Im starting anew char, intending to be a swordsinger, but I need some advice on what to use/wear as I progress.
At the moment, Elf Fighter, lvl14, in bronze heavy gear inherited from my dorf, but need some direction on weapons and armor type for 20+ and 40+.
Am I right in thinking Heavy Armor is best choice until I get to grade B (because Ive got some skills to benefit from it), and switching to light armor once I get to grade B (due to benefit from songs/skills in evasion)? Or does neither really matter!
Next thing is, whats the best way to go for my weapon/weapons? SS seems to have sword/blunt mastery in skill list... Should I choose duals all the way from grade D? Seems thats a decent way, although dual-hand swords interest me. Or again, does it really not matter?
Anyones input is very welcome, as is any ideas for this char :)
First of all keep in mind I'm only speaking from general knowledge, as I have no personal experience with this class. So please don't take my advice too seriously.
I'd go with Heavy Armor all the way, as without the Light Armor mastery skill there is no advantage at all to wearing Light Armor. Once you hit Swordsinger you'll no longer be gaining armor masteries at all, but the natural defense from Heavy Armor and your left over mastery from your previous class seem like they'd be the only way to go. Evasion grows slowly for Heavy Armor classes, and if you're using a shield your evasion will be about nonexistant.
As for weapons, either blunts, swords, or duals would all be a decent option. Personally I would suggest the old sword and shield combo since you have skills to complement both your offense and defense in that case. If you find your damage output too low then you might want to switch over to duals even though you have no mastery with them. Their damage output should be higher, especially if you can enchant them a bit.
I hear from a lot of people that playing an Elven Knight is a painful experience. I'd suggest joining a clan or leveling with a group of friends since soloing can be a pain with this class. Once you reach Swordsinger though getting a party should be no problem.
In any case good luck reaching your desired class.
Im starting anew char, intending to be a swordsinger, but I need some advice on what to use/wear as I progress.
At the moment, Elf Fighter, lvl14, in bronze heavy gear inherited from my dorf, but need some direction on weapons and armor type for 20+ and 40+.
Am I right in thinking Heavy Armor is best choice until I get to grade B (because Ive got some skills to benefit from it), and switching to light armor once I get to grade B (due to benefit from songs/skills in evasion)? Or does neither really matter!
Next thing is, whats the best way to go for my weapon/weapons? SS seems to have sword/blunt mastery in skill list... Should I choose duals all the way from grade D? Seems thats a decent way, although dual-hand swords interest me. Or again, does it really not matter?
Anyones input is very welcome, as is any ideas for this char :)
I don't play a SwS. I play a Bladedancer, which plays almost exactly the same as a SwS. That being said, here is what I plan to do:
20-40: Use the best D heavy armor you can afford. Mithril is a great choice if this is your first character. The Brig set is better, but also far mor expensive. Also, with the Hoplon shield, the Mithril set will give you some extra hps, which is a huge bonus to a Knight as a tank. For a weapon, use a 1hander so you can get the hps bonus and occasional block from a shield. Again, get the best you can afford. Elven Long Sword works wonders.
40-52: Full plate armor is the best choice here, again if you can afford it. As an SwS, you might be inclined to think that a one-handed weapon is better than dualies, however this is not the case. The natural p.Atk on dual swords will wield a much better damage output than most other weapons until higher level, when your masteries start to compensate for the difference. So buy dualies. They are cheaper, too. I like Katana*Katana (increases attack speed by 4% when enchanted by +4 or more). Most people prefer the one with the crit bonus. It's your call.
52-60: I'm going blue wolf heavy. At this point, your masteries might start to help your damage output, but since you don't gain much or any bonus from using a shield, you might want to use a two-handed sword. It's your call. Damage output should be about the same with either dualies or a two-handed sword in this level range. And again, dualies are generally cheaper.
60-67: Tallum heavy is by far (in my opinion) the best choice to maximize damage output (which is what you want to do since you aren't really a tank). If you can afford it, buy it. And by this point, I would say use a two-handed sword.
67+: If you can afford S grade stuff, come buy me some. :D
I believe Heavy is the way to go, but I haven't leveled to B grade yet, so someone else there can tell you.
