Update May 6th:
The Build Option "Reforging a Dullahan Weapon" has been added.
PART 1
Unlocking Raids
CHARACTER PROGRESSION
- 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.
- 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.
- Get to level 90 via Story Progression Mode. If you get stuck, spam Season 2 bosses.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
- Buy or farm for Beginner materials. Below is a list of battles with higher efficiency.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Buy or craft a Frozen Dagger (Desire if INT) and enchant it with Sparkling Berserker.
- Enhance the Frozen Dagger/Desire Ring to +15.
- 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.
- 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.
- Enhance the Frozen Dagger/Desire to +17. You can now QB Agares with Kitty Pot.
- Buy or craft a Frozen Thorn/Will and enchant it with Sparkling Healthy.
- 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:
- Trading Wins in PVP Arena (70 per week max, resets on Saturday).
- Season 3 Episode Reward Box (5 per episode, 8 episodes total).
- Guild Seal Exchange Shop (3 per day).
- Guild House Vending Machine (0-3 every 8 hours).
- Alban Festival Box (20 per week).
- Seal Destiny Box (10 per box, from Weekly Missions).
- Secret Boxes (Low chance).
- Incinerating items via Flovian (Low chance).
- 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
and 2 others.