Skill Level 3 or 4

[Nikana]

I'm using sword and can't decide which level should I use.

Should I go for damage or lower recharge time?

[Simon]

Damage i guess. And health, defense and movement.

[mugenjintopaz]

3 all lv 4 sword arts been nerfed sstar spash loses alot of its dammge when lv 4 and horazantal squre loses its 3rd shock weave try looking into the hidden sword skills

[Electro]

You got some weird responses here from these people.


I would just link my google doc but noone would click on it and read it so I'll just retype it all here >_>

I've done proper testing. All tests done on the same enemy with the same weak weapon and stats and same body part with not a single crit.

For reference a jump attack does
97+119+163+163=542 Damage
Can use this to compare how bad sword skills actually are at increasing DPS when you factor in the animation time and cooldown...

Sword Barrier 1 = 30 sec
Sword Barrier 2 = 45 sec
Sword Barrier 3 = 60 sec
Sword Barrier 4 = 70 sec
These are all 15 sec base cooldown as well.



Sharp Nail 3 = 8 sec cooldown
228+152+244=624 Damage

Sharp Nail 4 = 16 sec cooldown
239=157=309=705 Damage

Only really first and last hit increase in much damage for a total of 13% more damage.





Vorpal Strike 3 = 12 sec cooldown
Fully Charged = 913 Damage

Vorpal Strike 4 = 24 sec cooldown
Fully Charged = 1,000 Damage

9.5% more damage. In terms of DPS this skill is bad anyway. So if you want to use it you may as well go for the better cooldown so you have more utility.




Star Splash always does the same damage per hit no matter which one you take even level 1 does the same as 3 and 4. Each Hit does 50. And the final 2 hit's always do 260 and 282 damage.

Star Splash 3 = 18sec cooldown
About 100 hit's in the flurry.
(100*50)+260+282=5,542 Damage
Skill takes about 15.1sec from activation till you can move. So about 367 DPS

Star Splash 4 = 36sec cooldown
Exactly 13 hits on the flurry
(13*50)+260+282=1,192
This skill is a quick 92 frames (30FPS) or 3.2seconds. So 372.5 DPS.

This is the only sword skill that actually changes anything at level 4. It will activate even without having the starting dash connect to a target which is really good. And on top of that it will automatically turn you to face an enemy before the first hit comes out. So you won't have to worry about missing or do the painful part of slowly turning around. Situational and in PvE honestly not worth the cooldown increase. Otherwise this could be pretty good. But for now Star Splash 3 is hands the best DPS skill that swords have. Still bad though compared to any gun...

Originally posted by mugenjintopaz:

lv 4 horizontal square loses its 3rd shock wave

Ignore this it isn't true. The games skill description is wrong.

Horizontal Square 3 = 16 sec cooldown
In brackets are the wave damage.
98+108+117+146+(130+138+143)=880


Horizontal Square = 32 sec cooldown
149+108+117+146+(130+138+143)=931

Literally only the very first hit increases in damage by 52%. Overal 5.8% increase for the entire skill. No change to the waves from 3 to 4. This in one of the 3 sword skills that has some stunlock built into it, so not worth the extra cooldown.




Dual Orbital 3 = 18 sec cooldown
Sword Slash does 513 Damage

Dual Orbital 4 = 36 sec cooldown
Sword Slash does 546 Damage

6.4% more damage on the slash otherwise no change. One of the best sword stun lock skills when used at point blank. Not worth level 4 because of the cooldown. If you actually use this for damage as well than hope you use the Fragarach because it comes with a stronger pistol than the beam swords. But it will do horrible damage to giant mechs. Honestly I find this way more useful than Vopral Strike because it doesn't require charging and the stun lock is sexy.



Divine Blossom is just straight up bad. 24 sec cooldown
108+65+217=390 Damage
Charged 371+65+217=653 Damage
Only first hit increases on charge and does worse damage and also has worse cooldown than Vorpal Strike. Ignore this skill.

Azure Tempest = 36 sec cooldown
130+108+119+(184+195)=736

When used while jumping however
108+119+(92+97)=416
This is the best stagger skill alongside Dual Orbital but with a bigger cooldown. But never use this while jumping because you lose so much damage.

[Nikana]

thank you. seems like I'll have to use most of my skills at level 3.