Classes

IntransigentMS sports the standard v62 GMS classes (also known as 'jobs'), alongside two (as of now) custom classes that are exclusive to this server. This page serves as an overview of each class and their abilities, as well as general guidance on how these classes fit into the 'big picture.' This article will make extensive use of the term 'archetype.' The reason for this is that, due to custom classes being alternative (but completely different) paths for certain game-mechanical 'jobs,' a distinction needs to be made between a specific job and the (possibly multiple) archetypes/playstyles they can embody.

This is a heavily rebalanced server; lots of changes/tweaks have been made to classes, skills, items, and so on. The primary purpose of this kind of rebalancing is twofold:

To work well with the permadeath aspect of the server, which means (among other things) paying much closer attention to defensive skills than Nexon did (or even still does).

To give each class worthwhile strengths and weaknesses, so that all classes are powerful in their own right and can mesh well together when in party play.

It should be noted that while the changes made are intended to balance the classes and make each one worthwhile for their own reasons, the changes are not intended to make all classes equally easy to play — some classes (Archers or Corsairs, for example) are intended to be for players who want a challenge and expect it to pay off with the unique features or abilities of the class itself.

## Magicians

Magicians make up, as is to be expected, some of the best "mobbing" (AoE damage) classes in the game. Relying heavily on Magic Guard for defensive purposes (which notably has been nerfed from 80% → 61%), Magicians are the only classes which treat HP as an auxiliary quantity, since their MP soaks up the majority of their incoming damage and is also the fuel for all of the moves they make.

It should additionally be noted that all fourth-job Magicians are significantly more sturdy for the short time that their Infinity skill is active, due to it being changed in this server to work on MP loss from Magic Guard. (I.e., with both Magic Guard and Infinity active, a Magician who is struck for damage does not lose MP but still only loses HP as if they had arbitrarily much MP left.)

Beyond these similarities, Magician classes are fleshed out into 4 distinct archetypes:

* Bishop (Healing/Utility/Moderate Nukes)
* Battle Priest (Melee DPS/Utility/Summons)
* Fire/Poison Mage (Sustained single-target DPS/Mobbing/Mild Utility)
* Ice/Lightning Mage (Large AoE Nukes/Crowd control/Mild Utility)

## Bishop

### Notable abilities

Healing, Resurrection, Holy Symbol, Genesis

Bishops, in their traditional, INT-based archetype (for the custom class archetype corresponding to the same job, see Custom Classes below), are primarily known for a few of their abilities:

1. Healing
2. Resurrection
3. Holy Symbol
4. Genesis

Healing in IntransigentMS is largely the same, although MP cost has been doubled. Healing means that Bishop types are wanted in certain party situations as an extra guard against death beyond the usual HP potion use, and also allows them to be reasonably effective mobbers in 2nd job since there are a decent amount of undead enemies to fight.

Resurrection has been tweaked quite a bit, as one might imagine for a permadeath server. The following changes have been made:

* Resurrection costs significantly more MP. The MP cost gets lower as the skill level gets higher, but is still a whopping 4,000 at max level 10.
* Resurrection only works on a single party member, namely the closest dead one to the caster.
* Resurrection requires the caster to consume a single Elan Vital:
	+ Elans Vital can be recharged (set to a total of 3 in the player's inventory) by talking to the Sage NPC and paying 100 Maple Leaves and 100,000,000 mesos.
	+ This recharge can only be done every 120 hours.
	+ Elans Vital are untradeable and any given player can only have up to 3 at any given time.

Keep in mind also that upon being resurrected, players will have death fatigue.

Resurrection, although severely limited here, is nonetheless one of the most impactful skills in the game since it has the power to bring back the dead; only one other ability in the game (Samsara) has this capability, and only in a much more limited form.

Holy Symbol allows parties to receive additional EXP, which is of course always welcome and contributes greatly to the Bishop's utility/support side.

Genesis is a very powerful mobbing skill that hits up to 15 monsters on a very large area of the map. Here it is nerfed (-30 attack at all levels, 640 attack at max level 30) but still benefits greatly from the ubiquity of monsters that are weak to holy magic.

Many of the Bishop's other skills contribute to the Bishop's effectiveness in different ways — Holy Shield and Dispel are incredibly powerful at warding off adverse effects from themselves and party members, Doom can be a very powerful debuff in the right circumstance, Invincible makes them significantly more survivable vs. physical attacks than other mages, etc.

It should be noted that leeching is largely impossible in this server, so in fulfilling the Bishop archetype, don't expect to be able to leech other players as well.

## Fire/Poison Mage

### Notable abilities

Fire Demon, Elemental Composition, Paralyze

The Fire/Poison Mage is a primarily offense-focused (like its Ice/Lightning counterpart) Magician archetype that emphasizes incredible over-time (DoT) single-target damage, but shares some of its ability to mob effectively and provide utility with others of the Magician category.

Second job can be tough for Fire/Poison Mages, since unlike every other Magician archetype, they do not have any multi-target attacks during second job. However, Fire Arrow and Meditation have been significantly buffed, so F/P Mages will still do quite high single-target DPS to partly make up for their lack of multi-target attacks.

By the time an F/P Mage has achieved third job, however, their mobbing abilities and single-target DPS and utility have greatly improved. With a buffed version of Elemental Amplification and Spell Booster, F/P Mages at third job are capable of immense damage over time using the (exclusive to IntransigentMS) revamped version of (F/P) Elemental Composition.

