Make the most of photon arts!?

[Kur0nue]

Hello all im kuronue( X as some people call me) ive been playing for about a week now and im a rising fighter/hunter(open to team invites) and before i continue im going to say right off the bat before any forum nazi attacks me for something im probably gonna do wrong unintentionally, im new to threads so without further adieu..

maybe im just getting into it too much verse the next player but ive created some good photon arts combinations and to alot of people it seems they dont understand this concept too well(1 of every 9 people i party with they have there photon arts randomly selected lvl is irrelavent as well) ive been referred to quite often as a logical player just because of some(imo) decent combinations. like this one time i did the forest free exploration quest after i just made fighter.
Not feeling quite too confident i entered the quest with a hunter who was lvl 17 or so and ventured forth, i noticed he would use photon arts like sonic arrow cruel throw and stun conciendo(however you spell it) in that order. we had finished up a nab rappy jail break and i talked to him about switching arround his photon arts, i was kinda baffled when he questioned me why i made the suggestion. i explained to him that the Stun should be his first PA then Throw and then arrow, that way the enemy cant do anything to him, not to mention he can section the PA better(i used this setup while as a hunter with a sword) . so after the advice we made it to the end to meet rocky the rockbear. he ends up dying with me not having any revivals so he suggested i just give up, one thing about me is i dont run from anything lvl1 or 30. so at the time im using twin daggers(PA= shoot polka---->scar fugue----> raging waltz) and do about 10-20 each hit with occasional 70's from photon arts soloing this rockbear and i end up killing it by myself. this impressed the eff out of my partner who was certain id die, he asked how i did it. i explained to him that i just kept using my first photon art becuase as i attack it lifts me up in the air, then i attack twice more before using the same art again(building pp from dmging rockyy) then use it and float higher and keeping myself in the air kept me above his punch frame. he asked how it helped me for when the bear would try and jump-crush me. i said i followed it using my third photon art which draws me in from distance and keeps me in the air -i rarely touched the ground- and i just kept going till it died-an hour it felt like- he said i was the smartest player he'd come into contact which has me asking this question.

Does anyone else think about the PA they use and how they place them and if so mind sharing them? here are mine.

Sword= stun conciendo----> cruel throw ----> sonic arrow
Partizan= rising flag---->pick up throw ---->speed rain
wired lance=other cyclone---->bind through ----> holding current
twin daggers=shoot polka--->scar fague ---> ragging waltz
double saber=rumbling moon --->scissor edge ---->deadly archer
Knuckle= straight charge----> ducking blow---->slide upper

thanks guys!

[batokage]

Well this is an interesting idea you have here. Here's how im setup atm (currently runnin Hunter/Gunner so im not sure how familiar you are with twin machinegun PAs):

Sword = Sonic Arrow ---> Cruel Throw ---> Over End
Sword = Guilty Break ---> Rising Edge ---> Nova Strike
Partisan = Rising Flag ---> Slide End ---> Sacred Skewer
Wired Lance = Air Pocket Swing ---> Grapple Charge ---> Holding Current
Twin Machineguns = Elder Rebellion ---> Dead Approach ---> Satellite Aim
Twin Machineguns = Messiah Time ---> Reverse Tap ---> Bullet Squall

I dont necessarily agree when you say sonic arrow shouldnt be the first PA in a sword setup. At least for me, its a good way to continue doing damage from a distance after step dodging (if need be). I like stun coincide but the fact that it doesnt stun enemies with brief super armor and largely doesnt work well on bosses kinda hurts its usefulness for me. Guilty break is great for closing distances quickly and with sword gear, rising edge and nova strike work very well for crowd control. For my wired lance I like air pocket swing and grapple charge because they allow a lot of mobility, though air pocket swings movement range takes a little getting used to. Holding current is very powerful but has to be used conditionally since you cant cancel out of it once an enemy is touched with it.

