Kensi is weird

[Igrovin]

Its a light/no armor focus enhancement tree on the defensive side of it, while the other two paths are about having the heaviest armor and shields. Hoping that we could get a Duelist archetype so we can better use the light armor on fighter.

[unbongwah]

Hoping that we could get a Duelist archetype so we can better use the light armor on fighter.

In the interim, bard / fighter is what you want for Swashbuckler Kensei using handaxes or light picks: the crit range bonus from Swashbuckling stacks with the crit multiplier bonus from Strike with No Thought for those two weapons.

[nobodynobody1426]

Its a light/no armor focus enhancement tree on the defensive side of it, while the other two paths are about having the heaviest armor and shields. Hoping that we could get a Duelist archetype so we can better use the light armor on fighter.

What... there is like one or two enhancements that assist those building around light / robes, otherwise the tree is a very strong DPS focused tree. Most fighters can easily run T5 Kensei with some points spent in Stalwart for amazing defense in medium or heavy armor.

[DaviMOC]

It reinforces what fighters are doing best for a long time. Being a good splash for a multitude of different classes/builds. Fighters are also the only class to get Tower Shield and access to heavy armor mastery feats. Having those light/no armor enhancements really feels odd at first sight .

[Halciet]

What... there is like one or two enhancements that assist those building around light / robes, otherwise the tree is a very strong DPS focused tree. Most fighters can easily run T5 Kensei with some points spent in Stalwart for amazing defense in medium or heavy armor.

Think it is just Improved Dodge that requires (light / cloth) armor. Wiki needs to be updated for Agility as in game says nothing about "(in light or no armor)." And swapping between light / medium did not affect anything. So yep... 1 and even that leads into Athletic Mastery which helps heavier armors as well, if not more so. I guess OP was misled into thinking Kensei is light/no at some point.

[Saekee]

To me the weird thing in the Kensei tree is that you need 8 levels of fighter for the (one specific buff) tier 5 instead of just 5 for other classes.

That is, you must take the weapon focus feats to level 8 fighter so a fighter splash of, say, 6 fighter cannot take weapon master for the hp buff and weapon damage boost.

[DaviMOC]

To me the weird thing in the Kensei tree is that you need 8 levels of fighter for the (one specific buff) tier 5 instead of just 5 for other classes.

That is, you must take the weapon focus feats to level 8 fighter so a fighter splash of, say, 6 fighter cannot take weapon master for the hp buff and weapon damage boost.

That also boils down to requiring 4 feats.

[Tilomere]

To me the weird thing in the Kensei tree is that you need 8 levels of fighter for the (one specific buff) tier 5 instead of just 5 for other classes.

That also boils down to requiring 4 feats.

It's not weird, it is just economically balanced. When a 6 level fighter splash gave both the feats for melee and crit/multiplier/power/haste boost full build, there was less reason to buy +1 hearts or xp boosts to get to "full build."

First they removed power surge charges from multiclass builds, and when that wasn't effective they removed the /6 splash altogether.

[the_one_dwarfforged]

It's not weird, it is just economically balanced. When a 6 level fighter splash gave both the feats for melee and crit/multiplier/power/haste boost full build, there was less reason to buy +1 hearts or xp boosts to get to "full build."

First they removed power surge charges from multiclass builds, and when that wasn't effective they removed the /6 splash altogether.

I'm 99% sure that T5 Kensei has effectively required 8 Fighter since day 1 of the current enhancement system. In the previous system I believe that the comparable enhancements also had feat pre-reqs but that was less of a concern since "T5" didn't exist, Power Surge was lvl 12 and Keen Edge was lvl 18. Back then 6 Fighter was really more about the feats and I don't think it was nearly as popular a splash/MC as 1, 2 or 12. That was a long time ago though.