Best Zone Guide - Vote

*** The voting period has ended. Trial account votes have been subtracted. The above reflects the final vote counts and winners. ***


Welcome to the voting period for the Words of the Wise Contest (http://www.lineage2.com/archive/2011/08/words_of_the_wi.html). This contest asked players to write a leveling guide about either a particular Class, a particular Zone or area, or a particular Level Range. The authors of the guides are anonymous during the voting period, although authors are permitted to say which guide is theirs if they so wish.

This is the voting thread for the Zone category.

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How do I vote? Read all of the posts in this thread. Each post is a separate entry that consists of a titled leveling guide for this category. Choose the guide you think is the best. Suggested criteria for a winning guide are accuracy, helpfulness, and clarity/easy-to-follow.

Once you have read all of the entries and selected the one you think is the best, vote for it by selecting the title of that guide in the poll question at the top of the thread. You can only vote once and your vote cannot be changed afterward, so please be certain of your selection before you vote.

How are the winners determined? When the voting period ends, the guide with the most votes in each thread will be the 1st place winner for that category. The guide with the 2nd most votes in each thread will be the 2nd place winner, and the guide with the 3rd most votes in each thread will be the 3rd place winner. There will be a total of three 1st place winners, three 2nd place winners, and three 3rd place winners.

The voting polls will be open from September 2 until 4pm PDT on September 9.

Don't forget to vote in the Class (http://boards.lineage2.com/showthread.php?t=217805) and Level Range (http://boards.lineage2.com/showthread.php?t=217789) categories, if you have not already. :)

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Crypts of Experience

Crypts of Disgrace (CoD) is a great place to level up from 79 to 85. It's easy to get to. Half the mobs don't agro (meaning if you walk by the mob they do not attack you), and really good experience. The spot right off the altar when you first port in is the best place to XP here early on. The corrupted Morek Warriors are not agro. So you can solo these mobs if you don't have ideal buffs. It doesn’t look like much, but they respawn fast. I would always have at least 1 mob to move onto. And because it's such a small area, there isn't much running from mob to mob. You will need Earth defense for the mobs in CoD.

Once you hit 80 and upgrade your gear to s80 equipment, you can start to AoE this spot. It might be a pain to run to and hit each mob, but you will kill faster than killing one at a time. By the way, if CoD is full, you can always try a spot tucked in some trees by where the towers are. It’s usually open. Just follow the road off the altar to the left heading toward the towers. Go down a hill, go straight, then on your right the road will head back up. Just go straight and under the trees is the spot.

At level 80 you can also pick up a quest Ghosts of Batur from the NPC Karuda who is right next to the CoD port in. You can turn in the Cursed Grave goods you get from the mobs for Dynasty recipies, Leonards, Adamantine bar or a piece of Orichalcum.

Where the real fun begins is when you can AoE the towers of CoD. With the right class and buffs, you can solo a tower easily enough. These mobs are weak to polearms, but resistant to just about every other type of weapon. So Warlords and Titans and Dwarfs have the advantage here. I like to find a good crevice in one of the rock piles around the pillars. You want to make sure you embed yourself in there good to get the mobs to bunch together tightly. Nothing is worse in AoE when the mobs split into two groups that you have to AoE individually. What a time and HP drain.

You have to watch out for the 2 mini bosses that spawn. One is a lavasaurus thing named Guardian of the Burial Grounds. It doesn’t have an HP bar, but because it does an AoE fire attack that can hurt quite a bit. It’s best to keep hitting it to interrupt the casting. Eventually it disappears and leaves a treasure chest. the treasure chest will drop element stones (seems the more damage you do to it the better chance you have of getting something) but, most of the time I got nothing out of it.

The other mini boss is a Turka Troop Commander. It has quite a bit of HP and will spawn ghost mobs around the tower. A hand full will agro and attack you at your AoE spot. Just remember when you go back out to run the tower, there may be double the normal mobs since those ghost mobs just kept spawning. If you bring back a full tower with the ghost spawned mobs, you will need a healer or BD dances to survive.

If you really want to watch your XP bar go up, go to the center of the towers where some rock formations stick up from the ground. The polearm user wedges themselves in there good. You get a BladeDancer (BD), ShillianSaint (SE), and SwordSinger (SwS). The BD and SwS sing and dance, then grab a tower. Stagger bringing in the mobs though. Too many will overwhelm Vampiric Rage life leech and/or the healer. You can run 4 or 5 towers doing this, with a constant flow of mobs and XP.

Primeval Isle: Aden’s Jurassic Park

This guide will be about the Mage-area Primeval Isle near Rune Township.

The area is subdivided into the Plains and the Nest. Both areas drop many Herbs.

The Plains
The Plains are good for all players lvl 78+ with mage attack skills (Archmage, Storm Screamer, Soultaker, Mystic Muse, Healers and even Soulhound! Elemental Masters should wait till lvl 79 for Magnus the Unicorn who can 1hit the mobs at a skillenchantment of +1 and pet bsps).

Getting started:
Before you start hunting at the Plains you should get a S-Weapon with 150 attribute (element depending on your class/skills) and preferably with Acumen-SA. Your Armor can be anything from a DC Robe Set to Major Arcana Set to Dynasty Robe Set. At lvl 78 I would recommend the Major Arcana Robe Set which gives you a bonus of +17% M.atk which is pretty useful especially for Mystic Muses. Storm Screamers also do fine in DC Robe Set.

Now you have your weapon and armor to slay some dinos, but the area is not only good due to the nice XP, but also due to the fact of the money-making aspect. For the Plains you can start the quest “Rise and Fall of the Elroki Tribe”. You will get Bones of Plains Dinosaur from killing mobs on Plains. Those items can either be traded in for Adena, Dynasty Robe Recipes or random Top-A grade Weapon parts. With the current economical situation it is the best to just turn the bones in for Adena. One bone will give 1374 Adena.

