Since you’re reading this, I can assume that you have a grasp of the basics of Mabinogi – how to move around and such. Hopefully, you have tried your hand at combat as well. In Mabinogi, the combat system is simple, but hard to master. Unlike other games (like runescape or WoW) there is something called the knockback system. This system ensures that instead of just standing there and spamming skills all day, you have to THINK and REACT on the fly in a battle.
Confused? Yeah, you probably are. How does it make me THINK and REACT you ask? Well, in Mabinogi, every time you attack a monster, you stun it for a period of time. In that period of time, the monster you are attacking cannot move nor do ANYTHING. So, you think why can’t you just keep on attacking it and keep it stunned until it dies? Because, I answer, after you attack it a certain amount of time, it gets knocked back. And if you attack it while it’s knocked back, it gets knocked down. Confusing eh? Not really. It goes like this.
Stun > stun > knockback > knockdown ... stand up.
For example:
Say you loaded 4 charges of icebolt and unleashed them all on, say, a fox.
You fire one charge – it gets stunned.
You fire another one right after – it gets stunned again.
You fire a third charge – It gets knocked back.
You fire a fourth charge – It gets knocked down.
See what you did there? You just made the poor fox go through four stages of the knockback system. You can do the same thing with a weapon of your choice. Most weapons are 3 hit weapons, which means they an only go through 3 hits, and therefore 3 stages, before the fox comes back up and charges at you. However, some weapons don't work like that. 2-hit weapons, and 1 hit weapons hit twice and once respectively before it goes into the knocked back stage. They also have a much longer stun time than normal 3 hit weapons, which makes it significantly easier to do some combos. After you do your 3 (or two) (or one) hits, the fox will recover, and try to attack you, and put you in the 4 stages. And that’s where skills come in to save the day (more specifically, you).
[SIZE="4"]Skills[/SIZE]
Mabinogi, like any other games, have a plethora of skills for you to use to fight fomors. Each skill has a different function and loading time. Skills are your ammunition, your guns against zombies, your bread and butter, the air that you breathe. You can acquire skills from NPCs (non player characters), quests or simply from equipping items. Let’s go through some of the combat skills.
[Image: http://mabi.osayidan.net/img/skills/Combat_Mastery.png]
Combat MasteryHow to get it: You automatically learn this when you start.
What it does: It’s your melee attack.
Comment: It’s a passive skill, which means you don’t have to press a button to use it. When you rank it, it gives you HP, strength, and balance.
[Image: http://mabi.osayidan.net/img/skills/Defense.png]
DefenseHow to get it: Talk to Ranald in the school about skills.
What it does: If you have defense loaded, and a fomor hits you with a melee attack, instead of you being stunned, the fomor gets stunned for a short time, which gives you a chance to attack. Also, it boosts your defense and protections stats while loaded.
Comment: An extremely versatile and useful skill, you will being using this from the beginning to the end of your Mabi life. Be careful of smashes and certain magic, as it ignores them completely. Also, when you use defense with a shield equipped, you take a LOT less damage.
[Image: http://mabi.osayidan.net/img/skills/Smash.png]
SmashHow to get it: Talk to Trefor, the guy in black armor north of Tir Choniall
What it does: It’s a one-hit high damage skill that completely ignores defense. However, it doesn’t work if your opponent does a combo while you are smashing it.
Comment: A very powerful move, smash is best used before the opponent notices you or when it is using defense. Be careful, because it can get interrupted by a normal combo. When you smash with a twohanded weapon, more damage is done.
[Image: http://mabi.osayidan.net/img/skills/Counterattack.png]
CounterattackHow to get it: Finish the quest “Malcom’s Ringâ€. You get this quest automatically.
What it does: You will be unable to move while this skill is loaded, but whenever someone tries to attack you with a melee attack, such as smash or combo, they get thrown back and dealt damage.
Comment: It is useful in the beginning, but drains alot of stamina, and eventually windmill becomes a better choice. It also takes 1.5 seconds to load which could be the difference between life and death.
[Image: http://mabi.osayidan.net/img/skills/Windmill.png]
WindmillHow to get it: After you learn defense, talk to Ranald using the keyword ‘skills’. Finish the quest he gives you.
What it does: It is an AoE (area of effect) skill targeted on yourself. Dealing 100% damage to all fomors around you at Rank F, it ignores protection when calculating critical, but also takes 10% of your health away. Also makes you invincible for a short time.
