I just made a fiona with level 50 boost, but I am noob so need advice on guides

• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2012-10-15 03:25
  As the titles says I am looking for up to date Hammer Fiona guide or fiona guide in general, any help guys?
• Lewd wrote on 2012-10-15 03:34
  Same question
• Q wrote on 2012-10-15 06:09
  Eh I was in the same boat, and decided to just google around for quiet a bit. From what I gathered + some playing experience now, your main mob killing moves are going to be jump smash and LLR, or an occasional LLLLR or LLLR. Your LLLR move is Butterfly Swing? Where you just pretty much spin to win with hammers lol. Best combo is to combine this with slashing high. Coupled with OP fiona defense = Tanking + damage + no knockback. Kills hidden boss fast for easy exp until raids.
  
  Stigma hammer, (LLLLR) deals insane damage depending on how many times you charge it. For bosses in party play, I just go off to the side and set up LLLLR then hold and charge the smash until the boss is in relatively close proximity and smash that shit down. Works nicely since while you're smashing it down, bosses can't knock you back.
  
  Slashing High is also really useful imo. Pretty much it takes up 750? SP and then you can just attack without worrying about knockbacks or stuns. Nothing can interrupt your combos. I usually activate slashing high + spam butterfly and it works pretty nicely on most bosses in solo play and some party play.
  
  Max battle respiration, for easy stam.
  
  Counterattack is supposedly another must max, and insanely OP too. Only problem is that it's kinda hard to use imo. Or well, it takes some getting used to playing a fiona and spam blocking fast enough to be able to block and counter attack.
  
  Rank your armor masteries for whatever armor you want to wear once you hit 60. Same goes with your weapon masteries.
  
  Max Crit hit, combat mastery, smash mastery, and defense mastery.
  
  As for up to date guides, I really haven't seen any while googling around... Nearest one I found was Invertex/Bakuryu's (not sure which one...)guide for fiona that's somewhere on this site. But that one is pretty old and not sure how up to date it is.
  
  Right. As of the recent updates, Swords are on par with Hammers. Hammers do out damage swords a bit, but swords were buffed quiet a bit in the last patch. Just a heads up.
  
  Still a relatively new fiona player though... So don't use what I said up there as a guide for everything you do lol. Those are just what I went with and what I interpreted. Hopefully a more seasoned fiona comes in soon to help.
• Invertex wrote on 2012-10-15 06:54
  That's Baku's guide. I was in the process of writing a new one but I sort of got bored before I even started the important stuff.
  
  Swords are better. The damage gap is actually not apparent enough in normal play for it to matter to most people. Swords are safer, faster, and it takes 3-6 Butterflies from Hammers before they can out-DPS an Amaranth spamming Sword. Hammer only shines if you can pop Slashing High and spin2win, which requires a good bit of Def on most raids. The only other benefit of a Hammer is the +1k Att you'll get from weapon stats.
  
  Quick name reference.
  
  Swords
  R - Rose Thorn
  LRR - Petal Toss
  LLRRR - Blossom Blow
  LLLRRR - Ivy Sweep
  LLLLR - Amaranth Kick
  
  Hammer
  R - Honeybee Sting
  LRR - Crushing Arc
  LLR - I honestly should know this but I sort of forgot
  LLLR[R] - Butterfly Swing
  LLLLR - Stigma Hammer
  
  
  And now the more important stuff. Sorry Q, but I'm going to brutally criticize your post.
  

  Eh I was in the same boat, and decided to just google around for quiet a bit. From what I gathered + some playing experience now, your main mob killing moves are going to be jump smash and LLR, or an occasional LLLLR or LLLR. Your LLLR move is Butterfly Swing? Where you just pretty much spin to win with hammers lol. Best combo is to combine this with slashing high. Coupled with OP fiona defense = Tanking + damage + no knockback. Kills hidden boss fast for easy exp until raids.

