PREFACE:
The method for AoEing described in this Guide is not for those who are lazy or want something easy. Level 120 does not come to lazy Ringmasters, nor those who leisurely play Flyff. It takes time, energy, and intensive grinding.

HOW IT WORKS:
This AoE method uses both the AoE skills available to the Ringmaster, which are Burst Crack and Merkaba Hanzelrusha. The trick that makes it work is that at the beginning of your AoE, you cast Merkaba. Immediately after you switch to your Knuckle and your Shield, and begin an Action Slot of three (3) Burst Cracks.

You will be able to get off two Action Slots in the time Merkaba takes to complete its cast, after which you switch back to the Stick, cast Merkaba again, and repeat the first step.

The reason for three (3) Burst Cracks in the Action Slot is that during the time you AoE the Action Slot will gain a cool-down; however, with only three Burst Cracks in the Action Slot, the cool-down will not reach your Slotted skills before your AoE is complete. By the time you’re ready to AoE again, your Action Slot has cooled down completely, and you’re as good as new.

THE WHEN, WHERE, AND WHY OF AOEING:
So, people have been asking me when they should start to use this build, and where they should be using it. Well, with version 11, waiting to 105 to do AoE is no longer necessary! With the addition of Reduction scrolls, it is now possible to use the complete suite of AoEing gear at a low level of… 95. Any earlier than that, and you should probably stick to FSing. It’s faster, I assure you. You can start to AoE with the gear described below at level 95 if you use reduction scrolls. The same builds still apply, so use them. This section makes the assumption you can get a hold of an Azria Ticket. We focus on efficiency in this guide, not every possibility.

So, without further ado, here we go!

At level 95, you should start with Ghosts of the Forgotten Prince. They are level 97, and elemented with Electricity. The spawns are large and easy to collect. Since there is no Rage Mode (when monsters hit you for double or more than usual) in Azria, you can tank a far larger group than you could in the Desert. Element your Suit with +3 Earth, and you’re good to go. Start off with small groups until you get your bearing and determine how much you yourself can effectively take. No sense risking a blessing, ne?

Stick with Princes till 97, or when you can effectively begin AoEing Ghost of the Forgotten Kings. They’re level 103 and elemented for Wind. Remember to swap elements on your suit to Fire before testing experience differences. Mob these bad boys until you hit level 103, or when you can effectively begin AoEing the legendary Mammoth spawn.

Mammoths are level 109 and elemented Water. What this means is you will need to element your suit for Electric for damage reduction. This spawn is massive, and you can eat your heart out here for practically 10 levels. At around 110 to 111, you can test out Cannibal Mammoths.

These are level 115, non-elemented monsters, meaning there is no way other than Raw Defense to reduce their damage. Stick with them, since their spawn is also pretty decent, until 117 or 118. At that point, restat to the Volcane build and start AoEing Cyclops X’s.

I advise you to adapt this to your style and experience. This is a fairly loose section based on observations from AoEing with multiple classes and my own Ringmaster.

And remember! Experience over time is more important than Experience per instance! See the F.A.Q. section for details.

THE BUILD:
PRE-VOLCANE DUNGEON
STR: XX – Uncapped
STA: 110
DEX: 15
INT: 15

VOLCANE DUNGEON
STR: XX – Uncapped
STA: 140
DEX: 15
INT: 15

THE GEAR:

You will want the best Armor sets that you can get a hold of. At 105, since you have a choice of two sets, you will want to go with the Rymith / Remingster set due to their Defense, Block Rate, and Health Point bonuses. The higher you can get your set upgraded, +8, +9, etc, the better. For Piercings, I recommend HP and Attack, or just plain Attack.

The best Earrings you can get, Plug+9′s or better if you can manage it. Vigor+9′s if you can manage them, the higher the upgrade the better, since this is a STR / STA AoE Build. For Capes, Low Accord for the STA bonus, or Low Strength for the STR bonus. If you can get the more expensive and rare versions of those cloaks, power to you! If you can’t get those cloaks, don’t panic, they’re considered luxuries. As for Glasses, HP / FP is what you want. Examples of glasses include White Mini-glasses (100 HP/FP, Green Fashion Sunglasses (150 HP/FP), and Black Sunglasses (50 HP/FP). You won’t run of of MP as fast as you might think, but you will drain your FP very quickly while using Burst Crack, so every little bit of FP is good.

