Class Description ( Wizard)

Class Name : Wizard
Class Type : Ranged Magic User
Traits and abilities :
* Highest attainable magic attack value
* Lowest defense in game
* Lowest HP and HP gain in game
* The best mobility in-game (scouting, chasing, escaping, etc) with 3 skills
* Uses Martial equipment and 2 Orbs to further increase its damaging potential

Class Description

First of all, congratulations on your choice of character. Before anything else, you should know that the Wizard-class by nature is not a soloing class. However, you will always have an easy time finding a party for a dungeon, as you can pick any of the other 5 classes and simply run in. The same applies for grinding on maps, where a Wizard is always a bonus to have in party. The wizard is first and foremost, a support class (yes, I've said it), and this can be easily seen by the balance of buffs that he has : 4 Self buffs versus 7 Party buffs. Your role as a Wizard is to keep the tankers alive, while at the same time dishing out damage from a safe distance. Wizards will make use of the Martialset (which provides the highest defense rate in-game) and Orb-weaponry (highest magic) in order to achieve their goals.

Pro's and Con's of playing a Wizard

PRO:
* Highest mobility offers awesome scouting abilities, making you invaluable in boss hunts and harassment
* Insane Area of Effect while in BM2 as well as highest damage output with lowest gear
* Huge area stuns will make you an invaluable grinding partner, providing safety to the other party members
* Numerous party buffs to keep your companions alive and kicking. They will want you in their party.
* Raise Spirit buff which accelerates the Spirit Point regeneration, allowing for much faster dungeoning and BattleModes recharging
* Best protective buff for War areas, Spirit Intension, which can reduce damage and chance of scoring a critical strike from an enemy
* Extreme killing machine in Tierra Gloriosa
* You cannot get manafrozen

CON:
* Lowest defense in-game will mean that with moderate gear you will barely reach 1000 def while in BattleMode
* Lowest HP and HP gain will turn you into a quick kill unless you are extremely focused on the action
* No PVE skill (orange skills) means that your damage on mobs will never match a melee class on the same skill rank (for example on GMaster skill damage output)
* No active protection against stuns / knockdowns / knockbacks / unable to move make you vulnerable to such attacks

Basic ideas of playing a Wizard

1. Party leader
You are the party leader, the SP carrier. It is your responsability to keep the party alive while they have SP on, it is your responsability to keep them buffed and protected with AoE stun. You will decide the outcome of a dungeon by properly or improperly keeping your party buffed. A good wizard must know when to buff, what to buff, why to buff and most importantly, a good wizard will always keep track of party member buffs and debuffs, even if he cannot see them. This is vital, as you will create your strategy based on all these informations, so you must know at all times what the members can do.

2. Support Class
No matter what others tell you, you are a support class. In Clan Wars, in Nation Wars, in War channels, your job is to make sure that the party members are alive. There have been many situations where I saw wizards totally ignoring this side of the class thus contributing to the loss of their party / nation. 
You are a support class dear Wizard, let me retype that : A SUPPORT CLASS. Your job in TG for example is to keep the melee's buffed with Force Increase and Sharpness and Spirit Intension. Your job is to keep that warrior alive as much as possible while he slashes away the Ressurect tower. Give him Force Increase and he won't be Mana Frozen. Stay close to him and he will buff himself with Fury and Bloody Spirit. Buff him with Spirit Intension and Mass Restore and Restore and he will use Cats and become an invincible killing machine. Failure to do so will result in both of you dying from a lvl 160 FB that laughs in your face while he execrates and mana freezes you two and then goes BM for the kill.

3. Stay on your toes
You are a wizard, this means you WILL die. And if you are not careful, you will die a lot. The main reason why this happens is because most wizards are slowpokes. Your biggest advantage is mobility, your biggest disadvantage is low defense. Instead of trying to compensate for the disadvantage, make use of the advantage. It is far easier and better to move than to spend millions of alz on defensive gears.

4. Know when to retreat
While playing a wizard, you have to be cunning. There's no shame in blinking around for 90 seconds until the Blader's BM2 runs out then going in for the kill. This is not an e-penis contest, so take advantage of it. You are the one to decide when the contact takes place, by stopping to fight. Make sure that all the odds are in your favor when you decide to challenge the rival (you are fully buffed, prepared, etc).

5. Be aware of the party status
The most difficult and yet most rewarding ability that a wizard can have is awareness. This is what makes or breaks a good wizard. The ability to keep track of party member buffs is vital to your success as a group. You have to understand how each member plays, you have to ask them to change their style if it endangers the survival of the party, etc, you have to make swift decisions that will affect the outcome of the action.
A good example of this is : 
2 of your 7 party members died. The boss is at 30% HP, BM is almost running out, you have no SP to extend but SP buff is ready. Do you wait for the other 2 members to Cast SP and endanger the other 5 members, or do you cast it and hope that the boss will die without the 2 party members helping ?
Another good example : 
On a spiker boss, the Warrior casts Cat's Recovery, thus preventing you to stack Mass Regen on him. Do you cast it and miss him or do you ask him to remove Iron Skin so he can use 2 Regens ?

6. BM'ing techniques
BM1 - Should be used in TG only, when being knocked out is likely to happen. Use it on ressurects that you want destroyed, use it in conjuction with Legacy Weapon and Amp/Flee pots, etc.
BM2 - Should be used on Bosses, on mobs, while you sleep, when you shower, when there's no real threat nearby (like a stunner or downer), when you want maximum damage output. Even though people would advise BM1 in PF and MF when fighting enemies, I will show you how to fully use BM2, while ignoring other effects such as down. The only real danger would be a stun, but from my experience, the stun duration is not long enough to get you killed, so I kind of skip BM1.