Hunting:
You will meet the following mobs at the Plains: Deynonychuss, Ornithomimuss , Elrokis, Wild Striders and Pachycephalosauruss.

There are two types of Deynonychuss and Ornithomimuss: The ones running around in groups and the ones standing around alone. The running groups will give half the XP and a low amount of adena, because they are usually down after 1 nuke. The ones standing there alone give a normal amount of XP. Both running and standing ones are not aggressive.

Elrokis just stand around. They’re aggressive mobs who die in like 2 hits.

Wild Striders and Pachycephalosauruss are also in running groups of 2-3 or standing around alone. But they all give the same amount of XP and adena. Furthermore they are aggressive and will follow you. Lvl 80+ Mages can abuse that to collect several of them to kill them with powerful AoE nukes.

One item that only drops at the Plains are SP-Crystals. Depending on the color (Green, Blue, Red) you can either get 50.000, 100.000, 200.000 extra SP for your character or anyone else being above level 76.

The Nest
The Nest is good for Nukers lvl83+ with a Healer in duo. Only Elemental Masters can already go inside Nest at lvl79 with Magnus the Unicorn. Before starting to hunt inside the Nest you should take the quest A powerful Primeval Creature. For hunting mobs you will receive Dinosaur Tissues. One Dinosaur Tissue will fill your pockets with 5000 Adena! You could also trade 150 Dinosaur Tissues and 1 Egg (which can be found inside Nest) for a Top-A Weapon Recipe or 400 Dinosaur Tissues for a Dynasty Weapon Recipe. But also due to the current economical situation it is best to turn in the Dinosaur Tissues for Adena.

Inside the Nest you will meet three new mobs: Velociraptors, Pterosaur and T-Rexs.

Wild Striders and Pachycephalosauruss are not inside the Nest. Deynonychuss and Ornithomimuss will be inside the Nest, but usually just in groups (sometimes you find single mobs but not many). The Velociraptors are a great source of Adena and XP, since they give nearly twice the amount of Adena and XP. They are usually in groups of 3-5 and aggressive, but do not drop any herbs. To put it in a nutshell, one should go for AoE attacks inside the Nest, since most mobs are in groups and just wait for you to slay them all at once.

Pterosaurs are standing here and there spread over the Nest. They are quite annoying since they love to stun not only you, but also mobs in the area. Therefore the Major Arcana Robe Set would also be helpful due to the extra stun resist bonus, especially for Elemental Masters who can go inside at lvl 79+ already.

T-Rexs are a big source of danger inside the Nest. If you see one near you or approaching RUN! Never get too close to one. Getting close to one is like playing Russian Roulette: Sometimes they will hunt you, sometimes not. Those mobs cannot be killed alone or in duo. You’d need a Nukergroup with Bladedancer and Swordsinger in.

For the Money-Makers out there:
Primeval Isle is a nice place for Adena as mentioned above already. An Elemental Master for example can make roundabout 600.000 Adena in one round of hunting in the Plains and an average of 226 Bones of Plains Dinosaur, which are an extra income of 310.524 Adena (you can also sell some misc to Npc and get some more Adena).

For normal Nukers the amount of Adena and of quest items will be a bit lower, however, one can say one buffround of Primeval Isle Plains will get you 800.000 – 1.000.000 Adena!

Nevertheless the Nest is an even better source of Adena, especially for Elemental Masters. An Elemental Master can make roundabout 1.200.000 Adena in one round of hunting inside Nest and an average of 119 Bones of Plains Dinosaur (163.506 Adena) and 52 Dinosaur Tissues (260.000 Adena). With some misc drops like S-grade Weapon blades an Elemental Master can easily get above 1.500.000 Adena in one buffround! Other Nuker-Classes, who will be with a healer out there, still should make like 500.000 – 750.000 Adena per buffround. If you play the support classes on your own it will also end up with 1.000.000 – 1.500.000 Adena in a buffround.

Have fun getting rich and lvl 85 at the same time!

The Fields of Massacre

The Fields of Massacre, located east of the Blazing Swamp and north of The Cemetery, is the perfect solo hunting area for Paladins and Inquisitors from as low as level 52 to as high as level 70. The area has 14 different monsters, most of which are undead and/or have a weakness against sacred attacks. The monsters are generally separated by type around the Devastated Castle. Herbs drop from each monster, helping leveling progress quickly.

The Fields of Massacre can be accessed via the town of Aden’s gatekeeper. The area has monsters for fulfilling the following repeatable quests, all which start and end in the town of Aden: “For a Sleepless Deadman,” “Seductive Whispers,” and “Stolen Dignity.” Each quest is a good source of a second income and/or materials for A grade weapons and armors.

http://www.lineage2.com/archive/global/uploads/fieldsofmassacre.jpg

The lowest level groups of monsters (green area on the map) are the Wretched Archers (level 55), Doom Scouts (56), and Grave Liches (57). They are located in the southern most area of the Fields of Massacre and south of the Devastated Castle. The Grave Liches are the only monsters of this area that are not undead and do not have weak physical and magical defense, but all three are weak against sacred attacks and are aggressive in some form. The Doom Scouts are outright aggressive, while the Wretched Archers and Grave Liches are passive but socially aggressive, meaning that they will attack if another is being attacked. While hunting in this area, a shield and stun resistant armor or buffs are highly suggested, especially for the Inquisitor class. This is due to the Wretched Archers’ long distance and stun attacks. Also, because of the many trees in the area, some monsters may be hiding in the trees. If you can’t see what’s attacking you, try looking towards the trees or run away from them to lure the monster out. These monsters yield Avadon materials and Avadon and Zubei common items.

