Post by DiximaN on Feb 13, 2015 2:48:37 GMT -8
The Pure Spear Spearman/DK guide
I made this guide since I love this class and I'd want to share the way I play this class with you guys. So I share the whole things related to this class: skill/AP builds, training places, weapon guide and more.
Why being a pure?
Well, the main reason to be pure spear is Buster (AKA Spear crusher) which is a skill that u get at 3rd job..
Think about it. When you are fighting Pianus, are you going to be using Dragon Fury on it? Of course not. You'd do about 6k damage as opposed to about 24k damage per hit with Buster. It costs some mobbing ability at early 3rd job, but in the end it won't be such a big diffrence.
Pros and Cons
Pros of being a DK:
* Longer Ranged Attack than other warriors
* HYPER BODY
* Coolest 3rd job skills
* Bonus dmg for stabs which make the dmg even greater at 3rd job and beyond
* Berserk doubles your dmg at max lvl when your hp goes below a certain %
Cons of being a DK:
* Slashes happen a lot in 2nd and they are fairly weaker than stabs
* Slow attacks (depends on your weapon)
* Its not easy to learn how to use Berserk, also it limits you from fighting effectively against bosses like Anego
AP distribution
Not a big matter, since main stat is STR and 2ndary is DEX. There are 3 kinds of AP distributions: Basedex (where u cap dex at 70-90ish), Lowdex(where u cap dex at 40-25) and Dexless(where u cap dex at lower than 25, or having just 4 dex). I'd prefer the base dex one since its suitable for most guys who it is their 1st character and thus not having a very good amount of funding, also its make the dmg range more stable since dex raises the min dmg.
In that case, AP distribution should be dex=2*your lvl until lvl 40. Then you put all ap to STR every time you lvl. Means, that at lv 40 ur dex should be 80. Still doing miss to monsters? build urself a dex/acc based gear.
The lower you cap your dex, the more dex/acc-based gear you need, thus more funding is needed. F3
Maple Island
This is where you start your journey.
Should be a piece of cake since your main stat point is STR. Just to the necessary quests and not beyond unless you'll leave the island with lvl 11... screwing up your character.... (means: the chair quest and the parts of Lucas/Mai's training). LEAVE THE ISLAND AS SOON AS YOU GET LVL 10, then go take the Quest from Olaf - but DON'T complete it until you get the job advance from Dances with Balrogs.
Skill build should be max recovery and max nimble feet. Three snails is useless since you do already more dmg than throwing the snail shells....
1st job
Requirement: Level 10, with 35 STR. To be honest you should've more than 35 at lv10.
Go to the Shrine of Warriors which is located at the highest point of Perion. Talk to "Dances with Balrog" and he'll advance you as a Swordman if you have the requirement stats. ONLY AFTER THAT Complete the quest from Olaf and start doing Dances' questline. That'd be immediate lvl 11.
So, you got your 1st job! now you're a warrior! and you got a bunch of skills to use.
Here is my skill build. It use early power strike and slash blast, so its gonna eat out your MP, which is gonna eat your mesos spent on MP potions. However, you'll level faster, and getting mesos isn't a big problem at Noble.
Level 10 goes for Power strike (1)
Level 11 goes for Slash Blast (1), rest to Improving HP Recovery.
Then, raise Improving HP recovery to 5 so you can max Improving Max HP Increase.
Get Improving Max HP Increase to 10, which is max lvl, then put (1) to Endure and then max Slash Blast.
After you max Slash Blast, max Power strike.
The rest of the points, until lvl 30, goes either to HP Recovery, or raising Endure to 3 and putting 1 point at Iron body just for lulz, even though its an useless skill.
Training places for 10-30:
*IMPORTANT! QUESTS ARE ALWAYS GOOD EXP (and more beyond exp). YOU SHOULD DO ALL OF THEM (depends on lvl)*
10-15: Job Quests, should be a speedy way to lvl up to 15. If not, slime trees are always a good spot.
15-20: Octopus
20-25: Ant Tunnel III/IV, which are great places for completing the 99/999 quests, which are good exp and potions quests, or Wild boars which drops Maple weapons including a spear.
25-30: Cave of Evil Eye II, Sahel 3
2nd job
Congratz! You've made it to 30. Now the training goes more serious.
Head back to Shrine of Warriors once you've reached Lv 30, which is located at the highest point of Perion. Go inside, talk to "Dances with Balrog". He'll give you a letter and you've to pass it to the job advancement instructor near Perion. After giving the letter, you'll be given an errand to collect 30 Dark Marbles by defeating the monsters inside. Be careful to stock your potions up before you start collecting the 30 Dark Marbles.
Once you've collected 30 Dark Marbles, talk to the instructor, and he'll award you with a Proof of a Hero. Go back to Perion's Shrine Warrior, and talk to "Dances with Balrog" once again, where then you'll advance as the Spearman.
Now, as for the skills, you get no new offensinve ones, which is meh boring since you need to powerstrike/slashblast the monster at your way to 70, but you get a couple of supportive skills which are useful until lvl 200.
Max Spear Mastery first. it will make dmg more stable.
