User talk:Ladywinter/sandbox

=Evie Combat Guide, lvl 0~24= This guide is designed to walk through general combat tips and tricks for the utterly new Evie user, to hopefully make her more user-friendly to new players. All combat advice is pre-scythe.

The horrible thing about Evie is that you can't spam magic attacks, because you can only send off about 4~5 arrows before you run out of stam (depending on various skill ranks and your total stam). The fantastic thing about Evie is that her Stam regenerates quickly and during her melee and dodges. What this means is that the beginning Evie, to be constantly attacking, requires the player to use a mixture of melee with their magic skills.

This will not be a guide on what to rank when, there's already advice in other guides and it basically all boils down to play style, with three exceptions:
 * 1) If you're staying Staff, Stamina Recovery is your best friend because your burst damage comes from Firebolt.
 * 2) If you're going Scythe, don't put AP into Magic Arrow or Firebolt, however Magic Mastery and Magic Crit both helps with Scythe burst damage (the snap skills).
 * 3) Combat Mastery is mostly useless.  But get to rank D for Smash Mastery if you're going Scythe.

=Skill Intro=

Basic Melee Skill Rundown
The attack chain leading up to the Smashes are sometimes referred to as "Combos", however the end Smashes are distinct and usually referred to as Skills.


 * Attack and 2xAttack - ~120 degree angle of damage, different angles
 * 3xAttack - ~270 degree angle of damage
 * 4xAttack - ~360 degree angle of damage


 * Stamina Recovery - Smash, while standing still


 * Raven Fork - Forward + Smash, without running.
 * Damages directly to the front
 * Eagle Talon - Running + Smash, needs to be charged and will appear as a white glow in your hand when ready.
 * To avoid initializing Stamina Recovery, run into the monster while pressing smash.
 * May be ranked to increase damage in later levels.
 * Small AOE, cone-shaped to the front
 * Swan Scoop - Attack + Smash
 * Small AOE, cone-shaped to the front
 * Peacock Tail - 2xAttack + Smash
 * Damages to the front, vertically
 * Pelican Brazier - 3xAttack + Smash
 * 360 degree angle of damage, good for groups of monsters
 * Phoenix Flask - 4xAttack + Smash
 * Two hits to the front, vertically
 * Good for boss equipment breaks, high chance of Knockdown

Basic Magic Skill Rundown

 * Magic Arrow - Single bolt straight ahead, small AOE, rank 9 shoots three bolts.
 * To use, first equip hotkey with Magic Arrow crystal. Hit hotkey to release skill.
 * Firebolt - AOE damage skill in a circular area directly in front of the player. Roughly the size of a Fanning Slash Smash.
 * To use, first equip hotkey with Firebolt crystal. Hit hotkey to release skill.
 * Dodge will cancel the skill with no cooldown penalty.

Basic Dodge Info

 * About the length of a melee hit, or half the reach of a Gnoll Chieftain windmill.
 * Can cancel out of ALL Evie skills.
 * What this means is that if you are about to be hit, Dodge. There is NO penalty involved, and will usually reposition you to better attack.
 * Melee: What this also means is that Evie is not as slow as she at first seems. If you are at the end of your attack chain, or have just Smashed, Dodge.  This will cancel the ending animation and allow you to start attacking that much sooner.
 * Magic: RIGHT after you release the magic, Dodge, this allows for high maneuverability with Magic Arrow and a good escape plan with Firebolt because casting Firebolt sometimes results in your getting hit.

=Basic Beginner Advice= If you haven't already, first take your character to Fomorian Emblem or some other reasonably safe location where you're not likely to panic. Start attacking using the various skills, attacks and combos, but aim to miss.

The point of this is to really understand where Evie attacks and how far her reach is. Without understanding this, you'd never truly make the fullest use of your character. Really try to get a sense of how far Evie dodges go and how fast each attack takes.

=Putting It All Together= The key to her attacks is that many of her normal attacks have an incredibly high angle of damage, even though the damage itself isn't that great. What this means is that you don't actually have to be facing a monster to be keeping it in stun while you maneuver around it, to either mob multiple monsters or to set up for the finisher. A trick is to constantly be working around the edge of a group of monsters, keeping the ones on the edges in stun and allowing the ones near the back to move forward into range for your finisher.

Notes on several useful combos
These are general basic tips; they are not meant to cover every situation, but are tools available for players to use on the constantly changing situations in dungeons. Many more combos are possible, as well as longer combo chains, but this is just something to start you off with!


 * 2xAttack + Smash + Magic Arrow + Dodge - Great for single monsters, or when you only have something in front of you, the end Dodge allows for quick recovery and continuation of attacks. Firebolt not recommended after the first two attack Smashes because the stun isn't that great.


 * 3xAttack (centered) + Smash + Dodge - Great on mobs (or simply covering your six), the first attack should be aimed to group monsters together, the second and third attack should be pointed towards the center of the group, to take advantage of the 360 degree attack range of the Pelican Brazier, then Dodge to reposition outside of the group and start another attack chain.


 * Eagle Talon + 3xAttack + Smash - The high chance of knockdown from Eagle Talon allows slightly more safety with the first two normal attacks into the center of a mob, to set off the 360 degree Pelican Brazier


 * 3xAttack (edges) + Smash + Firebolt - In regards to mobs of monsters, if you're planning on using Firebolt after the Smash, advice is to either wiff the first two or three Attacks in the air so that the Pelican Brazier just barely lands on the monsters, or start off with five shields and Dodge immediately after. Depending on the situation, you might use Stamina Recovery and Firebolt again.


 * 4xAttack + Smash + Fireball - Great on bosses, use the normal Attacks to maneuver either towards the boss (from far away) or around the boss while it attacks forward. The Phoenix Flask has a higher chance of knockdown than other Evie smashes, making it a good setup for Fireball.  Even if the Smash doesn't knockdown, Evie's Magic Shields will usually absorb enough damage to set off a Fireball, whereupon you should IMMEDIATELY Dodge, and play more conservatively until the shields heal.  Depending on the situation, you might use Stamina Recovery and Firebolt again.

You may notice that Dodge is emphasized repeatedly; that's because even though Evie's Dodge looks kind of stupid, it's instant, consumes no stam, and goes farther than you think it does. Also it lets you flow into new combos after skills, with no downtime.

Gnoll Chieftain - A Case Study
(Video goes here)

=End Notes - The Art of War=

''"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." (Sun Tzu)''

Each player has their own play style. Each monster has different attacks and AI. The map layout changes, as well as obstacles such as pillars and huts.

These are all factors into what combos to use and what (and where) to attack. While guides may help, in the end a player should do their own research and make their own experiments and see what works best for them. Hopefully however, this guide might start you on that path!