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Thief Blu's Full Guide For Shadowers

Discussion in 'Jobs' started by Blu301, Nov 3, 2019.

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  1. Blu301
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    Blu301 Pac Pinky

    186
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    May 20, 2019
    Male
    East Coast, USA
    7:33 AM
    Blu301
    Shadower
    200
    Summer
    ~ Blu's Full Guide For Shadowers ~

    xx rip APQ specs.png
    (Posted 11/3/2019; Updated 8/11/2021)

    Table of Contents

    1. Intro droolmush
    2. AP Builds :star:
    3. SP Builds :pinkbean:
    4. HP & Washing MapleF3
    5. Training + Meso Exploding SlimeGrin
    6. Money Making :sack:
    7. 4th Job Equipment :picopico:
    8. Attack Combinations MapleF9
    9. Conclusion sleepymush

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

    1. Intro droolmush

    Hi y’all, I’m Tim/Blu (ign Blu301/Blu996) MapleF2 I’ve been playing Maple Legends for about 6 months and in that time have gotten my shad to lvl 180+ (edit: now 200!). I love this game and the community we have here so I think it’s about time I’ve made a contribution that can hopefully be of service to people.

    This is an extensive and updated guide for people who want to create a bandit with the intention of taking it into 4th job. If you're simply aiming to be a casual player, I hope there's useful information here for you too. Hopefully it's a full framework for learning and playing the class.

    There's only a handful of active shads on the server (not true at all anymore - we're popular now), but we are incredible level grinders in 4th job, solid attackers for all bossing, and for sure one of the most enjoyable classes in the game because of our unique and very well-balanced skill set.

    Shads are pretty sweet, with hella flashy skills. Though we’re technically melee attackers, we have great attack range with our main mobbing skill Boomerang Step. For a combination of several reasons, we take damage less often than any other class in the game and also only need to HP wash minimally, if at all depending on your goals, for 4th job bossing.

    Our biggest shortfall was that shads were once widely considered liabilities in terms of solo-target Damage-Per-Minute (DPM) for bossing, but this is no longer the case. We're still lower end, but the Maple Legends skill buff to Assassinate combined with other perks allows us to produce very solid solo-target DPM at all bosses. There are no exceptions.
    xx nate verga.png
    Using the Dark Sight > Assassinate macro at Vergamot, the first Neo Tokyo boss.

    I intend for this guide to capture as much as possible - ability and skill-building, HP washing, training, money-making, the works. This guide is heavily influenced by my personal journey through Maple Legends, just what I’ve done or believe to be best.

    Let me start by sharing some of the things to love about being a shad:
    • Solid attackers for all kinds of bossing by middle 4th job, and generally non-reliant on outside party buffs to perform optimally.​
    • One of the relatively cheaper attacking classes to fund for new players and even endgame players.​
    • 3rd job skill Meso Guard decreases damage inflicted upon us by 50%, so HP washing is “truly optional” for us. As in you can do very little washing and be able to do all bossing in the game (I have ~6.3k HP base without any gears)​
    • 3rd job skill Meso Explosion lets you speed level through 3rd job - in peak situations, you can get over ~25 million exp for ~6 million mesos per hour.​
    • 4th job skill Boomerang Step is arguably the best mobbing skill in the game. Long range, stuns, hits up to 4 mobs, and has comfy “invincibility frames” (iframes) in which you won’t take damage.​
    • 4th job skill Smokescreen is the sauciest party buff in bossing - at max level, party invincibility for 45 seconds every 5 minutes. Imagine having 6 shads anywhere.​
    • 4th job skill Shadow Shifter at max level lets us automatically avoid 40% of attacks - with our high avoidability and iframes, we are hit less and use much less potions than any other class.​
    • 4th job skill Taunt at max level lets us receive +40% exp from each mob - and it stacks with Holy Symbol. This means up to ~15% more exp while grinding and, combined with high accuracy and the ability to hit 4 mobs within BoomStep's range, is why we are the top non-mage class to train.​
    • We are a top-tier class for Horntail, which is the most popular boss to run after 155+ if you're interested in that. We're great mobbers, can charge an attack during weapon cancel downtimes, and have the best survivability as essential "seduce mules."​
    And here are some of the things to dislike about being a shad:
    • As far as all attackers go, we still have lower end solo-target DPM. Even with the recent buff to Assassinate, we can't compare to 4th job range classes, but that's standard. Charts say we have the lowest overall DPM, but those numbers assume uninterrupted attacking. In the reality of bossing, we are always in the low-to-middle mix.​
    • Valuable party buffs like Sharp Eyes (no effect on our single-target attack) and Speed Infusion (no effect at all) benefit most classes, some greatly, and are very common in bossing scenarios.​
    • While we are generally slightly stronger than other melee attackers for 1 or 4-target DPM, our 2 and 3-target DPM is much lower than like-leveled Hero/Dark Knight counterparts. This is more of a niche con for certain multi-target bossing scenarios like CWKPQ or portions of Horntail or if for some reason you're running Scar+Targa at the same time (that's really it), it doesn't reflect our grinding capabilities because of the other perks we have.​
    • We don't have any attacks that connect past melee range until 4th job. And our 3rd job mobbing attack is very weak and can hit 6 mobs but only in very close proximity, which is annoying until 4th job.​
    I’ll further qualify all the pros by saying that some people meme the shad class into oblivion because we’re not ideal DPM attackers for endgame bossing and don't offer a crucial party buff. Don't listen to any bullshit - nothing is off-limits for us, we are literally solid additions to any team. And probably the smoothest non-mage to solo play.

    Plus, everybody loves Smokescreen.
    upload_2019-11-4_2-49-54.png
    That one time I tried to solo the final Neo Tokyo boss Nameless Magic Monster and KO'd in ~5 minutes. grinmush
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​
    2. AP Builds :star:

    Bandits are unique in that we are the only class to eventually require 3 different AP stats - str, dex, and luk. Luk is the stat that actually increases our damage range the most, while dex adds accuracy and is needed to wear the vast majority of our equipment. Str is only necessary to equip different daggers and shields. Most get by adding none for a very long time, but by the start of 4th job you'll need some base str.

    There are really only 2 viable AP builds for bandits - the OG build or the low-dex build. I’d recommend the OG build if you plan to grind through 3rd job and save money, and the low-dex build if you have money to spend or time to hustle and can afford Meso Exploding through 3rd job. Objectively speaking, the low-dex build + speed leveling through 3rd job with Meso Explosion is by far the better option.

    (A few people have asked about the viability of being a str-less bandit. I highly don't recommend. You'll just be so much weaker than you should be by early 4th job and beyond. Though bandits should have AP points in str/dex in 4th job, it's possible to get enough stats from gears to bring your base str/dex down to the minimums, 4/25 respectively. Not easy, but in that case you'd just be missing the ~17 base attack from the lvl 120 shield for no reason. I get that not everyone cares about damage - obviously you should do whatever you please, like that's one of the best parts of this game right, but I'm just telling you how it is.)

    Choose wisely here. If you choose to start with the dexless build, it’ll be tough (but not impossible) to transition to a regular dex bandit and wear the level 80 shield. So it’s best to make your choice very early on, preferably by 1st job advancement at lvl 10 when you either continue or stop adding dex.

    Whichever path you take, you'll arrive at the same place - your endgame equips (lvl 120 dragon khanjar shield, lvl 100 Gold Double Knife / lvl 110 dragon kanzir dagger / lvl 115 grave dagger from Neo Tokyo / Pink Bean equips not listed) will require 75+ str and 150+ dex anyways.
    Low-Dex Build - recommended if you are funded/plan to Meso Explode through 3rd job

    This is the build that most shad guides I’ve seen recommend, and by far more practical IF you have the funds to speed level through 3rd job with Meso Explosion. Because Meso Explosion damage is dependent on the bags you drop and not your weapon or damage range, you can speed level without worrying about upgrading equipment (or reaching certain str/dex AP benchmarks until at least 100+).

    If you choose this low-dex build, you will be able to do a bit more damage than a dex-bandit counterpart through 1st and 2nd job, but only have a limited number of weapons to use (daggers that require no dex to wear, such as lvl 35 korean fan, lvl 53 liu bei dagger, lvl 75 kebob, and maple daggers available at lvl 43 and 64).

    You're also limited to other gears that don't require much dex - essentially just a bathrobe overall scrolled for luk and the slime shoes from Kerning City PQ (since they can add luk) until ready to transition to the regular str/dex requirements for endgame equipment.

    Once again, keep in mind that you will still need 75 str/150 dex by lvl 120 at latest.
    • Make sure you have 25 dex for 1st job advancement at level 10 - aside from that, you can pump everything into luk until lvl 70 at 3rd job advancement. So easy.​
    • Because you'll be speed leveling through 3rd job, you really don’t need to upgrade your equipment until after level 100. You can save your AP points because adding them into stats won’t increase your Meso Explosion damage anyways.​
    • By level 110-120, you should have 75 str/150 dex to equip your endgame dagger/shield. If you're dexless, you'll need to pump some str and a lot of dex so just be sure to plan accordingly.​
    One of the pros to this build aside from speed leveling through 3rd job is that you’ll definitely save yourself NX cash because you won’t need as many AP resets to take out excess secondary stats later on (this is really nice if washing). Meso Explosion isn’t reliant on your AP stats/damage range, so you should save hella AP points until late 3rd job when you figure out exactly how much str and dex is needed in addition to your scrolled gear. That’s why this is much more practical for funded or hardcore players.

