AriesMS 2023

Everything and the Kitchen Sink Guide to Progression and Gears

Preface
Hello everyone! I’m Sunflowera and I really like Aries. However, I see a ton of newer players completely
lost as to what the hell is going on here when they first join. Most of our guides are a bit very outdated
and so I wanted to write a more current one. If you find any mistakes or anything to add you can contact
me in game or via discord (FumGuy).

Background Information
AriesMS is a private server that uses GMS balancing but has unique methods of progression and gearing
that is somewhat different from GMS. When reading this guide or approaching a problem, it is best not
to fall back on knowledge that you may or may not have from GMS as Aries does have unique problems
and solutions.

It may be beneficial to read through the FAQ and some leveling guides before going onto this one as this
covers most of early-early to early-mid to early-late progression. Those resources can help you with more
fundamental things such as where to get a character slot or how to level or buy a leech.

Baby Steps and A Fresh Account

When you first make your account, the first thing you should do is vote by typing @vote. Voting is a
decent source of income that requires no time investment at all. You can sell your vote points by giving a
service where the customer will tell you what they want and you give them the item.
You can go to the VP shop using Quick Move – > Universal NPC – > Vote Point Shop

One frequent mistake is that newer players may exchange for a 2x Use Coupon

instead of a 2x Cash Coupon.

The Use Coupon is untradeable so when players refer to 2x EXP, the one they want is the green cash
card. The items can be used with the trade commands in the trade window. Type @tradehelp to see
more in-game.
Choosing A Main
Unlike GMS, Aries is more of a 1 main server. Our bosses are account-bound (with a 2-day cooldown for
harder bosses) and the ease of trading and moving items makes it much better to fund a single main
character. Usually guilds would want only your main character and funding multiple characters is harder
without a solid foundation. If you already know exactly what character you want to main, you can skip
this section. Generally, it is best to main a character you like and would play in the long term rather than
the strongest DPM or best mobber.

Regardless of what you choose, you should consider playing a bit of V job before you commit to the
class. A lot of classes change drastically with their V job skills and gain a bunch of fun/unfun new things.

Option 1: Manually Leveling Mules

The first way that you can choose a main is to manually level all of your links and legion characters to
level 200. This is to allow you to experience the class without having to commit too much investment
into them. This is a bit time consuming but it is a good option for players new to Maplestory as a whole.

Option 2: Buying a Leech and Deciding After

The second way, and the way that I personally recommend is to buy a leech from Lv 90 to 200 and then
deciding after you have hit Lv 200. This means you experience less of the class, but you save a lot of time
leveling yourself and can use the time to build funds.

So you’ve chosen a main… Now what?

Now that you have decided on what you’re gonna play for a long time, it's time to build your gear and
damage. The first thing to consider is to join a guild, they provide a lot of benefits and are the most fun
part of Maplestory. You can try to smega in game or look on the Aries Discord for guilds that are
recruiting.

Gearing Up! (Part 1)

After joining a guild, you should look to start acquiring your first set of gear. Most people will sponsor
you a set of fafnir gear for free. If not, many people will let you leech the Chaos Root Abyss bosses. You
can obtain pieces of the CRA gear. You can exchange them for the actual
equips with 5 pieces. They give Top, Bottom, Hat, and Weapon as a set.
You should also look to grab a set of tyrant equips from your guild. They are commonly sold on AH, but
they are a bit too expensive there. They drop from Hard Magnus. You should grab a set of cape, shoe and
belt to begin.

Another easy equip is your secondary. Unless you are playing a shield class/DB/Kanna, your BiS
secondary is the Princess No secondary. If you ask within the guild, they probably have tons to spare.
They also come from a piece that can select the secondary. This drops from Princess No.

You can get a face accessory using maple leafs. Talk to Belle in the FM and make a

then upgrade to then upgrade to

The final set of easy early game gear you can look for is your boss accessory set. They come from weak
early game bosses that you can tag along for a carry, or try to obtain yourself. Remember to equip drop
rate to increase the chance of these items dropping.