THE WEAPONS:
Ultimately, you’ll use whatever you can afford, but here are some recommendations. If you have a less-than-perfectly upgraded set / pair of Earrings, try to shoot for a decently upgraded Angels Glove for the 15% HP bonus. If you have nice gear, you can use a Legendary Golden Glove for additional damage.

THE AWAKENINGS:
With the onset of verison 11 it has now become necessary to include Awakenings into the equation as to what makes up your gear. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no direct experience using awakenings in an AoE situation as of yet, but in time that will change. So, understand that the advice listed here is based on theoretical and logical analysis, not practical experience.

With the Awakening system there are four pieces of equipment that you can awaken that would help you when you AoE. These four pieces are your Shield, your Stick, your Knuckle, and your Suit. Awakenings for your stick are probably not necessary, but if you want to, go for it.

What I have thought about being useful are these:

For your Suit, Knuckle, and Shield, any combination of STR, STA or DEF is useful. Everything else is pretty much moot. HP maybe, but STA is better as it can add significantly more HP, and it comes along with DEF rate too.

As for the Stick, a Decrease in Magic Motion Time is optimum, as this reduces the time you spend casting Merkaba, Prevention in critical situations, etc. Your primary weapon is the Knuckle, so the less time you spend with your stick, the better.

For those of you who use this guide and have awakenings, feel free to post your experiences of what works and what doesn’t. I will update this section with the relevant information as applicable. Thanks!

THE HOTKEY BARS:
ROW ONE:
For a Keyboard split between F5 and F6 (Ergonomic):

For a Keyboard split between F4 and F5 / F8 and F9 (Standard):

Row one is the row you use while you AoE. It is laid out in the direction you cast your skills, Merkaba, then Link Attack, then Burst Crack (F1, F2, F4/F5). Weapon switching can be a hit-and-miss process, so be sure to practice. Typically if you try to switch back to your Knuckle and Shield too soon, only the Shield or only the Knuckle will be equipped. If your prevention triggers, hit ESC to cancel targeting / Burst Crack, switch to the stick and re-cast immediately. Prevention is your guarantee of life, do not go without it.

ROW TWO:
Row two is the row you use while you gather your mobs. If you are not in the Volcane Dungeon, mobs are not necessarily Agro. Therefore, you will have to target and then attack. I gather with my Stick, which is why it is hot keyed on Row two. It enables you to recast Prevention while you are gathering if it triggers. F1 is the Attack motion, which makes attacking a mob much easier.

There is a trick to gathering mobs so that you spend the least amount of time attacking it. You select the mob, hit F1 for the Attack motion, and while your first swing is in motion, click off to the side. This will cancel the Auto-Attack, and make it so you hit the mob only once. Simply repeat until you have pulled a decently sized AoE, and then switch to Row one, and begin the AoE.

Remember: Mobs have a pull distance limit, don’t go too far afield, or you may start losing mobs, which is wasted time.

THE BUFFS:

Those are the only buffs you need on you at any time. Accuracy is extra, and wasted space. Geburah Tiphreth and Spirit Fortune are cast just before you begin AoEing. The keyword to my supporting Ringmaster was "K." You can use your own signal.

THE SKILL TREE:

Since you are an AoE, you don’t actually need the regular old buffs for FSing. Since you’re STR / STA, supporting is a pain in the butt, and not generally recommended. You went AoE for a reason, remember?

That said, the skills you need are the ones in color. Burst Crack, Merkaba, Prevention, and Stone Hand are the only ones that need to be maxed. Everything else can be set to their minimums. Enjoy all the extra, not-used skill points.

SKILL CAST ORDER, SIMPLIFIED:
The core to the whole process is this:
Merkaba > Link Attack > Burst Crack x3 > Burst Crack x3

That component is repeated as many times as it takes in order for your group of mobs to be killed. Typically twice is all it takes.

An example of a typical AoE is as follows:
Prevention > Stonehand > Merkaba > Burst Crack x3 > Burst Crack x3 > Merkaba > Burst Crack x3 > Burst Crack x3

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Does elementing your Knuckle affect your AoE damage?
Yes and no. You can have all the elements you want, your Burst Crack damage will not be affected. However, your Merkaba damage may suffer, as Merkaba does respond negatively (20% damage penalty) to elemented weapons.

Why is Experience Over Time important?
Experience Over Time is significantly more important than Experience Per Instance. An Instance is a single group of mobs pulled and killed. Merkaba-only styles of AoEing are legendary for significantly high Experience Per Instance techniques. This is the only way that build is effective. However, this guide depends on Experience Over Time as the primary method for Experience Gain. E.O.T. can be best described as the cumulative amount of Experience you get from killing off groups of monsters in a given amount of time, such as 30 minutes or an Hour.

