The Forbidden Guide to Trickster

[VorpalBunny]

The Forbidden Techniques of Trickster:
Everything the older players knew but never bothered to tell you

First and foremost, this is an advanced player's guide to Trickster that covers some of the finer points in the game. If you do not know how to get into a boss room, or what depth you need you drill in a certain area, don't bother asking here, and stop reading any further. For the rest of you, this guide contains invaluable information on how to take advantage of the hidden mechanics that go on within the game of Trickster.

---------------
I: Debuffs
---------------
They come with varying degrees of usefulness, but knowing how to truly exploit them is what makes them fun. One of the more important points I would like to make right now is that strong debuffs can knock a stat into negative amounts. This means it is possible to knock players (and monsters!) into negative DP with a strong enough Armor Breaker. This skill in particular is odd because normal attacks do not factor in negative DP. However, if you use a skill on a breaker debuffed monster, the negative DP is added onto the skill damage! Why is this important, you may ask. Well for starters, a solid armor breaker can knock off 600DP or more. That means an extra 600 damage added onto any skill attack. While it might not seem like a lot for many of you reading this, it is a huge amount for a lvl 3 character with a lvl 1 physical skill attack. The fastest path to lvl 15 using this exploit means doing one hit kills on Fanta Fish, getting to level 10, doing two hit kills on Seths inside the Pyramid, and finally getting to lvl 20 by doing the Bad Anemone quest 5 times using the same exploit, or cashing in Canopic Jars. Getting that 1 Power Pure HV Coon or Lion off the ground by getting to lvl 20 this way only requires 1 TM level worth of skills, and around 40 minutes of your time.

Furthermore, it is not only Armor Breaker that gets this bonus. If you had a Charm character do Magic Defense Break on a monster, the same rules would apply if someone cast a spell on said monster with negative MD. In this case, you could have Magic characters killing Hallis in two arrows at level 5, and if you had a Power character in the same party, that same character could be going after Lakis at lvl 5, deal decent damage, and never miss because of the negative LK. Proper use of these debuffs will allow you to power level characters from scratch to a point where they can fend for themselves in a relatively short time.

However, debuffs work both ways as well. If you are in pvp and you get the key stat that powers your debuff into a negative, the same debuff will add points instead of subtracting them. This means a Charm that is knocked into negative HV with Sticky Foot can actually improve the MD of another player if they cast Magic Def Breaker on them when in negative HV. Similarly, a Power knocked into negative AP with Rust can cast Shockvibe on a Lion and have it do insane damage with the AC bonus. Rusting a player into negative AP will also prevent them from changing equipment until their AP rises above 1.

There's certainly a lot more you can do with debuffs, but I won't be getting around to the real trickery that can be pulled with them until I add my second section: Boss Hunting, to be announced.

------------------------
II. Boss Hunting
------------------------

From where we last left off, it is important to note that all players should know when to use and not use debuffs. If you feel that another player hunting the same boss you are will benefit more from a debuff, don't use it. Case in point: A Cat and a Buffalo at at Queen Odina, and an opposing Lion walks in. The first thing the buffalo should do is remember not to cast Luck Breaker. If the competition walked in during the middle of a fight and the debuff is active, the first thing that should be done is cancelling the debuff. Switch maps if you can do it fast enough, if not, then log out and log back in to cancel it. During that time, the Cat should be running away or attempting to dump the Queen onto the Lion to buy time while the Buffalo logs back in. Likewise, a Dragon at Captain Skull or Soki should not cast Rust if there is a Bunny present. Generally speaking, if you can properly assess your opponent and see that they cannot handle the boss alone, you can get away with not using debuffs. However, there are exceptions.

Clues are given as to how well a player can survive against a boss just by looking at them, and learning to figure out what they are equipped with is essential. Someone not a Charm type who walks in with a Gold Screen or some other non-hp compoundable shield will most likely not survive a direct critical from a boss like Tenter Lion or Soki when they are unrusted. A Lion or Bunny with a magic based hat (beret, mitra, etc.) will most likely have LK compounded onto it, while a Magic type might have it compounded with MA. In order to tell the difference, you need to notice their damage. This is where player experience and asking around helps. Knowing what range of MA or AC delivers what kind of damage on a certain boss can narrow down what the competition might be wearing. A bunny that delivers large normal hit criticals to a boss is most likely using a well refined master sword or three slot custom, and because normal attacks are rather fast, landing a delay cast skill to get the seal must be done earlier than normal. Knowing that a Lion is using an AC hat means that they have lower LK compared to someone with a magic hat, and if there is a Lion in your party with one, it might be best not to LK break, or better yet, know how to throttle debuffs.

