When should I start learning Lance Combat?

• Hitelite wrote on 2014-05-08 17:46
  I'm lvl 370, and I've been wasting ap like crazyy. I have around 50 ap right now, and I'm working on G3 and Saga 6.
  
  I want to, before starting to learn any other talent, rank windmill 1 first with close combat (currently using daggers (to save money) and Glory Sword (R3-R Upgraded.. Waste of money D:)
  
  I've wasted a lot of ap in archery, mana shield, carpentry, bard skills, and some close combat skills, but now I'm going to STOP. I want to rank 1 windmill and then.. I was wondering when I should start Lance Combat.
  
  Lances (I'm planning on going Knight Lance) require a lot of money to be effective; the suffix and prefix enchants that get Knight Lance to rank 9 pierce requires a lot of levels and money (if I buy them). And I really don't want to waste any more nx for upgrades and repair (I spammed 99nx gach event and got really lucky with fine reforge, resulting in almost 1.5 mill. Only took 6k nx.. only.)
  
  Also, the skills of lance combat require SO MUCH AP. Seriously, that lance charge ap requirements are crazy..
  
  So when should I start lance combat? I'm not really sure how to make gold.. I heard that spamming hard Shadow Missions can get you around 70k per run, but I can barely solo Intermediate (the easy ones too). I already have repair cost of Glory Sword to worry about, so I don't want to spend any more nx for upgrades+repair costs of ANOTHER 2h weapon..
  
  When should I learn Lance Combat, and any fast ways to make gold? (no nx)
• Hitelite wrote on 2014-05-08 17:53
  Honestly, though, I love my Glory Sword. It was my first sword I've upgraded (although 4/5 upgrades were not done by me) and I just love the smash and crit on it. The Artisan Upgrade is nearly PERFECT (Gives good str and luck, compared to max, no dex penalty, gives hp and stam)
  
  Although the repair cost is so high (that's why I'm now resorting to daggers - daggers are so fun to use btw, low dmg, but lots of hits :D) I honestly love it and plan to use it for a long time, but people keep telling me to lance (I kinda want to too)...
  
  Would it be ok to start Lance combat after lvl 1k? I actually want to continue using my Glory Sword and I want to learn a bit of archery as well.. I feel like if I save up enough ap until then, I should be ready for lance combat.. or is that too late?
• ironwoman wrote on 2014-05-08 18:14
  Starting lance after 1k is fine. I didn't even start using my lance seriously until I was 2k (but that's because I didn't get my hands on a secret penetrating lance until then).
  
  Here's a reason why people tell you to use lance instead of glory sword (and they're giving you a good advice). For a two handed sword that is special upgradeable, glory sword falls behind in damage. WAY behind. Even a regular claymore goes on par with glory sword when it comes to damage. The crit bonus is negligible when you can get shit ton of crit just from ranking windmill and critical hit along with some enchants. To give you an idea, I still don't have much fighter ranked (only chain mastery for str), and with my gears, only enchants that give me crit right now are ones on my gloves (steel needle elegant), I use a knight lance with 27% crit (excluding artisan, which is negated by my oblivion gears), and I still have close to 150% crit. That amount is more than enough to crit effectively in harder contents like lords and abyss dungeons. So my realistic advice would be to stop using glory sword and use some other sword for more effectiveness, but using it or not is completely up to you.
  
  Now, when should you transition into lances? I'd say when you have these skills to rank 1: combat mastery, sword mastery, blunt mastery, windmill, smash, assault slash, ranged attack, and arrow revolver. These are pretty basic skills for getting strength, and easier ones too. As you train lance, just get all the combat-related skills to rank 1, as well as mining and carpentry. Don't forget to rank final hit, it's ap costly skill, but you do get lots of str from it.
  
  If you think lances have a lot of ap... well, you have a long way to go. It is true that lance charge has high ap cost, but the ap cost of the skill set isn't high compared to many others.
  
  To make gold without nx, there are few ways. One is commerce. It's an ok way of getting money. Another is life skills. The best though, would be to leech off in someone's conflict hard mode party. Realistically, when people are spamming that mission, it probably means they're strong enough to breeze through with two people. It's currently the mission that will give you highest gold over time.
  
  Note that ways of making gold can be more efficient or not depending on your server.
• December wrote on 2014-05-09 10:53
  It's Mabinogi: Fantasy Life, you can rank whatever you want whenever you want.
  
  Lances are strong due to their Penetration stat ignoring protection, which still doesn't do much if you don't have any Max Damage to back it up with. So for now, if you're worried about efficiency, focus on ranking combat skills and skills that give STR (mining and carpentry). It may take a while to develop your character to the stage where lance usage will actually benefit you, so feel free to stick to your Glory sword for now.
  
  If you'd like to see what Lance Combat is like, see if you can get yourself one of these Beginner Iron Claw Lance. It can't be special upgraded, so definitely not endgame material, but it has 1gp repairs which will save you a lot of gold.
  
  An easy way to farm gold at your level is either spam Albey Red Gem or Rabbie Basic (Rabbie is preferable but the pass is annoying to get), if you grind Increase Dungeon Drop day, you'll pick up a truck of load of Fomor scrolls. Another option is to farm Black Leopards, they spawn from 6pm to 6am in-game in large packs. If you're strong enough to clear the pack quickly, it's easy money too.
• NecroBomb wrote on 2014-05-09 14:09

  Quote from December;1219396:

  It's Mabinogi: Fantasy Life, you can rank whatever you want whenever you want.
  
  Lances are strong due to their Penetration stat ignoring protection, which still doesn't do much if you don't have any Max Damage to back it up with. So for now, if you're worried about efficiency, focus on ranking combat skills and skills that give STR (mining and carpentry). It may take a while to develop your character to the stage where lance usage will actually benefit you, so feel free to stick to your Glory sword for now.
  
  If you'd like to see what Lance Combat is like, see if you can get yourself one of these Beginner Iron Claw Lance. It can't be special upgraded, so definitely not endgame material, but it has 1gp repairs which will save you a lot of gold.
  
  An easy way to farm gold at your level is either spam Albey Red Gem or Rabbie Basic (Rabbie is preferable but the pass is annoying to get), if you grind Increase Dungeon Drop day, you'll pick up a truck of load of Fomor scrolls. Another option is to farm Black Leopards, they spawn from 6pm to 6am in-game in large packs. If you're strong enough to clear the pack quickly, it's easy money too.

  
  pretty much what she said, basically lances are quite well for aoe damage. one downside to it is that you cant attack up close you have to attack from a distance. but if you know simple geometry you are all set mate. when i started lances i started it at a total of lvl 1 on a ult and its quite fun to use and the abilities are decent as well.
• Friggerton wrote on 2014-05-09 14:51
  If you choose to do commerce for money or exp, the latter being pretty high for generally avoidable combat and a solo activity so you can grind for that AP, have someone log in as their alpaca pet so that you can shear it for a few days to make an alpaca robe. Lets you commerce 20% faster.
• Divide wrote on 2014-05-10 19:24
  I just now started leveling up lance combat after attaining master warrior. You won't regret it because you will need all the strength you can get anyways.
  
  My level is 1300