Ultimate Assassin Guide

Full Thief/Assassin/Hermit Guide

First of all, to start off, all of this information has been obtained by me and my past experience. I did not take this information from anywhere else just for my well being, I only want to help those in need with this, so I will give you in my own words and thoughts, a full, thorough guide.

I tried to make this without putting it in as few words as I could, since I do that often, so if this is too short then my fault, but I know it gets to the point well enough.

ALSO, since I wanted this to be done as soon as I could while still maintaining accuracy, this is just a BASIC version of this guide right now. More will be added once this is submitted and read through by me a few more times to see what I missed, which I know I probably have.

So more will be added don?t worry.

v 0.1 Table of Contents

I. Why Thieves?

II. Pros and cons

III. Thieves equipment/Way of life

IV. Beginning on Maple Island

V. Becoming a Thief/Rogue

VI. AP distribution [1-70]

VII. Skills & Skill distribution for 1st Job Advancement.

VIII. 1st Job Advancement builds

IX. Training areas for 1st Job

X. 2nd Job Advancement/Money Making

XI. Skills & Skill distribution for 2nd Job Advancement

XII. 2nd Job Advancement builds

XIII. Training areas for 2nd Job

XIV. 3rd Job Advancement/Money Making at this point.

XV. Skills & Skill distribution for 3rd Job Advancement

XVI. 3rd Job Advancement builds

XVII. Training areas for 3rd Job

XVIII. Ending/Credits

I. Why Thieves?

Ok, so let?s get right into this shall we. Why would anyone want to choose a thief out of all four jobs, you ask? Well I will tell you. Thieves are easily the most versatile class in the game. They move quickly, and spread damage very fast. They mainly use hit and run tactics, which will cause you to be able to hit more monster quicker, killing them, resulting in much faster training than any other class. Thieves also tend to be very flashy too. With big damage being rapidly put out there, everyone will stand in awe at your power. However, this is strictly an Assassin guide, so no Bandit help will be in here mind you.

II. Pros and Cons Here are the pros and cons of Assassins laid out very simple, from what I?ve experienced as my time as a Mapler.

Pros-

Move very fast

Very stable damage

Fastest training of all classes

Very good avoidability

Very strong for a good portion of the game

Cheap if you use your money wisely

Flashy/look cool

Get into parties very easily

Specialized class for certain Party Quests

Cons-

Are hated for ksing[Kill stealing]

Tend to get expensive if you want a good Assassin

Easily out damaged in the 3rd Job

Constantly need potions

III. Thieves equipment/Way of life Thieves or Assassins rather, stick strictly to throwing stars. They use a claw as a weapon, and throwing starts to attack with. Throwing stars come in all shapes and sizes. Here are they as follows:

Subis-+15 attack, 500 per set Wolbis-+17 attack 500 per set Snowballs-+17 attack 800 per set Mokbis-+19 attack 500 per set Wooden Tops-+19 attack 800 per set Kumbis-+21 attack 500 per set Icicles-+21 attack 800 per set Maple Stars-+21 attack amount per set unknown [please notify] Tobis-+23 attack 1000 per set Steelies-+25 attack 1000 per set Ilbis-+27 attack 800 per set

Please notify me if I missed any. Anyways, these are what an Assassin will use to attack with. These are very costly mind you, and every star except Subis and Icicles MUST be obtained from monster drops. The rarity level rises with the type of star, so expect to have to buy all of your stars once you get past the 21 attack stars.

The average Assassin sticks with Tobis for most of his career however, as they are the cheapest past level 50, when you really want to begin to upgrade you stars, and they still do a decent a mount of damage.

The Thief also relies on his attack. For Thieves, attack corresponds directly with your LUK. The more LUK and attack from your equipment that you have, the stronger you?ll be. This is why every Thief relies heavily on some kind of glove scrolled with attack. You will also want a claw that is upgraded with attack once you get to level 25, as this will help you greatly. Good stars also become a part of it, so keep that in mind as well.

As for the glove, this becomes a necessity in itself for every class except for Magicians. So keep in mind that you won?t be the only class that is using them. These can get very pricy however, if you are an unfunded thief, it is likely that you will not be getting one of these until you are past level 40. Just remember that you will need one though.

