Low level KFM skill point distribution question

[Heresy]

So I was wondering where to put the first points in to make KFM combos valid during low level gameplay. Does anyone have any recommendations and/or tips for low level gameplay? I am looking for combos both for mobs, as well as solo/party boss handling tips (Blackram Narrows right up to lvl 36ish Tomb of the Exiles). I am very happy to learn how to tank properly with this class as well.

 

i have seen some 3RF videos on youtube but all of them featured lvl 45 skill tree which does not help with deciding on lower level skill distribution.

[Jayvyn]

That is true, I've seen little to none about low level progression. I've been trying to find out myself the past few days. I just learned the the KFM is more of a tank roll.   

[STR4ng3r]

I've put my first three points in the swift strike (change it to tiger strike, right branch), so you get spammable aoe self heal. That helped me a lot in the start ;)

[ComatoseBellicose]

You should try and practice 3rf while leveling, as it will help you alot for when you do hit 45. You will only really be able to practice it when questing, since you will only have few oppertunites to stun champions and bosses for the combo to work.

 

 

Otherwise, i'd recommend the much simpler 2RF combo for running dungeons, With a build like this.

 

The idea is you open with guiding fist to give yourself the threat generation buff, then basically alternate between LMB and 2 (straight jab and tiger strike), and press F (searing blow) whenever it procs. Others will say that they prefer the single target cyclone kick instead of searing blow, but tbh when you are leveling you wont have a reliably high crit chance to keep up your focus with LMB, so Searing blow gives you alot of focus back when it happens. Swap out tiger strike with swift strike if you arent getting hit alot and dont need the heal, as the cost of tigerstrike is 3 focus vs the 2 focus of swift strike.

 

Tremor in my link is specced for trash leading up to a boss, swap out T4F2 for T4F3 for when fighting bosses. Pop fighting spirit during boss fights for a nice party-wide damage boost. there was 1 point spare so i put it in second wind, so you can recover if you mess up a boss attack.

 

 

For questing, it boils down to if you want to focus things down one at a time or if you are comfortable rounding up mobs and aoe'ing them down (which will depend on if you have the gear to survive the rounding up process). So instead, here is a spec you can use for practicing 3rf here.

 

This gives you a bunch of stuns to work off of and practice the combo. It also has 2 points in smite, which is primarily there to punish you if you try and spam the buttons rather than press them in order (Credit to Laguna for teaching me that one).

 

Edit: Just to clarify, this is based off of a levle 36ish point of view. if you are lower level than this, then remove points that arent fully necessary to your main rotation, such as fighting spirit and tremour.

[Heresy]

27 minutes ago, ComatoseBellicose said:

You should try and practice 3rf while leveling, as it will help you alot for when you do hit 45. You will only really be able to practice it when questing, since you will only have few oppertunites to stun champions and bosses for the combo to work.

 

 

Otherwise, i'd recommend the much simpler 2RF combo for running dungeons, With a build like this.

 

The idea is you open with guiding fist to give yourself the threat generation buff, then basically alternate between LMB and 2 (straight jab and tiger strike), and press F (searing blow) whenever it procs. Others will say that they prefer the single target cyclone kick instead of searing blow, but tbh when you are leveling you wont have a reliably high crit chance to keep up your focus with LMB, so Searing blow gives you alot of focus back when it happens. Swap out tiger strike with swift strike if you arent getting hit alot and dont need the heal, as the cost of tigerstrike is 3 focus vs the 2 focus of swift strike.

 

Tremor in my link is specced for trash leading up to a boss, swap out T2F2 for T2F3 for when fighting bosses. Pop fighting spirit during boss fights for a nice party-wide damage boost. there was 1 point spare so i put it in second wind, so you can recover if you mess up a boss attack.

 

 

For questing, it boils down to if you want to focus things down one at a time or if you are comfortable rounding up mobs and aoe'ing them down (which will depend on if you have the gear to survive the rounding up process). So instead, here is a spec you can use for practicing 3rf here.

