MapleSaga Progression Guide (For High Achievers)

JocelinM · Dec 26, 2021

CheeSePun said: ↑

Section 1: Introduction

Hello, my friends call me 'CS' and I mainly play under the IGN Oyako. At the time of writing, both my NL and my bishop (CheeSePun) are level 200. I have been playing Saga for two and a half years. I'm currently in guild Oogway.

Section 2: Who this guide is for

There are many ways of playing maple. This guide is for the ambitious people who want to do raids and have high damage range and are willing to invest lots of time into maple (even if it's only a few hours a day consistently for a long period of time). I know many people who enjoy the game daily in different forms. Some people focus on doing quests, some people fm hoe (sit in free market and talk to others) and some people are committed to bonding with their guild members. All of these are legitimate ways to enjoy the game but this guide is for the people who want to level up and be strong in raids.

Section 3: Key Features of MapleSaga

I will start of this guide by explaining certain key features of MapleSaga. These defining features will be essential to understanding certain recommendations in my guide.

1. The VIP Dungeon Ticket

Here in MapleSaga, you are able to purchase VIP dungeon tickets for NX. The VIP dungeon tickets come in two durations – 4 and 24 hours. Purchasing a ticket allows you to bring your party into a special map (i.e. the dungeon) for the stated duration of time.

There is a long list of monsters you can choose from. The dungeon will only spawn the specific monster that you choose. The spawn rate as well as the configuration of the map makes it the best map for training or farming.

You may get an idea of what the dungeon looks like with the regular dungeon tickets obtainable by voting. The difference between the regular and the VIP dungeon tickets are that (i) the regular ticket is only for 10mins, (ii) you may bring a whole party in with the VIP ticket but only 1 character for regular and (iii) you may re-enter after you leave for the VIP ticket as long as it is still active.

2. MapleSaga as a Raiding Server

MapleSaga is a Raiding Server. What this means is that the “end game” consists mostly of doing raids. The available Raids in the server are:

Pianus

Papulatus

Zakum

Scarlion and Targa

The Boss

Horntail

Castellan Toad

Chaos Zakum.

To prevent people from fighting over items in raids as per GMS, the raid boss will drop 12 badges upon death. The system only allows each character to pick up one badge. The badge may then be traded with the NPC to obtain a random prize.

3. "HP Wash" System

A new update to MapleSaga in February 2020 means that the traditional way of HP Washing no longer applies or work here.

In essence:

You can gain HP by doing the Zakum and Horntail raids.

Instead of trading your badge in for a prize, you trade your badge in for a HP upgrade along with a fee.

The maximum number of raids you may do for HP gain is 10 Zakums and 30 Horntails.

The maximum cost of gaining hp is 1.44b mesos.

You may find more complete information on the HP wash system here.

Section 4: Why You Should Make an Archmage

Making an Archmage is not compulsory per se but it does accelerate your progress by a lot. A decent raiding character will cost at least 20bil mesos. The fastest and most reliable way of earning this amount of mesos in MapleSaga is by:

farming Dark Cornians in VIP Dungeon as they drop Chaos Scrolls; and

selling leech in VIP Dungeon.

Other methods of earning mesos without a mage pale far in comparison. Having a mage also makes doing quests, farming etcs and training new characters. Almost all of the regular raiders on the server have a mage or have access to a mage. If you hate farming, be prepared for your journey to becoming a top player to be an extremely long one.

Note*: Here I am recommending Archmage, either Ice/Lightning or Fire/Poison + Holy Symbol Mule (level 82-99) Priest over a having a Bishop.

In MapleSaga, mages (even Bishops) aren’t really taken to raids anyway

It is way easier for Archmages to 1 hit Dark Cornians

Archmages require 1200 total magic attack (magic attack + int) with elemental wand to 1 hit Dark Cornians. You can usually do this at level 160 with average 20 tma equips.

