How should I progress from here?

[AutumnChronicle]

Hey guys! I'm currently a Lv55/52 FiHu that's probably underperforming for his level. I'd really like to move on from VH quests but I'm having a really hard time fighting XH/AQ bosses since I take an absurdly long amount of time to kill them and take lots of damage from a single hit. On the bright side though, I can still hold my own during VH EQs.

As for context, I'm still using Red/Blue weaponry + some Matterboard weapons and Snow Banther units. All of them are fully grinded too. I usually play solo too since I don't have any physical or online friends to play with, so things like extreme quests are hard for me to do. Other than that, I would use the Premium ticket sitting in my inventory, or join a team, but I only get to play on weekends because of work at the moment... T^T

So that's the situation! Any advice?

[Edson Drake]

That's the problem, blue/red weapons are way outclassed by any 10* star weapon, same as for your units. Can you get premium?

Might also want to share your skilltrees.

[TehCubey]

Run magatsu and/or td emergency quests. Drown in 10* weapons.

I second the skilltree request. Show us yours!

[wefwq]

Run EQ and hope for better weapons to drop, or craft yours if you have enough materials and money.
Before doing so i'd like to advise you to check the wiki first.
Additionally you can easly receive a better weapon (compared to your current red/blue AQ one) from MB and EQ (Magatsu being prime example).

As for unit, have you got into EP3 MB yet?
Latest MB gave you *10 unit, fully affixed and it's a pretty good one too.
Also make sure all of your equipment already +10'd for max results.

For "it's take too long to kill enemies", are pretty much depends on your weapon types and skill tree build.

[AutumnChronicle]

Here're my skilltrees (http://pso2-skill.pwnedgalaxy.net/skillcalc.php?09dAbfmbdImbxImbxImbxImbxImbxImbxImc XlE6dodBIol2dBIkINjFXIkin000000doInIdINdAIbGKGKfHn fdAIb00000fdoib0000000fdo000000lo00000007oIn000000 00IbIo0000008doIb0000008). Spent quite a bit of SP on Flash Guards since I play solo all the time. Have been wondering if I should use a reset pass since the Brave/Wise Stance Up skills don't really feel all that useful.

Somehow getting 10* weapons for other classes during whatever EQs I manage to be around for, but I have gotten some for Fi/Hu lately... though I'm reluctant to spend the meseta on grinding/affixing them. Kinda want to spend the money on some recurring weapons like Stag and Dusters if I could get my hands on them. Haven't touched the EP3 MBs either since I'm still on EP2 and waiting for the rest of the MBs to be translated.

I do have a Premium Ticket in my storage, but it's not worth it for me to use it at the moment. Like I said, don't get to play until weekends due to work. :'(

[Cadfael]

Run EQ and hope for better weapons to drop, or craft yours if you have enough materials and money.
Before doing so i'd like to advise you to check the wiki first.
Additionally you can easly receive a better weapon (compared to your current red/blue AQ one) from MB and EQ (Magatsu being prime example).

As for unit, have you got into EP3 MB yet?
Latest MB gave you *10 unit, fully affixed and it's a pretty good one too.
Also make sure all of your equipment already +10'd for max results.

For "it's take too long to kill enemies", are pretty much depends on your weapon types and skill tree build.

The first EP3 MB gives you a Hiei set with some decent affixes if you haven't gotten that far into the rest of the Matterboards. Otherwise, Magatsu EQ drops a ton of decent weapons, so you should be able to find something better than what you're currently using.

[Dycize]

Crafting units is also worth a look at for some easy defense boost if your units are too much behind (actually, you're using banther units... so you'd get a straight up upgrade from crafting your units).
And yeah, with a skill tree like that, no wonder you take time to kill mobs! Your only damage boost in HU is 10 points in JA up...
In fact, you're probably not using any of HU's stances right now huh?
I hope you aren't because until level 10, guard stance decreases your damage...
A maxed out fury stance only makes you receive +5% damage and give +20% damage.
Heck, even just -one- point in it is worth it for +10% damage (admittedly you'd take 15% more melee damage, but with your flash guards, you're already at 38%, so you still have an edge).
The boost from fury stance is also unconditionnal, so even if you mess up your JA timing, you'll get increased damage. It's just better than JA bonus overall. Unless you plan on using guard stance eventually, then all I can say to you is : don't expect to kill mobs fast any time soon.
And your FI stances should give you quite the damage boost, no need to change them. You probably just need to watch out more on mobs which part of them is front and which is back.

[isCasted]

You should have consulted with guide section of this forum before deciding, really. Game's meta is about killing things faster than they touch you, especially for a glass cannon class like Fighter. Your Hunter tree is too Flashy with its Guards, it needs more Fury, much more. When you max out Fury Stance skills after using a reset pass, you are going to be surprised at how much faster stuff is going to die.

Red/Blue weapons and Snow units are heavily outclassed. Crafting them all is the quickest thing you can do for a start, but after that you should consult Cirnopedia on what're better 10* for you, get them and roll with them until you get time and power to get actually good stuff.

