Question On Calligraphy Recipes

[Meatbagg]

Hi all,
I've been obsessing over this game for the last 2 months, but can't seem to find much information about end level builds. I'm currently L74 sword, 50 Calligraphy.

For the sword users out there, are you using Calligraphy recipes, besides the passive buffs, when in groups or solo'ing?

I've landed on the L38 AOE recipe as my go-to farming recipe, but have noticed that when in groups, I'm pretty much never able to complete the 4-spell requirement to "fire" the AOE effect.

Anyways, I'd love for some of the end game sword users to post their go-to's and any useful tips that you may have for a newer player. Thanks very much!

[Yaffy]

I'm not really a sword user, but because the real sword players haven't come out I'll give my word on it. (I play Unarmed so that kinda counts, right???)

For the most part, combos in general are not very useful. Usually the bonus they confer is so small that it's not worth doing, especially when some of the combos ask you to do a very terrible string of attacks. The ones that ask you to do multiple basic attacks are particularly bad.

For the most part you should entirely be using them for the passive bonuses, but you did say "besides the passive buffs" so I guess that's not a good answer. Combos that turn the final step into an AoE can be useful, usually because they have higher potential for damage that way or the secondary effects of the attack can be spread out that way. For example, turning parry into an AoE can reduce the damage of a whole group of mobs, although you would have to determine whether this is worth the trouble of using the combo or not.

One thing I might suggest is to avoid sword combos that ask you to use sword slash twice. Attention+ might be too slow because it asks you to do sword slash twice in a row. Normally you can attack every 1.33 seconds, but doing sword slash into sword slash takes 2 seconds instead of 1.33 seconds because of the attack's cooldown, making the combo slower. Not only that, but doing sword slash into sword slash hurts your damage by a lot as well. If you want to turn Finishing Blow into an AoE, I would suggest using Lasting Harm+ or Smirk instead. Their AoE isn't as big but the combo will be easier to pull off without hurting your damage as much.

Other than that, the best advice for combos in general is to avoid going out of your way to do them without a good excuse. It's a lot more efficient to find a combo that fits what you normally do rather than going out of the way for a small boost. The only exception to this might be in the very early game where your damage is low and you don't have much freedom in what attacks you can do anyways.

[DamageIncorp]

Use Vision + for 11 percent slashing increase and puncture for 8 percent piercing.
The combos are pretty weak for the opportunity cost of the damage you could be doing during those seconds.
Avoid them.

[Lasc]

Use Vision + for 11 percent slashing increase and puncture for 8 percent piercing.
The combos are pretty weak for the opportunity cost of the damage you could be doing during those seconds.
Avoid them.

This.
I play archery sword.
Vision+ for the slashing %, AND secret calligraphy (forget name) for the one that +Piercing %.
The piercing will cover most archery attacks as well as 1 or 2 sword.

I do not bother with any of them while solo, unless the buff happens to be left over after a dungeon.... even then its only the top level stuff.
Running groups in fae realm im yet to use. Mainly due to the hurried group setup.

I Like to play reacting to whats in front of me, and in that sense, cycling through a set rotation for a bonus doesnt appeal anyway.
Do i need to stun? do i need to just kill this super fast and move on to next mob (usually yes), what my power situation.... you get the idea. By locking in potentially hours long buff based on a set rotation, it feels much more restrictive overall.

RE the need aoe, in sword you can get



Many Cuts hits all enemies within 5 meters, dealing +30 damage


On gloves, in addition to

Many Cuts deals +21% damage and stuns targets that have less than a third of their Armor remaining. However, Power cost is +33%

your many cuts is now an aoe and a stun at low mob armor levels.
In my case, if i drag 4 mobs, multishot, heavymultishot, many cuts, unless there something special about the mob (hi trolls) or its elite, it'll either be dead or stunned and will die with next attack.

Parry can also be converted to an aoe, but i dont favor that skill too much.

Obviously, what you pair sword with makes a difference, but if PSY there was a mod to make something aoe there too i think, could be wrong.... And while not very synergistic, sword/BC does actually work fairly well (Extra Skin while you facetank stuff, wouldnt recommend in groups, better options out there), you just cant benefit on both skills via calligraphy quite so easily.

But i love my sword/archery.....