[Bartholomew Foulsteel]

On Skill Points

Frequently, I have players ask me how to spread their skill points. This is a highly individual preference, player by player, but here are a few tips to keep in mind when using your points:

o You don’t have to use skill points the moment you get them. Saving skill points for later can be a very valuable tactic. Why? Let me give you a couple of examples:

o When I was leveling up my cutlass, I needed to reach level 20 in order to get Bladestorm. Much like I did while getting to level 17, I saved all the skill point (3 of them) going from lvl 17 to lvl 20. Thus, when I unlocked Bladestorm, I had 3 points to put into it immediately. If I hadn’t waited, I would have fewer points for the lvl 20 and higher skills.

o When I leveled up my cannons, I used the same tactic—there are four levels between Firebrand and Thunderbolt. I saved three skill points I earned while leveling up and was able to immediately go to 3 points in Thunderbolt. I know it’s tempting to spend the points when you get them, but you’ll invariably end up putting more points in lower-level skills, and having far fewer points to put in the higher skills when they become available.

o Plan ahead how you want your build to be. Why? Well let’s just take the cannon build above. If I continuously added points to Firebrand, without realizing that I would be using Thunderbolt as my primary cannon attack, I would have an overpowered skill that I would rarely use. I mean, I’m never going to use Firebrand on flagships, and I can get better attack damage by using Thunderbolt. Instead, I planned for a stronger Thunderbolt attack, and now have Firebrand as a backup if I run out of Thunderbolt ammunition.

o Combos do more damage. You can only use Thrust if you previously used at least Hack. You can’t just Thrust. You can, however, skip intermediate attacks, like Cleave. So when it comes to deciding how to build, say, your cutlass, keep in mind HOW you want to attack with it. You have combo moves and you have special attacks for your bladed weapons. Using a special attack at the end of a combo counts as part of that combo. Also, special attacks can be used over the recharge time of the last combo move, thereby reducing the down-time between the end of one combo and the beginning of the next.

o Put more points in the higher skills, fewer points in the lower skills. Pretty self-explanatory, really. Putting 5 skill points in hack, although it would increase the damage done each time you use hack (the first attack in each combo), if you put the same points in Flourish, you’ll do significantly more damage in every combo. In the five attack cutlass combo (hack, slash, cleave, flourish, stab), I should see 5 points in stab, at least 4 points in flourish, no more than 4 points in cleave, and no more than 3 points in hack and slash.

o The above does not apply to voodoo dolls. Don’t waste time saving skill points for Cure when you can put them in Heal. Throw at least three points in both Heal and Attune. The main reason (the way I see it) to use the voodoo doll is to be able to keep your crew-mates alive. You can join in on the attack, or heal multiple crew-mates, or both if you can attune multiple targets. Put more points (three is my recommendation) in Poke than in Swarm—Swarm takes more than twice as long to recharge as Poke. You’ll deal more damage with more points in Poke. I like to use Poke, Swarm, Poke, Heal repeatedly (I only play with my doll when being a healer in a group).

o Max Broadside skill. This is the bread and butter of doing well as a ship captain. 5 points in each side.

o What about Treasure Sense? People love the skill, Treasure Sense. It has an immediate payoff for each ship you plunder. When saving up for the War-class ships, it can be very tempting to load 5 points into Treasure Sense as soon as you can. Don’t do it! Remember that you will eventually have your War Frigate and/or War Galleon and/or War Sloop, and then what do you need all that money for—clothes? These are points that you can not reassign, so I recommend no more than two points in Treasure Sense.

o Passive Skills. These are interesting. Some are very valuable, some only seem valuable. Check carefully each passive skill and decide if it’s more useful than assigning a point elsewhere.

o The dagger passive skill, Finesse is a very valuable skill—it speeds up recharge rates for special attacks on both the cutlass and dagger. Throw three points in it. You probably don’t need more—I’ve found that three points in Finesse is just right to allow me to do a five-attack cutlass combo, use the special attack, Bladestorm; and then run through another five-attack cutlass combo followed by the special attack, Sweep. When I complete my next five-attack cutlass combo, Bladestorm has just finished regenerating.

o However, a passive skill like Parry is a waste of points in my book. Each point you put into Parry gives you a 2% chance of blocking an opponent’s sword or dagger strike. First off, this skill only helps if you are being attacked with a sword or dagger—it won’t help against voodoo or ranged attacks. Second, even if you put five points into it, the best you will do on average is block one attack out of ten. Those five points could have been used elsewhere to increase your damage, allowing you to end the fight sooner, with fewer enemy attacks anyway, thereby giving you the same benefit.

Hope this helps. Fair winds, mates!