Lineage 2 Dyes and Tattoos - Choose the Best Stats!

Lineage 2 Dyes and Tattoos Guide

Each Lineage 2 character has a pre-determined set of base attributes. They’re dictated by the hero’s race and class category (mystics have different stats than fighters). There is a way for players to modify these attributes. In order to do that, you have to use dyes to make the right tattoos for your character. It might be a somewhat complicated concept - especially for a newbie. In the contents of this guide, we’re going to talk about all the game mechanics surrounding dyes and tattoos, as well as the best choices for each Lineage 2 class.

Table of contents

Dyes

   Getting dyes

Tattoos

Statistics

Dyes for all classes

   Tanks

   Mages

   Healers

   Archers

   Daggers

   Summoners

   Warriors

   Supports

   Ertheia Classes

Summary

FAQ

Lineage II Dyes

Dyes are the special consumable items that are necessary to make tattoos. Each dye has a specific effect that it can have on your character’s attributes – for example: (STR 3 CON -3) means that it can increase your Strength by 3, but at the same time, reduce your Constitution by 3. You need ten identical dyes to get a tattoo. Most dyes in the game require you to sacrifice an attribute to increase another one. However, there are some high-level ones that provide extra stats without reducing anything. They can only drop from the most powerful Raid Bosses.

A playable character unlocks the ability to use different dyes by completing the class transfers. Regular dyes can only be used by characters that haven’t undergone their 2nd class transfer. Then, you get access to greater dyes – you can use them up to your Awakening at level 85. Finally, as an awakened character, you can use the R-grade dyes. The most important ones (from the weakest to the strongest) are categorized as the giant, ancient, and legendary. Since the leveling process is currently speedy, only the R-grade dyes are relevant right now.

Getting Dyes

Raid Boss drops are not the only source of the great, high-level dyes. If you have enough Adena, you don’t even have to get your hands dirty. Just go to the NPC Mysterious Dye Merchant. There’s a catch, though. You can only determine the stat that you want to get increased – everything else is in the hands of RNG. This method of acquiring perfect dyes for your character can sometimes be quite frustrating. With some bad fortune, you can spend a lot of Adena and time trying to get the right symbols.

The Ertheia classes have access to Alchemy. It allows them to synthesize a few specific dyes. They’re called windy dyes, and they only affect two attributes: luck and charisma. The first one can be beneficial. In general, it’s a good idea to have a designated character who’ll be your (or your clan’s) crafter and enchanter. Then, you want to give them as much LUC as humanly possible, since it influences the success ratios of both these activities. The special dyes for temporary tattoos (for the fourth symbol slot) are available in the Game Store.

Lineage II Tattoos

When you have 10 identical dyes, and you decided that you want to alter your statistics this way, you just have to visit an NPC Symbol Maker and get a tattoo. You must choose the “I want to draw a symbol” dialogue option and pay some Adena for the service. Just make sure to choose the right dye, if you have multiple types in your inventory! Every character has three tattoo slots, but the symbols don’t have to be permanent. Certain dyes are restricted to specific classes before level 85, but after the Awakening, every character can use each type of dye.

Besides altering the stats, tattoos provide some additional value. Each awakened character gets extra bonuses just for having these symbols imprinted on their bodies. Having a single one will increase your max HP, MP, and CP. The second tattoo will always contribute additional physical and magical defense as well as vitality and increased gains of experience and skill points. Filling the third slot increases your offensive capabilities (depending on your class, it will be magic or physical attack and some other stat). Whenever you remove any of the tattoos, you lose access to these bonuses. It’s another reason always to use all three slots, even if you can’t get the perfect, legendary dyes.

You can always change your mind and easily remove one of them. It requires another trip to the NPC Symbol Maker and using the “I want to erase a symbol” function. This process is instant, but it also costs a certain amount of Adena (your tattoo’s quality determines it). However, the removal process gives you back 5 dyes that you used to make the symbol.

Moreover, the awakened characters have access to a fourth tattoo slot – it’s restricted to special time-limited symbols. You don’t have to pay for getting them. You just need a right dye, and instead of 10, they only use a single one.

Lineage 2 is all about the never-ending progression – the tattoo and dye system is also affected by that. It can take a long time and Adena to get the perfect legendary dye setup. Starting with some weaker tattoos might be a great idea to have some extra power as you grind for the optimal ones. While each attribute has some value for every Lineage 2 class, some of them are much more important than the others. That makes sacrificing a few points of a low-priority attribute a worthy exchange for extra power provided by the key stat.

