Since not many people talk about this, let alone that basic knowledge regarding these is almost non-existent in terms of guides, I've decided to be "that guy" because I seem to be the only one who has actually spent enough time collecting these like a madman and trying to understand the rulings behind these items.
In this blogpost, I'll try to teach you the basics of why these rings are so important, what they have to offer from a long term perspective and how to identify the different types of Adventure Rings. However, if you can't really give a damn about these items, then I'm afraid this blogpost isn't for you.
Important: due to fundamental differences between regional versions of MapleStory, and because Adventure Rings are included with modern changes made to the game (a.k.a. susceptible to game changes), this blogpost is only there to teach you the basic in's and out's for these items, so that you can apply this knowledge to your own characters in whatever version you're playing.
In example, the rulings behind the types of Adventure Rings vary between versions. This matters a lot because that ultimately decides what Adventure Rings you'll need in order to wear multiple of these at once. Certain combination of rings will only work for EMS, but because these rulings are different for other versions, the same cannot be reproduced in a version such as KMS. However, that also means that in other versions there are combinations we cannot use in EMS.
That is why I've decided to explain in this post how to identify these types (and thus, rulings) yourself. I will explain how the type pools are in EMS as of the Adventure update, and hopefully by doing so, you should be able to understand the fundamental basics that is required in order to equip multiple Adventure Rings simultaneously if you ever decide to do so.
In example, the rulings behind the types of Adventure Rings vary between versions. This matters a lot because that ultimately decides what Adventure Rings you'll need in order to wear multiple of these at once. Certain combination of rings will only work for EMS, but because these rulings are different for other versions, the same cannot be reproduced in a version such as KMS. However, that also means that in other versions there are combinations we cannot use in EMS.
That is why I've decided to explain in this post how to identify these types (and thus, rulings) yourself. I will explain how the type pools are in EMS as of the Adventure update, and hopefully by doing so, you should be able to understand the fundamental basics that is required in order to equip multiple Adventure Rings simultaneously if you ever decide to do so.
But before we jump into the next chapter of "why", a bit of a history lesson behind these items might not hurt in order to understand how long-term updates to MapleStory shaped how Adventure Rings are today.
So uhm, just for the sake of not making this a ten page essay, I'll try to keep the history lesson short, and not go too much into details regarding game mechanics (and their in-depth changes over time) here.
in 2010, which is one of the most fundamental updates to change MapleStory's development structure. The Balance Patch was the first named update in the game's history; it was the first update to include a significant number of skill changes and also held the first event to give out Adventure Rings as a reward for creating a new character and grind it to a certain Level-based milestone.
Reaching Level 50 on a newly created Adventure class during this update would give the player the opportunity to choose between three different Adventure Rings. You could only pick one and only one of the three could exist on a single character at a time.
What is significant about the introduction of the "original three" (Generation 1) is that it allows classes to start doing critical hits. Back in this age, only a couple of classes had access to critical rate, as the majority of Adventures, Knights of Cygnus, and both Aran/Evan did not have access to it without (Self) Sharp Eyes or these rings.
With the Big Bang update, Critical Rate was now introduced with every character, as everyone gets a base 5% Critical Rate. Critical Rate would still remain scarce on all classes for the next several years to come. In addition, changes were made on how Critical Damage is calculated. Shared Minimum/Maximum Critical Damage values among all attacks became a thing from this point forward, all the way until the introduction of 5th Job in 2016, which "merged" both Minimum/Maximum and streamlined it into Critical Damage.
Return to Table of Contents
2010-2013: Gratias Rings / Equipment restrictions
Unfortunately, Adventure Rings faded into obscurity for three years after the Balance Patch event ended. The Gen 1 rings were never reissued, not even to this day, and it would take until the RED update in 2013 (KMS) before Adventure Rings would become widely accessible again with the introduction of Generation 2 Adventure Rings.
During this three year absence, MapleStory started a different short lived lineup of "Gratias Rings". These rings were less powerful versions of the Gen 1 rings, as they only gave a portion of the Gen 1 stats. They were available throughout several small events, which were also ironically easy to miss.
Several different Gratias Rings were given out, all with different names (and stats), but at the time, we were introduced with the Equipment restrictions that plagued a lot of players who actively did the efforts of grinding multiple characters to receive special event rings for their mains. Most of these event rings couldn't be equipped together with each other, as the game would give you a pop up to remind you that the game can't let you do that.
Generally speaking, you can't wear any of the Gratias Rings together with the Gen 1 rings outside EMS, but we'll get back on these rulings with the type pools chapter later on.
During this three year absence, MapleStory started a different short lived lineup of "Gratias Rings". These rings were less powerful versions of the Gen 1 rings, as they only gave a portion of the Gen 1 stats. They were available throughout several small events, which were also ironically easy to miss.
Several different Gratias Rings were given out, all with different names (and stats), but at the time, we were introduced with the Equipment restrictions that plagued a lot of players who actively did the efforts of grinding multiple characters to receive special event rings for their mains. Most of these event rings couldn't be equipped together with each other, as the game would give you a pop up to remind you that the game can't let you do that.
Generally speaking, you can't wear any of the Gratias Rings together with the Gen 1 rings outside EMS, but we'll get back on these rulings with the type pools chapter later on.
Return to Table of Contents
2013-2019: Gen 2 / Additional restriction pools
The RED update came out in 2013 (KMS, 2014 for EMS), and it became one of the most important updates in Maple's history. Plenty of things have changed here, many records were broken, but more importantly for the sake of this blogpost: we were introduced to the next generation of Adventure Rings.
