****Leveling Guide for Bards & Dancers****
By: Lotharin (iamslain[at]msn.com)
version 2.0 as of March 21st, 2005
This guide was written for roempire.com’s Bard and Dancer forums. No where else can it be reproduced without my permission.
Thank Yous
M. Blade, for inspiring me to check her claim
Aldoteng, for writing the best Bard and Dancer guide there is
My guild, the Knights of Odin, for making me strive to become better
MunaMuna, my wife, for loving me
Various members of the roEmpire Bard & Dancer forums that I did not mention,
&
Scubbly the Marin, for moral support.
There are essentially two builds that are popular among bards and dancers. There is an AGI-based build which leans heavily on flee, and also a VIT-based build which leans heavily on sniping in order to level. Details of these respective builds and their many variants can be examined at Aldoteng’s Comprehensive Bard & Dancer guide.
This guide will detail places to level, along with equipment and tips, ratings and a good chunk of leveling theory.
****Acronyms, Abbreviations and Terms****
AGI: Agility, or in this guide, “Agility-based Build”
VIT: Vitality, or in the guide, “Vitality-based Build”
DEX: Dexterity
DEF: Defense
XP: Experience points
HP: Hit points / Life
ASPD: Attack Speed
WOE: War of Emperium
CT: Clock Tower
GH: Glast Heim
XP:HP Ratio: How much XP you get per Hit point a monster has. An accurate indicator of leveling efficiency for monsters that do not have high DEF. The ratio indicates the base efficiency, so adding specialized gear increases the rate substantially. My experience and calculations have discovered some shocking things about leveling and XP:HP ratios. I will indicate them below in the guide.
****Lotharin's Rationale****
I am not a mathematics student, nor am I very good at it. You may question some of the recommendations I've made, and some of the things I've left out. But there is usually a verified, empirical reason behind it.
I use XP:HP ratios to determine efficiency. There are some things wrong with this technique. For example, it doesn't take into account defense, spawn rates, elements and races, and so on.
My answer to this is that no other leveling guide really uses an empirical basis, but mostly this vague notion of "experience" and "gut feeling." This is not a good way to prove things.
But there are certain things that cannot detract from XP:HP as the basis to build a leveling guide.
1) Defense: You can simply add Defense into the HP part of the ratio to make it more accurate. Since 15 DEF reduces damage by 15%, add 15% to adjust for defense.
2) Spawn Rate: Establish a minimum Spawn Rate. For example, Wanderers have the best XP:HP ratio in the game, (around 0.7:1), but they don't spawn often so leveling on them is not recommended here.
3) Skills, Elemental and Racial Weakness: The XP:HP ratio is a base indicator of efficiency. Adding elemental and racial weapons simply bolsters this ratio. See below for a demonstration.
A key criticism that M.Blade pointed out was that you should also use Number of DS/MS per Kill, or XP:SP used to decide what is best to level on. This is a valid criticism, but one that does not do away with XP:HP, in fact it incorporates it.
To prove this, I used three monsters that have almost the same HP:XP Ratio: Mino, Zenorc, Wild Rose. I used a level 99 140 DEX, 30 INT Bard using Verit boots and the following weapons:
a) +10 Double Vadon Double Clamourous Composite Bow using Cystal Arrows on Minos.
b) +10 Double Bloody Double Boned Composite Bow using Silver Arrows on Zenorcs
c) +10 Double Windy Double Clamourous Composite Bow using Stone Arrows on Wild Rose.
Their HP were adjusted for DEF, and here's what I found.
This is not a very big surprise, but it has important implications later.
Then I calculated how many monsters you could kill using only DS until you run out of SP (leaving out SP regen since it would not affect the point being made):
Finally, I looked at how much XP was gained after losing all the SP from DSing these monsters:
Conclusion: Though all the XP:HP ratios are almost the same, there can be significant differences in XP gained. However, XP:HP ratios are still a useful way to quickly figure out what to level on.
Shocking Findings: Wild Roses are better for long term leveling than Minos and Zenorcs, though they are considerably easier than the two and drop better things. Also, Minos are also better than Zenorcs slightly, even if you end up killing less of them, and you run out of SP faster.
With this info, if you factor in spawn rates, map crowdedness and so on, you can accurately figure out the best place to level.
On to the guide....