Lineage 2 Statistics

In Lineage II, there are eight base statistics currently. They are STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIT, MEN, CHA, and LUC. The first three are the most important to fighter classes. The next three have a significant impact on the casters. Luck has almost no effect on combat – it influences crafting, enchanting, and spoiling. Charisma increases almost all combat stats, but the actual numbers are rather low – it’s good, but not best for every class in the game. Check out this table for more detailed information: 

Remember – tattoos are not the only way of altering your base statistics. Certain items – especially armor sets - can also influence these attributes.  

Lineage 2 Dyes for All Classes

While choosing dyes for your character, you have to consider which stats you’ll need the most. Of course, the final goal is to use only highest level legendary dyes that don’t take away any other attributes, but you’re unlikely to get them right away. That’s why you should also think about the statistics that are the most obsolete.

However, you can’t sacrifice the magical stats in order to get more physical power – that would be too easy. The developers made sure that there’s an opportunity cost to increase any of the most useful stats.

Sigel knights - tanks

The awakened tanks are also called Sigel Knights. There is a substantial problem when choosing the right dyes for these classes. You can go in two opposite directions, depending on your goals. In general, you don’t want to solo farm as a tank. However, if you had to do it, you should probably go with some additional STR, while sacrificing CON. It will give you the most damage that, in turn, accelerates your farming speed. That being said, the tank classes will never be the best choice for solo farming, and sadly, no dye can turn it around completely.

Funnily enough, you should do the exact opposite of the group endgame content. Activities like raiding, full party farming, and mass PvP usually just want the tank to be as durable as possible. It is why you should actually go with dyes that provide CON while sacrificing DEX or STR (preferably Dexterity). The only situations where the tank’s damage output is significant are 1v1s and 2v2s. In any group content, you just want to taunt the enemies, use your other crowd control effects, and stay alive as long as possible. You can also consider +MEN –INT dyes for the additional magic defense.

The four Sigel Knight classes are Phoenix Knight, Hell Knight (Humans), Eva’s Templar (Elf), and Shillien’s Templar (Dark Elf). Remember that their base statistic values are determined by race – Humans will always have the highest base constitution and HP, while Dark Elves have the most Strength that translates into attack damage.

Feoh Wizards – mages

DPS mages or nukers will usually sacrifice some of their mental (MEN) to get a higher damage output. You can either choose to invest in INT for raw damage or WIT for casting speed and spell critical rate. At the same time, all casters can use the +CON –STR tattoos. This way, they get additional HP and some other useful stats in exchange for an attribute that’s literally useless to them. It’s a vast advantage that the mages have over fighters.

The Kamael Soul Hound is a bit unique here since it’s a kind of a hybrid class. Luckily, they can still go +CON –STR, since the physical attack is not that important for them. However, besides INT and WIT, they can also use DEX well.

The more traditional nukers are Archmage, Soultaker, Mystic Muse, and Storm Screamer. Each one of them will work really well with +INT –MEN, +WIR –MEN, and +CON –STR. When you get to the best legendary dyes, you can start replacing the tattoos and reclaiming some of your mental.

Aeore Healers

The Aeore classes can offer healing and some buffs to their allies. Some players prefer to invest in WIT since both the casting speed and magic critical chance are excellent (your healing spells can crit). That being said, you don’t want to sacrifice the spell potency from INT or the defensive value from MEN (as a healer, you’re going to have a target on your back in basically every PvP encounter). It is why the optimal tattoo setup for a healer is going full +CON –STR. You don’t need the Strength for anything at all, while the 12 or 15 extra Constitution amounts to a significant boost of survivability.

There are only three Aore classes in Lineage 2. Cardinal is the Human class that’s also the main healer of the game. Then, there’s the Elven Eva’s Saint and Dark Elven Shillien’s Saint. The first one is a true healing class, the last two have access to slightly less versatile heals, but they can provide valuable buffs.

Yul Archers - Physical Ranged DPS

Archers are the ranged physical damage dealers in Lineage 2. They make great use of STR and DEX since a lot of their DPS comes from devastating critical strikes. There are two viable approaches to building archers. You can go for a full glass cannon setup, sacrificing a lot of CON to get more STR and DEX. It makes you vulnerable in PvP, but also provides the highest amount of DPS. It’s the optimal build for raiding and all the PvE group content. There’s only one rule for these situations - the faster you kill your targets, the better. At the same time, many players believe that archers are supposed to be squishy and losing some of your CON doesn’t make that much of a difference, since you don’t want the enemies to get on them in the first place.

