Hi hoomans, I kept on getting requests for new guides (which I don't understand because there are lots of guide in forums already and I'm not quite qualified to write guides since I screwed up my HP wash and I have top 3 death record in the server) BUT... Having been a leader of what was formerly a raiding guild and now a social guild (#Phantoms), showing #dawae to nubs and somehow making it to level 200 without following the conventional "make a mage, join a raiding guild" route... I realized I could give a VERY different perspective on this one thing: raid planning / hosting. I won't use this guide to get into mechanics of each raids. But rather, I'll talk about what your raid squad should look like, what you should look out for, how to fill up your raids etc. What raids are available in saga? What kind of raids can I host? What are the level requirements for each? What do they drop as prizes? Pianus (85+): Sharp Eyes 20, Dragon Strike 30, Demolition 30 Papulatus (90+): Shadow Shifter 30, Lots of corsair books Zakum (100+): Level 80 weapons, Zakum Helmet, Genesis 20, Sharp Eyes 30 Crimsonwood (110+): Crimsonwood earrings, Crimson gem, Narcains Elixir Scarlion and Targa (110+): Triple Throw 20, Berserker 20, Angel Ray 20, Dragon Purple Sleve Time Chamber (130+): Crystanol Fragments to make equipments with, Crystanol Necklace Temple of Time (135+): No prizes for this one that I am aware of. However, this is the last piece of the puzzle that you need to get your trailblazer ring 3. The Boss (140+): Angel Ray 30, Concentrate 30, Dark Scrolls, Mask of Zipangu Horntail (150+): Barrage 30, Maple Warrior 20, Genesis 30, Frontier equipments Castellan Toad (160+): Triple Throw 30, Pensalir equipments, Iceblitz, Chaos Zakum (180+): Level 150 weapons Please note that these are minimum level requirements to enter the raid itself. As a host, as you vet the raid participants, I highly suggest you to find people that exceed the level requirement. And for the full prize list, consult the appropriate NPC's. Where are these raids happening at? Where's the NPC to start the raid? Beside each raid, I specify the exact location with the hyperlink. When you click on the link, you will arrive at the tutorial / video walkthrough of how to get to each places. Most of them are made by me. I'd suggest for you to save the map BEFORE the listed maps so that you are only one portal away. Pianus - Aqua Road cave (I cannot remember the name) Papulatus - From level 90 + Zakum - Dead Mine: Door to Zakum Crimsonwood (PQ)- Crimsonwood Keep: Hall of Mastery Scarlion and Targa - Malaysia: Entrance To Spooky World Temple of Time Pink Bean (PQ)- Deep Place In Temple: Forgotten Twilight The Boss - Showa Town, Zipangu (Press Konpei, take right portals until you see armory) Horntail- Leafre: The Beginning of The End Castellan (Toad) - Ninja Castle (I hope you got good memory, fam.) Chaos Zakum - Dead Mine: Door to Chaos Zakum **For Zakum and Chaos Zakum, the Passage is the furthest map you can save. SAVE IT IN TELEPORT MAP. IT'S PAINFUL TO WALK. Don't have the TP yet? Here's a very painful walkthrough to follow ONCE and never again. What kind of characters do we need in each raid squad? How many people do we need? Any raids listed above that do NOT have (PQ) beside them have a capacity to fit up to 12 people. This will mean that you will need 2 parties of 6 people. When I was starting out with hosting raids / party quests, both of my parties looked something like: - 1 x Bishop (for holy symbol, healing, resurrection and dispel) / Archmage - 1 x Warrior or Mobbing Role (hero / paladin / dark knights / shadowers) - 1 x Archer (Marksman or Bowmaster for Sharp Eyes, which is a buff that enhances damage and critical attack for pretty much all characters) - 3 x DPS (Night Lords / Corsairs / Buccaneers) Does it NEED to be that kind of formation at all times or...? Not at all! You're more than encouraged to deviate away from this formation as you would like as you experiment with different formations, cannot find the appropriate people, or trying to make the run a bit faster etc. But here are a few things to note as you deviate these formations: Welp, that is more of a lot... But with these things in mind, I've been able to work with some "unconventional" formations such as: -- Bringing archmages in raids such as Scarlion and Targa, Horntail, Neo and Crimsonwood. -- One party is full of NL's and SE's : The 2nd party is me as a corsair + warriors + bsp (this actually happened so many times-- it's a difference between "must have because we lose the dmg that we have" VS "it's good to have because it adds the extra dmg") -- Raids with 4 SE's and 4 warriors (I don't know how this happened either.... But it did). -- Doing runs without mages / archmages / bishops What do I need to host a run? What are the pre-quests? There are no pre-quests involved for most raids in hosting or joining EXCEPT for Temple Of Time / Pink Bean Party Quest (where you need to complete temple of time quests) and Castellan Toad (you need to have a mask of Zipangu from The Boss raid). You need to gather some materials to host a raid. When you go to El Nath, Chief's Residence (the 3rd job advancement place with instructors), you will see Lady Syl. This NPC will allow you to make a raid rock for these raids. Pianus (Aqua Rock): 1 Garnet, 1 Bronze Plate, 1 Amethyst, 1 Wisdom Crystal, 1.5 mil mesos Papulatus (Ludibrium Rock): 1 Steel Plate, 1 Aquamarine, 1 Mithril Plate, 1 DEX Crystal, 1.5mil mesos Scarlion and Targa (Fantasy Theme Rock): 2 Mithril Plates, 2 Amethysts, 2 Silver Plates, 2 Power Crystals, 30mil mesos Zakum (El Nath Rock): 