Xian The Great Merchant Online - Korea Characters and Mercenaries

(Last updated: September 24th, 2015)

Hello all! Finally I can finish the 2nd post of my opinion about xian mercenaries! :D

I must remind you that I always said "my opinion" instead of "the guide", because I'm not guiding you guys. I just want to tell you about my experience-based opinion and I hope I can help you to play TGM easier with it :D

Still about the great merchant online, today I wanna share my experience and opinion about Chosun mercenaries! (a.k.a Korea)

I must inform you again that I'm not that expert in this game, especially about mercenaries terms other than Japan and China because I only experienced a lot in Japanese and Chinese character in the old time~

So you might find some terms that I took from Gersangjjang's website! :)

Similar to my previous post about Japanese mercenaries, I'll divide it into seven parts (minus hunting spots). Prepare your coffee and things, and enjoy! I hope this post can be useful, especially for you who play the great merchant/xian online for the first time. Welcome to the great merchant world, by the way!

^_^

A. Introduction - Chosun Main Characters

Chosun or Korea characters are the most common to be found as a starter char. The reason is quite simple for common gamers: very easy to use, Korea is a 'central country', and it has a complete combination of heroes. Yes indeed. Korea has the easiest hero combinations to play with, especially if you play this game for first time!

They have the best tanker hero in TGM. They have a healer hero with his wide-area and massive damage skill. They have a hero who can spin a massive amount of deadly spears. They have a beautiful transgender woman who can give a good support (LoL). They have the two oldest heroes in TGM who still make a good impact today, one with an upgrade-able tank and the other one can zap a massive epicenter lightning bolt specialized in bossing! :D

Oh, I forgot to mention. They also have a dreadful hero to fight the flying monsters. He has an epic basic attack and can summon a spirit with huge amount of HP as well!

What else did you expect from Korea? They have a complete combination from the front line to the back line. In Indonesia, we say : "maka nikmat mana lagi yang hendak kau dustakan?"
LOLs :D

I will say that Chosun characters are very suitable for you who wants to learn TGM easily without a 'meaningful challenge' :)

Don't you agree with that? Well, based on my experience, I'm strongly agree with that! :p

In my opinion, why Korea?

1. Has the most complete set of heroes among all countries 'from head to toe'.
2. 5 out of 7 heroes are hitter, while one of them is the best hitter for flying monsters.
3. Has the best tanker hero in TGM!
4. Complete mercenaries combination.
5. Korea is always be a central country since a long time ago. You can find almost anything here. (Maybe because it has a neat background music as well hahaha~)

Here, I wanna share my opinion about Korea characters and mercenaries, including my advise about them, so you can judge it for yourself later :)

B. Transformation of Chosun Main Character

 

 

Basically, a male player with Korean character will (or must) be represented as Cho Chul Hee oppa, while female player will be represented as Lee Myung Hwa unnie.
(why does it sound like a K-drama wannabe?!)
However, as I've already said on my previous post, we all know that TGM didn't restrict the players with a gender selection and it's up to you to choose the character you want to play with.

Cho will be transformed to Hunter and Lee will be a Great Merchant (my favorite one!). They must speak to NPC Saeonyu in order to start the transformation quest (edge of the coast at southeast of Taebaek). The requirements are the same for all characters. You can read in my previous post about Japan mercenaries.

Here they are :

1. Hunter (Cho Chul Hee)

Initial Stats -- STR 100 | AGI 150 | VIT 150 | WIS 50 | Physical Res 40% | Magical Res 40%

Weapon -- Bow (Just the 'special one')

Attack Type -- Long range

Skill -- Trap (Sets a trap to damage the enemies). Triple Shot (from upgraded weapon)
Trap Formula -- (Level x 1.5) + (AGI x 2) + STR + (Total Damage  x 0.75)
Triple Shot -- (Atk x 5) + (AGI x 6)

Specialized Skills -- Expert Trap (Increase Trap Damage). Improved (Increase Trap Duration)

2. Great Merchant (Lee Myung Hwa)

Initial Stats -- STR 200 | AGI 50 | VIT 150 | WIS 50 | Physical Res 30% | Magical Res 50%

Weapon -- Brush (Just the 'special one')

Attack Type -- Long range

Skill -- Teleport (Allow you to jump to saved locations. Maximum of 3 locations. Each teleport needs gold.). Stronger Plans (from upgraded weapon)
SP Formula -- (STR + Atk + Level) x 3

