Warrior The Overly Comprehensive Paladin Guide

Hello, greetings, gumo, and all the other salutations that exist in the world. The name’s Tyler, also known as TTKirnk/TTEPICName/Stupid Noob. Today, I am here with something slightly different compared to what I normally create. For better or worse, I have decided to go all out and create a Paladin guide, despite the fact a few already exist on the forums. “Dear Diary”? It’s time to write a whole damn book. This guide won’t be shoving data and numbers down your throat so much as rather focus more on the gameplay aspect of the class, along with covering other basics such as SP builds, where to grind etc. In other words, I am more interested in teaching you how to play the class and explain to you why I think what I am teaching you is largely the correct way to do so. If you do require some sort of “proof” that I’m not a complete buffoon speaking out of his ass, I recommend sifting through this EPIC forum thread for my posts. Now, since I am giving my thoughts and opinions, that does mean I’m not speaking all truths and absolutes; I am open to suggestions, ideas, critics, and all the like. More importantly, that means that you don’t have to take everything I say to heart. Use what information works for you, as I believe an important goal of a guide is to not tell you what to do like an instructor giving commands, but more so a teacher giving advice and guidance and helping you to the correct path. With all of that out of the way, it’s time to escape the introduction paragraph before I drag on for too long and start this shindig.

Playing Paladin: Why even choose this Class?​

Time to ask a very important question. Why do you want to play a Paladin? Not convinced? Then I’ll word the question as “Why should you play a Paladin?”. Believe it or not, these are important questions to consider when choosing a class to play, especially when you will potentially pour hours upon hours of time into the character. The last thing you want is to regret all that time spent on something. These questions in nature are also quite subjective, and don’t have a definite, factual answer to them. Despite that, I will try to help and answer these questions by giving my subjective reply with (hopefully) more objective-based reasoning and…I guess evidence would be the word.

Let’s start with my take on the matter. As of writing this guide, I would say as a whole, Paladins are an overall decent class, and for the most part are largely balanced, with their only major balancing issue being how elements work in this game, which is indirectly related to them. I would not call them super strong, but they are not super weak either per se. They have their moments to shine, and their not so shiny moments. They also have a lot of moments where they’re just kinda there. They are largely a straight forward class to play and understand, and are very easy and cheap to HP wash since they are a Warrior. In other words, they are a decent starter class that still has valuable niches and isn’t a bad class to main into the end game. In terms of their meta status, I’d say they aren’t a top tier pick, but they aren’t a low tier pick either. Average at best is what I’d say. If you do not care for the cheap and easy washing, the niche things Paladins have to them such as strong pinning capabilities and element usage, and/or the overall aesthetic/gameplay style of the class, then there is no reason to make a Paladin I’d say. To help simplify things and make it more clear what Paladins are good and bad at, I decided to make a list of pros and cons. Keep in mind, this list can be argued as subjective, but I tried to be as objective about it as I could. Here is what I came up with:

Spoiler: The Pros

Pros:
- Easy and Cheap to HP wash
- Have both decent single target and cleaving damage that are two different attack skills
- One of the best pinners in the game
- Can do both grinding and bossing efficiently
- Element abuse lets Paladins excel at certain bosses/mobs, and lets Paladins even solo some bosses earlier on than most classes without spending an eternity to kill (any Bigfoot slayers in the chat?)
- Paladins offer decent crowd control due to their main cleaving skill hitting up to six targets and Stunning them all at a high chance, move mobs around efficiently with skills like Monster Magnet and Rush, and being able to bring most mobs down to one health through Heaven’s Hammer for easy kills.
- An easy to pick up and learn class
- In addition to tradeable armors that all Warriors can use, they share weapon choices with Heros through Swords, which allows weapon sharing among the two classes
- Not a Night Lord, the biggest factor to consider! Ok this one is just a joke don’t take it seriously…

Spoiler: The Cons

Cons:
- Warriors have very not good avoid to put it lightly. Avoidability kinda a cracked stat in this game
- While Blast has decent range, they are still a melee class, which means their overall attack skill range is not great. This is especially true for some of their other attack skills.
- Paladins do not excel at both single target damage and cleaving, and classes that specialize and excel at one of these will generally outperform Paladins
- Paladins do not offer utility to the team, and their primary role is to deal damage
- Paladins are also slight buff sluts. The only “buff” they can offer in return is Threaten, which is marginally good at best to put it nicely (it’s not a buff for the record) Requiring party buffs for maximum damage output isn’t generally bad on its own if you ask me, however.
- A Paladin’s damage potential is slightly awkward, due to the fact their main single target skill, Blast, is only one line of damage that is a big hit. In other words, they hit the damage cap of 199,999 fairly easily compared to other classes, especially on strong attack potions like Onyx Apples and/or when abusing Elements, which means at some point the DPM gains from stats is reduced compared to every other class. This really only becomes a concern for late-game Paladins, however (as in level 180+ minimum)
- Paladins, like other Warriors, have bad mobility. Your mobility comes from Rush and gaining Movement Speed and Jump through gear, buffs, and Mounts
- Compared to other classes, Paladins have higher Potion costs overall due to how much more they can end up consuming (thanks lack of Avoidability)
- Not a Night Lord. Ok this is still a joke but not as much as the last one

Hopefully, this list helps give a general idea on what Paladins are good at and not good at, especially for those who do not know anything about what Paladins can do. What you end up valuing will be up to you to decide, but hopefully this list helps make it easier to figure things out.

To TLDR this section as a whole, Paladins are what I consider a largely balanced class that have clear and defined strengths and weaknesses that have the potential to hold their own in just about most content if funded and played well enough, but will usually require more effort than their peers in order to stand their ground.

Swords vs. Blunt Weapons. What to choose?​

I don’t want to make this into some kind of political war or super long essay. Truthfully speaking, I’d rather not even have the conversation, but this is bound to be brought up and asked, so I feel that I must address the elephant in the room. My full reasoning behind my conclusion does require a bit of explaining, and I’d rather not half-ass it or try to vaguely explain for the sake of not dragging on, so I will make sure there’s a separated, more detailed explanation that is still easily accessible for those that are interested in reading it. With that out of the way, it’s time for my reply…

Swords are overall superior to Blunt weapons (BWs for short), or maces if you prefer that term. Quickly stated, the stability and overall faster speed of Swords, whether one-handed or two-handed (1h and 2h for short), makes them a better choice over both 1h and 2h BWs. There is an argument to be made that BWs have an advantage for newcomers due to being far cheaper than their Sword counterparts, but I think you end up paying for what you get. To be more specific, you are paying less because the overall quality is less. Paladins are worse with BWs to put it plainly and bluntly. Despite all of that, y’all are old enough folks to make your own decisions and do as you please, so if you want to go for the mace dream, then have at it. You will not be deadweight by using a 1h BW (unfortunately, you will be with a 2h BW), so don’t let my opinion discourage you from going down that path if you choose. However, just know that by choosing a mace as your main weapon, you are technically weakening yourself compared to your Sword compatriots, and that life is unfair and cringe at times.

Spoiler: Detailed Explanation

BWs, both 1h and 2h, are worse than both Sword types for one major reason. This reason is how these weapons calculate damage and range aka this:



The major reason this matter is due to the fact there are two different “motion types” when swinging a weapon. These two are Stabs and Swings. Some weapons use the same multiplier for both, while some have different multipliers depending on the motion. Here is a quick example with the weapons that we care about:



As you can see, Swords use the same multiplier for swings and stabs, whereas BWs have different swing and stab multipliers. So why does this matter? Because this will greatly affect your damage since all your skills use both stabs and swings, usually indicated by the attack animation used. Despite its animation, Blast uses both stabs and swings, at a 3:2 ratio of swings to stabs. Simply put, 60% of Blasts will be swings, and the other 40% will be stabs. Add in the fact that 2h BWs can’t always reach the max attack speed even with both Booster and Speed Infusion, and you have the perfect recipe to fuck up an entire category of weapons. Not convinced yet? Let me show you the difference of damage with some simple math.

