Fencer tips on equipment

[TheBlueFox]

Hey guys, some friends and I got this game and we've been having a blast with it. I play a fencer and I'm just looking for some advice.

I've taken a look at some of the rockets that they get, the kind with the required laser targeter. One of my buddies plays as a Air Raider and he's usually willing to use the laser kit for me.

Knowing that, what kind of launcher am I looking for, and should I take Dual copies of it? Normally (Im only at about level 20 equipment here) I carry a 30mm cannon and a javelin to wavedash or dual light cannons for long range, and a Shield/twin spear for short range.

I also love dual dynamo blades, but what enemies are they BAD against. I've had really bad luck with them against spiders for instance, their web lines hit pretty hard with no shield to back it up, and I keep creeping into their attack rage in urban areas.

[SynchronizationNinetyFive]

Well I don't play much Fencer but I guess it depends on the guidance. If your Air Raider is taking a bacon gun I would take a cannon/morter along side it since the lock on times for guidance weapons tends to be pretty long and you'll normally be pretty far back. If the're taking a kit I would take two to help make up for the fact that two people are standing arround waiting for lock and put in work as a budget airstrike.

[Salty Peanut]

blades are basically melee snipers, best used when you need to hit distant, stationary/slow moving targets while staying on the move, which isn't very often honestly. I can only think of one mission where it's truly helpful

the closer-range melees have far superior DPS to the blades. the sooner you wean yourself off of the Trashapult and start using shields, the faster you will become better at Fencer

[TheBlueFox]

So the blades are good for... Hectors? I don't think I'd use them for drone ships, they're decent for taking them down but I'm too vulnerable without a shield.

As for Missiles, is there a good middleground between damage and lockon time? I only have a few models of launcher, but the ones I do have are either High damage but HYOOGE lockon time, or decent lockon time but piddly damage (To the point I'd rather just hit something with a cannon)

[Salty Peanut]

HAIL is Fencer's best all-purpose missile launcher. Arcane is alright, just make sure to look up when firing it

[SynchronizationNinetyFive]

Originally posted by TheBlueFox:

Im only at about level 20 equipment here

Actually this is probably an important thing to focus on. Looking through the weapons you should have the Phoenix 1 and Leviathan right?

Might be best to wait a few levels, Pheonix 2 is three times the damage of the Ph 1 so it should do decent work against swarms. Only level 22 so not to far off. Only thing I see that requires lock after that is at level 30, what I imagine is a nice little Anti-Hector launcher that I wouldn't feel right spoiling. (Though again I don't play fencer much so I might very well be missing something),

[☪︎ Leinad Zdc ˚ ☾]

Originally posted by TheBlueFox:

So the blades are good for...

Anything in its range. On lower difficulties dashing around using dual blades has no problem since enemies are so slow that you wont get surrounded unless you want to.

Javelin catapult + vulcan hammer is good for 1 hit-kill every giant insect that cant fly

Heavy Mortars also have nice damage and a cool sound of cracking + explosion when destroying bugs lol

[TheBlueFox]

I think I have phoenix 2s, I used them once or twice in a twin configuration. They were pretty effective, but I was SO far away when I shot them that I was wondering if just pegging them with a cannon at that distance would be better. I'll have to try them again, I did like the lock speed and reload speed.

[teravisor]

Most of rocket weapons on fencer barely have any uses that would warrand air raider doing nothing. So laser guidance is only ever good for one thing: leviathans (dps from leviathans+laser guidance is often higher than separate AR+Fencer dps). But that is only ever needed if you don't have raw DPS (silver giant spiders in DLC missions on noninferno, where you're limited in weapons, I'm looking at you). Beacons are nice for some rocket weaponry, but it still lacks versatility. Without laser guidance/beacon gun rocket weapons are pretty much useless junk, and if you're asking AR to take them, don't forget he could've taken some airstrike with much higher damage or healing beacon.
I usually use sword against bees/dragons (can be used against almost any insect though), lance against all others (I hate how hammers miss ants on buildings and jumping spiders so not using them), either light or reflection shield (never using it to block, only reflects).
Against hectors is your speed (shield is exactly for that in this build: dash-reflect-dash allow you to outrun even fastest hectors, not to mention reflecting plasma back, mmm) plus something long-ranged like gallic guns. Handguns are nice too for longer range.
While I understand double melee, I'm not using them because I can't outrun faster enemies that way.

