Introduction

Greetings. My name is Aerie (Praviina/Leekiya/Fezzie/Velira/Velyuin in-game) and I’ve been playing Dragon Nest well over since the 40 cap in the SEA server up until the 95 cap.

I’m a jack of all trades but I find more joy using support classes or just generally someone who supports the group in almost any MMO/Co-op game across that allows me to do so.

If you’ve read my first guide, then you won’t be a stranger to this one.

If this is you’re first time reading my guide, you’re in for a fairly detailed one. After having achieved good stabbing proficiency with Dragoon, I’ve continued my search for another DPS class that could satisfy my need for speed.

Tempest Overview

In terms of damage type, Tempest can be a sustained burst or sustained DPS depending on which playstyle of hers you’d like to approach.

Possibly a reflex-heavy class, she gets up close and personal with steady kicks and packs a deadly punch while evading everything that’s thrown at her gracefully and effortlessly with her arsenal of acrobatic maneuvers and simple flips.

She is also potentially a input-heavy class due to having a good amount of passives that require pressing mouse and keyboard. So if you’re not fond of pressing 1-12 on your keyboard and would rather have flexibility with the mouse as well, then you might like the circus combat that Tempest has to offer.

Before you play Tempest

Just like from the first guide, I present a gameplay showcase for you to see whether you will enjoy Tempest’s gameplay or not. Please keep in mind that this fight is NOT a flawless, no-hit run. Just like everyone else, I still have a long way to go in getting better at any class.

This video also serves a display of her strengths and weaknesses.

Just like Dragoon, your combat efficiency with the class will heavily depend on your ping. Due to her instant skills requiring an input, there will be some cases where casting instant could be dangerous due to the delay from latency.

Therefore, some combinations are not possible because of higher ping. While Dragoon has some leeway with her gameplay and I-frames, in my opinion, TEMPEST MUST BE STRICTLY PLAYED ON GREEN PING.

Class Pros and Cons

Tempest Pros:

• She doesn’t have a lot of skills to use which could entice people who have trouble with too much skills on the hotbar

• She has an “Infinite” I-frame that you can use at any given time

• Has amazing air maneuverability

• Her signature buff, Spirit Boost, has 100% uptime

• Her signature skill (In my opinion), Punch Smash, is satisfying to use and deals heavy damage

• She has other acrobatic maneuvers in her kit that serve as an I-frame apart from her “Infinite” I-frame

• Her attacks are fast and relentless

• Her Spirit Boost provides movement speed, action speed and 40% cooldown reduction. What’s not to like?!

• Fast as the wind!

Tempest Cons

• APM heavy

• Due to having a small arsenal, her gameplay can get very repetitive

• Her “Infinite” I-frame requires a skill input and must be grounded before using

• Requires good management of her bubble to play effectively

• While she has amazing air maneuverability, this can sometimes be a double-edged sword when used with poor timing

• Is very reliant on her Spirit Boost as she feels very sluggish without it

• Her signature skill, Punch Smash, while dealing heavy damage, suffers from crit RNG to truly shine

• Her acrobatic maneuvers are optional rather than a requirement to dodge things as she needs to stay mostly grounded

• She’s very vulnerable when her emergency evasions are on cooldown

• Her speed is a double-edged sword

• Death is like the wind, always by her side (SSSHHH. IT’S NOT A REFERENCE!)

• Carpal Tunnel.

Skill Build - PVE

Noteworthy Skills:

• Twin Shot - Archer’s basic skill. An upgrade for Tempest

• Prosperity - Increases attack speed and additional damage for fatal hits by 5%, 900s duration

• Spiritual Excel - Increases AGI by 30%. 100% uptime

• Spirit Boost - Increases Movement and Action Speed by 25% as well as Cooldown Reduction by 40%. 100% uptime

• Double Somersault Kick (DSK) - Somersaults another time after Somersault Kick. Can be used in the air after Aerial Twin Shot

• Evade - Tempest’s “Infinite” I-frame

• Axe Blade - Drops an axe kick to the front

• Hurricane Uppercut - A…. Hurricane Uppercut… Durrr~

• Spiral Vortex - Casts a small vortex in the front. Small AOE

• Punch Smash - Charges up and delivers a… Falcon Punch!

