In-Depth New Player Gearing Guide 2019

Submersed

Update May 6th:

The Build Option "Reforging a Dullahan Weapon" has been added.

PART 1

Unlocking Raids

CHARACTER PROGRESSION

1. While leveling, it’s important to manage your AP because you’ll need a lot later. The general priority for spending AP is Character Growth Goal skills, Critical Hit and Smash Mastery to max, then most used skills to Rank A.
   
2. Stock up on AP. To get even more AP, you can:
   • Join a guild and buy three AP 100 Capsules a day with Guild Seals.
   • Buy an Ancient Bloody Shade from the marketplace if it’s affordable.
   • Buy the Secret Boxes from the Strange Traveler.
3. Get to level 90 via Story Progression Mode. If you get stuck, spam Season 2 bosses.
   
4. Follow LoloJooty’s guide to Increasing your Power & Tech. Complete the steps under “Character Baseline” and “Suggestions for reaching Arcana / Aes Sidhe requirements.”
   • A Rainbow Spell Book can be enchanted with Sage’s and Chaos scrolls.
   • The standard outfitter can be skipped.
5. Enhance the free +12 90 gear until it blows up. Make sure you have enough AP to restore. If you don’t, enhance the remaining pieces as you get enough AP.
   
6. Complete Season 3, Chapter 2, Episode 4 (Aes Sidhe) in the story. Talk to the Strange Traveler and complete the Unified Front quest.

FARMING
At this point, you may need gold to progress further. Below are battles that you can farm to make gold in Vindictus.

Season 1 Battles

Drops: Level 24 to 47 gear, which can be sold for a decent sum. They can also be dismantled into Element Stone Catalysts if you level an expertise to 99 proficiency (a long-term investment).

Season 2 Ex-Raids

Drops: Rank 8 Enchant Scrolls. Lots of AP. Level 70 to 80 gear, which can be sold or dismantled into Spirit Magic Powder.
Note: Druid is the most efficient. Annwyn battles drop more equips. Lakoria, Havan, and Pantheum are fast with mediocre scrolls. Lavasat and Kraken are slow with good scrolls. Juggernaut and Iset are not recommended.

If you wish to invest into an expertise for dismantling, here's a short guide:

1. Choose an expertise. Every expertise is viable for dismantling, but some are considered better if you reach max proficiency.
   Armorsmithing is generally the most useful, followed by Weaponsmithing. Goldsmithing crafts Battleshade, Bow, Staff, Whip, Crossgun, and accessories, but not endgame accessories. Tailoring is mostly for vanity items.
2. Buy or farm for Beginner materials. Below is a list of battles with higher efficiency.
   
   
3. Aim to craft the highest level item your expertise allows (without spending too much extra). Items with pink text have a higher chance to raise your proficiency by 2-3 points instead of 1.
   
   
4. Once your proficiency is 99, head to Rocheste and talk to the NPC which taught your expertise. Complete the quest and talk to them again to learn dismantling.

Chunk Runs

Drops: Materials for Accessory Enhancement and Material Synthesis. Chunks for level 95 gear.
Note: Prioritize battles marked as ‘Daily’ because they effectively double your drops.

Royal Army Raids
Drops: Mysterious Shards, the most valuable single material in the game. Materials for Accessory Enhancement and Material Synthesis. AP Capsules.

Season 3 Raids

Drops: Damascus Steel, Rank 7 and 6 Enchant Scrolls, and Rare Essences for gear.
Note: These are the most popular battles to farm.

Overall
I’ve listed several modes because it’s more important to enjoy farming than it is to optimize your income. Farm what is fun for you.

If you want to know what’s considered “optimal” regardless, here’s a list:

• Level 100 Raids once you unlock them
• Royal Army Raid for the AP Capsules and other drops
• Level 95 Raids for their higher drop rate
• White Tyrant’s Challenge and Druid for their efficiency
• Cromm and Ulchas
• The daily Chunk Runs
• Eochaid and Abomination if you need their Essences
• The rest

WELFARE GEAR
Complete these steps as you get sufficient gold from farming.

