-Table of Contents:-
Stats (aaa)
Skills (bbb)
Skill List (ccc)
Parties (ddd)
Tactics (eee)
Communication (fff)
The Bee Dance Primer (ggg)
Surviving (hhh)
Who's Best to Party With?(iii)
Using Support Skills (jjj)
Laughter Handbook (kkk)
Combat (lll)
Fun and Profit (mmm)
*Don't kill yourself reading this, guys. It's a heavyweight, weighing in at 17 pages in Word. There's a searchable index above, for convenience. Don't feel you have to read the whole thing.*
--Intro:--
So, what i have here is a bunch of advice to make your life as a healer easier. This list is the culmination of forty-two levels of getting beaten to mush by a smorgasbord of monsters in the name of research. Some of the points below may seem extremely basic, but everyone's a novice, right? Not just me, I hope.
Should you trust Brilliance? That's a good question. I'm a level 42 healer, if that means anything. Hmm...let's say 7/10, an average healer (aka. 0/10: i suck). My experiences are predominantly with knights, so you may find that some of this stuff works differently around the other classes. Also, this whole guide concept is a real first for me. No, that's not entirely true; I met a lv.35 healer once while I was but a young level 39, and gave him some stat help. Now he's (she's?) level 45, and messages me occasionally to rub his victories in my face. Take that as you will.
Don't take this advice as God and gospel. I wrote this guide with good intentions; with that said, I have a creeping fear that this guide could screw up an entire generation of healers.
Oh, feel free to contribute too! By no means do I believe I know everything, so I appreciate people who are nice enough to teach me new tricks. Rest assured, if I use your undoubtedly sweet tips, I'll give you full credit.
Questions? Comments? (Compliments?) Post them and I'll try to answer them as best as I can. If you think I'm a dirty nub whose very presence blackens the skies, you can tell me that too, but it'll make me sad, like this -> ;_; . Besides standard replies, you can @brilliance (no caps) me in game, and since I'm usually fishing, I'll most likely ignore you in game. Or, send a friends message to me (press F), and I'll return your message days later. It's your call.
This is an _extremely_ long guide, by the way. I tried to build it such that you can read in spurts, so feel free to take a break to do something else (like type up angry replies telling me how Wrong I Am). Hmm...what else... -drums fingers- Ah, I'm pretty mouthy also. Cover your eyes if you're offended by crude language (or poor wit).
Trust your heart, and go for it~!
--Oh, Before We Start:--
If you're starting a healer, I hope you have the mindset for it. If you're not nice, patient, or dedicated, don't bother. Leveling a healer is ass hard. Go be an archer or something; it's a lot more convenient. No? Then be prepared to see just how far your death count can go (hint: pretty damn far). Also, just because you're going to be nice doesn't mean that others will be as affording in return. Stay strong.
I swear I had more to say here.
Right; um, practice makes perfect. Once you know the nuances of the job, healing boils down to an eternity of -rightclickclickclick-, dotted with moments of pure heart-stopping terror. Don't worry, this combination of boredom and fear will automatically develop a candy-coated cynicism quite naturally. You'll pretty much know you're a healer when you can see yourself as trash even as you sacrifice everything for others.
--Stats: (aaa)--
- OMG Brilliance, what are your stats?
Strength: 8
Health: 72
Intelligence: 57
Wisdom: 73
Agility: 8
These are pretty bad stats, IMO. I really do think that the int was a waste; it was good early on for soloing, but now my solo play is a ghetto joke. If I stat change, I'll probably get more health and compensate for my wisdom with items. On the bright side, you can clearly see that even the most busted stats can go up to level 42!
- Specific stat advice: (a) have at least 50 health by level 30, (
have around 70 wisdom by level 35. Before level 30, you'll want to put stat points in intelligence, at least until you can party reliably (see: my stats). The amount of intelligence you have at the end will determine your soloing effectiveness. For reference, 57 int will get you up to level 38 (and devil pains) reasonably well. Eventually, you will need a lot of wisdom to fuel your mana-eating skills, but that doesn't really become an issue until level 35.
- Why level 35, you say? You see, levels 35-38 harbor the really expensive spells in the healer's arsenal. Without wisdom, you'll be sitting every half-minute. Besides, high mana is a natural trait of a good healer. You'll know you're doing it right when you forget what the rest hotkey is, because you haven't used it in two weeks.
--Stat Addendum:--
- As of level 42, I've stat changed to become a pure healer:
Strength: 8
Health: 79 (<-yeah, pure healer. You're good at counting, Brilliance.)
