Guide for the competitive player
Outline
1. Introduction
Hello all! This is a living guide for those who are competitive and are only interested in what things to maximize and what to do in what order. It will be updated as new information is gathered. I've broken it up by section to help you understand what to do on a daily basis and explain the different features to get the maximum return on your investment.
Assumptions
2. Skills
Player skills are very important to your overall build strategy as your character will most likely be on the back row shooting or swinging to score the big hits and one-shot the enemy. The secondary skill should be unlocked as soon as possible, then primary skill should be maxed and the ATK passive skill and HP. After that, it really doesn't matter until you hit 45. Once you hit 45, you should again unlock the primary and secondary skills, advance them max first and then make a best-effort to level the rest at an even pace, but place an emphasis on Crit if your build uses the trait (Sorcerer, for example). At level 50, you should unlock the finishing skill asap.
Skill books can be found in TD chests or purchased in the Arena Shop. I recommend TD because the Arena Shop is a bit expensive. It may not be common knowledge, but a trick can be used in the TDs. As long as one of any two characters can one-shot the third enemy, you only need two characters to do the dungeon and get the gold level chest. The stronger character will go first, the weaker goes second and the stronger goes third. A 2-3 second window is available between the cool down from the first kill and the 30 second timer for the gold chest. In most cases, three weak characters can still get the gold using the same strategy as long as they can at least one-shot the first two enemies. For this reason, it is actually recommended to make an alternative (alt) character to help you build the primary. Smart game play can ensure that you get the gold every time and maximize your player growth.
3. Heroes
You start out with Rose Knight and are forced into recruiting Mermaid. Because of this and the Angel unlock progression (discussed below), the Warrior class is at a clear advantage to the Mage class at the start. Rose Knight should be treated as a standard tank with no hopes of dealing any real damage. Gem priority is HP > PDEF/MDEF > BLOCK/DODGE > END/AGI. In the beginnign it will be difficult to use the best gems, so you may need to place some PATK to fill the slots. Replace these with defensive gems asap.
If you are on a newly opened server, it's more efficient to go ahead and recruit a third Opal hero, strip the gear and sell it, then fire the hero. You will receive a better ratio of Garnet Souls this way.
At level 35 you should spend gold on Herosouls and recruit Zweihander. If you manage to max out on all your stats before the 7-day mark, you should recruit Zweihander early. Either way, use Rose Knight and Zweihander going forward. He will come with training gear, so you should expect to also purchase a Peerless Sword. I recommend putting the player character and Mermaid on the back row; Zweihander in the front, middle and Rose Knight in the front, top. Mermaid will give you longer fights with the healing ability than Pyrona will attacking from the back. Gem Zweihander the same as you do Rose Knight except remove BLOCK from the list.
Also from Livestock about skill training for heroes:
It's fantastic to upgrade Zweihander to Epic as soon as you recruit him; it's not worth it to invest extra stars unless you've already maxed the mount.
4. Mount
You should upgrade the Mount to Epic as soon as possible to boost your mount skill in battle. As you get extra Soulstones, you should keep upgrading it until it's completely maxed out. It's probably a good idea to weave this in with the hero skills. I recommend getting all Opal heroes and beyond to the same level as their quality and placing Mount progression on pause until you achieve this. In other words, if you recruit a Topaz hero, Inherit from the replacement hero, then level the skill to Legendary before going back to Mount upgrade investment.
5. Forge
Enhance
First, it is important to know that gold is the lowest value currency in the game, but it is necessary to get several key items, such as Synth Scrolls. Enhance is the weakest boost to your BR and ability to win battles, but provides a solid overall boost in stats.
Here are my recommendations based testing:
The boots should be the last thing you Enhance and only to get the set bonus.
