Is there a realistic path to 200 without bossing?

Grinding can be faster than bossing so if your only goal is to get to 200 then grinding can get you there. Just as an example at 170+ shaolin 7f can give you around 70m exp per hour which is comparable exp to 1 party HT. Other spots will give quite a bit less exp but it’s definitely possible to just grind to 200. The downside of 7f is you won’t really accumulate that much meso but if you don’t care about getting really strong gear then it’s fine.

 

NL or BM to reach 200 without bossing -> nah, sounds like pure torture

Mage, warriors or shad to 200 without bossing -> yeah you can do it, its even standard for mages to not boss anyway. Sounds boring tho

 

I don't get why you think you can't boss on an unwashed NL. You can't do pink bean/toad/verga/ HT (without hyperbody), but theres still alot of other boss you can do for exp.

You can grind normally till 135.
From 135 onwards you can do the following bosses (w.o a single hp wash):
-Zakum
-Papulatus
-Ravana

From 150 onwards you can start doing cwkpq as well (again no washing required).

You can also grind F7 as president said at this point for some decent EPH. (Try to duo with a shadower or cleave for optimal gainz).

From 170 onwards you can run the bodyguard expedition w.o washing and it gives an insane amount of exp per day. Highest range damage you should get hit for is a 1/1 attack.

Bodyguard A,
Bodyguard B,
The Boss.

With a combination of grinding F7 and the daily bosses you can do that don't require washing, its certainly viable to reach level 200.

 

Can't speak to the point about BGA because I haven't gotten that far but....

I'd grind 5/6 or 7f on my NL on occasion in 15x and people would show up in the map and literally watch me because it was such a ridiculous premise. NLs are terrible grinders.

If you're duoing with someone, it's going to be a very generous friend who doesn't mind carrying you.

Which doesn't mean it can't be done (very slowly) ....


But the idea of going back there.... *shivers*

 

Yes! *I'm only a 180 Shadower and not 200 yet.* My friends often make fun of me because I never spend time bossing, joking that I'll make my Horntail debut at level 200 lol.

Here's my very sparse bossing history:

And my leveling history:

 

Anything is possible to gain level 200, as long as you don't die and keep your EXP or have Safety Charms with you from the Cash Shop.

 

Spoiler: ^ honestly same:

134 2020-05-02 16:36:37 China: Sutra Depository 7 F
133 2020-05-02 05:20:22 Crimsonwood Mountain: Crimsonwood Keep
132 2020-04-30 12:07:54 China: Sutra Depository 5-6 F
131 2020-04-29 12:05:51 China: Sutra Depository 7 F
130 2020-04-29 10:24:29 China: Sutra Depository 7 F
129 2020-04-29 08:40:08 China: Sutra Depository 7 F

Bosses:

now... whether it is realistic or not is purely dependent on your definition of the word. Some people play hard and alt-tab like nobody else, others just hold down a button.

 

Archers can grind in 7F just fine. Most of my experience from 190 to 200 came from 7F, and my eph is on par or better than most HT runs, though I don't know if the same can be said of NLs. There are also bosses you can fight without HP washing or even HB, either because they're tankable or because it's reasonable to simply take no damage from them.

 

As a non-mage, nothing compares to 7F. The optimal play is to have two shads, both with max taunt and an hs mule. You can reach 80m or even 90m eph. If you're gonna go with a NL or BM, it won't be nearly as good, but its still the best spot to grind by a long shot. You could try ToT but you gotta get through all the 999 kill quests and you likely won't be getting better exp. Bossing on some of the less hard-hitting bosses mentioned earlier might even be better since your bread and butter is at single-target dps.

 

Some days it's easy to find a map, other days not so much. I usually can find one whenever I try. During Halloween event, my average EPH at 7F with a Hero partner of a similar level was 80-90M. I don't know any alternatives that give as good of EPH with a map as optimal.

