Isn’t sissel better for STR builds and gladiator for DEX builds? At least I have a feeling, that as complementing stats STR boosts DEX and DEX boosts STR. It’s only efficient to boost one stat because of bonus points, which are irrelevant to items.
So my suggestion is gladiator bands for DEX build, as Sissel only procs when you miss, if I remember right, and is good only for full STR high attack speed builds.
Don’t forget that those are kToS only buffs, they didn’t get highlander nerfs. And taking into account the fact that 60% of swordies I’ve seen are barbs, I doubt we will recieve the same buffs soon.
Right bow highs are compareable to barbs in terms of power but if they buff barbs high would be forgotten. None of kToS buffs/nerfs was implemented to iToS so far and the same goes to iToS buffs/nerfs.
yeah but i’m not really sure actually since sissel also gives passive PA along with more crit rate which is nice to achieve max possible crit rate on mobs with high crit resist.
but the aoe attack ratio from gladiator band is really tempting other than str and crit attack.
edit: i’ll probably take up 1 of each, lol
why is gladiator good ?
i’d use 2x sissel bracelet either str or dex build.
37crit rate + 21 PAtk is already greater than 16str.
the only thing I see on gladiator band is the aoe atk ratio, but I simply value crit rate > all stat xD
yeah as a fencer more aoe attack ratio is really tempting.
Crit rate has much lower value for DEX builds.
@Lostac, let’s see what sissel gives us:
21 Physical attack. 37 critical rate.
With high DEX build you will NEVER miss. So forget about passive.
So 21 Physical attack and ~5% crit chance.
What about Gladiator?
STR 16, so 16 physical attack and 16 ciritcal attack. 94 critical attack. 1 AoE attack rate. Also STR will add to your bleeds etc, if you have some.
So 16 physical attack and 110 critical attack in total.
With high DEX (I assume 2:1:4 STR:CON:DEX) you will have around 250 DEX. So ~38% base crit chance. Not sure about your class, but it’s quite high value by itself. With proper gear and gems you will reach ~60% crit chance. Let’s talk about guaranteed 50% crit chance, unless mob has really high crit resistance. So effectiveness of crit attack is ~0.4 if converting to patk. So Gladiator band grants ~ 60 patk and 1 AoE attack ratio.
Sure crit rate is much better than crit attack, but overall numbers are comparable. The only difference is AoE attack ratio you will get.
IMO sissel is only good for STR characters with high attack speed who will miss at least 20% of their attacks (like rogue) and can utilize it’s passive.
Rogue can use it this way: stack 8 stacks, then use feint to reach 100% hit rate and deal massive damage.
Though AoE attack ratio is useless on WB, but for mob farming it’s value is very high and will boost your farming skill significantly. It’s additional medium target and 2 additional small targets on every skill on average.
That’s why for DEX character I’d definitely go with 2 gladiators, though they were much more expensive than sissels when I looked through AH. I’d like to have 2 of them on my DEX monk, because I can get 100 free crit rate using just monstrance and 50 more from Zalciai.
Overall for solo grinding DEX char Gladiator is intuitively better than sissel, simply because it complements DEX better. Here I’m talking about high (not full) DEX character. Full DEX will benefit from it even more.
Good examples of characters who benefit more from Sissel: full STR Rogue and/or QS3.
Characters who will benefit more from Gladiators: DEX monk, Fencer, high DEX Highlander, Hybrid Hoplite.
Character who will benefit from both: Full STR Hoplite.
EDIT:
The best bracelet you can get for Fencer is probably Phada, but I’m not sure how to get it, as it’s untradeable. It’s simply the better version of Gladiators bangle, and also gives much more MDEF.
Though recipe is tradeable, so it’s not a big problem.
I think the 4:2:2 is better, or even a 3:2:2, at least for PvP / GvG.
For PvE 4:1:2 is fine.
Plate and a High DEX distribution but if you are planning to do PvP / GvG then you will want to add more CON to your build. You could also try an All-Around build for the same purposes, as they would be pretty similar at higher levels.
It was for you, for me and for everyone else interested to read. Mainly my interest in knowing where did the build fail to satisfy your needs as a player and understand better other perspective for Fencer.
I am just afraid that not even Barbarian might give you that improvement that you are looking for, but we will see.
At least you will have two Fencers and I think you could use the first one to go Fencer->Doppel and try that one out while using the new one to go into Fencer C2.
This way you will be prepared on more than one way for when Rank 8 comes out and see whether or not Fencer C3 is worth it or if it would be better to stay at C1/C2 and go into something like Matador, like you said.
Well, what are you trying to do with your build? What are your goals with it? Why did you pick those classes?
To be honest, it is highly up to preference. I would just say to make both, but since you mentioned that you don’t have much time to play then I imagine that is not a possibility.
Both are strong builds so I would say to pick the one you are more interested in. You can pick because of the weapon, or the costume, etc.
If you want AoE with Fencer too, then you could do Fencer C1->Doppelsoeldner, instead of picking Fencer C2. This way you will have a great AoE skill with Cyclone and cover that weakness of the Fencer build.
@Derael pretty much explained all of it.
I also support that Sissel is much better on STR oriented builds, while Gladiator is much better on DEX oriented builds.
Although if Phada is available in the game then it will be the upgrade for Gladiator Band. We will see, hopefully it is in available.
Thanks for the feedback Cathexis. Indeed I am aiming for a PVE build. I spoke with a friend earlier today who’s been playing the Korean version and he recommends this build instead of the one I posted.
