The dmg utility skills will enhance your AoE hits…that’s why I said so. There’s nothing truly wrong with pelt 1 but end game people will want pelt2s or 3s over Pelt 1s…as pelt 1s usually have bad CON
I dont get it, what does the class have to do with the status?
i’ve been told differently, you usually dont want peltasta 2 or 3 for the taunt (which is the main reason i am going for peltasta 1) because it grabs too many mobs, and they are way stronger later in the game, so lvl 5 taunt (11 monsters) is enough
Pelt is the way to go… its Swordsman C1 or C3 there is no C2 viability…
by gaining SwordC2 you get
Higher thrust level= Useless you will prob not even use that skill later on
Higher Bash level= Useless again ( However the push back from attribute is nice, does it worth getting C2 just for this? IMO not really)
Higher Gung Ho and concentrate= Now those skills are very useful however from my experience… Concentrate is up most of the time and im only C1… So getting more hits (rather useless imo) Since performing your skill doesnt seem to lower the hit count. As for Gung Ho its again an improvement
Now we are left with Pain barrier= A must skill for any swordsman. You’ll use that skill to use your combo wombo to do max damage without the chance of getting knocked back… however does your combo last longer than 15second ( at level 1)? I doubt that. And the cooldown from your combo will probably be longer than the cooldown of Pain barrier. so leveling that skill past lvl 2-3 is pointless
However if you get peltasta
you get Swash buckling and guardian= 2 very nice skill that let you be more tankish and let you swap between gung ho and guardian. and… obv a nice taunt
umbo blow and rim blow= both pretty useless however leveling swash buckling past lvl 1 isnt so nice either… so might as well put some point into them to help you level up faster.
BUT! you get that you won’t be constantly harassed about your poor choose and that you didn’t take peltasta. AND swordsman are the class that does the least amount of damage in PvE… so going pure straight DPS isn’t pretty clever since they aren’t made to be made that way to begin with…
Myself, is going pretty much DPS heavy route… but you got to keep in mind that your team depend mostly on you, especially if you are going cat. So that taunt… is IMO a must 
I didn’t say it’s not good, it’s just bad for PvE. You have to pick up your spear after you throw it and when you do the effects are cancelled, it’s impractical to use for PvE, very deadly on PvP tho.
Im just thinking about the AoE damage plus aggro that it gives, since it hits multiple monsters, the 2% damage thing is meaningless, plus the skill is pretty freaking cool looking, what did worry me is that some people said it has a minimum range and you cant aim it, its x spaces in front of you, is that true?
If so, is the other dragoon skills AoE?
Gae Bulg is tricky to use to say the least. What you heard is true, you can’t aim, positioning is everything.
It looks cool, if you really want it, get it xD
@AprilFungus thanks a lot.
Might reroll my char to Swordsman > Peltasta > Hoplite c2 > Cataptrach c3 or Swordsman > Pelt > Hop > Cata c3 > Dragoon.
I’ve been searching videos of a mounted Dragoon but I can’t seem to find one.
no problem, I know the game is rather young so some video are hard to find, I am however close to becoming a dragoon myself from CataC3 so if I reach it soon I’ll let you know to show you how it goes.
The real deciding factor imo for me here is if before Dragoon, does Hop->Cata C3 have enough skill to spam on rotation such that there is no downtime? If yes, then all Dragoon adds are more skills for rotation, which will probably overlap with your previous skill rotations pre-Dragoon, therefore Hop C2 would probably better for rank 7. However if pre-Dragoon you find your skill rotation a bit lacking and there’s a lot of downtime, then Dragoon skills would be able to fix that to keep up the DPS.
Theres only rush and earthwave, and they have decent cds, dragoon is needed imo
When you take into account Stabbing and rush’s duration the rotation actually helps quite a bit; I party with a Diev almost all the time so the CD’s are much easier for me to manage, when you consider that spear lunge doubles the damage of pierce attacks, I don’t see why you wouldn’t take Hop2, dragoon can be taken, as I’ve said in r8 and you’ll most likely be stronger for having it.
Lets break down the rotation.
Stabbing = 22 (-3 for the duration)
Pierce = 33
Spear Lunge = 2 every 24
Earth Wave = 12
Doom Spike = 10
Rush = 30 (-10 for the duration)
Earth Wave > Spear Lunge > Pierce > Stabbing > Doom Spike;
Generally by then Earth Wave is up or almost back up, Take the chance to buff if its not up,
Earth Wave > Rush;
by the time rush is done most of the skills CD will also be done and you can repeat the Rotation.
It doesnt do good damage tho, Cata + Dragoon skills close the rotation and do very good damage
And they’ll do double damage with spear lunge at r8 
I really don’t agree with you man; Stabbing, Pierce and Doom Spike already do a large part of my DPS; a large part of your skills are pierce and both of the DPS skills you get from dragoon are also pierce, Hop2 will also boost the levels of Crit from Finesta and boost the levels of Pierece and Stabbing, making them stronger.
For 6 seconds…
//20characters
so +100% damage for 6 seconds or +20-30% damage for 7.5 seconds?
Where are you getting +20-30%?
The damage skills of dragoon alone would surpass these +100% damage for 6secs
Also note that stabbing is a great skill even if you only go HopC1, since this weapon exist
making each hit of stabbing actually hit 3 time. and with concentrate it’s a good combo together
Assuming the damage bonus from GB; again, why not both? you get Dragoon 1 rank later and you’re set.
I highly doubt that the damage skills from Dragoon will do enough damage to compete with double damage Doom spike, Pierce and Stabbing
We disagree in that point, i believe dragoon damage skills will do.
Lets calculate!
Hop C1
Pierce 414 x 3 = 1242
Stabbing 166 x 11 = 1826
Doom Spike 1813
Hop C2
Pierce 619 x 4 (boss attribute) x 2 = 4952
Stabbing 282 x2 x 11 = 6204
Doom Spike 1813 x 2 = 3626
That is a 9,901 difference to make up; now lets see what Dragoon offers.
Gae Bulg = 3812
Serpentine = 926
Dragontooth = 716
5454
Now you could argue with GB boosting all damage, but from what I understand this boost is unreliable, its okay on some monsters but barely noticeable on others; I’d rather go with the sure thing and then get Dragoon later but also have them be buffed by spear lunge, And please don’t forget that godly +50 crit over hop c1 allowing you to get much more STR.