I will tell you one thing, I was originally given a blunt and I leveled with that for awhile, however, I was given permission by the owner to switch it to a Samuari Longsword at the Blacksmith of Mammon and the difference in damage was amazing.
The blunt, though it misses less, crit much less often and as a Swordsinger I do an amazing amount of damage through crits. The sword misses a bit more but the crits more than make up for it.
I haven't used duals, but I get no dual masteries and I do get Sword/blunt masteries. So I can't really answer to how well duals are.
I'm hoping to put a Focus SA on the sword. I've actually been trying to decide between the focus and the crit damage SA. With Song of Hunter I have been wondering if the crit damage is a better choice.
Heavy armor is your choise of armor. There was a time a swordsinger could effectively evasion-tank with light armor, but since the song got nerfed that's not really a good option anymore. However, there's not really a huge difference in p.def over time because you stop getting heavy armor masteries at 40, so it's really a matter of which you like, you'll take a lot of damage later on either way. Song of earth helps more than water currently anyway.
If you do end up tanking even occasionally, though, a heavy + shield combo is good with the few shield masteries from elven knight. For a weapon any focus weapon is good, your crit chance even self-buffed will be huge, a lot of SwS' go for two-handed focus blade. Crit damage SA may or may not end up being useful, with self buffs not so much, but with focus it can work. Dagger would be fine otherwise, but the lack of masteries starts to show in damage even if you crit a lot. Some use bows, but the lack of range and mp consumption don't make it a really attractive choise for PvE.
I've played a Swordsinger for quite awhile, here is what I'd suggest.
For Armour, always go heavy, you have masteries in it from being an Elven Knight so make use of them.
20 - 39: Armour wise, go with Brig. You don't need to get the full set because thats to expensive for the bonus that it gives you. So I'd just use top and bottoms and buy some RIP gloves, boots of power and a helmet.
Weapon, I'd go with Elven Long Sword if I was to become an Elven Knight again, but because its such a boring experience I'd just go with which ever makes it more fun for you but make sure its either a single sword, blunt, 2handed sword or duals.
40 - 51:
Best armour to go with is Fullplate, get the full set the helmet isn't that expensive compared to the brig helmet for the bonus it gives you.
Weapon: I went with Samuri Long Sword with Focus, by far the best choice. I tried a blunt at first but that just sucked, along with dual swords.
Past 40 don't go with dual swords at all unless you really like them yourself, once your character is level 49 you will become a crit machine with a focus weapon. When you critical with dual swords it will only critical with one of the swords so it will do less damage than a critical with a single/2handed sword.
52 - 60:
This is were you want to think to yourself what type of role would you like to take toward sieges (if you plan to siege at all).
I wanted to be able to actucally hit people for some damage during a siege, so I went with Bluewolf Heavy. But it you would rather stay alive as much as possible to keep the songs up. I'd suggest taking Doom heavy.
Weapon: For B-grade I choose to use a Greatsword with focus for PvE and a Bow of Peril for PvP/sieges. But if your going to take the role of a HP Sws, I'd suggest getting something with a Health SA like an Art of Battle Axe. Try to stay alive as long as possible and spam Entangle on characters as they pass you :P If you take up the DD Sws, try to get a hold of a bow from your clan if they can spare it and basically target people in robes.
But remember, the Elven Knight path is a very painful experience and I only made it through it from help of my clan. Once you become a Swordsinger it wont be much better until your around level 49. I had to solo from 40 - 49 before people started wanting me for groups.
Dont forget the berzerker blade with focus at C grade...
It has all the damage of duals, AND uses your masteries.
At the very least it competes with the SLS/shield combo.
You can try both if you buy the FP shield... just exchange at blacksmith. Sell the FP shield if you like the Berz blade better. (you will lose the SA, but not the +s)
Light Elves in general are supposed to be more defensive than Dark Elves. Or, at least, they tend to rely more on utility than raw damage. Their offensive songs are fantastic, especially when paired with a BD. Don't forget that your Elven Knight abilties will also let you tank quite well for some time after 40. Don't let the Swordsinger's defensive nature discourage you. They are a great class to have in a party, even if they are somewhat less desired than Bladedancers. All the more reason to be one, eh? Better to have one of each than two BDs.