Sniper Advancement Guide
Third Job Introduction
To advance to the third job, go to El Nath - Chief Residence and speak to Rene. After talking to Rene, head back to Victoria Island and talk to Athena Pierce which is located in Henesys. Next, find the Door of Dimension located at Sleepy Dungeon V and it'll bring you to "The Path of the Glittering Crystal". Walk until the end of the path and enter the portal to defeat the wiseman's dark side to obtain the Black Charm.
Return to Athena Pierce and exchange the Black Charm for a Necklace of Strength. Return to El Nath after that and give the item to Rene. Head on to the Holy Ground at the Snowfield (Sharp Cliff II). 1 Dark Crystal is required to answer 5 randomly-picked questions to obtain the Necklace of Wisdom (If you incorrectly answer a question, you need another Dark Crystal to attempt the quiz again). Again, head back to Rene in El Nath and give her the Necklace of Wisdom.
Job Analysis
Pros
- Ranged attacks which allow you to stay far away from enemies
- Acquire a melee mob attack (Arrow Eruption).
- Can 100% debilitate any monster (Blizzard + eagle)
- Can hit 800%dmg with 4 crit. arrows from strafe.
- Has puppet to control monster's movement
Cons
- Still attack slower than Hermits.
- No party skills.
- Ties with Hermits and Rangers for lowest survival rate of any character, and loses most exp per death due to low HP and no HP protection skills/attributes.
Skills
Thrust - Increases the movement speed.
- Level 5: speed +10
- Level 10: speed +20
- Master Level 20: speed +30
Comment: Not a greatly useful skill compared to the rest, not bad, but with most high-level snipers knowing thieves with max haste, any points into this skill are basically wasted points. Most snipers don't add a single point into it.(Marked as an opinion).
Mortal Blow - For a certain rate, allows you to fire arrows at close range. Even kills monster in 1-Hit.
- Master Level 20: 70% success rate, attack damage 250%, 10% chance of KO to enemies below 50% health (AFTER this attack's damage is applied)
Comment: Obviously not a main attacking skill but a good back-up for when monsters spawn ontop of you or when a monster suddenly unfreezes at close range. Most high-level snipers get this skill up to about 15 or so but don't max if over other important skills.
Puppet - Summon a puppet for certain amount of time. The monster attacks the puppet instead of you *if* the enemy is aggravated to attack you before the puppet is summoned. Puppet also may expire if its HP are depleted before its duration.
- Level 5: HP 900, MP -23, duration of 10 seconds
- Level 10: HP 1800, MP -26, duration of 30 seconds
- Level 15: HP 3600, MP -29, duration of 50 seconds
- Level 18: HP 5000, MP -32, duration of 60 seconds
- Master Level 20: HP 6000, MP -32, duration of 60 seconds
Comment: Very very useful skill for solo'ing bosses and controlling monsters, even at a low level it is brilliant for controlling monsters to make them mob together on one side. I would recommend getting this skill to lvl 18 for the max. duration, HP level of the puppet doesn't really matter as you will defeat most monsters before they defeat your puppet.
Blizzard (Ice Shot) - Uses ice-base arrows to attack up to 6 monsters at once. Only works when equipped with crossbow. Enemies are damaged and individually frozen in a set area around the first enemy impacted, akin to the Bowman skill Arrow Explosion. This attack receives no chance for Critical.
- Level 1: MP -20, Damage 100%, enemies frozen for at least 1 second
- Level 11: MP -25, Damage 120%, enemies frozen for at least 2 seconds
- Level 21: MP -30, Damage 135%, enemies frozen for at least 3 seconds
- Master Level 30: MP -30, Damage 140%, enemies frozen for at least 3 seconds
Comment: Must-have skill but at the same time a must-not-max skill, the same thinking as crossbow-mastery. Useless til lvl 11 then it's a staple distablizing shot and at lvl 21 it peaks at its most effective 3second freeze duration; this skill is not used for damage. Any point's over 21 are a waste but anything under 21 is unheard of in high-level snipers.
Arrow Eruption - ARROW ERRUPTION RAWKZ!!>:-O.Fire a number of arrows in the ground, instantly attacking up to 6 monsters in the vicinity at once. Only works when equipped w/ crossbow. Requires Lv. 5 Mortal Blow.
