Katana-mage build

"Newbies Tips" post, on pg2. ^_^

I think it is a viable build, because of the "Ice Katana" / ability to do an "Int Up Atk" buff on gear, and/or the Dagger sub.

You'll (probably) want to focus on an even Dex / Int stats though. (I personally went 150 Dex > 150 Int > 1:1 afterwards).

Disclaimer:
I'm still new, so, I've not been able to fully test this..

Edit 2:
24 Jul 2020
(Edit 1 = disclaimer / clarification paragraphs)
(More testing is needed..)

* Warning: DO NOT get "Magic Wave" (the predecessor of Maximize). Be it glitch or intentional mechanics, it will break (prevent) Shuchuki (Katana AMPR dashing skill) from working!!

..Unless of course, you plan to have other sources of AMPR, & 1 less Garyou Tensei (Katana's "Big Ender" skill) building skill, then.. by all means..

PS:
Maximizer = staff / MD only (for the instant mp healing)..

However!! There is good news for this idea!

*drum roll please* The birth of the Ninja!! xD

In this guide, we will be teaching you the "Katana-Mage". Aka the "Ninja".

• Disclaimer: This is more a Dagger (sub) - Katana build, that focuses on Poisoning (Dagger) & Ignite (Fire Mage).

• Modifications of current information to made, later, when I've the thyme.

​

Skill wise, you'll want to focus on Katana tree 1st, after grabbing "poison" & maxing "Throwing Knives" (for long-ranged normal atk & "free combo starter/ender"), & grabbing Javelin (10), to help you get used to the movements of a Katana-user. ^_^

Note:

I'll add pics of starting build, later.

(End of Edit)​

Note: Skip any "Staff / MD only" skills, as those can't be done with a Katana.

Either way, you'll want to focus on Dagger, Mage, Katana, & Battle skill trees, as well as grab skills that boost AMPR, Max Mp, &, Max Hp.

Note: most of the typical katana off-shoot skills that give further AMPR & DPS improving passives, AREN'T until T4, so..

I also grabbed the "Dark Powers" skills (for additional survivability via self-healing+DPS).

(Bite 10 > Stinger 10)

PS:
I'd also grab "Twin Dragons" ring, for endgame bosses that will go berserk if: stunned, tumbled, &/or flinched.

All in all, try to have a minimum of: ~1.2k Mp (or maxed 2k.. idk yet..) & a passive +/- 50 (?) AMPR.

• Tbh, Idk how much AMPR is neccessary, as, almost all of Katana's T3/T4 skills are mp-heavy, &, Final is a whopping 800mp (After Impact)
  • Needs Veteran input please!!

​

Last Updated
25 Jul 2020

Edit:
For clarification purposes, this is simply a basic blueprint, to help (us) build this Demi-machina (inside joke for veteran players. xD)

Tbh, the only real details I've worked out, is this:

• Support Healing Pet
  • Nature: Gentle (Needs Veteran input please)
  • Inherited
    • Circle of Healing
    • TBD
      • Suggested: Armour Break, Stun Attack, or Clear Mind
        • Still testing Pet build
  • Discipline:
    • 1st Aid
    • Any other two..
      • Matk & Atk buffs preferred..
    • Int, Agi, & Vit
      • Assumes multiple breedings
  • Type:
    • Matk
  • Species:
    • MedPot (ie: Meditating Potum)
• Dex & Int, in ~1:1 ratio. (Suspected. Haven't done the maths for it, yet)
• Personal stat: Unknown (suspecting mental, because of Final's high interruption window)
• If building gear from scratch:
• Desired stats (in ~equal parts.)
  • • "Atk Up" / "Matk Up" (needs Veteran input for raw vs %)
    • + Int / + Dex (needs Veteran input for raw vs %..)
    • CSPD / ASPD (needs Veteran input on Necessity & amounts)
    • Fire (weapon)
  • Negatives:
    • - STR (any kind)
    • Aggro (?)
    • Other Veteran suggestions?

• Note: Can use "Ice Katana Ace" (NPC) for help with Improving Farmer & Party's "Mage" roles.
  
  • Farming requires T3 skills: Storm (mage) & Hasso (Katana); Storm leads combo.