Even with speed and power, the life of a thief is still very tedious. You will still be training for just as long as everyone else is, so don?t get out of your head that you will have to work very hard for your place as a Hermit.

IV. Beginning on Maple Island

To start off, you will create a character and choose your stats. There will be a dice roll which will randomize your four stats for you. INT, DEX, LUK, and STR. For this part, you will want to get your DEX as high as you can, along with a little bit of LUK, while keeping INT and STR as low as you can. You will want to roll either a 4/4 or 5/4 in INT and STR, as they are rendered completely useless for any thief, with the exception of STR Bandits. If you?re patient, you will eventually get a 4/4 roll, but if I were you I?d stick to a 5/4, as they come much quicker.

Once you get these stats, create your name, ready your noob clothes and create the character, then log on. Right when you log in, you will be told which buttons do what, and where all of your menus are, so don?t worry about that one bit.

As you level up, you will be given 5 AP points to add to your LUK or DEX. In this case, you will start off adding points to your DEX, as you need it to level 25 in order to become a Rogue/Thief. You will put the rest of your points in to LUK after advancing to 25 DEX. I will go into more of the AP distribution in a little bit.

You will train on Maple Island until you are level 10. For soon to be thieves at this level, training does take an hour or two, depending on how effective in training you are. It will not take you a very long time, just be patient. If you leave Maple Island before you level to 10, you will have a hard time getting to level 10 on Victoria Island, I guarantee you.

Once you reach level 10 and have your DEX to level 25, leave the Island via SouthPerry, very easy to find. Walk to the far right of the map to find a little blonde guy in a pirate type costume. Pay him 150 Mesos and you?re on your way to South Perry

You will be taken to a ship. Simply walk straight off of the front of it, then to the left a little to drop down, and talk to the man in the ticketing booth. He?ll talk to you and you will have two choices, pick ?Please take me somewhere else?. Then choose Kerning City.

V. Becoming a Thief/Rogue

Once you get to Kerning City, if you aren?t already there, head to the right side of town. There is a building to the left of the Taxi, with an internet café sign. Go in the door on the bottom right side of the building. Here you will be taken into a bar. Go to the left side of the bar and go down the latter. You?ll be down in some room with a boxing ring. On top is the Ninja. Talk to him, and he will talk you through what it?s like to be a thief and all of that, which I?ve already explained so skip all of that.

If you have your stats right, you will be promoted to a Rogue. Congratulations, you?ve made it through the easiest yet most boring part of the game. You can now own snails that have been troubling you since day one of your Maple career.

VI. AP distribution [1-70]

Before I get to the skills of your new Rogue, I will explain to you the proper way that you need to be placing your AP points as you go for the rest of your Thief life. It will mainly explain where to place your DEX, but here it is as follows:

But first, for the record, I?m not putting what amount of LUK you should have, because not everyone?s stats are the same, so I will just mark it with X. Every point that isn?t put into DEX, MUST go in to LUK though, remember that.

Level 10 ? 25 DEX, X LUK Level 15 ? 30 DEX, X LUK Level 20 ? 40 DEX, X LUK Level 25 ? 50 DEX, X LUK Level 30 ? 60 DEX, X LUK Level 35 ? 70 DEX, X LUK Level 40 ? 80 DEX, X LUK Level 50 ? 90 DEX, X LUK Level 60 ? 100 DEX, X LUK Level 70 ? 110 DEX, X LUK

And so on from there, by now you get it I hope. As you go, you will learn more about certain equipment that will give you DEX, so you don?t have to pump as many points into it. That gets in to low-DEX and DEXless characters though. I will be making a guide for them soon too however.

The DEX is only required in order to wear your weapons and gear, nothing else. Well, it also stabilizes your damage a bit, but LUK already does that and so does Mastery once you maximize it.

This is how your AP placement SHOULD go for the rest of your Maple career.

VII. Skills & Skill distribution for 1st Job Advancement.

Now it?s time for your skills. I will listen them in order, if you already haven?t looked at them this should give you a good idea what?s in store.

