| Jaysonstasis |
First off, im new with pretty much everything so bare with me. I just started a game with a vesk soldier. I wanted to be melee focused so i chose blitz as a primary fighting style. My conundrum is, which secondary fighting style would best compliment that? What i‘ve mostly found is info on blitz being secondary or a good dipping option for multiclassing.
Darkling36
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I'd look at the ones that don't rely on level to benefit you since you'll be loosing most of your level for that purpose. I think gaurd is a good one, extra AC and party defense. Hit and run is nice and I personally think it's 5th level ability is great. And if you're going ranged combat then then take sharpshooter, you can ignore some of the penalties for those melee focused friends of yours that keep insisting on standing in front of your bullets.
| Ventnor |
Arcane Assailant could be a good pick too. That way, if you run into a situation where you need a particular damage type, you know that you'll be fighting ghosts, or you want to take down a foe nonlethally to interrogate them, all you need is 10 minutes to put the proper infusion on your primary weapon instead of needing to buy all those separate infusions.
| Hithesius |
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Are you starting at a high enough level to make this choice now, or are you planning ahead? Because several of the fighting styles could be useful, but their usefulness may be somewhat dependent on how you play and what the campaign offers you. Skip to the last two paragraphs if you just want the final conclusion.
Arcane Assailant could be useful, depending on your campaign. Its first ability is lackluster for 9th level since I would expect you'd have fusions for your weapons by then, but has fringe benefits if you're having trouble keeping your weapons on your character. Enables a back-up, essentially. The second ability arrives at 13th, and if you can plan ahead lets you exploit vulnerabilities and bypass resistances without paying for a normal fusion. If you can expect to actually make it to a high enough level for it to be worthwhile, the versatility Secret of the Magi offers makes Arcane Assailant worth considering.
Armor Storm does nothing for you in a reasonable span of time. Bombard is fun, but not as a secondary, and certainly not for a melee fighter's secondary - smoke grenades are the only ones that don't care about item level, and by 9th level are both comparatively dirt cheap and readily ignored with a level 4 armor upgrade. Heavy Fire might be useful if you absolutely cannot close to melee, but you're at 13th level by then - why can't you close to melee? You're a Blitz Soldier who should have already acquired some method of flight.
Guard is useful, if mundane. -1 ACP and +1 Max Dex Bonus means you can run around in the lighter suits of heavier armor with no ACP and an extra point of AC, if you've got the dex to provide it. Guard's Protection will eat your reaction, but will help keep other party members alive.
Hit-and-Run could be useful, though its opening ability is mediocre and won't be anything but a bonus feat until level 18. If you can make it to level 13, Nimble Fusillade boosts your all-important mobility, which complements Blitz nicely.
Sharpshoot is a strictly ranged fighting style. Powerful, useful, but fundamentally at odds with your focus.
For the shorter version...
Guard provides an immediately useful ability right off the bat, though it does not immediately give you any new options. Hit-and-Run gives you a bonus feat you could have already gotten by then, but if you can make it to 13 provides some incredible synergy. Arcane Assailant is mediocre at level 9 but provides a potentially helpful range of options once you get to 13.
If you think you'll reach level 13 and keep playing, then all three of those are options. If you don't think you will, Guard is the only one that provides an immediate benefit you can't replace with money or a feat.
| Hithesius |
If you're level 1, you've got plenty of time to figure out what kind of campaign you're in and what might be best before this choice becomes relevant. Just keep an eye on how the campaign is being played, how you play, and which one would best complement it.
I will add one more thing, though, that I didn't consider earlier. While Arcane Assailant's first level ability is still somewhat mediocre at ninth level, it does have a niche use even if you've got fusions on all your weapons. With ten minutes, you can make sure one of your grenades is a magical weapon too. That's still very circumstantial, but in the right campaign maybe that's a meaningful point in its favor.