Pure Strength Fire/Bow/Glavie Combo Build : SR Submissions

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PURE STRENGTH FIRE/BOW/GLAVIE COMBO BUILD
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I've seen many guides out there that focus on pure Strength Ice/Bow or pure Strength Fire/Glavie (Glaive). After giving it some thought, I believe that a pure Strength character using both Bow and Glavie along with Fire skills would be quite good, as well. I do not call this a hybrid build because the term "hybrid" is now commonly used to refer to the split between Str and Int. Hence, I use "combo" instead to refer to the split between Bow and Glavie.

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OVERVIEW
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Basically, you're a pure Strength (all of your stat points goes into Str, Strength) character that uses both Bow and Glavie along with Fire skills. I'm assuming that you're SP farming, so you should have enough SP to get the skills you need. You will master the following skill trees: Pacheon (Bow), Heuksal (Spear/Glavie), and Fire. The other three Force skills (Ice, Lightning, Force) will be used for support purposes. You will forego the Bicheon (Sword/Blade) skill tree completely.

Fighting an enemy with no range attacks involves using Bow and Fire techniques when the target's far away. The moment the target gets within melee range, your character whips out the bad-ass Glavie (continue using Fire skills) and kick butt.

When fighting an enemy with range attacks, stick with either Bow or Glavie, whichever one allows you to kill the enemy more quickly and/or allows you to take less damage.

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ADVANTAGES
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BOW
- Being able to use Bow (along with Fire) makes you a great *cough*KSer*cough* for giants. Wait for someone else to tank the giant first, then you can fire off arrows at the monster from a safe distance. Of course, the fast attack rate of the Bow is also a plus and the ranged attack means you don't have to waste time running around chasing after monsters as much.

Glavie
- Being able to use Glavie (along with Fire) makes you the same killing machine as other pure strength Fire/Glavie builds.

Compared to using only Bow
- Compared to only using Bows, you need less arrows (you run out of arrows slower, less downtime). Once the target does reach you, the Glavie will do lots of damage to quickly kill off the enemy. You also have the advantage of having the passive Heuksal skill that increases your max HP permanently (Cheolsam Force).

Compared to using only Glavie
- Using Bow in the beginning allows you to take less damage while the target can't reach you (less potions needed, less downtime). You can also take advantage of Hawk Training skills (increases attack rating or use a Hawk to attack for you) while carrying a Bow. The Hawk skills will continue to be in effect when you switch to Glavie.

Conclusion
- This is a build that's fun to play for it's unlike the traditional Bow only or Glavie only build. Because you'll end up mastering skills from both the Bow and Glavie trees, there are many more combination of skills at your disposal. The efficiency of this combo build saves you time when training and allows you to level faster. This is great for someone who'd like to try something different.

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DISADVANTAGES
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When you switch weapons during mid-attack, there's a small time delay. If you don't time it right, the time delay will cause you to take damage. Getting the weapon switch perfect needs a bit of practice.

Having to master both Bow (Pacheon) and Glavie (Heuksal) skill trees in addition to the Fire tree means you have less skill points to spend on the other three support Force trees.

If you are really unlucky with monster loot, initially, you might have to spend more money to purchase both Bow and Glavie. However, in most situations, you can get at least one of the two weapons from monsters (because you're spending tons of time SP farming anyway), so realistically, you really aren't spending much more for this build.

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DEFENSE
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You're a pure Strength build, which means you already have a strong physical defense and tons of HP, but are weak against magical attacks. I'd recommend going with Garment because it gives you the best magical defense. At higher levels, more monsters will attack you with magic. Wearing a full Garment set also gives you +20% moving speed and -20% MP consumption. Again, because you don't have much Int (Intelligence), the decrease in MP consumption helps you make it up in that area. The faster moving speed is just a nice bonus - you can reach monsters faster and run away faster, too.

When you hit the higher levels, consider getting equipments with SoS/SoM/SoS (Seal of Star, Seal of Moon, Seal of Sun) for defense bonuses.

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WEAPON
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For weapons, use both Bow and Glavie, of course. In the lower levels, keep up by using weapons of your current level. Once you hit level 30 or so (when leveling slows down tremendously), purchase SoS/SoM/SoS Bow and/or Glavie or get them from monsters.

