Skill Training Tips

The following list is a compilation of tips that are not currently found on the wiki.  If you're looking to train any of the skills on this list and not sure what's the best course of action to take and wiki has no info then try some of the tips on this list.

If anyone has any to add just post them in a reply in the thread and I'll periodically check and edit and update the list!

LIFE SKILLS:
Exploration Mastery
- Use awakening of light and run around Pantay Swamp for the Successful L-Rod exploration requirement.  If you have map mods you can see where each chest could be and can map out your route on a fast moving pet.
- Go to Ant Hell or Solea Underground for the treasure dungeons (they spawn here quite frequently and are relatively easy to find).


Shyllien Ecology and Magic Craft
- The best spot to collect materials and quickly train Shyllien Ecology is in Area 2.  In the upper left corner there are four-five spots that will respawn quickly enough for you to never need to worry about waiting for them to respawn.  Simply clear out the monsters (closest to the wall) and go to town! See circled map below to see the area I'm talking about (don't mind my crappy paint skills LOL)



Weaving
- Spider farms are handy for collecting cobwebs!  The easiest way to create a spider farm is to kill a bunch of spiders in Emain Macha near the lake area up North so that they respawn more.  Then use a mount to aggro as many as you can (by unmounting and remounting) and lead them to behind the tree.  Once there either go to your homestead or re-log.  You will need to place a pet or mule near the tree so that they do not despawn when you leave for extended periods of time.  Additionally an alternate method is mentioned in wiki ie Using Enthralling Performance.
- Sheep farms are handy for collecting wool!  If you have a wolf pet you can log onto it to chase two sheep at a time to the opposite side of the fence in Emain Macha.  Once they are set behind the fence simply relog to drop their aggro.  Repeat until you have enough sheep stuck to continously sheer from them.  Alternatively if you do not have a wolf pet you can use a mule to fail at playing peace music and this will cause the sheep to aggro the mule and they will not move once aggro'd to the mule.
- For leathers you can use mules and Walter's PTJ.  At beginner level he will give a PTJ for cheap leather straps, at intermediate common and fine and at advanced finest.  Set up your mules near him and obtain the job (this will give you the leather to make) then store it in the bank and log on to the next mule.  Continue this process until you've hit the time limit or have no more mules.  Then log on to the character you are training and pull all the leathers out and weave them.  Be aware that with intermediate and advanced PTJs need a certain percentage of successful completions to maintain that level of PTJ.

DUAL GUN
Shooting Rush and Bullet Storm
- The multiple enemy requirements are best done in TNN.  Push the amount of zombies you need to a wall with firebolt (this way you will not kill them in the process).  Train the skill and if they get out of order use firebolt to set them up again.

MUSIC
Enthralling Performance
- This can be trained easily against Buffalo.  They are located in Physis at Reus River.  They do not attack when the skill ends and have 800-1500 CP.  Depending on your CP and what -CP gear you have available to you, most of the requirements can be met by using them.

COMBAT
Support Shot
- Can be trained on zombies in TNN.  You can easily stick one of them on the fence near the house if you angle it the right way.  Alternatively if your CP is too high for this at higher ranks you can also stick the zombies in Their Method shadow mission behind the corners of props (this just requires a bit more work to do and the again the right angles to achieve properly).

NINJA
Smokescreen
- Can be easily trained in Alby Normal if you don't feel like chasing monsters around.  Bats in Alby Normal make a great target.  Best bet is to find an orb room that spawns them and hit all the spawning orbs (CP Yui can be really helpful here).  Then throw your smokescreen target at different areas to hit different groups of bats.

GUNSLINGER
Way Of The Gun
- The requirements for killing multiple enemies can be trained against foxes OR alternatively (and an option I find better because you're less likely to be disturbed in a quiet channel... there's also a TON more of them and no need to wait for respawns as is the case with foxes) the rabbits in Area 1 of Shyllien Nature Reserve.

yay cassa is saving us from life skills again

Hmm, I guess I have a few small ones.

Exploration Mastery

The area near Filia is already mentioned on the Wiki, but what it doesn't mention is that you can use accessories to keep track of the locations of the statues so you won't miss them all the time. Simply drop an accessory (The ones from Nao) so the statues are easier to find. The statues are back in the same place immediately after they despawn so all you have to do is use your L-Rods on the accessories you dropped.

There are about 13 statues around and most dropped accessories (The Nao ones) stay on the floor for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Though to be safe, you should pick them up and drop them again once every hour.

You can also occasionally sketch a nearby Armadillo while you're there (Use Lullaby if you don't want them to move while sketching).

There are even a whole lot of Treasure dungeons to find in that area, this is a bit of a problem if you're training with L-Rods though so you'll have to hit "No" every time find one and don't need it.


Drop Kick, Sakura Abyss, Smokescreen, Bullet Storm, etc.

These skills often have requirements that make you attack or defeat multiple enemies at once. You can use a combination of Enthralling Performance (to gather enemies) and Lullaby (to keep them in place). After that, all you have to do is finish them! I personally use Mongooses for this. (Apparently it's not Mongeese, blasted English!)


Using the Kitchen Dungeon as a Skill training location

Summoning pets that ignore defensive properties when summoned, such as Pegasi and Bone Dragons, are highly recommended for this. Normal killing methods slow this down a bit, but don't necessarily make it unusable.

Using the party finish rule "Anyone in the Party", you can effecitvely throw down a few monsters that you can just finish off to fulfill skill requirements that require kills. This is useful for several skills that require kills of monsters with varying CP as the level of the monsters here isn't that hard to manipulate using CP gear.

The CP of these creatures is 2200, 4400, 6600 or 8800 at the ranks of Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Hard, respectively. (You can't choose this level yourself, though)

While golems in the mission "The Other Alchemists" probably do perfectly fine as well, the food from the Kitchen Dungeon has a much low chance of suddenly killing you with a Critical Smash (Ouch!).

It may not be as good for everyone but it certainly worked for my skills!:

Party Healing

We all know how we want some juicy, bleeding-to-death Dark Knights to stand at a Mana Tunnel for us, right? Well what if we suddenly ran out of Dark Knights? Here's what also works and I personally used due to a lack of Darkies:

You basically need 2~3 "slaves" for this. 3 "targets" group together against one of the Mana Tunnel's walls. They must all be allies of the same race, either all giants or all Elves. Using alts might be the best option for this.

The last person stands near them. This person has to be of the opposing race. Have said person use windmill on the targets for you and voila! Party Heal training!

This works because Windmill does not inflict wounds and you cannot be instantly killed by it when your health is above 50%. Just keep in mind that when one of the targets is a pet, you gotta command it to not fight back.

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There you go, they might not be the best of tips but I've had good experiences with them personally.
(I could also say: Ranking Carpentry? Ask Snowie to chop your wood!)

Also, Dual Gun Skills and Gunslinger Skills are essentially the same, arrr!
('t Is okay though, your tips are good, sankyuu vewy much)