It should be noted here that poisons that do not scale off of enemy maxHP (the only ones being Elemental Composition and the Thieves' venom skills) and all afterburn/flame effects *do* apply to bosses.

In addition, Explosion damage has been buffed and the success rate for Poison Mist is identical to Elemental Composition (100% at max. level). At this point F/P Mages now also have the ability to seal monsters, which is very useful for crowd control against monsters that rely on magic/special attacks.

At fourth job, the damage that F/P Mages can output is truly immense. While their so-called ultimate ability (Meteor Shower) is the least powerful of the 3 Magician ultimates, it is still useful; but the real focus of the F/P Mage's damage in fourth job is a unique combination of Element Composition, Fire Demon, and Paralyze.

Paralyze, although it really only serves as a standard single-target attack (no DoT), is quite buffed (263 basic att. at lv. 1, 340 basic att. at max. lv. 30). Once the F/P Mage hits their target with Elemental Composition to start the poison DoT, they can then hit the same enemy with Fire Demon to inflict a burning effect which stacks with poison/venom (although notably does not stack with burning from the Outlaw's Flamethrower skill). This damage is similar to Elemental Composition in that it does an amount of damage per tick equal in magnitude to the original strike. Then, once the F/P Mage's target is suffering these two stacking DoTs, the Mage can spam Paralyze to continue the punishment and inflict immense DPS. This effect is even more severe when teamed up with an I/L Mage, who can use their Ice Demon skill to not only freeze the target, but also to make them weak to fire (1.5x all fire damage).

The fourth job F/P mage's summon can also help with damage and provide freezing debuffs, and their Meteor Shower is quite devastating, hitting up to 15 monsters in a giant radius for a large amount of damage. This rounds out the F/P Mage's arsenal.

## Ice/Lightning Mage

### Notable abilities

Thunderbolt, Ice Strike, Blizzard

The Ice/Lightning Mage is a Magician archetype that excels at dishing out catastrophic area-of-effect (AoE) damage very efficiently and controlling large numbers of monsters using the freeze debuff, during which monsters cannot move or use any abilities. For this reason, Ice/Lightning Mages stand out as particularly good at leveling up.

During second job, Ice/Lightning Mages are at an advantage over their Fire/Poison counterparts. They have an effective AoE damage skill (Thunderbolt, which has been buffed by 10 basic attack at all levels), and an effective way of debuffing mobs (Cold Beam, which has had its freeze time increased by 1 second at all levels), albeit one-by-one.

By the time they reach third job, Ice/Lightning Mages are incredible at AoE damage and crowd control, using Ice Strike to freeze mobs in an area and dealing massive damage (the basic attack has been doubled compared to v62 GMS). In addition they gain the buffed version of Elemental Amplification, Spell Booster, an essentially improved version of Cold Beam (Elemental Composition), Seal, and Thunder Spear (extremely effective on mobs that are weak versus lightning).

In fourth job, Ice/Lightning Mages are notable for having the single most powerful AoE attack in the game: Blizzard. Ice/Lightning Mages will out-damage the Bishop's Genesis skill, even on monsters weak to holy damage (due to Elemental Amplification), and will freeze all of the monsters struck, to boot.

On top of this, fourth job Ice/Lightning Mages will have their own fire-based summon (Ifrit) and can use Ice Demon to freeze enemies and weaken them to fire damage. The fire damage weakness from Ice Demon combined with their ability to spam the Chain Lightning skill makes Ice/Lightning Mages still useful even when fighting bosses.

## Warriors

Being the highest in STR and having large maxHP pools, Warriors typify the role of the "tank" (although Monks are, in reality, the best "tanks" in the game). Engaging almost exclusively in melee combat, Warriors in general have plenty of defensive skills on their side to keep them safe, and in some cases, to keep their party safe as well.

Beyond these similarities, Warrior classes are fleshed out into 3 distinct archetypes:

* Paladin (Debuffing/Tank/DPS)
* Dark Knight (Party buffing/Situationally high DPS/AoE damage)
* Hero (High DPS/Tank)

## Paladin

### Usual weapon(s)

One-handed maces, One-handed swords, Two-handed maces, Two-handed swords

### Notable abilities

Threaten, Blast, Charged Blow, Elemental charges, Heaven's Hammer

Paladins are primarily blunt-weapon fighters (although they are capable of using swords as well) that, unlike the other Warrior archetypes, have the ability to incite divine vengeance with their attacks and can use their near indestructibility alone to intimidate their foes into submission. Paladins as a Warrior archetype are best known for 4 of their abilities:

* Threaten (Extremely powerful AoE weapon and magic attack debuff, and weapon defense debuff)
* Charged Blow (multi-target reliable stun)
* Elemental charge skills (allows Paladins to do elemental damage of all types excepting one)
* Heaven's Hammer (catastrophic AoE attack similar to the Magician archetype's ultimates)

In IntransigentMS, all of these abilities have been buffed (***especially*** the first) to make Paladins stand out on their own.

Paladins are also, as mentioned before, nearly indestructible, due to Shield Mastery giving +400% shield defense (instead of +100%), Achilles also reducing incoming magic (in addition to weapon) damage, and doing so more than other Warrior's versions of the skill, Guardian having an additional 5 percentage points of success rate (5.5% at lv. 1, 20% at max. lv. 30), and their Power Guard skill, which effectively reduces all incoming weapon damage by 40%. Note, however, that they still require somewhat more protection from magic attacks specifically, although Threaten and Achilles do help significantly with magic attacks.

