A Guide for 9 Dragons Newbies

I)The 4 basic classes
II)The 6 starter clans
III) Clan Weapons
IV) Quests
V) Considering your target
VI) Choosing a Clan role
VII) I need a restat!
VIII) Elixirs are good for you
IX) Refining your weapons
X) Collectables and Collection quests
XI) RELICS, Epitets and KARMA
XII) Selling your Loot
XIII) Party Quest Books and Scrolls
XIV) Increasing your INVENTORY SPACE
XV) The Advantages of Speed
XVI) I have two Weapon Slots!

I) The 4 basic classes
There are 4 basic classes to choose from in 9 Dragons:
Warrior; Strategist/Healer; Holist/Hybrid; Chi Kung User/Nuker

II) The 6 starter clans
There are similarities between these roles for each of the 6 starter clans.
Each clan has their own name for these roles, if you want to find out what it is press F1 in the game and look over the help topics. You may also view the list of character level tiers and their names.
There are 12 levels to each tier; and you have to do chi breathing to advance to the next tier.

III) Clan Weapons
Recognizing Clan Weapons:
All Clan's Chi Kung Users use Bracers as their primary weapon.
All Clan's Healers and Hybrids use Gloves except for Sacred Flower and Brotherhood of Thieves.
SF uses Daggers for the non-warrior weapon and BOT uses Axe.
The Warrior weapons for each clan are as follows:
Heavenly Demon – Saber
Wu Tang – Sword
HD and WT are the two most popular clans in the game.
Sacred Flower (Female characters ONLY)– Wheels
Shaolin Monks (Male characters ONLY)– Polearm
Brotherhood of Thieves – Spear
League of Beggars – Staff

You should choose the weapon that matches your clan role and use it, you will only get Kung Fu techniques for that weapon.

IV) Quests
You choose a clan at the beginning of character creation and you will have to follow a series of quests to become a member of that clan. You will be considered a Vagabond until you join a clan.

If you see '!' mark on your map then an NPC has a quest for you.
If you see '?' mark on your map then an NPC needs to talk to you.

New quests are triggered when you level up, so if you don't have a quest available then you need to grind mobs until you level up.

Keep doing these quests and you will eventually end up joining the clan.
There are extra requirements to join WT or HD though.
You will receive a Basic WT Sword and Fist technique and need to train those up to cheng 3.
For HD you will receive a Basic Saber and Fist technique and need to train those up to cheng 3.
Both of these clans require you to beat a hard mob in order to join the clan.
For WT you need to beat two named mobs that will be red to you when you get the quest.
For HD you need to beat a certain number of mobs within a time limit. You also need to collect Knife of White Shadows Blood, you don't actually have to kill the boss to do this, just hitting it will get the blood.

When you begin the game at level 0 you will hunt either yellow spiders or foxes depending on your starter zone. These yellow con mobs will give you +20% of a level each, so you only need to kill 5 of them to get Losing Self 1. The percent of XP that you get per kill will steadily go down as you level up but generally you will consider the mobs around your level according to a color code.

V) Considering your target
White Con is equal to your level.
Yellow Con is 1-2 levels higher than you.
Orange Con is 3-4 levels higher than you.
Red Con is 5 or more levels above you.
Green Con is 1-2 levels below you.
Lt Blue Con is 3-4 levels below you.
And Dark Blue Con is 5 or more levels below you.

You can not gain any kind of XP from fighting Dark Blue mobs but they may still drop items for you for a few more levels.
Lt Blue mobs and higher will gain you XP plus Skill XP from using your skills on them.
The rate that you earn Skill XP is the same for all con mobs above Dark Blue.
But you will gain faster character XP from fighting Yellow or Orange con mobs.

VI) Choosing a clan role
By the time you reach Opening Chi 12 (Level 36) it will be time for you to choose a clan role.
If you have not joined the Clan by OC12 then you must have failed to meet the requirements, check your quests and skill levels to make sure you have everything you need.