Knockdown

On the first attack that the FS gives, I get up instantly, by spamming the ground with clicks. The direction in which you click will decide the direction in which you get up, so in TG, always click behind you, to go to safety, not get up in the middle of enemies.
On the second attack, I stay on the ground for the whole duration of the down, almost 3 seconds, enough for him to hit me 3 times with normal attack.

Aura - Should be used when you want an intant boost of defense + magic + CR/CD, for example when you see a higher level approaching your spot, and you do not have a 5 second time frame to go BM, then you pop-on Aura.

Class Breakdown : Upgrades / Runes / Skills / Items

1. Upgrades
There are 5 mandatory upgrades that you must use as a Wizard : Vitality Mastery / Force Control / Force Ruling / Sixth Sense / Damage Absorb.
The only discussion that still remains unsolved is : Do I choose Defensive Sense (32def) or do I choose Reflex (532 def rate) ?
The answer is simple and it lies in the description of the class : The class with the lowest defense. Therefore, you should NOT try to compensate a lowest trait. That will take you nowhere. Instead, make use of advantages.
32 defense is the same bonus that you earn by +7ing three of your martial equipment (3 x 12) and it will protect you from roughly 100 damage. This means that instead of being hit for 900, you now get hit for 800, while others get hit for 500. Gratz on your "wise" choice.

There is something called thresholds in Cabal, when it comes to Attack / Defense / Attack Rate / Defense Rate. This threshold is a specific value, a boundary, past which the effectiveness increases visibly. There are multiple thresholds or barriers to break, in terms of magic and defense, but the most important ones that I found are explained below.
For Wizards, the thresholds that I have personally noticed (not 100% official, just my observations) are : 
* 900 magic (past this point, your damage even in non-BM gets upgraded, most likely because the average defense of other chars is 800 - 900)
* 850 defense (past 850 defense, your received damage gets much lower than at 840 for example)
* 2800 defense rate (past this point, you get missed ... A LOT)

One short note about these thresholds : Do not try to replicate these values on any other class. Each class has its own boundaries. A warrior will immediately feel the diffeence between 1800 def rate and 2500, when a Blader might not. A Blader might need 4000+ to notice a real improvement, such as the warrior's.

My advice for all wizards that wish to achieve 170 is to use Reflex. Reflex, with Sixth Sense and osmium set and Defense rate rune will allow you to reach 2800 - 3000 defense rate. This in turn will mean that you get many misses.

The simple explanation to this is : Would you rather be hit 3 times out of 10 for 900 damage (with Reflex) or would you rather be hit 5 times out of 10 for 800 damage (with Defensive Sense) for the sole reason that you did not reach that threshold of protection ?
It's 2700 dmg overall versus 4000 damage. Think about it.

2. Runes
In order of aquiring them, from lowest level to highest : 

1. EXP Bonus Rune
2. Party EXP Rune
3. Pet XP Rune
4. Skill XP Rune
5. Attack Rate Rune
6. Defense Rate Rune
7. Resist Stun Rune
8. HP Rune
9. Magic Attack Rune
10. HP Absorb Rune
11. Magic Amp Rune

Additionally
12. Defense Rune
13. Dunno which

These would be the first 12 you would need. Then, as you reach 170 and max out the pet level : 

Remove EXP and Party XP and Pet XP, to free up 3 slots. I would use the STR / DEX / INT runes for 21 free stats. As the 13th rune, maybe I would pick the Resist Down, but it's discussable.
From my experience, you will need the PartyXP first, the XP second (as it is more expensive) and this will boost your AP, as AP is part of your XP. With more AP, upgrade Def Rate and Attack Rate as 3rd and 4th, for better BM stats and higher survivability.

3. Skills - I will list the ones that are actually useful according to my playstyle.

Sword Skills
Fade Step - Must have - This skill is vital when you want to break a chase by de-targeting yourself (Mine is level 9)
Dash - Must have - Dash will allow for the greatest mobility in Cabal in combination with Blink (Mine is level 9)

No other sword skills are worthy of being acquired.

Magic Skills
Novice - Burning Hands - Could be useful, if put on the pvp bar, it allows for dashing and fade stepping in combo, due to its melee range - I deleted it
Novice - Freeze - My main chest opener  (it helps in FT1 where you open the 4 chests, there used to be a bug where you would hit all 4 and 1 drop would fall only, so you had to hit the chests 1 by 1) (Mine is level 4)

Apprentice - None - No blasts are useful

Regular - Terra Lance - Must have (Mine is level 20)
Regular - Fire Lance - Must have (Mine is level 20)
Regular - Weaken - At least 1 point for luring purposes (Mine is level 9 for fast CD)

Expert - Acid Trab - Must have against AoD FS in War maps and TG (if you do not spend much time in Ch24 or TG, skip it) - I deleted it
Expert - Stone Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Aqua Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Fire Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Lightning Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Crystal Cannon (Mine is level 20)
Expert - Hardness (Mine is level 20)

A.Expert - Vacuum (Mine is level 20)
A.Expert - Energy Field (Mine is level 15)
A.Expert - Sharpness (Mine is level 20)

Master - Blink <3 (Mine is level 9)
Master - Hailstorm (Mine is level 20)
Master - Force Increase (Mine is level 20)
Master - Resist Intension (Mine is level 20 - you could keep it lower or off)

A.Master - Arctic Field (Mine is level 15)
A.Master - High Regeneration (Mine is level 20)

G.Master - Extreme Dual Cannon (Mine is level 12)
G.Master - Spirit Intension (Mine is level 20)

Completer - Space Collapse (Mine is level 12)
Completer - Mass Restore (Mine is level 20)

