Ultimate Adventurer Skill Analysis

Current Version 0.96:

http://www.southperry.net/showthread.php?t=40997

DPS is all measured with standard delays. If you have a problem with that, learn to multiply. Since this is not a comparison between actual classes, but the class's available skills and the UA skills, unless mentioned, no passive skills were used because they affect both skills the exact same way.

[SPOILER=Mihile's Soul Driver]
Range: 250%
Delay: 1601 ms
Damage: 250% x4
Mobs: 6

DPS: 624.6%/s per monster (6)

Comparison:

Skill:	DPS	Mobs	Min Lvl
Dragon Fury:	444.4%/s	6	77
Dragon Buster:	414.3%/s	3	77
Dragon Buster (4 Hits):	552.4%/s	3	120
Brandish:	571.4%/s	3	77
Intrepid Slash:	750%/s	3	130
Charge Blow:	444.4%/s	4	77
Advanced Charge Blow:	592.6%/s	7	123

-Advanced Charge Blow is measured with Combat Orders as that is the only buff applicable to any Warrior skill that cannot affect Soul Driver, and only Paladins have guaranteed access to it.

Conclusion: Overpowered. Super worthwhile, especially for Paladins and Heroes since they lack even more range than Dark Knights to mob.


[SPOILER=Oz's Flame Gear]
Range: 200%
Delay: 1440 ms
Damage: 240% + 50% Damage Over Time
Mobs: 1

DPS: 166.7%/s + 50%/s DoT
With Teleport Mastery: 432.1%/s

Min Level: 83
Shining Ray + Teleport Mastery: 695.2%/s
+Flame Gear: 664.7%/s + 50%/s DoT

Min Level: 130
Angel Ray + Teleport Mastery: 1259.3%/s
+Flame Gear: 1175.5%/s + 50%/s

Min Level: 80
Thunder Spear + Teleport Mastery: 769.2%/s
+Flame Gear: 729.9%/s + 50%/s DoT

Min Level: 80
Ice Strike + Teleport Mastery: 714.3%/s
+Flame Gear: 681.9%/s + 50%/s DoT

Min Level: 130
Chain Lightning + Teleport Mastery: 1333.3%/s
+Flame Gear: 1244.2%/s + 50%/s DoT

Min Level: 73
Fire Arrow + Teleport Mastery: 765.4%/s
+Flame Gear: 728.5%/s + 50%/s DoT

Min Level: 130
Paralyze + Teleport Mastery: 1135.8%/s + 160%/s DoT
+Flame Gear: 1063.8%/s + 210%/s DoT

Comparison:
DoT for Magicians is effectively 1.14x stated damage, unaffected by damage modifiers other than elemental advantage. Therefore, 50%/s DoT is effectively 57.14%/s, unaffected by Elemental Amplification for Criticals. The damage displayed above with +Flame Gear represents a scenario where Flame Gear is cast every 15 seconds to refresh the area of effect.
In the case of Ice Strike, the smallest difference in base DPS, the damage lost is 32.4%/s, effectively 48.6%/s after Elemental Amplification. In return, 57.14%/s is gained from the damage over time, resulting in a net gain of 8.5%/s.

Overall, the damage increase is not significant, and in the case of Fire Arrow, the damage difference is approximately 2%/s in favour of Flame Gear. When stronger, Fourth Job skills are taken into consideration, the damage difference becomes more apparent. Considering that the damage over time duration itself is only 3 seconds, and the above represents the optimal case where the damage over time is instantly reapplied after it runs out because the monster is still in the targetted area of effect, Flame Gear is overall not a worthwhile skill to invest in for any stage of the game.
With the maxed 3rd job attacking skill, Teleport Mastery, and Elemental Amplification/Holy Focus, the minimum level to achieve this effect is ~87, 90 for Priests; however, given the lower duration of Flame Gear, training is not practical, and bossing is not significant.


