Ragnarok M: Stalker guide (bow or dagger?)

Just like being an assassin, Stalkers are divided by the type of weapon they use - the bow types and the dagger types. Both have their pros and cons. On this article, I will try to discuss both in detail, to give you an idea which is better for your type of game play.

EDIT: I switched to dagger-type Stalker, here's why.

At the early stages of being a rogue, it is best to begin using bows rather than daggers. For me, ranged farming/grinding is faster and better than melee. Even though it is has been proven that daggers yield better damage than bows. When you reach higher levels, you can decide if you want to stay with using a bow, or switch over to daggers.

Daggers

The main skill of dagger-type stalkers is the ambush+backstab combo. Backstab is a skill that deals 900% damage and deals double (1800%) when used right after ambush. This is great in PVP especially when ambush stuns your opponent. The only downside to this is it's SP consumption. Since stalkers (or thieves, in general) have naturally low SP, being skill-based begs you to equip yourself with items that has SP regeneration, Max SP or INT. Alternatively, you can mix a little bit of INT in your build just so you can cover that huge SP consumption.

PROs

- high damage output

- can farm fast, skill-based or normal attacks

- runes are near the center which means, you can get a lot of bonus attributes through runes and guild contributions but with less Gold medals needed.

- very versatile in PVP

- less food consumption when grinding/farming

CONs

- low hit rate unless you bank on Dex (in PVE, this is not a problem unless the monster has high flee)

- high SP consumption due to 2-skill combo

- low demand in ET due to inability to tank/semi-tank

Skills

TIP: the numbers within the parenthesis () are the suggested levels for each skill. You can change them depending on your job level or preference. The description beside each skill are in my own words - to understand more about the skills, please see the in-game descriptions.

Thief skills

• Double attack (10) - main grinding skill, gives 50% chance to deal x2 damage when doing normal attacks using daggers
• Improve dodge (10) - necessity, adds flee
• Hide (10) - needed for vanish, go into hiding state for a couple of seconds
• Ambush (10) - needed for back stab, deals damage. When used in hiding, has a chance to stun target.

Rogue skills

• Tunnel drive (5) - decreases movement speed penalty during hide for 25%. Also increases flee by 10%
• Enhanced Hiding (5) - needed for vanish, allows you to use skills only usable in hiding for 11 seconds
• Backstab (10) - deals dmg, deals twice when used after ambush
• Raid (5) - deals damage to area. Has a chance to inflict negative buff (snared, stunned and darkness) on enemies, they also receive more damage for 5 seconds. Only usable in hide.
• Dagger proficiency (10) - adds damage when using daggers
• Plagiarism (3 or 4 until Juno comes out) - versatile skill. learn skills from monsters, skill depends on which monster you use this skill on. Does not mean that if a monster uses soul strike, you will be able to copy it from that monster.

Stalker skills

• Vanish (5) - immediately enters hiding state. Unlike hide, you won't be revealed by any skill, by being hit or by using any other skills or even if you attack your opponent. Also reduces damage up to 80% for the duration. Lasts 5 seconds max.
• Rogue's nature (10) - permanently increase dexterity +10 and attack speed +10%

The following stalker/rogue skills are optional, depending on your taste:

• Intimidate (10) - deals damage and teleport you with the enemy on a random spot in the map.
• Close confine (5) - locks the target with you for a couple of seconds. Can only be removed by certain actions and/or skills.
• State pursuit (5) - passive, necessary if you use close confine and/or Raid. lets you deal more damage to enemies under snared, stunned, darkness or hit by close confine.
• Disabling strike (5) - deals dmg and decreases movement speed of enemy.
• Raid (5) - deals damage to area. Has a chance to inflict negative buff (snared, stunned and darkness) on enemies, they also receive more damage for 5 seconds. Only usable in hide.

Aside from using the combo ambush+backstab, dagger-types also has the option to go full-stripper. I did not include the stripper skills here because (tbh) I haven't tried them. Plus, the items required to make stripping effective are expensive as of the moment (in SEA). However, I'd like to say that strippers play a vital role in WOE or even in PVP as they can nullify tanks or nukers if they successfully strip them. Also, if you go full stripper, it doesn't mean you can't go backstab. If you go full stripper, you will need to sacrifice intimidate, close confine, state pursuit and disabling strike to get skill points for the stripper skills.