1. Buy or craft a Dullahan weapon using a Rare Essence (preferably with a higher attack roll) and Superior chunks. Enhance it to +12 with the Unified Front Package and enchant it with Immoral Spirited.
   • If you plan on reforging a Dullahan weapon instead of Astera (more on that below), then you may buy or craft your Dullahan weapon with full Rare composites.
   • These scrolls can blow up your weapon, so use runes or buy scraps.
   • Decisive can substitute Immoral.
   • This step can be skipped if your free 90 weapon makes it to +14 or +15, but you may need to farm for titles.
2. Buy or farm for Eochaid’s and Abomination’s Essence. Complete the Looming Conflict quest and open the Primed Accessory Package, then enchant the +15 Earring with Warlord’s Healthy and the +15 Belt with Petite Healthy.
   • You may buy the materials for accessories, such as the essences, via the Seal of Bravery shop.
3. Enhance the earring to +16 and the belt to +17.

With Bath Soap and AP Shop Accessories, you should have ~43k power, ~210 tech, and 46 Counterforce (CF). Using the Kitty's Encouragement Potion, you can now do Claire in Quick Battle (QB).

• Note: If you don't have time to do Claire once a day, you can stock up on Kitty Pots by leaving the Warm Welcome Box unopened.

ASTERA

1. Buy or craft a Frozen Dagger (Desire if INT) and enchant it with Sparkling Berserker.
   
2. Enhance the Frozen Dagger/Desire Ring to +15.
   
3. Use your Seals of Bravery to buy Unstable Enhancement Runes.
   • You can get more Seals of Bravery by doing Ein Lacher and exchanging Honor Medals for them at a 1:1 ratio. Ein Lacher also gives great stats. Aim for Silver God no pots, or better yet, Golden God.
4. Buy or craft an Astera weapon and enhance it to +11 safely using runes. Enchant it with Chaotic Spirited (Decisive/Immoral and Valor can substitute temporarily).
   • When picking composite materials, aim for the highest rolls (without paying too much extra) to reduce the gold spent on Material Synthesis later.
   • The +11 Astera weapon will deal more damage in level 100 raids, but decrease your damage in battles level 90 and below. You may swap weapons as appropriate.
5. Enhance the Frozen Dagger/Desire to +17. You can now QB Agares with Kitty Pot.
   
6. Buy or craft a Frozen Thorn/Will and enchant it with Sparkling Healthy.
   
7. Enhance the Frozen Thorn/Will to +15.

You should now have ~47k power, ~230 tech, and 110 CF. If so, you have unlocked all Season 3 raids.

MORE CHARACTER PROGRESSION

Upgrades at No Gold Cost

TITLES

• Titles are one of the best source of stats for new players. A list of titles for new players can be found here.
• Doing Ein Lacher will unlock most of the titles in the list above. Farming Season 2, Season 3 and Royal Army battles for gold and AP will unlock a chunk of titles as well. The titles unlocked by defeating Keaghan and Muir are worth going out of the way for. The remaining titles can be unlocked over time.

REDEEMERS

• Redeemer battles are a type of raid which are more challenging and involve up to 8 players.
• Redeemers provide amazing stats at virtually no cost.
  
  
  
  

  • There are two progression bars, one for each Redeemer. The total stats rewarded are Critical +10, HP +2000, ATT +2000, M.ATT +2000, Remove ATT Limit +600.
  • You gain 2% progression per Neamhain battle and 1% per Balor. Each Redeemer boss is capped at 4 runs a week.
  • Neamhain is unlocked after the Ceara Interlude in the story, while Balor is unlocked shortly after Rupacitus.
  • It is recommended that you begin doing Redeemers as soon as possible because progression cannot be accelerated. Don’t worry about dying or not contributing at first. In Redeemers, that’s part of the learning process.
  • Check SirRFI's Redeemers: Sea of Reflection (Neamhain) for a full guide.

