Dark Fighter guide

High damage • Low defense. High Evasion • Relatively low HP. Speedy runner.

The Dark Fighter starts his journey in the overly secluded Dark Elven Village, a town that is quite far from any of its neighbors. In fact, the Dark Elf area is so secluded that the Gatekeeper will teleport you to the Dark Elves own southern forest! So, know from the get-go, most everyone you see will be blue-skinned and white-haired.

The first think you want to do is your starting quest; talk to any of the NPCs around you and select Quest. By the time your quest is over, you should be at least Level 2. Keep killing Keltirs and the other nearby monsters until you reach Level 4, and then start making your way to town. Truth be told, the quickest way to the village is to simply die, and since you lose no EXP on death until Level 5 … you can smack a bunch of enemies, then stand still as they give you a free ride to town.

Once in town, hook up with Abyssal Celebrant Undrias and Trader Payne (both in the same building) and Sentries Nelsya and Jenna for some good starter quests. For walkthroughs, see the Quests chapter.

Once you hit Level 5, hurry back to town, as skills are now available! Remember how monsters have been giving you "SP" as you kill them? That SP, or Skill Points, can be used to get new skills. Go to the building in which you found Undrias and Payne and follow the recommended sequence below (or make up your own if it feels comfortable).

The first skill you want is one level of your attack of choice. Get Mortal Blow if you are a dagger user, Power Shot if you use bows, or Power Strike if you use swords.

Next up, go for one level in Weapon Mastery — this gives you extra damage on standard hits.

Before you get your Armor Mastery, get Defense Aura. Though this spell is temporary and Armor Mastery is permanent, the Aura adds more and thus you should get it first.

Get the next two levels in your skill of choice, and then finally get Armor Mastery.

Attack Aura, while temporary like Defense Aura, adds a significant amount to your physical attack.

Weapon Mastery 2 adds less then Attack Aura, but it is permanent. Get the next three levels in your skill of choice and two more of Armor Mastery.

A new, interesting skill is now available to you — you might have seen some Level 15 Elves using a healing spell, but as a Dark Elf, you want something that does damage! Drain Energy does both, doing damage to the monster and giving its hit points to you. Get two levels in this.

Once again get Weapon Mastery, this time your third dose. This will be your final general Weapon Mastery; next time, you get your pick of Sword, Bow or Dagger Mastery.

Three more levels in your skill of choice.

Two more levels of Armor Mastery. This will be your final general Armor Mastery; next time you get Light or Heavy Armor Mastery.

When soloing, try fighting green or light blue monsters instead of white ones. While white monsters give more exp per kill, you can kill more blues or greens at a time before resting.

You might want to go to another area (Elf or Human) to find more effective tanks; while you will find plenty of damage-doers and casters in the village, you'll be hard pressed to find someone who wants to take the hits.

Start grouping in the School of Dark Arts after Level 10 or so, and save your adena for your 64k weapon, and even later for your 300k weapon.

Whether soloing or grouping, always have someone watching shout chat; the village seems to be the ideal hangout for PKers, and oftentimes shout can warn you when one is coming.

Levels 5-6. Ashen Wolves are your best target right now; not only are they a good level and plentiful, but you can do two quests on them: Shilen's Hunt and Keen Claws. If the quest gets too boring or you just want something a bit harder, try your luck on Goblins.

Levels 7-9. Imps and Imp Elders make good targets and are part of the Chains of Slavery quest; take the Imps until they're too easy, then move on to Green Fungus and the Trade with the Ivory Tower quest, an awesome repeatable that you might want to continue for a good few levels.

Levels 10-12. First off, as soon as you can, take the Forgotten Truth and Spirit of Craftsman quests, available at Levels 10 and 11, respectively. Once you've completed these quests you can either use one of the weapons or sell them both to buy a new weapon/armor. Now you can either go back to farming Fungi (note that Level 12 Blood Fungus also work for this quest, just not as well as Green Fungi) or try Balor Orc Fighters or Goblin Thieves if you're bored.

Levels 13-15. You have two choices from here on out. You can continue soloing on Blood Fungus and Balor Orc types, or try your hand on the Scent of Death quest with Marsh Zombies. If you're tired of soloing, though, join a group and head into the School of Dark Arts. As long as you stay at the very beginning, you should be safe, and you can do the Bones Tell the Future quest here as well. Note also that at Level 15 there is a quest for free bone gaiters; do this ASAP.

Levels 16-20. Continue hunting in the School of Dark Arts, or if you are soloing, start heading more and more south to find Festering and Redeye Bats as you level. Once you are 20 and start your profession change quest, make sure to do the Dwarven Kinship quest at the same time; both require trips to Gludio and Gludin.