I also do 3 bash 5 gung ho 5 pain and 2 point in w/e I recommend 3 bash, 5 gung ho and 1 pain barrier at least. The last 6 points do w/e thrust if you want more dmg early or more pain barrier for pvp maybe its all up to you at that point.
Rim Blow will help your rotation while HG is still up, and since your other attacks will be nigh useless during that time it’s almost a necessity to have once Umbo is in CD.
If you want to deal some damages under high guard I recommand you to max both umbo and rim blow, but focus on umbo blow enhancement first.
Guardian should not be at more than lvl 1
High guard lvl 3 is good early for the +50 Def via attribute… But later you will regret the trade with crit, lvl 1 is better if you want to keep some damages, lvl 3 is possible if you want to focus on pure tank only, but anyway don’t invest more point on it.
Take the time to think about what you want to do with your character, because in most cases people regret to pick c2 and c3 with peltasta: c1 give you a good base to mix with other class, c2 mean you will also pick c3 in order to max damages OR max taunt
Got it. Thanks! 
I know what you mean by that. I have a Peltasta 1 > Hoplite 1 parked just in case I want to stop pursuing this build. Thank you for the advice.
I’m not even hoping for any major changes to the class - and I have read quite a lot of the frustration going for the 2nd and 3rd circle of the class. I just like the theme and concept of it – making use of the shield as a weapon.
Do you have any advice on Stat allocation? Currently doing a 3:1:1 split between CON:STR:DEX. Might go for a 2:2:1 or 2:1:2.
Again, thanks.
Going to throw this out there but idk why people have these high con build its completely worthless beside for some use in PvP but even than your not killing anyone.
Fighters already have naturally high hp so you don’t even need much con to get the hp you need. Getting excess hp does nothing but make you dead weight in your party. If you only need 20k hp to say tank earth tower than having 40k only slow your party down as your dmg is horrible while another tank way 20k ish hp could tank and do like 2-3x your damage.
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Swordsman
1)Swash buckling provoke 16+ mob is a pain because you can’t move a inch and without dodge it even more worse…
That’s why i recommend get more Pain Barrier.
But if you get Cataphract that will be different story…
2)It a PVP spell and Swash Buckling got better crowd control.
(Bash damage weak as Thrust with CD…)
3)Provoke 16+ mob more like freeze your Peltasta to dead.
Use Guardian went your High Guard in CD, better than nothing.
Peltasta
1)Yep, you will have a suprise that Umbo Blow drain your sp so fast.
2)Problem solve.
3)Problem solve.
My build is base on PVE only and i don’t think you wanna try PVP with Peltasta.
My last advice.
Good tank without healer is rare to find.
I don’t know why you guy want a Rank 4 class doing end game content zzz…
Plz remember this is Peltasta C3 discussion.
Speaking about Peltasta only and regarding the low damages skills and various ‘buff’ cutting your damages, I see no interest to improve STR.
Also, because nobody have currently reach the max lvl and final content I will just give you some advise based on my own experience during lvling.
The most efficient build I did was 2:1 CON:SPR … yes SPR, but also using 4 pcs cloth armor.
In fact if you speak only about tanking physical damages, DEX and leather Armor is better, but at some point you will be forced to consider tanking magic, and that it’s only possible with high cc capability and High HP + magic def.
People also under estimate SPR on tank, but if you think about it, what SPR really give ?
SPR is good for tank, I agree if it was for the magic defense only, it will not be so good, but people forgot the impact of the sp bar : to use cc skills and insure a 100% uptime on your buff is very important.
If you just taunt and block during fight, and try to deal the most damages as possible in order to speed up your dungeon run, I think you go wrong.
Your team will enjoy more to see you always in front of them, already taunting the next pack of monsters and grouping them when they are finishing the last mobs behind, then they will also really appreciate to see you stunning/incapacitating monsters, and bumping distant monsters to take them back to the pack.
But anyway, keep in mind many things can change during this year, many reworks can happen, also as content will force us to review our way to tank.
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I’ve been researching all sorts of builds through forums and theory crafting through simulations. From what I’ve learned, going rank 3 peltasta is not worth the time and grind for sub par skills. Rank five swashbuckling is good as it is. The seemingly popular build at the moment is Rank 1 Swordsman / Rank 1 Peltasta / Rank 1-2-3 Hoplite.
