This is a work in progress. Any comments are appreciated, but be gentle. I'm far from done
. If you actually find this useful, any thanks are appreciated too of course.
Most Recent Update: March 27, 2007 12:33 AM
Changelog:
3/27/07 - Pvp and Equipment section removed for being a bit too personal. Also, have reformatted some more of the guide. I am going to remove the color formatting and replace it with less lazy organization eventually.
A Lancer is a Knight or Lord knight that specializes in purely spear attacks and has mastered them all. They shun the way of the sword and deftly handle their spears with ease to target their enemy's weak points and devastate with ferocious power.
Generally speaking, the pros and cons are:
Cons-
1. Very slow attack speed, (
ASPD).
2. Lackluster frenzy performance.
3. No support for parry *Aura Blade does work after all*. (2h sword)[Thanks to Cream for testing]
4. Difficult to level without a party when starting out. (If you don't like to respec)
5.
SP dependant. If you run out of
SP, (for whatever reason) you dead. [Thanks to Alex for mentioning this.]
Pros-
1. Like
HPs? You wont be disappointed.
2. Varied skills allow Lancers great flexibility in battle. (both player v player, (
PVP) and player v monster,(
PVM))
3. Amazing at soloing at higher levels. (where it actually counts)
4. Spears are more powerful than swords. (duh)
Instead of providing you with different builds, or my build, I'll tell you what each of the stats do for you so that you can customize your stats for yourself.??Go with your instincts and not others. Just because so and so is a powerful lord knight doesn't mean copying them will make you just as good. My motto is if you don't think you are hitting quite hard enough to your standards, add into
Str. If you are missing a little too much to your liking, add
Dex, etc. With this sage advice, let's get started.
These are the stats/skills you'll be working with as you turn Knight.
Str:
Strength is what makes you do greater damage and increases your carrying capacity. You get a bonus at x0 points into it, (10, 20, 30, so on). You should be looking for 100+ Str for really amazing damage, however Lancers rely on their skills for damage so you may manage with somewhat low strength.
Agi:
As a lancer you will not be using Agi. Your 9 points are better spent in Luk, as it would give you about an extra 1% of perfect dodge which equals out to 1% damage being deflected.
Vit:
This is what makes you a lancer and not a agi knight. You'll be raising this stat before it's all over with. 99 is high, below 80 is low.
Int:
This is extremely important in relatively small doses. You're crazy if you go as high as 4x with this, but you could if you really like to spam skills a lot. I recommend 24 as a good low point. You get an SP boost every 6 points on this stat, so make those points count! [Thanks to Alexander for this info.]
Dex:
Knights have pretty horrid Hit, sadly. 50 is the typical number to raise Dex to, but 60-80 isn't unheard of. That's only if you REALLY hate missing though. I believe you hit enough with 50, especially with stun bash.(stunned things/people cant dodge)
Luk:
It's this or Agi. The 9 points are better spent in Luk. I'm kinda paranoid to lose the minuscule ASPD though, so I kept Agi at 9. Any bit of speed I can get for Counter is appreciated. You may want to ignore me and go the Luk route though.
Skills-
Increase HP Recovery:
Get this skill first! It not only allows you to recover Hp while standing and sitting but it helps increase the Hp recovered from healing items. You will wonder how anyone does without it.
Bash:
This is a great skill, though expensive. If you want the stun get it to 10.
Magnum Break:
This skill is a good AOE skill for taking people out of cloak and chase walk but you'll never need this greater than level 1.
Provoke:
Great skill overall. Most useful at level 10. You'll appreciate it later.
Endure:
Love it or hate it, you'll need it at some point. I prefer level 10 but if you can live with lower you can place your skill points elsewhere.
1h Mastery:
As a swordsman this skill is your bread and butter. Without it you will fail to perform any damage at all. Max this after Increase HP Recovery.