At least you knew you were out of place in SH EQs

[Chrysheight]

Outside of everyone else. I really don't have anything to add to that conversation. But you said you were solo and didn't have many friends to play with. What ship are you on?

[Selphea]

Here're my skilltrees (http://pso2-skill.pwnedgalaxy.net/skillcalc.php?09dAbfmbdImbxImbxImbxImbxImbxImbxImc XlE6dodBIol2dBIkINjFXIkin000000doInIdINdAIbGKGKfHn fdAIb00000fdoib0000000fdo000000lo00000007oIn000000 00IbIo0000008doIb0000008). Spent quite a bit of SP on Flash Guards since I play solo all the time. Have been wondering if I should use a reset pass since the Brave/Wise Stance Up skills don't really feel all that useful.

Somehow getting 10* weapons for other classes during whatever EQs I manage to be around for, but I have gotten some for Fi/Hu lately... though I'm reluctant to spend the meseta on grinding/affixing them. Kinda want to spend the money on some recurring weapons like Stag and Dusters if I could get my hands on them. Haven't touched the EP3 MBs either since I'm still on EP2 and waiting for the rest of the MBs to be translated.

I do have a Premium Ticket in my storage, but it's not worth it for me to use it at the moment. Like I said, don't get to play until weekends due to work. :'(

Yea you should use a reset pass but as others have said, its to fix the Hunter tree. Fighter tree is mostly fine, but you can drop Wise Stance Up for now to free up some points.

There's a lot of things that you could do at this point, but if you were considering dropping Brave and Wise Stance Up - which would actually drop your damage further - I think playstyle is the place to start.

The thing about Fighter is that it's a high effort/high reward class. Its weapons are all short-ranged, and because of how its skill tree is designed, you need to get used to running at 25% HP, managing PP for PP Slayer, rotating PAs for Tech Arts JA, staying in the face of mobs for Brave Stance and so on.

Not to mention the work needed to get even its basic capabilities up. A high-level Chaos Riser, which is essential to Fighter mobbing, is an SHAQ-only drop. Other Fighter PAs can have up to a 15.5% jump going from level 16 to 17, so a lot of your damage is locked behind drops you'll get at level 70. Done right, Fighter is capable of very good damage - amazing damage even. Fighter mains typically get the fastest boss kills out of all melee classes, but compared to other classes, you have to work a lot harder to get there.

In terms of farming involved, I'd say it's less than Forces because you don't need to craft PAs, and less than the rainbow set classes, Bouncer and Techer, because Fighters aren't bound to rainbow sets. However, due to the exorbitant cost of Add Class: Fighter, the need to get high level PAs and some special gear that does things no other Fighter item does, like Meteor Cudgel, IMO Fighter's gearing curve is higher than every other class not mentioned yet.

So before I create a long and arduous path for Fighter that could possibly span months with weekend-only play, I figure I should check whether you're happy with Fighter in the first place. What weapons and PAs do you usually use for mobbing and bossing, and do you feel that their hitbox size and/or lack of range or invincibility are causing you more problems than your lack of damage? And how do you feel about Fighter's conditionals like watching your PP bar to make sure it's below 50% but not 0%, rotating PAs, keeping track of positioning etc?

[AutumnChronicle]

Outside of everyone else. I really don't have anything to add to that conversation. But you said you were solo and didn't have many friends to play with. What ship are you on?

Ship 2! I stay in the SEA region so EQs aren't too hard to catch, but the time difference makes it kinda hard to see Western players.


Yea you should use a reset pass but as others have said, its to fix the Hunter tree. Fighter tree is mostly fine, but you can drop Wise Stance Up for now to free up some points.

There's a lot of things that you could do at this point, but if you were considering dropping Brave and Wise Stance Up - which would actually drop your damage further - I think playstyle is the place to start.

The thing about Fighter is that it's a high effort/high reward class. Its weapons are all short-ranged, and because of how its skill tree is designed, you need to get used to running at 25% HP, managing PP for PP Slayer, rotating PAs for Tech Arts JA, staying in the face of mobs for Brave Stance and so on.

Not to mention the work needed to get even its basic capabilities up. A high-level Chaos Riser, which is essential to Fighter mobbing, is an SHAQ-only drop. Other Fighter PAs can have up to a 15.5% jump going from level 16 to 17, so a lot of your damage is locked behind drops you'll get at level 70. Done right, Fighter is capable of very good damage - amazing damage even. Fighter mains typically get the fastest boss kills out of all melee classes, but compared to other classes, you have to work a lot harder to get there.

In terms of farming involved, I'd say it's less than Forces because you don't need to craft PAs, and less than the rainbow set classes, Bouncer and Techer, because Fighters aren't bound to rainbow sets. However, due to the exorbitant cost of Add Class: Fighter, the need to get high level PAs and some special gear that does things no other Fighter item does, like Meteor Cudgel, IMO Fighter's gearing curve is higher than every other class not mentioned yet.

