Duskstar
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Armours: [UWG006]
No-Drop Armours: [UWG401]
- Steel Plate or Leather Armour
- These are the Adventurer no-drop armours. Both are neutral armours and have flat resistances. At higher levels you generally don't ever want to use and even at lower levels you shouldn't use it unless you must. If you picked up the Spear, you can make some use of the Leather Armours full set bonus which gives all ranged attacks a +7% damage boost. Steel Plate full set bonus is an additional 6 bth to your attacks. At lower levels I suggest you use that to your advantage, especially if you feel you aren't hitting monsters ever.
- Guardian Plate or Guardian Leathers
- These armours a great. Especially since you can choose the elements it focuses on. Leathers has a 10% damage increase for ranged weapons if you wear the full guardian set. I encourage you to elementize to something and use Guardian spear coupled with Guardian Plate and shield. All those damage boost will make leveling easier at lower levels and you don't have to buy anything except for the atunement cost. You can do it with Guardian Plate but Leathers is a better choice imo. After you get the Awe weapon be sure to upgrade to the other Guardian no-drops as they are much better.
- Mighty Armour of Awe or Deft Armour of Awe
- The Armours of Awe are mid-defensive armours, and both the Mighty and Deft versions provide heals for you. So if you want a defensive armour go with the Armour of Awe Series. Mighty is more for builds with low dex and luck, such as Beastmasters and so on. Pure builds should get Deft instead since they have a decent chance to block and Deft's heal is monstrous on such an occasion.
- Mighty UltraGuardian or Deft UltraGuardian
- The Ultraguardian plates are the offensive versions of the Awe armours. Instead of having healing abilities, Ultra has abilities to increase the effectiveness of your weapons. Mighty UltraGuardian provides an overall 110% damage boost to your Melee weapons and Deft UltraGuardian gives your Ranged weapon attacks a chance to stun your enemy. Which one to pick is up to you. Whether you want Mighty because your Ice weapon is Melee and your Armour is Fire or because all your weapons are melee so you want to just smash things. Same thing with your Deft. I'll offer my suggestions later on in the armours section.
Class Armours: [UWG402]
Class Armours are very good and even when you leave the levels that they are useful, they'll still generally have a few perks to keep around. Each one is different and interesting. There are 3 tiers, the first that is designed for levels 10 to 30, Tier 2, which is designed for levels 30 to 70, and Tier 3, which are designed for levels 70 to 90. There's also Tier 3.5, which will be mostly Tier 3 Classes, but have several higher-levelled abilities. Even though there are "levels" for them, some will still have some value after those stated levels, especially when you count the Guardian-Only Skills and (sometimes)Armours.
Tier 1 Class Armours:
Tier 1 consists of 4 classes: Scholar, Mage, Fighter and Rogue. Independently of being a Guardian or Adventurer, you can train them up all the way to level 10, although only Guardians can use the top 5 skills. Even though you won't likely use the Mage Class, it's important to train it because the higher tier classes require these Tier 1 levels.
Fighter Class: Again, a decent armour. Various skills raise your damage, some by a nice amount too. The final skill grants you an attack that's twice as strong as your normal attack, and that's really nice at these levels. Granted, it's Guardian Only, but there are other damage boosting skills available as well.
Mage Class: This isn't really meant for warriors, however it's important to train your mage levels for classes of other Tiers. There is perhaps one use for Mage Robes, which is the Elemental Sphere, it's quite a strong attack and doesn't cost too much Mana, but since it's optional, I think you'd be better off with Scholar.
Rogue Class: It's a decent armour early on and even afterwards. There are a few skills that boost your attack and that's what is valued once you have started. But overall, this armour's main use isn't targeted specifically for lower levels; it's the "Call Partner" (Lv.5 Skill), which is really good when you're higher levelled, since taking away your enemies BtH by –10% is astounding. I can assure you all that it will prove helpful once you are higher levelled and face those monsters, which have an extraordinarily strong attack, yet lack accuracy. Trust me, there are level capped players with this armour in their active inventory simply for this skill.
Scholar Class: The skills from this class won't be good for too long, but there is one particular skill that will be very good and interesting: Zard Prism. In the very beginning of the Game, when you're below Lv.30 or so, you won't really need a strong attack, so Scholar's attack is more than acceptable. You can just use Zard Prism to change your weapons element. Now, that means all you need is one good weapon and you're good to go for quite some time.
Tier 2 Class Armours:
Tier 2 consists of the larger chunk of classes. Each having interesting skills and making it most of the time up to you to decide which you prefer, but of course there are a few you just can't miss out on. They are made to last to until Lv.70 generally speaking, but various of them have uses up until and well past Lv.100.
Beastmaster Class: The main skill for this armour is the summoning of guests. They are incredibly strong and attack quite a lot independently of your Charisma, but are still more oriented for Beast Warriors. It's a must have for Beast Warriors and optional for the other types of Warrior, though I still think personally the guests are equally effective for non-Beast Warriors and DogWalkers. Unfortunately, it's a very limited armour for adventurers, who can only summon one guest, either Earth, Darkness of Fire, where Guardians can summon 2 guests of any elements (Sadly, never two of the same).
Berserker Class: You need to be a Lv.5 Fighter to train as a Berserker. It's an incredible class for warriors and it allows you to do a lot of damage too! The more damage you take, the more damage you do, so you'll get stronger as the fight rages on but on the other hand, just watch out for your HP! Caution is DEFINITELY needed! Some skills are a bit inaccurate, but the damage they incur really does balance it out. It's a great armour and will last you for an exceptionally long time.
Dracomancer Class: It's a mediocre armour overall. There are only two skills that qualify as good, or useful. The Lv.4 Skill, Dragon Wings provides really good wind damage, however as a Warrior you aren't expected to have such MP. The other skill is, unfortunately, Guardian only, which is the Lv.8 skill: Great Dragon. It costs a lot of MP and there's a chance of not even working, but it'll be your access to Element X, which is really important when fighting those monsters who have all their resistances set really low. (i.e. Xyfrags) The Lv.10, Half-Dragon Transformation Skill also provides a really strong attack you can use, but for what purpose it serves, it costs a bit too much MP.
Dragonslayer Class ( Elite / Golden / Golden Eclipse) I decided to make the update on the Dragonslayer class a relatively hefty issue, so that people are not oblivious of its many uses.
The update to Dragonslayer class involved a huge shift in focus, from a class designed to damage the monster fast to one which battles by bogging the dragon down with lots of status effects. The immediate uses for this change are limited, because dragons are almost without exception huge pushovers, however one can imagine the possibilities for this class once dragons get buffed. Defeating a dragon in a contest of pure strength will not be easy by any means, making Dragonslayer's ability to strike at their weaknesses and wear them down indispensable.
For starters, the armour itself has a trigger against Dragons and Dragonkind, which will increase the damage of all player attacks (normal attacks, weapon specials, spells) by 20% when battling a dragon. That's just icing on the cake compared to the abilities of the class, though. Daze Dragon will allow you to strike at the dragon's SP and MP, which are very important to a dragon's offensive and defensive abilities (the breath attack uses SP and defensive abilities will often cost the dragon some MP). Cripple Dragon will lower the strength and dexterity of any dragon you use it on, weakening their attacks and giving you a higher chance to hit them at the same time. Coat weapon applies a poison effect to the dragon which will deal unavoidable damage over several turns, giving you a boost in damage for little cost. Add all of these abilities together, and you get an armour that is able to level the playing field against any dragon.
While these skills are all valuable tools for dealing with a tough dragon, the class does have certain drawbacks. The biggest drawback of this class is that the SP costs at level 10 are very high and won't allow you to use some of the skills more than once or twice. While you are allowed to scale back the SP costs, doing so results in less effective skills. It's also worth noting that if you are not battling a dragon or dragonkin, the armour takes a penalty in its offensive and defensive capabilities. While an incredibly potent armour to use on dragons, against other monsters, another armour will probably have to be used.
Knight Armour: It's similar in nearly every way to the Fighter Class, except more powerful. It also focuses on stronger-than normal attacks. It's a nice armour once you've entered the beginning level for it. Mace Stun can lower your enemies Blocking, making it easier for you to hit them, which is essentially one of the more prominent moves it can do. Cavalry Charge and Arrow Assault can also do some nice damage when used appropriately.
Martial Artist Class: For adventurers, the White Gi is a good armour, a good attack and decent defense, however, for it's intended levels (30 to 70), the 6000 gold tag is a bit expensive seeing as it doesn't appear to last long in terms of overall effectiveness. Guardians have access to the more specialized choices, but Ancient Spirit Gi can be simply forgotten seeing as it gets it's bonus from Intellect. Mountain Cudgel Gi is very strong and the last skill can paralyze, but the downside is the low BtH so it's probably best left with a more Pure Warrior. It practically is another version of the Berserker Class, though less useful skills. Swift Talon Gi is extremely strong but the defense is seriously bad, so that's something to keep an eye on. One last armour, Serpent Fang Gi is the last Martial Arts school; it’s got great defense and even better blocking. It has a few poison and counterattack skills, which combined with the good defense, makes it great to tank in since you can heal up and still do some damage. One other thing to watch on all the Gi's is the extremely high SP cost for the better skills; luckily, SP is regained every turn, but if you rush things, you may be left with no SP and forced to change armour. Therefore, the key to using the Gi Armours proficiently is to figure out when the appropriate time is to use the right skills.
