Super detailed 1h swordsman guide with important/useful infos(27/oct/2015)

This is an update after countless reset and retests. 29/10/2015. I did an error during my first guide, i did not reserved a spot for my part 2 and 3 and i remove alot alot of core infos. I had to remake a new thread so i can explain further. I know the guide is damn long but it worth coz i spent alot of times with many people to do all these. Everything written here is tested, confirmed. Anything that wasn't wrote is because i either think it is not important or unconfirmed.

Thanks @Alleura for providing a key factor to build this guide. Thanks @Kimesato for his guide on stats explanations and plenty of explanations he had provided before. Thanks @Broyd for pointing out some important corrections. Thanks to Chien(IGN: Zigen), Daryl (IGN: Ahfat), Bob (IGN: Marumo) for always doing plenty plenty of testing.

Part 1 - Why plays a 1h swordsman, how should i build it as a basic and basic details.

Many players always asking for 1h swordy build. I tested and reroll and test it further again and again. So I am quite confident to tell you everything. I been thru 2H build, tank build, 1h semi tank to semi-healing. I throw in enough cash to make my 1H swordy stats is correct. I tested full str 1h. Yes i'm 2h now because i never figure a perfect build till today. (I actually found a perfect build on 2h but 2h is too stagnant as a build).

I see many 1H dps player couldn't know what is their direction and people here gonna tell you, there's no solid 1-way build because 1h swordsman are too flexible to build into anything. But you know, DPS? It mean damage per second. Damage is priority. If you are looking for DPS, this infos will provide all that you need. I am giving you all the statistics i collected.

27/10/2015 - my true thought of why play 1h, first MP consumption is lower. Meaning i can spam more. Against a prolonged fight (bosses hp and skills are getting crazily and not as n00b as before), 1h shines. 1h swordy also can solo all bosses without pots provided if u have patience(Except arcoiris mini boss). Because of attack animation is faster by 20% compared to 2h, you recover faster and spam more than them. Not just double, but more to 120% more. In the long run, the benefits of being a 1h is definitely more than 2h.

Items that you would need(All must be slotted except sub weapon):
1) Adel sword 45 atk above or any custom made 1h sword with 6 Str/Dex, 6 Crit Rate - (You can fill the rest of the leftover potential to whatever you want).
2) Forest wolf Garb (Must be from boss drop) or Custom armour (6% ASPD, 6 Crit Rate, 6Crit-dmg - 36-40potentials needed)
*For armour, you can either go heavy FWG or light custom armour. Reason is FWG give tons of ASPD and you can sacrifice ASPD to defense. Another benefits, you can have heavy armour appearance which is always way nicer than light armour. Light armour gives an additional 76 ASPD and vice versa for heavy armour (-76 ASPD).
3) Feather cape
4) Dex/Str/Talisman II or Bow Thimble
(for sub weapon & xtals, i will explain later in part 3)

What is my role in boss fight?
In prototype of my guide, i made a mistake stating 1h can outdps a 2h. I was wrong but not totally. It truly depends on how geared that 2h is. As a 1h, you can dps relatively well. If we compared per mp bar usage, you are doing roughly 90% of what 2h are doing. Your role is to DPS. But trust me, you tend to be the tanker. You have to spam and tank most of the time. Thats your role.

My combo is Astute - Hard hit - Trigger slash (all with consecutive) . Having long combo always allow boss to cast aoe and since i can't really cancel it, most of the time i tanked the damage. So i don't recommend long combo. A short one with 1mp bar usage is good enough.
What combo best?
1. Full consecutive combo. Astute -> Hard Hit -> Trigger slash.
2. Full consecutive combo. Astute -> Hard hit -> Sonic wave -> Spiral Slash -> Trigger slash.
Note: For the 2nd combo, it put you to disadvantage 60% of the time. It casts so many skills at 1 go, it make boss AOE damage or some minion's AOE damage lands on you because that combo takes too long to finish. Only use this when you can tank the boss. If not, first combo is the best. You can "Hit & Run" and avoid damage almost throughout the whole boss fight. Solo Forestia is easy as well.
1) cast your combo 1-2 time.
2) Move to side, normal hit 1-3x and move again, wait for boss to cast a aoe skill on you
3) Use your Combo
4) Repeat
What the different between 1H and 2H?