Generation 2 rings are updated versions of Gen 1 rings. Not only do they have higher base stats, they also come with a higher Critical Rate bonus. Unfortunately, they don't necessarily have a higher Critical Damage bonus than the Gen 1 rings, but that is as a result of certain (odd) game changes that retroactively made Gen 1 Rings better despite the amount of nerfs they received.
What makes the introduction of Generation 2 different from Generation 1 or Gratias Rings is that from this point forward, the game started to introduce different equipment pools for the Equipment restrictions. In short, this is when the game rules started to change in deciding what Adventure Rings can be worn simultaneously and which could not.
You can't wear the Gratias Rings together with any of the original three Adventure Rings, as they are in the same restriction pool. However, the Generation 2 Adventure Rings introduced with the RED update come with a different restriction pool, so you could wear the Generation 2 together with either a Gratias or a Gen 1 Adventure Ring.
As time went on, more Adventure Rings were released, and even more restriction pools were added. Generation 2 Adventure Rings became extremely common, which is in my opinion a good thing as that allows returning players to catch up with what they missed out on. Although there is one special Generation 2 Adventure Ring that almost nobody owns, because it is from my knowledge an EMS/GMS exclusive and it was from a very short lived event that was easy to miss (yes, I'll get back to this one later). There was also the introduction of Sylph Rings as a recurring event item in 2015, but I won't go in-depth about these in this blogpost.
The RED update came out in 2013 (KMS, 2014 for EMS), and it became one of the most important updates in Maple's history. Plenty of things have changed here, many records were broken, but more importantly for the sake of this blogpost: we were introduced to the next generation of Adventure Rings.Generation 2 rings are updated versions of Gen 1 rings. Not only do they have higher base stats, they also come with a higher Critical Rate bonus. Unfortunately, they don't necessarily have a higher Critical Damage bonus than the Gen 1 rings, but that is as a result of certain (odd) game changes that retroactively made Gen 1 Rings better despite the amount of nerfs they received.
What makes the introduction of Generation 2 different from Generation 1 or Gratias Rings is that from this point forward, the game started to introduce different equipment pools for the Equipment restrictions. In short, this is when the game rules started to change in deciding what Adventure Rings can be worn simultaneously and which could not.
You can't wear the Gratias Rings together with any of the original three Adventure Rings, as they are in the same restriction pool. However, the Generation 2 Adventure Rings introduced with the RED update come with a different restriction pool, so you could wear the Generation 2 together with either a Gratias or a Gen 1 Adventure Ring.
As time went on, more Adventure Rings were released, and even more restriction pools were added. Generation 2 Adventure Rings became extremely common, which is in my opinion a good thing as that allows returning players to catch up with what they missed out on. Although there is one special Generation 2 Adventure Ring that almost nobody owns, because it is from my knowledge an EMS/GMS exclusive and it was from a very short lived event that was easy to miss (yes, I'll get back to this one later). There was also the introduction of Sylph Rings as a recurring event item in 2015, but I won't go in-depth about these in this blogpost.
Return to Table of Contents
2019: Generation 3
And thus, our history lesson for today ends with the update that arrived in EMS a few weeks ago: the Adventure update.
After seeing frequent reissues of *most* of the Generation 2 Adventure Rings in the past five years, Nexon has decided it is time to step up their game and release Generation 3 Adventure Rings!
Generation 3 Adventure Rings are all-around the strongest Adventure Rings available in the game. They give the highest base stat boosts, the highest Critical Rate and the second highest Critical Damage boost among all generations.
The only stronger Adventure Ring is the Explorer's Cruel Ring from the Balance Patch event, which only gives 5% more Critical Damage (only as a result of specific game changes), but that one has lower base stats and a lower Critical Rate bonus. From a practical perspective, not many players around in EMS own one of the original three on their main unless they somehow have survived the hackwave of 2012 (thousands of accounts were hacked and stripped clean) and the migration of 2016 (2.7 million characters deleted), which is easier said than done...
So, three main generations of Adventure Rings exist. The image above shows an example of a Generation 1, 2 and 3 Adventure Ring. Note how the base stats of each ring is updated accordingly to what is the norm for an event ring at the time of release; that makes them a typical product of their time.
And thus, our history lesson for today ends with the update that arrived in EMS a few weeks ago: the Adventure update.After seeing frequent reissues of *most* of the Generation 2 Adventure Rings in the past five years, Nexon has decided it is time to step up their game and release Generation 3 Adventure Rings!
Generation 3 Adventure Rings are all-around the strongest Adventure Rings available in the game. They give the highest base stat boosts, the highest Critical Rate and the second highest Critical Damage boost among all generations.
The only stronger Adventure Ring is the Explorer's Cruel Ring from the Balance Patch event, which only gives 5% more Critical Damage (only as a result of specific game changes), but that one has lower base stats and a lower Critical Rate bonus. From a practical perspective, not many players around in EMS own one of the original three on their main unless they somehow have survived the hackwave of 2012 (thousands of accounts were hacked and stripped clean) and the migration of 2016 (2.7 million characters deleted), which is easier said than done...
Return to Table of Contents
Why should you use Adv. Rings?
This is a rather frequent debate that is held every once in a while on MapleStory forums when Adventure Rings are available during a current event. Generally speaking, the common answer you'll find is that other players do not recommend these for your main character. There are several understandable reasons for why people do not recommend Adventure Rings, which includes:
Adventure Rings are not easy to obtain as they do require some serious effort, and it requires you to also participate in various events over a course of several years. Frequently changing mains doesn't help this either, as the Adventure Rings are usually stuck on a single character forever, and thus cannot be transferred to their next main.
