Optimal SP builds for every class

bold text - skill will be left at this value forever
(#) - total SP in this skill

this guide is not set in stone, and anyone can propose micro-adjustments as long as the reasoning makes sense for a player who is approaching the game normally

most notable is booster duration, which is usually raised to 6 for 1 minute duration and maxed later. this 1 minute duration is completely arbitrary and you can add more SP if you wish

BEGINNER
3 nimble feet (3)
3 three snails (3)

it's recommended to use same keybind for nimble feet that you'll use for monster riding later

non-mages can do 2 three snails 1 recovery, if you value the utility of recovery cooldown in quick slots as a 10 minute timer

mages can also max at 2 three snails since it's easier to get blue snail shells than red snail shells if you only deal 1 damage per hit
...or you could ask an islander for red snail shells

maple island protip: cornering a monster and crouch-attacking is higher DPS against red snails, slimes, pigs, and orange mushrooms because you can't hit them for more than 1 damage with 4 dex/str anyway. fruit knife is too fast and doesn't work

MAGICIAN
1 energy bolt (1)
5 improving MP recovery (5)
10 improved max MP increase (10)
20 magic claw (20)
11 improving MP recovery (16)
20 magic guard (20)

if using orbis etc or questing to lv13 (or using three snails, god forbid), max improved max MP increase before adding energy bolt

WIZARD (I/L)
1 teleport (1)
1 cold beam (1)
30 thunderbolt (30)
19 teleport (20)
29 cold beam (30)
20 MP eater (20)
20 meditation (20)
1 slow (1)

cold beam gets 1 point early so you can 1v1 jr boogies without getting sealed

MAGE (I/L)
30 ice strike (30)
3 element amplification (3)
1 seal (1)
11 spell booster (11)
27 element amplification (30)
9 spell booster (20)
19 seal (20)
30 element composition (30)
20 partial resistance (20)
1 thunder spear (1)

element composition has better DPS and utility than thunder spear; even vs lightning weakness it's still roughly a tie. however, thunder spear is still worth 1 SP so you can show people how comically slow it is

seal is not as essential for I/L as it is for F/P because there is no point in sealing an enemy that you can freeze. however, it works on ice-resistant enemies, and you can seal enemies while hanging on a rope (which also shortens skill delay, making the low success rate less painful) so 1 value point is added for this reason

ARCH MAGE (I/L)
1 blizzard (1)
1 chain lightning (1)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
29 blizzard (30)
29 chain lightning (30)
5 ice demon (5)
30 ifrit (30)
30 infinity (30)
1 hero's will (1)
25 ice demon (30)
30 big bang (30)
4 hero's will (5)
30 mana reflection (30)
1 maple warrior (10/20)
dump slow

arch mages don't need hw10 and arguably don't even need hw1, they're not getting invited either way

WIZARD (F/P)
1 teleport (1)
30 fire arrow (30)
30 poison breath (30)
19 teleport (20)
20 MP eater (20)
20 meditation (20)
1 slow (1)

MAGE (F/P)
30 poison mist (30)
3 elemental amplification (3)
11 spell booster (11)
20 seal (20)
30 explosion (30)
27 elemental amplification (30)
9 spell booster (20)
20 partial resistance (20)
1 elemental composition (1)

elemental composition is a dump skill and you could add that 1 SP to slow instead, if you think slow will be buffed someday. or to magic armor if you think the skill animation looks funnier

ARCH MAGE (F/P)
1 paralyze (1)
1 meteor shower (1)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
29 meteor shower (30)
29 paralyze (30)
5 fire demon (5)
30 elquines (30)
30 infinity (30)
1 hero's will (1)
25 fire demon (30)
30 big bang (30)
4 hero's will (5)
30 mana reflection (30)
1 maple warrior (10/20)
dump slow

arch mages don't need hw10 and arguably don't even need hw1, they're not getting invited either way

CLERIC
1 teleport (1)
30 heal (30)
19 teleport (20)
20 MP eater (20)
20 invincible (20)
20 bless (20)
11 holy arrow (11)

