Perfect World Seeker Guide

Perfect World Seeker Guide by Knightblayde

The contents of this guide are compilations of my knowledge of playing the Seeker class from level 1 and information coming from various public sources. The information provided in this guide is only meant to be a foundation — the “training wheels”, if you will, for the Seeker class. I cannot cover everything as there are just some things you need to research or experiment for yourself. If you have any questions, if you want to debate/add anything, or if there are errors in the guide, please leave a reply to this thread indicating so. I hope this guide answers many of your questions and is informative enough for you to master the basics of playing a Seeker.

Enjoy!
~Knightblayde (a.k.a. Blaydewind)

Seekers are adept swordsmen, capable of manipulating a squad’s damage output and reducing the amount of damage the squad receives, mainly through the use of their three stances. Their primary role is to support the squad through their debuffs, damage, and control skills, but they can also be a secondary puller and/or tank. They possess the most powerful AoE in the game, Yataghan Vortex, which potentially annihilates mobs in seconds, making them a highly desired class where AoE damage is needed. They can also adapt their combat distance from melee to ranged, which makes them a versatile fighter.

You need at least 5 STR and 3 DEX every 2 levels for equipping heavy armor and your weapons, which leaves 2 extra points that you can put wherever you desire (total of 10 points per 2 levels). Note that some of the supply stash gear or rewards do not follow the formula, so don’t let that fool you.

Try to aim for the minimum requirements of the endgame gear you want, so you can have a bit of free points as you get near lvl 100. Your hp and damage output are more affected by the type of gear you will obtain as you go along, so the extra points are just a small add-on in comparison to the gear bonus.

The Seeker class, in comparison to many of the other classes, has more freedom in extra stat point allocation, so you can be creative in choosing what kind of extra enhancements you want for your Seeker. How do you decide where to put those extra points? Remember, that you are not limited to following a set formula all the way to lvl 100 or so. You need at least the 5 STR and 3 DEX every two levels until you reach the minimum requirements of the gear you plan to use (requires some research). Conduct some tests as you progress through the game. Test your limits while fighting your quest mobs.

⊲ Do you need more HP to survive? If you need the extra survivability early game, aim for extra VIT. You can cap your VIT and aim for STR and/or DEX if you reach a comfortable setting.

⊲ Do you just want more basic damage? If you like a bit more damage and think you can survive without the extra HP, look for a bit more STR.

⊲ Do you want to see big numbers more often? If you want to build a certain crit % by endgame, manage your DEX (20 DEX = +1% crit rate).

As I said before, you don’t necessarily have to follow a set formula all the way through endgame. Try to figure out which type of enhancements would benefit you most. The explanations I’ve provided are based on if you were to start with these formulas from level 1.

⊲ VIT-based Formula (“common” formula): 5 STR | 3 DEX | 2 VIT

This formula focuses on using your extra points for survivability, which will help against both physical and magic mobs. I highly recommend using this from the early levels and capping your VIT when you think you have reached a comfortable setting. After that, you may want to switch to a damage enhancing formula like the ones below.

⊲ STR/DEX Balance: 6 STR | 4 DEX

This formula has less survivability, but it balances the extra points between STR and DEX, allowing you to hit a bit harder and see big numbers more often. If you follow this formula for a while, you should see an extra 1% crit about every 10 levels. Expect yourself to be relying on lots of hp potions and apothecary (usually life powders) to help with survivability.

⊲ High DEX: 5 STR | 5 DEX

This formula focuses its extra 2 points in adding DEX, which increases your crit rate sooner and may give you a bit more survivability against physical mobs. You should see a crit rate increase of 1% about every 8 levels. You may need to rely on lots of hp potions and apothecary (usually life powders) to help with survivability.

⊲ High STR: 7 STR | 3 DEX

This formula focuses its extra 2 points in adding STR, which increases your base damage sooner than the other example formulas. If you like basic damage consistency and not relying on a bit of luck for big numbers, go with this formula for a while. However, survivability may be an issue, so you may be relying on lots of hp potions and apothecary (usually life powders) to help with that.

Seekers have many great skills worth leveling, but you may find yourself short on resources to learn/develop them. The following is a list of seeker skills and my recommendation of what skills to prioritize. I will also explain some of the basic uses of the skills in this section.

Click here for specific skill descriptions.

Color Key:

Main Skill – This skill, being rather affordable, is very beneficial to you if developed early on.
Late Game Skill – Sink 1 level into it. This skill, possibly costing a larger amount of coin/spirit, is very beneficial to you when fully developed. Level it after your Main Skills are maxed.
Low Priority Skill – this skill is fine at level 1 for either its use or for fulfilling a requirement to get a skill later; level up if you prefer (see comments for more details)
Optional Skill – This skill is not functionally required and can be left at 0. Adding points is personal preference.

