Complete Character set up/Guides.

Class Name : Wizard
Class Type : Semi-Ranged Magic User
Traits and abilities :
* Highest attainable magic attack value
* Lowest defense in game
* Lowest HP and HP gain in game
* The best mobility in-game (scouting, chasing, escaping, etc) with 3 skills
* Uses Martial equipment and 2 Orbs to further increase his damaging potential

Class Description


First of all, congratulations on your choice of character. Before anything else, you should know that the Wizard-class by nature is not a soloing class. However, you will always have an easy time finding a party for a dungeon, as you can pick any of the other 5 classes and simply run in. The same applies for grinding on maps, where a Wizard is always a bonus to have in party. The wizard is first and foremost, a support class (yes, I've said it), and this can be easily seen by the balance of buffs that he has : 4 Self buffs versus 7 Party buffs. Your role as a Wizard is to keep the tankers alive, while at the same time dishing out damage from a safe distance. Wizards will make use of the Martialset (which provides the highest defense rate in-game) and Orb-weaponry (highest magic) in order to achieve their goals. The fact that Wizards were given the Martialset, should let you know that you have to accept your lower defense and work towards improving your miss chances (def rate). Don't try to overcome the low defense by using of Guard / Guardian items, instead, get as much damage and defense rate as possible and you will be fine.

Pro's and Con's of playing a Wizard


PRO:
* Highest mobility offers awesome scouting abilities, making you invaluable in boss hunts and harassment
* Insane Area of Effect while in BM2 as well as highest damage output with lowest gear
* Huge area stuns will make you an invaluable grinding partner, providing safety to the other party members
* Numerous party buffs to keep your companions alive and kicking. They will want you in their party.
* Raise Spirit buff which accelerates the Spirit Point regeneration, allowing for much faster dungeoning and BattleModes recharging
* Best protective buff for War areas, Spirit Intension, which can reduce damage and chance of scoring a critical strike from an enemy
* Extreme killing machine in Tierra Gloriosa
* You cannot get manafrozen

CON:
* Lowest defense in-game will mean that with moderate gear you will barely reach 1000 def while in BattleMode
* Lowest HP and HP gain will turn you into a quick kill unless you are extremely focused on the action
* No PVE skill (orange skills) means that your damage on mobs will never match a melee class on the same skill rank (for example on GMaster skill damage output)
* No active protection against stuns / knockdowns / knockbacks / unable to move make you vulnerable to such attacks

Basic ideas of playing a Wizard


1. Party leader
You are the party leader, the SP carrier. It is your responsibility to keep the party alive while they have SP on, it is your responsibility to keep them buffed and protected with AoE stun. You will decide the outcome of a dungeon by properly or improperly keeping your party buffed. A good wizard must know when to buff, what to buff, why to buff and most importantly, a good wizard will always keep track of party member buffs and debuffs, even if he cannot see them. This is vital, as you will create your strategy based on all these information, so you must know at all times what the members can do.

2. Support Class
No matter what others tell you, you are a support class. In Clan Wars, in Nation Wars, in War channels, your job is to make sure that the party members are alive. There have been many situations where I saw wizards totally ignoring this side of the class thus contributing to the loss of their party / nation.
You are a support class dear Wizard, let me retype that : A SUPPORT CLASS. Your job in TG for example is to keep the melee's buffed with Force Increase and Sharpness and Spirit Intension. Your job is to keep that warrior alive as much as possible while he slashes away the Resurrect tower. Give him Force Increase and he won't be Mana Frozen. Stay close to him and he will buff himself with Fury and Bloody Spirit. Buff him with Spirit Intension and Mass Restore and Restore and he will use Cats and become an invincible killing machine. Failure to do so will result in both of you dying from a lvl 160 FB that laughs in your face while he execrates and mana freezes you two and then goes BM for the kill.

3. Stay on your toes
You are a wizard, this means you WILL die. And if you are not careful, you will die a lot. The main reason why this happens is because most wizards are slowpokes. Your biggest advantage is mobility, your biggest disadvantage is low defense. Instead of trying to compensate for the disadvantage, make use of the advantage. It is far easier and better to move than to spend millions of alz on defensive gears.

4. Know when to retreat
While playing a wizard, you have to be cunning. There's no shame in blinking around for 90 seconds until the Blader's BM2 runs out then going in for the kill. This is not an e-penis contest, so take advantage of it. You are the one to decide when the contact takes place, by stopping to fight. Make sure that all the odds are in your favor when you decide to challenge the rival (you are fully buffed, prepared, etc).

5. Be aware of the party status
The most difficult and yet most rewarding ability that a wizard can have is awareness. This is what makes or breaks a good wizard. The ability to keep track of party member buffs is vital to your success as a group. You have to understand how each member plays, you have to ask them to change their style if it endangers the survival of the party, etc, you have to make swift decisions that will affect the outcome of the action.
A good example of this is :
2 of your 7 party members died. The boss is at 30% HP, BM is almost running out, you have no SP to extend but SP buff is ready. Do you wait for the other 2 members to Cast SP and endanger the other 5 members, or do you cast it and hope that the boss will die without the 2 party members helping ?
Another good example :
On a spiker boss, the Warrior casts Cat's Recovery, thus preventing you to stack Mass Regen on him. Do you cast it and miss him or do you ask him to remove Iron Skin so he can use 2 Regens ?

6. BM'ing techniques
BM1 - Should be used in TG only, when being knocked out is likely to happen. Use it on resurrects that you want destroyed, use it in conjunction with Legacy Weapon and Amp/Flee pots, etc.
BM2 - Should be used on Bosses, on mobs, while you sleep, when you shower, when there's no real threat nearby (like a stunner or downer), when you want maximum damage output. Even though people would advise BM1 in PF and MF when fighting enemies, I will show you how to fully use BM2, while ignoring other effects such as down. The only real danger would be a stun, but from my experience, the stun duration is not long enough to get you killed, so I kind of skip BM1.

