Update of the VC guide is at the end of this post.
And my PVE combo is right here, I use this for xping in MF for example
Infernal stigma lv20
Dance of ruin lv20
Infernal Impact lv12
abyssal crystal lv20
Round cut lv20
Force impact lv20
usually I dont use Force impact at all since with crystal and R.cut I get about the same dmg/cast time done, and I have one more skill to get a crit with
To clarify, I replace Force impact with R.cut and Abyssal Crystal. IF I add Force impact after R.cut then the mobs will loose their stun.
Ok So I got some questions about FB skill and gear wise and what not.
I will give you my 2 cents on the subject in this post, I will update this as soon as I can and, I would like to explain right now, that my english spelling and grammar leaves much to be desired.
I will start with some comboes for you out there and then ill post gear suggestions
like for one a DONT is to go for 5% amp singel slotted boots over 100hp/will boots.
Duel combos:
Basics:
Dont go easy on anyone, dont asume that you can win easy even if he is in aramid and your in teragrace.
Start your combo as fast as possible. How to do this is not to try and get a red hit on your first skill.
Combo bar:
Yellow = poor hit
Orange = Good hit
Red = excellent hit
Usually people think its better to go for Red since it will dish more dmg and will increase the chance to crit. sure this might be true but, trust me you need to start as fast as possible.
Ok So you want to duel and you want to win right!
Say that you have a friend that you compete with you are same lvl, gear and so on.
Or maybe you are higher and have better gear and ranks. But you still loose.
Make a party so you can check your HP bars after each duel this helps, if he constantly survives with 20-100hp and DoT brings him to 0hp after you allready have lost then add a flashdraw or a higher dmg skill and skip some of the dot.
What you need to realise first is that if one combo dont work, say that you dish out to little dmg then look at what can help you out to do more dmg.
like in item change, maybe you dont crit at all and still its close then just replace your rings of luck +2 with Rings of fighter to gain some more attack power and defense
Check your combo say that you do 6 or 7 skills and you cant get your finisher off before your dead.
First thing I do is to get my skills off when they are in the Yellow all of them maybe some in the Orange area but never a Red one.
Did i get to my finished in this case the A.master. Yes? good, still lost? ok now worries.
Go for orange skills instead, did you get your A.master off? no? Ok now worries.
Go again, all yellow except your GM lets go for a Red skill here.
Got your A.master off? yes? excellent you won.
say that I still cant beat him even after trying different combo ranges(yellow,orange,red).
second thing I do is to take off all my items and duel him naked a couple of times to see if its still 6-7 skills i can manage to cast before he finishes me off. Then you know that the last skill he uses is just like yours a finisher/GM skill that makes sure I loose.
So then I know I cant just add HP/Def to actually win I need to get my finisher move off earlier. If I go for more Hp/Def I might survive his finisher and can actually get my own finisher off with the same length of combo I had in mind first, but if you cant increase your hp with 300hp or so its likely that wont happen.
So you know your defense wont make much of a difference put on all the amp/critdmg and rate gear you can muster even if its silk with amp if you still dont kill him then your combo is to long.
If you couldnt get the same amount of skills off during the naked duel but only got 4-5 skills off instead then take this as a guide line go for a 5-6 combo instead with your gear on again.
example.
assault lv20 = 1.3sec cast time
force slash lv20 = 1.3sec cast time
Infernal Impact(G.master) lv9-20 = 4.1sec cast time
Abyssal crystal lv20 = 2.2sec cast time
Dance of ruin lv20 = 2.7sec cast time
Force Impact(a.master) lv20 = 5.0sec cast time.
say these are the skills at any lvl that you are currently using and your combo is:
assault/slash/GM/assault/slash/crystal/DoR/A.master
And with this combo you always loose and he remains standing with 50-300hp or so. just shorten your combo your A.master will 100% do more then 300hp dmg on him.
So to shorten our combo we take away some of the longer cast time skills
like DoR thats 2.7 seconds you saved in. now lets try
Assault/slash/GM/assault/slash/crystal/A.master
YES!!! you got your a.master off die XXXXX huh? he still beat me what the...
So we shortend our combo but he still stands there with some hp left nothing to do then.
Or so most people think, now is where we go shopping in the novice skill department and buy impact stab.
Impact stab lv1-20 = 1.5sec cast time.
Ok this skill wont do alot of dmg and suck why would you want this skill?
well most of you know and the ones that havent figured it out yet..shame on you.
SO we replace Dance Of Ruin with Impact stab lv20
our new combo:
Assault/slash/GM/assault/slash/Crystal/Impact stab/A.master
Woo we got our A.master off and we won jippie!
