Tree of Savior Forum

Beginner searching Class/Circle Choices Help (Fencer/Squire)

Class and Rank Swordsman
#1

Hi everyone,

i’m new to this game, just started two days ago, but the game looks really enjoyable to me so far.

I have read quite a few threads and watched videos to the swordman class.
But it’s still difficult for me to pick the “right” classes, mainly because these will be permanent as far as i know. Just don’t want to gimp my char and reroll to often.
Also almost all threads/videos are from last year and i read somewhere that there were a few changes recently that changes quite a bit.

So maybe can you help me out a bit here?

The char i want to play:
Swordman is the class that look best to me.
In there the fencer seems interesting. I like the style aspect the most.
But i’m also open for other options.

I want a character that do well solo and in groups. Having the option to handle bosses solo would be nice too. I have no interest in PvP and will focus on PvE. I don’t need the “best” “op” class, just a fun class combination that can do - hopefully - all PvE Content good enough to be no burden.

What i read so far it seems to me, that the fencer can be it.
But now i found a thread saying it is a expensive class, requiring much effort to equip etc.

My questions:

Is fencer a doable goal for a new player, starting with his first character to be a fencer?

Can Squire repair his own weapons, so helping to keep repair costs low? Is choosing one (or more) circles in squire a good or bad idea?

Do you have any advises for me, which classes work and which don’t?
Are there any combinations that are no gos?

What i’ve done so far:
I currently at level 31. My first pick was peltasta.

My Swordsmen skills so far:
1 Thrust - 3 Bash - 5 Gung Ho + Concentrate - 1 Pain Barrier
1 Umbo Blow - 5 Swash Buckling - 2 Guardian

I have aimed a high dex build so far according to Cathexis guide.
Stats shown ingame without equip: 22 STR - 15 CON - 2 INT - 3 SPR - 31 DEX (i only put points in str, dex and con so far)

I hope you can help me out a bit.
I rather reroll now than later, but hope i can make a good swordman out of the char i already have.

Any comments are welcome.
Thanks.

Vredo Schattenhand

#2

Hi, let me introduce myself first, my team name is Leganjz, I play in SA server and I’m currently working on my 5th swordsman, all of them are focused on PVP.

Well, for the practical part now, so why are you picking swordsman?? If you are expecting an easy play and a character that deals a lot of damage, I would recommend you to stop reading this and go play with wizard class, pyrolinker is what you’re looking for.

If you’re still reading this, it means that you have some type of identification with the swordsman class, so welcome to the club. At this point, what you have to keep in mind, is that even in swordsman class, there are different types of roles you can play, what type of swordsman you are or willing to be?

For noob players I have 3 basic recommendantions of builds.

1st: Swordsman 1 > Highlander 1 > Barbarian 3 < Doppelsoeldner 3
This build is more focused on dps 2Hsword, have a pretty nice damage and is a lot of fun.

2nd: Swordsman 1 > Peltasta 2 > Hoplite 3 > Dragoon 2
This one is more tanky and works better with team play.

3rd: Swordsman 1 > Highlander 3 > Corsair > Fencer 3
High damage, but in comparison with the 1st, this one is more single target, so it works better against bosses.

In all these builds(for PVE), I would not recommend any points spent in DEX, instead I would do like Akisera said, for every 2 points invested in STR, put 1 point in CON.

Despite of all, I must say to you this, you will only find the build you want after long hours played and rerolled, good luck!

#3

A nice (and popular?) build that I currently xping (155 atm and is very nice) I just changed some swordman skills to have the bleeding dmg combo (thrush; pommel beat & double slash instead of bash3), which does pretty nice damages, just wait to see the fencer side :3

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#4

I’m kinda newbie to the swordsman theory but…
At majority,there is 4 end goes for swordsman.

Dopel:The most common one.It is the heavy hitter,all-in,high risk pick.It deals the best damage due to its weapon’s natural high attack and Deeds of valor which can set your defense to 0 but increase your attack by 150%.Most dopels only use deeds at max stack while being protected by ausrine or any other kind of immunity to damage.

Dragoon:The spear pick.It is the the main damaging pick for pve spear uses,the second one is lancer but it is more pvp oriented.It is the only class in the sword tree able to buff all kinds of melee damage with serpentine atribute at circle 2.Has a big aoe with dethrone too and can snare enemies or slow down bosses.

Fencer:Only class able to use rapier.It is a really good damaging class with 0 cooldown skills to be used while the rest is on cooldown.It can be played as a standalone class,hence the sword 3 - pelt - corsair build which gives only utility to the class.Have an atribute that increases pierce skill damage with rapiers by 15% while not using a shield.Has a buff that increases final critical damage of the pierce attacks by 100% and can be boosted further by 140% with venier or 160% with venier and divine might(Cleric 2 skill) while also boosting the next pierce attack with preparation.Rapiers have relative low duration and can be hard in continues fights with no break,for that reason,some fencers recommend to carry extra rapiers.