Then, put 3 on Iron will and max out Hyper Body to become more attractive at parties.
Then max Final Attack - Spear.
Then max Spear Booster.
Then max Iron Will.
By this time all mentioned 2nd skills should be maxed - so rest goes for HP Recovery from 1st job.
Conclusion:
Spear Mastery MAX
Final Attack MAX
Booster MAX
Iron will MAX
Hyper body MAX.
Weapon guide
My recommendation it to get a nice looking Maple Impaler, which is lvl 43 spear which drops from Wild boars. it gives a bunch of accuracy (+30ish), and also have Fast(5) attacking speed compared to normal spears, which most of them are Slow (7).
Low on accuracy at lvl 60? Get the Soul spear, which is a lvl 64 spear which also gives +35ish accuracy. a good scrolled one should work fine until lvl 90.
Training guide
30-35 Cave of Evil Eye II
35-40 Burnt Land V (Fire Boars & Lupins)
35-45 Giant of the Sunset (Desert giants)
45-50 Straw Target Dummies
50-55 GS1
55-64 MP3/GS2 (even lv50 can go there with enough acc and good weapon)
64-70 Windraiders, which can be found at lower ascent (chance of falling down...) or at one room at Crimson wood castle (closed area)
3rd Job
Now the real fun begins.
Go to El Nath - Chief Residence and speak to Tylus. After talking to Tylus, head back to Victoria Island and talk to "Dances with Balrog" which is located in Perion. Next, find the Door of Dimension located at Ant Tunnel Park and it'll bring you to "The Path of the Glittering Crystal". Walk until the end of the path and enter the portal to defeat the wiseman's dark side to obtain the Black Charm.
Return to "Dances with Balrog" and exchange the Black Charm for a Necklace of Strength. Return to El Nath after that and give the item to Tylus. Head on to the Holy Ground at the Snowfield (Sharp Cliff II). 1 Dark Crystal is requirred to answer 5 questions to obtain the Necklace of Wisdom. Again, head back to Tylus in El Nath and give him the Necklace of Wisdom.
Skills
The good thing about 3rd job is that you get a bunch of new offensive skills with cool dragon animations, while other jobs are still stuck with a (powered up I must say...) powerstrike and slashblast, and you also get some supportive skills.
First, put the 1st point from the job advancement to Elemental Resistance, which will lower magical dmg to you by -12% which is better than taking it all.
The next, from lv 71, is to max Buster (spear).
Then max Dragon Blood. This is a money saver skill but also bit dangerous since messing up this skill with bosses that do 1/1 attacks could KILL YOU.
After both skills are maxed, put 3 on sacrifice and max Dragon Roar.
Then max Element Resistance
Then max Dragon fury - Spear which is good to lure monsters.
Rest of skill points goes to Power Crash/Sacrifice. I'd put 1 to power crash and max Sacrifice because its another cool offensive skill that can do a lot of dmg, and its another way to lower HP which is important it you play with Berserk at 4th job.
Conclusion:
Buster (Spear) MAX
Fury (Spear) MAX
Sacrifice 3/whatever you spent till 120
Dragon Roar MAX
Power crash 1/whatever you spent till 120
Dragon Blood MAX
Weapon guide
This is the point where you need to find your end-game weapon.
Meanwhile, you can use a scrolled Omega Spear, which is lvl 80 spear, or a Fairfrozen. I prefer Omega spears because they're more common (they drop from Gobies). Use the weapon which have as high as possible weapon attack (above its average att)! means, if you hunt for Omega, better choose one who have ABOVE 92 att which is its avg watt. I found some Omega spears which have 97 att, which is comparable to lv 90 ones, so a good scrolled one would be 110+ att which is enough even above lv 120 if you ask me.
The real dillemma, comes with the end game weapon. End game weapon, is a weapon that you perfect with 10% or 30% scrolls using white scrolls or Admin's congrats, and you'll use it from the point it became perfect until the end of the game.
A good perfected weapon (+7) with 10%/30% scrolls, will add +35 att to the original watt of the weapon, and also give a bonus of +21 STR and 7 wdef.
I'd recommend 4 spears:
* Sky Ski, which is a lv 85 spear gachable from NLC. It does not have a high att compared to others (it have 94 avg att when clean, and highest I've ever seen was 99 att) but it have Medium attack speed, which (added with Booster) makes an ultra fast spear compared to others and thus - more DPS you deal to monster.
* Timeless Alshupiece, which is lv 120 decent looking spear, which is the strongest spear so far (114att clean and can go above 117). The problem is that it costs some BPQ points (35k or 40k if I remember right?) which is the only place that its available from (besides Pink bean which isn't working there F3)
* Dragon Faltizan, a lvl 110 spear, not the best looking spear, used to be the strongest weapon until WZ edits came out (107 att clean and of course, can go above/below). Its available from 2 places: Horntail, which is to date the only undefeated boss, or forging the weapon through Mos at Leafre (requires lv 100 spear and a couple of easy to get items dropped from monsters)
* Pinaka, a lvl 100 spear which is a common drop from various mobs and bosses. IF YOU FIND SOMETHING WHICH HAVE 107 ATT OR ABOVE THEN PERFECT IT. Close to avg attack? (102) then throw it to garbage/60% it until you find a better one/make a lv 110 spear out of it.
