Beforehand[]
This is a repost of Jackyhk/White's guide for hybrid warriors. (please note that most video links are broken)
Hybrid Warrior Guide[]
First of all, what is a hybrid warrior? A warrior that stun > HS > HS so that they can be called noobs? A warrior that knows how to swing two types of weapons effectively? A warrior that has parents of different ethnicity?
A hybrid warrior believes in the reasoning that they can benefit the most from having sets of skills from two different weapon. Versatileness is to the key to hybrid warrior, because they have the flexibility to switch from one set of skill to the next based on situations. But, hybrid warrior is also one of the most complicated class to deal with in this game because of its versatileness, and so I am writting this hoping to help those who needs tips on how to be a decent hybrid warrior on the field. "Wait wait wait a second, sensei! Hybrid is all about stun > HS > HS, how complicated can it be?" *Headshot the student*! Ahem... as I was saying, hybrid warrior is very complex class, and while stun > HS > HS is a very valid combo uniquely made for hybrid warriors, if that is the only technique you use for your whole life, you will never improve as a warrior.
Pros: Highly versatile; fill in roles for pure 1hander or 2hander; you can stun and you can deal heavy damage; fun, elegant and fancy to play; maiximize your ability in wars using your hybridness (i.e. ability to give surprise to your enemies.)
Cons: Difficult class to improve yourself on; difficult to gauge on your weapon switch (which cause high amount of randomness); weapon switch requries space and time, and it gives your potential openings to the enemies (i.e. ice B); you do not perform as good as your pure counter part (i.e. limited stalling ability on a losing battle).
Since hybrid warrior utilizes both 2hded and 1hded skills on the field, it should be the basics for them to know how to perform as a 2handed warrior or 1handed warrior individually.
For 1hander tips, read on this thread:
Sword & Shield - The 1 Handed Warrior Guide by VintageSoul
And also videos by CrisisNoob:
Vid: All Warrior Skills with Commentary
For 2hander tips, please watch this video, which talks extensively about 2handed warriors techniques (sorry, it's in Japanese, and I barely understand what it is say. D: But watch carefully and you should have no problem understanding) Two Handed Warrior Tutorial (link broken)
In addition: Are you having trouble always getting co-ck blocked by others? Not sure why your hits don't register? Here is a thread with the video that you should look at about covering damage on stunned targets: [Explanation of Hit Registration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGFwHk_imXc&feature=related]
Ok, so by now you should have mastered on how to play both 2hander and 1hander (I wish it was that easy Q_Q). My guide is all about hybrid, and I won't go over any of the warrior skills. Okay, let's move on!
Introduction to types of hybrid warrior and styles[]
A. How to Fast Weapon Switch?
So, first thing first, having trouble with finding the soulmate in your life ehhh... I mean switching weapon in the heat of the battle? Here is a little tip on how to macro weapon switch into one of your hotkeys:
1. Basics
"/eq <item#>" is the command you type to switch to item of the corresponding # (number) in your inventory. The numbering starts from the most upper left corner, and move along as you go from left the right. So if you type /eq <item1>, you will equip/unequip the item in the most upper left corner of your inventory, provided that it is an equipment. This command has no effect if the item in that number slot is a usable item (i.e. food, potions)
2. Advanced - sidestep switch
a. The theory of sidestep switch
The idea of sidestep switch is to use your sidestep animation to cancel your weapon switch animation (both takes the same amount of time), and the whole purpose is to keep yourself mobile and give yourself a short moment of invincibility while you switch weapon. What deos this mean? You don't always have to sidestep switch when your target is already stunned, provided that you have no other enemy next to you at that point. So then, what IS the point of practicing sidestep switch weapon? Aside from invincibility of sidestep, one main point of this is the mobility of it, in which you can use it to your advantage on the field, and I will be showing you how later in this guide.
b. So, how? To sidestep switch, first you press the button (for example F1) that is corresponds to the weapon you want to switch to, and then immediately after that (about 0.25-0.5 seconds later), you press the the sidestep buttons (Q or E). If succeed, you would see a brief moment where you stood there and your is weapon switched, followed by an immediate sidestep. Yay! Otherwise, you either stand there and see the whole weapon switch animation, or you sidestep without doing anything. Sidestep switch can take a long time for you to get used to. However, learning this is essentail if you are going to be playing with your sidestep switch to your advantage on the field (which I will go over later).