Bishops require 1440 total magic attack. 240 int = 48 more levels all else being equal. My bishop required level 188 with Maple Warrior 20 (a ~1bil skillbook at 70% pass rate) and 30 tma equips (costing 300mil per piece) to 1 hit Dark Cornians.

It is my strong belief that HS mule + Archmage saves a lot of time compared to Bishop.

Important: a mule should be at the very least level 99 or under so that it does not leech EXP from Dark Cornians.

If you can afford NX for VIP dungeon tickets:

· you can buy your own dungeon ticket for farming; and

· you can sell VIP dungeon leech for mesos while farming.

If you cannot afford NX for VIP dungeon tickets, do not fret. People who want their characters to get leeched often offer to buy the dungeon ticket for you while you leech their characters. Basically:

they pay and bring you into the VIP dungeon;

you farm while in party with their character; and

you keep the mesos and the chaos scrolls.

If you are able to kill Dark Cornians with 1 hit (Blizzard or Meteor), with a meso up mule, you may expect to get 80 mil + 2 chaos scrolls an hour. That translates to 320mil + 8 chaos scrolls in 4 hours.
If you are a new player starting from scratch. The ideal scenario would be to (i) make HS mule then (ii) make archmage and then (iii) make meso up mule. This is the ideal set up for making mesos.

Section 5: Choosing your Raiding Character

Night Lords

[*]Night Lords are by FAR the most expensive class in the server.
[*]They are the highest single-target DPS class.
[*]Night Lord gears are 3-10 times the price of equivalent gear of other classes.
[*]As an illustration, a clean 71 fist costs 8b while a clean bow costs 1.5b.
[*]As Night Lords are a pure DPS class, an unfunded NL is pretty useless and will be discriminated from joining raids.
[*]ONLY play this class if you’re prepared to spend 200 hours farming dungeon to fund your character.
[*]It will take about 40bil mesos to make a czak-eligible Night Lord.

Shadowers

[*]Shadowers have average DPS output.
[*]Smokescreen is an extremely useful skill in raids especially Horntail and Chaos Zakum.
[*]Shadowers can perform the mobbing role in Chaos Zakum.
[*]Shadowers need minimal HP washing due to Meso Guard.
[*]Shadowers have quite a variety of skills to use and can be quite fun

Heroes

[*]Heroes provide the most consistent DPS amongst the warrior classes.
[*]Heroes can out DPS Night Lords in raids with multiple targets as Brandish hits 3 targets.
[*]Heroes are relatively easy to play.
[*]Monster Magnet is required in Chaos Zakum.
[*]Rush is required in Castellan Toad.
[*]Heroes can perform the Mobber role in Chaos Zakum

Dark Knights

[*]Dark Knights can output high DPS if they are able to utilize their Berserk skill (maintain HP at under 50%).
[*]High Skill Level and concentration is required to maintain 50% HP
[*]Dark Knights can out DPS Heroes in Horntail.
[*]Monster Magnet is required in Chaos Zakum.
[*]Rush is required in Castellan Toad.
[*]Hyper Body can be useful

Paladin

[*]Paladins have the worst single target DPS out of the 3 warrior classes.
[*]However, Heaven’s Hammer has potential to make it the strongest class when there are multiple targets to hit. In MapleSaga, HH has it’s cooldown reduced to 20 seconds and is not subject to damage cap.
[*]Monster Magnet is required in Chaos Zakum.
[*]Rush is required in Castellan Toad.
[*]Paladins are extremely unpopular in the server at the moment but I feel that they are underrated and underutilised.

Bowmaster

[*]Bowmasters are essential for every raid due to their Sharp Eyes (“SE”) skill.
[*]Every raid party will have at least 1 SE
[*]BMs became unpopular as they require some standard of concentration in raids. You have to constantly buff your party. Also there tends to be some pot lag when using hurricane. However, it just requires a bit of practice to survive.
[*]Bowmasters need little funding to join raids. Typically, as long as you have enough HP and you don’t have a reputation of dying you would be accepted into raids.

