Shield Crusader FAQ Vr 1.0 Saturday, October 30, 2004 Written by Ragenarok E-mail : Ragenarok@msn.com NOTE: Information is based on iRO Chaos. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@@@ This is my guide that I have made myself, playing many plus hours to get most of what I'm writing here. Do not take this guide without asking for my permission first, this is for private use only. @@@@ I have a part of my guide on RO Empire too, "Breakdown Of Shield Crusader Skills". That is the only other place I have put it in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version 1.0, Basic parts done and fully remade. Version 2.0, Revised, updated and added new information. Version 2.5, Added in some recent patches. More to come. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What's to come: Transcedent Tactical information Patch Update ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What's on here: 1. A description of every Shield Crusader Skill. {AFAF} 2. A list of circumstances where a Shield Crusader is important. {DSDS} 3. A small stepping stone to help you make your own build. {KJKJ} 4. A list of Shield Crusader Equipment and Armor {LOLO} 5. A small leveling guild to show you where to level {PEPE} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What comes to people's minds when they think of a Shield Crusader? I bet the word Sacrifice comes to mind. I have a much better way to think of a Shield Crusader that might make you all think twice about us. Just like a Sage isn't just made for Hocus Pocus, we aren't just made for sacrifice. Due to the fact that the Crusader has so many skills, I won't post them here unless they can be used by a Shield Crusader. Here's the one and only link to the Official Website's database for Crusader: http://iro.ragnarokonline.com/game/jobcruskill.asp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ {AFAF} To make a wonderful Crusader, you must start out as a Swordsman. Though you can have whatever skills you want, and god knows how many time's a certain skill will save your butt. Though these skills below are ultimately the most certain way to go, that is, if you don't have ideas of your own. Here are some of the Swordsman skills you can have, an I have even put the in the order that would benefit you best- 10 Hp Recovery 10 Sword Mastery 5 Bash 5 Provoke 1 Hp Recovery while Moving 1 Berserk 1 Fatal Blow 5 Endure 5 Bash if you want to go to 50, that's quite all right. I would max out Endure, and get Provoke to 9. Very nice way to go out too. @@@ Note that HP Recovery while moving, Berserk, and Fatal Blow are all quest skills, and you must be at least level 30 to get them. I recommend you get at least Fatal Blow, as it works with Bash level 6-10 to add stun.@@@ For more information on Swordsman, go to: iro.ragnarokonline.com/game/jobsworskill.asp ---------- As for Crusader skills, I cannot recommend what skills to pump up first, as we all have our little pet peeves about Picking out stuff for us. I will list All the skills necessary to get every Shield skill there is. I won't list such things as the Heal tree, as it has nothing to do with shields. Peco Peco is also left out, but You can debate later if you want it or not. Also, for room and size of this FAQ, plus the number of other FAQs that go into great detail, I will describe these skills as if they were maxed out. ---------- FAITH : Need I say anything? More Hp means more chances of surviving. The holy resistance comes in handy verses a GC Crusader. Though the 50% holy resistance does help you against your own GC too. ---------- HOLY CROSS : This is a good skill. It does a double attack, holy property, doing 450% of your attack, with Attack Speed having little affect on it. Drawback : It takes 20 sp for those of us with under 500 sp it becomes costly. I use Defending Aura + Holy Cross to recover from Defending Aura's nasty side effects. ---------- GRAND CROSS : My only use for it : Mobs. It doesn't help me at all for WOE and PvP ( but it is funny to watch a GC crusader walk into a group of people and kill all but the very high vitality players). This skill's only use is the requirement Points for Sacrifice for a Sacrifice Shield crusader. ---------- GUARD: This skill had awesome potential. Think about this : At level 10 Guard has a 30% chance to block all physical attacks. This means