As Livestock pointed out, the following rule can be used when upgrading your already-enhanced gear:
In other words, when you upgrade a +20 Peerless item, you will receive a +16 Triumph item. This is because it takes the same amount of Gold to Enhance a Peerless item 20 times as it does a Triumph item 16 times. Also, the +16 Triumph item actually has slightly better stats than a +20 Peerless item, so there is no drawback to upgrading already-enhanced gear. 
Socket
You should always boost the stats on your player character over the recruited heroes. The first important upgrade is adding Level 3 gems to every socket. The game transfers open sockets when you upgrade gear, so feel free to use Socket Rods as soon as possible, but make sure you have an extra gem to insert; it's not worth losing the gem level bonus for an extra gem. It doesn't really matter what item you open sockets on, so I recommend unlocking all of 20-cost ones first on every item. Remember: open the third slot on all your player gear first, then move to hero gear.
Synth
I've done a lot of testing on the Synth and I strongly feel that it is best to only Synth gems if you have Synth Scrolls to ensure 100% success. It takes so many gems to get from Level 1 to Level 5, one or two failures can delay an upgrade an entire day. I recommend Synth all gems as you get them as long as each slot has a gem inside. Remember, if you have 2x of a given gem, you can remove one from a socket, Synth it, then return a higher grade to the socket. Purchase Synth Scrolls form the Gold Shop and Guild Shop to expedite this process and remember to always upgrade the player character first. If you are already at max donation level for your guild, you should buy Synth Scrolls from the Gold Shop and not the Guild Store unless you earn Honor tokens from guild activities like Gauntlet and Twilight Clash.
Priority Common Gem placement based on class (level <45) is:
Mage: MATK > HP > MDEF > AGI > PDEF
Warrior: PATK > HP > MDEF > AGI > PDEF
Exchange
Unlocked at level 35
This is a valuable feature that allows you to truly customize the random gem drops. As a general rule, I recommend changing Agility gems to HP and making sure each gear piece (Peerless and above) has at least one HP gem in a socket. It is always better in the long run to Exchange first and Synth second.
6. Angel
You can perform a few tricks on the Angels if you are patient and know what to do. The goal here is to get Lunari or Loralei to Legendary quality (before player level 45) in order to unlock Boadecia as soon as possible (at level 50).
Non-VIP players
You should not spend any Level 1 or 2 Holy Crystals at all and synth up to Level 3 for the upgrade to level 30. When you get Nocturna, use all 10 of the free upgrades immediately. Do NOT use any Angel Tears at this point. Keep her until you can unlock Sylvia. At this point you can either change to Prospera if playing Mage and Inherit from Sylvia or keep her until you can unlock Loralei. In either case, do not upgrade past level 29. When you can get Loralei (you also need 80x Arena tokens to purchase her icon), upgrade to her then you need 30x Level 3 Holy Crystal in order to turn her into legendary at level 30.
VIP players
Level Lunaria as fast as possible with Angel Tears and synth all Level 1 and 2 Holy Crystals to Level 3.
Hot Deals (Good for VIP and non-VIP players)
The Boot Camp Hot Deal promotion on new servers gives you a bonus for leveling Nocturna to Level 10 and Level 20, but the rewards are deceptive. In this case, it is actually better to save all Level 1 and Level 2 Holy Crystals to Synth into Level 3 Holy Crystals. If you buy the First Recharge pack, then you will receive Lunaria and will receive the extra bonus making it even easier to get to Legendary quality.
See below for the screen shot:
If you are having trouble getting enough Level 4 Holy Crystals, you can use this strategy: Bond Angel Tears with angel Lunari or Loralei; odds of getting crystals are roughly the same with angel bonds than soloing the specific solo dungeons that have holy crystals as drops. Later you can inherit that angel exp to your main angel (confirmed by me 1/20/2014). [ref:voshiPosted on 2014-01-15]
7. Arena
The Arena is divided into three sections: Arena, Domination, and Team Arena. Arena is designed so that it is easier for lower level players to get the most out of it. 3/5 match ups should be easy to win and 2/5 will be difficult or impossible. The list auto refreshes at 1200 and 1800 when the stamina boosts are given out. Please see the Arena, Team Arena, and Domination guide for more information on that feature.