Rock Splitting Cleave
⊲ Personal Comments
The add-on damage bonus, although very nice in the early levels, is quite insignificant later in the game. The normal damage calculated in this skill will be stronger than the add-on bonus you get. While this will likely be part of your skill spam chain for chi, I do not recommend leveling it until later in the game when you can get the sage/demon version of it. Leveling it up early should be based on whether or not you think you need that extra damage to kill mobs faster.

⊲ Uses
This is one of many of the Seeker’s spammable skills that help you build chi. Use it often to help your stance chains.

Staggering Strike
⊲ Personal Comments
The case for this skill is like Rock Splitting Cleave, even though the add-on damage is a little higher. Even though this is a trigger attack, it would be more efficient to level its associated stance, Northern Sky Waltz, first. The real benefit to leveling this skill in comparison to Rock Splitting Cleave is the range extent (12m at level 10), but you likely won’t be using this as part of any ranged combo early in the game, but like Rock Splitting Cleave, leveling it up early should be based on whether or not you think you need that extra damage to kill low level mobs faster.

⊲ Uses
This is one of many of the Seeker’s spammable skills that help you build chi. When maxed, it has the potential to be part of a ranged attack chain. If your target is marked by Eye of the Northern Sky (looks like this), use Staggering Strike to lower the target’s defense level. The debuff lasts a short period of time, but by skill spamming, you can mark fairly often and maintain the debuff.

Unfetter
⊲ Personal Comments
This skill isn’t really necessary for the early levels unless you dread the long walks, but the new supply stash items introduced an early flyer and teleport stones (yay ). My advice is to gradually level this when you have spare coin/spirit as it is quite helpful in instances (besides holy path), especially FC, where you may have to start pulling.

⊲ Uses
Moving quickly to lead the charge is what Seekers do.

Northern Sky Waltz
⊲ Personal Comments
At lvl 10, the debuff decreases target’s def lvl by 20. This is your main debuff for squad play when fighting bosses. It may not be as powerful as the BM’s HF, but its attack chain is frequent enough to maintain. In questing, you should be able to mark targets frequently, so you have a pseudo double slash with each Staggering Strike trigger.

⊲ Uses
This will probably be your most used stance. Switch to this stance when you want to deal as much damage to a target as possible. (see Staggering Strike)

Bladed Fervor
⊲ Personal Comments
This is a useful blessing by endgame. The extra crit rate at level 1 is enough for a while, and every even level pretty much just adds an extra 15 minutes to the current bonus set. Check the chart at the bottom of this page to see the level progression as the in-game skill description is misleading. Like Unfetter, I advise to level this gradually when you can spare the coin/spirit.

⊲ Uses
If you’re not using the other two blessings, maintain this at all times for optimal damage.

Battousai
⊲ Personal Comments
This is your fastest 20m+ ranged attack, but I personally do not think the damage add-on is that necessary so early in the game. This will likely be part of your chi-generation chain regardless of what level it is. Like Staggering Strike, the real benefit to leveling this skill is really its range (20m at lvl 10), which you are more likely to utilize later in the game when you have Gemini Slash and all your other awesome ranged skills. The demon and sage versions of this skill are pretty nice, too.

⊲ Uses
This is one of your spammable skills that you can use to build chi/mark target(s) when the others are in cooldown. Its other purpose is to be part of a ranged attack range, since it can go as far as 20m.

Blade Affinity
⊲ Personal Comments
Useful in conjunction with your long channeling skills, but not needed past level 1 for a while. Like Unfetter and Bladed Fervor, I would level this gradually when you can spare coin/spirit. I definitely recommend it maxed by the time you do FCs.

⊲ Uses
This is a precast skill useful for quick-casting your long channeling skills. You can do quick ATK/DEF level debuff chains (soulsever proc + gemini slash) and quickly activate vortex on pulls (so you don’t get interrupted) with its -80% channeling at max level.

Heart Shatter
⊲ Personal Comments
You’ll mostly use this on bosses, so you can put off the leveling for later. Mobs will usually die too quick for this to be effective on them.

⊲ Uses
Apply this on bosses or mobs you need to kill fast (like FC shocktrooper spawns or harpies). This enhances your squad’s physical/metal skill damage, but it’s mainly there so you enhance your own damage to a target. This works well with your DEF level debuffs and ATK level blessings.

Parchedblade Dance
⊲ Personal Comments
This can be a useful stance for crowd control… but…. it’s proc rate (20% at lvl 10) is pretty low to be that useful. I personally used to rate this as a main priority skill, but after regularly playing the class for a while, the other two stances are generally better overall. I would give this skill more credit if it had a higher proc rate, but the best way you can do it is if you are tag-teaming with another Seeker that is using that stance or you apply marks via edged blur/vortex. The other two stances have higher proc rates and kill things faster, which seems more desirable than getting a rarer stun chance.

