Tales of Pirates 2 Crusader Guide

Tales of Pirates 2 Crusader Guide by D0NG

From what I’ve seen, the crusader class is the best solo class and second fastest killing class (first is voyagers) in the game. However, in big parties of 3 or 4 (typically 1 champ, 1 cleric, 1 or 2 voyager), crusaders are useless and not wanted, thus making Dark Swamp and other mazes very difficult. So, if you are a party type do not choose Lance as your character.

I’m sure theres many other different builds thats also effective, but here’s a builds that got me to lvl 60 in 5 days during the double exp period on Coral.

One should always look far ahead and plan their stats carefully. I’ve made 3 characters in total, the previous 2 both got stuck at a certain lvl killing mobs. The first one was a Carisse, it got stuck at the lvl of 34, with stats build of 23 str, 10 con, 30 agi while killing mobs at the silver mine reason been weak defense.

Then i read there’s this pure build from one of the guides and started my second character, a Lance with all in Strength. I figured that a high dmg character can kill mobs before the mobs even touch me. But unfortunatly, its incredibly weak defense cannot survive mobs higher than lvl 20.

Then I read something about the pure agi build for crusaders. At first it did not make sense to me, as that agi adds neither attack power or defense power. Nontheless, i decided to try it out.

Straight forward build, agi all in. at lvl 60 i now have a total of 98 agi points with 5 bonus from the armor. Heres few of my stats that determines the outcome against mobs:
Attack: 267-319
Def: 79
Attack Speed: 226
Dodge: 283

Despite the low/moderate attack power, my character have extremely high attack speed (more than 3x of other classes) thus while a champ hit about 400 dmg (a lvl 54 pure con champ on lvl 53 elite werewolves) with his giant 2 hander, in the same amount of time, on the same mobs, i hit 3x dmg of 150-200 (considering monster def, and not considering critical hit). When I lvled with this champ, i was killing twice as fast (though, we applied very different strategies). Furthermore, with the uncomparablly high dodge, monsters misses their attack 80-90% of the time, hitting only a few 200s or 400 crits if they are lucky. This solves the ultra low def problem.

Here’s my skill distribution at the lvl of 60:
Concentration: 2 >Sword Mastery: 10 >Illusion Slash: 10 >Berserk: 5 >Dualsword Mastery: 10 >Blood Frenzy: 5 >Shadow Slash: 1 >
>Deftness: 8 (to be maxed in 2 lvls)

Heres a brief explanation of the ones i maxed and to be maxed (others are required to learn):

Sword mastery: I maxed this right after maxing Illusion Slash, It adds 40 extra dmg to the total attack power and it makes soloing alot easier. Furthermore this is compoudable with Dualsword Mastery. Many other crusaders ignores this skill and keeps it at lvl 3, but i enjoy the 40 extra dmg early on.

Illusion Slash: Essential I maxed it at lvl 24. With the pure agi build I reached the second multiplier at lvl 38, the third at lvl 50. My friend (the other crus with his unique build) calls me The Slasher, reffering to the extremely high dmg done with Illusion Slash (I can do 1200 dmg on elite werewolves, 1500 dmg on guardian angels and forest hunters).

Dualsword Mastery: This is also VERY important as it raises the offhand sword’s effectiveness back to its original value. By default, without DSM, the offhand sword only does 20% of its max damage. Every level of DSM raises the effectiveness by 8%, making a total of 100% effectiveness when it gets maxed. (thanks to RChuck for the info)

Deftness: This adds 3 dodge per lvl, While each agi point gives about 2-3 dodge also (not sure why it changes). When i max this i would have 30 extra dodge. Mobs would eventually, as I advance in lvl, miss me 100%

I find other Leveling guides too brief and without strategies. They just throw you a bonge of monsters of corresponding lvl and expect you to kill them. Anyway, here’s mine, hope it helps.
NOTE: For monster coordinates please visit the encyclopedia.

Lvl 1-9
Same compared other guides for all other classes, just do newbie quests, as it is the fastest way to lvl at this stage (also a good way go get some lvl 7 novice items). Remember to add all stats in agi.

At lvl 9, I talked to swordsman peter in Argent City (oh yeah, select your hometown as Argent so you don’t have to buy teleport tickets for skill books) to get the swordsman promotion quest. He tells you to kill 12 piglets (lvl 10). Since you’ll need 3 cashmere from lambs (lvl 8) I went to kill them first instead. I lvled on them till lvl 10, getting about 6 cashmeres, then went straight for the pigs. Get a party to kill pigs if you want to, you have very low dmg, 10- 20 on pigs. I soloed my way through and got to lvl 11 after the 12 piglets. By the end of finishing the swordsman quest, I was almost lvl 12 (exp from the quest boosts alot).