anything non-magical falls into Guards defense! On many occasions I have watch a Monk "try" to finish me with Occult Impaction/Asura or a Hunter attack me with Double Strafe only to watch it become blocked by Guard. One out of every three physical attacks should be "Guarded". This is like a Immune Garment that blocks damage all the way! Some people believe that going to only 6 or 7 would be better than 10. It's totally up to you. I prefer level 10 myself. Though, later, Gravity will edit Guard that makes going to 10 worth it. @@@ Please note that there are new 2nd class quests skills coming out. The Crusader's skill adds knockback to Guard. More info as it reaches iRO @@@ ---------- SMITE: It's pretty much useless in WOE because of the No knock back rule, but outside of that, it has a very good use. I use it with boomerang to kill enemies that do too much damage, or do knock back something and kill it from afar, Or when you need to save someone from a nasty mob, making it nice skill. The best use is to knock back either a wizard, hunter, or priest out of range. A Wizard who is killing everyone, a Hunter killing Agility characters, a Priest healing and buffing, or to knock a GC crusader away. Only works out of War of Empirium, of course. The stun rate of smite is 40% at level 5, and with that much stun, plus Stun Bash, you can wipe the deck with anything. ---------- SHIELD BOOMERANG : It's an All-around killer. With its excellent range most Low vitality chars are easy prey to this. But what I really like about this skill is that its Damage is based off level + weight + Upgrade plus(+), and the best part is it isn't affected by Weapon Attack, I take of my weapon and it still does the same amount. I also love to annoy wizards with this skill. ---------- DEFENDING AURA : With this skill maxed out, it will reduce all Long Range physical damage by 80%. The Drawback : Your Attack Speed will be lowered by 50 and your walking speed lowered to that of a Agility Down status effect. To get around the ATTACK SPEED I use my active skills, like Holy Cross, Boomerang, and Smite. They will be slow but much better than you regular attacks. @@@@This will make your crusader nearly invincible to Hunters, Bards, and Dancers. Sure there are ways around it, but at least you will get this much protection.@@@@ This is the only skill that REDUCES damage from Long range attacks, so it was worth getting. IN WOE you can use it as a Arrow tank. As the Sniping characters try to take you out, with good vitality and with all Shield techniques on, you can withstand almost any amount of snipers. Your movement will be stopped completely, but while they are focused on you, even one sniper that's one more not picking off other character one. By the time they realize you aren't dead, they will be thinking that you have either way too much vitality, great armor, or some godly armor that they can't kill you, they will call in someone that you won't have fun with, but all that manpower to kill one vitality build? Imagine the possibilities of a whole guild making it past one crucial spot. @@@ Note that in the future, Defending Aura will NOT have the speed penalties on your speed and such.@@@ ---------- SHIELD REFLECT : This looks like it can be a fun skill to max. Let's say that an agility knight is doing 100 damage a hit to a Vitality crusader. The knight will receive 40 of it, and after 10k of fast attacking, he will end up doing 4k to himself in the process. Plus when a monk uses Occult Impaction on the crusader will they take 40% of that too. Also, this stops Asura monks, that is, if Guard doesn't work, by returning the damage back to them. No monk can survive 40% of his Asura, not even a pure vitality monk level 99. @@@ This does not work with Arrows. The damage must be melee. @@@ ---------- SACRIFICE : This skill looks wonderful, giving full protection to 5 allies, a transfer of Defending Aura and Shield Reflect to each sacrificed character. Drawbacks: First they have to be within 10 levels of you, be in a party, and they can't go out of range of Sacrifice, but it is awesome ability to bestow your vitality to protect a Wizard, Priest, or even an Agility Character! An Assassin with this on him can go through most defenses and even attack the Empirium without dying. With Heal, you can even save yourself in the process, but you won't be able to get these skills together until the Rebirth Patch. Also note that Sacrifice works like a Phen clip, making wizards safer when they cast magic. ---------- A level 70 Crusader with 50 Defense, 50 vitality, level 10 guard, level 10 Shield reflect, and a level 5 Defending aura will make one scary tank. But add heal when Paladin comes out and you have something capable of Complete Damage Reduction. This would make a crusader (paladin) a much better tank than a priest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ {DSDS} Here is a list of circumstances that would make a shield crusader very effective for a solution. Also, see the very last section for information about the Vitality killer, the Ice Pick. ---------- In War of Empirium & PvP: @@@Apply everything about War of Empireum in PvP, but now know that Smite and Endure will now be activated, so add those great skills to a great inventory.@@@ ---------- ANY SITUATION 1. If you need to help a low vitality character get to a certain point (i.e. Assassin to an Empirium), a cast of sacrifice makes them invincible for a bit ,long enough to save them a trip to the karfa. ---------- SNIPING CHARACTERS ( HUNTERS, BARDS, AND DANCERS ) There are three sniper characters killing everything in their sight, and there are no huge groups of knights to wreck havoc on them. Why waste valuable knights when a single Vitality Crusader can do it? With a Horn Shield and a level 5 Defending aura up, those snipers, even using Double Strafe will have a near impossible time ending your life. Move as much as you can, get close, and Shield Boomerang them to death. Either they move, or die, meaning no more sniping of your guild mates. ---------- VITALITY KNIGHTS A Strong Vitality knight stands in your way, and anything that goes up against him will not likely live. What to do? First, you can Smite them away and maybe stunned them. But remember this, Holy Cross is a Holy property attack, making immune muffler useless. Second, unless they have holy protection, they will take the full damage, and finally, two attacks together in one move, like Double Strafe of the crusader. Anything you can hit this with will not like this move very much. Even with high Vitality, that knight will not like watching his 20k hp go down by at the least 500 damage per strike. Plus with the chance to blind also, his attacks will miss a good bunch, meaning more time to pummel him to his doom. This does take a huge amount of SP too, so this works best if you need to draw their attention away. ---------- WIZARDS A wizard can kill any character in the game with only two moves, Frost Driver and Jupitel Thunder. Unless you are of the vitality build, this is instant death. As a crusader, this will be one of your obstacles in your way. Shield Boomerang them till death, and never stop hitting them. Best way, and the quickest way, considering it’s a low vitality build. ---------- ROUGES If you can't kill a rouge, run. This is my toughest opponent as a Shield crusader. If he gets close to you, and uses Divinest Shield, and then it's game over. You should never fight a rouge by yourself, even solo one with a priest. They shred us like paper, and for Sacrifice, it might just disable that ability .Unless you have an Alchemist cast Synthesized Shield on you, don't fight one. Trust me on this one, it wont be very healthy for you. Though if you try, make sure to Quickly end their life. ---------- AGILITY CHARACTERS To take on Assassins, Agility Knights, Monks, even Wizards and Snipers too, your build should have at least 50+ dexterity to even hit them. A +7 Triple Ancient Saber would do nicely too. Most characters under this category will be attacking very fast, but they have low Health. Just use your skill inventory wisely, and these shouldn't be a lot much trouble. ---------- MONKS Oh my, even seen a monk in action? They could be one of the most resourceful classes in this game. In our case, they have a move made just for us, Occult Impaction. It's damage is based off of defense, which you probably have a lot of. Within 3 hits is usually enough to kill any Vitality character. Try to avoid Monks as much as possible. ---------- PRIEST/PRIESTESS Priests are not easy to kill, because they have all kinds of buffs and can Heal themselves, almost having near to infinite Hit Points. Stunning is a priest's worst