Force Blader Guide

Stat Building
There are primarily only 3 builds you will want now. They are the STR Heavy, and STR or DEX Focus. I'll go over basics about each after listing the stat recommendations.

STR Heavy – Minimum INT+DEX, rest is STR (Just over 800). This build is for those looking at only increasing their Damage Reduction (DR) to the maximum potential. The benefits are you get hit for less, the negatives is that you'll get hit more often.

STR Focus – 600 STR, Minimum INT, rest DEX (Just over 400). This build is a strong DR build while still having a good defense rate and evasion base. The drawbacks are that the damage you take is a little more than STR Heavy.

DEX Focus – 600 DEX, Minimum INT, and rest STR (Just over 400). This is the last recommended build, and while you get hit less often than the other two, it probably isn't as effective from the loss of DR the other two have.

All three builds should use minimum INT required for your highest grade item requirement (Archridium is something like 318 max, so 308 with the INT rune maxed). Also, they all have the same base atk since DEX and STR give the same amount of ATK up to 1000 of either stat (impossible to reach that high in either with effective gears). Further changes to your build can be related to your passive upgrade skills. You want to have both attack and at least 1 of the defense ones. You can optionally have the other defense, or swap it for both defense rates. HP is a typical one to get, and with good reason. It's a larger boost than the HP Rune. This concludes the character building section. Next is the skills section.

Skills
This part of the guide goes into a lot of details about all skills FB's should have and use.

Attack Skills
I divided the skills into 3 categories: Heavy, Dot, and Supportive/Movement. The primary attack skills that FB's should have are as follows:

Assassinate (Assy) - Heavy Seal of Destruction (SoD) – Heavy/Supportive Quake Cataclysm (QC) - Heavy Infernal Impact (II) - Heavy Abyssal Crystal (AC) - Supportive Force Assault (FA) – Dot/Movement Force Slash (FS) - Dot Force Kick (FK) – Dot/Movement

Optionally you can have Impact Stab (IS) but it's less dps than FS. Additionally, have at least the first 3 of these four cannons: Aqua, Lightning, Earth, and Wind.

This next part will go into detail about each skill.

Assassinate – Heavy – Elliptical Shaped attack Range – 1~5, spread of 1~3 wide. Cast time – 3.0 (2.3 combo) sec. Cool down 6.5 sec.

Assy is primarily an AoE and high DPS skill. It's used mostly as an in-between skill using the debuffs from other skills. This will likely be one of your most used skills because it's powerful and quick. It can also be used as a form of moving if there are targets in between current target and a new target within the skills range.

Seal of Destruction – Heavy /Supportive– Cone Shaped Range – 1~6, spread of 1~4 wide. Cast time – 2.7 (2.3 combo) sec. Cool down – 8.2 sec.

SoD is used as a ranged DPS/AoE skill, as well as the best supportive skill. It's RCD and RR debuff make it a strong leading skill. The debuff lasts 5 seconds, which 2.3 are taken up in combo to cast the skill, leaving you with 2.7 seconds to hit other skills and gain the benefit of it's debuffs. The following list is possible combinations to get that benefit: SoD> Assy/QC > Any other skillSoD>FA>FS>Any other skill (Note FS and FA can be swapped, but since FA closes a space gap, it's a better first choice)SoD> FK> FA/FS> Any other skill Seeing that you can get 3 heavies with 1 debuff is very great DPS. This is what makes SoD such an effective skill for the start of a combo in all environments.

Quake Cataclysm – Heavy – Cylinder Shaped Range – 1~5, spread of 3 wide. Cast time – 2.2 (1.8 combo) sec. Cool down – 6.5 sec

QC is a good AoE ranged skill. It's the best DPS for ranged skill when chasing if FK is on cool down. It's short time and higher base dmg than SoD makes it a good in-between skill like Assy.

Infernal Impact – Heavy – Elliptical Shaped Range – 1~7, spread of 1~3 wide. Cast time 4.1 (3.5 combo) sec. Cool down – 8.4 sec.