Lvl 11-18
Go kill Bear Cubs (lvl 12) at the Belmont plain. By lvl 15 you should be getting 2 hit kills on these guys find a fast spawn and keeps killing (at this point, most guides suggest killing higher lvl mobs. Don’t! fast kills makes up for the low exp). At lvl 18 you should really move on to Angelic Pandas, but if you want to stay and make some money (bear paws sell for 35 each) do so till lvl 20.

Lvl 18-25
Go kill Angelic Pandas (lvl 17) at Shepard Plain, theres nice and fast spawns there, they should be fairly easy after lvl 20. I stayed till lvl 25 just because of the fast spawn i get there. Also obtained 2 New Sheepskin Scroll there.

Lvl 25-30
Still fairly easy lvling. move to Buhal Haven in Magic Ocean. Do the quests given by the npcs there if you want then start killing Sand Raiders (lvl 25). Move into a spawn by luring them out 1 by 1, dont just charge in there… you’ll die if you do so. Figure out their spawn sequence and kill one by one, be patient, sit while waiting for spawn to regain some health/SP points. Use the 2 hander given by the newbie box and slash away! you should be doing about 110 dmg on them.

By this point, you should have maxed Illusion slash and almost maxed Swordmastery, max swordmastery and get berserk, it should boosts you up to the second multiplier on Illusion Slash.
NOTE: Your dodging will not be very effective until you become a crusader… so be careful, Sand Raiders hurts…

Lvl 30-35
The Hardest 5 lvls in my opinion. Move back to Ascaron and go to Valhalla Haven, you can get there by talking to the teleporter at Abandoned mine haven and just follow the chain of teleportation untill you get to Valhalla. The order is: Abandoned mine Haven > Rockery Haven > Andes Forest > Valhalla Haven

Go kill Grassland Elks (31) and White Owlies (32) Use Berserk skill to boost your speed and attack about 3-4 monsters, rest until Berserk cools down and go again… really slow. I suggest looking for a healer or an explorer to help you (It was a pain in the a** for me to find one) Elks and Owlies are non-aggressive so you can stay there and rest.
NOTE: If anyone knows a better place please add.

Lvl 35-40
Find a healer and team with her in the Abandoned mine killing Miner Moles (lvl 35) and Ninja Moles (lvl 38) Untill lvl 38 you are depended on the healer… At lvl 38 congradulations, you’ve reached the second multiplier on Illusion Slash and this means 1 hit KOs on Ninja moles. Ditch the Healer to get the extra exp and kill untill lvl 40.

At lvl 40 you can become a crusader (pain in the a** quest. Healer needed) Find a crusader quest guide for detail.

Lvl 40-43
By now you should be dogding about 60% of mobs attacks and with 2nd multiplier on Illusion Slash. Fairly fast killing. Go to Iciclie (spelling check please) then Icepire Haven, take on Scorpions (lvl 38 ones, not sure exact name). They should be very easy to kill, still avoid large groups of them. Take them on one by one. you should be at lvl 43 in no time.

NOTE: If you want to kill alternate mobs, always look for the ones with low hp and def for fast kills. Right now you can dodge most attacks, so mobs with high attack and low hitrate are defenseless against you. Destroy them with the speed of 5sec/kill.

Lvl 43-47
Go take on werewolves (lvl 42 i think) near Icepire Haven. Find a good spawn and stay there, dont move around 2 much, use the spawn time to rest and regain health/SP. Take them on one at a time. Fairly easy kills. with 2600 exp perkill.

Lvl 47-50
Go take on Skeleton archers (lvl 45), the lvl of difficulty against them is moderate. They have low defense and HP, but fair hitrates. Find a champ or healer for party if you want.

At lvl 50 you should have 211 attack speed boosted by lvl 5 Blood Frenzy, thus reaching the third multiplier on Illusion Slash congradulations, you are now a Slasher.

Lvl 50-53
Go solo against Treants (lvl 48) They are easy especially with your powerful illusion slash (you can do 1300 dmg on them with it) just kill until you are lvl 53. With the old strategy, take them on one by one, 5 sec/kill.

Lvl 53-55
Go take on Elite werewolves (lvl 53). Moderate kills. Not much to say about them, take them on one by one… takes a bit more than 5 second per kill though.

Lvl 55-60
Take on Guardian Angels (lvl 55, not sure why though, they are the easiest mob I’ve seen). Illusion Slash takes down half of their HP and go in and finish it 3 seconds/kill. Buy Heaven Berries if you want to. Leveling gets hard at this point.

THE END