• Astral Storm - Tempest’s awakening skill. Used to charge up Hero Skill

• Circle Shot - Jumps and performs an upside down shot. Very small AOE. Reduces Critical Resistance by 20%

Archer Skill Tree

There’s not a lot to go for. Take all the passives if you so wish as well as Maxing Twin Shot

Twin Shot/Aerial Twin Shot

• Rapidly fires two arrows. This skill has no cooldown for Tempest. More on this later.

Moon Kick

Special Mention to Moon Kick - This is only used in conjunction with DSK so you can drop to the ground faster

Acrobat Skill Tree

Kick Shot

For the server, this was changed to be the Jade Variant version.

Quickly performs a series of multi-kicks, dropping a vortex that further deals more damage in front and backflipping right after

• The backflip gives I-frames. This allows you to follow up with Tumble so you can reposition or get away from a still ongoing multi-hit attack in your direction.

• This is a safe skill to use throughout the fight regardless of which phase of the animation you’re currently at as it can be cancelled out with Evade.

• Evade cancel will NOT work when you’re in backflipping animation.

Binding Shot

This skill was also changed to match the Jade Variant version.

Instead of releasing ropes to pull enemies, you simply shoot out a vortex that deals high damage that still applies fracture debuff

Side Note on Binding Shot

• This is the only skill that allows you to follow up immediately with Double Somersault Kick (DSK) without any Somersault Kick pre-requisite.

• Use this to your advantage for a swift I-frame transitioning into a counter-attack punishment as well as to reapply debuff

Circle Shot

Jumps and performs an upside-down shot that reduces Critical Resistance by 20%

Side Note on Circle Shot

• You can use directional keys (WASD) to dictate where you want to go with the skill once you cast it.

• The speed while performing this skill is affected by movement and action speed. So the more you have of one or both of them, the farther you will go with this skill.

This can be cleverly used to dodge a frontal attack by side-stepping with it all the while inflicting/refreshing the debuff

Double Somersault Kick (DSK)

Allows you to do a stronger and slightly longer Somersault Kick that also gives I-frame while in animation

Side Note on DSK

• What was not properly explained here is that Somersault Kick on Archer’s Skill Tree will technically put this skill “on cooldown” as it does require you to cast that first before following up with DSK.

• Using this with Binding Shot and/or performing it in the air will not put this skill on cooldown. More on this later

Chain Tumble and Tip Tops

These 2 are your aerial maneuvering skills. Tip Tops having more class and use than the former. Both of them give a short I-frame. More on this later

Side Note on Chain Tumble and Tip Tops

• This will give you full I-frames until you return to a neutral position. Tip Tops will only give you I-frame once you perform the flip

Spirit Boost

Acrobat’s Signature Buff. Briefly hastens your Movement and Action speed by 25% while reducing cooldowns by 40%.

An invaluable buff and must be on at all times.

Spiral Vortex

Casts a small vortex of wind in front. Press LMB or RMB to cancel the animation and have the vortex deal additional damage

Side Note on Spiral Vortex/Current

• Pressing LMB or RMB will give you an extremely short I-frame.

The timing for the I-frame is very tight with this one and is not recommended to gamble the timing on a higher ping.

Divine Rage

Tempest’s Ultimate. This was changed to match the Jade Variant which eliminates most of the animation. Gives full I-frame

Tempest Skill Tree

Evade

This is the so-called “Infinite” I-frame of Tempest.

When I say “Infinite” meaning that it is what it is, no cooldown.

Side Note on Evade

• Evade Is Tempest’s skill canceller as well. This in my opinion, will be practiced in a well-disciplined manner for what it does apart from the I-frame

Hurricane Dance/Current

Unleashes a flurry of attacks once the first kick connects.