Training guide:(w/o bosses)
Lv 70-80: Windraiders
Lv 80-85: Wolf Spiders
Lv 85-93: Gobies, Stormbreakers (can be found at one room in Crimson wood castle)
Lv 93-100: Gigantic Spirit Viking, Squids
Lv 100-108: Himes (Dreamy Ghosts), Cornians, Firebrands+Nightshadows which can be found at map named The Path Of Strength.
Lv 108-120: Skelegons, Petrifighters
4th Job
Now, GO HARD OR GO HOME.
Speak to the respective 3rd job instructor in El Nath(Tylus) to get a Recommendation Letter for the Fourth Advancement. Bring the Recommendation Letter to the 4th Job Instructor(Harmonia) in Leafre(Located in a Hidden portal at Valley of the Antelope map) for acknowledgement. Now, prove to the Harmonia that you have what it takes for the 4th job advancement by getting the Heroic Star and Heroic Pentagon. You may hunt the Manon and Griffey to get the required items. Alternatively, head to Eos Tower 44th Floor to get a Secret Letter of Spell at 10 million mesos. After which, look for Chief Tatamo of Leafre Village to exchange for a set of Heroic Star and Heroic Pentagon. When you are ready with the required items, go to your 4th job instructor to make your job advancement. Congratulations! You are now a Dark Knight of Darkness! You will be granted 3 Skill Points, 5 Ability Points, a Maple Hero Skill Book and 3 core skills, which are Rush, Achilles and Beholder.
Skills
As for the skills, prepare for a very different things that working there. Unlike 1st, 2nd and 3rd job skills, 4th job requires you to find 3 different types of books namely skillbook (level 1-10), storybook (quest to find mastery book aka mastery guide) and mastery book (which advanced the specific skill's MAX LEVEL from level 11-20 if talking about 20-books, or level 21-30 if talking about 30-books). Refer to this post which is how to get the rest of the skills, and this post which has a list of all Mastery books and indicates the type of monster that drops those.
Now for the builds. There are 2 kinds of builds: Early Berserk, which is suitable for funded guys/guys who are doing HP Wash an got the 20 and 30 books through Zakum/BPQ, and Late Berserk, which is suitable for Beginner DKs who are not washing.
The builds takes in consider that you've acheived ALL of the skills. Not related to the guides, If you are level 150 DK, and have less than 15k Hp, you need to wash some AP.
Early Berserk guide: (which is the build I used since I got the skills early and I did HP Wash)
At lv 120, put 1 point a Rush, and rest goes for Beholder.
Then, max Beholder. It will give you a fixed mastery, making dmg more stable, even if the skill is off.
Then max Berserk.
Put Maple Warrior to 10.
Max Power Stance since you'll go to zarms at this point and this will increase durability.
Max Maple Warrior if u got it to max lvl of 20.
Get Aura of the Beholder to 20.
Get Hex of the Beholder to 20. If maxed, you can't use the super OP Attack pots like Onyx, Gelt or Naricain since the skill will negate it by buffing the weapon att.
Get Hero's will to 1 point(its max lvl F3) by that time you maxing these skills - some bosses will require that.
Max Achilles.
By the time you should be lv 17x so all of your important 4th job skills should be maxed.
Max Rush if you want.
The rest can go to 3rd job skills, Improving HP Recovery from 1st job, or Monster magnet which is useless to me.
Late Berserk Guide (credit to Ayumilove)
(BHealing - Aura of the Beholder , Bbuffs - Hex of the Beholder)
120 – 120 : Rush 1, Beholder 2
121 – 122 : Beholder 3
123 – 123 : Beholder 2, Maple hero 1 – (Beholder Max!)
124 – 125 : Maple hero 3
126 – 126 : Maple hero 2, BHealing 1
127 – 134 : BHealing 3 – (Beholder Healing Max!)
135 – 137 : Achilles 3
138 – 138 : Achilles 1, Stance 2
139 – 144 : Stance 3
145 – 147 : Achilles 3
148 – 148 : Achilles 1, Stance 2
149 – 150 : Stance 3
151 – 151 : Stance 2, 1 Berserk – (Stance Max!)
152 – 157 : Berserk 3
158 – 158 : Berserk 1, Rush 2
159 – 160 : Rush 3
161 – 161 : Rush 2, Bbuffs 1 (stored)
162 – 167 : Bbuffs 3 (stored)
168 – 168 : Bbuffs 20 (Dump it all in at once. SEE NOTE #2), Achilles 1
169 – 171 : Achilles 3 – (Achiles Max!)
172 – 172 : Awakening 1 and the rest is up to yourself for now
NOTE #1 (from Ayumilove): Saving SP means don’t use them. How to read the skill build? Here is an example: 121 – 123 means level 121 122 and 123. (level 121 to level 123). 120 – 120 basically means just level 120.
NOTE #2: When maxing Hex of the Beholder, take a note that going above lv 20 will negate Attack pots like Onyx, Gelt or Naricain.
