[Guide] Training at Dark Drakes

Since I found training here to be excellent, I decided I'd create a guide for this.

This guide is specifically written for Dawn Warriors since that is what my class is in Zenith. But I'm sure you could easily adapt this guide to any class (especially Aran). It turns out that Dawn Warriors have specific skills which allows them to really abuse this map for all its worth.

 How to get there

I am specifically referring to the Dark Drake mini-dungeon for this guide. To get there, travel to Sleepywood and continue traveling further into the cave until you reach "Drake Cave : Cave Exit". The mini-dungeon is located on the right side of the map just above the exit portal. As far as I'm aware, the mini-dungeon portal does not appear on the mini-map.

If you get lost, just check the world map. The mini-dungeon is shown in the Sleepywood Dungeon mini-map. Also, as a hint, if you see Insignificant Being, you went too far

 Mob Stats

Dark Drake
Level: 58
EXP: 179
HP: 4900
MD/PDRate: 20%
Touch damage: 300
Magic damage: 300 (avoidable)
Notable Drops: Steelies, 2H Sword ATT 60%, Knuckler ATT 60%

The big thing that sucks about Dark Drakes is the 20% PDRate. This means you'll want to aim for 6125 minimum damage so you can 1HKO effectively. Even if you can only 1HKO about 50% of the time, that's decent enough. But getting into the upper echelons of 90% will greatly improve training efficiency here.

Dark Drakes also have a magic ability. When aggro'd, they will cast their heads back and form a fireball in their mouth and shoot it at you. The fireball travels rather slowly and is easy to duck under or jump over. Also, killing the mob while the fireball is in the air will dissipate the fireball. I take very little damage from fireballs and a lot more from touch damage.

The drops here are not that great. You'll be getting mostly level 50 bowman armor and random scrolls here and there. Out of training here from 57 to 61, I have only gotten one set of steelies.

As of patch 94, Drakes definitely don't beat out truckers. Then again, what does at this level?

 Recommended Skills & Level

Level:
Given Big Bang, you need to be level 58 or higher to train here. This place will easily last you until mid to late 6x - possibly up to third job. If your Dawn Warrior happens to be funded, you could come here a level or two earlier if you'd like, but I think you'd find missing would be more annoying than anything.

Skills:
You MUST have max Soul Rush.
You MUST have at least level 21 Soul Blade for the range

Booster is recommended, but not required.
Rage is recommended if you need it.

As an aside, this map is also easier to do with the 1024 x 768 resolution over the 800 x 600 resolution.

 Minimap and Map Layout

 Minimap

 Platforms A, B, C

 Platforms C, D, E, F

 Platforms E, F, G

 Map Cycling

Strategy: The end goal for this map is to acquire as much experience as possible. Using this cycling strategy will totally suck for getting drops from mobs because you walk so little. Here we will be thoroughly abusing Soul Blade's range and Soul Rush's boost distance for all its worth to make cycling the map extremely fast. You do not need to use the jump + soul rush trick to further boost jumping distance. Regular soul rush is much easier to perform and the super soul rush is not needed here.

Using a pet here is also not recommended. Due to the awkward platforms, sometimes my Kino pet would run to the right side of platforms B, D, and F; jump up and down; and be completely useless. I'd recommend against using a pet here since you won't get much from it with this map cycle. Just keep your eyes peeled for steelies and 60% scrolls.

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Looking at the map above, you come into the dungeon on platform A. This is a reference point for you. Don't even bother with the platform in the far upper left corner. Only one drake ever spawns there, and it's generally not worth the effort invested to climb up the rope and kill him. So, hop down to platform B, use Soul Blade to attack left, then right.

Now you have a choice. Glance at C. If you see nothing on C, use jump down to get to D (shown in next image below) and preferably stay on the left side of D. Otherwise, soul rush to C and clear out the mobs there. Then soul rush to D.

Okay, you're on platform D now. It's best to be on the left side of D. Soul Blade once to attack right, then jump down to F. Do not soul rush to E. This is because once you're on F, you can soul blade once to the right, then immediately soul blade once to the left to hit everything on E. This is why you needed to stay on the left side of D so that when you jump down to F you're in easy soul blade distance of the E platform.

So, use soul blade to slash up the F platform, then turn and soul blade the E platform. Jump down onto G.

Now you'll also see why it's important to stay near the left side of F. If you were too far to the left, you'd end up on the rocks on the left side of G. Since mobs like to congregate under the rocks, you'd have to get off the rocks to hit all the mobs under you. So make sure that when you jump down you stay off the rocks. The range of soul blade will also allow you to slash once to the left and once to the right to clear G. It's generally recommended when you soul blade to the left that you jump a little bit before soul blading. A drake generally spawns on the rocks, so jumping will kill that drake along with any drakes under the rocks.

From here, you can climb up the ropes to go back up to F, D, then B - killing mobs along the way. Use Soul Rush as needed to boost yourself to the ropes. Repeat the cycle.

Once you get good at using and abusing this map cycle, you can easily clear out all of platforms B, C, D, E, and F in about 8-10 seconds. If you're incredibly lucky, the room will respawn as soon as you hit the G platform and you'll have an extra dense mob at the bottom.