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      Dawn Warrior Guide

      Hi, I'm Tim, I main a Dawn Warrior (abbreviated as DW from here on in), I was asked to write a guide on them. In this guide I'm assuming you know how to play Maplestory, and are comfortable with basic mechanics about the game. I won't be including information such as skill point allocation (outside of which skill not to max) and specific damage percentages or actual stat increases, since you can find those in-game.

      Contents:
      • The Guide section will contain general info that doesn't belong in other sections. This includes an explanation on Dawn Warrior's gimmick Equinox, as well as some mobbing/grinding tips.
      • The Skill Build section is used to explain all the skills, including Hyper Passive assignment
      • The Skill Info section will explain in further detail every skill you will actually use, as well as some ways to use them. Also contains nodes, legion and inner ability.
      • The Bossing section will contain specific bossing skill usage patterns.
      I recommend reading the skill build section first, then the rest of this, then the skill info, then bossing.

      Class Summary

      I like to think of DW as a mixture of Luminous, Zero and Hayato. It features Lumi’s dual mode thingy (but with permanent equilibrium), Zero’s two styles of attacks, and Hayato’s comboing, except you don’t need any skill to pull it off. Just a good internet connection.

      DW's skills hit hard and fast. They have a lot of micro tech, allowing you to reposition yourself easily and precisely around a boss. They have a variety of playstyles allowing you to adapt easily to many types of boss fight or map layouts. They also possess a bind and a very strong debuff that increases damage dealt by everyone by a significant amount.

      DW uses 1H and 2H swords, though I recommend 2H since you can easily make up the attack speed.

      Pros:
      • High damage
      • Very precise movement skills
      • Tons of lines
      • Easy to hit attack speed cap
      • Skills look cool
      • Has a bind
      • 100% stance
      • Not many buffs
      • Decently tanky
      Cons:
      • Maximum DPS relies greatly on your internet connection
      • Not the best mobber
      • 2H swords can be expensive
      • 2H stance looks ugly
      • Maximum DPS relies greatly on your internet connection
      • Has some MP issues
      • Maximum DPS relies greatly on your internet connection
      • Main bossing attack forces movement, could be annoying
      • Have I mentioned the internet thing yet?

      How Equinox Works
      Falling Moon and Rising Sun are toggles that cancel each other out. These are called stances. When you’re in Lunar stance, you receive the effects from the Falling Moon buff, and any stance skill you use will activate the Lunar version. When you’re in Solar stance, you receive the effects from the Rising Sun buff, and any stance skill you use will activate the Solar version.

      Equinox is a buff. While it is active, you will receive the stat buffs from both Falling Moon and Rising Sun, regardless of which stance you are in. The buff effects from equinox are independent of which stance you are in. In other words, even if you are in Lunar stance, while Equinox is active you will still get the attack speed and damage from Rising Sun, in addition to the crit rate and extra lines from Falling Moon.

      Your current stance is shown above your head.
      [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
      Lunar Solar Lunar in Equinox Solar in Equinox


      Equinox also has a secondary function that is core to how Dawn Warrior works. While it is active, every time you use a stance skill, it will automatically change your stance from Lunar to Solar, or vice versa. You do not need to manually cast either. Since stance skills use a single button, you can just hold that button down to alternate between each skill constantly.

      Moon Dancer and Speeding Sunset are your bossing skills. They can all be triggered from one keybind. During equinox, holding this skill will alternate between Moon Dancer and Speeding Sunset. This is important.

      Moon Dancer and Speeding Sunset are themselves two skills as well. They have a separate animation based on whether you are standing on the ground, or in the air. Of important note, Speeding Sunset makes you jump into the air, and slam back down.

      When you hold down the button, it will cast Moon Dancer (ground), Speeding Sunset (ground), Moon Dancer (air), Speeding Sunset (air), then back to Moon Dancer (ground). The starting skill depends on your current stance, and whether you’re airborne or not, but the rotation goes in this order.

      Moon Dancer (Ground) Speeding Sunset (Ground) Moon Dancer (Air) Speeding Sunset (Air)
      [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]


      This GIF is not sped up in any way. This is how fast a Dawn Warrior with hard capped attack speed attacks.
      [​IMG]

      The Internet Thing

      So you'll notice in the Cons, I mentioned something about maximum DPS being reliant on your internet connection. When Equinox switches your stance between Lunar and Solar, it needs to inform the server that the current stance has been updated. If your stance isn't updated before Moon Dancer or Speeding Sunset is cast again, it will end up casting the same skill you used previously. Or even worse, if it tries to cast the skill at the same time your stance is updated, you could end up just sitting there doing nothing. Obviously this throws off your whole rotation, ruins your movement, and just generally makes life hard.