****Explanation of Layout****
****Build Type**** This category heading tells you for what build the following leveling spots are good/viable for.
Recommended Equipment: This tell you what you should be carrying for maximum or near maximum leveling efficiency.
Optional Equipment: Equipment that is not necessary, but would help quite a bit.
XP Rating: Rating out of 5, determined by XP:HP ratio, spawn rate, crowdedness/popularity of spot among players, and racial/elemental efficiency. It also takes into account how this particular spot compared to others.
Loot Rating: Rating out of 5, determined by the zeny value, usefulness and the drop frequency of the loot.
Level of Difficulty: Ranges from Very Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard. Takes into account difficulty of monsters and probability of death.
****AGI or VIT Novice****
With your high DEX, you should be easily tankable to Archer. But if you are just starting out or don’t have a tank, high DEX makes it easy to hit “hard” monsters that other novices would have trouble hitting at your level.
Base 1-13: Rockers, Culverts 1.
Recommended Equipment: Hard (Pupa) Adventurer’s Suit, Wolverine (Wolf) Dagger or Hurricane (Andre) Dagger, large quantities of Milk.*
Optional Equipment: Envenom Novice Armband.
XP Rating: 4/5
Loot Rating: 2/5, Culverts has great loot to sell if you’re poor
Level of Difficulty: Very Easy
*Tip: Milk is the most cost/weight efficient HP increasing item in the game. Use a merchant with level 10 Discount and stock up on 200 or so Milk in Izlude (bottom left corner) or Prontera (western side of Prontera).
*Tip 2: Don’t be afraid to go 80% overweight with Milk or other HP-increasing items. You won’t be using SP anyway at this stage, and your natural HP regeneration is ridiculously slow, even if you are VIT-based.
****AGI or VIT Archer****
Base 13 – 33: Rockers, Culverts 1, Culverts 2.
Recommended Equipment: Hard (Pupa) or Champion (Roda Frog) Armor*, Mocking (Whisper) Muffler for AGI/VIT, Wolverine (Wolf) Dagger or Hurricane (Andre) Dagger*, large quantities of Milk.
XP Rating: 4/5
Loot Rating: 1/5, Culverts has great loot to sell if you’re poor
Level of Difficulty: Very Easy
*Tip: A fundamental principle of non-STR characters that most people ignore is weight capacity. Do not follow in the footsteps of these fools, it is a lesson that remains important even as you reach level 99 and head into WOE, so learn it well. Pick armors and gear that are lightweight. Do not use slotted Belts, slotted Coats, slotted Mink Coats, and other popular gear that have good defense, cost and functionality, but heavy weight. You should instead opt to shop for the more expensive, lightweight items like slotted Formal Suits, slotted Tights, and slotted Clips. This could mean the difference between 1000 arrows or 100 potions, or how much time you waste going back to town to store your loot!
*Tip 2: Having such low ASPD and low DEX at this stage makes it a pain to use bows. Archers, Bards & Dancers can all use daggers, and especially early on, using a Hurricane Dagger is much faster for leveling purposes, even with 1 STR and low ASPD.
Base 15-33: Snipe Wolves, Horns, etc., 1 West and 1 North from Prontera.
Recommended Equipment: Hard (Pupa) or Champion (Roda Frog) Armor, Mocking (Whisper) Muffler for AGI/VIT, Hurricane or Wolverine Bow, large quantities of Milk.
XP Rating: 3/5, not crowded like Rockers and Culverts.
Loot Rating: 1/5, Yucky loot.
Level of Difficulty: Very Easy
Base 33 – 45(~50): Culverts 3.*
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffler for AGI, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for VIT, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) or Double Insecticide (Caramel) Gakkung, Silver Arrows, large quantities of Milk.
XP Rating: 4.5/5
Loot Rating: 2/5, Culverts has great loot to sell if you’re poor
Level of Difficulty: Easy
* Note: Culverts 3’s Male Thief Bugs have a favourable HP:XP ratio, and spawn often. It’s closest rival in terms of efficiency, Poison Spores, are comparable to MTBs, but they have no elemental weakness since they are Poison, and are thus less efficient than MTBs, who are weak towards Holy element. Popular opinion holds that sniping Greatest Generals would be better. This is mostly wrong, they are often crowded since Mages often level on GGs as well, and because the GGs themselves have a less favourable HP:XP ratio. They also are weak towards Ice element, and unless you are willing to spend zeny on tons of Crystal Arrows or use Double Strafe all the time (which is less efficient than killing MTBs regularly, since regenerating SP and resting severely cuts down the XP rate), MTBs are better than GGs.