Ninja Class: After a couple of years stuck in the gutter of bad class armours, this rejuvenated class offers several useful abilities, which for the most part, cost SP. Smoke Bomb decreases the opponent's BTH by 5 for 4 turns; Dragon Double can counter-attack the opposing monster if he misses, essentially this will raise your Combat Defense modifiers by 5 each during that turn. This class also has the passive Merciless ability, which has a chance to strengthen some of your skills - taking into account the fact that the opposing monster should be Paralyzed - which can be quite deadly if used correctly with some luck. Sacred Duality is an attack which allows you to attack with 2 of the 8 elements (however, be careful since the elements must be on the opposing spectrum i.e. Darkness/Light), which can be quite the versatile ability. The Ninja Stars ability acts as a simple ranged converter; for those that do not have Drakel Disguise, this may be a decent alternative. The passive Ninja Evasion ability boosts your Combat Defense modifiers according to your monster's type (Melee/Ranged/Magic) attack, capping at 3. The Vampire's Bite skill can Paralyze your opponent for 1 turn (a very nice ability considering the level of the class armour), and finally, the Ninja Death Strike ability is an interesting one indeed. Alone, it is rather weak, but combined with the passive Merciless ability, this attack creates great synergy. Overall, an excellent class for mid-levels. (typically around Lv. 30s - mid 60s)
Pirate Class: Patched up now, the Pirate Class is a defensive armour. While the Ninja Armour focuses mainly on offense, the Pirate Class as its counterpart focuses on defensive abilities. Summon Petey is a decent Guest, and fortunately he will attack even with 0 Charisma. He has a chance to make the enemy monster "taunted" (-5 BTH, 106.25% Base/Random/Stats damage), an interesting feature indeed. The Lv. 5 ability, Jolly Rotten Roger is a moderately effective Darkness Spell for those that cannot afford any Spell, and if at least one hit connects, it can make your foe Afraid for 4 rounds (25% chance of paralysis). The Cannon Fodder ability deals great fire ranged damage, and the SeaLeg Swagger toggle ability boosts your ranged defense by 6. Grog 'n Flog ability can Burn your foe, or leave him bleeding, via flogging. The level 9 Plunder can steal 1 HP and 1 MP potion from your enemy, and finally, the level 10 Davey Jones' Locker can Entangle your foe. This class has some decent options overall and if you can't fill up a slot this may have several uses to your character.
ShadowSlayer: Yay :D The most useless class in the game has finally been updated! The VampireSlayer class got split into two almost entirely seperate classes (in fact rival classes), ShadowSlayer, and NightHunter during it's re-vamp. They both have good Darkness and Earth defence (for their levels), and scale from Level 30 to 70. They cover massive trigger catergories, and are similar to Dragonslayer in that nature, as they are only really useful on those monsters as a result, though these armours' attacks are decent enough anyway, being on swept standards. Specifically, ShadowSlayer triggers on:
quote:
TRIGGER
This affects normal armor attacks and all the armor skills, unless specifically stated otherwise. This does not affect any weapon Specials or spells not from the armor.
Against dracopyres (were+vampire+dragon), you deal *1.2 damage.
Against werepyres (vampire+were), dracovamps (vampire+dragon or vampire+dragonkin), and weredragons (were+dragon or were+dragonkin), you deal *1.15 damage.
Against werewolves and vampires, you deal *1.1 damage.
Against mummies, ghosts, skeletons, zombies, and (werecreatures other than werewolves, like as werebats or werehares), you deal *1.05 damage.
Against anything else, you deal *0.9 damage.
It has various useful skills, starting off with a basic damage boosting one, for a small SP cost. The second is a basic healing spell, and the third boosts your damage on your normal attack and various skills for free :) The fourth skill has four variations, one for each of four main trigger catergories. They can be quite devastating, and each attempt to inflict a number of helpful status effects. The fifth skill summons a Huntragon, which is a helpful guest with a Light/Fire seeking attack, and another with a small heal on the end of it. The sixth skill covers you in a cloak of Light, and damages your enemy when the hit you, and the seventh is a helpful SP recovery skill, where you regain an amount of SP at the end of a battle against a trigger monster depending on how many turns you spent fighting it. The eighth skill seeks between Fire and Light, and attempts to make your enemy Bleed, which is a nifty status effect for good damage over time., and the ninth skill is a nice purely damaging one. The final skill is a great finisher, which deals good damage, and has a chance to Paralyse your enemy. However, it also combines nicely with the sixth skill, for a chance of insta-killing your opponent.
In terms of utility, this is a great armour to use within it's intended Level range (30 to 70), and therefore can be used both as a normal elemental armour, and also as trigger armour... and also as a class armour :D
NightHunter: Is the more offense orientated armour, doing lots of damage in one go, compared with the more defensive, damage over time, ShadowSlayer. The one downside is that one of the best skills has an HP cost, which means you do have to watch out :P NightHunter has a slightly different trigger pool to ShadowSlayer:
quote:
TRIGGER
This affects normal armor attacks and all the armor skills, unless specifically stated otherwise. This does not affect any weapon Specials or spells not from the armor.
Against dracopyres (were+vampire+dragon), you deal *1.2 damage.
Against werepyres (vampire+were), dracovamps (vampire+dragon or vampire+dragonkin), and weredragons (were+dragon or were+dragonkin), you deal *1.15 damage.
Against werewolves and vampires, you deal *1.1 damage.
Against mummies, ghosts, skeletons, zombies, and (werecreatures other than werewolves, like as werebats or werehares), you deal *1.05 damage.
Against anything else, you deal *0.9 damage.
Hmm, so a run-down of this one's skills - the first skill is basically the same as ShadowSlayer's - more damage for some SP. The second skill already brings out NightHunter's more offensive side - rather than a pure healing spell, it has a vampiric health draining attack where you heal HP equal to that dealt. Surprisingly, the third skill is defensive, lowering your enemy's damage slightly, but that probably helps compensate for it's HP draining capabilities. The fourth skill is also similar in that it has four sub-skills for different sub-groups of triggers. However, rather than inflicting nerfing status effects, the first has a chance to deal 5* damage, and the rest a chance to inflict a status on the monster that essentially equates to an extra turn (aka, two times as much damage :) ). The fifth skill also summons a Huntragon, but a slightly different one, which seeks between all eight elements, and heals on both attacks. The sixth skill is the same, except it's more of a Darkness aura, and the seventh is exactly the same. The eighth skill is a status skill, which attempts to Entangle your opponent, lowering their Dexterity, and if they're a trigger monster, Paralyse them too, equivalent to MOAR DAKKA :D The ninth skill is purely damaging, but the tenth... The tenth skill is literally suicidal - it bolsters your damage for almost all skills, and your normal attack, at the cost of HP, whilst essentially disabling all healing attacks. It's great fun to use though :)
Overall, this holds the same place in your inventory as ShadowSlayer would, it's just down to whichever you prefer.
Wizard Robe: Recently updated with 9 class armours, Wizard is a class you absolutely must get... if you're a Mage. A Warrior could pick up Generalist's Robes. It has a cheap MP healing skill that could see some use and it has an automatic spellboost that works on healing spells.
Tier 3 Class Armours:
Tier 3 Armours are intended for players over Lv.70 and below Lv.90, although some still have uses far beyond that, and start way earlier. Currently, there are 3 Tier 3 Classes, Paladin, Necromancer and Assassin.
Necromancer Class ( Obsidian Cloak) Another Class Armour that's intended for mages, yet still has a few primary uses for Warriors. The Lv.7 Skill can lower your opponents blocking, but that's not why Necromancer is such a good armour and should be purchased as soon as possible. The Lv.1 Skill does over 5 times your weapons damage for just 30 MP, unbelievably excellent for Adventurers, yet still as wonderful for Guardians too, since MP vanishes fast for Warriors. Guardians also have another strong skill, Undead Mutant, which essentially multiplies your weapons damage by 10!! Sure, 125 MP is quite a lot, but that's a lot of damage! Those 2 skills have one minor drawback: they both don't take Stat bonuses into consideration, but with such immense power, what difference does it make?
Paladin Class ( Golden Holy Armour) The Lv.1 Skill, Bless Weapon has incredibly high BtH for those Sneaks and Ambushes. Daimyo also happens to be a great guest which can heal! ^_^ Lay on Hands and Resurrection can heal you and the Lv.7 and 9 Skills can do a lot of damage too!
Assassin Class: A devastating class. Dual Wield gives good power and is a monster when a special triggers. Yajuu and Zetsubou Dageki are excellent sources of Harm damage, especially since you don't have the MP for Void spells. Death From Above offers a nice array of skills, as does Final Blow. Backstab and Sneak Attack are fairly basic damaging skills, and the Hitokiri summon rounds off an excellent group of skills.
