…Is filled with thorns, unnecessary Auto-Attacks, and no-synergy. Welcome to my great mistake of CBT2. .When I first made it into the ToS Beta I knew little of the game nor did I plan on writing out anything, I was basically asked by a friend to try applying out of the blue, I did, and here I was. Honestly, this is going to be the situation for a lot of people coming to the game and why certain aspects of the game worry me, that being said I ultimately had though rough, painful, and great time. What can I say, I’m a Lamia hate child. Now onward!
Chapter 1: Sword C3
When Starting ToS with its freedom of class diversity, as well as challenging roles/positions to play in terms of solo and party content. So I imagined being a sword and shield user. No, not a tank, just dps while using a sword and shield. So hopefully that gave a little more insight to my odd choice of circles to max.
This was my first swordsman Build, Max Thrust/Gung-Ho/Restrain for the Bleed Dmg combo, as well as thinking the Attribute Continuous Attack had some merit, it didnt. Restrain didn’t work properly with thrust or Pommel-beat, I was left spam thrusting and auto attacking pretty much until the 60s. At one point I qq’d to my friend and I was told of the icoins and reset scrolls <3. However the rage I’d feel of screwing up in an official release and having no means of reset…yeah.
This is what my build looked like near the end of my SwordC3 Journey. After playing the class extensively, I can say that the main thing you get from it all is, buffs. Yes, buffs and mediocre ones at that, in contrast to what you could be getting from other circles at C3. By going C3 Swordie your nerfing your damage output at an early stage by already putting off other much better options. However if your build takes this into account, you’ll be fine and choose away! I would actually recommend it on glass cannon builds that focus on Auto-attack as your main form of DPS (Corsairs),
So what is Sword C3 good for exactly
Max Restrain. At level 10 it lasts 60secs with a 120sec cd. So at its best you can only use it 50% of the time. However I found that it really shined in PvP. Being able to Jump-Slash and catch an enemy with a stun followed by the slow attribute, is very useful.
However the 40% Stun proc rate, in a PvP match felt like 20% so a c2 Swordie would have about 10% (This is all guessing, based on frequency I saw the stun Proc,) So Sword C3 is IMO a PvP Circle which helps make any class more pvp-viable later down the line. And because of the freedom of stances/buffs/etc, you can go into whatever circle after knowing you’ll be able to catch enemies easily in fights, without needing skills, and Double-Slash can be used in mid-air! so you have a better, more damaging option then an auto-attack, plus it has 3 Overheats, you can’t go wrong.
I’ll also note once the Synergy with restrain isn’t working as intended, however once it does, this class may be even more of a threat. However all this being said, the Rodelero Followup made 0 sense.
Chapter Two:- Rodelero
A picture of my stats at Level 96 and Rodelero C1 1:STR 1:Dex 20:BASECON build, I had about 7.4k HP 558MP
And it was at this point I realized I was doing pretty poorly. Though my damage seems poor, it wasn’t as bad as you think, the swordie buffs helped for damage, thrust was my main pierce DPS, Bash/Double-Slash for slash dps and gaining 4 new attack skills, this is gonna be so much easier!..nope.
It was a tough moment for me when I realized how poor the aoe ratios of most rodelero skills were. Montano has shotgun range. Targe Smash isn’t a aoe fix, the knock back pretty much interrupts any consistent damage you’d be doing to a mob, darkness is very nice when it procs on bosses though. Shield Push is the Umbo Thrust for PVP, with a 10sec duration and the debuffs effects scale with the level, do not miss. While Shielding Shoving is a filler Disable to help tie skills together.
The lack of any effective aggro skills left me as a very awkward dps and swordie in general when farming, and the lack of bossing skills and a poor mixture of circles definitely left me gimped in just about every PvE scenario, hard to take aggro, lack luster auto-attacks, poor dps, until rodeleroC3. The introduction of Shooting Star and high kick adds two very useful DPS skills to your rotation. However with a AutoAtk Slash-Strike Skill based Build I couldn’t make full use of Rodelero C3
.