  ​

• High Critical Rate, to help avoid misses.
  • • Note: Can use a 100% Crit Katana:
  • Death Samurai III (NPC); Halloween Event
    • (adds fire; lower versions available)
    • The BUILD'S preferred weapon (for DoT effects)
  • Orion's Sword (unkn origins)
  • Modestia (P. Avatar drop)
    • Extremely difficult to obtain
    • Helps Covers ASPD & AMPR issues
    • Master's Choice (best for Interupts)

​

• High ASPD & CSPD (suspected).
  • Minimum +1k ASPD & (?) CSPD needed, to help give smoother mobility
    • Needs Veteran help please, for "Final" & "Katana T4" speedup
  • Can use:
    • Wandering Wheel (xtal) for 75% ASPD boost.
    • Ancient Empress (xtal; do not upgrade!!) for 50% CSPD
    • Necromancer Hood for another 50% CSPD (reduces hp 12%..)
    • Elemental "Prism Ring" (Angel mobs) & "winged jade" (MD) gives CDPD boosts
      • No foreseeable drawbacks!
        • ..Except..Katana & MD can't mix..
  • Dagg
  • Daggers:
    • Holy Dagger (God Shrine "cube" mob drops)
      • +2% matk
    • + Int / + Dex types
      • Research needed. Too tired atm..
    • Note:
    • Dagger (player) crafts currently unavailable..

• Mage, Battle Skill, & Katana trees fully opened.
• Decoy (Archer T4)... *sighs*
• Recovery (Support's T2 skill)
  • Can substitute Vaccines

• Sub-classes:
  • Needs Veteran help please!!
• Some Dancer tree skills desirable
  • Note:
    • Not overly familiar with this aspect..
• Tamer Healing / MP Charge (?)
• Support Auras (Veterans?)
• Others (?)

• PS:

• Pros:
  • Less boring
  • Both Farmer (mobs) & Soloist!
    • Merc assumed for (unskilled) solos..
    • Boss farmer (Unconfirmed)
    • Ie: saves a character slot!!
  • High DPS! (Assumed)
  • Can solo nicely! (Assumed)
  • Versatility!! (Playstyle wise)
  • High social status (if done well)
  • Not stuffed in a box! (Xtal / Equipment wise) (assumed..)
  • Debuffs ignore armour (needs verification)
• Cons:
  • Fire sword = loss of cc abilities..
  • Squishy if hit (most likely..)
  • Requires knowledgable proration balancing
  • Gear may be rare / nearly nonexistent atm..
    • expensive?!
    • (NPC / rare drops, mostly)
    • Player crafts = expensive if maxed by others
    • unconventional?
    • Event-heavy!? (Mostly)

• Requires 3 heavily invested skill trees
• Requires several T4s
• MP whore!
  • To be fair, most T4s / High-damage builds probably are..
    • Note:
  • I've only played Katana & mage..

• Suggestions:
  • Don't die! (Haha)
  • Stock up on AMPR
  • Short combos! 2-4 skills each, for best mobility
  • Study forum posts, YouTube walkthroughs, & Coryn site!
• Skills to max out:
• • Katana:
• Shukuchi
• Bouncing Blade (counter-attack is awesome!!)
• Garyou Tensei vs Final vs both
  • Veteran help for (both) easiness of use for new players, & method for "Quick Kills", please.
  • Also:
    • is Tenryu Ransei neccessary?
      
    • maxed Zentai?
    • Bushido

• Note:
  • Start as Katana (to learn movements)
  • Katana as primary weapon
  • Dagger sub
• Poison
• Throwing Daggers

• Mage:

​

• Impact (7)
  • If grabbing Final &/or Storm
• Javalin
  • Fire = ignite (preferred)
  • Neutral = easy stunning (grace saver; has severe repercussions on some late-game bosses..best to double-tap
• Blast
  • (Small) AoE ignite

• Battle buffs:
  • Both Matk & Atk lines (?)
  • Ie: top two lines.
    • Needs Veteran help please, on specific skills.
  • (I'm certain on Energy Bottle & "tree openers"..Just not the rest of "maxing out")

Update:

• 15 Jul 2020

There are several pieces of gear, containing both +500 ASPD & CSPD!! xD

• 12 Aug 2020

1. Removed ranting to another post.
2. Cleaned up some post (more to come later, when thyme / energy allows..)

 

May I ask what is the purpose of Int?

Katana has the lowest Matk gain from int (1.5, unlike most weaps have 3 and staff/MD/Knuck have 4. Even halb has 2).

