Best Skill Set for Ballistician Class

[Edelgard]

I've been testing with the Ballistician Class, and it kinda disappoints me on some fronts. Apparently skills as Draconic Hex and Poison Strike have no effect when you use the cannon (At least Setsuna's Yumi has effect). Now I wonder what would be some good skills that do work on a Ballistician? Do skills such as Aggressor and Line of Death have an effect on the cannon's damage output? And just to be sure, does Point Blank work with a Ballistician? Sorry if there's already a thread for this...

Edited August 19, 2016 by Robin Aisaga

[Captain Karnage]

point blank (dlc)

movement +1

warp (dlc)

luna

agressor (dlc)

and a shining bow if they have good magic

[Emerson]

Just suggestions.

The class itself is NOT made for front line fighting in the slightest, and not for the Shining Bow with it's 25 Magic cap, 25 Speed cap, 27 Defense cap and 26 Resistance cap.

Support Ballistician: Wary Fighter, Aegis, Pavise, Rifled Barrel (Increases Ballista range) and Surefooted (Movement +1 + no terrain movement penalty). Then just go with Setsuna's Yumi and rain some Debuff on the enemy.

Offensive Ballistician: Wary Fighter, Surefooted, Point Blank, Luna or Rend Heaven, and Movement +1.

A Ballistician always needs Wary Fighter and Surefooted.

Edited August 19, 2016 by TrueEm

[sirmola]

I havn't tried agresser, but quick draw and bowfare don't work (which makes me suspect that agresser does not work because it is just a stronger quick draw). I should note that the sliver bow's debuff is NOT applied, which makes it my default bow of choice when using the fire command. It is worth noting that weapons like the hunter's bow and spellbane yumi still deal effective damage.

Because a balistician's movement is sow low, surefooted, movement +1, and warp are good ideas (although i have only tested surefooted myself). Rifeled barrel is situational. It increases the number of squares you hit, but decreses your maximum range.

[Emerson]

I havn't tried agresser, but quick draw and bowfare don't work (which makes me suspect that agresser does not work because it is just a stronger quick draw). I should note that the sliver bow's debuff is NOT applied, which makes it my default bow of choice when using the fire command. It is worth noting that weapons like the hunter's bow and spellbane yumi still deal effective damage.

Because a balistician's movement is sow low, surefooted, movement +1, and warp are good ideas (although i have only tested surefooted myself). Rifeled barrel is situational. It increases the number of squares you hit, but decreses your maximum range.

I just heard that Aggressor works with it. I should probably test it out myself, although I personally dislike the Ballistician class.

Really, they still give bonuses? Wow, that makes it even better. I guess the best inventory would be Hunter's Bow, Spellbane Yumi, Setsuna's Yumi, Silver Bow. Or just stick with Setsuna's Yumi and pump the Silver Bow up to +7. Maybe take a Rainbow Tonic for PvP.

The idea with Rifled Barrel is that the Support set is behind Front lines anyways, so you might as well increase the range so you can reach farther and debuff more enemies safely.

If you're going to go Warp, Movement +1 and Surefooted, it seems really redundant. Maybe stick with Surefooted and Warp or Surefooted and Movement +1. Or JUST Warp.

[sirmola]

The idea with Rifled Barrel is that the Support set is behind Front lines anyways, so you might as well increase the range so you can reach farther and debuff more enemies safely.

But that's not what it does. It makes your attacks hit 9 spaces at once instead of 5, but decreases your range by 1 (it also lets you hit enemies slightly closer to you). I dislike it because targeting 9 spaces at a time makes it hard to avoid hitting allied units on accident. (which WILL happen if any party members are on any targeted spaces).

I also suspect that proc skills don't work. Balistician was implemented extremely oddly, honestly.

Edited August 19, 2016 by sirmola

[Emerson]

But that's not what it does. It makes your attacks hit 9 spaces at once instead of 5, but decreases your range by 1 (it also lets you hit enemies slightly closer to you). I dislike it because targeting 9 spaces at a time makes it hard to avoid hitting allied units on accident. (which WILL happen if any party members are on any targeted spaces).

I also suspect that proc skills don't work. Balistician was implemented extremely oddly, honestly.

Fuck, I always get that one wrong. It's worded so stupidly. Ok, nevermind that, just go full Movement.

Proc skills don't work with the turret command no, but for normal combat Luna or Rend Heaven is very useful.

[Roxachronc]

I suppose not, but do blow skills work for ballistician? Or Lucky Seven?

[Emerson]

I suppose not, but do blow skills work for ballistician? Or Lucky Seven?

It's not actual combat, so no Blow skills probably don't work. The only one that even could anyways would be Certain Blow since Crits can't happen via Turret command, and you also can't double.

