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A huge, well-deserved thank-you to Porpoise, who edited the images. Without him, this guide wouldn't be what it is. Props to Porpoise
So you want to build an INT build? INT's are fast at training, do high damage, kill fast, and generally suck at surviving.
This is my ideal set-up for a 300 mastery cap and a level cap of 80:
*
OR
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A hybridized INT, such as 80%, 85%, or 90% naked magical balance, sacrifices magical damage for physical damage and hp. Their goal is to be able to survive a little longer to do more damage. I recommend a (roughly) 85% naked magical balance for sword, and 83% for spear, though I have never tried these out and these recommendations are based on observation and mathematics. I am not discouraging pure int. I am merely suggesting these if you want to have a good experience as a hybrid who is able to tank but isn't as good at killing compared to pures. If you want to see why a hybrid may be appealing, I would recommend taking a visit to SuicideGrl's hybrid guide.
Equipment has a huge part to play in the success of an int build.
Integral skills for all nukers, fire and lightning. These are my recommendations:
Fire

Fire Force Series--The highest damaging imbue. Get it.
Fire Shield Series--- Doesn't matter whether you are using sword or spear, if you use spear you can carry around a shield and switch it just to use this buff, then switch back to spear. Without this, you cannot become immune to ice.
Flame Body Series-- For a hybrid, get it. For a pure, you can wait until you have farmed up the other important skills. But still, get it. Increases phys atk.
Fire Protection Series-- A must. As an INT, you have low HP, so other nukers may kill you easily without this buff that increases magical defense.
Fire Wall Series-- Meh. You can just get lvl 1 of this skill to play around with it. I'm not that crazy about it personally. Creates a wall around you that can take magical damage for you, and prevents you from being kd'd while it is up.
Flame Wave Series--- Max book 2 and 3. You can leave book 1 at lvl 1 if you want, but book 1 can be useful as it has a fast cooldown.
Flame Devil Force Series-- Get it at about the same time you get flame body series.
Lightning

Thunder Force Series-- You already have fire imbue. Dual imbue can be fun, but I'm going to say a skip / optional for this one.
Piercing Force Series-- An absolute must. All int builds require this skill to do good damage. Max everything out.
Wind Walk Series-- Since you don't have much hp, mobility is key. Max out all books of the wind walk series.
Lion Shout Series-- Very useful if you are pure int, get lvl 1 of book 1 just to try out if you are hybrid. I'm not too crazy about this skill, especially if you are a hybrid. Useful for finishing off mobs after nukes, however. If you choose not to add it, then your build will use 12 k less sp.
Concentration Series-- Increases your parry ratio, lessening the damage you receive. An excellent skill for INTs.
Thunderbolt Force Series-- If you are pure, get it. If you are hybrid, and maxing all 3 books of fire, this is optional.
Heaven Force Series-- Increases parry ratio. Get it and max it.

Now, I will go through the details of using sword and spear.
Sword Users:
Integral for this is a good BR shield. This is absolutely essential to let you survive long enough to make a difference in a job war or guild war, and to hold your own in 1v1. A sword with good magical attack and reinforce is also recommended. As for skills:
Bicheon

Smashing Series---Skip. Not enough damage to do any good.
Chain Series---Optional. OK for PvE and Heaven Chain can be useful for PvP. I suggest waiting until you have farmed other skills to max out the 5-chain combo however.
Castle Shield Series--A must. Good physical defence and blocking is one of the key aspects of this build.
Blade Force Series---Skip. You're a nuker-- why get a weak ranged attack?
Hidden Blade Series-- Farm to get this up. Max every book out.
Killing Heaven Blade Series---- Max all books. Once you get the 3rd book you will be a killing machine in PvP.
Sword Dance Series--- Skip if you are pure. Optional for hybrid: It is a quick move that does good damage and can agro multiple mobs.
Shield Protection Series--- Max it out. No ifs, no buts.

Total sp needed for sword build:
- 12k sp if you choose not to add lionshout.

Heuskal**

Just get these:
Fanning Spear Series-- Increases magical defense. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think you can use this with a spear equipped then switch. I'll try it out tonight.
Cheolsam Force Series-- Increases your HP. Get it.
Nothing else will be useful since sword is your main weapon.

Spear users:

Heuskal
Annihilating Blade Series-- Sounds cool but useless.
Fanning Spear Series-- Now a useful and cool-looking skill. Add it, especially once you get to the nachals and/or get ready to pvp.
Heuskal Spear Series-- Skip it.
Souls Depart Spear Series-- Max it.
Ghost Spear Attack Series-- Max it.
Chain Spear Attack Series-- Optional. Get first book to toy around with if you want. You will use nukes in PvE, so I would recommend skipping it.
Flying Dragon Series-- Not recommended. Nukes will be your main range attack
Cheolsam Force Series-- Max it.


Cold
Nothing too dificult here.

