Ultimate Skill Build Guide: Bishop Edition

[Furnost]

Hopefully this gets stickied ^^

Before I begin I must express that this is entirely my opinion and in no way is this the ABSOLUTE build for a Bishop...it's all about having fun and choosing what you want to choose. However, for those of you who are stuck and need some help this will hopefully give you some insight on what direction to take.

With the release of 4th job, Bishops have become a rather popular class to make (especially lukless) due to the immense power of Genesis vs. Skelegons. Now although there is not true way to skill build, Genesis can be a bigger pot burner than it already is if you put too many points into it at too low a level. Now I could just start at level 120 but what fun would that be ^^

Keep in mind the number in parenthesis ( ) is the number of skill points per level to put into the skill. If there is an 'x' followed by another number it means the amount of levels of that many skill points in the parenthesis you pump into that level.
For example: Level 14-19: Magic Claw (3) x 6 means from Level 14 to 19 you put 3 SP into Magic Claw each level.

Now to begin, everyone starts off as a Beginner @ level 1.

The level requirement to make your 1st Job Advancement as a Magician is level 8. Once you become level 8, talk to Grendel in the highest portal of Ellinia and you'll have your first set of skills to start mastering.

1st Job Advancement: Magician
You obtain the following skills as a Magician:
Improving MP Recovery
Improving MP Increase
Magic Guard
Magic Armor
Energy Bolt
Magic Claw

Now there are 2 different approaches you can take...to gain more MP overall, the 1 SP point you gain at level 8 when you make the advancement would go into Improving MP Recovery so you can max out Improving MP Increase faster; however, by doing this you'll be whacking away at monsters with your normal attack until level 13. For the patient people the build will be the following:

Level 8: Improving MP Recovery (1)
Level 9: Improving MP Recovery (3)
Level 10: Improving MP Recovery (1), Improving MP Increase (2)
Level 11-12: Improving MP Increase (3) x 2
Level 13: Improving MP Increase (2), Energy Boly (1)
Level 14-19: Magic Claw (3) x 6
Level 20: Magic Claw (2), Magic Guard (1)
Level 21-23: Improving MP Recovery (3) x 3
Level 24: Improving MP Recovery (2), Magic Guard (1)
Level 25-30: Magic Guard (3) x 6

For the impatient people who would rather have a magic attack quicker:

Level 8: Energy Bolt (1)
Level 9: Improving MP Recovery (3)
Level 10: Improving MP Recovery (2), Improving MP Increase (1)
Level 11-13: Improving MP Increase (3) x 3
Level 14-19: Magic Claw (3) x 6
Level 20: Magic Claw (2), Magic Guard (1)
Level 21-23: Improving MP Recovery (3) x 3
Level 24: Improving MP Recovery (2), Magic Guard (1)
Level 25-30: Magic Guard (3) x 6

As you can see there isn't too much of a difference. By level 30 the levels of the skills should be the following:

Improving MP Recovery [16] MAXED
Improving MP Increase [10] MAXED
Magic Guard [20] MAXED
Magic Armor [0]
Magic Claw [20] MAXED
Energy Bolt [1]
-------------------------------------------------------
Now that you're level 30 it's time to do the job advancement and become a Cleric. For the sake of not getting off track of the actual thread I won't explain how to do the job advancement quest (I'll let someone else tackle that =P).

2nd Job Advancement: Cleric
You obtain the following skills as a Cleric:
MP Eater
Heal
Invincible
Teleport
Bless
Holy Arrow

As stated before, there are multiple builds out there, some like to max Holy Arrow, other don't. Personally, I think Holy Arrow is a huge waste considering you get Angel Ray at 4th job which is way more powerful at level 5 then Holy Arrow maxed lol. For this build I won't make two ways...most mages choose to pump their first SP into teleport just to get around faster although it is a big MP burner (60mp needed for level 1). Either way you'll level to 31 fast so it doesn't make a difference. Normally, I would suggest maxing Bless before MP Eater, but due to the multiple maps that allow for fast leveling at low levels, MP Eater maxed early on will reduce MP pot consumption.