II has a strew of debuffs imbedded, but since it's cast time is slow, it's not as effective as a supportive, which is why it's normally used as an ending. It has a good AoE and can be used as a form of moving if there are targets in between current target and a new target within it's range. II is good in conjunction with FA+FS for the combined 3 skills HP drain ability (total -192 per 2 sec).

Abyssal Crystal – Supportive – Line Shaped Range – 1~7, no spread. Cast time – 2.2 (1.7 combo) sec. Cool down – 2.7 sec.

AC is used primarily as a supportive in the sense that it's good against runners, quick range snapshots, and to stop chasing. With the arrival of QC, it may be substituted for chase stopping, unless QC is on CD. It has a quick cool down, so can be used often enough to be used before and after a consecutive SoD and QC combo if rooted and target is out of normal range (AC>SoD>QC>AC*)*You'll have to wait until the tail end of the combo bar to hit it or it WILL cancel combo.

Force Assault – Dot/Movement – Single Target Only Range – 1~4, no spread. Cast time 1.3 (0.9 combo) sec. Cool down – 1.8 sec.

FA is used mostly as a dot skill, but is also effective for chasing, or semi-stopping chasing (If used at start of chase, you will still be chasing after it's done). It takes the same amount of time to complete the skill from 1 range as it does from 4, so using it as a gap filler between you and a target is efficient. It has a handy HP drain debuff attached to it which is excellent together with FS or II.

Force Slash – Dot – Trapezoid Shaped Range – 1~2, spread of 1 wide. Cast time – 1.3 (0.9 combo) sec. Cool down – 1.8 sec.

FS is used similar to FA with the exception of not being able to move with it. It has a good HP drain debuff that is good in conjunction with FA or II.

Force Kick – Dot/Movement- Circle Shaped Range – 1~12, spread of 1 wide. Cast time – 0.9 (0.5 combo) sec. Cool down – 18 sec.

FK is used as a chase stopper, a runner stopper, or simply to get into combat faster. It has a 2 second stun that usually hits, but not very effective against players. It does take a slightly longer time to finish casting when farther away (only about 0.1-0.2 sec longer) than when point blank. Unlike FA, it can hit more than 1 target if the additional targets are within 1 range of the target being hit.

Cannons – BM1 boosts I'm not going to bother listing the attack info on cannons. Your sole purpose of them is for your BM1. Aqua increases HP, Lightning Increases attack, Earth increases defense, and Wind increases your attack and defense rates

Debuff Skills
The following list is all debuffs FB's can have. Optional ones are labeled with a *: Hard Luck (HL) Execration (Exe/Root/EX) Field of Execration (FoX) Enervation (Ene) Art of Curse (AoC)
 * Field of Enervation (FoEne)
 * Lower Defense (LD)
 * Blind (BD)
 * Mana Freeze (MF)
 * Darkness (DK)

The next part goes over each skill in detail.

Hard Luck – Single Target Range – 0~8 Effect - -10% Resist Critical Damage/Resist Critical Rate Cast time – 1.5 (1.3 combo) sec. Cool down – 25 sec.

HL is the most effective debuff for FB since it can be cast more often than AoC and costs only MP. It should always be the last debuff used when debuffing to maximize the use of it's effects with your attacks. It's use for PvE and PvP are reviewed later in this guide.

Execration – Single Target Range – 0~8 Effect – Root target in-place for 30 seconds. Cast time – 1.5 (1.3 combo) sec. Cool down – 46.5 sec.

Exe is used to root players in war, or certain mobs/ bosses in place for a period of time to kill it. Because it has a longer cool down than most debuffs, you must be smart about which player you use it on so that it's not wasted.

Field of Execration – Area Debuff – Limit 17 (5 targets) Range – 0~10 Effect – Root target in-place for 20 seconds. Cast time – 1.5 (1.3 combo) sec. Cool down – 180 sec.

FoX is similar to Exe, except it's for groups. Be smart about it and don't waste on single targets.

Enervation – Single Target Range – 0~8 Effect – De-levels mob by 12 lvls. Cast time – 0.9 (0.7 combo) sec. Cool Time – 0.9 sec Additional Effects:
 * Lightning Blade – Reduces evasion by 300.
 * Ice Blade – Reduces accuracy by 300.
 * Fire Blade – Reduces damage reduce by 200.

