Is Footwork essential for The Silent?

[besbin]

Hi all,

Have been playing the game for about a month now and really enjoying it. Am working my way up the ascensions on all the characters but am running into a big problem on The Silent.
I have just had 2 runs in a row where I got well into act 3 without seeing a single footwork.
It seems ok for the first act and many fights in the 2nd but when mobs start hitting harder I just don't seem to have the defence to cope.

I have read that The Silent is kind of a defensive based character and I can see that but how on earth can it defend without at least a footwork or 2? It's basic defence cards for one energy don't exceed 5-6 so without the boost that footwork gives it seems impossible to mitigate enough damage to survive.

To me this skill seems the most essential of any skill to any character and simply unworkable in later acts to play without it. Any tips? I am at the point where I feel like just restarting the run if I do not have a footwork or 2 by the middle of act two.

Thank you for any advice!

[Sinsling]

Silent does not require footwork or after image, though they are nice. You can also make defense decks with blur, dodge and roll, backflip, deflect, and cloak and dagger.

What matters most to silent in my opinion is having lots of cycle. If your deck isn't moving, you're going to have problems. Prepare, acrobatics, backflip, and calculated gamble are all cards I look for. Adrenaline is a no brainer obviously.

[Zu]

You do need defensive scaling of some description unless you have outstanding mitigation relics and/or the hyper meme snecko eye nightmare wraith form. Sucks when you don't get any of it but wot can ye do?

[sandman25dcsss]

Originally posted by Sinsling:

What matters most to silent in my opinion is having lots of cycle. If your deck isn't moving, you're going to have problems. Prepare, acrobatics, backflip, and calculated gamble are all cards I look for. Adrenaline is a no brainer obviously.

Well, I almost never use these cards (except adrenaline) so I think they are not essential, first 2 footworks are no brainer to me.

[besbin]

Originally posted by Sinsling:

Silent does not require footwork or after image, though they are nice. You can also make defense decks with blur, dodge and roll, backflip, deflect, and cloak and dagger.

What matters most to silent in my opinion is having lots of cycle. If your deck isn't moving, you're going to have problems. Prepare, acrobatics, backflip, and calculated gamble are all cards I look for. Adrenaline is a no brainer obviously.

Thank you Sinsling but blur, dodge and roll etc still block for pitiful amounts if not combined with footwork, That is my point, where other characters have cards that block for 9 plus with no modifier these cards just don't cut it against hard hitting mobs alone. You may as well be playing a basic defence card when looking at the amount they actually block for.

[Zu]

You do have the best frontloaded mitigation common in the game though.
- Comment sponsored by Piercing Wail inc.

[Dusk_Army]

And on the note of Piercing Wail, for long fights you have Malaise. Anything that relies on weak attacks that hit several times (Book of Stabbing, Nemesis, even the Heart sort of) becomes trivial once hit with that. And given the number of ways she can apply it, anyone playing the Silent should basically have the enemy swimming in a state of constant Weak(ness). You don't need to block for as much if the enemy isn't hitting as hard.

[bulbatrs]

if you have a few wraith forms you can safely skip/remove footwork from your deck

[DJDiceZ]

Not to mention she's great a dealing Weak (which is great) status, which can be further enhanced if you've got a Paper Krane.

[Groove Wizard]

Silent basically has 3 options to survive on high ascension.

The first one and the most common's indeed a dex-based defense with footworks and stuff like dodge and roll/blur/prepare, etc.
Alternatively, you can rely on Malaise to make enemies' damage irrelevant, or intangible with Wraith form and/or Apparitions.

Sometimes you can win without Footwork, but yeah, most of the runs are kinda dependent on finding it.

Also, After Image and Piercing Wails help a lot.

[Sinsling]

Originally posted by besbin:

Originally posted by Sinsling:

Silent does not require footwork or after image, though they are nice. You can also make defense decks with blur, dodge and roll, backflip, deflect, and cloak and dagger.

What matters most to silent in my opinion is having lots of cycle. If your deck isn't moving, you're going to have problems. Prepare, acrobatics, backflip, and calculated gamble are all cards I look for. Adrenaline is a no brainer obviously.

Thank you Sinsling but blur, dodge and roll etc still block for pitiful amounts if not combined with footwork, That is my point, where other characters have cards that block for 9 plus with no modifier these cards just don't cut it against hard hitting mobs alone. You may as well be playing a basic defence card when looking at the amount they actually block for.

Blur and dodge and roll both let you preload defense once you know an enemies' moveset. Deflect, being free, essentially equates to infinite defence as long as you can draw it.

I'm not going to pretend I'm playing max ascension because I'm not, but for me cycle decks are the higher majority of my silent runs. All I look for is some form of insurance on killing time eater before I reach act 3.

[DuckSonata]

Originally posted by Zu:

You do need defensive scaling of some description unless you have outstanding mitigation relics and/or the hyper meme snecko eye nightmare wraith form. Sucks when you don't get any of it but wot can ye do?

This is a check mark...

Originally posted by Sinsling:

Deflect, being free, essentially equates to infinite defence as long as you can draw it.

I'm not going to pretend I'm playing max ascension because I'm not, but for me cycle decks are the higher majority of my silent runs. All I look for is some form of insurance on killing time eater before I reach act 3.

...and this is a newb trap (sorry).

[Sinsling]

Originally posted by faceplant712:

Originally posted by Zu:

You do need defensive scaling of some description unless you have outstanding mitigation relics and/or the hyper meme snecko eye nightmare wraith form. Sucks when you don't get any of it but wot can ye do?

This is a check mark...

Originally posted by Sinsling:

Deflect, being free, essentially equates to infinite defence as long as you can draw it.

I'm not going to pretend I'm playing max ascension because I'm not, but for me cycle decks are the higher majority of my silent runs. All I look for is some form of insurance on killing time eater before I reach act 3.

...and this is a newb trap (sorry).

I've made it to a10 so far. Not bad considering how little I play silent. Sue me.