EDIT: Due to Snipe being virtually unavailable to 4th job marksmen, it is highly unrecommended to make one if you intend on getting to 4th job. Piercing Arrow is worthless and Snipe might as well not be in your skillbook, so you're basically a 4th job sniper with Sharp Eyes. Perhaps the pending skill patch for marksmen will change that, but that will take a while, and even then who knows when Horntail will be fixed. Unlike other classes (i.e. NL and Bishops etc) who may settle for level 20 versions of their skills, Snipe needs to be maxed to ever be useful. EDIT: Remember to read the comments, some give good advice! Index: 1. Class Summarisation 2. Skill Allocation 3. Leveling Instruction ^They rhyme because I'm making you cringe for fun 1. Class Summarisation: So you want to make a Marksman? Bad choice. Marksmen are underpowered in this version. Snipe deals 199k damage here, but with a cooldown of 15 seconds at max level instead of 5, and max level atm is impossible to obtain due to the absence of HT runs (if a 15 second cooldown for 199k damage is shit, a 110 second cooldown is worse than shit). So yeah, despite being one of the hardest classes to level and play (first place would go to Corsairs however, poor things); the mobbing's below average (worse than bowmaster), and bossing's a tad subpar as well (much worse than bowmaster). However, the challenge (despite the lack of equivalent rewards 4th job) and mechanics makes it a very, very fun class to play. And I say this as someone who's played pretty much every single job save Hunter, so if you're anything like me you're gonna enjoy Sniper as well. I've not yet achieved 4th job (omw tho), so I haven't anything to say about it save the facts listed above; but cmon, Snipe, how could a class with a skill like that not be fun to play? (IT NEEDS A BUFF THO) Anyway, I am currently level 114 and have around 2 weeks experience on this server (wonderful community bt dubs). This guide is written to cater to those who are new to both the server and the class; and I hope that despite some parts being glaringly obvious to veterans, perhaps they would find some of the information listed useful as well. 2. Skill Allocation: First Job: Archer Tldr; version: Max Double Shot first, then max Critical shot, then max Eye of Amazon, and then pump the remainder into Blessing of Amazon. TIP: Second Job Advancement Shortcut: *fuh fuh* So you made it to level 30! Bet you got tired of that glitch Lakelis and her glitchy KPQ, so take some time out and congratulate yourself on your little achievement. What? You still have to advance to second job before you can rest? Well hurry up, it won't take a half a second. Literally. Just talk to Athena Pierce, and despite what she mandates about going to the second job instructor and thus spending a good hour grinding for someone's lost marbles; all you have to do is talk to her again to job advance. Yeah. That's it. Second Job: Crossbowman Tldr; version: Place 1 point into Iron Arrow at level 30, then level Crossbow Mastery to 19, then Crossbow Booster to 11, then max Iron Arrow, max Power Knockback, max Crossbow Booster, max Focus, max Blessing Of Amazon, max Crossbow Mastery, and pump the rest into Soul Arrow. Third Job: Sniper Tldr; version: Get Ice Arrow at level 70, max Arrow Eruption whilst throwing in a point of Strafe before level 80, then max Strafe, max Puppet, raise Thrust to 10, Golden Eagle to 15 and Blizzard to 21; max Mortal Blow, and lastly pump the remaining points into whatever you may fancy. 3. Leveling Instruction: Levels: ALL 1. Speed, damn it, speed! Bowmen and crossbowmen in particular require max speed to function well, i.e. train 70% as efficiently as the other classes! Since you can use neither Iron Arrow nor Double Shot at close range, positioning and the means to position yourself is absolute fucking key. To reach or at least approach 140% speed, there are some items/potions which you could use: a) Speed pills from Ludibrium's potion store. These last ten minutes each and provide you with 10 extra speed. b) Bathrobe. If unfunded, buy a bathrobe from Showa's sauna and scroll it to 10 dex with 100% dex scrolls (which you can procure from the scroll seller in the Kerning swamps). There's 10 extra speed right there, and 10 dex, all for the measly cost of 380k! c) Icarus Cape. Do Icarus's quest and stand a chance to obtain a +10 speed cape. If you fail to do so or would not risk the time and effort, try browsing the fm or smegaing (using a megaphone) for such a cape. d) Crossbows which provide speed. The only crossbows which provide speed under level 80 are the maple crossbows, so it's a good idea to look out for good ones and to try to hold on to them for as long as possible. e) Shoes. An easy way to do this is to get the red or pink whitebottom shoes from Henesys weapon store. These give 3 speed on their own, and have 5 slots available for further speed scrolling. Shoes for speed 60% scrolls are very cheap and easy to obtain, so it should not be difficult to scroll a pair of red whitebottoms to 13 speed. f) Pet Equipment. A piece of pet equipment has 7 slots, and pet equipment for speed 60% scrolls are very easy to obtain as well. With average luck, you should be able to gain 10 speed from your pet. g) Thrust. This third job skill should be raised as much as possible insofar as you hit the speed cap without expense of your damage output. Once you start pumping points into Thrust it frees you to get more Dex or WA oriented shoes and overalls, and with sufficient points you no longer even need to use speed pillls. 