The second lowest level groups of monsters (orange area) are the Dismal Poles (58), Grave Predators (59), and Doom Servants (60). Located all around the Devastated Castle, all three are highly aggressive, so be wary when traversing on the path surrounding the castle. The Dismal Poles are plant-like monsters with weaknesses against sacred and fire attacks. The Grave Predators are bug-like monsters that have no weakness against sacred attacks, but have weak physical and magical defense. The Doom Servants are the only undead monsters of these three and have a weakness against sacred attacks. These monsters yield Avadon and Zubei materials and Avadon and Zubei common items.

The higher level groups of monsters (red area) are the Doom Guards (61), Doom Archers (62), Doom Troopers (63), Spiteful Soul Leaders (65), and the leader’s minions, three Spiteful Soul Fighters (62) and two Spiteful Soul Wizards (63). To access this location, head north from the teleport point and hug the hills to the east. Pass (or go through) the set of trees, keeping the hills to your right. After passing the trees, there will be a clearing and a large set of stones on your right, leading higher up the hill. Follow the opening up the hill beyond the stones. You should be entering the red area at this point. Watch out for aggressive monsters along the way. All monsters in this area are undead and have a weakness against sacred attacks. The Doom Archers are highly aggressive, while the Doom Guards and Doom Troopers are passive but socially aggressive. The Doom Guards can cast a poison spell, so be sure to have some greater antidotes handy. The Spiteful Soul Leaders and its minions are passive, leaving you alone until you attack the leader or one of the minions. The only time they are socially aggressive is if the Spiteful Soul Leader is being attacked in the vicinity of another Spiteful Soul Leader. The Spiteful Soul Leader is a monster necessary for the “Pursuit of Clan Ambition” quest (quest to upgrade the clan level from 4 to 5), so please be mindful of those who need to kill this monster for the quest. Because of the Doom Archers’ long distance and stun attacks, a shield and stun resistant armor or buffs are suggested for this area as well. These monsters yield various Doom and Blue Wolf materials and Doom and Blue Wolf common items.

The highest level groups of monsters (purple area) are the Doom Warriors (64), Doom Knights (65), and again, Doom Troopers and Spiteful Soul Leaders and the leader’s minions. These groups of monsters are undead and vulnerable to sacred attacks. The Doom Knight is an aggressive monster with the ability to stun, so armor and buffs that have stun resistance are highly suggested. The Doom Troopers and Doom Warriors are socially aggressive except when Spiteful Soul Leaders and its minions are being attacked. These monsters also yield Doom and Blue Wolf materials and Doom and Blue Wolf common items.

Three raid boss monsters (yellow X’s) are also in the area: Ghost of The Well Lidia (60) and her five minions (59), the Gargoyle Lord Tiphon (65), and the Spirit of Andras, the Betrayer (69). The Ghost of the Well Lidia and her minions are located southwest of the Devastated Castle. The Gargoyle Lord Tiphon is located northwest of the Devastated Castle, and the Spirit of Andras the Betrayer is located northeast of the Devastated Castle.

This area is also great for those trying to farm materials for complete Doom and Blue Wolf armor sets. Most of the monsters in the higher level groups yield Doom and Blue Wolf materials for heavy armor and yield full drops, albeit rarely. Spoils generally yield B grade materials for items that are sold in Giran’s shops.

While the Fields of Massacre is a prime area for Paladins and Inquisitors, it is still a great solo area for anyone since more than half of the monsters have weak physical and magical defense.

Make some noise by leveling in the Monastery of Silence!

> Quick Introduction

This guide is about leveling in one area: Monastery of Silence. This area has been revamped with the Freya update, and is now an area for players between level 80-81 to 85.

> Where is the Monastery of Silence ?

The Monastery of Silence (I'll write MoS later in this guide) is a dungeon located between Rune and Goddard. You could directly port to the west entrance of MoS from Rune Township with the regular gatekeeper. You could also port from Goddard to the Garden of Wild Beast (Noble port) and walk to the eastern entrance of MoS.

> Before I go to MoS and start killing monsters brainlessly, are there any quests being worth it ?

Yes, and that’s where it starts to be interesting. Basically there are two quests you should do. First, do the one-time quest “Secret Mission”(level 82) which starts in Rune temple. By completing it, you will be able to teleport deep inside MoS near the npc Greymore by talking to Aquilani at the west entrance. Greymore will give you another quest, “The One Who Ends Silence” which is very basic: kill any monsters inside MoS to get quest items. You could exchange quest later, and it’s greatly better to always exchange 500 items at once, you will get one/two random Icarus recipe, one/two random Icarus parts and a random SP Scroll. It’s a minimum of 1m at the NPC shop, more if you sell to players.

> MoS is a big dungeon, do you have any map ? Are some rooms better than others ?

Yes. I did a small map on paint, where you could see the first two levels of MoS (the last floor is only a Raid boss room). The first level is huge, and you could see where Aquilani and Greymore are. All monsters in the first floor are passive if you have no weapon equipped. That’s why it’s easy to move into MoS, just a bit long. This level is designed for solo, or very little party (2 or 3 people max). The second level is a bit smaller, but monsters are harder: it’s a party area. All monsters in the second level see through shadow skills like Dance of Shadow, Stealth or Assimilation, so you can’t avoid while you are moving.

http://www.lineage2.com/archive/global/uploads/MapMos.jpg

> So I could go solo everywhere in the 1st floor, whatever my class ?

Yes almost. You will find two type of monsters in the first floors: Monks, and Knights.