The other idea is to keep the stats around their base values until you can get the most valuable legendary dyes. As we already mentioned, the tattoos provide additional stat value. It means that you should keep all the slots occupied, just don’t go too far in either direction. Then, you can start adding free DEX and STR when you get to the perfect dyes. If you’re interested in mass PvP, it comes down to personal preference. We believe that going the squishy build might be the optimal way to go, especially as the Dark Elven archer. You’re not going to survive much anyway, and the increased chance of bursting enemies down before they’re able to close the distance can be a difference-maker.   

Othell Rogues – Daggers

The Othell classes are melee, DPS-focused characters. Three of these guys are the assassin type classes that use daggers and quickly burst their opponents with skills and critical hits. These abilities can fail, and their success ratio scales with Dexterity and critical chance (along with other factors – like positioning). Similarly to archers, daggers want as much DEX and STR as possible. Dexterity is the safer way to go since it also provides evasion, attack speed, and movement speed.

The whole build idea is a bit controversial; many dagger players argue about the best approach. As usual, going full glass cannon is the optimal way for group PvE and raid boss fights. PvP is much trickier, though. Some players even go with +CON –STR, since they believe that they don’t need that much extra damage. You can easily burst down an enemy archer or nuker if you land your skills. At the same time, the extra survivability provided by Constitution can allow you to survive these assassination attempts. Once again, it comes down to personal preference. If you’re dying before you can reach your target, you can consider getting more CON. If you’re struggling with quickly killing our enemies, you might need more STR or DEX.

There’s a single non-dagger class that also belongs in this category. The Fortune Seeker is a Dwarf fighter that has access to really valuable abilities called Spoil and Sweeper. These skills allow them to collect additional loot from killed monsters. However, this class is pretty much never played for its combat expertise, so we’re not going to go deep into it. If you can increase your spoiler’s luck, you should probably go for it.

The Othell classes are the three dagger users: Human Adventurer, Elf Wind Rider, Dark Elf Ghost Hunter, and the Dwarf Fortune Seeker that doesn’t really fit the rest of the company.

Wynn summoners

Summoners cast offensive and supportive spells from the back, as their servitors fight in the frontline. For the most part, they play as regular mages. The only difference is the fact that a significant portion of their power is focused in the summoned creatures. Just like other casters, they can go with +INT –MEN, +WIT –MEN, and +CON –STR. You may also prefer to fight in the frontline alongside your pets, but that’s ill-advised in the current version of Lineage 2. In this situation, you wouldn’t care that much about Intelligence and Wit, since your damage would be focused on Strength and Dexterity.

The Wynn classes excel the most in solo farming. There are three of them: Humans have Arcana Lord, Elves can advance into an Elemental Master, and Dark Elves have the possibility of playing as Spectral Masters.   

Tyrr Warriors – Bruisers

It is a broad and diverse category of Lineage 2 classes. The characters grouped here, use multiple different types of weapons – there’s even some variety in the preferred armor choice. Various Tyrr classes can viably use light and heavy armor - some others pretty much have to stick to one or the other. Even though they differ so much, there are some strong similarities. All of them need Strength if they want to deal respectable damage. These bruisers can also be kited, thus making sure that you’re able to take a hit and survive is also essential.

All of these classes can go with +STR –CON, +CON –DEX, and +MEN –INT. Just remember that you always want to use all the tattoo slots that you have available. Sacrificing too much CON or DEX is definitely not recommended since they are quite useful actually. With these classes, you want to get to the level 5 legendary dyes as soon as possible – when you get to that point, you can switch to going full STR. However, it’s only optimal if you don’t have to sacrifice the other stats. After all, Dexterity affects your attack speed, critical chance, and movement speed – all these things are quite useful for any physical damage dealer.

Tyrr classes also include one Dwarf. Similarly to Fortune Seeker, Maestro is not really played for what they can do in combat (besides summoning a giant golem during castle sieges). This class is mostly used for its economic value and ability to craft even the most valuable equipment. Once again, you shouldn’t care about tattoos, unless you can get extra points in luck.   