General Rotation Armours: [UWG403]
- In this section, I'm going to talk to you about which armours, as in general rotation armours (not necessarily Mastercrafted, although this will include the armours from Mastercraft sets) that you should aim to progress through in the game, because they are the best armours for what they do. I'll go through these by element, because then I get to use those nice pictures again ^ ^
 Fire[UWG431]
Falerin's Bespoke Bedizen - This was the first swept Fire armour we got, and it only has one real downside, and that is a Melee -> Ranged conversion on one of it's attacks. Fortunately, that attack has a 30% chance of occuring, and the other, 'normal' attack doesn't convert. It has a Mid-defensive lean, which doesn't matter really in the long run, except you won't get to see big numbers. It also covers Darkness as well as it does Fire, which currently isn't that great seeing how you will almost definitely have Nemesis in your inventory, but gives you an alternative should you want it :)
Overlord's Dynasty - Yay ^ ^ This is the re-vamped Reign set, and it's a whole lot better than before :D It covers Fire well for a fully offensive armour, along with great combat defences. It has four hits, which makes it as reliable as Nemesis, though it does have a tiny inaccurate lean, but it has a great ability - Celerity. This is the more offensive equivalent of Paralysis, which allows everyone on your side to attack again, meaning two turns in one. With an average..
 Water[UWG432]
- At the moment, we don't need a Water armour anymore, because we have swept armours for every other element. However, here is the only viable option at the moment, and the top level token version would allow you full versatility over elements, with a swept option for every one.
Felled Gunfighter - This is an absolutely fantastic armour. It's a token armour, but has a level 112 variant which can serve Guardians well. The top level version has the best second Water resistance in the game, and is great fun if you want to switch your no-drop element to Fire so every armour in you inventory is swept. It also comes with great Darkness defence, which means that when we get a pure Ice armour you can get rid of Nemesis if you want to.
 Wind[UWG433]
Cyclone Wyvern Rider - Absolutely beautiful - a Post-Sweep Wind armour with great art (which can lag a bit, but shouldn't matter too much), a nice lean, and good tiering. Everyone get this, and it also comes with a nice skill that can poison the enemy if you want to. There genuinely isn't anything else to say besides buy it. Adventurers will also be able to use this as their end-game Water armour for now.
 Ice[UWG434]
Nemesis' Testament - Swept in early 2011, this armour's animation does not take too long. As well as being the best Ice armour in the game, it is also one of the best options in the game for Darkness, mainly down to allowing compression, and as it does four hits each turn, it's one of the most reliable. It has a nice backlash effect, which deals a portion of damage dealt to you back at your opponent. Get this if you don't have access to the following, because it is absolutely insane, and the art is sick.
Dragon Leathers - This is a really, really cool armour. Unfortunately, it is a promo item, so you have to buy the Dragon's Secret novel to gain access to it, but that isn't a bad thing :P It has the best resistance to Ice in the game, and along with it, the best to Water as well, making it an absolutely excellent choice of armour, because it boasts mid-offensive power along with those great resistances, as well as being 6 levels in power above the current level cap. Another great aspect of this armour is a trigger it has on dragons, granting an extra 6 to each of your combat defences, which ought to give even Essence Dragons a hard time.
 Earth[UWG435]
Chimeran Armour - I love this armour so much. It is mid-offensive, so it loses in power to Morningstar, but has better defences. There is no reason to get either over the other until you get to level 135, because there is currently no level 135 variant of this armour *sadface* It has an epic skill, which can poison the enemy, unlocking a skill which pwns the enemy, and the pet is one of the cutest in the game (that has nothing to do with the armour)
Morningstar Plates - This is the most powerful armour that follows your weapon's element (see Algern's Carapace) in the whole game, because it's Mastercraft ability means each consecutive successful hit does 1.06x damage (this doesn't stack) which provides a massive boost to it's overall output. It suffers slightly in resistance compared with Hunter, but the offense is more than worth it :D
Burro Riders
 Energy[UWG436]
Thunderbird Costume - This is a great post-sweep, neutral armour, and it should be you end game armour for Energy, because it's defences and offence surpass the final Hunter armour, although you can of course use Hunter at earlier levels.
Hunter Armour - This armour is also really great, and covers Earth as well as it does Energy, making it great for compression. It comes with a nifty skill, which may look like a spell, but takes stat damage from Strength and Dexterity, making it much more suited to Warriors. This is a great alternative to Thunderbird at most levels, but as your final Energy armour, you are much better off getting Thunderbird.
 Light[UWG437]
Solaris Plate - This is the most offensive light armour in the game (non-rare), and has a great skill for Guardians. It has odd tiers, which can be helpful, but means it loses out at the top end for Guardians, as it suits a more end game Adventurer option. One of the armours listed below is an alternative, but it's always worth having this armour in you inventory, because there's nothing wrong with using the power when you can sacrifice the defence.
Shadow of Doubt - This armour has great Light resistance, and great Darkness resistance as well. You may prefer to get it over Solaris because Solaris' defence doesn't quite cut it at Level 140. That said, you can still hang on to it if you prefer the offence. The only downside to this armour is that the really interesting skill uses Charisma as the main stat, which does mean it is great for Beastmasters. I just use it for the damage, and it's great for that, so most people should get it without a shadow of doubt :P
Jester Disguise
 Darkness[UWG438]
- The current best non-token/package Darkness armours have all been stolen by other elements :O So either Nemesis, Shadow of Doubt, or Falerin's Suit.
Gatekeeper - For those of you who can afford it, this is probably the best Darkness armour in the game, up there with The Decimator. It has a neutral lean, so a slightly worse attack, and the same resistances, but much better combat defences. As a cross between the Overlord and Twilight sets, it grabs half of their abilities - meaning half the chance of Celerity, to attack twice in one turn, and half the chance of a guaranteed block against any attack that the respective armours have. It has three attacks, one of it's own, and one innacurate, and one accurate one, along with decent Fire and Light resistances. I'd say this draws about even with The Decimator...
The Decimator - This is another Special Offer Z-Token package, similar to the Z-Blade Scythe and Dainashini, except it comes with more Tokens, meaning you can buy more along with it :P The armour itself is absolutely amazing - the top level version is a Power level 153 Fully Offensive Mastercraft, and it has 40% resistance to Darkness, making it one of the top armours in the game for it. I also comes with a great finishing skill, which can reduce your enemy's Endurance, and in turn, it's HP for a turn, meaning that you will easily be able to kill it the following turn, provided the pure power of the skill doesn't kill it in the first place! It's also colour customisable, and the one problem with it is that it has slightly lower Combat Defences than it perhaps should, to compensate for the Darkness resistance.
Other[UWG439]
AntiGuardian - This is an absolute beast for offence, and only loses out because it came out at a time where min-maxed resistances were too mainstream. This means you probably wont end the game with this armour, although it has an absolutely amazing skill as well, which can rip you enemies to shreds, and hence, this serves more as a utility armour.
Algern's Carapace - This is an absolutely great armour, and a bit of an experiment from the staff - it is actually a neutral leaning armour, but is locked into Darkness damage, which means it receives a 1.9x damage bonus (although this may get nerfed at some point) but therefore means it will deal absolutely amazing damage. It is great therefore for farming, and it is even worth using against a Darkness enemy if their Darkness modifier x1.9 is higher than their highest modifier. It's skill can be an absolute life saver as well - it restores your HP for the damage dealt, and even though it deals half damage to pay for this, it still receives the bonus for being Darkness locked, so can heal loads :D Also, when using this armour, you should use a no special weapon to optimise it's power, the likes of the Adventurer no-drops, DragonBlades and Usterik's Dagger being options. I'd use this as a utility armour also, for either healing or farming fighting lots of weak monsters :P
Your No-drop Element: [UWG404]
- At the moment, there is a shortage of armours in some elements, but there are no real shortages of weapons of shields. For this reason, your Guardian no-drop element should be based solely on your armour inventory:
Fire: This is no longer a contender, with the newly re-vamped (Reign) Overlord set, along with Falerin's suit.
Water: The only real contender; an under-levelled armour for Guardians, and a Wind armour for Adventurers being the only options at the moment.
Wind: With the rewards sweep, you shouldn't have any difficulty purchasing Cyclone Wyvern rider, so Wind is out of the question.
Ice: Nemesis is a great option, with no defects, so you shouldn't really contemplate Ice.
Earth: Most definitely not, with lots of post-sweep options, amongst a few interim options.
Energy: There's nothing wrong with the options we have here.
Light: Solaris and Shadow of Doubt cover this well.
Darkness: This was a fair enough choice before we got Shadow of Doubt, but now that we have it, you don't really want to align to Darkness.
Neutral: This is an option, and good if you enjoy using your no-drops for farming, and it will be even more viable when we have an option for every other element to use as the armour you go into battle in. However, you are much better off making up for the much needed Water gap with your no-drop.
- You should be able to tell now that I will be addressing Guardian set-ups for Fire and Water aligned no-drops, so here we go :D
Armours by Level: [UWG405]
The above section may have information about classes, but that isn't enough. This section will outline what armours you should be buying as you level up, with lists at levels 50, 80, 110, 132 for Adventurers, and 140 for Guardians with armours you should probably have by then. I'm going to list my recommendations for Warriors, and there will be some dispute, due to things like the number of options for one element. I will also go for the best option overall, and armours that cover more than one element will in most cases be secondary, unless they specifically cover one of their elements best (i.e, Nemesis)
Low Levels - Up to L50
Just start off using Steel Plate or Guardian Plate for a few levels. These levels really aren't that important, and it is possible to get to level 52 within one day. For this reason, you can mess about with class armours for a while, although you may want to pick up some MC's, yet at the same time you could just wait a while. In any case, at level 10, you can go pick up Aerodu to have a better offense and accuracy, but not much in the way of resistances. Also try and get Rogue armour, which isn't good for offense/defense either but has a very overpowered summon guest. At level 15, you can start making attempts to get to the Werepyre armour, which has offense and defense and will last you all the way to level 45. At Level 45, pick up Lesser Graceful Dracopyre or Lesser Dracopyre of Night. Guardians (more so BeastMasters) can also pick up Primal Garb eventually, and train that to use Double Guests.