Note: Lower burst damage output and higher attack speed & animation compared to 2h, can equip sub weapon to fill in whatever stats you're missing. High accuracy mean you're not going to miss like pure STR or pure AGI players. Since most of your attacks landed, and with fast attack speed you regain MP really fast.

Skill build:
10/10 - Hard Hit-(MP 100)One-Handed/Two-Handed Brutally hit the target with the weapon. You have a chance to make the target Flinch.
10/10 - Astute- (MP 200)One-Handed/Two-Handed Strongly hit the target in rapid motion. Critical Rate +25% when this skill is activated.
10/10 - Trigger Slash-(MP 400)One-Handed/Two-Handed Put power while slashing the target. Enhance Attack MP Heal until the next skill. The motion speeds up one time by this skill.
5/10 - Sword Mastery-One-Handed/Two-Handed Get better at swordsmanship. ATK of One/Two-Handed Swords increases.
5/10 - Quick Slash-One-Handed/Two-Handed Shorten the Attack Intervals of One/Two-Handed Swords.
10/10 - Sword Techniques-One-Handed/Two-Handed Learn the mastership of swords. The damage dealt of Sword Skills increases.
5/10 - Safe Rest-No Limit Natural HP Regen increases.
10/10 - HP Boost-No Limit Max HP increases a little. (100 HP per skill lvl)
1/10 - MP Charge-No Limit Restore MP by charging magic power. The charging time reduces as the skill levels up.
Note:
Sword Mastery-One-Handed/Two-Handed - This only add on 20-30 attack at max level. Not necessary as well. Any xtal can fill that void.
Quick Slash-One-Handed/Two-Handed - If you are pure dex, your attack speed should be higher. This is unnecessary to max.

Note: Why trigger slash always used as last skill in combo? Basically, Trigger slash double whatever Attack-MP-Recovery you have. Base AMPR is 10. Lets say it's 10 and your xtal+equipment have a total of 13 AMPR, you will gain 46MP with successful landed hit after trigger slash used. So every 5hits = 2MP bar.

Total skill points: 66 skills points. (if you have max emblem, your skills points would be 102)

Ready for part 2? More informations await you.

 

Part 2 - How to distribute your stats points
note: My stats explanation is not as straightforward as most guide.

For 1h swordsman, Dex or Str both add +2 into your attack power.
Your total stats points at lvl 65 will be 185(provided you have all the emblems)

Below should provided you with the stats infos

1 Dex = 2 Attack = 186 Dex = 372 Attack
1 Dex = 1.36 Accuracy = 186 Dex = 252 Accuracy
1 Dex = 3.35 CSPD = 186 Dex = 623 CSPD
6 Dex = 1 Crit = 186 Dex = 31 Base Critical rate

&

1 Str = 2 Attack = 186 Str = 372 Attack
1 Str = 0 Accuracy = 186 Str = 0 Accuracy
1 Str = 0.35 ASPD = 186 Str = 65.1 ASPD
8 Str = 1 Crit = 186 Str = 23.25 Critical rate

&
Base critical rate: 5%
Stability = ('DEX x 3' + STR) Divide by 40
Critical Damage = Total Str divide by 5
Base critical damage rate = 150%
3 Crt = 1% Crit Rate = 30 Crt = 10% Crit Rate

For e.g.
Pure dex have an additional 13.95% stability on top of their weapon at lvl 65, additional 31% critical rate on top of their base critical rate(5%).
Pure str have an additional 4.65% stability on top of their weapon at lvl65, additional 23.25% critical rate on top of their base(5%), additional 37.2% critical damage on top of your base (150%)
Note: You can do the maths i provided on your gears as well. So you can calculate your total stats your character have.

http://ameblo.jp/roche11/entry-12080551092.html
http://roche11.html.xdomain.jp/tuujoukougeki.html

Above link was an important tool to create the most optimal 1h warrior. Most 1h, went full DEX as their core stats.
Stats build Options:

Total 185 stats points at max levels & all the emblems gotten.

