Generation 1 Tips (Part Two) - Everybody loves Dougal

Second part of my Generation 1 tips! You can find the first part here.

Fiodh (fastest with help)
Again, new creatures that could be troublesome for a newbie show up here - once you get to mid-level they shouldn't be a problem though. Fiodh is also a really big dungeon (more like a sprawling ruin) so it may take awhile to clear if going through solo. If you are trying that, then be sure to bring the same gear as from Ciar earlier as you'll probably need it.

Jackals and Bears
I hope you can recall your beginner battle class training sessions. Jackals behave just like wolves. :P

Snakes
Know counter and defense but tend to drop defense quickly so don't try smash them when they have it up. Normal attacks will be just fine since most have low HP but they can bite hard (especially white ones) if they catch you. Fortunately none of them in this arc are poisonous... those will come in later. :P

Werewolves
Can be very problematic for low level characters as their claws do injury (black) damage and they have heavy stander. This means there's a chance they will auto-defend any non-knockback melee attack. Simplest way around this is to stick to smash, windmill and counter. I'd suggest shooting them from far but they usually appear in locked rooms so you'll need to learn how to handle them up close.Later on  you'll be one hit killing them, but for now it's probably best to bring two stacks of bandages along.

Gorgons
Basically armored cows. Again, avoid normal attacks as they too have heavy stander and just like the werewolves they tend to spawn in locked rooms. Expect to spam your heal potions a bit the first time you meet them, and don't use smash as your opening attack. Alternatively if you want to practice fighting them, head to Iria and travel North of Qilla until you find the young short-horned gnus. They have similar AI but are just less aggressive (gnus never attack first).

Rabbie-Albey (fastest to solo as Mari)
Nice looking scary dungeon you'll get to visit in person later on. For now the fastest way through is to use an ultra speed potion and arrow revolver everything until the dark lord shows up. Once he does I recommend magnum shot to prevent him from teleporting. Like everything else that teleports, he can "bug" out and become a non-targetable statue. If this happens you'll have no choice but to change channel and go back to get another set of glasses from Tarlach to do this dungeon again.

Barri Crossing  (fastest with help)
The only thing that maybe new here for you are imps. These little fellas pack quite a punch if they zap you, but they are paper mages. One combo should be enough to kill them. If not, use defense quickly or alternatively use magic on them yourself. They are more a lesson in kill sequencing (start with isolated ones) rather than combat skill.

Tir Na Nog
Welcome to Australia! Erm I mean, Tir na Nog. Sorry, easy to mistake with all these dingoes (again wolf ai) running about. There are only two other things lurking out here.

Map of Tir Na Nog! :P

Zombie
The graveyard here hosts a large number of zombies who are pretty much immune to ranged and magic attacks, plus they have heavy stander! The safest way to deal with these slow moving scum is to windmill, and this was originally the best place to train it. These days you can travel to Tara and do the Their Method mission for more accessible zombies though. Also, if you are quick, you can open with a smash if they haven't noticed you yet. Anyway, you will need to kill one of these scum to bind your soul here (ie. enable respawn), otherwise death with no one nearby to res here or in the nearby Albey dungeon will lead you back to Bangor. Where is your goddess now ey? :P

Giant Worm
Dangerous, heavy stander and heavy hitter. Best avoided if you are low level, and like the dingoes - you never actually have to fight these ones. They behave like snakes.

Albey Green Gem (safest with help)
The first of three runs you'll need to do through Albey for Generation 1. There are no statues to revive at here so bringing backup is a good idea. Also note that if you didn't complete the soul binding quest of killing a zombie, your respawn point will be Bangor. There are also a number of new opponents waiting for you here:

Ratmen
Think of them as talkative and tricky goblins. Their windmill can do some decent damage but otherwise, just fight correctly and they'll die quick.

Gargoyles
The bane of Albey dungeon. They can easily one hit kill low-mid level players and have the same AI as gremlins (annoying). They will probably survive a standard combo or smash too if you haven't got your skills up yet, and enjoy throwing an ice bolt to stun/negate their prey's defense before attacking up close. The "heavy" version also boasts heavy stander and more HP. Shoot them from far when you are given the opportunity, but they will also spawn in enclosed rooms with you which means you and your team simply have to fight well. You'll need to get used to them as they'll show up in the next two dungeons in this story arc too.

Albey Black Orb (safest with help)
A more dangerous run through Albey as gargoyles are going to be more plentiful. Two "new" opponents you'll be facing here are:

Armored Skeletons
They're just like normal skelies except that they now have heavy stander. Avoid normal attacks if possible and remember to focus on the one "!!" aggroed on you as they only aggro one at a time. A mix of windmill, counter, magic and ranged attacks are all good ways to beat them.

