19 replies to this topic

[ManItsMike]

NOTE: This guide is a work in progress! it'll look nice and be complete, I promise.

 

Hey, everyone! My name is Mike. Thanks for clicking on my guide. I'm going to spit my opinions at you, so please feel free to leave your own!

The Monk class is one of the most versatile classes in the game. If built and played correctly, it can put out, and take a lot of damage with little effort. You'll also be able to heal yourself and your team-mates, and even resurrect the ones that wander too far from you and die! Late in the game you can use your awakening to bring monsters into a neat little stack with lightning magnet, or deal powerful blows with a stun effect by using Wraith of Heaven. Your best Damage per second (DPS) will come from your regular attack (default key: X)

As mentioned previously, this guide will be for PVE Monks only, please check out another guide if you plan to PVP.


Base Job

Welcome to the world of Dragon Saga, young magician! You have the skillbook of the legendary hero. Some of the skills are more useful than others. Let's take a quick look at them.

Point Buster: Tosses monsters into the air. This skill can be "spammed" in the sense that you can use it again before the monster stands up. This skill comes with a free point when you start the game, but you won't have much use for it after level 20. Reset it when you get your free skill reset. 0/5

Air Combo: Press the attack button to shoot lightning from the tips of your fingers while in mid-air. You can fire as many lightning bolts as you have levels in the skill. As most of your damage will come from your normal attacks, this skill isn't wonderful for PVE. 0/3

Meteor Fall: Press down + attack while in the air to drop a meteor on the monsters in front of you. monsters are launched into the air slightly. At level 3, they get launched higher. Same deal as air combo, your DPS comes from your regular attacks. 0/5

Relaunch: Has anyone actually used this? tosses fallen monstes into the air. 0/5

Blink: Teleports you backwards a short distance. Useful to avoid traps, or to escape monsters. 0/1 or 1/1, based on preference.

Fortress: Turns your head into a cannon and shoots at monsters. low cooldown, but simply not worth the skill points it takes to max it, and the passive skills that improve it. 0/5

Cannon Upgrade: Adds damage and a bleed effect to the Fortress skill. 0/5

Bullet Acceleration: increases the speed of the Fortress skill. 0/5

MP Potion Maximization: Increases the effect of mp recovery items. Potions are cheap, but you'll need to level this once for the next skills. 1/5

Magic Enhancement: passively increases magic attack by 20 for every level put into it. It's a lot early in the game, but simply not worth the points later in the game. Add to it for the next skill. 1/5

Focus:  This skill has ben debated. At max level, it increases your INT by 20, and BASE magic attack by 24%. It ends up being a few hundred magic attack later in the game, so it adds up. 5/5 Don't like that cat head? ESC>Options> Misc> View Helm. you're welcome

Slow heal: This will quickly become one of your favorite skills. At max, it heals 5% of your hp every 3 seconds for 30 seconds. it has a low cast time, low cooldown, and at level 4, it starts healing party members! 5/5

Self Heal: You'll have many other heals that trump this. It takes a percentage of your mp and heals you based on your magic attack. I guarentee, you wont need it. 0/5

Magician's Wisdom: grants a buff that increases your mp recovery amount by 10%, and also effects everyone around you. Potions are cheap, and your natural mp recovery is rather low. 0/1

 

Final build

http://irowiki.org/~...000000000000000
MP Potion Maximization: 1/5
Slow Heal: 5/5
Magic Enhancement: 1/5
Focus: 5/5

 

 

 

Edited by ManItsMike, 14 July 2015 - 06:45 AM.

[ManItsMike]

Monk

By now, you'll have a feel for how the class works. You'll notice very quickly into this job that this class is not effective for farming mission maps (until late into your next job) but has plenty of potential for bosses and group activities. I recommend doing "Hunter G's" quests, and opening his capsules until you get one skill point. At this level the quests are fast and easy, and it's nice to have it out of the way.

Multi-Lightning and Meteor Rush: These are buffs to Air Combo, and Meteor Fall, respectively, both increasing the range of their attacks. Seeing as they're mostly used to support air combos and disrupt opponents in PvP, we don't need them. 0/1

Diffusion Cannon: This is one of the defining skills of this class, and will be your biggest damage dealer until level 40. Shoots 3 fireballs that branch off at about a 20 degree angle from the center. Get close to deal large amounts of damage to one monster very quickly. I personally decided to leave this skill at 2, and used a Diffusion Cannon Necklace, which increases the skill by three levels. 2/5 or 5/5.

