10-26-2019, 12:36 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-26-2019, 12:37 PM by Gift. Edited 1 time in total.)
2-Smash + Gusty Blade
- This. Right here. Vella's highest DPS without using counters or SP comes from the LLRR Gusty Blade combo. We'll talk about why it's so great, but first, clarification.
The 3 hits in the first Circle AOE smash are what I'm going to be referring to at the 2nd smash. the jumping part of the combo is what's known at Gusty Blade. As to whether the skill actually has any effect on the 2nd smash is unknown (I haven't done any testing) as the skill description mention only the Gusty Blade part of the full combo. Regardless of whether the skill has an effect or not, I don't think it really matters if we have this information. It'll work just the same either way.
Now, onto the reasons this combo kicks butt.
3-Smash AKA Wannabe Moon-Splitter
Slow, weak and should never be used. There is absolutely no situation in the entire game here you will want to use this move. There isn't even a skill to boost it's already low damage. No special effects of any kind either.
A waste of time. Avoid like the plague.
4-Smash + Menacing Gale + Deadly Storm
- Although LLRR gives better movement, damage and build SP faster, these smashes still have some use in general mobbing due to being single large hits instead of a larger amount of weaker hits since there's no chance of a previous hit knocking opponents down and away causing the rest of the combo to miss.
First of all, I want to clarify a few things about this chain of smashes.
Being blunt, the only reason I ever use this from normal attacks is if I'm not concentrating and accidentally use Vella's third normal. In that circumstance, it's better to just carry on and use this full combo than to use Vella's 3rd smash or simply stop to restart.
For the XE version of the game, these smashes become quite valuable because of the introduction of the XE move, allowing Vella to fire off a powerful and large AOE attack before moving straight to these smash.
Dodge --> 2nd Smash
- Although this extension from the dodge does the same damage as doing it from the usual LLRR, it's a little different, and I'm going to go over those differences here.
First of all, I want to say that looping the combo from the dodge does less over-all damage than doing it from LLRR. Not only this, but looping this combo builds Blade Heart much slower because of the fewer hits compared to LLRR.
Now, onto the differences
This is a topic which I see come up a lot. Even now, with absolutely insane amount of AP thrown at everyone, people are still obsessed with making sure they make sure they use it 100% effectively from the very beginning. If you're one of those people, keep reading. If not, #yoloswag2015 go nuts.
Crucial skills for Gameplay
Things that Twin sword Vella simply cannot function without. Certain skills only gain damage when they're ranked, but these gain functionality and will drastically improve gameplay, instead of just changing a few damage numbers here and there. Rank these to where specified before moving onto anything else.
- Weapon & Armor Masteries
Priority = 5/5 Increase before needed to avoid disappointment
The last thing you want to do is leave yourself behind for your level. ALWAYS make sure you have enough AP to rank these skills when the time comes to move up to the next level of weapon and/or armor, as being behind can limit your stat potential and leave you incredibly frustrated as you try and earn the AP back to get to where you need to be.
- Cross Cut
Priority = 5/5 Rank D ASAP to unlock Double Cross
Don't go leaving yourself in the dark when it comes skills as well. Prerequisite skills are very important to get as soon as possible.
- Slipaway
Priority = 5/5 Rank D ASAP to unlock Backlash
Same as above. Rank this up and collect your new skill as soon as you can.
- Storm Step
Priority = 5/5 Max out
Your dodge will be one of your most important survival tools throughout the game. Especially helpful if you're unsure of boss patterns and don't feel ready to Cross Cut yet.
- Slashing High
Priority = 5/5 Max out
Twin Sword Vella's biggest issue aside from bugs is her stamina usage. Ranking this takes away that problem and grants her a hefty chunk of speed. The sooner you don't have to worry about stamina, the sooner you can start enjoying Vella the way she's meant to be played.
- Battle Respiration
Priority = 5/5 Rank A
This skill gives big increases to stamina restoration rate up to rank A. Without it, expect slow and painful stamina recovery, and no one wants that, do they?
- This. Right here. Vella's highest DPS without using counters or SP comes from the LLRR Gusty Blade combo. We'll talk about why it's so great, but first, clarification.
The 3 hits in the first Circle AOE smash are what I'm going to be referring to at the 2nd smash. the jumping part of the combo is what's known at Gusty Blade. As to whether the skill actually has any effect on the 2nd smash is unknown (I haven't done any testing) as the skill description mention only the Gusty Blade part of the full combo. Regardless of whether the skill has an effect or not, I don't think it really matters if we have this information. It'll work just the same either way.
Now, onto the reasons this combo kicks butt.
- Including every possible hit, this combo hits for a total of 7-8 times, giving level 3 Blade heart in time it takes you to do this combo twice. Building this buff up increases smash attack damage and greatly increases the damage of your Cross-Cuts.
- The range is pretty damn good, to say the least. The first smash in the sequence hits three times in a full circle AOE that is off-set slightly to Vella's right side. The jumping part of the combo covers a good amount of distance and hits in another circle AOE, this one being perfectly centered around the impact point.