Finestra level 15 gives you a very considerable buff critical for both offense and defense specifically for a tank with shield. Though of course whatever you decide to do is up to you.
I only skimmed through the thread, but this is the Peltasta C3 build I recommend:
Swordsman->Peltasta C3->Corsair->Fencer->Doppelsoeldner
It has a great balance between PvE, PvP and GvG as you have multiple ways of being useful (from AoE taunting, to AoE with Cyclone, Iron Hook for PvP and sustained DPS through Fencer).
For stats if you want to be more on the “tanky” side then I recommend a DEX/CON build to increase your evasion and focus on landing critical hits rather than trying to compensate for damage you don’t have through STR. You will still add some points into STR but it won’t be the main focus of the build (only at early levels).
You could opt into leaving Gung Ho at level 1~2 and get Pain Barrier to level 5, since I think it is a fair trade for this build.
I recommend saving most points from C2 to spend them right after you hit C3, that way you improve your damage output by a lot right when the game starts requiring you to do so. You can easily get with auto-attacks alone by adding mainly STR during your early levels (around 40~ STR).
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Remember you need lvl 3+ on Gung Ho in order to be allowed to enhance it.
Thanks for the reply Cathexis.
Was planning on saving up from C2, yes.
I’m done rolling out with the Swordsman skills…
1 Pain Barrier - I think I will manage. The 4 second additional for 4 points isn’t really appealing to me.
5 Concentrate - I know it has poor scaling and I don’t plan it on saving my life mid or end game. Early game, I think it’s vital.
5 Gung Ho - Not keen on blasting the attribute sky high, so as of the moment a 5:1 benefit will work.
4 Bash - From what I’ve read, its a good filler.
Thank you for the suggestion for the stat distribution. I’ve read your Swordie guide quite extensively. Hope you continue to improve on it.
I am actually so tempted to completely ruining this run by rolling out Rodelero > Shinobi if I’m pumping all that DEX into it. Instead of Throw Kunai I will get Shield Lob as my Ninja Projectile for more impact. 
Yes, I’ve read that. As I said I have Pel > Hop parked, just in case I find the frustration of playing with this full Peltasta to be too difficult or tedious.
Again, I posted to hear how I can maximize the going to C2 and C3. I will not claim that it will be the best tank as other class combinations maybe able to do it better. I like the theme and concept. Heck maybe by C2 I will get fed up and pick up Rodelero after just to get more unconventional.
By your play style… by any play style SPR has no use but to provide mdef because your not spamming skills enough to need more SP. Also having higher SP bar doesn’t do much at all consider pots all have the same CD and heal amount no matter how much SP you have so having 3k SP has literally no difference from 1.5k SP.
If you really want to tank magic mobs grab rod C2 boom magic immunity for 10s with 18s cd.
Also grabbing the next mob doesn’t contradict with doing damage at all, you should be doing damage until almost everything is dead and then move on for next wave so having zero strength basically way less effective. And having a ton of hp is once again pointless same as having way too much SP. If you only need 20k HP to easily tank a dungeon having 40k does nothing and only make your party less effective because your doing less damage for the dungeon clear than a tank with just 20k hp and tanking just as well as you.
I completely agree with this build, pretty much something I was thinking about the other night. It’s great to see it come up from a more experienced player.
The synergy between Deeds of Valor and Taunt are great, giving you a good opportunity to rotate into a 50% buffed Cyclone when mobbing.
is the high guard + umbo blow still bugged?
This comes from experience with my level 102/ C3 level 8 Peltasta, so you might want to take it with a grain of salt.
I plan on going Tripple Rodelero to accompany this build.
Swordsman
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With Rank 5 Concentrate I can keep up about a 75% Uptime (If you arent spamming Auto Attacks - For pure auto attacking expect a 50% uptime) , When I have to run from mob pack to mob pack I can usually boost this up to near 100% uptime - It does not reduce defense - and its Attribute is twice as powerfull as Gung Ho, + You cannot use Gung Ho together with Guardian. I have actually removed Gung Ho from my hotbar at this point.
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I got Bash rank 5, I do not use it as a damage ability, as it only deals about 75ish more damage than a normal auto attack - What I do use it for is crowd controlling pesky caster mobs, Such as those bloody fire-chickens in Lvl 90 Dungeon that will melt your face off. You’ll love this ability.
Update: You can start using this ability as a “Filler” when you have put plenty of silver into its Attributes to boost up its damage aswell as hitting multiple targets.
