Plight to Knight: A Fresh Warrior’s Path

I would like to enjoy some casual ML gameplay, but my Shadower has reached a point where any progress requires an irrational amount of effort.

While I created a Gunslinger in another journal, my attempt to HP wash to a meaningful degree has made grinding unenjoyable. The heavy INT investment results in very low damage output, which would diminish both the class feel and the progression experience if I were to rely on leeching.

So, I’ve decided to go with the Warrior class that requires minimal HP washing, and as a bonus, one I haven’t played past level 50, making it a relatively fresh experience.

There will be no limitations on this gameplay, and I will progress within the legal means of this server. At some point, I might decide to self-leech or maybe not, I’m not sure yet, but I’m definitely leaning towards experiencing the grind with the class itself.

I’ll update this page a little more when I’m back home.

 

reserved

 

Since I’m playing a warrior, accuracy becomes relevant, and this guide will certainly be useful:
https://forum.maplelegends.com/index.php?threads/manas-physical-accuracy-guide.55286/

After looking at the grinding spots and the accuracy needed to hit 100% in the guide, I calculated some values based on where I think I might be grinding at different levels, using this accuracy calculator:
https://forum.maplelegends.com/index.php?threads/updated-accuracy-calculator.36641/

Character level - accuracy to hit 100%
Lv20 - 62 accuracy for Genin
Lv35 - 111 accuracy for Trucker
Lv50 - 111 accuracy for Slimy
Lv65 - 189 accuracy for Kid Mannequin
Lv82 - 123 accuracy for Dual Ghost Pirate

189 accuracy may seem like a lot, but in the back of my mind it feels quite achievable. Otherwise, I’ll just have to grind a bit more on lower-level mobs if that doesn’t work out. I’m not sure what the upper limit of accuracy would be, but I suppose 200 accuracy is more than enough to hit whatever I plan to, so I could work towards that as a start.

I vaguely remember making various accuracy items throughout my ML journey, since the scrolls were cheap when I needed to scratch that scrolling itch. I’ll try to dig them out when I’m home.

 

Hi, this is Coorie -- a level 20 Warrior (Swordman).



If you remember her, she was once a meso billionaire, 2 billion in fact, until she wasn’t. I burned through all her earnings trying to scroll daggers and other gear.

Fortunately for her, she’s been chosen for a new warrior adventure, and with some luck (and enough playtime), I’ll be able to guide her all the way to 4th job.

But before we set off on her journey, I’d like to dig through my stash and see what wares I can prepare her with for the long road ahead.




First, let’s take a look at what she has equipped: a humble broom with a touch of speed for some extra mobility.




A Pan Lid. Can’t exactly remember when I picked it up, but it was probably dirt cheap.




A stats-scrolled bathrobe for a little extra damage and movement speed.




And finally, this speed-scrolled Christmas Sock.




All together, that gives us 128 movement speed. Pop a speed pill, and we’ll be just shy of 2 from the maximum.




Then we have two Pig Illustrated -- one scrolled for damage and the other for accuracy.




Up next is a very cool (at least in my opinion) Brown Bandana, scrolled for accuracy. I made dis just yesterday.




Along with this Yellow Marker I picked up some time ago for a price I can’t quite remember, it looks like we won’t have to worry too much about missing our targets for now.




And just like that, we’ve already reached our goal of 62 accuracy at level 20!

 

I thought the Genins were gona be fast, and they were, but the terrain in the area made it a real pain to move around, especially with warrior skills hitting at such short range.






After reaching level 22, I decided to ditch the spot and take the classic route: the Sleepywood mushroom-hunting signboard quests, specifically for Horny and Zombie Mushrooms.






It took me about 30 minutes, but it was pretty relaxing and satisfying to sweep through those mushrooms hordes in the cave.




Wrapped up the night with another level, bringing me to 23.

 

Look what I found on my Pew Pew. They are Coorie's now.





These should help offset the damage loss from the Int investment.







Scrolled a clean pair of Silver Strap Shoes for speed, as came with an extra 6 jump.




Also snagged a clean 10 Accuracy Sad Mask for just 666k, which usually sells for around 3mil meso.




While still in Sleepywood, I took on the Green Mushroom signboard quest.




Not the best place to hunt them, but the calm atmosphere and soothing music make up for it -- such a nice spot to chill and relax.




Ventured deeper into the Ant Tunnel to tackle the Evil Eye quest, where I quickly gained a few levels.




Warriors really shine in these tight, crowded spaces.




Headed over to Nautilus at level 26+ to wrap up a few quests, which concluded my playing session for the night.

A base 100 Int should be more than enough as an investment for HP washing. With each level, I’ll either do a fresh HP or MP wash, then reset the excess MP back into Str.

 

We’ve hit level 27, and that means it’s time to start the Ariant questline!… right?




There’s even a free transportation quest from Perion to Ariant available under level 30, so it must meant to be.

Guides suggest heading there at level 30, right after the 2nd job advancement, and from past experience the questline usually takes me from level 30 up to around 33+. This time, I’m curious to see where it will bring me starting at level 27.

One thing I really wish MapleLegends would import from later versions are the theme dungeons, like Mushroom Kingdom and Chryse.




At Ariant, not all quests were available right away, but I was still able to start a few from certain NPCs.





By the time I was almost done, I had reached level 29, which unlocked even more quests to keep the momentum going.




Stumbled upon a Deo spawn on one of the channels while hunting for quest items, and it dropped a Brown Desert Rabbit Chair!



I’m not sure what the drop rate is, but I wouldn’t expect it to be very high, so I’d say I got pretty lucky on this one.