Also, I've trained at 7F with 16x-19x Marksmen and the EPH is good for them too, despite them being ranged archers. Not sure how well an NL might do at 7F but yeah. Tons of Heros, DKs, Paladins, Shads, Marksmen, Buccaneers, Mages, and even Corsairs can get good EPH at 7F. I've heard (from Eiji) that partnering with an Arch Mage or Bishop at 5-6 is another good option for Attacker classes.

 

There are a few things that make NL grinding harder than on a BM (I play both, but I'm not at 7F yet on my archer. I'm at 3/4 or FoT, but I have a feel for the mechanics).

1. Avenger goes only in one direction. If you're trying to mob, this means that all of the mobs you're trying to attack need to be on your right or your left. On an archer, Arrow Rain (or eruption) goes on both sides of your player.
2. Arrow Rain (or eruption) can mob at close range. A mob can be standing on your foot and you can still get them with eruption/AR.... But Avenger can't mob at close range, and that's the NL's only mob skill. In order to use it, you need to have the mob outside of punching distance. At 7f, 1+2 combined mean that you're often flashjumping into the corners to put enough distance between you and the mobs, which will then take you forever to kill with Avenger. But if they charge you, or there's more than six at a time....
3. Managing mobs on an NL is harder. For archers, a single point in Dragon's Breath means that you can push mobs away from you 100% of the time, and then stop them with a stun (on BM) or a freeze (on MM). You can also distract them with a puppet. On an NL, you would need either Shadow Web (which at max level is only 80% success rate) or max level ninja storm (which you shouldn't be thinking about putting your first point into until level... 150 if you're foregoing MW and Taunt, which you shouldn't because Taunt is pretty much your only selling point) to get the same result. (I don't have max level ninja storm because I got Taunt and, well, half of MW).

Your big advantages (shifter and flashjump) kind of only go so far in such a cramped map. I think it's telling that I haven't gone back to 7F since hitting HT level on my NL.

It should also be noted here that all of my friends know that I am very bad at playing this game, so maybe I'm missing something, but this is what I know.

 

But Avenger can't mob at close range, and that's the NL's only mob skill.
This is completely false information, Avenger is the "best" mobbing skill that they have. However, Taunt, Ninja Ambush, Ninja Storm can all mob but are not as effective in damage but they do indeed mob.

 

True. I'm not sure how functional it would be to mob giants with max ambush/storm. Getting an NL to a level where they even have those skills, without bossing, is a challenge in and of itself.

 

as someone who played pre buff shadowers i never got invited to boss runs because i'm both unlikable and it was a meme class so i slaved away for hundreds of hours at shaolin, but i got 200 for the maple clout so idk man worth, at 199 I was getting like 3% an hour which isn't awful??? and its obv a lot faster before that so ye its not the worst??? maybe the 2nd worst, also if ur ranged u can kill shit like bigfoots and anegos and not need hp for it and its very casual and ez (well idk how hard it is to find the area bosses these days, but they're ez to kill), and going 5-6F as a nightlord duo with a mage isn't the worst exp if you have an SE mule(but finding a mage that'll duo with you is kinda hard unless u have generous friends), don't have any experience with archers so can't comment on how grinding is for them

 

It's definitely possible but once you hit 160-170, especially 180's you'll get bored and tired of it that you might just quit the game before you hit 200.

Despite having 2x EXP here in ML, it's actually still a pretty big grind to 200.

 

I possible to get lv200 as a Beguiner on Maple Island, just perhaps takes longer. NL grind isn't that bad just slower than other jobs (not as slow as a Beguiner tho).

 

This was always a fascinating topic to me because I feel like an old man when I maple and I just dont have the energy anymore to always be bossing so I like to relax grinding and based on what ive seen with a bishop anyway its very obtainable to just casually leech ur characters along at skeles or shaolin and eventually hit 200 after a year and a half or something. The bishop will easily get to 200 doing all the work obviously but if you just did light Zakum bossing and other things here and there 200 isnt out of reach.