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I still do not get the idea why to leave energy charge at lvl 1 at early lvls. Am I the only one that needs to wait 2-3 min to charge up at lvl 1? What is the point in having that? Isnt it better to build a solid 11 charge and then go pump the actual attack?

 

To some degree, you are right, lvl 1 charge is pretty shitty, but so is a lvl 1 energy blast. So you are left with either having a strong skill for like 30 seconds every few minutes, or a skill so useless than even if you have your charge up you won't really prefer to use it.
Remember that Energy blast starts by hitting only 2 targets for the first 10 lvls. If you are grinding with either somersault or shockwave, you'd usually prefer fighting in places you can group up mobs to AoE to death. A skill that allows you to only hit 2 targets for not amazing damage is not gonna outdamage somersault or shockwave unless there's exactly 1 or 2 mobs, but then you were probably supposed to reposition to a platform that does have enough mobs to AoE effectively.
The only real bonus for increasing the energy charge early, is getting access to a very often stance, which i consider pretty valueable when you grind using shockwave. So, if you don't think you'll use energy blast if it isn't very strong, go energy charge first for stance and maybe the little att bonus, but if you do want to start using energy blast early, this is a pretty solid way of making it viable.
The SP spread is honestly up to you, i lvled these two skills back and forth willy nilly, only taking into account the lvl 11 and 21 which increase the amount of targets of blast so i rushed to them when it felt right. [but i can't write that in a skill build now can i? f3]

 

Thanks a looot Licht for ur help!!!! D

 

I don't really see the point in leaving charge at level 1 and maxing energy blast?
It's extremely difficult to get a full charge when the skill is at level 1. What's the point in having energy blast maxed when you'd almost never use it? Might as well not level it.
Energy Blast isn't even that good to be honest, it got a very short range and it's damage isn't that high either. Once you get to 4th job you never really use it anymore because dragon strike/snatch are a lot better.

Energy charge on the other hand gives you some nice benefits like stance, extra accuracy (buccs have acc problems at low lvls) and avoid, a free 20 atk buff and the ability to hit mobs when you touch them (kinda like power guard except it doesn't reduce the damage you take lol)

 

>lvl 153
>still finds grinding situations where blast is good

Snatch is a late game skill, you'd max DS earlier than it, which mean there's a patch of time where you only have DS ans blast to work with.
A single blasts fit in perfectly with the CD of DS, so if you do corckscrew, and get 3-4 mobs close to each other, spamming DS+blast deals some legit damage to the mobs close to you, and you potentially also hit mobs that are farther away with DS.

Blast is also has a better clear than shockwave, its in no way shape or form "useless", my 3rd job grinding once blast was able to hit 4 target was shockwaving until i get bubble, then backspin/corckscrew + a few blasts. When i used blast i noticed a big clear speed increase.

Early charge vs early blast is honestly a question of "do i like shockwave?", cause the stance makes shockwave more bareable, while blast give you a straight up alternative to 100% shockwave training

 

As a Bucc that has dash, I'll say that dash is kinda worth it if you plan on playing through 2nd job instead of simply washing.
What dash does, is basically do a simple check: "is the speed/jump buff stronger than the buffs i get from other sources?" If the answer is yes, it apply its buff instead of the other skill/potion, but without overwriting it! But if its lower, it basically does nothing. That means that if i have max haste on me, and i activated dash by accident, it will not remove my haste, and ill stay at max speed. And if i have a potion of speed on me for example, dash momenterally disable it and apply its own speed and jump, once the skill is over the potion comes back to work.

Idk why buccaneer called it a bug, its a very useful effect that is 100% positive for the user. (Maybe in the past when he wrote the guide there was an actual bug?)
As for why you should put points into it, in 2nd job, buccs have shit mobility, and very short range of att, so getting close to mobs is kind of a pain (and walking from place to place is a pain in general).
In 3rd job, you can actually go without dash because transformation gives a self haste [40 speed 20 jump] at the price of 1 magic rock per use, and you get hog for the long distance walking.
The disadvantage of putting points into dash instead of flash fist, is that flash fist is actually a very good single target skill for 2nd job and early 3rd job (combos well with uppercut). It helps with killing area bosses or tough mobs quickly.

So yea, putting points in dash is not a war crime, but it's not a clear cut if you should or shouldn't pick it either. In the end of the day, because transform became a 100% of the time active skill, you'll almost always have max speed/jump, so dash won't really matter later on, same goes for flash fist which becomes useless around mid 3rd job.

 

dash still cancels when you change direction, but if you bind it to a key you can get used to it and recast it every time [it has no cast time so it won't slow you down].
And even without haste, you will always be at cap speed and jump, because transformation and super transformation give you 40/20 speed and jump. And now that transformation is at 100% uptime, you will never be without haste. So yea, only useful for 2nd job and early 3rd

 

tbh i find dash>transform just cos u cant use mount when in transform. sure u can cancel it but like... kind of a waste of the rock then or maybe (probably) im just weird

 

probably weird. since Transformation's movement speed is on par with your lvl 70 mount.
use your Transformation's movement speed until it wears off and get on your mount afterwards....
EDIT: to fix your way of thought.......transformation = mount.....don't cancel your transformation to get into your mount, since transformation = mount....just wait for it to wear off and use your mount.....I don't see any issue......and if you don't have your transformation activated...then use your mount XD.....is this logic hard to grasp?