Lightning Strike: Dash forward in a ball of lightning to knock down foes. At level 3, you launch them a little into the air. This skill has it's uses in PvP, but seeing as we don't toss monsters in PvE, this skill has little use to us. 0/5

Rain of Fire: This skill... has literally cost me friends. I've gotten into so many debates/arguments over this. I see the appeal, I understand why people like it, but I find it rather useless. It has decent burst damage, but gets interupted if you get hit during the animation, in the same manner as Bandit's Final Decision, and puts a Burn debuff on the target that cancels the skill "Witch's Curse" which I'll talk about soon. 0/5, unless you like it, then max it.

Casting Acceleration: At max level, this skill lowers cast times by 0.5 Seconds. It may not sound like a lot at first, but this makes a world of difference on the heat of battle, particularly on Slow Heal, and HP restore, your HOTs (Heal over Time) 5/5

Detection: Exposes hidden enemies, and lowers their BASE magic defense. It's useful in PVP, but not so much in PVE. 1/5 for the next skills.

Barbarian: Freezes several monsters in front of you. This skill is pretty great, especially when you're shotgunning monsters with Diffusion Cannon, or leveling in F7 missions. 5/5

Witch's Curse: Turns your adversaries into frogs, making them unable to do anything but move slowly, and jump. Very useful for F7, as it slows them significantly. Enemies get turned back to normal when they take damage. 5/5

MP Recovery increase: This skill makes your MP recover faster, by increasing the amount that you recover naturally over time. It does very little. Just add a level for the next skills. 1/5

Wide Heal: This skill has a long cast time, but heals a large amount of hp. It gets very good at higher levels, but I suggest leaving it low until later in the game. The cast time decreases as you raise this skill. 1/5 (until endgame, then 5/5)

Sanctuary: Puts down a pool of regeneration that heals your party members a small amount for up to 40 seconds. It does very little, and is very inconvenient for everyone to have to stand in a small area to be healed very slowly. 1/5 for the next skill.

Instant heal: Rather low cooldown large range, and heals 50% of YOUR max hp to you and nearby party members. This skill is a MUST! 5/5

Resurrection: This skill is a blessing and a curse to have. You get to revive your fallen party members, but this skill will really burn your mp. I recommend leaving it at level 3 until later in the game, where you'll be using it a lot more. 3/5 (5/5 endgame)

 

Final Build

 

http://irowiki.org/~...000000000000000
Diffusion Cannon: 2/5
Casting Acceleration: 5/5
Detection: 1/5
Barbarian: 5/5
Witch's Curse: 5/5
MP Recovery Increase: 1/5
Wide Heal: 1/5 (5/5 later)
Sanctuary: 1/5
Instant Heal: 5/5
Resurrection: 3/5 (5/5 later)
 

Edited by ManItsMike, 20 July 2015 - 05:48 AM.

[ManItsMike]

Priest

Level 40. Whether you're a new player who worked hard to get here, or a seasoned player who got here in two or three days... congratulations! Have a chat with Pablo in Libra to discuss your new skills.

 

Double Shot: It's like diffusion cannon, except it fires two stronger fireballs. Why would you take less? Each fireball hits 2 monsters. 4 hits per attack in a mob. We’ll compare the skills later. (I'm sweating just thinking about it!) 1/1.

 

Staff mastery: This skill is decent. 35% base magic attack at level 5. I recommend getting it, but hold out if you're short on points. There are more important skills. 5/5.

 

Striking: This one is great for you and your party! 500 attack/magic attack is great for everyone. It has a rather long cast time, and a lot of party members tend to run before you can cast it. Their loss. 5/5.

 

Blessing: Rather lackluster. It increases your BASE attack, magic attack, defense and magic defense. A nice little bonus late in the game, if you have spare points. Otherwise leave it at 1 for the next skill. 1/5 or 5/5.

