Aen's Hardcore Character Guide
I made this guide for the people who want to be a bit different, or simply are bored and want to make a hardcore character. Judging from my own experiences, having a 240 hardcore character, I don't think hardcore is useless or a waste of time at all, I find it challenging and it's a change from the normal gaming. Ok, let's get started shall we.
What is hardcore, and why would I want to make a HC char?
A hardcore character is a character with a limited amount of reincarnations, starting the game with 7, meaning you can't die too much or it will get deleted. Of course there aren't only bad things about it, let me list the benefits and penalties of HC.
Pros:
- Requires 33% less experience per level, meaning that they'll level up way faster
- Requires 33% less practice points to increase skills and spells
- Requires 33% less effort to increase a skill or spell through use
- Cannot die from a spell surging
- Can kill other hardcore characters if they are 91+ and their opponent is within 30 levels
- Gets 2 more reincarnations every time they multiclass and 3 at Archon
- Has numerous pieces of hardcore-only equipment available to them
- Gets a spliffy [HC] tag in red on ”who”
- Gets ranked on the hardcore rankings on the official Materia Magica website if they are powerful enough
Cons:
- Have to be very cautious at all times because of the limited number of reincarnations
- Can be killed anywhere by other hardcore characters if they are 91+ and their opponents are within 30 levels of them
- Can only quit in [SAFE] rooms
- Cannot recieve tourmalines through use of the ”class transfer” command
Hardcore Character Leveling
Leveling a hardcore character isn't as hard as it may seem, as for the 91 first levels there are a few basic things you should think of especially:
- Consider your choice of race and classes carefully to make sure this is the character you really want and that it'll stand a chance against other hardcores.
- Set a ”wimpy” which allows you to flee automatically if your hp gets below a certain number. I suggest setting it to at least 10~30% of your total hp depending on how much you have.
- Never enter dangerous areas or playerkilling zones unless you are 100% sure you'll make it out from there alive.
- Camp quests first class! First class is the golden age of a hardcore character. The quests are easy, there's no risk of getting HC pk'd and you can save up practices for second class.
- Try to keep your equipment top notch, decent AR will help you alot.
- Joining a clan is very good idea as you will most probably get help from higher leveled characters with harder quests and marks.
- Accept that you won't be able to get all the marks available for your class because of the dangers involved in aquiring it.
Suggested leveling areas for first class
- Level 1-10: Lasler obviously
- Level 11-25: Kill mobs in rune forest and get the various low-level marks
- Level 26-60: Level with experience gained from quests and/or find people to form with at Templeton streets or Pirate's Cove streets.
Multiclassing
Once you are ready for multiclassing, there are a few ways you could go by for getting the tourmalines you need.
- Get them at Verity yourself and do the Mark of Patience
- Buy or be given on-hand tourms from someone else
- Have your non-HC alt get the tourms from Verity or The Proving Grounds
My suggestion here is that you find a formation, go to Verity, get the mark, then
either buy tourms or get them with your alt.
Second Class
Now that you have multiclassed, you will have to start thinking about protecting yourself against other HC characters, try to get as many quests as possible before level 91. Second class is where hardcore PK is the most frequent.
- Make use of the racial/class benefits you have, for example, sidhes and feys can shift during night time to not be seen on where and classes with throwing can use smoke bombs to get away from battle.
- Never idle in forms or out of [SAFE] rooms at all or there's a very high chance you'll be coming back with one less reincarnation.
- Always keep ”Word of Recall” scrolls with you, unless you have the spell yourself.
Suggested leveling areas for second class
- Unorthodox areas, meaning places that other players don't go to in general. This is the best choice for people trying to avoid HC PK at any cost.
- Vospire and Diocletian, this is probably the fastest way to get you to 120, though it involves more risk, as most second class HC pkers hang around Dio waiting for prey.
Third Class
If you manage getting to third class, you've probably been starting to get some of the HC thinking. From here on, just go by as you did in second class.
Suggested leveling areas for third class
- Lakes around Alyria. Ayara Lake north of Rune is a good choice. Kill the weak krakens (Use consider before you attack), and the sneaky crocodiles once you get a bit higher.
- Killing pirates! If you have a ship, or a friend with a ship, this might be one of the best ways to level as HC. Efficient exp if the ship and captain is good enough.
- Irda Caverns. One of the quickest ways of getting to 180, especially if you are formed. This place is a bit more risky to level at though, as it's very easy to see where you are on ”where" and it's a common third class spot. A few places to look out for here is:
- The moat obviously, having several NPK and CPK areas where you can get killed by normal players as well.
- Various death traps around the isle.
- The room by the slave pens with trolls, if you go in here and you're idle, you are most probably dead unless you are with a good form.
- The NPK and CPK areas inside the caverns, don't enter these unless you really trust your form and are certain that nobody is there.
- The Mama Dragon's cave on the isle itself.
- Simon Bloodbane inside his castle.
Fourth Class
If you got all the way to fourth class you can be proud of yourself, this is something many have failed to do. Now you only have to survive through 59 more perilous levels. Do not fear though, thanks to your 33% bonus towards experience and the very limited amount of fourth class HC characters, this will be done in a breeze.
Suggested leveling areas for fourth class
- Kill sneaky crocodiles in the lakes of Alyria. This will not work all the way to hero, but is a good way to get you started.
- Kill pirates! Yar!@ I really recommend this way of leveling for fourth class. Once again, you'll either need a ship or a friend with one to do this.
- Templeton Catacombs, or probably more fitting, 'The catacombs of endless grinding'. This place will get you alot of betters and there are always forms around to level with. Beware though, as this is one of the most populated dungeons in the game, the probability of getting HC pk'd is very high, assuming there are any active fourth class hardcores around.
Hardcore Equipment
This certainly requires its own section, being a really nice thing about HC. The hardcore equipment pieces are unique for hardcore characters, meaning no one else can use them. There aren't too many different hardcore-only items in the game right now, but as promised from Ingenii, there will be more. One of the most sought after hardcore items is the 'Manual of Combat Readiness', which is a manual giving you a random stat attribute. Its level is 240 though, so you can't use it for lower leveled hardcores.
First Class Equips
a platinum breastplate
a bracer of the Beltan knights
a heart-shaped talisman
a pair of platinum thighguards
a pair of platinum shinguards
the all-seeing eye of the vengeful archangel
a sylph wing
Second Class Equips
a clamshell buckler
a discipline stick
a platinum tailring
a tourmaline broadaxe
a blessed blade
Third Class Equips
an obsidian gargoyle tailguard (Easy to get from the obsidian gargoyle in Dio)
a sloth-hide cloak
a studded leather vest (Very useful, alot of players will sell this. Obtained from Thanatosis)
Fourth Class Equips
a prized ring
a pair of platinum shinguards
a manual of combat readiness (Alters random attribute by 1. Scatter)
brains of the hodag
Archon Equips
a steel no-dachi
a pair of runed bracers (These are insane, affects hp by 600+ and gives svs)
Taken from Clan Annwn, you can find out more about these items there. This list is far from complete, as I'm sure there are other HC gears out there, please e-mail me if you find out about more.
Hardcore PK
This is something that I personally don't have much experience of as I spent my leveling days escaping from it as much as I could. I hope that sometime in the future I'll get to know this side of hardcore more though. If anyone would like to add something here, feel free to e-mail me!
With all this said, I think I covered up most of the vital spots of being hardcore. If you have any questions/feedback/suggestions feel free to e-mail me at robinsuu[at]hotmail[dot]com.