Hammer Fiona help, fighting bosses

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Intex wrote on 2011-07-16 00:40

I've recently decided to restart my old Fiona who is currently at level 29 now. I want to specialize in hammer since that does more damage overall but I'm really bad with it. Does anyone have any standard attack combos for fighting bosses? I find myself either under committing with an LLR or putting myself into a stigma with no time to guard.
Intimacy wrote on 2011-07-16 00:52

I find where i'm at boat 6+

heavystander large shield combined with LR LLR or LLRR when they are stunned works wonders for bosses once you recognise their attack pattern.
Until large shields you have to counter attacking the normal hits and heavy standing the smashes.
Large shields use less stamina while heavy standing and wont get pushed back, a lot of bosses i meet are really smash heavy in later game.
Arendel wrote on 2011-07-16 02:03

Generally, Butterfly Swing is your friend. At your level, most of the bosses recover from knockdown so slowly that you can easily get multiple swings in, and it is a very safe attack to use because you can guard cancel the delay. Grand Slam Calla is also a safe choice if you're fighting at close ranges but don't have time to use Butterfly. Orchid and Stigma tend to have more situational uses, such as when you need to keep some distance.

However, it's not so much about having a "one size fits all" attack pattern as it is knowing what attacks you can fit in during openings. This usually requires experimentation and adaptation on your part. If you're getting punished for using Stigma, then that specific opening in which you used it requires something faster, such as a single Butterfly. Not every boss will adhere to the same rules, so you just need to practice and see what works.

Quote from Intimacy;513802:
I find where i'm at boat 6+

heavystander large shield combined with LR LLR or LLRR when they are stunned works wonders for bosses once you recognise their attack pattern.
Until large shields you have to counter attacking the normal hits and heavy standing the smashes.
Large shields use less stamina while heavy standing and wont get pushed back, a lot of bosses i meet are really smash heavy in later game.

Your post implies that the large shield is some end-all, be-all for maximum effectiveness when that's not the case at all. You use a small shield when the boss has easily exploited counter openings and a large shield when it doesn't. It's that simple. There are maybe only three or four battles in Boat 7 that require a large shield, and at least ten battles in Boat 6 (about half of the total number of missions) can--and probably should--be fought with a small shield.
Intimacy wrote on 2011-07-16 02:11

Quote from Arendel;513883:

Your post implies that the large shield is some end-all, be-all for maximum effectiveness when that's not the case at all. You use a small shield when the boss has easily exploited counter openings and a large shield when it doesn't. It's that simple. There are maybe only three or four battles in Boat 7 that require a large shield, and at least ten battles in Boat 6 (about half of the total number of missions) can--and probably should--be fought with a small shield.

Being knocked around while trying to stick close to the boss does not suit my playing style it makes me waste more stamina than needed, I can run missions perfectly fine using a large shield, Quite frankly I've not used a small shield since I got my first large shield, it suits me a lot better than the small one does, that's all I was saying, I know smalls have their uses.
I was giving intex my personal experiences with large shields, Small shields have little use for me now.
Arendel wrote on 2011-07-17 10:00

Quote from Intimacy;513892:
Being knocked around while trying to stick close to the boss does not suit my playing style it makes me waste more stamina than needed, I can run missions perfectly fine using a large shield, Quite frankly I've not used a small shield since I got my first large shield, it suits me a lot better than the small one does, that's all I was saying, I know smalls have their uses.
I was giving intex my personal experiences with large shields, Small shields have little use for me now.

Which isn't exactly relevant because if you acknowledge that shield choice depends on the boss, then it shouldn't even be a factor in a discussion about attack patterns. Assuming the OP learns to use both shields rather than sticking to large all the time, he will naturally pick the one more suitable for the fight, at which point we return to the question he was originally asking: what attacks are generally the best to rely on.

Also, I mentioned this in your other thread, but if stamina usage and knockback are huge issues when you use Heavy Stander with small shields, you may want to try dodging attacks when you can--just because you have a shield doesn't mean you have to use it all the time. To an extent, this goes for large shields, as well.
Invertex wrote on 2011-07-17 10:08

Also, Intex's Fiona is only Lv. 29.
You get Large Shields in the early 40s.

Anyways, I think Arendel already covered anything I could say about Hammers. So I'd listen to that advice.
Intimacy wrote on 2011-07-17 10:10

Quote from Arendel;515610:
Which isn't exactly relevant because if you acknowledge that shield choice depends on the boss, then it shouldn't even be a factor in a discussion about attack patterns. Assuming the OP learns to use both shields rather than sticking to large all the time, he will naturally pick the one more suitable for the fight, at which point we return to the question he was originally asking: what attacks are generally the best to rely on.

Also, I mentioned this in your other thread, but if stamina usage and knockback are huge issues when you use Heavy Stander with small shields, you may want to try dodging attacks when you can--just because you have a shield doesn't mean you have to use it all the time. To an extent, this goes for large shields, as well.

Very few if any level 65+ fiona's i see use a small shield because dodging and getting pushed back is more annoying than the upsides counter gives on the bosses it works on.
I've seen maybe 3 fiona's using small shields on boat 7+ and they all get tossed around like a sack of potatoes while with a large shield I've been getting the highest boss damage on most of the bosses i fight, staff evie higher level hammer fionas and really good spear lanns being that exception to who out damages me.

Small shields don't really impress me anymore, They take more work to learn whats counter able and what's not vs instant heavy stander without knock back for instant protection.
I wont fight over this, But i can see intex going large shield for 2 reasons.

More safety
Easier fights with bosses. (Personal opinion)

Small shields have their uses, But personally i don't see anyone using them in boat 7+
That ends all i have to say in this thread.