Is there a consensus on how to build Bouncers? (New player, help appreciated)

[nukeblast25]

So I'm still pretty new to this game, only been playing for about two weeks, and my main class is bouncer.

I enjoy the idea of using the boots along with techniques, but I don't how well techniques scale through out levels( as in are they better toward end game) or if they do less damage as a bouncer compared to a forcer or techer. I also feel like boots are better for groups

Dual blades seem to a lot more mobile though and much better for bosses than jet boots, and for my character right now it seems like the PA's hit harder even though my boots are a lot better in terms of stats.

I kind of want to do both by using the Bouncer Mag skill, but I don't know if it will leave my damage lack luster in both areas since its only %50. I'm also not sure what is entirely worth it in the the bouncer tree and I don't really want to regret any of the skill points I spend

TL:DR - Dual Blades vs Jet boots, which is better or what are the advantages of each. Is Bouncer Mag worth it if I want to use both, or is the damage lost from not focusing one or the other to significant.

P.S. Also do any more advanced resources exist for this game? I want to figure some of this stuff out myself, but my knowledge of the game is far to small, and I don't know how everything interacts(like how much damage is gained from elemental weaknesses)

Any help is appreciated.

[Stealthcmc1974]

I'd only recommend using Bouncer MAG if you were to pair it with Braver, and even then you're SOL because you'll only get 100% for S-ATK and only 50% for T-ATK.
I... wouldn't rely so much on Bouncer casting tech unless you were to pair it with FO or TE because Bouncer casting skills are lackluster. If you wanted to focus on melee with the DBs (and JBs if you get switch strike), you could use HU as a sub for Fury stance, which will benefit both. FI also works well with its massive boosts to all the ATK stats (and crit skills aren't bad should you go FI/BO)
Dual Blades have decent mobbing PAs, and their photon blades can really wreck bosses. Jet Boots have that double jump, plus they can change their dependent stat to S-ATK instead of T-ATK and can change elements on the fly. I honestly don't see any reason to not go with one or the other, it's up to you (I'm certain the more "opinionated" members of this forum will step in to correct me).
For any questions regarding the Bouncer skill tree, it might be best to just go to the Bouncer thread in the guides section.

[TaigaUC]

I'm starving at the moment, so I'll just give a quick rundown.
I'm sure someone else will post better information soon anyway.

JP swiki explains pretty much everything, but it's in Japanese. I don't know of any EN sites that explain the mechanics.
http://pso2.swiki.jp/ + Google Translate.

I setup my Bouncers the same way: Dual Blade primary, Jet Boots secondary (for buffing, travel).
Mostly because I don't really like how Jet Boots are right now, they seem lacking (only 3 PAs).
I think if you want to be a good caster, it's probably best to focus on Force or Techer instead.
If you want to be a good Bouncer, Dual Blades seems to be the way to go, for now.

I'm using Bo/Hu because of the damage multipliers from Hunter.
Instead of Hunter, I hear Fighter is better, especially as main (Fi/Bo) for the critical bonuses.

For reference, here's a quick skill tree setup for Bo, Hu and Fi.
http://pso2-skill.pwnedgalaxy.net/skillcalc.php?082IbsIkbsIkbsIkbsIkbsIkbsIkbsIkbsIk 0jdOdBIbl2feK8JksNI2000000dOdAI2bnjGKGKIkHn00000fd oib0000006do000000lo00000007oIn0000000lbIo000000fd oIb4OfqBI2rFeFjGK0000j

Some points left over depending on what you want to do, but those are the important skills... I think.
You may want to move Step Advance from Hu or FI to the Bouncer skill tree instead.
Any questions about why to put points or not to put points, feel free to ask.
If I don't answer them, I'm sure someone else will.

Quick rundown on how to play Dual Blades:
- Heavenly Kite for single target/moving upwards.
- Disperse Shrike for large groups/pretty much anything else.
- Kestral Rampage for static bosses.

- Use Photon Blade Fever whenever it's up, it does the most damage.
- When using PBF, simply use regular attack, then Just Attack shift (to shoot more Blades), repeat.
- Don't use PAs during Photon Blade Fever unless you need them to get into position or generate gear.
- Shooting blades won't drop you in the air if you don't hold a direction as you fire them.
- Holding a direction and shooting blades will drop you after, but you get some invincibility during the initial movement.

