Tree of Savior Forum

Cecil's Cataphract build workshop

Class and Rank Swordsman
#1

Hay fellas,

If any of you trawled the forums around the 2nd beta test, I had a megathread where I gave advice to people on Swordsman builds. Well, with the OBT around the corner, I’m back!

Some differences this time around: I haven’t played the korean version, which means there are some things I don’t have knowledge with, primarily PvP and endgame PvE content. I’m also focusing on just Catas, since that’s the class I’ll be playing. So I’m here to learn as well.

So what’s changed since iCBT2?

HUGE buffs! Earth wave, our main skill has had a huge CD reduction. Some more skills are available mounted. Hoplite buffs help us too, as does the addition of Dragoon. And we have two viable R2 + R3 paths now, Pelt -> Hoplite and Highlander C2.

What I’ve heard…

From what I’ve heard around the forums, Catas are useful in both PvP and PvE. If you get Peltasta, you can tank in the Earth Tower. In PvP, we have a lot of CC and our speed helps us avoid being kited. Impaler is a great move too. I’m not sure what our DPS is like, but it should be decent at least. (One thing I’m not sure about is stat distribution)

My build (subject to edits):

So if anyone needs help with a build, has some knowledge to share, advice for me or just want to chat about Cataphracts, feel free to drop a post.

#2

i might be wrong, as far as i’ve been reading around, the number 1 PvP player in kToS people are talking about build is

Sword3>Cata3>Dragoon?

he is always supported by a Plague Doctor friend.

#3

Ye that’s the path I’m going too but a few changes… I don’t think Steed Charge is useful at all and I don’t know anything about dragoon skills so no idea what skills to get there.

#4

Grab it at lv 1 for knockdown only.

Serpentine, Dragontooth, Dragon Soar are all multi hit skills.
Dragon Soar can knock up your enemy.
Gae Bulg is 1 hit skill with very high burst damage and some small attribute effects.

I personally recommend to max out Serpentine, Dragontooth, and Soar.
If you want to use Gae Bulg, then get Dragontooth at lv 4, Serpentine lv 5, Gae Bulg lv 5, and Soar lv 1.

And your overall build is exactly the same build that I will use if I ever play a Cataphract.

1 Like
#5

Interesting… Well considering Plague Doctors can block a lot of negative statuses, It makes sense that they would benefit swordsman who are vulnerable to that sort of thing.

Sword C3 would also give a long Pain Barrier and Restrain (I’m not sure how good the latter is in PvP) but it would make you basically immune to CC.

I feel like having the Plague Doctor would benefit way more than any choices from C1-C3 anyway.

#6

Hi, i like your topic and build.
I also want to build cataphract and focusing on guild war and PvE. Basically my build will be the same as yours, but with different skill sets.
So, i want to ask you a few questions…

What is your main weapon? 2h-spear/1h-spear shield/1h-spear dagger?

I wonder…since cata can’t go full str (crit cata) you need to boost your attack with 2h-spear. But you have some skills that need shield stance too. i know we can swap weapons, i just curious which one will be your main.

About concentrate, even if it’s spread i think it’s still worth it with lv 50 attribute…or no?

#7

If you take peltasta in your build you have to get at least a spear-shield in switch if it’s not your main weapons, 'cause peltasta’s skills need a shield equipped.
Also to get the full potentiel of finestra you need a shield too, 'cause no shield = no block. ^^

#8

Generally you’ll either be using a 2h Spear or 1h Spear with shield. But if there is a powerful offhand weapon we always have the option later to go 1h Spear + Dagger.

The difference between 1h and 2h really comes down to your role during PvE. If you want to adopt a tanking role, go 1h. For damage, pick 2h.

Without CON investment, I had around 14k HP at level 130 during iCBT2. CON will make you better at tanking, but worse at DPS. I think if you want to do Guild War and PvE, you should consider investing some CON.

As a side note: One of the reasons I prefer Peltasta + Hoplite to Highlander is that it prepares you for the future. If there’s a really powerful 1h Spear, or offhand weapon, or shield, you can use those. The passives you get from the Peltasta class and the Block rate from Finestra scale, so they’ll still be really powerful come lategame.

#9

Question is, how gimped in PvE would a Swordsman 3 build be?

