- Introduction
- Recommended Build
- Equipment
- Closing Comments
1. Introduction
Many people say that Blades are expensive, and they're right. However, a lot of the cost between levels 60-90 can be avoided by making smart equipment choices. The purpose of this guide is to inform you of the best equipment choices to make for your build, including many cheap alternatives.
2. Recommended Build
First things first. If you have any sort of notions about soloing as a Blade, forget about them. The amount of Dex needed to make up for buffs such as Accuracy, Cannonball and Haste is so extreme, that your DPS will suffer immensely (the optimal build for soloing at 105+ is somewhere around 140 Dex). Levels 60-75 are bearable due to weapons with nice bonuses, such as Dretras. But much higher level than that, you'll come to regret it, trust me. If you want to solo as a 1v1 character, you should really make a BP instead (AoE Blades are actually very good solo Ghunters at 105+, but it's certainly not an effective way to level (1v1 solo Grinding with a high Dex build, that is)). That said, I'm going to recommend this build:
Str: xxx
Sta: 25
Dex: 33
A great middle-of-the-road build with excellent DPS, and also not too expensive. 33 Dex is a Magic Number. Level 15-60, this will give you 40 Dex with beginner buffs, allowing you to reach the first Sword Speed Break at 38 Dex, and giving you 4% Crit rate. At 60+, switch to Axes, and this will allow you to reach the first Axe Speed Break at 53 Dex, which is all you need. You might consider pushing Dex to 40, or Sta to 30, but I wouldn't go any higher than that.
15-60 Level by Level
A slight modification from my 1v1 Knight Guide. These are my recommended builds level by level. I obtained these builds by using Jon's Character simulator and finding the optimal build each level. It's not always possible to have the optimal build, because the values for Str and Dex tend to jump back and forth a bit, but these builds are a close as possible while sticking to a linear progression.
Level 15: Str: 43; Sta: 15; Dex: 15
With Beginner Buffs: Str: 50; Sta: 29; Dex: 22
Starting with a good base Str will speed up the first few levels significantly. From this point, add nothing but Dex until your Dex reaches 33 (40 with Beginner Buffs). Set Protection at level 5, the minimum needed to unlock your other self-buffs.
Level 20: Str: 43; Sta: 15; Dex: 25
With Beginner Buffs: Str: 50; Sta: 29; Dex: 32
Still adding Dex at this point. Set your Empower Weapon at level 9, which is the highest you can while still being able to max Blazing Sword and Sword Mastery as soon as they are available. I also recommend doing the Mia quest, which can be obtained from JeongHwa, directly across from the Magic store in Saint Morning. Rewards from this are a lot of exp, and a Gore+3 necklace.
Level 25: Str: 45; Sta: 15; Dex: 33
With Beginner Buffs: Str: 52; Sta: 29; Dex: 40
By this point, you've finally reached 40 Dex, and can enjoy your additional Attack Speed, Hit Rate, and Crit Rate. Max Blazing Sword at this point. Not only will this give you higher Attack, but higher Hit Rate as well.
Level 30: Str: 50; Sta: 20; Dex: 33
With Beginner Buffs: Str: 57; Sta: 34; Dex: 40
Now's a good time to start adding a little Sta. Max Sword Mastery, and now you have your two most important self-buffs mastered. Also, do the Red Bang quest, which you can get from Luda (the vagrant armor merchant in Flaris). Hold off on the last part until you are at least level 40 though. Rewards of this quest are a decent amount of exp, around 375k penya, and an Entanale Sword, which is the best sword you can use for quite a while. I recommend buying a second Entanale from another player, then elementing one of your swords with Wind+3, and the other with Fire+3. With just these two swords, you can easily get to level 45 while always having elemental advantage. In conjunction with Empower Weapon, this will add a lot of damage (nearly as much as Sword Mastery). Continue to add points to Empower Weapon as you level up.