Transcender - Raise Spirit (Mine is level 20)
Transcender - Art of Force Control (Mine is level 20)

The combos that I use (not invented by me) : 

PVE Stunlock -> Extreme Dual Cannon 12 - Space Collapse 12 - Arctic Field 15 - Electric Field 15 - Stone Cannon 20 (as filler)

Solo Target / BM1 TG -> Terra Lance 20 - Extreme Dual Cannon 12 - Fire Lance 20 - Stone Cannon 20 - Fire Cannon 20 - Aqua Cannon 20 - Crystal Cannon 20

BM2 -> Arctic Field 15 - Space Collapse 12 - Extreme Dual Cannon 12 - Hailstorm 20 - Lightning Cannon 20 - Vacuum 20 - Stone Cannon 20 - Fire Cannon 20 - Aqua Cannon 20 - Crystal Cannon 20

4. Items
My current (realistic) dreamset is composed of : 
2 x Mithril Orb 20% CD +7
Osmium Martialhelm 15% CR / 24% CD
Titanium Martialhelm 42% CD (for Aura)
Osmium Martialgloves 7% Amp / 3% HP leech
Osmium Martialsuit of Amp 7% Amp / 180HP (extended)
Osmium Martialboots of Amp 7% Amp / 180HP (extended)
Merga Ring + RoL2 + 2 CR2 + AoP6
RW3+6 and %HP Absorb Rune and EoS+7

I know that with the introduction of Weak EoD, many players have started farming their orbs inside. Getting 40% Pherystins is not hard now, as well as 8/20 helms Bluestin or Titanium, which can be re-extended forever and ever until you get Rate in the last slot.

For the ones that are 70+ or are picking up on their WI from where they left off, here's some possible item builds : 

Beginner build of my choice (Above WEoD up to 140)
Vampiric Amulet +3/+4
3 x Ring of Luck +1
1 x Critical Ring +1
Osmium Martialhelm 5% CRate / 20% CDamage
Osmium Martialsuit 7% Amp / 50HP
Mystic Martialboots of Amp 5% Amp / Osmium Martialboots of Amp 4%-100HP
Mystic Martialgloves of Vampire 3/5% HP Leech
2 x Vampiric Earrings +2 and later +4
2 x Bracelet of Sage +2 and later +4
Epaulette of Sage +6 (never ever never ever use EoGuardian as Wizard)
2 x Pherystin / Aqua with 4% CR and 20% CD

This build will provide you with 48 CR and 90 CD and decent Amp and lots of Leech. It will keep you alive while you level up in MF and EoD:B2F. The total price of such gear would be roughly ... 100kk or so, which can be easily made by finishing quests and selling a few entries here and there (from the MF drops).

Mediocre build of my choice (somewhere between 140 and 160/5)
Vampiric Amulet +4
2 x Ring of Luck +2
2 x Critical Ring +2
Osmium Martialhelm 8% CR / 20% CD === Osmium Martialhelm 36% CD (for aura)
Osmium Martialsuit 7% amp / 50HP
Shadowtitanium Martialgloves 7% Amp
Shadowtitanium Martialboots 7% Amp
White Board X3 and 2% HP leech in Pet (like my dearest Cookies)
2 x Vampiric Earrings +4
2 x Bracelet of Sage +4
EoS+6
Pherystin 31% CD / 34% CD and 5%-8% CR / 20% CD in second Orb (for 48 rate)

High-end build of my choice (165 to 170)
Amulet of Pain +5
Merga Ring + RoL2
2 Critical Rings +2
Titanium Martialhelm 12%->15% CR / 24%CD or Osmium 15/24
Osmium Martialsuit 7% amp / 100 HP
Osmium Martialboots 7% amp / 100 HP
Osmium Martialgloves 7% amp or Titanium 7% amp / 3% HP leech (Warning : multiple SEM needed)
RW3 +6 or White Board // %HP Rune on level 3 (ouch AP)
2 x Vampiric Earrings +6 // 2 x Bracelet of Sage +3 slotted
EoS+7
2 x 34% CD Pherystin (at least) or 36% Lapis / Aqua or higher (above 3x% on Lapis, above 27% on Topaz, 20% Mith)

Class Description ( Force Blader)

Duel combos:

Basics:
Dont go easy on anyone, dont asume that you can win easy even if he is in aramid and your in teragrace.

Start your combo as fast as possible. How to do this is not to try and get a red hit on your first skill.

Combo bar:
Yellow = poor hit
Orange = Good hit
Red = excellent hit

Usually people think its better to go for Red since it will dish more dmg and will increase the chance to crit. sure this might be true but, trust me you need to start as fast as possible.

Ok So you want to duel and you want to win right!
Say that you have a friend that you compete with you are same lvl, gear and so on.
Or maybe you are higher and have better gear and ranks. But you still loose.
Make a party so you can check your HP bars after each duel this helps, if he constantly survives with 20-100hp and DoT brings him to 0hp after you allready have lost then add a flashdraw or a higher dmg skill and skip some of the dot.

What you need to realise first is that if one combo dont work, say that you dish out to little dmg then look at what can help you out to do more dmg.
like in item change, maybe you dont crit at all and still its close then just replace your rings of luck +2 with Rings of fighter to gain some more attack power and defense

Check your combo say that you do 6 or 7 skills and you cant get your finisher off before your dead.

First thing I do is to get my skills off when they are in the Yellow all of them maybe some in the Orange area but never a Red one.
Did i get to my finished in this case the A.master. Yes? good, still lost? ok now worries.

Go for orange skills instead, did you get your A.master off? no? Ok now worries.

