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| This is temporarily being used to make a new page for my guild. | | This is temporarily being used to make a new page for my guild. |
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− | === Swords ===
| + | I wrote this on a forum and felt that I should post it here as a rough draft for a vana guide: |
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− | '''General Use''' | + | Ohkay.... defenses aren't that important really. They DO ADD SOMETHING but are always trumped by bonuses, with the exception of mad bomber (damage VH for massive status weaknesses). Generally, fire and normal protection and normal protection are the most important. At first, when you have little experience with slags, shadow is important, but it becomes much less so later on. Elemental is helpful, too. |
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− | Elemental:
| + | Shields? Anything goes, really. If you're breaking a 4* or 5* shield in the clockworks, you need to start rethinking your play style (with the exception of laggy players who can't help it). |
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− | Divine Avenger (DA): This sword has a nice, wide-swiping two-hit combo that deals some nice knockback. It has a slow attack speed, though. The charge shoots out three swords (that push and pass through monsters) and swipes, making it useful for groups.
| + | Weapons? You want elemental damage for the FSC, only thing that it doesn't hit is oilers. HOWEVER for vana, the easiest strategy entails some blitz needles (strike or plauge needles work too) and a shivermist, though I don't do this anymore since it's boring (talking body phases. Oh, and this is the SAFEST method, not the fastest.) |
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− | Elemental Brandishes (Ice, fire and shock): This does a three-hit combo. The charge is a swipe followed by a retrode beam-style series of explosions that also cause statuses. It lacks the wide sweep of the DA, but offers better attack speed and DPS to compensate. Fire line is not recommended as fire doesn't work in the FSC.
| + | 1: Throw a freeze vial at him to start it off, giving the shiver a moment to run in and bomb him. While he's conveniently stuck, everyone else should busy themselves with eliminating the spawns. Once all of the zombies are dead, sync up using charges on the blitz needle while the shivermist continues to freeze him in place. Always hit him from the back. If you do not have a blitz needle for this phase, use your highest DPS or damage per charge weapon (nothing that does shock though) to hit him, but only while the blitzes are actively firing. |
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− | Shadow:
| + | 2: This time just start it off by dropping a bomb near the center of the stage where he marches to. Kill the spawns, then repeat what was done in the previous phase. This time, if you don't have a blitz, throw water at the fire balls circling (they block bullets) at the same time you would have hit him in the previous phase. Don't melee him, even if the balls are all down. They respawn without warning. |
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− | Gran Faust (GF): It's a DA that can (rarely) cause curse with every blow. However, the charge attack only releases one sword and has a chance to curse the user.
| + | 3: Trickier. This time the spawns are actually dangerous. Shiver freezes from the right side, attempting to freeze the slag on spawn as well as vana, killing two birds with one stone (no guarantees though, due to patching a month or so ago). Be ready for him to charge you, and if he does, get him to charge back in to the freeze radius and get him on the rebound (or whichever rebound you succeed on). The blitzes, etc, should all line up their most powerful charge on the left slag. One blitz should fire a charge off a touch before spawn so as to interrupt the monster's rotation, making it so that you don't get charged. If he's not dead yet, aggro him up and down the left side, hitting him when he pauses to complete his attack. Then go back to killing vana like the other stages, don't unfreeze the other slag guard. |
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− | Acheron: Like the elemental brandishes, but doesn't cause any statuses.
| + | Other notes: freeze vials are get out of jail free cards for if vana breaks loose; throw one and reset to frozen state. Poison vials will increase damage. The shivermist is the most important party member, do not let them die. Also, don't lead your slag guard into them. The shivermist should stand a suitable distance away so as to not get hit by fire balls but still freeze vana. On phase one, they should stand far enough away so as not to unfreeze vana with the bomb's blast. |
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− | Piercing:
| + | Okay, I'm done writing, hope that helps. I'd edit it for typos, but I don't wanna write any more. |
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− | For piercing damage, your only option is a flourish. However, these come in two viable lines: the Barbarous Thorn Blade (BTB) and the Final Flourish (FF). The only difference is the charge attack. The barbarous thorn blade slashes and shoots out spikes in a short range (oh, and it also pushes the user backwards), while the final flourish executes a quick, high damage combo. The final flourish charge is usually better for individual monsters, while the barbarous thorn blade works better for groups (it also provides a potential strategy for fighting lord vanaduke). However, the barbarous thorn blade's recipies cannot be obtained from the hall of heroes as it is a token item, so the final flourish is cheaper, overall.
