honesttaylor12 on Jul 3, 2014 wrote:

I was planning on making a buccaneer to try get to lvl 65 but after the videos I have watched buccaneers don't look all powerful and battles really do look like struggle. So I was wondering if any of you buccaneers out there can tell me if its a good class to be. I really want a new experience in combat from witchdoctor being used to range combat, thx a lot guys. please don't take offence to this buccaneer pirates out there.

~Noble Taylor lvl 65

It is a great class that really lasts a while. Barnabus will be weak at first but he has some good defenses and will get stronger over time.

honesttaylor12 on Jul 3, 2014 wrote:

I was planning on making a buccaneer to try get to lvl 65 but after the videos I have watched buccaneers don't look all powerful and battles really do look like struggle. So I was wondering if any of you buccaneers out there can tell me if its a good class to be. I really want a new experience in combat from witchdoctor being used to range combat, thx a lot guys. please don't take offence to this buccaneer pirates out there.

~Noble Taylor lvl 65

Hmm, each person handles a Buccaneer a bit differently than other people.

As for me, I don't struggle at all with any of the battles I'm in nowadays. The thing with Buccaneers is that they don't have "powerful" Buccaneer powers that can deal huge amounts of damage like Swashbucklers, Muskets, or Witchdoctors. They get their strong powers from rare gear drops. It all also depends on what epic talents you give to each companion and how exactly you fight. While Buccaneer A might just not waste time buffing and go right into battle, Buccaneer B might give their team a strength buff or 2 to increase their damage, and then go in and deal heavy damage.

So as you can see, relying on videos isn't always the #1 way to go, you have to truly know the Buccaneer from your own experience.

honesttaylor12 on Jul 3, 2014 wrote:

I was planning on making a buccaneer to try get to lvl 65 but after the videos I have watched buccaneers don't look all powerful and battles really do look like struggle. So I was wondering if any of you buccaneers out there can tell me if its a good class to be. I really want a new experience in combat from witchdoctor being used to range combat, thx a lot guys. please don't take offence to this buccaneer pirates out there.

~Noble Taylor lvl 65

Hello Taylor.

My only maxed pirate is a Buccaneer and I absolutely love playing as one. I honestly probably never would have lost a battle the entire game as a Bucc. if I hadn't walked away from the computer a few times, looking for some food and snacks- while I was in the middle battles. I have tried all of the other classes up to around level 10-15 and I must say that for me at least, I had more trouble earlier on with the other classes than I did with a Bucc.

One key thing is, don't underestimate the power and importance of using your Strength boosting powers like Whale's Might, Shark's Fury and Kraken's Coils. As with every other class, boosting your primary classes stats, turns every attack and power into a more potent one. Currently I use 3-4 of those powers plus a Great Juju before I go into battle farming Aquilian enemies and it makes a HUUUUUGGGE difference. Usually my pirate and each one of my Buccaneer companions take out a single Aquilian enemy per round, per each of them. Sure a Swash may have the more powerful one-time use powers like Assassin's Strike but by using 3-4 Strength Buffs and an all Bucc. crew, you are gaining more damage and power per round cumulatively. With any class, creating a greater distance between the #s of your classes primary stat and the enemy's same stat- will only lead to higher damage and more Critical Hits....and a Critical Hit can't be dodged or blocked.

For all the dodging that a Swashbuckler does, it can't dodge Powers or Critical Hits. A Swash could have 200 dodge but if your Buccaneer has 6, 7, 8 high damaging powers of it's own, the Swashbuckler won't be able to dodge the attacks from using those Powers or Buffing produced Critical Hits. After multiple buffs my Buccaneer usually has about 449-549/100 Strength and by creating such a distance between his Strength and the enemies', it produces very high damaging Critical Strikes.

Gaining 4 or 5 Assassin Strikes for a Buccaneer seems pretty impressive, but it in my opinion it's not necessary. The AS are one turn Powers (plus minor bleeding over 2 rounds), but Strength Buffing your entire crew multiple times yields a much higher damage output. With Peter Quint having his own Strength Buff, combined with your Bucc's and maybe a pet like the Ebon Spectre which grants your pirate Shark's Fury- the damage is magnified every round the Buffs are active and spread out to each companion.

When I use my Assassin's Strike in battle it does a base damage of around 1100 plus 264 x 2 round of bleeding. When I stack Strength Buff's, my Vicious Charge does around 1000 base damage plus I get the Glancing Blow and due to the huge advantage in Strength over an enemy, both of those are usually Crit. Hits which adds a few hundred points to the damage. Plus it is increasing damage my companions do by around 300-350 per companion for 3-5 rounds.

So, my advice is to definitely not overlook the importance of Buff stacking before you go in to attack. Good luck as a Bucc.

Buccaneer is a powerful class, they are weak initially but as this class progresses it's gets stronger and better.My first pirate is a Buccaneer and I have a lot fun with her. In my opinion Buccaneer is a great class for beginners or any experience pirating level, that is how progress the game so rapidly. Also Buccaneer can be a force to be reckon with theire awesome skills and this class strike back when hit on close combat.They might be slow but this class is the ultimate physical power house both attack and armor, also it have high health and with the natural warrior talent ( raised in Moo Shu ), this class can off set it's low speed, like my own Buccaneer.That explains why she is faster than most for her class.This class is great for soloing,in my opinon.

