V Matrix

The V Matrix is what all classes in game work with regarding 5th job Advancement.

Advancing

Call of the Erdas

Once you reach Level 200, the Memory Keeper will contact you to see if you're ready to attempt the 5th Job Advancement. He will not allow you to start it unless you complete the Temple of Time quests related to Memory Lane, Road of Regrets, Road to Oblivion, and the Amnesiac Temple Keeper. Once you complete these quests, he will allow you to access The Erda Flow, which tells you that the Black Mage is trying to harness the energy of the Erda.

Blessings of the Goddess

After returning to the Memory Keeper, he tells you that you need to receive the blessing of the goddesses of Maple World, Grandis, and Tynerum, accessible through Horizon Portals in certain maps. Each of the goddesses will give you a test to see if you're worthy of passing, and reward you with an Arcane Stone. The tests are as follows:

• The Goddess of Maple World, accessible through a Horizon Portal in Bowman Instructional School, will ask you which cause you are fighting for (that varies based on your class; e.g. Phantom is asked if he is fighting for his friends who sealed the Black Mage, or Empress Cygnus (Aria's successor).
• Goddess of Grandis, accessible through a Horizon Portal in Great Temple Interior, will ask you to defeat Magnus in Easy, Normal, OR Hard mode.
• Goddess of Tynerum, accessible through a Horizon Portal in Deserted Camp, will move the Horizon Portal to another map in the Dark World Tree (one of three maps: Upper-left Stem; Upper Stem Crossroad, or Upper-right Stem), and tell you to find it within 5 minutes.

Record of Power

Once you complete the tests of each goddess, you will have an Arcane Stone from each one. The Memory Keeper will tell you that you need to fill up each stone with EXP and keep it active for 2 hours. Each stone can obtain a minimum of 0 EXP (no penalty if you gain 0 EXP), and a maximum of 500,000,000 (500 million) EXP. However, you must be online for 2 hours in order to fill the stone completely (note that if you log off, the timer will NOT reset, but it will pause and continue instantly once you log back in). You can only fill up one stone at a time, leaving a total of 6 hours to reach 5th Job. Once you have completed each stone, the Memory Keeper will grant you the 5th Job Advancement, a Skill Nodestone that gives a special skill for your class, as well as 3 Goddess EXP Potions (and 5 Nodestones as of the Beyond update). These potions will give you EXP equal to the amount of EXP you obtained with each stone.

A Greater Power

Finally, the Memory Keeper will teach you about Arcane Power, which is needed to damage enemies in the area created by the Black Mage with the Erda's power, Arcane River. First, he will have you defeat 10 Happy Erdas without any Arcane Power (dealing 10% damage due to the lack of Arcane Power) to show you how tough the enemies are. He will then lend you a plain Arcane Symbol that cannot level up, but will be acceptable for the time being as you help Kao out in the first area, Vanishing Journey...

V Matrix

Every class in the game will receive the V Matrix system upon advancing to 5th Job. This system will allow you to customize your skills so that you can choose what skills to work on. You will start out with 4 slots at Level 200, and gain an additional slot every 6 levels (5 levels as of the Beyond update), and each slot will be taken up by one of the following types of Nodes:

Skill Node: Grants a special skill either based on your class, one obtainable by all classes, or certain groups of classes. Boost Node: Grants a node that boosts the final damage for 3 skills of a class by varying amounts based on the class and skill (meaning the skills will only belong to 1 class). Special Node: Grants a special buff after achieving certain conditions (such as attacking a certain number of times or using a Rune). Note that these nodes only last a week, so it might be recommended to disassemble the Node, as discussed later on.

When it comes to Boost Nodes, it is recommended to obtain 3 useful skills for your class within the same node, rather than skills that you do not use. As for Skill Nodes, the skill categories are as follows (for more information on each skill, click the respective skill):

• Common
• Warriors
• Magicians
• Bowmen
• Thieves
• Pirates

All Classes

• Rope Lift
• Decent Mystic Door
• Decent Sharp Eyes
• Decent Hyper Body
• Decent Combat Orders
• Decent Speed Infusion
• Blink
• Erda Nova
• Will of Erda
• Decent Holy Symbol
• Erda Shower

All Cygnus Knights (including Mihile)

• Phalanx Charge

All Heroes of Maple

• Freud's Wisdom

All Resistance (except Demon)

• Resistance Infantry

All Sengoku

• Sengoku Force, Assemble!