Knockdown

On the first attack that the FS gives, I get up instantly, by spamming the ground with clicks. The direction in which you click will decide the direction in which you get up, so in TG, always click behind you, to go to safety, not get up in the middle of enemies.
On the second attack, I stay on the ground for the whole duration of the down, almost 3 seconds, enough for him to hit me 3 times with normal attack.

Aura - Should be used when you want an instant boost of defense + magic + CR/CD, for example when you see a higher level approaching your spot, and you do not have a 5 second time frame to go BM, then you pop-on Aura.

Class Breakdown : Upgrades / Runes / Skills / Items


1. Upgrades
There are 5 mandatory upgrades that you must use as a Wizard : Vitality Mastery / Force Control / Force Ruling / Sixth Sense / Damage Absorb.
The only discussion that still remains unsolved is : Do I choose Defensive Sense (32def) or do I choose Reflex (532 def rate) ?
The answer is simple and it lies in the description of the class : The class with the lowest defense. Therefore, you should NOT try to compensate a lowest trait. That will take you nowhere. Instead, make use of advantages.
32 defense is the same bonus that you earn by +7ing three of your martial equipment (3 x 12) and it will protect you from roughly 100 damage. This means that instead of being hit for 900, you now get hit for 800, while others get hit for 500. Gratz on your "wise" choice.

There is something called thresholds in Cabal, when it comes to Attack / Defense / Attack Rate / Defense Rate. This threshold is a specific value, a boundary, past which the effectiveness increases visibly. There are multiple thresholds or barriers to break, in terms of magic and defense, but the most important ones that I found are explained below.
For Wizards, the thresholds that I have personally noticed (not 100% official, just my observations) are :
* 900 magic (past this point, your damage even in non-BM gets upgraded, most likely because the average defense of other chars is 800 - 900)
* 850 defense (past 850 defense, your received damage gets much lower than at 840 for example)
* 2800 defense rate (past this point, you get missed ... A LOT)

One short note about these thresholds : Do not try to replicate these values on any other class. Each class has its own boundaries. A warrior will immediately feel the difference between 1800 def rate and 2500, when a Blader might not. A Blader might need 4000+ to notice a real improvement, such as the warrior's.

My advice for all wizards that wish to achieve 180 is to use Reflex. Reflex, with Sixth Sense and osmium set and Defense rate rune will allow you to reach 2800 - 3000 defense rate. This in turn will mean that you get many misses.

The simple explanation to this is : Would you rather be hit 3 times out of 10 for 900 damage (with Reflex) or would you rather be hit 5 times out of 10 for 800 damage (with Defensive Sense) for the sole reason that you did not reach that threshold of protection ?
It's 2700 dmg overall versus 4000 damage. Think about it.

2. Runes (Blended Runes not included)
In order of acquiring them, from lowest level to highest :

1. EXP Bonus Rune
2. Party EXP Rune
3. Pet XP Rune
4. Skill XP Rune
5. Attack Rate Rune
6. Defense Rate Rune
7. Resist Stun Rune
8. HP Rune
9. Magic Attack Rune
10. HP Absorb Rune
11. Magic Amp Rune

Additionally
12. Defense Rune
13. Max Critical Rate (useful to have after a good rate helm - 15/24, helps you reach 60 rate or more)
14. Critical Damage rune (5 CD is not too shabby at all)

These would be the first 12 you would need. Then, as you reach 180 and max out the pet level :

Remove EXP and Party XP and Pet XP, to free up 3 slots. I would use the STR / DEX / INT runes for 21 free stats.
From my experience, you will need the PartyXP first, the XP second (as it is more expensive) and this will boost your AP, as AP is part of your XP. With more AP, upgrade Def Rate and Attack Rate as 3rd and 4th, for better BM stats and higher survivability.

3. Skills - I will list the ones that are actually useful according to my play-style.

Sword Skills
Fade Step - Must have - This skill is vital when you want to break a chase by de-targeting yourself (Mine is level 9)
Dash - Must have - Dash will allow for the greatest mobility in Cabal in combination with Blink (Mine is level 9)

No other sword skills are worthy of being acquired.

Magic Skills
Novice - Burning Hands - Could be useful, if put on the pvp bar, it allows for dashing and fade stepping in combo, due to its melee range - Mine is level 1
Novice - Freeze

Apprentice - None - No blasts are useful

Regular - Terra Lance - Must have (Mine is level 20)
Regular - Fire Lance - Must have (Mine is level 20)
Regular - Weaken - At least 1 point for luring purposes (Mine is level 1)

Expert - Acid Trab - Must have against AoD FS in War maps and TG (if you do not spend much time in Ch24 or TG, skip it) - I don't have it. I'd rather return when AoD is over.
Expert - Stone Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Aqua Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Fire Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Lightning Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Crystal Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Hardness (Mine is level 20)

A.Expert - Vacuum (Mine is level 20)
A.Expert - Energy Field
A.Expert - Sharpness (Mine is level 20)

Master - Blink <3 (Mine is level 9)
Master - Hailstorm (Mine is level 20)
Master - Force Increase (Mine is level 20)
Master - Resist Intension (Mine is level 20 - you could keep it lower or off)

A.Master - Arctic Field - I deleted mine due to its low range.
A.Master - High Regeneration (Mine is level 20)

G.Master - Extreme Dual Cannon (Mine is level 9)
G.Master - Spirit Intension (Mine is level 20)

Completer - Space Collapse (Mine is level 9)
Completer - Mass Restore (Mine is level 20)

