Nihilii
-
Posts
2861 -
Joined
-
Quote:That's exactly what I do, and I see other people doing the same.
If you did, everyone would go for as much endurance as they could possibly get because it would have a direct effect upon their actual performance.
My builds usually make sacrifices to attain endurance sustainability, PP means I have a bit less drawbacks or can get additional tools to boost my damage or mitigation further.
That's standard procedure for all my scrappers (including Miracle and Numina procs in Health, Perf Shifter proc in Stam) and with that I always have end "issues" - in the sense that I can't run my attack chain indefinitely. With lots of recharge, recovery and maxend set bonuses it starts being better, but it often only gets right when I sacrifice damage procs for more endurance reduction.Quote:If you take Stamina, PP, CP, and the auto accolades and get all of those powers slotted decently, chances are incredibly good that, unless you're running */DA (which is the outlier because it's one of the few sets based around using endurance as the limiting factor to its performance), you're going to be running with a substantial endurance surplus. -
Quote:Been there, done that, yes, yes it does.
Still, one of the big problems with Arachnos is that they're packing what seems to be a much higher than average amount of defense debuffs. I think that will unfairly play to Super Reflexes and to a lesser extent Shield Defense
If you end up with two tarentula mistresses and one fortunata mistress in a spawn, without DDR, you're going to get hit by 2 -30% defense debuffs (and the softcap won't help, as these debuffs recharge in 20s base and the fortunata buffs tohit).
The RWZ challenge is much more "balanced" than this, in my opinion - that is to say, still not enough to be a valid stress test. Different builds have different strengths and weaknesses and to accurately gauge performance each build should run his own stress tests. If the issue is comparing builds to other builds then doing a wide variety of tests is what you'd want to do, not just one.
Ignoring inspirations still would make all those tests invalid outside of a specific "no insp" scenario, seeing as the ingame reality is that insps drop, a lot, and considering insps reward faster kill speed while ignoring it means survivability is the only thing that matters. -
Personally, I read the thread in that order :
Quote:I'm not attempting to allure you into doing so, GarfieldZ, but just wanted to inform you that the Storm Kick > Crane Kick > Storm Kick > Crippling Axe Kick chain deals the highest DPS for MA/. Quote:Are you certain that's the best chain? I could've sworn CAK was better than Eagle's Claw for DPS because of EC's long activation time. Quote:“Head, meet mr. Keyboard. Mr. Keyboard, meet my head. …ow.” 
-
Quote:Completely disagree. The whole purpose of the exercise is to have fun. If you're only having fun taking on even-level AVs and above, stick to that, but that doesn't mean everyone else has to play with the same self-imposed rules.
Soloing AVs at -1 is totally pointless since the whole purpose of the exercise is to see if you can do it. -
I'd say you could try to come up with a build first and ask for feedback, unless of leeching a build like some people leeching XP, as I'm certainly sure you're not the kind of guy who would go AFK without notice for half an hour on a mission. In fact, I don't even know why do I bring up this topic as this is obviously completely unrelated. Anyway, I don't know much about PvP so here's hoping someone knowledgeable will spoonfeed... I mean help, yeah, "help" you with a build. Cheers.
-
I think end drain is likely to be a very viable strategy on scrappers as well, especially while soloing missions with the virtual team slider cranked up. Each group takes quite some time to defeat even with the best AoE primaries, which means you're likely to have power sink up at least once for every fight.
As for Power Surge, I think a tanker gets a lot more of it than a scrapper. The 75% res cap is just too low for it to make enough of a difference in my opinion - especially as you're likely with Tough to be at 60% S/L so it's a tiny boost at best against the most common damage type, nothing against Energy being already capped, and doesn't give resistance to psi. That leaves fire, cold, negative and toxic for which it's a great resistance boost... Enough to make up for the harsh crash or not, that's for each player to decide.
On my brute I found the crash was a bit rough even with Power Sink to manage it, but that was before Energize (I used Aid Self, but it's slower to activate obviously). The hold has like a 12 feet radius which is a bit tiny to catch ranged attackers and it's a 50/50 chance to hold bosses. Without a taunt effect in scrapper ELA mobs run very, very often so I'm thinking with this and the lower base HP, it might not be as easy for a scrapper to manage the crash.
Then again, my arguments against Unstoppable on scrappers were sort of the same concerns and other people pointed out they do just fine with it and haven't any problems, it's definitely the kind of power everyone should try to see if it fits with their playstyle. -
That is what he said himself in the sentence you quoted right before the part you bolded.
-
Some "hard" data, if it helps anyone.
I've found my DB/elec character built with insp usage in mind can actually solo some AVs without insps (and it could well be "many" instead of "some", I just haven't much interest in the "no insp" thing anymore so didn't try a lot). That's with 27% defense and a ~48s recharge on Energize.