Bows

The other end of the stalker build is the bow-type which focuses on one skill - Triangle shot. I'm sure you've heard that TS-types are so powerful and OP but I say wait until Shinto/Shadow Chaser is released (Mana trap build). But since it isn't yet, let's talk about Triangle Shot.

Triangle shot is basically, an upgraded double strafe. Now, there's nothing fancy about the skill itself - damage output is x3 your ATK. However, the power of TS is coming from runes and the Roguemaster's bow. I'll explain them in detail as we go along.

PROs

• high damage output
• ranged attack
• one shot, fast kill

CONs

• Expensive equipments
• runes are too far away from each other
• maximum damage output depends on the final tier of the weapon and the runes
• low sp pool, unless you bank on INT

Skills

TIP: the numbers within the parenthesis () are the suggested levels for each skill. You can change them depending on your job level or preference. The description beside each skill are in my own words - to understand more about the skills, please see the in-game descriptions.

Thief skills

• Improve dodge (10) - necessity, adds flee
• Hide (10) - necessity
• Enchant poison (10) - very useful in quest bosses or high def monsters

You can choose to spend the other 10 skill points on any of the following skills:

• Strong attack (10) - reduces movement speed of enemy
• Poison attack (10) - deals damage, with chance to inflict poison
• Detoxify (1) - removes poison

Rogue Skills

• Double strafe (10) - aside from dealing double damage on a single attack, it also increases the skill multiplier of Triangle shot.
• Auto-firing (3) - 9% chance to auto-fire double strafe when dealing auto-attacks
• Vulture's Eye (10) - increases Hit permanently, and increases range for double strafe, disabling strike (stalker), and triangle shot (stalker)
• Tunnel Drive (5) - increases movement speed when hiding (20%), and permanently increases Flee by 10%
• Enhanced Hiding (5) - after hide status is disabled/ended, hide-only skill effects can still be used (ambush double damage, raid increased damage, etc)
• Snatch (5) - steal zenny from monsters, pre-requisite for Rob
• Rob (10) - very useful in farming, gives 20% change to get x2 crafting material from monsters (means, not all items dropped by monsters are doubled)
• Plagiarism (optional, 4) - I say this is optional because you only need to use this once - when you copy level 4 EDP from Parasite in borderland (Juno entrance). After that, no matter how you reset your skills and leave plagiarism with 0 points, the EDP skill will be there for you to use.

note: As you could see, the total number of skill points needed here is more than 40. Its because you only need 25 skill points for stalker skills (seen below), then you can use the rest on rogue skills.

Stalker

• Triangle Shot (10) - deals 190% x3 to enemy. can only be used with bows
• Rogue's nature (10) - permanently increases Dex (10) and Attack speed (10%)
• Vanished (5) - very useful in PVE or PVP, keeps you hidden even after being hit. Also, decreases dmg intake when in this status. (up to 80%)

Below are some of the optional skills you can use:

• Snatcher - automatically triggers 'snatch' when doing auto attacks, also increases snatched zenny
• Intimidate - I use this for trolling. but could also be useful when the monster you farm is far away from each other - i.e dark priests\
• discount - very useful when you constantly purchase meals from NPCs

Breakthrough:

Once you breakthrough, you will have 30 more skill points at your disposal. You can follow my suggestion below:

• Triangle Shot (+10) - increases skill dmg to 240% x3. Downside: 47 SP per skill
• dodge (+5) - Permanently increases Flee by 30, Flee rate by 5% and Move Spd by 15%
• Vulture's eye (+10) - new meta: double strafe and auto attacks increase damage depending on distance from target (up to 60%)
• enhanced hiding (+5) - new meta: increase movement speed when hiding (up to 20%)

My 2 cents on the increased SP consumption of Lvl20 triangle shot:

You can opt NOT to increase TS to 20 if you want to save up on SP (and meals/foods of course). If you farm on crowded maps like OrcLadies in Clock tower B1F, use that Lvl20 TS for faster kill and to avoid other players for stealing your kill. But if you farm on mid-level monsters and that the map is not too crowded, you can opt to use a lvl 10 TS with a Lvl 20 Vulture's eye - One hit with a normal attack and a 10TS will be sufficient enough to kill the monster in about 1 sec. If it doesn't, use the other way instead.

