Cheif Bandit Guide

Courtesy of elsakoo2 of Sleepywood forums.

For the chief bandit there's no one set build that is "best" over all
other builds. Rather, there are several paths you can take. Which one
is the best? ill write the two most popular builds and give their
dis/advantages based on what maps are out now(and really, what build
you use is very dependant on what maps you want to play on).
For the most part the 3rd job build for the bandit is not as set as the
2nd job build for bandit(if you're pure, go mastery first, if you toss
stars go SB first), the only important thing is that you get meso
guard, thieves and assaulter maxed first. The other moves aren't as
important and the order in which you max the "big three" are really the
only differences between builds.

skill / max level
pickpocket / 20 [req; lv3 meso explosion to unlock]
meso explosion / 30
shield mastery / 20
chakra / 30
meso guard / 20 [req; lv3 chakra to unlock]
assaulter / 30
thieves / 30

Points you get from 70->120 : 151
You will end up maxing everything except chakra and shield mastery,
after maxing everything else you will have 18 points to put into chakra
or shield mastery as you wish(or a second or first job skill)

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Assaulter first:
level / skills
70 / 1 assaulter
71 / 3 assaulter / 1 meso explosion
72 / 6 assaulter / 1 meso explosion
73 / 9 assaulter / 1 meso explosion
74 / 12 assaulter / 1 meso explosion
75 / 15 assaulter / 1 meso explosion
76 / 18 assaulter / 1 meso explosion
77 / 21 assaulter / 1 meso explosion
78 / 24 assaulter / 1 meso explosion
79 / 27 assaulter / 1 meso explosion
80 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion [max assaulter]
81 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra
82 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 3 meso guard
83 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard /
84 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 3 thieves
85 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 6 thieves
86 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 9 thieves
87 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 12 thieves
88 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 12 thieves [save 3]
89 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 18 thieves
90 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 18 thieves [save 3]
91 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 24 thieves
92 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 24 thieves [save 3]
93 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard / 30 thieves [max thieves]
94 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 9 meso guard / 30 thieves
95 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 12 meso guard / 30 thieves
96 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 15 meso guard / 30 thieves
97 / 30 assaulter / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 18 meso guard / 30 thieves
98 / 30 assaulter / 2 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 20 meso guard / 30 thieves [max meso guard]
99 / [see below, "OK now I've completed one variation of the two above builds, Now what?"]

Some variations:
-Not adding level 1 meso explosion- its useless, doesn't help, your
skills can be 1 point stronger but you don't max anything 1 level
faster. People like it for fun though and its a great morale booster
-Stopping at level 20 assaulter to get 3 meso guard, then resuming
assaulter- allows you to leave zombies sooner. Levels 1-20 assaulter
add 10% damage per point, levels 20-30 assaulter add 5% damage per
point, so you're not losing a lot.
-Stopping at level 20 assaulter and following the thieves first build.
just like the above build only you skip the later levels of assaulter
where you gain less % damage per level then earlier

Description:
Personally I don't recommend going this route, but for those that are interested, I will highlight its good points:
You will be stronger then bandits who go thieves first during 7x. You
will be able to one hit KO zombies starting at 7x, and due to the
teleportation assaulter gives, you'll be able to kill zombies faster
then almost any class(perhaps an assassin that OHKOs zombies would kill
faster but they would have to be late 8x to do that consistently). Also
zombies are pretty much the last monster for bandits that give a profit
from meso drops(because bump damage is low, the mesos dropped are high
and even their teeth can be sold for 100 each), the assaulter first
bandit will be somewhat richer then their thieves/first counterpart.
Keep in mind though, that the only edge you have over a bandit that
went thieves first is the teleportation from assaulter(which means
faster travel plus you can avoid bump damage), because the damage is
about the same between assaulter and SB.
Once you get a few points into meso guard, you'll be able to move on to
high defense monsters like the yeti-and-pepe, werewolf, where you can
continue to hunt drops.
I recommend that you delay adding meso guard so you can max thieves
sooner. Your damage output at 8x will be very low compared to
theives-first chief bandits and chances are the money saved from maxed
guard won't be worth the sacrifice in damage.



