Dans guide to be the ultimate monkey handler

Intro
So you wanted to be a great explorer?
You wanted to travel to maple island to train yourself to become a wize arch mage or a sturdy warrior?
Well, sucks to be you because a big bad balrog just showed up and slapped your ass into the ocean.

Since you returned to victoria island now after many great challenges where you made many new friends (a homeless guy and some wild animal who probably bites your ear off the first chance it gets) you must be wondering what to do with this metal piece of junk that weighs 3 times as much as you.
Now that is where I, your mysterious unnamed narrator, come in!
I'll be helping you getting started with your fate to blow up the black mage and be giving you some general vague tips along the way.

Let's start with some pros and cons because everyone does them so I feel obliged to do so as well:

	Pros	Cons
	High mobility for navigating maps	Very horizontal mobber
	Uses STR, so plenty of equips around	Uses STR so it's all expensive
	Lines all over the place	Slow base attack speed and delays on skills

Skills

I'll be explaining how the skills work and how you should apply them here. (if you don't do exactly as I say you are not allowed to read the rest of this guide)
I'm personally not gonna bother with the exact skill numbers for most skills since classes get rebalanced all the time and you can look at them in your skill tab anyway.

Generally you'd want to max passives first, then active buffs and then you active skills. I'll write down my personal feelings under the skill descriptions if there's an exception.

Spoiler: Skills

1st Job

	Name	Description	Usage
	Cannon Blaster	Targets an enemy in front of you and hits them with an AOE attack damaging all enemies nearby.	Your main mobbing skill in 1st job, it's not amazing but it does the job.
	Cannon Strike	Shitty 1v1 skill that's completely useless.	You don't.
	Blast Back	Does low damage, has a chance to slow enemies and moves you backwards a bit.	This skill is very important for your mobility. You can use it to amplify your Monkey Push or to nearly completely stop momentum after double jumping.
	Monkey Push	Your obligatory flash jump skill	Press the jump key while in mid air to do a 2nd jump, can be chained together with Cannon Jump (3rd job) and Blast Back for some pretty sweet mobility.
	Cannon Boost	Passive skill that gives attack and defence	Passive skill

I'd advice to max Monkey Push first so you can jump around and get to mobs quicker, it also gives a bit more height to hit that platform above you if you grind at Fire Golems. Don't max Cannon Strike for it is trash.

2nd Job

	Name	Description	Usage
	Scatter Shot	Your 2nd job main mobbing skill	Works similar to Cannon Blaster.
	Barrel Bomb	Damages mobs while pushing them away and goes boom at the end.	Great for crowd control and even as a main mobbing skill.
	Cannon Booster	Gives you -2 attack speed delay	Always keep this on, Cannoneers are slow enough already.
	Monkey Magic	Gives all stats, hp/mp and speed & jump to you and your party	This is where the magic happens. Very nice party skill to have, stacks with %stat.
	Critical Fire	Gives crit rate and crit damage	Passive Skill
	Cannon Mastery	Increases your minimum range	Passive Skill

Some skills need to be maxed for later jobs, read the descriptions.
Don't max scatter shot as you won't use it past 2nd job.

3rd Job

	Name	Description	Usage
	Cannon Spike	Your main mobbing skill which fires in a straight line	Previous mobbing skills had a bit of an arc to them so you could fire above or below you, from now on get used to mobbing going horizontal.
	Monkey Fury	Deals damage, adds a DoT, and gives a debuff on enemies it hits to make them take more damage	Great bossing utility, can also work for mobbing if you can 1shot. Keep in mind that the cannonball can bounce around.
	Monkey Wave	Charge skill for high damage, if you crit removes charge. Gives a crit damage buff and gives passive crit rate.	Try to cast it during downtime on bosses. You can also use this for mobbing if you're not confident in your damage.
	Cannon Jump	Deals damage and launches you upward.	This opens a lot of opportunities for mobility, combine with Monkey Push and Blast Back to get you where you need to go.
	Barrel Roulette	Gives a random buff when cast and gives passive final damage	Cast before entering bosses and during downtime. keep it up full time for grinding if you need it.
	Luck of the Die	Roll a dice to get a random buff	Refer to this guide for the effects.
	Reinforced Cannon	Gives attack and attack speed	Passive Skill
	Pirate Rush	Gives hp%, defence% and status resistance	Passive Skill
	Counter Crush	Gives a chance to counter enemy attacks (not hp%), making you take 1 damage.	Passive Skill

Put a point in Reinforced Cannon ASAP for that attack speed. If you're feeling lucky you could focus on Luck of the Die early for the chance of +30% XP gained.
Don't max Cannon Spike because Cannon Bazooka will replace it in 4th job.

