Comprehensive PVE Soul Eater Build Guide in Dragon Nest [T4] (Level 80 Cap)

Note: This guide is just for reference purposes to aid fellow Soul Eater players. Information stated below will be more or less subjected for updates and changes.

-One of the key points you have to abuse as a Screamer (particularly leaning to the Soul tree)

-Only achieved when targets are hit by the skill Stigma of Curse

-Branded Status increases skill coefficients of Paper Spirit, Soul Gate, and Ghost Scream as it adds additional "ammunition" / hits corresponding to the number of branded targets on the field.

-Enables you to summon your puppet

-PVP: It gets cancelled when the branded target successfully breaks your SA by its attack

-An aftermath/residual damage similar to burn and poison status effects that follows special mechanics. Curse damage takes effect when enemies are hostile/attacking.

-Skills that inflict curse status: Paper Spirit, Soul Gate, Beast Spirit

-Curse damage is solely dependent on the user's Magic Attack stat and is not affected by Final Damage, Crit, and Dark Attack -Ghastly dark flames surrounding the afflicted target denotes curse

-There will be different curse counters for every skill that inflicts curse

- Curse also reduces elemental resistance of targets (curse effect is capped at max -15% elem resist)

-Acts like slow/frostbite but is gradually recovered overtime

-Skills that inflict delay status: Cling Snake, Dragon’s Soul, Ghost Scream

-Targets afflicted with the delay debuff are ensorcelled in magic circles found beneath them reducing their movement speed.

- successfully stacking it 3 times will trigger an medium AoE explosion having high SA break properties

- noted by the white ghastly flames surrounding the afflicted

- monsters within the AoE will have their SA break capabilities reduced to 0.

- grants additional attack and dark def to allies who are in the zone.

- debuff applied by Negative Ghost

- forces targets hit to lose their aggression towards the user

- reduces target's ability to resist critical damage and increases the player's chance to deal critical hits.

Skill points are heavily invested in the Soul Tree and Claw Tree skills are learned for utility purposes.

Not to be followed blindly as it is not recommended and is unfriendly towards a PvP environment.

BT skill rotation focuses on debuff application, support spells, and maintaining additional ammunition to Soul Gate Ex, Spirit Paper Ex, and Ghost Scream.

This build is based on the future screamer changes and is heavily leaning towards burst dps.

Shifting to this build once you've attained a pair of BDN-L weapons.

- Fair SA break property for a long ranged attack (7m). Can be used to break objects.

- With the skill property and damage enhancement gained from its recent boost. Soul Wind is now recommended to be maxed and should always be a part of your skill rotation BT or non BT environment.

- Gaining a wider AoE and a piercing effect makes this skill top notch not to mention the low cd.

- Only good in early levels. Can be used as an evasion technique.

- Adds as another juggling skill in pvp to force enemies to waste their aerial evasion.

- Executable only on knocked down targets. Covers a small AoE that can hit surrounding targets even if they're not knocked down.

- Comparable to sorceress’ poison missile minus the hit limit. It has good damage growth and acts as a defensive-like skill as it causes paralysis on hit targets. It stays on the field and provides me some crowd control.

- PvP wise it is best to use in locking in knocked down/floated targets.

- Very nice to use tfor combo creation (helpful to get SSS ranks on dungeons)

- Pushes enemies a step away from you. Like sting breeze, It’s physically based so we won’t be benefiting much from it. The last hit can stagger enemies.

- A panic skill. Forces targets to lose their aggression for a duration which can give you enough time to set up your puppet, escape, or continue to chain combos. Duration of the debuff is 4 seconds at lvl 1, 6.5 seconds at level 6, and 9 seconds at level 11. Do note that the debuff doesn't affect major nest bosses.

- Can juggle enemies launched in the air.

- Negative Ghost's debuff is negated in pvp.

- Debuff does not affect major bosses and high ranked monsters

- Learned this skill for evasion purposes. Landing a hit needs some precision. Usually combo-ed before or after Phantom’s Rage for a faster landing. It also covers a so-so AoE and has decent super armor breaking capabilities.