2h Mastery:
This is useless to a Lancer, but you need 1 if you ever plan on getting counter which is a super-useful skill. You'll like it even at low ASPD, but it's basically a high-ASPD oriented skill.
Quest Skills -
HP Recover while Walking:
It's worth getting.
Fatal Blow:
It's worth getting if you have level 10 bash, (Adds stun effect to bash).
Berserk:
It's worth getting if you like PVP, (Same effect as casting level 10 provoke on yourself when Hp is in the red).
Swordsman overview:
Swordsman is one of the best starting classes for beginners because they are sturdy enough to take a lot of damage without needing a huge amount of potions. This means you can save money for what really matters. This is a good thing when you are new and short on cash. With that in mind, you should be focused on getting enough money to equip yourself with the best NPC equipment money can buy, (without begging other players).
Before we get started, there are some items to look out for.
Peco Peco egg Card : Kill peco peco eggs whenever you pass them and make a mental note to occasionally go out and kill them. You will want at least 3 by the time you are level 90.
Penomena Card : If at any point in your adventure you see one of these for sale grab it up at all costs! It is tremendously useful, though not absolutely necessary if you just cant find it.
Pike[4] : You can never have enough of these. Monsters as easy as Wormtail and caramel drop them. You will need at least 1 at +10 by level 90, (easier said than done).
Level: xx to 4x
First thing you should do is traverse down into the
Prontera Culverts.
If you head up to the building in the northwestern corner of
Prontera, you'll find a man behind the desk that will grant you access to the culverts along with some items to help you on your way.
When inside the
Culverts, stay in the first level and start hacking away at stray
Thief Bugs and
Familiars and work your way up to
Tarous. Warning:
Do not attack Thief Bugs in groups yet as they will mob you. FYI,
Thief Bugs up your skirt/pants are
not pleasant.
The first skill you are going to want to build up regardless of the build you choose is
Increase HP Recovery. Max it right away. Once you have it maxed, you'll be pretty well good to go. As you raise your stats keep in mind that you don't need
Dex to hit very low level monsters, so you can realistically keep it at 1-9 the entire length that you are down here. If you really must, take it no higher than 20 for now. You are much better off putting these points into
Str or
Vit, (Your remaining 2 choices).
As you get stronger, spelunk, (I
<3 that word) deeper into the
Culverts until you reach the third level. After that you're in
Cramp/
Drainliar/
Golden Thief Bug territory, (where you don't want to be). You can be the judge of what you can handle.
Keep in mind that worm peelings can be traded in for
Red Potions which will be invaluable against the
Male Thief Bugs on the third level, (they can be quite mobby).
Male Thief Bugs could take you to level 40+ but when your patience there runs out it is time to switch dungeons. If you really hate the
Culverts then the
Payon Caves work just as well, however there are no drops that can be turned into a lot of useful
Red Pots.
At this level range you should concentrate on getting equipment that isn't normally available to you first, (
Ribbons,
Hoods,
Sandals and
Jackets are readily available and cheap)
Shield,
Manteau,
boot,
Helm, then
Full Plate finally, in that order. You will likely be able to afford the shield by the time you are level 4x. If you can get any of the rest they will be helpful. You wont have any
Elunium, but if you get any, don't waste it on upgrading any of these items.
As for weapons you should get your hands on the best 1h sword you can afford. Whatever you do, don't use spears. Until you have
Spear Mastery (knight skill) spears are worthless, (Unless you are using their range to pick off stationary targets). Upgrading, (weapons) when possible is your friend.
4x - 7x
This is the range where Exp will start dropping dramatically and the strength of your enemies will start raising. The problem here is that you don't have much of any
Str (anywhere from 20 to 40ish) and have no
Agi to speak of. Because of this and the fact that the only AOE skill you have is useless due to it's huge sp requirement, you will be having a hell of a time leveling without a party.
To be an attractive tank you'll need at least 50+
Vit. Hopefully you got a few
Tarou Cards while in the culverts to suppliment your generally low strength.