Similar to WoW, the gear is one level above the Peerless gear, but one level below the Triumph. Set bonuses are also similar (bonus at 2, 4, and 6), so it is recommended to buy gear in sets of two. If you can go 10-0 on the first day, you could buy the Helm and Greaves, but the cost associated with re-Enhancing the Courage gear will place you behind the power curve when leveling your character. I recommend to NOT use Dragon Crests to purchase Courage gear unless you are VIP. As detailed below in the Daily Progression section, you will be level 40 on day 4 and theoretically be able to get your first piece of Triumph gear (maybe 2). The cost associated with re-Enhancing the Courage gear will place you behind the power curve when leveling your character. Save your Dragon Crests for Level 4 Holy Crystals so you can get Boadicea sooner.
8. Garden
The Garden is a fantastic zone that allows you to buy resources for gold with a time delay. Unless you are waiting for that final gem Synth to get the next level bonus or maxed on practically everything, it is not recommended to use Gold Seeds in the Garden. Instead use Mount or Warsoul (or a combination) because these are only purchased or won with non-gold currency. Storing up extra Warsouls for levels 45 and 50 is highly recommended to maximize progression. VIP-players should consider synchronizing the Garden with the Drills.
**Special thanks to player Nicotine on GTArcade S8.
- Introduction
- Skills
- Heroes
- Mount
- Forge
- Angel
- Arena
- Garden
Hello all! This is a living guide for those who are competitive and are only interested in what things to maximize and what to do in what order. It will be updated as new information is gathered. I've broken it up by section to help you understand what to do on a daily basis and explain the different features to get the maximum return on your investment.
Assumptions
- Character is created at server start time, 0945
- Minimum involvement in time-dependent daily activities (Boss, Gauntlet, etc.)
- Time-independent activities are completed daily (Arena, Tidal Pool, etc.)
- Loop quest and Zodiac are completed daily
- Limited quantity items from the Gold Shop are purchased daily (Synth Scroll, Rod Socket, Mount EXP)
- Guild honor tokens are only spent on Synth Scrolls
2. Skills
Player skills are very important to your overall build strategy as your character will most likely be on the back row shooting or swinging to score the big hits and one-shot the enemy. The secondary skill should be unlocked as soon as possible, then primary skill should be maxed and the ATK passive skill and HP. After that, it really doesn't matter until you hit 45. Once you hit 45, you should again unlock the primary and secondary skills, advance them max first and then make a best-effort to level the rest at an even pace, but place an emphasis on Crit if your build uses the trait (Sorcerer, for example). At level 50, you should unlock the finishing skill asap.
Skill books can be found in TD chests or purchased in the Arena Shop. I recommend TD because the Arena Shop is a bit expensive. It may not be common knowledge, but a trick can be used in the TDs. As long as one of any two characters can one-shot the third enemy, you only need two characters to do the dungeon and get the gold level chest. The stronger character will go first, the weaker goes second and the stronger goes third. A 2-3 second window is available between the cool down from the first kill and the 30 second timer for the gold chest. In most cases, three weak characters can still get the gold using the same strategy as long as they can at least one-shot the first two enemies. For this reason, it is actually recommended to make an alternative (alt) character to help you build the primary. Smart game play can ensure that you get the gold every time and maximize your player growth.
3. Heroes
You start out with Rose Knight and are forced into recruiting Mermaid. Because of this and the Angel unlock progression (discussed below), the Warrior class is at a clear advantage to the Mage class at the start. Rose Knight should be treated as a standard tank with no hopes of dealing any real damage. Gem priority is HP > PDEF/MDEF > BLOCK/DODGE > END/AGI. In the beginnign it will be difficult to use the best gems, so you may need to place some PATK to fill the slots. Replace these with defensive gems asap.
