General

So in the end, you pretty much have to leave shield mastery at 8?

[quote=Xbl1tz3rX]Is dark flare ever used? It seems so useless.[/quote]

I use it to kill Manon at Dojo
In Third Job we don't boss much unless it's Dojo so that is why it seems useless.
In Fourth Job we will be doing many party bossing, so although Bosses will miss us a lot, the rest of the party don't have our high Avoid or Shadow Shifter so Dark Flare will be doing constant damage to the enemy.

Is dark flare ever used? It seems so useless.

[quote=hayhoo]lol 3rd body scar tar does 1 dmg to me[/quote]

does 1's to 99% of the people ive seen.

[quote=dingding]I want to take 2 points out of PP and put it into shield mastery... i hardly ever use the PP/ME combo.[/quote]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPKUc5Dr3i0

@above. Pretty sure 18 fj is the max distance. The only improvement with 20 fj is the smaller mp cost. Assuming what im saying is true, id say take 2 points off fj.

Edit: Nvm, people confirmed that 18 fj is shorter distance than 20 fj.

I wasn't planning to engage in this discussion, but I think I have to do so now.
1. Do NOT even think about sacrificing Pickpocket. For those of you stating that we get Greed (Meso Mastery) in 4th Job as a reasoning why we don't need to max Pickpocket you are seriously wrong. A Level 8 Pickpocket (no Greed) has 50% rate, while a Level 10 (no Greed) has a 60% rate. According to my DPS table you will be losing about 7% DPS if using SB+PP+ME combo in one boss. This means that instead of hitting 88k DPS you will be doing about 82k DPS. Greed increases PP by 20%, which means 80% if PP is maxed and only 70% if it is not maxed. I use PP+ME in Dojo, in random bossing and training. Sacrificing PP for Shield Mastery is like sacrificing BoT or B-Step.
2. I have an excel program made to calculate Damage in-take with Shield Mastery in my Guide: http://www.basilmarket.com/show/guide/346#DCalc
There will be a Megaupload link in there when you can download an Excel file, put your stats, monster's attack, Meso Guard ON/OFF different Levels of Shield Mastery, etc to calculate how much damage you receive. Use it to figure out if Level 8 vs. Level 10 Shield Mastery is worth sacrificing any other SKill.
3. Flash Jump is an amazing Skill, I personally like it even more than Shadow Partner. Level 18 is shorter FJ is shorter than Level 20, so please do not sacrifice Flash Jump.
4. Chakra should stay in Level 3, it heals about 35-45% of my HP at that Level.
5. The only sacrifice-able skills are Assaulter and Meso Guard. Assaulter won't be your main solo-move but it does help to finish a mob and then move on. If you feel confident of a Level 18 Assaulter to work as a great finisher move then that is a possibility. Meso Guard diminishes 50% of damage since Level 1, from there on it only helps saving Mesos. So you need to find out what will save you more mesos 20% more defense, or a maxed Meso Guard.

Go either way. You'll end up using 2 points in 4th job anyways (if you plan on leveling a lot).

I'm going with PP, but that's just me.

[quote=nhoccon92]no, finisher is different.
Finisher skill is like when monster is nearly die, and you put the last finishing blow.
ME is different, it can OHKO monster from far away, both sides! And max PP is required to achieve that.[/quote]

There's also greed in 4th job to increase the amount of mesos dropped.

no, finisher is different.
Finisher skill is like when monster is nearly die, and you put the last finishing blow.
ME is different, it can OHKO monster from far away, both sides! And max PP is required to achieve that.

[quote=nhoccon92]well ME has bigger range than BS and atk both sides. We won't use ME too often, but it's good to finish monster from far away that BS can't reach.
Shad had huge variety of skill, ME is to be used between a few BS[/quote]

Yeah, so with ME as a finisher move that's only used periodically, 2 SP less in PP won't matter so much.

I took the points out of assaulter with fj I rarely use it.

well ME has bigger range than BS and atk both sides. We won't use ME too often, but it's good to finish monster from far away that BS can't reach.
Shad had huge variety of skill, ME is to be used between a few BS

This problem is very confusing =.=

So far we have these candidates:

* Assaulter: 18 assaulter has 18% less dmg (meh) 6% less stun chance (meh) 1 second less stun duration (meh). If we use assaulter mostly for moving purpose, leave it at 18 is ok. An advantage of assaulter over flash jump is 3 times atk, which activates pick pocket. And it is superior if monster is too big to jump over.

* Pickpocket: 8PP has 10% less chance (woah). I use ME/PP combination a lot, so ....

* Dark Flare: max it or no point at all (cool down). Who can say that we never boss? I think we'd better max it

* Flash Jump: there's a different between 18 FJ and 20FJ .......... better max it

* Shield mastery: 20% less defense. Can anyone make a chart of how many HP 20% DEF save you at high lv plz?

I would vote for Assaulter. This is mainly a teleport skill.

[quote=headphones]@dingding AHa me too! I hate PP, I never use it.[/quote]

Yeah.. the more I think about it, the more I want to take 2 SP out of PP and put it in shield mastery. I don't use ME/PP for training, I don't have a pet to pick up the meso drops either, and there's still greed in 4th job to compensate for it.

@dingding AHa me too! I hate PP, I never use it.

I would suggest leaving it at 8.

:o Ohhh, will taking 2 points out of assaulter be better?

well take 2 out of flash jump.

I want to take 2 points out of PP and put it into shield mastery... i hardly ever use the PP/ME combo.

Don't not max dark flare. At 20, the cooldown is the same as its lasting time.

[quote=DoctorSpuds]Yeah, but if you use shield mastery there is no really point in dark flare. Because the damage depends on how much you get hit. Kinda like PG for warriors. So I'm deciding wether Dark Flare or Shield Mastery.[/quote]

A higher defense does not affect Dark Flare. Dark Flare is based on the mob's attack not what the damage you actually receive.

If you have 3 Chakra, you should have enough for 8 Shield Mastery and max of every other skill - which I assume you have from your question. There's a pretty large difference in cooldown time between level 19 and 20 DF. Since DF's cooldown is the same as it's duration at level 20, you'll be able to use it immediately once it disappears. Honestly, just deal with the unmaxed Shield Mastery, because you really don't want to take the points out of anything else.

Took it out of Chakra, Dark Flare, and Flash Jump. I'm pissed off at Dark Flare, so I think I only have 6. I have 8 Chakra, and 16 or 17 Flash jump. At the moment I don't really use Chakra, but I haven't been anywhere that does more damage than mushrooms around Heneseys. I'm assuming that when you use Chakra, the 64% damage you take when using it isn't 64% extra, but just 64%, so less than normal. I did try to test it once at Manon in dojo, but I lagged so badly, I couldn't tell. By the time I caught sight of myself, I was dead ._.

Im going to left chakra at 3 for meso guard, I don't find it useful. :<

I left mine at 1. If I were really going to max it, I'd take points out of Chakra.

But -stares- >o< 20% def/mdef

you don't have to max it.