Cadena

Overview

Cadena is the Nova Thief: an ex-princess of Heliseum who reinvented herself in the Shadowdealers' black market after Magnus destroyed her home. She fights with a Chain (secondary: Warp Forge) and a rotating arsenal of summoned weapons — scimitars, claws, shotguns, daggers, even a brick — woven between chain strikes.

Why play Cadena? Deep, expressive combo gameplay where skill genuinely shows — two Cadenas with identical gear can perform very differently. She's also one of the strongest classes in the game. She has Dark Sight on demand, shields that let you tank damage, and some of the best free movement in the game. Very fun and interactive.

Why not? Damage purely depends on your hands — she requires a lot of practice and instant decision-making, and she's genuinely difficult to play.

Introduction

Cadena's damage comes from eight stacks of Muscle Memory. Each stack can be built with a different Chain Arts skill, but using Chain Arts: Thrash instantly stacks all eight. Muscle Memory gives us passive FD along with its proc between each skill usage, and Muscle Memory spikes proc whenever the Muscle Memory passive is refreshed.

The goal of Cadena is to weave skills to proc as much Muscle Memory as possible. Since Cadena has eight skills to weave, there are many combinations possible. The basis of comboing on Cadena is to use Thrash before every skill so that it cancels the skill and adds the Thrash final-damage passive to each one — you cannot combo without using Thrash.

Different skills move Cadena in different directions and heights. We use this to our advantage to place and move ourselves without needing to physically move with the arrow keys. By using combos to position ourselves strategically, we can keep extremely high uptime while dodging many boss attacks.

While Cadena has one of the highest damage outputs in the game, she's also probably the hardest class to play in the game. Mastering Cadena takes a very long time, and you'll have to commit to practicing combos and bossing. It's very rewarding, but at the same time very exhausting. You've been warned.

Setup

Inner Ability

Updated for: post-Angelic Buster rework & Inner preset.

Link Skills

Updated links with level 3 changes. Lumi would replace Kinesis likely if your IED isn't high enough — check values with Scouter. Swap in Kinesis over Lynn if you have enough crit rate to drop it. Swap in Adele over Kinesis in a party of 3+ if you aren't lazy. Swap in the defense links of Resistance/Warrior/Shade if needed. Scouter can give you an FD breakdown of each link.

Bossing:

Mobbing:

Hyper Skills

• Chain-less Arts — Reinforce (20% dmg)
• Chain-less Arts — Boss Rush (20% boss dmg)
• Chain Arts: Thrash — Reinforce (20% dmg)
• Chain Arts: Thrash — Linked Attack Reinforce (5% FD)
• Chain Arts: Beatdown — Cooldown Cutter (−50% cd)

V-Matrix

Did you know you can turn off the greyscale from ? Just right-click the skill in your skill tab — it should help reduce lag and frame drops.

If you are farming you can level both / first.

Boost nodes: ››› — the last two don't really matter, do them after all other nodes: /

Job/common nodes: ›››››››››››

Decent priority: ››› — max first, though it can also be slotted last since it's only for bossing.

Hexa Matrix

M3 = , M4 = .

For , link it to .

Hexa Stat

A generic guideline for people who just need some sort of idea — to min-max, use Scouter's analysis/optimization → boss setting optimization.

When to start upgrading:

• Around mastery lvl 5–9 for Hexa Stat 1
• Around mastery lvl 19 for Hexa Stat 2
• Around mastery lvl 25 for Hexa Stat 3

First stat core:

• Main stat: Attack. Sub stats: LUK + Boss dmg%
• Prioritize the highest values of Attack > LUK > Boss Dmg
• Scouter can help you optimize multiple cores
• Very late in the end game (Heroic) you eventually swap Boss Dmg for Crit Dmg

Legion Artifact

Most → least priority:

1. Cooldown Skip
2. Boss Damage
3. Damage
4. IED
5. Crit Dmg
6. All Stat
7. Attack
8. Buff Duration

Slot in Meso, Item Drop, and EXP Gained if you are farming.

