Human: Guard Cylinder & Melee Weapon Vs. Lance/DW Swords & Bolt Magic

• frncsjhnhawaii wrote on 2014-02-09 06:32
  Question
  Assuming the Close Combat and Lance skills are maxed out with no AP investments into other skillsets, the shieldless Charge reforge is available, and non-mana knuckles are in the secondary slot, which of the two combinations listed in the title would you choose to work on and why?
  
  Background
  Currently, I'm having fun with both combinations while I'm working on my Close Combat and Lance skills after but I'm a little stuck on which skillset to work on afterward to then transition on to fully becoming a Mage or an Alchemist.
  
  My thoughts on the combos with Alchemy and Mage skills at ~rF...
  Guard Cylinder & Melee Weapon:
  I'm enjoying how strong Water Cannon is at finishing injured targets at rD and rF Chain Cylinder, how Windblast is as quick as a Snap Cast Firebolt but available a lot more often, and the availability of Sand Burst and Life Drain but my melee damage does take decent reduction.
  
  Lance/DW Swords & Bolt Magic:
  Melee damage is a lot stronger though the investment into a shieldless Charge reforge is hefty. Snap Casted spells hit quite hard but their casting time does take a while when Snap Cast isn't Available. I wonder how much of a difference the decreased casting times make when the bolts are at higher ranks.
• ironwoman wrote on 2014-02-09 06:51
  Quite a lot of things I would fix here.
  
  First of all, I would not use that mana knuckle for magic, even a beginner wand is better than that thing. At best, you can use the knuckles as the max damage knuckles with blue upgrade stones.
  
  Secondly, don't think about using guard cylinders with weapons other than real cylinders. Your damage will be crap in alch and melee. The only justification I can see is raincasting in some boss room then doing your magic crap or whatever, but there are way better solonogi methods than that.
  
  Third, no-shield charge reforge shouldn't be needed. For melee, you can just lance charge for more damage, and for fighter, you can just use charging strike. In fact, I don't think the reforge is worth it at all, with that amount of resource, you're better off getting an elemental reforge on your lance.
  
  I don't know what mobs you're fighting, but looking at your level, of course alch skills below rA can kill things easily in that level.
  When you get into harder content, it won't work.
  
  Here's my stance on melee: lance/2h or nothing.
  If you're gonna go alch, dual wield the cylinders.
  
  Before you transition from melee to other skillsets, make sure you invest in skills like carpentry and mining as well.
• frncsjhnhawaii wrote on 2014-02-09 07:10
  1.) Non-mana knuckles in secondary slot
  
  2.)

  Quote from frncsjhnhawaii;1196336:

  
  Currently, I'm having fun with both combinations while I'm working on my Close Combat and Lance skills after but I'm a little stuck on which skillset to work on afterward to then transition on to fully becoming a Mage or an Alchemist.
  

  
  That whole DPS or die attitude is fine and all when speaking to a like minded person but I am stressing the fun part. Mabinogi is a relaxed game with a non-competitive atmosphere. When I log into Mabinogi, I just want to relax a bit running dailies. When I feel like being competitive in something, I'd spar or play BF4.
  
  3.) Weaving, Refining, Mining, Dischord are done with Carpentry coming up whenever I feel like it. Life skills are a bore to take on and I'll put it off for however long I want to. The question stated in the original post was about a hypothetical situation yet you twisted it around and took aim at me =/ Reread it with a clear head and then reply because I think you're just having a bad day.
• ironwoman wrote on 2014-02-09 08:30

  Quote from frncsjhnhawaii;1196346:

  1.) Non-mana knuckles in secondary slot
  
  2.)
  That whole DPS or die attitude is fine and all when speaking to a like minded person but I am stressing the fun part. Mabinogi is a relaxed game with a non-competitive atmosphere. When I log into Mabinogi, I just want to relax a bit running dailies. When I feel like being competitive in something, I'd spar or play BF4.
  
  3.) Weaving, Refining, Mining, Dischord are done with Carpentry coming up whenever I feel like it. Life skills are a bore to take on and I'll put it off for however long I want to. The question stated in the original post was about a hypothetical situation yet you twisted it around and took aim at me =/ Reread it with a clear head and then reply because I think you're just having a bad day.

  
  
  I'm perfectly having a fine day, thank you very much.
  
  I just derped on the mana knuckle part, didn't even notice the non-mana part.
  
  If you want to just have fun and mess around, you can use something like tower cylinder for the lulzy water cannon range. Although it falls off behind really easily.
  
  Another skillset you can get into before mage or alch is range/puppet. This is more for utility as well as synergizing with your stats, I'd assume you want utility. Also, puppet is fun and so is range, contary to what some people think.
  
  Magic you can get into earlier, alchemy I'd get into later since you'll have more stats to back it up then. Alchemy has good damage early on, but falls behind other classes without stats from other classes (sounds a bit ironic I think).
• frncsjhnhawaii wrote on 2014-02-09 08:54

  Quote from ironwoman;1196362:

  I'm perfectly having a fine day, thank you very much.
  
  I just derped on the mana knuckle part, didn't even notice the non-mana part.
  
  If you want to just have fun and mess around, you can use something like tower cylinder for the lulzy water cannon range. Although it falls off behind really easily.
  
  Another skillset you can get into before mage or alch is range/puppet. This is more for utility as well as synergizing with your stats, I'd assume you want utility. Also, puppet is fun and so is range, contary to what some people think.
  
  Magic you can get into earlier, alchemy I'd get into later since you'll have more stats to back it up then. Alchemy has good damage early on, but falls behind other classes without stats from other classes (sounds a bit ironic I think).

  
  
  Dang, now that you brought it up Puppetry and Archery are fun to use with melee. The whole thing about Archery misses is a fun quirk to the talent that leads to "Oh shit!!!" moments that keep a player from completely auto piloting runs.
• gundamweed wrote on 2014-02-09 09:11
  I'd go with a lance/knuckle combination. They cover each other's weaknesses pretty well, and both are pretty strong. A shieldless charge reforge is nice since there will be moments when you want to cover as much distance as possible, something lance charge can't do as well as normal charge. Though, it's not necessary at all and lance charge can do you just fine.
  
  I mean, if you're just doing this to have fun, then there's no issue at all with using a guard cylinder with a one-handed weapon. I mean, you could technically use bolt support with the listed combo. You've got a wide array of options and crowd control, and you have pretty good damage with knuckles. Lances will be the best for dps, but fighter isn't so far behind that we should act like it's not part of the equation, so why not? The issue of damage would be resolved pretty quick if you were to concentrate in fighter, or at least I would think so.
• Friggerton wrote on 2014-02-09 17:48
  Since damage isn't a huge concern to you, you could combine 2-3 of your choices:
  
  slot 1: Guard Cylinder, Wand (element of your choice, I would probably go with firebolt chain casting)
  slot 2: Lance/2H/Dual wield, whichever you like best. I've heard lances are the highest damage output, but since if you're using a guard cylinder you can use normal charge and won't be committed to a lance to have a distance closing skill.
  
  high five on being relaxed and not being super stressed on damage, and preferring fun.