Thief Guide

Complete guide for a good Thief in version 83 of MapleStory this guide is clearly a suggestion made of pure experience of old players.


Table of contents

1. Pros & Cons
2. AP Build
3. Skill Point distribution of 1st - 4th Job
4. 4th Job Skill Quests/Book Locations
5. Training Locations
6. Leeching - When to leech
7. Bossing
   • Headless Horseman
   • Papulatus
   • Zakum
   • Krexel
   • Anego
   • Bigfoot
   • Pianus
   • Horntail
   • Bodyguard A & B + “The Boss”
8. Equipment
9. HP Washing for Night Lords
10. Comparison - Night Lords in terms of DPS

Pros & Cons
For a closer look on Night Lords compared to the other single-target DPS classes (Corsairs and Bowmasters), take a look at the last section of this guide.

Pros	Cons
Night Lords are considered one of the strongest single-target DPS class in the game Possibly the strongest bossers around Highly wanted in bossing parties for their damage output Very agile with Flash Jump and Haste High Avoidability and Accuracy Early bossing and close to no potion usage Attack potions last 50% longer with Alchemist	Heavily relies on their party members for buffs like Sharp Eyes and Hyper Body Expensive to fund properly and play (Expensive equipment and attack potions) One of the few classes to need HP washing to boss early enough (so even more expensive) Slow grinders early-game until they can boss properly Not the best at grinding even at late levels, so very reliant on bossing for best EXP

AP Build

There’s several ways you can use your AP on a Night Lord. We recommend one path, which is the following:

DEX-less transitioning into low-DEX

This is similar to other classes. You have a main stat, LUK, and a secondary stat needed to wear your equipment, DEX. It’s very simple: Keep your DEX at 25 (you need a minimum of 25 DEX as Night Lord) and put the rest into LUK until you’re transitioning into low-DEX. Since there’s Maple weapons that don’t require DEX, you won’t need DEX, so putting points into LUK will just improve your damage and make it easier to level. Maple Weapons reach up to LV. 64 and the late-game weapons only start at LV. 100. This leads to the conclusion that…

• If you have good DEX-less gear, you should start adding DEX at level 120-130 to wear a better Craven/Sleeve, unless you have a very good Craven/Sleeve, too.
• If you have mediocre DEX-less gear, you should start adding DEX at level 80-100 to wear a Craven/Sleeve soon enough.

Now, what should your base DEX be? This depends on your funding. You need 140 DEX to wear a Craven, and most of your equips should be scrolled with DEX and some items give a lot of DEX clean, too (Zakum Helmet/HTP), so a good starting point would be 70-80 DEX. You can simply reset DEX or LUK back and forth with AP resets when you get different gear, they aren’t too expensive, so adding a bit more (or less) isn’t a problem at all.


Rogue: Skill Point distribution
Level 10: +1 Lucky Seven (1)
Level 11 - 12: +5 Nimble Body (5), +1 Keen Eyes (1)
Level 13 - 15: +7 Keen Eyes (MAX), +2 Lucky Seven (3)
Level 16 - 22: +17 Lucky Seven (MAX), +3 Disorder (3), +1 Dark Sight (1)
Level 23 - 30: +19 Dark Sight (MAX), +5 Nimble Body (10)

Final Skill distribution (total: 61 SP used)

 Nimble Body: 10/20
 Keen Eyes: 8/8 (MAX)
 Disorder: 3/20
 Lucky Seven: 20/20 (MAX)
 Dark Sight: 20/20 (MAX)
 Double Stab: 0/20

It’s pretty straightforward. You put one in Lucky Seven since this is your attack, then get 5 in Nimble Body to unlock Keen Eyes. Keen Eyes basically triples your throwing distance and makes it a lot easier to train, and is needed later on at bosses, too (unless you want to be punching monsters forever). After maxing Keen Eyes, max Lucky Seven for more damage. Finally, put 3 points in Disorder to unlock Dark Sight and max this and dump the rest of the points in Nimble Body. Double Stab remains untouched.

We’ve chosen Dark Sight over Nimble Body to max early on, since the maxed Dark Sight means you won’t get slowed when in Dark Sight, which is a pain at the slow-moving early levels without Haste. Nimble Body isn’t of that much importance and can be maxed with the spare SP from 2nd Job, anyway.

Assassin: Skill Point Distribution

Level 30 - 31: +3 Claw Mastery (3), +1 Critical Strike (1)
Level 32 - 41: +29 Critical Strike (MAX), +1 Claw Mastery (4)
Level 42 - 44: +1 Claw Mastery (5), +6 Claw Booster (6), +2 Haste (2)
Level 45 - 50: +18 Haste (MAX)
Level 51 - 55: +14 Claw Booster (MAX), +1 Claw Mastery (6)
Level 56 - 60: +14 Claw Mastery (MAX), +1 Nimble Body (11)
Level 61 - 63: +9 Nimble Body (MAX)
Level 64 - 70: +3 endure (to unlock Drain)+21 Drain (21)

Final Skill Distribution (total: 121 SP used)
 Critical Strike: 30/30 (MAX)
 Claw Booster: 20/20 (MAX)
 Haste: 20/20 (MAX)
 Claw Mastery: 20/20 (MAX)
 Endure: 3/20
 Drain: 18/30
 Nimble Body: +10 for 20/20

OR 28/30 Drain and leave Nimble Body at 10/20.

For most classes, maxing Mastery first or second is a must. Assassins are an exception here, since Lucky Seven’s damage is based on a different formula and completely neglects Mastery, so your damage will be as stable as it was before even without it. The +200 Star bonus per set isn’t very useful early on, since you don’t use that many stars.
Critical Strike first gives you a lot more damage (+50% damage!), which you will need. After that, get Booster to level 6 so it’ll last a minute; the speed boost is the same throughout all levels (+2). After that, max Haste; this helps both you and your party. Now you can start putting points in Claw Mastery for later levels, and after that, fill up Nimble Body for some extra accuracy (useful for when you start sniping Newties). Dump the rest in Drain. Drain isn’t terrible of a skill- it can save a potion if you’re lazy or confident enough to cast it in between L7 throws to top off what a potion might not fill up.

Hermit: Skill Point Distribution

Level 70: +1 Avenger (1)
Level 71 - 80: +30 Shadow Partner (MAX)
Level 81 - 88: +4 Avenger (5), +20 Flash Jump (MAX)
Level 89 - 97: +25 Avenger (MAX), +2 Alchemist (2)
Level 98 - 103: +18 Alchemist (MAX)
Level 104 - 110: +20 Meso Up (MAX), +1 Shadow Web (1)
Level 111 - 117: +19 Shadow Web (MAX),
Level 118 - 120: 11 free SP (If you dont put anything into Shadow Meso, you’ll have these 11 SP to add into Drain and whatever else you want to add into. Shadow meso is essentially useless and it’s perfectly fine to skip putting any SP into.)

