Age of Wushu Scholar Skills and Nei Gong Guide

Age of Wushu Scholar Skills and Nei Gong Guide by chaose5

君子堂 (pronounced as jun zi tang) or typically translated as “Scholar” is a school which requires you to learn one of the 4 cultural skill (namely, zither, chess, calligraphy or drawing) before joining.

The first impression of a scholar, from the name itself, might not appear to be as strong as other kungfu school, but scholar in fact, is one of the most balanced and all-rounded school in game currently. Not to mention, its high popularity among chinese in the current cbt. It is also relatively easy to be handled by newbie due to the simplicity of skill mechanics.

The guide will introduce each skills in the three school skill sets currently available in game and also its nei gong ability. However, having said these, this game actually allows you to learn every skills or neigong from other schools. Therefore, do not feel restricted by the skillset in the guide and feel free to explore skills from other school to compliment the strength / weakness of scholar in your character building.

Skills

Scholar has 3 unique skill sets, namely single sword, twin sword, and kicking skill set.

It is worth mentioning here that there is a Shared CD of 7sec when you try to switch skills from one skillset to another.

Basic Description on Skillset

A basic description for a certain skill set will look like this:

落英飞花剑 Fallen Petal Sword Style
Weapon: Single Sword 单剑
Element: Rou 柔
Type: Physical Damage 外功

I will spend some time to explain the attribute of a certain skill branch.

Weapon
First, some skill branches require you to equip a certain weapon before you are able to cast the skills in the skill branch; Fallen Petal Sword Style here, requires you to have a single sword equipped for example. However certain skillset might not require u to have any weapon at all; for example the kicking skillset allows you to cast it when you have any weapon in hand or none at all. Weapon restriciton is not a major concern in AoW because the UI allows you to shiftly change the skillbar and weapon with just 1 button

Element
The next point, is the elemental type of the skillset. Basically all skillset can be categorized as one of the 5 elemental type: Yin 阴, Yang 阳, Gang 刚, Rou 柔, Taiji 太极.
The elemental here is not the conventional elemental type which we have seen in most mmorpg: fire, ice, wind etc.

Each character has their Nei Gong which grants additional damage when you are using skill with certain elemental attribute. The Nei Gong of Scholar, give 20% damage increase to Yin and Rou type of skill.

Type
All skills will induce one of the two type of damage: Physical damage 外功伤害 and Inner damage 内功伤害. This is in analogy of the more general terms of physical damage and magical damage that we see in most mmorpg, but it is not exactly the same ( i will explain below)

The implication of a certain skill inducing physical or inner damage are:

–  Damage Boost from Buff: certain skills such as Smoke Screen of Tangmen increases physical damage. So this means that if the skill you are casting is a physical type, you will enjoy a  certain damage boost.

– Damage reduction from Defence: each char has two sets of defence values , for physical damage or inner damage. Note that i use the word “set”, which hints that there are more than 1 value governing it ( i won’t talk too much on it here since it will derail the discussion). Anyway, long story short, if an enemy has high physical defence value, and you attack him with a physical damage skill, you will induce lower damage. Simple.

Hit/Evasion rate: Each char has physical and inner damage hit rate.
.For example, if your physical hit rate is low, you will have a high chance to miss your attack (deal no damage).

Crit rate: Similarly, there are 2 crit rate stats: Phy and inner crit rate.

Here is where things get even more confusing. In most game, physical skills are only affected by your physical attack stats while magical skills are only affected by magical attack stats right?

In AoW, this is not true. The type of skill, be it physical or inner damage, can be affected by both or either one of the attack stats. For example, all skills in Fallen Petal Sword Style are PHYSICAL DAMAGE SKILLS, but all of them are boosted by BOTH Physical and Inner Attack Stats. This is not a generalization though. Other physical skills from other schools, might be affected by physical attack stats or only. It really depends on the skill itself.

How to do know which skills are affected by Physical or Inner Attack Stats or both?

Basically, when you look at skill damage shown in all skill description, you will see 3 parts.

Yellow number: main skill damage. The value you see, has already factored in the damage on the weapon you equipped. However, in the guide that follows, i will only list the skill damage WITHOUT weapon, for consistency. You can find out the base skill damage by simply adding the damage on your weapon to the value which i will list.

Red number: damage boost from melee physical attack stats. It is calculated based on a certain % amplification from your physical attack stats.

Blue number: damage boost from inner attack stats. It is calculated based on a certain % amplification from your inner attack stats.

Green number: damage boost from ranged physical attack stats. It is calculated based on a certain % amplification from your ranged physical attack stats.. (Scholar doesn’t have such skill)

After all these have seen sorted out, it’s time to move to skill description.