When you choose a Clan role at OC12 you will have the opportunity to reassign your CHI pts and mastery points. You may get Chi Reconditioning from a Clan NPC one time before reaching Five Dragons 1; you must choose to do this by Raising Light 12 (level 60).

VII) I need a restat!
If you take Chi Reconditioning from the Clan NPC you may also change your role, if you change roles you will lose all your role skill and will have to buy the ones for you new role and train them up from cheng 1. If you get Chi Reconditioning and do not change roles, then you can reassign your CHI pts and keep your current skill levels.

The only other way to get a restat for your character is to purchase an item from the Cash Shop.
This special item will reset all your CHI pts but does not allow you to change clan roles.

VIII) Elixirs are good for you
You may consume elixirs to gain a permanent bonus to each of your stats.
These elixirs are ranked in level from 1 through 5.
Level 1 elixirs may provide a maximum stat bonus of +2, if you don't get max on the first try you can take it again.
Each time you consume an Elixir you will gain Intoxication levels which is a negative effect.
Intoxication will go down gradually and I suggest waiting for it to go to 0 before consuming another Elixir.
There is a small chance that Elixir consumption will fail catastrophicly and reduce your main stats.
You can get special items to increase your chance of success with Elixirs.
The Stat Bonuses that you get from each level will STACK, and the max bonus increases with each level. So that you can get a maximum of +20 to each stat from Elixirs.

You may also purchase Elixirs from the Cash Shop which are gaurenteed not to fail, at least thats the way I read it, you should always get at least the minimum bonus from consuming a premium elixir.

IX) Refining your weapons
Your Weapons can be refined giving them a + bonus damage.
You refine weapons with the female Blacksmith in Hefei.
For the first two levels of refinement you may purchase materials from the General Shop.
You may get a +2 refine on your weapon with 100% guarentee of success.
Refining a weapon above level 2 requires Blood Essence.
Blood Essence is a rare drop from all mobs in the game.
Except mobs in the Cave of the Conqueror in Bloody Plain have a much higher chance of dropping Blood Essence; they may even drop 2-3 at once.
It would be advisable for you not to sell your Bloods and save them.

The other way to get Blood Essence is by obtaining 999 Blood Essence Points.
Your BEP is the number above the system message next to a red chinese character.
It is a kind of kill count, but it will not increase for every kill.
If that number reaches 999 before you die then you will get a free Blood Essence!
But if you die before that number reaches 999 then it will reset to Zero!

There is a Refinement Materials Trader in Hefei who will take your BE and give you Dragon's Blood needed for weapon refinement.
All levels of Weapon Refinement from +3 up have an increasing chance of failure.
If the refinement fails then the weapon will be destroyed, and you may get back half the BE from your Dragon's Blood. Level 3 refinement only requires one BE and you will not get anything back if it fails.

X) Collectables and Collection quests
There are collectable items in the game, and common drops may be collected and traded for some rare items. Check your character sheet under the Living tab to find a list of these collections.
The first collection that you can complete will get you a 2 pocket clothing item, shirt or pants.
It is probably best to choose the pants because you will get a shirt/jacket from your clan when you join.
Most of these collections are traded with Wan Daye an NPC in Hefei, fat guy dressed in red robes standing next to a cart with 2 white horses.

Wan Daye will offer you some nice weapons when you reach certain levels.
The first Wan Daye weapon will become available to you at RL4.

Five of the Wan Daye collections will get you a Seal that gives +4 to one stat.
If all 5 of these Seals are collected it can be traded for a Seal that give +5 to all stats.
These seals are among a large number of different types of items that can be put in your pockets to get a bonus of some kind.

XI) RELICS, Epitets and KARMA
When you join a clan you will receive a clan RELIC and Epitet.
Equip the Clan RELIC in one of your pockets to get the bonus from it.
There is a button on the main character sheet that will alow you to equip the Epitet which will also provide you with some bonuses. The Epitet appears over your head all the time and there are many different Epitets that you can achieve in the game.

