Swordsman Archive

Ok, Swordsman...great AoEs, great damage potential, kills Mind.

Rifleman, kills Mind, excellent damage.

Pistoleer, easy Knockdown.

I am a Swordsman, I want to BE a Swordsman, even though it may not be the super duper uber class...I want to mixit with a Ranged attack profession that will compliment it well. Rifleman is obvious...both mind killers, both have high damage outputs. However, I'm wondering if Pistoleer will be a better pick? Pistoleer has access to a Knockdown...huge plus there...and has some nice defensive skills, something we tend to lack a bit of. Also, I beleive there are some half-decent Pistoleer AoE specials too.

What thoughts and advice can folks here give? My skill points are rather limited...I will have the ultimate goal of Master Swordsman, but I'm already a Master Weaponsmith. My secondary profession will only likely get 1 or 2 trees maxed, no Master level.

The knockdowns will not be as important once the 30sec knockdown timer goes in. Rifle would let you hit the enemies mind as you pull then finish their mind off up close. Sounds like a plan to me.

Pistoleer are losing their ranged knockdown which they were never supposed to have to begin with. When something closes to melee you want to get your sword out ASAP (take 1.5x damage with the pistol). IMO the pistol whip will not really be worth it.

Between pistol and rifle, I'd go rifle. But I'd really recommend Carbine.There's a very large range disconnect between Rifles and Melee-- there's a huge area in between where neither is very good. Carbines by design are middle range, so they can cover things as they come in. Pistols, meanwhile, are just redundant because by the time something is in good pistol range, it's practically in melee anyway. I'd say overall pistols are the worst choice to complement melee.

Rifleman is probably the best choice in my opinion. I agree with Nagorak, as a Pistoleer, pistol is the worst choice.

Keep in mind that you will certainly not have points to master Rifleman if you want to be truly effective. I would go as far as getting the second mind bleed if I went into Rifleman at all. I think the best idea would just be to hit Rifle Specialist from Marksman. Lead off your fight with a mind bleed, switch to your Swordsman weapon and deal the heavy damage. The rifle will come in useful again if you are unable to deal a finishing blow as your opponent begins to run.

You will not be using the rifle much other than to kill the opponent who runs because you simply do not have the mind pool to waste on the rifle's weaker mind hits. Save your mind for the big sword hits.

I agree with Nagorak. The gray area is a bit too large.

But also take into consideratoin, Carbines will be the onlyfirearm able to take advantage of this gap.

If it's a melee class/pistoleer they will run right to you. Once you get into bad Rifle range take out your sword and charge them/slice them up. If it's a Rifleman you are fighting it will be a basic shoot out. The only thing that would cause a problem is if a Carbine user gets into your bad rifle range and starts to fire...

At this point your only choice would to be to run at them with your sword while you get shot up.