Hello my friends and enemies, my opps and clique, welcome to Big Smonk's personal guide to armed. I have played armed on several characters and all of this information is dated as of 8/28/2023. I will not tout myself as an ARMED GOD, but I do think myself of having the experience and ability to be able to tell people the good and the bad, the niche and the valuable moves that lay within this tree.
I will preface this whole ordeal with my bias: Armed is a good tree. It isn't overpowered, I don't think it's bad, I do think it's reliable and decent. Thus, my opinions on certain spells will be skewed in a manner that places them further in a positive light rather than a negative one.
Also, I will not be covering signatures.
ARMED: Armed as a whole is a tree based in close range combat. It has several mid-cooldown, hard hitting moves paired with low cooldown attacks with decent damage. There are two methods to playing this tree wholly dependent on the percentage of your bar that is physical. If you run mostly armed, you benefit far more from sticking close to your opponent for the entirety of the RPB, while if you only run the usual suspects (which I will get into), a hit and run strategy is far more suited for it. Most people run the latter rather than the former, and several moves change the playstyle to suit the former more. I have developed characters that have played into both, so I feel as if I can comment on it.
For those who don't know and who are very new, Armed is also one of two trees that benefit from physical power and the physical stat. The physical stat is flat power that applies only to armed and unarmed abilities. Most weapons that belong to the Armed style of fighting have more effective power when using these Armed spells, but less so when using anything that is not.
Going in order for each move...
DASH STRIKE - 14 Range, 5 SD, 6 seconds GCDE: I have not been paid by Chance to advertise this move, but I am so tired of people sleeping on it. Here's how dash strike works - you hit the move, it sends you towards your target on the most efficient path possible for 14 range. During it, you are castlocked and cannot use any other spells, however, it IS GCDE. If you collide with your target, the spell ends and deals 5 SD to your opponent. 6 seconds of cooldown. Imagine, if you would, a dash that you could use that is LONGER than your base dash, LOWER COOLDOWN than your base dash and takes the MOST EFFICIENT route towards your enemy.
If someone eviscerates you, you turn around. Teleport? You turn around. You head RIGHT FOR THEM. Not to mention, with a speedboost on dash, you gain the boost after the spell ends. The 5 SD is a cherry on top and the GCDE enables a possible free fatal post-collision. This move may not be some insane cover the arena in eye-bleed yellow, but by god is it the best mobility option for Armed players. I'm sick of the slander, it needs to stop. If you're not a beastkin or even if you are, TAKE THIS MOVE.
DOUBLE SLASH - In-Front-Of-You Range, 4.5 SD, 8 seconds GCDE: At 4.5 SD per tick with 2 ticks, this move is reliable damage. I will concede that it, along with sweeping cleave, fall on the lower end of armed moves and it has nothing to do with their damage. Double slash castlocks you, which even if it's GCDE, isn't great. However, if we lived in a non-castlock world where this move existed, it would shred any and all who dare cross it's path. If you need to fill a slot, it's not bad. It's far better for the sticky playstyle, especially due to stepcast and garuda-effect lending to it sticking to your enemy. Also, I've heard it works with flashsword, though I could be wrong.
SWEEPING CLEAVE - In-Front-Of-You-ish Range, 13 SD, 19 seconds: Another sticky move. As long as you're within 3-4 tiles of your opponent with garuda and stepcast, you get right in their face and smack them. Right over the head. In addition, it applies a slow. Some say the hitbox is wacky, I say that it's a great move, especially with that cooldown. Again, not to say it doesn't have it's flaws, but I do think people are way too mean to it. Admittedly, it also sits on the lower end of armed.
FATAL STRIKE (USUAL SUSPECT 1) - ??? Range, 18 SD (+4 SD Bleed ticks), 20 seconds: Many people look at the numbers of fatal strike and exhibit some form of disgust. They cry out and decry it's glory. I will say this, if you only look at it from a numbers perspective, Fatal Strike is a WONDROUS move. However, when you start using it, you realize that it's not exactly the free win that some make it out to be. For starters, hitting fatal raw can range depending on how fast you or your opponent is and if you're setting it up or not. The easiest way to hit fatal revolves around a setup, which realistically gives it a different cooldown. In theory, if I am a holy mage, I rely on sanctified flash to connect it. This makes Fatal Strike a 30 second cooldown, etc. etc. If I am to hit it raw, there is a far higher chance of a miss, but I can take advantage of it's lower cooldown more. In addition, during a fatal strike you can control it via CTRL+Move by default.
