Beginner Guide

Hero Selection:
Make sure your hero fits your play style. While having a front line Hero is fun. It can be dangerous to. If the hero dies it doesn't matter how many of your merc's are still alive. The battle is over if he/she dies. I honestly recommend either Axe Man (Frozen Axe is so helpful) or one of the middle or back row classes. i.e Gunner or Archer.

Mercenary Selection:
Make sure your intended merc lay out fits your play style. By level 50 you will have a full group, you plus 8 merc's. You are pretty much stuck with using normal merc's until you get higher in level. (Viking at 20, Monk 30, Beast Trainer 44, etc etc). Some things to consider when planning your group. Shamans Heal. When upgraded *All Mercs get their first upgrade at level 20* their Heal goes from being single target to Line Heal. Meaning It will heal all the people on that line (Right and Left not Up and Down). Monks are in a sense your Support Buffer. They can't heal, but they can remove nasty things like Stun, Poison, DoT's. They also get a nice spell called Protection. That automatically goes off at the start of your turn each round as long as he is alive and has mana. It heals your Hero and buffs his defense. Also it doesn't matter which row your Monk and Hero are in. It will hit him regardless. The merc's you get later on are more defined and suited to specific task (Lady Knight, Princess, Prophet, Oracle, etc).

Skill Raising:
As tempting as it may be to try to teach your Hero and Merc's every skill available to them. (Some skills are Hero only) It's not a really good idea for two reasons. 1) Mana. In the cast of the Monks protection spell. That is auto cast at the start of your turn. The higher in level it is the more mana it eats. Meaning you'll be sitting alot or chugging alot of MP potions. 2) Deluded Characters. You get 1 skill point per level. Teaching and raising skills causes them all to be rather weak. As you are spreading points between skills instead of focusing it into one. So where as my Swordsman lvl 40 Flame Sword is doing 480 dmg. Your Swordsman lvl 28 Flame Sword is doing 200 dmg. Because you dumped the rest of your points into DarkSeed and Guard Dispel. Stay Focused, and plan ahead. The books to remove skills points are EXPENSIVE, and they only remove one point at time.

Getting Around:
Make sure you stop in every town you run across. You only need to enter a town/area/dungeon floor once to get it's map info. If you get an NPC telling you to kill mobs on the first floor of a dungeon. Before you go running back to him when its done. Take the time to hit the other area's of that dungeon. That way when he does send you back instead of running you can just teleport to the start of that floor of the dungeon. This is very important for towns as well. As you'll be covering alot of ground as you level later on.

Money:
As long as you are doing your quest you should be fine in the beginning for money. If you don't intend on being a crafter right off the bat. Sell your goods below what the fixed price is for materials in Market. Is another good way to make cash. You really want to try to have a nice nest egg of cash in bank before 35. As that's usually when most people start to feel the pinch of having to buy armor/weapons for all their mercs. Later on crafting and betting on fights at the arena is a good way to make money. Also instead of betting you could join the competition. Nice way to earn titles and rewards. At level 40 a win was worth about 200,000 while a lost only netted me 15,000 to 20,000.

Monster Info:
When killing monsters for a long enough time you learn more about them. This is Monster Info and it has 3 stages. Each stage increase the damage you do and decreases the amount of damage the mob does. It also helps in getting better materials and items off mobs. It's random though. Sometimes you'll get all 3 stages fast, other times not so fast. Good thing is you can have someone teach you the parts if they know them. Even with mobs you've never ran across.

Stats:
In your travels you'll come across Growth Vials. These help you raise stats at the cost of Bonus Points (you get bonus points as you level). There are 3 types of Growth Vials like most things in game. They are broken down into Beginner, Intermediate , and Advanced. It's in your best interest to buy and use them whenever you can. Growth Vials raise a random stat each use. With beginning being able to be used up to a maximum of 150 bonus points at which point you need the higher level Growth Vials. Believe me when I say, not bothering to use these on your Hero and Merc's whenever you can. Will just make your life tougher down the road. My advice is use all of them on hero first as to get him to cap for that type of vial first. As when the hero dies it's instant game over. So a stronger more durable hero is always nice. Once that's done. I would start with the front line merc's you have as usually they'll be taking the most beating. You won't encounter flying or any real dangerous long range enemies till post 25/30ish. Which gives you plenty of time to pump those stats.

Grouping/Partying:
Don't be afraid to group. It's actual quite beneficial. Game doesn't really penalized you for it, in fact it's quite the opposite. Killing while party of a group generates Skill books worth 100 xp when used. You can also turn in 20 of these books (+2000 gold) to have it turned into a 1000 xp book. I know sounds like a bad deal, but it really isn't. I'll explain in a bit under "Will". Partying also also you to share info easier (Like Monster Info), and generally makes quest easier to do. As all players in the party (As long as they are in same fight) will get credit towards the quest if they are both on it. So even if it's a quest that needs an item pick up like Fox Ears. Don't hesitate to group. You'll both get credit for it. You can also teleport directly to a group member (provided you have enough Will), also if they are in a dungeon you are required to have the map for it.

