You need to read this guide because:
- You don't know your role.
- You may be the reason the party dies (wipes).
- You want to make party leveling as efficent as possible.
- You love me.
Hit CTRL + F (On Windows) to jump to a specific point.
Table of Contents
General Tips [G101]
- - Global Etiquette [G102]
- - What to bring [G103]
- - Swordsman [C102]
- - Acolyte [C103]
- - Mage [C104]
- - Thief [C105]
- - Archer [C106]
- - Merchant [C107]
- - "Camping" Parties [P102]
- - "Roving" Parties [P103]
- - ULOSE (Unnecessarily Large Or Stupidly Extreme) [P104]
[G101]
General Tips
Global Etiquette [G102]
Let's start this guide by informing you on the correct way to join a party. First of all, please do not ever run to south prontera and spam that you are looking for a party. This does two things. First, you look like a moron and you probably will not get invited to a party. Second, this doesn't help people who are recruiting for a party as nobody knows your level or build. Here's a (step by step) way to get you into a party, guaranteed. You'll even get a picture if I feel generous enough.
- Head to the map you wish to party at.
- Open a chat box (CTRL+C)
- Type your build and level. Ex. "Level 55 FS Acolyte"
- Wait. Someone will either invite you directly or enter your chat.
In any sort of party, the first and most important rule is be polite. If a priest buffs you, always say thank you, if the knight pulls a monster off of you, say thank you. Always say your pleases and thank yous, and you'll be respected in turn. Nobody likes a rude party member. Be aware that the priest is usually aware of who has buffs and who doesn't, and he will get to you shortly. If you've been without buffs for over a couple minutes, don't be shy to remind the priest. "May I have buffs, please?"
Also, don't draw more monsters than your party can handle. It's all well and good if you get a lot of experience, but having the party wipe because you dragged over too many monsters is a sure way to plummet your EXP in the hole. If you aren't a tanking class, stick behind the classes who are and let them move ahead first. You won't draw unnecessary attention and you'll take little damage. Sounds like a win-win to me.
As another tip, if you are a melee DPS class (Combo monk, Assassin, Blacksmith, etc.) try not to "stack" onto your teammates whacking the same monster. Most priests will use the party menu to heal and buff, but sometimes a crucial buff or heal will be missed because he can't target the correct teammate and hit you instead. Also, try and target the monster with the lowest HP first, it sounds strange but killing off the weaker monster will lessen the enemy damage output by that much. Your tanks will appreciate it.
What to bring [G103]
Don't disregard items as the key to your success! Generally, these things should be available on hand at all times. It's alright if you don't have everything on the list, but someone in the party should have it. And always be willing to share, you and your party mates are in this together. It would suck if the priest went down and nobody was willing to share a Yggdrasil leaf.
- Yggdrasil Leaves (At least 3 per priest in the party)
- Emergency Potions
- Extra Blue Gemstones
- Awakening Potions (Someone could run out)
- Holy Water (In some areas)
- Green Potions
- Fly/Butterfly wings
[C101]
Your Class and You.
It's a big wide world out there Billy! You'll get to explore dangerous dungeons, exciting towns, even (if you're lucky) amass great wealth and fame! Of course, it all starts with selecting a class. And remember, if you don't play your class right, everyone will hate you.
I'm kidding.
Swordsman [C102]
Alright, this job is somewhat hard for newbies to get used to. First off, if you went the VIT route (Which you should), then you're the tank. Use Provoke on enemies and let them smack you around a bit while the other classes smack them around a bit. Hopefully, if you've got enough VIT and a good priest, you won't go down and proceed to do your job well. If you are a knight with a spear, you can do amazing damage on large-sized targets such as Loli Ruri. Even without a carded weapon, a spear knight and the correct element is automatically a damage class. Of course, you should be able to tank too! Everyone loves a good knight. If you are a knight who went the AGI route, you've become a DPS class. (Be sure to let your allies know). Let the party tank take the monster and go ahead and run up to smack it to death. Use Bowling Bash for multiple targets or in emergencies. Don't be afraid to use potions as you'll be a lot softer than a tanking Knight.