There are also RELICS that become available at RC1, these are either red or blue relics.
Blue RELICS require Good KARMA and Red RELICS require Bad KARMA.
Your Balance of Karma, whichever you have the most of, will determine which relics you may use.
Good Karma Blue relics give a bonus to two stats and add 1% to your crit rate.
Bad Karma Red relics give a larger bonus to one stat and penalty to a 2nd stat and add 1% to your crit rate.

You may earn some KARMA from completing quests in the game.
You may also earn GOOD KARMA from killing mobs, it will be approximately 100 kills for +1GK.
The actual number of kills you need for +1GK depends on the color that the mobs con.
The mobs must con GREEN or higher in order for you to earn Karma from them.
Most KARMA will be won or lost through PVP.
KARMA really only servers two purposes in the game thus far.
It is a way of keeping score in the PVP game, and also it is required for some relics to work.
You may engage in some PVP action on all servers even if it is not a PVP server.
Bloody Plains is a PVP zone on all servers and you may be PK'ed there.
You will not lose money or items when you are PK'ed and you will never lose XP from a PVP death.
The only thing that you can gain or lose from PVP is KARMA.
If you are interested in how PVP works in 9 Dragons there is a guide section in this forum.
You should obtain the level of RC12 at least before considering to join the PVP game.

XII) Selling your LOOT

The only safe zone to trade with opposing clan members is Hefei, you will find many stalls there set up by players.
You probably will not be able to sell your low level weapon drops to anyone but the NPCs, especially if they are opposed clan items.
This is the reason the weapons are identified in my GUIDE, so that you will know which items are NPC merchant junk.
IF the Weapon is BLUE OR GREEN it will have some kind of additional bonuses on it and then it might be worth somthing.
Most WHITE weapons are just junk and should be sold to NPC unless they also have slots.
GREEN items are either from quests or dropped by a boss or conqueror's chest.

Ornaments may be equiped in slotted items to give additional bonuses.
The best ornaments to have include +1% crit rate for weapons; +5% speed for clothing or +60HP for clothing.
Ornaments do not have any level requirements to use but you might need a higher level player to buy them from GENERAL SHOP in a higher level zone.

RARE DROPs include Blood Essence, BLUE Weapons, Conqueror CHESTS & KEYS, Elixirs, TOMES, Training Manuals, Collectables.
Conqueror CHESTS may contain 4-pocket clothing items which are among the most valuable items in the game.
Conqueror CHESTS may also contain Junk however so useing a key to open one is like pulling the lever on a slot machine.
GREEN keys increase your odds of getting clothing, BLUE keys increase your odds of getting assessories, and RED keys increase your odds of getting Weapons. You may use 1-3 keys per chest in order to affect these odds. You may also attempt to open a chest with NO KEYS i believe.

Nice job, thnaks

Good read - covered just about everything a newbie needs.

Couple Addendum:
V) Considering your target
There is an attack rating penalty against mobs yellow and higher - meaning you will miss more. If you have higher dexterity you should be fine, but with low dexterity stat-builds, whites and light blues tend to get better results.

X) Collectibles and Collection quests
Take the shirt rather than the pants from Wan Daye. Its true your clan will give you a normal 2 pocket shirt, but the shirt Wan Daye gives you has two pockets and some bonuses on top of it. Not too much later on you'll get a quest for 3 pocket, 30 defense pants.
If you're concerned about not matching, save up 50k and buy a garment from the vendor in your starting town - it goes on top of all your clothes and magically makes you match.

Selling your LOOT)
For easy money while you're low in level, set up a stand with quest items for sale, or if you managed to find a bunch of weapons used by other players in your area (sabres, gloves, daggers, wheels, spears, axes, bracers for black clans and swords, gloves, staves, polearms, or bracers for white clans) set up shop in a small town by where those weapons are used - if its a Gathering Chi 4 Sword, you would set up right in that little town as you enter Zheng Zhou... or whatever its called.