      Here's some GIFs of a lagging Dawn Warrior (click to enlarge).
      [​IMG]
      [​IMG]


      Mobbing Tips

      Movement

      As a warrior, DW mobbing usually consists of flash jumping forwards, casting the skill midair, and flash jumping again immediately once you land. Keeping up this rotation ensures you maintain forward momentum while killing everything you pass. Grind efficiency heavily relies on keeping up your movement speed, moving around the map in such a way that you can clear all mobs in as little distance covered as possible. The shorter your path, the faster you can loop around the map and the sooner you can kill stuff as soon as they spawn.

      The tools you have are your various flash jumps, Equinox Slash, Moon Cross and Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset. You'll spend most of the time flash jumping forwards, and attacking in the air. The specific attacks you use don't really affect how you train, they're just to optimize the path you take throughout the map.

      Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset's air versions both have forced movement. Moon Dancer stops you dead in the air when it is used, while Speeding Sunset pushes you down to the floor. Both of them completely stop all horizontal momentum, allowing you to ground yourself at a specific point to reset your jump or something. They're not terribly useful while mobbing, but do have their purpose, and you'll probably find one or two situations where this is handy.

      Equinox Slash's animation cancelling component makes it extremely useful in almost all situations. For mobbing, my main use is to cut my upjump short so I don't waste time going too high. When you upjump, your character goes into a jumping animation where you can't use normal skills. If you perform the key combo really quickly, in order to go fast, it also jumps really high, which may not be ideal. Casting Equinox Slash immediately teleports you at the current height, and lets you start attacking again. Also, just like Explorer's teleport, it can also get you up onto some platforms you can't quite reach with an upjump alone. You can also cancel Styx Crossing's relatively slow animation if you want to go fast.

      If you take many hits to kill and keep dying, you can buff [​IMG] Soul Element to stun the mobs while you kill them. This is the only situation where this skill will be useful though.

      Attack Skills

      There are 3 main skills you can use for training. You can stay in Lunar Mode and use Moon Cross, you can use Equinox and use Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce, or you can just use Solar Pierce by itself.
      • Moon Cross
      Moon Cross does alrightish damage, but most importantly has very good horizontal range in front of you. Vertical range is alright too. Simply flash jump forwards and use the skill midair. When you land, flash jump again and repeat, going back and forth through the map. This works great on long flat maps with only one level. You can quickly traverse the entire map and kill everything along the way. Keep in mind it is possible to jump too high and not hit anything, so try to use the skill right after the flash jump. However, it's not as efficient on maps with multiple levels, or if you cannot 1-shot with Moon Cross. Don't use Equinox for this. Here's an approximate hitbox:
      [​IMG]
      • Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce
      Probably the most common skill used to grind. You buff Equinox, and use Crescent Divide and Solar Pierce to kill things while flash jumping back and forth. Crescent Divide hits above and around you, while Solar Pierce hits a large area in front of you. Both skills have pretty good vertical range, which makes them great for hitting 2 platforms of mobs at once.
      [​IMG]

      If you have good internet and Equinox reliably swaps stances, you can use the Lunar stance attack to use Moon Cross to pull mobs towards you, then finish them off with Solar Pierce.
      • Solar Pierce
      Solar Pierce has a very nice hitbox for grinding. It hits far ahead of you and most importantly very high as well, allowing you to reach pretty high platforms without actually climbing up to them, which really helps with getting an optimal movement path. However, to use it alone you must stay in Solar stance, which means no double line buff, therefore much less damage.
      [​IMG]

      5th Job

      3/4 of your 5th job skills are buffs. Generally, just use them whenever they're off cooldown, with the obvious don't use Rift of Damnation at the same time as Celestial Dance. Weapon Aura gives a bit of Final Damage, and shoots a bunch of stuff every 4 seconds. Celestial Dance means more damage and the explosion hits a large area hard as well. Rift of Damnation means free Styx for 30 seconds, which is very fun. Phalanx is mostly a set and forget, however it does require you to stand still on the ground to cast it. I don't use it while training because it throws off my momentum, but if you want more things dealing damage, by all means feel free.
      Here's what a Dawn Warrior with almost perfect control and ping looks like.