So yes, plenty of reasonable arguments can be made. You gotta understand what you will miss out on first before truly understanding what you'll gain, if that makes any sense. That said, let me try to explain why Adventure Rings are actually more useful than they might seem:
This is a rather frequent debate that is held every once in a while on MapleStory forums when Adventure Rings are available during a current event. Generally speaking, the common answer you'll find is that other players do not recommend these for your main character. There are several understandable reasons for why people do not recommend Adventure Rings, which includes:
- As a game balancing countermeasure for the Critical Rate/Critical Damage bonuses, Adventure Rings cannot be upgraded, have Enhancements or have (Additional) Potential. Many players prefer to use other rings that allow them to have these three features, because they are a popular necessity for range building.
- Adventure Rings are not part of any Item Sets. Running a lot of item sets at once is a popular method for many players as it allows them to gain easy boosts early on in the game.
- Getting to 100% Critical Rate is easy if you're well prepared, which reduces the appeal to use Adventure Rings in general. Systems such as Skill Links, Union, Hyper Stats and Inner Ability are several popular resources for this. Any player who puts some serious time in the game would have no trouble with getting 100% Critical Rate without the need of Adventure Rings.
Adventure Rings are not easy to obtain as they do require some serious effort, and it requires you to also participate in various events over a course of several years. Frequently changing mains doesn't help this either, as the Adventure Rings are usually stuck on a single character forever, and thus cannot be transferred to their next main.
So yes, plenty of reasonable arguments can be made. You gotta understand what you will miss out on first before truly understanding what you'll gain, if that makes any sense. That said, let me try to explain why Adventure Rings are actually more useful than they might seem:
Return to Table of Contents
Efficiency is rewarding
By virtue of how the game evolves, MapleStory's heading towards dealing infinite damage. Nexon has always stated since the V update that the damage cap will be removed. Currently, the game has a set limit of 10 billion damage per line, but I presume that's an intentional limit to prevent certain newer bosses from being overflood - but Nexon never said that the damage cap will become 10 billion. This isn't the first time the damage cap was raised, nor will it be the last. However, there is one consistent thing among all of the times they did increase the damage cap: we're getting new game mechanics, features and/or new types of equipment to help us get to that newly raised limit, and to gain more quantities of (powerful) stats that were previously difficult to obtain or were limited in supply.
And that indirectly caused most of the Adventure Rings to become actually better than they were introduced. Yes, it is easier to obtain 100% Critical Rate nowadays, and that is also why Adventure Rings are more important. We have more systems to be considerate of, and that also means if we spend a lot in Critical Rate, we cannot use those resources for something else. So in fact, being more efficient and thoughtful is rewarding.
Using Adventure Rings would allow you to completely bypass the need for spending more resources in stuff like Skill Links, Hyper Stats and possibly Inner Ability or Union. In return, you could spend these resources in something else, especially stats that you cannot obtain with conventional upgrading, (Additional) Potential and Enhancements. Plus, Adventure Rings are practical: you get one, you don't need to roll anything on it; saves a lot of resources (that can be spent somewhere else) and having to deal less with RNGesus shenanigans. The perfect excuse to anyone who's allergic to scrolling, cubing and enhancing with Star Force.
So, the more Adventure Rings you use, the more you actually save somewhere else. Being able to stack multiple Critical Rate and Critical Damage bonuses is what makes these items so great. However, it is important to note that you don't necessarily need to run four Adventure Rings. You could still consider keeping your Gollux and Meister layout, but just getting rid of the weakest rings (i.e. lower tier Gollux rings) without removing the main item set effects you're going after.
By virtue of how the game evolves, MapleStory's heading towards dealing infinite damage. Nexon has always stated since the V update that the damage cap will be removed. Currently, the game has a set limit of 10 billion damage per line, but I presume that's an intentional limit to prevent certain newer bosses from being overflood - but Nexon never said that the damage cap will become 10 billion. This isn't the first time the damage cap was raised, nor will it be the last. However, there is one consistent thing among all of the times they did increase the damage cap: we're getting new game mechanics, features and/or new types of equipment to help us get to that newly raised limit, and to gain more quantities of (powerful) stats that were previously difficult to obtain or were limited in supply.
And that indirectly caused most of the Adventure Rings to become actually better than they were introduced. Yes, it is easier to obtain 100% Critical Rate nowadays, and that is also why Adventure Rings are more important. We have more systems to be considerate of, and that also means if we spend a lot in Critical Rate, we cannot use those resources for something else. So in fact, being more efficient and thoughtful is rewarding.
Using Adventure Rings would allow you to completely bypass the need for spending more resources in stuff like Skill Links, Hyper Stats and possibly Inner Ability or Union. In return, you could spend these resources in something else, especially stats that you cannot obtain with conventional upgrading, (Additional) Potential and Enhancements. Plus, Adventure Rings are practical: you get one, you don't need to roll anything on it; saves a lot of resources (that can be spent somewhere else) and having to deal less with RNGesus shenanigans. The perfect excuse to anyone who's allergic to scrolling, cubing and enhancing with Star Force.
So, the more Adventure Rings you use, the more you actually save somewhere else. Being able to stack multiple Critical Rate and Critical Damage bonuses is what makes these items so great. However, it is important to note that you don't necessarily need to run four Adventure Rings. You could still consider keeping your Gollux and Meister layout, but just getting rid of the weakest rings (i.e. lower tier Gollux rings) without removing the main item set effects you're going after.