Ghost Armor
You've fought them before as Mores and Mari, but now you may not have powerful magic or a strong bow. It is still advisable to shoot them from far but if you are going in close be careful of their lightning bolts and DO NOT open with smash as they have high intuition. Just attack them normally and put up defense to catch their magic or sword if they are still alive.

Albey Goddess Final (safest with help)
Five floors and no respawn points. Better also bring some firewood and a bow if this is your first time in here. A few more "new" enemies to contend with here if you haven't been done the beginner hunting quests. Don't worry, all your old friends from the spiderlings to the heavy gargoyles will also make an appearance.

Hellhound
Often found as the boss of Math dungeon, you'll be locked in with two of them and for a change it is better to be up close and personal with these instead of "middle distance" which they will dominate with their magic. Just treat them as big wolves that happen to have firebolt. :P It takes some time for them to load firebolt so pounce the minute they do.

Lycanthrope
A variation of the old werewolf, you're only going to run into one of these and the best way to beat him is to just spam windmill, as any other skill could level him up and restore his life to full.

Dark Lord
Ideally fight him after taking out his body guards. He can still teleport but if he does that ususally means he is using a normal attack making him open against counter and windmill. Hopefully you've picked up the Goddess pass to "save" your progress just incase your team dies to him or the final boss.

Glas
This giant, four-armed gold eating monster can shoot lasers from its mouth, summon gargoyles and has a really quick regeneration rate. There are three ways to beat him - first, bring a high level friend to seriously just one hit KO him. Second, setup a camp fire at the door and use burning arrows on him (does injury damage which he cannot regen), or the classic way which is to kill his summoned gargoyles until one drops a "seal scroll". Pick it up, burn it on a camp fire to gain 60 second invulnerability and 100% injury dealing rate and beat him up. All methods are equally fun. Again, don't worry too much if you die - as long as you keep picking up the Goddess pass you get to redo this and the dark lord fight over and over until you win. :)

Goddess Enchant
Hopefully you have a fully upgraded and fully repaired, favourite weapon by now as you have only 6 hours after receiving the reward to use it.

Generation 1 Tips (Part One) - The Stoned Goddess

Now that you've had (over) 7 days worth of classes it's probably time to start the first main story arc: Generation 1! In the next few posts I'll give some quick tips to get through the "dangerous" parts of Generation 1! I am assuming you've been through the beginner battle class board sessions prior to doing this.


Grave of the Snowman
Any time you need to go into the snowy region North of Tir Chonail (which will be a lot) be wary of the coyotes. They have wolf AI but can tear a low level player up quickly if you don't fight well. My suggestion is avoid them and jog past them, preferably NOT in combat mode as it makes them aggro faster.

Alby RP (fastest to solo as Ruairi)
Nothing here should pose a threat to your character, so certainly nothing will be a problem for the overpowered Ruairi. Drink up the ultra speed potion and crush the spiders and bats into oblivion. Remember, all the spiders and bats you encounter in all of G1 only know defense and have single aggro. The bats will also never attack first.

Barri Black Wizard (fastest with help)
May want to bring help here if you are still new to the game as you'll probably be meeting new types of opponents for the first time.

Gremlins (various)
Dangerous hard hitting bastards. Ideally magnum shot them from the adjoining room or hallway since they have low HP. Ice bolts work well too. If you have to melee them avoid using defense and instead use counter/wm and normal attacks. When they fly around like spastic idiots don't chase them as they'll usually get first hit in - instead load up a windmill.

Flying Sword
If you don't use magic on them, they aren't that bad and will only attack one at a time. If you can't slay them in one combo, defend often to block their strikes or lightning bolts.
Wisp - harder to read than the average monster (may pay to study their language) and hits moderately hard. Lure them if required to deal with them one at a time.

Black Wizard
Can be a big danger for low-mid level players. If you are opting to have ranged combat you'd better make sure your shots hit (hope you brought a longbow too). If he fully charges firebolt it's around 500 damage if it connects (I know from experience! :P). Otherwise close in and tear him up as fast as you can to prevent him chain firebolting you, but don't do that if his wisps are nearby - lure them first.

In Mabinogi, all black wizards are evil.

Rabbie RP (solo as Tarlach)
Featuring possibly your first encounter with skeletons in enclosed spaces, Tarlach is not so good at melee though and is not the guy to practice fighting skelies with. Fastest and safest way to clear this is to use the ultra speed potion and make use of 3221 icebolt on everything. If you don't know what that is, it is a good time to learn: Charge 5 ice bolts, fire 3 at baddie, charge one, fire two, charge one, fire two, charge one, fire one. If the situation allows though, always charge back up to five.

Math RP (fastest to solo as Mores - twice)
The most fun RP dungeon in this story arc. Fastest way to clear everything is again the ultra speed potion and this time because Mores has chain casting, use lightning bolt on everything. More fun if they are standing clustered together.

