Advice on Build for Human

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dragonlord562 wrote on 2011-02-02 01:47

Hi, currently I'm a 40x human player on Ruairi who has been going mainly melee until now. I have R1 Wm, R1 crit, R7 smash, R5 CM, and RD FH. As you can see, until now I've been a primarily melee character. My base str is around 130-140ish at lvl 50 current. Recently, I've been thinking about going hybrid and getting ranged as well.
My question is this, is it really worth it? I am sort of confused, because I know ranged can be quite useful in many situations against monsters with advanced HS who have no Natural Shield. I also hear that Ranged is low dmg until you are approximately 200-300 dex. Right now my dex is at 93 base, with R1 refine, Rank A weaving, and rank C Ranged Mastery. Is it worth it for me to focus on trying to get r1 weaving, ranged mastery, r6 handicraft, and eventually arrow revolver and crash shot? It seems like a pretty big investment of time, at least three-four rebirths which is about three months since I get about 90 ap a rebirth and do free rebirth cycles.
I just want to know if at the end of this it will have been worth it? Or will I just be better off getting myself r1 carpentry, sword mastery, assault slash, smash, and cm to r1, and try to get my melee damage up?
Cookies wrote on 2011-02-02 01:53

I'd suggest you to get smash to r1 first and finish the rest of the melee skills.

After you're done, gather up the AP for r1 ranged attack, magnum shot and barrier spikes, then rank them all in order. And only work on your dex and crash shot after you're done with those. Range really sucks compared to melee until you've dumped enough AP into it.
dragonlord562 wrote on 2011-02-02 02:07

I'm thinking I might do that, and get R1 smash first, since I've hit a roadblock with Rank A Weaving. I was thinking that ranking up ranged mastery and ar/crash shot could wait until I get my dex in the 19x-2xx range. Do you think I should still try and rank my dex life skills up on side, or just go completely for str/melee based skills? Thanks for the quick reply.
Shizukani wrote on 2011-02-02 02:08

Quote from Cookies;315436:
I'd suggest you to get smash to r1 first and finish the rest of the melee skills.

After you're done, gather up the AP for r1 ranged attack, magnum shot and barrier spikes, then rank them all in order. And only work on your dex and crash shot after you're done with those. Range really sucks compared to melee until you've dumped enough AP into it.

Agreed. Range is not that great in the beginning, especially if you have low dex and low ranks for Ranged skills.

You should focus on Melee first, then branch off when you feel you are powerful enough.
Cookies wrote on 2011-02-02 02:13

Quote from dragonlord562;315450:
I'm thinking I might do that, and get R1 smash first, since I've hit a roadblock with Rank A Weaving. I was thinking that ranking up ranged mastery and ar/crash shot could wait until I get my dex in the 19x-2xx range. Do you think I should still try and rank my dex life skills up on side, or just go completely for str/melee based skills? Thanks for the quick reply.

It wouldn't hurt to build up your dex along the way by doing weaving and/or handicraft once in a while since they doesn't cost much AP. You're probably not going to get to 200 dex without any ranged skills at all though.

Those aside I'd suggest also getting r9 icebolt and either r1 firebolt or lightningbolt to help with melee combos, finishing off monsters and times where you don't feel safe to melee.
dragonlord562 wrote on 2011-02-02 03:10

Thanks a lot for the tips, decided in the end that I'll stick to maximizing my melee potential before I go further with possibly becoming a hybrid. Hopefully in the next 400 levels or so I'll be ready to really add some ranger skills to my combat abilities. I'll probably get Icebolt for now since it is less ap, and then get firebolt slowly over next few rebirths.
M wrote on 2011-02-02 04:01

Yeah totally focus on one class with the new system out. Melee at your point in the game does seem best lol imo after that, stick to range and be a range/melee hybrid since your enchants/stats/skills will compliment each other (this is what I do). Max dmg helps both range and melee, the dex from range skills helps your melee balance and the hp/def from melee skills is always nifty when being an archer lol

But yeah, being a starter-hybrid isn't as good as it used to be back in the day, especially with the class system out. Pick knight, train your melee skills up (and strength related skills) :)
kevinXIV wrote on 2011-02-02 04:39

~100 dex with AR rank 5 and 70~90% base critical is decent already IMO for some ADV missions.. just crit crit and crit even if the crit is only like ~100 dmg.. heck im a lazeh life skiller only prod and refine are rank 1.. never will i touch that weaving skill, i dont have time for that skill..