Intelligence: 18 (<- WTF?)
Wisdom: 79
Agility: 8
From 2 days of half-ass playtesting, I can say that this build is quite a different beast altogether. The most noticeable thing is that my damage has been chopped in half (800 damage shockwave -> 450 damage shockwave). This makes soloing dangerous, because it takes so long to kill an enemy that mobbing is pretty much a certainty. Ironically, this didn't actually raise my healing skills very much, because Cure2 maxes at 900, a number that I had already hit with my previous build. The extra health actually helps a lot; I can take more than 5 hits from red enemies now.
Oddly enough, I didn't intend on having a 1:1 ratio of health and wisdom! I was actually reapplying my points with all my gear on, so I thought I had applied more wisdom than health. Kinda odd how that turned out, no?
--Skills: (bbb)--
- You may want to consider becoming an offensive mage if your main goal is to support others. Lightning mages can help a party out by killing things before they do a lot of damage, and can still heal effectively (see below). Fire/Ice mages are much more useful than healers in guild wars, and every build has the ability to learn speed/revive (two support skills that are pretty much essential for every mage).
- Generally, you'll have enough skill points to just about max out two skill trees by level 2. Most healers go for heal/lightning; this is because lightning starts with a free skill point, and it does high damage to begin with. In fact, you could say that lightning's main weakness is high mana cost. Healers have lots of mana, and don't do very much damage. Two plus two is four, folks.
- My Lightning Blow (advanced lightning attack) was left at lv.7. This conserves mana, and lets me pull enemies without accumulating many hostility points. It's not like I'm attacking very much anyways.
*Alternate Explanation: I have no education, and 7 fingers.*
- I found out the hard way that Lightning Mastery (extra maximum damage) is pretty much a bust if you don't max it, making it an all-or nothing skill. Remember that it does not work on Shockwave (close range lightning attack, very strong).
It's a moot point anyways. As I mentioned above, you'll have enough skill points to get low priority skills anyways. I maxed out Cure 2 by level 41, and Restore/Group Cure don't unlock simultaneously with other skills, so you'll finish the healing skill tree with lots of skill points to spare.
--Skill List!: (ccc)--
All you need to know about the attacking spells is that it turns monsters into geon (quite poorly, at that). Unlike offensive mages, shockwave will be your main form of attack, instead of an emergency protocol.
-Heal:- 5 grades. Gives you up to 300 extra hp, instantly. It also has a small, noticeable cooldown. Get this spell up to gr.3 (for cure), and move on. Make no mistake, early on, it can actually be used in combat like a pot, and even now I still use this skill to top up my hp when a cure would be a waste. However, maxing it really isn't worth the extra two skill points. *Note: Well, not really anymore. Restore took up its space on the hotbar.*
-Cure 1:- 10 grades. Heals yourself or another lucky soul for up to 500 hp. Skip this skill entirely, it sucks.
Sigh.
Of course you're supposed to get this skill. Max this one out ASAP, and abuse it until you get cure 2. Use it to heal yourself after every fight (hold alt and rightclick on yourself), use it to heal your party mates during fights (click them directly or click their names (!) in the party bar), use it to heal strangers (to be nice, or to piss them off, whatever). This is the trademark of healers.
Its main weakness (aside from the fact that it doesn't hurt monsters) is the fact that it has a 2 second delay before it actually casts. This is vitally important to remember. Also, it can do a real number on your mana if you're not prepared.
Handy dandy trick for healing: prime your heals. If your party mate comes back with a difficult enemy in tow, start healing him once he gets in healing range, but before he actually begins fighting. You'll end up finishing your cast just in time to heal the monster's first hit. The timing for this is tricky, but you'll have lots of time to practice.
-Cure 2:- 5 grades. Same as Cure, only it goes up to 900 hp max, which is a _lot_ more. That plus the increased casting range pretty much makes it the best spell ever, until cure 3. This baby will pretty much fully heal any level 30 in 1 cast (knights, obviously, might need more). When you use it, be prepared for angels to pop out of the sky, singing tales of God's grace.
No, not really. But people will go, "whoa, sweet cure, dude!". And you will make friends.
*Note: Word on the street is, you don't need this to get Cure 3. So, if you like a big 15-level hole in your healing career, I guess you don't need Cure 2. In other words, knowing this little fact won't change anything.*
-Speed: -3 grades. It speeds you or another person up. This is one of those spells that aren't really useful until grade 3, at which point it will become light and fluffy, like a delicious cake. Let me outline the levels for you:
Grade 1 - aka. Lollerskates, shit speed. Comical dust puffs behind your feet. I think it actually slows you down. Applications include: pissing people off.
