Elsword

Elsword

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Code Empress: An In-Depth Guide
By Code Empress
This guide will help players build a strong understanding of the job classes Code Architecture, and Code Empress, as well as the character Eve in general.
   
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Lore
Eve was once one of two central AI (the queen) of the 2nd generation nasods, created by Adrian Nasod in the Kingdom Year of 550. She was meant to be a backup to Adam, the king of the nasods. Once a war for the El energy emerged between humans and nasods, Adam placed Eve in stasis so that should would endure the war. After Solace triggered an explosion at the harmony festival, an el fragment awakened her once more.

Eve decides that the best course of action to revive the nasod race is to divert energy to the core; this would allow more advance nasods to be created. Eve goes back into her stasis chamber, allocating her energy to the advancement of the core. However, when she next awakes, it is to Elsword. The core was unfortunately damaged and so Eve sets out to find the power of El to once again revive her race.
Basic Mechanics of Eve
Eve: Another Code


Eve is a character who specializes in magical attacks and physical defense, making spells her main source of damage.

Core System:

This video introduces her core system. Every character has some special ability when you awaken; Eve's is a core that both attacks and defends. The core has two different beams, a blue beam and a red beam. The red beam does splash damage and will appear if awakened with three beads. The core also levels up, dealing more damage the higher the level. To level it up, keep hitting targets to charge the core. In addition to increased damage from the core, you also obtain more chances for the core defense system to activate when it levels up. There is no level indicator in your HUD, but the core will change color briefly to indicate a level up. Note that the level resets when awakening ends.

On to Her Movement:

Eve is one of the most mobile characters in the game so it is important to take advantage of that. Three important mechanics to master are spring stepping, high jumping, as well as air dashing.

Spring Stepping is done by pressing and then pressing . Once you reach the peak of your jump, press DOWN and you should continue to dash forward. Do this multiple times in quick succession to spring step.

High Jumping is used to reach 3 levels high in a single jump. It is done by pressing

Air Dashing is simply when you press dash in the air, or dash off of a platform. Unlike other characters, Eve is able to float in the air using her drones. Code: Architecture only gets 2 dashes, but Code: Empress can have up to 5 due to her passive Electron Accelerator. Beware though, pressing up while air-dashing executes a slanted air dash which still consumes one of your dashes. Only one slanted air dash may be used until touching the ground again.
A tip for this is to never used your diagonal dash if not needed; try to save it for when you want to quickly dash to the ground by doing a spring-step, but in the air.
What are the benefits of Code Architecture/Empress?

This trailer displays the three second-tier job paths of Eve.

Code: Nemesis
focuses on buffing damage as well as dishing it out through high critical damage. She is heavily PvP based.

Code: Battle Seraph
focuses on cranking out spells as quickly as possible. Utilizing her spectrum field, she can modify her spells to have additional effects. She is very strong in PvE, but also not too shabby in PvP.

Lastly,
Code: Empress
focuses on bossing and summoning. Her basic attacks allow her to rack up mana quickly. She can summon up to four servants to follow her, which provide three main advantages:

1) Her servants refund her mana by being alive
2) Her servants help increase the damage of certain cheap spells, by casting them along with Eve.
3) Her servants can body attacks for her, meaning they take the damage for Eve, allowing her to escape potentially threatening combos.

She is heavily PvE based, having a very strong passive playstyle. However, she is at the bottom of the tier list for PvP due to her summons becoming obsolete after a certain rank threshhold.
Another Code: Combos and Skills
Basic Combos:

will knock enemies into the air using a spike that comes from beneath the ground.

will knock enemies into the air using an electron ball. This can be used to juggle enemies in the air, forcing a mana break in pvp.

causes a knockdown on most enemies. Nothing more really needs to be said about it.


Skills:

Destruction Aura is a buff that will help increase her damage output, but should only be taken if you have a spare skill slot.

This skill provides invulnerabilty for a short period of time, while also creating a dummy that flinches sometimes. You can cancel the second part of the animation where you would slide backwards by dashing before you use the skill. It takes a bit of a feel to get it down.

This summon deals pretty good damage, but has a dumb AI. Code Empress summon passives will apply to this unit. Its health is determined by yours. It will follow you around and teleport to you if you distance yourself too much.

This skill is eve's best skill in my opinion. There isn't a single time that I would not bring this skill. It can be used mid-air, can be charged to increase its size, has a chance to fire twice, will be cast by summoned units as well as Eve, has a small yet noticeable area of effect, and deals considerable damage compared to its mana cost.

