Zero: Seeker

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GC Eternity: Seeker
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GC Season V: Seeker

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Videos playable in 720px HD.

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Seeker introduces some new skills to use and more techniques, including the 3rd stance, Offensive Stance. It can be described as an antithesis to Defensive Stance; while Zero's defensive measures suffer a little (defense rating does not drop however), his offensive power is greatly increased while in this mode, making short work of many lesser adversaries.

Featured in this class are additional defense techniques for the Defensive Stance and a new set for Offensive Stance. This class change and it's abilities allow Zero to begin engaging solely in melee combat, and a reduced focus on skill reliance if the player chooses to.

Dodge:

• Type: Ground Roll
• Zero WAS a tank yes - Not anymore in Season V. With the increased damage that enemies deal, a poorly equipped Zero will fall in no time, outliving his usefulness as a tank. Dodging is as critical as it is important to his survival now.
• !!! Dodging in any of the 3 Stance Mode will double the consumption of his Dodge meter, limiting him to only 2 maneuvers while others can perform up to 4 when used judiciously.
• Even with Offense Stance, he will still be taking the same amount of damage if his killing force is not great enough, don't get too overzealous about plowing through enemies and forgetting to watch your remaining health. Dodge whenever you can and stay alive with his Loss & Orchid absorption techniques.

Stance Mode:

• Stance Mode renders him immune to the effects of Freezing, Petrify and Shock (the stun effect only), but he will still take damage from Curse, Burn and the periodic damage from Shock.
• Any attack received will only cause Zero to bounce into the air. Varies by the degree of attack impact.
• "Jump" attacks will simply throw Zero up in the air, taking no damage whatsoever from impact.
• One-Hit KO attacks and attacks that bring his HP to or below 0, will regress Zero to his combat mode. Stance mode becomes unusable until he recovers at least 1 HP.
• ^ At least 1 HP is required to reactivate Stance Mode if already in Fatal status.
• Zero is practically invincible as long as he can find a window of opportunity to recover HP and reactivate Stance Mode to take another lethal hit.

Notes:

• Zero can now engage Stance mode after dash attacks and in a jump. Does not work after a jump attack however.
• Activating S.S in advance will shorten the casting time of a skill. In reverse, if you wish to lengthen the delay, let the skill activate by itself from combat mode.
• Using a technique will put Zero in S.S. Using a skill will put Zero back into combat mode. Any technique/skill while in O.S will switch Zero to S.S afterwards.
• S.S & O.S looks ambiguously similar. There are 3 available tell-tale signs however.
• S.S - Grandark's edge is vertical-aligned, Zero's body is leaned back, arm at rest.
• O.S - Grandark's edge is horizontal-aligned, Zero leans forward, arm held to chest level.

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Skill Tree Setup: Passives

Defensive Stance:

• Defensive Stance: Picks up where Wanderer left off, further increasing the Defense rating for this stance.
• Counterattack: Grandark radiates a green light for 2 seconds when Zero activates the stance. During this instance he can deflect oncoming fireballs and arrows. This ability is useless against any other sort of projectiles, making it a PvP element that is not required in any dungeon.
• Strike Up: Launches enemies into the air, knocking them down as well.
• Strike Down: An impact attack, also knocks enemies down.

Offensive Stance:

While in this mode, attack power is greatly increased and all defensive measures are absent (although defense power remains the same) Attacks in this stance do about 30% more damage than standard attacks and have a large sweep and pierce range. Likewise, mobility is greatly reduced and Zero is allowed only a short jump and slower walking speed by default (slower than Sword Stance).

A penalty that should be noted is the 2x expense of AP when using techniques and skills in this stance. Possibly, it was meant as a PvP countermeasure to deter overuse of O.S in exchange for AP control and has unfortunately applied to the dungeon aspects of the game. Do note that the 2x expense does nothing to increase the damage dealt. It is, a penalty.

• Offensive Stance: Allows activation of the stance.
• Dash: Allows a single short dash.
• Critical/Double: Allows use of said attacks in tandem with the main combo, like any other melee type.
• Trace: Grandark leaves a green star-trail which deals an additional hit for every swing successfully delivered. This essentially lengthens the stun, deals small amounts of extra damage and allows smooth transition of blows to occur with little chance of enemy counters.