 

Chain Lightning: Shoot's lightning from the tips of your fingers, that hits one monster, and jumps to nearby monsters. Press once to activate, move to cancel. People hate this, but I disagree. Once it reaches level 3 or 4, you'll notice how great of a skill it is for mission maps. Lazy SSS ranks for the underdog of gold farming! Plus you can use it as often as you like! 5/5.

 

Emergency Exit: Pulls your party members to you, and creates a safe zone for a short period of time. I love this skill. My best friend is a little slow on her keys (she's almost triple my age) and this has saved her countless times. Great for Elga too! 3/3.

 

Spark Rock: Wonderful AOE. Clearly defined range, great damage, and a great addition to your arsenal. 5/5.

 

Cure: Removes debuffs from yourself and party members. VERY small range. Increasing the level increases the number of debuffs removed. 1/5 will suffice, I went to 3, personally.

 

HP restore: A VERY underrated heal. At max level, it restores 75% of your magic attack as HP every 5 seconds,and it stacks with slow heal! Late game, when you have high magic attack, this skill will keep everyone alive unless they do something stupid. 5/5.

 

Barrier: the 5k/7.5k damage that this absorbs sounds like a lot right now,  but it's very little. upon resetting my skills to get the screenshot for this, I noticed that it has a very long cast time (2 seconds) and a short two-minute duration, as well. 0/5

Energy Absorption: Support skill for barrier. Increases blocked damage by 500 per level. I'm not a fan. 0/5.

 

Perfect Seal: It's an interesting skill. It blocks all damage, or so it says, while allowing you to only attack with your normal X attack. I tried this skill out for Paris in drakos tower. Guess what? Reflected damage WILL still kill you. Pro-tip: you can cancel this skill early by right clicking the buff icon if you need to heal someone! If you like the concept,go for it, but I'm saying 0/5.

Mp Transfer: Well,we ARE the support class. Transfer a percentage of your mp to the nearest party member. Get your own darn potions! (Useful for emergencies) 1/5 For the next skill

 

Arch sanctuary: same idea as sanctuary, except it recovers mp. You don't really have time to be standing around waiting for this to recover your mp slower than potions. 0/5

Quagmire: creates a swamp in front of you that blocks dash and jump of the monsters that walk through it. This is your main F7 skill (and that means leveling!) Leave it at level 1 for the low cooldown. 1/5.

 

Muddy Mud: A passive skill for quagmire that drops movement speed and evade rate significantly! I've found from playing with it, that this works on Elga's protective bone AND his chests, making your lower-leveled party members able to hit it easier too. (At max level with a level 4 freeze Tower in F7, renders the monsters unable to move) 5.5.

 

Final Skill Build: http://irowiki.org/~...001015131000001

 

Double Shot: 1/1

Staff Mastery: 1/5 (5/5 later)

Striking: 5/5

Blessing: 1/5 (5/5 later)

Chain Lightning: 5/5

Emergency Exit: 3/3

Spark Rock: 5/5

Cure: 1/5 (3/5 later)

Hp Restore: 5/5

Mp Transfer: 1/5

Quagmire: 1/5

Muddy Mud: 5/5

 

Edited by ManItsMike, 17 August 2015 - 11:09 PM.

[ManItsMike]

Invoker

So you made it to the final job change. Hope you grinded your achievement points, or found a CP farming party! With some decent gear, you'll be able to solo the final parts of the job change, but there's normally people around that are willing to help. Let's take a look at the skills.

Healing Wave: 3rd job heal? Must be OP!! Nope. It's incredibly slow, and really doesn't heal that much. Trust me, your party wouldn't want to wait around for you to slowly shoot HP into their back. Stack up slow heal, HP restore, and slap on an instant heal if they need it. 0/5.

Awakening: Remember that 1 skill point I told you to get from hunter G capsules? Here you go. Awakening is like.. your second mp bar, used for your specific Awakening skills. I dunno, something about awakening your character's full potential? That sounds cool. I'll go with that. 1/1.

The Description is very wordy and confusing, so let me sum it up. Every time you kill a monster, you gain a small amount of awakening in your gauge. Your three awakening skills (Lightning Magnet, Wraith of Heaven, and Lightning Storm) require this gauge along with MP in order to cast. The system sounds cumbersome and annoying, but it's very simple, and will become second nature pretty fast.

