Swordsingers don't add insane damage to a group, but damage, healing, speed, defense, magic defense, magic defense, magic defense and some more magic defense. :)
If if you want raw damage output for the grind go BD.
Would anybody be kind enough to post 2 screenshots of stats of the character with and without the bd dances. I'm mostly interrested in seeing the increase in p.atk and atk. speed. I've checked arround here and there but i couldn't find any pictures showing the difference.
Swordsingers don't add insane damage to a group, but damage, healing, speed, defense, magic defense, magic defense, magic defense and some more magic defense. :)
Huh, tell that to an archer party and they'll crit you into base particles :p
Critting 5 times in a row is pretty insane. BD's damage potential might be a little more reliable though. Tis the nature of crits :)
Its hard for a sws's song of hunter to compete with dance of fire, dance of fury, and dance of warrior for melee damage. If you put the two together though, it's a match made in heaven. :p
BD.
Because BD has more Damaging oriented dances. SoH is very good but:
Fire/Fury is a bit better. This is for phisyical attacks w/ high crit rate (daggers/archers).
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For nuking it's no brainer: Concetrate/Mystic/Siren (later on).
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SoH bumps my crit rate from 308 to around 430. Bumping the crit rate by whopping 40%. Effect of Fire is harder to estimate (due to VS/passive) but it's close to 1.4-1.5. However adding extra speed from fury makes BD a bit better.
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Morealso BD has hex which completely owns for melee. So in melee grp best dances are: Fire/Fury/Mystic. If BD has emp. no sps are needed for hex to land.
Note: hex is a racial skill, so any AW/SK can do it but BD has best melee mattack self buffed (unless SK uses some magic sword, also popular). Not really PR, though.
Song of Hunter is insane simply because of buffs like Death Whisper and Dance of Fire. Dance of Fire DOUBLES critical damage or something near that, but Song of Hunter makes you crit A LOT more. So as one class BDs make melee parties damage output greater but coupled with a SwS and it gets insane, also nice to add a Warlock Blessing of Queen is awesome.
SwS are a defense oriented class and if you ask me are built for PvP and raids. Most of their songs only are useful in PvP. But once a Sword Singer hits lvl 77 they will probably be a necessity to an INSANE nuker group. They get a song that raises MP regeneration while reducing MP consumption on magic spells and ANOTHER one that decreases party members' MP consumption and re-use time while using physical/magic skills and of course this all stacks. Their lvl 78 song is for archers and melee though.
Not really; ES summon does it the same (and you can choose between recovery and mana regen) and honestly SH/Necro doesn't need any mana regen (esp if they opt for cursed bones... b2m restores more than the death spike...)
Dominator/Spectra Dancerl/ES+nukers (optionally add SE) is the perfect nuker grp. ES can heal the b2m as well (even so low grp heal restores almost 200hp, which for entite grp is a lot). ES can cure the silence which is nice, nice.
Adding SwS to the grp would feel like buff bot. Buff one song each 2 mins and try to hit once.
uhhh, but its 2 songs with 3 main benefits. MP regen higher, MP use lower (BOTH of them lower MP use so it stacks), and quick re-use on spells. Screw [censored] Necros, go for a group of SH (Storm Screamers). People exagerate Necros so much and really one of the only reasons people fear them is Transfer Pain, which the summon can get dropped in seconds by an archer or nuker. I would agree ES would be a fine choice as well but you get MORE with Sword Muse songs and they don't cost any adena whatsoever. As much as I love Elemental Summoners they are in no way better for XP nuker group than a lvl 77 Sword Muse, not to mention a Sword Muse could tank/pull well. Using a bow to pull mobs and using agression when they reach you can keep them off the nukers better than what poeple think. And MP would be a non-issue for Sword Muse even if she/he is using a bow and aggression.
Spectral dancer is for tanking pulling. (and Spectral dance is a lot more important and mp)
ES gets the summon earlier than 77 which is a plus. ES can spam battle heals as well (ES spam quite fast as well). No way you can pull aggro w/ aggression if the mob is hit by high lvl buffed screamer.
SH and Necros [they are the only classes that have b2m 5, that's why i put in the same) are virtually the same in PvE grps w/ SH having wind based nuke(s)[vortex later]. But necro gloom is real cute, so you need one.
ES pony does more dmg than a sword muse for sure.
As for dropping summon you risk: gloom, slow, and sleep/anchor.
In my xp (77 Screamer on PTS) in dark omens and dimension rift, tanking is not so really needed in a full (and fully buffed) nuker grp. [Tanking the RB in dimension rift is excluded] Mobs just dont last enough. 4k HP is quite bit for a SH that has 2 drains skills. Plus sorc mass sleep is always an option.
I still think no matter what having high MP regen, ridiculously low MP usage, and quicker spell re-use all at the same time makes a Sword Muse a MUST in best XP nuker group. You should try it sometime, lol. because I don't think you have
I aint nuker; and the next PTS is wayyy ahead. I was Screamer/S.Saint(both 77) on PTS for a change.
Indeed, I never partied w/ Sword muse on PTS.But I did duo w/ the Screamer and SwS just to have extra protection for sudden PvP. Vita/Wind/Earth are quite nice agaist archers... Being faster than SR is funny.