Beastmaster Equipment Guide

WORK IN PROGRESS

Selecting excellent Beastmaster Equipment is not something you should do without lots and lots of thinking. Because of Beastmasters' versatility, they often times have some of the most complex selection of gear that they can wear and often change equipment during the fights. Because of that, this chart will be somewhat complex, providing charm specific gear along with general fighting gear. Charming-only gear will be listed in  green . Also, Beastmasters excel in both Axes and Scythes. Both are listed and generally you should keep one of each (so when a new Scythe is available think about selling the old scythe, but don't sell your current axe).

Additional gear is often swapped in for MP regeneration, for casting Cure spells, and later on for adding MP to cast a high MP spell like raise. These additional gear choices will not be addressed here other than to say that swapping in additional mind gear will often help to gain a few additional HP from a cure spell and swapping in MP regeneration gear will of course help with downtime. Also the Ammo slot is generally occupied by Pet Food or Jug Pets and at level 55, you can put a Lightning Bow in your range slot or at 58 a Tiphia Sting for some added stats.

Optional rare/expensive gear will be listed here in italics. As a soloing Beastmaster there are no other players judging your gear or depending on you. If you want to use Leaping Boots or the Emperor Hairpin that is up to you, but generally many of these items are not needed. There are other items which are generally considered to be "must have" items, and while some are pricey, they generally last a long time. These items are in bold.

Finally, this is only a guide. It is compiled from various other Beastmaster equipment guides and is by no means the only gear to use as a Beastmaster. Experiment with other (and newer) equipment and then come back and edit this page with your input!

Things to consider when comparing equipment:

Your Race

Some races (like Galkans, Taru and Mithra) will have some weak areas that may need some shoring up with equipment. Galkans have lower CHR than your average BST, so if given a choice between STR+ equipment, or CHR+ equipment, go with the CHR-boosting gear. The same goes for every race.

Out-damaging Your Pet

Especially in the earlier levels, it's important to not out-damage your pet, and steal your targeted mob's attention ("hate") away from your pet. This becomes less and less of an issue as your level increases, as the pets at higher levels far out-damage almost any melee player. Still, some BSTs prefer to 'nerf' their weapons. Take for example, you can solo a tough at level 1, but not at 75 as easy, because the monsters over level 1-30 take a big turn HP, DEF, and ATT wise.

Damage Vs. Accuracy

Higher damage could result in hate being more likely to shift from the pet, to the BST -- which could be very dangerous. Most BSTs opt for accuracy because of the way BSTs melee. Usually the pet is sent against a target. Next, you let your pet and target exchange a few hits to establish "hate" on your pet. Then the BST melees. After the 'Leave' skill is acquired, most BSTs wait until their target is down to a small sliver of health, and then release their pet. This negates the 30% experience cut -- but the BST must handle that 'last sliver'. Since some of the higher level prey can hit quite hard, most BSTs prefer to have greater accuracy for that reason. This also explains why some BSTs prefer to use a scythe over an axe. Scythes have long delays, but hit very hard -- finishing off that last sliver. Note: If you melee long enough you will have 100% TP to take off the last 1-2% of HP.

A Quick Summary

For most beastmasters, failing charm could result in death or taking uneeded damage. CHR is known to help reduce this risk of failing. It is important to think about having two to three sets of gear. These sets would be: attack, charm, and mp. Some sub equips are also available to think of: defence, att/acc, curing, and misc. Attack: your normal attack setup, such as an axe, a spike necklace, two attack type rings, a life belt, or something that will enable you to do damage upon the target monster. Charm: anything and everything that you can equip that will give you CHR+ for use durring charm only. An Apollo's Staff is the greatest reducer of failed charms. MP: something to add to your magical points so you can rest for longer periods of time to gain advantage of the resting system and to cast raise. Defence: Gear for getting hit, or right after a failedcharm(also called mischarm.) An earth staff is suggested. Att/acc: Ending WS's are important and it is important to know how hard the monster you are fighting is, if it is Incredibly Tough, you may want to equip acc equipment so you don't miss. Misc.: Charm+ gear is not important, but it is nice when using hard monsters to farm easier monsters that you will have charmed for extended periods of time.