How to punch?

Hey so I became interested in knux since I realized one night that, now characters can have odd-eyes therefore I can recreate my favorite Fire Emblem catboy. And knux come into play because he's a cat and well some knux look like claws.
Therefore I would like to try knux with a focus on B I G D A M A G E with no regard for my survivalability. I am prepared to be frustrated when I die from being sneezed on by high lvl bosses. I play this game on and off and really what brings me back every time is the customization available that just lets me play my favorite RPG characters in a different setting, also big numbers make brain make happy sauce. That means I am a noob because I dont stick with the game long enough to see buffs/nerfs/new boss mechanics/new gear that gets introduced with every update.

And so that brings me to some questions:

1) Main dmg skill?
I believe the big numbers come from crusher skill's Goliath Punch that from my understanding is cf but melee and ya got like 5 seconds to use it at max charge before losing charges. However A) Dunno how the skill actually works, ie is there a way to boost it's dmg besides Impact-Goliath(Smite)-Finale(smite), wait a bit and then goliath at max charge or that it? B) Should I be doing something while waiting on charges or just prorating/setting up? C) Is there a big difference with max charge or just spam at whatever charge it is like maybe average using it at charge 3 instead. D) Are there better options than Goliath for maybe not the biggest number but more consistent nubmers?

2) The rest of my skill points?
I'm guessing the rest is just support/utility skills to bolster main skill dmg but this is my fist step into knux teritorry so I am at a loss. I plan on getting Assassin skills for shadow walk for some invincibility while I am not tanking since I plan on Dagger sub. I plan on Agi-Str100 or 200 and rest Dex, so shield skills are out of the question. Also should I take brave aura or is it too useless in high lvl bosses? I have not really *really* played since 210 so I just remember Finsterns attack pattern and ig I can preserve My aura with back stepping and evading with shadow walk for the full room aoe atk but dunno how higher lvl bossess work. What skills should I consider getting? Are any of them high priority to get myself some consistency while fighting?

3) Stats?
As Mentioned I know that Knux gains atk from Agi and Dex, and even though str doesnt add atk(why would it, not like Iruna had Normal knux gaining 2atk from str and 2 from agi and Spec Knux getting 4 from str and 1 from crt), it adds cdmg. It's more about the cyrsta and gear stats. Right now I made a custom knuck @245 slot a10%c21cd20cd10%aspd20% +C, average 1s crit armor a7%critstats, bear hat S handmade cookie because I bought it with it and hey, pierce I guess; and muscle talisman s vennena. What are crystas/gears/stats I should strive for? Unsheath? Short range Dmg? Full atk crt? did they add another dmg multiplier I know nothing about? Did we get to the point some gears add skill lvls for some reason?

4) Playstyle?
I played burst mage before, cast stuff until mana runs out then recharge and repeat, use buffs to open the fight and have utility spells ready for whenever while deaing dmg. Bow, decoy - charge cf - buff - satelite - release cf - cf again - so on and so forth until boss dies. Katana, idk solo God or sumthing. Knux, people play this?, I mean I wanna but doesnt look like anyone else actually plays it. I just know having mainstat agi gives you lots of aspd and some increased motion speed while at rest. Low key want enough aspd to the point where me being at rest has the heart rate of a coked up hamster seconds way from a stroke with how much motion speed I could naturaly have.


TL/DR I know nothing about knux but through the power of catboy I wanna unironically use knux as dps, so how does one do dmg with knux?

 

Hello there fellow brawler. AGI > STR for heavy damage. You need to practice good timing when using Goliath. Both charge and release can use non-redundant combo tags to boost damage. For example you use smited charge and release it using bloodsuck combo tag, but you a different combo to cast bloodsuck the 1st time. I know it's complicated. You can also kairiki as opener for your release to boost damage it even more.

With regards to playstyle, you can also consider using md sub, so you can use resonance for than inexhaustible mp pool, thus you can keep bursting. ^_^

 

I tested fews months ago that bloodsuck dmg increase doesnt work with smite for Goliath. The dmg is the same as having only Smite. Do they change anything?

 

big numbers don't exist for knuckles. at least not the same way they do for other weapons.
but you can get a big number of hits.

knuckles by default have about ~30% less atk than all the other weapons.
they gain power from AGI but have no speed boosting skills in their own skill tree. on the plus side, they don't have negative side effects either (like swords and halberds do).

since base atk is low, they benefit a lot more from high constants, which is why daggers have the most potential when used with knuckles.

MD as sub weapon gives a boost to magic and some priest skills, and provides 10 evasion charges in exchange for taking 15% off your atk stat.
but if you don't intend to use magic, i'd say daggers are the better option.

throwing dagger skills may not be what you are looking for, but the 1st skill, Throwing Knife, has 0mp cost at lv10 and makes a great combo filler/ender.

