Vampire Hunting MMO Guide For Beginners
Headstart for Slayers
One of the longest running MMORPGs out there is SoftOn Entertainment’s highly unique vampire hunting game, DarkEden Online. Despite its three-quarter view and simple mouse-controlled gameplay the game still poses to be complicated and sometimes difficult game for newbies to play. This is especially due to the complexity of the multiple player classes and highly diversified weapon and skill systems. So, to help out Slayers and give them a good starting point here is a brief beginner’s guide for playing DarkEden Online.
When starting off the game is rather straight forward: pick your race, pick a name, pick your gender and pick a picture. It’s really that simple. Now, unlike a lot of other games you can’t choose your skill set or class at the beginning of the game. Instead, you can re-roll your starting stats to best suit what kind of Slayer class you plan to become. The game uses a unique free-form leveling system that allows players to level up any class they see fit simply by using the appropriate weapon. So it’s important to know what stats you need when you’re starting off to get a good foothold for leveling.
All About The Stats
In the stats menu when you’re creating a character it shows things like INT (for intelligence), DEX (for dexterity) and STR (obviously for strength). These three main attributes designate how a player will level what class they will be most proficient in. For Enchanters and Priest (also known as Healers) it’s important to have a lot of intelligence (from now on it will be referred to as INT) in order to use more healing/buffing skills, stronger crosses/maces and deal more magic damage. Strength (which will be referred to as STR from here forward) determines a character’s HP (health points) and their protection (how much damage is deflected from an attack). STR is essential for Bladers and Sworders who rely on taking a lot of damage and dealing a lot of damage. STR also affects how much physical damage a character can deal. Dexterity (which will be referred to as DEX from here forward) is used for amping up a character’s defense (which allows characters to dodge attacks) and raises a character’s ability to hit enemies (known as ToHit). DEX is essential for the Gunner class because they rely on it to rapidly shoot (or snipe) enemies as well as keep a distance and dodge attacks.
The Importance Of Class
Depending on the class you want to be depends on what attribute you need most for leveling and getting stronger. In DarkEden the ability to use weapons, armor and items is determined on how much ability points a character has…so if you decide to be an Enchant it might be smart to re-roll your character stats until you have 20 INT (20 is the highest an attribute can get when re-rolling stats during character creation).
Now one thing to keep in mind is why you might want to choose one class over another and what the importance of each class is. First and foremost, not every class can tank tough enemies or vampires. Also, some classes are specifically made for support…in some cases a player who knows how to support teammates can literally make the team impervious to death. So before going further here is a breakdown of each Slayer class and their role in the game.
The Healer/Priest
Healers: It’s extremely important to note that healers are not designed to tank mobs, to fight like a lone warrior in the middle of a battle or to face hordes of player-Vampires. Healers’ best attribute is their ability to resurrect other players, keep the team healed and even avoid hordes of enemies by using a skill called “Peace”, which allows all enemies to bypass them without harm. Healers can dish out a great deal of damage, however, but mainly in support for other characters. They can also paralyze enemies, buff players to withstand enemy magic, poison, and curse attacks and they can automatically revive themselves if they die. The Healer is extremely powerful in the right hands but players must remember that the Healer class is not a tank.
The Enchanter
Enchanters: The Enchants are like Healers but designed for combat…they can’t heal others or resurrect, however they do maintain a lot of holy power. Enchanter’s main skills focus on buffs, entrapments and dispelling enemy attacks. They can prevent Vampires and enemy monsters from using clouds of darkness, as well as use a protection circle to keep all hostile forces at a safe distance from them. The Enchanter’s buffs can be used to boost other classes so-much-so that they could even make a Healer into a killing machine. The stronger the Enchanter gets the more powerful their buffs get and the longer they last. Enchants also receive the ability to put massive hordes of enemies to sleep as well as use a skill that can take a monster that’s near-death and force all surrounding enemies to have their life lowered to the selected target. Enchanters are considered as one of the most well-rounded and powerful Slayer classes on the game.
The Sworder
Sworder: Equipped with a sword and optional shield, the Sworder is a great class designed for all-around combat. They can take a lot of damage and dish out equal amounts of pain. They specialize in attacking multiple enemies and being able to utilize skills that can blockade areas. Sworders are as offensively dangerous as they are defensively tactical. They are the only Slayer class that can probably be used to hold an area as a guard and attack from the same position without having to move. Many of the Sworders’ skills focus on standard slashing attacks, while their special skills involve calling down a giant sword encased in lightning and electrocuting anyone who gets near it.
The Blader
Bladers: Also known as “Tanks” the Blader class is all about dishing out unparalleled amounts of pain. They don’t use physical shields and unlike Sworders their attacks are a bit slower. However, what they lack in speed they make up for in power. Bladers use a wide variety of blade-class weapons, ranging from scimitars to a katana. As they get stronger, Bladers can effectively take on hordes of enemies all alone while taking very little damage due to their very high rate of protection and health points. Their drawback comes in the form of offering teammates very little support (other than killing massive amounts of enemies) and they are somewhat susceptible to Vampire curses, poison and other malicious attacks. Nevertheless, their chargeable fireballs and devastating area-of-effect attacks more than make up for their shortcomings.
The Gunner
Gunners: Considered to be the most tactical Slayer class on the game, the Gunner was one of the first designed character classes for DarkEden and has some of the most unique and original skill sets. Gunners are the only class that can range from being a pure defensive character to a pure offensive character. They have the ability to build extremely powerful turret cannons, as well as use a wide variety of gun types including sniper rifles, shotguns, sub-machine guns and assault rifles. Gunners are also the only class that can be effective with various weapons at various ranges. They have the ability to place mines in any area that cannot be seen by the enemy, as well as set paralyzing traps. They can equip grenades and they can also turn invisible. While they have a wide range of neat tricks they are the only offensive class type that can be killed very quickly due to their very low health.
Guilds And Skills
One thing to keep in mind when starting off is that if you want to play a character that rarely dies and does a lot of damage, head in the direction of a Blader or Sworder. If you plan on being a character that is tactical, good for mobs but also provides defensive measures for teammates, try a Gunner. For blocking magic and defending against Vampires the best option is the Enchanter, and if you prefer making sure your teammates don’t die or to ensure their safety by removing deadly curses the Healer is a sure bet.
Each class is also associated with Guild buildings that offer supplies, storage facilities, pet options, weapons and the ability to learn new skills. For the most part, the Guilds are especially useful for learning new skills and it can only be done after meeting the specified level requirement for the respective class.
The Cleric Guild is for Healers and Enchanters, the Knight Guild is for Bladers and Sworders and the Army Guild is for Gunners. In addition to this, players can warp to level-war training dungeons in the Army Guild, or buy pet supplies in the Knight Guild, or retrieve market items from the Cleric Guild.
Once you’ve decided which class you want to be simply head to the training facility by talking to the NPCs in the eastern corner of the main slayer base. From there, it’s fairly easy and straightforward to level-up…by using the respective class weapon it will rank up the domain level and you’re pretty much on your way from there.
Hopefully this beginner’s introduction guide for using Slayers will help a few players get on their way and off to a good start in the game. As we all know it’s awful playing a fun game when you have no idea how to play it. For more information on DarkEden Online be sure to visit the Official Website.
