2 Handed Sword: The Gladiator

Two Handed Sword: Gladiator
So first, I'll focus on the Offense & Defense parts of the weapons.


One Handed Sword

With a Shield, it is the most defensive weapon of them all.
Because it can gain over 100 Guard Power, it gains the ability to reduce ANY damage to 1.
This is more effective with more Resistance, Max HP, & skills that reduce damage.
Additionally, it has access to Shield/Knight Skills to further boost its survivability.

OHS also has the most versatility, being able to equip a variety of sub weapons.


However, one interesting thing, is that in terms of offense:
OHS never MAINLY rely on Blade Skills for Main DPS, except possibly Shut-Out.
It usually relies on other skill trees.
Two popular examples would be Revenir or Enchant Sword.


Dual Swords
This weapon has more emphasis on movement & damage.
Unlike OHS/THS, it relies more on Evasion instead of Guard.
Additionally, it has several movement & Iframe skills to survive.
It can jump in or out with ease, & even parry some attacks.

It relies mainly on its own unique skill tree for damage,
and less on Blade Skills though it can get some use out of it.


Two Handed Sword
It has the potential to be a DPS or a Tank.
With Heavy Armor, it has 100 Guard Power(unless you have a THS with more).
This means they can reduce at least one attack to 1 damage,
before instead getting just reduced damage.

It also gains the most offensive versatility from Blade Skills,
where "you can use the strong skills for swords".
It has larger & stronger AoEs than the other Blades.
It also gains more offensive stats from skills/buffs
Finally, with the recent skills, it exclusively gives THS more ways to sustain damage.



Sadly for many players, it relies more on Guard than Evasion.
Your AMPR relies on you attacking, but also Guarding some attacks.
Evasion nullies auto attacks & gives mobility, but no AMPR.

Also sadly for some players,
some skills are slow, sometimes even with fixed Motion Speed.
Because of this, some player avoid using these skills at the cost of their DPS.

Because of the combination of these two along,
people call this a "trash" or "useless" class.

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Tier 1
Buff Skills/Passives
Astute
Gives 50 Critical Rate(CR) for 10 seconds
at Skill Level 6 & Higher.
Because players have 25 Base CR,
This means you have 75 Total CR or a 75% chance to land a critical hit.

DPS Skills
Hammer Slam
This is recommended due to it's Multiplier & MP Cost.
It has a 2.5 Multiplier at Level 10 & costs 100 MP.
Additionally,spamming it reduces it cost to 0 MP
until you use another skill.


Tier 2
Buff Skills/Passives
Astute

DPS Skills
Hammer Slam
Trigger Slash

Alt: Cleaving Strike
The more mobs you hit, the more powerful it is.
Additionally it recovers MP based on how many targets you hit along with how much MP is Consumed.
Ex: If it costs 600 MP & you hit at least 7 mobs, you recover 600 MP back

Tier 3
Warning: If you haven't already, you'll need to get more Critical Rate.

At around Chapter 7 of the Main Quest, a mechanic called Critical Resistance will start creeping in & becomes more prevalent with later bosses.
Crit Resistance subtracts from your Total CR,
or lowers your chance to land critical hits.
Example: If a boss has 25 Critical Resistance, & you only have 25 Total CR(Your Base Crit. Rate).
25 - 25 = 0, or 0% chance to land critical hits.

If you have 75 Total Critical Rate( Base CR + Astute Buff):
75 - 25 = 50, or 50% Chance to land critical hits.



Buff Skills/Passives

Astute
At this level range as you get better gear with Critical Rate,
this is where Astute starts to be more situational than needed.

Rampage


DPS Skills
Storm Blaze
This is the "useless" skill.
"Useless", because high level players used it for maintaining MP with 20 stacks originally all being used up & giving 1200 MP.
However, they also discredit it's damage, especially for new players.
This skill charges by auto attacking or using Hammer Slam's additional hits.
With Rampage, your auto attacks now give 2 stacks instead.
You can gain 10 stacks max, which can be increased to 20 with 255 DEX.
This skill with 10 stacks hits harder than Rampage's Final Hit,
can be used at RANGE(16 meters max),
& is an AoE 16 meters long & 6 meters wide.
"Useless", isn't it?

