Forum Settings
       
Reply To Thread

Skillchaining 101Follow

#1 Jan 30 2005 at 6:55 PM Rating: Excellent
Skillchains

I originally wrote this post lost November when I had only just unlocked PLD and I have new info too add as well as a better layout so here goes.

1: What is Skillchain?
2: Why Skillchain?
3: The Three Levels
4: How do I do it?
5: What Skillchain can I do? (using a chart)
5.1: Level 1 Skillchains
5.2: Level 2 Skillchains
5.3: Level 3 Skillchains
5.4: Priority (a, b and c)
6. Bloodpacts
7: Ancient Magic
8: Ninjutsu and other magic bursts


1: What is a Skillchain?

A skill chain is when 2 or more weapon skills are used consecutively to create an additional elemental based damage. A skill chain is usually complimented by a magic burst provided by a “black magic” spell.

2: Why Skillchain?

Basically because they can deal a hell of a lot of extra damage to the mob. The skillchain itself does not cause that much damage, it is the magic burst afterwards that is damage dealer.

At earlier levels, a successful skillchain and magic burst can cause around 300 extra damage, leading up to in excess of 800+ extra damage when black mages get their Ancient Magic spells, and more powerful skillchains are used


3: The Three Levels


Skillchains comes in three levels

Level 1 Skillchains

These can be done very early on in the game but do only a little damage.

  • Reverberation = Water

  • Compression = Dark

  • Transfixion = Light

  • Detonation = Wind

  • Liquefaction = Fire

  • Impaction = Thunder

  • Induration = Ice

  • Scission = Earth



  • Level 2 Skillchains

    These can also be done relatively early on in the game but do more damage than a level 1 skillchain.

  • Gravitation = Dark or Earth

  • Fusion = Fire or Light

  • Distortion = Water or Ice
  • Fragmentation = Thunder or Wind



  • Level 3 Skillchains

    Light and dark skillchains are very damaging, but can only be done much later on in the game, as they require your weapon skill to be 200+

  • Darkness = Dark, Earth, Water or Ice

  • Light = Fire, Light, Thunder or Wind

  • 4: How do I do it?

    The keys to a successful skillchain is timing, which depended mostly on communication.

    Each player who is taking part in the skill chain should have a simple TP Report Macro.

    I use the following macro

    /p TP = <tp> <call10> {weapon skill}


    This is very simple, but it also conveys the message across very quickly and doesn't take time to read. I also use auto-translate for as many words as possible because it makes it stand out more and Japanese players can understand it.

    When each player taking part in the skill chain reports their tp as 100% (or more depending on how you want to play) its a good idea to have a macro along the lines of

    /p {Weapon Skill} in 3 Seconds

    This will give your Party members enough time to get ready.

    Routine
    Player 1 weapon skill
    Wait 3 seconds
    Player 2 weapon skill
    Wait 2 seconds
    Player 3 weapon skill (optional)
    Cast spell (the spell takes time to cast so there is no need to wait)


    I would recommend keeping skillchains to only 2 members leaving any additional members out, or if their are 2 extra DD's have them do their own skillchain so as to avoid confusion and slip-ups.

    It is not very hard to get used to, and the timing is not very hard to measure either, practice makes perfect.

    5: What Skillchain can I do? (using a chart)

    First, download the following skillchain chart, provided by www.adennak.com. The PDF chart is easier to print out as you don't have to resize it, unlike the jpg

    PDF: http://www.adennak.com/renkei09.pdf
    JPG: http://www.adennak.com/renkei09.jpg

    It all looks a bit confusing right? Not for long.

    5.1: Level 1 Skillchains

    *Ignore the chart in the top right had corner, this is for level 3 skillchains which we will come to later
    *Ignore the letters a, b and c.

    All the boxes with just 1 elemental attribute in them are level 1 skillchains (i.e. Liquefaction, Fusion Impaction etc)

    To do the Impaction (Thunder) skillchain you could do Dark Harvest > Shield Break. You could also do Balde:Teki > Combo to get Impaction. There are loads of possibilities. To magic bust the skill chain, the mage should cast a thunder spell.

    similarly to do the Renke Revelation (Water) you could do Powerslash > Shadowstich. To magic bust the skill chain, the mage should cast a water spell.