 

Lightning Magnet: Pulls monsters into a nice group, and cancels animations every time it ticks. This skill will quickly become "old faithful" since it makes everything very easy to damage. Awesome when coupled with spark rock! 5/5.

Wraith of Heaven: Summons a lightning elemental to deal heavy damage to enemies in front of you. Damage and number of hits increases with skill level. Also stuns! This skill takes a bit of practice to master using, as the animation is a little slow, but the damage and stun make it dangerous for your opponents, 5/5.

Lightning storm: This is our class's ultimate skill. I'll be blunt. It's laggy, weak, and a lot of skill points. Go for it if you want,it's kind of flashy. 0/1.

Blood Fever: I actually had to look up the name of this skill. Increases your HP and MP recovery for a WHOPPING 25 SP per level!. It's a waste of skill points. 0/5.

Awakening Charge: Use your MP to charge your Awakening bar. Most people leave it at 1, but if you have spare skill points, and use Awakening skills a lot,  I'd recommend maxing it. 3/3.

 

Final Skill Build: http://irowiki.org/~...001015131050503

 

Awakening: 1/1

Lightning Magnet: 5/5

Wraith of Heaven: 5/5

Awakening Charge: 3/3

Edited by ManItsMike, 17 August 2015 - 10:54 PM.

[ManItsMike]

*I'm hoping to include videos or even gifs for this section, depending on how bad my hardware actually is*

 

Strategies and tips:

 

While most of our damage comes from mashing the attack button, there are some things you can do to improve your damage output beyond that. Let's take a look at a few methods.

 

Chain Combo: When I started this guide a looong time ago (I'm just that slow!) I hated this. The screaming you have to listen to, the (arguably) slower shots, and the screen shaking make this seem like a bad decision to use, but I've played with it, and I'm really starting to enjoy using it.

 

Activating chain combo attacks allows your regular x-attacks to flinch opponents, and actually fills bosses' groggy bars at a decent rate! The Z-attacks that you can use with it actually allow you to push monsters back, forming a mob to attack with Double Shot. What does this do for you? It gives you a combo to attack more monsters and deal damage quicker. Give this combo a try.

 

Z Z Z X *repeat until monsters are close* > lightning magnet > spark rock > X attacks until spark rock disappears > Wraith of Heaven

 

This renders a group of monsters useless to fight back, while you can deal considerable damage to them, instead of moving back and forth, attacking 1-2 at a time.

 

Jump Cancelling: You can cancel animations for certain skills if you press your jump key, allowing you to do something else instead of waiting for the animation to finish. Try it with Slow Heal, HP Restore, Quagmire, and many of your buffs, DO NOT cancel it too early (practice a bit) because you can put the skill on cooldown without getting the effect, which sucks when trying to use Double Shot or Diffusion Cannon.

 

Barbarian: You can find some interesting uses for this skill in PVE. With a coordinated party of a Ninja/Dragoon, you'll find them sticking together for the classic Time Reverse/Throwing Dagger combo. If you freeze the monsters they're about to attack, the Ninja can spam Ambush instead (only for multiple monsters!) and deal more damage to the monsters, since they won't be tossed or knocked down for the duration of the freeze. Seeing as the monsters are standing still, shoot some fireballs at them while they're ambushing for even more damage!

 

Spark Rock: The flinch from this skill actually causes fallen monsters to stand up. If you cast this as a boss is becoming groggy, you can (almost) keep it standing, even when your party is using knockdown skills. (I can't help you if they decide to toss it, I normally type "/sit" when people do that)

Alternatively, know when to cast Spark Rock. Casting Acceleration isn't always going to be active, as the cooldown is 20 seconds longer than the duration. It's usually not worth casting spark rock at a boss without it, So sometimes it's better to wait, even if Spark Rock is off cooldown.

 

Super Armor: something that bugs me is getting tossed by a monster's attack when you're trying to x-spam it to death. I'm putting this here mostly for Elga Phase 3. When you see an attack that will toss you in the air, Use Wraith of Heaven. The damage it deals will be slightly less than if you were attacking uninterrupted, but you'll be able to resume your x-spamming quicker than being tossed and having to air recover!

 

Awakening Charge: After using an awakening ability, like Lightning Magnet, or Wraith of Heaven, TAP your Awakening Charge key, then move to cancel it. This will stop your awakening from counting down as fast.

