Jibikao
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Posts
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Quote:Odd... I thought you can't buff VS? Maybe VS's damage was buffed because you buff yourself with Kin and then you cast VS? Is this a bug or intended? Interesting...Originally Posted by StratoNexus
My Kin/Elec defender cannot budge the pylon even after copying to test and respeccing in VS. I tried a bunch of different combinations of attack/debuff mixes. Of course that may say more about defenders and/or Kinetics than Electric blast in this type of test.
Maybe a Kin/Sonic defender could take down a Pylon?
It would be interesting to compare an Elec/Traps to a Fire or Sonic /Traps.
Edit: It seems odd how buffs transfer to VS. Without using any FS or Siphon, VS would deal 52 damage for its entire duration. If I stacked a bunch of FS and Siphon and then cast VS I could get its damage up to 64 and then I would watch as the buffs wore off me, but the VS kept kicking out 64 damage for its entire duration. My own Charged Bolts damage would start off at 69 and then kick up to 128 (IIRC). I'll have to check more into the buff thing.
Yeah, I don't think Kinetic is a good choice for /Elec, especially at taking down pylon. I am thinking either Radiation or Trap is much better since the debuffs benefit VS's damage. -
Just did Tin Mage last night with my usual groupie. The first run took 40mins (two Banes, defender, corr, blaster).
The second run we had one bane, two fortunata (51) and one crab and one /trap Corr and 3 Brutes. I thought for sure the 2nd run would take longer but we finished 2nd run in 35mins.
So yeah, SoA still rocks! -
Has anyone done pylon test with Elec? Assuming VS's only target is pylon and nothing else...
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Quote:I think you misunderstood me. I agree with you that Great Ice Sword sucks and I wonder why the dev has not made it better since it's a higher tier attack. Its only advantage is probably in slow/recharge debuff?Originally Posted by dave_p
Actually, it's a 35 power, but that's neither here nor there.
You summon VS and then it provides continual damage. Not the same thing as calculating an ST DPS based on ST attacks alone. Please show me a calc or a realistic scenario (you know, where you have a reasonable gapless attack chain w/o too many FF's in there) where GIS increases your overall DPS, or any other scenario where inserting a long animating, lower DPA attack helps your overall DPS. Or just explain why you think GIS will help anyone finish any task faster.
I brought up VS because some people thought they had the worst high tier attack but I think Greater Ice Sword is way worse. -
Quote:I agree that Merc/Storm is probably one of the better combos for Merc. My first lvl 50 is actually a Merc/Poison and /Poison sucks so hard. /Poison lacks aoe protection for pets. It's good when you solo at x1 but other secondaries allow you to solo x4 or higher. I would say my Merc/Storm is at least x2 better than my Merc/Poison.Originally Posted by Lobster
I returned to playing some old mercs lately.../storm & /dark. I've come to the conclusion that, in my opinion, /storm is the best pair with merc. Yes, /dark and /traps are typically thought of as stronger, but I think in this one case that storm shines. Why? Hurricane. I've found that it keeps mercs alive better than everything else.
I basically put proc damage in my attacks and Storm. I need more damage since Merc is kinda lacking. I put chance for smashing and energy in my M3 Grenade and chance for smashing in Thunderstorm. -
If the goal is to farm, I probably would pick Plant as primary because you probably don't care about the mobs hitting themselves as long as you hit them once you should get a drop.
Plant/Fiery/Ice should be really good at farming. -
Quote:Actually, it's lvl 38 power for Tanker. Yikes. People complain about Dominator's lvl 38 VS pet but at least the pet doesn't "hurt" dps. It's been proven that it helps Dominator finish a mission faster with VS than without.Originally Posted by dave_p
Did you read the DPA table? GIS's DPA is miserable, worse than any other "big" attack in the game. Worse than your "weaker" IS (FF is worse still, another problem altogether, but you're forced to take FF and it gets bruising). Worse than any epic blast (w/no range to boot). What exactly is the upside of GIS other than a set mule (which, btw, I'd rather use Brawl or Boxing for)?
