Need advice on how to end-game

[Rixian]

So I think I'm just about pulling out of mid-game now, approaching the Super Hard difficulty.

I think I've done as much mid-game strengthening as I can, I am an AC-less player.

These are my (pretty poor) stats right now:

http://i.imgur.com/gOuCVKm.png

Just crafted up some crappy units to hold me until I find something better, I decided to opt for a more MAX HP approach since I'm not exactly "brilliant" at this game.

The question is, what part of end-game do I tackle right now? I'm not sure if I'm fully aware of all the options available right now.

Thanks for your time.

[Takatsuki]

TBQH, if you don't have access to 10* passes and stuff and you aren't getting any good drops, then crafted units should be fine.

Let's see your weapon stats. Your S-ATK is pretty high so I don't think there will be too much of a problem.

Though SH doesn't properly start at 50. I mean, yeah, you can take SH quests, but you also get EXP limited and it may be pretty hard. You should probably stick with VH until 55.

[Rixian]

Weapon stats as requested.

http://i.imgur.com/rPB64yN.png

I went for a 9 star ExLv1 in hopes of getting a good Hunter Katana without getting the severe DEX penalty.

The DEX penalty still exists =/.

When I have Braver main class, I switch to the standard version of the weapon with about the same stats.

Edit: Now everyone can see my shameless Shunka Spam :I

[TaigaUC]

Last I heard, crafting units removes the hidden stats (eg. the 6% blow resist on each unit).

Don't know if the Shoulded c is better without crafting.
I personally use it without, but I haven't tried with.

[qoxolg]

@ your level I'd try running VH AQ's iif you want a slightly better chance on some 10* weapons. For EXP your current best option is running the Limited Quest MPA until you hit 50. Then you run it till you are 55.

In SH there is currently not much end game content. Early march SH AQ's and new XQ's will arrive. Till then you could do stuff like SH Hans orders/boss rush and TE regular EQ's.

[TaigaUC]

You can probably stick to crafted weapons if you max Fury Critical Up and Average Stance Critical.
But you won't have spare skill points for those until Hunter 61-65 and Braver 55+ or so.

It looks like you have plenty of Dex, so you may as well Extend your weapon to maximum.
You can use a 10% requirement reduction item (costs around 80k) to reduce the Dex requirement from 500 to 450.

What I'm using for my Bravers (none of my Bravers are maxed yet):
Katana: Agito (all-class), Dio Rakuruikou (latent lv1), Karishizuma (EX lv4, latent lv3), Katana (EX lv6 and 10), Vita Katana (EX lv5, for Hu/Br), Dio Shigaruga (EX lv2, for Fo/Te/Br)
Katana affixes: Power 3+Gwana Soul+Poison/Burn/Mirage and 50 element on all but the Agito.
Bow: Biblas Bow (dropped), some low level bows extended
Units: Shoulded c set (not crafted) for survival, Biblas set for damage (Power 3 + Vol/Gwana Soul)
Skill tree: http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?06eNbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIk0lbI nqnGKJ7JiGA000006ebHoGBboGKIbcAibr0000IdBJdJ2ielke Afbn0000lb2QHScFbAfGAgBbp0000f4OI22XIxjcIcAIxIbbn0 000jkbdojGFI2J24QuNIoi200008ebIokddnJksXI2lb0000

Katana PAs: Kanran Kikyou (AOE and knockdown), Shunka Shunran (damage), Asagiri Rendan (step dashing), Hatou Rindou (situational damage)
Bow PAs: Penetrate Arrow (piercing damage), Master Shoot (damage, TA switches), Banishing Arrow (to stack damage)

I'd imagine the strongest players are using Hu/Br with Susano Guren and an SH 10 star unit set with Power 3, Ability 3, Gwana Soul, Spirit Boost, Stamina 3, etc.

