Rune Fencer and.. dual wield?

[Losie]

So, in leveling up RUN a bit I've come to wonder somethin'.. I noticed sword skill is pretty much on par with great sword and, considering the nature of dual wielding, I began to wonder - what if it turns out to be better?

I hit 40 and did some testing with /dnc and with a level 40 Royal Swordsman's blade greatsword vs a pair of swords (level 40/30) the dual wielding seemed to do slightly more damage. But most noticable was that Lunge always did a good 60+ more damage with two runes while dual wielding than it did with a great sword.

I was really hoping that rune fencer would finally be the one job that really brought great swords to the forefront of their arsenal, but considering the high sword rank and how generally good dual wielding is for many jobs, I dunno. I'm a little worried that great swords will just be relegated to the back burner in favor of yet another job being stuck with /nin or /dnc for dual wield access (not to mention needing a provoke and such from someplace, ideally.)

Anyhow, just some thoughts! Like I said, I was certainly hoping Rune Fencer would really hit home with the great sword, but at a glance it seems like dual wield will easily match up, if not surpass, using them. Based on all the concept art and story I'm really pretty surprised by this, all things considered! If rune fencers are supposed to be GS heavy, I don't know why dual wielding would boost lunge damage, not to mention being more reliable anyways than slow infrequent hits.

[Metaking]

did you have higher sword skill than great sword from merits, lunges dmg is based on skill with weapon

[Doombringer]

it's definitely an idea that's being kicked around a lot.

resolution has a small attack penalty that most people don't appreciate because it's usually DRKs using it.

in a similar vein, ruinator has a decent attack BUFF, that again; most people don't pay any attention to because who's using it? beastmasters and nobody?

so when you compare an attack PENALTY to an attack BONUS, on a job that doesn't have a boatload of attack to spare, /nin mainhanding an axe starts to look pretty interesting.

not to mention utsusemi might gel well with RUNs naturally high evasion and parrying.



if it has a failing, it's that run doesn't get much for axes or swords. they don't get the best Gswords either, but the selection is still much better. that and resolution might just be awesome enough to power through it all and still take on all comers.

[Covenant]

What about sub job effects from Samurai or Dark Knight? Their 2handed abilities?

[orakio]

What about sub job effects from Samurai or Dark Knight? Their 2handed abilities?

In some ways Samurai plays kind of negatively with rune fencer due to the cast time and recast penalties from seigan/hasso and their effect on abilities like foil/flash. They also tend to push the cast time of stoneskin/blink to the point of unusability mid-combat.

Drk as a subjob could be good for a Run looking to deal damage in the future if the developer stated design changes of last resort for drk ever go through.

[Horadrim]

In some ways Samurai plays kind of negatively with rune fencer due to the cast time and recast penalties from seigan/hasso and their effect on abilities like foil/flash. They also tend to push the cast time of stoneskin/blink to the point of unusability mid-combat.

Drk as a subjob could be good for a Run looking to deal damage in the future if the developer stated design changes of last resort for drk ever go through.

You know, people say that about SAM but I haven't experienced very many problems with casting, then again, I don't use /SAM incredibly often as I solo a lot and look for cures.

RDM seems like a breadwinner right now. Honestly we can't say what manner of RUN is the best until we get the new update.

[Kojo]

I'm not trying to bring a "I'm higher level so I know more" aura in here, but you are just in the 40's, The differences in weapon skill ratings aren't that apparent yet.

[orakio]

You know, people say that about SAM but I haven't experienced very many problems with casting, then again, I don't use /SAM incredibly often as I solo a lot and look for cures.

RDM seems like a breadwinner right now. Honestly we can't say what manner of RUN is the best until we get the new update.

Kinda have to mirror the red mage thing. Despite all the overlap in abilities, fast cast + MAB + cure IV + haste spell is just hugely useful and really helps keep the sustain up.

The other one I like for solo somewhat is /Blu, but its healing isn't as good and lacks the fast cast. Cocoon is really nice though and helps a ton with the relatively low defense of Rune Fencer for a tank.

[Hawklaser]

I'm not trying to bring a "I'm higher level so I know more" aura in here, but you are just in the 40's, The differences in weapon skill ratings aren't that apparent yet.

Going to point out that by level 7 can see the differences in letter grades for skills, and not till 60+ that can see the +/- differences if provided they are all capped. And the difference at 99 for A+ and A- is only 7 skill, B+ to B- is 16 skill, and C+ to C- is 10 skill. Granted that skill is important, but can see the key difference between skill ratings at a very early level with capped skills.