I will list the skills in the same order they appear in the skill page in game. I will translate the skill name based on my own interpretation. I will only show the base skill data which i have collect so far (if you have leveled the skill to lvl5, and know the stats, please let me know ). The damage shown also includes the 20% bonus which i get from my neigong.

落英飞花剑 Fallen Petal Sword Style
Weapon: Single Sword 单剑
Element: Rou 柔
Type: Physical Damage 外功

Heroic Tears

Type: Real Move
CD: 2sec
HIT: 2
Base damage at lv1: 30
Base damage at lvl5: 95
Phy amp: 19%
Inner amp: 19%
AOE: Frontal 5m, non-targetting.
Effect: After casting it once and wait for x sec, you will have a buff which allows you to induce “Unsteady” status on target for 5sec when you cast Heroic Tear again.
Lv1: x = 5sec after 1st cast.
Lv5: x=  3sec after 1st cast.
“Unsteady” status allow you to throw the target into the air, if you use Flying Swallow. The “Unsteady” target will not be able to use Qing Gong.
Comment: This is a filler skill for PVE, while waiting for the CD of Blade Storm. The frontal AOE is nice but the damage is pretty low. Most bosses are immune to the “Unsteady” status too. This skill is also the starter for a 4-skill combo for this skillset (read below). For PVP, use Heroic Tear without any target before the PVP start to gain the buff, such that you can use it directly to induce “Unsteady” status on your target.

Note: I will give one example for dmg calculation here. Let say ur weapon is +1~3 damage, and your physical and inner attack stats are 50 and 70 respectively. The figure shown in the skill description at lv1 should be:
31~33 (+50*0.19) (+70*0.19) = 31~33 (+9) (+13)
The last 2 figures are just approximate, due to truncation error. So in effect, if the target defence is 0, you will get a total of 53~55 damage with approximately 26~27 damage per hit (a total of 2 hits)

Flying Swallow

Type: Real Move
CD: 8sec
HIT: 2
AOE: 3m, targetting, approach.
Base dmg at lv1: 54
Base dmg at lv5: 174
Phy amp: 21%
Inner amp:21%
Effect: If the target has “Unsteady” status, it might be sent to the air by this skill.
Comment: Typically use this after Heroic Tears or Silent Flower to send your target flying into the air. However, again, most bosses if not all, are immune to this. Also, if the target is blocking, you cannot juggle him as well.

Silent Flower

Type: Feint
CD: 2sec
Hit: 2
Base dmg at lv1: 20
Base dmg at lv5: 63
Phy amp: 19%
Inner amp: 19%
AOE: Frontal 5m, non-targetting
Effect: Guard Breaker. If this skill breaks your opponent guard successfully, he/she will have “Unsteady” status and will not be able to use Qing Gong for 5sec.
Comment: You can also send your enemy flying into air with Flying Swallow after this skill, if you break his guard succesfully.

Howl of Fallen Dust

Type: Guard
CD: 1sec
Effect: When you are attacked while using this guard, there is a 25% chance that your opponent will be rendered unmovable for 5sec. The cooldown for the effect is:
Lv1: 22sec
Lv5: 14sec
Comment: The cooldown for the effect is quite long and the trigger chance is pretty low too upon test.

Fallen Petal Slash

Type: Real Move
CD: 8sec
Hit: 2
Base dmg at lv1: 50
Base dmg at lv5: 158
Phy amp%: 19%
Inner amp%: 19%
AOE: 3m, targetting, approach
Effect: If this skill hit any target in air, it will knock the target down to the ground, causing “Paralyzed” status (movement speed reduced by ~80% for ~3sec)
Comment: This is part of the 4 skill combo for this sword style. The combo goes like this: Heroic Tears -> Flying Swallow -> Fallen Petal Slash -> Blade Storm. However, most beginners will find that, you will not be able to chain this skill smoothly after Flying Swallow or you often get a “MISS” after you try to chain this to an airborne target. There a few tricks to a successful combo:
1. Jump forward after/while you cast heroic tears to use flying sword in air (see video below). If it is done correctly, you will see Blade Storm blinking after Fallen Petal Slash and this shows that the “Paralyzed” status has been inflicted on your airborne target.
2. Wait for a few second after using Flying Swallow, for your opponent to drop down but yet not touch the ground, at a height which is barely above your head. At this instance , use Fallen Petal Slash.