Level 45: Str: 75; Sta: 25; Dex: 33
With Beginner Buffs: Str: 82; Sta: 39; Dex: 40
15 levels have gone by, and in the process we've added 5 Sta, and 25 Str. Empower Weapon should be maxed by this point. My recommendation now would be to get Pan Barrier to level 10, so that you can start adding points to Sneaker (but don't max it... level 19 has a higher success rate). There's a number of good quests available at this point. The Bone Bowl quest, the Playscript quest, and the Ivillis Dungeon quest. The Bone Bowl quest you should be able to do quite easily solo at level 44. For the Playscript quest, you will need kill a number of Steam Walkers, which are level 53. If you want to attempt it solo, I would recommend elementing a level 43 suit to either Water+3, or Earth+3 (as Small Steam Walkers are Fire, and normal Steam Walkers are Electric). The first few parts of the Ivillis Dungeon quest are also easily done solo, but the last part requires you to kill 4 Ivillis Guardians, which have as many HP as a giant, and hit just as hard. I would recommend bringing an Assist friend to help you. By the time you finish these quests, you should be level 48 or 49, depending on how many Steam Walkers you had to kill.
I'd also like to address equipment at this point. If you can afford it, I would highly recommend getting a Sword of Silver Sword, which adds Attack Speed+5%, and Hit Rate+10%. One of these might cost between 3m and 5m, depending on your server. If you have extra funds, you might also consider getting the level 45 set (Stitch/Pangrill), which adds HP+10% and Attack Speed+20%. Very nice to have, but not too necessary, especially if you're always leveling with an FS. If you're short on funds, just save your money for the Re(s)corn set at level 60.
Level 60: Str: 105; Sta: 25; Dex: 33
Finally level 60! From this moment on you'll add nothing but Str. Go do your job change quest. Done? Good. Before you continue leveling, there's a couple more quests you should do: the second part of the Red Bang quest, and the Emerald Mantis quest. Doing both these will give you about 180% exp; nearly two whole levels. And they're easy too.
From this point on we're going to be using Axes. After completing your job chance quest, you should have enough points to max your Axe Buffs, as well as having Sneaker at level 19. At level 65, be sure to max Berserk, which is the last skill you'll need for 1v1 grinding.
Soloing Build
Wait a minute, I thought you said that Blades shouldn't solo! Yes, I did say that, and I really don't think they should either. But enough people have asked about it, and the truth of the matter is that Blades can solo reasonably well at lower levels (from 60-75, perhaps even from 75-90 as well, but at 90+ it's really not feasible anymore). There's a few factors to keep in mind, however. The ability to solo well will be more expensive than a straight leveling Build. Also, when you are with an FS or BP fighting partner, your damage won't be as good as it otherwise could be. If you accept these terms and conditions, click Next to continue.
Str: xxx
Sta: 30
Dex: 40
Even if you're going to be spending a lot of time soloing from 60-75, I wouldn't change the build too much... you'll only end up hurting yourself later on if you do. You might consider boosting your Sta to 30, but I wouldn't go much beyond that. Instead, always element your suit against what you're fighting to help lower damage. It'd also probably be wise to push your Dex up to 40 to help max out your Hit rate.
For your set, you should probably have a +4. Although, only having +3 wouldn't be the end of the world either (slightly below max hit rate, but nothing too extreme). At 75+ you'll want a +4 anyway, which should carry you through to 90 pretty nicely.
For weapons at level 60, I'm going to make three suggestions. First, to buy two Taytras. It's not a bad option, because you can just use two Taytras all the time, whether you have an FS or not. And when you're with an FS/BP, you'll have guaranteed max Hit rate, regardless of whether they have accuracy maxed. Soloing with a +3 set, you'll have 93%-94% Hit rate, with 83% Attack Speed.
