Sword booster at max rank adds +2 to weapon speed but I'm not sure if it starts at +1 then adds another at rank 10 like mage's Magic booster. If it does, add points until rank 10.
Rage is added for the extra damage (use pills until rank 9+) and Power Guard is added next for damage reduction. From here, you'll save 27 points until you can fully invest in final attack, otherwise the extra attack does minimal damage and you will lose out on dps. Remaining points go to maxing booster and adding 1 extra point to endure.
About Final Attack
After PS it does 250% damage to one monster very quickly (good for single targets). However after SB it splits the damage unevenly: roughly 167%, 55.6%, 18.5%, 6.17%, 2.06%, and 0.686%, i.e. 2/3 of the damage to the first target and then 1/3 of the previous damage to each subsequent target. Do note that if you hit fewer than 6 enemies then the percentages won't even add up to the full 250% (will always split damage by 6) and that FA is one of the few skills that can go below the minimum cap of 1 damage (and hence show as a miss).
ex: If your average SB damage is ~800 then your average following FA damage would be ~1336, 445, 148, 49, 16, 5
Attack Speed Info
There seems to be random increases of 30ms while holding down the attack button. Your attack speed can never go above Faster (2). Faster (3) + booster and Faster (2) + booster register as Faster (2) speed, not 1. Below is the attack speed in ms of each of the stages. You're looking for stages between Faster (2) and Fast (4) since booster adds 2 ranks of speed. You can see that even though a fast (5) sword is only 30ms slower than a fast (4) sword, with booster it's still a 60ms difference. Fast (4) swords are really good.
Smaller ms = faster attacks
(number in bracket) = difference between Normal (6)
- Power Strike/Slash Blast/Charged Blow/Normal Attack
Faster (2): 600ms (-210ms)
Faster (3): 660ms (-150ms)
Fast (4): 720ms (-90ms)
Fast (5): 750ms (-60ms)
Normal (6): 810ms
Slow (7): 870ms (+60ms)
Slow (8): 900ms (+90ms)
[11:54 AM] SeikoNya: - Final Attack (stab -> stab)
Faster (2): 540ms + 390ms (-180ms, -120ms)
Faster (3): 570ms + 420ms (-150ms, -90ms)
Fast (4): 630ms + 450ms (-90ms, -60ms)
Fast (5): 660ms + 480ms (-60ms, -30ms)
Normal (6): 720ms + 510ms
Slow (7): 750ms + 540ms (+30ms, +30ms)
Slow (8): 810ms + 570ms (+90ms, +60ms)
- Final Attack (any other combo)
Faster (2): 540ms + 450ms (-180ms, -120ms)
Faster (3): 570ms + 480ms (-150ms, -90ms)
Fast (4): 630ms + 510ms (-90ms, -60ms)
Fast (5): 660ms + 540ms (-60ms, -30ms)
Normal (6): 720ms + 570ms
Slow (7): 750ms + 600ms (+30ms, +30ms)
Slow (8): 810ms + 660ms (+90ms, +90ms)
In conclusion: Final attack does wonders for Power Strike but loses out a bit of DPS with Slash Blast at 2nd job. However, Final attack allows us to charge combo at 3rd job much faster and is resource efficient (Does not cost extra hp/mp), therefore FA is a good skill for Fighters.
3rd Job skill point allocation
LV 70: Combo Attack 1 [1/30]
LV 71~76: Combo Attack 3 [19/30]
LV 77: Combo Attack 2 [21/30], Coma 1 [1/30]
LV 78~86: Coma 3 [28/30]
LV 87: Coma 2 [MAX], Combo Attack 1 [22/30]
LV 88~89: Combo Attack 3 [28/30]
LV 90: Combo Attack 2 [MAX], Panic 1 [1/30]
LV 91~99: Panic 3 [28/30]
LV 100: Panic 2 [MAX], Shout 1 [1/30]
LV 101~106: Improving MP Recovery 3 [18/20]
LV 107: Improving MP Recovery 2 [MAX], Shout 1 [2/30]
LV 108~116: Shout 3 [29/30]
Lv 117: Shout 1 [MAX], Armor Crash 2 [2/20]
Lv 118~119: Armor Crash 3 [8/20]
Lv 120: Armor Crash 2 [10/20], Endure 1 [MAX]
Summary – Total 151 SP
Combo Attack [MAX] / Coma [MAX] / Panic [MAX] / Shout [MAX] / Improving MP Recovery [MAX] / Armor Crash [10/20] / Shield Mastery [0/20] / Endure [MAX]
Combo Attack grants you Orbs each time you attack an enemy, which increases your damage%. I couldn't find any information on how much damage% each of the orbs give you, but I have tested and confirmed that the buff alone without orbs will not grant you the damage%. From what I can tell, you get the damage% that is on the tooltip at max combo.
Having considered this, I am currently testing how putting 21 points on to Combo Attack for the 5th orb, then maxing Coma before finishing off Combo Attack. I think this has an advantage when it comes to training at wolf spiders (Which happens to be at around this level), as the high burst from coma is more beneficial than overall damage with your slash blast (which is a "minor" increase of 184% -> 220% compared to Coma benefiting off each orb). I'll come back to this one after I do some testing.