Oz Rings

In general the best ring is Ring of Restraint (RoR), swapping to Weapon Jump (WJ) for mini bursts. A perm will also beat out a Continuous Ring (Cont) on Heroic. General order:

1. 4 / 4
2. 4
3. 4
4. 3
5. 3

Those are typically the only usable rings in most bossing situations compared to a 21/22-star 3-line ring. Niche picks:

• Risk Taker 4 — mainly a dojo ring, but in bosses that are easy to not get hit in (aka Limbo) it beats 4 for mini burst.
• Total Control 4 — basically a dojo ring, but on Heroic it should beat a 3 for mini bursts; Reg/Interactive players late-game can see it beat 4 — check with Scouter.
• Health cut/limit rings — used for Crisis HM setup; CHM4 can be useful in Culvert if you don't have a (the Culvert rotation below has a method to proc it).
• Dojo Crit Dmg 4 and Level Jump 4 have slight use cases — keep a copy.

As always, use Scouter to check your own values against your ring setup.

WSE

For Heroic, BIS is 9/0/0 and the BIS secondary is PNO.

• Weapon (Arcane & Genesis): 3L atk
• Emblem: 3L atk
• Secondary: 3L atk OR 21% atk + 30% boss

These setups are close to each other, boss dmg being more favorable during burst: 9/0/0, 8/1/0, 7/2/0.

257.5% dmg base:  9% att → 26.13 × 1.96 × 7.575 = 387.95
                  40% bd  → 26.13 × 1.87 × 7.975 = 389.68
400% dmg base:    9% att → 26.13 × 1.96 × 9     = 460.93
                  40% bd  → 26.13 × 1.87 × 9.4   = 459.31

Cheap Shot

A very interesting skill that can sway Cadena's damage by a large amount: it provides 2% crit rate and 11% crit damage for every unique debuff on the boss. Cadena can get up to 6 stacks solo (7 during binds); in a party you can sit at 7 permanently as long as a party member has a debuff. 7 stacks (77% crit damage) is roughly 20% FD at end-game values; 6 stacks is about 17% FD.

Debuffs Cadena applies solo:

• Bleed (all attacks)
• Confusion
• Terrified (30% IED debuff)
• & Slow
• Venom Burst
• Mage Link (9% DMG / 9% IED)
• & — only while the boss is bound (Origin bind overrides Beatdown bind, so this cannot be stacked)

CD Hat

Best → worst:

1. −8s
2. −7s
3. −6s
4. −5s (anything past −4 is basically a Reg/Interactive thing)
5. −4s + 9% stat
6. −4s
7. −3s + 9% stat
8. −3s
9. −2s + 18% stats
10. −2s
11. 30% stats

For −2s alone expect 7–10% FD depending on your skill level; every additional −1s is roughly 1.5–3.5% FD. On a non-moving target, −4s beats the other options and is nice QoL for training.

A CD hat doesn't change your ability to animation-cancel — your DPS upkeep and skill usage heavily affect how much you actually gain from it (though it can raise your skill counts in a fight). Note: having more skills available doesn't necessarily mean you can use more skills — that's highly rotation-dependent.

−2s + %stats should be the aim for most players unless Cadena is your main. Don't chase a −4 hat until Eternals as a Heroic player; Reg/Interactive players generally stop at −5.

Flames

Endgame flame values for Heroic (Reboot): ATK = 3, All stat % = 10–11 (dependent on all-stat lines), sub stat = 0.1.

Attack Speed

2AS vs 1AS vs 0AS: attack speed does not affect Cadena as much as other classes — animation cancelling stays similar; what changes is the interval in which you can cancel. Your ability to use skills off cooldown matters much more for overall damage. Combo timers change with AS, so get used to playing at 0AS (green pot + ) as soon as possible. It also speeds up certain animations.

Generally: use whichever feels better to you — there has not been conclusive evidence either way. A 3-minute stationary-dummy test (by ChickenCdena, −4 hat + 20% CD skip) found skill usage at 1AS and 0AS very similar: BAs averaged slightly better with DSI (more and procs), but great BAs happened without it too — it mostly just feels smoother with DSI.

Combos

Quality-of-life first: for easier combos, set your keyboard repeat delay/rate to fast (Keyboard Properties), or set AutoRepeatDelay/AutoRepeatRate in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Keyboard Response. Recommended settings: 100–120 / 10–30. Enable filter keys in Windows and also set the Flags value to 63.

Positioning

Hitboxes of all the skills — the optimal boss location is outlined in blue:

Combo Priority

General DPM priority outside of burst:

> combos while is touching the boss > > if it needs to be replaced > combos without

Use before when possible: Shuriken's pass-through procs three times rather than once with — as long as (a) the boss is big enough and (b) you're placed a bit further from the boss.