My second weapon recommendation is to hang onto your SoSS, and buy a Taytra. When soloing, you'll be using the SoSS main-hand and Taytra off-hand. Yes, SoSS main-hand, playing on a couple factors: the Hit+10% from Blazing Sword, and the first Sword speed break at 38 Dex. Despite having a main-hand weapon with much lower damage than the first option, the DPS is surprisingly similar, mainly due to higher Attack Speed. While soloing with a +3 set, you'll once again have 93%-94% Hit rate, with 93% Attack Speed. While leveling with an FS/BP, you should get an NPC Axe with a decent Str/Attack awaken for your off-hand, using the Taytra main-hand, which is actually one of the very best options at this point.
The third option I'm going to mention is the best by a good margin (at least for soloing), but it's also the most expensive. And that would be to get one Taytra, and one Dretra. While soloing, use the Dretra main-hand, and the Taytra off-hand, giving you 96% Hit rate (max), and 93% attack speed. When with an FS/BP, switch the Taytra to the main-hand for better DPS. The down-side to this is that when you are with a partner, you'll have lower DPS than if you were using two Taytras, or a Taytra with an awakened NPC Axe (essentially, paying more for less damage), but it is the best option for soloing.
One option that I don't recommend is two Dretras. Although it is slightly better for soloing than Dretra / Taytra, when you are with an FS/BP, you'll have much lower DPS than even a Taytra with an unawakened NPC Axe, which is pretty ridiculous when you think about the difference in cost.
Should you choose to solo past level 75, your effectiveness will drop even more. Although you should definitely get an H Axe for when you are partnered, while soloing you won't be able to use it, due to Hit rate issues. Instead you'll need to stick with one of the three options listed above.
Note that I'm playing off the fact that you can switch between a Sword main-hand, and an Axe main-hand seemlessly. It is possible to max both your Sword and Axe buffs at level 60, and Berserk at level 65, but you can't waste any skill points on anything else, other than Sneaker.
About leveling, you'll pretty much be restricted to killing things within 2-4 levels of yourself while soloing. A notable exception to this is Syliacas. They will one-hit you, just skip them. Stay at Cranes until 67-69, and then move straight to Greemongs, or Yettis if you have access to Azria.
Alternative Builds
Str: xxx
Sta: 15
Dex: 18
The classic full Str build (the 18 Dex is for 1% extra Crit rate using a +8 set). If raw damage is your thing, go for it. However, plan on spending a lot of cash on this build, straight from the beginning. Levels 15-60, you should use a shield with at least Dex+16. Once again, this will allow you to reach the first Sword Speed Break with beginner buffs, and your hit rate with thank you. I'd also recommend making this a Female character. The Hit+20% from CW Boots (Shaentra) will help you a lot at 90+.
If you really want to get the most out of this build right away, the optimal armor choice at level 65 is not Rescorn, but rather full Shaentra (female only) with a reduced H Axe main-hand, and either a G Axe or a high Str awakened NPC Axe (actually the better of the two options) off-hand. The Shaentra set doesn't need to upgraded at all either, although you can get +3 or +4 if you like the glow (and obviously pierce with Attack+8%-12%). With this setup, you should have sub-4 second kills at Yettis already at 65 (or sub-3s at Greemongs), with max Crits extending into the 8k-9k region. You can continue with this straight through to 90 (optionally switching out your off-hand at level 75 for a second H Axe, or reducing an A Axe at 80, etc.). Levels 45-65 a Stitch set would be best for the attack speed bonus. Thanks goes to abhishekh for this excellent suggestion.
Str: xxx
Sta: 30-40
Dex: 53-66
Some people recommend this build, and it's alright I guess. It's a tad bit cheaper at higher levels than the recommended build, but not by much. At higher levels you'll want to pierce with Electric cards anyway, because extra Crit rate is a lot better than equal amounts of extra Crit Damage. I really don't recommend this build; I'm mentioning it only because I know a lot of people use it. 66 Dex is the absolute maximum any 1v1 Blade build should have.
3. Equipment
Level 60
Which armor should I use a level 60?