Return to Table of Contents
Adventure Rings in the long run
Here's a thing that is misunderstood about Critical Damage: power scaling. Critical Damage is more than about just multiplying the damage on Critical Hits.
Critical Damage is currently one of the most important stats in terms of how to scale your damage to ridiculous amounts. While Final Damage is probably the most valuable stat of them all due to of how it works and differs from the other stats, not every class has these in an overabundance, so Critical Damage will have to suffice in the (current) absence of Final Damage.
The older MapleStory becomes, the easier it is to gain main stat, (Magic) Attack, Total Damage and Boss Damage. That indirectly makes scarce and/or hard-to-obtain multipliers like Critical Damage and Final Damage more valuable. Eventually we'll get to a point where one Adventure Ring will outweigh a fully upgraded Gollux Ring that has six useful Potential lines and over twenty Enhancements applied, because you have such a ridiculous amount of base range that multiplying the output would do more than trying to squeeze out more range on your character.
Thus, the stronger you get, the more valuable Critical Damage becomes. If you have a lot of Final Damage, Critical Damage building becomes a must. Plus, the more Critical Damage you get, the more it matters. This is by caused by the mathematical order in how the game calculates damage. Critical Damage is calculated relatively late, so that also means that it indirectly does more than Total Damage or Boss Damage would do, especially on late game bosses.
Here's a thing that is misunderstood about Critical Damage: power scaling. Critical Damage is more than about just multiplying the damage on Critical Hits.
Critical Damage is currently one of the most important stats in terms of how to scale your damage to ridiculous amounts. While Final Damage is probably the most valuable stat of them all due to of how it works and differs from the other stats, not every class has these in an overabundance, so Critical Damage will have to suffice in the (current) absence of Final Damage.
The older MapleStory becomes, the easier it is to gain main stat, (Magic) Attack, Total Damage and Boss Damage. That indirectly makes scarce and/or hard-to-obtain multipliers like Critical Damage and Final Damage more valuable. Eventually we'll get to a point where one Adventure Ring will outweigh a fully upgraded Gollux Ring that has six useful Potential lines and over twenty Enhancements applied, because you have such a ridiculous amount of base range that multiplying the output would do more than trying to squeeze out more range on your character.
Thus, the stronger you get, the more valuable Critical Damage becomes. If you have a lot of Final Damage, Critical Damage building becomes a must. Plus, the more Critical Damage you get, the more it matters. This is by caused by the mathematical order in how the game calculates damage. Critical Damage is calculated relatively late, so that also means that it indirectly does more than Total Damage or Boss Damage would do, especially on late game bosses.
Return to Table of Contents
Also, that one Shrelephant in the room...
If you're any of the Archer classes in the game, then there's no discussion anymore. Critical Reinforce ("Vicious Shot") was a bloody mistake on Nexon's end. If you don't consider getting Adventure Rings on those mains now, then I hope I gave you some fuel for thought with this blogpost for why I point out this particular skill...
Also, let's not forget to mention all the other non-Archer classes that have class gimmicks built around Critical Hits.
If you're any of the Archer classes in the game, then there's no discussion anymore. Critical Reinforce ("Vicious Shot") was a bloody mistake on Nexon's end. If you don't consider getting Adventure Rings on those mains now, then I hope I gave you some fuel for thought with this blogpost for why I point out this particular skill...
Also, let's not forget to mention all the other non-Archer classes that have class gimmicks built around Critical Hits.
Return to Table of Contents
Equipment restrictions
Alright, now that you are probably caught up to speed by now, let's dive into the different equipment restrictions that are present with all Adventure Rings.
...How to identify what ring goes where
This is probably the more difficult part of wanting to wear multiple Adventure Rings simultaneously. There are two ways of doing so:
Method #1: Item tooltips
The easiest way is just to look at the item tooltips. They usually tell which pool they belong to. The bottom orange text used to be incorrect, but not too long ago, they have updated it so it currently is a safe way of determining with which types of Adventure Rings you're working with.
Method #2: Trial-and-error
For those who are fortunate enough to own multiple Adventure Rings, and you can just try with trial-and-error to see what sticks and what doesn't. When it doesn't work, you'll get a pop up. Keep in mind that the text shown on these pop ups are incorrect, and you should take them with a grain of salt. I mean, just look at the one on the right... that's just silly.
Anyway, with that information it should be possible to figure out these things on your own from now on. Let's take a look at several Adventure Rings. Unfortunately I do not own them all because that would be physically impossible, even for someone like myself who has been playing EMS for 11,5 years daily and hasn't been sleeping on any event that Nexon churned out.
Alright, now that you are probably caught up to speed by now, let's dive into the different equipment restrictions that are present with all Adventure Rings.
There are four different main pools in EMS, as of the time of writing:
- Pool A, the OG Pool: consists exclusively of old event rings that are generally speaking no longer used. Includes the Buff Bro Ring. The majority of the Gratias Rings go here, with only one exception. The original three Adventure Rings used to be part of Pool A, but this restriction was lifted as of the V update (2016) in EMS as they were moved to Pool D as part of a compensation for nerfing them.
- Pool B, the RED Pool: as its name implies, this pool was created during the RED update. Almost every Generation 2 Adventure Ring goes here, with only two exceptions.
- Pool C, the Dark Crit Pool: as its name implies, this pool was created with the introduction of the Dark Critical Adventure Ring. Every "Dark Critical" Adventure Ring is present in this pool, including the Generation 3 "Deep Dark Critical Adventure Ring" that was introduced with the Adventure update this year.