Grade 2 - a kind of shambling half-walk, half-run. It's fast enough to be useful, but it doesn't last very long. Grade 2 speed is also synonymous with revive, which unlocks at the same level.
Grade 3 - aka. the Nightmare. Recipients of this bad boy will run at full speed for half an hour. This speed becomes maddeningly addicting, and as a result, the rest of your life will become a life sentence, punctuated only by the cries of "spd plz". See, it's so fast, that the people who want it can't even take the time to type out the vowels.
*Note: Will Not Outrun Doggebis. Well, maybe the Naughty ones.*
It's another of those essential spells, because it will save your life, your time, and your money. Get it.
If you hit the run button, speed cancels. This is a Bad Thing, if you keep in mind the various reasons why you'd run.
-Revive:- 1 grade. If someone's dead, cast this on them and they'll revive with only half of the normal exp loss. You can't cast this on yourself, for obvious reasons. This'll be another of your trademarks, forming the Holy Trinity of Begging (speed, revive, cure). It costs 240 mana, which is a serious dent in anyone's mana stores. Also, it has a sizeable cooldown, and takes around 4-7 seconds to cast. Make sure you clear the area before you revive someone.
-Restore:- 1 grade. Instantly restores 25% of a person's hp. It's basically Heal 2, except you can cast it on someone else, and the cooldown is unbelievably long (long enough that you'll use it only once every few battles). Use this if someone is about to die, because it comes out instantly. Doesn't work so well on people with a low maximum health. *Note: excellent for emergencies.*
-Meditation:- 3 grades. Raises your innate mana regeneration for a few minutes, up to 19/tick extra. Not only is it important to get this skill, it's also important to keep it on constantly. Having meditation on can mean the difference between gaining 5% mana and losing 40% mana in a fight. Also, it casts instantly, meaning you can refresh it during a fight. You can also cast it while sitting, or while you're drinking water/eating food.
*If you hit the run button, meditation cancels. *
-Defensive Incantation:- 5 grades, innate skill. Temporarily raises your defense for a period of time. You get it at level 30 automatically, and every 5 levels thereafter. It's okay, but you're not planning to get hit. The extra defence becomes noticeable at grade 3, but I find that I keep forgetting to keep it on, unlike Meditation.
-Long-Range Protection:- 1 grade, innate skill. 1-hit invulnerability against ranged, non-magic weapons. You get it at level 25 automatically. It's primarily a PvP/guild war skill, even though it can block spears and arrows. This is due to its longish cooldown and the 1-hit dispel. I use this as a "blessing", even though it does not actually bless at all.
*Summary: Baiscally, get all those skills above, except for lightning mastery. Prioritize support spells over attack spells. Don't max heal. Don't get fire skills, preferably don't get ice skills. Restore is optional. By level 50, you'll probably have enough skill points to jack around a bit anyways.*
--Parties: (ddd)--
- The most important point: you are responsible for the lives of yourself and everyone in your party. But that's unfair, Brilliance~! Too bad. I don't like it either, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. It's your job to make sure no one dies, and if you fail that job, you're deadwood.
I probably didn't even need to tell you that. In general, healers are naturals at beating themselves up over spilled milk. That, and mixing up popular sayings.
- If you're new to the whole concept of party healing, remember that you can click on the names within your party to heal. Make sure you click on the names, and not the health bars. You can click on your own name, too.
*Note: To facilitate this concept more easily, shuffle your HUD (the interface; toolbars, the chatbox, etc.) to your convenience. I personally keep my party bar right beside the center of the screen, so I can see the action while I frantically click on shrinking health bars (well, the names above them).*
- Make sure your party is balanced to fight the correct monsters. Fighting in the Highland of Sky with warriors will take eons; on the flipside, fighting in the rear of a dungeon with archers will take seconds, and I don't mean that in a good way.
- It's a good idea to see if your party is the correct level, too. That's not to say that you should leave novices in the dust - sometimes, you'll have a significantly lower level person in your party, and that's okay!...I'm just saying, maybe you should hold off on fighting Giant Species Murderers if your overall party level is 20.
- If you have an issue with the makeup of your party, kindly inform the other members. After all, you're the one who has to pick up the bodies if something goes wrong.
- Generally, I let the lurer of the party set the rules as to where the party should be positioned, and what enemies to fight. Longer pulling distance means more safety at the cost of slower leveling and more danger to the lurer. If the main party gets attacked while the lurer is away, tell the lurer to dump the enemies and come back ASAP.