Nimble Body [passive] Level 1: +1 Accuracy & +1 Avoidability Level 20[maxed]: +20 Accuracy & +20 Avoidability Description: This skill will add 1 point of ACC and AVOID per skill point you put on it. Once maxed it?s very useful, so you will be maxing it.

Keen Eyes [passive] Pre-requirement: Level 3 Nimble Body Level 1: +25 Range for throwing stars Level 8[maxed]: +200 Range for throwing stars Description: This is what gives a thief his range. This is not only useful for training, but for ksing as well =P, so you will be maxing this also.

Disorder [active] Level 1: MP -5; Enemy's weapon attack -1, weapon def. -1 for 7 sec. Level 20[maxed]: MP -10; Enemy's weapon attack -20, weapon def. -20 for 60 sec. Description: If you just look at the level differences, you?ll understand what it does. This skill is actually pretty useful if it?s at a high enough level, but it?s mainly for Bandits, us Assassins are ranged, so we shouldn?t be getting so close to use that still anyways. Don?t worry about it at all.

Dark Sight [active/passive] Level 1: MP -24; Disappear for 10 seconds, speed -30 Level 20[maxed]: MP -5; Disappear for 200 seconds, normal speed Description: This skill is basically essential. It allows you to disappear for a set amount of time, making you invulnerable to monsters hitting you. This does NOT include magic attacks, so remember that. Some monsters with magic will stop attacking once you use this, but most do not, so keep that in mind. This is useful for tight situations. You will be putting some points on this.

Lucky Seven [active] Level 1: MP -8; Damage 58% x2 hits Level 20[maxed]: MP -16; Damage 150% x2 hits Description: This is your main skill for the rest of your life as a thief. So if you?re one to get bored with a skill fast, well tough luck. The damage of this is solely based on your attack range, which is your LUK corresponding directly with your attack from weapons, equipment, and stars.

I have skipped the Double Stab skill, because it?s completely useless for us Assassins.

VIII. 1st Job Advancement builds

Here are two builds that I have found the only useful way to build up a proper soon to be Assassin

First is the Range & Accuracy build.

I prefer this build myself, mainly because you get very good range to start off with, which allows you to hit monsters further away, so you do not need to travel as far to hit them. You will find yourself hitting a bit low however, it will pay off. Here you go:

Level 10: 1 point in to Nimble Body Level 11: 2 points to Nimble Body [3] 1 in to Keen Eyes Level 12: 3 points to Keen Eyes [4] Level 13: 3 points to Keen Eyes [7] Level 14: 1 point to Keen Eyes [8 maxed] 2 points to Nimble Body [5] Level 15: 3 points to Nimble Body [8] Level 16: 3 points to Nimble Body [11] Level 17: 3 points to Nimble Body [14] Level 18: 3 points to Nimble Body [17] Level 19: 3 points to Nimble Body [20 maxed] Level 20: 3 points in to Lucky Seven [3] Level 21: 3 points to Lucky Seven [6] Level 22: 3 points to Lucky Seven [9] Level 23: 3 points to Lucky Seven [12] Level 24: 3 points to Lucky Seven [15] Level 25: 3 points to Lucky Seven [18] Level 26: 2 points to Lucky Seven [20 maxed] 1 in to Disorder Level 27: 2 points to Disorder [3] 1 point in to Dark Sight Level 28: 3 points to Dark Sight [4] Level 29: 3 points to Dark Sight [7] Level 30: 3 points to Dark Sight [10]

There you have it, your first option for a build for your first job advancement. Again, I think this one pays off more, however it?s your choice.

Second, is the Power build. This will allow you to bring out some power and in turn train faster, while sacrificing range and a little bit or accuracy for power. This is usually for those who are funded at least enough to keep up on potions for their skills. Here you go:

Level 10: 1 point in to Lucky Seven Level 11: 3 points to Lucky Seven [4] Level 12: 3 points to Lucky Seven [7] Level 13: 3 points to Lucky Seven [10] Level 14: 3 points to Lucky Seven [13] Level 15: 3 points to Lucky Seven [16] Level 16: 3 points to Lucky Seven [19] Level 17: 1 point to Lucky Seven [20 maxed] 2 points in to Nimble Body Level 18: 1 points to Nimble Body [3] 1 point in to Keen Eyes Level 19: 3 points to Keen Eyes [4] Level 20: 3 points to Keen Eyes [7] Level 21: 1 points to Keen Eyes [8 maxed] 2 points to Nimble Body [5] Level 22: 3 points to Nimble Body [8] Level 23: 3 points to Nimble Body [11] Level 24: 3 points to Nimble Body [14] Level 25: 3 points to Nimble Body [17] Level 26: 3 points to Nimble Body [20 maxed] Level 27: 3 points in to Disorder Level 28: 3 points in to Dark Sight Level 29: 3 points to Dark Sight [6] Level 30: 3 points to Dark Sight [9]

If you can count, unlike me, you should end up with 10 Dark Sight at the end of that build. You should understand it though, rather simple.

There are your two builds. I hope you choose whichever is best for your thief. ^_^

IX. Training areas for 1st Job

Here are the training spots for thieves in the first job advancement. I have found these to be the best after have multiple thieves myself.

Levels 10-15: Stick to snails in the Henesys Hunting Grounds I, on the bottom. As you aren?t very strong and don?t have very good range, just stay at the bottom for now. You will level fairly quickly to 15 there.

Levels 15-17: For these two levels, stick with Slimes in the platform above the snails in the Henesys Hunting Grounds I. These will be fairly fast, as you have gotten stronger and have gotten better range for yourself.

Levels 17-21: Now, move up to Henesys Hunting Grounds III. The spawn of monsters here is great and there aren?t many people. There are better monsters overall to train in here. There are some Green Mushrooms though; however you can kill them easily by standing to the side and taking them down. Simply go to the top of each Hunting Ground map, and climb up the rope at the top.

Levels 21-25: Now, you will move in to Pig Beach. The only reason that you didn?t come here before, was because it would have taken to long to kill the pigs with one star at a time. Even with low level Lucky Seven, it?s easier to kill them. This is fast exp at this level, just be patient.

Levels 25-30: Now you will just be training in the Ant Tunnel alone. There are Horny Mushrooms and Zombie Mushrooms here. Stick to the horny ones [haha] until your Lucky Seven is maxed, then move down the Tunnel farther.

X. 2nd Job Advancement/Money Making

If you?ve managed to make it to level 30, now is your time to shine a new light on to your Thief. You can now take the 2nd Job Advancement Test.

Return to Kerning City, and go back to where you first became a Thief. Talk to the Ninja, and he will give you a letter of recommendation. Now exit the city to the right, and walk past the first map, to the 2nd one, which is a construction site. Walk to the top of the building that?s in the middle of construction. At the top there will be another Ninja. He is the one you must talk to in order to take the test.

Once you talk to him, you will be taken to a map similar to the one you were just in, and you will be asked to collect 30 Dark Marbles from the monsters in the map.

The monsters are Cold Eyes[600 hp] and Blue Mushrooms[500 hp].

This is a very simple task, it just takes patience. The annoying this is, that monsters tend to get stuck on things a lot, and there are many invisible walls in this map, so it?s hard to hit monsters. Also, you WILL find that you won?t get a marble for more than a couple of minutes. SO just be patient.

Once you collect 30 marbles, return to the Ninja at the top of the map, and he will give you a medal of some kind. Return to the Ninja in Kerning City, talk to him, and he will explain Bandits and Assassins to you. I think I?ve done that well enough for you already though ^_^.

So, once you?re ready, tell him you are and choose your Assassin Job Advancement. You should now feel very proud, as you have just joined the elite class of the Assassin; just remember not to give us a bad name now ;).

Now I?ll go off on a bit of a side note, and talk about your financial status at this point.

Up until now, you should have been picking up most of what you could from monsters, even though that does interfere with training. Monster drops sell in stores, and the money that they drop DOES add up, I would know and remember from my noob days.

Anyways, now is when you rely on mainly monster drops for money. You will be fighting stronger and higher level monsters, which means better drops. So make sure you watch carefully what your victims are dropping ;)

This will go on basically for the rest of your Maple career, until you learn more about merchanting, but I will go in to that later on in detail.