⊲ Uses
You may or may not use this stance that often, but it is useful if you can trigger its mark. Switch to this stance if you need to control one or more targets. (see Stalagstrike)

Blade and Sword Mastery
⊲ Personal Comments
This should be your highest priority as it affects your overall damage

Ion Spike
⊲ Personal Comments
I’m no expert PvP’er, but I believe this skill was intended for PvP. In PvE scenarios, you could use your sparks for something more useful like vortex or triple spark. In fact, I would go as far as to call this the Seeker’s version of the Barb’s firestorm (which also isn’t favorable for PvE scenarios). Level if you desire, but this skill is really only useful prior to achieving the better spark options. The damage bonus and metal resist reduction are nice, though.

⊲ Uses
Add this any kind of attack chain prior to using metal attacks.

Stalagstrike
⊲ Personal Comments
The add-on damage bonus is more than the previous add-on damage skills, but like Battousai, its real benefit is range and demon/sage versions. Because of its quick recharge, it will likely find its way into your main skill spam chain for chi generation and AoEs, regardless of its level.

⊲ Uses
This is one of many of your spammable skills for building chi and stance chaining. Use this to trigger Parchedblade Dance’s Bloodlet mark (looks like this) or use it to spam with your other spam skills.

Adrenal Numbness
⊲ Personal Comments
It makes things hurt less; not much else to say

⊲ Uses
Maintain this buff to build chi once in a while and to make sure you take less damage.

Saber Rattle
⊲ Personal Comments
Sink in at least 1 point for prerequisites. This is an expensive blessing to cast as it costs 1 mirage to use. Level later if you plan to use it. Keep in mind that the Attack Level bonus has a bit of synergy with your defense level debuffs. I personally like to use this skill. See the bottom of this page for level progression as the skill description in-game is misleading.

⊲ Uses
You can use this squad blessing to help your squad deal a little more damage as you spam the -20 DEF level debuff from the Northern Sky Waltz chain. Overwrite this blessing on yourself with Bladed Fervor, since it’s essentially the same attack level bonus, but it adds more to it.

Mind Shatter
⊲ Personal Comments
This debuff can be quite situational, especially if you don’t normally squad with wood/water magic users. Level later if you like. It allows the affected classes to get a higher crit rate on their hits

⊲ Uses
Apply this on bosses or mobs as a way to boost critical chance for the classes that benefit from it such as a psychic or venomancer.

Heartseeker
⊲ Personal Comments
Get this to a decent level to like 5 to 7, then focus on main skills. Level after your main skills are done. It has a decent damage bonus, and the snare effect is nice if you need to control mob position — especially if the mobs run.

⊲ Uses
This is one of your longest-ranged skills. Use as part of a ranged attack chain or controlling mob positioning where able.

Darkcloud Bolt
⊲ Personal Comments
My opinion for this is the same as Stalagstrike, except this can be more expensive to develop and is only slightly more powerful. Wait until you can spare extra coin/spirit.

⊲ Uses
This is one of your spammable skills for building chi and placing marks on target(s). Use it for AoEs or just as a quick attack for attack chains.

Voidstep
⊲ Personal Comments
Level later for more range if you like, but I have found this to be buggy in some areas. I’m keeping it at level 1 for that reason.

⊲ Uses
If you need an emergency stun for a mob, this is it. Other than that, it is a self-positioning skill, so chain it with your attacks. For example, you could teleport yourself into a group of mobs to start an AoE attack chain (like the small easy shade groups in FC).

Soulsever Minuet
⊲ Personal Comments
Great stance to open with for boss fights and AoE spike combos. This probably won’t be used as frequently as your main skills, so you can hold off on it for later.

⊲ Uses
This is commonly an opener stance that works in conjunction with the other two stances. On bosses, trigger its mark, then switch to Northern Sky Waltz, triggering its mark to overwrite the DEF level debuff. This results in the target’s ATK level being kept at -10 for a while and DEF level -20 constantly from the Northern Sky Waltz chain. On some mob AoEs, mark multiple targets and trigger the marks. Switch to Parchedblade dance and trigger that after marking several targets. This results in those targets dealing less damage, taking more damage, and sometimes, being disrupted from doing anything.

Gemini Slash
⊲ Personal Comments
Your most powerful AoE + ranged attack. It has a long cooldown, so you probably won’t be using it as much as your other skills. Level this after main skills are done.

⊲ Uses
Use this to trigger Soulsever Minuet’s mark (looks like this). Aside from that, use it as part of a ranged attack chain. You can precast Blade Affinity to make this channel at an amazing speed, allowing you to do more powerful chains quickly.

Krav Maga
⊲ Personal Comments
This is an expensive squad blessing that costs 1 mirage to use. If you don’t plan to use this blessing, you can ignore it entirely. Keep in mind that this has a bit of synergy with Soulsever Minuet’s trigger effect of reducing the target’s attack level. I personally like using this skill. Refer to the chart at the bottom of this page as the in-game description is misleading.