On the other hand, most +3/x8 and +4/x8 missions will annihilate this character if I don't use insps - no active mitigation from the primary except for VS' KD every 6.5 seconds, no DDR and low defense meaning if there's multiple defense debuffers I end up with negative defense fast.
That alt doesn't have Power Surge or Power Sink. -
My apologies, I didn't mean to imply you said that. It's just a sentiment I've seen quite a few times in other discussions or ingame.
-
Quote:I could poke holes in your theorycraft (your numbers are off) or point out I've had actual experience in high performance scenarios with both powersets (and the "proof" is out there in screenshots and videos), but frankly this kind of question comes up every few weeks if not days from different posters and I'm past the point where I care to post a detailed reply about it anymore.
So prove me wrong. Seriously, do it.
Plus, it's cool to let people believe Invul sucks, it feels more special to play one.
-
A single target attack chain doesn't imply a chain full of single target attacks.
-
I can't see Whirlwind doing anything good for you, knocking stuff out of your AaO, Dragon Tail and Shield Charge range. I'd rather take Phalanx Fighting, which in my opinion is a must have (3.75% def to all, and another 2-4% def when teammates are close to you).
I understand the goal of your build but Cobra Strike still feels like a wasted pick especially post 32. You're taking a power that'll help a lot against one specific enemy at a specific level range, but by taking that power you're not taking another power that could help you against every enemy out there at all level ranges (for example, Combat Jumping, or Grant Cover - you'd have to rework power order for the latter). -
Blazing Aura is much better than Burn (this isn't to say you can't get both). Consume isn't worth keeping if you haven't any end troubles. Temp prot isn't so bad if you have a free power pick laying around : slight increase to cold res, slight slow res and a free slot to stick a Steadfast KB or +3def in there.
-
"X has more Y but it doesn't matter because I can get Y on Z with IOs, and Z has other things, therefore Z is better."
I see this argument a lot and always disagree with it. You'll make sacrifices to get Y on Z to the point where it is on X, meanwhile X could get more of something else with IOs. Every IO set bonus you get is also another IO set bonus you don't get. -
-1 or +0, eh. I've started soloing Posi TFs in I13 and never felt any mitigation from the secondary was needed or useful. YMMV, obviously.
-
Caring about mitigation on a speed Posi TF is in my opinion a complete waste as you're going to fight -1/x2 mobs, especially on a level 25 character who doesn't have that many slots to go around. I'd pick a secondary that helps your offense (regen or WP for QR, shield for AAO, fire dark or elec for their damage aura), get the mez protection as well (and a KB IO for secondaries without KB protection), leave everything with the base slot and focus on attacks.
By the same token I like Claws over Katana for that task ; Katana is fine and there's no problem with it, but the +def in DA just isn't needed and Claws can do better DPS (better tohit as well with FU, which is useful in that skyway hostage mission against CoT for example) at these low levels. -
My plant/rad does decent as soon as level 15 (Stamina while exemplared) on x8 (+0 at that level, higher at higher levels). With Seeds and RI, it's extremely safe, with Roots and EF, damage output is fine - not blazing fast, but it gets the job done at a decent rate.
I have entangle, strangler and roots all slotted for maximum damage, though. Your experience may vary if you skip/underslot some of these. -
You can control the situation even past the aggro cap, if you taunt something it'll turn to you and one mob will stop attacking you, unless you taunted all the 17 mobs with something stronger than what you're doing to the one mob you want to aggro now. If anything, increasing the aggro cap would decrease the skill required as there'd be no longer any need to prioritize targets, just hit everything you see.
Just saying. I'm not against the idea expressed in the OP. -
Quote:I don't think so.
so, is having a pylon killing-fireballing dm/sd scrapper with an immovable green bar possible for under a billion influence?
(Now that I've said that someone is bound to come and give you a build that does exactly that and also oneshots Hamidon with brawl. )
At a quick glance :
- You're overslotted for ranged defense.
- Your end usage seems to be high. I don't think you'll be able to sustain your attack chain long enough for a pylon (although it might work against some AVs).
- Your max HP and resistances are awfully low, you're very susceptible to bad luck streaks with that build.
- Hitting with Soul Drain isn't going to be easy all the time with only +27% from set bonuses, no acc slotting and no +tohit.
I've tried to fiddle around with your build while keeping the same price point and didn't manage to fix all or even most of the above. Here's my attempt at something that would be, I believe, a little better (but still falls short on some stuff).