This skill was nerfed heavily. It consumes an unreasonable amount of mana. I recommend using it at the beginning of a PvP match, and would not use this anywhere else.


This is Eve's best bossing skill if you manage to knock your enemies into a wall. It does decent initial damgae and continues to travel in both directions, stopping movement at a wall, but still inflicting damage at that wall for its duration.

The last skill is illusion stinger which isn't worth mentioning. It does decent damage but has no special uses. Very anti-situational.
Code Architecture: Combos and Skills

Code: Architecture is a first tier job class.

Basic Combos:

This is eve's best mana gaining combo. It has high damage, high knockdown, and high mana gain, although costing a tiny bit of mana to use. It hits multiple enemies if in range. When eve summons Oberon to attack after pressing 'Z', he will face and attack whichever side of him you are currently on.

This dash will allow eve to travel through enemies while attacking them. This is useful for keeping an enemy close to you for combos in PvP, or for getting to the other side of a large boss in order to escape an attack.

Skills:

This skill locks onto a target, causing your summons to attack it. This skill isn't actually useful for its intended use though. Its only use is to replace an old skill used in PvP that was taken away. Fayner can be used to cause an almost instant flinch to players who are too far away to use basic attacks on. You can also use it for super armor, but you will need to take the enhancement for it, and it will not last very long.

This is the second summon you earn as an Eve taking the path of becoming a Code Empres. Oberon deals physical damage, and benefits from any passives that help summons.

This skill attacks from high up in the air straight down to the level you are on. If the impact is aimed well enough, it will stun the enemies, otherwise it will knockdown. It has good damage, but is outclassed by better skills later on.

The rest of the skills are really not worth mentioning, except for the passives. Your two new passives will mainly buff you max mana, number of glides in midair before requiring you to land, and your electron balls.

Code Empress: Combos and Skills


Code: Empress is a second tier job class, coming after Code: Architecture.

Basic Combos:

This combo is more or less a copy of

, except the first hit procs faster, and it doesn't require mana; I find it slightly

less powerful though.

Skills:

This skill does little damage and causes a flinch to those next to you and your summons. It has a very small hitbox height, requiring timing if used to catch falling enemies with. It has the option to burn mp which can be useful.

This skill is actually what inspired me to choose Code Empress. It boasts a large hitbox and can aquire super armor if you so choose. You can also turn it into a grenade casting active if you want to go for pot-shots in the arena.

This spell can now be used in mid air, and has very high damage. It has a glitch though, where the magical explosions will not be cast if the spear goes too far into a wall. It shoots at a diagonal angle.

This spell is tricky. It is sensitive to lag and relies on if your enemy is in super armor or not. It can rack up massive damage, move enemies back a very far distance, yet can also deal little to no damage if unlucky with lag. It can be used mid-air and I highly recommend it.

This is the third summon that you get as a Code Empress. She fires magical attacks that 'home', but can still be evaded by running away from them. She knocks down enemies you summon her on top of, so beware. Summon passives apply to her.

This spell is an absolute monster. It is what allows you to take damage enhancements on your skills despite high cooldowns. Any time you activate a special active, it has a 50% chance of resetting all your spells, excluding your hyper active and couple/wedding skill.

Genocide Ripper has the potential to deal some very high damage per second. It is best used in groups of enemies. It will deal high damage and draw enemies towards eve a decent amount. It attacks a tiny bit above the level you are on, but will not deal full damage.

Ferdinand is your hyper active, and final summon you will get. He deals very nice damage, and lasts 60 seconds. He acts as a normal summon would, but does not benefit from summon passives. The first image indicates that he is ready to summon, while the second image indicates that he currently is summoned. If you recast his spell while he is active, it will trigger his final attack early, causing him to go away. The cooldown is not shortened if you do this.

Code Empress also has another passive that she gets. More or less, your summons gain an absurd amount of bonus damage and critical strike chance.
Code Empress: PvP
PvP for Code: Empress relies heavily on using her summons as cheap special actives to catch the enemy. I will give my go-to strategy that I use regardless of whom I face. Keep in mind there are a few other ways to play Code Empress in PvP, but they require more practice and familiarity.