ARTIFACTS

• Artifacts are accessories that provide powerful effects on usage.
  • Werewolf Paw increases Attack Speed by 20% for [20/30] seconds, with a cooldown of 120 seconds.
  • Cat Statue restores 250 SP, with a cooldown of [90/70] seconds.
  • Succubus Fang restores [10%/13%] of your Attack as HP for 20 seconds, with a cooldown of 180s.
    
    
  • While they do not provide stats, Artifacts have a medium to significant impact on gameplay depending on your character.
    
  • Make sure to research which Artifact your character uses. One method is to view the info of top-ranked players.
    
  • Artifacts cost 100 to 300 Triumph Medals, which are obtained in many possible ways:
    1. Trading Wins in PVP Arena (70 per week max, resets on Saturday).
    2. Season 3 Episode Reward Box (5 per episode, 8 episodes total).
    3. Guild Seal Exchange Shop (3 per day).
    4. Guild House Vending Machine (0-3 every 8 hours).
    5. Alban Festival Box (20 per week).
    6. Seal Destiny Box (10 per box, from Weekly Missions).
    7. Secret Boxes (Low chance).
    8. Incinerating items via Flovian (Low chance).
    9. Daily Mission Ticket Exchange Shop (Not recommended).
  • Those who desire an Artifact should start working early, given the temporal constraints and the amount of Triumph Medals needed.
    
  • Once you receive your Artifact, you may enchant it with Warlord’s Healthy.

CREDITS

Mad props to Florrick for everything math-related and more.
Credits to Rumble for providing lots of info.
Credits to Venerator and Zubine for editing.

For questions or feedback, feel free to post here or contact me on Discord. Submersed#3083

Submersed

PART 2

Capping Raids

SEASON 3 RAID CAPS

THE MATH

Credits to Florrick for this nifty gadget

• You don’t need to know what the numbers mean; just know that the math was done.
• All calculations were made using North American server prices. You may perform upgrades in a different order depending on price fluctuations or different server economies.

CONTRIBUTING
You might have noticed yourself doing low damage in level 100 raids. That’s because we’ve prioritized meeting the requirements. Now we’re going to focus on dealing damage.

1. Replace your bracelets.
   • If you’re a STR character, replace the Ruby/Emerald Bracelet with a Diamond/Sapphire. Slot both Diamonds with Fine Bracelet Diamonds. Slot the Sapphire with a regular Sapphire.
   • If you’re an INT character, replace both bracelets with Sapphire/Emeralds or Sapphire/Rubies. Slot both bracelets with full Fine gems.
2. If you’re an Evie, Sylas, or Eira player, buy a Fomorian Book. Enchant it with Sage's Chaos.
   • Buy the Fomorian Book with a +2 Critical infusion, or infuse it yourself with blue Element Stones.
3. Perform Material Synthesis on your Astera weapon to max all the Critical rolls.
   • Increase the WIL if doing so reaches the next crit tier (every 133 points in WIL, up to 2000, increases your critical by 1).
     
4. Reforge your Astera weapon to +12. Reforging is an expensive process, but it’s a significant jump.

With 33-35k Attack, 73-78 Balance, 161-166 Critical, and 3000 Additional Damage (AD), you can now pull your weight in raids.

ENTHUSIASTIC

• Enthusiastic is a significant boost to DPS, but at the cost of 650 Power.
• Replace the Expeditionary suffix on your Helmet and Greaves with Enthusiastic as you reach comfortable levels of Power (well over 47,650).

TECHNIQUE

1. If you are not an Evie, Sylas, or Eira player, buy or craft a Book of Legacy and enchant it with Sage’s Chaos.
2. Buy or craft a Dullahan Mail with a Rare Essence and Rare chunks. Aim for high STR/INT and WIL rolls on the Solid chunk. Enhance it to +13 with the Unified Front Package and enchant it with Infinite Barrier.
3. Use Material Synthesis to max the balance on your Astera weapon.
4. Use Material Synthesis to max the Attack and STR (or M. Attack and INT) on your Astera weapon.
5. Buy a Blue Kitty Brooch from the marketplace.