Murmillo:The shield user.Class specialized on shield and strike damaging skills.Has higher defense due to be able to use shield with no penalties.Has atribute that boost previous rank skills while wearing an helmet.Works best for damaging with rodelero since rodelero has 2 skills that increase strike damage and murmillo has a third one.

How the build itself works depends on the ranks picked before the main one.Here are some common builds.

Sword - x - Barbarian 3/Highlander3 - Dopel 3
X can be sword 2,peltasta or Highlander

Sword - x - Highlander 3 - dopel 3
X can be peltasta or sword 2

Sword 3 - pelt - corsair - fencer 3

Sword 3 - hoplite 3/cataphracth 3 - dragoon 3
Catapharacth is more pvp oriented.Peltasta can be used instead of sword 3 for mobbing.

Sword - Pelt 3 - Rodelero 3 - Murmillo

Sword 3 - rodelero 3 - shinobi - murmillo
High burst and good at pvp

There are some other options but those are the most commons I saw.If you got any question about Dopel or Fencer,there is also a thread dedicated to those classes too.

Hope it helps and welcome to ToS.

#5

This was also the same approach for me to this game.
Good choice! And welcome to the most challanging class to play.

IMO i would say no.
There are 2 things to consider as Fencer. Given that u reach 300+ u´ll want a new weapon, but there is none.

  1. U are still stuck to Venier, which is outshined by 315 orange weapons other classes get (There´s Lolopanther or Solmiki Rapier, but this are very hard to get - not sure if in IToS anyone has that)

  2. And for Venier, which is the only reasonable choice for dealing good dmg, u need to spent a lot of money, cuz the materials are very hard to get nowadays.

So u have to use Rapiers like Catacombs or Spada or Duelist and those are inferior to Venier by far!

Every swordsman need realy good gear to be relevant, but IMO Fencer needs the most gear to be strong (because u dont have a good weapon at 300+)
So Headgears with high stats are important, and some AoE Ratio gears is also very important.

If u just wanna quest through the game and its lvl 300 maps Fencer is probably very easy and does not need that much of investment, tho.
But to be compatitive to other players is another topic…

To have a squire is a very good idea for a Fencer.
Even better to have 2 (Repair and Maintenance)
U will repair ur weapon very often - still i think u should not go Squire on ur Fencer character - make a new one and go full Squire C3.

On that note - u should also try to make an Alchemist to make ur own potions (Maybe thats not very important, but can save some money in the long run)

I have both (Squire C3 and Alchemist C3) and i never regret to have that.

For Fencer:
Choose early circles with a lot of utility. The dmg of low rank classes - if the source isn´t pierce is neglectable that u´ll regret it later on.
(My first Fencer was Highlander 3 and after Fencer C3 got released the dmg of ur Highlander Slash Skills fall off in comparison to ur Pierce Skills)

IMO Swordman C3 is very nice to have. Pain Barrier is realy strong and safe u many times. Restrain is also very nice to have and the stun u´ll get with ur hits is great.
Gung-Ho and Concentrate both scale very good with Fencers - although Gung-Ho scales better. (if u want both u have to spread ur Skill Points, and keep in mind this are 2 Buff Slots)

Peltesta is nice to have, but will not add that much except Swash Buckling (Taunt) and Guardian (Def Boost and Evasion Boost)

Hoplite is also good because of Stabbing (If u go Hop C1 - u´ll simply go it for Stabbing)
Going Hop2 is an option, but for me Weapon Switching is a big NO! ( u losse Eppe Garde when u switch to a spear to make Spear Lunge -> Spear Lunge is only a 6s Debuff)

Corsair
Adds u some new CC Skills which is good (also Bonus for Costume)

Barbarian
Might add u some more dmg. I honestly never went for Barb and cant say much for it.

Class choices are OK for Fencer - choose ur combinations (I have Sw3-Pelt-Corsar-Fencer 3) -> It´s the meta build for Fencer and covers anything u might need as Fencer

Stat Points looks okish, but given that u are still early on - i highly advise to go Full Dex (No Con or Str)
Str scales bad, and Con isn´t that important (Focus on Def and MDef - easier to aquire with gems)
U need to crit as Fencer or else ur dmg isnt relevant.