Final Skill Distribution (total: 151 SP used)

 Alchemist: 20/20 (MAX)
 Shadow Partner: 30/30 (MAX)
 Meso Up: 20/20 (MAX)
 Shadow Web: 20/20 (MAX)
 Shadow Meso: 0/30 or 11/30
 Avenger: 20/20 (MAX)
 Flash Jump: 20/20 (MAX)


The reason we chose Shadow Partner over Avenger is the fact that Avenger is quite weak even when it’s maxed, is only useful when it hits over 4-5 mobs, and it’s mostly just used for gathering. Shadow Partner gives you 50% extra damage at max level, giving you the damage needed for sniping Newties around level 85-90. Critical strikes get cloned, too, meaning that if your main attack is a crit, the duplicate will be, too.
This eats Summoning Rocks, though, so it’s wise to do the Alcaster questline, which you can find a guide of here.

Flash Jump is your mobility, so that’s maxed second.

After those two, go for Avenger. Alchemist should be maxed after that; this skill is mainly of use at bosses in terms of attack potions, since it makes them last 50% longer, effectively making them cheaper for you to use. Max Meso Up after that for the little bit of extra mesos while training, and dump the rest of your points in Shadow Web. You’ll be left with 11 SP by level 120, which you can do whatever you want with. You can either finish off Drain and toss the rest into Endure, or anything you want. Max Drain isn’t too bad, especially if you’ve HP washed and can afford to take more than one hit from a monster/boss.


Night Lord: Skill Point Distribution

This depends on the availability of Mastery Books. Night Lords don’t have the easiest/cheapest books, but they’re not too hard to get by. Here’s the priority of maxing skills:

1. Triple Throw
2. Maple Warrior
3. Shadow Shifter
4. Shadow Stars
5. Venom
6. Ninja Storm
7. Taunt
8. Ninja Ambush

You max Triple Throw first. Put one point in Shadow Stars, it’s already effective at level 1. TT10 and 20 are only obtainable from Zakum, we recommend trying to get them before Level 120 since they can be hard to get (it took me about 7 tries to get a TT10 to drop); TT20 is relatively cheap, though. TT30 is even harder to get; it only drops from Horntail and sells for about 500m, so you’ll most likely not get it to level 30 before Level 160 or so.
Note You'll want to get Hero's Will by the time you hit 155. Currently you can only put one point in it, but it can save you during HT.
Information on how to get Hero's will is found here

Maple Warrior and Shadow Shifter are maxed after that. Maple Warrior gives you a good chunk of extra damage and Shadow Shifter makes you get hit a lot less, potentially increasing your DPS.
Taunt, Venom and Ninja Storm are up next after Shadow Stars. They’re not that important at bosses, which will be your main interest late-game, but help you with training at Temple of Time or other places. Venom is helpful at Skeles before you move onto Temple of Time, if you want to stick around and duo with some Bishops for a while. Ninja Storm acts like a warrior’s Rush in the sense it pushes mobs away from you, at level 30 it’s a 100% success rate. Pretty helpful if you’re tired of punching things that get too close.
Taunt is a helpful little mobbing skill when monsters are closely packed together. The exp and drop boost are nice too, but have a marginal effect even when maxed.
Ninja Ambush is basically useless, don’t even bother.

4th Job Skill Explanation

 Triple Throw: Your main attack. It outdamages Lucky Seven at level 1 (Lucky Seven does 150% damage twice, Triple Throw does 102% damage three times: 300% vs 306% damage). It has a 650ms delay, meaning you can use it 1.667 times a second (~10 stars per second).

 Maple Warrior: Self-explanatory. Increases your stats by 5%/10%, which is a pretty helpful boost for damage and helps you to lower your base DEX a bit as well. It’s also a party buff, so you can help other classes who don’t get to max MW as soon as you.

 Shadow Stars: Shadow star is an extremely useful skill. Every cast consumes 200 stars from your set and allows you to throw unlimited stars for the duration of the buff. Even at level 1, it can save you stars when grinding or bossing.

At level 1, Shadow Star will last 62 seconds. Let’s say 60 seconds to include a small margin:
100 attacks per minute means 600 stars used per minute. This effectively saves you 400 stars. At level 30, the duration is 120 seconds, so 1,200 stars are used, which means you will save 1,000 stars per Shadow Star when it’s maxed.

 Shadow Shifter: NLs already have high avoidability, adding onto that with an extra 30% chance of avoiding attacks makes us nearly untouchable. We can dish out high DPS without getting knocked back or having our attacks interrupted as often. Also, it saves lives (and potion costs). I can’t tell you the amount of times that the tail at Horntail should have 1 shot me, but Shadow Shifter proc’d instead, saving my life. Same goes for accidentally jumping into Zakum body or getting just a bit too close to Anego.

 Venomous Star: Does exactly as the skill states. At a % chance, a mob will become poisoned and its HP will decrease over time. (HP decreased is a fix rate dependant of the monster’s HP, not your attack). However, this does not work on bosses nor your final grinding mob at Temple of Time in Oblivion. It’s only useful at low levels for skele grinding, if even for that. I, personally, went with level 1 Venom all the way until late 170s.

 Taunt: At max level, Taunt is a skill that gives a +30% drop and EXP increase for mobs only. It does not work on bosses- however, it consumes no stars and has no minimum distance to cast it, unlike our other mobbing skill Avenger. While the EXP and drop bonus is nice, I rarely use it for anything more than gathering mobs to lure them in and finish the mob with Avenger. Taunt 30 is GPQ exclusive, so it might be difficult to get.

 Ninja Storm: When maxed, Ninja Storm acts kind of like a different sort of Rush. It pushes mobs away from you in either direction, giving you just enough space to throw some stars or throw an avenger without punching the mobs. It’s also useful to keep the little Jr. Wraiths out of your way at Bigfoot. When it isn’t maxed at level 30, though, it’s more annoying than it’s worth because of the lower success rate %. Ninja Storm 30 is also GPQ exclusive, making it a bit difficult to get.

 Ninja Ambush: Not very useful of a skill overall. It contains a group of monsters and deals a small amount of damage per second. 


4th Job Skill Quests/Book Locations

• Triple Throw
  • TT10 comes from Zakum, there’s no quest involved.
  • Mastery Book 20: Zakum
  • Mastery Book 30: Horntail
• Maple Warrior
  • You get this by talking to your 4th job NPC right after the job advancement.
  • Maple Warrior 20 is only available from Horntail.
• Shadow Shifter
  • Shadow shifter is immediately available upon advancing to 4th job.
  • Mastery Book 20: Dark Wyvern, Pianus and Dodo
  • Mastery Book 30: Qualm Monk Trainee, Pianus, Dodo and Leviathan
• Shadow Stars
  • Shadow Stars is immediately available upon advancing to 4th job.
  • Mastery Book 20: Brexton
  • Mastery Book 30: Oblivion Trainee Monk and Papulatus
• Venom
  • Venomous Star is also immediately available upon advancing to 4th job.
  • Mastery Book 20: Dark Cornian, Green Cornian and Papulatus
  • Mastery Book 30: Zakum
• Ninja Storm
  • Ninja Storm can only become available after completing the Unkown Thief's quest.
  • Mastery Book 20: Skelosaurus
  • Mastery Book 30: Guild Party Quest only
• Taunt
  • Taunt can be obtained from El Nath PQ.
  • Mastery Book 20: Manon and Nest Golem
  • Mastery Book 30: Guild Party Quest
• Ninja Ambush
  • Mastery Book 20: Spirit Viking and Krexel
  • Mastery Book 30: Pianus, Guild Party Quest and Krexel

Ninja Storm: "The Sealed Letter"

To get Ninja Storm, you first need to hunt for the Unknown Letter Storybook from Ghost Pirates or Dual Ghost Pirates.