- The jumping portion hits twice when positioned correctly against raid bosses. This means double the damage, double the SP gain and an extra hit counted towards your Blade heart buff. Some raid bosses that can consistently be double hit include Havan and Pantheum. Dragons in a knocked down state can also be double-hit like this when aiming at a certain part of their neck. There are lots of different ways of doing it and it works in strange ways. Give it a go and see what you can do to take advantage of this.
- The full Gusty Blade combo's recovery can be cancelled with a normal attack, meaning that it's possible to easily and quickly loop LLRR for consistent DPS.
- It's possible to build up vast amounts of SP when spamming this combo against bosses. That SP can then be used for Slashing high so that you can continue the spam and make even more SP back. An endless circle of awesomeness.
- The raw damage may not be the best, but it's very fast and thus wins out against all of the other basic L and R combos (That don't use SP)
- Although the jump uses 16 stamina, it can be used even if Vella's stamina is below that number when you're at that part of the combo.
3-Smash AKA Wannabe Moon-Splitter
Slow, weak and should never be used. There is absolutely no situation in the entire game here you will want to use this move. There isn't even a skill to boost it's already low damage. No special effects of any kind either.
A waste of time. Avoid like the plague.
4-Smash + Menacing Gale + Deadly Storm
- Although LLRR gives better movement, damage and build SP faster, these smashes still have some use in general mobbing due to being single large hits instead of a larger amount of weaker hits since there's no chance of a previous hit knocking opponents down and away causing the rest of the combo to miss.
First of all, I want to clarify a few things about this chain of smashes.
- The first smash of the three has no name (I'll be referring to it from now at as the 4th smash), no skill to boost it's damage/KD and it's the weakest in the chain.
- The second smash is called Menacing Gale and has a skill that you can rank up to further increase it's damage/KD.
- The third and final smash is called Deadly Storm and is the strongest in the chain. This too has a skill that can be ranked up. On a side note, this smash also costs 0 stamina to use
Being blunt, the only reason I ever use this from normal attacks is if I'm not concentrating and accidentally use Vella's third normal. In that circumstance, it's better to just carry on and use this full combo than to use Vella's 3rd smash or simply stop to restart.
For the XE version of the game, these smashes become quite valuable because of the introduction of the XE move, allowing Vella to fire off a powerful and large AOE attack before moving straight to these smash.
Dodge --> 2nd Smash
- Although this extension from the dodge does the same damage as doing it from the usual LLRR, it's a little different, and I'm going to go over those differences here.
First of all, I want to say that looping the combo from the dodge does less over-all damage than doing it from LLRR. Not only this, but looping this combo builds Blade Heart much slower because of the fewer hits compared to LLRR.
Now, onto the differences
- The smashes are slightly faster when performed from the dodge as compared to the normal attacks, although this difference is rather small
- Most likely due to the increased speed, the hit-box of the first three swings in the combo suffers considerably. This results in only 2/3 of the hits being consistent at higher speeds, especially true if you have Slashing High active.
Skill Ranking Priorities
This is a topic which I see come up a lot. Even now, with absolutely insane amount of AP thrown at everyone, people are still obsessed with making sure they make sure they use it 100% effectively from the very beginning. If you're one of those people, keep reading. If not, #yoloswag2015 go nuts.
Crucial skills for Gameplay
Things that Twin sword Vella simply cannot function without. Certain skills only gain damage when they're ranked, but these gain functionality and will drastically improve gameplay, instead of just changing a few damage numbers here and there. Rank these to where specified before moving onto anything else.
- Weapon & Armor Masteries
Priority = 5/5 Increase before needed to avoid disappointment
The last thing you want to do is leave yourself behind for your level. ALWAYS make sure you have enough AP to rank these skills when the time comes to move up to the next level of weapon and/or armor, as being behind can limit your stat potential and leave you incredibly frustrated as you try and earn the AP back to get to where you need to be.
- Cross Cut
Priority = 5/5 Rank D ASAP to unlock Double Cross
Don't go leaving yourself in the dark when it comes skills as well. Prerequisite skills are very important to get as soon as possible.
- Slipaway
Priority = 5/5 Rank D ASAP to unlock Backlash
Same as above. Rank this up and collect your new skill as soon as you can.
- Storm Step
Priority = 5/5 Max out
Your dodge will be one of your most important survival tools throughout the game. Especially helpful if you're unsure of boss patterns and don't feel ready to Cross Cut yet.
- Slashing High
Priority = 5/5 Max out
Twin Sword Vella's biggest issue aside from bugs is her stamina usage. Ranking this takes away that problem and grants her a hefty chunk of speed. The sooner you don't have to worry about stamina, the sooner you can start enjoying Vella the way she's meant to be played.
- Battle Respiration
Priority = 5/5 Rank A
This skill gives big increases to stamina restoration rate up to rank A. Without it, expect slow and painful stamina recovery, and no one wants that, do they?