2010-07-22, 06:25 PM
ghostofhalo Wrote:If you plan on doing BPQ (Balrog PQ), get fundamentals and sacrifice elsewhere. Remember, Balrog cancels any skill that is after the 2nd job advancement. Otherwise skip it. Most people recommend Ground Smash. I'm not bothering with it and will cap it at 11 (or 1 and put 10 into the first job). It has poor range (200, or the same as Shout's horizontal range) and its damage is only good against 2-3 mobs compared to the other two attacks in the first job. Others will recommend passing on Sword Booster and capping it at 11 (110 seconds) which is fine. It won't last as long (by 90 seconds) and costs more MP (8), but that's not too much of an issue. Here's a small comparison:
Maxed Fundamentals and maxed 1st/2nd/3rd job attacks:
Power Strike - 260% + 120% = 380% against 1 enemy (380%) base speed (810ms)
Slash Blast - 180% + 70% = 250% against 6 enemies (1500%) base speed (810ms)
Ground Smash - 300% (does not receive a boost) against 3 enemies (900%) base speed (810ms)
Brandish - 240% x2 = 480% on 3 enemies (1440%) 840ms
Shout - 220% (no bonus) against 10 enemies (2200%) 1500ms
It's all a manner of opinion of course. Brandish will easily replace Ground Smash, but Slash Blast remains marginally stronger than Brandish if you can hit 6 enemies (and Final Attack will roll 6 times for a chance rather than 3 times). Again, it's not too much to care about since the 4th job replaces everything prior, but it's nice to think ahead.
Ground Smash may seem like it has poor range, but my God is it hard to hit anything with Slash Blast. You do raise a valid point though. I was definitely considering that Fundamentals be more important for a Crusader since they don't get any six-mob skills excluding Coma which requires you to build up orbs though.
And Shout is terrible. It's too slow to be of any real practical use for damage.