Let’s assume we’re at 500 STR, 80 DEX, and 70 Weapon Attack. We are also only going to look at the raw damage, and will not account for things like Mob Defense, landing a critical hit, and skill modifiers like Element Charges, since they affect everything equally. First, we need to figure out the maximum of our ranges that the swings and stabs will utilize. We’ll compare 1H Swords to 1H BWs, in which we’ll start off with Swords. To figure out the maximum value, we will use this formula:

((STR * Primary Stat Multiplier) + DEX) * 70 / 100

Which will look like this with the numbers plugged in:

((500 * 4.0) + 80) * 70 / 100 = 1,456

Since Swords use the same multiplier for swings and stabs, 1,456 is our final number for 1H Swords. Let’s do a 1h BW with the same stats. It is the same formula but be sure to apply the correct multiplier for swings (4.4) and stabs (3.2). Plugging in the numbers again, the equations will look like this:

1h BW Swing Maximum: ((500 * 4.4) + 80) * 70 / 100 = 1,596

1h BW Stab Maximum: ((500 * 3.2) + 80) * 70 / 100 = 1,176

Just glancing at the numbers, we can see that the swing value of our 1H BW, 1,596, is only slightly 140 damage higher than that of the 1H Sword’s. On the other hand, the stab value of our 1H BW, 1,176, is 280 damage lower than that of the 1H Sword’s. Swings and stabs do not happen at an equal chance, so we have more work to do still. Next, we’re gonna calculate the differences between the swings and stabs of the two weapons, by doing this:

(Maximum Slash or Stab Damage of 1H BW / Max Sword Damage) * 100

To clarify, the Sword value is the same, and you only plug in one of the 1H BW values, depending on which one you’re finding. The “x * 100” is to just turn it into a percent, and isn’t technically needed. In other words, you will be using the equation twice and you should have:

(1596 / 1456) * 100 = 109.6, or 110% rounded up

(1176 / 1456) * 100 = 80.7, or 81% rounded up

What do these percents even mean? Essentially, assuming our 1H Sword is 100% the swing damage of our 1H BW’s is about 10% stronger than our Sword’s, and the stab damage of our 1H BW is about 19% weaker than our Swords. These percents can slightly vary depending on the numbers used, but for general use cases and assumptions, you can use 110% for swings and 80% for stabs. We’re not done yet, as now we’re gonna calculate the total damage difference between our weapons now. We’ll use our actual values we calculated, in which we shall use this formula:

((1H BW Stab Value / 100) * 2 + (1H BW Swing Value / 100) * 3) / 5

We have to turn our percents back into their regular number variations, hence the “x / 100”. The 2 and 3 represent the chance of occurrence for that motion to occur aka the 3:2 swing:stab ratio. I wasn’t able to find any official information online, but I can tell you that there are five different animations all your attacks can do, in which two of them look like stabs and the other three look like swings, so it is likely safe to assume they follow the 3:2 swing:stab ratio like Blast. Anyway, this is what we’ll get when we plug the numbers in:

((80.7 / 100) * 2 + (109.6 / 100) * 3) / 5 = 0.9804, or about 98%

What the hell does that 98% mean? Assuming Swords are at 100%, our 1H BW is about 2% weaker than our 1H Sword, and this logic applies to any 1H BW and 1H Sword…assuming your STR, DEX, Weapon Attack, and attack speed are equal between the two weapons. For those wondering, the difference for 2H Swords and 2H BWs is about 8%...but you can do the math yourself following the process as above if you really don’t believe me. Just looking at the different multipliers should be enough information to figure out that 2H Swords beat both 1H Swords and BWs…and not by a small margin.

While 1h BWs are better off than 2h BWs due to them being able to reach the attack speed cap with Speed Infusion and Booster on the weapons that do matter, they still have to deal with the issue of varying motion type damage ranges, making them worse compared to both Sword types. As stated in my simpler explanation, you aren’t dead weight for choosing a 1H BW (you are with a 2H BW though), as 9/10 times you will not have the exact same stats as your peers. Player Skill can also help make the difference for raw stats in many scenarios. You can think of playing with 1H BWs as playing with a slight handicap, and playing with 2H BWs like some sort of obscene challenge run for a game. As also stated in the simpler explanation, You, the Reader, should be old enough of a human being to make your own decisions, so if you still want to use a BW of any kind after reading all of this, then have at it. If you want more information on the damage formulas and what not, this thread should give all that you need.

EDIT: There was a change that gave some 1h and 2h BWs more attack speed, which helps these weapons actually compete with Swords. This is because they were given enough speed to reach the max attack speed with both Booster and Speed Infusion, which was one of the big advantages most 1H and 2H Swords had over BWs. This change, which you can check out the list of weapons that got their speed bumped up here, helps make some BWs more competitive when compared to their Sword level counterparts. Do keep in mind though that BWs still suffer from stab/swing multiplier nonsense, so these weapon types aren't on complete even footing.

Building your own Personal Paladin​

I ain’t gonna try to make this super lengthy and long, but just give a general idea for those who don’t have a single clue. Essentially, you’re going to be pumping your stats into STR mainly. Your secondary stat is DEX, which is only used to equip a few weapons as well as provide an indirect way of getting Accuracy. Keep in mind your required stat to job advance is STR, so your DEX can go as low as 4, the lowest possible. Essentially, all that matters is you try to minimize your base DEX as much as you can while still maintaining the appropriate Accuracy required (you should try to have around 204 Accuracy to do most end game content without worry of misses). It is ok if you have way higher base DEX early on, especially if your gear isn’t superb, as you can always lower your base DEX once you have better gear to make up for it. Now with the greatest segway possible, it is time to talk about gear.

Now it’s time to talk about gear. I’ll give a general guideline on what gear you should try to aim for (and how to upgrade it) and at what points in the game…which will be divided into Early Game (levels 10-50), Mid Game (levels 50-120), and Late/End Game (levels 120-200).

Spoiler: Early Game

Early Game:
This is gonna be the only section with just text and no special formatting, because at this point in the game you will just want to get your hands on whatever you can. DEX/Accuracy are important to have plenty of due to the low Accuracy nature of Warriors in general. Other then Accuracy, the only thing that really matters is your weapon, so be sure to always try and upgrade that when you can. If you can, getting your hands on the level 35 and 43 Maple Weapons are huge benefits due to the Accuracy they give.

Spoiler: Mid Game

Mid Game:
Helmet: Zakum Helmet.

Earrings: An earring scrolled with DEX.

Pendant: Silver Deputy Star.

Cape: Pink Adventurer Cape (PAC)/Pink Gaia Cape (PGC) scrolled with STR/DEX, depending on if you have Accuracy issues or not (a regular cape scrolled with STR/DEX also suffices if the other two are too hard to get).

Gloves: Some pair scrolled for Weapon Attack (WA). Try to aim for at least 10 WA.

Weapon: Level 64 Maple Weapon (ideally scrolled with WA). If Accuracy isn’t an issue, you can just go for whatever is the strongest you can get your hands on and scroll it.

Shield: This only matters if you plan to use 1H weapons. Any shield will do, just as long as you can get somewhere around 4-10 WA on it.

Shoes, Overalls, and Tops/Bottoms don’t really matter too much at this point, since the cost to make decent pairs of these can be costly while not giving as many benefits as scrolling let’s say a weapon. I’d advised waiting until your income is overall better and can support scrolling said items better. You can also get the Ellin Savior’s Ring by this point and at least start on your Monster Book Ring, but these aren’t super crucial to get right away.

Spoiler: Late/End Game

Late/End Game:
Helmet: Zakum/Scarlion (STR or DEX)/Ravana Helmet scrolled for either DEX or Accuracy, depending on if you need the DEX to equip anything or not. Aim for either at least 30+ DEX if scrolling for DEX, or 40+ Accuracy if scrolling for Accuracy (the threshold is lenient here due to how much these helmets vary in stats from each other).

Earrings: An earring scrolled with DEX, but try to aim for +12 DEX minimum on them.