1) You can go pure dex and have lower burst damage
2) You can go pure str and have bigger burst damage but super low accuracy
3) My recommendation. I don't usually enforce my idea onto someone but if you need a guideline, this will be it.

125 stats points into STR
60 stats points into DEX

At max levels+emblem, Your basic stats will be 30.75% base critical, 175% critical damage, 126 accuracy, 374 Attack, +7.65% stability on top of your weapon. 126 accuracy is enough hitrate/accuracy at this point of game except some broken bosses. But important factor is, my stats distribution is more for players who are willing to invest in expensive items.
Custom 1h weapon with 6 crita nd any other preferred stats + Mauze Xtal/Boss Gob Xtal
Custom armour with 6 crit and any other preferred stats + Mauze xtal /Boss Gob Xtal
Fluffy tail or Feather cape with Golden skeleton/Boss gob xtal
Bow Thimble with Eerie Xtal
This way you can achieve 46.75% - 51.75% critical rate. This can fully exploit your critical damage which is 175% and even facing broken bosses you will not face much difficulties since critical strikes do not missed and your base accuracy will also be very high.

Full Dex do not have the above firepower and having high accuracy is also pointless to some bosses since Golden skeleton(miniboss) & Forestia (boss) have some crazy flee/dodge stats. Having a higher damage range will be more beneficial in the long run. Especially with Astute being casted, instantly boost your critical rate by 25 (30.65+25 = 50.65 critical rate, not including your equipment's stats) for the next 10 seconds.
Full Str will definitely make you hate this game, Your accuracy will suffer so greatly and I don't think you will enjoy this game any further.

Note: I only deliver the offensive data, it's DPS we're talking about. This stats plus the gears you will be using, will be quite ridiculously high.

 

Part 3 - Indepth explanations, specialized build & FAQs.
Note: In this part 3, i recommend you to be more experienced before you read on. The details provided here is too much.

Questions on refine and how much they add into you.(exact formula)
Refining value +1 = (Weapon ATK+1) × 1.0069
Refining value +2 = (Weapon ATK+2) × 1.0379
Refining value +3 = (Weapon ATK+3) × 1.0896
Refining value +4 = (Weapon ATK+4) × 1.1621
Refining value +5 = (Weapon ATK+5) × 1.2517
Refining value +6 = (Weapon ATK+6) × 1.3655
Refining value +7 = (Weapon ATK+7) × 1.5
Refining value +8 = (Weapon ATK+8) × 1.6552
Refining value +9 = (Weapon ATK+9) × 1.8345
Refining value +10(+E) = (Weapon ATK+10) × 2.05699803
Refining value +11(+D) = (Weapon ATK+11) × 2.25 (not confirmed, based on assume-calculations but should be very close to actual amount)
Refining value +12(+C) = (Weapon ATK+12) × 2.5 (not confirmed, based on assume-calculations but should be very close to actual amount)

Armour, shield, additional can all be refined. Their exact maths is unknown. But it was mentioned before, they gives damage reduction. Per 1 refine = 1% damage reduction. So if you have all armour, shield & additional gears refined to +10(+C), you will have 30% damage reduction.

Questions always asked by 1H swordy:

What should be my sub weapon?
Go for sub weapon stats. (Note: DONOTUSE magic device/claws. It adds nothing into your toon and magic skill does low damage if you're full dex.)
The only sub weapon that benefits you in stats are Dagger, Shield, Arrows. Any stats you find suitable for your playstyle. I find shield are plenty useful.

Should i learn sub weapon skills. For e.g. Dagger skills?
Dagger skills dps is bad. If you want a good skill, go for rage sword from Knight skill tree. It is like Skill:Hard hit that do good and strong damage but it will or might, pull aggro onto you. But it don't really matters, You will be tanking alot. Shield skill are quite good.