- Works just like Escape and Urgency Trick but leaves a paper decoy to draw aggressive units and explodes after a certain duration. A nice skill to divert the enemies' attention. Can be activated after spirit twinge and ghost scream.

- For every damage you receive, 22% of it will be subtracted from your MP at the same time it reduces your MP consumption by 60% and also increases your super armor for 25 seconds. This buff could be a double edged sword if you don’t know how to dodge properly for it can drain you and your allies' mana pool. This buff is good to counter flinching (not SA breaking) skills.

- This will become one of the most handy defenses in combo with Bringer's Healing of Chakra

- Increase your raw stats: Int, Agi, Str, Vit by 80% in a duration of 15 seconds.

- One of the best buffs and it's free of charge. Specially now with the advent of Crit Damage (not to mention it'll be in perfect sync with Lancea's Harmonize buff - future content).

- Useful in warding off and flinching enemies and hitting targets from a distance. Quite flexible since you can control the hands’ speed and direction. Take note as it can't hit knocked down targets.

- Mainly used to catch targets off guard and send them to the air

- Fast casting and as its name implies, you can use it whenever even during at midcast of a skill

- cooldown is reduced by 1.5 seconds every peak levels

- It serves as a herding skill for Screamers. Summon ghost hands that forcefully pull targets into a center point and explodes after. Very good at gathering mobs. Its explosive effect can launch the enemies in the air. Also do note that it also has blind spots. I usually chain beast spirit/Ghost Scream/Blitz Claw after or Soul Gate prior to Revenge Hand. You can leave it at level 1 for utility purposes.

- Cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds every peak levels

- Learned for evasion purposes. Usually combo-ed with Blitz Claw for offensive/evasive purposes. Provides you some air-time to dodge certain skills. What I like about this skill is that you can maneuver yourself either forward, backward, or sideways while performing this skill which can really help you evade more. Be warned as this skill possesses weak super armor. Cast Ghost Kick after for a quicker landing.

- Learned for evasion purposes due to its i-frame. It deals a good amount of damage in the process. Possesses a hit limit. After the first 2

- High damage growth with regards to dps/cd and dps/ct. One of the skills to consider in a BT rotation if you're a Dark Summoner.

- Cooldown is reduced by 1.5 seconds every peak levels - This skill can also be activated after turning step by pressing spacebar.

- A great dps potential. The hands are maneuverable and covers a wide area. The final hit aka The Clap can stun targets that are caught in range. Also, good stuff for PvP. You can take out some skill points from Cling Snake and invest it in here if you want it at max. Stun chance is increased by 10% for every peak levels. - additional 50% damage to unstunnable targets. The 50% refers to your base magic attack. so the additional damage is quite minute.

- the only draw back to this skill is its channeling nature

- summons the phantom spirit to grant you invincibility status, increased action speed, and decreased cooldown. A shroud of Ghost hands will protect and damage surrounding enemies while channeling the skill. Very useful in critical conditions. The initial phase/casting phase, before the ghost hands start to appear, has fair SA and can be interrupted.

- the four outer circles around you can also deal damage. You can successfully land the 3 outer circles on huge targets but requires you to be very close to the target (i.e when facing the dragon sideways).

- This is very beneficial for Dark Summoners specially for those who've maxed their claw skills which have reduced cd during peak levels.

- One of the skills that can be activated by using turning step like Blitz Claw and Ghost Scream.

- Deals okay damage with a frontal narrow fan-shaped range.

- The enlargement phase of the skill can flinch enemies.

- Increases the attack (both physical and magic) and dark resistance of allies. Also reduces the targets’ SA break by 100%. The buff and debuff will only apply to units that are within the range of the spirit zone. There will be an icon flashing above your head to denote the presence of the buff. A must to max.

- Grudge formation does not grant attack boosts for allies in air.

- Mainly used for Branding and for puppet.