Base 45 - Job Change: Toy Factory 2
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for both VIT / AGI, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) Gakkung or Double Beholder (PecoEgg) Gakkung, Iron Arrows, large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, Mystcases and Cruisiers are great XP, but have no elemental weakness
Loot Rating: 1.5/5, Nothing that special here, only the rarely dropped OBB
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Base 50 - Job Change: Desert Wolves (1 North of Assassin Guild)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for VIT/ Mocking Muffler for AGI, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) or Double Clamorous (Goblin) Gakkung, Cystal Arrows, large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, Avoid Sidewinders
Loot Rating: 3.5/5, Desert Wolf Card, Mink Coat[1] are decent items at this stage
Level of Difficulty: Medium for AGI, not recommended for VIT, but doable
Base 50 - Job Change: Geographers (2 North of Alde, 1 South of Juno)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for VIT/AGI, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) or Double Chemical (Scorpion) Gakkung, Fire Arrows, large quantities of Flywings.
XP Rating: 3.5/5,
Loot Rating: 1/5, Geos don’t drop anything of note
Level of Difficulty: Hard, Constant flywinging makes this place a pain due to cloaked Drillers. More suitable for VIT to do than AGI.
Base 55 - Job Change: Argiopes (2 North of Pront, 2 South of Alde)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for VIT, Mocking Muffler for AGI, Double Insecticide Gakkung, Fire or Iron Arrows, Tele Clip.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, a shadow of its former self, but still decent. Please report all AGI Knight/Sin botters on this map if you can. You’ll be competing with baby Mages. Do not go toe-to-toe unless you can flee these guys. Hit-and-Run works best.
Loot Rating: 4/5, R.elu and S.Boots are both useful finds. Mantis C fetch a decent price as well.
Level of Difficulty: Medium, a bit of a pain with swarms of Mantises and Argos.
****AGI Archer****
Base 45 - 55: Sphinx 2 (1 West of Morroc)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned Gakkung, Silver Arrows.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, A shadow of its former self, but still nice XP
Loot Rating: 4/5, Matyr C and Zerom C are both widely used by Bards/Dancers.
Level of Difficulty: Easy, Do not get blinded by Drainliars, and PLEASE pick up Monster Feed and EAT IT!
Base 50 - Job Change: Wild Roses (1 West, 1 North of Geffen)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Windy (Mandragora) or Double Clamourous Gakkung, Stone Arrows.
XP Rating: 5/5, Very good place for AGI builds to level
Loot Rating: 4/5, Cyfar, Witherless Roses, Crossbow[3] from Kobold Archer
Level of Difficulty: Easy, but Roses hit hard if they manage to hit you. Their Sonic Blow is not nice if it hits as well.
Base 55 - Job Change: Geffen Dungeon 2 (Nightmare Terrors were kicked out, it’s only Nightmares, Ghouls and Jakks now).
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffler, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) and Double Titan (Minorous) Gakkung, Silver Arrows, large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
Optional Equipment: Munak Hat, Crystal Arrows, Immaterial Arrows (greatly increases damage vs. ghost-types like Nightmare)
XP Rating: 4/5, Nightmares give high Job XP, perfect for those changing at j50.
Loot Rating: 4.5/5, Rosary[1], NightmareC, Tights[1], all very useful drops
Level of Difficulty: Easy, Ghouls tend to mob you but they are slow moving.
****VIT Archer****
Base 50 - Job Change: Sandmen (Assassin Guild Map)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune Muffler, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned or Double Beholder Gakkung, Fire Arrows, Wind Arrows (for Magnolias), large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, Often infested with bots, but the spawn is high enough to make up for it
Loot Rating: 1/5, Disgusting loot, only useful thing is MagnoliaC
Level of Difficulty: Medium, I wouldn’t go toe-to-toe, do hit-and-run.
****AGI Bard / Dancer****
Job Change – Base 70: Wild Roses Roses (1 West, 1 North of Geffen)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Windy (Mandragora) or Double Clamourous Gakkung, Stone Arrows.