⊲ Uses
You can use this squad blessing to help your squad receive less damage, especially when your target(s) are affected by the ATK level reduction from the Soulsever Minuet chain.

Soul Shatter
⊲ Personal Comments
Similar situation to mind shatter, but this one does not last as long at lower levels. Level if you like.

⊲ Uses
Apply this on bosses or mobs that your squad needs to kill fast if your squad contains a wizard or psychic.

Edged Blur
⊲ Personal Comments
This kind of skill seems geared towards PvP as a way for Seekers to keep HA classes at a distance (I’m not a PvP player, but that is my best guess). Yataghan vortex deals way more damage than this and is more useful for squad zhenning. Against bosses, sparking and skill chaining with your stances deal more damage than this. Level if you like. Level 1, however, is good enough for AoE stance marking.

⊲ Uses
Activate this when you need your stance to mark multiple targets.

Yataghan Vortex
⊲ Personal Comments
One of many reasons that separates this class from the others. I would start leveling this in the 80s when your main skills are done. Leveling this too early would drain your MP too quickly to keep up.

⊲ Uses
Use this when you have to AoE a group of mobs and want them dead quick . You can sometimes use this to keep aggro on a boss when doing some BHs.

Quid Pro Quo
⊲ Personal Comments
Useful, but it is still a situational skill.

⊲ Uses
If you get an annoying debuff on you, such as poison, freeze, or other applicable status ailment, use this skill to get rid of it.

Last Stand
⊲ Personal Comments
This skill, while it is the only seeker skill that self-recovers hp, is too conditional to make it worth your while. You can only activate it when your HP drops below 40%, draining all your MP, and it has a 3 minute cooldown. The only use I see for this skill is if you are going to pull mobs and need an extra emergency heal.

Arme Nier
⊲ Personal Comments
This skill, even without its associated stance, is like a combination of heartseeker’s cooldown, and a bit of gemini slash’s damage. This is a great addition to the seeker’s ranged combat arsenal, and I would suggest getting this over Last Stand. This has a nice animation, too.

⊲ Uses
Use this as part of your ranged attack chain or to spike your target after proper debuffs have been placed.

This is a very important decision to make when you hit 89, so carefully consider what aspects of the seeker are appealing when you reach that point. The main difference is damage (sage) vs. utility (demon). Many will tell you that sage is the only way to go, but I personally think that both paths are viable options. I could do a thorough analysis of the skills between the two paths, but you could easily compare them with research on ecatomb and other sources, so I’ll just cover the basic grounds of each path.

(I personally picked Sage for the reasons below)

Sage
⊲ Primarily focused on defense, stance precision, reach, affliction prevention, and damage per hit
⊲ Sage spark offers damage reduction; has synergy of dealing massive amounts of damage with sage skill spam
⊲ Sage chi skill helps build chi in and out of combat
⊲ Shatter debuffs focus on increasing damage received
⊲ Darkcloud bolt offers a chance to disrupt spells (useful for boss fights)
⊲ Most amount of ranged attack options

Demon
⊲ Primarily focused on affliction enhancements, combat chi build-up, critical hit effects, and encouraging skill spamming
⊲ Demon spark has synergy with the chi-building quick attacks, making it easier to spark
⊲ Has a pseudo self purify
⊲ Most freeze effect options
⊲ Utilizes status afflictions as an add-on to primary skills
⊲ NOTE: Remember that going demon is NOT about achieving high APS. Fists/claws and daggers are the only weapons meant for APS because their base speed allowed it. A faster attacking blade/sword will NOT compete against real APS weapons. This class gets its damage from skill chaining/vortex.

This section covers some gear suggestions for various level ranges. Remember, these are not the only options you have, so research all possible gear you can use within your level range (there’s a level range gear search function in-game now). As you near the 90s-100s, you should have a pretty good idea of what you want endgame.

NOTE: The gear templates below are shown without shards/refines

⊲ Seekers are a HA based class, so don’t stray from wearing HA
⊲ Refine your armor at higher levels for nice HP bonuses
⊲ Shard your armor with things that increase your HP; shard weapons with things that increase your physical attack/STR (usually various grades of garnets)
⊲ If you need extra mag defense, use your neck and belt slots to give yourself a boost for that area (usually around 60s-70s questing)
⊲ For tomes, aim for things that give you more HP/damage
⊲ For rings, look for might rings that add HP, crit, and/or damage

⊲ As I say for any other class, for the first 59 levels, use whatever equipment you can get from quests or whatever you can find. If you don’t have a lot of money, save them for skills and for gear past 60.
⊲ It may be to your advantage to do the boss quest for Viriddis Stormhorn (around the 50s) as it gives you some nice dual swords that add vit and str. These will be great until you can use TT60. ~Special thanks to ACLucius for this tip

⊲ Weapon: TT60 Blade
⊲ Helm: Helm of Aqua Viciousness (lvl 69)
⊲ Armor options: any decent armor you can find/afford
⊲ Necklace: Equine Talisman (lvl 69)
⊲ Belt: any decent mag resist belt you can find/afford
⊲ Cape: Cape of Tauran Chieftain (lvl 69) or other decent hp/resist cape you can find/afford

⊲ Much like the bm and barb, you can use their similar 70-89 setup for those levels to save money
⊲ Sample Armor Template
⊲ Weapon options: TT70 green blade (Warriorblade); TT80 dual swords (Shinrotwins)
⊲ Helm: Warsoul of Earth or other decent hp/stat helm
⊲ Chestplate: Proud Plate of Corsair (lvl 79)
⊲ Bracers: TT70 green bracers or decent 3-star bracers with hp/STR
⊲ Leggings: Cuisses of Sea Captain (lvl 77)
⊲ Boots: TT70 boots or decent 3-star boots
⊲ Necklace: Equine Talisman or decent mag resist neck with vit/hp/phys resist
⊲ Belt: Pirate king’s seal (lvl 77) ; demon slaughter belt (lvl 85)
⊲ Cape: Cape of Tauran Chieftain or other decent cape with hp and sockets you can find/afford

⊲ Once again, the armor setup is similar to that of barb and bm
⊲ Sample Armor Template
⊲ Weapon options: TT90 gold blade (firelotus, blade of the dragon), lunar blade (lamp of soul)
⊲ Helm: same as 70-89
⊲ Chestplate: TT90 green
⊲ Bracers: TT90 green (or TT90 gold if you want some APS)
⊲ Leggings: TT90 green
⊲ Boots: TT90 green
⊲ Necklace: Swindler’s Necklace (TT90 green mag res neck) or Sky demon’s pearl
⊲ Belt: Warsong Lock Mag Resist belt
⊲ Cape: Calm Robe: Lunar Glade

At this point, it is best for you to research what gear you want and can afford. I can only offer you a few possible endgame suggestions.

⊲ Placeholder if you’re undecided: TT99 Sample
⊲ Lvl 101 Rank Gear Sample

This section will cover my suggestions of genie skills for the Seeker. I’ll start off with comments of my skill suggestions and categorize them later into what I believe are their appropriate roles. If you need some genie information, check out this handy PWI Wiki genie guide.

SPECIAL TIP: About 40 VIT and 50 MAG on your genie will enable you to double holy path

General Useful Genie Skills

I’d suggest creating your own genies from the following skills. The suggestions that I will list after are just skills that I found useful for the situations listed.

⊲ Earthflame: this only comes as an initial skill for a zeal genie and is your general mob luring skill

⊲ Second Wind/Tree of Protection: this will make up for the Seeker’s lack of a reliable heal skill

⊲ Holy Path: fast movement in instances helps you pull mobs, position yourself better, help lead the charge, and allows you to get pesky melee mobs off of your casters

⊲ Cloud Eruption: quick chi means easier time to vortex/spark; you could also triple spark at full chi to combine this with vortex

⊲ Tangling Mire: an AoE debuff that lowers targets’ defense and slows them down — another vortex-friendly genie skill

⊲ Relentless Courage: this could potentially be your second, but weaker blade affinity; pump a good amount of STR into your genie and you can get an extra -chan boost

⊲ Alpha Male: neat trick to make melee mobs run into your vortex

⊲ Absolute Domain: AoE invincibility for a few seconds is a nice tactic when things get hairy

⊲ Expel: this can make you a super tank while you vortex melee mobs

NOTE: The following examples only take into account the options assuming you do not reach 51+ lucky points. For the extra skill slots, you could use another of the variable options.

Example Solo/Questing/Grinding “Zeal” Genie Skills
⊲ Skill 1: Earthflame
⊲ Skill 2: Second Wind/Tree of Protection
⊲ Skill 3: Tangling Mire/Cloud Eruption/Alpha Male/Expel/Holy Path/Relentless Courage
⊲ Skill 4: Tangling Mire/Cloud Eruption/Alpha Male/Expel/Holy Path/Relentless Courage

Example BH/FC “Zeal” Genie Skills
⊲ Skill 1: Earthflame
⊲ Skill 2: Holy Path
⊲ Skill 3: Tangling Mire/Cloud Eruption/Absolute Domain/Relentless Courage
⊲ Skill 4: Tangling Mire/Cloud Eruption/Absolute Domain/Relentless Courage

Example Delta Genie Skills
⊲ Skill 1: Tangling Mire
⊲ Skill 2: Cloud Eruption
⊲ Skill 3: Holy Path
⊲ Skill 4: Alpha Male/Expel/Absolute Domain

General

⊲ Vortex is not the ONLY thing a Seeker can do. Understand the importance of your three stances and how their debuff triggers enhance your own damage and your squad’s damage/survivability.