    OG Build - recommended if you are not funded/plan to grind through 3rd job

    This build is my version of the original AP build for thieves, for those who plan to train hardcore. Meso Explosion is a big draw to play the shad class, but realistically not everyone can afford to burn that many mesos to level because we all love scrolling shit. I enjoyed going through the OG build because I liked to train, and I was able to upgrade my weapons and gears frequently from 2nd-4th job because I had enough stats to equip things.

    VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep in mind that when you scroll your equipment for dex/str at higher levels, you will also be able to skip adding those AP stats at many levels because scrolled gear will boost you toward your required AP benchmarks for 4th job equipment. Good planning will save you from buying excessive AP resets in the future.

    My recommended benchmarks for unfunded grinders are 60 str/120 dex by level 80 (hugely optional, and total stats not base stats), and 75 str/150 dex total by level 110-120 is a must. You don't need more str/dex than that.
    • Until level 40, your dex should be 2x your level (this typically requires adding 2 dex every level, with the rest going into luk). Easy.​
    • After level 40, your dex should be your level + 40 (this typically requires adding 1 dex per level, with the rest going into luk). Also easy. If you want to keep it simple you can do this for a very long time and not worry about str until lvl 100+.​
    • Optional: Starting around level 70, the build changes for a bit IF you plan to grind through 3rd job (without Meso Explosion) AND use the lvl 80 thief shield:
    • There is a lvl 80 shield called the khanjar that requires 60 str and 120 dex. It adds 6-8 weapon att clean, and is pretty cheap. Most shads skip this because it's not practical, but if interested, you're gonna need some base str later anyways. And this shield makes you look like a Dual Blade.​
    • Assuming you can get a Zakum Helmet (pay for service or loot from friends/guildies for free) which should add 13-17 str/dex clean, the following bullet point should keep you on track to have 60 str by level 80.​
    • To be on pace to equip the khanjar, starting at level 70 you can add 4 str and 1 dex per level until you reach 60 str. Again, I'd try not to go past 40/80 base str/dex, and I'd try to shoot lower. You don't want to overdo this because you can get a lot of stats from gears later.​
    • Once you hit the benchmark of 60 str at level 80, you can stop adding AP into str for a while, possibly forever, and resume adding 1 dex/4 luk per level. By level 110-120 you want to have 75 total str, but you can likely make up the last +15 str from equips, or just add some AP after level 100 to get there.​

    upload_2019-11-4_2-52-32.png
    Training at Windraiders around lvl 85 with a Dragon's Tail and Khanjar shield.

    Recap for grinders - if you use the khanjar shield at level 80, you’ll likely end up with much higher base str and dex than you would want to keep for middle-late 4th job purposes. At that point the move is to gradually buy AP resets to get rid of the excess secondary stat at later levels as you gain more of your str from gear instead. That’s why this is for unfunded players - in addition to leveling slower than you would with Meso Explosion, you'll end up spending more NX vote cash on AP resets as well.

    A lot of people have asked how low their base str and dex should be when settled in 4th job, because as you continue to level and get better gears, you can remove a lot of str and dex and still reach the benchmarks to equip your dagger and shield.

    For your reference, I'm eyeballing the sums but it looks like ~25 base str and ~50 base dex base are great benchmarks to aim for by HT level (155), though it's not easy to achieve. That means you would need 50 str and 100 dex from scrolled gears, which requires a solid, complete set. And get that tier 10 monster book ring.

    It's not strange to start off with higher base stats like 40+ str and 80+ dex, but I don't think you need more than that with a fully scrolled gear set even if cheap. Eventually as you continue building your equip set, it's ideal to get your base stats as low as possible (peak performance is 4 str 25 dex, takes some ballsy scrolling/chaosing) - just take it one AP reset at a time.

    ****PRO TIP #1: Which Gears Give You Str****

    The biggest sources for str will be your pendant and helmet (and perhaps event rings if you're around to get them). You can buy a Horntail Pendant (+23 all stats if max) at lvl 120+ (highly recommend if you can afford ~35-40m), or you can simply wait until lvl 155+ and run Horntail to get one yourself. A zakum helmet (+17 all stats if max) also adds a considerable amount, that's already +44 str total including your minimum 4 base str.

    It's not a terrible look at all to start 4th job with a top scrolled for str instead of luk - it would allow you to keep you base str lower and use less AP resets after you get a Horntail Pendant. But if you're aiming for late game (155+ bossing) you eventually want to have a top scrolled for luk (ex. you can still achieve minimum base str with a luk top).

    Some evergreen gears also come with str clean, like the 2nd ellin PQ reward earrings (+2 all stats clean, highly recommend) or the spectrum goggle eye (+2 str/dex clean if max) or some of the lvl 80-100 thief shoes (can add +2-5 str clean depending on the type). I don't talk about event items much but there are rings and sometimes pendants, face, eye, etc. There are also unconventional ways you can gain more str with endgame funding, such as using chaos scrolls on various items that are unable to be scrolled for str.

    The most important thing is just to be on track for 75 str/150 dex by lvl 110-120. Sorry for saying that like 5 times but it's important. Everyone’s journey is different so it’s hard to say exactly when you should start mass adding AP in str/dex, but just keep it in mind.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​
    3. Skill Builds :pinkbean: (credit to Marty for 1st-3rd job allocations)

    Again, these are suggestions. I’ll provide the recommended order of add too, but the most important thing is to make sure you max your necessary skills.

    1st job:

    Optional note: Becoming a SinDit - Some bandits choose to use Lucky Seven (throwing stars) instead of double stab to get through 1st and early 2nd job. There’s virtually no catch to becoming a SinDit - you're able to train more easily at more locations because you have an attack with some range, you're able to fulfill the duties of a range attacker if needed in LPQ, and you're also a bit more powerful until you have some SP in Savage Blow in early 2nd job. While I didn’t use this build, it’s a good option with great pros until you max Savage Blow around lvl 40.

    Level 10: +1 Lucky Seven [1]
    Level 11: +3 Nimble Body [3]
    Level 12: +3 Keen Eyes [3]
    Level 13: +3 Keen Eyes [6]
    Level 14: +2 Keen Eyes [MAX]; +1 Lucky Seven [2]
    Level 15: +3 Lucky Seven [5]
    Level 16: +3 Lucky Seven [8]
    Level 17: +3 Lucky Seven [11]
    Level 18: +3 Lucky Seven [14]
    Level 19: +3 Lucky Seven [17]
    Level 20: +3 Lucky Seven [MAX]
    Level 21: +3 Nimble Body [6]
    Level 22: +3 Nimble Body [9]
    Level 23: +1 Nimble Body [10]; +2 Disorder [2]
    Level 24: +1 Disorder [3]; +2 Dark Sight [2]
    Level 25: +3 Dark Sight [5]
    Level 26: +3 Dark Sight [8]
    Level 27: +3 Dark Sight [11]
    Level 28: +3 Dark Sight [14]
    Level 29: +3 Dark Sight [17]
    Level 30: +3 Dark Sight [MAX]

    Level 10: +1 Double Stab [1]
    Level 11: +3 Double Stab [4]
    Level 12: +3 Double Stab [7]
    Level 13: +3 Double Stab [10]
    Level 14: +3 Double Stab [13]
    Level 15: +3 Double Stab [16]
    Level 16: +3 Double Stab [19]
    Level 17: +1 Double Stab [MAX]; +2 Nimble Body [2]
    Level 18: +3 Nimble Body [5]
    Level 19: +3 Nimble Body [8]
    Level 20: +3 Nimble Body [11]
    Level 21: +3 Nimble Body [14]
    Level 22: +3 Nimble Body [17]
    Level 23: +3 Nimble Body [MAX]
    Level 24: +3 Disorder [3]
    Level 25: +3 Dark Sight [3]
    Level 26: +3 Dark Sight [6]
    Level 27: +3 Dark Sight [9]
    Level 28: +3 Dark Sight [12]
    Level 29: +3 Dark Sight [15]
    Level 30: +3 Dark Sight [18]

    2nd job:

    I’m going to map out the suggested build per level for this, but it’s up to you. Some people max Dagger Mastery for stability first (me), or points in Dagger Booster for speed earlier. But max Savage Blow’s damage multiplier should do more average damage than Double Stab with max Dagger Mastery, so it’s technically the best first option. Some people like to max Haste because LPQers love that shit, but there are so many assassins who’ll probably have it anyways.

    If you went with the SinDit build first job, instead of finishing Dark Sight and adding to Steal, finish adding to the 1st job skill Nimble Body instead, then dump the leftovers in Steal. Steal is virtually useless forreal.

