MapleStory Night Lord Skill Build Guide

Posted on 23rd September 2020

MapleStory Night Lord is a part of the thief job branch and was one of the most popular original classes in MapleStory. Today, Night Lord still maintains the throwing stars skills but has introduced greater mobbing skills to help with training. Night Lords have great mobility as their flash jump is one of the best in the game, combined with Haste, the class is great for getting about the huge Maple World.

Night Lord follows the Thief job branch. Players begin as Rouge at level 10, job advance to Assassin at 30, job advance to Hermit at 60 and finally reach 4th job Night Lord at level 100. Night Lord's starting town is Kerning City, where your job advancement instructor is The Dark Lord, hiding out in a Jazz Bar Basement.

Night Lord have generally good DPS skills. Their throwing star 4th job skill Quadruple Throw allows them to hit single target bosses for high damage, coupled with their Assassin's Mark skill and buffs, they are decent end-game bosses. Their mobbing used to be one of the best in the game, and they still can clear maps quite easily with Showdown (+5% EXP and Drop Rate).

Explorer classes, being some of the first classes added to MapleStory, don't have the most flashiest of skills in the beginning stages. You may struggle to level up in the early levels due to the first mobbing skill coming in the second job Assassin.

The other thief path is Shadower.

Weapon: Claw
Job: Thief
Class: Explorer
Shared Cash Shop Inventory: Explorer Jobs
Legion Block: +Critical Rate (1%/2%/3%/4%/5%)
Link Skill: Thief's Cunning (+3-6% Damage upon debuffing enemies, 10 sec duration)
Primary Stat: Luk
Inner Ability: 20% Boss Damage

Did you know?

MapleStory Explorer Classes can switch between jobs once they are level 101+. For example, a Dark Knight can job change to a Paladin. They can only job change to characters within their class branch (i.e. archers to archers, thiefs to thiefs etc). You cannot job change a Dark Knight to a Bishop.

To do job change, you can either pay mesos or use a Job Advancement Coin (which is usually given out during events). Speak to your 4th job advancement NPC in Leafre to job change.

Rouge First Job Skill Build

Since you're going the route of Night Lord, you only have enough skill points to max 5 of the 6 skills. Leave double stab at 10 skill points.

Lucky Seven (+1), Flash Jump (+2)
Flash Jump (MAX)
Lucky Seven (10)
Haste (MAX)
Nimble Body (MAX)
Lucky Seven (MAX)
Dark Sight (MAX)
Double Stab (10)

Unfortunately, Lucky Seven is a single target attack. That means when training early on, you'll only be able to clear a max of one mob per attack. This makes training quite slow in the beginning for Night Lords. The good news is that you have quite good range on the Lucky Seven skill, and with Haste + Flash Jump you can get around big maps quite easily.

Skill Description & Overview

Skill	Description	Type
Lucky Seven	Throws 2 throwing stars based on LUK, regardless of Claw Mastery.	Main Attack Skill
Haste	Temporarily increases Speed and Jump for all party members. Permanently increases maximum Speed.	Buff
Nimble Body	Permanently increases Luck.	Passive Buff
Flash Jump	Use while in the middle of a jump to jump even further. The jumping distance increases as the skill level increases.	Flash Jump
Double Stab	Quickly stabs an enemy twice.	Secondary Attack Skill
Dark Sight	Allows you to hide in the shadows for a short time. While Dark Sight is active, you cannot be hit by enemies, but attacking or using a skill will reveal you. You can still use the Flash Jump skill while Dark Sight is active. The cooldown when Dark Sight is deactivated is affected by damage dodged in proportion to your to Max HP. Press the skill key again to deactivate Dark Sight.	Transform Skill

Assassin Second Job Skill Build

When you reach level 30, you have the choice of advancing as either a Bandit or Assassin. Go with Assassin if you want to eventually become a Night Lord. Gust Charm cannot be maxed (missing 1SP) but you rarely use this skill.

Shuriken Burst (+1), Claw Mastery (+2)
Claw Mastery (+3)
Claw Booster (+6)
Shuriken Burst (10)
Claw Mastery (MAX)
Critical Throw (+15)
Shuriken Burst (MAX)
Physical Training (MAX)
Critical Throw (MAX)
Claw Booster (MAX)
Gust Charm (19)

Finally, some decent mobbing! Shuriken Burst and Assassin's Mark start to help clear mobs in maps, speeding up your training significantly. It only gets better from here. Your damage will get some nice boosts too, with Critical Throw giving +50% critical rate and Claw Booster doubling your attack speed.