Why i do not recommend having brawler, mage, dagger as sub skills is because their damage is ridiculously low. It will be a waste of skills points and make you under perform. If you really want to throw some points into something, my best proposal is actually a shield. Why?

5/10 - Shield Mastery-Shield Enhance Attack Speed when equipping a shield
10/10 - Force Shield-Shield DEF is added when you equip a shield (Every 1 level gives 50hp, so 10/10 gives you 500 extra hp)
10/10 - Magical Shield-Shield Increases Mdef when you equip a shield (Every 1 level gives 50hp, so 10/10 gives you 500 extra hp)
This build make you into a semi-tanker(with more than 2600HP, Nothing in this game hit you for more than 2600 damage. And only used 25 skills points. If you had followed accordingly to this guide, you have a leftover of 36 skills points and even after this skillset, you are left with 11 points.

And, How do people get aggro even when they are doing lower damage? Aggro is achieved by Total mp consumption of your combo(not reducing from consecutive. I didn't believe in this. But this is the maths that i had calculated and tested from another post.. Every level of provoke skill will increase +100 Aggro point, so lvl10 provoke will have 1000 Aggro poin + 200 (from MP consumption). So the total Aggro pts of lvl10 Provoke is 1200.

If any member on your party run crazy combo that originally cost large of mana, the aggro will be their.
The original MP cost is before the modification cause by combo (for e.g tenacity or consecutive). Bosses seem to have a tendency to reset this aggro system and whoever deals the next highest mp combo will result in them tanking. When i was using a 5skill-combo, the mp of all the skill is 900. That is equal to 900 aggro points. So when i say, u will be tanking alot.. u should know u had to cut down on your combo unless you really want to tank it.

Now the last part, I do know i throw in alot of informations. There a reason why i left this part to be my last.
Questions about what xtal have to be used.
I find a need to explain this because, xtal are not that important most of the time for the little benefits they gives. Thus, i think you should just use any xtals you want. But if you want a deck out style, i will also put in my recommendation.
Weapon - Flare volg, Boss gob, Silver roar, MP+100, Excavated Golem (My fav is silver roar)
Armour - Flare volg, Boss gob, Silver roar, MP+100, Arcoiris (My fav is Boss Gob+Silver roar. Yes 2 slotted)
Additional - Only golden Skeleton xtal.
Special - Only Eerie xtal.

Let me knows if you got any good infos. I will be sure to run a few tests.

 

Part 4 - Terrible bosses to solo against with and strategies against them.
A) Forestia.
This is the boss that caught me by surprise. First, even full dex 1h swordsman might have troubles against it. You can keep hitting him but the minion burns ur hp down too fast. This is also the boss that make many many 2h player to rage quit their 2h swordsman. What's the problem?
1. You missed a lot on this boss.
2. This boss evade too many attacks
3. The minions reduce your hp by 33% - 50% (forgotten about it)
4. This boss can knock you out of battlefield if choose not run away from one of it's skills.
5. The hp of this boss is really high to solo with. (135,000hp)
Knowing all these, i revert back into a full dex 1h from pure str to fight against it. I achieved good results since most of my skills landed on him but i also realised, i killing it too slow.
In this game, critical do not miss except from the evasion of boss's . Let say you casted Astute, but the boss evade, the astute's buff will still be on. So how high should our critical be if you follow my build? 50% critical base rate. That's what you would need against this cute bird.

The moment you landed Astute, you have roughly 10seconds window to keep throwing all of your skill against him. u will have 75% critical chance against this bird and bring him down. And what sword does the best damage against him solo? Relic sword. Forestia's element is wind. Relic sword's element is earth. So you will do 1.5x more damage against him.