Hidden Arm adds a little extra damage to auto-attacks, which you will be using a lot, so it's likely worth the investment.

then we have assassin skills.
Assassin Stab requires all it's upgrade skills to become powerful, so you either go all the way or nothing.
but i guess it fits your cat style, so go for it.

Arcane Strike is medicore but comes with great utility.
first of all, the high skill constant of 1000 makes a great difference on knuckles. and the ampr buff is really useful, you can also use it as a free combo ender with the save tag. (this won't deal much damage but the buff effect is the same and it doesn't consume mp)

the dagger's weapon atk only takes effect on dagger skills. most notably Hidden Arm as it deals special damage (ignores all resistances) equal to the dagger atk.
for assassin skills the dagger atk has no effect, so you can prioritize other dagger stats over it's atk.

 

Cracks Knuckles...
Finally, a Knuckle thread.

• So, you want big damage?
  • Ele equipment is almost always on par with high ATK Knuckles.
    • Normal Stats on Anniv Knuckles are 100% not worth it. They will always underperform compared to even the 70% stability knux options.
    • Damage to element is exactly what will help you if you go custom equipment.
  • Ele equipment means a lot of Spina - you need Element awaken on the weapon, DTE 20% on both armour and weapon.
  • This gives a total of 65% DTE.
  • Ele equipment also means you lose out on either Crit rate and Crit damage, so you need other equipment/xtals to compensate for that.
• Either keep STR at 245 or 250. I prefer 250 for 200 base Critical Damage. Invest everything else in AGI.
• Since you asked for Damage and not ASPD, I will go for that, instead of explaining my (or Azin's 10k ASPD without GSW build).
• If not Ele equipment, you basically have to go for the highest wATK Knuckles there are - the Ferocious Beast Claws with 510 ish Base ATK come to mind.
  • I don't even have much ATK%, and my Knuck is only +B, but this Knuck gives me 4000+ ATK with Annihilator.
  • I assume with proper equipment you will get 5000~ ATK or even more.
  • The biggest problem here is the low ass stability. You have 70% stab, even lower with Annihilator. You are better off using Ele equipment.
  • However, if you have all 2s equipmen you might even reach 6000+ ATK, and at that point even 60% stability is good damage regardless.
• Theoretically, Goliath Punch has 28 multiplier - I believe it's only surpassed by Crossfire itself.
• Godhand got massively reworked, and now you can get even more ATK if you use it properly.
• Shadowwalk is also a viable DPS option with that high ATK - if you can use it well, it can be deadly.
• In daggers, I recommend Sorting knife (15 CRT) or Lil Empress Dagger (10 CRT). I use the former, but it's only available during Christmas, so you were too late.
  • Crit rate is crucial, and if you go for Ele equipment OR if you go for Ferocious Beast Claws.
  • Ferocious Beast Claws also has ATK and STR 9%, so it's not lacking in Stats.
• One of the major problems you will face is Physical Pierce.
  • Knuckles have obnoxiously low PP, and you need to compensate a lot otherwise you deal no damage.
  • While FBC gives 9% PP, Assassin Skills's Sicarus Buff gives 15% PP, you need at least 50% or so.
  • Devil Dango, Handmade cookie, etc. Come to Mind.
  • Never underestimate the need Physical Pierce. Bosses have unreasonably high DEF.
• You might also want to spend 20 skill points to get Power wave. It is underrated for Knuckles and greatly helps when getting mana.

 

As others have said, big numbers don't exist for Knux. They're more like a half baked Jack of all trades. You should know that Goliath is bugged. There's also a weakness where the charge resets to 0/5 when inflicted with Lethargy and it often misses against moving bosses.

 

Does anyone use Agi Dex? The damage is lower but it increases CSPD. I don't know the exact stat growth from Str. With increased CSPD, you could cast quick motion/brave and wcos quickly (ditch decoy). I don't play Halberds but they probably don't get as much CSPD as Knuckles - which means our charge time for wcos should be pretty similar. I don't know how much more dmg Str gives

 

STR increases stability and critical damage.
most knuckles already have very high base stability, but for crusher skills it's certainly useful.

someone once calculated the average power growth for STR and DEX and the difference was minimal. so both are viable options for different purpose.

STR is usually taken to amplify damage output, while DEX provides utility by quickening cast times like Chakra.

Spike Dart scales with DEX, but Gattling Knife uses both and AGI.
traps from hunter skills scale with DEX if you have an arrow equipped.
but priest skills scale with STR for knuckles and shields.
all other magic relies on INT.

 

Not for Knuckles. Only DEX does that, at DEX/40 rate.

 

Thanks. There's another benefit in that it increases MATK, which could be helpful for stuff like Enhanced Bless and hybrid builds. I've heard that Str is way stronger at high def/diff bosses but I'm not sure if it's true