After reading this you can plan a Bowman from character creation to the level 30 second job in MapleStory Classic World, and you will know which Bowman numbers the sources record and which they leave blank. Assumptions: the target is level 30, you play solo, and no potion budget is set, because no potion figures appear in the data used here. Where a number is missing, this guide says so instead of filling the gap.
One caveat up front. The brief mentioned a DEX and STR split. The sources list DEX as the primary stat for the Bowman branch, but they list no STR figure, no secondary stat and no recommended split. This guide does not invent one. It lays out the verified gates, the skill prerequisites and the training targets, and leaves the split as an open question you can check in game.
The Bowman branch at a glance
Per mapleclassic.wiki, Bowman is one of four job branches at launch (Warrior, Magician, Bowman, Thief) plus Beginner, with first and second job advancement only. Third job is not available at launch, so the second job you pick at level 30 is the end of the class path for now. The table below sets out the three Bowman-line classes.
| Class | Tier | Weapon | Primary stat | Advances at |
|---|
| Bowman | 1 | Bow, Crossbow | DEX | Level 10 |
| Hunter | 2 | Bow | DEX | Level 30 |
| Crossbowman | 2 | Crossbow | DEX | Level 30 |
The table shows that the choice at level 30 is a weapon choice. All three classes share DEX as the primary stat, so the stat plan up to level 30 does not change whichever second job you take. Hunter uses a bow and Crossbowman uses a crossbow, while the Bowman first job can use either, so you can plan your weapon purchase around the second job you want.
Both second jobs are taught in Henesys. The wiki lists the instructor as the Bowman Job Instructor in Henesys, and separately lists Athena Pierce in Bowman Instructional School, Henesys, as the instructor for the first and second Bowman jobs. The two entries may be the same NPC; the sources do not say, so check the town when you get there.
Stats: the DEX gate and the AP you control
Classic World does not roll your starting stats. Per mapleclassic.wiki, every stat starts at 4 and you place 9 AP directly. Putting all 9 into one stat takes it to 13. Four stats at 4 make a floor of 16 points, and the 9 free points bring the opening total to 25. The original game's dice roll is replaced by this direct allocation.
The first job gate for Bowman is DEX 25. Warrior needs STR 35, Magician needs INT 20, and Thief shares the Bowman gate of DEX 25. In the best case at creation, DEX 13 against a gate of 25 leaves 12 points (25 minus 13) to come from level-up AP. Each level grants 5 AP. Until level 11, AP is auto-allocated to the Beginner's primary stats; from level 11 you allocate by hand.
This is where the data gets thin. The sources do not list how the automatic allocation splits across stats, so they do not confirm whether DEX 25 is reached on its own by level 10. They also do not give the size of the one-time AP bonus granted at first job advancement. Before you spend creation AP, open the stat window at each level and compare your DEX against 25.
- At creation, place your 9 AP. Putting all 9 into DEX gives DEX 13, the highest single-stat result the sources describe.
- Level through the Beginner stage and watch DEX against the gate of 25 for the Bowman first job at level 10.
- After advancing, check your stat window before you assign any manual AP from level 11.
- From level 11, put points into DEX as the primary stat. Any STR points are your own decision, because no split is listed.
One more rule affects planning. AP is permanent unless you have a rare reset item, so a mistaken split cannot be undone casually. You can hold up to 3 characters per account, but deleting a character starts a waiting period before it is removed. For what each stat does in general, see the published STR, DEX, INT and LUK guide on this site. This page covers only the Bowman figures.
Skills: first job and the two second jobs
The tables here come from the skill data per mapleclassic.wiki. Cells marked not listed mean the sources record no value, not that the value is zero.
| Bowman skill | Max level | MP cost | Damage % | Hits | Targets | Requires |
|---|
| Arrow Blow | 20 | 6 to 14 | 240 | 1 | 1 | None listed |
| Double Shot | 20 | 8 to 16 | 120 | 1 | 2 | Arrow Blow Lv 1 |
| Critical Shot | 15 | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | None listed |
| The Eye of Amazon | 15 | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | None listed |
| Focus | 20 | 8 to 16 | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | The Eye of Amazon Lv 3 |
| Power Knockback | 15 | 12 to 8 | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | None listed |
The table shows two attacks with different shapes. Arrow Blow lists 240 percent on 1 target at 6 to 14 MP. Double Shot lists 120 percent on each of 2 targets at 8 to 16 MP, so against two targets the total is 240 percent (120 percent times 2 targets), the same as Arrow Blow on one. That is a reading of the listed figures only. The sources do not say how many monsters line up in practice, so they do not tell you which skill is better at which level.