Side Note on Hurricane Dance

• This skill gives a full I-frame once it connects. The attacks are extended by consuming [Currents]. Therefore extending the I-frame as well

Class Mastery I

Increases Twin Shot’s hit count by 1. Resulting in 4 total hits and gaining 4 total [Currents].

Class Mastery II

• Removes cooldown of Twin Shot.
• Press RMB twice after casting either Punch Smash, Hurricane Dance, Hurricane Uppercut, or Spiral Vortex to follow up with DSK

Class Mastery III

Allows DSK to get 2 [Currents] when the hit connects

Side Note on Class Masteries

• What was not mentioned here is that you gain 2 [Currents] every second. Keep that in mind as this is important later on when maintaining/generating [Currents]

Awakened Skill Tree

Axe Blade

Drops an axe kick that also sends out a short wave to the front. Gain 10 [Currents] upon a successful hit

Side Note on Hurricane Dance

• As an input skill, Axe Blade is your bread and butter. It is the most important input skill out of everything and I will explain why in the rotation later.

Astral Rage

Leaps forward to deliver a small AOE but powerful ground punch. Gain 10 [Currents] upon a successful hit

Side Note on Astral Rage

• On top of providing some super armor and an okay gap closer, while it does include [Dash] in the input, note that this is only a temporary instant skill change and it will disappear if you don’t use it fast enough while dashing so keep that in mind when dodging then transitioning into a chase sequence in the fight.

Hurricane Uppercut

Exactly what you think it does. Gain 10 [Currents] upon a successful hit. The Current version of this skips the short wind-up

Side Note on Hurricane Uppercut

• Despite the Current version eliminating the short wind-up and just going straight to the uppercut. This can be cancelled with Evade if you’re too fast, too furious.

Astral Storm

Jump high in the air and delivers a barrage of punches and finishes off with a powerful slam. Charges your Hero Skill

Punch Smash/Current

Gathers energy in hand and delivers a single, devastating blow. Tempest’s signature skill (In my opinion). Gives full I-frame

Side Note on Punch Smash

• Punch Smash Current DOES NOT give any I-frame. Despite the punch looking almost instant, this can still be cancelled with Evade if you’re too fast, too furious

Skill Plates

Before we continue, I want to let you know that there are 2 sections of Skill Plates that I will provide you.

This is due to the reason for your chosen rotation: Punch Rotation or Vortex Rotation.

More will be explained later.

Skill Plates - Punch Rotation

Divine Rage (Damage / Cooldown)

• The choice is yours. I prefer Damage as the Cooldown for this with Spirit Boost is around 74 seconds already which isn’t bad

Spirit Boost (Cooldown)

• Cooldown is the way to go as this will keep the buff up 100% of the time

Kick Shot (Damage)

• The skill has a very low cooldown when paired with Spirit Boost and it will be part of your rotation regardless of whichever you will choose

Double Somersault Kick (Damage)

• While the damage is average at best, it doesn’t change the fact that this will still provide you 2 [Currents] and considering that the skill is enhanced and “infinite use”, you don’t have a lot of other good options to choose from.

Despite that…

Punch Rotation Optional Skill Plates

Spiral Vortex (Action Speed)

• Replace Divine Rage for this one. While the ultimate has an okay-ish cooldown, it still takes more than a minute.

Considering Spiral Vortex’s animation is slow, it is recommended to have this to alleviate the problem. It also deals high damage even if you go for punch rotation.

Binding Shot (Damage)

• Replace Divine Rage for this one. The skill doesn’t have a terrible cooldown and actually deals some pretty good burst damage.

Skill Plates - Vortex Rotation

Spirit Boost (Cooldown)

• Cooldown is the way to go as this will keep the buff up 100% of the time

Kick Shot (Damage)

• The skill has a very low cooldown when buffed with Spirit Boost and it will be part of your rotation regardless of whichever you choose

Spiral Vortex (Action Speed)

• This can’t be optional if you will be choosing this rotation. It’s a must.

