User:Greens

The inspiration for this guide comes from Lion Heart's Black Mage Solo Guide. Although Strategems stands alone as an independent resource, reviewing LionHeart's guide could provide some valuable insights for potential SCH-solo camps which are not included herein.

Many Scholar-specific abilities will enable you to consistently achieve chain #4 while soloing. A scholar can be so MP-efficient that most of your downtime could be the result of unfavorable pulling conditions, not HP or MP recovery.

• Sublimation acts like a standing mana battery. Once activated, you will store 2MP at a cost of 2HP every three seconds. This will continue until you take a significant amount of damage or you lose 25% of your maximum HP to the Sublimation effect. Once the Sublimation effect ends, your store of MP is not lost -- instead, it remains in storage until you deactivate Sublimation, at which point the stored MP is returned to your MP pool. Any excess MP is lost, and you cannot access your stored MP without deactivating Sublimation.
  • Without Stoneskin, you will not be able to rest while Sublimation is siphoning away your HP. Once your store of MP has reached its maximum, however, you will be able to rest normally.
  • With the Scholar's Mortarboard, the Sublimation rate is increased by 50% (you will store 3MP at a cost of 3HP every three seconds).
  • The RDM spell Refresh will not stack with Sublimation, and the effect of Sublimation is stronger than Refresh. This means that any attempts by a RDM to Refresh you while Sublimation is activated will result in failure. The RDM will receive the message "RDM's Refresh has no effect on Player."
• Parsimony will cut the cost of your next Black Magic spell by 50%. This turns your most expensive nukes into extremely cheap but very powerful spells. Use this before each of your nukes, and you'll rarely fall below 40% of your maximum MP.
• Addendum: Black will be necessary in order to access the Sleep spell before your SCH reaches Lv.50 (assuming you are subbing RDM). You may use BLM as a subjob in order to access Sleep at SCH40, but you will lose many of the unique advantages that a SCH/rdm has over a SCH/blm. Detailed information follows in the next section of this guide.

For the camps included in Strategems, Red Mage will be your subjob during solo play, and for very good reason:

• Fast Cast will shave off valuable seconds off of your cast/recast times. This becomes very important in determining whether or not you can get off your Sleep or Bind spell before your target can reach you, and it also increases your margin for error when casting spells between enemy attacks. Finally, it allows you to recover from resisted spells more rapidly.
• Magic Attack Bonus (MAB) will help reduce the number of nukes you will have to cast before your target dies. Very often, you will find that an extra ~30 points of damage on your nukes will mean the difference between victory and defeat. Having a Black Mage subjob will also give you MAB, but you will lose far too much in the exchange.
• Bind and Gravity, if landed successfully, will keep your target from ever reaching you. When used in conjunction with Sleep, which SCH can access naturally via Addendum: Black, these spells will keep you safe and well out of harm's way.
• Blink, Phalanx, and Stoneskin grant you added security in case your enfeebling spells are ever resisted. They will often buy you enough time to kite your target around until you can reapply Bind or Sleep.
• Silence will come in handy whenever you are fighting the elemental avatars of summoner-type beastmen. Pulling these elementals with Silence will prevent them from opening the fight with Ancient Magic and reduce the likelihood of having the summoner turn around and link with its avatar.

Generally, you will need to maximize your Enfeebling and Elemental Magic skills. Maximizing these skills will increase the accuracy of your enfeebling magic and reduce the resist rate on your elemental nukes. Some notable pieces of equipment include:

• Lv.35 Enfeebling Earring Enfeebling Magic Skill +3
• Lv.65 Enfeebling Torque Enfeebling Magic Skill +7
• Lv.65 Master Caster's Bracelets Outside nation-controlled areas: Enfeebling Magic Skill +7, Elemental Magic Skill +7
• Lv.35 Elemental Earring Elemental Magic Skill +3
• Lv.64 Druid's Slops Elemental Magic Skill +5
• Lv.65 Elemental Torque Elemental Magic Skill +7
• Lv.73 Genie Gages Elemental Magic Skill +8
• Lv.58 Scholar's Gown Enhances Dark Arts effect (+15 to Elemental, Enfeebling, and Dark Magic Skills)

After increasing your magic skills, you will want to maximize your damage output. Try and find MAB gear first, then find INT gear. Fill in any remaining equipment slots with MP gear. Of course, use the elemental staves after you reach Lv.51.

• If you are a Galka or Elvaan, you may want to consider some MP gear before INT gear.
• If you are a Tarutaru, you may want to consider some HP gear before investing in INT gear. You might also want to fill in remaining equipment slots with HP gear instead of MP gear.

Food isn't game-shatteringly important for you, but it definitely won't hurt you. If you're low on gil, don't worry about getting HQ foods. A difference of 1INT isn't going to kill you... often. Focus on INT foods -- cookies will be wasted on you, because you will hardly use up enough MP to justify their use. There might be some merit in using cookies that grant you a killer effect against your target monster class, but I haven't tested this myself. Focusing on INT foods will help you stick your enfeebling spells more often (although the effect is arguably nominal), and will give your nukes the extra few points of damage necessary to finish off your target in three spells, saving you the trouble of having to end the fight with a small fourth spell like Fire or Drain.

• Melon Pie MP+25, INT+4
• Melon Pie +1 MP+40, INT+5, hMP+2

Target: Tonberry's Elemental (Cryptonberry Harrier)

• I began soloing as a SCH here. At this level, the Tonberry Elementals were often Decent Challenges or Even Matches. It was a warm-up camp for me -- I wanted to safely determine whether or not solo play as a SCH was feasible using Lion Heart's BLM solo guide.
• Lion Heart's guide suggests that you can come here as early as Lv.46.
• The Cryptonberry Harrier will only summon Light, Fire, and Water elementals.