Ene is a common mob debuff used primarily for luring and killing mobs/bosses faster. It can't be used on players.

Field of Enervation – Area Debuff – Limit 17 (? targets) – Cone Shaped Range – 0~10, spread of 1~8 wide Effect – De-levels targets within range and AoE by 12 levels. Cast time – 1.5 (1.3 combo) sec. Cool Time – 180 sec. Additional Effects: FoEne is used for luring large groups of mobs typically in dungeons, or deleveling large groups of players in war. It lowers the base stats of characters equivalent to 12 levels worth (Unsure what it is based on per lvl). This skill is used little enough it may be optimal to swap it for a different debuff you may use more.
 * Lightning Blade – Reduces evasion by 300.
 * Ice Blade – Reduces accuracy by 300.
 * Fire Blade – Reduces damage reduce by 200.

Lower Defense – Single Target Range – 0~8 Effect – -56 Defense to target Cast time – 0.9 (0.7 combo) sec. Cool Time – 0.9 sec

LD is used just like ene. Supportive for luring and helping killing faster. It's optional because FA also have this, and most people often forget to re-cast it.

Blind – Single Target Range – 0~8 Effect – Reduces target's attack rate by 500 and accuracy by 250. Cast time – 0.9 (0.7 combo) sec. Cool Time – 0.9 sec.

BD is useful against bosses or players that keep hitting you a lot (does nothing against combo-ing players). It can also be used to lure. It's optional because most people simply don't like it. I personally use it all the time on bosses and it helps party survival rate some. Good to use in conjunction with BM3's Temporal Disruption.

Mana Freeze – Single Target Range – 0~10 Effect – Reduces target's MP by 1400 (increased with Effector +5 or higher), and freezes use of MP pots for 10 seconds. Cast time – 1.5 (1.3 combo) sec. Cool Time – 180 sec.

MF is an effective debuff against characters with less than 1400 MP, primarily WA and BL, but also some FB and FS. It has a long cool down so use it wisely. If a player has a little over 1400 MP, they can still be MF-ed effectively since their MP pots can't be used for MF's duration. It's an optional skill because there's a larger majority of high level players that it isn't effective against anymore. It can be stacked after FoEne for a higher MP reduction effect.

Darkness – Single Target Range – 0~8 Effect – Reduces target's range by 2 Cast time – 1.5 (1.3 combo) sec. Cool Time – 46.5 sec

Dk is a slower cool down so not good for luring, but it is good to use on rooted or AoD foes to reduce their AoE. Additionally if you're rooted and you root your rooter and then use dk, you can hit him and he can't hit you back (assuming you've rooted them at the edge of SoD/AC range). It's an optional skill because it's overall use is limited and not effective in most instances. Best use is against rooted players in BM3 or AoD, and against Leth Tyrant to prevent him hitting as often at the start of battle.

Art of Curse - Single Target – Short (Costs 300 SP) Range – 0~8 Effect – Reduces target's resists for Down, Knockback, Stun, and Root by 50% for 12 seconds. Has additional effects based on current blade aura mode. Cast time – 1.5 (1.3 combo) sec. Cool Time – 180 sec. Additional Effects:
 * Lightning Blade – Silence (Can't use any skills) target for 4 seconds.
 * Ice Blade – Reduces target's attack by 300 for full duration.
 * Fire Blade – Reduces Target's defense by 20% for full duration.

AoC is the a debuff short for FB. It's combat effects are almost unparalleled if used with Fire. It's use in Ice isn't worth the use however. The silence from Lightning is a a great way to catch up to a running player to root them or finish them off, or to save your own neck from death. Keep in mind it costs 300 SP to use. Use it smartly. See BM3 tips for additional DPS info.