    Level 30: +1 Dagger Mastery [1]
    Level 31: +3 Savage Blow [3]
    Level 32: +3 Savage Blow [6]
    Level 33: +3 Savage Blow [9]
    Level 34: +3 Savage Blow [12]
    Level 35: +3 Savage Blow [15]
    Level 36: +3 Savage Blow [18]
    Level 37: +1 Savage Blow [21]
    Level 38: +3 Savage Blow [24]
    Level 39: +3 Savage Blow [27]
    Level 40: +3 Savage Blow [MAX]
    Level 41: +3 Dagger Mastery [4]
    Level 42: +1 Dagger Mastery [5], +2 Dagger Booster [2]
    Level 43: +3 Dagger Booster [5]
    Level 44: +1 Dagger Booster [6], +2 Dagger Mastery [7]
    Level 45: +3 Dagger Mastery [10]
    Level 46: +3 Dagger Mastery [13]
    Level 47: +3 Dagger Mastery [16]
    Level 48: +3 Dagger Mastery [19]
    Level 49: +3 Dagger Mastery [MAX], +2 Haste [2]
    Level 50: +3 Haste [5]
    Level 51: +3 Haste [8]
    Level 52: +3 Haste [11]
    Level 53: +3 Haste [14]
    Level 54: +3 Haste [17]
    Level 55: +3 Haste [MAX]
    Level 56: +3 Dagger Booster [9]
    Level 57: +3 Dagger Booster [12]
    Level 58: +3 Dagger Booster [15]
    Level 59: +3 Dagger Booster [18]
    Level 60: +2 Dagger Booster [MAX], +1 Dark Sight [19]
    Level 61: +1 Dark Sight [MAX], +2 Steal [2]
    Level 62: +3 Steal [5]
    Level 63: +3 Steal [8]
    Level 64: +3 Steal [11]
    Level 65: +3 Steal [14]
    Level 66: +3 Steal [17]
    Level 67: +3 Steal [20]
    Level 68: +3 Steal [23]
    Level 69: +3 Steal [26]
    Level 70: +3 Steal [29]

    3rd job:

    I’ve explained the difference between these builds in the AP section. These are just my recommendations, the grinder’s build has you maxing Meso Guard and Pickpocket earlier than other shad guides but I think it’s for very good reason since you won’t be using Meso Explosion.

    It's nice to get a point in Assaulter early because it's a nice skill for mobility since it increases our vertical movement (provided there's a mob target to hit), especially since the delay after use was recently halved. If you'd like, put a point in very early.

    Chakra is maxed last because although healing yourself without HP pots is gnarly in theory, it's not practical because the cast time is ridiculously long - like over 3 seconds. Even if the cast time were like 2 seconds, it still doesn't have long term utility for training or bossing because 4th job bandits use fewer pots than everyone else anyways (TLDR just use pots).

    There is definitely a hybrid build you could run with. It's pretty common sense but involves splitting points into Meso Explosion and Band of Thieves. I'd say this is very practical, because it makes a lot of sense to alternate grinding for mesos with exploding them for faster leveling. But if you're doing a hybrid build you probably want to do like a 2/1 ratio to max Band of Thieves first because lower level Meso Explosion is much more effective than lower level Band of Thieves.
    Level 70: +1 Meso Explosion [1]
    Level 71: + 3 Chakra [3]
    Level 72: +3 Meso Guard [3]
    Level 73: +1 Assaulter [1], +2 Meso Explosion [3]
    Level 74: +3 Meso Explosion [6]
    Level 75: +3 Meso Explosion [9]
    Level 76: +3 Meso Explosion [12]
    Level 77: +3 Meso Explosion [15]
    Level 78: +3 Meso Explosion [18]
    Level 79: +3 Meso Explosion [21]
    Level 80: +3 Meso Explosion [24]
    Level 81: +3 Meso Explosion [27]
    Level 82: +3 Meso Explosion [MAX]
    Level 83: +3 Meso Guard [6]
    Level 84: +3 Meso Guard [9]
    Level 85: +3 Meso Guard [12]
    Level 86: +3 Meso Guard [15]
    Level 87: +3 Meso Guard [18]
    Level 88: +2 Meso Guard [MAX], +1 Band of Thieves [1]
    Level 89: +3 Band of Thieves [4]
    Level 90: +3 Band of Thieves [7]
    Level 91: +3 Band of Thieves [10]
    Level 92: +3 Band of Thieves [13]
    Level 93: +3 Band of Thieves [16]
    Level 94: +3 Band of Thieves [19]
    Level 95: +3 Band of Thieves [22]
    Level 96: +3 Band of Thieves [25]
    Level 97: +3 Band of Thieves [28]
    Level 98: +2 Band of Thieves [MAX], +1 Assaulter [2]
    Level 99: +3 Assaulter [5]
    Level 100: +3 Assaulter [8]
    Level 101: +3 Assaulter [11]
    Level 102: +3 Assaulter [14]
    Level 103: +3 Assaulter [17]
    Level 104: +3 Assaulter [20]
    Level 105: +3 Assaulter [23]
    Level 106: +3 Assaulter [26]
    Level 107: +3 Assaulter [29]
    Level 108: +1 Assaulter [MAX], +2 Pickpocket [2]
    Level 109: +3 Pickpocket [5]
    Level 110: +3 Pickpocket [8]
    Level 111: +3 Pickpocket [11]
    Level 112: +3 Pickpocket [14]
    Level 113: +3 Pickpocket [17]
    Level 114: +3 Pickpocket [MAX]
    Level 115: +3 Chakra [6]
    Level 116: +3 Chakra [9]
    Level 117: +3 Chakra [12]
    Level 118: +3 Chakra [15]
    Level 119: +3 Chakra [18]
    Level 120: +2 Chakra [21]

    Level 70: +1 Meso Explosion [1]
    Level 71: +3 Chakra [3]
    Level 72: +1 Meso Guard [1], +1 Assaulter [1], +1 Band of Thieves [1]
    Level 73: +3 Band of Thieves [4]
    Level 74: +3 Band of Thieves [7]
    Level 75: +3 Band of Thieves [10]
    Level 76: +3 Band of Thieves [13]
    Level 77: +3 Band of Thieves [16]
    Level 78: +3 Band of Thieves [19]
    Level 79: +3 Band of Thieves [22]
    Level 80: +3 Band of Thieves [25]
    Level 81: +1 Band of Thieves [28]
    Level 82: +2 Band of Thieves [MAX], +1 Meso Guard [2]
    Level 83: +3 Meso Guard [5]
    Level 84: +3 Meso Guard [8]
    Level 85: +3 Meso Guard [11]
    Level 86: +3 Meso Guard [14]
    Level 87: +3 Meso Guard [17]
    Level 88: +3 Meso Guard [MAX]
    Level 89: +3 Pickpocket [3]
    Level 90: +3 Pickpocket [6]
    Level 91: +3 Pickpocket [9]
    Level 92: +3 Pickpocket [12]
    Level 93: +3 Pickpocket [15]
    Level 94: +3 Pickpocket [18]
    Level 95: +2 Pickpocket [MAX], +1 Meso Explosion [2]
    Level 96: +3 Meso Explosion [5]
    Level 97: +3 Meso Explosion [8]
    Level 98: +3 Meso Explosion [11]
    Level 99: +3 Meso Explosion [14]
    Level 100: +3 Meso Explosion [17]
    Level 101: +3 Meso Explosion [20]
    Level 102: +3 Meso Explosion [23]
    Level 103: +3 Meso Explosion [26]
    Level 104: +3 Meso Explosion [29]
    Level 105: +1 Meso Explosion [MAX], +2 Assaulter [3]
    Level 106: +3 Assaulter [6]
    Level 107: +3 Assaulter [9]
    Level 108: +3 Assaulter [12]
    Level 109: +3 Assaulter [15]
    Level 110: +3 Assaulter [18]
    Level 111: +3 Assaulter [21]
    Level 112: +3 Assaulter [24]
    Level 113: +3 Assaulter [27]
    Level 114: +3 Assaulter [MAX]
    Level 115: +3 Chakra [6]
    Level 116: +3 Chakra [9]
    Level 117: +3 Chakra [12]
    Level 118: +3 Chakra [15]
    Level 119: +3 Chakra [18]
    Level 120: +3 Chakra [21]
    upload_2019-11-4_2-57-25.png
    At Ghost Ship - Band of Thieves only works within melee range, but can hit up to 6 mobs.

    4th job:

    Oh lawd here we go. There are different reasonable ways you can do this, so I’m just going to give you my guidelines.

    The good news is we have like really cheap skillbooks. A bishop will have to pay 10x the most we'll ever pay for one. Some of our books are only obtainable via GPQ or area bosses like Pianus or big bosses like Horntail, but they’re still mostly cheap (< 10 mil last I knew) because of high supply and mediocre demand. If you’d like to grind to get some of these books, just search the skill in Maple Legends Library. Honestly, I’d just recommend buying all of them since they’re relatively inexpensive. But you might want to card hunt or something anyways.

