Character Class Guide, v.1.2
By Daveo (Forum name: 'Daveo1')
7/10/03
_-=Version Updates=-_
v.0.9- FAQ started, and being assembled... not yet released to
the public.
v.1.0- FAQ submitted... currently working on information for level 20+
Pikemen.
v.1.1- Slight refinements made
v.1.2- Returned to this after almost a year of neglect, made some minor changes.
The pikeman is a very offense-based class. They also look like ninjas,
but that’s not too important. A Pikeman’s ideal weapon is (surprise,
surprise) a pike. Pikemen can dish out tons of damage if done right. You
should try to kill as fast as possible to avoid getting hit too much, as
a Pikeman can’t take hits quite as well as a Fighter or Mechanician.
1a: 1st Tier skills
After a Pikeman reaches level 10, he gets a skill point. He can get
more every 2 levels afterward. He can talk to the town’s Skillmaster to
learn skills for a slight fee once he meets the requirements. You can
level up skills by using them. Active skills have a mana/stamina cost,
and have to be activated on the fly. Passive skills do not have to be
activated, and give a permanent bonus to your character.
PIKE WIND
Required Level: 10
Active Skill
Can only be used with Pike class weapons.
Damages, knocks back, and stuns enemies in a radius around your pikeman.
ICE RESISTANCE
Required Level: 12
Passive Skill
Increased resistance vs. Ice Type attacks.
CRITICAL HIT
Required Level: 14
Active Skill
Causes you to attack with increased attack power and speed.
JUMPING CRASH
Only Swords/Axes/Pikes
Required Level: 17
Active Skill
Your Pikeman does a leaping attack with a bonus to Hit Rate and Attack.
1b: 2nd Tier Skills
Second Tier Skills are much more powerful than their 1st Tier
counterparts, and can be learned when you become a Combatant.
GROUND PIKE
Required Level: 20
Active Skill
Tacks on Frost Damage to your weapon, causing a powerful strike.
TORNADO
Required Level: 23
Active Skill
Brings forth a tornado to harm nearby monsters.
WEAPON DEF MASTERY
Required Level: 26
Passive Skill
Permanently raises defense rating while using Pikes.
EXPANSION
Required Level: 30
Active Skill
Charges weapon with power to strike with a devastating blow.
_-=2: Leveling=-_
Leveling is an incredibly important aspect of the game. In fact,
there’s little else to do at all in the game at this point in time.
Anyway, I’m making notations on spots to level and information on the
Hit and Run strategy here.
2a: Leveling Spots
When you just start out, you should head right for the Novice Area just
outside of Ricarten. Hunt Armas, Mushroom Ghosts, and Hoppies. Avoid
Hobgoblins at this point unless you have plenty of Life Potions, you’re
hunting with someone else, and/or utilizing the Hit and Run strategy
below. Once you get to be around level 5 or 6 and have some alright
starter gear, you should head along the road heading West from Ricarten
to the ‘Graveyard Map.’ There, you should level on Minigues, Imps,
Obits, Dorals and/or Plants. Keep in mind that some of these are tougher
than others, and you should avoid getting hit by the ones that cause you
grief.
Once you get to around levels 8-10, head West to the ‘Goblin Map’ and
fight the monsters there. Just make sure you don’t get caught alone with
a Cyclops, or you’ll be in a world of hurt. You should level there until
you are sure you can take on Skeletons and Zombies. You should level on
them in the first Wasteland Map north of the Novice Map, unless you get
killed too much/ kill them too slowly. If that is the case, keep to the
Goblin Map and off Hobgoblins and Plants. Eventually, when you are at
least level 15, you may want to consider leveling in Wasteland 2, as
long as you are powerful enough to fight Cockrices, Mephits,
and Plant Lords.
You should get to level 20 on them eventually. This FAQ presently only
goes up to level 20, so I’ll cut the leveling guide section short here
for now.
2b: Alternate Leveling Guide, Hit and Run
Hit and Run is a fun strategy, and is an alternate way to get to at
least level 9 without too much trouble. All it needs is a ranged weapon,
moderately fast reflexes, and maybe a few extra Agi points if you’re
serious about it. Once you get your grubby hands on a ranged weapon, run
over to Wasteland 1 (No ranged attacking monsters there), or maybe the
Goblin Map if you don’t mind annoying Imps. The strategy is simple. Fire
at something that outclasses you incredibly until it gets almost close
enough to hit you. Run back and fire until it gets close again. Repeat
until it dies. Go to another monster, and repeat. It’s another way to go
about leveling, since you can level off Plant Lords at Level 1, albeit
with very slow killing.
You can also integrate it into normal leveling, since you can have,
say, a halberd on one weapon switch (pressing W toggles what you set to
have your right-left hands carry) and an Javelin/bow of some sort and a
shield, if available, on another. So, you could be finishing off
Hobgoblins with your halberd, and ready to hit-and-run a Cyclops if it
appears.
_-=3: Stat Distribution=-_
Stat Distribution is a very important aspect of character development.
However, in this particular game, it’s moderately flexible. Also,
everything short of Health is part of one item or another’s
requirements. Still, you should distribute points as wisely as possible,
aiming for your next set of equipment’s requirements and predicting
others that may come across, as well as slapping points in Health as
well.
3a: Levels 1-9
Here you should aim to meet the requirements of better equipment. Try
for about 45-55 strength, 32-40 talent, 26+ agi (if you want to use a
bill or ranged weapons), perhaps some in spirit, since the best pike
available has a spirit req of 36. Not too much, however- overkill with
spirit too early will hurt you. Just gradually raise it. Health isn’t
too important right now, but you might need some if you don’t take hits
too well.