2. The absolute first thing you should do with the nx you get from daily votings is to buy a pet, so that you may equip it with an auto-hp pouch. With auto-hp equipped, training becomes far less dangerous; though certain actions interrupt auto-hp so you should still be wary of your hp bar. After that, fully equip your pet with meso magnet, item pouch, auto-mp pouch, shoes and binoculars etc. Your pet will now perform the vast majority of your looting and potion-using for you, freeing you to attack and grind much faster than you would have done on your own. Levels: 1-10 Just hit whatever and you'll get there. Remember to talk to Olaf at Lith Harbour before you meet Athena Pierce for the job advancement, he offers a quest which nearly levels you once. Levels: 11-20 Complete the quests Athena Pierce gives you, and you should reach level 16. Then you can start training at the orange mushrooms at Kerning City's construction site and move on to the Octopi when you're ready. (There's a hidden portal on top of the scaffold which brings you to the map with the octopi.) Levels: 21-29 1. Kerning PQ is by far the quickest option here. If you are short on members, do not hesitate to use a megaphone to recruit members. Note that only 3 participants are required, and the level criteria ranges from 21-200. 2. If you fail to find more than 2 members for Kerning PQ, go to Perion and take the right portal out of town (not towards the Dungeon!). In the bottom level of the first map there is a door which will bring you to the wild boars. They may move too quickly for you, so it's best to have a party and a bathrobe (and any other +speed items). 3. Zombie Mushrooms at Ant Tunnel are a great alternative to wild boars, due to their slow movement speed. I maintain however that wild boars are faster if you have a decent party keeping the spawn manageable. 4. Bubblings at Kerning city are also recommended. Levels: 30-50 1. CPQ(Monster Carnival) all the way! (Remember that only 1 member on each team are required, teams can be imbalanced (i.e. 3v1 or 4v3), dying means that you cannot return to the CPQ, and that picking up stunballs and cubes of darkness have no negative effect on the opposing team. If you experience issues and glitches such as the nothing occuring after the 10 second timer running out or no spawn, cc and remake your party. If that still does not work, forfeit all your quests and switch off your pet.) 2. If you tire of CPQ or had managed not to find a party, from level 37 onwards you could go training at Platoon Chronoses under Ludi. They drop GFA 60%s which could be sold at 9m each, which is quite a sum for new players. And since you're in the vicinity of Tick-Tock anyway (which spawns in 2 maps, and means that if no one gets to them you would have a sum of 16 Tick-Tocks to kill) you could kill it for some nx, crossbows, or some extra GFA 60%s. Levels: 51-57 1. Coolie Zombies at Forest of Dead Trees IV are by far the best training option for crossbowmen of this level range. There is great spawn, they move very, very slowly and use ranged attacks, which means that they won't try to get up in your face. Money-wise, they drop Zakum Chairs and presently Zombie Hunter chairs, which can be sold at 8m each (Zombie Hunter chair prices may rise in the future when no longer obtainable). Remember to purchase snowshoes from the El Nath armour store, and to scroll them with speed if required. Also, if possible; try to get a party member to train with you there, with you taking the lower left side of the map and the party member taking the top-right platform and the right side of the map. This smoothens out the spawn, and means that you get more flat terrain to use Iron Arrow on. 2. Voodoos in Sophilia's bedroom are another excellent alternative. Once you have more damage, the exp will begin to match up to Dead Forest IV. They drop heartstoppers, and depending on your killing speed you may get up to 30 per hour, which sell for a total of around 20m. Keep them though, you're going to need them later. 3. Straw Target Dummies are the inferior alternative to Zombies; they movie nearly as slowly, but are melee, which means they will try to bump into you. When you're sick of Zombies do not hesitate to venture here, these drop Sheep chairs and the lovely Sakura Chairs. 