Beastmaster Equipment Guide

Selecting excellent Beastmaster Equipment is not something you should do without lots and lots of thinking. Because of Beastmasters' versatility, they often times have some of the most complex selection of gear that they can wear and often change equipment during the fights. Because of that, this chart will be somewhat complex, providing charm specific gear along with general fighting gear. Also, Beastmasters excel in both Axes and Scythes. Both are listed and generally you should keep one of each (so when a new Scythe is available think about selling the old scythe, but don't sell your current axe).

Often charm failure can result in death or taking unnecessary damage. Charisma is the only statistic which aides charm success rates. For this reason Charisma is generally maximized in a charm set. A second set will focus on fighting the mobs, and will therefore generally focus on attack and accuracy. Additional sets can focus on MP to reduce downtime and aid healing, strength for weapon skill, or a defense/vitality set to help if you are taking hits from the mob. These additional gear sets will not be addressed here, but their use can be extremely helpful in certain circumstances.

The ammo slot is generally occupied by Pet Food or Jug Pets, but a Happy Egg or Fortune Egg can be swapped in at times. The ranged slot is generally filled by a Lightning Bow (level 55), Tiphia Sting (level 58) or Bibiki Seashell (level 60) depending on which boost is more helpful at the time.

Optional rare/exclusive gear will be listed here in italics. As a soloing Beastmaster there are no other players judging your gear or depending on you. If you want to use Leaping Boots or the Emperor Hairpin that is up to you, but generally many of these items are not needed. Items which are generally considered by the beastmaster community to be "must have" items are in bold and, while some are pricey, they generally last a long time. Charming-only gear will be listed in green.

Things to consider when comparing equipment:

Your Race

Races have different weaknesses which may need some shoring up with equipment. Galka for example have lower CHR than average, so if given a choice between STR+ equipment or CHR+ equipment, the CHR+ gear might be more beneficial. Similar considerations should be taken into account for every race.

Out-damaging Your Pet

It is important to not out-damage your pet and and steal your targeted mob's attention ("hate"). This becomes less and less of an issue as your level (and your pet's level) increases. Some BSTs prefer to use lower damage weapons in order to lower their damage output. Another option is to equip yourself more like a tank, eat Defense food, and accept that you're going to get hit some.

Damage Vs. Accuracy

Most BSTs opt for accuracy over pure damage because of the way BSTs solo. Usually the pet is sent against a target first to establish hate and only then will the beastmaster engage. After the 'Leave' skill is acquired, most typically a beastmaster will release his/her pet when their target is down to a small sliver of health and then look to finish off only that last bit of HP. Accuracy will ensure that the beastmaster does not miss the mob multiple times during this crucial period in the fight.

• This is no longer completely relevant due to the Aug. 27, 2007 Version Update removing the xp penalty for having a pet charmed when defeating a foe.

Finally, this is only a guide. It is compiled from various other Beastmaster equipment guides and is by no means the only gear to use as a Beastmaster. Experiment with other (and newer) equipment and then come back and edit this page with your input!