Part 6: The Southern Lands

[Howie Feltersnatch]

Hola! Welcome back to the next installment of the travels of XXXXXXXX. In this installment, we will be moving south to Lumina and
testing our might a little by trying to raid a dungeon a higher level
than us on the way. So pay close attention, a lot will happen in the
next few days!



RESET

I killed 1 more lvl 11 guy in PvP an tried a lvl 12 (but lost). I now
have 49 AP remaining and it's time to move to Inachis after I work. I
did flower shop assistant again, now level 10. Now move to Inachis.



Now that we're in Inachis, first thing I want to do is visit the soul
crafter to clear some of these fragments from inventory. Of course,
these are level 12 items and I am only level 10, so they are all greyed
out still but no worries. If you remember when I had you plan your
character, you already know your primary magic and melee weapon choices
that match your class path and stats - mine are Ice and Lance, so I will
buy those. 5 Brawler's Ice Scrolls and 4 Brawler's Lances, not too
shabby - and 4 Soul Fragment's left over. We'll spend them in Lumina,
which is where we're headed eventually.



Just a quick note here on my selections. Ice is the primary for my T3
Class and uses DEX/CON stats. Spear also uses DEX/CON, but when I
crafted soul dust weapons, I chose twin blades before - do you remember
why? It was because I wanted to develop my Tactician skill early on and
Ice and Twin Blades both have high penetration (%P). Now, as we grow
our character, we want to start slowly moving into the area of expertise
for your character. Plus, do you notice anything special about Spear
and Holy weapons? They both grant a slow buildup of cumulative Armor
(spear) and Warding (holy) and will help you in your battles against
certain opponents.



For now, I want to build a few more AP before tonight's reset and try
out the level 10 dungeon here - Inachis Battle Tournament. There are 4
fights here, so I will need at least 60 AP. For this raid, I will give
you some advice for each battle. We will be building multiple decks for
this. See you again BEFORE the reset.



Welcome back, the first thing we're going to do right now is setup our
job for tomorrow. Why now? Well, unlike in the past, we are taking a
very special job tomorrow - Messenger! I wanted to take this time to
introduce this wonderful job. This job will allow us a free move 1 city
away (to Aleas in this case) and we will still have our 1 city move
left to move to Lumina - 2 cities in 1 day! Later on, when you have
level 1 Horse Riding skills, which this job builds, you will be able to
take the conveyor's job and move 2 cites away for your job and 1 for
your normal move. This will be extremely helpful later on when you are
collecting ingredients for special crafts and need to travel far to get
them.



I bought 5 Bronze Short Swords for 1k so I could beat the boss. *EDIT -
Please read my next day's battle notes also before doing F4*



Into the Tournament!!! 4 Fights

F1 - Defenses: Heavy armor and light ward - mostly melee attacks, some
magic

F2 - Heavy ward, no armor - Heavy magic attacks, some melee

F3 - Some Ward, no armor - Some melee, magic poison (DoT) attacks

F4 - Heavy Ward, no armor - Heavy magic attacks, extra attacks - tough
fight



I basically used 2 decks for these fights:

Melee Opponent

25/25 charm slots



Yeti Fur Cloak x4

Shocking Hand axe x3

Battle Ice Scroll x5

Battle Daggers x5

Frost Scroll x3

Wide Swing x2

Focus Staff x1

Battle Holy Scroll x1

Shadow Wand x1



Summary

Gear 'Melee Opponent' (25 charms)

Melee: 57 + 30 (35% P)

Magic: 111 + 15 (31% P)



Armor: 48

Ward: 32 + 7 cumulative

------------------------------------------

Magic Opponent

25/25 charm slots



Battle Ice Scroll x5

Rodent's Bane x3

Battle Daggers x5

Wide Swing x4

Shocking Hand axe x1

Battle Glyph x1

Bunny Hood x1

Bronze Short Swords x4

Shoulder Glyph x1



Summary

Gear 'Magic Opponent' (25 charms)

Melee: 129 + 60 (31% P)

Magic: 58 (36% P)



Ward: 31 + 12 cumulative



*** Even with the extra melee buffs, it took me 2 times to beat F4 ***

Time to wait for the reset once again.