Pendant: a 5 Weapon Attack Mark of Naricain (MoN), a Horntail Pendant (HTP) upgraded with a Dragon Stone, or a Timeless Pendant with high STR and/or DEX through level ups (max is 30 STR/DEX). You can Chaos Scroll the MoN if you want, but keep in mind it is untradeable and only has one slot. Timeless Pendant requires you to be 175+ to obtain since that is the lowest level you can challenge Pink Bean.

Eye Wear: Either a pair of Spectrum Goggles that are scrolled with Chaos Scrolls, or a clean pair of Spectrum Goggles with 2 STR and DEX.

Face Wear: a Sad Mask scrolled for Avoidability, since these scrolls give DEX. Try to aim for +6 DEX minimum.

Cape: a PAC or PGC with Chaos Scrolls used on them. Ideally aim for at least 8-10+ WA minimum, though true End Game players will want ideally 15+ minimum.

Gloves: Some pair of gloves with 14 WA minimum on them. Usually these will be Brown Work Gloves (BWG), Yellow Markers (YM), and Timeless/Reverse Bergamots due to their higher slot count versus other gloves (the Bergamots are untradeable once they gain experience, keep in mind). End Game Players will ideally aim for fully scrolling a BWG or YM with only 30%, 10% WA scrolls used with White Scrolls, and Chaos Scrolls to get at least 21 WA.

Shoes: You will scroll either a pair of Blue/Dark Crescent Boots or a pair of Timeless/Reverse Grabbe scrolled with Jump scrolls, since they give DEX (the Jump and Speed are also nice). End Game players will try to aim for Facestompers and scroll them with Chaos Scrolls.

Top/Bottom/Overall: This is kind of dependent on your DEX/Accuracy, but ideally you should aim for an Overall if you want to min/max to the fullest, since they can gain more STR overall than a Top/Bottom combo. It is not a huge deal if you stick with a Top/Bottom, however. If you go for Top/Bottom, you should use either a Black, Green, or Blue Neos Top scrolled for STR, and then either a Blue, Black, or Green Neos Pants scrolled for DEX. If you go for Overall, then you will either scroll a Timeless/Reverse Taragon for STR. If you want a tradeable Overall, then you can scroll a Dark, Blue, Red, or Green Battle Road for STR.

Weapon: This will vary on choice, but you essentially want a level 110 or higher weapon (Dragon, Speargrave/Flairgrave, Timeless) that has landed at the bare minimum four 30% WA scrolls on a weapon that either has perfect base WA or is 1-2 off from perfect (for example, a perfect Dragon Claymore is 110 WA before any scrolling). End Game players should aim to fully scroll their weapons that are perfect in base stats or are 1-2 off from perfect with only 30% and 10% WA scrolls (the 10%'s are generally used with White Scrolls to clarify).

Shield: This only matters if you plan to use 1H weapons. You should aim for a bare minimum of 15 WA by using WA scrolls, with End Game players aiming for a bare minimum of 20 WA. Shield options can be tough since some of the best options have very little supply most of the time. People will alternatively use things such as Stolen Fences due to anyone being able to use them and being buyable from a NPC, or high level Warrior Shields like Crossheiders or the Purple and Green Hoflon Shields.

Rings: At this point you should have your Ellin Savior’s Ring and your fully upgraded Monster Book Ring.

Keep in mind some of your gear may be swapped out at times for various event-based gears, depending on what you have and what is offered. As for a general quick guide on what you should prioritize in terms of upgrades, it will generally look something like this:

Weapon > Shield (only if 1H) > Gloves > Cape > Shoes (only if they’re Facestompers) > STR/DEX based gear (aka everything else)

The main idea is that you focus on items that not only give you WA, but usually give you the most bang for your buck. Items that have access to larger gains of WA without relying on Chaos Scrolls (Weapons, Gloves, and Shields) are usually the best bang for your buck in this case. MoN can be considered low priority due to the fact it is untradeable and isn’t the only pendant option available. Hats, Tops, Bottoms, Overalls, and Earrings are usually the best bang for your buck for the STR/DEX based gear.

As for the SP build for a Paladin, it isn’t very complicated overall. Most of the decision making comes from what weapon(s) you plan to utilize. 1h users get access to two extra skills, though only one of them is really worthwhile. These builds are not absolute by any means either, especially when it comes to the order of which you max/gain skills, but will simply act more as a guideline of sorts. Let’s get dangerous.

1st Job:

To become a Warrior, just go talk to Dances with Balrogs, the main Job Instructor for Warriors, at Perion while having a minimum of 35 STR. To make it as clear as possible, I will include not only the end result of each skill in terms of SP added, but where and how you put these said SPs per level up.

Spoiler: 1st Job SP Guide

Levels 10-12: 5 into Improved HP Recovery, then 2 points Improved MaxHP Increase
Levels 13-15: Max Improved MaxHP Increase, then 1 point into Power Strike
Levels 16-22: Max Slash Blast, then 1 point into Power Strike
Levels 23-28: Max Power Strike
Levels 29-30: 6 points into Endure

Final results:
61 SP used
Power Strike (20, MAXED)
Slash Blast (20, MAXED)
Improved MaxHP Increase (10, MAXED)
Improved HP Recovery (Minimum 5 SP)
Endure (6, Max level is 8)

1st Job is largely the same no matter how you build your Paladin (or any Warrior really) You want Improved MaxHP Increase as soon as possible to maximize your HP gained per level up, and you require level 5 Improved HP Recovery to do this. Luckily for you, whether you leech or grind, the regular attack for Warriors should be good enough to get you through the first few levels or so (INT Warriors are leeching either way so DO NOT bring them up). Afterwards, you will then max Slash Blast as it is your main attacking skill that hits multiple targets until 4th Job. To make my life easier, I am going to refer to skills like Slash Blast as “mobbing skills” from now on. Once Slash Blast is maxed, you will then max Power Strike, which is your main single target attacking skill, or as I will call them for now on, your main “1v1 skill”. After Power Strike, you are only missing one essential skill from the 1st Job list: Endure. Endure used to be trash, but got a custom change in MapleLegends (which you can read about here) where you have a slight chance to not use a healing potion aka free resources! Unfortunately, it's max level is 8, which means you can only get it to level 6/8 for now, which is fine. You will have a chance to put in two more SP during 2nd Job, to which I will mention again in the 2nd Job section. Once you spend all of your SP and are level 30, then you are ready for the 2nd Job Advancement.

2nd Job:

In order to obtain your 2nd Job, you will need to go talk to Dances with Balrog, who will then send you over to the beautifully named NPC Warrior Job Instructor at West Rocky Mountain IV in Perion. He will warp you to a special map where you will kill mobs until you get 30 Dark Marbles. Once obtained, talk to the NPC inside the special map to get The Proof of a Hero and head back to Dances with Balrog to choose your job (it’s Page in this case. Don’t fuck it up, ok?). To clarify, Sword and BW builds are essentially identical, with the only difference being what weapon you choose. For the sake of not clogging up space, I will just give the path for Swords, but just REMEMBER THAT IF YOU ARE GOING BW, BE SURE TO PICK THE BW VERSIONS OF THE SKILLS!

Spoiler: 2nd Job SP Guide

Levels 30-32: 5 points into Sword Mastery, then 2 points into Sword Booster
Levels 33-35: 9 points into Sword Booster
Levels 36-40: 15 points into Sword Mastery
Levels 41-43: 9 points into Sword Booster
Levels 44-53: 30 points into Power Guard
Level 54: 2 points into Endure, then 1 point into whatever you desire.
Levels 55-70: 48 points whatever you desire BESIDES Final Attack

Final Results:
121 SP used, 72 are core SP
Sword Mastery (20, MAXED)
Sword Booster (20, MAXED)
Power Guard (30, MAXED)
Final Attack (0, it’s for your own good)
Endure (8, MAXED)
49 SP into anything else (can be 1st and/or 2nd Job skills)

2nd Job is a very straight forward and uninteresting time for Warriors. It’s just mainly support skills that mechanically aren’t very interesting, but are very important and will be your best friends later on in life. There are only three core skills to max, with everything else being optional. These skills are Sword Mastery, Sword Booster, and Power Guard. Unless you’re going for a meme build, I highly advise to stay away from putting any points into Final Attack, as it will destroy your Slash Blast DPM by a mile. I’ll hide the full details for those that don’t care.