  • Build

    Skill Overview

    First Job
    • Triple Slash (1)
    • Inner Voice (MAX)
    • Hand of Light (MAX)
    • Triple Slash (19)
    • Soul Element (MAX)

    Second Job
    • Flicker (1) Trace cut (1) Falling Moon (1) Sword Mastery (1)
    • Soul Mastery (5) Soul Speed (MAX)
    • Soul Mastery (MAX)
    • Falling Moon (MAX)
    • Divine Hand (MAX)
    • Flicker (MAX)
    • Inner Harmony (MAX)
    • Trace cut (19)

    Third Job
    • Rising Sun (1) Moon Cross/Sun Cross (1) Moon Shadow/Light Merger (1)
    • Will of Steel (MAX)
    • Inner Voice (MAX)
    • Moon Cross/Sun Cross (MAX)
    • Moon Shadow/Light Merger (14)
    • Soul of the Guardian (MAX)
    • True Sight (MAX)
    • Rising Sun (MAX)

    Fourth Job
    • Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset (1) Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce (1) Soul Pledge (2)
    • [OPTIONAL] Equinox (4) (skill this now if you require extra damage to 1hko mobs)
    • Soul Pledge (MAX)
    • Master of the Sword (MAX)
    • Student of the Blade (MAX)
    • Equinox (MAX)
    • Unpredictable (MAX)
    • Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce (MAX)
    • Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset (MAX)
    • Call of Cygnus (MAX)
    • Impaling Rays (MAX)

    Hyper Passives
    • True Sight - Enhance
    • Divide/Pierce - Extra Strike
    • Careening Dance - Reinforce
    • Careening Dance - Guardbreak
    • Careening Dance - Boss Rush



    Training Tips pre 4th Job
    Falling Moon and Rising Sun are toggles that cancel each other out. We call these stances. Most of your active skills are actually two skills, which one they are depends on which stance you are in. I’ll go more in depth later, but all the skills with two coloured names (separated by a slash) are like this. I refer to them as stance skills. The lunar versions are better for training.

    Noblesse
    Noblesse is best beginner, functionally. There’s a lot of nice skills in here.

    [​IMG] Elemental Slash Hits 3 mobs for 130% damage. A mobbing skill as a beginner, which is cool.
    [​IMG] Imperial Recall Go to Ereve. Standard recall skill.
    [​IMG] Elemental Harmony Passive. 1 STR every 2 levels.
    [​IMG] Elemental Expert Passive. 10% Attack.
    [​IMG] Elemental Shift Flash Jump. Can also upjump by holding up and jumping.
    [​IMG] Empress’s Blessing 30 ATT/MATT for all your chars.


    1st Job
    Nothing to see here. You can max everything.

    [​IMG] Triple Slash Hit things with this until 2nd job.
    [​IMG] Soul Element Chance to stun on hit. Doesn't work for bosses, thus making it useless. Get it for the passive.
    [​IMG] Inner Voice Passive with some nice stuff.
    [​IMG] Hand of Light Passive attack.


    2nd Job
    Some of the skills from here on have two names. The first is the lunar skill, the second is the solar skill. Leave Trace cut/Shadow Tackle unmaxed.

    [​IMG] Flicker/Bluster Stance skill. Standard rush. Flicker goes further, Bluster pushes mobs.
    [​IMG] Trace cut/Shadow Tackle Stance skill. Trace cut hits behind you.
    [​IMG] Falling Moon Puts you in Lunar stance. Gives 20% crit, and doubles the number of lines from each skill but lowers final damage.
    [​IMG] Soul Speed Booster.
    [​IMG] Divine hand Passive attack.
    [​IMG] Sword Mastery Mastery skill.
    [​IMG] Inner Harmony Passive STR and DEX.


    3rd Job
    Now you can play with both modes. Lunar is better for training. Leave Moon Shadow/Light Merger unmaxed.

    [​IMG] Moon Shadow/Light Merger Stance skill. Use Moon Shadow until 4th job. Light Merger sucks, but looks cool.
    [​IMG] Moon Cross/Sun Cross Stance skill. Moon Cross pulls mobs, Sun cross pushes them. Has good horizontal range.
    [​IMG] Rising Sun Puts you in Solar stance. Gives %DMG and attack speed. This buff breaks the soft speed cap.
    [​IMG] True Sight A debuff that lowers defense, and gives final damage. Really strong against bosses, especially with the elemental resist hyper passive.
    [​IMG] Soul of the Guardian Passive HP/DEF.
    [​IMG] Will of Steel Passive, increases some defensive stats.
    [​IMG] Inner Voice Passive ATT/STR.


    4th Job
    Now things get real. You get to enjoy what Dawn Warrior is all about.

    [​IMG] Call of Cygnus Maple Warrior. Needs a quest to obtain.
    [​IMG] Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset Stance skill. Will be referred to as “1v1 combo”. Kinda complicated to explain. See usage section.
    [​IMG] Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce Stance mobbing skill.
    [​IMG] Impaling Rays Bind.
    [​IMG] Equinox Cycle A buff. Also complicated. See usage section.
    [​IMG] Equinox Slash Skill level is linked to Equinox Cycle. It’s an animation cancel/teleport.
    [​IMG] Soul Pledge Passive Stance and Crit rate.
    [​IMG] Student of the Blade Mastery, ATT and Crit Damage.
    [​IMG] Unpredictable 30% IED and 15% Boss.
    [​IMG] Master of the Sword Makes your Solar and Lunar mode buffs stronger.


