Hello.

In MapleStory, raising multiple classes is, in practice, all but essential, and because that is naturally the kind of system that can be a matter of personal preference, many new players begin the game wondering “Why do I have to raise so many different classes?” The reason is simple: there are systems that have an enormous impact on your character’s overall power.

At the same time, while the idea of having to raise dozens of characters can understandably feel overwhelming at first, now that the [Challengers World] event has become a regular part of both the summer and winter seasons, if you make good use of that period, the game is structured so that settling in is much easier than it may initially seem, and because future updates are only likely to ease this process further in various ways, if this is the part that has been making you hesitate, using that window should help you approach it with much less pressure. And since the rewards you gain from doing so are quite substantial, this can also become an enjoyable part of progression in its own right.

With that in mind, this article will briefly go over the two representative and essential systems, [Link Skills] and [Maple Union], along with a few additional points that are helpful to know.

[Link Skill] : A unique skill assigned to each class

Link Skills are class-specific skills with different effects for each job, and you obtain them by raising the corresponding class within the same world, at which point that class’s Link Skill becomes available. Each acquired skill has a total of 3 levels, and the requirements for each are as follows.

• Level 1 : Reach level 70 on that character

• Level 2 : Reach level 120 on that character

• Level 3 : After reaching 285, use the “Brilliant Hero’s Emblem,” which becomes obtainable at that point, on a character that is level 200 or higher and has completed the Arcane Force acquisition quest

Once obtained, these skills can be transferred through the Link Skill UI, and you can equip up to 12 at a time. Using presets, you can also conveniently set separate Link Skill setups for bossing and training.

The key advantage of Link Skills is that each one offers excellent efficiency, while the difficulty of obtaining them up to Level 2 is extremely low compared to other systems. That is a very significant benefit. The Link Skills I am currently using are as follows.

Class	Skill Name (Level)	Skill Effect
Angelic Buster	Soul Contract (3)	Increase damage by 60% for 10 seconds
Phantom	Deadly Instinct (2)	Increase Critical Rate by 15%
Ark	Unconscious (2)	Increase damage by 11% upon entering combat
Demon Slayer	Demon's Fury (2)	Increase Boss Damage by 15%
Explorer Thief x 3	Thief Cunning (6)	When a status effect is applied, increase damage by 18% for 10 seconds (Cooldown: 20 seconds)
Demon Avenger	Wild Rage (2)	Increase damage by 10%
Cadena	Intensive Insult (3)	Increase damage by 9% when attacking monsters lower level than your character, and increase damage by 9% when attacking monsters afflicted with status effects
Explorer Mage x 3	Empirical Knowledge (6)	Has a 70% chance to identify an attacked enemy’s weakness; the identified weakness lasts for 10 seconds and can stack up to 3 times / per stack, damage +3%, Ignore DEF +3%
Illium	Flow of Battle (2)	Increase damage by 10% for 10 seconds
Kinesis	Judgment (3)	Increase Critical Damage by 6%
Luminous	Permeate (2)	Increase Ignore DEF by 15%
Xenon	Hybrid Logic (2)	Increase all stats by 10%

Since these effects are highly efficient even at Level 2, it is fair to regard them as essential, and with this update, the activation conditions for Ark and Illium’s Link Skills were also removed.

Beyond the representative Link Skills listed above, there are also other situational options, such as the Resistance classes’ skill that increases invincibility time after revival, Evan’s Link Skill that extends Rune duration, and Mercedes’s skill that increases EXP gained.

Even if you are starting as a complete beginner, if you begin during a [Challengers World] season, the event is structured so that by the time you later transfer to a regular world, you can already have the essential Level 2 Link Skills fully prepared. I will continue with that topic below.

[Maple Union] : A system where you raise various characters and gain stats according to your total level

[Maple Union] is a system in which your rank rises automatically based on the combined levels of the 42 highest-level characters in your world, and by using the points you earn according to each character’s level, you can obtain a variety of stats. In addition to that, each class also provides its own unique effect.

In the past, you had to arrange everything in a Tetris-like block placement format, but it has now been changed to a point-based system, so you can distribute stats without going through any extra process. There are also 10 presets available, which makes it easy to maintain separate setups for training, bossing, or even different classes.

These are also naturally obtainable, highly efficient stats that you build up as you raise characters, and here as well, beyond the stats gained through the points above, each class has its own unique effect, so it is better not to overlap classes if possible. To begin with, the basic information is as follows.

• Union rank by character level and Union points obtained

• Each class’s unique character effect

• Union raid rank according to the combined total of 42 characters by level

• Q : I’m a new player, so what should I be aiming for?

The 8 expanded stats shown above are the main stats you obtain through Union Stats, and once your total combined level reaches 6000, their maximum level increases to 40. So, as a first milestone, it is best to set your goal at total level 6000, and after that, you can continue progressing either through regular play or through additional methods when needed.

• Q : What is MapleStory M?

As the name suggests, this refers to the mobile game MapleStory M, and while it is not included in your total level sum, it does provide additional stats as a bonus. At level 120, you can gain 20 Attack Power/Magic ATT, and at level 250, you can gain 25 Attack Power/Magic ATT, but because the difficulty gap between those two milestones is enormous, it is best to aim for 120 first and then, during a winter or summer event season, consider attempting 250 depending on the event circumstances. If there is an opportunity later, I will cover this in more detail as well.

• Q : How should I approach Union Stat distribution and the recommended order for Link Skills?

You can check this very clearly and neatly on the well-known site 환산 주스탯.

Once you enter the site and input your nickname, go to the Boss Setting Optimization menu under the Analysis&Optimization tab, then press Optimize, and it will show you the setup that best matches your character’s current specs. In addition to Links and Union, it also provides Hyper Stats and even elixirs, so it is well worth using as a reference and applying the results as shown.

Q : You said raising characters in [Challengers World] is easier, so what advantages does it offer?

[Challengers World] is a major event that has now become a regular fixture, and Season 4 ended just last week. It begins with the first update of the summer and winter seasons and runs for roughly 3 to 4 months. This time, it lasted 3 months.

This event is quite useful even for existing players who want to raise additional characters, but it is especially valuable for new players, first because the world itself comes with various built-in buffs, making it an excellent place to start when you have no existing foundation in a regular world, and also because

the Growth Potions given as rank achievement rewards, like the ones shown above, are extremely helpful when you are building your initial account foundation. On top of that, if you combine the Burning event that allows your main character to reach 285 reasonably comfortably, the 3 Tera Burnings provided as additional world benefits, and the Tera Burning included in the Welcome Package purchasable for 1만 넥슨 캐시, then those benefits alone effectively guarantee a Union level of over 5000 by the time [Challengers World] ends.

Also, these days there has been a tendency for a Coin Shop event to begin immediately after [Challengers World] ends. If that happens, and you invest your coins into those items, then I expect reaching the first target of 6000 should be quite manageable.

Thank you for reading.