PRIEST
1 shining ray (1)
3 dispel (3)
30 holy symbol (30)
4 mystic door (4)
29 shining ray (30)
30 doom (30)
16 mystic door (20)
17 dispel (20)
6 elemental resistance (6)
15 summon dragon (15)

lv4 mystic door lasts 60 sec, add more initial SP if you need more time to NPC equips

if you don't care about fighting non-undead monsters, delay lv1 shining ray until after holy symbol

doom is maxed over elemental resistance because doom is required to fight holy resistant/immune enemies, and max elemental resistance isn't needed to survive oneshots

BISHOP
1 genesis (1)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
1 resurrection
29 genesis (30)
30 bahamut (30)
30 holy shield (30)
5/10 hero's will (5/10)
9 resurrection (10)
30 infinity (30)
14 elemental resistance (20)
30 angel ray (30)
30 big bang (30)
1 maple warrior (10/20)
dump mana reflection

ARCHER
1 arrow blow (1)
1 double shot (1)
3 blessing of amazon (3)
8 eye of amazon (8)
20 critical shot (20)
19 double shot (20)
9 focus (9)

double shot is used as first attacking skill over arrow blow for damage stability

HUNTER
1 arrow bomb (1)
5 bow mastery (5)
6 bow booster (6)
14 bow mastery (19)
29 arrow bomb (30)
14 bow booster (20)
20 power knockback (20)
7 soul arrow (7)
11 focus (20)
1 bow mastery (20)
13 soul arrow (20)

RANGER
1 strafe (1)
5 mortal blow (5)
30 arrow rain (30)
29 strafe (30)
6 puppet (6)
30 inferno (30)
14 puppet (20)
7 thrust (7)
29 silver hawk (29)

max strafe before mortal blow/arrow rain to fight balrog earlier

silver hawk is left at 29 because stun chance does not increase at lv30. phoenix does not stun

leeching BM can leave strafe at lv1, add thrust until max speed, and add remaining points to mortal blow. however, note that unlike hurricane, strafe doesn't instantly kill you if you attack into damage reflect, and can also be used in lower level PQs if you need tokens of teamwork

BOWMASTER
1 hurricane (1)
1 bow expert (1)
1 dragon's breath (1)
30 sharp eyes (30)
30 hurricane (30)
1 phoenix (1)
25 bow expert (26)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
1 hero's will (1)
4 bow expert (30)
4/9 hero's will (5/10)
30 hamstring (30)
if <140% speed, add thrust until 140% speed
29 phoenix (30)
20 dragon's breath (21)
30 concentrate (30)
dump mortal blow

CROSSBOWMAN
1 iron arrow (1)
5 crossbow mastery (5)
6 crossbow booster (6)
14 crossbow mastery (19)
29 iron arrow (30)
14 crossbow booster (20)
20 power knockback (20)
7 soul arrow (7)
11 focus (20)
1 crossbow mastery (20)
13 soul arrow (20)

SNIPER
1 strafe (1)
1 blizzard (1)
5 mortal blow (5)
30 arrow eruption (30)
29 strafe (30)
6 puppet (6)
20 blizzard (21)
14 puppet (20)
20 thrust (20)
9 blizzard (30)
15 golden eagle (15)
1 mortal blow (6)

max strafe before mortal blow/arrow eruption to fight balrog earlier

if already at max speed (not counting speed from equips that will be replaced), stop adding thrust and continue with other skills. dump mortal blow at the end