Training guide - Regular Monsters
Lv 120-135: Skelegons, Petrifighters
Lv 135-200: Skelegons, Petrifighters, Dukus, Crimson Guardians, Oblivion Guardians, Chief Oblivion Guardians (aka Oblivion4/5)
At this point Max Berserk is recommended so you can kill strong monsters faster (e.g. Oblivion5 monsters which have 135k hp...) and train more efficiently. A good target for you is to have enough good equips, skills and stats to 1-hit K/O Pertifighter/Skelesaurus.
Training guide - Recommended Bosses for 3rd and 4th jobbers
Level 95+ Headless Horseman. you'll will need to have enough acc to kill it, if not by lvl 95 so by lvl 100.
Level 120+ Bigfoot (decent exp till 200 but BEWARE TO NOT TOUCH BODY BY MISTAKE IF YOU PLAY WITH BERSERK)
Level 140+ Zakum Arms(Highly recommended for DKs since they can mob 2-3 arms at once with the expectation of 2 top right arms, but still decent exp even w/o them. My recommendation is to come there with a priest/bishop so he can dispell you from curses and HS you)
Another fightable bosses: Black Crow (lv 130+ w/o berserk unless YOU HAVE MAX HP), Kacchuu Musha (lv150+. It will do 40%- less magical dmg to you since Ele resistance)
Level 160+s can try do a full Zakum run or try Horntail prehead(s) with a partner (highly recommended that it will be a bishop)
Tips
* At 1st job, using spears is not obligatory. its a slow weapon, and besides, it doesn't matter which kind weapon you use at 1st job since everything sucks I'd recommend 1h/2h swords.
* When farming items, try to find the best weapon and armor drops, preferring above avg items.
* Quoted from 1st job training guide section: QUESTS ARE ALWAYS GOOD EXP (and more beyond exp). YOU SHOULD DO ALL OF THEM (depends on lvl)
* From the point you maxed Berserk, Having a pet with auto HP is (at least for me) obligatory. I'd recommend turning the HP warning to 30%ish and use potions like Melting Cheese (4k HP) or Reindeer Milks which heal 5K HP (the warning can go lower and the used potion my vary depends on your HP, and your amount of HP required to activate berserk, and the monsters you train at)
* Don't max Aura of the Beholder, leave it at lvl 20. Max lvl could destroy Berserk easily due to high HP recovery rate.
* DON'T EVER USE DRAGON BLOOD WHEN FIGHTING 1/1-CASTING BOSSES!!!! it'd kill you when the monster nukes, turns your HP to 1, and then Dragon blood drops your HP by 20 before you turn your finger on the HP potion button/your pet heals you. NLC potions (+12 att - similar to dragon blood)/Ciders (+20att) will be a proper alternative when bossing.
* (Mainly for funded guys/ones who have another high leveled char) Make yourself a decent int gear to wear it every time you are 99% as soon as possible. Why? because more INT = more MP gained per lvl = more MP that you can drop when HP washing, making your char have more HP thus making Berserk more effective and increase durability.
* If you don't have int gear and you still want to wash, you can always spend points to INT every time you lvl up - but not too much. A good base int would be 50ish, and don't forget that you have items and skills that add bonus int like ZHelm and Maple Warrior. (Credit goes to Brian aka Yoshi for doing it for the 1st time on the server and telling me about that trick f3)
* Make yourself a teleport list using VIP Teleport Rock so you can save your favorite maps and tp to them instead of wasting time walking.
* ALWAYS HAVE SAFETY CHARMS. Nobody wants to lose 10% of his exp at high lvls.... (Think about that - lvl 170 requires 428mil exp tnl, so dying will result in -42.8mil which compared to 2 Zakums. F3)
Useful guides besides the ones at Noblestory forums
ayumilovemaple.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/maplestory-dark-knight-skills/
web.archive.org/web/20140629143526/http://ayumilovemaple.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/monster-accuracy-table-for-warrior/
web.archive.org/web/20131222203503/http://ayumilovemaple.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/4th-job-advanement-guide-faq/
www.hidden-street.net/forum/threads/27432-Warrior-Spearman-DK-Guide
AND....How this guide would come to an end without some motivation videos?
TIGER (R.I.P) VIDEOS since most of the old guys who played here knew that Tiger, the formerly No.1 DK from GMS was my role model F3.
Tiger vs. Black Crow
Tiger pwns a group of hackers at Gobies
Another video of Tiger against Gobies
Dray86's legendary video, showing a group of high lvled guys against Pianus.... everybody dies - except Tiger!!! (and his gf Suuuushi)
Other players that I liked their videos
Scholtex999 some old school guy who was at GMS's top 5 after bigbang patch
Fikk, lv 16x DK
Phanter, a lvl 18x hybrid DK from MapleSEA
Lvl 90 funded DK pwns some bosses
Lvl 150 DK lvls up at Himes BEFORE 4TH JOB CAME OUT.
chickenpoodl, lvl 19x DK grinding at Oblivion4
And of course some self-promotional video from the days I were 15x. F3
Have fun training your young warrior!
