TERA Valkyrie Class Guides

Image from the Valkyrie Class page on the En Masse website here.

References and Background
Gearing
Glyphs
EP Talents
Advanced Skills
Skill Usage and Rotations
Tips and Tricks
Videos

References and Background

Current guides:

The most current source of information on Valkyrie is the Valkyrie Discord.
The linked guide for PC from the discord is [formerly Grey's, now] Dreaming.Of's google site, linked here.
The console guide is the older version of the PC guide, linked here. Keep in mind that it isn't maintained.

However, Grey also quit TERA recently (Q4, 2019) and hasn't updated the guide to patch 86 with the release of new gear. The guide is still useful for the time being and it will likely be passed on to another Valkyrie player from the discord and updated later. The information on this page is largely based on the guide as well as snippets of info from the discord.

"So as I said before, I'll revise a few things on the guide. However, since I don't play anymore, I don't really feel comfortable going too in depth with it. And because I know exactly how lazy this community is, I know that another one probably won't get made for a long time due to the sheer amount of upfront work that needs to go into it. I'll be giving it to Dreaming after my edits. I'd like @Rowockiezzz , @Isaeria , and @Antiowope to add to it because I think they are collectively the most competent valkyries here."

"The biggest flaw in my guide as well as my valk playstyle was I was very theoretical and "by the books" and my own stubbornness hindered my dps as well as my growth as a valk. I think that multiple authors would be a great improvement as long as it stems from the core fundamentals and basic principles of valk. A word of the wise tho: Different perspectives are nice but getting too crazy will confuse your audience. That's what this discord is for anyways. :communistvalk: (edited)

@Tyrannowosauwuruwus Flex the next thing I sent you won't be a tv stand lol"

- Grey

Old guides:

The original Essential Mana page is linked here but it's very outdated now. Even for console, you're better off going with Grey's console guide.

Gearing

Main Four (Weapon, Chest, Gloves, Boots)

Pre-Patch 86
Patch 86

Valkyrie uses standard DPS rolls and crystals with the following variations.
Weapon

Topline - Enrage damage
Bottom set pick yellows, optionally swapping cooldown for crit power. If choosing for Twistshard gear with only 3 bottom lines instead of 4, drop the flat damage line.
Crystals are usually power or crit factor as needed. Some people choose to use attack speed (2, 3, or 4 of them) when with a Brawler tank.

Armor

Top line - Bloodflower ragnarok point generation until level 67 and you have the Shining Crescent advanced skill unlocked for more ragnarok points from shining crescent hits. Choose flat damage increase for all skills afterwards.
Otherwise pick yellow lines. Skip HP for Twistshard gear because of the missing last line.
Crystals are damage reduction hardies, with at least one Poisedly dyad desired although MP is usually not an issue on Valkyrie.

Accessories and Crit Cap

Etchings

Weapon / Gloves - Energetic and Pumped
Chest / Boots - Grounded
Everything else - add Power as needed (since you'll want to have easily swappable crit factor through your innies, crystals, and relic/halidom)
See What Are Etchings and How to Get Them for more information.

Glyphs

Check out the Valkyrie guide glyph page for the same info. I'm only copying some of the glyph pages with notes for convenience. There are additional glyph pages on the source page from Grey.

See How To Get All Your Skill Glyphs for help with acquiring uncommon and rare glyphs.

Pre-Apex

These will be the glyphs you will use until you get your Awakening skills and glyph points.

Standard 65 set

This will be your basic kit and caboodle. Run 2 of the circled red glyphs or all 3 of the yellow ones.

EP Talents

Again, go to the source for ground truth. Here's a quick reference image from the Discord and the names for easier searching, and a note from the discord:

Mighty Attack
Spinning Death - Critical Pummel
Mighty Phoenix (1 point)
Might Defense
Leaping Slash - Counter
Ground Bash - Counter
Dream Slash - Counter
Shining Crescent - Enchant

"at level 70, Shining Crescent attack modifier becomes a viable addition due to the level increase and the way this works. may change later, but as of now this is pretty solid.

its worth noting that you can probably put points in and as well. with the 28 points I have in , its at +450 attack modifier, so you may indeed get better results putting about 20-30 points in , , and than all into "

- Grey

Advanced Skills

Here's a reference pic and notes from the discord.