Transcender - Raise Spirit (Mine is level 20)
Transcender - Meteorite (Mine is level 9)
Transcender - Art of Force Control (Mine is level 20)

The combos that you can use (not invented by me) :

* PVE Stunlock without Meteorite -> Extreme Dual Cannon 12 - Space Collapse 12 - Arctic Field 15 - Electric Field 15 - Stone Cannon 20 (as filler)
* PVE Stun combo with Meteorite -> Extreme Dual Cannon 12 - Meteorite 9 - Stone Cannon 20 - Space Collapse 9 (by using the combo button)
* Solo Target / BM1 TG -> Aqua Lance 20 - Terra Lance 20 - Extreme Dual Cannon 12 - Fire Lance 20 - Stone Cannon 20 - Fire Cannon 20 - Aqua Cannon 20

The Combos of my personal preference :

* PVE - Stunlock with EDC 9 - Meteorite 9 - Stone 20 - Space 9
* TG - Meteorite 9 - EDC 9 - Stone 20 - Fire 20 - Aqua 20 - Crystal 20

My BM2 bar -> Space Collapse 9 - Meteorite 9 - Extreme Dual Cannon 9 - Hailstorm 20 - Lightning Cannon 20 - Stone Cannon 20 - Vacuum 20 - Fire Cannon 20 - Aqua Cannon 20

Option 1) Range 3 BM2 - 9 skills in total => AF 18 - SC 9 - Meteorite 9 - EDC 9 - Hailstorm 20 - Lightning Cannon 20 - Stone Cannon 20 - Vacuum 20 - Fire Cannon 20

Option 2) Range 4 BM2 - 9 skills in total => SC 9 - Meteorite 9 - EDC 9 - Hailstorm 20 - Lightning Cannon 20 - Stone Cannon 20 - Vacuum 20 - Fire Cannon 20 - Aqua Cannon 20

Option 3) Range 6 BM2 - 9 skills in total => Meteorite 9 - EDC 9 - Hailstorm 20 - Lightning Cannon 20 - Stone Cannon 20 - Vacuum 20 - Fire Cannon 20 - Aqua Cannon 20 - Lightning Lance 20 or Chain Explosion 20

The best option for PVE would be to use AF in your BM2 bar, but that will grant you range 3 BM only. I decided to lose AF in order to gain a range 4 BM, due to TG, even if that means losing 5k damage overall.
For Ariadney and Ispita in FT2 or poorly dressed in TG, wizards with problems in surviving can use Option 3 as BM line-up, giving them a range 6 BM which will cripple their damage output by just 5%.

4. Items

Beginner build of my choice (Above WEoD up to 140)
Vampiric Amulet +3/+4
3 x Ring of Luck +1
1 x Critical Ring +1
Osmium Martialhelm 5% CRate / 20% CDamage
Osmium Martialsuit 7% Amp / 50HP
Mystic Martialboots of Amp 5% Amp / Osmium Martialboots of Amp 4%-100HP
Mystic Martialgloves of Vampire 3/5% HP Leech
2 x Vampiric Earrings +2 and later +4
2 x Bracelet of Sage +2 and later +4
K-Red Board
Epaulette of Sage +6 (never ever never ever use EoGuardian as Wizard)
2 x Pherystin / Aqua with 4% CR and 20% CD

This build will provide you with 48 CR and 90 CD and decent Amp and lots of Leech. It will keep you alive while you level up in MF and EoD:B2F. The total price of such gear would be roughly ... 100kk or so, which can be easily made by finishing quests and selling a few entries here and there (from the MF drops).

Mediocre build of my choice (somewhere between 140 and 160/5)
Vampiric Amulet +4
2 x Ring of Luck +2
2 x Critical Ring +2
Osmium Martialhelm 8% CR / 20% CD === Osmium Martialhelm 36% CD (for aura)
Osmium Martialsuit 7% amp / 50HP
Shadowtitanium Martialgloves 7% Amp
Shadowtitanium Martialboots 7% Amp
K-Red Board and 2% HP leech in Pet (like my dearest Cookies)
2 x Vampiric Earrings +4
2 x Bracelet of Sage +4
EoS+6
Pherystin 31% CD / 34% CD and 5%-8% CR / 20% CD in second Orb (for 48 rate)

High-end build of choice (165 to 180)
Amulet of Pain +6
Merga Ring + RoL2
Leth Ring + Critical Rings +2
Titanium Martialhelm 12%->15% CR / 24%CD or Osmium 15/24 (or 2 parts 7/40 and full CD other)
Osmium Martialsuit 7% amp / 100 HP
Osmium Martialboots 7% amp / 100 HP
Osmium Martialgloves 7% amp or Titanium 7% amp / 3% HP leech
K-Red Board // %HP Rune on level 3 (ouch AP)
2 x Vampiric Earrings +6 // 2 x Bracelet of Sage +3 slotted or +6 if you can afford
EoS+8
20%+ CD Mithrils with as much upgrade in terms of + as possible (9 or higher)

Pro's and Con's of playing a Blader

PRO:
* Boss hunts and PKs and everything that involves 1vs1 situations will advantage the Blader as his BM2 is specifically focused on such scenarios.
* Two PVE (orange text) skills on Completer and GMaster level will mean that the Blader can easily deal tons of damage to mobs thus level very fast. Most of his skills have Knockdown, Critical Rate and Damage bonuses, high +Additional Damage and Amp. The Blader also has numerous fast skills and a short stun, but unfortunately they have small AoE and should be used in 1v1 situations (except for the stun which is essential to your survival when growing your character, with crappy gear).
* Sky-high Defense Rate and Defense gain equal to a Warrior, combined with above average HP and Vampiric will ensure that the Blader stays alive for a looong time, being one of the hardest nuts to crack for mobs.
* Intuition will save your life many many times, but it will also cause major frustration . Generally speaking, the Bladers have Active protection against mobs (Intuition which increases flee rate), Active protection against assailants (Instant Immunity which renders you immune to unmovable and stuns and knockdown), Active protection against debuffers (Resist Barrier provides 25% protection against unmovable when Immunity is in cooldown)

