Quote from JamesCook16;1270517:
So Whats the Difference Between Paladin and Dark Knight?
What are the 2nd skills and trans's and what do they do?
Whats Best for a Sword Vella?
Sorry for the noob questions. Haven't Had Much luck finding a reliable source of info.
Let's see.
Dark Knight is supposed to be the more "offensive" variant while Paladin is the more "defensive" variant. These differences aren't incredibly huge though, DK will give you more attack while paladin will give you increased defense. Both forms raise attack power through later path skills that raise your str and such. Just that DK will give you more, and Pally will give you defense.
Second trans is the same thing, it lasts for 1 min and 10 seconds. So, if say, you transed and then second transed while you had 1 min and 30 seconds, the timer will drop down to 1 min 10 seconds. So it's best to attack until 1 min and 10, then second trans. Of course, if you're close to dying in your first form, go ahead and second trans to at least fully heal.
Second trans skills are Fissure for DK and Conviction for Paladins. Fissure is a dark energy spike that stuns the victim, as if you used Arisha's Temporal Shift. They're frozen in place temporarily, and will move again shortly after the move expires. Its damage was good in the past, but now its more meh. People like to chain it to lock a boss down. And it's extra damage so why not?
Conviction is like Evies mana shield. It deals a bit of damage to the enemy and gives you a protective shield that'll absorb a
small amount of damage before breaking. It can take maybe 1-2 hits before it'll shatter, but those hits won't hurt you. Both also have skills that'll raise the damage/effectiveness of the skills unlocked at path level. . .35 I believe.
The other thing to mention is that they both get aura skills, and an effect to their orbs. Dark Knights aura increases their stamina and the stamina of those around it by 30 per level, maxing out at level 5, meaning if you're near a DK with a maxed aura, you get +150 stamina. Paladins on the other hand gain a skill that raises the SP of players near them. It can help for the entire duration, but immediate effectiveness the DK aura is better. DKs gain the ability slowdown, which slows down the attacks of non-boss enemies. Paladins on the other hand get petrify, which'll turn to stone non-boss enemies. Paladins with petrify were a great deal when fighting a boss that had a lot of trash mob support, because it would petrify many of them, effectively taking them out of the fight.
Now for Sword Vella, you can't really go wrong with either one. I can argue the DK aura would help her a lot, but you should use swords will often, which would make your counters take little to no stam and slashing high would make you never run out anyway. However, if you choose to use chains, then by all means the extra stamina from DK helps Chainblade Vella a TON. Just to mention, both transformations gain more stamina, it's just DK gets more with their aura. Hope this helps.