Now you will be asking, how am i able to achieve 50% base critical. Basically, if your gear stats really did follow my recommendation. 125 str, 60dex. You will have 30.625 rate. With fluffy tail (3 crit), wolf garb (4 crit) and a custom sword with 6 crit. You will get 43.625% crit chance. But it is NOT enough at all. I tested with 43% and i still miss like craps. You will need xtals to back it up. Mauze and Boss Gob xtall both provide 2 critical rate. It will be the key factor to boost to near 50% rate. Once u reach 49-50% rate, u will see how different it is.
But then, you will realise one key factor. The minion spam alot to damage you. It reduce your current hp by a huge chunk.
And this forestia love casting aoe and knock-you-out-of-his-map skill a lot. The combo have to be short. Astute - Hard Hit - Trigger slash is the maximum skill you should have. Keep every combo in 3 skills and never go for 4 skills. Standing there casting your combo is silly. Once his minion target you(that red zone around you), you have approx 3sec to run away. So keep your combo total casting time below 3 skill is the most effective way. The boss dont hit exceptionally hard and the aoe skills is very easy to move away from it.

Full dex will have a easier time killing him despite having lower damage.
Full str with alot of critical can solo him in under 70-150 sec .
My stats distribution is more for people willing to deck out their character(i use xtal/gears to cover my weaker stats. So i can push my DPS to a higher range). While full dex are more for players who might be not so interested to get deck-out gears/items .

 

Four things:

1) Awesome guide! ^.^

2) I've never seen anyone with 125 STR + 60 DEX, interesting... Would a pure DEX swordie be better off switching to Dual Wielding rather than staying as a 1h?

3) How about 1 point in Shield Bash for the stun, with the 1h semi-tank?

4) Are the weapon refinement damage values correct, and, if so, do they apply to all weapons?

 

1> Thank you.
2> From current data, duel wield main stats is Dex and offhand stats are agi/str. Straightforward as to say, if u went full dex, your offhand have super low or almost no damage (due to damage reduction value of 50% and no stats imputted for offhand) & swordsman have stronger swordskill damage comparing to DW. It is better for them to either stick with 1h build or go Archer. If u go DW, full dex and swordsman skills.. not sure you are building a DW or what. lol.
3> I never like enforcing my ideas but i like giving my thoughts and advises to anyone who need it. After the basic build, u are left with 34 skills points. U can do that with what u like. Shield skills, battle skills, knight skills. For me? I will go either shield skill and no harm throwing just 1 point into shield bash for the 3sec stun.
4> from my source, except +E to +C, it is correct. But the true calculations/maths will take awhile before i show it.

 

For refining thingy I have this formulas:
Total Weapon Attack: [Weapon Attack] + [Refine Value] + [Weapon Attack * (Refine Value)² * 1%]

For Exampe:
Ooze Staff @40+9
With this formulas should be:
= [40] + [9] + [40 * (9)² * 1%]
= [40] + [9] + [40 * 81 * 1%]
= [40] + [9] + [3240 * 1%]
= [40] + [9] + [32.4]
= 81.4

Use your formula should be:
Ooze Staff @40+9 = Weapon ATK × 1.8345
= [40] x 1.8345
= 73.38

Idk which formulas is the best.
cmiiw

 

Your reply never cease to amaze me. I never ever thought of your formula. What I have to do now is to find 2 same atk bone sword and test the difference of atk by refining. As I busy with my work, I can't do this right now. Trust me it will be updated tonight. I will make a confirmation.

 

Just might try this later. As of now on full dex, i can hit around 2k crit of auto attacks, 6k HardHit, 10k Astute (Smite), and 3k Trigger Slash(Consec) on Forestia
item build being:
Saber 38@ + 8 Atk4% cr6% - Sroar
Storm Dagger
P.Arm +5 Dex5 Cr5% aspd5% - Sroar
Feather Cape +5 - Gskel (might switch to Fighter Chignon Cap - Gskel)
Dex Talisman - Eerie

Skills
10 Hard Hit
10 Astute
10 Trigger
Max all Sword Skill Passives
5 Hp Mp Regen
10 Hp Boost
5 MP Boost
10 Sober Analysis

Basis are
Auto (Lowest)300
Auto (highest) 1000
Auto (Lowest Crit) 600
Auto (highest Crit) 2000
Hard Hit (Lowest) 1300
Hard Hit (highest) 2000
Hard Hit (Lowest Crit) 2.5k
Hard Hit (highest Crit) 6k
Astute (Lowest) 2000
Astute(highest) 3000
Astute(Lowest Crit) 4000
Astute(highest Crit) 10,000
Trigger Slash (Lowest) 900
Trigger Slash (highest) 1.5k
Trigger Slash (Lowest Crit) 2000
Trigger Slash (highest Crit) 3000

Stats:
186 Dex

 

@Impact
What an awesome guide you have here! My current 1H is full Dex, but somehow the crit damage doesn't proc as often as I expect. Now I understand why. I will reset my stat points to include Str.