Go again, all yellow except your GM lets go for a Red skill here.
Got your A.master off? yes? excellent you won.

say that I still cant beat him even after trying different combo ranges(yellow,orange,red).

second thing I do is to take off all my items and duel him naked a couple of times to see if its still 6-7 skills i can manage to cast before he finishes me off. Then you know that the last skill he uses is just like yours a finisher/GM skill that makes sure I loose.

So then I know I cant just add HP/Def to actually win I need to get my finisher move off earlier. If I go for more Hp/Def I might survive his finisher and can actually get my own finisher off with the same length of combo I had in mind first, but if you cant increase your hp with 300hp or so its likely that wont happen.

So you know your defense wont make much of a difference put on all the amp/critdmg and rate gear you can muster even if its silk with amp if you still dont kill him then your combo is to long.

If you couldnt get the same amount of skills off during the naked duel but only got 4-5 skills off instead then take this as a guide line go for a 5-6 combo instead with your gear on again.

example.
assault lv20 = 1.3sec cast time
force slash lv20 = 1.3sec cast time
Infernal Impact(G.master) lv9-20 = 4.1sec cast time
Abyssal crystal lv20 = 2.2sec cast time
Dance of ruin lv20 = 2.7sec cast time
Force Impact(a.master) lv20 = 5.0sec cast time.

say these are the skills at any lvl that you are currently using and your combo is:

assault/slash/GM/assault/slash/crystal/DoR/A.master

And with this combo you always loose and he remains standing with 50-300hp or so. just shorten your combo your A.master will 100% do more then 300hp dmg on him.

So to shorten our combo we take away some of the longer cast time skills
like DoR thats 2.7 seconds you saved in. now lets try

Assault/slash/GM/assault/slash/crystal/A.master

YES!!! you got your a.master off die XXXXX huh? he still beat me what the...

So we shortend our combo but he still stands there with some hp left nothing to do then.
Or so most people think, now is where we go shopping in the novice skill department and buy impact stab.

Impact stab lv1-20 = 1.5sec cast time.

Ok this skill wont do alot of dmg and suck why would you want this skill?
well most of you know and the ones that havent figured it out yet..shame on you.

SO we replace Dance Of Ruin with Impact stab lv20
our new combo:

Assault/slash/GM/assault/slash/Crystal/Impact stab/A.master

Woo we got our A.master off and we won jippie!
Why did we win tough?

we still use same amount off skills as we tried earlier, but the "cast time" is different so we actually had time to get our finisher off.

Now this is true for all classes ofcourse but for an FB its even more important.

Here is some comboes to guide you in the right way or even to a victory straight off the bat.

Warrior combo:
(The DoT way)

Assault, slash, GM, assault, slash, crystal, A.master

If you didnt Crit your GM then you will probably need more dmg so then we add skills right.

assault, slash, GM, assault, slash, impact stab, crystal, a.master

If you didnt have time to throw your a.master now then go for yellow hits instead of going for red or orange. Go for RED on you GM but try get yellow hits on the rest, especially your a.master.

Force Archers:

Now Force archer have an "fadestep" in their GM but dont worrie it wont brake your combo
BUT it will make you walk towards him/her during the duel and so you loose alot of precious time walking forward a few steps instead.

So try and avoid skills that will make you walk forward use your ranged skills.
No not magic skills :P

here is a combo that will stick you like clue to the FA.

Assault, slash, illusion stab, crystal, assault, slash, GM, A.master.

Assault = dashes you up to the opponent

Illusion stab(defense debuff) = ranged will still go off when the FA is far away(if you use Dance of Ruin your character will start to walk forward)

Crystal = ranged (DUH)

Impact stab = same range as Illusion stab.

So what you need to do is to check where you walk forward, to time you skills.

say that you use the combo above and you start to walk when you want to get your GM off.
This is because GM isnt ranged you need to be close.

SO to avoid to walk before you cast your gm, simply remove slash and go for GM directly OR replace slash with impact stab. Or even twist it around and instead of

assault, slash, GM

Go for

impact stab, slash, assault, GM.

a really safe way to make sure that you wont waste time walking forward when you throw your finishers is to use assault first.

Example:

Assault, GM, Assault, A.master.

So remember to minimize the time "walking forward" because its a HUGE waste of time against a strong ranged class like the FA

Class Description ( Warrior)

Introduction

Warriors as a class are very effective class and needed in every single dungeon, Warriors wear Armor set and giant Daikatana or Greatsword. They got shizloads of HP ,decent def, decen't attack but they are not so quick to dodge attacks as Bladers can. In the end who cares, you will be the last man still standing  They start out as slowpokes but in the end you become a wrecking ball bringing chaos to everything that is in your way.



Stat retribution

Obviously you'll need most of your stats to be in Osmium :P

For your equipment you need as minimal amount of dex and int you can use, that means if your Suit requires 56 int and 111 DEX, then it should be like that, everything else should be pumped into STR, and that's the main reason why Greatswords>Daikatana, especially if you are going to wear Titanium.Daikatanas require more DEX,in other words waste of stats =)
Equipment

Well warriors should focus on critical damage and rate, of cours amp is need as well

What you will need as a newbie

Osm armorsuit of amp ( if you cant afford 7%samp 50hp then get 100 hp 5% amp)
shineguard boots of amp 5% sword amp
Shineguard gloves of amp 5% sword amp
Osmium armor helm of deathblow 8rate 20cd, THIS IS A MUST!!!
Vampiric amulet +3/+4
Extorsion bracelet +3/+4
Vampiric earrings +2/+4
eof+6
3xrol+1
1cr1

After you get more money you should prioritize more amp instead of defense, so after you get some money change gloves and boots for shadowtitanium amp instead ^^ in this game damage>defense.