c. How to Set your hotkey onto your keyboard for easier access Of course, it's very annoying to press F1-F5 and then Q or E to sidestep switch. You can still do it with one finger, but for easier access, there is another way to do it: First, open the file INPUTDEF.INI in the "data" folder in your FEZ folder (Directory should be:C:\GamepotUSA\FantasyEarthZero\data\INPUTDEF.IN I for Win XP) This is where you set the shortcut keys for your keyboard, and it applies to virtually any keys that you use in game. To change the keys for the F1 - F5, location this part of the file: SHORTCUT_1 = KB_F1 SHORTCUT_2 = KB_F2 And next thing is to find the buttons you want to use for the corresponding hotkeys. All you have to do is change F1 to something else, i.e. R , A TAB, T, ENTER, etc. You would most likely need to use 3 hotkeys, for 2handed weapon, 1handed weapon, and shield. For example: SHORTCUT_1 = KB_T SHORTCUT_2 = KB_TAB (P.S. If the adjusting the hotkey part is illegal to do... please do tell me so I will remove this section. Thanks. <3)
d. Tips - Shield first or sword first? Switching to weapons have animation, while switching to shield is almost instantaneous. However, even though switching to shield is intantaneous, there is actually a period of invisible cooldown time where you cannot switch weapon (2 steps time, thanks to Zodiac's info). Don't believe me? Try to switch from 2hd to shield then immediately to your 1hd, and see how long you have to wait to grab the sword. In other words, switching to a shield first then sword is not as safe because you will likely to fail switching to your weapon, despite it looks logical to first have your defense. Chances are you will forget about the CD time because you see shield as instantaneous. So the best way to switch is first sword, then shield, as you will notice in all videos later. This way, right after you grab your shield, you can immediately use skills.
And that's all you need to know about switching.
B. Builds
Type A : Two-handed focus
Core skills: Shield Bash lvl 3, Heavy Smash lvl 3.
1. Dragon Tail level2 and sonic boom lvl 3
(recommended) 2. Dragon Tail level 2 and slam attack lvl 3 (good supportive version, but lacks ranged, also a good build)
3. DT lvl 3, with 2 skill points remaining for sonic or slam (not recommended)
Note: Nubmer 3 is not recommended because sonic has slower speed and shorter range at lvl 1, and slam has shorter range on lvl 1. The reason level 2 DT is acceptable is because the AoE range stays the same for all 3 levels of DT, with 10x3 attack power difference for each level.
Type B: One-handed focus
Group I Core Skills: Shield Bash lvl 3, Heavy Smash lvl 3
1. Earth Stamper level 3, sonic boom lvl 1
2. Earth Stamper level 2 and sonic boom lvl 3.
3. Earth Stamper lvl 2 and Behemoth Tail lvl 3
Note: Earth Stamper and Behemoth level affects their AoE range! One-handed is in a more skill point deficit situation, because Earth Stamper skill level affects the AoE range, which is quite essential for the skill itself.Because of this, I am listing variation builds that derive from the core builds because these builds might perform even better than having shield bash lvl 3 + heavy smash lvl 3:
Group II Variation Builds Skills: Shield Bash lvl 3
4. Earth Stamper lvl 3, Sonic Boom lvl 3, and only get Heavy Smash to lvl 2.
5. (Variation to Rsouls build for Force Impact Lovers) Earth Stamper lvl 3, Strike Smash lvl 2 and Force Impact lvl3 (or vice versa, SS lvl 3, FI lvl 2).
Note: Build 4 is my favorite, since it only has to give up 20 Attack Power from Heavy Smash to get a both ES lvl 3 and SB lvl 3.
Build 5 created from the inspiration by Rsouls, and it gives up HS for other skills, based on your favorism. Force Impact is a nice tiny AoE ranged attack that penetrates (hehheh...) your enemies, Skill levels affects the range of both SS and FI, so it's up to you which skill you want to hit further.
