Covering The Basic 2
IP and Skill
Martial Artists can be both easy and difficult to build in terms of skill, depending on what your goal is. If you want to be a PvP'er, your skills will often(and usually) go into several skills that you don't need to increase if you're only planning on PvM. When considering that there's only a limited amount of IP Resets available(Listed as IPR in the skill menu), it's important to know what you want to do to avoid regretting choices later.
A typical PvM setup focuses on the standard skills used for Player versus Monster Combat, where we play on our usual strengths. PvP follows the same skills as in PvM, but usually sacrifices less important skills for other PvP Unique skills. I will list up all the skills that you will usually deal with, to provide you with a guideline of what you need to max and what to prioritize.
First Priority
These skills are the most important skills of all. Max before anything. Always focus on these skills.
Martial Arts, Agility, Strength, Physical Init, Evade Close Combat
Second Priority
These skills should be closely increased after the First Prio skills have been maxed, and all of them should be maxed as soon as possible.
Psychological Modifications, Sensory improvement, Time & Space, Biological metamorphosis, Brawl, Dodge Ranged, Stamina, Psychic, Sense, Treatment, Duck Explosives
Third Priority.
These skills are less important for the active playing, and more used for passive skills and requirements. Dimach, Intelligence and Comp Lit should be maxed eventually.
Dimach, Parry, Riposte, Runspeed, Computer Literacy, First Aid, Intelligence, Nano Init
Non-Necessary Skills
These skills are not required to increase, although some of them are nice.
Vehicle Air, Matter metamorphosis, Matter creation, Map Navigation, Perception
PvP Recommended Skills
These skills are not needed for PvM, although if properly used, will of course provide additional advantages. Keep in mind, that the cost of these skills can quickly cost alot of IP.
Bow, Aimed Shot, Sharp Objects
Perks
There are a few key perk lines that every MA should(And must really) follow, but after that, there are variables of what to choose. I'll try to give a little pros & con for each line, and point out PvP and PvM lines. Unlike many other professions, there's a quite clear cut for MA's what to choose when considering PvM and PvP, as some perks are only useful in one of the situations. This is not a perk guide or detailed perk information, that can be found in the perk sections in the guide, but this is meant to give new players a few pointers what to go for when deciding perks.
Acrobat
Usage: PvM & PvP
Pros: Great mods, only 4 points, and the perk specials are very important.
Cons: No drawbacks.
Recommendation: Max as soon as you get it.
Spiritual Master
Usage: PvM & PvP
Pros A very important line for the Martial Arts and Dimach skill and the specials it gives.
Cons: Riposte is only useful for Upon a Wave of Summer, but think of it as a bonus instead of a useless skill
Recommendation: Max as soon as you get it.
Kung Fu Master
Usage: PvM & PvP
Pros: Even more Martial Arts skill and two great specials. Only costs 5 points.
Cons: None really.
Recommendation: Max when you can.
Careful in Battle
Usage: Mostly PvP, Some PvM
Pros: Great way to boost defense, will make you almost immune to crits.
Cons: Evasive Stance isn't all that good until you get the last few points.
Recommendation: For PvP, This line is strongly recommended. For PvM, even a few points will be enough to reduce crits.
Disharmony
Usage: PvM
Pros: A great perkline for boosting damage, and the lifetap helps too.
Cons: Only really good once you get to point 9 and 10. Due to the lifetap counting as a second attack, it triggers dual damage shields. In PvM, hardly noticable, in PvP, can be a big pain.
Recommendation: For PvM, This line is strongly recommended, but only when going the full line. Definitely the line to go for if you're after damage.
Unstunnable
Usage: PvP
Pros: Makes you completely unstunnable, and adds 25% Root Resist in addition.
Cons: Almost no use in PvM apart from a few mobs.
Recommendation: Max in PvP. It will be a lifesaver, and the added Root Resist is big enough to give you a nice chance of resisting.
Spatial Displacement
Usage: PvP
Pros: Gives you almost 50% Root and Snare Resist, including perk specials meant to remove roots/snares.
Cons: No use in PvM. 10 Perk Points for 45% Root/Snare Resist in PvM is a waste of points.
Recommendation: Absolutely recommended in PvP. Along with Unstunnable, you'll get up to 70% Root Resist and 45% Snare Resist. And for a Melee User, that's a great way to even the odds.
Brawler
Usage: PvP and PvM
Pros: In addition to increasing Brawl damage, increases the amount of Stunning you can do. With the right equip, you can push Brawlskill beyond 2K, increasing stun duration from brawls with 1 second. 6 Points is a cheap price.
Cons: Last Perk Special isn't worth it.
Recommendation: Decent, but not worth maxing it unless you're going all out damage.
Damage, Crits and Critscopes
This section was greatly inspired by Kahina, because she reminded me about this very important topic. Thank you for contributing and reminding me about this, it's much appreciated.
As you might or might not know, the Martial Artist weapon(Fists), scales accordingly and directly to our Martial Arts skill. To put it simply, each time your Martial Arts skill changes, your damage changes accordingly, and unlike normal equipped weapons, the damage increases constantly for each single point of Martial Arts you get(since it would be like going up in QL on normal weapons). However, this is also one of the problems unless you have massive MA skill, since the minimum damage is actually a bit low compared to popular AI weapons.
A Small example to show the difference in minimumsdamage.
-QL300 Kyr'Ozch Sword(Requires 2001 2HE): 375-475
-2001 Martial Arts Skill: 204-831
Now you might think that the Martial Arts skill is better, and on low AC mobs this is true since you'll easily get up on the high range of the damagescale, but on high AC mobs this situation changes, since you'll find yourself hitting for the
minimumdamage on each hit. The damage situation would then be something like this(Depending on the AC of the mob):
-QL300 Kyr'Ozch Sword: 375-375
-2001 Martial Arts Skill: 204-204
As you can see, this changes the situation quite radically, thus, it's time to rely on what we do better than anyone else...critting. Critting is the key for doing damage. On low AC mobs, critting will make your damage soar, and on high AC mobs it will be even more important to have as much crit percentage as possible since it allows less of your hits to be normal while most of them becomes crits. This effect on high AC mobs can be solved by using a Blades of Boltar, but not everyone has access to those. I'll cover them in the advanced section.
One of the most important tools when it comes to critting, is having a good Scope. These days, there are 3 types, 2 of which are quite common and 1 which is slightly rare.
Gurgling River Sprite
You can find this in Hollow Island, a raid location in Belial Forest. This is definitely one, if not THE best scope as soon as you can get 500 sense, since you'll gain 5 crit percentage almost without loosing init. The biggest advantage with that, is that you'll simply won't notice the drawbacks of having it on in full def compared to the two others. Secondly, the added mods help too. The disadvantage however, is that it's just 5%, and if you want to get high up on the damage lists, you need to increase that percentage.
Vision Enhancer
Easy to get, easy to put on, a nice scope for anyone. The loss of init isn't too bad, and the Aimed Shot bonus helps alot in PvP, which would be the mainly usage of this scope compared to the next one...
Viral Targeting Subunit
For pure damage, there's no better choice. 15% Crit at the cost of 500 Init is the best deal of them all, considering that your ideal aggdef setting will be around 25-40%. You'll loose alot of init, but you'll gain it back with the crits, and once you go 1/1 this is unbeatable. The only drawback is the chance of actually getting the 15% one, since it only drops from the Alien Ship Generals, and has a low droprate.