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Skill Tree Setup: Actives

Techniques:

Orchid (6 AP)

• Type: One-Shot, Lock-On
• Range: Long
• Several of Grandark's thorns protrude from the ground to snare the enemy, damage increases by levels
• A delay occurs between casting and effect time. This makes targeting of narrow-bodied and running monsters difficult to hit in particular, as the skill pin-points their last position before appearing.
• Orchid can be augmented to recover HP or AP. Both types recover exponential amounts based on number of targets struck successfully, inclusive of stacked monsters. Absorption rate can be increased via the Increased Absorption augment. Also boosts the technique: Loss
• Number of thorns can be increased from 1 to a maximum of 4.

Whirlwind (6 AP)

• Type: Melee Combo, Close-In
• Range: Short
• Delivers a double swing with Grandark
• Due to the low AP cost and cooldown, this technique can be repeatedly used without hindrance thanks to stance retention a technique offers on Zero.

Increase (6 AP)

• Type: Self
• Range: Self
• A buff that strengthens Zero according to the Stance he was in when used.
• D.S - Raises max HP cap by 15%. Not affected by stats. (Zero enshrouds in green aura)
• O.S - No increase in damage has been noted, despite the description saying otherwise. (Zero enshrouds in red aura)
• S.S ability has no use, the drain does not work in dungeons. (Zero enshrouds in blue aura)
• *If Increase is used in combat mode, Zero automatically assumes the Sword Stance.
• Increase's duration defaults at 10 seconds, with +2 seconds for each level increased, to a maximum of 16 seconds.

Amid (33 AP)

• Type: Self
• Range: Self
• For 5 seconds, Zero is impervious to all enemy attack- However!
• *The shield effects from any and all earrings will compromise Zero's invincibility! These effects turn you into a tangible target and Zero will take damage even if Amid is still active at that time.

Skills

Gran Force (23 AP)

• Type: Projectile, Status Inflict: Poison
• Range: Short
• Delay: Short
• Fires an energy projectile from Grandark ahead. Damage is mildly increased by levels.
• "Time" increases the duration of the poison inflicted.
• "Range" gives the projectile "Medium" range, about half the screen.
• A stronger version of Fire Force by some degree. It deals heavier periodic damage and stuns but the effect ends quicker.
• The only real difference from Fire Force is it's PvP property, where it slows player targets down upon contact- Does not happen to dungeon monsters. So if you do not require this property for PvP, save yourself 5 SP points and put them elsewhere!

Bite Off (23 AP)

• Type: One-Shot, Impact
• Range: Short
• Delay: Short
• Zero transforms Grandark into a clawed weapon and stabs the enemy with great force.
• Grandark's Domination: Increases the damage dealt greatly, no rebound effect on monsters.

Breakthrough (46 AP)

• Type: Close-In
• Range: Mid
• Delay: Short
• In a flash, Zero rushes forward with Grandark in it's claw form and strikes the enemy multiple times. Good for dealing concentrated damage to enemies forward.
• Grandark's Domination: Breakthrough's damage is increased.
• [1] Breakthrough while under Grandark's Domination will acquire a pierce effect. It is more of a negative effect because if used too close to your enemy, Zero will rush pass them and deal no damage. This is not the case for larger enemies however, which will cause Zero to brake in front of them.

Abyss (76 AP)

• Type: Splash, Close-In
• Range: Mid
• Delay: Short
• Zero uses the armor fragments on Grandark and turns them into projectile weapons. He spins himself towards the target in a rising arc and fires off the plates at his enemy, damaging them in both instances.
• Target size contributes to the hit rate as each successful contact with the plates will deal damage, and smaller targets may evade some.
• Grandark's Domination: The attack rises from the ground instead, in a field of attack similar to Magic Knight's Kanavan Strike, only with greater attacking power.

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Credits:

[1] - Velastia, for mentioning the changes to Pierce effects for Breakthrough.

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