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SKILLS - WEAPON: PACHEON (BOW)
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Anti Devil Bow
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 5
- Book 2 Required Mastery Level: 27
- Book 3 required Mastery Level: 49
- Launches a mighty arrow of high hitting ratio.
- Max the entire series.

Hawk Training
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 10
- Book 3 Required Mastery Level: 54
- Increases the hitting ratio by summoning a hawk.
- Max book 1 and book 3.

Break Heaven Arrow
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 19
- Book 2 Required Mastery Level: 41
- Launches a mighty far ranged arrow.
- Max the entire series.

Strong Bow
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 31
- Book 2 Required Mastery Level: 54
- Launches the strong attack power of arrow with a strong string.
- Max the entire series.

Mind Concentration (Passive)
- Required Mastery Level: 10
- Increases permanently the hitting ratio by a certain amount.
- Max this skill.

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SKILLS - WEAPON: HEUKSAL (SPEAR/GLAVIE)
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Heuksal Spear
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 10
- Book 2 Required Mastery Level: 32
- Book 3 Required Mastery Level: 54
- Sweep your spear in a large arc to attack many enemies simultaneously from the front.
- Max the entire series.

Soul Departs Spear
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 14
- Book 2 Required Mastery Level: 36
- Book 3 Required Mastery Level: 58
- Swing the spear to hit the enemy hard to be stunned.
- Max the entire series.

Flying Dragon Spear
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 31
- Book 2 Required Mastery Level: 54
- Hurl your spear at the enemies from the front to give them a piercing attack.
- Max the entire series.

Cheolsam Force (Passive)
- Required Mastery Level: 10
- Increases permanently the maximum HP by a certain amount.
- Max this skill.

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SKILLS - FORCE: FIRE
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Fire Force
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 5
- Book 2 Required Mastery Level: 25
- Book 3 Required Mastery Level: 45
- Increases the attack power of Force by infusing the force of Fire into the weapon.
- Max the entire series.

Flame Body
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 12
- Book 2 Required Mastery Level: 32
- Book 3 Required Mastery Level: 52
- Increases the phsical damage by burning your own body.
- Max the entire series.

Fire Protection
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 17
- Book 2 Required Mastery Level: 37
- Book 3 Required Mastery Level: 57
- Exercises the Fire Force to increase the resistence against magic.
- Max the entire series.

Flame Devil Force (Passive)
- Required Mastery Level: 10
- Increases permanently the physical damage by the specified amount.
- Max this skill.

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SKILLS - SUPPORT FORCE: ICE
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Guard of Ice
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 8
- Exercises the Frost Protecting Force to increase the physical resistence.
- Optional.

Cold Armor (Passive)
- Required Mastery Level: 10
- Increases permanently the physical resistence by a certain amount.
- Optional.


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SKILLS - SUPPORT FORCE: LIGHTNING
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Piercing Force
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 8
- Force class of damage increases.
- Optional.

Wind Walk
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 12
- Increases the character's agility a little for a certain time.
- Optional.

Heaven's Force (Passive)
- Required Mastery Level: 10
- Increases permanently the dodge ratio by the specified amount.
- Optional.

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SKILLS - SUPPORT FORCE: FORCE
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Heal
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 12
- Recovers the selected target's HP.
- Optional.

Rebirth
- Book 1 Required Mastery Level: 17
- Resurrect (shift + click) the dead character.
- Optional.

Force Increasing (Passive)
- Required Mastery Level: 10
- Increases permanently the maximum MP by the specified amount.
- Optional.

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TIPS
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The support Force skills are completely optional. You may use any combination (and as many as you want provided you have enough SP) as you see fit. I particularly like the passive skills the other three Forces offer since they don't consume MP.

Make sure to SP farm! You need lots and lots of SP to learn the skills for this build. Also, because you don't have much MP, don't be in a big hurry to max the books, or you'll find yourself running out of MP during battle way too often.

Obviously, if you combine both Bow and Glavie, the archer's usual practice of "hit and run" wouldn't apply for this build. The whole point is to get in as much damage as possible using Fire/Bow while the enemy can't reach you, then stand your ground and use your Glavie to whack the target when it gets close.

There are endless ways to mix and match the skills when in battle. Be flexible and experiment with different combinations when it comes to different types of enemies. The possibilities are limitless.

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THE END
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Good luck and have fun.