Swordsman Archive
Thread: TKM or Rifleman to complement swords
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Craylon
Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:20 am
#1
A few weeks ago, I had a nice little template going for myself: Master Rifleman, Master Swordsman, and 4004 TKA (with novice medic thrown in for good measure).
For some bizarre reason, I decided to drop both brawler professions and pick up Carbineer with the x4xx line in BH. What a fool I was! 
So, I find myself re-grinding Swords (0210 ATM, but I am aware on how quick the grind is). I am starting to wonder if I should keep Rifleman, or pursue TKM again to complement my 'main' profession ofSwords (the most enjoyable prof I have played this past year). I am a 90% PvE player, and am currently embroiled in the FS grind, as well. Here's how I have it layed out:
Pros for Rifleman:
=============
1)Ranged Mitigation
2)Will be handy in a few months when I have to take down Mellichae (this is a huge factor in my decision thus far)
3)Extrememly powerful profession
4)A Ranged prof complements a melee prof pretty nicely
5)Already a Rifleman (why bother changing?)
Pros for TKM:
===========
1)Best tanking abilities in the game
2)Meditation line speaks for itself
3)A bit more enjoyable than Rifleman because of the variety and the states you can apply
4)Being a bit of a RPer, and a martial artist in RL, this prof fits in with my personality a bit more
Any thoughts out there?
Edda_Gast
Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:57 am
#2
TKM is bland, your headhit with scythe will out kinetic it, and you can easily dabble into the only tree's worth having. Keep rifleman
Craylon wrote:
A few weeks ago, I had a nice little template going for myself: Master Rifleman, Master Swordsman, and 4004 TKA (with novice medic thrown in for good measure).
For some bizarre reason, I decided to drop both brawler professions and pick up Carbineer with the x4xx line in BH. What a fool I was!
So, I find myself re-grinding Swords (0210 ATM, but I am aware on how quick the grind is). I am starting to wonder if I should keep Rifleman, or pursue TKM again to complement my 'main' profession ofSwords (the most enjoyable prof I have played this past year). I am a 90% PvE player, and am currently embroiled in the FS grind, as well. Here's how I have it layed out:
Pros for Rifleman:
=============
1)Ranged Mitigation
2)Will be handy in a few months when I have to take down Mellichae (this is a huge factor in my decision thus far)
3)Extrememly powerful profession
4)A Ranged prof complements a melee prof pretty nicely
5)Already a Rifleman (why bother changing?)
Pros for TKM:
===========
1)Best tanking abilities in the game
2)Meditation line speaks for itself
3)A bit more enjoyable than Rifleman because of the variety and the states you can apply
4)Being a bit of a RPer, and a martial artist in RL, this prof fits in with my personality a bit more
Any thoughts out there?
Shaunbacca
Fri Oct 08, 2004 10:11 pm
#3
i agree keep rifleman, rifleman is my main and im picking up swords to stand up to a melee that gets a little too close for comfrort.
Naruk_The_Wookiee
Sat Oct 09, 2004 2:58 am
#5
I am a 90% PvE player, and am currently embroiled in the FS grind, as well. Here's how I have it layed out:
Any thoughts out there?
I would go for TKA and Swords if u play more solo...along with master brawler and some medic u are nearly unstoppable in PvE...
elneckio
Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:23 am
#6
I'm currently MSwords, MTKA, Scout 4040, Medic 2100 with the Melee Speed and Defence trees from FS.
It's great ! For PVE Missions the blast damage cuts through a lot of creatures very quickly and the melee speed helps the hammer a lot, this makes getting fs combat xp a bit easier. You can do most things from the mission terminal with no armour and basic buffs,I just use two BE bonus defence clothing items to bring the defense a little bit higher.
I tend to switch to TKA when fighting NPC's as the knockdown and states take them out quickly, this includes the lower level NS. If you ever group for high level stuff being able to switch between damage dealer and tank can be very usefull.
I haven't tried soloing many high level things with this template yet but I would imagine it can stand up ok with the correct armour (I hate elders with stun batons !)
The worse thing about this combination - Rockshapers on Dantooine, 100% kinetic and 100% blast resists!
Naruk_The_Wookiee
Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:27 am
#7
elneckio wrote:
The worse thing about this combination - Rockshapers on Dantooine, 100% kinetic and 100% blast resists!
Yes, nasty little monks....
MrSensitive
Sat Oct 09, 2004 6:54 am
#8
_mastering_ tkm brings absolutely nothing to the table for a master swordsman. You have the damage type and once you cap speed, your damage will _always_ be better from swords.
Rifleman offers you ranged mitigation 3, that is all you _need_ from it.
It was a tough decision for me to make but after mastering a few professions along with swords, I dropped them all and dabbled for defenses to make myself a better swordsman.
I kept meditation and some defenses from TKM, took the defense lines from fencer, mastered brawler and got medic to 2-2-4-0. I have never looked back and since speed capping I can't believe there is a faster/better template for killing NS and other high end content.
Shidoshi_eaze
Sat Oct 09, 2004 7:51 am
#9
I just dropped BH and doing Swordsman instead, so atm I'm Master Pistoleer / 0221 Swordsman, and Pistoleer+Swordsman seems somewhat usefull actually. getting both Mitigations, and the ability to kill stuff from a bit of distance aswell..tho I'd say Rifleman is a better choice, I just kept pistoleer because I already have it.
Guulay
Sat Oct 09, 2004 11:08 am
#10
/backhand ... how dare you complain about carbineer/bh! how long were you carbineer/BH? What were you with it? Did you have any sweet PvPing guns? Did you even PvP at all?!!!
CarbineShiba
Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:32 pm
#11
Swordsman can apply.. urmm.. dizzyand bleeds, that's not much is it?
TKM can stun, blind, dizzy which are extremely useful states.
I am a TKM/Swordsman myself and I think they go great together, start the fight unarmed,
slap the states on then whip out your scythe and drain the mind pool 
In my experiance a ranged and a melee prof together doesn't work too well, you're better off
being good at either ranged OR melee instead of mediocre at both.
MrSensitive
Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:52 am
#13
If you are talking about pvp than yes, TKM is useful for applying states.
If you are trying to apply dizzy/blind/stun to an elder by whipping out your VK's, than I say good luck to you.
Aates mean absolutely nothing in high end pve because you are never going to get them to stick reliably.
In mid range PVE why does it matter if I can dizzy/stun/blind all those janta shamans in 15 seconds when I could have just killed them outright in 10?
Ranged professions give you ranged mitigation and possibly some decent defenses ( in the case of pistoleer). However unless you are just looking for the fun/roleplay aspect of pistols/rifles/carbines, your points are probably better spent in brawler defenses/medic IMO.
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