While I don’t want to get entirely caught up on Swordsman in exchange for my Wizard C2 rants.
Peltasta’s value diminishes if you have someone else capable of outputting higher Swashbuckling or mob quantities that can be handled by only one application of rank 5 Swash bucking.
In the case of a 5 man party for example
2 Swordsman, A cleric, An archer, a Wizard.
Peltastas main draw is swashbuckling, it can become redundant when another Peltasta is handling it (which is an issue I have run into in ICBT2).
The main draw for Swashbuckling depends on how many Swordsman you have in your party. This is an issue many support abilities have where multiple people taking the same skill does not provide significantly greater results.
Specifically for these situations Swordsman C2 and Highlander make better picks.
If you are the one pulling mobs then by all means Peltasta contributes greatly both for solo play in later classes and in a party. However once you have multiple people with Peltasta paths, the significance starts to drop.
Likewise if a Linker Shares your restrain, another Swordsman with Restrain starts to have redundancies.
With possible party compositions Swordsman C2 and Highlander C1 are still notable choices, for their higher DPS and no need of Swashbuckling if its already being provided.
Restrain also benefits parties when it can be shared by a Linker since you now have 5 people with a 40% stun rate,
These sort of benefits can’t be made however for Wizard C2. It doesn’t have a niche. Surespell is irrelevant given you need a cast bar before it really matters. many wizard skills themselves do not have cast bars. Finally Surespell doesn’t stop what ends up as the primary interruption from level 60 onwards enemies knocking you back, enemies knocking you down, launching you in the air, sleeping you, stunning you. Knockback effects are especially prominent as while they don’t do any lasting disable if implemented during a skills animation that skill can end up going on cooldown for nothing. Surespell doesn’t stop this. It’s a very niche buff that has very practical relevance to Psykino or Linker.
Psykino C2 runs into a similar issue of “Wtf am I doing at this rank?” Unlike say Ele C2, or Pyro 2, or even Cyro 2, you’re not really setting yourself up with additional power in potent skills or utility in cyros case.
While Psychic pressure is undoubtably strong, There isn’t an offensive skill in that line with less then 30s of cooldown, that’s not a big deal except Psychic Pressure is so easily interruptible its often justified with
a) Surespell (which runs into the CC issue above, incredibly frequently, more so then my Pyro 2, Ele ever did)
b) Sleep (level 4/5 is sufficient)
c) The stun attribute, which puts it to 39s, meaning its dps potential is being curbed for dps reliability as the only sufficient mobbing attack this makes psykino basically a 1 trick pony that kills basically every 40s, relying on its previous classes for relevancy, which can only be Cyro, Pyro and Wizard 2. This reliance will begin at Rank 3 and last to rank 5 if you go to C3.
This obviously makes you go “wait a second” when you look at Psychokino. At rank 4, you’re dependent on Rank 2 abilities (level 10 Energy bolt, lvl 0-10 Earthquake, lvl 5 Fireball, lvl 5 Flameground, lvl 5 Ice pike, level 5 Energy bolt, level 5 Ice wall).
Then again into C3.
If you pick Linker you are in the same boat.
Basically Wizard C2 isn’t good for anybody and its the base flipping class.
Linkers don’t like it either. Tl;dr. Wiz C2 sucks, Psykino C2-3 sucks (C1 isn’t that great either especially with the icewall nerf, but Rank 3 isn’t hard enough that you notice).
Swordsman C2-C3 are niche, but both ranks still do something for a particular situation (I’ve got another swashbuckler or hell a swash buckler and a QS) while bringing a little utility that won’t fade out, when their damage eventually does (Restrain). That they do this can justify their investment for a small number of players for either rank. You can’t really justify wiz C2, because it doesn’t add anything, it doesn’t do anything unless you’re aiming for a rank 10 sleep, because the way Energy bolt is handled, Past level 5 is mostly a waste of skill points. Runic Shield falls fast, Lethargy shouldn’t go past 1. Earthquake scales poorly and at C2 its going to disappear from relevancy even faster. Sure Swordsman C3 can use more oomph, but double swordsman comps don’t really require multiple sources of swashbuckling and damage is always desirable leaving C2 Swordsman and Higher C1 if you’re not going that route. If you’re going to go Barbarian then or Hoplite, for your C3 then, might as well pick up restrain because Carter Stroke and Wagon wheel are going to fall off either way at the end of the day. The only “lasting” abilities you’re going to pick up in Rank 1 -Rank 2 are basically Guardian, Swashbuckling, Restrain, Gung Ho, Cross guard (2h only) and Pain barrier (niche). C3 swordsman is harder to justify because what will you go for, Rodelro? That is a lot of CC but C3 Swordsman into Rodelro will probably bore you to quitting the game. C3 Swordsman doesn’t flow with cataphract. So yeah an adjustment has to be made there as well, but as far as wizards go. C2 wizard blows.