If you are on a newly opened server, it's more efficient to go ahead and recruit a third Opal hero, strip the gear and sell it, then fire the hero. You will receive a better ratio of Garnet Souls this way.
At level 35 you should spend gold on Herosouls and recruit Zweihander. If you manage to max out on all your stats before the 7-day mark, you should recruit Zweihander early. Either way, use Rose Knight and Zweihander going forward. He will come with training gear, so you should expect to also purchase a Peerless Sword. I recommend putting the player character and Mermaid on the back row; Zweihander in the front, middle and Rose Knight in the front, top. Mermaid will give you longer fights with the healing ability than Pyrona will attacking from the back. Gem Zweihander the same as you do Rose Knight except remove BLOCK from the list.
Also from Livestock about skill training for heroes:
Opal(blue) heroes can be upgraded to rare +10
Garnet(purple) heroes can be upgraded to epic +10
Topaz(orange) heroes can be upgraded to legendary+10
Garnet(purple) heroes can be upgraded to epic +10
Topaz(orange) heroes can be upgraded to legendary+10
4. Mount
You should upgrade the Mount to Epic as soon as possible to boost your mount skill in battle. As you get extra Soulstones, you should keep upgrading it until it's completely maxed out. It's probably a good idea to weave this in with the hero skills. I recommend getting all Opal heroes and beyond to the same level as their quality and placing Mount progression on pause until you achieve this. In other words, if you recruit a Topaz hero, Inherit from the replacement hero, then level the skill to Legendary before going back to Mount upgrade investment.
5. Forge
Enhance
First, it is important to know that gold is the lowest value currency in the game, but it is necessary to get several key items, such as Synth Scrolls. Enhance is the weakest boost to your BR and ability to win battles, but provides a solid overall boost in stats.
Here are my recommendations based testing:
- Enhance the Weapon to max level on the player character, followed by the rest of the gear in the same order as discussed below
- Enhance the Helm to max level on the front row heroes
- Enhance the Chest and Greaves to half-max level on the front row
- Enhance the Weapon to max level on the damage heroes
- Enhance the Enhance the Ring to half-max level on the damage heroes
The boots should be the last thing you Enhance and only to get the set bonus.
As Livestock pointed out, the following rule can be used when upgrading your already-enhanced gear:
-upgrading a courage equip to triumph will reduce 3 enhance levels
-upgrading a peerless equip to triumph will reduce 4 enhance levels
-upgrading a triumph equip to conquest will reduce 6 enhance levels
-upgrading a peerless equip to triumph will reduce 4 enhance levels
-upgrading a triumph equip to conquest will reduce 6 enhance levels
Socket
You should always boost the stats on your player character over the recruited heroes. The first important upgrade is adding Level 3 gems to every socket. The game transfers open sockets when you upgrade gear, so feel free to use Socket Rods as soon as possible, but make sure you have an extra gem to insert; it's not worth losing the gem level bonus for an extra gem. It doesn't really matter what item you open sockets on, so I recommend unlocking all of 20-cost ones first on every item. Remember: open the third slot on all your player gear first, then move to hero gear.
Synth
I've done a lot of testing on the Synth and I strongly feel that it is best to only Synth gems if you have Synth Scrolls to ensure 100% success. It takes so many gems to get from Level 1 to Level 5, one or two failures can delay an upgrade an entire day. I recommend Synth all gems as you get them as long as each slot has a gem inside. Remember, if you have 2x of a given gem, you can remove one from a socket, Synth it, then return a higher grade to the socket. Purchase Synth Scrolls form the Gold Shop and Guild Shop to expedite this process and remember to always upgrade the player character first. If you are already at max donation level for your guild, you should buy Synth Scrolls from the Gold Shop and not the Guild Store unless you earn Honor tokens from guild activities like Gauntlet and Twilight Clash.
