Advancement Test Tips and Tricks

logomyego · September 4, 2017

Freakoutcast wrote: »

I'm a grandmaster mage with r1 snap cast, r1 spellwalk, r1 inspiration, r8 meditation (current max) and all masteries, basic, intermediate, and advanced magic at rank 1. I will say this right now, fireball, lightning rod and ice spear Dan 2... doable, thunder Dan 3.... haven't managed it yet, but pretty sure it's doable, all bolt magic dan 1... doable. Anything beyond that (excluding healing, I have r1 but not full bar yet) is IMPOSSIBLE. Bolt magic dan 2? Forget it, especially lightning bolt. Lightning rod, fireball and ice spear dan 3? No way in hell! It's just a money pit and source of rage, save your wallet and sanity.

As for advice...

Thunder: Self explanatory, other people have explained it better than I can. Use snap on crystals and charge while that's going off. Pray to whatever god you believe in that the crystal doesn't go in to deadly status and survive (thanks for that Nexon). Without snap cast just spam single charges on enemies. For golems, use the 5 charge then snap strat (explained in Fireball section) and if the golem aggros you, just cast whatever charge you have.

Fireball: Spam the living hell out of snap cast. If there are only one or two isolated enemies left, just kill them with fusion bolt. For golem boss rush, have spellwalk constantly active (just like other magic tests but even more important here). Charge fireball while running as far away as possible to avoid aggro. Cast it, then immediately snap cast another and repeat. When you actually use the fireballs get close so the golem won't run out of the way if it aggros you. If it does aggro you and rushes while fireball is still in the air, you may actually be able to hit the golem with a basic causing it to idle for a sec, this is a good chance to snap and cast if you haven't already. For crystals use snap cast, if it's not off cooldown from previous wave just use 1-2 fusion bolts.

Ice spear: Spam.... don't know any better way to say it. Use snap cast frequently and try to line up as many enemies as possible and shoot the back one to maximize your targets. Unless you have snap cast, just use 1-2 charges for all enemies. For golems use a full charge ice spear then snap cast just like with fireball, but if golem isn't using windmill or defense just use however many charges you have. For crystals just use 1-2 fusion bolts (faster than waiting for ice spear to shatter).

Lightning Rod: Make sure you line up as many enemies as possible in order to reset cooldown. If there's only 1 or 2 isolated enemies left, use fusion bolt. For sprites MAKE SURE you use a full charge lightning rod on the giant sprites first. If you can only get one with the rod, then snap cast firebolt for the other. For golems, I use snapcast firebolt first then do a full charge strike on the golem. Full charges are necessary for the golems. To keep the golems off you while rod cools down, try using fusion lightning and fire bolt to knock them back and soften them for next rod. If a golem is about to die and rushes you, you decide if it's more important to finish it off with an attack or wait for rod charge, both have downsides. For crystals use full charge lightning rod or fusion bolt if on cooldown. Try to get full charges throughout the test, yes they are not needed to kill most of the enemies, but the extra damage points are nice.

Bolt Magic: Spam... spam spam spam. For crystals use fusion bolt, for golems cry... jokes aside, try to get to the golems as quick as possible so you can get the extra 100 points for each hit, this works best with ice bolt. Not much else I can say here. Use snap cast when you have it and focus the giant sprites first.

General: Make sure you have r1 snap cast, spellwalk and all the masteries (fire, lightning, ice, bolt magic, and magic weapon). R8 meditation and r1 inspiration are nice but not mandatory, and R1 fusion bolt is not required, but helps immensely.. especially with the crystals. Speaking of which, make sure you attack the right crystal. As people have said, the crystals have little floating elementals around them that indicate which types of sprites they will spawn. So in other words, if you're doing the test for lightning rod, don't hit the crystal with electricity around it.

Potions are better to be ignored usually. But, if you have a stamina or health right at your feet it may not be a bad idea to grab it. That health could prevent you from losing 100 points, and even more importantly 10 seconds if you die. The stamina could be useful if you somehow run out of stamina using spellwalk, but I've never really run out. As for the golems, unless you're doing the lightning rod test, ALWAYS have spellwalk active. It only takes two seconds for a golem to aggro you and through the sheer power of bullshit, hit you from across the room because golem hitboxes are a beautiful thing.

LEVEL UP! Going into the test you will have buffed stats like more health, more mana, more stamina, and 1000 intelligence, etc. BUT... if your base stats are higher (like let's say you have more than 1000 intelligence) it will carry over into the test, THIS IS VITAL. You need high will for crits and high intelligence for damage, so level up your character!

With all this in mind, note that there are probably more competent people out there when it comes to this. These strategies may not be the best... and hell, for all I know I could find a better way to do these by tomorrow. These are not set ground rules (especially since I can't even get dan 3 for any of these skills). This is merely how I have somewhat managed to cope with these insane trials. Take these strategies into consideration if you're a mage, but try to find new strategies as well.

Use what works best for you, and may Morrighan have mercy on your tender soul.

