Stats and Attributes

imageI found this great game that’s similar to World of Warcraft, is cheap, and playable on my Android mobile device and my PC (plays in the Google Chrome browser).  The graphics are great and comparable to World of Warcraft graphics except the world is somewhat limited (imagine World of Warcraft dungeons with walls limiting the area you can travel in).  The performance on my Droid Bionic and in the Google Chrome browser is very impressive too.

Here’s a guide for the Pocket Legends archer (bird) character that I modified from the Pocket Legends forums and added notes to.

When you level you earn 5 points that you can put into Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence (STR, DEX, and INT).  These stats increase your dodge, DPS, hit %, health, etc. and allow you to arm yourself with higher level weapons.  The most important stat for the bird is Dexterity.

STR: Most increases on Dodge, Health, Health Regen (H/s); increases skill damage for warriors.
DEX: Most increases on Hit%, Crit, Damage, DPS; increases skill damage for archers.
INT: Most increases on Mana, Mana Regen (M/s); increases skill damage for mages.
Hit%: Percent chance you will hit an enemy. For example, a hit% of 40 means you have a 40% to hit an enemy (excluding their innate Dodge capabilities).
Crit: Percent chance of you critically hitting an enemy. The higher the number the more likely your attack will crit an enemy. Critically hitting an enemy will cause you to do double your intended damage.
Dodge: Percent chance that you will dodge an enemy attack.  This is a similar stat to armor.
Health: Your standard pool of health.
Regen (Health Regen aka H/s): The amount of health automatically healed per second.
Mana: Your standard pool of mana.  Mana is consumed when casting spells and using skills that you have learned.
Regen (Mana Regen aka M/s): The amount of mana automatically regenerated per second.
Damage: Damage range of your normal attack, influenced by your main stat (STR, DEX, INT) as well as equipment. Note that you will not be doing the exact damage range shown in this window because enemies have armor as well that decreases your damage. Therefore your effective damage, or damage seen when you hit an enemy, is effective damage = damage – enemy armor.
DPS: Amount of damage dealt per second. This is a function of damage and weapon speed (shown in weapon description) but does not take into account enemy armor.
Armor: Your defense against enemy attack. Every one armor point is equivalent to one less damage an enemy will do to you. Note that enemy’s have a “minimum amount of damage” they are able to do to you regardless of how much armor you have. This armor value is different for all enemies across all campaigns.

 

Full DEX vs. Dual Spec STR/DEX

Essentially as a bird, there’s two effective roads you may follow: full DEX, or dual spec’d STR/DEX.

Full DEX allows you to maximize what your bird does best, which is dealing damage to enemies. The con is that your armor (and damage incurred) suffers compared to STR/DEX birds.

Dual spec’d STR/DEX allows you to wear STR equips for more armor to increase survivability, since birds naturally have poor armor to begin with. However, damage and skill damage is severely impaired if you follow this route.  I’ve seen STR/DEX specc’d birds that act as lethal tanks. Regardless, most birds spec the full DEX attributes.

 

Important stats in equipment

When choosing equipment, look for equipment stats in this order:

  1. Damage/Crit
  2. Dodge/Armor
  3. Other notes: Birds naturally have a high Hit%.  H/s and M/s can be skipped and potions used instead. Equips that add to DEX can be useful as it increases several of your stats (but often by not much).  Pay attention to your performance in the game and tweak stats as needed.

 

Skill List and Explanation

Skills are unlocked every level and max out at 6. As stated earlier, you’ll probably want to put all your points in Dex.  You can pay to respec your character too and this may be useful in finding out what works best for you.

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Blast Shot

Shoots a powerful arrow that hits an enemy, explodes, and also damages enemies nearby. Described as an “AoE” attack aka “area of effect,” or a skill that damages multiple enemies within a certain range. Can be comboed with Shattering Scream to create the “Cruel Blast” combo, which deals higher damage than Blast Shot alone (hit Shattering Scream, wait one second, and then hit Blast Shot).   As you add points to this skill, the damage and area covered will be increased.

