Swordsman Archive
Thread: The BEST weapon for a swordsman
OK I have been playing around a little as a melee specialist... (read: I am master brawler, halfway through master swordsman, master stances in fencer, and half way through the defense on pikeman, and 20k away from master precision in terakazi so i may have a bit of a clue here <and now that im through beating my chest and makeing gorrilla noises...>
here is the deal on weapons and specials as i see it.
First there is no best weapon overall. for each situation/race/stat migration this changes. examples: against an armour 0 creature a 2hnd axe is a GOOD weapon against an armour3 creature it is a horrible one.when you havevery small stamina and quicknessa 2hnded curved sword is horrible. here are a few thoughts:
1. if you are a race that can maximise your sub hams (strength stamina etc) do so and look for a weapon that compliments this. I am a trandoshan Swordsman and i maxed ALL my subhams and minimised my hps my stats read 750 health and action with 700 (i think, am not logged on at the moment) in mind. my strength and constitution are maxed at 800 each and my con and quickness maxed at 400. I then chose the best powerhammer i could find... I used a cleaver before then. with a power hammer i usually take a ham hit on a 2h hit 2, 70 health dmga swing and 30 or so in action. Thats when my regen kicks in... before i can swing again my health and action are returned to full, or very close to it. This means i can chain my specials for quite a while. I would think an action man (rodian or twilek) could do much the same on a 2hnd curved sword or cleaver. I personnaly can't use one though, I can swing mabee 5 times then die with a 2hnd curveddue to action hits (140+140+140+140+140= 660action dammage in about 10 seconds of fighting).
2. Look at the armour of your enemy: sometimes a lesser weapon can be of great help... i can switch to a super fast 1hnded vibroblade or curved sword (also a maxed out origins (tm)lance hehe)and eat a 0 armour alive decently fast with it... but any armour at all makes these weapons quickly lose their wonder... halving or quartering your dmg is a bad thing...
3. dont be afraid to do 0 dmg: What i mean here is look for low end highly modified weapons to do some of your more difficult moves... 2hnd lunge 2 for example... useing a 2hnded axe here modified for low hams and super quick speed can get this done for a MUCH decreased cost... just switch to it and then do your thing then switch back... I often like to do the following... (intimidate2) switch to unarmed (blind) switch to vibro blade (dizzy2)(lunge2) switch to staff pikehit2(stuns it)switch to powerhammer mind hit1 head hit 1 over and over till the specials drop this way the creature hits 1/4 as often hits for 1/3 the dammage and doesnt do squat to me while it is knocked down so i can remove my armour real fast for some lower ham hits when i swing). Even with 750 hp per area i usually can do this all day and (if intimidate doesnt fail 9 times) end up at 3/4 or more health on a yellow.
4. dmg avoidance: Many creatures are resistant to certain attacks. DO NOT attack a mountain dewwie with a curved sword for example as it is 40% resistant to kinetic, use a power hammer. The same goes for the power hammer if you ever see a blast resistant mob... use the cleaver or the curved sword... i.e 266 max dmg turns into 160 very fast here and averages around 110 if you dont pay attention to your tgt.
bottom line: just beacause you can get more dmg per hit doesnt make a weapon the best. you MUST consider what you are and what you are wearing when you use it.examples: if i was no ham /heavy hp i would likely want full armour and a 2hnded curved sword (for fast steady high dmg hits without specials). if i was full action i would want full armour minus the pants plus curved sword/cleaver (reduce the action specials and keep on hitting/ cleaver is nice as it can be reduced to a very low cost per special). If i was full strength i would want full armour minus the chest plus power hammer. if i was medium on all sub hams (read: 400 -500)i would consider cleaver and some mixture of armour depending on what specials i used and the frequency i used them...
other tips:
1. Always keep armour rdy on the quick bar: if you arent getting hit click it off, otherwise the 20ham hit you take on a special is well worth the 100 dmg you avoided when the tusken warlord removed your foot...
2. buy a freaking pet: consider any pet you get as virtual hp. if it and you attack simultaneously sometimes you get agro sometimes it does. any dammage the pet takes is dammage you don't. this means you should ALWAYS have a pet of some kind even if its a gnort....or a droid (after droid perma death is removed in the next patch). a second thing is that healing a pet gives medical xp... so you will help yourself 2 times over here if you need it.
3. hps are NOT as great as you may think... i find that half the hp and double the specials/sub hamsis a better combination. it helps with downtime a lot. mind you if i was a master medic i would remove my action and health regens and make mind (and the mind sub hams) a priority since i could use stims as regen much more efficiently, and put those points into other areas (like hps for the best of all worlds) since i have only lvl 3 first aid this is not an option for me.
good luck to yah all, Shadowborne bria
I would like to say one thing.
When I think of myself in battle amidst the melee and whirl of the dance.
I DO NOT SEE myself switching weapons all the time. I fight with my sword, I fight with my cleaver, Ill fight with my hammer. But God Darn it. Ill fight the battle all the way through with that weapon. Its not realistic any other way. Except for maybe going unarmed to 2h or vice versa. And thats just on rare occasions. I dont like to think that my scrawny ass bothan carries about 400 pounds of weapons and equipment on him, and I play him as such.
Dont lose sight of this game. Its not just about macros and killing lots of stuff. Its about immersion into the star wars universe. Something many of us have been waiting to do for a very very long time. If it werent for the chance of me being able to create and most importantly BE the character I have always wanted to be in the star wars universe, i wouldnt be here right now.
This is also why im not rushing to become a master swordsman, or a master anything at that. And i do play ALOT. I feel that my character is growing up in this world from scratch, and that he needs to experience all professions and understand the universe, although never leaving the sword behind. I feel as if i am a more accomplished swordsman if i stop sometimes and do a few artisan missions or explorer missions. Or even the random missions and theme park missions. Hell, ive gone 8 hours without doing anything really at all except run around and immerse myself in the landscape and brilliance of what this game is. The amount of work involved in creating this game and the worlds is amazing and the Developers should be applauded for attempting such an once thought impossible task. Do it one day. Just go sight see. There are lots of things in this game, known and hidden that you can only witness if you put down your power hungry, super leveling freak weapons and just do one thing....
Hit the Numlock and GO....
Orion, while i didnt post the above as a role playing tip i feel the need to respond. Historicly, mastering different weapons helped the true masters of their craft (check out the eastern mythos musashi and suchlike) to become more proficiant. They oftentimes used maneuvres leaned for one weapon and made modifications to use on their preferred one. In this game they do not have it so learning multiple linked professions give learned attacks to each other. but a person who learns the best way to stun an oponant with a lance/ staff might be able to find a way to do the same with a hammer or even a sword (pommel hit?) in this vein i donot truely se emyself moveing back and forth between weapons so much as useing all my combined knowledge to fight as a master of the sword as that is my chosen profession which i will master.
the bandit came at the man with a hammer confident he could win but with a sudden movement he ound himself on his nees as the hammer took his legs out from under him. swiftly the hammermanmoved past rakeing his left hand across the bandits eyes. blind the bandit stood but in his delirium did not see the stunning blow comeing as the hammer was brought back across hitting him across the temple almost as if it were a staff... the bandit fell back... blinded and stunned he felt lost and was in no position to defend himself as the hammer was swung full force twords his head... he did not feel anything soon thereafter...
Thank you for the mature response to this issue though, and appreciate constructive creticism.
Keep swingin
Wow. You understand this game in ways I never will. 
I've just been running around with the full composite armor and a 2H Curved, 'cuz that's what everyone said is the "best". But now I see that's not necessarily so.
Like yourself, I'm a Trandoshan (and I notice that my action bar suffers the most.) I've just been grinding my way to Novice Swordsman using the auto defense (letting the AI do the fighting for me). But now that I'm at Novice Swordsman, I'm ready to start taking on tougher prey and using my specials. Would you be kind enough to elaborate on a few points you made?
1. if you are a race that can maximise your sub hams (strength stamina etc) do so and look for a weapon that compliments this.... I then chose the best powerhammer i could find... I used a cleaver before then. with a power hammer i usually take a ham hit on a 2h hit 2, 70 health dmga swing and 30 or so in action.
I thought HAM costs were tied to specials, not to weapons. How do I know what weapon uses what HAM bars?
2. Look at the armour of your enemy: sometimes a lesser weapon can be of great help... i can switch to a super fast 1hnded vibroblade or curved sword...and eat a 0 armour alive decently fast with it... but any armour at all makes these weapons quickly lose their wonder... halving or quartering your dmg is a bad thing...
How do you know the armor rating of a critter? And even if you could beat them with a 2H curved, why wouldn't they go down evenfaster with your hammer? Iow, why choose a lesser weapon?
3. What i mean here is look for low end highly modified weapons to do some of your more difficult moves...
Highly modified by powerups, you mean?
2hnd lunge 2 for example... useing a 2hnded axe here modified for low hams and super quick speed can get this done for a MUCH decreased cost... just switch to it and then do your thing then switch back...
How do you know what weapons are better for a particular special attack?
if i was full action i would want full armour minus the pants plus curved sword/cleaver (reduce the action specials and keep on hitting/ cleaver is nice as it can be reduced to a very low cost per special). If i was full strength i would want full armour minus the chest plus power hammer. if i was medium on all sub hams (read: 400 -500)i would consider cleaver and some mixture of armour depending on what specials i used and the frequency i used them...
My head is spinning.
Different pieces of armor effect the HAm costs of specials? I know that different kinds of armor affect it, I didn't know that different pieces affect it.
So, in other words, there is an optimal combination of armor and weapons for each special attack? For any given special attack, I could create a macro thatequips my character optimally before doing it? For example, I could make a macro called Use2HHeadHit that removes chest plate, switches to cleaver, performs 2HHeadHit, puts chest plate back on and switches back to my powerhammer (for instance)?
2. buy a freaking pet:
Is this still true? I heard that since the CH changes, it's more difficult to use pets.
3. hps are NOT as great as you may think... i find that half the hp and double the specials/sub hamsis a better combination.
Do you know where we can find the stat limitations / ranges for a given race?
I have soooo much to learn about this game. Thank you so much for opening my eyes. And since I'm a Trandoshan like yourself, any Trand specific advice would be welcome as well.
1: HAM costs are determined (1) By the stats listed on the weapon; and (2) Multiplied by various values depending on the special. Examine the weapons - Hammers typically have very high health usage, with low action and mind. 2HCS has low health and mind, but high action.
2: Being able to see the armor of a critter might require scout? I've never gone without scout, cant stand crawling up hills, so it might not be required. Examine your target - look for the armor rating, and the % resists.
3: I believe he means highly modified by the weaponsmith, for lower HAM costs. Use the low cost weapon for moves which inflict status effects - in the example, why spend 300 HAM on lunge 2 when you could switch to a survival knife and spend 50? The move does no damage anyway, so weapon damage is not important here.
4: Different pieces of armor affect the sub stats by different amounts, again examine them. In general, chest pieces take a lot from you health sub stats (str and con). So you would remove this to lower the costs on something that uses a lot of health (i.e. powerhammer). I don't think a macro would work for this, since switching armor and weapons does not go into the queue - the armor would come off, go back on, and the move would still be waiting to happen. You can add delays to the macro, but you would have to keep the combat queue clear, and time the start of the macro quite accurately.....
so what are the various values you speak of, in determining the ham of special moves.
I used a 2 hand curved sword. I might be wrong, but i noticed if i do head hit my mind goes away fast if i do a sweep it is general and random what ham bar gets subtracted.
So please explain a little more detail if you can about how to maximize your stats to compliment your fighting style.
Since I usea 2hnd curved sword I would be curious fo ryou to use that as an example. thanks
In general they work, I think, something like this:
Stat cost= (Weapon HAM cost * special move multiplier ) - (secondary stat / some other number).
Where secondary stat is one of (strength, quickness, focus), and Weapon HAM cost can be found by examining the weapon in question.
The multiplier may only apply to one stat, or be different for each stat for the same special move.
Finding values for "special move multiplier" and "some other number"is left as an exercise for someone with a lot of time and nothing better to do.
To sum up though - if you use 2HCS, extra quickness will reduce the cost (since it is mainly action) of each move, and stamina will of course get your action back faster.
There is some good advice in this thread, but my personal experience has proven that some of these ideas are bad/just don't work.
Not wearing a chest plate is great in theory, but whenever you take a hit to the chest (quite often, most likely of any location) you take full damage which more than makes up for the amount of health you saved from specials (this is assuming you're using melee armor like Ubese and not Composite which is just about worthless if you're planning on doing any sort of specials).
Minimizing out your pools and upping your regens is nice in theory, until you take two 300-400 damage hits in a row and find yourself incapped. Maybe it works for Trandoshans with maxed regen, but it's not a great idea for others IMO.
Hotkeying your armor...yes, it's great...however it's not practical in combat. There are simply not enough bars to hold all your specials PLUS your armor pieces (I fill up a whole bar with just moves I commonly do and a few weapons and armor almost takes a whole row by itself). Switching between two different bars is extremely difficult to do effectively in the thick of combat. I guess if it works for you, great, but I think many will find it not only not worth the hassle, but also counterproductive.
Switching between weapons is more manageable, but once again it has problems. First of all, due to lag it's not always easy to see immediately if you've actually knocked something down. So, you either have to keep switching weapons multiple times until it sticks, or you keep a low damage weapon out doing poor damage, or you end up just using a higher HAM cost weapon. It's something to try and it's great if you can get it to work, but once again it can be hard to pull off effectively.