SK vs BD

[Bubbler]

I understand BD is a support class and SK is a tank....I just can't decide which I want to make. I really like the dual sword masteries that BD gets...But at the same time I like that SK can take more damage. So can I get the pro's and con's please? Also, I want to be able to occasionaly solo level if I have to, and I like pvp.

[Corrupt]

[ QUOTE ]
I like that SK can take more damage.

[/ QUOTE ]
You got this mixed up, SK takes significantly less damage (physical). I guess you meant SK can take more hits? :) As long as you got SE or prophet buffs BD is best melee class for solo hunting. SK can solo very well also.

[Bubbler]

Yes, I meant it can take more hits :)..Thank you

[Stanimir]

>>As long as you got SE or prophet buffs BD is best melee class for solo hunting.
So how do you justify solo w/ outside buffs. I can tell you daggers do pretty well w/ outside buffs too.

[Corrupt]

[ QUOTE ]
So how do you justify solo w/ outside buffs. I can tell you daggers do pretty well w/ outside buffs too.

[/ QUOTE ]
All melee classes can 'solo' w/ outside se, prophet or aden clan hall buffs, some faster, some slower. BD happens to be fastest melee class soloing, unless you gonna box outside bd also. Anyway topic starter asked about BD vs SK, there's no question that BD can get more xp soloing each buff round compared to SK.

[_Charmille_]

Eh?! BD is in no way the fastest solo melee. With full out of party SE/prophet buffs a dagger is much faster, and so is a Destroyer. The dances aint that big of an advantage when you compare them to the much higher attack speed and critical rate+power of daggers or the massively bigger pattk of a Destroyer. Also Tyrants out damage a BD big time this way since they get better specials/pattk/attk speed.

You pull your Dance of Fire and Dance of Warrior and maybe Dance of Fury if you're there... Destroyer pulls Rage. Dagger just crits the hell out of mobs. Tyrant goes fist fury and bison totem.

When a higher lvl BD, with a TK(gimp dmg, but fast as hell) take longer to kill the same mob that I kill solo, there really isnt a reason why BD would be better at exping >.> And this is 100% of the cases when killing the same mob. (Equipment also of the same lvl, TK same lvl as I)

SK = Heavy armor nuker-wannabe, good in pvp, good as a tank(who would even wanna solo a melee?)

BD = Support melee, dies much more easily, isnt as tough in pvp but is really wanted for its dances(both melee and nuker)

PS. With out of party buffers/healers, WL, Destro and Dorf all greatly out-exp a BD... Poletrains ftw!

[Lunori]

Shillen knights can solo without outside buffs, spamming soulshots and still gaining some extra adena, they also don't need healing potions becouse of the life leech skill. Also you can use cubics... vampire cubic is great for soloing but using it all the time is quite expensive.

In my opinion, SK is the fastest soloing tank in this game. But they lvl quite slow compared to DD/nuker classes.

[TukumiSushi]

[ QUOTE ]
I understand BD is a support class and SK is a tank....I just can't decide which I want to make. I really like the dual sword masteries that BD gets...But at the same time I like that SK can take more damage. So can I get the pro's and con's please? Also, I want to be able to occasionaly solo level if I have to, and I like pvp.

[/ QUOTE ]


BD pros:
* Easy to get parties
* Duals look good and have high damage
* Dances are great buffs
* Can solo with a buffer giving VR

BD cons:
* No armor masteries or tank skills after hitting 40

SK pros:
* Full tank skills
* Cubics are great passive debuffs
* Lightning strike 2 min paralyse
* Versatility with build
* Extra life drain + vampiric cubic = less need for outside buffer

SK cons:
* Expensive to run due to D crystals for cubics and different armor/weapons for diff builds.


In PvP BDs rely on bleed and poison blade dance. Both classes can make use of hex/powerbreak debuffs as well as freezing strike to slow down kiters. Blessed spirits shots with life drain/freezing strike are ok long ranged annoyances. If you want to make those debuffs stick OE those duals to ++ matk.

SK's have more variety with PvP. They can go DD with a two handed sword + focus and rely upon the same tactics as a BD or they can use a mage sword and become a knight/mage mix. Blessed spirit shots with a mage sword increase the chance of those debuffs landing. If you've got a good source of adena
:p then you can always macro your mage skills to pull out your mage sword and load shots first.

Since I play an SK im a bit biased here, I've got a BD alt on private server if that makes you feel any better. A lot of ppl disrespect SKs on the boards in favour of BDs without having played either classes.

[Champa]

i hear poison blade dance is really shite :-/
BUT! it's possibly the coolest looking skill in game! so it's plus one minus one.