I'm about to to the class change to warlock. I wanted to know what I should be looking for as far as c-grade armor and weapons. Someone told me that I should look at getting a Mysterious Sword/Accumen, and Karmian robe set.
And, am I understanding, that in order to get my summon to fire (cubic) I should be swinging at the mob since my spells are going to start going down hill soon? Does this hold true for the cats also?
As of the latest expansion, you only need to be in combat to get your cubics to fire (and have the mob on target), so go right ahead and gear yourself up as a healer if that's what you want. Mysterious sword and karmian sounds good to me. I haven't tried this on a mage type, but some seem to enjoy plated leather and a DD weapon in the C grade levels, but as you level, your damage will start to pale majorly compared to your summon. Maybe someone who has tried this will chime in :)
Melee damage during C grade levels on a summoner is decent compared to thier summon. Spamming shots on both yourself and the summoner will be expensive, but well worth it. Even into B grade using shots will help.
If I remember correctly, I used to count the number of mobs I could kill in a single buff round in the 50s (was hunting the good xp orcs in cemetary). If I didnt use ss, I would kill approx 5 less orcs then if I did use ss.
Even A grade, using shots will help if your setup as a melee DD, which works well as a Warlock. Having Queen out, your (hopefully) in a well rounded party, with a BD, SWS, and all the needed to buffs for high dmg crits. Use a Focus Dagger, add on the SS, and you can be doing significant dmg, to help the group along.
Well I did all my way up to 74 being buffer for my pet . I had a few SS with me for those hard situations , but my damage was not worth mentioned with a som ^^.
Nuking to 56 is fine... it still is faster xp that with the cat out
At 54 you can get 6-8% per buff if you don't pick up, so 18 - 24% per hour.
Just need to find the right zones.
55-56 drops in speed though as this is the first level where you will truely notice the failure of nuking kick in. But it still works out to be faster.
But from 56+ Forget nuking as new pastures to XP in combined with the new skill level on your cat means you can XP well again.
Depends on what gear and buffs you have because failures do start setting in around 52-53 but if you have a +'d up enough weapon it doesn't really matter - however if you don't have a +'d up enough weapon and emp3 it get's painful well before 56.
Done it once without and once with on another toon. Whilst faster with the oe'd weapon either way is still fine. Buffs are key too, but the key to it all is; location, location, location!
Another example is that when people do hit 56 they often join parties, use the queen and sit back and do nothing but pickup and maintain the gift or blessing buff
.
If the party is stable and the WK's mp is solid, keep nuking. Even with the failure rate, the damage for the next few levels can be up between 900-1400 a hit. Not too shabby and you do help your party alot by being active.
Currently, I run solo a lot with no buffs, so it's slow going. I'm already seeing more failures from nuking now, then pre 40, but I expected that.
Oe'd weapons are kinda out of the question right now, since I just started the game recently.
When I do get into a group, it's a blast.
So far though, I am having fun, and that's all I care about right now.
Blah don't even bother nuking. U SUck as a nuker when u become a summoner. When you have become a summoner you have chosen to SUMMON. Therefore always have your pet out and doing the dmg. Ur pet does about a 1000 more dmg than you could ever do but when you solo I find it much easier to lv faster when I had a melee weapon and helped out my summon kill. It also made my cubic hit more often.
So if you have ur cat hit and u hit with him, you should lv fast.
Blah don't even bother nuking. U SUck as a nuker when u become a summoner. When you have become a summoner you have chosen to SUMMON. Therefore always have your pet out and doing the dmg. Ur pet does about a 1000 more dmg than you could ever do but when you solo I find it much easier to lv faster when I had a melee weapon and helped out my summon kill. It also made my cubic hit more often.