Sources:
My experience
Hidden-Street.net
Ayumilovemaple.wordpress.net
I made this guide since I love this class and I'd want to share the way I play this class with you guys. So I share the whole things related to this class: skill/AP builds, training places, weapon guide and more.
Why being a pure?
Well, the main reason to be pure spear is Buster (AKA Spear crusher) which is a skill that u get at 3rd job..
Think about it. When you are fighting Pianus, are you going to be using Dragon Fury on it? Of course not. You'd do about 6k damage as opposed to about 24k damage per hit with Buster. It costs some mobbing ability at early 3rd job, but in the end it won't be such a big diffrence.
Pros and Cons
Pros of being a DK:
* Longer Ranged Attack than other warriors
* HYPER BODY
* Coolest 3rd job skills
* Bonus dmg for stabs which make the dmg even greater at 3rd job and beyond
* Berserk doubles your dmg at max lvl when your hp goes below a certain %
Cons of being a DK:
* Slashes happen a lot in 2nd and they are fairly weaker than stabs
* Slow attacks (depends on your weapon)
* Its not easy to learn how to use Berserk, also it limits you from fighting effectively against bosses like Anego
AP distribution
Not a big matter, since main stat is STR and 2ndary is DEX. There are 3 kinds of AP distributions: Basedex (where u cap dex at 70-90ish), Lowdex(where u cap dex at 40-25) and Dexless(where u cap dex at lower than 25, or having just 4 dex). I'd prefer the base dex one since its suitable for most guys who it is their 1st character and thus not having a very good amount of funding, also its make the dmg range more stable since dex raises the min dmg.
In that case, AP distribution should be dex=2*your lvl until lvl 40. Then you put all ap to STR every time you lvl. Means, that at lv 40 ur dex should be 80. Still doing miss to monsters? build urself a dex/acc based gear.
The lower you cap your dex, the more dex/acc-based gear you need, thus more funding is needed. F3
Maple Island
This is where you start your journey.
Should be a piece of cake since your main stat point is STR. Just to the necessary quests and not beyond unless you'll leave the island with lvl 11... screwing up your character.... (means: the chair quest and the parts of Lucas/Mai's training). LEAVE THE ISLAND AS SOON AS YOU GET LVL 10, then go take the Quest from Olaf - but DON'T complete it until you get the job advance from Dances with Balrogs.
Skill build should be max recovery and max nimble feet. Three snails is useless since you do already more dmg than throwing the snail shells....
1st job
Requirement: Level 10, with 35 STR. To be honest you should've more than 35 at lv10.
Go to the Shrine of Warriors which is located at the highest point of Perion. Talk to "Dances with Balrog" and he'll advance you as a Swordman if you have the requirement stats. ONLY AFTER THAT Complete the quest from Olaf and start doing Dances' questline. That'd be immediate lvl 11.
So, you got your 1st job! now you're a warrior! and you got a bunch of skills to use.
Here is my skill build. It use early power strike and slash blast, so its gonna eat out your MP, which is gonna eat your mesos spent on MP potions. However, you'll level faster, and getting mesos isn't a big problem at Noble.
Level 10 goes for Power strike (1)
Level 11 goes for Slash Blast (1), rest to Improving HP Recovery.
Then, raise Improving HP recovery to 5 so you can max Improving Max HP Increase.
Get Improving Max HP Increase to 10, which is max lvl, then put (1) to Endure and then max Slash Blast.
After you max Slash Blast, max Power strike.
The rest of the points, until lvl 30, goes either to HP Recovery, or raising Endure to 3 and putting 1 point at Iron body just for lulz, even though its an useless skill.
Training places for 10-30:
*IMPORTANT! QUESTS ARE ALWAYS GOOD EXP (and more beyond exp). YOU SHOULD DO ALL OF THEM (depends on lvl)*
10-15: Job Quests, should be a speedy way to lvl up to 15. If not, slime trees are always a good spot.
15-20: Octopus
20-25: Ant Tunnel III/IV, which are great places for completing the 99/999 quests, which are good exp and potions quests, or Wild boars which drops Maple weapons including a spear.
25-30: Cave of Evil Eye II, Sahel 3
2nd job
Congratz! You've made it to 30. Now the training goes more serious.
Head back to Shrine of Warriors once you've reached Lv 30, which is located at the highest point of Perion. Go inside, talk to "Dances with Balrog". He'll give you a letter and you've to pass it to the job advancement instructor near Perion. After giving the letter, you'll be given an errand to collect 30 Dark Marbles by defeating the monsters inside. Be careful to stock your potions up before you start collecting the 30 Dark Marbles.
Once you've collected 30 Dark Marbles, talk to the instructor, and he'll award you with a Proof of a Hero. Go back to Perion's Shrine Warrior, and talk to "Dances with Balrog" once again, where then you'll advance as the Spearman.
Now, as for the skills, you get no new offensinve ones, which is meh boring since you need to powerstrike/slashblast the monster at your way to 70, but you get a couple of supportive skills which are useful until lvl 200.
Max Spear Mastery first. it will make dmg more stable.
Then, put 3 on Iron will and max out Hyper Body to become more attractive at parties.
