Fri 02 Jan 2009 |
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Written by DANamic Rhapsodos
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Adapted, Conformed, Cleaned-Up & Localised From Cheesecake's Leveling / Powerleveling Guide, Annihilation Star Leveling & Granado Cafe EXP Data Best AFK Powerlevelers- The obvious choice here would be stock musketeers and Grace. They're the fastest killers that don't move around. Grace has an edge here due to shotgun; veteran Shotgun Grace + Healer can duo all the high spawn spots in Underground Relics, which makes for great power-leveling of alternates. Lorch could do this too, but he can't use rifles.
- A stock scout because you'll need a healer to make sure your alternate survives (unless you're power-leveling a healer). Stock scout is better than Emilia due to higher CON and better than Soho due to a stronger heal. Generally, you wouldn't want to use Emilia anyway since Bard buffs are useful for power-leveling, but that's your call.
- Irawian as from what I've seen, he's the only character who can pretty much duo the high spawn ruin area in Toflo with a scout. He attacks fast and is the strongest light weapon user (can one hit kill thieves with one attack cycle).
- Andre being the strongest medium melee weapon user, useful for areas that have a variety of armor types (such as Old Port).
Best Active Powerlevelers- Jack is a good choice since he can clear entire rooms by himself. Fences also help to keep aggressors away from your alternates. Unfortunately, you'll have to stay in one area, so this sucks for areas that have low spawn. Best active power-leveler in zones with good spawn (Rion Dungeon, Joquin Lava Plains, Old Port, Skel Nest, certain parts of Topolo, Forgotten Territories).
- Catherine Summoner is also a good choice. Like Jack, she can clear entire rooms by herself, though not always as quickly (since siege cannons have splash attack). She also can't keep aggressors from your alternates as good as Jack due to having no fence. However, she can move around so you're not confined to one area when power-leveling. Best active power-leveler in zones with low spawn but high monster count (Pradera, Diabolica, Joquin Dungeon, Zona areas).
- Elementalists, Wizards & M'boma. Anyone with a good AOE is good for active power-leveling. Elementalists carry an edge because their AOE's are generally quicker and more spammable (Fireball, Thunderstorm, etc.), while Wizards have larger AOE's but will probably run out of mana more often (no active mana). M'boma works in both regards as well.
- Any fast attacker with a decent AOE, such as Idge with Blandir Cruz or Lisa with Dos Cuchilos. These melee attackers are no where near as good as the previous 3 power-levelers, but they seem to do alright.
EquipmentIf you're power-leveling to your fullest potential, you don't really need to upgrade your alternates' weapons that often. Just make sure they are using a stance you want to skill up. Their armor is much more important, so either try to +5 or +6 some stock equipment or make an elite version. Leveling BasicsThis is the most important part of the guide. Please look at the EXP Charata at the bottom of the page to understand at what level ranges certain monsters will be yellow, brown, red, etc (the color of their monster name in the target window at the top of your screen). - Generally, you want to fight either yellow or red monsters. While yellow gives you 150% of the base EXP and red only gives 100%, since red (higher level) monsters have more base EXP anyway, it's sometimes better to fight red targets as long as you can kill them as quickly as yellow targets.
- Some areas are mobby but have low spawn. These are good for active-leveling. Some are not mobby but have high spawn. These are good for AFK-leveling. Some are both, some are neither. Areas with lots of quick and easy repeatable hunt quests are also good for active leveling.
- Honestly, for levels 1-50, I think it's easiest to not worry about leveling in yellow areas, and just level in the highest area they can survive for these levels. It doesn't take too long really, and you can semi-afk this. This also negates the need to level in the highly congested low level areas. There will be deaths, but they will gain levels quite quickly.
Recommended AreasIf you want to level in yellow areas, here are my suggestions:
Level 30-40: Jezebel Glen is a great place for AFKing, if you can find a spot. Be warned that there are many bots here as well vying for spawn, so it's not as good as it used to be. You can also try Porto Bello Floor 2 (Cabin) if you can find some empty rooms, but be wary of the constant Sigmund spawn. I've noticed recently that Porto Bello 2 is the least occupied of all Porto levels, so you might find some good luck here.
Level 40-50: Porto Bello Floor 3 (Deck/Quay), the small room on south end of map. This small area has insane spawn so if you can solo most of it you will gain a lot of levels here. The other rooms are quite good too, so just find a spot you can claim your own.
Level 41-53: Deserted Quay, though, not too hot for active-leveling since the turtles move so slowly and hard to mob, it's a relatively safe place to AFK. There's also some repeatable hunt quests here. Still, not quite recommended, as spawn is quite slow here, but you'll be coming here a few times if you want to finish up some quests (like Cortasar's, Claude's, Gracielo's and Lorch's quests).