    Regardless of what you want to do early 4th job:
    • Get a single SP point into Shadow Shifter, Smokescreen, and Venom early (Venom is very optional, most consider the passively added DPM on mobs insignificant but it's aight for grinding skeles, NT, tanky mobs at Shaolin). After the first point, the gain from using early SP is too gradual to be worth maxing these before other key skills.​
    • Hands down, max Boomerang Step first. This is your main mobbing attack for grinding and is something you'll use in bossing forever too, since it mobs and dodges at once. ​
    • Leave Venom and Ninja Ambush for last since they some trash. I don't think Ninja Ambush even like does damage tbh but the animation is fantastic. ​
    • There is a skill called Hero's Will that negates a bosses "seduce" (Horntail, Pink Bean, Vergamot, Lyka). You need to complete a short-ish questline to get it, and you want to have this by level 155 for Horntail, as you will likely be the "seduce mule" on every run you participate in. So max it before level 155; its max level is only 5 even though the skill says it's 10.​
    • Most people want to boss as early as 135, but in my opinion it's a better move to get close to 150 first so that you have near max BoomStep, Assassinate, and Shifter. 135-150 is not a bad stretch for duo grinding.​
    If you want to grind early (130-150) (recommended):

    BoomStep > Taunt/Shadow Shifter > Assassinate > Maple Warrior/Smokescreen > Venom > Ninja Ambush
    • If you’d like to grind from 130-150+ and get to a higher level before bossing, you should focus on getting some points into Shifter next, and consider some Taunt. Maybe split adding some SP to both.​
    • Shadow Shifter at max level 30 lets us automatically avoid 40% of attacks, which is truly amazing. Combine this with our iframes and extremely high avoidability, we take damage less often than any other class, even NightLords. Don't underrate maxing this early; a lot of people often opt to max Assassinate for bossing, but this will also increase DPM a ton by minimizing knock-back.​
    • Taunt at max level 30 gives us a whopping +40% exp/drop rate from mobs. This equates to up to 15% more exp while grinding, but +40% drop rate means that the mob is "able to drop 40% more things" according to a staff member I spoke to, so it doesn't directly increase the drop rate (frankly I don't see a noticeable drop rate difference if taunt doesn't one-shot the mob itself; if you need to taunt-then-attack to kill, you might as well have hit more mobs instead). ​
    • Oh. Here's the catch: For whatever exp % taunt is increasing by skill description, you will do that % less damage on the mob. 40% damage reduction is a lot. So it's best used strategically when mobs are close to dying because if you taunt a mob at full health it takes much longer to kill. That's not always a problem tho, since boomstep hits 4 targets - you gotta play around with it some.​
    • Despite the skill reversion to taunt doing +40% damage reduction at max level again, I don't think it's a bad idea to start getting used to it early. Once taunt is max level and you're good, getting up to +15% more exp is huge. ​
    • Definitely max Assassinate to 30 after Shifter/Taunt since you’ll want to be useful in any kind of bossing situation after level 150+.​

    upload_2019-11-4_3-6-15.png
    Grinding at lvl 132 on Shaolin 7F with max BoomStep and a partner. Rookie EPH here.

    If you want to boss early (130-150):

    BoomStep > Assassinate > Shadow Shifter/Smokescreen > Taunt/Maple Warrior > Venom > Ninja Ambush
    • This is pretty common it seems since people want to boss ASAP. If you’d like to boss as early as 140, your 2nd highest priority is Assassinate. This skill is our greatest solo-target DPM attack, though you can only use it from Dark Sight, and you use it in an automatic macro combination that I explain in a later section.​
    • After Assassinate, definitely go for Shifter for the reasons stated above - it’s such a key skill for us everywhere. One of the reasons why shads are solid everywhere for bossing is because with our high avoid rate, we get knockbacked the least and are able to retain a very high percentage of our true uninterrupted DPM in every situation. Max Shifter obviously tips the scales for us.​
    • What a lot of bossers do early on is max Smokescreen (party invincibility), so you can split adding SP to both Shifter and Smoke if you’d like. My qualm with maxing Smokescreen early is that even though the range of effect is gigantic at max level, after 31 seconds at lvl 1 Smoke, the gain per SP is not worth it - and the cooldown remains 5 minutes even at max level 30. But your bossing team will also love you for max Smoke, the large range of effect at max level is extremely useful in bossing situations like Horntail and Neo Tokyo. For protecting and resurrecting your frands. ​
    • After you max Shifter and Smoke, you should max Taunt since grinding remains the most effective way to level throughout any stage of 4th job even though bossing can be much more fun.​
    For your reference, this is how I did my 4th job skills. While I was getting carried in Zakum and CWKPQ pretty early (this is why you host runs, so you can snag people to carry you; not a joke), I went with a hybrid of the grind build. I maxed Maple Warrior 20 as early as I reasonably could because my regular CWKPQ cleave (hi JDP + Pres) benefited largely from it. I also had lvl 1 smoke until like 160+, for which I was clowned for days.​
    1. Boomerang Step 30​
    2. Shadow Shifter 30 + Taunt 15​
    3. Assassinate 30​
    4. Maple Warrior 20​
    5. Smokescreen 30 + Taunt 30​
    6. Finish Venom​
    7. Don't even put into Ninja Ambush tbh it is air I have 33 SP at max lvl​
    upload_2019-11-4_3-8-54.png
    Nibergen, the 3rd boss in Neo Tokyo (minimum level essentially 163).

    ****PRO TIP #2: Don’t Max Maple Warrior Early****

    Even though it’s dope, I'd say don't put SP into Maple Warrior before level 160 - unless you can afford the Maple Warrior 20 skillbook (250+ mil atm? market shifty). It adds a decent amount to damage range even at MW10, but there are essential shad skills worth maxing prior and someone in your party may already have it. If you’re a bosser and you pass MW20, then it’s great to max after BoomStep, Assassinate, Shifter, and Smoke.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​
    4. HP & Washing MapleF3 (credit to Akash for HP Washing Info)

    If you foresee yourself staying a casual player that may not make it to 4th job, you don’t really need to worry about washing and can skip this section entirely.

    Let me preface this section by saying for my shad's HP washing, I essentially did the bare minimum amount. Without my tier 10 ring, my shad is locked in at ~6.4k HP base. With tier 10 ring + 2x 250 HP pet equips, I have 7.9k HP clean. I'm able to do every boss in the game and need HB for 5 bosses in total - most of which someone else will likely need HB for anyways.

    Oh. HP washing = the process of increasing your HP, essentially by leveling up with INT gears and using AP resets to correct your stats. But don't think about washing like, god this bullshit stifling and smothering my Maple Legends experience. It's just part of the game, same as leveling and increasing your stats, another lane of gradual growth to work through.

    You only need about ~7.5k HP (after gears, before HB) by lvl ~180 to do every single boss in the game (will need HB for a few, but others likely will as well). This threshold is increased from ~6.6k HP specifically for the last boss, Pink Bean. I'm unsure if more than 7.5k HP will be needed for future content such as Neo Tokyo Part 2. If so, fuck me. Boomstep dodge all day)

    In my opinion, you should wash at least lightly if you plan to stick around because you'll regret not doing it. But washing only becomes a true necessity for shads IF you want to do some of the hardest-hitting bosses late in 4th job - like Nameless Magic Monster in Neo Tokyo, Toad in Ninja Castle, and Pink Bean, amongst a couple others. These are bosses that you won’t have enough HP to tank even if you have HB. Otherwise, it’s more of a for-comfort thing.

    As Akash explains in his Is HP Washing Optional forum post, by obtaining all of the various equips that provide HP (tier 10 Monster Card Ring, Blackfist Cloak, Mark of Naricain pendant, HP pet equips etc.), a shadower can have enough HP by level 140 to tank max damage from most harder-hitting bosses like Black Crow, Kacchu Musha (Samurai), Zakum, Scar/Targa, and Horntail (lvl 155 minimum) - without washing at all. 140 is not an arbitrary number, that’s around the level when you can have max BoomStep and Assassinate (if you choose to max those first) which are pretty essential for bossing.

    But if you’re serious about training a shad deep into 4th job and enjoying all of the endgame content ML has to offer, some light washing is yes, needed. And frankly, I recommend washing at least lightly if you aim to do any kind of bossing. I know plenty, plenty of players who wish they had washed more - myself included.

    I’ll refer you to this HP Washing Guide if you’re interested, it’s a bit complicated if you’re new to the concept but it's a very rewarding process. You can start washing at any level, but it's best to start early and stick with it for a while. There are many more modern HP washing guides available on the forums as well.

    As I've said, shads don't need to wash for any bossing under lvl 155. But for those looking to wash in order to participate in every endgame bossing scenario:

    If you'd like to wash a minimal amount but still make it a truly worthwhile process, I'd recommend aiming for 6.7k-7k HP clean (14k w Meso Guard). You can accomplish this pretty easily by lvl 160 with mediocre INT gears and no added base INT (speaking from experience, and I also started washing very late at lvl 80-90). After eclipsing the ~6.6k HP benchmark, with Meso Guard you won't get 1-shot by 3/4 of the Neo Tokyo Bosses, and it's generally very solid for the majority of bossing situations.**

    **If you want to be able to run Pink Bean, you should actually aim for > 7.5k HP clean by level 180+. You can get by with that but will still need HB.


    If you'd like to be a hardcore bosser that doesn't require HB for high-level situations like Nameless and Toad, I'd recommend washing to 10k+ HP. You definitely need some base INT (60-80 is a decent minimum, though it's not uncommon for funded folks to do up to double that) plus solid INT gears to get this much HP by bossing level. Though frankly, when running bosses that do massive damage, there's a good chance that your party will want or need HB anyways, so this is only worth the trouble if you're going all out.**

    **If you want to be able to Pink Bean without HB, which is a highly unnecessary benchmark tbh, you will need > 12.1k HP clean by 175+.