4. Forest of Golem is not recommended unless you have a decent party member occupying the top 2 lanes. In optimal conditions, these give exp comparable to zombies and Voodoos, and have a chance to drop GFA 60%, so do go there if you can find a good brawler/warrior to train with. Levels: 58-75 1. Sick of zombies? Well they're sick of you as well. Time to move on to GS2! Such fun! ...not. Stay there grinding till level 72 with a party member. This may take a few days, but once you get Arrow Eruption everything becomes a hundred times easier. Arrow Eruption marks the point where you depart from the signature hell of a second job crossbowman and enter the sweet golden phase of a sniper. Once you get Arrow Eruption, stand on the 6th step of the Staircase of Honour and spam it for dear life. I recommend having a television, book or audiobook nearby, so as to pass the time. All you have to do is hold down the Arrow Eruption key and turn your character around every minute or so to keep your attacks landing on their marks. 2. Whenever you tire of GS2 and wished for a change of scene, spend a level at Voodoos farming for Heartstoppers. The exp matches up to soloing at GS2, but is definitely inferior to having a party. 3. FoG is easier post-level 60, but the top lane is still a problem and not worth the time and DPS luring to one end with PKB. You will still need an AoE melee class to help you out. 4. (I have done a few thought experiments and Strafe first for sniping at Newties is definitely inferior to preparing Arrow Eruption for Typhons and Wolf Spiders.) Levels 76-84 1. Now leave gs2 and your slimy friends behind and head towards the Big Ben in NLC (You could stay in GS if you do not deal enough damage to train efficiently at Wolf Spiders). Go to the wolf spider map and train there till level 84. Note that wolf spiders hit for 1.5k each, so it's the point where you left behind the Ramen and purchased Ice Cream Pops which heal 2k HP each. This ensures that whenever hit, your pet will always bring you to max HP. Also, get safety charms for those little accidents. Caveat: once you leave gs2, there should always be at least one safety charm in your inventory (Bowmen deaths result in a loss of 10% exp). 2. Levels 85-120 1. Gobies at Deep Sea Gorge II. Gobies give an enormous amount of experience, and you should always train there when solo. Remember that Arrow Eruption is superior to Strafe in terms of DPS when there are 3 or more monsters, so don't hesitate to use Arrow Eruption on fish houses when there are Bone Fish around. Also, the Cancel Weapon Attack buff that the fish houses cast should be worked around by moving onwards to other fish houses the moment it is cast. This way, you lose very little time and DPS trying to get at the Gobies. (At around level 100 you should deal enough damage to break the houses before they can shield, so you won't lose any DPS at all) Also, note that if you Strafe the fish houses from far away enough they won't use the Cancel Weapon Attack buff. 2. Squids and Risell Squids at Dangerous Sea Gorge II. These are fantastic experience as well, especially if you manage to find a party member. Despite not matching up to soloing at Gobies in terms of exp gain, Risell Squids do drop gfa 60%s. The choice between training at either Gobies or Risell Squids therefore hinges on Gobies' slight edge in terms of experience and Squids' fairly significant contribution to your income. If undecided, just change it up a little whenever you tire of either. 3. Dreamy Ghosts (Himes/Mong) at Encounter With The Buddha. These feisty yaokai probably give the best experience out of them all, despite the lack of that extra mobility Aqua Road provides. However, in contrast to Gobies and Squids, it is also significantly easier to die at Dreamy Ghosts. It is not recommended to train at Himes until you have at least 3.5k hp and can therefore sustain 2 magick attacks before dying. Another enormous con to Dream Ghosts is that when Black Crow spawns, the map is as good as disabled. 4. Newties Newties give excellent experience (slightly faster than Himes) post level 100, but only in one particular position: Killing 2 newties/nest golems at the same time with Iron Arrow at bottom lane is a pointless affair, because Strafe deals superior DPS with 2 creatures and under. But why settle for Strafe when you have Arrow Eruption? In the position shown in the above image (actually a bit further left, over the rope) you will constantly be hitting 4-5 monsters at the same time, guaranteeing maximum dps being dished out and maximum experience being reaped in. However, you will have to use melting cheese for your pet's auto-pot, for nest golems deal 2.7k magic damage. It is very stressful to train this way, for it is very easy to die (2 hits unless you wash to have 5.5k hp) and you constantly have to reposition your character to hit all 5 at once. So despite granting the highest percentage of experience gained per minute, every minute which passes feels like an hour. 5. Wolf Spiders, especially with a decent party, still provides ample experience gain throughout levels 85 to 105. Without hs, it is definitely slower than all previously listed options, but not by that large a margin. (around 80% the speed at Squids and Gobies) 6. Headless Horseman is a bit different. If you can find any, it is by far the fastest option to level by, with 9% per horseman at level 105 and 3 minutes to kill with 3 Heartstoppers. (This translates to around 27% per 10 minutes, which is exactly double the experience gained at squids with a party). If you are around when a server is restarted, you must go and kill some HH (Headless Horsemen) before they are all gone. In absence of a server restart however (or a reliable schedule and itinerary), I strongly advise against seeking out Headless Horsemen to kill. Training anywhere else would be quicker than jumping around aimlessly and bumping into those accursed trees and jr. wraiths. If you do find one however... lure it to one corner, Puppet up, Heartstopper up, and snuff the bitch. P.S. Always use 3 heartstoppers at HH, they're really worth it! It reduces your killing time from 5 minutes to 3, which is nearly a 70% increase in speed and by extension experience gain! It also means that you will be quicker to move on to the next Headless Horseman, thereby decreasing the chances of having someone else getting there first. 