1) Execute a quick quick mana convert
2) Execute a quick code: recovery - attention. This is to reduce the cost of your next summon by 50%.
3) Summon oberon either when the enemy is in the air with no jumps left, or is close enough for oberon's slash to hit. I prefer summoning oberon first because he costs more mana, so you save more with the skill you just used before.
4) Quickly hitstun the enemy with either a MEB, or with a dash attack (
OR will both work)
5) Do NOT used any other summons. Reserve the mana to summon them next time you need to catch again. Also, summoning multiple summons early on leads to mana feeding the enemy. Also, one special active (or even some actives) deal enough damage to kill all your summons at once. Continue to use and zzx for proccing (keep in mind that the latter's initial hitstun activates sooner so it can be preferable if you are afraid they might break free), while throwing in >>zx to stay close to your enemy.
6) Prioritize using MEB whenever possible for insane damage, followed by tesla shock for its mana burn.
7) Throw in a fayner whenver you feel like you have gotten too distanced from the enemy, stopping them from escaping your combo.
Code Empress: PvE
Skill Choice:

Because Code: Empress is a bosser, you want to bring your high-damage, single-target skills. is the best skill for this, even after its extreme nerf. It has massive damage, and a relatively short animation for a bravery skill.
I recommend taking the damage boost at the cost of a longer cooldown.

is a fairly close second in damage, with the downside of having a much longer animation. I would take this skill along with the first one listed.
I recommend taking the damage boost at the cost of a longer cooldown.

I recommend one strength skill for damage as a backup when facing bosses such as Berthe that trigger attacks from bravery skills.
is nice because it can push smaller mobs, can be used midair, and has a short animation.
I recommend taking the damage boost at the cost of a longer cooldown.

is good because it has much more damage, but a longer animation, and has a diagonal hitbox which I do not often need.
I recommend taking the damage boost at the cost of a longer cooldown.

I recommend taking your four summons for both mana gain as well as massive damage from .
I recommend taking the defense ignore enhancement for
I recommend taking the resource consumption decrease for
I recommend taking the cooldown decrease for
I recommend taking the 20% resource consumption decrease for

Strategy:

Spam as much as possible, followed by . Make sure you have all your summons out of possible and CHARGE YOUR AWAKENING. Rely on your summons to trigger , resseting the cooldowns on your high-damage spells. This is why I advise taking the damage boosts on your bravery and strength skills even though it comes at the cost of high cooldowns.
End-Game Equipment Selection, Attributing, and Socketing
Gear Choice:

Code: Empress is best known as a bosser, so strengthening her strongest skills to do more DPS is what comes first. To do this I equiped a ring of bravery to help with dimension link guardian as well as genocide ripper. Same goes for my strong warrior's chronicle (10% bravery damage bonus). As for gear, I recommend secret dungeon gear over henir gear. If you don't have a raid weapon, aim for 6/6, otherwise 5/6 will do you just fine. The best set for Code: Empress really depends on your playstyle and budget for accessories and consumables.

MK-5: The only good part about this set is the max mp increase, boosting CEM's max mp to an even more godlike number. This is great if you spam consumables a ton and use a lot of bravery and strength skills.

Dragonic-Fear: There are quite a few advantages to this set. First off, the awakening charge increase while in awakening helps makes sure you can charge all three beads for your core by the time your current one ends. Also, the extra crit damage and rate for a short while after awakening is cast allows for you to quickly kill certain bosses that would otherwise prove more difficult.

Alterasia TYPE_S: This is one of my favorite sets for Code: Empress. The increased attack speed and mana gain is unnormalized, allowing you to attack much faster and gain mana at an alarming rate. For higher health bosses, this set is by far the best. The increased attack speed allows you to proc elemental effects and the 5% chance to gain 7 mana more often, along with the 5% boost to elemental effects. The increased mana gain allows you to use skills with no stop, which CEM is best at due to her passive Nasod Recharge. The only downside to this set is that the accessory is in the Bottom Piece slot, which is commonly used for important accessory sets.

Glitter Warlord: This set can yield high damage, but it is not my favorite for reasons I can't really explain. I think it is more of a raid-oriented gear.

Ancient Noble Guardian: The 10% power increase buff that this set can activate is definitely good, but not useful for bossing. All of the effects are great if they trigger, but do not work together very well. This set leans more towards PvP in my opinion. One downside to this set is that the accessory is in the Bottom Piece slot, which is commonly used for important accessory sets.

Sand Tempest: This set had potential to be a great PvP choice. Seal Restraint has an amazing effect, but appeared to be either bugged or lag sensitive when I used it. Also its attack/move speed buff is normalized, so it doesn't work well since you should already have socketed high on Eve's speeds.

Dark Force Slayer: This set focuses on cooldowns and mana gain, which is right up CEM's ally. I have not tested it out myself, but looking at the effects, I would say this set is okay for CEM. The mana gain from orbs has a 10 second cooldown, making the effects from alterasia much better. However, the cooldown ability seems extremely useful. Having only a 3 sec activation cooldown, it can be used very often. Also, CEM's should be using the skill enhancements that increase both damage and cooldown, allowing you to take full advantage of Nasod Recharge. Having a 7% cooldown reduction can be a great backup incase you are not lucky enough to proc Nasod Recharge's cooldown reset

Overall, I'd choose Alterasia for PvE and Dragonic for PvE.