With 34.5-35.5k Attack, 84-91 Balance, 170-173 Critical, and 3100 AD, you are now capped for Claire.

COUNTERFORCE

1. Enhance the Frozen Thorn/Will to +16.
2. Buy or craft a Devil’s Earring and enchant it with Warlord’s Healthy. Enhance it to +11.
3. Enhance the Devil’s Earring to +20.

With 140 CF, you have now capped Counterforce in all raids.

ONSLAUGHT

• Onslaught is a 3v3 competitive boss rush where you aim to score more points (boss kills) than the enemy team.
• Onslaught is a very good source of Damascus Steel. You may farm it alongside Level 100 raids and other battles, if you find the mode fun.
• Read Venerator's Onslaught Guide before joining your first match.

REFORGING AND INFUSION

1. Infuse your Blue Kitty Brooch with +2 Critical.
2. Reforge your Astera weapon to +13.
   • Now is the best time to start using Goibhniu's Enhancement Stone if it's available.
3. Infuse the Book of Legacy with +2 Critical.
4. Infuse the Devil’s Earring with +2 Critical.
5. Reforge your Astera weapon to +14.
6. Raise the quality of your Astera weapon to 3 stars (or higher) with Quality Coupons. Quality Coupons can be obtained from the Daily Mission Ticket Exchange Shop or from events. If this is not an option, then reforge your Astera weapon to +15.

With Golden God and the titles from the Title Farming List, you now have ~37.5k Attack, 90 Balance, 178 Critical, 56-60 Speed, and 4100-4600 AD. With the 700 Attack and 3 Critical from the Campfire buff, you are now capped for all raids.

ARMOR

• Congratulations on reaching this point! If you’ve gotten this far, you are no longer a new player.
  
• The next step is to upgrade your armor to either Dullahan or Astera. The only advantages of Astera over Dullahan armor are higher Defense, Critical Resistance, and lifespan (Astera armor will not need to be replaced as soon).
  
• Dullahan is recommended because it is much more cost efficient. There are four methods to obtaining +12 Dullahan armor:
  1. Runes: Safely enhancing to +11, then reforging to +12.
  2. Venerator’s Method: Progress a separate character to Season 3, Chapter 2, Episode 3 in the story. Enhance the Dullahan armor to +12 using the Unified Front Package, then unbind it and send it to your main character.
     • This method has the added benefit of producing max level characters for the Partholon Vanguard.
  3. Premade: Purchase the +12 Dullahan armor from another player.
  4. Mass Booming: Attempting to enhance straight to +12 with no runes. When mass booming, craft the Dullahan armor with a Rare Essence but a Superior chunk. This method is viable because the Essence has a 50% chance of being returned.
     • It takes an average of 20.2 armor pieces to get one +12. Only use this method if you are risk-tolerant.
• Now sell everything and buy fashion. actually send me abom saliva i need it

Happy Raiding!

Submersed

MISCELLANEOUS

SPEED

• Speed is a low priority because stat it is the least cost efficient for damage. However, it has a noticeable impact on gameplay.
  
• For characters such as Scythe Evie, gameplay may feel frustrating with insufficient speed. Here are some suggestions:
  • Go into practice mode and learn the attack patterns of the boss.
  • Go to a video sharing website and search for recordings of your character soloing the boss. Pay attention to how other players fit their smashes into openings.
  • For characters such as Scythe Evie and Delia, you can dodge boss attacks using the movement from your normal attacks.
  • Replace the Warlord’s prefix on your accessories with Significant. Make sure to maintain enough Power for the QB requirements.
  • Get an artifact.
  • Reforge your weapon.
  • Reach the end of Part 2. Other sources of Speed are not recommended prior to this because they sacrifice important stats.
• Once you have reached the end of the Part 2, you can invest into Speed while enchanting and reforging your armor.
  