If you can find a nice enough smith, get them to make you a fire property
Lance and you can go fight
Geographers. They are 3 maps south of
Yuno and have some of the best Exp you can get at that low a level. The trick is to stand 4 squares away from them and then do normal attacks. You'll out range them. This technique requires high dex though since
Geographers are relatively high level. Make sure you have 30+ dex or you're in for a long long fight.
Another good route to go would be
Orc Dungeon. The money is amazing here at your level and
Orc Zombies are much weaker than
Skeleton Soldiers in
Payon Dungeon, (Your alternative to
Orc Dungeon). It is hellishly mobby in either cave so bring a friend or two and let the Exp fly/crawl.
If you have the patience, another good option is to kill
Leaf Cats. I wont detail how to get
Holy Thread here, but suffice to say you need
Holy thread to get to the
Leaf Cats.
Another good leveling spot at this level are Green Iguanas, near abyss lake (Near Hugel). You'll need a tank here though, and I mean a real tank. A high level one that is willing to take time out of their day to help a new player get to the point where they can hold their own. Elder willows are also acceptable xp and arent terribly difficult to beat. They will become too slow before too long though, and they are somewhat spread out. Elder willows are found a map south of Payon forest, (shaped like a willow) which is in turn located southeast of Payon.
However you level, getting to job level 50 is your goal here. You'll have many moments of impatience, but with some persistance and dedication and time you'll get there. While you're at it though, finish off your armor collection and get the strongest weapon you can find. This will make your life easier wherever you go. Do not even think about upgrading your armor though, elu is hard to come by and you'll want to use it on slotted equipment only. You should at this point work on Endure a bit and Provoke alot. Endure is especially useful if you plan on going somewhere mobby. In fact, dont leave home without it. Other than that, finish off your skills as you like. Your stats will depend on where you wanted to level to 50 at this point, so I wont even go there. Dont even think about getting less than 50. I dont care how lazy you are. I dont care how much you dont need lvl 10 Provoke. Just. Get. Level. 50.
Knighthood:
Finally, your true path has started, as you are about to enter knighthood. You probably though you'd never get there for a while, but you are here, and things are looking up. Sort of. First you need to pass the test. Normally this test is a cake walk, but for future lancers like us, it is hell. You probably can figure out where the test will take place, if you've been paying any attention to your surroundings since you started playing. The only difficult part is the monster gauntlet where the NPC will start spawning wave after wave of monsters, (Of steadily increasing difficulty). Without the help of sp pots and with your slow aspd and low str this test is nearly impossible depending on the build you chose. I have a very low opinion of this test because I chose the vit route and had 20 str max. I was helpless without a dmg dealer, as I was built to be a mini-tank. Eventually someone felt sorry for me and gave me some equipment and a preist buffed me and I recieved quite a few blue/white pots to heal myself with. If I were to start over again, I'd say complete the fishing quest before turning knight and prepare yourself with at least 50 salmon. If you can't find anyone to help you with the fishing quest, try to find someone willing to spare pots, or look around for blue plants and cut away at them until you have a good 30+ of them. You'll get a few grapes from them as well when you are done. You can then use any red pots you have left if you just cant kill the monsters fast enough without dying. Healing yourself is the key to victory, so be prepared and you'll be a knight before you know it.