At level 30, you can pick up and train Dragonslayer. Once you get it maxed out it is quite a good armour, and can even be used to level 70. The level 45 Elite versions are even better. Ninja's Shinobi Shozoku is a good buy as well, although the later rolls in the quest are hard.
Both Adventurers and Guardians should pick up Necromancer Robes ASAP. Guardians upgrade to Obsidian Cloak when they can. Adventurers should use Undead Giant and Guardians stick to Undead Mutants. This should be your primary source of damage and nothing else compares to the damage this class produces until after level 50, so get this and use it ;p
If you've got the Blade of Awe already, which you should have, then feel free to go and get some of the better Guardian no-drops, or more likely, Ultraguardian, as offence > defence at lower levels. Don't worry about elementising either, just have fun for a while :P
If you want MC's, then get the Morningstar Lineage at level 45, and if you can beat Rigel Articus, then get the Solaris Plates at levels 10, 30 and 50.
By Level 50:
Steel Plate or Guardian Plate
Rogue
Dragonslayer or Elite Dragonslayer
Shinobi Shozoku
Necromancer Cloak or Obsidian Cloak
Lesser Graceful Dracopyre, Lesser Dracopyre of Night or Werepyre
Morningstar Lineage
Luminous Solaris Plate
Mid Levels - L50-80
There's really not much to get right away. Focus on training your Class levels and buying other things as well as training your stats, but remember to save a bit of gold.
At L70, a few very good armours appear. At this this point you should be selling your class armours and getting an armour for every element. Doesn't mean all classes are useless now. The Assassin Class is discussed above, and Whispering Raiment should definitely be on your purchase list, and can cover Water, Wind and Earth really well. Definitely level this class right the way up. There are also the new, long-awaited Dracopyre subrace armours. They scale to your Dracopyre level and unlock a few class-like abilities, and since they're on the newest offense standards they are very powerful. It doesn't really matter which side you go for, and you can switch easily anyway. These are really just for fun, although you could skip Morningstar for the Graceful version if you are low on gold. The only real differences are the resistances, and Graceful has an innacurate lean, whilst Night an accurate one.
Also, by this point Guardians will want to have upgraded their Guardian Plate to one of the advanced no-drops. Ultraguardian or Armour of Awe. Go for the Mighty Awe one, because you won't have the stats to utilise the Deft version optimally at this stage, and Mighty UG if you still want offence, though the Deft version has a nice paralysis chance if you use Ranged weapons. At Level 70 you should get the Brilliant Solaris Plate. It boasts enormous offensive power, and Guardians get an amazing, powerful, and cheap skill with it.
Thunderbird Costume is the last armour you should get in this bracket to start covering all elements, and will also suffice for Wind as well as Energy at the moment, although Assassin will cover Wind better if you have it fully levelled. I think you should get Morningstar Origins to cover Earth, and for slightly more offensive power than Solaris. You'll have a spare slot, so you could put another class here, or Algern's Carapace (Guardian) for Darkness locked offence, or AntiGuardian for another great skill. They are both quite a few levels low however, so are only really for utility uses.
By Level 80:
Your choice here (At this point it should be attuned to Fire if you are a Guardian)
Thunderbird Costume for Energy (and Wind)
Morningstar Origins for Earth, Adventurers should go for the Venomous Chimeran Knight for Earth instead, and use it's secondary resistance to Fire.
Whispering Raiment for Water (and Wind)
Avenger's Principle for Ice and Darkness
Brilliant Solaris Plate for Light
Graceful Dracopyre or Dracopyre of Night
As above
High Levels - L80-110
Just a lot of upgrades here. MC's and Solaris can be upgraded at level 90, and MC's at 105. There are also a number of other rotation armours to pick up here, and by now, you should have dropped all class armours, though you could retain Assassin if you have low Luck, so you can attack first more often. You should also have enough gold to purchase Cyclone Wyvern Rider by level 103.
Meeeh - you can choose between Morningstar and Chimeran now, and the lowest levelled armour you should have will be the Thunderbird costume at level 98. The rest is below, and this time Algern's Carapace and AntiGuardian are for everyone, and much closer to your level.
Guardians should align to either Water or Fire now, and you can get the Deft Awe armour now if you have 200 Dexterity and at least 100 Luck.
By Level 110:
Adventurers
Steel Plate
Nova Knight Light Plate for Fire
Scourge's Tenet for Ice and Darkness
Toxic Chimeran Cavalier or Morningstar Legacy for Earth
Radiant Solaris Plate for Light
Thunderbird Costume for Energy
Cyclone Wyvern Rider for Wind and Water
Whispering Raiment or Algern's Carapace or AntiGuardian Plate
Guardians (Fire)
Whichever no-drop you want
Scourge's Tenet for Ice and Darkness
Toxic Chimeran Cavalier or Morningstar Legacy for Earth
Thunderbird Costume for Energy
Radiant Solaris Plate for Light
Cyclone Wyvern Rider for Wind and Water
Whispering Raiment or Algern's Carapace or AntiGuardian Plate
"Ditto"
Guardians (Water)
Whichever no-drop you want
Scourge's Tenet for Ice and Darkness
Toxic Chimeran Cavalier or Morningstar Legacy for Earth
Thunderbird Costume for Energy
Radiant Solaris Plate for Light
Cyclone Wyvern Rider for Wind
Nova Knight Light Plate or Algern's Carapace for Fire
Whispering Raiment or AntiGuardian Plate
Top Levels - L110+
Basically just upgrades here, but there are a few interesting options at interim stages for Guardians, because there are a large number of LTS items which have Z-Token top level variants, but Guardians ones in the level 110-120 area. I'm basically just mentioning them here so you don't miss out on them :)
Nightmare Wyvern Rider (Level 110)
Felled Gunfighter (Level 112) It turns out Guardians should use this for Water at the end of the game if you can't afford the highest version, even though it converts to Ranged, there really isn't another option.
Also, it's a bit hard to list everything for Guardians, because there are genuinely so many options. I'll list a personal preference, in which I'll try to get the most offensive options in (or the best) and then other options you could switch around for. Look to the above section for compression options I haven't mentioned or other armours to slot in.
Side Note 1: Algern's Carapace has a nerf coming to it. Nothing has been said but keep that in mind, it might not be so useful in the future.
Side Note 2: I'm not going to mention the Salvation armours here, because they literally have nothing going for them any more besides their skill, and if you're looking for a Darkness skill then you'd be best off using Darkbolt from AntiGuaridian. Come to think of it though, they are a token option for Adventurers, but from a personal point of view, you should get Guardianship before tokens.
End Game:
Adventurers
Steel Plate
Nova Knight Plate or Algern's Carapace for Fire
Cyclone Wyvern Rider for Wind and Water
Castigator's Doctrine for Ice and Darkness
Virulent Chimeran Champion or Morningstar Tradition or Peerless Hunter for Earth
Blazing Solaris Plate or Shadow of Doubt for Light (and Darkness)
Thunderbird Costume for Energy
Whispering Raiment or Antiguardian Plate
If you're going to get Hunter over the other two Earth options, then Thunderbird only beats it slightly, so isn't a necessity. I'd actually reccomend it more if you particuarly want a utility armour, else your Water armour takes precedence.
You can choose between AC and Nova for Fire, and personally I'd go with AC, because the Darkness locked attack is more than made up for by it's compensation, and the skill is great for healing with SP, so it can be used as a utility armour at the same time.
*Guardians w/ Fire*
Whichever no-drop you want
Morningstar Bloodline or Deadly Hunter for Earth (and Energy)
Cyclone Wyvern Rider for Wind
Nemesis' Testament for Ice and Darkness
Blazing Solaris Plate or Shadow of Doubt G for Light (and Darkness)
Thunderbird Costume for Energy
Felled Gunfighter (Level 112) for Water
Whispering Raiment or Algern's Carapace or Antiguardian Plate
*Guardians w/ Water*
Whichever no-drop you want
Morningstar Bloodline or Deadly Hunter for Earth (and Energy)
Cyclone Wyvern Rider for Wind
Nemesis' Testament for Ice and Darkness
Blazing Solaris Plate or Shadow of Doubt G for Light (and Darkness)
Thunderbird Costume for Energy
Nova Knight Plate or Algern's Carapace for Fire
Whispering Raiment or Antiguardian Plate
Other Options
Nightmare Wyvern Rider is a great armour, with absolutely amazing artwork, but currently doesn't hold much inventorial use, because we don't have a pure Ice armour, so it's element overlaps with Nemesis', which is needed in you inventory as the best Ice armour in-game. However, get it if you can, and then you can switch Nemesis out when we get a pure Ice armour. It is also slightly more powerful.
The Decimator is a better option than the above, and would take exactly the same place, but you have to buy it in a package.
Felled Gunfighter is one of my favourite armours in the game - it has a 10% chance to do an absolutely insane attack, and amazing art. This is a much better option for Water if you have Fire no-drops, and is just as good for Darkness as well, which means you can again ditch Nemesis if you want to when we get another Ice armour. Do bear in mind though that it converts all attacks to Ranged, so won't be quite as good, and more so, not as accurate for characters without Dexterity.