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Quote:Just read your guide. Why is Greater Ice Sword so bad as a lvl 32 power? I know Dominator's version got changed to Ice Slash and it activates faster.Originally Posted by dave_p
GIS. See my sig for detailed explanations.
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Well, the only difference I can think of is Ice Sword Circle has bigger radius 15' in Dominator while Fire Sword Circle has 8' or 10'.
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Quote:You must have not tried patron pets then.... because "good" and "patron pet" do not belong in the same sentence.Originally Posted by iMidget Perfection
Your epic pool pet is good though.
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I honestly don't see the synergy between Poison "Crap" and the rest of /Poison Set. It's a trap that has 4s casting time (and I believe it has interruption) and it does aoe sleep and drain endurance (but not good enough to drain it dry and I don't think any of MM Pets drain endurance).
They re-name Dominator's Greater Ice Sword to Ice Slash because it's a bit different. They should do the same for Poison Trap under Poison. It should be renamed to Poison Crap. -
Quote:I can critical a Surgeon to death with Eagle Claw up to +2 level. If I use AS, it takes 4s and I don't get the fear effect because it's one-shotted.Originally Posted by GavinRuneblade
One thing I've noticed about AS and long fights like GMs and AVs is that they don't move a lot. One of our key strengths is that we don't usually have aggro. I just ran the IFT with my dark/dark and the way I got the best use of AS was to move forward of our tank, and as enemies ran past me to get to him, trigger AS. It would go off as they passed and hit them while they were meleeing the tank. Then I could placate move up and MG with the benefit of a crit and bruising from his attacks. Worked really well. The best was when we could team up to take down a cyclops before it triggered his tier-9.
On the ambushes, I was focusing on taking down the surgeons fast, and for them rather than AS, I would use MG or SL plus smite (if not hidden, or just MG if hidden).
If it's an AV that doesn't move, you probably get better dps without using AS. However, Spine may need it to increase its ST damage since other attacks have low dpa.
If it's ITF, the team usually kills so fast that AS is really not needed. Out of 5 times that I use AS, 3 of them are at the beginning of 3rd mission when we kill Computer first. And during the last fight, there are auto-hit soul drain and so much going on that I don't even bother with AS.
Here is the thing, I don't think AS is useless but I also don't think it's a clear winner. It has its moments and the utility of it drops when the team gets larger (and better) and when the content gets harder. Other ATs can kill just as well.
I just wish AS could be better. -
I've seen Elec Blast on Blasters that are pretty decent (VS gives blasters pretty gooddefiance boost).
The problem I see with VS is that many of Corruptor's buffs don't benefit it. Can VS be buffed?
Endurance drain effect it's either ALL or NOTHING. I think it can be decent with two Elec doing the draining but if you are alone and without Transfusion, it may take a while to see the benefit of -end. -
I have a lvl 41 Mind/Energy and the only thing that I really hate is how I have no -kb in my controls so sometimes Energy attacks push things way too far and I feel lazy trying to position myself all the time.
I would say Mind/Energy has better synergy than Elec and the reason is that Power Boost benefits Mind way more than Elec. Two of important controls in Elec don't benefit from Power Boost (Static Field and Jolting). -
Not sure if they've fixed it but you can have more than one person que up Vengence and then tp the dead body. We've used double vengence during LRSF before.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Mad_Cow_Milk
Yeah I would have to come to the same conclusion Jibikao.
It is actually a lot simpler than that. If you have a weeker defence and hitpoints than a scrapper and still have a scrapper out-damage you that is just wrong. Stalkers are the melee equivolent to a blaster with NO AoE!!!
So your a blaster.
You can not do ranged attacks or next to no AoE blaster damage.
However you have a slightly higher defence, it doesn't compensate for the surprising lack of damage you deal.
In the end, stalkers with their lack of range, AoE, hitpoints, and defences should be the HUGEST damage dealing class in the game.
Stalker's problem, IMO, is not just about damage. The very high burst damage has too many restrictions to be effective on a large team and the burst damage period is only during 10s (or less if you miss your AS). I want to emphasize on "large" team because Stalker does alright alone or on a small team when you have time to pick your target and hit BU + AS.
