Marksman is a really good bossing mule and a decent main. What makes Marksman great as a bossing mule is the really good solo bossing and ability to have a dummy take aggro of the boss. It’s a bit lacking as a main since it doesn’t fit well into the end game party bossing meta and your dummy won’t work in a party.
| Best in Slot | Main |
| BiS Weapon |  Genesis Crossbow |
| BiS Secondary |  Princess No’s Wreath |
| BiS Crossbow Arrow |  Titanium Arrow |
| Class | Archer |
| Shared Cash Shop | All Explorers |
| Legion Effect | Increases % Crit Rate +1/2/3/4/5% |
| Link Skill |  Adventurer’s Curiosity – Crit Rate + Monster Collection |
| Primary Stat | DEX |
| Secondary Stat | STR |
| BiS Inner Ability Top Line | +1 Attack Speed |
| Does it benefit from max Attack speed | Yes |
| 2 min or 3 min burst type? | 2 min |
If you’re making a Marksman boss mule you’ll want to go for Abso/Arcane Crossbow, 15-20% boss damage but ideally +1 AS, and unique 2 lined gear.
Bowman 1st Job Skill Build
- Arrow Blow (+1)
- Double Jump (MAX)
- Critical Shot (MAX)
- Archery Mastery (MAX)
- Arrow Blow (MAX)
Bowman 1st Job Skill Explanation
From levels 1-30 you should have no problems killing mobs so focus on leveling your mobility skills to reach mobs faster. Also, this is where you want to check if you want to customize Double Jump or not. Right Click it in the skill tab to change between the two options and pick the one most comfortable for you.
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
 Arrow Blow | MP Cost: 11, Damage: 160%, Max Enemies Hit: 5, Arrows Fired: 3 | 1st Job Mobbing Skill |
 Double Jump | MP Cost: 10, allows you to jump a greater distance | Flash Jump Skill |
 Critical Shot | Critical Rate: +40% | Passive Buff for Critical Rate |
 Archery Mastery | Range +120, Movement Speed +30, Max Movement Speed Increased to 160 | Passive Buff for Speed and Range |
Crossbowman 2nd Job Skill Build
- Piercing Arrow (+1), Soul Arrow: Crossbow (+1), Covering Fire (+1)
- Crossbow Mastery (+5)
- Agile Crossbows (MAX)
- Piercing Arrow (MAX)
- Crossbow Mastery (MAX)
- Soul Arrow: Crossbow (MAX)
- Physical Training (MAX)
- Final Attack: Crossbow (MAX)
- Covering Fire (MAX)
Crossbowman 2nd Job Skill Explanation
For MM 2nd job you’ll want to look out for Covering Fire and Soul Arrow: Crossbow.
Covering Fire is a mobility type skill which lets you stall in the air by holding it down. It also helps extend your flash jump distance when using it backwards at the end.
Soul Arrow: Crossbow is a passive skill that lets you have unlimited arrows even if you only have 1 in your inventory. The best crossbow arrows are Titanium Arrow for Crossbow which needs to be crafted. Recipe drops from Oblivion Monk Trainee.
You’ll be using Piercing Arrow instead of Arrow Blow as your new mobbing skill forever. The skill will be boosted every next job so that it scales properly.
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
 Piercing Arrow | MP Cost: 36, Damage: 130%, Max Enemies Pierced: 6, Number of Attacks: 4 Final damage increases by 15% with each enemy pierced, and damage is doubled | Main Mobbing Skill |
 Covering Fire | MP Cost: 5, if you press and hold the skill key after jumping a certain distance backward, you will attack enemies at up to 105% of damage for 2 sec while in mid-air | Air Mobility |
 Agile Crossbows | Attack Speed: +2, DEX: +20 | Passive Buff for Attack Speed |
 Soul Arrow: Crossbow | Attack Power +30. Allows you to attack without consuming arrows | Passive Skill for Unlimited Arrows |
 Crossbow Mastery | Crossbow Mastery: +50%, Final Damage: +20% | Passive Buff |
 Final Attack : Crossbow | [Final Attack Skills] Has a 40% chance to deal 150% Final Attack damage | Passive Skill that gives you a chance for extra damage |
 Physical Training | Permanently increase STR by 30 and DEX by 30 | Passive Buff for Stat |
Sniper’s 3rd Job Skill Build
- Empowered Arrows (+1), Bolt Burst (+1), Blink Bolt (+1)
- Empowered Arrow (MAX)
- Reckless Hunt: Crossbow (MAX)
- Marksmanship (MAX)
- Bolt Burst (MAX)
- Frostprey (MAX)
- Blink Bolt (MAX)
- Mortal Blow (MAX)
- Evasion Boost (MAX)
- Aggressive Resistance (MAX)
- Pain Killer (MAX)
Sniper’s 3rd Job Skill Build Explanation
MM 3rd job skills you want to look out for are, Blink Bolt, Pain Killer, and Bolt Burst.
