I'll try and keep this post up to date for info and advice on playing a PT.
Part 1: Introduction
The Protranser job grants access to the signature weaponry of ForteFighter and ForteGunner, along with Bows (thx 5 force ranks) and improved trap effectiveness. I like to think of it as a support-weapons version of FiGunner.
There's apparently no point to giving the character tremendous versatility and interesting gear without challenging them to use it all... Protrancers have below-average stats across the board and especially low ATP (2/3, give or take) compared to any other fighting class. If you want your character to mean more to the team than "that guy who blew our S rank" you will have to use your head and focus on getting the maximum effect out of everything you do.
Something I've noticed about rank progression in this job:
At starter ranks, you have HP comparable to a Force and the only high-rank weapon you'll be able to use will probably be a bow (e.g. Force's weapon).
At mid ranks, you have HP comparable to a Ranger and with your job ATA modifier maxxed your character can finally equip and use the full variety of heavy Ranger firepower with some authority.
Closing in on max rank, you finally have HP approaching a Hunter... and enough ATP to start using some of their heavywieght stuff.
People who don't play the class might need to forgive PT's for getting a little too excited when they're getting close to ranking up. Every rank makes a HUGE difference in what they can equip and the difficulty of missions they can get back into after starting game progression again almost from scratch.
Part 1A-2: updated playstyle notes
Coming back to the class after knocking off 10 ranks each on Fortefighter and Fortegunner, the most efficiently it seems to go as a Protranser is when you walk into fights as a support gunner, and once you've got your DOT's applied - usually by bow, handgun, maybe grenade - pull out a heavy melee weapon and play to the strengths of the statuses you're applying. Tight integration of traps, firearms, regular melee, and melee PA is required to come anywhere close to compensating for Protranser's poor deal on PP costs and regen.
Part 1B: Race Choice
Humans - Humans are "good" at everything, like over 9000. Great Protransers.
Seriously: Humans get a small stat boost as Protransers (as with all hybrid jobs)... they have nice EVP, giving them the best deal on defensive stats since the class offers good EVP from the start while DFP is progressing from "really low" to just "low". Humans will also get any given ranged weapon a rank or a few levels before Beasts, which is a competitive advantage early on. On the downside, humans are going to be behind for melee equipment progression. They still end up with 7* axes so at least the story has a happy ending.
Casts - Casts have the best progression for ATA and aren't bad for ATP. They're the first to see high-rank firearms, including lasers and the all-important grenade launcher. They should also meet requirements for melee weapons earlier than humans to make up for getting the most raw of deals on their defensive stats initially.
Beasts - Beasts are the first PT's to get their hands on an Axe, and probably more importantly they'll meet requirements for all melee weapons sooner than other races as they're progressing through ranks to start... which will also help offset any ATA problems they have. While they're trailing the pack for ranged weapon, even Beast PT's will get their hands on lasers and grenade launchers by the time class ATA maxes at rank 6.
Newmans - I want to be nicer, but I think newms would just be way better off as a GunTecher or ForteGunner, because they'll be even farther behind humans for the melee side of the Protranser job. Go for more ATP with the same weapons you would actually be using as a PT, and more elf-friendly defensive stats.
Part 2: Starting Off
This is about as far as my experience with the class goes... just combined suggestions / notes / wishlist. I got my character started on release day, so I was lv49 with max ranks in Hunter / Ranger and a good number of skills as high as they could be for basic classes. On the other hand, all our stats get knocked pretty flat by the steamroller that is Protrancer rank 1 so I assume things aren't TOO different when changing to the job with a lower-level character.
* spend time training with PT weapons (especially bow) as you're earning requirements. You will want as many usable skills as possible at lv11+. If you're going to go to 10 on hunter or ranger, try getting some to 20. You're going to need every advantage you can give yourself.
* spend the money to buy full stacks of every trap. Why not? You aren't going to be spending it on high-end weapons any time soon. Full stocks will give you some toys to mess around with and figure out which types are keepers, and meanwhile your team will be like "ooh protranser" when you light up Salvatus or something.
* don't get rid of your better low-end weapons as you're progressing through basic jobs. My lv50 Cast can only handle 4* swords & fists & shotguns at rank 1 and I'm not sure if rank 2 is going to give enough points to make a difference. I think I can go as high as 5* bows, and 6* or maybe better for handguns and sabers.