• Sources of Speed are Significant, Fast, Well-balanced, Righteous, Valor, Bloodlust, and Conviction Enchant Scrolls.
  • Make sure to have enough Critical and Balance to offset any losses from these scrolls. Aim to maintain 90 Balance and 178 Critical.
  • Sources of Speed that do not sacrifice stats are the Red Moon Brooch, Book of Succession, and Sealed Enchant Scroll.
  • If you’re a Crossgun Kai player, be aware of his speed tiers [0/13/38/71/125].

DEFENSE

• You may have noticed that this guide neglects defense. If you have difficulty surviving, here's what you can do:
  • Go into practice mode and learn the attack patterns of the boss.
  • Level Defense Mastery, Agility Mastery, and HP Potion Proficiency.
  • Replace the Healthy suffix on your accessories with Passion.
  • Replace your bracelets with ones that have Emerald slots.
  • Replace your armor with Dullahan or Astera. Make sure it’s at least +12.
  • Use Material Synthesis to increase the Defense and Critical Resistance on your armor, as well as the AGI on your weapon and armor.

SKILL AWAKENINGS

• While the math has not been done, Skill Awakenings are considered a cost efficient increase to damage.
• Certain Efficient SP Waking Stones are essential for gameplay. Research your class to determine which Skill Awakenings to prioritize.

BUILD OPTIONS

REFORGING ASTERA SOONER

• This guide aims to maximize damage in level 100 raids because they are a good source of gold income.
• If you farm the lower level raids more often than the level 100 raids, you may opt to reforge your Astera first. Reforging your Astera will benefit you in every raid because Additional Damage and Speed do not have caps. For this build, follow these steps:
  
  1. Complete all steps up to the end of “Part 2 - Enthusiastic,” then complete the first 3 steps under “Technique.”
  2. Reforge your Astera to +13 or +14.
  3. Complete all steps that were skipped.

REFORGING A DULLAHAN WEAPON

• The April 30 update introduced the +13 Restorative Enhancement Rune (Lv. 95) to the Seal of Bravery shop as well as reduced Damascus Steel costs for reforging Dullahan gear. With that in mind, reforging a Dullahan weapon instead of Astera becomes a viable alternative.
• An Astera weapon, when compared to Dullahan, has +4000 Attack, +15 Critical, -10 Balance. Here's how you can offset the loss in stats via other sources:
  
  ATTACK

  • +370 Attack from each star of weapon quality, up to 5 stars for a total of +1110.
  • Average +500 Attack from two Silver Bracelets slotted with full Superior gems.
    • A Gold Bracelet will provide even more Attack. The numbers are not included because the averages are not known.
  • +230 Attack from Truth Enchant Scroll.
  • Varying amounts of Attack from the STR/INT after upgrading the free 90 armor to Dullahan.
  • +200 Attack from two Soul Enchant Scrolls.
  • About +120 Attack from a +20 Level 100 Belt.
  • +1000 Attack from Partholon Vanguard.
  • +56 Attack from enhancing the Frozen rings to +20.
  • About +40 Attack from a Red Moon Brooch.
  • Varying amounts of attack depending how many extra stars of armor or accessory quality.
  • Varying amounts of attack from titles beyond the New Player Title Farming List.
  • +250-500 Attack from a complete outfit.
  • In total, we compensate for about 3000/4000 Attack. The remaining 1000 will be locked behind two 50% Redeemer Progressions.

  
  CRITICAL

  • +2 Critical from 5% Redeemer Progression (+1 from each).
  • +2 Critical from infusing your Dulllahan weapon.
  • +6 Critical from Rank 6 armor enchants.
  • +1 Critical from Subdued Enchant Scroll.
  • +1 Critical from Partholon Vanguard.
  • +2 Critical from infusing a necklace.
    • Infusing a necklace with Critical is very difficult.
    • Without the AP Shop Renewal Necklace, you will lose around 280 Attack.
  • In total, we compensate for 14/15 Critical. The remaining 1-2 will be locked behind 50% Redeemer Progressions.

