DPS wanged/shield Brawler haaaaaaaalp...?

Greetings and salutations!

Sacrificing chickens and neighborhood children on the stabby table in Underground Channel has paid off! During the last DL event I was blessed and received a 2s Eagle knuck! This inspired me yesterday to make a dps knuck char. As of today it is level 80 thanks in part to the main quest (grinding the bosses there after completion) and Yashiro our pink cone loving friend. Now here comes my problem.. I am not quite sure which route to go with. My end goal for this build is as a dps char which at its current level holds its own pretty well. Because eagle knucks give 100% crit rate the build options I chose is either knuck+shield for the extra hp and stun or knuck+md for fast mp recovery but at the cost of -5% overall damage output. 1.)Which would you go with?
2.)If I wanted more crit damage instead of following the suggested Dex should I go Str?
3.)Should I get DualWield skill godspeed?
4.)If I made a combo where the initial skills were buffs before the main dps skill Chariot will Chariot be considered unshealth and benefit from dw godspeed?
5.)I want this to be a rank hog

Spoiler: ...

like its older sister a 1h+shield

Besides warcry what buff can I add that will give me the support rank?

Spoiler: Skill Trees

BladeMastery
sword mastery 5
quick slash 5
warcry 10
MartialMastery
smash 6
bash 5
shellbreak(will max)5
heavy smash 5
chariot 10
sonic wave 10
martial mastery 5
martial discipline 10
BattleSkills
attack up 10
whack 5
crit up 10
intimidate 10
Mononofu
bushido 5
shukuchi 1

Spoiler: Stargems

I interchange them depending on need.
MP Charge 3
Martial Mastery 10
Shield Mastery 10
Aggravate 10
Exp Gain Up 10
Process 1
Holy Fister 1 (for smite)

Spoiler: Stats n things

Many Thanks~ ^_^/

 

Just going to let you know. Leveling Bash to level 6 at 255 AGI gives you 100% stun chance on Bash.



That Shield is effectively used for, stats, extra resistance, and Pdefense if you choose to get it. If you're willing to do so, I suggest picking up Decoy Shot.

As for MD, you may as well consider picking up Maximizer in your build if you're going with the Magic Swordsman tree. It'll allow for much more sustainability, regardless of if it's mini-boss farming or bossing. That and the range helps to.

DEX's only strong points are that it gives accuracy and that it gives cast speed for Chakra. Both are negligable for most. I personally like DEX cause i'm weird, but STR is all around superior for damage.

Godspeed: I don't think it's worth it on Brawlers, but I admit to never trying it and also admit to never trying out if unsheathe occurs on "unsheathe" of Knuckles for skills.

Oh, and with those Knuckles, you may want to consider picking up HP equipment to switch on and off. Depends on what your fighting of course.

 

I saw that Master Tonfa is a better knuckle for dps because it has a good cdmg and if you think using STR for CDMG or DEX to increase ATk, I prefer DEX for stability and graze effect, but when I use STR as the second statistic, it is not a big difference to damage.

In the other case, the knuckles of the eagle are like a Cone BG or Divers BG because they do not have good dmg statistics, but they are 100% critical, so I use equipment with CDMG and STAT% +.
The Chariot is not an unsheate attack but its affected by long-range damage; GoodSpeed increases the damage for the amount of 14 or 15 AGI.
My friend, Lenwok, has more experience in knuckles.

Good luck

 

Yay, another brawler has come to town

Honestly, both sub shield and sub MD are very viable, and really depends on how you want to play. A few notes...

With 100% crit weapon, you should totally have an alternative super-low aggro gear set to switch up into, for some stealthy chariot blasting (this maybe better with MD, and get brave aura + GSW for it too!).

Stat wise, my AGI-STR brawler is now lvl 149 and the low 200 HIT stat is causing some level of frustration due to frequent grazing... ppl say str is stronger (i've yet to directly compare) but the damage is far less consistent compared to my AGI-DEX (around 450HIT). I only main norm/hard bosses though, even dex sub will prob graze a lot at higher difficulties.

For shield sub, you will really need decoy shot (and wcos for afterwards) if you wanna live the gun-ho, all-out-dps brawler dream, which is also very very fun! . Also shield sub is generally more fitting as brawlers are meant to be fighting up close and personal to the enemy...

