Well, I'm Psidragyn, and this will be my first guide. I hope it's useful.
And if you're looking for how to kill a golem: Sorry, wrong page
Preface:[indent]
As you should know, Summon Golem is an alchemy skill. As such, Alchemy Mastery is a good skill to rank up along with this if you haven't already done so. It won't be too important for ranking, thought the success rate helps, but after you're done ranking this skill, Alchemy Mastery will make your golems much more useful with the size increase it gives. It also boosts your golem's power, but isn't the size boost enough of a motivation?
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Well, let's get on with it before your brain shuts down from the longness.
Supplies:[indent]
As all alchemy skills do so, we need materials. In our case, this will be Golem Crystals. We will be mostly handling the four types you'll use the most often, as Magic Golems are not too useful for our training besides perhaps the finishes.
Stone Golems: 3 Low-Grade Cuilin, 1 Clay Crystal[indent]
This will be probably be the first golem type you'll use. As the only golem crystal available to make at the beginning, you'll be making plenty of these. They don't have that good of stats and skills compared to the other golems, but they're useful for small fry. If nothing else, they'll help you with your Alchemy Mastery training at the higher ranks.[/indent]
Forest Golems: 1 White Herb, 1 Base Herb, 3 Common Cuilin, 1 Clay Crystal[indent]
These will be the second golem type you'll be able to use. These guys are stronger than Stone Golems. You'll get to start using these at Rank C, and start making them at Rank 9, but saving them for higher ranks would be a good idea, as it's much easier to use them than making them. They also might be the hardest ones to get the supplies for, unless you have a nice supply of White Herbs somewhere.[/indent]
Sulfur Golems: 5 Sulfur Ore, 2 Fine Cuilin, 1 Clay Crystal[indent]
If you've ever been to the Sulfur Pits in Zardine, you'll remember these guys. These guys will be the third golem type you can make, but I, as a person without an herb pig, personally think it's much easier to make these golems than the Forest ones. These can start being used at Rank 9, and made at Rank 5.
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Snow Golems: 1 Silver Ingot, 2 Finest Cuilin, 1 Clay Crystal[indent]
If you've gone against the Shadow Commander, you've most likely seen this guy. You can use them at Rank 5, and make them at Rank 1. However, if you ever get two, keep them on hand for your Rank 2 training.
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Getting Supplies for Golem Making:[indent]
Both Low Grade Cuilin and Common Cuilin can be mined from the stone quarry in the south of Sliab Cuilin. They can also be mined in the mission The Stone Slabs of Sliab Cuilin, which has a lower Low Grade Cuilin rate and a higher Common Cuilin rate(Told this, will check personally later).
Fine and Finest Cuilin must be mined from the red stones in the shadow mission The Stone Slabs of Sliab Cuilin.
Clay Crystals can be found while mining for Cuilin, and they may also be bought from Eabha at a rate of 10 gold each.
Base Herbs may be picked from dungeons and, if you have Herbology at Rank F or higher, may be picked from the forest by the Logging Camp.
White Herbs can either be picked from Peaca Dungeon, 3rd floor, or from Herb pigs, Clover pigs, and Clover gnus.
Sulfur Ore can be mined from the Sulfur Pits in Zardine. They also occasionaly drop from Sulfur Golems, both in Zardine and Rath Castle Shadow Missions.
Silver Ingots can be made with Refining Rank A or higher or made with Metal Conversion Rank A or higher.
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Suggestions for the mission The Slabs of Sliab Cuilin:[indent]
Use one of the Arat Berry Supply berries and discover all the spots before hand.
If you want to complete the mission, do so first before mining.
If you do not want to do the mission nor kill any fomors, use an Elf for their hide ability to mine without attracting aggro.
After you mine each red stone completely, there will be another spawn. These do not need to be killed, but can if you wish.
Killing the boss of this mission will almost always result it dropping a Golem crystal, of which the type is dependant on the difficulty of the mission.[indent]
Basic: Stone Golem Crystal
Intermediate: Forest Golem Crystal
Advanced: Sulfur Golem Crystal
Hard: Snow Golem Crystal
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Tips:[indent]
Use all of your Low Grade Cuilin for making golems, as it's an easy way to get Alchemy Mastery Training.
Shadow missions may reward you with a golem crystal, and as mentioned above, the type dependant on the difficulty of the shadow mission.
As the mastering of this skill requires 800 Forest Golem crystals to be made, I suggest you save up your white herbs for it. If you have an abundance of them, or do not plan to master this skill soon or at all, making Forest Golems can be used for a somewhat easier training method.
About Pickaxes, it shouldn't matter too much. There are speed and durability upgrades available, but I just left mine unblessed, unmodified, and fed them to my ego when they broke. How you want your pickaxes is all your own preference.
If you're using multiple elements of Alchemy frequently, go with the basic cylinder. However, if you're mainly using one element, in our case, Earth, try using an Earth Cylinder, as it will boost all your Earth Alchemy skills' power.
I am told by Sayoko that while in Fullscreen, you will experience lag when switching perspectives between user and golem. Windowed mode would be better for you if you experience this.
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Training for the Ranks:
Notes:[indent]
All kills I metion refer to kills made with a golem.
For kills, I suggest going to an area that spawns many weak monsters. This includes Foxes in Tir, Raccoons in the Logging Camp and Cave Bats in Solea(Thanks Phunkie). If you know better places, use them.
Also, I am reminded of the shadow mission Their Method. It is filled completely with zombies, which are mostly safe to windmill spam. You might not get as many kills in, but you will net some exp, gold, and a reward for using this mission for your golem kills. This is, however, suggested for the higher ranks, as you will probably have a slow finish speed from low damage output from your golem with a low ranked golem.
I will use the least amount of Forest Golem Crystals possible, due to the supplies being put to better use later in training.
When I say make/summon, I am referring to the total of those two amounts.[/indent]
Novice Rank:[indent]
If you haven't already, buy the book "Alchemy and Battling" from Dorren for 28k, read it for this skill, then make and summon 1 Stone Golem to rank.[/indent]
Rank F:[indent]
Simply make 3 Stone Golem crystals and summon 3 Stone Golems. In addition, you can either summon 1 more Stone Golem, or do the simple thing and use your summoned golems to kill 10 things.
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Rank E:[indent]
Make 5 Stone Golem crystals and summon 5 Stone Golems.
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Rank D:[indent]
Make 10 Stone Golem crystals and summon 10 Stone Golems.
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Rank C:[indent]
Make 10 Stone Golem crystals and summon 20 Stone Golems. If you wish, you may use your golems to attain up to 100 kills instead of up to 12 of the Stone Golem summons.
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Rank B:[indent]
Make 20 Stone Golem crystals and summon 50 Stone Golems. Alternatively, you may attain up to 200 kills instead of up to 40 of the Stone Golem summons.
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Rank A:[indent]
Make 40 Stone Golem crystals and summon 40 Stone Golems. Also, you must total up 200 kills.
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Rank 9:[indent]
Make 40 Stone Golem crystals and summon 40 Stone Golems. Attain 300 kills. Also, make/summon 3 Forest Golems.
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Rank 8:[indent]
Make 80 Stone Golem crystals and summon 80 Stone Golems. Attain 300 kills. Also, make/summon 6 Forest Golems.
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Rank 7:[indent]
Make 100 Stone Golem crystals and summon 100 Stone Golems. Attain 500 kills. Also, make/summon 14 Forest Golems.
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Rank 6:[indent]
Make 200 Stone Golem crystals and summon 200 Stone Golems. Attain 1000 kills. Also, make/summon 35 Forest Golems.
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Rank 5:[indent]
Make 4 Sulfur Golem crystals and summon 4 Sulfur Golems. Attain 800 kills.
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Rank 4:[indent]
Make 6 Sulfur Golem crystals and summon 6 Sulfur Golems. Attain 1000 kills. Also, make/summon 60 Forest Golems.
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Rank 3:[indent]
Make 15 Sulfur Golem crystals and summon 15 Sulfur Golems. Attain 3000 kills. Also, make/summon 100 Forest Golems.
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Rank 2:[indent]
Make 30 Sulfur Golem crystals and summon 30 Sulfur Golems. Summon 2 Snow Golems. Attain 4000 kills.
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Rank 1: Mastering[indent]
Make 800 Forest Golems, 60 Sulfur Golems, and 4 Snow Golems. Summon 800 Forest Golems, 60 Sulfur Golems, and 4 Snow Golems. Attain 8000 kills.
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Use of Golems:[indent]
Now, this is mainly for the higher ranks, as the golem will be a better tank and damage dealer. However, this may still be useful for the lower ranks, even though your golem might not be that useful yet.
1. Try to match the opponent in power[indent]
Since you're limited in your amount of crystals, try to save your best golems for when you need them.
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2. Try not to Windmill spam.[indent]
Windmill is a really good skill for Golems, but it will make your golem die sooner. If you know for sure that you won't be hit, or if it's getting constantly interrupted, or if you're going against something that hits hard(i.e. Gargoyles), then windmill would be a good skill to use. Otherwise, rely on the defenses of your golem, it should have them.
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3. Stomp is useful[indent]
Stomp, even if it doesn't do that much damage compared to windmill or smash, can be useful. You can load it right after a windmill for another fast AoE knockdown effect. However, you cannot spam this skill like you may have seen the fomor ones have, nor load another skill right afterwards. Try to use this only if you are with others or if you're just finishing off a bit of hp, as this doesn't chain well to other skills.[/indent]
4. Smash![indent]
Yes, smash. You're golem has this skill. As it is Rank 8, 6, 3, or 1, it will hit harder on single enemies than Windmill(unless you're looking at Criticals). Use this skill as much as you can, as it will not drain your HP like Windmill.
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5. Use Defense for if you'll get hit[indent]
If you know you'll get hit and still have some time, use Defense for it's interruption. Otherwise, just try to normal attack it, you'll hit first maybe half the time(I have no clue as to the exact percentage), and use the time you get to get back on the offense.
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6. Defend your body[indent]
As you're going to be controlling your golem, make sure you have a back up plan in case a fomor aggroes you. A common set up are using Defense or Counter. Defense will bring you back to your body when triggered, leaving your golem to its foes but giving you the chance to retailiate. Counter will let you stay on your golem, but make sure you pay attention to your body for when the counter is triggered, as you will not know otherwise. Another common set up is setting up Barrier Spikes around you. With that set up, you'll be protected for a while even after they have aggroed you, and you won't have to go back to your body to reset a skill after you pick it off with the golem.
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After all this training, you're probably tired of all that Cuilin mining. However, I shall inform you of an important fact. Besides getting them from rewards or other people, you'll have to keep making your Golems to use this skill. If you buy them from others, they can be costly. So, try not to use them for minor things if you don't have a huge supply.
And for the newbies, here's some advice:
Work on your other skills first!
This skill is not CP related, nor CP giving. This means you can train this skill just as easy or easier due to ability to get supplies when your total level is 1000 as it will be when its 100. So make sure you can support yourself before you look for Golem support.
Well, I believe that's all. If I didn't mention something, either I forgot it(Which means I might add it in the future) or I chose not to mention it, which means I don't think it's relevant or important enough to mention here.
And that's all, readers; Hope you liked it.
Feel free to post suggestions or questions that I didn't answer
Also, if the indenting bothers you, I'm gonna try to make it less spacey