There's really only one choice: Re(s)corn (or alternately, full Shaentra for female characters, see the full Str build section above). The extra Attack Speed is really, really handy. If you plan on switching to Akan/Einy at level 75, you could use the level 45 Set too; the Attack Speed bonus is the same. A +3 Set is more than sufficient, although I'd recommend a +4. You'll want at least +4 at level 75+ anyway, and it's a nice safeguard against FSes that don't have Accuracy maxed. Instead of wasting cash upgrading your set too highly, concentrate instead on getting Attack+12% piercings. It'll have a much higher effect.
Which weapons should I use at level 60?
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Your base Dex
15-31 │ 32-49 │ 50+
╔═══════════════╪═══════════════╪═══════════════╗
+0║Dretra / GAxe │GAxe / Taytra│GAxe / Taytra║
───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
+3║Dretra / GAxe │GAxe / Taytra│GAxe / Taytra║
───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
Your +4║GAxe / Dretra│GAxe / Taytra│GAxe / GAxe ║
Set ───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
+6║GAxe / Dretra│GAxe / GAxe │GAxe / GAxe ║
───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
+8║GAxe / Dretra│GAxe / GAxe │GAxe / GAxe ║
───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
+10║GAxe / Dretra│GAxe / GAxe │GAxe / GAxe ║
╚═══════════════╧═══════════════╧═══════════════╝
G Axes are not to be underestimated. Not only is it an Axe (Axes get 5.5 Attack per Str, Swords only get 4.5), but it also has a huge base attack of 240~280 (compared to Dretras which are 260~265, and Taytras which are 230~240). Dretras have a lot of hype, but they're really not that good. The only time they're kind of useful is with a full Str build, to help max Attack Speed. Or if you're soloing, but for reasons stated in the introduction, I'm assuming you're not going to be (for information about solo weapon choices, see the Soloing Build section above). Here you can also see that at this point, anything higher than a +6 Set is a complete waste. A +0 Set is actually just fine. Although, as stated above, +3 or +4 will help quite a bit if your FS doesn't have Accuracy maxed.
Note that where ever you see a G Axe in the off-hand, or paired with a Taytra, this could easily be replaced with an NPC Axe with a high Str awaken, which actually results in higher DPS, and tends to be cheaper as well (in this case, the Taytra should be moved to the main-hand). The other option would be to replace any G Axe you see with a Taytra (if paired with a Dretra, once again use the Taytra main-hand). Damage isn't quite as high as with a G Axe, but they tend to be a lot cheaper. You'll also have extra Hit rate that way, in case your FS doesn't have Accuracy.
Level 75
Which armor should I use at level 75?
Two good options. Either continue using Re(s)corn, or switch to Akan/Einy. When you start using an H Axe, the Attack Speed bonus from Re(s)corn isn't quite so significant anymore; with Berserk, you'll have max Attack Speed without it. The extra Defense from Akan/Einy is also quite useful, especially if you intend to level at Pinkies (which you should, they're by far the best experience you can get from 75-88). But there's not any reason why you can't continue using Re(s)corn, and I actually recommend it, because you'll have max Attack Speed even when Berserk isn't active (which is about 25% of the time), which will give you better average DPS. You could really use either though.
Which weapons should I use at level 75?
- Code: Select all
Your base Dex
15-31 │ 32-49 │ 50+
╔═══════════════╪═══════════════╪═══════════════╗
+0║Dretra / Dretra│HSword / Dretra│HAxe / Taytra║
───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
+3║HSword / Dretra│HAxe / Taytra│HAxe / Taytra║
───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
Your +4║HSword / Dretra│HAxe / Taytra│HAxe / Taytra║
Set ───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
+6║HAxe / Dretra│HAxe / Taytra│HAxe / HSword║
───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
+8║HAxe / Dretra│HAxe / HSword│HAxe / HSword║
───╫───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────╢
+10║HAxe / HAxe │HAxe / HSword│HAxe / HSword║
╚═══════════════╧═══════════════╧═══════════════╝
A couple interesting things to note:
Using two H Axes is only optimal with a full Str build and a +10 Set. In any other situation, there's a better weapon choice.