- Pool D, the Poolless Pool: this is the most valuable pool as these include Adventure Rings with no restrictions whatsoever. However, most of these Adventure Rings can only be owned once per character, and these rings tend to be the most rare of them all.
- Sylph Rings are not part of any pool, but they can be worn together with any Adventure Ring. You are allowed to own multiple Sylph Rings, but equipping multiple simultaneously is a different story. There are several versions of Sylph Rings that look identical in-game, and in general, only the old ones can be equipped simultaneously.
This basically means, if you want to wear multiple Adventure Rings simultaneously, you need to be considerate of which Adventure Ring belongs to what pool. Ideally, you'd want to own four Pool D rings, but that aint gonna happen. However, Pool B and Pool C are extremely common from modern events. So that at least allows you to have two Adventure Rings to be worn simultaneously (i.e. Pivotal Adventure Ring + Deep Dark Critical Adventure Ring), and that often matches well with people requiring Superior Gollux and Meister items to be ran on their mains.
I'll get back to show several Adventure Rings later in this blogpost. But first...
...How to identify what ring goes where
This is probably the more difficult part of wanting to wear multiple Adventure Rings simultaneously. There are two ways of doing so:
Method #1: Item tooltips
The easiest way is just to look at the item tooltips. They usually tell which pool they belong to. The bottom orange text used to be incorrect, but not too long ago, they have updated it so it currently is a safe way of determining with which types of Adventure Rings you're working with.
Method #2: Trial-and-error
For those who are fortunate enough to own multiple Adventure Rings, and you can just try with trial-and-error to see what sticks and what doesn't. When it doesn't work, you'll get a pop up. Keep in mind that the text shown on these pop ups are incorrect, and you should take them with a grain of salt. I mean, just look at the one on the right... that's just silly.
Anyway, with that information it should be possible to figure out these things on your own from now on. Let's take a look at several Adventure Rings. Unfortunately I do not own them all because that would be physically impossible, even for someone like myself who has been playing EMS for 11,5 years daily and hasn't been sleeping on any event that Nexon churned out.
Return to Table of Contents
Examples of rings in Pool A
Most of the Pool A rings aren't really that interesting, because they have aged poorly. Most of what is left in Pool A can only give 5% Critical Rate, which unfortunately isn't much. A lot of these are in dire need of an upgrade. Unless the original three is part of Pool A in your regional version of Maple, it's not worth to seeking any of the Pool A rings, even if you somehow magically manage to find one lying around on an old account of yours...
Other "noteworthy" rings that are also thrown in Pool A but are not Adventure Rings are the three Lilin Rings, the Resistance Ring and others that are similar in concept.
Our first example in Pool A is the Legendary Gratias Ring. This item was given out from an event during the Legends update (EMS, 2012). From my knowledge, this ring has never been reissued after this event ended.
The Buff Bro Ring is one of the more common Pool A rings. It was reissued several times together with the Beast Bro Sword, somewhere between Big Bang and RED. If I recall correctly, you had three opportunities in EMS to get one, and it hasn't come back ever since the Generation 2 Adventure Rings were introduced to the game.
Most of the Pool A rings aren't really that interesting, because they have aged poorly. Most of what is left in Pool A can only give 5% Critical Rate, which unfortunately isn't much. A lot of these are in dire need of an upgrade. Unless the original three is part of Pool A in your regional version of Maple, it's not worth to seeking any of the Pool A rings, even if you somehow magically manage to find one lying around on an old account of yours...
Other "noteworthy" rings that are also thrown in Pool A but are not Adventure Rings are the three Lilin Rings, the Resistance Ring and others that are similar in concept.
Our first example in Pool A is the Legendary Gratias Ring. This item was given out from an event during the Legends update (EMS, 2012). From my knowledge, this ring has never been reissued after this event ended.
The Buff Bro Ring is one of the more common Pool A rings. It was reissued several times together with the Beast Bro Sword, somewhere between Big Bang and RED. If I recall correctly, you had three opportunities in EMS to get one, and it hasn't come back ever since the Generation 2 Adventure Rings were introduced to the game.
Return to Table of Contents
Examples of rings in Pool B
Pool B is perhaps the most common pool nowadays if we consider all regional versions of Maple. Not that I will complain though, as I'm still displeased with certain Adventure Rings being one-of-a-kind and never to see the light of day again. Anyway, there is a surprising amount of rings in Pool B, all of which included so far are Generation 2.
The Pivotal Adventure Ring is probably the most quintessential Adventure Ring. The cookie cutter among Adventure Rings. If you need any Pool B Adventure Rings, this guy's probably right for the job.
Originally released during RED (EMS, 2014), this ring was rewarded to players who created a new Adventure class and got it all the way to Level 130. Later, a recurring item in coin shops.
This particular one has been reissued the most, and is probably also owned by the most players in the game. It even is still available at the time of writing with the Adventure (2019) coin shop! You can't go wrong with this one. 15% Critical Rate is a lot, and that 3% Critical Damage is solid.
The Critical Adventure Ring is the Pivotal's younger brother. It was released simultaneously with the Pivotal Adventure Ring during the RED update within the same grind event. Players who reached Level 70 during this event were given one.
Critical Adventure Rings are surprisingly rare to own on a different character other than the Adventure created during RED, as it only appeared twice in later coin shops. There isn't much incentive to own this own if you already have a Pivotal, unless you were like me and you just wanna have 'm all. As you can tell, its stats are surprisingly low for an Adventure Ring - it's weaker than any of the Gen 1 Rings (although one could argue that it is stronger than the Explorer's Magical Ring) but it is better than the Gratias Rings. It hasn't been reissued for several years, by the way.
