Credits to Shizz Dizz
Theory behind the Build
The point of this guide is not to build the best PVP hunter. Or the best PK hunter. Or the best PVE hunter. Its a guide that will allow you to excel at all 3, but not be the best at any of them. You will be a valued dungeon party member, able to defend yourself when people try to pk you for your levelling spot, and able to put on a good show in pvp. It is not possible to build a hunter that is the BEST at all 3 of these areas of the game. If you want to be the best in PVP, PVE or PK, this guide is not for you. If you want to have fun levelling and do so in a way that when you get into the dungeons of Crespo, and Crevice, and the FE/FW/1L/2L of Python, this guide can help make your character the best it can be.
When you first start out, you will be using a bow to level from lvl 1 until 15, when you get your first AOE, Rolling Attack, a dagger skill. At level 15 you will turn from primarily a bow hunter into primarily a dagger hunter. What does this mean for you? It means the most powerful AOE’s in the early game. It means that from an early level you will be the most powerful melee character in the game. This sounds strange that a hunter would be a melee character. But its true at the early to mid levels. From level 32 to level 60ish you will be the queen of pvp. No class should beat you in either PK or PVP and due to the massive AOE’s you can PK entire parties at or around your own level. You are the ultimate soloer. The ultimate damage delaer in AOE parties. In other words, you rock.
At around level 60, hunters hit a sort of wall. Your massive AOE’s and their high damage no longer guarantee you victory in PVP or PK. Other classes are getting better skills, better gear, and higher defense and HP. Your AOE’s are not getting much stronger. Rolling Attack and Silent Killer are maxed. Deadspin is the only dagger AOE that is still levelling. All the advantages you enjoyed from 32-60 are starting to fall by the wayside. By the time you hit 65, other classes will be competing in PVP and PK. You should still be winning most of your fights, but it will be much more difficult. Enemies won’t die quite so quickly and they start hitting you more often and much harder. By about 70, you will probably be wondering what are you doing wrong because you can’t win most of your pvp fights anymore. Stick at it, once you reach level 74 you get really competitive again. At 82, you will regain your status as the undisputed queen of PvP until 90 when Bagis get really good.
I just started a hunter. What do I do? Where do I level?
Your main weapon is a bow. Use it. You should be levelling on the white mobs in and around Loa or Braiken castles. At about level 8, venture out into North Ares or North Morte. I’m partial to the North Ares location north of Braiken Castle. There are more monsters and faster spawn rates. You should also start doing the Dungeon of Noobs. This is a low level dungeon that gives good experience and teaches you how to handle monsters that aggro. It also gives some good rewards. I got a copper from it one time and a silver another. As you level you’ll be wanting to increase your stats and add skill points. I have provided a general guide for that below. As you increase in level, keep killing the highest level monsters that are white to you. They provide the most efficient experience for you and are not too difficult to kill. You can stay in North Ares or North Morte killing lizardmen until around level 20. Yes, lizardmen are also in Denebe, but the competition for levelling spots is higher. Better off staying in N.Morte and N.Ares until around 20.
At 20ish you you can venture into Denebe and kill some of the higher level monsters there. Mantis, in particular give good xp. Or you can go into Norak or Castor Cave on the first floor. Only people there are usually bots. Monsters are easy and give good xp. At around level 24 or 25 start going into Heiharp and getting involved in AOE parties there. This teaches you how to work in a group and how to handle a lot of aggroed mobs at once. Stay in Heiharp until level 34. At level 34, you want to go to Requies Beach and the Nunvice Dungeon. This is where you should stay until level 50ish. The Nunvice dungeon provides wonderful experience and even at level 34, you should be able to complete it, unlike most other classes. The levelling from 34-50 or 55 should be some of the fastest you ever experience. I did it in about a week.
Once you hit 50, Nunvice is going to be horrible in the sense that you’ve done it for 16 levels and its gotten old and stale. You can stay there until 55 if you like, its still good xp. Or you can go to Castor2 or Norak2 and get in some AOE aprties there. When I did C2 and N2, there were no bots. It was good xp and I made a lot of friends. It was also a fun place to PK. Nowadays, the bots run both of the caves and I’m not sure whether its worthwhile going there anymore. You can easily do Nunvice until 55 and be none the worse.