Getting to camp:

• Travel to the Beaucedine Glacier and enter Pso'Xja through the tower located at (G-9) on the overland map.
• This tower is extremely close to the outpost in Beaucedine Glacier (Outpost: Fauregandi). Travel in a southeasterly direction from the outpost in order to reach the tower. You will have to walk down one ramp en route.
• If you don't have the outpost for the Fauregandi region, then you'll have to travel to this camp from Xarcabard. Use Teleport-Vahzl, or use the outpost in Xarcabard (Outpost: Valdeaunia).
• This tower is the first tower you'll encounter if you enter the Beaucedine Glacier from the Ranguemont Pass.
• Once you zone into the correct Pso'Xja tower, you will already be at this camp. The first enemies you'll encounter by traveling down the stairs will be a Cryptonberry Stalker and a Cryptonberry Harrier. You will be targeting the Harrier's elemental.

Camp specifics:

• The Cryptonberries here aggro and link by sight. There are no other monsters at this camp.
• Both Cryptonberries will patrol an area between the base of the stairs and the first turn in the corridor beyond.
• It is safe to rest just above the first set of pillars from the base of the stairs.
• There isn't very much room for kiting here. Gravity and Bind will help you maximize your kiting space, and you might want to consider skipping Silence on these elementals in order to keep them from closing in on you.
• The zone is right behind you if you ever get in trouble.

Target: Goblin's Leech (Goblin Shepherd)

Getting to camp:

• Enter Gustav Tunnel from Valkurm Dunes.
• Once inside, travel to the narrow tunnel at (G-9) on the first map in order to reach the second map. The tunnel will be inhabited by a pair of Greater Gaylas and a few Labyrinth Lizards. These bats and lizards are not aggressive.
• Walk down this corridor until it branches off into two wide paths: one path will continue north while the other path leads east. There will be a large rock on your right-hand side as the corridor opens up, and the open area before you will be populated by goblins and Robber Crabs. A few of these goblins will be Goblin Shepherds -- you will be targeting their leeches.
• There are three camps you can use:
  • The primary camp is near the large rock where the northern and eastern paths meet.
  • The second and third camps are located inside narrow tunnels at the ends of the northern and eastern paths. These tunnels will be completely clear of monsters. Don't travel too far! If you see any undead, you should turn around.

Camp specifics:
Pulling:

• Goblins aggro and link by sight, while the Robber Crabs here aggro by sound. Because this area is so densely populated by aggressive monsters, you may become frustrated while trying to reach chain #4. Don't be too overconfident here -- it would be wise to give up an xp chain if you are faced with unfavorable pulling conditions.
• Three Goblin Shepherds will move into pulling range at the primary camp:
  • One Shepherd will travel between the northern and eastern paths. Sometimes, this Shepherd will move beyond the first bend in the eastern path.
  • A second Shepherd will sometimes move into the eastern path from beyond the first bend.
  • Very rarely, all aggressive monsters will move out of the northern path, leaving the path clear for safe passage. When this occurs, you can access the third Shepherd, which patrols an area beyond the first bend in the northern path.
• At the secondary and tertiary camps, you will only ever be able to pull from one Goblin Shepherd.

Kiting:

• You will enjoy a very long kiting area when you are at the primary camp, as you can kite your target south past the bats and lizards... all the way back to the first map!
• The secondary and tertiary camps are far less forgiving. The narrow tunnels which serve as your camp are extremely short, and the undead on the far side of the tunnels will blood-aggro you if you are hurt and move anywhere near their end of the tunnel.

Zoning:

• If your pull fails at the primary camp, you can safely zone using the Cape Teriggan exit at (D-11) on the first map. You are unlikely to aggro the goblins in Bune's spawn area, but there is a Goblin Poacher in the tunnel beyond which will aggro you as you run by. Thankfully, the Poacher is a Ranger, so you will be able to outrun it easily.
• A failed pull at the secondary or tertiary camps will result in death. Use a /fume emote, stand in the center of the tunnel, and wait patiently for the Goblin Shepherd (and company) to kill you. You won't have to wait long. Make sure you die in a location that is safe from blood-aggro, or you'll have uninvited company immediately after you reraise.

Target: Goblin's Bat (Goblin Foreman)

• Bats are particularly troublesome because they are naturally resistant to Sleep. Gravity and Bind will be your most important tools while you remain here.

Getting to camp:

• Enter Newton Movalpolos from the southernmost access on the Oldton Movalpolos map. You will find it at (I-12).
  • You can reach Oldton Movalpolos via the Gusgen Mines.
    • After receiving a Teleport-Dem, travel east from the telepoint and find the entrance to the mines at (L-7) on the Konschtat Highlands map.
    • Once inside the mines, follow the wall on your right-hand side until you zone into Oldton Movalpolos. The zone is at (I-9) of the first Gusgen Mines map.
    • After you zone, you will find yourself at the northwestern corner of Oldton Movalpolos (D-4).
  • You can also reach Oldton Movalpolos via North Gustaberg.
    • There are two access points from Gustaberg -- you want to use the easternmost zone. It is located at (K-6) on the overland map.
    • You will appear in Oldton Movalpolos at the southwestern corner of the map (E-13).
• After zoning into Newton Movalpolos, follow the tunnel until you reach the open area at (D-11). You will find yourself at the west end of an east-north-west T-intersection. There will be a lowered platform along the southern edge of the east-west walkway.
  • The western leg of the intersection is clear of mobs.
  • The eastern leg of the intersection is patrolled by a Goblin Foreman. His pet is your target.

Camp specifics: