Destroyer guide

Why Destroyer? You can be a battle-armored tank, pure and simple! By Level 45, you have close to 2600 HP, and with a good buffer in your party, you can get hundreds more prior to battle.

You basically have three weapon paths as a Destroyer. (Sure, you could also train Iron Punch, but why?) Pick your weapon path early on — polearms, blunts or swords. Consider how you like to play, damage per blow, preferred mob, types and the number of blows per minute to figure out your best weapon.

Your primary attack skills should support your playing style. Got groups? Develop your damage attacks. Got small groups, or plan to run alone? Don't forget your stun abilities. Run with damage-dealers and few healers? Get HP-related abilities.

For blunts (and swords), Fatal Strike packs a much harder punch than Hammer Crush for the same MP. A much harder punch … but it doesn't come with stun effects.

Destroyers get several skills that add stun effects to attacks. Invest in one of these — Hammer Crush or Stun Attack. Rage also gives you stun, but at the expense of defense. Stun is not completely reliable, so be prepared to follow up — at Level 6, Hammer Crush seems to stun about 1 of every 6 or 7 tries.

Get Battle Heal! It's a free 10% heal-over-time during battle and stays active for quite a while. Be sure to restart it when it expires.

Destroyers often take the first shot at a pulled enemy with a stun attack. If you can stun, even if only for a few seconds, the party can whittle away HP. This is especially effective with large parties, or parties with powerful, summoned pets.

In your late thirties and early 40s, accumulate as many skill points as possible! You.

will be spending boatloads of SP once you hit 45. If you plan to do any soloing or self-buffs for health, you're going to need HP regen skills, and even boosting Battle Roar to Level 2 will cost you 40K SP.

If you run strictly with parties that have heavy buffing skills, then you can forego the skills that aid HP recovery during battle (including Vital Force, Battle Roar and Boost HP). This will make you a more powerful attacker, since you can focus on boosting your stuns and weapon skills. But you'll be more vulnerable if you're ever caught alone.

Destroyers, while powerful, shouldn't solo. You will never be able to run away.

At Level 52, you get Expertise B, which allows you to use B-grade weapons. So, stay with a reasonable C-grade weapon and armor until you're ready to upgrade!

Once you figure out your weapon, choose your armor. You can develop Light Armor Mastery — good for Evasion and a little bit of added speed — but if you're going to tank, you really need Heavy Armor Mastery.