Help Me Pick A Sword Skill

[knight85]

at the start of the game i have 2 options on a sword skill

tornado break

or

gravity break

i know spinning break is an option but it's really not cause i dont like it. the skill's too slow for my tastes.

personally i want to use gravity break since i already have dus robado to use for multi target fighting so i was thinking i could use gravity break for stronger enemies.

altho at the same time in the past i've used the twin and double sabers for big and strong enemies

so i'm not sure what to do.

ideas?

[Freshellent]

Is there a particular reason why you are choosing one skill over the other? Not that PSU is a particularly demanding game, but you can freely reassign PAs as needed. Most of the time I changed it simply because I could.

Everything (nearly) has it's uses.

If you were looking for a good reason to pick one over the other, Gravity Break has reasonably high damage for single target, even if the animation is a bit slow. But Tornado Break is fast, lower cost iirc and hits quite a few targets for decent damage. It end with a blowback though, which might not be so great if you don't manage to kill your targets with the full combo.

Just level them both, I think is the better option and use them. Same goes for most of the weapons and PAs in the game. Unless you plan to Time Attacks, in which your options become much smaller.

[knight85]

i cant argue that i can just take one skill out and replace it later if i need it.

and you're right about the blowback.

and since right now i'm waiting for the ability to use the whip. the slicer and the double saber i could just set a sword with gravity break and use it for big targets

especially since there's no time limit on free missions like there was before so i only really need speed in the story missions.

and while i could be wrong. i think skills may develop a little faster in this game than they did in episode 1. not as fast as in the portable game but still faster than things were going with ethan

i think for the time being i'll just fall back on my phantasy star portable hunter weapon setup

saber/claw + rmag
twin saber with splendor crush
staff + tmag (the staff will be replaced with a whip later)
twin handgun or slicer + handgun
sword with tornado break/spear with dus robado

and the last slot will be open to preference altho i have watched a bunch of skill exhibition videos and seen some photon arts that i like and ear marked them for grabbing when they become available.

i'm actually considering getting 2 more photon arts at the minute and setting up a second saber and an rmag to develop more technics.

thinking about it at the minute i used dus robado more in episode 1 and phantasy star portable than i did tornado break

my only regret is that hunters cant use cards or i'd use a staff with a card. those card weapons look fun to use.

[knight85]

i was thinking about it just now and i've come to a conclusion.

the sword isnt suited to single target skills (unless you're using the grand crusher skill in psp2)

the best heavy weapon for single target skills. is the axe or the spear with Dus Majarra (that skill feels more controlled than dus duggas

[Freshellent]

Twin Claws can do some nice damage too for single target.

[knight85]

very true but i dont like the photon art you get in the guardians colony. it's too wild.

i'm hoping that when i go back into the game later on (i'm taking a break to finish dragon quest 8 and playing phantasy star portable in between) that i'll find a better claw skill at the shop on moatoob

it was playing phantasy star portable that led me to enjoy using claw skills

i'm hoping i'll be able to get Renzan Seidan-ga on moatoob

[Noblewine]

Each photon art has its advantages and add variety for combat.

Spinning Break is good for multi-dot (the red circles that appear when your sidestepping) enemies. Also good for enemies that clump like Volfu.

Gravity Break is good for dsp and helpful when dealing with enemies like sandillian or distova.

Tornado Break is good for multi-dot enemies and enemies that clump.

I honestly find all 3 long sword pa's to be useful and use them while exploring/kicking butt.
Also ep1 you can't unlearn the pa disc you've learned; just a heads up.

[Midori Oku]

Honestly, unless you are just wanting to use swords, spiral dance with double sabers is great for single target, and multiple targets.

[Deadlock87]

i know this don't help but they're all good just level them up

[Dragwind]

Bogga Robado is an excellent knuckle art for single target damage if you only spam the first part of the combo. The high accuracy of knuckles also adds to it being a really good choice for single target dps. The damage adds up really fast.

Hikai is also an excellent option for single target damage.

[knight85]

i'm waiting for bogga robado to be available

in fact i've already decided on all my artes for the most part

saber- gravity strike (altho rising strike will do for the minute)
dagger- buten shuren-zan (this is the only acceptable one for me, the rising strike copy takes too long)
claw- shousen totsuzan-ga
whip- visshi grudda (altho vivi danga doesnt look bad)
slicer- choutou kantsu-jin (altho if i have to use Chikki Kyoren-jin while i wait for it, i will)

sword- tornado break (i was considering gravity break but the sword just doesnt feel like a single target heavy weapon to me, that's what the axe is for)
axe- Anga Redda (the other 2 take too long)
spear- dus robado (i'll be using this more than the sword cause it's faster than tornado break. i'm a speed orientated player. probably because of all the times i played episode 1 to a timelimit)

twin saber- Splendor Crush (it feels more controlled than rising strike)
twin dagger- renkai boyou-zan (i like this one but i also like moubu seiren-zan)
twin claws- renzan seidan-ga (renzan senshou-ga is also very cool and ninjaish)

double saber- gravity dance all the way (but if i had to i'd take spiral dance)
knuckes- bogga robado (Bogga Zubba takes too long, bogga danga is like a punch drunk boxer from level 11, and Ikk Hikk while funny serves no purpose in combat except to make us dizzy


my standard hunter gear setup for the last while (especially in phantasy star portable) has been:

saber/claw + rmag or tmag
spear
saber/dagger/claw/whip + tmag
twin handgun or slicer + handgun (for missions like awoken serpent i'd also take a rifle along)
twin saber/twin claw/double saber
wand + rmag (altho i'm thinking of switching the rmag out for a handgun cause i've yet to need it since the staff is used for healing technics)

when i can use the axe i may switch things around a little. mayb get rid of the second tmag combo and put a tmag in with the wand