Fighters, share your wisdom !

[Goosetave]

Tried my hand at the fighter and i can't help but feel like i'm missing something. I can't seem to figure out a good skill set that gives me well rounded combat abilities. It's either lackluster offense or completely passive defence.
Best i could come up with is the lunge (don't remember the name), cloudward slash, riotous fury and shield bash, but it's sorely lacking in fights with big monsters.
Any recommendations ?

[1CMF]

Fighter is mostly about getting parry stuns, counter attack block skill, the dodge attack skill, and knock down ability.

Most of the damage comes from hitting follow up attacks, and you can't get those unless they are knocked down or staggered.

While they are knocked down, then you can spam your maister skill or what ever else, but be sure to get a heavy attack/follow up attack in there too (and on the head/weakspot if possible).

Problem with warrior is it takes more timing than other vocations, and while you are trying to perfect dark souls parry and getting knocked around, others can just spam skills and do more dmg.

If you are just passive blocking and shield taunting, that is subpar and minimal usage of the vocation. Can't block everything, especially with stamina drain (unless you down consumables I guess).

I actually enjoy fighter the most, but I acknowledge it takes more effort to do anything useful.

[Outlaw Mugen]

Sadly unlike DD1 vocations, DD2 relies on your teammates to fill the gaps. There is no 1 vocations that does everything well. In DD 1 I could obliterate anything with magic archer as I had both daggers and a magic bow.

As a fighter your role would be to take attention of the enemy away from casters, you can do that by either equipping rings or skills that draw the attention of the enemy. Having "Flawless Guard" is a must for me as you can use it even while being staggered. "Vengeful Slash" is a powerful counter ( works on bosses too ! ) and "Riotous Fury" can be used to quickly obliterate smaller enemies or deal good damage on downed boss ( although heavy melee finisher often deals more damage ).

Last skill you would want to take depends on your playstyle. "Burst Strike" is a nice gap closer for those pesky wolves OR in pinch you can use it to escape enemy AOE attacks. Shield pummel can stagger smaller enemies and it's good for skeletons or knockdowns, "Divine Defence and Launchboard" are.... pointless in my opinion ( unless you intend to put them on your pawn which can be occasionally helpful ).

Overall it's an allrounder class that doesn't excel at anything but can fit in most scenarios. That being said I prefer to play Fighter rather than Warrior since the second one is so sluggish to play and without proper gear getting staggered is no fun.

[Cryemore]

Fighter dps tends to lag behind every other class once you get to mid game and later. It is what it is. If you want to play defense they aren't even the best at that, sadly.

If you want to min max best offence or defense fighter is completely off the table until/if Capcom do a balance pass.

Personally I think it's one of the most fun classes to play.

[The Black Baron]

Originally posted by Goosetave:

Tried my hand at the fighter and i can't help but feel like i'm missing something. I can't seem to figure out a good skill set that gives me well rounded combat abilities. It's either lackluster offense or completely passive defence.
Best i could come up with is the lunge (don't remember the name), cloudward slash, riotous fury and shield bash, but it's sorely lacking in fights with big monsters.
Any recommendations ?

Us the gutting attack and go ham on dragon hearts, cyclops eyes etc. You can perform the gutting skewer mid air jumping on giant enemies if you press any button after the initial attack, the game even labesl it follow up attack, you can repeatedly stab your sword down into big or small enemies until your stamina runs out or the enemy is dead which will have you perform a finishing move on small enemies that flings them towards the direction you're facing also injuring other enemies if they stand there.

[mrkitties420]

Try throwing Counter Slash in there somewhere. Works against everything a shield can block and doesn't require perfect timing.

[Goosetave]

I see, i'll try to use counter skills more, see how that goes.
On the topic of gutting skewer, am i mistaken in thinking it does very little dps ? Even getting the final gouge, it doesn't even compare to normal stabs with daggers, hell even heavy mounted attacks with the sword seems better dmg per opennings. All of that on weak spots of course.

[The Black Baron]

Originally posted by Goosetave:

I see, i'll try to use counter skills more, see how that goes.
On the topic of gutting skewer, am i mistaken in thinking it does very little dps ? Even getting the final gouge, it doesn't even compare to normal stabs with daggers, hell even heavy mounted attacks with the sword seems better dmg per opennings. All of that on weak spots of course.

Well obviously it's not as strong as a great sword, but it is the dedicated attack you have to deal with bigger foes. Daggers have never been balanced in DDDA ether strider was busted. You cannot really compare that to that vocation. It's more the easy mode of the game.

[M]

My current skillset is:
- perfect defense. You spin around 3 times blocking all attacks. It usable while NOT prone, so if your guard was broken or you were pushed BAM you spin around and recover. Itll leave you exposed after it ends so it is a good panick button for bosses too, but not useful during a rampaging boss or prolonged attacks.
- divine defense. This will let you block attacks you normally couldnt and works regardless of your timing. Very useful against drake fire attacks, spells, or that roar that knocks out all your stamina.
- launchpad. I like the utility this affords offers. If not this skill id have shield taunt which i tended to just spam to draw attention, and thats just not fun and the sound annoys me. If you have the provoke augment you wont really need to taunt unless youre competing against another melee vocation.
- gouging strike. I mainly use this for boss fights where the opportunity presents itself. As a fighter i still like to grapple. Its more often a waste on smaller enemies, but if i want to mix it up or am angry with a monster ill dice him up with this.

The main thing for playing fighter is balancing your shield play. Get comfortable blocking and facing off against enemies, but dont hide behind the shield either. Balance your parrys, blocks, and sometimes grapples. If an opponent is guarding you can light attack till you break his guard and then heavy attack dealing usually a 1 hit kill. A blocking opponent can also be tackled by jumping at them and pressing the grab button, followed up by stabs or let pawns dispatch. Some times an enemy can just be picked up too.

But getting good at parries is very important bot just because you unbalance enemies and can perform finishers, a will allow you to negate boss damage for bo stamina cost. There are also rings that reduce stamina consumed by blocking, and if you grab divine defense, you become a real tank.

I also love gathering everything I find and combining them. I now have max stack Mighty Roborants on me and my pawn, and am saving up a stack of exquisite and miracle roborants. Also making just harspud roborants is the most efficient stamina curative, restores about 50% stamina for just 2 ripened harspud. So by saving up curatives ive been able to stay alive without healer and climb and stab bosses for very long.