Okay, now for the mandatory introduction to the guide on how to build an acrobat. I've played both Bow Acrobats and Yoyo Acrobats. On the outide, I will be the first to tell you, they suck so hard it isn't funny. However, put a little work and a crap load of patience and you will have a character that can and will own at later levels... it just takes some time. Anyways, without further pointless ramblings, to the builds:
Yoyo Acrobats
Ahh the class that was nerfed before it even came out. They look bloody cool, but when you take a look at their base weapon damage, it sorta makes you wonder if the developer who thought them up didn't like yoyos to much as kid. Really, their damage will bring a tear of rage to your eyes. HOWEVER Jesters have the most self buffs (apart from assists who can caste their buffs on everybody) in game. Better yet, they all stack, so it covers that little flaw nicely once you hit 60. I'll say this right now, full anything jesters blow hard. They can't kill fast enough not to die horribly or be at the same monster for more then 3 minutes.
Dex/Str/Sta
Read: The assists best friend. Really, this build works best with an assist IMO. Unless you cut back on one of the stats, probably sta, and siphon it into str, soloing things a few level higher then you will not come about till your mid 30's low 40s. That isn't cool.... However assist buffs would likely cover this nicely. Essentially this is the definition of a midiocer character. Decent speed and defence and visiably lower attack strength.
Upside
-If you have a full support assist friend, you two will work great together.
-You can do a bit of everything and not die.
-Knock backs save your ass every now and again.
Downside
-Can't really excel at anything
-Just because yoyo damage is teh suck, you will kill slower then every other class.
Str/Sta
Read: poor mans knight. After people realized that Jesters would never rival the speed of blades, which was the first theory, they decided to take advantage of the kick ass skills yoyo acro's get. Hence, we have the skill spamming varient of the acrobat. In my opinion, I think this is the least painful way to go with a yoyo acrobat. Skill damage hits for a decent ammount so that's nice. Slow Step is like a damaging sneaker, Crossline is like a damaging Stone hand and counter is good for taking on bosses in a party because of the guranteed stun. Oh, and skills can knock back which is always nice. Prepare to dish out the cash for FP pots though. Also, if you can grab a rare yoyo, it makes your life so much easier.
Upside
-Nice damage and defence
-Works awsome with rare yoyos
-stunning AND knockback!
Downside
-FP pots are expensive
-skill prereqs are insane.
Dex/str
Read: Poor mans blade. Build your character like a blade with alot more str and hope for the best. Lowish sta means you can't skill spam effictively without spamming pots. Lots of dex means lots of Knock backs wich can get annoying when you need to run after you kill. After you hit 60 though, you can sit back and relax because the levels will be coming relatively quickly. Jesters are the masters of status attacks with their self buffs. Granted, they don't all stack, but you wont need them to. Critical swing + Enchange poison will have you singing to your 80's. Hit of Penya is probably right up there with Asla and Psy Bomb as one of the hardest hitting skills in the game.
Upside:
-Damage is alright nothing amazing though, Rare yo-yo's are a must
-Knockbacks are handy
-Jester will find killing a breeze
-critical swing + enchange poison + naturually high aspeed and 4x crit rate =
Downside
-To many knockbacks are really annoying
-low sta means no skill spamming
-yoyo base damage is the suck and it will really start to show early on if you don't have a rare yoyo
-prepare to lvl the slowest out of all first classers.
Coming soon, Bow Jester... the unholy hybrid.