Level 30: Teleport (1)
Level 31-40: Heal (3) x 10
Level 41-46: Invincible (3) x 6
Level 47: Invincible (2), MP Eater (1)
Level 48-53: MP Eater (3) x 6
Level 54: MP Eater (1), Bless (2)
Level 55-60: Bless (3) x 6
Level 61-66: Teleport (3) x 6
Level 67: Teleport (1), Holy Arrow (2)
Level 68-70: Holy Arrow (3) x 3

By the time you're level 70 levels of the skills for 2nd job should be the following:

MP Eater [20] MAXED
Heal [30] MAXED
Invincible [20] MAXED
Teleport [20] MAXED
Bless [20] MAXED
Holy Arrow [11] (could also put into Magic Armor if you want but Bless overrides it)
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So now you're level 70 and it's time for the 3rd job advancement...again not posting how to get it.

3rd Job Advancement: Priest
You obtain the following skills as a Priest:

Elemental Resistance
Dispel
Holy Symbol
Mystic Door
Shining Ray
Doom
Summon Dragon

Now point blank the #1 skill to get ASAP is Holy Symbol. It's a must for training parties and the sooner you have it maxed the sooner you'll be wanted. However, it wouldn't hurt to put the 1st SP you get at the job advancement at level 70 into Shining Ray so you have another attack besides heal and the fact that the lowest level Holy Symbol can get maxed is 81 regardless of whether that point goes into Dispel or not. Also, since Doom is pretty much an amusement skill and you only really need level 15 Summon Dragon to get Bahamut at 4th job, it may not hurt to max out Mystic Door before going back to these two skills because it would lighten the amount of Magic Rock consumption.

Level 70: Shining Ray (1)
Level 71: Dispel (3)
Level 72-81: Holy Symbol (3) x 10
Level 82: Elemental Resistance (2), Mystic Door (1)
Level 83-88: Elemental Resistance (3) x 6
Level 89-97: Shining Ray (3) x 9
Level 98: Shining Ray (2), Doom (1)
Level 99-103: Summon Dragon (3) x 5
Level 104-108: Dispel (3) x 5
Level 109: Dispel (2), Mystic Door (1)
Level 110-115: Mystic Door (3) x 6
Level 116-120: Summon Dragon (3) x 5

By the time you're level 120, the level of each skill for 3rd job should be the following:

Elemental Resistance [20] MAXED
Dispel [20] MAXED
Holy Symbol [30] MAXED
Mystic Door [20] MAXED
Shining Ray [30] MAXED
Doom [1]
Summon Dragon [30] MAXED
-------------------------------------------------------
Now the time you've all been waiting for...120 levels of hard work and you've finally made it to the 4th Job Advancement.

4th Job Advancement: Bishop
You obtain the following skills as a Bishop:

Maple Warrior
Big Bang
Mana Reflection
Bahamut
Infinity
Holy Shield
Resurrection
Angel Ray
Genesis
Awakening

Now skill builds for Bishops are vast because depending on if you decide you want to and are in a position where you can go to Horntail, your build might differ from a Bishop who has no intention of going to Horntail. This build will slightly reflect a Horntail (HT) Bishop build. In addition, this build is going to try to focus on lower pot consumption by keeping Genesis at steady levels dependant on your character's level...regardless, Genesis does waste a lot of pots no matter what level it is. I suggest maxing out Bahamut before Angel Ray because Bahamut can hit up to 3 monsters and when training at skelegons, his hit can be the deciding factor in whether you have to waste another Genesis cast to kill skelegons.

Level 120: Genesis (2), Resurrection (1)
Level 121: Genesis (3)
Level 122-124: Maple Warrior (3) x 3
Level 125: Genesis (3)
Level 126: Genesis (2), Infinity (1)
Level 127-129: Resurrection (3) x 3
Level 130-139: Bahamut (3) x 10 [Can replace with Angel Ray]
Level 140: Genesis (3)
Level 141: Genesis (2), Holy Shield (1)
Level 142-151: Angel Ray (3) x 10 [Can replace with Bahamut]
Level 152: Genesis (3)
Level 153: Genesis (2), Maple Warrior (1)
Level 154-156: Maple Warrior (3) x 3
Level 157: Maple Warrior (1), Genesis (2)
Level 158-159: Genesis (3) x 2
Level 160: Genesis (2), Holy Shield (1)
Level 161-169: Holy Shield (3) x 9
Level 170: Holy Shield (1), Infinity (2)
Level 171-180: Mana Reflection (3) x 10
Level 181-189: Infinity (3) x 9
Level 190: Big Bang (2), Awakening (1)
Level 191-199: Big Bang (3) x 9
Level 200: Big Bang (1), Hero's Echo (1) [Is a beginner skill that comes with 1 SP so 4th job SP isn't used]

Since I'm not level 200 yet I can't confirm of Hero's Echo is an SP needed skill and if it is how much SP is needed for it. If anyone can confirm any information on Hero's Echo let me know I'd greatly appreciate it.