  
  BALANCE

  • We will not need to compensate for Balance because Dullahan has 10 more Balance over Astera.
  • The Balance is converted to 6 Critical via Capture Enchant Scroll over Enthusiastic.
• Keep in mind that while a Dullahan weapon requires the above stats to catch up to an Astera weapon, an Astera weapon simply converts the above stats to Attack Speed.

CHOOSING YOUR WEAPON

• Choosing between reforging an Astera or Dullahan weapon boils down to how much gold you can make on a regular basis.
• Astera is more expensive and can only be enhanced safely to +11, but provides more stats.
• Dullahan is less expensive and can be enhanced safely to +13, but requires 50% Redeemer Progessions to have the same stats as Astera.
• Choose whichever option is better for you in the long run.

GEARING A REGISTERED EIRA

• Gearing Eira is similar to gearing any new character, but with small differences due to the free +12 Rank 7 Enchanted Dullahan Armor and her INT scaling. This section will assume that you had participated in the Registration Event but did not prepare any other items.
• Read and follow the steps under "Part 1" and "Part 2" above, but with the following changes:
  
  CHARACTER PROGRESSION

  • Under Step 5, restoring the free +12 90 armor is optional if it booms at +12. If goes higher than +12, you may use it in place of the Dullahan armor.
    • Aim to make use of the set bonuses, such as by mixing the 90 armor and Dullahan armor three-and-three.

  
  TECHNIQUE

  • Under Step 2, you have two options:
    1. You may reforge the free +12 Dullahan Mail. This option is more expensive, but it has the short-term benefit of preserving the Temporal Stigma enchants.
    2. You may buy or craft a new Dullahan Mail. This option is less expensive and gives you control over the INT and WIL rolls of the composites, but you will need the Infinite Barrier enchants before using the Mail.

  
  ARMOR

  • There is no need to change your armor unless you plan to upgrade to Astera.
  • You may enhance your Dullahan armor to +13 using the +13 Restorative Enhancement Rune as you acquire enough Seals of Bravery.
  • Once you reach this point (the end of the guide), you may choose to reforge your armor to increase damage, or enchant your armor to improve gameplay.

Amenari

Submersed wrote: »

Enhance it to +12 with the Unified Front Package

What is "Unified Front Package"? How to recive this?

Submersed

Amenari wrote: »

What is "Unified Front Package"? How to recive this?

Under Step 6 of "Character Progression," it reads:

Submersed wrote: »

Complete Season 3, Chapter 2, Episode 4 (Aes Sidhe) in the story. Talk to the Strange Traveler and complete the Unified Front quest.

More specifically, the Unified Front quest is unlocked after Season 3, Chapter 2, Episode 3 (Dullahan). You don't have to defeat Aes Sidhe to unlock the Unified Front quest, but I recommend doing so anyway to unlock the Looming Conflict quest.

Liquify

Fantastic guide, really appreciate the time you put into this. I’m just returning to Vindi after a 4-ish? year hiatus and this should get me back in the swing of things quick. Thanks again!

Everandia

Amenari wrote: »

Submersed wrote: »

Enhance it to +12 with the Unified Front Package

What is "Unified Front Package"? How to recive this?

When you hit lvl 95 or so, you will get a quests from the cat that requires the "Falling Apart" title to access, the title is obtained by beating dullahan through story. After that you have to do each boss up to dullahan 2 times (and dullahan 1 more time, it's a good time to pop your 2 day vip from ap shop if you hadn't done your other bosses yet!) After completing that quest you get the package. The package has a jump stone that increases a dullahan weapon to +11, then a stone that increases it to +12 without fail, but "Restores" your weapon as a downside.

Stahlern

So would it matter much if one misses the Eira Reg package (like me)?
I suppose it would force you to follow the general path, right?