////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// GLOBAL MAPLESTORY - ASSASSIN GUIDE /* Authored by xChrome/ChaosXLegion * Covers Assassin line of Thief class, accurate to GMS 2007 */ DISCLAIMER: MapleStory and all therein belong to Wizet and/or Nexon, I make no profit from this. I do, however, take credit for this guide. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// CHANGELOG [ FINAL ] --- 23 FEB 2016 Final revision. Formatting and style change only, no major content revisions. (I wanted to update a 10-year old guide so I wasn't embarrassed for myself when I read it over occasionally.) [ 3.0 ] --- 20 AUG 2016 Guide updated to current patch. Modified Rogue builds. Modified training locations. [ 2.0 ] --- 30 SEP 2006 Guide updated to fully include Hermits. [ 1.3 ] --- 26 AUG 2006 Updated for clarity. Included information on Hermits. [ 1.2 ] --- 02 JUN 2006 Added more skill builds for all classes. Updated training information. Simplified explanation of AP/SP distribution. [ 1.1 ] --- 19 MAR 2006 Modified information on all job classes. Fixed major typo which gave an incorrect DEX requirement for first job advancement. [ 1.0 ] --- ?? ??? 2006 Original publication. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction A. Introduction to MapleStory B. Downloading and Playing Maplestory C. Self-intro II. Gameplay Basics A. Controls B. Customization III. About Thieves A. Pros and Cons B. Why choose an Assassin? C. Assassin/Bandit Line Comparison IV. Your First Character: Levels 1 - 10 A. Character Creation and Growth B. Welcome to Maple Island C. How to Get the Hell Out V. Victoria Island: The Adventure Begins A. Becoming a Rogue B. Skill Breakdown C. Rogue Character Growth D. Equipment Breakdown E. Financing Your Character F. Training VI. An Assassin Is You: Second Job Advancement A. Becoming an Assassin B. Skill Breakdown C. Assassin Character Growth D. Training VII. Go West: Third Job Advancement A. You've Come A Long Way B. Becoming a Hermit C. Skill Breakdown D. Hermit Character Growth E. Training VIII. Where to from Here? A. What to Expect (in 2007) B. Advantages of Your Job Choice (...in 2007) C. What Now? IX. Special Thanks ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I. Introduction ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// A. Introduction to MapleStory MapleStory is a 2D MMORPG developed by Wizet and published worldwide by Nexon, both based in South Korea. It has become one of the world's most popular MMORPGs since its original 2003 release in South Korea. Following its local release, the game gained a following in the East Asian market, eventually leading to a worldwide publication by Nexon (formerly NX Games). The game features most of what you'd expect in an MMORPG: A leveling system, character growth, a class-tree system, dungeons, boss fights, quests, a player-driven economy, etc. What makes the game popular is its micro-gameplay and its social sphere; regular gameplay resembles a traditional 2D platformer, featuring responsive and intuitive controls. MapleStory is intuitive for the most casual player, yet many of its macro-elements make the game deep enough to satisfy the depths of its playerbase. MapleStory is also highly social. It's among the first MMORPGs to feature separate chatrooms for an entire friend list, guild, etc. rather than forcing individual communication between friends. The environments in the game are havens for people to chill and do absolutely nothing with everyone in the guild. B. Downloading and Playing MapleStory MapleStory can be downloaded from maplestory.nexon.net. The game isn't too taxing on the system--as of 2007, the hardware requirements are: - CPU: Single-core, 500-MHz - RAM: 64-MB DDR - Disk Space: 300-MB - OS: Windows 98 - GPU: Integrated, 3D Acceleration - Network: Any internet connection With these settings, you can download MapleStory and play it, but you'll experience some lag and opening it might take a while. C. Self-intro Hi. I'm xChrome. If you've read this guide before, you'll probably be able to tell that it's been updated a lot...for no reason, since I haven't played the game since 2009. Either way, we want to have some kind of credibility here, so here are my characters as I remember them: - ChaosXLegion, 85 Hermit - Hybe, 101 Sniper - Xaenus, 52 Page I played in Scania, and if you've ever seen the guild Reverie running around then, then you've probably seen the purple-haired mess known as my Hermit. I put a lot of time and heart into growing him into what he became, so basically my entire soul ended up in this guide as I tried to rationalize my decisions up to the point where I stopped playing him in favor of my Sniper. Also, I was literally a child when I first wrote this. Now I'm a near-graduating college student. I figured I'd do myself a favor by updating my style here. Doesn't hurt to pour the last few bits of my soul into the game that consumed it for 4 years of my childhood. Ah, nostalgia. Onward. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// II. Gameplay Basics ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// A. Controls The game throws you a default configuration for your starting controls. This configuration is really uncomfortable and I don't know who thought of it, so the next section will go over customization. The core default controls are below. UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT - Move ALT ---------------- Jump CTRL --------------- Basic Attack 1/2/3/4/ ----------- Chat (All / Party / Friends / Guild) R/P/G -------------- Groups (Friends / Party / Guild) H ------------------ Whisper Z ------------------ Loot x ------------------ Sit M ------------------ Minimap (Current Location) W ------------------ World Map E ------------------ Current Equipment I ------------------ Inventory S ------------------ Character Sheet (Stats, damage, defense, etc.) K ------------------ Skills (Unique to class) F1 - F7 ------------ Facial Expressions B. Customization It's also possible customize your keyboard layout should you so please. I highly recommend doing so, so I've included it here. Personally I always found the default configuration to be all over the place. If you're like me, you might want to condense your most frequently used abilities, hotkeys, etc. into a grid. Or whatever. Maybe you play a lot of Counter-Strike so you prefer WASD. Or you actually like the default controls, I dunno. Customize your controls using the KEY SETTINGS button on the bottom right of the HUD. My personal controls across all my characters (not just my Hermit) follows a grid scheme so my left hand doesn't have to change position much, if at all, when I'm endlessly killing Gobis. Here it is: CTRL -------- Support Skill (ex. Drain, Blizzard) SHIFT ------- Mobility or Utility Skill (primary attack for Hermit) Q ----------- Basic Attack W ----------- Crowd-Control or Utility Skill (ex. Eruption or Dark Sight) R ----------- Inventory T ----------- Crowd-Control Skill A ----------- Booster S ----------- Hasting Skill/Speedup (ex. Haste, Speed Pill) D ----------- Steroid (ex. Warrior Elixir, Dragon Blood, Rage) F ----------- Loot G ----------- Primary Skill (ex. Lucky Seven) (on Hermit, mobility skill) B ----------- Character Sheet P.UP -------- HP Potion P.DN -------- MP Potion HOME -------- Status Potion INS --------- Summoning Skill (Shadow Partner, Eagle, etc.) DEL --------- Friends END --------- Guild As you can see, most active skills can be assigned to the keyboard, as well as potions and most usable items. The Quick Slot hotbar on the bottom-right of the HUD can be edited similarly, so keybinds and item displays can be changed on the fly. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// III. About Thieves ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// A. Pros and Cons As far as the Assassin line goes, there are definite characteristics you should consider before you decide if it's really for you. PROS: - Most popular class; huge market for equipment - Becomes self-funding past level 40 - Ranged attacker with high dodge, so you take less damage overall - High single-target DPS - Fun, dynamic skillset - Mobility, especially past 3rd job advnacement CONS: - Huge demand for equipment can mean high prices - Hard to self-fund for new players - Relatively weak early on - May carry a bad reputation as "KSers" - Subpar multi-target/crowd control until 3rd/4th job - No defensive buffs, only a single self-healing skill - Only one party supporting skill B. Why Choose Asassins? The Assassin line is a pure DPS line of classes. Basically, choose the Assassin line if you want to be the most damaging character running around Forest of Golems. When you get to boss runs, Hermits often carry the highest single-target DPS in the party. This is due to the line's emphasis on single-target, multi-hitting skills, high crit rate, and the highest base attack speed in the game, both with and without Boosters. However, damage is often the only thing the Assassin line has to brag