2 Emeralds, 2 Adamantium Plates, 2 Opals, 2 Power Crystals, 30 mil mesos The Boss (Zipangu Rock): 2 Silver Plates, 2 Sapphire Plates, 2 Orihalcon Plates, 2 LUK Crystals, 37.5mil mesos Horntail (Leafre Rock): 2 Topaz, 2 Diamond, 2 Gold Plate, 2 Black Crystal, 2 Dark Crystal, 90mil mesos Castellan Toad (Chaos Zipangu Rock): Zipangu rock, 1 Chaos Matter, 50 mil mesos Chaos Zakum (Chaos El Nath Rock): El Nath rock, 1 Chaos Matter, 100 mil mesos For party quests such as Crimsonwood Keep Boss Rush, Time Chamber Boss Rush or Temple of Time Boss Rush, you cannot go through Lady Syl NPC. Temple of Time / Pink Bean: Follow this quest chain guide and you'll walk away with materials you need to craft a rock to host a pink bean raid. Crimsonwood Keep Boss Rush: When you head on over to the courtyard, there are 4 rooms (go to all the doors and press up). Each rooms drop different weapons-- sword, claw, staff and a gun. You need 1 of each items, which will combine into a set, in order to host the run. Consult @tiki's beautiful guide video by clicking here <3 Time Chamber: You need alien dispatchers, which you can get either from the free market, or by collecting mobs around the raid start area. Okay, I crafted the rock / got my sets / dispatchers etc. Now how do I fill up my runs? (1) Try asking in your guild chat and buddy chat first to see who is interested. You might be able to get at least a couple of people just by doing that. (If you have no friends / have no guild / guild doesn't respond / nobody responds, just skip to #2). (2) Use in-game command @susan, and press "I'm looking for a party to train with". Press the run that you are trying to host. It'll allow you to smega for free every 2 minutes or so. When you get whispers and you want to bring them in, whisper them back to confirm with them to let them know they are in the line-up. (3) To the ones who are already in the run, whisper them and ask if THEY have any friends / guildies that would be willing to join the run. (4) Whisper some people in your buddy list directly, and ask if they or someone they know would be willing to join your run. (In my earlier raiding days, I've been able to get a couple of carries in the run by doing this!) (5) Rinse and repeat step 1 to 4 until you fill up the run to 12 (pianus and papu, you can get away with having one single party, but for most cases, you will want to have 12 people). What should I be looking for as I am filling up my runs? By default, ask people for their job and level so that you can be mindful of the buffs that they need when you are forming the parties. You might also want to ask for their unbuffed / HP without HB to see whether you need to recruit a dark knight for your runs. You could also ask for specific skills (smokescreen for shadowers, time leap for buccaneers, res and holy shield for bishops, monster magnet for warriors, sharp eyes for archers) and make sure they have some skill points allocated. Is it okay for me to ask for people's ranges? I've seen some people do that. ONLY IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S A GOOD RANGE AND NOT. prepared for a lot of people to feel uncomfortable answering that or asking how to look for their range. I'd say, ask for ranges in cases where you are: Doing a raid with a very strict time limit (chaos zakum for example) Going for a record run Bringing a bunch of newbies / first timers that'll make it impossible to finish the run on time without reasonable carries. I filled up my runs. Now what? Plan out your squad, pick a party 2 leader. Add all the party 1 members to your party; get party 2 leader to add in party 2 members Gather them into the room (SKIP THIS STEP IF YOU ARE DOING PAPULATUS OR PIANUS) Set up a shop with # of items (that corresponds to # of participants excluding you) and the amount (raid fee / (# of participants + you). Make them pay their buy-in fee by paying for an item at the shop. Go to the raid NPC (see above for the locations). Click "My squad and I are ready for raid". Then press "I'd like to invite another party to join my squad" to enter in party 2 leader's name. When they come in and are ready, press "spawn". Mules? RM's? What are those shenanigans? RM's stand for raidmaster and refers to a different mode that you can use in terms of these boss quests. Raidmaster mode is available for chaos zakum, zakum and horntail. It works just like regular boss quest / runs. HOWEVER, raidmaster mode runs allow the raiders to pool all the drops together, sell it, and then split the profit amongst the attackers (while the regular runs are just one badge per person). So if you are doing a raidmaster mode and will be splitting the profits, the chances are, you will want as little number of attackers as possible. However, most raids will not allow you to enter unless you have at least 10 people (papu, pianus, and whatever I labeled party quests are an exception to this). THIS IS WHERE MULES (or fillers, you can call it) COME IN. They fill up the spots, sit outside for the attackers to finish the job-- and come into collect their helmet / pendant and fame. MULES DO NOT GET THE PROFIT FROM THE RUN NOR PAY A BUY-IN FEE; THEY SIMPLY GET FAME AND A CHANCE AT HELMET / PENDANT. After the run.... Thank the people who showed up to your runs (and add the strangers to your buddy list so that you can invite them again, if you liked them) Close the shop ---- boom! That's it Hope you found this helpful. Let me know of any questions or comments by replying to this thread. (If I'm online, you can ask me questions too!) Ending this with a screenshot from Phantoms HT with the Phantoms 1.0 members <3