Wren's AcroTecher Guide

[Shadow_Wing]

Alright my fellow ATs and AT haters after much heated debate, or possibly war XD, on both sides I think it's about time to set the record strait! So I welcome you to my guide on Acrotecher.

The Correct Gimp Way To Use Whips!

Technical Details

Minimum Requirements:

• Ranger Level 3
• Force Level 5

Weapons:

• A Rank: Twin Daggers, Twin Handguns, Shadoog, Machine Gun
• S Rank: Saber, Dagger, Whip, Cards, Handgun, Madoog, Wand

Stats:

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
HP	92%	94%	96%	98%	100%	102%	104%	106%	108%	110%	112%	112%	114%	114%	116%
ATP	78%	90%	82%	84%	86%	88%	90%	92%	94%	96%	98%	100%	102%	104%	106%
ATA	112%	124%	126%	128%	130%	132%	134%	136%	138%	140%	142%	144%	146%	148%	150%
TP	110%	112%	114%	116%	118%	120%	122%	124%	126%	128%	130%	132%	134%	136%	138%
DFP	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	110%	110%	110%	110%	110%
EVP	174%	178%	182%	186%	190%	194%	198%	202%	206%	210%	212%	214%	216%	218%	220%
MST	162%	164%	166%	168%	170%	172%	174%	176%	178%	180%	182%	184%	186%	188%	190%
END	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Luck	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

Spells and Skills:

• Level 20 Melee Skills
• Level 20 Bullet Arts
• Level 30 Offensive Techs
• Level 40 Support Techs

Added Note(s):

• Increased Attack Speed and Tech Casting

Race

Cast: With the high ATA, ATP and DFP, while having the lowest TP, make them a hearty Acrotecher. While their Restas, Giresta and Attack techs do suffer from their naturally low TP, lowest in the game infact, they still make extremely proficient Acrotechers that excel in more offensive melee damage.

Newman: With the highest TP in the game, it is easily surmised that Newman Acrotechers become fast offensive techers. Due to this they are less likely to dish out melee damage, due to their low ATP, however melee PAs can be used as a means to exit out of a dangerous situation. Additionally they can use Shadoogs very proficiently due to their high TP.

Beast: With the highest ATP potential with moderate amounts of TP, higher that of CAST, they make for a more melee orientated AT. They play very similar to that of a CAST AT, however since they have a higher TP, their offensive and heals do a bit more than their metal counterparts.

Human: With their all round stats and in addition and increase of 5% to all stats for being an Acrotecher, Humanes make use of all Acrotecher stats. Due to this they excel in both tech and melee damage, and having the ability to switch between tech damage and melee damage at will becomes a huge advantage to being a human Acrother.

Weapons

Melee:

• Whip: I consider whips as our crowd controller and high DPS weapon. It has a low natural ATP as a weapon so thus the user's ATP plays a big role on how much damage it can deal overall. Both PAs has a maximum of 6 targets per hitting round so the best way to use whips are when you have many targets within range, preferably 4 or more for best results. Due to the amount of targets they can hit, it is easily conjectured that it has a high damage potential, however this potential is significantly diminished with less and less targets within range.
  
• Saber: I consider sabers as our single target weapons, being that they have the highest ATP out of all the weapons in our arsenal, in addition to some high damage PAs. I prefer Gravity break over all three PAs due to it's ability to stun lock an enemy easily due to it's quick strikes, and it's relatively low KB power. Rising strike offers a heavy KB PA, however it has a high ATP modifier and can dish out a lot of damage very quickly. It excels on enemies with 2 target points, dishing out twice it's amount of damage while knocking said enemy down. Last is Spinning Strike, imo the weakest of the 3, which delivers an extremely heavy damage strike to a single target (reaching upwards to 4k/hit).
  
• Dagger: I consider dagger as our bread and butter weapon, fully utilizing speed weapon + natural attack speed increase. They're weaker than saber but stronger than whips. They're essentially the middle ground between the two with decent single target and decent crowd control and damage. Buten is a slow but highly maneuverable move thus making it a highly versatile PA. Hikai has less maneuverability but offers an increase in both damage and speed, however at a cost of higher PP. Shunbu offers no maneuverability however it's a very quick move and can stun lock bigger creatures relatively easily.
  
• Twin Daggers**:

Range:

• Card: Best offhand range weapon overall. Useful to proc SEs and relatively fast shooting speed. At first it has 2 cards per shot, it later gets upgraded to 3 cards per shot when the desired bullet hits level 11+.
  
• Twin Handgun: Our only 2 handed range weapon and useful in cases where we require to go into FPS mode. Twin Handguns, unlike cards and mechguns, can aim in any direction in FPS mode.
  