CON:
* No party buffs will mean that outside your damage output, the party will not be so interested in your presence (if damage is missing, then you will barely find room for dungeons in a party)
* Nation Wars will prove to you that as much as the Blader shines in PVE and Dungeons, it sucks hard when it comes to Nation Wars. No crowd control skills will mean that you have to go in a group of enemies, cast Completer and then get the heck out of there. Your BM2 is mainly used to take out 1very important target, such as a builder or nuker.
==TG TIP== When you combo in TG, on masses of enemies, always have Force Kick ready. When you see that things are getting nasty, select a distant FA or WI and Force Kick him. This will instantly teleport you to safety, rather than trying to dash your way out of the crowd.
* While many vouch for the superiority of Bladers in soloing PVE, I consider it a con, for the simple reason that enemies will see in you an easy target and will keep harassing you, as they will always come in bigger numbers (2+) due to them having a harder time to solo. Try to stay in a party at all times, even if it easy for you to take out the mobs. It will give the enemies a second thought before attacking you.



Basic ideas of playing a Blader


1. Damage Dealer
I sometimes like to call Bladers in my party DD or DeeDee, due to his main role. Life as a Blader is both easy and hard, all in one. It’s easy because all you have to do is damage-damage-damage, without worrying about other things such as rebuffing others or casting Fury or positioning yourself strategically so that the AoE of your skills/BM clears the space surrounding the boss for the other classes. No. All you have to do is turn BM on, find yourself a target and don’t stop hitting until it is dead. Simple? Not.

2. Buff limitations
When you play your Blader, you have to be careful at the buffs. Until level 150 you will have a harder time accommodating all the buffs that you would want because of the limit of 8 buffs, out of which 4 are yours. Another 3 from WI / FA would make it 7, and you always have to have at least 1 buff free for SP, so that’s pretty much it. You can’t use your own short buffs then without losing a buff. At 150, you can use 9 of them, so it gets a bit easier, you have to use 1 short at a time, to accommodate 4 self buffs, 3 xtra buffs, fury, short buff. Past 160, everything is easier, but you should still use 1 short at a time, but you can now carry 10 buffs (4 self buffs + hardness + morale + vital force + fury + short + spirit intension for example)

3. BM2 details
As you might have noticed by now, your BM2 relies on Normal attack to deal its damage. This means you cannot use high-rank skills like a Wizard would use Completer and GMaster skills, nor do you receive the +additional bonus from skills. What this means is you will have to compensate this loss with A LOT of attack. Your BM2 requires that you boost the Attack value as high as possible, making Mithril the weapon of choice for BM2, rather than Titaniums. The first consequence of being forced to gather high attack from weapons is that your high attack will favor high amp values. This is one reason why people would advise 36% osmiums in PVE (when Comboing, for higher crits and faster kills) while in BM2 they would advise you to go for 14% amp at least (achievable with dual 7% swords) or for a combination of amp + crit damage BUT only on Mithril level (meaning 7% amp + 20% cd). You could also combine amped mithril with osmium deathblow, but the intensity of the hits will not be the same.
For more details on what your weaponry should be, you can check this thread made by a nutty Blader :
The main idea you should remember is:
BM2 means normal attack -> Normal attack needs high attack values -> High attack values make great use of high amp values (7% amp + 7% amp mithril for example)
PVE means Combo -> Combo means high amp skills -> Existing amp and +add damage means you can focus on critical damage -> PVE combo makes great use of Crit Damage. (30% osmium + 30% osmium for example, 10% + 10% mithril, etc)

4. BM1 details
If you looked at your BM1, you probably noticed by now that it gives HUGE critical rate and damage increase. Don’t let this fool you, because you can still die easily while in BM1, due to the low defense bonus and the fact that you STILL have to combo, so keep that in mind. BM1 should only be used in my opinion on TG when you got legacy weapon and no BM2, and in CA where it is mandatory. Thumb rule for BM1 is to turn it on when you have to kill lots of mobs, clear rooms, and the most important thing is to remember to not use high cast time skills like Blade Scud (Scud in CA is instant kill on Orcas). Use fast skills like Double Slash or Storm Grind or Lightning Slash or Vital Impact to regenerate HP quickly, but don’t rely on skills like Twin Moon Slash or Blade Scud or Hasing Dance while in BM1. You will most likely be dead on the cast duration.

5. BM'ing techniques
BM1 - Should be used in TG and CA only. Use it on resurrects that you want destroyed, on packs of grouped enemies in conjunction with Lightning Slash for some massive damage, use it in conjunction with Legacy Weapon and Amp/Flee pots, etc. For any other war map threats, Aura will suffice along with Instant Immunity and Flee Rate if attacker is using BM2 and can’t combo
BM2 - Should be used on Bosses, on PK targets, on TG for quickly taking out multiple builders or threats.
Aura - Should be used when you want an instant boost of defense + magic + CR/CD, for example when you see a higher level approaching your spot, and you do not have a 5 second time frame to go BM, then you pop-on Aura.