Then max Final Attack - Spear.
Then max Spear Booster.
Then max Iron Will.
By this time all mentioned 2nd skills should be maxed - so rest goes for HP Recovery from 1st job.
Conclusion:
Spear Mastery MAX
Final Attack MAX
Booster MAX
Iron will MAX
Hyper body MAX.
Weapon guide
My recommendation it to get a nice looking Maple Impaler, which is lvl 43 spear which drops from Wild boars. it gives a bunch of accuracy (+30ish), and also have Fast(5) attacking speed compared to normal spears, which most of them are Slow (7).
Low on accuracy at lvl 60? Get the Soul spear, which is a lvl 64 spear which also gives +35ish accuracy. a good scrolled one should work fine until lvl 90.
Training guide
30-35 Cave of Evil Eye II
35-40 Burnt Land V (Fire Boars & Lupins)
35-45 Giant of the Sunset (Desert giants)
45-50 Straw Target Dummies
50-55 GS1
55-64 MP3/GS2 (even lv50 can go there with enough acc and good weapon)
64-70 Windraiders, which can be found at lower ascent (chance of falling down...) or at one room at Crimson wood castle (closed area)
3rd Job
Now the real fun begins.
Go to El Nath - Chief Residence and speak to Tylus. After talking to Tylus, head back to Victoria Island and talk to "Dances with Balrog" which is located in Perion. Next, find the Door of Dimension located at Ant Tunnel Park and it'll bring you to "The Path of the Glittering Crystal". Walk until the end of the path and enter the portal to defeat the wiseman's dark side to obtain the Black Charm.
Return to "Dances with Balrog" and exchange the Black Charm for a Necklace of Strength. Return to El Nath after that and give the item to Tylus. Head on to the Holy Ground at the Snowfield (Sharp Cliff II). 1 Dark Crystal is requirred to answer 5 questions to obtain the Necklace of Wisdom. Again, head back to Tylus in El Nath and give him the Necklace of Wisdom.
Skills
The good thing about 3rd job is that you get a bunch of new offensive skills with cool dragon animations, while other jobs are still stuck with a (powered up I must say...) powerstrike and slashblast, and you also get some supportive skills.
First, put the 1st point from the job advancement to Elemental Resistance, which will lower magical dmg to you by -12% which is better than taking it all.
The next, from lv 71, is to max Buster (spear).
Then max Dragon Blood. This is a money saver skill but also bit dangerous since messing up this skill with bosses that do 1/1 attacks could KILL YOU.
After both skills are maxed, put 3 on sacrifice and max Dragon Roar.
Then max Element Resistance
Then max Dragon fury - Spear which is good to lure monsters.
Rest of skill points goes to Power Crash/Sacrifice. I'd put 1 to power crash and max Sacrifice because its another cool offensive skill that can do a lot of dmg, and its another way to lower HP which is important it you play with Berserk at 4th job.
Conclusion:
Buster (Spear) MAX
Fury (Spear) MAX
Sacrifice 3/whatever you spent till 120
Dragon Roar MAX
Power crash 1/whatever you spent till 120
Dragon Blood MAX
Weapon guide
This is the point where you need to find your end-game weapon.
Meanwhile, you can use a scrolled Omega Spear, which is lvl 80 spear, or a Fairfrozen. I prefer Omega spears because they're more common (they drop from Gobies). Use the weapon which have as high as possible weapon attack (above its average att)! means, if you hunt for Omega, better choose one who have ABOVE 92 att which is its avg watt. I found some Omega spears which have 97 att, which is comparable to lv 90 ones, so a good scrolled one would be 110+ att which is enough even above lv 120 if you ask me.
The real dillemma, comes with the end game weapon. End game weapon, is a weapon that you perfect with 10% or 30% scrolls using white scrolls or Admin's congrats, and you'll use it from the point it became perfect until the end of the game.
A good perfected weapon (+7) with 10%/30% scrolls, will add +35 att to the original watt of the weapon, and also give a bonus of +21 STR and 7 wdef.
I'd recommend 4 spears:
* Sky Ski, which is a lv 85 spear gachable from NLC. It does not have a high att compared to others (it have 94 avg att when clean, and highest I've ever seen was 99 att) but it have Medium attack speed, which (added with Booster) makes an ultra fast spear compared to others and thus - more DPS you deal to monster.
* Timeless Alshupiece, which is lv 120 decent looking spear, which is the strongest spear so far (114att clean and can go above 117). The problem is that it costs some BPQ points (35k or 40k if I remember right?) which is the only place that its available from (besides Pink bean which isn't working there F3)
* Dragon Faltizan, a lvl 110 spear, not the best looking spear, used to be the strongest weapon until WZ edits came out (107 att clean and of course, can go above/below). Its available from 2 places: Horntail, which is to date the only undefeated boss, or forging the weapon through Mos at Leafre (requires lv 100 spear and a couple of easy to get items dropped from monsters)
* Pinaka, a lvl 100 spear which is a common drop from various mobs and bosses. IF YOU FIND SOMETHING WHICH HAVE 107 ATT OR ABOVE THEN PERFECT IT. Close to avg attack? (102) then throw it to garbage/60% it until you find a better one/make a lv 110 spear out of it.