Once you’ve found that, head on over to Ludibrium and then go inside Terrace Hall. Go all the way left until you get to Cloud Terrace 5, going through the portal will bring you to Cloud Balcony. Go all the way left until you hit the hidden teleporter, which will bring you to “Hidden Balcony’.
Talk to Unknown Thief and accept the quest.
He asks you to visit guild headquarters and bring him a marble with a Maple Leaf in it. It is NOT a drop so don’t waste your time killing monsters.
Go to Top of the Hill in Orbis and double-click the Maple Leaf on top of the guild hall

Take this back to the mysterious ninja back on the balcony.
You'll be asked to find three different items and told to bring them to Hellin, your 4th job instructor.

• Black Tornado (Thanatos)
• Griffey Wind (Griffey)
• Boogie’s Cursed Whirlwind (Boogie is the monster that spawns at Zakum)
  

Bring the three items to Hellin (4th job instructor) and you will unlock Ninja Storm.

Taunt: El Nath PQ

Taunt is obtained through El Nath PQ. You need a Warrior without Power Stance to enter, and preferably a 4th job Mage who needs Infinity. The Taunt Skill Book will drop from the monsters summoned inside, and its your job to kill them and protect Tylus for the duration of the “PQ”.

Ninja Ambush: The Night Warrior

To unlock Ninja Ambush, talk to Hellin, the 4th job Thief instructor and she'll tell you to talk to the Dark Lord.
Go to Kerning City and talk to the Dark Lord. He'll send you to special map where you must defeat six of his Disciples.
Note: the map currently has no exit, so simply relog once you’ve killed all 6
After you've completed that quest, head to Arec in El Nath and you will unlock Ninja Ambush.


Training Locations

All locations here are sorted from best to worst. These are just what we think is best, but this isn’t necessarily the case (only some locations were tested and posted on Plenty’s XP/Hour thread). Please remember: For grinding, partying will be better!

For Newtie sniping at level 85 or higher, you can use this accuracy calculator (http://screamingstatue.com/MSCalc.php) to see if you can hit Newties. Training there’s only efficient after a hit rate of at least 80 – 90%. (You can use Thief Elixirs from NLC to get +9 Accuracy, or Sniper Pills from Ludibrium for +10 Accuracy.)
One more thing: Just +100 or +200 range will normally not make a difference. It’s all about the amount of hits killing them takes; NLs have the problem of damage inconsistency, though, sadly. Just test it out and see what’s best.

Level 10 – 15:

1. Henesys - Henesys Hunting Grounds I – III
2. Ellinia - Dungeon, Southern Forest I, II (“Slime Tree”)

Level 16 – 20:

• Kerning City – Subway Construction Site (Bubblings)

Level 21 – 29:

• Kerning PQ
• Perion - Land of Wild Boar II
• Dungeon - Cave of Evil Eye II
• Ludibrium - Terrace Hall
• Perion Excavation Site III - Rocky Masks, Wooden Masks

Level 30 – 50:

• Monster Carnival (Currently disabled as of June 2016)
• LV. 30 - 35: Ludibrium – Terrace Hall
• LV: 30 - 45: Sahel 3 (Sand Rat, Scorpion)
• LV. 35 - 45: Dungeon – Cave of Evil Eye II
• LV. 40 - 50: Ludibrium – Path of Time <1>

Level 51 – 71:

• Ludibrium Maze PQ
• Haunted House – Sophilia’s Bedroom
• El Nath – Forest of Dead Trees IV
• Singapore – Ghost Ship 2
• LV. 60+: Windraiders (Lower Ascent)
• Mu Lung: Practice Field: Beginner

Level 72 – 74:

• El Nath – Forest of Dead Trees III
• Singapore – Ghost Ship 2
• Windraiders (Lower Ascent)
• Haunted House – Sophilia’s Bedroom

Level 75 – 94:

• MesoGears – Wolf Spider Cavern
• LV. 75+: Windraiders + Stormbreakers (Cavern of Pain from Lower Ascent)
• LV. 80+ Headless Horseman (requires 3,000 HP – depends on availability)
• LV. 85+: Leafre – Destroyed Dragon Nest
• LV. 85 – 94: Aquarium – Deep Sea Gorge I (Squids)

Level 95 – 119:

• Zipangu – Encounter with the Buddha
• Leafre – Destroyed Dragon Nest
• Headless Horseman (requires 3,000 HP – depends on availability)
• CBD – Ulu Estate II
• Temple of Time – Memory Lane 1 – 5

Level 120 – 134:

• Leafre – The Dragon Nest Left Behind (with a Bishop preferably)
• Ludibrium – Origin of Clocktower (Pap duo with BM- solo not worth it)
• Temple of Time – Memory Lane 1 -5 / Road of Regrets 1 – 5
• Leafre – Destroyed Dragon Nest
• Funded: Zipangu – Parlor (Anego)
• Funded: Bigfoot

Level 135+:

• Bossing: Zakum, Krexel, Anego, Papulatus
• Duo: Temple of Time – Road to Oblivion 2 / 4 (A two-hit warrior is best experience/hour)
• Any of the Level 120 - 134 training locations

Level 155+:

• Horntail
• Any of the Level 135+ training locations

Training vs. Leech: When to buy leech

Leech is completely optional, but if you’ve got end-game gear and just want to get 4th job already (or you’re HP washing with a high base INT) it’s the most effective, and quickest way to level. But it costs money, and quite a bit of it. If you're going to leech, it's only worth your time/money at these level ranges.
If you want to know the in-depth details about leeching, check out Plenty’s Leeching guide for XP rates and whatnot. Leeching will almost always be faster! Don’t get too used to the XP rate, you’ll just make yourself hate grinding more and more.

Level 58 – 74: Ghost Ship 2 leech
This is the first possible leeching location. But there’s not much to discuss: Don’t buy leech here. Why not? Because the XP is terrible and it’s not worth the money. You’re better off training at Ghost Ship 2 , Coolie Zombies or LMPQ, the XP is a lot better and it saves you a lot of money. Unless you’re heavy (full int) HP washing, don’t buy leech here. It’s not worth it.

Level 75 – 85: Wolf Spider leech
Now here is where it’s even worth leeching. If you really don't want to train, then if you have the spare money, buy leech at least from 75-80.
Wolf spiders leech is the fastest in the game, so it won’t cost you too much and it’ll push you through some hard levels. You’re still maxing Shadow Partner, which you’ll need for Newt sniping, and not having to train here will save you a lot of trouble.
Leeching here is the best XP rate for your money.

Level 85 – 105: Ulu Estate I & II leech
This really depends on your funding. Training a Hermit isn’t great sometimes; our best mob attack is relatively weak and isn’t even maxed until the end of these levels. We’re long range attackers, and the best training spots are usually packed without many sniping areas.
But it’s certainly possible and not terrible enough to say that you need leech, no matter what.
Buy leech if you have enough money or if you’re HP washing, but there’s good training possibilities so it’s not necessary.