XI. Skills & Skill distribution for 2nd Job Advancement

Now you have an entirely new set of skills for you to play with as an Assassin. You will have points in all of them, which is a good thing. Here are your new skills in order:

Claw Mastery [passive] Level 1: Claw mastery 15%, accuracy +1, max no. of stars +10 Level 20[maxed]: Claw mastery 60%, accuracy +20, max no. of stars +200 Description: This is one of many very useful Assassin skills. It will increase your accuracy by a lot, stabilizing your damage, and adds more stars to each of your sets, in order to use more, and recharge less. This will be maxed.

Critical Throw [passive] Pre-requirement: Level 5 Claw Mastery Level 1: 21% success rate, critical damage 113% Level 30[maxed]: 50% success rate, critical damage 200% Description: Again, a very useful skill. Based on a certain percentage, you will get hits with your stars that are stronger than a normal hit, once it passes level 15. You will see these hits by damage that will turn purple when you attack a monster. When you max this, you will be hitting at least double your regular damage if not more.

Endure [passive] Level 1: Recover HP +3, MP +1 every 29 seconds Level 20[maxed]: Recover HP +60, MP +20 every 10 seconds Description: This will only be used in order to level up the skill Drain, nothing else.

Claw Booster [active/passive] Pre-requirement: Level 5 Claw Mastery Level 1: HP -29, MP -29; Increases claw speed for 10 seconds Level 20[maxed]: HP -10, MP -10; Increases claw speed for 200 seconds Description: Basically, this allows you to attack much faster than you normally would with a claw equipped, hence the name. You will have this maxed or very close to maxed once you?re done with your 2nd Job skills.[mine is at 18]

Haste [passive] Level 1: MP -15; Speed +2, jump +1 for 10 seconds Level 20[maxed]: MP -30; Speed +40, jump +20 for 200 seconds Description: Thieves famous skill, this will be very often used, and maxed quite early. It will allow you to travel faster and train much faster than at normal speed. Be happy Wizet graced you with this skill.

Drain [active/supportive] Pre-requirement: Level 3 Endure [told you =P] Level 1: MP -12; Damage 102%, absorbing 16% of the damage Level 30[maxed]: MP -24; Damage 160%, absorbing 45% of the damage Description: Like Claw Booster, you will have this maxed or very close to maxed once you?re done [mines 30]. This is a very useful skill, however it is only useful past level 20. It doesn?t matter that you HEAR, after using this for many levels below level 20, I often found it useless and waited until it was maxed. When maxed, it has saved my ass more than a few times. With Avenger, it works even better. At level 25+, this will require you to buy almost no HP potions because of the amount of HP that it absorbs for you from a monster.

XII. 2nd Job Advancement builds

As with the 1st Job builds, here are a couple of builds that I actually found to be useful for the Assassin.

The first is the main build of the Assassin. You will be maxing Critical first thing, in order to increase your damage. Then you will be putting points in a couple of other things here and there. This will allow you to kill stronger monsters because of the damage that will be added, and in turn train faster. This is usually the ideal build for the Assassin. This build lets you utilize your power and speed the fastest of any build.

After you max your Mastery, you have a choice of maxing Booster or Drain, just whichever you find the most useful. You will be using both either way. This build is just exactly what I did for my Assassin