(Ring) Silver Blossom Ring from Horntail

(Pendant) Normal/Chaos Horntail Necklace from Normal/Chaos Horntail

(Earrings) Dea Sidus Earrings from Horntail

(Eye Accessory) Aquatic Eye Accessory from Zakum OR Chaos Pink Bean Mark from Chaos
Pink Bean
Gearing Up! (Part 2)
After grabbing the easy items, you should start looking towards more labor intensive items. These items
require a bit more meso or time to acquire. They are worth getting, but prioritize getting all of the easy
items first.

(Ring) Scarlet Ring from Ranmaru* OR Gachapon

(Ring) Golden Flower Ring from Shanghai Dailies

(Ring) Magnus’ Rage from Magnus*

(Ring) Hilla’s Rage from Hilla*

(Shoulder) Absolab Shoulder from Damien**

(Glove) Absolab Glove from Lotus**

(Weapon) Absolab Weapon from Lotus or Damien*** Example Set of Early Equips

(Pocket) Pink Bean Holy Cup from Pink Bean*

(Pocket) RED Scarlet Handkerchief from Gachapon

(Medal) Reboot Master Class from Gachapon

(Medal) Magnus Annihilator from Magnus*

(Heart) Lidium Heart from Regular Coin Shop

(Emblem) Crystal Maple Leaf Emblem from Regular Coin Shop

(Badge) Ghost Ship Exorcist from @revelry

(Ring) Lightning God Ring from Ranmaru*

*These items have a low drop rate from bosses, it is recommended to buy these items
**These items are from bosses that are hard to impossible early game, it is recommended you buy
partial or full service
***The Absolab Staff is only a demonstration, you can buy any Absolab weapon. It is recommended you
use Lotus drops to make an Absolab Weapon.
Gearing Up! (Part 3)
After grabbing all of your essential early game items, you will want to start replacing your early game
items with mid game items. It is recommended you start with cheaper upgrades first and move into
more expensive gears.

–> Superior Gollux Earrings** from Gollux

–> Superior Engraved Gollux Belt** from Gollux

*– > Kanna’s Treasure from Princess No

*– > Meister Ring from Accessory Crafting

*– > Solid Gollux Ring from Gollux

*– > Reinforced Gollux Ring from Gollux

*– > Superior Gollux Ring from Gollux

–> Sweetwater Monocle from Commerci Example Set of Early-Mid Equips

–> Sweetwater Tattoo from Commerci

–> Superior Engraved Gollux Pendant from Gollux

–> Superior Engraved Gollux Pendant from Gollux

*Silver Blossom Ring denotes your weakest ring.

**These two items drop from killing Hell Gollux and are cheaper than other Superior Gollux items

Note: For rings, Solid Gollux Ring and Scarlet are interchangeable with Kanna’s Treasure and Meister Ring
because the discrepancy is negligible. The best one depends on available stats and potentials.

Tip! Scarlet Ring is a Lucky Item, so it can count towards the Superior Gollux Set. It is best to get a
Pendant before Ring because you can substitute SGR with Scarlet Ring.
Upgrading Your Gears? (Scrolling)
As you finish your gears you want to start thinking about what scrolls to use on each of your equips. For
most equips, you can scroll using the enhance tab.

There are 4 options to choose from:

In order to use 100% Super Scroll, you must have a Super Scroll in your inventory

It is NOT recommended to fully Super Scroll your items because the price of Super Scrolls is expensive.

What scroll you choose you use is dependent on what gear you are using it on – if the gear has longevity
(CRA, Absolab, Tyrants) you should consider using better scrolls. If the gear is more temporary, you
should consider using worse scrolls.

When you fail a scroll, that slot for the enhancement is lost. You can use Clean
Slate Scrolls to recover the lost slot or you can prevent the slot from being lost by using Shield
Scrolls.
For most items, you can also apply golden hammers to increase the max slots by 2.
The hammers can be found in the Cash Shop. I recommend you hammer all items that you would use for
the semi-long term.