Like I said before, this is only one of the many builds people do. This is also highly dependant on when you get certain skillbooks, mainly MW20 and Gen30, that drop from Horntail.

Hopefully this guide helps you figure out what the best and funnest way to play your Bishop is. Happy Mapling :kiss:

[Conciente]

I thought being a Bishop was only casting Gen, Heal and then Gen again?

[Lunare]

Nice guide, although the format the skill builds are displayed in is quite confusing.

Very nice work, extremely nice for reference.

[Shinokun]

Since I'm not level 200 yet I can't confirm of Hero's Echo is an SP needed skill and if it is how much SP is needed for it. If anyone can confirm any information on Hero's Echo let me know I'd greatly appreciate it.


Hero's Echo is not a 4th Job Skill. It's a Beginner Skill, and you it comes with 1 SP.

[Bribery]

I thought being a Bishop was only casting Gen, Heal and then Gen again?

Nope, it's just Genesis + Auto MP.


Anyways, the only thing I would change about your Bishop build is a point in Resurrection at level 120, not 123. It makes you much more useful at Zak. I would also get 9 Maple Warrior before leveling Genesis past level 1.

[EchoFaith]

From my experience and knowledge of playing as a bishop (as well as priest, cleric and magician) I think that you have a pretty nice guide, except for your bishop section.

One problem I see is your evaluation of bahamut and angel ray. Bahamut and angel ray can be considered equivalent in terms of usefulness, but their usefulness are in totally different areas of use. Bahamut can be good for boosting damage, but its attacks also aggravate monsters into attacking you. This doesn't really matter if you are at a place such as dreamy ghosts or newties, but at skelegons, making monsters attack you earlier can significantly increase the costs of training. IF only one skelegon is next to you and your bahamut attacks it, then you end up facing a single monster attacking you, (and killing one monster with genesis is far less efficient than killing mobs in another hit.) Angel ray is actually prefered over bahamut as a finisher at skelegons in the case that one survives. Angel ray's use is pretty much limited to the rare 1v1 occasions such as the lone skelegon left over after you use genesis or bosses when you don't need to be supporting.

By providing an exact order in which to put points into your bishop skills, I think you fail to show the true nature of genesis. Since genesis is such a powerful and expensive skill, the most efficient build will be to keep it as low of a level as possible while still killing efficiently. Ideally, you should aim for being able to kill skelegons and skelesaurs in 2 hits while balancing between being able to kill them early on and killing them with extremely high costs.

Some of the most overfunded lukless bishops can put 10 points into genesis by level 123 and start their 2 hit training at skelegons, which for them will be the most cost effective as well as fastest training. For bishops (such as me) whose equipment aren't as spectacular, they might be better off training with level 1 genesis while saving points until about level 145 where they'd put it all in.

Extra points into genesis will only increase the costs of genesis if it doesn't reduce the number of hits it takes to kill the monster that the bishop is training on. Because of this, points should be saved and used when the bishop is on the verge of reducing the number of hits to kill the monster they wish to train on.

Because of the huge variance between each bishop's attacking power, what works for one bishop is likely to be inefficient for others. By giving a straight procedure on how to put points into genesis, you show how it works for yourself. However, it is likely to lead those bishops who don't understand their skills in the wrong direction.

