Force Blader Guide

PART 1: The Basics

Force Bladers wield a one-hand sword (katana or blade, katana by nature) on the right hand and an orb on the other. Because of these factors, an FB's stats will be evenly distributed, that is, you will need to add to all three stats at one point or another. They use the Battleset of armors which provide medium range def and def rate (Armorset has higher def, while Martialset has higher def rate).

Force Bladers also have shiny sword skills. Very shiny. In my opinion, FB's are the flashiest of all character classes in CABAL (similarities to DMC's Dante are hard to ignore). However, you will have to work hard for these skills. On the "Force" side of things, you have other terrible weapons that can strike fear into your foes: the debuffs. These magic skills will severely weaken your enemy, making him an easier prey.

This is also the other class which you actually need to level both sword and magic (the other one being the Force Shielder). Obviously, this character class is rather hard to power-up, but the payoff is well worth the effort.

About skills:

Skills have a maximum level of 20. For levels 1-9, adding a skill level will use 1 point. For 10-12, 2 points/level. For 13-15, 3 points/level. For 15-18, 5 points/level and for 19-20, 10 points/level. At level 9, the skill will have its best cooldown. At this point, the colldown cannot go any lower. Adding more skill points after level 9 will increase cooldown, but will also increase damage.


PART 2: Stuff that will aid you in battle

At level 10, you gain access to the combo. This is the bread and butter of the game. You should Combo 95% of the time. Using combos will not only give you higher damage output (because cast delays after skill execution is ignored), you can also skill faster (an excellent gives 20% more skill exp, while a good gives 10% more. Bad has no bonus).

At level 20, you gain access to the Battle Aura. This boosts your stats for a limited amount of time. It will cost 5000SP, but the boost in stats is quite large, and will help you get out of sticky situations. The type of element aura you get does not matter. They are purely aesthetic and does not have any advantage over other auras.

At level 30, you gain access to Battle Mode 1. For the Force Blader this would be Force Enchanter. Under this mode, you cannot use offensive magic (magic that damages enemies). The highest level offensive magic will be turned into a buff instead. The type of buff you get is dependent on the element. You cannot stack those "blade" buffs. That is, using Ice while Fire is in effect will cause Fire to replace Ice. This mode is also one of the main weapons of the Force Blader and allows them to reach Godlike Stats.

Offensive magic -> Buff

Fire Arrow/Lance/Cannon -> Fire Blade
Ice Arrow/Lance/Cannon -> Ice Blade
Lightning Arrow/Lance/Cannon -> Lightning Blade
Wind Arrow/Lance/Cannon -> Wind Movement
Aqua Arrow/Lance/Cannon -> Aqua Vitality
Stone Arrow/Lance/Cannon -> Earth Guard

At level 50, you gain Access to Battle Mode 2. This is called the Blade Shooter. The left hand of the Force Blader turns into one massive cannon. Using a cannon magic will cause a huge laser to be fired, all the while the sword is thrown in the air and caught after the animation (wicked cool). To fire the laser, you must use a sword skill first. Each sword skill used charges up the laser, causing variable damage depending on how much the laser is charged. You can charge up to three times (three sword skills used). You won't be able to use Force Impact, Infernal Stigma and Assassinate while on this mode. Needless to say, you're severely nerfed when you use this BM, since your only Stun skill is taken away, along with your strongest sword skill. In my opinion, the skill obtained by this second BM is not worth it (even though it can do massive damage). Maybe my opinion will change when I can combo while in this mode (that's at level 100+++++).

PART 3: Skills and Magic

The Grind

First thing's first: all stat requirements in the game are assumed as BARE stats. This means that the stat requirements are achievable by correctly allocating the points after every level. You grind for two main reasons:

1. Extra Stats
2. Shiny Skills

As far as I know, there are no equipments that would require you to grind first before you are able to equip them.

To maximize your skill grind, I suggest you get to level 55 first (at least dual expert just to make sure). You'll need the following:

1. Complete adept set of armors (at least +3 skill each piece)
2. 1 Adept Amulet +1
3. 2 Adept Ring +1

You'll get +30 skill exp total if you have all of the above. As confirmed by Skynite, the cap for + to skill exp is +32. So this would be the optimum time to grind, since at this point, enemies won't do severe damage to you, even when you're wearing adept armors. For the grind itself, use this combo: Rising Shot (6) -> Impact Stab (3) -> Flash Draw (3). The number signifies the skill level. This combo is a fast combo for grinding. If you want it even faster, use Force Slash (level unknown, experiment with it until you can use it in the 3-hit combo above). Force Slash is a PVP skill (should be level 20), so keeping it at a low level for grinding purposes is optional. Follow the map for the optimal grind locations.

