Written by Gloves, SE contributor
Last updated January 21, 2006

Pre-walkthrough notes:
With the update, AoN is now a far poorer way to spend your skillpoints. In short, I suggest buying up Clover or Reflex (or both) instead; I’ll get around to updating the guide eventually.

I strongly suggest a str build for an ecaflip. Int and cha/agi builds can be interesting early on (both Bluff and Topkaj are respectable skills), but they’re going to lack real potency later. Vit is a personal choice. I like hit points, as they help me survive my own AoN, but some people (particularly those that don’t intend to utilize AoN very often) like to go pure damage. They do not necessarily need extra hp.

Heads or Tails. Unfortunate though it may be, this is the best ranged attack a str eca will get ’til 70. I suggest you 5 it. Note that it might be favorable to forget it with pots after you get Playful Claw at 70, maybe, and only if you are a str eca.

All or Nothing. I find this skill useful very, very often — particularly for soloing. Some people’s distaste for it is so strong, though, that they refuse to use it under any circumstances. That’s fine, it’s a career choice. Extra points for other skills for those people. Otherwise I suggest 5-ing it, though you may want to hold off on that ’til you have enough hp to survive the casting.

Felintion. Ah, Felintion. Not your most powerful skill, but very useful nonetheless. Two space knockback, a self-heal, earth-based… Sexy. I suggest a 5.

Bluff. If you’ve ignored my advice and boosted chance and agi, 5 this skill straight out. You’ll do fine for a long while. Otherwise ignore it, you don’t need it very often.

Topkaj. Didja go int, you crazy person? 5 this. Otherwise treat it like Bluff and walk away.

Rough Tongue. Even if you went int, I would not suggest leveling this. Boost somethin’ else with all your crazy sauce.

Clover. A very, extremely respectable skill. No matter what route you take, crits are a city of funtime and general happiness. The 4 ap cost hurts a bit, but it’s likely to be mas handy in the endgame. My thoughts: it isn’t necessarily a very powerful skill to have early on. Spend your points on something more useful, and come back to it later (mebbeh with forget pots). For more information see Reflex.

Feline’s Leap. A big fan of this, me — but you’ll probably want to either 5 it or ignore it. The crit fail rate is rough, and 3+ ap for 1 mp is not usually a very useful choice to make. 2 ap for 1 mp, though… Well, I like it. Particularly useful if you intend to wear the treeset. I suggest 5.

Repercussion. Potentially, this is a life-saving skill. I put it in line just behind Clover, but that’s just me. As such, I’d only level it with scroll-bought points.

Ecaflip’s Luck. No. Stop it.
… Actually, have you ever fought a Kanigrou? Lanugo has observed (and I concur) that their version of Ecaflip’s Luck (called Kanigrou’s Luck) seems to have a significantly higher success rate for healing them than for doubling the damage done to them. If Eca’s Luck becomes luckier in this fashion as you level it, I might suggest a 5. It would help you avoid being 1-shotted in pvp etc; but then again so would extra vit.

Roulette. Wanna be generally reviled and ostracized by the community? Use this for instant success!

Wheel of Fortune. Mmm, seksi. The only question here: how many ap is a 2-3 turn (it can be a little weird) damage boost worth to you? I suggest a 4, but 5 would be situationally useful.

Perception. My opinion? Not useful enough to level past 1. How often do you fight invis stuff — and even when you do, how often are you unable to simply AoN it away?

Feline Spirit. The only people with any business leveling this skill are compulsive gamblers and your suicidal dopple. Note that he dies very, very often. Suicidal. And don’t feed me this “What about Ecaflip’s Luck?” stuff, that’s exactly what he does and his handler had to install grates into the challenge room to deal with all the smelly dopple blood flying around.

Reflex. An interesting alternative to Clover. Here’s the deal: If you do not intend to wear a lot of +crit gear, Reflex is the way to go. Perhaps even if you do equip the stuff, if you commonly use skills with low crit rats (1/35 – 1/50). For getting Fate of Ecaflip to 1/2, though, you’ll have to wear +20 in crit gear and have Reflex regularly get you to 140 agi, wear +17 in crit gear and have a maxed Clover, or wear +24 in crit gear. Take a close look at latterday equipment and its capabilities before you decide to use one or the other.

Summoning Claw. I would love to see a level 5 kitten. I will never own one. I suggest a 1.

Smell. Here we go. Do not talk, only listen: level your Smell to 2 and LEAVE IT ALONE FOREVERMORE. At level 2 Smell adds up to 2 ap & mp without a chance to lose any at all. Wanna piss off a group? Use a level 5 Smell on ‘em and lose them some stats. Learn to enjoy teamly gangrape, because this is your future.

Playful Claw. Tasty! The range is a little short (4), but it can be boosted with equipment. Here is a skill that hits everything in a line (but can begin anywhere in that line you want, good for avoidin’ teammates), does not require los, is earth-based, and isn’t HoT. Good, steady damage to boot. 5.

Claw of Ceangal. Optional. An extremely useful skill for those of you that pick up a ranged weaponskill, or just really like wearing the entire treeset forever. Otherwise (for you dagger/sword skillers out there) your melee weapon of choice can do more damage for the same ap.

Rekop. Again, situationally useful. Potentially a highly damaging skill, particularly with an arseload of +damages gear. ‘S also got a lil’ range on it, which doesn’t hurt. Unreliable though, and the -1 ap to you on half your hits is unpleasant. Optional.

Fate of Ecaflip. Yes. This is where all your crit-boosting stylings come to full fruition. Teh pwn, 5.

Skill. Equally Yes. Exactly which one you choose is a matter of taste, but I suggest either sword or bow. Both for the 1337. Exactly how far you level this is something worth examining — level 1 is a 20% boost to your damage with a class of weapons, 2 is 30%, 3 is 40%, 4 is 50%, and 5 is 60%. Strong arguments can be made for levels 3 and 4, but I 5′d mine.

Ye Olde Gloves Builde
157 strength (boosting this exclusively ’til 200)
130 vitality
25 wisdom (scrolled)
25 chance (scrolled)
25 agility (scrolled)
0 intelligence (boosting HoT’s heals is for the lose)

5 HoT
5 AoN
5 Feline’s Leap
5 Felintion
5 Swordskill
5 Playful Claw
4 WoF
2 Smell
2 Clover (pending free points and further analysis of Reflex)
1 point free.

Accurate as of level 70.