If yakuza town/jipang area were released
Assaulter has very little use here, if yakuza town existed id say
straight up do thieves first. The mobs here are thick, high leveled,
and not very good for a bandit that doesn't have thieves maxed. The
damage you take from monsters is too high, if you're doing assaulter
first you won't be doing the damage you CAN be doing, so training here
is not worth it until you max thieves.
(I exclude alientown because all the monsters there are like level 50 and below)


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Thieves first:
level / skills
**For the reason why you save points when maxing thieves look at the
bottom of this page where it gives point-by-point descriptions of
thieves**
70 / 1 assaulter
71 / 1 assaulter / 2 thieves / 1 meso explosion
72 / 1 assaulter / 5 thieves / 1 meso explosion
73 / 1 assaulter / 8 thieves / 1 meso explosion
74 / 1 assaulter / 11 thieves / 1 meso explosion
75 / 1 assaulter / 12 thieves/ 1 meso explosion [save 2]
76 / 1 assaulter / 12 thieves/ 1 meso explosion [save 5]
77 / 1 assaulter / 18 thieves/ 1 meso explosion [save 2]
78 / 1 assaulter / 18 thieves/ 1 meso explosion [save 5]
79 / 1 assaulter / 24 thieves/ 1 meso explosion [save 2]
80 / 1 assaulter / 29 thieves / 1 meso explosion
81 / 1 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 2 chakra [max thieves]
82 / 1 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 2 meso guard
83 / 1 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 5 meso guard
84 / 3 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard
85 / 6 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard
86 / 9 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard
87 / 12 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard
88 / 15 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard
89 / 18 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard
90 / 21 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard
91 / 24 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard
92 / 27 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard
93 / 30 assaulter / 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 6 meso guard [max assaulter]
94 / 30 assaulter 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 9 meso guard
95 / 30 assaulter 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 12 meso guard
96 / 30 assaulter 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 15 meso guard
97 / 30 assaulter 30 thieves / 1 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 18 meso guard
98 / 30 assaulter 30 thieves / 2 meso explosion / 3 chakra / 20 meso guard [max meso guard]
99 / [see below, "Ok now I've completed one variation of the two above builds, Now what?"]

Some variations:
-Not adding level 1 meso explosion- its useless, doesn't help, your
skills can be 1 point stronger and you max thieves 1 level sooner.
People like it for fun though and its a great morale booster
-Max meso guard before maxing assaulter- its personal preference. If
you like the safety + savings more than the slightly added damage take
this path. Once you're training with thieves in your 8x levels you'll
find you wont be spamming assaulter, so saving money might be better
for you
-Leaving meso guard at a low level and max meso explosion and pick
pocket first- only do this if you're rich and can afford this, because
high level mob monsters do LOTS of damage. but if you're prepared for
the costs and want the extra damage and fast leveling, then when you
hit level 93, and are supposed to add more meso guard, skip to the
section below and add skill points as if you were level 99 instead.
raise guard only enough so that you don't die because of it(because
dieing means loss of EXP and that means slower leveling), and don't max
guard until explosion and ppocket are maxed.

Description:
I recommend this build x]
during the 7x levels its not as strong as the assaulter-first bandit,
but during 8x once thieves is maxed its damage output is far superior.
If you're going to put any points into thieves you need to max it.
unlike assaulter, there is no going halfway. When its not maxed,
thieves is only a marginally useful, incredibly expensive skill to use.
By "incredibly expensive" I'm talking about the ratio of damage to mana
usage. When you add points, damage increases faster then mana usage
increases. It may seem that lower level thieves is cheaper, but thats
only because it sucks.
This build is weak in the beginning but once thieves is maxed it deals
210% to 6 targets totaling 1260%(assuming you get all 6), at the speed
of normal attack with booster, second best mob damage in the game. Even
though the 3rd job spearman's spear attack is somewhat stronger
damage/time, the bandit gets the speed and teleportation that the
spearman doesn't have.



If yakuza town/jipang area were released
And if they release the yakuza girls/bains mobs then you should
definitely go thieves first. Bandits on those maps deal SO much damage
because the mobs are so good. omgggg. You thieves first bandits think
ludibrium is good? suckers


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Ok now I've completed one variation of the two above builds, Now what?
You max pickpocket and Meso Explosion. In what order, and how much of each??
The combination of ppocket and meso explosion won't be really useful
for damage until 1 explosion deals more damage then 1 thieves
attack(which is about the time you hit level 100). Using it effectively
will be challenging because you'll find that herding the monsters
towards a pile of coins will reduce your damage/time, and using SB to
produce coins faster will also be slower.
Also note that every few levels of meso explosion, you blow up 2 more
bags, and every level of meso explosion you gain some mastery. In
practice, this means every level means a small increase in overall
explosion damage, and every 5 levels you get a significant increase in
explosion damage.
Every level of pickpocket ALSO increases damage, by increasing the
number of coins dropped AND the amount within each coin. In practice,
this means with increasing levels in pickpocket you will be able to
cast a successful explosion more often, and each explosion will cause
more damage.