Ciar (as of this post bugged and must be run solo - don't forget to touch the end statue to finish this quest section)
Since you're going in alone I suggest you bring a good stock of healing pots, bandages, a shield and if you aren't a giant - a longbow, arrows and 5 pieces of firewood. Just to cover what's in here if you haven't tried the dungeon prior to this quest:

Goblins and Goblin archers
You'll encounter mixed aggro here with them, try to prioritise the archers first and if your windmill is good enough, use that to clear them out quick. If you have a pet, don't forget you can use it to help. You can out bow them if you're carrying a long bow and have an empty corner to work with as their aggro range does not cover the entire room.

Skeletons
They can hit hard as you may have seen in Tarlach's RP earlier, and this bunch also carry bows. However given that the boss room door is open (giving you space to flee) you can just magnum shot them to death - they only run as fast as you and if you go far enough, they get bored and return to idling. Alternatively you can just melee them too as they have no armor. Don't wake up the golem while doing this though! If a skelie is not moving you may as well load up counter or windmill. Usually they run around like idiots though so you can catch them with normal attacks. You probably will want a good shield (kite or better) if you are going to attempt defense to parry them though.

Golem
This is the second weakest golem in the game but can still cause problems with its windmill and stomp attacks. It is unwise to fight it while fighting skeletons so lure it or its buddies to fight them one at a time. This big boy can easily outrun you though, even an elf so don't try to escape unless you've got a fast steed. If you are opting to shoot it to death I recommend using a camp fire to gain fire arrows (x2 damage). Otherwise if you are going to be upclose, bring a shield and fight well as he can KO you really quickly. Don't panic too much, if you die you can always respawn at the goddess statue and try again. You'll be facing a slightly stronger variant in Fiodh soon.

Fastest way to gain AP

My fifth Mabinogi lesson! To find what other classes are available please see the binding post. :)

Ability Points are the most prized numbers you need and will almost always be short of. You spend them to rank up skills and if you want everything at Rank 1 you will literally need thousands of them; and more with each new skill introduced into the game. There are four ways to earn AP:

Quests
Some quests give AP on completion. Of note are the Generation 1 quests give 70 odd all up so if given a choice do NOT skip it. Furthermore all quests give Gold and exp so they are usually all worth doing! Maybe not so much the timed daily ones like harvest wheat or gather eggs though.

Leveling Up
Each level you gain gives you 1 AP. As you level up this begins to slow down as more and more exp is required to level. For a newbie, your fastest EXP gain outside of quests will come from one of two places. First one is shadow Missions - Which one becomes a time vs effort decision on your part as "Defeat the Shadow Warrior" is not particularly fast to complete. If you are solo and are confident in windmill you may want to try the Tara shadow mission - "Their Method" to chop up zombies instead. Alternatively if you can handle them, the black mongeese (especially angry ones) at the human mark at Rano in Iria provide one of the best risk vs exp reward outside a dungeon. They can be tough customers though so I hope you've practiced up against those wolves from my last post before trying to fight them. Faster still is if you get someone to train you (probably on black mongeese again) by letting you into their party and giving all the exp to finish. They knock em down, you finish. Need to be very good friends or very persuasive for this to happen though.

Each week there is also a banquet at the Tara Castle that just spits out EXP for as long as you are inside the hall (for 1 hour). It's easy gain if you are going to be AFK but later on you will be able to make much more than it gives if you are actively killing stuff. Ideally, you should try aim to reach level 40-50 before having to rebirth.

Exploration
Each exploration level you gain gives you 1 AP. It is just as good as normal leveling up. The safest way for a beginner to level these up is to venture to Cor (or get a lift there) and do the circuit around the village. You will need an L-Rod and space in your pack to dig up some artifacts. Generally they spawn in "lines" everywhere so if you find 2 you can probably find a few more. This also means if you find one you should circle it and listen for beeps. Eventually you'll know where all the spots are by memory anyway if you do it very often. Be warned that the Giant Millipede does pose a threat to low level characters, and if he spawns DO NOT use smash on it.

Keep an eye on your exploration level too because there are some levels where you -MUST- do an exploration cap quest. Your exploration level will cease to advance and all excess exploration experience will be lost until you complete it! It's a good idea to get these out of the way as each character only needs to do them once. The maximum exploration level you can reach is 25 and you should aim to reach somewhere between 15-20 per rebirth.

Colombus got a lot of AP from it.

Aging and Rebirth
Every week you gain some AP based on your age. The younger you are, the more AP you gain. However, unless you are planning on paying real money for character cards to rebirth,  you will only be able to use the free rebirth given when your characters reaches an age of 20. If you started at age 17 thats three weeks before you can rebirth again. Why is rebirthing good? Because it resets your level and exploration level back to 1, making it easy to gain again, while keeping your already accumulated AP. If you can reach the ideal levels (or better) above within three weeks then you probably should be rebirthing to age 17. Otherwise adjust it accordingly to maximize your age/rebirth cycle.