  
  
  I don't jump smash ever, it's mainly out of habit though. Jump smashes have very weird hitboxes, and unless you're one shotting with jump smash, it's not worth it.
  
  For swords, Petal Toss 2 hit (requires r9) is my main mob clearer. Blossom Blow isn't very good as it has a relatively small hitbox, while 2 hit Petal Toss has the damage and the range to cover as a mob clearer. Your other moves are Ivy Sweep and Amaranth. They both do about the same damage, but Amaranth is faster and is more stamina efficient, so it generally takes priority. Ivy Sweep does have a better hitbox to your sides, so use that if you're somewhat surrounded.
  
  For hammers, Crushing Arc 2 hit (requires r9) is still your main mob clearer, and it's essentially a slower Petal Toss with a bit more damage. LLR is useless on Hammers, please don't ever use it. Butterfly is generally your best mob clearer, it's a huge stamina hog though. Stigma is better than a single Butterfly, but most of the time charging it is absolutely useless unless you don't have the stamina for 2+ Butterflies.
  
  Fiona's defense is hardly OP nowadays as well. Do not be one of those Fionas who HS everything, Ep10 will kill you and kill you and kill you. Your Def is only 1k-2k above everyone else's due to your shield, and that won't save you if you're only sitting at 5k-6k without shield. SH is not going to take advantage of your blocking, if you block during SH you're not exactly being efficient.
  
  

  Rank your armor masteries for whatever armor you want to wear once you hit 60. Same goes with your weapon masteries.
  
  Max Crit hit, combat mastery, smash mastery, and defense mastery.

  
  
  Crit and Combat Mastery are both optional on Fiona. In fact, it's still better to whiff your normal attacks sometimes, so sometimes you're not even getting normal attack damage. Criticals are nice, but not crucial on Fiona. You're wasting AP if this is one of your priorities. Smash/Def are fine.
  
  Also just use Plate, the only time you won't use Plate on a Fiona is if you're confident and are running a low Def set and completely relying on your blocking/dodging to get you through. If you're doing that, you don't need my help.
  
  

  Counterattack is supposedly another must max, and insanely OP too. Only problem is that it's kinda hard to use imo. Or well, it takes some getting used to playing a fiona and spam blocking fast enough to be able to block and counter attack.

  
  
  Not as urgent if you're using a leap character. You will NEVER counterattack on a raid boss once you get past Klaus. Given they reduced the shield durability usage of CA and added a double CA, you should be able to get by with a relatively low rank.
  
  
  I'll write some more later, but I just want to stop any random ideas you guys have.
• Q wrote on 2012-10-15 07:04
  Still in the earlier boats really, and yea. I know the jump smash isn't the most efficient later on (starting to get monsters now that won't die from 1 hit).
  
  And how important is SH then? I'm currently ranking SH and Crushing Arc side by side since I didn't notice it had an extra hit...And if SH is going to be useless, I'm just going to drop it now and/or rank it later on. Also, for the later dungeons, how are hammers suppose to attack? Only method for me to really solo hidden as of right now is spam SH + butterfly lol.
  
  What would be the optimal set up for Fiona's? Just full plate armor? or mix it in with other armor sets?
• Invertex wrote on 2012-10-15 07:10

  Quote from Q;963689:

  Still in the earlier boats really, and yea. I know the jump smash isn't the most efficient later on (starting to get monsters now that won't die from 1 hit).
  
  And how important is SH then? I'm currently ranking SH and Crushing Arc side by side since I didn't notice it had an extra hit...And if SH is going to be useless, I'm just going to drop it now and/or rank it later on. Also, for the later dungeons, how are hammers suppose to attack? Only method for me to really solo hidden as of right now is spam SH + butterfly lol.
  
  What would be the optimal set up for Fiona's? Just full plate armor? or mix it in with other armor sets?

  
  
  SH is good, just not if you're running around at 6k-7k Def. A key part of SH is being able to just eat hits, you can't do that on raids with just 6k-7k. It's still a good skill, and you probably should rank it over things like Shield Bash and Charge.
  
  Guard, Crushing Arc, Petal Toss, Blossom Blow, and Ivy Sweep all gain additional attacks at Rank 9. This is important as well, as all of these have practical uses. Some situational, but most aren't.
  
  And it's currently 3 BH / 2 Apo, 3 Raider's / 2 Apo works if you're good enough. I don't suggest the latter though as you honestly need more than 2 weeks of Fiona in order to pull it off.
• Q wrote on 2012-10-15 07:30

  Quote from Invertex;963692:

  SH is good, just not if you're running around at 6k-7k Def. A key part of SH is being able to just eat hits, you can't do that on raids with just 6k-7k. It's still a good skill, and you probably should rank it over things like Shield Bash and Charge.
  
  Guard, Crushing Arc, Petal Toss, Blossom Blow, and Ivy Sweep all gain additional attacks at Rank 9. This is important as well, as all of these have practical uses. Some situational, but most aren't.
  
  And it's currently 3 BH / 2 Apo, 3 Raider's / 2 Apo works if you're good enough. I don't suggest the latter though as you honestly need more than 2 weeks of Fiona in order to pull it off.

  
  
  Should I just wear 3 BH/Raiders + w/e at level 60 then? since Apo is 70+ isn't it?
  
  Er. Another thing is that aren't raider's a light armor? Why consider them over black hammer set?
• Invertex wrote on 2012-10-15 07:33
  Raider's is for pure offense. You're getting no defense. It's only ever usable if you get to the point where you think you can play without getting hit. And even then it's questionable.
  
  Like I still have 6.8k Def with my Raider's set, you'll be around there with a full plate set. But I get 9.8k with a Plate set. That's how big the gap in gear is.
  
  BH/Apo is the best balanced armor combination. Run BH/Swift until 70 and switch to Apo as you're using the cheap Apo pieces.
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2012-10-15 16:08

  Quote from Invertex;963687:

  That's Baku's guide. I was in the process of writing a new one but I sort of got bored before I even started the important stuff.
  
  Swords are better. The damage gap is actually not apparent enough in normal play for it to matter to most people. Swords are safer, faster, and it takes 3-6 Butterflies from Hammers before they can out-DPS an Amaranth spamming Sword. Hammer only shines if you can pop Slashing High and spin2win, which requires a good bit of Def on most raids. The only other benefit of a Hammer is the +1k Att you'll get from weapon stats.
  
  Quick name reference.
  
  Swords
  R - Rose Thorn
  LRR - Petal Toss
  LLRRR - Blossom Blow
  LLLRRR - Ivy Sweep
  LLLLR - Amaranth Kick
  
  Hammer
  R - Honeybee Sting
  LRR - Crushing Arc
  LLR - I honestly should know this but I sort of forgot
  LLLR[R] - Butterfly Swing
  LLLLR - Stigma Hammer
  
  
  And now the more important stuff. Sorry Q, but I'm going to brutally criticize your post.
  
  
  I don't jump smash ever, it's mainly out of habit though. Jump smashes have very weird hitboxes, and unless you're one shotting with jump smash, it's not worth it.
  
  For swords, Petal Toss 2 hit (requires r9) is my main mob clearer. Blossom Blow isn't very good as it has a relatively small hitbox, while 2 hit Petal Toss has the damage and the range to cover as a mob clearer. Your other moves are Ivy Sweep and Amaranth. They both do about the same damage, but Amaranth is faster and is more stamina efficient, so it generally takes priority. Ivy Sweep does have a better hitbox to your sides, so use that if you're somewhat surrounded.
  
  For hammers, Crushing Arc 2 hit (requires r9) is still your main mob clearer, and it's essentially a slower Petal Toss with a bit more damage. LLR is useless on Hammers, please don't ever use it. Butterfly is generally your best mob clearer, it's a huge stamina hog though. Stigma is better than a single Butterfly, but most of the time charging it is absolutely useless unless you don't have the stamina for 2+ Butterflies.
  
  Fiona's defense is hardly OP nowadays as well. Do not be one of those Fionas who HS everything, Ep10 will kill you and kill you and kill you. Your Def is only 1k-2k above everyone else's due to your shield, and that won't save you if you're only sitting at 5k-6k without shield. SH is not going to take advantage of your blocking, if you block during SH you're not exactly being efficient.
  
  
  
  Crit and Combat Mastery are both optional on Fiona. In fact, it's still better to whiff your normal attacks sometimes, so sometimes you're not even getting normal attack damage. Criticals are nice, but not crucial on Fiona. You're wasting AP if this is one of your priorities. Smash/Def are fine.
  
  Also just use Plate, the only time you won't use Plate on a Fiona is if you're confident and are running a low Def set and completely relying on your blocking/dodging to get you through. If you're doing that, you don't need my help.
  
  
  
  Not as urgent if you're using a leap character. You will NEVER counterattack on a raid boss once you get past Klaus. Given they reduced the shield durability usage of CA and added a double CA, you should be able to get by with a relatively low rank.
  
  
  I'll write some more later, but I just want to stop any random ideas you guys have.

  
  
  man I was hoping Fiona can really tank. I thought Fiona with top plate gear can take like almost no damage in boss fights :/
• Invertex wrote on 2012-10-15 16:40
  I don't give advice for things like that. 2 big issues with face tanking.
  
  1. It costs like 1b to get a top level def set. About 150m per T/S armor piece, 80m per W/P accessories, and some more for +10. I doubt you can afford that on a 3 day old character.
  
  2. Just make a Lann if you're going to invest 1b. Spear Lann is the ultimate facetank character. With the set I mentioned earlier, you'd get like 13k on a Fiona but 10k-11k on a Lann. That's more than enough to tank everything. You'll get like double the DPS as well
  
  Plus, my only advice to 10k+ play is hit random buttons. It'll work. Not very helpful advice though.
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2012-10-15 17:25

  Quote from Invertex;963783:

  I don't give advice for things like that. 2 big issues with face tanking.
  
  1. It costs like 1b to get a top level def set. About 150m per T/S armor piece, 80m per W/P accessories, and some more for +10. I doubt you can afford that on a 3 day old character.
  
  2. Just make a Lann if you're going to invest 1b. Spear Lann is the ultimate facetank character. With the set I mentioned earlier, you'd get like 13k on a Fiona but 10k-11k on a Lann. That's more than enough to tank everything. You'll get like double the DPS as well
  
  Plus, my only advice to 10k+ play is hit random buttons. It'll work. Not very helpful advice though.

  
  
  I don't think I have enough skill to play spear lann, I barely have enough skill to play sword lann :P
  
  And I am just thinking in future plans, I am in no hurry to get all the top gears. Playing for them is kind of fun :)
• Cucurbita wrote on 2012-10-15 18:49
  Basically, you tuck yourself in a safe place where the boss can't reach you, transform, then spam the shit out of your butterfly swing. You'll beat every boss this way.
• Lewd wrote on 2012-10-15 18:52

  Quote from Cucurbita;963823:

  Basically, you tuck yourself in a safe place where the boss can't reach you, transform, then spam the shit out of your butterfly swing. You'll beat every boss this way.

  
  
  That doesn't sound fun at all!
• Cucurbita wrote on 2012-10-15 20:27

  Quote from teneshi;963826:

  That doesn't sound fun at all!

  
  
  fun... FUN?
  
  YOU THINK WE'RE HERE TO PLAY? YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME?
  
  [SIZE="7"]KILLING FOMORS IS NO GAME[/SIZE]
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2012-10-15 20:42

  Quote from Cucurbita;963852:

  fun... FUN?
  
  YOU THINK WE'RE HERE TO PLAY? YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME?
  
  [SIZE="7"]KILLING FOMORS IS NO GAME[/SIZE]

  
  
  and take a bite out of crime!