    Summary of ways to add HP without washing:
    • Get rings or HP equips during Maple Legends events (there are plenty of them throughout the calendar year).​
    • Upgrade your monster card ring (tier 10 ring adds +1000 HP, aka +2000 HP for shads because of Meso Guard).​
    • Early-mid game - get a Deputy Star (+100 HP) or Mark of Naricain pendant from CWKPQ (+300 HP) - but the endgame pendant for us is really the Horntail Pendant which adds crazy boosts to defenses but not HP.​
    • Get a rare Blackfist Cloak in CWKPQ bonus stage (+300 HP and also 3-5 weapon att clean).​
    • Get the Ellin ring by completing the tedious questline (+100 HP but worth it because there are few permanent rings in the game).​
    • Scroll your pet’s equipment for HP - 10/30% scrolls add +50 per (and you can have up to 3 pets).​
    If you don’t HP wash at all, you should still be fine to survive in the majority of bossing with even just a few of the gear listed above - you won’t get 1-hit in Zak/Krexel (provided that you don't touch the body), Scar/Targa, CWKPQ, and Horntail at the minimum levels required to get exp from those bosses. This is why HP washing is somewhat optional for shads, which can’t in good conscience be said for any of the non-warrior attacking classes. It just depends if you plan to make it to endgame or not.

    I’ll provide my personal HP information as well, because I happened to wash just enough for endgame purposes and it’s not terribly difficult to replicate. I never had base int, and I did all washing through leveling with int gear. My goal was to reach over 6,600 HP (13,200 with Meso Guard) by around lvl 160 because I wanted to be able to participate in Neo Tokyo bossing without the HB buff.​
    • I did about 1 wash per 3 levels to 2 washes per 3 levels from level 90-155 (leveling with 40-80 int, gradually increasing), and 1 wash per 1 level (leveling with 120-130 int) from 155-180 (cointinued to do ~1 wash per level until 200).​
    • At the original time of writing this, at lvl 180 I have ~7K HP at lvl 180 (so 14K with meso guard, which is over 22K with HB).​
    • At lvl 180, I use the tier 8+ Monster Card Ring, Ellin ring, and a single pet equip with +250 HP.​
    • I need HB for Anego/Showa bosses (19k+ max damage), Nameless Magic Monster in Neo Tokyo (~18.5k max), Toad (~17.5k max), and Pink Bean (~24k touch damage). These are all essentially 165+ bossings.​
    • I don’t need HB to tank Black Crow, Kacchu Musha, Pianus, Zakum/Krexel, Scar/Targa, Horntail (if I don't touch mid head in body, which there is never a reason to do), 3/4 Neo Tokyo bosses, or anything else aside from those listed above this bullet.​
    People always ask how much to wash, and I always say the same thing. How much you should wash depends on your HP goal and how much time you're willing to invest since you'll be limited by NX vote cash. I'm not doing the math for you, I don't know how much base int you should have to reach your personal HP goal lol. Do some reading, use the MapleLegends discord washing bots (type $washes and $bloodwash in a ML bot channel and calculate using BASE stats) or a spreadsheet HP washing calculator. I believe in you.

    ****PRO TIP #3: Monster Card Ring is Actually OP For Shads****


    If you're aiming to be an endgame player and play for a long time, this is a must. Each tier you upgrade for your monster card ring adds +1 to each stat (+10 all stats, +1,000 HP for the tier 10 ring). So this benefits shads more than any other class not only because we gain double the HP - but also because we use 3 stats - str, dex, and luk. It’s a tedious process to get 300 sets of 5 cards, but in the end it pays off in an absolutely huge way for us. I’d recommend trying to do 3 sets every day that you’re able to play, which would allow you to obtain the tier 10 ring in about 3 months - it’s a nice break to explore the Maple world, it’s exciting to get a surprisingly good drop from random mobs, and those gach tickets stack if you let them.

    Here’s a link to GM Pretzel’s unmatched efficient Monster Book farming guide.
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    5. Training SlimeGrin

    This is a mix of both what I’ve done and what I’ve heard is best from others.

    Here are some prerequisite notes:​
    • It is EXTREMELY worth it to Meso Explode through early 3rd job - at lvl 80, you can actually gain over 25 MILLION exp per hour for just about 6 mil. This is a conservative estimate as well, anecdotally people have told me they can get over 30 mil eph. I can't say I trust that data to project over hours but it's not nothing. See the section below for Meso Explosion training details at the best locations.​
    • When grinding in 2nd job and beyond, it's always better to grind with a partner, especially one that can hit multiple mobs at once since thieves have no mobbing attacks until 3rd job. Plus, the spawns are better and there’s an exp bonus when there are 2 people in a party killing on the same map as once.​
    • A cleric/priest/bishop is your best friend - they can hit multiple mobs and (priests/bishops) provide HS for extra exp. If you're meso exploding, you'll probably find it very easy to get a priest partner.​
    • I’m not including standalone quests in this guide, though there are a lot of quest guides that share which give great exp at which levels. Do quests - they can be a lot of fun esp in pairs and sometimes great rewards, and also Maple Legends provides 3x exp from quests. Which is aight.​
    • Thankfully for shads, 4th job is where we shine - training gets pretty fast again from around 130-155. Don’t get discouraged during the rough patches, I believe in u :)
    • If you want to buy leech, I’ll refer you to Alyosha's OG leech table so you can see the minimum level requirements for each mob. If you're unfunded, I would highly recommend NOT buying leech before lvl 65, because it’s not well worth the money until you can get exp from Windraiders. Everything from lvl 65-108+ is quite worth it from an efficiency standpoint. if you can afford the blow to your mesos and your pride. But frankly, if you can afford to buy leech in 3rd job then you should consider Meso Exploding wiith a priest. It's way faster until 105+ and more cost-efficient throughout plenty of 3rd job when done optimally.
    1st & 2nd Job:

    This is not a comprehensive list. There's too many options, it's what I've liked.

    lvl 0-10: Maple Island and the quests along the way
    lvl 10-17: Slimes near Ellinia, Henesy PQ if possible
    lvl 15-21: Octopus near Kerning City or Bubblings in Kerning City Subway
    lvl 21-30: Genins outside Ninja Castle, Kerning City PQ (not dead)
    lvl 30-35: Teddies near Ludibrium or the Ariant Questline
    lvl 35-45: Ludibrium PQ (very dead)
    lvl 40-50: Platoon Chronos, Master Chronos
    lvl 45-55: Ellin PQ
    lvl 55-65: Forest of Golems, Ghost Ship 1-4, Mysterious Path 3 (with partners), Sophilia's Bedroom at Haunted House (via NLC, look up route guide), Ludi Maze PQ (very dead), Pirate PQ (kinda dead)
    lvl 65-75: Ghost Ship 2 or 6, Mysterious Path 3, Cheap Amplifiers in Taipei 101, Fancy Amplifiers in Taipei 101

    3rd Job If Grinding:

    lvl 70-80: Ghost Ship 2 or 6, Cheap Amplifiers in Taipei 101, Fancy Amplifiers in Taipei 101
    lvl 75-85: Windraiders in Crimsonwood Keep (need to go through an “easy” jump quest to get to this map) (I died 9 times before I looked up the YouTube tutorial lul)
    lvl 80-100: Kid Mannequins in Taipei 101, CDs in Taipei 101
    lvl 90-100: Galloperas in the cut of Malaysia
    lvl 100-110: Himes (Dreamy Ghosts) near Mushroom Shrine
    lvl 110-120: Himes, Temple of Time (accessible via Leafre)

    3rd job If Meso Exploding (look up mobs on Maple Legends Library for HP/exp information):

    Gold/Bronze Martial Artists at Shaolin Forest of Towers**
    Shaolin 7F**
    Himes near Mushroom Shrine**
    Gobies in deep Aqua Road
    Elder Wraiths in Crimsonwood Keep
    Headless Horseman and Bigfoot in Crimsonwood Keep

    **I wouldn't recommend starting Meso Exploding at Shaolin Forest of Towers of 7F. I think it's best that you ease into the process at Himes from 70-80+ (it'll still be very fast). Then you can move to Shaolin mobs with max Meso Explosion and a few points in Meso Guard.

    upload_2019-11-4_3-26-56.png
    One of the few levels I Meso Exploded at Himes.

    Speed Leveling at Shaolin Forest of Towers/Himes (credit to Konnui for numbers and Moob for sharing!):

    Meso Exploding friends have told me that you can very quickly go from low 70s to 120 - though it's quite expensive. I only did this for a couple levels, but if you alternate making money through grinding with Meso Explosion training you can also save yourself a LOT of time.

    Almost every bandit I know Meso Exploded at Himes - but there's a much better option available that's over twice as fast for essentially the same exp/meso ratio... (I'm not sure how true this is anymore - the spawn rate at Himes was increased a while ago, so I'm sure both the exp and meso spend per hour are higher than before)

    Thanks to Moob sharing Konnui's statistics from testing Shaolin Forest of Towers and Himes as a shad training with max Meso Explosion and a bishop for HS (lvl 14x and lvl 17x, but the levels shouldn't matter for this purpose since Meso Explosion doesn't rely on damage range) - here are some ridiculous statistics:

    2 notes:

    1 run = 1 round of luring mobs + dropping and exploding mesos, and also make sure you train with a partner (priest highly preferable) who is higher level or within 5 levels of you since individually you might be too low to leech exp from the mobs otherwise.

    Also, you should be able to get considerably better eph than the figures below because the bishop's level is much higher than the shad's.