 

This gives you a bunch of stuns to work off of and practice the combo. It also has 2 points in smite, which is primarily there to punish you if you try and spam the buttons rather than press them in order (Credit to Laguna for teaching me that one).

 

Edit: Just to clarify, this is based off of a levle 36ish point of view. if you are lower level than this, then remove points that arent fully necessary to your main rotation, such as fighting spirit and tremour.

 

This is a great reply. It's what I was looking for. Thank you very much!

 

My KFM is lvl 22 atm. It annoys the hell out of me that I mainly use RMB to spam on mobs with counter if necessary because 2 costs waaay too much focus which I cannot seem to be able to get back quickly enough. Even at such a low level I know there is more to the class than 'autoattack spam'. Also, your tree gives me something to look forward to and plan ahead. I'm comfortable with chopping and changing points, trying different stuff out.. I've done that all the way through levelling my FM, but FM is trivial compared to a KFM. When I know the class more, I'll probably feel more at ease with experimenting. Until then you have given me a great template to work with and towards.

[Zeykes]

If you are a PvP player, I do highly recommend (as mentioned by others as well) to practice your 3rf while levelling. You only need 6 skill points to be able to perform 3rf, as shown here. However, 3rf can only be used on stunned/dazed enemies, so you won't be able to use it often until you spec some of your skills into stunning/dazing your opponent (such as 4, Z, C, V, and even counter if you wish).

 

If you're a more PvE-oriented player however, and don't plan on doing much PvP, I'd rather recommend you practice the standard KFM PvE-rotation (for this patch, anyway), which is 2rf. This is basically comboing (ani cancelling) LB>2>LB>2, and incorporating F (Cyclone Kick) when 2 (Swift Strike) crits, like so: LB>2>LB>2(crit)>LB>F>LB>2, and for this to work efficiently, you need around 9 points like this. Note that this combo does not have a stun/daze requirement like 3rf does, and can be used whenever.

[Syrcan]

Since you are low level I'd recommend you to build 2 - Swift Strike t1. Spamming 2-R only costs 1 focus a cycle, and you'll get some refund if you crit with 2 or R.

Also once you feel like you have enough chi, you can use F - Cyclone Kick t2 to combo 2-R-F (when 2 crits).

Trying to cancel F with 2 as early as possible is the key to a perfect dps.

 

About the 3-R-F combo, it's very tricky. You can only use it against dazed/stunned/gripped target.

I think you can forget about it UNLESS you want to train for PvP.

 

On later levels you can switch to another build which is fire. This build is very chi consuming although.

The skill 2 - Tiger Strike t3 deals decent AoE damage and enables both 4 - Hellfire Kick and 3 - Searing Blow t3 (you'll want that) for focus recovery.

If you manage well your chi, you'll never use R with that build.

Additionnally this build prepares you the best to combo with X - Searing Blow (once you reach lvl 45).

 

I'd like to add a last thing. Once you start to clear dungeons, you'll want 3 points in Q/E.

These 1.5 second i-frames skills are really powerful tools. You can dodge orange and red boss AoE with them instead of going away and losing dps.

It is basically better that 1 - Counter because it's faster to cast, recovers 5 focus and also enables other skills.

[Heresy]

Thank you very much, guys, I appreaciate you taking your time to write these. It's going to be fun making that work on my crappy laptop, but who doesn't enjoy a challenge!

[PainOfTheSharingan]

haven't looked at all of them but the first i'll get the 5% healing from damage and than try to get high damage spells, probably fire skills since they seem pretty strong.

[Dreegan]

Get REALLY used to using your Q and E to dodge now, because without it at high level you basically become useless. Spec Z for the 10% Health regen. And Grapple for the % health regen if you're having trouble staying alive. The Grapple Heath Regen with 3LMBs and a pummel is a shit ton of health, and you should never really have to use Pots or Dumplings while leveling.

 

Also, don't put points into your LMB. It's basically a nub-trap, and not worth any points.

