500 replies to this topic

[Agahim]

The Way of Cross and Mace

or

Agahim's >>renewal<< guide to battle- acolytes, priests and bishops.


1.) Introduction

Why battle bishop? To be honest, I don't think there's a real good reason to choose such a build, unless you want to try something new (since you've already played everything else), something unique, or just generally like the idea of being a cute and innocent looking creature that rips apart everything and everyone who is foolish enough to underestimate it. Kinda like the vorpal bunny from Monty Python's "The Holy Grail".
While I'm probably one of the greatest supporters of this specific class, I wouldn't recommend anyone who starts Ragnarok Online fresh, to choose this class/build setup. The priest classes are essentially supporters and healers, or holy casters, not very fit for melee battle, though. That means to make up for their natural lack of melee abilities, you will need alot of extremely good and also expensive equipment. So it is recommended to play other characters before starting your battle bishop in order to get proper gear for them. Despite being a very gear-dependent class battle bishops have their advantages and are alot of fun to play. let's have a look at some pros and cons:

Pro:
- Only Priest class that is able to take on all different kinds of enemies regardless their element or race.
- Being essentially a healing class, you will be able to level without the need of potions.
- Access to alot of useful buffs for yourself or other people you might be playing with.
- The ability to level solo aswell as still being able to somewhat fairly support a whole group
- You won't be completely useless in PvP/WoE.

Con:
- Very gear-dependent. Equipping a battle bishop will be very expensive and probably impossible for new players.
- Absolutely no AoE. You will be the only third class that has not a single AoE skill.
- No AoE means slow leveling, as you have to kill one enemy at a time.
- No AoE means limited number of MvPs you can solo since you can't handle the mobs they spawn.
- In PvP you will either be very squishy or not be able to kill anyone who isn't much weaker than yourself.

Now, if you're still positive that you want to be a vorpal bunny after looking at the pros and cons, we should take a look at the different kinds of battle bishops that exist. mainly depending on your gear and stats and slightly depending on your skill-tree there are basically four types of battle bishops:

1. Str/Dex build
2. Crit build
3. Auto-cast build
4. Combinations. either Str/Dex+Auto-cast or Crit+Auto-cast

All of these builds have one thing in common: their main stat is Agility. Since the main goal for any kind of battle bishop is getting a very high (preferable max.) attack speed, all of them need lots of Agi. The first kind being "Str/Dex" focuses (next to agi) on Str and Dex for High melee damage aswell as proper hit so they won't miss. Crit focuses (next to agi) more on Luck in order to raise their critical attack rate, and Auto-cast builds focus (next to agi) on Int in order to raise their magic attack for auto-spell damage. The auto-cast build is also the best supporter since int comes in handy for healing, buffing and SP aswell. Combination builds try to manage both either their crit or strength build aswell as doing some damage with auto-casts.

So what's the best out of these builds? that depends on the equipment you have for your bishop. If money is no concern for you, I'd probably suggest going Str/Dex+Auto-cast as the strongest items ingame (excluding MvP cards and God items) favour this build currently. Later in the Guide i will give skill, stat, and item build examples for each different kind of battle bishop build.

2.) Skills

The skill-build can be pretty much the same for any kind of battle bishop, if you stick to the key-skills you can't really do anything wrong. Pretty much everything else you get depends on your personal preferences. An exception being Gloria which is mandatory for Crit builds but can be skipped for other builds if you feel like you need something else desperately. I'd still advice everyone to get Gloria, though. It is a lovely skill. The other exception is Mace Mastery which can be skipped if you plan to fight with a book.

Key-skills are:
as acolyte:
Heal
Blessing
Increase Agi
Pneuma

as Priest/High Priest:
Mace Mastery
Imposito Manus
Aspersio
Gloria
Kyrie Elise
Magnificat

as Arch Bishop:
Duple Light - this is the heart of our build.
Expiatio
High Heal
Clementia
Canto Candidus

everything else depends on yourself. I'd strongly suggest also getting Assumptio and Sacrament. you may skip those if you want a specific skill-build like an "undead killer" focusing on such things as Demon Bane and Eucharistica for extra power against those dark creatures, though.

Here is an example for a skill-build that works well for every battle bishop version:
http://irowiki.org/~...BafkfdsrAakcHcY
this is my personal build but it can be altered to fit everyones personal needs as long as you keep the key-skills in mind.

3.) Stats

let's see what all stats do:

Stength: raises melee damage aswell as how much we can carry - secondary stat for most builds.
Agility: mainly raises atkspd aswell as flee - this is our main stat.
Vitality: raises def aswell as life pool and recovery. - important for people who want to PvP and WoE.
Intelligence: raises matk aswell as SP pool and recovery - seceondary stat for auto-cast builds.
Dexterity: mainly raises hit but also very, very slightly atkspd - most builds except maybe crit want some dex.
Luck: mainly raises critical chance and perfect dodge but also very, very slightly atk,matk, flee and hit. secondary stat for crit builds.

for a detailed explanation please refer to irowiki: http://irowiki.org/wiki/Stats

so what does that mean for us? basically we all want 120 base agi in order to raise our atkspd and flee as high as possible. other than that it depends on your build. crit builds probably want at least 90+ luck, auto-cast builds 90+ int and str/dex builds mostly get at least 80+ str and 60+dex. the remaining stats for all builds can be distributed to everyone's liking.
this should be all information you need to decide on a decent stat build. later in the guide there will also be stat/skill/equipment examples for all builds which is why i won't explain more than neccessary here in this section.