Optional Equipment: Crystal Arrows (for Kobold Archers)
XP Rating: 4/5, Very good place for AGI builds to level
Loot Rating: 4/5, Cyfar, Witherless Roses, Crossbow[3] from Kobold Archer
Level of Difficulty: Easy, but Roses hit hard if they manage to hit you. Their Sonic Blow is not nice if it hits as well.
Job Change – Base 70: Orc Dungeon 2
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned or Double Hallowed (Santa Poring) Gakkung, Silver Arrows, Teleport Clip, PooPoo Hat or Munak Hat.
Optional Equipment: Quadruple Malicious Composite Bow
XP Rating: 4/5, About the same XP rate as Wild Roses, though less boring
Loot Rating: 2/5, Good Overcharge loot, but otherwise, crappy stuff
Level of Difficulty: Medium, can get extremely mobby
Base 65 – Base 70(~99): Alde Dungeon 4 (aka CT Underground / Bathory Map)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Double Boned, Double Bloody or Double Hallowed (Santa Poring) Gakkung or Double Boned Double Bloody Composite Bow, Silver Arrows, Teleport Clip, PooPoo Hat, Ygg Leaves, Gangster Mask / Stainer Cap.
Optional Equipment: Quadruple Malicious Composite Bow
XP Rating: 4.5/5, this map is not well visited by people.
Loot Rating: 3.5/5, Arc Wand[2] and Wizard Hats sell for a nice sum, Starsand can be sold to Alchemists, Joker Card is very nice.
Level of Difficulty: Medium High. Watch out for Bathory’s Silence and HP/SP Draining spell, which always hits. Don’t get mobbed either.
Base Base 75 - 99: Turtle Island Surface aka TI1
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Insomniac (Nightmare) Sunglasses/Cap, Mocking Muffer, Double Insecticide Double Windy Composite Bow, Double Boned Double Clamourous Composite Bow, Quadruple Malicious Composite Bow, Fire and Stone Arrows, Teleport Clip, Ygg Leaves.
XP Rating: 4/5, Dragontail and Spring Rabbits have less XP:HP ratios than Bathory, believe it or not. This place is also somewhat crowded.
Loot Rating: 2/5, Blue herbs, Cyfar and Brigans, but bad since there is no Kafra on TI, which means after awhile, you will need to unload yourself in Alberta and pay the hefty 10k Zeny fee to get back in.
Level of Difficulty: Medium. Watch out for mobs, stay away from the Northern part of the map.
****VIT Bard / Dancer****
Job Change – 60: Sandmen (Assassin Guild Map)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune Muffler, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned or Double Beholder Gakkung, Fire Arrows, Wind Arrows (for Magnolias), large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
XP Rating: 3/5, Often infested with bots, but the spawn is high enough to make up for it
Loot Rating: 1/5, Disgusting loot, only useful thing is MagnoliaC
Level of Difficulty: Easy
60 – 99: Stings (GH Abbey -> West of Graveyard -> North East Corner of GH Sewers 1)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune Muffler, Double Boned or Double Beholder Gakkung, Fire Arrows, Stone Arrows (for Gargoyles), large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip/Flywing, Ygg Leaves.
XP Rating: 4/5, No bots and somewhat low player population
Loot Rating: 3.5/5, Stone Arrows, Slotted Gloves, Bow Thimble
Level of Difficulty: Medium, Hit-and-Run Stings, Flywing a lot.
Base 65 – Base 99: Alde Dungeon 4 (aka CT Underground / Bathory Map)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune Muffer, Double Boned Double Bloody Composite Bow // Triple Bloody Lute, Cranial Buckler and Blast Clip, Silver Arrows, Teleport Clip, PooPoo Hat, Ygg Leaves, Gangster Mask / Stainer Cap.
Optional Equipment: Quadruple Malicious Composite Bow
XP Rating: 4.5/5, this map is not well visited by people.
Loot Rating: 3.5/5, Arc Wand[2] and Wizard Hats sell for a nice sum, Starsand can be sold to Alchemists, Joker Card is very nice.
Level of Difficulty: Medium. Watch out for Bathory’s Silence and HP/SP Draining spell. Meleeing is advised: Mob Bathories like a VIT Battlesmith and Magnum Break them with Blast Clip.
__________________By: Lotharin (iamslain[at]msn.com)
version 2.0 as of March 21st, 2005
This guide was written for roempire.com’s Bard and Dancer forums. No where else can it be reproduced without my permission.