MARKSMAN
1 snipe (1)
1 frostprey (1)
1 marksman boost (1)
30 sharp eyes (30)
29 snipe (30)
1 dragon's breath (1)
29 marksman boost (30)
1 hero's will (1)
30 piercing arrow (30)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
30 blind (30)
4/9 hero's will (5/10)
29 frostprey (30)
20 dragon's breath (21)
dump mortal blow

for boss-focused build, swap piercing arrow and blind

for grinding/LHC focused build, swap snipe and piercing arrow

ROGUE (assassin)
1 lucky seven (1)
3 nimble body (3)
8 keen eyes (8)
19 lucky seven (20)
3 disorder (3)
20 dark sight (20)
7 nimble body (10)

at lv180+, optionally reset lucky seven into disorder for auf

disorder is not useless since it de-aggros monsters, but it does that just fine at lv3

you can leave dark sight unmaxed and bypass the speed drop in 2nd job by macroing dark sight + haste, though this doesn't really save you any essential SP. shadower cannot afford to do this because they need maxed dark sight

ASSASSIN
3 claw mastery (3)
30 critical throw (30)
2 claw mastery (5)
6 claw booster (6)
6 haste (6)
14 claw booster (20) **
14 haste (20) **
3 endure (3)
28 drain (28)
15 claw mastery (20)

** raise these skills together to match duration

endure can potentially save you from seduce 1/1, but you won't need it until mid-4th job

HERMIT
1 avenger (1)
30 shadow partner (30)
4 avenger (5)
20 flash jump (20)
25 avenger (30)
20 shadow web (20)
20 alchemist (20)
2 drain (30)
10 nimble body (20)
19 meso up (19)

meso up/drain/endure can be 20/29/3, 19/30/3, or 2/30/20 depending on whether you think you'll remember to cast meso up while grinding

washing NL can add 1 shadow meso to have a usable attack in dojo. with shadow partner it deals about the same damage as a weak priest's magic claw (assuming that it bypasses accuracy, testing needed)

NIGHT LORD
1 triple throw (1)
1 shadow stars (1)
1 taunt (1)
29 triple throw (30)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
30 shadow shifter (30)
29 shadow stars (30)
5 hero's will (5)
17 endure (20) OR 5 hero's will (10)
1 meso up (20)
29 taunt (30)
30 ninja storm (30)
30 venom (30)
dump endure/disorder

lv1 taunt can be used as melee range gathering skill

if you have hero's will 10, you don't need maxed endure for 1/1 sed

ROGUE (sindit)
1 lucky seven (1)
3 nimble body (3)
8 keen eyes (8)
9 lucky seven (10)
3 disorder (3)
20 dark sight (20)
17 nimble body (20)

ROGUE (bandit)
10 double stab (10)
3 disorder (3)
20 dark sight (20)
20 nimble body (20)
8 keen eyes (8)

double stab is not maxed because you need to max other skills that have long-term use

that includes keen eyes, which even shadowers should max because claws are optimal in events that force you to use regular attacks

BANDIT
19 dagger mastery (19)
6 dagger booster (6)
30 savage blow (30)
6 haste (6)
14 dagger booster (20) **
14 haste (20) **
20 endure (20)
11 steal (11)
1 dagger mastery (20)

** raise these skills together to match duration

savage blow starts weaker than double stab 10, so mastery is maxed first. sindit will either continue to use lucky seven until savage blow is stronger, or add lv1 savage blow after advancement

CHIEF BANDIT
1 meso explosion (1)
1 assaulter (1)
3 chakra (3)
1 meso guard (1)
29 meso explosion (30)
30 band of thieves (30)
29 assaulter (30)
19 meso guard (20)
19 steal (30)
18 chakra (21)
1 pickpocket (1)

lv1 pickpocket can be used to farm meter off summons in dojo by exploding them

SHADOWER
1 boomerang step (1)
1 smokescreen (1)
30 assassinate (30)
29 boomerang step (30)
29 smokescreen (30)
30 shadow shifter (20)
5/10 hero's will (5/10)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
30 taunt (30)
30 venom (30)
9 chakra (30)
dump disorder

hero's will is higher priority because shadower is the preferred seduce target

mobbing focused shadower can get 21 bstep before assassinate

chakra and disorder can be swapped depending on whether you'll be doing dojo or auf. chakra falls into the category of Technically Not Useless outside of dojo because you could set your autoHP settings really low and use chakra as an extremely laggy but essentially free self-heal