Will:
Will is a special bar that sits at top of screen. It refills slowly and is one rather important thing to keep track of. Will allows you to teleport to locations you already have the map info for. You also need it for teleporting to party members, sending gifts, Sharing Monster Info, using EXP Skill Books, certain foods that replenish HP and MP need will to eat. It regenerates rather slowly so don't be wasteful about it. It's also used for sweet talking NPC's into staying at your town.

Guard:
Guard is probably one of the most useful things for long combats or when facing off against a group of flyers when you are mostly melee. Before I jump into it. Let me point out that at most you allowed to use up to 5 of your mercs during any one turn. So you go into a fight with flyers and your melee are the only ones able to move for that turn. Use Guard, it will transfer that merc/hero's turn to someone else that is waiting. Who the turn goes to is based on AP (Action Points) so if your guy was sitting at -38 at the start of your turn because he attacked last round and got hit by an AP draining attack from enemy. Don't count on guard giving him the chance to attack that round.

Flying Enemies:
If your group is melee heavy these will be your worse nightmare. Flying enemies can not be hit directly by melee attacks, this also includes the Artillery Merc's normal cannon attack. They can be hit by Melee Skills, they can also be hit by Long Range and Magic Default attacks (Gunner, Archer, Monk, Shaman, etc). The other thing to take notice of is that if the front line is made up flying units, but there are land mobs behind it. You don't have to get rid of the flying mob to hit the land mob behind it. Sadly this also holds true for your group as well. A flying mob can directly fly over your front line to hit any units you have in back. Currently there are no flying mercs or hero's for players. You will be facing flying mobs in your travels so it's something to consider when putting your ideal merc lay out together. Having too many melee and not enough long range and/or casters will cause the fight to drag out. Skills have turn cool downs and MP requirements which puts a melee group at disadvantage against flyers. As the longer you take the more you increase the chance that another mob group will join in the fight against you.

Adds:
It's not uncommon to be fighting and have another group pop up during the battle to attack you. Even though the fights are instanced your body still remains in the world. So any mob that touches you will enter the fight as well. This will happen alot in densely packed area's. When this happens here is something to consider. Dying in Atlantica online results in a lost of some money and some xp. Merc's do not lose xp from dying. Only the hero's does. Retreating from a fight is the same as dying meaning gold and xp lost just as if you died. So sometimes even if another group jumps in, it's better to weigh the situation and keep fighting. Retreating from a fight can only be done after two turns has went by and happens instantly. If you can at the very least keep your hero alive it's best to keep fighting. Even if you think he/she might die, it's still best to keep fighting. As your mercs and hero gain xp per hit during fights. So even though your hero might die and lose xp. Your merc's won't. At worse when a merc dies you just have to waste a Life Potion rez-ing him. (Beginner Life Potions are cheap usually if bought from player)

Brutal Will and You:
One of the best spells a Shaman has isn't even her heal. It's a spell called Brutal Will. Which boost your attack and increases your chance to strike multiple times during that character combat turn. Normally your Hero/Merc after you tell him to attack something will hit the mob between 1 to 4 times (it's pretty random). Brutal Will boost your chance to get those lovely 3 and 4 hits. Which will absolutely destroy most mobs. Currently I use it on my Middle Row. Which consist of my SpearMan, Gunner, and Archer. While I lose control of them for the 4 rounds they are under the effect of Brutal Will. Their damage goes up, and they pop enemies 3 and 4 times on a regular. Which is great. As Archers can hit any mob on any line and have very good damage. SpearMan are capable of hitting the initial target plus one mob behind it for pretty good damage. Gunner the same as SpearMan except she'll hit all 3 mobs in the row for pretty good damage. It has its benefits for Melee, Ranged, and Casters. It has it's draw backs though. It continuously eats life while your people are under it's effects, and like I said you lose control of them for the 4 rounds it last. Which means you can't make use of their skills. It's still generally worth the trade off.

Holy Guard and You:
Holy Guard is the Monk skill that pretty much makes you resistance to magic. Sounds good right? Well it has it's good points. Example, if someone has cast a bunch of nasty things on someone you need off. One cast of Holy Guard will remove all the negative effects and place an effect on you making you immune to magic. I know you are saying that sounds too good to be true, what's the catch? Well the catch is... NO magic works on you. Not even your own Shamans, Oracle, or Exorcist Healing magic. So it's one of those skills that's very useful, but more harmful if mis-used. Hero's can be taught a skill for dispelling it. Also of note like the Shamans heal after she upgrades to next level of her class. It becomes a line effect.