Lightning Rod Dan 3 wasn't too bad. Took me a few tries to get the mobs to line up in a way that is easy to hit a bunch. Best run came out with 13k points. The bonus points for damage are where Lightning Rod really shines. If you don't have at least 9.5k+ points with 10secs left, quit and restart.

Ice Spear Dan 3 was a cake walk. You get 50 points just for hitting an enemy with the explosion. Get to the golem, fully charge it and use it, snap cast and use it, then spam a single charge over and over till its dead. With its mana deflector, you can keep hitting it to keep it at bay. I walked out of the Dan 3 test with 20k points twice just due to getting 50 points every explosion on the golem. Tip is to get to the golems asap.

Thunder is tricky but doable. Still working on Dan 2 for it. Hit 13k points by charging as many charges as I could for the golem. I didn't spam 1 charge like with ice spear.

TheDumbOne · September 4, 2017

megamanexe79 wrote: »

Sand Burst: Constantly Blind enemies to get points (killing/doing damage doesn't do anything for your points)
Once the wave gets down to about 2-3 enemies left, it's best to just kill them all off with other things to reset the room to full enemies, so that you have more people to blind.
Have Chain Cylinder turned on and be ready to WaterCannon the blinkers instantly. They show up in pairs separately from the mobs.

Water Cannon: Do a lot of water damage to get points.
Have Chain Cylinder turned on. Standing far away from your target reduces your damage, so stand almost point-blank to them for full damage.
When you're down to 1 monster left, Sand Burst it and set up a raincloud to increase your Water Cannon's damage while it lasts.

A-rank is at 6k points for both.

whao- standing point blank after filling on mp pots with cload for alchs really did help rise the points got SS first time

Felice · September 9, 2017

A question for those who have done the Defense Dan Tests.

Do HP Potions just not drop in these tests? Or am I just THAT unlucky?

Crimsọn · September 9, 2017

Felice wrote: »

A question for those who have done the Defense Dan Tests.

Do HP Potions just not drop in these tests? Or am I just THAT unlucky?

Yeah you're that unlucky. -pat pat-

Felice · September 9, 2017

Gaea wrote: »

Yeah you're that unlucky. -pat pat-

*goes and sulks in the corner*

Karin_Taori · September 9, 2017

don't know if this was posted or not but....

ARCHERY BASED DAN: Keep in mind that urgent shot can be exploited here for long range sniping, as one can simply Shot of God (essentially double click to shoot and fire in a split second) and purposefully miss to trigger Urgent Shot, which increases your aim speed on the next archery skill you use - very useful for camping a corner and using either crash shot or magnum on far off enemies.

Iyasenu · September 9, 2017

Felice wrote: »

Gaea wrote: »

Yeah you're that unlucky. -pat pat-

*goes and sulks in the corner*

They shouldn't drop during that test.

The Instructor even says that they aren't allowed during the test, if you choose to hear the explanation on the test.

Felice · September 9, 2017

Iyasenu wrote: »

They shouldn't drop during that test.

The Instructor even says that they aren't allowed during the test, if you choose to hear the explanation on the test.

*stays in the sulking corner and uses rain cast to make a gloom cloud*

Bakujio · September 10, 2017

idk if this has been talked about. But does anyone have tips on Fighter dan skills? Spinning Uppercut and Pummel is a nightmare

DarkConductor · September 10, 2017

Felice wrote: »

A question for those who have done the Defense Dan Tests.

Do HP Potions just not drop in these tests? Or am I just THAT unlucky?

Yeah, I'm sitting on dan 2 defense and they don't even drop HP potions. And either way you aren't supposed to be using them in the first place because you get penalized for using it. I guess prior to revamp they had hp potions drop everywhere and it was supposed to tempt you to use it over losing points (could be wrong).

lceCream · September 11, 2017

up to dan 3 magnum... it's too hard
each time i try, my hate for archery grows more and more

Sunny974 · September 11, 2017

Shuriken Charge: For my Dan 3, I always charge my shurikens whenever i hit a target to make sure i'll one hit it. Unless the target is low health and doesn't need charge.

I group the mobs to get splash and use shadow bind and hold them. Then full charge if possible.

I also use explosive kunai to slow down the enemies so i can hit them once and start charging my shuriken without getting disrupted.

I try to target the imps first because they won't attack me and they'll walk towards the mobs, therefore more splash points.

Chibisai · September 12, 2017

I'm Dan 2 Firebolt heading to Dan 3... It's almost impossible to do??

Dan 3 spawns 3 Giant Ice Sprites :x Fireball and IS Dan 3 is easy because they can kill multiple, but Firebolt is only a single dps

Snap Cast Firebolt and you only take down one, but then the other two go after you along with an ice sprite (and those IS/Icebolts are painful)

Anyone passed Dan 3 Firebolt?