All Nova

• Might of the Nova

All Warriors

• Weapon Aura
• Impenetrable Skin

All Explorer Warriors

• Blitz Shield

Hero

• Burning Soul Blade
• Worldreaver

Paladin

• Divine Echo
• Hammers of the Righteous

Dark Knight

• Spear of Darkness
• Radiant Evil

Dawn Warrior

• File:Skill Celestial Dance.png Celestial Dance
• Rift of Damnation

Mihile

• Shield of Light
• Sword of Light

Aran

• Maha's Fury
• Maha's Carnage

All Demons

• Defender of the Demon

Demon Slayer

• Demon Awakening
• Spirit of Rage

Demon Avenger

• Demonic Frenzy
• Demonic Blast

Blaster

• Rocket Punch
• Gatling Punch

Hayato

• Battoujutsu Zankou
• Iaijutsu Phantom Blade

Kaiser

• Nova Guardians
• Bladefall

Zero

• Chrono Break
• Twin Blades of Time

All Magicians

• Mana Overload
• Ethereal Form

All Explorer Magicians

• Unreliable Memory

Arch Mage (Fire, Poison)

• DoT Punisher
• Poison Nova

Arch Mage (Ice, Lightning)

• Ice Age
• Bolt Barrage

Bishop

• Benediction
• Angel of Balance

Blaze Wizard

• Orbital Inferno
• Savage Flame

Evan

• Elemental Barrage
• Dragon Slam
• FUSION: Wyrmking's Breath
• RETURN: Ludicrous Speed

• • Note that Dragon Slam, Wyrmking's Breath, and Ludicrous Speed level up with the same Node.

Luminous

• Gate of Light
• Aether Conduit

Battle Mage

• Aura Scythe
• Altar of Annihilation

Kanna

• File:Skill Yuki-musume Shoukan.png Yuki-musume Shoukan
• Spirit's Domain

Beast Tamer

• Champ Charge
• Cub Cavalry

Kinesis

• Psychic Tornado
• Ultimate - Mind Over Matter

Illium

• Crystal Ignition
• REACTION: Reaction - Spectral Blast
• Templar Knight

• • Note that Crystal Ignition and Reaction - Spectral Blast level up with the same Node.

All Bowmen

• Guided Arrow
• Vicious Shot

All Explorer Bowmen

• Fury of the Wild

Bowmaster

• Storm of Arrows
• Inhuman Speed

Marksman

• Perfect Shot
• Split Shot

Wind Archer

• Howling Gale
• Merciless Winds

Mercedes

• Spirit of Elluel
• Sylvidia's Flight

Wild Hunter

• Jaguar Storm
• Primal Fury

All Thieves + Xenon

• Venom Burst
• Last Resort

All Explorer Thieves

• Shadow Walker

Night Lord

• Throwing Star Barrage
• Shurrikane

Shadower

• Shadow Assault
• Trickblade

Dual Blade

• File:Skill Blade Tempest.png Blade Tempest
• Blades of Destiny

Night Walker

• Shadow Spear
• Greater Dark Servant

Phantom

• Luck of the Draw
• Ace in the Hole

Xenon

• Omega Blaster
• Core Overload

All Pirates + Xenon

• Loaded Dice
• Overdrive

All Explorer Pirates

• Pirate's Banner

Buccaneer

• File:Skill Meltdown.png Meltdown
• Lord of the Deep

Corsair

• Bullet Barrage
• Target Lock

Cannon Master

• Cannon of Mass Destruction
• The Nuclear Option

Zen

• Fiery Dragon Storm
• Flame Tiger Miasma

Jett

• Gravity Crush
• Suborbital Strike

Thunder Breaker

• Lightning Cascade
• Shark Torpedo

Shade

• Spirit Flow
• Spiritgate

Mechanic

• Doomsday Device
• Mobile Missile Battery

Angelic Buster

• Sparkle Burst
• Superstar Spotlight

Enhancing Nodes

Any Skill Node or Boost Node can be enhanced up to Level 25 in a single node. To enhance a Skill Node, you must obtain an identical node to the skill you want to enhance; for example, for Howling Gale, you must have a Howling Gale node. To enhance a Boost Node, the top skill on the trio must be identical to one that you want to use to enhance the skill (for example, if you have a node with Song of Heaven, Trifling Wind III, and Storm Bringer (in order), you can use any node that has Song of Heaven as the top skill to enhance it.) To do so, you must talk to a node master in certain areas of Arcane River (in Vanishing Journey, you must talk to Archelle; in Chu Chu Island, you must talk to Lyon after completing the questline, and in Morass, you must talk to Hirrel; Lachelein and Arcana currently do not have Node NPCs). You can obtain Nodestones from any monster in the Arcane River region, as well as from other people.