Reduced 75%

400 x 400 (123.25K)


The area in the White Dot contains Phantom Walkers and Ghouls. This is the very first area that would be suitable for grinding with minimal usage of potions (upon reaching Port Lux, you can go here without worrying too much). It's also near the town, so restocking in potions and selling loot is made easy. The area on the blue dot contains Flame Hounds. These monsters have an unusual behavior in that even single-target skills hit multiple hounds (the same principle applies to other Hound-type monsters, like the Hound-S01 at Fort Ruina), making your skilling/leveling/farming faster. The Yellow dot contains Golems. If you stay at that sopt and you can kill a golem at 13 hits (in combo) or more, you will more or less get a constant stream of 2 or 3 golems (allowing you to more or less combo continuously to your heart's content). Take extra care at this spot. Even while wearing Armorset (the armor for warriors), Golems can still hurt you. The general rule is that the farther you are from the town, the harder the enemies hit.

The final benefit of using this method is that all mobs I mentioned (with the exception of Ghouls) ALWAYS drop Titanium gear (which sells for a lot of alz). Also, remember that starting from this map (Port Lux), ALL enemies will start to drop what seems like trash items that can't be dropped once looted. I suggest you keep them, they might prove useful sometime in the future. however, if you REALLY want to get rid of them, you can sell them for 0 alz at shop NPC's.

Sword Skills

Because of the hodgepodge nature of stat allocation, one might think that the FB's sword skills are weaker compared to other melee classes. While this is true to some extent, these skills make up for that fact by adding a stat ailment along with the damage. Lowered Defense, Lowered Accuracy, damage over time, ETC... These are the key factors into winning.

Since we have only one major source of physical damage (the sword), don't expect to hit for very large numbers anytime soon. We cannot hit for large damage early, but our skills have fast animation times. This is our biggest advantage in the early going: DPS (damage per second). We can outdamage other melee classes simply by spamming quick skills over and over again. Another scary weapon is DOT (damage over time). This kind of damage ignores defense and is the cause of the defeat of many an archer and wizard. We have two main DOT skills: Force Assault and Force Slash. The good thing about these two skills is that they can be obtained very early (IIRC you can get Force Slash at Apprentice Rank). What makes DOT scary is the fact the we can stack them. Level 20 Force Assault will cause 62 DOT, same with Force Slash. If you use them both at an enemy, you have 124 IGNORE DEF damage every 2 seconds for 8 seconds. This adds pressure to the enemy, because all the while they are poisoned, you continue on attacking.

Magic Skills

Debuffs. We are the only ones capable of inflicting debilitating illnesses to our enemies. Destroying armor, lowering levels and reducing accuracy, we have a great selection of debuffs for both leveling and PVP purposes.

PART 4: Detailed look at PVP and Monster-hunting skills

For PVP purposes, always remember: DPS and DOT. We only get those hard-hitting skills at A. Master and above. Here's the combo I use:

Force Assault (to get near) -> Force Slash (to compound the DOT) -> Dance of Ruin (to Knock Down and Lower Def) -> G. Master (for a heckuva lot of ailments) -> Abyssal Crystal (good damage and fast cast time) -> A. Master (finisher).

Out of all those skills, I have four at level 20: Force Slash, Force Assault, Dance of Ruin and Abyssal Crystal. If the enemy's HP is greater than what my finisher could do, I revert to the start of the combo. This is because the A. Master skill takes approximately forever and a minute to cast. You're a sitting duck if this attack does not kill the enemy.

Now that I'm Transcender, here's my combo:

Force Assault -> Force Slash -> G. Master -> Completer -> Abyssal Crystal -> Force Impact

For duels, follow this sequence in order (or you may cast the G. Master and Completer First, to get the massive damage out very early and can thus be reused). Again, Force Impact is used as a finisher. For PK and War, where the targets can heal and use pots, Cycle through this combo:

Force Assault -> Force Slash -> G. Master -> Force Assault -> Force Slash -> Completer -> repeat

You can use this even when the Completer skill (Assassinate) is only level 1 (Thanks to ReiQuaza, my guild mate for pointing this out). This combo will ensure that there is Maximum DOT and Damage, as long as the target is alive.