I hope i could give u some insight on Swordman (especially on Fencers)
If u got further questions go ahead (PM in Forum if u want)
Im german (looking at ur name u aswell) so if u play on Fedimian (My ingame Name is Sera, add me if u want)

Good luck in this game and welcome to Swordmans/Fencers

Sera

#8

Both Doppel, Dragoon and Fencers are good choices for Swordies. As far as Fencers go, they are very circle independent class, so it almost doesn’t matter what you pick prior to Fencer 1, so it’s usually best to pick utility classes like Swordsman 3, Peltasta 1 and Corsair 1. However that combination doesn’t start getting fun until you get your first circle in Fencer.

The reason people go go for this build, myself included (although I’ve class reset myself from SW1->Pel1->Barb2->Cor1, when the class reset voucher was available…so it could happen again) is mostly because SW3 allows you get get your Pain Barrier to 15 and then SW3 gives you an attribute to increase it by another 5 seconds. Pain Barrier prevents knockbacks, bane of melee classes. Pelt is there for Guardian, that gives you another 18% to your evasion and Corsair comes with Jolly Roger, that buffs party damage (negligible at the moment), give you a chance to nullify any enemy attack, even magic and gives you a chance to get extra silver or item from a mob with the pillage buff.

Now, like I said, levelling that build up wouldn’t be too much fun, because you end up with almost no new effective attack skills until Fencer 1, so that’s somewhere around level 174. Other alternatives would be SW1->Pelt->Barb3/HL3… more fun to level up but the most Barbarian and Highlander skills will become almost useless once you get to Fencer 2, which is when you get your 0CD spammable Pierce attack.

If you looking for Fencer or Doppel advice, you can ask in the dedicated Fencer/Doppel thread - Guide to Fencer/Doppel[PvE]

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#9

First of all, thanks for your replies.
They helping me alot. :slight_smile:

So fencer seems more challenging as i first thought.
Well that is not a bad thing, i think.
Would i be helpful in groups even when i’m not “perfectly” equipped?

On the other hand i like to have fun leveling my first char.
A little challenge could be fun too.
Would SW3 be a fun killer? Well so far i mainly used autoattack and lastly swash + umbo blow a bit. Seems this would be my attack for a long time?

Regarding stats:

So DEX for the crits, not for the evasion.
STR would be for normal attack?
No CON? So i need good pDef/mDef, what means i also don’t need to dogde.

Normally i dislike critluck and prefer predictable “normal” damage.
Is fencer really a pure crit class?
Would a STR fencer work too? Maybe as tank?

Or do i missunderstand and fencer is a dps class?

Well, i will look at the other classes too.
I’m unsure now if only the style will be enough for me to accept the challenge.

Thanks, you’re right. I will contact you ingame, when i find out how. ^^

#10

Sure - its just that Fencers scale extremly good with great gear!

I never played any of my characters alone - since i play always together with my RL sister.
So i cant say anything to that. But i would say playing Sw3-Pelt-Corsair could be kinda boring…

U go Dex for crit, Evasion doesnt matter on higher lvls.
STR isn´t important, cuz u need to crit or else ur dmg is too low. U have a Buff which boost critical damage later, thats why u need to crit almost everytime.

Yes Fencer is a pure crit class!
And no u cant tank as Fencer - U are a DPS Class

Or do i missunderstand and fencer is a dps class?

Well, i will look at the other classes too.
I’m unsure now if only the style will be enough for me to accept the challenge.

If ur ingame name is Vredo i have added u - u just need to accept.

#11

Ok, so let me add a few thoughts if you are planning to go on with this build ending on Fencer. First, it is true that Fencer is a crit class, but despite this, for PVE is far more relevant to invest in STR than DEX, at the end of the game your flat damage will be higher than a full crit dex user, there is another thing that makes STR more interesting, bonus points, let me put this on an example: in the late game a full DEX build will have something like 300+ points in total, while full STR build will have 500+. CON is not really necessary until level 100~120, but for R7 and R8 content, you will simply get smashed by the mobs if you’re lacking CON. As for the classes you may pick, I would NEVER recommend going Swordsman 3 for beginners, even more that ones willing to play PVE only, this is totally crap and ridiculously boring, in your case I would highly recommend going Highlander 3 or Barbarian 3.

#12

Play Fencer before you talk, please. Full DEX, anything else is garbage.

https://tos.neet.tv/skills/11110

#13

Don’t be dumb, Epee Garde is only available above lvl 270±, going full DEX in early and mid game is such a pain in the ass, all my recommendations are based on the fact that he is a beginner willing to play PVE only, there is nothing wrong going full or high STR in these conditions.

#14

And that’s why you have to trash your character before, smart play I guess.

