Blade dancer captain

[Füchsingeist]

This new job seem to stack crit via Tactics and talents. So is a 1Zealot/XSwordsman/XBlade Dancer build viable? If so, what job progression would you recommend?

EDIT: Attribute allocation is obvious, what about skills? 9 blades, 3 Evasion, 3 Tactics?

[Tinkytinkytink]

Personally i would go 10 evasion and 5 tactics
Lvl focus would be swordsman and i'd use zealot/dancer to iron things out along the way depending on needs.

I have wonderful lucky streaks followed by sudden xeno-related surprise deaths on captain.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

I love zealot swordsman blade dancer captains.

Start zealot. Get 1 level in swordsman and blade dancer then get to level 5 swordsman for self heal.

Level 1 zealot and level 1 blade dancer both hsve really strong talents.

Depending on difficulty you either go level 11 swordman first or try some levels in blade dancer

[Trese Brothers]

Originally posted by JimmysTheBestCop:

I love zealot swordsman blade dancer captains.

This is an awesome combo!

[Aimstrong]

Zealot/Swordman/Blade Dancer is one option but I prefer Swordman/WC/Blade Dancer for CC as a less hybrid/utility build (still gets enough tank but less utility).
Diplomat/Merchant/Blade Dancer is super cool though for nonCC (Darion approved and tested).
Lets one snowball in credits gains pretty quickly.
The game offers enough support that many players wont miss having a specific Blade Dancer starting captain(famous last words :) ... and then the marry band of Song fans will pile-up on this comment).

[Füchsingeist]

Originally posted by TinkyTink:

Personally i would go 10 evasion and 5 tactics
Lvl focus would be swordsman and i'd use zealot/dancer to iron things out along the way depending on needs.

I have wonderful lucky streaks followed by sudden xeno-related surprise deaths on captain.

I'm hunting xeno when I play combat captain, so some blades buff is a must.

[prime_resistor]

Originally posted by Fuchsgeist:

Originally posted by TinkyTink:

Personally i would go 10 evasion and 5 tactics
Lvl focus would be swordsman and i'd use zealot/dancer to iron things out along the way depending on needs.

I have wonderful lucky streaks followed by sudden xeno-related surprise deaths on captain.

I'm hunting xeno when I play combat captain, so some blades buff is a must.

You don't necessarily need blades for xeno hunting. I've seen people post XH builds that rely on stunning to avoid damage rather than melee defense.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

Captain can't be wing commando. But def take one for your 2nd blade guy.

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by prime_resistor:

Originally posted by Fuchsgeist:

I'm hunting xeno when I play combat captain, so some blades buff is a must.

You don't necessarily need blades for xeno hunting. I've seen people post XH builds that rely on stunning to avoid damage rather than melee defense.

I was thinking of such a team, but then I discovered that you cannot stack stun over 75%.

Here[i.imgur.com]'s proof.

On higher difficulty, two lucky rolls for the enemy, and you may lose a fighter. I had 3000+ crew combats in my last run, 1000+ against Xenos. I do not like those odds.

So I still stack stun, but I do it with two heavily armored blade users in the front position, who don't die if the enemies roll through the stun.

[lanfear]

Sorry for the double post but I just realized there was a thread on blade dancer captains

for a zealot/swordsman/blade dancer captain how are you distributing the levels?

I was thinking:
zealot 5 just to get Retribution Justice (I do lots of patrolling and missions) or is level 1-2 enough?
blade dancer 11 all talents look great
swordsman rest

what about attributes if you're doing crew combats, story missions and patrolling a lot? Is it better to max out charisma (helps with blade dancer talents and patrolling) and leave wisdom at a minimum?

[Füchsingeist]

Originally posted by lanfear:

Sorry for double posting but I just realized there was a thread on blade dancer captains

for a zealot/swordsman/blade dancer captain how are you distributing the levels?

I was thinking:
zealot 5 just to get Retribution Justice (I do lots of patrolling and missions) or is level 1-2 enough?
blade dancer 11 all talents look great
swordsman rest

what about attributes if you're doing crew combats, story missions and patrolling a lot? Is it better to max out charisma (helps with blade dancer talents and patrolling) and leave wisdom at a minimum?

A Attributes - max wisdom, quickness and fortitude. Rest into strength
B skills - 9 blades, 1 tactics, 5 evasion

I pick 1 level of Zealot for buff and Incenced Strikes, and exactly 10 levels in Blade Dancer (5 tactics total). Rest into swordsman for blades and evasion.

This is a combat captain, so non-CC talents are delegated to crew. Moffs and Commanders help a lot during patroling. Diplomat or 2 for missions.

EDIT: wisdom, quickness stand for inititative, which is important, and ability to dodge attacks. Fortitude and strength - max hp and damage soaking. Charisma is more of a dump stat for CC-captain. Just find a recruit with 30 charisma and be happy (crew dog for +morale while spicing, merchant for contact while spicing, etc.)
Currently, my only non-CC talent on cap is a negotiate save. I have 1 crew diplomat, he handles mission running $$ buffs. Morale - well, I never had a mutiny. Maybe 1 desertion total. There are a lot of talents that prevent desertion, though. And I boost morale a lot when in ship combat via Doctor, Commander and moff talents

[JimmysTheBestCop]

I would head straight to swordsman lvl 5 for self heal and buff. But you want 1 lvl in blade dancer. 1st lvl talents are strong.

After you get to lvl 5 swordsman it depends what difficulty and who you are fighting. You might need lvl 11 in swordsman first before leveling up blade dancer.

Zealots best combat talents are all level 1. So you only need 1 lvl. They have really good non combat talents but that is for junior crew.

[lanfear]

Why stop at 10 Blade dancer? the 11 buff/debuff talents look really strong

Is it not worth getting zealot 2 for the +2 command +1 intimidate?

[Füchsingeist]

Originally posted by lanfear:

Why stop at 10 Blade dancer? the 11 buff/debuff talents look really strong

Is it not worth getting zealot 2 for the +2 command +1 intimidate?

It's my way, so if you're comfortable, go ahead.
I don't like lvl 11 BD talents, that's it.
As for Zealot, +2 command +1 intimidate is, like, one Zealot or Commander crewmember

[lanfear]

Thanks Fuchsgeist for the wisdom!

[Tuidjy]

As far as I am concerned, Blade Dancer level 1 talents deliver 75% of the class crew combat utility. The remaining 25% are spread all the way up to level 15, and frankly not worth, to me, the loss of sheer blade skill. 32 skill points to swordsman, 5 to commando or bodyguard (former for position 2, latter for position 1) and zealot, assassin and blade dancer can fight over the remaining 2 job levels. Lately, I go with blade dancer. Those level 1 talents rock.