Class Breakdown : Upgrades / Runes / Skills / Items


1. Upgrades
There are 5 mandatory upgrades that you must use as a Blader: Vitality Mastery / Impact Control / Offensive Sense / Sixth Sense / Damage Absorb.
The only discussion that still remains unsolved is: Do I choose Defensive Sense (32def) or do I choose Reflex (532 def rate) ?
Blader is actually the only class for which I advise people to obtain Defensive Sense, as the Bladers can easily break the 4000 defense rate value, and from my personal experience, even with a moderate 3500 and a bit of vampiric, I never had problems surviving. The short term fast cooldown Intuition also solves the defense rate issue for a while.

2. Runes
In order of aquiring them, from lowest level to highest :

1. EXP Bonus Rune
2. Party EXP Rune
3. Pet XP Rune
4. Skill XP Rune
5. Attack Rate Rune (could be skipped, as BL reaches 6000 attack rate)
6. Defense Rate Rune
7. HP Rune
8. Attack Rune
9. HP Absorb Rune
10. Sword Amp Rune
Additionally
11. Defense Rune
12 and 13. Dunno which (MP rune would be a wise choice for TG participants)

These would be the first 10 you would need. Then, as you reach 170 and max out the pet level :

Remove EXP and Party XP and Pet XP, to free up 3 slots. I would use the STR / DEX / INT runes for 21 free stats. From my experience, you will need the PartyXP first, the XP second (as it is more expensive) and this will boost your AP, as AP is part of your XP. With more AP, upgrade Def Rate for higher survivability.

3. Skills - I will list the ones that are actually useful according to my playstyle.

Sword Skills
Fade Step - Must have - This skill is vital when you want to break a chase by de-targeting yourself (Mine is level 9)
Dash - Must have. Your only skill for moving forward (Mine is level 9)
Double Slash - Must have – This skill is core component for farming FR as well as PVE combo and PVP/TG (Mine is level 15)
Storm Grind – You will use storm as part of your PVE combo, very useful (Mine is level 20)
Assault – Must have – This is used as farming skill in FR and PVP / TG combo (Mine is level 15)
Force Kick – Must have for escaping and chasing on TG and War maps. (Mine is level 9 for fastest cooldown)
Mirage Grind – Not really needed – I use it for farming purposes in RS at cow pit as filler (Mine is level 20)
Twin Moon Slash – Has potential for downing purposes in TG (ranged) but overall Damage per second is way too low. (I didn’t learn this skill)
Vital Interfere – You will love this skill on earlier levels and throughout the game. Life saver, definitely a must have. (Mine is on level 9 for fastest cooldown, but some keep it on 15 for their PVE combo)
Blade Cry – NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER buy this crap skill. Period. One of the worst skills ever invented, no matter what you say (some *****s tried to argue with me saying that it’s good in PVE combo .. no it ain’t, it’s overall DPS is lower than Storm Grind)
Blade Scud – Fell in love the moment I first cast it. You will never get enough of watching the dancing swirl of Scud. Must have for sure, but keep it on level 9 for fastest cooldown (Mine is on level 9 too)
Lightning Slash – The latest eye-rape method invented in Cabal, especially with numerous mobs surrounding you. It can take you from normal to epileptic in 3 seconds flat. Must have skill, but find a way to remove the FX (Mine is on level 9)
Concentration – Not needed at all, you will combo 90% of the time, and in BM2 you have plenty attack rate.
Iron Skin – One of the 4 core buffs. Must have skill which gives Def and HP (Mine is on level 20)
Mirage Step – Another signature of the Blader class, a must have. Increases defense rate. (Mine is on level 20)
Aura Barrier – Improved version of Iron Skin, the third must have buff skill (Mine is on level 20)
Soul Blade – Your only attack buff, max it out (Mine is on level 20)
Instant Immunity – You will learn to love this skill with time (Mine is on level 20)
Intuition – Again, life saver for PVE, must have. (Mine is on level 20)
Art of Fierceness – One of the 2 buffs that you will use in BM2 (Mine is on level 20)
Field of Fear – Strike fear in the hearts of your enemies and lower their defense. They know what’s comin’ (Mine is on level 20)
Intense Blade – Your most powerful BM2 buffer skill, max it out (Mine is on level 20)

Magic Skills
Freezing Arrow – Your main luring skill, a range 9 skill. Get this one or wind arrow (any range 9 arrow actually – Mine is on Level 9 for fastest cooldown)
Resist Intension – Good for the moments when Instant Immunity is not ready, but not that good overall. You will use other Spirit Buffs when in a party. You can get it to level 20 for the Solo gameplay moments, but it doesn’t help that much.

My PVE combo of choice is made of the same mix of skills, but ordered differently. Basically, you got the same 5 skills ordered differently :

At lower levels I was using : Storm Grind 20 - Lightning Slash 9 - Vital Impact 15 - Double Rising 18 or Double Slash 18 (mine was 15 because of farming in FR) - Blade Scud 9 -> This combo was very very good at Stunlocking mobs, you got hit only once or twice, per 3 rounds, during Completer.

At higher levels, with better gear, I swapped to : Vital 9 - Lightning Slash 9 - Blade Scud 9 - Storm Grind 20 - Double Slash 15

Other combos that were passed on to me are :
1) Vital 12 - Comp 9 - Scud 9 - Storm 20 - Dbl Rising 20
2) Comp 9 - Scud 9 - Assault 20 - Impact Stab 20 - Double Slash 20 (for 1 target)
3) Vital 9 - Compl 9 - Storm 20 - Dbl Rising 20 - Dbl Slash 20 (for CA for example, no Scud in it)