Monks are weak against ranged attack, melee attack and have a low P.Def/M.Def. They are hitting slowly, so any class except pole users (they are resistant against spears) could easily xp on them. They are not really dangerous and give a base xp between 27k and 33k (solo). Be careful of the Savior Solina, they will use several skills which could hurt, especially a skill similar to Curse Death Link: the less the mob have HP, more he can hurt !
Knights are weak against melee attack and have a l low P.Def. You will see in large groups, and since they are not resistant against polearms they are ideal to use some AoE physical skills or to attack them with a pole. Be careful also, because they hit hard by themselves, so they are potentially deadly if you pull more than you could handle. They will give you between 30k and 44k XP without bonus (solo).

> About attributes, what should I use ?

First, all monsters have Holy Attribute when they attack you. In the first floor, they have 150 or 170 holy attribute attack. Having the same value as Holy Resist is enough so. At the second floor, they have 200 or 220 holy attack. You will need more Holy resist, that’s why a Shillien Elder or a Prophet buffing Resist Holy is useful. About their resists, they have more than 150 resist in each element, except dark where they are really weak. You will really see a difference if you have more than 150 attribute on your weapon.

> What about the second floor ?

In the second floor there are big rooms with a nice density of monsters. They will all use nukes, and they are very social. Be very careful so ! In the middle of each room 4 Furnaces could spawn. One furnace will be lit. When you hit physically one furnace, all furnace names will be down and the flame will go on this furnace. Depending of the furnace, difference monsters will spawn.


As a melee party, go for Divine Protector Monsters (Furnace of Protection): same xp as others, but Weak P.Def
As a mage party, hit the Furnace of Magic and kill the Divinity Magus which are very weak M.Def but have high M.Atk !).

The furnace of fighter is nice for archer (The Divine Fighter is weak against bow, and the Furnace of balance will spawn monsters of each type. All mobs situated in the second floor give a base xp between 300k and 350k.

> Ok, anything else I should know?

Yes, drops and spoils are nice. Level 81 Skill spellbooks drop from a lot of monsters (Meteor, Star fall, Servitor Barrier, Anti-Magic Armor, Silent Mind, Sixth Sense, Dual Dagger Mastery, Turn to Stone…) and at the 2nd floor, monsters spoils A LOT of vesper jewelry parts. Trust me, you will have tons of them and it’s a lot of money when you sell them to npc. :-) You may also drop two special items: a Strongbox of Promise who will give you a little daily quest (just talk to several NPCs) and several Unlit torchlight: you could use them to play a mini game inside MoS in a special room to get some EAS, you will need like 3 or 4 torchlights for one EAS (yes, it’s random).

Happy hunting !

Wall of Argos

Please see attached image for references
The Wall of Argos is situated East of the Town of Goddard. It’s an area for characters level 65 to 78. The further in you hunt the harder the mobs. It is normally a party area with no herb drops, however a character with decent gear and buffs can solo there.

If you can take them, the best XP mobs to start with (levels 65 to 74) are the Bandersnatches [3, 4] but be careful they have a nasty bleed. Once you have outgrown the Bandersnatches, the angels (Disciple of Protection [14], Punishment [15] and Authority [17], levels 74 and higher) are the next best mob to hunt XP-wise, but very tough, Dark Avengers and Shillien Knights do extremely well against them due to the skill Banish Seraph (bring a lot of Soul Ore).

You'll also find Homunculus while hunting angels (and possibly other mobs). Make sure you wear decent jewelry, their magic attacks can be quiet annoying.

You will probably see the NPC Daimon the White-Eyed that travels around Wall of Argos. You cannot kill this one but if talk to him, he will either give you Haste lvl 2 for 20 minutes or debuff you with Wind Shackle (decrease Attack Speed by 23% for 30 seconds).

http://www.lineage2.com/archive/global/uploads/wall_of_argos.jpg

Mobs (Sace edit: the list below was in a chart that did not covert properly we pasted into the voting thread. Please ignore the missing chart format while judging.)
# Name Lvl Type HP Increase Aggressive? Weakness
1 Canyon Antelope 68 Animal *2 No
2 Canyon Antelope Slave 69 Animal *2 Yes
3 Canyon Bandersnatch 70 Beast *3 Yes
4 Canyon Bandersnatch Slave 71 Beast *3 Yes
5 Eye of Restrainer 71 Magic Creature *2 Yes Bow/Crossbow and Wind
6 Buffalo Slave 72 Beast *3 Yes
7 Eye of the Guide 72 Magic Creature *3 No Bow/Crossbow and Wind
8 Gaze of Nightmare 72 Magic Creature *4 No
9 Eye of the Watchman 73 Magic Creature *3 Yes Bow/Crossbow and Wind
10 Homunculus 73 Magic Creature *3 Yes Fire
11 Eye of the Pilgrim 74 Magic Creature *3 No Bow/Crossbow and Wind
12 Eye of the Ruler with 74 Magic Creature *3 Yes Bow/Crossbow and Wind
2 Sly Hound Dog 72 Beast *3 No
13 Grendel Slave 74 Animal *4 Yes
14 Discipline of Protection 74 Angel *5 Yes Dark
15 Discipline of Punishment 75 Angel *5 Yes Dark
16 Elder Homunculus 75 Magic Creature *4 Yes Fire
17 Discipline of Authority 76 Angel *5 Yes Dark
RB1 Plague Golem (Raid Boss) 73 Magic Creature *1 Yes
RB2 Daimon the White-Eyed (Raid Boss) 78 Magic Creature *1 No

Other
T – Tablet of Vision for the Quest Daimon the White-Eyed part 1
V- Tablet of Vision for the 3rd class change quests
E - Eye of Argos NPC
N1 - Noble port Center of Wall of Argos
N2 – Noble port Shrine of Loyalty
(green line) Path for the NPC Daimon the White-Eyed

Raid Bosses
Plague Golem Raid Boss (73) [RB1] Solo and Aggressive. He can stun. He’s one of the Raid Bosses you can do for clan reputation points (Quest: A Clan’s Reputation from Sir Eric Rodemai in the center of Aden).