Spoiler: Why Final Attack is Doodoo

Final Attack has a certain chance to proc after you use a skill like Power Strike or Slash Blast, to which you’ll be forced into doing a unique and different animation. It actually isn’t terrible with Power Strike, as it ends up being a free Power Strike essentially (it does 250% damage versus Power Strike’s 260% damage. You are forced into an animation, however, so still not ideal) but it is God awful with Slash Blast, which is all you need to not get this skill. Remember how I said it does 250% damage? Yeah, if it procs off of a Slash Blast it will try to hit up to six mobs (I call them mobs from here on out) and then divide that 250% over as many targets hit, up to six targets…which if you can do simple math, you know that will be weaker than Slash Blast’s 130% damage the moment it hits two mobs. It’s garbage and not worth your time, and once you have points into Final Attack, you can’t stop it from happening until the points are removed. Of course, if you still want Final Attack, then you’re free to yoink it, but just know you will become a Meme by doing so.

Once those three core skills are maxed, all you need to do is put 2 points into Endure to finish maxing it and then you have free reign over your remaining SP. Threaten is a meh skill, and honestly, I have tried to mess around with it but truthfully it is very hard to tell if it makes an actual difference in DPM for squads or not. I ended up maxing it and still largely use it when convenient, but I would say it is not a must have currently. I’d recommend maxing it for future insurance if anything. I also ended up doing the rest of my 1st Job skills pretty much, in which you will be missing two SP for fully completing 1st Job (I ended up leaving the two points out of Endure personally, but it doesn’t matter too much). As long as the SP is spent and you got the core skills, you’re good to go. Remember, IF YOU WENT BW, BE SURE TO PICK THE BW VARIANT OF BOOSTER AND MASTERY!

3rd Job:

The 3rd Job advancement requires a bit of walking back and forth between Victoria Island and El Nath, so be ready to play the waiting game or prepare thy VIP Teleport Rocks. You will start it off by heading over to El Nath to talk to your 3rd Job Instructor, Tylus. After speaking with him, you will then be sent to talk to Dances with Balrog, in which you will need to find a NPC called Door of Dimension found at Ant Tunnel Park in the Sleepywood Dungeon. After finding this NPC, you will be warped to a special area and have to go beat up an evil version of Dances with Balrog to obtain something called a Black Charm. Pass this back to actual Dances with Balrog, and he will give you the Necklace of Strength. Head back to Tylus with this item, and then he will instruct you to go talk to the Holy Stone located in a hidden map called Holy Ground at the Snowfield, which can be accessed from Sharp Cliff II in the El Nath Dungeon. You will need to answer five questions correctly from this Holy Stone in order to obtain the item you need called the Necklace of Wisdom, in which each attempt requires a Dark Crystal. Here’s a cheatsheet to make your life easier here (if there is a better one out there, do let me know, as I don’t use this super often) After completing the quiz, head back to Tylus to complete your Job advancement.

3rd Job will work similarly to 2nd Job, except it’ll make you think you got a cool new skill to use but you actually didn’t due to how the skill works. You also get a big damage boost overall despite only getting more support skills. Just like with 2nd Job, Sword and BW builds are basically the same, except one will pick the Sword options and the other will pick the BW options. I will be using Sword as the example again, so remember to choose BW if that is your desired weapon.

Spoiler: 3rd Job SP Guide

Levels 70-80: 30 points into Fire Charge: Sword, then 1 point into Thunder Charge: Sword
Levels 81-90: 29 points into Thunder Charge: Sword, then 1 point into Ice Charge: Sword
Levels 91-100: 29 points into Ice Charge: Sword, then 1 point into Charged Blow
Levels 101-110: 29 points into Charged Blow, then 1 point into whatever you desire
Levels 111-120: 30 points into whatever you desire

Final Results:
151 SP used, 120 are core SP
Charged Blow (30, MAXED)
Fire Charge Sword (30, MAXED)
Thunder Charge: Sword (30, MAXED)
Ice Charge: Sword (30, MAXED)
31 SP into anything else (can be 1st, 2nd, and/or 3rd Job)

3rd Job actually manages to be even more dull in terms of the skills you get. This is where you get introduced to the main niche/gimmick of Paladins: infusing Elements into their attacks. Not only do these Elements increase your overall damage, but now you have to pay attention to what Elements mobs are weak and strong against…and you will take advantage of these Element weaknesses once your Fire Charge is maxed. There was a custom change in ML (which you can read about here) that has all of Paladin's Elemental Charge skills give you the same amount of % damage increase (yes including the 4th Job one), so in reality which element you decide to max first largely doesn't matter. Ice can be considered the strongest if you value the freeze effect, but in terms of damage it doesn't technically add anything. The only part that matters is what mobs you want to grind at, as what elements they are weak to can determine which Element Charge you want first. For the sake of simplicity though I decided to only include one example path, in which I went with Fire Charge as my first skill. Assuming you got the Accuracy and damage, you will be able to hunt at places far beyond your level due to the damage amplification you will receive from Fire weak mobs. People leeching won’t care about any of this though. The main idea is that you grab all of your Element buffs, and then Charged Blow, because while Charged Blow is not used in 3rd Job, it will be later on in 4th Job. This is because you consume your whole Charge buff after every use, which means you’d have to recast your Charge every time you want to use Charged Blow. In other words, it’s worse damage than spamming Slash Blast and is only decent when your buff is about to run out. It will become a far better skill in 4th Job, so you will want to max it still for the future. The last 31 SP don’t really matter too much, but personally I recommend maxing Improving MP Recovery, even if you are going 1h Sword/BW only. It is not a required skill, but it is a nice niche skill that can save you a bit of overall MP and can be nice later on the road for some niche scenarios. Shield Mastery, even if used on a shield with actual defense values, is arguably not as useful as Improving MP Recovery in my eyes, so unless you really want that extra defense, I don’t recommend 1h Sword/BW users maxing it. If you went Improving MP Recovery, then where the last 11 SP go doesn’t really matter and it is all up to you. If you can afford it, you should get your first mount as soon as possible, which is at level 70. Trust me, it is worth the investment with how slow your ass will be.

4th Job:

To start the 4th job advancement process, you will need to talk to your 3rd Job Instructor to get a Letter of Recommendation from him. Once yoinked, head on over to the map called Forest of the Priest, which can be accessed from Valley of the Antelope in Leafre. You will then talk to your 4th job Instructor, Harmonia. After speaking with Harmonia, you will be given two options in order to complete your Job advancement. The first (and the one I personally recommend) method is to go hunt a Manon and Griffey, who are area bosses in Leafre aka nearby where you are, and to obtain quest items called The Heroic Pentagon from Manon and The Heroic Star from Griffey. The second method is to head to the scroll shop NPC named Vega, located at Eos Tower 44th Floor in Ludibrium, and to buy a Secret Spell Scroll from him for 10 MILLION Mesos. Regardless of which you choose, once you do either one of these, head back to your 4th Job Instructor to finish the Job advancement.

4th Job is where things diversify a lil bit, as you can actually choose two different ways to build (yes, both paths will be included)! 1h users also get an actually useful new skill too. Hopefully, I don’t make this go on forever while still being clear and detailed. As a side note, you won’t have all of your 4th Job skills right off the bat and will have to do a bit of extra work for some of them, which I’ll get to a bit later.

Just like before, there is a separation of BW and Sword skills, though it is only one skill in this case. I will be using the Sword as the example once again, so PLEASE be sure to grab the BW version instead of the Sword version if you’re going full BW build. Also, you can throw 1 point into Hero’s Will whenever you decide you think you’ll need it. For the sake of clarity and what not, I’ll include it at level 160, but feel free to put a point into it earlier or later if you want.