--Tactics: (eee)--
- If you're mobbing with a large party, take more than one healer along. For those not in the know, mobbing is a tactic wherein one member of your party goes out as an animal, lures a dozen monsters, and proceeds to run circles around the rest of your party as they pull enemies off the train at their leisure. This tactic more often than not nets you extreme amounts of money and drops. Anyways, grab another healer, because everyone in your party will be getting enough damage to outpace your heal delay. Actually, I generally find that five and six man parties are too much for one healer, in any situation.
- If you are in a party with another healer, decide beforehand who is going to heal whom. *Note: Usually, I leave the weakest healer to heal the strongest people, and vice versa.* This avoids those LOL moments where one of you heals, the other healer wastes a cure on the now fully healthy member, and 3 people die. If you forget to do settle it out beforehand, you can always start focusing your heals on one victim. Hopefully, the other healer will get the hint and switch targets - unless the other healer has read this (
!) and is doing the same thing, meaning that knees will be dropping _everywhere_.
Basically, the whole situation is like a Kal version of the sidewalk dance.
*...For those not in the know, the sidewalk dance is that thing where you're walking, and another person walks into you, and both of you shimmy left and right, trying to get past each other, while avoiding eye contact, saying "sorry. sorry." the whole way through. Okay?*
- If your party is in little danger of dying, feel free to join in with your own attacks, if only to speed up the process a bit. Make sure you ask for Protect beforehand, though. If you're feeling especially cynical, tack on a nasal "plzzz" to the end of your request.
*Protect is a knight skill unlocked at level 25. When cast in a party (and it can only be cast in a party), it reduces the amount of hostility points that the recipient's attacks create. Monsters attack the person with the most hostility points, so protect acts as an anti-mock to prevent overzealous archers and mages from getting tenderized. As a healer, your attacks most likely won't cause enough damage to make you a priority, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Still, protect has a high cooldown. If someone else plainly needs it more than you, suck it up.*
- Right, you know how knights prefer to party with low-level healers so they can get as much exp as possible? Healers can do the same thing. Party with a low level knight to get the lion's share of exp. Alternatively, you could party with an archer or mage for extreme killing speed at the cost of increased danger.
- Prime your heals. When a party member is approaching with a strong beastie in tow, and you know it's going to be a tough fight, begin casting heal early. That way, when your friend turns around to initiate the beatdown, you'll already have healed the monster's first hit pretty much instantly.
*Note: You'll notice that as you get higher and higher level, you won't need to do this tactic as often. I don't know why I typed that.*
- Try to find a damage pattern for your party. Sometimes, your party will be built such that people will get injured in a very specific order. For example, a knight might lure with mock, and he'll take two hits before the archer beside him gains more hostility points, shifting the monster's attention for the duration of the fight. Knowing who is going to get hurt next will let you precog heals like there's no tomorrow.
- If you're healing in a dangerous area, and you're not moving very much (read: dungeon), wear a flag. It doubles your hp, and you'll find that your tanking effectiveness is going to be comparable to that of your party mates. Remember to take it off if you need to run, though! And, make sure you actually run; wearing a flag cancels speed. Also, dying will destroy your flag. If you find you are still dying a lot even with a flag on, maybe it's not worth the 12k per flag (and the ire of your guild leader).
*Note: Flags are pretty good to wear when you're about to revive someone in a dangerous spot.*
- Endurance is the name of the game. Save your mana by not healing when it's not needed, keeping your meditation on, etc.
- Cure has a really long range. Abuse this by sitting in safe zones to heal people. That's right, you can kick back and relax in safety as your party mates bust their arses for you. Just make sure you move back out if the the nearby monster supply starts running dry.
- Surround yourself with friends. Joining a guild means that you'll have a dependable source of manpower, and it provides a means of retaliation if someone "disrespects" you. Make sure you join a guild for the right reasons too, because you'll be hanging around with them a lot.
*Wrong reasons: Fame, power, riches.*
- By far, the easiest way to level is by partying with a certain person/people constantly. Makes sense, right? As you and your party get more and more comfortable with each other, the tactics and maneuvers you use will evolve naturally, until you become an integral part of a well oiled fighting machine (or alternatively, like Oreos and milk, combining to form a deliciously deadly combination).
--Communicate!: (fff)--
- Communicate! Tell your party when you're low on mana, when you're going to go revive someone, when you're going to go masturbate, whatever. If your party knows what you're doing, they''l be prepared to compensate.