Level 105 – 120: Petrifighter & Skele leech
Similar to the above. Level 105 – 120 is a pain for any job unless you’re a Mage or like to blow up your money with Meso Explosion all day. However, at this level, you can also start getting leech from bosses starting with Headless Horseman (at level 96), and at 105 you can leech from Bigfoot. Leech will be faster; best training options are still duo at Skeles with a Bishop if you have the damage. Newt duos aren’t too bad either- especially if you can find an Arch Mage or new Bishop. If you’re desperate and burnt out, leeching from 110-120 won’t take more than a couple hours of leeching at Skeles.
Buy leech only if you have the funding.

Level 120+
Just don’t. Bossing is faster, but soloing isn’t worth it unless you’re bored out of your mind or desperate. An HS mule will make life easy (and it’s easier to make than an SE mule), but you should always try to find a Bowmaster or Marksman to duo with.
If you’re really desperate, leech some (not too much) or, even better, duo with a Bishop. Once you’re at LV. 135, there’s no reason to buy leech anymore since you can do Krexel and Zakum now . (At level 135, a full party zakum run gives almost 40% EXP)
Leeching isn’t worth it here anymore.


Bossing

Finally, you've reached level 120. You’ve got Triple Throw (I hope!) and things become fun. This is probably the entire reason that you chose to be a NL in the first place.
As a Night Lord, most bosses aren’t that hard, since you only really use one attack which you spam all day. The main problem for bosses is your HP, actually: There’s HP requirements for bosses that NLs don’t always fulfil. The other key aspect is positioning. I mean, it’s obvious that you shouldn’t Flash Jump into Horntail (which people do for fun anyways), but bossing can be made a whole lot easier with the right position. In some places, your stars won't hit the monster if you aren't standing in the right spot (such as Krexel), or you’re more likely to be hit with otherwise avoidable damage/effects.


Headless Horseman
Some people don't consider HH to be a boss compared to an area boss, but he's decent EXP at lower levels and is the first boss to have a chance at dropping Maple Leaves which award you 5k NX.
He's viable training from as early as level 80+ as long as you can constantly KB him.

Headless Horseman

Level: 101
HP 3,500,000
EXP 1,200,000
Knockback: 1,500
Respawn time: Every 4-6 hours
HH is pretty straightforward. He spawns in several locations:

• Phantom Forest: Hollowed Ground
  (Right of the Haunted Mansion, before Bent Tree)
• Phantom Forest: Forgotten Path
• Phantom Forest: Hidden Evil
  (Bent Tree > Top right sign post)
• Phantom Forest: Creeping Evil
  (Bent Tree > Bottom right portal ((Haunted Hill)) > Middle sign post)
• Phantom Forest: The Evil Dead
  (Forgotten Path ((top half)) > Up at Sign post )
• Phantom Forest: Crossroads 1, 2 and 3 
  Crossroads 1: Haunted Hill > Top most portal
  Crossroads 2: Haunted Hill > Bottom right portal
  Crossroads 3: Phantom Road ((Bent tree > Center to Crossroads 1 > Far Left > Far Right)) > Top center

This map may be useful for you if the above directions to the Crossroads confuses you. Keep in mind that all green arrows are places that we cannot currently reach, as the hidden gates don't work here in Royals even with the map. Black arrows means it's two-way, so back and forth. Orange arrows are one-way only.
Aside from his locations, all you need to know is that he does about 2.7k – 3k magic attack damage. If you stunlock him with Lucky 7 (Need to do enough damage to constantly KB him) or pin with Triple Throw, this won't be an issue.
HH mostly drops potions (ginger ales and sorcerer elixirs), some random equips, a few 30% scrolls such as Top Str 30%, NX and Pumpkin heads. HH heads can be used to turn in with other materials for a deputy star, or turn in individually to Lita Lawless for some EXP (600k exp, repeateable every 24 hours). The NX he drops varies between 100, 250, and very rarely 5k NX leaves.

Papulatus

Papulatus has two parts: The main body (Papulatus Clock) and the second body (Papulatus).

Papulatus Clock:
 
Level: 125
HP: 23,000,000
EXP: 2,384,000
Knockback: 10,000

Papulatus:
 
Level: 125
HP: 1,590,000
Knockback: 12,000
EXP 3,880,000
Respawn time: Limit of 2 runs per 24 hours; resets at midnight server time
This will probably be the first boss you encounter, if you don’t want to count Headless Horseman. Before we start, you’ll need to do the prequest and get the Ludibrium Medal to enter. Completing the prequests (which includes killing Pap at least once) will allow you to receive your crack daily (the item used to summon Papulatus, not the drug!). They’re not hard- start the prequests, and you just gather, it’s a no-brainer.

To summon it, drop the crack piece here (make sure it’s lined up as close as possible, or it won't summon):



Now that we start, your first challenge will be to pin Papulatus.
There’s something to keep in mind, though: You have to be able to hit 10,000 damage per line with (or without) a crit for (first body) Pap to even knock back in the first place. Even with pretty good gear, you’ll need Sharp Eyes to do so and Energizers at least, possibly Red Ciders or Heartstoppers at the early levels.
As soon as you've got him pinned,(to the left is easier) the next thing you will see is that he uses Dispel, a lot. However, there’s a way around this. As with other bosses, his attacks won’t hit you if you’re far enough from him. As long as you out of range he won't dispel you.

To show you:


Stand here and you can just spam Triple Throw. Only stand up top if you can survive the bombs touch damage (about 8k). 

If you start top, I recommend to jump down to the bottom right before first body dies to fight 2nd body from the bottom- he doesn't fly around out of reach if you start at bottom and can KB him from there.

Bombs spawn and will explode if touched. The bombs that spawn on top will deal around 8000 damage whereas the ones along the floor deal around 4000.

The 2nd body has little to no HP, but gives most XP, and also hits for quite a bit. You can avoid getting hit with Flash Jump/Dark Sight, but it’s hard, since this guy flies around. Alternatively, you can duck (press the down arrow) and if he flies over you he, will not touch you.

Zakum:

Level: 140
Total HP: 482,100,000
Total EXP: 63,123,200 (solo); 20 - 25 million (party)
Respawn time: Limit of 2 runs per 24 hours; resets at midnight server time

This is one of the most commonly done major bosses. He drops some wanted Mastery Books like Genesis 20 and Triple Throw 10/20 and the famous Zakum Helmets, meaning you can make some good cash off it. Night Lords are one of the most wanted attackers here, too.

Zakum helms are average 15-17 stat and can be up to 22 stat max godly.

Before you can face the almighty Zakum, you will have to go through the prequests. A guide on how to do these written by Christine can be found here.

After those pesky prequests, you can do Zakum, if you have Eye of Fires in your inventory. Sign up with your squad and you’re good to go! You can only sign up and enter twice every 24 hours, though, and you will have to wait 24 hours after the 2nd run to go in again. Once you've signed up do not CC or relog, unless you re-sign up into the squad again.

Once Zakum is summoned (drop an Eye of Fire on the middle platform), you have two jobs: Killing the top right arms and killing the main body. You’ll most likely be doing top arms with a Bowmaster. Each arm has around 25 - 35 million HP, so they shouldn’t take too long to kill. Nothing’s particularly hard about this part, just spam TT, really.