4. Items

My current (realistic) dreamset is composed of :
2 x Mithril Blades 5% Amp / 10% CD +7
Osmium Armorgloves 7% Amp / 3% HP leech (extended)
Osmium Armorsuit of Amp 7% Amp / 180HP (extended)
Osmium Armorboots of Amp 7% Amp / 180HP (extended)
Merga Ring + RoL2 + 2 x CR2 + AoP6
RW3+6 and %HP Absorb Rune level 3 and EoF+7 and Bracelets of Fighter +6 / Vamp +6 Earrings (thanks to Herms for pointing it out : You could also use K-Black board for 44% Crit Rate if you already have the HP absorb rune maxed out. It would be better than the +Def from RW3)

You probably noticed that I didn’t mention any helms for BL. A helm is what makes or breaks the BL class, and you have 3 choices, each with their bonuses and disadvantages. I will explain them below:

1) The 16% craft helm with 5% rate in first slot, extended (the 7% rate / 40% crit dmg helm)

This is the basic choice for most bladers, it provides almost maximum CD in helm, while at the same time improving critical rate. Your CR will be 42% unless a Warrior or Force Blader is in the party. This type of helm is good if you plan on being a party member most of the time, to have 52% rate at least from the party debuffs (FB). If you want to solo stuff, you might find that 90 seconds of 42 rate is not enough, so you will most likely go in BM + Aura to compensate this. Since you are forced to go aura to compensate the lack of rate, you might as well not use the helm at all, but use a 36% one, since you get 15 rate+ from aura. Then the 7/40 helm becomes useless, if you’re forced to go BM+A, and it is therefore an expensive and unneeded investment (for the 4% extra CD that you gain).

2) The 8% rate craft helm with 5% rate in first slot, extended (the 15% rate / 24% cd helm)

This helm truly fits the pure solo-ers or duo-dungeon runners. You do not need any WA / FB to dish out crit after crit, you will have 50% rate and 16% less CD, which results in more crits in the 90 seconds of BM, and when turning aura on, you can swap the helm to a 40% one, for more icing on the cake. I find this option better than 7/40 first of all due to the price, as 8% rate helms are cheaper, and second of all, it’s almost the same thing as 7/40 helm when soloing. The real difference comes when you play in a party with a debuffer, that’s where the 7/40 is superior

Example with FB debuff (-10 cr / -20 cd) :
With a 7/40 helm, you keep 2 RoL+2 and 2 CR2 + the FB debuff, for 52 rate and 90 cd.
With a 15/24 helm, you keep 1 RoL+2 and 3 CR2 + the FB debuff for 45 rate and 89 cd
Example without debuff :
With a 7/40 helm you keep 2 RoL+2 and 2 CR+2 for 42 rate and 70 damage
With a 15/24 helm you keep 2 RoL+2 and 2 CR+2 for 50 rate and 54 damage (if you think 8% rate is not that important, be my guest in trying out 35% rate versus 43%, when using 36% helm and 8/20 helm).

3) The 7% amp / 7% rate / 24% damage helm

This helm is a variant of the 7/40, where you sacrifice 16% cd for 7 amp, for an even more powerful BM2. This would be the top choice for a FA also, as the FA is a full amp build as well. This would bring the best of 3 worlds in one helm, and very few people have one.
Overall, if you plan on partying FB / WA for high level dungeons, go for the 7/40.
If you plan on using a WI to duo B2F and AoS and FI, go for the 15/24 for better overall damage.

I know that with the introduction of Weak EoD, many players have started farming their weapons inside. I would advise them to get an 8 rate / 20 damage helm in there, and a 16% Titanium with a slot or 2, for Aura mode. Do not bother with weapons; they will be of no use past 140. Later on, you can extend the helms for 7/40 or 15/24, depending on preference but for starter levels, 8 rate / 20 damage osmium will suffice.
For the ones that are 70+ or are picking up on their BL from where they left off, here's some possible item builds :

Begginer build of my choice (Above WEoD up to 140)
Vampiric Amulet +3/+4
3 x Ring of Luck +1
1 x Critical Ring +1
Osmium Martialhelm 5% CRate / 20% CDamage
Osmium Martialsuit 7% Amp / 50HP
Mystic Martialboots of Amp 5% Amp / Osmium Martialboots of Amp 4%-100HP
Mystic Martialgloves of Vampire 3/5% HP Leech
2 x Vampiric Earrings +2 and later +4
2 x Bracelet of Fighter +2 and later +4
Epaulette of Fighter +6 (never ever never ever use EoGuardian as Blader)
2 x Osmium Blades/Katanas with 4% CR and 20% CD

This build will provide you with 48 CR and 90 CD and decent Amp and lots of Leech. It will keep you alive while you level up in MF and EoD:B2F. The total price of such gear would be roughly ... 100kk or so, which can be easily made by finishing quests and selling a few entries here and there (from the MF drops).

Mediocre build of my choice (somewhere between 140 and 160/5)
Vampiric Amulet +4
2 x Ring of Luck +2
2 x Critical Ring +2
Osmium Martialhelm 8% CR / 20% CD === Osmium Martialhelm 36% CD (for aura)
Osmium Martialsuit 7% amp / 50HP
Shadowtitanium Martialgloves 7% Amp
Shadowtitanium Martialboots 7% Amp
White Board X3 and 2% HP leech in Pet (like my dearest Cookies)
2 x Vampiric Earrings +4
2 x Bracelet of Fighter +4
EoF+6
Mithril Blade / Katana with 10% CD in slot

High-end build of my choice (165 to 170)
Amulet of Pain +5 / +6
Merga Ring + RoL2
2 x Critical Rings +2
Titanium Armorhelm 12%->15% CR / 24%CD or Osmium 15/24 (7/40 if you always party a debuffer)
Osmium Armorsuit 7% amp / 100 HP
Osmium Armorboots 7% amp / 100 HP
Osmium Armorgloves 7% amp or Titanium 7% amp / 3% HP leech (Warning : multiple SEM needed)
RW3 +6 or White Board // %HP Rune on level 3 (ouch AP)
2 x Vampiric Earrings +6 // 2 x Bracelet of Fighter +6
EoF+7
2 x 7%/20% Mithril Amped