The trick is to figure out what order to put them in for the best
damage. Unfortunately we don't have formulas that tell us exactly the
max/min we can expect to get per coin from pickpocket(because the
amount is dependant on skill level, monster level AND damage inflicted,
there's so much variation I doubt well ever find out), but I'll give
you my best approximation based on my experience. other people may
disagree with this, but here is my build order and my reasons for it
below:

level / skill
98 / 2 meso explosion
99 / 4 meso explosion / 1 pick pocket
100 / 7 meso explosion / 1 pick pocket
101 / 10 meso explosion / 1 pick pocket
102 / 12 meso explosion / 2 pick pocket
103 / 12 meso explosion / 5 pick pocket
104 / 12 meso explosion / 8 pick pocket
105 / 15 meso explosion / 8 pick pocket
106 / 18 meso explosion / 8 pick pocket
107 / 21 meso explosion / 8 pick pocket
108 / 24 meso explosion / 8 pick pocket
109 / 24 meso explosion / 11 pick pocket
110 / 24 meso explosion / 14 pick pocket
111 / 24 meso explosion / 17 pick pocket
112 / 24 meso explosion / 20 pick pocket [max pick pocket]
113 / 27 meso explosion / 20 pick pocket
114 / 30 meso explosion / 20 pick pocket[max meso explosion]


Remember 3 explosion is required to unlock ppokcet, so 3 explosion goes first no matter what.
So why stop at 12 explosion before maxing pick pocket, why not stop at
6, or 18? I stopped at 12 because its the lowest level where you get 14
bags blown up, which is about the point where damage becomes decent if
you have enough coins. So at this point adding pick pocket would help
more then adding more explosion because if you have level 12 explosion
and 1 ppocket you'll notice you have a pretty bad shortage of coins,
and increasing the number and amount will make this combo useful. Once
you get 8 points in pick pocket, though, more points in meso explosion
will be better because you can blow up more coins. Meso explosion stops
at 24 until you max pick pocket because level 24 explosion is when you
blow up all 20 bags, and any points after that is just mastery.

What about 1 pickpocket early?
I added 1 pickpocket in my 8x level in JMS just to see what it would be
like. It took 3 points in meso explode to unlock, and it never served
as anything more than a "for fun" move. It served to raise morale
because it was just crazy fun but all in all it didn't add to my
damage, and it slowed me down if I actually stopped to blow up the
coins, with such a low level ME and ppocket. If you do decide to add 1
pickpocket, know that the initial duration is 90 seconds so level 1 is
usable if youre determined to use it, and that it'll set you back 4
skill points total(3 explosion required).

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What to do after level 114?
the only skills you should have left to max are shield mastery and
chakra. Chakra already has 3 points because its a prerequisite to Meso
guard. If you want to make some use out of your remaining skill points
put it into shield mastery. I say this because it a passive skill and
even though you'll never really "need" either skill shield mastery will
still be there, blocking that extra 1 or 2 damage if you have a shield,
whereas chakra doesn't help at all. You can also put it into 2nd and
1st job skills, but you already probably maxed anything you've been
missing with the extra points in 2nd job.
Ok im level 120 now, what to do?!
save up skill points and petition wizet repeatedly for 4th job :p

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WHERE DU I TRAIN?
I know a million billion threads will be posted asking where to train
so im adding this section in the hope of shaving off a million or two.
Heres a small list of where to train. you COULD of course train elsewhere but these are the fastest places:
7x:
OHKO zombies
OHKO jr yetis
OHKO clangs and umtis
OHKO subway wraiths in a party with a preist
Voodoos
8x:
OHKO zombies
OHKO jr yetis
OHKO clangs and umtis
yeti and pepe
werewolf(if you have max assaulter)
sniping red vikings(if you have max assaulter)
undead Teddy bears
green pirates
9x:
green pirates
red pirates
phantom watches
10x and beyond:
green pirates
red pirates
phantom watches
majestic pirates
anywhere in ludibrium really

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This is an old guide now so if anyone has better thoughts feel free to post the improvements below!

This is a great guide ill be sure to check back at it, almost Cheif Bandit! 4 More Levels, then we'll have 3!!!!!!!!! Mesos Exploders =P

good good

And I died out of boredom, so I probably won't skip 74 any time soon...

lol same here. trying to get some money to fund my Cheif Bandit..