SWORDMAN
5 improving HP recovery (5)
10 improving max HP increase (10)
1 power strike (1)
20 slash blast (20)
19 power strike (20)
3 endure (3)
3 iron body (3)

iron body can be used to override w.def decrease from rage, upgrading it from "useless skill that gives 6 w.def for 95 sec" to "useless skill that gives 18 w.def for 95 sec, then 12 w.def for 65 sec if you're a fighter using max rage". pages might as well dump iron body as well because it's the only remaining skill that has any sort of effect when you're not doing nothing

iron will does the same for spearmen making iron body useless, and they might eventually add hex of the beholder which makes iron will useless, but should add iron body anyway because the other options increase healing which a DK doesn't want

none of this realistically matters at all, and iron body/iron will are not worth the time it takes to cast them

fun fact, warriors get double HP recovery from chairs (but not doubled MP recovery). this is either tied to being a warrior or having at least 1 SP in improving HP recovery. further SP investment does not affect this

PAGE
5 sword mastery (5)
6 sword booster (6)
14 sword mastery (19)
14 sword booster (20)
1 sword mastery (20)
30 power guard (30)
30 final attack: sword (30)
20 threaten (20)
1 iron body (4)

final attack serves as your single-target mode and should be turned off when mobbing with slash blast

swap sword/blunt weapon if you are Not Like Other Girls and don't mind being locked to 1H

hybrid paladin is not viable, ignore mastery/booster/FA for the weapon you're not using

WHITE KNIGHT
30 lightning charge (30)
30 ice charge (30)
30 fire charge (30)
20 total crash (20)
11 improved mp recovery (11)
30 charge blow (30)

lightning charge is taken first to maximize DPS against balrog head, and it is also the best for goby training because gobies resist fire and you don't want to freeze them

if doing gobies exclusively, you can also max total crash after lightning charge, and add 1 charge blow. total crash allows you to bypass weapon cancel from the fish houses, and using lv1 charge blow is more convenient than right clicking the buff icon (fish houses resist all 3 elements)

max either ice or fire after lightning, depending on whether you value freeze utility or hitting more common weaknesses

PALADIN
1 rush (1)
1 heaven's hammer (1)
10 advanced charge blow (10)
30 blast (30)
30 power stance (30)
30 monster magnet (30)
1 hero's will (1)
29 heaven's hammer (30)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
30 holy charge (30)
4/9 hero's will (5/10)
30 achilles (30)
27 rush (28)
dump improving mp recovery

1H paladin maxes guardian before achilles. realistically, if you want guardian, you will have to miss out on mw20 and some points in achilles/rush/hw, so you'd best be absolutely sure you want to use 1H

you could max power stance before blast for more convenient bossing, since advanced charge blow is surprisingly adequate single-target DPS for just 10 SP

you won't have enough SP for all useful skills by lv200 if you get both hw10 and mw20, even as 2H

FIGHTER
5 sword mastery (5)
6 sword booster (6)
14 sword mastery (19)
14 sword booster (20)
1 sword mastery (20)
30 power guard (30)
30 final attack: sword (30)
20 rage (20)
1 iron body (4)

final attack serves as your single-target mode and should be turned off when mobbing with slash blast

swap sword/axe if you are Not Like Other Girls

hybrid hero is not quite as unviable as hybrid paladin, only needing to give up final attack, rage, and coma, but you don't really get any benefit to show for your worse balrog DPS (due to lack of FA) and worse mobbing (due to lack of coma) so it's not recommended

lv50 CPQ character adds all remaining SP to iron body after 19 mastery and 20 booster because it gives more survivability than power guard combined with zhelm

CRUSADER
30 combo attack (30)
30 panic (30)
30 coma (30)
30 shout (30)
20 armor crash (20)
11 improving mp recovery (11)

panic for balrog at lv90, then coma for himes at lv100. using these skills at 5 orbs is, in fact, a DPS increase compared to purely using 1st job skills

shout can be used for low level mob farming for quests/event drops. can also be used to farm meter off summons in dojo