Type C: Balanced
Core Skills: Shield Bash lvl 3, Heavy Smash lvl 3
1. Crumble Storm lvl 1, that's it.
2. Behemoth tail lvl 3, Slam Attack lvl 3, plus Sonic Boom lvl 3.
Note: Crumble Storm lvl 1 has smaller AoE range.
This is the jack-of-all-trade type. The first build is straight forward: you give up everything for crumble storm, which is a very useful supportive skill, but rather or not it is worth all the trouble to get a level 1 CS (which has smaller range) is for you to decide. The second build is the most balanced of all, you have equal ability on offense and support, and you don't have favorism towards any weapon. I have never seeen this build being used ever in any servers, but, it sure is valid.
Now, for those who like to customize their own build.... A short summary of how many points each skills will use: (Remember, you have 40 skill points in total by lvl 35.)
First tier skills, which includes: Sonic Boom, Blash Slash, Reinforced Guard, Slam Attack, Smash, Strike Smash, Behemoth Tail:
Lvl 1: 2 skill points
Lvl 2: 1 skill point
Lvl 3: 1 skill point
Second Tier Skill, which includes Shield Bash, Earth Stamper, Heavy Smash, Dragon Tail. Lvl 1 to lvl 3: 2 skill points for each level.
Force Impact
Lvl 1: 3 skill points
Lvl 2-3: 1 skill point for each level.
Crumble Storm
Lvl 1: 3 skill points
Lvl 2-3: 2 skill points for each level.
If you need a skill calculator, this is the one I personally use: http://linasixp.com/fez/fez_sk.php (In Chinese Now broken)
C. Styles
It seems there are several different opinions about how to play a hybrid warrior correctly. But in my opinion, most of them are valid, and so I want to list them out as "styles" that you would use for your hybrid warrior.
1. Bimodal Style: Your main reason for being a hybrid warrior is the variety of skills and the ability to fit in for diffient roles in your team. You fight in two modes: a) Fake one-hander: supporter of your teams with shield bash and reinforced guard (RG), or b) Fake two-hander: attacker of your team using Strike Smash, Smash, and Heav Smash. Type C1 build is probably the best build for this type of play-style because you have adequate skills to perform both modes. But in general, this style fits well for every builds
2. Free Style (I also call this K-style, aka Killer-style. ): You switch weapon completely free-willed, and you do whatever you want on the field. This style is possible for all builds. There is no restriction, and there is no rules. The most important thing to you in this style is to have your opponents defeated, and you use anything possible to accomplish this. Because of this, there isn't a lot of time where you would want to use RG. This is also the style I consider most of the "shield huggers" (Stun > HS HS) are using.
3. EoS Style (Element of Suprise): This style is all about utilizing your sidestep switch weapon to your advantage to give your opponent the element of surprise about your hybridness. This style fits the best with 2handered focus, because EoS works the best with suprise stun when the opponent believes you can't stun. This also fits well with 1handered focus, for example when your opponent is in stun immunity and has no fear on your shield. Since this style requires extensive amount of switching, RG is not recommended at all. This is my favorite style because hybrids can never be as good as their pure counter part at what they do, but this style incorporates the weapon switch into fighting, which makes it unique for hybrids.
At this point, you guys are probably thinking "why bother distinguishing the styles?" or "well.. aren't all hybrids kind of free-formed anyway?". Yes, it is true that they are similiar, and even though I list them as styles, it doesn't mean that you should pick one and stick to it till the day you die. No. The reality is that on the field, you would be playing in the combination of the 3 styles with your hybrid warrior. The reason I list them is because I want to give a sense of all the freedom being hybrid warrior is given, and all of these styles are (in theory) very valid. You should choose your favorite style(s) based on how you want to play and your hybrid is built. Personally, I am more towards of EoS + Free style, with small chance of using bimodal style.
Final note about hybrid warrior as a whole: NEVER forget about this: Hybrid warrior is made for team battle.(bring this to your grave if you have to) The success of this game is all about teamwork, and hybrid is a type of warrior that is especially designed to be enriched in teamworking due to their flexibility. How? They give up everything to have both the ability to create stuns and to give deathly damage support for its team when necessary. Even if you play in free style of EoS style, you should never forget the fact that stun is most efficient when you have teammates around you.