    Obviously, against a water mob (like a snipper) the Reverbation (Water) skillchain would be less effective than the Impaction (Thunder) skillchain as the snipper will be weak to Thunder. Choose your skillchains carefully and you will be able to do massive amounts of damage.

    5.2: Level 2 Skillchains

    *Ignore the chart in the top right had corner, this is for level 3 skillchains which we will come to later
    *Ignore the letters a, b and c.

    All the boxes with 2 elemental attribute in them are level 2 skillchains (i.e. Gravitation, Fusion, Distortion and Fragmentation)

    To do the Distortion (Ice or Water) skillchain you could do Power Slash > Iron Tempest. To magic bust the skill chain, the mage should cast either a Ice or Water spell.

    Similarly to do the Fusion (Fire or Light) skillchain you could do Burning Blade > Shield Break. To magic bust the skill chain, the mage should cast either a fire or light spell.

    5.3: Level 3 Skillchains

    *Ignore the letters a, b and c.

    The most powerful of the skillchains, these do a lot more damage than Level 2 skillchains, but also require you be a much higher level.

    Look at the top right chart, this is where the Level 3 skillchains are. The top half show the skillchain Light and the bottom shows skillchain Dark. The other Skill Chain's shown in this small chart are level 2.

    To do Light skillchain, you could do Dragon Kick > Minstral Axe. The magic burst would be either Fire, Light, Thunder or Wind

    To do Dark skillchain, you could do Full Break > Swift Blade. The magic burst would be either Dark, Earth, Water or Ice

    5.4: Priority (a, b and c)

    Some weapon skills have 2 or 3 elements, i.e. Red Lotus has both fire and Wind elements. The a, b and c represent which element will be used in a particular skillchain. For example using the following skillchain

    Fast Blade > Red Lotus Blade

    This could either result in Detonation (Wind) or Liquefaction (Fire)

    When this happens, the element with the highest priority will be chosen. So, as the Fire has priority A for red lotus, it will always be chosen over Wind, which has priority b. Therefore Fast Blade > Red Lotus Blade will always result in Liquefaction.

    The reason for having this second elemental attribute is so that more skillchains are possible. For example red lotus (wind) can also chain to one inch punch (dark) and cause Gravitation. When the game cannot use element A, it will use Element B, and if it cannot use Element B it will use Element C, and if there is no element C, the skillchain will not work.

    6: Bloodpacts

    Summoners have blood pact instead of Weapon skill. Bloodpact take longer to execute than a normal Weapon skill (~7 seconds) so the skillchain must be done differently. If the Summoner is first, then the second person must wait longer to execute their weapon skill


    If the summoner is the second person in the skill chain, they should execute their bloodpact immediately before the first person does to ensure that the skillchain works

    Summoner First Shock Strike > Gale Axe for Detonation (wind)

    Summoner uses bloodpact
    Wait 7 Seconds
    Ramuha uses Shock Strikes
    Wait 3 seconds
    Warrior uses Gale Axe
    Skillchain: detonation

    Summoner Second Smash Axe > Rock Buster for Fragmentation (thunder, wind)

    Summoner uses bloodpact
    Warrior uses Smash Axe
    Titan uses Rock Buster
    Skillchain: fragmentation

    7: Ancient Magic

    When a BLM hits level 50+ they can get a new set of spells, know as ancient magic. These spells are Freeze, Tornado, Quake, Burst, Flood, and Flare. These spells do extreme damage, as well as having an additional effect (Freeze makes the mob weak to fire, Flood weak to lightning etc). If these are used in the skillchain to magic burst, then the extra damage will be amazingly high.

    The only problem with the ancient spells is that they take ~19 seconds to cast and require a slightly different timing. Because of the huge cast time, the BLM should initiate the skillchain by casting the ancient spell. By the time the skillchain has been performed, the spell will lend of the mob to add the magic burst.

    An example of a macro (based upon a 2-man Skill Chain)

    /magic "Flare" <t>
    /p Casting Flare in 19 seconds.
    /wait 6
    /p Start Skillchain Now!

    However, magic bursting with Ancient spells is very difficult, as it requires the melee's to time their part almost exactly, else the magic burst will easily happen too early or too late.