⊲ Maintain Adrenal Numbness

⊲ Buff yourself with an appropriate stance at all times (see Stances section below)

⊲ Maintain an appropriate blessing. Bladed Fervor is usually the one you will be using if you’re soloing or not using the squad blessings. If you’re using Saber Rattle, overwrite it with Bladed Fervor for yourself, since it has the same bonus with some extra add-ons.

⊲ Against metal or magic resist targets, try to avoid using metal skills as it will be less effective. Instead, focus on spamming your physical skills. However, skills like heartseeker are an exception because they have secondary abilities.

⊲ Note that many of the seeker skills are AoE, so be cautious if you do not want to damage nearby targets (i.e. heads boss in FC).

⊲ Single sword/blade is best for attack speed to help procure your stance marks, while dual sword/blade is best for damage per hit. Use whatever is more comfortable for your play style or keep a set of each.

⊲ In combat, get used to switching stances when the situation calls for it (see Stances section below)

⊲ Make sure your mp is full before using Yataghan Vortex, so you there is less of a risk of canceling it due to insufficient mana

⊲ While in a boss fight, if you want to vortex, be certain that it won’t move or disrupt your vortex strategy too often.

⊲ If you need to vortex at a specific location, lure a mob there and keep vortex up. I like to call this “creating a vortex point”. Your squad members can then lure mobs into your vortex as if you were a deadly blender .

Stances

Stances are the main aspect of the seeker’s combat style. Each stance allows the seeker to place “marks” on targets in a variety of ways: melee attacks, ranged attacks, and AoE attacks. For each stance mark, there is a trigger attack skill that unleashes the effect of the stance mark applied.

These are the three seeker stances and their applications:

Frequency Stance: Northern Sky Waltz –> triggered by Staggering Strike

⊲ This chain reduces the target’s defense level by 20 (when northern sky waltz is maxed). The stance can mark often and staggering strike recharges quickly, so the combo can be done frequently.
⊲ This chain is best used for 1 on 1 combat, usually in boss fights or lone mobs. Use this to increase your team’s damage or to spike mobs quickly.
⊲ When you get the chain going, it can be to your advantage to follow up with powerful attacks like Heartseeker or Gemini Slash

Control Stance: Parchedblade Dance –> triggered by Stalagstrike

⊲ This chain can stun all marked mobs, so AoE marking can be to your advantage. Although the stance has the lowest marking rate of the three, it has one of the longer lasting marks and is triggered by a quick recharging AoE attack skill.
⊲ This stance can be useful in both 1 on 1 mob combat and AoE combat. It’s a matter of how you apply the mark. It’s less useful against targets that can’t be stunned.
⊲ Use spam attacks/skills to mark single targets. One of the great things about this stance is its potential to stun single targets constantly.
⊲ Use quick AoEs like Edged Blur or Darkcloud Bolt for the best chance to mark multiple targets.

Affliction Stance: Soulsever Minuet –> triggered by Gemini Slash

⊲ This chain reduces the target(s)’ attack and defense levels for a long period of time. In fact, I believe it to be one of the longest lasting debuffs in the game. The mark is one of the longest lasting of the three stances and has the highest chance to mark (50%), but its trigger attack has the slowest cooldown and cast time, so it’s meant to be used once in a while. Think of it like preparing and shooting a canon. The chain is actually the most powerful in terms of damage compared to the other two.
⊲ This stance is usually best used in an opening chain in 1 on 1 battles that will last a while, such as a boss fight. However, it does have mob AoE applications, too, via spike AoE chain.
⊲ The marking methods for this stance are the same as Parchedblade dance

Solo Play/Questing

⊲ For levels before 75, try to learn at least level 1 apothecary to make life powders for questing. Seekers tend to be “squishy” in the early parts of the game, and life powders help a lot. Under its effects, you can meditate when out of battle if you are low on health to recover full hp quickly.

⊲ After level 75 and above, I suggest have at least 50 crab meat and at least 100 or more herb yuanxiao before you go out killing stuff. Questing should be a LOT easier with these items. In fact, the herbs make your melee mob questing much faster, since you can upkeep vortex to kill large groups, while crab meats can keep you alive.

⊲ Northern Sky Stance is, in my opinion, the stance you should be using the most with regular quest mobs. Since the mark placement and the trigger attack are frequent, you can deal extra damage frequently to spike your target.

⊲ Use heartseeker or voidstep to help you immobilize runner mobs. They are quite annoying to chase normally. The Parchedblade Dance combo can help you control their movement from time to time, but if the fight lasts long, they will just keep running. For this reason, the Northern Sky Waltz combo would help you immobilize them frequently.

Squad Role

In a squad, you are usually either a main tank, a puller, or damage support.