Knight overview:
Now that you are a knight it is time to walk the path you have chosen for yourself. What makes lancers great in comparison to other builds is that they are so versitile. When properly equipped they can react to nearly any situation, pvm or pvp. If you like pvp, you'll also know that having more hps than your opponent is winning half the battle. To give you a 1 vs 1 idea of lancer vs agi knight, Lancers are skill based and agi knights are stat based. This means that Lancers rely on carefully placed skills to out damage or incapacitate their opponents while agi knights use their high agi and str stats to whack away at their opponents, (aka spam bash). While agi knights can be devistating, they have many weaknesses and will have trouble against several classes. Lancers on the other hand can take down essentially any first class character since they arent limited to one skill. Lancers also have the upper hand in leveling, despite popular belief. Many people believe that Agi Knights are superior at leveling because they see only the ability to kill a single enemy quickly without taking damage. What they dont realize is that Lancers have access to one of the most devistating melee AoE attacks, Brandish spear. With brandish spear you'll be able to take down 7 enemies in the same time it takes an Agi knight to kill 1-2 because you can kill multiple enemies at once. This is the key to leveling at high levels. While Agi Build characters will be complaining of how slow and boring it is killing seals or soils, (because thats all they can kill) You will be flying through and getting a ton of money in the process. This also gives you greater freedom to take breaks, allowing you less leveling related stress. Leveling and Pvp is where the Lancer truly shines and when you think of it, that is what Ragnarok is all about, so there really isnt anything bad about being one unless you just dont like vit knights.
Skills-
Counter attack:
I can't really explain how awesome this skill can be. See for yourself, you'll probably find a use for it at some point. You'll have the skill points for it eventually, even if it's the last thing you get.
2h quicken:
Did you forget that Spears arent 2h swords? Skip it.
Bowling Bash:
I have heard that bowling bash can actually be used with a spear, but why on earth would you want to? Brandish spear is superior in every way. Just trust me on this one.
Peco Peco Ride:
Well, I dont really like pecos that much either but Lancers rely on them for spear damage. You need this. You'll get used to the big bird quickly. Give him/her a name. That always helps. I should probably also mention you must be riding a Peco Peco to use Brandish Spear.[Thanks Cucu xD]
Cavalier Mastery:
If you ride a peco, master this. Nuff said.
Spear Mastery:
The first thing you should do when you turn knight is master this since you will likely be using a spear the second you change into one.
Peirce:
This is the staple of the Lancer diet. Max this after you have your peco skills maxed.
Spear Stab:
Get this as soon as possible since it is needed for brandish, (your goal). It takes priority over spear boomerang, unfortunately, but you wont regret it. Spear stab itself is useless as a damage dealing skill and more points dont change the effect any so just get it as high as nessisary to get brandish spear.
Brandish Spear:
It takes a lot of skills to get to this point but it is so worth the wait. Come on, you know you want to click the skill points button. Click it no less than ten times. I probably didn't need to tell you that though.
Spear Boomerang:
This skill adds that last bit of versitility that Knights need. It does some great damage and the range is very nice.??
Quest Skill-
Charge Attack:
It's worth getting if you like to pvp but not really usefull in many situations. It can still be nice at times.
lvl 7x-8x
You'll probably be leveling in orc dungeon for the easy job levels at this point, but now that you are about to have access to skills like spear mastery you are better equipped for killing the stationary monsters, Geographer and Flora, (If you weren't doing that already). It'll start out faster than before, but still rather slowly, but when you finally get your hands on Brandish Spear it's time to say hello to alot of xp and alot of money. I'm gonna fast forward to Brandish spear levels, (Job lvl 4x). If you havn't done the fishing quest yet, do so now. You are now a fisherman. Like it or hate it, you need it and you need alot of it. Trust me, it beats the heck out of killing plants in the yggdrasil tree all day. It will take a little starting money, but your training sessions will double whatever you put into fish. Why? Well, it's because you're about to train in Nifleheim solo, that's why. I'm crazy? Pft, scardy cat. Yes, I know it's a forboding thought right now, but I'm sure you've noticed that you are nearing 10k hps already, which is very nice. It will also suffice, provided you are prepared. First step, fish. Alot. 200k worth of fish. Sound like alot of money? Keep in mind that if you spend 200k you will get back 100k+ just by selling the non-fish items you get from fishing. Not to mention the fact that if you make a merchant for fishing, he/she can OC those same drops and get you 150k+ back from those same items. It's time to go to niff. Since this part is so difficult, I'll tell you how to do it. First off, since you are a knight, you have the edge over other classes as far as getting there goes. take at least 50 