If you focus on SATK, you can still use Jet Boots if you get the Jet Boots Strike skill to convert SATK to TATK.

Bouncer kinda has a problem with having too many things at their disposal.
So you have to be somewhat selective with what you want to do.

Regarding Techs, I only use Zondeel to collect enemies up and Megiverse (uncharged) to heal.
After using Zondeel, hit Q to lock onto anything in the collected group, and then Disperse Shrike to wipe out the entire group.


Some of the above info was obtained from or discussed in the Bouncer discussion thread, so thanks to the people there for extra info.

[Chdata]

What is the usefulness of switch strike, and how does it work?

[Hexxy]

What is the usefulness of switch strike, and how does it work?

Boots use your Tatk for damage by default. Switch Strike makes it so you use Satk instead. Only use it if your Satk is higher.

[TaigaUC]

Yeah. I don't see much point to the Jet Boots PAs if you're using Dual Blades:

Heavenly Kite = Strike Gust. Kite is more effective, faster (I think) and doesn't need charging.
Destruct Wing = Gran Wave. Wing isn't as precise, though. Tends to move past the target.
Disperse Shrike = Moment Gale. Shrike is much faster. Gale leaves you wide open to damage.

Dual Blades gets Photon Fever and Photon Blades on top of having better and more PAs.
Changing elements on Jet Boots is a pain to setup and takes time to do.
As far as I know, Elemental Burst is virtually useless.

Rapid Boost is probably meant to be Jet Boots' counter to Photon Fever.
Maybe when Jet Boots gets better PAs...

Note that if you really want to use Techs, you can also equip an all-class casting weapon (or Jet Boots) for when you use the Techs.
Probably the biggest advantage of casting with Jet Boots is being able to charge/cast Techs in the air.
There aren't that many situations where that's useful, though. To avoid Luther's red discs, perhaps.
You can also jump above enemies and cast RaZonde over their heads.

[Punisher106]

Yeah. I don't see much point to the Jet Boots PAs if you're using Dual Blades:

Heavenly Kite = Strike Gust. Kite is more effective, faster (I think) and doesn't need charging.
Destruct Wing = Gran Wave. Wing isn't as precise, though. Tends to move past the target.
Disperse Shrike = Moment Gale. Shrike is much faster. Gale leaves you wide open to damage.

Dual Blades gets Photon Fever and Photon Blades on top of having better and more PAs.
Changing elements on Jet Boots is a pain to setup and takes time to do.
As far as I know, Elemental Burst is virtually useless.

Note that if you really want to use Techs, you can also equip an all-class casting weapon (or Jet Boots) for when you use the Techs.
Probably the biggest advantage of casting with Jet Boots is being able to charge/cast Techs in the air.
There aren't that many situations where that's useful, though. To avoid Luther's red discs, perhaps.
You can also jump above enemies and cast RaZonde over their heads.

As much of a DB user as I am, I have to say that I use Gran Wave a TON to play defensively. Don't forget, Gran Wave and Strike Gust can cast Deband and Shifta respectively if you hit shift in the middle, and the former's shift move gives you a hilarious amount of iframes. I use Moment Gale to crowd control, as it has a pull effect like Zondeel and Other Spin. Again, hit Shift. As for DB PAs, I suggest Justice Crow for hitting things from afar, Dispersion Shrike on your second PA slot, and follow that up with Kestrel Rampage, as that can it SO many times, and do decent damage, too.

[Xaelouse]

Destruct Wing is better at hitting things from afar and does more damage. It's the second best gap closing PA under full charge guilty break.
As cool as it looks, justice crow is useless. The projectile is too slow and doesn't hit hard enough to justify it as a good ranged attack.

[Sizustar]

Go through this Bouncer discussion topic for info and playstyle of Bo
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221079

[Yden]

Destruct Wing is better at hitting things from afar and does more damage. It's the second best gap closing PA under full charge guilty break.
As cool as it looks, justice crow is useless. The projectile is too slow and doesn't hit hard enough to justify it as a good ranged attack.

Justice crow is actually better close range since you get an additional 5 hits.

[TaigaUC]

Don't forget

Yes, I use Jet Boots just to cast Shifta/Deband, but I prefer Zondeel over Moment Gale because it feels faster and safer (when combined with Disperse).