Why did we win tough?
we still use same amount off skills as we tried earlier, but the "cast time" is different so we actually had time to get our finisher off.
Now this is true for all classes ofcourse but for an FB its even more important.
Here is some comboes to guide you in the right way or even to a victory straight off the bat.
Warrior combo:
(The DoT way)
Assault, slash, GM, assault, slash, crystal, A.master
If you didnt Crit your GM then you will probably need more dmg so then we add skills right.
assault, slash, GM, assault, slash, impact stab, crystal, a.master
If you didnt have time to throw your a.master now then go for yellow hits instead of going for red or orange. Go for RED on you GM but try get yellow hits on the rest, especially your a.master.
Force Archers:
Now Force Archer have an "fadestep" in their GM but dont worrie it wont brake your combo
BUT it will make you walk towards him/her during the duel and so you loose alot of precious time walking forward a few steps instead.
So try and avoid skills that will make you walk forward use your ranged skills.
No not magic skills :P
here is a combo that will stick you like clue to the FA.
Assault, slash, illusion stab, crystal, assault, slash, GM, A.master.
Assault = dashes you up to the opponent
Illusion stab(defense debuff) = ranged will still go off when the FA is far away(if you use Dance of Ruin your character will start to walk forward)
Crystal = ranged (DUH)
Impact stab = same range as Illusion stab.
So what you need to do is to check where you walk forward, to time you skills.
say that you use the combo above and you start to walk when you want to get your GM off.
This is because GM isnt ranged you need to be close.
SO to avoid to walk before you cast your gm, simply remove slash and go for GM directly OR replace slash with impact stab. Or even twist it around and instead of
assault, slash, GM
Go for
impact stab, slash, assault, GM.
a really safe way to make sure that you wont waste time walking forward when you throw your finishers is to use assault first.
Example:
Assault, GM, Assault, A.master.
So remember to minimize the time "walking forward" because its a HUGE waste of time against a strong ranged class like the FA.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Random stuff
First off, yes FB is weak we are gimped to the bone we dont have high HP, high defense or high attack, we dont have **** thats the sad truth so dont expect any wonders.
Anyways this is my FB:
Revolte = 58% critdmg, 26% critrate, 33% amp
lv137 dual trans
2556-2800hp
def 660-817
I usually fight lv150 FS/WA/FA/WIZ/BL or some uber geared people
There is not constant combo, different classes require different combos.
Even different people require alterations in your combo/gear set
All of your suggestions is nice and all but to mention some small things like assault, and slash.
There is absolutely NO POINT in having those skills at anything else then lv20
cause if you use them its DoT your after so dont use them at the end, start your combo with them.
cast time is 1.3 secs and u get 62DoT per skill.
So if you start with
assault, slash, GM, assault, slash (ALL skills lv20) thats 200hp dmg you get in dot on the opponent every two second so 400dmg in 4seconds.
Assuming you have a crit or two thats 300,150,1000, 200, 300 + 400 = 2350dmg
ad a crystal and/or A.master afterwards crystal 300-450dmg and a.master can crit for around 600-700dmg
You all seem to like Dance of ruin, I dont fancy it so much since its cast time is 2.7seconds and the only time I would like to use it is to debuff the defense for the finisher, illusion stab is faster and debuff the same.
Some high lvl mages have started to do fadestep, and cast defbuff(-53 attack).
So stay alert to put a retarget on them so you dont break your combo do the following.
retarget so you dont break combo then do, assault, slash, GM, assault, slash, FADESTEP keep fadestepping until ur sure they broke combo, cast hitrate and defense debuffs skills and keep fadestepping until your DoT ends.
Why? cause they are fadesteppers and must die at all cost
you only do a few skills you go for assault, slash, GM, assault, slash for maximum DoT and then break their combo they will most likely keep casting at you so there is where the hitrate duff comes in.
Defense debuff to be sure their defense suck even more when you start your final attack. when your DoT is over a mage with just bellow 3000hp should have around 1000-1200hp left if you critted before you started fadestepping even less.
dash to them and start your combo with assault to get close to them faster dont care about DoT this time you should have about the same hp as them left so go for fast dmg on hit skills instead, I usually do assault, crystal, slash and add a a.master if they are still standing.
Now this is way **** behavior from you but hey they started it
if a mage with 950-1000magic feels it necesary to brake combo and debuff attack on a weak FB then dont be afraid to be more **** then them.
skills that people usually dont care about are fast low dmg skills so put some effort in checking them out to(like soaring shot, flashdraw etc)
if you loose and your opponent win but have 0hp, dont go for harder attack, go for defense/HP to let your DoT do its work
against FA/WIZ keep in mind to keep close so you dont waste time walking to them. assault gets you close illusion stab have a long range, crystal is ranged.
