Gear Gauge information for Hunters

[soulpimpwizzurd]

So I figured out why gear gauge doesn't show up for hunters and even though it's simple I still missed it, you have to unlock it in the hunter skill tree.

The annoying part is, you can only unlock one at a time, because the gear gauge skill for sword, partisan, and wired lance, are all well down the tree. you have to invest ~13-15 points perfectly to be able to unlock the gear gauge for wiredlance/partisan/sword.

wired lance takes the longest to unlock, partisan is middle, and sword is the shortest.

Things I have not figured out yet:

Although I can finally use the wired lance gear gauge, I still don't know what it does and am unable to observe what it's supposed to do (I fought a few enemies but yeah I couldn't figure out what it does)

Sword gauge apparently only increases photon art cast speed (It may do something else too, not sure)

I haven't tried out partisan's gear gauge as the game went into maintenance as soon as I got it, but I do not understand what it's supposed to do either despite reading about it on various blogs.

You fill up gear gauge AFTER YOU LEARN THE SKILL, by just hitting monsters.

----- observations while considering eggobandit's info
-wired lance
honestly the damage increase is not that good, and it takes a while to build it up. to me, it seems pretty insignificant, but it may be just because I don't know how to use it properly. tested it with five skills (I think I have every one except the OP one, the so long me bowser one.)

-partisan
+really easy to charge gauge
+charges really fast IMO
+noticeable range increase
+most noticeable with the partisan's 360 aoe spinning attack
+partisan skill tree gets war cry (aggro magnet) which enables more enemies to get within range of your whirlwind 360 aoe PA
-damage doesn't seem to be effected very much
Overall I reallllly like the partisan's gear gauge.

-sword
+RISING EDGE IS A BEAST WHEN YOU HAVE LEVEL 3 CHARGE (it charges fully almost instantly, you do insane damage)
+rising edge is kinda okay when you have level 2 charge (it still charges faster, but if you're at 2 you should just focus on getting to lvl 3 first)'
+bar does not deplete after using a PA, it's entirely based on whether or not you're doing constant damage
+If you land a fully charged rising edge it will pretty much keep your bar at max charge for a good amount of time, since full charge rising edge hits like 5 times
+You can then aerial combo the enemy to restore enough PP to rising edge AGAIN.
+This creates huge stun lock on frustrating enemies like those big dragons with two horns on each side (the ones that spam the trample attack)
-honestly only seems to give significant bonus to rising edge or other "chargeable" photon arts (I only have rising edge that can charge)
-sort of difficult to charge if in a party since mobs die
-if not constantly hitting something it depletes quickly
-did not notice increased regular attack speed.
-against bosses, it's difficult to keep the gear gauge up/buid it up since bosses are not the easiest to land hits on (especially the dragon)
-I don't really like the sword skill tree.

In terms of overall usefulness I'd rank it as follows:
1. Partisan
2. Sword*
3. Wired lance (only because I still think I am not using it properly)
-side kick does not count towards gear charge unless you

*Sword could very easily be rank 1 in a boss fight IF you could manage to keep a constant level 3 bar. being able to do a fully charged rising edge in 1 second is huge. but considering that boss fights take a while to get to, I rank it lower than partisan, because partisan's 360 whirlwind get's pretty big aoe range, and is easily chargable, making it a strong, versatile weapon for crowd control.

I'd say sword is the most fun gear gauge to use though. It also gets bonus points for being the earliest one to unlock. If used properly, it can do a bunch of dps. I prefer it over partisan even though partisan is more versatile. It is pretty difficult to keep it's


----other random misc tips
-you can't spam spacebar to just recovery (the thing that lets you recover from being sent flying.) you have to time it and press space right when you hit the ground. if you do it too early it won't work
-you can go "lava skipping" (jump into lava and then keep jumping right when you hit ground, you won't get lava damage)

[Eggobandit]

since most people dont know or realize, The Gear Gauge was that little orange bar that filled up as you used your weapon in the other versions of the game. It was removed as a default weapon feature in the Beta and put on the skill tree, i guess to force you to sort specialize in a specific weapon. This is what i remember from the Alpha:


The gear gauge is different for every weapon. Specifics on filling it, depleting it and its uses are never 100% the same for each weapon. I guess its Sega's way of really trying to diversify the weapons once again.

Sword - normal attacks fill the gauge, gauge depletes only with combat inactivity or blocking. Depending on how many bars are filled (1-3), either a) your attack will gain power or visual range, or b) the amount of time needed to charge the move will be significantly lower.

