Ok... A lot of discussion on what to max and what not to max during 3rd job. I thought I had come up with the perfect build but, then I get 4th job and my opinion changes.
2 out of these 3 skills a marauder can choose to max; energy drain, energy blast, and shockwave. Each one is useful in its own way, but which one should be left out?
My own opinion is that energy drain should take priority over both. Not because it heals you or that it takes 0 mp to use, but because its ranged. Other than demolition, bucs have no ranged attacks. Well, dragon strike is ranged but who's gonna use that on zaks top arms or horntails hands/wings? The thing is it doesn't have as good dps as demo or max barrage, but I think the range factor makes up for it.
About the other two (blast/shockwave). Both are great mobbing skills, but deciding which one to max is tough.
Shockwave isn't so great in 3rd job, but improves a lot in 4th with windbooster. Also, we get a second transformation which lets us use it 2 mins longer than before. The catch is, for the time you're not transformed you can't use it at all and you can't use your normal attacks when you are transformed.
Blast is awesome during 3rd job. Its hard to argue against that. It can also be used whenever you have energy (including when you're transformed). The thing is, it has a delay, and wind booster doesn't decrease delays, it speeds up attack animations. Shockwave has no delay but it does have a slow animation. Blast is the opposite, it has a fast animation with a slow delay.
As you transition from 3rd job to 4th job, shockwave starts to become better than before, but saying its better than blast is still unsure. There 9 points you can use if you have both at lvl 21. Perhaps splitting them between the two would be the best option.
The build is still up to the player. This is just my 2 and a half cents. I prefer energy mode to transform mode for now. I don't know how that will change as I get 11 wind booster, points in barrage/dragon strike, and points in Stransform/demo.
2 out of these 3 skills a marauder can choose to max; energy drain, energy blast, and shockwave. Each one is useful in its own way, but which one should be left out?
My own opinion is that energy drain should take priority over both. Not because it heals you or that it takes 0 mp to use, but because its ranged. Other than demolition, bucs have no ranged attacks. Well, dragon strike is ranged but who's gonna use that on zaks top arms or horntails hands/wings? The thing is it doesn't have as good dps as demo or max barrage, but I think the range factor makes up for it.
About the other two (blast/shockwave). Both are great mobbing skills, but deciding which one to max is tough.
Shockwave isn't so great in 3rd job, but improves a lot in 4th with windbooster. Also, we get a second transformation which lets us use it 2 mins longer than before. The catch is, for the time you're not transformed you can't use it at all and you can't use your normal attacks when you are transformed.
Blast is awesome during 3rd job. Its hard to argue against that. It can also be used whenever you have energy (including when you're transformed). The thing is, it has a delay, and wind booster doesn't decrease delays, it speeds up attack animations. Shockwave has no delay but it does have a slow animation. Blast is the opposite, it has a fast animation with a slow delay.
As you transition from 3rd job to 4th job, shockwave starts to become better than before, but saying its better than blast is still unsure. There 9 points you can use if you have both at lvl 21. Perhaps splitting them between the two would be the best option.
The build is still up to the player. This is just my 2 and a half cents. I prefer energy mode to transform mode for now. I don't know how that will change as I get 11 wind booster, points in barrage/dragon strike, and points in Stransform/demo.