For Weapons and Gloves, the scrolling options change slightly in value. They gain additional ATT or MATT
instead of flat stats.

For weapon, an additional option is available:

If you are scrolling your Absolab weapon, I recommend scrolling using this option as it is a very
significant boost. Make sure your weapon is fully scrolled to +10 before you begin to Starforce. The
formula for calculating boosts for weapons is different so make sure you fully scroll before you begin
Starforcing

For Superior and Reinforced Gollux items, you should instead use a Advanced Gollux Scroll

This scroll is better than traditional Super Scrolls because

of the ATT and MATT it gives.
For heart, you can use ANY scroll on it so I recommend using a 50% weapon scroll on your Lidium Heart.

These scrolls can be found in the Regular Coin shop. Look for the corresponding scroll that gives +3 stat
and +5 ATT/MATT. These scrolls are stronger than AGS so this is a good item to focus on scrolling first.

Note: DEX scrolls are weaker than other stat scrolls because of their low % success rate. It is worth
considering using a STR or LUK scroll instead to save on costs.

For pottable Badge, you can only Chaos Scroll Variants.

Two of the most commonly used scrolls are Miraculous Chaos Scrolls and Chaos Scrolls of Goodness.
MCS can give positive or negative values of existing stats up to ±9. COG can give only positive values of
existing stats up to +5.

MCS is a bit expensive so early game I recommend sticking with using COG on your badge.

As you move into mid game, you can consider starting to MCS gears with completed potentials. When
using MCS, there is a score denotation to convey what your MCS resulted in.

(+ 𝐴𝑇𝑇𝑀𝐶𝑆 − 𝐴𝑇𝑇𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙 * 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑡) * 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 + (+ 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑀𝐶𝑆 − 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑆𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙 * 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑡)

The multiplier is based on the ratio of stat to ATT. As you approach mid game, the ratio is 2.5 ATT to 1
stat and as you approach late game the ratio is 2 ATT to 1 stat. The scroll calculation is based on the best
available scroll (AGS, SS, 50% scroll) and the number of slots used on MCS.
For INT classes, there are specific items that should be scrolled differently.

The earring int scroll grants +1 MATT over AGS and the Dark Scroll for Gloves for MATT gives -1 MATT for
+3 INT. These scrolls are slightly better than their normal scroll counterparts and can be found in the Elite
Coin Shop.

When using the Dark Scroll, make sure you apply a Shielding Ward to prevent the item from
BOOMing and being destroyed. Shielding Wards can be found in the PQ point shop and the Dojo point
shop.
Upgrading Your Gears? (Starforcing)
Once you use up all of the enhancement slots on your item, you can begin to
Starforce the item. The number of stars on the item can is seen at the top of
the item.

The stats you get from Starforce are different depending on a multitude of factors: Existing Stats
(Weapon), Number of Stars, Level Requirement of the Item, and Superior Item status.

For weapons, the stats you gain from Starforce are based on the existing stats on the weapon prior to
the Starforce. It is best to fully scroll your weapon to +10 slots before you attempt Starforce.

The number of stars changes how much you gain from starforce. Stars after 15 give bonus ATT/MATT
(except badges)

0* – > 1* 18* – > 19*

The higher level of the item, the more bonuses Starforcing will give.

lvl 140 18* – > 19* lvl 150 18* – > 19*

Items that have the Superior tag (Tyrants) give a huge amount of stats based on Starforce in
exchange for different success rates at different stars.

0* – > 1* Superior Item Different Success and Fail Rates

Superior Items are noted with the green Superior tag, Gollux items are NOT Superior.
For most items, you can use the enhance window to Starforce normally.

Star Catching gives a minor boost to the chance of success. The goal is to press stop as the star is in the
orange zone.

When upgrading past 15*, there is a chance for destruction and reduction. When the item is destroyed,
it will become an item trace. All of the scrolls and potentials for the item will remain, but the item is
unusable until the item is recovered. You can recover the item using another copy of the same item.
When the item is recovered, the item is returned to 12*.
You can prevent this from happening by using the safeguard option which eliminates the potential for
the item to BOOM. However, the cost to upgrade will be doubled.