Once all 8 arms are down, time to kill the main body. This is divided into 3 parts, the last being the hardest of all. As a Night Lord, you’ll be spamming TT again, but there’s a problem: Zakum spawns a lot of mobs, so you might have to position yourself around a bit to be able to hit Zakum (unless there’s good mob control in your party). Zakum has a few attacks, one is a map-wide fire pillar that causes stuns though it can be avoided. The lightning attack seals your skills, and there's a 1/1 attack too that's seen by Zak flashing white.And of course, don’t touch the main body, the 3rd deals 9,000 damage.

Krexel:

Level: 140
HP: 250,000,000 per eye
EXP: 72,800,000 (32,000,000/40,800,000 respectively)
Respawn time: Limit of 2 runs per 24 hours; resets at midnight server time

Krexel is rather straight forward and simple. Like Zakum, he has two “forms”- the first one is just his left eye, and then, after that, you attack his right eye. He has a few attacks, but none deal very high damage.

A guide to the pre-quests can be found here:
http://mapleroyals.com/forum/threads/guide-to-krexels-pre-quests.16203

For the most part, Krexel barely attacks in comparison to Zak. The few attacks he does don't hit for more than 2.4k or 2.5k, unless you actually get up close to his eye and touch it. Then you’ll be hit with over 7k damage, so… don’t do it.

Occasionally, he’ll cancel weapon or magic damage, but the only notable thing is the mobs summon on the Right Eye.

Once the right eye drops below about 50%, mobs begin to spawn. They’re just annoying little buggers that get in your way and dont deal much damage. Ninja storm to get them away unless you have a warrior who doesnt mind dropping down to kill them instead. 
The best spots to attack from the entire time are from the bottom rocks.

Quick, easy diagram to show the best spots. The right side of the rocks is the best spot for the left Eye, and the left side of the rocks for the right Eye.
Krexel’s EXP was buffed on MapleRoyals. It also drops an Almighty Ring, which is a 2-slot ring, averaging 2-3 to each stat. Godly they can reach maximum 8 per stat. Only one ring drops per kill. They are untradeable but they are not one of a kind, so they can be collected.

Anego:


Level: 130
HP: 75,000,000
EXP: 19,500,000
Knockback: 1000
Respawn time: 6-8 hours

In Showa you can find a few different bosses- Male Boss, Female Boss, and then, after you defeat Bodyguard A & B, you can fight ‘The Boss’.
For now, we’ll just talk about Female Boss, so Anego.

Anego can be found from going to World Tour. From World Tour, head far right until you get to Mushroom Forest; don’t get confused with the path to Himes. Keep going right until you get to Forest of Animals, then the top right platform is Showa Street 3.
Once you get to Showa Town, talk to Konpei and ask him to take you to the Hideout.
Go inside, and keep going right until you reach the Parlor. Take care when entering the portal just in case.
Once you’ve found one, there’s a few things to know about fighting her.
First off, Anego has two attacks- one is a close ranged slap which deals about 18k damage. As a NL, you should never be close enough for her to slap you (Her touch damage is also around 11k. Don’t touch her, it hurts).
Her other attack is a long-distance gun attack, which deals around 5.4k damage. While it is possible to avoid being hit, it’s easier to just tank the hit to allow room for error.

To start pinning Anego, it’s easiest to clear the mobs in front of her and TT. Wait until she’s just close enough to FJ over, and continue to spam TT. Mob clear with Avenger as much as you can and continue to attack until she’s pushed over into the left most corner, left of the entrance portal.
Once pinned, you can stand anywhere on top of the table or slightly in front of it without being in range of her slap.


Note (if duoing): To rebuff safely without taking aggro on you and stealing pin, slowly stop your attacks before stepping back and casting your buffs. It takes a bit of practice to get it right, but it makes it easier since Shadow Partner has a long recast animation.

There’s another alternate way to pin Anego, but it’s not widely used here. The other way would be to pin her against the Sofa, but it’s tricky to do. The upside is that it’s more polite for people coming in to check for Anego (less chance of them coming in and being hit), and less iFrames, as well. Left side pin is still much easier, though.

Bigfoot:

 
Level: 110
HP: 32,000,000
Knockback: 2,000
EXP: 10,640,000
Respawn time: 15 - 27 hours

Apart from his immense feet and toe with ribbon, Bigfoot is known for being a real jerk with his iFrames. For those who don’t know: iFrames are moments where something can’t be hit (a monster or a character) by anything. And this is basically what Bigfoot does all day.

Bigfoot isn’t that hard to kill, really. Just two things you have to do: Pin him and spam Triple Throw. Pinning means that you get Bigfoot to the far side of the map, left or right doesn’t matter, and get him stuck there. When you attack him when he’s walking into the side of the map, he’ll get pinned, meaning he won’t walk back every time. This also means he’ll be untargetable after an attack for a bit over a second, so half of your attacks will essentially miss.

The easiest way to pin it is to simply attack it once or twice with TT and then Flash Jump over into a corner. Let him follow you into the corner, then once he’s right there you can Flash Jump over him- or if you don't feel safe, you can just Dark Sight over. Having a duo partner ‘pin’ him while you have it lured will make this easier (Bowmasters make the best duo partner here once again- but also because you will steal aggro from a Warrior and also mess up the timing of their attacks to avoid iFrames).

Bigfoot spawns in 8 maps. His respawn time is 15 - 27 hours; keep track of the respawn times with ~uptime. He spawns in:

• Twisted Paths 1 - 5
• Forgotten Path
• The Evil Dead
• Evil Rising

To navigate those maps, you’ll have to know the portal sequences. Dead Man’s Gorge (abbreviated DMG) is the map you reach when you go far right at Haunted House and then the top portal on the left side of the map. To illustrate it (with Marty’s amazing Paint skills):

Another way is just remembering the names of the maps.

Twisted Paths 1: DMG Left
Twisted Paths 2: DMG Left > Far Left
Twisted Paths 3: DMG Left > Left (one portal) > Same portal (you’ll be in Crossroads. Press up and go through)

Twisted Paths 3: (Can also be found) DMG Right > Far right > Left
Twisted Paths 4: DMG Right
Twisted Paths 5: DMG Right > Far Right

Forgotten Path: Twisted Paths 5 > 2nd most left portal > 1 portal to the left

(These two maps have Elderwraiths in them, which are annoying)
Evil Rising: Phantom Road - Signpost
Evil Dead: Forgotten Path (top) - Sign post

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Pianus:
 
Left side:
Level:110
HP: 24,000,000
EXP: 3,600,000

Right side:
Level: 110
HP: 30,000,000
EXP: 5,199,840

Easily one of the most annoying bosses, and yet also one of the most ignored and abandoned. Pianus spawns in Aqua Road - The Cave of Pianus, and both sides can spawn and attack at the same time. Both sides can also weapon/magic cancel.

You need about 4.6k to 5k HP to survive the unavoidable magic damage from the laser beams they can shoot across the map. Left side Pianus is weaker in HP, but makes up for it with frequent seals, dispels and 1/1 attacks. Right side Pianus has more HP, but doesn’t dispel or seal. Both sides can summon Blood Booms, which are just like the bombs at Pap, except they don't explode from being touched. However, they will explode if you cannot one hit them with 10k damage or more.