4.) Equipment

Here are some equipment suggestions. what's ideal for you depends on your specific build of course. I'll mostly mention what equipment piece is good for what build, but you'll be left alone when it comes to choosing a combination of items for your build. The stat/skill/equipment build examples later in the guide will help you with matching setups if you need further help with this. For looking up what each piece does, please use the Iro-Wiki Database located here:
http://db.irowiki.org/db/

Headgear (upper):
Snake Head [1] - best piece for all builds but crit (gives lvl 5 double attack).
Chick Hat - acceptable substitude for the snake head, available at the kafra shop. (lvl 2 double attack)
Drooping Alicel - good choice for all builds, especially fighting against demi-humans. needs to be +7.
Musketeer Hat - chance to cast Adrenaline Rush (even for books. normally AR can't be used with books)
Mercury Riser - best hat for crit-builds. needs to be overupgraded, though.
Evil Marching Hat [1] - good choice for crit builds. needs to be overupgraded aswell.
Little Feather Hat [1] - fair choice for crit builds. inability to wear arrows limits this hats usefulness but still pretty good.
Witch's Pumpkin Hat - pretty good hat in combination with gozarian mask for killing undeads.
Cat Ear Beret [1] - PvP choice. should be overupgraded.

good choices for cards are (in order of usefulness): phylla, duneyrr, vanberk, isilla, dark pinguicula, maya purple (pvp only).

Headgear (mid):
Black Devil's Mask - probably the best piece for all builds. +2 to all stats.
Pegasus Ear wing - good choice for all builds. gives up to 3% atkspd
Filir's Pinions - good choice for all builds. gives 2% atkspd
Black Frame Glasses [1] - good choice for all builds, given it's carded right. currently best slotted midgear.
Any Other Slotted Midgear [1] - good choice for all builds, given it's carded right.

same cards as for upper headgear. phylla aswell as vanberk can be stacked for improved proc chance.

Headgear (lower):
CD In Mouth - best piece for all builds, mandatory for auto-cast builds.
Four Leaf Clover - Okay choice for crit builds that can't afford CD In Mouth. +3 luck.
Pirate Dagger - Okay choice for other builds that can't afford CD in Mouth. +5 atk.
Handkerchief In Mouth - good for PvP

Mid/Lower combinations:
Demon Mask - okay choice for everyone who needs atkspd. requires succubus/incubus horns as combination.
Gozarian Mask - good in combination with Witch's Pumpkin Hat for extra atk/matk.
Hahoe Mask - good in combination with Witch's Pumpkin Hat for extra atkspd.

Armor:
Valkyrian Armor [1] - provided it's hidden enchanted with +3 agi, best choice for all builds. also +1 to all stats.
Robe of Affection - holy elemental. pretty good in combination with lady solace carded weapon.
Dragon Vest [1] - pretty good in combination with Dragon Manteau[1].
Any slotted armor hidden enchantable [1] - anything with a +3 agi enchant, a slot, the right card and good def will do.
WoE Robe[1] - PvP choice. not very good on it's own since it's a set piece.

 

porcellio for most builds, ancient mimic for crit. marc for pvp. elemental cards: pasana, dokebi, sandman, swordfish, bathory, angelring, ghostring for elemental damage reduction.

Weapons:
Empowered Mace of Judgement [1] - best mace for auto-cast builds. also good for other builds. Only mace that provides good atk aswell as matk in combination. has a slot and a proc for 40% more dmg to demons for 7sec. Unfortunately holy elemental which robs it off it's status as best allrounder weapon.
Veteran Hammer [2] - best weapon for crit build. comes with 20% base crit aswell as at least 5% heal bonus.

Spike [2] - can be quite good for crit builds, depending on the malangdo enchants you get for it. however, usually won't outshine the veteran hammer. also lowers your defense by 66.6% .

Carga Mace [2] - best allrounder mace. Top choice for size and racial cards.
Lunakaligo [3] - pretty decent low-budget allrounder mace. provides 15% stun chance, 4% atkspd and makes some enemies drop cheap buff-food.
Elemental Stunner - comes in one of four base elements: fire, wind, water, earth. Useful against enemies weak to that specific element. also provides a 10% stun chance.
Encyclopedia [2] - good choice for Crit builds. lacks atk, but makes up for it with extra crit (dependant on your base luck), extra magic attack and due to the nature of books a slight atkspd boost. might be top choice for crit+auto-cast build.

Ledger of Death [2] - now that it's enchantable, it might be pretty good for auto cast builds looking for extra attack speed. raises attack speed but decreases crit chance.
Glorious Morning Star - best pvp mace aswell as against demi-human monsters. at+9 it gives 75% dmg to demi human, 30% defense reduction, 10% atkspd and 20% stun chance aswell as slaughter lvl1. dear god.
Vellum Flail - good pvp choice. apparently has the ability to disable healing on your target. also increase hit and crit according to upgrade level. less damage output than glorious but thanks to the disable skill probably a handy tool.
Vellum Stunner - same as vellum flail. good pvp choice and a handy tool but less dmg output than glorious. ability to reduce enemies def/mdef to 1. also increases atkspd (and I think stun chance) according to upgrade level.

cards you want depend on your build. crit build wants cards that raise crit damage by a percentage: aunoe, the paper, mobster, squidgitte. Or at early stages maybe skel soldier for extra crit. str/dex builds just want anything that raises atk. so either hillsion for a good allrounder mace, size cards: skel worker, desert wolf and minorous or racial cards such as: hydra, santa poring, kaho, strouf etc. etc. auto-cast builds might want to take a look at lady solace or bloody knight card.