• Mechgun: Due to their low ATP and Acrotecher's somewhat low base ATP, Acrotechers make little use out of mechguns. However they offer the best method to lay status effects to a lot of mobs.
  
• Handgun: The weakest of the offhand range weapon, however it does offer an alternative to twin handguns and cards giving the user a far ranged off hand weapon and the ability to aim in any direction in FPS mode.
  
• Shadoog: They're good counterparts to madoogs, for those of us who don't feel it necessary to fill our melee offhands with madoogs. They lay status effects while you fight and can prove to be quite useful due to their automated attacking.

Tech:

• Wand: The bread and butter weapon for damaging techs and resta. They're self explanatory being one of the two tech related weapons we get access to. They have higher TP than madoogs and generally used for techs that require that extra TP to get more damage, or healing, out of them.
  
• Madoog: The counterpart to wands, and again very self explanatory, however due to their lower TP, they are generally used for techs that don't have a TP dependancy, so buffs and debuffs are generally EQed on Madoogs.

Techs and You

Support Techs (these have a level cap of 40):

• Buffs: Shifta, Deband, Zodial, Girest, Resta, Reverser, Retier
• Debuffs: Jellen, Zalure, Zoldeel

Acrotechers currently have the highest potential, out of any class, in the support tech field and generally relied upon to assist team mates using these techs. Not only does it help the party out but additionally helps the Acrotecher themselves, increasing all their stats, which none are useless to an Acrotecher.

Offensive Techs (these have a level cap of 30):

• Zonde Line: Zonde, Gizonde, Noszonde, Razonde
• Barta Line: Barta, Dambarta, Gibarta, Rabarta
• Diga Line: Diga, Damdiga, Gidiga. Nosdiga, Radiga
• Foie Line: Foie, Damfoie, Gifoie, Rafoie
• Megid Line: Megid, Dammegid, Megiverse, Nosmegid, Ramegid
• Grants Line: Regrant

Acrotechers can dish out pretty decent amount of tech damage, due to their casting speed being faster as well as the fact they get level 30 offensive techs. Acrotechers can easily supplement their offensive melee attacks with tech damage as well as be purely tech offensive.

General Strategies

Due to the vast combinations Acrotechers can be, there is really no real single method to play this class. However with each and every kind of play style a good Acrotecher does at least the following:

• Casting Support Techs when necessary
• Assist in overall damage be it tech or melee
• And to a certain extent, offer mob control

However these three points are just the basic play style that is common between all Acrotecher stratagies. In the following section I wish to add more kinds of play styles and pallets based on input from other users.

Melee Centric Acrotecher This kind of Acrotecher, which btw is my playstyle, is an Acrotecher who usually melees and deals damage while giving out heals and support techs during combat. They keep the party up by providing quick buffs when it is required, in addition to keeping the party on their feet. They control the battle field with their melee PAs, via flinch locking and/or knockbacks. Their pallet is generally a more damage centric configuration with minimal support techs EQed.

Tech Centric Acrotecher This kind of Acrotecher plays similar to that of a more survivable fT. They use both wand and madoogs on most of their pallet, EQing them with offensive techs. Given that Acrotecher can gain up to level 30 offensive techs makes them able to dish out good damage tech wise. Instead of controlling the battlefield using melee weapons and PAs, they use their techs to their advantage, laying down both filching and status effects to mobs around them.

Support Centric Acrotecher This kind of Acrotecher is an Acrotecher who likes to play it safe. They generally have madoogs EQed with each offhand to provide fast heals and support techs, commonly Giresta/Resta and Reverser, thus providing them with the fastest heals upon demand. They control the battle much in the same way a Melee Centric Acrotecher does.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Shadow_Wing on 2008-01-09 12:36 ]</font>

[-Asheth-]

Nice Job!!!
To help out

I play Human Male AT

Balanced as the stats show pretty much second in all AT speciality stats last to none. Only class that gets a bonus for AT job class which is 5%.

Basically as with humans they can play any AT style that any of the other races would play and as effectively.

Weapons Machine Guns SE- Spreader you can do decent damage with them especially with Tenora Brands but PP drains quickly but is a pretty acceptable replacement for Cards when it comes to off-hand weapons to spread SE but not damage.

Dont use handguns

Also you may want to throw in Attack Tech Centric Techer there are many that play AT almost exactly as you would play FT minus rods.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: -Asheth- on 2007-12-11 06:27 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: -Asheth- on 2007-12-11 06:30 ]</font>

[ljkkjlcm9]

I'm a Male Human AT as well
One thing I enjoy having is the Gi-spells in my Madoog paired with my melee weapon. It's an added advantage with our level 30 attack techs, so when we get surrounded we can hit the enemies and stun them for a second.
Spells like, Gifoie, Gibarta, Gizonde, and Gidiga are wonderful for an AT that loves to get in the middle of everything.