Comment: Ah, windmill. Where do I start? Windmill (or wm) is hailed as one of the most broken skill of all time as many players. This skill is the only skill capable of clearing an entire room of fomors in a mere 0.8 seconds loading time. At rank 1, it deals 250% damage, knocks down fomors, ignores protection when calculating critical AND makes you invincible. It is, by far IMHO the most useful skill to date. Unfortunately, it is absolute hell to train. I recommend this skill to everyone.
[Image: http://mabi.osayidan.net/img/skills/Critical_Hit.png]
Critical HitHow to get it: You automatically have this.
What it does: Each of your hits have a certain percentage to critical, dealing more damage. It is a passive skill.
Comment: Another incredible skill, try to train this skill as much as you can. Useful for everyone.
[Image: http://mabi.osayidan.net/img/skills/Charge.png]
Charge How to get it: Talk to Waboka (in Cor) with the keyword ‘skills’. Complete the quest he gives you – you may want to bring a friend or two.
What it does: You must have a shield equipped for this. This skill lets you charge at the enemy, dealing little damage and knocking it back. It can be countered with normal attacks or counter, so take that into consideration. During the charge, ranged attacks cannot knock you down and you receive less damage.
Comment: This skill is mostly used in PvP and field training, as a fast way to get around. Used in the beginning of battle, not the middle of one. Rather useful, moreso to giants than humans and elves, as giants do not need a shield to charge, and do more damage.
Alright, I think that’s all of the important ones. If I didn’t have any in there it means they either aren’t useful enough to stick in my head or they aren’t released yet.
Now, to put them into combos!
[SIZE="4"]Tactics[/SIZE]
Note, these are not my videos, but random ones of youtube. Full credit to whoever made them.
N+1
The N refers to the amount of hits you usually do, and the one refers too the extra hit you add in.
An everyday combo. This combo uses the stun system in such a way that instead of getting your customary, say 3 hits, from a sword, you would get 4 hits instead. To do this, after you hit the fomor once, wait for a second, then hit it again, wait another second, then click rapidly twice to hit it two more times.
You can also do this on 2 hit swords, just hit, wait, and hit twice. Doing it with dual weapons is basically the same, just assume that the two swords are one and act accordingly.
Not very clear, I know, so heres a video.
[video=youtube;c7uomgk1Cbg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7uomgk1Cbg[/video]
N+Defense
After doing your normal combo (or N+1, whatever), use the skill Defense RIGHT AWAY. The fomor you just knocked back should come rushing back, and slam right into your defense. If you can’t load defense fast enough to block it, walk back while it’s loading. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes, you may not be able to load defense in time even while walking back, so try using a two - hit weapon for a longer stun time.
No video yet. Sorry
N+Counter
Same as N+Defense, but use counter instead. This doesn’t work against faster enemies, as counter takes a while to load. After it’s knocked back, use defense. Rinse and repeat. Again, using two hit weapons will help immensely. Requires very little lag.
No video yet. Sorry >.>
N+WM
N+Windmill is only to be used with rank 9 windmill or above because of the faster loading time. It is identical to N+1; just replace the last attack with Windmill. When it finishes loading, click the ground as fast as possibly to use it.
Rawr still no video yet.
Smash+Windmill
This is to be used when you have walled a fomor, or with a friend. Alternate smashing and windmilling it against a wall, or just smash/windmill it to each other so the fomor has no chance to react. Recommended high rank smash or windmill. Also, only works on monsters WITHOUT windmill.
[video=youtube;hcetj1Z6G9g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcetj1Z6G9g[/video]
^^ You can do it with fewer people, but it's more risky.
Windmill spam
I know, it’s not really a combo, but still effective nonetheless. Just keep on loading windmill and activating it as the fomor gets close. You NEED rank 9 windmill or higher for this, and a slow weapon (two handed or similar)
You really don't need a video for this. Just stand in one place and spam wm.
Charge+1
Charge the monster and use normal attack on it. Used in the beginning of a battle. After attacking it, you will need to switch to another tactic.
No video yet. Sorry again
Charge+Smash
Charge the monster and smash it right afterwards. Used in the beginning of a battle. Recommended high rank smash. After smashing, you will have to switch to another tactic.
Rawr will get videos up soon promise.