Thank Yous
M. Blade, for inspiring me to check her claim
Aldoteng, for writing the best Bard and Dancer guide there is
My guild, the Knights of Odin, for making me strive to become better
MunaMuna, my wife, for loving me
Various members of the roEmpire Bard & Dancer forums that I did not mention,
&
Scubbly the Marin, for moral support.
There are essentially two builds that are popular among bards and dancers. There is an AGI-based build which leans heavily on flee, and also a VIT-based build which leans heavily on sniping in order to level. Details of these respective builds and their many variants can be examined at Aldoteng’s Comprehensive Bard & Dancer guide.
This guide will detail places to level, along with equipment and tips, ratings and a good chunk of leveling theory.
****Acronyms, Abbreviations and Terms****
AGI: Agility, or in this guide, “Agility-based Build”
VIT: Vitality, or in the guide, “Vitality-based Build”
DEX: Dexterity
DEF: Defense
XP: Experience points
HP: Hit points / Life
ASPD: Attack Speed
WOE: War of Emperium
CT: Clock Tower
GH: Glast Heim
XP:HP Ratio: How much XP you get per Hit point a monster has. An accurate indicator of leveling efficiency for monsters that do not have high DEF. The ratio indicates the base efficiency, so adding specialized gear increases the rate substantially. My experience and calculations have discovered some shocking things about leveling and XP:HP ratios. I will indicate them below in the guide.
****Lotharin's Rationale****
I am not a mathematics student, nor am I very good at it. You may question some of the recommendations I've made, and some of the things I've left out. But there is usually a verified, empirical reason behind it.
I use XP:HP ratios to determine efficiency. There are some things wrong with this technique. For example, it doesn't take into account defense, spawn rates, elements and races, and so on.
My answer to this is that no other leveling guide really uses an empirical basis, but mostly this vague notion of "experience" and "gut feeling." This is not a good way to prove things.
But there are certain things that cannot detract from XP:HP as the basis to build a leveling guide.
1) Defense: You can simply add Defense into the HP part of the ratio to make it more accurate. Since 15 DEF reduces damage by 15%, add 15% to adjust for defense.
2) Spawn Rate: Establish a minimum Spawn Rate. For example, Wanderers have the best XP:HP ratio in the game, (around 0.7:1), but they don't spawn often so leveling on them is not recommended here.
3) Skills, Elemental and Racial Weakness: The XP:HP ratio is a base indicator of efficiency. Adding elemental and racial weapons simply bolsters this ratio. See below for a demonstration.
A key criticism that M.Blade pointed out was that you should also use Number of DS/MS per Kill, or XP:SP used to decide what is best to level on. This is a valid criticism, but one that does not do away with XP:HP, in fact it incorporates it.
To prove this, I used three monsters that have almost the same HP:XP Ratio: Mino, Zenorc, Wild Rose. I used a level 99 140 DEX, 30 INT Bard using Verit boots and the following weapons:
a) +10 Double Vadon Double Clamourous Composite Bow using Cystal Arrows on Minos.
b) +10 Double Bloody Double Boned Composite Bow using Silver Arrows on Zenorcs
c) +10 Double Windy Double Clamourous Composite Bow using Stone Arrows on Wild Rose.
Their HP were adjusted for DEF, and here's what I found.
This is not a very big surprise, but it has important implications later.
Then I calculated how many monsters you could kill using only DS until you run out of SP (leaving out SP regen since it would not affect the point being made):
Finally, I looked at how much XP was gained after losing all the SP from DSing these monsters:
Conclusion: Though all the XP:HP ratios are almost the same, there can be significant differences in XP gained. However, XP:HP ratios are still a useful way to quickly figure out what to level on.
Shocking Findings: Wild Roses are better for long term leveling than Minos and Zenorcs, though they are considerably easier than the two and drop better things. Also, Minos are also better than Zenorcs slightly, even if you end up killing less of them, and you run out of SP faster.
With this info, if you factor in spawn rates, map crowdedness and so on, you can accurately figure out the best place to level.
On to the guide....
****Explanation of Layout****
****Build Type**** This category heading tells you for what build the following leveling spots are good/viable for.
Recommended Equipment: This tell you what you should be carrying for maximum or near maximum leveling efficiency.
Optional Equipment: Equipment that is not necessary, but would help quite a bit.
