Versatility??

Hi! I am a returnee and I just tweaked some builds from the other and tried to tweaked it more as I experience them.. and here is what I get. I had only tested this build with Alto coz I'm quite preoccupied on alot of things(still getting back that rhythm for boss fights).. lot to catch up on with an outdated acc and knowledge. well the notion or reason behind this not so uncommon build(Iguess), is the versatility. Back then when tenryu is being spammed without GSW (as we don't have the sp for it( I've played around 160 cap??)).. having room to do things while in a fight is a big problem.. often overlooked but always experienced.. prime example is the longevity of the combos., or even the skill warcry... well it is true that warcry does give you more dmg and much more skills at a combo(due to saving 300 mp if warcry is saved) but that would hinder ur movements or room as I was saying.. so versatility vs which would project katana more?? well for me I'd go with versatility because we spaaaammmm, w/ prorate ofc. plus with GSW being applied now I think it is needed than ever.. coz u don't wanna be hit, not just because it will end ur buff but also end ur life If I were to add.. Flash Blast is oftenly not taken by ktn users as it has a low time frame of 20s at max lvl.. whell asfaik. FlashBlast is better than WarCry rght? Unsheathe% vs Atk%? and with this build u won't be having problem with Flash Blast anymore because of the room It gives(the Build), not only that it would also save you 20sp that you needed for warcry + WarCry is a party/aoe? buff so weighing pros n cons.. it is better to not to have warcry as an katana.
Please, please do correct me or criticize me If i have mistakes and such.. I am still getting in touch with the game so constructive criticisms are appreciated.

SKILL BUILD:

+ Standard Lvl10 Quick Aura & lvl10 GSW & AtkUp10 & CrtUp10 & Intimidating Power lvl10 & Backstep
COMBOS:
Combo [1] : Range-Close Tenryu Buff cast: 100 MP:
this can vary to Pulse>Tenryu(save)>Karikiri(Swift)>FlashBlast(Swift)>Finale(Smite) or/
/----------------- Pulse>Karikiri(Save)>Flashblast(Swift)>Tenryu(Save/Swift)>Finale(Smite) if you prefer to buff before enclosing to the boss
: Do note that these two long combo are optimal(andprovides u a choice if u want to buff urself at a distance or enclosed) if u prefer to buff ur first Maga/Zantei Zannou. My Range-Close buff with thriple thrust is more of a reason to hastily excute my combo(along with or w/o GSW) so I will much more room to do things. and aside with the cool animation, it also tele u to the back of the enemy, automatically evading the boss attack if its a front forward boss skill.
and for buffing I can buff before executing my Range-Close Tenryu buff cast by my combo 5

Combo [2] : Smited Tenryu/Close Tenryu Buff cast: 250 MP if Buffed/ 350 MP if not:

I prefer impact to be at my smited tenryu for proration, but not only that.. coz it would also be viable as an initative Buff tenryu too if the circumstances doesn't allow the Combo 1.
Haven't tried yet if FlashBlast as an opener would be more optimal on some cases.. but it is good to as it refreshes ur buff. if FB used as an opener for tenryou.. then it is optimal to use Impact on Garyou or Zantei whichever u prefer..

Combo [3] : Garyou Combo(Change the opener to Kariki/Adlib(toberad) by ur preference): 600 MP/700 if with karakiri:

I actually have a question.. when is the optimal time to use Garyou??(am a returnee and back then Garyou isn't much of a trend) ty. coz I've been thinking if would still be needing this one.. Karakiri as an opener reassures your Karakiri+Garyou buff but take heed coz if u keep recasting(casted already with buff) karakiri you may die by just burn, might aswell time ur garyou with a different opener so u can utilitize the time frame of Karakiri casted that is seperatedly. is Garyou needed nowadays?? or it serves some diff use as a dps? pls enlighten mee
Combo [4] : Decoy Combo: 100 MP
- well the standard one.. actually I am thinking of pommel strikelvl10 for a stun? is that good?
Combo [5] : Re-Buff Combo: 100 MP

