There have been many topics about Swordsmen balance. In this topic I don’t want to argue about Swordsmen being balanced or unbalanced, what I want to do is make a list of objective disadvantages the Swordsman class has. I want to reiterate the word objective. The idea is to achieve a list that is 100% correct, to a state where no one can argue with it. I want this to be a quick reference list we can all use. The point of this is to paint a basic picture about the difficulties of this class. I hope it can serve as a guide and as a reference for further debate. Feel free to correct and argue anything I have said, I’m aiming for correctness. Please add to the list with anything you can think of. Remember, we’re trying to find an objective list, data and logic is strongly encouraged, I don’t want this to be a complaining thread, I just want to find objective truths about the state of Swordsmen. I plan on keeping this list up to date for months to come, as well as crossing things off as the game further evolves. Thanks in advance for any discussion.
Index
1. Melee
2. Repair
3. Three Stats
4. Damage and Survivability
5. Skills Don’t Scale
6. Magic Defence
7. Small Hit Boxes
8. Weak Single Target Auto Attack
9. Skill Rotations
10. Unable to Move During Attack
11. No Auto Weapon Switch
12. Knockdown
13. Higher Level Enemies
Fighting in melee is a disadvantage. That means being in range of the enemy, a Swordsman has to cover more distance when running from heavy AOE, or range limited attacks. The extra movement means Swordsmen have less of an opportunity to do DPS, it also means not always making it out of enemy range in time so they end up taking additional damage. Fighting in melee range also means being knocked down more, further adding to less DPS. Enemies running away further hinders Swordsmen as you then have to chase after them, oppose to just using a quick range attack to end it. Melee is also a huge disadvantage in PVP, as enemies can run away while attacking you, and can do more damage to you as you’re closing the distance. Another problem is fighting higher level enemies, which, due to damage, can make it very difficult to contribute to the fight, (see 13.) for more details.
Point one leads me to the next point, repair. Swordsmen have to repair their equipment more, even if they are a DPS build and aren’t taking aggro. Due to being in melee range they will end up taking more damage then their counter parts who don’t have to be in range of enemy attacks. So in the end, they have to repair their equipment more.
Although there are full STR, CON, and DEX builds, I would argue the majority of players pursue some kind of synthesis of the three stats. This means they can’t always min-max as much due to spreading the stats around. Also, if a Swordsman wants decent defence against Magic Attack, they’d need to invest into SPR, investing into four stats would be sacrificing survivability or attack. (See 6.) for more details on magic attack/defence.
What I mean by this is sacrificing damage to have some survivability, or the other way around. It seems an example of a good balanced build is a full CON cleric. They have high survivability, to an extent where they can tank (minus aggro pulling,) while still doing comparable, if not more damage. I am using this as an example, my point is finding a balance is difficult for Swordsmen, especially when there are other potentially better options out there.
Most Swordsmen skills don’t scale. Most give a flat value and even max attributed are at best mediocre. In regards to the C1 Swordsman skills, Concentrate, Gung Ho, and Pain Barrier don’t scale. Concentrate barely adds any damage and using it past the very early levels is not even worth it, plus it has a short duration for the damage you do get. Gung Ho has a decent duration, but the damage gained isn’t much, plus there is a penalty just for using it. Pain Barrier also doesn’t last long, and when fighting enemies that have knockdown, especially since most Swordsman are tanks. On top of all this, you have to cast three skills just for some mediocre effects, that’s just further wasted time.
Note: 16-08-2016 Update has made Concentrate scale
Swordsman take more damage due to melee range (see 1.) This becomes even worse because there is no good way to defend against magic, without taking other penalties. A Swordsman could switch to cloth armour in the middle of combat, but that’s just more things a Swordsman has to do to stay alive. The alternative is putting points in to SPR, but that has heavy penalties. (See 3.)
On both auto attacks, and skills the hit box and range are small. It is incredibly easy to miss, with the enemy being able to move only slightly to waste the entire skill. Even with a spear the hit boxes and range are much to short. With Swordsman’s low SP, missing a skill just makes it even worse. (See 3.) as to why investing in more stats like SPR is usually harmful.
8. Weak Single Target Auto Attack
Swordsman objectively, do less damage on auto attack. Especially combined with small hit boxes, (see 7.) which can cause you to miss, further decreasing the already low damage.
Note: They have a good auto attack against multiple enemies.
This is partially build dependant. There simply isn’t a lot of skill rotation that takes place. You can’t combo your skills up other then maybe a debuff then a skill attack, that’s really it. Combine this with the small hit boxes (see 7.) which can cause the few skills that you have to miss, and it’ll severely damage your DPS output.
10. Unable to Move During Attack
Swordsmen are unable to attack and move/rotate at the same time. This causes problems especially when you take into account the hit boxes. (See 7.)
Swordsmen have no auto weapon switch, it has to be done manually, on top of having to be done manually, it causes frame drop causing it to sometimes not work correctly.
Originally I added this to the first point, (see 1.) but I feel that it requires its own section. Swordsmen spend a lot of time getting knocked down, and the only way to really prevent this is Pain Barrier, unfortunately Pain Barrier has issues of its own (see 5.) Being knocked down is devastating in PVP, and PVE. (See 1.) for more details.
This is very related to point one, (see 1.) however, with the recent mission changes it has become more apparent then ever this is a serious disadvantage. Fighting in melee against higher level enemies is extraordinarily difficult. For reasons mentioned in point one, (see 1.) it can be difficult to avoid AoE attacks, or a quick aggro switch from a boss, and a Swordsman may get hit, but due to the level difference the damage can be enormous. If the Swordsman is a tank, they may be okay, but due to things like Magic Defence being difficult to obtain (see 6.) even they may have a borderline impossible time of contributing. Compared to ranged classes, who don’t need to be in range of enemy attacks often, melee at times is basically not viable. The ranged classes can just keep doing DPS out of most of the harms way, even a lower level can be a major contributor because they’re not taking damage. A lower level Swordsmen however, may not be able to risk getting in close enough to do damage, because the damage they receive is simply to much.