Cold Force Series-- Skip
Frost Guard Series-- Max it out to lvl 60.
Cold Wave Attack Series-- Skip
Frost Wall Series-- See "Fire Wall Series". Works same way, but blocks physical attacks instead of magical. Same recommendation.
Frost Nova Series-- Fun to play around with. Get lvl 1 of first book, then decide if you want to get lvl 1 of the 2nd too.
Snow Storm Series-- you already have fire and lightning nukes. The 2nd book is unique, in that it is an AoE that hits 5 and frostbites / freezes, but I wouldn't spend SP on this. Light and fire nukes do more damage. Ice nuke book two has Magical attack power 269-403 (250%) when maxed at level 10, while Fire nuke book two has 548-913 (300%) when maxed at level 14. For a good aoe nuke, you can use lightning book 2 or fire book 3 which are also very strong.
Cold Armor Series-- Max it.

SP needed for Spear Build:

*note: Adding heuskal for sword users and cold for spear users are optional, if you got extra sp and want to maximize your pvp potential
**Why heuskal and not cold for sword users? Heuskal increases hp, which is useful against nukers and str builds alike. It also has the fanning spear series, which increases magical defence. Also, this way for those of you who are unsure which weapon to choose, you can try spear out and not have to delvl the mastery if you want to switch to sword.
Final notes: Regardless of whether you are sword or spear, when you PvP you want to have a shield with a good blocking ratio. For spear, you can switch to shield when you are knocked down. Alchemy is extremely important for ints. Add everything you can (except mp!), especially str, stamina, and int, not to mention raising the magical attributes of your weapon.
Another quick thing: I am not an advocate of int bows or int hybrid bows. If you are going to be an int build, use sword or spear. If you really want to do an int bow, there is a rather popular thread about that called "Best Bow Build 2007". I will post a link if people ask.

For those who need it, or are curious, these are the stats of both builds as pure ints:


If anybody wishes to mess around with the skills or build to see how it works out, here is the link to it: Click Here Note: this is the sword build.
For a 2:1 hybrid's stats at lvl 80: Click Here

EDIT:
1-15-07: Screen-shots added. Sp for sword build also added
Anybody want them for a hybrid spear build using this guide?
1-16-07:Spear build screenshot added, Ice added also.
OK guys here ya go:

alright.
Sword: Mag attack 882, Mag Reinforce 209.9%
Spear: Mag attack 986, Mag Reinforce 234.7%
Let us suppose that the user is lvl 80 pure int, with 336 int. They are very poor, using lvl 64 npc weapon, and no alchemy on the int.
For the sword user: 882 + (336 * 2.099) = Mag Attack
882 + 705.264 = Mag Attack
1587.264 = Mag Attack
For the spear user: 986 + (336 * 2.347) = Mag Attack
986 + 788.592 = Mag Attack
1774.592 = Mag Attack
1774.592 / 1587.264 ~~> 1.118
Conclusion: Spear does 1.118 times the damage with a nuke when compared to its counterpart sword. I think this worked at least. I might try one using regular hits, but then I would have to factor in phys and mag attacks
Hope this helps people choose between sword vs. spear a little bit. P.S. Sorry for all the edits... as Joymax says I am only trying to bring you the best service possible
Here is the applet I used for these screenshots, sp calculations and balances:
http://bobtheveg.dyndns.org/SRO/Char_Build_Applet/
Credit to SuicideGrl for finding this BEFORE morningdew did, for the record.


OK Pure int vs. Hybrid int!!! (I'll try to compare these two to the best of my ability, using things that have already been posted on this forum. Again, I'm not too sure how balances factor in, though I have a suspicion they just multiply on to the phys/mag atk)
With 64 NPC Sword:
Pure int:
1587.264 = Mag Attack (See calculations above)
Phys Atk = 508 + (99 * 1.21)
Phys Atk = 508 + 119.79
Phys Atk = 627.79
2:1 Hybrid int:
Mag Atk = 882 + (290 * 2.099)
Mag Atk = 882 + 608.71
Mag Atk = 1490.71
Phys Atk = 508 + (145 * 1.21)
Phys Atk = 508 + 175.45
Phys Atk = 683.45
So hybrids lose about 100 mag atk and gain 55 phys atk and about 1.2k hp at lvl 80. However, if balances do what I think the do (I won't do calculations because I don't know if these are exactly right, though I'm pretty sure they do something like this), since the mag atk difference is bigger, and the pure gets 96% mag balance as opposed to 83% (52% phys balance as opposed to 61% phys balance) with the hybrid, the difference in attack becomes significantly greater. Well that's it for now I was just bored

no comments or anything?

fuzzy,.. atlest to me; words arrangement, paragrahp etc etc.. it would be a nice if u put some pic or screen shot etc etc.. overall nice guide..

Pretty good for a first guide, all in all! But yea, screen-shots would be good, and the paragraph style sorta hurts your eyes.

kk. I'll try to overcome my laziness and put some screenshots in
Edit: Is this better now that I've put in some more underlining?

Oh by the way, if u want to add screen-shots of the skills and/or stats, just use http://bobtheveg.dyndns.org/SRO/Char_Build_Applet/

It will save you the time of having to logg into sro. =p

maybe even post a link to a saved example build!

thx lol i forgot about that

Np! ^^ glad to help.

