Looking to get into the meta-game

• HappyShinobi wrote on 2016-02-22 15:41
  Currently I have master gunslingger/Warrior, working on getting master fighter. Only other talents of note are expert mage/adventure. After master fighter i was thinking about mastering ninja.
  My main weapons are Dowras/white beam swords. Main armor is Imps Royal Knight armor, I have the rest of that set but without any enchantments.
  
  Only life skill worth mentioning is rank 2 engineering.
  
  What I'm asking is what should i be doing to get into the meta-game? Are there any specific skills/talents I should invest into? Gear? Enchantments? I hear reforges are OP as snot, how do I get ahold of those? Is there a sort of standard "kit" meta-game users use?
• Cookies wrote on 2016-02-22 21:39
  Reforges are what will make you relevant fast. Since you're using beam swords I'm assuming you're human.
  
  You should not be trying to use reforges to get what you need, but instead try to buy the pieces with what you need on them. This will cost you millions upon millions of gold, you will need a more than decent way to get gold.
  In general if you're not trying to make something go from rank 3->rank 1, you'll want to get the item with reforges done first, then enchant them with enchant protection potions (either events or buy from people).
  
  You'll want to look for with top priority a Final Hit Cooldown hat with lv 15-20, and after that Final Hit Duration armor/clothing with lv12+.
  A glove/gauntlet with Mana Shield Damage Reduction Rate lv15-20 is also great to have, it'll increase your survivability by a TON when you're soloing. Since you'll be able to take 4-5x as much damage, and not completely destroy your MP potion stock.
  
  You should also be looking to get at least Focused Rainbow Beams instead of the white ones you have now, they should be around the 2m range depending on the server.
  For AP you'll want to invest in as many strength increasing skill as you can, starting from the most efficient ones. Use the wiki page "Stats and Skills" for this.
  Start doing your Girgashiy dailies if you have not already. Aside from meeting people you'll also want Shield of Trust with Recovering Touch ASAP, the stance and wound healing from it is amazing.
  
  Depending on your budge you might also want to get in a charge without shield reforge accessory after you get the Final Hit cooldown hat, try to get it already enchanted with AT LEAST stout earthquake too.
  
  For enchants, you'll be doing White Dragon raids to get a majority of the best ones and putting them onto to either decent durability NPC obtainable gear (10+) through blowing them up, or be using enchant protection potions on already reforged gear. Solo is also obtainable from Desert Dragon, and Encore from Giant Alligator. This is also a way to get the funds you need, as people offer to buy these enchants [UB]already enchanted on items[/UB] while providing the unlocks themselves.
  From white dragon you'll get Solo/Burlesque (for glove/shoe pre), Backbreaking (glove suff), Release (shoes suff), Encore (clothing pre), Champion (armor pre).
  For your hat suffix, use Dexterity or Chorus. Oblivion and Camo are your filler enchants, for any lower ones just look at the enchants by ranks list by list, it's good for you to learn what exists and whatnot too.
  
  To summarize:
  Hat with Final Hit CD >>>>> At least rainbow beams > Bodywear with Final Hit Duration > Any gear with good enchants AND/OR already reforged
• ironwoman wrote on 2016-02-22 22:01
  1. Go master your ninja tab already. Ninja is in general more beneficial to the current combat, with its combination of utility and AoE, as well as the stats being more beneficial to what seems to be your main sources of damage, which are gunner and close combat.
  
  2. Master talent =/= done with the skillset. I assume you still have considerable number of str skills to do in the combat tab, like charge. Also, go get all r1 knight skills already, it's essential for your damage output because of all the strength bonus.
  
  3. Go rank more magic skills. This is essential for your gun damage, and intelligence is literally the highest stat of the game you can get. Intelligence grind isn't very hard either, compared to the likes of dexterity. Also, magic skills are very useful to have in general, notably Lightning Rod, Firebolt, and Fireball.
  
  4. Go rank more life skills. But hey, you've almost taken care of the one of the two most tedious skills in the game, the other being Magic Craft. So you can catch a breathing room for that, but you still got ways to go, like ranking Carpentry and Transformation Mastery (as well as getting the 300 transformation part). Other than that, other life skills are generally nice to have at rank 1, particularly for the usefulness or the stats they provide. Blacksmithing is a nice way of getting more intelligence, as well as being able to craft your own ninja weapons. In general, dexterity is a nice stat to have even if you're not going to use archery because, well, balance for things like Taunes gun, Demonic Lance, etc.
  
