Guard Stance Up for Hunters

[GoldenFalcon]

Does anyone know the bonuses on the Guard Stance Up ability on the Hunter tree? I was looking it over, and it seems like it could be useful for a sword build that gets Guard Stance to 10

[Wayu]

You sacrifice offensive power for defense. At higher levels you lose less offensive power and gain more defense.

-Wayu

[GoldenFalcon]

You sacrifice offensive power for defense. At higher levels you lose less offensive power and gain more defense.

-Wayu

I apologize if I was unclear, but I meant the ability that's next to sword gear. I'm hoping there is someone that got it to 5/10 or something to let us know if it's worth it

[Wayu]

Yeah, that's a Guard Stance Boost skill. I don't use it myself and haven't taken a look at it but I assume it boosts the effectiveness of Guard Stance.

-Wayu

[Angelo]

Its useful if your dodge and block buttons don't work.

And bosses. At higher ranks it also makes you immune to certain status ailments.

[GoldenFalcon]

And bosses. At higher ranks it also makes you immune to certain status ailments.

Guard Stance itself, or Guard Stance Up?

[Geistritter]

And bosses. At higher ranks it also makes you immune to certain status ailments.

The best kind of boss is a dead boss, not one you take less damage from.

Guard Stance isn't any more useful against them than anything else; they telegraph their attacks the most, and Hunters have the best reaction skills among classes. Anything related to Guard Stance is a waste of time when the effort could be spent on offense, especially now that you can grind your armor, enhance its attributes, and add things like additional HP onto them, if you're really that worried the giant crab might give you a boo-boo.

[TheKin]

The best kind of boss is a dead boss, not one you take less damage from.

Guard Stance isn't any more useful against them than anything else; they telegraph their attacks the most, and Hunters have the best reaction skills among classes. Anything related to Guard Stance is a waste of time when the effort could be spent on offense, especially now that you can grind your armor, enhance its attributes, and add things like additional HP onto them, if you're really that worried the giant crab might give you a boo-boo.

The Kin is not trying to sound elitest or mean when he says this, but hopefully this doesn't become the norm. It'd be nice to see defense have a place in a game instead of the best defense being a better offense. Hopefully some bosses have some crazy fast attacks or super high stats so that an offense character gets thrashed if they miss a beat (Glass cannon anyone?) as it should be and a defensive character can take em down slow and steady. Too many games fall into the trap of nothing beating a massive offense.

[Geistritter]

The Kin is not trying to sound elitest or mean when he says this,

May help to drop the silly speech gimmick, then.

but hopefully this doesn't become the norm. It'd be nice to see defense have a place in a game instead of the best defense being a better offense. Hopefully some bosses have some crazy fast attacks or super high stats so that an offense character gets thrashed if they miss a beat (Glass cannon anyone?) as it should be and a defensive character can take em down slow and steady. Too many games fall into the trap of nothing beating a massive offense.

That eliminates a good portion of what sets this series apart from games like, say, World of Warcraft: the player's own ability to maneuver factors into whether they take damage. Forcing people to get hit just makes everyone but Hunters with as much Defense as possible get unnecessarily punished, and that's just lousy game design.

And again, nothing's stopping you from raising your defense in ways other than wasting your skill points; there's more than enough customization on the gear side of things for people concerned with their ability to dodge attacks. Bet most of the people who think they need a defensive build don't know you can do it, though, or simply don't bother, but that's not the game's fault.

[Wayu]

that an offense character gets thrashed if they miss a beat (Glass cannon anyone?)

It's called Fury Stance.

-Wayu