Spoiler: 4th Job General SP Guide

4th Job General Build:
Level 120: 1 point into Rush, 2 points into Advanced Charged
Levels 121-123: 8 points into Advanced Charged, then 1 point into Heaven’s Hammer
Levels 124-133: 29 points into Heaven’s Hammer, then 1 point into Blast
Levels 134-143: 29 points into Blast, then 1 point into Power Stance
Levels 144-153: 29 points into Power Stance, then 1 point into Holy Charge: Sword
Levels 154-160: 19 points into Holy Charge: Sword, then 1 point into Hero’s Will and Achilles
Levels 161-170: 29 points into Achilles, then 1 point into whatever you desire
Levels 171-200: 90 points into whatever you desire. If you are going 1h, then you should max Guardian after Achilles, which you will finish maxing it by 180 and leave you with 61 total free SP

Spoiler: 4th Job Bossing SP Guide

4th Job Bossing Build:
Level 120: 1 point into Rush, 2 points into Advanced Charged
Levels 121-123: 8 points into Advanced Charged, then 1 point into Blast
Levels 124-133: 29 points into Blast, then 1 point into Power Stance
Levels 134-143: 29 points into Power Stance, then 1 point into Holy Charge: Sword
Levels 144-153: 19 points into Holy Charge: Sword, then 2 point into Heaven’s Hammer
Levels 154-160: 28 points into Heaven's Hammer, then 1 point into Hero’s Will and Achilles
Levels 161-170: 29 points into Achilles, then 1 point into whatever you desire
Levels 171-200: 90 points into whatever you desire. If you are going 1h, then you should max Guardian after Achilles, which you will finish maxing it by 180 and leave you with 61 total free SP

Spoiler: 4th Job SP Final Results

Final Results:
243 SP used, 152 are core SP (182 for 1h users)
Advanced Charged (10, MAXED)
Blast (30, MAXED)
Holy Charge: Sword (20, MAXED)
Heaven’s Hammer (30, MAXED)
Power Stance (30, MAXED)
Achilles (30, MAXED)
Rush (1, max level is 30)
Hero’s Will (1, max level is 5)
Guardian for 1h users only (30, MAXED)
91 SP into anything else (61 SP if you are a 1h user…you got plenty of other 4th job skills to grab so go get’em)

Ah yes, where many people would argue the game actually starts. If you noticed while reading the build path, there’s two different options you can choose from. To clarify here, the first option is a “grinding” or just a more general build path (Heaven’s Hammer into Blast etc.) and the second option is a “bossing” oriented path (Blast into Power Stance etc.). If you are certain you plan to do only bossing and/or leeching for your experience, then you can go ahead with the second build path, as Heaven’s Hammer isn’t particularly that useful in bossing early on. If you want the option to grind, or just simply aren’t sure, then you can go for the first build path. Regardless of what you decide though, I do think it is in your best interest to max ACB right away, as this is a very quick upgrade in damage for both single target and mobbing/cleaving (350% damage versus the 260% damage from Power Strike and 130% from Slash Blast, while only taking 10 SP to max versus Blast needing 30). ACB will remain as your primary mobbing and cleaving skill for the rest of your Paladin career, but Blast will replace it as your main 1v1 skill once it is stronger. Keep in mind you require an Element Charge active in order to use ACB, and that it can also Stun at a 90% chance for five seconds. Also, try to upgrade your mount ASAP (and get your first one if you haven’t still), with the earliest you can upgrade it being level 120.

Spoiler: 4th Job Skill Detailed Explanation

Time to start explaining the main skills and what they do…for those that care anyway. Blast is your main 1v1 skill. It’s one big fat line of damage that goes out farther than it appears horizontally. Not much else to say about it in terms of functionality. Power Stance is a crucial supportive buff as it lets you ignore knockback on an attack at a certain % chance (90% at max level). With the lack of avoid Warriors have, they sure as hell need something like this to help them out. Heaven’s Hammer is a big area of effect (AOE) skill that can cover a big chunk of a map (or all of it, if small enough). It hits up to 15 mobs and does either 199,999 damage if a regular monster, or 50,000 if a boss-based monster. This damage is set and does not change, and Heaven’s Hammer is not affected by Accuracy. Heaven’s Hammer can also freeze anything that is freezable if you have the Ice/Blizzard Charge on. This sounds extremely strong, but it does have a 15 second cooldown AKA you have to wait 15 seconds after casting it to use it once more. Keep in mind if a mob does not have over 200,000 HP, then it will be taken down to 1 HP always, so you will still need to use another attack to kill a mob that got hit with Heaven’s Hammer (same logic should apply to bosses as well I believe). The Holy and Divine Charges are how you get the Holy Element, which when high enough level will replace your Fire/Flame as your main neutral Element. Achilles just reduces your damage taken from all sources other than environmental hazards (think random nonsense from jump quests or the lava pools in deep El Nath).

Onward with the secondary skills. Rush is technically a main skill, but that paragraph was getting too long and in terms of using SP, Rush is considered a secondary skill. Anyway, Rush just pushes you and a monster forward. How far this mob goes is dependent on where you are in relation to the mob, and what level your Rush is, since the distance is “fixed”. The same applies for your own movement. Its main uses are to clump mobs together to help you kill them faster and more efficiently, to act as a gap closer at times (this can be risky depending on scenario), and to help pin a boss to the wall (Rush always pushes as long as you have aggro and the mob is pushable). The main reason to level up the skill is to increase the distance Rush goes. Hero’s Will is just used to remove the Seduce debuff that some bosses have. Maple Warrior increases your base stats by a certain % based on the level. Monster Magnet does the opposite of Rush; it pulls mobs and bosses (with the exception of stationary ones like Zakum) to you. When using the skill, you see a charge bar above your head. How long you charge it determines how many mobs/bosses get pulled, up to a maximum of six. Leveling up the skill increases its pull range and the chance of pulling (it’s a 95% chance at max level). The last skill to talk about is Guardian, which for 1h users is arguably a main skill but since 2h users don’t use it, I would argue it as secondary. Moving forward, as long as you have a shield equipped, Guardian lets you completely negate an attack at a certain chance (20% chance at max level). In addition to this effect, it can also slightly push back a mob/boss if they’re close enough to you and can be pushed, which they have to be essentially on top of you, and can Stun regular mobs very briefly.

To summarize how your 4th Job will look like generally speaking, what you’ll do while grinding/farming is using Rush and/or Monster Magnet to clump mobs together, and then use ACB to kill them all. Pull out the Blast when only one mob is present. Depending on your level, how strong your ACBs are, the number of mobs together, and the map structure, you can also use Heaven’s Hammer to weaken mobs occasionally and just Rush into them to kill them, or use Monster Magnet and ACB to finish the job. Be sure to look at the mobs’ Elemental stats to determine the best Element to use. As for bossing, the strategy can vary on boss to boss, but generally speaking you’ll be using Blast when it’s one target, and then ACB when it is two targets or more (in other words, cleaving). Rush and/or Monster Magnet as needed to set up the pin, as well as help maintain said pin when needed. Full detail explanations will be given for most bosses in their own sections, so be sure to check that section out if you want specific details on a boss.

Now for the how2get4thjobskills section. I’m gonna make it as simple as possible, since these quests overall aren’t too hard to do (just about every single little detail will be given so I’m sure it’ll be wordy still). I’ll list all of the skills in a bullet point format and mention if it requires additional work or not to get it and explain what said additional work is.

Spoiler: Achilles

· Achilles – No additional work needed.

Spoiler: Guardian

· Guardian – Must unlock through a questline. Keep in mind Heros also have this questline, and also get Guardian once completed. In order to see and complete the questline, you will need to have a shield equipped. Head to Leafre: Forest: Crossroad and talk to the NPC Moose to start the questline. He will first give you a dinky shield called the Skill-Earning Shield you have to equip in order to progress with the questline. Talk to him again having equipping the shield, and he will take you to an isolated map and have you kill 200 Black Kentaurus’s (unequipping the dinky shield while inside of this map kills you instantly). After 200 kills, you can leave the map and talk to Moose again to gain the skill. He will also turn your Skill-Earning Shield into a Gellerhead Shield.

Spoiler: Maple Warrior

· Maple Warrior – Your 4th Job Instructor gives you the Skill Book to learn the skill. Just remember to grab it after Job advancing. This applies to all 4th Jobs in the game.