XP Rating: Rating out of 5, determined by XP:HP ratio, spawn rate, crowdedness/popularity of spot among players, and racial/elemental efficiency. It also takes into account how this particular spot compared to others.
Loot Rating: Rating out of 5, determined by the zeny value, usefulness and the drop frequency of the loot.
Level of Difficulty: Ranges from Very Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard. Takes into account difficulty of monsters and probability of death.
****AGI or VIT Novice****
With your high DEX, you should be easily tankable to Archer. But if you are just starting out or don’t have a tank, high DEX makes it easy to hit “hard” monsters that other novices would have trouble hitting at your level.
Base 1-13: Rockers, Culverts 1.
Recommended Equipment: Hard (Pupa) Adventurer’s Suit, Wolverine (Wolf) Dagger or Hurricane (Andre) Dagger, large quantities of Milk.*
Optional Equipment: Envenom Novice Armband.
XP Rating: 4/5
Loot Rating: 2/5, Culverts has great loot to sell if you’re poor
Level of Difficulty: Very Easy
*Tip: Milk is the most cost/weight efficient HP increasing item in the game. Use a merchant with level 10 Discount and stock up on 200 or so Milk in Izlude (bottom left corner) or Prontera (western side of Prontera).
*Tip 2: Don’t be afraid to go 80% overweight with Milk or other HP-increasing items. You won’t be using SP anyway at this stage, and your natural HP regeneration is ridiculously slow, even if you are VIT-based.
****AGI or VIT Archer****
Base 13 – 33: Rockers, Culverts 1, Culverts 2.
Recommended Equipment: Hard (Pupa) or Champion (Roda Frog) Armor*, Mocking (Whisper) Muffler for AGI/VIT, Wolverine (Wolf) Dagger or Hurricane (Andre) Dagger*, large quantities of Milk.
XP Rating: 4/5
Loot Rating: 1/5, Culverts has great loot to sell if you’re poor
Level of Difficulty: Very Easy
*Tip: A fundamental principle of non-STR characters that most people ignore is weight capacity. Do not follow in the footsteps of these fools, it is a lesson that remains important even as you reach level 99 and head into WOE, so learn it well. Pick armors and gear that are lightweight. Do not use slotted Belts, slotted Coats, slotted Mink Coats, and other popular gear that have good defense, cost and functionality, but heavy weight. You should instead opt to shop for the more expensive, lightweight items like slotted Formal Suits, slotted Tights, and slotted Clips. This could mean the difference between 1000 arrows or 100 potions, or how much time you waste going back to town to store your loot!
*Tip 2: Having such low ASPD and low DEX at this stage makes it a pain to use bows. Archers, Bards & Dancers can all use daggers, and especially early on, using a Hurricane Dagger is much faster for leveling purposes, even with 1 STR and low ASPD.
Base 15-33: Snipe Wolves, Horns, etc., 1 West and 1 North from Prontera.
Recommended Equipment: Hard (Pupa) or Champion (Roda Frog) Armor, Mocking (Whisper) Muffler for AGI/VIT, Hurricane or Wolverine Bow, large quantities of Milk.
XP Rating: 3/5, not crowded like Rockers and Culverts.
Loot Rating: 1/5, Yucky loot.
Level of Difficulty: Very Easy
Base 33 – 45(~50): Culverts 3.*
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffler for AGI, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for VIT, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) or Double Insecticide (Caramel) Gakkung, Silver Arrows, large quantities of Milk.
XP Rating: 4.5/5
Loot Rating: 2/5, Culverts has great loot to sell if you’re poor
Level of Difficulty: Easy
* Note: Culverts 3’s Male Thief Bugs have a favourable HP:XP ratio, and spawn often. It’s closest rival in terms of efficiency, Poison Spores, are comparable to MTBs, but they have no elemental weakness since they are Poison, and are thus less efficient than MTBs, who are weak towards Holy element. Popular opinion holds that sniping Greatest Generals would be better. This is mostly wrong, they are often crowded since Mages often level on GGs as well, and because the GGs themselves have a less favourable HP:XP ratio. They also are weak towards Ice element, and unless you are willing to spend zeny on tons of Crystal Arrows or use Double Strafe all the time (which is less efficient than killing MTBs regularly, since regenerating SP and resting severely cuts down the XP rate), MTBs are better than GGs.