Fade Step will allow you to become untargeted. This is very helpful when you know the enemy is in the middle of a combo. Fade at the right time, and you will become untargeted, then you can lay the smack down and start a combo of your own. A well placed fade is usually the difference between life and death in duels. You can incorporate Fade Step and Dash in a combo, though it is very difficult to do. For reference, here's a video:

Fade in Combo if you have a good connection, add "&fmt=18" (quotes not included) at the link for higher quality.

For Monster Hunting, you will need to use Infernal Stigma (A. Expert Skill), G Master, A Master and Round Cut (in the absence of Completer). Infernal Stigma is your only stun skill, luckily it hits all targets around you and has an 80% chance of stunning him. The other skills, with the exception of Round Cut, will be used to mainly damage foes. If you combo using

Stigma -> G. Master -> A. Master -> Round Cut

The ideal would be Stigma stuns all enemies, allowing you to land the next two skill without enemy interference. By the time you use round cut, the enemies would be able to attack only once, then you can use Stigma to stun them again. If the Opening stun fails, the G. Master will most likely knock the enemies down.

If you're a sword completer, all you'll ever need is:

Stigma -> G. Master -> Completer <------------ (taken from Skynite's guide, also Stickied)

According to him, the cooldowns match. So After you use Completer, you can use Stigma again.

For magic, you can use debuffs as your lure. This is because of its fast cast and cooldown. You will need four buffs: Lightning Blade, Aqua Vitality, Wind Movement and Earth Guard. You can buy earlier version of the skills (buy Ice Blade before getting lightning blade) to help in your leveling. All your buffs will be maxed out at Master Rank level 33 (that is, you can level up Aqua vitality to 20 once your Master magic reaches 33/96) ideally. You need the Elemental Cannons that would correspond to your buffs (for massive stat boost while under BM1). These buffs and Cannons must be leveled to 20. The debuffs, I leave to your personal discretion. I maxed out Lower Defense.

PART 5: Other Notes and Closing

Rank Up and its importance: Ranking up will give you a permanent bump in stats. This bump is quite substantial. If you rank up your sword, you get bonuses for STR and DEX. If you rank up magic, you get bonuses for INT and DEX.

Build Variation, Heavy FB: Following the Force Shielder requirements for the armor will not mess up your build a lot. Armorset will give you very high defense. Remember that during combos, you can not miss. Also, knock down and stun effects will be nullified. A higher defense will give you better survivability. The final Armorset you can wear is the Osmium set. All armors after this set is class-specific.

Fade Step in Combo

To understand how to Fade Step while doing a combo, first, let's understand how that combo bar works. (I'll assume you already know how to hit Bad, Good and Excellent). Please bear with me for a while. This is hard to explain without a video (optionally, you can use the video I posted above for reference, just count the actual number of skills he actually uses on the enemy).

The combo bar will only reset (fill up again) after the skill you pressed has been executed. That is, if you are within the range of the skill. However, if you are far away from the enemy when you initiated the combo, you will see your character run towards your target, whilst the combo bar is frozen. This frozen combo bar is the fundamental requirement of fading during combos. You have to remember one thing: the combo bar will stay frozen as long as you are outside the effective range of the skill you used. Also, the speed at which the bar itself fills is uniform. It does not speed up or slow down.

While the combo bar is frozen, press Fade Step. This allows you to use Fade while the combo is active. You can buff, debuff and dash while comboing using this principle. To illustrate (sorry for the makeshift combo bar, I have no access to screenshots at the moment):

You hit Excellent. If you press Fade Step, you will execute a Fade Step, but you do not have time to relax because the bar will fill up almost immediately right after you press Fade. In most instances I tried this, the bar continues to fill at the point where you pressed fade step (Dash, Buffs and Debuffs refill the bar like normal skills). In this example, the bar will fill up at the Excellent line instead of going back to the start. In order to continue the combo, you have to press an attack skill at the right moment like doing a normal combo. However, sometimes, the bar goes back to the start but fills back up way faster than normal (this is the only exception I can find where the combo bar fills faster then normal).

To summarize this: In order to Fade/Dash/Buff/Debuff in a combo, you must press an attack skill before it and the attack skill must not be able to animate (you must be outside the range of the skill in order to do so).

Closing: The FB path is a hard one. But, as I stated above, the end result is a monster that will own in PVP and can be pretty much self-sustaining in PVE. Again, feel free to add to this guide. I have some ideas of my own, but you can help me with this (requesting info for the following)

1. Skill progression (at what point in your skill grinding will you be able to allocate points to skills)
2. Heavy FB stat requirements (I don't know Osmium STR requirements off the top of my head)
3. Anything you would like to add...