    Shaolin Forest of Towers:

    Bandit: ~302k exp per run, 21.1 million exp/hour
    Bishop: ~175k exp/run, 12.25 million exp/hour

    70 runs per hour at 51 seconds per run
    Drop 85,000 mesos per run (800-1,200 mesos per bag) aka 6 mil/hour in mesos
    A bandit spends ~.284 mesos/exp here

    Himes near Mushroom Shrine (OUTDATED, spawn rate now increased):

    Bandit: ~104k exp / run, 11.4 million exp/hour
    Bishop: ~71k exp/run, 7.7 million exp/hour

    109 runs per hour at 33 seconds per run
    Drop 30,000 mesos per run (800 mesos per bag) aka 3.3 mil/hour in mesos*
    A bandit spends ~.289 mesos/exp here

    *Prior to the Himes spawn buff, you couldget by dropping 25,000-26,000 total mesos per run in 800 meso bags at Himes with max Meso Explosion. Don't forget if you leave the mesos on the ground you can drop less as well, you gotta play around with it to find the right number.

    To summarize this information - if the rates are at all similar for lower-level counterparts (I don't see why they wouldn't be - as a bandit you should actually get MORE exp training with a partner close to your level than those in the example listed above)...

    The meso/exp ratio is roughly the same at both locations, but exploding at Shaolin Forest of Towers is nearly TWICE as fast (again, this may be outdated since the Himes spawn rate was increased).
    I believe you need at least over 2,500 total HP to avoid getting 1-shot by the Gold Martial Artists here, but that shouldn't be a problem at all especially with a point or few in Meso Guard.

    For your reference, to level from 80-85 takes less than 20 million exp total, so it'll only cost you around 6 mil in mesos, which is faster and cheaper than leech. Thanks Konnui and Moob :)

    People have mentioned that they can clear over 25 mil EPH at 7F and over 30 mil EPH at Forest of Towers, can't vouch for the accuracy (ex. the data isn't reliable if it's like a short 1 or 2 minute EPM test) but 25m EPH is doable for sure.

    4th job:

    lvl 120-125: Shaolin Temple 1-2 or 3-4F, Temple of Time, Skele, Petri
    lvl 125-130: Shaolin 5-6F or 7F, Temple of Time, Skele, Petri
    lvl 130-forever smh: Shaolin 7F,

    A few post notes:​
    • The slowest times to level for non-Meso Exploding grinders are around 70-80 and 110-120. Good luck friends.​
    • Unfortunately, Ludi Maze PQ is very dead, which surprises me because LMPQ is actually great for leveling and pot money. If you can find a squad you should consider it. Zoom zoom runs. ​
    • For grinders - if you get some SP in Meso Guard and Band of Thieves early on, training at CDs or Kid Mannequins in Taipei 101 is amazing exp and solid mesos per hour. At this point, most people prefer CDs but the Mannes exp/HP ratio is one of the best in the game. Though the Mannes are no longer "auto-aggressive," it should still be solid. I wouldn’t recommend grinding at these spots until you have Band of Thieves hitting 4+ mobs and a few points in Meso Guard.​
    • 7F inside the Shaolin Temple is a training location primarily for melee attackers. When training at Shaolin 7F from 125-forever, it's best to train with any like-leveled warrior or another shad. If you're lucky enough to find a strong mage to duo with, the exp will be even more outrageous - I recall getting over 85 mil exp/hour with an archmage around lvl 160. Around level 180, I believe I average around 75 mil exp/hour with a like-leveled melee partner (buffing from the FM).​
    Brief Guide To The Meso Explosion Process:

    Before you start, make sure you have the Meso Explosion skill on the key of your choice.​
    1. Enter Dark Sight either before you lure mobs or while your partner is luring mobs.​
    2. Open up your item inventory and click the drop mesos coin icon near the bottom.​
    3. Position the meso amount drop window so that the “ok” button is directly on top of the coin icon.​
    4. Fill up the text box entirely with 0s and end it with the amount of mesos you want to drop (ex. 0000000800 or 0000001200).​
    5. “Copy” the entire string of numbers (ctrl/cmd+c).​
    6. Hold down “paste” (ctrl/cmd+v) while spamming click on the “ok” button/coin icon until you've dropped the right amount of mesos. Remain in Dark Sight while dropping the bags.​
    7. Once you or your partner have lured the mobs, exit Dark Sight and spam your Meso Explosion key for easy big damage.​
    When you use Meso Explosion, you will knockback mobs to the left. Depending on what map you’re training on, the position of where you drop the bags and lure the mobs to changes. Typically you want to drop bags in the left or right corner of a map, while your partner lures mobs by sweeping across the map and luring them back to the dropped bags.

    ****PRO TIP #4: How To Attack While Dropping Mesos****

    If you have an attack on the “v” key, it will cast when you’re holding down ctrl/cmd+v during Meso Explosion. But you can actually use this to your advantage while bossing - I have a shad solo-target attack macro (Dark Sight > Assassinate > Boomstep) on the “v” key, so as I’m holding down ctrl/cmd+v to drop mesos I'm also attacking the entire time (unless I start in Dark Sight). With Meso Explosion at max level, you can drop 5K-meso bags to do 6 lines of ~50K+ damage per bag at bossing - which is to say shads can do huge DPM in bursts by doing this. As a lower level shad, I used to do this sometimes during Zakum weapon cancels and CWKPQ boss stage, but it’s pretty expensive so don’t get too carried away. I stopped doing it after my shad was like 160+ though because my damage was solid enough without booming away my mesos.

    Maple Legends' OG comprehensive shadower guide by Marty has a chart about 1/5th down that shows you Meso Explosion damage vs. cost. It's a logistic curve. I think. I don't math anymore I'm a writer.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​
    6. Money-Making :sack:

    Let me start by saying there really is no guaranteed get-rich-quick scheme in Maple Legends. Unless you wanna be whack. But even being whack to scheme mesos is a grind so don't be that dude. Til you hit later levels, striking it rich is often up to a lot of good luck and getting that sweet RNG to land in your favor. Well that's what it always is but you have much less options at lower levels.

    That being said, I’ll reveal some of the more lucrative strategies I’ve used to make money here and there, and I hope that some of these can help you do the same. This is not close to everything. Happy exploring.

    (Note: A common trend for newer players who intend to stick around do is start by making a bishop instead of an attacker actually, but this is only worth it if you have a lot of time of invest. They're one of the easiest classes to grind to 4th job, and they bring massive return on investment as soon as you hit lvl 120 and get Genesis. Outside of shad, mage is by far my favorite class to play.)

    Unfortunately, until after 3rd job there are no "great" ways to make money. Your best bet is to train/grind/farm mobs with decent drop tables, get a lot of gachapon tickets from them, and get lucky with some great scrolls or equips in the lottery. According to Akash who has cashed in thousands of gach, a blue ticket netted him on average about 500k+ while a silver ticket netted him on average about 1 mil+.​
    • Anytime after level 40, get married so that you can Amoria PQ - you can run it once every 6 hours and get Onyx Apples in the bonus stage boxes, which sell for 2-2.5 mil each depending on the market. On average, you can probably get at least 1 apple every 2 runs. Sometimes you’ll get 0 apples for 5 runs straight, and other times you’ll get 3 apples for 2 runs straight, but just keep doing it. You can also save a few and stash them away for dire 4th job bossing situations (+100 weapon attack for 10 minutes). The caveat here is that finding people for APQ can be annoying, and it’s even more annoying to farm the 10 keys from mobs before each run. But it’s still very worth it.​
    • One decent option from around lvl 55+ is farming gold teeth from Miner Zombies at Dead Mine II in deep El Nath. If you do the Zakum Prequests so that you can get a helm, you will need 30 gold teeth for yourself anyways - but these teeth also sell for 100k+ each. The caveat is that sometimes the market for teeth is flooded and it’s hard to sell them, but people also often purchase in bundles of 30. If you're over here anyways, you could also do the 1st Zakum prequest to get some Dead Mine scrolls (about 300k ea). Dead Mine things ain't the hottest market but there is steady need - these prices have been stable for a very long time.​
    • Voodoos is a popular exp training spot for solo target attackers (sins and bandits) in late 2nd job (55-70), and they can also drop heartstoppers which sell for 150-180k each. Not a bad place to get good exp and earn some extra money. The caveat here is that only 4 Voodoos spawn on the best map for them, but this isn't an issue if you're not one-shotting them yet anyways. Also the drop rate is much worse than gold teeth, good luck.​
    • Nightghosts near Mushroom Shrine is lowkey an extremely lucrative spot if you can get lucky. I can’t believe I’m sharing this with you tbh I’m fucking up. You can probably start grinding here at level 60+. Though the exp isn’t great, check the drop table on Maple Legends Library. They drop insanely good scrolls including overall int 70, cape for int 70/30, helmet int 30 and best of all - claw for att 30, which sells for like 5 mil right now. Plus, the best map for Nightghosts also spawns Big Cloud Foxes, and you can exchange stacks of purple Cloud Fox tails for a slight chance at getting brown work gloves which sell for 15+ mil.​
    • Kid Mannequins** is a spot where even 4th job players grind - simply because of the amount of mesos you can earn per hour. Once you’re level 80+ with your maxed out BoT mobbing skill, you can net at bare minimum 2-3 mil per hour grinding here - and the exp is fantastic until lvl 100+. I’ve made over 5 mil an hour after pots, not including gach - the mesos dropped from the mob, our skill pickpocket, and NPCing the equips dropped really add up. They even drop earring int 10% which sell for a cool 1.5m or so. There’s no caveat to kid mannequins, it just takes commitment to grinding to make steady stacks here. (**I'm not sure how good Mannes is anymore after the auto-aggro nerf, people say it's bad </3 Consider going there with a partner, or trying the popular CDs map instead with a partner).
    • Keeping area boss timers to NPC equips and sell scrolls - plenty of bosses you can easily kill in 2nd-3rd job have good potential money drops. For example, King Clang drops overall int 60% and Dyle frequently drops equips including red katana. Tae Roon drops overall int 10% and Elliza drops earring dex 60%. King Sage Cat, my personal favorite, frequently drops equips and also has a chance for overall int 10%. The caveat here is that you need to wait for bosses to respawn (check timers on the Library, there's also a 10% timer randomizer) and many area bosses are heavily camped because of drops and cards.​
    • Farming badges from the CWK mobs for the CWK exchange quest - 25 badges from windraiders, nightshadows, stormbreakers, and firebrands can directly be exchanged for a chance at White Scroll and Chaos Scroll, amongst other cool CWK-exclusive items. As an early-middle 4th jobber farming on the optimal maps for each of the mobs, the recently revamped exchange quest can amount to very solid total meso per hour.​
    • Farming Temple of Time mobs for Pieces of Time is a viable strategy for early-middle 4th jobbers. Though the Pieces of Time themselves have fallen to ~1m per or so, some of the mobs in Temple of Time also have solid drop tables. Overall it's not a poor option for the exp and mesos per hour.​
    upload_2019-11-4_3-37-2.png
    ...This was taken at lvl 143 lol. A classic no-Meso Guard RIP at Kid Mannequins.