Shields:
as a rule of thumb, battle bishops don't want to wear a shield. wearing a shield gives a heavy atkspd penalty ranging from -5 to -10 atkspd. eew. some special cases such a PvP, MvP or just generally tough enemies might demand you to wear one after all, so let's have a look at some anyway:

Valkyrja's Shield [1] - strongest shield ingame. top choice for PvP aswell as MvP scenarios.
Thorny Buckler [1] - excellent shield that provides a 10% atkspd bonus in combination with bison horn accessory, hence making the shield atkspd penalty less severe. very good choice as an allrounder shield for tough enemies.
Bible of Promise [1] - comes in two version (vol. 1 or vol. 2) the latter one being superior but hard to aquire. this "shield" comes with an extra skill for our class called "odin's power" which lasts for 1min and grants (depending on your vol.) either +75 or +100 atk/matk. but also lowers your def/mdef a little. the buff is awesome and worth having but it's a hassle to shield switch if you don't normally wear a shield and the short duration of the buff doesn't help with that either. really nice to have if you don't mind the extra effort.

cards you want depend on the enemies you're facing. alice for MvP, thara frog for PvP, hodremlin as allrounder. other than those size or racial cards.

Garments:
Heroic Backpack [1] - best choice for all builds. depending on your stats boosts your offensive abilities drastically.
Dragon Manteau [1] - second best choice for everyone who can't afford a backpack. very good in combination with dragon armor.

Fallen Angel Wing  - can be pretty damn good, depending on the enchants you get for it. can have up to three enchants such as sharp and fighting spirit. also makes you look like nina or shanoa.
Skin of Ventus [1] - okay choice for all builds, especially for early leveling. gives a little extra flee.
Valkyrian Manteau [1] - okay choice for all builds. gives perfect dodge, which is pretty nice for mobbing.
WoE Muffler [1] - PvP choice.

giant whisper (best choice for backpack), orc baby or nine tail are good choices for +9 garments. raydric is first choice for PvP but also fantastic in PvM, and green maiden works wonders for crit builds.

Shoes:
Black Leather Boots [1] - best piece in terms of extra agi for atkspd for all builds. needs to be at least +9 and carded with odium of thanatos card.
Variant Shoes - best choice for everyone who doesn't desperatley need extra agi, which might be the case for backpack owners.
Valkyrian Shoes [1] - good choice for everyone who can't afford black leather or variants. card this with matyr.
Feral Boots - might be useful for crit builds who are looking for extra crit. needs to be enchanted. can have up to +5 agi and + 7crit for the best case scenario.
WoE Shoes [1] - PvP choice.

generally if you wear shoes that aren't black leather or variants go with matyr or maybe firelock soldier in case your boots are +9.

Accessories:
Ring Of Flame Lord - wet dream of all battle bishops. next to a crapload of autocasts such as fireball (AoE), fire bolt, gloria domini and bowling bash (AoE) this bad boy also grants +15 attack and fury lvl1 (+10 crit). should be noted that we do not want to wear this as a set with ring of resonance. we only want the RoFL. Why not as set?
Bakonawa Agimat Tattoo - second best non-slotted accessory next to RoFL. gives +7% atk and +10% atkspd.
Bradium Brooch [1] - best slotted accessory for us, especially for crit builds.
Bison Horn [1] - very nice in combination with thorny buckler.
Alchemy Glove [1] - should be pretty intersting for autocast builds who can't afford a RoFL. autocasts lvl 5 Fire Ball.
Luk Glove [1] - looks great for crit builds. +100 Max HP, +20 Max SP. Crit +1 for every 10 base luk, Crit Damage +1% if you have 110+ base luk
Glorious Ring - PvP choice.
Black Rosary [1] - PvP choice. best slotted accessory for PvP/WoE. +15mdef.
Anything slotted [1] - fair choice assuming it's carded right.

kobold for crit build, kukre or owl baron for everyone else. smokie and/or alligator for pvp.

5.) Build Examples

Str/Dex Build:



Ophelia is a Str/Dex build. To her death is quite romantic. She's level 150 and has all her dream equipment except for the CD in Mouth that she's desperately saving money for right now. Her base stats look like this:

Str: 100
Agi: 120
Vit: 52
Int: 50
Dex: 80
Luck: 20

With a concentration potion, an Adrenaline Rush scroll and Celermine Juice she easily reaches max. atkspd which would be 193. Thanks to her +11 dull black leather boots and her backpack she doesn't even need VIP buffs. Compared to other Builds she has insane base attack of about 360 (+30% more damage on middle sized enemies thanks to her boned carga). She's not a lazy girl and usually buffs herself with her vol. 1 Bible of Promise, raising her attack to 435. Her Valkyrian armor is hidden enchanted with +3 Agi and her Snake Head grants her lvl 5 double attack for her already strong hits. With Gloria she has less than 25 Crit Chance but her phylla aswell as her Vanberk card proc very often for either +20 or +100 extra Crit. Her RoFL grants her lots of good auto-casts that enable her to even take on more than one enemy at once. She's a bit squishy since she lacks extra HP from her shoes and damage resistance from her garment. Her clothes also smell faintly of alpaca.

