Techer Guide/Thread 2.0

[Jonexe]

ill post it with an explanation on how to make it work in a couple of hours, i dont have the gamepad with me, so i cant export the profile atm, "program only works if the gamepad is connected"

edit.

might aswell do a cool tutorial around it.

ill post it soon.

That would be awesome.

I've come up with a couple questions again. I swear these ones are somewhat less noobish... somewhat.

1. I'm starting to look into crafting my techs... but I'm a bit unsure how to go with it. I assume that power crafts are probably the best for most things; but what about for less direct improvements like for Shifta and Deband? Something like quicker charge time makes it more usable on the battlefield, but the increased hits means I'll have to cast them less often. Is there one that's generally more helpful than the other?

2. I'm not too keen on using the half health skills from fighter, but I do enjoy using a mix of melee and techs. Is the "Melee-Centric Hybrid" fighter build going to provide me the most power in that situation? Or would I be better off going with a Weak Stance braver build? I'm likely to stick with wands when it counts, and only use other weapons to goof around.

[Rayden]

The power crafts are actually pretty bad for the most part, as far as I know, although there are some exceptions. Reducing charge times and reducing PP costs is much better.

For Shifta and Deband, I prefer the Concentrated recipes. They give a bigger range boost than Multi, which is very important for supporting others. They reduce charge time, which makes it quicker and easier to cast buffs. Finally, for a Techer main, you can already reach the full three minutes with four ticks, thanks to Extend Assist and Long-Time Assist. The fifth tick that Multi adds doesn't really do anything.

Fighter and Braver both work for mixing melee and techs. Braver is capable of more damage when using charged techs, matching elemental weaknesses, and especially when using bows, and it's what seems to get recommended more often here. Personally though, I can't stand Braver. It's such a pain to work with. Fighter gives you more freedom and flexibility in how you play, and it's also better for uncharged techs with an Elysion. Personal preference plays a part, so you could try out both and see what you like better.

[LonelyGaruga]

I was always a Te/Hu, as you know. Are builds more "do what you want"-ish now? Which of the three listed picks is the most popular right now for Techer sub, and which is the least? Reasoning behind those answers would be super appreciated.

For the record I'm considering going Te/Fi, but Te/Hu kinda holds a special place in my heart as the OG melee techer. However...I'm also considering going Bouncer main if things aren't currently how I like it.

There's more variety in builds now. I wouldn't say "do what you want" as in, "do literally anything and it'll be super awesome", but there's a point where you can make a good argument for using different builds, there's no one single way to build the trees.

Right now, I would say Te/Br > Te/Hu >= Te/Fi (Te/Hu and Te/Fi are pretty close, but I think Te/Hu has a bit of an edge overall). Te/Br has the best tech damage, excellent melee damage, and superb subclass weapons (katana for Combat Finish and Asagiri dashing, bows for Banish Arrow combos, which are pretty much the best boss killer out of anything Techer can do, only Te/Hu Holding Current can challenge it). Te/Hu has the best wand melee (combining strikes and Wand Gear), also has excellent subclass weapons, and some nifty utility skills like Massive Hunter and Automate Halfline, but falls behind on tech damage. Te/Fi is balanced, but with its competition, leans more toward using techs, as it has the best uncharged tech damage and the best off-element tech damage (Te/Br has the best tech damage only when targeting elemental weaknesses). Te/Fi also has the worst subclass weapons out of the three, to a point where I don't recommend using them (but thankfully its wand and tech usage is very good so this isn't a huge loss).

I don't recommend Te/Bo because its skill tree is quite poor for a subclass. It offers little damage (Elemental Stance and Shifta Air Attack Bonus are basically it, and wands have zero mobility in the air so SAAB is awful) and poor utility skills (Critical Field adds barely any damage, PP restoring skills are bad because Techer's PP consumption is low enough that Techer's own PP skills easily manage its costs, and healing skills are dumb when Resta and Megiverse cover that perfectly), which leaves subclass weapons as Te/Bo's main advantage. DBs and JBs are most useful for doing damage, which Te/Hu, Te/Fi, and Te/Br all have better methods for, so the subclass weapons are of limited usefulness.

As I recall, you specifically liked Te/Hu for wand melee. Te/Hu is still unparalleled in wand melee capabilities, so that should suit you perfectly well. EP3 changed up Massive Hunter from an unreliable skill that only sometimes provided super armor to always having super armor at all times, on top of the 25% damage reduction. Combined with Deband Cut and Deband Toughness, you're basically invincible. Automate Halfline can also be used to make it unnecessary to heal even when deliberately facetanking attacks. The usefulness of this is that it creates attack opportunities that otherwise would be non-existent, which increases DPS and versatility considerably. Massive Hunter lasts for 45s with a 45s cooldown afterwards, so it's pretty abusable.

Wired lances and partisans are also great weapons to use for Te/Hu, but I dunno if you'd be willing to try them out or not.

1. I'm starting to look into crafting my techs... but I'm a bit unsure how to go with it. I assume that power crafts are probably the best for most things; but what about for less direct improvements like for Shifta and Deband? Something like quicker charge time makes it more usable on the battlefield, but the increased hits means I'll have to cast them less often. Is there one that's generally more helpful than the other?

2. I'm not too keen on using the half health skills from fighter, but I do enjoy using a mix of melee and techs. Is the "Melee-Centric Hybrid" fighter build going to provide me the most power in that situation? Or would I be better off going with a Weak Stance braver build? I'm likely to stick with wands when it counts, and only use other weapons to goof around.

