Bowman Guide Level 1–30 in MapleStory Classic World: Skills, AP, Arrows and Training

You become a Bowman at level 10 by talking to Athena Pierce in Henesys, and you come back to her at level 30 to pick Hunter or Crossbowman. In between, the job is simple: pump DEX, max Arrow Blow, keep a full stack of arrows, and never let a mob walk into your face.

Levels 1–10: Maple Island to Henesys

Every character starts as a Beginner on Maple Island, then sails to Victoria Island. At Lv 10, Nexon's Grand Launch notes send Bowmen to Athena Pierce in Henesys for 1st job. In Classic World all four jobs advance at Lv 10.

AP before 1st job: DEX. It's the Bowman's main stat, and every starter bow and crossbow asks for 25 DEX (War Bow and Crossbow in the game data). A community sample Bowman build starts at 5 STR / 12 DEX / 4 INT / 4 LUK and puts every point from level 2 to 10 into DEX, arriving at 1st job with 57 base DEX.

Bowman skills at a glance

More detail from the skill data:

• The Eye of Amazon: +120 bow and crossbow range at max level (+50 at level 1).
• Focus: +10 Accuracy and +14 Evasion for 170 seconds at Lv 10; +20 Accuracy and +25 Evasion for 300 seconds at Lv 20.
• Critical Shot: +20% Critical Rate and +15% Critical Damage at max. It's a big chunk of your damage and it gets maxed.

Arrow Blow or Double Shot?

They're not the same skill with a different animation. In Classic World's skill data, Arrow Blow hits one mob once for 240%, while Double Shot hits up to two mobs once each for 120%. Against a single mob, Double Shot does half of Arrow Blow's damage. The other differences:

• Cost: Arrow Blow is 14 MP and 1 arrow at max; Double Shot is 16 MP and 2 arrows.
• Range: Arrow Blow reaches 350, Double Shot 300, so Arrow Blow has 50 more range before The Eye of Amazon.
• Groups: Double Shot only pays off when two mobs are lined up and 120% kills each of them.

Our take: max Arrow Blow. The common community default build does, it does double the single-target damage, and the cheaper MP and arrow cost adds up over a long grind.

SP build: levels 10–30

This is the common community default order. It takes Eye early for range, maxes Arrow Blow by 18, and spends every 1st job point before 30:

Two things to know:

• Spend everything by 30. Reportedly, 2nd job SP can't go into 1st job skills, so a point you skip is stranded.
• Double Shot stays empty in this build. If mobs keep reaching you, a community alternative moves points into Power Knockback (8) and keeps Focus at 3.

AP build: levels 10–30

Keep putting AP into DEX, with just enough STR to equip your next weapon. A community stat plan:

DEX also gives you Accuracy, and misses hurt here: a miss still costs an arrow and MP. A community Bowman accuracy formula is floor((1.2 × DEX + 2 × level + 0.6 × LUK) / 4.8 + 20). Its example: a level 20 Bowman needs 54 ACC to never miss a Zombie Mushroom (Lv 24), but at character level 25 that drops to 47. If you're missing a lot, a lower map is usually faster.

Arrows, citizenship and mesos

Arrows are the Bowman tax. Plain arrows stack to 1,000 and Bronze Arrows to 800 with +1 W.ATK (game data); community sources list shop prices of 1 and 2 mesos each. Woodcrafting also makes them with no fee: 500 plain arrows from 1 Processed Wood and 1 Stiff Feather at Woodcrafting 1, and 500 Bronze Arrows (add 1 Bronze Ingot) at Woodcrafting 4. Carry more than you think you need, because running dry halfway through a session means the long walk back.

Pick Henesys citizenship at level 12. Nexon's notes open citizenship at Lv 12, and you sign up with Arthur in Henesys Town Hall. Henesys is the Bowman town, and community data lists these Bowman perks there:

• Bronze Arrows reportedly unlock at citizenship grade 3 (Helpful Stranger), which needs level 22 and 3,500 contribution (community-reported).
• Raymond in Henesys Town Hall reportedly sells the Supreme Sniper Potion: +7 Accuracy for 15 minutes (game data).

More on the system: Citizenship and housing guide.

Gear: levels 10–30

One community database says shop gear is enough through level 25, so don't blow your mesos on small early upgrades in the FM. Its weapon table:

Reportedly, Karl in Henesys sells the level 10–25 weapons. Every weapon in this table is also a Woodcrafting recipe in the game data: War Bow and Crossbow at skill Lv 2, Composite Bow and Battle Crossbow at 3, Hunter's Bow and Balanche at 4, Battle Bow and Mountain Crossbow at 5, Ryden and Eagle Crow at 6. Woodcrafting is taught by Vicious in Henesys. See the crafting guide.

Bow or crossbow before 30? Use whichever one drops for you. The community take: bows shoot faster, crossbows hit harder per arrow and need less STR. In one community level 30 comparison the bow does about 3.6% more DPS and the crossbow about 5.3% more damage per MP.

Gloves: a community level 30 model favours Gloves Attack scrolls over Crit Rate scrolls by a wide margin.

Where to train as a Bowman, level 10–30

The class-neutral route is in Where to train from level 10 to 30. For a Bowman, we'd pick the densest single-monster-type maps near your level (spawn counts from the game data), because Arrow Blow is single-target and you want the next mob in range the moment one dies:

Assumptions: you kill a mob in one or two Arrow Blows, so density matters more than EXP per mob. If you need three or more shots per kill, drop to the lower map in the table. Ant Tunnel III is the densest map in this level range in the whole game data (99 spawns).

Ranged tips that matter more than the map:

• Give yourself room. Get too close and you whack the mob with your bow instead of shooting. Platforms and long lanes are your friends.
• Range beats speed. If you spend more time backing off than shooting, drop to a quieter or easier map.
• KPQ opens at level 21 (Lakelis's Proof of Companionship quest in the game data), so you can mix in party runs.

Common Bowman mistakes

• Dumping AP into STR "for the job". Add STR only when a weapon needs it.
• Using bow STR numbers on a crossbow. Crossbows need less, so put that AP into DEX.
• Running out of arrows. No ammo, no damage.
• Scrolling Crit Rate on gloves. W.ATK wins at this level.
• Saving 1st job SP for later. It can't be spent after 2nd job.

Level 30: Hunter or Crossbowman

At Lv 30, talk to Athena Pierce again and choose Hunter (bow) or Crossbowman (crossbow). The test, as players describe it: Athena gives you a letter for the Bowman Job Instructor on The Road to the Dungeon, you collect 30 Dark Marbles from the test mobs, and you bring The Proof of a Hero back to her. There's no 3rd job at launch, so this is the last job choice for now.

• Hunter guide: faster bow, Arrow Bomb mobbing.
• Crossbowman guide: slower, harder hits, Iron Arrow piercing.
• Hunter vs Crossbowman: which one to pick.