    Once you hit 4th job, bossing regularly is a solid way to earn money while earning fantastic exp. You can run any of the big bosses twice a day, with the timer reset occurring at midnight server time. Some money-from-bossing information for your reference (I've updated a lot of prices but gonna skip em for this section sorry, most of these are very outdated):
    • If you’re splitting 15 mil from a Zakum helmet buyer 6 ways, splits come out to 2,437,500 each post-tax (yes this number is so deeply burned into my memory). You can also sell skillbooks for ~10 mil each. With a solid group that can clear in about 25-30 mins and a solo-looting helm buyer both runs, that’s just under 5 mil in one hour. If you stumble upon an elusive Genesis 20 drop, the market rate has recently jumped from 20-40+ mil so now is a good time to Zak. In my opinion, shads are decent for 6-man Zakum runs around 140+ or whenever you have max BoomStep and Assassinate.​
    • Selling a Mark of Naricain pendant with reloots on the run from CWKPQ goes for about 30 mil. If selling at 30 mil and running 6 man, splits will be 4,875,000 each post-tax. A single run in total takes about 60-70 minutes with a strong team. And this doesn’t include the slew of spicy items you can get from bonus stage boxes. Regularly running CWKPQ is one of the best ways to make money as a 4th job attacker, you’ll stack more 30% weapon scrolls than you can sell at the going market rate. There’s also a chance for Crushed Skulls, Gelt Chocolates (+120 weapon att for 10 minutes, best attack pot in the game), Spec Goggles, White Seal Cushions, and Blackfist Cloaks. In my opinion, shads are serviceable cleavers for 6-man CWKPQ around 150+ though you can contribute even 10 levels before that. Also know, shads are one of the worst cleavers for CWK lol (at lvl 200 I'd still get whited by a strong like 16x Hero/DK).​
    • Running Horntail, if you have a Horntail Necklace Buyer for 60-70 mil and get a bit lucky with skillbook drops at the end… Those splits are Fat, even if running 10+ man. We’ve had runs with over 800 mil in splits to be divided out (~60-70 min runs for 10 man), and people have been even luckier. The minimum level to join a Horntail squad and get exp is essentially 155+, and if your gear is decent you’ll be a serviceable cleaver at that level because we’re the only attackers aside from mages who can hit 4 parts at once. For a shad to run 2-party Horntail, 155+ is fine, but to run 1-party Horntail without totally being carried, you probably want to be at least 170+ with a good full set of gears. Don't be afraid to use +40 attack or more pots like stews in HT, we spend so little on HP/MP potions and are so effective here that I'd say it's very, very worth it, both for you and the team. I've also written the bulk of a shad HT guide but no promises that ever goes out ;)
    ****PRO TIP #5: Pls Don’t Be Broke By 4th Job****

    Even though shads are one of the cheaper 4th job classes to fund, obtaining very good gear for 4th job and beyond is always expensive no matter which class you're playing. There's a lot of shit to buy, and anything great isn't cheap. Buying/scrolling decent gear isn't too difficult, but it's best to aim higher than that if you want to main a shad. I highly recommend saving mesos for 4th job gear and not going broke Meso Exploding it all away or buying equipment and scrolls for lower-level equips that you’re going to get rid of in 10-20 levels anyways. The best thing you can do for yourself is steadily stash mesos in storage and forget about it.

    ****PRO TIP #6: If Organizing Boss Runs, Good Party Composition Is Key****

    You can't just throw this shit together. I mean you can, but for the sake of your people it's best to think about how classes work together to host a reasonably timed run. Once you start hosting enough, you can start to estimate the time each run will take based on your party's composition and levels. Ex. you probably want a spot for an archer and bishop in every Zak run - in like 200+ Zakum runs I've probably ran like 15 times or less without an archer because their party buff SE is such a big boost. And range attackers (washing INTLords not included) make any kind of bossing, whether Zakum, Scar/Targa, Neo Tokyo, or Horntail go much faster since all range attackers generally have higher solo-target DPM. For your reference, my standard party makeup for 6-man Zakum or Horntail runs is Bishop/Archer/Range/Range/Cleave/Cleave. Though honestly, going with 1 Cleave and an extra solo target attacker is likely the optimal choice for speed in both kinds of runs.

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    7. 4th Job Equipment :picopico:

    Equipment that provides weapon att obviously adds the most to your range. After that, scrolling gear for dex is generally better than scrolling for luk when possible so that you can have lower base str/dex and therefore higher base luk, which will increase the effectiveness of the Maple Warrior buff (+10% to all stats at max level).

    So focusing on a solid dagger > shield > glove > cape (in that order) is advisable.
    Then, helmet > top > bottom > shoes > earrings > face accessory > eye accessory.

    These are my minimum recommendations for 4th job equips for a 140+ shad, whether you’re grinding or bossing to level. You can get by with less, but I think these are reasonable goals to aim for that will ensure you and your damage are a solid asset to any partner or bossing team.

    Minimum Recommended Gear (lvl 140+):

    Dagger: 120 att Gold Double Knife or Dragon Kanzir
    Shield: 25 att Dragon Khanjar
    Helmet: 28 dex zak/scar/targa/ravana helm, with 16+ str/luk
    Face Accessory: 6 dex whatever
    Eye Accessory: 3 total stat (str/dex) spec goggles, broken glasses from LPQ
    Earrings: 10 dex or 11 luk whatever
    Cape: 4-5 att Blackfist Cloak or 3-4 att Pink Gaia Cape, can be scrolled for str/dex/luk
    Top: 2 dex 16 luk pirate shirt/blouse (or higher level)
    Bottom: 12 dex 4 luk pirate pants/skirt (or higher level)
    Shoes: At least +10 total to whatever stats (str/dex/luk)
    Gloves: 12 att Brown Work Gloves or Yellow Markers
    Pendant: 22-23 str/dex/luk Horntail Pendant (“egged”)
    Rings: Tier 10 Monster Card ring + Ellin ring
    Pet Equip: 150 HP whatever

    For the upper-level high achievers out here who want to be swole, here are decent numbers to aim for. Your gears should look like this, or frankly better:

    Late Game Recommended Gear (lvl 170+):
    Dagger: 125 att Gold Double Knife or Dragon Kanzir
    Shield: 30 att Dragon Khanjar
    Helmet: 34 dex zak/scar/targa/ravana helm, with 17+ str/luk
    Face Accessory: 8 dex whatever
    Eye Accessory: 4 total stat (str/dex) spec goggles (can chaos eventually)
    Earrings: 12 dex or 13 luk
    Cape: 10 att Blackfist Cloak or Pink Gaia Cape
    Top: 2 dex 20 luk pirate shirt/blouse (or higher level)
    Bottom: 16 dex 4 luk pirate pants/skirt (or higher level)
    Shoes: at least +17 total to whatever stats (str/dex/luk)
    Gloves: 14 att Brown Work Gloves or Yellow Markers
    Pendant: 23 str/dex/luk Horntail Pendant (“egged”) (chaos if possible)
    Rings: Tier 10 Monster Card ring + Ellin ring
    Pet Equip: 150 HP whatever
    ------------------------------------

    For people interested in how Shad DPM stacks up by the numbers, here's the gear I wore at lvl 180 when I originally wrote this guide, as well as DPM figures. I'd say at lvl 180 my gear/damage were pretty solid but definitely not endgame-caliber.

    If you're a higher level shad and interested in what an endgame shad's gear set should look like, you can view my current gears here.

