Maplestory Sniper / Marksman Guide

1. Purpose

The purpose of this guide is to inform aspiring Snipers and Marksman about how to raise their characters, how they should train, what they should watch out for, and most importantly, what makes them worthwhile. This guide is specifically tailored for maplers who have raised their crossbowman close to lvl 70 and are looking for information as to what lie ahead.

To put it simply, use this guide for details on snipers and marksman,and refer to other hiddenstreet.net guides for more details regarding archers and crossbowman.

I'm going to say this right now...Don't make a crossbowman unless you are plan to
bring it to 3rd or 4th job. Crossbowman just don't have the attack speed or arrow bombing capabilities that hunters do. If you aren't going to beyond lvl 55, pick hunter over crossbowman.

2. Why Sniper/Marksman?

Pros
" High damage range stabilizes/strengthens immensely with 4th job
" Voted 4th-highest damage-dealing class behind NL/DKs/CBs with ME(May have changed slightly since the appearance of 4th job)
" Ability to freeze most enemies 100% of the time (Rangers have only 60% stun rate)
" Marksman's 4th job bird is useful for training (Bowmaster's 4th job bird is only for show)
" Amazing party buff attainable at 4th job (Sharp Eyes)
" Powerful long/short distance attacks in 3rd and 4th job
" Best anti-ksing class in the game
" Adorable the way they hug their crossbows <3>>123 skill points to distribute

Crossbow Mastery (20 pts)
Crossbow Booster (20 pts)
Soul Arrow (10 pts)
Iron Arrow (30 pts)
Power Knockback (20 skill pts)
Focus (11->20 pts)

153 skill points to distribute

Blizzard (21 pts)
Strafe (30 pts)51
Arrow Eruption (30 pts)81
Puppet (20 pts)101
Mortal Blow (20 pts)121
Golden Eagle (25 pts)146
Thrust (7 pts)153

Marksman (Lvl 120-160)

FrostPrey (1 pt)
Sharp Eyes (30 pts)
Marksman Boost (30 pts)
Dragon Breath (30 pts)
Piercing Arrow (30 pts)
Snipe (30 pts)

4. Lvl-by-Lvl Skill Pt Distribution for Snipers and Marksman

70 << 1 Blizzard, 2 Puppet
71-80 << 3 Strafe every lvl
81-82 << 3 Puppet every lvl
83 << 3 Mortal Blow
84 << 2 Mortal Blow, 1 Arrow Erruption
85-94 << 3 Arrow Erruption every lvl
94 << 2 Arrow Eruption, 1 Blizzard
95-100 << 3 Blizzard every lvl
101 << 1 Blizzard, 2 Golden Eagle
101-107 << 3 Golden Eagle every lvl
108 << 2 Golden Eagle, 1 Mortal Blow
108-111 << 3 Mortal Blow every lvl
112 << 1 Mortal Blow, 2 Thrust
113 << 3 Thrust
114 << 2 Thrust, 1 Puppet
115-120 << Max out Puppet and put last point anywhere

Note: If you haven't maxed Crossbow Mastery, do so before 4th job.
Otherwise, you can't add any points in Marksman Boost.

120 << 1 pt FrostPrey, 1 Marksman Boost, 1 Sharp Eyes
121-123 << 3 Sharp Eyes every lvl
124-128 << 3 Marksman Boost every lvl
129-136 << Max out both Marksman Boost and Sharp eyes (order depends on which skill books you can afford)
137-146 << Choose either Dragon Breath, Piercing Arrow, or Snipe (recommended skills) and max it out
147-156 << Choose another recommended skill and max it out
157-166 << Choose another recommended skill and max it out
166+ << whatever other 4th job skill you want

5. Detailed Info on How Sniper and Marksman Skills Work

Blizzard
" Lvl 1-10 provide one second freeze with varying damage
" Lvl 11-20 provide 2 second freeze with varying damage
" Lvl 21 provides 3 second freee
" Lvl 22+ universally considered not skill-point efficient

Strafe
" Main damage-dealing attack all throughout 3rd and 4th job
" Max this out as soon as possible to completely replace double shot