At 55, you’re going to Crespo. Crespo provides hunters with a lot of levelling options. You can get in an AOE party at 88 or 130. You can AOE party the Kolaigers and Clays on the iceburg as well. Or, you can simply solo anything on the map. Most classes have difficulty soloing Crespo at lvl 55. You, as well as summoners, are the exception to the rule. You can get some really nice xp killing Kolaigers and Clays and the mobs that spawn around them. Whatever your choice, the grind from 55-60 is pretty easy for a hunter. You have the best AOE’s and high health. Do the Kolaiger and Clay commission quests. Its a nice way to get some good rewards and give yourself goals in terms of the grind. Its easier to grind when you are looking forward to finishing a quest than just killing stuff.
From 60 onwards, its the Crespo dungeon. There are 3 levels to this dungeon, A, B, and C. C is the easiest. B is the middle. And A is the hardest. As a general rule, you should do C from 60-65. B from 65-75. A from 75-90. As a hunter, you will be able to go in the more difficult dungeons earlier than other classes due to your high health and AOE’s. However, you get less xp if you go to a higher level too early. The most efficient xp is generally at the levels I indicated.
From 65 onwards, you’ll need to make some money and if you join a guild, contribute AP. Draco Desert is the place for this, although the good CQ is not available to you until you hit level 70. From 70 onwards, when you get tired of the Crespo dungeons, do some Draco CQ parties. Its decent xp, and you can make some nice money or get some good items as rewards. Its also the best place prior to Python to get vouchers for Baron DF.
At 77, you can now go to north Requies. This is a good xp spot (if not bot infested) and it has nice drops and a good drop rate. Its also a nice place to go if you’re sick of Crespo and the Draco CQ’s.
At level 80 you have another map option, Python Castle. As with all the other maps, your AOE’s make you a sought after party member, but the monsters attack a lot harder than before. Your HP has not increased that much since you got to Crespo due to stat dumping for your bow, which we’ll talk about later. The mobs hit harder, but the xp is very good. If you can find a good 1L or 2L (FE/FW for Trieste users) party, you can level very quickly. Its a grind, though. Even in 1L or 2L. This is where many characters quit. Crespo dungeon runs don’t give much xp anymore and grinding a level in an AOE party takes hours. Its incredibly difficult to level by soloing. And not much fun. Parties have now become the name of the game. If you don’t have a good guild by now, its time to start looking for one.
At level 85 you get another map, Avalon. This is where T3 items drop. These are gears that typically sell for upwards of 12 million dil. Avalon xp is not great. Certainly you’re not going to be able to reliably level here. But you can come here when you get tired of Python or when you need to farm T3’s or Earl DF vouchers.
You also get access to the middle part of Python Castle at lvl 85. Unless you are doing the Dark Eye quest, don’t bother with this section until you’re 90+. The archers and AK mobs hit VERY hard and the xp is not that much better than the Styx and Carbons in the outside of Python. The only reason to kill these mobs is farming vouchers for Earl DF, which you won’t need until 91+ anyway.
At 90 you’ll move to the Crevice dungeon in the middle of Python Castle. This is where levelling gets easy again. Remember when you started Crespo dungeons and you could get 10-15% in 1 run? Well, its back. And the loot from Crevice dungeons is wonderful. Don’t waste your time on C runs. Do a few B’s to get the hang of how it works, how the pads operate, etc. And then find some A parties. As a hunter, you’ll be the most sought after class behind segnales. You have awesome damage dealing skills perfectly suited to Crevice’s narrow corridors.
At level 95 you get access to a new map, Oread’s Tomb. The mobs here hit VERY hard and unless you’re doing the Black Dragon quest, there’s not much point in going there, except for a change of scenery. You should still be doing Crevice.
I’m only 102. This is the full extent of my map knowledge. Anything beyond this and you have to ask someone higher.
When Should I Reskill?
Easy. At level 90. If you follow the skill point allocation guide below there should be no need to buy a master’s mistake or have to reskikll prior to level 90. Why level 90? Because thats when you get your main AOE, Demolition Bomb, a xbow skill. Its the only true Xbow AOE. As a result, it makes no sense to use an xbow prior to level 90. By choosing xbow over bow at pre-90 you are giving up one of the best AOE’s in the game, Triangle Shot. Don;t give away your AOE’s for a few extra damage points. Use a dagger/bow until 90. Then switch to bow/xbow or a bow/xbow/dagger tri-brid. There is a guide for that build below as well.
