Silica

INFORMATION

FROM:

SWORD ART ONLINE

RACE:

CAIT SITH

WEAPONS:

DAGGER
KNUCKLE
BOW

MAIN ELEMENT:

NONE

ROLE:

SUPPORT
SECONDARY ATTACKER

UNLOCK:

Unlocked in EP03

~DAGGER~

Show/Hide Dagger Sword Skills

	NAME	SKILL DESCRIPTION
	Rapid Bite	Charging attack. Dashes in and performs one close range slash. COOLDOWN: 3
	Venom Bite	Single Strike attack. Performs a very close range impale with the dagger. Low chance Poison COOLDOWN: 3
	Quick Throw	Projectile attack. Throws the dagger at the target. Don’t worry; you get your dagger back. COOLDOWN: 3
	Fade Edge	Combo attack. 4 quick scything slashes. COOLDOWN: 10
	Mirage Fang	Area of Effect attack. 6 horizontal zig-zag slashes followed by an upward finish. COOLDOWN: 10
	Paralyze Bite	Single Strike attack. Pounces on the target to perform a close range impale with the dagger. Very short range. Low chance Paralysis. COOLDOWN: 10
	Reckless Tusk	Counter attack. Flips the dagger to a reverse grip and dashes in and then counters incoming attacks with a reverse thrust. Because the counter will only activate on the latter portion of the attack, this is really difficult to time. Only activates upon receiving damage during the attack (Projectiles & magic do not count). COOLDOWN:* 10
	Axel Raid	Combo attack. Unleashes a flurry of close range combination attacks. COOLDOWN: 15
	Lightning Ripper	Combo attack. Flips the dagger to a reverse grip to let loose an insane spinning attack over an area damaging enemies multiple times. Like Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai. COOLDOWN: 30

~KNUCKLE~

Show/Hide Knuckle Sword Skills

	NAME	SKILL DESCRIPTION
	Smash Knuckle	Rushing attack. Dashes in and delivers a straight punch. COOLDOWN: 3
	Gazelle Rush	Combo attack. A combination of 2 roundhouse kicks followed by a finishing upward kick. Dat panty flash makes little BK’s around the world happy. COOLDOWN: 3
	Beat Upper	Counter attack. Drops into a defensive stance and counters incoming attacks with a strong gut punch. Only activates upon receiving damage during start-up of attack (Projectiles & magic do not count). COOLDOWN:* 10
	Leopold Blitz	Invul attack. Quickly steps back and retaliates with a swift kick followed by a flying kick that covers a lot of ground. The step back has some invulnerability. COOLDOWN: 3
	Surge Terror Fist	Multi-projectile attack. Gathers strength and then punches forward unleashing multiple balls of energy that travel a short distance. COOLDOWN: 10
	Blazing Blow	Power attack. Gathers energy and then punches the ground to bring up a single torrent which damages enemies. COOLDOWN: 10
	Turbulence Rush	Combo attack. Rushes in and unleashes a spastic combination of punches and kicks. Finishing pose is somewhat H. COOLDOWN: 15
	Deadly Blow	Power attack. Gathers all strength into a straight punch which releases cluster bombs of energy upon impact. Short range COOLDOWN: 30

~BOW~

Show/Hide Bow Sword Skills

	NAME	SKILL DESCRIPTION
	Wide Shot	Area of Effect attack. Simultaneously shoots 5 arrows in horizontal array. COOLDOWN: 3
	Hail Bullet	Multi-projectile attack. Fires 3 homing arrows that track a target. COOLDOWN: 3
	Retrieve Arrow	Projectile attack. Shoots a very long range arrow. Low chance Bind. COOLDOWN: 10
	Vault Shot	Dodging attack. Performs a side-flip and fires 3 arrows while upside down. COOLDOWN: 10
	Stardust Exa	Area of Effect attack. Steps back and fires a rain of arrows above a target. COOLDOWN: 10
	Sparkle Shot	Targeting attack. Holding down the button lets you multi-lock targets. Release to fire arrows at all locked on targets in quick succession. COOLDOWN: 10
	Multiple Chaser	Multi-projectile attack. Fires a barrage of homing arrows at a target. COOLDOWN: 15
	Strike Nova	Projectile attack. Shoots a powerful beam of light at the target. COOLDOWN: 30