Practice Combos

Thrash-cancelling combos are 99% of the time rhythmic — it's not as fast as you think. Once the rhythm clicks you'll pull off combos freely.

Practice in order — hover any icon for the skill name (⬆ = holding up arrow).

Starters:

• ››
• ›

Main combos:

• ›››››
• ›››
• ›››
• ››
• ›››
• ›››
• ›››
• ››››
• ››⬆››
• ›››››››
• ›››››
• ››››
• ››››››

Never really practical, mainly a practice thing:

• ›››››››››››››››››››

Notes on Combos and Skill Usage

• Treat your combos (e.g. ››››) as one skill to memorize options — but don't lock skills into only ever appearing in one chain.
• in the air acts as a teleport (e.g. to dodge Lotus laser): ›› or ›› both put you mid-air and make Scimitar act as a TP.
• › stores the Thrash FD buff, so you can use it to increase damage (››).
• Pursuit cancels both animation and damage of — instead do ›› to stop the brick animation safely.
• Using before mid-combo is difficult and doesn't yield much — optional, not recommended.
• If you CD-skip a skill (e.g. ), combo with something else while everything's on CD, or ››⬆› to tap it ASAP so it's back in time for the next combo.
• We can now use and in the air. Always try to jump-cast then ›› so you can fit two full within one .
• If during DPM your resets but your doesn't, a good combo is ›› so you proc one more with the during your .
• Try to save for repositioning during boss fights rather than using it in combos all the time — it doesn't do as much damage, but it's great for dodging things fast.

Final Thoughts

There are many combinations and permutations of combos you can use and come up with. Some are more optimal than others due to CD timings, some use up skills faster than others so you have more time to put in thrashes during skill downtime for more dpm.

Be creative, try out combos that aren’t standard.

The goal is to combo without being moved from your original position. However this isn’t always the most optimal for bossing and you want to adjust timings for replacing yourself to dodge boss attacks. The goal is to combo and be in control of where you want to end up being.

Try not to only use certain skills for specific combo chains; this is a very bad habit to get into.

Practice, practice, practice!!!

Combo Videos

• Cadena Combo Guide (Thrash/Pursuit Cancelling Basics) — Ant
• Cadena 101 Guide Part 1 — Procida GMS
• Thrash Cancel Timing Drills (with audio cues) — Story GMS
• Full rotations 8AS: BA −5, 8AS full rotation, challenge dummy clip
• Full rotations 10AS: 10AS full rotation

Bossing

Skill Sequence

Set up two skill sequences (full burst / mini burst) — this assumes ring-swapping for mini burst; if not, add at the start of the mini burst sequence.

We put towards the beginning so that it doesn't kill immediately, resulting in potential extension.

4 sequence:

With a 5, put it at the beginning:

Burst Rotation

1. Charge (using ) in entry room.

2. Usually wait 15-17 seconds before going in for fatal.

3. ››› (Debuff the boss with )

4. (set to not bind) → Full burst buff sequence.

5. Recommended: ›››››› — generally better for anyone with a 4. After the Origin cutscene, spam + again; after the bind runs out, .

   Alternative (bind-first) order — basically requires a 5: ›››››› spam; repeat if both CD-skip and Shuriken needs recasting (only if it's no longer touching the boss); if only skips, keep spamming it until Grandis skips are used up → after the 10s bind ends.

Have ~7s left on before you so it lasts through the whole cutscene.

Culvert Rotation

Culvert rotation (−4 hat / swap to ): → ring swap still seems best for Heroic/Reboot unless you have a 6. Replace every 15s throughout the run. Edited as more testing is done — see the video reference.

When	What
	Right-click to stage 1 (or just press down + Last Resort), and right-click so it does not bind
	Buff up; charge the Ark link with
	Pop
40s on Elixir	Pop
32s on Elixir	Pop Fatal
25s on Elixir	Pop your Culvert sequence (, stage 1, ), then , and right-click Last Resort to lock it once again
18s on Veteran	Enter
Countdown 2	Place & ; replace Maelstrom till the boss spawns, then till stage 4
Stage 4	stage 2 & (Angelic Buster link)
Stage 5	with
86s	First
76s	& again — can be used sometime here
60s	#2 with (hold Beatdown until Hecate's Styx is off cd); use as soon as it's off cd
52s	&
49s	Second
35s
31s	Ring swap to ; use the last
22s	Replace ; move to the left of the boss facing right; press your full burst sequence
20s	; use as soon as it comes off cd
10s
5s	with

Aggro the boss to the corner and stand on its left side when you pop — more procs, thus more Veteran procs.

