Compilation of Billposter and Ringmaster Builds [v13]

[sarisa_]

This guide is a compilation of builds and recommendations from many knowledgeable posters in this forum.

Notes: all level recommendations are without reductions. All set names are given in their male form to save space. All recommendations are for Player versus Monster (PvM).

Player versus Player (PvP) aspects of each class are not covered. I have little experience in PvP matters, so it is hard for me to pick out the good from the bad recommendations. PvP builds also vary greatly due to the needs of the player, their equipment, and your own server's PvP community (the average Penya Strike (HoP) for instance).

Credits go to the actively posting members of the Assists, Ringmasters & Billposters forum. I am simply summarising their recommendations and opinions in one place. Special thanks go to _kilconey, _christer, jghimo, ecclesiastes, Kira, Heosphoros, and abhishekh.

• Billposter - 1v1
• Billposter - AoE
• Ringmaster - Support
• Ringmaster - AoE
• Ringmaster - 1v1

v13 Warnings

These changes are what is known to affect Assist classes:

• Using the same element on your suit no longer results in 0 hits. This change mostly affects block based AoE players (Rangers and Blades), but can also affect 1v1 Billposters/Ringmasters as well (especially gianters).
• Using the strong element +3 on your suit results in less damage reduction. You will thus take a bit more damage than you did in v12. The variable damage that was introduced with v13 release has no been changed to a more constant rate of damage reduction.
• Elementing weapons has been strengthened for elements beyond +3. There is also now a scroll to change the element of an upgrade without removing it and elementing again.
• Buff order has changed. All buffs are in a specific order that is not related to the order you cast them. The 14 buff limit is still in effect, so now you cannot control what buff is bumped off. Haste is first.
• Some CS based furniture provides stats. It is time limited to 7 days. The stats provided are a small amount of the four stats, attack, and defence.
• Coral Island provides Azria-like spawn sizes to make training to 70 much easier, especially for strength AoE Assists and Billposters.

Debates and Questions

Which piercings are better for AoE'ing?
If you can do so, attack is the best way to go.

Otherwise, there is a large amount of disagreement as to which is best. Defence can be capped, so that normal hits are not reduced any further. Critical hits can still be reduced. The maximum damage a mob can hit you for is reduced, making it easier to keep your Prevention trigger safe if you use defence piercings. You can thus AoE with less stamina and HP.

HP piercings give you a larger HP pool and higher Prevention trigger, and is far more useful if you PvP as well. HP is also far more beneficial to AoE Ringmasters who support as well as AoE.

Currently, it is believed that defence piercings are better for pure PvM purposes. If you PvP or support, HP will probably be more useful.

Should you use the same or strong elements on your suit for AoE'ing?

v13 removed the same element trick, where one third of all hits taken would result in the damage being reduced to 0. The only effective way now is to use the strong element. You will also not get the same effect with a +3 strong element suit as you did before.

AoE'ing: Plugs, Demols, or Speedos?

If you can take the maximum critical dealt safely, use Demols to improve your damage and experience rate. Otherwise, use Plugs. Speedo+3's are the only ones you should bother with when AoE'ing as a Billposter or Ringmaster.

For more comments, see this post.

General AoE'ing Technique

AoE'ing generally works best with the Auto Attack setting in your options off. The use of CS pets is strongly recommended.

1. Switch to your collecting equipment. This should be equipment awakened with run speed, attack speed, and defence. This step is optional, but is the best way to optimise your AoE'ing speed.
2. Collect your group. There are several ways to do this efficiently.
   
   • Double click the mob, then as you are swinging, click off to the side, then double click the next mob.
   • Double click the mob, then as you are swinging, press escape. Double click the next mob.
   • Click the ground near the target, then click and hold on the mob for about 1/2 of a second. Then do it to the next mob. (suggestion by _aria_)
3. Switch to your damage and/or tanking equipment, if you use separate collecting equipment.
4. Use any self buffs as the mobs ball around you. Use Linked Attack now if you are the party lead.
5. Use your AoE skills, action slots of either 2 or 3 are preferred. Note that Merkaba cannot be action slotted.

The AoE skills Burst Crack and Piercing Serpent require a target. Merkaba Hanzelrusha and Bgvur Tialbold do not require a target.

If you use Linked Attack, it is sometimes necessary to maintain a target lock on the mobs in order to gain your additional link damage. Using Linked Attack with the Exp.and Party Skill Scroll (Red Scroll) will add your damage regardless of whether or not you are targetting your mobs. Without the Red Scroll, you will need to maintain a target lock. This effect has changed in the past, so it may change at some point.