    Hypers - Active

    [​IMG] Styx Crossing Hold to charge, then release for a super high damage very large attack. Incredibly strong, fun to use, gets better with 5th job.
    [​IMG] Glory of the Guardians Generic lv200 hyper. 10% damage for Cygnus classes.
    [​IMG] Soul Forge A boring ATT buff.


    Hypers - Passive
    The skills in bold are the ones I recommend. However, some of these are up to your discretion and you may assign as you see fit. Remember that you can always reassign these later, so feel free to shift the points around based on what task you're focusing on.

    True Sight
    [​IMG]Persist Increases the duration of True Sight. While this is useful, there are much better options.
    [​IMG]Enhance Decreases enemy Elemental Resistance. This is basically 10% final damage, since elemental resistance is calculated separately to defense. Very strong, highly recommended unless you don't boss or something.
    [​IMG]Guardbreak Reduces enemy defense by an additional 10%. While still good, Careening Dance - Guardbreak is stronger.


    Divide/Pierce
    [​IMG]Reinforce Increases the damage of Divide/Pierce. If you are focusing on training rather then bossing, and need this to 1hko, feel free to take it. Otherwise, it's not worth the point.
    [​IMG]Spread Divide/Pierce hits more mobs. I don't see many situations where there will be enough mobs to hit in one cast that you'll need this. Not worth the point.
    [​IMG]Extra Strike Gives an extra line to Divide/Pierce. Because of the Lunar Stance buff, this becomes +2 lines. Its a large amount of damage, very very strong. Helps a ton when mobbing, and gives a bit more chip burst damage when bossing.


    Careening Dance
    [​IMG]Reinforce Increases the damage of Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset. Being your main bossing skill, more damage is always welcome.
    [​IMG]Guardbreak Gives 20% IED when using Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset. IED is a good stat, and this passive is stronger than the True Sight variant.
    [​IMG]Boss Rush Increases Boss Damage when using Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset. Self explanatory.


    5th Job
    These are super strong and awesome

    [​IMG] Weapon Aura Warrior Common. Gives a bit of IED, final damage, and mirrors a skill usage every 4 seconds.
    [​IMG] Cygnus Phalanx Cygnus Common. Summons some Cygnus warriors to move across the map dealing damage to anything it hits.
    [​IMG] Celestial Dance Gives you a shadow partner that uses the opposite stance skill every time you attack. Every 5s, causes a large explosion.
    [​IMG] Rift of Damnation Removes Styx Crossing’s cooldown and charge time for 30s. Super duper burst damage. Seriously, this is really strong.
    [​IMG] Impenetrable Skin Gives resistance to super knockback effects for a short period. Also increases %dmg when hit by a small amount. Situational, it may help you survive a Magnus spin or prevent Lotus smacking you into a demolishizer.
  • Skill Info

    5th Job and Nodes
    There are 4 skills that are worth boosting. However, I'd only recommend boosting Equinox Slash if you have both a good internet connection and you can afford the nodes for it. Otherwise, we have exactly 3 skills we want boost nodes for. Thus, your ideal nodes are nodes that contain all of Styx Crossing, Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset and Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce. You can use 3 trinodes of levels 17, 17 and 16 if nodes are hard to come by, or two lv25s if you can afford it.


    Things get a little tricky here. We need 4 skills to appear in our nodes twice.
    1. [​IMG]Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset
    2. [​IMG]Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce
    3. [​IMG]Styx Crossing
    4. [​IMG]Equinox Slash

    Thus we need 8 slots in our nodes for these skills. You can achieve this with three nodes. Note that the order doesn't matter, as long as each skill appears twice.
    1. [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
    2. [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
    3. [​IMG][​IMG] and theres a spare spot here.

    You can do this for cheaper with four nodes. Note that this is much harder due to the number of tri-nodes required. Only one of these can be lv16, the rest must be lv17.
    1. [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
    2. [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
    3. [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
    4. [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]

    For skill nodes, you'll definitely want both [​IMG] Celestial Dance and [​IMG] Rift of Damnation. [​IMG] Phalanx Charge is also very powerful. If you have enough nodes, you can level [​IMG] Weapon Aura, but it isn't very high priority. [​IMG] Decent Sharp Eyes and [​IMG] Decent Speed Infusion are also great nodes for almost every class, and you should pick them up if you don't have the potential versions. Dawn Warrior doesn't have Hero's will, so if you'll be needing that skill you can pick up [​IMG] Will of Erda. If you're training, you can make use of [​IMG] Rope Lift and [​IMG] Decent Holy Symbol, though make sure to switch them out when you go bossing.