[SPOILER=Irena's Wind Piercing]
Delay: 1200 ms
Damage: 600%
Mobs: 3

DPS: 500%/s

Comparison:

Skill:	DPS	Mobs	Min Lvl
Iron Arrow:	419.8%/s	6	37
Arrow Bomb:	382.7%/s	6	37
Inferno:	555.6%/s + 50%/s DOT	6	77
Blizzard:	493.8%/s	6	77
Arrow Rain/Eruption:	493.8%/s	10	77
Pierce:	697.0%/s	6	130

Does not consider Iron Arrow or Pierce's damage modifiers

Conclusion:
Limited use. Heavily limited by its ability to only hit 3 monsters



[SPOILER=Eckhart's Vampire]
Range: 400%
Delay: 1350ms
Damage: 90% x 4
Mobs: 3

DPS: 266.7%/s
Healing: 7.2% per attack, 5.3%/s

Comparison:

Skill:	DPS	Mobs	Min Lvl
Drain:	296.3%/s	1	37
Drain (Healing):	133.3%/s	1	37
Avenger:	416.7%/s	6	77
Steal:	370.4%/s	4	37
Band of Thieves:	487.7%/s	6	77
Chakra (Healing):	Tons more than Vampire

As far as I am aware, Vampire is not affected by Shadow Partner, so it will be inherently 1.5x weaker than every skill listed in practice.

Conclusion:
pomegranate skill is pomegranate. Can't heal worth crap, takes a long time to use, and does almost no damage. If you think a Shadower would find this useful, Chakra scales with your stats, allowing it to literally heal more HP than you have in 4th job. For Vampire to heal more than 1k HP, you need an average damage range of over 15000.


[SPOILER=Hawkeye's Shark Wave]
Range: 600px?
Delay: 1050 ms
Damage: 510%
Mobs: 4

DPS: 485.7%/s

Comparison:

Skill:	DPS	Mobs	Min Lvl
Backspin Blow with Brawling Mastery (960ms?):	447.9%/s	4	73
Energy Blast (1140ms):	438.6%/s	4	77/87
Energy Blast + Backspin Blow:	567.1%/s	4	80/90
Energy Blast + Shark Wave:	570.6	4
Shockwave:	487.8%/s	6	77
Dragon Strike:	648.1%/s	6	130
Invisible Shot:	419.8%/s	3	37
Flame Thrower:	361.9%/s + 80%/s DoT	6	77
Ice Splitter:	323.8%/s	6	77
Flame Thrower + Ice Splitter:	600%/s + 80%/s DoT	6	84

Conclusion:
Would be a useful skill toi have on a UA for Corsairs and Vipers going through third job, given its larger range; however, it is not a large DPS difference compared to most other skills, and is easily replaced later on.


I don't recall where to find the skill changes after Chaos. I had heard Soul Driver actually did not get affected by the Dawn Warrior nerf, but Wind Piercing was changed to be identical to the maxed version of a Wind Archer making it useful.


tl;dr: Every UA skill sucks except Warriors until Chaos, where every UA skill sucks except Warriors and Archers.

I'm sure I'm not the only one unaware... could you list the min level / build level you get some of these skills (normal class skills), maybe with a note if they need a supporting skill to be useful? I'm looking into making a class I don't have yet, and want to know which would benefit from a free mob skill.

Soul Driver loses nearly 1/3 of its damage in Chaos and I believe some range so it's pretty mediocre post-Chaos.

I'm sure I'm not the only one unaware... could you list the min level / build level you get some of these skills (normal class skills), maybe with a note if they need a supporting skill to be useful? I'm looking into making a class I don't have yet, and want to know which would benefit from a free mob skill.

You mean regular adventurer skills? Let's see if this is what you want...

Soul Driver loses nearly 1/3 of its damage in Chaos and I believe some range so it's pretty mediocre post-Chaos.

It's bumped down to 180% per hit, so only 450%/s. While mediocre, it is still significantly better than other options in 3rd job, and leads well into fourth job, especially since it still has range, especially behind it. It can still hit six monsters though right?

You mean regular adventurer skills? Let's see if this is what you want...



It's bumped down to 180% per hit, so only 450%/s. While mediocre, it is still significantly better than other options in 3rd job, and leads well into fourth job, especially since it still has range, especially behind it. It can still hit six monsters though right?