She took the "standard" skill build from the top of the page:
http://irowiki.org/~...BafkfdsrAakcHcY

Crit Build:



Hurricane is a typical crit build. One time he could've been the champion of the world. He has most of the Equipment he desires. Currently saving his money for a backpack and a ring of flame lord, which both would be a huge improvement over his current setup. His base stats at lvl 150 look like this:

Str: 90
Agi: 120
Vit: 50
Int: 40
Dex: 30
Luck: 94

With a concentration potion, an Adrenaline Rush scroll and Celermine juice he reaches 192 atkspd, almost max. unfortunately not even VIP buffs help him get to 193. That's why he's currently looking for a +9 Backpack that would boost his atkspd to 193 aswell as grant him another 15% critical damage bonus and +30atk. His Green Maiden carded Dragon Manteau gives him +9crit and +4 luck. With this Setup he has exactly 99 Crit chance aswell as a chance to gain another +100crit, boosting it to 199 crit thanks to the vanberk card in his mercury riser. The two Aunoe cards in his Veteran Hammer grant him a whooping 40% crit damage bonus. This bonus is applied to the final crit damage value. that means the bonus damage includes his equipment attack aswell as his attack gained through strength and other means, making it superior to racial card bonuses since those only apply to weapon damage. His CD in Mouth also give him nice Auto-Spell procs that further improve his overall DPS drastically, but lack a bit potential since Hurricane has hardly any matk. He's also pretty shy around girls.

He chose a build that focuses more on Undeads and Demons:
http://irowiki.org/~...BabkefNrAakcHcY

Auto-Cast Build:



Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child. She represents the auto-cast build. She's currently looking to get a Snake Head aswell as a +3 Agi enchanted Valkirian Armor that she wants to card with an Angeling Card to replace her Robe of Affection. Her base stats at lvl 150 look like this:

Str: 90
Agi: 120
Vit: 50
Int: 90
Dex: 60
Luck: 1

Normally she'd get less strength and invest the stats elsewhere since her main damage output consists of magic anyway, but because she has a +9 Backpack she figured she might aswell get the strength bonus which is another +30 attack. Buffed with Adrenaline Rush, a concentration potion and either Celermine Juice or VIP buffs, Lily reaches 192 atkspd. The empowered Mace of Judgement gives her imense atk and matk that boost her normal hits aswell as the auto-spells. The Backpack bonus adds another +50 matk. Her hat gives her 8% more magic attack and the Isilla card in it has the chance to proc a buff that reduces casting by half for the next spell and adds +30 flee. Duple Light triggers this buff fairly often. The Lady Solace Card in her weapon procs lvl 5 Grand Cross, which is a strong spell, but it also harms its caster unless they waer a holy elemental armor, that's why she wears the Robe of Affection. Her CD and the Ring of Flame Lord provide her with a wide range of auto spells that drown her enemies in a flood of spells as soon as she touches them. Lily is due to her Variants and the Orc Baby card alot less squishy than other Battle Bishops but she has to be careful around enemies that use Dark magic as she'll take double damage from those. She also has a lisp and hates when people tell her how cute they think it sounds

She is also satisfied with the "standard" build:
http://irowiki.org/~...BafkfdsrAakcHcY

For a demonstration of her abilities check out mintypudding's video, who has an identical setup:

Spoiler

Combination Builds:



Sara, so easy to look at, so hard to define. Sara is a mix of auto-cast and crit build. She has all her dream equipment and is currently waiting for new items to be released. These are her base stats at lvl 150:

Str: 60
Agi: 120
Vit: 42
Int: 90
Dex: 20
Luck: 90

Completely buffed with Adrenaline Rush, Celermine Juice, concentration potion and VIP buffs she has 192 maybe 193 atkspd. I'm not entirely sure because the stat calculator I use is messed up for books. AR scrolls unfortunately don't work with books, but Musketeer Hat does. So she's forced to wear a Musketeer Hat if she wants Adrenaline Rush. Her book has 110 atk and 100 matk aswell as 38 crit (for her stats) and thanks to the slotted aunoe cards 40% more crit damage. Together with her Backpack bonus she has a total of 55% more crit damage which make up for her lack of base attack from the book. Her entire setup also give her 109% chance to crit (with fury lvl1 from her RoFL) aswell as a chance to proc another +20% crit from the phylla card in her ears. The CD and the Ring of Flame Lord provide her with a wide varity of auto-spells that also profit from the +50matk bonus from her backpack. She doesn't hit as hard as the crit or the str/dex build nor are her auto-spells a match for that of the pure auto-cast build but she's well balanced and has the the highest crit chance of all builds. Thanks to her high Int she's also a pretty good supporter. Sara will drink up your blood like wine.

