User talk:Addisona

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Swords

General Use

Elemental:

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.

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.

Shadow:

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.

Acheron: Like the elemental brandishes, but doesn't cause any statuses.

Piercing:

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.

Specialty Swords

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.

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.

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).

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.

General Advice: At first, I would recommend that swordsmen get a shadow sword and an elemental sword, hence allowing you to carry your full arsenal at once. Once t3, you should probably add on a flourish (talking 4* here), after getting an elemental gun of some sort (a 4* one). Renting a third weapon slot is a reasonable option once you've got three or four weapons, but a fourth tends to be extraneous.

Guns

Elemental

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.

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

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).

Shadow

Umbra Driver: A shadow alchemer, a shadow version of the prisma driver.

Sentenza: A shadow AP.

Biohazard: This weapon is weird, and I don't own one and have rarely seen one in use, so I will make no judgements.

Piercing

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.

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.

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. Basically, it's the only general use piercing gun. But it's pretty bad.

General Advice A good gunner can probably manage without a sword. Get a shadow gun and an elemental one at first, piercing can probably come later on. I don't recommend the polaris as a main elemental gun for gunners.

Bombs

Damage

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Support

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Not a bomber. I can't offer much advice here :/

Armor/Helmets

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.

Swords

Skolver Set: Piercing, normal and freeze defense. Damage bonus med.

Vog Cub Set: Elemental, normal, and fire defense. ASI (attack speed increase) med.

Snarbolax Set: Shadow, normal, and partial freeze and poison defense. Damage bonus med.

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.

Guns

Justifier Set: Normal, piercing defense. ASI med.

Nameless Set: Normal, elemental defense. ASI med.

Shadowsun Set: Normal, shadow, poison defense. Damage bonus med.

Deadshot Set: Normal, shadow, curse defense. ASI low, damage vs. undead med.

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.

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.

Bombs

Volcanic Set: Normal, elemental, fire defense. CTR med.

Mad Bomber Set: Normal, elemental defense. Partial weakness to all statuses. CTR med, damage med.

Mercurial Demo Set: Normal, elemental, shock defense. Movement speed low, damage low.

I only own two bombs. Don't look at me for advice.

Bomber Stuff

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:

Ice Queen Set: Good piercing protection, ice and stun. Probably the best piercing armor.

Dread Skelly Suit: Good shadow protection, ice and poison. Probably the best shadow armor.

Shields

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.

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.

Shadow: Use a Crest of Almire (CoA). The 4* precursor is obtained with 30 vanaduke tokens.

Elemental: Use a Grey Owlite Shield.

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.