Well, it took me awhile to create a decent fire, and man let me tell you! Fire Tao is an expensive character. Hopefully you'll be able to find my tips useful to keep the cost down. Here's my take on Fire Tao.

When I first started playing CO, I created a Fire Tao on Lion. I got to level 62 and I bogged down and made a Trojan on Eagle instead because back then, there was no such thing as Monster Hunter Quest, or EXP Balls. Anyone who had made a fire back then and survived long enough to be 130 or get reborn, you've got my respect.

Now Fire Tao is a bit easier than back then, and on top of it all, the equipment isn't very speedy. The reason they are expensive is because of the mana pots you have to buy before 44, when you get meditation (heals MP). And even then, you find yourself buying mana pots. They also take awhile to level because they have quite a load of skills to fix.

Overview and tips

This tip is number one and probably the most important until level 90 or even beyond. If you have super powered archers power leveling at Bird Island, then this tip will work out great. I suggest you start doing this AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Go to BI, and pick up all the Soul Pills you can. Forget the money, unless you need it to buy stuff with. These are FREE mana potions that heal 2000 mana and will save you in the long run. If Fire isn't your first character, and you have another character that can tank Birdmen, then have that character get the Soul Pills and trade them off to your fire.

It is essential that you do the monster hunter quest 3 times a day. Until you get Fire Circle and FireofHell, You can only hit one target. So my suggestion would be that if you can one hit the weakest monster from the quest (Example winged snakes at Phoenix Castle) then you can get it done three times a day by killing the weakest monster offered through the quest.

This guide is going to refer you to Wonderland. Because of this, I do not recommend getting Plvled at all. All you need to do is put in a little effort, that's all it takes to make a fire. Wonderland is located on the Phoenix Castle map, near the top right corner of the map, in the same vicinity as Winged Snakes. But if you want to get Power leveled, then it's totally up to you.

Since Fire Tao is the major casting class of the game, they get all the good spells, but you'll soon find out that some of those spells aren't quite as good. Everyone else has their own personal view, and this is mine.

Leveling with Moon Gems or Phoenix Gems?

That's a big question. It can really go either way depending on what you want to do with your Tao. If you level with moon gems, it will take you longer because you're trying to fix your skills, but it is well worth it before Reborning. If you level with phoenix gems, then great, more damage = more exp. Weirdly enough, I've noticed that as I use phoenix gems I get slightly more magic exp, but it wasn't as good as when I had Moon Gems. I'm not willing to do the math on this one.

The bottom line is if you want to take the time to level your skills, then level with moon gems. If you want to hurry up and level, then use Phoenix or Rainbow gems.

Fire Tao Magic (Skills) and Leveling combined

I'm combining both the leveling and skills because I've found that my leveling was revolving around my skills as I leveled mine. If you've played a fire tao, you'll know why. (Tip: the best way to level offensive magic is when your ending level number (the ones place) ends in 0, 1, 5, or 6. You'll get a level bonus on your exp when fighting white named monsters, so it's the best times to work on leveling magic. I don't think it's a much of a bonus, but more like the max potential based off your damage. You decide.) If your level number does not end with one of those digits, go to red/black names in Wonderland. I marked the skill name with 2 asterisks (little star thingies) so you can find them faster.

**Thunder- Basic Tao leveling tool until 40. This will be fixed in no time. Becomes useless when you get Fire.

**Fire- OK, a more advanced version of Thunder. If you get a backsword with 2 moon gems, even if the backsword is normal and so are the gems, the time it takes you to level would be 2-4 days tops if you do nothing but level Fire. Try to have it fixed before level 79. If you do get it fixed in a reasonable amount of time, and you have Fire Circle, head to adventure zone, and start leveling up and training Fire Circle. Becomes useless when you get Tornado.

**Cure- Basic Hit Point (HP)cure spell. Level 0 heals 20 (sad), LVL 1 heals 70, (still sad), LVL 2 heals 150 (OK) LVL 3 heals 280 (Better), and Fixed Heals 400 (Much Better). This skill will be fixed before level 40, find a black named monster around a high level that has about 85% of it's HP gone, and heal away till fixed.

