Tattoos in Lineage 2, full guide

Every class in the game has its own base stats. You can change them with tattoos that raise some stats by cutting less important ones. Result: a more balanced char, stacked for farm, PvP, oly, etc. Info is valid for Interlude through High Five.

Class stats — what they do
Rules and limits
Where to get dyes
Where to apply and remove tattoos
Tattoo setups for different classes, with notes
Video guide
Tattoo specifics on la2world

Class stats

STR or Strength — affects P.Atk.

CON or Constitution — max HP and CP, HP regen. Stun resist, bleed and poison resist. Underwater time and weight limit.

DEX or Dexterity — Accuracy and Evasion, Speed and Atk. Spd, shield block chance, crit chance and Blow (lethal) success chance.

MEN or Mental Strength — M.Def, max MP and MP regen. Cast interrupt chance, curse resist (silence, fear, debuffs).

INT or Intelligence — M.Atk and debuff land chance.

WIT or Wisdom — Casting Spd, magic crit chance.

Where to get dyes

There are 2 kinds of dyes: regular and Greater.

Regular dyes cut more than they add, e.g. +3DEX-5STR. Buy them from magic item traders in any town.

Greater dyes add and cut the same amount, e.g. +4DEX-4STR. Buy from Trader of Mammon, or farm from some mobs.

Rules and limits when applying tattoos

1 Chars after lvl 20 who have not done the 1st profession quest can apply 1 tattoo. After that quest — 2 tattoos with regular dyes. After lvl 40 and the 2nd profession quest you can apply 3 tattoos with Greater dyes. If you already had tattoos, they stop working — remove them and apply new ones.

2 You can only swap within physical stats or within magical stats. So +DEX-STR is fine, +DEX-INT is not.

3 Max you can raise a stat is +5. You can cut as much as you want, but it never goes to 0 — it stays at 1.

4 Not every stat can be dyed; there are class limits. Short version: fighters can’t dye -MEN/+MEN, healers can’t dye -INT/+INT. Combinations in the table below.

Tattoo type	Who can use	Tattoo type	Who can and cannot use
+STR -CON	All classes	+INT -MEN	mages can, fighters cannot
+STR -DEX	All classes	+INT -WIT	everyone except healers
+CON -STR	All classes	+MEN -INT	mages can, fighters cannot
+CON -DEX	All classes	+MEN -WIT	mages can, fighters cannot
+DEX -STR	All classes	+WIT -INT	everyone except healers
+DEX -CON	All classes	+WIT -MEN	mages can, fighters cannot

Second table

Spoiler

	Con/Dex	Con/Str	Dex/Str	Int/Men	Int/Wit	Men/Wit
Abyss Walker	+	+	+	–	+	–
Bishop	+	+	+	–	–	+
Bladedancer	+	+	+	–	+	–
Bounty Hunter	+	+	+	–	+	–
Dark Avenger	+	+	+	–	+	–
Destroyer	+	+	+	–	+	–
Elemental Summoner	+	+	+	+	+	+
Elven Elder	+	+	+	–	–	+
Gladiator	+	+	+	+	–	–
Hawkeye	+	+	+	+	–	–
Necromancer	+	+	+	+	+	+
Overlord	+	+	+	–	–	+
Paladin	+	+	+	+	–	–
Phantom Ranger	+	+	+	–	+	–
Phantom Summoner	+	+	+	+	+	+
Plains Walker	+	+	+	–	+	–
Prophet	+	+	+	–	–	+
Shillien Elder	+	+	+	–	–	+
Shillien Knight	+	+	+	–	+	–
Silver Ranger	+	+	+	–	+	–
Sorcerer	+	+	+	+	+	+
Spellhowler	+	+	+	+	+	+
Spellsinger	+	+	+	+	+	+
Swordsinger	+	+	+	–	+	–
Temple Knight	+	+	+	–	+	–
Treasure Hunter	+	+	+	+	–	–
Tyrant	+	+	+	–	+	–
Warcryer	+	+	+	–	–	+
Warlock	+	+	+	+	+	+
Warlord	+	+	+	+	–	–
Warsmith	+	+	+	–	+	–

Where to apply and remove tattoos

In every town, in the Magic Shop, there is NPC Symbol Maker. You apply and remove tattoos there. To apply you must bring him 10 pots with the same stats and pay a bit of Adena.

To remove, pick the matching dialog option at the same NPC and the tattoo to delete. The maker returns 5 pots.

Recommended tattoo setups by class, with notes

Tanks (Paladin, DA, TK and ShK)

Setup 1 +4DEX-4CON, +4STR-4CON — good for leveling. For tanks with a bow/shilka you can leave it as the main setup. Extra +1DEX-1CON for max dmg, or +4WIT-4INT for Casting Spd.

Setup 2 +5CON-5STR — tank setup: more HP, stun resist, +4WIT-4INT for Casting Spd. Solid for DA on HF in mass PvP and oly — you stand longer to cancel enemies.

Warlord (spear)

Setup 1 +4DEX-4CON, +4STR-4CON for leveling.

Setup 2 +5CON-5STR — this class stands and stuns everything around, so more HP.

Mages (SH, Sorc, Necro, MM or SS, plus Warlock, horse and Phantom Summoner), healers (Bishop, EE, SE) and support PP:

Setup 1 (universal for farm and PvP) +5CON-5STR — more HP off STR you don’t need. +4WIT-4INT for Casting Spd.

Setup 2 +4CON-4STR more HP, +4DEX-4STR more Speed — especially good for elf mages and healers. +4WIT-4INT for cast.

Setup 3 +4CON-4STR, +5INT-5MEN — max magic dmg. Not popular: it cuts M.Def and gives no Casting Spd.

Daggers (TH, PW and AW)

Setup 1 +4DEX-4CON, +4STR-4CON — for leveling.

Setup 2 +5CON-5STR, +4DEX-4STR — PvP: more HP, Accuracy, Evasion and lethal chance.

Setup 3 +4CON-4STR, +5DEX-5STR — a bit less HP, more Accuracy and Evasion. Good for elf dagger (highest DEX among daggers); this tattoo leans into that.

Setup 4 +4CON-4STR, +4DEX-4STR, plus +4WIT-4INT for cast. Better for PW and AW to land self-buffs and DE debuffs faster.

Archers (SR, Hawk, FR) and crossbow

Setup 1 +4DEX-4CON, +5STR-5CON — for leveling. Usable in PvP too, but hard without a healer.

Setup 2 +5STR-5CON — small dmg bump, doesn’t dump HP too hard. DE archers use this most, because they already have low HP.

Setup 3 for crossbow +4DEX-4CON, +5STR-5CON, +4WIT-4INT. Dmg plus Casting Spd — they actually have spells. Magic stun and UE plus jumps give more chance to live with that low HP than other bows.

Dest

Setup 1 +4DEX-4CON, +5STR-5CON — leveling, RB farm.

Setup 2 +5DEX-5CON, +4STR-4CON — a bit more Speed, better chance to reach the target. Less relevant on HF because Dest got a jump.

Tyr

Setup 1 +4DEX-4CON, +5STR-5CON for leveling, RB farm.

Setup 2 +5CON-5STR — dmg under Zealot.

Spoilers and crafters

Setup 1 +4DEX-4CON, +5STR-5CON — standard for leveling and spoil.

Setup 2 +5CON-5STR — spoil in a party with real DDs: you agro the mob, the party member last-hits.

Bers

Setup 1 +4DEX-4CON, +5STR-5CON for leveling.

Setup 2 +5CON-5STR and +4WIT-4INT for PvP — Bers hits with skills, so you raise cast for the skills that need to go out fast.