Mdef after 250 has a decreasing effectiveness so you really won't get much magic dmg reduc from that, and you can definitely get 250 without any Int investment.

If its for MP then it gives very little, and Tec gives more. Also MP is usually solved by either survival skills, xtals or food.

From what I understand you like being able to survive, not quite tanking just being able to not die. In which case int isn't really doing much for you there so I'm curious as to why :3

 

Didn't know abbot the low matk gains part.

However, to answer the overall question, the Int was to boost the uses of Impact / Storm / other mage skills / Priest heals etc.

It's a way to give oneself a better versatility in playstyle, as well as to help you maintain higher proration rates, as Katana is heavily physical damage, & proration escalates quickly.

(Even with auto-attack for AMPR gains, the Ktn's output dies extremely fast, once the initial burst is given.

Or..at least for someone under T4..)

 

I'm curious as to why reflect? Reflect only works when your hit directly and not with indirect aoes, cmiiw.

Also why not other xtals that will boost other attributes? Like Crit Rate, Atk, Sdr, Unsheathe, Matk, Aspd, Cspd?

Priest skills aren't really worth that much, Royal Heal and Prayer is the only useful skill there in the tree. Bless heals don't really make much of an impact in healing yourself or your allies, regen items are much better alternatives.

For magic skill tree, Impact is prolly the only skill you can use to fix proration ig when your doing solo. With party tho, won't it affect the mages if you have one in a party? (especially with random pt)

 

For starters, this was just a basic blueprint, to help others get started. ^_^

Figured they would have their own ideas / desires. However, I can go into the nitty-gritty of my personal preferences on said build, just in case someone doesn't want to do their own investigation of things / doesn't know how, etc, etc.

(See attached link, to see the full details of my preferences)

http://coryn.club/stat_calculator.php?code=105575f0e038c8d32c

(Hopefully this loads right. Otherwise, I'll just copy/paste the details)

Crystals & Gear boosts:

1. For crits, I'll have "Death Katana III" as a backup to the "Ice Katana Ace", which gives 100% critical.
(As of this post, I may still be below the req'd Lv150 for v3, so, I'll have to settle for the lesser version, "Death Katana II", come Halloween time..)

1b. "Death Katana" is also fire based, meaning many of my theoretical opponents will take the "burning" ailment from my "ailment = weapon-dependant" type skills.

(Further research is still needed, on the specifics of "player induced burning", &, what additional skills, besides magic, causes this.)

2. As a "versatile DPS-Tank", I'll likely take many a direct hit, as will I in solo-mode. (Most times I'll solo).
So, I figured if I can bounce back ~40% of the hits I do take, it'll help me kill faster.
..However, I've only just started ~2mo ago, so, I'm still learning the mechanics of the game, thus lots of tailoring to be made, as I progress.

3. Not sure what "SPR" is.. :/

4. I plan to double-slot all my gear, once they're refined to "B". (Or, wherever it begins to be 1% chance to refine.)

PS: I may continue to go to "S+" b4 opening up slots, however, that will depend on how hard it is for me to do so with my bs character.. lol.

Ie: if it becomes too much a stressful process, I'll stop at the 1% threshold.

4b. That being said, assuming it is true, that you can only have 1 copy of an xtal per gear, that gives me room to expand into whatever I still feel is lacking.

4c. However, I do plan to have at least 1x "Wandering Wheel", for a +75% ASPD boost. ^_^

(Being a hybrid, if it feels necessary, I'll also add something to boost CSPD, as well..)

PS:
Resistance boost via helmet, can be swapped for "Circle of Order", to give 40-50%, vs the noted 35% shown.

Additional skills:

1. Yeah.. I realized that "Priest" skills will still likely suck, so, I plan to substitute them for the "Heal" sub-tree of "Survival". (Ie: Mini Heal 5 > Recovery 5 > Sanctuary 5 > Heal (x)

(Not sure offhand, how high it's needed, to best heal myself / my party..)

PS: I'll have an 1x stargem of "Lv1 Bless", for ranking purposes, on bosses.

2. I'll still keep the "Dark Powers" of: Bite 10 > Stinger (1), for additional DPS+self-healing. ^_^
(Not sure if it's necessary to do higher ranks into "Stinger". Still researching this subject..)

Proration:
Imo, this seems like merry-go-round subject, as, regardless of who does what, proration is going to be screwed..


<- However, a proper "Jack-of-all-trades", knows when to do what, so that they can fulfill whatever is lacking, &/or lighten the load of the "dedicated" spots.

