Lancer

[Carraway]

I have some Lancer questions.

I was planning to level Lancer because it's the only class I like in the game currently (Dragoons are cool) and finally got around to levelling a few other classes to get skills:

I've unlocked Second Wind from Pugilist, Bloodbath from Marauder, Still Precision from Gladiator, and Cure/Stoneskin/Shock Spikes from Conjurer (among other stuff which I don't think would be useful for LNC).

Are there any other classes I should level up in order to be a more effective LNC before I start focusing on it exclusively?

There aren't really any other must-have abilities within practical reach. Punishing Barbs is great situationally, such as when you're soloing leves with humanoids/undead/etc. in them.

Can you guys explain to me what will be my main weapon skills as a LNC? Like which ones should I use my TP on usually, and which ones are not so good? Does Doomspike basically replace Skewer?

Feint and Trammel are the best dmg/TP WSs that Lancer can use. Moonrise and Leg Sweep are both useful and great because the debuff can proc another skill gain. Skull Sunder from Marauder is another great dmg/TP WS. You should only use Skewer or Doomspike if you can line up several mobs that you need to kill in a hurry.

When do I use Heavy Thrust?

When you need to bind something in order to run away.

Also I'm hoping to find a good group of more "hardcore" players soon... I'm going for a heavy damage dealing stat build with a lot of STR, and only about 20~30 VIT & DEX. Tell me if this is very stupid... I think with this build I can do tons of damage and still not get owned easily if all my gear is good, but I might need a little more VIT than I have in mind.

You definitely need more VIT. I currently have a fairly even physical build (90/90/95 STR/VIT/DEX) and AoEs from mobs that I grind on in parties can take a good 80-90% of my health off, even with Shell.

[Carraway]

Can anyone on Mysidia or Figaro find out what the deal is with Iron Halberd and Banneret Lance?

[Kaeda]

Can anyone on Mysidia or Figaro find out what the deal is with Iron Halberd and Banneret Lance?

What do you mean? If they exist or not?

[Carraway]

What do you mean? If they exist or not?

I was looking for something more along the lines of recipe, materials, rank of crafting required, etc. A GLD on Rabanastre has started making Banneret Lances but I'm still curious about the Iron Halberd, since I figure accuracy will actually be important again when we have access to Chaos Thrust.

[KnightAngel]

Lancer is alot of fun.

[Meresgi]

Battle Forks up for sale on my server now for 650k, kind of dont want to trade off the 100% pierce from the Lance though. Also lances dropped to 180k already...so im going to assume Forks and the like will plummet pretty fast.

[GSDragoon]

Also lances dropped to 180k already...so im going to assume Forks and the like will plummet pretty fast.

Lances are still 600k on Palamecia...

[Carraway]

Chaos Thrust works as advertised. It's a 6-hit weaponskill with each hit calculated separately for accuracy and damage. Individual hits do about the same as or a little less than a Light Thrust on R60~70 mobs.

[solracht]

Probably a dumb question, but do you have 6 chances to get skillups or just one?

[Zubis]

Probably a dumb question, but do you have 6 chances to get skillups or just one?

If it works anything like Barrage and Multishot, which I assume it does, yes you have 6 chances.

[GSDragoon]

Can we also assume if any of the 6 hits miss, you can hit feint?

[Kaeko]

Can anyone explain how Diversion (R36) works? The description "create a diversion capable of absorbing close-range attacks" sounds an awful lot like Utsusemi

[Carraway]

Can we also assume if any of the 6 hits miss, you can hit feint?

Yup.

Probably a dumb question, but do you have 6 chances to get skillups or just one?

Any hit that lands can proc a skillup.

Can anyone explain how Diversion (R36) works? The description "create a diversion capable of absorbing close-range attacks" sounds an awful lot like Utsusemi

It is almost exactly like a one-shadow utsusemi. It absorbs normal melee attacks with a message stating that the monster misses you and removes your Diversion effect. I haven't tested it on physical TP moves yet.

[Kaeko]

Thanks for the explanation. Given the recast timer seems pretty balanced I guess. If it does work on PHY TP moves, a lot of them charge long enough for you to quickly put this up.

[Datonare]

Does Full Thrust's damage become comparable to Light Thrust at R40? Or is it solely used to build up some quick tp?

[Carraway]

Does Full Thrust's damage become comparable to Light Thrust at R40? Or is it solely used to build up some quick tp?

Roughly it remains half the damage of Light Thrust for twice as much TP. I think it might be useful against NMs in the future, but for now I don't use it at all.

Another note about Chaos Thrust: Bloodbath's heal is derived from total damage done by Chaos Thrust, not the first hit, so you can get some nice returns off it.

[solracht]

Thanks for answering.

One more: How's Diversion's stamina cost? Acceptable or ridiculous like other buffs? I'm not too worried about this one as I'm sure stamina costs for buffs will be adjusted eventually.

[Carraway]

Thanks for answering.

One more: How's Diversion's stamina cost? Acceptable or ridiculous like other buffs? I'm not too worried about this one as I'm sure stamina costs for buffs will be adjusted eventually.

Same as Bloodbath's stamina cost.

[Spider-Dan]

Thanks for answering.

One more: How's Diversion's stamina cost? Acceptable or ridiculous like other buffs? I'm not too worried about this one as I'm sure stamina costs for buffs will be adjusted eventually.

That depends greatly on the buff. Bloodbath has a huge stamina cost (~50%), while Raging Strike, Ferocity, and Hawk's Eye have a near-zero stamina cost.

[Mabubeezareel]

Found an interesting bug with Fleet of Foot. If you're currently in Active mode, and perform an action that forces you into Passive mode (such as talking to an NPC, dieing, etc), then you keep the additional run speed while in Passive mode. This stays until you switch gear or go into Active -> Passive mode normally. I'm sure this will get patched, so use at your own risk.