Wired Lance - Normal attacks fill the gauge, and i THINK it only depletes if you use a photon art. Depending on the amount of bars filled, your Wired Lance PAs and Grab Moves will increase in strength, and i THINK using one photon art will deplete all your charges.


Partisan - Using the Twirl Feature fills up the gauge manually, but at the end of every attacking animation there is also an extended animation where your character twirls the weapon, and it will fill one bar (at the cost of longer recovery of course, but you can cancel it easy). Using a Photon Art will increase the strength and range of the PA and consume one bar. It doesn't matter how many charges you have, the effect is always the same. But as i stated, a unique feature of the Partisan is that allowing any animation to finish will uniquely twirl the weapon and automatically fill another gauge; even PAs have this feature, some quicker than others. If you want to skip this animation you can, but using normal attacks you will notice, the game gives you TWO chances on each regular attack to execute Just-Attack.

Obviously if you dont want to use the combo-method of filling, you can just use the Twirl button to manually fill the gauge. It fills at a pretty decent rate, but during bosses you'll suddenly realize just how slow it really is.

[foreignreign]

Partisan - Using the Twirl Feature fills up the gauge manually, but at the end of every attacking animation there is also an extended animation where your character twirls the weapon, and it will fill one bar (at the cost of longer recovery of course, but you can cancel it easy). Using a Photon Art will increase the strength and range of the PA and consume one bar. Number of charges dont matter.

So that's what that second Just Attack frame is for?

Good to know, because that really bugged me.

[Zinaida]

This is a basic question, but I have to ask: How exactly do you access/unlock/upgrade your skill tree? I haven't seen it since I started and my Hunter is level 15, lol.

[Eggobandit]

So that's what that second Just Attack frame is for?

Good to know, because that really bugged me.

Me too! at first i was like just digging the extra animation detail, but it annoyed me because it took longer than other weapons and you had to dash out of it.


Once i realized the extra animation actually had a PRACTICAL use once i obtained Gear, i gained even more respect for the game

[Polantaris]

This is a basic question, but I have to ask: How exactly do you access/unlock/upgrade your skill tree? I haven't seen it since I started and my Hunter is level 15, lol.

From the Quest counters, there's that circle lobby with two desks of NPCs. The left side has 3 NPCs. The middle NPC deals with Classes and Skills. If I remember correctly, the second option is to spend SP.

[Reia]

Considering the Max level aimed for this game is 99, I won't be surprised that you can eventually get most skills you desire, I decided to play more of a survivalish feature and put my 10 points into Dash attack and Just Counter. I find no real reason of going serious for builds when you just got 20 points to spare. So far this build is working nice for me since I can solo bosses pretty well abusing both features for making a full JA combo or abusing the Just guard and counter to get easier to the boss weakpoint, which it works great for me on Caves bosses and Dark Ragne. Also the Dash attack is a nice starter if you wanna normal attack mash to charge PP fast. I guess I will later get the choice of getting the Partisan and the Sword since I find those 2 reliable, Sword has very high damage on a single enemy, and Partisan has cool speed and a nasty AoE attack. Leaving Wired Lance for last then probably go DPS build considering I have guaranteed survival with the 2 side trees.

I also looking up if you can gain SPs via Client Orders since most MMORPGs got important sidequests that grant you SPs.

[VenomFaiz03]

Considering the Max level aimed for this game is 99, I won't be surprised that you can eventually get most skills you desire

Hmm, I dunno if I'm so sure about all that. Sakai mentioned wanting to restrict players from being able to just 'have all the skills' and wanted players to essentially focus on a certain build. I'm curious to see just how close we'll be able to get to doing-it-all, though. Ah, but I like that you went with the Just-reversal and Just-attack route like I've been doing though. But now that I know I can beef up my partisan PAs and make use of those flashy animations, I think I may have to spend a little Arkz Cash on a second skill setup. Wah! Such decisions!

[Zinaida]

From the Quest counters, there's that circle lobby with two desks of NPCs. The left side has 3 NPCs. The middle NPC deals with Classes and Skills. If I remember correctly, the second option is to spend SP.

Thanks, that had been bugging me for a while.

[soulpimpwizzurd]

Niice, thanks for the info eggo bandit, it's really useful.

[Eggobandit]

to OP:

Yes, Sword is absolutely amazing during boss fights if you can stay in the fray and keep the charge at level 3. Rising Edge and that spinny move (the chargable one) are amazing once you get an opening on a weakpoint.