Skill Description & Overview

Skill	Description	Type
Shuriken Burst	Throws an exploding shuriken to damage the target and nearby enemies.	Main Attack Skill
Physical Training	Permanently increases LUK and DEX through sheer physical training.	Passive Buff
Gust Charm	Stiffens the wind to damage and knock back enemies. Can be resisted by some monsters.	Secondary Attack Skill
Critical Throw	Enhances Critical Rate and Critical Damage.	Passive Buff
Claw Mastery	Increases Claw Mastery and the max number of charges of your Throwing Stars.	Passive Buff
Claw Booster	Uses MP to temporarily increase the attack speed of your Claw by 2 levels	Attack Speed Buff
Assassins Mark	While attacking with this skill, you have a chance to leave an assassin's mark on the enemy. The next attack on a marked enemy will cause throwing stars to form on that enemy and attack other enemies nearby. Throwing stars that hit enemies with attack reflection will not damage you. Can be toggled On/Off	On/Off Skill

Hermit Third Job Skill Build

You don't get enough SP to max every Hermit skill, so we recommend leaving Triple Throw at 14 because you'll get the better Quadruple Throw in 4th job which completely replaces it.

Shade Splitter (+1), Expert Throwing Star Handling (+1), Shadow Partner (+1)
Shadow Partner (MAX)
Shade Splitter (MAX)
Expert Throwing Star Handling (MAX)
Triple Throw (+1), Venom (+1), Shadow Stars (+1)
Dark Flare (MAX)
Alchemic Adrenaline (MAX)
Venom (MAX)
Shadow Stars (MAX)
Enveloping Darkness (MAX)
Shadow Web (MAX)
Triple Throw (14)

Old MapleStory players may assume that Triple Throw is your new main attacking skill, but it isn't. The Shade Splitter skill is an amazing mobbing skill that you'll be using throughout 3rd Job (in fact, you probably won't even touch Triple Throw). Shadow Partner gives a great damage boost, and you gain a summon skill in Dark Flare which deals small amounts of damage to mobs.

Skill Description & Overview

Skill	Description	Type
Triple Throw	Throw 3 throwing stars simultaneously.	Single Target Attack Skill
Venom	Permanently adds poison to your Claw, giving all your attacks the chance to Poison enemies. The Poison is not stackable, and the enemy's HP cannot drop below 1	Damage Over Time
Shadow Web	Creates a web of shadows around you that can tangle up to 6 monsters. Once tangled, the monsters will be unable to move and take continuous damage. Cannot be used against bosses.Shadow Web does not take damage even when attacking enemies with attack reflection.	Slow Attack
Shadow Stars	Allows you to conjure up infinite throwing stars for a short period of time.	Buff
Shadow Partner	Summons a shadow partner that mimics the summoner. It does not have its own HP and disappears when it is hit with an attack that changes its appearance or restricts movement. It cannot mimic Summon or 5th Job Common or Skills.	Buff
Shade Splitter	Spews out shadow clones that hurl throwing stars at enemies in front of you.	Main Attack Skill
Expert Throwing Star Handling	Increases final damage. Grants an additional chance to cast without consuming throwing stars or MP, and a chance to recharge 1 throwing star. (Will not generate more than the maximum throwing star limit.)When Expert Throwing Star Handling is activated, the #cnext attack will always be a Critical Attack#. (Critical is applied for Spirit of the Star, but throwing stars will not be recharged.)	Passive Buff
Enveloping Darkness	Cloaks yourself in darkness, increasing Max HP, Abnormal Status Resistance and Elemental Resistance permanently.	Passive Buff
Dark Flare	Temporarily summons the Dark Lord's throwing star. Party members nearby will reflect enemy damage. Cannot reflect more than half of the enemy's Max HP. You will not be damaged when hitting an enemy with attack reflection.	Summon
Alchemic Adrenaline	Increases the effect of recovery items like potions. Does not work on percentage-based recovery items like elixirs. Also increases Critical Damage.	Passive Buff

Night Lord Fourth Job Skill Build

You can max all skills in fourth job, so don't worry too much about distribution of skill points. You gain 3 SP per level.

