Guide To Fencer Profession



Introduction: Finally a profession I know something about. The fencer is not a profession that deals a great amount of offensive power. Nor is it a profession that you can just spam the same special over and over in any combat situation. To be an effective fencer you need to understand all your abilities, your weapons, your armor, your foods and your spices. The one great advantage fencer does give you is superior defenses. But still, you must know how to use these defenses to be effective.

Combat Rating: 4.5/5

Advantages

-Superior Defenses
-Area Attacks
-Stun Damage for PvP


Disadvantages

-Only one armor piercing weapon, and its not that good
-Only kinetic and stun damage types
-Not much of a weapon selection


Weapons

PvE - Once you hit master buy about 10 Gaderiffi batons and take them to a master smuggler. You are aiming for a 30% or better damage slice. Around 285-290 max damage is ideal. Speed is not that much of an issue once you hit master.

PvP - A general rule is if your opponent is wearing armor, use the stun baton. If not, use the gaderiffi baton.


Looted Weapons:


1) Tuskens drop gaderiffi batons with poisons, high damage, etc... Head to the Tusken Raider Stonghold on Tatooine.

2) The best fencer weapons are made with Acklay bones from the Geonosian cave. They sell for a ton too.

3) Also at the Geo cave, you can get sword cores and power cubes. I have not seen any truly great weapons made from these, but I would be interested if anybody can tell me the stas of some good ones.

4) Rancor Teeth can also be used in creating swords. I have seen some curved swords with around 233 max damage made with rancor teeth, but it still doesnt compare to a good gaderiffi baton.

5) The Rantok sword isnt too special, but evey fencer should have one. Get them from the Jabba Missions. Once you get the sword, put it in your backpak, cancel the mission, then go back and get the mission again. Do this as many times as you want.



Defenses

1) Center Many fencers dont know the importance of Center of being. When you center, you basically double your dodge skill. This dodge is not affected by defensive stat caps. I suggest creating the following macro and hitting it before battle:

/center;
/pause 33;
/macro centerme;

I have also seen a version of this macro that has a command to clear the combat queue, but dont recall the command right now.

2) Food Fencers and pistoleers have the greatest defensive food available. Pikatta Pie made by a good chef can give you +46% dodge for 20+ minutes. Again, this dodge is not affected by stat caps. Combine this with synthetic steak to reduce damage and anti-knockdown thakitillo and you are good to go.

3) Armor This really depends on the situation. For PvE, generally a good 70% kinetic Ubese suit will work. For PvP, I suggest a full composite suit that has a good base. Also, getting a stun layer, especially on the helm, will help.

4) Ranged and Melee I also recommend capping your Ranged and melee defense at 125. This will make a great difference. If you pick up 0/0/0/3 on TKA, then you will cap, and you can level up just using the combat xp you get from fencer. Also, aakuan rings work well for adding ranged and melee defense.


Important Specials

One handed hit: This is your greatest damage hit, however it will randomly choose its pool.

Scatter hit: Wont do as much damage as One Handed Hit, but will damage all 3 pools at once. Works good in PvP for mind damage.

Body Hit: Does a good amount of damage to just the health pool. I find that this is more effective in PvE than one handed hit.

Blind: Blind in combination with all your defenses works very well.


PvP Strategies

I strongly suggest picking up master brawler to be effective in PvP. Here are some good strategies:


vs. Ranged

In ranged combat, you are going to be kited. Hitting follow and burst running will keep you in the action. If you get low on health, run behind any building or structure to stop an attack for a bit. Hitting intimidate and blind will reduce their effectiveness substantially.

center
follow
burstrun
intimidate (decreases damage taken)
blind (makes you harder to be hit)
dizzy
knockdown (try this a few times, if you cant land it, then move on...they might have taken some +90% KD food)
Spam Scatter (this depends on where they appear most weak, one hand hit and body hit are also effective)


vs. Melee

In melee combat, it usually ends up with who lands dizzy-knockdown first. Warcry will give you a slight delay to attempt it first. Keep some thakitillo on hand to avoid being the one on your back.

center
warcry
dizzy
knockdown
spam scatter


Templates

1) Fencer/Rifleman/brawler: I like this template for a few reasons. First, it gives you great defenses. You just about cap both your ranged and melee defense, plus you have ranged and melee mitigation 3. Second, Rifleman is one of the best PvP professions which goes nicely with one of the best PvE professions. Third, the rifle gives you much more different damage types to deal to allow you to target creature weaknesses more effectively.