Pikeman Archive

Ya know, after a couple days of hunting, I've found killing Graul Maulers to be about 10 times easier than pikets. Use VL, KD/WC, use a pet to distract the second one if it decides to attack. Easy killing. I'm taking them down in only about 4 hits, not even using buffs, and I'm still getting over 3k xp per graul.

I'm seeing a lot of great tips for pikemen who have already passed the Brawler stage, so here are some tips for those who are just starting out using a polearm.

Weapon: Well, get what you can find. As soon as you can afford a Metal Staff (MS) or a Reinforced Combat Staff (RCS), get one. You might even get both. You'll find that you can easily do well with an exceptional, slicedRCS on into Novice Pikeman. They have amazingly low HAM costs for specials, they're fast weapons, and if it's a good one, the damage and speed combination will make it as good as a metal staff.

I don't really recommend the metal staff though. The tohit penalties make them grossly inefficient. But if all you're looking for is the occasional big number damage hit, they'll do the trick until you can afford a lance.

A lance is really the way to go once it's available. I know it looks ridiculous and embarassing to hit someone with the short little butt of your weapon, but it's a better weapon regardless. After taking a look at some that were made with full experimentation put into speed vs. damage vs. both, the damage-focused weapon was the best. Spend some time with a master weaponsmith, maybe get him some really good materials to work with, and make sure you get top-of-the-line. Be prepared to spend upwards of 5K for this quality of weapon, though. And get it sliced by only the best smuggler you can find.

Armor: I tend to agree that composite is only good in very specific situations. I use a set of chitin with 61% kinetic defense. Because I'm a ranger, I rarely fight anyone with a blaster, so I don't usually need to worry about the rest. But, it's not especially combersome, allowing me to do a full range of specials when I need to. Make sure that you get yourself slotted armor if you've got the credits to afford some good stuff. Nothing's worse than you getting the Polearms armor powerup from your group because you're the only one who can use it, then find out you don't have any way to put it to use without replacing armor.

Hunting: I've found the most difficult job I have as a polearm-user is trying to play the role of a tank. Generally enemies (creatures) try to get as far away from you as they can get while still being able to hit you. Because your reach is much better than that of other weapon classes, your teammates are going to be closer to the enemy in almost every situation. (I've never seen anyone retain the focus of the enemy as well as a fencer.) Your only recourse is to then keep moving closer to become the enemy's main target, or to use up your mind pool on Taunt.

So if you can, be ready to switch to a very light set of armor (or switch out to wearing only a couple of pieces). If someone else in your group is your main tank, you're going to be more useful as a damage-dealer and you'll want to use your HAM on specials a great deal. And since you won't be getting hit, what you need is a set of armor with very low encumberance. This means low protection too, but you aren't tanking so try not to let it bother you.

Save leg shots for situations where the enemy has lower action pool than anything else. Chances are this won't happen in a group, since there aren't many other specials that target action. But if you're only hitting the action pool and everyone else is focusing on the health pool, you're just worthless to the fight.

What should you hunt? Whatever your group agrees to hunt. Don't do missions solo if you can help it. It's super boring and the return sucks for the time investment that it requires. It really sucks. (Why would you doone 3K credit mission alone if you're fighting things that only give 200 polearm XP when you could group with ONE more person, do 3 missions that pay more than twice that, have more fun,easily take on things that give 1K polearm XP, and do it all in the same amount of time?)

These are some great tips. I recieved info from the gods up above that I must master pikeman. At first I thought this was going to suck but once I started it and did some research on the profession I am now looking forward to it.

I thank you all for the tips in helping out us new pikeman. I will continually check back for more tips.

Thanks again,

Lother Apilion

Hi,

Can someone recommend a decent polearm weapon. At the moment i am using a combat staff but its a long haul since the damage is pretty low, about 54 to 98. I found and purchased a vibro lance but even though i have completed level 4 polearm and i am working toward novice pikeman i cannot use this weapon.

Please don't tell me i need to get the 100,000 + polearm xp with this **edit** thing !

Any offers would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Setweu

Master Marksman, Master Scout and dumped BH training to become a pikeman !! because the force told me to hehe

i aint got time to read every message and if you have you've got too much time on your hands, but thanks anyway !

If you don't have time to skim a few pages of text when it benefits you, I'm thinking you need to just not bother playing this game.

I'm interested in a comprehensive comparison of the benefits and consequences of all polearm/pike weapons from Novice Brawler up through Master Pikeman.

If someone could just do a quick rundown of the average speed, damage, stat costs, that would be great. As I don't have a lot of pike experience, I don't know if the weapons I'm looking at are substandard, average, or really good. I know that this can vary with the crafter and resources, but an average range would be great, as far as what to expect.

Nightsister Lances are fine and all, but I'm more interested in the craftable weapons. I'm also about the looks of the weapons, and I haven't seen many pikemen, so I'm sure there are probably some weapons I havent seen.

I know, I'm not asking much at all *wink*, but I know(or at least hope)there are somestatisticians out there that wouldn't mind sharing this sort of information.

....or I could be totally wrong.

Thanks for the tips, they have helped a lot. Im currently at 1-0-2-1 on the skill tree and my name is Ryyan Tryqus. Does anyone know where i can find a decent LVA on Intrepid? I already have one but im afraid that its condition is getting a bit low, even after repairs. Thanks in advance,Its nice to know Im not the only pikeman In the world lol. Anyone else here have a Pikeman onIntrepid? I just think it would be cool for us all to meet up and test our skillz against one anouther, a little fun sport never hurt anyone. And as a wise man once said "Itsalways fun until someone gets hurt, then its F*cking Hilarious"

Cheers to you fellow pikeman

Yep. I spose I am.

Just curious as to 'average' stats on each weapon as far as damage range, speed, etc - so I can have an idea of what to shop for. I just dumped 15k on an LVA, and I honestly haven't run into many Pikemen to get a comparison.

Ok going off the top of my head and plus the fact I've not looked at my weapons in a while ....

Vibro Lance 100-295 damage 4.0 speed

Long Vibro Axe 130-365 damage 4.4 speed

I think these numbers are in the ballpark and of course both are unsliced.

What I can tell you is that 15k for an unsliced weapon is too much. A master weaponsmith made lva or vl should go for 12k at the most.

Thanks for the reply, come to think of it, I believe it *was* 12k.

Now to get it sliced, and actually *hit things* with it.

i'm a 0001 holo pikemen on intrepid, almost ready for my 2nd skill, probably in stances

name is coro ohem