[Guide] Swords, Odachi's, and Axes

[Lifariz]

Ochimusha sword is a rank 2 lvl19 sword. Other than Lunge Step, I guess you can go for everything BUT Leaping strike and Dust Storm Blast, since the 2 are the only slow moving skills meant for AoE. But be my guest if you can put them to good use but I'd rather Odachi with those 2 skills.

[Sydow]

Hey, I'm fairly new to the game.
What are the swords/odachi's that one should aim for during the various levels and where can I find them?
And which are worth levling up high?
I'm currently 17 and looking for a new weapon.

[Lifariz]

It depends on your tastes. But aiming for a sword with a fixed ranked skill like Earth Isikiri Sword[Forgot level] with a permanent DSB Rank III or Wind Tachi[Level 23] with Fierce Slash III would be a good start but that's just optional. Then farm a lot of your chosen sword until you find one with 4 options and another high rank skill(usually high grade weapons have a IV or V skill attached to it). High level Shizuka helps here.

Then you can either gamble on skill change/skill cards and hope that the rank IV/V skill changes into a skill you like or that the skill card takes over a filler skill's slot. This strategy applies for all weapons.

Afterwards just have a tailor item ready(restore dura to 1000) and try to upgrade it to +40/+50 with success +5% and skill evo.

In short, it's all about luck and hope you could find a good sword and improve it with skill cards. You can find them everywhere but for lvl19 the areas around Yamataikoku is a good place to start. lvl20+ weapons can be found in izumo, and so on.

[Ryxa]

Actually, I didn't even use the sword with Spirit Empty Sky Slash on it. I used the level 19 (Ochimusha?) sword and +70'd it. Killed Yakumo bosses on hard in 2 skills even. It was cheaper and much more abundant than the level 33 sword. Think it'd take 3-4 on hell though.

where can i get that ochimusa sword? and what are the best skills to use in sword...i mean the 3 skills that i need to finish off bosses faster...lunge step V is a must i guess...but how about the other two? should i go for 1 fast-casting skill or go for slow-casting skill but high dmg output?

I use lightning slash V and lunge step V. I have a secondary sword with fierce god's focus (100% crit for one hit) and start off with lightning slash. Your third skill can just be whatever you like since usually lightning -> lunge will kill the yakumo bosses.

[Prom]

to be honest , i kinda regret that i use odaci as my primary , its true odaci AoE is great , as well as average damage . but if u look deeply , spear is more OP . spear does good damage as well tankiness to tank some the attack from mob . spear reach is insane . so my opinion is sword is better even tho single target oriented , really high burst damage , agile , and extremely good 1 v 1 .

[Ryxa]

to be honest , i kinda regret that i use odaci as my primary , its true odaci AoE is great , as well as average damage . but if u look deeply , spear is more OP . spear does good damage as well tankiness to tank some the attack from mob . spear reach is insane . so my opinion is sword is better even tho single target oriented , really high burst damage , agile , and extremely good 1 v 1 .

Sword gets weaker as you get closer to end game. It's still extremely viable if you can get Thunder Beast or True Spirit Blast ougi onto a really good weapon (I'm waiting til level 60+ to use mine).

[Fenrir]

Sword gets weaker as you get closer to end game. It's still extremely viable if you can get Thunder Beast or True Spirit Blast ougi onto a really good weapon (I'm waiting til level 60+ to use mine).

Can you go more into detail on this? Preferably with most weapons.

[Lifariz]

Sword gets weaker as you get closer to end game. It's still extremely viable if you can get Thunder Beast or True Spirit Blast ougi onto a really good weapon (I'm waiting til level 60+ to use mine).

Can you go more into detail on this? Preferably with most weapons.

Except the 1hit or 1cast multi-hit skills, most Sword skills of high rank(IV above) acquires combo hits. Obviously, high-rank skills are, well, extremely weak on lower skill levels, using them needs time and dedication. This is mostly true for all skills rank IV and above. Also, Affinity caps at 3k so it's really hard to break through that when the sword has a lower equipment-based attack compared to other power weapons. Go ahead and wear 2 Skill force mags if you like though.

But if you have the sp and gear, nothing is too weak. A few hours ago I spotted the beater group in Kaga, and one Lightning Slash from a certain person on Secluded Forest Hell(lvl72 due to our party size) blasted 42k. I was so jelly when I can only do 20% of that on the same mobs...

[Ryxa]

to be honest , i kinda regret that i use odaci as my primary , its true odaci AoE is great , as well as average damage . but if u look deeply , spear is more OP . spear does good damage as well tankiness to tank some the attack from mob . spear reach is insane . so my opinion is sword is better even tho single target oriented , really high burst damage , agile , and extremely good 1 v 1 .

Sword gets weaker as you get closer to end game. It's still extremely viable if you can get Thunder Beast or True Spirit Blast ougi onto a really good weapon (I'm waiting til level 60+ to use mine).

The thing with sword is that you become extremely single target based dps until you acquire Ougi. Lightning Slash, for example, deals reduced damage to monsters after it hits more than 2 or 3 at once, and lunge step deals reduced damage to mobs larger than just one monster. Dust Storm Blast and Leaping Strike are your only potential AOEs in the end and those are extremely risky skills. Blazing Wheel and Grim Strike, while safe skills at low ranks, increase their damage by increasing the number of casts... as well as how long you end up standing still. Also, while sword does have good burst damage, this burst is also oriented towards single target, and it makes it harder for sword users to clear entire mobs of rooms.

As for Spear and Oodachi, these two are easily the #1 and #2 in AOE damage (in that order). Both have extremely high base damage and exceptionally large hit areas, so once you can one-hit-ko mobs in a dungeon, you can simply run a circle around the room and create one large group of mobs that die in 5 seconds. Although these two don't have the mobility nor speed that a sword does, they don't particularly need it either.

The reason why I mentioned sword ougis is because the sword ougis have even larger AOE and are even faster than many spear and axe skills. If you can aqcuire them, make sure to put them to good use in a weapon that will last a long time.

[Lifariz]

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