Leveling Guide 1-15

My favorite part of Atlantica Online is the strategy involved in the combat. As I told Ten Ton Hammer readers in my Atlantica review, most games drop players into hundreds of hours of Whack-a-Mole, but the moles whack back in Atlantica. To this day, I see a new player asking for help with the early quests in Peer chat because they are not used to games that require thought. In particular, I see requests for help with the Hell Scout, Mutated Trees, and Hellish Fairy. These are all encounters players experience before level 15, and that so many gamers have trouble with them is a testament to the thought required to succeed at Atlantica.



Always looking out for the little guy, Ten Ton Hammer has asked me to compile a level 1-15 guide that will help new players get through the tough early battles in Atlantica. Follow my guide, and you'll be able to take on all of the foes that make the average gamer stumble, and you'll reach level 15 with a decent sense of how to survive the more difficult tasks to come.



Mercenary Basics



Start by talking to Lea, the first of three sisters who guide you through the tutorial quests. Lea wants you to recruit two mercenaries to join your hero.







After you talk to Lea, head over to the Mercenary Manager. Don't take this choice lightly. These recruits will be with you for a while. Here are some suggestions:



* If your hero is a Cannon, Rifle, Bow, or Staff...choose at least one spearman or swordsman for the front row.

* If your hero is a Sword, Spear, or Axe...choose at least one gunner or archer for the back row.

* Consider having at least one archer no matter what else you have. Their Silence spell will be a big help against Hellish Fairy in a few levels. Having two archers will allow you to keep the silence spell going on a target each round, greatly reducing the damage Hellish Fairy can cause to your whole squad via AoE spells.

* Click on My Info and then Formation from the top menu bar. You can rearrange your units here. Later on, you'll get a quest that tells you to do this, but why not do it now? Put ranged fighters in the back two rows and stick melee fighters in front of them for protection.



Return to Lea when you have recruited two mercenaries. She'll give you 500 gold and ask you to go see her sister, Ellesian. Just head over to the glowing blue tile, indicated by a doorway symbol on the mini-map.







First Battle



Ellesian wants to teach you how to fight. She asks you to defeat three Rabeil. The monsters won't really fight back, so you can concentrate on the battle tutorial. You'll need to follow all seven steps to complete that part of the tutorial, or it will keep popping up in each new battle at the step where you left off. Be patient as you adjust to the battle timer. You may miss a few turns while reading the instructions, and you may find yourself needing to fight more Rabeil after you have your three kills to complete all seven steps. When you return to Ellesian, she'll reward you with some 500 gold and a Spirit Weapon Box.







Arm Yourself



Ellesian next teaches you how to get equipment from boxes like the one she just gave you. Simply right-click the box and a randomly-generated weapon will pop out. Equip it to complete the quest by right-clicking on it from the inventory of the character it fits. You'll get 500 gold, Life Potion (Low) x5, and 50XP, enough to reach level 2. Now Ellesian will send you to see the final sister, Lilith.



The Second Battle



Lilith commands you to bring her three pieces of memory from the Rabalis and Rablus nearby. It is important to pay attention to the two types of enemies here. They share the same graphics with different colors, and they behave a little differently. It's an important lesson that will mean more and more as you progress as most monsters come in two flavors. Delivering the quest items nets you 1000 gold.







The Third Mercenary



Now Lilith wants you to recruit a third mercenary to bring your squad total to four. My suggestion here is to make sure you have at least two front line characters. Your squad will be taking a lot of damage in the upcoming fights, and having only one frontline character will get you in a lot of trouble very fast. Return to Lilith for 500 gold.



Select Location



Lilith explains that you are about to awake from your dream and must select the land where you want to wake up. Your choices are four cities in Japan or North and South Korea: Hanyang, Pusan, Sapporo, and Harbin. Your selection does not matter as your next quests will be largely the same with different NPC names. I prefer the Japanese architecture and most often start in Sapporo. For this guide, I chose Pusan.