END NOTES:

The use of bow or dagger is totally up to you as a player. But, the fun thing about Ragnarok Mobile is that the Ymir's notebook is available. This means, you can reset unlimited times and use this in your advantage - use a bow to farm, and use a dagger to kill MVPs/PVP.

Ragnarok M: TS Guide

This article tackles all the possible areas that can increase your TS (triangle shot) damage.

Let's start with the basic - raw damage or PATK (physical attack).
You can increase your raw physical attack by doing the following:

1. Max Dexterity - in case you didn't know, for stalkers, patk increases depending on the weapon you wield. If you put Dex and use a dagger, you'll notice that there isn't much increase in patk except for the patk from the dagger and from Dex. But if you equip a bow, your patk increases not only equivalent to the patk from your bow, but it is also multiplied by dex (somehow).

2. Enhancement - This is the second tab on the right of your inventory and this is where you can add more patk on your weapon and accessories using only zenny. The maximum level of enhancement is limited to your base level.

3. Refine - in Prontera, you can refine your weapon and accessories to increase patk. The safe limit is +4. Then, you will have the option to safe refine up to +15. Safe refine is where Hollgrehen asks for multiple copies of the equipment, more oridecons and more zenny. Some say it is better to do safe refine than spending a lot of money trying their chance to get it to at least +10. This may be true and if you are someone who prefer to spend their money's worth and don't like to take gambles, then loook into safe refine all the way to +15.

4. Guild Prayer - this is only applicable when you have a guild. When you are in the guild hall, from the portal immediately go to the left and you'll see an Angel at the end of the room. Talk to it and you'll see that she can increase certain attributes using zenny and/or Guild prayer (the golden item you get when doing board quests) and guild contribution. Not many has an understand of how the guild prayer works - you can either use the item and get 2k zenny or use it for the guild prayer angel. To put it simply, when you try to increase your attack using the angel, she accounts the guild prayer for 2k zenny of the total fee. So for example the fee for the next level is 4kz + 38 contributions; she will take away 1 guild prayer, 2k zenny and 38 contributions from you. Id like to also add that you can't level this up more than your base level. And, not only the angel increases atk, you can also choose to increase your max HP, max SP, DEF and M.def - these are kinda important in WOE so please keep it in mind.

5. Enchantment - This not only increases your physical attack but also gives you the chance to get a random 4th enchant. Now, it has always been a debate of which you should get between ignore def or physical attack increase but I say the ignore def is better since the end-game of ROM is WOE, you'll need something to melt down defense of tanks when they come in swarming the Emperium room. And yes, stripping is a choice but since we are talking about TS types here, you get what I mean.
Ps. I suggest you stop enchanting when your item gets atleast +25ATK, especially if you don't have zenny or mora coins to spend on the cat.

Next, Equipment.

The Triangle Shot build actually focuses on one main equipment - the Roguemaster's Bow. However, as you progress through the game, you will get to the third job which is the Shadow Chaser and it's main skill is the Mana Trap which uses the opponent's INT + your multiplied ATK as the damage calculation. When you reach this stage, you will need to switch your weapon to a high tier Mystical Bow. More on that on a separate article. For now, hHere are my suggested items for this build:


Weapon - Roguemaster's Bow.
You'd need to have this at tier 4. Tier 4 has the ability to increase Triangle shot damage by 3% for every refine. It is also advisable that your bow is atleast +10 to get 30% TS damage increase.

Accessories - Gloves or Luna Brooch
Gloves are the only accessories that gives you Dex. You only need them to be at tier 3 because the final form Dogtooth gloves (or canine gloves) only gives us 5% damage to demon - not unless you will only grind in GH until you max out your job levels, this upgrade is pointless (to me atleast).
The other option is the Luna brooch. This gives us more SP and SP recovery. It is suggested that you tier this up to 5 to get its maximum potential.

Off-hand - Nile Rose
It gives 15% ranged damage - nothing can beat that. But if you are a little bit short on the budget, I'd suggest get yourself a Rose Princess bracer for the man time - it gives 25% ignore def.

Armor - Bohemian Coat
the final tier of bohemian coat gives us 8% ranged attak and 5% ignore def - the only catch is you'd need it to be +10 to activate. So, if you can't have this yet, settle on a tier 3 Tights - it gives us 8% ATK.