    The priority for obtaining nodes is as follows:
    1. Rift of Damnation
    2. Celestial Dance
    3. Tri-boost nodes
    4. Decent Sharp Eyes/Decent Speed Infusion if needed
    5. Phalanx Charge
    6. Weapon Aura
    7. Rope Lift/Decent HS if needed
    8. Anything else

    The priority for leveling nodes is as follows:
    1. All Boost nodes
    2. Celestial Dance
    3. Phalanx Charge
    4. Weapon Aura
    5. Everything else
    6. Rift of Damnation
    Both your 5th job skills rely on your main skill damage, so boosting those main skills comes first. Celestial Dance acts as a shadow partner and offers a huge amount of damage, so level that next. Phalanx Charge is strong consistent damage which comes after. Weapon Aura actually scales with level, so it is prioritized over any decents. And then there's Rift.

    Rift has some weird oddities to it. The duration and the Styx damage stays the same through every level. The only thing that scales per level is the explosion damage. However, the explosion damage is currently bugged. It hits up to 15 enemies, and all those hits can be on the same enemy. Visually, it does a ton of damage. However, it actually does zero damage. Thus, until Nexon fixes this, there is absolutely no point to levelling it past 1.

    [​IMG]

    Inner Ability
    Dawn Warrior can hit the hard speed cap without the attack speed inner. This doesn't mean you shouldn't keep it. Solar Stance breaks the soft attack speed cap, so if your inner ability is +1 attack speed you only need Decent Speed Infusion to reach the hard cap. It also helps anytime you are unable to use Equinox and thus are not receiving the Solar Stance attack speed buff. If your internet connection is good you can run Equinox all the time and ditch the attack speed, but I still think its useful enough that you should try to roll for it. You could also use some extra critical rate, but otherwise there's not really any "must-have" inner.

    Here's an optimal inner:
    • +1 Attack Speed
    • 20% Crit Rate
    • 12 Attack

    Other lines are still perfectly viable:
    • 20% Boss Damage
    • 15% Drop Rate
    • 10% Crit Rate

    Legion and Hyper Stat
    Get Critical Rate until 100%. You can spread this out between the two but you must be at 100% after both Decent Sharp Eyes and Lunar Stance.
    For Hyper Stat, put your points into:
    • Critical Rate (until 100%)
    • Critical Damage
    • Ignore defense
    • Boss Damage
    • Damage

    and for Legion, you'll want to grab these tiles. There are also some classes that are nice to have for the card effect:
    • Critical Rate (Night Lord, Marksman)
    • Critical Damage (Jett, Hayato, Shade)
    • Ignore defense (Blaster, Beast Tamer)
    • Boss Damage (Kanna, Demon Avenger)
    • Attack/Strength
    • (Optional) Bonus EXP if you will be training

    Skill Usage Guide
    Here I’m going to go in-depth into the skills you will be using endgame and when you should be using them, including any combos you can do.

    Buffs:
    • Soul Speed - Booster. I have this on pet auto buff. Keep this up all the time, very high priority.
    • Soul Forge - 50 attack. I also have this on pet auto buff. It’s a good source of damage, keep it up unless you don’t have time to buff.
    • Equinox Cycle - when training, use this for the extra damage unless you can 1hko with Solar Pierce in Solar mode. Usage when bossing is slightly situational, which I’ll get to in the bossing section.
    • Call of Cygnus - 15% AP stat. Same deal as Soul Forge.
    • Falling Moon/Rising Sun - technically these are buffs so I’ll put them here, though they’re toggles so you’ll have them up all the time. Almost all your useful skills require being in one of the stances.
    • Celestial Dance - Allows you to use both stance’s skills simultaneously. A shadow partner will automatically use the opposite stances’ skill whenever you attack, so your playstyle doesn’t need to change. When mobbing, it’s usually so you can hit things with Solar Pierces’ superior hitbox, and for the large almost-screen-sized explosion that triggers every 5s. When bossing, it’s just for extra damage.
    • Rift of Damnation - Lets you use Styx Crossing at full charge with no cooldown but half damage for 30s. Styx is strong even at half damage, being able to spam it is incredible burst damage. Its great for mobbing because of the huge hitbox and extremely high damage, and while bossing you can easily chunk down a huge amount of the boss’ health. Very strong in combination with a bind, and some short duration but powerful buffs like Angelic Buster’s link skill.

