Posted February 10, 2018
I seem to be doing alright with the following build, which has two different parts that could work separately, but fit well enough together:
1: 2H Parry and 2: Armor Training + Phoenix Wing. There are plenty of Job Points to go around, unless the patches change this too much in the future.
* - "doing alright": I didn't rack up any deaths at all until right after the third boss. I managed to unlock all three classes with this run. I kept the slot on Adventurer to save my items and sanity, but I would have achieved the unlocks on Heroic.
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1. 2H Parry
The most obvious way to build a defensively-balanced 2H build is to mix Sword Dancer with Edge Thane. Both provide various bonuses and synergies with Parry.
Core: Dust in the Wind, Unconscious Riposte, 2H Specialist, Wild Horse, Song of Endurance, (Verse of your choice, I took Endurance)
Later: Sword Masteries.
Suggested: Steel Resovle (passive) (Budoka). Arguably core on any "safe" character. Can you really afford to eat stuns and crits? Iron Breathing is something you may as well pick up on the way.
Direct damage and elemental: Flame Serpent (Sword Dancer) and Ice Tortoise (Sword Dancer) are great and do elemental damage types. There are good Brigand skills too: Fan of Knives does huge AoE and scales with Might, and their other skills mix well with Part 2 of the combined build.
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2. Armor Training + Phoenix Wing
The Phoenix Wing and Armor Training mechanics give these skills multiple overlapping synergies with mobility skills. For Phoenix Wing, you can hit multiple enemies by stepping onto a petal, attacking all 8 adjacent squares (diagonally counts). Skills which cause you to move also trigger the procs.
Any skill which causes your player to move procs Armor Training in the same way, but regular movement does not trigger it. Still, that's +50% AoE Weapon melee damage on all move skills - passive slots are limited, but it adds up to a lot of bonus damage if you build lots of skills around it. +.5 Weapon Damage scaling on 2-3 skills wouldn't be worth the slot, but on 8+ skills is another story...
Damage on move: Phoenix Wing (Sword Dancer), Armor Training (passive) (Paladin). Don't forget to always use HEAVY ARMOR.
Movement: Wild Horse (Sword Dancer), Hold The Moon (Sword Dancer), Cloak and Dagger (Brigand), Shadowstep (Brigand), Righteous Charge (Paladin), Highland Charge (Edge Thane), Rocket Charge (HuSyn), Soaring Heaven Slash (Ultimate Sword Mastery)
Wild Child has some mobility skills too, and they may be worth it, especially if you have extra job scrolls and want to farm them all right before the end boss for completion's sake, or if you have a favorite skill or panic button.
Floramancer has a move skill, but it's not worth getting vines for it, and Armor of Thorns is underwhelming except maybe on a blocking Shield Paladin or something. In theory, you could do blocking Shield paladin instead of 2H Parry, but 2H Parry has a lot more free passive damage and pretty good defenses to go with it.
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Final class: Brigand is what I'm using. Free bombs on two of your best damage-and-move skills and tons of random bleeding is possible after every riposte. Nothing else seemed to be quite the same tier, unless I'm missing something.
Random stuff: A spear+shield slot and a bow slot can help. A weapon with alternate damage type helps; my highest damage is Dalchan's Zweihander, which does Poison, so I have a backup for Physical damage.
Skill order: Brigand or Sword Dancer to start with. Get the first-class-discount skills, because they're all worth it. Maybe get Steel Resolve from Budoka after you get everything you want from your first class. Then you can get Armor Training and Heroic Charge from Paladin, followed by Edge Thane stuff. Edge Thane is a more supplemental class designed for longer fights, so don't switch to it too early. Jump around for whatever you want after that, and hoard Job Scrolls all game. End by maxing out Brigand and staying there.
Play style: Shadowstep is the strongest free-move skill. Use it to dodge channeled spells while doing damage to everything; often this means saving it for key moments. Anticipate long fights with a Thane song and Phoenix Wing right before you actually start taking hits. Keep an eye on Dust In The Wind, and cast it often. Take down isolated trash mobs with one or two direct damage skills, such as Flame Serpent and Wild Horse. Wasting two skills doesn't really hurt with the current powerup balance, and if you're healing health with Apple or Banana, you get free stamina+energy anyway. If you stay close to a lot of enemies and dodge their channels, you'll get tons of empowered ripostes. Grind on Normal difficulty floors and do side quests when in doubt. Eventually you can find the Elemental Temple, and clearing 3F grants you Heavy Armor Mastery.
Current game version doesn't always auto-equip your free passives, so always check your new skills.
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Anyway, I've never done well with bows or mages. Let me know if you have good builds for that. Maybe I just need to try them again but grind more?