Marksman

Marksmen are basically Bowmasters with shitty DPS

Corsair

Corsairs are a single-target DPS class without any utility skill.

However, they get the short-end of the stick as they cannot keep up with Night Lords DPS output.

Corsairs are a high-skill class to play that requires lots of concentration as you have to constantly mount and dismount battle ships during raids.

While Corsair gears (Skipper) are cheap, the cost of perfecting weapon and gloves in white scroll cannot be avoided to a certain extent.

Therefore, Corsairs require quite a lot of funding to be raid-ready.

Only play this class if you enjoy the mechanics of it.

Buccaneer

Buccaneers have really bad DPS.

However, they have high HP and a variety of skills that make them fun to play.

Speed Infusion is a good buff for corsairs and warriors.

Time Leap can be very useful in raids especially when paired with Shadower’s Smokescreen

Here are the Party Compositions Required for each Raid:

Every raid - 2 SE
Horntail - At least 1 Monster Magnet, usually 2
Castellan Toad - At least 1 Rush, usually 2
Chaos Zakum - 5 different classes to meet diversity quota; 1 Mobber; 1 Monster Magnet

I think overall there are 2 important factors in choosing your class - (1) What are you willing to fund and (2) What do you enjoy playing.

Section 6: How to Progress in Saga

You may elect to join a 'raiding guild' at this point. Raiding guilds often host raids and recruit within the guild itself before opening to outsiders. Hence, most of the top raids aren't publicly recruited in Saga. Please do not treat your guild as simply a means to an end. A good rule to follow is to try to give more than you take from the guild. For example, offer help to guild members when you can or give discounts to guild members. Remember that MapleSaga has a very small community and reputation is really important. Making friends is more important than having good gears. Guilds can be a great help in progressing but do not take things for granted.

If you have a strong attachment to your guild but your guild doesn't do many raids, you can still have a successful raiding career by getting to know people who host raids and add them to your buddy list. Once again, don't just add them so you can make use of them. It's easy to smell these people from a mile away. Maple is a social game after all.

Tradeable Equipment – Shoes, Overalls, Cape, Shoulders, Helmet

As you may find a detailed guide by @Akihiko here, I will only briefly mention a few things.

There are 3 types of equipments – Charon (level 125), Frontier (level 130) and Pensalir (level 140)

Charon equips may be used by all classes.

Frontier and Pensalir are further divided into four types – Battle, Sentinel, Chaser and Skipper for Warriors, Archers, Thieves and Pirates respectively.

While Clean Pensalir Equipment is superior to the other two, the only important things are the weapon attack and stats when they are scrolled.

All these equips are scrolled with Chaos Scrolls. Chaos Scrolls can give +/- 2wa and +/- 5 stats when they pass.

As a general rule of thumb for newer players, it is cheaper to buy scrolled equips than to attempt scrolling your own.

You should only scroll equips if you are aiming for 10 wa and above.

Generally, 5-6 primary stat = 1 weapon attack. A 5wa 30luk chaser equip outperforms a 6wa 20luk chaser equip.

It is prudent to not spend too much money on a helm as you may Chaos Zakum Helmet in the later stages.

As a starting point, aim to get 6wa 25stat equips all around. This should give you sufficient range for the top raids.

Tradeable Equipment – Gloves

Gloves can be perfected in the same way as weapons by using White Scrolls + 10% scrolls

Perfect gloves give 20wa (charon) and 21wa (Pensalir)

Untradeable Equipment – Earrings, Face Accessory, Eye Accessory

There are tradeable items for these but they are extremely expensive. Most people do Party Quests (PQs) that eventually gives these untradeable equipments. Once again, you scroll them with Chaos Scrolls for more weapon attack.

Earrings and Eye Accessory come from Neo Taipei Boss Rush (Neo PQ) while Face Accessory comes from Crimson Wood Keep Party Quest (CWKPQ).

Most of the top raiders have these equips at 6-7 weapon attack at least. Aim for 6-7 wa before moving on to improving the next equip.

