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  1. #1

    Default The Official Build Thread: Episode 3 - Reboots, Rebalance, and Reprisal, oh my!

    Last Updated: October 19th, 2014

    Previous threads: Original and v2.0

    Welcome to the build thread, your one stop shop on every permanent decision affecting your character's performance!

    Contained herein will be stat comparisons between races and genders, mag raising, class descriptions, and skill point allocation.

    Character Creation
    It's the first thing you see and it's already an important choice. Races are not simply cosmetic in this game, although there's nothing major besides the stat distribution as shown below:


    O is high, X is low, and = is average.

    Do note that some values may still vary a little, even if they're both shown with a O in the chart. Dewmen have slightly more S-Atk than Casts, and females typically have higher R-Atk or T-Atk but lower S-Atk among all races. It's not quite as dramatic, but do consider that if you absolutely must have the best stats possible.

    Any race/gender can be any class, and it doesn't matter what you choose at the start since you can switch at any time. All that changes is your starting equipment and costume, plus you will have a couple Photon Arts or Technics already learnt. Nothing missible, in any case. One major difference is that Casts are the only race that can equip costume parts, and are also the only race that cannot wear recolorable costumes. Certain outfits can be used by all races, but these ones come in set colors. Costumes are split by gender as well.

    Remember that you can make two characters for free, which can be freely deleted and recreated as many times as you'd like. You can also spend real money for Arks Cash (AC) to get even more, but these are not slots, so deleting one will not allow you to create another for free unless you have less than two total characters.

    Each character will level each of their own classes separately from your other characters, but will share a common storage where you can deposit items and meseta. Most notably, they will each get their own mag for free, which you otherwise must pay AC to get more than one. With that in mind, it can be a good idea to split the kinds of classes you want to play across two characters rather than trying to do everything with only one. This way you don't end up as a Cast Force with an R-Atk focus, or a Newman Fighter with mostly T-Atk, yet you can still pursue several optimal builds at the same time.

    One other perk for having multiple characters is each one has separate Client Orders (COs), a form of request from NPCs, so you can unlock highly rewarding or repeatable ones to level up or earn meseta much faster than normal. Certain events and giveaways will send out items and bonuses to all of your characters, even if they're still level 1, so make sure to keep a second character, even if you don't plan to ever use it, since you can always just bank the extra goodies to have twice as many on your main character.

    Classes and Subclassing
    Each class also has varying stats, which can be important when deciding on a subclass or simply give you a general idea of how the class may perform.


    O is high, X is low, and = is average.

    Hunter has Sword, Wired Lance, and Partizan
    Ranger has Assault Rifle and Launcher
    Force has Rod and Talis
    Fighter has Double Saber, Twin Dagger, and Knuckle
    Gunner has Assault Rifle and Twin Machinegun
    Techer has Wand and Talis
    Braver has Katana and Bullet Bow
    Bouncer has Dual Blade and Jet Boots

    Every class can equip and use the Gunslash, and specific rare weapons may also be designated as equippable by certain other classes, but only the proper class can actually use that weapon's Photon Arts (PAs), and only Force, Techer, or Bouncer can cast Technics regardless of the equipped weapon.

    And that's where subclassing comes in. You still can't equip your subclass's weapons unless you find a special multiclass one, however you can use the PAs or techs for either of your main or sub while getting the full benefits of both of their skill trees at the same time (barring specially marked skills that only take effect on your main class). All related passive skills will stack, and you can freely use active skills from either class. You also gain 20% of your subclass's base stats, although this will be capped by your main class's level if your sub is higher.

    Any time your main class gains EXP, your sub will also gain 10% of that amount. This includes defeating monsters, emergency trial rewards, or turning in COs. This is entirely bonus, and is not scaled down any further, so there's no penalty for switching out your subclass to level it up. You might even be able to get more EXP by turning in high level COs on a high level class rather than having the rewards scaled down when turning them in after switching to a low level. Note that a subclass stops gaining EXP in this way once it reaches 20 levels away from the current level cap, regardless of the level of your main class at the time. Currently the level cap is 70, so you stop gaining bonus EXP at 50. You can, of course, switch classes and level anything up to 70 to have both your main and sub capped at 70/70.
    Last edited by UnLucky; Oct 20, 2014 at 01:05 AM.
    PSO2 Trivia:
    Crits are bad, m'kay?       Buffs/Heals ignore equipment
    20 Atk ≃ 1% damage     Mass WB = Instant Win    
    Skill Tree Priority Charts || Class Info and Build Guide

  2. #2

    Default

    Class Descriptions and Skill Trees
    Detailed below is a short description for each of the various classes in the game and one or more possible skill builds that attempt to best achieve a certain playstyle or role. The builds provided are certainly not the only way to play, however careful consideration has gone into the various choices involved in order to maximize efficiency. That said, many skills depend on personal preference or special circumstances, so what may work for some won't be of much use to another. To help facilitate customized builds, each class's skills have been marked with a priority guideline. Take note of the point progression and overall effectiveness of the skills you might want to take instead of the ones suggested here.