[D-Inferno]

I can't help but feel as if having the gear gauges being separate is a way for SEGA to get people to buy more skill trees with ARKS cash.

[Reia]

Hmm, I dunno if I'm so sure about all that. Sakai mentioned wanting to restrict players from being able to just 'have all the skills' and wanted players to essentially focus on a certain build. I'm curious to see just how close we'll be able to get to doing-it-all, though. Ah, but I like that you went with the Just-reversal and Just-attack route like I've been doing though. But now that I know I can beef up my partisan PAs and make use of those flashy animations, I think I may have to spend a little Arkz Cash on a second skill setup. Wah! Such decisions!

Well I'm a sword user, and I think you can perfectly get the Sword Gauge Skill and those other 2 paths with the 20 points. Which I plan to leave it like that so people can use my Hunter NPC version.

[soulpimpwizzurd]

i'm sure you can dabble in the other trees but you can't get all the way down to each tree's respective gear gauge.

and i do agree, it seems like somewhat of a gimmick to get people to spend AC on different tree setups, but luckily, after using it so much, I really just like sword's gauge the most overall. It has the fastest and most interesting gameplay compared to partisan and wired lance. I also like the challenge of constantly having to hit the boss to make sure your meter doesn't go down.

[foreignreign]

I can't help but feel as if having the gear gauges being separate is a way for SEGA to get people to buy more skill trees with ARKS cash.

How so?

I feel they separated the gauge skills out so that there's more specialization/individuality to each Hunter. Similarly to the FO Fire/Ice/Lightning split.

Makes partying with different people a much different experience, since some FOs will tend to one or two types of spellcasting due to their skill layout as opposed to just whatever the monsters they're fighting are weak to.

[chiyonictrilostick]

rising edge is overrated and overpowered. please nerf rising edge, RA should stay on top

[Blackheart521]

rising edge is overrated and overpowered. please nerf rising edge, RA should stay on top

RA should stay on top? Hunters have a lot less working for them than Rangers do, Hunter's don't really need a nerf in anything, MAYBE a slight nerf in Cruel Throw's damage and Heavenly Fall, but that's about it IMO

[Goat666]

rising edge is overrated and overpowered. please nerf rising edge, RA should stay on top
who are you talking to and what thread/forum do you think this is :penguin:

--So Sword gear only reduces charging time for those chargeable PAs? Isn't there anything else to it?
I was thinking with 40 skill points available (which should increase after release) you could get sword gear and max both fury stance and fury stance critical, but you'd want to pull 4 points out of somewhere to get the step attack. So my plan would be: in whatever order get step attack, get sword gear, max fury stance, raise fury crit. up to 6. Assuming lvlcap40(release period).
Too soon to make a plan out of it though until we see if/how the skill tree changes and how the subclass system workz.

[FerrPSO]

what it bugs me is that Sword gear is placed in the skill tree surrounder by defensive traits, yet the gear penalizes defensive gameplay.
It feels like they make you gimp yourself if you want to be a pure DD with sword.

[Blackheart521]

what it bugs me is that Sword gear is placed in the skill tree surrounder by defensive traits, yet the gear penalizes defensive gameplay.
It feels like they make you gimp yourself if you want to be a pure DD with sword.

Actually I feel it's placed well after thinking about it, Sword gear is all about being relentless in attacking and everything up to it powers up your defense so that you don't have to worry about stopping attacking, you can just keep piling on the attacks while taking minimal damage... I thought the same as you at first, but it actually makes sense where it is if you think about it.

[CelestialBlade]

Here's the thing about point distro: we're gonna get more skills as more weapon types are introduced (for gear skills at minimum) alongside boosted caps and additional skill points, so I think it'll balance out. Or they might cap SP, or change how you earn it as your class level increases. Either way, I look at it like PSP2, where you can focus purely on one or two weapons and invest all your type points and skills in those, or give yourself more variety at the cost of not maximizing anything.

By the end of it we'll probably be able to learn most skills, but not all of them and you'd only be able to cap out a few of them.

[Hrith]

Just to clear up a few things.
The max level as of now is 100. The skill trees in the Beta were not half what the real skill trees are going to be: the game has twin daggers, knuckles and double sabers, so you can expect those weapon types to have 'gear' too.
At Lv100, you're not going to have more than fifteen skills on average, whereas the skill trees will have a lot more than that; do not expect your Lv100 character to have every skill. SEGA wants us to specialise (same with Force skill tree and the six elements), and that is an excellent idea. Choose one or two weapon types you like and keep at those.