* be really careful about your HP total! Protransers start off really low. When you're on your own remember your shotgun for incapacitating some of the opponents to reduce risk... and don't forget your bows and high-level PAs when tackling large monsters.
* If you're in over your head for difficulty, the defense negation on Bow and ATA on knuckles should give you at least those as usable weapons.
* I find the class to be a lot of fun for soloing, when I'm willing to swallow my pride and do C's or early B's. The combination of shotgun and sword is just brutal against monsters with low enough DFP/EVP stats to make them effective. Scatter some paralysis / silence / burn around and bat cleanup with Tornado Break. The large degree of multi-hit these weapons offer and high ATP on the sword make for fast status effects and high damage output when you add it up across the group.
Part 3: High Ranks
* ATA maxxes at Rank 6, at twice the starting value so you should get whatever guns you're due for by then (or you're waiting for character level to get you there).
* Lasers and Grenades are damage-multiplier weapons on par with Shotgun and Sword, if not better. I think it would be pretty unwise to ignore them in favor of sticking to gear you're already trained on.
* You can buy a lot of traps for the equipment and PP cost difference between the crap gear we get and the high-end weapons that are available.
Part 3.5: Rank 10
The set of weapons you're going to end up skilled with is with few exceptions the full set of S rank weapons usable by both Fortefighter and Fortegunner. You can switch to either job for much more efficient leveling of specific PA skills. I found picking up some skills for the remaining S-rank weapon classes (Rifle - Killer Shot as gunner, Claw and Twin Claw skills as fighter) made these classes feel "new" enough that I really enjoyed working with them rather than feeling like a "gimped" Protranser.
* when going gunner, you're going to want to get your handgun and grenade skills at or very close to level for SE3 so you can help status large monsters without learning a ton of rifle PA's you can't use as your core class, or blowing through stacks of traps all the time.
* as a fighter you will have a LOT more ATP, making multi-hit weapons like knuckles and claws more of your main offense. Oh, take time to enjoy seeing 2k damage crits on those Axe PA moves.
Part 4: Tactics
Over the last couple days I've gone from really disappointed with my character's stats to feeling like he's pretty bad-ass, white numbers when looking at ForteTecher attributes or no.
* Just because of poor HP I spend a lot of time hanging out with the back-ranks guys, shooting my bow to support the hunters. What's nice about it is that I'm in good position to whip out my sword or knuckles and kick monsters who come after us back into the melee up front.
* If you're going to use traps or lasers or grenades on mobile mobs, look for natural chokepoints where a lot are going to get stuck in the AOE. Doors, halls, bridges, protruding corners where monsters are going to bunch up on as they squeeze around. Tell your party what's up in advance so melees don't blitz the spawn points and screw up your nicely organized plan.
* If you're with other advanced-job characters, bear in mind that mid-level bow, rifle, or technique hits can status large monsters... you can cheapskate on traps to save them for when it's really important to get your status on immediately.
Part 4B: Specific Weapons and Tactics
Axes - When you finally get these, you're in for a treat. The high ATP goes a long way towards making up for class shortcomings against single targets.
* The basic axe attack is REALLY SLOW, like you'll think "wow I'm really whipping this sword around". Not good against moving mobs at all unless you luck out and tag something with the knockdown hit. You can start a PA very quickly after one normal swing, which is a nice free damage boost.
* Anga Redda is just crazy for damage output over the first 2 attacks in the combo. A little help with crowd control will let you plow into two targets pretty consistently.
NOTE: Anga Redda should be called Kill Bil. The full combo will start a spin with the launch at the end of the second move, and the third move power-hit is timed just right to cancel it. Just don't miss!
* Anga Durega is a really good utility move with a fast and very controllable knockback hit, followed by the really powerful jumping hit... you should only spend the PP on that if you've got other targets nearby to lock on to. Normally you knock things out of reach with the first move.