HERO
1 advanced combo attack (1)
1 rush (1)
30 brandish (30)
29 advanced combo attack (30)
30 power stance (30)
30 monster magnet (30)
1 hero's will (1)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
4/9 hero's will (5/10)
30 achilles (30)
27 rush (28)
30 enrage (30)
dump improving MP recovery

1h hero maxes guardian before achilles, does not max enrage. enrage is not a good skill, so this is no real loss

power stance and advanced combo attack can be switched if you prefer convenience over DPS in the short term

macro panic + combo attack and use it when combo attack is about to expire. this is free DPS that you should not miss out on, but you still need combo attack on a different key

SPEARMAN
5 spear mastery (5)
6 spear booster (6)
14 spear mastery (19)
14 spear booster (20)
3 iron will (3)
30 hyper body (30)
1 spear mastery (20)
20 polearm mastery (20)
20 polearm booster (20)
8 iron will (11)

unlike crusader and white knight, dragon knight does not use final attack, so there is no upside to a spear-only build at this point

polearm and spear can be skilled in reverse order if you prefer higher damage per hit (default ratio is 60% swing, 40% stab). however, maple scorpio is slower than maple impaler

DRAGON KNIGHT (spear)
1 dragon fury: spear (1)
15 spear crusher (15)
save 12 SP
15 spear crusher (30)
3 sacrifice (3)
30 dragon roar (30)
29 dragon fury: spear (30)
20 element resistance (20)
3 dragon blood (3)
20 power crash (20)
15 sacrifice (18)

build for dragon knights who will never touch a polearm and don't mind slightly slower mobbing in 3rd job.

spear fury is taken first for its range and mob gathering utility at lv1. lv1 crusher is useless

sacrifice is not useless, but you also don't want to max it because it's only used for lowering your HP, and it lowers less HP at higher skill levels

DARK KNIGHT (spear)
1 rush (1)
1 beholder (1)
30 berserk (30)
9 beholder (10)
30 power stance (30)
30 monster magnet (30)
30 achilles (30)
1 hero's will (1)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
21 hex of the beholder (21)
27 rush (28)
4/9 hero's will (5/10)
30 aura of the beholder (30)
dump hex of the beholder/rush/polearm fury

achilles is maxed earlier than other warriors to aid zerking, and can be moved even earlier if necessary to zerk specific bosses

once you learn to zerk comfortably, after achilles either add SP to sacrifice or reset out of sacrifice and into polearm fury if you want to decrease/increase the amount of HP lost by using sacrifice

DRAGON KNIGHT (hybrid)
30 dragon fury: polearm (30)
1 dragon fury: spear (1)
15 spear crusher (15)
save 12 SP
15 spear crusher (30)
3 sacrifice (3)
30 dragon roar (30)
20 element resistance (20)
3 dragon blood (3)
20 power crash (20)
14 sacrifice (17)

build for dragon knights who have a scrolled maple karstan/maple snowboard to use immediately. max polearm fury can be delayed until after spear crusher if you want to fight balrog earlier, or if you plan to use purple snowboard/crimson arcglaive as your first polearm. polearm fury is more effective than spear crusher for mobbing 5+ targets, and polearms are cheap

the tradeoff is not having max spear fury in 4th job, being forced to use it at lv1 as an aggroing tool only. you can either max spear fury much later (having higher priority than aura of the beholder) or spend 29 SP resets to move your SP from polearm fury into spear fury. there are some records of people continuing to use polearm fury in RG bonus, so decide for yourself what you want to do

DARK KNIGHT (hybrid)
1 rush (1)
1 beholder (1)
30 berserk (30)
9 beholder (10)
30 power stance (30)
30 monster magnet (30)
30 achilles (30)
1 hero's will (1)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
21 hex of the beholder (21)
27 rush (28)
29 dragon fury: spear (30) if you didn't SP reset polearm fury
4/9 hero's will (5/10)
dump aura of the beholder

if you have no more use for polearms, SP reset 29 polearm fury into spear fury at any point