3b: Levels 10-20
You should keep trying to meet reqs, but start spreading out a bit,
i.e. putting points into things that will help you out, depending on
your playing style. If you’d like a Halberd and Brigandine at level 10,
try to get 52 str and 30 talent by then. Switch to a trident when you
can use it. Go for about 64 str and 40 talent by level 16. Try to make a
goal of at least 74 Str and 45 talent by level 22. Once you have that
goal in range, work toward some points in health and miscellaneous
stats.
ALTERNATE PLAN:
Araym ran this alternate stat distribution plan past me...
He, little by little, increases his spirit by one or two points each
level. He also uses two points for strength, or for health...
alternating every level. This tends to leave him with one or two points
still available to spend.
_-=4: Equipment=-_
Here’s a guide to what you should get as equipment throughout levels 1-
20.
4a: Weapons
As long as you level in the Novice grounds, you won’t really need any
equipment at all, unless you hunt hobgoblins. Still, any old weapon
found in the field or bought for cheap will do. Any ranged weapons work
fine for Hit and Run. Anyway, level with whatever you have until you get
to level 7. Then, if you can meet the meager reqs, pick up a Bill. That
will work fine to level 9. At level 9, you should pick up a Longsword if
you have the money, and go with that for awhile. The very next level,
ditch that if you can for a Halberd. Halberds do slightly less damage,
but they make up for it with increased speed and compatibility with Pike
Wind. Do not try for a Horn Scythe, as getting 28 spirit at level 14
will hurt you.
UPDATE: I've been notified that the Horn Scythe in fact requires only
twenty Spirit. (Thanks, Araym) If you follow Araym's alternate plan,
stated in the Stat Distribution section, you can get a Scythe without
much trouble.
You will probably stay with the halberd until at least level 16, the
minimum level required for a Trident. You will have to stay with that
for quite awhile as well, since the next Pike up requires level 22.
4b: Armor
Before level 10, there are 2 body armors available, Battle Suit and
Leather Armor. You may want to pick up a Battle Suit, and then Leather
(As long as the particular Leather outmatches the Battle Suit) as soon
as you can afford them. Get a Brigandine at level 10 if possible, and
Steel Armor at level 14 if you can manage. As for shields, Pikemen don’t
really need them, as all pikes past Bill are 2-handers. However, you can
use any old shield for a Hit-and-Run switch.
_-=5. General Advice=-_
Remember that monster drops are always better than what you can get
at stores. Sometimes, a Pike Spec High-End Battle Suit would work out
better than a storebought Brigandine. However, if your luck is shot,
there's nothing wrong with buying items at a store, as long as they
beat what you have at the moment.
Stamina potions get to be somewhat useful once you can use skills,
so don't ditch them entirely beforehand if you plan on using skills a
lot.
Hotkeys and commands are listed below, for those curious about them.
---------
-Hotkeys-
S- Open/close the Skill Menu.
D- Open/close the Party Menu.
W- Switch equipment modes.
C- Open/close the Stat Page.
V- Open/close your Inventory.
R- Toggle Run/Walk.
X- Open/close the System window.
Z- Change camera modes.
Q- Open/close the Quest window.
TAB- Show or hide the minimap.
F1 to F8- Select Skills.
Arrow Keys- Zoom in or out, pan left or right.
Ctrl + Up/down arrow key- Tilt the camera up or down.
Enter: Activate the chat box.
CTRL + Enter- Show or hide the Chat Information window.
CTRL + Home- Take a screen shot.
Space bar- Close the current window.
1, 2, or 3- Use items placed in the short-cut boxes.
(Such as potions)
----------
-Commands-
/: Character Name- Checks a character's online status.
/: Character Name (Text)- Sends a private message to a character.
//Party Character- Invite a character to join your party.
----------
Attacking is done by left-clicking on a monster.
Can't be any simpler. You can trade with a user by clicking on
them, and then hitting the 'Trade' button that appears below
them. Note that if someone deals you, invites you to a party, or
recommends someone to your party, a window appears in the corner.
PK hasn't been implemented yet, but sometimes people play around
and pretend to PK by crtl-clicking people, causing them to take
harmless swings at another character.
More to come...
_-=6: Wrap-Up=-_
Well, that about does it for my FAQ, at least until the next update.
6a: Acknowledgements
Thanks to:
- The Merchant Guild, esp. Iori Yagami, Vanny-Chan and Eddy for replying
to my request for help with this.
- www.ptprophecy.tk’s skill, item and monster information
- CjayC for creating GameFAQs
-The Dragon King for a little advice
- Triglow for... err... creating the game.
- Daveo (Me) for writing this.
- http://www.network-science.de/ascii/ for their ascii art generator.
- Araym, for some comments and suggestions, as well as an alternate
stat plan.
6b. Contact
I need your comments and suggestions. In fact, if I don't get any, I
just assume that it is, for the moment, perfect, and assume that I don't
need to update or revise it. Did I make a mistake? Did I leave something
out that you can fill me in on? Should I change something? Then e-mail
me about it at Daveo1337@hotmail.com, (...or contact me on AIM at the
screen name Daveo1337...) and I'll credit you. Keep in mind that I'm
on an indefinite break from Priston Tale, so if you find that any aspect
of this FAQ is obsolete, notify me and I'll fix it.