One of his reasoning is that Double Pay isn’t too reliable as it can be a bit rough getting the last hit right.
well it’s my preferance, i don’t like stopping at ~60%
i’d like to aim for like 600++ crit rate using sword.
well it’s nice then if sissel cheaper =D
Would it be possible to make use of the Corsair class without spears? I saw a couple of videos of Corsairs using Doble Weapon Assault, but it is my understanding that you need to smash both attack buttons in order to have both weapons attack (that’s a no go for me).
If possible, what classes or skills do you suggest?
Thank you for the feedback. I will go for Fencer’s costume 
Is this build ok? I have 4 points left on Barb3 ,I don’t know where to put it in 
DEX4-STR2-CON1
I think this build is pretty lacking as it’s not covering any fencer weaknesses and wasting so much of it’s power.
First of all, war cry and frenzy are 2 best skills you can get from barbarian and you just skip them.
Secondly, you don’t put any points in Attaque Coquille, that lets your pierce attacks to IGNORE enemy defense.
Finally, I feel like Bash level3 still worth more than other abilities in swordsman tree. But it’s just personal preference.
You can go out with this build, but you will feel much weaker than other fencers with it.
I just don’t like War cry and Frenzy because they have long cooldown and I prefer AOE . Should they maxed out?
Im not sure about Doppel too,It just looking good in combination haha
They have long cooldown, but they were buffed in kToS recently. And even now they have pretty long duration, so it’s not a big problem.
Yeh but according to @Cathexis not only are these cooldwon changes, but changes to how most of the overall skill works.
It would be silly to change up how they work then not put it in both versions…
There is also the possibility of the theory that they arent implementing any buffs/nerfs untill full release…
It just seems really stupid to me not to implement balance changes across both versions
I was wondering if someone could confirm/deny/check something for me.
Thank you in advance. Apologies if someone asked this here already, 1k posts is a bit much to go through xD
The difference is that Highlander on kTOS still has a 0 cooldown, while our version doesn’t. This means that they need less damage sources and can focus more on the utlity side of Highlander.
I think either way is fine, since there is not a huge difference between either build. I say pick the version you like better, but I would consider having at least 1 point into Vertical Slash for an extra skill on your rotation.
And using the couple points from Double Pay Earn for Deeds of Valor is more of a combat focused style and I think it is fine if you do take that trade if you would rather focus more on increasing your damage potential.
It is correct, you need to hold down the secondary attack button while using the primary one to attack to trigger the effect of Double Weapon Assault.
I think it is possible to mix Corsair with something else if you don’t like Hoplite, although it is not as effective on an environment like PvE because your damage potential isn’t as high. However, nothing to worry too much about, as you will still be dealing plenty of damage with other paths.
The usual one is:
Swordsman->Peltasta->Barbarian C2->Corsair C2->Fencer or Doppelsoeldner (maybe Shinobi too).
The problem with mixing Corsair with Barbarian is that you can’t really go into Barbarian C3 without sacrificing your Rank 7, a point at which it isn’t worth to take it because there are better options out there. But you still get to use Frenzy and War Cry even without their attributes, plus you have a little bit more of AoE with the Barbarian skills.
I recommend Fencer for Rank 7 because rapier are a great upgrade to swords and you will be able to have synergy with your Corsair/Barbarian skills through the Fencer kit.
Another option is Doppelsoeldner to increase raw damage through Deeds of Valor and get another AoE skill on Cyclone.
If you go into Barbarian C3, you want to take advantage of Frenzy and War Cry since you will be able to use the attributes gained from C3.
I would suggest spending your rest of your points (as well as taking points from Helm Chopper) to get as high as possible if not max out both Frenzy and War Cry.
You do want to have at least 1 point into Attaque Coquille though, as it provides pretty useful to ignore to defense when using Pierce skills. And you might want 1 point into Mordschlag for the extra knockback/knockdown, although it is not necessary.
You should also get Bash at level 3 for it’s knockdown attribute, unless you are heavily focused on PvE then I think it is fine if you don’t take it.
Other than that, everything is good.
For stats you might want to follow a 2 DEX : 1 STR : 1 CON, if you do want to have more CON into your build, as I feel it provides more flexibility to change your build around with equipment or points distribution at higher levels.
Doppel is a great combination, although you might want to get Fencer first and then Doppel (if your main focus is Fencer).
1.- Yeah.
2.- No, you lose Finestra as soon as you are not wearing a spear.
Thank you so much for answering that for me 
Now another thing would be, will I be ok as a DPS without taking peltasta C1 and the taunt it brings?
I would rather do Hoplite C1 for the pierce damage if I can do that with my 2H sword (feels like having more than one type of damage might prove beneficial somewhere along the line.)
Will something like Sw C1, HL C1,C2,C3 -> Hoplite C1 -> Doppel C1, C2 work?
Or should I rather do Doppel C3 instead of Hoplite? (If that is even possible, I am throwing this together as I go, not like my first toon needs to be min/max’ed or anything.)
Appreciate thr thoughts on this one. Now you might as well skip the parts where you tell me I shouldn’t go HL C3 because that is already done and I feel ok about it regardless of nerfs and things 
That makes sense.I’m rethinking about Moulinet since I’m hearing I won’t even bother using it since Doppel C2 skills overshadow it.I’m most likely getting rid of it and add a point in Wagon Wheel and like you said,Vertical Slash.Rest of the points will be pumped into Cross Cut.
I’m also going to be swapping points between Zucken and Zornhau.
Hey Cathexis, I just want to know your thoughts if I go
Full CON Fencer with Lolopanther Leather Set plus Leather Mastery.
What would classes should I acquire every rank to maximize my potential with the above build?
Huge HP from CON and Accuracy/Critical Rate/Evasion from the set and Evasion skills from Fencer from the Leather Mastery.
Please give me your thoughts about this. Thanks!