Base 45 - Job Change: Toy Factory 2
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for both VIT / AGI, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) Gakkung or Double Beholder (PecoEgg) Gakkung, Iron Arrows, large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, Mystcases and Cruisiers are great XP, but have no elemental weakness
Loot Rating: 1.5/5, Nothing that special here, only the rarely dropped OBB
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Base 50 - Job Change: Desert Wolves (1 North of Assassin Guild)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for VIT/ Mocking Muffler for AGI, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) or Double Clamorous (Goblin) Gakkung, Cystal Arrows, large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, Avoid Sidewinders
Loot Rating: 3.5/5, Desert Wolf Card, Mink Coat[1] are decent items at this stage
Level of Difficulty: Medium for AGI, not recommended for VIT, but doable
Base 50 - Job Change: Geographers (2 North of Alde, 1 South of Juno)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for VIT/AGI, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) or Double Chemical (Scorpion) Gakkung, Fire Arrows, large quantities of Flywings.
XP Rating: 3.5/5,
Loot Rating: 1/5, Geos don’t drop anything of note
Level of Difficulty: Hard, Constant flywinging makes this place a pain due to cloaked Drillers. More suitable for VIT to do than AGI.
Base 55 - Job Change: Argiopes (2 North of Pront, 2 South of Alde)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune (Raydric) Muffer for VIT, Mocking Muffler for AGI, Double Insecticide Gakkung, Fire or Iron Arrows, Tele Clip.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, a shadow of its former self, but still decent. Please report all AGI Knight/Sin botters on this map if you can. You’ll be competing with baby Mages. Do not go toe-to-toe unless you can flee these guys. Hit-and-Run works best.
Loot Rating: 4/5, R.elu and S.Boots are both useful finds. Mantis C fetch a decent price as well.
Level of Difficulty: Medium, a bit of a pain with swarms of Mantises and Argos.
****AGI Archer****
Base 45 - 55: Sphinx 2 (1 West of Morroc)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned Gakkung, Silver Arrows.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, A shadow of its former self, but still nice XP
Loot Rating: 4/5, Matyr C and Zerom C are both widely used by Bards/Dancers.
Level of Difficulty: Easy, Do not get blinded by Drainliars, and PLEASE pick up Monster Feed and EAT IT!
Base 50 - Job Change: Wild Roses (1 West, 1 North of Geffen)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Windy (Mandragora) or Double Clamourous Gakkung, Stone Arrows.
XP Rating: 5/5, Very good place for AGI builds to level
Loot Rating: 4/5, Cyfar, Witherless Roses, Crossbow[3] from Kobold Archer
Level of Difficulty: Easy, but Roses hit hard if they manage to hit you. Their Sonic Blow is not nice if it hits as well.
Base 55 - Job Change: Geffen Dungeon 2 (Nightmare Terrors were kicked out, it’s only Nightmares, Ghouls and Jakks now).
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffler, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned (Skeleton Worker) and Double Titan (Minorous) Gakkung, Silver Arrows, large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
Optional Equipment: Munak Hat, Crystal Arrows, Immaterial Arrows (greatly increases damage vs. ghost-types like Nightmare)
XP Rating: 4/5, Nightmares give high Job XP, perfect for those changing at j50.
Loot Rating: 4.5/5, Rosary[1], NightmareC, Tights[1], all very useful drops
Level of Difficulty: Easy, Ghouls tend to mob you but they are slow moving.
****VIT Archer****
Base 50 - Job Change: Sandmen (Assassin Guild Map)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune Muffler, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned or Double Beholder Gakkung, Fire Arrows, Wind Arrows (for Magnolias), large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
XP Rating: 3.5/5, Often infested with bots, but the spawn is high enough to make up for it
Loot Rating: 1/5, Disgusting loot, only useful thing is MagnoliaC
Level of Difficulty: Medium, I wouldn’t go toe-to-toe, do hit-and-run.
****AGI Bard / Dancer****
Job Change – Base 70: Wild Roses Roses (1 West, 1 North of Geffen)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Windy (Mandragora) or Double Clamourous Gakkung, Stone Arrows.
Optional Equipment: Crystal Arrows (for Kobold Archers)
XP Rating: 4/5, Very good place for AGI builds to level
Loot Rating: 4/5, Cyfar, Witherless Roses, Crossbow[3] from Kobold Archer
Level of Difficulty: Easy, but Roses hit hard if they manage to hit you. Their Sonic Blow is not nice if it hits as well.
