Swordsman Archive

Novice swordsman, couple boxes up defense and the combat xp tree...

I've been fighting Baz Nitches with a friend. At first I was doing sweep + 2h hit2 + 2h hit2 in a loop. That was working pretty good but really gave me a lot of downtime. The friend is a medic but it was really rough on my mind pool, if the Baz hit me in the head enough times I'd go down.

So I basically stopped doing special moves. I do the sweep (posture down) here and there and that's it. I get a little less XP per kill butmy downtime is decreased to almost 0. The fight itself is about the same difficulty -- the lowered damage to the Baz is more than offset by the fact that I'm not killing myself with special moves.

So now I don't really see the use in our moves. Area attacks can be handy sometimes, if you don't mind suicide, but in the end it seems like 2hhit, mind hits and all that are just going to give you more downtime than it's worth.

The one thing I did notice was intimidate... seemed like posture down was working a lot better once the mob was intimidated.

My sword is 34-213 damage, 2.9 speed, 31/65/36 HAM. I have a full suit of armor that I switch off after the fight (I have macros for this).

It's not really the action cost that hurts, it's the mind. Whenever I do a move the numbers that float away look pretty green, but it really drains my mind pool and even with 600 willpower I end up sitting around for 2 minutes regenerating. I have a human with max quickness, focus and willpower, min stamina (I always have a healer so don't care much about action regen rate.)

Yeah, the HAM costs are really too high for all swordsmen moves. I usually just end up using Berserk, since it gives extra damage, and doesn't kill you like 2 hand hit 2 does.

/agree.

you can use lower styles, like headhit1. They dont drain much mind/action, but do less damage. Or find you a weapon upgrade supplyer with good mind reduction powerups, it will help.

guess its better that way, we deal a lot damage in very short time. HAM usage is our nemesis.

we deal high damave over short period of time yes... but thats only for now...

once they kill berserk... (and god forbid, our katanas)

we'll be doing 1/4 the damage we're doing now...

still think regular hit sounds good? =)

never had katana, do you speak about curved swords?
yes, they are awesome weapons. Best one have about 90dps.
However, just look at HAM usage and you will see the downside.

Violent strike and the head targetting ones are gold - You can use them to suppliment your attacks. What are you talking about nerfing 2 handed curved? What would they nerf? What is there to nerf?

I wear a full suit of composite and use PowerHammer/2handed curved. I am also an accomplished medic and I have no real problem staying afloat, though I think for pvp/pv faction you need some cheaper cost specials.

There's no way I could kill Baz Nitches without armor. I am a medic, but healing myself just gives me downtime from extra mind pool usage, and if the thing I'm fighting pops me in the head a couple times, that's the end of it.

Being my own medic was sufficient for a while, but having an external medic and wearing armor is, I estimate, about 4 times better in terms of reduced downtime and what you can kill. These days I only heal myself if it's an emergency.

So my usual attacks now are:

Posture down, intimidate.
Then I'll reapply intimidate as needed, throw in a posture down once in a while and just use regular attacks.
Taunt if I lose agro (this usually only happens if someone else stands on top of the target).

Doing it this way with a medic healing me, I often end the fight with full health, full action and 90% mind so I'm ready to pull again immediately or after resting for just a few seconds.

Doing it my old way, chaining special attacks, I'd always end the fight with 25% mind or less, and sometimes I'd lose the fight.

Unless you're not wearing armor because you are also a medic and can use your skills to heal yourself.

Most of the skills we get though are situational ones like area attack and wounds attacks. What really is wounding good for when you're fighting an NPC?

Head hits and sweeps should be good though in PVP.

Katanas should be the 1h curved swords. Swordsman uses tachis.

I love area attack. It's just so purty.

And if you team up with a rifleman then head hit is great too.

As for HAM costs...all classes are complaining about HAM costs...carbine is the worst off of anyone...

Intimidate2 + Berserk1 works really well against slow/hard hitting creatures. I think berserk is generally the best special because it lasts long and increases damage output, but it will be nerfed soon I think, since it's on the TC now.

With my Gurrack tanking, there is nothing I can't take down solo. As long asI can pull the creature to fight 1 at a time. I don't wear armor becuase it just isn't worth it. I have pharmocolgy 4 so I can use Stimpak C's in a pinch and heal my pet faster. This system is working pretty well for me.

I do agree that special moves are heavy on the HAM bars, but they should be. You shouldn't be using them constantly, only in drastic times or to finish it off faster.

Tora, this is not a personal attack, but keep in mind that not everyone is a pet user and can stand behind their challenge level 50 pet with class 2 armor and take no damage. Not everyone is a medic that can heal themselves with Stim C's either. So, they must rely on their damage output to kill a foe before they are killed by it. The reason people are complaining is because, due to the incoming damage from the mob, nobody can really use their specials because they will end up dead from cannibalizing their own HAM (with the assist from the mob of course). The HAM costs are just too high no matter how you look at it. Finding one combination, such as you have, that lets you avoid this problem doesn't mean it's a solution for everyone. Again, nothing personal, I'm just trying to point out that others actually do have a legitimate argument regardless of your personal experience.

The reason we can group, learn other skills, and purchase power-ups/modifications is to help make up for any negatives in our chosen profession. I am using the system I posted earlier to over-come armor being to ineffective for its costs, and special moves eating up a lot of HAM.

Special moves cost a lot of HAM, but they are special moves after all. However, special move costs should be as close to equal as you can get for all the professions. I think shooters have it a lot easier than swordsmen, for example.

I don't have a problem with the current HAM cost of swordsman special moves, as long as the other professions have similar costs.