Training guide:(w/o bosses)
Lv 70-80: Windraiders
Lv 80-85: Wolf Spiders
Lv 85-93: Gobies, Stormbreakers (can be found at one room in Crimson wood castle)
Lv 93-100: Gigantic Spirit Viking, Squids
Lv 100-108: Himes (Dreamy Ghosts), Cornians, Firebrands+Nightshadows which can be found at map named The Path Of Strength.
Lv 108-120: Skelegons, Petrifighters
4th Job
Now, GO HARD OR GO HOME.
Speak to the respective 3rd job instructor in El Nath(Tylus) to get a Recommendation Letter for the Fourth Advancement. Bring the Recommendation Letter to the 4th Job Instructor(Harmonia) in Leafre(Located in a Hidden portal at Valley of the Antelope map) for acknowledgement. Now, prove to the Harmonia that you have what it takes for the 4th job advancement by getting the Heroic Star and Heroic Pentagon. You may hunt the Manon and Griffey to get the required items. Alternatively, head to Eos Tower 44th Floor to get a Secret Letter of Spell at 10 million mesos. After which, look for Chief Tatamo of Leafre Village to exchange for a set of Heroic Star and Heroic Pentagon. When you are ready with the required items, go to your 4th job instructor to make your job advancement. Congratulations! You are now a Dark Knight of Darkness! You will be granted 3 Skill Points, 5 Ability Points, a Maple Hero Skill Book and 3 core skills, which are Rush, Achilles and Beholder.
Skills
As for the skills, prepare for a very different things that working there. Unlike 1st, 2nd and 3rd job skills, 4th job requires you to find 3 different types of books namely skillbook (level 1-10), storybook (quest to find mastery book aka mastery guide) and mastery book (which advanced the specific skill's MAX LEVEL from level 11-20 if talking about 20-books, or level 21-30 if talking about 30-books). Refer to this post which is how to get the rest of the skills, and this post which has a list of all Mastery books and indicates the type of monster that drops those.
Now for the builds. There are 2 kinds of builds: Early Berserk, which is suitable for funded guys/guys who are doing HP Wash an got the 20 and 30 books through Zakum/BPQ, and Late Berserk, which is suitable for Beginner DKs who are not washing.
The builds takes in consider that you've acheived ALL of the skills. Not related to the guides, If you are level 150 DK, and have less than 15k Hp, you need to wash some AP.
Early Berserk guide: (which is the build I used since I got the skills early and I did HP Wash)
At lv 120, put 1 point a Rush, and rest goes for Beholder.
Then, max Beholder. It will give you a fixed mastery, making dmg more stable, even if the skill is off.
Then max Berserk.
Put Maple Warrior to 10.
Max Power Stance since you'll go to zarms at this point and this will increase durability.
Max Maple Warrior if u got it to max lvl of 20.
Get Aura of the Beholder to 20.
Get Hex of the Beholder to 20. If maxed, you can't use the super OP Attack pots like Onyx, Gelt or Naricain since the skill will negate it by buffing the weapon att.
Get Hero's will to 1 point(its max lvl F3) by that time you maxing these skills - some bosses will require that.
Max Achilles.
By the time you should be lv 17x so all of your important 4th job skills should be maxed.
Max Rush if you want.
The rest can go to 3rd job skills, Improving HP Recovery from 1st job, or Monster magnet which is useless to me.
Late Berserk Guide (credit to Ayumilove)
(BHealing - Aura of the Beholder , Bbuffs - Hex of the Beholder)
120 – 120 : Rush 1, Beholder 2
121 – 122 : Beholder 3
123 – 123 : Beholder 2, Maple hero 1 – (Beholder Max!)
124 – 125 : Maple hero 3
126 – 126 : Maple hero 2, BHealing 1
127 – 134 : BHealing 3 – (Beholder Healing Max!)
135 – 137 : Achilles 3
138 – 138 : Achilles 1, Stance 2
139 – 144 : Stance 3
145 – 147 : Achilles 3
148 – 148 : Achilles 1, Stance 2
149 – 150 : Stance 3
151 – 151 : Stance 2, 1 Berserk – (Stance Max!)
152 – 157 : Berserk 3
158 – 158 : Berserk 1, Rush 2
159 – 160 : Rush 3
161 – 161 : Rush 2, Bbuffs 1 (stored)
162 – 167 : Bbuffs 3 (stored)
168 – 168 : Bbuffs 20 (Dump it all in at once. SEE NOTE #2), Achilles 1
169 – 171 : Achilles 3 – (Achiles Max!)
172 – 172 : Awakening 1 and the rest is up to yourself for now
NOTE #1 (from Ayumilove): Saving SP means don’t use them. How to read the skill build? Here is an example: 121 – 123 means level 121 122 and 123. (level 121 to level 123). 120 – 120 basically means just level 120.
NOTE #2: When maxing Hex of the Beholder, take a note that going above lv 20 will negate Attack pots like Onyx, Gelt or Naricain.