Examples of rings in Pool C
Pool C is a fairly recent addition to the game. I dub Pool C the "Dark Crit Pool" because it only consists of Dark Crit Rings as at the time of writing.
The Dark Critical Adventure Ring was introduced to EMS during the Maple Ice & Burn update (2016), and it is the only Generation 2 ring in Pool C. Its stats are identical to the Pivotal Adventure Ring, so its true strength is the fact that it can be worn simultaneously with any of the Pool B rings.
This ring has been reissued a lot of times in EMS, possibly even more so than the Pivotal Adventure Ring in Pool B. From my knowledge, this guy hasn't been reissued as much in other versions. Where we got the Dark Critical Ring reissued, others had the Pivotal from the same shop. So that also indirectly makes the Pivotal Adventure Ring more common in other versions than it is in EMS.
A stronger version of the Dark Critical Ring was introduced in EMS with the Adventure update in 2019, which is the Deep Dark Critical Ring. This is the first Generation 3 Adventure Ring, and it is all around the strongest Adventure Ring that is currently still available.
Compared to the Pivotal/Dark Critical Ring, it really is a whole lot better in terms of stats.
If you ever want to consider building with Adventure Rings, get this one while you still can (although by the time you probably read this, the Adventure update is already over). It hasn't been reissued in KMS ever since (also because it's still fairly new), but something tells me that it might become as recurring as the Pivotal/Dark Critical Rings are in the near future.
Off-topic trivial fact: I often mock this one to be the "Adventure Deep Fried Critical Ring". Also, what is up with that ominous glow around it? I guess it looks cool.
Pool B is perhaps the most common pool nowadays if we consider all regional versions of Maple. Not that I will complain though, as I'm still displeased with certain Adventure Rings being one-of-a-kind and never to see the light of day again. Anyway, there is a surprising amount of rings in Pool B, all of which included so far are Generation 2.
The Pivotal Adventure Ring is probably the most quintessential Adventure Ring. The cookie cutter among Adventure Rings. If you need any Pool B Adventure Rings, this guy's probably right for the job.
Originally released during RED (EMS, 2014), this ring was rewarded to players who created a new Adventure class and got it all the way to Level 130. Later, a recurring item in coin shops.
This particular one has been reissued the most, and is probably also owned by the most players in the game. It even is still available at the time of writing with the Adventure (2019) coin shop! You can't go wrong with this one. 15% Critical Rate is a lot, and that 3% Critical Damage is solid.
The Critical Adventure Ring is the Pivotal's younger brother. It was released simultaneously with the Pivotal Adventure Ring during the RED update within the same grind event. Players who reached Level 70 during this event were given one.
Critical Adventure Rings are surprisingly rare to own on a different character other than the Adventure created during RED, as it only appeared twice in later coin shops. There isn't much incentive to own this own if you already have a Pivotal, unless you were like me and you just wanna have 'm all. As you can tell, its stats are surprisingly low for an Adventure Ring - it's weaker than any of the Gen 1 Rings (although one could argue that it is stronger than the Explorer's Magical Ring) but it is better than the Gratias Rings. It hasn't been reissued for several years, by the way.
Introducing the only good Gratias Ring, and the only Gratias Ring to exist outside of Pool A.
Technically speaking this isn't a Gratias Ring - it's just a reskinned version of the Pivotal Adventure Ring. Given out as a reward to players who were mad enough to complete the Zero storyline within a limited amount of time as part of Zero's release, during the RED update.
If you already obtained a Pivotal Adventure Ring during the same update, there was little incentive to get this one. The Zero Gratias Ring has never been reissued in EMS ever since.
So yes, they gave out three different Adventure Rings with RED. If you haven't figured out by now, that is why I call it the "RED Pool".
Pool C is a fairly recent addition to the game. I dub Pool C the "Dark Crit Pool" because it only consists of Dark Crit Rings as at the time of writing.
The Dark Critical Adventure Ring was introduced to EMS during the Maple Ice & Burn update (2016), and it is the only Generation 2 ring in Pool C. Its stats are identical to the Pivotal Adventure Ring, so its true strength is the fact that it can be worn simultaneously with any of the Pool B rings.
This ring has been reissued a lot of times in EMS, possibly even more so than the Pivotal Adventure Ring in Pool B. From my knowledge, this guy hasn't been reissued as much in other versions. Where we got the Dark Critical Ring reissued, others had the Pivotal from the same shop. So that also indirectly makes the Pivotal Adventure Ring more common in other versions than it is in EMS.
The Dark Critical/Pivotal debacle
Alright, let me try to clarify one thing regarding the Dark Critical Adventure Ring. With the migration in 2016, a lot of the items in EMS were renamed, and not all of these renames have been for the better. Several item names have been "copy pasted", and because of that, certain different items now have the same name, which makes certain things unnecessarily complicated while communicating with unaware players and it pisses me off.
One of the largest offenders that sticks out like a sore thumb is the Dark Critical Adventure Ring. If you have paid attention to the images in this chapter, the Dark Crit Ring is currently named "Pivotal Adventure Ring". The Dark Critical Adventure Ring was renamed into the Pivotal Adventure Ring after the migration, despite that the item remained unchanged in terms of stats, or pool rulings. That means because of a silly name change, there are currently two Pivotal Adventure Rings that look the same, give the same stats, but in terms of the equipment restrictions, they are not the same. This confusing matter causes more harm than it should.
