I've done 4 or 5 Zak runs and still have not gotten Advanced Charge. I'm nearing Level 123 or 124 soon and I wanted to know if there's any point in me continuing to look for ACB, or if I should just pick it up when I'm at the level where I can Zak. I've followed Sire's guide so far and it's made Paladin boring as heck so far (no offence, just not a fan of waiting 17 levels for an attacking skill), so is there anything else I should put these points into that can help me on my way considering I don't/probably won't have AC for a while (or until I have to add Blast)? Or something else I thought of was just keeping 10 SP in reserve to immediately max out AC when I do get it. For the meanwhile, I'm still using Power Strike as an attack, dealing an extraordinary 9-10k dmg per Power Strike, and in general, I just want to know what I should do considering I doubt I'll be getting AC for a long time.
You should definitely keep the 10 SP while also continuing to try to get ACB at every possible opportunity. It's an amazing skill and you'll fall in love with it as soon as you get it. As for your skill build, I was personally a fan of maxing Blast after ACB. Having blast makes killing Bigfoot pretty easy (Though not necessarily at all quick until it's maxed out) and since Bigfoot is weak to fire, you're already all set on your charge(Pianus is also weak to fire!). If you've HP washed at all, you'll probably have enough HP(~12k?) to be able to tank Anego's(Lightning weak) slap attack with Power Guard on, which can be a fun way to level up with a buddy. The Black Crow boss is also weak to lightning so you have a lot of potential bossing options to keep you occupied if you decide to max Blast. Keep in mind that it's been about a year since I've religiously hunted bosses for XP because I find it to be less efficient than simply grinding. That being said, I'm unsure of how scarce the bosses are nowadays since our population has greatly increased since then. Holy charge is really nice but I wouldn't prioritize it nearly as high as Sire does in his guide since on neutral monsters, Lightning Charge is superior until levels 13-20. I don't have any map comparisons tested by my Paladin, but the Road of Regrets maps(Fire weak) probably have some potential for decent xp, especially once you get ACB. 1hko RoR4 on my F/P Archmage just barely beats the xp/hour I get on my 1hko Bishop at skeles so the potential is definitely there. As for Stance vs Holy charge, I'd probably go for at least level 20 Stance(Stance is +2% activation from 1-20 and +1% from 21-30) first since I'm so used to having it at this point. Edit: Typing out this post gave me a burst of nostalgia because I love the mechanics of Paladins and it reminded me of how much I used to love mine.
So essentially, what I can do is keep those 10 points ready, but start adding blast as soon as I have more than 10 points. After maxing Blast and AC, I should go for Stance? I have to agree with you on the holy charge deal, the only situation I find it somewhat advantageous in was the fact that Anego is weak to holy, other than that, it's rather lack luster as I have my Paladin at RoR where Fire charge seems to be putting in work, as well as giving more exp than the Holy weak skeles. Essentially, I was thinking of swapping the placement of where I add Holy Charge and Stance. Sire says we should add after ACB, then Holy Charge, then Stance, and then Blast. I was thinking of going ACB, Blast, Stance, Holy Charge. EDIT: Crud, I just realized Holy Charge increases Damage 25% more than Lightning Charge... Tough debate.... EDIT AGAIN: Well I'm guessing in the BBB Hidden Street, Holy Charge was buffed at some point because it starts at 112% rather than 102% like it does in Royals...
I forgot that RoR is also lightning weak if BBB is correct on that. Even though RoR is Fire/Lightning weak, Holy(And probably Lightning) Charge + ACB at Oblivion 4 is better XP/hour once you can do that. Unfortunately Weaknesses don't really determine where you end up grinding eventually. I think that ACB >>> Blast >>> Stance would be more fun unless you're a fan of simply grinding. For reference: https://web.archive.org/web/20081229234814/http://global.hidden-street.net/characters/knight.php https://web.archive.org/web/20081228181415/http://global.hidden-street.net/characters/paladin.php
To be honest, I'm willing to lose that 15% dmg increase from max Holy charge in place of Blast 20 which will be 450% dmg as a skill in its entirety. Thanks for the help though! Now I'm actually having FUN with my Paladin due to Blast, rather than adding these miscellaneous skills the guide suggests are 100% mandatory.