    8: Ninjitsu and other magic bursts

    Ninjas can also take part in magic bursts using there Ichi and Ni spells, however the burst is very weak. If there is no BLM in the party, then you might as well use it for extra hate.

    It is also possible to use spells such as “choke” and “shock” to magic burst, but again these are very weak.


    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Please, if you think I have made a mistake, correct me and i will edit this post to reflect the correct information.

    Thankyou
    #2 Jan 30 2005 at 7:02 PM Rating: Good
    **
    689 posts
    you know, i've been using that cited chart for soooo long now and it still makes so little sense to me and is confusing and bumbling and blah blah blah.

    some one somewhere needs to write out something simple, like,

    Fast Blade + Burning Blade = whatever-SC-that-is-but-starts-with-a-D-doesn't-it?

    for allll of them. either do that or send me a link to where it already is. 'cause that chart's confusing as crap (anyone else feel that way?). or i guess just someone write something that makes sense of that for me. doesn't matter too much i guess, i know my MBs. (woooot for fellow mages!)

    Anyways, AWESOME POST!!!!!!!!!! Really truly wonderful! Good job! Keep it up, and i pray more people read this ^^

    /hurray
    #4 Jan 30 2005 at 9:55 PM Rating: Good
    *
    175 posts
    Great post! Rate up!

    Well, I do have 1 question want to ask. I saw my LS mate could work out "Light" and "Darkness" SC from the lower level WS and end it with some 225+ WS. Could you teach me how to construct one of those "Skillchain" from the Adennak's renkei table? Or I where could I learn from that? Thank you so much!

    As I am getting into my LV65+, Light and Darkness would be the vital SC I will come across in exp. party.

    Thank you


    Morley
    #5 Jan 31 2005 at 4:32 AM Rating: Good
    MorleyOFBahamut wrote:

    Well, I do have 1 question want to ask. I saw my LS mate could work out "Light" and "Darkness" SC from the lower level WS and end it with some 225+ WS. Could you teach me how to construct one of those "Skillchain" from the Adennak's renkei table?
    Morley


    Sure, it is possible to create light and dark skillchains using low level weapon skills.

    If you look at the bottom right of the chart, you can see the "dark" area. following this, you could create a Light(Transfixion) skillchain by: One Inch Punch > Dentonator. One Inch Punch is a low level WS, and Detonator is a high level WS. Similary you could do Double Thrust > Keen Edge to make a Dark (Compression) Skillchain. Double thrust is a very early weapon skill, whilst Keen Edge come at around level 50.

    The reason why these are not used very often is becuase they are only level 1 Skillchains, they are not the same as the level 3 Light and Dark skillchains.

    Weather or not it is possible to do a level 3 Light and Dark skillchains is the way that you said, I have no idea. The skillchain chart I used is pretty popular, but doesn't show all of the possible skillchais, it is limited, however I have yet to be in a party where this hasn't come in use.
    #6 Jan 31 2005 at 5:37 AM Rating: Good
    Here is how you create Light and Darkness using just one lv65+ WS.
    Light is Fusion <-> Fragmentation
    Darkness is Distortion <->Gravitaion
    Each of the "lv3 WS" has a LV2 skillchain attribute, for example Mistral Axe is Fusion and Dragon Kick is Fragmentation. You can create Light with two of them (in any order, it does not matter for these WSs) but what if you only have Dragon Kick and no Fusion WS? It can be helped, you just need to create Fusion with 2 WSs (Spinning Axe > Raging Fists, for example) and then do a Fragmentation WS like Dragon Kick.

    Actually three WS LV3 Skillchain is very useful and powerful in a NIN party, NIN's Katana WS is Blade: Ten and it has Gravitation properties so to create Darkness you need to create Distortion first and close it with a Gravitation WS. Distortion is a powerful skillchain by itself and can be MBed for nice damage already and then Darness can be MBed too! Same can be done with a PLD, whose Swift Blade is Gravitation too provided there is enough refresh to let the PLD stay between fights.

    As an added bonus for such method Darkness usually deals more damage than WS produced it, unlike with 2 WS method when skillchain damage will be the same as the last WS's.
    #7 Jan 31 2005 at 6:11 AM Rating: Good
    *
    52 posts
    This is a great post!! Please make an effort to place this in the game guide area.

