Shien is great against ranged fire, and to be honest being Anakin/Vader main form, I expected a little more against another melee opponent. Thought about using Executioner, but not sure. It’s good for speed & damage but doesn’t increase my parry skills.
Can you please help me with some tips on how to improve a Shien Expert against another lightsaber user/inquisitor duelist/ etc..?
3 minutes ago, Nheko said:Shien is great against ranged fire, and to be honest being Anakin/Vader main form, I expected a little more against another melee opponent. Thought about using Executioner, but not sure. It’s good for speed & damage but doesn’t increase my parry skills.
Can you please help me with some tips on how to improve a Shien Expert against another lightsaber user/inquisitor duelist/ etc..?
You gotta combine it with another style, then. Soresu Defender is one alternative, since it has Supreme Parry as well as several ranks of Parry, so you can tank all the fire. If you want to go more offensive, there's Makashi Duelist or Ataru Striker.
Edited by satkaz
3 minutes ago, Nheko said:Shien is great against ranged fire, and to be honest being Anakin/Vader main form, I expected a little more against another melee opponent. Thought about using Executioner, but not sure. It’s good for speed & damage but doesn’t increase my parry skills.
Can you please help me with some tips on how to improve a Shien Expert against another lightsaber user/inquisitor duelist/ etc..?
Just now, satkaz said:You gotta combine it with another style, then. Soresu is one alternative, since it has Supreme Parry as well as several ranks of Parry, so you can tank all the fire. If you want to go more offensive, there's Makashi Duelist or Ataru Striker.
I agree with @satkaz , Soresu is the ultimate Defensive form.
Thanks guys. Yeah Shien/ Makashi sounds fun but I think Soresu/ Makashi will be a better combination since it will give me Supreme Parry... good all round defense and good offense.
Don't overlook Shii-Cho Knight as a complimentary option to Shien Expert.
While SC-K may not have ranks of Reflect, it does offer plenty of ranks of Parry as well as Improved Parry, and lets you use Brawn as a back-up characteristic in case your Cunning gets compromised in some manner. Ranks in Durable as well as Toughened and Grit also help, and Sarlacc Sweep can be pretty effective at wheedling down multiple minion groups at once. Multiple Opponents is also nice for quickly dispatching minion groups
It doesn't have nearly as much flashy stuff as some of the other Lightsaber Form specs, but to quote an old Jedi adage, "when all else fails, rely upon Shii-Cho."
21 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:Don't overlook Shii-Cho Knight as a complimentary option to Shien Expert.
While SC-K may not have ranks of Reflect, it does offer plenty of ranks of Parry as well as Improved Parry, and lets you use Brawn as a back-up characteristic in case your Cunning gets compromised in some manner. Ranks in Durable as well as Toughened and Grit also help, and Sarlacc Sweep can be pretty effective at wheedling down multiple minion groups at once. Multiple Opponents is also nice for quickly dispatching minion groups
It doesn't have nearly as much flashy stuff as some of the other Lightsaber Form specs, but to quote an old Jedi adage, "when all else fails, rely upon Shii-Cho."
Hmmm never thought about that Dono...
Shii-Cho Knight makes for a highly effective beatstick with a couple of surprising combat options that the flashier LS Form specs lack.
Looking at the spec tree, it's also got a nice option for strain recovery in the form of two ranks of Second Wind, offers Quick Draw so you don't have to waste a maneuver to draw your lightsaber, a rank of Defensive Training to help against melee attacks, and then Natural Blademaster to give you the option to re-roll a Lightsaber combat check once per session. Plus, you've got Sum Djem which lets you disarm a foe for only 2 advantage and you can place the weapon anywhere you like within short range; most GMs I've gamed with treat a disarmed weapon as typically being within easy reach or they determine where the weapon lands.
Lore-wise, Vader's fighting style changed to incorporate more elements of Shii-Cho after his disastrous defeat on Mustafar, both as a concession to his cyborg nature but also the glaring weaknesses in his previous overly-aggressive style (one that used a lot of Ataru) that Obi-Wan was able to exploit.
I went back and had to re-read Shii-Cho Knight I have to admit. Have you guys used it along the Padawan Survivor Spec? It seem like in the same venue of the Sentinel, with 2 Parry and one Reflect plus Disorienting Strike and Temple Training seems a fun character
Maybe start Shii-Cho dip into Padawan Survivor for flavor and the +FR and Dedication and later add Shien, what do you think?
4 hours ago, Nheko said:I went back and had to re-read Shii-Cho Knight I have to admit. Have you guys used it along the Padawan Survivor Spec? It seem like in the same venue of the Sentinel, with 2 Parry and one Reflect plus Disorienting Strike and Temple Training seems a fun character
Maybe start Shii-Cho dip into Padawan Survivor for flavor and the +FR and Dedication and later add Shien, what do you think?
That's pretty much how I did it, although I took aggressor as my second spec. Armorer is pretty **** sweet to go with Shii-Cho though. If it wasn't for the groups gearhead going into Armorer I would probably have nabbed that tree. It lets you tank more and use your sick Shii-Cho brawn to deal damage with falling avalanche, which can make people rather sad. You're not going to be flicking blaster bolts back at enemies, but you have less need for that if you get up to 9-10 soak.
I'd go with niman disciple... 3 ranks each of parry and reflect, 2 ranks of defensive rating, force rating, dedication djem'so (not sure if shine expert gets that)
Niman Disciple is great if you want to play with force powers like move. If you want to spend you FD for Sense, the Shii-Cho/Soresu is a stronger option imo, depending on whether you want to up brawn or Int.