Spring Rain

Type: Qi Move
CD: 15sec
Effect: Create a zone around yourself, where your HP regen, phy and inner attack stats are increased for 10sec (approx).
Lv1: HP regen 46/sec (approx), Phy and Inner attack stats +20
Lv5: HP regen 127/sec (approx), Phy and Inner attack stats +63
Comment: If you notice, upon receiving damage, your HP doesn’t go blank immediately. A yellow trail will be left behind in your HP gauge. We shall call it “Yellow HP”. In non-battle situation, this skill will recover your HP continuously as it describes. However, in battle situation, Spring Rain will only recover your Yellow HP. The effect also disappear if you leave the shiny zone, which marked the AOE of this skill.

Blade Storm

Type: Real move
CD: 15sec
Hit: 5
Base dmg at lv1: 198
Base dmg at lv5: 633
Phy amp: 97%
Inner amp: 97%
AOE: 360 degree around yourself, non-targetting
Effect: Cannot be cancelled after casting. Deal damage to the surrounding for 5sec. You can move around or jump while doing so. Deal additional damage to targets with “Paralyzed” status.
Comment: The signature move for Scholar’s battle skill. Extremely useful in war and pve to deal huge damage to crowd. However, for 1v1 pvp, this skills has a deadly weakness: it doesn’t flinch your opponent, and allows them to block, evade or counter you while u cast this skill. This skill is also often use as a skill to switch to another skill set, because the casting time is 5sec. The 7sec shared cd starts counting right after you cast this skill, which means you will only need to wait 2 more sec when you finish casting this skill to cast another skill from other skill set.

Illusion Slash

Type: Real Move (FURY)
CD: 10sec
Hit: 9
Fury Gauge: 50
Base dmg at lv1: 173
Base dmg at lv5: 554
Phy amp: 67%
Inner amp: 67%
AOE: 3m, targetting.
Effect: None.
Comment: A relatively weak fury skill. Although the damage is lower than blade storm, it does flinch your opponent.

无涯剑法 Infinity Sword Style
Weapon: Twin Sword 双剑
Element: Rou 柔
Type: Inner Damage 内功

Clear Water Slash

Type: Real Move
CD: 2sec
AOE: 20m, Targetting
Hit: 1
Base dmg at lv1: 42
Base dmg at lv5: 133
Inner amp: 42%
Effect: None
Comment: The only spammable long-ranged skill of scholar. The casting time is quite slow though. Still great for certain boss battle when you want to stay at a safe distance from the boss. Use this together with “Tiger Palm” party formation skill (3sec CD, 10m range) to deal damage continuously from a safe distance during boss battle. It should be noted that all twin sword skills are perfect for farming Qi (to level up your meridian system) for some reason, since it gives alot of Qi per hit.

Horizon Slash

Type: Real Move
CD: 6sec
AOE: 3m, Targetting, Approach
Hit: 2
Base dmg at lv1: 50
Base dmg at lv5: 158
Inner amp: 30%
Effect: None.
Comment: The only 2 hits skills in this skill set. Use it as often as possible to collect rage, provided that you are willing to get close to the boss.

Vastness Aura

Type: Qi Move
CD: 1sec
Effect: Grant an aura which gives additional Rou damage to the caster and the surrounding party members. Consume mp at 1% per sec.
Lv1: +4 dmg per hit
Lv5: +16 dmg per hit
Comment: This aura is quite good, and benefit high hit combo skills because the additional damage is added to every single hit. Unfortunately, the skills in Infinity Sword Style is only single or two hit skills. However, it doesn’t stop your from using Vastness Aura with other skills in Kicking and Single Sword Skillset. Activate this at all time if  your MP allows since it benefits the whole party. To cancel the aura, simply double-click on the buff icon or just cast it again.

Revolving Stab

Type: Feint
CD: 2sec
Hit: 1
AOE: Non-targetting, Frontal 5m.
Base dmg at lv1: 20
Base dmg at lv5: 63
Inner amp: 30%
Effect: Guard Breaker. Upon successful guard breaking, the skill induces mp depletion (~1% per sec) on the target for certain duration:
Lv1: Duration 6sec
Lv5: Duration 10sec

Counter Blow

Type: Guard
CD: 1sec
Effect: While blocking enemy’s attack with this guard move, you will have 50% chance to regenerate MP.
Lv1: 1% MP/sec for 4sec
Lv5: 1% MP/sec for 8sec
Comment: This is a good complementary guard move if you want to maintain Vastness Aura at all time. Also extremely helpful in solo-ing since you will not run out of MP with this guard.

