I. AgentGreasy2
Ok this is what I've determined through my many hours of studying the game and such, and i made a strategy out of it. Unfortunately I could not do below 100 because of the monster stat changes making it very hard to determine the dex/power ratio, so if any lower level canon that went through it would like to suggest a strategy for 1-100 then I would be grateful:
Starting at level 100:
Now everyone knows that the Sniper is way too powerful for any char at level 100. Canon has almost as much defense as Sadad, and more power to go along with it, but he still needs to wait till about 120-140 to successfully level in downtown1.
From 100 to 150 you want to focus on getting the Astra 400, level in the BY if you must. Get to 2400 dex, and then stop. You will never add to dex again. After you get 2400 dex, you're stats should look something like this: 120-80-2410-xxxx. 120 strength is sufficient to carry pas and stuff. I don't suggest resetting at 100 and going for this because 2400 dex is exactly 200bp (100 levels). Now, you will also want to add to power during this time. I haven't been able to test it, but I'm guessing that 900-1200 power is quite sufficient to take at least 1-2 snipers. If you can get to 900 power, then you can wait till you get the Astra to add to power again (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm 500+ now so I don't have the experience with the new, stronger snipers.)
After you get the Astra, add to power till 200. At 200 you will want to get Eye of Hawk. It, along with fast reload and sharp shoot, will prove to be very helpful. With it enabled you can shoot the exact same distance that a commando/sniper/Esper can shoot. This requires 160 spirit. Now if you are getting annoyed at the inability to 1 hit spies, the required strength to one hit a spy is 430. That may set you back a few levels of getting to Sahara, but you shouldn't go there till 250 anyways. So, that's 430-160-2410-xxxx. Same thing here, just add to power until 300.
[Editor's Note] For the 430 Strength to 1 shot spies and mutants you have to be level 185 and using Mithrill Gloves. If you are under 185, you need something over 625 str.
********WARNING********
DO NOT ADD ANY MORE STRENGTH. YOU WILL NEED THE POWER TO LEVEL SAFELY IN SAHARA1/SAHARA2.
********WARNING********
At 300 it gets interesting. You WILL reset at this level. Your stats will look like: xxxx-280-1402-5302 And they will stay this way until level 400. You will add to strength from level 300, to level 400. At 350 you get Concentration, it gives a 98% hit accuracy, and ignores dex completely. You could have 10 dex and hit the exact same amount of times. You will want to keep 1400 dex in order to be able to run around dungeon1 and level faster.
At level 400, its pretty much the same: xxxx-280-1402-5302. Now you should be able to level in dungeon1 pretty quickly, even though your exp requirement is quite high. Don't go to dungeon2, its useless to you right now. It will take you too long to kill the monsters there.
By now you should have noticed your damage is actually going up when you add strength. It was determined by The Strife and I that every 400-500 strength you add, you're damage noticeably increases. When i get to a high enough level I will try to compose a 1 hit chart, unless a high level canon decides to do it.
At level 500, you're stats will change again: xxxx-440-1006-5710. With this extra power, you will be able to take more hits in the dungeon, allowing you to clear those pretty alarm rooms. Still dungeon2 is too long of a level, so you should stay away from it. Keep adding to strength still.
Now the big 550. You get one of the best skills in the game, Snipe. It gives you full screen shots, and increases the damage. Along with sharp shoot, concentration, and fast reload, it allows canon to go into dungeon2 and level very fast. At 550 you will want to reset: xxxx-440-10-6010. Now you say: 10 dex?? Well if you remember correctly up top i stated that Concentration allows almost 100% accuracy, no matter what your dex is. Using that left over dexterity to raise your strength will allow you to level in dungeon2, and even the boss spy dungeon, because you will be able to 3 and maybe even 2 hit Combat Drones and Revertix, two very good sources of EXP. Keep adding to strength, until you get about 8k. Then beef up your power to about 6500-7000, then go back to strength.
[Update] At 550, I found something out. you really do not need 8k strength to level, you could have 7.4k, 7.8k, hell 7k would be fine. You kill just as fast. Unless at 550 you are stopping and warring for a while, don't go beyond 7.8k strength, just add to power.
At 650 you should be able to level in Himalayas, and at 700 if you are courageous, with the new skills in hopefully at that time, you should be able to level in Signus. At these levels you should be able to determine your own stats, and no longer would need my help. GOOD LUCK!!!
Here is a list of approximations of when you should go to new areas:
20: street3
35: street1
45: junkyard
65: backyard
135: downtown 1
165: downtown 2 TOP
185: downtown 2 BOTTOM
200: downtown 3
215-220: downtown 4
250: Sahara 1
275: Sahara 2
310: Sahara dungeon 1
550: Sahara dungeon 2 / boss spy dungeon
650: Himalayas
700-750: Signus (unless they change the monster configurations there)
This guide is for BLUE (positive) HONOR. Red honor is utterly useless, and is not worth it even if you do it for war.
[Note] Quite a few people have been asking me about the 10 dex...asking if it really works. Here is why it DOES in fact work, but it works BEST at 550, and not at 350:
Concentration (the accuracy skill you get at level 350) adds around 3000 ACCURACY ONLY dex. Therefore, you should be able to go 10 dex and hit often with the low dex. Snipe (level 550 skill), on the other hand, does 3 things. It of course gives full screen shot (NOT THROUGH OBSTACLES!), while it also makes every shot a critical hit. Along with this, it adds around 5000 ACCURACY ONLY DEX. With concentration, that brings you up to a total of 8k dex dedicated completely to accuracy, therefore you only need 10 dex. I hope this explains the 10 dex thing.
