Fencer Archive
Thread: Best one-handed weapon
XingYuen wrote:
There is not just one weapon that is the best. It depends on the situation. Different weapons have different strengths and weaknesses.
Though that would be the most desirable situation, XingYuen, it's not even remotely true for fencers (though the devs promise to fix this starting in Publish 8.)
All fencing weapons have NO armor piercing. At master fencer rank, any weapon with under 3.5 speed (almost all of them if well-made) hits the speed cap. All do relatively low damage compared to the best weapons in other classes, though the HAM costs on fencing weapons are lower than most (yet some pistols still have less than 1/3 the HAM costs of the lowest fencing HAM costs, they just have higher point multipliers on their skills - or so I'm told). Accuracy is not a big problem for fencers, either.
It all comes down to damage type and damage amount. Fencing weapons have two damage types:kinetic and stun. The only stun sword...er...stick is the aptly named Stun Baton. It does mediocre damage (unless you are fortunate enough to have grabbed Acklay bones in the Genosian Lab prior to the series of nerfs on their effectiveness - those bones can make double-damage weapons that, by virtue of their stats, ignore damage mitigation) and is thus relegated to use only in PvP to bypass composite armor (though with no armor piercing, it still only does 1/2 damage). We are left with the optimal fencing weapon for non-PvP against anything whose kinetic resistance is not 50% higher than its stun resistance: the curved-pipe-with-a-spike-on-it.
I love my curved-pipe-with-a-spike-on-it. When I became a fencer, I imagined myself as a master, weaving in and out of range of my opponent, darting in, parrying an attack, countering with a swift blow...to the head...with a Tusken crowbar. Hey, no I didn't!
Unfortunately, though, the gaffi stick has by far the highest damage of the fencing weapons, modest health and action costs, and a mind cost that most fencers can handle. Other weapons can work, but not as well.
Jigen, Radiant Galaxy
Master fencer, master rifleman, soon to give up the latter to avoid falling under the FotM stigma, even though sniping NPCs is great fun
Darakeru wrote:
XingYuen wrote:
There is not just one weapon that is the best. It depends on the situation. Different weapons have different strengths and weaknesses.
Though that would be the most desirable situation, XingYuen, it's not even remotely true for fencers (though the devs promise to fix this starting in Publish 8.)
I find it true to me.
All fencing weapons have NO armor piercing. At master fencer rank, any weapon with under 3.5 speed (almost all of them if well-made) hits the speed cap. All do relatively low damage compared to the best weapons in other classes, though the HAM costs on fencing weapons are lower than most (yet some pistols still have less than 1/3 the HAM costs of the lowest fencing HAM costs, they just have higher point multipliers on their skills - or so I'm told). Accuracy is not a big problem for fencers, either.
In fact, the fencers vibroblade is AP1, and I find a place for it in my arsenal.
It all comes down to damage type and damage amount. Fencing weapons have two damage types:kinetic and stun. The only stun sword...er...stick is the aptly named Stun Baton. It does mediocre damage (unless you are fortunate enough to have grabbed Acklay bones in the Genosian Lab prior to the series of nerfs on their effectiveness - those bones can make double-damage weapons that, by virtue of their stats, ignore damage mitigation) and is thus relegated to use only in PvP to bypass composite armor (though with no armor piercing, it still only does 1/2 damage). We are left with the optimal fencing weapon for non-PvP against anything whose kinetic resistance is not 50% higher than its stun resistance: the curved-pipe-with-a-spike-on-it.
I carry a total of 5 different fencing weapons that are all utilized. I spend most of my time in PvP and they all have a use.
I love my curved-pipe-with-a-spike-on-it. When I became a fencer, I imagined myself as a master, weaving in and out of range of my opponent, darting in, parrying an attack, countering with a swift blow...to the head...with a Tusken crowbar. Hey, no I didn't!
I look forward to new weapons just like the next person, but to convey that the Gaffi stick is what all fencer should use would be only partially correct.
Unfortunately, though, the gaffi stick has by far the highest damage of the fencing weapons, modest health and action costs, and a mind cost that most fencers can handle. Other weapons can work, but not as well.
I continue to say that it depends on the situation.
Jigen, Radiant Galaxy
Master fencer, master rifleman, soon to give up the latter to avoid falling under the FotM stigma, even though sniping NPCs is great fun
Darakeru wrote:
All fencing weapons have NO armor piercing. At master fencer rank, any weapon with under 3.5 speed (almost all of them if well-made) hits the speed cap. All do relatively low damage compared to the best weapons in other classes, though the HAM costs on fencing weapons are lower than most (yet some pistols still have less than 1/3 the HAM costs of the lowest fencing HAM costs, they just have higher point multipliers on their skills - or so I'm told). Accuracy is not a big problem for fencers, either.
It all comes down to damage type and damage amount. Fencing weapons have two damage types:kinetic and stun. The only stun sword...er...stick is the aptly named Stun Baton. It does mediocre damage (unless you are fortunate enough to have grabbed Acklay bones in the Genosian Lab prior to the series of nerfs on their effectiveness - those bones can make double-damage weapons that, by virtue of their stats, ignore damage mitigation) and is thus relegated to use only in PvP to bypass composite armor (though with no armor piercing, it still only does 1/2 damage). We are left with the optimal fencing weapon for non-PvP against anything whose kinetic resistance is not 50% higher than its stun resistance: the curved-pipe-with-a-spike-on-it.
I love my curved-pipe-with-a-spike-on-it. When I became a fencer, I imagined myself as a master, weaving in and out of range of my opponent, darting in, parrying an attack, countering with a swift blow...to the head...with a Tusken crowbar. Hey, no I didn't!
Unfortunately, though, the gaffi stick has by far the highest damage of the fencing weapons, modest health and action costs, and a mind cost that most fencers can handle. Other weapons can work, but not as well.
actually, like xing yuen said, vibroblades have ap1 and by far the lowest HAM costs. top end vibroblades can push 190 in damage. also, unless the composite armor has a stun layer, it is VULNERABLE to stun. whenever an armor type is vulnerable to a certain damage, it does NO protection against it at all.
personally i always use the vibroblade to apply states, lunge/dizzy, then depending on what the opponent is donning, i'll switch to a stun baton or keep at it with the vibroblade. i find myself only using the gaffi stick when i'm going against an unarmored opponent.