Double Somersault Kick (Damage)

• While the damage is average at best, it doesn’t change the fact that this will still provide you 2 [Currents], and considering that the skill is enhanced and “infinite use”, you don’t have a lot of other good options to choose from.

Despite that…

Vortex Rotation Optional Skill Plates

Divine Rage

• Replace DSK for this one. If you have no problems with your [Currents], this is the only option I think that’s worth replacing it with.

Your Chosen Rotation

The reason why I listed 2 rotations is because I want to give you more diversity/options for you to approach the class. I’m not much of a big fan of (For lack of a better term) the “Proper rotation”.

In the end, I always approach a class from different angles and formulate playstyle and rotations of my own. While I am not ignorant of the “Proper rotation”, I only approach this when I have to be competitive (Unless the class has no workaround for their rotation) and honestly, the only competition you will ever see here is just clear time from STG and Vaseraga.

This goes to show that even though I use Punch Rotation, I still value the notion of being efficient when needed.

Depending on what you choose, can also dictate the difficulty of Tempest’s gameplay

Punch Rotation

This rotation is what I consider the easier between the two. The sole reason is that Punch Current consumes 50 stacks upon use which allows you to have more leeway with the rest of your skills such as Kick Shot, DSK, Twin Shot and/or Hurricane Dance as you start stacking all over again.

You also have a bit more room to spam Binding Shot and Circle Shot once you’ve expended your [Currents] to refresh the debuffs.

You will be using DSK and Twin Shot a bit here to compensate for the massive and near instantaneous [Current] consumption.

You have an option to use Vortex Current to slow down the consumption if you so wish

Vortex Rotation

This rotation is what I personally consider the harder one between the two.

You don’t have a lot of leeway to cast your other skills such as Hurricane Dance, Twin Shot and/or DSK.

Because you need to cast as much Vortex Current as you can as this only consumes 30 [Currents] which is equivalent to casting Hurricane Uppercut, Astral Rage, and Axe Blade, which essentially gives you another Vortex Current immediately.

Kick Shot is used more aggressively here due to the tight timing of everything. The only bright side to this rotation is that you won’t be having much problems maintaining your [Currents], since again, it only consumes 30 per cast.

But if you do, do not hesitate to use DSK in the mix as a filler and a [Current] generator as well.

The overall difficulty stems from using Vortex Current as while pressing any mouse input will give you an extremely short I-frame, it’s the timing of using this skill is what makes it hard to master.

Cancelling it early will void any further damage while forcing yourself to use another one or worse, taking a hit will just simply give you a lot of other bad jujus to worry about

Skill Up Plate Options

Kick Shot

• Pick this one if you’re using Punch Rotation as you will not be using Spiral Vortex

Spiral Vortex

• Pick this one if you’re using Vortex Rotation or if you’re like me who chooses a somewhat of a hybrid approach.

Side Note on [Current]

• Keep in mind that when using this version for the skills available, it will always deal slightly lesser damage than the original skill, to compensate for being able to instantly cast them

Reflexes

You must be wondering why I put a reflex requirement on the rotations. The reason is that there are just so many cancellations you could do or even screw yourself up with when using Evade.

This doesn’t include the fact that you will also be using this to dodge as well rather than the usual Tumble; though still can be used to reposition yourself a bit while still being able to cast [Current] skills.

Being too fast with Evade can potentially screw you over, cancelling the skill and then take a hit while being too slow means you have to catch up with your rotation and your skills going off cooldown.

This takes some practice and ironically, is arguably what I think, the longest time to practice on Tempest.

Both rotations are okay in terms of mastering it. Doing inputs take some time as this involves muscle memory and improvisation on the fly in certain scenarios.