The most important thing that I consider for hybrid warrior is situation awareness. Always look around you when you do your moves. (Ask yourself: Are there allies when you land a stun? Are there enemies next to your target of interest?) And, whenever you are trying to land a successful stun on your opponent, the first thing that come to mind should NOT be "immediately switch to your axe and do HS HS". Instead, you should look around your target and decide what you would want to do before you even land the stun. (Ask yourself: Is it safe to switch weapon after I stun him? or are there reinforcements on their end? How close are the reinforcements? Should I slam attack incomings? should I stun incomings? Should I just switch and quickly attack then withdraw? would I be in danger if I attack? Is there even a point to try to stun this guy?) Situation awareness is probably the hardest thing to learn in this game for everybody (including myself), but without it you will never ever improve as a hybrid warrior, or as anything, in fact.
That's all the basics I have for being a hybrid warrior, for now. Okay, let's move on to the specifics..
Two-Handed Focus Warrior Techiques/Combos[]
I think this is the part where everyone actually wants to read. (It's okay, you can ignore my hard work on the introduction. T_T)
But anyway, the following link is an ancient and very classic tutorial video that inspired me the most to become a hybrid warrior, and it is very rich in content and techniques for hybrid warrior. This is the video that I revisit from time to time because of the number of techniques it offers. Since this is where I got most of my lessons from in terms of the "hybridness" of a warrior, most of my lecture on 2handed warrior techniques will be mainly based on this video. In addition, I will be putting comments and critiques on the different techniques being shown. (Also because it's time consuming to frap myself on the field. -_- Yes I am lazy like this. </3 ) This video is in Japanese, and... the only Japanese skills I have are learnt from playing Japanese games since I was little, so.... correct me if there is any mistakes. >3<"
Here It Is! (The Legendary Tutorial of Hybrid Warriors Link is broken)
This video mainly focuses on EoS style of two handed focus hybrid warrior, which I personally believe is the best way to play this type of build. Whenever the video stops, it is trying to focus on the situation and the reason why the warrior switched weapon. So please watch carefully on those parts. I will be giving my comments and crappy translation on the parts of the video that were focused on. First part of the video is about 2handed focus build techniques, where as the last 1/3 is about one hander warriors techniques.
In addition I will be giving ratings on those techniques based on my experience, using the following criterias:
ef = Effectiveness: how applicable and how useful it is on the field.
pr = Prediction Demand: how much you have to predict on the opponent movement to use the technique.
fr = Frequency: how often does this become useful on the field
lv= Level of Difficulties: duh, this means how difficult it is to perform, overall speaking.
I will be ranking them from A to C ("A" being the most applicable/most demand/highest/hardest, and "C" being the least/lowest/easiest), or F, which means it doesn't apply.
Also, from now on I will be referring sidestep switch weapon as "SSW" for convenience. The subtitles translation will be italicized , if available.
Here goes:
To sum up, the idea of first 2/3 of this video is to show how to use SSW as your weapon to land stun on your opponent. Very snazzy and fancy tricks to use, and they take quite some time to learn. Bare with me, because there is a lot of reading. @_@
00:13 - (Full Translation Help Required.)
00:30 - Dragon Tail Retreat Route SSW. This means that you (the hybrid warrior) will sidestep switch weapon on where you predict the DT user will retreat to.
ef = A, pr = C-, fr = A+, lv = C+
This is actually a fairly useful and frequent tech despite its simplicity, because DTer is quite abundant in our server. It's easy to use with very little to no prediction demand. All you need is to have your SSW down. You see someone DT, you are at a good spot, you SSW to where he will run to, and bam. It's better if you can tell the 2hander is charging for DT, so you can run to the side ahead of time. Note: switching too early results in the 2hander seeing you. Personally, I use this a lot on DTers.
00:47 - Assaulting One-handed Warrior Counter. You sidestep to the charging enemy one-hander with your sword and shield and perform stun to prevent him further disrupting your army.
ef = B+, pr = C-, fr = B, lv = B+
Not as frequent as first tech, but it is quite useful to stop the 1hander and possibly get him killed. However, stunning the one hander doesn't always get him killed. Not easy to perform since if the 1hander is not too far from his reinforcement, there is a chance you get counter stunned, which can put yourself in danger. In addition, if 1hander movement is unpredictable, it will make this a more difficult technique to use.
