Blade Dancer useless for 90% of combat?

[Gruet_garbo]

Seems like all the self-buffs related to Blade Dancers just make them weak to ranged attacks. How is this useful except against Xenos? (And some Xenos also have ranged.) How are we supposed to employ someone in this job except to buff skill checks?

[davea]

Which talents give them a bigger penalty to ranged defence compared to melee defence? Looks like most of the talents give the same penalty to both, in exchange for higher damage. This is a "glass cannon" approach. I haven't tried a pure BD class, but it makes a nice second or third job for a swordsman officer.

[Gruet_garbo]

Does that mean the job is useless as a single-class crew member? Is there any point to hiring a Blade Dancer crew if you don't have an Officer spot open?

[davea]

I only use BD as second or third job on an officer, but I am only one player. YMMV.

[Metallicus]

I use the blade dancer as a 3rd class and to use it in place of a diplomat for the negotiate save talent.

[Gilmoy]

I've never considered a 1-job crew Blade Dancer, because of no self-heal.

Any 1-job crew Blades fighter really must be Swordsman, for the self-heal.
With that, you can fight ground terrox on Impossible.
Without it, you will die from attrition against lowly (-1) Scavengers! or (-2) Pirates!

As part of a 3-job fighting Officer or Captain, Blade Dancer's buffs are ... eclectic.

- L1 Whisper Dance: I don't take any On Init talent that competes with Irid-Laced.

= L1 Confrontation Stance: Useful in the 'tweener levels, say L18 - L25, against terrox.
On Impossible, they could be L45 already.
Then they casually roll 38s+9 or 44s+11 to parry, and you must somehow hit that.
You might be only L20 with about 24s+10 yourself.
You can stack +90% from 2-4 buffs. This is one of the buffs. Don't use it alone, stack it.

The +25% Melee Accuracy is the real payoff here.
You accept the -15% Defenses because they probably hit you regardless, so it doesn't hurt.
To un-buff them with Flash Fury, you must hit consistently.

As you reach L30+ and your dice get up to 35s+12, you cease to need this buff's help.
I eventually retrain the talent point to something more useful.

= L11 Forbidden Edge: I usually skip this.
Especially vs. terrox, you want to decide the fight by the start of round 2.
Losing -1 attack just for this buff probably won't earn back +1 kill profit that fast.

If the fight lasts until round 3, then you probably do earn a profit in +Init and +kills.
But I feel that's too slow.

[matt]

Some classes are a mix of combat and non-combat. Zealots, blade dancers, commanders, and military officers are like this. You can put these characters on your away team, but half their points go toward skills that don't help in combat, like negotiate or command. Most have powerful or quirky talents that make them a good choice for second job.

Single-classed characters can be fun to have around for their non-combat skills, and blade dancers are still pretty good at combat. Blade is their primary skill, unlike zealots. If you go all the way to level 15, you get rewarded with an interesting talent. They also get some of the quirkiest talents I've seen in STF. I guess they're the scifi version of bards? It's a fun class but probably best as your swordsman officer's second job.

[Pat Fenis]

It is a pretty terrible combat class. You want a blades warrior? Swordsman, you have to dump most of your job ranks here. You can only really afford to go 5, 8 tops, into another job for a talent grab.

There aren't many serviceable talents to grab from BD. Mayyyybe feint, it is a nice debuff, but I would much prefer to just use swordsman victory rush (6 init) to get out of spot 3. Squall of blades is an alright aoe attack but swordsman has 2 aoe, one of which can be used in front spot. It's also 5 job levels in for a measly 4 blades/2 tactics and a useless 4 negotiate.

As a non combat class that sits on the ship and provides talents, BD can be pretty useful. Their skill gains just don't line up enough for combat. Swordsman, wing commando have better fighting skills. Zealot is a much better grab for a tertiary class, 2 fantastic skills at level 1.

[-Moonlight丶301]

Only take Show of Confidence,Forbidden Edge. Other into swordman, zealot or wing commander

[OutsiderSubtype]

Blade Dancer is great as a third job on a crew combat officer. A one level dip gets you Feint which is very useful.

It is also good as a non-combat crew job. Negotiate save, extra money from passengers, interactions with contacts, recruit talent, and Ritualized Retreat (great for smuggling).

It is not good by itself as a crew combat job.

[Dr. Spendlove]

Do note they make for an interesting setup for a rank 3 sword user as they have the only attack talent usable from position 3 with a sword.

[davea]

Wing commando Whirling Blade is also position 3, and WC seems to have a much more combat focused build compared to BD. I have recently had fun with a "three sword" run, which is swordsman crew, swordsman crew, WC+sword officer, CM+MO+Spy officer.

[Gruet_garbo]

Originally posted by davea:

I have recently had fun with a "three sword" run, which is swordsman crew, swordsman crew, WC+sword officer, CM+MO+Spy officer.

Sorry, what does the CM in your combat crew build stand for?

[davea]

Combat Medic

[Gruet_garbo]

Of course. Thank you.

[Tomcat]

If you play impossible and have a sword user, BD is a must have second class for feint. Otherwise, the hardest boss battles will be unhittable if you arent using Riflemen.


If I play a Zealot captain start, I build up to the double tornado attack. The rest gets dumped into Swordsman since you want the self heal and as much blades stat as possible.


In every other sword build, BD stays at 1 mainly for feint.

If you use two or more swords, you only need 1 BD. The other dudes need to be Wing Commando for knife work and the buzz saw looking attack.

For the memes, I may look long and hard for all dmg traits from a Steel song recruit just to do a one turn thousand cuts with the best sword. But thousand cuts is a worthless ability that you shouldnt build to.