Wind Archers — [Witty Subtitle Here]

What is this guide supposed to do?

Honestly, who knows.

How you play is how you play, and this is merely just my thoughts, so if you follow this “guide” word for word, you need to work on forming opinions of your own, buckaroo.
In general, this is a guide more skewed towards the earlier levels of WA, and only goes briefly into 5th job, as I am too lazy and preoccupied with a large variety of mobile games to properly grind and level my skills and equipment. That said, I have asked many for their experiences while also toying with some of the skills myself, so I won’t shaft that section entirely.


Class Overview and Pro/Con

Now, why should I play WAs?
You shouldn’t. But if you really must ask, the wiki describes them as quote:

Realistically though, they’re very aesthetically pleasing and mobile, alongside sating that hard-on you have for large amounts of lines on screen at all times. They’re also very easy to play, being a bowman with a hurricane skill that hits several targets at once, while also being very mobile. At the same time, you *should* be very mobile because you’re very flimsy. Like a brick. A paper brick.

To condense it into a simple pro/con list:

Pro:​

• Has lots of lines​
• Is very pretty​
• Can fly around all majestic-like with stupid mobility for an archer (dash has iframes)​
• Is an archer, so equipment is cheap​
• Is a Cygnus Knight so all your other characters get a +30 attack passive​
• Uses the universal Cygnus Knight secondary weapon​
• One of the buffs gives you a sick cape if you don’t already have NX​
• Only 1 optimal node, which is nice. (SoH/Trifling Wind/Storm Bringer)​

Cons:​

• Has lots of lines​
• Can be distracting with several things flying around at once​
• Dies in 2 seconds​
• Is an archer, so equipment is rarer​
• Is a Cygnus Knight which is inferior to Resistance and had to cheat in Water Wars​
• Uses the universal Cygnus Knight secondary weapon​
• Can get somewhat boring with a very linear bossing skill and pattern​
• Mobbing is lacking until 5th, and even then it’s average at best​
• You remember that once scene in Overlord where Ainz spends like a minute buffing? Well, it’s like that, only in Maplestory.
• Default bowman equips look alright at best— this *is* Fashionstory after all
• Horrible for henehoeing with buffs on because they’re so intrusive
• Arrow supply during 1st job, and I guess if you don’t want to use Sylvan Aid

Skills and the Like

Alright, it’s time to get into the meat of the “guide” with the skills.

Am I going to tell you how I max them?
Yes.

Am I going to tell you how you should max them?
No. I’m not you. If I were you I’d be happier with myself, because I’m a horrible person.

Am I going to tell you how I use the skills?
Yes.

Am I going to tell you how you use the skills?
No, because WA is so mechanically unintensive, even a moron like me can’t possibly mess it up.



Beginner tab

Icon	Skill Name	Skill description
	Elemental Slash	It's decent, I suppose. Maybe if you run out of arrows or something stupid.
	Imperial Recall	Hey look, a recall skill.
	Elemental Harmony	Free DEX every 2 levels
	Elemental Expert	10% Attack.
	Elemental Shift	Standard Flash Jump that can also go up.
	Empress’s Blessing	30 ATT/MATT if you have another level 120 knight
	Cygnus Blessing (Bowman)	2/5/7/10/12/15/17/20/22/25% status resist depending on how many link skills you have stacked. A nice bonus.

All standard, all straightforward.



1st job — No buff One buff
​

Icon	Skill Name	Skill description
	Breeze Arrow	This is just a disposable attacking skill. You’ll never use this past 1st job. You know, just like all the other classes' main attacking skills.
	Wind Walk	It's a short dash that comes with iframes. What's not to love?
	Storm Elemental	Ah yes. Your first of many buffs. Simple 10% damage on 200 sec uptime. The casting animation isn’t that long, but it adds up..
	Whispers of the Wind	Standard passive, more damage, longer range on arrows. Nothing to really write home about.

I tend to max buffs first in order to maximize uptime/effect bonuses. Most people tend to max passives, so you could do that too.

1st job lets you max all your skills, so it doesn’t matter much in the end. Breeze arrow is still useless though.
1st job is boring. There’s nothing worth talking about.



