Why should I pick explorer as my class?

If you like big numbers (damage that is), Explorer is the class for you.
They have the biggest burst damage in PKO by far. Explorers are also
a good class for people that like using boats, as they get quite a few
sea-based skills.


Stats & Skills
For stats I recommend going full SPR for faster levelling, though you may
want to consider doing 1 CON for each 4 SPR you add if you want more
survivability at the trade-off of some damage. Either way you should end
up the same way, just add CON when you've maxed SPR.

For skills a lot is personal preference, though there are some must have
skills and some suboptimal choices.

Explorer Skills

Click here to see Skills Tree

Diligence (Passive skill)

Prerequisite: None
Description: Increase SP recovery rate of character.
Effect: Level 1 increase 2 points. Each additional level increase 1 point.
Coral needed: None
My opinion: Great for reducing the need to rest, spend points here
whenever you have spare SP.

Current (Passive ship skill)

Prerequisite: Diligence Lv2
Description: Increase movement speed of ship.
Effect: Level 1 increase 6%. Each additional level increase 1%.
Coral needed: None
My opinion: Not the excactly best Explorer skill there is, you should not
put more than two SP in this. (only one if you arent getting
Tornado)

Conch Armor (Passive ship skill)

Prerequisite: Current Lv1
Description: Increase defense of ship.
Effect: Level 1 increase 8 points. Each additional level increase 3 point.
Coral needed: None
My opinion: Decent skill, but no need to increase it beyond Lv5.

Tornado (Initiate land skill)

Prerequisite: Current Lv2
Description: Equip Wind Coral to twirl enemy up in the air (Level 1 consume 27 SP. Each level need 2 more SP)
Effect: Level 1 time duration 3.5s. Each additional level increase 0.5s.
Coral needed: Wind Coral
My opinion: Another decent skill, get it to Lv5 if you want Algae Entanglement.

Lightning Bolt (Initiate land skill)

Prerequisite: Diligence Lv1
Decription: Equip Thunder Coral to strike enemy with lightning (Level 1 consume 25 SP. Each level need 2 more SP)
Effect: Damage determined by skill level and stamina.
Coral needed: Thunder Coral
My opinion: Your primary damage. Get it, max it, love it!

Alga Entanglement (Initiate ship skill)

Prerequisite: Tornado Lv5
Description: Use seaweed to bind and damage enemy (Level 1 consume 21 SP. Each level need 1 more SP)
Effect: Level 1 damage target 5 points per sec for 6s. Each additional level increase 1 point and extend 2s. Also determine by stamina.
Coral needed: None
My opinion: Most definately worth it if you already got all the requirements.

Voyager skills

Conch Ray (Initiate land skill)

Prerequisite: Conch Armor Lv5
Description: Use Strike Coral to damage enemies in a straight line (Level 1 consume 23 SP. Each level need 3 more SP)
Effect: Damage determined by skill level and stamina.
Coral needed: Strike Coral
My opinion: Another land damage spell, a must unless you're EXTREMELY
ship focussed. Seriously, words can't describe how much I
love this skill........ GET IT!

Tail Wind (Initiate ship skill)

Prerequisite: Tornado Lv4
Description: Use Wind Coral to summon wind and boost movement of ships in an area (Level 1 consume 23 SP. Each level need 3 more SP)
Effect: Requires to equip Wind Coral.
Coral needed: Wind Coral
My opinion: Get 2 or 4 levels of this if you're ship focussed and already have
Algae Entanglement and Lightning Curtain maxxed.

Whirlpool (Initiate ship skill)

Prerequisite: Tail Wind Lv4
Description: Create a whirlpool to decrease movement speed of enemy ships in an area (Level 1 consume 21 SP. Each level need 1 more SP)
Effect: Each level increase effect
Coral needed: None
My opinion: Only get this if you're REALLY, REALLY, and I mean REALLY
ship focussed.

Fog (Initiate ship skill)

Prerequisite: Tail Wind Lv2
Description: Use Fog Coral to decrease attack of enemies in an area (Level 1 consume 21 SP. Each level need 1 more SP)
Coral needed: Fog Coral
My opinion: Decent ship skill, but lower priority than Algae Entanglement
and Lightning Carpet.