Handgun I pair with an attack wand. It allows me to keep a safe distance with long range attack techs and bullets. It also allows me to go into first person mode quickly for high flying enemies. Handguns also fire at a fast rate, making it a nice alternative for those melee resistant enemies like jarba.

THE JACKEL



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ljkkjlcm9 on 2007-12-11 06:44 ]</font>

[CelestialBlade]

Nice job Wren <3

To help out....I guess:

Twin Daggers: Seems like a waste of two hands, I'd rather have a Shadoog/Madoog and a 1h weapon.
Machinegun: WTF? Not sure why any AT would use these, but maybe someone's found a use for them.
Handgun: Outclassed by Cards and Twin Handguns. No real reason to use them.

[razkal]

I pretty much agree with most of what you said. I would probably change the title to be more specific to the content of the thread. I don't consider my playstyle/class gimped though.

I'm playing a level 72 female cast melee heavy acrotecher. Here is my current pallette:

Twin Handgun ( Zalure ) Arb Biso grinded to 9. Love that thing. Bang, bang!!!
Doric / Vish Adan ( Jellen + Zoldeel )
Dori / Vish Adac ( Giresta + Regrants )
Shato/ dagger ( Megid +Gizonde / buten) Nothing better that a cat spitting death balls and shocking you!!!
Card Regina / Crimson ( opposite element *zalure soon* / gravity strike)
Dori( Shifta+Zodial) / Magical wand (Deband+Retier)

[Pillan]

A couple notes I’ve seen so far:

Race-wise, there is no such thing as a bad Acrotecher race. Acrotecher is the only class that uses all of its stats, so being a specific race just changes the flavor. Beasts have high HP+DFP, ATP, slightly higher TP/EVP/MST than Casts, and Nanoblasts, making them great for melee. Casts have high HP+DFP, ATP, ATA, and SUVs, making them ideal for melee with support. Humans have their ridiculous bonus, and since AT uses all the stats equally, they’re the most well-rounded AT. Newman has TP and MST, which allows them to actually make use of their tech damage and reduce the enemy tech damage to ridiculously low amounts.


Like you said, Spinning Strike is the weakest of the 3 saber skills, but it has that nice ability to throw all of that damage at one target, which makes it the strongest of the 3 when only dealing with a single target.

I was going to write a comment about Shunbu being weaker than Buten in optimal situations, but apparently that’s only true at level 30+. Buten is actually weaker than Shunbu as an Acrotecher. Of course, Hikai still has the speed advantage (giving it higher damage/time if you’re not weak), but it also has the utility disadvantage.

Twin daggers aren’t that necessary and aren’t recommended if you’re not using either of the ults. Whips kill any need for Renkai and Gravity Strike kills any need for the first 2 parts of Moubu. Hishou is a better control Shunbu and the new ult apparently has a launch effect at the end of the second combo too, so both of them don’t need the third part to be useful.

Machineguns are better damage than cards due to the firing rate difference (assuming your ATP and ATA are decent). The main issue is they don’t hit high-flying airborne targets, but there aren’t that many, so they still work.

Handguns just aren’t that great for the reason they’re not that great on any ranger class. Yes, you can use them with a wand, but you’d only want to use a handgun when fighting an airborne boss. Since you usually don’t need to be on heal duty when it’s flying, twin handguns are generally better.

[Kelvie]

On 2007-12-11 06:38, Typheros wrote:

Machinegun: WTF? Not sure why any AT would use these, but maybe someone's found a use for them.

Fun weapon to use, decent dps from a safe distance, keep the monster busy since there is no better gun (imo) to stunlock a single monster.
But yeah, since card are far stronger than them, the fun factor is probably the only real reason I do use them. (after all, that stat boost should allow us to worry a bit less about over-optimized-damage)

[Shadow_Wing]

Thanks for the imput so far, maybe I'll change the thread title but I'll keep the actual guide's title "The Gimp Way to use Whips" not that I consider Acrotecher gimp in anyway though, hell I play one XD, but where's the fun in a serious title XD.

Edit: For pallets I'll wait till I have a more meatly strat section, for who knows you might think your one but might be another .

Another note, twin daggers, I might have to try them out myself XD



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Shadow_Wing on 2007-12-11 13:43 ]</font>

[Schubalts]

Twin Daggers are fun. Fast, high damage against small mobs or large, multi-target monsters. Moubu, anyway. I don't like Renkai.

[Shadow_Wing]

Well been playing around with twin daggers a bit, haven't gotten the 2nd combo for the most of them, I blame Skies of Arcadia taking my PSU online time lol.