2nd job — Here come the buffs

Icon	Skill Name	Skill description
	Fairy Spiral	A very solid mobbing skill that may or may not overstay its welcome. I personally love it.
	Gust Shot	It... uh. Exists. I can't say anything good about this, really. I guess it's your only ST skill at 2nd job.
	Trifling Wind I	This skill is CORE! CORE!!! Also, don't forget to toggle it on everytime you CC/die/relog/do literally anything.
	Bow Booster	Generic attack speed increase. Always good. Always present.
	Sylvan Aid	Solid soul arrow ripoff, and it comes with free crit. Goodbye arrows.
	Bow Mastery	use bow better, kill thing better
	Physical Training	get stronk, shoot better

Your bread, butter, knife, jar, and everything in between. Trifling Wind is the absolute core of Wind Archer, and I will occassionally refer to them as “butt rockets” from this point on. These butt rockets stack another line of damage almost like a final attack on all your attacks if they get procc’d, and you’ll end up seeing a lot of these buggers on screen at all times.

Fairy Spiral is your main mobbing skill for 2nd job, potentially 3rd job, and even has 5th job uses. Aside from looking pretty, the animation is quick, covers a large range, pushes back a bit so you’re not in immediate danger of blowing up, and overall brings a lot more utility than your alternative mobbing skills later on.

At around this level, you may find yourself constantly recasting buffs.
You may be considering getting buff duration because of that, but I personally don't because of certain later skills. Stupid Nexon and their hyper buffs not benefitting from buff duration... Besides, 3 buffs isn't that much of a hassle yet.

Don't forget to toggle your butt arrows when you die or relog, really. That's most of your DPS right there.



3rd job — MORE buffs

Icon	Skill Name	Skill description
	Sentient Arrow	I personally hate this skill, but it's a decent mobbing skill for 3rd.
	Pinpoint Pierce	Inflicts a debuff on bosses which gives 10% more damage inflicted by Pinpoint, so it's not even really worth it.
	Trifling Wind II	It’s back and procs more than ever. Now in purple! Or green. I don't remember which is which anymore.
	Albatross	Look, more crit and attack! And a little bit of HP too.
	Emerald Flower	Puppet-ripoff, gets more useful 4th job. Still, I suppose it does its job of gathering mobs.
	Featherweight	All important status resist, and bonus damage mitigation. All good stats for making you blow up in signifcantly less time.
	Second Wind	I've never seen it actually used, but the stats are nice, I guess.

There's been a bit of a discussion whether or not Pinpoint Pierce only gives a 10% damage increase to all skills or only it, but I'll just assume it's only a self-buff, making it pointless outside of 3rd job. Still, I suppose it's relevant before 4th.

Sentient Arrow is a decent mobbing skill. Lots of hits, decent damage, somewhat nice for a keydown.
However, I just can't see myself sitting still long enough and soaking up a lot of hits, so I tend to use Fairy Spiral just to stay mobile, despite doing less damage.
plus it's pretty

If you find yourself eating too many hits, feel free to max Featherweight first and Second Wind second, since (percent based) damage mitigation makes a big difference, and the extra defensive stats are also really good. Otherwise, proceed as you normally would.



4th job — Properly managing buff timers

Icon	Skill Name	Skill description
	Call of Cygnus	It's just MW, only not MW. At least it lasts 5 times longer than all the other buffs.
	Song of Heaven	If Trifling Wind is your bread, butter, and knife, this is the money you need to buy all the materials on a daily basis.
	Spiraling Vortex	Your main 4th job mobbing skill, and *might* be your main 5th job too.
	Trifling Wind III	Is there really anything to say?
	Touch of the Wind	Another buff that will never proc, and a lot of passive stats. Like, a lot.
	Sharp Eyes	Standard skill, more crit, more crit damage, every bowman has it and it’s your only other party buff.
	Bow Mastery	Again, free stats, but wow there’s a lot. 40% free boss damage, final damage that won’t proc, and some nice flat attack.
	Emerald Dust	A huge upgrade to Emerald Flower, making it even better than it was.
	Albatross Max	You thought Albatross was an overloaded buff? Let's jack it up more!

It’s nice that Cygnus Knights don’t have to spend money on mastery books. I’m also glad the old books are gone too. God those were horrible.