6. Typhons have been recommended and I've heard they're excellent exp post 100, but I will have to confirm it for myself. Will update the info on Typhons soon. (EDIT: I'd tried Typhons at level 105, which IS a little late, and after spending 10 minutes familiarising myself with the map and routes I began recording the speed. It gave 11.5% exp per 10 minutes at level 105, which was lower by 3.5% than solo Himes and 2% less than Squids with a party. This, coupled with the serious penalty that messing up means being ported back to the second stage of the jump quest makes it highly unrecommended to train there; at least for level 105+)(If you've got a few teleport rocks, feel free to try Typhons for yourself post-level 100, perhaps I was doing something wrong.) 7. From 105 onwards you could always purchase bf leech or leech from skeles. It's super fast and requires very little effort on your part, but takes a toll on the purse f3. -TBC for 4th job: Marksman-
Some more training spots to consider: -51-57 STDs -51-65 FoG (max pkb or melee party member recommended) -(level 11+ AE)-100 Typhons
Thank you for reminding me of these locations! P.S. Feedback is very, very appreciated. If there's anything else lacking or erroneous anyone finds with the guide, please do tell.
You could also do a Strafe first build and snipe the Jr. Newtie from about 73+. This way is a bit more boring, as you're standing in one spot spamming Strafe, but it's very fast and pot efficient.
Btw typhons aren't just for level 100+, they have amazing hp/exp ratios and hit low damage (400-500). I went there unfunded at level 76 and got crazy exp (way better than gs2 with ae).
So for that level range, do you lot think if Strafe first for sniping Jr. Newties or AE first for Typhons are better? (I have only heard vaguely of the former.) Also Doritos, are Typhons significantly faster than Wolf Spiders? Have you tried both at that level?
I've barely tried ws, but I'm pretty sure that a hs party at ws would be faster than solo typhons. The main downside of typhons is that it's difficult to reach, but the exp is better than solo ws.
i just started this server recently and found 2 neat places that I thought I'd share while levelling my bowman 21-30 I went 73rd floor of eos tower to train on Trixters. they drop maple wagners and korean fans, and there's a spot where you can stand and hit 3 different spawn locations without moving. not as fast as KPQ, but very easy, uses minimal HP potions. At 30 it might be an idea to go star pixies - mainly because once you aggro them, they stand still and cast spells, so you don't have to run from them. the experience wasn't brilliant but they drop a number of cool things including the level 35 maple crossbow, and trading in 100 of their etc drops at orbis gives you 8k exp (7-8% at level 31) as well as some minor rewards.
Why would anyone add points to blessing over soul arrow though? You'll literally have hundreds more accuracy than you'll ever need once you hit 3rd job regardless.
6. Why only 6 Soul Arrow? Because you don't need Soul Arrow. Ever. In MapleRoyals you have maximum inventory space which means that you can have 40k Blue Arrows and yet room for your potions/town scrolls/prospective scrolls. You should never be caught in the event of running out of arrows, just as you should never be caught running out of HP and MP potions. Soul Arrow is 4 WA less than cheap-ass Blue Arrows, so there's never excuse to use it, except when in the fm showing off your skills to nobody who in particular cares.
But cider stacks were removed, so unless you're using red ciders (expensive) then they're competing for inventory space, or you're doing less damage than you could be. I see your point though, I forgot they added those (and this guide was written before they did).
Gonna bump this for the sake of curiosity: the server has grown quite a bit, and I see Horntail runs are semi-regular nowadays. How hard is it to get the required Mastery Book from HT? Are Snipers still underpowered?
Not very hard at all. They're among the cheapest HT books and their DPS isn't as bad as say Paladins or Shadowers without Meso Explosion. I'd say they're among the top 5 classes in DPS, but many people opt for Bowmaster because they're basically the same thing, but Bowmasters do more damage. You can rank their DPS with Warriors at around #4-5.
Respect for people who wanted to play a MM without snipe. Might as well make a dit and use lucky seven.