Maintaining Currents

Let’s do some little math (FML) before we continue

Please keep in mind that Spirit Boost is active in this case because you should never, ever be off of the buff as this is 100% uptime so we will ignore the original cooldowns of every skill (Except Astral Storm)

• For every second, you gain 2 [Currents]

• Hurricane Uppercut (3.6 rounded up to 4 seconds for cooldown), Astral Rage (18 seconds) and Axe Blade (6 seconds) give 10 [Currents] each

• Spirit Boost’s buff is 25 seconds

• If you gain 2 every second, you get 50 in 25 seconds so therefore, to fully cap your stacks, it will take you exactly 50 seconds to get 100 [Currents] alone

• DSK gives 2 stacks upon hit

• Twin Shot gives 4 stacks when the 2 arrows connect. Only 2 if one misses

When stacking [Current], If you base the stacking process on Astral Rage’s cooldown, it will be something like this:

• Axe Blade is cast thrice
• Astral Rage is cast once
• Hurricane Uppercut is cast at least 4 times

So you get 30, 10, and 40 respectively which totals to 80 [Currents] every 18 seconds

By using Tri-Currents every 18 seconds and at least casting Twin Shot and DSK once, you will get a total of 86 [Currents].

At this point, Hurricane Uppercut will be ready and after 2 more seconds, will give you 4 more which will then total to a fully stacked [Current]

Regardless of your chosen rotation for Tempest, timing and careful attention of your [Current] is extremely important.

Especially when using Tri-Currents because you do not want to waste the gains by casting one of them which in turn overfills it.

Your mastery of the class will also dictate how fast you will empty/consume your stacks as well as maintaining/gaining them. This is true for both rotations even though Spiral Vortex consumes 20 less [Currents].

While there are a few more factors that will affect the gains and losses, one other major factor I can think of are the fights you encounter.

Vortex as an example, requires you to finish the animation in order to deal the maximum amount of hits.

Cancelling this out in order to I-frame, will deal less damage which then requires you to immediately cast another vortex to gain the dps you have lost, which in a sense, breaks your flow which you must regain by matching up with the current once again

Just as how Tri-Currents are always used ASAP, every second also counts.

Never underestimate how a mere second can provide or destroy the flow of your combat!

As a general rule of practice, I will always check my stacks every 12 seconds as this directly matches the halftime duration of Spirit Boost.

Axe Blade

If you are wondering why this passive input skill has its own section, I will tell you why and I cannot stress this enough:

Everytime you use AND HIT with this skill, IT WILL REDUCE THE COOLDOWN OF Spirit Boost BY 5 SECONDS.

So with a little bit more math, to fully refresh the buff, it will take you at least 3 uses. Cutting off 15 seconds of the cooldown. 4 if the passive is on cooldown when refreshing the buff.

At this point, you will have a leftover of at least 3-4 seconds depending on how fast you use Axe Blade whenever it’s ready. This is the sole reason why the buff is a 100% uptime

Skill Combinations and Maneuvers

Fights are volatile and so are you. There’s a lot of room to think for Tempest in a split second in a given fight scenario. Which decision you make can heavily affect the outcome for the next few seconds. Then the next one after that.

Regardless, speed is the key for her so here are some quick combinations you can pull off. Some take less than a second while others take a while depending on your actions.

And as usual I will give them stupid names

Don’t believe that I can be faster than that? Here:

Did you see that? No? That was a Tri-Punch. Heh. Moving on~

Getting Over It (Yeah… I know..)

This may seem easy from the GIF, but, pulling this off in combat with a lot of stuff happening is not.

Following this exactly is the only way to pull this off due to animation jankiness and god game Dragon Nest.

This maneuvering is very niche but you can follow up with ATS (Aerial Twin Shot) to ASK (Aerial Somersault Kick) right after or in between the maneuver:

Airborne > Tip Tops > Spirit Shot > Tip Tops > Air Pounce > Tip Tops

Delayed Tri-Punch (Requires At least 86 stacks)

Simplest and fastest combination to do.

Any one of the Tri-Current will suffice here to fill up the stacks to do a Tri-Punch if you’re lacking any.