[Rixian]

Thank you very much guys!! Exactly the information I'm looking for, feel free to keep chiming in ;D

[TaigaUC]

If you really want a 10 star right now, Kougongin or whatever drops fairly often from Tower Defense.
It's pretty decent in general, but kinda ugly.

If you can wait, there'll be a bunch of new weapons next update.
Not sure how they will all be obtained though. AQ, XQ, etc... probably.

Note that Hu/Br is preferred over Br/Hu because you get better base stats (more HP, more SATK, etc).

[UnLucky]

End game? Max the left side of Hunter's tree.

You might be able to find a Lambda Kalicizma from lv70 Falz Arms, but if not there's always the 9* version. That or the Castilon variants.

I wouldn't recommend extending weapons, and I certainly wouldn't want you to bother with worthless skills like Fury/Average Crit. Your minimum, average, and maximum damage would all increase at least twice as much with a +10% damage skill rather than a +20% crit rate skill.

Crafted units aren't so bad, since they have great defenses all around. The 6* Shouldot "Spike" set would probably not be much worse when crafted in terms of striking damage reduction, but the others would be a lot better. Problem is you'd lose a bunch of HP along with the S-Res. Either way they're a good set to work towards if hunting good 10* units doesn't work out.

[TaigaUC]

Unlucky, what do you prefer to put points into once you've maxed out all of the important Braver and Hunter stance stuff?
Would you say the SATK skills are better than the critical skills?
Or that's what you were referring to by +10% damage?

Rixian, go with what Unlucky recommends.
I'm not as well-versed on the fine details of the damage calculation.
If anything, extend weapons if you're going to be stuck with the weapon for a long time and have money to spare.

[Rixian]

Well this is my skill tree:

http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?06fbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIk0lbIn qnGKsN6JiGA000007b000009b000000lb000009b000000lb00 00000ebdB4OdnmxrkI2l20000

I kind of secretly like snatch step for various reasons ._. *Takes cover from haters*

Edit: Also I only have a ExLv1 Katana as it was the cheapest way to get a half-decent Hunter Katana for me to train up my Hunter ^^;

[UnLucky]

Well, I suppose you're right, Taiga, since once you're at level cap you'll have 5-10 skill points even after all the good damage bonuses are maxed out.

However, I would suggest a Br/Hu tree like this (http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?06eNbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIk0lbk IqoGXsN6JiGA000007b000009b000000lb000009b000000lb0 000000ebdBk2dnmxsXI2l20000).

If you'll actually use Hunter weapons, you'll want Just Guard and the weapon Gear skill(s). If not, you could put Just Reversal here (no point having it on both classes).

If you don't have a pure Dex mag, you could take those points from Braver Mag and fill up JR Cover plus 1SP in Rapid Shoot just for PP regen. Or you could invest more into bow skills and suddenly need more SP than you had to spare, even with Just Reversal on Hunter.

But no, I don't mean static stat bonuses like S-Atk Up, since even crit can be better than that unless you need a few extra stat points to equip something.

[TaigaUC]

Thanks for the clarification.

Rapid Shoot for PP regen... didn't think of that. Nice.
How useful is JR Cover? I guess it'd be kinda like a monomate without leaving yourself vulnerable?

I hear Wired Lance gear is useless, but I've never tried it.
I tried using Fal Claw several times recently but WL is soooo damn slow.
Does the gear make WL worthwhile?

[UnLucky]

JR Cover is nice since it either means a small hit doesn't matter, or a large hit means you won't get hit a second time while you're drinking that entire Trimate. It's not a huge deal, but it's free healing when it works.

As for WL, well, they're not bad, and the Gear makes them stronger. It just feels like there's no real niche for them, so there's not really a specific use where one might say "Yes, this is when I should use a Wirelance." If you like them, and your damage is high enough to kill mobs without grabbing them away from other players repeatedly, they can be very effective, especially when making use of the Gear.

[TaigaUC]

Oops, it's Just Reversal healing, not Just Guard.
For some reason I always thought it was Just Guard.

The WL gear just increases damage? A speed-up would've been nice.
When I try to use WL in groups everything dies before I can get close or even finish a swing.
Doesn't help that Shunka Shunran has crazy mobility.
I mean, why use WL when I can just Shunka-shunka-shunka all over the place like everyone else.

I also like Snatch Step. It's better than not having it.

[Rixian]

Does anyone know the implications of the DEX penalty on crafted weapons?

And also what DEX does for your damage maths-wise?

Please and thank you.

[btw-Niji]

I'd imagine the strongest players are using Hu/Br with Susano Guren and an SH 10 star unit set with Power 3, Ability 3, Gwana Soul, Spirit Boost, Stamina 3, etc.
HP affixes? no...........

the "strongests hubrs" go for these:

3s (minimum)
Quartz Soul, Power 3, Spirita Boost

4s (depending on unit set)
Quartz Soul, Power 3, Spirita 3, Power Boost

or

Quartz Soul, Power 3, Ability 3, Power Boost

or

Quartz Soul, Power 3, Spirita 3, Spirita Boost

etc (im on phone so too lazy to go into 5s)

Hp affixes are not worth it.150+ PP is the most important thing on Braver. Thats 5 consecutive shuns/rindous.

[TaigaUC]

I figured those people would be so ridiculously rich they slapped HP on for the hell of it.
Completionist or whatever. Because they can!

DEX penalty is on all crafted weapons regardless of rarity or type.
It also applies to weapons that aren't "rare", with the exception being AQ "Red" weapons.

If I recall correctly, the penalty causes damage to vary by a value of around 300.
So if your weapon is 1000 damage you could be hitting anywhere between 700 and 1000.
I don't know the exact values of how it works, sorry.
Someone around here said something like you need around 250 Dex to make up for the penalty.
If you get +Crit %, you'll hit the max value more often, which sort of semi-nullifies the Dex penalty.

The more attack power you have, the higher your max and min.
Dex just raises your min. That's why people prefer to just raise attack instead.
Braver also needs some Dex to equip the stronger Katanas.
For crafting, you can just use requirement reduction items when extending.

Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of the above points.

[UnLucky]

Info on PSO2's damage formula (http://ohpso2.wikia.com/wiki/Damage_Formula) along with Walkure's posts on the matter (http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217034)

I'll try to simplify it a bit. The only thing that makes your damage vary is your equipped weapon. Values can range from 0-100% of your weapon's Atk, but you'll always get the full amount of all other sources of Atk (base, affixes, set bonus, buffs).

Rare weapons have less variance, going so far as 90-100% of their Atk.

Dex has a similar effect, raising your minimum damage twice as much as Atk raises both min/max, but cannot go higher than 90% of your weapon's Atk.

So if you have a rare weapon (uncrafted and not a 7* red weapon), Dex cannot raise your minimum damage at all due to this 90% cap, which rares already guarantee.

If you do not have a rare weapon (6* or lower, crafted, or red weapon), then you would need about half as much of your weapon's Atk value to reach the same 90% minimum damage cap.

But of course, the enemy's Dex is subtracted from yours, just like their Def mitigates your Atk, so you would need around 200-300 more to compensate.


Example:

Player: 750 Base Atk, 250 Atk affixes, 1000 Atk weapon, 500 Dex
Enemy: 200 Def, 200 Dex

Max damage: (750 + 250 + 1000 - 200) * 0.2 * M = 360 * M
Min damage: (750 + 250 - 200)*0.2 + (500 - 200)*0.4 * M = 280 * M

If you had a rare weapon, your minimum would be 340 * M instead.

With M being all relevant multipliers, like the PA/tech you're using, your skill tree, weak points, that sort of thing. Just as an example, we'll say all of that together is a total multiplier of 500%. That would mean your damage with a rare weapon is 1700-1800 per hit, but a crafted weapon with the exact same stats would be 1400-1800.

[TaigaUC]

Thanks for correcting my mess of inaccuracies.