NOTE:The full combo flattens large monsters in no time, you start by knocking them over, then pile on the rest of the combo just in time to knock them over again with the last hit in the series. The third hit is terribly ineffective against mobile opponents because the attack area is tiny
* you can equip two axes on the action palette and quickly switch between Durega for knockdowns and Redda for damage output
Grenades - I just got hold of a launcher and LOVE IT. Grenades knock down everything they hit. It's great support for your melee guys up front, especially since you don't have to put your neck on the line to do the effect like you would with a melee PA. Grenades can also fire over terrain obstacles, like down into rooms from the safety of balcony-type areas, for great team support and high amusement value. While the weapon type doesn't have great accuracy, after a while you will be able to hit pretty easily in S missions even with low-level skills linked (a significant ATA penalty).
If you're doing a LOT of knockdown support you might prefer to unlink your skills in order to conserve PP and boost ATA.
NOTE: grenades level up VERY QUICKLY if you're in a mission that presents enough good targets for them, and carry stacks of photon charges to keep your weapon fed. Tunnel Recapture features tons of Kogs and Duras, Desert Goliath features tons of Grinna Bete. Your PA levels will thank you, your teammates will thank you.
Lasers - great ATP and ATA, plus they hit everything in their path. Keep an eye for narrow terrain like bridges and halls, as well as spawn formations for mostly-immobile enemies like Gohmon or simple pack hunters like Ageeta. If you can position and aim quickly (use 1st person for the most finesse) it's possible to do damage at an insane rate with one of these. Lasers have no stopping power whatsoever though... for a change you're going to be the guy asking the team for some support.
NOTE: when you start getting swarmed by all the targets you're owning you can quick-switch to a second (identical models) cannon, with Maylee Prism. Send the enemies flying and move a bit to line up for going back to elemental damage. Or of course you can save the palette space and PA frags and pull out some awesome melee.
Knuckles - knuckles big statistic is ATA. They're great for accuracy, making them indespensible at lower levels. Their Photon Arts will look awesome and serve you well even when you're using other weapon classes heavily:
* Bogga Danga goes through a multi-hit flinch, then knockdown/knockback, then an acrobatic leaping attack with more knockback.
NOTE: The third move deals incredible damage (think Dus Daggas or better) if you can catch a large creature with the handspring at the start and then crash down on it with the pounce as well.
NOTE: The full combo has 2 knockback moves, letting you scatter 5 targets in rapid succession. Great for keeping crowds of Go-Varha from eating your techer.
* Bogga Zubba is the melee version of your grenade launcher. You can start the attack from a bit of distance (e.g. outside Kogg Nad's spikes) and it's great for knocking things over quickly.
Swords - huge ATP and surprising reach. If there's more than one monster around, Sword is the best weapon available for regular attack damage output. High ATP weapon + up to 3 hits per swing, nothing else compares.
Spears - another weapon with great ATA, ATP and reach... though the AOE is very narrow in front of you. I find the range hard to use defensively, since the attack animation moves you forward a good bit.
*How you deal with these weapons is up to you. Both have a sweep PA (Sword's is probably better) and a multi-hitter (Spear's is definitely better) ... Keeping each weapon type for just what it's best at means maintaining two collections of weapons. You can focus on one class of weapon and quickly flip between the different moves, but that leaves you with a second-best PA one way or the other.
Shotguns - aren't the powerhouses they are for higher-ATP classes, but are still one of your best per-hit damage weapons. More importantly they also land status effects really quickly when you're hitting with 4 or 5 bullets at a time. The ammo lasts almost forever too. A great weapon for making a Hunter teammate's job easier.
NOTE: Barada Maga is a perfect PA frag technique for Protransers. Fortegunners have way more ATA and don't need to debuff EVP, Fortefighters don't have shotguns and can't debuff EVP. You've got shotguns, you have reasons to debuff evade. So do it. NAO!!
Handgun and Saber - We all picked up Protransers for the huge array of exotic weapons, right? Why am I writing about the most boring, generic, form of attack available? Being boring doesn't make things any less awesome. Also _nobody_ uses handgun and saber any more making it exotic and mysterious all over again, like going to a hamburger joint in Japan.
Handguns are great SE weapons and do excellent damage at level 21+. Sabers have amazing ATP, and Rising Strike is a very cheap PA with excellent crowd control and a high damage modifiers. More important is what these weapons can do together with no weapon switch time at all. With skilled use of PA, melee lock-ons, camera control and first person view, you can be attacking targets all over the place in extremely rapid succession with a combination of status effects and damage output that will leave both fighters and gunners (and even Fighgunners, no top-tier gun skills for them) feeling a little jealous.