Blink Bolt is a placeable summon which you can teleport to. Extremely good in bossing since you can quickly teleport to a safe spot or get out of a sticky situation.
Pain Killer might seem useless at first but will be much more useful in late/end game bosses. For example, it’s really good in Black Mage when you’re avoiding curses.
Bolt Burst is good for mobbing when you want to hit above or below you. Not really useful in bossing except for, maybe, clearing boss minions. Piercing Arrows is very good at clearing 1 platform far left and right but, not above and below.
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
 Empowered Arrows | After striking enemies with Piercing Arrow 3 times, your next Piercing Arrow will be upgraded to an Empowered Piercing Arrow Empowered Piercing Arrow – MP Cost: 30, Damage: 230%, Max Enemies Pierced: 8, Number of Attacks: 6 [Passive Effects – Piercing Arrow Damage: +140% points] | Passive Boost to your 2nd Job Mobbing Skill |
 Bolt Burst | MP Cost: 90, Damage: 300%, Number of Attacks: 6, Max Enemies Hit: 8Cooldown: 7 sec | Low Cooldown Mobbing Skill |
 Frostprey | MP Cost: 70, summon Freezer for 220 sec. Attacks up to 4 enemies at once with 390% damage. Freezes for 3 sec [Passive Effects: Increases Defense by 30%] | Summon Skill for an Ice Bird that helps you mob |
 Blink Bolt | MP Cost: 28. Places a marker that lasts 120 sec Use skill again to teleport to the marker’s location. Teleport Cooldown: 2 sec Use the skill again while holding the Down Arrow key to replace your previous marker Marker Placement Cooldown: 1 sec | Active Teleport Skill |
 Pain Killer | MP Cost: 50, Clear Status and make you immune to it for 3 sec Cooldown: 300 sec [Passive Effect : Increase Abnormal Status Resistance by 20 and Elemental Resistance by 20%] | Active Skill to remove Abnormal Status |
 Reckless Hunt: Crossbow | Reduces Avoidability Critical Damage: +20% | Passive Skill |
 Mortal Blow | Grants a 10% chance when attacking to deal 20% increased damage to an enemy 1% Max HP & MP recovered when triggered | Passive Buff for a chance to deal extra damage and recover HP/MP |
 Aggressive Resistance | When attacking, for 8 sec, 20% of damage dealt will be created as a barrier Absorbs 60% of incoming damage. Able to absorb up to 65% of Max HP | Passive Skill where you’ll get barrier based on damage dealt |
 Evasion Boost | Dodge Chance: 30%, all attacks following a successful dodge for 1 sec will be criticals Knockback Resistance: +40%, Max HP: +40% | Passive Buff for Dodge + Knockback Resistance |
 Marksmanship | Monster DEF Ignored: 25%, Damage: +15% | Passive Buff for IED and Damage |
Marksman 4th Job Skill Build
- Piercing Arrow II (+1), Sharp Eyes (+1), Greater Empowered Arrows (+1), Snipe (+1)
- Piercing Arrow II (MAX)
- Greater Empowered Arrows (MAX)
- Illusion Step (MAX)
- Sharp Eyes (MAX)
- Crossbow Expert (MAX)
- Bolt Surplus (MAX)
- Last Man Standing (MAX)
- Arrow Illusion (MAX)
- Maple Warrior (MAX)
- Snipe (MAX)
- Hero’s Will (MAX)
Marksman 4th Job Skill Explanation
For MM 4th job you’ll want to look out for Snipe, Arrow Illusion, and understanding Greater Empowered Arrows.
Snipe a single target skill that shoots at the highest HP target. Mainly used for bossing and elite mobs.