Because Sara carries a book she doesn't need Mace Mastery and took Savety Wall in it's place. A decision that further strengthens her support abilities:
http://irowiki.org/~...BafkfdsrAakcHcY

PvP Setup:



You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn. He will be representing a PvP setup. Quinn has all his dream PvP equipment and his base stats at lvl 150 look like this:

Str: 53
Agi: 120
Vit: 100
Int: 90
Dex: 40
Luck: 1

It should be noted that a battle bishop is not as useful as other third classes in WoE since they're not really meant to be a strong melee class, but rather healers and supporters, however if for some reason you're dead-set at participating in WoE with a battle bishop anyway, you won't be completely useless to your guild. First thing is: we need alot of Vit in order to be somewhat resistant. That means we get less points to put into other stats. Second and probably more important thing is: you're not a killer. Sadly we're not much more than a watered down full support bishop, in PvP. Your main function is still just buffing your guild mates and trying to stay alive as long as possible. Having to equip defensive robs us of our offensive abilities, since unlike other classes we have basically no offensive melee skills. That means we're not fit to kill anyone who isn't much, much weaker than we are. However, you're still a good emp-breaker and with the new vellum weapons probably a good assistant for killing classes, since the vellum flail can block healing and the vellum stunner reduces enemies def/mdef. Basically any of the above mentioned stat/skill builds work for PvP but i'd suggest an auto-cast build since getting Intelligence also makes you a better supporter, and as I said, that's our role in PvP, even as battle build.

Quinn has with his equipment 61% demi-human reduction aswell as 20% physical damage reduction (raydric card) and thanks to the valk shield and the glorious ring some elemental reductions. Due to the Marc card in his armor he cannot be frozen, which is an important thing to have in WoE. His Maja Purple carded glasses enable him to see hidden players which he can either unhide with Ruwach or mark with Oratio. Quinns Smokie carded Bison Horn gives him Hide. A very useful ability that for example enables him to dodge Guillotine Fist. Apart from his equipment he also carries:

- something to heal. usually slim white potions.
- something to get SP back. (blue pots, anchillas, ygg seeds, etc.)
- green potions (to get rid of some status changes)
- speed potions.
- concentration potions
- a halter lead (for fluffy alpaca action)
- a +7 alicel hat for hat switching (emp breaking, fighting)

His skill build doesn't differ from other battle bishops:
http://irowiki.org/~...BafkfdsrAakcHcY

6.) Getting started

Alright then, you decided for a specific build, have a stat and skill build in mind, gathered some good equipment beforehand and feel like being an inquisitor must be way more fun than being a missionary. what now?
first there's some things to consider:

- Play to job lvl 50 as acolyte and high acolyte. This is mandatory and there's basically no way around it unless you want to lose valueable skill points.

- Trans after lvl 99. dear god, please don't even think about turning bishop straight from acolyte unless you're a baby. You do want the trans skills aswell as the 20% more hp/sp, trust me.

- Consider spending some real money, in order to improve your leveling experience. I'd strongly suggest getting VIP and buying a bunch of gym passes (so you can carry more stuff), aswell as getting some Adrenaline Rush scrolls. Spending real money is not neccessary but it is recommended as it improves your gameplay aswell as supports the game you like.

- If you're a player from overseas get "leatrix latency fix" (google it, its a free patch) aswell as lowerping or wtfast. Personally I prefer lowerping (it's free if you don't mind reconnecting after 30min. if you do mind that, pay for it. lowerping is cheap and worth the money). Those two things will improve your game experience drastically.

Life as Acolyte/Priest:

Life as a battle acolyte/priest is pretty peachy. You're not much weaker than everyone else around you yet (which will change when you become battle bishop). Leveling to 99 as battle aco/priest is almost as fast as with melee classes like for example thieves or swordmen. Unlike those classes however, you will have hardly any need for potions, since you can heal yourself. Speaking of potions, let's look at the checklist for consumables you want to always bring along when leveling:

- blue gems
- concentration potions.
- healing potions (just in case)
- holy waters (for aspersio)
- celermine juice (optional. good to have, though, since they stack with concentration pots)
- adrenaline rush scrolls (optional)
- halter lead (optional. it's your alpaca mount for faster traveling)



Carrying those things with you help alot. Especially concentration potions. Never forget those.

Suggested starting equip as battle acolyte is pretty affordable. Really good to have would be a chick hat (or snake head, if you're rich) and a wind stunner. The chick hat improves your damage output quite a bit and the wind stunner really comes in handy when leveling in the VIP dungeon and/or at anolians. Other than those two things equip whatever you want, even eden equips are just fine. Don't panic if you can't afford either of those. You'll be fine with only eden equipment aswell, at least until Bishop.

As for stats, first get a bit of Dex. 20 should be fine (blessing lvl 10 gives another +10 dex). Then get lot's of Agi and a little strength. Basically your primary Stat - Agility has the highest priority, since you need flee and also attack speed. At lvl 99 you should have 90-99 agi. 40 dex and the rest can be put into Strength, and if you want some crit, also put some in luck.

Skills you should get first are Blessing and Increase Agi. After that build heal and then the rest like teleport and warp and so on. Teleport isn't needed early since we're provided novice fly- and butterfly wings.

Leveling:

This is just a suggestion. Feel free to find your own ways to level.

Level 01-11: Novice Ground
Level 11-20: Eden Board Quests. Hornets and Rockers.
Level 20-30: Either grinding Creamies in Geffen Field 05/07 or grind in Payon Cave level 1.
Level 30-35: Thara Frogs in Comodo Dungeon,
Level 35-75: VIP Overlook Dungeon. (If you're not VIP, follow Eden Board Quests)
Level 75-85: Eden Board Quests. Sphinx, Clock Tower or Glastheim.
Level 85-99: Grinding Dark Priests in Glast Heim Churchyard. Or if you own a Wind Stunner, starting at lvl 94 grind Anolians in Glast Heim Sewers.