⊲ If you are the main tank (usually in BHs) at a boss, vortex when you know the boss won’t move or mobs won’t interfere with your fight. (NOTE: you will need a mana charm or use the 75+ herb yuanxiao to keep vortex up) If not using vortex, coordinate with your squad to control their damage so that the boss focuses on attacking you and the cleric/mystic focuses on healing you. Also, if possible, make sure bloodpaint is maintained on you.

⊲ If you are a puller (usually at 75+), make sure you have plenty of crab meat and herb yuanxiao for the task at hand. Make sure you can determine your limits on how many mobs you can handle all at once. Make sure bloodpaint is maintained on you for your own safety as it enables you to heal yourself with vortex while you hit the mobs on you.

⊲ If you are damage support, use the shatter debuffs on bosses or tough mobs as needed. As an opener, buff with Soulsever Minuet, then trigger the mark with Gemini Slash. After that, switch to the Northern Sky Waltz combo to frequently overwrite the def level debuff with a stronger one. Do note that barbs may overwrite your attack level debuff with their devour skill. If necessary, just stick to the northern sky chain.

⊲ Use heartseeker or voidstep to immobilize melee mobs chasing down your squad’s casters. Also use this strategy to immobilize runner mobs to help the tank link pull to it or so your melee squad members can dispose of the target quickly.

⊲ If in squad with other seekers, try to have each one use a different stance to suit the situation. For example, if you’re doing mob pulls, have one seeker vortex with Parchedblade Dance on, while a second seeker has Northern Sky Waltz. The second seeker can stun multiple targets off of the vortexing seeker’s marks, while spiking single targets with Northern Sky’s marks. Having multiple Seekers can be advantageous in this manner.

Some Attack Chains

The bullets in this section cover some simple and complex attack chains. You can do them individually or combine them. There’s other combos out there, too — too many for me to list in here. Once you understand the capabilities of each individual attack skill, you’ll be crafting your own attack chains :). The names below are not official names or anything — just labels that I have given them.

Basic Northern Sky Waltz Chain– basic spike-enabling chain with immobilizing effect; use for bosses and basic mobs

Basic Steps
⊲ Make sure you are buffed with NSW
⊲ Land a mark on target
⊲ Follow up with Staggering Strike

Extra Options
⊲ Once the debuff is in place, it can be to your advantage to add a high damage attack or chain to spike the target (examples: Heartseeker or Blade Affinity + Gemini Slash)

Basic Parchedblade Dance Chain – basic control chain with stun effect

Basic Steps
⊲ Make sure you are buffed with PD
⊲ Land a mark on target(s)
⊲ Follow up with Stalagstrike

Basic Soulsever Minuet Chain – basic debuff combo; best for bosses or tough mobs

Basic Steps
⊲ Make sure you are buffed with SM
⊲ Land a mark on target(s)
⊲ Pre-cast blade affinity (optional)
⊲ Follow up with Gemini Slash

Extra Options
⊲ On bosses or tough mobs, add any of the shatter debuffs as necessary for your squad
⊲ You can add a basic NSW chain to overwrite the weaker defense level debuff portion of SM’s trigger, giving your squad the benefit of taking less damage and dealing as much damage as possible.

Blade Affinity Combo – basic speed-casting combo chain; lets you cheat long channeling skills

Basic Steps
⊲ Buff yourself with Blade Affinity (6 seconds to react)
⊲ Use a long casting skill like Gemini Slash, Heartseeker, Arme Nier, etc.

Flash Vortex – Simple positioning trick for vortexing.

Basic Steps
⊲ Have at least 3 sparks
⊲ Voidstep next to a mob that will give your vortex full group coverage
⊲ Activate vortex

Soulsever Spike – This is assuming you have a maxed Soulsever Minuet to deal maximum non-chi AoE damage in one chain. Stalagstrike/Darkcloud Bolt order does not matter.

Basic Steps
⊲ Make sure you are buffed with SM
⊲ Use Stalagstrike
⊲ Use Darkcloud Bolt
⊲ Precast Blade Affinity
⊲ Use Gemini Slash

Extra Options
⊲ Voidstep before you begin your AoE to position yourself (I like to voidstep to some shades in FC to do this AoE chain )

Sage/Demon Sparked Vortex – If you have cloud eruption on your genie, this is the most powerful vortex you can do.

Basic Steps
⊲ Gather full chi (3 sparks + 99 chi)
⊲ Spark -> cloud eruption -> vortex

Some FC Tips

⊲ Important Skills: You should try to have Unfetter and Blade Affinity maxed if you haven’t already done so.

⊲ Normal Zhen Role: If you are not the puller, keep up with the squad’s puller to help kill the mobs as soon as possible.

⊲ Chi Management: Manage your chi throughout each pull and boss fight. Evaluate your chi expenditure, so that you have enough for the next thing you have to use it for. Your runs will be more fluid this way.