Nice guide. Clearly explained and well organized. But just one thing though, just like what others posted, screenshots :p . Overall, good job.

~Good luck~

Edit : Cool, u've got screenies now. This would be one of the best guide i ever seen. Completely organized. Gratz.

ok well screenshots are coming. They are based on my build for the pure int sword, I'll add a hybrid spear if you guys are confused on that
Props to Purpoise who is helping me edit the pictures . It takes a lot of sp, but keep in mind it takes 60k more sp just to bring 3 trees from 70 to 80 without lvling any skills. The build takes about 308k sp to max out at 80, 8k less if you don't want to max out the fan spear. Takes about what you have to expect from a bicheon build .

nice guide but not wanting to be lame or anything, was this really needed? cause this is just a mix between the already in the sticky posted guides right?

half the stickies aren't "needed." Even KeyJ's "Future Update's" thread was just a compilation of stuff he found. This is sort of a mix, but also based off my own experience and advice from friends, which I have put in the comments on each skill, also this is the only one formatted for the 80 cap to the best of my knowledge, not that it really matters but hey its a small update

well The more topics in these kinda forums makes it even more annoying to find useful information (that is why most random new guys create another topic each time about the same stuff)

if we had most of the guides in the sticky it would save a lot of time to find information.

i don`t mind about the general talk but in guides and character sections should be kept a bit more clean and WE can help with it cause seems like the forums might need a couple more mods (or a report to mod option)
It is still a great guide enjoyed reading it, just was like hey this info was already in some other topics.

So you want my beautiful guide to be destroyed? How about all the blade guides you had in your thread--- my opinion based on yours is that everyone's except cuchulainn's should be destroyed.

Oooh... harsh o.O. Unfortunately, I agree.

There is no need for a flame war.
If i never added that guide you probably would had no reason to flame.

The point i was trying to make with my topic is having 1 topic with as much information about that kind of build in it.

I feel glad some people actually read some of the urls added in my topic.
So stop this kinda childish reaction like i said your guide is great but i made that topic to actually help people get as much information as they can in 1 topic (due to the lack of updates of the sticky) It is just easier for everyone to have as much information in 1 topic especially when you are talking about guides.

If everyone start making their own so called guide but stating exact same stuff as in other already posted guides then this forum will be a total mess.

You don't need to remove it some might find it useful so that is good thing right? probably most don`t even read those sticky topics :<

Thanks. I must have misinterpreted a couple of the sentences . Fatigue ftl.

If i may add it would be awesome if you also added the screenshot of the sp needed.

Added the sp for the sword build, if somebody wants the sp for the spear, I'll add it later. It's getting late, so I'm going to bed.

All the decent guides are already listed here so in fact, your effort to put all the guides together is doing exactly what you said in the bolded text since the ones people should read (i.e. the non-shitty ones) are already listed in a sticky!

Im not going to flame you, but your guide will give you a gimped build at 80. Have you talked to any lvl 70+ about their builds or did you work all this out on a web page?

You serious?

Seems like he's on the right track. I'm 72 int hybrid, my final plans if I ever hit 80 is 80 sword/60 spear/80 lightning/80 fire

What level are you if you think this is gimped?

My only comment is that you should call this an INT hybrid guid not INT. While similiar, you don't actually go into pure int.

I'd love to see someone put together a damage comparison between S&S and Spear as well as pure int vs hybrid. That would be really interesting.

nice work in organization and information. actually toold me some things i've ben wondering, such as wmay lvl certain skills max at, etc. excellent image work as well, very useful to see things visually. nice guide guys :)

IMO this guide can be used for both (skills etc.), he just recommends that you do a hybrid, as they can survive longer and still do decent damage. When he said "A Guide to Int Builds", I think that he was referring to pure and hybrid ints. He just didn't go into the stats for a pure int, because that would be a bit redundant . The skills will work for both pure int and hybrid int.

Almost my build as a 2-1 hybrid int spear.
But I'm planning to go 70 ice for the lvl 80 cap, I won't use light nukes that much anyway.

Does anybody want me to post the sp and screenshots for the Spear build?
EDIT: done.

hmm ok. Basically what I am suggesting as the differences skill-wise are:
--hybrid does not have quite as much of a need for lion shout and lightning nukes, as long as one maxes out all books of fire nuke. Later this week I'll probably contrast spear and SS dmg-wise when using the same nuke, using pure int as an example. Keep your eyes peeled!

Thanks! I think I'll add some more damage formulas if people want.

Very nice guide. Well written.
But i wouldnt max the first fire nuke.

u may be surprised. It is a nuke that, when maxed, has incredibly good magical damage and has a very fast cooldown. One of my favorite tactics for killing thieves running away from me is using fire book 1, then book 2, then book 1. Book 1's cooldown is so fast that in the time it takes to get back within nuking range of the target, it has recharged. Not sure how clear this explanation was but book 2 and book 3 have incredibly long cooldowns, making it a hassle to link the fire nukes if your lightning nuke isn't too strong.