- Preface and build focus
- Skills (# of levels, CD) and their explanations
- Heraldry enhancements and 3rd stats
- Skill plates
- Equipment set, suffixes, and potentials
- Set accessories and potentials
- Hotkey assignments
- Sources
- Credits
- Appendices
- added towers, but no skill descriptions written for them. Please check the skill calculator images in the appendices section below.
- Removed Forced Out and Confusion Explosion.
- Changed Will II suffix for HP II
The Shooting Star job is one of the 3rd jobs for the Academic class in Dragon Nest. This job branches out from the Engineer's 2nd job.
Academic -> Engineer -> Shooting Star
My foci (pl.) for this build are:
- Cannons (and missiles)
- Towers (but no walking ducks)
- Alfredo support
- Grenades
- Escape (or to the rescue!?) skills
- FD, Critical, Attack Power
- HP and MP
Likewise, Alfredo support is very crucial to a Shooting Star. Alfredo can dish out a lot of damage that goes hand-in-hand with her cannons. He is very good at tanking and can aggro nearby monsters so she can run away if needed. Alfredo can also buff the party (including her) wherein the damage taken is reduced considerably.
Towers are your first line of defense against incoming mobs or PVP opponents. Mobs are mindless and just get hit by towers you put in place between you and them, however, PVP opponents are being sidestepped because getting caught by a bunch of towers is fatal or very hurting. But due to patch 450's nerf on overall duck's health (including towers), use them wisely and appropriately.
Grenades for a Shooting Star is more of a utility skill. They provide a good means to stun, scatter, lock, or gather groups of monsters. Other than that, she also uses grenades when her other skills are on CD.
Escape for a Shooting Star is very important. Being a squishy class (especially when surrounded by lots of monsters all attacking at the same time) life drain can be a big issue for survival purposes. Not only that, but certain situations in-game can deliver death instantly no matter how much defense or life one has, so a quick and speedy escape is really necessary.
This build relies on a hybrid of final damage (FD) and attack power for 3rd stat in heraldry enhancement plate choices. FD provides the best increase in damage output, but unfortunately, the prices for those plates are high. You can go for pure FD, a hybrid of FD/attack power, or pure attack power, it all depends on how much gold your character has. Hunting for those plates takes a long time, and I'd rather buy them off at the Trading House (TH) with a bargain if available. Critical stat is not a problem for Academics or Shooting Stars altogether because AGI is their main stat. As you will see later, even with only a Fatal heraldry enhancement plate, I'm able to achieve 16K Critical stat.
Lastly, having a high enough HP is imperative to a Shooting Star, but even so, sometimes you'll be needing some form of HP/MP restoration at one point in the game. It ain't much but she has a portable vending machine that dispenses consumable items to restore HP/MP or give random status buffs.
II. Skills and their explanations
Cannons (and missiles):
Ping Pong Bomb (Lv. 12, 12 sec) - one of the main cannon skills for a Shooting Star. Maxing this is a must. The cannon ball that fires from this skill bounces from one target to the next to a maximum of 8 bounces. At level 12, each bounce deals 470%+4652 physical damage. It's very handy for clearing out a bunch of mobs in one shot. If there are no more targets left, the last target hit is dealt an additional 12% for every unused bounce. Therefore, this skill is also good for single target damage output. The range is of medium range (roughly 6-7 times your character's height...and yes I did measure it in-game.)
Quick Shot (Lv. 6, 5 sec) - a very minor damage skill (compared to the others) which fires 3 cannon shots. At level 6, each cannon deals 50%+19 of your physical attack power. It provides good paralyzing effect, though. With a very short CD of 5 seconds, I spam this skill a lot not for its damage but more for its paralyzing effect. But take care because your character is stationary when firing the 3 shots. You can turn around though while firing if you want to shoot other targets with the next cannon fire. Range is similar to Ping Pong Bomb.