Daimon the White Eyed (78) [RB2] with its 4 minions Family of Daimon (3 can paralyse, 1 can heal). You need to have completed the Daimon the White-Eyed part 1 and 2 quests to summon him.

Quests
Shadow of Light:
Starting level: 68. NPC: Eye of Argos. Collect 100 Eyes of Darkness from the Buffalo Slaves [6] and the Grendel Slaves [13]. Rewards: XP and SP.

Watching Eye:
Starting level: 71. NPC: Eye of Argos. Collect 100 Proof of Avenger from the Disciple of Protection [14], Punishment [15] and Authority [17]. Rewards: XP or adena or tateossian parts.

Daimon the White Eye – Part 1:
Starting level: 73. NPC: Eye of Argos. This is the quest to gain access to Daimon the White Eye Raid Boss [RB2]. First you need to go all around Wall of Argos and talk to each Table of Vision to learn a bit more about the Raid Boss. Then you will need to collect 200 Evil Spirit of Darkness by killing Canyon Bandersnatch Slaves [4], Buffalo Slaves [6] and Grendel Slaves [13].

Daimon the White Eye – Part 2:
Starting level: 73. NPC: Eye of Argos NPC. Once you have completed part 1 you need to do this quest to summon the Raid Boss Daimon the White Eyed [RB2]. It’s easy, you receive a Summon Crystal then go to Daimon’s Altar [RB2] and summon him.

Lore
Ulrich, one of the guards at the East entrance of the Town of Goddard will tell you that the giant Argos with 1,000 eyes was buried alive by the gods in the Wall of Argos valley. All the eyes that you see there embedded in the walls are his. Also the floating monster eyes, in the area belong to him and have fallen from the wall.

The rest of the information is mostly collected from the quests given by the NPC Eye of Argos. The quests explain how Argos used his eyes to watch the world and report to Einhasaad. Argos helped Einhasaad learn about Shilen and Gran Kain’s affair and to find Eva’s hiding place.

With all his eyes, Argos watched the world and his mind started dividing while watching the darker half of the world and its brighter half. During the war with the Giants, Argos refused to tell Einhasaad where the giants were hiding so she ripped his body in pieces and pull out all his eyes.

The two largest eyes are the Eye of Argos which became conscious of the light and Daimon the White-Eyed which became conscious of the dark.

EXP in SOA

Seed of Annihilation (SOA) is a very underutilized hunting area. This EXP zone provides both decent party EXP as well as a chance at a cute and useful pet! The real secret to SOA leveling is to have a good strong constant group. Grouping is very important to your success as any toon will perish if they attempt this areas alone.

To enter SOA you must be level 80 or higher, preferably level 84 and up so that you can take the quests. Unfortunately if you are 80 or higher you most likely do not need instruction on how to level quicker, but I'm going to continue this report as if you still have not learned how to make a group. If you are not interested in that skip to the end of the report to learn about the Maguens as a surprising amount of high level players are unaware of them.

Making a good party is essential to EXP in SOA. A "good party" means that the party has a cardinal, recharger, sword muse, blade dancer, tank, buffer, and up to 3 damage dealers of the same type. The optional types are archers, mages, and melees. I recommend the melees all use pole arms, so classes with polearm mastery are preferred. For an archer group other melee combat style classes with bows may be substituted.

I have not excluded any classes from parties, although some combinations work better than others. For instance, an Overlord or SE is obviously required in a mage group so that there is empower for the group. By the same token, an Overlord and SE is not a good buffing combination for a melee group due to the lack of VR.

These are the groups that can do SOA XP but there are some group setups which can do more mobs in a given amount of time than other groups. AOE able groups have the highest success, and proper support that caters to the specific group's needs is obviously better. For instance, Shillien Knight tanks have a useful buff for melee AOE parties while Hell Knights do not.

Once you have your perfect party, or a party that is perfect for you, you may proceed to SOA. Determine which style of hunting your party should do, melee archer or mage. When you enter SOA and take a tunnel of your choice you will see that these areas give a buff. This buff allows exp for The buff given is also indicated by the orbs outside the tunnel entrances, melee being red, mages being blue, and archers being green.

Inside your designated hunting area you can take the mobs as fast as your group can handle them. That sounds like an idiotic statement, but if you have low elemented individuals you will only be able to kill one group at a time. If you have fully elemented players you will more than likely be able to AOE the mobs quickly.

Now for the fun part, obtaining a Maguen pet! The Maguen pets give a windwalk buff to buff your entire party and this windwalk buff is stronger than a regular player enchanced speed buff. For this reason these pets can be very nice for seiges pvp and even an occasional EXP party. To obtain this pet get the free Maguen plasma collector before porting into SOA.

When you kill the Elite mobs anywhere in SOA it gives a chance for one person in the party to get a Maguen spawn. This Maguen is not a pet, but instead a Wild Maguen, but it has the title of the chosen player. This player can use his or her plasma collector on this Maguen and the Maguen will give that player a buff then run away. When this happens the Maguen will give either a red, blue, or green buff. The buffs give some enhanced stats, but this is not important. The important part is to get one buff of each color, or 3 buffs of one color.

If any player in a group gets three Wild Maguen buffs of one color, or one Wild Maguen buff of each color the buffs will turn into a 10 minute party buff. This party buff gives the chance to recieve a pet Maguen when SOA mobs are killed by anyone with the buff. This pet will apear in the players inventory similarly to how the pet dinos appear on Dino Island. Elite Maguens apear the same way but at a lower chance.

Make sure that you yell at your party members to collect buffs from Wild Maguens as the buff from the Wild Maguen collection can get you a real pet Maguen. Happy Hunting!