Showdown (+1), Claw Expert (+1), Night Lord's Mark (+1)
Showdown (10)
Claw Expert (10)
Night Lord's Mark (MAX)
Shadow Shifter (10)
Showdown (MAX)
Claw Expert (MAX)
Dark Harmony (MAX)
Maple Warrior (MAX)
Shadow Shifter (MAX)
Toxic Venom (MAX)
Quad Star (MAX)
Sudden Raid (MAX)
Frailty Curse (MAX)
Hero's Will (MAX)

At level 100, you'll be gaining SP very quickly as every 3 levels you get double SP points. Not to mention getting EXP from levels 100-130 is very easy and quick. Showdown is your main mobbing skill and Quad Star is your main bossing skill. You likely won't be doing much bossing in the early levels, so it's left until last to max so that you can increase your training efficiency. Night Lord's Mark starts paying off by damaging mobs around you as you attack, and you'll start dodging lots of attacks with Shadow Shifter to save on potions.

Skill Description & Overview

Skill	Description	Type
Showdown	Attacks up to 6 enemies and provokes them, making them untouchable. Provoked enemies grant more EXP and items. Bosses suffer half of the effect.	Main Attack Skill
Quad Star	Masterfully unleash four throwing stars.	Single Target Attack Skill
Toxic Venom	Increases Venom's poison chance and permanently increases poison damage.	Passive Buff
Sudden Raid	Calls in a horde of friends to set the stage on fire. Unaffected by attack reflection.	Full-Map Attack
Shadow Shifter	Grants a chance to summon a wooden doll to take damage in your place.	Passive Buff
Night Lords Mark	Further enhances the assassin's mark so that the probability of leaving a mark, damage, and the number of throwing stars are increased. Throwing stars that hit enemies with attack reflection will not damage you.	Passive Buff
Maple Warrior	Temporarily increases the stats of all party members. Does not stack with Maple Warrior, Call of Cygnus, Nova Warrior, Hero of the Flora, President's Orders, Anima Warrior, or Rhinne's Protection.	Buff
Heros Will	Hones your resolve to ignore certain abnormal status effects. Immune to Abnormal Status for 3 sec after use.	Debuff
Frailty Curse	Summons a barrier around you. Decreases the Attack Power, Speed, and Defense of enemies that step into the barrier. Also allows you to deal more damage to bosses.	Summon AOE
Dark Harmony	Become one with the darkenss to deal more damage.	Passive Buff
Claw Expert	Increases Claw Mastery, Attack Power, and Critical Damage	Passive Buff

Night Lord Hyper Skill Build

Hyper skills are available at level 140. You get Hyper Skill Points as you level towards 200, but not enough to max all the skills, so choose wisely. These skills mostly help increase the damage of your current skills.

Showdown - Reinforce
Showdown - Spread
Showdown - Enhance
Quad Star - Reinforce
Quad Star - Boss Rush
Death Star
Bleed Dart
Epic Adventure

Night Lord Fifth Job Skill Build

Upon reaching level 200, you will now have access to the V Matrix, which acts as your new fifth job skills. Each class gets their own skills to use, along with boosting nodes to increase the damage of existing skills. To obtain new skills, you open up items called Nodestones, which drop from every mob in Arcane River. You have limited number of slots in your V Matrix, so you want to obtain perfect nodes for maximize your character's damage.

Night Lord's Nodes should include:

Shurrikane
Throwing Star Barrage
Dark Lord's Omen
Trinode: Showdown, Assassin's Mark, Quad Star
Trinode: Dark Flare, Sudden Raid, Death Star

All 5th Job classes should try to also obtain these:

Decent Holy Symbol
Decent Sharp Eyes
Decent Speed Infusion
Weapon Aura
Erda Nova

Skill Description & Overview

Skill	Description	Type
Dark Lord Omen	Unleash the power of the Dark Lord's insight. Unaffected by attack reflection.	FMA Attack
Shurrikane	Throws a massive shuriken said to be used by the thieves of old. Unaffected by attack reflection. Reduced chance of activating Assassin's Mark.	Burst Damage Attack
Throwing Star Barrage	Temporarily grants your throwing skills extra spread. Does not apply to Shadow Partner.	Cooldown Damage Buff
Throw Blasting	Throw shurikens with explosive charms attached. The charm explodes after the shurikens hit, dealing additional attacks to nearby enemies. Explosion is unaffected by attack reflection. Max Level 25.	Cooldown Attack Skill