1:07 - Blindspot Dive In? The idea is to switch onto an enemy who is unaware of your presence, because he is focused onto something else (in this case its a mage), and then stun.
ef = B, pr = C, fr = A-, lv = B
There is nothing special here, you SSW onto someone to help your teammate. No prediction requirement, all you need is SSW in and stun because your opponent can't see it. It is quite useful, and the tech can come in many different forms.
1:28 - same as 00:30, DT retreat route SSW
1:44 - SSW into enemy chasing a dying ally You SSW in to stop enemy from chasing a dying ally, that's all.
ef = A, pr = C, fr = B-, lv = B+
This is pretty straight foward, you intrude a chasing to help your ally. This doesn't work quite well if enemy has more than one chasing your ally. Very helpful when you can pull it off, but be aware your environment before you decide if you can counter attack that target. It can be used on other classes, but d scouts and 1hander can be troublesome. Also, there is only about 50% chance it can work against 2hander simply because they can SS at the dying ally.
1:58 - Knight Animation Pause SSW You sidestep onto a knight when he is using the Piercing attack on ally wraith.
ef = B-, pr = B+, fr = B-, lv = A-
Not very often you can perform this due to knight's speed. The usefulness is fair, but especailly useful when there is d scout around to follow up some debuffs, and buy your wraith a lot of time. But knight is a difficult target to chase, so SSW-ing on them is quite difficult to perform.
2:19 - Earth Stamper Counter SSW You use your SSW to evade an incoming ES and then stun the target immediately after you land.
ef = A, pr = B+, fr = B+, lv = A-
Very neat trick to counter a disrupting one handed. This is slightly different from charger onehander SSW because you are trying to counter one-hander's ES. ES is quick so it has difficulties and requires some enemy reading to pull off (although it seems the video demostrator SSW-ed just as onehanded jumped). Requires good reflex to pull off, but very handy and useful if the onehander is a assaulter type and is isolated.
2:43 - same as 00:47, but this time the hybrid got hit, T_T. Like I said, pure onehander movement can be unpredictable, thus there are risks doing this move. Nevertheless neat and useful, especially if the opponent is a hybrid and got your ally stunned (I call that shield hugger counter. :3)
3:00 - Dragon Tail Evasion SSW similar to DT counter earlier (man, DTers never learn) but this time is a direct evasion + SSW against an approaching DT.
ef = A+, pr = B-, fr = A+, lv = B
Another frequently performed move, because there are so many DTers in our server. The idea is you SSW to evade the DT, and then try to pin down the 2hander after you landed. It's nice if you predict when the 2hander is going to DT, and then time your SSW as soon as you sees it. Fairly high success rate, and the key is where you land and your reflex on where the 2hander will move to next. Quite possible the 2hander will run from you immediately after DT if he spots you.
3:21 - same as 3:00, but different positioning. Again, keys are timing, where you land, and how you chase.
3:39 - (Translation Help Required T_T)
4:00 - This is the transaction point where they are going to talk about Strike Smash (SS) usage next. I can't understand all the Japanese there as well, all I know is they will be talking about SS next. ~_~
4:15 - Strike Smash onto Retreating Path and SSW - You use strike smash on enemy and move yourself onto enemy's retreating path, then SSW onto their behind and stun.
ef = A+, pr = C, fr = B-, lv = A
Advanced technique, and usually for the purpose of chasing. It's not very often you use this because usually enemy is backed up by reinforcement (otherwise you wouldn't have a target to SS hook on), which means you are putting yourself in a lot of risk for doing this. It's possible to use OB instead, but again it's not very often you get to perform this. Nevertheless, a very powerful offensive stun because of it speed and surprise. Personally this is one of my favorite technique.
4:33 - Same as 4:15.
