Hunter talent tree discussion

[Sigmund]

Since there's a topic about Force, we might as well have one!

RESOURCES

The Hunter's talent tree
http://ryuhiroshi.ry.funpic.de/pso2/hunter.html

Data for each rank can be found on these japanese wikis:
Japanese PSO2 wiki 1
Japanese PSO2 wiki 2

Useful compilation of abilities, weapons and PAs
Tip: Copy and paste the JP names to search the market
Super-awesome-world-ending-Google-doc-compilation
Credit to the anonymous maintaining this.

FAQ
*Last updated: July 18th*

Q: What are the sword/wired lance/partisan gears?
A: They add extra abilities to your weapon type, they all function by charging up a power bar. With a charged power bar, it unlocks an extra property to your weapon.

• Sword:
  
  • Nova Strike and Rising Edge: Cuts down charging time from 5s to 1s
  • Sonic Arrow: Hits 1/2/3 times depending on the number of charges
  • Stun Coincide: Increases duration of the stun
  • Twister Fall: Increases shock wave count from 1 to 3
  • Cruel Throw: Increases raw damage

• Wired lance: Powers up the damage of your Photon Arts by 30%.

• Partisan: Increases the range of your Photon Arts
  
  • A comparison of the range increase can be found here

Q: Does JA Bonus 1/2 affects the damage of Photon Arts? *updated*
A: It has been tested that JA Bonus does in fact affect Photon Arts, making it a very worthwhile talent. The bonus is in fact multiplicative, meaning that a 500 atk PA will become 500 * 110% = 550 atk at rank 10 JA Bonus.

Q: What is the maximum number of talent points I can spend? (as of July 18th)
A: The maximum level is currently 40 and there's a quest which gives you 5 SP, meaning that you've 45 SP to spend.

Q: What should my build be if I play X weapon and I want to do Y things?
A: Try to read the thread first to see if there's anything similar. Then post your build along with details so we can talk about it.

Q: Verdict on Fury Critical?
A: According to a fellow member of this board, Adelheid, this talent isn't worthwhile. Through testing, he found out that a critical hit doesn't multiply your damage by 1.5x or 2x like in typical games. It merely enables you to constantly deal the max number of your damage range. Meaning that if your damage range is 100~200, a critical hit will always do 200 damage. The overall increase in your average DPS will increase by 2~3%.

Q: Guard 101
A: Guarding is a Hunter exclusive ability that allows you to block an attack in front of you by pressing SHIFT. There are two types of guard:

• Normal Guard:
  
  • Executed by holding SHIFT
  • Consumes PP, no PP left = you get hit
  • Receives damage, although greatly reduced
  • Flinches after impact
  • Some attacks are un-guardable (i.e.: Rockerbear's grab, Dragon's spirit bomb, ...)
  Just Guard:
  
  • Must be enabled by ranking Just Guard in the talent tree
  • Executed by timing your SHIFT just before you get hit, leniency is about 0.5s(?)
  • Consumes no PP, can be used at 0 or low PP
  • Damage is nullified, in fact you gain temporary invincibility frames
  • Doesn't flinch you after impact
  • Attacks that are un-guardable can be blocked with Just Guard (because of said invincibility frames)
  • Returns damage to the enemy you blocked

It's worth noting that guard canceling works differently depending on the weapon you use. Sword can guard cancel any PA on the ground as well as in the air. Partisan can't guard cancel PAs on the ground (instead, use dash cancel or jump cancel into guard), but can do so in the air.

Q: Is S-ATK or R-ATK used when calculating the damage of Gunslash Photon Arts?
A: Depends on the PA. Tri-Impact and Serpent Air are exclusively from S-ATK. Aiming Shot and Thrillsplosion are exclusively from R-ATK. Rage Dance and Ein Raketen are S-ATK for the melee portion of the skill and R-ATK for the shot component.

Q: What are the benefits for ranking S-ATK Up 1/2 and S-DEF Up talents?
A: Equipments in PSO2 aren't restricted by level. Instead, each weapon and armor possess a stat restriction on them that needs to be met. This stat restriction depends on your base stats, meaning that active skills and equipment bonuses doesn't count. Depending on your race and gender, you may need some small boost in order to equip better equipments sooner. Other than MAGs, S-ATK Up and S-DEF Up can both help you increase your base stats.

That's it for now, start asking questions or something!