RedGage

Bow Jester is one of the only classes that don't really have an aoe skill to use for grinding. The only available skill that the Jester has is arrow rain which unfortunately has a 10 second cooldown without very high damage output. if you were to gather up monsters with the more traditional aoe approach it would be terribly inefficient. Fortunately there've been some developments in getting around the limitations that jesters encounter during AoE... and this is called pipelining.

Learning to Pipeline

Just because there's a different way to aoe for a Jester doesn't mean it's easy all. In fact it takes a lot of concentration for lengthy periods of time. It generally takes me roughly 20 minutes for a typical AoE and sometimes even up over 60 minutes. If you can't focus for long periods of time this will probably not be right for you.

1. First thing we want to do is gather 3 to 5 monsters.
2.You will next want to quickly gather another 3 to 5 monsters but make sure that you don't have to travel too far to reach them.
3. Now you will want to use Arrow Rain on the previous monsters that you have gathered.
4. During the 5 seconds or so while arrow rain is dealing damage make sure you are collecting 3 to 5 more monsters around you.
5. Within the 5 seconds the arrow rain is now over with go ahead and collect 3 to 5 more monsters close to you before using arrow rain again. This is basically a rinse and repeat method which you will use over and over again to level.

Now to easily understand how this works is that there'll be stages where the monsters that you have previously aoe'd with arrow rain will die. It usually takes 50 to 70 seconds for one group of 3 to 5 monsters to die from arrow rain. The tough part of this is either not want to leave your area of effect which is killing the monsters that you have collected. This is why it is very important not to move very far away from your area of effect when gathering more monsters. Another thing to watch out for is not to collect too many monsters or you will be hit too much and possibly die.



Now let's look at the math involved here, let's say you're collecting 4 monsters per cycle and using arrow rain and moving on to the next group in a spawn area. As you continue you will find that each grouping of monsters collected are dying roughly around 10 seconds each. If you compare this to other classes area of effect grinding unless you're a high level ranger you will be killing the standard 40 to 43 monsters. So as you can see some time and effort and some sort of focus and determination you can succeed in gaining experience with your area of effect abilities.

Full Dex Build
Str: 15
Sta: 15
Dex: xxx

This is a standard build for a 1v1 Bow Jester. Best way to level using this build is to kill one monster at a time while grinding until you reach around level 70. You shouldn't have any problems leveling as long as you're building your character with full dexterity from the start. Now when you reach the level where you're starting to think about grinding with your AoE, it would be a good idea to make sure you have some good armor with some decent hit point bonus of around 7 to 8. With a nice Rasra/Restra set and you should be good to go. At this point the best Bow you can have is the angel bow, but you may have to settle with a nice Guardian bow instead which makes perfect sense since you have been using it for quite some time.

Just something to keep in mind while building this build. You really don't have to use a full dexterity build as once you reach maximum critical you could take the extra points and put them into stamina. The 30 to 50 points that will put extra in the dexterity rather than stamina is not a significant amount of damage compared to having noticeably more hit points if you were to take the extra points and put it into stamina. Either way it's up to you how you want to build your character and you can't go wrong with either. Just make sure it fits your play style.

Str- 15
Sta- 30
Dex- xxx
Int- 15

Bosshunting

Bow Jesters will have a very fun time when it comes to boss hunting and is one of the reasons why they have the deepest pockets in the game of Flff. All you really need to do is find one good ringmaster to take on bosses and help tank for you and heal. Since you have such high critical rates probably need to have is a ringmaster there just in case you might need a couple heals here or there. As a bow jester levels you'll have higher critical rates and block rates and won't have the need for any more accompaniment from other classes. Being able take on bosses one verse one will enable the jester to hoard all of the good drops.

Gears / Equipment

From levels 45 to 70 want to have flaming bow at either 3, 4, and higher if you can. And as for the armor we want either cruiser/hyper 0/ 3, Attack 8%/ 12%. For jewelry: Gore 3, Areks 3/ 6, Demols 3/ 12.

Like they said earlier this is the time range where we are basically one-on-one grinding until we are able to start using our Arrow Rain for Aoeing. Since using pipelining to its most effectiveness requires dense spawned areas in which monsters are close together. That is why Azria is the most effective place to start learning how to AoE.

Levels 70 to around 90:

Weapon: NPC Bow / Historic Bow 2/ 4
Armor: NPC Set 3/ 5, Defense 8%/ 12%
Jewelry: Gore 3, Areks 4- 6, Plugs 4/ 8

Now that we have the right gear we are now on our way to Azria to learn how to start grinding with our AoE. You could even use an NPC set of gear if you would like to just make things harder on you. At level 70 you can use the NPC bow if you cannot get or find the historic bow. The historic bow will give you a higher damage and increase block great which is a huge benefit to you while you are Aoeing.