dash is useless.
if you want to be extra.....get 3 pets, scroll their items with speed scrolls and 134% movement speed 24\7....you will be faster than your mount (note that movement speed doesn't stack with transformation's)
again....dash is useless, who ever spent more than 1 point on it.....are clueless

 

mount = 150/120 trans= 140/123 (cos i hv jump from elsewhere 120 jump otherwise)
i have 124/123 so dash brings me up to 140/123

 

I prefer scrolling my pets than to waste a finger on Dash "mechanics"
props to you though

 

currently using the spaceship which is at 170 spd u can tell the diff in speed.
and its basically magic rock is more expensive and i need to restock them if i use them up while mp is basically worthless since i get free pots from bossing, i like using mount when on flat ground but hate being on them on rope/ladders so i will unmount when i climb them, my transform is also 2min btw so its a long time being noticeably slower than my ship

 

I don't count the spaceship since' it's temporary....
dunno...Magic rocks are nothing for me....I restock myself with 600 rocks each day within 1 minute (Fast speed ticket 14 days...get to El Nath...buy from alacst)
have you done the questline for Magic Rock from npc? it's not that expensive...4k each....600 =2.4m....which is like 2% - 5% from what I make daily.
600 Magic rocks = 20 hours worth of Transformation.......I usually waste half of it since I don't train for 20 hours you know....and then I restock day later to 600 again....so restocking is like 1M ~
I guess you waste x10 than that on Smegas ...vip rocks.....owls.....don't ya think?

 

i dont have it done on my bucc and the chars that have it done have very little income

 

Mobbing skill is one of the things that isn't talked in this guide, and I think it is kinda important.
TLDR:
1 mob : Barrage + Demolition
2 mobs : Barrage + Dragon Strike (DS)
3 mobs & above: DS + Snatch
Zak Arm : Barrage + DS

How I come up with this?
I timed the duration it takes to do the same combo 10 times (with booster + SI), then based on the damage percentage (at max level) to calculated the DPS (in percentage). Since I timed for 10 combo, I would assume the error for each combo will be around 0.05 second, which I consider it as quite accurate. Below I will show my chart.

Spoiler: Bucc DPS Chart on different number of mobs WITHOUT SE

Spoiler: Bucc DPS Chart on different number of mobs WITH SE

As you can see, I highlighted the best DPS. Blast x2 + DS is actually slightly better than DS + Snatch at 3 to 4 mobs by a very small amount. However, you are required to charge up to use Blast, so I would still go for DS+snatch.

If you don't have your snatch max (or high level), DS is still the best DPS for 3 mobs and above, such as cwkpq melee boss (Instead of the usual thought of Barrage + DS). Barrage + DS is best only at 2 mobs situations. and Barrage+ Demo is best for 1 mob (as mentioned in this guide).

Of course, this time is taken assuming you can hit freely. For example, during Zak arm stage, your dps of Barrage + DS might be higher than just DS, since Barrage provide you a lot of nice iFrame and easier to get your bubble stances, and you will get knock back by Zak a lot (still depend on where you stand, I usually start at right side arm 6, as I think DS hit 4 most of the time there).

My orb damage might be wrong. From some formula I found on some sites, the damage percentage received by next mobs is 2/3 of the previous one, which make the 900% orb damage decrease to 118.5% at 6th mob. However, when I read the patch note, I realize that there is a increase in damage for energy orb. While the damage percentage remain the same, I assume that it is the damage reduction multiplier that changed. If someone know the current multiplier, I would be glad to update this.

Let me know if you notice I made any mistake or you have any other suggestions.

 

Hmm that's pretty interesting, I thought barrage and DS were slower. Maybe they got buffed?

 

personally feel that for cwk melee bosses at least, barr+ds is generally still preferred since you get to focus down the archer which is pretty impt as it allows ranged to come down and help

that said this is really interesting! is it possible to add calculations for SE procs? since with more lines of dmg theres a higher chance for SE and that would be fairly likely to change the results a little

 

I found Barrage + DS is better than just DS during Zak arm (I updated my comment). I think the main reason is getting knocked back if just DS, due to the lost of sweet iFrame from barrage. I tried Barrage + DS vs DS in my duo run just now (therefore I am the only one doing arm to be more accurate). Barrage + DS actually reduce some time compare to just DS. I also struggle from knocked back when I am just DS-ing without barrage (might be the reason).

If we can focus barrage on one of the specific boss we want, it would be good. But I don't know if we are able to do that, that is, able to only barrage the specific boss we want. Let me know if there is a way!

As for the SE, I don't think it will matter if there is more line and proc more or not. I think that it will just increase the DPS on each bracket by 6% (I get this number from 0.15 x 1.4 + 0.85 x 1, that is, 15% chance of SE crit + 85% chance of normal hit). Lets say it is a 15 mins continuous hit on 3 mobs, there will be 360 set of Barrage + DS (total of 3240 lines), or there will be 562 set of DS + Snatch (total of 3372 lines). *Here I am ignoring the DPS from both combo* The number of line is similar, but what I would like to say here is, it is a large number. Assume the RNG is really random, they should be distributed evenly and therefore, the damage will be increased by a same percentage. (This is my understanding on SE, correct me if I get it wrong, I never went too deep into SE). There is 330%, 660% and 1320% on Barrage, you might get a high crit on 1320% and might get a low crit on 330%, and not to mention if you hit 1320% + SE crit, you might lost DPS due to 199999 damage cap.