Rogue/Stalker guide

Bow Rogue or Stalker Guide

This guide is for those who understand the basic mechanics of the game and are interested in bow stalkers/rogues.

1) Stats for a bow rogue/stalker.

Below is a rough guide of stats recommended for your bow rogue/stalker at level 99.
Str - 10 to 30 ( base)
Agi - 50 to 80 (base)
Vit - 40 to80 (total)
Dex - 100 OR 110 OR 120 (total)
Int - 6 OR 12 OR 18 OR 24 OR 30 (total)
Luk - 1
Note: base means without bonuses while total means including them.(job bonus, equipment bonus)
Its up to you to personalize your own bow rogue/stalker build the way you want it, the above is just a rough guide. For example, if you want a bow rogue/stalker that's almost impossible to kill AND good at stripping, get 30 str, 80 vit, 110 dex and 50 agi. Of course you'll have the penalty of less aspd. Or if you want a bow rogue/stalker with a nice flee and higher damage, get 80 agi ,40 vit,120 dex. You'll have less hp than others but more aspd and flee. Its all up to your playing style and preference.

2) Skills

Recommended skills for bow ROGUE
Snatcher 4
Steal coin 2
Strip Helm 5
Strip Shield 5
Strip Armor 5
Strip Weapon 5
Vulture's Eye 10
Double Strafe 10
Tunnel Drive 3
For bow STALKERS , get all the skills above. You can use the extra skills to get intimidate or whatever you like chase walk and other. Just remember to keep 5 points for Full Strip.

3) Equipment

Weapon
Many people assume that double bloody double boned composite is the best bow there is. Yeah, for hunters who have >140dex. As a bow rogue/stalker, the maximum dex attainable is 120, thus an over upgraded Gakkung works much better. You might also want to get a few other bows besides double bloody Gakkung for leveling.
Useful Gakkungs :
+7 double bloody Gakkung
+7 hybrid/double claymorous Gakkung (for TI leveling)
+7 hybrid/double boned Gakkung
+7 hybrid/double (insert 20% damage card here)
with the new effect of sidewinder cards, using a weapon with 1 and a damage card will increase your leveling speed if don't have insanely high int.
besides that for pvp.. you might wanna get some 4x status card composite bows or main gauche. You have to go close to inflict status ailments with a main gauche but you get to use a cranial buckler. Learn when to use which (Main Gauche's or composite bow's) to get nice results. Over upgraded Main Gauches or status composite bow are not needed.. although some might want to just because it looks nicer when its +10.
Useful status inflicting weapons:
+7 quad curse(magnolia) composite bow/main gauche
+7 quad ice (marina) composite bow/main gauche
+7 quad stun(savage babe) composite bow/main gauche
+7 quad sleep (plankton) composite bow/main gauche
Different status for different job classes . Finally you might want to get a quad fabre Main Gauche or a quad drops MG for a +400hp or +4 dex when you are stripping.

Headgear
For pvp/woe, I highly recommend using a poopoo hat. If you wanna use headgear cards such as nightmare/deviruchi etc, an over upgraded slotted cap works well. However note that a poopoo hat has better defense than a +8 cap in any situation.(I didn't refer to the formulas but I did some experiments in pvp. Sniper's double strafe deals more damage on +8s cap then on poopoo hat.) Some of you might be tempted to use Apple of Archer for pvp/woe.. I highly suggest against it as it provides crappy defence even when over upgraded. Its useful for leveling though.
Other useful headgears:
Spiky Band - looks cool and provides good defence.
Angel Ear - +1 agi is handy at times, useless luk though.(devil ear is useless because only base str affects a character's weight limit)
Ghost Bandana - if you find yourself getting hit a lot in pvm.
Drooping kitty - 15% MDEF is sexy. 30% resistance to curse is an added bonus.

Shield
All you need is an over upgraded cranial buckler. Others are quite useless cause in pvm you'll be equipping a bow. In pvp/woe however, cranial bucklers are really important. You'll die often in pvp/woe without one.