Level 30: 1 point in to Mastery Level 31: 2 points to Mastery [3] 1 point in to Critical Level 32: 3 points to Critical [4] Level 33: 3 points to Critical [7] Level 34: 3 points to Critical [10] Level 35: 3 points to Critical [13] Level 36: 3 points to Critical [16] Level 37: 3 points to Critical [19] Level 38: 3 points to Critical [22] Level 39: 3 points to Critical [25] Level 40: 3 points to Critical [28] Level 41: 2 points to Critical [30 maxed] 1 point to Mastery [4] Level 42: 1 point to Mastery [5] 2 points in to Booster Level 43: 3 points to Booster [5] Level 44: 3 points in to Haste Level 45: 3 points to Haste [6] Level 46: 3 points to Haste [9] Level 47: 3 points to Haste [12] Level 48: 3 points to Haste [15] Level 49: 3 points to Haste [18] Level 50: 2 points to Haste [20 maxed] 1 point to Mastery [6] Level 51: 3 points to Mastery [9] Level 52: 3 points to Mastery [12] Level 53: 3 points to Mastery [15] Level 54: 3 points to Mastery [18] Level 55: 2 points to Mastery [20 maxed] 1 point in to Endure Level 56: 2 points to Endure [3] 1 point in to Drain Level 57: 3 points to Drain [4] Level 58: 3 points to Drain [7] Level 59: 3 points to Drain [10] Level 60: 3 points to Drain [13] Level 61: 3 points to Drain [16] Level 62: 3 points to Drain [19] Level 63: 3 points to Drain [22] Level 64: 3 points to Drain [25] Level 65: 3 points to Drain [28] Level 66: 2 points to Drain [30 maxed] 1 point to Booster [6] Level 67: 3 points to Booster [9] Level 68: 3 points to Booster [12] Level 69: 3 points to Booster [15] Level 70: 3 points to Booster [18]

The 2nd build requires you to max Haste first thing. This is actually quite handy, as it allows you to move faster and there for kill faster. You will be weaker than most other Assassins, but hey at least you have that speed to start out with. When you max Haste, you can do one of two things. You can put 5 points in to Mastery, then put 5 in to Booster, which will allow you to attack much faster, and since you have Haste, well those two go hand in hand. After that, you would just Max out your Critical . You can do that, or put 3 points in to Mastery, then max out your Critical. It?s basically your choice between much faster attacking while sacrificing power or speed and power. After you do those though, just follow the first build from there on and you?re set.

XIII. Training areas for 2nd Job

As you level your way through the 2nd Job, you?ll find yourself much less limited in training, as you SHOULD be much stronger. If you aren?t, then there?s an issue.

Levels 30-37: These are actually most likely the most boring levels of the Assassin. Yes you are an Assassin, but your skills aren?t very useful yet and you really aren?t too strong. Anyways, you will be sticking to Wild Boars, in the Land of Wild Boars I. This is a very good place to train at these levels, however around 36 it get a bit harder. Just keep with it. This is a good place to make money. Boars drop equips that can be sold for a decent amount in stores. They also drop warrior potions which are useful too you in many cases, so hold on to them.

Levels 37-40: These levels should go by pretty fast. They did for me anyways. You are going to be training at Fire Boars in Perion. Go to either Burnt Land I or II. They both have different spawn rates, simply choose whichever you like best. These tend to have some decent drops, as well as Kumbi Throwing Stars, so keep your eyes out for whatever they drop.

Levels 40-50: I actually never did really train at these levels. For these ten levels I simply did the Ludibrium Party Quest, which does require patience, but you get decent experience and some good items if you?re lucky, which turns in to easy money. I will tell you though, where I?ve seen many Assassins at this level train. One would be on Copper Drakes in Perion, in Dangerous Valley I. I never found training on these at any level to be good, but it seems to be, so try it if you want. The second, would be Platoon and Master Chronos. They both have a pretty good spawn rate, also with good exp per, over 100, and it should only take you two to three hits to kill one. So see how you like those, if not I would just honestly stick to the Party Quest.

Levels 50-56: These levels go by pretty fast, as you yourself are very fast and strong by now, so these should be no problem. I trained at the Golem Temple in Henesys, just the main one until about level 54, and then I moved deeper inside of the Temple, to Dark Stone Golems. There is a better spawn in here and 30 more exp per kill. Just go through each of the doors on the Temple to find it, as I forget which door it was. It should be the 2nd one to the top.

Levels 56-70: These are hell levels. This will not go by very fast so you better have some patience. For all of these levels, I trained at Coolie Zombies in El Nath, however I?m told by my friends that those maps are incredibly bad to train on anymore. Just to save you the trouble though, I say you should at least train on Coolie Zombies until level 60. At level 60, you will make your way back to Victoria Island. Go to the very bottom map of the Sleepwood DUNGEON, not to be confused with the Ant Tunnel, and climb down the rope, and go to the platform with a flower on it, and press up underneath it. This map will be your home, even past the 3rd Job Advancement. It has one of the best spawn in the game, and the experience is wonderful. It is recommended you get in a party here though, as there are MANY people that come to train here, so be aware of that. If I were you, I?d stick to the very bottom level. It has a good spawn, while not being very crowded like the ones on the top. Us Assassins need our space remember? ;]

That?ll basically be your training for those levels in a nutshell.