As a crusader, you are definitely the tank. Using the Sacrifice skill, you can tank without even drawing aggro. Nice! Make sure you let the priest know he only has to heal you, however. Keep in mind that using sacrifice on high flee characters is nice, but they tend to take a lot of damage when they get hit, and all that damage will be transferred to you. Bring emergency potions.
If you're a grand cross crusader, you should have a lot of VIT so you can still tank. But make sure you bring potions for when grand cross eats your health. If your party has another tank, let him do most of the tanking.
Acolyte [C103]
Takes a lot of guts to play an acolyte, either you'll be the reason the party stays alive or the reason the party dies. Unless you play monk =P
As a FS priest, learn first and foremost to use the party menu, you can push the hotkey for the skill you want to use and then click on the player's name in the party menu. It's a lot easier than trying to mouse over the player and trying not to target the monster or the teammate next to him. Make sure to keep buffs up, if you buff yourself first and wait a couple seconds before buffing everyone else, you'll have a few seconds warning that the party buffs are going to run out because yours will first.
Heal the tanking classes, if the tanks die then the DPS will probably get smashed too. If there is a sacrifice crusader, then you simply heal him only, but make sure to keep watch in case the sacrifice wears off mid-fight. If you don't have a sacrifice crusader, heal the tanks mostly, but sometimes a monster will start to attack a class you didn't intend. In most cases, alternating heals should do fine, but if you want to be really pro, smack the monster with your rod and make it attack you. You should have enough VIT to soften the blows long enough to survive.
Bring emergency potions, you can't heal yourself and another person at the same time. If you do go down, and you have a Ygg leaf, ask one of the alive players to request a deal, and give them a Ygg leaf to resurrect you with. Then proceed to heal/resurrect anyone else that went down.
As a monk, follow the rules for a DPS class. You can either utilize Throw Spirit Sphere to attack at range, or use combos to put down the hurt up close. If you're a g-fist monk, you're better off suiting waiting for an emergency to take out a high-priority monster to lessen the damage output. Then, relog (ESC -> Character Select) to enable natural SP regeneration again. If you took mental strength, you can even tank. But remember to be careful if you think it's about to wear off.
Mage [C104]
A relatively easy class to play. It's all the matter of using the correct element to do the most damage to your foes. In some cases, it's obvious which element to use, but sometimes asking a party member or looking up the information online is the way to go if you aren't sure. Use the "bolt" class skills to eliminate single targets, and use the AoE (Area of Effect) skills to destroy large groups. Remember, if your casting time is slow, sometimes it's better to use a lower level of the skill.
Some enemies have a high MDEF, in these cases you're not going to be very useful. That's the harsh truth.
Remember to wait until the tanker has the mob attacking him before you unleash the pain. If you do it too early, you'll be attacked and go down very fast. Energy Coat helps with this, but not by much, I'd bring extra potions.
If your class has a bard using Magic Strings, give him a hug and stay within the song range. You'll cast both faster and more frequently. Unleash the pain.
Thief [C105]
This class is even easier then mage, but some things are different depending on the class you changed into.
90% of the time, you're a physical DPS class, simply run up to the monster and smack it after the tanker has it's attention. Some monsters change target, in this case, it's a better option to utilize your ranged options while the enemy is distracted.
If you're a Rogue, use Raid on large mobs, stunning and blinding monsters will help a lot, you even do a little extra damage. Using a bow also keeps you safe at range.
As an assassin, you're hardly ever get hit, so go ahead and attack enemies up close as your flee makes you a pseudo tank in itself. If you went the STR/DEX route, you should know that Sonic Blow is your bread and butter, abuse it. It makes a great finishing move and the stun never hurts. Grimtooth and throw stone are your only ranged options.