Edit: I lead with sonic arrow only because im thinking of distance options when using swords. When in close range of course Ill usually lead with a basic sword strike. Cruel throw is a great setup move for smacking something hard with over end if it can be grabbed, but thankfully over end can be guard cancelled since it can be pretty slow if surrounded by mobile enemies like decahdas or fighting bosses. As for my other setup, guilty break rushes the target and even uncharged, rising edge and nova strike do pretty solid damage, and work pretty well for single target damage AND crowd control. Nova strike blowing back small enemies helps a lot too.

[UnLucky]

Around lv20 or so I realized that having to spam normal attacks before being allowed to use the PA I wanted to use when I wanted to use it was annoying and ineffective.

Not to mention a lot of PAs suck, so comboing them together is worse than simply using the better one twice.

But anyway, you would want Holding Current as your first PA. And Other Spin and Heavenly Fall and Cerberus Dance and Wild Round. You want to be able to instantly use them in the perfect opportunity.

Speed Rain, Slide End, Assault Buster and Sacred Skewer are all better off in your first PA slot.

Acro Effect should definitely be your first PA, and you will want to use 3x Deadly Archer in a row without pause. Same for Backhand Smash, though your PP probably wouldn't allow that right now.

Yes, it sucks having only 6 weapon palettes, but having 6 different weapon types gets really expensive later on. You can save space by using the 2nd PA slot and always starting it with a normal attack instead of Step Attack (which doesn't advance your combo), but that isn't reliable any time you attack more than once or need to Step for the actual dodge.

[Arksenth]

Yeah, alternating between PAs makes sense at early game when the mobs aren't as aggressive so you don't have to dodge/reposition as much, when the damage between PAs is at least slightly balanced because it doesn't matter as much, and when full MPAs aren't blowing up and sniping things left and right so you have a chance to actually execute PA combos. But as the game progresses, you're pretty much going to be putting your top PAs three in a row and changing between weapon slots to access the PA you need the most in the moment.

[gigawuts]

As has been said, unfortunately towards later in the game it becomes more about killing something as quickly and reliably as possible, and some moves wind up being just plain better than most other moves.

It's pretty boring, and annoying, but it's the truth. Instead of the many PAs a weapon has being balanced between eachother, the best PAs a weapon has are balanced to fill a role no other PA on the class has. Which IMO is closer to how it should be if I was forced to pick one or the other. Both would be nice, but that's probably not happening any time soon. Exceptions for Braver and Gunner, which have one real weapon.

[batokage]

I suppose my experience isn't very sound because I haven't hit endgame yet. Very hard is still possible to pull off using multiple different PAs, albeit not the most efficient way to finish missions quickly, but I haven't even gotten to super hard yet. If thats anything like the massive jump in difficulty there was when switching to the ultimate hard of the old pso/psu, I fear what pso2 has to show me...

Anyway as for PA usefulness, I'm assuming that despite air pocket swing's high damage modifier, its movement range is too unreliable to hit something solidly for all the attacking frames in the PA? And it probably gets negative points too from the fact that you aren't invincible during any of the attack animation.

And is Guilty break the best setup move the sword has available or is ride slasher a better/safer distance closer?

[GALEFORCE]

Guilty Break is much faster and doesn't need to be charged to do respectable damage or increase its travel distance. While I haven't been swording for very long, I'm hard-pressed to find a situation where I'd rather use Ride Slasher over Sonic Arrow or Overend. Maybe against mobs with shields since it doesn't ping off of them. GB certainly does not face any competition from it at least.

[SociableTyrannosaur]

I definitely prefer guilty break.

As far as the OP goes you'll find that "combos" are rather meaningless end game. if you need to combo anything small you're doing it wrong and bosses can't be comboed. you're better off at that point being able to hit like a truck and a lot of the really good PAs can be block or dash canceled if you're in trouble so you find yourself either stringing together the same PA multiple times or step(attacking)/blocking to avoid damage and JAing to PA 1.

Combos are fun but they don't get the job done.

[Xaelouse]

the only moves that are worth making a "combo" out of are the gap closers. Assault buster, grapple charge, and guilty break specifically since they are horrible moves to be spammed anyway. Assault buster into bandersnatch for anything that survives assault, grapple charge into wild round for nice use of wired lance gear+building it up, guilty break into whatever.