    Actives:

    • Flicker/Bluster - Rush skill. Flicker goes further, and doesn’t push mobs. Bluster doesn’t go as far, but pushes mobs. Bluster moves you the perfect distance between Chaos Vellum’s falling rocks. Both skills ignore super knockback while moving, so you can for example dash into Magnus while he's spinning to not get hit for a home run. You can also use Equinox Slash while moving, allowing you to dash even further. This is the only time you can use Equinox Slash on the ground.
      [​IMG]
    • Moon Cross/Sun Cross - These have a very long horizontal range, so you can use them to clear weaker mobs, like the ones before each CRA boss. The pull effect of Moon Cross is useful if you take many hits to kill, so you can pull them in and hit them with Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce a lot.
    • True Sight - With the elemental resistance hyper passive, True Sight becomes a very powerful debuff. It will reduce elemental resistance by 10% and increase final damage dealt by 5%. Make sure it’s applied on all high defense bosses (like CRA, Lotus, Damien, etc) at all times during the fight. It is well worth the cast time. You can cancel the fairly long cast animation with Equinox Slash and still apply the debuff.
    • Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset - Your main bossing attack. These skills have forced movement. I’ll talk more about this in the bossing tips, since there’s quite a lot to go through.
    • Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce - Your main mobbing attack. Crescent Divide hits in a box centered over you, while Solar Pierce hits ahead and pretty far above you. Deals more damage than Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset in a single cast, but is slower.
    • Impaling Rays - Bind when you need to bind. Some good times are just before Pierre splits, just before Hard Magnus’ last phase, and just before you activate Rift of Damnation and go ham with Styx burst damage.
    • Equinox Slash - This skill is an animation cancel/teleport. It only works when you are in Equinox. When you push the button, it casts INSTANTLY, regardless of what you're doing. Any animation you're currently doing just disappears, and it teleports you a certain distance forwards. It also removes all your momentum. It's important to note that since most skills actually cast at the time the button is pressed instead of when the animation occurs, cancelling the animation does not cancel the damage, just the post cast downtime. You can use this basically every time it's off cooldown to speed up your skill rotation.
    • Styx Crossing - Has an incredibly large hitbox, and hits for a ton of damage. Drop it down while farming every now and again for a free screen clear, or charge it during some downtime in a boss fight, like when Chaos Vellum is underground.
    • Cygnus Phalanx - Summons Cygnus warriors to charge across the map and attack stuff. The summon starts from just in front of you and marches forwards. It slows down when hitting something, to prolong the number of hits it can get off on a single enemy. Pressing the skill key again reverses its direction. It expires after dealing a certain number of hits, or after a certain distance is traveled.
  • Gameplay

    Bossing

    Red highlighted things won't work on shitty internet connections. Blue highlighted things explain what happens if you try. If your connection is good, you can ignore these comments.

    The Combo, and Movement

    It's important to reiterate two things here, whether you've read it before or not. The Moon Dancer/Speeding Sunset combo has forced movement that involves jumping into the air, and pressing jump while you're airborne casts a flash jump that propels you forwards. The latter may seem obvious but it is key to Dawn Warrior’s unique movement tech.

    Both the air versions of Moon Dancer and Speeding Sunset have forced movement that takes priority over every other movement in the game. It doesn't matter how fast you are falling or in which direction you're going, these skills will move you the exact same way every cast. Moon Dancer air holds you still while the skill is cast, and Speeding Sunset moves you straight down a certain distance. Importantly, both skills remove all your horizontal momentum.

    The ground skills don't do as much. Moon Dancer has no forced movement and Speeding Sunset just makes you do a fixed height jump, without touching your horizontal speed.

    During the combo, at any time during the air, you can press the jump button to flash jump. Since jumping is part of your cycle, you don't have to jump manually before getting the sideways push from the flash jump. This allows you to very quickly move away from danger. As soon as you reach a safe spot, you can cast the combo again to instantly stop. This allows DWs to precisely position themselves in exactly the spot they want, and move away very quickly.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    "Oh no a bad" "get out of the way" "safe"


    Equinox Slash

    If at any time you find yourself in danger while stuck in the air in an animation, you can use Equinox Slash to escape. Equinox Slash is an instant cast teleport that animation cancels. You can use it any time you are in the air, unless you are stunned. You can also use it while you are moving during Flicker/Bluster. If you need to escape while standing on the ground, you can jump and immediately cast Slash, or you can rush with Flicker/Bluster and then cast Slash while you're moving. Here's a gif:

    [​IMG]

    Much like other teleports, Equinox Slash can gain height if you are close enough to a platform. You can combine it with an upjump to reach pretty high platforms.

    The animation cancelling component allows for some pretty neat damage optimizations to be made. Since Crescent Divide/Solar Pierce deals more damage in a single cast than the combo but is slower, you can cast it in the air, then immediately cancel the animation with Slash. The damage applies instantly and you can get right back to hitting the boss with absolutely no delay (There will be a delay and it's not fun). You can also cancel the long cast times of Styx Crossing (the actual attack, not the charge time) and True Sight, to apply the debuff immediately.

