Swordsman Archive

I've been doing a little looking through the different combat class skill trees.

One thing I find somewhat disturbing is this comparison between a Master Rifleman and a Master Swordsman as far as defensive abilities.

RD = Ranged Defense
MD = Melee Defense


1) A Master Rifleman with the bare minimum requirements has:
RD of 20, MD of 20

2) A Master Rifleman with Ranged Weapon Support Specialist (quite likely) has:
RD of 24, MD of 24

3) A Master Swordsman has:
RD of 15, MD of 20


Does this seem right?

I'm not sure how toughness factors in.

Well, it makes some sense. The rifleman will take triple damage when he gets hit with melee, so it's not like he's going to tank. I'm making a rifleman/swordsman myself, so hopefully they'll all stack....

I would tend to agree that melee tanking ability isn't very good in this game, though. I'm a novice swordsman with 3 boxes up the Defensive tree and I rarely seem to get missed by anything. The only real damage reduction I seem to have going on is from my armor, and anyone can wear that.

The bottom line for me is that if a Master Swordsman cannot tank as well as a Master Creature Handler's pet, then what good are we? The CH can have the best tank in the game and also be a pistoleer, but we cannot be a tank and a pistoleer at the same time, we can only be a tank.

2 hand melee toughness reduces the damage we take up front. Just look at things like Gubbers. They will hit you for FAR less than they will hit someone who isnt a melee.

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MorpheusDreamweaver wrote:
2 hand melee toughness reduces the damage we take up front. Just look at things like Gubbers. They will hit you for FAR less than they will hit someone who isnt a melee.

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Have you ever compared the actual amounts? I'm curious to know.

I also would just like to point out that even though riflemen suffer a 2x damage modifier, it only counts against them when they are holding a rifle. They can easily equip a pistol or something else at melee range, yet still retain the RD and MD skills. Those defensive bonuses are universal bonuses.

The fact is, Rifelmen have better RD and, at a minimum, equal MD as swordsmen, you can't really debate that. I just don't think that seems right in my mind. I would have thought that Swordsmen at least had better melee defense than a rifleman since they spend their entire lives practicing and using melee weapons.