4:52 - Strike Smash -> Knockdown -> Magic Evasion SSW - This is a long combo, you strike smash to attack the mage (or close in), smash to knock her down (if she tries to sidestep), then use SSW to evade her upcomming ice C, and then stun.
ef = A+, pr = S, fr = C-, lv = S
Yes, this is a S ranked technique on my list, because it's so difficult to pull off. First, it's a long combo, and it requires the mage to freak out and sidestep on your attacks (in addition to being able to hit on her sidestep), plus the hardest part which is to evade SSW ice C. Personally I have tested with my corp mate, and it appears that there is NO WAY you can see/hear ice C AND still evade it with sidestep due to ice C's speed. You have to predict it completely, and then sidestep right at the time the mage uses ice C in order to dodge it. I have only pulled this whole combo off about 2 - 3 times in my whole life. This is a very difficult tech, and the chances of you replicating this is very low. Just ice C SSW evasion itself is more plausible, since mages have the tendency to ice C immediately after they stand up (this is what you are using against them). Beware though second ice C is possible sometimes, depending on the mage's PW avaliability. One second early or one second late and you could fail the stun.
5:16 - Strike Smash Chase -> SSW - You use Strike Smash to chase, and as soon as your opponent is knocked down, you SSW onto them, and then stun.
ef = A+, pr = B-, fr = A, lv = B+
Another one of my favorite tech in my book. This only works on flinchables (mainly b scouts/mages). D scout is fair game because they can disarm you as they stand up. Very efficient at killing the target, and not too difficult to pull off. The only randomness in this is not every bscout/mage sidestep (pros doesn'tt), and without knockdown this combo doesn't work. But alternatively, instead of trying to smash to knock the target down, you could always just SSW right after your strike smash lands, and this should give you adequate space and time to chase and stun.
5:35 - same as 5:16, but with addition of smash to knockdown.
6:02 - Mid-level Counter: Strike Smash SSW - This is the same thing as 5:16, but mage version. Note that if the mage was an ice mage with enough to ice C, this combo would have failed. Knowing your opponent mages' element beforehand or her PW ability is crucial for this kind of combo.
6:27 - Mid-level Strike Smash, Bait Fire, SSW - This is similar to 6:02, but without knockdown version. This is the special case when the mage is pro and doesn't freak out and sidestep. Requires some level of reflex and good eyeballing on position, because if she was too far the stun would have failed. Very effective nevertheless. Also if she decided to continue running instead of using ice on you, it would have failed, and this part is all about luck at some level.
6:52 - Ice break counter: Strike Smash SSW - This the same SS + SSW trick, but instead you are using it to counter a rooted hellfire.
ef = B+, pr = B+, fr = B+, lv = A
This is a tricky combo to use. You have to time your SS right after you got your damage before you can SS out. Too early would results in a fail rooted SS, and too late would result in a missed SS. Another thing to note is you ARE taking one full hellfire to perform this, and it's debatable at times rather to use this combo or just spam sonic boom. But, the upside is after a hellfire, the mage will definitely have no PW left for ice C, so they are wide open for you. This trick also works for whatever the mage is going to use (fireA-C, iceA, lightA-B), you can use SS to immediately to hit him. It's more affordable when the mage decides to use lightning, ice, or other fire spells, but of course, that would introduce the possibility of ice C counter, so the success depends highly on your PW prediction of the mage. Also note that it's usually better to wait for a sidestep before stunning, unless the mage insists on not to sidestep. But there are ways to go around it, depending on the situation.
7:12 - same as 6:52
And this concludes the 2handed focus hybrid warrior techniques that I want to explain for 2handed focus hybrid. This type of hybrid is for people who are particularly interested in doing damage and getting kills with their 2handed weaopn. You should wield your 2handed axe for the most part since that's where most of your skills are. For the most part you should use your shield as offense, and thus usually you only switch when you can ensure opponents' stun. Reinforced guard is generally not necessary because you should be using 2handed most of the time, and you will be switching weapon very extensively. It is possible to use shield for defense to fill up the role of a needed one-handed, but the only skills you can rely on is shield bash, sonic boom, and reinforced guard, so you need to approach your enemy with caution.
The rest of the videos will be focused on 1handed focus hybrid warrior techniques (I will talk about it a bit next). As you might have noticed already, all the techniques being taught just now fits into the category of EoS style I mentioned. This is not the definitive way of playing hybrid warrior, but it is a very fun way to use your hybridness to full. These are the techniques that I personally use and practice from time to time, and it's fun as heck to play.