BM2 Tips


You always have to remember one thing: Never cast Art of Fierceness and Intense Blade at the same time. Art of Fierceness will always add +400 damage per attack, no matter if you’re in BM or BM + Aura, or if there are any debuffs on that mob. This means that you can cast it at any time during the BM or BM+Aura with the same efficiency. Intense Blade however, is an amplifier, it boosts the damage by adding 25% amp to the hits, so it’s better to cast it on Aura, to have even higher attack. Consequently, you will want Intense Blade + Field of Fear at the same time.
The fact that you do not cast them at the same time means that you have 1 extra buff slot at all times, and you use the buffs more wisely. If you were to cast AoF then FoF then Intense, by the time you start hitting, you lost 6 seconds of AoF and 3 seconds of FoF.
My choice for extended BM (BM 90 seconds and extend with Aura for 45 more seconds) is :
BM -> Art of fierceness at start (to get rid of it as soon as possible) -> Get Fury on 45 seconds of BM -> Extend with aura -> Right after Extend, when the Warrior casts Panic, I cast Intense + Field of Fear.
In case of a double BM, which is BM+Aura for 90 seconds, I usually ask the Warrior when he is going to cast Panic, and that’s when I cast Intense + Field of Fear. Usually, most Warriors will cast Panic at start, so that means my Art of Fierceness can come AFTER Intense Blade and Field of Fear, in the remaining 60 seconds of Double BM.
There is one and only one situation where I would advise you to use the buffs differently. If you are 100% SURE that the boss will die in 2 BMs (whether single or BM+Aura) then you need to do the math on your cooldowns:

All 3 buffs have a duration of 30 seconds and a cooldown of 180 seconds. If we detail the BM in seconds, we got: 90s + 30s cooldown between BM + 90s. This is an interval of 210 seconds where you can fit the short buffs twice. If you use FoF + AoF + Intense right at the beginning of the first BM (preferably this is a BM2 + Aura for maximum efficiency, like on Leth Tyrant for example), then the cooldown starts with the cast, logically. This means that 150 seconds after you cast the shorts in the first BM, they will be ready. This translates into:
BM + Aura -> Cast Shorts (BM is now on 85) -> Shorts expire on 55 of BMA (cooldown of shorts is now 150) -> BM expires (cooldown of shorts is now ~90) -> You wait 30 seconds for the BM to recharge (cooldown of shorts is now ~60) -> You enter another BMA and after 60 seconds of BM, presto : The shorts are ready once more for a full 30 seconds use.

One more thing that I would like to add is retargeting. Do your best to retarget claw-claw in 2 or 3 hits, because even if the kick provides 50% more damage than the claw, it also takes twice as long to hit it, so in the end, you actually lose damage by kicking with your feet. I will try to FRAPS my rusty hands while retargeting, but if any other Blader has it done already on a dummy, please feel free to share.

Stat retribution

Obviously you'll need most of your stats to be in Osmium :P

For your equipment you need as minimal amount of dex and int you can use, that means if your Suit requires 56 int and 111 DEX, then it should be like that, everything else should be pumped into STR, and that's the main reason why Greatswords>Daikatana, especially if you are going to wear Titanium.Daikatanas require more DEX,in other words waste of stats =)


Equipment

Well warriors should focus on critical damage and rate, of cours amp is need as well

What you will need as a newbie

Osm armorsuit of amp ( if you cant afford 7%samp 50hp then get 100 hp 5% amp)
shineguard boots of amp 5% sword amp
Shineguard gloves of amp 5% sword amp
Osmium armor helm of deathblow 8rate 20cd, THIS IS A MUST!!!
Vampiric amulet +3/+4
Extorsion bracelet +3/+4
Vampiric earrings +2/+4
eof+6
3xrol+1
1cr1

After you get more money you should prioritize more amp instead of defense, so after you get some money change gloves and boots for shadowtitanium amp instead ^^ in this game damage>defense.

What about those weapons i farmed in weod you ask, well this is where they come in handy, you should get slot extender medium and extend your greatsword you will get 80cd from it, since osmium swords of db aren't that cheap you can get on with this one .As for helm, you should extend it as well, in battle mode and aura you will have 50 rate,so exchanging helm for more damage is going to give you boost in fights ^^




Skills

Skills you should get are

Buffs
Iron Skin ( lvl 20)
Aura Barrier ( lvl 20)
Soul Blade (lvl 20)
Bloody Spirit (lvl 20)
Bears Vitallity( lvl 20)
Fury shout( lvl 20)
Morale Shout ( lvl 20)
Cat's recovery ( lvl 20)
Down Breaker(lvl 20) <---optional, some look at it as a waste of buff
Instant Immunity lvl 20


Attack Skill's you will need

Charge lvl 20
Impact Stab lvl 20
Rising blade lvl 18
Siesmic wave lvl 9
Whirlwind lvl 9
Cascade break lvl 20
Sword Canon lvl 9/12/15/20 optional
Dash lvl 9
Fade lvl 9
Force kick lvl 9/12/20

Debuffs

panic cry lvl 20 <--- most awsum debuff in game <3


Upgrades all maxed out

HP
Defense 2x
Attack 2x
Defense rate 1 x ( transcender upgrade)

Combo

PvE

Siesmic wave,whirwlind,siesmic wave,cascade break, rising blade

PvP

Charge,impact stab, rising blade, siesmic wave, whirlwind,siesmic wave

Gear

Low-End
3xROL+1
1xCD+1
AoP+5/Vamp+3/+4
ST Gloves 7%Amp+2% HP Steal
ST Boots 7%amp
ST Suit 7% amp
Helm 8 Rate / 20 CD
Belt of vital/Rapid for Pve or damp/Prevent for TG/PVP
K-Red
EOF+6
BoF+3 slotted/of amp.
Weapon ST grade or higher 52% CD
Vamp ear ring+3/4

Mid Build
Same as above but osm armour and a Osm or higher GS (Diakatana's suck due to the increase in dex requirement and lower base attack) with atleast 60% CD.