Life as Bishop:

Now that you're all grown up, life starts getting alot harder. Just like in the real world! You'll still be fine up until about level 120-130 but from there on you'll start to feel really, really weak compared to other third classes. The trick is only to focus on yourself and not to compare yourself with people around you. Unless you're doing turn-ins with big parties, leveling will be quite slow, but on the other hand you won't have to pay for any potions, which saves you alot of money. The things you should bring for leveling are the same as before, but additionally you might now also want to have:

- elemental converters
- fistful of green potions. (to get rid of silence, mainly)
- SP restorative Items (once you get the skill, always prepare 3 anchillas, they're good enough for emergencies)
- a set of healing gear (mainly for supporting turn-in parties)
- a pope cookie (as talisman for good fortune)



Of course you can also bring buff-food, gums or exp manuals to speed things up a bit, but I'm sure you don't need to be told about that.

Leveling:

As for the leveling as bishop, I'm afraid I'm not so certain where to level to get the best and fastest results like I was with leveling from 1-99. So this is just a guideline rather than a recommendation.

Level 100-120: anolians are still fine, but starting at 100 you can now head to raydrics in glastheim chivalry. starting at 109 you can go to Cornus in the new world which give very good exp compared to anything in rune midgard.
Level 120-130: if you don't mind doing the entrance quest (which is fairly long) leveling in holy ground on isillas and vanberks is really easy and fun. otherwise stick with cornus.
Level 130-140: banshees and zombies in the cursed monastery are very nice around this level, also requires an entrance quest, though.
Level 140-150: Sacarabs in Scaraba Hall 1+2 are probably the best choice to solo level to lvl 150. Also if it's available try checking out the hall of abyss in britonia, the dark priests there are fairly easy, give a crapload of exp and have a chance to drop a black rosary which is worth a fortune.

My leveling suggestion for 100-150 is unfortunately not very detailed but it'll get you to 150. This was the part that kept me from finishing this guide, but I figured i'd just write down whatever I know and add additional info i get later. If you have any leveling suggestions or ideas from 100-150 please feel free to share them.

7.) Thanks for reading!

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for being interested in battle bishops in general! Spread the word and get your friends interested into this unique and fun class! I'm always looking for critique, suggestions and ideas. Share everything you have that's related to battle bishops: videos, screenshots, art, fan-fiction, and so on.

special thanks to:
mintypudding
mom + dad

Sources:
http://forums.irowik...hread.php?t=145
http://irowiki.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://db.irowiki.org/db/

Version 1.0 (02.22.2013)

Edited by Agahim, 03 May 2014 - 01:40 AM.

[Agahim]

Mace of Judgement Guide

The (Empowered) Mace of Judgement is one of the best maces, and for some of our Battle Bishop builds even the best mace in general. It is the only mace ingame that has high attack aswell as magic-attack together, which makes it an incredible useful weapon for autocast builds and/or any other build that also use autocast gear (CD in mouth, RoFL) which is likely to be worn by anyone as both those autocast equips are the best equipments for their specific slot (lower mouth, accessory) for all builds.
Additionally to impressively high attack and magic attack it also has some extra stats (str+int) and can be further enchanted.
The only flaw this mace has, is it's holy element. While holy element is really useful against dark creatures such as undeads, demons, and shadow property monsters, which luckily count to our arch-enemies and the majority of our foes, it makes the mace alot less useful if not useless against other enemies, and therfore is not a very good "all-purpose" weapon. Elemental converters, cursed waters, aswell as sage endow skills can overwrite the holy element of the mace for a certain amount of time, though. So in the end, with a little extra effort, the mace can still be used against pretty much any type of enemy that's foolish enough to stand in your way.

The mace of judgement comes in two versions:

Mace of Judgement - The basic version with 170atk and 140matk, +1 str/int, aswell as 2 slots.
Empowered Mace of Judgement [1] - Strengthened version of the mace with 170atk 180matk, +2 str/int, and 1 slot.

Both weapons also have a weapon-proc that does additional damage to undead monsters for a few seconds. +20% for the normal and +40% damage to undeads for the empowered mace.

Despite it's name and the description the normal mace DOES have 2 slots instead of none. It's just an ingame description error that GMs still didn't bother to fix after all these months.

So since the normal version of the mace has 2 slots, but still the same atk rating as the empowered version, it is prefered in some rare cases over the empowered version. However, in almost all cases the empowered mace is the better choice, especially since it's enchantments are superior.

The best example I can think of for taking the normal version over the empowered one, is in the case of an autocast Super-Novice. SuNos can equip the judgement maces when soul-linked. By putting in a sidewinder aswell as a mutant dragonoid card, they can get lvl 10 double attack and lvl 10 fire ball autocast, if they also choose the matching skills in their build. If the mace had only one slot they would be forced to wear a chick hat or snakehead, or alternatively give up the lvl 10 fireball autocast. They merely lose 40matk and 1 str/int, which is bearable.

Getting your mace:

The maces are traded for "Mora Coins" in Mora Village. To be able to access Mora Village and earn the coins you first need to do the "Wandering Guardian" quest. You should be level 100+ and get help from a friend to do it, as the monsters are all pretty tough for Bishops to handle alone at a low level. A detailed guide for that quest can be found in irowiki:
http://irowiki.org/w..._Guardian_Quest

Doing this quest enables you to access the village aswell as do the daily quests to earn mora coins:
http://irowiki.org/w...ra_Daily_Quests

there is also a fistfull of quests that can only be done once to earn you coins, guides for these can also be found on Irowiki.