My MA Stalker is now lvl 47. I've done 3 ITFs this week so far. And I can count how many time I've used Assassin Strike = 5 times.
One time the setting is a bit high and I was fighting +4. I used BU + AS on a Surgeon and I couldn't even kill him. lol He got healed back immediately and I just said "F!@# it" and moved on.
Assassin Strike NEEDS to come out faster or needs much higher "scaling" damage. Assassin Strike is terrible when the content gets harder, when the fights has many AVs, when the situation requires you run around with lots of ambush (Apex for example) and when there are just way too many s!@#$ to kill (Barracuda TF) with no down time. Assassin Strike alone doesn't bring any real benefit to the team.
Now the argument, like I've always said, is that "nobody told you to use Assassin Strike" all the time. Well, that's fine but give me back those AoE that were taken away!! Assassin Strike isn't "FREE" you know. There are "penalties" for having it and those penalties are not justified (yet). -
Quote:Originally Posted by Valgrisk
And the first thing the defender says is (fyi, this is verbatim): ((ugh, I can't deal with a mastermind, especially one with demons. Sorry))
Haha, what the heck?
Weird, I can see a melee not wanting Demon pets blocking path but why would a Defender said "ugh"? -
I've sent several Private Messages and Bug Reports on this issue but Oni is STILL taking Knockback set. Oni should take both Immb and Hold set. He has ZERO knockback ability.
Not only that, I think it's only fair to give MM Pets more sets for proc damage since the pets are not getting set bonuses and they lose out on all the -recharge.
These are following pets that I can think of:
Ninja:
- Jounin: Accurate Defense Debuff
- Oni: Hold and Immb Set
Necro:
- Grave Knight: Accurate Tohit Debuff and Accurate Defense Debuff
Merc:
- Spec-Ops: Accurate Defense Debuff
- Soldier: Accurate Defense Debuff
- Commando: Accurate Defense Debuff
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These are the ones that I am familiar with. And while we are at it, can we please add Pet Recharge set in ALL Mastermind pets? This is very critical because some primaries on their own can't get the two Unique (like Ninja and Merc) while Thug and Necro can (in Gangwar and Sould Extractor). I don't think this is over-powering at all considering other ATs can get so much set bonuses and survive much better than the squishy pets. -
My Elec/Earth just hit 50 and I have trouble reaching the balance between survival in melee (most of the time) and perma-dom. I actually put more emphasis on survival more than perma-dom but then those Mentalists were driving me nuts with their holds and sleep.
I am going for Mu Mastery for Power Sink so I can Power Boost and drain most foes to zero in two seconds. However, it's hard to reach soft-capped S/L. -
Ok thanks.
I am working on an all-melee Elec/Earth Dominator and I have survival problem sometimes. I need more ways for "hard control". -
Has anyone tried? I am pretty sure the first target should work but what about the jumps? Each jump has a chance to confuse nearby foes? What is the confuse duration and mag? Mag 3?
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If you want to make a "tough" Bane, Tough is a must.
I used to think my Fortunata already survives so well but there were times when Battle Maiden killed me in one hit but with my new build (with Tough), she needs 2 hits to kill me which buys me a lot more time to eat inspirations and run away.
That S/L resistance is going to decide whether you die in one hit or not. Most late-game AVs do S/L damage. ITF is a good example of how valuable Tough is in terms of survival. Those sword attacks can reduce your defense greatly and you'll need resistance to back up your survival.
However, I am not saying Tough is a must-take. My current Bane build doesn't have Tough. I chose to take double Maneuver and Assault and Shatter Armor route because I value team buffs/debuffs more. -
Bane's Placate gives 20% tohit? Is this hidden? I never know that! lol Well, I already carry Tactics so I really don't have any accuracy problem.
I agree that Placate + Shatter doesn't increase your dps. However, Placate +Crowd Control is nice.
I just wish Shatter Armor could critical... that would be beautiful.
General Tip?