⊲ Debuffing Is Your Job, Too: During boss fights, harpy fights, shade fights, or shocktrooper spawns, apply the shatter debuffs suitable to your squad’s needs. At the very least, apply Heartshatter for your own damage. Use Northern Sky Waltz and trigger its procs with Staggering Strike frequently to keep the boss’s/mob’s defense level constantly debuffed. If you aren’t doing any of this, you are not helping the squad deal damage, which is part of the Seeker’s capabilities in squad play. Auto-attacking will only prove that you are trying to leech off everyone else’s effort .

⊲ Barbless Squads: If you so happen to be in a barbless squad, try to pre-apply Soulsever Minuet’s ATK/DEF level debuff during boss fights to help reduce some damage done to the squad. Then, switch back to Northern Sky Waltz chain to overwrite the DEF level debuff for damage.

⊲ Puller’s Milestone: With average equips, you should be able to start doing pulls by the 90s if not earlier. Around 5k or higher HP should be sufficient enough to handle this task. Evaluate what kinds of pulls you can handle. You may need a BM to stun for you on some pulls if you’re new to pulling.

⊲Movement: I recommend getting a genie that has at least 140 energy and near 2 energy regen/sec with a lvl 10 holy path so that you can holy path twice in succession if needed to catch up with a puller or lead a pull. The two holy paths and unfetter are your main three chances to manage how much damage you take as you do your pulls. It’s usually best to use a burst of speed when you’re turning quickly (like the small passageways in Dreadlindra’s and Runewolf’s halls), starting to get ganged up on, or if you’re getting slowed down (like the early mag mob groups in FC).

I wish I could elaborate more on how to do these pulls with the running skills, but it is something that is easier to learn for yourself by trying it out and practicing it. It was only easy for me because I had prior experience pulling with a barb I had FC’d with before the expansion. If you notice a barb who is good at pulling, pay attention to his/her pulling patterns, especially if they can dodge the harpies in heads room.

⊲ Seeker Puller Setup: To set up vortex at the end of any big pull you do, precast Blade Affinity (hopefully level 10 at this point) and use vortex. Vortex should seemingly cast instantly, avoiding any possible channeling disruptions from all the mobs hitting you. BP is what keeps you alive during a vortex in almost the same sense that invoke keeps the barb alive. As long as you can hit mobs, you should be able to live (varies on damage received vs. BP heals).

Some Delta Tips

⊲ Seeker Blessings: Krav Maga/Saber Rattle can be nice to have in Delta if you have the mirages or someone offers to give you mirages. These will stack on top of the bonuses given to you by the auras. If you’re using these, make sure to refresh them as resources will allow.

⊲ Normal Role: Usually, you Vortex the incoming waves after the BM stuns (primarily the ranged mobs). Try to position yourself in front of the cleric, so that he/she is less likely to get hit from the mobs. If you have Tangling Mire on your genie, use it to help you kill/slow down mobs (careful not to stack with BM’s if he/she is using it, too). Keep Soulsever Minuet as your active stance during waves, so that when the wave is small enough, you can debuff with gemini slash to help finish them off without using up too many resources. When your group needs to kill a boss, apply shatter debuffs and do the typical boss stance chains to enhance squad’s damage. Avoid vortexing bosses if you need to manage mp resources (herbs/charm).

⊲ Chi/Mana Management: Prior to an effective chi aura level, you may need to rely on cloud eruption (and sage chi skill if you have it) to get your chi up. It is not really a good idea to keep vortex active after you’ve killed a wave and need to wait a few seconds/minutes for the next one (unless you’re rich enough to replace your mp food/charm easily). In between waves, drop vortex and make sure your chi is ready if you want to conserve your mp resources.

Chi

This section covers the amount of chi some of the Seeker skills produce. Use this to your advantage to build chi in combat and out of combat in preparation for using skills like Yataghan Vortex or sparks. Use attack skills to quickly build chi in combat, and use self-buffs to add a little chi in between battles.

NOTE: This is for skills up to lvl 59 and do not include demon/sage versions

Non-combat

⊲ Adrenal Numbness– generates 10 chi; your only spammable non-combat chi generator
⊲ Unfetter– generates 10 chi
⊲ Blade Affinity– generates 10 chi; can also be used in combat in conjunction with some of your attack skills

Combat

⊲ Rocksplitting Cleave– generates 10 chi; not really used for damage, but it’s spammable for the purpose of chi generation
⊲ Staggering Strike– generates 10 chi; spammable attack skill
⊲ Battousai– generates 10 chi; spammable
⊲ Heartseeker– generates 10 chi; not spammable, but use it as a spike skill
⊲ Stalagstrike– generates 10 chi; spammable
⊲ Darkcloud Bolt– generates 10 chi; spammable
⊲ Heart Shatter– generates 10 chi; use only for debuffing when needed
⊲ Mind Shatter– generates 10 chi; use only for debuffing when needed
⊲ Soul Shatter– generates 10 chi; use only for debuffing when needed