Level 43-53: Thueringenwald, a good place to AFK, and decent for active leveling. Has hunting quests. Just beware the roaming map boss.
Level 46-53: Desolate Cliff, which is very mobby and good for AOE, it's mostly annoying for web. There are some hunt quests here too, though most people bypass this area because of the spiders.
Level 46-57: El Lago Tres Hermanas, a good area with good spawn for AFKing, it's not as useful to active-level here because the mobs aren't as mobby. Still some bots here and lots of other AFK'ers. Try to find a good spot in the shade as these areas seem to have higher spawn in my experience.
Level 53-62: El Tejado Verde, however, this area is annoying due to spider's web, but with 3 repeatable hunt quest and good spawn, it's nice to semi-afk in. It's also good area to afk if you're with a partner, though not really recommended for solo afk (due to web).
Level 53-66: Underground Relics Dungeon, with a great mob and spawn rate, good for both active-leveling and AFK, but you need a key to get in. Beware of the skeleton boss. Cnce you kill him, get away from the treasure chests that he drops (they count down). Once they hit 0, they explode and remove you from the area.
Level 55-68: Pradera de Ceniza, with not very good spawn, so bad for AFKing, but it's very mobby so good for active-leveling. Also can farm for the Underground Relic key here.
Level 58-70: Rion Prairie to Rion Dungeon, being a good place for both active-leveling and AFK-leveling, though again, it's quite camped. The big open area at the entrance is great for ranged families, but for families with melee, you'll need to find safer spots since all the monsters run at low health.
Level 64-78: Joaquin Lava Plains because the spawn is really good here (especially at the junction areas and the crossroads), and the repeatable hunt quest fills up extremely quickly, nearly every 10 minutes. You can also set a warp between this area and El Ruina Memoria bear hunter NPC, since the Mahrgop and Zahrgop hunt quest can be completed quickly in Lava Plains. For AFKing, staying in a lesser traveled path is best idea so people don't run through and pull your AFK characters away.
Level 66-84: Joaquin Prison Floor 1 has the best spawn rate of all the floors, and has no musketeer type attackers. The only ranged monsters are the Iron Maidens and Ghostly Fathers but they are passive (however, the Fathers may aggressor if you cast a spell/skill near them). The best spawn area is the most northwest room, it's extremely easy to mob up and AOE for fast active leveling here. Not too recommended for AFKing due to boxes and bosses.
Level 68-86: Old Port of Coimbra, due to its great spawn, this is great for AFKing and semi-AFKing, though not too hot for active-level because of all the ranged attackers. At 84 the Mazy's turn brown, but it's still worthwhile to stay another 1 or 2 levels due to lack of any better AFK area.
Level 77-90: El Canon Diabolica, as there's 3 repeatable hunt quests here (though I only use 2, the Ghost Baron one takes too long and the NPC is far away from the other 2, Selden and Weird Altar). The spawnrate isn't too good for AFKing, but this area is great for active-leveling due to its mobby nature and hunt quests. Just watch out for Violent Ghost baron boss, since he pursues you longer than any other boss I've seen.
Level 78-100: Lago Celeste and Rio Albi, with a low spawn rate, average mobbiness. Horrible for AFKing, and not too hot for active-leveling either, though it's better than most alternatives at the time due to the repeatable hunt quests. Still not an area I really recommend, though you can also hunt Comodo Boss in Rio Albi.
Level 80-100: Zona Uno/Des/Tres. These areas are generally mobbier than Lago or Rio but without the hunt quests. I liked Zona Des and Zona Tres the best for active-leveling, just beware of Sabertooth Tiger Boss in Zona Tres.
Level 88-100: Skullic Nest, even though I don't really recommend coming here until 96 solo, even with a power-leveler, though you can if you're brave. Great area to active level or semi-afk with a squad though.
Level 90-100: Topolo Durga, as you already know this place. Good mobbiness and average spawn rate. You'll need a good power-leveler or elite 92 equipment to do consistent damage to them earlier on, but they have low HP and striking power for their levels. The downfall is that the drop rate really sucks here compared to Zona areas, Skullic Nest, and other areas, but it's the best place if you just want to level really fast.
EXP WorkingsMost people believe that EXP is divided evenly, like in many MMORPGs. This would mean with a family of 3, each character would obtain 33% of the earned EXP. However, this is incorrect! - Apparently, you incur a minor EXP penalty for more members in your family. So with 3 members, each gain about 29% of earned EXP (meaning 11% of it is wasted), and with 2 each get about 46% (meaning 8% is wasted).
