Role of a BladeMaster

Pretty much you got it, I would call the Bm's the second line of defense, in keeping your healer and DD's from getting dead. I am always a step or two behind the tank and if for some reason the tank losses aggro on any mob, I am chasing down that mob and trying to get it to come at me instead of my healer or DD's in the squad. That is my major roll, and if need be, I will tank, but only in emergencies.

always max your mastery as soon as you can, it increases your base damage. it is a must,

your buff in my mind is super important too, it is a very nice buff. And your diamond sutra is a life saver when your soloing or have no healer available to keep you alive.

A-E, I agree with all of those, you will use them lots. Aeolian blade i use alot also.

Your alter Marrows...I am at level 3 on both of them and really never use them.

So, to clarify my randomness.

in priority I would go like this.


1.)Axe Mastery
2.)Bell
3.)Fissure
4.)Highland Cleave
5.)Drake Sweep
6.)Roar
7.)Sutra

I would try to keep these maxed, all the others are personal prefrence, I have my cloud sprint at 6 and it gives me plenty of burst
the leaps, I have them both at level 1 and am good with that

I personally use fame of flames and Aeolian blade all the time, I am primarily a sword BM, but I am building my Axe Tree for the Aoe's. Sword doesnt have any specialized Aoe's except for Myriad Sword, and I have not reached that level yet.

And for more detail on what your purpose is in squads. I generally would say that your first priority is close to that of a tank role, your there to make sure your other members don't take the hits, you can handle the hits much better than anyone except a barb, and in FB's sometimes the multiple mobs can become more than one barb can handle, sometimes a wizzy pulls aggro due to their nuker nature, this means, your gonna attack with a barb, But you need to keep your eyes on the mobs all around you and keep your eyes on your squad members who are sitting back to either heal or to DD, you will find yourself chasing down mobs or running back to the group to clean up any mob that may come up from behind. And when your not doing that, your dealing damage, your helping the barb take as minimal damage as possible by getting the mobs gone as quickly as possible without pulling aggro.

A lot of times I will grind with my PWI wife, she is a Wizzy, when it is just the two of us, I will attack the mob first to try to get aggro then she will hit the mob to deal the real damage, so in that case I would call my roll a tank.

Being a Bm means your roll is multi-purpose, but, bottom line is your there to clean up, your there to do whatever the squad needs you to do, it is hard to black and white your roll like you can with a barb or a cleric, or wizzy or archer. They are all very defined in what they do.

Just look at yourself as a helper in all asspects except healing. your their to take damage and give damage.

Hope this is more what your looking for...if not, I am here all dayb:laugh

To sum up what everyone else has said....our role is the "Janitor" we pick up everyones mess ups or oversights.

I personally love my bleed skill.(i am axe hammer path) opening with draw blood is great..you get one normal hit and about 2-3 hit (DOT). and it is cheap on mana. Good for grinding until you can get all your AoE's up to par...but thats just my humble opinion.

It isn't just in emergencies. We can also take some of the pressure off the guild's barbs to tank things a few levels below us. If the alternative is another round of guild chat "There aren't ANY tanks available for ..." and you think you can do it, offer to try.

On Diamond Sutra, I'm definitely a fan of this skill too. In grinding, keeping a spark available for Sutra determines a lot of what other skills I will use. But, levelling it only increases the amount of extra points this skill heals over time (after the initial 20% boost). I don't think I bothered to get level 2 until I was about level 60 (as one of my less succesful approaches to dealing with the profusion of magic attack mobs at that point). So, get it and use it all the time, but you can level it even more slowly than roar.

Samsamsimply - Heavens Tear wrote: »

lol, I did have troubles with describing what our role really is because it is all over the place. I agree, we are not a true tank and can only do it in spurts or in emergencies. I guess what it comes down to is, my mindset is to make sure everyone stays alive, i am not there to do massive damage and i am not there to be a primary tank...Just whatever it takes at that specific moment to make sure my members don't go belly up

I agree with roar, nice skill to have but leveling it should not be a priority.

i do love my sutra when I am solo though. It keeps me from meditating...ever, and it keeps my charm from burning up so quick.


And Zero, you echo lots of peoples opinion, bleed has usefullness, i have never really leveled it but am considering it.

First of all. I've tanked the first boss on squad mode TT2-1. We are no emergency tank, now I'm only saying this to prove that we can tank a lot of things, don't get me wrong I'm no tank.

2nd. Roar of the Pride IS a priority. lvl 10 asap.

Alot of good things said so far.

I'd like to add that Sutra is good at any level, the insta 20% HP is the main purpose, leveling passed 4 or so does not look cost effective for my mana.

Agreed, Roar is number one priority. It saves lives, resets sticky situations, stun-lock ftw, and holds aggro when you duo zenn with a cleric.

Maybe I'll see you in-game!

-V

Didn't read topic, but came to say BMs are for aggro stealing from bad tanks. >:]b:bye

Roles:

- Give physical defense buff to the party.
- Stunning.
- Damage Dealer but not a main one.
- Depending on your equipment/the boss, you can be a tank.