Specialized Skills -- Negotiation (Gives more gold when you sell an item in a shop, but only if they not selling it). Hercules (Raise the maximum weight)

*Now you know why I pick her as my favorite one. Lol

If you want to look for my advise about the main character's stats build before transformation, you can find it on my previous post about Japanese mercenaries. After transformation, I can say you just have to focus on AGI for male character and STR for female character. The rest stats is up to you to decide :)

C. Mercenaries-Generals-Heroes

1. Swordsman

  

Role -- Full Tanker

General -- Gwon Yul (Min. lv 50) | Skill : Fire Nova (100 MP)

Hero -- Sunmo (Min. lv 90) | Skills : Iron Wall (Initially 5 HP and 51 MP. Duration and MP cost will increase as level goes up. Passively release Fire Nova when attacked). Silence (250 MP. Duration and cost will increase as level goes up)

Weapon -- Sword

Stat Recommendation -- Swordsman = 35-40 STR and full VIT | Gwon Yul = 400-500 MP, 80-120 STR, and full VIT | Sunmo = 500-600 MP, 1500-2000 HP, and full STR (good defense and damage of fire nova). Or you can put him on full VIT instead of STR for a huge health pool if you want.
Active Skill Type -- Magic
Skill Formula (Iron Wall) -- Damage = Atk x ((level x 2) + 80) / 100 | Duration = (HP cost + 2) seconds

Notes :

• He is one of the main reason why people love to use Korean character : The most important tanker in TGM
• You may want give full VIT on swordsman at earlier time (starter).
• You may want to make gwon yul as a hitter to speed up his level as I'll recommend him to be promoted first. Put 600-700 MP, 300-400 HP, and the rest goes to STR. Don't forget to bring Chinese Magician as well.
• I suggest to promote swordsman as high level as possible and gwon yul at level 100+ (if you are patient enough). Create sunmo as good as possible! But don't let me restrict you. It's completely up to you :D
• If you decide not to put him as your first priority, you might wanna put 200-300 MP on swordsman so he can use fire nova from a new sword.
• I would recommend to build sunmo with full STR rather than VIT, because vit is useless when iron wall mode is on unless you need a little extra time to reactivate the iron wall.
• The cost calculation for Sunmo's iron wall is a bit confusing, as the formula provided on gersangjjang, 52jushang, or any other information I found isn't match with the result I got.
• Sunmo's iron wall makes him immune to any basic magical-type healing. However, you can still heal him using Sifu/Dongbang/Euna from China with a new weapon equipped (sacrifice), healing from totem of taiwanese male, or regeneration from chinese female and bangor fox.
• Sunmo is a combination of Shiho and they'll unlock 'Bombard', the skill of shukra (India).

2. Buddhist (Important!)

Role -- Healer | Hitter (Seosan Master)

General -- Samyung (Min. lv 50) | Skill : Lightning (40 MP. Single target. Splash in a small area)

Hero -- Seosan Master (Min. lv.90) | Skill : Thunderstrike (50 + 2*lv MP. Wide area)

Weapon -- Moktak

Stat Recommendation -- Buddhist = 100-300 HP and full MP | Samyung =  1000-1500 MP and full VIT | Seosan = 1000-1500 HP and full WIS
Active Skill Type -- Magic
Skill Dmg -- Depends on WIS and level

Notes :

• I personally think that seosan is an irreplaceable hero along with sunmo, because I almost always put a single healer in a team. Not to mention if you can afford a high level healer or Indian healer.
• Magic damage of Samyung and Seosan are depend on WIS, so you may want to put it more to add more damage. Keep in mind that STR gives only a very very small amount of damage or we can say it doesn't give any effect, so it wouldn't be a worthwhile.
• Seosan's skill has a quite huge area, so you might want to put him as a second hitter (resulting in a more MP consuming as well)
• Seosan is a combination hero of Empress Mishil and they'll unlock 'hellfire', the skill of flying phoenix (Taiwan).