 

Heal Timings: This one is difficult to explain. Know your heals. Know how much they heal, and figure out which ones are the best to use based on your playstyle. If your party members are moving, be mindful of cast times, and ranges. Anticipate where they're going, and cast it so they don't have to stop to get the heal. Slow heal is perfect for mission maps, as players barely take any damage, and it's quick to cast, so they don't have to wait for it. Have a feel for how long each one takes to heal a party member, and be aware of cooldowns. After a party member takes a large hit from a boss, don't immediately heal them with instant heal if you don't have to. It's usually better to be safe than sorry, but if you know HP Restore is about to heal them before they take another hit, let the heal do it's job.

 

Debuffing: Did you know that Muddy Mud drops monster's evade significantly? Drop Quagmire under monsters and Jump Cancel if your team-mates are having trouble hitting it. I tend to use this at Elga. Using it on chests, and the Protective Bone on Phase 3. Give it a try! *Does not work on bosses and Elite monsters, but try it on the mobs they summon!

 

*all of this so far was typed before heading to work, I'll fix it up and add more later!*

Edited by ManItsMike, 07 September 2015 - 10:27 AM.

[ManItsMike]

reserved. you're good to post

Edited by ManItsMike, 14 July 2015 - 06:31 AM.

[Homurasan]

I would actually have advised to pick Fortress to ease the pain it is to kill monsters from until lvl.20, since you can reset it later on (even at lvl.19).

[ManItsMike]

I would actually have advised to pick Fortress to ease the pain it is to kill monsters from until lvl.20, since you can reset it later on (even at lvl.19).

that's a wonderful idea, although I went against it since it took me about 2 hours to get that new character "iWasBored" to level 25, and from what little I saw with fortress, the AOE is smaller than double shot's. It was having trouble hitting more than one monster

Edited by ManItsMike, 14 July 2015 - 05:14 PM.

[Homurasan]

You have to at least push monsters with a few Z attacks to create a small cluster before making effective use of Fortress. It also deals way more damage than anything else you have to single targets (e.g bosses), so it really is a godsend for the weak low-leveled Magician. Although you have to be careful with its short but annoying animation that may let you take a hit from a boss who wouldn't flinch.

[ManItsMike]

Ah, I'll add that in at the end, where I plan to have a "tips and strategies" sort of section. IOU one credit.

When I was powerleveling that noob character, I transferred over my zodiac staff, and an IM set, and such. Using a +20 weapon never gave me the opportunity to make use of some combos like that

[Agitodesu]

I do wonder, I am very biased on resurrection even as a pve skill but I am not going to be ignorant so I want to know in detail if possible why it is needed. I do not think it is needed at all unless you are partying at Elga without proper gear at most. I am both PVE and PVP with my characters but then again I'm sure pvpers know things about pve too but back to the main point, I can not find where Resurrection would be deemed decent or be used frequently enough to be useful. Other than 2 things being Elga and helping people do stuff at lower level areas(But then again your heals should be enough to 1%-100% restore them back to health so I'm guessing you would need it if you mess up and get them killed or they get one shot). I look forward to enough enlightenment so that I can put this aside for a long time.

Edited by Agitodesu, 02 August 2015 - 02:08 PM.

[Homurasan]

Using chain combo while moving allows higher attacking rate when your attack speed stat is low (100 ~ 150). It also makes monsters flinch, which cancels their attacks. Just figured I might put that somewhere.

 

As for the double shot / diffusion cannon dilemma : https://forums.warpp...ents/?p=2183298

If that's of any help.

Edited by Homurasan, 02 August 2015 - 03:20 PM.

[ManItsMike]

I do wonder, I am very biased on resurrection even as a pve skill but I am not going to be ignorant so I want to know in detail if possible why it is needed. I do not think it is needed at all unless you are partying at Elga without proper gear at most. I am both PVE and PVP with my characters but then again I'm sure pvpers know things about pve too but back to the main point, I can not find where Resurrection would be deemed decent or be used frequently enough to be useful. Other than 2 things being Elga and helping people do stuff at lower level areas(But then again your heals should be enough to 1%-100% restore them back to health so I'm guessing you would need it if you mess up and get them killed or they get one shot). I look forward to enough enlightenment so that I can put this aside for a long time.