However before I do that, I'd like my 1H to have some level of evasion instead of just guarding (with heavy remodeled armor, etc).
Evasion-type, moderate-to-high dps swordsman (preferably with shield too) is closer to my play style. Hence, we may be looking at allocating some stat points to Agi.

I'm looking at possible allocations of:

1. Str: 85 | Dex: 60 | Agi: 40
2. Str: 65 | Dex: 60 | Agi: 60

What is your recommendation with regards to evasion and Agi allocation?

 

@Islandi Try the 2nd one. you get fair amount of damage, good evade and dodge. but IMHO, having around 50+ agi won't do anything good since as a 1h dps, you get aggro alot because of damage, which you will sacrifice around 50% just for dodge. another is dodging and evasion is good if you get the aggro.

i suggest getting evade skills and light armor mastery. and equip mirror shield since it has aggro and evasion, you get to guard and evade as much.

 

Great Guide! btw my total skills points with max emblem is 102.
Last 2 skill points, i got from 9 & 10 skill tree mastery.

 

Thank you for your suggestion. Currently with my full Dex 1H, I have remodeled Light Ooze Armor (may change to FW Garb but Ooze armor is just too smexy ), Light Armor Mastery lvl 5, FW Cape and Mirror Shield for dodge and evasion.

I still feel the current dodging and evasion level is still not as high to my liking.

 

@Islandi my recommendations is never go AGI. It does not benefit you except for the attack speed. The evasion is not that highly necessary when you can fill that void through light armour mastery, storm dagger, xtals and some other way.
@Broyd thank you for providing this info. I will put it in once i finish my boring session with presentations.
@Cypherian Full dex is good. As i had always saying, 1h have no standard way of building it. it is the most flexible class. great damage !

 

I think your focus to make yourself untouchable? In that way you need to forsakes tons of Damage to make that happens. In that case, you can go AGI in your stats build. In a previous MMORPG, i played a game that allow you to boost "skill evasion".. basically you can evade almost every single skill/spells in the game if your skill evasion overwrite their skill accuracy. But because of that, i have trouble killing something. Im more like a tank than a DPS.

 

No, my aim is not to make myself untouchable... but just enough to evade some attacks to reduce damage while smiting mobs at the same time.
Perhaps my evasions are not high enough because I haven't maxed out Light Armor Mastery, has no Evasion Up (not enough Skill Points for this ) and the necessary xtals yet.

My char is level 54 atm. I'll reset my stats to Str > Dex build and test it out to see whether I like the result.

Edit: Does refining the gears with eva stats increase the dodge / evasion bonuses? Eg FW Cape, FW Garb

 

@Islandi I Tried an Evade Tank type 1H as my first before remaking it. In my observation, if you evade ( i mean evade like the one where you dodge to the side or suddenly backstep) 5 times in a row, you lose aggro no matter how much damage you do at the start. then it becomes hard to get aggro back again because your damage counter is lower than your team mates and you have to make up for it by damaging more, which you lack coz you focused more on evading. The only good Evade Tank is a Semi Tank Brawler. But if you still want to push through, try getting dagger skills. and max throw dagger, based on experience, the damage you do from evading an attack increases if you have a dagger and higher throw dagger skill.

 

another thing: asking for a adel sword with attack of 50 is a bit too much, its base attack is only 40. lol

 

Maybe attack of 45 and above is still achievable. I have an attack 46 slotted adel sword.

 

I always knew the range is around maximum 8 or 9 from base atk. Lol. Will edit these wrong info out. Thanks buddy for informing.