RESET

Apparently I got lucky last night, because I got spanked by F4 this
morning multiple times. So I adjusted my deck after analyzing the fights
and this seemed to work much better:



Magic Opponent

19/25 charm slots



Rodent's Bane x3

Battle Daggers x5

Wide Swing x5

Bronze Short Swords x5

Wildor's Dagger x1



Summary

Gear 'Magic Opponent' (19 charms)

Melee: 140 + 75 (33% P)



Poisons: 1



I used all my AP doing this fight. See you after reset when I have some
more AP. I want to do this raid one more time before we work (which
will move us to Aleas). If you have another character who is higher
level, you should try to get to Aleas or have someone else in the guild
meet you there. We are going to do the colossus, which is level 15. I
will have one of my level 30-40 guys meet there to team up with.



RESET

Well, it took all my AP to get through it this time. It wasn't an easy
dungeon, unlike the rest we've done so far. Now we move using our job,
so go ahead and work. Now that we're in Aleas, go ahead and join your
dungeon buddy and start the fight against the level 15 colossus.
Excellent! Did you like your surprise? What, you didn't notice?
Well, as a level 10 character entering a level 15 dungeon, you got your
first points in Heroism!






Make no mistake, before we skip out on Aleas or gain too many levels, we
will be using our job and move in combination to bounce back and forth
between Lumina and Aleas. Before we get to level 13, we need to max out
Heroism, so we're going to be taking our dungeon buddy's assistance to
help us accomplish this. I have discovered that this is, by far, one of
the easiest ways to get this skill. You can get this skill by raiding
any dungeon 2 or more levels above you. But knowing how hard we just
struggled with the level 10 dungeon at level 10, do you really want to
risk that?



Your next chance to do this trick is the level 30 dungeon in Triland,
but the issue with that is you can't even go to that city until level
28. Which means if you gain a level while there, it's over. Once
again, this is a skill to get now rather than later, when it's almost
impossible (with certain classes).



So here's the deal now, plans have changed slightly from what I said
earlier since I used all my AP in Inachis... I wouldn't have enough to
Raid all 4 fights in the cursed forest in Lumina, so I may as well stay
here and make another run on the colossus first thing in the morning
with another one of my higher level guys.



RESET

Made another raid on the Colossus again this morning, with Gristle this
time. Another 10 points towards Heroism plus a bonus of 3 on Survival -
good stuff! Now I use my move to go to Lumina and I raid the level 9
dungeon Cursed Forest. 4 fights in this raid and I used my default deck
to blow through these without an issue. Now we wait for a reset again.



In the meantime, I would like for you to take a look at the crafting
shop in Lumina - Imperial Armorsmith. Notice I haven't had you selling
off your inventory items lately? There are some really good low-level
crafted charms here that will help you greatly along the way:



Iron Kneepad - Level 10

Iron Ore x2 (Lumina)

Cut Amethyst x1 (Skyrift - Level 13 to go there)

Aluminum x1 (Lumina)



Glyphed Shoulderpads - Level 12 - DUAL ARMOR/WARD!!!

Iron Ore x2 (Lumina)

Black Leaf x1 (Cursed Forest F2, Wildhowl)

Snake Skin x1 (Lumina)

Aluminum x1 (Lumina)



Quick Glyph - Level 13

Elusive Vita x1 (Lumina, Inachis)

Elusive Kata x1 (Aleas, Inachis)

Liquid Rock x2 (Thunderock Canyon F1 F2, Vita Condenser R1)

Quartz x1 (Lumina, Inachis, Eclis)



You should start saving any of these items you pick up and buy them when
you can. Of particular note are Black Leaf and Liquid Rock. Black
Leaf can be obtained here in the raid so save them, otherwise, you have
to wait for level 13 before you can go to Wildhowl and buy them. Liquid
Rock is a little trickier, but you still have 3 more levels before you
can even use Quick Glyph, so you're Ok for now. You can go to Eclis at
level 10, but that's a level 12 dungeon and kinda tough. It won't be
too long before we head that way. Now that we have the ability to
travel, it will become much easier. I wish I had this guide when I
started, it would have made things much easier for me. See you after
reset.



