Since the game is losing its European players and the population in general is decreasing, I thought that I'd write a guide on all that I learnt about auto cast builds before the game disappears.
Now, this is in the acolyte class subforum because mental strength makes the job a lot easier, but any class can do this with the right equipment.
I've arranged the guide in the order of priority of equipment that you need to get. It starts with defensive equipment, moves to healing equipment, and then the useful auto casts.
The purpose of this guide is to outline the important mechanics involved, not to list equipment. Search for equipment using the databases listed below.
iW Page on auto casts. Incomplete, but it covers most of the older items.
iW DB. Go to card search and type in 'chance' in the 'Effect' field to find useful cards.
Defense
The most important equipment to any auto cast build are the defensive ones. They make the difference between frantically spamming the potion hotkey and sitting back and watching your character play itself. In order to understand how to utilize defense, we must learn a few game mechanics.
Attack: Each 'normal' attack by a monster that hits you counts as one instance of physical damage taken. These will trigger 'on attacked' effects.
With damage reflect equipment (e.g. - High Orc carded shield), you can convert this damage into a reflected attack. This reflected attack counts as a normal hit and will trigger 'on attack' effects. More on reflect later.
The attack and aspd values of monsters can be found on iW or DivinePride databases. I prefer using divine pride as it seems to be more accurate. To find a skill's damage, find ( the skill list of a monster and read it up on irowiki. The monster exclusive skills start with 'NPC' (e.g. - NPC FIREATTACK). The wiki list the Atk modifier as well as the element used.
Defense: Damage can be reduced in a variety of ways. I assume the reader already understands the basic mechanics of % damage reductions, so I will go ahead and talk about the relevant parts.
The listed attack values of monsters can be broken down into a status Atk (sAtk) part and the rest (We'll call it equip Atk or eAtk). From my observations, the sAtk of monsters can be somewhat approximated by using the same sAtk formula for players, without the 2x multiplier in final calculations. This sAtk portion is not reduced by % reductions (race, element, size, etc.) but is reduced by Def. The sAtk of a monster can be calculated using its listed base level, str, dex and luk. The sAtk must be subtracted from the monsters listed Atk to get the eAtk. Once you have both, you can use this to approximate the damage taken:
Damage = [(eAtk*Modifiers) + sAtk]*HardDefModifier - SoftDefModifier
Modifiers = % Damage reduction specific to a category.
HardDefModifier = Hard defense based reduction. See Def.
SoftDefModifier = Just the soft defense.
Note that your actual soft defense may vary from what you see in the stat window. Try using the iW formula to calculate it yourself. sDef is reduced by the number of monsters attacking you. With a sufficiently large group, it can be negated entirely. Mental Strength(MS) is applied last in all calculations because of the sheer size of its reduction. If it were applied before any flat damage reduction, it would essentially multiply it by 10.
Combining different types of modifiers is inefficient because they stack multiplicatively with each other. 100% race resist is available to certain classes and races, but it is not general enough to be discussed here. Neutral resist, on the other hand is much more useful. You can get it using the following combinations of items:
- +X Palace Guard Cap = X%, min 5%
- 3D Glasses = 5%
- Tidung[1] = 5%
- +X Immune Shield = Max 13% at +12
- +9 Deviant HBP[1] = 60% with 90 vit
- Lian Shoes[1] = 5%
- Athena Earring + Resist Spell Power Pendant = Max 2%
- Athena Shield + Immune Shadow Armour = Max 2%
- Skin Tempering (Blacksmith class exclusive) = 5%
- Rice Cake Doll Pet = 1%
- Marionette Pet = Small chance to get +20% for 3 seconds. *Unreliable*
Getting 100% neutral resist will completely negate the eAtk portion of monsters' normal attacks. The sAtk will then be reduced by your Def. In most cases, the sAtk is small enough to be completely reduced by your sDef. When that happens, you will see a 'miss' when the monster attacks but still take 1 damage. With access to other flat damage reductions like Pain Killer and Gentle Touch Revitalize, you can turn it into an actual miss. MS divides and rounds down damage, so anything less than 10 will turn into a 'miss' as well. These misses due to Def still count as a hit and will trigger effects.