Offensively, Paladins mostly rely on their Blast skill. Although Blast has extremely short range, it has here been massively buffed and so proves to be a formidable attack in spite of its range.

## Dark Knight

### Notable abilities

Hyper Body, Iron Will, Dragon Roar, Berserk

Characters of the Dark Knight archetype are primarily spear users (although they can use polearms as well) whose abilities, unlike those of the other Warrior archetypes, are largely based around their HP pool. Among the Warrior archetypes, Dark Knights are best known for 4 of their abilities:

* Hyper Body (increases maxHP and maxMP for entire party)
* Iron Will (dramatically increases weapon and magic defense for entire party)
* Dragon Roar (fast and powerful AoE attack that has a large range and stuns enemies)
* Berserk (dramatically increases the character's total damage output so long as their HP is below a certain % of maxHP)

It should go without saying that in a permadeath server, a skill that raises the maxHP and maxMP of all party members by 60% is immensely powerful. Dark Knights get this skill already at second job, and also along with their Iron Will skill, which gives 8 times as much weapon and magic defense in this server (maximum +160 defense), and of course affects all party members as well. This makes Dark Knights a crucial element for parties facing especially dangerous odds and/or containing defensively weaker classes.

Dark Knights are, in addition, the best Warrior archetype at mobbing due to their Dragon Roar skill, although it should be noted that each cast of the skill costs 30% of the caster's maxHP (at max. level, even more HP at lower levels).

Dark Knights typically have a fairly high damage range due to their use of heavy two-handed weapons, and can augment this immensely (up to 200% of normal damage at max. level) using the Berserk skill (colloquially known simply as 'Zerk'). With this fourth job skill under their belt, a Dark Knight can deal this extra damage so long as they keep their HP below a certain specified percentage of their maxHP. The threshold has been buffed by 20 percentage points at all levels, and is made gradually easier to meet as the skill level increases (up to 65% of maxHP at max. level 30).

Because of the above requirement (as well as the large HP cost of the Dragon Roar skill), Dark Knights are especially reliant on the magnitude of their maxHP and their ability to soften incoming damage as much as possible without using a shield. For this they of course have Hyper Body and Iron Will, but also have a unique summon during fourth job called the Beholder. This Beholder has two abilities, both of which have been buffed:

* Aura Of The Beholder
* Hex Of The Beholder

## Hero

### Usual weapon(s)

One-handed Sword, Two-handed Sword, One-handed Axe, Two-handed Axe

### Notable abilities

Brandish, [Advanced] Combo Attack, Enrage

Heroes are primarily sword users (although they are capable of using axes as well) who excel the most out of all Warrior archetypes at dealing out damage. They are fairly tanky due to their Power Guard skill (reflects back 40% of incoming weapon damage), their Shield Mastery giving +300% shield defense instead of +100% (although still not as much as Paladins), and having the same buff to Guardian that Paladins have.

They already have a bump to their damage (which can also be spread to their party as a party buff) in second job, from the Rage skill, which has been buffed to give +20 weapon attack at max. level (instead of +12), although it does give 2 times as much weapon defense penalty (-24 weapon defense at max.), so watch out for that.

Hero types are, regrettably, stuck using essentially the same attacks from first job (Power Strike and Slash Blast) all the way through second and third job, until they hit fourth job and get perhaps the most powerful offensive Warrior skill: Brandish. At third job, however, they do get a decent AoE attack (Shout) that stuns similarly to the Dark Knight's Dragon Roar skill. This attack is not quite as good as the Dark Knight's, but it does deal 4 times as much damage in this server (44% att. at lv. 1, 120% att at max. lv. 30), making it a viable skill for regular use.

Heroes are perhaps best known for their ability to accumulate so-called "combo orbs," which circle around the player and give extra damage. These orbs can be used to make attacks that do a large chunk of extra damage, and even attacks that stun at a very high rate. By the time Heroes are at fourth job, they get Advanced Combo Attack, granting them even more orbs and allowing them to expend all orbs to activate the Enrage skill. The Enrage skill has been buffed to give the Hero up to 50 weapon attack (instead of the old 26).

## Archers

In this game there are only 2 Archer archetypes: Bowmaster, and Marksman (Crossbowmaster). While extremely similar at first, the Archer archetypes really start to differentiate themselves in fourth job.

Having the highest DEX in the game (along with the Corsair archetype), Archers have incredible accuracy, very high attack range (maximum distance from player to monster), consistently high single-target DPS, mobbing skills from second job onwards, and a highly sought-after party buff called Sharp Eyes at fourth job, making them a welcome addition to any adventuring party. They are also quite apt at taking advantage of the bonus EXP from killing higher-level monsters due to their high accuracy and consistent DPS. They are not, however, without their drawbacks (pun not intended).

Archers are largely immobile when using their skills and attacking, and this fact combined with the fact that Archers tend to have lower maxHP pools than Warriors or Buccaneers/Monks (although, more than all other classes) and a paucity of defensive skills makes them challenging to play. In addition, Archers that have not yet reached third job will find themselves struggling to hit monsters since they must be at least a certain minimum distance away from the mob to attack, aren't very mobile, and don't have the ability to jump and attack at the same time like Night Lords do.