- Having a higher level character also incurs a minor EXP penalty. If you have 3 members, 2 being level 1, and 1 being level 50, the lower levels will get about 24-26% while the higher level will get potentially 0% (if the monsters are too low level for him).
- Also remember that being higher level will nerf your drop rate. From what I can see, this is determined by who delivers the killing blow. So if you have a high level scout power-leveling 2 alternates, you should still get plenty of drops. But if you're using a high-level damager, you might not get much at all.
Power-level VS Squading Keeping the EXP mechanics in mind, would it be better to straight up power-level a character or two with higher level members, or just make a squad of equally leveled characters, preferably loaded with good equipment, fighting yellow monsters? This depends on your goal. Do you care about family level or do you just want a certain character or class to hit vet as soon as possible?- If you don't want to waste any EXP, it's generally best to power-level each character to around 40 or 50, then have them level as a separatly squad. If you have 2 level 50 and a level 100 leveling, your alternates only get about 26% of EXP, meaning you waste around 48% of total EXP (due to EXP penalty from 3 member, higher level, and also the higher level is getting no EXP). This also means it's most efficient to level a new scout even if you don't think it's necessary, since a vet scout doesn't really help "power-level" much other than being durable. He doesn't really let you kill much faster to justify the 48% of EXP you're not getting.
- If you just want a class to become a veteran as soon as possible, make sure you have a strong veteran damager that can kill fast (refer to the first two categories above), and your alternate. Scout is nice but might be a waste of space if your damager can kill fast enough. You can either just duo while your alternate consumes HP pots to stay alive, or bring 2 alternates with your veteran damager.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 03 January 2009 16:27 )
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Fri 02 Jan 2009 |
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Written by DANamic Rhapsodos
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Adapted, Conformed, Cleaned-Up & Localised From Cheesecake's Leveling / Powerleveling Guide, Annihilation Star Leveling & Granado Cafe EXP Data Stats - STR: affects your melee damage, melee knockdown power and attack speed for heavy weapons.
- AGI: affects attack speed and evasion.
- CON: affects resistance to knockdown and critical rate.
- HP: affects maximum amount of HP.
- DEX: affects range attack power, hit rate, blocking rate, critical rate and attack speed of ranged weapons.
- CHA: affects summon and undead destructive power.
Stock Characters (Basic Stances) - Fighter: Str(6),Agi(6),Con(6),Dex(6),Int(3),Cha(3)
- Stances Available:
- Escrima (required level 1): Single dagger stance concentrates in attack speed and evasion (max bonus at level 25: 15% attack speed and 15% evasion) — Not really good.
- Epee Grade (required level 48): Rapier stance concentrates in attack speed and critical rate (max bonus at level 25: 16% attack speed and 20% critical) — Normal attack AOE, good in PvP with some AOE skills.
- Sabre Grade (required level 48): Rapier stance concentrates in attack speed and evasion rate (max bonus at level 25: 8% attack speed and 15% evasion rate) — Normal attack AOE, good in PvP with 1 target skill.
- Middle Guard (required level 12): Sabre stance concentrates in attack speed and critical rate (max bonus at level 25: 25% attack speed and 8% critical rate) — Higher damage than swords.
- Twin Blade (required level 36 / Middle Guard level 12): Dual Sabre stance (max bonus at level 25: 25% attack speed) — Good damage skills in stance.
- Back Guard (required level 1): Sword and shield stance with balance attack speed and blocking bonus (max bonus at level 25: 3% attack speed and +13 block rate) — Decent stance both for PvP and PvE.
- High Guard (required level 12 / Back Guard level 6): Sword and shield stance which highly concentrates in blocking ability (max bonus at level 25: +24 blocking rate) — Good blocking stance to use in PvE as tanker.
- Hack and Slash (required level 12 / Back Guard level 6): Double sword stance with attack speed and some block ability (max bonus at level 25: 8% attack speed and +4 blocking rate) — Good damager stance with last skill can use in single target PvP, Dust Devil skill can hit air target.
- Heaven or Hell (required level 40): Sword and pistol stance with great bonus in attack speed and decent critical bonus (max bonus at level 25: 30% attack speed and +6% critical rate) — Very high damager stance: 2 hits by sword 1 hit by pistol and can attack air target.
- Plow Guard (required level 24): Great sword stance offers good block rate, critical rate and attack speed (max bonus at level 25: +15% attack speed, +12% critical rate and +10 block rate) — Decent PvP stance.
- Roof Guard (required level 36 / Plow Guard level 8): High attack speed great sword stance (max bonus level 25: +30% attack speed) –Good PvP stance with fast attack speed.
- Blandir Cruz (required level 24): Pole-arm stance with attack speed and block rate (max bonus level 25: +15% attackspeed and +4 block rate) — Normal attack AOE that can hit air targets and is often used for fighters to counter flying wizards.