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− | '''Specialty Swords'''
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− | Dread Vile Striker: This sword dishes out the absolute highest DPS of any sword. However, it's rather hard to use due to it's forward movement and long combo. It also dishes out poison, which increases the damage of attacks. It has a good application against vanaduke's mask phases, and is an okay option for the budgeted gunner or bomber to use as a side-arm.
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− | Caliburs: These swords dish out some decent damage and are good as a side-arm. The spinning charge attack hits three times on stationary targets, and dishes out knockback. While the Leviathan Blade offers higher overall damage, the Cold Iron Vanquisher gives a damage bonus on undead monsters, making it an okay option as a side arm for the FSC-oriented gunner or bomber. The leviathan blade can do the same, and though it will be less effective against about half of the populace of the FSC, it is a better option for the vast majority of the game outside of the FSC.
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− | Fang of Vog: You will probably have learned about this guy by the time you're able to get him. It has a crazy strong charge attack (but it hurts the user), but is terrible for normal use. It has application against a select few monsters - Trojans and Slag Guards, though it also has application against the Roarmulous Twins and Jelly King. You get it with 40 almirian seals (vanaduke tokens).
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− | Further Advice: While it is considerable to carry a normal damage sword as a side-arm, I would recommend against it. They lose almost all application in the end-game, as their damage is outclassed by a typed sword in all cases. Rather, I would suggest that, if you plan on having a side-arm sword, that you take an elemental sword instead. They work fine in the FSC, IMF, and JK, and will do more damage against most monsters in these cases.
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− | === Guns ===
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− | '''Elemental'''
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− | Elemental Alchemers: These babies do good DPS if used well, due to their ricochets. While I would recommend a shock alchmer (voltech), ice and non-status are okay options as well. Shock will generally offer more DPS, but freezes are often useful, and for those inept at shocking monsters together, the prismatech is probably the right choice. The firo driver's status does not work in the FSC, so it is not recommended.
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− | Polaris: This gun is nicknamed the "trollaris", and that is for a very good reason. It's the most annoying gun in the game. It does big knockback, and is accompanied by a bright flash, so players may "support" others by spamming on top of them, blinding them in the process. DO NOT MISUSE THIS GUN! That said, it offers excellent DPS and a shock status, and the knockback can be used for crowd control. The bullets expand and get bigger toward the end of the shot (before this point they don't cause the bright explosion and knockback), so you need to distance yourself from the enemy properly to use it to it's full effect. However, the smaller shot is favored in some situations, where the knockback is undesireable. Oh, and the shots are slow-moving
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− | Argent Peacemaker (AP): This offers decent DPS and not much else. It lacks the area damage explosion of the polaris, and the ricochets of the alchemers. It fires very fast and has a big clip, though, so it has application in lockdown and non-combat PvE scenarios (it opens boxes and destroys rubble quickly).
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− | '''Shadow'''
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− | Umbra Driver: A shadow alchemer, a shadow version of the prisma driver.
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− | Sentenza: A shadow AP.
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− | Biohazard: This weapon is weird, and I don't own one and have rarely seen one in use, so I will make no judgements.
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− | '''Piercing'''
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− | Piercing guns are hard to apply to anything. On the whole they suck, and though the blitz/plauge needles have an applican vs. Lord Vanaduke, there is no piercing gun right now that can be used safely and easily against devilites or greavers.
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− | Needles: The plauge needle and blitz needle are almost entirely exclusive to fighting vanaduke. I'll have a guide to killing him later, but for now, just know that you will have to get one eventually, and that the blitz needle is usually better for vanaduke newbs like yourself.
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− | Callahan: Right now this gun is very hard to use. Not very good damage, and it stops you from moving. For the absolute gunning purist, however, this is often used to kill devilites and wolvers, though some will just go with a shadow or elemental gun due to it's general crappiness. Basically, it's the only general use piercing gun. But it's pretty bad.
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− | === Bombs ===
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− | '''Damage'''
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− | Nitronome: It hurts stuff. It pushes them away from the center. It makes a bright explosion. What else did you expect from a bomb? Oh, and on another note, it's really annoying if misused. Because we can't see when you drop it on us, dang it!
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− | Dark Briar Barrage (DBB): Like a nitronome, but with a longer fuse, no knockback, piercing damage, and a less-bright explosion. It is often used by those who find it hard to keep nitronomes in places their teammates won't mind.
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− | Radiant Sun Shards (RSS): Though this bomb only goes to 4*, it still works great. The explosion sends out eight projectiles, each with a long range and decent damage. It has a pretty short fuse, too. It's piercing/elemental, so it works it's best in the FSC.
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− | Ash of Agni: This bomb sends out fire mist, an effect that sets monsters that walk through the bomb on fire (the mist stays for 5 secs after the bomb is laid). It works well in the IQ SL (burning ice cubes is crippling to them), and does some decent damage without the bothersome knockback and flash of the nitronome. However, it DOES NOT WORK for the FSC because almost everything there is either immune to fire or benifits from it.
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− | Dark Retribution (DR): This is a shadow bomb that has a small damaging explosion, followed by the release of four orbs that rotate around the bomb source for a few seconds. They do damage on any monster they hit. This bomb does good damage and is less disruptive than a nitronome would be, though it is less effective vs. monsters that are fast enough to escape the orbs.
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− | '''Support'''
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− | Vortex: This pulls monsters together. There are two varieties, one shocks and does elemental damage, one does shadow damage. The elemental one is the better choice
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− | Shivermist Buster: This freezes monsters, creating a "safe-zone" for teammates. It is a haze bomb, so it's mechanics are the same as the Ash of Agni. It also has an application in fighting lord vanaduke.
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− | Voltaic Tempest: This has an application in lockdown and a variety of other situations. It shocks stuff. This can be either pretty helpful or mostly pointless. It is a haze bomb, so it's mechanics are the same as the Ash of Agni.
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− | Stagger Storm: This has ion in lockdown, and is also often useful in PvE, as, let's face it, we all want the monsters to move slower (it stuns stuff). However, freeze is usually more helpful than stun, so this bomb is relativan applicately unpopular. It is a haze bomb, so it's mechanics are the same as the Ash of Agni.
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− | Venom Veiler: The poison status bomb. It's mostly pointless (It does have some application though. Ask someone who knows something about bombs). It is a haze bomb, so it's mechanics are the same as the Ash of Agni.
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− | Not a bomber. I can't offer much advice here :/.
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− | === Armor/Helmets ===
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− | Unless a bomber in need of some typed defense, take a bonus armor that suits your playing style. Bonus armors of a particular weapon type all derive from the same line, with one applicable exception. Bonuses increase on the 5* upgrade, which is accompanied by the divergence of the lines (allowing you to pick a defense type) so it is recommended that you upgrade armor to 5* before weapons. Just stick with one set of armor at first, you can branch out later.
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− | '''Swords'''
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− | Skolver Set: Piercing, normal and freeze defense. Damage bonus med.
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− | Vog Cub Set: Elemental, normal, and fire defense. ASI (attack speed increase) med.
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− | Snarbolax Set: Shadow, normal, and partial freeze and poison defense. Damage bonus med.
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− | I would recommend crafting your first set into vog armor, it'll serve you well in the firestorm citadel. When crafting snarbolax armor, look for fire UVs (The more, the merrier. If you have enough, it's good for regular FSC, and the more you have, the easier UFSC becomes). Skolver isn't much for bosses outside IQ and when you feel like a nostalgic JK run, but it's commonly preferred in PvP.
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− | '''Guns'''
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− | Justifier Set: Normal, piercing defense. ASI med.
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− | Nameless Set: Normal, elemental defense. ASI med.
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− | Shadowsun Set: Normal, shadow, poison defense. Damage bonus med.
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− | Deadshot Set: Normal, shadow, curse defense. ASI low, damage vs. undead med.
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− | Perfect Mask of Seerus: Normal, elemental, fire, shock defense, partial weakness to freeze and poison. CTR (charge time reduction) med, ASI low. This guy is weird. He only comes in helmet form, and is a reward for doing lots of OCH (operation crimson hammer) runs.
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− | Personally, I think it's probably best to take shadowsun first, preferably with fire UVs. After that, it's really up to you what you want next, depending on what you do most.
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− | '''Bombs'''
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− | Volcanic Set: Normal, elemental, fire defense. CTR med.
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− | Mad Bomber Set: Normal, elemental defense. Partial weakness to all statuses. CTR med, damage med.
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− | Mercurial Demo Set: Normal, elemental, shock defense. Movement speed low, damage low.
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− | I only own two bombs. Don't look at me for advice.
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− | '''Bomber Stuff'''
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− | If you're a bomber who is in desperate need of some alternative defense (I don't actually have a clue if the extra defense is worth the loss of bonuses), I would recommend:
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− | Ice Queen Set: Good piercing protection, ice and stun. Probably the best piercing armor.
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− | Dread Skelly Suit: Good shadow protection, ice and poison. Probably the best shadow armor.
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− | === Shields ===
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− | For shields, there aren't a lot of great choices. If a swordsman, I recommend getting a barbarous thorn shield to start you off. For gunners and bombers, an owlite. Eventually you will have a piercing shield (BTS/Ironmight), shadow shield (Crest of Almire), and elemental shield (Grey Owlite Shield) but for now you will want to start off with just one.
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− | Piercing: Use a Barbarous Thorn Shield (BTS) if a swordsman, as it offers a damage bonus med to them. The 2* precursor is obtained with 10 snarbolax tokens. If not, an Ironmight Plate Shield is probably the way to go.
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− | Shadow: Use a Crest of Almire (CoA). The 4* precursor is obtained with 30 vanaduke tokens.
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− | Elemental: Use a Grey Owlite Shield.
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− | Swiftstrike Buckler: This is not really a shield, more of an ASI bonus to compensate for the fact that you have no shield. It's a 3* shield that is relatively weak in t2 (making it massively weak in t3), and gives ASI high to all weapons. I don't recommend this to anyone who isn't totally comfortable with the area they're dealing with.
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This is temporarily being used to make a new page for my guild.
I wrote this on a forum and felt that I should post it here as a rough draft for a vana guide:
Ohkay.... defenses aren't that important really. They DO ADD SOMETHING but are always trumped by bonuses, with the exception of mad bomber (damage VH for massive status weaknesses). Generally, fire and normal protection and normal protection are the most important. At first, when you have little experience with slags, shadow is important, but it becomes much less so later on. Elemental is helpful, too.
Shields? Anything goes, really. If you're breaking a 4* or 5* shield in the clockworks, you need to start rethinking your play style (with the exception of laggy players who can't help it).
Weapons? You want elemental damage for the FSC, only thing that it doesn't hit is oilers. HOWEVER for vana, the easiest strategy entails some blitz needles (strike or plauge needles work too) and a shivermist, though I don't do this anymore since it's boring (talking body phases. Oh, and this is the SAFEST method, not the fastest.)
1: Throw a freeze vial at him to start it off, giving the shiver a moment to run in and bomb him. While he's conveniently stuck, everyone else should busy themselves with eliminating the spawns. Once all of the zombies are dead, sync up using charges on the blitz needle while the shivermist continues to freeze him in place. Always hit him from the back. If you do not have a blitz needle for this phase, use your highest DPS or damage per charge weapon (nothing that does shock though) to hit him, but only while the blitzes are actively firing.
2: This time just start it off by dropping a bomb near the center of the stage where he marches to. Kill the spawns, then repeat what was done in the previous phase. This time, if you don't have a blitz, throw water at the fire balls circling (they block bullets) at the same time you would have hit him in the previous phase. Don't melee him, even if the balls are all down. They respawn without warning.
3: Trickier. This time the spawns are actually dangerous. Shiver freezes from the right side, attempting to freeze the slag on spawn as well as vana, killing two birds with one stone (no guarantees though, due to patching a month or so ago). Be ready for him to charge you, and if he does, get him to charge back in to the freeze radius and get him on the rebound (or whichever rebound you succeed on). The blitzes, etc, should all line up their most powerful charge on the left slag. One blitz should fire a charge off a touch before spawn so as to interrupt the monster's rotation, making it so that you don't get charged. If he's not dead yet, aggro him up and down the left side, hitting him when he pauses to complete his attack. Then go back to killing vana like the other stages, don't unfreeze the other slag guard.
Other notes: freeze vials are get out of jail free cards for if vana breaks loose; throw one and reset to frozen state. Poison vials will increase damage. The shivermist is the most important party member, do not let them die. Also, don't lead your slag guard into them. The shivermist should stand a suitable distance away so as to not get hit by fire balls but still freeze vana. On phase one, they should stand far enough away so as not to unfreeze vana with the bomb's blast.
Okay, I'm done writing, hope that helps. I'd edit it for typos, but I don't wanna write any more.