So I just got a sealed sword. Should I go for a GF or a DA? I almost never see GFs around but the curse looks interesting
As of now i only have two weapon slots open (idk if that matters)
Some other weapons i use on a daily basis:
tempered calibur
TSB with CTR med
grintovic
Prismatech MKII
Freezing vaporizer MKII with CTR med
I also just got a brandish and am wondering people's opinions on those
I'm a Faust user, but I gotta say, don't go down that road unless:
1) You really like heavy swords, and/or
2) You intend to get a crapton of ASI, and/or
3) You really like the Faust charge and are willing to build your items around it.
I fall under 3. I love spamming the charge, so I got a CTR H Faust and armour/helm which add up to Max + Low in Curse res, which at 5* will be enough to reduce the number of weapons cursed to 1.
If not for that, I'd have gone for the Nightblade line, no question.
So i love heavy swords like i use my grintovic more than anything else but i'm not really up to changing all my armor and helmet to block curse so i guess its DA. thanks for the help guys
Get Avenger and craft a Nightblade for your shadow-type weapons. The curse on the Faust is nice, but there are two drawbacks:
1) Faust is a heavy sword. You're going to end up shield-cancelling the second strike quite a bit in order to speed up the attack and eliminate the opening after the second swing. This loses much of the 'safe' curse ability on it... Either that or you'll be losing quite a bit of health.
2) Faust's charge can curse the user - I think the chance is about 1/3 with no resistance modifiers. Since you have two weapon slots, if you have below medium curse resistance, you're going to end up unable to use any of your weapons for the duration of the curse. This leaves you running around and shielding, making you look like a lemon.
Faust is best reserved for if you have three or more weapon slots. (You could buy one, since they pretty much pay for themselves over the course of a month, but then again you might want to save your cash if you don't play heavily.)
It is perfectly viable to use the Faust without any curse resist and simply avoid using the charge attack, if you just like heavy swords in general (like I do). The normal, non-charge swings can NEVER curse YOU, but the second swing in the combo has a light chance to curse enemies anyway.
My loadout at the moment is Divine Avenger, Barbarous Thorn Blade, Grand Faust and Argent Peacemaker. I just like defensive weapons like heavy swords, as well as charge attacks that carry the enemy away from me (DA sword beams, BTB thorn shotgun, GF sword beam, AP bird). DA is probably my favorite weapon in the game, for that reason.
But yeah, you don't HAVE to use the Faust charge. Nobody is forcing you, and it's not like the Fang of Vog in that it revolves entirely around the charge attack. I'm just more comfortable using heavy swords, hence why I ended up vendoring my Silent Nightblade after getting used to the Faust back in the day.
For RJ, it'll do less damage-over-time to the boss, but 1) can clear mini-jellies out of your way without having to directly focus on them, due to the inherent wide sweep and high knockback heavy swords provide, and 2) can curse the boss even with regular attacks.
Did I mention I really like heavy swords? Heck, I wish they'd make a novelty branch for the Sealed Sword line where it retains its normal damage and random status effect all the way to 5*, just for fun.
tl;dr: Get both, if you appreciate heavy swords like I do. Going for the DA first is perfectly fine though, since the DA has all the advantages (and disadvantages) of a heavy sword while also providing you with what I genuinely believe is the best sword charge attack in the game. Subjective opinion, mind you.
It seems everyone think heavy swords are defensive. I disagree with that statment. They are only defensive if YOU use them defensively.
I use them as what they are : freaking huge offensive big swords here to transform the field into an area of death for mobs.
To do that, you'll need : some ASI (because being hit before the 2nd swing is not cool), mastering the lunge technique and knowing perfectly both swings range. Then, you are set and can leave the first swing shield cancel and charging only gameplays to beginners who still don't truly know the potential of heavy swords and laugh at Brandish users who have to deal with mobs one by one or use a charge to be able to do a little aoe.
Honestly, the choice between brandish and sealed sword lines is up to you. GF is good, just understand, as already said, that you are not going to use the charge (charge deals less dps than the normal swings anyway, and that's true too for DA in most cases).
Also, on dps, brandish line has a slightly better single target dps, but once you have 2/3 mobs (which is pretty often, especially in the hard parts), sealed swords crush brandishs in term of aoe dps.
Just a note of warning though : know that if you use heavy swords as they are meant to be used (using both swings, no charge), a Shivermister in your party can kill you because of freeze preventing knockback. It's too often overlooked, especially in FSC runs.
This is a frequently asked question. My answer is here. (Read higher on the page, for other relevant comparisons.)
Honestly, the GF is outclassed by Acheron in almost every way bar curse support. It's kind of a burst weapon with high ASI, you use the second swing to approach and knockback then shield for good damage against things like gremlins and bigger jelly colonies to get them cursed and watch them kill themselves.
It suits that defensive kind of playstyle nicely.
The Divine Avenger is still the best Elemental Sword, in spite of its slower speed, the charge attack from close range can one shot most things weak to elemental.
They both do extremely well against bunched up enemies, since the swing is so wide and has a great reach. The second swing's lunge and high knockback helps if you're using the swiftstrike buckler, since it lets you avoid attacks without shielding.
But if you just want reliable element specific DPS that doesn't need to be used in a particular way, or don't want to build ASI to effectively use the two-hit swords, then the Brandish is fine.
You have a piercing sword and an elemental gun. All you need now is a shadow weapon to round out your set. Getting a faust allows you to farm rjp easier.
On the other hand, you can make a nightblade from the brandish for a lower crafting cost and still the benefits of a shadow weapon on jellies. Then you can craft the sealed into avneger to have all 3 weapon types in swords.
Or you could make a faust and turn the brandish into elemental weapons.
Da vs elemental brandish: Both has an amazing charge. The choice comes down to preference of 2 or 3 swing weapons.
Gf vs nightblades: Nightblade, and acheron by default, has a better charge than the faust line. Comparable damage, no chance of self curse. Faust has the benefits of being a heavy sword, as well as disadvantages. 2nd hit and charge has chance of curse, charge being ridiculously slow and has a chance of self curse.