The problem with so much defense is that it will make it hard to reflect damage. Damage is reflected only if the reflected value is at least 1. If you have 10% reflect, you must take at least 10 damage to get a reflect. MS is always applied last so it will not change the reflect calculations. This means that you won't reflect any damage until you get enough monsters to negate sDef.
What this means: High % damage reduction will make the first few monsters hit you for nothing, and no reflects will occur. It is important to choose a map with high spawns if you want to gain exp this way. Make sure you have at least some hDef to mitigate the damage taken.
How skills work: Monster skills are not like their normal attacks. The element of your armour is now considered for calculations and most importantly, soft defense is still applied at the end. This means that sDef is much less effective against skills.
Example -
Monster A: sAtk = 50, eAtk = 450; Attack Listed in DB = 500
You: sDef = 50, Neutral Resist = 90%, hDef = 0
Normal attacks from one monster = [(450*0.1) + 50] - 50 = 45
Normal attacks when mobbed = (450*0.1) + 50 = 95
Sonic Blow level 10 (8x multiplier) from one monster = {[(450*0.1) + 50] * 8} - 50 = 710
Sonic Blow level 10 (8x multiplier) when mobbed = {[(450*0.1) + 50] * 8} = 760
As you can see, the annoying sAtk component becomes a real threat when used in skills. Skills are also dangerous because they can have a different element and inflict status effects. Deviling makes you take an additional 50% damage from other elements. Use the databases to find the skills used by monsters and prepare your armour accordingly.
Healing
This section deals with ways to regain hp while getting hit. Against high level monsters, you may be forced to rely on potions, but that scenario will not be discussed here. I will assume that the you want your character to simply heal themselves.
Heal Skill: The most common method is to auto cast the skill 'Heal'. Multiple auto casts of the heal skill will only stack if their trigger conditions are different. Their are many sources of heal and the iW page on autocasts list a lot of them. The biggest choice you'll have to make is whether to pick a higher level of the skill or a higher chance of triggering. Higher levels are good for characters with high int, while higher chances and lower levels are good for those with low int since the mAtk component is independent of skill level.
Your net heal rate will be chance*amount. So, if you had a 3% chance to heal 1500 hp, you'll recover 45 hp per hit. If you take less than this damage per hit, you're in a good spot. However, monsters use skills which usually deal higher damage. This combined with the random nature of your heals means that you should aim for a higher heal amount that your damage taken. Heal will not work with GTB.
HP Drain: Another way to heal is to use life leech equipment. These trigger only on physical damage, so it's usually not very useful to acolyte classes. Life drain effects stack in both the chance and the amount, so if you're aiming for this method, go big. AoE physical skills like Bowling Bash, Meteor Assault and venom splasher from the RoR + RoFL combo are useful here.
Direct HP Modifiers: The third way is to use equipment designed to recover hp. Green cenere card, Release of Wish weapon, and St. Patrick's Hat give a flat recovery amount. Shadowmancer's Helm recovers a fraction of your health, so it is best used by high hp characters.
The healing methods scale with the aspd of the monster like all auto casts, so only the Atk of the monsters must be taken into calculations. Higher Max HP allows your character to endure greater variances in heals.
Using Auto Casts
Now that you've made sure to survive, you may want to use your character for something. The most common use is to kill monsters for exp. This is fairly straightforward, so I'll just list some equipment.
Magic Damage: CD in mouth, Ifrit Mask, Rhino/Elephant/Lion Model Hats, Lunar Rainbow, Dark Lord card, S. E. Wolf card.
Amplifying effects: Zaha doll, Temporal Boots with Runaway Magic (Int boosts heal too!)
Physical Damage: Ring of Flame Lord (RoFL), Faceworm Queen Leg (EQ scales with Atk), Turtle General card, Immortal Cursed Knight card
Amplifying effects: Drooping White Eddga, Temporal boots with Bear's Power (Careful! Costs HP)
AoE skills scale with the number of monsters hitting you and hurt all monsters in their AoE. This means that the more monsters hitting you, the faster you'll kill them. Aim for more AoE skills even if they deal lesser damage.
