Sword of Justice beginner guide - 7 tips to sharpen your sword

Your weapon is the core of your build, especially early on. That's when small boosts have a huge impact on how fast you clear mobs. I learned this the hard way, so don't do as I did. Sword of Justice will require some focus, so pick one weapon path that feels natural to you and stick to it.

A stronger weapon also makes levelling easier because you clear groups much faster. Better clear speed means better farming, so try to think of it as an investment. But yeah, it's not all about damage, which is what I've covered on another page.

Every beginner (including myself) starts by hitting all skill buttons the second they are available. Of course.

It feels easy at first, but it actually wastes most of your potential damage. Skills do far more work when you use them at the right moment, like when you have a buff active or when a group of enemies surrounds you. It's all about timing and combos.

You should also pay attention to short openings and burst windows. It all depends on what class you play, but saving a big DMG skill for vulnerability window is always worth it.

It's also about survival

Perhaps it goes without saying in this Sword of Justice beginner guide, but timing also helps you survive. Some bosses have windup animations that offer the perfect moment for you to interrupt them or land a combo. Once you get used to watching enemy behaviour, your combat prowess will improve.

I know it doesn't sound exciting, but daily quests give some of the most consistent long-term progress. Even on days when I barely had time to play, doing just a few quests made a noticeable difference. From these dailies, you can boost your character over time, which is the main goal here, right?

You can get materials and currency that stack slowly but reliably. The real benefit is that dailies keep your build moving forward even when you are not grinding.

It's all about steady growth, so once you get into the rhythm of clearing your dailies a certain way (everyone will develop a routine for this, don't worry), you will notice steady progress.

Beginners often only look at the damage numbers - but this is wrong.

Even if you play a DPS, survivability is what carries you through the early game.

The goal is to survive AND deal damage - upgrades to defensive stats feel "meh" at first, yet they save you every time a boss goes into a new phase or throws out a surprise attack.

You do not need to stack defence forever, but you should have enough to comfortably survive at least one mistake. Trust me on this one.

You need to spec your character according to what you want to play, but please don't neglect survival. A balanced character progresses faster because you spend less time dealing with the aftermath. Oh, and by the way, you might want to take a peek at our Sword of Justice class tier list if you need any help.

Raids and dungeons will play a huge role in your journey. You want to do as many dungeons as you possibly can and reap the rewards. Whenever the weekly dungeons reset, you will get rewards based on your performance, so even if they don't feel like much in the beginning, later on, they can land you some pretty good stuff.

I suggest you go for solo dungeons if you can to learn the mechanics. The more you play, the better you'll be at clearing them. Then, the better you are, the easier it will be to find a decent party.

In dungeons, you WILL team up with other real players (not NPCs), so knowing the mechanics is key when you're doing the difficult ones.

I am well aware that not everyone is into PvP, especially in MMORPGs like this one. There are good players, bad players, and average players, and there is no way of knowing who you'll be teamed up with.

Now, a small piece of advice from someone who always loves PvP is this: you want to start somewhere.

First, you need to learn your character's strengths and weaknesses, and try to work on them in PvP. You WILL get stronger over time, so even if you die a few times early on, there's something to be learned.

PvP will give you EXP, and you will also learn more about the other classes - what they specialise in, what they can do, and ultimately, you'll also learn how you can counter them. Give PvP a chance, because in the end-game, it will be a source of joy (and bragging rights, of course, if you manage to land amongst the best PvPers on your server).

Let me close out this Sword of Justice beginner guide with a few more "smaller" tips that I would like to share - some of them learned from other players, some of them discovered myself.

• To unlock the black & white exclusive hairstyle, when you create your character, select the "sink into darkness" option, then "train secretly" - this will give you the special hairstyle you'll find in character customisation.
• The gender of your character changes the skill of the first NPC you unlock (the friend skill).
• You should tweak the settings so you can enjoy the experience more - play with the angles, with the combat styles, and all that until you find something that you like.
• Learn how to dodge - it will save you a lot of HP, and it will also help you in PvP.
• Log in every day - the rewards are huge, and even if you won't spend a lot of time playing, at least claim the daily login rewards.
• Join a guild. You can join a random guild at the start, and once you're stronger, you can move to a better one. Guild wars are going to be huge later on, so finding an active and strong one is important.