Job Change – Base 70: Orc Dungeon 2
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned or Double Hallowed (Santa Poring) Gakkung, Silver Arrows, Teleport Clip, PooPoo Hat or Munak Hat.
Optional Equipment: Quadruple Malicious Composite Bow
XP Rating: 4/5, About the same XP rate as Wild Roses, though less boring
Loot Rating: 2/5, Good Overcharge loot, but otherwise, crappy stuff
Level of Difficulty: Medium, can get extremely mobby
Base 65 – Base 70(~99): Alde Dungeon 4 (aka CT Underground / Bathory Map)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Mocking Muffer, Double Boned, Double Bloody or Double Hallowed (Santa Poring) Gakkung or Double Boned Double Bloody Composite Bow, Silver Arrows, Teleport Clip, PooPoo Hat, Ygg Leaves, Gangster Mask / Stainer Cap.
Optional Equipment: Quadruple Malicious Composite Bow
XP Rating: 4.5/5, this map is not well visited by people.
Loot Rating: 3.5/5, Arc Wand[2] and Wizard Hats sell for a nice sum, Starsand can be sold to Alchemists, Joker Card is very nice.
Level of Difficulty: Medium High. Watch out for Bathory’s Silence and HP/SP Draining spell, which always hits. Don’t get mobbed either.
Base Base 75 - 99: Turtle Island Surface aka TI1
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Insomniac (Nightmare) Sunglasses/Cap, Mocking Muffer, Double Insecticide Double Windy Composite Bow, Double Boned Double Clamourous Composite Bow, Quadruple Malicious Composite Bow, Fire and Stone Arrows, Teleport Clip, Ygg Leaves.
XP Rating: 4/5, Dragontail and Spring Rabbits have less XP:HP ratios than Bathory, believe it or not. This place is also somewhat crowded.
Loot Rating: 2/5, Blue herbs, Cyfar and Brigans, but bad since there is no Kafra on TI, which means after awhile, you will need to unload yourself in Alberta and pay the hefty 10k Zeny fee to get back in.
Level of Difficulty: Medium. Watch out for mobs, stay away from the Northern part of the map.
****VIT Bard / Dancer****
Job Change – 60: Sandmen (Assassin Guild Map)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune Muffler, Wolverine (Wolf) Gakkung (for poor folks), Double Boned or Double Beholder Gakkung, Fire Arrows, Wind Arrows (for Magnolias), large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip.
XP Rating: 3/5, Often infested with bots, but the spawn is high enough to make up for it
Loot Rating: 1/5, Disgusting loot, only useful thing is MagnoliaC
Level of Difficulty: Easy
60 – 99: Stings (GH Abbey -> West of Graveyard -> North East Corner of GH Sewers 1)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune Muffler, Double Boned or Double Beholder Gakkung, Fire Arrows, Stone Arrows (for Gargoyles), large quantities of Milk, Teleport Clip/Flywing, Ygg Leaves.
XP Rating: 4/5, No bots and somewhat low player population
Loot Rating: 3.5/5, Stone Arrows, Slotted Gloves, Bow Thimble
Level of Difficulty: Medium, Hit-and-Run Stings, Flywing a lot.
Base 65 – Base 99: Alde Dungeon 4 (aka CT Underground / Bathory Map)
Recommended Equipment: Hard/Champion Armor, Immune Muffer, Double Boned Double Bloody Composite Bow // Triple Bloody Lute, Cranial Buckler and Blast Clip, Silver Arrows, Teleport Clip, PooPoo Hat, Ygg Leaves, Gangster Mask / Stainer Cap.
Optional Equipment: Quadruple Malicious Composite Bow
XP Rating: 4.5/5, this map is not well visited by people.
Loot Rating: 3.5/5, Arc Wand[2] and Wizard Hats sell for a nice sum, Starsand can be sold to Alchemists, Joker Card is very nice.
Level of Difficulty: Medium. Watch out for Bathory’s Silence and HP/SP Draining spell. Meleeing is advised: Mob Bathories like a VIT Battlesmith and Magnum Break them with Blast Clip.
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Read my fanfic:
The Adventures of Lotharin, A Bard's Tale
Or if you are really bored:
My RODiary
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