RESET

Raided the forest again and then used my move to go to back to Aleas,
where I joined up with Groo to beat up the colossus again. I will save
working my job until tomorrow morning and after I beat up the colossus
again, will use it to travel back to Lumina to do the forest again.
This will become my pattern for the next few days, maybe with some PvP
thrown in every now and then as we accumulate some AP. Waiting for
reset.



RESET (Up late doing a firewall upgrade, it's 2 AM and I'm waiting for
an update to finish)

Ran the colossus with Groo again. Heroism is up to 40 now - woo hoo! I
have 89 AP so I think I will do a little PvP and then use my job to
move back to Lumina. I will save about 30 points or so. Ok, saved 28
AP, won them all against level 11 and one 13 with a really low score,
got a bonus 5 points in Cheat Death. Courage is still maxed until level
20 so if you don't feel comfortable going after higher level guys, do
at least level 10 guys. Remember 1 important thing though - level 10 vs
level 10 cost 10 AP but every level above you save 1 AP per level they
are higher. I am now working my job to move to Lumina so I can do the
Forest before the 1 PM reset. By the time reset happens, I should have
enough AP to run it through again and then move back to Aleas to
continue building Heroism.



Now that we're back in a safe city (Lumina) I will visit the PvP
crafter. I made another Battle Lance for my max of 5 and I have enough
left over for 1 more item... choices, choices... Daggers or Holy? Let
me look at my stats. Well, Daggers require DEX 43/INT 31 and Holy
requires INT 38/CON 36. My current stats are: POW 9/CON 26/DEX 36/INT
24. We have until level 12 before we can use them, but we don't plan on
taking any jobs that give stats or help level up until after Heroism is
maxed. Travel gives Horseriding Skill R1 +15, so when we level those
up, we get +1 each stat for each skill, so + 2 each stat total. By
level 12, I will also have abundantly more Soul Shards with which to buy
stuff. I choose Holy because it gives Warding in the attack. Since
Lance gives Armor, I will pair them up. At some point, I may have
gotten enough for 5 of each anyway.



OOOOOH! Brawlers Holy Scroll also requires Holy R1 in addition to stats
and I have not been building that skill much. For that matter, Lance
requires Spear R1 so I will need to buy some crappy ones from a vendor
and put them in my deck to build that also. Maybe I should get some
good DOT instead... Brawler's poison (DEX 25 - ONLY requirement) is a
good way to build the SAP skill and some bosses requires DOT to beat. I
have used Brawler's Poison in my decks even at higher levels - I think
I'll do that instead for now- x5 - well, x1 for now but later on, I will
buy the rest. Time to hit a vendor and buy 5 spear items for my deck.
For that matter, I'll go ahead and get 5 Holy as well. I will build a
special deck for the colossus runs since you will get the skills even if
you die - because your high level buddy will not, you will get the
skills. Time to build those up.





So here's my new Colossus Deck: (All of the skills I am weak in! - you
get it, right?)



Colossus







25/25 charm slots

Shadow Wand x1

Bright Fire x4

Yeti Fur Cloak x2

Battle Holy Scroll x1

Holy Scroll x5

Copper Spear x5

Shock x1

Shocking Hand axe x3

Wildor's Dagger x1

Wand of Lights x2



Summary

Gear 'Colossus' (25 charms)

Melee: 56 (13% P)

Magic: 117 (26% P)



Armor: 24 + 10 cumulative

Ward: 16 + 30 cumulative



Poisons: 1

Focus: 4 (24)



PvP Advice - Now seems like a good time... So, if your Spirtuality is
not yet maxed out, here is a good way to do it. Build a special purpose
deck with ALL of your Ward and Armor cards. If you also have weapons
like spear or Holy, add those to fill in. If you have to, spend some
money in the market and buy more to fill in the rest of the deck - best
ones you can get (level 5 or 10). Name it approriately and save the
deck. Now take note of how many charms you have (Spirit). I have 25,
as seen above in the other deck I posted. So what's so magic about this
number you ask? Next time you PvP, you will want to right click each
guy before you fight them and open in new tab or new page so you can see
thier Spirit score. What you're looking for is the magic number, which
is exactly 1 point below yours. If they have their deck maxed out and
they do not kill you, they will collapse from exhaustion fighting you
and you will build spirituality - yes, it is just that easy...