- If the action is a wee bit too heavy to accommodate typing, use a macro. Macros are instant messages communicated through a single press of the F2-F11 keys. In order to set them, you must first replace some files in your Kal folder.
*Toddle off to your KalOnline/Data/HyperText folder. There is an "e" folder, and a "k" folder. These folders contain all the dialogue in Kal; "e" is for "English", and "k" is for "Korean". First, back up the "e" folder. Then, take the contents of the "k" folder and copy (not cut) them over to the "e" folder. DO NOT OVERWRITE ANY FILE. Keep clicking "no" when it asks you if you want to replace your files. You will be clicking "no" for a long time, but since you're a healer, you can treat this as good practice! ^ ^*
When that's all done (btw, you'll notice that some files didn't overwrite), head back into Kal and press "[". This'll open up your macro list. Type in your macros, press the right button, and you're set to spam! Macros can be initiated simply by typing out the corresponding function key (F2-F11); you do not need to press enter or focus on the chatbox beforehand.
- Shorthand works too, if your party understands it. Some parties use single letter abbreviations, some use number combinations, some use complex bee dances. I've resorted to using all of these, and more. Basically, if it gets your message across, use it. (But, don't abuse it.)
--Bee Dance Primer: (ggg)--
Circle around you - Getting your attention. If enemies are chasing, this is an invitation to take one for yourself.
Standing idle - Waiting. If enemies are attacking, lagged out.
Going near you and spamming sit/stand - Needs speed. Or something else.
Going a bit away from you and spamming sit/stand - wants you to move here.
Going onto you and spamming sit/stand - Is humping you.
Kneeling - Dead. Looks similar to resting. Check the height of the player to differentiate between the two. At a distance, you can also try casting revive and checking to see if you run towards the person in question.
There's some other complicated dance patterns out there, including countless variations of the "g46 dance", which is apparently intended to do absolutely nothing.
--Survival (Yours and Theirs): (hhh)--
- Don't die. (really, Brilliance? I <3 this guide.) But what I really mean is, it is _imperative_ that the healer does not die. Now, I may seem full of myself, but I do not exaggerate when I say that the healer is of vital importance in any functional party. (I could probably say that they're the most important part of a party, but that's because it's only us healers reading this, hmm? ^ ^)
Honestly, though. I have seen (and been in) parties that have been 110% kicking ass, until the healer died. Then everything went to hell. Of course, you can avoid this if you (a) don't die, (
are in a party consisting of intelligent people. Point (
is harder to satisfy than point (a), btw.
An important consequence of this is that you should keep yourself alive first. You should be the last one to die, if only because you can heal to the very end, and use revive when things hit the bottom line.
- Keep your target's hp topped up if he/she isn't comfortable with your healing. Generally, hp should not dip below 50%.
- Stay about 2-3 steps behind the party, putting them between you and any other potential attackers. This way, your party can see and target anyone attacking you easily.
- If you are getting attacked, don't forget that you are also a member of the party, and as such, are entitled to free healing from the healer! Just click on your name when your health dips until your mates pull the enemy off you. If they don't pull the enemy off, simply alternate heals between them and yourself. This whole tanking thing can actually be used to your advantage; in mob situations, you can try pulling an enemy onto you in order to give your party an extra lifebar (obviously, don't do this if you are built like fine china).
*Note: Don't run if your party thinks they can pull through (or won't run). First of all, you're not healing. Secondly, you're making it harder for your mates to pull enemies off you. Heal yourself and use potions unless you absolutely can't take it, in which case, running probably won't save you anyways.*
- An extreme method of the anti-mob tactic outlined above is to pull _every_ enemy off, and run around in circles while the actual damage-dealing members of your party execute them at their leisure. Warning: if your party hates you, don't do this unless you enjoy slapstick and masochism. Make sure they know what you're going to do in advance, too. It requires a bit of juggling, and a lot of health. I don't personally advocate this, but the option is on the table if you're of an especially twisted breed of healer.
- If your party has to flee, you should run last. Since you weren't attacking (I hope), you'll have no monsters on you, and you can fire off one last cure before you run off.
- If you find yourself partied with someone fragile, constantly pump out heals throughout the fight, regardless of his/her health. This also includes priming your cure (beginning the cure animation early). Good people to do this on are archers, who have high evasion but low health. You don't want to be caught with your pants down when your archer buddy gets hit for half health, which is a medical emergency on the order of getting one's legs lopped off.