For the most part, you can choose to use SoH as your main mobbing skill, with the only downside being the fact that you have to stand still while using it, but this can be mitigated by tapping the skill as you move. Otherwise, Spiraling Vortex does an okay enough job to replace Fairy Spiral. From one spiral to another, eh?

also i lied i'm not teaching you how to manage buffs
figure it out yourself



Hyper Skills — One final buff

Icon	Skill Name	Skill description
	Monsoon	Your first official FMA skill, with a built-in DoT for added bonus.
	Glory of the Guardians	50% uptime on 10% damage and that’s it
	Storm Bringer	Being a hyper skill, this isn't affected by buff duration, which sucks. It's still good.

I’d say the skills added through hypers are all core, with decent uptime and overall utility. That’s really all I have to say about this.
They’re just good.

Storm Bringer in particular is basically another version of butt rockets, so a node for that would help a lot with DPS.

———

Icon	Skill Name	Skill description
	Trifling Wind — Double Chance	Extra line
	Trifling Wind — Enhance	Proc rate+
	Trifling Wind — Reinforce	Extra damage

As far as I'm concerned, these are the definitive WA hyper skills to pick up. Butt rockets are such an integral part of your kit, and also where a good 80% of your DPS comes from, so neglicting it is almost criminal.

Although, if you'd rather 3 of the SoH hypers, Double Chance may be the most neglicable, even though it's still nothing to cough at.

Icon	Skill Name	Skill description
	Song of Heaven — Boss Rush	Boss damage+
	Song of Heaven — Guardbreak	PDR/IED/whatever
	Song of Heaven — Reinforce	Damage+

Unfortunately, all of these are also frontrunners for "good hyper skills." That said, you're able to go either 2 TW:3 SoH, or 3 TW:2 SoH and get away with it just fine. The latter is more reccomended though.

If you choose the 3TW path, Guardbreak is less essential, since you can easily remedy it with equipment bonuses, where boss% is less common.

Well, in normal worlds. Reboot prefers Guardbreak over Boss, because they're strange like that. I mean, come on. Who actually WORKS for their gear?

Whether or not 30% boss outweighs 20% IED/PRD relies on too many variables, and you'd best be asking someone who actually does the math. If you ask me, my puny brain looks at the two, sees a 30 and a 20, and picks the boss damage because I hit like a potato sack either way.

Just pick with your dick.
Or lack thereof. I don't discriminate.

————————————————

Don't even bother with Spiraling Vortex hypers. It's not worth it.

5th job — Go ask someone actually qualified.

Icon	Skill Name	Skill description
	Phalanx Charge	Throw out, and forget. Now with extra butt rockets!
	Guided Arrow	In general, this isn't worth it at all on WA simply because you already have so many better buffs to manage.
	Howling Gale	Throw out and forget part 2: Electric Booga— what the hell is this charge system?
	Merciless Winds	you make a lot of butt rockets appear out of nowhere and it does a lot of damage for being on a short CD.

Howling Gale is a charge-based skill, which is relatively uncommon for a game like this. It has a 40 sec total charge time, with 20 secs for the inital charge. That said, you can only hold 2 charges, so usually 40 secs is the longest time you pop it by to optimize DPS. That said, the 1 charge may be a better one to throw out consistently, depending on the target, since it generates butt rockets all the same. I tend to use C1 for bossing and C2 for mobbing, if only because of the reach. CDR does not affect the charge gain time.

Merciless winds however, is incredibly straightforward. Nothing to say really.


While Guided Arrow is a nice skill, the uptimedowntime is just so horrible, and the damage is almost neglicable until you dump far too many points that could be used in, say, Phalanx for better effect.

That said, there's been a lot of talk about whether or not it procs buttrockets, and I can safely say, without a doubt

Spoiler

I haven't bothered to test it.

Gameplay

Hold down Song of Heaven, and then go take a dump.
Also, pick up 3 pets with autobuff, a Battleroid or 12 whole stacks of buff freezers, and an increased desire to inflict self-pain on yourself.
Some people have to worry about positioning and the like when playing other, *actual* classes, but all you have to do is keydown SoH and occasionally hit Wind Walk to iframe through nasty attacks. Your lack of stance is a pain, but just get a Mihile to 120 or something and use that skill.

I guess you should learn how to abuse iframes too or something.