This allows you to safely position ur self automatically and with GSW as the first slot for this combo it will not only Rebuff ur GSW time frame but would also assure a speed in motion for casting buffs.
p.s. I actually have a 6th combo slot. reserved if I ever need the Backstep skill for maneuvers. Backstep>GSW(Swift/Cons) when I do this I make my Re-Buff Combo with Reflex/Karakiri/GSW etc.(by preference/adlib for being rad) as an opener.

another reason why I wanted to share this is that there's some ktn users who doesn't invest on magic skills. I know it is not rightfully needed but the Finale Smite combo trick is too good to disregard. but hey again, merely my opinion. and I know some who can do swift katana gameplay even w/o this trick. well.. haven't seen it but that's wht they say.. my stats btw is Dex>Str at lvl 183.

Edit: Due to the infos I've gathered and exchange. tysm guys. My combos now are
Combo 1: Issen>Decoy(Save)>/GSW(Swift)>Karakiri(Swift)/Finale(Smite)
Combo 2: BouncingBlade>Tenryu(Smite)>Finale(Smite)
Combo 3: Impact>Garyou(Smite)>/Karakiri(Save/Swift)/Finale(Smite)
Combo 4: TripleThrust>Decoy(Save)>/GSW(Swift)>Karakiri(Swift)/Finale(Smite)
Combo 5: Backstep>GSW(Swift/Cons)/>Karakiri(Save/Swift)>Finale(Smite)/
I modify them by needs. with this combo I have 2 ways(1 that allows you to blink, I wanna choose adlib instead of issen but have nospina for the skill book xD + a not close range skill opener could gve me problems also when casting decoy, as decoy is stationary.) to deploy decoy or even re-buff me if I chose to input it there. If the buffs are inputted between the combo 4 and 1 I leave my Backstep with GSW, or just as it is if I won't be using GSW(I can also put Karakiri there to for rebuffing If I need it).

 

you can just get warcry from pt members so you can save sp for that.

for combo 1, i feel its kinda unnecessary to use a combo for tenryu buff, just manually cast it. mp cost might be a concern for you and also a combo will render you immobile.

optimal time to use garyou. 10 stacks XD and yes kairiki opener so you can,

use reflex for the decoy combo. faster than issen.

and yes you can disregard magic skills. for me, bouncing blade is better than impact. 100mp, no proration (only does phys if you counter smth) and also halves next skill's mp cost. bb>tenryu(smite) (200mp with tenryu buff) is enough with just 1 auto attack prorate.

 

thx man the bouncing blade helps!! yeahh wit the long buff tenryou.. I dont actually use that just putted it there coz that's how some build on yt are.. I use my range-close tenryou for as a combo buff for proc of zannou under some circumstances only. on my build I have 3 ways to buff it 2 are on combo 1 by just normal cast.

yeah man 10stacks ofc. i think i saw once that garyou is much more optimal when the boss has broken parts??

 

Not broken parts, but armor break ailments. You can armor break using zantei's counter or let your party use snipe.

 

10x skill multiplier. bigg dmg lol

 

also the zantei zettetsu dmg is on par with garyou on low def bosses. garyou is much more useful on higher def bosses because of the 100% p.pierce

edit: the zannou zantei one. also by disregarding magic skills, your decoy combo will lose its (save)>finale(smite) trick. you can either use swift instead to make your decoy deploy faster (also possible with cspd) or maybe still go with save and get a 2mp ender with smite or 3mp with swift

 

I feel like flash blast is one of the worst things you can do on a katana. At first unsheathe doesn't win against atk% if it's the same value. In fact atk% is prefered because it also affects garyou and helps against high def bosses. But the main problem is that katana is already a class that (depending on the user) struggles to keep proration neutral. One more negative proration per evade isn't really helping that

 

I'm quite conviced already when its stated.. coz yeah due to the stats of chars now. but would u elaborate on that? basis for atk being much more worthwhile than the unsheathe10%? and wdym be negative proration per evade?? tysm

 

he meant that wacry's 10%atk buff is better than flash blast's 10% unsheathe buff. also if you evade or use manual evasion, flash blast attacks your enemy and does physical proration.

