Becoming the Dark Knight

Sometime after human characters complete G3 you will be able to start the Path of the Dark Knight quest, and here are some quick tips on getting through it.

Unfortunately it's less Batman and more Venom.

Ciar - Again
You'll meet blue ratmen and burgundy sickle laghodesas now, they are a tiny bit stronger than their counterparts you have previously faced but the main difference is they multi aggro. Windmill is a good option on taking out these things quickly.

That Cursed Armor
After a solo trip into Rabbie and revisiting Albey in TNN you should have the completed set of armor. The black wizard will try trick you in getting you to "taste" the power before you decide. This is a lie. If you do that, then your decision is made and you -will- become a dark knight (you can delay it though). If you want to destroy it and stay a paladin you must go to Tarlach -before- running Barri RP. People that opt to don the dark armor cannot revert, ever. Paladins can however, later change their mind and change later on.

Dark Knight in Barri (as Ruairi)
Regardless of your choice you get to try out the dark knight skills as Ruairi in the RP dungeon. He is even more overpowered than before with the transformation and even the ogre warriors at the end should pose no problems for you.

Black or White
As a quick comparison to help you decide:

Paladins gain a fixed amount of Str, Will, Dex (based on paladin skill ranks). Ideal for melee and ranged people. Will is especially handy for the Fighter knuckle skills.

Dark Knights gain a random amount of Str, Int, Dex. Compared to a paladin of the same level, one will be higher, one will be lower and one will be equal. More deal for mages due to INT gain. They also get an additional skill that lets them "control" a monster for a short period.

Generation 3 Tips - Holy Hell

Now that you have gained your transformation from the previous story arc this should be a breeze right? Well, yes and no. Generation 3 has two parts, the first being quite easy but very annoying due to running to Tarlach often, then the end game which is ridicoulously hard.

Statue Restoration
First part mainly involves fixing up statues that the fomors are breaking as you mostly revisit dungeons you've already beaten. I'll just quickly cover some opponents that may be new to you at this point.

Arr' they be Pirates!
The pirate skelies in Rundal are the same as normal skelies, only that differently attired ones can multi aggro you. Keep this in mind as you take them out.

Heavy Hitters
The Rundal Cyclops and Barri Ogre Warriors (one of whom you have fought before) have similar AI. Probably a good idea to use transformation against them just to be sure, or if you want to be extra safe, pet revolver at your leisure. Obviously don't fight the Ogre Warriors all at once and be warned that the big ones have more HP and deal more damage.

Rabbie Bosses
If you open the boss room while alone in Rabbie you'll face a succubus, an AI you have defeated before as Tarlach in Generation 1 and has similar AI to the necromancer at the end of Generation 2. Also good to note, she only runs as fast as you making it easy to smash and run until she decides to give up and repeat. If you open the boss room with a team you will be lured into a trap by a single goblin. Killing it will spawn a large cluster of stronger multi-aggro gold types with archer backup. If you can snipe or pet revolver the "bait" goblin, you will be able to handle the army that follows in a more organized fashion.

Random Math
There's a low chance you may encounter either of these while clearing Math - Pocket mice and Giant Skelies. The later ones are actually the least dangerous skeleton type and are best dealt with windmill since you can hit all of them with their large hit boxes. The pocket mice are just slightly better than rats, and so long as you don't use magic on them will pose no threat.

Baol Infiltration
Here's where things begin getting insane. This solo dungeon is designed as a "stealth" mission where you need to get past a whole bunch of high damage dealing guards to reach the boss room. You can't use magic other than healing and if you talk the guards will detect you. Every single door is locked via orb system which means being unlucky could result in your death. Fortunately you get an anti-fomor robe for the duration of this which enables you to be invisible from all guards except the hell hound type, but if THEY detect you - ALL of them detect you. This makes them your most major threat. There are many strategies to get through safetly on the wiki. I recommend using the rock throw action and bringing a long bow to lure the hell hounds out from certain multi-aggro death should they appear. It is important to wait for their bodies to disappear before continuing as even "dead" hounds can detect you and alert the other guards.

Alternatively if you are high level enough (R1 smash and combat mastery) and have a strong mana shield to back you up, you can simply kill all the guards. Elves have an even easier time as they should be able to "hide" in between hitting orbs. Be warned that the hounds aggro very fast though so it may pay to get behind the orb before kicking it.

