Force Shielder Hell =P

I've answered countless questions on FS topics, so I've decided to make a FS guide. This is my first guide, so please comment lightly, thanks!

First off, for beginners, if you are a person who likes to inflict heavy AoE (Area of Effect) damage with rapid and flashy Sword skills while at the same time holding a huge crystal Astral Shield, then Force Shielder is the class for you.

For your stats: Always follow your "Growth" (press "C" then look above your STR, INT, DEX stats) ALWAYS follow Growth.
-Then when you finished Growth and don't know what to do, meet the requirements for your Armor, Weapon, and Crystal. Then follow the next Growth.

Now when you make a Force Shielder, you have to decide, later on, if you want to be a Magic Force Shielder, Sword Force Shielder, or Hybrid Force Shielder.

Here are the good and bad, downs and ups, pros and cons, of each type of Force Shielder:

Magic Force Shielder

-Good

- You'll be really good in PVP because of your strong cannons AND you have the defense of a Warrior since you wear the same Armor as them.

-In my opinion, Magic Force Shielder levels you up and helps you gain Skill Experience faster at low levels because they do good damage.

-Nice DPS (Damage Per Second)

-Bad

- You'll be spamming cannons the rest of your CABAL life, and not showing any rapid and cool-looking Sword skills.

-there really is no point in making MFS. FA's and Wizards have buffs to cover up their defense.



Sword Force Shielder

-Good

- You'll be an important player in your party because of your defense and AoE skills to take on those mobs.

-You have a LOT of cool-looking skills (Storm Cut, Shield Break, the list goes on.....)

- You can solo almost anything from quests to dungeons

-Bad

- You won't do as good in PVP as a Magic Force Shielder because Magic Force Shielders have higher DPS and can pack a whallop from a distance like Force Archers.

Hybrid Force Shielder

-Good

-You'll be balanced in everything, making you a decent Force Shielder.

-You will be 8.2 / 10 good in PVE and PVP.


-Bad

- You won't be exceptional in one category. Meaning, that you won't master the art of Sword and master the art of Magic as well as if you were one or the other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remember to ALWAYS cast your buffs, PVP OR PVE.

Mass Duels ( Guild Wars, 5v5,.....)

Focus on one opponent at a time. If you're dueling someone and an enemy decides to help, FadeStep away, and try using a ranged Skill. If you're the only one alive, then fight to the death.

Duels (1v1)

Against Archers

- DASH. LEVEL 9 DASH. If you don't have it, you're pretty much screwed against a Force Archer or Wizard. A good Archer will FadeStep as much as they can. Dash toward him and hit them with a ranged skill like a Magic Skill for Magic Force Shielders. Earth Divide and Shield Ray for the Sword Force Shielders. Level 9 Force Kick helps.

Against Wizards

-Same strategy as Archer. Try to stun and knock them down, that's essential. Level 9 Force Kick helps.

Against Warriors, Bladers, Force Bladers, and other Force Shielders

-If you're a Magic Force Shielder, then FadeStep and keep throwing in those Magic Skills. You should get some quick-casting spells and some heavy damage spells. Remember to Combo as well.

- If you're a Sword Force Shielder, go crazy. Cast your chain of Sword Skills and hack-and-slash with them. Remember to Combo.

-If you're a Dex FS, kock them down first, then stun them. This is called a stun-lock combo. Canons would be good in this.

-IF YOU DO NOT COMBO IN A PVP YOU WILL LOSE. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS COMBO COMBO COMBO.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skills

Alright, now there are 2 types of skills in CABAL. One is Training skills and the other is Normal Gameplay skills.

For Training Sword Skills, you should always get the skills with the shortest cast time, and combo with them. I recommend getting 3 training skills for both Magic and Sword. I recommend these Sword skills for training because they cast pretty fast.

Impact Stab
Rising Shot
Shield Charge
For Training Magic Skills, same thing with the casting time. Here's a note:

Get 3 Arrows, then "upgrade" to Lances. Don't get Blasts because they have a long casting time, and that's not good.

