SilkRoad Online Guide - Just silkroad online guide weblog

1. Tier Based Mastery System

1.1 What is a Tier Based Mastery System?

Silkroad employs a leveling system very similar to that of THQ?s Titan Quest (even though Titan Quest came many years afterwards). Very simply explained, to gain the various skills in Silkroad you must level up your Mastery (ies) with skill points to “unlock” the skills. Once you have the appropriate level Mastery you may purchase skills once again with Skill Points. An excellent example is the first skill in the Fire Mastery, “River Fire Force Lv1″. When you first begin the game press “s” to bring up your skill page. Select the “Force” tab and then the “Fire” tab. When you put your mouse over the first skill (it looks like a book until the mastery is at the appropriate level). It will say “River Fire Force Lv 1″ Required Mastery Level 5. This means that your Fire Mastery must be Level 5 before you may gain the River Fire Force Skill. Additionally your Skill Masteries may not exceed your own level.

1.2 What are the Masteries?

There are four ¡°Force¡± Masteries and three weapon Masteries. In this circumstance ¡°Force¡± has been used as a bad translation for ¡°Magic¡± The weapon masteries are ¡°Bicheon¡± ¡°Heuksal¡± and ¡°Pacheon¡±. The Bicheon masteries deal with sword, shield and blade (blade is a heavier sword with better physical damage than the sword but poorer magical damage), The Heuksal masteries have glaive and spear skills and the the Pacheon is the bow mastery.

The four Magical masteries are Fire, Lightning, Cold and again Force. Fire deals the most damage ideal for PvP, Lightning has area effect spells good for tanking mobs, Cold has party support spells like slow etc.. and in this circumstance Force is healing magic.

1.3 How do i use the Mastery System to the full advantage?

Firstly Silkroad has a Mastery cap of 300. What this means is that you may have the equivalent of 300 levels of a single Mastery, 150 levels of two Masteries, 100 levels of 3 Masteries etc.. or any other distribution that does not exceed the cap of 300. At the moment the level cap of Silkroad is 80 so this allows for 3 masteries maxed out at 80 (240) and a 4th mastery at level 60. However for the sake of prudence, should the level cap be extended to 100 which it surely will given time, this will only allow for 3 Masteries to be maxed out. There for it is advisable that you chose only 3 Masteries. Additionally keep in mind that you need not chose ALL the skills in the mastery. This is a waste of skill points. Only chose the skills that benefit the your character build.

2. Skill Points

2.1 Why are Skill Points important?

Without Skill points you cannot gain Skills. While the skills between level 1 ¨C 20 are very cheap, let this not fool you. At higher levels skills are VERY expensive, so it is best to stockpile skill points and unlearn old skills.

2.2 How do i know if i have enough Skill Points?

There is a skill point calculator on MMO site which is EXCELLENT. Props to the creator, DeathZai. However should you be new to the game, you wont be know what skills to use, so that might require a bit of trial and error, and several ruined characters. However to give you the best shot at achieving a good character on your first attempt simply follow the guidelines below in regards to collecting skill points.

2.3 How do i best go about gaining Skill Points

To best gain skill points you will have to maintain a ¡°gap¡±. The term gap is used to define the distance between your actual level and the level of your highest mastery. For example a level 22 with a highest mastery of 15 has a gap of 7.

Simply put, the higher your gap the more skill points you will gain when killing monsters, but you will also gain much less normal xp. Also the smaller your gap the more xp but the less skill points gained. I have found that a gap of 7 will give approximately even xp to skill points ratio. However i haven?t met two single players that can agree on how many skill points are required to build a successful character, so don?t stress if some one says that you?ve wrecked your character. It all depends on which skills you need.

2.4 What is “SP” farming?

SP (Skill Points) farming is the term given to people who concentrate solely on gaining SP at the extreme expense to the time taken to level. There is an excellent guide written on SP farming by Rampage. However in a nut shell SP farmers are people that seek to gain as many SP before they hit level 20 as possible, since as you require more xp to level, the higher up you go, so it is with skill points.

3. Classes

3.1 What are the Classes in Silkroad?

Simply put there are no classes in the strictest sense. There are several guides written on this site that refer to ¡°Builds¡±, recipes if you will that make a certain type of character. In the following section i will detain several builds that are similar to universal character classes, like fighter, mage, priest etc.

3.2 How do i achieve a particular “character build”

The Fighter:

Often referred to as a pure strength build a good build for a fighter is as follows:

Attributes: Pure strength (100% strength upgrades, no intelligence)
Amour: Garment. The pure strength gives you a high phys defense, and garment will give you a decent magical defense, making a well rounded character that can take a lot of damage of different types.
Weapon: Either a Glaive or a Blade and Shield. Personally i think that a Glaive is a better option, as the pure strength build gives lots of HP, so the shield isn?t too important.
Masteries: Weapon (either glaive or blade), Fire (lots of damage) and lightning (other types of damage)
Skills: Only use weapon skills (shield skills if applicable) and buffs. Nukes are a waste of time for the warrior. Keep in mind that you will have limited MP as a fighter and chose spells wisely.

The Mage:
Often referred to as a pure intelligence build or a Nuker the mage is as follows:

Attributes: Pure Intelligence
Amour: Garment. Although this leaves the mage vulnerable to physical damage (¾ of the damage in Silkroad is physical), mages have always been slayed in close combat. Ergo, stay away from close combat.
Weapon: Sword and Shield. A shield is a *must* for mages, for the extra physical defense. Additionally even thought the sword does less damage than the spear, its not like the mage will be relying on his weapons.
Masteries: Fire and Lightning have the best Nukes (level 30 skills usually). However the freezing and slowing spells of the Cold mastery can be very useful for the mage. Therefore take the Bicheon mastery till level 30, and max out Fire, Lighting and Cold.
Skills: All buffs, a small amount of weapon skills for just in case, and nukes. Read the nukers guide by JOHN LUCZKOW for more details on what spells to take.

The Priest/Paladin:
This is a Hybrid build. Secondary spell caster and warrior

Attributes: 66% Strength, 33% Intelligence
Amour: Protector
Weapon: Either Blade and Shield or Glaive
Masteries: Weapon, Force and one other. Either Cold (Priest) or Fire (Paladin). The Cold mastery is a more supportive mastery, while the fire mastery makes excellent an contribution in close combat.
Skills: All buffs, Healing skills, resurrection etc. Weapon skills. Once again no nukes. To use Nukes requires a certain commitment
The Hunter (or Ranger):
Bow wielding maniac. Excellent build for SP farming

Attributes: Pure Strength
Amour: Garment
Weapon: Bow
Masteries: Fire, Cold, Bow
Skills: All buffs, slowing spells, weapon spells, Bow mastery

Thief:
In Silkroad there is no thief build as such as any character may be a thief. However Fire mastery is a great idea, as it excels in PvP combat.