Arrow Eruption
" Attacks up to six monsters at a time
" Maximum area which Arrow Eruption affects increases in radius at lvls 1, 11, and 21
" First bowman attack which can attack monsters point-blank
" Has more vertical range (Ranger's Arrow Rain has more horizontal Range)
" Useful all throughout 3rd and 4th job
" Needed to make goby-training reliable (Aqua Road)

Puppet
" Attack desired monster(s) first before summoning in order for it's effect to kick in
" Provoked monsters will try to attack the Puppet instead of you
" Makes it possible to solo some bosses like Thanatos, Griffey, etc if used skillfully
" Doesn't require a summoning rock to summon
" Needed to make squid-training reliable (Aqua Road)

Golden Eagle
" Stun rate, attack rate, and damage range all increase as more points are added to it
" Requires one summoning rock to use and lasts 3 min
" The more points you add to it, the less 'bang' you get from each skill point
" Leave at 25 pts instead of maxing because 97% stun rate is enough
" Need at least 15 pts in it in order to put point in 4th job bird (Frostprey)
" Needed to make newt-training reliable (Leafre)

Mortal Blow
" Main benefit is to attack monsters from point blank range
" Adding points to Mortal Blow increases success rate of point-blank atk, damage of point-blank atk, and possibility of one-shotting a monster that's at half health or less
" Max out for training/situational convenience later on down the road

Thrust
" First 10 points add 2 pts of permanent speed, while next 10 points add 1 pt of speed
" I chose to add 7 pts of Thrust to comfortably replace my Icarus Cape(2) for a Pink Adventurer Cape and to replace my 60% shoe speed scrolling with 60% shoe jump scrolling
" Don't add more than 10 pts to this skill

Frostprey
" One of the most useful one-point skills in the game
" The main reason why you would would choose Marksman over Bowmaster (besides Snipe)
" 1 point of Frostprey completely replaces 30 points of Golden Eagle AND eliminates the need to purchase summoning rocks
" Bowmasters still are stuck with their 3rd job bird because their 4th job bird can't freeze or stun enemies at all (only fo' sho')
" Universally agreed that 1 point of Frostprey should be added at lvl 120 NO EXCEPTIONS

Marksman Boost
" Increases xbow mastery by 5% every five lvls
" Adds 1 point of permanent weapon atk to every three lvls
" Try to max this skill asap because the damage increase for every 3-5 lvls is incredible

Sharp Eyes
" The only bowman-only party buff in the game; also one of the best
" Increases the critical rate and critical rate's damage of all party members, regardless of job
" You can make any job do criticals with this skill, even mages
" Hermits/Night Lord/bowmen benefit the most from this skill because Sharp Eyes adds on to their critical rate chance
" Max this skill out early if you train in a party a lot, otherwise max out Marksman Boost first

Dragon Breath / Piercing Arrow
" Both are mob skills which attacks mobs in front of your character
" No Marksmen I know use it to train, so I don't know how good they are
" Sniping Arrow is slower than Dragon Breath but does more damage
" Dragon Breath knocks enemies back a great distance, which makes it a good combo with Puppet
" Personally, I feel Dragon Breath is functionally more useful than Sniping Arrow (damage with knockback), but Sniping Arrow's 850% damage to up to 4 monsters, which is a heck of a lot more damage compared to Dragon Breath's 100% damage to up to 6 monsters
" Max out Sniping Arrow before Dragon Breath if you need to do more mob damage and if maintaining a distance between you and your monsters is not a big issue

Snipe
" 1HKOs non-boss monsters every 5 minutes unless you max it out, in which case it would be 1HKO non-boss monsters every 15 seconds
" Deals 99,999 damage to boss monsters
" Marksmen-unique skill which no marksman I know has utilized thus far

6. How to Train Efficiently

Training Spots (I will only mention the best ones)

Squids (Aqua Road - Dangerous Sea Gorge II)

Recommended Skills: At least 1 pts Blizzard, 5 pts Puppet, and 30 pts Strafe
Recommended Lvls: Lvl 83-95
Why Train Here
1. Fast experience once you get the hang of it
2. Water provides extra maneuverability/speed to your sniper
3. Beautiful environment to train in