Insoya's Chaos extraction says:

Before change: 17 MP consumption, attack up to 5 enemies for 250% damage 4 times
After change: 25 MP consumption, attack up to 6 enemies for 180% damage 4 times

Not sure why they have 5 pre.

You mean regular adventurer skills? Let's see if this is what you want...

Yes, the regular adventurer skills. Eg. Wind Piercing barely beats 3rd job Eruption/Rain, so it's pretty much pointless to a non-UA who's already chosen those attacks, but possibly useful to a UA cause they could skip those mobbing attacks early in 3rd job.

Also need to account for the fact that some regular adventurer skills got hugely nerfed in Chaos when deciding if they're truly useful, I suppose.

I'd get the level 1 version just so I can have it :3

Archer, warrior, an pirate ones seem to be the most useful during 3rd job. I'd have loved sharkwave as a marauder

Any way to figure out the DPS on Soul Driver from what level it takes to start beating ACB?
It'd be nice to start using it at regular intervals pre-level 5.

Thieves and mages need some loving there :c

Dunno about mages, but I think the poison bomb thingy would have suited thieves way more.

It's bumped down to 180% per hit, so only 450%/s. While mediocre, it is still significantly better than other options in 3rd job, and leads well into fourth job, especially since it still has range, especially behind it. It can still hit six monsters though right?

Yes, but there's also a range nerf.

Big Bang: 250% range
Chaos: 200% range

.

You forgot to include criticals for Vampire:

You're a moron.

Before the insult continues I guess I'll point that JoeTang's calling you a moron because he stated in the OP that no passive skills would be included because they'll affect both the UA skill and the other skills the same way.

.

Criticals still benefit more from multi-hit skills, passive or not.

No, they don't because Criticals are multipliers. It's like saying Shadow Partner benefits Triple Throw more than Lucky Sevens because it hits more.

All you proved is you don't understand the game at all and have some retarded unjustified bias.

I like the comparison between Chakra and Vampire xD +1 for this

I'd like to make a note too for a Drain vs Vampire bit. Drain heals upon throw (the moment you press the Drain button, your HP is healed before the stars land on the mob). Vampire heals upon hit (meaning after the long startup animation does it actually recover HP for you). This makes Vampire far less reliable than Drain, too.

I'd like to make a note too for a Drain vs Vampire bit. Drain heals upon throw (the moment you press the Drain button, your HP is healed before the stars land on the mob). Vampire heals upon hit (meaning after the long startup animation does it actually recover HP for you). This makes Vampire far less reliable than Drain, too.

How long is it between when you press the button and when you receive the HP? I'm just curious if it can still be used to heal you in a pinch (supposing you can deal enough damage) if you react quickly enough. Basically... Is the delay greater than or less than the time you're invulnerable for?

Yes, but there's also a range nerf.

Big Bang: 250% range
Chaos: 200% range

Argh. It was the vertical range for which I loved it so dearly... The damage reduction I could've lived with. </3

How long is it between when you press the button and when you receive the HP? I'm just curious if it can still be used to heal you in a pinch (supposing you can deal enough damage) if you react quickly enough. Basically... Is the delay greater than or less than the time you're invulnerable for?

The heal for drain is immediate upon button press. The heal for vampire occurs upon the moment the numbers first appear. I don't know the exact timing, but it's within a half second to full second, which is way too long. The delay is less than the time you're invulnerable for, but in the time it takes for the skill to finish, invulnerability wears off before you're able to cast it again meaning you're likely to be hit once more and thus, nullifying the heal effects from the previous vampire.

The heal for drain is immediate upon button press. The heal for vampire occurs upon the moment the numbers first appear. I don't know the exact timing, but it's within a half second to full second, which is way too long. The delay is less than the time you're invulnerable for, but in the time it takes for the skill to finish, invulnerability wears off before you're able to cast it again meaning you're likely to be hit once more and thus, nullifying the heal effects from the previous vampire.

Considering it's pitiful healing rate that is a rather lamentable oversight on Wizet's part. =/ Still. At the very least it looks neat. ^_^ And has longer range than most bandit skills.