There should also be a mention on party quests since 9Dragons doesn't do a very good job (or any at all?) on covering them - took me forever to know they even existed. I wouldn't know where to start explaining, unforunately

XIII) Party Quest Books and Scrolls
There is a Wandering Merchant in Hefei that sells quest scrolls. These are the party quests.
There is one quest book for each clan and the quest requirements are explained in the manual.
The quest scrolls are easier party quests, there are two for white clans and two for black clans at the moment.
Unfortunately there is no way to tell which book goes with which clan unless you buy them, and I don't have a list myself.

I know the Lou Diayan scroll is White Clan for levels RC3-7 requires a party of 3 players. Reward is a ring that gives +100HP +30VE.
The next scroll in the list is for Black Clans same level, I don't know what the reward for that one is.

There is a guide in this section for party quests here
http://phpbb.acclaim.com/9dragons/viewtopic.php?t=18502

XIV) Increaseing your INVENTORY SPACE
You can tripple the size of your inventory space by purchasing and equiping 2 backpacks.
The cheapest backpacks are available from a Clan NPC that sells clan style clothing.
There is no difference in storage space between the different priced bags, they just look different.
Basicly only the backpack in the 1st slot will show on your avatar, the 2nd bag will not be visible.

You should add backpacks before you start thinking about getting some storage space; generally the 3 bags provide you with more than enough space for your loots.
Clan style clothing available from the clan NPC can provide you with up to 3 pockets but do not provide any other kind of bonuses. Plus you will get a full set of clothing in the process of doing quests, which do provide some bonuses.

Some Vagabond clothing and pocket items provide you with a bonus recovery rate to HP or VE. This increased recovery rate is ONLY effective while you are in PEACE MODE.
Some Vagabond clothing provides 3-pockets and a nice HP bonus, these items also provide a Speed bonus.

The Clan DECO clothing items are available from a Peddler in your Clan village, they cost 50k each.
These items equip in the slot left of your weapon slot, and it overides whatever you happen to actually be wearing.
The DECO will make it look like you have a fully coordinated Clan outfit on, irreguardless of what you are wearing.

XV) The Advantage of Speed
Some clothing items provide a speed bonus and this affects your movement speed.
Speed bonus does not affect your attack speed or use of combat skills in any way i don't believe.
The main advantage of speed is that it will allow you to run away from a fight or chase down your opponent in PvP.
During a PvP battle there is a Combat MODE Timer, while combat mode is in effect you will not be able to use Light Foot.

XVI) I have two Weapon Slots!
You actually have a 2ndary weapon slot on your equipment sheet and you can equip two weapons.
You don't actually have to equip two gloves or bracers in order to use those weapons.
You can switch between these two weapons by pressing the W key.
You will not get any bonuses from the 2nd weapon, only the active weapon will give you bonuses.
Also your 2ndary weapon will take durability damage even if you never make it the active weapon.

You should also note that if you are a Healer, Hybrid or Chi Kung user that training your buffs will damage the durability of your equiped weapon. If you are just standing in one spot casting buffs on yourself in order to train, you should always remember to unequip your weapon first.

It's a good guide. It covers different subjects than some of the other guides, and covers them better. It really doesn't hurt to have more newbie guides, because when I was a newbie, I remember being insecure with the game, reading everything I could to make sure I wasn't messing up in some way.

One thing that you may notice after playing 9 Dragons for a while...
Is that the mobs have a kinda zone where they spawn in and wander around.
If you are running away from a fight the mobs will try to pursue you...
and they may follow you up to a point beyond thier normal stomping area
and then disappear!
Well even though the mobs are disappearing, they will respawn back in the zone...
Even if they were partially damaged they will respawn partially damaged.
Mobs do not heal over time!
And I'm always saying to myself, I just want to finish off this one last mob before I start running...
And thats what usually ends up getting me killed most of the time.
And of course you don't collect the XP until the mob dies,
but thats pretty typical of these kinds of games.
But if you run and meditate you can go back and finish the mob easy and live
and keep your Blood Essence Points and your karma which is much harder to lose
than the XP you might lose on dieing.