~OFFENSIVE MAGIC SKILLS~

Show/Hide Offensive Magic Skills

	NAME	DESCRIPTION
	Fireball	Fires a small fireball at an enemy. Power & number of consecutive shots increases with skill level.
	Ice Bullet	Fires a small icicle at an enemy. Power & number of consecutive shots increases with skill level.
	Wind Cutter	Fires a small gust of wind at an enemy. Power & number of consecutive shots increases with skill level.
	Sling Stone	Fires small rocks at an enemy. Power & number of consecutive shots increases with skill level.
	Dark Sphere	Fires a small ball of darkness at an enemy. Power & number of consecutive shots increases with skill level.
	Lightning Arrow	Fires multiple spears of light at an enemy. Power & number of consecutive shots increases with skill level.

	Fire Breath	Commands Pina to attack target dealing Fire based damage. Power & Range increases with skill level
	Ice Breath	Commands Pina to attack target dealing Ice based damage. Power & Range increases with skill level
	Wind Breath	Commands Pina to attack target dealing Wind based damage. Power & Range increases with skill level
	Sand Breath	Commands Pina to attack target dealing Earth based damage. Power & Range increases with skill level
	Shadow Breath	Commands Pina to attack target dealing Dark based damage. Power & Range increases with skill level
	Lightning Breath	Commands Pina to attack target dealing Holy based damage. Power & Range increases with skill level
	Silver Headbutt	Pina’s OSS. Inspired by Silver Crow & Agil. Pina rushes at the target giving it a hard headbutt.

~HEALING & BUFFS~

Show/Hide Healing & Buffs

	NAME	DESCRIPTION
	First Aid	Recover own HP. Amount recovered is increased with skill level.
	Resurrection	Brings allies back from dead (Within Range) Amount recovered is increased with skill level.
	Revive	Allows the user to come back from the dead. One use per cast. Amount recovered is increased with skill level
	Stamina Boost	Decreases amount of Stamina used. Amount recovered is increased with skill level
	Quick	Increases Party Movement Speed by 50%. Duration is increased with skill level.
	Exhaust	Decreases Enemy Attack by 20%. Duration is increased with skill level.
	Hiding	Become semi-invisible. Aggro rate is decreased by 50%. Duration increases with skill level. *Has no effect in online play.
	Battle Shout	Draw aggro from enemies within range. Effect & range increases with skill level. *Has no effect in online play.
	Heal Breath	Commands Pina to heal self, recovering HP. Party members standing nearby can also be healed. Range & Amount recovered are increased with skill level.
	Cure Breath	Commands Pina to heal self, curing bad statuses. Party members standing nearby can also be cured. Range & types of bad statuses cured are increased with skill level.

~PASSIVE SKILLS~

Show/Hide Passive Skills

NAME	DESCRIPTION
The Art of Dagger	Allows the user to equip Daggers and use its respective Sword Skills.
Martial Arts	Allows the user to equip Knuckle and use its respective Sword Skills.
The Art of Bow	Allows the user to equip Bow and use its respective Sword Skills.
Taming	Allows the user to command a familiar.
Increase Status Ailment Recovery	Increases the rate of recovery from bad statuses by 20%.
Stamina Saver	Reduces the cost of stamina based actions by 20%.
Increase Magical Defense	Decrease amount of damage received by magical attacks by 10%.
Increase Physical Defense	Decrease amount of damage received by physical attacks by 10%.
Increase MP	Increases Max MP by 10%.
Increased Magical Attack	Increases power of magic attacks by 10%.
Fast Cast	Decreases the casting time of Magic skills by 10%.
Cooldown Time Decrease	Decreases the cooldown time of Sword Skills & Special Moves by 10%.
Taming Expert	Increases familiars damage & recovery abilities by 20%.
Switch Boost	Increases the power of Switch by 10%.
Skill Connect Boost	Increases power of Skill Connect by 10%.
Increase Magical Defense+	Decrease amount of damage received by magical attacks by 20%.
Increased Magical Attack+	Increases power of magic attacks by 20%.
Increase HP	Increases Max HP by 10%.
Cooldown Time Decrease+	Decreases the cooldown time of Sword Skills & Special Moves by 20%.
Taming Master	Increases familiars damage & recovery abilities by 30%.
Fast Cast+	Decreases the casting time of Magic skills by 20%.
[Lv1000] Increase Attack	Increases physical damage dealt by weapons by 10%.
[Lv1050] Increase Step Invul Duration	Increases the amount of invulnerability time during a step.
[Lv1100] Switch Boost+	Increases the power of Switch by 20%.
[Lv1200] Increase Critical Rate	Increases the probability of landing a critical strike by 20%.
Increase Dagger Damage	Increases damage of Dagger by 10%.
Increase Knuckle Damage	Increases damage of Knuckle by 10%.
Increase Bow Damage	Increases damage of Bow by 10%.
Dagger Master	A title given to those who have mastered the art of Dagger. Increases damage of Dagger by 50%.
Knuckle Master	A title given to those who have mastered the art of Knuckle. Increases damage of Knuckle by 50%.
Bow Master	A title given to those who have mastered the art of Bow. Increases damage of Bow by 50%.