It was a nice change of pace to have something to bridge the gap to 2nd job, instead of just grinding out the last 3 levels.




By the time I wrapped things up, I had already hit level 31.




At level 30, Byron also offers a quest that gives you a recommendation letter for your job instructor, which was a neat surprise.



After finishing up some free EXP quests in Magatia, I prepared to head back to Victoria Island for my job advancement.




I ended up taking a long 2 hours lunch break to play because I was just so tired of work.

 

You can probably guess the path Coorie is taking from the title of this journal, but in case it isn’t obvious, she’ll be becoming a Dark Knight at 4th job.



I know Dark Knight is receiving a skills remake, but I wouldn’t know the impact of the changes since I’ve never experienced the class with its old skills.




I realized I still had some expired snail pets from a past Anniversary Event, so I revived one of them and managed to scroll 12 speed on the pet equip.



It also turned out I hadn’t done Kenta’s Advice quest yet, which lets your pet match your character’s movement speed. So I went to Aquarium and got it completed.



Found a decently scrolled level 30 spear that I had made. Since I don’t have a polearm, I decided to invest my 2nd job SP into Spear Mastery first.





With how cheap SP Resets are now, I can always reset into Polearm Mastery later once I get a good polearm.




While there are a few suggested spots to grind, I decided to start collecting Cursed Dolls, 2,300 of them, specifically for a level 35 quest chain that gives a decent amount of EXP.

I feel I'm not really funded or geared enough for the recommended spots anyway, and I wanted to experience different areas to grind instead of sticking to one place for too long. I’ll definitely try those places once I’m done with this monkey business.

Monkey Forest has always been one of my favorite spots, and I can’t pass up the chance to grind there for a few levels on a new character, even if it’s slower in EXP gains. I just love the ambience and music there.




I wrapped up my weekend grind at level 33, and hopefully by level 35 I’ll have collected enough dolls to complete the quests.

if I recall correctly, the EXP reward from the quests should be enough to bring me straight to level 38.

 

Taking a short break from monkey grinding, I went to complete Mr. Wetbottom’s quest on the secret book, which is the prerequisite for the Cursed Dolls quests that unlocks at level 35.




While I was in Sleepywood, I decided to try out the Forest of Golems map. The layout is definitely ideal for Warriors, and the mobs have large hitboxes, which made them easy to hit.



However, it seemed like my level was too low as my damage was really weak, and it took a long time to kill them.



On a side note, one of the Cursed Eyes mixed in with the Golems dropped dis.




Anyway, if I had to estimate, FoG was taking me about eight times longer to kill compared to Zombie Lupins, for only slightly more than twice the EXP.

That actually made it slower overall than grinding at monkeys, so I headed back to hunting Cursed Dolls instead.



I didn’t manage to collect all 2,300 dolls by level 35, so I kept grinding until level 36.

My EXP rate maintained close to 5% every 2 minutes since I was clearing mobs slightly faster with each level.




Now I’m able to equip this 10 accuracy Raccoon Mask, which lets me swap out my accuracy gloves for attack gloves while still hitting Lupins at a high rate.




I finally finished collecting all the dolls, though it turns out I had remembered wrong in my previous entry as the EXP rewards didn’t push me to level 38 like I thought they would, but gaining slightly more than one full level was still pretty good.

 

It’s going to be a slow grind from here on. At level 37, I tried grinding at Truckers, but it wasn’t as fast as I had imagined.



Still, looking at the EXP, it’s a little better than self-leeching at this level, so it’s not too bad.




At level 39, I headed to Malaysia to farm some ETCs for quests that give a decent amount of fame. Back when I played MapleSEA, certain content required 50 fame to access, probably to keep out bots, so this was always one of the quests I made sure to do on any new character. If I’m not mistaken, it gives around 28 fame, though I can’t be bothered to double-check, so don’t take my word for it.




I grinded a full level from 39 to 40, only to find out the quest wasn’t available yet because my level was too low. I guess I’ll have to come back later when it unlocks.




I also tried Ghost Ship on Pac Pinky to compare the EXP with Truckers, but it was only slightly more than half as efficient.



The level gap meant I wasn’t doing enough damage to keep up with the rate.



So, I went back to Truckers and pushed through another level to 41.




Maybe next I’ll give Entrance to Sky Forest a try.

 

I bought a Maple Scorpio to keep myself motivated, and to transit into a polearm since those are supposed to be better at hitting multiple targets.

The Maple Scorpio reminds me of when I used to play Aran on multiple accounts to level 50 during its release, to get Lirin’s Ring for multiple characters.




For now, I felt like staying at Truckers was good enough as they give 320 EXP for 3,000 HP compared to Straw Target Dummies, which have the same HP but only give 270 EXP. Truckers also move faster and have larger hitboxes, making them easier to lure and hit.




I finally reached level 43 and was really excited to try out the new weapon.



I tested it out on Slimy in Ghost Ship 2 and immediately noticed an improvement in my EXP rate.



So I guess I’ll be grinding here until at least level 50, maybe even into the 60s before moving on. I was surprised I could even find an open map, probably because ML adjusted the mob hit ranges in Ghost Ship maps, removing the safe spots for AFK farming. Even so, it’s still a very popular spot for active grinding and leeching.




I actually have a pair of Guan Yu Polearms from before, one scrolled for damage, the other for accuracy. They were pretty rare in the market, so it took me a while to scroll them, thinking maybe one day I’d use them. And now that day is finally coming.

Even though I only need 5 more levels to equip them, I picked up the Maple Scorpio to hopefully save myself an hour or two and, more importantly, to keep me motivated as mentioned at the beginning.