9Dragons Awaken: Beginner's Guide

Discussion in 'Game Guides and Tips' started by BirdbrainX, Aug 26, 2019.

  1. BirdbrainX

    BirdbrainX Well-Known Member

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    (Work In Progress)

    This guide is intended as an outline to help new players without “much” prior knowledge of the game get a decent start and know what to expect as their characters progresses. I make no claim that what you read in this guide will be useful to you, but that is my intent. Some of the more experienced players may have a different take on what constitutes as a “proper” beginner’s guide, but this is mine.

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    The following is a chart of the character level progression. Should you encounter any abbreviations concerning character levels, please refer to the chart below. For example: OC 1 means Opening Chi 1 or level 25, and GB 1 means Golden Blossom 1 or level 85, etc.

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    When starting a new character, you will spawn into the Bamboo Village map. Speak with the various NPCs with a “marker” above their heads to receive your introductory quests and complete them. It is important to both do and complete ALL quests on this map to progress onto your official Clan map and also to receive a quest reward that you will use to exchange for a very good starter weapon which you will upgrade further as your do your RTD (Road to Dragon) quest line. Each further upgrade will improve the damage range of your weapon, and at its final upgraded version can last your character to PS levels.

    The game has a “number of hours logged” reward system. There’s 2 tabs – Daily and Monthly. Be sure to collect these passive rewards before you log out of the game for the day.

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    Step 1: Pick a clan
    • Imperial Clan – Wutang, Shaolin, League of Beggars
    • Infernal Clan – Heavenly Demon, Sacred Flower, Brotherhood of Thieves
    Step 2: Decide a Role (character class)
    • Warriors – Swords (Wutang), Polearm (Shaolin), Staff (League of Beggar), Saber (Heavenly Demon), Wheels (Sacred Flower), Spear (Brotherhood of Thieves).
    • Hybrids (Melee)– Gloves ( Wutang/Shaolin/League of Beggar/Heavenly Demon), Daggers (Sacred Flower), Axe (Brotherhood of Thieves).
    • Hybrids (Chikung)– Bracers (Every Clan)
    • Healers - Gloves (Wutang/Shaolin/League of Beggar/Heavenly Demon), Daggers (Sacred Flower), Axe (Brotherhood of Thieves).
    • Nukers (Chikung)– Bracers (Every Clan)
    Step 3: Do all quests in Bamboo Village until you receive a quest called “Zhang Zhong, Mountain Uprooter”. Upon completing this quest, you will receive 3 Young Dragon statues which you can use to exchange for a Young Dragon weapon type suited for your chosen clan and role progression.

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    Step 4: Buy 2 “bags” from the drapery NPC to expand your character’s inventory space. Bags are gender specific - Male or Female. Be sure to buy the correct type for your character's gender.

    Step 5: To receive your Young Dragon weapon, ensure you have received the Young Dragon Statues in your bag. Press L, Click Resource, Click your Clan map, Click the first NPC , Pick the weapon suited for your Clan and Role, Click Trade to receive the weapon. Refer to Step 2 to see which weapon type suits you.

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    If you feel rather naked at this point, you can choose to kill the Bamboo Hermit bear on this map in the hopes that it will drop you some marginally useful beginner’s gear.

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    Step 6: Complete the remaining quests in Bamboo Village till you are asked to go to your clan base map for further quest progression. On your clan base map, Press M to expand your minimap, and meet with the NPCs with quest markers.


    RTD (Road to Dragon) quest line is your primary quest line that you have to do and complete to progress further in the game. There are typically 4 chapters for your RTD quest line, with each clan having a different number of quests per chapter. At the end of chapter 4 and around mid GB levels, your character will progress into a "2nd Role" state with the opportunity to redistribute your Stats & Mastery points.

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    As you progress from chapter to chapter, you will receive quest rewards (Jade/Black/True Dragon Statues) that allow you to further upgrade your Young Dragon weapon. To do so, unequip your Young Dragon weapon and have it in your bag together with the respective Dragon Statues.

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    Almost every other quest line in RTE, RTK, etc are optional and can either be done at your leisure, or skipped entirely if you prefer since they do not impact the game progression.

    Remember, the RTD quest line is important, be sure to do them as and when you get them. Should you get lost or are confused as what you have to do, Press Q, Click on RTD, and double click on the quest name and it a quest map guide will appear to show you where you need to go.

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    Finding a Master. Press V, Click Pupil, Click Search. A list of potential Master names will appear. Select one and apply to them. This portion of the game may take some time. Some masters do not actively look at this menu to notice that they have new disciple applicants and others may choose not to accept. To avoid the unknown waiting period, you may choose to ask people you meet if they are willing to be your Master.

