Teras Kasi Archive

Hope this is useful info for the community...

Test Conditions

• Kamurith Defiler Lair w/o any defenders left (20674 hitpoints remaining).


• Utilized /unarmedHit2;/pause 1;/peace to gather 3 datapointsfor UH2 and UH2+VK


• Utilized /unarmedHit3;/pause 1;/pace to gather 3 datapoints for UH3 and UH3+VK


• Character had no wounds, status effects, or buffs

Procedure

• Open character sheet and ensure HAM is at maximum values


• Record hitpoints on lair


• Execute appropriate macro


• Record HAM usage


• Record hitpoints on lair


• Wait until HAM returns to maximum values


• Repeat for a total of 3 datapoints for UH2, UH3, UH2+VK, and UH3+VK

Results

HAM Cost
UH2 7/14/9
UH3 16/32/21
UH2+VK 21/41/28
UH3+VK 47/94/62

Damage T1 T2 T3 Average
UH2 978 968 969 972
UH3 1278 1267 1293 1279
UH2+VK 1656 1157 1262 1358
UH3+VK 2101 1566 1647 1771

Efficiency* T1 T2 T3 Average
UH2 32.6 32.3 32.3 32.4
UH3 18.5 18.4 18.7 18.5
UH2+VK 18.4 12.9 14.0 15.1
UH3+VK 10.3 7.7 8.1 8.7

*Efficiency calculated by dividing Damage by total HAM cost (H+A+M)

Discussion

In addition to doing more base damage than UH2, UH3 also has a chance to blind your target, an often overlooked aspect of the special move. However, these benefits do not adequately offset the associated HAM penalties. Even in a situation where a player might be fully buffed, the player would gain more benefit from equipping armor and using UH2+VK rather than utilizing UH3, no VK, and no armor. UH2+VK indeed comes very close to matching UH3 in terms of Efficiency versus an unarmored target (Kamurith Defiler Lair). If the target was armored, UH2+VK would represent clear superiority to UH3.

The only viable application of UH3 is in PvP, where UH3+VK might represent the best option for quickly dispatching your opponent, though at great cost to yourself. Indeed, it might be wiser to utilize UH2+VK to minimize damage to your mind pool attribute.

Special Notes

HAM cost will vary from character to character, depending on stat distribution. In my case, I believe my stats are HSC 1050/600/700, AQS 1000/300/300, and MFW 1000/300/300.

I enjoy the difference between UH2 and UH3. It creates a thinking scenario instead of a "spam the most damaging special 4 teh win" like it comes down to in so many other profession. You could say that the mark of a good Teras Kasi Master is the correct application of the right special and right equipment (vk) against the right target. The bad TKM will simply spam UH3 regardless I suppose.

I agree that choice probably is better than just making it obvious to what one shout use. However Even in PvP as stated above it probably wouldn't be the best. There comes a point that a skill is worthless and that should never happen to a higher lvl skill.

Some more data from the original trials. This data reflects the number of attack rounds to clear the HP remaining on the lair. An empty lair is not representative of actual combat (it doesn't hit back and you get a damage bonus). However, the data is useful for comparing relative performance. Each attack round is 1s (i.e., 22 rounds would reflect 22s of beating on the lair).

As a matter of interest, the average 1K HAM + 50% Kinetic player in PvP acts as though he/she has 8K HAM. A buffed player with 2.5K HAM + 50% Kinetic would act as though he/she had 20K HAM. It's really interesting to look at the VK performance of UH2 and UH3. UH2+VK takes ~30% longer to do equivalent damage to UH3+VK but at ~40% less HAM cost. UH2 represents a more appealing option because I can use that 40% HAM savings to equip a good set of armor, which in turn, will let me stick around the battlefield alot longer than the 30% equivalent damage cost. In any case, I'd probably find myself spamming KD2, Warcry 1, and Head Hit 1 instead of any of the UH's.

UH3 is far too restrictivefor a Master-level skill. It's fun to use it and to analyze when it might best be used. But beyond that, it's not a very useful skill. My hope is that this will be fixed when the combat rebalance is implemented and we get "style chains". For now, you have some data to help you choose which UH skill best suits you. Maybe I'll go through an look at all the TKA specials to see how they stack up...then again, maybe I'll just have fun watching the pretty UH3 ribbons.

UH2
HP ROUNDS HAM COST
20674 22 154 / 308 / 198
19696 21 147 / 294 / 189
18728 20 140 / 280 / 180
17759 19 133 / 266 / 171
16481 17 119 / 238 / 153
15214 16 112 / 224 / 144
13921 15 105 / 210 / 135
11820 13 91 / 182 / 117
10254 11 77 / 154 / 99
8607 9 63 / 126 / 81
6951 8 56 / 112 / 72
5794 6 42 / 84 / 54
4532 5 35 / 70 / 45

UH3
HP ROUNDS HAM COST
20674 17 272 / 544 / 357
19696 16 256 / 512 / 336
18728 15 240 / 480 / 315
17759 14 224 / 448 / 294
16481 13 208 / 416 / 273
15214 12 192 / 384 / 252
13921 11 176 / 352 / 231
11820 10 160 / 320 / 210
10254 9 144 / 288 / 189
8607 7 112 / 224 / 147
6951 6 96 / 192 / 126
5794 5 80 / 160 / 105
4532 4 64 / 128 / 84

UH2+VK
HP ROUNDS HAM COST
20674 16 336 / 656 / 448
19696 15 315 / 615 / 420
18728 14 294 / 574 / 392
17759 14 294 / 574 / 392
16481 13 273 / 533 / 364
15214 12 252 / 492 / 336
13921 11 231 / 451 / 308
11820 9 189 / 369 / 252
10254 8 168 / 328 / 224
8607 7 147 / 287 / 196
6951 6 126 / 246 / 168
5794 5 105 / 205 / 140
4532 4 84 / 164 / 112

UH3+VK
HP ROUNDS HAM COST
20674 12 564 / 1128 / 744
19696 12 564 / 1128 / 744
18728 11 517 / 1034 / 682
17759 11 517 / 1034 / 682
16481 10 470 / 940 / 620
15214 9 423 / 846 / 558
13921 8 376 / 752 / 496
11820 7 329 / 658 / 434
10254 6 282 / 564 / 372
8607 5 235 / 470 / 310
6951 4 188 / 376 / 248
5794 4 188 / 376 / 248
4532 3 141 / 282 / 186

I'm a new TKA so I hit faster with my VK on ten with them off, but if this is the case at TKM then wouldnt that be another thing to factor in? Maybe a dam per second

At TKM, speed stops mattering. With bare fists (the slowest weapon a TKA can use) I can use any special we have every second.

I agree using the right special at the right time is the key. For example, I was KD/Dizzied by a TKM, I was powerboost buffed and wearing composite armor. He began to spam UAH3 on me, well the dizzy wore off beforehe could finish me. In turnhe had drained his own HAM so much from spamming I stood up KD then did one UALeghit for the kill, very funny actually..