Post-Renewal Valkyrie Swordie Levelling Guide

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RX-7
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Post-Renewal Valkyrie Swordie Levelling Guide

#1 Post by RX-7 »

Notice: It has just come to my attention that I have started playing iRO during their 1.5x EXP event. I realized this when levelling another to 99 took significantly longer, and confirmed it by checking with iRO Wiki. It's still possible to hit 99 without MVPing, which is good.

Post-Renewal Valkyrie Swordie Levelling Guide
Last Update: March 06, 2011
Written by: RX-7


Revisions:
Feb 24 - Minor fixes.
Feb 25 - Some updates, planning post-transcend section.
Mar 06 - Realized I levelled to 99 during an EXP event, post-trans is now vaporware, updated Final Words.

Preamble:
The first thing I want to mention is something you may be very relieved to hear: YOU DO NOT NEED TO MVP TO HIT 99. It was a bit of a challenge, but I have hit 99 successfully (and in less than a month [Update: Within an EXP event period]). I will not name specific fields, but you can use any of the below databases to figure it out (this is to help keep your bots secure).

Resources:
http://rode-r.doddlercon.com/ (Less cross-referencing, but more updated)
http://www.ratemyserver.net (Displays pre-renewal by default, less updated)
You should check RODE-R first, and use RMS for anything else you can't find.

How to find your own custom grind spots:
1. http://rode-r.doddlercon.com/monster/
2. Search for the appropriate level range (ex. 81 ~ 100).
3. Click on the Base column to stack them up.
4. Go down the list and find a monster that's stronger than your current, but not too strong.


General Spots:
10+ = Rockers, starting fields around towns, etc...
20+ = Spore, Snake, Ambernite
30+ = Peco, Muka, Ants (Deniro, Pierre, Andre)
50+ = Yoyo, Bibalan (dungeon)
60+ = Hode (At this point, you will want to add some sort of bash/skill macro.)
75+ = Grand Peco (You will NEED an intelligent bash/skill macro.)
85+ = Petite/Metaling (Can Divest Weapon)/Siroma (You will NEED gear.)

That is just a quick list for the impatient reader.
For more details, press TAB with the world map open to view the official monster spawn overlay.
This overlay shows the most popular monster in the field and the recommended level to be at.
Pressing ALT will display map names (prt_fild08).

My Custom Route: (I hit 99 with this route in less than a month.)
10+ = Rockers. They'll take you to 30 easily, Vocal will occasionally kill your bot.
30+ = Ants. They'll take you to Base Level 50 easily. (They give 0.50% a kill at Base level 53!)
55+ = Yoyos. Not much of an improvement, but they'll take you a bit higher.
60+ = Hodes. Sandman makes it tricky, but a Bash/skill macro makes it easy.
70+ = Grand Pecos. My bot straight-up bashed them to 88.
88+ = Petites. This field is infested with bots. At 98 to 99 it gives 0.02% a kill.

I thought about the stats. Really hard. After all, I've built countless swordies, but all of them felt slow to level. I wanted to cut down on downtime at higher levels, yet kill things quick. The answer was simple: INT for SP regen. With INT fuelling Bash, I could literally replace my normal attacks with Bash... in theory. Nevertheless, I tried it out!

My stats roughly looked like this (before pumping straight STR):
30 STR
1 AGI
40 VIT
40 DEX
80 INT
1 LUK

The overall pace seemed slower, but the kills were quicker. I would say I felt the sweet spot of the build at around 70+. The pacing felt really good as the SP recovery became insane. However, at high levels, a plethora of gear options are unlocked. Taking this into account, I would summarize the builds like this:

1-30 = Standard VIT builds are faster.
30-60 = Standard AGI builds are faster.
60-90 = INT based builds are faster.
90+ = Standard AGI builds are faster.
Therefore, I recommend sticking with an AGI build if possible.

When I hit 88, I tried Siromas. I didn't like the dungeon's location, the scarcity of mobs, and the dangerous caster mob on the first level. By sheer chance, I walked into Petites on my way to Glast Heim. They were amazing! They give slightly less than Siroma, but spawn in massive amounts and the area is highly accessible (save in Geffen). However, the super high spawn rate meant my INT build wasn't as effective any standard build.

Fortunately, by this point, I was wealthy and could afford high-end gear (I had several bots farming for zeny from the start). I stat-resetted into an agility/strength build and mowed them down with an Ahlspiess 2H spear. Even at 0.02% a kill, the bot went from 98 to 99 in about 6 hours. I even equipped an Explosion card, but I couldn't see any increase in EXP. Perhaps 10% of 0.02 (about 140 EXP) is too low and gets cut off? Well, whatever, the bot relentlessly collected 0.02%'s and made it into a 100.0% in a single night.


Gear Check List:
Popular items to keep an eye out for.