Links

For more information about skills, visit _christer's guide.

Use herki and Jon's Character Simulator to experiment with builds and equipment.

The FlyFF Wiki covers a large array of topics.

Weapon and Shield Database (external link) lets you view how a weapon or shield looks when equipped on a character. Use the Wiki or Artist Reference for armour sets.

The Ultimate Flyff Record Book (external link)

Flyff Siege Logs (external link)

[sarisa_]

Billposter - 1v1

For more information, visit abhishekh's guide.

Cookie-cutter

Arguably the most popular build, and considered the best 1v1 build for an unfunded character. It is not the fastest at getting experience, especially at high levels.

The cookie cutter build is designed to hit the 43 dex+Cannon speed break, and will get 81% attack speed without equipment bonuses and awakenings.
STR: XX
STAM: 15-30
DEX: 43
INT: 15

Weapons
60-74: Yakadain Knuckle, using attack speed awakenings, if you have a set +5 or lower. Guardian Knuckle with strength or critical rate awakenings if you have a set +6 or better.
75-104: Historic Knuckle
105+: Legendary Golden Gloves if you have about 30% critrate or better, Historic Knuckle otherwise.

Sets
60-74: Talin (for the critical rate), awakened blues or Shurand, Yuandain (female only). Talin or awakened sets with a lot of crit rate and crit damage are preferred.
75-104: Talin, awakened blues or Shurand or Alext, Alext (unawakened), Yuandain (female only). Again, Talin or crit rate and crit damage awakenings are preferred. +6 sets are recommended.
105+: Rody, +8 or better.

Awakenings Preferred

• Attack Speed, you want to have over 90% attack speed fully equipped and buffed. Remember Geburah Tiphreth (Ringmaster level 75 buff) will grant 25% attack speed.
• Critical Rate, the more you have, the better your damage over time (DoT).
• Additional Damage of Critical Hits, goes with your Talin or critical rate awakenings to further increase your DoT.
• Strength
• Speed

Piercings

• Electric B cards provide 4 dex and 1% critical rate. These arguably improve your DoT the most. Note that every 10 dex you have will increase your critical rate 1% as well. Dexterity will also increase your hit rate.
• Fire B cards provide 4 strength and 1% additional damage to crits. They will also help your DoT.
• Your suit should be pierced with attack.

Skills
Heap Up, Haste, Accuracy, Stonehand, Cannonball, Beef Up, Asmodeus. After these essential skills, it is up to you.

Notes

• This is the recommended 1v1 build for a beginning player, as the build is easily able to solo and kill giants to make money.
• 30 stamina is the recommended maximum for most players. Avoid going over 40, as it will significantly impact your damage and kill speeds.

Yakadain vs. Guardian: Hit rate is very important to your damage over time. The Guardian is a strong knuckle, but if you miss often (~90% hit rate at 60, ~85% hit rate at 70 with +3 sets), you will lose significant potential when compared to a slightly weaker but consistent hitting Yakadain.

At 60, both knuckles the same upgrade level will give you about the same DoT with a +3 set. The Guardian gives slightly more DoT, but not really enough to be worth the extra expense. With a better set (+4 at least), the Guardian is much better.

At 70, with a +3 set, a Yakadain at 90%+ attack speed, and at the same upgrade level will outdamage a Guardian over time due to maxing out your hit rate. A +4 set will give you nearly the same DoT, while a +6 set will enable the Guardian to outdamage a Yakadain.

A very good crit and/or strength shield could make a Guardian superior, even without maxing out your hit rate. In general, however, a Yakadain+attack speed shield is better than a Guardian unless you have a +4 to +6 set to compensate.

Full Strength

Properly equipped, this build provides the best DoT available to a 1v1 Billposter. This build requires good funding to be successful.

STR: XX
STAM: 15
DEX: 15
INT: 15

Weapons
60-74: Yakadain Knuckle, or a Guardian Knuckle if you have a +8 set.
75-89: Historic Knuckle with a +8 or better set (strongly recommended), Yakadain Knuckle otherwise.
90-105: Historic Knuckle with a +8 or better set (strongly recommended), Angel Gloves otherwise
105+: Legendary Golden Gloves if you have about 30% critrate or better, Historic Knuckle otherwise. You must have a +8 or better set at this point.

Sets
60-74: Talin (for the critical rate), awakened blues or Shurand, Yuandain (female only). Talin or awakened sets with a lot of crit rate and crit damage are preferred. +4-+6 recommended.
75-104: Talin, awakened blues or Shurand or Alext, Alext (unawakened), Yuandain (female only). Again, Talin or crit rate and crit damage awakenings are preferred. +6-+8 recommended.
105+: Rody, +8 or better required.

