Pirate jootphabet's guide to Horntail as a Buccaneer

Bishopgod has 11k HP with HB =X

 

Sometimes, as an aspiring bucc, these threads make me sad LOL; I realize that bucc is not a "desirable" party member for HT runs other than for SI/TL but it isn't particularly encouraging or helpful to consistently read about how unwanted and useless we are in bossing. Whether its statistically true or not, don't yall like to... idk... have fun sometimes and not worry about efficiency and min-maxing every aspect of the game? Like, do you not play your characters because you enjoy them?

 

It's like that for most underplayed classes. Marksman and corsair were also viewed as the same way. But, all it takes is one dedicated player to change peoples minds .

 

You make it sound like figuring out the most efficient way to play your character is not fun. I mean, I know fun is subjective for everyone and shit, but if you don't have fun figuring out your character's class then why do you even play that class?

 

I don't personally play for efficiency or knowing every mechanic of my character etc... I've never been that type of player over the last like, 13 years, I just like leveling and meeting new people and doing some lax bossing. I understand everyone has a different play style, that just isn't mine. I think it's fine and dandy to be critical of a class and its short comings but sometimes those criticisms seem to be aimed more at the people who choose to play a less desired class than at the game itself; I hope that makes sense.

 

I honestly don't know what to reply here because I just lvled to 133 as a new bucc and have only been into a HT run once :3 definitely will come back here once I'm ready to fighttt (at 17x prolly LOL). Anyways Imma have to save up mesos as I've saved the blueprints for my future equips thx for the guide!

 

Only thing is u do this EVERY TIME u get knocked off. Which is almost 100% of the time when u dont have bubble. :c

 

TBH, i felt people often give too much credits on buccaneer's iframes. Demolition gives iframes but it isnt that great as people had mentioned overtimes. You get hit very often when your attack animation is coming back and you cant move to reposition. Which is sad.

 

Why must you make the top right platform even more crowded than it already is?

Edit: would the snow shoe trick work for pallies?

 

just wanted to put it out there that any aspiring bucc should take this guide with a pinch of salt. i personally don't agree with some strategies (for example i only stayed on the left side before the patch, and never hit on the right side unless both left and mid heads were cancelled bc i don't hit wings). we already have to handle playing a piano when going into HT with the insane number of macros of skills we do in different situations, without even thinking about calculations and things like how to "Time your ST to maximize having Energy Charge (for stance) while ST is in cooldown". i appreciate the effort behind finding ways to "optimize" your gameplay, but i really don't think it should be made out to be a requirement for all buccs to follow.

it is also important to note that you have to change your playing style depending on what skills you maxed. i'm level 188 and i still don't have snatch maxed yet, bc my parties benefitted greatly from me having max TL, and the reality is you won't be able to max all these skills until you are high high level. (FYI if you didn't realise, you DON'T HAVE enough SPs to MAX ALL YOUR SKILLS: like i maxed SI right, means I will NEVER be able to max hero's will so ya~). if you are trying to HT at level 16x you have to accept that you won't be able to do certain things that are "optimal" (like snatch in my case), so you gotta test out what works best for you. i hate hitting the right head but it is what it is, just please don't take this guide as like the standard of what it's like to play a bucc for HT. ^^

 

There are a few sources of dpm loss on both sides. Left side generally requires more traveling, but a mount, good buff timing (recommended leave si at 14 until the end), and good use of corkscrew means you NEVER have to climb the rope in ideal conditions until wings and/or left head are dead. You can also get by with less avoid, as getting hit is less of a dpm loss on left side. A jump demo or a jump snatch lets you reposition and gain charge, to boot. The focus should be on charging as much and fast as you can, ideally rebuffing party when 1 hit from charge to gain stance on the left head cork and maximize "useful" stance time. The only "gear change" I did even on old avoid formula was making sure I wore htp.

I havent done too much on the right side, but with new avoid formulation, it probably makes sense to actually stack avoid shoe, probably snowshoe. Switching gear while walking over shouldnt be too hard, so swapping midfight isnt an issue. I do agree with ellyyy here; right side is not our ideal place to be. We simply lose too much potential dpm. Being in range of getting knocked all the way down, having to hold(?) using ST to get bubble to line up, and it honestly seemed like ds doesnt hit all 3 heads consistently unless left head is on the right half in its idle animation (could be wrong, maybe you gotta get REAL close to the ledge), are all losses that you dont have to nearly an extent on left side. The big thing to gain from right is a combination of less rebuff time, focus fire on right head or, to a lesser extent, wing in a low-cleave party to quick snatch/ds on the way back to fill charge faster.

Left head is our home, and we should go there whenever we can. But we also have the ability to go where we are needed.

As a side note in the snatch v orb debate; both are about just as useful in bossing, though I get a bit more utility out of snatch in multi-part bosses (zak arms, cwk, ht left) as well as some instances of grinding/ntpq. Orb helps 1v1 dpm in untransformed state a bit, and even opens up flash fist as a viable combo piece to control iframes/speed up charge 1v1 to get to more stance faster. If you are mostly group bossing I'd suggest to go with preference (mine is snatch), and remove mw. By 188 you have almost enough points to max both snatch and orb if you rely on others for mw. I'm 198 and just got mw19 last level and finally advancing past 14 si (1 will is sufficient for us in most cases, but you can get that instead of more si easily).

./endRant

 

We BMs welcome buccs to the right side. It's nice to have instant access to SI.