Lightning Curtain (Initiate ship skill)

Prerequisite: Lightning Bolt Lv8
Description: Use Thunder Coral to create a thunderstorm that damage enemies in an area (Level 1 consume 21 SP. Each level need 1 more SP)
Effect: Each level increase effect.
Coral needed: Thunder Coral
My opinion: "THE" skill for ship damage, you should definately get this.


My current skill selection
For skills we will focus on the land based ones, as we want to level as quick
as possible. The skills are listed in the order you should get them.
Explorer
Lv10: 1x Diligence (SP regen), required for Lightning
Lv11: 1x Lightning (Your primary damage skill)
Lv20: 9x Lightning
Lv21-24: 4x Diligence
Lv25: 1x Current (Ship speed increase), required for Conch Armor
LV26-30: 5x Conch Armor (Ship armor increase), required for Conch Ray
Voyager
Lv40: 10x Conch Ray
Lv41-46: 6x Diligence

After this it is pretty much personal preference among the ship skills, this is my personal preference (listed in the order I will acquire them).
10x Lightning Curtain
1x Current
5x Tornado
10x Algae Entanglement


Acquiring Corals
Corals can be bought from Coral Vendor - Lamon (2061, 2543 - Ascaron),
or they can be looted from sea monsters. Strike Corals are not available
above Lv2, but this will probably be added later, along with recharging
of Strike Corals.

Thunder Corals
Lv1 - Floating Seaweed (Lv26) 1572, 1200
Lv1 - White Cap Sea Jelly (Lv29) 384, 822
Lv2 - Ocean Water Dancer (Lv33) 1910, 3604
Lv2 - Poisonous Sea Jelly (Lv35) 1350, 1980
Lv3 - Rapid Squid (Lv43) 3132, 998
Lv3 - Feral Skeleton Fish (Lv45) 3132, 1292
Lv4 - Wandering Mermaid (Lv50) 3692, 322
Lv5 - Vampiric Polliwog (Lv55) 370, 2317
Lv5 - Topaz Dolphin (Lv57) 2631, 2048

Fog Corals
Lv1 - Icky Seaweed (Lv27) 3930, 3150
Lv1 - Man Eating Sea Jelly (Lv29) 384, 1190
Lv2 - Vicious Baby Squid (Lv33) 1478, 550
Lv2 - Berserk Sea Jelly (Lv36) 1310, 3604
Lv3 - Midnight Water Dancer (Lv44) 3211, 1731
Lv3 - Thunder Sea Jelly (Lv46) 3746, 1292
Lv4 - Jack the Pirate.s Support Ship (Lv49) 2210, 3769
Lv4 - Shadow Mermaid (Lv51) 3211, 2314
Lv5 - Tempest Sea Jelly (Lv56) 441, 2957
Lv5 - Tornado Sea Jelly (Lv57) 1275, 3634

Wind Corals
Lv1 - Wild Seaweed (Lv25) 1447, 1602
Lv1 - Cursed Seaweed (Lv28) 1950, 3126
Lv2 - Sluggish Squid (Lv32) 1498, 2528
Lv2 - Evil Water Dancer (Lv34) 2005, 2110
Lv3 - Swift Baby Squid (Lv42) 3814, 469
Lv3 - Swift Water Dancer (Lv44) 3211, 1731
Lv4 - Stealth Blood Polliwog (Lv48) 2550, 400
Lv4 - Jack the Pirate.s Warship (Lv50) 1950, 3515
Lv5 - Sakura 13 Warship (Lv55) 1950, 1286
Lv5 - Silk Shark (Lv56) 3149, 3836


Recharging Corals
To recharge your coral you need to go with your ship to an appropriate
weather condition with your coral equipped, stay inside it to recharge your
coral. System messages will tell where they can be found.

Example: [System]Weather: On local sea region at (1268, 1156),
there is a Thunderstorm.

Thunderstorms recharge Thunder Corals
Tornados recharge Wind Corals
Fog recharge Fog Corals
Strike Corals can't be recharged.

WARNING: Thunderstorms and Tornados will damage your ship!