    The charts are color coded by general priority like so:
    Green > Yellow > Orange > Red > Black
    • Green ( O ) skills have the easiest conditions or provide the largest bonus for the cost. In any case, they are very important for almost any situation, and are often the best skills to pick up first.
    • Yellow ( ・) skills usually come with some sort of catch, so if you don't think you can make use of them then it's not the end of the world to pass them by.
    • Orange ( / ) skills are not quite as strong, or may not even contribute to your damage at all. Nonetheless, a dedicated build can still make great use of these skills, especially if the last few points gain a larger bonus than the beginning.
    • Red ( X ) skills are typically not worth investing in until every other option has been exhausted. Only very specific builds with points to spare should even bother.
    • Black or entirely greyed out skills can be ignored outside of prerequisites for better skills. These may be strictly worse than similar skills, extremely situational on the level of a novelty or joke build, or outright worthless for any purpose. Save your points unless you really know what you're doing.

    The border on some skills indicates whether it is learned by default (green) or if it only takes effect on your main class (red).

    The gaps within the skills are there to better display the unlock requirements for other skills. Once you reach such a break point, you can either continue to level that skill or start learning a new one.

    Hunter:
    Spoiler!


    Fighter:
    Spoiler!


    Ranger:
    Spoiler!


    Gunner:
    Spoiler!


    Force:
    Spoiler!


    Techer:
    Spoiler!


    Braver:
    Spoiler!


    Bouncer:
    Spoiler!
    Last edited by UnLucky; Oct 20, 2014 at 01:04 AM.
    PSO2 Trivia:
    Crits are bad, m'kay?       Buffs/Heals ignore equipment
    20 Atk ≃ 1% damage     Mass WB = Instant Win    
    Skill Tree Priority Charts || Class Info and Build Guide

  3. #3

    Default

    Photon Arts and Technics

    Gunslash PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Sword PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Wired Lance PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Partisan PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Twin Dagger PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Double Saber PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Knuckle PAs
    Spoiler!


    Assault Rifle PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Launcher PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Twin Machinegun PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Katana PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Bow PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Dual Blade PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Jet Boots PAs:
    Spoiler!


    Technics:
    Coming Soon!
    Last edited by UnLucky; Sep 30, 2014 at 04:02 PM.
    PSO2 Trivia:
    Crits are bad, m'kay?       Buffs/Heals ignore equipment
    20 Atk ≃ 1% damage     Mass WB = Instant Win    
    Skill Tree Priority Charts || Class Info and Build Guide

  4. #4

    Default

    Hopefully I'm not taking up a post spot that's supposed to be reserved here, but the last post was 25 mins ago so I assume you took all the space you wanted.
    Anyways.....

    A couple of builds I was wondering about.....

    I feel like Sega is pushing crit builds with that Critical Strike skill added, I think it was main class only but I just closed the game so now I can't check. So let's assume a Fi/Hu build with the crit bonuses maxxed out on all of the stances, I wonder if this could actually become a viable thing now instead of just being consistent with static bonuses. Did the stance critical numbers get buffed too?

    Although me and some other people were trying to roll Fo/Br, the Br sub suffers from a lot of issues, and now Bo seems like a strictly better sub for Fo in that regard (unless you're doing that Vibras Bow build). I assume as far as technics are concerned, Elemental Stance is literally a carbon copy of Weak Stance, but now you don't have ~40 skills that aren't doing anything on the Br tree. I don't know the exact functions of some of the Bo skills but I believe the PP restorate field, which I have to assume helps regen PP in some regard, will solve one of the big issues that Fo/Br had. Hopefully it becomes a good enough subclass for Fo for people who don't wanna run the basic Fo/Te build and still be a good addition to a party.

    I'm hoping the skill trees get updated to the pso2 skill sim site soon, and hopefully we can get some clarity on the technicalities on certain skills before I mess up my tree.

  5. #5

    Default

    I should have enough space, don't worry. Just gotta fill them in with content now.

    Crit: Possibly. Alone, Fighter's Crit Strike is fairly decent, averaging out above 1%/SP if your crit rate is at least 33%, including the bonus from Crit Strike itself. However, the problem then becomes how to raise your crit rate without sacrificing too much damage. The typical skill boosts your crit rate by 25% for 10SP, yet the damage bonus for doing so is under 20%, which means you average out at less than 0.5%/SP. Combining Crit Strike and a stance crit, you will get 45% crit rate and 15% damage for 15SP, averaging out at about 7%, which is still under 0.5%/SP.