Priority Common Gem placement based on class (level <45) is:
Mage: MATK > HP > MDEF > AGI > PDEF
Warrior: PATK > HP > MDEF > AGI > PDEF
Exchange
Unlocked at level 35
This is a valuable feature that allows you to truly customize the random gem drops. As a general rule, I recommend changing Agility gems to HP and making sure each gear piece (Peerless and above) has at least one HP gem in a socket. It is always better in the long run to Exchange first and Synth second.
6. Angel
You can perform a few tricks on the Angels if you are patient and know what to do. The goal here is to get Lunari or Loralei to Legendary quality (before player level 45) in order to unlock Boadecia as soon as possible (at level 50).
Non-VIP players
You should not spend any Level 1 or 2 Holy Crystals at all and synth up to Level 3 for the upgrade to level 30. When you get Nocturna, use all 10 of the free upgrades immediately. Do NOT use any Angel Tears at this point. Keep her until you can unlock Sylvia. At this point you can either change to Prospera if playing Mage and Inherit from Sylvia or keep her until you can unlock Loralei. In either case, do not upgrade past level 29. When you can get Loralei (you also need 80x Arena tokens to purchase her icon), upgrade to her then you need 30x Level 3 Holy Crystal in order to turn her into legendary at level 30.
VIP players
Level Lunaria as fast as possible with Angel Tears and synth all Level 1 and 2 Holy Crystals to Level 3.
Hot Deals (Good for VIP and non-VIP players)
The Boot Camp Hot Deal promotion on new servers gives you a bonus for leveling Nocturna to Level 10 and Level 20, but the rewards are deceptive. In this case, it is actually better to save all Level 1 and Level 2 Holy Crystals to Synth into Level 3 Holy Crystals. If you buy the First Recharge pack, then you will receive Lunaria and will receive the extra bonus making it even easier to get to Legendary quality.
See below for the screen shot:
If you are having trouble getting enough Level 4 Holy Crystals, you can use this strategy: Bond Angel Tears with angel Lunari or Loralei; odds of getting crystals are roughly the same with angel bonds than soloing the specific solo dungeons that have holy crystals as drops. Later you can inherit that angel exp to your main angel (confirmed by me 1/20/2014). [ref:voshiPosted on 2014-01-15]
7. Arena
The Arena is divided into three sections: Arena, Domination, and Team Arena. Arena is designed so that it is easier for lower level players to get the most out of it. 3/5 match ups should be easy to win and 2/5 will be difficult or impossible. The list auto refreshes at 1200 and 1800 when the stamina boosts are given out. Please see the Arena, Team Arena, and Domination guide for more information on that feature.
Similar to WoW, the gear is one level above the Peerless gear, but one level below the Triumph. Set bonuses are also similar (bonus at 2, 4, and 6), so it is recommended to buy gear in sets of two. If you can go 10-0 on the first day, you could buy the Helm and Greaves, but the cost associated with re-Enhancing the Courage gear will place you behind the power curve when leveling your character. I recommend to NOT use Dragon Crests to purchase Courage gear unless you are VIP. As detailed below in the Daily Progression section, you will be level 40 on day 4 and theoretically be able to get your first piece of Triumph gear (maybe 2). The cost associated with re-Enhancing the Courage gear will place you behind the power curve when leveling your character. Save your Dragon Crests for Level 4 Holy Crystals so you can get Boadicea sooner.
8. Garden
The Garden is a fantastic zone that allows you to buy resources for gold with a time delay. Unless you are waiting for that final gem Synth to get the next level bonus or maxed on practically everything, it is not recommended to use Gold Seeds in the Garden. Instead use Mount or Warsoul (or a combination) because these are only purchased or won with non-gold currency. Storing up extra Warsouls for levels 45 and 50 is highly recommended to maximize progression. VIP-players should consider synchronizing the Garden with the Drills.
**Special thanks to player Nicotine on GTArcade S8.
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