Raishii · September 12, 2017

lceCream wrote: »

up to dan 3 magnum... it's too hard
each time i try, my hate for archery grows more and more

B-but you're getting exactly what you asked for.

lceCream wrote: »

I'd rather it be hard than it being easy. When you actually do get dan3 there's actually a sense of accomplishment.
Also since it's so hard people actually have to look to the community for help, ppl share tips etc, and there's generally more activity

Like for the gm update, nobody really talked about it since it was just so easy, it's just collecting seals and waiting.

Narutofire18 · September 13, 2017

Chibisai wrote: »

I'm Dan 2 Firebolt heading to Dan 3... It's almost impossible to do??

Dan 3 spawns 3 Giant Ice Sprites :x Fireball and IS Dan 3 is easy because they can kill multiple, but Firebolt is only a single dps

Snap Cast Firebolt and you only take down one, but then the other two go after you along with an ice sprite (and those IS/Icebolts are painful)

Anyone passed Dan 3 Firebolt?

Scroll up on this page for my magic dan guide. In the guide I also have an example video of one of my firebolt strategies, which I will link below.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=GxtGoXwie9M

TNinja · September 13, 2017

Everyday I try to enter Dan 3 Healing.

Everyday I wish for a shotgun on the RNG's head.

logomyego · September 13, 2017

Any tips on Icebolt and Lightningbolt would be grand. Tried multiple ways, and i can't break 10k either. I've tried summoning the same element as each bolt, but that just doesn't give enough points to reach 12k. It seems like hitting the golem is the only way to do it, but having to cancel all charges to use counter, just to have it bull rush you again isn't working. Plus, using defense if it rushes you again can still make it swing at you immediately after. I just cannot for the life of me figure out any other strategies for these two. Everything else is fine.

Narutofire18 · September 13, 2017

logomyego wrote: »

Any tips on Icebolt and Lightningbolt would be grand. Tried multiple ways, and i can't break 10k either. I've tried summoning the same element as each bolt, but that just doesn't give enough points to reach 12k. It seems like hitting the golem is the only way to do it, but having to cancel all charges to use counter, just to have it bull rush you again isn't working. Plus, using defense if it rushes you again can still make it swing at you immediately after. I just cannot for the life of me figure out any other strategies for these two. Everything else is fine.

Scroll up to my guide

.

It is necessary to fight the golems to top off points, but you ought to attempt to get as many points as possible before getting there. I plan to add more video recordings of my strategies to the guide - I can only do one test per day, though, so it's taking me a while to record them all. The icebolt or lightningbolt one (prob icebolt) should come in the next few days

logomyego · September 13, 2017

Narutofire18 wrote: »

Scroll up to my guide .

It is necessary to fight the golems to top off points, but you ought to attempt to get as many points as possible before getting there. I plan to add more video recordings of my strategies to the guide - I can only do one test per day, though, so it's taking me a while to record them all. The icebolt or lightningbolt one (prob icebolt) should come in the next few days

I tried

i tried going through and trying some of your suggestions. Spawning the off element mobs doesn't generate enough points to allow for 12k in my experience. I've tried using fusion bolt to plow as fast as possible through the crystal spawns, and spamming on the golem, but that doesn't come close at all. The best I can muster comes from spawning the weak element and just spamming the bolt that way. The golem just wrecks. I've still only managed to hit 10k once with icebolt, and lightning bolt is even lower yet. Every other spell I've had no problems with. It's just those two bolts. Plus, I've learned that trying to keep distance with spellwalk will just position lag you into the golems range. I want to believe that every skill can pass the tests, but these two are making that hard to come to fruition. If the golem didn't always ping spells, and only like a third of the time, then this would be so much better.

I've got one more idea that I'm going to try during my next test. I'll update and let you know if it works.

Iyasenu · September 13, 2017

logomyego wrote: »

Narutofire18 wrote: »

Scroll up to my guide .

It is necessary to fight the golems to top off points, but you ought to attempt to get as many points as possible before getting there. I plan to add more video recordings of my strategies to the guide - I can only do one test per day, though, so it's taking me a while to record them all. The icebolt or lightningbolt one (prob icebolt) should come in the next few days

I tried i tried going through and trying some of your suggestions. Spawning the off element mobs doesn't generate enough points to allow for 12k in my experience. I've tried using fusion bolt to plow as fast as possible through the crystal spawns, and spamming on the golem, but that doesn't come close at all. The best I can muster comes from spawning the weak element and just spamming the bolt that way. The golem just wrecks. I've still only managed to hit 10k once with icebolt, and lightning bolt is even lower yet. Every other spell I've had no problems with. It's just those two bolts. Plus, I've learned that trying to keep distance with spellwalk will just position lag you into the golems range. I want to believe that every skill can pass the tests, but these two are making that hard to come to fruition. If the golem didn't always ping spells, and only like a third of the time, then this would be so much better.

I've got one more idea that I'm going to try during my next test. I'll update and let you know if it works.

You're spawning same-element monsters to make them last longer?

Have you also changed to bare hands, so Magic Weapon Mastery doesn't make your bolt stronger?
It could make the monsters last even longer.

But... can you even get enough points like that, if you put off reaching the golems that much?

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