I haven't really been in any situation where I needed to use Gran Wave's invincibility.

I have 3 separate numpad keys for Disperse, Kestral and Heavenly.
Thinking of removing Kestral because I don't really use it that often.
Will probably replace it with Destruct Wing. I don't like the other PAs.


Destruct Wing is better at hitting things from afar and does more damage. It's the second best gap closing PA under full charge guilty break.
As cool as it looks, justice crow is useless. The projectile is too slow and doesn't hit hard enough to justify it as a good ranged attack.

I'm going to give Destruct Wing a try again soon. Whenever I tried using it before, I kept missing the target. I don't have that problem with Gran Wave.
But then there's a little problem with going from Gran Wave into a Dual Blade attack.

I didn't think Justice Crow looked cool. It's too slow in general to look cool.

Anyway, follow Sizustar's suggestion, I guess.
That Bouncer thread has a bazillion pages though.

[Sandmind]

If anything, with a crafted version of the 9* lunar eclipse potential Jet Boot, I'm still able to body tank boss in VH with moment gale (usually over their head to dodge part of their attack) and it's hyper armor, so it's not only for mobbing.

[Selphea]

So I'm still pretty new to this game, only been playing for about two weeks, and my main class is bouncer.

I just joined around 3 weeks ago myself, hi!


I enjoy the idea of using the boots along with techniques, but I don't how well techniques scale through out levels( as in are they better toward end game) or if they do less damage as a bouncer compared to a forcer or techer. I also feel like boots are better for groups

Techs will do less damage as a Bouncer compared to Force because you get less multipliers. Compared to Techer, Bouncer is situationally better - vs elemental weaknesses Bouncer does more damage with Lightning, Fire and Ice and the other three elements as well if the Techer didn't spec into them.

That said, many techers have multiple element spec skill trees and load them as the map calls for it.

As a Bouncer, techs are your second ranged option. Your first is Photon Blade Fever spam which has limited uptime and needs to be rebuilt if something dodges two or more blades. Having techs is definitely useful when learning boss mechanics.


Dual blades seem to a lot more mobile though and much better for bosses than jet boots, and for my character right now it seems like the PA's hit harder even though my boots are a lot better in terms of stats.

Dual Blades are indeed very mobile, high damage and easy to use. So much so that I ironically got bored and switched to Gunner main :-P Jet Boots do let you cast from range though.


I kind of want to do both by using the Bouncer Mag skill, but I don't know if it will leave my damage lack luster in both areas since its only %50. I'm also not sure what is entirely worth it in the the bouncer tree and I don't really want to regret any of the skill points I spend

Bouncer Mag is a very viable option for new players when paired with Craft Mastery. It lets you put together a set of +10 weapons with ~1000+ SATK or TATK and good potentials at a low cost via crafting. The Dex will help offset the variance on crafted weapons.

This is especially true when talking about Dual Blades. They are very strong right now, so that means if you look at player shops, the good Dual Blades are very very expensive.

In October they will be handing out an All Skill Reset Pass so you can take Bouncer Mag and Craft Mastery now and put together a cheap set of gear, then farm up the millions to get a good set of 10*s and pop that skill reset pass at a later point.


TL:DR - Dual Blades vs Jet boots, which is better or what are the advantages of each. Is Bouncer Mag worth it if I want to use both, or is the damage lost from not focusing one or the other to significant.

Depending on your race you may want to be exclusively Dual Blades, or hybrid with both Dual Blades and Boots, but definitely not pure Jet Boots. As far as strengths and weaknesses go:

Dual Blades:
+ High mobility with Dispersion Shrike and Photon Blade Escape (press direction + Shift)
+ Huge AoE with Dispersion Shrike
+ CCs high threat, launchable targets easily with Heavenly Kite
+ Gain height easily with Heavenly Kite or Starling Fall, although at the cost of PP
+ Starling Fall survives anything a boss can throw your way even if your timing is terrible
+ High burst damage with Photon Blade Fever
+ High damage outside of Photon Blade Fever with Kestrel Rampage
- Very elaborate animations for PAs, susceptible to getting interrupted. You can cancel PAs mid-animation with Photon Blade Escape though
- If Starling Fall isn't slotted, needs good timing with Photon Blade Escape to dodge attacks
- No range outside of Photon Blade Fever

Jet Boots:
+ Shift action on Gran Wave survives anything a boss can throw your way even with terrible timing too, except Gran Wave is easier to do damage with.
+ Option to cast techs with reduced cast times using Jet Boots Gear
+ Double Jump and/or Gran Wave easily lets you do headshots on Ogres and casters in Shironia without spending PP
- Lower damage
- Less mobility on AoE attacks


P.S. Also do any more advanced resources exist for this game? I want to figure some of this stuff out myself, but my knowledge of the game is far to small, and I don't know how everything interacts(like how much damage is gained from elemental weaknesses)

The main places I go to are:


Cirnopedia (http://pso2.cirnopedia.info) - English reference site
Outer Haven Wiki (http://ohpso2.wikia.com/) - Good source for mechanics. Look at their Damage Formula (http://ohpso2.wikia.com/wiki/Damage_Formula) page for the question you had about elemental weaknesses.
Bumped PSUBlog (http://www.bumped.org/psublog/) (Should it be PSO2Blog?) - Translations of upcoming updates, trailers and patch notes
PSO2 SWiki (http://pso2.swiki.jp/index.php) - Japanese Wiki with very detailed information and high res pictures


And some gameplay videos:

Invertex's YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/InvertexMN)
Milranduil's Bo/Hu Nab2 Time Attack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxaB-YPSYkM)
Jet Boots vs Gigur Gunnegam SH (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEYieExK2aA)
Dual Blades vs Gigur Gunnegam SH (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA3TyhP_tk4)

[TaigaUC]

....

Good post!

[Stealthcmc1974]

Too long to reasonably post...

You win. That's one of the most well thought out posts I've seen. You win cake. :cake:

[Rien]

I'm going to give Destruct Wing a try again soon. Whenever I tried using it before, I kept missing the target.

This isn't the first PA to have this problem, so here's what I CAN say:

Don't press it at close range. You're in range to use much better photon arts already, so why would you?

[TaigaUC]

I don't use Destruct Wing at close range. It misses at long range.
It goes past them at medium range or less. Maybe that's what you meant.
But the point is, why would there be such an attack that ends with a melee strike, yet tends to pass through the target? Seems like bad coding to me.

Anyway, I found another reason to prefer Gran Wing: it can move vertically.

[Kondibon]

Gran is an overall better approach, but Distruct Wing is easier to use a second time if you came up short and has a longer range. It's best used against large, or grounded enemies. I wouldn't recommend trying to use it on small flying things since missing causes you to fly past them.

[darthvader]

So I'm still pretty new to this game, only been playing for about two weeks, and my main class is bouncer.

I enjoy the idea of using the boots along with techniques, but I don't how well techniques scale through out levels( as in are they better toward end game) or if they do less damage as a bouncer compared to a forcer or techer. I also feel like boots are better for groups

Dual blades seem to a lot more mobile though and much better for bosses than jet boots, and for my character right now it seems like the PA's hit harder even though my boots are a lot better in terms of stats.

I kind of want to do both by using the Bouncer Mag skill, but I don't know if it will leave my damage lack luster in both areas since its only %50. I'm also not sure what is entirely worth it in the the bouncer tree and I don't really want to regret any of the skill points I spend

TL:DR - Dual Blades vs Jet boots, which is better or what are the advantages of each. Is Bouncer Mag worth it if I want to use both, or is the damage lost from not focusing one or the other to significant.

P.S. Also do any more advanced resources exist for this game? I want to figure some of this stuff out myself, but my knowledge of the game is far to small, and I don't know how everything interacts(like how much damage is gained from elemental weaknesses)

Any help is appreciated.

if you want to use both, it's better to just focus on s-atk build and do switch strike on jet boots.

though it will limit your choice of jet boots. i'm using s-atk build jet boots and dual blades myself, with bio jet boots as my choice of weapon. so far it's quite strong since i can switch between rapid boost and photon blade ferver depending on the situations.

and dont forget that rapid boost skill increases your moment gale's (including the following zanverse) hitting speed, i abused it well enough to the point that i even beat fire fo in td1 at overall score by just using crafted 9* jet boots and moment gale. (though i do switch with my fubuki smth dual blade whenever my rapid boost skill on cd)