Tech crafting (for Techer):

Foie: Blazing 3 or Efficient 1
Gifoie: Concentrated 3 (Blazing 3 for Force)
Rafoie: Blazing 3
Safoie: Blazing 3 or Efficient 3
Shifta: Concentrated 3 (Multi 3 for non-Techer)
Nafoie: Concentrated 3 (Blazing 3 for Force)
Ilfoie: No craft

Barta: Efficient 3 or Ice Fang 2
Gibarta: Efficient 3 or Ice Fang 3
Rabarta: Ice Fang 3
Sabarta: Ice Fang 3 or no craft
Deband: Concentrated 3 (Multi 3 for non-Techer)
Nabarta: Ice Fang 3
Ilbarta: Ice Fang 3

Zonde: Concentrated 3 or Efficient 3 (Concentrated 3 for Force)
Gizonde: Supercharged 3
Razonde: Efficient 3 or Supercharged 3 (Supercharged 3 for Force)
Sazonde: Supercharged 3 or Swift 3 (Supercharged 3 for Force)
Zondeel: Fierce 3
Nazonde: Concentrated 3
Ilzonde: Concentrated 3

Zan: Concentrated 3
Gizan: Concentrated 3
Razan: Multi 3
Sazan: Efficient 3 or Windslicer 3
Nazan: Concentrated 3 or Windslicer 3
Zanverse: Concentrated 3
Ilzan: Concentrated 3

Grants: Efficient 3
Gigrants: Concentrated 3
Ragrants: Concentrated 3
Resta: Brilliant 3
Anti: Concentrated 3
Nagrants: Brilliant 3 or Multi 3
Ilgrants: Swift 3

Megid: Efficient 3 or Umbral 3
Gimegid: Concentrated 3
Ramegid: Concentrated 3
Samegid: Concentrated 3
Megiverse: Concentrated 3
Namegid: Umbral 3
Ilmegid: Umbral 3

Italics indicates my personal preference. Notes in parenthesis indicate where Techer or Force skills change craft recipe priorities.

Te/Fi skills: You don't have to use -line skills. Try this for Te/Fi. If you want to use wands exclusively, I would recommend sticking with Te/Fi. Te/Fi's subclass weapons are pretty much strictly for goofing around, while Te/Hu and Te/Br's subclass weapons are actually pretty important (barring swords for Te/Hu) to use effectively.

[Jonexe]

Snip

Wow! Much more than I expected. Thanks once again!

[Qualia]

Te/Hu is still unparalleled in wand melee capabilities, so that should suit you perfectly well.

I still don't see how Te/Hu is better than Te/Br when it comes to wand melee, especially with attack advance's 150% damage boost to normal attacks. Not to mention, average stance is an unconditional boost to both normal attacks and wand gear explosions. Assuming you pick weak stance for techs, Te/Br's melee still outperforms Te/Hu when it comes to groups of mobs. So far the only thing Te/Hu has going for it is the extra 150 SATK and automate halfline.

[LonelyGaruga]

Not really.

JA Bonus 1: 1.1x
JA Bonus 2: 1.1x
Fury Stance: 1.2x
Fury Stance Up 1: 1.05x
Fury Stance Up 2: 1.05x
Fury Combo: 1.1x (for wand strikes only)

Total: 1.76 for wand strikes, 1.6x for WG.

Attack Advance: 1.5x (for wand strikes only)
Average Stance: 1.15x
Average Stance Up: 1.1x
Weak Stance: 1.35x (penalty on wand strikes)
Weak Stance Up: 1.1x

Average: 1.89x for wand strikes, 1.26 for Wand Gear
Weak: 1.42x for wand strikes, 1.48 for Wand Gear.

I forgot the x for Braver's Wand Gear multipliers...(-_\)

You have to go Average to exceed Fury in the striking portion, but then your Wand Gear is pitiful. And if you go Weak, you have to be attacking a weak point to exceed Fury (in this case it becomes 2.22x), which the majority of mobs don't have, and your Wand Gear damage will still be weaker. Also, because bow usage is extremely important to competent Te/Br bossing, there usually isn't enough SP to get both stances, and it's usually detrimental to do so. Between the two, Weak Stance is the more important, so Average Stance won't always even be available. As an example, here's the Braver tree I would personally use as Te/Br. 8 SP left after getting the important katana and bow skills, Weak Stance, Attack Advance, and Snatch Step. Average Stance isn't important enough to warrant cutting out any of that stuff imo, and as a 20 SP investment, it's impractical to fit in.

So yeah, in terms of mobbing (which is what wand melee is best at), Te/Hu is unsurpassed.

[Qualia]

You have to go Average to exceed Fury in the striking portion, but then your Wand Gear is pitiful.

But hunter provides literally no benefit for wand gear explosions. Those are tech based, unless I'm missing something here.

[LonelyGaruga]

They're striking based. They do use T-ATK though, and they also receive the full benefits of Weak Stance and Elemental PSE Boosts, like techs (this is because of Wand Gear's unique damage formula). But as far as skill-based multipliers go, they're striking based, like jet boots.

[Gardios]

Wait, I though JA Bonus didn't apply to wand gear? Or did they fix it (+EWH) sometime down the road...?

Am I still living in 2013?

[LonelyGaruga]

Sega changed it with EP3's implementation, but Fury Combo inexplicably doesn't work with Wand Gear still. I forgot when EWH was fixed, but I think it was before I started playing Techer (which was before Wand Lovers gave Step). Change took place somewhere in EP2.