Force weapon?

Rodimus · Post by **Rodimus** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:48 pm

So I'm building a Force character, planning on getting to high lvl and being support for a party (plus everyone likes those silly little rezzers). What weapon should I use, right now i have sword/shield combo, counting on the better defense given by the shield. Any thoughts?
Thanks

Bakemaster · Post by **Bakemaster** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 10:34 pm

The shield is good, but consider using a blade instead of a sword. As a support character you should be able to stay alive longer than other people so you can resurrect them, which means you want a lot of HP -> a STR build. Also, the magical damage of your weapon has no effect on the strength of your healing skills, so a sword won't help you there. Plus blades just look cooler.

You'll want to focus on skills that disable enemies as a support character, while still dealing some damage; the Bicheon knock-down skill is perfect. If you are supporting a nuker who gets attacked by a STR build you can run in and hopefully knock them down, giving the nuker time to get to a safe distance; then you can tank while he or she nukes.

So you'll be putting mastery into the Force tree and the Bicheon tree; as far as picking an element, it's probably a choice between ice and fire. The electric shock status effect is more for dealing damage, doesn't fit as well in a support role. You may want some lightning mastery for Grass Walk-Flow, the run speed buff, but that's it. As far as I'm concerned, the choice you have to make is between Fire Shield and ice's freezing/slowing effect. On the one hand, you have a skill which, when combined with the right accessory equipment, has the potential to make you completely immune to one or more status effects. On the other hand, you have a passive physical defense boost and a killer slowing ability. Your choice to make, although fire has the added bonus of a passive physical damage boost, and biggie claims that ice is not so useful in PvP against high level players.

I personally would go with fire; the deciding factor for me is that as a support build it will be harder for you to level, and ice is a slow killer.

Post by **dom** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 12:05 am

^I agree with bake however I would try to integrate or atleast take account of the following things:

- You will be healing and such, MP is also needed to maybe a hybrid would work.

- Bow with freezing skills would be helpful as a support....

Marcato · Post by **Marcato** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 12:19 am

dom wrote:^I agree with bake however I would try to integrate or atleast take account of the following things:

- You will be healing and such, MP is also needed to maybe a hybrid would work.

- Bow with freezing skills would be helpful as a support....

Absolutely not a hybrid, there are MP potions, so why make a weaker character? A healer who can't survive the first hit is of no use to anyone. My choice:

Pure STR
Blade
Fire
Force
Lightning

Bakemaster · Post by **Bakemaster** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 6:53 am

As Marcato said, a hybrid would only die more easily. You have no need for high MP, potions are a necessary part of any build and a spell costs the same whether you have 100 MP or 10,000 MP so you still need to use the same amount of potions.

I would not recommend a bow because although range is nice, a shield is nicer for this type of character. Plus the bow doesn't have a knock down or stun ability.

Rodimus · Post by **Rodimus** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 8:21 am

Ok, that makes sense. I actually just found a nice blade so that's handy. Right now I am doing a hybrid build, mostly so I would have some MP to use, and it has worked very well at these low lvls. I can see how going pure STR is a good choice and I think ill start doing that. I was originally thinking about ice for the slowing effects, but fire seems more appealing as it would hold agro better. Hopefully you guys on Babel will someday soon be seeing a decent healer by the name of Stilgar running around. Thanks again everyone.