So if you have ur cat hit and u hit with him, you should lv fast.
two shotting mobs all the way to 56 as a nuker with no summons out will beat using a summons every time in XP return.
just requires good selection of hunting zones.
have leveled several summoners this way and have tried both ways, nuking failure is not frequent enough to present an issue until you hit 56
there is absolutely no reason to get out of robes as the mobs do not get to you before you kill them.
where were you two shotting mobs to 56? nukes start failing FREQUENTLY around 50. maybe you had OOP buff support tat very few others had? maybe you had a highly enchanted Glowing C weapon which also few people have.
and being on your 3rd sub youre likely in a high level clan with high level people.
someone new to the game (the title is NEW WARLOCK QUESTIONS! ) wont have any of that, stop feeding useless info.
If a summoner wanted to nuke, they'd have gone nuker and not summoner.
It's all about personal choices, but I would NEVER say to a Summoner: "Go nuking till 52". First, it fails. A lot. Really. And unless you have a very good weapon that even if it fails, you still manage to do decent damage without getting hurt, it's NOT the best way. Second, if anyone is a summoner, it's because they WANT summons.
Telling them to nuke is pointless. I hate nuking so much that I start summoning my summons even before 40 (Won't recommend it but I like doing it). It's also a good way for a newbie summoner to familiarize him/herself with the summons and how to PLAY a summoner. Again, I agree it's very pointless to summon before 40, but I just like doing so.
So... My hints:
Once you hit C grade, use Kai if you can afford crystals and the pet shots. Get yourself a melee weapon (I went with dagger with focus but I had money for it) if you can afford it, dagger, 2handed swords or duals would do, if you can't afford it, just stay with your D grade weapon. Summon Kai, summon Binding cubic, play buffer for your cat if you can't afford light armor + C grade weapon, or just melee with the Kitty if you CAN afford light armor and a c-grade melee weapon.
You can solo fine like this, and you could even try to take a small catacomb room with just that setup.
Well, I'll hit 50 tonight. I've been using a +3 Mys. sword and the Divine set and it seems to work well. I have also been using Kai and I don't really see the negative impact. I do level a little slower then everyone, oh well, I'm not in a rush to hit 80. Again, I run with little to no buffs, only the herb drops.
B grade should be interesting. I've been doing a lot of reading on L2Pets and talking with a few people who have warlock alts. I think I will be picking up BW light, and a set of duals.
And Matsumoto is right, cubics have a timed fire rate, doesn't matter how much you melee, just as long as you are in combat.
My warlock is 52, and I've ALWAYS usd Kai. He has more HP, more patk, less % drain even if he costs more.
About the cubics, yeah, before T1 you triggered it more often with your attack speed (hence why I went dagger), but in T1 they changed it, so even if you're not attacking, just the pet attacking will trigger the cubics.
And if you want a piece of advice for B grade:
- BW light and 2handed sword if you can afford it. A Great Sword with Focus. Pop some greater swift attack potions (always if you can afford it) and you can solo EV, for example, with no issue.
owner of a Bgrade Warlock here- one thing that has not yet been discussed is the accumulation of SP during the grind. I absolutely suggest grinding with Kai before Bgrade, not only to learn how to play the class, but also to pick up the additional SP received by hunting the additional mobs required to offset the xp that Kai eats.
My Warlock uses almost every skill available to her. There's nothing worse than going to get your new skills and discovering you're short on SP by a longshot. And I refuse to buy SP scrolls- feels like cheating to me.
owner of a Bgrade Warlock here- one thing that has not yet been discussed is the accumulation of SP during the grind. I absolutely suggest grinding with Kai before Bgrade, not only to learn how to play the class, but also to pick up the additional SP received by hunting the additional mobs required to offset the xp that Kai eats.
My Warlock uses almost every skill available to her. There's nothing worse than going to get your new skills and discovering you're short on SP by a longshot. And I refuse to buy SP scrolls- feels like cheating to me.
Good luck to you!
This seems weird. I notice a SP difference with the cat and without (i get more sp without the cat). Cat = kai
Have I just missed that in the skill descriptions, or is it something new?
SP will continue to be tight but the outcome of your SP accumulation depends on how you XP.