The idea of EoS style is to utilize your SSW to the fullness and use it to coutner attack your enemies. The key here is element of surprise, and sometimes being able to dive in from opponents' blind spot will give them a lethal attack. I am only going over EoS style because this is the style that has actual techniques to practice on, unlike the other two styles. The other two styles are most important in timing of switching weapon, and it doesn't necessarily requires sidestep switch to be good at. If you are interested, you can watch the following video which is an old JP war video mainly showing how free-style 2handed hybrid is like on the field:
Free Style Hybrid (2 Handed Focus~Broken)
In addition, personally I don't suggest bimodal style for 2handed focus hybrid warrior, because it's very difficult to assault with only shield bash in your pocket. Of course, if you have decided to pick build A2 (with slam attack lvl 3) for your warrior, then you will have a better time at being bimodal. But then, giving up on sonic boom lvl 3 gives you an overall difficulty in both modes, so.... you really have to consider for yourself well and thorough before picking your build and style.
That's all I have about 2handed focus hybrid, for now. I hope this helps and can inspires some of you!
One-Handed Focus Hybrid Warrior[]
sake of completeness and the fact that I really want to see more one handed focus hybrids on the field (because, as you will see, they are pretty badass...), I will do whatever I can!
Theory of one handed focus build:
This type of hybrid warrior is for people who are more interested in support and holding frontlines because of the ability to use earth stamper and slam attack. You are virtually a 1hander, and your presence terrify your opponents because of your shield. If you play on bimodal style, reinforced guard should be your best friend, and you only switch to two-handed weapon when it is safe to proceed and the extra damage is necessary. This type of build is also suitable for free style players, it seems. This build is less available to EoS because you have your shield out most of the time. You can play reverse EoS style by pretending you are a fake 2hander, and gives surprise stun. Another way is you fake as a one hander, and SSW to your 2handed weapons behind your opponent to unleash deadly damage out of surprise.
Bimodal style is more suitable to one handed focus hybrid compare to two handed focus hybrid. The reason is for 2handed, though it might be difficult, having strike smash, smash, heavy smash and sonic boom is quite sufficient to perform well. Of course, since you lacked other AoEs, instead of assaulter, your main objective should be "supportive offense": wait for stuns, or sometimes roots, and then engage. As a one hander, you are adequate to hold front line and assault because of having ES and shield bash. You are as hard as a pure one hander after you use reinforced guard, and you should tank damage for allies just like a one hander would.
It seems that a lot of JP players are into free style for one handed focus build, and that changed my perspective a bit about them. If you are a fan of free style, this build is very suitable for players who are interested in having shield out most of the war for the extra resistance. But instead playing like one hander, you should focus more on being an assaulter using your agility. Earth stamper and slam attack becomes your best friend when you are assaulting. You would also make a good temporarily supporter using slam attack. You switch your weapon whenever you feel the need to output extra damage, either on allies' stun or your own stun. But beware, if there are enough allies on your side, there is no point to switch to axe and do no damage. Reinforced guard is optional according to your needs. I have seen free style players with it, and I have seen free style players without it. So, it depends on your style. But if you do want to use reinforced guard, then your weapon switch should be more considered and limited.
Therefore, unlike two-handed focus, one-handed focus build, in my opinion, requires much more consideration and discipline in order to benefit your army the most. This might be a challenge to newer players, because you might find yourself not really switching weapons a lot of times if you follow my advice. If this is happening to you, I would suggest that you first consult experts of 2handed warrior experts and 1handed warrior experts on how to cooperate with your team, because chances are, you are not switching because you don't know what you should be doing.
Okay, that's the pure block of text. Now is the visual part of it. >3<
First, lets look at the one hander portion of that hybrid warrior video I posted.
(Here It Is! Broken Again!)
The one hander part starts at 7:59. P.S. You can always watch this if you are not a hybrid; I highly recommend it.