People are already crying about Swordsman jobs being weak in PvE post 200 and it’s not like swordsmen jobs are dominating PvP, there was the one dragoon guy but he was the exception, but maybe things have changed since a few weeks ago (haven’t played since the client decided to not launch again and give blue screens, too much work to reinstall).

So if we’re unlucky we end up with a class that sucks for Team Battle PvP, sucks for PvE and can’t even win a duel vs any class in the game.

#10

Well you’d be down a quarter of your HP and a whole lot of block rate which would mean you can’t really tank effectively. Your actual damage would be fine but your versatility would be halved.

Afaik there are classes in the game that can put out a whole lot more raw damage than Catas, so i’d guess it would make a pretty big difference. From what I can tell having a plague doctor friend would matter more anyway. We should all be sucking up to them :smiley:

#11

Does mounted cata get bonus stats?

#12

can u use dragoon skills while mounting?
Example using Gae Bulg

#13

Yeah, you get bonus HP (25% of your companion), Def (10% of your companion) and Evasion (8% of your companion). I got around 2k extra HP when mounted, but it goes away when you dismount. Kinda annoying, since changing maps dismounts you, as does sitting by a campfire :expressionless:

@bilog09bilog
Yeah, all Dragoon skills are useable while mounted.

#14

cecil your build is nice for me :smiley: no comment here :slight_smile: thumb up.

#15

I’m thinking of making this build because I’ll be a guild leader. Still no idea about the templar tree though.

Swordsman C1:
Thrust for filler
Bash for knockdown
Pain Barrier for PVP/GVG

Peltasta C1:
Umbo Blow for AOE and stun
Swash Buckling for PVE and HP increase for PVP/GVG
Guardian for defense and evasion increase

Cataphract C3:
Earth Wave, Doom Spike, and Rush for AOE damage
Trot for maximum mobility

#16

can u use ur shield to block enemys while mounting? pressing letter C http://www.tosbase.com/database/attributes/102015/
and using swash buckling

#17

I have been considering this class very much for when I play. I personally liked the idea of combining barb with it. I have zero intentions of switching weapons during play and honestly, love the idea of using 2 handed spears. Barb class provides in my books what Cata lack a lot : Slash Damage.

I am considering the 2 builds :


and if my any chance Shinobi skills can be used while mounted :

I haven’t been able to decide on Dragoon skills as I don’t know its future [I really just want Lancer]. Shinobi on the other hand has kunai throw giving a little bit of range to the spells. Add the super mobility of a mount and a mounted Shinobi should be excellent.

The reason I skipped over Hoplite is simply that 5 ranks of finiesta isn’t worth a buff slot imo. Also, I intend to go high dex/agi (forgot the stat name sorry) making low evasion a big -ve for me.

#18

Well Thrust is pretty useless, I reckon just put the points into Gung Ho, at least you’ll buff the damage of your other skills.

If you wanna do PvP, why skip Impaler? Get Lv1, it’s a pretty nice move. I can’t really speak about Templar skills cause I have no experience/knowledge of guilds in ToS.

@bilog09bilog

You can!

#19

Yes you can ^^ most of the skills that can be used unmount can be used on mount normally, but there where still some that couldn’t. They corrected most of them though so finding a new post about which still don’t work is pretty hard though ^^
But remember : your Cataphract skills can be used while moving, while your skills from the other classes can’t be used while moving (since most of the skills aren’t abble to be done while moving even without mount, your character will stop moving to do the skills, and there where some bugs with skills like stabbing where the skill could cancel if you where using mouse mode (the character would try to continue his movement while using stabbing, cancelling the stabbing skill only after 2-3hits of 13 and going to cooldown)

#20

Hey so I just looked over your build, I think there’s a lot we can fix up. I went Barb -> Cata in iCBT and while it is good on paper (and Helm chopper is beast) you get barely anything compared to Hoplite. And you can’t use Cleave while mounted :(.

If you want the damages you should stick to Highlander C1/C2. Anyway onto your build. You want to maximise on Skyliner, which means you need Crosscut to inflict bleed. And grab 5 Cartar Stroke, it scales really well to the point where you’ll still be using it at 130+. It can’t be used while mounted, but it’s actually still worth the points, in my opinion.

I can’t really comment on the Shinobi build since I don’t know if those skills can be used while mounted. You might have to ask someone else about that one!