What about those weapons i farmed in weod you ask, well this is where they come in handy, you should get slot extender medium and extend your greatsword you will get 80cd from it, since osmium swords of db aren't that cheap you can get on with this one .As for helm, you should extend it as well, in battle mode and aura you will have 50 rate,so exchanging helm for more damage is going to give you boost in fights ^^


Skills

Skills you should get are

Buffs
Iron Skin ( lvl 20)
Aura Barrier ( lvl 20)
Soul Blade (lvl 20)
Bloody Spirit (lvl 20)
Bears Vitallity( lvl 20)
Fury shout( lvl 20)
Morale Shout ( lvl 20)
Cat's recovery ( lvl 20)
Down Breaker(lvl 20) <---optional, some look at it as a waste of buff
Instant Immunity lvl 20


Attack Skill's you will need

Charge lvl 20
Impact Stab lvl 20
Rising blade lvl 18
Siesmic wave lvl 9
Whirlwind lvl 9
Cascade break lvl 20
Sword Canon lvl 9/12/15/20 optional
Dash lvl 9
Fade lvl 9
Force kick lvl 9/12/20

Debuffs

panic cry lvl 20 <--- most awsum debuff in game <3


Upgrades all maxed out

HP
Defense 2x
Attack 2x
Defense rate 1 x ( transcender upgrade) Combo

PvE

Siesmic wave,whirwlind,siesmic wave,cascade break, rising blade

PvP

Charge,impact stab, rising blade, siesmic wave, whirlwind,siesmic wave

Class Description ( Blader)

Class Name : Blader
Class Type : Melee Sword User
Traits and abilities :
* Second highest natural growth attainable defense value after Force Shielder
* Second highest natural growth attainable attack value after Warrior
* Highest attack rate and defense rate values in-game
* Average HP and MP gain per level/rank-up
* Uses Martial or Armor equipment and two 1-handed weapons to further increase its damaging potential

Class Description

I could say so many nice words about the Blader, that I wouldn’t know where to start. First and foremost, you will notice that the Blader is a dual-wielding class. The immediate thought about the class should be: I have 2 weapons and no protection. I must kill the enemy as fast as possible. By traits and skills, Bladers are amongst the best at soloing spots and dungeons. Every skill and buff that they posses is proof of that, as well as their enormous per-level gains. Your main goal in a party is to deal damage. Lots of it. Failure to do so will result in people avoiding you and going for a FB / WA (Most party members will think : If he doesn’t have damage, then I’d better get me someone who can boost MY damage – fury + hard luck). Bladers can make use of Martialsets (thus becoming Martial Bladers) or Armorsets (up to and including Osmium, thus becoming Heavy Bladers or Armor Bladers). In terms of weaponry, they can use Blades or Katanas. Two choices for weapons and two for armors make the Blader a very versatile class, but at the same time one of the most (if not the most) expensive ones to build up. Because they have no party specific buffs and are oriented towards soloing, their gear will play a MAJOR role in dealing with a situation.
You will also notice a special trait of the Blader. The bonuses for 1 STR and 1 DEX are the same, so whether you got 200 STR and 100 DEX or 200 DEX and 100 STR, the result is the same. Keep this in mind when building your Blader. I usually hit 67 INT for Mithril weapons then evenly distribute STR and DEX. You will end up with 500+ STR / 67 INT / 500+ DEX, which will allow you to wear Osmium Armor, Mithril Armor, Mithril Blades, Mithril Katanas. (of course, you will need a bit more INT I believe, for higher + on mithril bodyparts, with the new update)

Comparison of the default growth of WA / BL / sFS (added FB too, but pumped STR instead of DEX for comparison purposes only)

Basic ideas of playing a Blader

1. Damage Dealer
I sometimes like to call Bladers in my party DD or DeeDee, due to his main role. Life as a Blader is both easy and hard, all in one. It’s easy because all you have to do is damage-damage-damage, without worrying about other things such as rebuffing others or casting Fury or positioning yourself strategically so that the AoE of your skills/BM clears the space surrounding the boss for the other classes. No. All you have to do is turn BM on, find yourself a target and don’t stop hitting until it is dead. Simple? Not.

2. Buff limitations
When you play your Blader, you have to be careful at the buffs. Until level 150 you will have a harder time accommodating all the buffs that you would want because of the limit of 8 buffs, out of which 4 are yours. Another 3 from WI / FA would make it 7, and you always have to have at least 1 buff free for SP, so that’s pretty much it. You can’t use your own short buffs then without losing a buff. At 150, you can use 9 of them, so it gets a bit easier, you have to use 1 short at a time, to accommodate 4 self buffs, 3 xtra buffs, fury, short buff. Past 160, everything is easier, but you should still use 1 short at a time, but you can now carry 10 buffs (4 self buffs + hardness + morale + vital force + fury + short + spirit intension for example)

3. BM2 details
As you might have noticed by now, your BM2 relies on Normal attack to deal its damage. This means you cannot use high-rank skills like a Wizard would use Completer and GMaster skills, nor do you receive the +additional bonus from skills. What this means is you will have to compensate this loss with A LOT of attack. Your BM2 requires that you boost the Attack value as high as possible, making Mithril the weapon of choice for BM2, rather than Titaniums. The first consequence of being forced to gather high attack from weapons is that your high attack will favor high amp values. This is one reason why people would advise 36% osmiums in PVE (when Comboing, for higher crits and faster kills) while in BM2 they would advise you to go for 14% amp at least (achievable with dual 7% swords) or for a combination of amp + crit damage BUT only on Mithril level (meaning 7% amp + 20% cd). You could also combine amped mithril with osmium deathblow, but the intensity of the hits will not be the same.
For more details on what your weaponry should be, you can check this thread made by a nutty Blader :
The main idea you should remember is:
BM2 means normal attack -> Normal attack needs high attack values -> High attack values make great use of high amp values (7% amp + 7% amp mithril for example)
PVE means Combo -> Combo means high amp skills -> Existing amp and +add damage means you can focus on critical damage -> PVE combo makes great use of Crit Damage. (30% osmium + 30% osmium for example, 10% + 10% mithril, etc)