[JoshKun]

One problem I see is your evaluation of bahamut and angel ray. Bahamut and angel ray can be considered equivalent in terms of usefulness, but their usefulness are in totally different areas of use. Bahamut can be good for boosting damage, but its attacks also aggravate monsters into attacking you. This doesn't really matter if you are at a place such as dreamy ghosts or newties, but at skelegons, making monsters attack you earlier can significantly increase the costs of training. IF only one skelegon is next to you and your bahamut attacks it, then you end up facing a single monster attacking you, (and killing one monster with genesis is far less efficient than killing mobs in another hit.) Angel ray is actually prefered over bahamut as a finisher at skelegons in the case that one survives. Angel ray's use is pretty much limited to the rare 1v1 occasions such as the lone skelegon left over after you use genesis or bosses when you don't need to be supporting.



i dont think that these skills should be taken into account in regard to training. pretty much genesis is the only skill used at skeles. ur not going to be using genesis and then bahamut or ar because u still have the other 6 or so that arent in range for those skills. believe me when i say that most just cast again. its much faster (though not as cost effective)

when talking about ar it is somewhat useless for training (used for bossing only)
when talking about bahamut it is somewhat useful while training but in the end gen is what is used for the left overs

[EchoFaith]

I think you misread when I said ar was used for skelegons. I didn't actually say ar should be used when there were multiple skelegons left over, but instead if there were one or two left over and in your reach. This means ar isn't useless for training, but rather that its uses are extremely limited.

As for bahamut, i actually find bahamut quite useful for training at newties. it allows you to kill the newtie on the sniping platform in 2 hits, which makes it much easier to train there. if you aren't on the sniping platform, it may actually speed things up for the bishop as well.

[Bribery]

Bahamut isn't completely useless during training. Sometimes if you can't 100% 2HKO or 1HKO Skelegons, Bahamut can finish off the ones nearby. It helped me a lot before I reset to LUKless since I couldn't 100% 2HKO.

[Furnost]

Thanks for all the feedback guys really appreciate it :)

Few things...

EchoFaith: I see what you're saying about bahamut which is why I put that you could replace it with Angel Ray at that level instead if you aren't a big fan of it. Also, the Bishop section was tricky because everyone gets their skillbooks at different times...it may take one bishop until level 17x to get gen30 while it may take another one until level 14x so it's hard to really predict (I just tried doing an average level of 15x-16x).

SekushiKun: lol josh? Anyways, although AR seems to be primarily a boss skill, both AR and Bahamut help me tremendously at skelegons when training. My Genesis is at lvl 20 and my max damage at the moment aroudn 77.5k...obviously not enough to kill a skelegon, leaving it with very minimal HP. It is here that bahamut helps alot bc by the time the skelegons are done buffing up my bahamut has already killed 1-3 of them essentially allowing me to OHKO skelegons with my genesis most of the time.

Like I had said before this is only one of the many builds that are out there...Shinokun thanks for clearing up Hero's Echo for me I'll change that in a little bit and Bribery smart idea with the Resurrection at level 120 I'll try to implement that into the build now too (was a lil hard for me considering I was lvl 135 when 4th came out lol).

[JezzaRules]

Nice guide =P but then I couldn't really deny holy arrow so I maxed it and left teleport on 1. (simply because I don't use teleport much coz I can't telecast for nuts.)
Still good job with this guide.

[JezzaRules]

Anyway I doubt my cleric will reach bishop coz it'll take me a few years to reach it lol.

[Secks]

Good job davie! :f2:

[Delicae]

Wonderful Guide!

I love how you kept it very comprehensive and user friendly! If that's one thing that ruins a GREAT guide is how easy it is on the eyes. The information you provided is great and anything I was going to critique on has already been mentioned, or you provided notes for it.

Hopefully, we'll see other Mage editions of the "Ultimate Skill Build Guide" :) I'm eager to see an Ice/Lightning edition.

[Furnost]

Wonderful Guide!

I love how you kept it very comprehensive and user friendly! If that's one thing that ruins a GREAT guide is how easy it is on the eyes. The information you provided is great and anything I was going to critique on has already been mentioned, or you provided notes for it.

Hopefully, we'll see other Mage editions of the "Ultimate Skill Build Guide" :) I'm eager to see an Ice/Lightning edition.

Thanks ^^

I'll attempt and I/L guide once I get mine to 14x/15x =P (currently 103 lol)

[TaoZhin]

IMO, now I dont think max summom dragon is necessary anymore, because of bahamut, I think you only need 15 now? Anyway, just a suggestion. Doom is pretty fun sometimes :f3: