What to do with my character?

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Leopher wrote on 2013-11-01 01:07

Hello Nation! I could use some advice.

I recently started playing again and I'd like to take my character in a new direction. He's a human with just over 400 total levels and primarily alchemy skills (most notable skills include: r1 Flame Burst, r1 Fire Alchemy, r3 Chain Cylinder, r4 Critical Hit, and r3 Windmill; my Water Cannon and alchemy mastery are only rank 9 and B respectively). However, I've sort of lost interest in alchemy and although some of the more advanced skills like Shock look fun, I don't really want to continue investing that much AP in a skill set that won't contribute to the stats I need in order to get the most out of the skills I'm more interested in trying.

I really like the idea of doing puppetry, but I've heard it requires a heavy investment in the Combat tab before being effective. Since I'm not really interested in doing magic even though it's supposed to get better in an upcoming update, I figured I'd start working on melee or archery skills with the aim of either mastering them or moving on to puppetry once I acquire enough stats for it. Which would be better to focus on for a human character? Does one or the other carry better synergy with alchemy? I think lances seem especially cool, and I've heard they're the best melee option in the end game, but at what point do they become viable for a melee user and at what point do they start to outclass other melee weapons?

If someone could give me a small rundown on my skill set options (especially melee and archery, though I'm open to alternatives) and make a recommendation then I'd be most appreciative!

Sorry if these are kind of obvious questions. I'm just not sure how much has changed since the Enlightenment and haven't been able to find enough information that post-dates the update.
Bunny wrote on 2013-11-01 03:27

[FONT="Arial"]Puppetry requires STR and DEX.
If you rank melee and archery, you can move forward to puppetry easily.[/FONT]
Homin wrote on 2013-11-01 04:08

Stick with alchemy and do the G9, G10 and G11 to get all the alchemy skill. With your total level you can start those Generation when talking to Duncan (I even do G10 before G9 and have to get back to G9 to get 'Life Drain' and finish G10).

You'll love alchemy when you got life drain. Because you can drain your enermy life to your own. When you do G11 you'll get 'Shock' (I still didn't get mine so I have no comment on this skill).
ironwoman wrote on 2013-11-01 06:47

Quote from Leopher;1164832:

I really like the idea of doing puppetry, but I've heard it requires a heavy investment in the Combat tab before being effective. Since I'm not really interested in doing magic even though it's supposed to get better in an upcoming update, I figured I'd start working on melee or archery skills with the aim of either mastering them or moving on to puppetry once I acquire enough stats for it. Which would be better to focus on for a human character? Does one or the other carry better synergy with alchemy? I think lances seem especially cool, and I've heard they're the best melee option in the end game, but at what point do they become viable for a melee user and at what point do they start to outclass other melee weapons?

Not too heavy, just some. Even with my stats, my climactic crash is enough to kill elite rooms. But yeah, touche melee first. Why melee?
Because of the balance formula change (which is logarithmic now), as a beginner, you should have more balance than before while later, it'd be the opposite. And just to make sure your balance isn't too bad, you first finish your windmill, sword mastery, blunt mastery & smash & combat mastery. Rank critical hit as you go on. You could also supplement yourself with balance enchants, although I doubt you'll need them. I'd honestly say lances become more useful after you reach max damage of 530~560 with dual battles. It might seem like a high number to you at first, but when you start ranking warrior skills as well as knight skills, you'll see than you get str pretty easily. Before you use lances, either get battles for a longer time investment or get focused beams for pew pew damage. Around the time you get lance or a bit before is when you want to get range and arrow revolver to rank 1, mainly for extra str and beginning of secondary skillset. After that, just do classic range ranking order, magnum and crash shot, support shot and bow mastery, and crossbow mastery the last.

Also, at some point, ranking shock is important, mainly due to the master title.
Leopher wrote on 2013-11-01 20:50

Quote from ironwoman;1164948:
Not too heavy, just some. Even with my stats, my climactic crash is enough to kill elite rooms. But yeah, touche melee first. Why melee?
Because of the balance formula change (which is logarithmic now), as a beginner, you should have more balance than before while later, it'd be the opposite. And just to make sure your balance isn't too bad, you first finish your windmill, sword mastery, blunt mastery & smash & combat mastery. Rank critical hit as you go on. You could also supplement yourself with balance enchants, although I doubt you'll need them. I'd honestly say lances become more useful after you reach max damage of 530~560 with dual battles. It might seem like a high number to you at first, but when you start ranking warrior skills as well as knight skills, you'll see than you get str pretty easily. Before you use lances, either get battles for a longer time investment or get focused beams for pew pew damage. Around the time you get lance or a bit before is when you want to get range and arrow revolver to rank 1, mainly for extra str and beginning of secondary skillset. After that, just do classic range ranking order, magnum and crash shot, support shot and bow mastery, and crossbow mastery the last.

Thanks for the advice! Are there any good alternatives to battleswords/beamswords? I don't really want to deal with the repair cost (and initial cost) of beamswords, and potentially having to spend nx rerolling artisans on battleswords, sounds similarly unpleasant. Also, do you know of any helpful and fairly obtainable enchants to increase my damage off the top of your head (I can always just browse the wiki myself)? Lastly, Should I special upgrade my battleswords (or viable alternative swords should I choose them), and if so, what colors would be preferable?
cheese758 wrote on 2013-11-01 21:42

Quote from Leopher;1165158:
Thanks for the advice! Are there any good alternatives to battleswords/beamswords? I don't really want to deal with the repair cost (and initial cost) of beamswords, and potentially having to spend nx rerolling artisans on battleswords, sounds similarly unpleasant. Also, do you know of any helpful and fairly obtainable enchants to increase my damage off the top of your head (I can always just browse the wiki myself)? Lastly, Should I special upgrade my battleswords (or viable alternative swords should I choose them), and if so, what colors would be preferable?

1) No, battle and beam are the only viable swords. Use a lance if you don't like them.

2) Good enchants that are cheap: Fox, Quartz, Glass Fragment, Special, Conundrum, Viscount, Hawk, Elegant, Sun, Imp, Wild Boar. Prices range from 10k - 200k

3) Battle swords should always receive a red upgrade. This is because the crit modifiers stacks and probably the only reason to use battleswords over beams.

Also remember that dex and str have equal value in puppetry. You don't have to master range or melee to start puppets. Getting skills from both skill sets to a reasonable rank and ranking life skills with net you a larger pool of str and dex than just getting all the melee skills to r1.