Swordsman Archive

Howdy all -

I'm just about ready to get my 1st box in Swordsman -

Any thoughts on which tree to start in?
And in general, what strategy are you all pursuing to level Swordsman?

I'm also working CH (fun for now, hehe - I'm enjoying it, even pre-nerf)
and spend about half my time leveling rebel fac and half hunting critters.

Any input welcome !

Raise Technique at Master, after that raise Offence than defence.

This is my leveling stategy, i hope that work well for u too.

Good hunt Raawr

depends on how you play. if you like to kill area of effect... ie pull multiple lower lvl mobs and kill them all fast, then get offense up. if you like to kill 1 high lvl one get technique.

personally i went offense. I like doing 1200-2000 a hit with a status down effect and dizzy combined with the 8% less dmg you take from sword toughness in expert and master.

What i did was :

First: tech 1, 2

Second: defense 1, 2

Third: offense 1,2,3,4

Fourth: tech 3,4

Fifth: Defense 3,4

But that was just me =)

I went offense first. The AE attacks are decent, and they can really save your hide when a large group of aggresive mobs pops right on top of you. Also, melee toughness is very good.

I am going technique now, but honestly it is rare that I use a special move on a single monster. The HAM cost is just too high to justify the damage. More often I use berserk (less useful now, but still decent because of the attack speed increase), however the melee attack speed is very good.

Defense is kind of useless once you get offense levelled up. The special attacks are almost exactly the same as far as I can tell except the ones in offense do a bit more damage. Also the 'defenses' you get in the defense line are totally worthless.

Basically I suggest you choose either technique or offense. I suggest offense, but I like to hunt mobs that group more often than not, so thats just me

-Arjuna
-Mon Calimari Cleaver of Lowca

Get Intermediate Offense first because it gives you a very cheap area posture change and then work your way to Master Techniques and after that Master Defense and then Master Offense.This is what Im planning on doing anyways.Ive already got Int Offense,Expert Techniques and int finesse.Getting close to Master Techniques and Advanced Finesse.

I went defense first because I wanted the Defense vs _____ skills for PvP. The AE sweep attack is very nice too.

In retrospect, I probably should have gone Technique first. All the +2H melee speed bonuses are in that tree, and that's going to help you kill faster and thus help you level up the other trees quicker.

I think maybe offense 1 and then technique 4 would be a good path. Get that one AE attack and then go for weapon speed.

i would say go with the defence first,....mainly cuz u need some defence to get to your target first in order to hit it...mostly when the target is red. your damage will increse with defence too..although not as much as with the offence, but hey at least you make it to the target before it kills u.

also i would say max out which ever tree u start first in .....it seems all the first level swordman spec trees give u just about the same damage....also i have to say that i got mater brawler and the two handed hit2 and the lunge hit 2 help out a lot and plus the beserke 2 is a must have if you want to make it easier to andvance in the early statges of swordsman

Go for the speed increases first. Get the combat exp tree as you can.

In the woulda shoulda area... I would go offense 3 then technique 4 then finish the offense line. do that defense line last. It appears the defenses are ok but it takes a heck of a lot of them to really make a difference. I conjecture its close to 2pts of defense for a 1% chance to be missed... and am unsure still how lvl of mob plays into this... melee and ranged react differently btw a couple of days ago i was shot bymultiple rfa guys on nabo. after my incapping/death i realised i had killed i think 16 before they finally got me (**edit** the respawns) and looked back and saw they missed me roughly 18 times for every 6 hits over the battle. the area attacks are very nice.. status down also helps and toughness is awesome... but in retrospect speed is much more effective a deterrant (dead mobs hit for 0 dmg) and is much more effective than the defenses we receive... counterattack is either broken or implemented poorly and 10 pts of defense equates to 5% chance to not get hit...the specials in defense are horrid and only better than nothing at all imho

if your wondering i have a 71 melee defense... and am still hit usually 50% of the time or more by white or better cons in melee.... when i dont put blind or intimidate2 on them...

Hehe cool, thanks for the responses guys

I've gotten Technique 2 and about a third of the way to 3 (or whatever I pick next in 1st tier)- I decided to at least start with speed, I have rarely used head hit 2 but it can come in handy.
I'm also working CH, hope to be able to have 2 pets out soon; helps a lot being an armorless wookie hehe.

I think I'm going to do one or the other of the 1st level AoE's next, I've almost got enough to do one of em now, then finish off techniques, but we'll see - the speed is nice in technique hehe.

Thanks for the responses, I'll post how it all works out for me!