#15

Y’know if we didn’t have the gem/enchant/Trans in this game you could’ve sound reasonable, but no, it’s there, so STR is noting but trash stat atm.
I could’ve agreed if you advised put point in CON(survivability) or maybe hell SPR(lol more Compsee10 spam +effectiveness of sp pots).

Also I’d like to see you maintain a high crit rate with the ever rising crit requirements as the game progresses, while going high-full STR from lvls1-200.

#16

This is not a discussion about the meta, is about having fun with his very first character, it is simple as that, how much time do you think a beginner can handle leveling for the first time a Swordsman 3 full DEX?? Maybe that is why the great majority of players don’t even reach level 200

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#17

Then OP can go for the old Fencer meta
Sw2/Pelt>Barb2>Barb3/Sair>Fencer
The new Sw3 meta for fencers optimizes Fencer as a standalone class.

To begin with Fencer itself isn’t exactly beginner friendly anyway unlike Dopps or Goons which still utilizes their pre r6 class skill to deal damage(HLs/Barbs/Hops/Catas).

-Pard buffs
-Grind to lvl40
-save rough 50-150k silver>buy cafri set+5hammer at market
-pard buffs+cafri when bossing/questing
-do dailies
-Restrain shut downs mobs, PB+Dex’s evasion let you keep dealing damage w/o getting knockdown/back when bossing

lvls1-220(r1-7) is dank sht easy

#18

I don’t know why you want him to dumpster his character.

STR is stronger for about the first 100 levels if even still now with easy strong lvl 3/4 red gems. After that crits kick in with Full DEX and Sw3, Highlander or Barb all deal far more dmg than with Full STR or mixbuild.

#19

That’s a highly interessting dicussion going on here.
Seems there are still different options stat wise.

I’ve read a few other threads by now and it gets even more confusing for me.
Well, this is probable because the other threads are talking about endgame meta build and so.

What i’ve collected and understand - i think - so far:
DEX is choosen now mainly for the accuracy to hit R8/9 mobs.
With the Bonus to have also high crit and good evasion.

STR seems to scale bad… whatever this means. But will give me a higher base attack. Are there other bonuses from STR?

CON seems not that importent. But i think i will spend there points when the mobs will hit me too hard.

Are the above statements correct?

Class wise i’m still interested in fencer, but not sure if i should go an “easier” path with my first char. Mainly because of the costly equip.

Back then in Ragnarok Online i played a Rogue - after trying out a wiz - and enjoyed a evasion build. That’s why the fencer jumped right at me :wink:

Is there another melee class combination, that is not so expensive?
Stylewise the Dragoon looks not so bad either to me, for example.
I like the tankyness of the swordsmen classes, but i’m open for other melee choices as well.

Or should i just start playing my swordsman as i think its good for me.
Are there any expectations a group will have, when a swordsman join the group?

thanks in advance for your advices. :slight_smile:

#20

sw > pel > hop > sw3 > fen3
is easy path for fencer

you get stabbing at r3 that can use with any weapon
u can use 1h spear until hit fencer, finestra give u more aoe atk and nice crit
stabbing is pretty good with rapier stance

***always full dex with fencer

full dex is easy for new player
just put lv3 red gem into your lv40 weapon
u get many gem from crystal mine/tenet quest, put it on your weapon
u can get your gem back after u stop using that weapon and it’s only -1 gem lv(fking cheap for low level gem)

lv5 gem is freakin strong for new player and u can get 1-2 of it in a day
after you reach lv120, join uphill party as leecher
look for anounce while playing, many party just need lv120 char join for just dying and u get free gem
double gem in weapon and sub outscale full str
think how ppl reach 280before gem was update

swordman have high base hp, u don’t need con
plate armor/pants with yellow gem + aspersion buff make u tanky as hell (don’t forget pel’s guardian)
just beware magic mob and get them first. nothing hard
2.2k pdef is joke for swordman

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#21

hop dragoon is cheapest

it’s good in every stage of game (weakest at r7)

finestra +150 cri rate, block, aoe
150 cri rate is 150 dex, or76 dex +2sissel
u can spend those points in con that make u more tanky

dragoon r8 skill have high base damage
even u don’t have good item u still do good damage

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#22

Thanks folks,

you cleared things up for me a bit.

While i’m not 100% sure was classes i will choose in the end, i’ve got an idea what should work.

I think i just start to try out a few things and check if i like it.
Thinking of a tanky fencer or dragoon.
Not sure yet if i should go peltasta1 - sw3 or babarian 3.

I don’t really get the peltasta out of my mind, even for fencer.
I like the idea of a sword n’board swordsman.
Even though i learned that the swordsman now are more dps than tank.

I start a new toon and try to have fun,

cheers :slight_smile:

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