flywings with you and head to Umbala dungeon. If you have the warp you'll instantly be far inside, which is nice. flywing around until you get to the center warp, and make sure endure is up, you should be able to run inside without an issue. On the second level repeat this step, though this time the warp is a bit more tricky to get to. Endure should make it pretty easy though. The Yggdrasil tree is essentially one long root with many roots branching off of it. If you stick to the central root you'll never get lost, and you'll eventually make it into Niflehiem. How do you know when you're there? Oh you'll know. Getting through Niflehiel field 01 is difficult, but a few well placed flywings should put you near enough to the exit that you shouldnt be hurting much. Nif 02 however is the tricky part. You need to get close to the exit and then endure and run for your life, while trying to dodge the 20 odd ludes blocking the door while hoping to god there isnt a loli ruri waiting to slash your head off. On the bright side, most of the monsters in niff cant damage you if you keep walking. It must be a glitch of some kind, but make good use of it and keep those running shoes on. I hope you brought enough money to unlock the warper cause you're here. If you were silly and didn't bring any cash, there is a kafra to get fish from and you can easily get the cash from several dulahan drops. Anywho. Now that you have your Niflhiem warp, it's time for the last ingrediant. You should really have a Fire lance by now. There isn't any excuse not to. Many smiths will make you a weapon for free wether you have the items or not, but as a common curtousy you should have everything nessisary to make the weapon. If you have been killing undead or Geos up till now you probably have one anyway. Load your pockets up with all the fish you can carry, at least 50 flywings and a b-wing to bring you home. You're headed to nif 01. Nif 01 is the field with disguise, or rather the one you saw first after the ygg tree. When you get there, round up small mobs and take them out at first. You'll quickly learn your limits. Make sure your fish are in a easy to reach quickslot cause you'll be mashing it as furiously as you are the brandish spear button, often simultaneously. As you level, you'll be able to take more and more. When you run out of fish b-wing, put your drops in the bank, take out more fish and head back out. Repeat until tired and OC or just plain sell your drops. (You're just plain lazy if you havn't made a OC merch yet). Fish to replenish your supplies and keep your fingers crossed for an OCA. You could easily follow this pattern all the way to lvl 99, but you wont have to provided you did as I said earlier and have been working on those peco peco egg cards.
lvl 8x-99
Perhaps you are thinking, "Why would I want to leave a spot as perfect as niflehiem??". The answer is Elu. Alot of it. This is the moment you've been working up towards since you stepped foot in orc dungeon and tested out Brandish Spear. You have very likely amassed quite a few pikes right? Well put them to good use. Throw yourself together a +10 pike[4], (easier said than done). If you have the peco peco egg cards for it, put em on the pike. 3 will do but 4 is just magical. Also if you have a penomena card, put it on a +5-+7 buckler and equip it. You are now a formless killing machine. It's time you dove into the depths of cold metal hell: Juperos. This Devistated ruined city is absolutely
crawling with robots just waiting to zap the tar out of you. If you dont believe me, go in and see how long you last without fish. I think my point is well recieved. You will need well nigh 1 mil zeny in fish, so prepare for a long as hell fishing trip every once in a while. After that essentially this is the same deal as Nif. Try to limit the amount of robots you have to kill in one mob and pick off individual robots you come across with counter to save your healing items for later. This process will be somewhat slow, but you'll be killing 70-100 robots per trip hopefully. You'll quickly find that despite the desc you get from @mi Venatu, they indeed do drop items. You will probably make in the neighborhood of 1 mil in drop items per 1 mil you spend in fish, which isnt as good as nif. But you'll also quickly find that you are getting 1 elu per 20 monsters approximately. If you havn't been keeping up with your upgrading, I'll sum this up for you. Elu is worth 40-50k each. kill 100 robots, poof you have 5 elu give or take. thats already 200k right there! You could easily make 100 elu in one day's worth of training. Yes, you are a multimillionaire, and you have essentially unlimited elu to work with when you decide to start upgrading your equip, (which should have been a long time ago, you lazy person). This is a VERY advanced training ground and you will die alot at first. I HIGHLY reccomend taking a pet with you just because your health will be dropping so fast, you'll probably forget to look and die quite a few times. Pets signal you when you are in the red so it will decrease the amount of idiot deaths you incur. I chose a Peco Peco for the extra speed boost every 10 seconds. The leveling is not nessisarily faster than Nif. Actually, it's so hard, that you may actually get xp SLOWER. I guarantee you though that you wont have another opportunity to level here again until you are a high level lord knight, so I suggest you start young, even if it isn't quite as fast. You just can't argue with the elu.