    Dagger: 126 att 16 luk Gold Double Knife
    Shield: 26 att Dragon Khanjar
    Helmet: 17/32/15/17 Scar Helmet (DEX)
    Face Accessory: 6 dex crying mask
    Eye Accessory: 2 str 1 dex Spec Goggles
    Earrings: 13 luk Red Heart Earrings
    Cape: 8 att Pink Adventurer Cape
    Top: 2 dex 18 luk Red Pirate Shirt
    Bottom: 15 dex 4 luk Red Pirate Pants
    Shoes: 2 str 9 dex 5 luk Red Katina Boots
    Gloves: 15 att Yellow Markers
    Pendant: 23/23/21/22 Horntail Pendant
    Rings: Tier 8 Monster Card ring + Ellin ring
    Pet Equip: 250 HP Red Bow (pog)

    Attack range top on just MW20 (can't wear dagger/shield without it): ~7200
    Attack range top on MW20/rage/cider: ~8000

    Lvl 180 DPM figures on MW20 + rage/cider:
    Solo-target DPM at dummies (Dark Sight > Assassinate > BoomStep): ~6,500,000.
    Solo-target DPM at dummies (Dark Sight > Assassinate): 6,700,000.
    Solo-target DPM at bossing (Zakum test) (Dark Sight > Assassinate > BoomStep): ~5,700,000.
    Solo-target DPM at bossing (Zakum test) (Dark Sight > Asssassinate): ~5,900,000.

    3-target DPM at CWKPQ boss stage (BoomStep > Band of Thieves): ~9,500,000.
    45-minute DPM at Horntail body (on ciders, as sed): average about ~8,000,000.
    45-minute DPM at Horntail body (on stews, as sed): average about ~8,700,000.

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

    ****PRO TIP #7: Seasonal Items Are Amazing****

    There are several (temporary) seasonal items available which are better than any permanent best-in-slot equipment currently available in the game. Around Christmas, you can get the Red Christmas Sock (2 weapon att, 7 slots). If you can get this, even without Chaos Scrolling it, it will add more to your range than any other in-game shoes if you just scroll it mediocrely for dex. During summer and anniversary events, there have also been face accessories that add weapon att or +stats (but they have shorter expiration dates). Don’t miss out on seasonal items if you're around.
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    8. Attack Combinations MapleF9

    You don’t need to worry about these until lvl 130+ at minimum.

    For grinding at Shaolin 7F, it’s best to use BoomStep and Band of Thieves individually. You don't need to macro these skills together for training (but you can if you want) - since you need to move around a lot, I always found it more practical to press the keys individually when needed. Plus, Band of Thieves only connects when the mobs are within melee range so it shouldn't be used all the time. A lot of shads actually use BoomStep exclusively while training, this works plenty fine, though using Band of Thieves well should increase your damage and exp a bit.

    For bossing where you’re hitting 3+ targets - such as the top-left 3 Zakum arms, 3 CWKPQ melee bosses, or 4 targets on mid-right Horntail body (while wings are up) - you should macro BoomStep > Band of Thieves for optimal DPM. It casts faster more consistently than mashing the keys in succession. By the way, at the start of Zakum arms you should start around the "armpit-elbow" of the bottom arms, either side, and jump using BoomStep to hit 4 arms at once.

    For any solo-target bossing - area bosses, Zakum body, Krexel, Scar/Targa, anything in Neo Tokyo, Horntail heads - the best shad attack macro for bossing early on is Dark Sight > Assassinate > BoomStep. The alternative combo of just Dark Sight > Assassinate (with a canceled cap hit by spamming the macro again) alone produces marginally higher DPM - for me at lvl 180 only ~250,000 per minute. You can use BoomStep to complete the combination for its long iframes + pot saving which is probably worth more than a slight DPM boost.

    At higher levels, once you have more avoid and you're more comfortable with the hitbox and knockback mechanics and potting at the correct times, it's optimal to primarily spam the Dark Sight > Assassinate macro, while using Boomstep individually to dodge certain attacks. I actually almost never use the Dark Sight > Assassinate > BoomStep macro anymore.

    If you use any item or the left/right arrow key while in the Assassinate segment of the combination, you will rush forward and use the crit 5th hit of Assassinate instead of casting BoomStep. But you can actually use this to your advantage after getting knocked back to reposition, and also to pot.

    Slight Rant On Assassinate Macro Control:

    Generally speaking, if you take damage and you want to use the dash to reposition, you can either use potion to both pot and dash or use the left/right arrow key.

    If you are not standing on a ledge while casting the nate macro, the best way to cancel the dash is to hold boomstep, dark sight, or a buffing skill like haste or booster (any of these solo keyed, not macro'd) before the nate segment of the animation ends - so you either continue attacking, immediately start charging the next nate, or buff, while remaining in the same position.

    If you are standing on a ledge, any use item (if you happen to need to use one) as well as the up arrow key (which would otherwise rush you forward) are also options to stop attacking ASAP. For any classes outside of shad, up arrow key is probs the cleanest way overall to cancel the continuation of any attack macro.

    Regardless of if on a ledge, shads lowkey can always hold the down arrow key to "pause" the nate macro. If you go from spamming nate macro to holding down, it lets you crouch while remaining in dark sight, and when you release the down arrow key the macro will continue, which can be useful for timing attacks on any boss with iframes like thief/pirate in cwk, bigfoot, or toad 2nd body, but it's not an advantage just nuanced preference. You probs wouldn't use this for charging nate since it takes a while, but it's nice for split-hair precision.

    I think part of playing any character in ML well is navigating a class' kinks and figuring out the best timing and keypress combinations to control your character. For shads, the timing at which you stop pressing your nate macro key and start pressing another skill or potion makes all the difference.

    If you catch yourself dashing forward unintentionally, you should probs focus on quickly getting back to pressing your nate macro after typing or using skills/pots.

    If you catch yourself getting stuck in dark sight while using the nate macro, most likely you're using a potion or skill at just the wrong moment - during that brief dark sight segment of the nate macro animation,
    which you want to avoid doing.

    What can matter regarding the dash, aside from which key you press and the timing of it, is also whether you hold or tap the next key - for example, if I hold down my nate macro and then tap jump (and nothing else after) after nate's segment of the animation starts, it will rush me forward. But if I hold jump, I'll jump instead.

    I also want to note that there's enough time within the long ass nate macro animation to make the wrong keypresses accidentally and still press the correct key in time. It's also plenty enough time to for example use an all-cure to cancel a status condition and continue attacking without skipping a beat. It's very easy to accidentally press the wrong key, or the right key at the wrong time, and lose your rhythm, but like anything else you'l get used to the flow the more you do it

    ****PRO TIP #8: Charge Assassinate During Weapon Cancels****

    At any time when a boss weapon cancels or damage reflects - Zakum body, Krexel, Scar/Targa, Nibergen and Dunas in Neo Tokyo, Horntail heads - you should charge your Assassinate in Dark Sight for up to 12 seconds for maximum damage (this is how you hit 5x 199,999 lines with a high damage range, and regardless you should still easily do all 6-figure lines with the attack at max level). This is different than the macro combination of Dark Sight > Assassinate - you need to use Dark Sight alone first and have a separate keypress for Assassinate as well, otherwise it casts in succession instantaneously without charge. Many bosses use either weapon cancel or damage reflect, so this helps to balance out the damage difference between shads and higher-caliber attackers (I've even whited Pink Bean once on our 30-man runs).

    Note - you can't use an HP potion in Dark Sight, and may need to exit it to HP pot if you take too much damage. Autopot is an alternative.

    ****PRO TIP #9: Optimal Attack Combo for 2 Targets****

    In general, depending on the situation there is an attack combination that suits that situation best. During Zakum arm stage for example, at certain points I'm using: jump BoomStep, BoomStep > Band of Thieves, Assassinate > BoomStep, and just Assassinate. The optimal attack combo to use hinges on the positioning of the targets.

    If you’re hitting 2 targets consistently, the Dark Sight > Assassinate > BoomStep macro is a bit better than BoomStep > Band of Thieves. Before the skill buff, the difference in DPM was very small - though the combo involving Assassinate was insignificantly higher. Now, Assassinate at max level does noticeably more DPM than Boomstep (since it hits 4 lines instead of 3 and 625% damage per line instead of 600%), even if you have SE to boost BoomStep. I'd call this a niche scenario, but it happens at times like when there are only 2 adjacent Zakum arms to hit, 2 melee bosses left in CWKPQ, and at points during Horntail body, among other things.
    upload_2019-11-4_3-38-10.png
    Two fortunate Genesis 30 drops during a recent Horntail run. MapleF14
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    9. Conclusion sleepymush

    Thanks for reading. I hope this guide answers a lot of question marks, and that you thoroughly enjoy playing the bandit/shad class as much as I do. I’ve never had a more amazing experience playing Maple. And the staff, community, and depth of content in Maple Legends truly make this place one-of-a-kind, I mean that.

    Tip #10: Find a great guild that suits you and a few friends to enjoy playing the game with. It makes every hour you spend here exponentially better.

    Best of luck out here. Feel free to whisper me in-game (Blu301) if you have any shad questions.

    Also, R> Summer (;

    Warmly,

    Tim :heart:

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    Credits
    • Akash for HP Washing forum post and for reviewing the guide!​
    • Konnui for Meso Explosion training stats & Moob for sharing!​
    • Marty for 1st-3rd job skill allocation listings (here’s the OG comprehensive shadower guide)!​
    • OG shad LurkinShadow for showing me the ropes at Horntail + Neo Tokyo!​
    • Asahina <3​
     
    • Great Work x 35
    • Like x 4
    • Agree x 4
    • Useful x 4
    • Informative x 2
    • Friendly x 2
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