    I'm not sure if this will help you guys, but check out this link... http://ffxi.liquid-x.net/renkei/ Its a skillchain calculator, I used it all the time when I was leveling my Warrior. Hope it helps.
    #8 Jan 31 2005 at 7:18 AM Rating: Good
    Trantzzz wrote:
    This is a great post!! Please make an effort to place this in the game guide area.


    I have submitted it to Pikko
    #9 Jan 31 2005 at 11:18 AM Rating: Default
    bump
    #10 Jan 31 2005 at 11:39 AM Rating: Decent
    ***
    1,697 posts
    Quote:
    It is also possible to use spells such as “choke” and “shock” to magic burst, but again these are very weak


    I am going to disagree with bursting debuffs as being weak. Yes BLM or RDM should be bursting damage spells. But, on the other hand the WHM or BRD can burst as well. (no not holy even though i like that MP hog spell)

    I am talking about bursting Paralyze (ice), Slow (earth), Silence (wind), Elegy (earth). When these spells are bursted they seem to work very very well.
    #11 Jan 31 2005 at 11:55 AM Rating: Decent
    *
    249 posts
    Here is a fun one my semi static learned this weekend.

    Viper bite + Red Lotus blade = liquifaction +rdm fire (MB) + Raging Fists= fusion + Blm fire III(MB) + rdm fire II (MB)
    #12 Jan 31 2005 at 12:10 PM Rating: Decent
    Eto...
    Please check my Sig...
    Both the calculators are a little.. well.. quite out of date. But they seem to work quite fine for me :)
    #13 Feb 01 2005 at 11:59 AM Rating: Decent
    Fng wrote:
    Quote:
    It is also possible to use spells such as “choke” and “shock” to magic burst, but again these are very weak


    I am going to disagree with bursting debuffs as being weak. Yes BLM or RDM should be bursting damage spells. But, on the other hand the WHM or BRD can burst as well. (no not holy even though i like that MP hog spell)

    I am talking about bursting Paralyze (ice), Slow (earth), Silence (wind), Elegy (earth). When these spells are bursted they seem to work very very well.


    These kind of deuffs do seem to stick for longer, I'll add a secion about debuff bursting later on tonight.
    #14 Feb 01 2005 at 12:36 PM Rating: Good
    ***
    3,038 posts
    Quote:
    Level 1 Skillchains

    These can be done very early on in the game but do only a little damage.

    Level 2 Skillchains

    These can also be done relatively early on in the game but do more damage than a level 1 skillchain.


    Your guide is nicely done, but I take issue with the above statements. Oftentimes, a level 1 skillchain will be more effective in a party than a level 2. For instance, versus crabs, I as a monk can use Raging Fists to close either Fusion (lv.2 fire/light) or Impaction (lv.1 thunder). Since crabs are weak to thunder, Impaction is the better choice here, not only for a better MB, but also less chance of SC resistance.

    You also have to work with the WSes available. When fighting Toramas who are weak to earth, you can do scission (lv.1 earth), or gravitation (lv.2 earth/dark). While Gravitation has very few good closers (Penta Thrust is all I can think of), scission has many, including a THF's strong Viper Bite. Check one of those out and then tell me level 1's do "only a little damage."

    Elemental resistances are more important for making a good SC than level 1 vs. level 2. I believe the caps for level 1 and 2 skillchain damage is 50% and 60% of the final WS damage, respectively. This is not really that much of a difference. Certainly not as dramatic as the level 3 jump to at least 100%.

    There is also a bonus modifier related to the number of WSes in the skillchain. I'm not sure what it caps at, but preceding a Fusion with Liquefaction will raise the SC damage cap above 60%. With this in mind, 3 and even 4-WS skillchains can be more effective in a properly coordinated party. As a poster mentioned above, a 3-WS level 3 SC can actually do more damage than the closing WS.

    Quote:
    The skillchain itself does not cause that much damage, it is the magic burst afterwards that is damage dealer.


    Hey, don't rule us melees out. Check out a skillchain with SATAVB, Raging Fists, Sidewinder, and several other high-damage WSes. Our damage can often meet/exceed MB damage, although I agree that MBs are very potent.