Key-mapping and Quick slots
FB's role is debuffing, so debuffs need to be a constant and fast access. The extended quick slot row is crucial for your debuffs. I suggest altering some those key's defaults for faster reaction. My suggestion is to use some of the keys near your natural movement location (ASWD) and where you will likely have combo (1,2 or 3). Personally, I use R, F, T, G, Y, H, X, C, and V. Some of these are prior defaults, for which I simply altered to be Ctrl+key replaced. This allows your hand to move minimally for the same effect, in particular R, T, F, and G. If you have a mouse with extra keys, feel free to use those. I use my mouse for a lot of things with only a couple extra keys. I have 2 next my thumb which I use for HP, target self, BM1+ Aura. The use of Shift+mouseX allows the additional 2. Also, mouse wheel can be used for more than just scrolling. I use Alt+Mouse wheel up/down for my NW pots, and Shift+click for BM3/2(on debuff page).

The constants I referred to regard debuffs, combo, BM(s)/Aura, and HP all being the same location on the extended bar on all 4 pages, with few swaps (since we have more than can be put on 1 bar efficiently). I suggest that your quick bars have a setup in these four styles: BM3, Buffs, Dot, AoE (Heavies). The order of those is up to you, but I recommend that on your bm3 page, have the 3 required bm3 skills and the 3 strongest aoe skills. It takes a little bit to get used to new layouts, but taking the time to create one that's easier for you to react faster will pay off later. If you want to become a good player, you'll have to change your key-mapping some.

Again, I cannot stress enough about being consistent with your primary skills/ items on the quick slot bar for all 4 pages. These consist of combo, HP, debuffs, BMs/Aura, and War Pots if you do NW.

I use two preset combo's on pages 3+4. My page 1 is bm3 and 2 is buffs and miscellaneous.

Dot combo – FK > FA > FS > Assy > SoD Heavy Combo – Assy > SoD > QC > II > FA > FS

I have AC mapped to R on all pages for quick snapshot ranged, and on Page 3, T is II, and pg 4 T is FK.

PvE
FB's are naturally more difficult to handle/survive in PvE. Your 3 primary best friends are Hard Luck, Enervation, and Blind. Lead into combat with enervation and blind, leaving HL as the LAST debuff you use. It's the shortest duration, so you want the maximum number of attacks before it needs recasting. If a debuff runs out during combo, try selecting a far target to move, then re-target previous target and re-debuff accordingly. See the Art of Combo(Not created yet/ intended for cabal forums) guide for more details on this and other tips and tricks. Defense rate and damage reduction are the two major survivability factors for FB. Defense rate reduces number of hits, and damage reduction (DR) reduces damage taken. Defense itself is a good factor for how much damage is taken before DR kicks in, but being missed or blocking is better. Blind makes your defense rate work more efficiently. This is also good in conjunction with BM3's Temporal Displacement (-1000 atk rate from 1 stack of TD +500 from blind = -1500 atk rate). I'll go over BM3 patterns in the next section. Bosses use the same debuffing pattern with any additional debuffs before HL. Do NOT use AoC in Fire by itself. Use it with the 2xPain BM3 pattern. Whether solo or in a party, use the applicable BM3 DPS patterns in the next section. Timing of HL is pretty simple. It's a 30 second duration, and 1 set of BM3 (8 A/B + 1 Fatality) takes 12.4 seconds (+0.0-0.5 sec for lag). 2 sets is around 26 seconds. That leaves 4 seconds to spare, which you can start up the first 3 A/B of the next set.

Depending on your number of mobs, and/or a boss and if solo or party, will determine which combo pattern to use. Most of the time you'll use the Heavies since it has higher DPS overall, but when facing a boss and your HP is dropping too much, the Dot combo will regen HP at a slightly faster rate. Dot combo is good to start off with to move close to your target if FK is on CD, or if you want to practice combo above 11. In large mob groups, the Heavies combo is most effective. Dot combo is good for taking out only a single target with less collateral.