Mages, who have low evasion and low health, are a whole different set of nuts. Suffice to say, they'll either be ruling the roost, or they'll be getting beaten so hard that a religious congregation couldn't save them. Due to this, partying with a mage is an awkward deal.
--So, who's best to party with? (iii)--
Assuming a two-man party (yourself and someone else):
Knights are the obvious choice for this, because they specialize in soaking up damage, and you specialize in healing damage. Just be prepared to spend a lot of time in fights, because they have the poor damage output. Also, a relatively low evasion score means that you'll be able to tell pretty much instantly when you're outmatched.
Archers usually have high evasion and low health, so combat will look like this: healthyhealthyhealthy, hithit, death. As I just said, pump your heals and pray that your timing coincides with their attacks. However, higher-level archers have some real health under their belt, making them the easiest class to heal at higher levels.
Mages are the hardest class to party with, and for good reason. Low evasion, low health, and low defense combine to form a nightmare for you. Even if you pump cures, it's not uncommon for a mage to go from 100 to 0 in the 2 seconds it takes for your next heal to come out. In general, mages are more comfortable with soloing anyways because potions are a more reliable method of healing for them.
--Using Support Skills: (jjj)--
- If someone stops right beside you, he is asking for a speed. If he has a speed, he is asking for a revive. Otherwise, he is asking for trouble; Long Range Protect him and run.
*Note: some people might actually have a good reason to stop beside you.*
- Unlike other classes/builds, healers can actually help someone without first checking to see if the person in question actually needs help. Feel free to throw in a cure or two if someone is having trouble, it's no skin off your back. Signs of trouble are: mobs, potion use, running, screams for help.
- Speeding random people in front of towns is a good way to gather a crowd. Then again, so is wearing an assassin mask.
- Use your own speed timer to measure how long it's going to be before your party needs their speeds refreshed. I also use my speed timer to gauge how much time's elapsed since a revive request (and consequently, the time until the victim respawns).
- The time before someone is forced to respawn is 10 minutes. The time before someone needs a speed 3 refreshed is 30 minutes.
- When running to revive someone, use the running tip I mentioned in the survival section (running animals are faster than animals with speed 3). Make sure you don't activate run immediately, though; you're going to need lots of mana to actually complete the journey. Running in the forest is not recommended, because if you run out of mana with 30 devil troops on you, there's no escape.
- Speaking of animals: the panther is fastest, and the bird has the longest luring range. The tiger is by far the most orange. Act accordingly.
- If someone needs a revive in a far location, ask for directions immediately. Start running the moment you get a general location, then pinpoint the exact spot as you move. You can give updates on your current location, if you wish. Try to use landmarks on the map and ingame to navigate. Dungeons are the easiest for this, because you can just have the victim state which room he's in.
- If someone needs a revive in a location filled to the brim with baddies, grab some people to cover you before you move in. If you find it's still too difficult to revive said victim, try getting someone to lure the monsters away. Make sure you clean up your mess, though. It's bad etiquette to leave enemies in places where other people could trip on them.
- Distances: Running with a bird, you can cross from the edge of the forest to guardians in 3 minutes, Doggebi Gongs to devil beach in 5 minutes (using up about 1500 mana), and Doggebi Monster Faces to devil castle in 4 minutes. Most likely, you're going to need lots of time to search for the victim, too. Most healers classify going from Gongs to devil beach as the absolute running distance for a revive because of this.
- After you revive someone, heal then speed him/her. The former will prevent pot wastage, and the latter will ensure that the patient in question does not become a repeat customer in the next 5 seconds.
- Casting heal/speed on assassins can have the effect of getting on their good side. Don't quote me on that, though. I prefer to hide behind large men.
- Take the rewards that people give you. Refusing waters just wastes time, and it's not like you won't need them. That's not to say that you should humor jerks who offer you g46 for free. (You wouldn't accept, right? right? > >)
- If, for various reasons, you are attempting to heal someone in a monster (clipping problems), try clicking on the edge of their calves and back, or any other part that's sticking out. If that doesn't work, kindly tell him (or her) to back up a tad (that is, if he/she is expecting a heal from you).
- Remember that Restore (lv.42 skill: heal 25% health instantly) is essentially a Heal 2 that can target others. A quick combo is Cure 2, then Restore. This will boost most lv. 40-50 knights up by 50% instantly. Restore is less useful on people with less maximum health.
- A sae hak (g40 healing stick) will help conserve your mana. Be prepared for strange looks if you fight with this, like I do. Holding one of these is also a signal that you can heal/speed/revive, even if you cannot do one or more of these.