3. Archer 

 

Role -- Full Hitter

General -- Yi Sun Shin (Min. lv 50) | Skill : Power Wave (50 MP. Single target. Travels straight forward, so it attacks all monsters in line)

Hero -- Tortoise Tank (Min. lv 90) | Skill : Dragons Dance (200 MP. Small area. Great damage and dps)
Upgradeable Hero -- Tortoise (Min. lv 100 + 20 fire rocket at Temporal Vortex) | Add-on skill : Aerial Shots (0 MP. Only affects flying monsters)
Weapon -- Bow
Stat Recommendation -- Archer = 100-150 AGI, 100-150 MP, 400-500 HP, and full STR | Yi Sun Shin = 150 AGI, 400 MP, 500-600 HP, and full STR | Tortoise = 800-1000 MP, 1500-2000 HP, and full STR
Active Skill Type -- Physical (Power Wave) and Magic (Dragons Dance)
Power Wave Formula -- (Atk + Level) x 15
Carousel Formula -- (Atk x 5) + (Level x 3)

Notes :

• At earlier game, I suggest to hire about 2-3 archers. They are a good hitter.
• You might didn't find so many people who uses this hero, but he is my favorite one because his damage is great and cool as well :D
• Tortoise tank is a hero in vortex scenario mode (along with Japanese quake tank and Taiwanese firedrake), so you might want to use him in the first place. The upgraded tortoise tank is like a bad ass. Great massive damage from his upgraded skill!
• With sunmo as the only tanker, you can spam tortoise skill and give a huge blow to the enemy. His skill has a high dps and most of all, his level doesn't affect the mp consumption.
• Tortoise tank is a combination with Volt and will unlock 'Volcano', the skill of Quake Tank (Japan).

4. Needler/Medicalman

  

Role -- Full Hitter

General -- Heojun (Min lv 40) | Skill : Needle Rain (100 MP)
Hero -- Volt (Min lv 90) | Skills : Thunder Strike (250 MP. Scatter to all direction after reach the ground. Main lightning is very deadly)
Weapon -- Needle
Stat Recommendation -- Needler = 300-500 HP, a little AGI, and full STR | Heojun = 500-600 MP, 500-600 HP, and full STR | Volt = 1000 MP, 1500-2000 HP, and full STR.
Active Skill Type -- Physical (Needle Rain) and Magic (Thunder Strike)
Skill Dmg -- Depends on STR (non-hero)
Hero Skill Dmg -- Depends on WIS and STR

Notes :

• At earlier game, you may want to make needler as a primary hitter. You must add 500-600 MP and equip him with a new needle for needle rain skill. It will make your leveling faster as well :)
• Needler can hit flying monsters.
• I personally not recommending this general as a starter unless you really want it. He is specialized in hunting a boss monster, by the way.
• You may want to practice a little bit harder to get familiar with the scattered lightning. But trust me, volt's thunder has a very high voltage. Huge damage!

5. Cavalier 

  

Role -- Support Hitter
General -- Shinlip (Min lv 50) | Skills : Water Ball/Water Bomb (10 MP. Self cast, surrounding area. Act as a firefighter) and Deathblow (10 MP. Passive)
Hero -- Shiho (Min lv 80) | Skills : Million Arrows (31 MP. Only hit flying monsters. Area and MP usage will increase as level goes up) and Soul of Loyalty (400 MP. Single use until the battle ends or the summoned spirit is dead)
Weapon -- Bow
Stat Recommendation -- Cavalier = 100-300 MP, 200-300 HP 100-150 AGI, and full STR (hitter). 100 MP, 800++ HP, and full STR (tanker for flying monsters) | Shinlip = 100-150 MP, 500-800 HP, 100-150 AGI, and full STR | Shiho = 600-800 MP, 800-1000 HP, and full AGI
Active Skill Type -- Physical
Million Arrows Formula -- (Attack x (4 + (level x 0.01))) + (AGI x (3 + (level x 0.075)))

Notes :

• A useful additional hitter, especially if you want to fight flying monsters.
• Cavalier has a balance initial stats.
• Shiho is not much useful later, as he is only deadly for flying monsters. Except, you want to take advantages from his summon.
• Shiho's loyal soul cannot be controlled.
• You may want to use Shiho until your main char is promoted (for promotion purpose).
• In my opinion, Shinlip's water bomb is really useless (lols). But don't get me wrong, his deathblow is the most effective in TGM, as he needs only 10 MP to release it. Really deadly if you combine it with magic fire arrow from a new bow.
• Shinlip's damage depends on STR, while Shiho depends on AGI.
• Shiho's summon depends on his stats. The calculation is similar to Honganji's summons. You can read on my post about Japanese if you want to know more about it.
• If you want to put his summon in use, you may want to mix your own stats based on the information above :D

6. Spearman

  

Role -- Full Tanker (Spearman) | Full Hitter (Kim Shimin and Kim Yushin)