Even at Lv10, Fury Stance still decreases your DEF by 200. Seeing as the damage you receive is a much bigger problem than the damage you deal in this game, this may not be a good skill at all.


I can't help but feel as if having the gear gauges being separate is a way for SEGA to get people to buy more skill trees with ARKS cash.Perhaps. I do not see it that way. I see it as a way to give us an incentive to specialise our gameplay.
PSO and PSU let us wield all weapon types, and there were clearly too many to use them all properly, therefore players would always end up making choices (according to personal preferences, whether they were looks, gameplay or damage potential), without real benefits. Now we get benefits for these choices.

I like the idea so much, I hope ranger gets something similar (but there are only three ranger weapon types, so maybe another sort of specialisation).


Yes, Sword is absolutely amazing during boss fights if you can stay in the fray and keep the charge at level 3. Rising Edge and that spinny move (the chargable one) are amazing once you get an opening on a weakpoint.That is good news. I really thought hunters were crap against bosses, I guess this is my answer.

[FerrPSO]

Actually I feel it's placed well after thinking about it, Sword gear is all about being relentless in attacking and everything up to it powers up your defense so that you don't have to worry about stopping attacking, you can just keep piling on the attacks while taking minimal damage... I thought the same as you at first, but it actually makes sense where it is if you think about it.

Maybe for solo gameplay it is, but I think it would be better to have a choice of wanting to be a pure DD or mix some defense.
There may be some people who want to be a DD type combining swordgear and all the AttUp they can, so they can be more useful in party situations (with a Hunter tank, Hunter DD, Ranger and Force, for example).
The game doesnt give you the choice for that.


The max level as of now is 100. The skill trees in the Beta were not half what the real skill trees are going to be: the game has twin daggers, knuckles and double sabers, so you can expect those weapon types to have 'gear' too.

Thats another thing, what if I specialize in one weapon (Im OK with that), but after that they put a new weapon I like more (say Double Saber), will I'll have to buy AC for reset my skill tree? (now I dont remember if reset was free or not)

[Hrith]

Hopefully all weapons will be available from the start. It's true that this system does not allow you to change your mind. Thankfully, there are much fewer weapon types than in PSU.

[kyuuketsuki]

The max level as of now is 100.
Uhh... what? As of now, level caps for open beta and release are 30 and 40, respectively. Level caps may eventually be raised as high as 100, but not right away and probably not for a good while.

[Hrith]

Uhh... what? As of now, level caps for open beta and release are 30 and 40, respectively. Level caps may eventually be raised as high as 100, but not right away and probably not for a good while. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmvqJrg1h2rXdHBRc1FrVHJKcE5PSkVBclNGV2xJU 2c#gid=4

[Silenttank]

the game has twin daggers, knuckles and double sabers, so you can expect those weapon types to have 'gear' too.

Now I really can't wait to play if this info is true, this is the weapon I wanted them to add the most.

[r00tabaga]

I unlocked the Sword Gear but I can't put that skill on my sub pallet....what am I doing wrong? I put the def Up, atk Down skill on my pallet fine.
thx-

[Sp-24]

Sword Gear is a passive skill, it always works, so long as you have a sword equipped. (http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213385)

[gigawuts]

Damn dude, nice necro.

Gears aren't active skills like stances. They're little bars above the attack icons with different bonuses. The two gear types are heat gauges that may/may not slowly deplete over time or under specific conditions, and independent pips that will stay filled until a qualifying attack activates them. Bonuses and abilities will vary.

For swords you get decreased charge time on all chargeable PAs, longer stun duration for Stun con Side, and larger AOE for twister fall. Over End gets larger AOE and more damage for the first two swings. Sonic Arrow hits 3 times for something like 50% more damage in total.

[GradationAir]

Crazy necro

Sword Gear has possibly the biggest effect on gameplay of all Gears, I wish more gears can be like that.

Now with lv16 Rising Edge the full charged version is comparable to a backhand smash.

Then there is thrasher ride(though I don't prefer to use).

[r00tabaga]

K, thx for the help. So its recommended then to put it at 10/10. As a second question, what stance should I unlock? I am gonna guess Fury.

[gigawuts]

Gears are 1 sp skills mate.

And yes, fury is preferable for most purposes.