It should also be noted that both Archer archetypes benefit from a buff to the Focus skill (gives twice as much avoidability) and a buff to the Puppet skill (Puppet gains an additional 150 hit points per level [500 HP at lv. 1, 9000 HP at max. lv. 20]).

## Marksman

### Notable abilities

Snipe, Blind, Sharp Eyes, Strafe

Marksmen are crossbow-wielding Archers that are capable of doing far more damage per blow than their bow-wielding Bowmaster counterparts, but aren't quite as swift.

Their only difference from Bowmasters in second job is that their mobbing skill is different. The Marksman's Iron Arrow does more raw damage than its Arrow Bomb counterpart, but doesn't stun monsters, decreases damage as it goes through monsters, and doesn't track monster position (can only be shot in a straight line). From certain positions Iron Arrow will have the advantage, but it's largely situational.

In third job, the mobbing skills of both Archer archetypes are nearly identical, although Marksmen here have an advantage in their ability to crowd control using the freezing ability of their Blizzard skill. The crossbow version of Strafe has been buffed to do 135% damage per arrow at max. level (and is not buffed or nerfed at any other levels) in order to compensate for the fact that Marksmen must use their strafe skill all throughout fourth job whereas Bowmasters have the Hurricane skill to replace it.

Once fourth job is reached, Marksmen as an archetype start to stand out more for their ability to do incredible burst damage using the Snipe skill (10,000% damage, ignores defense) and their ability to debuff quite effectively (with 100% effectiveness on bosses) using the Blind skill.

## Bowmaster

### Notable abilities

Hurricane, Sharp Eyes

Bowmasters are bow-wielding Archers capable of dealing immense levels of single-target damage per second, although are not quite as proficient with burst damage as their crossbow-wielding counterparts.

In second job, as mentioned before, the main difference is that Bowmasters have Arrow Bomb as their mobbing skill. This skill allows Bowmasters to have decent crowd control, although the stun can be somewhat unreliable (60% stun rate at max. level). In addition, this skill is typically easier to hit monsters with due to its larger hitbox and monster tracking ability.

In third job, Bowmasters don't have the AoE freezing ability that Marksmen get with their Blizzard, so for crowd control their Arrow Bomb has to continue to suffice. With their fast attacking speed, Bowmasters in 3rd job can do quite good damage both AoE (using Arrow Rain) and on a single target (using Strafe).

Once fourth job is reached, Bowmasters become immense streams of single-target damage using their Hurricane skill to rapidly and continuously fire arrows at their enemy. In addition, they have the Hamstring debuff that allows them to slow the speed of their enemies; unfortunately this isn't a very effective debuff compared to the Marksman's Blind skill, but nonetheless can prove useful versus large opponents given that Bowmasters are immobile when attacking.

## Thieves

Being perhaps the "wiliest" archetypes (due to their high avoidability) and often relying on stealth and swiftness to meet their ends, Thief archetypes typify the traditional role of the "rogue."

Due to being the highest-LUK archetypes in the game and having DEX as a secondary stat (also STR in some cases), Thieves, like Archers, are quite apt at taking advantage of the bonus EXP from killing higher-level monsters from this abundance of accuracy. In addition, while Thieves tend to have relatively small maxHP pools, their high avoidability and stealth can help to mitigate the number and frequency of damage instances they take over time, significantly improving their survivability. All Thieves, during first job, have access to the Dark Sight skill, which proves to be useful not only for more powerful skills like Assassinate, but also for mitigating damage generally and navigating dangerous terrain.

In exchange for their relative fragility (more so with the Night Lord archetype) and thus reliance upon stealth and swiftness, Thief archetypes are incredible damage dealers capable of exploiting the weaknesses of their enemies efficiently.

It should additionally be noted that all Thief archetypes benefit from the fact that poison/venom effects here are still cancelled for monsters that are immune to poison/venom, but are not cancelled for monsters that are strong versus poison/venom. For monsters that are strong versus poison/venom, each tick will do 50% damage. Furthermore, venom effects do apply to bosses here.

Beyond these similarities, Thief classes are fleshed out into 2 distinct archetypes:

* Shadower (Burst damage/Moderate tank/Moderate utility)
* Night Lord (High single-target DPS/Mobility)

## Shadower

### Notable abilities

Shield Mastery, Meso Guard, Smokescreen, Meso Explosion, Boomerang Step

The Shadower archetype is a dagger-wielding archetype that makes great use not only of its weapon but also of stealth and special money (meso) attacks to subdue its enemies.

It should be noted that although Disorder is a skill that all Thieves (at first job) have access to, those of the Shadower archetype benefit more from the following buffs to Disorder due to the fact that Disorder requires a close-range melee strike:

* Disorder lowers enemy magic attack in addition to weapon attack and weapon defense.
* Disorder lowers enemy's weapon/magic attack and defense by 2 times as much (-2 watk./matk./wdef. at lv. 1, -40 watk./matk./wdef. at max lv. 20).
* Disorder reduces the enemy’s weapon/magic attack and weapon defense by (playerLevel / 2) in addition to the flat reduction given by the skill level.

During second job, Shadowers (as well as Night Lords) benefit from a party buff called Haste which they can use to increase the speed and jump of themselves and their party members up to the maximum of both for a period of time. This is part of what makes Thief archetypes so mobile and also adds to their utility in a party. Additionally their main attack, Savage Blow, allows them do do incredibly swift uninterrupted strikes. However, leveling at this point can still be a pain in spite of their high accuracy due to the lack of multi-target abilities.