 

Resurrection is a pretty hard one to explain. The entire guide is based on my own opinion, and since I only PVE, and do Elga daily, either alone, or with multiple people, I find it to be a very useful skill. Like you said about low level content, it CAN help there, but even with a player with unenchanted gear, there's little use for it, as your heals are normally more than enough to suffice.

 

The issue comes with people who get overzealous. You'll find people who don't notice Paris doing her damage reflect attack, and end up one-shotting themselves. People who run from your HP restore at Elga, or don't make it out of his carpet bomb, or into the bubble on his third phase instakill attack. Another place where people have a chance to die is the boss of Red Fox Delta, if they decide to run straight for the boss as the fight starts. I've even had people with low defense  get stuck in the mobs that Diabolic (black claw nest third miniboss) summons and get combo'd to death before I could save them.

 

Anyways, Elga Phase 2 is the clincher for me. I find myself having to resurrect newer players nearly constantly during the phase, as they don't sit still long enough to be healed, and have no knowledge on how to avoid the attacks.

 

Apologies for the late response, I totally forgot to follow the topic for some reason. Thanks for taking the time to look at the guide!

[Agitodesu]

Well that explanation was a clearer version of mine, but I can see why it is useful and it is because of how much you party with people and with those new peeps that actually die. which brings a smile to my face since I like a game where beginner players struggle with some bosses(challenge). But this reply was just to say thanks for answering and taking your time to write an explanation for me

[ManItsMike]

Well that explanation was a clearer version of mine, but I can see why it is useful and it is because of how much you party with people and with those new peeps that actually die. which brings a smile to my face since I like a game where beginner players struggle with some bosses(challenge). But this reply was just to say thanks for answering and taking your time to write an explanation for me

No problemo! Thanks for taking an interest!

[Razzleluff]

This post is amazing. Extremely hopeful. Will be waiting for the strategies and extras to come out *bookmarked*

[ManItsMike]

This post is amazing. Extremely hopeful. Will be waiting for the strategies and extras to come out *bookmarked*

 

Appreciate hearing that! I'll get to work on it! (just posted a few little ideas off the top of my head before work, There will be more. Let me know if you want to add your own strategies and such as well!)

[RainbowRush]

Just want to comment on Rain of Fire. That skill is a great stun, as well as help get sss rank faster and get bosses groggy (maybe most importantly). What I often do is combo Rain of Fire into Chain Lightning into Rain of Fire. This kills everything faster and they're stunned for the entire duration.

 

As for getting hit while casting RoF. Once you get the rythm of it down, that never happens. I consider RoF the skill that made me able to easily solo my way to Bone Dragon (I did not solo the dragon, however), without having to use a weapon better than +4.

 

 

I do not consider myself an expert on this class, and I bow down to your superiority here. However, I felt I had to comment on this. Without this skill I would rarely make bosses groggy, I think.

[Agitodesu]

I just spam x to kill the boss and hope it doesn't get groggy, assuming you have an s/ss/sss already achieved before hand. Sometimes it doesn't hit all the hits on the monster when I play it.

[ManItsMike]

Just want to comment on Rain of Fire. That skill is a great stun, as well as help get sss rank faster and get bosses groggy (maybe most importantly). What I often do is combo Rain of Fire into Chain Lightning into Rain of Fire. This kills everything faster and they're stunned for the entire duration.

As for getting hit while casting RoF. Once you get the rythm of it down, that never happens. I consider RoF the skill that made me able to easily solo my way to Bone Dragon (I did not solo the dragon, however), without having to use a weapon better than +4.


I do not consider myself an expert on this class, and I bow down to your superiority here. However, I felt I had to comment on this. Without this skill I would rarely make bosses groggy, I think.

Thanks for the comment, and compliment!
To each their own, I suppose! I never found a need to use rain of fire, personally. I find that chain Lightning more than suffices, considering the range and the lack of cooldown.
The Awakening skills also help a lot in mission maps once you get to your mid-late 60s.

Anyways, I'd love to see you in action sometime! Let me know.

Edit: as for groggying bosses, use chain combo with your x-spam, maybe along with a spark rock. Like was said above, you usually have your rank before entering the boss room.

Edited by ManItsMike, 15 November 2015 - 07:01 AM.