enemy. To stun a priest is to not only keep him from healing, but to keep him from running back to heal. After stunning, you should try to take them out as fast as possible, so they won't recover and heal themselves. Smite is a Priest killer. Knock them back, stun them. You can push them away from the fight and wipe them out separately. War of Empireum, however, the Knock back doesn't work. DON'T USE THIS SKILL IN War of Empireum, IT IS USELESS. You can stun them, but otherwise, try to stick with Stun Bash. ---------- BLACKSMITHS, ALCHEMISTS Might as well run from Blacksmiths, they will win in a close melee fight against anything, because of their buffs. You could always try to Holy Cross them, and Shield Boomerang them at a distance. Alchemists are deadly. With Acid Terror, they can ruin your armor, Throw Bombs around you, and then send a nice, Marine Sphere to blow you away. Caution is always best around them. ---------- FIRST CLASSES Unfortunately, First Classes are nothing more than the usual annoying Mage sneak Frost Driver, or a hiding Archer using DS on you while your recovering. Nothing scary here. ---------- SUPER NOVICE Mixing all first classes together, and giving them 70 skill points, and giving them a chance to get +10 to every stat? Of course, if you just shield boomerang them, with enough dexterity to hit a Agility character, 7 hits at the most. They can only get about 3000, and at level 70, 500 damage per hit shouldn't be hard. Don't throw your caution to the wind, however, as they Can use most First Class Skills. A Mage that can use Bless and Heal? A Swordsman that can Hide, then come out and Mammonite you? Yes, be very careful not to be tricked by their exterior. ---------- ICE PICK The Ice Pick now has the name of "Vit-Killer". Weapon Class: Dagger Attack Power: 80 Weapon level: 4 An ice pick, commonly used for poking holes in wood or ice. Deals more damage depending on the defenses of the target. So basicaly, the more defense you have, the more damage you take. Crusaders have the best advantage over this. For a couple of reasonsz: 1. Guard stops Ice Pick from hitting you some of the time. Cut's the damage down. 2. Shield Reflect send the damage back, making every hit painful for them as well. My advice to you would be to watch out. You'll never know who will have one. ---------- In MvP: You have many wonderful ways to play a part in MVP. Though if you want to get the MVP, this isn't the right job. Here's a small, but important list of ways we are helpful to MVP: 1. We can tank them. With’s lots of HP, and some buffs on, we can usually sit back and let Priests heal us. 2. We can Sacrifice. Someone needs to get some loot from the MVP mobs, but chances of them living alone are slim. Sacrifice them, and when they take hits, the damage goes to you, which a Priest can heal. You can even Sacrifice the tank ( if it's not a Crusader ) to give them a break. Not much to do, but these are important jobs that anyone would appreciate. @@@Also note that summoning MvP's are nearly impossible, due to the MvP patch. Now there is only natural MvP summoning.@@@ ---------- In PvM: This is for you to decide. There are way to many monsters to give a description on, so use you own good judgement. If you came to this guide looking for one, here is some information then: 1. Anything that has the Undead or Demon property, you will have the advantage with the elemental energy, holy. 2. You have Shield Boomerang to snipe anything attacking you from afar. 3. All of your defenses will protect you from a lot of damage, use them well. 4. You can get certain gears for certain places. Like Ice for High Orcs, or Wind for Bylan Island. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ {KJKJ} You can build a Shield Crusader in many ways. Even An agility Shield Crusader has some great potential. Though you can Go with whatever you want, let me show you a little about the attributes: ---------- STRENGTH: This is where you get your power from. If you want to level easier, and want to deal tons of damage, start here. Having more Vitality than Strength won't hurt you, though your sacrificing attack for defense. ---------- VITALITY: The best stat for a Shield Crusader. The more you put into here, the more HP you'll end up having, and the more defense you'll get. You can go Agility too, and that's ok. ---------- AGILITY: Great stat to have, making your attacks faster, and your ability to evade more damage. It also can make up for some problems in Defending Aura. I would recommend Vitality over this though. ---------- INTELLIGENCE: Excellent thing to increase. This will help you for all those Shield skills that can get your sp down, and Sp gulping Holy Cross. If you want to have very high Intelligence, it may harm more than help. ---------- DEXTERITY: This is your accuracy. The more you have in here, the more chances that your attacks will hit. If you put a lot in here, you may end up harming more than helping, though it may depend on your kind of build. ---------- LUCK: Though the chance of perfect hit and perfect dodge can happen here, you should not get this at all. The chances are low, even with a lot of Luck. Best to stick with your other 5 attributes. At job level 50, you will have these bonuses: Strength + 7 Agility + 2 Vitality + 7 Int. + 5 Dex. + 3 Luck + 5 If you want to build your own, I won't say which builds are better. To see how you want to build, try this Stat Calculator, which I give credit to Dashiva for his incredible work: www.stud.ntnu.no/~magnusrk/calc/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ {LOLO} You can go with anything you want, as some thing are mor helpful than others. Though here are some good pieces of armor, weapons, and accessories: The (*) means this can be slotted The (!) means Recommended for over upgrading The (#) means is can come in an element (HEAD) *! Helm - Defense 5. Can buy at stores, making upgrading easier on the mind. Recommended Cards- Marduke, Elder Willow, Devruchi ---------- (HEAD MID) Fin Helm - 2 Defense. Usually what Swordsmen classes wear. ---------- (HEAD LOW) Iron Cain - 2 Defense. Another Swordsman-type armor. ---------- (WEAPON) *! Saber - 115 Attack, Level 3. Good for those valuable PvP/WoE cards. Recommended Cards- Hydra, Mummy, Race (Damage) Modifiers #! Flamburg - 150 Attack, Level 3. Comes in many elements. Recommended - Get one Flamburg for Each element ---------- (SHIELD) *! Shield - 5 Defense. Very nice for Shield Modifiers. Recommended Cards - Thara Frog, Race (Defense) Modifiers *! Mirror - 4 Defense. It adds 5 Magic Defense. Recommended Cards - Thara Frog, Race (Defense) Modifiers ---------- (ARMOR) *! Legion Armor - 11 Defense. Highest Defense Armor in the game. *Update* Now comes slotted!! Recommended Cards - Marc, Evil Druid *! Full Plate - 10 Defense. Very nice to get slotted. Recommended Cards - Marc, Evil Druid ---------- (GARMENT) *! Manteau - 4 Defense. Get slotted, as it helps Recommended Cards - Raydric, Whisper ---------- (FOOT WEAR) *! Greaves - 5 Defense. Good for your High Defense Rating. *Update* Now comes slotted!! Recommended Cards - Matryr, Male Thief Bug, Verit, Sohee *! Boots - 4 Defense. Great way to add more power when slotted Recommended Cards - Matryr, Male Thief Bug, Verit, Sohee ---------- (ACCESSORIES) * Ring - Strength +1-2. When paired with a Mantis Card, you get +4 Strength @@@ There are so many accessories that you can use. If you really want to look for more accessories, you can go to an Official RO Fansite for details.@@@ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ {PEPE} If your all ready to fight, bought the best gears, and know how to pump your stats to perfection, your prepared than most people. Do you know, however, where to train? If not you can look here. I will detail out some stuff for your information, whether your brand-new to the world of Ragnarok, or a player from Beta, you could benefit from here: @@@ Also note that I won't say which equips you should have, but items will play a huge part in helping you level. Some items that you should carry with you at every trip to a dungeon: 1-30 Reds for emergencies 10-50 Fly Wings to help you get around 1-5 Butterfly Wings to get you out of a dungeon quickly these will help you, even at higher levels @@@ ---------- Levels 1-15 : Kill small time things such as Porings, Lunatics, and Pupas. Avoid the Creamys’s and Thief Bugs till you change. Then When leveling slows down a bit, try to go kill Rocker's till you hit job level 10. If you really are having a hard time, go to PoPo Oasis, south of Izlude. ___________ Go to Izlude and test for Swordsman. ___________ After changing, kill Rockers to level 15. ---------- Levels 16-40 : Go to