[tbone]

High combat skill level has always been useful for hitting vital targets, or small foes (and for hitting distant targets in the case of ranged attack skills). With added benefits like great Feint and Parry.

But high skill levels really came into their own in 4e, with options for doing more stuff with extra skill levels. So fighters in 4e can not only hit small or distant targets, but also quickly bypass defenses or make multiple attacks. Or with high enough skill, bypass defenses to strike multiple foes in small vital targets. While still maintaining decent multiple parries.

Buying many combat skills at high levels becomes really expensive (compared to the cost of DX). But having one combat skill at super-high level is amazingly effective. As it should be!