 

To be, or not to be(GAY): that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to fight in the melee range

In the line of fire, slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms behind your comrade against a sea of troubles,

Shooting them by the propelled wave till the end?

^_^

 

Thanks for the responses guys! Since I was waiting for replies to come in I continued with mq and finished with Boss Roga.. after that part of the story I farmed it on nm for xp and with just agi I got a lot of grazes so I will invest in dex instead. If I used str and grazed that much later on I might lose my phone to a wall.

Thanks @screamingfox I didn't know bash got 100% stun if I had 255 agi. Yeah I was thinking of getting md primarily for maximizer for more spammy goodness and a bit of extra range.

Thanks @BLCY since chariot is not unshealth I could focus on ampr stuff instead maybe even Baphomela for range bonus since Christmas is near.

Thanks @RyeUshio the irony of a "fairy" poof dps is what actually caught my interest. If somehow the build can out dps a 2h or a finale mage it would bring a lot of laughs for me. Knowing I made another player mentally unhinged from losing rank if not all ranks to a poof build. If you haven't noticed yet from my signature I like making anything try to get attacker rank. With my battle ready smiths, dps 1h shield and knuck maybe md/shield falls in the same line of thought. If only magic swordsman had stargems there wouldn't be a need to decide.. I can have my cake and eat it too! xD

Thanks @Lenwok I could use sneak stargem as a save in a combo instead of negative aggro gear because I want to keep my aspd/cspd. The thing I don't like about decoy is its limited range.. and I hate to recast it if the boss moves a lot. I guess I could stick to low mp cost combos since it seems to work well on Yashiro at least..xD or invest heavily on ampr stuffs/skills. I need to test more against other bosses with true boss farmers.

^^/

Knuck update level 84 now but with maintenance was forced to take a break.. it still only has 255 agi and I still havent decided on wether md or shield wins. I hope magic warrior stargems will be a reality soon.

 

I'm on major hiatus, but as far as knucks go, I love giving m 2 cents

As of now, the DPS meta is MD sub with Tonfa.

With MD sub, it takes care of knucks biggest issue: Needing to regain MP. (Tonfa further takes care of knucks other big issue is pure raw ATK)

Since you'll be using Twin Eagles, I recommend the following gear set:

Twin Eagles -> Pom + Ultima Machina
Armor -> Agi 7% CD 7% CD 17. (Ifrid)
Addition -> Ninja Hat (Zoe or WW) AMPR + CD vs Flat Atk and High ASPD but you'll have to be <7 Meters
Machina -> Don yeti + (Deniala or Venena) Venena if you need more MP, Deniala for AMPR And HP

If using a shield Focus on Damage
Otherwise using an MD
Daggers suck
Arrow can be useful for double smite combo


Knucks don't have high damage, burst or not. So we need to make up for it with Quantity. Getting to 2k MP will allow you to just melt with quick impact Chariot or Impact Rush combos while maintining proration.

If you use shield, you'll need to get Decoy shot.

 

Personally for me, the MD fairy style was pure ranged DPS. For shield, its a real in-fight with more focus on key interrupts (which is also key to keep bosses within the range of your decoy), as well as timing your pdefs like a pro.

As nice as it would be, if you go MD, you would have to take maximser. and for shield (decoy + pdef). I don't think you could stargem it to make one char freely use both subs... so CHOOSE WISELY

... OR just make room for a second brawler like i did

 

IF you want to try something different, you could also go full VIT and take Sanctuary.

Combo idea: bash -> sanctuary (save) -> decoy (swift)
... would set you up quite nicely for a brawl

You'll be tough as hell, while doing good DPS too! But there'll be less chance of taking attacker, if that's your main goal. (I completely agree btw. I've beat capped finale and cf users before, and when i do i say something like "brawler attacker FTW ^^" afterwards to really rub it in )

 

I will receive a pinch on my side or a kick on my rib, if I rub being attacker on a finale or cf. Lol. ^_^

 

1.)Which would you go with?

Dagger...because I prefer Move like butterfly, sting like a bee XD

2.)If I wanted more crit damage instead of following the suggested Dex should I go Str?

STR is good but I would go for DEX because it’s provide more stat like Accuracy,CSPD, minor damage, stability.

3.)Should I get DualWield skill godspeed?

With or without PDef it’s still a risk, and actually not much effeciency when you tanking a boss. I would prefer you learn the shield skill that increase Magic and Phy Resistant.

