A question about skill level

So, I have been at this game for about a year now (Iam far more consistant now than I was months ago but that is not the point)

I don't quite grasp Weapon skill levels.

Right now my RDM is at level 70, with a Sword skill of 151.

Now according to what I read that means he has a skill level equivalent to a level 50 or 51.

Now. As far as my understanding is, that Skill level makes it easier to hit things when it comes to weapons, and it gives the weapon more power when you hit with it.

So my question is, Does this mean that the over abundance of STR and +ATTK that my character has with his gear is going to waste? IS my weapon skill level a Bottleneck?

Does the skill level effect damage THAT MUCH? Fine being able to hit makes sense but is the damage difference noticeable or is it negligible at best?

You gain some combat strength by simply being at a higher level than the enemy, but yes, you are missing out on an extreme amount of attack and accuracy. This lack of skill becomes more apparent when fighting higher level monsters, where you can't rely on your level bonuses anymore.

For example, if you attack a lv99 enemy (while you are lv99 as well) where someone with capped skill would be having a 90% hit rate, your skill level of 151 would put you at a 0% hit rate, except the game never puts your hit rate below 20%, no matter what you do. You also lose probably 4 times as much attack as you could hope to get from gear as a rdm.

Your attack gear isn't going to waste, as it is still doing what it lways does. However, no amount of gear is going to make up for all that you lose from skill, if your target is above level 75-80-ish.

THats makes sense, so the gear is being applied but due to my lack of skill Iam not seeing the kind of output I should be seeing on this character.

Well that's a relief, my who problem was, I didn't want to commit to skilling up.

But if the difference is noticeable enough, I will have to rededicate myself to skilling up and reaching my cap (More than likely anyways because of Maat)

Your attack and accuracy is compared to the target's defense and evasion. If your total including gear and skill is too low, your damage and accuracy will suck. On monsters that are more than DC, this will be the case when your skill is severely underleveled.

Both attack and accuracy have a cap that is relative to the target's defense and evasion, so on weak enemies, your damage will still be normal. Once you meet enemies with a lot more defense, your damage will crash. Hard.

If you have any friends that can help, look into seeing if they would be able to kill Charybdis for you to get the joyeuse sword. Its great for skilling up, and a really fun toy for rdm. But a word of warning. The NM has a long repop time so if you are interested you might be in sea serpent grotto a long time, and also whether anybody is camping it.

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Originally Posted by Xantavia

If you have any friends that can help, look into seeing if they would be able to kill Charybdis for you to get the joyeuse sword. Its great for skilling up, and a really fun toy for rdm. But a word of warning. The NM has a long repop time so if you are interested you might be in sea serpent grotto a long time, and also whether anybody is camping it.

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Yeah, and as an added bonus, I think you can cap your skills off the Sea Monks there as well. Think they were in the upper 60's if I remember right. Could be a win-win if you have the resources (and patience)... lol.

I think camping charybdis for joyeuse is gonna take more time than it would take to cap his sword skill through normal means.