Spoiler: Monster Magnet

· Monster Magnet – No additional work needed.

Spoiler: Power Stance

· Power Stance – Must unlock through a questline. This questline is available to the other two 4th Job Warriors as well, in which they also receive Power Stance as the final reward. To start the questline, you will need the item called [Storybook] Crimson Balrog’s Proposal, which shockingly drops from Crimson Balrogs, who can be found on the boat rides between Orbis and Ellinia. Once obtained, you will go to your 4th Job Instructor to actually start the questline. After talking to him, head to Spiruna who is in a house in Cloud Park IV (Orbis, towards the bottom of the map). She will send you to get a quest item from Lycanthropes in El Nath’s dungeon called Lycanthrope’s Plans and have you go back to 4th Job Instructor once obtained. Your 4th Job Instructor will send you to your 3rd Job Instructor, in which afterwards you can start what is referred to as El Nath PQ. Simply put, it’s just a “Party Quest” that has you protect Tylus from various mobs that can also drop other Skill Books for other classes, but requires a Warrior doing the Power Stance questline in order to start it. After completing El Nath PQ, which is just simply defending Tylus until the game says you’re good to go, he will give you Power Stance.

Spoiler: Rush

· Rush – Must unlock through a questline. Keep in mind your fellow 4th Job Warriors also have this questline, and also get Rush from it. To start the questline, you will need the item called [Storybook] Indecipherable Book, which drop from Taurospears in the Sleepywood Dungeon. Once obtained, Manji in Perion will offer you a quest, in which you’ll have to kill 200 Taurospears in a special, isolated map, found at Sanctuary Entrance III in the Sleepywood Dungeon, with another 4th Job Warrior. The other 4th Job Warrior can be any of the three Jobs and is required in order to enter the map (they can just sit there and AFK once inside, however). After killing the Taurospears, head back to Manji to obtain the skill.

Spoiler: Blast

· Blast – No additional work needed.

Spoiler: Holy/Divine Charge

· Holy and Divine Charges – Must unlock through a questline (you get both for completing the questline). Talk to your 4th Job Instructor to start the questline. He will then have you go talk to Taeng the Explorer, who is located in a hidden ship map that can be accessed from The Grave of a Wrecked Ship of Aquarium (towards the bottom of the map). After speaking with Taeng, he will have you get ten Shark Dentures (everything says Shark Teeth and my memory is too foggy, but I’m pretty certain everyone just means the Dentures) from Sharks. Once brought back to Taeng, he will give you a quest item called the Holy Cup and you must head back to Chief Tatamo. He will have you go talk to the NPC Fountain of Life, which is located at the Horntail Expedition map and requires you to do one additional quest and questline in order to access (more details on these below). Once you have talked to the Fountain of Life and exchanged your Holy Cup for a Holy Water of Life, you will now need to head over to Orbis Tower <8th Floor> of Orbis (crazy, I know) to talk to the NPC called Statue. Talking to Statue will finally reward you both Holy and Divine Charges.

Spoiler: Horntail Prequest Explanation

To explain the mentioned quest and questline as quickly and detailed as possible, you will need to do a small questline that starts as Moira’s Whereabouts, in which you will talk to Chief Tatamo and then a NPC called Moira located at Cave of Life – Entrance of Leafre. She will have you get ten quest items called Tough Dragon Skins that drop from Drakes (located in Sleepywood Dungeon) and Red, Blue, and Dark Wyverns (located in Leafre), as well as two Empty Dragon Elixirs by giving a NPC in Leafre named Mos two Mithril and Steel Plates. Once given, you will gain two Dragon Elixirs in your Use slots. To enter Horntail’s Cave, you will need to use one of these Elixirs in the same map as Moira and drop down to the bottom of the map to move inside. The other quest is from Moira, in which it’s called Badge of a Squad Member. Make sure you complete this quest before you use a Dragon Elixir to enter Horntail’s Cave. You just have to get three different quest items that are all called Certificates. You will get one of each Certificate from Pianus (area boss of Deep Aqua), Papulatus (major boss in Ludibrium, questline required to access), and Zakum (major boss in El Nath, who also has a questline required to access). I highly suggest following the two guides I linked for Papulatus and Zakum, as if I explain those questlines as well then we’re gonna be here forever and these two guides do the job just fine. Once all three are obtained, bring them back to Moira to get an ETC. item called the Certificate of the Dragon Squad. Keep this in your inventory for eternity. Once obtained and you have entered Horntail’s Cave, make a party and go talk to the NPC called Encrypted Slate of the Squad to enter the Horntail Expedition map. The Fountain of Life will be located at the very far right.

Spoiler: Hero's Will

· Hero’s Will – Must unlock through a questline. Keep in mind this questline is available to all 4th Jobs and is the same for all. To start the questline, talk to Chief Tatamo in Leafre. After speaking to him, he will have you go talk to Carta the Sea Witch located in a hidden cave at Deep Sea Gorge I of Aquarium. She will have you gather 40 of a quest item called Piece of Courage that can only be gathered from a special map she sends you to. You only get five minutes inside to gather these items, and each entry requires a Miniature Pianus, an ETC. drop from the nearby area boss Pianus. You have unlimited tries as long as you give Carta a Miniature Pianus. After 40 Pieces of Courage are obtained, turn them in to Carta and she will have you go talk to Eurek the Alchemist, who is located in the towns of Leafre, Sleepywood, El Nath, and Ludibrium (I recommend talking to him in Leafre since you will need to head back here for the questline anyway). Once spoken to, he will have you get ten Mithril Plates and a quest item from Griffey called a Ragged Bracelet. Once all of these items are obtained, head back to Eurek and he will give you a quest item called a Mithril Bracelet, in which you will hand this to Carta in order to obtain Hero’s Will. Rather, she gives you a “Skill Book” (it’s a goddamn fist technically) that you need to use to officially unlock Hero’s Will.

Spoiler: Advanced Charged Blow

· Advanced Charged Blow – You must get the Skill Book as a drop from Zakum. You do not need to be 4th Job to get the drop; you can get it as early as level 50, which is the earliest you can enter Zakum. This applies for any Skill Book dropped by Zakum.

Spoiler: Heaven's Hammer

· Heaven’s Hammer – Must unlock through a questline. Keep in mind this questline is actually shared among your fellow 4th Job Warrior peers, but they gain different skills through it. To start this questline, head on over to the Helios Library nearby Korean Folk Town and talk to Wiz the Librarian. After speaking to him, head on over to Leafre to speak to Chief Tatamo. He will have you go get a quest item called Sayram’s Necklace from Griffey, and after going back to Chief Tatamo with the Necklace, you will be asked to head over to talk to The Insignificant Being at Another Entrance in the Sleepywood Dungeon. He will have you get a quest item called Key to the Forgotten Shrine, which drops from Jr. Balrog found at The Cursed Sanctuary, which is at the end of the Sleepywood Dungeon. Once obtained, you will then go back a map to enter a special portal in the middle of Sanctuary Entrance IV. In this map, you will need to defeat all of the Jr. Balrogs before you can advance to the top, in which you will need to break a tombstone in order to get a quest item called Sayram’s Shield. Unfortunately, which tombstone drops the shield is actually randomized in MapleLegends, and when you guess incorrectly, you’re sent back to where The Insignificant Being is located…which means you will have to walk back to Sanctuary Entrance IV in order to attempt getting the quest item again if you guessed incorrectly. Once obtained, bring the quest item back to Wiz the Librarian and you will have your skill.

Epic Grinding Section​

Grinding???? Who plays the damn game???? YOUR MOM???? Yes, she likely doesn’t. Terrible jokes aside, I won’t go into super detail about how2grind as a Paladin, but give the general thought process of where you can go so you aren’t completely at a loss, as well as how to perform the act of “grinding”. I already explained how 4th Job Paladins generally grind, so I’ll quickly explain how 1st-3rd Job Paladins do it: You use Power Strike when it is one mob, and then Slash Blast when it is more than one mob. Apply buffs when available and needed. Congratulations, you now know how to grind as a Warrior, Page, and White Knight! I wish I was exaggerating, but that is pretty much your game plan until 4th Job. 2nd and 3rd Job just pretty much give you buffs and passive skills, since Charged Blow is essentially a 4th Job skill.

