Pikeman Archive
Thread: Fencer is just more fun...
Novice pikeman here with LVA.
I think fencer is just more fun, i'm having a lot more fun getting up in the fencer levels than I ever did the pikeman levels.
Whenever I get attacked by something that I can't easily take out one hand, I bust out my long vibro axe, miss 4 times in a row, and think "THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I QUIT PIKEMAN"
Missing with a sword is so much better because the attack speed is better. I am even lower in fencer levels than I was in pikeman levels and i'm still missing less 
Only newbies use LVAs. The only people who should be using those are MASTER pikemen.
The best weapon for leveling up with as a pikeman is the basic lance, with vibro lance backup for kinetic resist enemies. The basic lance has low HAM use, acceptable damage (mine is over300 unsliced), and acceptable speed--but most importantly it has +9 accuracies. The difference between +9 and the negative 30 or 50 from the big weapons has a BIG impact on your number of hits, bringing it's true DPS up to par with the other two. Combined with the fact that you can spam specials, it makes it a much better weapon until WAY later on.
The only use I have for LVA is when I want to gamble and hope for 1 big hit. In group v. group pvp, if I knock someone down, I switch to LVA hoping for a one hit kill. It comes through with a one-hit about 25% of the time. Maybe less.
I was Fencer for a while... they're comparable to pistols. Who really thinks a pistol's fun? People use them because they're flexible and powerful. Plus, any pistoleer will tell you that a -50 hit mod is nothing. =)
The animation on 1h sword annoyed me... every time you go into your battle stance your sword 'floats' into your hand. Lol.
Other than that, Fencers don't have as much flexibility as Pikemen, IMO.
The basic lance is really crappy because it's AR0. I don't know why everyone claims it's somehow superior to the LVA. You can miss 50% with the LVA and still out damage a basic lance.
As to Fencer, it's fun, but the damage output just isn't there in comparison to swordsman/pike. They have some good moves like dizzy and blind, that make up for it, but by no means is it superior to the others.
Try spamming high level specials with an LVA. You can do it with a basic lance, that's where it gets one of its many advantages over LVA.
Speed.
Accuracy.
Specials.
LVA is noobish.
Nagorak,
Hitting for the sake of trying to land the highest amount of damage in a single hit is a formula for visiting the cloning center. I can't begin to tell you the number of times I've relied on my next swing landing a sweep in order to avoid clone. Dont get me wrong. I love seeing the "you hit for 4K" everyonce and a while but I'd rather hit for 500 and land a bleed, sweep, stun,etc. when really needed anyday. LVA is really a Master's weapon (atm). As a fencer, I'm sure you can appreciate the effect of landing a "special" as much as the next Pikeman. For now the Lance rules.
I agree, the LVA should be moved to master cert, and a new weapon should take it's place at novice level. The LVA's accuracy modifyers are just too extreame for a novice pikeman.
Iamdaniel us fencers due fine againist armored enemies with stun weakness. Other than that we calmly walk away. As a fencer our focus at leastin m opinion focuses more on disabling an enemy and speed than damage. Blind and Dizzy are two of the most useful stat effects out there. Blind always start fight for me unless it humanoid which then its lunge dizzy blind. Other than that we just hope our lower ham weapon allow us to spam body hits scatter hits or one hand hits as needed. Its a different fighting style but i know i love.
P.S. imagine the accuracy on blind pike man with the LVA now thats scary.
OpethRebel wrote:
Try spamming high level specials with an LVA. You can do it with a basic lance, that's where it gets one of its many advantages over LVA.
Speed.
Accuracy.
Specials.
LVA is noobish.
Funny...I can spam specials with the LVA, then I hit myself with a heal and continue spamming specials. Try fighting anything with AR over 0 with a Basic Lance and you're going to waste a lot of time before it goes down. Also, I'm not sure what problem you guys are having, but I rarely miss with my LVA and I'm not even a Pikeman, just Master Brawler.
"rarely miss with my LVA"
Haha, you are a liar.
"Oh my gosh, I just missedan enemy with my long vibro axe.That's rare!" Riiiiight.
If you aren't even a novice pikeman, you can't do any worthy specials, so of course the high HAM cost on an LVA won't bother you.
Your opinions on our profession are completely baseless.
I wouldn't say I 'rarely' miss with my LVA, but it doesn't seem as bad as a lot of people make it out to be. I'm just at novice pikeman right now. I only use my regular lance for KD.
As far as HAM costs, both my LVA and Lance have 40 mind cost, and that's all that makes any difference when you've got decent buffs.