Leveling Force.. Is a lightning build viable?

[Aquayoshi]

After I max charge tech advance (or whatever it's called), I was thinking of going down the lightning side of the tree. I have three reasons for this:

1. Zonde-type techs are fun and seem powerful, and Bolt Tech PP Save sounds like it will make them even more fun.
2. I'm planning on using FO as a sub while leveling TE, and Zondeel + Territory Burst sounds evil (in a good kind of way).
3. It looks cool. It also seems to fit my character design; the lightning techs in this game are white/light blue, which matches my character's colors. Also, she's a Cast. Robots and lightning seem to go well together, don't they? (Technically, Luna's a cyborg whose body happens to be fully mechanical, but eh, here the distinction is relatively minor)

Anyways, is a lightning build viable after the Zonde nerf, or was it ever viable to begin with? From what I've seen/heard, the nerf made Zonde's damage go from OMGWTF ROFLMAO damage to simply LOL damage (still powerful, but not as ridiculous as before). I could be wrong, though...

[Z-0]

Zonde is still fine. If you wanna do a lightning build, I recommend this:

http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?04fb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ik0lbIn0000 009b00000ib00000ib000064OI22SIkjcAbncKIb0000Ib0000 08

Have fun!

[Xaeris]

Zondeel and Territory Burst is quite the handy combo, AQ groups will love you. As said, the nerf didn't break Zonde's kneecaps; it's still very good for its ease of use and (when back by Bolt Save) conservative PP cost. So go nuts.

[Zorafim]

Thunder tree's not bad. It's pretty good for extended fights. I'm sure it'll be fine for normal leveling. The only downside is that you'll start off as a fire spec, then become a hybrid spec, before you become a thunder spec.

[SociableTyrannosaur]

Zora's right. You basically are going fire tree just so you can do lightning tree. Nothing wrong with that but it's not exactly different from what everyone else is doing.

Z-0's lightning build isn't even that different from the fire/lightning hybrid build I suggest to people.

The only difference I might consider is dropping 5 points from JA advance and putting it into PP save since it makes it absurdly easy to spam techs non stop and it's only costing you 5% of your damage.

Other than that, since fire tree has a global 21% boost and PP charge revival, lightning builds are basically the standard hybrid build with only a slight variation.

[UnLucky]

Simply put, no. Lightning is not good for leveling Force.

You have to spend 10 SP into Fire before you can be any good at casting any techs at all. Bolt PP Save is not worth getting before PP Charge Revival unless you absolutely only ever use just lightning techs. Including Resta and Shifta.

By the time you could have gotten 5PP+ returned per tech, you have 6PP for only bolt techs. Some Light techs get 6PP per cast from Charge Revival.

Zonde is really weak before lv11+ discs, which you probably can't get or learn early on.

Zondeel drops off of a rare mob only found in VH mode, but you can buy lower levels of the disc from other players.

Other than that, Sazonde is your strongest tech, and you have no good AoE options.

[BlankM]

Well seeing as he stated hes maxing Tech Charge Advance, I'd say thats far enough down fire to start going down the lightning tree.

Pretty much the only difference between hybrid is that you'll be maxing the bolt masteries. Other then that you'll still have flame tech charge for fast shiftas, and tech charge advance. I suggest as ST mentioned to max Bolt tech PP save unless you don't find you have PP problems because affixes or whatever. You'll still be able to get Tech charge advance 1 and 5/10 Tech charge advance 2.

[Aquayoshi]

Thanks for the helpful replies, everyone.


Simply put, no. Lightning is not good for leveling Force.

You have to spend 10 SP into Fire before you can be any good at casting any techs at all. Bolt PP Save is not worth getting before PP Charge Revival unless you absolutely only ever use just lightning techs. Including Resta and Shifta.

By the time you could have gotten 5PP+ returned per tech, you have 6PP for only bolt techs. Some Light techs get 6PP per cast from Charge Revival.

Zonde is really weak before lv11+ discs, which you probably can't get or learn early on.

Zondeel drops off of a rare mob only found in VH mode, but you can buy lower levels of the disc from other players.

Other than that, Sazonde is your strongest tech, and you have no good AoE options.
Err, I guess my thread title was kinda vague. I meant to say that I'm leveling Force, with the end result being a lightning build.
I already have PP Charge Revival and Zondeel, and right now I use a mixture of techs: Rafoie, Zan, Grants, Zondeel, Zonde, etc. My end goal is to be able to use mostly lightning techs.

[SociableTyrannosaur]

You really can't discount fire though. Foie and Safoie are both extremely potent techs when used correctly and Rafoie can be ungodly thanks to it's unlimited range as long as you know when to use it. That said, I discourage using ONLY lightning techs since it actually slows you down in some places, but lightning is amazing when used at the right times.

[Aquayoshi]

You really can't discount fire though. Foie and Safoie are both extremely potent techs when used correctly and Rafoie can be ungodly thanks to it's unlimited range as long as you know when to use it. That said, I discourage using ONLY lightning techs since it actually slows you down in some places, but lightning is amazing when used at the right times.

Right. I already use Rafoie a lot, and it is pretty amazing. Very, very good for enemies with weakpoints you can lock on to. That and Grants.

I don't know much about Safoie, haven't really messed with it yet.

[SociableTyrannosaur]

It's a wave of fire that hits ~180 degrees in front of you at short range. It's a 3 hit attack that easily out damages foie and rafoie. At close-short range, it's easily the best fire tech.

Foie is really good for short-mid range. At first, Rafoie seems better since it's almost instant and all, but what a lot of people miss is that it only dissipates if it hits something head on. If you use TPS mode and aim it so that it doesn't hit anything directly, you can hit multiple enemies very easily taking out lines of enemies in 2-3 castings(sometimes 1). Also thanks to hitstop properties, 1 Foie can actually kill several enemies that spawn in the same place one after the other or at least damage the next one after the first is killed. This is especially useful for Time Attack.

[UnLucky]

Foie also just does more damage than Rafoie, so even against a single target with no interfering hitboxes, it's better to spam.

But sure, after you've used fire stuff to get to VH mode, Zonde, Sazonde, and Zondeel are totally viable. There's just nothing quite like Foie, though, or good ranged AoE or good range period. You can talis Zondeel, but the damage drop makes it less than ideal.

[SociableTyrannosaur]

not to mention you have to wait for the talis to actually get there.