PIRATE (brawler)
1 flash fist (1)
20 somersault kick (20)
19 flash fist (20)
20 bullet time (20)
1 dash (1)

bullet time is maxed because brawler needs accuracy more than gunslinger needs avoid

you could leave dash at 0 and reallocate points to double shot if you don't like the idea of activating dash by accident, but you could also stop being a baby

BRAWLER
10 improve maxHP (10)
1 knuckle mastery (1)
1 backspin blow (1)
1 corkscrew blow (1)
4 knuckle mastery (5)
6 knuckle booster (6)
14 knuckle mastery (19)
14 knuckle booster (20)
19 backspin blow (20)
19 corkscrew blow (20)
10 MP recovery (10)
9 dash (10)
1 knuckle mastery (20)
10 oak barrel (10)
2 double uppercut (2)

leaving double uppercut with <10 SP enables infinite washing (expensive method that does not require fresh AP)

MARAUDER
1 transformation (1)
1 energy charge (1)
1 energy blast (1)
1 energy drain (1)
39 energy charge (40)
29 energy blast (30)
19 energy drain (20)
21 shockwave (21)
20 stun mastery (20)
19 transformation (20)

1 transformation is added first purely for the boosted speed/jump

shockwave is not maxed because energy drain has a use in 4th job and shockwave doesn't. on top of providing healing, energy drain is buccaneer's only ranged skill that isn't laggy af

however, you could add 21 shockwave or even max it first if you're not planning to enter balrog PQ as an attacker. resetting 9 SP from shockwave to stun mastery/energy drain will cost about the same as balrog service, so in the long run it's basically like buying balrog service twice if you go for max shockwave and reset later

fun fact, stun mastery stacks with SE the same way that assassin's critical throw and archer's critical shot stacks with SE. too bad you can't stun bosses

BUCCANEER
1 super transformation (1)
1 demolition (1)
1 barrage (1)
1 dragon strike (1)
1 time leap (1)
11 speed infusion (11)
29 demolition (30)
29 dragon strike (30)
29 barrage (30)
1 hero's will (1)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
30 snatch (30)
10 super transformation (11)
29 time leap (30)
4/9 hero's will (5/10)
30 energy orb (30)
9 speed infusion (20)
1 maple warrior (10/20)
dump super transformation

for LHC at lv15x, max snatch before barrage.

lots of lv1 value points for this class.

lv1 barrage is used for iframes (dojo) and acts as a less laggy single-target attack
lv1 time leap so you can TL echo and smokescreen
lv1 dragon strike is for aggroing mobs/low level mob farming only. after dragon strike is maxed but before snatch is maxed, use dragon strike + energy blast + energy blast macro for mobbing

PIRATE (gunslinger)
1 double shot (1)
1 somersault kick (1)
19 double shot (20)
19 somersault kick (20)
10 dash (10)
11 bullet time (11)

double shot and somersault kick can be maxed in either order. somersault kick is the only attacking skill you can use while holding an INT weapon for washing, so it at least has that going for it. feel free to max bullet time and leave somersault kick at 11 forever, but the only benefit of not maxing somersault kick is getting lv11 grenade instead of lv1 grenade in 2nd job, and grenade is even worse than somersault kick

GUNSLINGER
1 invisible shot (1)
5 gun mastery (5)
6 gun booster (6)
14 gun mastery (19)
19 invisible shot (20)
5 wings (5)
20 recoil shot (20)
5 wings (10)
14 gun booster (20)
20 blank shot (20)
9 bullet time (20)
1 gun mastery (20)
1 grenade (1)

maxing wings earlier allows you to substitute for max keen eyes/eye of amazon in LPQ, in case you can't find a sin or archer

OUTLAW
1 ice splitter (1)
1 flamethrower (1)
save 8 SP
20 burst fire (20)
25 ice splitter (26) **
29 flamethrower (30) **
30 octopus (30)
30 homing beacon (30)
15 gaviota (15)