- Keep your language simple if the person you are attempting to aid is foreign. Signs of foreign language include: a country suffix in the name (BR, PL, etc.), grammar errors and repetition, strange laughter.
-Just in case!: (kkk)-
Here's a handy table of laughter dialects:
hehe - the person is pretending to be female/Japanese. Do not be fooled.
haha - along with lol, rofl, lmao and roflmao this forms the core of most American/European laughter. Beware of people who are not actually laughing.
bwahaha/tee hee - North American male and female variants, respectively.
jaja - Spanish/Latino.
:x, xD - emotes. This doesn't really help. In fact, the first emote there doesn't even look very happy.
^ ^ - see "hehe". The length between the carats indicates how much the person in question hates you.
huhu/keke/kuku - Oriental. They sound distinctly more evil, no?
hoho - Santa Claus.
hihi - This is a trick. The person is actually greeting you.
AUEHUAHUA - my favorite. Portugeuse. Note how it is always in caps, and always takes up a whole line of chat.
The presence of caps lock indicates sincerity (LOL). The presence of a period indicates insincerity (lol.).
There's more unique laughter and emotes out there! Explore them for yourself!
(b^ ^)!
*Note: Whenever someone types out lmao, i imagine them actually _pronouncing_ lmao at their keyboards at the same time. It sounds like this: l'mow! l'mow! l'mow!*
--Combat, and Avoiding Combat: (lll)--
- If you are luring monsters (for various reasons), you can actually start running before your lightning blow finishes executing. Simply click before the charging animation finishes, and you'll automatically run back a step, turn around, and shoot at a longer range than normal. The timing's a little tricky at first, but the extra two steps could change your destiny.
- Need to get somewhere fast? Say, towards a spot that isn't occupied by an angry mob? Transform into an animal and use the run skill (tap z). This is the fastest non-teleportation method that I know of; it will actually outrun Doggebis. Make sure you're actually running, and not using Speedup.
- In the options menu, you can set your chat mode to lose focus automatically when you press enter. This can avoid those embarrassing moments where you die, then type out "3333333", because you stupidly left your chatbox active. Do this by going to "other game setting", then set "chatting mode" to "2".
- Regulate your mana. Running dry in the middle of a fight is the second-worst feeling ever (the worst feeling ever being the brutal 15 seconds immediately after).
- Monsters do not actually notice you until they start moving (if they aggro). Take advantage of this by luring monsters that are moving, or have just stopped moving. Of course, you could have the wonderful luck of being the person to pull just as 4 gongs decided to start stretching their legs.
- If you see two monsters heading towards you, run. Maybe other classes don't have to run at the sight of two yellows, but you do. I have actually died fighting two Devil Bow Soldiers at once in a straight fight. This was at level 41.
- I find that in ideal conditions, I can get around 3 shots of lightning off before an enemy reaches me. Then I switch to shockwave, and proceed to furiously toast my victim. Your mileage may vary; Doggebis are fast enough to cross the gap in two shots, and Devil Spears require you to close the distance instead (make sure you do this; it's absurdly difficult to beat a Devil Spear in ranged combat).
- Use pots in advance. If you know that it only takes one pot for you to kill a monster face (-flexes muscles-), use that pot near the beginning of the battle, so you don't have to worry about bad things happening.
*Note: As of my stat change, I cannot 1-pot MF's. I am a WIMP.*
- Don't behead immediately after a fight; it'll respawn the enemy you just killed instantly, and usually right behind you, no less. Follow this sequence: kill, cure, behead, heal.
- If you are getting chainmobbed (enemies constanly spawning to join the fight), and you were smart (dumb) enough not to run like a little girl, the most important thing to do is keep your hp high. Every few enemies, cast cure on yourself to reset your hp to the max. Only start beheading if your mp starts really draining, and even then, don't behead 3 enemies at once. If you need to run, do it early, and don't stop for loot.
- A Sae Dan (attacking g40 staff) will help you kill things faster. Also, it'll help you hide from speed beggars, although a Joong Bang (g40 NPC staff) works better for that.
--Fun and Profit!: (mmm)--
- As you hit the higher levels, you will get bored out of your mind. These tips are here to prevent you from going batshit crazy. It's fortunate that healers can "play the system" more than the other classes/builds, because the leveling rate is ugh. You don't actually have to do these, and in fact, I don't do some of them, so use at your own discretion.
- Stop it with the leveling mentality. The healing strength of Cure maxes out early, so you'll hit maximum potential long before you should. Instead, concentrate on having a good time.