Stat Point Allocation
This is a stat point allocation designed to promote early dagger reliance and gradually move to a complete dagger/bow hybrid with a reskill to bow/xbow at level 90. It gives massive amounts of hp early at the expensve of dex and the ability to use a bow equal to your level. Since bow skills don’t really get good until Wonder Firing at level 74, the bow is sacrificed prior to that to focus on dagger and health. As a general rule for a dagger/bow build level 60 and under, the only important numbers are the stregth and dex requirements of the highest dagger you can use. You should allocate enough strength and dex to be able to use this weapon. All other points should go into health. Under no circumstances should you ever add any points to spirit.
You start out with a build of 3-6-3-3. You can use a level 1 bow and a level 1 dagger. At level 7, the dagger requirements are 6 strength and 11 dexterity. As you level up from 1 to 7, make sure you allocate these points, putting the rest into health. Your level 7 stat build would be 6-11-25-3. While you are doing this, you should also be equipping a bow in your 2nd weapon slot. The level bow you will be able to use will be much lower thatn your current level. Thats ok. Bows don’t really start to be really effective until around level 74 when you get Wonder Firing. The goal is to maximize your health early so you can survive the Crespo dungeons when you get in them and then start upping your dexterity so that by level 74 you will be able to use a level 60 bow and take full advantage of the bow skills that will be unlocked in the near future. Following this principle, this should be your stat allocation at each of your new weapon levels until level 60.
Level 12: 8-18-41-3
Level 18: 11-26-60-3
Level 24: 14-35-78-3
Level 30: 17-43-97-3
Level 36: 20-52-115-3
Level 42: 23-60-134-3
Level 48: 26-68-153-3
Level 54: 29-77-171-3
Level 60: 32-85-190-3
After level 60, you need to stop putting points into STR and HP and start using them in DEX to increase the level of the bow you can use. The goal is to be using a bow equal to your level by the time you get Crow Wings at level 82. That means putting points almost exclusively into dexterity for 25 levels. Another option you have is to continue dumping points into health and using your free restat at level 74 or 82 or whatever. This has the advantage of making you more survivable in the dungeon. It has a disadvantag of making you a weaker damage dealer. Your bow skills, namely triangle and wonderfiring are your primary bow AOE’s. By using a low level bow, you are hurting your damage dealing capacity, which it your main role as a hunter. You’re not a tank. Your job is to kill and kill fast.
I recommend doing the DEX dump. Its what I did and I had no problems surviving in the dungeons or in DF. More importantly, by making the bow a more important weapon, it facilitated me learning how to quickly and seamlessly transition from dagger to bow using the [tab] key. This may sound trivial, but it takes some practice to learn how to do a weapon switch and skill to recognize the proper time for it. By staying low damage low level bow, you are prolonging the time you will have to learn how to do the weapon switch. It will also create a severe shock if you dump everything into health and have to remove 2-3k hit points when you ultimately re-stat. Instead of learning how to do it in C, where a mistake can be fixed, you learn in A, where a mistake can leave your entire party dead. Here is the dex dump build:
Level 66: 32-115-190-3
Level 72: 32-145-190-3
Level 78: 32-175-190-3
Level 85: 32-205-195-3
From level 85 on, you are going to be wanting to make sure you can easily switch from dagger to Xbow at level 90. To this end, you need to up your strength stats slightly to be able to use the 85 xbow. Your two new most important numbers are as follows: Strength requirement for equal level xbow and dexterity requirement for equal level bow. Dex reqs for bows are higher than xbows. Strength reqs for xbows are higher then for bows.
The level 85 bow requires 205 dex. The level 85 xbow requies 38 strength. Since we’re not switching to xbow until level 90, getting those strength points prior to 85 are not important so long as you have them when you turn 90. Having pimped 85 weapons is not terribly important. Its a waste of resources that should be saved for your 95/105 weapon and 102 wings. This build is based on +3 or lower weapons. If you +4 your 85’s, you need to add 2 additional dex points. If you +7 them, you need an additional 4 points to dex. Plan your point allocation accordingly.