General -- Kim Shimin (Min lv 45) | Skills : Napalm Bath (100 MP. Area. Durational damage, around per 3-4 seconds) and Encourage (Passive aura. Available from lv 100)
Hero -- Kim Yushin (Min lv 100 + 20 ancestor soul stone korea) | Skills : Flying Spear (Need correction for the name. Level+50 MP. Area. Mid range) and Encourage (Passive aura. Available from lv 100)
Weapon -- Spear
Stat Recommendation -- Spearman = 100-200 MP, a little bit STR for equip weight, and full VIT | Kimshimin = 400-500 MP, 500-600 HP, and the rest goes to STR (Hitter, fast leveling). Full VIT (Full tanker or passive mercenary) | Kim Yushin = MP equal to 10x of skill usage, 900-1200 HP, and full STR
Active Skill Type -- Physical
Skills Dmg -- Depends on STR (and level for hero)

Notes :

• The reason I put MP to spearman is for new weapon purpose. If you don't have any plan to equip him with a new weapon, simply move the points to VIT instead. However, I suggest to give him a new weapon.
• Kimyushin is a free general from general ticket for Korean character after completing the quest about killing 40 Foxy.
• Use kimyushin to speed up your level. Once one of your mercenary of your choice is ready to be promoted to general, you can fire him and create a new one.
• Encourage increases magic resistance to all member according to level.
• I would recommend Shimin to be a hitter to help you burn all your opponents! :D
• Yushin has a huge damage and he is one of the deadliest hitter in TGM in my opinion - as long as his friends support him to attack with ease and that's it! :D

7. Confucian/Scholar

  

Role -- Full Support
General -- Seongryeong (Min lv 50) | Skill : Paralysis (100 MP. Moderate Area)
Hero -- Empress Mishil (Min lv 100 + 20 ancestor soul stone korea) | Skills : Charmed (500 MP. Similar to Temptation, but only for 9th grade monster or lower. Duration) and Purge (2 MP and will increase for another 2 MP per level. Removes debuffs and heal HP of all friendly unit in selected area)
Weapon -- Fan
Stat Recommendation -- Confucian and  = 1000 MP, 1000 HP, and full STR | Empress Mishil = 1000-1500 HP, 150-200 STR, and full WIS
Active Skill Type -- Magic

Notes :

• Attack point affects the duration of paralysis. However, paralysis cannot be used to a 5th grade monster or higher as far as I know.
• You might need him at early until mid game. Really helpful to level with ease.
• If you plan to use confucian for paralysis purpose, obtain a new fan as fast as possible.
• Mishil's charm can be casted remotely, so you can control an enemy to put it in use. However, I don't see empress mishil to be really helpful at all, as she isn't better than ganesha or peacemaker. FYI, these three are disabler heroes.
• You are of course free to use her at your will, especially if you want to use her charm to distract enemies which is quite useful. But trust me, charm isn't quite useful in a late game :)
• Purge is the only thing for me. It is useful if you want to heal-debuff massive unit at the same time.
• IMO : Among ganesha and peacemaker, mishil has the last place. It is because her charm cannot be used for a 9th grade monster or above and only affects a single target. Ganesha has a similar skill and can be used even to a boss grade monster. Peacemaker has the first place and ganesha is the second one.
• Empress mishil = transgender? Lols xD
• Maybe the reason why the dev makes empress as a woman is because there is no female mercenary in Korea (ok you can ignore this~)

8. Korean Porter

Role -- Porter (of course...)
Stat Recommendation -- Full STR

D. Foreign Mercenaries (to be added on)

This time I'll just make a quick list about foreign mercenaries to be added in the team. For more information about each mercenary, you can see on my post of their country or maybe you can find it in my first post about Japanese mercenary :)

1. Magician (China) -- Essential for MP healing

2. Yinyangman/Sorcerer (Japan) -- Essential to boost magical damage (e.g. Seosan, Sunmo, etc).

3. Illusionist/Sorceress (Taiwan) -- Essential to boost physical damage (e.g. Kim Yushin).

4. Sifu (China) -- Helpful if you want to heal sunmo while his iron wall still active. The cheapest option to heal your tanker remotely :D

E. Hero Combination Skills

Hero combination for Korea :

1. Sunmo - Shiho = Bombard (Origin : Shukra - India)
2. Tortoise - Volt = Volcano (Origin : Quake Tank - Japan)
3. Seosan Master - Empress Mishil = Hell Fire (Origin : Flying Phoenix - Taiwan)

F. (My Mercenaries) Starting Line-Up

And here it is, the most common type of question! :D

I would like to remind you again :