In S2 difficulty missions there are times you're going to NEED to stay mobile too and these are your only option.
NOTE: Once upon a time I actually made a joke about someone ignoring Protransers awesome weapon options, that they were the worst handgun-and-saber fighters of all the advanced classes and hence sucked ... I totally apologize to everyone. It is impossible to say something more wrong.
Trap SE's - Mobs with a Shield icon take half damage and are highly resistant to status effects. Traps are the best or only way to deal statuses to these guys, and well worth it if a group show up because they can be incredibly tough and do a ton of damage. Note that traps can not inflict statuses to which the creature is outright immune, e.g. burn and silence vs mechanical enemies.
Status traps in the right situations can save lives, particularly confusion/silence against large groups of tech-using creatures, or shock against large groups of physical attackers. These conditions don't last very long, but it is enough for the rest of your team to get a foot-hold in a fight for crowd control and/or inflicting additional SE.
Dealing a DOT quickly with a trap when you see a good target come up, as opposed to trying to tag it with a ranged weapon, can make battles dramatically shorter. You're free to switch to your most effective weapon available (pure damage and/or physical crowd control) rather than plugging away with non-elemental bow for the time it takes to land your SE.
Changes along the way have made damage traps (while you've got them) a protranser-specific option for putting a large amount of hurt very quickly on a monster, even multi-target bosses.
More useful trap info
Regular traps are SE1, trap G's are SE3. For the main DOT traps it breaks down like this:
Burn Trap = 10% damage in 10s (2%/2s x 10)
Virus Trap = 25% damage in 20s (5%/4s x 5)
Burn Trap G = 20% damage in 10s (4%/2s x 5)
Virus Trap G = 35% damage in 28s (5%/4s x 7)
* Virus Trap beats Burn on both total damage and rate of damage. These things are great for taking on single large targets, supposing you can catch them with the simple time-delay detonation.
Damage, Poison, and Silence traps will launch monsters in the air. The durations on most status traps are so short that straight-out knockdown is almost as good when it comes to incapacitating targets... they also work on (most, maybe not Kamatoze) large monsters, which are routinely immune to shock / silence / confuse.
Sleep Trap G give a fairly long-lasting incapacitation effect, 12 seconds, however the effect is also broken by any weapon hit.
Part 6: Research Topics
* More details on equipment available by level and race. Other advanced jobs don't have to rank up before they get to play with new toys (or even their old ones from basic classes) ... I've added a list for it but need tons of help filling it in.
* Managing your action palette. Most of the ProTranser's hardware is special-purpose. There aren't enough slots on the palette to have one of everything armed and ready for switching. Suggestions on how to organize your options are welcome.
* Why Don't My Grenades Land SE3 On Large Monsters. My bows were statusing large creatures, with some difficulty, at SE3. I've seen fire grenades proc on Kamatoze, but haven't infected a Kogg or Dura yet with my dark ones.
Appendix A: Equipment Progression
... or How Long Until I Can Get My 'leets On?
Cast M
51/PT1 - Shigga Amza (105 ATA)
51/PT2 - Calibur, Rivet Gloves (232 ATP)
53/PT3 - Gur Neda (151 ATA)
56/PT3 - Ascalon, Graters (268 ATP)
61/PT6 -or- 62/PT5 - Ank Tomho (339 ATP)
64/PT8 - Caliburn (381 ATP)
80/PT10 - Rabol Asted (110 DFP)
Human M
40/PT2 -
4* melee weapons except some Tenora
4* Shotguns, Longbows, Alteric
4* Megaline shield
6* GRM sabers
7* Handguns
45/PT4 -
7* Laser Cannon
60/PT8 -or- 61/PT7
7* Axe
Beast F
56/PT6 (best estimate) -
7* Laser Cannon
7* Grenade Launcher
58/PT6 (best estimate) -
7* Axe
1* Crazed jealousy from other PT's
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: panzer_unit on 2007-07-04 09:04 ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: panzer_unit on 2007-08-24 22:57 ]</font>
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Blink & you might miss it! ;3
actually it seems like every combo where the female version is different its also better perhaps to make up for the atp/ata stat difference.
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