  5. Royal Knight Armor is fine, though one could argue for usage of Thames Plate set if you plan to use a weapon with elemental reforge + smash reforge + smash accs (which I'll get to in a bit). When using Royal Knight Armor, you usually want the Final Hit Duration reforge, as it is generally with other armors. And from here, you have some choices to make. Do you want to make an attack speed set so that using Dowra (won't apply for WOTG) can attack slightly faster as well as slightly higher DPS with Demonic Death Knight Swords? Or do you want to stick with the set you have? If you want the attack speed set, I'd suggest getting Chinese Dragon Helmet, Languhiris Chaser Boots and Gloves, and put Viscount enchant on Languhiris Chaser Boots to activate the attack speed bonus. Either ways, enchanting will be similar. Here's what you want for enchant (listed in order of what I would suggest):
  
  Head: Oblivion/Nostalgic Dexterity. There's really not much to say, but Nostalgic can be a cheaper alternative to Oblivion. You can also get Chorus for suffix, but not sure what your economic status is.
  Body: Long-Lasting/Stabbing/Sight/Conceptual Champion/Avenger. The two italicized enchants are the best for heavy armors, but sadly also difficult to get (especially Stabbing). Sight is less tedious, but still fairly annoying enchant to get, but the balance bonus you get from the enchant is pretty neat for low balanced weapons. Conceptual is good and cheap, but its return compared to the enchant protections you have to use isn't very good. Champion is the hard-to-get suffix, but not on the level of Long-Lasting or Stabbing, and in general very rewarding enchant. Avenger is good, but is plagued by the fact that it is a r2 enchant and is a pain in the ass to put on, although really cheap to get.
  Gloves: If you go with Languhiris Chaser Gloves route: Solo/Burlesque Backbreaking/Camo. Solo vs. Burlesque is always a debate, and I prefer Solo because it's in general easier to get, and also the music buff effect is also very nice. Backbreaking is ultimately what you want for the suffix, but before you get the chance to get it from White Dragon, you'll be using Camo as a substitute. If you go with the RK Gloves route: Steel Needle/Solo Backbreaking/Swarming/Peaceful. In gauntlets, I prioritize Steel Needle over Solo because I think Steel Needle is actually a realistic enchant to get compared to Burlesque, as well as being a rank 8 enchant, meaning it's easier to put on. Same story for suffix as before, but you can't put Camo, and other suffixes are pretty hard to put on. Swarming is a costly enchant and fairly difficult to get, but easy to put on. Some people might disagree with putting Swarming on gauntlets because it's such a good enchant for accessories. I personally think Swarming is great for gauntlets, as it does give you flat max damage and balance.
  Accessories: Oblivion/Stout Swarming/Earthquake's. Generally Oblivion Swarming is the preferred combo as the latter only provides strength instead of flat max damage.
  Weapons (Demonic Death Knight Swords/CRKs): 56th floor's/Nightmare/Dawn 48th floor's/Absolute/Black Fog/Icicle. Generally, I think you will be fine putting 56th floor's 48th floor's on DDKs, as you'll be using them exclusively for Final Hit. CRK has been a subject of debate to put what on. People who want to get the maximum damage output will get 56th 48th, but there's the issue of repair cost. Nightmare's Blackfog/Absolute is the repair cost friendly but high damage route. Dawn Icicle is basically the "poor man's enchant", as both are cheap to get but provide decent stats.
  
  6. Reforging: I touched it briefly above, but I'll list what I think is best for you.
  
  Head: FH CD, preferably a dual or triple reforge with additional reforges like shieldless charge, WOTG duration, WOTG speed (must be also with WOTG duration to get the most out of it). Reason I paired WOTG duration and WOTG speed together is because with WOTG speed, Taunes can fire as fast as Dowra during WOTG. Shieldless charge is really useful while dual wielding, or in general.
  
  Body: FH Duration. No exception.
  
  Gloves: Combat Mastery Max Damage. Preferably dual or triple reforge with things like Sword Mastery Max Damage, Lance Mastery Max Damage, or Mana Shield Damage reduction. Personally, I'm not a big fan of MS reforge, since you can basically get level 20 effect with good magic gear. Even if you don't with high enough int, 10-15 levels of it are wasted. Reason I mentioned Lance Mastery Max Damage is because of the benefits to Judgement Blade.
  
  Shoes: Looking at what you have for skills done, I don't think you need much reforging to be done. If you're looking to Raincast later on, Raincasting Cooldown Reduction is good. Some people have opted into FH teleportation distance. I personally don't like it as I think FH teleportation base distance is already good. There's also an option of Movement Speed reforge.
  
  Accs: Max attack power, preferably with dual or triple reforge lines, Combat Mastery Max Damage or Sword Mastery Max Damage. Basically the same story as gloves.
  
  As for the Thames Plate set mentioning...
  