Explorer levelling guide

The basis of this guide is to kill as high level possible monsters with 1-2 lightnings.
Do note that the levels you should kill monsters are based on a full SPR Explorer, if
you are not full SPR you should do each monster a few levels later, just
compare your Lightning damage with the HP values listed here. As the
Lightning damage is constant no matter the monster, this makes it easy
to determine when you can 2-Shot a monster.

The starting phase

Be sure that you've chosen Ami, Phyllis or Lance, as these are the characters
that can become Explorers.
You should easily get to level 10 by doing the newbie quests in Argent City (I recommend this as your starting area).
You might need some help doing the Explorer quests though, don't be afraid to ask people. :)

Monsters
Unless noted the monsters are 2-shottable for full SPR characters
at the level specified. The coordinates specified are safe spots near
the monsters where you wont be attacked while resting.

Lv10: Bubble Clams (Lv9) 2258, 2510 - Ascaron
HP: ?
Speed: Slow
Notes: Stab them with your dagger!, Passive



Lv11: Bear Cub (Lv12) 1905, 2853 - Ascaron
HP: 300
Speed: Slow
Notes: 1-Shot, Passive



Lv12: Smuggler (Lv20) 1654, 2990 - Ascaron
HP: 710
Speed: Medium
Notes: Aggressive



Lv21: Mad Boar (lv30) 959, 2960 - Ascaron
HP: 900
Speed: Slow
Notes: Aggressive



Lv30: Ferocious Scorpion (lv38) 2391, 595 - Deep Blue
HP: 1510
Speed: Slow
NOTE: Aggressive, AoE them at level 40 with Conch Ray.


When you become a Voyager it becomes much easier, with the
Conch Ray -> Lightning -> Conch Ray you can do A LOT of damage
without the need of waiting for cooldowns.


General tactics
Lightning -> run back a bit -> Lightning -> rinse and repeat!
However, if you can, try to position yourself so there's an obstacle
between you and the monster, this will remove the need of running back.

For three-shotting monsters
Lightning -> run back a bit -> Lightning -> run a little bit back (enough for
it to turn and run back to its spawn) -> Lightning
You should not have to run far back to make it turn back after 2 Lightnings,
some practice and you'll do it automatically.

Tips
Try to always have more than 50% hp (or more, depending on the damage
of the monster you're fighting), because you'll often get hit once, or even
twice if you're lagging.

Dont bother to recharge your corals before you get the lv3 ones, it's a waste
of time. Just buy new ones (they're pretty cheap) from Coral Vendor - Lamon,
he is at the coordinates 2061, 2543 in Ascaron.

When running back from a mob, always run towards the coordinates arrow
(If youve entered my coordinates that is), so that you'll always end up at
a safe spot. Nothing is as annoying as running into a new spawn and dying.

Don't eat too much cake! You should be kiting, not taking damage. Sure,
eating some once in a while if it's an emergency is ok, though don't get
into the habit of just standing there and eating, as this will drastically
reduce your amount of cash. (As if having to buy Corals wasnt enough)



Accessories and You!
As a Explorer, many, if not all of your accessory slots will be used for corals.
However, you might not want to use the skill(s) a coral offers, and therefore
have some free slots.

Thunder Coral will be equipped in the left ring slot.
Fog Coral will be equipped in the right ring slot.
Wind Coral will be equipped in the necklace slot.
Strike Coral will be equipped in off-hand.

Rings

There are only two types of rings that have any use for Explorers, these
are extra dodge and extra defence. Rings can be bought from the
accessory salesmen in the Ascaron havens.

Lv15-20, Accessory - Pucan (Abandon Mine Haven) 1889, 2804 - Ascaron.
Lv30-35, Accessory - Rikka (Andes Forest Haven) 996, 2969 - Ascaron.
Lv35-40, Accessory - Ferrari (Valhalla Haven) 1111, 2749 - Ascaron.
Lv55-60, Accessory - Aii (Chaldea Haven) 635, 2091 - Ascaron.

Necklaces

Necklaces come in more useful varieties, these are HP bonus, SP bonus,
HP recovery bonus, SP recovery bonus and Physical resist bonus.
The medals received for being in the closed beta are also necklaces.