Once you managed to gather 10 coins go to the "Keeper of Secrets" in Mora (88,89) and tell him to trade your coins for a weapon. He'll randomly give you either a mace of judgement or a wand of affection. Usually he'll give you the thing you don't want just to spite you (cats are evil). Don't be angry, though. You can trade unwanted equipment for 2 mora coins at the "Artifact Panhandler" (119,75). But don't do that. 90% of the Bishops want the Wand, and are more than happy to trade two of their maces for your wand. So in the end, you might even be better off getting a wand.

To get the empowered judgement mace, you need to trade in a normal mace of judgement that meets certain requirements at the Artifact Collector (124,82). The judgement mace needs to be +7 and have either of these enchants:

+3% attack
+4 dex
+5 str

+3% attack and +5 Str can be gained with a single enchant. +4 Dex would be a combination of two times a +2dex enchant. combining also works with Str. A mace with a +2str and a +3str enchant meets the requirements.
Unlike the wand of affection, it is fairly easy to get the proper enchants as the "+3% attack" enchant is somewhat common.

One thing to keep in mind is that the empowered Mace requires a base level of 130 to use. So don't get one too early.

Enchanting your Mace

Most likely you'll only be enchanting your judgement mace to get the requirements to trade it in for an empowered judgement mace. To enchant your Mace go to the "Master of Relics" (96, 74) in Mora. An attempt costs two Mora Coins and you always get two random enchants and unfortunately it has a pretty high chance to break the weapon of about 20-30%. So you'll probably need quite a few maces to get your desired result. Let's have a look at the possible enchants:

DEX +1, +2
ATK +3%
STR +1, +2, +3, +4, +5
VIT +1, +2

Should you want to use the normal judgement mace for whatever reasons (Super Novice) the best case would be either +6% atk, +10 str or a combination of +3% Str and +5str. Other than that just refer to the "getting your mace" section for the requirements you need to turn it in for an empowered version.

The enchantments for the empowered judgement mace are a complete different case. They're much more useful than the enchants for the normal mace. An atempt costs one Mora Coin and 100k zeny. To enchant the empowered mace you need to go to the NPC that normally enchants the equipment for the Rangers and Guillotine Cross - the "Artifact Researcher" (148,98) and ask her to enchant your weapon. Unlike the normal mace, you can now get up to three instead of just two enchants. The first enchant will always work and has no chance of failure or breaking the weapon. The second enchant might fail and reset all enchants on the mace but won't break it, the third enchant might fail and break your weapon, so be careful with that. The chance for breaking the weapon on the third enchant also appears pretty high, my guess would be about 30%. Possible enchants (to my current knowledge) are:

STR +1, +2, +3, +5
Atk +1%, +2%, +3%
Fighting Spirit1 (Attack +6, Hit+ 2)
Fighting Spirit2 (Attack +9, Hit+ 3)
Fighting Spirit3 (Attack +12, Hit+ 4)
Fighting Spirit4 (Attack +15, Hit+ 5)

additionally when the mace is at least +9 you can choose between "attack type" and "magic type" enchants. This isn't relevant to us, though as the attack type enchnats (apparently) stay exactly the same and the magic type enchants aren't interesting for us and are more meant for holy caster Bishops.

The fighting spirit enchants are really nice and are usually prefered over str or percentual attack. Best case would obviously be three times fighting spirit4.

Edited by Agahim, 02 March 2013 - 07:27 PM.

[Agahim]

reserved

Edited by Agahim, 30 October 2012 - 09:57 AM.

[mintypudding]

Yay, a Battle Bishop thread! We really needed this.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm absolutely worthless in WoE... I can't kill anyone - even those like 20 levels lower than I am - and the new WoE sets just made it even harder than it already was. The only thing I can brag about is really fast emp breaking.

Edited by mintypudding, 30 October 2012 - 11:59 AM.

[Agahim]

yes emp breaking and buffing is pretty much all we're good for in WoE.
As i mentioned we're not completely useless but that's about as good as it gets. our strongpoint is PvM but even there we can't compete with other third classes. i's a fun-class, not much more.

i'd like to include your video later, if that's okay with you?

Edited by Agahim, 30 October 2012 - 10:45 AM.

[mintypudding]

Aww yee, totes gonna be famous. Yeah, that's definitely fine! It would be nice to have videos of all the different builds, but I can't find any recent decent (lol hurr) battle priest videos on Youtube.

[Lynex]

I'd suggest those who have no problem with P2W, buy Adrenaline Rush scrolls for when you're out grinding. No point in waiting for the Musketeer Hat to proc when your flee gets high enough.

[mintypudding]

Oh yeah, that's actually a really important thing to consider. I always use AR scrolls. At only 2 cents per use, you can't go wrong with them. I think AR is the only way to achieve 193 ASPD, also.

[GuardianTK]

You know there's a new Vellum Mace that BP's could use to be very annoying during WoE. I think it disabled the use of items or something?


Also need some examples of Stats other than what the main invested ones layed out on the guide.


Other than that, thanks for making this guide!

Edited by GuardianTK, 30 October 2012 - 12:56 PM.