Now let's go into my favorite and least favorite mechanic. Dash-Fatal. Dash fatal is a shorthand way to describe using the ability during a dash. The results can vary based on timing, but if you ask me, it's random. Dash fatals do two things to the ability. One: It makes the range FAR HIGHER. At base, it's a 9 range dash and you hit anyone you dash through or into. Two: There is a possibility for what I will call 'Fatal Correction', which occurs when an opponent is close enough during your fatal strike that it will almost home into them. However, consistency is not guaranteed and shouldn't be relied on. Another use for dash fatals is mobility. When you dash-fatal, you can control the trajectory with your movement keys and you do not need to head towards your opponent. This can be used to escape corners, move around or past big moves, whatever you think you might need big distance for.
However, fatal strike has one fatal flaw: THE JANK. This is practically a feature, do not fix any of this because I doubt you can as this code was created by ancient titans of old. There are two janky exchanges fatal can have, with some yet to be documented like a chronicle. First is what I will call empty-dash fatal. This happens I think because as you pass through them, you are in your dash animation instead of your fatal animation, leading to NO connect. Second is fatal exchanges. When two fatals cross, it seems that only the first to fatal goes off. I do not know why this happens. There's other jank, but I don't know it yet or felt it wasn't worth writing.
EDIT: If you dash fatal into an invuln, it will try and tick multiple times. This will kill you if it's TC or DPalm and heal them to insane amounts if it's Ribcage. Be warned.
In conclusion, this move is good. It has ups and downs, it is a great move and without it, armed would be worse by a county mile.
GALEFORCE - 9 Range, 4.7 SD (5 ticks), 22 seconds: Galeforce is a controversial move. As someone who had a part in getting it nerfed, I think it's still a great move. With a total of 23.5 SD, it has two flaws. One, it is a drag. Walls severely harm your damage. Two, it is a drag without any CC. If there's no setup, you can just walk away. I think it's worth it for a pile of damage, but if they don't LITERALLY stand still, you're getting next to nothing out of it. I think it's good, but it's mostly up to you. My favorite thing to pair it with is Grappling Hook (metal whip).
PHANTOM STRIKES (USUAL SUSPECT 2) - 6 Range, 4 SD (3 ticks), 30 seconds: The Armed auto-hit. It has many uses. One-part evasion tool, one part battle closing auto-hit and one part just 12 SD hit the button. This, despite being commonly taken, I say people can do without. While it is good to just hit it and let it rock, there's some issues. When you phantom strike, all three ticks aren't guaranteed with additional movement speed or teleports. In addition, the spots where you strike can range from either random or predictable, and if you get unlucky with the latter, get ready to take a bunch of damage. It's still a good grab and I recommend it, but you don't need it.
EDIT: I failed to mention this - but at the end of the strikes, you can usually throw out a move after. A commonality is to throw out Power Smash. However, this can be predictable and used to your opponent's advantage! It is also based on position. After your phantom strikes, try and do something unpredictable. Either set up with a slow or toss something to hamper your opponent. Power smash is the easiest method, however.
POWER SMASH (INTERMEDIATE) (USUAL SUSPECT 3) - 3 Range, 13 SD, 25 seconds: With step-cast and Garuda, this is a 5 range autohit. It was good at 14 SD, and while it's 13 now, it's still worth it. Slap your opponent and slow them. Unless it got reduced to like 11 SD, you can always count on this spell. Auto-grab.
QUICKDRAW (INTERMEDIATE) - 9 Range, 9 SD, 26 seconds: You either love it or hate it. I personally am not a fan. Quickdraw is a 'counter', it eats one tick of damage, teleports to the opponent, deals 9 SD and then knocks them back slightly. This is a problem because ANYTHING can trigger it. A bleed tick, an overheat tick, a FLOOR TILE. You only have about half a second to do so and the cooldown is unforgiving for it. The damage isn't great, considering it's the same as a double slash, but it does punish low health targets camping in AoEs. The range is okay, but still, I don't enjoy this move and I think in it's current state can be swapped for literally anything else. Also, GCD, so you can't input any moves after it triggers in the time window.