4. BM1 details
If you looked at your BM1, you probably noticed by now that it gives HUGE critical rate and damage increase. Don’t let this fool you, because you can still die easily while in BM1, due to the low defense bonus and the fact that you STILL have to combo, so keep that in mind. BM1 should only be used in my opinion on TG when you got legacy weapon and no BM2, and in CA where it is mandatory. Thumb rule for BM1 is to turn it on when you have to kill lots of mobs, clear rooms, and the most important thing is to remember to not use high cast time skills like Blade Scud (Scud in CA is instant kill on Orcas). Use fast skills like Double Slash or Storm Grind or Lightning Slash or Vital Impact to regenerate HP quickly, but don’t rely on skills like Twin Moon Slash or Blade Scud or Hasing Dance while in BM1. You will most likely be dead on the cast duration.

5. BM'ing techniques
BM1 - Should be used in TG and CA only. Use it on resurrects that you want destroyed, on packs of grouped enemies in conjunction with Lightning Slash for some massive damage, use it in conjunction with Legacy Weapon and Amp/Flee pots, etc. For any other war map threats, Aura will suffice along with Instant Immunity and Flee Rate if attacker is using BM2 and can’t combo
BM2 - Should be used on Bosses, on PK targets, on TG for quickly taking out multiple builders or threats. 
Aura - Should be used when you want an instant boost of defense + magic + CR/CD, for example when you see a higher level approaching your spot, and you do not have a 5 second time frame to go BM, then you pop-on Aura.

Class Breakdown : Upgrades / Runes / Skills / Items

1. Upgrades
There are 5 mandatory upgrades that you must use as a Blader: Vitality Mastery / Impact Control / Offensive Sense / Sixth Sense / Damage Absorb.
The only discussion that still remains unsolved is: Do I choose Defensive Sense (32def) or do I choose Reflex (532 def rate) ?
Blader is actually the only class for which I advise people to obtain Defensive Sense, as the Bladers can easily break the 4000 defense rate value, and from my personal experience, even with a moderate 3500 and a bit of vampiric, I never had problems surviving. The short term fast cooldown Intuition also solves the defense rate issue for a while.

2. Runes
In order of aquiring them, from lowest level to highest : 

1. EXP Bonus Rune
2. Party EXP Rune
3. Pet XP Rune
4. Skill XP Rune
5. Attack Rate Rune (could be skipped, as BL reaches 6000 attack rate)
6. Defense Rate Rune
7. HP Rune
8. Attack Rune
9. HP Absorb Rune
10. Sword Amp Rune
Additionally
11. Defense Rune
12 and 13. Dunno which (MP rune would be a wise choice for TG participants)

These would be the first 10 you would need. Then, as you reach 170 and max out the pet level : 

Remove EXP and Party XP and Pet XP, to free up 3 slots. I would use the STR / DEX / INT runes for 21 free stats. From my experience, you will need the PartyXP first, the XP second (as it is more expensive) and this will boost your AP, as AP is part of your XP. With more AP, upgrade Def Rate for higher survivability.

3. Skills - I will list the ones that are actually useful according to my playstyle.

Sword Skills
Fade Step - Must have - This skill is vital when you want to break a chase by de-targeting yourself (Mine is level 9)
Dash - Must have. Your only skill for moving forward (Mine is level 9)
Double Slash - Must have – This skill is core component for farming FR as well as PVE combo and PVP/TG (Mine is level 15)
Storm Grind – You will use storm as part of your PVE combo, very useful (Mine is level 20)
Assault – Must have – This is used as farming skill in FR and PVP / TG combo (Mine is level 15)
Force Kick – Must have for escaping and chasing on TG and War maps. (Mine is level 9 for fastest cooldown)
Mirage Grind – Not really needed – I use it for farming purposes in RS at cow pit as filler (Mine is level 20)
Twin Moon Slash – Has potential for downing purposes in TG (ranged) but overall Damage per second is way too low. (I didn’t learn this skill)
Vital Interfere – You will love this skill on earlier levels and throughout the game. Life saver, definitely a must have. (Mine is on level 9 for fastest cooldown, but some keep it on 15 for their PVE combo)
Blade Cry – NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER buy this crap skill. Period. One of the worst skills ever invented, no matter what you say (some morons tried to argue with me saying that it’s good in PVE combo .. no it ain’t, it’s overall DPS is lower than Storm Grind)
Blade Scud – Fell in love the moment I first cast it. You will never get enough of watching the dancing swirl of Scud. Must have for sure, but keep it on level 9 for fastest cooldown (Mine is on level 9 too)
Lightning Slash – The latest eye-rape method invented in Cabal, especially with numerous mobs surrounding you. It can take you from normal to epileptic in 3 seconds flat. Must have skill, but find a way to remove the FX (Mine is on level 9)
Concentration – Not needed at all, you will combo 90% of the time, and in BM2 you have plenty attack rate.
Iron Skin – One of the 4 core buffs. Must have skill which gives Def and HP (Mine is on level 20)
Mirage Step – Another signature of the Blader class, a must have. Increases defense rate. (Mine is on level 20)
Aura Barrier – Improved version of Iron Skin, the third must have buff skill (Mine is on level 20)
Soul Blade – Your only attack buff, max it out (Mine is on level 20)
Instant Immunity – You will learn to love this skill with time (Mine is on level 20)
Intuition – Again, life saver for PVE, must have. (Mine is on level 20)
Art of Fierceness – One of the 2 buffs that you will use in BM2 (Mine is on level 20)
Field of Fear – Strike fear in the hearts of your enemies and lower their defense. They know what’s comin’ (Mine is on level 20)
Intense Blade – Your most powerful BM2 buffer skill, max it out (Mine is on level 20)