PvP
Honestly I'm not a PvP pro, but there's not a lot of good solid tips or guides to PvP. Your best knowledge is knowing the other classes' range, attacks, and the individual player's movement style. Basically this means the best way to learn is by doing it more. There's a few tips for keeping target and combo, but that's in the combo guide I wrote linked above. Some basics about the classes are as follows:

FA are long ranged only with a range about a dash+fade away from you. Keep your distance close, or out of reach as much as possible and fade/roll closer to them as often as you can. FS are medium ranged. Darkness is actually effective against them due to most their heavy skills being 5 or 6 ranged. WA are closer ranged, but they do have 2 skills with a range of at least 5, one being a heavy. They're more fearsome than BL. You have to use guerrilla hit+run tactics typically to take them out effectively. You can't tank a WA if similarly geared. BL are the least to worry about since they're pretty much entirely close ranged only. However their Assault does have a 4 second Silence that you must be cautious about. Otherwise keep a distance and hit with SoD+QC before hitting Assy. WI are medium-long ranged with most their skills being slightly further than 1 dash away. Don't let them kite or you will lose every time. FB are a medium-close range class with a powerful ranged and close skills. Basically out-FB them to win. GL are a medium-close range class with a variety of AoE skills. They're similar to WA's, but have more ranged so root doesn't work quite as effectively. This is about all I can give you for now on PvP/PvE, but a good rule of thumb is: “To get better, you must face against someone better.” The following section is the BM3 information.

BM3 Patterns and Tips
I'll start off by listing all the suggested patterns and then go into detail about them. DPS Solo - Increase Critical+Chain Pain (ABAA+BAAB) 2xPain (DPS Party) - Chain Pain+ Share Pain (BAAB+AABA) Survival - Temporal Disruption + Chain Pain (BBAB+BAAB)

DPS Solo is effective for solo work more so than DPS Party because the increase rate benefits your more than the -5% def your party uses. 2xPain or DPS Party is the best dps in a party typically of 3+ because your whole party benefits from it's effects and not just you. The extra -5% def for all party members will exceed your solo dps increase using DPS Solo. Survival is best when fighting a very hard boss, or you or your party keep getting hit too often and healing is having trouble keeping up. It's -Atk rate is effective. If needed, TD can be stacked twice instead.

Other than Survival's 2 TD stack option, I would not recommend stacking anything twice unless hitting something waiting for the boss or target to spawn/come into range (like players at a res in war). Also, I do not suggest using the 2+3 fatalities unless you're pretty certain that you'll crit on both, as they lose dps if they don't crit.

A huge suggestion for Art of Curse is to use it AFTER you just used 2xPain in Fire. It's total def down on target will be -30%. This is a similar DPS increase as PC gives. Stacked WITH PC, HL, FoF, Enervation, and Def down is a ridiculously amazing result. Get with party members before a hard boss to coordinate all 5 skills as well as their synergies for maximum dps. Fire Enchant = DPS ( -56 Def on A+B for 1 synergy set for total of -112) Ice Enchant = Survival ( -x Atk Rate on A+B for 1 synergy set for a total of -y) Lightning Enchant = Hit rate/ Silence on AoC (-x evasion on A+B for 1 synergy for a total of -y)

BM1 Notes
We all know that Cannons are the key to BM1 being so strong and OP. What many don't know is that if you accidentally use BM1 before you aura, you can rebuff your stats by using the cannons again to get the full stats. Yes it cuts into BM time, but an extra 50+ attack or 200 HP helps. We still don't know the calculations for how much it gives you. The closest I got was narrowing down what 1 matk gave, but this was before the updated stats and I'd have to re-do it all over (which I'll need about 180 lv 3 SP pots and 18m for skills). Other than the re-buffing if you make a mistake, the rest is pretty straight forward. Keep combo as long as possible and use combo for all attacks for DPS. You cannot afford to miss attacks in bm1. Also, don't even bother using AoC since you don't have your Blade Enhance buffs on, so they only reduce the normal resistances, which are avoided by combo anyways.