However you got there, you are now, lvl 99, I presume. It was a long path to take, until you got into the swing of things, but you're here, and likely well ahead of your freinds. Also probably a heck of alot richer, unless you are particularly generous. Well, time to transcend!
NOT
Ok fine, you don't
have to listen to me, but if you do you will recieve the benifits of not being lazy. Think about it. You have a lvl 99/50 character with a nice shiney aura around him/her. Do you
really want to throw that away so quickly? Think about it. When do you think the next time you are going to be THIS strong will be? Trans characters need about 2x more xp than non trans to get to lvl 99 again. This is the perfect opportunity to perfect your equipment. If you do it now, it'll make your life as a young High swordsman to young lord knight that much easier and you'll be much better equipped to fly to lvl 99 again. Ok maybe not "fly" but perhaps hover faster than most people do.
When you trans, you'll be weak again, but you'll still be able to use alot of the equipment you have now. If you've made it this far, the armor you have will probably do just fine. Beforehand though, get a +7 Immune Manteau. This is one of the most sought after items there are, and will give you +20% more defence against all monsters and some players. Some say you aren't a tank without one.
When you trans you'll get to a point where you are going to need new weapons. Due to the specificity of LK Spear skills, you'll need a wide range of weapons to be successful. For exampe, Spiral pierce has nothing to do with the att of your spear. It's dmg is based off of upgrades, card bonuses, the weight of the spear and the sise of the monster you are attacking. The weight of the weapon is what determines the strength of Spiral pierce mainly, but the sise of the monster is what will determine wether you use it or not.??Believe it or not, there are several times where peirce can outdamage spiral peirce, even at a lower level than 10. This all means you will need several weapons to make the most out of both spiral pierce and pierce so that you are as diversified as possible.
For spiral pierce you'll want one of each elemental spear to start with. Very very strong if possible, (2 star crumbs). This is what you'll use in areas that have a large amount of enemies of 1 element. For everything else you'll need Halberds. These are pretty much highly inferior versions of Pole axe. They are ligher but have 2 slots to put cards in. This means you'll want at least 2 at +5. Going higher isn't nessisary since upgrades dont really increase the damage of spiral pierce that much and that's all you're going to be using these spears for since they take away your ability to use a shield. Of course, 100 dmg can sometimes annoyingly make the difference between killing something in 2 attacks and having to waste another second for the final hit, so obviously the more upgrades the better. One of these will likely hold 2 hydra cards since demihuman are one of the monsters you'll find most often. The other will hold 2 santa poring cards because dark/shadow monsters can be very annoying to kill since no one element is nessisarily strong against them since holy is almost always out of the question.
Trust me, if you trans and get spiral pierce you'll be very dissapointed to realize that you are missing weapons that will keep it from being worthless.
That wasn't so bad was it? A few days item farming can get you all you need to have 4 lances made and one vvs neutral property lance will work too if you cant get your hands on a 2 slotted halberd right away. The only real hard part is the raydric card, but patience and friends will pull you through. Everyone has to farm at least 1 low drop rate item eventually.