~HOW TO PLAY SILICA~

This section is written as an more in-depth extension to the AW & SAO Character Overview post and is meant to be used hand in hand with the General Leveling Guide. The purpose of this How-To-Play is to offer players of all levels a skeleton plan which enables them to build their characters up to their full potential. With that being said, it is indeed recommended that you do follow the steps described here.

It is also worth noting that because of the Passive Skills Bug, any specific character’s Passive Skills are not considered in this section.

-Important Skills-

Quick
Revive
Resurrection
Healing Breath
Curing Breath
First Aid
Exhaust
Hiding (Offline only)

-Weapon Selection-

Silica is presented with 3 of the weakest weapons in the game. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. It just means that she won’t be able to do big amounts of damage. Whichever weapon you want to play Silica on is completely up to you.

Fun fact: Silica is the only character in the gave to have 3 weapons of each attack type (Slash, Thrust, Blunt).

Silica has no major element. But still, if you are able to give her a Max Attack; Half Element Weapon with ~10% Anything or a Half Attack; Max Element Weapon with ~20% Anything, she will become very strong. In most cases, higher base attack is better than elemental attack unless you are willing to switch weapons for each boss weakness.

**For more information on the overall Weapon Building process, consult the Weapon Building Guide.

**For some tips on how to select the appropriate Accessories for your character, consult the Selecting Equipment guide.

-Using Silica-

Honestly speaking, the Cait Sith is random race. The main pull is the familiar but the familiar isn’t exactly that useful outside of its Healing Abilities. Also the two Aggro control skills (Hiding & Battle Shout) don’t work online making this race struggle to have a clear role in the bigger picture. Even as a long time player, i have absolutely no idea what this race was intended to do.

Silica may have the strongest Familiar since Pina gets an OSS.

When a quest or boss fight starts:

Cast Quick & Revive.
Cast Exhaust.
Move in for Combat(?)

On the SAO Sword Skills & Weapon Breakdowns page I have written some basic combat guidelines for all the respective weapons in the game. If you feel like you are using a weapon incorrectly or just want some pointers, I would advise you to have a look at that page.

Since Cait Sith’s don’t have a clear focus, they have a good amount of freedom and lack of responsibility in the team. They can attack or attempt to heal. How you play the Cait Sith is ultimately up to you.

Remember that when players die in battle, they are revived without any buffs. Recasting buffs when teammates die is a good idea and makes you a wonderful teammate. Of course, in some cases when a player dies non-stop its a waste of time to recast buffs (>.<)

-Healing-

If you take damage with Silica, use Healing Breath. It is possible to heal other teammates standing nearby with healing breath. If you want to turn the Cait Sith class into a healer it would mean that you would have to chase people around to heal them. Which is a waste of time.

It is also a good idea to recover your Bad Status ailments with Curing Breath.

-BK’s Opinion on Silica-

Admittedly, I was really disappointed when I found out that the Cait Sith class is exactly how they were in LS. I wanted to make a sick Bow Silica that I could actually fit into a team. But now the Cait Sith completely relies on the teammates and their buffs to have any kind of value as a race. Which is… hard to appreciate.

Of course, being strong isn’t everything in this game. Having fun is important too. Which why i bust out my Bow Silica on rare occasions just to keep things fresh.

It may come as a surprise to my friends and family, but I really like Silica (@_@). She is #1 imouto heroine and Leafa needs to pull up a chair and learn from her greatness.

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