For Neo, get 3 wa dimension earrings before trying to get your 6+ wa dimension glasses. After that, upgrade your 3 wa dimension earrings to the transcendent dimension earrings and scroll them.

Weapon

The end-game weapons are the Level 150 Weapons only obtainable from Chaos Zakum. There is a short guide on them here.

Perfecting Weapon:
Weapons are perfected by using White Scrolls + 10% Scrolls on them. However, for cheaper weapons like crossbows that cost under 500 mil, it might be better to 30% 1-3 slots before completing with White Scrolls + 10% scrolls. 8 slots of 10%/30% scrolls give 40 weapon attack. Usually you would only scroll a perfect clean weapon this way.

Interrim Weapon:
Perfecting a weapon is a long arduous process as you would need around 80 white scrolls. Having an interim weapon is a good. Aim for 3-5 30% passes on an average stat weapon. For example, a clean Fist of Malice may have 61-71 weapon attack. Try to aim for 81 weapon attack (66 + 15) at the very least.

Also remember that sometimes it is worth it to equip a lower weapon attack weapon because of lower secondary stat requirements. For example, a 68 wa craven requires 140 dex to equip while a Fist of Malice requires 220 dex to equip. As a rough guide, 5.5 Luk = 1 wa so every extra point being put into dex is one less luk (unless your equips give you so much dex that you don't have to add any). 80 dex roughly equals 14-16 weapon attack. So unless my fist is 68+14 = 82 wa and above, you might be better off equipping a craven.

Levelling Up

In saga, people rarely grind for levels. The fastest way to level up is doing CWKPQ especially if you have carries who can help you complete the PQ in ~15mins. However, this requires you to have friends who are really powerful. People often do 4 hours of CWKPQ with 2x EXP on. Another way of levelling is to do some of the higher level raids. Horntail and Castellan Toad in particular give pretty good EXP.

Trailblazer Ring

You may obtain the trailblazer ring by doing the quests as outlined by Amos (who is in the free market). It is essential to obtain TB ring 3 as it gives a lot of stats and weapon attack.

You can even upgrade your ring by creating a Blessing of the Fairy (BOF) character. There is a guide here.

Prestige
You will notice that on every character there is a Prestige item on your pendant slot be default. This Prestige can give you up to +30 all stats and +3000 HP depending on what medals and how many medals you collect. There is a list of medals and how to get them here.

There are 10 special Prestige medals that give +3 all stats to your Prestige when you complete them. These are:

Event Conqueror

Jump Quest Grand Champion

Legendary Medal Collector

Master Ironman

Monster Book High Commander

Party Quest Maniac

Raid Grand Commander

Socialite

Superstar

Ultimate Explorer

Do check out the link above for information as to how to complete these medals. +30 all stats can give quite a significant boost to your range. If you're starting out, those that are easy to complete first are: Ultimate Explorer, Socialite, Superstar and Party Quest Maniac.

Section 7: TL;DR

Make HS mule (lvl 81 Priest)

Make Archmage to 1 hit Dark Cornians to earn mesos from VIP Dungeon

Make Meso Up Mule

Make Raiding Character

Buy (rather than scroll) 6wa 25stats equips + 13-15 wa gloves

Buy clean perfect weapon and scroll 8 slots with 10% white scrolls

Buy clean perfect gloves (3wa 16 main stat) and scroll 6 slots with 10% white scrolls

Do Neo and CWK for Face, Ears and Eye accessories. Scroll them with Chaos Scrolls

Do ancillary stuff - TBR3, Prestige, Mount

Become a god like @guy776

Click to expand...

Love this entire guide! Question: what exactly is a Meso Up mule (what class, level and skill?) thank you!

Hauntr · Dec 26, 2021

JocelinM said: ↑

Love this entire guide! Question: what exactly is a Meso Up mule (what class, level and skill?) thank you!
Click to expand...

Meso Up is a Hermit skill.

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MapleSaga Progression Guide (For High Achievers)

JocelinM Training Mapler

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