Hello

This time, the keyword is character recommendations, so I’ll be introducing characters that are especially worth recommending in-game.

If you are searching for character recommendations, there is a good chance you are a beginner just starting the game, but choosing your main character is a fairly big decision, because it should be something you genuinely feel drawn to while also having solid performance, and recommending that properly requires a deeper understanding of the different classes.

That is why I felt I was not really in a position to boldly recommend something this important, so I started thinking about what kind of standard would make sense. What came to mind was MapleStory’s Link Skills.

What are Link Skills?

Link Skills are unique skills that each MapleStory class has. In some cases they are shared by race, but for the most part they are separate, and each one has its own distinct effect.

You gain a Level 1 effect at level 70, a Level 2 effect at level 120, and a Level 3 effect at level 285. Since level 200 is fairly common these days, it would not be an exaggeration to call Link Skills a practically free stat boost.

As you can tell from the level requirements, the gap between Level 2 and Level 3 is quite large. However, unlike Level 1 and Level 2, Level 3 works a little differently, because once you reach level 285, you receive an item that can raise the level of a Link Skill regardless of class, and you can use it on whichever class you want, so you do not have to personally level the exact class with the Link Skill you want all the way to 285.

The usefulness of Link Skills

You can equip up to 12 Link Skills at once, and because the effects of the higher-priority ones are so impactful, they are a very high priority when it comes to boosting your stats.

You cannot use Link Skills in Challengers World, but once you later transfer to a regular world, you will absolutely want to have the essential ones equipped in order to make up for the loss of Challengers World’s passive buffs, so securing the high-priority Link Skills in advance is a very good idea.

Later on, you will want to use a Link setup that is better optimized for your character through tools such as converted main stat sites, but when you are just starting out, it is much more comfortable to first secure the ones with overwhelmingly strong effects.

Of course, if you keep up with events consistently, you will probably end up raising every class to at least level 200 later anyway, so even if you do not follow that route right away, there is no need to worry too much.

Also, Link Skills do not affect combat power.

Characters with high-priority Link Skills

[Highly important for boss battles (for beginners)]

• Angelic Buster (Soul Contract): a damage buff with no activation delay that can also be added into your skill sequence

• Demon Avenger (Wild Rage): increases damage

• Demon Slayer (Demon's Fury): increases boss damage

• Cadena (Intensive Insult): increases damage against lower-level monsters and monsters affected by status ailments

• 3 Explorer Mage classes (Empirical Knowledge): constant damage increase and status ailment application

• Xenon (Hybrid Logic): increases all stats %

• 3 Explorer Thief classes (Thief Cunning): increases damage against monsters with status ailments

• Kinesis (Judgment): increases critical damage

• 4 Resistance classes (Spirit of Freedom): increases invincibility duration after revival

• Phantom (Deadly Instinct): increases critical rate

• Permiate (Luminous): increases ignore defense

• 3 Explorer Pirate classes (Pirate Bless): increases all stats

• 3 Explorer Archer classes (Adventurer Curious): increases critical rate and Monster Collection registration rate

• Ark (Solitude): conditional damage increase

Among these, everything from Angelic Buster through Resistance is close to essential, while Link Skills that provide things like critical rate or ignore enemy defense should be used according to your own situation. There are also more specific cases, such as Kaiser’s Iron Will (max HP % increase), which is essential only for Demon Avenger.

As mentioned earlier, you will likely end up raising every class eventually anyway, not just for Link Skills but also for the Union raid member effects, so you probably do not need to be too concerned about the exact order.

[Highly important for training]

• Mercedes (Elven Blessing): increases EXP gained

• Aran (Combo Kill Advantage): increases Combo Kill Orb EXP

• Evan (Rune Persistence): increases Rune duration

• Hoyoung (Confidence): increases damage when attacking monsters with 100% HP

• Lara (Nature Friend): increases damage and damage when attacking normal monsters

This list covers Link Skills that increase the EXP you gain while training. On top of that, there are also options like Hoyoung’s Link Skill, which boosts damage when attacking normal monsters, and since Link Skills can be swapped conveniently through presets, you can make good use of them depending on the situation. That said, in the current meta, bossing Links are much higher priority overall than training Links.

Also, you can check the optimal Link setup for your own stats in the boss setup optimization tab on the well-known converted main stat site, but it does not factor in ignore defense, and it also leaves out Spirit of Freedom, which you will likely want early on, so it is best to treat it as a reference and adjust it to fit your own situation by cutting lower-priority options as needed.

Also, for Level 3, it is generally said that Soul Contract (Angelic Buster) - Judgment (Kinesis) - Intensive Insult (Cadena) are the same regardless of class. After that, however, the order can vary by class, so please look it up and apply it accordingly.

List of Link Skills

The values below are based on when it is not your own class,

and since Level 1 is effectively meaningless, it is not listed.

[Soul Contract: Angelic Buster]

Level 2: Damage 90%

When used, this skill increases your damage for a certain period and can be included in a skill sequence. It has no activation delay by default, is affected by cooldown reset, and is such a high-priority option that it is still considered a top pick even at Level 3.

[Wild Rage: Demon Avenger]

[Demon's Fury: Demon Slayer]

[Solitude: Ark]

[Empirical Knowledge: Explorer Mage classes]

This is treated as a status ailment on monsters, so it pairs very well with other Link Skills that require a status ailment to activate, and even aside from that, it is excellent because it effectively provides near-constant damage and ignore defense increases.

[Intensive Insult: Cadena]

[Hybrid Logic: Xenon]

[Judgment: Kinesis]

[Level 2: Critical Damage 4%]

[Permiate: Luminous]

[Deadly Instinct: Phantom]

[Pirate Bless: Explorer Pirate classes]

[Cygnus Bless: Cygnus classes]

[Flow of Battle: Illium]

[Prior Preparation: Kain]

[Iron Will: Kaiser]

[Sturdy Body: Ren]

[Level 2: Damage taken reduced by 4% / Level 3: Damage taken reduced by 6%]

This is said to be especially effective against lower-tier bosses by current standards, such as Chaos Vellum. That said, it is also apparently decent enough in Easy Karlos.

[Adventurer Curious: Explorer Archer classes]

If you plan to go for Monster Collection later, this is essential.

[Noblesse: Adele]

[Confidence: Hoyoung]

[Nature Friend: Lara]

[Permiate: Luminous]

[Thief Cunning: Explorer Thief classes]

[Cygnus Bless: Cygnus classes]

[Invincible Belief: Explorer Warrior classes]

[Innate Gift: Khali]

[Light's Protection: Mihile]

[Spirit of Freedom: Resistance classes]

[Elven Blessing: Mercedes]

Returning to Ereve used to be a nice extra benefit, but now that teleporting is practically free and the guide system is active, it no longer really matters.

[Combo Kill Advantage: Aran]

[Rune Persistence: Evan]

Close Call: Eunwol

It is an interesting effect, but because you cannot use it intentionally and it depends on luck, it is not something people actively rely on.

Thank you for reading.