Clearly youve never been keel hauled
No. That is not what he is saying at all, or what happens in reality.
Swordsman C1, default starter required class. You have the provoke attribute, this allows you even without ANYTHING ELSE to tank bosses for groups. So even if you go âfull dpsâ no matter what you still have the provoke attribute to tank bosses that is still an inherent part of your kit as a Swordsman.
You do NOT have to use it all the time (it can actually be toggled on and off) but someone in your party should be using it, if another swordsman is in the party and more suited to tanking, turn yours off and let them tank it, if not its on you for the good of the party to hold agro on the boss.
Trying to be a Swordsman and NEVER tanking, it like trying to be a Cleric and NEVER healing. Its an inherent part of the class and the kit. There are situations where you woulnât need to tank, or a cleric woulnât need to heal, but you should be ready to tank, heal, whatever based on your class for the good of the group. If you canât put the good of the group before your own whims you will NOT be welcomed in groups, its as simple as that.
Its also important to remember that as a Swordsman no matter how much you focus on DPS an Archer can and will always out perform your DPS, ALWAYS. This means to compete with Archers all Swordsmen need to bring utility beyond DPS to the group, otherwise you should 100% be replaced by an Archer.
Want to go Dopple and ideally DPS more than you tank assuming another tank is available? Youâre probably going to want to look at Swords2, Pelt1, Highlander2, Dopple2 it gives you a solid mix of dps/cc that should function âokâ in PvP and still be useful in PvE that can block tank in PvE and can also use Crossguard from Highlander with Swashbuckling to interesting effect. A big reason to go Sword2 is for restrain so you can Restrain/Cyclone and be a spinning stun tornado which even if you arnât beating the DPS of an Archer you are still providing great utility to your team. You also have a simple weapon swap between a Sword/Shield and 2h Sword for your kit.
This is the sort of build you are looking at for a âdps swordsmenâ its not the only âdps swordsmanâ build, its probably not even the best, though it shows you the sort of things you are going to be expected to bring. You will no matter the build be excepted to ATLEAST be capable of off tanking. To be able to hold aggro on a boss and not explode (you only need Swordsman1 to do that btw). Aslong as you have Swordsman1 and Peltasta1 and build SOME Con (full con is a waste even for âfull tanksâ) after that you can go wild with your class build so long as it makes sense. Corsair is great because it brings utility. Dopple combos with Sword2-3 for Restrain/Cyclone. Cata3 with Rush can also do a Restrain/Rush combo like Dopple and be more mobile too. Barb and Fencer are closer to full DPS options, but again if you have the base Sword1/Pelt1 you can make them work as off tanks just fine for utility.
You donât have to build full con, even full tanks shouldnât build full con. You donât have to ALWAYS tank, but you need to be open to doing so. You are not going to be top tier DPS no matter what you do a swordsman that is for Archers and Wizards so you better keep the concept of bringing utility to the team even if its just off tanking, pulling, CC, etc.
If you arenât cool with that, Swordsmen isnât for you. If you want to force this play style anyhow, hopefully you have friends who are willing to carry your useless self because random groups are NOT going to want you.
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Are the patches going to ever address this? I dont want to call the game flat out garbage for not really allowing you to explore play, and i see Swordsman classes get damage buffs but is it comparable? if im not actually outdamaging mages and archers then i dont know if its going to be worth investing in. im not asking to be super tanky at the same time as dealing amazing damage. im asking to be able to choose as one of them as a melee. if youâre telling me that never changes then i dont really see me lasting here.
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If itâs any consolation, Archers used to suck balls and Swordies were the top dog before.
Do you mean something like this ?
It should be close to what OP wants.
that looks like an interesting build. though im unsure of how it works. and no concentration or gung ho? arent those core to any dps build?
didnt consider a Swordsman c3. i actually WAS working on Pet c1 > Barb C3 > Fencer C2 but that looks good too
RIP to that character end gameâŚ
I highly doubt so. The fact that the basic Swordsman class has an aggro multiplier attribute means that IMC designed the class to be an aggro magnet. Weâve been unfortunately pigeonholed into this niche/party role by class design, and even then we canât fulfill it properly because of a general PvE encounter design that unfairly punishes melee combat.
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Itâs a joke of a skill
So i learned the Provoke Attribute you guys told me of and its not even listed in my skills. neither is Knock Down : Bash. should i remake my char?
oh nvm, it only shows attributes of the class you are. since im petista it wouldnt show Provoke under it naturally. still may just try out that PvP dopple build. the Swords c3 > Cata c3 > Doplle? that sounds like fun. being super fast, and being a freaking menace lol
You definitely havent been keel hauled
Nah. That crit dmg attribute is amazing. Skull Swing is pretty terrible and hard to land in pvp.
Concentration is not really good 'cause it has hit limit. And Gung Ho canât be used with Guardian.
The core of the build revolves around using Restrain, so you get additional damage with Pommel Beat, can make target bleed with Thrust, and get additional damage when bleeding with Double Slash. Keel Hauling can be used for bleed too.
Corsair C1 is on this build just for utility, Jolly Roger(PVE) and Iron Hook(PVP)
Peltasta is your swashbuckling tool, so youâll be accepted on late game parties.
Doppel is really standard. I donât like Zornhau, only reason Iâm adding it is not having Crown from Highlander.
Well i have most definetly seen the light. and im counting more benefits to using Petista over Highlanderâs crit damage passive, which dont get me wrong looks very nice.
But even if you didnt want to just go Pet for Swashbuckling, seems in general that might not be an amazing idea because youâre passing up decent CC abilities such as Umbo Blow which you can attribute a stun to. And even a knock down attribute of which im unsure it can be used simultaneously with stun? and even if it does work with it, im actually unsure if it actually knock downs, because the attribute descrption leads me to believe it just makes things more annoying for me to hit. Also assuming Evasion actually does things i have to say it looks pretty nifty and it seems like a win-win to a player who might want to progress in the world of pve, but only see a glimpse of PvP.
i am not seeing any possible combination that would be undisputeably good from petista in a PvP build at this time. it sounds like the element of speed, surprise, and CC is all swordsman can be good for there. but thats not to say theyâre -bad- at that. i might even argue its a role none others can fill, from my recent reading and studying on this subject.
iâll probably level at least 2 Swordsman in the end. one for pure pvp and the other for pve. Swords c3 > Cata c3 > Dopple for PvP and Swordsman c1 > PEt C1 > Barb c3 > Cor c1 > Shinobi c1 for pve.
the idea behind the first path is to be able to quickly jot in, stunlock and destroy. pretty straight forward.
the 2nd is to be able to take full advantage of incoming Barb buffs that will further increase my buildâs utulity, damage and so on. while still having swashbuckling to keep parties as an option for myself, and well yeah.
EDIT: Oh wait. Shinobi is pierce based isnt it , and cant clone the barb skills. they may not mesh well in that case. i would assume Dragoon is also pierce based, but im unsure about the Fencer. welp back to studying some more lol