(& for Mino / small-boss farms, I can (hopefully) 1-shot the bosses for lower players / solo run smoother. ^_^)

 

This is definitely a really cool idea and I love how you’re thinking outside the box with it! ^^ I do have a few suggestions though if your goal is for it to be a viable option.

I think it’s possible you’re taking on too many roles for it to be viable sadly... This is something I’ve done in the past as well. Semi-tank + Support + DPS can work all in one build using certain weapon combinations but this will dilute each of these abilities, especially DPS/tank. Deciding to use a combination of physical and magical DPS with tank equipment will reduce your DPS even more to the point where it won’t be beneficial to the party. This isn’t to say that a combination of physical and magical damage can’t work, because it definitely can. But I think it’d be a good idea to re-evaluate what you want out of this character and then decide the best way to excecute it. ^^

For example, if you’re looking for high survivability or semi-tanking ability, any weapon with a shield is a great option. If you’re looking to incorporate a variety of support skills, look into some weapons that are able to use minstrel/dancer skills. Or magic weapons which will benefit heavily from priest skills. Or if you’re looking for a mixture of physical and magical damage, look into using a weapon which both ATK and MATK increase through weapon attack, or can be using the conversion passive. Just so their physical/magical ability can both be beneficial aside from proration.

In the end though, all that matters is that you’re happy with it and are having fun. So good luck! ^^ ♡

 

Thanks! xD

Yeah, that last part you said (weapon that uses both) why the suggested "Ice Katana Ace" / Building a weapon (& gear) with "Up Atk Int" (or, the reversal of "Up Matk Dex").

For, me, personally, it was mostly "surviabitly".
However, the broader idea, was because I wasn't the only person wishing for a "Mage Sword" build using Katana. ^_^

Speaking of which, I've a question:

Can Katana also use the OH / 2H weapon skills? (The weapon-based ones themselves, not the "any weapon" skills)?

Skills like "Hard Hit", "Ether Weapon" etc etc?

That is, if Katana is equipped w/ a dagger Sub, it's treated as a OH weapon (for bladeskill tree), or a 2H if no sub?

PS:

I'm currently running DPS-TANK ktn, using DPS stats (Dex > Str) with "Resistance Tank" gear (minus the shield ofc, for Ktn 2H passive).

This post was simply to show that Ktn can be a viable "mage-sword", vs the typical "OH+MD" build. ^_^

 

Sadly no ^^; if a skill has a 1-handed-sword restriction, only that weapon can activate it. Mage katana would be super cool to see though! It’s too bad they can’t equip an MD sub...

 

Kk. Thanks. -_-

Agreed, on MD sub.. lol

Just realized that this build should probably use more "conversion" gear, than "Tank" gear, to best utilize the initial "Katana-mage" aspects noted at the beginning.

Or, as you also noted:

Specialized a bit more, into a particular category, albeit by using various Katana weapons to fulfill said hybridization. ^_^

(Thank you, for noting the various subparts to hybrids. ^_^)

 

Bumping, to promote new changes in original design. ^_^

 

A guildmate suggested using "Struggle of the Warcry" in place of Mp Charger.

Any thoughts on this? (& why that might be the case?)

 

War Cry of Struggle takes much less time for just about 100mp less. Only Staff and MDmain/sub have a good excuse to get MP Charge due to the fact that they have much reduced charge time and can use Maximizer instantly.

 

MP Charge is basically meditation, so it's best used outside of combat. (for non-magic weapon users)
alternatives would be Safe Rest or Life Song combined with any sitting/dancing emotion to double the regen.

Warcry of Struggle is like battle meditation.
it costs 100mp to activate and returns 100+.
the amount is small, so it's not as reliable as MP Charge, but it's the only thing you can do when the target is out of range so you can't ampr.
the recovery amount increases as your hp drops, making a big jump to 300 (effectively 200) at <55% hp.

regarding the points in the 1st post, you are bargaining for too much.
i do like the idea and i support unconventional builds, but this one doesn't work as you think it does.

none of the Magic Blade skills can be used with katana.

any AoE has farming potential, but the effectiveness vastly differs. trapping targets with storm and killing them with hasso works, but requires much adjustment on timing as to not draw in new targets after your attack has ended.
this is definitely not a soloist build.
katana does have the necessary survival abilities, but without a strong damage output battles will be long and sooner or later you will run out of mp.
even if you don't, boss battles will take forever.