When they explode, they can deal up 8-10k damage. Just like Pap bombs, they don’t currently deal damage, but this can change in the future.
Pianus is only hunted for the chance of SE20 and Rush 30, as well as Shadow Shifter 20/30.
Left side only drops level 20 mastery books, whereas right side only drops level 30 books.

Horntail:

Level: 160
Total HP: 2,730,000,000

Horntail is essentially your end-game boss as of right now.
With 2.7 billion combined HP, he’s currently got the highest HP out of any boss you’ll be fighting against. In comparison, Zakum has just under 500 million HP.

The way to HT has changed over the past year, as of current (June 2016) most parties have both ranged and melee starting together on the left side instead of splitting them apart.

Pre-heads are pretty simple. Spam TT and kill. I only use heartstoppers for pre-heads, at the most. Save your apples for the actual body itself.

A note- try not to haste your DrK if they're zerking and are seduce target for pre-heads. While warriors are up close to the heads and pre-heads, they can fall down without getting hit with touch damage if they don't have a high speed. With haste, the speed will push them into the heads if they fall, and the touch damage will kill your DrK when they're low HP from zerk.

(Another little tip: Right before HT is spawned, go into dark sight before you GFX. That way if you lag a little bit, you don’t risk getting pushed around and dying before the fight even begins.)

As a NL your main position will be on the left side of the map at the start. Ranged party goes from legs, then they move across the middle to attack the tail from the left side.

Make sure your hero always has haste while tail is alive– with 140% speed if they get seduced they can take one hit from the tail and survive. Without haste, they will likely take two hits from tail and die.

Starting at legs, stay in front of the rope but behind the rock platform as seen here:


Then when legs are down, move forward to start tail.

You won't be able to clearly see if your attacks are hititng or not, but as a little tip if you have an NX star cover you'll be able to see the animation hitting the hit box.

Do not pass this rock, or the middle line of HT's abdoment. His attacks can knock you to the right, pushing you into range for the tail to hit you. Cornians that spawn can also push you forward, so be alert and be careful.


There’s a few things to know, namely the fact that the tail can touch you for about 30k damage.

After legs and tail are dead, most of the time ranged will go up to Head A until Head A is just at about 55%. Below that and dark wyverns start to summon, which will dispell people and just be a nuisance.
After Head A is at 55% ranged go down and over to the right side to start at Head C while melee continue to kill wings, maximising their DPS by attacking multiple targets at once. Once wings are done the melee join ranged at Head C. (If your party only has one melee attacker, sometimes they'll keep all ranged at Head A to kill it instead of moving to head C, to maximize melee DPS)

Don't Flash Jump over the heads… unless you can tank nearly 20k damage (or live a risky life).

If you don't have HB and have below 7.6k HP: You will be required to start up at Head A until wings are dead, where the leg's magic attack won't touch you.

If you're starting at Head A you want to be very careful to stand right in front of the rope, but not too far forward because when the wings lift up it attacks, and can hit you with its magic attack.


After Legs, Tail, Head A and Head C are down the focus turns to Head B. At around 60% health Head B starts a round of mass dispell.

Head B will mass dispel at:
59%-30%
29%-10%, and 9%-0%. These three ranges are windows. Once a dispel occurs during these windows, note the time dispel hit. In the first window, dispel will happen again 5 minutes later if the HP is not in range of the second window. In the second window, dispel will happen again 3 minutes later if the HP is not in range of the third window. (Thank you @Shiyuifor that info!)
Mass dispell isnt a big deal to you at this point, it's more annoying than anything.

After all heads are down, the rest is just arms. From here on out it's mostly easy mode, except for one thing: Mass seduce. Mass sed will be either walk left or walk right (so no jump type) and mass sed will occur when either hand drops to below 30% HP.

Haste can be a killer here as well. If you cancel out haste and get seduced to the opposite of the map, you'll reach the rock and only take one or two hits before it ends. Otherwise, you can easily take 3 or 4 hits from the rock before mass seduce ends. Make sure to have Hero's will ready in case of emergencies such as being sed at low health.

Both arms dead = HT dead. Grats! Good luck on your drops. A HT pendant is anywhere from 6-8 stats average and up to 13 stat godly. You can only ever egg your pendant ONCE per character. That means you cannot loot two eggs, egg one pendant, drop it and egg another. Choose wisely!


Bodyguard A, B and The Boss

Bodyguard A:

Level 152
HP: 400,000,000
EXP: 55,200,000

The bodyguards in Zipangu are the last of the bosses to fight in this area (as of April 2015 at least).
The first thing to know is that currently in Royals, the bosses spawn on top of the platform rather than below it. In GMS they spawned below it, making pinning each bodyguard just a bit easier.

If you have 11k HP as a night lord and are partying with others who can also tank, some prefer to start on the right side and stay there for the entire fight until the end of BGB, where they move left to fight The Boss. I personally havent tried this myself so I can't vouch for how well it works but I've heard it helps with BGB i-frames.

Otherwise:
To summon Bodyguard A, drop an Anego Comb on the gold platform in Nightmarish Last Days and step to the left of the platform and on top of the ropes. Pin it and stay as far as you can, because if you get too close you risk being kicked for about 27k damage- and his touch damage is about 17k. Also, he stuns. A lot. In fact, his main usual attack is a 1 damage attack that stuns you- and he can, and will, spam it.

(I do not have a video of any fights with Bodyguard A because stuns were temporarily disabled across the server when I was making this, making it rather useless to try and record to show the attacks.)

Bodyguard B:

Level: 155
HP: 500,000,000
EXP: 42,000,000

After Bodyguard A is killed, Bodyguard B will spawn in its place. Bodyguard B does not stun- however instead, he has an attack which drains your mana to 1 instantly. Bring a lot of mana potions with you for this (recommended over 500-700. I personally carry about 1k sorcerer elixirs).
The most annoying part of this fight is not necessarily the mana drain, but the fact that he has some very annoying iFrames. Just like with Bigfoot, if you just normally spam TT you’ll miss a few hits per throw. There’s one moment when he’s moving forward and attacking in which the iFrames disappear, however, waiting for that moment is risky because he has a close range attack that deals about 11-12k damage. His touch damage is about 15k, but you shouldn’t be touching him.
If you play with sounds on, just listen for when he starts to make a really quick paced sound which almost resembles a laugh. That’s the sign that you can attack him without missing frames for a few seconds.

Video clip of a duo with a BM (Thanks Jake!):

The Boss (sometimes called “Grandpa”):

Level: 175
HP: 150,000,000
EXP: 70,000,000
Noteable drops: Gold Emerald Earrings (Average: 2 DEX, 5 INT clean)

This guy is your final fight, and he’s a pain in the ass. He doesn’t hit for very hard unless you touch him (which deals about 20-22k damage), but he has two main attacks. A purple lightning attack which hits across the map and 1/1s you, and a hurricane/tornado like attack which ALSO 1/1s AND seals. He will also spam these attacks frequently. Either have your bishops cast Holy Shield on you, or bring a lot of all cures.
(A side note: The Boss has almost three times the avoidability of the bodyguards, making it nearly impossible for warriors to attack him at all. I believe they require over 300 accuracy just to hit him. Don't expect your warriors to help attack, they’re basically useless against him without a lot of Maple Pops).