[1H Sword / Shield]
- Blade > Saber / Haedonggum / Tsurugi (These rely on cards!) > Ice Pick (Dagger)
- Guard > Buckler > Shield > Stone Buckler
Note: I would advise against 1H since sheer DPS is much more effective at higher levels. If you're planning to transcend, keep an eye out for a cheap Bradium [Shield Boomerang] or Cross Shield [Shield Chain].

[2H Sword]
- Katana > Slayer > Claymore > Schweizersabel / VSS Element (Earth, Wind, Fire)
Note: 2H swords are legendary as the most cost-effective way to grind. If you're going this route, just pick up any random 2H and off you go! :D

[2H Spear]
- VSS Element Lance (Wind is a strong alternative to Zephyrus) > Zephyrus > Ahlspiess
Note: Ahlspiess is the perfect all-around spear with no weaknesses whatsoever, as it ignores DEF! Unfortunately, all of the weapons mentioned above cost over 3m on iRO Valkyrie. Start farming zeny early if you're going 2H spear. (Ahlspiess on an AGI Crusader is no joke.)

[Head Gear]
- Mr. Smile
- Helm
- Sakkat
- Chick Hat (If you have Kafra Points to burn.)
Note: Headgears aren't important at all... But Mr. Smile is. This simple mask can conceal your face and help you keep a low profile until you're ready to socialize with that character. Don't forget to wear a hat to help cover your hair.

[Armor]
- ???
Note: Useless. Armors require cards to be effective, but we want to keep the bot as low cost as possible. Wear Pantie, a stock Chain Mail, go commando, etc. If you're rich, stick a Peco Peco card in it for 10% increased Max HP.

[Garment]
- Whisper Card
- Undershirt (+10 Flee with Pantie, Whisper substitute)
- Condor Card (+10 Flee, Whisper substitute)
- Raydric Card
- Vali's Manteau (Raydric substitute)
- Ragamuffin Manteau (Much more useful than a plain Manteau)
Note: You can and should spend on a decent garment as the gains are cost-effective. Wear at least an Undershirt with a Pantie/Condor'ed muffler.

[Footgear]
- ???
Note: Not cost-effective, wear stock (or go commando).

[Accessories]
- 2x Rosary (+10 MDEF) > 2x Muka (+10% HP Recovery) > 2x Yoyo (+10 Perfect Dodge)
Note: Rosaries are a cheap way to augment your character by reducing magic damage, and therefore downtime. Mukas will definitely cut downtime effectively especially with high VIT, but using Yoyos is basically waiving off 10% of all incoming damage in the future. Remember, keep an eye out for Nile Rose as it is a great (or greater) alternative to Clip.


Why is VSS good?
You can get an elemental level 4 weapon that can potentially do 200% damage to a mob. Type /blacksmith into chat to see the server's highest ranked blacksmiths. If you buy any weapon with their name on it, you will receive additional a hidden bonus of up to +40 damage. This damage will never miss. Currently, Thursday01, Famous., and VeryAwesome are the top three blacksmiths on the Valkyrie server (the list names 10), so try to get one of their forged weapons if you plan on using VSS weapons.

Which element VSS should you buy?
Check the elemental property of what you're hunting!
http://ratemyserver.net/index.php?page=misc_table_attr


Bash Macro Sample
attackSkillSlot Bash {
lvl 10
dist 1.5
sp > 20
aggressives >= 2
maxAttempts 5
maxUses 2
}

You can replace "Bash" with "Holy Cross". Tweak the "maxAttempts" (or "maxUses", which stops using it after X amounts of successful hits) to your liking. I often changed it based on mobs in my current field.

useSelf_skill Spear Quicken {
lvl 10
sp > 50 %
whenStatusInactive Spear Quicken
notInTown 1
onAction attack
timeout 1000
}

And here, you can replace the two instances of "Spear Quicken" with "Twohand Quicken" for Knights.


Final Words:
Ultimately, you don't really need to constantly find new levelling spots. As long as the monster gives any sort of EXP, even 1 point, you WILL level; it's a matter of time (March 6 edit: one of my long-running farming bots hit 70/50 today off of pay_fild02, without EXP events!). You just need to find something to keep you preoccupied. It's also important to run more bots to help fund your main bot. Hunting for gear/cards and selling excess loot to players is a great way to raise money; start early because transcending costs 1,285,000 zeny. (Tip: Create more bots, hunt for Strawberry, sell it to a merchant buyer in Payon or sell it yourself in Prontera.)

I hope this guide helped you. Please don't bother with thank you's.

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Last edited by RX-7 on 06 Mar 2011, 17:27, edited 2 times in total.

RX-7
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Re: Post-Renewal Valkyrie Swordie Levelling Guide

#2 Post by RX-7 »

Reserved.

Code: Select all

Temporary Memo:
Novus gives 0.14% a kill at Base Level 84.

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