 

Not every stage will be so ideal like you think. What if the boss have high def like 2k? Your miniscule atk won't work well.
50%-70% unsheath is already good. And if you have spare spina, you should add atk power instead

 

Katana often has tons of unsheathe stacked through gears+passives, like 50%+, while atk% is often below 20-30%. Adding 10% atk on top of a smaller value such 20% has higher impact than stacking more 10% unsheathe on 50%+.

There is also enemy defense. As rule of thumb, whenever the skill constant is lower than enemy defense, multiplicators such unsheathe, srd, etc. are less effective than atk% if we compare same value. For reference, tenryu/garyou(without armor break) have 100 constant, so atk% is pretty much better than unsheathe overall (again, if same value...).

About negative proration, each time you evade, flash blast activates, which has physical proration, so you'll be lowering next physical skill damage, which is a negative effect of flash blast.

 

With how manual evasion works, I also didn't take flashblast for proration reason.

My combo consist of:
Buff combo: kairiki>gsw(cons)
Garyou combo: reflex>garyou(smite) >Kairiki(cons)
Decoy combo: ad-lib>decoy(swift)
Garyou Stack combo: Bouncing blade>tenryuu(swift).

I usually either do tenryuu manually or use the bouncing blade combo. The swifted tenryuu is used to quicken the first 3 uses of the skill. Kairiki+gsw combo can be used when you're familiar with the enemy's pattern. If not then just turn off the combo.
Once the stack is filled garyou is used. It also have kairiki ender so I don't have to re-cast kairiki manually. Usually whenever kairiki is about to end, garyou's stack is at 10/10 so I used garyou while renewing kairiki buff. I have a cycle of decoy>buff>tenryuu>magadachi>tenryuu>garyou.

 

you don't use tenryu smite?? r u a garyou build type??

 

When you use gsw the kairiki after garyou is wasted. Garyou animation will be so fast that kairiki wasn't consumed by the time you already use it again. So with gsw you need to put another skill in between garyou and kairiki. Gsw for example

 

I don't know any katana player that knows his stuff that uses tenryu(smite). Tenryu smite doubles or triples (depending on your combo) the MP cost of tenryu while only providing a 50% damage inceease.

 

I see, I actually haven't been using gsw all that much. Only on finstern so far. I'll use a filler, thanks for the info.

I used to use a combo of flash blast>tenryuu(smite). I use it everytime I need to re-buff and while I'm at it its a nice use of smite tag. Even then I never spam it.
It's better to just do manual tenryu and do auto attacks in between even with max motion speed. Smited tenryuu is really only worth it when you use impact with decoy intact. I don't use impact now, instead I take crossfire and snipe to play bowtana whenever I feel like it, the sp is enough.

 

I use bouncing blade before the smited tenryuu now(it halves the mp of the next skill and doubles it accuracy), and I am not having any problems with mp management., I kinda want the sweet buff of +50% dmg per slash coz my eqs isn't on par with others, and I could also time it with a little time frame in adjustment for zantei while the boss is doing its attack animation., on some cases with this << a tenryu only skill is too fast to time it with an autoattack and zantei in between. but I only do this(Smited Tenryu) whenever GSW is optimal in the fight. utilitizing that motion speed. also with bouncing blade on smited tenryu now.. i can put the impact as an opener for garyou.

 

I've made improvements with my combos as I am enlightened with ur ideas. thx gys. dearly appreciated

 

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noted. I just need a realization of how are the dealings with boss fights now. ty bro