PRECISION SLASH (MASTER) - 5 Range, 8 SD (+ ??? SD), 32 seconds: People say Precision Slash is too slow. Which, it does have decent startup, but it's manageable if your opponent's down a dash and moving at normal speed as it has some SUCKAGE. That 5 range translates to a 5x5 box of vacuum force. The reason why the ticks are labelled ??? is because it's basically random. On average, it's 24-26 SD, but it can be affected by some odd things like initial position changing how much damage is taken. Or abyss pool and other anti-knockback being capable of utter shred depending on positioning. It's up in the air if you want this or not, I personally don't think it's bad, but there are better options for different preferences.
THE STANCES:
GARUDA: At +20 agility and with an active cleanse on Q, this is likely the stance that armed users will take to start. It is the first stance that gives armed users a technical "corrective step" that all master stances give later. It's a decently good stance with no gimmicks or crazy niche things. It is ALWAYS useful and frankly is a mainstay of the base armed stances.
EDIT: someone annoyed me about this, by "corrective step" I mean that Garuda gives you extra range. Also, all master stances have Garuda passive.
IFRIT: Ifrit is the "build for it" option. It grants +10 power which is nice. The few times I've used it/seen it used, it typically goes as such. You use some form of set up like a bone lance, GCDE stun/root, pop ifrit and then dump. It doesn't matter which moves you use, but Power Smash-Fatal Strike-Something Else (even flameslide perhaps) is a viable response, but with the active cooldown, you shouldn't rely on it to win you the whole round. It is however, hard for your opponent to get a lead after a skill dump on them.
FORMORIAN: Oh, my sweet, dear Fomorian. +10 vitality on a stance really isn't bad, I'd argue it's good. However, it's active is essentially a very long cooldown 20% DR shield. It doesn't last that long, the crit-guard doesn't work, you do not and shall not take this stance. F-tier, trash, ptooey.
Overall, Armed is a good and decent tree. Of course, it depends on paired trees for better performance, but at base I really love it! I compare it to another tree I've grown to like recently - Earth. Solid, good and in a decent place. It's neither overpowered, nor is it garbage tier. It is a viable tree that can pair with many-a thing. However, let's be honest with ourselves.
You just like using swords. Don't we all?
I will preface this whole ordeal with my bias: Armed is a good tree. It isn't overpowered, I don't think it's bad, I do think it's reliable and decent. Thus, my opinions on certain spells will be skewed in a manner that places them further in a positive light rather than a negative one.
Also, I will not be covering signatures.
ARMED: Armed as a whole is a tree based in close range combat. It has several mid-cooldown, hard hitting moves paired with low cooldown attacks with decent damage. There are two methods to playing this tree wholly dependent on the percentage of your bar that is physical. If you run mostly armed, you benefit far more from sticking close to your opponent for the entirety of the RPB, while if you only run the usual suspects (which I will get into), a hit and run strategy is far more suited for it. Most people run the latter rather than the former, and several moves change the playstyle to suit the former more. I have developed characters that have played into both, so I feel as if I can comment on it.
For those who don't know and who are very new, Armed is also one of two trees that benefit from physical power and the physical stat. The physical stat is flat power that applies only to armed and unarmed abilities. Most weapons that belong to the Armed style of fighting have more effective power when using these Armed spells, but less so when using anything that is not.
Going in order for each move...
DASH STRIKE - 14 Range, 5 SD, 6 seconds GCDE: I have not been paid by Chance to advertise this move, but I am so tired of people sleeping on it. Here's how dash strike works - you hit the move, it sends you towards your target on the most efficient path possible for 14 range. During it, you are castlocked and cannot use any other spells, however, it IS GCDE. If you collide with your target, the spell ends and deals 5 SD to your opponent. 6 seconds of cooldown. Imagine, if you would, a dash that you could use that is LONGER than your base dash, LOWER COOLDOWN than your base dash and takes the MOST EFFICIENT route towards your enemy.
If someone eviscerates you, you turn around. Teleport? You turn around. You head RIGHT FOR THEM. Not to mention, with a speedboost on dash, you gain the boost after the spell ends. The 5 SD is a cherry on top and the GCDE enables a possible free fatal post-collision. This move may not be some insane cover the arena in eye-bleed yellow, but by god is it the best mobility option for Armed players. I'm sick of the slander, it needs to stop. If you're not a beastkin or even if you are, TAKE THIS MOVE.
DOUBLE SLASH - In-Front-Of-You Range, 4.5 SD, 8 seconds GCDE: At 4.5 SD per tick with 2 ticks, this move is reliable damage. I will concede that it, along with sweeping cleave, fall on the lower end of armed moves and it has nothing to do with their damage. Double slash castlocks you, which even if it's GCDE, isn't great. However, if we lived in a non-castlock world where this move existed, it would shred any and all who dare cross it's path. If you need to fill a slot, it's not bad. It's far better for the sticky playstyle, especially due to stepcast and garuda-effect lending to it sticking to your enemy. Also, I've heard it works with flashsword, though I could be wrong.
SWEEPING CLEAVE - In-Front-Of-You-ish Range, 13 SD, 19 seconds: Another sticky move. As long as you're within 3-4 tiles of your opponent with garuda and stepcast, you get right in their face and smack them. Right over the head. In addition, it applies a slow. Some say the hitbox is wacky, I say that it's a great move, especially with that cooldown. Again, not to say it doesn't have it's flaws, but I do think people are way too mean to it. Admittedly, it also sits on the lower end of armed.
FATAL STRIKE (USUAL SUSPECT 1) - ??? Range, 18 SD (+4 SD Bleed ticks), 20 seconds: Many people look at the numbers of fatal strike and exhibit some form of disgust. They cry out and decry it's glory. I will say this, if you only look at it from a numbers perspective, Fatal Strike is a WONDROUS move. However, when you start using it, you realize that it's not exactly the free win that some make it out to be. For starters, hitting fatal raw can range depending on how fast you or your opponent is and if you're setting it up or not. The easiest way to hit fatal revolves around a setup, which realistically gives it a different cooldown. In theory, if I am a holy mage, I rely on sanctified flash to connect it. This makes Fatal Strike a 30 second cooldown, etc. etc. If I am to hit it raw, there is a far higher chance of a miss, but I can take advantage of it's lower cooldown more. In addition, during a fatal strike you can control it via CTRL+Move by default.
Now let's go into my favorite and least favorite mechanic. Dash-Fatal. Dash fatal is a shorthand way to describe using the ability during a dash. The results can vary based on timing, but if you ask me, it's random. Dash fatals do two things to the ability. One: It makes the range FAR HIGHER. At base, it's a 9 range dash and you hit anyone you dash through or into. Two: There is a possibility for what I will call 'Fatal Correction', which occurs when an opponent is close enough during your fatal strike that it will almost home into them. However, consistency is not guaranteed and shouldn't be relied on. Another use for dash fatals is mobility. When you dash-fatal, you can control the trajectory with your movement keys and you do not need to head towards your opponent. This can be used to escape corners, move around or past big moves, whatever you think you might need big distance for.
However, fatal strike has one fatal flaw: THE JANK. This is practically a feature, do not fix any of this because I doubt you can as this code was created by ancient titans of old. There are two janky exchanges fatal can have, with some yet to be documented like a chronicle. First is what I will call empty-dash fatal. This happens I think because as you pass through them, you are in your dash animation instead of your fatal animation, leading to NO connect. Second is fatal exchanges. When two fatals cross, it seems that only the first to fatal goes off. I do not know why this happens. There's other jank, but I don't know it yet or felt it wasn't worth writing.
EDIT: If you dash fatal into an invuln, it will try and tick multiple times. This will kill you if it's TC or DPalm and heal them to insane amounts if it's Ribcage. Be warned.
In conclusion, this move is good. It has ups and downs, it is a great move and without it, armed would be worse by a county mile.
GALEFORCE - 9 Range, 4.7 SD (5 ticks), 22 seconds: Galeforce is a controversial move. As someone who had a part in getting it nerfed, I think it's still a great move. With a total of 23.5 SD, it has two flaws. One, it is a drag. Walls severely harm your damage. Two, it is a drag without any CC. If there's no setup, you can just walk away. I think it's worth it for a pile of damage, but if they don't LITERALLY stand still, you're getting next to nothing out of it. I think it's good, but it's mostly up to you. My favorite thing to pair it with is Grappling Hook (metal whip).
PHANTOM STRIKES (USUAL SUSPECT 2) - 6 Range, 4 SD (3 ticks), 30 seconds: The Armed auto-hit. It has many uses. One-part evasion tool, one part battle closing auto-hit and one part just 12 SD hit the button. This, despite being commonly taken, I say people can do without. While it is good to just hit it and let it rock, there's some issues. When you phantom strike, all three ticks aren't guaranteed with additional movement speed or teleports. In addition, the spots where you strike can range from either random or predictable, and if you get unlucky with the latter, get ready to take a bunch of damage. It's still a good grab and I recommend it, but you don't need it.
EDIT: I failed to mention this - but at the end of the strikes, you can usually throw out a move after. A commonality is to throw out Power Smash. However, this can be predictable and used to your opponent's advantage! It is also based on position. After your phantom strikes, try and do something unpredictable. Either set up with a slow or toss something to hamper your opponent. Power smash is the easiest method, however.
POWER SMASH (INTERMEDIATE) (USUAL SUSPECT 3) - 3 Range, 13 SD, 25 seconds: With step-cast and Garuda, this is a 5 range autohit. It was good at 14 SD, and while it's 13 now, it's still worth it. Slap your opponent and slow them. Unless it got reduced to like 11 SD, you can always count on this spell. Auto-grab.
QUICKDRAW (INTERMEDIATE) - 9 Range, 9 SD, 26 seconds: You either love it or hate it. I personally am not a fan. Quickdraw is a 'counter', it eats one tick of damage, teleports to the opponent, deals 9 SD and then knocks them back slightly. This is a problem because ANYTHING can trigger it. A bleed tick, an overheat tick, a FLOOR TILE. You only have about half a second to do so and the cooldown is unforgiving for it. The damage isn't great, considering it's the same as a double slash, but it does punish low health targets camping in AoEs. The range is okay, but still, I don't enjoy this move and I think in it's current state can be swapped for literally anything else. Also, GCD, so you can't input any moves after it triggers in the time window.
PRECISION SLASH (MASTER) - 5 Range, 8 SD (+ ??? SD), 32 seconds: People say Precision Slash is too slow. Which, it does have decent startup, but it's manageable if your opponent's down a dash and moving at normal speed as it has some SUCKAGE. That 5 range translates to a 5x5 box of vacuum force. The reason why the ticks are labelled ??? is because it's basically random. On average, it's 24-26 SD, but it can be affected by some odd things like initial position changing how much damage is taken. Or abyss pool and other anti-knockback being capable of utter shred depending on positioning. It's up in the air if you want this or not, I personally don't think it's bad, but there are better options for different preferences.
THE STANCES:
GARUDA: At +20 agility and with an active cleanse on Q, this is likely the stance that armed users will take to start. It is the first stance that gives armed users a technical "corrective step" that all master stances give later. It's a decently good stance with no gimmicks or crazy niche things. It is ALWAYS useful and frankly is a mainstay of the base armed stances.
EDIT: someone annoyed me about this, by "corrective step" I mean that Garuda gives you extra range. Also, all master stances have Garuda passive.
IFRIT: Ifrit is the "build for it" option. It grants +10 power which is nice. The few times I've used it/seen it used, it typically goes as such. You use some form of set up like a bone lance, GCDE stun/root, pop ifrit and then dump. It doesn't matter which moves you use, but Power Smash-Fatal Strike-Something Else (even flameslide perhaps) is a viable response, but with the active cooldown, you shouldn't rely on it to win you the whole round. It is however, hard for your opponent to get a lead after a skill dump on them.
FORMORIAN: Oh, my sweet, dear Fomorian. +10 vitality on a stance really isn't bad, I'd argue it's good. However, it's active is essentially a very long cooldown 20% DR shield. It doesn't last that long, the crit-guard doesn't work, you do not and shall not take this stance. F-tier, trash, ptooey.
Overall, Armed is a good and decent tree. Of course, it depends on paired trees for better performance, but at base I really love it! I compare it to another tree I've grown to like recently - Earth. Solid, good and in a decent place. It's neither overpowered, nor is it garbage tier. It is a viable tree that can pair with many-a thing. However, let's be honest with ourselves.
You just like using swords. Don't we all?