Avian Scream

Emits a loud (and irritating) scream that damages enemies slightly and knocks the enemies back (just a bit) and stuns them for 3 seconds. As you add points to this skill, the amount of damage increases.  An interesting benefit of this skill is reached at its maximum level – it can be used to break out of a rooted condition.

Thorn Root

Damages a single enemy and stops them in their tracks for 3 seconds, as well as decreasing their ability to dodge your attacks up to 25%. Useful for bosses. As you add points to this skill, the amount of Dodge increases.  Some have noted that this skill also causes a bleed proc that decreases enemies health per second.

Focus

Increases your chance to hit an enemy (you miss less) as well as increasing your chance to critically damage them for 20 seconds. “Hit chance” and “crit chance” are in percentages.  As you add points to this skill, the amount of hit chance is increased.

Meditation

Explanation: Increases your inherent mana regeneration rate for 3 seconds. As you add points to this skill, the amount of mana regen rate increases.  Again, with proper use of potions, you may skip this skill and use the point somewhere else.

Restore

Heals you and increases your inherent health regeneration rate for 5 seconds.   As you add points to this skill, the amount of healing increases.

Evasion

For 10 seconds, increases your ability to dodge all enemy attacks (melee, ranged, and magic attacks) and increases your armor.  The amount of dodge is increased as you add points to this skill.  Some have noted that this skill also increases your armor.

Break Armor

Explanation: Shoots a piercing arrow into an enemy to damage them and decrease their armor for 10 seconds, enabling you and your party to damage them more.  The amount of enemy armor reduction increases as you add points to this skill.

Shattering Scream

Emits a scream around you for a decent range that, along with damaging enemies, reduces the damage enemies do to you and your party, as well as reducing their armor, enabling you and your party to damage them more. Can be comboed with Blast Shot to create “Cruel Blast,” which deals more damage than Blast Shot alone.   The amount of damage and armor reduction is increased as you add points to this skill.

Repulse Shot

Shoots an arrow that damages a single enemy as well as knocking them back to a distance. Useful if strong enemies or bosses charge towards you. The cooldown is fairly quick and is often used to knock an enemy back and then root them.  As you add points to this skill, the amount of damage is increased.

Blinding Shot

Shoots an arrow that damages an enemy, as well as decreasing their chance to hit you.   As you add points to this skill, the amount of damage is increased.

Thorn Wall

Damages and stops several enemies in their tracks as an AoE for 3 seconds. Has an dodge debuff as well.   As you add points to this skill, the amount of damage per second is increased as well as the area of effect.

 

Combos

Cruel Blast = Shattering Scream + Blast Shot: This is the only combo that birds can perform using their own skills. To use Cruel Blast, use Shattering Scream followed by Blast Shot. You need to wait at least one second between both skills or the combo won’t register. The result is an incredibly damaging AoE attack. If you look closely, Cruel Blast is actually registered as two separate attacks at the same time – Blast Shot + normal attack. Now this may not seem like it would do a lot of damage at first, but remember that it’s an AoE attack. If your Blast Shot does 150 damage and normal attack does 50 damage and you use Cruel Blast on a single enemy, you’ll do about 200 damage. If your Blast Shot does 150 damage and normal attack does 50 damage and you use Cruel Blast on a mob of 5 enemies bunched together, you’ll do 200 damage x 5 = 1000 damage total.

Nature Strike: This is used with a mage. You will need to use either Thorn Wall or Thorn Root and have the mage use their lightning attack for massive AoE damage.

Terror: This is used with a bear. You will need to use either Shattering Scream and have the bear use Hell Scream, separated by 1 second.

Level 5 Avian Scream: When an enemy freezes you in place, specifically in the Lost Expedition and Frozen Nightmares campaigns, you can use this skill to break free. It can be a very useful and life-saving maneuver, especially when enemies mob you.

Skill Build

Blast Shot: Max level (6), main attack. This AoE attack will be your main damage-dealer throughout your early levels. Its usefulness will be even more amplified when comboed with Shattering Scream (which you get at level 18), when it damages enemies even more. Cruel Blast can be done by using Shattering Scream (since it has a range, make sure the enemy is close-by) and then using Blast Shot. Note that you have to wait at least one second after Shattering Scream to use Blast Shot, or else the combo will not be activated.

Avian Scream: Level 1, miscellaneous. Though this skill may look fancy when you first get it, it really doesn’t help much at later levels, when your other skills begin to outshine it during bosses. Despite its ability to stun enemies, its extremely limited range and low damage dismisses this into a “non-essential” skill.

Focus: Max level (6), self-buff. With a 25% increased chance to hit your enemies and critically damage them, this is an important self-buff that you should max early on.

Thorn Root: Max level (6), debuffer. This will be a primary de-buffer for bosses and is extremely useful in lowering their ability to dodge your attacks, up to 30%. Although major bosses (Overlord, Gurgox, etc.) won’t be rooted in place, it may be also used against a single enemy to stop them in their tracks. Its other function is to permit and extremely strong attack when combined with a mage’s lightning spell called “Nature Strike.” Often times during runs you’ll find that mages will ask you to thorn wall a lot because it really improves their lightning damage. (Credits to Fyrce for pointing this out)

Meditation and Restore: No points, self-buff. The reason why I chose not to max these skills is because my build is primarily for attacking and DPS only. All they do is restore health and mana by a small amount, for a limited amount of time, with a huge cool-down time. I’d imagine those who want to save money on potions would find these skills useful, but the caveat is that you’ll have to sacrifice points off of your essential bossing skills for them. As you party more and more frequently as you level, you’ll be with mages that will heal for you. As for excessive mana consumption, which archers are notorious for, this may only be remedied by spending more money on mana pots. But really – you’ll find that money for potions won’t be a problem later if you’re a savvy archer, and not rush into mobs of enemies like a bear.

Evasion: Max level (6), self-buff. An extremely crucial skill to level up as soon as you get, this will save your life numerous times. As a ranged attacker, you inherently have low defense and health, and mobs of enemies will most likely kill you instantly. This skill helps increase your ability to dodge enemy attacks and along with Focus, should be always be buffed when available during battle.

Break Armor: Max level (6), debuffer. This skill is very important for bossing, as it will severely cripple their armor allowing you and your party to damage them more and take them down faster. This skill really makes a difference between a prolonged boss fight and an extremely short one. Since the debuff lasts only 10 seconds on the enemy/boss, you should be constantly using it when the cool-down time is up and the skill is available to cast.

Shattering Scream: Max level (6), main attack and debuffer. I classified this as both an attack and debuffer because although it reduces enemy damage and their armor, it can be comboed with Blast Shot to create a ‘Cruel Blast” combo, which severely damages an enemy more than their respective parts alone. Cruel Blast can be done by using Shattering Scream (since it has a range, make sure the enemy is close-by) and then using Blast Shot. Note that you have to wait at least one second after Shattering Scream to use Blast Shot, or else the combo will not be activated. This skill also works in conjunction with a bear’s Hell Scream to create the ‘Terror’ combo.

Repulse Shot: Max level (6), miscellaneous. Although this damages a single enemy to a certain degree, it shouldn’t be used as a main attack because of its annoying tendency to knock away bosses while your party is killing them. It should be reserved more for emergencies, when a strong enemy is focused on you or a party member and they need to run away quickly. However, it may be used when a boss is cornered (i.e. stuck on a corner or a wall) so that you get away with more damage, AND it doesn’t knock them around.

Blinding Shot: Max level (6), debuffer. There is a lot of discrepancy in the function or usefulness of this skill due to the nature of its in-game description. It does a certain amount of damage as well as a “5 sec. hit debuff.” What I think “hit debuff” means is that it lowers an enemy’s ability to hit you (allowing them to miss you more) for 5 seconds, which sounds incredibly useful for bosses, especially strong ones. So this skill both attacks an enemy and improves survivability for your entire party – sounds like something you want, right?

Thorn Wall: Max level (6), miscellaneous. As the final skill to unlock, this acts to stop many enemies in their tracks and damages them for an unspecified large amount, making this the only strong AoE attack a bird can have (like Thorn Root, it can be comboed with a mage’s lightning for ‘Nature Strike’). This also debuffs the affected enemies’ dodge by an unspecified amount, up to 20% and this debuff can be stacked with Thorn Root’s dodge debuff (credits to Skimmey).

You may want to spend your skills points in this order:

  1. Blast Shot (1)
  2. Blast Shot (2)
  3. Avian Scream (1)
  4. Blast Shot (3)
  5. Thorn Root (1)
  6. Blast Shot (4)
  7. Focus (1)
  8. Blast Shot (5)
  9. Blast Shot (6 – max)
  10. Focus (2)
  11. Focus (3)
  12. Focus (4)
  13. Evasion (1)
  14. Focus (5)
  15. Break Armor (1)
  16. Focus (6 – max)
  17. Shattering Scream (1)
  18. Evasion (2)
  19. Repulse Shot (1)
  20. Evasion (3)
  21. Blinding Shot (1)
  22. Evasion (4)
  23. Thorn Wall (1)
  24. Evasion (50
    Evasion (6 – max)
  25. Break Armor (2)
  26. Break Armor (3)
  27. Break Armor (4)
  28. Break Armor (6 – max)
  29. Shattering Scream (2)
  30. Shattering Scream (3)
  31. Shattering Scream (4)
  32. Shattering Scream (5)
  33. Shattering Scream (6 – max)
  34. Thorn Wall (2)
  35. Thorn Wall (3)
  36. Thorn Wall (4)
  37. Thorn Wall (5)
  38. Thorn Wall (6 – max)
  39. Blinding Shot (2)
  40. Blinding Shot (3)
  41. Blinding Shot (4)
  42. Blinding Shot (5)
  43. Blinding Shot (6 – max)
  44. Thorn Root (2)
  45. Thorn Root (3)
  46. Thorn Root (4)
  47. Thorn Root (5)
  48. Thorn Root (6 – max)
  49. Repulse Shot (2)
  50. Repulse Shot (3)
  51. Repulse Shot (4)
  52. Repulse Shot (5)
  53. Repulse Shot (6 – max)
  54. Spend remaining points on whatever is left…

 

Combat sequences

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Here is how I layout my buttons and an example sequence I often use when battling the bad guys.  Use your two self buffs, Focus and Evasion (1st column, bottom two buttons) first to increase your hit chance, critical hit chance, and ability to dodge attacks.  Then start with #3, #4, #5, #6 sequence to debuff and root your enemy followed by #1 and #2 (Cruel Blast combo) as often as you can.  Remember to consider the knockback effect when you use the Repulse shot as it causes your tanks to have to chase after the enemy after it has been knocked back.  Remember to refresh your self-buffs all the time – keep them lit at all times.  Also, the cooldown for Thorn Wall is the longest of the #3, #4, #5, #6 sequence so you may want to swap Thorn Root for it and put Thorn Wall somewhere else.

 

Equipment Guide

Weapons and armors both serve to increase your attributes and stats in a variety of ways. Armor not only increases your armor, but your health/mana regeneration as well, and some may bump up your damage too. They increase your STR/INT/DEX as well to some degree, such that you can dual spec your character to equip weapons of other character types (i.e. the mage or the bear).  Each weapon type differs from one another. Weapons for birds are primarily categorized by their attack range/distance: long-range, short-range, and melee.

Long-range weapons

Bow/Crossbow

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Your standard weapon as an archer. Capable of damaging enemies from a far distance, you can safely dodge attacks from melee enemies. Though the bow seems weak in terms of damage, it has a fast attack speed, and thus has a high DPS (damage per second) compared to other weapons.