[mintypudding]

Was that the Vellum Flail?

• When dealing melee damage, chance to disable all healing effects on the target for a short duration
• HIT and CRIT increase according to upgrade level.

That's pretty neat. Does that mean, like, the opponent can't even pot? Too bad the damage would be kind of low with that weapon.


The Vellum Stunner seems interesting as well:

• Reduces target's DEF and MDEF to 1 for 5 seconds after each physical melee hit.
• ASPD increases according to upgrade level.

You could hit someone once with this then switch to your main weapon and whack away.

[Agahim]

yeah, patience. i'm still not nearly done. thanks for the suggestions so far.

i'm not entirely sure but i think the vellum flail only debuffs people with "critical wound". i'll mention the new bellum weapons but an overupgraded glorious morning star is (thanks to slaughter) still pretty much the best pvp mace.

Edited by Agahim, 30 October 2012 - 01:30 PM.

[Vonita]

I have question here (noob me ) is this build only for WOE? or this can be good for PvM? or auto-cast build better?

[mintypudding]

Battle ABs are terrible for WoE. They'll never compare to legitimate PvP/WoE builds, because they are primarily oriented towards PvM combat. However, as ctrl-clickers, they have the potential to be just slightly worse than Rangers and AGI RKs, in terms of DPS.

[ODarksoulX]

Even as a Monk, you gotta love AR. Nice guide btw.

[Exvee]

Yey for a nice battle AB guide.

I personally not call them "expensive build" at least until you become AB. Battle Priest also a cheap build if you're Eden quest spammer (lol?), Eden Mace really nice to have before you got better equipments. I even still wear Eden Mace before I getting Mace of Judgement and empowered one.. And not everyone thinks same as me, but Demon Bane and Eucharistica just suck. You're not grinding much on demon/undead monsters anyways. I even never bother GH or any ME-able places. You better make ME type for that...

Edited by Exvee, 31 October 2012 - 12:54 AM.

[Lynex]

I could see both of those skills being very useful in places like Nameless Island or Geffinia.

[mintypudding]

Yeah, I tried to pick leveling spots with Demon and/or Undead monsters, but it isn't mandatory to do so. Still, if you have the skill points, Eucharistica could work wonders. It's too bad the AB skill tree flows really illogically.

[mintypudding]

In the accessories section, I would add the Medal of Honor.

• HP + 600.
• DEF + 1, MDEF + 6.
• Increases physical and magic damage by 5%.
• Adds a 1% chance of inflicting [Silence] on the target when doing a melee attack.

• Set bonus with Glorious Ring
  
• Increases physical damage by 5%.
• Increases magic by 3%.
• Increases the recovery power of the user's healing skills by 5%.

Edit: Also, I just wanted to say that your guide is coming along very nicely! All the information presented is accurate and totally legit. Thanks for making something that the rest of us were too lazy/dumb to do, haha.

Edited by mintypudding, 31 October 2012 - 01:30 PM.

[Agahim]

thanks for the compliments.

i'm aware of the medal of honor but i wouldn't actually recommend it to anyone. the glorious ring is alot better as a single piece and you need a hiding accessory for pvp aswell. i also feel ripped off because our medal bonus is 6mdef, where other classes get such things as +10 crit or +10% atkspd.

the only reason i can see why anyone would wear the medal is when they feel quick enough for accessory switching or for some very odd reason own a medal but not a glorious ring.

i can include it though, but now it's WoE time for me.

Edited by Agahim, 31 October 2012 - 01:53 PM.

[mintypudding]

Haha yeah, the reason I was thinking of the MoH was because I used to use it as a set with the Glorious Ring. I think I actually did get the MoH because there was a Groove Pack with BG badges a long time ago and I had a ton of them lying in storage.

[Vonita]

Can't wait to see the auto-cast build, atm im really confuse which build should I make for hunting monster.

Can't choose between auto-cast and battle type.

And by the way this should be pinned too awesome trend
great work man

[natsume1990]

I love you!! I have been making a battle priest (turned her to bishop yesterday) and was looking at pre-renewal guides hehe..but most equip is so expensive Q_Q; I love my carga mace though Although I got both a carga mace and an upgraded MoJ (still level 102 :<)

[Lynex]

I've got three open slots on my Female account. I think I'm going to build one. My friend plays one and it looks like a blast. I've at least got the Armors and a CD-in-Mouth.

[Exvee]

I just lazy to make new video at this moment so at least I can share replay for autocast (although only from CD, but it's OP I think)

http://mc.tt/c7o7xAlWfT

192 aspd damn, I wish I have 120 base agi lol...

agi 100+49

+7 drooping alicel
Pegasus Ear Wing
CD in mouth
+4 Hurricane Empowered Mace of Judgement
+9 HBP
Feral boots with crit+5 enchant
Golden Bell with crit+5
Light of dicastes with crit+5

Edited by Exvee, 01 November 2012 - 03:24 PM.

[Agahim]

I just lazy to make new video at this moment so at least I can share replay for autocast (although only from CD, but it's OP I think)

http://mc.tt/c7o7xAlWfT

thanks for sharing. should you ever get around to record a video i'm sure i can include it in the guide.
the cat-hand shoes are actually a pretty attractive thing to look at for crit builds who still need some extra crit. the only problem is it would probably take alot of attempts to enchant it right. best case scenario being +4 agi and +7 crit. i think i'll include that into the item suggestions.