no. definitely not with magic.
you may achieve average dps with physical skills, but there will be stronger ones out there.

situations where bosses are unreachable by any attacks except for magic are very rare, and even then it is not unlikely that there is another caster in the party who can do better than you.
i would rather not discuss about social status...

it absolutely is!
the ice katana is the only one of it's kind.
there are some add gears with AtkUp(INT)/MatkUp(STR) but they are much more effective when used on staves or 1h swords.


katanas have innate magic disability. their matk is as low as knuckles atk, but unlike knuckles they do not have passive power-up skills to compensate.
if any, you can only use magic for it's effect, not for damage.
"Additional Magic" could be used, as it benefits from proration, unlike "Additional Melee" which weakens the more physical skills you use.
the INT stat benefits poison damage, but you have to give up the Two-Handed skill for it, which is far more powerful than poison could ever be.
Mana Recharge scales with INT, but drops your damage output by 25%.
in this regard, you can sacrifice Two-Handed for daggers and become a support character. the katana's parry/counter skills will keep you alive and some can preserve aura skills.
daggers also let you use dancer skills to weaken the enemy and heal your allies.

unless we are getting an exorcist skill tree with magical katana skills, there is no way to make a dps katana mage.
(same for halberd, bow and 2h. they are no good with magic, unless for support)

 

Let's see some video of your theory build.

^_^

 

A theory... at the end of the day, will remain a theory until proven. Videos are the best proof that a build can work. Solo is fine, but if a video with team fight is provided, even better.

 

When I build it, I'll definitely try showing vids, to give visuals. ^_^

Thanks for the idea! ^_^

(Both you & Ryushio. ^_^)

 

Ah. Kk. Thanks. ^_^

 

I'll address the rest later, but trying to finish mq to unlock T4s. Haha

However, I wanted to ask this question, before I forget:

Doesn't "Magic conversion" & some of the other "Magic Blade" passives count?

Or..At least the 1st 2 skills in tree, before all the combat ones, anyway?

Also, besides poison (I think), there's an ailment that is dex+Int based, so.. ^_^
(This may be poison though..)

PS:
A lil off-topic, but..
With my non-conventional Ktn (normal Dex >Str atm) build, I tend to be more support (mostly "Recovery" & "Heal" casting)+ dmg sponge (resist tank gear) with some dps to help the party.

So.. I imagine the "supporter" role is likely to be true, here, too.. @_@

..Which, for a "Jack-of-all-trades" type like me, is actually fine. ^_^

Solo bosses (even with an 11k atk guildmate merc), can be slow, but at least I typically survive with nearly full hp. Haha

Also, Ktn's "Shuzumi" (dash skill), helps with most "too far for AMPR" issues..when it's safe anyway.
(Spikes = bad for tank. )

 

Conversion and actually all of the magic warrior skills are not compatible with Katana. Passives wont work without the proper gear setup unless stated that it is available for all weapons.

As for support role using Katana, its possible, I played one myself with a Katana Dagger setup. Tho I don't use Dex>Int setup. I use Dex>Str.

Anyway you can invest on Support skills and auras. If you want more focus on support, equip a dagger to access Spirited Dance from Dancer. Tho you will lose dps potential.

Zantei helps in sustaining buffs because of iframes, and you can do damage with tenryu and garyou. But don't expect a lot.

Tbh, its not worth investing in INT as Katana since you can't make use of almost all of Magic Skills (other than impact for combo purposes) also there are very few support skills which are INT-based and its hardly noticeable even if you have them.

The build is interesting but unless we get more skills that are compatible with Katana using INT, you'll easily reach a flat curve in growth and potential.

 

unfortunately, Conversion is limited to 1h/2h/knuckle/bowgun.
-> send feedback to asobimo and request to make it available for all weapons

Poison: INT+DEX+(Atk/10)
Ignite: INT+DEX+(Matk/10)
enemy def/mdef and resistance also applies.

Poison is from Poison Knife only, restricted to daggers but 100%.
Ignite is from Ether Flare (100%, not usable with katana), Landmine (20%), or Javelin (75%) and Blast (50%) if your weapon has the fire element.
Ignite hits 4 times, Poison is based on the enemy's action speed. neither hits higher than auto-attack damage.
it's good against mobs but cannot kill them (they survive with 1hp), and it's insignificant against bosses.