- I personally picked rank 4 Pain supression, But I’ll probably allocate points from Gung ho into this.
Peltasta
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I play without Rim Blow so I have no experience with this
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I currently have Swash Buckling at level 5, And I want more, MORE, MOOOORE. Just so I can bunch up more monsters to smack around
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As I said, I have not used Rim Blow even once during my adventure - But I do not feel the urge to get it.
SP issues - I currenly chew through my SP like mad, I have 38 Spr - 1052 Maximum SP & a total of 160 SP Recovery. (2 Headgears with SP recovery) My SP recovery does not nearly keep up when I use all of my Abilities, I find myself chugging several potions every dungeon run - Depending on the kill speed of the party.
Stat Allocation
I currently have 96 Str - 63 Con - 2 Int - 38 Spr (+8 from Necklace) - 9 Dex
I started off going full STR, Then got my SPR up to 30 - Now I am raising my Con up to my STR level. My plan is going 30 Base SPR - 2str/2con/1dex.
Please note that this entire build is just based on speculation on what I FEEL will be effective, Nothing has been researched or experimented with at higher levels.
Abilities
I would like to repeat that I am going Rodelero C3 with this build, Which gives me 2 debuffs that increase the targets [Strike] Damage taken by 100% - Thus it is heavily offensive on the Strike department
Umbo Blow
This deals approx 2.5x of its base damage to targets that have been “Staggered by a block” Which happens 100% of the time after a block, But it can be resisted by the monster.
912 Basic hit
1346 Bonus namage
With High Guard & Specialisation
1292 Basic hit
1948 Bonus damage
Swash Buckling
I am not 100% sure, But I believe the “Maximum Provocation” buff Increases the aggro that you generate on monsters when you attack them, Higher amounts of Strength might allow you to get away with less points in this ability. If you can live with pulling less monsters when using it.
I currently have this at level 5, but plan on getting it to 11.
Umbo Thrust
Deals strike damage and completely removes the targets physical defense for its duration - It deals the damage AFTER removing the armor, so it does benefit from the armor decrease.
Butterfly
Deals 3 Strong damage STRIKE hits - The ability in-game is currently classified as [Physical] - [Slash] - [Strike] But after having tried it on monsters weak to slash & strike damage it appears that it does Only Strike damage for all 3 Hits.
Langort
Deals 3 Pierce hits… It mentions something about blocking, and even has an Attribute that increases your block chance when you use it. But I have yet to manage to block anything with it, Nor does it give me a buff that increases my block chance.
Update: I used a skill reset potion to get this down to level 1 - Putting the points in Swashbuckling instead. The damage difference between Lv.1 & Lv.5 is barely noticeable.
Its damage quite potent, But not as strong as Butterfly - Quite usefull for Pierce weak mobs though.
Guardian
Level 1 for the 18% Evasion increase, Dodge comes before Block. (I often dodge attacks when holding up my Manual block).
High Guard
I got rank 3 to experiment with the +50 Physical Defense Attribute - If I find it useless I will probably take Rank 1 & put the 2 points into Swash Buckling.
This is all based on speculation and personal experience - I do not know how it will perform post level 102 at this point
Hopefully it is of some use to a fellow Peltasta C3!
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This help tremendously. I’m about to hit level 15 on my first Circle already. This should help me with my skill point allocation.
Admittedly I went a different approach for my Swordsman Skills, opting to get Gung Ho instead of more points in Pain Barrier. I do understand your take on the skill and I think it could still work well in the Peltasta’s rotation.
I really do wish that there was some form of reward for getting all the way to Circle 3, given the foreseen challenge for the class.
I had Gung Ho for quite a while, It is pretty nice the first 90ish level if you keep up the Attribute. But eventually the Defense hit got to high for me - And since I usually AoE grind with Swashbuckling I started noticing that I was actually taking quite some damage when I had Gung Ho up. So I switched over to Attributed Rank 1 Guardian for the avoidance & Pdef. Especially the Avoidance is very nice, because you will have to repair a lot less.
As for Pain Barrier - There are a lot of mobs out there that have a tiny little knockback or stun attached to their attacks, When you are tanking a whole bunch of em it is an absolute nightmare to get certain abilities off. Like Butterfly & Umbo Blow. This is where Pain Barrier really shines in the PvE department - You should be fine with just 1 point though, I just had points to spare since I opted out of Gung Ho.
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