Bounty Hunter (Freya) guide — Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunter class guide for Lineage 2 Freya: how to get the class, which skills to take, what to wear and where to level.
Contents |
Introduction
So, not everyone has been playing L2 since the founding of North Korea, and some early points may raise questions. This article was supposed to be about spoilers from creation until getting the 1 class, but it turned out that I started rambling about choosing a race and class, and got carried away. The article describes the race in general, as well as choosing a class. 
Part 1, or the source of Power
Before you start playing, you need at least a rough idea of who and how you plan to play. Otherwise you'll quit in two months, realizing it's not your thing at all. Let's describe the Dwarf race, since neither the Russian nor the English official site tells us anything specific. Dwarves come (who would have thought) in male and female. A Dwarf's gender doesn't affect any stats or development options. If you want to look at a grandpa for the next couple of years, create a male; if you want a cute pink girl, your choice is a female character. Unlike most other races, Dwarves have no initial split into mystics and fighters. There's only one option — Fighter. On reaching level 20, like all races, Dwarves can make their first class change. There are only two options: Artisan and Scavenger. Later each of these classes has only one development path, so the choice of class is very meager. A small bonus against this background is the racial weight limit passive, which makes trips to town much rarer.
To each their own, or "what should I wear?"
Of course, an important point when choosing a class is the availability of particular gear. With the Dwarf race, regardless of class, you'll learn skills for two weapon types and two armor types. Dwarves fight with blunts or spears, and this race wears either heavy or light armor. The weapon skills come with special attacks, among which stun, available with a blunt equipped, is important. Let me say right away that a good dwarf must have both a blunt and a spear, and you'll also need to carry a bow and arrows with you all the time. The gear is, let's say, not the most overpowered. Thanks to the Koreans for giving at least two weapon options — that's some variety.
Part 2. PvP or chickening out?
Dwarf PvP tactics come down to spamming a few skills. From 40 to 76 it's Fatal Strike and Hammer Crush (aka stun). The Warsmith adds another button with a golem attack to these two. From personal experience I can say that 1 vs 1 you can easily kill any light armor melee class, and heavy if you're lucky. If stun lands 2-3 times, you can kill a mage too. The scariest thing a dwarf can get is Roots (Arrest or similar). If you get rooted, in 80% of cases you're done for and there's nothing you can do about it. A bow may help, but its range isn't great. Speaking of bows: in open terrain, flagging on an archer is practically suicide. Unless he's a complete idiot, he'll score +1 by kiting and that'll be the end of it. With the 3 class you get a couple more buttons, but that won't change the picture much. The Dwarves' plus in PvP is a huge amount of HP. In HP, Dwarves are second only to Human Warrior classes and Orc Fighter classes. Combined with heavy armor, there's a decent chance of living quite long + you most likely won't be seen as a main target in mass PvP, and you most likely won't be able to affect its outcome much either. The main minus is very low M. Def. and low run speed. Add to that low critical rate, which grows very weakly under full buffs, making you a nothing damage dealer both in PvP and in chopping mobs compared to any other DD class.
Part 3, or the two sides of Power
Since the article is entirely about dwarves, I'll describe the only two possible development paths for this race.
Artisan (> Warsmith > Maestro), aka Crafter
The Artisan is a vital class for the whole game community; however, its services are often purely commercial, which suits both sides. At level 28 the Artisan gets a golem summoning skill, which makes him a summoner, and after getting the 2 class several 10-minute buffs appear, which makes this class a kind of support. What makes this class irreplaceable are the Siege Golem summoning skills. In Freya they promised to strengthen both castle gates and the Golems' attack (and also cut the cost of summoning), which will make breaking castle gates in a siege without a Dwarf quite an unpleasant job. As a result, every clan with real claims to a castle simply needs at least one high-level Warsmith.
Leveling
What sets the Artisan apart from the Scavenger in leveling is primarily the Mechanic Golem, which deals about as much damage as the dwarf himself but consumes 15% of the master's XP (in Freya they promised to bring it down to 0%). With the second class 6 buffs appear, making this class quite useful in a party. Artisans are almost always taken to Kamaloka: both the party one and the Labyrinth of the Abyss. All this makes leveling this class much easier and faster than for Scavengers.
Making money
The main way for an Artisan to make a profit is crafting items. This includes Soulshots and Spiritshots, resources and whole items up to S80 grade (in Freya they promised level 10 crafting and probably S84-S86 crafting). An Artisan usually earns by sitting in town and burning mana on that very crafting. The catch is having to buy recipes to initially add them to the Recipe Book, without which you can't craft these items. Another minus is being in town practically around the clock, and huge competition. A huge plus is the Private Workshop, where the Dwarf can be AFK while people craft items through him and he earns money from it.
Scavenger (> Bounty Hunter > Fortune Seeker), aka Spoiler
The Scavenger is no less in demand than the Artisan. With one simple exception: the Artisan will be taken into a party for XP, while nobody ever needs the Scavenger until that somebody decides to craft something for himself. Then the search for a spoiler begins. Because of this, Scavengers usually don't like such people and jack up prices and the % for spoiled items. Despite all this, Scavengers are extremely important when gearing up in A and S grade. Certain items drop only from Raid Bosses, which good luck killing in time, but via spoil — anytime, and from ordinary mobs, which are always plentiful.
Leveling
In leveling, the Scavenger is much more dreary. He has neither a Golem nor buffs. He isn't often taken to Kamaloka, since his crit chance is the lowest in the game, and as you know, fighter damage in L2 depends heavily on crit chance. The only positive difference in leveling is the Collector's Experience skill, which first appears at level 58 and gives a certain shield block chance + adds exactly as much P. Atk. with blunts as Blunt Weapon Mastery. This skill makes using one-handed blunts with shields more justified. Unlike all other classes, a Scavenger should level solo as much as possible. Otherwise there's simply no point in playing him, since you won't see any benefit from playing. It's very common for Scavengers to use Wolves as pets. This substantially increases damage to mobs, + all the spoil stays "in the family".
Making money
In this case, profit is directly proportional to the effort put in. Either you grind day and night yourself and earn millions, or you run in a pack of mob killers and get 1/9 of the total spoil. It's often more justified to level alone and go in a party only to mega-rich spots like spoiling Arcana Mace Heads, where it's tough alone but there's enough money for everyone. A huge minus of this kind of earning is that you can't sit in town and sell everything at normal prices. That's easily compensated by a second window with a trader in town. Another minus is that you can't earn while AFK. A plus is being able to buy yourself a buffer and calmly take out solo mobs with a wolf in most locations. Another undoubted plus, for which people actually start playing this class, is the mythical untold treasures of spoilers, which they earn by selling thousands and thousands of spoiled items for millions and millions of adena.
Conclusion
However rosy the prospect of playing such profitable classes may seem, don't forget that earning requires long and persistent work. By choosing a Dwarf you sacrifice PvP skills for the prospect of earning, but realizing that opportunity will be very, very hard. If you've still decided to play a Dwarf, get the maximum profit from your work by earning off various slackers, and let those "pro gamers" donate to buy the fruits of your labor from you. Amen!
Class gameplay videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--ISOM5k2eY&feature=related
PvP and mass PvP as a Spoiler (for low-rates and high levels))))