Awakenings Preferred

• Attack Speed, you want to have over 90% attack speed fully equipped and buffed. Remember that Geburah Tiphreth (Ringmaster level 75 buff) will grant 25% attack speed.
• Critical Rate, the more you have, the better your damage over time (DoT).
• Additional Damage of Critical Hits, goes with your Talin or critical rate awakenings to further increase your DoT.
• Strength
• Dexterity, for increased critical rate, hit rate, and attack speed (at certain dex points)
• Speed

Piercings

• Electric B cards provide 4 dex and 1% critical rate. These arguably improve your DoT the most. Note that every 10 dex you have will increase your critical rate 1% as well. Dexterity will also increase your hit rate.
• Fire B cards provide 4 strength and 1% additional damage to crits. They will also help your DoT.
• Your suit should be pierced with attack.

Skills
Heap Up, Haste, Accuracy, Stonehand, Cannonball, Beef Up, Asmodeus. After these essential skills, it is up to you.

Notes

• This build will have extremely poor performance without at minimum the recommended upgrades. Higher upgrades are always better.
• 7 pierces with Electric B cards between your knuckle and shield will give you 43 dex, making you the equivalent of a "cookie cutter" BP. This will greatly help your hit rate, and you can follow the "cookie cutter" recommendations. Using Electric cards to get your dex gives you greater crit rate than getting your dex via base stats.
• Most Billposters will wait until at least level 90 before switching to this build (via a Restat).
• If you can afford to, it is strongly recommended that you reduce the Rody set at level 95 for the 12% hit rate bonus.

Dex Builds

Dexterity built Billposters are an old build, intent on getting the most benefit from lower end equipment and boosting their critical rates and attack speed. At the present time, these builds are NOT recommended because awakenings and equipment bonuses can make up for all of the benefits of a dex build without sacrificing large amounts of damage.

The most common dex build is designed to hit the 79+Cannon speed break, and add 1 additional dex to reach 10% natural crit rate.
STR: XX
STAM: 15-30
DEX: 80
INT: 15

This build grants very good hit rates with low set upgrades, and is an option if you never want to upgrade your set. The loss of damage is noticable.

There are other dex builds out there, but detailing them is beyond the scope of this document.

[sarisa_]

Billposter - AoE

Note: If you are willing to swap between collecting equipment and "killing" equipment, you can greatly enhance your AoE'ing speed. Collecting time (attack speed, run speed) is the most significant part of AoE'ing.

Strength

The strength build allows you to AoE from level 28, and generally has better performance in PvP than the Intelligence AoE. It is, however, a bit slower at leveling than the Int AoE.

STR: XX
STAM: 80-120
DEX: 15
INT: 15

Weapons
60-89: Guardian Knuckle
90-119: Angel Glove
120+: Bloody Knuckle

Sets
60-74: Shurand or Yuandain (female only), NPC blues (with or without awakenings).
75-104: Alext, Yuandain (female only) is an alternative, but not quite as effective.
105-119: Billst
120+: Billst, although Grim is an alternative. Billst is generally considered better.

Awakenings Preferred

• Strength
• Stamina
• Attack
• Defence
• Speed

Piercings

• Fire B cards provide 4 strength and 1% additional damage to crits. They will help your DoT the most.
• Land B cards provide 4 stamina. These should be used if you have trouble tanking at times.
• Your suit can be pierced with attack, defence, or HP. Defence is generally considered to be better in PvM situations if you cannot use attack. HP is generally for PvP purposes.
• If you choose to switch between collecting and AoE'ing equipment, Wind B cards (4% run speed and 1% attack speed) can greatly boost your collecting speed.

Skills
Heap Up, Burst Crack, Stonehand, Cat's Reflexes, Beef Up, Asmodeus, Prevention. After these essential skills, it is up to you, however Quick Step and Haste improve your collection speed tremendously and are strongly recommended. Cannonball adds a little block rate so it is helpful as well.

Notes

• The better your equipment, the less stamina you need. It is possible at high levels with good equipment to AoE without any base stamina, as your equipment will compensate.
• Elementing adds a tiny amount of damage to Burst Crack. With +3 strong element, you will gain approximately 1% additional damage.
• Piercing Serpent only attacks in a small cone in front of you, uses a lot more FP per cast, and does not provide enough of an increase in damage to be worth using over Burst Crack.
• With good sets and/or equipment swapping, you are able to effectively giant hunt and fight Clockworks.