**Meditation- Ah, the life saver after level 44. It heals Mana Points (MP) for the cost of full stamina. At level 0 it heals 310 MP (not bad), LVL 1 heals 600 MP (cool), and Fixed heals 1020 MP (awesome 1k). This skill takes a little bit of work, It's best leveled when you're leveling fire, but if you wanna level it separate, then waste all your MP healing yourself, and then use meditation to heal MP up and repeat. Moon Gems will be very helpful in getting past leveling this skill, but the exp is pretty good as it is without moon gems.

**Fire Ring/Ball- I kinda like this spell, I wish it was a little faster, and I wish you could jump during casting. oh well. This skill is actually pretty easy to level, it has an 80% chance of success at all levels, and does nice damage when it hits (more power than Bomb and Tornado at fixed).

**Fire Meteor- Ah good old Fire Meteor. Hard as hell to level, yet so good when it's fixed. Getting Fire Meteor to Level 3 will be a miracle, but gets better when you chances of hitting are more than a 50/50 chance. L0=40%, L1=43%, L2=50%, L3=55%, and increases in increments of 5% until fixed, which is 75%. 5% less than Fire Ring/Ball, and you can jump and cast! Not bad! My suggestion to level this skill, is in between leveling Tornado, level this skill. You'll understand when I explain Tornado. If at all, try having Tornado fixed by 112, and then at 115, level Fire Meteor to fixed.

**Fire Circle/Arista/Blaze/Inferno- One of my favorite, and useful skills. You'll be using this to power level noobs when you're high enough to make it actually worth it. This skill levels nice in the Training Ground. The exp is better out side, but you can get hurt or even die trying to level it on white names. A good tip to level this skill would to go to Adventure zone. This skill fixed at level 85, so if you can tank Huge Ape, Serpent, or Alien Ape, I suggest going there. And if you're wondering why, Adventure Zone monsters do magic damage, except the melee water devils (hate them), and Tao has excellent Magic defense. If you have Fire fixed, I suggest leveling, and training this skill at the same time in Advanced Zone. It worked well for me. There is always the training ground too until you get Tornado.

**Bomb- You can pick this up at Bird Island, I've had Birdmen and Hawking drop this skill book, when you find it right click to learn if you are above 80. This skill is OK, but I don't like it as much as Fire Ring/Ball, or a fixed Fire Meteor. The success rate is a constant 80% accuracy, and easy leveling like Fire Ring/Ball, but the only difference is that this skill does splash damage on impact to monsters surrounding, and it's fixed damage does not compare to a fixed Fire Ring/Ball or fixed Fire Meteor(probably because of the whole splash damage thing). About the only use I see of this skill is if you see a bunch of people you don't like or enemy guild sitting close to each other, turn on PK, right click on the Person closest to the center for instant fun. Hell just do it to a bunch of people sitting close anyway, and maybe you might kill a noob or something passing by.

**Fire of Hell- Ooo, sounds cool and all. It makes you think that every will bow down or die at your feet, in a fire and brimston-ie doom. It's actually a better version of Bomb. You can jump around while casting, the range is short, and the damage is less than Fire Circle/Arista/Blaze/Inferno, but you can almost spam it. There is a slight delay after casting, but it not bad at all. You'll be right clicking away, and then all of a sudden your MP will run out because this skill is an MP HOG. Holy crap it eats mana for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and your neighbor's dog. This skill levels easy, but bring lots of Mana potions.

**Tornado- Super fast, lightning bolts of smiting. Awesome skill, even at level 0. For such an awesome skill, this is the one reason Tao's are the worst. It's not so much as they suck, but it's the amount of experience needed to level this skill. Sure, moon gems make it faster, but when you are done, you will be a zombie. This skill is that bad, but so good in the end. Before you are level 90, you need to make money to get a 2 socket backsword, Unique, or elite. (No Supers you should know this by now). You also need to raise money for 2 Refined Moon Gems. (you can raise money to buy a unique socket gown and another gem to make it go faster if possible.) Insert your gems into the backsword. As soon as you are level 90, fight only white named monsters (birdmen at level 90), or go to the training ground using ONLY TORNADO. If you do this, then your tornado should be Level 1 by the time that you are about to turn Level 92, or if you turn 92 before it levels, you should be close (roughly 75-85% range), go to Wonderland/Dragon Pool and fight Bandits until it levels, or continue on Birdmen. From 92-99, I suggest leveling up Fire Meteor, or other skills that are behind in levels, such as Fire Ring, or maybe Fire Circle. You need to repeat this same procedure at level 100 using nothing but Tornado until 102, and then 102-109 catch up on other skills that may be behind just like last time. Now here comes the long part. From level 110-112 try your hardest to get Tornado fixed, no later than 113. If you cannot do this, wait until 115-117 to finish it off. if you're 120 without it fixed, forget about it. If you do get this fixed 112-113, then use 112-121 to fix the rest of your skills. Start with Fire Meteor first, Fire Ball, Bomb, and Fire of Hell last.