about; their only party buff is Haste, so they bring no offensive/defensive buffs, heals, statuses, or really anything else to parties. Arguably, this is all made up for by the Assassin line's DPS--it really is the highest in the game, probably to compensate for their lack of everything else. C. Assassin/Bandit Line Comparison TL;DR - Both are mobile DPSers. The Assassin line is immediately rewarding, while the Bandit line needs you to wait a bit. The Assassin line sticks to a formula that definitely works. The Bandit line takes a little more effort to shine, and they become more dynamic as you progress. Both are fun. The popularity of Assassins is due to their relatively intuitive power curve--it goes in a straight, increasing line. As Rogues, they're relatively weak. They get steadily stronger as they level up and advance through jobs. This trend never really changes, so you can really "feel" the progress you make with your character as you level up. Compare this with their counterparts, the Bandit line. While they start weak as Rogues, they stay weak as Bandits until about 12-13 levels in, when Savage Blow, their primary attack, gets maxed out. Still, the fact that they're close-ranged, don't have a self-heal, and generally are not as mobile as Assassins during this time extends their power trough until about 10 levels into 3rd job, where they suddenly gain a huge spike in in-combat mobility and crowd control/mobbing power. From there, their power curve starts to look more linear. Where the Assassin line has a linear power curve all throughout, the Bandit line has a two-part curve: A really shallow parabola for the first 80 levels, then a steep line from level 80 onwards. Finally, their skillsets start to diverge from 3rd job onwards. Hermits generally remain the same, hoppity-hoppity DPSers they were in 2nd job, while Bandits become a high-DPS mobbing and cleanup class as Chief Bandits. After the 4th job advancement, Night Lords, again, remain the same. Shadowers add even more different tools to their attack patterns and become a more micro-intensive class. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// IV. Your First Character: Levels 1 - 10 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// A. Character Creation and Growth You get to customize your character upon creation. Most of this is preference, but among your choices is your choice of a starting weapon. I recommend that you choose the Sword, as it generally is the most reliable starting weapon in terms of damage (Axe and Club both have negative multipliers on stab attacks, albeit positive ones on slash attacks). Name your character. You'll notice you can't actually pick "Thief" as your class--by default, you start as a Beginner; don't worry, you become a Thief later. Then you get to go through the hell that is the stat dice roll. The red dice randomly generate your stats. As Assassins, we want to focus on maximizing LUK and adding DEX as needed, while forgoing STR and INT altogether. To do this, we want to minimize STR and INT by rolling a 4, the minimum value, in both. Go ahead and do that. ... Yeah, unless you got insanely lucky in the first few rolls, you've realized by now that this might take a while. It's perfectly acceptable to roll a 5 in either one of those unimportant stats--or if you're impatient, in both. Your stats should be as follows: STR --- 4 or 5 DEX --- ??? INT --- 4 or 5 LUK --- ??? Don't worry about maximizing LUK or DEX upon creation. We'll be allocating our AP in a specific manner, so they'll end up how they should be in the long run. As far as levels 1 - 10, you want to ***spend all your points in DEX until you have 25 DEX***. This is very important. Once you have 25 DEX, put the rest in LUK. B. Welcome to Maple Island You'll quickly realize that Maple Island is MapleStory's idea of a tutorial. The area features low-level monsters, quests which teach you the basics of how to play the game, and some decent low-level items as rewards for those quests. I recommend doing those quests as long as it's convenient and reliable. Some quests will just take too long, or will be a difficult task all their own--if that's the case, just don't do the quest. It's probably better to just kill stuff. Your main monster targets for hunting will be Snails, Blue Snails, and Shrooms. The reason for this is that they all have very low HP/defense and give good EXP (+2, +3 for the latter two) for how much HP they have. Try to avoid Red Snails, Stumps, Pigs, Slimes, and Orange