Intelligence (Bgvur)

The Int AoE is the fastest way for a Billposter to train; and with good awakenings, the fastest assist subclass period.

For more information, see theBigT's Guide

STR: 15
STAM: 80-120
DEX: 15
INT: XX

Weapons
60-89: Guardian Knuckle
90-119: Angel Glove
120+: Bloody Knuckle

Sets
70-74: Shurand, Yuandain (female only), or NPC blues (with or without awakenings)
75-104: Alext; Yuandain (female only) is an alternative, but not quite as effective.
105-119: Billst
120+: Billst, although Grim is an alternative. Billst is generally considered better.

Awakenings Preferred

• Decreased Casting Time (formerly DMMT)
• Intelligence
• Stamina
• Attack
• Defence
• Speed

Piercings

• Water B cards provide 4 intelligence and 1% less casting time. They will help your DoT the most.
• Land B cards provide 4 stamina. These should be used if you have trouble tanking at times.
• Your suit can be pierced with attack, defence, or HP. Defence is generally considered to be better in PvM situations if you cannot use attack. HP is generally for PvP purposes.
• If you choose to switch between collecting and AoE'ing equipment, Wind B cards (4% run speed and 1% attack speed) can greatly boost your collecting speed.

Skills
Heap Up, Stonehand, Cat's Reflexes, Mental Sign, Asmodeus, Prevention, Bgvur Tiabold. After these essential skills, it is up to you, however Quick Step and Haste improve your collection speed tremendously and are strongly recommended. Cannonball adds a little block rate so it is helpful as well.

Notes

• The better your equipment, the less stamina you need. It is possible at high levels with good equipment to AoE without any base stamina, as your equipment will compensate.
• Do not element your knuckle. You will suffer approximately 20% loss in damage due to Bgvur Tiabold being a non-elemented magic spell as opposed to an attack skill.
• Decreased Casting Time awakenings allow Bgvur Billposters to become one of the fastest levelling characters in the game.
• A Bgvur Billposter will typically train as an FS assist in order to get to level 70.

[sarisa_]

Ringmaster - Support

Stick choices vary due to needs of the ringmaster. A specific stick is only called for when a bonus that cannot be awakened is needed.

For more information, see Pastry's guide. An older guide to Full Supports is johnnii's, and a there is a guide specific to Dekane Mine Parties (external link).

Full Intelligence

The Full Int build provides the longest buff timers and the best healing available. It is the optimal build for supporting in Azria, where there are no aggressive mobs. Survival in other areas will require equipment to compensate.

STR: 15
STAM: 15
DEX: 15
INT: XX

Weapons

• Awakened stick based upon need (see below).
• Stick of Roritoren is helpful when using Holy Cross to help conserve MP.
• Guardian Stick or Angel Stick for the HP bonus.
• Legendary Golden Stick for the base 20 int bonus.
• Bloody Stick for the base 15 int and 20% DCT bonus.

Sets
60-104: Wedge, an awakened set providing at least 30% DCT (with your stick) is also usable
105-119: Wedge, or Navil (for better survival)
120: Revenio

Awakenings Preferred

• Decreased Casting Time (DCT) (formerly DMMT)
• Intelligence
• Stamina
• Speed (run)
• Defence

Piercings

• Water B cards provide 4 intelligence and 1% DCT. They will help you the most.
• Land B cards provide 4 stamina. These can be used to compensate for your lack of any base stamina when needed.
• Your suit should be pierced with HP.

Skills
Skill choice depends on the needs of who you will be supporting.

For 1v1 supporting: Heap Up, Haste, Accuracy, Heal, Beef Up, Cannonball, Holy Cross, Spirit Fortune, Geburah Tiphreth, Heal Rain, Protect

For AoE supporting: Heap Up, Heal, Cat's Reflexes, Haste, Beef Up (if supporting strength users), Cannonball, Mental Sign (higher healing power for you), Protect, Spirit Fortune, Heal Rain, Geburah Tiphreth.

Feel free to adjust the skills for the people you support. Not everyone needs all of the above skills.

Notes
Swapping sticks allows you to be versatile.

Clockworks

This is an equipment centred build specifically to support at Clockworks. Clockworks can be attempted at level 80 at the earliest.

STR: 15
STAM: 40-60
DEX: 15
INT: XX
The stamina needed depends on your equipment and level. You need 8,000 to 8,500 HP fully buffed and equipped to safely support at Clockworks.

