'skyfall strike' / 'lucky strike' worth it?

[icon_of_sin]

is it worth attempting to pull of a 'see through' so that i can then do a 'skyfall strike' / 'lucky strike' as part of my normal fighting strategy?

or am i better off just building up focus and doing heavy attacks

[Xengre]

Skyfall Strike is the name of the one from smash tree right? Yes, if so.

Solo usage it does good damage and can help stagger / interrupt. For the stagger it follows resolute strike so between the two hits it can lead to an interruption of a specific attack a normal resolute strike can't interrupt or even topple a boss over giving time to get extra dmg, heal, buff, etc. Due to the nature of its movement it is prone to frequently avoiding damage, too. It is not always superior to using a resolute strike charged attack though (one done by holding heavy attack, can charge from no focus or even full focus to execute a way stronger resolute strike with dramatically improved stagger/dmg but a slower animation... so get the skill that reduces damage when performing resolute strike). Note that the difference of a charged activated heavy is that it can't see through unlike a varied strike light > heavy combo. I found Skyfall Strike very useful until later chapter 3 where I started using the charged heavy smash more often (even when at full focus) because often I couldn't get the combo off for a proper light > resolute strike see through > skyfall due to many of the bosses with attacks and hyper armor timed to punish and interrupt that combo or some bosses like Yellow Loong intentionally countering resolute strike. This doesn't mean Skyfall Strike is bad later on, but I often prefer the higher DPS window afforded by adequate managing of fast focus build-up over lengthy weaker combos focusing on stagger and moderate dmg. Both are very viable, though, and depending on the boss I may still use Skyfall Strike at times.


Lucky Strike if you use thrust should be amazing. I almost exclusively use Smash because I simply prefer it though I know we have big thrust fans, too. It gives bonus crit chance which, early on, when you have almost no crit chance and basic crit dmg 130% (aka 1.3x dmg multiplier) is mostly kind of worthless. However, it becomes stronger after you level up some levels and can put points into the Foundation tree bottom right to increase crit dmg quite a decent amount and also crit chance. Then if you later have crit chance weapons, and even better also have Spellweaver skill from chapter 3 hidden quest, you can become a crit monster.


However, the biggest point to make OP is you can reset your skills ANY time at the Shrine so feel free to test at will or change builds to fight a boss/area better rather than jack of all trades subpar builds.

[Xengre]

Oh, one more tip to go with my above about focus management and those focus utilizing attacks that might not be obvious to many and without knowing they may simply think the skill isn't worth it...

In the Smash tree in the left branch and very final skill, iirc, is a skill that retains focus when dodging while charging. It may not be obvious but this does NOT mean you keep charging if you perfect dodge preventing your focus from resetting like any other interruption to a charging heavy which depletes all existing focus. Rather, it actually 'pockets' that focus turning the temporary charging focus into permanent (as if you earned it by attacking with light attacks, same concept) and halts your charging. You can then either continue a new charging to further increase focus if needed or do anything else you need and then deploy it for a varied combo like light > resolute > skyfall or a charging attack heavy.

This means despite being a smash tree perk it technically can be used to earn focus for any tree and swap as needed. One other great use of this is not only against aggressive bosses that attack frequently preventing you from having time to build up focus as much thus dramatically reducing your DPS but it also lets you prepare focus before you buff or transform for your next action as needed.