I’m here to post a Balo build that I believe will be the most effective in terms of leveling and PvP.

Do note that this is before ascending and your build post ascension will be largely dependent on which Affinity you choose to go to.

If I’m still playing then, I might post my build for Affinity too.

But for now, the build.

Tier 1:

Left:
Finesse: 1
Muscle Repulse: 3
Ordeal: 9

Middle:
Hard Blow: 3
Scoff: 3
Potent: 8

Right:
Vigor: 1
Flanker: 3
Tailslip: 9

Total: 40 points

Reasoning: The Balo T5 skills are dependent on the levels of your attack skills on each tier. It is therefore imperative that you max out (9/9) the attack skills in each tier to: 1. Make the next tier attack cooldown faster by 3 seconds. 2. Make the T5 attacks have a 1 second faster cooldown. 3. Make the T5 attacks have higher damage. If you max out every attack skill, your T5 attacks will have 4 seconds less cooldown and will have more damage output. Potent is there because with the tomes, you’ll only have a 40 second CD.

Tier 2:

Left:
Dragon Speed: 2
Dark Injury: 9

Middle:
Fiery Flame: 1

Right:
Tiger Defense: 3
Penetrator: 9

Total: 24

Reasoning: I left Dragon Speed at 2 because it has less effect at lower levels because you have lower base attack. Eventually if you find yourself having better luck upgrading armors than weapons, you can go ahead and max it out.
Personally, I find myself using the defense posture more often so I maxed that out. This is also because at T3 you will have an attack buff that gives up to 45% bonus with tomes.

Tier 3:

Left:
Oubliette Break: 3
Twisting Dragon: 9
Dragon’s Light: 5

Middle:
Mountain Wind: 1

Right:
Vilen: 3
Shatterer: 9
Ambition: 5

Total: 35

Reasoning: This tier is when you start kicking major ***. The attack party buff gives alot of damage to you and your party. With the tomes, you’ll have a 45% damage buff. ‘Nuff said.

Tier 4:

Left:
Combat Spirit: 5
Sky Rift:9

Middle:
Reinforce: 1

Right:
Iron Guts: 5
Blade Breaker: 9

Total: 29

Reasoning: Nothing special here. Not getting Slaughter because it’s chance dependent even if the target has below the instakill % and it has a high cooldown. The effect is also a bleed so if the target has fast fingers or bleed immunity, the instakill can be dispelled.

Tier 5:

Left:
Powerful Aid: 9

Middle:
Blade Swinger: 5
Ancient Soul: 2

Right:
Durable Fighter: 5

Total:17
Grand Total: 145 (5 points to play with)

Reasoning: Ancient Soul gives you immunity to Critstrikes and all status effects and gives you higher attack and health. It’s your most important skill in PvP. The 2 nukes you have will have 4 second faster cooldown and higher damage with the statuses of the previous attacks you’ve leveled up. Do note though that some builds prefer to leave the Balo AoE (Blade Swinger) at a low level and get another attack skill such as Slaughter, etc. The reason I have the AoE maxed out is because you only have one reliable AoE skill and it hits twice as well, which can be used for duels/PvP/War if you find your other skills in cooldown.

Tomes:

These are my suggestions on what your end tome build should look like.

I will leave it up to the player to decide when they want to get their specific tome skills.

Heaven:
Savage Beast: 2
Dragon Fury: 2

Total: 4

These tome skills make your attack buff insane.

Blood:
Glaring Eye: 2
Unbending Soul: 3

Total: 5

You’re getting these 2 for maximum survivability on your two postures.

Heaven/Blood/Combat Books:

Go through the middle tree and max them out.

You’re getting the last skill in each of the middle trees to make your T5 skills as effective as they can be. (40 second faster cooldown on your crit/status immunity, and faster cooldowns and more damage on your 2 main nuke skills.)

Total: 36

Grand Total: 45 (3 points to play with)

And there you go. My Balo build.

Credits go to Jambalaugi.