Most of Mabinogi's monsters have a very strict pattern they follow. If you get hit on Mabinogi, then it just means you messed up. You are not supposed to get hit in Mabinogi, you will feel this as you go into higher level dungeons. 1 Critical Hit from Ghosts even with rank 1 Defense and high defense armor will most likely eat more than half of your health.
If you are just starting out, you do not need any armors yet. You want to focus on killing things without getting hit rather than exchanging blows. Below is designated towards the early/mid-game(mabinogi gold). You said you should not be hit, so you do not mention counter and defense. What we say? You want to grind, where you can kill things in a combination, so you do not need to rank the unnecessary later skills, such as the counter and defense.
Resorting to Ice-counter or n 1 -> def -> n 1 is a very poor tactic for warriors. Learn how to use and time your Windmill correctly, and you will not even need Counterattack or Defense on your hotkey bar. Refer to our videos if you do not believe us. Even in early game(Mabinogi powerleveling), correct use of Windmill will not even let the monsters touch you unless you lag. Do your research before you go into a dungeon, using Wikipedia, oversea websites, other fansites, and so on. Try to understand their AI.
