Hey all, just wanna ask those high level swordies out there (around 250 and above), how are you faring in end game stuff? Like maybe in grinding high level maps/Earth Tower/PvP?
Just sharing from my personal experience so far, I’m playing the Sword1->Pel1->Hop1->Hop2->Cor1->Cor2->Drg1 build, currently at Level229 Rank 7. I’m using Brandish + Karacha Dagger (lvl5 green gem) + full Roxona gears. I’ll just put these in point form for easier viewing.
Basically, with my class build, I expected:
- Probably 30% Tank, 70% DPS type of gameplay
- Losing some AoE for higher single target damage
- Be useful/good in PvP due to Hook and Keel Hauling, with combination of Long Stride from Hoplite as gap closer
- Finestra being touted as THE critical buff skill and this build being a high (well, higher than average, at least) crit rate ‘assassin’ build
- To have pretty good DPS since I only used 1 circle for a ‘tank’ circle aka Pel1; not expecting like sick dps, but at least like maybe 70-80% of dps classes; basically 30% Tank 70% DPS as mentioned above
In reality, what I got/felt is:
1. 30% Tank, yes.
I’m only expecting to be a 30% Tank, which means I don’t expect to be an average tanky character. This is fulfilled somewhat, I AM tankier than the other no con/low con dps classes. That is also because I added CON (around 60-75 points? Some DEX, everything else into STR; probably maybe 5:1:1 STR:CON:DEX) for PvP, hence it IS expected for me to be tankier than any no-con characters. But, I’m still getting my face melted by magic mobs which gets more and more abundant in higher level maps, so I don’t know where I’m going with that tankiness.
2. 70% DPS, higher single target damage, no.
I’m currently grinding at Evac, and I have to use most of my skills just to bring down one single mob (those 100k mobs). Spear Lunge->2x Hexen->Stabbing->Dragontooth->Serpentine->Dragon Soar to take down a single mob (2-3 if they’re stacked). If I get crits then maybe they’ll die at like Serpentine or something. Swordies at this level will get what I mean… For a build that sacrificed AoE for ‘higher single target damage’ I’m totally not feeling it right now, especially when your party’s ele3 can just drop a frost cloud/meteor and BAM 5-10 mobs just die. I understand that, that build is a pure PvE build and is built for AoE damage. Let’s not talk about Archer’s DPS…
3. Be good/useful in PvP, no.
Currently not feeling this as well. Firstly, Long Stride cannot be targeted using Keyboard controls, cannot be used with a dagger (other subweapons/no sub weapons are fine). Secondly, Keel Hauling removes Iron Hook duration regardless of when you used it. Example: Use Lvl10 Iron Hook->Keel Hauling immediately->Iron Hook is over when target reaches you. Thirdly, Long Stride knocks back Iron Hook-ed targets out of melee range. Fourthly, Iron Hook targeting using Keyboard controls is pretty lame, takes too long (as compared to DotA2 Pudge hooking targeting). This forces you to use Mouse controls, but Mouse controls isn’t really fun to use with Swordman, especially when you are always on the move, being a melee, and your skills are targeted at wherever your cursor is. Constantly moving screen = having to constantly fix your cursor on the constantly moving target while dishing out your skills is pretty meh. I don’t mind if this returns high rewards, but the rewards don’t match the effort put in at all.
Iron Hook has to be used at melee range for you to be effective at doing any damage to the target. Long Stride is unusable for gap closing, mainly for reasons of knock back and partly due to incompatibility with daggers (having to weapon swap on the go ups the difficulty, for no valid reason). Keel Hauling cannot be used to bring the target to you, because once he reaches you, Iron Hook is cancelled. Basically, the advertised Hook->Keel or Hook->Long Stride combo is ineffective (to all the players simply saying things, please PROVE your theory in reality before promoting them), which means to land Hook on a 99% chance, you will need to first Bash the target to knock down->run to melee range->secure point blank Hook->proceed to combo target. Pretty meh PvP tactic, seeing it’s already hard to land a proper Bash on a constantly moving target, not counting in the countless amounts of disables they might have. Also, at 20k-30k+ HP, a Fencer can burst me down while I’m stunned by his skills. So much for having higher HP. I even tried PvPing my Wiz3/Ele3/Warlock friend, his Meteor dealt like 15k of my HP (let’s not even talk about Frost Cloud’s damage…). Couple that with a disable or healer, suddenly a pure PvE char’s PvP capabilities become even better than mine. I understand that you can say that I can Hook for my teammates to hit them, but that requires them to go into enemy ranks to attack the hooked enemy, because Keel Hauling cancels hook. Also, why give me all these single target melee damage when I can’t even reach them?
4. Finestra giving high amounts of critical, no.
Well, idk about this, people are saying you don’t even need dex for the amount of crits you gonna get. I’m critting at like maybe 20%-25% of the time, I have like 80 DEX? Seriously, idk… maybe I’m doing something wrong…
5. To have pretty good DPS, no.
As mentioned above, mostly every other DPS class beats me in DPS by like, 3x-5x more, with better AoE. Except those QS3 builds, they’re worse than me… But they excel very much in PvP, much more than mine. As for those people saying Swordies are MAINLY a tank class, why did the game give us so many DPS circles then… Only Tank circles that give good tank skills are in Peltasta, the rest of the circles have either 100% DPS skills or maybe 80% DPS 20% Tank-oriented skills.
All these things I mentioned are from my own personal experience and not read from somewhere.
In conclusion, asking all those already-high-level swordies out there, I just wanna know if it’s worth to keep on lvling my character right now? Are you faring well in any late-game content? Other than being useful for Taunt, that is. It doesn’t seem like I will be useful anywhere in any late-game content. Cata3->Drg will outshine everything else (in Swordie class) in PvP, but still having some decent AoE for PvE (still sucks compared to other classes). I won’t be needed to Earth Tower due to crappy DPS as well as low-tanking capabilities since I went DPS route (I still have Taunt? But I don’t think I would be able to tank the sheer amount of damage). Not to mention, so called having increased single target damage is doing jackshit at world bosses. Even at 280, I don’t see myself beating any of the PvE build’s DPS. Mostly being because I’m a melee, I get knocked back, stunned, spend time dodging the boss attacks, get hit because 5 FPS, etc, while the ranged guys just plop a Magic Arrow or Frost Cloud and go whoopeedoo run a victory lap around the boss and get top DPS.
People might say play what you want. Yeah, I just played what I want for the past month now, and now I’m regretting that decision because things are getting hard in game and not being wanted at end game would probably leave you sitting at town doing nothing (or just farming materials from normal mobs). Since I’m not at the really-real-end-game right now, just wanna hear from Swordies (not only my build in particular, but as in overall) whether it’s actually worth it to pump it up till 280, wondering if there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that’s worth pumping it up for. Only looking for personal experiences that you have experienced at end game, and not theorycrafting or maths calculations or something-that-you-have-read-somewhere by lower level people or non-swordie players. Thanks for reading the wall of text and thanks in advance for your responses guys.