[Kutsuu]

Just got done leveling my KFM to 45. I experimented with pretty much everything and settled very comfortably into a fire spec with lots of AOE damage and self healing. I could count on one hand the number of potions or food I needed to use! Even if I took some damage I could pull mobs and heal up AOEing. 

It's an AOE build, but I even used it against bosses and in dungeon runs due to the healing on 2 and the focus sustain from Searing Blow (F). 

 

Level 22: https://bnstree.com/KF?build=220000211223030230051111134

 

Level 31: https://bnstree.com/KF?build=310000211223030230051111134108440553220031

 

Level 41: https://bnstree.com/KF?build=4100002000311122303023009440051111134106321084405532060112003110711

 

Rotation is very simple: When you pull a big pack of mobs just Q or E sidestep then Firestorm kick (RB) -> 2 LB 4 then 2 LB until 4 is off cooldown, throw in Searing Blow (F) if you need Focus. If Firestorm kick is on cooldown just use Comet Strike (4) or Rising Dragon (Z) to open with. 

[Kutsuu]

Also I put points into LB eventually because it gives more total damage and focus regen than anything else I would have put points in since I already had my core skills. It's definitely the last thing to think about putting points into, though. 

[Strindberg]

On 2/17/2016 at 7:13 AM, Heresy said:

So I was wondering where to put the first points in to make KFM combos valid during low level gameplay. Does anyone have any recommendations and/or tips for low level gameplay? I am looking for combos both for mobs, as well as solo/party boss handling tips (Blackram Narrows right up to lvl 36ish Tomb of the Exiles). I am very happy to learn how to tank properly with this class as well.

 

i have seen some 3RF videos on youtube but all of them featured lvl 45 skill tree which does not help with deciding on lower level skill distribution.

highest priority imo for pretty much every class is to put points into their bread and butter combo. 

 

Learn the 2RF combo first, it's usable under any circumstance. Leads into smite when you get it. After that I'd recommend putting points into survivability, such as increased defense on counter (1) or the self heals on Z. 

 

 

As for learning to tank, you gain aggro by dealing damage. Putting points into Guiding Fist / Counter for increased threat generation is ideal. Best thing about KFM tanking is that you can move while blocking. Most boss attacks can be countered, minus the red telegraphed ones which you must use iframes to dodge.

 

 

 

[Heresy]

Thank you very much for your contribution, guys. I'm glad this thread turned out to be a good database of tips for beginner KFMs, without any flaming, trolling, sarcastic comments and so on.

 

Your tips have helped me greatly and different builds encouraged me to think about what to use and how to use it and to tinker thoughtfully.

 

I personally think this thread is worth getting a sticky.

[Shuchin]

Here is what I use to clear mobs, an all offensive, AoE and healing focused build:

lvl 30
F (Flying Slam T4S1) as opener
Q/E 3 points > 4 (Comet Strike T4S2)
2 (Tiger strike T2S4) > LB (T2S1) > 4 (Hellfire kick) or F (Cyclone T3S1)

explanations:

The F spec helps keep focus and health up and speeds gameplay with more running speed
Q/E > 4 Is very high dps without cooldown and iframe (helps you practice iframes) AND AoE

If anything still lives or you are impationt for Q/E cooldown:
2 > LB > 4 > (2/LB) > F
Has some heal from 2, LB spec is very good for added hellfire / Cyclone crits.

 

If you go beyond lvl 30, you can add points to counter to help round up the mobs before the AoE fest. You can also use x > 4 for double AoE when X is off cooldown.

Really always put two points into LB if you go for any anicancel, the damage output increase is big. I only don't use it on searing palm builds because I lack the time to have the crit stacks build up and I get max crit from pressure points anyway.

 

Beyond points in counter you could also add RB Firestorm Kick (T2S3) as an alternative to 4 for AoE plus stun to keep mobs in place. Later on V (Tremor T4S2) for pull+AoE.