Why is E.O.T. more important than E.P.I?
Because say for example the time required to gather and kill off a group of high level mobs takes you about 4 minutes, and gives you 1.4% an AoE. That’s 1.4% ever 4 minutes, and 21% an hour. Then say that killing off a smaller group of a mob closer to your level that you can kill faster takes about 90 seconds (1 minute for gathering, 20-30 seconds to kill) and gives you .8% an AoE. So, in one and a half minutes you’ve made .8%, but over the course of an hour you’ve made 32% by AoEing smaller groups at a faster rate. By this procedure you gain Experience at a much faster rate. This is why E.O.T. is more important than E.P.I. This also applies for any other class, and can be used as such.

Why don’t you max any other buffs? Why just those four?
The reason that no other buffs need to be maxed is because this AoE Build is not a solo-AoE build. It is recommended that you have a supporter Ringmaster so that you aren’t overwhelmed trying to keep your own buffs alive on top of all you have to do in order to AoE.

What’s the benefit of using this method over a Merkaba one?
This method for AoEing takes care of most groups of mobs within 30 seconds, whereas if you go with the traditional Merkaba-only AoE method, it could take you 3 minutes or more to kill them all. It’s a faster, more efficient way to grind.

Why do you need more STA for the Volcane Dungeon?
The reason that more STA is needed in the Dungeon is because the mobs inside hit harder than any other mob before it. Unlike Muffrins, Popcranks, etc which can have their damage reduced to a mere 150 per hit, Cyclops X and Meteonyker hit 600′s at their lowest. Their criticals can hit you for greater than 2,200 damage, which is what 10% of 110 STA typical sits around. What that means is that they hit more than your Prevention trigger point, which can kill you. So, to keep yourself alive, you have to increase your STA, which is why the Volcane build needs 140 STA.

Why don’t you discuss equipment for level 60 to 90 at all?
Because I’m someone who believes in efficiency, and before level 90, there is no point what-so-ever to AoE. Full Supporting is faster. 1vs1 builds are faster. The spawns suck for AoEing up until 105+ when you can effectively mob the Chimeradon spawn. Really, just stick to Full Support or a 1vs1 Build until you’re at least level 90, or higher.

Should I start AoEing at level 80, or wait until 95?
This guide is written and intended to be used for a level 95 Ringmaster and higher. Just because you now have Merkaba does not mean that you should use it to level. The reasons that you should wait for 95 before going AoE are three:

1: The spawns outside of Azria are poor in size, and to take advantage of Azria and get the most for your money, you really should wait until you can be a speed-demon for AoE.
2: At 95 a Ringmaster gets the Rymith / Remingster set (via reduction scrolls), which is perfect for AoE.
3: AoEing with poor spawns is slow, and FS / 1vs1 builds are faster.

With that in mind, I advise you wait to 95 before switching to this build. You can use it earlier, it’s just not as effective.

How many monsters could you pull and tank each AoE?
With this build you should be able to pull and tank as many mobs as you can conceivably pull. I used this build after level 105, and the number of mobs I AoE’d in a typical AoE was between 25 and 30. No real tanking issues, you just have to make sure that Prevention is active and you’re set.

Addition: Currently, I AoE between 40 and 50 mobs in a typical AoE, and my current level is 102-M. Basically, just keep Prevention active and be sure the mobs don’t hit higher than your 10% HP mark, and you’re good to go.

What are "distance limits"?
Distance Limits is what I call what happens when you pull a mob too far from its original point of origin. What happens is that when you do, the mob leaves you and returns to where it was before. Typical distance, if you are familiar with the Muffrin spawn, is from the crest of one hill to the crest of the other, about 3/4ths of the way across the spawn. Or if you are familiar with the Popcrank spawn, from the top of the hill to the Skeleton structure is how far you can pull before they start to leave.

As you AoE you will get a feel for how far is too far, so don’t worry about it. At first you can expect to go too far and lose a few. Just keep AoEing and the experience will come.

What’s Merkaba’s damage based on? The stick or the knuckle?
Merkaba’s damage is based on whatever weapon you have equipped when it pulses / does damage. Merkaba is a skill that hits 5 times in a 10 second period. The first time it hits it will use the Attack Rate of your stick. However, the stick doesn’t need to be good or upgraded highly, since your Knuckle will supply the Attack Rate for the next four hits, since you switch to it for Burst Crack.

Credits go to kira.