[Sunder the Gold]

Originally Posted by Orange Duke

Yet your comment here...

I think you've been misunderstanding me for a while now.

I have been saying that Duel Avatars can be generalized by choosing bonuses which do not fit inside the specialty of the avatar's color.

AND I have been saying that it's not necesssarily better or worse to do so. There are clear advantages and disavantages to both paths.

AND I have been saying that specialization within your specialty is (generally) the better path when you are teaming up with other specialists, like the Elements of the Black Legion did with each other and Kuroyukihime.

Possibly also what the Seven Kings of Pure Color did before they hit Level 9. They might have teamed up together to crawl the UNF's various dungeons.

Finally, I have ALSO been saying that one of the things which determines the success of a generalist or specialist is the Burst Linker.

But you yourself said that Splash Stinger, an move that affords Cyan Pile considerable versatility, was the best level up bonus Pile could have chosen.

Nope. Wrong on two counts.

I said that it was a great choice, and that I would really like to know what his other choices were and how they could be better. Maybe Splash Stinger IS specializing in his chosen strategy (mid-range piercing attacks) rather than a deviation.

And that's the other mistake: While Splash Stinger is different from Extending Jab, it's not THAT different. It's still a mid-range piercing attack.

A truly diversifying bonus would have been the sword I mentioned.

Erm, as far as I can see, only his arm, which was used to brace the pile driver when it fires, is across his torso. Whether it was across his chest, I cannot say for certain but what IS certain is that he can move his bracing arm away while the pile driver is retracting, so he can still shoot his Splash Stinger.

But the spikes will still strike his Pile Driver, its stake and the arm holding them up.

Then he can simply find one in the Unlimited Field as an Enhanced Armament. No need to waste a level-up bonus on that.

Yeah, that's a real bummer.

What about Blue Knight's original sword? How many bonuses did he sink into that before he got the Impulse?

How do you think the game handles this? Do you just have to take the risk that you'll never simply FIND a better weapon?

Rain's gun is probably an Enhanced Armament that she found. Her name refers to the rain of death and destruction that she fires from her Immobile Fortress

I highly doubt she started with the Immobile Fortress. Her sidearm is more likely her starting weapon, and if it's particularly powerful, that's probably because it's the vector for her original Special Attack* and also the focus of a bonus or two.

*Perhaps a more modest form of Heat Blast Saturation?

Even as a Level 1, Rain might have rained down fire on her enemies through rapidfire shots or an orignal special attack that enabled rapid fire.