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    Once you have been accepted as a disciple, Press V, Click Pupil, Click “Receive Gift”.

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    Notice the glowing red box on the middle right side of your screen. Click it, Click Trade, Click Yes to accept your daily Master/Disciple gift. This “gift” is a consumable that you use to activate a buff with varying duration and stat bonus. You can only receive this gift once a day and only after your Master has clicked it on his end.

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    Finding a band to join. You can only join a “band” that is of your clan type. For example, If you belong to the Wutang Clan, the bands you are allowed to join consists of only Wutang clan characters.

    Press V, Click Band, Click Search. A list of potential band names will appear. Select one and apply to them. You may apply to more than one band to increase the chances that one of them will accept you. However, once you’ve joined a band, the rest of your applications to other bands will be voided. You may choose to ask your master (if you already have one) if you may enter his band, or a band suited for your clan in his league.

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    Courier Storage. If you have not done so already, you should look into expanding your storage capabilities by signing a contract with the Courier Storage NPC. It is highly recommended that you get the one with the most slots/spaces for the longest duration possible (80 slots – 365 days). Or if that isn’t possible at the moment, just pick one that you are comfortable with and re-contract to the highest possible when you have sufficient gold.

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    If you have either a Master or have joined a Band by now, seek help from them to finance your Courier Storage contract. Most would be willing to help and might even give you some starting gold to help you on your way.

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    Every clan will have their respective Kungfu teacher that teaches you 3 basic skills - Basic Clan Lightfoot (LF), Basic Clan Meditation (Med), Basic Clan Steps (Some clans such as HD or WT do not have basic clan steps). Be sure to pick up and master these 3 skills, so you may learn your clan’s advanced form of these skills once you have trained the basic form to Cheng 10.

    To get the advanced clan tomes for these 3 particular skills, you will have to either buy them from other players or ask if your Master/Band members to donate them to you.

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    As your kill mobs during the game, you may come across “Practical Kungfu Manual of… clan” drops. You can use these to craft KungFu trainer manuals for your respective clan that your character belongs to - for TRIPLE the skill xp gain for the duration of the manual (30mins per manual used).

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    You can choose to sell or trade the other practical manuals to other players or members from your band/league for the ones you can use.

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    Managing Life/Vital Energy consumption from your skills at early levels can be a tedious. Which is why it is highly recommended to use your Clan’s basic attack active skill (1-2 VE cost) till you get gear that provides Life/VE leech.

    You will want to farm dungeon set clothes from Death Valley Dungeon (CoF) in Zhengzhou/ShiZhang map.

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    And craft the “Superior” version of them that has both “Life/VE leech” effects to sustain your grinds

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    Or get a different set of clothes with slightly better stats from Valley of Hell Dungeon (VoH) in Jinan/Datong map.

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    The following are also items you will need to craft the “Superior” version of the dungeon clothes.
    1. Flowstones (Low) – Dropped from mobs on maps and dungeons. Be sure to pick up any you find.
    2. Gold Threads (Low) – Dropped from mobs on maps and dungeons. Be sure to pick up any you find.
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    Purple Jades – Dropped from the 3 treasure room chest in CoF dungeon.

    Red Jades – Dropped from mobs on Jinan/Datong maps and also from the 3 treasure room chests in VoH dungeon.

    Once you have a source of leech, you can perhaps begin to use and train active skill (25 VE and higher cost) that belong to your role.

    The mobs in both dungeons will drop the needed pieces for Hat, Wristbands, and Boots. The Jacket and Pants pieces will only drop from the Dungeon boss. These 2 final pieces may take many dungeon runs to complete since the pieces that drop may be of either Male or Female gender. Try asking your Master/Band members to help you out.

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    Map progression up to your 2nd Role upgrade is as follows
    1. Zhengzhou/Shizhang
    2. Jinan/Datong
    3. Cave of Conqueror
    4. Nanchang/Hangzhou
    5. And beyond.
    At this point, continuing to use your crafted “Superior” CoF/VoH clothes that have Life/VE leech. Your next “clothes” change is at CS 10, when you can wear the Gold Coin Mansion (GCM) or Beast Tower (BT) noble clothes that have much improved stats. Ask your Master/Band members to help you out with clothes run with either GCM/BT green or red passes when you hit CS levels.

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    If you do not have one already – get yourself a Costume (Deco). Your Master or Band/League members may even be able to sponsor you a level 1 GCM deco. It is inexpensive and is helpful in improving your damage output. Plus it can even be upgraded to a level 2 deco when you are able to farm GCM for the crystal materials needed for the upgrade. Consult your Master/Band members on this.