    Also, I would not call ninjas bursting with Ni ninjutsu weak. It can easily exceed 200 damage on exp mobs, and ninjas should ALWAYS be encouraged to do this, not only if there is no BLM.

    Ok just one more. :P AM bursts are awesome, but quickly become inefficient for exping. 1000+ damage is awesome, but 300+ MP for it is a heavy price. Sometimes it is more mp efficient to burst with other magic, and keep the chain going.

    Edited, Tue Feb 1 12:43:36 2005 by Minaku

    Edited, Tue Feb 1 12:42:39 2005 by Minaku

    Edited, Tue Feb 1 12:47:45 2005 by Minaku
    #15 Feb 01 2005 at 12:45 PM Rating: Good
    ***
    1,655 posts
    ataglance wrote:
    you know, i've been using that cited chart for soooo long now and it still makes so little sense to me


    Some people suggest reading it less like a chart and more like a map. You find the place you are starting (by seeing where the Weaponskill is) and then follow the arrows to see where you can go (where the other party memebers' Weaponskills are).

    ataglance wrote:
    some one somewhere needs to write out something simple, like,

    Fast Blade + Burning Blade = whatever-SC-that-is-but-starts-with-a-D-doesn't-it?


    Well, in that example, look for Fast Blade. That's Stone. And look for Burning Blade. That's Fire. There's an arrow that connects Stone and Fire. The arrow is labeled Liquefaction (Fire). So it makes Liquefaction. See, it can work like a map.

    As for writing them all out. . . a list like that could literally be hundreds of pages, if you had to write out every Weaponskill that every other Weaponskill can chain into. I mean, it's possible, sure. But you would end up with an entire booklet instead of a chart. I can't imagine using it without memorization. :P

    Edited, Tue Feb 1 12:49:24 2005 by adennak
    #16 Feb 01 2005 at 1:38 PM Rating: Default
    Thank you so much. This post has proven to be very useful. While my blm isn't my main I figure I need to get into the habit of learning how to skillchain. Even though blm is just a sub for my whm, I feel other people in the party should not have to suffer for my boredom of lvling up a sub ^^
    I think entirely too many people half *** their subs cause they hate it. When lvling I want to make my job the best that I can, so others don't suffer. heh.
    #17 Feb 01 2005 at 1:51 PM Rating: Decent
    **
    689 posts
    Quote:
    Well, in that example, look for Fast Blade. That's Stone. And look for Burning Blade. That's Fire. There's an arrow that connects Stone and Fire. The arrow is labeled Liquefaction (Fire). So it makes Liquefaction. See, it can work like a map.


    ok, ok, this makes sense. but now, how do i know that Fast Blade is an earth WS? how does one know such things and where can i find this crap out on my own?

    *edit - ignore the question. the orginally asked question suddenly makes more sense now that i've flipped back to the chart. but wow man, you mellee people got it rough, all i have is a chart that's like "this SC = this MB!" so comparitively simple.

    Edited, Tue Feb 1 13:54:51 2005 by ataglance
    #18 Feb 01 2005 at 1:54 PM Rating: Decent
    *
    249 posts
    lol rhiana I hate leveling whm for my sub.....^^

    but no I wont half *** it, I got too much respect for those strong enough to tough whm out as a main.
    #19 Feb 01 2005 at 1:57 PM Rating: Decent
    *
    249 posts
    I have trouble reading the charts forward too. dono why. But I find if I know a SC from the game I can follow it on the chart, and each time I study it that way it makes a little more sense forwards as well.
    #20 Feb 01 2005 at 3:37 PM Rating: Default
    Sharia wrote:
    lol rhiana I hate leveling whm for my sub.....^^

    but no I wont half *** it, I got too much respect for those strong enough to tough whm out as a main.


    I really like being whm alot. And I think I'm damn good at it. If I ever ***** up in a pt its only because I have a massive lag or I'm stuck on the ps2 and get my functions messed up >.> or when I accidently hit my benediction macro which has only been 2 times my entire whm life lol. I like meeleing too. Atm I guess I get bored easily of blm, because I want to hurry up and lvl my whm max ^^
    Reply To Thread

    Colors Smileys Quote OriginalQuote Checked Help

     

    Recent Visitors: 257 All times are in CST
    Nanako, Anonymous Guests (256)