from a pure melee.. when i got to do range.. i dont wanna melee anymore.. add to that i have only rF crash shot but i can raft with ease..

just r1 your smash
and r1 your sword mastery(the added dex is delicious)
then its up to you if you wanna mess up some range already..

and dont waste AP's on bolts.. rF is enough.. me, as a melee/range hybrid..
i only use those bolts for aggro purposes.. oh well.. there's no "perfect" build anyway..
just do what you feel you like to do.. and i admire you because you have managed to get that weaving skill pass rank E.
:lol:
M wrote on 2011-02-02 06:52

ehh definitely invest in more dex if you're going to be an archer. AR becomes useless once you hit HM... I never use it. If you want to be an archer you have got to have a ton of dex and damage so you can magnum shot and crash shot in the big digits :)
dragonlord562 wrote on 2011-02-02 11:37

Quote from kevinXIV;315972:
~100 dex with AR rank 5 and 70~90% base critical is decent already IMO for some ADV missions.. just crit crit and crit even if the crit is only like ~100 dmg.. heck im a lazeh life skiller only prod and refine are rank 1.. never will i touch that weaving skill, i dont have time for that skill..

from a pure melee.. when i got to do range.. i dont wanna melee anymore.. add to that i have only rF crash shot but i can raft with ease..

just r1 your smash
and r1 your sword mastery(the added dex is delicious)
then its up to you if you wanna mess up some range already..

and dont waste AP's on bolts.. rF is enough.. me, as a melee/range hybrid..
i only use those bolts for aggro purposes.. oh well.. there's no "perfect" build anyway..
just do what you feel you like to do.. and i admire you because you have managed to get that weaving skill pass rank E.
:lol:

Just wondering, whats your base dex Kevin? Being able to raft would really be helpful for quick exploration exp compared to running around cor for an hour only to fail 4/10 of the artifacts I found.
Taycat wrote on 2011-02-02 15:40

If you have the guts, do Refining if you REALLY need DEX.

Or, you can simple equip DEX enchants, a DEX title, and use Ophelia's Tears persona.
dragonlord562 wrote on 2011-02-02 17:17

Quote from kNocturn;316510:
If you have the guts, do Refining if you REALLY need DEX.

Or, you can simple equip DEX enchants, a DEX title, and use Ophelia's Tears persona.

I have R1 Refine already. Although you do bring up a good point that I can always get a 60 dex boost with title and persona if I really need it for quick rafting. Hmm, maybe in one or two rebirths I'll start ranger after smash and CM are R1.
M wrote on 2011-02-02 17:59

Honestly rafting isn't really too efficient unless you have r1 crash shot and at least 300 dex lol (in my opinion) otherwise thunder is easier (for rafting) lol If he says he "rafts with ease" it probably just means he doesn't die... not that he gets many kills.
kevinXIV wrote on 2011-02-03 05:47

Quote from dragonlord562;316363:
Just wondering, whats your base dex Kevin? Being able to raft would really be helpful for quick exploration exp compared to running around cor for an hour only to fail 4/10 of the artifacts I found.

i started rafting the moment i got to rank 1 range and AR to rank 5 + rank F CS (with refine and prod to r1.. doesnt matter a lil).. and thats with base ~100 dex.. usually i Crash Shot(rank F up to now) a group of hobs and finish them off with AR since if its not a crit it will not eventually OHKO it.

and dont expect to get 31 stars on a leg.. usually i can get 30+ stars but on the entire raft run.. sure its not efficient.. but its more fun than finding artifacts and just letting them be voight by void..

oops i thought void = voight.. lol..

as a side note: my melee is still twice as stronger as my range damage.. at first it bugs me.. but right now.. i dont wanna melee anymore.. cause i find it boring to whack and slash again and again.. i love to pewpew.. owo

Quote from Maia;316710:
Honestly rafting isn't really too efficient unless you have r1 crash shot and at least 300 dex lol (in my opinion) otherwise thunder is easier (for rafting) lol If he says he "rafts with ease" it probably just means he doesn't die... not that he gets many kills.

actually i still die.. and i said i raft with ease meaning i can score many but not much stars compared to being a melee with rF bolts and hoping the jumping hobs will be bugged..

with my range setup.. YES IT IS NOT EFFICIENT.. but its doable.. id rather raft with fail range dmg than going for artifacts.. and i dont wanna spend AP on thunder just to raft alone cause i dont have a plan to be a mage soon enough even though i know its hax..

efficient rafting with 300 base dex and r1 crash shot? i'll get there soon.. im just learning to walk right now soon i can run.. :)