High End (Dream set)

Osm/Shineguard Gloves 7% (Or higher) Amp 3% Hp steal and 3% Max Crit Rate
Osm/Shineguard boots 7% (Or higher) amp with either 100 hp or 130 hp and 20 HP steal limit up (Due to bad leech in warriors BM3)
Osm/Shineguard Suit 7% amp (Or higher) 130HP and 3% MCR or if you wish 5% MCR and 80HP
Helm EITHER 15Rate/24CD Osm/ST or a 7Rate/40Damage will exaplin after why either one will do.
BoF+7x2
Vamp+5/6/7 Ear rings or good Dros ear rings
EoF+7/8
RoL+2/Merga/Killian/Rol+3 (Must have atleast 2 rate rings on while not using Aura)
CD+2/CD+3/Leth atleast 3 due to Aura
K-Red

Weapon 3 choices for this either

Red osm/Sig or Mith 14 amp 40CD
Red osm/Sig or Mith 14 Rate 80 CD
Red osm/Sig or Mith 80CD

Now depending on your helm and rings reflects which weapon you should aim for.

Not too much updated information on this class so here is my own FA Guide.

Skills

Sword Skills:

Fade Step - lvl 9
Dash - lvl 9

Magic Skills

Critical Shot - lvl 20
Terra Lance - lvl 20
Fire Lance - lvl 20

Shadow Shot - lvl 20
Gravity Distortion - lvl 9/12
Shooting Star - lvl 20 (As a pvp finsihers nothing more)
Sonic Shooter - lvl 9/12
Repulsive Armor - lvl 20
Vital Force - lvl 20
Mana Condence - lvl 20
Thursting Arrow - lvl 20
Greater Heal - lvl 20
Art of Healing - lvl 20
Mass Heal - lvl 20
Art of Sniping - lvl 20
Offensive Bless - lvl 20
Curse Remove - lvl 9
Precision - lvl 20
Eagle Eye - lvl 20
Vital Bless - lvl 20
Sharpness - lvl 20 Good for when no Wiz is in party.


Combos.

This is personal choice so I wont provide any single combo but as a heads up do not use Shooting star in your main combo save it for small groups (2-8 mobs/Enemies in TG) due to it being the only skill to have its damage devided by the number of targets. Also the shape of its attack varies depending on the target selected. It either attacks in a short fat Diamond shape if the main target seclected is within a 0-4 range of you or it will attack in a long slim diamond shape if the target is range 5 or greater.

You can change Lances for cannons (Lvl 20) as this will give you a larger AoE but does reduce overall DPS since cannons cast at 1.5-1.8 and lances cast at 1.3-1.5 so the choice is down to you.

Also P.Arrow/Drilled shot should never be learned they are both a waste of alz and DPS is far lower on these 2 skills compared to others.

Poision Arrow this is personal choice if you go TG alot then it is good for AoD'ing FS's but you do have bm3 (after 130) for this type of target anyway.

Gear

Low End

ST gloves/Boots/Suit 7%. M.Amp
8Rate/20 CD Helm
26%CD or 3% M.amp 20 CD orbs (Never crystals they are over all weaker than Orbs and FA's need all the help they can get outside of bm3). Also never go for anything less than Mith for orbs unless you plan on staying in low level TG's (Tier 1/2) since FA's have a lower M.attack compared to Wizards.
2xRoL+1
2xCD+1
Vamp Amulet+3/4 or AoP+4/5
Vamp Ear ring +3/4
BoS +3 slotted or of amp
Belt of vital/Rapid for pve and Prevent/Damp for TG/War channels
K-Red
EoS+6
Mid Gear

ST/Osm Gloves 7 amp 2% Hp Steal
ST/Osm Boots 7 amp and either 50 hp or hp steal limit up
ST/Osm Suit 7 amp 50 hp
ST/Osm Helm10Rate 24 CD or 7 amp 7 rate and 24 CD
30% CD or 3,4 or 5%amp/20% CD Sig/Mith Orbs (Depends if you wish to keep your bm2 strong as well as boosting bm3 DPS for a balanced bm2/bm3 use amp+CD mixed orbs for a better bm3 us full CD)
EoS+7
AoP+5
Vamp Ear ring +5/6
BoS+3/6
Belt of prevent/Damp/Rapid
K-Red
Rol+2/Merga/Killian (Atleast Merga+Rol2)
3xCD+2/+3/Leth (4th for AoS+Aura+BM3)

High End
ST/Osm/Terra 7% (Or higher) Amp boots
ST/Osm/Terra 7% (Or higher) Amp Gloves 3% MCR/3% HP Steal
ST/Osm/Terra 7% (Or higher) Amp Suit 3% MCR/80HP
ST/Osm/Terra 7Rate/40CD Helm or 40% CD or 7amp/7rate/24CD
Mith 7% Amp/20 or 24CD with a second 36/40CD Mith ORB
EoS+7/8
BoS+4 of amp (2% amp from craft) or BoS+7 or high end Prid's
K-Red
AoP+6
Belt of Damp/Prevent
Vamp Ear ring+6 or high grade Dros
Rol+2/3/Merga/Killian
3xCD+2/+3/Leth.

here the big wall of text for warrior

here the big wall of text for FA