Status Effect Infliction: Reflected damage will not trigger status effects by themselves, but you can use auto cast skills to do so. Physical damage skills like Bowling Bash and Meteor Assault will use the effects of any status effect card like Plankton or Marina cards. Magical damage skills will use cards like Mini Octopus or Little Fatum cards. The real strength of autocasts is in AoE status effects. Items like Mandragora Cap, Evil Spirit Gloves, Violy card, Nighmare Mummy card or Time Keeper card which scale with the number of monsters hitting you and affect all monsters in range. You can create situations where every single monster on your screen is frozen, stunned or asleep. Note that Frost Joker and Dazzler affects your party members too. The chance is lower but it can be annoying. If you out-level the monster by at least 15 levels, the base chance of the skill is always applied. This means that for Nightmare Mummy or Time Keeper, it's a 100% chance to sleep/curse. A monster can never be cursed twice, so this status effect is limited in its usefulness. The priority of status effects is Stun > Sleep > Freeze. So casting Frost Joker followed by Morpheus Slumber followed by Dazzler will result in an immediate switching of statuses. Lastly, you can always use cards like Flame Skull and armour cards to increase the variety or chance of status effects. These cards usually replace damage reduction cards, so this is meant to be a 'fun' build.
Polymorph: Polymorph uses Hylzoist card or the Azoth dagger usable only by alchemists. Multiple sources of polymorph stack with themselves. Polymorph can be triggered on reflected damage instances as well as auto-casts of physical damage skills. Due to excessive fun in the past, polymorph has been disabled against summoned slaves, as well as completely in certain maps (TI maps, Orc Dungeon, Ant Hell too?). Unlike dead branch monsters, polymorphed monsters retain their natural aggression characteristics. In order to avoid killing off low level monsters, polymorph is best used with minimal damaging auto casts.
Filtering Polymorph: Not necessarily auto cast based, but I'm not making another guide just for polymorphing.
Use the 'Bomb' skill to rapidly deal fire damage. Acts as a 'low hp' filter in that low hp monsters just die.
Use 'Summon Flora' level 2 to create Hydras in low level maps. They use the same stats as normal Hydras. Higher level monsters can dodge the Hydras and will avoid polymorph. Acts as a 'low flee' filter.
Just tank a large number of monsters and use reflect damage. Reflect only works on melee attacks and scales with aspd. Fast attacking monsters are preferentially polymoprhed. Acts as a 'high aspd melee' filter.
Wear a Potted Muka Hat and gently provoke porings. Best selectivity, allowing you to stop when you want to without hurting the monster. Provoke can't be used on undead or boss monsters.
Remember to have fun responsibly, or polymorph will get nerfed again.
Item Lists
Items categorized by their effect. Skip to this if you don't want to read the boring mechanics.
Moving while AFK:
Antonio card = 50% chance to teleport. Doesn't let you accumulate monsters or cast anything.
Wanderer card = 2% chance to snatch. Low chance lets you build up a mob before disappearing. *Warning* Replaces raydric or DR.
Lesser Elemental Ring = Casts Sprint, Back Slide and Leap. Combine this with confusion (Pendant of Chaos/Yellow Novus) and watch monsters run around like headless chickens.
Moving while not AFK:
Rudo card = Triggers Endure effect and increases movement speed.
Bongun/Wind Ghost/Poisonous Toad = Knocks back monsters.
Nightmare Mummy = AoE Sleep. Any disabling effect will do, but I've found this card to be immensely useful due to its trigger chance and 11*11 AoE.
Elephant Model Hat = Cheap Storm Gust!
Silent Killing:
Unlike burning, bleed and poison do not reduce exp gained. Use Venomous or Skogul card to reduce monsters hp and kill them with just reflected damage. Remember to pack immunity for yourself. Other sources: Bakonawa card, Bloody Tears.
Party Buffs:
Use Musketeer Hat, Grand Peco card, Faux Orc Hero Helm when tanking large mobs to occasionally get certain skills. Grand Peco has a very high chance (15%) and allows your party to keep the Luk + 30 bonus most of the time.
Edited by sb120495, 08 May 2018 - 06:27 PM.