Splash (Lv. 2, 29 sec) - the other main cannon skill for a Shooting Star. Of course, because you can only get this if and only if you're a Shooting Star. This skill sprays 5 cannons in a 40-45 degree horizontal arc. At level 2, each cannon deals 297%+5425 physical damage. It's useful for clearing mobs, but the real beauty is firing it at point blank range to a nest boss/mini boss. The range, however, is a third shorter than Ping Pong Bomb, but who cares when you'll be firing at point blank most of the time.
Bubble Bubble (Lv. 5, 17 sec) - traps your target in a bubble. It splashes upon hit, so nearby targets can be trapped too. It serves two purposes though, depending on the target hit. At level 5, 1) if friend, it protects them by absorbing 5674 of damage taken for 14 seconds; 2) if foe, it locks the target in place for 3 seconds dealing 210%+1891 magical damage.
Mine Thrower (Lv. 9, 25 sec) - I didn't really appreciate this skill before. But after reading other guides about their experiences, I tried to max and test it out myself. This skill deals fairly good damage if you have good equipment. When activated, your character goes into kneeling position and fires a mortar diagonally upwards which spreads into multiple shots below (unspecified in-game, but some say 10 or 20 shots.) At level 9, each shot deals 32%+2152 physical damage. Again, it's useful for clearing out mobs or on huge single targets where all the shots hit. The only difficulty is the positioning of your character prior to activating it because the distance from you to the damage area is fixed. Range is similar to Ping Pong Bomb.
Biochemical Missile (Lv. 4, 40 sec) - has both damaging and debuffing effects. It has a very cool animation, but it lags gameplay during the spread of the debuff gas. At level 4, it deals 354%+10332 physical damage upon impact and renders your targets' dark resistance by 15% and critical resistance by 30% for 20 seconds.
Demolition (Lv. 1, 125 sec) - the Shooting Star's ultimate skill of choice. It is required to activate the Splash skill mentioned earlier. Prior to patch 450 mark (or DN SEA ver 85), I rarely used this skill because the damage dealt was so disappointing. After the patch, I tested it out again and saw a really sizable change in damage dealt. When activated, your character goes into firing stance dealing 2317%+25951 per shot. This skill has two variants: 1) if normal attack is used, a large cannon ball together with small ones at the sides are fired continuously within 8.3 seconds for every normal attack pressed. Additionally, if all small ones hit the same target, 50% more damage is dealt. 2) If special attack is used, a piercing cannon ball is fired instead and the stance is cancelled immediately after the piercing fire.
Ping Pong Bomb EX (Lv. 1) - as if the normal Ping Pong Bomb didn't do enough damage already, with the Shooting Star job, it gets even more damage through its EX counterpart. 20% more base damage, an additional 2 more bounces, and 5% more damage per unused bounce.
Alfredo support:
Summon Alfredo (Lv. 3, 10 sec) - needless to say, Alfredo is indispensable to a Shooting Star. At level 3, Alfredo has 6x your character's maximum HP (and not VIT contrary to in-game description.)
Alfredo Recalls (Lv. 1, 3 sec) - Alfredo, your trusted butler, sometimes gets lost/trapped or suddenly springs a mind of his own and goes on his merry way. So recalling him is necessary. It instantly teleports Alfredo back loyally to your side. It's also free to level up this skill as it does not require any points to be spent.
Alfredo Stomp (Lv. 7, 11 sec) - Alfredo jumps a bit and stomps down heavily on the ground dealing 313%+12553 to nearby enemies at level 7. It also aggros nearby monsters for 5 seconds so they focus their attacks more on Alfredo rather than on you. You have to activate it through one of the hotkeys for Alfredo to begin his stomping/provoking cycle. Press the hotkey again to de-activate it.
Alfredo Berserker (Lv. 1, 60 sec) - a buff skill for Alfredo only. It affects him in the following ways: 1) 40% increased action speed; 2) 40% increased movement speed; 3) 40% increased damage; and 4) 10% reduced damage taken. If you've noticed, I only placed 1 level instead of the maximum 3 levels allowed. The reason behind will be stated later in the guide. This is a passive skill and is automatically activated sometime after summoning Alfredo.
Transitional Damage (Lv. 3, 60 sec) - orders Alfredo to buff surrounding allies (including you) by reducing the damage taken. At level 3, damage is reduced by 50% for 30 seconds. It's a bit tricky activating as it only does so when Alfredo has a target but not yet doing anything else (like stomp or hurricane), otherwise you risk wasting the activation. However with practice, you'll know when for better successes in doing it.
Alfredo Hurricane (Lv. 7, 30 sec) - another passive skill for Alfredo. He begins to swirl his arms around in a whirlwind fashion and deals 537%+10328 physical damage at level 7. It also paralyzes the targets hit in place when Alfredo does the hurricane.
Alfredo Beam (Lv. 1, 24 sec) - yet another passive skill for Alfredo, but the best passive damaging skill IMO. Alfredo fires a cross-shaped beam with him at the center dealing 814%+8122 physical damage. The damage this baby does is amazing, and there's a trick to spamming it as well. If you re-summon Alfredo (unsummon/summon him), his skills' CD will be reset. Summoning Alfredo has a 10 seconds CD, so the 24 seconds is reduced by 40%!!! I spam this skill a lot during nest bosses/mini bosses.
Towers:
Grenades:
Stun Grenade (Lv. 6, 10 sec) - tosses a hand grenade with great impact to stun enemies. At level 6, it deals 226%+730 physical damage and has 35% stun chance--that's 1 out of 3 chance, which is quite good IMO, so level 6 is enough. You can change your throw angle and target higher for longer range. The area of damage is quite decent, too. It scatters enemies on impact.
Gravity Grenades (Lv. 6, 14 sec) - tosses a grenade that creates a mini black hole which pulls enemies towards the point of impact. It deals 245%+4131 dark damage in a span of 3-5 ticks.
Flash Grenade (Lv. 1, 22 sec) - allows you to stun and toss your enemies away by pressing normal attack while you're under attack. This stuns the surrounding enemies long enough for you to make a quick getaway.
Air Bomb (Lv. 1, 3 sec) - provides a means to jump even longer while throwing a grenade below by pressing special attack. I use this especially when trying to escape a mercenary's whirlwind ultimate because a simple aerial evasion just isn't enough. The grenade deals 150% physical damage.
Escape:
Dodge (Lv. 5, 2.6 sec) - your basic escape skill, self-explanatory.
Aerial Evasion (Lv. 4, 18 sec) - your escape when tossed up into the air, again self-explanatory.
Wax (Lv. 5, 18 sec) - when doing this skill, you cover the ground with a wax-like substance. It has two effects depending on the target that walks over the waxed area. At level 5, 1) if friend, it increases their movement speed by 50% for 5 seconds, or 2) if foe, there is a 24% chance that they'll slip and fall. I use this to speed up dungeon runs/pvp rushes or to getaway quickly. Dungeon/nest bosses/mini bosses slip a lot using this skill, too. The more level this skill has the shorter the CD becomes and the greater the slipping chance is, but level 5 is enough.
Rocket Jump (Lv. 1, 7 sec) - again, still only at level 1, this is another getaway quick skill. I usually don't assign a hotkey for this because it can be activated by pressing special attack when dodging. It does deal a measly 86%+41 physical damage though from your point of rocket jump to whoever you hit with your character's body. That's because the character is treated as a projectile so bumping enemies deals damage to them.
Circle Bomb (Lv. 1, 12 sec) - I consider this as an escape skill. The situation is usually when they're all still attacking and you're down already, thus waking up with this throws them off-balance just long enough for you to getaway (or make a counterattack.)
HP/MP:
Auto Dispenser (Lv. 1, 200 sec) - the cute and lovable portable vending machine. Makes you think how the heck did she pack that in her purse (take that Batman--your utility belt is obsolete.) If you get this skill to level 2 via a skill ring, it spouts 2 items at a time every 5 seconds for 30 seconds. Note that the HP restoration items are reduced though with only a maximum of 20% I've seen so far. Plus the stock is random, so complain to your supplier if they run out of chicken.
Physical Mastery (Lv. 1 or 3) - this adds 3% (or 9%) of your maximum HP. If you're having MP problems, then level this to 1 only and use 2 points for both Mental Mastery and Mind Conquer.