Level 1 - 1 talisman, branded status 17s

Level 6 - 2 talismans, 2nd talisman = 20% additional damage, branded status 20s

Level 11 - 3 talismans, 3rd talisman = another 20%, branded status 23s

- Has a good staggering effect. As a result, the second talisman will force targets to get knocked down. One of the reasons why PvP oriented builds invest points in it and even max it for the 3rd talisman (with the use of skill rings) as the 3rd talisman can push your targets further away.

- Double branding is most useful on maps bearing two bosses and Chaos difficulty dungeons.

- The additional talisman grants you another talisman which means you can link 2 targets on a puppet. The additional talisman also ensures a branded status in case the first one fails to hit. .

- In our version, casting stigma of curse to an already branded target will not cancel it out. It refreshes the branding duration instead.

**Remember, branding enemies will further increase your Spirit Paper Ex, Soul Gate Ex, and Ghost Scream's dps capabilities

- A MUST MAX for every PvE Screamers. The puppet will only work on linked targets. Summons a puppet that will act as a voodoo doll.

- It inflicts curse to targets within its 5m radius. That's an automatic -5% elem resist reduction to everyone in the area.

Successful linking of a puppet to a branded target is denoted by a revolving Egyptian glyph resembling an eye around the target. The puppet automatically applies a debuff to the target which makes it receive additional damage depending on your skill level.

Take note that the damage increase from the puppet is not categorized under the additive buffs (includes bull's eye, force mirror, provoking slam, etc). It is counted as a separate one similar to freeze. It is not a damage duplicator. The puppet will be a replica of the linked target meaning it will always have the same stats of the enemy and will not affect elemental resistances / weaknesses whatsoever.

The damage debuff does not exclusively apply when you hit the puppet per se. In other words, as long as the puppet is on the field the linked targets will receive additional damage either you hit the puppet or the linked target itself. Latest patches fixed puppets inability to receive debuffs. That means that Summon Puppet's Voodoo mechanism is now properly working. You can now officially apply debuffs to the puppet. Which is a very big plus especially when you have a tank in your party.

The hitbox duration of puppet lasts for only 1/3 of its duration (maxed leveled) during boss fights. Do note that the puppet's damage debuff still applies even after the puppet hitbox disappears (credits to SaitoHikari for sharing and to DN NA screamer community) .

It is a must to maintain the puppet's presence during BT rotations.

Do note that some Soul skills are further enhanced by puppet. (A magician never reveals her secrets).

- Very useful in nests and raids. Skill accessory is encouraged. Also, It is possible to link 2 branded targets at most to a puppet at this level cap. And 3 if you have it at level 10 with a +1 from skill ring.

- ALWAYS INFORM YOUR PARTY MATES ABOUT YOUR SET UP.

**Your puppet can be cancelled by another Screamer's puppet if they are linked to the same branded target. Only 1 puppet per branded targets is applicable. This also applies to double branding for users who have their stigma of curse at level 6. Example: Screamer A brands monsters a and b and links it to her puppet then Screamer B comes in and brands monsters b and c and links it to her own puppet. In this case, monster b will lose its link from Screamer A's puppet and will be linked to Screamer B's puppet instead.

**Branding status is cancelled when your branded target successfully break your super armor - this is only applied to pvp.

Regarding Puppet and Linked targets caught within the AoE of skills We have different skills and skill behavior. In this portion to avoid confusion, this guide will be classifying skill behavior into two simplified categories that are most relevant in this mostly asked question. Take in mind that some skills possess both behavior.

- a skill behavior in which skills deal damage from its point of origin to another point and mostly travels in a linear fashion and is piercing in nature (meaning the skill still continues to progress after hitting an initial target). In other words, parts of the skills that travel.

- to name a few we have bull's eye, crescent cleave, lightning bolt, rolling lava, spectre of pain, and rapid shot.

- a skill behavior in which skills are fixed at one point and has the ability to hit all its targets at the same time. This behavior includes explosions

- to name a few we have Gravity Ascension, Freezing Field, Glacial Wave, Binding Shot, Soul Scream, and Inferno Ex's final explosion hit.