Now, it doesn't matter which Arrows and Lances you get. It doesn't affect how slow or fast you grind. But I will make a list of what you Arrows and Lances I recommend.

Arrows: Magic Arrow, Aqua Arrow, Fire Arrow,
Lances: Terra Lance, Fire Lance, Aqua Lance,

Now, to Normal Gameplay Skills. These are the skills you will be using in normal gasmeplay (PVP's, dungeons, quests, partying, PK's,....) Here is the list of Normal Gameplay Skills you should get for Magic, Sword, and Hybrids

Sword

-Shield Splinter
-Shield Break (best damage skill)
-Shield Explosion (360 degrees knockdown)
-Shield Ray (the furthest ranged sword skill)
-Storm Crush (this isn't really good because it has a very long cast time, but you can use it before you can get better skills like the first 2 above)
-Guillotine (frontal knockdown)
-Shield Charge (this is a moving/attack skill, warps you 4 spaces up to hit the enemy)
-Earth Divide (similar to Guillotine, but with further range and smaller radius)
-Dash (this is a movement skill)
-Fadestep (this is a movement skill)
-Shield Harden (this is a buff skill)
-Blade of Judgement (your only Stun Skill, essential)

Magic

-Regeneration (this is a buff skill)
-Crushing Blade (this is a buff skill)
-Shield Harden (this is a buff skill)
-Heal (quite lousy, but what the hell)
-Blade of Judgement (your only stun skill, essential)
-Terra Lance
-Fire Lance
-Aqua Lance
-Stone Cannon
-Fire Cannon
-Aqua Cannon

Hybrid

- Just get any skills because you're both, right? It's up to you.

Note: Get all buffs and Dash and Fadestep no matter what build you're going. Max out all buffs and Dash and FadeStep as well.


Your training skills should be kept at a maximum of Level 9. The reason I say so is because any other level higher than that will increase the cooling and casting time, which is not good.

Your only Stun Skill, Blade of Judgement, is vital. It is your life-saver and without it, you can't win any high-level quests, dungeons, and PVP's.It is a 360 degrees skill that stuns mobs for 5 secs. In my opinion, you should leave it at level 9, where it has a cool time of 5.1 secs. Anything more than level 9 would not be good, because you would want to keep the mobs around you stunned, and you have to spam this skill every 6-7 secs to do so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Armor


Note: Don't get different Armor pieces and equip them. Example: Don't equip an Osmium Headpiece, a Titanium Chestpiece, a ShadowSteel Shoes, and Mithril Gloves because:


1) It looks ugly...

2) It won't have the Armor's defense and defense rate increase. When an armorset is with its correct armor, you get additional Defense and Defense Rate



Your first armor that you are born with.



Your second armor. Get it when you can.



Your Third armor. Get it when you can


Your fourth armor. This is the point where things get interesting. Train your character so that it can wear Full Adept, and once you have the stats and money, buy Full Adept gear (remember, +3 Skill EXP or above at least) and equip it. Start Skill Grinding.


This is useless don't get this one in pvp


Don't Get This one if you can get Shadow titanium


For me I'll get this one cause my FS is Sword / Def .. OSM have low int req.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Tips on how to Farm Skill EXP.


~ You farm faster for both Magic and Sword Ranks by punching.

~ For one specific rank, get the training skills listed above and COMBO with them all the time. You should be comboing monsters that take you at least 11 Combo to skill grind.

~ Oh, and remember to get Adept pieces. They have to be +3 Skill EXP at the very least.

~ If you do not have Adept or cannot wear it completely, then you can get the weakest Sword (for those who are training Sword) or get the weakest Orb/Crystal (for those who are training Magic). Then get the 3 Training Skills listed above, and Combo with the skills and the weakest weapon. (The weakest weapons are the Traning orbs that your character holds when you first create a character.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Playing!