Weapons
Guardian Stick gives a 15% HP bonus, and is recommended. The Angel Stick gives a 10% HP bonus and 1 additional bonus int. If you have enough HP without either of the above sticks, you can use whatever stick that gives you the effect you desire.

Sets
Wedge is strongly recommended due to the DMMT bonus. It should be upgraded in order to gain an HP bonus and increase your block rate. +8 is recommended, though +5 is usable.
Revenio or Navil can also be used.

Awakenings Preferred

• Decreased Casting Time (DMMT)
• Intelligence
• Stamina
• HP

Piercings

• Water B cards provide 4 intelligence and 1% DCT. They will help you the most.
• Land B cards provide 4 stamina. These should be used if you have trouble reaching the required HP.
• Your suit should be pierced with HP.

Skills
Heap Up, Haste, Accuracy, Cannonball, Beef Up, Cat's Reflexes, Holy Cross, Spirit Fortune, Geburah Tiphreth, Heal Rain. Protect and Mental Sign can be learned after the aforementioned vital skills.

Notes

• The better your equipment, the less stamina you need. With very good equipment and high levels, you can go below the above recommended base stamina.
• Activations and Refresher Holds are very helpful, but due to the current cost of these items, no longer recommended. Before v13, they were obtainable from the class change, and thus fairly inexpensive. In v13, they are only available from the cash shop, and thus much more expensive. Using these items is generally not economical.
• A Grilled Eel (50% additional BASE HP) is helpful in rage if you are on the low side of the required HP.
• Speedos may be more effective than Plugs when supporting at Clockworks. Defence does not affect Clockwork's damage by much (7200 minus two plugs is still 7000), so being able to get more blocks (typically 1/5th damage, down to minimal) can be a great help. +2 or +3 Speedos are preferred.

Killing the Venel Guardian

There are several ways to defeat the Venel Guardian with an FS build.

1. If you have (or can borrow a friend's) a Yakadain Knuckle, use it plus any decent shield (attack speed, dex, strength). Buff yourself and you should have no trouble killing it.
2. Use your buffs and a PaPang Stick. Yes, it's low leveled and weak, but it has 50% hit so it's consistent damage on the Venel Guardian. If you can't get a PaPang, use a Dain Stick or any NPC blue.
3. Have a friend weaken the Venel Guardian and then log out. This may or may not work at the current time (the developers have changed this behaviour numerous times).
4. Have another player tank the Venel Guardian while you slowly kill it. The developers can also change this behaviour at any time.

In all cases, if you can get a friend that's already an RM to support you, the kill will be far easier.

[sarisa_]

Ringmaster - AoE

Intelligence (Merkaba only)

The intelligence AoE is the easier of the two main types. You will generally gather large groups of mobs and recast Prevention every time it triggers, while Merkaba's DoT operates.

Specific builds vary, depending on your available equipment and your desired level of risk. Common builds include full stamina; 50-100 int, XX stam; 150-180 stam, XX int; and the occasional low stamina, high int build.

Weapons
80-89: Guardian Stick
90-104: Angel Stick
105-119: Legendary Golden Stick
120+: Bloody Stick

Sets
80-89: Pact, Yuandain (female only), or a highly upgraded Shurand.
90-104: Shupon, Yuandain (female only), or a highly upgraded Shurand.
105+: Rimyth
120: Revenio or Rimyth

Awakenings Preferred

• Stamina
• Speed (run)
• Defence
• Decreased Casting Time (DCT)
• Intelligence
• Attack Speed

Piercings

• Land B cards provide 4 stamina. These increase your tanking ability.
• Water B cards provide 4 intelligence and 1% DCT. They will increase your damage slightly and enable you to recast Prevention slightly faster.
• Wind B cards provide 4% speed (run) and 1% attack speed. These help you collect a group of mobs faster.
• Your suit can be pierced with attack, defence, or HP. Defence is generally considered to be better in PvM situations if you cannot use attack. HP is generally for PvP purposes.

Skills
Heap Up, Cat's Reflexes, Prevention, Protect, Spirit Fortune, Merkaba Hanzelrusha, Mental Sign, Cannonball, Haste, Quick Step

Notes

• It is strongly recommended that you wait until you can use the Rimyth set to AoE in this manner. In v13, due to the reduction of elemental defence, this is even more true. Unless you have exceptional equipment, do not try to AoE using Merkaba only until you can use a Rimyth set.
• This is one of the few AoE methods that does not require a full support Ringmaster to train efficiently. It can easily be done with any partner.
• Do not use an elemented stick. You will suffer a 20% reduction in damage due to Merkaba being a non-elemented magical spell.
• Int adds little damage to Merkaba. Your weapon upgrades, suit piercings, demol earrings (if you can take the damage without plugs), and attack awakenings are most important.