Mental Mastery (Lv. 1) - this adds 3% to your maximum MP.
Mind Conquer (Lv. 1) - this increases your MP recovery by 1.5% every minute. Mental Mastery Lv. 1 is required to add points to this.
Special Note: The total number of points used is only 141 out of 147. Despite Alfredo Berserker maintained at level 1, the reason behind is because I'm anticipating the level 60 cap for this build. Alfredo Berserker at level 4 only increases the duration (from 15 to 25 seconds) and the damage reduced taken (from 10% to 20%)--Alfredo has 6x your HP so it doesn't matter, and you can reset his skills' CD by re-summoning him, so level 1 is enough for this.
When level 60 cap is released (even if they hand out free skill initialization scroll), this build is ready for upgrade. Besides, all the necessary skills for a Shooting Star is already maxed out and there's no need to waste the remaining 6 points.III. Heraldry enhancements and 3rd stats
Since this guide relies partly on FD to increase damage output, an Ultimate enhancement is required. Attack Power is the other stat that shall increase her output damage.
But I didn't focus merely on increasing her damage output, I also gave significance to her defenses (both physical and magical.) When I created this guide, my Magic Defense was higher than my physical Defense, so I opted to have a Shining enhancement instead and just relied on 3rd stat to boost the Magic Defense.
The 3rd stats can be switched around (depending on the prices at TH, just make sure you get them right.) Getting all the 3rd stat is not necessary, especially the FD ones. That's because the equipment section will provide the base FD value and it provides quite enough to boost her overall damage output.
I also labeled some enhancements as optional and provided alternatives.
I didn't really place importance on Paralyze and Stun Resistances because a Shooting Star is mostly a ranged attacker. Also, Critical Resistance is not a problem because of the high AGI, but nevertheless, I still allocated one 3rd stat for it just to be safe.
Lastly, and this may seem uncommon to you, I used an Impact enhancement because I love to stun my enemies with the Ping Pong Bomb skill.
So without further ado (all enhancements are based on Lv. 50 epic):
- Destruction + FD
Attack Power: 170-170
Attack Power: 10%-10%
Final Damage: 85 - Wind + FD
AGI: 136
AGI: 10%
Final Damage: 85 - Fatal + FD
Critical: 1472
Critical: 20%
Final Damage: 85 - Shining + Crit Resist (optional 1)
Defense: 621
Defense: 10%
Critical Resist.: 1472 - Life + Magic Defense
Max HP: 3477
Max HP: 10%
Magic Def.: 414 - Health + Magic Defense
Vitality: 114
Vitality: 7%
Magic Def.: 414 - Ultimate + Attack Power
Final Damage: 170
Attack Power: 85-85 - Impact + Attack Power (optional 2)
Stun: 2454
Stun: 20%
Attack Power: 85-85
If your physical Defense is already higher than your Magic Defense, then switch this enhancement for Tent which provides Magic Defense. 3rd stat for two Magic Defense in both Life and Health should be changed to physical Defense as well.
- Tent + Crit Resist
Magic Defense: 829
Defense: 10%
Critical Resist.: 1472 - Life + Defense
Max HP: 3477
Max HP: 10%
Defense: 310 - Health + Defense
Vitality: 114
Vitality: 7%
Defense: 310
This can be switched to any enhancement of your choice, provided you don't duplicate the above mentioned. 3rd stat remains unchanged.
IV. Skill plates
The Skill plates choices are pretty straightforward for a Shooting Star. However, due to their rarity, some or most of them are very hard to get. It took me quite awhile to acquire the Ping Pong Bomb plate and the Biochemical Missile I got lucky on my first try. And because they're rare, consequently, their prices are high, too, if you decide to buy them from the TH.
- Quick Shot (20% increased damage) - common/rare OR
Bubble Bubble (12% reduced CD) - rare OR
Wax (12% reduced CD) - common - Ping Pong Bomb (20% increased damage) - very rare
- Biochemical Missiles (20% increased damage) - very rare OR
Mine Thrower (20% increased damage) - very rare OR
Alfredo Beam (20% increased damage) - very very rare (some say it's a mystery plate) - Splash (20% increased damage) - common/rare
V. Equipment set, suffixes, and potentials
Since the focus to increase damage is via FD stat, equipment set choices are pretty straightforward. Two (2) set combinations are available, depending on whether you do PVP more or not:
Set 1 (no PVP): 3 Immortals, 4 Ancient Totems
440 (Equipment) + 170 (Ultimate) = 610 FD Total
Set 2 (w/ PVP): 5 Immortals, 2 Victors (Primary and Secondary Weapons)
510 (Equipment) + 170 (Ultimate) = 680 FD Total
The Suffix II enhancements for both sets are the same.
Armors
Tunic - Health II (This gives the best increase in MAX HP compared to HP II suffix.)
Slacks - Wind II (Self-explanatory--AGI is the main stat, therefore Wind II.)
Beret - Wind II (Self-explanatory.)
Cloak - HP II (Decent HP regen for a non-healer class.)
Round-toed Shoes - HP II (Another chance for HP regen.)
Weapons
Cannon - Destruction II (This gives the best increase in Attack Power, plus the extra damage from the suffix ability.)
Threaded Loop - Destruction II (This gives the best increase in Attack Power, plus the extra damage from the suffix ability.)
The potentials for armors are pretty straightforward, too.
Armors: AGI 4.50%, any 2 of the 3: STR 4.50%, Vitality 3.25%, MAX HP 6.50%.
The potentials for weapons, however, are a bit tricky. Getting them all would be perfect, but if not, then at least get Attack Power in one and Critical on the other. Having MP Recovery ensures your MP pool in case you have problems.
Weapons: Attack Power 5.75%-5.75%, Critical 17.00%, AGI 4.50%, STR 4.50%, MP Recovery 15.00%.
Check out the spreadsheet link in the appendices section below for more detailed data on each equipment.
VI. Set accessories and potentials
Accessories provide more variety depending on one's budget and/or objective. The "poor" player's choice of accessories is, of course, the standard rose red variety. On the high-end though, you have either the Apocalypse accessory set for more FD but lesser Attack Power or the War of Immortal set for lesser FD but more Attack Power. All the stat details can be found in the spreadsheet link, but I'll just list down the bare essentials below:
Note: These values are just approximations, based on known stat conversion factors.
Rose Red:
Necklace: Wind
Earrings: Wind
Rings: Destruction - 2 pcs.
Stat Totals:
Final Damage: 0
Attack Power: 785-785
Critical: 2947
MAX HP: 4380
Apocalypse:
Necklace: Judgment (or Revelation)
Earrings: Judgment (or Revelation)
Rings: Disciplinary - 2 pcs.
Stat Totals:
Final Damage: 244
Attack Power: 153-153
Critical: 460
MAX HP: 5438
War of Immortal:
Necklace: set item
Earrings: set item
Rings: set item
Stat Totals:
Final Damage: 175
Attack Power: 463-463
Critical: 4017
MAX HP: 4400
The potentials are again pretty straightforward.
Necklace/Earrings: AGI 4.50%, any 2 of the 3: STR 4.50%, Vitality 3.25%, MAX HP 6.50%.
Rings: Attack Power 5.75%-5.75%, Critical 17.00%, AGI 4.50%, STR 4.50%, MP Recovery 15.00%.
VII. Hotkey assignments
TBD.
VIII. Sources
Shooting Star Portrait, http://dn.mmosite.com/news/10202011/dn_cn_20th_oct_update_1.shtml
IX. Credits
Special mention goes to Taecyong for helping me test out some skills' damages and debuffing effects (particularly Biochemical Missile and Demolition) and finding out the actual life of Alfredo in-game. But please, stop hitting my beautiful face.
Thanks to Shu for testing out links and images within this guide.
VII. Appendices
- Table of data for contents in this guide: Google Drive Spreadsheet.
- MMOsite's skill calculator images:
nice. :) you really maximized the SS's potential. not like other skill builds that is like GM's
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