Frozen Axe and You:
Frozen Axe is one of the best skills in game. It's one of the reason I highly recommend making your Hero an Axe user or at the very least getting two Vikings in your group as soon as you can. Frozen Axe at first only hits one target after Class upgrade it will evolve into a line skill. So down to the basic what does it do. Basically it has 3 parts. 1) Initial Damage - which isn't anything to write home about 2) Freeze component - If it lands it will instantly freeze the target locking them from doing any for 1 turn and also damaging them when it breaks 3) Stun - Yep even after the Frozen Status breaks after the first turn is up, anything that was frozen will be stunned for one additional turn. Higher Levels increase how long the Freeze last for (I've never seen it last more then 3 turns). The stun remains at 1 turn though. The Freeze effect can be dispelled by Holy Guard which also prevents you from being stunned when the freeze breaks. VERY useful skill later on and during boss fights. Even though it's a line effect it you don't have to target the middle mob/person (incase you are pvping) to get the entire line. Targeting the person to the right or left or right will have same effect as if you had targeted the center.

Swordsman - Good HP, High Defense, Shield Wearer, Heavy Armor Wearer, Single Target Default Attack (If your Hero is Swordsman you can teach him skills for hitting more then one enemy like Break Down)
Axe Man - Good HP, Above Average Defense, Heavy Armor Wearer, Line Default Attack
Spear Man - Above Average HP, Above Average Defense, Heavy Armor Wearer, Row Default Attack (2 mobs max)
Gunner - Average HP, Below Average Defense, Light Armor Wearer, Row Default Attack (3 mobs max)
Archer - Average HP, Below Average Defense, Light Armor Wearer, Default Attack can hit any 1 Mob on any Line or Row without restriction
Artillery - Average HP, Below Average Defense, Light Armor Wearer, Default Attack Cross (Mob to Front, Back, Left, and Right will also be hit)
Shaman - Average HP, Below Average Defense, Cloth Wearer, Default Attack Single Target
Monk - Average HP, Below Average Defense, Cloth Wearer, Default Attack Single Target
Viking - Same as Axe Man but slightly better damage and less magic defense (Magic hurts them alot)
Beast Trainer - Same as Axe Man

Defense Order: Swordsman > Axe Man > Spear Man/Viking
Magic Defense Order: Swordsman > Axe Man/Spear Man > Viking
Melee Attack Damage: Axe/Viking hit more targets then Spear Man, but the Swordsman can do more damage per hit but only to one target

Defense Order: Gunner/Archer > Shaman/Monk
Magic Defense: Monk/Shaman > Gunner/Archer
Ranged Attack Damage: Archer does more damage then Gunner, but Gunner hits multiple targets. Monk and Shaman damage is generally comparable to each other and on par with Archers when well equipped.
Yes I'm leaving Artillery Man out, because honestly they stink lol.

Archers - Best at Mage Killing. They get Silence from the start, which later becomes line effect after Class Upgrade.

Gunner - Best at killing Fliers, and do ranged damage over multiple enemies. Wild Shot (Starting Skill) they begin with and it's rather good on damage. Not to mention Gunners are only slightly slower then archers in AP restoring.

Swords Man - Best at Front Line Tanking. They can take the damage, and with a high Flame Sword Skill (Starting Skill) dish it out nicely to. They also have better HP then the other starting classes.

Axe Man - Best at Secondary Front Line Tanking and Dealing Destory an enemies front line. With their ability to use Frozen Axe and attack all 3 units on a line, you can see why I love them.

Viking - See Axe Man. Though they have less Magic Defense then Axe Man, they have more HP. I actually prefer them over Axe Man for front line destruction.

Spear Man - Best as a Middle Line melee DPS. Starts with Lightning Spear a very good skill as it's does damage and destroy some of the AP by the mobs hit with it. They work out pretty well on the front line early on, but later in game they just get beaten to death too easily for them to stay front line.

Shaman - Best at Healing. They also have that lovely skill Brutal Will which you can pick up later, but they begin with Blessing of Life. They can also pick up a nice little DoT spell called Hex of Darkness. While the damage isn't that great, it's an alternative to just having her heal all the time, and it does hit up to two targets in a row, and has pretty decent (not great) damage with a few upgrades. As nice as Brutal Will is though I do recommend keeping Blessing of Life higher, and not pumping Brutal Will so much. Higher Blessing of Life gives you more HP Healed on use, and you'll need that later on.

Monk - Best at Remove Negative Effects. Their starting skill is the really useful Protection spell which auto cast at start of every round and buffs your Hero's Defense and heals him a little. Later on they can grab Awakening for getting rid of stuns, and Holy Guard for getting rid of bad magics and giving them temporary invincibility to magic (including helpful ones lol)

Artillery Man - Best at being useless. Ok jokes aside, I've never really found this a useful class. Their starting skill is Deep Insight which does minimal damage but allows you to see your opponents (anyone hit by it) HP. Which isn't that great when you consider there are scrolls in game that do that. They also do little damage because of the amount of mobs that can be hit with their default attack. They also require you to buy cannon balls which while not costly is annoying (Same applies to Archer having to buy arrows, but they are useful at least. Gunners do not have to buy bullets)

Credits: Triton from Atlantica Online Forum