Culvert. Sign up in the Knight guild, and go in. There are many nice things around here, though stick to the second level Culvert 1,2,3 of the Culvert. Train for a while, get to at least 25, maybe 30. Recommended Then go to level 3. There are Male Thief Bugs, Poison Spores, Weapon: and the occasional Drainilar. If you can't live down here, you Fire have to train a little more in the second level. If your having trouble with bots, there is an alternative. ___________ Bylan 1,2,3 Bylan has a great place for you to level, even at higher levels. Recommended If you want great loot too, head here. Levels 1-2 are great Weapon: places for you to level, just as long as you come prepared. Wind Once you get to about 35'ish you can go to level 3, just watch out for the mermen and the Obeaunes. You could possible kill an Obeaune or two, but a merman will leave you dry and high. ---------- Levels 41-55 : Here is where your leveling slows down quite a bit. My advice is to go to Orcs, as the monsters there give nice exp.. Maybe Orc Dungeon 1 ask around nicely for a party, and try on Orc Zombies. Going Recommended with this for the rest of your swordsman days is fine, but if Weapon: you plan to go to job level 50, you will need to head to Zen Fire Orcs. For more info for job changing, look to the link at the bottom of this section. ---------- Levels 56-70 : Zen Orcs is one floor away from Orc Zombies, but a whole new place to level. If you have very low dexterity, you may have Orc Dungeon 2 a few problems . Zen Orcs have lots of Flee, but drop lots of Recommended loot, as they loot items. Training here is great, all the way Weapon: till you change. Fire ___________ Toy Factory 2 For those of you already changed, you can try Zens if you want, Recommended But there are newer places for you, and newer equips for you to Weapon: buy. Try Toy Factory 2, with a nice level pickup for a while, None really and a chance to test out your new Crusader powers. It's a whole new experience, and you'll love it. ___________ High Orcs (OV) A grand new place awaits you here, with top notch monsters that Recommended Have so much exp. for you. Just remember to get an Ice Weapon, Weapon: and even a Cranial Shield would do you good. Great place to Ice continue training after 70, though by then it slows down by quite a lot. ___________ Graveyard (GH) This is the dream haven for all Crusaders of every kind. So many Recommended Undead, and so much exp. here, you could stay here forever!! I Weapon: love the exp. though I love my Bylan level 4 & 5 more. Great Fire place to use your holy skills, and your Shield skills too. With all the priest's running around, resurrection is a commonly used skill here, making leveling much easier. Though you have to watch out for Mimics and Hunter Flies, as they have lot's of flee , and are super hard to hit. Bash them to high Hel (Mythology pun) and hope you can get them down before you get sent there. ___________ Bylan 4 & 5 This is my favorite hang out, and I love it here. I find the Recommended loot is great, though the leveling is slightly slower than GY. Weapon: If you can get a Wind weapon, you'll be making sushi in no time. Wind The loot that drops here is heavenly. Saint's Robs[1], Marc, Phen, Strouf, Marine Sphere Cards. If you build nicely with enough Vitality, you could enter here and leave a Millionaire. Though mobs down here are nasty, and can demolish anything within seconds. Bring a lot of wings, and be prepared to fend off bots for eternity. On level 5 there are fewer bots, but harder monsters. Peno's, Mermen, and Strouf. Mermen are very mean, as they gang up on you. ---------- Levels 71-99 I am currently working out my Crusader here, so this part will come sometime in the next few months. Have patience Here's a link to another great Crusader FAQ, which has the job changing information, written by Tangowr: db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/ragnarok_online_crusader.txt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks to: Ragnarok/Gravity : For their awesome work on making this a great game iRO Main website: For filling in all the little empty holes. GameFAQs : For hosting this creation of mine Darshiva : For his great calculator Tangowr: For his awesome Crusader FAQ R'age : For being the best Shield Crusader a person could ever want! COPYRIGHT Dennis Swanson 2004