Strength (Mercrack)

For more detailed information, visit Kira's Guide (or here [external link]).

The Mercrack Ringmaster uses both Merkaba and Burst Crack to AoE. This provides must faster levelling than using Merkaba alone.

Specific builds vary, depending on your available equipment and your desired level of risk. Stamina can commonly range from 90-180, with the rest of the stats in strength.

Weapons
Your knuckle is your primary weapon. You do not need a nicely upgraded stick in order to use this method of AoE'ing.
60-89: Guardian Knuckle
90-119: Angel Glove
120+: Bloody Knuckle

Sets
60-74: Shurand, Yuandain (female only), or awakened blues.
80-89: Pact, Yuandain (female only), Shurand if decently upgraded, or awakened blues.
90-104: Shupon, Yuandain (female only), or a highly upgraded Shurand
105+: Rimyth
120: Revenio or Rimyth

Awakenings Preferred

• Strength
• Speed (run)
• Attack Speed
• Stamina
• Defence

Piercings

• Fire B cards provide 4 strength and 1% additional damage to critical hits. These increase your damage the most.
• Land B cards provide 4 stamina. These increase your tanking ability.
• Wind B cards provide 4% speed (run) and 1% attack speed. These help you collect a group of mobs faster.
• Water B cards provide 4 int and 1% DCT. They can give you longer buffs (especially Stonehand).
• Your suit can be pierced with attack, defence, or HP. Defence is generally considered to be better in PvM situations if you cannot use attack. HP is generally for PvP purposes.

Skills
Heap Up, Cat's Reflexes, Prevention, Stonehand, Burst Crack, Protect, Spirit Fortune, Merkaba Hanzelrusha, Cannonball, Haste, Quick Step, Mental Sign

Notes

• Int adds little damage to Merkaba, your weapon upgrades and piercings contribute most. This is why concentrating your stats on improving Burst Crack's damage is most effective.
• Shield defence, an extra awakening slot, and a higher FS dependency allows you to use this method earlier than pure Merkaba, but having the 105 set is still optimal.
• The complexity of this method is greater than any other assist based AoE technique. There is a steeper learning curve in order to be comfortable with switching weapons in mid-AoE.
• Weapon elementing adds only a small amount of damage to Burst Crack (approximately 1% with a +3 strong element), and reduces the damage from Merkaba by 20%. It is not recommended to use weapon elements when using this method.

[sarisa_]

Ringmaster - 1v1

Strength/Dexterity

The most common build:
STR: XX
STAM: 15-40
DEX: 61
INT: 15
is the most effective for a new player. It provides good attack speed and very good hit rates.

An alternative:
STR: XX
STAM: 15-40
DEX: 25
INT: 15
requires higher upgrades to be successful.

Weapons
60-74: Yakadain Knuckle, using attack speed awakenings, if you have a set +3 or lower. Guardian Knuckle with strength or critical rate awakenings if you have a set +4 or better.
75-104: Historic Knuckle
105+: Legendary Golden Gloves if you have about 30% critrate or better, Historic Knuckle otherwise.

Sets
60+: Talin, awakened blues or Shurand, Yuandain (female only). Talin or awakened sets with a lot of crit rate and crit damage are preferred.

Awakenings Preferred

• Attack Speed, you want to have over 90% attack speed fully equipped and buffed. Remember Geburah Tiphreth (Ringmaster level 75 buff, can only be cast by another Ringmaster) will grant 25% attack speed.
• Critical Rate, the more you have, the better your damage over time (DoT).
• Additional Damage of Critical Hits, goes with your Talin or critical rate awakenings to further increase your DoT.
• Strength

Piercings

• Electric B cards provide 4 dex and 1% critical rate. These arguably improve your DoT the most. Note that every 10 dex you have will increase your critical rate 1% as well. Dexterity will also increase your hit rate.
• Fire B cards provide 4 strength and 1% additional damage to crits. They will also help your DoT.
• Your suit should be pierced with attack.

Skills
Heap Up, Haste, Accuracy, Stonehand, Cannonball, Beef Up, Spirit Fortune. After these essential skills, it is up to you.

Notes
This build almost identical to a Billposter at lower levels, however a 1v1 Billposter will be far better once they have access to Rody.

Full Strength

Properly equipped, this build provides the best DoT available to a 1v1 Ringmaster. This build requires good funding to be successful.