- Master Level 30: MP -28, Damage 160%
Comment: No minimum range, up to 6-hits, enough said. Maxing it is a must, although when your maxing it depends on how you train, it's your 2nd main-attacking skill.
Golden Eagle - Summon a Golden Eagle, which attacks nearby monsters. Uses 1 Summoning Rock at time of summon. Requires Lv. 5 Puppet.
- Master Level 30: MP -80. Chance to stun 99%, attacking up to 70 times in a duration of 180 seconds
Comment: Very helpful when fighting monsters that love to do high touch-damage. Max this one if you want to get freezer in the 4th job.
Strafe - Fires 4 arrows at one monster.
- Master Level 30: MP -32, Atk 100%
Comment: 400%~800% dmg, averaging at 560% dmg. Level 70~90 all goes into strafe, no arguements. It's your main attacking skill and even if you don't max it out before maxing Arrow Eruption, 1 point into Strafe at level 70 is a must, at least if you do not have Double Shot + Final Attack to work with.
Recommended Skill Build
Strafe M > Mortal Blow 5 > Arrow Eruption M > Puppet 5~10 > Blizzard 21 > Golden Eagle M > Thurst, Mortal Blow, Puppet
Places To Train
Below are some recommended places where you should train, and monsters of which you should train off.
- Levels 70-80: Coolie's are the best exp for these levels as you max up your Strafe. (Be sure to add atleast 1 point to blizzard)
- Levels 80-85: Death Teddies.
- Levels 85-90: With a decent Blizzard - Squids are now your best source of exp. Use blizzard to mob Gobys on the map.
- Levels from 90 onwards: Lethal squid parties.
Notes and Opinions about Sniper Skills
Many seasoned Snipers will concede that Strafe and Mortal Blow are the chief skills to use and raise for damaging purposes early on (these are common skills with the Ranger, but Fire Shot also plays a role of damage for them early on). Most will max Strafe almost as soon as possible, but diversification of skills (at a cost of not effectively hunting harder Ludibrium monsters for a while) is also a way to have more fun with a character, and perhaps more effectively mass-hunt lower-level creatures. If one is accustomed to fighting enemies at long range (and good at keeping that range against everything in their areas of choice), then Mortal Blow might seem a waste. However, it has an unusually fast attack animation, so combined with the chance for instant KO, Mortal Blow might also allow someone to kill smaller numbers of enemies more quickly than by distance-fighting alone. However, the standard low-damage knockback will still be applied no less than 30% of the time. Mortal Blow is not an entirely reliable skill and fighting in close range a lot will result in uneven flow of combat like with Final Attack.
Ice Shot is perhaps a 'sister skill' to a Ranger's Fire Shot, but Ice Shot does relatively little damage while it causes a debilitating status, making it more akin to Arrow Explosion. At level 21, the skill can freeze enemies even longer than an Ice Mage's Element Composition attack. (The extra 5% damage alone gained in a whole 9 skill levels afterward is practically miserable.) As with Fire Shot, the elemental nature forces one to consider appropriate targets based on resistance, but while Rangers would seek fire-weak enemies for damaging, a Sniper could freeze all enemies (and damage them with other attacks while frozen) unless they are ice-strong. Thus, for example, both a Ranger and a Sniper might be found in El Nath, but a Ranger would probably use Fire Shot to damage fire-weak Yetis and Pepes while a Sniper would probably use Ice Shot to freeze (and other attacks to damage) the ice-neutral Dark Yetis and Dark Pepes. (A Sniper could still kill mobs of lesser ice-weak enemies quite nicely with Ice Bolt; but with limited attack power, the advantage could never be greatly above Iron Arrow or Arrow Eruption.) The freezing ability is very useful and HP-saving even at level 1, so you shouldn't ignore this skill even early in 3rd job.
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Note from Cepheids: Ice Shot (Blizzard) is NOT a 'sister skill' to Ranger's Fire Shot (Inferno). Blizzard is more appropriately paired with Arrow Bomb. As with Inferno better paired with Iron Arrow.
Blizzard cannot invoke critial, putting its cap damage at 140% (210% when dealing with monsters weak to ice). Snipers do not learn this skill beyong level 21 because even the 210% damage is pitiful compared to iron arrow's 220% average damage (to first target, subequent a little less). Its 'sister ability' Arrow Bomb, is also a disabler. They also attack in a similar manner, slashing over the first target hit (unlike Iron Arrow which goes all the way). Points to note
- Blizzard gives and ASSURE freeze to non-ice monsters.