Video clip of a duo with a BM:

Equipment:

Basics:
Your early game goals as a Hermit should just be getting a decent Skanda (45-55 attack). Get some 8-10 DEX earrings, some Black Snowshoes or scrolled thief shoes (Osfa are the most common), and save your money. Training at Wolf Spiders should get you a handful of Ilbis, work towards getting about 10 to 15 sets. A 10 attack work glove will be fine for a while.
Your main goal will be to get a Zakum Helmet- aim for at least 17 or 18 in both dex and luk, and scroll it with Helmet DEX 60%s. Save your money and work toward your mid-term gear.

Mid-term goals: 
This is where things get a little more detailed. Around the time you start working toward mid-game goals, you're working on shifting from DEX-less to low-DEX and getting enough DEX from equipment to wear your weapon.
To wear a Craven, you need 140 DEX, to wear the level 80 bottoms you need 120 DEX.
Since the level 80 bottoms are the easiest to farm for, let's say your first goal is to reach 120 DEX first.
With 75 base DEX and 30 DEX from a zhelm, that will bring you to 105 DEX. Another 5 from a Deputy Star and that's 110 DEX already. With 10 DEX earrings you're at 120 DEX- enough to wear the thief bottoms. Get a set of bottoms (Dark/Red Pirate bottoms are most common) that are about 15 for now, and a 5 DEX face accessory. That can come from a DEX Maple Leaf from Showa/Sleepywood gachapon or a rat mouth, if you can find one.
As for the Craven itself, you'll want something around 70 attack at the least.
As for cape and shoes, that depends on your funding. You can stick with dex-scrolled shoes, or work on getting some Facestompers and a pink gaia cape. 6 attack or so will be enough until end game, if you can find some for cheap.
If you have the ability to, scroll or buy a 13 or 15 attack stormcaster glove. The increase will help more now.

End Game:
End game is all about completing your gear. Perfecting your weapon, getting better cape and shoes, relooting Zakum Helmets until you get the max stats possible (22 each), and getting as close to DEX-less as you can get.

You can either hunt for a 56 attack Craven from Ulu 2 or Black Kentaraus, or you can wait for a perfect Sleeve (60 attack clean) to come out from gachapon/Horntail drops. Forging is also an option, but only for Green Dragon Sleeves, which give DEX instead of LUK.

Your end game goals for cape and shoes should be as high as you can get it. Aiming for about 11 attack or higher gives you a solid goal to work for.
If you get a good result from your first two attempts, it'd be good to consider White Scrolling with each Chaos Scroll.

From there, your goal is to go back to being DEX-less. Scrolling a Raccoon Mask and trying to land one or two 30s on it will help, or gach at Showa for Maple Leaves. Aim for a godly ring from Krexel (max godly can be 8 to each stat). Perfecting a 22 DEX Zakum Helmet will help bring you closer as well. An egged Horntail Pendant is a must.

Work toward 17 DEX pants or higher, as well. Anything you can do to pull DEX from, the better. Maple Warrior raises your base stats, so the more base LUK you have, the more it'll help your range.

None of this stuff is cheap, really. Perfecting a weapon from the first slot can cost 20 billion or more depending on luck and the market prices. I spent 66 White Scrolls on my Sleeve from first slot. I know people who spent over 100 white scrolls before they even finished, though. Realistically speaking, it's best to land 2 30%s on a 56 ATT clean Craven before switching to 10% with White Scrolls.

Chaos Scrolls, Facestompers and Pink Gaia Capes are expensive, as well. At this point, you could even consider going for a perfect 20 attack SCG, or even doing the crazy thing and chaosing one in hopes of getting +4 or +5 on the first slot.

Take your time, work on one thing at a time, and keep it balanced! Having a perfect weapon and really bad gear otherwise won't do much, it's better to have decent gear all-round.


HP Washing

Night Lords, being a ranged class, naturally come with lower HP as opposed to Warriors or Pirates. They may have high avoidability, helping with survivability, but certain bosses require more than that.

The main questions most people have when they think about washing a Night Lord:
How much HP do I need?
How much do I have to wash?
How much INT do I need?
How many resets do I need?
How much will it cost?

Different players may have different HP goals for their Night Lords.
These are the most common options you can choose from:
(It gets a lot more costlier as the HP Goal gets higher)
1) 5,600 HP by Level 155 (To survive Horntail – dependant on HB)
2) 7,600 HP by Level 155 (To survive Horntail – does not require HB)
3) 11,500 HP by Level 175 (To survive Pink Bean* – dependant on HB)
4) 18,750 HP by Level 175 (To survive Pink Bean* – does not require HB, and reaches 30,000 HP with HB)
5) 30,000 HP (For the perfectionists)
6) 30,000 HP + 30,000 MP 
*Bear in mind Pink Bean is not released in Royals yet and there is no official statement that it will be released either. It’s just recommended for you to be prepared for Pink Bean rather than discovering it too late and not having enough HP to ever survive a Pink Bean run on your already high levelled Night Lord.
Before I get into the details of how one can achieve each of the 5 HP goals above....

For those who want the numbers behind calculation to derive your own plan for a HP Goal which is not listed above, you need to know the following:
*The following applies to Thieves ONLY

• *Every Level Up gives you a HP Gain of 20 – 24 (random)
• *Every FRESH AP (from Level Up) gives you a HP Gain of 20 – 24 (random)
• Every RESET AP (from using AP Reset) gives you a HP Gain of 16 – 20 (random)
• Every AP Reset used to minus MP reduces your MP by 12 (fixed)
• Every 10 INT you have (regardless of Base or Equipment) increases your MP Gain by 1 each level
• *Minimum MP for Thief is calculated using [(14 x Level) + 148]
• A Thief with base 4 INT and no INT equips will still have a little excess MP to wash: approximately 40 washes, so 480 excess MP.

The value of AP Reset used for this assumes AP resets are about 10,000,000 Mesos 
Moving on to cover the different HP goals, I’ll run through the following for each of the HP goals:
INT & MP Required to reach Target HP
Number of Washes Required & Estimate Cost to reach Target HP
Levels to Wash at

(1) 5,600 HP by Level 155

This is the easiest to achieve with very minimal equips and absolutely no base INT required.
This is covered by your excess MP from job advancements mostly, so almost INT is required, but it's recommended. Having a Zakum Helmet and Deputy Star should do the trick.

Recommended Total INT: 25 – 40 before LV. 70 or so

Approx. 900 HP to gain, done within 41 washes or 492 excess MP
*Be sure to wash using fresh AP gained from level up
Approx. Total Cost: 410,000,000 mesos
Levels to Wash at: Starting from Level 70, as and when you have enough MP for the next wash.

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(2) 7,600 HP by Level 155

This can also be achieved without the need for base INT; however it would be a lot more difficult, as you would require really good INT equipment to cover the necessary MP required.
As an alternative, you may, of course, choose to add base INT instead of acquiring INT equipment, that’s entirely up to you.