Bossing Tips

• is a 2-second iframe on a 45s CD (reducible by CD hat) — you get the iframe on press; no need to hold the skill.
• Refresh every 15s.
• Optimize the time is touching the boss: if it can bounce off a wall and return to hit the boss, leave it; if not, explode it as it leaves the hitbox.
• will often deal the most damage over time to a stationary boss — pop it off cooldown and reposition it as needed.

Pursuit as a Mobility and Positioning Tool

cancels animations — not to chain attacks, but to kill momentum and end-lag:

• In the air, Pursuit stops your movement — position mid flash jump, or cancel Verus Hilla's push and skill momentum ( / / ).
• On latch it gives ~1 second of Dark Sight; pulling yourself gives 2 seconds. Works on boss, platform, even the ground.
• Learn ↑Pursuit — up-Pursuit doesn't hook on bosses, but beware bosses with platforms (Slime, Gloom, Black Mage, Kalos).
• Learn to ↑Pursuit-cancel every weapon skill except (it cancels Brick's damage): it cancels movement on lone weapon skills (when only , , or is off cd) and instantly ends a combo when you need to dodge or reposition. Otherwise keep freely combo/Thrash-cancelling.
• Gloom example: ›› or ›› to avoid using and sliding down the leg during burst.
• If you frame-drop during , build the habit of ››››⬆› in case Decoy Bomb sends you flying.
• Pursuit resets your flash/up jump (up jump → Pursuit → pull → up jump again for longer air time), and resets Pursuit (up jump → Pursuit → up jump → Shotgun → Pursuit → pull → up jump). Niche: perpetual floating — generally worse than just stalling with or a weapon skill.

General Tips

• Prioritize & during for as many resets as possible. Even if only skips, spam it until the Grandis skips are used up — bat is too valuable even without procs. Then combo as normal.
• Learn the distances your skills move you — it matters in harder bosses.
• Keybind instead of using the attack key: you can pop and recast Shuriken with Thrash bound in a single press, and while ducking, Thrash stands you up instead of crouch-attacking.
• Also bind (your flash jump) for faster repositioning around the boss — positioning is everything on Cadena, mostly because of Shuriken usage.
• The Mu Lung practice dummy is your friend. You won't get it within a week — it takes hours — but the class is worth it once you do.

Mobbing

Farming setup lives inline in Setup: the farming Inner preset, the mobbing link setup, the farm-first V-Matrix leveling note, and the Legion Artifact farming slots.

Training Maps

A great rotation-building resource for all classes: maplemaps.net. Each map below has a linked build video in the original doc (mostly Korean uploads — the keyword table below helps you search for more).

Without Sol Janus:

With Sol Janus:

Level	Maps
260+ Cernium	Rocky Overlook 1 · Library 1/4 · Royal Library Section 6
260+ Burning Cernium	Eastern City Ramparts 1 · Library 1, 2, 4, 5
265+ Hotel Arcus	Outlaw Infested Waste 2/4 · Train with No Destination 3/4
270+ Odium	Road to the Castle's Gate 4 · Captured Alley 3 · Laboratory Behind Locked Door 2 (lazy) · Laboratory Behind Locked Door 4 · Sunny Laboratory 3
275+ Shangri-La	Harsh Winter 2 (1-shot dusk) · Blooming Spring 2 · Drowsy Autumn 5 · Harsh Winter 4
280+ Arteria	Combat Zone Outskirts 2 · Western Outskirts · Bottom Deck Passage 5 · Bottom Deck Passage 6
285+ Carcion	Giant Coral Colony 3 · Calm Beach 3 · Among Tainted Trees 1/3 · Breathtaking Cave 4 · Sunken Ruin 4
290+ Tallahart	Fate-Fields of Providence 2 (stand left, rotate one wave, the next) · Fate-Fields of Providence 3 · Night Road 1 · Night Road 3

Korean search keywords (for finding build videos):

Links & Resources

• Cadena Discord — where this guide is maintained and discussed
• Original Cadena 101 doc — source of record for this page, including the per-map training videos not ported here
• Cadena on MapleWiki — story, job info
• Cadena skill list on MapleWiki — full skill data and tooltips
• maplemaps.net — rotation-building resource
• Scouter — referenced throughout for personal FD optimization