During third job, Shadowers gain access to a completely unique attack called Meso Explosion that allows them to drop mesos (money) on the ground and explode them when enemies are around to do catastrophic levels of damage capable even of killing bosses in a few seconds. In addition, they gain access to a multi-target ability that hits up to 6 monsters at max. level (Band Of Thieves) and access to a single-target ability that stuns (Assaulter).

On the defensive side, third job is where Shadowers gain their reputation for semi-tankiness. In IntransigentMS, Shield Mastery gives 4 times as much defensive power (+20% def. pwr. at lv. 1, +400% def. pwr. at max. lv. 20). Additionally, Meso Guard allows the Shadower to use mesos to absorb a whopping 50% of all incoming damage, effectively doubling the Shadower's HP pool. It should be noted, however, that in IntransigentMS Meso Guard requires at least 11 levels of the Chakra skill rather than 3.

Upon reaching fourth job, those of the Shadower archetype gain access to the Assassinate skill, which allows them to make use of their Dark Sight skill to do sneak attack damage to their enemies and have a high chance of simply killing them outright. In addition, their other (and main) offensive skill, Boomerang Step, is very powerful and has been both buffed (in damage) and nerfed (in stun rate) in IntransigentMS.

Notable as well, Shadowers have access in fourth job to a incredibly powerful utility skill called Smokescreen, which allows them to use a cloud of smoke to prevent them and all party members within the smoke from receiving damage.

In addition, Shadowers, like their Night Lord counterparts, receive the ability to passively poison enemies with venom for extra DPS and the passive ability Shadow Shifter, granting them an separate chance to simply ignore any incoming instance of damage!

## Night Lord

### MaxHP increase per level

32 ~ 36 at 2nd job and later, 26 ~ 30 during 1st job

### Notable abilities

Triple Throw, Shadow Partner, Taunt, Alchemist

Night Lords wield a weapon called a claw to throw metal stars at their enemies from afar, and unlike the Archer archetypes, are quite mobile (perhaps the most mobile in the game) and can attack while in the air. As an archetype, Night Lords are primarily focused on single-target DPS.

During second job, like Shadowers, a Night Lord's mobility is improved with the Haste skill, which allows them to further exploit their ability to make ranged attacks while jumping. In addition, like those of the Archer archetypes, they gain the passive ability to exploit their enemies's weaknesses and land critical strikes with their projectiles. However, they (like Shadowers) have no multi-target attack during this stage; they mostly make up for this with their ability to train on high-level mobs using their mobility, ranged attacks, high damage, high accuracy, and stealth.

During third job, Night Lords gain their primary multi-target attack (Avenger). They also gain a large bump to their mobility again with the Flash Jump skill. For DPS, they gain an active self-buff that summons a shadow version of the Night Lord to duplicate all of the Night Lord's moves and increase DPS tremendously (Shadow Partner). They gain some measure of crowd control with the Shadow Web skill (although the skill only affects movement, and does not prevent attacks). They gain a mild party buff called Meso Up which makes all monsters killed by them or their party drop more mesos, and a passive called Alchemist which increases the efficacy of HP/MP potions, and lengthens the duration of potion effects (including buffs like Oynx Apple).

Once they reach fourth job, Night Lords are already quite devastating at dealing single-target DPS, and gain the Triple Throw skill, allowing them to throw 3 stars at once (6 with Shadow Partner) instead of the 2 stars from their first job skill Lucky Seven.

In addition, they get skills like Venomous Star and Shadow Shifter like Shadowers to to increase their DPS and survivability, respectively. They gain the ability to throw a single projectile at enemies using the Taunt skill to increase the enemy's defense but significantly increase the EXP that the enemy gives. Since Night Lords at this point are using so many stars so quickly, they gain a bit of a utility skill called Shadow Stars that allows them to consume 200 stars all at once and then eschew the need to use stars at all for a certain period of time after that.

Night Lords at almost all levels prove to be incredible dealers of damage (some of the most in the game) and can fit into any situation using their wiliness and mobility. For this reason (and perhaps for their Haste skill as well), Night Lords are a welcome addition to many parties. In spite of this, they often prove to be quite challenging in terms of survivability at all levels as well.

## Pirates

Although there are only three (for the third, custom class archetype, see Custom Classes below), the Pirate archetypes are quite diverse given this fact — unlike the other four archetype categories, Pirate archetypes have little, if anything, in common with one another. Pirates prove to be extremely unique in both their skillset and playstyle.

It should be noted that all Pirate archetypes benefit from the buff to Bullet Time (gives 2 times as much avoidability [+2 avoid. at lv. 1, +40 avoid. at max. lv. 20]).

The three archetypes are as follows:

* Buccaneer (Melee DPS/Tank/High utility/Crowd control)
* Corsair (Very high single-target ranged DPS/Moderate crowd control)
* Monk (Extreme tank/High utility/Melee DPS)

## Buccaneer

### MaxHP increase per level

36 ~ 40 + imp. maxHP at 2nd job and later, 26 ~ 30 during 1st job

### Notable abilities

[Super] Transformation, Demolition, Flurry of Blows, Time Leap

The Buccaneer is an archetype of fistfighting, and as such utilizes only weapons of the knuckler type. Like those of the Warrior archetypes, Buccaneers are STR-based and must carefully manage their DEX so that they have enough accuracy to hit monsters of their level. Also like those of the Warrior archetypes, Buccaneers have a passive skill that gives them extra maxHP every level-up (and for every point of AP spent in HP), although the Buccaneer's is not available until second job. However, this is where the similarities between Buccaneers and the Warrior archetypes end.