Magic Skills
Freezing Arrow – Your main luring skill, a range 9 skill. Get this one or wind arrow (any range 9 arrow actually – Mine is on Level 9 for fastest cooldown)
Resist Intension – Good for the moments when Instant Immunity is not ready, but not that good overall. You will use other Spirit Buffs when in a party. You can get it to level 20 for the Solo gameplay moments, but it doesn’t help that much.

My PVE combo of choice is made of the same mix of skills, but ordered differently. Basically, you got the same 5 skills ordered differently : 

At lower levels I was using : Storm Grind 20 - Lightning Slash 9 - Vital Impact 15 - Double Rising 18 or Double Slash 18 (mine was 15 because of farming in FR) - Blade Scud 9 -> This combo was very very good at Stunlocking mobs, you got hit only once or twice, per 3 rounds, during Completer.

At higher levels, with better gear, I swapped to : Vital 9 - Lightning Slash 9 - Blade Scud 9 - Storm Grind 20 - Double Slash 15

Other combos that were passed on to me are : 
1) Vital 12 - Comp 9 - Scud 9 - Storm 20 - Dbl Rising 20
2) Comp 9 - Scud 9 - Assault 20 - Impact Stab 20 - Double Slash 20 (for 1 target)
3) Vital 9 - Compl 9 - Storm 20 - Dbl Rising 20 - Dbl Slash 20 (for CA for example, no Scud in it)

4. Items

My current (realistic) dreamset is composed of : 
2 x Mithril Blades 5% Amp / 10% CD +7
Osmium Armorgloves 7% Amp / 3% HP leech (extended)
Osmium Armorsuit of Amp 7% Amp / 180HP (extended)
Osmium Armorboots of Amp 7% Amp / 180HP (extended)
Merga Ring + RoL2 + 2 x CR2 + AoP6
RW3+6 and %HP Absorb Rune level 3 and EoF+7 and Bracelets of Fighter +6 / Vamp +6 Earrings (thanks to Herms for pointing it out : You could also use K-Black board for 44% Crit Rate if you already have the HP absorb rune maxed out. It would be better than the +Def from RW3)

You probably noticed that I didn’t mention any helms for BL. A helm is what makes or breaks the BL class, and you have 3 choices, each with their bonuses and disadvantages. I will explain them below: 

1) The 16% craft helm with 5% rate in first slot, extended (the 7% rate / 40% crit dmg helm)

This is the basic choice for most bladers, it provides almost maximum CD in helm, while at the same time improving critical rate. Your CR will be 42% unless a Warrior or Force Blader is in the party. This type of helm is good if you plan on being a party member most of the time, to have 52% rate at least from the party debuffs (FB). If you want to solo stuff, you might find that 90 seconds of 42 rate is not enough, so you will most likely go in BM + Aura to compensate this. Since you are forced to go aura to compensate the lack of rate, you might as well not use the helm at all, but use a 36% one, since you get 15 rate+ from aura. Then the 7/40 helm becomes useless, if you’re forced to go BM+A, and it is therefore an expensive and unneeded investment (for the 4% extra CD that you gain).

2) The 8% rate craft helm with 5% rate in first slot, extended (the 15% rate / 24% cd helm)

This helm truly fits the pure solo-ers or duo-dungeon runners. You do not need any WA / FB to dish out crit after crit, you will have 50% rate and 16% less CD, which results in more crits in the 90 seconds of BM, and when turning aura on, you can swap the helm to a 40% one, for more icing on the cake. I find this option better than 7/40 first of all due to the price, as 8% rate helms are cheaper, and second of all, it’s almost the same thing as 7/40 helm when soloing. The real difference comes when you play in a party with a debuffer, that’s where the 7/40 is superior

Example with FB debuff (-10 cr / -20 cd) :
With a 7/40 helm, you keep 2 RoL+2 and 2 CR2 + the FB debuff, for 52 rate and 90 cd.
With a 15/24 helm, you keep 1 RoL+2 and 3 CR2 + the FB debuff for 45 rate and 89 cd 
Example without debuff : 
With a 7/40 helm you keep 2 RoL+2 and 2 CR+2 for 42 rate and 70 damage
With a 15/24 helm you keep 2 RoL+2 and 2 CR+2 for 50 rate and 54 damage (if you think 8% rate is not that important, be my guest in trying out 35% rate versus 43%, when using 36% helm and 8/20 helm).

3) The 7% amp / 7% rate / 24% damage helm

This helm is a variant of the 7/40, where you sacrifice 16% cd for 7 amp, for an even more powerful BM2. This would be the top choice for a FA also, as the FA is a full amp build as well. This would bring the best of 3 worlds in one helm, and very few people have one.
Overall, if you plan on partying FB / WA for high level dungeons, go for the 7/40.
If you plan on using a WI to duo B2F and AoS and FI, go for the 15/24 for better overall damage.