Remember to keep the healers safe and let the tank do his job.
Archer [C106]
Slightly more difficult in a party, make sure to watch your SP and keep 120 SP on hand for emergencies. If you have a statusing weapon, or if you carry statusing arrows, use arrow shower to inflict pain on multiple enemies at once!
Other than that, shoot the enemies your tank has occupied, start with the weakest and move your way up. If you think the tank is going to be overwhelmed, spam double strafe and try to eliminate mobs completely as you do so, instead of simply weakening them. Hunters are great at keeping enemies off the healers with their Arrow Repel skill. Don't use this when a monster is being attacked by a melee class, it's very annoying for them to have to run all over the place to chase a monster down.
Bards should play songs depending on the makeup of your party. Do you have a mage? Magic Strings. No mages (Or if your mage is a battlesage)? Impressive Riff.
Dancers can use both Gypsy's Kiss for increased party SP (Healers love this), and Slow Grace to make the enemies run like molasses and make them easier to hit.
Merchant [C107]
You sure like your uphill battles, don't you? As a merchant you also fall under the physical DPS tree, so follow the same general rules as the other classes. Remember that you have a vast weight limit and a cart than can hold 8000 units of weight. If a party member is overweight, offer to store some of the excess for them. Plus, you can also carry an increased amount of supplies for the party. Nice.
As a blacksmith, weapon buffs help the team out a lot. If you have weapon repair and the correct items to make repairs, go ahead and use Over-Thrust. If not, stick with Weapon Perfection and Adrenaline Rush. Your teammates will not be happy if their weapon breaks and you can't fix it. Use cart revolution on mobs of enemies, even better if you have a statusing weapon.
An alchemist has an axe mastery, so if you have that at level 10, go ahead and act like any other physical class. If you have a homunculus, stick back and let it do most of the fighting, healing it if necessary with Aid Potion. You could even be a second healer for your team! Plants are alright, but only in camping parties. They have limited use when moving around and fighting.
Types of Parties [P101]
Parties come in all sizes and flavors, knowing which party you are in and how to behave is key.
Camping Parties [P102]
Camping parties are popular in most of the Repeatable EXP Quest maps, notably Hodes, Gators, and Goats. Usually a wizard, a priest, a handful of tanking classes and some physical classes will be present. A bard is almost mandatory. What happens is the party finds a spot to camp out, the bard plays Magic Strings and the tankers run around the map looking for monsters to pull to the party. The wizard will then annihilate said monsters using an AoE skill. The healers are there to heal the pullers when the return and the physical classes are there "Just in case". If you are a pulling class. Pull. The success of these parties ultimately depends on how many pullers the party has. If you are running this type of party, don't be hesitant to let other classes in, really, everyone needs experience and it's alright if they cannot pull or kill. First classes in gators are an example.
Roving Parties [P103]
Most prevalent in Loli Ruris, this type of party is where camping isn't happening and the party runs around the map, looking for monsters to kill. These parties tend to go a lot fast as you aren't relying on characters bring monsters to you, you go to them. Awareness is key for this type of party, monsters could spawn behind you or even on top of you. Priests need to keep the key tanks healed and the DPS classes need to keep the monsters off the healers. Sacrifice crusaders are unparalleled in their usefulness in these parties.
ULOSE [P104]
These parties are either so grossly large or are in a place where they are woefully outmatched by the difficulty of the monsters. If you ever find yourself in these parties, here are some tips to keep you alive.
- Stay alive, you don't know whether the priest is paying attention or whether he can even see you are taking damage
- If you're a ranged class, this is a lot easier, protect the healers.
- If you're a melee class, utilize your ranged options for the reason above.
- If a smaller party is around, /leave and join them.
Closing Statement
Well, that's all I have to say! I hope you found this guide at least moderately helpful.
Happy gaming!
~G.M.
Edited by GoldMalice, 30 August 2010 - 01:04 PM.