So before I create a long and arduous path for Fighter that could possibly span months with weekend-only play, I figure I should check whether you're happy with Fighter in the first place. What weapons and PAs do you usually use for mobbing and bossing, and do you feel that their hitbox size and/or lack of range or invincibility are causing you more problems than your lack of damage? And how do you feel about Fighter's conditionals like watching your PP bar to make sure it's below 50% but not 0%, rotating PAs, keeping track of positioning etc?

Yea, I definitely enjoy Fi more than Hu\Ra\Fo. Brave/Wise Stance Up were amongst the first few skills I maxed out, so O guess I'm just desensitised to its boosts? As for playstyle, I alternate between all 3 weapons. DS for mobbing, daggers for mobile bosses and knuckles for slower targets. Have trouble dodging/guarding when using DS or Knuckles though.

DS: Illusion Rave>Acro Effect>Chaos Riser
TD: Ooorchestra>Symphonic Drive>Bloody Sarabande
KN: Flash Thousand>Heartless Impact>Backhand Smash

Don't really have a problem putting PP Slayer or the Stances to work but Halfline Slayer would be a lot harder since I have less room for mistakes.

[NovaanVerdiano]

Not sure if that has been mentioned, but from what I know red and blue weapons don't receive a hidden DEX bonus, i.e. their damage variance is much wider than that of other rares - So literally every other rare would be better.

Additionally, since you're on ship 02, I may suggest that you connect to the pso2proxy chat, either via the public proxy (if you're using that) or an IRC-client, as most people there are on ship 02 and may help you out with things like dailies and whatnot; would be a way to fill your friendlist and get some people to play with.

[AutumnChronicle]

I see. Just out of curiosity, is there any in-game alternative? Like a casual team made by forum members or something?

[NovaanVerdiano]

I see. Just out of curiosity, is there any in-game alternative? Like a casual team made by forum members or something?

Not that I know of, but I never informed myself about that.

[Vampy]

There really isn't a forum team so to speak there are some forum members on the same team sure but there are different teams in general. For the time being just use the proxy chat if you want a lot of the people there are friendly and you could also maybe find a team while speaking in proxy chat.

[TaigaUC]

As has been said, Fi/Hu is one of the most difficult to play efficiently.
I feel that I had squeeze the most out of mine before they started to feel decent.

I play solo most of the time and this is basically my skill tree for Fi/Hu:
http://pso2-skill.pwnedgalaxy.net/skillcalc.php?09dAbxImbxImbxImbxImbxImbxImbxImbxIm 0jdOdBdoIbi2dBeKINfdnIdJksNI2000000dodAI2bndAbofGK sSJ2IndnIb00000fdoib0000000fdo000000lo00000007oIn0 0000000IbIo0000008doIb0000008

I highly recommend not getting Wise Stance, especially if you're soloing most of the time.
I do screw up and die sometimes. Moreso if I'm messing around with Limit Break.
But I think that if you want more defensive ability, you're probably better off doing most of that via equipment instead of skills.
You can always get more +HP affixes or drink Deband/+HP potions.

A friend recently levelled a knuckle Fi/Hu. I helped them get their character up to par.
I recommended doing Zieg's crafting quests (gets you some cash) to get his 11 star units (I went with the melee+HP set because Duman kinda needs the defense).
Was going to max-extend a weapon for them, but they had a nice 11 star drop, so we maxed that out instead.

If you want a quick temporary weapon to use, pick a cheap 7-9 star (preferably with a good latent), get that to +10 (with or without latent) and then extend it as much as you can.
High level crafted/extended weapons are pretty decent for SH (the recipes that use silver, as they have much less damage variance).
But make sure you still have the stats to equip it. You can use -stat requirement items when extending.
I'm not sure which weapons have good latents now, so I can't make any good recommendations. Many seem to have +Brave Stance damage bonus.

For affixes, slap Stamina 3, Power 3 and Bayari Soul on everything.
For weapons, it should be very easy and cheap to affix fom 2 slot to 3 using Soul Receptor for 100% soul success.
Refer to Selphia's guide for more info.

Units are more expensive to affix. The Zieg units have so-so affixes on them off the bat.
If you're low on cash and decide to get those, I think you can hold off on affixing them.
Be warned that grinding a set of Zieg's units to +10 usually takes about 1-1.5m meseta.
You'll probably need around 300-500k to complete his crafting orders, and you'll get around 2.5m back.
Not sure how much extending a single weapon to maximum costs (depends on the weapon, too), but I'd say around 1.5m?

This url has a table that lists the total costs (in Japanese):
http://pso2.swiki.jp/index.php?%E3%82%AF%E3%83%A9%E3%83%95%E3%83%88%2F% E6%AD%A6%E8%A3%85%E3%82%A8%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9%E3%83 %86%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%AC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%94

[AutumnChronicle]

Thanks for all the advice so far guys! Managed to find some time to go on today and so far I've readjusted my skill trees and made some progress on getting the Zieg units. Hopefully I won't be too squishy now that I've removed all my Flash Guards for Fury Stance. Will update again when I get to actually play on Friday!