Melee Types Attack Speed (Fastest Kills)

[Dymalos]

I've played quite a few types as my Beast F since returning to the game in April. But, my first melee centric type was AT, which most people (mistakenly, in my belief) play as a Force primary. In the past I've made a few claims about the relative power of a Meleetecher that weren't too well recieved. At the time I was speaking more theoretically (judging against the performance of others) than from personal experience...

It's universally accepted that Fighmaster's are the undisputed melee masters. And while I'm still waiting to break into the class myself, I've been wondering what set's them apart. Obviously it's some combination of the hasted melee, level 50 skills cap, and stats to a lesser degree... but between them which one takes precedence?

Enter the Acrotecher... no I'm not claiming that they even approach the same kill speed as FM... But rather in undertaking my comparisons, the Acrotecher is an excellent control for pure speed, aside from Fast Melee it has middling ATP (offset a bit by ~+400 from self buffs) and not much in the way of Skill Levels (20).

Now, I've got Fi and WT capped at 20, and I'm not really skimping on equipment. I rock 42-50% and their relevant skills are 30+ and I've yet to post a clear time in any mission that I've tried that exceeds the times I can post as Acrotecher. I know that this all come's down to playstyle. And I do try to use what I've gleaned as the optimal equipment for each situation...

But my question is... Am I doing something wrong or is attack speed in and of itself really that much of a determinate?

[red1228]

I would probably say the speed boost is the main thing for FM. Without the speed boost, FM would really just be a severely limited FF (in some situations, it still is).
The slightly lower ATP (compared to a FF) is made up for from your PAs being 10 lv's higher and doing the same attacks as a FF (spear/axe/sword) in a shorter amount of time.

I also wouldn't say FM is the "absolute master" of melee combat. It can be, but unless you have all 30+% S ranks in each element for each weapon type/armor it can use, FF with 36+% A ranks could be just as effective.

I do agree that AT can be a competent fighter class. Saber/Dagger's are nice when used in the proper situations and omg whips? 500-1200 x 30 or more (in one combo btw)?
Yes, please.

[biggabertha]

Acrotecher only has four melee weapons - three of them have their full combos and one has only two-thirds of their combos.

Three of those weapons are handily single handed weapons so you have off-hand assistance either from Handgun, Throwing Blades, Mechgun, RCSMs or TCSMs which is extremely convenient but not necessarily better than two handed weapons.

Fighgunner ought to be faster - much faster than any of Acrotecher's melee weapons with PAs such as Absolute Dance, Dus Daggas, Assault Crush and Bogga Zubba (and Ikk Hikk). Crossbows outdoes pretty much every other off-hand weapon as well.

Wartecher's a little harder to use but the lack of attacking speed and casting speed aren't exactly handicaps - they too, will have access to Absolute Dance in the future.


Attacking speed helps with certain playstyles because you can get things over and done with quickly then reposition yourself to attack again. It's a LOT harder to do that with Fighgunner and to a much greater extent, Wartecher.

I don't think Acrotecher can really do much aside from using their Whips though - and even then, you need four to six targets for that and about ten seconds of un-interruption to get by. Personally, I don't like using a PA that takes so long to "recover" from because you are primarily a support player, not an attacking one (if you're in teams, of course).


By rights, Wartecher and Fighgunner should run circles around an Acrotecher. Acrofighter even more so and Fighmaster will be light years ahead.

[that cast named kai]

AT is a decent high speed class with variable option (melee, teching, and support) (but given the release of vish dirangac it has become a more likely high speed melee option)

I am going to say that Acrofighter is my top choice for high speed melee, due to the speed boost as well as getting the largest selection of melee gear for a "speed" class,

Fight master get most of power, speed, and momentum from spamming PAs, and the speed really shines with 2 of it pallets choices (spear, double saber, the other 2 are really more so power weapons and don't work as well with the boost, although it is better than FF or PT)

Fightgunner and Wartecher work well for melee, if the 'high speed killers', not really, but they get the job done often with out a sacrifice of gear or power for more speed. (it would be nice it they would release a melee speed unit like in pso, then who knows how it would work out)

[Magus_84]

I don't think Acrotecher can really do much aside from using their Whips though - and even then, you need four to six targets for that and about ten seconds of un-interruption to get by. Personally, I don't like using a PA that takes so long to "recover" from because you are primarily a support player, not an attacking one (if you're in teams, of course).


By rights, Wartecher and Fighgunner should run circles around an Acrotecher. Acrofighter even more so and Fighmaster will be light years ahead.

Whip's more a large-multi-target-enemy thing, or against a group of enemies that are otherwise distracted sufficiently to not interrupt your combo.

For taking down single targets, speed-boosted Hikai with good daggers works far better. For absolute single-target killspeed, a good RCSM is a big help. For versatility's sake though, I like a TCSM.

AT does well against single targets, and can probably almost compare to the "big" melee classes against a small or mid-sized single target. Problem is, its big-enemy tools are slower than Hikai, and small/mid-sized enemies tend to come in packs. It lacks a suitable multi-enemy option that doesn't leave it horribly open.

Whips are incredibly damaging, but have some glaring vulnerabilities. Renkai is vulnerable without the third hit, unless you can kill in the first two (which doesn't often happen). I think once they can get the third hit of Twin Dagger PAs, that hole in their offense will be rectified.