Garment - Ancient cape
it gives 15% ignore def. Others use Blue Eves cape for flee or staunch garment for its' neutral damage reduction (if paired with staunch boots)

Footwear - Rune boots
aside from the high defense, it gives 3% ATk .It is NOT cheap so slotting it a bit hard. If you need the slot, you can stick with the Tier 3 rune shoes. but if you don't have a specific card to put into it, then you might want to get the boots. An alternative for this is the Geffen shoes (gives sp recovery +5), very useful for grinding (especially if you put an eggyra card in it).

For the headgears, there's a lot of options out there and they all depend on what you actually want to do - if you want to grind, pvp or boss hunt.

• Head - I can't think of anything other than Nut on Head. Gives 2% ignore def
• Mouth - Blow gun. Dex + 4. and if you are lucky enough, refining gives additional dex. max is +15, dex +3
• Ear/face - scar. ignore def 2%
• Back - devil wings. it has been proven and tested that if you have more attack, devil wings becomes more powerful than the quiver. The quest to unlock devil wings is hard - so if you are as lazy as me, then go for the quiver - gives 7% ranged attack
• tail - lots of tail choices, right now I'm using the beasts tail. you can use any tail that increases skill damage or directly increases ATK

RUNES

Here are the runes you should get, numbered in terms of their importance:

• Triangle Shot (5x) - 8% TS damage per rune, 40% total
• Ranged Atk % (5x) - 1% ranged atk per rune, 5% total
• Atk % (5x) - 1% atk per rune, 5% total
• Dex (5x) - Dex+1 per rune, Dex+5 total
• Ignore def 1% (3x) - Ignore 1% def per rune, 3% total
• Agi (5x) - Agi+1 per rune, Agi+5 in total

Then you can either get the Gangster's paradise or the trap skill runes (remove trap) for versatility. When you crawl (yes, crawl) your way up to completing all these runes, you will accumulate more honor points than you need, be sure to put them on any nearby Atk or refined atk nodes to further increase your damage.

I'll be sure to update this once I get my hands on the Shadow Chaser runes. For now, I'll keep on grinding! Leggo!

Ragnarok M: Shadow Chaser

Hello fellow stalkers! I'm sure we all are waiting for the release of 3rd jobs and to us, it is the Shadow Chaser! If you are like me who played in CN but did not have the chance to use a Shadow Chaser, well I'm sure this article will be helpful to you since we will tackle all of the skills and what I think about them.

If you also have your thoughts, be sure to post your comment below so that we could have a healthy discussion. Now, let's begin!

note: all of the images below are from our friends in rierin.com please be sure to visit their site for more helpful tips and guides!

Shadow Chaser Skills

Let's start with the one that is causing all the fuzz. This skill is said to be the reason why Shadow Chasers are OP in episode 4.

Magic trap

As you can see, one of the damage variables of this skill is the INT of the enemy. At first I thought this will deal less damage to STR or ADL types but I remembered that almost all classes have stat bonuses coming from job levels. Another thing is that, in WOE, all players are being blessed by priests which means this skill already has a minimum INT variable of 10. Even if this skill does not kill your enemy, they will be depleted of SP nonetheless. I saw videos on youtube where SCs place this skill on the portals in WOE. Keep that in mind, it is actually a good strategy.

Reject sword

I find this skill very helpful to dagger users. Not only it will decrease the enemy's attack, it improves yours by 20% as well. The only catch is, it only applies if your enemy uses daggers or swords. 

Chaos panic

In case you don't know, chaos status is the same as confusion. If you have been playing a lot of RPGs before then you would know that chaos/confusion causes the enemies to either direct it's attack onto another enemy or player or simply it would change the normal movement mechanics (like going to the right when you want to go left).

Auto Shadow Spell

I don't think this is useful if you have EDP or even any other support skill on plagiarism. However, if you have an active attack skill on plagiarism, then that's a different story - for example, frost driver. 

Camouflage Shooting

It's no surprise that this skill is going to be helpful for TS or ADL types. Especially if you are fighting a sinx or an ADL hunter toe to toe.

Deadly infect

How I wish this skill works on MVPs too. But we all know MVPs are immune to status ailments. Still, this skill will be helpful in WOE - as a good defense skill.

Threatening Menace

50% decrease in ATK! Imagine that. And to think, there is no skill or attribute in ROM that counteracts debuffs like this - directly decreasing the enemy's attack. Too bad I'm a bow type. 

Break Individually

Ambush+backstab combo will benefit greatly from this skill. What more if you use intimidate or close confine with this?