Again, another important aspect derived from knowing how to sum up your opponent. If you know your opponent is strong enough to stand up to the boss, but still weaker in some areas compared to your party or yourself, one of the best courses of action is to alter your debuff dependent stat just enough so the debuff does not benefit the competition, but does benefit those in your party who need it. From the previous example, said Lion with the AC hat also happens to live past the 8200 damage area magic Queen Odina happens to cast while near dead. The lion in question is also using a Brutal Gun, and appears to run faster than normal, indicating a Sprint accessory in service. In order for a Gunner Lion to live past that area magic, he must be wearing at least a HP belt. Most lions with 4 charm would have ~5600HP level 180ish, and the Sprint accessory gives an additional 600. A well compounded Gold Mole Vest would add another 1400HP, but this still leaves them short 600HP. This leads us to believe the hat the Lion is wearing (a Tera Hat) could have either AC or HP. One possible way the lion could live past the attack is by using an accessory with HP compounded past 600 or a Tera Hat with AC, or more likely, a Tera Hat with HP since AC accessories are more common. In either case, due to the high damage we now know the Lion is focused on gear that adds AC. We also know that the vest the Lion is wearing has no LK compounded onto it, and the pet equipped, an Officer Tera, also has no LK. From visual inspection alone, we already knowthat compared to the Lion in our party (30LK Crown, 12 LK Werewolf Lycan), there is a difference of over 60 LK (30+12 = 42 LK, +20 LK from Lucky 7 =62LK) between the two. In this case, Luck Breaker should be reduced by at least 50 LK by reducing total AP. This means the Power character doing the debuff should do so with their weapon unequipped, no Pumping Heart buff to boost AP, one accessory off, and maybe the pet off too. This would allow the people in your party to successfully hit the boss, while everyone else misses. A full AP Luck Breaker would allow the competition to hit the boss more often as well, and since the damage from the competition is much larger, that full stat debuff would actually hurt your chances of getting the seal.

While we are on the topic of damage, knowing how to record it will help in small competition boss fights where only two or three people are damaging it. If you notice that a skill you use takes off 3/4 of a life bar from a boss, and your opponent has a skill that takes off only 1/2 a bar, the best course of action would be to put the boss into it's last life bar above 1/2 remaining, but below 3/4. This is done by using weaker skills to wear it down to that point, allowing a perfect kill every single time. And in the case of large competition boss fights, the answer is simple. Leave your most damaging skills ready when the boss is about to enter the final two health bars, and enough time to use your skill while compensating for the delay. Generally speaking, going into damage wars with large groups of people is a bad idea. The best course of action is to switch to a different channel when out of view of the other party, and then getting the kill on the other channel first. This is a useful tactic for several reasons. First of all, it ensures a much greater chance of you and your party getting a boss seal if nobody, or at least fewer people, are on the other channel. Secondly, if you are slightly weaker than the other party, your chances of getting a boss seal go up. Thirdly, if you are much stronger than the other party, you can change back to the first channel and finish off the boss while the competition is scrambling to deal with the boss summoned monsters. Lastly, it helps you avoid those annoying seal thieves who have no chance of doing a solo kill on a boss unless they do not have to tank it or take advantage of the debuffs you plant on the boss.

Of course, it would be best if your competition did not know when the boss was around to begin with. For bosses with long respawn times, it is often beneficial to not be in the room if possible when it is dead. Most parties set up camp by the entrance, so knowing how to play ninja here is important. The key principle of a ninja is to kill without being seen, and doing this during boss hunts will frustrate the other party and often cause them to leave since the boss room appears to be always empty. Stay away from the entrance of boss rooms, kill the boss first on the channel that is less populated, pick up all your boss loot so you leave no clues, and if possible, do not be seen inside the boss room until it is very close to spawning. If you have second characters, levelling them in between boss respawns is a good idea. Boss hunts themselves are very low maintenance if you pick some with long respawn times, so it's often better to boss hunt when you do not have enough time to level up, but do have enough time to log in for five minutes every hour for a chance at that shiny multi slot master item.

One thing those frustrated parties (and most players) don't know is boss spawns are linked. After a server reset, all bosses (minus Captain Skull and Mad Ray) will spawn simultaneously once every two hours. This means you can figure out or pinpoint when Predator or Spicy Dragon spawns by comparing it with the spawn time of another boss. The hard part is getting down the Master spawn time, the time at which the Spicy Dragon every other boss except Captain Skull and Mad Ray spawns at once. Bosses with half hour respawn intervals will share only one Master spawn time with a boss that has 40 minute respawn intervals. This is the easiest way to figure it out. If you just killed Count Blood and run down to Tenter Lion and find the lions dead, this means one of three things: you have just passed the Master spawn time, the Tenter Lion will respawn in 10 minutes after Count Blood respawned, or it will respawn 20 minutes after Count Blood respawned. For example, if the Master spawn time was at x:00, Tenter Lion would respawn at x:40, Count at x:30. This also means that a single party cannot be at two places at once during the Master spawn to kill a boss. A party that is hunting two bosses will therefore be delayed at one boss area every two hours. Use this to your advantage when you think there are not enough parties currently hunting bosses to have every boss room occupied at the time of the Master spawn. Boss timers are also offset by ~10 seconds every 20 minutes. This means that a boss time that was x:00 24 hours ago will be moved forward to x:03 or x:04. I never timed the exact interval change, but my best guess is at least 3 minutes every 24 hours.

Finally, what everyone has been waiting to hear about, boss loot. The only person who is guaranteed an item is the person who gets the boss seal. But that doesn't mean everyone else who attacked it gets nothing. Everyone who attacked and deals damage to the boss has a chance of getting an item, but it is often hidden and requires logging in again in order to have it appear. The item is randomly generated, and could very well be a Master item, regardless of whether or not the person sealing the boss got one. This means that hunting for a certain Master item from a boss is most efficient if a large party takes down a boss instead of a single person. This causes multiple items to sometimes come out of a single boss. From experience, those who deal close combat damage to a boss when it is on its last two life bars without using skills also have a higher chance of getting an item spawn, compared to those who use skills and range magic. Around 70% of the time, an item will be awarded to players who click on a boss during its final life bars and have damage dealt with constant automatic melee or gun attacks. Ranged magic and skill attacks have a much lower chance. I would peg it at 15% or less, but again, it's a rough estimate and not a solid figure. Bunnies who use Guard Break here are a real bonus, since Magic types who use attacks not very effective against certain bosses (Predator, Queen Odina) can go up close when it's near dead and give the boss a few solid, damage dealing automatic attacks and greatly increase their chances of getting an item. The record for items awarded so far from a single boss currently stands at 7 (from a single Queen Odina), although I am fairly sure the number can go higher, especially on bosses like Spicy Dragon. This is why the boss seal isn't always all important when boss hunting. You could have lost the seal, but if luck is with you, you could have been an awarded a good item just for trying to kill it.

------------------------
III. Magic Numbers
------------------------

Some aspects of this game are purely numerical. I can tell you for a fact that many skill builds in the guides section lack knowledge of the magic numbers which govern the way the game works. Let's begin with one magic number every Trickster should be familiar with:

90 DA: When you get to this number, you no longer waste drill durability unless you burn the drill through clicking too far. You will know if an item is under the ground or not, and you will never drill up nothing. Compounder Paul will also give you maximum success rates for anything you need to make there. With lower DA, the rate fluctuates or remains low.

60 LK: For elemental weapon users, this magic number is crucial. It brings you into the melee hit critical cap of 90%. What does this mean for you? If you are using an elemental weapon with 60 LK and you click on a monster, you will score a critical hit 90% of the time. Everyone else thinks it's some absurdly high number, or that the critical cap goes to 99% if you have 200 LK or something. It doesn't. 60 LK is all you need to land almost constant criticals.

100 LK: For magic users, this number is important. 100 LK is all you need to land a full Arrow Rush on monsters in Tapasco Field 1 and below. Bosses and higher level monsters will require more, but I haven't pinned down an exact number yet. Most of your training will be on maps like Path to Tapasco, Tapasco Field 1, Techichi Field 4, and Snow Field 3.

200 AC: When this condition is met, 90% of your critical hits will do maximum damage, instead of a lower damage critical. The lower your AC is beyond this point, the lower the chances are you will do maximum damage on a melee critical.

120%: Again, for element weapon users. Once you reach 60 LK, this is the attribute compound percentage where a critical done with the weapon will outdamage all your AP based first job attacks.

200%: When your total element attribute total (usually from a Golden Sword with 4 soil stones + a decently compounded Gold Lion Shield with darkness) gets this high, you can start modifying AP to get one hit kills with one critical. When your element total becomes this high, most of your skills are not worth using unless they either: a) kill in one hit or b) kill multiple targets.

2200 AP: Combined with the above total, this will allow you to kill Yetis at Snow Field 3 in one critical. This number is essential for Charm and Power characters who are going after their third job change, or need TM right after it.

[k0n]

Basics of power level 101. o:

Seems like you've just chipped ice berg there. I hope you won't go further towards GvG or PvP.

[Catharsis]

*waits for part II*

[numeriku]

very interesting... although i dont know think i could get my hv past minus to even increase mdef with my skill xD;;

[Yellowdoggie]

i want to say

omfg nice! :O so basicly if i get a lv 300 power or sense or charm to debuff a lv 100 monster even a lv 5 can ohko them =/

(negative HV and Def <3)

[NoeJeko]

You have to do it with a relatively high level and a relatively low level. For example:

A level 200 pure DA fox stickies a level 40 pure AP cat - that is not buffed. That cat's HV would likely go negative. The cat then MD breaks "Person A". Person A's MD is now increased because the cat's HV was negative.

It also means knocking a mage's MA negative can add AP with rust and knocking a bunny's AP negative will add LK with LK breaker.

[Yellowdoggie]

aka freaking cheat! :O xD so let's see ._.

- 200 MA dragon went and rust every power type

they gain at least 1k attack ._.

its liek ragnarok and you get eske ._.

[shadyclanr]

Wow!

Is this true?!

It's unbelievable~

Can't wait for the 2nd part...hehehe

[k0n]

Originally Posted by *******

You have to do it with a relatively high level and a relatively low level. For example:

A level 200 pure DA fox stickies a level 40 pure AP cat - that is not buffed. That cat's HV would likely go negative. The cat then MD breaks "Person A". Person A's MD is now increased because the cat's HV was negative.

It also means knocking a mage's MA negative can add AP with rust and knocking a bunny's AP negative will add LK with LK breaker.

To add on, there is one exceptional debuffer that I know of that does not follow this rule which is Shockvive. However, I'm only 80% certain you can't gain AC through negative debuffering because I haven't throughly tested this skill.

Originally Posted by Yellowdoggie

aka freaking cheat! :O xD so let's see ._.

- 200 MA dragon went and rust every power type

they gain at least 1k attack ._.

its liek ragnarok and you get eske ._.

You might want to re-read the OP again.

[Zegridathes]

Shockvibe starts from AC-49, so you'd need to overcome that to apply a bonus to AC.

You need at most -1570 ap to apply a AC bonus with shockvibe.

[k0n]

Oh, so that's why I wasn't able to gain AC....

I see now.

[Yellowdoggie]

anyway come to think of it

getting cat or raccoon HV to negative

tell her to go mag break down someoe ._.

note : the -1570 is possible

lv ermm when you just get shock vibe ._.

get rusted by a super high lv mage that got MA buff + from cat negative hv MA lowering skill

if you get aronud - 2000 and shock vibe someone ima be mad at you D<

[Fuzz]

*** cant you be my pet? I want Armor and MD debuffs to the max.

[DragonSummon]

Lol..about the luck increase through luck breaker..So techinically you can get the boost then go comp b4 it runs out right? or does a debuff go away when you leave the map...I've never tried

[fieryshadowcard]

Since a debuff only lasts for 36 seconds (at the most), that'd be one hell of a run to a compound npc, even if you had myshop/ports/etc.

[NoeJeko]

Originally Posted by fieryshadowcard

Since a debuff only lasts for 36 seconds (at the most), that'd be one hell of a run to a compound npc, even if you had myshop/ports/etc.

We've tried it - you cannot make it in time.

[Horasu]

Can't one just use a PPAD and go straight to Aquarius? That will take a few seconds at most.