The image below sums up the most common scenarios in which the puppet and the linked target can be both hit. For kinetic behaving, we'll be labeling the images from left to right as A, B, and C respectively. Green square represents the linked target, Purple square represents the puppet, Blue lines represent the attack behavior and/or range.

In terms of the kinetic behaving skills. It's just a matter of who gets hit first.

(A) If the Puppet is in a much nearer proximity to an approaching attack, then the puppet takes the damage and transfers it to the linked target.

(B) This scenario is the same with static behaving skills.

(C) If the linked target is in a much nearer proximity to an approaching attack, then the linked target takes the damage. Take not that the damage the linked target receives is still the same as (A) since the debuff of the puppet (as long as it is present on the field) is applied even without hitting the puppet.

In terms of the static behaving skills. The puppet will be the main receiver of the damage but the additional mechanics of the skill will still apply to the linked target. Which means Gravity Ascension's pin down effect will still be applied to the target while Freezing Field's freeze and/or ice resist reduction (depending on the linked target's location) will still apply. Take note that Summon Puppet only works 1/3 of its duration in major nests.

- One of the skills that can be activated during Turning Step the others being Spirit Twinge and Blitz Claw. Learned as it can hit surrounding enemies 360 degrees around you when shotgunned plus it inflicts them with delay debuff. Delay is increased by 5% for every peak levels. Its cooldown also decreases by 2 seconds every peak levels. Increases the talismans produced when there are imprinted units.

- Learned this instead of Spirit Twinge due to having more utility and damage despite the sp requirement. Plus its benefit from the presence of branded targets.

- Max this skill to further extend burst dps windows (for my party composition that is).

- Beckons spirit hands to attack nearby enemies for every 2 seconds. A neat source of dps but the whole skill takes a while (every 2 seconds) and requires you to be in melee range for it to hit targets (and enemies with wide hitboxes).

- A very lovely skill~ Has the highest curse counter of all when maxed. Launch making sure that there are imprinted targets around to maximize this skill. Quite lame during early game. The lack of damage from the skill itself is compensated by the curse damage. To be loved even more under Ex mode. Curse duration is increased by 2 seconds for every peak levels. Adds a coefficient of 1 for - every branded target present on the field as it adds another bird shaped curse.

- Works like EL’s phoenix storm. Damage is maximized when the snakes are released at point blank aka shotgunned. Also reduces the target’s movement by 40% for 6 seconds. 50% for 7 seconds at lvl 11. Can hit knocked down targets and can flinch targets upon getting hit. The damage calculation is per snake. It has high dps capabilities in melee range, especially under ex mode. Never a skill to be spammed. This skill is perfect to use right after you summoned a puppet to optimize its hits.

- One of our major roles is support. A maxed cling snake is very crucial! What you are aiming here is not just for damage but for the added movement speed restriction. Currently, almost the majority of the cap set of bosses are not immune to delay status. Delay is very crucial in extending dps windows.

- Use it with good judgement as a delayed target (specially stomping skills) can be very detrimental to your partymates (unless they're very observant).

- Opens a dimensional gate that summons the souls of the unrest. The gate stays on the field for 11 seconds. This skill is very efficient if mobs are in queue (this is where revenge hand comes in handy). Can also hit knocked down targets and has a 10 second curse counter. Quick cast time, deals good damage, plus curse damage. Must max. Deals maximum of ten hits on lesser mobs and 15 hits on major/large bosses (+ more when there are branded targets)

- Each additional soul taken from branded targets is equivalent to a coefficient of 1.

- Covers a wide AoE for mass curse afflicting. Has three damage phases: (1)The summoning phase - where the wolf emerges from the Screamer (2)The wolf's landing (3) The howl.The howling part of the skill animation has high SA break capabilities. Can send knocked down units spiraling to the air. Same as Spirit Paper, curse duration is also increased by 2 seconds for every peak levels.