I'm certain I've died enough times to lose 3 full levels at least...
even though I always revive at the Inn and only lose 5% XP.
Also if you revive at the Inn you don't suffer a 5 minute penalty of reduced stats...
reviving at the exact same spot you just died with gimped stats is a really bad idea.
But the worst part about dieing so much is I could have collect a lot more blood essence by
completing my blood count to 999.
The karma penalty is huge too if you only get karma from PvE and questing;
and thats the ONLY way you will be getting karma for the first 40 levels or so in the game.
Of course once you get up to level 100 and beyond, even 5% XP loss ends up being a huge amount.
And if you happen to be right at 0.00% on a level, you can NOT lose XP from dieing and be de-leveled.
But the other death penalties still apply, so its a very good idea to avoid death as much as possible.

If you choose to play a warrior class in this game, don't be thinking you're a tank, because you are NOT a tank!

Great guide. I was looking up an answer to a question I have, and this popped up. It didn't answer my question, but I did learn a couple things.

Also, about the party quest at RC3-7, it's the same reward for both white and black clans, the Frozen Sea Tiger's Eye ring. I can't remember the name of the scroll, it's the one after the white clan one.

you mentioned Epitets and that there are different ones you can get..

I have had a quick search but have not found anything on this, what ones are available other than the basic one you get when joining a clan..



Thanks

I do not believe this is true. I was training my active attack last week and noticed against light blue i was getting .03 per hit, but against green I was getting .06.

This is incorrect (unless things have changed in the last patch). WT Sword/Fist only need to be cheng 2 and there is no requirement for HD Sword/Fist at all.

There is a trick to raise any active fighting skill to cheng 2, without investing anything more than time. After you do your inital training, place the skill on your hotbar. Make sure it is active (has a silver box around it). Use the training dummy again. You'll get around 9% for each full cycle of training (more if you miss a lot). You can do this repeatedly until you either reach chang 2 or, if you aren't high enough level for level up, are a few percentage points short. Training manuals and/or XP events will modify the experience you get from this.

Caution: I have found that after each full cycle, the skill will un-select itself. Make sure it is selected (silver box) before you use the training dummy each time or you won't get the xp.

Good advice... one tip I'll add, though. When you're going through the training again to get yourself skill xps... intentionally miss/fail every time. You get the same xp benefit for each training attempt whether you succeed or fail, and if you succeed you will eventually move to the 2nd and 3rd level animations... meaning that each "swing" will take 2-3 times as long. If you continually fail, however, you will remain with the level 1 animation (one hit), which is much faster... so you can "swing" more often per minute and thus get more xps. Once you get to cheng 2 in the skill (and thus stop gaining any more xps), you can just cancel out of the training session... you don't have to complete it through levels 2 and 3.

Very nice guide Token64!



When I trained axe skills just the other day, it gave xp on each of the 3 swings. Put your mouse on the the weapon skill icon in the hotbar and you can watch it grow. If you train on level one you have to click mouse for miss, character takes 1 swing, wait for the marble to slide from 1 side of the bar to the other, then click mouse again for next miss. You only get one chunk of xp. If you train level 3 you get 3 chunks of xp between mouse clicks, and that 66% less mouse clicks (and marble slides) you have to watch. Also, throw on a 2x manual and you can be done in no time. If I remember correctly it took about 10 mins to reach cheng 2.

EDIT: The training I'm referring to was for the 2 highest active axe skills for BoT Healer. I can't confirm that it works the same for other classes, weapons, or actives, nor for basic skills for vagabonds. Seems like it should though.

EDIT MORE: I just remembered I had scribbled it down on paper and need to clarify. The second highest axe skill (i think Mighty Gust??) gave a total of 1.01% at level 3 (roughly .33 per move). Keep in mind I was using 2x manual at the time for both of these, so divide these numbers in half if comparing to training without 2x manual. The highest axe active (i think Fierce axe of hell??) only gave .63 total at level 3 (roughly .31 per move). It looks like I miscalculated the per move on the last one, but not so. If you watch this move closely you will see that the second and third animations are identical... they both only include 2 hits. This is confirmed by watching the xp grow while training on the dummy... it only provides two chunks of xp when training at level 2 and level 3.

Very good guide!