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    Get yourself a Wild Tower Inner Set that suits your attack style. They come in either Melee or CK variants. Do not mix and match.

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    When either wearing the CoF/VoH/GCM noble clothes, you will have 8 pocket slots for equipping relics. The following is what I consider to be the “basic” relic setup for a beginner’s character. You will have to either save up and buy these for yourself, or rely on the help of your Master or fellow Band/League members to help you out.

    5 dungeon plates (from CoF, VoH, WT, GCM, SRS dungeons) + Flag of Chaos (Flag 1) + Bead of Frosted Full Moon (BoFFM) + Blue Banner Excellence (BB Ex)

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    (Work In Progress)
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2019
    ErusiElse, Pekkar, Dragy and 8 others like this.
  2. BirdbrainX

    BirdbrainX Well-Known Member

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    Reserved 1.
     
  3. BirdbrainX

    BirdbrainX Well-Known Member

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    Reserved 2.
     
  4. Trollamite

    Trollamite Active Member

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    Great job so far. Well needed for new players.
     
  5. Evantor

    Evantor Member

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    Aren't the advanced med/steps worthless now? The role specific steps/med are better now I thought.
     
  6. BirdbrainX

    BirdbrainX Well-Known Member

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    It is true that the role specific med/steps do provide much better stats and effects, but they also have a base cost of 25VE per tick. Meaning if you activate both at the same time, it drains 50VE per tick at Cheng 1 (The VE costs increases as they rise in cheng level). Something a beginner with little to no gear starting out would have trouble sustaining.

    Compared to the basic clan meditation, the advanced version I've stated in my guide provides a much faster way for new characters to recover life/ve when they meditate. Which can be quite bothersome when they acquire a much larger life/ve pool, and spend over a minute (possibly even longer) to fully recover their life/ve.
     
  7. Evantor

    Evantor Member

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    Well put. Great guide btw.
     
  8. KaMiguel

    KaMiguel Active Member

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    You're guide really put emphasis to the fact that quests, aside from RTDs, are obsolete. You don't get good gear from doing quests, you do it if you have time to waste and you want to complete it. The only good gear you get is young dragon's weapon and it was added on later.
     
  9. KaptainSmoke

    KaptainSmoke Member

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    Actually the RTF quests are good for beginners on non event days for exp and a few RTE give exp cards as rewards as well, that being said most of the quests aside from RTD and a handful of others are obsolete. It's something I often have to let new players know before they waste an hour or two doing them. I'd also like to say I think it's actually more advantageous to leave your RTD quests until you're EC lvl because even at EC1 the RTD quests for 2nd role near the end will give you around a lvl per quest. It's an easy 6 lvls especially with the auto system.
     
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  10. KaMiguel

    KaMiguel Active Member

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    I forgot to finish my RTD in one of my alts until it was low CS, was still doing 1 level per quest at that level.
     
  11. thanhduc154

    thanhduc154 New Member

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    dead.PNG
    I'm newbie to find suits becomes impossible because it requires DEATH BEAD.
     
  12. BirdbrainX

    BirdbrainX Well-Known Member

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    My guide mentioned that you use the clothes pieces that drop from both the mobs and bosses, to craft the "superior" clothes as shown in my guide as those can be worn at lower character levels when new players most need it.

    Your screenshot shows clothes that aren't mentioned in my guide.
     
    thanhduc154 likes this.
  13. thanhduc154

    thanhduc154 New Member

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    Thanks for the reply. Sorry I didn't look closely. I just look at the pictures but I don't read the words.
     
  14. Lovediary

    Lovediary New Member

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    Nice post. Thanks!
     
  15. darksander

    darksander New Member

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    It would be quite useful to add the mob levels for those dungeons.
    Great job, nonetheless!
     
  16. Rospito

    Rospito New Member

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    Great job, thanks a lot, I feel a little less overwhelmed now.
     
  17. Imoogi

    Imoogi New Member

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    How are you meant to make gold as a new player?
     
  18. BirdbrainX

    BirdbrainX Well-Known Member

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    Generally by farming stuff and selling them. Each band and league has their own preferred methods of doing that in order to gear up. It's best you join one and seek advise from them directly.

    I typically do not divulge farming methods, but the commonly known ways are to farm weapon drops and selling them to NPCs. Tibet map and CCD red and black are well known places to do just that.

    Please understand that I do not wish to leak specifics about this on the forums, as I do not want to inevitably encourage more gold farmers/sellers.
     
  19. Imoogi

    Imoogi New Member

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    thanks, i understand
     
  20. DuongPhongLinh

    DuongPhongLinh New Member

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    This is very helpful, thank you very much
     

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