And I decided to write this guide to provide a couple of tips based on my experience for anyone interested in following the path of the Physical Hyper Novice *-*
This guide will be focused on the Melee branch of the Hyper Novice
Double Bowling Bash and Mega Sonic Blow builds.
Hopefully it'll be helpful.
Stats and Traits
First of all, let's go over the basics, Stats, Traits and their benefits.
Stats and Traits
Stats
Stat
Recommended
Notes
Str
100-120
Primary damage stat, Increases Atk with Melee weapons, also increases weight limit.
Agi
90-100+
Increases Attack Speed, Flee and SoftDef, and enhances the effect of Attack Speed potions; 100 total Agi grants Sleep and Bleeding status immunity.
Vit
90-100+
Increases MaxHP, SoftDef, SoftMdef and HP Recovery, and enhances the effect of HP Recovery consumables; 100 total Vit grants Stun status immunity.
Int
50-90
Increases MaxSP, SoftMdef and SP Recovery, and enhances the effect of SP Recovery consumables; 100 total Int grants Silence and Blind status immunity.
Dex
60-100
Increases Hit and SoftMdef, and reduces Variable Cast Time, and slightly increases Atk and Attack Speed.
Luk
60-90-120+
Increases Critical Rate, primary stat for critical builds, and slightly increases Atk, Hit, Flee and Perfect Dodge; 100 total Luk grants Curse status immunity.
Traits
Trait
Recommended
Notes
Pow
110
Primary damage trait, Increases Atk, P.Atk and the base damage scaling of our skills.
Sta
0-70+
Increases Res, Optional, get some points if you want to be more resistant to Physical Attacks (close it preferably in multiples of 3).
Wis
0-70+
Increases Mres, Optional, get some points if you want to be more resistant to Magical Attacks (close it preferably in multiples of 3).
Spl
0
Increases Matk and S.Matk, not needed for physical damage dealers.
Con
0-70-110
Increases Hit, Flee and P.Atk, second best trait for no-critical builds (close it preferably in multiples of 5).
Crt
0-70-110
Increases C.Rate, second best trait for critical builds (close it preferably in multiples of 3).
Skills
Having such a wide variety of 1st and 2nd class skills, Hyper Novices can be built in many different ways, here i will just mention some of the skills that I personally consider useful and that you may want to keep in mind, but feel free to experiment and pick the ones that fit you best.
Skills
Super Novice
Blessing
10
Increases Str, Int and Dex by 10 for 4 minutes.
Increase Agility
10
Increases Agi by 12 and Attack Speed by 10% for 4 minutes.
Improve Concentration
10
Increases Agi and Dex by 12% for 4 minutes.
Warp Portal
4
Allows you to memorize up to 3 different locations (use /memo) and create portals to reach them quickly.
Teleport
2
Basically an Infinite Fly Wing (12887) put level 1 in your skill bar to avoid the window pop-up.
Magnum Break
1
Damages and knocks back enemies in a 5x5 AoE around you and increases your damage for a short period after use.
Enlarge Weight Limit
10
Increases Weight Limit by 2000.
Discount
10
Buy items from Npcs for 24% less zeny.
Overcharge
10
Sell items to Npcs for 24% more zeny.
Pushcart
10
Enables using a pushcart with 8000 weight capacity.
Expanded Super Novice
Faith
10
Increases MaxHP by 2000 and Holy element resistance by 50%.
Auto Guard
10
Enables a 30% chance to block physical attacks.
Impositio Manus
5
Increases Atk and Matk by 25 for you and your party members for 2 minutes.
Aspersio
1-5
Enchants your weapon with Holy element, Holy deals increased damage against Shadow and Undead (and will do better than Neutral against Ghost) elements.
Enchant Poison
5
Enchants your weapon with Poison element, Poison deals increased damage against Fire, Water, Wind and Earth elements.
Breakthrough
5
Increases Atk by 100, MaxHP by 2000, MaxSP by 200 and Healing received by 10%.
Transcendence
5
Increases Matk by 100, MaxHP by 2000, MaxSP by 200 and Healing received by 15%.
Angel, Help me!
1
Restores for you and your party members within an area of 15x15 cells around you 1000 HP and 350 SP per second for 20 seconds.
Hyper Novice
Self Study Tactics
10
Increases P.Atk and the base damage scaling of our skills.
Double Bowling Bash
10
Primary offensive skill, deals damage in a 9x9 AoE around the target and increases its damage with the number of enemies within the AoE.
Mega Sonic Blow
10
Primary offensive skill, single target, can Crit and its damage gets doubled when the target's HP is below 50%.
Shield Chain Rush
7-10
Secondary offensive skill, ranged, deals damage in a 9x9 AoE around the target, can be used to get rid of low HP enemies or for basic farming.
Breaking Limit
1
AP Buff, massively increases our skills final damage (+100% Mega Sonic Blow | +120% Double Bowling Bash and Shield Chain Rush) for 5 minutes.
Overcoming Crisis
5
AP Buff, increases our MaxHP by 75000 and P.Atk by 15 for 5 minutes.
Secret Skills
Steel Body
Upon dying for the first time after each login, Steel Body will be autocasted and your HP and SP fully restored, basically a "second oportunity"
Trigger Condition: your Base level experience is between 99% and 99.9% or you are at Max Level
Explosion Spirits
An improved version of the regular Explosion Spirits skill, equivalent to level 17 granting +50 Critical Rate for 3 minutes
can be used by entering the following phrases in the public chat, write these in the macro menu (Alt+M) to have easy access to them
Dear angel, can you hear my voice?
I am <your name> Super Novice~
Help me out~ Please~ T_T
<Random Text>
Spam this chant x5 to trigger the skill, if it doesn't work, wait for a few seconds or change maps and try again
Trigger Condition: your Base level experience is in a multiple of 10% (10.x%, 20.x%, 30.x% etc.) or you are at Max Level
Gear Progression - Double Bowling Bash
Skill Notes:
Cast Delay: 1s | Cooldown: 0.7s | FCT: 0.35s
We're going to need a 30% After Cast Delay reduction to hit the fastest spam rate of Double Bowling Bash, the Attack Speed requirement for it is very low because of the long cooldown.
This is our strongest farming skill due to its wide AoE of 9x9 cells and ability to increase its number of hits depending on the number of enemies inside the AoE, although due to that and its long cooldown it is not the best against single target.
Drain Life and Drain Soul Modules can be replaced with Automatic Modification Module (Fatal) (1000117) if you'd like to use them also for Mega Sonic Blow build
Note that these boots even when paired with Grey Wolf Suit [1] (450177) do not surpass the damage of the Illusion Sprint Shoes [1] (470066) from the previous step by a large margin but grant a higher HP and SP so if you got them, these are optional
Has a lower base damage than the Crown of Beelzebub but when the effects of Warrant of Arbiter (313426) are active the damage gets much higher, plus the proc rate is relatively high
Note: Provisionally you may need to use a Cast Stone (Garment) (25067) to remove the skill fixed cast time in the early/mid game steps
Gear Progression - Mega Sonic Blow
Skill Notes:
Cast Delay: 0.5s | Cooldown: 0.35s
We're going to need a 30% After Cast Delay reduction and a 183 Attack Speed to hit the fastest spam rate of Mega Sonic Blow
Additionally our Critical Rate, around 150 to 170 can cover general dungeon/instance farming, newer content like Varmundt's Depths and Garden of Time requires from 190 up to 210.
This is our best skill to fight MvPs and big HP single targets due to its high spam ability, possibility to deal critical hits and its damage getting doubled when the enemy's HP is below 50%.
With proper enchantment and refinement it can deal a higher damage and provide a better Critical Rate than Boitata Hat but it'll be only usable for Novices while Boitata can be used for Any class
Note that these boots even when paired with Grey Wolf Suit [1] (450177) do not surpass the damage of the Illusion Sprint Shoes [1] (470066) from the previous step by a large margin but grant a higher HP and SP so if you got them, these are optional
Optional Shield, actually weaker in terms of damage than Illusion / Glacier Guards but provides great utility in Attack Speed, After Cast Delay, Critical Rate Etc
Choose the enchantment depending on your need or preference
Star of Mettle Lv.5 (310696) should also be viable (although i wouldn't recommend it) but still weaker than Star of Sharp Lv.5 (310706) also it won't provide you with Critical Rate
Str +10, Vit +15, Luk -25, Dmg taken from All Sizes -20%, Def +20 and RES +5 per refine, if Shield is +7 Dmg vs Water, Wind, Earth and Fire +25%, if Shield is +10 Melee Dmg +10%
When refined to +11 or higher Enables the use of Level 7 Fatal Menace.
This is a reference of a leveling path that I tried myself with a brand new Novice using only the free equipment provided by the Eden Group.
With this strategy I managed to get my Novice from 0 to 200 in about 2 hours.
Lv 1~10 - Starter Quest
Follow the MuhRO starter quest through Prontera field and the Main Office until you reach the Eden Group and get your Starting Gear from Lothaire and Shadow Gear from Lucy.
Once geared, pause the starter quest for a while and use the Warper to Anthell Dungeon and kill some Ant Egg, Andre, Deniro and Piere until you reach the Base level 45 required to change jobs, make sure to use your Novice Battle Manual (7803) before you reach level 40.
Super Novice Priority Skills
Bash - Main attack skill
Blessing - Stat Booster, increases Str/Dex/Int
Increase Agility - Stat Booster, increases Agi/Aspd
Improve Concentration - Stat Booster, increases Agi/Dex
Heal - Self support, HP recovery
Sword Mastery - Increases the damage dealt with Swords and Daggers
Teleport - Mobility
Lv 45~90 - Poring Village
Once reached level 45 return to the Main Office, change job to Super Novice, head back to Eden and get a Paradise Super Novice Sword (500035) from Labraham, then continue with the starter quest, talk to Lunos to be taken to the Poring Village Instance and complete it.
Lv 90~99 - Stapo Hunt
Get the Stapo hunt quest from the Lv 90 Eden Board, repeat this quest until reaching the level required for the next job change, Stapos are located one map south of Veins Town.
Lv 99 Stat distribution example
Str: 90
Agi: 90
Vit: 10
Int: 1
Dex: 50
Luk: 1
Once you reach 99/99 return to the Main Office and change jobs to Expanded Super Novice.
At this point you must get the Advanced Paradise Equipment Set from Louis and Labraham in Eden.
15x Old Pick (7318) - Obtained from Pitmen in Einbech Dungeon.
15x Elastic Band (7200) - Obtained from Wootan Shooters, located two maps south of Umbala Town.
3x Blue Hair (1034) - Obtained from Kobolds, located two maps north of Lighthalzen Town.
Expanded Super Novice Priority Skills
Raid (Sightless Mind) - Main attack skill
Breakthrough - Atk HP and SP increase
Transcendence - HP and SP increase
Angel, Help me! - HP and SP recovery
Note: Use Awakening Potion (656) , the higher your Aspd, the faster you can spam Raid (Sightless Mind)
Lv 100~110 - More Stapos
More Stapos? Yes, mainly to get some job levels for new Skills.
Lv 110~150 - Illusion of Moonlight
Illusion Dungeon hunt quests give a great amount of Experience, and this one is pretty easy, get the quest from the Main Office Board or the Npc at the entrance to the dungeon.
Lv 130 Stat distribution example
Str: 110
Agi: 110
Vit: 40
Int: 20
Dex: 50
Luk: 1
Lv 150~160 - Lasagna Dungeon 2
Get the «Kill 60 Monsters in lasa_dun02» quest from the Lv130 Eden Board, this quest will be used not only for levels but also to get some Eden Coin (25223) that we will use to buy new Shadow Gear and Consumables.
Use Enchant Poison to increase your damage dealt to Combat Basilisks, they will also drop Yggdrasil Berry (607) , use them to fully restore your HP and SP if necessary.
With the Eden Coin (25223) obtained from the Lasagna dungeon quest.
Rent the Advanced Shadow Gear Set from Lucy for 20x Eden Coin (25223)
These will be really helpful for the next steps by greatly increasing your defenses and HP/SP regeneration.
Lv 160~170 - Illusion of Vampire
Get some Holy Water (523) and Aspersio in your repertoire of skills, this will be of great help since almost all the monsters in this dungeon have Shadow and Undead elements.
be careful when hitting the Black Mushrooms, they can cast Self Destruction which will surely insta-kill you if you are near, Hiding can save you from the explosion.
Lv 170 Stat distribution example
Str: 120
Agi: 110
Vit: 100
Int: 40
Dex: 80
Luk: 1
Lv 170~180 - Recon Robot Hunt
Get the Recon Robot hunt quest from the Lv160 Eden Board, Recon Robots are located one map through the tunnel southeast of Verus Town.
Lv 180~200 - Thanatos Fragments + Recon Robot
At Lv180 you can use the Thanatos Fragments hunt quests from the Main Officeboard, try buying the following items from the market (@ws ItemID).