Dragon Valley Leech Groups

This guide covers locations and how to kill leeches in Dragon Valley as well as information on Morale Boost Level 3.

Leeches are located in Dragon Valley in two areas highlighted on the map.

http://www.lineage2.com/archive/global/uploads/DV_Map.jpg

1) Around the word “Dragon” on the map. To get here you may shadow step south from the Dragon Valley Center port from the Separated Soul or run south and east from the Dragon Valley Entrance. Located here are two different mobs.

Hungry Parasitic Leech – Strong against elements of water. Slightly strong P.Atk. Strong M.Atk. Strong P.Def. Very weak M.Def. Blunt weapon weak.
Emerald Drake – Strong against elements of earth. Strong P.Atk. Strong M.Atk. Strong P.Def. Slightly strong M.Def. Resist sleep. Resist root. Greater resist mental.

The Hungry Parasitic Leeches here are social. If you hit one the others will begin to attack. They are easily feared or slept using trance so you can deal with them one by one. When you encounter an Emerald Drake, it’s best to kill that first and sleep/root/fear the leeches that spawn. The Emerald Drake resists crowd control and has the potential to do massive damage.

Due to the high population of leeches and the lower population of Emerald Drakes, nukers are generally the damage dealers (DD) of choice to hunt here. This is because the leeches are very weak magical defense but strong physical defense. It is generally better to use nukers other than Mystic Muses because the leeches are water resist and Mystic Muses have more mp difficulties than other nuker classes. However, a well-planned party can easily consist solely of Mystic Muse damage and function well.

2) Northwest of the Valley Fortress on the map. To get here you may port to Dragon Valley (South) using the Separated Soul or Entrance to Antharas’ Lair from either the Separated Soul or normal Gatekeeper and run west. Located here are three different mobs.

Hungry Parasitic Leech – Strong against elements of water. Slightly strong P.Atk. Strong M.Atk. Strong P.Def. Very weak M.Def. Blunt weapon weak.
Parasitic Leech - Strong against elements of water. Slightly strong P.Atk. Strong M.Atk. Strong P.Def. Very weak M.Def. Blunt weapon weak.
Batwing Drake - Strong against elements of wind. Very strong P.Atk. Strong M.Atk. Very strong P.Def. Slightly strong M.Def. Resist sleep. Resist hold. Greater resist mental.

This is the leech area of choice for most nuker parties due to its easy accessibility by both Separated Soul for players who are level 80 or higher or by the normal Gatekeeper for players who are under level 80.

The two types of leeches here differ only in their level with the Parasitic Leeches being higher level and located closer to Antharas’ Lair. In addition to two different types of leeches, there are also two different formats in which the leeches spawn.


Leeches may be located in groups of three. These groupings are social and if one leech is hit, the other leeches will also become aggressive.
Leeches may be located in large clumps. These leeches are not social to each other and may be picked off one by one without drawing aggression. More popularly, these clumps may be AoE’d using nuker level 80 “bubble” skills.

When bubbling the leech spawns, be sure to have any increase in M.Atk possible up on the nuker. That is, make sure they have Bladedancer dances up, Empower, Prophecy, Berserker’s Spirit, Elemental Seeds, Arcane Power (toggle that slowly drains HP) and Wizard’s Enlightment skill. If the nuker does not kill the leeches before they are in nuking range of them, the nuker will be focus fired, interrupted out of the skill, or potentially killed. To help with this, other nukers in the party may choose to assist by AoEing with Aura Blast, Star Fall, Meteor, or other AoE skills. The summoner, can send their summon in for mass surrender to element, which helps with the “bubble” damage. Elemental Master gives Surrender to Water, Arcana Lord gives Surrender to Fire, and Spectral Master gives Surrender to Wind.

Much like with Emerald Drakes, when encountering Batwing Drakes it’s recommended to kill those quickly. Batwing Drakes will begin by nuking from far which is not too damaging (however pets may die to the AoE), but after some nukes they will move forward and melee, which has the potential to kill a nuker in 2 shots. They are also hard to sleep or fear.

Morale Boost Level 3 is a party buff that occurs in Dragon Valley and provides the following:
Increase paralysis/bleed/poison/stun resistance by 90, critical rate by 50%, critical power by 20%, P.Atk by 15%, M.Atk by 15%, Atk.Spd by 15%, Casting Speed by 15% and XP by 20%.

There are some combinations of party members that work well for a nuker group to both function well and provide Morale Boost level 3. Below is one example.


Nuker
Nuker
Fortune Seeker *
Elemental Master *
Elemental Master *
Spectral Dancer
Sword Muse
Eva Saint
Dominator

In this party setup the nukers are the main damage, the Fortune Seeker is necessary for mana herb spoils, one Elemental Master may use Unicorn Seraphim for the decrease in magic reuse buff and the other Elemental Master may use Magnus the Unicorn to assist with AoE damage. The Spectral Dancer and Sword Muse are necessary for defense and damage while the Eva Saint and Dominator provide buffs, recharges, and heals. The second Elemental Master may be substituted for the summoner that pairs with one or both of the nukers to help with AoE surrender.

The classes above that have stars next to their names are the classes responsible for contributing the most to the Morale Boost level. If one of these members is removed, Morale Boost may reduce to Level 2 or 1, which does not increase experience gained while hunting.

Infiltrating the dragon nest

Antharas has summoned additional ferocious monsters near his nest to keep infiltrators in check. Starting from Death Pass, through Dragon Valley and Lair, the hunting grounds cover a wide area of player levels and groups type, from solo and small party zones until top party areas; definitely a place for everyone over level 80.

The Drakos and Necromancers at the beginning can be approached even below level 80, with a medium-high buff/equip setup. You can start with the wider spots where killing is safer, and then gradually go to the tighter spots with high spawn rate, but don’t be fooled by the abundance of mobs and watch for the overspawns.