4.)If I made a combo where the initial skills were buffs before the main dps skill Chariot will Chariot be considered unshealth and benefit from dw godspeed?

Not sure but from the 150 skill tree here didn’t Say it a unsheathes so I guess is not.


5.)I want this to be a rank hog

Let say you team member is pure finale Mage, CF/Katana, 1H Semi tank/1H tank. Running a standard 1 minutes boss fight( any difficulty).
For ATK rank, sorry you can’t have it.
For Tank rank, sorry you still can’t have it.
For Support, with warcry & other support skill spamming, you still can’t have it. The only rank you can get is Breaker only and only if 2H or dual hand is not in your team.

 

Sorry, i beg to differ about Attacker. The best thing about (burst) brawler is that they can do DPS VERY quickly. Finale takes cast time, CF takes charge time, Tenryu takes setup time. Within 30s you can spend all your MP on smited impact/chariots to make a big enough dent, before the others really get going...
AND you have access to interrupts (and maybe shield/pdef) so you don't need to worry so much about aggro and can easily take Tank role, when there's no dedicated tank in the pt.
For Support, i agree that's hit and miss... I normally use warcry once, and if the fight is over in 15-20s, then often i've taken this rank as well.
As for Breaker, well that's already a done deal as a brawler

[Disclaimer - i'm only speaking from a maxed out Tonfa perspective... i am not sure how well it would work with tweagles]

 

It will work the same with tweagles. It’s just a matter of adjusting stat and gears.

This is very unlikely coming from a brawler yourself.

I don’t know where does the pessimism’s coming from, but both my fists welcome @t(^_^t) to our circle.

^_^

 

Thanks for your responses.^_^

I have tried the old dagger skills in an old build. It's not for me..

Yeah I know the benefits of the shield resist skills and pdef (my knuck tank has them). I find I just use pdef for aggro generation sometimes emergency survival and since my primary goal is to dps dealing damage is my main priority. The shield skills or pdef still wont save me if a dps decides to use an ailment a boss is allergic to that triggers instant unblockable attacks.

Maybe.. but I will give it the good old' college try!

 

Alice, you probably aren't having much luck with your brawler getting ranks because you're using dagger (AKA the worst type of sub for knuck)

I've often hogged all 4 ranks with my shield knuck.

Just make sure you have 2k MP and maximizer (if md) or decoy shot (if any other)

 

Haiz.....I not sure why so many ppl against me when I say can’t get the other rank......I have been playing knuc for very long time and I try sell new knuc I’m lowest price to attracts other ppl to try on knuc........

The post build is not pure tank, it’s a semi tank so if there is a pure tank in a team, unless the tank make joke else really difficult to get the tank rank. For attacker rank, I do get before and it’s not only one, but I was talking about a 1 minutes boss hunt...something like high difficulty boss example PAvatar. I know you all can launch a 600k chariot or 400k Rush all the times, but like you all says, katana and CF require more time to prepare their mighty attack, so if the battle end within an minutes, its not difficult for knuc to get attacker rank. But when it’s more than a minutes, the gap between knuc and katana/CF and getting more and more, thus I say we can’t get it when the battle is longer...nvm perhaps I using the wrong wordings. Ignore the breaker rank, support tank quiet easy to get when I just cast recovery or using first aid.

 

Yeah, there's no point ranting about the power of the current “meta” builds, when the situation favors them. Brawlers mainly have this “instant DPS” niche, and like most things, it normally wouldnt excel outside its own speciality.
That being said, i may have a new way now to even stay on top during a longer 2-3 min venena battle with my trusty tonfas... need to test it though when i reach lvls 160 &170

 

I also hope someone can prove the brawler are real DPS,so People won’t always ask me “are you Tank”, “are you Tank”, “wtf knuc not tank”....really tired on that comment.

And I not recommend to use venena to judge your build, because there is a lot of Part time BS leveling at there. Beside, we can’t actually see how much damage output from our side because the other side contribution is not show in the ranking percentage. Example you get attack rank with 50% of contribution, but your 50% maybe is 25% of venena total HP due to other team have deal 75% of damage.

 

That's true. But if you stay in the same group for a while, you can generally tell if the others are serious DPS chars or not. And when you find them, and then beat them... you gloat

In some cases though, it is impossible to win against a luk mage with finale. Just gotta accept tank+breaker(+support) ranks only instead

 

DO TELL haha