BM Weapon/Build Overview

There have been alot of posts lately asking about weapons and builds, and TW strats. This is the start of a guide that we can use. If there is anything that you'd want to change or add, please PM it to me and I'll see that it gets added. (NOTE: This has been compiled by other threads in this BM subforum. Not all content is mine.)

First, Why be a BM:
- Good at PK due to stunlock(Axe BM).
- Excellent damage-dealing class.
- Very good solo character.
- Invincible if paired with a Cleric. Can do solo-mode HH with just a Cleric and himself.
- Fun to play.
- Good in TW.

A couple of downsides:
- Not enough HP to main tank. (Can backup tank.)
- PKing is difficult.

Weapon Strengths and Use:

You have to decide what kind of BM you want to be. This is defined by your weapon choice:

Fist: Dex based fighter. Fast attack rate and low damage, but can be seen as very deadly vs. casters.

Spear: Str based fighter. Good attack rate and medium damage, the spear comes into its own during TW. It can hit multiple targets that are standing in a row. Spear users have 2 distance strikes.

Poleaxe/Dual Axe: Str based fighter. The axes are the spike damage. They have a high max damage and a low minimum damage, with the slowest attack rate. Axes have the most AoE's and the most Stuns for BM's.

Polehammer/Dual Hammers: These are the exact as Axes, except their more constant damage. They have a higher minimum damage, and a lower maximum damage.

Swords/Blades (single or dual): Dex based fighter. These are the dex based fighters. Who will critical hit often and are more evasive than other weapon types, other than fists, as they are dex based too. These are great damage dealers, they hit second fastest and can put out big numbers. Their skills are geared towards 1 vs. 1.

Your role in TW: (by weapon type)
If played right, any class can be "powerful", also played poorly any class can be "pitiful". Here is the strength of the BM:

Fist - Rarely used but can be very effective. The goal of the fist BM is to sneak to the back lines and take out the casters from behind. They have a number of fast stuns. Since they hit fast but not hard, they are best vs. classes with low HP and armor..ie archers/mages/clerics. Fist BM's can interrupt casting with their skills.

Blade/Dual Blade - Are GREAT 1 on 1. These BM's (if dex based) are best vs. other NON blade bm's, Barbarians, and Archers. They can dish out a scary amount of DPS and melt high HP players. Their dodge rate VS. the other BM or Barb's axe hit rate will keep them alive. Since spear and axe/hammer bm's have a hard time with archers, bladers are key to take them out in TW.

Axes & Hammers - Most people think Axe BM's are for damage. They are, but that is the 2nd roll. The Axe BM's job is to run in and STUN groups and KEEP THEM STUNNED while the others tear down the players. Find a group, run in and AOE STUN..then AOE DAMAGE them to death, along with everyone else. By lvl 29 you have 3 stuns, only 1 is AOE. So AOE stun, then stun 2 more with the single hits. Keep your opponents useless. THAT is the role of the Axe BM.

Spear - They are between sword and axe. Spear users have 2 stuns? and 2 long range skills, and alot of their skills deal damage to people standing in a row. They have good aoe, but alot of theirs are straight out infront of them. Say your a spear BM and you go toe to toe with another BM who has a mage standing right behind him. Alot of your skills are geared to hit the BM AND the mage! Can really catch people off guard with Spears.

Again, if you have something to add, PLEASE pm it to me. Thanks!

Build Strats: (Always keep about 5 points free for emergencies)

Axe/Hammer:
PVP build: Enough Str for Weapon, enough Dex for light armor, All other points into Vit.
PVE build: Every Even level 3str/2vit. Every odd level 3str/1dex/1vit. Do not exceed 50-60 dex.

For a tanker build, move 1 dex every other odd lvl to vit. NOTE: Youi will miss, ALOT. But you will have the HP needed to Main Tank, just hope you can keep aggro. Might want to tell your party to let you have about 2-3 minutes alone with the mob before they start attacking. And remember that Stream Strike gives Threat each use.
Even level: 3str/2vit. EX: lvl 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40
Odd level: 3str/1vit/1dex. EX: lvl 31, 35, 39

Blade/Sword:
PVP build: Sources say to have more DEX and STR than required. So ensure you can wear the latest armor and sword then take your spare points and divide them among STR and DEX. Add to VIT as needed.
PVE build: Enough str for heavy armor, enough dex for weapon, all other points into Vit

Spear:
PVP build: every Even level: 3str/2dex, every Odd level: 2/str/2dex/1con
PVE build: every Even level: 3str/2vit, every Odd level: 3str/1vit/1dex

Fist:
PVP build: Put enough for your weapon, all the rest into DEX. (you will have low HP, but super high crit and evasion. Read the PVP tactics area for Fist.
PVE build: Every Level: 2str/2dex/1con until you have 50 con. Then your build needs to be 2str/3dex.

Helpful Tips:
Apothocary:
Life Powder: This is a must for Blademasters. It takes 25 herbs to create, each harvest gives 2 or 3 of the herb. You need 15 nectar and 10 golden herb. This pill gives FIVE pills when made. Each pill gives 50hp regen per SECOND, for 10 minutes. 1 manufacturing gives you 50 minutes of basically potion free grinding/questing. Its a huge money saver if you take an hour and stock up on nectar and golden herb. There are others in the regen line as you level up apothocary, The next is Flourish Orb at lvl 3.

Focus Powder: This is a good pill for Blademasters. You need 15 Crane herb and 10 Salvia Herb. Each pill gives 50mp regen per SECOND, for 10 minutes. 1 manufacturing gives you 50 minutes of basically potion free grinding/questing. I can spam skills and hardly ever need to use a mana pot for 10 minutes. Its a huge money saver if you take an hour and stock up.