Level 86: 32-205-200-3
Level 87: 32-206-204-3
Level 88: 32-211-204-3
Level 89: 33-215-204-3
Level 90: 38-215-204-3
From 90 onwards we will make sure we have the weapon reqs for a +4 or higher bow and xbow. This requires additional dexterity than a regular +3 or lower weapon. As with the 85’s, if you plan on going to +7, add 2 additional points of dex on top of what I am reccomending.
Level 91: 38-215-209-3
Level 92: 38-220-209-3
Level 93: 38-225-209-3
Level 94: 38-230-209-3
Level 95: 42-231-209-3
Level 96: 42-231-214-3
Level 97: 42-231-219-3
Level 98: 42-231-224-3
Level 99: 42-231-229-3
Level 100 42-234-231-3
Level 101: 42-239-231-3
Level 102: 42-244-231-3
Everything beyond this point is my planned build. It allows me to use the 105 weapons +6 or lower as soon as I reach 105. If you know you are using a +7, just alter the stat allocation slightly or wait until 106.
Level 103: 42-249-231-3
Level 104: 42-254-231-3
Level 105: 46-255-231-3
Skill Point Allocation for a pre-90 Hunter (Dagger/Bow)
Hunter Tree:
Cure Wounds: Max (5)
Wind Moving: Max (5)
Terrace Magic: 1
Speed: None
Combat Tree (Dagger):
Combat Mastery: 1
Violent Step: 1
Rolling Attack: Max (10)
Silent Killer: Max (5)
Deadspin: 7
Archer Tree:
Bow Mastery: Max (10)
Xbow Mastery: 1
Critical Fire: Max (5)
Ice Arrow: 7
Triangle Shot: Max (10)
Vulnerable Shot: 1
Explosion Arrow: 5
Wonder Firing: 4
Crow Wings: 2
Fire, Slow, Piercing Shot, Guide Shot, and Poison Arrow: 0
Strike, Skull, Multiple Shot: All 1 point each due to requirement for better skills.
That is the skill build at level 89. You’ll have 2 points left over. There should be enough of a built-in point allowance that you can level each skill at the proper time. If get to a point where you have more skills to level than available points, your priority should be: Dead Spin Silent Killer, Wind Moving, Triangle Shot, Rolling Attack, Cure Wounds, Bow Mastery, Critical Fire, Explision Arrow, Crow Wings, Ice Arrow. If you do the build right there should not be a gap and you should be able to level everything on time.
Skill Point Allocation for a post-90 Hunter (Bow/XBow)
Hunter Tree:
Cure Wounds: Max (5)
Wind Moving: Max (5)
Terrace Magic: lvl 1
Speed: None
Combat Tree (Dagger): Nothing
Archer Tree:
Bow Mastery: Max (10)
Xbow Mastery: Max (10)
Critical Fire: Max (5)
Ice Arrow: Max (Cool
Triangle Shot: Max (10)
Vulnerable Shot: Max (10)
Explosion Arrow: Max
Slow Arrow: Max
Wonder Firing: Max
Crow Wings Max
Fiores Nova: Max
Demolition Bomb: Max
Fire and Poison Arrow: None
Strike, Skull, Multiple, Guide, Piercing: All 1 point each due to requirement for better skills.
With this skill build I have 4 points remaining after I did my 102 skill increases. Having planned out my skill point allocations for the next 20 levels, I will continue to have at least 4 points remaining at any one time for the remainder of the game. With this in mind, you can invest fully in fishing, which is only really a viable option if you have an amulet. OR, you can eliminate all but 1 point of vulnerable shot and take the 13 remaining points and do a tri-brid build adding points back to some dagger skills. Primarily Deadspin. Doing this will keep you with enough points to level your skills at the appopriate times.
Combat Mastery: 1
Violent Step: 1
Rolling Attack: 1
Silent Killer: 1
Deadspin: 8
PVE Strategies
1-14: Use your bow to kill stuff at long range. Fairly easy and self-explanatory.
15-31: First AOE is a dagger AOE, Rolling Attack (RA). Violent Step (VS) followed by RA should do significant damage. Run around until your cooldown is finished and then repeat.