 

Heavy Crossbow

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An alternative to the crossbow, this weapon is usually more damaging per arrow. However, it has a slow attack speed and suffers in terms of DPS. In that regard, heavy crossbows are better off used to eliminate enemies quickly in one blow, but may suffer when it comes to damaging bosses, where DPS matters more.

Gun: These weapons aren’t as plentiful as bows, and you may have first seen them through the Winter Festival Snowball Launcher and the Blunderbuss. Typically, guns are as damaging or more damaging than bows with a longer range of attack. They are well-balanced in both damage and DPS. End-game weapons such as the Cyber Blaster of the Void, Mega Blaster of the Void, and Sentinel’s Shotgun of Death are all considered guns. (thanks eagleswords for grammar correction!)

Short-range weapons

Talon+Shield

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The talon can be thrown from a distance like the bow/gun, but the range of attacking is much smaller, thus you need to be closer to the enemy to attack. While damage for the talon is usually low, attack speed is fast so overall DPS is high for this weapon set (though, not as high as a bow/gun). Because the talon is a one-handed weapon and you are more exposed to enemies, you can equip a shield to vastly improve your armor. In short, you are sacrificing raw power and attacking range for more amount of armor, making this ideal to tank hits from stronger bosses.

Melee weapons

Dagger+Shield:

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Technically, the dagger can be thrown from a limited distance when you use bird skills (such as Blast Shot, Blinding Shot, and Repulse Shot. However you will be up-close and personal with your enemy when you’re using normal attacks, which will cause you to be very vulnerable to attack. Personally, I think the dagger is a very useless weapon for archers, as their damage and DPS are lacking despite their fast attack speed. The talon+shield or the dual wield weapons are much more useful.

Dual wield: The newest addition of weaponry in PL, dual wield weapons can be thrown when using bird skills just like the dagger, but you need to be up-close to enemies when using normal attacks. They are moderate (not low) in term of damage and have a fast attack speed, giving them an extremely high DPS. However, dual wield is just as the name implies: you have two daggers in your hand, and no shield – therefore low armor. I find the best time to use dual wield weapons is with a party that can heal well and keep aggro away from you. Thus you aren’t getting attacked much, but you are contributing to your party vastly with your damage.

 

Ring Guide for Archers

Rings were added to PL in version 1.7 and is currently only purchasable by Platinum, but they work just like the rest of your equips by increasing your attributes.

There are two sections for rings, Common and Platinum. The Common rings cost less than the Platinum rings but Platinum rings give more stats than the Common rings. For full DEX archers, you’ll want to look for the “Golden Band” and “Platinum Band” under the Platinum ring section. Note that there are two versions of the rings that are identical in name, but different in the level req and the stats they give, so be very careful and don’t make a mistake in your purchase.

 

PvP Combo

Pocket Legends offers PVP (player vs. player) play too and the strategy is quite a bit different than with the standard game play.

Skills:
Max all except (1)Avian Scream, (0)Meditation, (0)Restore
Combo:
Focus->Evasion->Thorn Root->Break Armor->Shattering Scream->Blast Shot->Blinding Shot->Repulse Shot
1. Focus and Evasion are obvious first.
2. Thorn Root to reduce the probability that opponent will DODGE Break Armor, Shattering Scream, Blast Shot, Blinding Shot, Repulse Shot, and Avian Scream.
3. Break Armor sets up -26 armor points on your opponent. Causes Shattering Scream, Blast Shot, Blinding Shot, Repulse Shot, and Avian Scream to be stronger.
4. Shattering Scream to further reduce opponent’s armor -16 points. Break Armor debuff should still be active, so -42 armor points total to make Blast Shot, Blinding Shot, and Repulse Shot stronger.
5. Blast Shot to cause Cruel Blast combo (which is technically an extra normal attack combined with your Blast Shot).
6. Blinding Shot to add extra damage while -42 armor point debuff is active.
7. Repulse Shot to add extra damage while -42 armor point debuff is active.

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