Thrust.

@Russt
you got it right... the top of the list is what i'm more willing to give up more than the ones on the bottom...

i seriously can't live with anything but maxed MB now... especially in the middle of spamming hurricane... even when monsters come close, i just keep holding the key and 2-3 MB should finish it off in about the same time as half a second of hurricane... and it's KB ability is INSANE! i do 6k+ non-crit and some crits can go up to 13k! *with SE of course* *only skill that has damage coming close to the inferno on fire weak*

now, i haven't leveled up enough to get DB or phoenix, but that would be the 2 things i'll definitely get next level..

and i believe felix on the part that phoenix > hawk ... because well, i'm not a big fan of hawk in the first place like you can see from my list... i only use it now at newtie and nowhere else... and since i haven't been at newtie, with the exception of casting hawk by accident at HHG... i haven't used hawk at all for 3 months now. but when i do get phoenix, even at lvl 1, i think i will have it out most of the time... mainly because it's free, and who wouldn't want free damage? *other than MP cost of course... but that's minimal*

and "the point of this game is to have fun" ... which is the reason why grinding situations isn't considered in the "fun factor" ...

and like myst mentioned, not because you can kill things oh so easily that we all can... for those of us who can't, and stuck with lvl 1 hurricane for 10+ levels... inferno is unbelievably useful in some situations where hurricane just simply can't manage the mobs...

@stereo, arrow rain is almost necessary... while if you have arrow bomb, inferno isn't all that "have to have" but like some of us here... would prefer inferno over arrow bomb any day... but best is to have both and skip something else

My dilemna is this :

I am soon to make the job advancement, and have 12 SP to apply by the time I get there.

I already have 11 SP invested in inferno, puppet at 18, and 0 thrust.
The rest of the core skills are maxed including MB and Hawk.

My question is twofold: Is 18 puppet enough, meaning are the last 2 really worth it?
And, given the 11 points already invested in inferno, does it make sense to get it to 16 to get to max AOE then divvy up the remaining 7 SP

Thanks for the help, and again, I apologize for the redundant question