Shields: [UWG007]
Shields are very important. They can raise your defenses, your blocking and some even raise your damage. In the earlier levels, Shields aren't essential, mostly because monsters just can't do enough damage until the later levels.
No-Drop Shields:[UWG501]
- Adventurer Shield
- Probably more useful early on in the game than at higher levels, Adventurer Shield has an effective power level of YourLevel - 20 with a minimum of 0. More impressive in terms of resistances than defensive modifiers, it can act as your multi-elemental shield at mid levels. Since it takes up a slot, you can bite the bullet and use this instead of the recommended Gyrate Shield at L65, if you fill up your inventory and have no other room. Boasting decent resistances that, overall, surpass even Gyrate, it's passable until you move on towards the big guns, where at the top levels you will unfortunately need multiple compression shield if you plan on having utility shields in you inventory.
- Guardian Shield
- You can either choose to keep a flat Guardian Shield with no elemental alignment or choose to elementize your shield. The flat Guardian Shield is similar to Adventurer Shield in that it has solid all-around resistances but unimpressive defensive modifiers. In this sense, if need be, this can act as your Gyrate Shield for those mid levels. Further on, you will definitely want to move on to either Shield of Awe or UltraGuardian Shield, but if you haven't done so yet, an elementized Guardian Shield isn't too bad, either. Which ever element you attune to will receive massive coverage. Guardian Shield is not mastercrafted like the big two are, so it doesn't have a special ability.
- Shield of Awe
- Both SoA and UGS have the same elemental resistances dependant on the elemental wheel and defensive modifiers, so we then examine the mastercraft ability of each. If the monster's last attack hits, then during the next turn you get +4 to all Combat Defences for one turn for the SoA. It's a decent ability if you are short on the stats or equipment to raise your defensive modifiers. Also keep in mind the full set bonus. I find this shield works particularly well with the Deft Armour of Awe - if your enemy hits you, then you make them less likely to on their next turn, and therefore, you more likely to heal a bucket-load.
- UltraGuardian Shield
- Again, with similar defenses, I actually prefer UGS' mastercraft ability. If you dodged your opponent's last attack, then you recover a bit of SP. Similar to Deft AoA, dodging is increased with high DEX and LUK, so Pure builds might prefer UGS. Keep in mind that you can mix and match, owning the AoA and the UGS. You won't get the full set bonus, but if you are one who enjoys using SP via abilities or guests, pick up UGS.
Shields to last a Lifetime:[UWG502]
Starting at level 80, you should try you hardest to fill every slot with the best shield possible so you cover all 8 elements in terms of resistances, just like with armours. Basically, there are a few compression shields available if you want some utility shields as well, and I'll list those at the end of this list, which consists solely of re-vamped elemental shields we got a while back:
- These guys for Fire. An alternative is the Overlord Shield series. Although the top tier does not have an optimal -25% to Fire, it has a Backlash effect that hits the monster the more it hits you, dealing a small amount of Harm damage relative to a Melee weapon's damage of the shield's level. This makes it even better for builds with low Dexterity or Luck, but also makes up for the marginally lower resistances, particularly over longer battles.
- These guys for Water
- These guys for Wind
- These guys for Ice
- These guys for Earth
- These guys for Energy
- These guys for Light. Guardians however, should pick up the Solaris Shields, because they get a nifty healing ability which make the Solaris shields some of the best in the game. Adventurers can choose between the two.
- These guys for Darkness
These are the shield you will want to consider for utility:
- Eye of Naab - as afore mentioned, though I'm not a great fan of it, and it bears it's best uses for Mages
- IronThorn ( and co ) - these should be almost every Warrior's best friend - they provide massive boosts in damage at the cost of lowered accuracy, and awful defence :P Trust me though, they are great, and unless you hate the accuracy loss, or believe you should cover every element as well as you can instead, you should definitely get them, and use one of the following compression shields.
- Asgardian Shield - this is only really suitable for Warriors who use only Ranged weapons. It is a bit OP at the moment, but I still use it because it isn't so in the way that EoN is. It basically provides a *1.1 boost to all Ranged attacks, with no accuracy cost, and much better defence. I use it over IronThorn on my main because you don't lose any accuracy, and missing is way to mainstream, and quite frankly, at the top end of the game, you will rarely get away with making yourself easier to kill :P It also means you don't really need a compression shield, because it covers some elements with a respectable -18%, which means one of those should do with that amount of coverage.
And finally, those promised compression shields - every Adventurer will want at least one, to make up for essentially the loss of a shield slot, and anyone with a utility shield or other shield they must have in their inventory that costs them in terms of elemental coverage should have at least one :) Just so you know, we have way too many of these now, thanks to Dev, so I decided to make it easier for you to find the elements you want, basically look for the colour you'd expect :P
- Golden Shield - ditto, but for Light and Darkness, for which reason I'd strongly suggest compressing on those elements, due to the abundance of Light and Darkness monsters.
- Shield of Sands - this is a shield with nice MRM for one which covers two elements; Wind and Earth.
- ShadowSlayer Shields - a trigger shield with MRM deficiency disease because it's a trigger shield. This one has adapted magically to own creatures of the night with Earth and Darkness resistances.
- Luminous Shields - another trigger shield, though this time it has good MRM, and triggers against shadow monsters, which are becoming more and more common these days, making this shield a good option to pick up, despite suffering elementally in the same way as Golden, covering Light and Darkness. Do bear in mind though that a number of the Darkness monsters out there are shadow creatures, and hence will trigger this shield for beastly MRM.
- Magnetic Guardians - these shields are also trigger shields, and have an effect which essentially boosts their MRM by 6 against a rare trigger category. They defend well against Water and Earth, despite covering other elements in their abundancy.
- Crystal Skull Shields - these cover Earth and Darkness really well as well, but suffer in Melee and Ranged defence though they destroy all competition in Magic defence. The only problem with these is that the have 'negative' Light resistance.
- Nova Knight Shields - despite being outdated, these shields still provide fair enough resistance to Fire and Earth.
- Supernova Shields - this is a slight odd one out, because it tries to cover three elements in one, and manages to do so quite successfully, covering Fire, Energy and Light with -18% at the top level version. It also has good combat defences.
- Demon Prisons - this is absolutely great, because it covers Fire and Darkness with -21%, and also has good combat defences.
- Monster Talons - these ones also cover Earth and Darkness with -21%, and good combat defences, which make them competition for the Crystal Skull Shields' monster Magic resistance.
- Assassin Shields - I have to say, these are a bit of a disappointment, because it covers two elements to a good degree, but covers another at the same time, which probably doesn't benefit everything else, and for that reason it has slightly bad MRM defences. However, it still covers Wind and Ice with -20%, and Darkness with -11%.
Here I'm going to put some very special shields - the S-Shields. These were revamped recently, and not only do these each provide good compression, but each one of the three defends really well against a certain attack type, which can be very helpful, particularly when you're fighting a boss who only attacks with Magic damage for example.
- Sackelberry Safeguards - you will find each of these shields has one pair of -20% resists, which are the ones you should use if you use these for compression, and then an extra pair of -10% resists, which may help you at some point. This one focuses on Earth and Light, and then Energy and Fire. However, the most notorious aspect of these shields are their combat defences. This version has 23 to Melee, 10 to Ranged, which is fairly average, and slighty below par 7 to Magic.
- Sublime Tower Shields - this one is for Ranged, with 10 to Melee and 7 to Magic. It focuses on Wind and Energy, then Water and Ice.
- Spell Barricades - this focuses on Water and Ice, then Wind and Earth. Obviously, it defends to Magic, and then Ranged and Melee.
And that should set you up for shields ^ ^
Do warriors use spells?: [UWG008]
Now that's a good question. If we can agree that spells are for Mages, then why on earth would a Warrior use a spell when he or she can just simply mash the attack button? It's obvious that warriors won't be using purely Offensive Spells, but there are several spells which focus not on the damage, but on some secondary effect. Thus, Warriors do need their spells like mages still need non-spell casting weapons. The more diverse a Warrior’s spell selection, the better he or she can adapt to different situations. Warriors will want to stick to healing spells, summon spells and some other more strategically assorted spells.
Generally at lower levels you should pick up only healing spells and possibly Galrick, if you want to squeeze out a little extra damage. Later on you may want to pick up a summon spell for each element except for one so you have space for a healing spell. Which one depends on the guest or what you want. A lot of guests have duel elements which gives you some room for space or you can just sacrifice an element like Water or Ice since they’re basically the same thing.
Summon Spells:
Fire: Summon Malinius or Summon Grax
- Malinius is a pure fire summon while Grax attacks with Fire and Darkness. Malinius is the must have, as Darkness will be covered by another guest.
Water: Summon Gaiden
- A pure water guest that has a greater change of healing you as your HP gets lower. While it’s on older standards and the highest level version is low compared to other guests, it is still a great guest due to its ever so useful healing ability.
Wind: Summon Eukara Vox or Summon Necropunk or Summon Ramleoness
- Eukara Vox is the pure Wind guest while Necropunk does Wind and Darkness damage. Ramleoness attacks with in Wind and Energy. While overlapping is fine you don't want to overlap too much, so I'd advise going with Eukara. Necropunk is great fun though, but I would advise against using it seriously because of it's elements poor relationship.
