MapleStory/Jobs: Difference between revisions

Bowmen are the exact opposite of Warriors. They use dexterity to take down a foe with arrows. While their damage is very low in the beginning of the game, their skills make up for it with probability and statistics. Critical shots can raise damage by 100% (not double damage - there is a slight difference as shown in the Archer guide). It does not work all the time, since it is only a 40% success rate. Don't be surprised if you see 400 damage in one shot, and 1000 in another. Archers have the third lowest weapon-defensive equipments of all the classes, whereby the lowest would be mages, though they have very high magic defense , and the second lowest is the thief class

The Archer's greatest weaknesses are its lack of mobility and low HP (though a few hundred hp more than thieves on average). Archers have long range ,even longer than any class around (About +20 more range to assasins though) but their average speed, and the fact that they cannot move while attacking, are problematic. What is more is that they cannot jump and shoot at the same time unlike their counter-part, the assassin. Although they do not specialize in melee attacks, and their weapons allow them to knock an enemy away to a safer distance. This would be a good help in lower levels during large mob spawns. They also have moderately high avoidability, second to Assassins, but the gap is rather small, probably only a few avoidability points. Other weaknesses include the fact that they are required to buy, make, or find arrows until the skill "Soul Arrow", which lets the Archer shoot without using physical arrows, is learned. However, keep in mind that Soul Arrow does not retain the stat boosts that come with special arrows,although the damage difference of specail arrow is rather small. This skill, however, provides an advantage over assassins who do not get the skill "Soul Stars" until their fourth job advancement. Archers have the highest accuracy in the game, because they add dex for their attack and it is the stat used to determine accuracy. Luck also adds a small amount of accuracy, so assassins get less accuracy. This means an archer could hit monsters much higher leveled than them before other classes can hit it.

The Bandit's weakness is simple: they do not have a ranged attack. However, this is cured with Boomerang Step in 4th job, which is a semi-range skill, like 3rd Job's Assulter. But, Boomerang Step attacks up to multiple monsters, and it's a double assulter, which means you go pass the monster once, then again back to where you are. They will have to walk up to enemies just like Warriors and slash them (however, they're better at this than Warriors because they have more mobility). Additionally, Bandits hit multiple times, doing little damage each time, while Warriors generally do a one-hit massive attack. Therefore, Bandits generally don't get to Knockback larger monsters, such as Stone Golems. However, this allows them a more consistent attack, and this also works to their advantage when using Haste, a speed-boosting skill, to jump clear over the enemy and attack it at the same time. Another advantage of the Bandit is the speed it possess. Assassins are Bowmen with only some Bowmen weaknesses. Assassins have extremely high mobility, as they are the only ranged class that can shoot in the air.(Archers can do that too,though with diffulties, and it generally is still the same as shooting from the ground because an archer cannot jump above the mob, and fire.) Assassins have slightly less range than Bowmen (about 20 range. They can shoot projectiles much faster than any other class in the game, from the 1st and 2nd job only. (Ranger's Strafe is almost as fast as Hermit's L7 and BowMaster's Storm of Arrows is faster than Night Lord's Triple Throw (tested and comfirmed). Hence, as commonly seen in KS (kill-stealing)in 1st to 3rd job. The weaknesses of Assassins are that they have to carry large amounts of projectiles (throwing stars). Unlike Bowmen, they do not get a skill similar to "Soul Arrow" until 4th Job, which has only been released in KoreaMS, JapanMS and ChinaMS. At lower levels, this can be quite a pain, because each job advancement adds a row of extra inventory space, and the skill in the 2nd job, javelin mastery, allows more stars to be carried, hence limiting training times very greatly at low levels. Additionally, better stars are often very expensive to purchase due to the popularity of the class leading to high demand (a weapon attack 25 set of Steely Throwing-Stars costs several million mesos).So,assassins naturally have less slots for their 'use' inventory.thus limiting their 'use; space. A second weakness of the Assassin is that they do not carry the Knockback ability which the Archer class has. Also they do not have an Area Of Effect (AoE) skill like the Bowmen's Arrow Rain or Eruption. The only mob attack they have is Avenger, which travels in a straight line like a Crossbowman's Iron Arrow. Despite this weakness, Avenger does a bit greater damage(probably 100-200 dmg more) than archer's AoE if accompanied with Shadow Partner. They do not have attention diverting skills such as puppet unlike the Bowmen, which makes the monster to target the assassin or bandit more often. They make up for this with their high avoidability. The damage an assassin deals is however, the most inconsistent almost throughout the game, because the primary attacking skill, Lucky Seven, does not allow javelin mastery to be stacked with it, unlike other classes where learning mastery increases the minimum attack. The inconsistency is further augmented with the 2nd job, when the assassin receives the skill "critical throw" (at a 50% chance, damage +100%, not the same as doubling damage though) which is similar to the archer's but with a higher probability of occurring.

Magicians use the power of magic and cast powerful spells. Their attacks can hit any monster within their range even if it is right in front of them. Additionally, Magicians are hands down the strongest characters during earlier levels (from level 20 to 35 or so). However, they tend to weaken a little during later levels (level 47, specifically), but they remain versatile with Teleport and again, with long- and short-ranged attacks. Also, it should be said that Magicians are arguably the richest class in the game, due to monster drops and in no small part to their expeditious MP Recovery, though wealth does differ from player to player. Of all mages, Clerics tend to be the richest of all, due to their ability to heal while simultaneously dealing damage to undead monsters. However, like all classes, Magicians still have to spend a lot of money on MP potions. It should be noted that because Magicians are believed to be rich, other players tend to raise prices on higher-leveled Magician equipment. Magicians are also one of the most common classes, which creates a much larger demand for equipments than other classes, thus increasing the prices even more.

The Magician's main weakness is their extremely low HP and low weapon defense. While a Warrior can easily have 2500 HP by level 40, a Magician barely has 550 HP at that time. Their skill "Magic Guard" covers this weakness by diverting up to 80% of taken damage to MP instead of HP. Granted, MP potions cost two times more than HP potions, but mages recover MP quickly. This causes a problem for MP as the Magician reaches levels 30-40. During this time their HP is high enough to sustain attacks but Magic Guard constantly "drains" MP, making many mages turn to SP Reset (first job) or abandoning the skill completely. It all comes down to proper skill management and usage. Also, the fact that Magician armor has the lowest weapon defense means that a melee attack will drain more of their HP and MP than first thought.