Baol Final (better bring help)
With a mix of boss type creatures with multi aggro in every room for SIX floors, this is possibly the second most difficult dungeon in the entire game (after Peaca) you'd really better bring (preferably strong) help. Also be sure to bring firewood, bow and arrows and 100 HP potions ONLY. Picking up or bringing any of the lesser heals WILL get you killed later. You'll most likely need a bunch of party feathers and a friend outside with advanced feathers should all of you get killed. If your team all have high ranked windmill then over-lapping WMs can help a lot. There are a bunch of new opponents here for those who haven't been running other dungeons prior to this.

Giant Worms
A variety of giant worms are down here and they have brick loads of heavy stander and mana shield. Best dealt with by a high level archer. They will never aggro first, so if you need a breather in between a wave try to not to disturb one of them.

They are ugly bastards but they won't attack unless provoked!

Nightmare Humanoid
Same as the boss in the Paladin's Passive Defense quest, just lots more of them! Remember to firebolt them to make them change color as melee is ineffective if they are Red or White.

Argos and Giant Headless
Just like ogre warriors, only uglier. They both have heavy stander and while Argos' have mana deflector, the Headlesses are almost immune to arrows. If you are keeping one dude back in the previous chamber as your resser with party feathers, make sure he keeps well away from the combat room as they have attacks that can still go through to adjacent chambers.

Dark Lord and Dragon
No need to fight the Dark Lord this time, just stay away from him and his pal until the dragon shows up. Once it does you'd best put down a campfire or two to provide cover from its fire breath. Hopefully you also have a full stack or two of heal pots and bandaged all your wounds prior to entering. Last time I fought him he couldn't do injury (black) damage but could wipe out your health in one shot. If you are at full health before this happens you'll go into Deadly which gives you time to drink up again. Arrow revolver or just plain ranged attacks by the campfire provide the best way to destroy the dragon (aside from demi-god powers you will get later) as you can hit him even while he is flying. Note, the campfire blocks the explosion so you must be standing opposite to where the breath attack *lands* as opposed to opposite the dragon itself as he can toss it anywhere when he is flying!

Obsidian Enchant
Ideally you still have the "goddess" weapon from G1. If that's the case, you are best off stacking this reward scroll on that item. :)

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.

Another Soul in the Stream

The first of my Mabinogi lesson! To find what other classes are available please see the binding post. :)

Mabi follows the free to play (but you get more stuff if you pay) schematic, and if this is your first time logging into the game I strongly suggest going with the free human character card they give you first - even if you ultimately want to play as an elf or a giant. You then need to pick what server you will play on - this is very important as you cannot switch around later on. If you are trying to join friends be sure to pick the same one they are on (duh), otherwise the choice is yours:

Mari is the oldest and has the highest population and probably the highest level players all around. Alexina is the newest, and most probably has the lowest population and lowest number of "high level" dudes. Tarlach and Ruairi are in between those two. If you want to personally say hi to me in-game, you can find me at Ruairi. :)

Next you actually create how your character looks like. Since it's a free card you are using, you will be limited from majority of the facial expressions and hairstyles but you can fix that later (if you really want to spend money on it) so again, don't worry too much. Your name however, cannot be changed later so pick one you are happy with.

Age is not so much an issue in the game as you will want to constantly cycle back (you'll understand why as you play). To keep it simple pick your age based on how often you can / will play. If you are going to be very active start at age 17 which I think is the oldest you can pick. If you only play once a week start at age 10. I'll explain why in a later post.

All that is left is to select your start point: I recommend Uladh / Tir Chonail if you want to play as a human. If you are really dying to play a giant or elf straight away start at Iria / Qilla. Once you are happy with everything go ahead and finish the creation process.

Hello Boobs.. I mean... World!

After talking to Mabinogi's resident guardian angel you will be asked what destiny you wish to follow. I suggest Warrior (not Fighter) first but you can pick whatever takes your fancy. Afterwards you will soon be dropped into your selected starting spot and beset by owls dropping tons of stuff on your head. Don't worry - it's natural here. If you are in Uladh then you can begin talking to townspeople and doing various little quests here and there. If you started in Uladh, I strongly recommend going to the School and taking classes from both Ranald and Lassar (she's inside) as they provide a lot of information on the battle mechanics of the game. You should also ask about "skills" from everyone you talk to because really - you will want them all.

Why you ask? Skills, more than anything else, determine your stats and each of them have around 16 ranks of effectiveness. As an example, if there are 2 archers using the same bow - the one with Rank 1 ranged mastery will not do as much damage as the one with Rank 1 ranged mastery and Rank 1 refining. At first glance, refining has nothing to do with archery at all - until you realize that each rank gives a lot of dexterity, and every 4 points of dex increases ranged damage. It is due to little quirks like this that you should work on your "main" character for everything (fighting, magic, crafting, etc.) and use mules or alts purely for storage space.