Ice: Summon Mirror Ryuusei or Summon Talvan
- Mirror Ryuusei is a pure ice guest while Talvan is an Ice/Light guest. Toss up, I would go with Talvan since it’s much stronger in the end.
Earth: Summon Antlertops
- Antlertops deals Earth and Darkness damage.
Energy: Summon Kiveras or Summon Crystal Dragon or Summon Ramleoness
- Kiveras and Crystal dragons are both pure Energy guests, while Ramleoness is Wind/Energy like mentioned above. Crystal Dragon is a clear choice this time due to its higher plvl and stable damage (compared to Kiveras).
Light: Summon Paladin or Summon Talvan or Call Guardian Angel Elder or Summon Angel Guard or Summon Guardian Angel
- For Adventurers - The Paladin series deals Light damage but has a downtrigger against anything that’s not undead, although most Darkness monsters are Undead. Talvan as mentioned above.
- The last three options are all Guardian only, and I would advise over the other two - the first is an SP Light guest that heals you every so often, the second is an MP Light guest that attacks normally, but can save you from death, and if successfully so, then it will come back as a Darkness guest. The final one is the same as the first, but an MP guest, with a slightly more powerful heal.
Darkness: Summon Cartwright or Summon Necropunk or Summon Grax or Summon Antlertops
- Cartwright is the only pure Darkness guest out of all of these. Leaving that aside you should have a multi-element guest already that does Darkness. So I encourage you to use this slot for a healing spell.
Void: Summon Memet
- Our only Void guest ever - the top level versions cost Tokens unfortunately, but the Level 109 version is Gold for Guardians. This can be fun, but I'd only really advise using it as a Beastmaster, because it's damage is negligable by itself, so really needs the boost from Charisma, down to the fact that it has to pay for the versetility of it's element in damage.
Healing and Utility Spells:
Low to Mid Levels - Up to L70
For the most part, you want to avoid Healing spells for a while. The lower versions are simply too expensive to warrant purchase, and potions are more powerful than them anyway. At L54, however, you can pick up a spell called Scrambler Light. A purely strategic spell, this can be used to rearrange your opponent's Elemental Resistances at the cost of raising their blocking. It is only useful on a handful of monsters, but it is worth is since it makes them infinitely easier, and works a treat with Algern's Carapace. The same level offers you Randomizing Curse, which does the same thing, only raises their offense instead of blocking. Both spells are ineffective against monsters of their own element or monsters that resist/absorb that element. At L60, those with extra gold can get their first healing spell, Heal Wounds. It's good for a quick burst of HP if you don't have potions or are in a really tough fight. This is optional, however, and you very likely won't need it for all but the toughest of challenges.
Mid to High Levels - L70-100
Once you hit L80, another Healing spell shows up. Heal Deep Wounds is one that should not be skipped unless you are low on money. By the time you get to L80, monsters are tougher and you may need to heal more often. More upgrades in the form of Randomizing Blight and Scrambler Beacon appear at L92, so upgrade the one you don't have.
High Levels - L100+
At L100, yet another upgrade in Healing spells arrives. Heal Extreme Wounds is stronger than all the others, but carries a hefty MP cost. It is nonetheless a good upgrade, and lasts another 20 levels until Heal Mortal Wounds. With this spell, a player with 0 END averages a heal of around 410, and a player with 50 END gets around 465 HP on average. Definitely worth checking out, but remember you can only cast it once. Alternatively (or additionally) you can get a Water of Immortality, and although its heal is nowhere as good as Heal Wounds, it costs SP instead.
Pets: [UWG009]
There is no longer a definition between 'Beastmaster' and 'non-Beastmaster' pets, in the sense that pets no longer require any Charisma to attack, and will always do so - 0 Charisma or 245 Charisma :P For a more detailed explanation, see this post, which explains, in short, that most pets will now have AI's (Artificial Intelligence) whereby they will calculate whether to do certain things or not dependant upon the situation. This means there is still an advantage to being a beastmaster, because if you are, then pets which choose whether to do their more powerful attack or not based in your Charisma will advantage you more, and your Charisma still adds to pet damage and accuracy.
This also means that I will basically name the pet series' that you can follow, because we now have pets on these new standards for almost all elements, and you can choose which you want where there are two or more options based on personal preference, and as already mentioned, your Charisma.
Fire[UWG601]
- Flaming Undead Kitten Series - Use this is you are looking for straightforward damage
- Undead Fire Giant Series - And this if you want your pet to heal you when you HP is low (this works in the same way as Gaiden)
Water[UWG602]
To quote something from before the guide re-vamp XD
quote:
Sadly water lacks in options which is kinda a trend when you think about it.
- Hummingpotamus Series - Unfortunately, we don't have new pets for these elements yet - Guardians should follow this route...
- Dinozard Series - And Adventurers this one.
- Rock LobZard Series - There are a few Guardian variants, but you can get this for Water if you have the tokens.
And for the above reason, I will also retain the previous BM pathway:
Dinozard Maximus -> Dinozard Horridus -> Elder Gweez -> Guardian Goldyfish (Guardian only)
Wind[UWG603]
Ach - despite saying we have options for most elements, we have no new ones here either:
- Hummingpotamus Series - This is really helpful though, because it means you can compress your pet inventory as well, so if there are any 'utility' pets lying around (nerfing etc) then this is the guy to have in your inventory. I wouldn't advise compression for BMs though, because pets are half of your damage.
- Gong of the Wind! Series - If you aren't in Aerodu, then join Aerodu and grab this pet if you are an Adventurer.
- Blue Muhrble Series - BMs just upgrade this cute guy, right the way to Level 90 :P
Ice[UWG604]
- Nemesis Series - Great for pure power for all, and it even comes with an FSB when used with the other Nemesis items. This isn't actually on new standards, but it's an old non-BM MC'd pet which means everyone can use it.
- Nerfkitten Series - An alternative for BMs, but just as bad as EoN in my opinion - it has a completely OP and extremely helpful nerfing ability, so pick it up if you wish, and honestly, BMs really need it because they lose out on Weapon accuracy and this guy will help a lot with that.
Earth[UWG605]
- Eye-Spy Series - This is the same as the Nemesis in terms of not being on current standards, and is a good option, only losing to the following because of the MogZard's effect:
- MogZard Series - This is my favourite of the three, and can inflict aftershock on you opponent, which will deal more damage to them in one or two turns, as well as unlocking it's more powerful attack.
- PeaceZard Series - This guy has some really cool effects - the first is an attack that can Daze your opponent, and the second is that it reduces everybody's damage by 20%, unless you should overcome that effect with a save roll, which seems advantageous to the player.
Energy[UWG606]
- Thunderchick Series - This is a nice lot of straightforward damaging pets, there only competition is the
- Mini Giant Space Braken Series - These guys are slightly more complex, and can inflict an Energy Burn on your opponent, also unlocking a more powerful attack. It's all really down to preference here.
Light[UWG607]
- Fairy Godmother Series - If you are a Guardian, then get this - it is the ultimate pet for everyone, and it can also be utilised tactfully, because it comes with an MP healing ability, which will allow you to retain guests for longer, and more likely, indefinitely :D Unfortunately, Adventurers will have to settle for the Level 110 version, which isn't a problem at lower levels, but means that their MP will be drained slightly each turn with higher levelled guests, as a net effect of their upkeep and FGM's regen.
Darkness[UWG608]
- Mini Bird of Prey Series - Yay! A new Darkness pet series. Get these guys, who just deal raw damage. There's also a Level 128 version for Adventurers, and the top level variant is Level 138 :D
Misc Items: [UWG010]
Miscellaneous Items can be, at times, the difference between a victory and loss, yet for others, it can simply be a waste of time. They can be used for blocking, resistances, stat boosts or other handy effects. I'll go through a little list that will sort some useful misc item by what they do. I will list the stats of the top level versions only, for simplicity's sake.
Defensive Items:
- Use these to increase you HP, decrease Resistances, and up Blocking, all great things over long and challenging battles.
Head of Raydius Dragon(Guardian/Token): +10 Ranged Defense, -10% Earth/Darkness resistance, +15 DEX, +5 STR/INT. Gives you great protection from Ranged attacks, as well as the largest boost to Earth and Darkness resistance in-game. Good for the occasional pesky Ranged monster or hard-hitting Earth/Darkness enemies.
Helm of Drakonnan and Drakonnas(Guardian): +10 Magic Defense, -10% Fire(Drakonnan)/Energy(Drakonnas). These two helms are primarily used for Blocking, as there aren't too many top-level Fire/Energy monsters you should worry about. Which one you pick is your choice.
Granemor Captain's Helm(Guardian): +10 Melee Defense, -5% Darkness Resistance. Cheap and effective against Trolls and similar monsters. The Darkness resistance isn't as good, but in my opinion it's better than the +15 STR of Warrior's Edge.
Everfrozen Shard(Token): +10 Melee Defense, -10% Water/Ice Resistance, +15 STR, +5 DEX/INT
-The first Prime Treasure, named such because of the various bonuses it gives you. Costs quite a chunk of tokens, as you will notice. If you are a heavy Token buyer, this is a possibility if there is nothing else on your list.
Urn of Daryngord(Token): +10 Magic Defense, -10% Fire/Energy Resistance, +15 INT, +5 STR/DEX.
- The second Prime Treasure, very expensive. If you are a heavy Token buyer, this is a possibility if there is nothing else on your list.
