An alternate guide to leveling on Finvarra's Fortress

Introduction:

Having returned after a several year absence, remembering all of the acronyms and lingo has taken some time. For completely new players, it must be downright frustrating. I want to outline what each of the acronyms stands for as I go through the guide to help those who are starting totally from scratch.Also, before getting too far, I must give credit where it is due; the areas portion of this is based almost entirely on XxShAdYxX's guide. It is, by far, the best route to take in terms of pure leveling. I will add a few "side" places and their purposes in the process.

The unique aspect of this guide is that it uses Multiblade as it's backbone. When it comes to Area of Effect (AoE) spells at low level Multiblade simply provides the best damage output. At later levels and against certain foes, other spells will shine. But for fighting groups early on - Multiblade is currently the king!

What you need to start:

An All Intelligence Elf Wizard (AIEW) and an All Strength Giant Warrior (ASGW). You could add others, or even double the group (2xAIEW, 2xASGW) to take on new areas more quickly, but you only get one set of loot, and that will bottleneck things unless you've already got tons of gold or mana crystals laying around. Personally I like to go "neutral" for the AIEW (starts with Sorc) and "good" for the Giant Warrior (more heals/buffs early on from fairies.) But any alignment can be made to work.

The Skills:

• AIEW - Alternate between improving Sorcery and Meditation until both are grand master - do this before any others. (You could do thaum for healing or myst for hold early on, but it will potentially slow down the process, and both spells are available in orbs you will likely find while leveling.) For the next step I will present two options, based on how you want to "get your start", realizing that by around 125 you'll have GM in all schools of magic.
  • Option 1 (chanter) if you have the amulet and two rings of intelligence, and want to enchant your own gear: thaum to 4 and elem to 2. This will allow you to start the enchanting process for armor/clothes. Then get necro 4 for weapon chants. This will save you some money/mana grinding, at the cost of moving on more quickly.
  • Option 2 (warcaster) Focus on thaum and Myst to get Greater Heal and Mass Hold. Used well, these could allow for a slightly earlier departure from the 'bats only' in FHP. This comes at the cost of having to pay extra to have someone else enchant the gear for both of your characters.

Whichever option you pick, follow it up by getting all of the remaining schools of magic to GM. Once that is done, get Acrobatics to GM for improved dodging - you're a nimble elf after all. From here it's wide open; you could grab shield usage to improve your resilience, a weapon skill, or some sort of crafting skill.

• ASGW - Alternate between main weapon (2hand are suggested for increased damage) and critical strike until both are GM, then focus on Acrobatics. I do suggest putting a level of sorc somewhere along the way for the home spell as well.

The Gear:

Besides your skill books and spells, your first purchases should be for kitting out your ASGW with a Mythril weapon and Mythril armor. Following this you should hook up your AIEW with a suit of Troll Leather. Find/buy/beg for an Amulet of Intelligence and two Rings of Intelligence for your AIEW, and an Amulet of Endurance and two Rings of Endurance for your ASGW. Before leaving the bats in FHP it would be good to have all of your ASGW's gear chanted following the [Guide|Chanting Guide]. Use the same guide for your AIEW's gear too - though personally, I would leave off the weapon chants until getting a higher-tiered weapon.

Tips:

• Regen adds 20% regeneration per enchantment to a maximum benefit of 100% (5 items). I personally only put this on the 6 armor pieces, giving me one "extra", and saving on mana.
• It may be worth it to get the lvl 1 magic weapon for your ASGW's choice at some point during the process. Either buying one or taking a break from the grind to camp one.
• You will notice during the 50-90, the ASGW does virtually nothing, however, it is important to have him/her tag along as we want them to maintain the same level for later parts when they will be much more active/engaged.
• If you are super new to the game, the NPCs that work the Teleport (TP) locations are able to give you directions. This is helpful for finding skill trainers, magic shops, and arms/armor shops.

Leveling Circut:

lvl - place - (what to kill) - [fight strategy]

1-20 - Counterclockwise around the Leinsters (Ratling Run, North Havenwood, West Havenwood, South Havenwood) - [early on: attack with ASGW, cast killstar with AIEW until multiblade is available, if encountering a larger group and hold monster is available, pick one to hold at the beginning of combat, then attack/multiblade]

20-50 - Thieves Hole (TH) - (enter dungeon, gather fellowship, whole dungeon) - [attack with ASGW, lay waste with multiblade]

50-90 - Festering Hate Pool (FHP) - (Enter dungeon, enter sarc, gather fellowship, kill medium bat fight, go 1 down, kill big bat fight, back through sarc, reset cave, repeat) - [guard with ASGW, lay waste with multiblade]

90-200 (option 1) - Festering Hate Pool (FHP) - (Enter Dungeon, gather fellowship, kill nearly everything AVOIDING LICHS AND FURIES until lvl 150!) - [Shift before fight, greater shield on self and ASGW before fight. Then attack with ASGW, multiblade, and heal as needed. Once you have the spells you can try guarding with the ASGW to work in mass hold, mass zerk *on non-teleporting melee*, mass drain can also be used for healing and dealing damage at the same time if your wiz was targeted.] *This is best if you are hoping to get rare loot drops and want to have some variety in your fights, however, leveling may take a little longer than option 2*

90-200 (option 2) - Festering Hate Pool (FHP) - (Enter dungeon, Kill along the rout laid out in the Hot Zone leveling guide - primarily devils and medusas) - [Shift before large fights, greater shield on self and ASGW before fights - attack with ASGW, Multiblade with AIEW.) *This is more time efficient than option 1 for pure leveling, but reduces variety and several rare drop locations.*

200-400 - Forgotten Dungeon - (Everything but final boss until 250) - [shift before fight, greater shield on ASGW before fight, Mass Zerk, Mass Drain, heals] Avoid final boss until 250.] 

Money Makers:

 We all need cash, and you're going to need a decent amount to enchant everything whether you have someone else do it, or spec to enchant your own gear. All three Havenwood locations have undead which you can grind for low-weight, decent selling items. There is also a chance of getting a rare drop spell, ring, amulet or orb. A few mutiblades will usually take them out. Once there are a few enchantments in place for elemental shields and regen you can head north into Emerald Forest. The trolls/ogres are a good source of weapons and armor drops, which while heavy, can help make some quick cash without crashing your xp earnings. Once you are fully chanted on both characters and past doing "just bats" you can relax on grinding money as FHP and FD will both create enough more than enough income to cover repair bills and mana crystals.