32-35: 32 is when you get Silent Killer (SK). This is a massively powerful AOE that causes massive damage, bleed damage (enemy loses additional hp for 10 seconds), and slows opponents briefly. Follow this up with RA. Run around until SK has cooled down and start over.
36-47: You get your first bow AOE, Triangle Shot (TS). Dagger will still be your primary weapon and main damage dealer. However, while you’re waiting for the SK cooldown, tab your weapon to bow and fire off a TS. Its an excellent filler skill to further damage the enemy instead of just running waiting for a cooldown.
48-59: At 48 you get Deadspin (DS). Deadspin is a large AOE that does significant damage. More importantly, it stuns every mob that it hits and shoots you away from them. SK, RA, DS – [tab to bow] TS [tab to dagger] SK, RA, DS, etc
60-73: At 60 you get no new skills, but will enter the crespo dungeon. Your plan of attack should change slightly. Use DS as your first skill as the mobs spawn from the coffins. Why? It stuns them meaing they can’t attack the rest of your party. This is a defensive skill more than anything else and allows your party to AOE while the mobs are spawned. Tab to bow and fire off triangle shot. Tab back to dagger and start off with the SK, DS combo. Toss in a RA when prudent. RA is not a strong AOE in dungeons, and should only be used on groups of less than 4 or 5 zombies.
74-89: At 74 you get the Wonder Firing (WF) skill. This is a large AOE that does decent damage. Especially as you’ve managed to level up your bow to at least a 60 by now. At before, start off the dungeon spawns with DS. Tab to Bow and hit WF, TS, and then tab back to dagger. SK, DS. You shouldn’t need RA anymore at this point as SK has completely recharged by the time you’ve pulled off TS and WF. You can continue to use RA as a filler for the long WF cooldown like you did in the 60-73 attack sequences. Crow Wings (CW) at 82 is primarily a single target/PVP/PK skill. It hits 4 times and only the last hit is AOE. Use it in a pinch when everything else is on cooldown or you need to seperate from a mobbing quicky.
90+: At 90 plus you are reskilling to bow/xbow for the 90 dungeon. Maybe you go tri-brid as well. Long story short is that in Crevice dungeon dagger is fairly useless due to long narrow corridors. You get 2 new skills, Fiores Nova (FN) and Demolition Bomb (DB). My skill combo in Crevice is as follows: TS, EA, FN – 2 sec cooldown – TS – tab xbow – WF, EA, DM [tab] TS, FN, TS, [tab], etc… By tossing in that second TS (fast cooldown), you are giving time for your main AOE’s (DB and FN) to cooldown properly to be used in sequence with no pauses, except the builf in 2 second delay from FN and DB. It may seem off to see the sequence never having used those skills or been in the Crevice dungeon, but once you get them you’ll understand.
PK Strategies
This is the most fun part of being a hunter, especially in the early to mid levels. Especially PK’ing entire parties. No other class is equipped to PK an enture party at their own level. Here is the general tactic I used to great effect. Run in the room at normal speed. Pick your target, this is usually going to be another hunter if one is in the party or a summoner if one is there. Select your target and in the meantime, ask if there is a slot in the party available. Clever and cunning is the name of the game here. You need to have them at ease. Its also best if there is a large mob around them and the members of the party are using their AOE skills.
You’re already clicked on the target. Hit wind moving and then Silent Killer your target. If you time it right, every single target should now be purple because they’ve done their AOE’s on the mobs and hit you as well due to your purple status. In the meantime they have just lost a large chunk of HP and shield and are bleeding. Now is when you use DS to inflict mass damage, shoot yourself away from their AOE’s, and stun them all at the same time. Tab over to bow and triangle shot them. Tab back to dagger and restart the process by darting in and giving them another dose of SK and DS. If its a noob party, they’re all clumped together running directly at you which makes your job easier since SK is a directional AOE. If the party has some experienced people or has people with high level alts, they know your tactics and will not have flagged on you or will have spread out.
There is no shame in running away at this point if you have not killed the party. You have taken little damage, your speed skill is on the verge of running out, and that group of people are pissed. But they are also either dead of heavily damaged with little to no shield left. When your wind moving has cooled down and you are up to it again, go in and finish them off. You’re likely to die a lot fo the time when you try to PK an entire party. Its 6 on 1. You should lose every once in a while, but the satisfaction of a perfectly executed party PK is awesome.
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