Training guide - Regular Monsters
Lv 120-135: Skelegons, Petrifighters
Lv 135-200: Skelegons, Petrifighters, Dukus, Crimson Guardians, Oblivion Guardians, Chief Oblivion Guardians (aka Oblivion4/5)
At this point Max Berserk is recommended so you can kill strong monsters faster (e.g. Oblivion5 monsters which have 135k hp...) and train more efficiently. A good target for you is to have enough good equips, skills and stats to 1-hit K/O Pertifighter/Skelesaurus.
Training guide - Recommended Bosses for 3rd and 4th jobbers
Level 95+ Headless Horseman. you'll will need to have enough acc to kill it, if not by lvl 95 so by lvl 100.
Level 120+ Bigfoot (decent exp till 200 but BEWARE TO NOT TOUCH BODY BY MISTAKE IF YOU PLAY WITH BERSERK)
Level 140+ Zakum Arms(Highly recommended for DKs since they can mob 2-3 arms at once with the expectation of 2 top right arms, but still decent exp even w/o them. My recommendation is to come there with a priest/bishop so he can dispell you from curses and HS you)
Another fightable bosses: Black Crow (lv 130+ w/o berserk unless YOU HAVE MAX HP), Kacchuu Musha (lv150+. It will do 40%- less magical dmg to you since Ele resistance)
Level 160+s can try do a full Zakum run or try Horntail prehead(s) with a partner (highly recommended that it will be a bishop)
Tips
* At 1st job, using spears is not obligatory. its a slow weapon, and besides, it doesn't matter which kind weapon you use at 1st job since everything sucks I'd recommend 1h/2h swords.
* When farming items, try to find the best weapon and armor drops, preferring above avg items.
* Quoted from 1st job training guide section: QUESTS ARE ALWAYS GOOD EXP (and more beyond exp). YOU SHOULD DO ALL OF THEM (depends on lvl)
* From the point you maxed Berserk, Having a pet with auto HP is (at least for me) obligatory. I'd recommend turning the HP warning to 30%ish and use potions like Melting Cheese (4k HP) or Reindeer Milks which heal 5K HP (the warning can go lower and the used potion my vary depends on your HP, and your amount of HP required to activate berserk, and the monsters you train at)
* Don't max Aura of the Beholder, leave it at lvl 20. Max lvl could destroy Berserk easily due to high HP recovery rate.
* DON'T EVER USE DRAGON BLOOD WHEN FIGHTING 1/1-CASTING BOSSES!!!! it'd kill you when the monster nukes, turns your HP to 1, and then Dragon blood drops your HP by 20 before you turn your finger on the HP potion button/your pet heals you. NLC potions (+12 att - similar to dragon blood)/Ciders (+20att) will be a proper alternative when bossing.
* (Mainly for funded guys/ones who have another high leveled char) Make yourself a decent int gear to wear it every time you are 99% as soon as possible. Why? because more INT = more MP gained per lvl = more MP that you can drop when HP washing, making your char have more HP thus making Berserk more effective and increase durability.
* If you don't have int gear and you still want to wash, you can always spend points to INT every time you lvl up - but not too much. A good base int would be 50ish, and don't forget that you have items and skills that add bonus int like ZHelm and Maple Warrior. (Credit goes to Brian aka Yoshi for doing it for the 1st time on the server and telling me about that trick f3)
* Make yourself a teleport list using VIP Teleport Rock so you can save your favorite maps and tp to them instead of wasting time walking.
* ALWAYS HAVE SAFETY CHARMS. Nobody wants to lose 10% of his exp at high lvls.... (Think about that - lvl 170 requires 428mil exp tnl, so dying will result in -42.8mil which compared to 2 Zakums. F3)
Useful guides besides the ones at Noblestory forums
ayumilovemaple.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/maplestory-dark-knight-skills/
web.archive.org/web/20140629143526/http://ayumilovemaple.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/monster-accuracy-table-for-warrior/
web.archive.org/web/20131222203503/http://ayumilovemaple.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/4th-job-advanement-guide-faq/
www.hidden-street.net/forum/threads/27432-Warrior-Spearman-DK-Guide
AND....How this guide would come to an end without some motivation videos?
TIGER (R.I.P) VIDEOS since most of the old guys who played here knew that Tiger, the formerly No.1 DK from GMS was my role model F3.
Tiger vs. Black Crow
Tiger pwns a group of hackers at Gobies
Another video of Tiger against Gobies
Dray86's legendary video, showing a group of high lvled guys against Pianus.... everybody dies - except Tiger!!! (and his gf Suuuushi)
Other players that I liked their videos
Scholtex999 some old school guy who was at GMS's top 5 after bigbang patch
Fikk, lv 16x DK
Phanter, a lvl 18x hybrid DK from MapleSEA
Lvl 90 funded DK pwns some bosses
Lvl 150 DK lvls up at Himes BEFORE 4TH JOB CAME OUT.
chickenpoodl, lvl 19x DK grinding at Oblivion4
And of course some self-promotional video from the days I were 15x. F3
Have fun training your young warrior!
Sources:
My experience
Hidden-Street.net
Ayumilovemaple.wordpress.net