Blader: Full Str or Hybrid?

[eladias373]

Please don't flame the query, I'm but a simple man trying to make my way through the universe...

I'm calling into question the contended point of being hybrid as opposed to being pure, with the blader as a focus. The various reasons why are:

1. I've read a thread where someone was writing how his friend, a lvl 5x ~ 6x glaiver, had put only 30 stat points in to int, but that tremendously helped him, allowing him to defeat others 5 lvls above him in pvp with ease.

2. Hybrid Force Blader video I found on youtube. Not the strongest reason, since my build doesn't operate with force, but it's here for consideration.

3. The fact that all Chinese weapons deal both physical and magical based damage, as opposed to the European weapons that deal only physical or magical damage by class.

Personally, I'm leaning towards pure str, since 90 cap would allow the possibility of having over 22k hp, increasing their already immortal tanking ability, and it also allows bladers to take full advantage of their criticals. But in the back of my mind, I'm still mulling over whether to become a heavy str hybrid... It might just be that 30 or so int points give just a little edge over the next blader.

If you will, I'd like to know what you would choose, and as many reasons as you feel like putting down. Preferably those who have experience with hybrid bladers..? Thanks in advance, all of you! ^^

[Elise]

Str hybrid bladers regardless of what other players would say, are valid builds. The only drawback is finding the right balance that would suit your charachter's masteries. The higher the cap, the fewer your mastery options. Keeping your blader pure str ensures you could tank well with only your equipments. Placing too much int points and you would have to rely on other means to tank. At higher caps bladers have better skills, but whether or not this enables a pure str to kill more efficiently is still open for discussion. Going hybrid now may benefit at this cap (to deal decent damage to kill), but staying pure str may/may not pay off in the end. If tanking isnt enough, maybe you should consider playing as a glaivier.

[eladias373]

Thanks for the response. It's the "may/may not" part that bothers me. And I assure you, I love tanking, if not for myself, then for my nuker friends =]