This is also to ensure that you don’t misuse the skill to overfill your [Current] by being at least 90 stacks below first.

Nutcracker (Requires 100 stacks)

This is essentially a Quad Punch, but, since you can only cast Punch Current twice, you use Tri-Current followed up by Kick Shot as a filler into a quick Hurricane Uppercut to another Punch Current to have enough stacks for one more punch :

Tri-Punch > Tri-Current > Kick Shot > Hurricane Uppercut > Punch Current

Lowkey Storm

The difficulty of pulling this off depends on how fast you can mash the button for Astral Storm.

The purpose of this short combination is to quickly apply/refresh Circle Shot’s debuff while having Astral Storm able to cast very low in the air to skip the rest of the crashing-down animation.

This can only be done with Spirit Boost activated.

Because this has something to do with breaking a skill’s animation early and forcing the game to put you in a neutral position despite still being a few feet off the ground because of how fast you ended the skill.

This is true for some skills on other classes.

Circus Clown

After Circle Shot, you can do that…. circus combat infinitely.

That’s all I’ll tell you so I don’t give you any more ideas

Signal #5/#6 (If you know, you know. Requires 100 stacks)

This essentially dumps as many Spiral Vortexes as you can in a short timeframe.

Depending on how well you maintain your stacks as well as your handling with Tri-Current usage, you can go up to 6.

Hop, Skip, Jump! (NOT a League reference)

This has 2 maneuvers.

One that is Evade > Tip Tops or Evade > Dodge. Both of these versions heavily depend on the situation.

You do not want to use Tip Tops if you know a very fast follow-up attack is about to come as you have a slight endlag on landing; preventing you from doing anything for a while.

While with the dodge version, it functions as a I-frame extender as well as an Instant extender since Evade and Dodge procs the instant skills and at the same time, essentially refreshes the timer.

Spirit Boost

Having Action Speed benefits all classes. But on top of having a cooldown reduction is even greater.
But to have Movement Speed as well? Only this buff has it all. Despite how good of a miracle it is, it has its own set of drawbacks

Because of how all of these buffs are placed on you, you act fast, do things fast, and move fast. Each of these 3 factors can present its dangers in a fight.

• Being too fast and too quick to act can possibly lead to your death or a massive hit.
• Being speedy would have all of your skills put on cooldown at times when it shouldn’t be at that moment.
• Moving too fast can make you miss the skill.

Everything that you do must be properly placed in order.

Once you’ve practiced enough, all this speedster experience is just going to be a normal thing to the point you might find things sluggish after having a taste of Tempest, which is normal.

Jetlag am I right? No? K.

Listen, I’m not really the type of person who teaches someone just by saying “Git gud” (Unless provoked) and expect that you’ll do fine with such a simple, 2-word “encouragement”.

I break things down and give you as much information as I can from my own experience and that thing’s never gonna change.
Whether you follow them to the letter or not is up to you. I won’t judge.

A fight with Nippon

Here’s one last video of me fighting Black Blade Vaseraga.

Fighting him as Tempest is not easy for me. I had to display every skill that I have and this type of combat you will see from me is more of a hybrid approach in terms of rotation and aggressiveness (Or lack thereof). Nothing to explain here.

Conclusion

Tempest has a lot on her plate and she’s not a class for anyone to approach confidently regardless of their experience or knowledge in the game.

While her gameplay can get very repetitive, there’s just something fun I find with her when using her. That sort of freedom where you are free to control your inner flow and have no worries whatsoever once you’re finally one with the wind.

While she may not be the most extravagant, flashy looking class, you can expect that just like the hurricane, she devastates anything in her path in a matter of seconds

Whether you completely agree or disagree after reading all this, I’m still grateful for your time reading through this guide and would love your feedback and thoughts about it. Time is always a precious thing to everyone and it should always be respected and treasured.

And with that, I hope you enjoy being a Circus Clow- Acrobat!