[Guide]Grinding Guide

[Shine]

Intro

Hello, seeing as how someone made a topic, asking someone to make a grinding guide, I will attempt to make an in-depth guide on how to grind effectively. Criticism and more info to put in is welcome.

The Basics

First thing you want to do, is to put the skill Ghost Walk Phantom onto the Mouse Button, this will speed up grinding by a lot. If you prefer it on another key, no problem, whatever floats your boat. Buffs, generally I only use buffs that are required, grass walk, no matter what build is very helpful. Flame Body for str, and Piercing Force for int, also very helpful no matter what mob you are grinding on. The White/Black/Blue hawk and Soul Arrow(range increase) are helpful for archers. Buffs such as the ice protection, fire protection, fire shield, and concentration are optional, but fire shield is recommended for fighting monsters that inflict status. If you don't use a blade or sword, just equip any shield, buff, then back to your normal weapon.

Before heading out to grind, make sure you have any unnecessary items in storage, as you do not want to drop them upon death, unless they are cheap items(cape, 10k job suits, other job items). Make sure that all your equipment is repaired, and you are filled up on pots(default for grinding). I personally keep a few spare horses in my inventory, but thats just me. Another thing, make sure your inventory is organized(optional, but very helpful).

Quests vs Grinding

Generally, quests are the best way to level up. However, you may find some quests to be very tedious. Quests such as the Liquor Quest, Bandit Sword, Black Robber Archer Jewels, and probably others that I am missing, are very annoying to complete, and I personally skipped them. Do not skip too many quests though, as tedious as they are, they are the best way to level up.

What mob to grind on

Here, the main part of getting good exp. What mob to grind on. For people with average weapons, take all the mobs that are -5 from your level, and +3 from your level. Here is my personal way to figure out which mob is best to grind on. The higher something is on the list, the higher priority it has.

Quests - do quests first unless its not a good quest
Damage taken - grinding isn't going to be worth it if you are losing a lot of exp from dying, or spending too much on hp pots.
Spawn rate - very important, I would grind on green monsters with a great spawn rate than white ones with an average/below average. One exception to this is if you do not have a silk item pet. You will need some time to pick up your gold/drops, so spawn rate isn't as important.
# of bots in the area - one day, while waiting for Uruchi , my usual waiting spots are taken. I go into Tarim Basin, and I find about 20+ pure int nuker bots all nuking one mob, grinding there = no thx. This isn't really important, if you can find a spot that isn't infested with bots.
Weapon - if you have a SoX, or +7/higher, you can probably grind on mobs that are higher than +3 of your level, that wont hit you for much. But generally white mobs are best, even with SoX or high plus.
Ranged or Melee mob - only for str bladers/glaivers, or really hybrid ints(below 80% mag reinforce naked), and even then, its not really important

Although this seems like a lot to do just to figure out what mob to grind on, it really doesn't take that long to figure out.

How to grind effectively

Now, you have found out which mob is the best to grind on, its time to grind! If I have just started grinding on a new monster, I generally bring more pots than I usually use, only for the first few times. After a while, you will figure out how many hp/mp pots to bring for how long you grind. Also, carry the type of pots that the mobs drop. Now that you have enough hp/mp pots to last you for however long you like grind, go out and grind away. Thats basically it, its all about finding the right mob, having enough pots, and just being focused. Things that usually help people out with staying focused is listening to music, covering the exp bar, closing the chat box, or going into F12 mode.

[Rainigul]

I think this helps too:

Glaive: Grind on things you can Soul spear + Ghost spear to death.
Blade: Grind on what you can blood + billow chain to death, or at later levels ONLY heaven chain, or ONLY ascention chain. You can use 2 combos to kill one mob, but I think that you make a better rate using only one.
Pure int (S/S or Spear): Anything you can 1 hit kill
Int hybrid: Anything you can nuke + lion shout/ghost spear kill.

Pure int's can also do that nuke +lion shout/ghost spear kill, but I dunno if they'd want to.

Pretty good guide I guess. Very similar to Fly's old grinding guide.

[HertogJan]

For pure str bows: Anything you can anti devil-demon-combo

[Shine]

Well, there isn't really a specific art to grinding, other than grinding till your sick of it. Generally yeah, each weapon has a good combo to use, such as soul spear + ghost spear, and the anti devil + explosion + arrow combo. But thats mainly for picking off mobs one by one, which I personally don't like doing, even though archers don't have a choice. Nukers can already kill many mobs at the same time, because all of the higher damage nukes are AoE, I have seen glaivers draw lots of mobs, and kill them using ghost spear, flying dragon, and the other AoE attacks that I don't remember the names of. Also, sometimes the mobs that you can use the usual combo on, have a bad spawn rate, so you are kinda forced to change monsters, which means changing your combo.

[truez]

AUTO POTS FTW

[Rainigul]

Well, there isn't really a specific art to grinding, other than grinding till your sick of it. Generally yeah, each weapon has a good combo to use, such as soul spear + ghost spear, and the anti devil + explosion + arrow combo. But thats mainly for picking off mobs one by one, which I personally don't like doing, even though archers don't have a choice. Nukers can already kill many mobs at the same time, because all of the higher damage nukes are AoE, I have seen glaivers draw lots of mobs, and kill them using ghost spear, flying dragon, and the other AoE attacks that I don't remember the names of. Also, sometimes the mobs that you can use the usual combo on, have a bad spawn rate, so you are kinda forced to change monsters, which means changing your combo.

+1.

Yeah, I don't like killing one mob at a time now, I just randomly attack one after another letting the aoe and transfer damage finish off everything

Although it's not true that archers must kill everything one by one. On my alt, I used explosion arrow to take out multiple ones at once, but besides that, yeah, they're kinda screwed. Unless they take autumn wind...
But with the new skill update, they'll have that skill which is like petal sword dance... But for bows

[San]

isnt like a 3 way shot or something
but ya, with new skills, bows will have knockback and stun, which is gonna be sick!

[Nenhunter]

my general rule of thumb= kill in 2 hits and don't get hit

[Zeus_Player]

I don't really grind since I kill things my level in 2 hits... but a good way for a pure INT Spear to grind is by grinding on things they can 1 hit.

[jichiong]

i normally grind on highest mobs i can kill with 1 imbue (im pure int, but using bow right now ). i don't have grabbers so spawn rate doesn't really matter. im doing headless stones (heungchong or watever) at lvl 28

[Stress]

Here is my idea for a glaive grind.
I did it and it's really amazing if you have the skill to do it.
Place Ghost Walk wherever you have it confortable.
Next to your imbue should be one or two (depending on your level) flying dragon, two of your best ghost spear skills (prince + petal or mars+prince) and the highest heuksal spear series you have.
It's ideal on passive, high spawn mobs... particularily penons.
What you want to do is the following:
Attract as many mobs as you can tank with lion shouts, cold waves and flying dragons.
Then, do the ghost spears, heuksal spear and one flying dragon again.
If there are mobs left, that attack you, don't worry. Just proceed to attracting other. Then do your ghost spears, heuksal spears and flying dragons again. It takes time to learn to grind effectively, but it really pays off in the end.
dealing with champions is just the way you do with normal mobs.
As for giants, you should do: Soul spear -> ghost -> soul etc.

What you need to know, though, is that you need to have good durability on your equipment.
If you learn and master it, and your gear is good, you will grind very effectively.