I know that with the introduction of Weak EoD, many players have started farming their weapons inside. I would advise them to get an 8 rate / 20 damage helm in there, and a 16% Titanium with a slot or 2, for Aura mode. Do not bother with weapons; they will be of no use past 140. Later on, you can extend the helms for 7/40 or 15/24, depending on preference but for starter levels, 8 rate / 20 damage osmium will suffice.
For the ones that are 70+ or are picking up on their BL from where they left off, here's some possible item builds : 

Begginer build of my choice (Above WEoD up to 140)
Vampiric Amulet +3/+4
3 x Ring of Luck +1
1 x Critical Ring +1
Osmium Martialhelm 5% CRate / 20% CDamage
Osmium Martialsuit 7% Amp / 50HP
Mystic Martialboots of Amp 5% Amp / Osmium Martialboots of Amp 4%-100HP
Mystic Martialgloves of Vampire 3/5% HP Leech
2 x Vampiric Earrings +2 and later +4
2 x Bracelet of Fighter +2 and later +4
Epaulette of Fighter +6 (never ever never ever use EoGuardian as Blader)
2 x Osmium Blades/Katanas with 4% CR and 20% CD

This build will provide you with 48 CR and 90 CD and decent Amp and lots of Leech. It will keep you alive while you level up in MF and EoD:B2F. The total price of such gear would be roughly ... 100kk or so, which can be easily made by finishing quests and selling a few entries here and there (from the MF drops).

Mediocre build of my choice (somewhere between 140 and 160/5)
Vampiric Amulet +4
2 x Ring of Luck +2
2 x Critical Ring +2
Osmium Martialhelm 8% CR / 20% CD === Osmium Martialhelm 36% CD (for aura)
Osmium Martialsuit 7% amp / 50HP
Shadowtitanium Martialgloves 7% Amp
Shadowtitanium Martialboots 7% Amp
White Board X3 and 2% HP leech in Pet (like my dearest Cookies)
2 x Vampiric Earrings +4
2 x Bracelet of Fighter +4
EoF+6
Mithril Blade / Katana +6 with 10% CD in slot

High-end build of my choice (165 to 170)
Amulet of Pain +5 / +6
Merga Ring + RoL2
2 x Critical Rings +2
Titanium Armorhelm 12%->15% CR / 24%CD or Osmium 15/24 (7/40 if you always party a debuffer)
Osmium Armorsuit 7% amp / 100 HP
Osmium Armorboots 7% amp / 100 HP
Osmium Armorgloves 7% amp or Titanium 7% amp / 3% HP leech (Warning : multiple SEM needed)
RW3 +6 or White Board // %HP Rune on level 3 (ouch AP)
2 x Vampiric Earrings +6 // 2 x Bracelet of Fighter +6
EoF+7
2 x 7% Mithril Amped +7 (cheaper than 7amp/20cd combination)

VERY IMPORTANT LINK : Once you finished reading the above, have a look here in Herms's thread about most commonly used Helms + Swords, to have an ever greater insight on what combination of weapons / helm would fit you. Later on, maybe a Damage Comparison between builds will be possible.

BM2 Tips

You always have to remember one thing: Never cast Art of Fierceness and Intense Blade at the same time. Art of Fierceness will always add +400 damage per attack, no matter if you’re in BM or BM + Aura, or if there are any debuffs on that mob. This means that you can cast it at any time during the BM or BM+Aura with the same efficiency. Intense Blade however, is an amplifier, it boosts the damage by adding 25% amp to the hits, so it’s better to cast it on Aura, to have even higher attack. Consequently, you will want Intense Blade + Field of Fear at the same time.
The fact that you do not cast them at the same time means that you have 1 extra buff slot at all times, and you use the buffs more wisely. If you were to cast AoF then FoF then Intense, by the time you start hitting, you lost 6 seconds of AoF and 3 seconds of FoF.
My choice for extended BM (BM 90 seconds and extend with Aura for 45 more seconds) is : 
BM -> Art of fierceness at start (to get rid of it as soon as possible) -> Get Fury on 45 seconds of BM -> Extend with aura -> Right after Extend, when the Warrior casts Panic, I cast Intense + Field of Fear.
In case of a double BM, which is BM+Aura for 90 seconds, I usually ask the Warrior when he is going to cast Panic, and that’s when I cast Intense + Field of Fear. Usually, most Warriors will cast Panic at start, so that means my Art of Fierceness can come AFTER Intense Blade and Field of Fear, in the remaining 60 seconds of Double BM.
There is one and only one situation where I would advise you to use the buffs differently. If you are 100% SURE that the boss will die in 2 BMs (whether single or BM+Aura) then you need to do the math on your cooldowns: 

All 3 buffs have a duration of 30 seconds and a cooldown of 180 seconds. If we detail the BM in seconds, we got: 90s + 30s cooldown between BM + 90s. This is an interval of 210 seconds where you can fit the short buffs twice. If you use FoF + AoF + Intense right at the beginning of the first BM (preferably this is a BM2 + Aura for maximum efficiency, like on Leth Tyrant for example), then the cooldown starts with the cast, logically. This means that 150 seconds after you cast the shorts in the first BM, they will be ready. This translates into: 
BM + Aura -> Cast Shorts (BM is now on 85) -> Shorts expire on 55 of BMA (cooldown of shorts is now 150) -> BM expires (cooldown of shorts is now ~90) -> You wait 30 seconds for the BM to recharge (cooldown of shorts is now ~60) -> You enter another BMA and after 60 seconds of BM, presto : The shorts are ready once more for a full 30 seconds use.

One more thing that I would like to add is retargeting. Do your best to retarget claw-claw in 2 or 3 hits, because even if the kick provides 50% more damage than the claw, it also takes twice as long to hit it, so in the end, you actually lose damage by kicking with your feet. I will try to FRAPS my rusty hands while retargeting, but if any other Blader has it done already on a dummy, please feel free to share.