After 17*, items can no longer be safeguarded and all Starforcing will have a chance to BOOM.

Note: Aries has custom Starforce success rates. Keep that in mind when reading about what star to aim
for on gears. It is best to stop at 12* early game as further upgrades are expensive.

Aries has Paragon Boxes that prevent destruction and reduction of stars. These boxes are rare and are
accessible after you reach lvl 275 and Paragon. For now, do not worry about starforcing past 17*.

Superior items have different rules for Starforcing. Since superior items have much higher stat gains, the
rate of success is decreased and stars will reduce starting at 1*-- > 2*.
In order to take advantage of the stats gained from Starforcing these items, it is best to Starforce these
items using Advanced Equip Enhancement Scrolls. These scrolls will give a higher chance to pass stars,
however will have a chance to BOOM the item. When the item is BOOMed with this scroll, it does not
leave behind an item trace and is permanently destroyed. This does NOT leave an item trace; you will
NOT get the item back.

There are generally two ways to use this scroll.

1. When you have a high supply of Tyrants, you can opt to use this scroll continuously in order to
attempt to achieve a high star level. You can just attempt on a different tyrant when the item
BOOMs
2. You can use a Superior Shielding Ward to protect the item from BOOMing when scrolling.
The SSW prevents the chance of BOOM when failing and you can AEES safely. These are found in
PQ point shop and Dojo point shop.

I personally recommend a mixture of both methods; you can YOLO some items to around 4*/5* and use
SSW to finish the items to 7*
After reaching 7* AEES no longer gives a higher rate of success on tyrants. Instead you can use Superior
Star Force Protection Scrolls. These can be found in the MP coin shop.

These scrolls prevent the chance of reduction and destruction when Starforcing so you can attempt to
Starforce without any risk. You should use this to Starforce from 7*-- > 12*

Note: SF boxes only work on Superior items meaning they are used exclusively for tyrants.

Starforcing past 12* is very very expensive as the rate of success decreases significantly.

I do not recommend you Starforce tyrants past 12* as you can use the funds towards an Arcane Umbra
replacement instead.
Upgrading Your Gears? (Potentials-ing)
Gears have hidden potentials that can be used to boost stats.
Potentials are separated into Potential or Main Potential or MPot and
Bonus Potential or BPot.

Potentials can have a maximum of 3 lines, each granting a boost. You

can increase the number of lines by using potential stamps. MPot
Stamps are from legion and Regular Coin shop and BPot Stamps are from lvl up rewards

and PQ point shop.

Potentials are separated into tiers based on their strength.

Rare – > Epic – > Unique – > Legendary

Cubes reset the potential of the gear, rerolling the lines to a different set of potentials. There is a random
chance to tier up when using cubes.

Red Cubes reset the potential of an item. Black Cubes give an option when resetting

They can be found in level up rewards or from mobs. They can be found in the Regular Coin Shop.

Because Red Cubes are abundant, it is recommended to use Red Cubes for MPot Cubing early game.

BPot Cubes reset the bonus potential similar to a Red Cube. They are from PQ point shop or CS.
Violet Cubes are a special way to reset potentials. You are given an option to choose 3 lines from 6
total lines that are all prime lines. Prime lines are the highest possible line for that stat.

As you can see, the lines are all prime, meaning that they are the highest possible value. VCubing is very
expensive and it is NOT recommended to VCube anything that is temporary (Absolab, Tyrants). You can
reach 40k+ stat without touching violet cubes at ALL. I personally recommend selling your revelry points
instead of using them early game.

The exact % stat you can get depends on the level of the item. Items lvl 100-150 can get 12% stat and 9%
All Stat while items lvl 160+ can get 13% stat and 10% all stat.

Aries has a custom cubing system that differs from GMS. Our BPot lines are the same as our MPot lines,
meaning they can both attain the same % results.