XIV. 3rd Job Advancement/Money Making at this point.

Congratulations, you?ve reached level 70. At least I think you have, since you?re now reading this. Now is your time to really have fun with your Assassin. You have most of your 2nd Job skills maxed, and now you get to upgrade them, in a sense.

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING. You need to make a Dark Crystal. It isn?t needed until the last part of the quest, but it?s a bitch having to get it at the end, so make sure you have a refined DARK Crystal

Make your way to El Nath, and go in to the main part of town. There is a very large building on top of a huge cliff in the middle of town, you can?t miss it trust me. Anyways, go in to the building and talk to Alec. He will tell you that you are stronger and need to prove yourself now.

I forget now what he gives you, but you have to go back to Victoria Island and talk to the Ninja in the Bar. Once you get there and talk to him, you will have to defeat his evil self for him, and give him what you get from the evil Ninja.

Make your way to the swamp, and go to Dangerous Croco 2. Here there are vines on the top of the map, go to the top left corner of the map, and climb up one of those vines and you will be in a map called the Monkey Swamp. You should appear in front of a hut, and right across from it should be another one. Go in to that hut, and then go to the top right corner or the map. There should be a floating portal in here, click on it and enter.

You are now in the 3rd Job Advancement test map. You are timed and are expected to finish under the time limit.

Walk to the right and go through the portal

You will be brought to a large map where the evil Ninja waits at the bottom.

Before you go down, turn on all of your skills and make sure you have HP potions on close buttons, because you will need them. Make sure you have your level 70 equipment on also, as you will need it.

Go down and begin the fight.

Try to get the Ninja in to a corner and just lay waste with Lucky Seven. He will charge you though so be ready for that. He will throw very large stars at you, which WILL do massive damage if you?re hit with it, so try to dodge it if you can. He throws this and a knife that looks like a Steely, this doesn?t do as much damage though. Both of these attacks travel very slow though, so they are easy to dodge. Be aware that he will also summon Tauromacis, which if you don?t already know, are very annoying if they aren?t taken down fast. Try to avoid hitting them and just stay out of their way. This fight should be over fairly quickly, just make sure you heal and pay attention.

Once you defeat him, you will get some black piece of something, again I forgot because it?s been so long. You will take this back to the Ninja in Kerning City, and he will give you a Necklace of Strength.

Now you need to return to Alec in El Nath, and show him that you?ve gotten the Necklace. Make sure you talk to him fully because I made the mistake of not, and had to walk a whole bunch more which just wastes time.

You should know by now where the El Nath Dungeon is, on the way up to Coolie Zombies, so make your way towards that area.

Head right to Sharp Cliff II, and go to the very top RIGHT corner of the map, and there will be a door, go in to it.

You will be taken to a very large map. Just drop down to the very bottom. Don?t worry there aren?t any monsters here.

There is a very large Shrine. Talk to it and it will first ask you for that Dark Crystal I was talking about so MAKE SURE you have it with you. Then it will ask you a series of questions. Because I myself have forgotten them, I cannot list them here. All of the questions asked answers are very easily found on a Maple Story fan site. Once you answer the questions, you will get a Necklace of Wisdom.

Now go back to Alec, and make sure your peeps is there to see it. He will now Promote you to a Hermit.

CONGRATULATIONS!! You have now joined our ranks. Spend your single skill point however you choose, I will go over that in the next section.

ALSO, be aware that you are awarded 5 more AP points for making the 3rd Job Advancement, so use them on your LUK or DEX whichever you want.

Now that you?re a Hermit, you?re going to need your money making ways a little bit.

XV. Skills & Skill distribution for 3rd Job Advancement

Here I will list your new Hermit skills. They don?t get any more complicated though, so don?t worry. These skills tend to get expensive though, so just keep that in mind while using them, you?ll be using a good amount of money on them until you get them to a higher level.