1) Some mobs give better SP to XP return. ie: Gargoyles
2) Partying with Higher Level players means you will get a better SP return proportionally but that is also a double edges sword. Whilst proportionally you will recieve more SP per kill the larger the level difference between you and your party the smaller your cut of the xp.(Higher level mobs have a better SP to XP ratio)
3) Never did notice that there is a SP difference between the cat out or not, will have to check. But once beyond 56.. you can't really do much without your summons.
Well .. I nuked up to 44,but sometimes used summon too,nukking s boring >< After 44 i took seeds and whent dow to garden of eva for a manor. There are nos and stakatos in the beginning,nos drop herbs and give around 4k xp per mob,easy to kill,good manor. So I hunted around 2h per day and manored. After selling matts i got 1kk + Its a food way to earn money and buy a gear u need. I use mysterious sword with acumen,sometimes take some duals with me (from shadow tickets after getting my 2. proff). It is much cheaper then homunkulus and uses only 2 shots,so cheaper in use. If u don't like 2x mobs, u can go to ivory tower,there are formors. Dies fast, can manor on them too,gives silver coins u can sell. After 48 u can move to pavel ruins. Take the quest for 60% low B recipes. If u get lucky, u can recieve a godo recipe,for example kris or sov. Again + adena from selling. Manoring on golems ir good too. 1-2 corps per seed. If u do all that whisely, u will be able to get B grades after u hit 52.
As a summoner, you will have no problem lvling to 52. It really doesn't matter how you do it, nuking is fine, going into the catas with your summon is fine... I do suggest you use a melee weapon until 52, because while your summon does great damage, it hits a little slow, so any extra damage you can do it great.
After 52, you are pretty much golden. You now have haste lvl 2, so Kai will be a crazy DD. If you can get zerk and VR on kai, you will level amazingly fast. Zerk will lower Kai's Def, allowing his reflect damage to be more potent, and raise all his stats so if he has VR he will basically heal himself. The only single buffer to get both zerk and VR is obviously an orc, but if you have 2 boxed buffer or a clan buffer, take advantage of those buffs, they are a warlock's best friend.
Best places to hunt are catas, EV, anywhere else with 3x or 4x HP mobs. Find something that gives you a crap ton of XP and start grinding.
Even in Ag and Sg I still use a +7 Kris to attack along with my summon (Great damage and Bg shots are cheap), anything you can do to increase your dps is worth it. I suggest -Con +Str/Dex for Bg-Ag grinding. Once you hit Sg and want to start PvPing, better get that Con back.
Levels 40-52 may be somewhat slow and annoying, nuke to 44 (when you get haste lvl 1 for your pet) then grind however you want to 52 and get haste lvl 2. After that you are golden. Soloing is probably always going to be the fastest XP for you if you have a buff slave.
Kiroth - you're right about kat/mew having similar hp, and kai being less, but queen is even less than kai (significantly less) - not more.
With respect to being a summoner and wanting to play summoner vs. nuking from 40-52. I do get that and understand it - personally I hate nuking. However - this game is so much grind, and for summoners - 56 is where you get your party pet and summon friend - two huge things that help a lot with getting groups. I love to solo, but I also like to group - it's nice to have those options. Being a summoner get's a lot more rewarding once you have those 56 skills.
I hate when people focus on xp and nothing else - I have been guilty of it myself and it takes the fun away and makes the grind seem even worse. However, having said that in this case with summoners, unless you have a group of friends you play with and are levelling together - it's worth speeding up the progress to 56.
Summoner is one of the most versatile class. Nuking from 40 up to 44 or 48 is an option that can give you faster exp. The summon as well as the buffs you have for it doesn't make it very strong or battle efficent (unless you have a high level OOP buffer when thibgs change). But since nuking can be extremely boring, you can always take some breaks. Get your summon to a catacomb, find a small room (easy since parties preffer big rooms) and fight side by side. If you want to go melee for this, it is also an option. Simple rule: Nuking+robes, melee+light armor. Whatever you do, try different things in order to avoid boredom. Don't let grinding get to you.
From 48+ (52 even better) your summon becomes the major source of DD in your little duo, so you get a more supportive role. But after 56 the option for parties is bigger and again your have new things to explore.