4th Job

	Name	Description	Usage
	Cannon Bazooka	Replacement for Cannon Spike, also very horizontal	Press button, watch stuff explode.
	Cannon Barrage	Your main bossing skill. Does lots of damage and gives bonus critical rate and ignore defence for itself	This skill can bend up and down a bit so if you see a lone mob you can take them down with this.
	Anchors Aweigh	Stationary summon that pulls mobs towards it and deals damage	This skill pulls and damages as you cast it as well so you can use this to replace Barrel Bomb. Useful to get mobs within reach of Monkey Militia. Use during downtime on bosses.
	Monkey Militia	Summons 2 (3 with hyper) stationary monkey turrets to deal damage every second.	Great to control a platform when grinding and should be kept up on bosses.
	Pirate's Spirit	Gives 80% stance (dammit Nexon) and passively increases boss damage and Counter Crush's counter chance.
	Maple Warrior	Gives all stats	Generic Maple Warrior, keep it up full time.[/SIZE][/SIZE]
	Cannon Overload	Gives attack speed, total damage, mastery, and ied.	It's amazing, Passive Skill[/SIZE][/SIZE]
	Mega Monkey Magic	Upgrades Monkey Magic to increase benefits	Passive Skill[/SIZE][/SIZE]
	Double Down	Gives chance to roll an extra dice with Luck of the Die	Passive Skill

I'd suggest maxing Double Down early, because more dice means more 6's.
The rest is pretty self explanatory.

Hyper Skills

	Name	Description	Usage
	Rolling Rainbow	Stationary Summon that does deals damage in a small area in front of it.	This is great for burst damage during bosses or to lock down a platform for 12 seconds while grinding.
	Epic Adventure	Gives % total damage to you and your explorer party members	Nobody ever plays explorers so just use it whenever available. Maybe time it with Rolling Rainbow for that bonus damage.
	Buckshot	triples your attack lines while giving you (at the time of writing this) 0.45x damage per line	Turn up your game sounds and hold this skill key until you run out of mana.

Buckshot, although amazing, does not work on Anchors Away, Monkey Militia, Rolling Rainbow, or 5th job common skills (Cannoneer skills still work).

For Hyper passives I'd advice all 3 Cannon Bazooka hypers while you're focusing on leveling. The other 2 could be put in Monkey Militia - Enhance & Cannon Barrage - Extra Strike

For general playing I'd say you'd want to move the Cannon Bazooka - Spread to Cannon Barrage - Reinforce.

5th Job

	Name	Description	Usage
	Big Huge Gigantic Cannonball	Fires a summons that slowly moves in a straight line	This does a lot of damage. Try leading bosses to get them to stay inside the projectile to maximize dps. [/SIZE][/SIZE]
	ICBM	Shoots an arcing projectile that does damage and leaves an AoE on the ground around it.	Amazing skill for map control, this does huge damage and the AoE allows you to ignore a platform for half the time. Ideally you'd want to fire this right before boss downtime ends. It also has some i-frames after casting you might be able to abuse.[/SIZE][/SIZE]
	Loaded Dice	Lets you choose a preset dice roll.	A great skill. It allows you to choose an extra dice for a guaranteed effect. I'd advice 6 for grinding and 4 or 5 for bossing.[/SIZE][/SIZE]
	Rope Lift	Pulls you to a platform above you	Great for other classes, Cannoneer doesn't really need it.[/SIZE][/SIZE]
	Erda Nova	Binds a single enemy	Freezes a boss for 10-20 seconds, a must have.[/SIZE][/SIZE]
	Decent Skills	Sharp Eyes, Speed Infusion, Advanced Bless	You could use these skills to fill in spare matrix slots. I strongly suggest SI if you don't have DSI on gloves yet. [/SIZE][/SIZE]
	Pirate flag thingey	Gives all stats and reduces enemies' defence in the AoE	It's alright but obscures your view too much. AoE is also a bit too small. Use situationally. [/SIZE][/SIZE]
	Some other skills	Idk what they're called	Someone please help me[/SIZE][/SIZE]

For boost nodes you probably want Cannon Barrage, Cannon Bazooka, Rolling Rainbow, and Monkey Militia. The rest is up to your discretion.