If you have a small group or even a bigger one but a medium setup, you can try the Gem Dragons. These mobs are not designed for solo as they have high damage and use paralyze so make sure you are prepared for it by having a bishop or abundant heals. Notice at the beginning there are few alone mobs that you can test your setup with. Such “test” mobs can be found in most DV areas. Once your party can handle more than two, try the groups. You don’t need an optimal party to hunt them, just make sure someone is able to tank, kill, debuff and heal.

The same applies to the Scorpions in the center and the Drakos Guardians in North. From now you should better make use of the Soul Separator NPC to move through DV. As the Gems, Scorps have high damage but are very weak to debuffs and you should take advantage of that with sleep, root, stun.

You are a tank and face a 3-mob group, how to engage it? Hate one, notice the hated mob will move slower, take advantage of those few seconds of no-damage and shackle another mob. The shackle is short but just enough to take out the damage until you kill a mob. You fight two mobs, stun one mob and hit the other, you can use and Alt+Numbers to access second bar for faster shortcuts like NextTarget. After stun and changed target very fast, use a damage skill instead of Attack to avoid retaking the previous target. If your tank is pulling by entering in agro range in order to avoid picking more mobs than necessary, make sure party doesn’t hit mobs before tank will agro the whole group by hate/attack. An EE or bishop in party can clean the Scorps’ Deadly poison, else you might find yourself waiting minutes for it to wear off.

Keep a Spoiler in party all over DV for Morale Boost, it works even if spoiler isn’t near the party. The level will increase as rare classes are invited, like Dwarves, summoners and Kamaels. Apart from an increased income, the spoiler will also ensure party has enough mana, as mobs spoil Mana herbs. Don’t panic if the ground shakes! Open your eyes around and look for the stampede, the finest drops, spoils and XP will please you.

The beauty of DV is that both mages and fighters can hunt in the same party as mobs are evenly resistant. For mage exclusive parties it’s recommended to kill the southern area with Leeches and Drakes. Some mages bubble alone the tight groups of leeches. There is even an undead spot in North for solo healers. Weapon element can also decide which spot to choose.

If you want a full party challenge, enter the Lair, but say goodbye to mana herbs and Morale buff and take a recharger with you. Shadow will help you to move around more quickly but watch for Plandos, I mean Snipers, and Knoriks. Keep robes far from Knoriks during fight as he decreases the casting speed and just like with the other Patrols, don’t forget to spoil him! your noble armor will be ready sooner.

At the Bridge you will find a marathon of mobs circled like a sushi bar. Pick cautiously the Leaders, they are the only aggressive but don’t hate them until they are far from the pack, their party will follow. Take out rangers and mages first and root/sleep the warriors. At the end, your elders should pick the mana herbs, they are valuable.

In the other side of LoA, Guardians block the way to the old noblesse port. Pick them one by one with lure or simple pulls and use party assisting because the mobs have abundant HP and damage. The mages spam a petrify skill, so you should silence or keep them stunned. Avoid using Fear skill as it might pull you into the whole pack.

Passing the Guardians, the “money room” awaits filled with new Kariks. Here is the spot for top parties in term of classes, equipment, skills and tactics. Shadow will no longer help and any other class than a good healed tank will not survive the Kariks’ constant hits. Don’t rely on your debuffs here, raise awareness for spawns, especially for multispawns, when one monster can summon a new group after dying. When this happens, tank should UD immediately and hold the agro, meanwhile nukers should use bubble and AoE spells.

http://www.lineage2.com/archive/global/uploads/Bubblethekariks.jpg

Make use of all the little tricks. Notice that mobs pulled a certain range farther than their spawn spot will get healed and retreat, be aware not to follow or hit them then. Also the mobs are agro only to those entering their agro area, which means if you are already there, you aren’t agro. For example if a mob spawns near you it will not attack you, or if you receive a resurrection near a mob, you can go up and not be attacked.

As with any mob, the more you fight them the more you learn about them. Every death of yours counts to your experience for that area, so don't stop your curiosity to try new setups and tactics. Whether you're fighting Drakos, Scorps or Kariks, most of what you'll learn will be by testing yourself.

Pavel Ruins Golems Golems Golems.

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Pavel Ruins is an open field area that’s great for pretty much every class. The game recommends it for level 73+ but you could start there as early as level 70ish. The place is great for Ranged (They got more of an advantage because monsters are weak for bow/crossbow and have weak magic defense) as well as for melee toons. It’s also good for AoE classes since you’ll have tons of monsters around you can just gather them around to one spot and AoE them plus most of them spawn a 2nd clone.
The best spots are the 3 “pits” (North of the port spot) that you can see as 3 brown circles on the map since it won’t have the aggressive mobs in it. There are 2 paths for each pit that lead downwards or you could just jump down from the edge.

The monsters in that area are mostly passive and nonsocial to each other but there are a couple of aggressive monsters (Micro Scout Golem & Guard Golem). All of the monsters there drop buff herbs and such. Most of the monsters are Strong P. Atk, Strong M. Atk, Weak Magic defense & Bow/Crossbow weakness (The Guard Golem has Strong P. Def and Strong Magic Defense).
Two monsters in this area (Horrifying Jackhammer, Cruel Pincer Golem) after been killed it will respawn a clone of himself to attack you. Then there’s the Pavel Safety Device (Drops Elemental Stones every element with a low chance) which when killed spawns 2 monsters a Horrifying Jackhammer and a Cruel Pincer Golem who after being killed also spawns their clone so be ready when you kill them.
Then there’s the one more monster called Scout-type Golem No. 28 single monster no clone after killing it so nothing special.