Using two H Swords is never optimal.
Optimal builds per Set level with weapons were as follows:
+10 Set: 149 Str, 29 Dex. H Axe, H Sword.
+8 Set: 148 Str, 30 Dex. H Axe, H Sword.
+6 Set: 147 Str, 31 Dex. H Axe, Taytra.
+4 Set: 146 Str, 32 Dex. H Axe, Taytra.
+3 Set: 137 Str, 41 Dex. H Axe, Taytra.
+0 Set: 127 Str, 51 Dex. H Axe, Taytra.
In conclusion, use an H Axe and a Taytra. Or an H Sword if you have a good Set. If you were using a Taytra from 60-75, then you'll only need to get one new weapon, which is a nice result. Here you can also see quite clearly where the recommended build of 33 Dex is coming from.
Level 90
Which armor should I use at level 90?
There's really only one option: Dayst/Dest, but you only need 3 pieces to get the Crit+15% bonus. If you have a really nice awaken on one of your armor pieces, particularly Crit or Adoch, just continue using that. If you have a female character, there's another option, to use CW Boots or Gaunts which give Hit+20% and Hit+18% respectively. If you're using a full Str build, it's really the only option (unless you can afford a +10 Set). If you went with 33 Dex, CW pieces will save you from needing to upgrade so highly. If you're not using the Boots, you'll need a +8 Set (for full Str, +10). If you are using them, you'll only need +4 (for full Str, +6).
Which weapons should I use at level 90?
Here's where things start to get expensive. You'll need to get A Axes, which each give Crit+20%. Yes, they're expensive, but it's worth it. They also have a nice resale value, so it's not too much of an issue to cough up a little cash.
As for piercings, both Fire Bs and Electric Bs will give you about the same damage increase, although Fire Bs would probably be slightly better. We've already got a lot of Crit Bonus, but not a lot of Crit Damage. Fire Cards will give you higher Attack, and push your Crit Damage up as well. Perhaps the smartest option is to pierce your main-hand weapon (the one you will be using off-hand when you get your first LGA) with Electric Bs, and the other with Fire Bs. This way, you'll already have the extra Crit bonus to put the additional Crit Damage from your LGA into effect more often, without having to switch cards. If you don't quite have a +8 set at this point, then go with Electric Bs on both of your weapons to help max out your Hit rate.
Level 105+
Which armor should I use at level 105+?
Continue using Dayst/Dest forever (barring you should ever get the 120 Set). Once again, with the 33 Dex build, +4 should be fine with CW Boots, +8 without. For full Str, +6 with, +10 without.
Which weapons should I use at level 105+?
I doubt I need to answer this, because LGAs are probably the reason why you made a Blade to begin with (each giving Crit+20%, Crit Damage+40%, arguably the best weapon in the game for any class). At 110+, many Blades choose to use a Bloody Sword off-hand. Although two LGAs are better for Grinding, CWing, Ghunting, etc., it's a good option because it boosts your Attack Speed when you don't have GT. This is useful not only for Guild Siege, but also for when you become a low-level Master.
About piercings, at this point Electric Cards are the way to go. You already have Crit Damage+80% from your two LGAs, so by increasing your Crit rate, you're putting that extra damage in to play more often. Although, I'm not convinced that any more than ~5 Electric Bs is really necessary. I personally have my B Sword pierced with Electric, and my LGA pierced with Fire, which I find to be a nice balance.
4. Closing Comments
There tends to be a lot of disagreement, even among experienced players, concerning which equipment is best to use, particularly levels 60-90. I've tried to keep this guide as free of my own personal opinions as possible, and simply to state what in fact is optimal. Hopefully, this will serve as an answer to the numerous 'Which equipment should I use at level X?' topics that we've all been seeing so many of.
Very helpful for the beginning blades.
