Fighter Discussion

[Stormwalker]

I still don't see how any sub could be more effective than Hunter, now that we know that you can have both Brave and Fury Stances up at the same time (not to mention JA Bonus, and easy access to S-DEF Up if you need it to equip the units you want without loading down your mag with defense).

That's not to say I won't give other subclasses a try eventually, but I am very satisfied with the performance of FI/HU. In fact, I'm thrilled with it, especially since I am finding that I actually get to kill things myself in MPA now instead of having them shot out from under me, because my damage has been improved drastically.

Which means now I can do MPA and actually enjoy it!

[Pillan]

The one that can be more effective that Hunter would be Gunner, purely because it allows you to use photon arts nearly twice as often. Of course, adding Gunner does not give you the satisfaction of bigger numbers, just more, slightly smaller numbers that can add up with a play style that takes advantage of them.

[Stormwalker]

Oh, I understand the theory behind FI/GU and why it could potentially be very strong. It's just hard to imagine a bigger overall performance increase than the one I'm getting from FI/HU.

Since I have two FI's, and one is already levelling RA and the other already levelling FO, I will probably end up giving both FI/GU and FI/TE a try sooner or later. If nothing else for variety.

[gigawuts]

FI/GU is about sustained fighting and having more options at your disposal. Shield enemies? lol nbd let me get my mechguns and keep meleeing like I don't even care.

[Stormwalker]

Well, I already lol at shield enemies (especially Ga Wonda) because they are laughably easy to kill with knuckles and Wise Stance, but I see what you're getting at.

Actually, I think this is the thing I like most about FI. It comes with tons of options by default. I am continually discovering new ways to kill enemies that used to be annoying. And with FI/HU and Fury Stance, I can even use my gunslash competently again, which brings Aiming Shot and Thrillsplode back into the mix as well.

Of course, on FI I very rarely actually *need* to use the gunslash... sometimes I'll run Cressida's "gunslash only" client orders just to give myself an excuse to use the thing because it is a fun weapon to play with.

[gigawuts]

That's something I've noticed as well. Daggers are an excellent replacement for the gunslash's gun part, and dubs are an excellent stand-in for thrillsplosion (which, mind, is still fantastic on fighter, albeit difficult to coordinate properly with the stances because enemies move, and the roll moves you out from the best situation to use it in - when you're surrounded in all directions by enemies).

[CelestialBlade]

FO or TE is never a bad subclass idea for Fighter because we apparently have the third-highest T-ATK in the game.

I'm personally a huge fan of FI/HU because of stacking Brave and Fury Stances and 120% JAs. That percentage starts making a huge difference with Fighter's massive S-ATK pool, plus the additional 20% from HU.

Fighter's a pretty mean subclass idea by itself. One of my friends is messing with the idea of RA/FI: Weak Bullet, Weak Hit Advance 1+2, Standing Snipe 1+2, Brave/Wise Stance, Brave/Wise S Up, and even Chase Advance. That's sure to put up some absolutely crazy numbers.

[darthvader]

Get the ups to 10 instead of the regular skills. You get more out of the bonus and a smaller penalty.

A newman male only loses a small amount of s-atk compared to a male cast, so little that it doesn't even matter if you get in even 1 more attack than a male cast.

edit: This is the generally agreed upon skilltree to go with: http://ryuhiroshi.ry.funpic.de/pso2/...2ebrbGNIbGFIbf
The 4 extra SP is for whatever you want. Either stance is good. Most people prefer brave, since enemies always face whatever is damaging them the most, which will probably be you.

Tonight the servers go down and the level cap will be raised to 50, plus we're supposedly getting a second +5 SP client order, so the SP count will be 60. Honestly, after just 51 SP this class is basically done, everything else is fluff.

okay thx for that skill tree, i'll follow that for now

and subclass system is awesome, i got like +50 base stats frm my lv 31 hunter. i think ima go make it 40 first so it'll become more awesome

[gigawuts]

If this was any other class I'd say to wait in case you change your mind based on the new skills, but fighter has probably the best balanced skilltree in the game. All three gears are useful, and both stances are useful. It's not like guard stance, there are indeed cases where even while having aggro wise stance will be the way to go (katadran tails are the best example). In other cases brave stance is the only option (big varder pretty much always faces you with his moving torso thing, which registers any of his parts as in front of his "center," so always gets the brave stance bonus)

So, dubs are amazing, daggers are amazing, fists are amazing; they're just amazing in different ways. Everyone of all playstyles can find uses for all three weapons, and both stances have uses where the other hits a brick wall. The real question is what you do after that tree. Max step advance? Go for the chase skills? Do the deadline/halfline slayer skills? It's up to you, I haven't even chosen myself.

[Geistritter]

That's something I've noticed as well. Daggers are an excellent replacement for the gunslash's gun part, and dubs are an excellent stand-in for thrillsplosion (which, mind, is still fantastic on fighter, albeit difficult to coordinate properly with the stances because enemies move, and the roll moves you out from the best situation to use it in - when you're surrounded in all directions by enemies).

Well, you can control your roll, at least. With practice you can set yourself up just about anywhere you like within its distance, including not moving at all. It's also the key to repeated applications in the same area.

Thrillsplosion regardless doesn't have massive application on Fighter, but it is useful in the Mines because of its ability to easily hit weak points on top of enemies that regularly swarm you. It's also useful for quickly taking out the quintet of little robots that make a lot of noise and not much else; Fighter has more or less no crowd control options in the air otherwise.