Mushrooms; they either have high HP/defense with low EXP reward, or are simply too strong for you right now. C. How to Get the Hell Out First of all, I don't recommend actually leaving Maple Island until you're level 10 or very close to level 10, since training at low-level spots in Victoria Island will need you to travel and deal with competition and high-leveled jerks who camp Henesys Hunting Ground. Whatever your decision, you can leave by buying a ticket from Shanks, or by receiving a free pass from Lucas, the Chief of Amherst, through Sara's questline. REMEMBER: You want to have 25 DEX by the time you're done as a Beginner at level 10. You WILL NOT be able to advance to Rogue if you don't meet these requirements. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// V. Victoria Island: The Adventure Begins ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// A. Becoming a Rogue Nice, you did it! To complete your magnificent transformation from Beginner to Thief, travel to Kerning City and talk to Dark Lord, located in the basement of the Fusion Bar. As long as you've met the 25 DEX/level 10 requirement, he'll promote you to Rogue and give you your first SP. B. Skill Breakdown Rogues are the common class between Assassins and Bandits, so their skillbook features elements of both classes. The skills are broken down as follows: NIMBLE BODY (MAX 20) - PASSIVE: Permanently increases ACC/AVD. KEEN EYES (MAX 8) - PASSIVE: Permanently increases attack range for throwing stars. DISORDER (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: Briefly stuns a target and reduces its W.ATT/W.DEF. Melee only. DARK SIGHT (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: You stealth and are able to phase through monsters, but attacking breaks stealth. Your SPD/JMP are also reduced. DOUBLE STAB (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: Exactly what it sounds like. Dagger only. LUCKY SEVEN (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: Quickly throw two stars to strike a single target. Claw only. Ranged equivalent to Double Stab. C. Rogue Character Growth Throughout your MapleStory career, you'll find that there are certain skills which you MUST (or should if you want to be any decent) max, some which are simply prerequisites to other skills, and some that are just terrible altogether. For Rogues, we're going to pick the same skills to max every time, but the order in which you do this depends on how you want to play and whatever funds you may or may not have. The two builds below are really simple, but don't worry, you'll end up with more freedom with what skills you want as you advance through jobs. (Note that if the guide tells you to level or max a skill, it's also telling you to get that skill's prerequisite.) CRIT FIRST (less MP intensive, safer training, better for low funds): - Keen Eyes (MAX) - Lucky Seven (MAX) - Dark Sight (MAX) L7 FIRST (more damage, more MP intensive, short ranged at first): - Lucky Seven (MAX) - Keen Eyes (MAX) - Dark Sight (MAX) D. Equipment Breakdown As a Rogue, you want to maximize your LUK stat. However, you'll soon find that Thief equipment often carries a DEX requirement. This means that even though Assassins gain power from LUK, we should periodically increase our DEX in order to use new equipment. Equipment also has LUK requirements, but we're always going to have enough, so that doesn't matter. Note that DEX can be supplemented by other items whose requirements you already meet and that you are able to use. This might reduce the amount of DEX you have to invest in the future and allow you to maximize LUK. DEX requirements increase with every new equipment set. During your time as a Rogue, you'll find that the level 10 armor and weapon requires nothing, but the level 15 set requires 30 DEX. The trend with these DEX requirements is as follows: LEVELS 15 - 40 --- Required equipment DEX = Required level * 2 LEVELS 50+ ------- Required equipment DEX increases from previous by 10 It's up to you to decide how you want to allocate your points then, as long as you meet the stat requirements for your next set of equipment by the time you get to the required level. Alternatively, you can opt to skip some equipment sets altogether and just dump your points into LUK. These can turn into alternative stat builds called "Low-DEX" or "DEXless"--these require significant funds, and if you're reading this guide, you probably don't have those funds right now. E. Financing Your Character Speaking of funds, it can't hurt to save a little money early on to help you later. There are two key things you can do to minimize your expenses as a Rogue. Obviously, if you're already funded, you can do whatever the hell you want, but for the newcomers, consider the following: ***Don't max Lucky Seven first.