    In fact, if you are not in danger there is almost no reason to instant cast and cancel Divide/Pierce every time Equinox Slash is off cooldown. It's basically free damage (Don't).

    Skill/Buff Rotation

    3 of Dawn Warrior's 5th job skills are buffs. Rift of Damnation allows you to spam Styx Crossing with no cooldown for some intense burst damage. Celestial Dance gives you a shadow partner and basically functions as fancified final damage. Weapon Aura is a small damage buff that repeats an attack every 4s.

    Celestial Dance should be used anytime you just want more damage. Your playstyle does not change at all, you just hit more lines. The exception is Chaos Pierre Split.

    [​IMG]

    Rift of Damnation allows you to stand still and dish out monstrous amounts of damage through Styx spam. It pairs extremely well with a bind and certain high powered but short duration buffs like Angelic Buster's link skill. Since Styx benefits greatly from both stance buffs, make sure you are in Equinox while using this, you can always cancel it once you're done. Use it whenever you need burst damage. You can use it regularly for more damage as well, just be wary of its 4 minute cooldown.

    Compared to these buffs, Weapon Aura is mostly insignificant. You can time it for some situations when you need as much burst damage as possible, but otherwise you're better off just using it whenever it's off cooldown. Don't use it during Chaos Pierre split.

    Phalanx Charge is a summon (?) that moves across the map automatically. Pressing the skill key while it's summoned will make it change direction. If it comes in contact with an enemy it slows down and deals constant damage. The expiry time is vague, but in practice it has a very decent uptime. The constant damage adds up to a significant amount if you keep it on the same enemy.

    True Sight is a debuff. With the recommended Hyper Passives, it reduces enemy elemental resistance by 10% and increases final damage dealt by 5%. This is a lot of extra damage. It has a fairly long cast time but you can cancel it with Equinox Slash and still get the debuff. Keep this up 100% on every boss you fight, it's amazing. If you are bossing in a party, you can switch the Moon Dancer - Guardbreak hyper passive to the True Sight - Guardbreak one to reduce defence further and boost the party's damage output even more.

    Boss Specific Patterns

    I don't have much experience with Damien, Lotus, Dorothy or Lucid, so if anyone has any tips they'd like to add, please send them to me and I'll put them down (and credit you of course). However, I can throw in a few cute things you can do with some other bosses. Some of these tips are repeated from the guide, for those who just skipped to here and didn't read them. Many of them can also be applied to other classes.