Beleqwaya's Gift, Diamond of Body: +15 END/CHA, Small HP Regen, -5% All Resistances.
- A nice misc, especially for Beast variants. Since it doesn't give the same END boost as the below Hogg Powershard, this item would be best used in tank battles.
Hogg Powershard: +40 STR/END
- It looks like it could be an offensive item, but it really isn't. The best thing the Hogg Powershard does is give you a large chunk of HP at the last second for no turn cost. If you really need HP and can't afford a Heal or potion, try this. The downside is that unequipping the Misc removes the HP, which can kill you.
Morningstar Emblem
- This provides -8% to Earth, 8 to Melee, Ranged and Magic defences, and adds 7 BtH to you attacks, which makes it good in terms of offence as well.
Crystal of Restless Shadows
- This can be very helpful, and make sure you upgrade to the next version whenever you can. It provides resistance to Light and Darkness simultaneously, which is very helpful against Shadow creatures, and it also slightly reduces your attack power in order to heal you for a quarter of the damage you do to your opponent!
Thunderbird Helm
- Besides a very high SP cost at the moment, this misc provides great resistance to Energy, and good resistance to Wind at the same time, making this great for compression.
Urn of Prevailing Winds
- This provides great resistance to Wind, and also 30 Dexterity, which is equal to 3 blocking in every type. That will also be +4 is accuracy of Ranged weapons and 2 for Melee ones.
Flaming Skull
- This provides decent Fire and Darkness defence as well as 8 Ranged defence.
Magic Mirror
- This is absolutely amazing for compression - it is an MP Misc (so guest reliant Beastmasters beware, and also if you may want to cast a healing spell), and it gives you good resistance to your opponents main element and also main attack type.
Offensive Items:
- These boost you attacking power in some way, and are great at speeding up farming or warring efforts.
The Orbs(Token, except for Light Orb): Light Orb, Dark Orb, Energy Orb, Fire Orb, Ice Orb and Wind Orb: Provides a 20% Base/Random boost when attacking monsters of the opposite element. The Light Orb and Wind Orb are the best, as there are so many Earth and Darkness monsters.
Cagliari's Spectacles: +10 BtH against Darkness monsters
--Helpful against the higher-levelled Darkness monsters. Works for all forms of attack, save certain specials like Guardian Dragon and PWD(which can't miss anyway)
Ranger's Scope
- And here we are - the one Misc to rule them all XD This provides a great boost to Normal Ranged Player attacks as well as a BtH increase, at a very low SP cost. Even if you have just one or two Ranged weapons in your inventory you should pick this up. Even if you have one Ranged skill that counts as a normal player attack in your artillery you should pick this up.
Special Effect Items
- These have all sorts of handy effects, from healing you directly, to summoning guests, and also pets in the first turn of battle, so that you don't lose a turn of attacking.
Pet Whistle: +5 CHA, allows changing of pets without using a turn.
-Beastwarriors make the best use of this, but it's very good for everyone. If you're facing a tough monster and need to change pets, this is the item for you.
Pearapplos Basket: +15 CHA, +9 Pet BtH.
-Quite useful for Beastwarriors trying to get a Nerfkitten to hit a high-defense monster. Since it gives a good 10 BtH total for pets, it can be a great help.
Scrumptious Bora'jee(Token): +15 END, can cast Healing spell, 101-285 plus 1,062% Stats (END/8) for 278 SP. Requires a House and a Portal to Trescol.
-Essentially, you are paying 1500 Tokens to get ahold of this misc before actually paying for it. However, if you sell the Portal immediately after buying and the misc you get back 1350 Tokens, means you only lose 150. Having this item opens up several new options in battle, allowing you to save MP for extra healing if you need it, or Summon Spells for a Beastwarrior. It is also much more efficient than the Waters of Immortality, your other SP healing option:
At 40 Endurance:
quote:
1) Borajee (95): 219.550 (0.790 efficiency)
2) Borajee (70): 153.550 (0.772 efficiency)
3) Water (120): 210.600 (0.585 efficiency)
4) Water (80): 126.000 (0.565 efficiency)
5) Water (60): 91.950 (0.561 efficiency)
6) Water (40): 59.475 (0.531 efficiency)
Teacup of Life: 10% Bonus to Healing, 10 HP Regen
-This is an interesting selection. It costs a small chunk of SP per turn, but it can be worth it when you will need to healing the near future. It also boosts it's own ability, so you heal 11 HP per turn. Can overshadow Beleqwaya's Gift in certain situations.
Friendship Bracelet: Bonus CHA and Summonable Earth guest
-Quite a good misc. It gets you the only non-rare Earth summon, although you have to use AQ's Referral system to get the item. Beastwarriors should do their best to get ahold of this, because it means you can drop an Earth element summon guest, and have pure ones for every element at the same time as a healing spell.
Spirit Stone
- This provides a great healing boost, and can also summon a powerful Light guest. Get this if you are a Beastmaster for sure, and it can compress you spell inventory if you can't get the above.
To make your Misc inventory:
- I'm not actually going to list inventories for you, because I believe a Misc inventory would be unique to almost all characters, and so, my tips for putting yours together are:
- Pick two to four offensive and/or utility Miscs of your choice, to suit your character's playing style, and put them in your inventory, bearing in mind that if you choose four Miscs, then you may lose out on defence to one or two elements. (Power Shard Hogg should go here)
- Then fill the remaining slots with Resistance miscs to cover as many elements as you can. In reality, resistances matter much more than defences do, so focus on those, but a Misc with Elemental resistance and MRM defences will always be a better option than one with just Elemental resistances.
Rares to look out for: [UWG015]
- There are some rare items which do come back - every year in fact, and we call these seasonal rares. A lot of these items are very good, and some are great options to have at the end of the game, and some great fun as well. This section is here to tell you which ones to look forward to, and level up in time to buy XD
Weapons:
- Guardian Frankenglaive - Mogloween (Halloween) - This is a great weapon for Level 50, and has a damage buffing special which makes it one of the most potent Light weapons in the game. Definitely pick this up if you can, and you'll only need to let go of it around Level 70 to 80. (Or even just keep it 'til Level 85 when you get the Golden Axe)
- (Mystic) Unicorn Bowie - Blarney (St Paddy's Day) - This is a great Melee (and Magic) Light weapon, and only loses to the Tech Light very marginally. It also comes with an ability to heal you of a poison status, and although there are currently very few monsters which poison you, I would expect some to start to appear at some point, because the staff wouldn't make a weapon completely useless :P
Armours:
- Leprechaun Power Au-rmor - Blarney (St Paddy's Day) - A beast of an armour, this protects evenly against Light and Energy, and has amazing offence. Guardians should definitely consider getting the top level variant as their end game Light and Energy armour, and the other variants can be used at lower levels, though Adventurers should stick with Solaris as it is closer to their level cap.
- Horsefly Rider - April Fools - This is a very fun armour to use, and although I wouldn't reccomend it as your end-game Wind armour (unfortunately the top level variant is Guardian only), there's no reason to pick it up until you can get the highest variant of CWR if you are at the right level. It can easily serve as an alternative at lower levels however, and the only downside to it is that it's powerful attack has a steep accuracy loss.
- Loco Costume - April Fools - This armour is very interesting. It has three attacks, and because of the damage compensation on each of them, it comes out as being weaker than a fully defensive armour. However, one of the attacks can paralyse your opponent, which basically gets you another turn for free. Another heals your HP for the damage done, and the final attack deals the normal damage of a neutral armour of it's level. The one problem with it is that one of it's attacks converts to Ranged damage, so characters without Dexterity won't get as much damage out of it. It has fair enough Energy resistance, and I'd definitely reccomend it as an Adventurer's final Energy armour, unless you don't have enough Dexterity to support it. Guardians can also keep it as a utility or 'fun' armour if they want, or even as their end-game Energy armour.
Spells:
- Summon LOCOmotive - April Fools - This is basically like Necropunk, but with different art and it doesn't go up to such a high level, so the rest of this reads the same as Necropunk's evaluation :)
Pets:
- L'il Drac - Mogloween (Halloween) - This is a really cool Darkness pet, with an attack that can Control your opponent, which is basically the same as Paralysis, but damages your opponent as well. The top level version is only available to Guardians, and you can get it if you can, but the best Darkness pet at the end of the game for Adventuers...
- Mr Banjo Stiltsocks - Snugglefest (Valentine's Day) - The top level version of this is available to everyone, making this the best Darkness pet for Adventurers. Definitely get this if you can, though Guardians don't need it as much anymore.
- Baby Klang - Snugglefest (Valentine's Day) - This could be your final Energy pet for Guardians if you want it, and it's just another alternative really. It is slightly less powerful than the other end-game Energy pets though, simply due to level.
- Fishboy - Mogloween (Halloween) - This is the top Water pet in the game, so you should really try to get this if you can. It is also an old non-BM pet, meaning everyone can use it.
- Werepup - Mogloween (Halloween) - This guy is really cute, and the top level version is the best Earth pet available to Adventurers.
- Frankenspine Jr. - Mogloween (Halloween) - This Fire pet is great for it's level, but the highest level version is Level 110, so all it can really be used for is an alternative to the other Fire pets around that level.
- Vampire Nerfbat - April Fools - This is another nerfing pet like the Nerfkitten, except this one's Wind, and is also the best end-game Wind pet at the moment. Definitely grab this if you can, and I'll excuse how OP this guy is on the basis of the fact that he really is the only choice for Wind.
Miscs:
- Ear of Corn - April Fools - This misc is a great all rounder, providing an additional 5 to your MRM, and boost your BtH by 5 for Weapons, their specials, and Spells. Unfortunately, the version which does that is Z-token, and is the highest level version, but if you do have the tokens lying around, then definitely get it.
- CrabApple - April Fools - This misc is really really fun to play with. It can either provide a great resistance to a random element on your turn, or boost a random element's damage significantly. Definitely get this, even if it's just to mess about with, because cost shouldn't bother you, and if you don't want to use it, then put it into storage.
- Green Dragon Ocarina - Grenwog (Easter) - This is a great misc for BMs - it provides great Earth resistance, a great Charisma boost, and can summon a beastly guest.
And just one more thing - never, ever, ever miss a Frostvale XD
End notes and helpful links: [UWG011]
That's the end of my – well, theoretically speaking, Game Over's, Gus.’, SiLvErWiNg’s and spellfire77’s – guide. I hope it helped you and hopefully by now, you have a strong and mighty warrior that will make the monsters of LORE tremble at your sight. As much as I can update the guide, some items will come and go, so be sure to check the AQ Encyclopedia from time to time to see if something new has come, and then check out Equipment Comparison to see if it's worth checking out. In EC you'll find comparisons of weapons of all types, pets of all types, armours, spells and so much more. It's a really nice complementation to the guide. If you still can't find a item location via the Encyclopedia, be sure to check out the AQ Shop Item List. If a monster is giving you trouble, be sure to go down to Battle Strategy to get some help.
If you're looking for a build other than Warrior, you should have a look at Ward_Point's Ultimate Hybrid Guide, Rasudido's Ultimate Mage Guide, or The Game's Ultimate Ranger Guide.
“I also just have to say where I got all my inspiration to write this guide. The original, * ~ The Training Academy: Ultimate Warrior Guide ~ * by SiLvErWiNg and spellfire77. Another great inspiration for me was the Character Ratings and Advice board. I've met great friends there, all who helped in different ways, no matter how minor or how large, to build up all the knowledge I used to write this guide.”
~Gus.
Personally this was one of the best projects I’ve worked on and I’ll be honest; this was my first attempt at writing, or should I say, mass updating, a guide. So in all eventuality, I really hope I met the demands of the common Forum folk. :)
Credits: [UWG012]
Gah, too many people to thank. Lets see... I'll start with the people who got my rating career going. Orion of the Stars devbhargava, The Game, Gus., Wilderock, and Game Over all helped with that. Good thing they were around, or I never would have become a rater or made this guide. Never would have had a proper build either. Of course, Sugar, Ras, Vivi, Metalkuat, JMill, and Everest also helped in some way. Game Over and Gus. must be thanked again, along with SiLvErWiNg and spellfire for making earlier versions of the guide.
Also to those who helped with the guide. gold, Z.324, jimij770, Ward_Point, Dark Tyreal, Blaze warrior, JMill, Ebil_Twilly, BadHulk, dragonmechdude2.0, abyssblack, 1997p3, JoeSkippy, Einwill, Celidion, and... whoever else. I lost track ages ago.
Of course, there's also you! Thanks to whoever reads this guide and uses it for character advice.
"It’s short of amazing to say that only a few months ago, I was just a novice and barely able to construct my own character’s build. And here I am now, an *established* (hopefully) rater and updating one of the best guides ever. There is a rather long list of people with whom I’d like to thank. Most notably include my IRC buddies, erm…TOO MANY! D: Ok, ill narrow it down then. *:*carlitos*:*, who has quit, first helped me to create a proper looking build and really got me to enjoy AQ, deserves the largest kudos. Buddy, I hope one day that if you come back out of retirement, we can have a nice chat again ;_;. Deimius, who sadly retired, was really the first one to jumpstart my rating career. I hope I’ll see you again one day, little fella. Under The Game’s, Gus.’, and Dev Bhargeva’s (known now as Orion of the Stars…/me wonders why) tutelage, I was able to hone my rating skills. Later onwards, I met Wilderock, with whom I have established a great bond, since well…joker meets joker. :D Yes, he also gave me some invaluable advice. Chaomaster77, who has recently fell under the bondage of the AKs is also a good buddy, and in the past has provided me plenty of comparisons. Unfortunately, me and him have differing NBA tastes. Recently, as I started to work at Oblivion Rating Center, I met Ras and Vivi, both of whom are good friends of mine, sharing quite a few laughs and general meme’s along the way. I'd also like to thank Mount Everest and Jmill both for their heavy contribution in regards to numbers and such. In plenty of cases, I have used them as my lab rats, especially the former who deserves a cookie, if not more. Shevchenko997, ZzlzhT, Blues, Goth, Arbiter1234, Vezha, Tobby2, Aves, Sano, Z.324, and Sugar all also deserve some form of shoutouts and kudos!
I definitely would like to thank Gus. for giving me the opportunity to re-proofread everything he has essentially done from scratch. As you readers have probably noticed, I kept for the most part, the fundamental foundation and premises on which this guide is built upon. I mainly just patched up what needed to be updated, but seriously, there are many parts in which this guide still held true to its words. It's amazing to know that it took Gus. only one entire afternoon to create this whole shebang, while it exhausted nearly one entire week for me. Sad, really. But it goes to show you how much work and dedication Gus. has put into this guide, and therefore, I am totally blessed to be able to work on such a magnificent piece of beauty. Anyways, enough dribbling from me...
Really, I hope that this guide helps all budding Warriors out there achieve their true status and power!"
~Game Over
“I have a few people I'd like to thank. All my friends in CR&A who helped me when I needed something, although most not towards this guide. The nice people of Equipment Comparison which wrote the Guides I used for a large part of this guide. Also the nice Pedia' AK's who provided a lot of the links I used as well as a lot of the Info I needed. Also, all the people who wrote any of the Guides I've used here as well as the Stat/Price Chart from Scakk! ^_^
More specifically I'd like to thank ZzlzhtT who first offered me a job in a rating center and helped me learn a lot about all builds, warriors included. He also led me to IRC where I met many other people who helped me out. I'd like to thank both The Game and xXGothMogXx because both were great rating friends of mine as well as helped me improve. As far as improving goes, blues is a very important person here, he helped me to learn a lot more about warriors, a lot of the things I used to write the guide.
Lastly, I thank all those who looked at this guide, whether just a small part of it, or the whole thing. Especially those who decided to follow it. =)”
~Gus.
My Thank you List <3
~All the previous owners who made this guide what is it
~Vez for reformatting the guide
~Pedia AKs and Mods for making my life 100x easier
~Syr Frostbite for letting me slack by copy pasting his no drop shields analysis
Duskstar's Credits :D
~ Ward_Point for handing the Guide over to me, and offering his support and advice.
~ AVA, because I used the images from the Guide to Element Resistance and Blocking Defence for a few sections.
~ Z for putting the two halves of the Guide together :)
~ nightshadow989 and Sir Niaq for corrections.
~ afterlifex for his help in the Shields section :)
~ chadrizard and infuturity for the Bora'jee and Water efficiency comparison, chadrizard also for pointing out a mistake
~ I'd just like to thank Ward-Point again for giving me a bit of a kick where I needed it to get the re-vamping finished, and some final tips :)
~ Thanks to gold and AbGehtDiePost for corrections.
~ Xrai for some corrections :)
Armours and Down Guide Change Log: [UWG013]
MM/DD/YY
03/25/05 ~ 1st Guide owners SiLvErWiNg and spellfire77 complete the Guide.
02/10/08 ~ 2nd Guide owner Gus. rewrites the Guide.
07/02/09 ~ Guide has changed hands a third time and a mass-update (any previous grammatical errors should have been edited hopefully) has been completed. This involves every section, especially the new Dragonslayer Class plus Chieftain IronThorn.
07/31/09 ~ New Guide owner. Again. This time vezha has remade the guide. There luckily wasn't much to change this time, but a few things were fixed.
10/09/10 ~ Complete rewrite done just before midnight. Whee.
02/02/11 ~ Icicle Club and Time Spines added
05/28/11 ~ Ridiculously late updates in every section, go!
10/04/11 ~ Finished updating guide¬
DD/MM/YY
01/04/12 ~ New Guide owner, Duskstar – started working on the Guide.
05/04/12 ~ Updated up to the end of the Stats section.
20/04/12 ~ Bit late in coming, but updated to the end of the Weapons section.
22/06/12 ~ Added some more stuff :P
20/04/12 ~ Had to split the guide in two :P
06/06/12 ~ Done armours :)
06/06/12 ~ Done shields :D
07/06/12 ~ Done spells...
07/06/12 ~ Done pets :)
08/06/12 ~ Finished re-vamping guide to the end that at the time I did a bit, it had everything new in it. Note to self to add Tech Light of Destiny and Buster Shard to weapons. AC and FG to armours.
08/06/12 ~ Done a few more corrections, and a bit of updating in Weapons
08/06/12 ~ Guide has been re-vamped XD
09/06/12 ~ Made a few more changes :)
10/06/12 ~ Kindred is gone.
10/06/12 ~ Added a rare breed of section :P
29/06/12 ~ Did some shield updating stuff, but there's a bit more to do.
Approved ~ Ward_Point
< Message edited by Duskstar -- 8/10/2012 2:39:24 >
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