Arrow Illusion is a placeable summon that draws mobs to it while mobbing and can act as a decoy while bossing. Extremely useful while solo bossing since the boss will target the summon instead of you. Not useful while party bossing because the decoy effect will not work.
Greater Empowered Arrows makes it so that after you use Snipe/Piercing Arrow 3 times, your next shot will be much stronger. You can see the skill change looks once empowered.
Piercing Arrow is your mobbing skill and Snipe is your bossing skill forever.
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
 Piercing Arrow II | MP Cost: 42, Damage: 343%, Max Enemies Pierced: 8, Number of Attacks: 5 When piercing multiple enemies, each pierced enemy takes 15% more Final Damage than the previous one Arrow Fragment bounces off the first enemy hit, dealing 350% damage 4 times on up to 2 enemies | Passive Boost to your 2nd Job Mobbing Skill |
 Snipe | MP Cost: 50, Damage: 480%, Number of Attacks: 9 Ignore Defense: 25%, Bonus Critical Rate: 100% Enemies struck are marked and using Empowered Snipe on them deals 320% additional damage 5 times | Main Bossing Skill |
 Greater Empowered Arrows | When Piercing Arrow hits 3 times, Empowered Piercing Arrow II can be activated When Snipe hits 3 times, Empowered Snipe can be activated Empowered Piercing Arrow II: MP Cost: 87. Pierces up to 10 enemies, dealing 427% damage 6 times. Explodes at end trajectory, dealing 280% damage 10 times to up to 10 enemies Empowered Snipe: MP Cost: 105 Deals 535% damage 10 times with +25% Ignore DEF and +100% Critical Rate Striking an enemy marked by Snipe deals 320% additional damage 10 times Marked Target: Final Damage +4% for 15 sec, Ignore Monster DEF: +13% [Passive Effect] Final Damage +8%, Ignore DEF: +20% | Passive Boost to Piercing Arrow and Snipe |
 Arrow Illusion | MP Cost: 70, summon Arrow Illusion with 100000 HP for 30 sec Arrow Illusion periodically deals 200% damage and pulls in enemies. 70% chance to stun hit enemies for 4 sec When Arrow Illusion takes damage, reflect 1200% of damage [Passive Effects – Ignore Defense: 30%] | Summon Skill to get mob/boss attention (very good for solo bossing since the boss will keep focus on the summon) (boss will not focus on it in party bosses so be aware) |
 Sharp Eyes | MP Cost: 45, Critical Rate: +20%, Critical Damage: +15%, Duration: 300 sec | Active Buff for Critical Rate and Critical Damage |
 Crossbow Expert | Crossbow Mastery: +70%. Attack Power: +30, Critical Damage: +15% | Passive Buff for Attack and Critical Damage |
 Bolt Surplus | Increases the number of attacks for all multi-hit skills by 1 Final Damage increases by 15% | Passive Buff |
 Last Man Standing | Final Damage: +10% | Passive Buff for Final Damage |
 Illusion Step | DEX: +80, Bonus Avoidability Chance: 30%, Damage Taken: -20%, Knockback Resistance: +60% | Passive Buff for 100% Knockback Resistance and Stat |
 Maple Warrior | MP Cost: 70, Increases all stats assigned APs by 15% for 900 sec | Active Buff for Stat |
 Hero’s Will | Clear Status Effects Cooldown: 300 sec | Active Skill to clear Status |
Marksman Hyper Skill Build
MM has 2 different builds when it comes to hyper skills. One is a mobbing focused one and the other is for bossing. Make sure to switch given the situation you’re in.
Mobbing Focus Passive Hypers
Piercing Arrow – Reinforce- Piercing Arrow – Spread
- Piercing Arrow – Extra Strike
- Snipe – Extra Strike
- Snipe – Reinforce
Piercing Arrow – Reinforce
Piercing Arrow – Spread
Piercing Arrow – Extra Strike
Snipe – Extra Strike
Snipe – ReinforceBossing Focus Passive Hypers
- Snipe – Extra Strike
- Snipe – Reinforce
- Snipe – Boss Rush
- Sharp Eyes – Critical Chance
- Sharp Eyes – Guardbreak
Snipe – Extra Strike
Snipe – Reinforce
Snipe – Boss Rush
Sharp Eyes – Critical Chance
Sharp Eyes – GuardbreakActive Hyper Skills
- Bullseye Shot
- High Speed Shot
- Epic Adventure
Bullseye Shot
High Speed Shot
Epic AdventureBullseye Shot is an active buff that is part of your burst setup. Gives you a lot of extra damage for 40 seconds.