Panic is added next to allow high damage hits during boss fights or especially tough enemies. 1 point of shout is taken for utility (I don't find it very useful), and Improving MP Recovery is maxed to save on expensive mana potions. Shout is maxed out last and remaining points go to Armor Crash (You'll rarely ever use this) and Endure.
Equipment
You can buy 100% DEX/accuracy scrolls for 35000 mesos each at henesys general store. If you have a bunch of mesos already, it can make the early-game alot more easier.
1st Job Equipment
Fish Spear: They're hard to get without another character doing the level 30 quest Kenta's Research. You can ask around for one but they provide a small boost to accuracy and are not necessary.
Pig Illustrated: Pretty much a must get. You can get this as a chance from level 23 quest "Camila's Gem" but there's a chance you get the Ribboned Pig Headband instead. If you're unlucky, you can ask around for one and put some one handed BW scrolls you happen to find or buy them cheap. You'll probably use this until your sword mastery gives more accuracy for using a sword.
(Not in LSMS)
Old Raggedy Cape: You can get this from level 25 quest "Mystery of Niora Hospital". If you've been hunting slimes, you should've gotten a bunch of 100% cape DEX scrolls for 5 DEX. Save 60% cape DEX for a YAC if you happen to get them, don't waste them here.
Attack/ACC BWG: You can get the gloves from showa exchange quest and yes, ACC BWG is OK. Although a high attack bwg is a must later on, if you're really struggling for accuracy, gloves for DEX 10/30% provides 7.4 acc PER SCROLL. Try to have 2~3 of those work in a glove and you can fill the rest with att scrolls. 15acc 8~10atk gloves to me sounds pretty damn good. Farming the BWGs though...
Bamboo Hats: You can get the green one from KPQ, but if there's not enough people, you can get a brown one which provides 3 LUK (1.5acc) and scroll them with 100%s
Blue Old Wincosin, Brown Bandana: If you get lucky with the gach, you can get one of these which are probably the best accuracy helmet before zhelm.
Shutter Shades: If you can get lucky with the gach, you can get one of these glasses that have 3 slots and a minor stat, look for Green or White ones (I believe white gives weapon attack?). You can obtain eye accessory for acc 60% scrolls at Ice Golems.
Sniper Potion: You can try ask around for characters in Ludi to buy the pills for you, but you can use these in the meantime.
2nd Job Equipment
Lionheart: A fast (4) 2h sword. What's not to love?
Red Whip: With its +15 speed and a speed pill, I use it to get around and look for golden mobs. You can also take some time to try get the icarus cape with speed.
Glowing Whip: If you somehow have this, you can use this until you get a japanese map. It has a ridiculous 70 weapon attack at level 40!
Japanese Map: You won't be able to get this unless you have a high level character or buy it from someone, but this will probably going to be your main weapon for a long while. It is the highest level fast(4) speed weapon that works wonders due to combo.
Sniper Pills, Speed Pills: You'll probably have these up 100% of the time, unless you can hit the mobs 100%. Speed Pills reduces the time between moving from mob to mob which speeds up grinding.
Pink/Yellow Adventure Cape: Scroll PAC for STR, Scroll YAC for DEX. You can get PAC from gach and YAC from showa exchange quest.
Goblin Cap: +3 DEX, +2 LUK (3.4 acc). Great if you can't get a ZHelm or the gach helms. Get this from the level 60 quest "Goblin at Black Mountain". You can choose to take the cape from the quest but PAC does alot better.
3~4 DEX warrior boots: Scroll them for DEX, save the jump scrolls. You can farm Emerald Hildon Boots and they work great.
Maple Weapons: When they are available, these will be a must to hit high-avoid mobs or to train at new mobs a few levels earlier.
Attack Shields: You can obtain Shield for Att 70% scrolls at Ice Golems. Try to save them for Maple shields as they have 10 slots available to scroll and hope to RNGesus that it doesn't blow up.
Zakum Helmet: When we have a team to run Zakum in the future, this is going to be a staple item for pretty much any class/build.
3rd Job Equipment
Blue Screamer/Devil's Sunrise: Take the attack of your Japanese map and multiply it by 1.21, then add 4~5 attack. The result is the normal(6) 2h sword you're looking for. Take in to account the amount of attacks needed to kill a mob; If you can kill a mob with 2 hits using a normal speed sword but 3 hits using a fast sword, normal speed is superior. If it takes the same amount of hits, fast speed is superior.
Level 60/70 Top/Bottom: This might come as a surprise, but reasons are explained in the level 100 top/bottom section below. You can use the bottomwear for DEX scrolls you might get while training at Ice Golems! Make sure you get the variant that gives the most DEX/acc.
Battle Lord/Empress Overalls: Use any overall DEX scrolls you get on these, you won't get anything better for a long while (possibility of timeless oa).
You'll probably want to look in to your end-game gear at this point;
Red Katana: Highest level 1h fast(4) sword. With an attack shield, it is capable of doing the highest DPS than any other setup. Gets especially good at 4th job due to brandish increasing the range of your attacks, and enabling the blocking skill. Try to get it above 100 attack.
Stonetooth Sword: A fast(5) 2h sword that requires 120 DEX. You'll have to have some DEX added to wear this.
Facestompers: Only boots with Weapon Attack. Weapon Attack is alot more beneficial to Dexless warriors than other warriors. Try scroll them for Jump which provides DEX + Utility while Shoes for DEX gives Accuracy + Avoid (not very useful).
High attack BWG/SCG: You can get SCG from gach if you're lucky, which are basically a free 10% and 60% scrolled BWG. Try aim for 15+ att once you have a decent glove!
Neo/Lucida Top/Bottom: This is actually debatable when it comes to dexless characters. OA for DEX 10/30% provides 5 DEX and 3 acc with 10 slots, while the only available Bottom for DEX 70% provides a measly 2 DEX and 1 acc with 7 slots. Also getting topwear for STR is no easy task. But this part is entirely up to you, depending on the scrolls and gear availability you have. Also, how come the male version gets more accuracy while the female version gets MP? So unfair!
4th Job Equipment
Timeless Equipment: Apparently the mobs at Neo Tokyo has a chance to drop timeless equipment. These will probably replace some of your equipment provided that you can actually acquire them.
Horned Tail Necklace: Good luck!
Training
These maps are just a guideline, and you can train on these at your own pace. You might end up training on these maps earlier/later depending on your accuracy, damage and mesos spent on potions. You can also improve your xp gain through good pathing. For example, if the map involves alot of vertical movement(Tree, Orbis Tower, FoG) I tend to clear from bottom to top and jump straight down to the bottom.
Interms of PQs, I haven't had the chance to do them since there weren't enough players around. But if you manage to find a group, that would probably be the best way to level compared to grinding. You can also make multiple characters to run the whole thing yourself, which is a great way to farm different scrolls (Especially overall for dex scrolls).
Pig Beach - Ribbon Pig, Pig, Red Snail, Blue Snail, Iron Hog of Doom: You can try and ask someone take on the Iron Hog of Doom for you and it won't spawn again for a while. This map is "ok" until you get your Slash Blast. I personally didn't enjoy this map as much as how other guides praise it to be.
The Tree that grew II - Slime, Stump, Snail: You can slash blast away at the crazy mob density if you can keep up with the potion costs. You can stay here for a while if you can't hit green mushrooms reliably.
The Forest of Wisdom - Green Mushroom, Slime, Snail: Another excellent mob density on the top sections, bottom sections require a bit of a walk. The middle tree trunks take you up while the right tree trunks take you down. Great map if you can hit the green mushrooms.
The Land of Wild Boar II - Wild Boar, Dark Axe Stump, Dark Stump: Again, great mob density and it becomes alot easier from here as you get the Pig Illustrated weapon.
Cloud Terrace <1> - Pink Teddy, Brown Teddy: The map is quite horizontal which makes you walk a bit, but the density here is good and the xp is great. You can go around here and the previous map in-between spawns to train more efficiently.
Hidden Tower - Rombot, King Block Golem, Block Golem: Not a huge fan of this map, low mob density with high health and defence makes it hard to train on. They do have low avoid which makes them easier to hit though.
Orbis Tower <2nd Floor> - Igloo Turtle: Not the best map layout and "ok" density, but they drop useful scrolls such as Dark scroll for Gloves for ATT 30% and Dark scroll for Shoes Dex 70%. They also drop generous amounts of equips to make profit from. I personally enjoyed training on this map.
Forest of Golems - Mixed Stone Golem, Dark Stone Golem, Lupin, Curse Eye: I don't have to explain to anyone how insane this map is, excellent mob density, excellent map layout, slow moving enemies, great drops such as Gloves for Att 60% and Dark Crystal Ores needed for 3rd job advancement, what's not to love?
Golem's Temple I - Ice Golem, Lupin, Fierry: The map layout isn't great, mob density is alright, drop rate is horrendous (you'll barely get your potion money back), requires more accuracy than FoG. So why train here? While their drop rate is extremely low, the scrolls they drop makes up for all the disadvantages. Eye accessory for Acc 60%, Bottomwear for DEX 70% and the most important Shield for Att 70% all drop from these guys! You'll probably want to come back here later to farm more scrolls, so might aswell level while getting them.
Wolf Spider Cavern - Wolf Spiders: These guys are a large step-up from golems and you will need either a zhelm or a maple weapon to hit these reliably. They require 110+ accuracy, have 4 times the HP of Ice Golems, moves quite fast and hits hard, but the xp they give is unmatched compared to other maps at this level. You'll occasionally get the Blue Screamer that you can try scroll and Illbis to sell if you're lucky, but otherwise you'll lose alot of mesos here just for the potions. Try to be careful while farming here by taking advantage of terrain and knockback, and you might save a bunch of mesos for another run.