So once again, this video stops at key points on where you should watch and learn, so watch those carefully. Since they didn't name those combos, I am not going to go over the things one by one this time. In fact, the later portion of the video is solely about one handers combo, and did not demostrate any weapon switch. The main idea of the one hander portion of the video is to play support as much as you can by pitting down on one target and temporarily hinders any enemy reinforcement to help the stunned target, and you accomplish this using slam attacks before and after you stun.
Now, here is a JP video that talks about one handed hybrid that I found recently, and this is my favorite because it shows how to play as one handed focus (and also the video is really funny, if you try to understand what he is doing)
(One Handed Demonstration Video Broken videos)
The actual demonstration starts around 1:10 and ends at 4:50, anything else are just chit chats and jokes (the jokes are really funny, if you get it, lol). The video is really short, but this is the only one I found that actually teaches something about one handed focus hybrid. So, I think I will go over my favorite parts that I want to focus on in this video:
1:19 - The only hybrid warrior combo being shown in this video: Stun > Earth Stamper > wait > Heavy Smash. (3 hits combo!)
1:33 - He is going to show how to assault into enemy force from the side as one hander, even with a wraith.....
2:12 - this is the part I like, where he is going to switch weapon onto an opportunity when he sees a stunned target within ally territory, which I thought was beautifully done even though he is still injured and trying to regen. Very good opportunity spotting.
2:29 - Now remember this GS user that he stunned, because she will come back later. <3
2:38 to 2:40 - It's the GS user again ! She reappears! And she is in pursuit
2:42 - He sees the chance! (the Japanese I think it's saying something like "dude, don't think I am just a pure one hander!")
2:45 - EoS style !!!!!! GOAAAAAAAAL! And, of course that GSer died. This is impressive, I think, because the enemies were actually in pursuit, but she got counter killed....
2:51 - Okay, time to run!
3:03 - I believe this is another example of EoS style. SSW > Strike Smash hook (similiar to EoS SS > Stun, remember? ) > Heavy Smash on escaping enemy.
3:14 - Same combo again as 1:19, but in different form.
To sum up, the videos mainly demonstrates on taking your opportunities to the fullest, and really that's what any hybrids should learn and try to master. (P.S. if you finished Death Notes anime, please watch the last part of his video... it's funny as shxt. xD)
Here is a JP war video on 1handed focus hybrid:
(One Handed Hybrid Warrior War Video broken )
I know the background music is a bit weird and annoying.. haha. But I like this videos because the recorder switches quite conservatively, and on pretty good timing. Otherwise, she is mainly on her 1handed weapon.
Another JP war video on 1handed focus, and this person uses reinforced guard so this is for those who are interested in using RG with their hybrid warriors:
(One Handed Hybrid Warrior War Video 2 Video broken)
Additional Info on 1handed focus (Thanks to NullValue for his input!):
The thing about 1handed focus hybrid is that SSW and Reinforced Guard are the exact reciprocals of each other. If you want to utilize SSW extensively, you would limit your RG. If you want to use RG for tanking ability, you would have to limit SSW. This would make 1handed focus hybrid seems very limited because you cannot have both improved flanking ability as a hybrid AND overwhelming defensive ability as a 1hander at the same time; you always have to pick one of the two. But, in theory, you are now given more flexibility because you are now a warrior with two modes on your 1handed weapon: flanking mode and defense mode. In other words, 1handed focus hybrid requires much more discipline and consideration in deciding their next move.
But here is the real kicker, as a 1handed focus hybrid you can't fit everything into 8 slots because you have 4 essential core skills from 1handed side (Blaze, ES, Shield Bash, Slam) + embolden, which leaves you with 3 choices left. So, I suppose the cutting line is: go flank mode with smash, SS, HS, or go defensive mode with RG, Sonic/Smash, HS. It's also possible to substitute blaze with sonic boom, or even with RG so that you can easily access both flank mode and defense mode at anytime. Whatever floats you boat, because there are many options you can use to fit in different situations.
Don't forget, you don't have crumble storm, so your ability to stall is much weaker compared to your pure counter part. But in return, you are provided the flexibility to speed up your flank, for example, by using the combo SS > SSW > ES (by NullValue). In other words, this build is perfect for players who absolutely hate or never have chance to use crumble storm, because you are literally sacrificing this skill for better ability to go offense.
I think that's all I have for now... enjoy~