Beginner's Roadmap to Kesmai

Welcome Aboard!

This guide is a work in progress and will continue to evolve over time. (please be patient)

This page is going to be geared mostly towards guiding a new player through the first dozen levels or so of their Kesmai adventures. I won't be covering any particular section in great detail, but this page will make good 'cliff's notes' on how to get going in the game.

Discord

Join our Discord! This is where the community talks, meets and plans hunts. There are tons of people available to ask questions, give advice, join for hunts, etc!

Character Creation

(For specifics please visit the Creating your Character Page)

I don't aim to steal the thunder from the 'Creating your Character' page linked above, but there's a few key things that need to be covered in general. So here we go:

1. You need at least 15 dexterity and 15 strength or your character will be very weak down the road.
2. If you are a caster you should try your best to start with 18 Intelligence (Wizards and Thieves) or 18 Wisdom (Thaumaturges) or you will roll poorly on mana/spell points as you level.
3. It's also advantageous to max out your constitution at 18 so you can get the best hit-point rolls possible as you level.
4. Dump the rest into Willpower! Willpower helps your character resist magical spells, slip less on the ice, trick monsters with illusions, etc etc etc. Not the most important stat, but it's good to have.
5. All of the above can be repaired with potions and quest with the exception of #1. Make sure you start with at least 15 strength and dexterity.
6. Picking your race is mostly cosmetic, don't fret too much about starting skills.

Facets

For details: Please see Facet Speeds and Gains. But in short, each facet has different attributes and bonuses. Agate has 3 second round timers and feels more like traditional Legends of Kesmai. All the other facets have faster round speeds and perks that come with it. Leveling will be much faster, and the game more exciting and full of adventure if you experiment in the faster facets. There's nothing wrong with getting comfortable with the game on Agate though!

So you're sitting all alone on the docks....

Welcome to Kesmai town! You start in the south of the village on the docks, a freshly minted dock baby ready to explore the world of Stormhalter. You will start the game with beginner weapons based on the class you chose and the race you selected during character creation. If you already know what type of weapons you would like to use feel free to ditch all these starting weapons and trudge forth into the dungeon. If you're not sure though here are some general highlights on weapons classes and the weapons that are easy to start with.

Early game skill choices

I'm going to assume that you already checked out the character creation page and you have a general idea of what each class does. Here we are just going to cover some beginner friendly skills you can start with.

Fighter (Future Knights)

Generally, any weapon goes on a fighter and you are free to choose whatever type of weapon you want. However, there are certain skills that progress a little easier for new players.

1. Mace Skill
   • Provides good defense, especially when used with a shield
   • All of the easy to get ranged weapons are mace weapons
   • Quick weapon progression
   • Notable early weapons: Trog Mace, Returning Hammer, Returning Axe
2. Greatsword Skill
   • Best blocking of the starter weapons
   • Required skill to hurt 'Mama' the mother of Dragons sought after for her scales which can be crafted into some of finest armor in the game.
   • Grants access to the most powerful of the early game weapons: The Black Broadsword and the Silver Great Axe.

Thaums and Wizards

While the game allows any class to use any weapon, Wizards and Thaums generally want to stick to weapons that provide a high amount of defense since they use their spells to destroy their enemies. These skills aren't the only choices available, but you won't go wrong with them!

1. Staff Skill
   • Best blocking weapons in the game
   • Quick weapon progression
   • Ultimately leads to a very powerful mid-game staff that provides very high defense and mana/spell point regeneration
   • Notable early weapons: Minotaur Staff, Ram Staff
2. Mace Skill
   • On a spell caster it's handy to have a ranged weapon that can help you finish off distance weakened enemies, mace will fill this niche!
   • Provides good defense, especially when used with a shield
   • All of the easy to get ranged weapons are mace weapons
   • Quick weapon progression
   • Notable early weapons: Trog Mace, Returning Hammer, Returning Axe

Thieves

Thieves tend to be slightly more limited in the weapons they can utilize because of their neutral alignment and predisposition towards stealth and sneakiness.

1. Dagger Skill
   • Currently the highest damage weapon series in the game (making thieves melee glass cannons)
   • Quick and fun weapon progression
   • Leads to powerful class specific weapons in the mid-game
   • Notable early weapons: Silver dagger, Gilted Dagger, Misericorde Dagger
2. Hand Skill
   • Great damage, great blocking and a built in ranged attack (Jumpkick!)
   • Don't need armor until you get your hands on a fan!
   • You can only train to skill level 6, so after that it goes a little slower but at least you never have to pay for training!
   • Grants thieves early access to a blue glow melee weapon so they can attack special magical creatures that require it.
   • Allows the use of Shidosha's Fan for exceptional blocking while wearing heavy armor and robes.
3. Bow Skill
   • Allows you to hide and attack from a distance, minimizing your danger and exposure
   • Allows you to attack and kill some of the most dangerous monsters in the game from the shadows with very low risk!
   • Bow skill is often the only way a thief can survive hurting monsters that need Blue glow to take damage.
   • Notable early weapons: Crossbow, Leng Fine Crossbow, DoomBow

Martial Artist

I don't feel like this needs explanation..... Hand skill, Hand skill, Hand skill, Hand skill

Combat Mechanics and Character Stats

Almost everything we're talking about here can be viewed by double clicking on your character in the game to bring up your stats page.

Strength

• Strength is used in determining melee damage and how much loot and equipment your character can carry.
• Natural Strength Caps at 17 (18 for Fighters/Knights)
• The Strength cap is 36 which includes your natural strength plus any strength provided to you by items.
• Weak Strength rings provide 1 Strength each, Medium Strength rings provide 3 and Strong Strength Rings (glowers) provide 6.
• For a Knight, their 18 strength coupled with 3 glowers (another 18 str) caps them out at 36. All other classes would have to wear an additional strength item to max out!
• Knights with 18 strength deal an additional add worth of damage with thrown weapons!
• Raised with red clay bottle strength potions.

Dexterity

• Dexterity is probably the most important stat in the game. It ties directly into your ability to both avoid and hit monsters.
• Natural Dexterity Cap is 18 for all characters
• The Dexterity Cap is 20, with 18 coming from your natural dexterity and 2 more being available from jewelry and items.
• Weak dexterity rings provide 1 dexterity and stack, and strong dexterity rings provide 2.
• Each point of Dexterity raises both your Defense Rating (DR) and Attack Rating (AR) by 50 points.
• Raised with black and gold dexterity potions

Constitution

• Natural Constitution Cap is 18
• Directly impacts how many hit points you get when you level
• Doesn't really feed into anything else, and as of now no items affect your constitution.
• Raised with white Drake Potion (Con pots)

Willpower

• Natural Willpower Cap is 18
• Affects your ability to resist Stun, Death, Fear and other roll checks.
• Also affects your ability to trick monsters with Wizard illusions.
• As of now no gear exist that affects Willpower
• Raised with white (with some blue trim) willpower pots.

Intelligence

• Natural Intelligence Cap is 18
• Directly impacts your mana point rolls when you level on Wizards and Thieves
• As of now no gear exist that affects intelligence
• Raised with white/gold intelligence potions

Wisdom

• Natural Wisdom Cap is 18
• Directly impacts your mana point rolls when you level on a Thaumaturge
• As of now no gear exist that affects Wisdom
• Raised with yellow/gold wisdom potions

Defense Rating (DR)

• Your ability to avoid, dodge or block an enemies incoming attacks.
• You have a base DR of 500, and then gain more via Armor, shields, rings, dexterity adds and weapon skill
• Each point of Base Armor Bonus on Weapons, Shields and Armor provide 50 DR.
• Each Level of skill with a weapon provides 12.5DR
• Each level of hand skill provides 37.5DR

Attack Rating (AR)

• Your ability to hit a target (not how much damage you do)
• Based on your skill, weapon, rings and enchantments.
• Each attack add on a weapon provides 50AR
• Each level of skill with a weapon provides 50AR
• Each level of hand skill provides 35AR (Hand skill gets a big AR bump from wearing gauntlets)

Fire and Ice resistances

• The Fire resistance cap is currently 95
• The Ice resistance cap is currently 90
• These are percentage based resistances. For example, if you have 95 fire resist and you are attacked with a fire spell that does 100 damage you will resist 95 of it and take 5 damage.
• You obtain these resistance boost from Helms, Robes, Armor and various jewelry items.
• Thaums and Wizards can provide buffs that provide temporary protection

Status effects (Blind, Fear, Stun and Death)

• Your willpower and your level provide a base amount of resistance to these spell effects and there are also items that add a small resistance value to your total
• The best protection is via status effect jewelry, i.e. jewelry imbued with spell protection against the status effects. These items will reduce their effect dramatically or completely.
• Thaums can provide buffs that provide temporary protection

The Roadmap: A quick outline of what to do first

1. Hunt the first level of kesmai dungeon and the Kesmai Surface until you're at least level 8
   • Be on the look out for any jewelry that drops, -1 Kesmai can drop weak shield rings and strength rings
   • Kill a wyvern and drag it up to the tanner, wyvern scales provide a modest boost over leather armor
   • Kill a crocodile for Crocodile boots, they provide the ability to breath underwater
   • Use a weapon that provides skill in the weapon skill you are trying to focus on, most of the early weapons are all +0
   • If you want to use the Black Broadsword be on the lookout for Yttrium and Iron Ore, the two components required to forge it!
   • If you're using a one-handed weapon make sure you equip a shield for a free boost of 50DR!
2. Onward to Trog and Big.Bear and -2 Kesmai
   • At level 8 or better you're ready to tackle Trog. You can find his lair through a cavernous hole in the middle of -1.
   • Tanning Trog will provide you with Trog Armor, which is a huge boost in defense compared to Wyvern Scales and Leather Armor
   • Trog also drops a +2 mace that is a massive upgrade from all the other beginner weapons
   • Trog drops a Skull which provides a small amount of physical stun resistance
   • Big.Bear can be found on the Kesmai surface, he's a tough fight at level 8 but he drops a robe that provides a small amount of fire resistance
   • -2 Kesmai has some new more complex encounters including spell casters and tough trolls. The loot is better and jewelry drops will start to include fire resist amulets which are a big help!