- its edge over rampage claw is its cast-and-go style, drawback: lower damage growth than rampage claw

- One of the coolest ultimates ever! Wide AoE, high suction power, and can inflict delay status. And it doesn't stop there. It grants an additional 15%(and even more) damage to cursed targets. lt grants us a short iframe during the kneeling process and possesses high superarmor throughout the summoning ritual.

- Note: More souls, More power. Increase Soul (max)

- Same concept as EL’s shields but instead of giving you improved defenses and superarmor with the price of mana, Increase Soul pumps up your magic attack with a price of hp. More magic attack means stronger skill damage and more potent curse damage. The hp redux is negligible actually for the matk boost it provides. The great feature to this is skill is that it is toggle-able. 

- Now even more annoying as it adds 2 more bird talismans and another one for imprinted targets. - - The Ex passive addresses the lack of flinching ability of Paper Spirit by changing 30% of the bird's attack into explosions. Take note that each bird-shaped curse still carries only a coefficient of 1 (70% contact damage and explosive damage). The actual boost comes from the additional 2 bird-shaped curses that are added. 

- Additional 15% damage PER snake. Ex mode grants you larger snakes and an additional snake (which is another +1 coefficient). They now can bind enemies for 3 seconds. When learned you'll be using this more often than before. 

- Produces 6 waves instead of 5. The waves consist of 4 sets of small spirits and 2 sets of large spirits. Another powerhouse passive skill as it increases the damage of the small spirits by 10%. Large spirits deal 2 types of damage, contact and explosive damage. The large scale explosion has high SA break.

- The number of spirits summoned is increased depending on the number of branded targets on the field. 

- Adds additional wolf clones emerging from the original wolf forming a V-like formation. Each wolf clone's AoE is 1/2 of the original wolf's AoE and deals 20% damage per wolf clone.

- The stagger effect of the wolf's landing is changed to knockdown.

- Take note that the wolf's jumping distance is halved from the non Ex. 

- 10m range and can pierce through enemies and has a very fast cooldown of 7 seconds. Stacking the spirit curse (up to 3) is best done on heavily mobbed areas and on bosses (obviously). AoE explosion has high SA breaking properties and covers a wide area.. This skill packs a punch when mastered. 

- Specter of Pain's debuff stacking is applicable on puppets. (:>)

- To trigger its explosion feature 100% without stacking it 3x, put the puppet in melee range with the linked target then aim. Voila~ Very lovely in BT rotations.

- The piercing nature is only removed in pvp. 

- Covers a wide fan shaped AoE that closely resembles binding shot's. The crit chance and crit resist enhancement mechanics is a great plus in PvE solo or party-wise. It is Crit damage's best friend. 

Pain Ability (lvl1)

- Deals 10% non elemental additional damage to Cursed Units.

- Nothing special about it. Just gives us more power. Additional damage is presented with a "+" sign. 

- Ex passive allows you to launch another specter (can also inflict a layer of ghost's curse). Casting speed, specter movement, and AoE are increased and the explosion damage is increased from 100% to 300%. (v)

- The added specter deals 50% of the initial specter.

- This is our new bread-and-butter skill. It's just.. excellent. (love) 

*Int/Magic attack/Critical as 3rd stat is always welcome.

*If you're rich, 3rd stat FD is also an option. 

- self explanatory

- helps to raise critical damage

- for more bulk and defenses

- to help raise crit rate

- self explanatory

- obviously go for magic attack based

- this jade choice will reflect on your party composition

- self explanatory

- grants additional magic attack boost and reduces target's magical defense by 7%

- 10 second duration upon activation with a cooldown of 60 seconds

- reduces targets' dark elemental defense by 5% & grants addit'l magic attack boost

- 10 second duration upon activation with a cooldown of 60 seconds

- recover a small amount of HP and increase both mag/phys defense by 10%

- 5 seconds duration upon activation with a cooldown of 30 seconds 

- recover a small amount of HP and increase magical defense by 20%

- 5 seconds duration upon activation with a cooldown of 30 seconds

- recover a small amount of HP and increase physical defense by 20%

- 5 seconds duration upon activation with a cooldown of 30 seconds