Tier 4
Buffs
Astute ?*
Berserk
Rampage
Garde Blade(Opt)

DPS
Meteor Breaker
Buster Blade
Storm Blaze
Cleaving Strike(Opt)

Tier 5

Buffs

Astute(Opt.)
This can potentially be useful against bosses with Critical Resistance.
Otherwise, most players usually have enough gear to always land critical hits.
So I would optionally recommend it as a combo opener.

Rampage
This buff AMPR, your auto attacks, & gives a final attack with PERFECT AIM.
Meaning it NEVER grazes.
Additionally, using it with the Ogre Slash buff increases it damage EVEN MORE.
If you refuse to use this, I'm not taking you seriously if complain about low DPS or AMPR.

Berserk
Only cast this skill if you HAVE to.
While it keeps Rampage from disappearing when getting ailments,
The Berserk Control makes it so you don't have to cast it to do so.

While it buffs Critical Rate, Attack Speed, & Auto Attacks:
It reduces your Stability by 25%, making damage inconsistent.
However, the Ogre Slash buff can reduce the penalty to -12% Stability.
Hence, it's up to you to decide if it's worth it.

Gladiate
Grants 10 stacks & can restore at least 100 MP after 10 seconds.
The MP amount increases if you take any hits, & scales with AMPR.
Whenever you take a hit while Gladiate is active,
it reduces damage by 20% & consumes 1 stack



Garde Blade(Opt)
Ogre Slash(Buff)

DPS Skills
At this Tier, THS is at it's most versatile.
It has many ways to deal DPS to their opponents, but the optimal skill depends.
Each one has different costs, utility, strengths.

Aura Blade
So I actually use this as a combo opener for DPS combo.
Because while it has a 15 Skill Multiplier, it also buffs damage of your next skill by 30% for THS.
This buff skills with the Smite Tag even more in terms of damage.
However, it's animation is slow unless you use Trigger Slash or have High Motion Speed.

Shut Out
This is your most spammable skill due to its 100 MP Cost.
Additionally, it's the only other skill with a 15 Skill Multiplier.
The disadvantage of it is its fixed Motion Speed, which can't be sped up.


Storm Blaze
A ranged AoE skill, castable from 16 meters.
It relies on having at least 10 stacks to use, but also refunds 300 MP when used.

Buster Blade
Your most reliable skill, since it ALWAYS does critical hits.
It also boosts Weapon ATK & heals 1000 HP
However, it costs 300 MP to use.

Lunar Slash
A multi-hit skill.
It usually grant 1 stack upon use,
but can grant more based on the position it's in within a combo.
These stacks deal additional damage when you use attack skills other than Lunar Slash.
However, it costs 400 MP to use.

Ogre Slash
Your hardest hitting skill, but also the slowest to spam.
It costs 500 MP to use & relies on stacks for damage,
with 20 being the max amount possible.
Ogre Slash gains 5 stacks by initiating a battle,
1 stack by getting the (!) sign when in a AoE warning,
1 stack from taking damage, & another for Guarding at the RIGHT time.
With 10 stacks maximum consumed,
it has 100% Pierce & a 20 Skill Multiplier.

Rampage(Ogre Slash active)
With Ogre Slash's 23 second buff active,
it actually doubles the damage of the auto attacks along with the final hits of Rampage.
What makes it good, is that the final 3 hits have Perfect Aim, meaning they can't graze.
Additionally, it gives damage reduction while doing the final slash animation.
However, you're still susceptible to ailments.
It cost 500 MP to cast, & takes 10 auto attacks to do the Final Blow.

Meteor Breaker
This is your most defensive skill, due to it's Iframe while airborne.
It costs 600 MP to use, & deals 2 hits.

Sword Tempest
A ranged AoE that inflicts magical proration & is usable from 12 meters
However, it slower damage than your other skills
It costs 400 MP to use, & does 7 individual hits.


Dark Power Skills

Soul Hunter
An attack that hits hard & inflicts magical proration.
However, it need 10 stacks for its full power.
These are gained by losing HP due to skills.
When used at 10 stacks , it also restores 400 MP & gives a quick Iframe.


Demon Claw

Enchant Sword

Boomerang
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FYI: This will also be a beta version of a guide, with the real guide being elsewhere.
I believe visuals help a lot in terms of a guide, along with videos to back up anything people have to doubt.

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