General

Advanced guide to Character CardsSHADE

Currently, the majority of dedicated players view character cards as a minor way to boost their damage.
That is, they formulate their card combinations based on how much stat or atk each card or deck combination can provide. They might choose kaiser for the +80 str, (which, on a side note, is a flat increase unaffected by %stat additions) or they might choose +80DEX angelic buster to boost their secondary stat.

However, given most of the direct stat increases provided by individual cards are minor and have negligible effects on damage output, it is clear Nexon designed this system to be something else.

Have you noticed some peculiar, uncommon stats such as %crit, %abnormal status resistance, and %min/%max crit? These stats are hard to come by and typically difficult to acquire. These stats are hard to come by, and are presented plentifully as a niche in maplestory's damage-boosting systems.

One should focus on acquiring as much as these stats, as even buff duration(mechanic) will be more useful for shades than Angelic buster's +80DEX. That flat increase in +80DEX has virtually no effect on damage whatsoever.

Additionally, and perhaps equally as important is the question of deck combinations. Given that the restrictions for deck combinations are rather strict and impractical, I find the best balance between individual stat boosts and deck bonuses is two have two decks catered toward a set effect, and the third deck being soley a triplet of useful individual cards.

I will not go into detail about what levels my characters are. I don't feel the need to bolster my ethos because what I'm presenting is already valuable gold-tier information, and if you choose to refuse my counsel, it will only be to your deficit.

After much deliberation, here is my rendition of the perfect combination for shades:

DECK 1 - PIRATE SET: Shade, Xenon, Mechanic
DECK 2 - RESISTANCE SET: Wild Hunter, Demon Avenger, Demon Slayer
DECK 3 - INDIVIDUAL MIX: Marksman, Mercedes, Hayato

Of course, I excluded several other useful cards: Kaiser(+80 STR).kanna(4% boss) and Beast tamer(8% PDR). Here is why.

EXPLANATION:
Understand that 4% Boss damage is literally negligible when most players have, on average 250%+ boss damage. 4% boss damage will not affect overall damage output nearly as much as the Resistance Set's +10 all stats, which is affected by % stat effects and can net anywhere from 20-60 str.

Noting this, one might ask why not replace mechanic with Kaiser, who gives flat +80str, still a generous addition despite not being factored into %stats. There are two reasons. One, Mechanic's 20% buff duration is actually more useful than people think. dSI and dSE are mandatory buffs for shades, whose main drawback is low crit% and slow attack speed. Decent skills cannot be autobuffed by pets, meaning we need to cast them ourselves. With the additional 20% buff duration, the decent skills go from 180sec duration to 216secs, a generous increase in time. Experienced shades will tell you that rebuffing is indeed a pain and can sometimes kill you in high-intensity bossing situations. And if you have the decents on a separate glove that needs to re-worn every cast, buff duration becomes absolutely mandatory.

Second, where you fit BT, kaiser, or kanna in? Replacing mechanic will be trading away 8% PDR, 20% buff duaration for +8% PDR, or +80STR, or +4% boss. Replacing demon avenger will be losing +10 all stats along with 4% abnormal resistance. And all of the individual mix cards are better than BT, Kaiser, or kanna.

The only trade I would concede to is trading away demon slayer for BT. If you're at 90% PDR, 8% may bump you up to a red 90% PDR, (which indicates the true, non-truncated above is above 90.5%). That damage boost may or may not prove useful and I admit it is a toss-up. However, abnormal status resistance is getting changed, and depending on said changes coming, abnormal resistance may become more useful.

Leave any suggestions or questions you have!