1. This is my version of mercs combination. Might be the same or different with the others. So I just tell you what I have in my mind and the rest is up to you :)
2. This combination is based on my experience.
3. This combination is a pure Korea and doesn't involve Indian mercenaries and/or the others - but with a help from some foreign mercenaries :)
4. I won't divide the combination for both cash user and non-cash user. Both are the same with a different way :)
5. Notes for this post : CU = Cash user. NCU = Non-cash user. For cash user, I will assume that you are an "extreme" cash user for simplification purpose :)

1. Starter (Wide range of options)

• 1 Swordsman
• 1 Spearman/Lancer
• 1 Buddhist/Korean Monk
• 1 Cavalier
• 1 Archer
• 1 Confucian
• 1 Medicalman
• 1 Porter
• 1 Free Kim Shimin -- To help leveling
• 2 Magician

2. Early Game 1 (Time to decide your first 3 heroes)

• 1 Gwon Yul
• 1 Kim Shimin -- Promoted one. The free one should be fired already
• 1 Samyung
• 1 Shinlip -- Hold until you have seosan or kim yushin. NCU = cavalier. CU = 1st aow
• 1 Yisunshin -- NCU = archer. CU = 2nd aow
• 1 Heojun -- NCU = medicalman. CU = 3rd aow
• 1 Confucian
• 1 Porter -- Can be eliminated/stored if your main char has 800-1000 weight
• 3 Magician

3. Early Game 2

• 1 Sunmo
• 1 Kim Shimin
• 1 Samyung -- Expected to promote soon
• 1 Shinlip -- NCU = cavalier
• 1 Yisunshin -- NCU = archer. You might don't want to eliminate him, as yisunshin is a Korean hero for scenario mode
• 1 Heojun -- Expected to promote soon. NCU = medicalman. You might eliminate him if you wish
• 1 Yinyangman -- Confucian replacement once you have sunmo
• 3 Magician
• 1 Porter -- You can replace him with any other mercenary as you want

4. Mid Game 1

• Sunmo
• Kim Shimin -- Expected to promote soon
• Seosan
• Shinlip -- Expected to promote soon. NCU = cavalier
• Yishunshin -- Expected to promote soon. NCU = archer
• Volt -- NCU might want to replace him with another magician
• Yinyangman
• 4 Magician

5. Mid Game 2 (NCU Oriented)

• Sunmo
• Kim Yushin
• Monk/Buddhist/Another Mercenary Healer -- Seosan replacement
• Shinlip/Shiho -- Swap with Seosan once your main char is promoted
• Archer -- You might want to replace him with another magician
• Illusionist
• Yinyangman
• 4 Magician

The 3 most common

The rest is up to you to decide. There are so many combination. The important thing is :

Sunmo > 1st hero

Seosan > 2nd hero. Must already have yinyangman with a new marble

Kim Yushin > 3rd hero. Must already have illusionist with a new mirror. Shiho also needs illusionist

6. Great Merchant

If you pick a female character and wanna take her potential, the mercenary combination is still the same. Assuming you want to build her all by yourself. Once everything is 'set' and your main char is promoted, you can gradually swap you team members with porters, one by one or all at once if you have a lot of money. At the end of this 'swapping period',  you can just use 3 battle units : sunmo, seosan, and 1 magician. After that, you can gradually swap these three units with porters.

G. Additional Notes and Disclaimer

1. Your choice, your convenience. As I've already said before, mercenaries combination is based on your own convenience, so you don't have to put yourself into the others' opinion.
2. Promote Mercenary/General to the higher grade as high level as possible. The main purpose is  for stat point bonus.
3. Extra patient and hunt diligently. As long as you know the right hunting spot, your mercenaries will level faster. I strongly recommend that you do the quests as much as possible.
4. Ancestor Soul Stone (Korea) can be obtained from all monsters on Gyerim Dungeon, or you can simply buy it at the market. For hero who use this item, promote him at secret villa, located at the exchange area, near Taipei portal.
5. Combination skills (ctrl+z, ctrl+x, etc.) will appear automatically. For another combination, you can visit TGM website here.
6. I'm not going to explain the Korean monsters, its upgrades, and dark sinsu here. I might want to write it later on different post.
7. I'm not owning some of the pictures and/or videos here. All credits to the owners, publishers, and/or developer.
8. This post is purely my opinion and based on my experience and knowledge. You are of course free to add your own idea. If you have something positive to add to this post, please kindly leave a comment. :)

Don't forget to like and leave some comments. I'll appreciate any comments, anyway :)

Thank you for visiting! See you on my next posts~