User:LexisMikaya/Lancemanship 101

The Basics

Lances are extremely powerful weapons that was implemented back in Generation 14. This large weapon probably has the best attack rate than most two-handed weapons. Although the lance was seen in the Jousting Arena back when Generation 10 was implemented, it wasn't exactly a weapon until G14. This large weapon was also the first melee weapon that allowed the use of skills while on a mount. Most horses and the Crystal Deer will fulfill the condition of lance combat on a mount. This feature is what separates the Lance from the Sword category, along with its unique set of skills.

What is a Lance?

The lance is an large spear that is usually a pole-like weapon. This weapon dates back to as far as the 3rd BC century and was used widely during the Middle Ages. It is typically an elongated spear with a large handle at the end. There is a large tip at the end and it was capable of impaling multiple enemies in a row.

The ones seen in Mabinogi have a similar design, but it was designed with portability in mind. The lances can extend the tip out from the hilt and can be locked in. The sharp tip of the weapon can pierce an enemy defenses, causing a high damage rate while piercing most basic defenses. Lances can be seen stored on a player's back when it is sheathed.

Disadvantages in Battle

Lances also has drawbacks due to its massive power. The first drawback is the amount of distance. Due to its massive size, you cannot just stand next to an enemy and attack them. You have to move back and give you and the enemy in question some distance. The massive size will only let you use the tip of the lance to attack, so try to position yourself to where you can run up to them and make a combo, than rather estimate the amount of distance between you and the enemy. The second drawback is being unable to use Defense, Charge, and Counterattack skills. Due to the massive size, you cannot defend from a target. This leaves you open for attack with no way to defend. The normal counterattack cannot be used while holding the lance, but it is replaced with a skill known as Lance Counter. It differs from the normal counterattack, but it is much more powerful as well. Charge is disabled for humans due to carrying the weight of the massive weapon. It is replaced with a lance only skill called Lance Charge. Giants on the other hand, can use either Charge or the special skill. However, using either one will render them both into a cooldown period.

Unique Skills and Abilities

The lance is a weapon of its own class, while belonging to the two-handed weapon category. It is a two-handed by nature, but has an entirely different fighting style. As a two handed weapon, it gives an additional amount of damage and critical rate when the Smash or Assault Slash skills are used.

Piercing

This type of weapon have a unique property known as Piercing Level. Piercing level determines how much Defense and Protection is negated, or ignored, during the damage calculation. The higher the level, the more Defense/Protection is negated. For example, if you have a defense stat of 80 and a protection stat of 45. Getting hit by a lance that has a Piercing Level of 6 will negate 50 Defense and 30 Protection. The final damage calculation would be as if you only had 30 Defense and 15 Protection.

As a common misconception, there is a stat called Armor Piercing, which is often confused for Lance Piercing. Armor Piercing simply negates 1 Defense per 1 Armor Piercing point. It is affected by Dexterity and can stack with the lance's Piercing level for an even greater effect. The formula for Armor Piercing is:
(Dexterity-10) / 15

Skills

Since the lance is a different weapon and has a class of its own, 3 new skills allow the weapon to become even more powerful than other two-handed weapons.

Lance Mastery: This increases the attack rate and critical rate of a lance when it is equipped. At rank 9, Lances will gain an additional hit in exchange for a slightly lower stun time
Lance Counter: A special counterattack skill made specifically for lances. Unlike Counterattack, Lance Counter is activated instantanously and cannot be canceled once executed and has a cooldown after use.
Lance Charge: A special Charge skill made for lances. Unlike Charge, Lance Charge will hit every enemy in the path of the target. Using this skill will render both Charge and Lance Charge into a cooldown period. Same applies if a Giant uses Charge instead of Lance Charge.

Advantages and Disadvantages

There are several key advantages and disadvantages. This is what separates Lances from most Melee weapons.

Advantages:

Unique Skills made specifically for lances.
Stronger than most upgraded weapons
Can attack at a small distance
Can intercept oncoming attacks
Capable of destroying Defense and Protection during calculation of damage

Disadvantages:

Defense is disabled.
Training is CP based
Requires large amounts of training for Lance Charge and Lance Counter
Takes up the most space for a weapon, rivaling cylinders.
The only budget lances are the Beginner Lion Claw Lance and the Physis Wooden Lance. All others must be obtain from dungeons, blacksmithing, monster drops, or other players.

Lances Vs Swords

Lances may be considered a two-handed, but it is far from being classified as sword. Swords have a sharp blade, and is usually a double-edged sword. Lances are more of a spear with no edges, but it does have a single sharp point/tip at the end.

