Great Sword or Scythe to 37?

[DM337]

Hello, just a simple question from a total DRK newb. Eventually, I plan to take DRK up to 37 so that if/when I get RDM to 75 I can be a Stun whore as well as a Refresh and Haste whore in HNM fights. I was wondering, from Lv. 1-37, what is the overall better weapon, Great Sword, or Scythe? I figure Great Sword can open Distortion which is nice, but Scythe might bring more raw damage. (outside WS) I'm leaning towards Great Sword, but I'm a total DRK newb (and overall, a newb to melee) so I come here to seek some advice.

[Phong]

I would say Greataxe. Sturmwind is a really good WS. You get it @ 24, and @ 30, you can stack it with SA.

lvl.20 GAXE weapon is pretty good too:
Neckchopper 20 39 489 WAR/DRK
Accuracy+5


But if you dont want to go that route. I would say GSword so you can do Distoration MB with a thief partner.

[Rodin]

Go with scythe, since it's a DRK's A rated weapon. At level 66 (I think) switch over to greatsword since one of it's WS's is needed to pull off a Light Skillchain that will devastate the bones that you will probably be fighting.

[gix]

Above poster did not read the initial post w
Go GS, sturmwind is nice but you don't get thf sa until lv30, which leaves you 7 lvls. also, sturmwind cannot close distortion so you'll usually end up with reverberation. gs is more flexible than scythe, go gs.

[Tifa]

I was one to level DRK to 37 and I managed to keep both GS and Scy capped. My findings:

a. GS is much more flexible in terms of making SC (can close and open distortion)
b. Scythe does more pure damage, just for the fact that there are better scythes available to buy!
c. Without a decent tank, you can easily pull hate with an outdated weapon, thus making it ok to use GS.

lately ive seen almost all idiots under level 40...how damn hard is it to provoke every 30 seconds? blah...just my server..good luck with drk

[fuz]

Well you can look at it another way--scythe is cheaper since they aren't realy in great demand. But there aren't any good starting scythes and the WS sucks in terms of damage and compatability.

But for effectiveness only up to lvl 37, I'd say Gsword is the way to go, especially if you can afford to nab a braveheart at 18 and can afford the next few in line. Distortion is very nice SC since you'll be killing many crabs...

[Matkun]

Greatsword is good, I'd reccomend Greataxe though if your ONLY taking up to 37.. Sturmwind blows away any of the other GS weaponskills you get up to 37.

[Buuyon]

scythe and gsword both have an A rating...i say go with scythe

[gix]

technically scythe is a+ and gs is a-, but before lv61 there are no differences in skill caps.

[Fuzzbox]

another way to be pretty decent with Great Axe is to grab an Axe Belt at level 30 (+5 g.axe skill when subbing war) which makes you almost as good as a warrior.

you can still use neckchopper for +acc because you now have 3 +attack JA and (i think) at least one +attack passive skill.

[Buuyon]

Originally posted by gix
technically scythe is a+ and gs is a-, but before lv61 there are no differences in skill caps.
thats why i said A lol

[Awntawn]

I personally would go GS, you can powerslash > viperbite starting 33 or so. Although G.Axe might be stronger for those levels, the fact remains that if you're invited as DRK, most likely it's because they'll want the DRK's skillchain capabilities.

[SkyWing_]

GS for me has always been a mager dmg dealer (especially when yur class is just used as a tank) I know I don't have a Drk, but since a Pld can produce a fair amount of Dmg using a GS (including Power Slash, or Frost Bite) a Drk with its attack being so high you should be albe to inflict much more dmg than a scyth would. IMO :thumbsup:

hehehe ya think one of the biggest reasons why Drk use Scyths is cuz it just looks coo with the AF armor??? :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p

[Dr. Evil]

Originally posted by SkyWing_
GS for me has always been a mager dmg dealer (especially when yur class is just used as a tank) I know I don't have a Drk, but since a Pld can produce a fair amount of Dmg useing a GS (including Power Slash, or Frost Bite) a Drk with its attack being so high you should be albe to inflict much more dmg than a scyth would. IMO :thumbsup:

hehehe ya think one of the biggest reasons why Drk use Scyths is cuz it just looks coo with the AF armor??? :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p

LMAO, Sky get the hell out of here! stupid Pali posting in Dark section.:rolleyes:

I never tried gs very much due to I trained with Scyth ever since I got DRK, I personally think that a scyth is faster and is a better attacking weapon, not a flat out power dmg dealer. but it all depends on what purpose your using the weapon for i guess *rubs his bald head*.

[fuz]

All the scythes suck until maybe Vassago's, by which time you get Guillotine and should have enough acc+. The only thing I see the higher attack on scythes for at low levels is doing minimal damage to crabs that used a def up move.

Otherwise the damage over time is all but the same and both weapon WS suck--albeit gsword has better compatability for Distortion. Which lends me to believe that gsword is the better weapon to use from low to mid levels. Also like Sturmwind, you can stack Sneak Attack on Hard Slash for some pretty impressive damage.

[Malachi_Gage]

so now if i was talking DRK to 75, would i follow the same route? Gsword to 37'ish? then scythe the rest of the way?

[Awntawn]

to 75, you're gonna have to take a lot of time skilling up. I'd say GS to 49, skillup scythe (prefably through G1 parties if you don't have a higher level job to skillup with), scythe to 66, then GS (skill to max and get spinslash first) the rest of the way, but try to keep both weapons skilled from here on out. Levelling will take so much exp at this point, if you make your parties right capping both won't be a problem.

[Dark2light2]

Am I missing something here? Why don't you just level up both.
I did it and it wasn't hard. Geez whats the big fuss, you can easily level two weapons to max.

[Malachi_Gage]

thx for the help Awntawn! :thumbsup:

[Dai_Okami]

Originally posted by Dark2light2
Am I missing something here? Why don't you just level up both.
I did it and it wasn't hard. Geez whats the big fuss, you can easily level two weapons to max.


Le Owned.

[Arli]

One thing I noticed about keeping Gsword leveled is in that it saves you alot of difficulty awkward space in time between getting Guillotine and Cross Reaper. While a DRK/WAR and THF/NIN are good distortion buddies, when you hit the 60's, it gets rough because THF/NIN wants to close renkei with Dancing Edge and DRK/THF wants to close with Guillotine. Obviously, the THF or the DRK have to go, but if the THF leaves, the DRK has a hard time closing an effective renkei with Guillotine in comparison to a THF's Dancing Edge. The solution is the level 200 Great Sword skill Sickle Moon.

I can't tell you how much I love that WS. During a time where our THF left out perma and being the only SATA DPS in the PT, I had a hard time punching out damage to close a wicked renkei until I leveled my Great Sword to use Sickle Moon. The WS is great because not only does it close Distortion, it's power gets a kick in the pants with Sneak Attack (even more with Last Resort). I was doing 500-700 damage consistently with an SATA Sickle Moon with our DRGs Skewer for 500 or so distortion.

So yeah, keeping Great Sword leveled is always a fantastic idea, not only for Spinning Slash - Sickle Moon rocks.

[Kirak]

as with most of my jobs, i just go with what looks the coolest/i like the best

this probably came from my monk (Hey let's do distortion, wait you can't T.T)

Through dunes qufim and kazham it doesn't really matter, but in Gairlage everyone becomes obsessed with Distortion and that is when you might as well just stick with G. Sword