*** This may seem counter-intuitive, but eventually you save money by not having to buy MP potions until later, and because you max Keen Eyes instead, you'll be able to hit things from a safer distance, reducing your HP potion usage. Obviously you'll train a bit slower, but it may be worth the trade-off if you're really low on money. ***Skip the early equipment.*** Again, might seem counter-intuitive. But if you just keep the level 10 Garnier and skip all the other claws and armor, even the level 10 armor, you'll be able to save a bunch of money on ultimately useless equipment. Also, you'll be able to hoard LUK for a while, which will compensate for your reduced damage a bit. If you choose to do this, it should be until level 25, at which point you buy a Meba and upgrade your DEX to 50. The reason for this is because Mebas have a "Faster" attack speed, which ends up increasing your DPS considerably compared to if you kept your Garnier any later. Later on, you'll find that a Meba can replace the level 30 and 35 claw thanks to the DPS it provides. F. Training These training spots maximize the HP/EXP ratio with monsters that we talked about earlier, while also considering maps which are nice and easy to maneuver. Note that this is optimized for unfunded newcomers. If you're funded, I'm sure you can find the correct training spot appropriate for your strength level. LEVEL 10 - 21: Slime Tree (Slimes) LEVEL 21 - 24: Pig Beach (Pigs, Ribbon Pigs) Henesys East Rainforest (Pigs, Ribbon Pigs) LEVEL 25 - 30: Ant Tunnel I (Horned, Undead Mushrooms) Mushroom Tree (Green, Horned Mushrooms) Land of Wild Boar I (Wild Boar, Axe Stumps, Dark Axe Stumps) ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// VI. An Assassin Is You: Second Job Advancement ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// A. Becoming an Assassin At level 30, you're granted the opportunity to become an Assassin. Look at you! Unlike the 1st job advancement, there aren't any stat requirements for the 2nd job advancement besides being level 30. However, you must have allocated every SP you gained between the levels of 11 and 30 in order to be able to advance. The second job advancement involves a pretty tedious combat test, so you should stock up on potions and whatever you need beforehand. Once you've done that, speak with Dark Lord and he'll send you to the Construction Site North of Kernign City to speak with the advancement NPC. The test involves gathering 30 Dark Marble drops from a bunch of overpowered Cold Eyes and Blue Mushrooms which grant no experience. It sucks. But whatever. Just do it. Ten years later, you're an Assassin! Again, you've got 1 SP to spend on whatever you want. Enjoy it. Savor it. Become it. You are that 1 SP. B. Skill Breakdown But not really. Read below before you decide what to spend that point on. CLAW MASTERY (MAX 20) - PASSIVE: Stabilizes your damage range with claws and increases accuracy. Increases maximum throwing star capacity. Claw only. CRITICAL THROW (MAX 30) - PASSIVE: Increases critical strike chance. ENDURE (MAX 20) - PASSIVE: Idling recovers more HP/MP. Allows ladder recovery. CLAW BOOSTER (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: Increases attack speed. Claw only. HASTE (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: Increases SPD/JMP of you and all nearby party members. DRAIN (MAX 30) - ACTIVE: Throw a draining star to steal some HP from a single target, proportional to how much damage was dealt. Can only steal half of a monster's max HP per attack. C. Assassin Character Growth Now, you've got several options when building your Assassin, but you've probably realized just by reading that list that Endure sucks, so don't build it except as a pre-requisite to Drain. Also, it's important to note that Claw Booster is a static buff--the only thaing that increass with its level is the duration of the buff. Here are some sample builds you can follow. Note that I only level up Claw Booster to 5 in all of these builds; that's just personal preference for the buff duration, you can add or deduct points as you wish. CRITICAL THROW FIRST - Critical Throw (MAX) - Claw Booster (5) - Haste (MAX) - Drain (MAX) - Claw Mastery (MAX) - (Remaining