[☪︎ Leinad Zdc ˚ ☾]

Originally posted by teravisor:

While I understand double melee, I'm not using them because I can't outrun faster enemies that way.

I dont understand , why would you want to outrun anything when you have Dual Vulcan Hammer.

You just dash to sides while loading one and attacking with the other, then unleash the strongest hammer in their face being insect or hector. Just an idea.

[teravisor]

Originally posted by Leinad Zdc:

Originally posted by teravisor:

While I understand double melee, I'm not using them because I can't outrun faster enemies that way.

I dont understand , why would you want to outrun anything when you have Dual Vulcan Hammer.

You just dash to sides while loading one and attacking with the other, then unleash the strongest hammer in their face being insect or hector. Just an idea.

You haven't actually soloed missions with freaktonne of enemies, have you? And when they have higher speed on higher difficulties it becomes not a joke in most cases. Also, dragons and bees. You can outrun them, and hammers are useless. But sword speed is usually not enough to outrun them, so you end up getting hit by a lot of airstrikes.
Also if you stop even for a moment, your health drops to 0 in second or two from golden ants and silver spiders in DLC missions for example. And some lategame missions like demon army are fun too. That's why the only double melee weapon I've seen real practical use is double twin lances (they don't have annoying second shot of usual lance which has huge time to raise lance, so you can use them to dash cancel much better than other lances).

[Salty Peanut]

Originally posted by teravisor:

You haven't actually soloed missions with freaktonne of enemies, have you? And when they have higher speed on higher difficulties it becomes not a joke in most cases. Also, dragons and bees. You can outrun them, and hammers are useless. But sword speed is usually not enough to outrun them, so you end up getting hit by a lot of airstrikes.
Also if you stop even for a moment, your health drops to 0 in second or two from golden ants and silver spiders in DLC missions for example. And some lategame missions like demon army are fun too. That's why the only double melee weapon I've seen real practical use is double twin lances (they don't have annoying second shot of usual lance which has huge time to raise lance, so you can use them to dash cancel much better than other lances).

trust me, leinad knows how to play fencer

Vulcan Hammer has a damage resistance bonus of 80-90% during swings, so if you dual wield them, and time your swings accordingly, you can maintain a constant damage resistance while cutting through crowds. it is a 100% viable strategy, assuming your armor is appropriate for the difficulty level

[☪︎ Leinad Zdc ˚ ☾]

Originally posted by teravisor:

[
You haven't actually soloed missions with freaktonne of enemies, have you? And when they have higher speed on higher difficulties it becomes not a joke in most cases. Also, dragons and bees. You can outrun them, and hammers are useless. But sword speed is usually not enough to outrun them, so you end up getting hit by a lot of airstrikes.
Also if you stop even for a moment, your health drops to 0 in second or two from golden ants and silver spiders in DLC missions for example. And some lategame missions like demon army are fun too. That's why the only double melee weapon I've seen real practical use is double twin lances (they don't have annoying second shot of usual lance which has huge time to raise lance, so you can use them to dash cancel much better than other lances).

Yes, I have.

Again... no need to outrun a dragon or whatever insect with hammers. in fact you can wait for them to attack and come at you. Then they are dead. You can get dragon even with the normal spear, not a big deal

And yes, the Fencer has more chances than soloing any mission than all other classes, and yeah with hammers some of them.

Play a little more with Fencer and try more options. Die more and fail some missions trying new weapons. F has many option for hit and run.

Loading screen suggestion: " Thrust, Parry, SMASH!"


Btw thnx peanut.