High Speed Shot is a short cooldown burst skill that can help mob and deal extra damage to bosses.
Epic Adventure is an active buff mainly used for bursting.
Marksman 5th Job Skills
When you reach level 200 you’ll get access to your V Matrix and new 5th job skills. The best way to level them up is through Nodestones and Experience nodes. Marksman V Skills in order of importance are, Split Shot, Repeating Crossbow Cartridge, Perfect Shot, and Surge Bolt.
5th Job Skill Explanation
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
 Perfect Shot | MP Cost: 1000. Shooting once, Max Enemies Hit: 12, Damage: 1850%, Number of Attacks: 14, Multiple Critical Shot Count: 4 Damage Range: 20% – 100% depending on enemy’s proximity to the center of your sights Ignore Defense: 100%Duration: 2 sec. Invincible for 1 sec after skill ends Successful hits grant Marked Target for 15 sec Cooldown: 60 sec | Bossing I-Frame and Burst Skill (Invincible so you can avoid attacks and marks target when you click on them) |
 Split Shot | MP Cost: 800, Duration: 72 sec Landing a hit with Snipe, Empowered Piercing Arrow, Empowered Snipe, Piercing Arrow, or — after using Repeating Crossbow Cartridge — Full Burst Shot causes your arrow to split and attack up to 10 enemies, dealing 1320% damage 5 times Ignore Enemy Defense: 25% Cooldown: 120 sec | Mobbing and Bossing Skill (One of the most important skills since it changes your PA/Snipe to deal more damage and reach more mobs) |
 Surge Bolt | MP Cost: 750, Max Enemies Hit: 10, Damage: 1100%, Number of Attacks: 10. Deals 1650 damage after focus is complete Additional Monster DEF Ignored: 50%, Additional Critical Rate: +100% Max Focus Duration: 10 sec Cooldown: 10 sec | Bossing Skill (You can hold this skill down while using other skills at the same time) (You’ll get the Marked Target Buff after used) |
 Repeating Crossbow Cartridge | MP Cost: 750, Duration: 60 sec, Usable Cartridges: 8 Full Burst Shot: MP Cost: 150, Cartridge Used: 1, Damage: 825%, Number of Arrow Attacks: 9, Arrows Fired: 4, DEF Ignored: 25%, Critical Rate: 100% Cooldown: 120 sec | Bossing Skill (After activated you’ll get 8 Full Burst Shots you can fire by pressing the skill again) (use all shots on bosses immediately with all your buffs up) |
Marksman Perfect Trio Nodes
In the V Matrix you’ll also have Boost Nodes. They are there to level up your 1st – 4th job skills past their initial cap. You’ll want to level up the most useful skills for your class and those will form your perfect trios.
For Marksman these are the perfect nodes you’ll want to look for,
| Primary Node | Secondary Node |
 Snipe/Empowered Snipe |  High Speed Shot / Arrow Illusion |
 Piercing Arrow/Empowered Piercing Arrow |  Final Attack: Crossbow |
 Bolt Burst/Frost Prey |  Covering Fire |
If you’re making a boss mule you only need the Primary node. The Secondary node is very minimal and even if you’re maining Marksman you don’t need it.
An explanation of perfect trios and full list of all classes and their perfect trio nodes here.
All Useful 5th Job Skills for Marksman
These are all the skills you’ll need to get the most out of Marksman. Any other skills are not useful and can be disassembled.
Do not level up your Decent skills past level 1 unless you’re at the end game and min/maxing to get an extra 5 stat at max level. At level 1 all your decent skills have 100% uptime since the duration will be longer than the cooldown. Holy Symbol is the only exception since you’ll get more exp and drop rate as you level it.
 Vicious Shot |
 Guided Arrow |
 Decent Holy Symbol |
 Decent Combat Orders |
 Decent Speed Infusion |
 Maple World Goddess’s Blessing |
 Erda Nova |
 Blink |
 Fury of the Wild |
 Decent Advanced Blessing |
 Will Of Erda |
 Erda Shower |
 Rope Lift |
 True Arachnid Reflection (Obtained from Will boss) |
 Solar Crest (Obtained from Seren boss) |
The ones that are underlined and bolded are not necessary if making a boss mule.