points in Booster or Endure) MASTERY BEFORE DRAIN - Critical Throw (MAX) - Claw Booster (5) - Haste (MAX) - Claw Mastery (MAX) - Drain (MAX) - (Remaining points in Booster or Endure) MINI-HASTE FIRST - Claw Booster (5) - Haste (10) - Critical Throw (MAX) - Haste (MAX) OR Drain (MAX) - Whatever you didn't max between Haste and Drain - Claw Mastery (MAX) - (Remaining points in Booster or Endure) These are examples of three distinct builds. The first option maximizes your self-sustainability and damage by taking Drain before Mastery and maxing Critical Throw first. The second opts for better damage while forgoing self-healing by taking Mastery first. The last option delays Critical Throw by three levels in favor of Haste, which gives slightly better mobility at the cost of damage. D. Training Rather than list locations I'll just list specific mobs, as they're all pretty abundant throughout several maps. LEVEL 30 - 36: Sakura Cellions Evil Eyes Zombie Mushrooms Teddies/Pink Teddies Chronos LEVEL 37 - 49: Chronos Platoon Chronos Sakura Cellions Lunar Pixies Copper Drakes Mask Fish LEVEL 50 - 55: Lunar Pixies Luster Pixies Drakes Jr. Yetis Hectors/White Pangs Dark/Mixed Golems (Forest of Golems) Coolie Zombies (Dead Forest 1-4) LEVEL 56 - 70: Luster Pixies Coolie Zombies Hectors/White Pangs Dark/Mixed Golems Hoodoos/Voodoos ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// VII. Go West: Third Job Advancement ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// A. You've Come A Long Way Through 40 painful levels, you'll come to realize the exact strengths and weaknesses of the Assassin line. Hopefully you've become comfortable enough with your character to have learned essential techniques such as jump attacks/reverses, aggro pulling, and some map-specific maneuvering tricks. You probably started to realize just how good your DPS and killing efficiency is towards level 50. That's going to stick, and it's going to get better. I hope you haven't become too comfortable with your style, because everything is going to get a lot easier from here. B. Becoming a Hermit At level 70, you're able to become a Hermit, this time through Arec in El Nath's. This job advancement requires a lot more work than the first two--here's the rundown. - You're going to be fighting a rather difficult, hostile version of Dark Lord, so make sure to stock up on potions, elixirs, etc. and upgrade your gear if necessary. - 10 Dark Crystal Ores will be needed to create one refined Dark Crystal for later in the test. - Pull up Hidden Street or something, since this test involves a (very important) pop quiz on MapleStory trivia. Once you get to this stage of the test, be very careful not to answer incorrectly--else you'll need to refine another Dark Crystal. The details of that summary are explained by Arec himself, so take his word for it. If you've managed to do all of that and not pass out from excitement, congratulations, you're a Hermit! Cool, yeah, awesome. C. Skill Breakdown The Hermit skillbook involves a much more dynamic and versatile kit compared to that of the Assassin skillbook. Most of your mobility, DPS, and all of your mob-DPS capabilities come from this skill tree. Again, the order in which you max the vital skills is your choice, and whether or not you opt for the less-important ones is for you to decide. The skills of a Hermit are as follows. SHADOW PARTNER (MAX 30) - ACTIVE: Consume a Summoning Rock to summon a copy of you which mimics your attacks. AVENGER (MAX 30) - ACTIVE: Throw a huge shuriken which damages multiple enemies. FLASH JUMP (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: While mid-air, use to quickly propel yourself forward in an arc. MESO UP (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: You and your party pick up an increased amount of money from monster drops. SHADOW MESO (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: Consume some mesos to throw a projectile capable of critically striking for huge damage. ALCHEMIST (MAX 20) - PASSIVE: Increase the effect and duration of potions, elixirs, and status items. SHADOW WEB (MAX 20) - ACTIVE: Consume your Shadow Partner to root an enemy in place for a hefty duration. D. Hermit Character Growth The first big choice you'll face in your Hermit build is deciding when you want to max Shadow Partner early or save the points for increased mobility through Flash Jump or increased mobbing through Avenger. This trio of skills forms your core build as a Hermit; the other skills, while beneficial, aren't really important, and should be saved for last. Here are some sample builds. SHADOW PARTNER FIRST - Avenger (1) - Shadow Partner (MAX) - Flash Jump (MAX) - Avenger (MAX) - Alchemist (MAX) - Meso Up (MAX) - Shadow Web (MAX) - Shadow Meso (whatever's left) PURE SHADOW PARTNER - Shadow Partner (MAX) - Flash Jump (MAX) - Avenger (MAX) - Alchemist (MAX) - Meso Up (MAX) - Shadow Web (MAX) - Shadow Meso (whatever's left) AVENGER FIRST - Avenger (5) - Shadow Partner (MAX) - Avenger (1) - Flash Jump (MAX) - Avenger (MAX) - Alchemist (MAX) - Meso Up (MAX) - Shadow Web (MAX) - Shadow Meso (whatever's left) EARLY FLASH JUMP - Flash Jump (1) - Shadow Partner (MAX) - Flash Jump (MAX) - Avenger (MAX) - Alchemist (MAX) - Meso Up (MAX) - Shadow Web (MAX) - Shadow Meso (whatever's left) E. Training LEVEL 70 - 75: Dark/Mixed Golems (Forest of Golems) Coolie Zombies (Dead Forest 1 - 4) Hoodoos/Voodoos Wolf Spiders LEVEL 76 - 89: Death Teddies Black/Risell Squids Gobies Windraiders LEVEL 90+: Vikings Black/Risell Squids Gobies Grim Phantom Watches ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// VIII. Where to from Here? ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Well, that's about all the useful content I have to give you. I hope I've outlined everything pretty well. Back to the modern era--I sincerely enjoyed rewriting this guide in my up-to-date style. Formatting this guide really brought back what it was like for me to play MapleStory every single day up until high school started for me, and I won't forget all the friends I made through this game. I actually surprised myself with how much knowledge I retained. If you've managed to read this far, you can probably find me on the Southperry.net Discord server--find that by browsing through Southperry.net for a bit until you find the thread. An update on myself since I first wrote this thing: I've been enrolled in university for four years now, and I'm on track to graduate in five. I've since taken up Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Mechatronics, and I love what I study and what I do. It has almost nothing to do with MapleStory and has taken no influence from it besides maybe the small elements of the coding that I do on a regular basis. If you've really, really read this far, I figured I'd share all of that with you to commemorate how much you and I have grown over the past 10 years--or at least I assume you'd grown, otherwise, why are you just now reading a ten-year-old guide for an old game? ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// IX. Special Thanks ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I'll keep this part the same as it was originally. Well, this is it. We part here. I'll never forget you, old friend, with your practical jokes..and beating me to a pulp, burning my house to a pile of ashes.. No wait, that was my 5th birthday party. Whoops! A. A Special thanks to.. I'd like to thank.. GameFAQs for hosting my guide. The Reverie guild for helping me through my emocidal period (Level 74). Reverie again for being awesome. DRCsyntax, the founder of TWM, the guild I'm in, for giving me some or most of the information of how to be a good Assassin. ExAtlas, another TWM member, helped me get to 50, and motivated me to get as far as I am now. Being a 5x Assassin made me want to write a guide about Assassins, as I'm pretty experienced..had one in Beta too. Myself, for powerleveling me (Being a Hermit is oh-so sweet.) The community of onRPG's former Forum 57, the Maple Story forum, for helping me, giving me tips on how to be an Assassin, leading to this guide. And you, the readers, especially, for taking the time to read this guide. I hope all this information doesn't go to waste. >_O DISCLAIMER: This guide may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use without my permission. It may NOT be hosted on ANY website other than the ones listed below without my consent. If you print out a copy for your friend, that's fine, but I don't want you telling random people about this guide, or even advertising it. Also, I don't want you using this guide for any profit whatsoever, in real life or in-game. All of the above are copyright infringement. I authorize this guide to be hosted only by the following sites: GameFAQs [http://www.gamefaqs.com/] NeoSeeker [http://www.neoseeker.com/] CheatCodes [http://www.cheatcodes.com/] And any other sites that request my permission. Thanks again for reading my guide. Copyright (C), 2006 ChaosXLegion