Dew of Rival Protection: These are a life saver. It takes 15 Tuckahoe and 10 Salvia Root. 1 Manufacturing gives 5 pills. This pill absorbs 1000 of the next damage dealt to you. This is a good one to have on hand. In those bad moments where pots arn't cutting it and diamond sutra is on cooldown, these will save your life. Pop one and finish the mob or cloud sprint to safety to regen. There are others in the Protection line, the next covers 2000hp damage at level 3 of apothocary.

Healing:
Potions: To maxamize on your potion effectiveness, take the time to wait until after the fight to heal. Once you are meditating, potions heal an extra X% when drank. That goes for HP and Mana potions.

Diamond Sutra: Even at level 1 this skill can keep you from constantly digging into your potion pouch...and out of the coin purse.

Guardian Charms: These charms are cash shop only, and heal you after your hp is below 50%. To help preserve your charm for when you REALLY need it, do use your free healings. The life powder you harvested and your Diamond Sutra.

Chi:
Chi is either gained or consumed when using your skills.

Spark: Also known as Fury, is when you accumulate 100 chi, a red jewel will ignite next to your chi bar. Many skills require 1 Spark to activate, such as Diamond Sutra or your level 29 skill.

Chi Building: In order to build chi, there are a number of ways. General fighting and many combat skills will build your chi up. It is best to know which skills build chi, and which ones consume chi. Because I play on the Lost City server (PVP) I like to take a few minutes after logging in and build chi up before leaving the city. You may be thinking, "But you can't fight in a city without dueling..which you may spend chi..so how?" Spam your Muscle and Magical Marrow skills. They are cheap on mana and will build on your chi. You can use Aura of the Golden Bell as well, but that is not mana efficient. So when I leave town, I have my Spark plus a full chi bar.

Chi Consuming Skills: Stream Strike, Leap Forward, Leap Back, Lion Roar, Each weapons level 29 skill(1Spark), Each weapons level 59 skill(2 Sparks), Striding Stroll (cloud sprint upgrade)

PVP Tips:
Axe/Hammer - (I can only give advice on these weapons as it is the only BM I've played. This is only in my experience, up to lvl 42 currently.)
STUN STUN STUN! I don't care if its a duel or a gank, STUN! You have THREE of them by 39. I find that it is best to open with Drake Bash to start with a stun. At first this is a 3.3 second stun, max lvl is 6 seconds. From there hit them hard, I like to do 1 fan of blades and 1 basic melee hit. By now the stun is near completion, so time to hit them with Aeolian blade. Hopefully there is another 3 second stun. While stunned hit them with Ocean's edge or Drakes Ray. After that skill start your roar of the pride. Here is another 3.3 second stun! Lay into them with another fan of blades or Mountain sever if you have it. At this point you only have FOUR seconds to kill before your next stun is ready!

Using this a rough setup, I've managed to kill 2 blademasters both higher lvl than me by 2 levels. (one at a time.) For ganking mages and Veno's. Use the same tactics and make sure to have Magical Marrow used! This ups your magic resist greatly! If facing a Veno, make sure you IGNORE the pet, go straight for the Veno. If the Veno drops, the pet goes away.

Fist/Claw - You're basically a ninja. Make sure you're packing light armor and a magic def. amulet, because you're hunting archers, priests, and magicians. Evasion and phys. def are useless because archers will hit you with or without it, and magic goes right through evasion. Now, just remember the #1 rule of fist PvPing- Do NOT get into a straight up fight. You will lose.

For archers, mages, priests, and venos, your strategy is simple. Put Aeolian Blade, Draw Blood, and Shadowless Kick to a macro, then spam it. If they run, put Windwalk/But thingy on your skill thing and chase.

For BMs and WBs, your strategy is even simpler. Run. I'm serious, run like the wind, and come back when he's fighting someone else and gank him. With the amount of dex you should have, light armor gives you a slight speed bonus, and with Cloud Sprint/But thingy the difference gets amplified...it might not seem like a lot, but you should be able to outrun them. I'm pretty sure there's a guy somewhere who calculated that if you factor in the cast time and all that, it ends up with a small lead over someone who just ran.

AOE Leveling Tips:

AOE Skills:
Roar of the Pride(AOE Stun), Fan of Flames(may be replaced at lvl 49), Mountain Sever Sweep, Cleaving Splash, and Volcanic Stunner, and finally the lvl 59 skill. (The name escapes me)

I have now leveled up to 48 and decided to add some leveling tips. Since lvl 41 I have began AOE grinding and have been VERY suprised with the effectiveness of it. I really began to love it at 44 when I took on 5 senile weezleblooms way NE of Sumor Camp. There is a spot where a number of them spawn. The trick to AOE grinding is placement. These mobs are aggro, so get near them and they begin to chase. Get 3-5 together and AOE Stun them. Get yourself in place to maximize your Fan of Flames. Begin to Cleaving Swipe, Fan of Flames, and Mountain Sever them to death. This is NOT recommended with pots and diamond sutra only, but it IS possible. I highly suggest using Muscle Marrow as well, as it will drop 30hp a hit per mob. (Depending on your level, mine is quite low.)

Once you get to Sundown Town, the Conquering Dustwraiths are PRIME for this technique as well. This works amazing with a partner BM. A partner BM and I routinely dropped 5-10 at a time in a matter of a minute or half a minute. She was a Spear Bm..let me tell you they are strong! My initial analysis that Spear strength is between axe/hammer and Sword may not do them justice.