PK Tips while leveling

Your worst enemy can be an Archer with Earrings, melee water, or a Trojan.

Most of the time, Archers do not figure out they should be wearing earrings until the higher levels, which means they are probably wearing a helmet. If they are wearing a helmet, then you should be able to blast them out of the air fairly easy. If they are wearing earrings, and you are not strong enough, then escape.

You may not run into these that often, but you may run into one occasionally. Physically attacking Taos can be bad news if you don't have enough MATK to blast through their MDEF. Try to avoid them if you run into an aggressive one.

Ah sneaky Trojans. Almost every Trojan with sneak up and either stay slightly away from you, or slightly off screen, and shift screen to check your gears. Don't trust Trojans while leveling, they are not your friends (unless you have a real friend that's a Trojan.) If a Trojan is jumping by, stops and turns around, then you need to immediately turn on the warning signals in your head. There’s good chance they observe your gears, then try to kill you, or they may just go for broke and kill you with preparations. I know it gets boring sometimes sitting there watching your Tao blasting away at something, but just keep half a mind open for PKing Trojans.

Warriors are like a triangle, and has 3 sides. The first side you can see is a warrior with a 2 hander. even with earrings, they shouldn't be a problem unless they're speed hacking. Then there are the normal warriors who usually have a club shield and helm. Not too bad, you just have to watch for them like you do Trojans. Then you have warriors with a shield and earrings, which could be bad news for magic casters. Warriors are built for defense, and have reasonable attack power, so don't under estimate them.

I don't know about you, but Ninjas seem slow...but in any event, they have crazy attack power and the deadly toxic fog. Use the same strategy as you would for a Trojan.

Reborn

These are just some of my favorites, not stating which one is the best. You can go look at the page and choose for yourself.

Fire>Fire>Fire

Water>Fire>Fire

Ninja>Warrior>Fire

Ninja>Water>Fire

Trojan>Warrior>Fire

XXX>warrior>Fire

Water>Warrior>Fire

Thanks for reading my guide. If you want to review my previous guides, I have decided to do the leg work for you, and get you the links. Here they are in order:

Warrior Guide

http://co.91.com/content/2008-02-19/20080219221846826.shtml

http://co.91.com/content/2008-02-19/20080219222128344.shtml

http://co.91.com/content/2008-02-19/20080219222334047.shtml

http://co.91.com/content/2008-02-19/20080219222549689.shtml

Weapon FAQ

http://co.91.com/content/2008-03-31/20080331184213971.shtml

http://co.91.com/content/2008-03-31/20080331184628394.shtml

http://co.91.com/content/2008-03-31/20080331184935185.shtml

http://co.91.com/content/2008-03-31/20080331185049383.shtml

Common Sense

http://co.91.com/content/2008-04-17/20080417182846129.shtml

http://co.91.com/content/2008-04-17/20080417182915525.shtml

Quick Money

http://co.91.com/content/2008-05-08/20080508235100112.shtml

Moon Box Guide

http://co.91.com/content/2008-08-03/20080803192505413.shtml

http://co.91.com/content/2008-08-07/20080807214204955.shtml

House Making Guide

http://co.91.com/content/2008-09-11/20080911231750733.shtml

House Upgrade

http://co.91.com/content/2008-10-10/20081010181626360.shtml

If you have any questions, would like any of my guides in a text document like my Trojan guide, or request I write a guide you can email me at imposterian@gmail.com.

My name is Setsuko, and I play on Eagle Server, the best server.

Guides in Progress:

Archer Guide (the millionth one)