Socketing:


PvP:

Assuming you use summons frequently, you should have roughly 50% crit, and put the rest into maxi. I recommend only 50% critical because your summons gain 50% bonus from your passive, so any extra crit is wasted, especially since your summons do a good chunk of damage. If you can get at least 75% maxi then put the remaining into add damage. These 3 stats come AFTER putting 20% into all of your speeds. I advise against awakening time in PvP, but awakening charge is good. I also do not believe that either specialization is good for Code: Empress. As for mana gain, I use a mana necklace in PvP, so any additional socketing for those two stats is a waste. Red damage is important in PvP, but you do not need to socket too much. I recommend the red damage % combined with your lower defense type to add up to at least 50%.

PvE:

For PvE, I recommend focusing only only maxi, crit, awk charge, and awk time. Red damage is irrelevant since you should be able to avoid damage if you play smart (and because it won't help you clear quickly). Awk time is important to keep your core's level up. Certain accessory sets can help boost this by 15% or even 30%. I recommend maxing maxi first and then critical, mainly because there are no maxi buffs that characters have, but there are add damage and crit buffs which would be normalized. After getting maxi to a high %, pour the rest of your sockets into crit. You still want to maintain decent speeds, but it isn't too important if you lower them.

Attributes:

I recommend putting light attributes on your armor first, then water. PvP requires heavy light resistance, as it prevents your character from being stunned. Water resistance is the next best thing because it hinders Eve's mobility, which is one of her greatest strengths. As for PvE, it doesn't really matter too much. It's expensive to use different armors, but if you can, I'd socket fire and darkness. Flames appear often in Lanox which can be a pain, and can help you farm a bit of mana sometimes when you have strong resistance against them. As for darkness, standing near the gate in GoD will plague you, so having darkness resistance is nice.
9 Comments
AYSplayer 26 Jun, 2021 @ 5:47am 
Assult spear buster skill animation can be canceled very early for a free 3 second-ish follow up. (if activated in mid-air, you can't cancel the skill animation.)

Dispite CEm being Full physical as of now, her "command attacks" are still calculated as their original physical/magical damage numbers. (Ophelia command attacks still does magic damage, same with the normal electron ballz) This also goes for the entire elsword character roster.

You can use Destruction Aura mid combo with X X > X. (the 3rd hit can skill cancel into anything in any millisecond of the attack animation.) All Eve's can do this.

And welcome back to the game.

My IGN is AYSplayer in the game.
AYSplayer 26 Jun, 2021 @ 5:46am 
I mostly play PvP with my Code Empress in elsword and i do it summonless.

CEm has a infinite but lag can easily prevent it.

Modded Spitfire has a chance to catch mana breaks on "even leveled" ground.

Oberon Guard is good for staggering "get up" options after their knockdown. (maintaining advantage)

Tesla shock "swing" second hit will never hit if you cancel the animation early by simply moving. (you'll see the skill looking normally but it will hit them only once in the opponents point of view.)
Code Empress  [author] 10 May, 2021 @ 8:07pm 
Funnily enough I finally came back to this game. Once I reach new end-game gear I plan on finally updating this very old guide.
Code Empress  [author] 19 Jan, 2020 @ 12:24am 
yeah no it didnt get enough interest so i stopped creating it. haven't played the game in over a year or two now but if you happen to need help on CEM i wouldn't mind getting back into it for a bit. I'm sure a lot of the meta is still similar lol
AYSplayer 9 Jan, 2020 @ 4:01am 
i won't be expecting an update for this guide very soon...
SlashMagus 12 Mar, 2018 @ 1:44pm 
That is true, tho not many people go off what people put down, most going with what their gut tells them what to do. Which sometimes works and other times not.
Code Empress  [author] 11 Mar, 2018 @ 6:36pm 
I've thought about it and might, but not many people have seemed to see this guide so I'm not sure if it's worth the time investment at this point. I'll definitely consider it though and thanks for the comment.
SlashMagus 11 Mar, 2018 @ 10:34am 
This is a great guide! Thank you for making it. This has helped me a lot with making my Gameplay with Code Empress better, though. I would like to ask if you could start including the new Transcendence and 3rd Job Path for us.
Code Empress  [author] 7 Jan, 2017 @ 8:53pm 
Will create an updated version for newer gears, meta, and trans if this guide gets an official rating.