Dawn Warrior Question.

Alright so I just hit level 70 and did my job advancement quest. I put my first point into combo for obvious damage reasons. Now I'm 72 with 6 points to spend. I'm currently using a sword and board setup with a Fast(5) Katana with 100 attack and a shield with +9 Weapon attack ( I don't like 2h's and won't use them ) anyway the guide I was following says to immidiatley put 15 points into brandish. I was thinking well why do that? It only hits up to 3 monsters at a time (maxed), 2 times each (Maxed). Since I'm using a 1 hander, I would only be able to reach so far so to me it sounds like a total waste of SP. I could continue to use Soul Blade wich hits up to 5 targets for 370% damage, also it shoots a really nice ranged projectile so it's easy to aim and fire and with soul blade the range of my weapon dosen't matter. I could shoot the same distance with a 1h or a 2h. It's my understanding that Soul Driver is going to replace both of those skills anyway so if thats the case would it be stupid to skip brandish and max out Soul Charge instead? I'm open for any and all criticism I want to know the pros and cons of brandish. Is it good in PVP or is it safe to completely skip?

Let me know what you expierenced dawn warriors think? I'm just gonna keep grinding and saving my SP till I come to a good conclusion.

Thanks in advance,

Exidium

Never Rarely used Brandish as a DW, only used SB and SD. Combo & Soul Charge would be first.

Thanks, so far thats exactly what I was thinking. I still don't understand why this Post Big Bang dawn warrior guide suggests dumping so much SP into it. It's a fairly new guide with alot of people using it.

I'm gonna get some other players inputs before I start spending my sp. Not that I don't trust you, I'm just curious what everyone else thinks.

Brandish sucks.

Even in pvp? I love pvp so if it was the slightest bit good in pvp I would probably reconsider and get it.

I leveled a DW to 120, i have max brandish
I liked brandish for small mobs, didnt like soul driver at LHC simply because its delay was annoying enough that i felt using brandish was more fun.

Plus, macroing Brandish+Panic+Panic is pretty decent for 1v1 bossing.

So in retrospect, for 1v1 Brandish puts out higher DBM then Soul Driver?

I eventually maxed Brandish, which I used at LHC (as well as SD). But it's not the first thing I'd put points into.

Unsure about PVP, never tried.

Pixie, in your oppinion was Brandish seeming like more DBM then Soul Driver when it came down to fewer targets? As it stands I'm maxing Soul Charge first, then Combo. Then I'm saving the rest of my SP untill we have a nice debate about this here in the forums.

Brandish will be good 1v1 in the later lvs but for mobbing/pvp stick with SB

Sorry, fixed my first post. I mean't rarely used Brandish, not never >.<

The DW I played was pretty strong and Soul Blade 1 hit most of the time (until LHC). Trained at Chimney/MP3 and I found Soul Blade more effective at these maps. But like the above comments said Brandish would be better for 1v1 or fewer mobs.

When I trained at LHC I had someone mobbing with me so I used SD, but when running around the map killing 1-2 spawn at a time I used Brandish because it's attack speed was a lot faster.

Basically the way I built the character was Combo --> Soul Charge --> Brandish. Then saved points for the 100 + 110 skill. I didn't really care about what I put in the other skills because I know I wouldn't even use them lol.

Thanks guys, that made this alot easier. I will get brandish, but it will be the last thing, especially since LHC is so far away. At what level did you start saving SP? I think I'm gonna start saving ALL of my SP when I get combo and Soul Charge maxed.

Here's what my skills looked like at 120, just in case you were interested.
also, my screenshots are all yellow. i don't know why. :<

Thanks guys, that made this alot easier. I will get brandish, but it will be the last thing, especially since LHC is so far away. At what level did you start saving SP? I think I'm gonna start saving ALL of my SP when I get combo and Soul Charge maxed.

Start saving SP, with just 2 points at Lv94 and 3 for every level after that to max out Soul Driver at Lv100. Do the same thing starting from lv104 to max out Advanced Combo at Lv110.

Soul Charge is better for damage early on than Combo, but has a shorter timer.

When I heard Driver was getting nerfed I leveled my DW to 120, so I can't say how it compares to Brandish for training. At 250%/hit Driver, I never used Brandish...

Yeah so far from what I gather, Brandish is something you would only put SP into if you wanted to single target in LHC. Now my question is would Panic be better DBM them brandish on single target? Thanks for taking the time to put your 120 build up for me Muscle, so far my build is exactly like yours for jobs 1 and 2.

Edit* *Update*

I finnaly Maxed the other skills that I wanted and decided to go ahead and get Brandish for testing pourposes. I will say this brandish is NOT useless. If you use a one hander brandish attacks really fast. If you use a 1 hander like the Red Whip or the Red Katana (A Fast 5 weapon) it attacks extremely fast. Since it's attacking 2 times and at rediculous speed, Final Attack procs VERY Fast with it. The ONLY downside I have found to Brandish is that it only attacks up to 3 monsters at a time. Well by the time you actually NEED brandish your in LHC anyway only attacking a few mobs at a time. So, end conclusing on Brandish is that it's something you don't wanna miss out on, but you don't need to start pumping points into it untill you max soul charge and combo first =p