Character Races

• Lyni wrote on 2014-06-25 20:31
  I'm pretty 'noob' to be honest and I think a fresh restart wouldn't kill me so much in saga missions.
  
  
  OT: How important are races in-game now?
  I heard that elves had MP advantages in magic and faster run speed, but Phantasmal and mounts seem to trump that.
  Can someone brief me on what racial factors are still useful to consider for a character?
  
  Also, since gear is generally essential, is there anything that a new player can use as a stepping stone before getting into some of the higher-tier equipment?
  
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• Daakun wrote on 2014-06-26 03:46
  Humans get Final Hit and the best potential stats for Puppeteering.
  Giants get Lance+Shield and the most potential str, as well as various skill bonuses in melee, like 600% smashes and a much more lenient heavy armour dex penalty.
  Elves get movespeed, dirt for melee capabilities, and pay extra AP for the same magic skills as the other races get.
  
  That's about it for meaningful differences.
• Kouki wrote on 2014-06-26 03:56
  I'd suggest the race based on what combat skills you want most.
  
  If you want the all-around character, or the best for magic(which unlike other games, benefits greatly from having melee skills handy), human.
  If you love archery(and don't mind sacrificing just about everything else for it), then elf.
  If you love melee and don't mind the lowered magic efficiency, or inability to use archery and play dead, giant.
  
  Overall, if you are new, I'd suggest human first, since they can learn the majority of skills and aren't really crappy at anything. You could explore on the human all of the combat skills, and if you find out you really love certain ones but hate others, you could decide on an elf or giant after who suits those skills.
  
  Additionally, if you are the type who only wants one character, I'd definitely go human because again, they can learn the majority of skills, and you can essentially be a hybrid of almost every skill set on a single character, eventually.
• imagine95 wrote on 2014-06-26 05:14
  Just a little thing to keep in mind.
  Even though elves are not built for strong melee combat, nothing is stopping you from using controller bars and delivering nice 8k crit smashes
  On the other hand, giants can also be very good in magic.
  
  I would recommend looking into special race-specific features such as lance combat, magnum revolver and see if you like them
• Kilayox wrote on 2014-06-26 16:41

  Quote from imagine95;1228314:

  
  I would recommend looking into special race-specific features such as lance combat, magnum revolver and see if you like them

  
  
  I think you mean Arrow Revolver
• imagine95 wrote on 2014-06-26 16:46

  Quote from Kilayox;1228427:

  I think you mean Arrow Revolver

  
  
  haha yes :p
  and some other skills like windguard, stomp, mirage missile
• ironwoman wrote on 2014-06-26 21:26

  Quote from Kilayox;1228427:

  I think you mean Arrow Revolver

  
  
  Magnum revolver refers to Elf's ridiculous magnum CD, almost as if they're shooting magnums at the speed of Arrow Revolver.
  
  Here's the current meta. Giants at the moment definitely have the best early game, and the only area they fall significantly behind is range, because they don't even have access to bows. Giants have really good power spikes early games, but later the utility gets plagued by their lack of range. Giants have the highest one-time single target damage (aka Giant smash). If you absolutely love fighting at close ranged, Giants are the way to go. Contrary to what many dumbasses of Mabinogi say, Giants don't fall behind in magic. Those MP costs or movement speed are nothing to look at, it's the damage you want. Giants absolutely don't have lower Magic damage ratios, and they only fall behind 10 intelligence. Also, note that Giants will fall behind in puppets thanks to their lack of dexterity.
  
  I'd say Elves aren't at a good place right now. Don't get me wrong, I think Elf is great race, but Elves have terribad early game because of slow growth, hugely shafted close combat abilities, while only beating human archers by a less significant margin. In the true end game, Elves will have the highest DPS, whether you actually value DPS or one-time burst is up to you.
  
  I'd say humans have the best place in the current meta. Their early game is nowhere bad, and humans probably have the best mid game, thanks to the str and dex spike they can get, and this is actually noticeable with puppets, where humans actually excel in. Humans basically have the best balance of skillsets, so if you want to try many skillsets, humans are the way to go.
• Jiangshi wrote on 2014-06-26 22:00
  From what I have gathered, the faster run speed is only important in some specific areas, such as getting away from mobs or people, rarely do you actually suffer because of move speed. As for the actual comparison of races themselves, Giants -> Humans -> Elves. Elves on the bottom because no lances. If you're playing a magic based character, go Elf or Human.
• imagine95 wrote on 2014-06-27 03:42

  Quote from Jiangshi;1228494:

  From what I have gathered, the faster run speed is only important in some specific areas, such as getting away from mobs or people, rarely do you actually suffer because of move speed. As for the actual comparison of races themselves, Giants -> Humans -> Elves. Elves on the bottom because no lances. If you're playing a magic based character, go Elf or Human.

  
  
  Running speed can be very useful in repositioning yourself while using puppetry and archery skills :p
  I agree with ironwoman on her(his?) post above, elves only beat human in archery by a small margin. And if you are planning on using magic, just pick any of the three. Sure, Giants have a few less points of int, but it is hardly noticeable in the end.
• Kouki wrote on 2014-06-27 17:20
  One thing about Giants is that even though they lack range, they can use javelins... now while the javelin has a long cool down making it something you can't use on its own, it's actually kind of cool to use along with another weapon, as sort of an add-on to some of your combos, to lure a monster out of an multi-aggro crowd, or as a last resort(I watched a video where someone used only a javelin to kill the Grim Reaper boss and avoid any hits by running around it during cool-down... lol).
• Lyni wrote on 2014-06-29 17:24
  These replies have been so helpful, thanks!
  
  I think I have a race in mind, but I might just play around a bit with some alts to get a feel for what I personally value in the long run, whether it's that magnum revolver, heavy melee, or simply being able to do just about everything as a human.
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2014-06-29 20:12
  Just keep in mind that if you choose Humans, you will more likely to benefit from future updates than the other two races since majority of the population are humans. The developers can't really afford to provide update that excludes humans.
  
  Sure, switching races doesn't mean very much if you like a thousand levels in. However, once you have tens of thousands of levels, it gets harder to just start over for another race.
• Froglord of DESTINY!!! wrote on 2014-06-29 20:22
  Also consider that in the future nexon might put stat leveling pots into the gach.
  
  Essentially, they raise whatever stat they contribute to by 1 permanently, and were quite common during the hide and seek event. So in the end, races will mean just about nothing if you can pay to have 1500 all stats.