Gearing Up Effectively,and Cost Efficiently
We all know that having perfect crafted 2 slot items are the best things to get. However, often people focus too much on the now at lower levels instead of waiting longer to get the PC forci 2 slot items. What I'm saying here is to not waste your money getting a 2 slot PC item when you have a 1 slot of the same thing, or even a non-slot of that item with same amp. The slight shortage of defense should not deter you from being able to run things effectively with others, and will be made up later on when you get your end items. For items not in your end-game retinue (this doesn't mean true end-game, but is personal end-game, like 40/7 sig helm or pc 2 slot forci), I would suggest to not bother trying to upgrade past +9. Why? Because the average cost to get +10, +11, and so on increases exponentially. It's simply a waste of alz you could use to buy a PC 2 slot item later on, or upgrade that one to +15. Being efficient with your alz will allow you to progress in gears faster than you'd expect. Making alz is easy, it's just a matter of controlling your spending and learning self control with it. Don't be afraid to use a non-slotted PC crafted item for an extended period of time. You shouldn't even bother trying to get amp/mcr/cr in non-pc 2 slotted items anyways. 7% amp in 1-2 slot tg or 0 slot tg has the same DPS output with minor damage increase taken or slight lower HP amount. 50 HP isn't worth 200m until forcium. Yes SEH are cheaper and more common, so if Sig's your end-game, then that's fine and go for it, but be smart about it. Spend the least amount of alz for the best dps gain for maximum efficiency.

Katana versus Blade
This issue has been debated numerous times over in the past. The simply answer is cost and end-game goal. If you want to build up cheaper earlier on and still become strong, go with katana's. They're noticeably cheaper overall. If you're approaching end-game and want that extra attack because that's the only item that will boost it, then switch over to blade. Assuming you followed one of the 3 stat builds, stat's required will not be an issue. Orbs and Crystal's don't really have the same issue because they are both around the same value due to the even split of classes that use them. Crystals are higher base attack though, so use that for the attack boost in end-game. Nothing says you can't get a blade earlier on, but just be alz efficient (Is that +18 atk worth 200m right now or later on when there's nothing else to upgrade?).

Gear Build - Amp or CD?
When FB talk about amp or cd builds, they pretty much refer only to weapons since most everything else is pretty standard in what you should have. I will touch into artifacts and bike as well.

In truth both are effective and differ which BM3 skills that do more damage as well as BM1. For normal applications in PvE an all CD build will generally render better dps, while an all amp will do almost as effective on bosses (high def penetration). An all AMP build is not advisable though since it will do an overall less DPS. The most balanced build is amp+cd, whether your sword or magic is which doesn't matter, especially since most are All skill amp now.

BM3 is interesting. A+B skills do most effectively DPS-wise with all CD, which is the most common you'd be using while in it, but for the synergies, CD is best only on the 3rd fatality. For some reason I am unsure, amp does more effectively for 1st+2nd fatalities., which for DPS, 1st only is best.BM1 since it's huge attack base can render amp a little more effective since you lose some rate (even if your max still is 50%+ you will crit less due to Res CD. Still it's better DPS to have a 1+1 amp/cd weapon combo than all amp.

Artifacts. RoF10 or CR2? This can actually matter depending on your cd. Ideally you want to have 170% minimum as FB, and at least 60% amp. You build more specifically from those base's. If you're short some cd and 2 rof10 won't reach past that 170%, then swap one for a cr2. If you have two amp weapons, you should have 2 cr2's. Again I don't recommend dual amp. If you do meet those minimums, then go for 2 rof10. The alternative to 2 rof10 is if your rate max is 60% or more. If you're not going to be at 60% rate anytime soon, then use rof10. If you're rich, you can get 2 of both and switch according to what scenario you're in. War varies a lot during it which build is most effective, so having the ability to switch may benefit you in the long run, though it's costly.

Bikes. A bike really is another weapon. In the future bikes can be extreme crafted, so keep that in mind for which type you get. There's 2 ways to go for bikes, Offensive or Survival. Offensive consists of amp, atk or cd. I would build towards what you're lowest. They all 3 are basically same effect. The survival are the resistances. RCD isn't popular, but it's actually effective if full cd (30%+ resist), although it's been proven that the RR and RA are a little more effective. Mixed really aren't as optimal as all 1 type, but they're not bad to have. In the end, you want to have a crafted bike. HP is not really worth it seeing how fast you can get shredded in war or by bosses. You should make it a goal to get an RW3 crafted bike +15.

Conclusion
This is pretty much the end of what I've written so far. More will probably be added and any input on errors would be grateful. I've probably missed a few things on here as well. I wrote all this from the memory with no internet so I may have got a few numbers slightly off. I'll update accordingly. Just remember a couple things: be patient and aim high.