STR: XX
STAM: 15
DEX: 15
INT: 15

Weapons
60-74: Yakadain Knuckle; Guardian Knuckle with a +8 set
75-89: Historic Knuckle with a +8 set; Yakadain Knuckle otherwise
90-105: Historic Knuckle with a +8 set; Angel Gloves otherwise
105+: Legendary Golden Gloves if you have about 30% crit rate or better and a +10 set, Historic Knuckle with a +10 set without the high crit rate awakenings, Angels Gloves otherwise.

Sets
60-74: Talin, awakened blues or Shurand, Yuandain (female only). Talin or awakened sets with a lot of crit rate and crit damage are preferred. +4-+6 recommended.
75-120+: Talin, awakened blues or Shurand, Yuandain (female only). Again, Talin or crit rate and crit damage awakenings are preferred. +6-+8 recommended. +10 is recommended after 105 (or +8 with dex awakenings and/or piercings).

Awakenings Preferred

• Attack Speed, you want to have over 90% attack speed fully equipped and buffed. Remember Geburah Tiphreth (Ringmaster level 75 buff, must be cast by another Ringmaster) will grant 25% attack speed.
• Critical Rate, the more you have, the better your damage over time (DoT).
• Additional Damage of Critical Hits, goes with your Talin or critical rate awakenings to further increase your DoT.
• Strength
• Dexterity

Piercings

• Electric B cards provide 4 dex and 1% critical rate. These arguably improve your DoT the most. Note that every 10 dex you have will increase your critical rate 1% as well. Dexterity will also increase your hit rate.
• Fire B cards provide 4 strength and 1% additional damage to crits. They will also help your DoT.
• Your suit should be pierced with attack.

Skills
Heap Up, Haste, Accuracy, Stonehand, Cannonball, Beef Up, Spirit Fortune. After these essential skills, it is up to you.

Notes

• This build will have extremely poor performance without at minimum the recommended upgrades. Higher upgrades are always better.
• A full strength Ringmaster is one of the few builds to not be able to reach 100% attack speed with Haste and Geburah Tiphreth; but without awakenings and piercings. 92% is all you will have. You can reach 96% with Haste, Geburah Tiphreth, and 9-10 dex with awakenings, piercings, and the Historic Knuckle's bonus. The specific number of dex needed changes as you level.
• This build almost identical to a Full Strength Billposter at lower levels, however a 1v1 Billposter will be far better once they have access to Rody.

Billposters versus Ringmasters in 1v1

In general, a Billposter will have more potential than a Ringmaster. A BP has higher HP and defence mods (important for gianting). If a BP has FS support, he can get three attack power boosts. An RM with FS support can only get two. BP's after level 105 get access to the Rody set, which is one of the best 1v1 sets in the game. BP's also have lower speed breaks and higher base attack speed, so it's easier to reach 100%. A BP has far more PvP potential than an RM.

Comparing the 60/61 dex RM build to the 43 dex BP build:

From 60 to 64, a BP has the advantage. Asmodeus is a level 60 skill while Spirit Fortune is a level 65 skill. The RM has around 5% higher hit rate. This advantage is negated with a +6 set or a Yakadain knuckle.

From 65-104, the difference is not that great. With identical sets and equipment, a solo RM will only deal 30 damage less per hit at a base of 5% slower attack speed (SF's 140 damage minus Asmodeus's 80 damage is 60; 61 dex minus 43 dex is 18 strength which is 90 damage). With an FS, the BP has the advantage because he gets Asmodeus in addition to the RM buffs. At these levels, a 1v1 BP and RM are practically the same when solo, and the BP has an advantage but not a highly significant one with an FS.

From 105 on, the RM is at a serious disadvantage because of the Rody set's 40% ADoCH and 12% hit.

With a 25 dex build, the RM is in a much more competitive position, but requires better sets and awakenings to maximise their hit rates and attack speeds.

In general, a BP has much higher potential in PvM, especially after 105. A BP also has much higher PvP potential.

In my opinion, the reasons to make a 1v1 RM are:

1. You want to be different, or you prefer the Ringmaster class over the Billposter class.
2. You permanently partner with another fighter and are willing to sacrifice a little of your potential to help your partner more.
3. In the pre-Azria days, you could go 1v1 until you were high enough to switch to Mercrack. With Azria (and now Coral Island), AoE'ing from the start is generally far better.

[_ChriSter]

CW build is 40-60 base STA. The better equip, the less STA you can add.
You could also add that you shouldn't be going to CW unless your lvl 80.