Two requirements affect point order. Double Shot needs Arrow Blow at Lv 1, and Focus needs The Eye of Amazon at Lv 3. Power Knockback lists a falling cost, 12 to 8 MP, which reads as the cost dropping as the skill levels; the per-level steps are not listed.
Hunter and Crossbowman at level 30
| Skill | Class | Max level | MP cost | Requires |
|---|
| Bow Mastery | Hunter | 20 | Not listed | None listed |
| Bow Booster | Hunter | 20 | 30 to 10 | Bow Mastery Lv 5 |
| Soul Arrow: Bow | Hunter | 20 | 25 to 5 | Bow Booster Lv 5 |
| Final Attack: Bow | Hunter | 30 | 12 to 20 | Bow Mastery Lv 3 |
| Arrow Bomb | Hunter | 30 | Starts at 14 | None listed |
| Crossbow Mastery | Crossbowman | 20 | Not listed | None listed |
| Crossbow Booster | Crossbowman | 20 | 30 to 10 | Crossbow Mastery Lv 5 |
| Soul Arrow: Crossbow | Crossbowman | 20 | 25 to 5 | Crossbow Booster Lv 5 |
| Final Attack: Crossbow | Crossbowman | 30 | 12 to 20 | Crossbow Mastery Lv 3 |
| Iron Arrow | Crossbowman | 30 | Starts at 14 | None listed |
The two second jobs mirror each other. Each has a Mastery, a Booster, a Soul Arrow and a Final Attack with identical max levels and MP ranges, and the prerequisite chains match: Mastery Lv 5 unlocks the Booster, and Booster Lv 5 unlocks Soul Arrow. Final Attack needs only Mastery Lv 3. To reach Soul Arrow you need Mastery at Lv 5 and the Booster at Lv 5, which is 10 skill points (5 plus 5) before the first point in Soul Arrow itself. The sources do not list how many skill points you earn per level, so this guide cannot say when that happens.
The differences are in the attack skill. Iron Arrow lists 190 percent, 1 hit and 4 targets, with an MP cost that starts at 14. Arrow Bomb has the same max level and the same starting cost but no damage percent, hit count or target count in the sources, so a direct comparison with Iron Arrow is not possible. The data also carries separate rows named Arrow Bomb: Bow and Iron Arrow: Crossbow, with figures matching the base entries. The sources do not explain the duplication. Amazon's Judgement, max level 20, is shared across both jobs and requires Bow Mastery Lv 5 for Hunter or Crossbow Mastery Lv 5 for Crossbowman.
Bow versus crossbow: choosing a loadout
On the evidence available, a fair summary is: Hunter is the bow job and Crossbowman is the crossbow job, and the sources do not rank them. The one concrete attack-skill difference is that Iron Arrow lists 190 percent on up to 4 targets, while Arrow Bomb's damage is not listed. That favors neither job until the Hunter figure is known.
Equipment is where the sources are weakest. They do not list weapon attack values, arrow or bolt items, arrow prices or ammo consumption, so this guide cannot compare a bow loadout with a crossbow loadout on damage per hour or cost per hour. If you want a numbers-first comparison later, the things to record are:
- Weapon attack of the bow and the crossbow you can actually obtain at your level.
- Arrow and bolt cost per kill, if ammo is consumed in Classic World.
- The attack speed of each weapon, which the site's attack speed guide covers for weapon tiers.
Until then, pick the job from the skill list you prefer. A Hunter gets Arrow Bomb and the Bow line. A Crossbowman gets Iron Arrow and the Crossbow line.