Don't give up,Buccaneers don't give up ( easily ), in other words keep training your Buccaneer and someday this pirate will be a froce to be reckon with.Just ask a willing player for help, if it's too hard for your new pirate.

ValkoorTheVictorio... on Jul 3, 2014 wrote:

Hello Taylor.

My only maxed pirate is a Buccaneer and I absolutely love playing as one. I honestly probably never would have lost a battle the entire game as a Bucc. if I hadn't walked away from the computer a few times, looking for some food and snacks- while I was in the middle battles. I have tried all of the other classes up to around level 10-15 and I must say that for me at least, I had more trouble earlier on with the other classes than I did with a Bucc.

One key thing is, don't underestimate the power and importance of using your Strength boosting powers like Whale's Might, Shark's Fury and Kraken's Coils. As with every other class, boosting your primary classes stats, turns every attack and power into a more potent one. Currently I use 3-4 of those powers plus a Great Juju before I go into battle farming Aquilian enemies and it makes a HUUUUUGGGE difference. Usually my pirate and each one of my Buccaneer companions take out a single Aquilian enemy per round, per each of them. Sure a Swash may have the more powerful one-time use powers like Assassin's Strike but by using 3-4 Strength Buffs and an all Bucc. crew, you are gaining more damage and power per round cumulatively. With any class, creating a greater distance between the #s of your classes primary stat and the enemy's same stat- will only lead to higher damage and more Critical Hits....and a Critical Hit can't be dodged or blocked.

For all the dodging that a Swashbuckler does, it can't dodge Powers or Critical Hits. A Swash could have 200 dodge but if your Buccaneer has 6, 7, 8 high damaging powers of it's own, the Swashbuckler won't be able to dodge the attacks from using those Powers or Buffing produced Critical Hits. After multiple buffs my Buccaneer usually has about 449-549/100 Strength and by creating such a distance between his Strength and the enemies', it produces very high damaging Critical Strikes.

Gaining 4 or 5 Assassin Strikes for a Buccaneer seems pretty impressive, but it in my opinion it's not necessary. The AS are one turn Powers (plus minor bleeding over 2 rounds), but Strength Buffing your entire crew multiple times yields a much higher damage output. With Peter Quint having his own Strength Buff, combined with your Bucc's and maybe a pet like the Ebon Spectre which grants your pirate Shark's Fury- the damage is magnified every round the Buffs are active and spread out to each companion.

When I use my Assassin's Strike in battle it does a base damage of around 1100 plus 264 x 2 round of bleeding. When I stack Strength Buff's, my Vicious Charge does around 1000 base damage plus I get the Glancing Blow and due to the huge advantage in Strength over an enemy, both of those are usually Crit. Hits which adds a few hundred points to the damage. Plus it is increasing damage my companions do by around 300-350 per companion for 3-5 rounds.

So, my advice is to definitely not overlook the importance of Buff stacking before you go in to attack. Good luck as a Bucc.

Valkoor, I will NEVER challenge you to PvP, what you just described is too darn scarey!

anecorbie on Jul 5, 2014 wrote:

Valkoor, I will NEVER challenge you to PvP, what you just described is too darn scarey!

Oh, I forgot to add that my above strategy does indeed work extremely well against PvE enemies, at least for me. When farming Aquilian enemies, I usually go with a crew consisting of: My Buccaneer, Peter Quint, Temujin (Subodai) and Holkun Doomhorn.

Both Peter Quint and Temujin have two powers including a Super Critical Hit power. Holkun has a Super Critical Hit power as well and all 3 of them have Relentless x 3- with Doomhorn having Flanking as well. They all have maxed Accuracy, Health, Dodge, Armor and Strength. The maxed Health and all having Armor 85+ ensures that they can take quite a few hits (unlike Squawkules, some son of a God you are).

By having Relentless x 3 and multiple Strength Buffs active, they often Critical Hit in 3-5 strikes per attacking round. Holkun's Flanking adds another strategical placement attack to the mix and with all 3 having Vengeance Strike as well. All of those extra attacks per round help make sure that the Relentless will kick in on some, if not all of those strikes- and again most of them end up Criticals because of the multiple Strength Buffs. It usually helps end those battles rather quickly without hardly any damaged sustained to my crew.

But again, this works for me against PvE combatants and everyone has there preferred strategies...and that kind of diversity and battle variations are just some of the many great things about the game and the combat system that I have come to enjoy so incredibly much. I really enjoy seeing and reading what other players like to do, because it just goes to show that there's more than one way to skin a cat.......MEEOOOWW!.....ooops, sorry Catbeard and Shiruku!

anecorbie on Jul 5, 2014 wrote:

Valkoor, I will NEVER challenge you to PvP, what you just described is too darn scarey!

Indeed. One thing I have learned from watching and hearing of his really great understanding of the game dynamics: "You don't wanna mess with Valkoor" I am SO glad that he is on our side, lol.

I have a feeling that the Buccaneer class would end up like the Ice Wizards. Both are tanks with "weak" damage and people used to underestimate Ice. Well, look at them now? They're quite well respected, and people even claim them as OP. I think that one day, more people would learn to respect the Buccaneer class the hard way. Buccaneers are definitely not weak.