One of the largest offenders that sticks out like a sore thumb is the Dark Critical Adventure Ring. If you have paid attention to the images in this chapter, the Dark Crit Ring is currently named "Pivotal Adventure Ring". The Dark Critical Adventure Ring was renamed into the Pivotal Adventure Ring after the migration, despite that the item remained unchanged in terms of stats, or pool rulings. That means because of a silly name change, there are currently two Pivotal Adventure Rings that look the same, give the same stats, but in terms of the equipment restrictions, they are not the same. This confusing matter causes more harm than it should.
I hate that I have to address this, but it can't be helped. It is important to understand the difference between what is a Pivotal Adventure Ring and what is a Dark Critical Adventure Ring, due to the fact that one is a Pool B ring, and the other is a Pool C ring.
Imagine if an unaware player owns a "Pivotal Adventure Ring" and a "Deep Dark Critical Adventure Ring", but said player can't equip them together because the game gave him a pop up message. Meanwhile, a friend of this player can equip a Pivotal to together with a Deep Dark because he owns a different Pivotal Adventure Ring, but it's not like both players can figure it out until they come to the conclusion that they are not the same item. Imagine if another player wears two Pivotal Adventure Rings and is mistakenly flagged for glitching by someone else who's unaware of the differences, and ultimately the person that wears two rings get a (false positive) ban for it, despite that in reality said player has two distinctively different equips that by coincidence, now have the same name. These scenarios that could potentially happen because of such a small (and unnecessary) change infuriates me, because they can happen, if they haven't already (read: they have).
Remember: the easiest way to determine if you have a Dark Critical Ring or a Pivotal Adventure Ring is to check the orange tooltip on the bottom.
Remember: the easiest way to determine if you have a Dark Critical Ring or a Pivotal Adventure Ring is to check the orange tooltip on the bottom.
A stronger version of the Dark Critical Ring was introduced in EMS with the Adventure update in 2019, which is the Deep Dark Critical Ring. This is the first Generation 3 Adventure Ring, and it is all around the strongest Adventure Ring that is currently still available.
Compared to the Pivotal/Dark Critical Ring, it really is a whole lot better in terms of stats.
If you ever want to consider building with Adventure Rings, get this one while you still can (although by the time you probably read this, the Adventure update is already over). It hasn't been reissued in KMS ever since (also because it's still fairly new), but something tells me that it might become as recurring as the Pivotal/Dark Critical Rings are in the near future.
Off-topic trivial fact: I often mock this one to be the "Adventure Deep Fried Critical Ring". Also, what is up with that ominous glow around it? I guess it looks cool.
Return to Table of Contents
Examples of rings in Pool D
Okay, Pool D is quite a controversial (and unfair) pool. None of these rings are obtainable anymore, all of these have been only given out once, and I personally really want Nexon to reissue them.
There are several rings in this pool that I do not own, so I cannot show all of them. That said, I can show you the two Pool D rings that I currently own. I do use these on my main with my Adventure Ring layout.
This is one of the original three Adventure Rings from that event way back in 2010 during the Balance Patch. Ever since, I've been using this fellow on a daily basis. It is my second oldest equip I still use on Rayque. The oldest that I still use is my Bunny Disguise 3.
The Explorer's Critical Ring and the Explorer's Cruel Ring are arguably the best Adventure Rings in the game, because not only do they give a fairly high Critical Rate/Critical Damage boost, but they also are in Pool D so you can wear them with any other Adventure Ring you can get your hands on.
They have been nerfed (harshly) several times in the past, but even after all these nerfs... they have aged miraculously well, all things considered.
The Explorer's Critical Ring used to be better than the Explorer's Cruel Ring for many years, but with the various changes and nerfs to the original three rings, the Explorer's Cruel Ring is starting to become the better option. Do I regret choosing the Explorer's Critical Ring over the Cruel Ring back in 2010? I slightly am starting to regret it, because the difference in Critical Damage is significant enough to matter. Although I don't really have the rights to complain about this one. One could also argue that at the time, I made the right decision, and that I possibly couldn't know what was going to happen with it 6 years later.
Introducing the possibly most rare Adventure Ring in all of EMS. It is probably even more rare than the Explorer's Gratias Ring (which is one I don't own, as I decided not to go for it because it would be stuck on a different character), because from my knowledge, the Grand Adventure Ring is exclusive to EMS/GMS. If anyone can confirm its existence in any other version with some actual solid proof, I would greatly appreciate it.
The existence of this Adventure Ring is... interesting. When Black Heaven came out in 2015, we were saturated with many Pivotal Adventure Ring reissues that came before the update. At this point, nobody expected that Nexon would introduce a third Adventure Ring pool (assuming that players were aware of Pool B's existence to begin with), including myself. I was still inspired in awe of Pool B and I was trying to grasp what that would mean for the future of the game. So having another pool so shortly after was not something I accounted for.
So, during the Black Heaven update, there was a small opportunity window of several weeks to obtain an Adventure Ring if you created a new Resistance character and grinded it all the way to Level 130. If I recall correctly, there was also a bit of a strange description regarding the rewards of this particular event. In-game, the event would mention a "Grand Adventure Ring" as a reward, while the website just stated it to be an ordinary Pivotal Adventure Ring. It was more or less unclear which Adventure Ring we're supposed to get with this event, and most people brushed it off as "oh, another Pivotal Ring". I took the bravery of participating in this event, created a Wild Hunter to Level 130 and ultimately was rewarded a Grand Adventure Ring.