Training targets for levels 20 to 30
The site's derived ranking of monsters in the level 20 to 30 band covers 21 monsters, ranked by EXP per HP point. Ten rows are shown below. The ranking uses HP and EXP only. It does not include spawn timing, kill speed or drop value, because none of those are recorded here.
| Rank | Monster | Level | HP | EXP per kill | EXP/HP | Weak to |
|---|
| 1 | Jr. Necki | 21 | 272 | 39 | 0.143 | |
| 2 | Stirge | 20 | 296 | 37 | 0.125 | |
| 3 | Zombie Mushroom | 24 | 436 | 45 | 0.103 | Holy |
| 4 | Blue Mushroom | 19 | 342 | 35 | 0.102 | |
| 5 | Horny Mushroom | 22 | 403 | 41 | 0.102 | |
| 6 | Rocky Mask | 24 | 479 | 45 | 0.094 | |
| 7 | Wooden Mask | 23 | 462 | 43 | 0.093 | |
| 8 | Fairy 2 | 29 | 593 | 54 | 0.091 | Poison |
| 9 | Fairy 3 | 29 | 593 | 54 | 0.091 | Poison |
| 10 | Fairy 4 | 29 | 593 | 54 | 0.091 | Poison |
The table puts Jr. Necki first at 0.143 EXP per HP, which is 39 EXP for 272 HP per kill. Stirge follows at 37 EXP for 296 HP. The Fairy rows give the most EXP per kill, 54 at level 29 against 39 for Jr. Necki, but they cost 593 HP per kill against 272, so per HP they rank lower. Which of these is faster per hour depends on how quickly your Bowman deals damage, and the sources do not list that, so no per hour figure can be given. Zombie Mushroom is listed as weak to Holy and the Fairy line to Poison; no Bowman, Hunter or Crossbowman skill in the data carries an element, so those weaknesses do not apply to the skills listed above.
Where to find them matters as much as the ranking. Per the map counts in the data, Jr. Necki appears 27 times on Dangerous Croko I and 21 times on Dangerous Croko II. Stirge has 38 on Dangerous Steam and 35 on Dark Cave. Zombie Mushroom has 61 on Ant Tunnel III. Blue Mushroom has 16 on The Blue Mushroom Forest. Wooden Mask has 30 on Excavation Site II, and Rocky Mask has 17 on Excavation Site III. Those are counts per map, not respawn rates. How fast they come back is not recorded.
For Fairy 2, Fairy 3 and Fairy 4, the counts are small: 2 on Someone Else's House, 2 each on Tree Dungeon, Forest Up North VI and Tree Dungeon, Forest Up North VII, and 2 on The Breathing Rock for Fairy 4. Few targets on screen at once may matter for a skill that hits up to 4 targets. That is an inference from the listed counts, not a measured result.
What the data does not tell us
- No DEX and STR split, secondary stat or target stat totals are listed for level 30.
- The skill points per level, and the size of the one-time AP bonus at first job advancement, are not listed.
- Arrow Bomb's damage percent, hits and targets are not listed, nor are the Mastery, Booster or Final Attack effects.
- No bow or crossbow weapon attack values and no arrow or bolt items or prices are listed.
- No drop rates, respawn times or kills per hour are recorded for any monster above.
Until those arrive, treat this as a planning frame: DEX as the stat to build toward, Arrow Blow or Double Shot as the first-job attacks, and a bow or crossbow choice at level 30 that the sources do not rank.
Last verified 2026-10-28 against mapleclassic.wiki data synced 2026-10-24 and Nexon's Classic World FAQ.
Frequently asked
- What stat should a Bowman put points into in Classic World?
- DEX is the primary stat for Bowman, Hunter and Crossbowman per mapleclassic.wiki. The Bowman first job gate is DEX 25, and no secondary stat or STR split is listed.
- Is there a dice roll for starting stats in Classic World?
- No. Every stat starts at 4 and you place 9 AP directly, so putting all 9 into one stat takes it to 13. The original game's random roll was replaced by this direct allocation.
- Should I pick Hunter or Crossbowman at level 30?
- Hunter uses a bow and Crossbowman uses a crossbow, both with DEX as the primary stat. The sources do not rank them, and Hunter's Arrow Bomb damage is not listed, so no conditional recommendation can be made yet.
- Where do I get the Bowman second job?
- Both second jobs are taught in Henesys at level 30, with the Bowman Job Instructor listed as the instructor. The wiki also lists Athena Pierce in Bowman Instructional School, Henesys, for the first and second Bowman jobs.
- Is third job available for Bowman at launch?
- No. Third job advancement is not available at launch, so Hunter and Crossbowman are the end of the Bowman path for now.
- Where can a level 20 to 30 Bowman train fastest per HP?
- By the site's EXP per HP ranking, Jr. Necki is first at 0.143, then Stirge at 0.125. Jr. Necki has 27 on Dangerous Croko I, and Stirge has 38 on Dangerous Steam. Respawn times and kills per hour are not recorded.