Recommended Total INT: 90 – 110 (Before Level 70)

Approx. 2,900 HP to gain, done within 132 washes or 1,584 excess MP
*Be sure to wash using fresh AP gained from Level Up

Approx. Total Cost: 1,320,000,000 mesos + 10,000,000 for every AP you have added into INT
Levels to Wash at: Starting from Level 70, as and when you have enough MP for the next wash.

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(3) 11,500 HP by Level 175 

From here on out, it is necessary for you to add base INT to achieve your HP goal. I will provide the estimate total INT required and it is up to you to divide this between your base INT and equipment.

Recommended Total INT: 290 – 320 (Before Level 100)

Approx. 6,200 HP to gain, done within 282 washes or 3,384 excess MP
*Be sure to wash using fresh AP gained from level up

Approx. Total Cost: 2,820,000,000 Mesos + 10,000,000 for every AP you have added into INT
Levels to Wash at: Starting from level 70, as and when you have enough MP for the next wash (still using the 5 fresh AP gained from each level)

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(4) 18,750 HP by Level 175 

From here on out, you are better of using a different route of Wash, one known as MP Wash.
How this works out is basically MP Washing [Link to MP Wash Guide] each Level (starting from Level 70) until you have reached your target MP before you start the actual HP wash process to achieve your HP Goal.

Recommended Total INT: 320 – 350 (Before Level 70)

Approx. 13,450 HP to gain, done within 747 HP Washes which require a total of 8,964 Excess MP

Approx. Total Cost: 1,500,000,000 (MP Washing from Level 70 – 100) + 6,120,000,000 mesos (HP Washing) + 10,000,000 for every AP you have added into INT
(Easily 10 Billion Mesos)
Levels to Wash at: Start MP Washing from Level 70 to Level 100, followed by HP Washing*
*From Level 100 you may use continue to use the fresh AP to HP wash each level (5 washes/level) or simply use reset AP to convert ALL MP into HP

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(5) 30,000 HP

For the perfectionists out there who wonder if it is possible to reach 30,000 base HP on a Night Lord, yes, this is possible! Be prepared in advance that this costs about 15 – 20 billion mesos in total. As you’ll most likely be playing a pure INT Assassin till you’re past 4th job, you would require additional help on achieving the Levels and AP Distribution. Visit this mini-guide here that goes through everything you need to know in-depth.


Comparison: Night Lords vs Corsairs

This section's all about numbers concerning Night Lords compared to their counterpart DPSer, Corsairs. But before that, let's look at the benefit of party buffs on NLs and Corsairs, which we so heavily rely on.

Relative DPS advantage of SE

Triple Throw deals 150% damage per hit without any critical strike bonuses, and 75% per hit for Shadow Partner hits. Critical chance for NLs is 50%, and a critical strike adds +100% damage. This means that:

Per hit average: 150% * 0.5 + 250% * 0.5 = 200% damage
Per TT average: 200% * 4.5 = 900% damage
Average DPS: 900% * 1.667 = 1,500% damage per second

Now, if you have Sharp Eyes, you’re a lot stronger. It adds an additional +15% critical chance and +140% critical damage. This is the effect on your Triple Throw, in the end:

Per hit average (SE): 150% + 390% * 0.65 = 306% damage
Per TT average (SE): 306% * 4.5 = 1,377% damage
Average DPS (SE): 1,377% * 1.667 = 2,295% damage per second

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So in the end, you will gain +795% damage per second, which is a damage increase of +53%!

For Corsairs, it’s a bit different:

Per hit average: 380% * 120% = 456% damage
Per Cannon average: 456% * 4 = 1,824% damage
Average DPS: 1,824% * 1.5833 = 2,888% damage per second

Now, if you have Sharp Eyes, Corsairs are stronger. It adds an additional +15% critical chance and +140% critical damage. Speed Infusion gives bonus attack speed. This is the effect on Battleship Cannon:

Per hit average (SE): 380% * 120% * 0.85 + 520% * 120% * 0.15 = 481.2% damage
Per Cannon average (SE): 481.2% * 4 = 1,924.8% damage
Average DPS (SE): 1,924.8% * 1.5833 = 3,047.6% damage per second
Average DPS (SE/SI): 1,924.8% * 1.7 = 3,373,16% damage per second

Click to expand...

For Corsairs, Sharp Eyes gives approximately +5,53% DPS and Speed Infusion gives +7,37% DPS, for a combined +16,8% DPS. Take into account that the average damage (so 100%) is a lot higher for Night Lords.


DPS comparison: Corsair vs Night Lord

First of all, this comparison isn’t really in numbers. There’s a couple of things you should know about Night Lords when it comes to the DPS of a Night Lord:

• Night Lords are stronger since they have high avoidability and Shadow Shifter, so they get interrupted a lot less compared to Corsairs.
• Night Lords benefit more from Weapon ATT due to the high attack multiplier on Claws.
• Unlike other skills, Triple Throw has its own damage formula, which neglects secondary stats- without it, Triple Throw would be incredibly weak.
• Corsairs are stronger in numbers, since they have to depend on their Battleship. When it’s down, their DPS drops by a lot. A good Corsair will not have to deal with this much, but this really depends on the Corsair and the boss in question:
  • At bosses that barely attack you like Bigfoot, Krexel or Anego, Corsairs won’t deal with this problem at all or barely.
  • At major bosses that attack a bit (but not too much) like Zakum or Papulatus Corsairs will have to deal without their boat a bit, but not much (this is where Corsairs are barely better than NLs or even equal).
  • At Horntail, Corsairs will have to get rid of their boat quite a bit, meaning that they lose a lot of potential DPS, making Night Lords stronger there.
  • Night Lords don’t require much effort or concentration to play (you just spam and buff), whereas Corsairs need concentration and effort to minimise Battleship’s downtime.

So in the end, you will see that Corsairs will out-DPS Night Lords by quite a bit in theory. In the end, however, the following will happen…

• Without party buffs: Corsairs will outdamage Night Lords.
• With SE, without SI: Night Lords will outdamage Corsairs (this normally is the case during boss runs).
• With SE and SI: Corsairs will be a bit stronger than Night Lords.

Now, time for some numbers. I will be using the standard of perfect equipment at Level 200. These numbers are just to prove what I said above and to show how strong NLs and Corsairs are with perfect circumstances; other than that, they’re not very important, since NLs just have lots of things in their favour.

Conclusion & Special Thanks

I hope you enjoyed reading this guide and that it was helpful to you. Again, if you have questions, feedback or (constructive!) criticism, feel free to post below! Finally, I would like to thank these three in particular:

• @Christopher Chance for being of help with the HP washing section (he wrote half of it, really)
• @jmmainvi for helping with bossing videos, his MP washing mini-guide and some DPS math
• @Michael for helping with some numbers (damage dealt by monsters, for example)
• @Shiyui For her help with the changes to HT
• @VitaLemonade For helping with specifics on how haste helps/hurts warriors and DrKs. (And for being awesome on our HT runs)

Other than that, thanks to everyone else who made our MapleRoyals journey worth staying for. Thanks for reading this guide, we hoped you liked it!

~ Sila and Marty (From MSRoyals Forum)