Now, where the hell does a Paladin grind? Interesting enough, I largely grinded on my own Paladin until he could start bossing at around level 135 or so, so I do have a general idea on what you can do. I won’t be super detailed about this part, but hopefully my own experiences/knowledge can help give enough of a general idea on what to do/where to go. I should mention that my Paladin had some form of funding present at creation, so he was probably able to do things sooner than someone who has no gear prior to creation. Another thing I will mention is that I am not an expert on Party Quests (or PQs for short), as I haven’t done many of them on MapleLegends, but I will mention that from conversations I’ve had with people, to which some of these people have ran a lot of the PQs, it seems that grinding or leeching are better in terms of experience, and that PQing is probably only worthwhile if you really want the special item some of them give and/or just simply enjoy running PQs. Let’s get started.

Spoiler: Levels 1-10

Levels 1-10: This is Maple Island time. Do I have to explain further? Yes? Ok. Get level 10 from Maple Island or go murder things pathetically on Victoria Island. Just get your Job advancement right at level 10 is all that matters.

Spoiler: Levels 10-30

Levels 10-30: Personally, I recommend just completing quests, as they give pretty good experience in this level range. Regular grinding isn’t too bad either, but in my opinion, quests are pretty rewarding experience wise in this stage in the game, and give you a purpose while grinding, instead of it being mindless. Places you would consider grinding are likely to have a quest related to it anyway, so might as well, right? Henesys PQ (HPQ) is available right at level 10 and Kerning City PQ (KPQ) is available from 21-30. This guide should help give you an idea on what quests to be generally doing for experience, along with some other quests good for making Mesos.

Spoiler: Levels 30-50

Levels 30-50: This is when questing starts losing its value and where pure, brainless grinding is the way to go. That being said, if you still want to quest, then some of the early Magatia quests (the ones around the mid 30s) aren’t too bad. Brown Teddies in Ludibrium are pretty decent from 30-35, and you can stay there a bit later if you need/want to, but you’ll notice the experience start to slow down a decent amount by 35+. After Brown Teddies, you can check out all the Chronos’s and their variants, to which I ended up staying at Platoon Chronos from the late 30s until the early to mid 40’s. You can move to Master Chronos during that period or during the mid to late 40s if you want, but I ended up going to Straw Target Dummys in Mu Lung from levels 43-53. As for PQs available around this level range, you got Ludibrium PQ (LPQ) from 35-50, and Ellin PQ (EPQ) from 45-55.

Spoiler: Levels 50-70

Levels 50-70: This is when things get…the same level of excitement as before, if not a lil worse because you’re still stuck with Slash Blasting your way to victory. Your main goal here is to essentially get to Ghost Ship as soon as possible, which you will go there once you aren’t missing against the mobs there like a mad man (ideally not at all) and don’t take forever to kill the mobs. You will begin with Ghost Ship 1, and then make your way forward as you level up until you hit 70 essentially. If somehow possible, getting a party size of like three people, one including a Priest with Holy Symbol, and grinding at Mysterious Path 3 (MP3 for short) is also a pretty valid option, even if you may not be fully ready for the mobs there. Alternatively, if you wanted a change of scenery and got the gear for it, you can see about going to Windraiders at like your mid to late 60’s (I ended up trying this out) but honestly, you’d be better off staying at Ghost Ship or trying someplace else like Taipei 101. PQs available here are Orbis PQ (OPQ) and Ludibrium Maze PQ (LMPQ), which are both from 51-70, and Pirate Party Quest (PPQ, sometimes referred to as Herb Town PQ), which is from 55-100.

Spoiler: Levels 70-100

70-100: This is when things get slightly more interesting, but you’re still a Slash Blast and Power Strike Gamer. From 70-80 you can stay at Taipei 101, particularly with the maps that have Mannequins of all forms, or at the maps with Greatest Oldies and Latest Hit Compilations, commonly called CDs. The CDs map is especially good if you can grind with Holy Symbol in a party. Be warned though, these mobs have pretty high Avoidability and damage altogether, so if you are struggling with killing them, you can always retreat back to Ghost Ship until you think you’re better prepared.

Once you feel like you’re strong enough, or at the very latest level 80 (aka when your Fire Charge of choice is maxed), it is time to journey back to Ludibrium…particularly to the deepest parts. The bonus damage you get from hunting Fire weak mobs is a huge damage boost, strong enough to where you can actually grind at mobs around your level, or much higher if you got the gear/patience for it. First on the list are Dual Ghost Pirates, which are in a Hidden Street map on the left side of Deep Ludibrium. You will stay here until you get slightly better experience from the next location, which will be Grim Phantom Watches (or until you’re bored of Dual Ghost Pirates I suppose). I didn’t end up swapping over until my late 80’s or so, mainly due to Accuracy issues (unless I had GM buffs, which the 100 Accuracy they give is pretty nutty). All that matters is that you’re not missing, or rarely doing so, and don’t take like over 30 seconds to Slash Blast a mob to death. The level itself doesn’t matter too much otherwise (though do keep in mind, the lower level you are compared to a mob, the more Accuracy you will need to not miss).

Also, if you really want, while I never did try it for myself, you could try going to Vikerolas in Malaysia and see how that is, as they are both Fire and Lightning weak. This place is pretty nutty for experience as a 3rd Job Ice/Lightning Mage if you max Element Amplication first and abuse Thunderbolt, though I am not sure how much of a difference having Teleport will do for experience earned here. You should do pretty good damage here if anything, so maybe it is worth a shot (assuming you can find a map anyway…). For PQs available, PPQ is still an option if you really desire (it’s gonna be slowing down a lot once you’re level 70+), and there’s a new option of Magatia PQ (MPQ) that is available from levels 71-85.

Spoiler: Levels 100-120

100-120: Ah yes, the good old twenty levels of hell. Let me just say, if you are able to make your way through these twenty levels, then you’re just about ready for anything…for the most part. Anyway, options are quite limited at this point, and what you do have doesn’t keep up with your current rate of scaling experience very well (leeching pops off here for a reason). You can stick with Grim Phantom Watches until 120 if you really want, or you can attempt other places such as Dreamy Ghosts, or Himes.

Himes aren’t weak to any of your Charges, but do give decent experience and the map isn’t too bad. If you feel really bold and wanting something different, you could go through the Temple of Time quests until you unlock the Road of Regrets region of the area, which has mobs that are both Fire and Lightning weak. These maps are pretty huge, however, and these mobs are also pretty beefy, so it is likely better to stick with places like Deep Ludibrium and Himes…but it is an option for those wanting a change of pace. The quests to get there can be a bit time consuming, though, and all the mobs inside the Memory Lanes are not weak to anything as well. There are no more PQs besides HPQ available at this point.

Spoiler: Levels 120+

120+: Your job quests can give decent experience…enough to at least get a level out of it or so. Otherwise, welcome to the era of Seventh Floor, or 7F, located in Shaolin, China. If you really do not want to go to 7F, then Road of Regrets is technically another option until you max Heaven’s Hammer, to which then you will be forced into 7F because now you’re out of excuses other than “I do not want to go. Please do not make me go, Mom.”

I want to stress again that this is primarily my own experience grinding, and that this area of the guide is especially open ended to suggestions and other ideas if you got them. Not everything I did was likely optimal, and I experimented around with stuff myself as well (such as me trying Windraiders and Straw Target Dummies), but the main point of this section here was to help act as a template/inspiration of sorts for those who want to grind but have no idea where to start. I always recommend trying things out for yourself and experimenting around to see what works and what doesn’t for you, but it never hurts to have a lil bit of a helping hand ya know? Anyway, now time for what I think will be the juiciest part of the guide…Bossing.