[zomgcookies]

There are no Lightning Bs, they're called Electric Bs instead.

Also, for 1v1 BPs - LGG's better only when you manage 30% crit rate or more - I can pull off 20% with an LGG, but Hknuckle's still better in comparison.

[sarisa_]

All corrections so far applied.

[zomgcookies]

Another thing I noticed, but it might just be me I hope - your links to each build don't work. They just redirect back to the original post.

[ecclesiastes]

I had some link issues myself, but my browser's been whacky anyhow.

Good stuff. I'm so putting this in my sig; it might stave off some new threads that already have answers in the front page, and help some people before they ask.

[sarisa_]

Another thing I noticed, but it might just be me I hope - your links to each build don't work. They just redirect back to the original post.

I was logged in when I created the links, and while taking out the sid entry, took out the anchor as well.

Corrected.

[sarisa_]

Did some minor updates to all sections, and cleaned up the formatting. Also applied links to all of the set and weapon pages in the Wiki.

[Sanryu_]

sticky please :>
good job


maybe you want to add that burst cracks advantage is that its damage is increased by elementing the weapon.

[sarisa_]

maybe you want to add that burst cracks advantage is that its damage is increased by elementing the weapon.

I mentioned it in the Mercrack sections. I'll put it into the Str BP section. Do you know how much of a damage increase it provides? 5%, 10%?

[zomgcookies]

Not really sure about the % damage increase from elements, but it looks to be the same for every class that uses element upgrades (bar Eles). Someone might have to test that in general x:

Edit: Wiki update looks good so far.

[abhishekh]

Weapons
60-89: Yakadain Knuckle

Are you sure .-.?

[sarisa_]

Weapons
60-89: Yakadain Knuckle

Are you sure .-.?

I need more information on various set and weapon combinations to see what is most effective at those levels. I do know that on a 43 dex BP, with a +3 set, you will get significantly more damage over time with a Yakadain than a Guardian[1]. With a +4 set, it's close but an identically upgraded Yak will still slightly outdamage the Guardian.

I'm not as familiar with full strength builds below 105/95, so if any of the experts have anything to add, feel free.

[1] Averaging 8 Giant Nautrepy kills at level 73, +3 set, 43 dex BP. Yak+5/17% attack speed shield killed over 10 seconds faster on average than a Guardian+8/3% crit rate shield.

[the_big_t]

Looks pretty good.

[zomgcookies]

Weapons
60-89: Yakadain Knuckle

Are you sure .-.?

I need more information on various set and weapon combinations to see what is most effective at those levels. I do know that on a 43 dex BP, with a +3 set, you will get significantly more damage over time with a Yakadain than a Guardian[1]. With a +4 set, it's close but an identically upgraded Yak will still slightly outdamage the Guardian.

I'm not as familiar with full strength builds below 105/95, so if any of the experts have anything to add, feel free.

[1] Averaging 8 Giant Nautrepy kills at level 73, +3 set, 43 dex BP. Yak+5/17% attack speed shield killed over 10 seconds faster on average than a Guardian+8/3% crit rate shield.

I'm a little confused about what you're looking for - 1v1 set ups as full str? o.o Cause you're mentioning cookie cutter builds in there >:

At 75, full str and a +8 set works great with Hknuckle/aspd awakenings. If you're going to stay full str past 75, definitely get a +8 set at the minimum. Anything below 75 can use a Yakadain till then.

[sarisa_]

At 75, full str and a +8 set works great with Hknuckle/aspd awakenings. If you're going to stay full str past 75, definitely get a +8 set at the minimum. Anything below 75 can use a Yakadain till then.

That's what I needed. Would you suggest reducing a Rody at 95 for the 12% hit?

[zomgcookies]

If you have the money, sure go for it.

[sarisa_]

I need some commentary on Speedos for AoE'ing. I assume they are not terribly effective for AoE BP's and RM's (demols or plugs being more useful), so if there is anything to confirm or deny my assumption, please reply.

[zomgcookies]

As far as I know, Speedos+3 are the only ones worth it, since they give 10% Block each. And the block they give becomes more effective with a higher + set, such as +8 and above.

Low sta builds - plugs are better to compensate for your lack of defense.
High sta builds - speedos would be better to try and block some of those crits.

With a 28% defense suit, since you can pretty much reach minimal defense easily, I'd go with speedos there and aim for blocking crits.

[tethanos]

Is talin really the best set to use until 105? i've been asking many high level 1v1 bp's and most of them (all of them actually) do not recommend using talin to 105. the defence of talin suit is really low compared to the 75 sets.