The Tyrr classes include two Human warrior types – Dreadnaught and Duelist, two Orc fighters – Titan and Grand Khavatari, the Kamael Doombringer, and Dwarf crafter – Maestro. Most of these characters tend to be strong in duels, especially The Olympiad. Sadly, they’re not the most desired in PvE group content. They can’t tank since they lack a taunt ability, and their damage output is lower than in the case of the pure DPS classes. These versatile kits work much better in PvP.

Iss Enchanters – supports

Iss classes can provide buffs and other utility to their teammates. It’s somewhat of a weird category since it includes two specific types of classes. There are three casters: the Human Hierophant as well as two Orc mystics – Doomcryer and Dominator. Besides the buffs that they provide, a considerable portion of their value comes from various spells – damage, debuffs, and utility. For these classes, you can definitely go with +WIT –MEN and +CON –STR. Extra Constitution works really well on the Orcs, who already are extremely tanky for casters. You can also consider going for +INT –MEN on Doomcryer and Dominator since they have some handy damage spells that will get amplified with extra Intelligence. While the Kamael class called Judicator technically doesn’t belong in this category, it is a supportive caster so that the same dye setup will work for them.

At the same time, there are two Iss classes that fight in the frontline and hit enemies with their weapons. The Elven Sword Muse and Dark Elven Spectral Dancer can provide some great buffs and utility while also dealing significant amounts of physical damage. Theoretically, they could work as tanks, but their taunts are too low level, and they simply don’t work on tougher opponents – both in PvE and PvP.

Since these classes can’t tank reliably, it’s a good idea to try and increase your value by bringing more damage. Most of the time, you’ll go for some combinations of +STR –CON, +DEX –CON, and +MEN –INT.

Overall, the majority of Iss classes’ value comes from the buffs that they provide. If these blessings are not relevant for your party, you won’t be able to do too much. Neither one of them is optimal for group PvE content, at least DPS-wise. However, Doomcryer and Dominator are really strong both in duels and in mass PvP, and Spectral Dancer has some potent PvP tools.

Ertheia Classes

Ertheias can’t go through the Awakening, so they can’t be grouped with other classes. Instead, they have their own class progression path, called 1st, 2nd, and 3rd liberation. The two final Ertheia classes are: the melee physical DPS called Eviscerator and a strong caster called Sayha’s Seer.

Eviscerator scales perfectly with Strength, but she doesn’t want to lose any Dexterity. That’s why you should go with +STR –CON and optionally +MEN –INT. In the endgame, you want to have full STR tattoos, but sacrificing too much Constitution early on, might be a problem.

Sayha’s Seer has a unique play pattern in PvP since she uses invisibility to kite and surprise her opponents. Moreover, she has access to increased inventory and a unique feature called Alchemy. That being said, she uses identical dyes like any other nuker or DPS caster. In the endgame, you want to get as much Intelligence as possible. Earlier – you can go with +INT –MEN and +CON –STR.   

Lineage 2 – the essential Korean MMO

Lineage 2 is one of the archetypical MMORPGs in this genre’s history. In its early days, it featured a lot of grinding and a really slow progression. However, it’s not the case anymore. Currently, players can get to the epic endgame activities much earlier! The game still features the epic raid boss fights, great open-world PvP, and the amazing, massive castle sieges.  

While creating a character, players can choose from seven races and over thirty classes! Besides the traditional races like Humans, Elves, Dark Elves, Orcs, and Dwarves, you can also pick the two exclusive to Lineage 2 – Kamael and Ertheia. There are also plenty of great design ideas behind the classes.

Players can use dyes to create tattoos that can change their character’s base statistics. Each race has a determined amount of STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIT, MEN, CHA, and LUC. The ability to alter them can be handy for empowering the most important aspects of your favorite character!

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FAQ

How to get the best dyes in Lineage 2?

You can buy the best dyes from the NPC Mysterious Merchant or get them as loot dropped by the strongest Raid Bosses.

How many tattoos can you have in Lineage 2?

Each Lineage 2 character has three slots for permanent tattoos and a single one for the special temporary symbols.

How to get Lineage 2 tattoos?

In order to make a tattoo in Lineage 2, you have to get 10 flasks of identical dye and go to the NPC Symbol Maker in any town. Then just press the “I want to draw a symbol” button and choose the right one. You’ll also have to pay some Adena for that service.