After you teleported there from the Town of Schuttgart (5300 adena from normal Gatekeeper), there will be a NPC there named Gutenhagen which will have 2 quests for you for that area, “Influx of Machines” and “I must be a Genius” (Daily Quest).
The Quest “Influx of Machines” will have u collect 500 quest items (Golem Shards) for award, monsters that need to be hunted are Cruel Pincer Golem, Horrifying Jackhammer Golem, Scout-type Golem No. 28, Guard Golem, Micro Scout Golem, Great Chaos Golem and Boom Golem. When you have collected 500 Golem Shards you can turn it in at Gutenhagen and receive a random 60% S grade weapon recipe.
The other quest “I must be a Genius” gives you a specific number of quest items you need to get. Each different monsters in Pavel Ruins (Monsters that need to be hunted: Cruel Pincer Golem, Horrifying Jackhammer Golem, Scout-type Golem No. 28, Guard Golem, Micro Scout Golem, Great Chaos Golem and Boom Golem) will give you a random number of quest items between 1-100, it changes every time you take the quest some will give you plus number of quest items others minus number of quest items. After you gotten the specific number of items return to Gutenhagen to receive XP and SP reward, this quest can only done once a day.

Travel to the catacombs

Hello dear players. I want to introduce you really amazing place in game when you can spend many hours. Come with me, I promise your travel will be full of fun, experience and you can find there a lot of money. This place is called Catacombs...


How to get to the Catacombs.

First you must join to the one of the Cabals (when there is a week called Competition Period): Dusk or Dawn. I suggest you to sign to Dawn, because they win almost every time.
Find an NPC named Priest of Dawn in big towns, then choose an option: I want to participate... Then choose a seal (I pick every time Seal of Gnosis), pay 50.000 adena and you are signed!
You can now go to one of the Catacomb which is in your level range. You can go through same NPC where you signed by option: I want to teleport... but on this option you need Ancient Adena. If you don’t have AA, buy from players or from NPC named Black Marketer of Mammon. You can find him in towns, and he sells 500.000 AA for 2 mil adena. If not, you can always go from normal gatekeeper to place where is near and go on foots.

Level range.

There is six Catacombs in our world:




Catacomb of the Heretic- monsters from level 30 to 40.
Catacomb of the Branded – mobs with level 40 to 50.
Catacomb of the Apostate with mobs in range of levels from 50 to 60.
Catacomb of the Witch with mobs in levels from 60 to 70.
Catacomb of Dark Omens with mobs from level 70 to 78.
Catacomb of the Forbidden path with few rooms when you will find mobs in levels 75 and higher to 78.




I suggest to start your adventure with catacombs from level 50, so Apostate, it give you efficent amount of drops and nice exp.

How to exp there.

The best way to level effective in Catacombs is to take a Great Wolf with you and some buffer friend with or without wolf. With that army you can hunt in 2 or even 3 big rooms. If your Great Wolf is max 19 level higher from you, leveling here is a piece of cake.
Take some potions, antidotes and waking scrolls with you.
Hunt mobs which are white and green to you.

What mobs you will find there?http://www.lineage2.com/archive/global/uploads/catacombs.jpg

There are few kind of groups in every room.
In big room there is always 2 Lilims and 2 Nephilims. If there is a week when Dawn wins there are 4 Lilims. With those 4 mobs there are 4 weaker mobs, so one room is filled always by 8 mobs.
If the room is small you will find there 2 Lilim/Nephilim and 2 weaker mobs, so small room is always filled by 4 mobs.
Some mobs has some special abilities: stuns, sleeps, slow, poison, reduce attack speed. I will tell you which mobs has which debuffs.

You will be know which mob stuns or sleeps by... how it looks. Lilim stunners always look like a knights with huge sword (like on picture with number 1). When there are Nephilims (number 2 on picture) with them in room, they has stun too. They has two kind of stuns: one target stun and AoE stun which can immobilize whole party. If you have resist stun equipment and resist stun buff, they will be not that scary. If you are surrounded by few stunners, better use some crowd control skill to immobilize them. Stunners are hard def mobs so every debuff with reduce p.def is nice here.
Lilims which can put you in sleep status looks like thin woman with book (number 3 on picture). They are really weak so better kill them first. Nephilims (number 4 in picture) with them in room don’t have sleep.
There are third kind of mobs – fat Lilims and fat Nephilims with them (numbers 5 and 6 on picture). They has high p.def but... surprise – they don’t have debuffs. Rooms with fat mobs are my favorite, because of that and gives efficient exp.
Lilim’s and Nephilim’s friends – tarantulas, guards, lesser ancient scouts, livionas and other has debuffs like poison, slow, wind shackle but those debuffs are not that bad like stuns and sleeps.


Some usefull tips.

Lilims and Nephilims drops seal stones. You can sell them to players or convert all to Ancient Adena, when there is a and then sell to players or buy some useful items by AA from Merchant of Mammon like Gems S needed to craft weapon and put SA on them or S Crystals. Merchant of Mammon is and NPC which travels in Necropolises. Way to get there is same as to Catacombs. He sits in first room with gatekeeper.
Lilims are not social with Nephilims, so when you want to make leveling easier you can hit one of them first. Other mobs like tarantulas are always social with both so beware. Lilims and Nephilims are always passive, so you can take other mobs away from them and kill them first.
You can buy from Manor Manager some seeds, and harvester. Watch on map in which area is your Catacomb and buy seeds there. Use seeds on mobs, and then after killing use harvester. You will get fruits which you can exchange on mats by Manor Manager. Manor cancels all drops from mobs, but surprise – not a drop of seal stones! From mobs with HP multiplier you can get more fruits, so manoring in Catacombs can give you more adena.
Fat Lilims, Nephilims and stunners drops more seal stones than thin woman.
When there is week with 4 Lilims, take holy weapon with you, many mobs has weakness to holy element.



Good luck travelers!