It is important to note that there is a hidden cubing mechanic. It is not known to be possible to cube 3 of
the same line (anymore) when using BPot Cubes or Red Cubes.

Early Game Stop Point

When starting out, a good stopping point for your gears is to have 1 line
Stat and 1 line AS. Ideally you would want one of those 2 lines to be
prime.

Because BPot is more expensive than MPot, it is generally best to finish all
of your MPot before you start to consider doing BPot. Since both
potentials give the same stat, another item with a MPot will give the
same boost as the same item with a BPot.
Not all gears need %stat. % ATT is stronger than % stat, especially early game. Thus, Weapon - Secondary
- Emblem are especially strong to cube early game because they can cube % ATT. Be careful of % DMG as
it will make your range inflate, while not increasing your actual damage by that much.

For MPot on your Weapon - Secondary, you want a combination of % ATT, % DMG, and % BD and on your
Emblem you want a combination of % ATT, % DMG, and % IED as Emblem cannot cube % BD. Since BPot
is a bit more expensive, you can opt to stop earlier instead of looking for 3 useful lines.

Good Early Game Stopping Point Mid Game Potential

I recommend focusing on your WSE first when it comes to potential since ATT is very strong early game.
These are the first pieces of gear I would consider BPotting as they provide a huge boost to your overall
damage.

Gloves also do not need % stat as % Critical Damage is a better source of damage increase. You can aim
for 1 line %CDmg and 1 line %stat early game. This is a good upgrade after your WSE.

Good Early Game Stopping Point Mid Game Potential

Potentials can also give utility instead of straight damage. Accessories can get % Item Drop Rate and %
Meso Obtained. These can be strong boosts to funding yourself and for some methods are required.

As you replace boss accessories with Gollux, you can recube them for % Drop Rate and % Meso.
Tip! If you need 2 lines of meso or drop, you don’t need to stamp the BPot as % Drop Rate and % Meso
most often appear in the first line.

Accessories include earring, ring (4), pendant (2), face accessory, eye accessory, belt, and shoulder.
B-but I’m poor. (Universal)
Unfortunately, no one is going to throw early game gear at you for free, so you have to start making
money. First we will start with the Universal ways to make money. This is something you can do regularly
and is applicable to everyone.

Doing daily bosses gives you revelry points. These points can be exchanged for valuable items by typing
@revelry. Super Scroll, Powerful Rebirth Flames, and Violet Cubes can all be purchased with revelry
points. Note: ALL bosses are account-bound, meaning you can only do once per day per account.

Revelry points are shared within the party so you can kindly ask a guildmate to take you bossing if you
cannot kill all of your daily bosses. Harder 2-day bosses give more revelry points so it is especially worth
to tag along for harder bosses.

One specific daily boss that is profitable is Hell Gollux.

The Gollux coins can be used to purchase Advanced Gollux Scrolls and Superior Gollux Equips.

The coins are shared within the party so if you are getting leeched, you can still earn the coins.

Superior Gollux Earrings and Superior Engraved Gollux Belt both drop from Hell Gollux.

Hell Gollux can be reached by going directly to the head of Gollux. If you are inexperienced, you can let
the carry move the party. After killing Hellux, there is a core that you will need to hit to release the
drops. Drop rate affects the chance of dropping equips so let the carry hit the core. Please be advised
that it is common etiquette to leave the drops to the carry. Not doing so may hurt your reputation and
make it harder to get a leech.

Another easy way to earn some money and get ahead is using Gachapon. Gachapon gives a lot of

goodies such as Perfect Bonus Potential Stamp, Scarlet Ring, Reboot Master Class,

RED Scarlet Handkerchief, and more. One thing you can do is use Gachapon to increase your charm

level by using items that give charm on first equip. Gachapon also gives free

androids that can be used in conjunction with your Lidium Heart.

You can also do Commerci every day to make your Sweetwater Tattoo and Monocle. You get
Commerci Denaros that can be exchanged for Sweetwater Items.