How to Train
1. Blizzard desired squid(s)
2. Summon Puppet in out of reach area
3. Kill them one-by-one with Strafe
4. Repeat across entire map

Things to watch out for
1. Squids can 2-hit kill you so be careful
2. Bombing Fish Houses can one-shot kill you if you provoke it while standing within its magic radius
3. Very popular training spot now

Goby (Aqua road - Deep Sea Gorge II)

Recommended Skills: At least 11 pts Blizzard, 30 pts Strafe, 21+ pts AE
Recommended Lvls: Lvl 93-105, maybe past lvl 105 I'm not sure
Why Train Here
1. Crazy insane OMFG exp (one goby house = 6 goby = 8400 exp total)
2. Great meso-making because your are killing 6 monsters at once (the equips gobies drop npc for a lot)
3. Beautiful environment to train in

How to Train
1. Clear out all the Bone Fish swimming around a Goby House by alternating between 1 Blizzard and 2-3 strafes
2. Once Goby House is isolated, break it open with 5-7 strafes (if it takes more shots than this, you wait until you're stronger)
3. Blizzard the 6 gobies the instant they appear
4. Come close to the gobies and Arrow Eruption them to death with 5-7 AEs
5. Swim somewhere else and repeat

Things to watch out for
1. Don't goby if there is someone else already in the map because for some reason, gobies fly off randomly instead of chasing you if someone else is there, making it impossible to contain them all with Blizzard and thus slowing down training immensely
2. Goby Houses have high magic attack, so keep a distance from them at all times because even if you freeze them, you never know if a bone fish will spawn on top of you and distract you long enough for you to be finished off by already provoked Goby House
3. If you add points to Golden Eagle early, don't summon them here.The last thing you want is for a Goby House or Bone Fish to be provoked before you are ready to take them on

Jr. Newties on Middle Platform (Leafre - Destroyed Dragons Nest)

Recommended Skills: Lvl 20+ Golden Eagle, 30 pts Strafe, 21 Pts Blizzard
Middle Platform Recommended Lvls: Lvl 107-131
Why Train Here
1. Amazing Experience if you have the recommended party (stated below)
2. Just stand and fire Strafe / Blizzard
3. People here are willing to train with you if they need middle attacker
4. Drops Marksman Boost 20

Recommended Party
1. One Holy Symbol Priest hanging on rope spamming Holy Symbol (ESSENTIAL)
2. One 4th job Bowmaster/Marksman in Party with Sharp Eyes or Night Lord with Maple Warrior fighting bottom platform (ESSENTIAL)
3. One Night Lord or 4th job Bowmaster/Marksman fighting top platform (OPTIONAL)
4. Party is better than solo because its way faster experience, less boring,and newts don't atk you before your 3rd job/4th job bird can immobilize them. Plus, party member can increase your damage with party skills like Sharp Eyes and/or Maple Warrior

Recommended Potions for 3-hr training
1. 300 Sorceror Elixirs
2. 300 Popsicles (Jr Newtie does about 1.95-2.1k magic damage per hit)
3. 100 Cheeses (in case you accidently fall off middle platform and survive Transforming Jr. Newtie's 3.2k magic damage)
4. 300 Summoning Rocks (unless you have Frostprey)
5. At least one magic rock if you wish for a priest to door you back

Things to watch out for
1. Getting to this area requires 3-5 min travel time, so be patient and familiarize yourself with Leafre
2. If you can get a Priest to door you over there, that would preferable
3. Steer clear of the Transforming Jr Newties on the bottom and top platforms unless you have over 3.2k hp, they will one-shot kill you with their magic or vines if they're provoked

How to Train
1. Standing on the left, facing right, you will be dealing with the two Newts closest to you
2. The Newtie closest to you will transform once you 'kill' it
3. While the Newtie is transforming, do as much damage to the Newtie behind it as you possibly can with Stafe (you normally take bottom platform if you can kill this 2nd Newtie before the 1st one fully transforms)
4. Once the Transforming Jr. Newtie has completely transformed,freeze it with either Blizzard or Frostprey, then Strafe it to death