EDIT: Since Lightning, Ice, and Fire all do the exact same amount of damage now, you do have more options for grinding now. Because of this, I decided to give out an option for both Ice and Lightning you can try out. I will not promise that they will be better vs the Fire weak mobs (because truthfully I don't fully know myself), but I do think more options is always nice to have. Here's what I got:

Lightning:
-Gigantic Spirit Vikings

Ice:
-Brexton (I would probably ignore the Dark Cornians that spawn, or you can try to slowly beat them up since you can just freeze them)

Bossing Section​

Because of how massive (perhaps too massive) and troublesome the bossing section of the guide is, I have decided to simply link a Google Document to this part of the guide instead of trying to insert it into the forum post itself. Everything bossing related is within that Google Doc, so have fun with it!

Finally, the Conclusion​

I know there is a metric load of words and nonsense in this guide, but it’s not like you have to read all of it I assure you! The main goal behind this guide is to offer a large amount of information and guidance (some sort of resource book if you will) all about Paladins that is largely easy to digest for even people that have no idea what the word Paladin means. Rather than hoard all of my experience, strategies, and observations to my death bed, I figured it would be better if I were to share it to the world, and go one step beyond a normal guide. If I haven’t made it clear yet, then I will say that I want you to keep in mind everything I say in this guide isn’t meant to be a fact of life with no falsehoods, but is what I personally think is the most ideal. You can disagree on some things, you can have better/alternative ideas and strategies to handling bosses (feel free to comment below or pester my DMs about it), or only use 5% of the information in this guide. What’s important is that you read the information, think about it and see if it makes sense to you, and form your decision from that. Also, I hope my really dumb and bad humor helped entertain you during the read…to which I say God bless anyone that read the whole damn thing.

I also want to give a quick shoutout to all the people I've met and befriended in this game back in 2017-2018 and with my return to the server back in June 2020, whether they moved on from the game or still play. It's still wild to me how long I've stayed with this server, lend alone doing things such as writing a guide like this. Anyway, thanks for reading my guide if I haven't said so yet. I hope it helps yall out in some shape or form.

 

hmm i was able to access it by throwing it into an incognito window, and had someone else also try it as well with no issues. what happens when you try to click on the link? also if anyone else has this issue do comment about it

 

hi everyone i am here to inform you all that this guide has gotten an UPDATE due to the Summer 2023 Balance Changes deciding to ruin m- i mean making changes to some bosses, in which i took the time to try them out and see what was up with them. anyway, heres what u really want:

PATCH NOTES 1.01
The following bosses received changes to their PPR score:
-Dunas1
-Dunas2/Dunas Unit

The following bosses received changes to their SOE score:
-Dunas1
-Dunas2/Dunas Unit
-Nibelung
-Castellan/Castellan Toad

The following bosses received changes to their strategy section:
-Dunas1
-Dunas2/Dunas Unit
-Nibelung
-Castellan/Castellan Toad
-Nameless Magic Monster



ok see you next patch day BYE...also feel free to dm me on discord (ttkirnk) for any inquiries as usual (pls be patient if i respond slowly)

 

the way i see it, theres 3 major problems you have to tackle with any form of hybrid build, which are:
1. having to fund two different weapons
2. getting all the SP to get everything you want (this becomes worse once 1H stuff is involved)
3. boss fights with multiple different elements in play

truthfully speaking, 1. and 2. are pretty doable to deal with; 1. is just a matter of putting in the extra effort to fund the weapons (which is just a personal choice in the end, so if thats what you want then you're all set), while 2. is more about being smart with your SP allocation and skill choices. for what you currently have and what you originally wanted to do, both do technically work, but it is a bit tricky to juggle since you're also going 1h for BW...and the reason it becomes a bit tricky is due to 3.

for example, the pink bean boss fight utilizes ice, fire, and holy. with your current build, youd lose a wee bit of damage on the left bird since you wont have ice but its not the end of the world. as for your original build, it also works out fine if you go holy charge (the sword variant) since then you can just use a sword the whole way through. sounds good right?

now let me bring up another boss fight: auf heben. this fight only uses two elements, which are lightning and holy...both of which are crucial you utilize. in this case, if you only went holy charge (the sword variant), now you have to swap weapon set ups whenever the clones come up due to the fact you only have lightning on your BW, in which let me tell you from experience that will not be easy to do without smoke (and not ideal since this is letting auf heben get free healing). obviously, if you go both holy elements for sword and BW, then theres no problem...but you will already be lacking in SP with just 1 holy element and guardian. losing another 20 SP can be pretty huge depending on what other skills you want from 4th job.

i think im rambling a bit but the main point im trying to get at here is that both what you currently have and what you originally wanted to build do both work, but you have to really think about two things:
1. what content do you value doing/plan to value doing?
2. what skills do you value having/will think you will value?

for example, if you really dont care about running pink bean but want to run auf, then you could change your charges to be better fit for what weapon you want to use for auf and any other similar content (element wise). the more you try to add to your palette, the harder it will become to juggle your SP. the same goes for your skills. i can tell you for a fact that you really only need level 1 rush, and that max distance rush is more of a luxury (though a nice one), but what about something like monster magnet, guardian, or maple warrior 20/30? some boss fights magnet can be powerful (core blaze), while other fights its just a more convenient rush at times (nameless magic monster). guardian is a powerful skill for 1H builds, so ideally you want to max that out...but that'll be a whole 30 SP dedicated to it if you max it.

in the end, you'll want to really think about what you want to do with your paladin content wise, as that should help you determine what elements you want for what weapons, as well as help you decide what 4th job skills you should and shouldnt get. to clarify once again, both your current and original builds (in a vacuum) do work and are valid builds, but the finer details can lead to them having issues, especially the original build plan. hopefully that helps answer your question at least a little...and im willing to help ya out further if ya need it (you can just pester me on discord...my username is ttkirnk believe it or not)

 

yeah i should clarify... the weapon swap was in reference to the theoretical build you brought up, not what you actually have, so thats my bad on not being clear there. what you currently have is 100% fine and you wont have to do any weapon swapping mid fight or anything. it seems you've made up your mind on getting both holy elements, which is fine. adding in monster magnet, achilles, and guardian, you will unfortunately not have the SP to get mw20, so if you're ok with that then i see no issues with that SP build.
if you're really looking for places to save SP, there are two skills you can take SP out of or not fully dedicate to, which are:
1. hero's will
2. monster magnet

in reality, you only need level 1 hero's will, but this can leave you more vulnerable to bosses with seduce such as auf heben, horntail, and pink bean (especially pink bean), since you wont have it up as much. however, if you dont really plan to do these bosses, or are willing to take the risk, then you can keep hero's will at level 1 rather than maxing it.

as for monster magnet, personally i dont think the last 5 levels are very worthwhile to get for it. this is because for levels 1-25, monster magnet gains 2% success rate in catching a monster, eventually leading you to a 90% chance at level 25. levels 26-30 only give 1% per level (dont ask me why its like this, its good ol Neckson logic), meaning that by level 30 it will be a 95% success rate to catch a monster. with how SP starved your build is, i do think your SP would be better spent elsewhere and you can just keep at monster magnet at level 25. you can even go a step further and actually just keep monster magnet at level 20, because that is when it gets its max pull range. it will only be a 80% success rate in catching stuff, however, which is more than fine i would say.

whether or not you do any of this for monster magnet and hero's will is fully up to you, and once again comes down to what skills you think you'll want more/to be more powerful. also, since you're new to the bossing content in this version of maplestory, i highly recommend that you do indeed experiment with all the bossing content out there and see for yourself how you feel about it all. hopefully you find some content that you absolutely love

 

hi so uh because discord decided to do a PURGING essentially im pretty sure all the GIFs in the bossing guide other than like 1 or 2 are botched and dont show anything...so ill be slowly trying to fix them when im not tired/drunk/working over the next few days or so (a week max god i hope not that long) :`) i will post again when everything is all fixed and good to go as well as edit the guide to clarify that it borked ok see ya soon gamers o7

EDIT: if you REALLY want to view them before i fix them up, they are still technically viewable but its a pain in the bum. if you copy the link and then dump it somewhere on discord (i would recommend a discord server that doesnt get used/freshly made), the original GIF should show up. this only applies if its a discord based link still