Before reset, I raided the forest again this morning. Had to fight the
last battle twice.



RESET

Raid the cursed forest again - no issues this time, ran straight
through. Now I'll use my job (conveyer) to travel to Aleas. See how
this works yet? The way I am doing this I get to do both the cursed
forest and the colossus twice each day, while at the same time, building
my horseriding skill. Soon, I will be able to take the job (messenger)
that requires Horseriding R1 as a prerequisite and move 2 cities at
once. Groo has already setup the raid on colossus so I just need to
join the party but first I need a few more AP to start - be back in 2
hours to post the outcome.



Well, here it is... you can see my progress in skills best with this
battle summary. Looks Like I have a lot more spear to earn! Maybe I
will throw a couple into my PvP deck.






Decided to do a little PvP before moving back to Lumina. Picked level
10 opponents with PvP scores in the mid 1400's to avoid losses. The
goal here is to use a new deck that includes the 5 vendor purchased
Spear items I bought, so I can build my spear score here. No AP savings
by fighting higher level guys, but almost a guaranteed win. I had no
losses. Move to Lumina.



RESET

It's morning and I have AP again. Raided the forest, no issues. You
might want to take a few minutes to adjust your deck if you picked up
anything new.



I feel it would be ridiculous at this point to keep repeating myself,
I'm going to keep going back and forth each day until I max out Heroism.
The only thing I don't know is if it maxes out at R1 or R2. Do some
PvP every now and then but remember how many it takes to do the forest
(at least 60). My next post will be after I get Heroism R1.



Several RESETS later...



I now have Heroism R1 and have made my last move back to Lumina this
morning. I also got Spear R1, so I'll be good to go at level 12 when I
can use my PvP crafted items. With Heroism R1, you also get another
point of Spirit, so it's a good time to review your deck again before
you do the cursed forest for the last time. Also, since we're in a safe
city (and I have 23 soul fragments) I will go ahead and craft more PvP
weapons. This time, I will craft 3 more Brawler's Poisons, which
require a DEX of 25 (no problem for my class selection). This brings my
total to 4 now and I need 1 more fragment to craft my max of 5. I'll
pick that up in my brief stay in Aleas on the way back to Inachis after
today's reset.



I have been keeping items dropped while doing raids, so now is also a
good time to clean up your inventory. Since you're a guild member, like
me, you should consider donating any items needed by the guild if you
can afford the gold loss or at least hold on to them for now if you have
the room in inventory. Before selling, keep in mind the crafted items I
listed above a few days back. You can sell any grey items, like
cooperation medals for gold - do not sell items you need for crafting,
like Black Leaf. We will want to go ahead and start buying components
to craft those items while here in Lumina also. Review the list and
keep in mind a max of 5 for each charm and just buy the stuff now.



Back to reviewing our deck again, I will now review my skills and try to
finish off any R1 Battle skills that need work by adjusting my deck to
include 5 of that weapon type with my best weapons. So once again,
manipulate your deck while here in Zeal. If you need to buy a few
vendor items to help you accomplish this, you should have plenty of gold
to do so. I bought Fire x5, Fist x5 and Shadow x5 for my special
Colossus deck to use on the way and will scatter some of these in my
regular deck to slowly build those up also.



I'm going to say in advance that after the reset, raid the forest 1 last
time before leaving Lumina, work to move to Aleas. Team up with your
dungeon buddy for the Colossus and use your special deck to build any
skills you need without fear of losing with weak weapons. I will also
do 1 more PvP so will I have 6 soul fragments and I can craft 1 more
Brawler's Poison in Inachis. Then use my normal move to get to Inachis.



I think it's time to end Part 6 here and start up a new thread for Part
7: Leveling up in Inachis...



See you in the next thread once you're back in Inachis.