Though I missed Peltasta C1 and shield attributes, I would still occasionally dodge, guard with a high success rate (around 80-90% on most bosses, with a 90-100% rate on mobs). So basically using guard by itself, with a STR/DEX stat distribution, and no shield attributes, block was still quite effective at the 180-range of the game.
Around the end of the iCB2 test my skills looked like this:
HOWEVER, in PvP is where it really shone. Despite being only 178/RodeC3 (level 2) I was able to take out or fight on even terms against level 200 swordies (aka all sword branches). The only reason for this edge, was probably Restrain, Guard, and the bomb CC of Rodelero coupled with Restrain. It was extremely useful in catching enemies with jump-attacks (Double-slash/Targe Smash/AuatAtks), and following up with stun-locking skills. I would rate it 5/5 simply because the Rodelero branch gives you so many offensive options and utility if your using a shield in your sub-weap slot. Its a relatively simple build with the utility to survive and take out individual enemies.
Chapter Three: Choosing a Swordie path
Would I recommend this build? Never, well maybe to my worst enemies…Class pathing, IMO can be broken down into three different factors.Types, Styles, and Core:
Types - The three primary types of damage available to swordsmen. Pierce, Slash, and Strike. Deciding which you want to focus on is a start to building your character. Pierce (Hoplite = Bossing), Slash (Highlander, Barbarian,Swordsmen) and Strike (Peltasta, Rodelero). However the exceptions here is Catapharact, which focuses on mobility and large aoe, disruptive attacks, Squire which focuses on out of battle utility, and Corsair which adds the Auto-Attack Style.
Style - You’ve figured out how you wanna hurt 'em the most, now you just need to figure out how you wanna do it, with Auto-attacks between powerful high cd skills, or with a good rotation of skills to keep damage high and consistent. How you want your payload delivered is what Style is all about. If you can figure this out your one step closer to making/build your character how you want, while making it viable.
Core - This really just means the circles between Rank 2 and 5. The Core of your build is basically what will sustain you IMO throughout any point in the game to come. Missed/Relevant circles to your build should be taken at this point or at rank 7 (Starting a guild or 2H spear skills), however by rank 6 your build should be complete or at the least, you managed to fill the roll/position you want. Otherwise you failed, go play maplestory.
So with my own 3 rules can I determine why my swordc3Rodec3 was a very awkward build? It focuses on two different types of damage and two different styles of attacking. First is the progression of Sword C3 which focuses on buffs - particularly Restrain and high level Gung-ho/Concentrate****. This path imo tells me that a player plans to focus on:
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PvP
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Auto-attacks
-Or in the case of Rodelero C3:
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PvP/Single Target CC
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Skill Based Strike Damage
So it fails in PVE because it has a focus on auto-attacks however I lack any skills which actually boost my attack speed, or a weapon to make use of the bonus damage.
Every Class has a focus/theme obviously, but the more stretched out yours becomes, the less defined your position/role is, which can be either good or bad. Generally bad though, as the best Buffs and Skills are generally gotten at C2+ of any given class(Some classes are only useful at C1, however useful attributes are usually attained at C1. However vice-versa the more circles you get in a particular circle defines your character more in certain aspects, period. So less circles = Flexibility while more circles = A more clearly defined position. IMO though despite the core of your builld pulling you through rank 6+, thats more in terms of dps, your entire vision has until rank 7.
Another interesting observation I made while exploring classes and builds within the simulator, by rank 7 when Shinobi is available, is coincidentally the the perfect rank for Two classes to have C3 achieved. .
So your build may just make time to shine, however have an idea what your doing, the resources (Simulator/Tosbase) and tests(kOBT) are available to indulge your curiosity and theories, as well as plenty off helpful people that lurk the forums so feel free to ask them! Not me though, goodness no. b-baka throws smoke bomb
I’ve posted quite a few builds and at odd times I try new things and fall in love, when an iOBT is available I’d like to make use of Rodelero C3 yet again, however this time, my build will look something like this
Merry Christmas and enjoy day~.
Chapter Four: Lelno Thanks for reading~
Fangalis~ Lamia Hate child <3
NO WAIFU NO LAIFU
Bonus Pick of me and Melon at the end of the world.