- Penetrate Cruz (required level 24): Pole-arm stance with high attack speed and critical rate (max bonus at level 25: + 25% attack speed and +16% critical rate) — Normal attack AOE that can hit air targets and is often used for fighters to counter flying wizards.
- Freestyle shot (required level 24): Single pistol stance with high attack speed, accuracy, some critical rate and evasion (max bonus at level 25: +25 accuracy rate, 16% attack speed, +6% critical rate and +5% evasion) — Low DEX and AGI in fighter makes this stance lousy, can use for AFK-leveling otherwise not really good for fighters.
- Double gun shot (required level 36 / freestyle shot level 8): Double gunshot stance with high accuracy, attack speed and evasion rate (max bonus at level 25: +35 accuracy, +12% attack speed and +5% evasion rate) — Low DEX and AGI in fighter makes this stance lousy, can use for AFK-leveling otherwise not really good for fighters.
- Musketeer: Str(5),Agi(6),Con(5),Dex(8),Int(3),Cha(3)
- Stances Available:
- Standing shot (required level 1): Rifle stance offers good damage, range as well as accuracy and speed bonus (max bonus at level 25: +30 accuracy, +8% attack speed and +9% critical rate) — Balanced stance for musketeers offer good damage, critical as well as some limitation of AOE skills.
- Kneeling shot (required level 24 / standing shot level 8): Rifle stance offers excellent damage, super range and critical, however, you cannot move in this stance (max bonus at level 25: +35 accuracy, +8% attack speed and +18% critical rate) — Deadly stance like a sniper, however, you do what a sniper does, stay away from enemies and shoot.
- Aiming shot (required level 24): Single pistol stance which offers good damage, accuracy and critical (max bonus at level 25: +25 accuracy, +12 attack speed and +16% critical rate) – Faster speed in the stance, decent damage but limited AOE.
- Freestyle shot (required level 24): Similiar To Aiming Shot — Better damage due to high AGI and DEX of musketeers and his/her private skills to increase accuracy, however, not really a powerful stance.
- Double gun shot (required level 24): Similiar To Aiming Shot — Better damage due to high AGI and DEX of musketeer and his/her private skills to increase accuracy, best stance for PvE with good AOE skills, ultimate skill can do some decent damage against low armour-class characters.
- Scout: Str(3),Agi(7),Con(5),Dex(7),Int(5),Cha(3)
- Stances Available (NOTE: First Aid and Fortitude stance activate when no equipped weapons, thus, scout will enable auto-healing):
- First Aid (required level 1): This bare-hand stance deals with curing abnormal status, group heal and Ressurrection — Pot saver number one, great for PvE support as it comes with auto-heal.
- Fortitude (required level 18): This bare-hand stance offers buffs with using pots (increased attack damage, increased attack and movement speed, increased maximum HP & increased regeneration of HP & MP) — Best stance for support scouts coupled with auto-heal.
- Install Trap (required level 18): This bare-hand stance offers detection for invisible characters or mobs as well as installing traps that deal damage — Good to use especially when your scout does absolutely zero damage with the above 2 stances, set-up traps then change back to the above 2 stances for auto-heal then lure mobs to your traps.
- Elementalist: Str(3),Agi(3),Con(4),Dex(6),Int(8),Cha(7)
- Stances available:
- Possession of Fire/Ice/Lightning (required level 1): Starting stance of using a single bracelet of Elementalist with basic elemental skills.
- Evocation of Fire/Ice/Lightning (required level 30 / possession stance 12): Upgraded stance using 2 bracelets of that specific element but your movement will be at 50%.
- Lord of Elemental (required level 72): Lord of Elemental Bracelet stance that possess great power with normal movement speed.
- Wizard: Str(3),Agi(5),Con(4),Dex(4),Int(7),Cha(7)
- Stances available:
- Psychokinesis (required level 1): First stance of wizard when equipped a rod or a staff offers offensive capability and AOE damage – Great stance for PvE and PvP for a long time.
- ESP (required level 20): Rod stance that offers protection spells including defensive buff, elemental resistance, psychokinesis resistance and dispel magic, however, buffs don't stack – More practical and easily used in combat compared to the next stance.
- Illusionist (required level 36): Staff stance that offers curses to disable enemies includes sleep, slowing an enemy, making them more vulnerable to the elements and invisibility — Offers good potential, however, needs a good degree of execution to get the effect.
- Levitation (required level 60): Can use rod or staff in this stance, offers flying capability which many types of enemies which cannot take to the air, will not be able to hit wizards, good AOE damage dealers – Best offensive stance that wizard has got to offer.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 03 January 2009 16:09 )
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