Fury Overdrive

Type: Qi Move (Fury)
CD: 10sec
Fury Gauge: 50
Effect: Grant a buff which gives 1% mp regen to yourself and surrounding party members. The buff also gives additional Rou damage to all skills. Duration 30sec.
Lv1: Additional 22 damage per hit
Lv5: Additional 89 damage per hit
Comment: Another party support skill for Scholar. In PVE, normally when my fury gauge is filled, i tend to favor this skill as compared to the other 2 fury moves. Similar to Vastness Aura, it benefits high hit count skills far more than low hit count skills. The MP regen ability is very good too: a total of 30% mp regen per cast.

Void Slash

Type: Real Move
CD: 8sec
Hit: 1
AOE: 20m, targetting.
Base dmg at lv1: 50
Base dmg at lv5: 158
Inner amp: 59%
Effect: If an airborne target is hit by this skill, the target will experience internal injury and receive additional Rou damage (~51 dmg, duration 8sec) when hit by skills of Infinity Sword Style.
Comment: Very fast casting time and decent dmg, but the cooldown is too long. It is good in chasing an enemy. Wait for your target to jump; right before he use airdash,  use this skill and watch him falling to the floor.

逍遥腿法 Wandering Kicking Style
Weapon: None
Element: Yin 阴
Type: Inner Damage 内功

Triple Kick

Type: Real Move
CD: 3sec
Hit: 3
AOE: Frontal, non-targetting
Base dmg at lv1: 44
Base dmg at lv5: 140
Inner amp: 39%
Effect: Deal additional damage when “Wandering Step” is activated.
Comment: Personally, i don’t like the slow casting of triple kick, although it benefits alot from Vastness Aura, Wanderer’s Movement and Fury Overdrive.

Kick of Faith

Type: Real Move
CD: 6sec
Hit: 2
AOE: Targetting, Approach
Base dmg at lv1: 56
Base dmg at lv5: 180
Inner amp: 30%
Effect: Deal additional damage when “Wandering Step” is activated.
Comment: A very good approach skill. It will flinch your opponent if it connects.

Snake Kick

Type: Real Move
CD: 5sec
Hit: 2
AOE: Frontal, non-targetting
Base dmg at lv1:56
Base dmg at lv5: 180
Inner amp: 30%
Effect: Knock back opponent. Deal additional damage when “Wandering Step” is activated.
Comment: It can knockback your opponent even when he is blocking or airborne. However, this skill remove your “Wandering Step” buff. Take note that the target will only be knock back if the second hits connect. Therefore, this skill is not very good against an experienced player, who know how to read your skill. He can try to cancel your skill before the 2nd hits connect since the casting of the skill is pretty slow..

Nullifying Kick

Type: Feint
CD: 2sec
Hit:2
AOE: Frontal 5m, non-targetting.
Base dmg at lv1: 23
Base dmg at lv5: 72
Inner amp: 30%
Effect: Guard Breaker. If a guarded target is hit by this skill, the target will be knockdown and experience internal injury: movement speed is reduced by 30% and continuous damage (~13 dmg per sec) is inflicted over time. Duration 10sec.
Comment: A very slow casting guard breaker. The casting can be easily suppressed by your opponent’s Real Move.

Stance of Discipline

Type: Guard
CD:1sec
Effect: Upon guarding successfully with this move, there is a x% chance that “Wandering Step” will be activated. Buff duration 10sec. Under the buff, movement  and attacking speed will be increased by 30% and additional damage will be inflicted when using skills in “Wandering Kicking Style”. The damage of these skills might be doubled too.
Lv1: Additional 7 damage per hit.
Lv5: Additional 21 damage per hit.
Comment: An offensive guard stance. It allows you to move quickly and deal additional damage. Unfortunately, the additional damage only benefits Kicking skills, and not other sword skills.

Shadow Kick

Type: Real Move (FURY)
CD: 10sec
Hit: 9
Fury Gauge: 50
AOE: 3m range. Targetting.
Base damage at lv1: 281
Base damage at lv5: 900
Physical amp: 150%
Inner amp: 150%
Effect: Deal additional damage when “Wandering Step” is activated.
Comment: Known as the most powerful school skill in game. The amp is 150% for both phy and inner attack. Often can turn the tide of 1v1 battle.

Plum Blossom Kick

Type: Real Move
CD: 8sec
Hit: 5
AOE: Targetting, Approach
Base dmg at lv1: 73
Base dmg at lv5: 234
Inner amp: 39%
Effect: Under “Wandering Step”, there is a huge chance to deal double damage on an airborne target.
Comment: Use it as often as you can in boss battle to fill your fury gauge fast. Remember that multiple-hits skill let you accumulate the fury gauge faster. It also benefits tremendously from Vastness Aura, Wandering Step and Fury Overdrive. However, in 1v1 pvp, you must also remembers that high hit count skill allow your opponent to accumulate their fury gauge faster too. So, use this with caution in 1v1 pvp.