Marksman 5th Job V Matrix Node Slot Priority
This is the order of what skills you should equip first,
- Primary Boost Nodes
- Split Shot
- Repeating Crossbow Cartridge
- Vicious Shot
- Level 1 Decent Speed Infusion, Decent Combat Orders, Guided Arrow
- Erda Nova
- Perfect Shot
- Maple Goddess
- Fury of the Wild
- Surge Bolt
- Secondary Boost Nodes
This setup is best for bossing. If you’re mobbing you’ll want to switch Vicious Shot for Erda Shower and Decent Holy Symbol instead of Repeating Crossbow Cartridge. Split Shot is very important for both bossing and mobbing so level it up alongside your boost nodes instead of after. Marksman needs Attack Speed in order to feel less clunky so Decent Speed Infusion + Inner Ability + Green Potion is ideal for Marksman bossing. For mobbing you can do without Green Pot.
Since Marksman is a 2 min burst class you’ll want to get Erda Nova to Level 25. (level 20 + boosted slot also works)
Marksman 6th Job HEXA Skills
The HEXA matrix is split up into Skill Node (6th job Origin skill), Mastery Node (enhances 4th job skills), Boost Node (5th job enhancement), and Common Node (Job specific skills)
You’ll get your 1st Origin skill for free once you finish the quest line and the rest you’ll have to unlock yourself. Link to a Guide for HEXA Matrix so that you’ll have the best start possible.
| Node Type | Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
| Skill Node |  Final Aim | MP Cost: 1200, invincible during castingMax Enemies Hit: 15, Damage: 7800%, Number of Attacks: 6, Number of Shockwaves: 8 Afterwards, Max Enemies Hit: 15, Damage: 11940%, Number of Attacks: 13, Number of Arrows: 5 Cooldown: 360 sec | Big Bind and Burst Skill (This is your Origin skill which binds the boss and gives a big buff to your skills for a duration) (This bind is different than a regular bind (erda nova) which means you can use your regular bind right after your Origin bind |
| Mastery Node |  HEXA Snipe | Snipe – MP Cost: 70, Damage: 545%, Number of Attacks: 9 Enemies struck are marked Empowered Snipe – MP Cost: 140, Damage: 605%, Number of Attacks: 10 When striking a marked enemy, Damage: 380%, Number of Additional Attacks: 5 Ultimate Snipe – MP Cost: 140, Damage: 315%, Number of Attacks: 10, Number of Arrows: 2 When striking a marked enemy, Damage: 380%, Number of Additional Attacks: 5 Snipe, Empowered Snipe, and Ultimate Snipe – Ignore Defense: 40%, Bonus Critical Rate: 100% | Passive Boost to Your Main Bossing Skill (Further strengthens your Snipe skill) |
| Boost Node |  Perfect Shot | Perfect Shot Final Damage: +60% | Passive Damage Boost to Skill |
| Boost Node |  Split Shot | Split Shot Final Damage: +60% | Passive Damage Boost to Skill |
| Boost Node |  Surge Bolt | Surge Bolt Final Damage: +60% | Passive Damage Boost to Skill |
| Boost Node |  Repeating Crossbow Cartridge | Repeating Crossbow Cartridge Final Damage: +60% | Passive Damage Boost to Skill |
6th Job Marksman HEXA Skill Priority
When starting your HEXA Matrix you’ll want to unlock everything then start putting focus on depending on if you’re a solo progression player or a party player.
If you’re a party player you’ll want to focus on your burst and getting that as high as possible. Especially important in late/end game bosses. For Marksman you’ll want to prio, HEXA Snipe, Split Shot, Repeating Crossbow Cartridge and Final Aim.
If you’re a solo progression player there are infographics online and in the marksman discord that you can follow.
6th Job Marksman HEXA Stat Priority
For Marksman, your 1st HEXA stat node, you’ll want
- Main Stat: Attack
- Additional Stat: STAT
- Additional Stat: Boss Damage
HEXA stat is an RNG type system and it doesn’t matter what you get in the beginning since it is not worth it to reroll until your entire 6th job is maxed. Once it gets to level 20 leave it there and no matter what you got it would still be at least a 2-3% FD gain.