REGISTER TO REMOVE THIS AD
I had a level 79 Blade in Beta1, and currently have a 75 Blade.
I will be more than willing to answer anyone's questions about Mercenaries or Blades.
I can also help out a bit with questions regarding Knights, but Blades is my main area of expertise.
I'll give a basic run-down of what I did.
1. Vagrant to Mercenary
2. Job Change Stat Reset
3. Axe or Sword
4. Mercenary to Blade
5. Skills
6. Upgrading
7. Extra tips
1. Vagrant to Mercenary
From level 1-10, you should add mainly STR. From 10-15, you may want to add some dexterity because you will find yourself frequently missing. However, if you have a high level assist/ringmaster friend, you do not need to add dexterity, as Cannonball and Accuracy make up for your low hit rate.
2. Job Change Stat Reset
You should have 28 points to spend after completing your job change. Here's what I suggest doing.
STR: 20
DEX: 28
STA: 25
INT: 15
Strength does not help out a lot early on when your weapon base damage is very low, therefore it's better to work on dexterity and stamina in the beginning. The big boost in Stamina is so that you can fight monsters higher level than you for better experience.
3. Axe or Sword
This is by far one of the biggest questions people ask. And you know what? It really doesn't matter! I tend to prefer swords, because I chose Blade to attack fast, and, well... you attack faster with swords than axes. Axes do more damage, but have slower attack rate. Swords do less damage, but have a faster attack rate. And while Axes do more damage with skills, most Blades don't spam skills. Another thing is that Smite Axe adds defense and damage, while Blazing Sword only adds damage. Therefore, you might say Axes are better, but there really isn't much of a difference between the two.
4. Mercenary to Blade
Let me start this with:
Train with assists! I cannot emphasize this enough! If you want to be a blade, you're looking to do optimal damage. Survival isn't the main concern, therefore you will come close to death several times. So you MUST train with assists. You can solo all you want, but you'll be wasting points into STA and the sad truth is that a Billposter can kill faster than a Blade soloing. Simply because there isn't much difference between the attack speed of a knuckle and that of a sword. However, when the attack rate of swords, a Blade's dexterity and an assist's haste are all combined, you'll be dicing out monsters in no time.
As for stat distribution, there's some slight room for variation during this period. But for those of you who are afraid to experiment on your own, here is a solid good build order.
At level 40, a good build order is:
STR: 35
DEX: 58
STA: 30
INT: 15
You may find your stamina lacking a tiny bit during this period. Like I said, train with a good assist, and you shouldn't be dying. The reason Stamina is really straining at this point is because you get a Plug Earring at level 43, which adds 60 defense. After that, all your fears of dying is long gone.
By the time you hit level 60 try to have this build order or somewhere along the lines:
STR: 40
DEX: 88
STA: 35
INT: 15
5. Skills
You can find the list of Mercenary and Blade skills and a brief description of each skill on this website. I'm only telling which ones you should learn and which additional ones you might want to get.
Mercenary Skills:
Blazing Sword and Sword Mastery are a must.
Sneaker is a skill you might want to get for giant hunting purposes. It's extremely handy against giants. Reflex hit is a good skill to get for PvP purposes when you're fighting against higher level people. But for the most part, Blades are weak in PvP, unless they're fighting Ringmasters or people much lower level.
Blade Skills:
Berserk is a must.
Sonic Blade is a good AoE skill, but you'll probably never use it. Cross Strike, the final Blade skill, is completely useless. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but if you're looking for cool and practical skills, you've chosen the wrong 2nd job. Knights are better off in the skills department.
6. Upgrading
If this is your first character, I strongly suggest you do not upgrade your equipment until level 65. The only exception is at level 20 or so when you need an elemental weapon for Impower Weapon. But for the most part, upgrading is a waste of money, the elements for monsters change for almost every level early on. However, at level 65, the next 4 levels of monsters you fight are all water elements. And they HURT a lot. So be sure to upgrade your armor to lightning and your weapons as well.
7. Extra tips
Blades use two weapons. Always equip your better weapon on the left hand, because that one is used two times more often than the right-handed weapon. Blades attack with their left-handed weapon first, then attack with both weapons, then with the left again and so on.
11-29-2005, 02:07 AM
Linear Mode