To really stick to an FA for example go for.
assault, slash, illusion stab(debuffs just like DoR but it is also ranged = no walking time),crystal(ranged, assault(gets you close fast) finishers GM, A.master.
against Bladers be prepared to be the looser, if you get some duels off with them having 0hp.
Go for DoT starter and skip some amp/atk/critdmg concentrate on your defense and put on those will items of yours. I even won once or twice against aperion,memoria and our own personal buster of all cheaters r4y4
FS/WA have usually(grunge, lordhun, gatz are the exceptions) no chance against me I go for full amp and critrate wich leaves me with 652defense boys and girls thats not alot but thanks to 1.3-1.5 sec cast skills they wont reach second GM
remember we are weak, we need tons of gear to be able to really dish some dmg and on top of that we need to change skills to different situations.
Dont expect to beat VC with the standard combo infernal stigma, DoR, GM, a.master for example. stigma is useless against bosses since you cant stun them anyway.
GUIDE TO VOLCANIC CITADEL:
So time for an update and most people pm me about VC so here is how I do it.
I havent really updated this guide as soon as I wanted. But I have been very busy IRL.
anyway here goes.
First off when you enter the dungeon you will need to have "leech" gear added to your inventory. leech items I use atm is the following:
1x Life Absorbring +3 5% hp steal(really no point in using two so go for one and one RoF)
2x vampiric earings +3
1x vampiric amulet +4
To get the hp leech from your amulet and earings you NEED to use the life absorbring or you wont leech anything.
Ok first part of the dungeon is kinda basic, use your DAMAGE GEAR to kill the first boss and the two towers and the big cannon.
First boss that gives a chest(archer boss) I just kill with no leech items also, I just pot the dmg and all is fine.
Same goes for the second boss that gives you a chest, no need to use leech items here just kill him as fast as possible.
Dont brake the door to get to the chest, use your a.master or G.master to open the chest inside the little room.
Now its time to put on your HP LEECH gear and take the Volcanic freezen guard.
(note if you look at the time I have been afk for a toilet visit and a phone call, if you have less time left, then I have on the picture, then you need to go xp and skillgrind some 
DONT kill him!!!
As FB we need to save time so pull him to the gate and brake it at the same time as you take down the guard.
Now its time to kill Bicry(mage pain in the *** boss)
If you cant outpot his dmg then pull him to the gate also, and see to it that some mobs come to you, that way you can leech hp from the mobs to keep your HP full.
Go get the chest and since you broke the gate early, Pakss will allready have spawned.
Just run straight for him and leech hp from all the mobs around him.
Now ignore as many mobs as possible, run past the warriors and wizards, break the gate and ignore the dark knights.
Go straight for the warrior boss dash so you have your back to the gate so no mobs come and range attack you while you kill him.
Pasin is kinda hard, so dont go into dmg mode here keep leeching on him while killing him.
Now for the Blader boss Tariff. just enter the room and stand still. lure Tariff to you with your enervation, and hitrate, defense debuffs. keep your leech on.
For the Shielder boss i use critrate rings and amulet of pain.
Dash into the right corner of the fenced area he stands in and lure him with enervation.
Wait for him to come to you and you wont be bothered by the mobs around you so much.
If one Shielder mob is hitting you at the same time as the boss you shouldnt be in any danger.
before the Mage boss your buffs should be running out.
Go into force enchanter mode and enter the room, go straight for the mage boss ignore
the mage mobs around you and kill the boss off before your enchant mode runs off.
I use assault, slash, gm, crystal and DoR here to get her down before enchant runs out.
pick the chest and exit the room, put your LEECH GEAR back on and take a left for the FB boss Tiarff.
Dash straight at him and leech from the FB mobs while killing Tiarff.
For the balrog just take on all your amp/crit gear Full dmg mode on him, no need to use leech as long as you have like 650-685defense.
If you have 7minutes left when you start to fight the balrog your safe just keep combo him with, G.master, DoR, crystal, r.cut and so on.
you can even use your stun combo for xping here with plenty of time left.
Voila! you finished VC with time to spare to do a victory dance.
B2F is rumored to be hard especially for FB but you can actually do the 2m Cabal lv120 and G.master/G.master in skill rank.
He/she use basic gear aswell so nothing fancy.
http://www.stage6.com/user/Missile08...-Tower-2F---FB
Its an old vid but still very impressive show considering the gear and skillranks.
it stops after the second chest but if you are transcender/g.master you can push on with out any problem.
Force blader guide and Q n A - Written By jackosa67 - Contributed By nif90
http://forum.cabalonline.com/showthread.php?t=11769