Lucky Seven in general isn't the best skill for it, as 1) Dodge Tanking isn't reliable at all, making Aegis and Pavise much more valuable and 2) The class already has crap for Speed anyways, so 20% avoid won't help enough to make it worth it.

As for it increasing Turret accuracy, I don't think it does.

[Roxachronc]

It's not actual combat, so no Blow skills probably don't work. The only one that even could anyways would be Certain Blow since Crits can't happen via Turret command, and you also can't double.

Lucky Seven in general isn't the best skill for it, as 1) Dodge Tanking isn't reliable at all, making Aegis and Pavise much more valuable and 2) The class already has crap for Speed anyways, so 20% avoid won't help enough to make it worth it.

As for it increasing Turret accuracy, I don't think it does.

Well I was asking for Certain Blow anyways, also yeah I would not use Lucky Seven for the avoid, mostly for the extra hit.

Would be nice to have a list of what works with this class and what not, gonna need to test this class a bit I guess.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Roxachronc

[The Geek]

How about Life or Death or Quixotic? They're not supposed to get into direct combat so the downsides to those skills are pretty much moot, and it'll give them a raw +10 damage and +30 hit plus higher chance to activate Luna or Rend Heaven.

Unless of course those skills don't work with them.

Edited August 22, 2016 by The Geek

[Roxachronc]

Aggresor does not work just tested it.

Bowfaire also does not.

Life and Death does not.

Golembane does not.

Gonna try some more skills.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Roxachronc

[Emerson]

Aggresor does not work just tested it.

Bowfaire also does not.

Life and Death does not.

Golembane does not.

Gonna try some more skills.

I have a feeling they're all gonna turn out as not working, but who knows? Maybe we'll find out something about the class to make it better.

[Roxachronc]

I have a feeling they're all gonna turn out as not working, but who knows? Maybe we'll find out something about the class to make it better.

Adding to this I am almost sure Certain Blow does not work

I tried puting one of my 90 avoid units in range of my 148(+40) Ballistician w/ CertainBlow, so in theory it should have only 2% of avoiding , but I have missed 7 out of 10 times.

Well this explains why all the skills of Ballistician are restricted to that class.

Hope I can or someone can find something good really, like the class is cool, but it cannot kill , in the bright side it appears to not be affected by breaker skills and since it does not ''engage'' in combat or activates defensive procs it can help to deal with Nohrian Trust builds, and can spread debuff with Setsuna's Yumi at least, but as far as the class go seems to be the best it can achieve, at least it has a niche over other classes.

Like the class would be much better if it had an A rank in bows.

Gotta say I love the attack animation, that fire cannon is so godlike.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Roxachronc

[Roflolxp54]

Dragon Fang

Aggressor

Strengthtaker

Life and Death

Spendthrift

The skillset to use if you want to witness max damage in a single blow possible, or if you really want to murder a weak flying unit.

[Roxachronc]

Dragon Fang

Aggressor

Strengthtaker

Life and Death

Spendthrift

The skillset to use if you want to witness max damage in a single blow possible, or if you really want to murder a weak flying unit.

The thing is nothing of that works when using the Cannon command, which is the main reason to use it, Warp, Rifled Barrel and even Replicate work much better on it.

[Espinosa]

It's still the heaviest hitter with bows in the game (per strike anyway), so even if some skills don't work with Turret you might want to run some just in case you want to kill something (which Turret doesn't do).

[Roflolxp54]

The thing is nothing of that works when using the Cannon command, which is the main reason to use it, Warp, Rifled Barrel and even Replicate work much better on it.

It's the best skill set for doing as much damage in a single shot as possible, mate. OP didn't exactly specify on using just the Cannon command or not. :^)

[Roxachronc]

It's stilli the heaviest hitter with bows in the game (per strike anyway), so even if some skills don't work with Turret you might want to run some just in case you want to kill something (which Turret doesn't do).

I think the way to use it is to weak something or debuff a group so other units can kill them, I have been testing it for some matches and it has been working fine with that mindset, particularly it has been great with a team of Awakening+ Galeforce units, hit the enemies and your units so they drop to half health and then sweep with them, or debuff the enemy if you need for other units, also has been helping with Midorikos.

Basically is for supporting certain builds, mostly Galeforce ones since it can be afar for weakening,meaning your Galeforce units dont need to deal with positioning problems since having too many allies near gives you not wanted Attack Stances, also does not build Guard Gauge for Nohrian builds, and is useful for debuffing 2-3 enemies at the same time.

Current set:

Warp

Replicate

Rifled Barrel

Survey

Heavy Blade/Opportunity Shot

Things like Wary Fighter may sound good but it really does not help the set, since even with it you are going to die anyway, and you should not be near enemy unless going for the kill.