In order to aid their accuracy (and survivability to some extent), Buccaneers have another passive besides the standard weapon mastery passive that gives them accuracy, at first job.

Buccaneers as an archetype are notable for the incredible number and variety of their active abilities. Upon reaching second job, Buccaneers have access to Corkscrew Blow and Backspin Blow, both of which have been buffed to target up to 6 monsters at once instead of 3. Corkscrew Blow is unique in its ability to accumulate charge as the player holds down the attack key and do more damage with more charge, while Backspin Blow is unique due to it being a backwards attack (attacks in the opposite direction that the player is facing) and also having a 100% stun rate. Both of these attacks serve as mobility and a way of moving around monsters, since the attacks induce rapid movement and take monsters with them. Double Uppercut, while slow, also has a 100% stun rate and does a large amount of damage to one monster. MP Recovery has been buffed to have 20 seconds less on its cooldown at all levels (50 sec. at lv. 1, 5 sec. at max. lv. 10), and Oak Barrel can be a useful skill for Buccaneers who need to navigate mobs or to get out of a sticky situation.

Once they reach third job, Buccaneers start to receive some of their signature abilities. Their Transformation skill allows them to temporarily transform into a faster, tougher glowing Buccaneer that is capable of using extra abilities not ordinarily available, and Energy Charge allows Buccaneers to charge up a bubble of extra energy to put themselves in a charged state that increases accuracy, avoidability, attack, and also gives access to otherwise unavailable abilities. Both of these skills have been significantly buffed.

In addition, the Energy Blast skill (only usable while Energy Charge is active) attacks 2 additional monsters at all levels (4 monsters at lv. 1, 6 monsters at max. lv. 30). In third job as well, Buccaneers have the ability to critically hit at a higher rate than any other class (tied with Battle Priest) so long as the monster is first stunned.

In fourth job, the Buccaneer's tanking abilities and DPS only get better, and their incredible utility shines through. With the Super Transformation skill, fourth job Buccaneers have an even more powerful transformation that allows them to use even more powerful abilities.

This new transformation allows them to use the Demolition skill. Even when not transformed, Buccaneers may still use Barrage, which is a 6-hit attack that does 2 and 4 times the usual damage on the penultimate and ultimate strikes, respectively.

On top of all this, the Buccaneer gains two skills which are indispensable for any adventuring party: Flurry of Blows (Speed Infusion) and Time Leap.

Flurry of Blows increases the speed of all affected party members's weapons by 4 levels for its duration (and does not stack with booster skills, which give +2 levels of speed). In addition, on IntransigentMS this skill applies to Magicians as well.

Time Leap resets the cooldowns of all skills of all party members affected (with the exception that it does not work on Time Leap). When used to reset the cooldown of the Resurrection skill, this skill counts as literally life-saving. And on top of that, it resets the cooldown of skills generally, adding an incredible amount of utility each time it's used.

With their relative tankiness, ability to deal out sizable levels of single and multi-target damage, ability to stun monsters extremely reliably, control mob position, and add incredible utility with their fourth job skills, Buccaneers are a much-desired member of just about any party, even if sometimes their DPS is outshined by other archetypes.

## Corsair

### Notable abilities

Battleship [Cannon], Rapid Fire, Octopus

Corsairs are a gun-toting archetype, firing from a distance with extreme accuracy and finesse. Similarly to Archer archetypes, Corsairs use DEX as their main stat, but also require STR to equip some things and and benefit from higher minimum damage with a higher STR. Like Bowmasters, Corsairs get a fourth job skill that allows them to continuously fire projectiles at extreme speed by holding down a single button. However, this is where the similarities between the Archer archetypes and Corsair end.

Corsairs are perhaps the single most difficult class in terms of survivability in the entire game, beating out Archer archetypes due to their complete lack of defensive skills (with perhaps the exception of Bullet Time) and puny maxHP pools. Corsairs, unlike Archers, do not need to be on the ground to attack and as such are significantly more flexible in terms of mobility. By only second job, Corsairs have their mobility skills available (of which Archers have essentially none, with the slight exception of Thrust), and like their fellow Buccaneers (and unlike Archers), have more than one multi-target skill and an extremely reliable stun skill. Unfortunately, at this stage those of the Corsair archetype are as unsurvivable as ever and don't have the beefy DPS that characterizes more mature Corsairs.

By third job, Corsairs gain access to two summons that can aid them in defeating monsters, as well as a significant buff to their main single-target DPS skill (Double Shot). Furthermore, their mobbing skills are augmented with the afterburn ability of the Flamethrower skill and the ability to consume Blaze Capsules (special kind of projectile additive) to augment the initial and afterburn damage (note that this afterburn does work on bosses, although it does not stack with the Fire/Poison Mage's Fire Demon skill). Additionally, they have the ability to freeze up to 6 monsters at once using Ice Splitter, and in IntransigentMS, the freeze time for this skill is doubled if a Glaze Capsule is used. However, here the Homing Beacon skill is disabled, which proves to be a bit of a defect in the Corsair's arsenal.

For a Corsair's fourth job, all of their summon skills, their Flamethrower/Ice Splitter skills, and their Ice Splitter's freezing ability are all significantly augmented along with a new single-target attack to replace Double Shot: Rapid Shot. Like Hurricane (Bowmaster skill), Rapid Shot shoots at incredible speeds continuously.

Additionally, a place where Corsairs really shine in fourth job (and in their whole career) is with the Battleship skill. Like their Buccaneer counterparts, Corsairs can transform themselves into a special state and gain extra abilities and defense. While in Battleship mode, Corsairs use the Battleship Cannon skill to attack, which does immense damage, but not as much as their Rapid Fire skill due to the trade-off of extra defense that Battleship provides. Additionally, in IntransigentMS, Battleship has been both buffed and nerfed:

* Cooldown time for Battleship decreased drastically to 5 seconds across the board (previously: 90 sec. at lv. 1, 360 sec. at max. lv. 10).

* Battleship no longer absorbs damage dealt to the player; when the player is struck, they take the full damage, and a copy of that damage is transferred also to the Battleship. Upon cumulatively receiving as much or more damage than its total HP, the Battleship breaks and the player must wait for the 5 second cooldown before getting back onto the Battleship.

Unfortunately for Corsairs however, the Hypnotize skill is disabled.

Dealing the highest single-target DPS in the game at fourth job (with the exception of Fire/Poison Mages) and also constituting perhaps the most difficult class to get to fourth job, Corsairs typify the role of the "glass cannon." Due to their glassiness, Corsairs will be few and far in between, and simultaneously in high demand for tough fights due to their 'cannon' traits. For these reasons, Corsairs are not only welcome, but highly desirable in those adventuring parties out for a long, tough fight.

## Custom Classes

In addition to the traditional roles listed above, IntransigentMS sports custom classes that cannot be found anywhere else. These classes job advance in the same way as one of the archetypes above, but have their own entire set of skills that can be harnessed from that job's already existing skills, provided the character is built correctly.

This leads the custom classes to be essentially classes of their own, having their own unique sets of abilities and fighting styles. As of now there are 2 custom classes in IntransigentMS:

* Battle Priest (Melee DPS/Utility/Summons)
* Monk (Extreme tank/High utility/Melee DPS)

## Battle Priest

### Notable abilities

Magic Guard, Holy Symbol, MP Eater, Mana Reflection, Bahamut, Resurrection

Virtual Skills: Blunt Weapon Mastery (2nd job, max. level 12, 1 SP per level), Power Stance (4th job, max. level 20, 3 SP per level)

Battle Priest is a mace-wielding archetype combines the utility and some of the healing power of the Bishop archetype with divinely inspired combat aptitude.

A strength-based class (similarly to the Warrior archetypes), Battle Priests are at a bit of a disadvantage from both Warriors and standard Magician archetypes, although their unique skills and items help them to shine through as quite effective users of both disciplines:

* Versus Warriors:
	+ Battle Priests are at a disadvantage AP-wise due to the necessity of having 20 INT and for gaining less accuracy per point of DEX than Warriors do.
	+ Battle Priests lack some of the defense of Warriors. While they do get magic defense equal to their STR from Mana Reflection, and skills such as Magic Guard, Invincible, and Holy Mirror, their HP/MP pools remain comparatively low and they typically have less defense from items and defensive skills to back it up.
	+ Battle Priests have only a limited version (max level 20) of the Power Stance skill, meaning they may have a bit of a tougher time fighting than many Warriors who have the full skill.
* Versus Magicians:
	+ Having typically only 20 INT, Battle Priests are at a great disadvantage when it comes to using magical active abilities. This means that a Battle Priest's Heal skill will be notably less effective (although not without utility) than the same skill of a traditional Bishop archetype, and also means that magic attacks will be largely useless to them, although the AoE basic attacks from Magic Guard help to offset this lack of mobbing ability.
	+ Again, only having 20 INT, Battle Priests will have significantly less base maxMP than their traditional Magician archetypal counterparts. This is, however, offset by the exclusive Magician-only blunt weapons that Battle Priests can use, which have maxMP bonuses designed to make the maxMP pools of Battle Priests and traditional INT mages be very similar.

Despite all of this, a Battle Priest has the power of their deity on their side, which gives them some incredible boons:

* Magic Guard grants an AoE effect to melee attacks, which splashes 1 additional monster at levels 1 - 9, 2 at levels 10 - 19, and 3 at level 20. The splash damage scales down with distance from the originally struck mosnter, with a maximum of (80 + skillLevel)% and a minimum of (50 + skillLevel)%.
* MP Eater passively grants the player a chance to critically strike on every melee attack. (22% chance at lv. 1, 60% chance at max. lv. 20). A critical strike deals 158% dmg. at lv. 1, and 310% dmg. at max. lv. 20.
* Invincible grants a +2 attack speed with blunt weapons for its duration.
* Holy Symbol grants additional weapon attack to its caster. (+3 + casterLevel / 1.3 watt. at lv. 1, +90 + casterLevel / 1.3 watt. at max. lv. 30).
* Summon Dragon's basic attack is reduced to 10, and instead its damage scales off of weapon attack (the caster's own weapon damage range). Deals 155% dmg. at lv. 1, 300% dmg. at max. lv. 30.
* Holy Mirror (previously: Elemental Resistance, the passive effects of this older version of the skill are retained in Holy Mirror) passively grants an ability similar to Power Guard, but does not reduce incoming damage in any way. This skill passively returns a percentage of all incoming physical damage back to its dealer. (10% at lv. 1, 200% at max. lv. 20, may not exceed the monster's maxHP / 2).
* Bahamut's basic attack is reduced to 20, and instead its damage scales off of weapon attack. (Deals 157% dmg. at lv. 1, 360 dmg. at max. lv. 30).
* Mana Reflection, for its duration, multiplies all weapon damage dealt by a certain percentage. (205% dmg. at lv. 1, 350% dmg. at max. lv. 30). In addition, it grants an amount of magic defense equal to the caster's total STR as long as that value is at least 200.

In addition, there are some item tweaks geared towards Battle Priests (full article: Battle Priest Equipment):

* Many blunt weapons (one- and two-handed) have been made Magician-only, featuring extra weapon attack, extra maxMP, and sometimes even accuracy.
* One-handed magician maces have been changed to the "faster" attack speed, and two-handed to "normal."
* Magician's shields no longer require INT or LUK, and now give weapon attack and accuracy.
* All Warrior-only overall armors are now equippable by both Magicians and Warriors.

With all of this at hand, Battle Priests prove to be formidable in melee combat, and on top of that, have almost all the utility of Bishop archetypes (Bless, Heal, Holy Symbol, Dispel, Doom, Resurrection, Holy Shield, Mystic Door) and powerful summoned creatures to assist them.

## Monk

### MaxHP increase per level

36 ~ 40 + imp. maxHP at 2nd job and later, 26 ~ 30 during 1st job

### Notable abilities

Perfect Strike, [Super] Transformation, Samsara, Despondency, Nirvana

Virtual Skills: Flash Jump (3rd job, req. 450 base INT, max. level 20, 1 SP per level)

Monk is a nominally Pirate class, which is INT-based (DEX secondary) and enforces the use of bare hands only. Monks cannot use weapons (Bare hands is a knuckler weapon but is invisible and has no weapon attack or stats or any kind) or shields, and do damage by engaging in melee combat using their Perfect Strike ability.

Base damage formula for Monks using Perfect Strike (this damage is cumulative with the weapon damage dealt by a strike):

```
Min = (INT * 0.9 * Mastery + DEX) * Magic / 100

```

```
Max = (INT + DEX) * Magic / 100

```

Due to having the highest HP potential in the game (tied with Buccaneers), Wholeness of Body giving a passive Magic Guard-like effect of up to 25% of incoming damage, Stun Mastery giving a change to shrug off status effects (Still Mind), Nirvana allowing Monks to use their ki pool (Energy Charge) to become temporarily invincible, Transformation/Super Transformation giving large amounts of weapon and magic defense, and Advaita giving the monk a chance to ignore any given instance of magic damage, Monks are the 'tankiest' class in the game, potentially.

Monk absorb a portion of the damage that their party members take while they are Transformed, making them a true tank and a valuable addition to any party.

Although Perfect Strike allows Monks to use their INT/magic attack to fight in melee, it also severely limits the number of mobs they can hit at once. Many of the Buccaneer's skills, from 1st job and onwards, hit 6 monsters (or even 12 in the case of Dragon Strike). Monks can only hit a maximum of 1 monster by default, with an extra monster added once they reach level 11 in the Fist Mastery and Stun Mastery skills, and then another one any time they are buffed with the Flurry of Blows skill, for a maximum of 4 mobs hit per attack. As such, Monks prove to be difficult to level and to farm with (especially prior to about level 80).

Nevertheless, Monks have many unique abilities that make them stand out. On top of those already mentioned, Monk's Shockwave skill deals afterburn magic damage equal to a magic attack of half of the skill's damage percentage every tick. Barrage can be used when their ki (energy) is fully charged in order to produce the Despondency effect, which damages all monsters around the initially struck monster inversely proportional to amount of HP the initially struck monster had left; in the case that the initially struck monster had only a small percent of their HP left, this move does incredible and catastrophic damage. Energy Orb can be used to produce the Ahimsa effect, which mutes all incoming and outgoing damage to all players and monsters in the map for a certain period of time.

Monks are one of 3 archetypes (the other two being Bishop and Battle Priest) that can revive other players; just like the other two, Monks need an Elan Vital to perform their resurrection skill (Maple Warrior/Samsara). Unlike Bishops and Battle Priests, however, Monks have to have their ki pool full to use the ability, and the cooldown is much longer at a whopping 3 hours, and furthermore cannot be reset by Time Leap unlike Resurrection.

The full skillset that Monks have on top of the usual Buccaneer skills (i.e., Buccaneer skills that are modified to do something differently for Monks) is as follows:

* Bullet Time/Perfect Strike
* Wholeness of Body
* Fist Mastery
* Backspin Blow
* Double Uppercut
* Corkscrew Blow
* Stun Mastery/Still Mind
* Energy Charge/Ki Pool
* Energy Blast/Abhayamudra
* Energy Drain/Nirvana
* Transformation
* Shockwave
* Maple Warrior/Samsara
* Dragon Strike
* Energy Orb/Ahimsa
* Super Transformation
* Demolition/Advaita
* Snatch
* Barrage/Despondency
* Flurry of Blows