Level 90 to 100

Weapon: Angel Bow 4/ 6 or higher or Ulti Lusaka Bow
Armor: Rasra/Restra set 4/ 6 or higher, Attack 12%/ 16%
Jewelry: Gore 3, Areks 6 or higher, Plugs 9/Demols 12

If we have been upgrading our angel bow along the way we should be still okay with that. However if we can find a mid range or lower range Lusaka bow that we can start upgrading off of you can also buy one of those. Your best bet is to sell your angel bow and get a Lusaka bow. Because your critical rate should be maxed by now the lusaka bow will benefit you in 1v1 and contribute to your AoEing.

If you haven't already you should switch to Rasra/Restra set at level 90 as its the best one we can have atm. You should be find one easily to buy since every jester uses one the prices should be a little lower for you to purchase it at. We should have some excellant block rates by this time also. You'll need it for Ghunting anyway so might as well get it or start upgrading it for use later.

Level 100 and up!

Weapon: Angel Bow 6 or higher or Ulti Lusaka Bow
Armor: Jenes/Jesis set 6 or higher, Attack 12%/ 16%
Jewelry: Gore 3, Areks 9 or higher, Demols 12

By this time our block rate should already be maxed. However if you have a high upgraded Restra suit it might be a good idea to continue using that. If you can swing it you would be better off with Jenes/Jesis armor as the additional block rate and HP bonus will greatly benefit you during your aoe's.

You still have the option to continue using your angle bow or lusaka bow for the hp bonus and since your prolly have a high upgrade on it. I would still recommend getting a LG bow anyway if you can. You should also be able to use your Demols full time now. Don't forget to switch gears for the mobs you are fighting if you still have those other gears and slots handy.

Skills and Explainations

Junk Arrow: you will use this skill extensively between level 15 and 60. You should Max this right away when possible.

Perfect Block: this is a very important buff for your character as this going to make life much more manageable during AoE. Don't forget to recast when you run out or you may die. This is another important skill to make as soon as you can.

Arrow Rain: this is one of the most important skills for your class. As this is your only way to AoE it should also be maxed pretty quickly. you may be able to hold off on upgrading this so heavily if you can find a good tanker for the tower or practice AoEing against steam walkers.

Dark Illusion: you will need to get the skill to level 8 so that you can acquire perfect block. You shouldn't need a much higher than this, however higher levels may help in PVP when you reach higher levels in the game.

Bow Mastery: this is a really nice skill to max out right away as a top-level you will receive 20 attack.

Fast Walker: this isn't quite as useful as it is for Ranger. The reason behind this is you aren't going to be gathering quite as many monsters as you would with a typical AoEing class. Since you have enough points to spend you can and might as well go ahead and max it.

PvP Guide

Bow jesters are great at PVP. You'll generally have an advantage over most classes in Flyff. In some instances you will be able to one-hit kill some your opponents at the same level as you. The only drawback is if your dark illusion is not in effect or wears off you can be in a world of hurt, potentially being killed quickly yourself.

VS Ringmasters: you shouldn't have much trouble's against this class so I won't get provide any techniques on this, since most ring masters are either battling ring masters or full support.

VS Knights: most of the Knight builds consist of a full stamina or a combination of a stamina/strength build. Bow jesters can be killed relatively easily or even one-hit killed from a leveled knight skill or a pre casted power stump while he is following the jester. If you can get off multiple criticals you'll have a chance to kill the knight pretty quickly. This is pretty much a tossup either way depending on your luck.

VS Billposters: as one of top PVP characters in the game Bill posters can cause some jesters some trouble. It's not much of a match when the bill poster gets off Belial Smashing in a chain. Best chance here for a bow jester is to run some distance and use his bow from a long-range and hope to get enough critical off to defeat the bill poster. This is where the fast walker skill comes into play, another reason to max it even though it uses for it are not many.

VS YoYo Jesters: these battles can be very close, depending on who uses dark illusion first and who has the better dark illusion can play a very large role in a dual. The gesture needs to avoid being caught with a 16 or more crossline or he or she will most likely die. Get some range and launch your critical's and you'll do just fine.

VS Bow Jesters: this all depends on who has the highest dark illusion and who can cast the first. There've been a couple times where we both one hit kill each other. It's kind it comes down to speed and strategy using fast walker.

VS Blade: you shouldn't have too much trouble here as blades are considered the weakest in PVP. However you can still be killed if you are unskilled PVP and the blader has some really good gear.

VS Ranger: once again this comes down to a battle strategy as dark illusion comes into play again. Who has the highest level in who has the first shot will have the advantage. You may also have the advantage if you find that your opponent likes to use the specific elemental arrow in which case you can stat your gear to reduce damage from this element.

VS Elementors: this is probably the easiest kill you will ever have since your opponent will have extremely slow casting times. However if you need an elementor with Myuran/Myurian sets which decreases the casting time by 20% and whatever other types of gear they have decreased casting time stacked with. Also beware of Windfield as this will greatly decrease your running speed but luckily you have range.

VS Psykeepers: this is a pretty easy kill if you can catch them without their Crucio turned on. If it is it is nearly impossible for you to defeat them.

Credits go to Haplo (freetoplaymmorpgs.com ) .