- Arrow Bomb gives a 60% chance to stun all monsters.
- Level 1 Blizzard is as effective as Level 30 Arrow Bomb in terms of functionality.
- Blizzard does LESS damage than Arrow Bomb in general.
- Blizzard does NOT invoke critical or final attack while Arrow Bomb does.
Now, regarding Inferno, it CAN invoke critical, AND Critical will be multiplied by the elemental advantage as well. Dealing with ordinary monsters, its 'sister ability' Iron Arrow is way stronger. Points to note
- When changing to third job, Iron Arrow is already maxed while Inferno isnt.
- Inferno needs to be maxed to reach its full usefullness.
In simple terms, Blizzard and Arrow Bomb are disablers while Inferno and Iron Arrow are damage dealers.
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Arrow Eruption is clearly a mob attack, and while it seems less powerful than Iron Arrow (180% versus 160% damage maxed out, both to no more than 6 enemies), AE can intelligently reach all enemies in the horizontal or vertical vicinity (as opposed to directly ahead at the time of firing). Its attack is also laid equally to each enemy instead of weakening with each additional strike in the attack. Considering the Sniper gets limited defensive measures, AE enables safe strategies that one with Iron Arrow might simply not survive; it's also the attack of choice against mobs on uneven terrain or multiple tiers within jumping range. Its power surpasses that of the Ranger's Arrow Rain at a cost of some added firing time (like nearly everything else with Crossbowmen).
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Note from Cepheids: While there are not technical differences regarding Arrow Eruption and Arrow Rain. Do note that the animation differences are as follows
- Arrow Rain is Cyan
- Arrow Eruption is Magenta
- Arrow Rain falls diagonally foreward from a very high point, reaching slightly below the Ranger.
- Arrow Eruption emerges vertically, covering small vertical distance.
- Arrow Rain is a single large piece of animation pasted over the Ranger.
- Arrow Eruption is a composite of small animations that are pasted over targets. If the monsters are far apart, Arrow Eruption looks big. If the monsters are packed together, Arrow Eruption looks concentrated. If there is only one target, Arrow Eruption looks pathetic.
These are the main animation differences. The last 4 points demonstrates why Arrow Rain seem to cover a larger area than Arrow Eruption.
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Enemies will chase and attack the Puppet however they can, whether they can actually reach it or not--much like they would attack you. It also seems to have a rather nice (albeit not entirely predictable) defense. Projectiles may be aimed at it, but they still hit everything in their path without discrimination. Since the bowmen lack significant HP-saving skills (which nearly every other class has by 3rd job except for assassin/hermit), Puppet may also be considered a vital tool against certain enemies; it is a preferred tool when fighting enemies like Spirit Vikings, and nearly all enemies with high HP will be easier to dispose of with this skill. Many people are concerned more with the duration of the Puppet than the HP for various reasons; few enemies will remove 5000 or 6000 HP from the sturdy Puppet before its time has passed (particularly if in a less reachable location).
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Note from Cepheids: Puppet's main usage is in placement NOT in less reachable locations but rather UNreachable locations. It is also an inexpensive skill, do feel free to spam low level puppets across monsters just so they turn around.
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Golden Eagle seems to have no difference from Silver Hawk, and both of these summon abilities have a plentiful range of uses. Their key usefulness would be in massive mobs with a party present; here, a Sniper could debilitate enemies all over at high speeds (along with Ice Arrow) while others dispatch safely. Even ignoring the cost of a Summoning Rock for each use, however, its killing power is limited compared to Strafe and Arrow Eruption. Stun may also affect some enemies that Freeze does not, so consider this also.
Thrust is a passive skill compared to the Thief's Haste: it cannot be disabled (which can be awkward in some situations), but neither can it be dispelled. A bowman's ability to reach maximum speed (and even maximum jump) is remotely possible without any skills; regardless, this skill is not so effective in killing efficiency as the others (and it may not be as fun). Still, this skill may be handy as high as skill level 10. After that, the speed boost of +1 per skill point is seriously unsatisfactory when held against the rest of the Sniper's diverse repertoire.
NOTE: Guide not completed as of yet.