Alchemist [passive] Level 1: Recovery rate 103%, duration of effect 103% Level 20[maxed: Recovery rate 150%, duration of effect 150% Description: This will increase the effect of any kind of potion, except for elixers that are based on a %age. It also lengthens the time for potions, if any is applied. You will be adding a good amount of points on this skill.

Meso Up [passive] Level 1: MP -45; Drop rate +3% for 25 seconds Level 20[maxed]: MP -60; Drop rate +50% for 120 seconds Description: Increases the amount of mesos dropped by a monster, per party member based on a certain %age. I myself haven?t used this, or have seen any other Hermits using it. However it could be useful if you are partied with a Chief Bandit. Do what you want with it.

Shadow Partner [active/passive] Requires: 1 Summoning Rock per use. Level 1: MP -200; Normal attack 20%, summoned with basic attack 21% for 60 seconds Level 30[maxed]: MP -55; Normal attack 80%, summoned with basic attack 50% for 180 seconds Description: Hermits main skill. This allows you two throw twice as many stars as usually, depending on what attack you are using. With Lucky Seven you will throw 4 stars total. This skill only really becomes useful past level 11, as the duration increases so 120 seconds, do you don?t need to use as many Summoning Rocks. This will be one of the first things that you max out.

Shadow Web [active] Level 1: MP -10; Holds the enemies with 42% success rate for 5 seconds Level 20[maxed]: MP -22; Holds the enemies with 80% success rate for 8 seconds Description: Just read above, it?ll tell you what it does. I haven?t found this skill very useful at all. I guess that if you were fighting a mob of very strong monsters, you COULD possibly use this, but Hermits are meant to mobile anyways, we can move away fast enough from mobs like that.

Shadow Meso [active] Pre-requirement: Level 5 Meso Up Level 1: Uses min. 50 mesos, max. 220 mesos; Basic attack +50% with 1% success rate Level 30[maxed]: Uses min. 340 mesos, max. 800 mesos; Basic attack +50% with 10% success rate Description: From what I understand, this just replaces stars with your mesos, which is pretty much a waste. I?m not saying I?m right though, because I?ve never seen anyone use this or even talk about using it. I wouldn?t bother with it, as I?m not.

Avenger [active] Level 1: MP -16; Basic attack 65%, uses 3 throwing stars to attack up to 4 enemies Level 30[maxed: MP -30; Basic attack 180%, uses 3 throwing stars to attack up to 6 enemies Description: Hermits have now been graced with a decent mobbing attack. You will use three of whatever throwing stars you are using to create one giant one that goes through a certain amount of enemies doing certain damage. Even at level 1, this skill isn?t half bad. You will be maxing this or at least getting pretty close.

Flash Jump [active] Pre-requirement: Level 5 Avenger Level 1: MP -60; Jumps a certain distance Level 20[maxed]: MP -13; Jumps a certain distance Description: Yes, I know the description for the jump distance is very vague, but you will notice a huge difference in distance as you level this up. Even at level 1 it goes very far, and maxed you will be able to jump incredibly far. You will be maxing this one for sure.

XVI. 3rd Job Advancement builds

The builds for a Hermit are very easy, and will benefit you either way, it doesn?t matter which you use. There are basically only two things you can do, besides save your points, but why on Earth would you want to do that now?

The first one you will just be maxing out Shadow Partner. You won?t be using it, unless you just want to show off. Actually, Shadow Partner could be useful during training. Even at level 1, Shadow Partner will help you kill faster. This is useful if you are very close to leveling up, and you just really want to get there. Later on you will be using this always when you train, because you need it to take down stronger monsters.

After maxing Shadow Partner, you will Max Flash Jump, as I see this as the most effective way to go. It?s exactly like the 2nd job. You got Haste and Critical to make you faster and stronger. Shadow Partner and Flash Jump will so exactly the same.

From there I would say put a few points on Alchemist, then max out Avenger. Do whatever you?d like with the remaining points, most of the skills will benefit you one way or another.

The only other thing you would do different in the next build, would be to get your Flash Jump to about level 10 first, THEN max Shadow Partner. One would do this mainly because Shadow Partner is basically useless until past level 11. So you will be much faster while still having good damage. Then you would just continue off from there.