Swords

Sword Advantages

Can be Dual Wielded by Humans
- Must be a one-handed
- Does not apply to all one-handed swords/blades
Has varying upgrade paths
Most of them are one-handed swords
Most basic swords can be obtained through the various weapon shops
Relatively cheap to moderate repair costs
Easily maintained and well balanced
Moderately high attack rates
Range of attack is manageable
Does not take up a lot of Inventory space
- Most swords are in the 1x4 or 1x3 range
Ideal for Goddess and Obsidian/Caliburn enchants
Easily replaced in most situations
Most swords can be blacksmithed for better upgrades
Has a specialized skill for holding two swords
Perfect for most players since many players are accustomed to swords
Two-Handed Swords can outclass some lances

Sword Disadvantages

Some swords have a relatively high cost of maintenance
Some swords can only be obtained through monster drops or other means such as Commerce or Synthesis
Low Critical rate on some swords
Low Balance on some swords
Durability on some swords are relatively low after certain upgrade paths
- This can be remedied by buying or making a Blacksmithed version of the weapon in question.
  - However you must perfectly, or nearly perfect, the finishing part of the item to determine its grade
    - The higher the grade, the better the stats.
- You can also hunt certain mobs for monster drops of the weapon in question.

Lances

Lance Advantages

Extended range of attack
Can intercept attacks
- This requires little to no lag at all
Has specialized skills
Pierces Defense and Protection
- Upgrades and Enchants can further boost piercing levels
- Generally at a Piercing Level of 4, you can hit past most Upgraded Armor Defenses when used in PVP.
All lances can be special upgraded
Relatively moderate maintenance cost
High Critical rate
Fairly high attack rate
Can deal an additional hit at Rank 9+ Lance Mastery

Lance Disadvantages

All lances are 2x4
Disables Defense and Counterattack Skills
Lance Counter, unlike Counterattack, cannot be manually canceled, has a cooldown, ends automatically, and a larger AP cost
Lance Charge, unlike normal Charge, has a lesser maximum attack distance, cannot be alternated with normal Charge, and a larger AP cost
Only one lance is available through the weapon shop
- The other lances require either a Monster Drops, Dungeon Rewards, Jousting Rewards, bought through Commerce, or given Event Prizes
Some lances are hard to replace (e.g. Knight Lance)
Minimum distance required before landing an attack
- You cannot just stand next to an enemy to hit them
- Minimal distance is negated by Windmill, Assault Slash, and Final Hit
Instinctive Reaction will intercept despite being out of range
All lances suffer from poor balance
Some two-handed swords can outclass the attack rate of a fully upgraded lance
Stun Time is slightly reduced when you have Rank 9+ Lance Mastery

Race Differences

Only Human and Giants can wield the Lance. There are different play styles since the weapon differs in use in between the two races. Human will be much more well-rounded than a Giant would, but a Giant would have many combat advantages over Humans. Elves cannot equip the lance due to the massive size. This is possibly due to the lack of strength and physical build an elf has. They do not have the physique to carry this massive weapon.

Human

Human Advantages

Can Play Dead
High Stamina
Average Build, All round

Human Disadvantages

Slowest Running Speed
Unable to outrun most creatures
Minimum attack range is higher

Giant

Giant Advantages

Minimum attack range is lower
High Stamina
High Strength build
Can use either Charge or Lance Charge
- Both will enter a cooldown if either one is used.
Can use a shield in conjunction with a lance equipped

Giant Disadvantages

Slow Running Speed, but faster than humans
Unable to outrun some creatures
Cannot Play Dead

The Way of The Lance

The lance is a truly powerful and magnificent weapon. Mabinogi depicts this weapon as it was depicted back in the days of King Arthur and the Knight of Camelot. It is very accurate, but of course there are some misconceptions of the lance, such as running at a high speed without a horse. Overall, it is a very accurate depiction, so long you ignore some of the minor errors.

Oh come on! I mean, who can run 30 mph with at least 40lbs of metal on (Armor, armor pieces, weight of other weapons/items, etc. Excludes Giants who obviously can pull such a feat) ?

Learning Lance Combat

Moving on, learning to use the lance is no different to learning to use a two-handed sword. However, there is only one person in the entire world of Mabinogi with knowledge of Lance Combat, and it seems to lie in Dunbarton. Her name is Aranwen and she is located at the front of the Dunbarton School, where there are dummies placed to practice hits on. Before you can learn any skills for lances and lance-type weaponry, you must first learn the way of the lance. It is as simple as buying a Physis Wooden Lance from Nerys for about 12K gold or obtaining one through other players. Once you have obtained a lance, you will receive the knowledge of Lance Mastery. Lance Mastery is the most important skill for lances as it:

Increases Critical Rate while using a lance
Increases Minimum and Maximum Damage while using a lance
Increases your attack rate while using a lance at Rank 9

A general idea on proper use of the lance's range.