** raise these skills together until ice splitter hits lv26

burst fire is weaker than double shot until lv6, so it is better to save SP and add 8 at once

homing beacon/bullseye are your highest single-line damage until battleship torpedo, with potential uses for hitting certain knockback thresholds

CORSAIR
1 rapid fire (1)
1 elemental boost (1)
1 air strike (1)
1 wrath of the octopi (1)
1 battleship (1)
30 battleship cannon (30)
20 bullseye (20)
10 wrath of the octopi (11)
29 rapid fire (30)
1 hero's will (1)
9 battleship (10)
9 wrath of the octopi (20)
9/19 maple warrior (9/19)
1 hypnotize (1)
30 battleship torpedo (30)
29 elemental boost (30)
4 ice splitter (30)
29 air strike (30)
4/9 hero's will (5/10)
dump gaviota/hypnotize

if ship feels too weak early on, max battleship after 11 battleship cannon

if you can dismount like a god, feel free to delay max battleship as much as you like, though it should probably be maxed before adding battleship torpedo

1 hypnotize works as a scuffed pseudo-puppet if you need to de-aggro something. feel free to add 1 SP at any point after core skills

 

Very nice guide!

As a paladin, is early monster magnet purely for LHC? I preferred holy charge first for damage increase at Chao/Ephenia and others since I never went to LHC.
Also for 1H, what would you recommend to skip over guardian?

 

monster magnet is for LHC, but even for chao/ephenia it's 130% for fire charge and 140% for holy charge so I would not call that essential at all
the guide does say what to skip over guardian. though personally, i think that paladin has such a severe shortage of SP that you can't really justify guardian

 

Holy Charge will do 1.4*1.5 rather than 1.3*1.0 since elemental advantage gives the extra 1.5 boost. Pretty significant, but agree if you plan to just lhc, can delay it a bit.

Edit: thanks for clarifying

 

Whoops sorry my bad, I missed that one sentence, thanks! I do notice pala had a shortage yes. On the other hand, having meaningful skill points all the way to 200 is nice!

Chao and Eph are also fire weak, so it's not that big a dps increase. There's other mobs that are only holy weak where it's super nice though!

 

I'd disagree on this. Max rush is very useful, skip either monster magnet (more niche than rush), Achilles (weird choice but I can see it, if you're running guardian for the KB resistance and chance to not insta die to rocks. Slightly sketch in auf sed scenarios, but still reasonable choice), or MW (I have mw0 on mine and it just perfectly adds up. Useful if you don't plan to do solo content or have mules with mw20 and don't plan to rg much). All options should end up with rush 28, where the rush distance maxes out.

Res on bishop can be skipped for earlier gen if you don't plan to boss on it. I also saved 9 SP unspent for mw30 in the future if/when it ever comes out, which is probably better than maxing big bang or mana reflection with them.

 

as a dk enthusiast, i have notes.

First/second job:
iron body and later on, iron will is completely useless. only dump excess sp into it and never cast it.

dragon knight:
- i advise most new dks against doing a split spear/polearm build.
-polearm mobbing is only better dps when you have consistently 5+ targets which isnt even always the case at himes.
-you will use spear fury for micro-hp adjustments when zerking
-i statted sacrifice pretty high (~20) it gives you more control in burning hp

dark knight:
-donn1e's guide https://royals.ms/forum/threads/a-guide-to-dark-knight-2026.230387/ gives several sp builds
-achilles or mm first is dependent on whether you want to run bosses or lhc first, respectively.
-bosses are more fun, lhc is more exp
-skip pole arm 3rd job skills and max rush for mobbing QoL
-a few points into aura of beholder is good for stuff like bigfoot where your hp doesnt fluctuate much and you appreciate the free heals keeping you close to 15k. I have 10 points in it
-mw before rush for more dps especially if you do solo content
-only stat hero's will when you start doing ht, hw1 is fine

 

You should throw in 1sp into hypnotize somewhere around lv175.
Hypnotize is quite a useless skill to max, but it comes in handy particularly for de-aggro purposes in Auf or solo NT for Sair. 1 point will do the job.