Locations
Lv15-30, Accessory - Allan (Babul Haven), 1226, 3183 - Magical Ocean.
Lv35-50, Accessory - Dunman (Icespire Haven), 2673, 657 - Deep Blue.



Voyager Quest

Upon attaining level 40 you will be given a quest from Little Daniel in Argent.

Journey of the Voyager
Since you chosen to be a Voyager, you must be prepared for what is to
come. I have befriended some sailors when I was young. Now, they are
incharge of harbors in some part of the world. Take my recommendation
letter to them and they will let you know what to do.

Talk to Burgess (Zephyr Isle) 3254, 3278 - Ascaron
Talk to Sacenis (Glacier Isle) 2295, 1123 -Ascaron
Talkt to Dilady (Outlaw Isle) 3595, 739 - Ascaron
Talk to Whitney (Sara Haven) 3097, 3530 - Ascaron

Use the Island Teleporters and go to Zephyr Isle, then Glacier Isle directly
and finally Outlaw Isle and back to Argent. Sara Haven doesnt have a
teleporter, so we have to use our ship to get there (You HAVE a ship, right?).
Head out from Argent south-east, untill you see Whitney on his lil' island.
Talk to him (You can do this from your boat, no need to look for a place
to dock), then head back to Argent and talk to Little Daniel.

Congratulations, you are now a fully fledged Voyager!


PvP Guide

I do not recommend PvP before lv40, as Conch Ray is a crucial skill for
killing players. You should generally cast your skills in this order;
Conch Ray -> Lightning Bolt -> Conch Ray, as this can be done with only
a negligible delay between the Lightning Bolt and the second Conch Ray.
If you're kiting though, you should only use Lightning Bolt (except when
you're sure that you can finish them off with a CR -> LB -> CR combo).
CAKE IS YOUR FRIEND, its not that expensive, and you can munch it like
a true cake monster! This will greatly increase your survivability against
some classes.Press the example links to download video examples of
fights vs. the separate classes.

PS: I kinda screwed up my skills, so Ive only got rank 5 Conch Ray, in my
skill build for Open Beta I will have rank 10 at level 40.

VS Crusaders 1, 2
Crusaders can be quite hard to beat, because they have stealth and a 8.5
second stun. Find somewhere as closed as possible (a good example are
the corners im using in the examples) and throw some Conch Rays to cover
as big an area as possible. Also pay attention to the mini-map, as they
will sometimes not stealth untill they know where you are (and if you pay
attention to the mini-map, you will know which direction they are coming
from as well. If they are hit by Conch Ray will be unstealthed, and either
killed or seriously wounded. They might sometimes get off a skill though,
as you can see in my example, one managed to stun me and another
to use illusion slash.

VS Seal Masters 1
Seal Masters arent that hard, their only real threat being their Seal ability,
which makes you unable to use any skills. High SPR means you have a
higher chance of resisting of resisting their Seal. However, if they do
manage to Seal you, just run away from them untill it wears off, then
turn around a fry them, they have very low HP so this should be no problem
at all.

VS SharpShooters 1
No fancy stuff here, just nuke the crap out of them. You have more burst
damage than them, so it shouldnt be much of a problem. Watch out for
the occasional critical sprees, these can be dangerous to your health.

VS Clerics
Clerics have a spell that lets them replace HP loss with SP, but they
shouldnt pose a threat, as their damage is quite laughable. Just nuke
them till' their SP is gone, then nuke them some more!

VS Champions
These guys sure a have a lot of HP! Their weakness is magic though, as
they cant defend themselves against it. Nuke them, but try avoiding getting
toe to toe with them, some kiting is required to a certain degree here.

Footnotes
*Only recommended for experienced users, you might die a lot if you're not
very good at kiting or if you lag, though the rewards you will reap are
certainly worth it. You will receive almost 1000xp each for killing these at Lv27.



This guide will be updated as I find better monsters to kill, and when I advance high enough to add the last 1-2 monsters
needed to reach level 40. I will continue the work when open beta is released when I level beyond 40.

Things to do:
More PvP examples and tips
Boat tips
Equipment Forging for Voyagers