Lances are dubbed "power of a giant" due to their immense size. In fact, a Human has quite a bit of trouble walking around with a lance in combat mode. Using the lance is very different from your run-of-the-mill melee weaponry. The first thing people will notice is the amount of distance between you and the opponent. After a while, you can somewhat gauge the distance between you and the foe in question. Please do note that each enemy has a different hitbox and that you may end up hitting across the room. This is normal and not a glitch. Once you have successfully master Lance Mastery at Novice Rank, you must rank it to F in order to learn the full power of the Lance. Once you've rank Lance Mastery to Rank F, you will shortly receive an owl with a message from Aranwen. She wants to teach you the way of lance and a special skill that allows you to retaliate in a quick pinch. She will teach you a skill known as Lance Counter; your only means of defense, as well as offense. But first, before you learn the skill, she will ask that you practice with your lance on something weak. This will give you some practice on how should your position yourself before rushing into battle.

A player with Lance Counter loaded.

Lance Counter

Once you complete the current quest Aranwen gives you, slaying several Foxes, you are set to learn Lance Counter. Lance Counter is a specialized Counterattack skill made specifically for lances. Using Lance Counter, the skill will automatically load and your character will kneel down and will be in a defensive position. If any enemy tries physically attack you, you will suddenly, at a blink of an eye, see through the attack, dodge it, and attack your attacking foe. Beware that once you are in the defensive stance, you cannot not get out of it until the duration of the skill expires. Due to the massive speed you attack back, the skill will be in a cooldown state. Even if the skill cancels on its own, it will still enter the cooldown state. When using Lance Counter, you should time yourself and consider when to activating it. The best time to activate is when your attacker rushes at you. Right before your attacker hits you, you will want to activate Lance Counter. Keep in mind that if you activate it too early, your attacker may use another strategy to get you out of Lance Counter. This skill is all about timing, as well as the combat situation you are in. Also remember that there are enemies that move faster than your average foe. Take into account when you are going to activate Lance Counter, the running speed of your foe, and how will you set yourself up to activate Lance Counter successfully.

As you continue to train in the way of the lance, you will eventually embark on the final lance skill Aranwen has to offer. As before, she won't teach it to you until you train and master yourself in the previous skill you just learned. She will ask that you train yourself using the Lance Counter skill. You can use the magic counter strategy. However, you have to remember that Lance Counter has a cooldown, so you will have to come up with some creative way to by yourself some time while completing the training for the quest Aranwen gave you. Once you have accomplished the quest, she will teach you the crown jewel of lance combat, Lance Charge.

Lance Charge

Lance Charge is one of the most powerful skills you can use while holding a Lance. Made specifically for lances, you can utilize the speed of the Charge skill and use the running force to hit all enemies in the path of the designated target. Like Charge, there is a minimum distance you must meet before you can rush at the enemy you want to hit. Once you meet the distance requirement, you can use the skill at full power. If any other enemy is in the way of the designated target you chosen, you will plow right through them with no slowdown in speed. Once you hit the target you selected, the skill will cooldown. You will also notice that the Charge skill is also in a cooldown state, despite using Lance Charge. This is mainly because they are 2 sides of the same coin. They both function the same way, however, Lance Charge plows down anything in its path like bowling ball while Charge just runs to the target, ignoring every other enemy in the path of the target. However, there are two key differences between the two Charge skills. First off, Lance Charge becomes stronger at greater distances. The further you are away from an enemy, the stronger it becomes upon impact. The second key difference is that Lance Charge is usable on a Horse, Pegasus, or Nimbus Pets. When you are mounted on a horse-type pet and attempt to use lance charge, you will notice that you take on a similar position as if you were jousting. Lance Charge gains an additional damage bonus while you are mounted. You will also plow down any enemy in the way of the designated target. This is what makes Lance Combat amazing as this is the first skill Humans and Giants can use while mounted on a pet. It is a milestone for them and can probably combat elves on horseback that relies on Range.

In Conclusion

Lances are indeed mighty weapons that are a class of their own. Lances are devastating due to piercing levels as well as the unique skills it has to offer. It is a nice change in pace and provides a unique style of combat. Lances may have a lot of small drawbacks, but they are more rather trade-offs for lance to become one of the greatest weapons to ever have been implemented in Mabinogi. It gives the sense that Mabinogi could have taken place during the Middle Ages while it reflects on the rich culture of Irish mythology. Lances are a force to be reckoned with, and lance players will provide a unique challenge for the traditional player. It will be a harsh road to get used to all the distance requirements and the timing of Lance Counter, but it will soon be come second nature to you as you continue to hone your skills into the world of Lancemanship and everything it has to offer.

Search

Navigation menu