    Horntail
    • Stand on the ground under his right arm, and you can hit the whole of him with Styx and bind.
    • You don't have Hero's Will so be careful of seduce, though you have damage reduction so it's not that bad
    Crimson Queen
    • You can use the combo movement to dance back and forth around her and never get hit with breath (You can try but it’s slower). It's quite fun. You can do this with a lot of bosses.
    • Styx Crossing ignores damage reflect, so save Rift until she begins the damage reflect phase.
    • If you're caught out of position, you can use Flicker/Bluster and Equinox Slash to cover half the map in an instant.
    Pierre
    • Unless you have superb control, I highly recommend fighting split Pierre in Lunar mode only (thinking emoji). Moon Dancer’s ground attack has a hitbox that matches the skill animation really well, so you can precisely line it up with the Pierre you want to hit.
    • If your Moon Dancer boost is less than lv20, it will only hit one mob. When Pierre first splits, attack both of them and take note of which one it hits. After this, when both Pierres are standing on each other, you can just swing at both and it will only hit the one that it hit at the start.
    • You can beat down Purple Pierre really quickly. While in Equinox, combo him. When you see him about to pop his umbrella for the super knockback attack, use Equinox Slash to go behind him. Turn around and continue whacking him. You can be hitting him 100% of the time and never get stunned (Its not 100%. You can still dodge every stun though).
    • You can avoid the hats by upjumping. If you're high enough when they land, they won't hit you even if you were lined up perfectly with them.
    • The [B] Abnormal Status Duration: -2s nebulite is amazing. It completely negates the seal from Blue Pierre’s flames, and the reverse controls from Purple Pierre.
    • Rift destroys both Pierres. It's a great finisher.
    Von Bon
    • Turn your skill transparency to the minimum, and change your damage effects to Mini Blade. You'll thank me later.
    • You can do the same thing as Purple Pierre to Von Bon (Haha. No you can't. Just use lunar stance). Just hit him until you see him winding up to shoot a Kamehameha. There's also a sound cue for this if you listen closely. E-slash behind him, continue hitting.
    • If you're really good, you can time the combo air time to dodge the ground pound. It doesn't really do anything, but you get style points (I don't know why you tried)
    • When solo, luring Von Bon is easy. He will always walk towards you, with a slight delay (a long delay) before recognising a direction change. Walk him into a dark clock, then dash behind him when he's almost out the other side. He'll move a little more, then turn around. Repeat for infinite time.
    • When Chaos Von Bon is stunned after killing his shadow self, any skill that affects him will wake him up. This includes True Sight. Keep the true sight buff fairly fresh on him so it won't expire when you get to hit him here.
    Vellum
    • Chaos Vellum is probably the best showcase of precise movement. It's very fun. You can sneak around every tail while still dealing optimal damage.
    • Upjumping dodges the fireballs.
    • When he's just about to go underground, clip him with Divide/Pierce for optimal damage output.
    • When he dolphin dives, you have enough time for both a single combo hit, then a Divide/Pierce. Use the combo first because it has a faster cast time. (You don't have time. Use Divide/Pierce. This might also be wrong because I have absolutely no way of confirming it.)
    • True Sight reveals his location while underground. Useful for finding out which side he's going to hyper beam from.
    Magnus
    • You can try to Equinox combo around the meteors, good luck (this is a joke)
    • Combo forced movement overrides his spin knockback if you can time it right. It's easiest to use Speeding Sunset down through the spin. (You can't time it right. Don't try) If you are doing the fight in Lunar stance like me, just Flicker through him. You'll still get stunned, but not home runned. If you need reliable damage output during his last phase, use Impenetrable Skin to avoid superknockbacks.
    • The aura only reduces damage dealt and health healed. You can still True Sight from outside it. Don't be afraid to wait things out from outside. If you need to heal you can duck inside the aura, potion, then leave again. (There's a slight delay for the server to recognise you've entered the aura so you have to wait a moment)
    • If Magnus is near the sides of the map, it triggers the poison gas. Keep him near the middle.
    • Only Moon Dancer air can't hit Magnus while he's up in the air. How ironic.
    • You can jump around and between meteors with Equinox Slash if you're feeling ballsy. (What did I say about Equinox in Magnus)
    • The [B] Abnormal Status Duration: -2s nebulite is amazing. It completely removes webs from the fight.
    Lotus
    • Again, Equinox slash can jump through the laser (Not if the laser keeps teleporting)
    • There's not a lot of room for Equinox combo jumping (read: zero room) though, so Lunar stance is recommended.
    • If there's no platforms to stand on during the electrical part, you can upjump up high, then constantly use Moon Dancer air to slow your fall. Lunar stance only.
    • You can use Phalanx Charge to keep track of Lotus’ location.
    • Impenetrable Skin will stop Lotus from smacking you into demolishizers and off platforms.
    • The [B] Abnormal Status Duration: -2s nebulite is amazing. It removes the stuns, slows and seals from the robots in first phase.
    Gollux
    • Dance around his head with combo. I feel like I'm saying this a lot. This actually also works while lagging because Gollux is slower than your internet.
    • Phalanx does a ton of damage because he just sits still. You can get off every single hit without even thinking.
    • You can dodge the hands in the second phase by holding down to crouch under them.
    • Upjump and equinox slash to quickly get back to the gem platform
    • The [B] Abnormal Status Duration: -2s nebulite is amazing. It prevents the stun from the purple breath.
    • If you die and respawn, Resistance link works against the summons debuff
    Damien
    • Use Phalanx and True Sight to keep track of where he is.
    • You can sort of microjump around the blue auras I guess
    • Or take advantage of Styx’s huge hitbox and Rift him from half the screen away
    • Or put down Phalanx and then run away.
    • Styx can hit him while he's in the air, so go nuts.
    Lucid
    • These aren't tips. I haven't fought her. They're also obvious to anyone who runs lucid.
    • Combo bouncing flings you into all the crap on the screen. Its like playing bullet hell with a huge hitbox. Maplestory TAS when?
    • You could probably use the combo forced movement to dodge those line attacks.
    • Equinox slash can dodge a lot of things
    • True sight kills hard lucid faster
    • Bind?
    • Dawn warrior would make a great golem clearer if that role still existed
    • I wish I had damage
    Why are you doing Lucid on a laggy Dawn Warrior?
  • FAQ

    If you have any questions, you can message me on Reddit (/u/raviddog), Discord (raviddog#7629) or here on Dexless.
  • Guide Version

    1.2

    Game Version

    189.2

    Changelog

    1.2 - Fixed skill build, added new 5th job skill, minor touchups
    1.1 - Added standard skill build
    1.01 - Added a boss video to show off, updated the combo GIF
    1.00 - Initial Version
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