- If you don't want to give someone a speedup, just run away. It's not like the offender's going to catch up to you. Alternatively, give them Long Range Protect (same casting animation, different results).
- Same as the above point, but replace "speedup" with "revive".
- If speedup medicine costs 4k in town, and you get the skill for free, what's stopping you from charging them for a taste of your sweet, sweet speed? (Hopefully your morals, you money-grubber.) For reference, the status quo for speeds is one water. By the way, don't charge money if you don't have speed maxed.
- You could probably milk a little more money out of someone asking for a revive. Be prepared to be hated, though. Sadly enough, the "normal" price of a revive is also one water.
- In addition to the money saved by not using as many pots, you can turn even more of a profit by selling fish on the side. Make sure you take the time to cook them, because speed and cooked eels can go for incredible prices (around 7k, if you're patient enough).
- Hell, make a business out of selling supplies! Keep excess potions and speed medicines on you in case someone needs you to mail one over. Teleports are also popular, and if you're rich enough, consider reselling rebirth scrolls if you're high level.
*Note: Just for reference, at 85% tax, 200 meds cost 11.9k. *
- Another advantage of being a healer is that your gear maxes out quick. Wisdom talismans and sae haks are the cheapest objects in their class. Don't bother buying g46 armor, because if you play your cards right, you won't even get hit very much. You'll find that even if you don't specifically seek g46 armor, it'll just happen. Much like puberty, I'd say.
- If you want to win a duel, screw what the other person says and win at any cost. You deserve it for putting up with total knobs 24/7. Now, how you win duels is completely up to you, and is only limited by your imagination (and morals).
Once, I ran from a city, waited 5 minutes, and teleported back to beat the unsuspecting person to a pulp as he shopped. Other fantastic ways to win are: hit and run (especially with the bird's crazy attack range), draining the opponent's mana by making him run, and spamming heal on yourself until the duel ends in a draw. The latter method is my favorite, especially if you're partied with your victim. Let him taste the sweet flavor of hopelessness as you continuously bring your health back from the brink, and laugh. Hahaha.
- Learn how to chat one-handed in a party, since you can click on the party bar to heal without taking focus from the chatbox. You can use this power for good and evil.
- Party members really find it hilarious when you drop your bamboo stick after 3 hours of killing enemies for drops, just to emulate a monster drop. Bonus points if you time it such that you can do it repeatedly so it's always unexpected. Also, try using different items! My personal favorite (besides the bamboo stick of DEATH) is g32 mage armor; their name (BeeDan SoCheungEau) is conveniently like that of g46 mage armor (BeeDan DaeCheungEau).
- Wearing an assassin mask if you're bored is a Bad Idea. What're you going to do, heal people to death? (This does not work, FYI)
- Keep some low level gear on you when you start getting g46 items, just in case you want to pretend you're level 25. When you get level 3 speed and revive, you will find that there are plenty of reasons to do this. Be warned: the presence of a guild tag can give the game away.
- Whenever someone asks for a speed, and uses a macro to thank me, I envision that person happily prancing away, with a big, multicolored -=-ThAnK YoU!!!-=- banner billowing out of their asscheeks. Dunno why I said that; perhaps you will find the same thing happens to you, and you will be that much more cheery after the 80th spdplz in an hour.
- Speaking of cheeriness, always be polite and gracious. I find that not only does it cheer you up, it cheers other people up. Satisfied customers = $$$, and our plan to rule Kal from the shadows can only be fueled with the geons of fools.
Sometimes, I bend over so far back that I apologize for killsteals, even when I haven't touched the creature in question. It's probably only a matter of time before I start apologizing in towns for absolutely nothing.
- A sense of humor helps. When I simply can't take it anymore, I abuse guild/party chat like a little bitch. You can try whining to others about your sucking skillz, or you can relate some LOL anecdote - I don't know. Either way, try to do something that will entertain your audience, so you won't get expelled. Good examples of how not to entertain an audience are dotted everywhere throughout this guide.
- If you're high level, consider heading over to lower level areas to help other people out for a while. Unlike some of the other points outlined here, this is actually a kind thing to do - especially in the mines near the pub, where revives and speed aren't expected.
- Over time, you may find that your temper will get shorter and shorter. Use this to your advantage by encasing yourself within a black shell of cynicism, punctuated only by self-depreciating insults.
*Congratulations, I can't believe you actually read this far. Now that I've listed every single tip that I know to the world, I fully expect someone to copy/paste this a week later and get full credit for it.
Seriously though, I really, really hope this helps someone in some way. Tell me if it does.*