1: 2H Parry and 2: Armor Training + Phoenix Wing. There are plenty of Job Points to go around, unless the patches change this too much in the future.
* - "doing alright": I didn't rack up any deaths at all until right after the third boss. I managed to unlock all three classes with this run. I kept the slot on Adventurer to save my items and sanity, but I would have achieved the unlocks on Heroic.
-----------
1. 2H Parry
The most obvious way to build a defensively-balanced 2H build is to mix Sword Dancer with Edge Thane. Both provide various bonuses and synergies with Parry.
Core: Dust in the Wind, Unconscious Riposte, 2H Specialist, Wild Horse, Song of Endurance, (Verse of your choice, I took Endurance)
Later: Sword Masteries.
Suggested: Steel Resovle (passive) (Budoka). Arguably core on any "safe" character. Can you really afford to eat stuns and crits? Iron Breathing is something you may as well pick up on the way.
Direct damage and elemental: Flame Serpent (Sword Dancer) and Ice Tortoise (Sword Dancer) are great and do elemental damage types. There are good Brigand skills too: Fan of Knives does huge AoE and scales with Might, and their other skills mix well with Part 2 of the combined build.
-----------
2. Armor Training + Phoenix Wing
The Phoenix Wing and Armor Training mechanics give these skills multiple overlapping synergies with mobility skills. For Phoenix Wing, you can hit multiple enemies by stepping onto a petal, attacking all 8 adjacent squares (diagonally counts). Skills which cause you to move also trigger the procs.
Any skill which causes your player to move procs Armor Training in the same way, but regular movement does not trigger it. Still, that's +50% AoE Weapon melee damage on all move skills - passive slots are limited, but it adds up to a lot of bonus damage if you build lots of skills around it. +.5 Weapon Damage scaling on 2-3 skills wouldn't be worth the slot, but on 8+ skills is another story...
Damage on move: Phoenix Wing (Sword Dancer), Armor Training (passive) (Paladin). Don't forget to always use HEAVY ARMOR.
Movement: Wild Horse (Sword Dancer), Hold The Moon (Sword Dancer), Cloak and Dagger (Brigand), Shadowstep (Brigand), Righteous Charge (Paladin), Highland Charge (Edge Thane), Rocket Charge (HuSyn), Soaring Heaven Slash (Ultimate Sword Mastery)
Wild Child has some mobility skills too, and they may be worth it, especially if you have extra job scrolls and want to farm them all right before the end boss for completion's sake, or if you have a favorite skill or panic button.
Floramancer has a move skill, but it's not worth getting vines for it, and Armor of Thorns is underwhelming except maybe on a blocking Shield Paladin or something. In theory, you could do blocking Shield paladin instead of 2H Parry, but 2H Parry has a lot more free passive damage and pretty good defenses to go with it.
-----------------------
Final class: Brigand is what I'm using. Free bombs on two of your best damage-and-move skills and tons of random bleeding is possible after every riposte. Nothing else seemed to be quite the same tier, unless I'm missing something.
Random stuff: A spear+shield slot and a bow slot can help. A weapon with alternate damage type helps; my highest damage is Dalchan's Zweihander, which does Poison, so I have a backup for Physical damage.
Skill order: Brigand or Sword Dancer to start with. Get the first-class-discount skills, because they're all worth it. Maybe get Steel Resolve from Budoka after you get everything you want from your first class. Then you can get Armor Training and Heroic Charge from Paladin, followed by Edge Thane stuff. Edge Thane is a more supplemental class designed for longer fights, so don't switch to it too early. Jump around for whatever you want after that, and hoard Job Scrolls all game. End by maxing out Brigand and staying there.
Play style: Shadowstep is the strongest free-move skill. Use it to dodge channeled spells while doing damage to everything; often this means saving it for key moments. Anticipate long fights with a Thane song and Phoenix Wing right before you actually start taking hits. Keep an eye on Dust In The Wind, and cast it often. Take down isolated trash mobs with one or two direct damage skills, such as Flame Serpent and Wild Horse. Wasting two skills doesn't really hurt with the current powerup balance, and if you're healing health with Apple or Banana, you get free stamina+energy anyway. If you stay close to a lot of enemies and dodge their channels, you'll get tons of empowered ripostes. Grind on Normal difficulty floors and do side quests when in doubt. Eventually you can find the Elemental Temple, and clearing 3F grants you Heavy Armor Mastery.
Current game version doesn't always auto-equip your free passives, so always check your new skills.
---------------
Anyway, I've never done well with bows or mages. Let me know if you have good builds for that. Maybe I just need to try them again but grind more?