    With the introduction of new or buffed skills, along with the 75 S-Atk Ups which would give you almost the same increase in damage as a crit skill only without any variance, there's less reason to invest in crit. Add to the fact that you no longer need Fury Crit as a prereq and it's pretty much a done deal.


    As for Bouncer, I want to wait on that for a bit. Element Stance is lower than Weak Stance as far as techs are concerned, but the other skills could make up for it. Most of them are weapon dependent, just like Braver, so the value of the class might not be so readily apparent.

    Both Braver and Fighter both got stronger, and a lot more Fighter skills now give T-Atk, so I don't see Bouncer being especially good unless you make use of all class Jet Boots.
    PSO2 Trivia:
    Crits are bad, m'kay?       Buffs/Heals ignore equipment
    20 Atk ≃ 1% damage     Mass WB = Instant Win    
    Skill Tree Priority Charts || Class Info and Build Guide

  6. #6

    Default

    Been waiting for this, but looking at the Hunter tree shouldn't guard stance have the first 3 in yellow/orange since its a pre-requisite for some of the other skills in orange/yellow? Though just having 3 in that when you don't plan on touching that side of the tree is useless so I guess thats why its in red.

    Signature by Gama

  7. #7

    Default

    I'm really confused as to what the Fighter's Tech Arts JA does, does anyone have a better explanation on it?

    Same with like... all of the Bouncer skills

  8. #8

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Eternal255 View Post
    I'm really confused as to what the Fighter's Tech Arts JA does, does anyone have a better explanation on it?

    Same with like... all of the Bouncer skills
    I can't help you with Tech Arts JA, as I don't play FI. The Bouncer Skill though...

    Rapid Boost for Jet Boots is self explanatory, but it speeds up your charging of techs for a time (some other effect I can't remember)

    Heal Share basically means if you heal, anyone near you gets a bit of their HP healed too

    Photon Blade Fever is related to the Double Blade Gear. The Gear builds with attacks, and when you use the shift action, you shoot out photon blades. They do some nice damage and you can recover PP quickly with them. Photon Blade Fever basically doubles how many of these blades shoot out.

    Photon Blade Escape is like Combat Escape, except for Dual Blades. Another difference is you won't be invulnerable the whole time like in Combat Escape, it'll be mainly when you do the shift action.

    Switch Strike switches your dependent ATK stat for Jet Boots from T-ATK to S-ATK. This is only worth it if you're S-ATK is actually higher than your T-ATK. From what I've observed, this works for normal attacks and PAs. I don't think it does for Techs although someone can correct me on that.

    The Jet Boots gear from what I've seen builds with your attacks and decreases the time needed to charge your PAs (maybe also with Techs?). This gear goes down over time.

    J Reversal PP cover is the same as Braver's HP cover, except with PP

    Shifta Air Advance increases your damage with air techs and air attacks from a weapon with that element with you have Shifta casted (max is 5%, this is not worth it).

    Deband PP Restorate increases how fast you build PP with normal attacks when Deband is cast

    Elemental Burst if I remember right causes a tech explosion to happen when your jet boots return to their normal element.

    The stances have been covered to death on the forums so I'll give you the short version:

    Elemental Stance increases your attack damage when you're hitting the enemy with an element they're weak to.

    Break Stance increases your damage to parts that can be broken on enemies.

    Craft Mastery increases the stats of crafted Weapons and Units (10% at max lvl)

    EDIT: Critical field basically is an Active skill that increases the crit rate for anyone in it

    Elemental PP restorate is also active, bu it recovers the PP of people in the field when they attack enemies with an element the enemy is weak to.
    Last edited by Stealthcmc1974; Aug 28, 2014 at 10:46 AM.
    Ship 02 - Ur, Player ID: Niare Sky
    75/55 BR/BOdewearl Niare Sky, 54/40 GU/RAmar Davin Carver
    YouTube Channel here - check it out!
    PSO2 Story Playlists: Episode 1 | Episode 2

  9. #9

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    Thanks Stealth. The row with rapid boost was most confusing. I understand why people consider the tree shit, holy crap talk about garbage.

    Hmm, I wonder if I could even build a semi-decent Fi/Bo or Bo/Fi build at all with such a tree

  10. #10

    Default

    elemental pp restorate field gives a field that restores pp with normal attacks, +3pp for 90sec with 60sec cooldown at max

    crit field gives field that procs crit rate, 30% for 90sec with 60sec cooldown at max

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