Read more about Advanced Skills / TalYphs in TERA for help on farming advanced skills items.

"Some of you may question why we would go spec Maelstrom before Gungnir's Bite since we use Gungnir's Bite so much. There are actually a few factors that play into this:

Maelstrom is a higher % of our damage than Gungnir's Bite in most cases.
Upgrading Maelstrom give us extra Crit Factor which will help push us closer to Twilight Waltz crit cap and theoretically enable us to secure more crits on it.
Gungnir's Bite's effect applies damage on chance. This chance is too low to build around and therefore loses viability.
Upgrading Gungnir's Bite increases endurance which does no direct dps gain.

I strongly recommend putting at least one point in each advanced skill - regardless of the order - and then stacking according to the order."

- Grey

Skill Usage and Rotations

Check the source for ground truth. The Patch 86 rotation is different from the most recent listing and you'll have to go through the discord chat to figure it out. The rotations on the Grey guide go through four stages:

Pre-Apex - Main damage is from Shining Crescent and then Runeburst. Efficient ragnarok point building, star building, and boss backtime, and in order to get both hits of Shining Cresent off cooldown and runeburst otherwise will give you the most damage.
Level 65-66
Level 67-68
Level 69-70

Graphical Rotations:

65-66
67-68
69-70

You'll also want to read through the fundamentals page that goes over some overarching themes and goals for Valkyrie play.

Changes with the new gear

Leaping slash and ground bash have moved up in priority and Runeburst is almost completely absent from the rotation. No one has documented it explicitly outside of the discord chat and the change is described with "more or less" as a qualifier. Yeah... at some point I'll try to go through the discord and pull out some concrete information on how to change the rotation around.

Skill Resets and Runemark Cheatsheet

Outside of Ragnarok and Godsfall, you are told to "freestyle" with Leaping Strike resets to build Ragnarok points. In reality you'll get into a pattern over time with some improvisation as mechanics interrupt you. Here's a reference for learning the leaping resets and also tracking your Runemarks. Note that although Titansbane can generate Runemarks when you are in Ragnarok, you should really never use it that way. But since it can generate Runemarks, it's noted here.

jpg image link, also available as a pdf file.

Tips and Tricks

Maintain Full Rag Points Forever Before the Fight

If you cast ragnarok and then cancel the animation with evasive roll, it'll count as a new skill cast that gives you another 30s of full ragnarok point maintenance. Be careful not to try a raganarok cancel when evasive roll is on cooldown or when you have a lot of ping jitter that may cause your evasive roll to desync and miss (resulting in you casting Ragnarok for real). You can try using both evasive rolls (cast, wait a second or two, cast) to make sure the cancel happens.

Facetank Everything with Balder's Tears

Balder's Tears will let you take 3 ticks of damage with 80% damage reduction. You can do dumb stuff like facetank RK9 bombs, Kylos lighting 1-hp mech, and Antaroth's orb mechanic in normal mode. Try playing with it and consider using the cooldown reduction glyph if you want more chances to facetank.

Self Heal with Maelstrom

Most classes offer some kind of self-heal option. Maelstrom seems like the most absurd one out of all the classes. It might seem lame using a self-heal glyph but if you're doing solo stuff or playing the IMS lottery, a solid self-heal option will greatly improve your quality of life.

Videos

From the class discord, #pc-guides, Grey posted the following on 10/13/19

Here I used Glaive Strike for simplicity instead of double Ground Bash during Ragnarok. I also fucked up on my 3rd Twilight Waltz rotation, forgetting to Leaping Slash before Gungnir's Bite. This shorted me 30 points and ultimately delayed an otherwise perfect rag gen cycle by a second or two until I waited for Bloodflower to come off cooldown.

Anyways, here's a rotation video guide a few of you have requested:

The video above was originally linked to the one Grey posted in the Valkyrie Discord. I checked it out more closely and noticed that there was some desktop / other app content at the beginning and end, the chat box was still visible, and it was originally unlisted. So I edited it down and censored the chat for a repost. Check out the original in the Valkyrie Discord.

Keep in mind this is an older rotation now so it will line up with the icon-based rotations listed earlier but will be off from current meta.