  Generally, elemental reforge + smash reforge (15+ for humans, 10+ for giants), with combo card effects, turn out to be more DPS than bash, but this is a tall task (especially combo card). I generally wouldn't recommend it, but it's your choice. The enchant sequence is the same as the above.
• HappyShinobi wrote on 2016-02-23 01:36
  This helps so much, thank you!
• HappyShinobi wrote on 2016-02-23 02:49
  Been looking through the reforges, they sound awesome but is the only way to get those kind of levels through fine reforging tools? I'm not to interested in spending NX on something I may not get.
  
  And economically, I'm poorish. I've yet to find a way of gathering money besides running hard Shadow missions
• ironwoman wrote on 2016-02-23 21:43
  I'd say you start attending Iria raids and also use the time now to get to good enough crusader level possible so that you may be able to join G19 VHM raids for $$.
  
  For Iria raids, the Desert Dragon is an easy one, as long as you attack it once or twice, you already have a higher chance of getting a Solo as a reward, which you can sell for good money. Black Dragon is well known for the eye and the heart, as well as Dragon Scale Fragments which can be good profit. White Dragon is known for its pool of good enchants, most notably Backbreaking, Champion, and Burlesque, but you probably would want to use them yourself rather than selling it. Then there's White Dragon Heart and Eye, which are not as valuable as the Black Dragon counterparts, but still valuable.
  
  As for VHM raids, I think the best route would be to be a r1 shielder (arguably the easiest skill to get to r1), put good subskill levels, and profit just by shielding your squad mates. It's basically 50k every minute (ideally). You can also use Fanatic Great Swords, Salvation Bow, or Original Sin Staff yourself if they're good stats, or again, just sell for $$.
  
  With this gold, you can reduce your real money spending by a big margin, though you'd have to go through finding NX sellers.
• HappyShinobi wrote on 2016-02-24 01:03
  Currently my best crusader skill is spike at R6, but shield is easy enough to rank.
  
  Thanks for the help!
• Twin wrote on 2016-02-26 01:16
  [Image: http://tinyurl.com/zu7xpkh]

  
  
  Mace is meta o3o
• Leopher wrote on 2016-03-13 02:48

  Quote from ironwoman;1294013:

  And from here, you have some choices to make. Do you want to make an attack speed set so that using Dowra (won't apply for WOTG) can attack slightly faster as well as slightly higher DPS with Demonic Death Knight Swords? Or do you want to stick with the set you have? If you want the attack speed set, I'd suggest getting Chinese Dragon Helmet, Languhiris Chaser Boots and Gloves, and put Viscount enchant on Languhiris Chaser Boots to activate the attack speed bonus. Either ways, enchanting will be similar. Here's what you want for enchant (listed in order of what I would suggest):
  ...
  Weapons (Demonic Death Knight Swords/CRKs): 56th floor's/Nightmare/Dawn 48th floor's/Absolute/Black Fog/Icicle. Generally, I think you will be fine putting 56th floor's 48th floor's on DDKs, as you'll be using them exclusively for Final Hit.

  
  
  In your opinion, what is a good backup to the attack speed DDK route while FH is on cooldown?
  
  Asking because I'm almost finished ranking carpentry and all the melee skills and have been working on going the DDK route. Now I'm wondering what talent I should hybridize into as a backup.
  
  Edit: I'm planning to rank ninja skills for the strength of course, but I'd like to know what secondary talents would compliment melee (or at least FH) well in combat so I can work on acquiring the appropriate gear.
• ironwoman wrote on 2016-03-15 00:06
  Since it seems like you have an attack speed set from the way you're writing, I'd say guns.
  
  If you have a hat with both the WOTG Speed and Duration reforges, then you can go for Taunes for the maximum damage possible during WOTG. Otherwise, Dowra will be the way to go. Note that WOTG attack speed with Dowra is not increased by attack speed set, but regular attacks are.
• Leopher wrote on 2016-03-15 00:47

  Quote from ironwoman;1294287:

  Since it seems like you have an attack speed set from the way you're writing, I'd say guns.
  
  If you have a hat with both the WOTG Speed and Duration reforges, then you can go for Taunes for the maximum damage possible during WOTG. Otherwise, Dowra will be the way to go. Note that WOTG attack speed with Dowra is not increased by attack speed set, but regular attacks are.

  
  
  Thanks for the advice! I do indeed have an attack speed set. Currently, I also have a hat with a FH cooldown reforge, and I'm thinking I'll stick with that for a while before perhaps trying to reforge for both FH cooldown and WotG duration (seems unlikely manage to get the WotG speed reforge in addition though).
  
  Edit: What upgrade path would you recommend for Dowra (and Taunes for that matter)?