Opportunity shot is kinda a mixed bag in PvP since chances are that you are not going to be near the enemy when starting a turn, but can help in forcing some enemies to be careful when approaching if they dont go for the kill.

Survey is the only way to increase hit, altough not by much is basically better than almost everything else.

It's the best skill set for doing as much damage in a single shot as possible, mate. OP didn't exactly specify on using just the Cannon command or not. :^)

I know that, but that set works much better on a Sniper than with a Ballistician, which makes meaningless using it in the first place, the OP meant the best set for it, so I supposed that he was meaning one that takes the most advantage of the class, if you are not building around the Cannon command then there is not a reason to use it in the first place aside from just liking the class.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Roxachronc

[Edelgard]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Also nice research! @Roxanchronc

I'm indeed looking to take the most advantage out of the cannon. Wary Fighter, Miracle or Aegis/Pavise could save you a turn in direct combat. I don't think that chance is worth skill slots. I rather consider making the ballistician a healing point with Amaterasu or a Rallying unit with Rally Spectrum and Rally Skill. My current set would look like this:

Opportunity Shot (Should make it harder for the enemy to get close)

Heavy Blade (Damage boost that does work, less speed shouldn't be an issue)

Warp (To get to close to enemy units faster)

Replicate (Takes nice advantage of the Ballistician class and its cannon)

There's still room for one of the Ballistician exclusive skills. I find Rifled Barrle rather clunky. So I would go with either Survey or Surefooted. I prefer Surefooted because it's movement +1 and the Fujin Yumi's effect in a single skill.

Also because I'm working with Bond Units. The best personal skills would be: Perfectionist, Miracle, Luna, Rend Heaven, Quick Salve

[Roxachronc]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Also nice research! @Roxanchronc

I'm indeed looking to take the most advantage out of the cannon. Wary Fighter, Miracle or Aegis/Pavise could save you a turn in direct combat. I don't think that chance is worth skill slots. I rather consider making the ballistician a healing point with Amaterasu or a Rallying unit with Rally Spectrum and Rally Skill. My current set would look like this:

Opportunity Shot (Should make it harder for the enemy to get close)

Heavy Blade (Damage boost that does work, less speed shouldn't be an issue)

Warp (To get to close to enemy units faster)

Replicate (Takes nice advantage of the Ballistician class and its cannon)

There's still room for one of the Ballistician exclusive skills. I find Rifled Barrle rather clunky. So I would go with either Survey or Surefooted. I prefer Surefooted because it's movement +1 and the Fujin Yumi's effect in a single skill.

Also because I'm working with Bond Units. The best personal skills would be: Perfectionist, Miracle, Luna, Rend Heaven, Quick Salve

Thanks no prob, I am also trying to have a good Ballistician build.

I recommend Survey over Surefooted, as far as my testing goes very rarely do you need other way of moving when you have Warp, Rally Skills or Amaterasu could be useful also, gonna try to test more skills and see if I find something useful.

Also, who would be the best Ballistician not including Bond Units? I suppose Male Kanna but since I am using a Male Avatar it can't happen, who would be a good alternative?

Edited August 22, 2016 by Roxachronc

[Edelgard]

Also, who would be the best Ballistician not including Bond Units? I suppose Male Kanna but since I am using a Male Avatar it can't happen, who would be a good alternative?

> Subaki has Perfectionist as his personal skill which increases Hit rate by 15+ when he has full HP. He should be a top contender.

> I don't think I need to mention... but Takumi is also a good option thanks to the Fujin Yumi.

> Yukimura couldn't hurt either, you don't have to pair a Ballistician up and his personal skill is seriously an underated asset.

> Shigure or Laslow when you consider making the Ballistician partly a Rally unit.

> And yeah, a male Kanna with great Strength and Skill stats should do the job well.

[Roxachronc]

> Subaki has Perfectionist as his personal skill which increases Hit rate by 15+ when he has full HP. He should be a top contender.

> I don't think I need to mention... but Takumi is also a good option thanks to the Fujin Yumi.

> Yukimura couldn't hurt either, you don't have to pair a Ballistician up and his personal skill is seriously an underated asset.

> Shigure or Laslow when you consider making the Ballistician partly a Rally unit.

> And yeah, a male Kanna with great Strength and Skill stats should do the job well.

The thing is that I dont know if the passive boost of Subaki works when using the Canon command, since things like Takumi's Competitive does not work with it.

Warp is the most optimal way of moving so Fujin Yumi is not that impressive, somewhat with much more STR and SKL would work better, I mean he is good but is far from the best, if only female units could be Ballistician I would just use my Effie!Velouria for the build.

What I am thinking is that since you can also use Shining Bow a unit with both high STR and MAG could work great, maybe my Sakura!Asugi could work here since it has positive mods in STR, MAG and SKL, of course I am considering using another Bond Unit for the job.