Axeman Guide

Axeman Guide

The Axeman class is probably the most challenging of the three warrior classes. Much like the swordsman, the axeman focuses on pure damage. And also like swordsman you can only attack single enemies at a time. But the nature of the axeman makes his damage unaided, which means you won't need as much MP with this little class as you would with the swordsman. Which means you won't need as many MP pots, since you'll be able to deal KO damage without using skills most of the time.

Getting Started:
You'll notice this guide is almost an exact duplicate of the swordsman guide. This is for a couple of reasons. First, the swordsman and axeman are very similar characters. Second, most of the training, pets, and advice for both are almost exactly the same. And third, copy and paste is sooooo much easier than typing a new guide....

The axeman class much like the swordsman really needs to be able to take a lot of damage. This class doesn't have any flashy dodging or hiding skills. However it does have the shield skill, which will greatly reduce your damage at higher levels if you have a shield equipped. Currenty the "Protection" skill isn't quite implemented yet, so using that is a waste of time, but the shield is an automatic skill, so it'll be leveling on it's own.

The warrior apprenticeship comes with 2 skills, Impact and Block. The Block skill is automatic, so it works on it's own and you don't need to level it, however you must have a shield to use it, so I suggest you grab a quest to make enough money to buy one as soon as you get out of the villiage head. This skill may not be helpful to you at the next skill level since protection is not implemented yet, but the higher the skill level, the more effective your shield blocking will be. And that leaves impact, use this skill as much as possible. I recommend you use this puppy on every hit during your early training. Sure this will drain your mp like a fat slob eating a chicken leg, but since you're below level 10, the healer is free. That means you have practically infinite MP, so use the crap out of it. You should be able to get this puppy close to level 20 by the time you even become a axeman, and having rush will be more helpful in your training. However, you'll notice that if you use this tactic, that your shield skill increases much to the speed of molasses going up hill in a blizzard... Unfortunately, the drawback to using the impact skills is that your dodge rate is lowered for the next turn and your shield blocking is unavailable... but oh well, that'll level up quickly on it's own, you'll be happier with your impact skills up.

Stat Distribution:
Much like the swordsman again, you'll want very high stength and constitution, but dexterity is actually more important to you than it would be to a swordman. Constitution is still the stat you want to start on, because the earlier you start pumping constitution, the more helpful it'll be in the long run. The amount you should pump is highly disputed. Therefore this should definitely be a personal choice on your part. I find 35 con a stable point, however, more can never hurt and will help you take damage better. I've seen some people go above 60 and some below 30... so it's up to you. After you have a sufficient amount of con, your focal point will be strength. However, unlike swordsmen, you'll want more dexterity than normal. You'll notice axes have a higher damage stat than other weapons, but the hit rate is horribly low. In compensation for this, you'll want to have a bit more dexterity. Pumping in an alternating pattern is what I do sometimes for cases like axeman. An example of what I'm talking about is, one level I'll pump 2 str and 1 dex, then the next level I'll pump 2 dex and 1 str. Then I'll repeat that over again until the desired dexterity is reached and pour everything else into strength. You don't have to do that though, just showing you what I do sometimes as an example.

Now that you're at level 10, you've finally become an axeman.
Now you've gotten 2 new skills: Double Combo and Axe Skill. From this point on you should ALWAYS use an axe. If you use a weapon other than an axe, all of your axe skills will be unusable and will not level. Now that that's clear, get started on leveling up your double combo. This skill just gives you two consecutive normal hits on a single target, but it's much more useful once you get it to triple and quadruple combo, so get cracking. Axe you won't have to worry about, the level 1 skill levels on it's own, then at level Axe skill level 15, you'll get windy axe. The good thing is, while you're leveling your sword and combo skills, your shield skill has a chance to take effect and level better also.

Pets:
Much like swordsman, you'll probably only need 2 pets. And since you'll normally have even less intelligence with an axeman than a swordy, you'll probably HAVE to stick with two pets if you don't want to lose MP feeding the little leeches. So I recommend that you only get a weapon and armor pet. And I highly recommend that your weapon pet be one with dexterity (first set). This will help your hit rate. But you don't have to, going for a pure str pet can be helpful too. And of course your armor pet will be highly essential.

Weapon Enhancement- Red Beetle, Flame Pegasus, and Red Butterfly. Fire Bear, Fire Skeleton, and Flame Tiger.

Where should I go to beat things up now?
Since you're a single hit melee fighter, you'll want to stay out of the caves and stay in the open areas to avoid being ganged. If you go into a cave area against 6 mobs, you'll have to take them out 1 by 1 while they beat you down. So stay out of caves if you go solo. Also the pet you're using on your weapon could make a difference in where you train, but I only listed fire enhanced pets. So I'm assuming that you'll have one. If you don't the training places would be pretty similar, but in the list, I'll avoid listing places with water beasts. That'll be the only difference for you guys without enhanced axes. But if you're not using an enhancement I recommend you go get one.

10-15- This early in the character, stay around the village you started. Just find a spot where the pets levels are about the same as yours and go whack them with your sword. This would be places like behind the earth temple in northern grasslands, southern grasslands, GB Suberbs (outer circle of goldburg), or even the far back of Smiling Forest.

15-20- If you've been whacking enough things, your axe skills should be close to 15, so it should be in this level area that you obtain windy axe. You won't see much of an improvement in your damage when you use this skill. Especially if you've seen the double damage a swordsman can get with flying sword.... But you're an axeman, that shouldn't bother you, you have naturally high damage. The Western Grasslands is a good place to train around these levels. You won't have an elemental advantage, since the mobs are light and dark. But they aren't too bad, and give you good exp. However, they do have high dex, if you don't have a good dex stat you may want to train in dwarf hill.

20-25- By this time your skills should be well on their way to doing some good damage. From this point on you should be able to 1 hit KO just about anything you go up against as far as wild mobs go. For training I recommend Genie Desert. Much like western grasslands, you won't have an elemental advantage over the light/dark mobs, but the experience, again, is great. If you don't want to train there, you can go to Secret Plains or Snow White Forrest.

25-30- Around these levels you should be close to getting thunder axe. Much like windy axe, you'll notice an increase in damage when you use this, but not near as much as the swordsman skills... Again, you're an axeman, keep your head up and use your natural damage to your advantage. Playing around at the back of Snow white forest can bring some good exp.

30-35- Here you can venture into some higher places. Candy Mountain, Crystal Mountain, Pineapple hill.. get it, higher places... Hahahaha.... fine don't laugh, screw you pal.... Anyway, around these places you should find your element as an advantage and get some great experience. Just watch out for those metal pets... they can be hell on your armor enhancement if it's wood. But your defense should be high enough it won't be too bad.

35-40- You can stick with the previous leveling places for another level or two, but you might want to start moving towards the back of them and fighting the higher level mobs. Soon you'll want to head into the far back of candy mountain or pinnapple hill. Moonglow might seem tempting, but the mob spawn there is 6... so you might want to rethink strolling in there.

40 and beyond- Here, like all other classes, you can still solo level for a while longer, but eventually, you're going to need to find yourself an AoD to help until the new patch comes out (which might even be before anyone reads any of these... in that case I guess I'll have some more writting to do..)