[SIZE="4"]Equipment[/SIZE]
So, equipment in Mabinogi is a bit different than to other games. Sure, they still let you take more damage, deal more damage, and whatnot, but you should've realised that Mabinogi is a game that is based on REAL LIFE. Or as close as you can get to real life anyway. That means, your precious armor, swords, necklace or whatever can and will break, and there's not much you can do about it. Every once in a while, the weapon's 'durability' will drop down a notch, and when it reaches 0 durability, you'll have to repair it at a blacksmith to be able to use it again. However, the blacksmith has a chance to 'fail', and lower the maximum durability by a certain amount. So go to the best blacksmiths for the best treatment! On the other hand, while you are equipping your weapon or armor, something called proficiency rises. That proficiency can be used to upgrade your weapon or armor, to give it more attack power, defense or critical etc etc. You don't need to worry about it that much in this stage of the game, but jsut keep it in mind.
The first thing you need to put into consideration when choosing your equipment is your battle style. Do you like quick, fast damage with windmill and smash? Or do you prefer to charge and defense? Do you like to tank, or to avoid attacks completely? Everyone has their own unique play style. Your equipment must reflect that.
Weapon Name
Attack: How much damage it can do
Speed: How fast it hits and therefore how long it stuns for - slow stuns longer, fast stuns hardly at all.
Hit: How many times it hits
Balance: Balance determines exactly what damage you do. It takes the maximum and minimum damage the weapon can do, and the balance determines where you will hit most often. For example, and 10 - 20 damage sword with 80% balance (which, by the way, is the cap) will do mostly around 18 damage. If it had 20% balance, it would do around 12 damage.
Durability: How much maximum durability it has
Critical: The percentage chance it criticals. Criticals pierce through defense and protection. Your base critical is added onto this.
So let's start with the gladius.
Gladius
[Image: http://sadpanda.us/images/142647-JJ1NQ9K.gif]
Attack: 15-32
Speed: Slow
Hit: 2 hits
Balance: 59%
Durability: 13
Critical: 12%
Cost: 10,250g
The gladius is one of the most versatile weapons. You can use it dual wielded (one in each hand), or use it with a shield. It has a great balance and attack, and many players use it. Dual wielded, it proves a powerful force when smashing and windmilling, and using it with a shield lets you use charge. One thing you need to take into consideration is the amount of gold needed buying it and maintaining it. Make sure you can afford the repair costs before you buy this beast.
Fluted Short Sword
[Image: http://sadpanda.us/images/142645-GWR2CD9.gif]
Attack: 7-18
Speed: Average
Hit: 3 hits
Balance: 40%
Durability: 13
Critical: 15%
Cost: 2,070g
The Fluted Short Sword is your standard beginner sword. With an average speed, 3 hits, and somewhat low damage, you can consider it, well, average. However, it has a nice balance, which helps beginners who have low dexterity, and is very cheap to buy and repair. The real gem about the sword is its potential when you upgrade it. I would ditch eiry as fast as possible and get yourself a pair of these when you start off.
Dagger
[Image: http://sadpanda.us/images/142646-57MUZ49.gif]
Attack: 2-9
Speed: Fast
Hit: 3 hits
Balance: 80%
Durability: 8
Critical: 25%
Cost: 1,500g
The dagger. Although it looks and sounds puny, this weapon can actually become very powerful. Right off the bat, it has 80% balance. Although it may not look so cool on a 2-9 damage, remember that the dagger is purely a dualwield weapon. Toss in pure strength, maybe upgrade it a bit, use Final Hit, and the damage it deals is astounding. Many people use daggers because they are extremely fast, and have a high critical rate. Use it if you want, 3000 gold will buy you a pair, but I would recommend getting Fluted Short Swords instead for more damage.
Two-handed Sword
[Image: http://sadpanda.us/images/143211-JQB8KT3.png]
Attack: 25-50
Speed: Very slow
Hit: 2 hits
Balance: 50%
Durability: 12
Critical: 0%
Cost: 29,000g
The Two-Handed Sword is exactly what you think it is. A big sword that is two handed. Duh. Also does a lot of damage, extremely slow, and no shields allowed. Watch out for its 0% critical, and slow speed, though. The 2hander has a very good stun time, giving you more time to react and combo. Don't bother with any other two handed weapon. This beats them all in every aspect, except for price. Be prepared to take some damage when you use this sword, and hoard your money for repairs. I wouldn't recommend this to beginners unless you like smashing, in which it excels. Found in participating hardware stores.
I'll add other stuff later.
Credits:
Osayidan for the icons - Thanks
Joyjason for some advice