Garment / Cape
Over upgraded manteaus. Useful cards to slot in are raydric or deviling, whisper ,dustiness (for those Jupitel Thunder crazy wizard), and mares(to survive Storm Gust).

Armor
Over upgraded chain mails provide the best defence for a rogue/stalker, but being a bow rogue/stalker, you might not be able to afford the heavy weight. Thus thief clothes are nice as they're only 10 weight and provides decent defence, the +1 agi is nice too. If you can afford it, an over upgraded thief clothes is a better choice than a over upgraded chain mail.
Pecopeco cards are sweet if you're a stalker. For a rogue however, pupa might be a better choice(unless you have >7k base hp). Marc card is useful against wizards and sages. In woe however you might get killed if you aren't frozen from a pre-casted Storm Gust. Usually it is possible to hide from the Storm Gust though.
If can.. Try find a Ghostring Card and Deviling Card to survive with Champion Asura's.

Footgear
Over upgraded boots. Cards to slot in include matyr/verit for pvp/woe (again its up to what you prefer) and eggya for leveling/pvm (more sp for double starfing. Personally I prefer verit to matyr due to the nice sp boost as each strip costs 25sp.

Accessories
Two words: nimble gloves.
Blast clips ( marine sphere) maybe useful against pneumaed players as well.

4) General Strategies & Tips for PvP.
Aha.. finally.. the fun part.
1. Always carry a cranial buckler with you. Strip your enemy then switch to your bow and ds the crap out of them.
2. Remain out of sight unless you are attacking/stripping. Even with a party, its not your job to tank.
3. Hide!! from spells like Strom Gust, Lord of Vermilion and even asura strike.
4. If your pvping with a party, tunnel drive near your opponent's party and observe what job class they have before your party attacks. Plan suitable strategies. Know yourself and your enemy and you shall be victorious.
5. You CAN strip frozen/stoned people.
6. Know when to strip and when to attack with your bow.
7. Use your status inflicting weapons wisely. Status composite bows are nice to shoot pneumaed players(they'll still get the status even though no damage is caused. And not only that, when they'll pneumaed you don't have to worry about breaking the ice/waking them up after you freeze/make them fall asleep.
8. A vital skill (real life skill not in-game) to have for a player of a bow rogue/stalker is the ability to spam whites while stripping. Practice!!(Don't worry, its not THAT hard.)

5) Tips/Strategies Against Specific Jobs
Note: this strategies do not guarantee winning a particular class. .its simply suggests how to combat them effectively.(Or as effectively as a bow rogue/stalker can, remember all classes have counters.)

Knights/Lord Knights
There isn't much to tell about knights really. Just equip your cranial buckler, strip his/her weapon (spam whites if needed). Then strip the rest of his equipment and double strafe away~ Its annoying when they endure and run though.

Crusaders/Paladins
Basically the same as knights. Just remember to backslide/hide from Grand Cross. You might not be able to kill those Grand Cross/heal crusaders though (they just keep healing). Just let your party murder them after they are naked.(That sounds so wrong.)

Blacksmiths/Whitesmiths
Blacksmiths are almost the same as knights. Whitesmiths are a pain though. After they are naked and you take out your bow.. they'll use meltdown and try to break your weapon with their punching. Either keep backsliding (not really good now that it has delay), or hide and move as far as you can shoot and double strafe him from afar. They'll probably start running when you do this though. If they manage to break your weapon.. wear your buckler and spam envenom on them. Poison will take away much of their hp. (Once this actually happened to me.. not sure who would have won though in the end cause I got killed by his party member). Or bring a golem carded weapon.

Alchemist/Creators
If they don't have chemical protection then you can take them down easy the usual way. If they have then I guess you'll have to try to kill them with your double strafe. Chemical protection alchemist/creators are created specifically to counter the rogue class, thus its almost impossible to take them down with one. Fortunately there aren't many alchemist/creators around though and not all of them have chemical protection skills.

Assassins/Sin-X
Assassins are easy just strip their weapon and double strafe. Sin-X are completely different how ever. To most other classes, edp sin-X would be more deadly than soul breaker sin-X. However to the bow rogue/stalker, a soul breaker sin-X is much more of a threat. You can beat most edp sin-X as long as you strip their weapon before they kill you (not particularly hard with a cranial buckler). For soul breaker sin-X however it's a different story. This is because soul breaker sin-X don't depend on their weapon as much as edp sin-X. Soul breaker can still be painful without their weapon. Strip of soul breaker sin-X shield if they are wearing one. Strip off their weapon as well to reduce their damage. You can freeze them then strip them when they are frozen if you want to. Try your best to kill them after you strip them.

Wizard/High Wizard/Sage/Professor
Wear mdef gears and a marc card. Hide if Storm Gust or other AoE spells is casted. Do not let them get close enough to stone curse(Hide and tunnel drive away or backsliding).Double strafe him from afar. If you do get stoned/frozen however, switch to your cranial buckler(Yes, you CAN change your equipment when you are frozen/stoned), you should be able to survive at least once(not die in one frozen Jupitel Thunder) with proper gears.

Monks/Champions
Its not impossible to defeat monks/champs, its hard, but not impossible. Usually when monks come in pvp they want to kill many people. If he is asura ready(crit explosion and 5 spheres casted) don't go near him. Let him kill someone else first. Once he casts asura on another person, pop up beside him and strip his weapon. If you have <9k>9k hp, however, proceed to strip his shield, armor and(if he is wearing poopoo or mistress crown) helm. He'll probably casted all his spirit sphere asura-ready after a while. Wear poopoo, immune, thara and a pecopeco armor and let him asura you (hide if possible). If he managed to hit you, you should not die with +7 gears if you have >9k hp and if he is a monk. If he is a champion however, you have less chances of survival as champions have 30% more sp. After you strip everything go out of range and double strafe him. They die easy without their gears. If they pneuma use blast clip or envenom to hit them. Another strategy is to keep double strafing them and remain out of range once you see him. If all goes well he'll use pneuma to block your attacks and laugh and you. When this happens switch to your quad marina bow and shoot him until he is frozen, then strip him when he is frozen. Or you can use quad curse bow to piss him off(he'll waste sp blessing himself) if he is wearing unfrozen. Don't forget to put your finger on top of your hide hotkey once you see a monk/champ in screen.(They usually forget to ruwach unless they fight rogue/stalkers a lot) If you have ghostring card this guys are probably cake to you. If you cant win them dont get too disappointed, not many classes can fight monk/champs anyway (at least bow rogue/stalkers have a chance).

Hunters/Snipers
If you think that hunters own a bow rogue.. you are sadly mistaken ;P. A fight of a hunter vs a bow rogue would be very interesting indeed. All you have to do is equip your buckler, creep up beside the hunter, then begin stripping is weapon. After you successfully done that, switch to your bow and kill him. Snipers are basically the same although they are much harder to take down cause they have Falcon Assault which doesn't require a bow. Skilled hunters/snipers will try to use charge arrow/arrow repel to not let you get close. This is simple to counter, just hide and tunnel drive beside the hunter/sniper, by the time he detects you, you'll probably be beside him already and have the time to at least strip 1 or 2 times before he charge arrow you away again. Repeat if necessary. As for those Falcon Assault snipers(those with really high int), I wouldn't recommend you to try to take one down with a bow rogue/stalker. Just strip their shield and armor and let your party members deal with them.

Priest/High Priest
Lets face it, their basically no way to take down a priest alone with a bow rogue/stalker. However, bow rogue/stalkers do help much in taking down a priest by stripping their shield, armor and helm. If you get lex etena, hide and use the priest's ruwach to get rid of it, this saved my life a few times.

Hope this guide helps you, and thank you for reading it