Nei Gong

AoW introduces a so-called unique MMORPG with no character level. Howerver, the “level” or ability of a character is mainly determined by the level of his/her Nei Gong.

Upon activation, Nei Gong gives a set of bonus stats to the char. The stats granted by Nei Gong make up of the majority of the stats and strength of a character.

Nei Gong also limits the amount of stats you can gain through equipments. So if your Nei Gong is weak, you might gain the full stats from the ubber equipments that you might be wearing.

Currently, there are 3 ranks of Nei Gong for each school. I will introduce the stats for lv 36 Nei Gong (max lvl) and the special effect granted by Scholar’s Nei Gong.

For your reference, the effect of the basic stats:

Arm Strength = Melee Physical Attack, Physical Critical Rate, HP
Agility = Physical Attack Hit Rate, Ranged Physical Attack, Evasion
Inner Strength = Inner Attack, MP
Sturdiness = Inner Attack Hit Rate, Inner Attack Critical Rate, MP, MP Recovery Rate
Vitality = HP, Critical Resist, HP Recovery Rate

Rank 1: Lv36 Nei Gong of Wisdom 通慧功
Stats:
Arm Strength + 35
Agility + 13
Inner Strength + 78
Sturdiness + 10
Vitality + 39

Max HP + 2100
Max MP + 560
Guard durability + 870
Inner Defence + 50

Stats Limit from Equipment:
Arm Strength + 52
Agility + 19
Inner Strength + 117
Sturdiness + 15
Vitality + 58

[ thx to AresPL for providing the stats for lv36 ]

Yin and Rou skills deal 20% additional damage.
Taiji skills deal 16% additional damage.

Effect: When you attack, there is a 40% chance that you will recover MP. The MP recovery will be higher if your Inner Strength is higher.

Comment: High Inner Strength Nei Gong. The Agility and Sturdiness are extremely low as compared to other school’s Nei Gong. Therefore, during this early stage, the hit rate of Scholar is pretty poor and you will often see a lot of “MISS”. The special effect is not bad and it makes Scholar one of the few char which do not have MP issue in dungeons, when the level of your skill get higher. It also helps to upkeep the high MP consumption of Vastness Aura.

Rank 2: Lv36 Nei Gong of Jade 明玉功
Stats:
Arm Strength + 25
Agility + 23
Inner Strength + 107
Sturdiness + 15
Vitality + 88

Max HP + 3360
Max MP + 785
Guard durability + 1300
Inner Defence + 75

Stats Limit from Equipment:
Arm Strength + 37
Agility + 34
Inner Strength + 160
Sturdiness + 22
Vitality + 132

Yin and Rou skills deal 20% additional damage.
Taiji skills deal 16% additional damage.

Effect: Increase 33% moving speed. Deal additional damage, according to the speed of your char: higher speed, more damage. All skills have a certain chance to knockdown target.
-18% moving speed inc = ~12 additional dmg per hit.
-23% moving speed inc = ~17 additional dmg per hit.
-28% moving speed inc = ~22 additional dmg per hit.
-38% moving speed inc = ~28 additional dmg per hit.

Comment: Even higher inner strength and marked increase in Vitality, which increases the survibility of Scholar. High moving speed, especially coupled with “Wandering Step”. However, the hit rate and evasion rate are still extremely low. The additional knockdown effect will only appear if you reach lvl36 of this neigong.

Rank 3: Lv36 Nei Gong of Unruffledness 忘情天书
Stats:
Arm Strength + 64
Agility + 64
Inner Strength + 96
Sturdiness + 32
Vitality + 63

Max HP + 3810
Max MP + 1030
Guard Durability + 640
Inner Defence + 53

Yin and Rou skills deal 20% additional damage.
Taiji skills deal 16% additional damage.

Effect: 15% chance to gain “Oblivion” status each time you attack: increase 5 damage; the additional damage increases by another 5 every 2sec, status last for 20sec (effect CD 45sec). Also increase sword skill damage by 30.

Comment: The 3rd rank Nei Gong sees tremendous increase to Agility and Arms Strength. Crit rate, Hit rate and Evasion rate are improved. “Oblivion” status gives max of 55 additional damage per hit.  This sword dmg skill is not bad; 30 more attack is like holding 2 weapons instead 1.

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1 Response

  1. Don says:

    Do u have royal guard guides?
    I read your tangmen guides and its very usefull information… How to take a quest etc..

    If you hav royal guard guides, would you send to my email..

    Osiahoi@gmail.com

    Thank you for your guides.. I always read this site everyday for more information..

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