Code:| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1407;709;1418;HEX;| |78DAA5935B4F134114C767DB2DBDEDF602B4A5E5520B8552A82BBC299A98289A686| |852A8F2A492A50CED4A539AB646F0C90FE09337BCC437AFCFDE62FC2046F49B28D6| |739936BEBBC9FE7F3367CE3973CEEE4C716FD910E2EE59A185CED7ED767BA35C69D| |9CDA66C798A76D5A9F8CB75BB4926AF1022D95BDC28CABA94D6B2DDDAE161BABFB2| |2CB765A32DAD72CD91F5ADDE347AA951932DD9E858BD8151DADDAD5B2BD26E3A8D2| |A4F2E3A9D866CB703342937A5DC3295BD5AEB80D7E085A653B1CED5ED3B72A368B7| |3BB2B53F0255E5E16D6179F4743DA2049814AE5582BEC6281372DB809CC83B84800| |9D0545404068BC21525848609C331C088982B089C2904214AE328B7C651118E1AE4| |A8198E32C0CFCD7EBAFB2AADE4560973654281F32D32E2D0824715E33974A169E00| |7E327C1E0EC19DE32CF9BDC8228AF6ADC7B06A00BE123BA856F93120778B7009760| |C4DC08138AF3F36EC2BFC4FE039028A86CC1598A4D80C9E4F42E938B0A7151135CD| |424388439C6159EA798086390E10587283B68D1CB1A7EF69975AAC4072B43AAE1A1| |07946DF83E21F388903D20E41E12F28F09B7212A265C141513D44BBC4B2BF15F849| |1DF8C232EF30F170D4D24E8A77545224385ED41A2A4E6A544C937E4957ACD784518| |7BC978C789DE123060943F88184D51223798C695693CA1E1641F4C69F557D23BE47| |5EC26A3CAD826646A848243889A7844396A929B99E266A6B899296E26CBFD66B97B| |1DF69A567F605A1DC0093E587C44BE81DBACAA6FB60B8FF80E9679B6E8F3CFE82A1| |49E128E3F611C309E130EC1DD52EED6274A7DE223E303E33DEFF79910863616D431| |5A3812F83DC6F4FEF51482BFC7CABF26AAAAA4ABCB08168D2C69BD7F3FFFEBF962F| |4F2F8D702A057504A20DA3A8EAEA15CC7E90D1CD9289B38ADE0A8FBD5E8551A3E89| |059D425942398D720F9DBC4190208A8162A28440B4308E22284328719414CA0B94E| |E5FAF5CFE75| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-
100% chance to critical on every hit.
I do already enough overkill with criticals as it is, I don't need to waste even more damage than that.
-
In my opinion, 3 acc/dam HOs 3 heal/end HOs. Recharge slotting in the power isn't usually needed as getting the global recharge required for a good attack chain will get SL to recharge fast enough. If you really wanted to enhance its recharge despite that, you could trade one acc/dam for a dam/rech Heca and a heal/end HO for a heal/rech IO.
-
Such a guide would be a tall order. With 9 primaries and 8 secondaries, that's 68 possible choices (Shield doesn't work with DB, Claws, Katana and Spines) and even more different synergies than that seeing as there's so many ways to build a character.
-
Quote:*shrugs* Then you're probably a better player than I am.
???
Granted, there are a lot of foes with defense debuffs. I do consider lack of defense debuff resistance to be a hole in your armor. But I've not generally seen it as a serious hole outside of something like the ITF.
On any alt without either significant DDR or active mitigation (controls, reliable KD), even at the softcap I get completely wasted solo on +3/x8 or +4/x8 against arachnos, longbow, banished pantheon, carnies, cimerorans, rularuu and vanguard. Maltas, KoA and some praetorians will also give me a hard time sometimes. Even council, crey or family (!!!) can sometimes stack a bunch of -def and take me down.
That leaves Freakshow, Rikti, Nemesis, Circle of Thorn and many praetorians, for the factions who don't give me trouble with defense debuffs.
Now of course in actual gameplay I use insps as needed and I'm fine, but when I don't, the above happens.
I'm not going to claim my Shield alts sleepwalk through all that, but it's significantly easier. Part of it is probably because of the higher kill speed, but the difference is large enough that it isn't just that. -
By itself I don't find the burn + ice patch combo fantastic, but stacking it on top of Frost and Frozen Aura makes for some impressive AoE damage output.
-
I'd rather play with the leader of that team than with some of the folks in this topic, and I say this as someone who actually likes Illusion and knockback.
His team, his choice ; your character, your choice to leave the team and join another one or make your own (note I'm not targetting the OP here who handled the situation perfectly in my opinion). The tanker was (relatively) polite and explained his reasons when prompted to do so by the OP, namecalling and insults are completely uncalled for.
The irony of someone getting called a dictator because he's playing differently than the one and only way forumites think the game should be played is funny, though.