You can also do Dark World Tree Weeklies. I recommend you have a bit of range and % Item Drop Rate

before you attempt this. You can get Faint Stigma Spirit Stones which are components required to

make Absolab Shoulders. You can also sell this on the Auction House for some quick mesos. You can get

12 Faint Stigma Spirit Stones per week per character. This means you can farm up 60 Faint Stigma Spirit

Stones for your own Absolab Shoulder.

B-but I’m poor. (Grinding)
Aside from daily activities, you can earn funds by doing some form of grinding. This grinding is NOT the
same type of grinding as in GMS. Hitting mobs to earn meso is not profitable early game and is NOT
recommended. Instead there is a trifecta of farming Aries: FPQ – Mu Lung Dojo – Monster Park.

Fresh Party Quest

Quick Move – > Dimensional Mirror – > Party Quest Entry

Fresh Party Quest or FPQ is the most newbie friendly method of money-making. It requires no damage
and no prior gear or items.

All you need to have is a lvl 200 character. You can do FPQ once per day per character. FPQ, although
limited to daily entry, is not actually limited in terms of money-making. You can join a party on any
character lvl 200+ and many people do. Most people recruit for FPQ via smega or in guild chat.

From the PQ point shop you can buy many different items. Most commonly, people buy and sell Bonus
Potential Cubes for meso or dp.
Monster Park
Quick Move – > Monster Park

Monster Park is a repetitive dungeon where you kill mobs to earn Monster Park Coins to sell. It is

recommended you do either Vanishing Journey or Arcana when you do Monster Park. In order to farm

Monster Park Efficiently, it is required you get 600% Item Drop Rate and a Pet Item Vac. You can

check your Item Drop Rate by typing @check in game. 600% Meso Obtained helps with profits but is not

Required. In order to enter, you must get Tiger Stripe Ticket Pieces. You can find these from Mobs

in future Henesys.

If you are farming VJ, it is recommended you stop after

Stage 4 and talk to Spiegelmann or /leaveparty to exit.
This is to maximize coin gain by doing the most efficient
rotation. If you are doing Arcana, it is recommended you
complete the entire dungeon.

From the MP coin shop, you can buy many items. Players typically sell MCS or MP coins as a service.
Mu Lung Dojo
Quick Move – > Dimensional Mirror – > Mu Lung Dojo

Mu Lung Dojo is a series of floors where you face mini-boss and boss mobs. You have 15 total minutes to
clear as many floors as you can. Every floor that you clear, you receive a set amount of Dojo points.
Higher floors give more points, but have higher HP. Make sure you enter the portal to receive points!

Dojo requires quite a bit of damage to efficiently clear, but requires no other prerequisites. The most
important component of Dojo is the ratio of time to points received. Even if you can clear F40 in 15
minutes, that may be less profitable than clearing F30 in 3 minutes. The best floor to time ratio is
variable depending on your damage and class – the best floors to stop are in increments of 10 since
there is a boost to points received.

From the Dojo point shop, you can buy Innocence Scrolls to sell as inno service, or sell the dojo points as
a service.
Final Thoughts ~
If you’ve made it this far, then you should have some ideas of where to start. Maplestory is your own
experience and this is just a jumping off point. Thank you for reading through everything and I hope this
guide has helped you in any way. Below are some additional resources that the guide has not covered
that you may find useful when starting out.

I want to thank @beluwuga, @jaketizzle, and @.aqualight for helping with proofreading and creating
this guide. Special thank you to @inyerbones for helping with changes and editing. Huge thanks to my
AiSteadMai buddies (especially @highprioritycitizen and @xech#5572 for screenshots) who witnessed
my mental breakdown while writing this guide!

References
1. [AriesMS] Funding Guide – by charsiuu
2. Commerci Republic Questline Guide – by Jermmodia
3. FPQ Guide for AriesMS – by Orfe

Additional Resources
1. Maple Union/Legion Guide – by Hene
2. Aries FAQ
3. AriesMS Boss List – by tobi
4. Boss Prequest Guide
5. V Job Guide