At this time by the way, the Explorer's Critical Ring was still a Pool A ring. So the fact that Grand Adventure Ring could be worn simultaneously with the Pivotal and Explorer's Critical Ring was jaw-dropping to me. An oddity among niches, this one is. But a very important one nonetheless.
Okay, Pool D is quite a controversial (and unfair) pool. None of these rings are obtainable anymore, all of these have been only given out once, and I personally really want Nexon to reissue them.
There are several rings in this pool that I do not own, so I cannot show all of them. That said, I can show you the two Pool D rings that I currently own. I do use these on my main with my Adventure Ring layout.
This is one of the original three Adventure Rings from that event way back in 2010 during the Balance Patch. Ever since, I've been using this fellow on a daily basis. It is my second oldest equip I still use on Rayque. The oldest that I still use is my Bunny Disguise 3.
The Explorer's Critical Ring and the Explorer's Cruel Ring are arguably the best Adventure Rings in the game, because not only do they give a fairly high Critical Rate/Critical Damage boost, but they also are in Pool D so you can wear them with any other Adventure Ring you can get your hands on.
They have been nerfed (harshly) several times in the past, but even after all these nerfs... they have aged miraculously well, all things considered.
The Explorer's Critical Ring used to be better than the Explorer's Cruel Ring for many years, but with the various changes and nerfs to the original three rings, the Explorer's Cruel Ring is starting to become the better option. Do I regret choosing the Explorer's Critical Ring over the Cruel Ring back in 2010? I slightly am starting to regret it, because the difference in Critical Damage is significant enough to matter. Although I don't really have the rights to complain about this one. One could also argue that at the time, I made the right decision, and that I possibly couldn't know what was going to happen with it 6 years later.
Introducing the possibly most rare Adventure Ring in all of EMS. It is probably even more rare than the Explorer's Gratias Ring (which is one I don't own, as I decided not to go for it because it would be stuck on a different character), because from my knowledge, the Grand Adventure Ring is exclusive to EMS/GMS. If anyone can confirm its existence in any other version with some actual solid proof, I would greatly appreciate it.
The existence of this Adventure Ring is... interesting. When Black Heaven came out in 2015, we were saturated with many Pivotal Adventure Ring reissues that came before the update. At this point, nobody expected that Nexon would introduce a third Adventure Ring pool (assuming that players were aware of Pool B's existence to begin with), including myself. I was still inspired in awe of Pool B and I was trying to grasp what that would mean for the future of the game. So having another pool so shortly after was not something I accounted for.
So, during the Black Heaven update, there was a small opportunity window of several weeks to obtain an Adventure Ring if you created a new Resistance character and grinded it all the way to Level 130. If I recall correctly, there was also a bit of a strange description regarding the rewards of this particular event. In-game, the event would mention a "Grand Adventure Ring" as a reward, while the website just stated it to be an ordinary Pivotal Adventure Ring. It was more or less unclear which Adventure Ring we're supposed to get with this event, and most people brushed it off as "oh, another Pivotal Ring". I took the bravery of participating in this event, created a Wild Hunter to Level 130 and ultimately was rewarded a Grand Adventure Ring.
At this time by the way, the Explorer's Critical Ring was still a Pool A ring. So the fact that Grand Adventure Ring could be worn simultaneously with the Pivotal and Explorer's Critical Ring was jaw-dropping to me. An oddity among niches, this one is. But a very important one nonetheless.
Return to Table of Contents
Verdict
So fellow Mapler, now that you know the basics about the Equipment restrictions regarding Adventure Rings, which ones exist and how to combine these; you are now prepared for future endeavors in terms of Adventure Rings.
Practically speaking, I'm not expecting anyone to own more than two Adventure Rings and one Sylph Ring right now. For now, that's fine. Many players don't want to sacrifice too many ring slots in pursuit of Critical Rate/Critical Damage.
I expect that more different Adventure Rings will surface sooner or later, and possibly we'll get to see a new pool in a few years.
Anyway, let's say you actually do get enough coins during the currently ongoing Adventure update and get yourself the Pivotal Adventure Ring (Pool B) and Deep Dark Critical Ring (Pool C), you would have 30% Critical Rate and 8% Critical Damage right from the get go.
Whenever if you wanna go for multiple Adventure Rings or not, is obviously up to you. I can't blame you if you don't want to. However that said, no matter what class you main, it never hurts to own at least one Adventure Ring. It's one of those items that are always nice to have in your inventory, no matter the situation.
Phew, that took all day to write. I'm off to bed now.
 |
Example of wearing four Adventure Rings at once. Involves:
|
Practically speaking, I'm not expecting anyone to own more than two Adventure Rings and one Sylph Ring right now. For now, that's fine. Many players don't want to sacrifice too many ring slots in pursuit of Critical Rate/Critical Damage.
I expect that more different Adventure Rings will surface sooner or later, and possibly we'll get to see a new pool in a few years.
Anyway, let's say you actually do get enough coins during the currently ongoing Adventure update and get yourself the Pivotal Adventure Ring (Pool B) and Deep Dark Critical Ring (Pool C), you would have 30% Critical Rate and 8% Critical Damage right from the get go.
Whenever if you wanna go for multiple Adventure Rings or not, is obviously up to you. I can't blame you if you don't want to. However that said, no matter what class you main, it never hurts to own at least one Adventure Ring. It's one of those items that are always nice to have in your inventory, no matter the situation.
Phew, that took all day to write. I'm off to bed now.
No comments:
Post a Comment