And thanks for mentioning holding 7 points before putting sp into burst fire. It's a very dumb design that not many are aware of.

 

Did they not change this a while ago so 1SP outdamages Double Shot? Or am I misremembering and that's 1SP of Rapid Fire > Maxed Burst Fire?

If so I need to add this into the guide...

 

Perhaps you should read iShotMyBoss's Guide. It's a great guide with accurate information.

 

Yep I have! It's a LOT of info though so I probably missed out on some. I'll go give it a runthrough again.

 

i don't see how the difference between losing 25 HP and 30 HP per use spear fury would realistically matter for hp adjustments

if the point of sacrifice is to drop yourself back into berserk range, why wouldn't you want it to sacrifice as much HP as possible? this is a genuine question

they'll still be funneled into hybrid unless you can make a really solid argument for >4 sacrifice and early max spear fury

i will update this

 

Less points in Sacrifice makes it loses more HP too, what far better than having many points and never use due to take too long to a real HP Drop, and in the end of the day, using Dragon Roar instead for open your Spear Crushes earlier.

 

Nice minimaxes! Wanted know that one month ago xD

 

Would start with Pole Arm before Spear because of for non Spear Crusher/Dragon Fury hits, the "cut" hit is more frequent (60%) than the drill hit for both Spears and Pole Arms, and Pole Arms deals 100% damage while that Cut and 60% on Drill, the opposite for Spears.

 

To avoid potentially dying, sacrifice for small hp adjustments, roar for big hp adjustments

 

A higher level fury is more dps when you use it to pull aggro when mobs are out of range or to hit multiple targets before casting crusher.
I haven't played early game dk in a while. I use it to aggro golems that are walking, or bring my HP from 15100 and under back to zero range.

What donn1e said for sacrifice. Her guide is goated for dk info.

I went to crusher then roar then spear fury third job. I never statted pole arm skills. I cleared ToT and grinded himes and there were fewer times that you'd expect hitting consistently 5+ targets since especially for himes, you don't have rush

 

question since i'm unable to test this myself (I can't test lv3 sacrifice and lv15+ sacrifice at the same time)

how much recoil damage do you expect to take from sacrifice? surely it's going to be less recoil damage than dragon roar regardless of level? one could also argue that sacrifice is better than roar if you need to make larger adjustments, since the animation is faster

i also want to ask how dangerous it is to use dragon roar at 51% HP. i could see it being dangerous back when pets would only pot a single time per hit, but this isn't the case in the current version, so it may be worth reevaluating

when i was grinding himes, i could hit 6 targets almost all the time because i would start gathering more mobs as soon as there were fewer than 5 left. himes are seen as the main use case for polearm fury, so if fury is truly not worth it for himes, then a lot of people are very, very wrong about this skill

i've seen DK players that I respect who argued both for and against taking polearm fury, so it would be great to hear from them as well. i don't think there are many people who played both hybrid DK and spear-only DK

 

I got my sacrifice to 29 at the highest, but the hp adjustment was too small. I think it's 21 now. both are dangerous cause they don't seem to consistently put you into i-frames. You can get double tapped and killed at something like vl or auf.

been a long time since i have grinded mobs like himes or tot. i recal 2-3 hitting himes as a total noob and attacking as I cross the map, rarely building up the full 5+ targets. One case that comes to mind is as a low level drk i was farming silvermane sets for some mesos. I wasn't 1-hitting every mob consistently, but using crusher+fury I would clear mobs consistently.
Even at a higher level, I would maybe three-hit rose garden mobs and tap them with one fury to clean up. By skipping pole arm skills it also saves you SPRs if you ever want to reset them later in 4th job.

 

what total % of your HP do you ideally want to lose when using sacrifice? i will update the guide to suggest adding some SP to sacrifice, though this will be an approximate range rather than a fixed number