1. Take Venom Grenade even if it messes with your theme. Venom Grenade is too good to pass.
2. Don't bother with most of the Mace Beam attacks. Poison Ray is ok. I find it too slower for my liking but the damage is decent.
3. Use Surveillance frequently and take Shatter Armor! Shatter Armor is the reason why I play mostly Bane now and not Crab. It fits my Stalker style much better. -
Just checked my Kinetic Stalker. Concentrated Strike's damage is about 53 higher with 3rd tier Muscular. I believe I used full Mako set.
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Quote:This is not really related to Claw but in general, the more high level Stalkers I play, the more I feel the AT needs more help.Originally Posted by Daemodand
It was a good run, but with 19% set bonuses for damage and a Musculature Alpha, Stalker Claws still disappoints me. So, Ms. Bush Ranger, one of my favorite characters, is getting put back in deep freeze due to insufficient capability. She's supposed to be dead anyway, so it kinda makes sense at any rate.
What precipitated this was in doing Villain Tip missions at 50, you end up fighting a lot of Crey. Stalker Claws is pretty miserable against Crey. You really have to see to believe how little damage is done by Buildup>Assassin's Claw on a Paragon Protector. It doesn't injure the Protector so much as tickle it. It loses only a tiny sliver of health, and that is discouraging.
Taking on entire spawns of those Tanks, the story isn't much better. Shockwave also just tickles them and over the course of a single spawn fight it feels like I cast Shockwave one or two dozen times.
And it really isn't just Crey. It's objects and any group that uses robots. It gets old throwing umpteen attacks to kill anything.
I guess Claws is just a poor fit for Stalkers. A DPS set on an Archetype that specializes in Burst. You can hit things other Claws Archetypes can't because you've got Buildup, but that's just about it.
I noticed the lack of damage leveling up, but I kept telling myself it would get better. It didn't. Being locked in eternal combat with Ms. Liberty was a living hell.
Is Claws the worst Stalker primary? IMHO, it is. If you enjoy it, bless you and have fun. It sure isn't for me.
*rolls Broadsword and crosses fingers*
What Stalker primary would you put on the bottom of the pile? Which do you think is the overall best Stalker primary?
I recently (FINALLY!!) completed my first perma-dom project and it's Gravity/Fiery/Ice. I cannot believe how high damage Dominator is. Fiery + Freeze Rain is unbelievable high damage for a squishy and she is not that squishy as she has mez protection, great controls and defense and all Range and Hovering. She attacks very fast and her damage puts any of my Stalker to shame, including Martial Arts.
I dare say my perma dom can out-damage any Stalker within 12s with Fiery Embrace.
My new MA/Will Stalker is lvl 45 now and he will be my 5th or 6th lvl 50 Stalker. After all the experience with many Stalkers, I can basically sum up this AT in a few words:
Stalker is ONLY good at ganking the weak.
That's it.
Why? Because:
1. Assassin Strike can't even take down many +2 lieuts. If you can't even kill a lieut with Build Up in one hit, you are a BAD assassin. Sorry.
2. Assassin Strike doesn't necessarily increase your dps against REAL tough targets like AVs.
3. Because of Assassin Strike, Stalker loses many important AoE and the +damage mechanism needs to be changed so there is no Follow-Up (stacking +damage) and because of Hide mechanism, Stalker doesn't get Shield set which can improve aoe damage. I blame this for the conflict of "theme reason" because you can't hide with a Shield there but some claimed it's because some powers in Shield don't work well with Stalker. I call that BS. They can try to modify for Stalker!
4. Because of the lack of AoE damage and the setup time of Assassin Strike/Hide, the only time I feel my Stalker is doing ok is during soloing or on a small team. The larger the team gets, the more useless I feel. I really don't bring anything good to the team besides damage and even in that damage department I am inferior when comparing to Dominator, Blaster and Scrapper and high fury Brute.
This perma Dom makes me feel like a frog living in a well (Chinese phrase), thinking that I've seen all the sky but in reality I haven't seen nothing yet! And my highest level Brute is still lvl 47. (Dark/Energy)