Swordmasters are a powerful physical class who can be used in a variety of ways. Not only are they the most defensive class in end.earth, (making them ideal for guarding more fragile characters), they also have great offensive potential. A lot of this offensive potential comes from their combo, as explained last weekend. To summarize, successfully damaging your opponents makes the swordmaster more powerful, while being hit makes them weaker.
The skill swordmasters come with, Rush, can take advantage of the combo. Rush is a special move with an effect called "quick draw". Skills with quick draw happen before any other attacking action that takes place in a turn. However, if there are multiple quick draw skills being used in the same turn, the fastest character will go first.
How does this go well with the combo? Imagine this situation: your combo has successfully been built up to a dangerous level. Your opponents see this threat, and plan to pummel you with multi-hit attacks to lower your combo. With Rush, you can take advantage of whatever your combo has been built up to before it is drained. Like other skills with quick draw, I'm sure you'll find many other handy uses.
The first skill swordmasters learn could probably be called their defining skill: Combo Crasher. In a savage storm of swings, the swordmaster attacks a number of times equal to their current combo. These attacks aren't any stronger than a normal attack, however quantity quickly takes over quality against low defense enemies. After the skill is completed, the combo counter is reset to zero.
Next is a handy skill: Impale. This attack bypasses enemy defenses, but in return deals a random amount of damage. While it can be up to twice as strong as a normal attack, it can also be half as strong.
If you're looking for a quick way to build up your swordmaster's combo counter, then their next skill is right up your ally: Cyclone Attack. This skill attacks three times in a row, each hit with increasing power.
The final skill I'll cover in this session is Fury Strike. Unlike the other skills swordmasters learn thus far, Fury Strike is an "buff" skill, meaning it temporarily increases the power of the user. When this particular skill is used, the swordmaster has a 50% chance of gaining an extra swing at the end of all of their attacks. This is very handy for building up a combo after using Combo Crasher, or even at the start of a battle.
More on this powerhouse class will be revealed on a later knight... err, night.
