Polishing off a Kat/Inv.

Following some discoveries I have made playing my Kat/Inv for a while since the last respec I've been starting to think of a few further changes to the build. While the build is already great, these changes would make it better for the purposes I use it for; teaming and high-end soloing.

The first thing I wanted was added DPS, which meant I needed more Recharge and Recovery. Easiest picks to achieve this were Hasten and Physical Perfection. The problem then was to pick what I'd drop for them. Easiest was Super Jump because I have access to Ninja Run which I think would do well enough for traveling combined with Sprint and Hurdle.

The second choice was a bit harder, but it still came quite easy. Flashing Steel was the most obvious pick, because most of my soloing concentrates around high-end targets such as AVs, so additional AoE wasn't something I really needed. I also noticed in teams that I'd spend most of my time concentrating on a tougher enemy, such as a boss, when fighting and using Lotus every once in a while to soften up the minions and lieuts for the rest of the team. Flashing Steel's small area of effect and low target cap made it a not-so-useful power for teams either.

With the power picks decided I had to do some maths, which also explains my earlier post (thanks Werner and Umbral for the help!). I have Hasten up for two minutes, then down just under 18 seconds giving me an uptime of about 87%. While Hasten is up I can run the GC -> GD -> GC -> SD chain with a 0,23 second gap at the end. I don't think it will bother me that much and to I always use my clickies at the end of a chain so not all of the gaps are affecting my DPS anyway. When Hasten is down, I'll be using the GC -> GD -> GC -> SD -> GC -> DA attack chain which results in lower DPS, but this chain's uptime is only 13% of a given fight time assuming no -Rech so the net result isn't that bad.

Can I expect to pass 200 DPS with this build?

Other good things about the new build are better Build Up recharge time and perma Dull Pain as well as higher S/L Def at the cost of some F/C. I also think the Endurance sustainability is better, even though Conserve Power is down to only one Rech IO.

One question I haven't really thought about yet is the PvP -Res proc in GD instead of the triple. The cost isn't as horrible as I remembered so it is an option as well. How much of a DPS increase should I be expecting?

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,707
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- Hectmb-Dmg(A), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(46), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Hectmb-Dam%(46), Achilles-ResDeb%(48)
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GA-3defTpProc(45)
Level 2: Temp Invulnerability -- RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(3), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(3), RctvArm-ResDam(45)
Level 4: Dull Pain -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal(43), Dct'dW-Rchg(43)
Level 6: Build Up -- Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(A), Rec'dRet-Pcptn(7), RechRdx-I(7), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 8: Divine Avalanche -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(9), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), KntkC'bat-Knock%(11), HO:Nucle(13), LkGmblr-Rchg+(13)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(11), Ksmt-ToHit+(19), Winter-ResSlow(42)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(15), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(15), Mrcl-Rcvry+(40), Mrcl-Heal(42), RgnTis-Regen+(42)
Level 16: Unyielding -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(17), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17), RctvArm-ResDam(40)
Level 18: The Lotus Drops -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(23), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21), P'Shift-End%(23)
Level 22: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(25), RctvArm-ResDam(25), RctvArm-EndRdx(37)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(27), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), LdyGrey-%Dam(37)
Level 28: Invincibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(29), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(29), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31), HO:Cyto(31)
Level 32: Golden Dragonfly -- Armgdn-Dam%(A), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Tough Hide -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(36)
Level 38: Resist Energies -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(39), RctvArm-EndRdx/Rchg(39), RctvArm-ResDam(39)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A)
Level 47: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Resist Elements -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(50), RctvArm-EndRdx/Rchg(50), RctvArm-ResDam(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 6: Ninja Run

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1399;719;1438;HEX;|
|78DA9D93DD4E534110C7E7F4B4947ED19652BEA1D0026D692DD4C444BE15D104A55|
|A2972A5E2A1ACD0A439346D51F1CA07D068C0E88DDCFA0EC62B1FC027511FC1D4F9|
|D83631DE79D2FE7FBB7366766667F7145E6CF8015EAD81D173A36A351A7BA572DDA|
|AD554DD55B00E2B65700340B46DDB2BA8AA52B93B56D3B2AD898E75433D557643E5|
|36ED6727555BD5ADFD4AB5D23C0D6FDA47AAAEEC66AE3DF0178F8FABB92D65D52AF|
|6A14C6E559AB66A34027A7278D4C4575E9E956A4A1D846FD62AE5DCFAF1C1E95EC1|
|6A3455FD74102B4AE3FF0D95C64FCB05330E803C64538C4B69C1AC20C398FB8688C|
|01245191C65C0000EC6207BD904C8C232BE31E48D69C4709004C7B86092918D3356|
|D0CF143FA7B96550A8B320B8CB98BD272832DEA2BB4BCA345D9FB886AE0B4106D84|
|FF00EFDDC5C59CBE52E22E2D0BD2D2831BC3B0CFF32C269823FCACBF763984757ED|
|1193B78FD1FB1B6877E911DE5D17FAF9C40F7C29CEE84653404CAEC02EC7F43C10D|
|C67246FF386D39B8255EED61A460575C2A0F42724DD0A499B92D2A633F40BCBBE9D|
|E19F0E0AEDFDC5E8FFC1987A09742EC9E78C6E748FE86523670E4ADF772EF8C0E8F|
|FC870A05F549685680B1F30D132A02307A4A0412968502A994A30CED16F48DF97A1|
|27DC81614B50664C1E30128A31F59DF35DC7A811BE162D7344FA3B2AFD1D0D31C62|
|372F6E837265538C6C46F5C3B5C91037B8F1E319D3FB6C277726259B02058644C2E|
|094EB88C758C8AEB75E3B26E42F227C28C6BE830ADB73F2DDB9F91EDCF4C08A40B2|
|5BC0629DDB854867BFE390090D1772223ED8DE36A399D2E271773EE2FACA2C3BC4E|
|372FE9F2922E2FE9F2926ED4D9F93AF147E7B4F58FA5E8D49F225A0CB6C49C9DAFB|
|3E509753E9CFF7DBEF8DBCB79B6BDA83B2445146397460F491ED1F4318D2C1AED93|
|9469DAFAEA6F171CBC4A752D902C922C9144B13E784D9E6E1F8A8FC44F1220E9210|
|99284482224C3241724AD3FA3A7E9FC|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Mmm. I have to say I didn't expect so few responses. :P

I guess the post was too long so I'll make a TL;DR version.

Fury of the Glad: -Res, what's the average -Res for a seamless GC > GD > GC > SD chain?

Does it look like I could do more than 200 DPS? I know it should be quite close.

Build in general, anything I could do better?

No clue on the first two questions but I do have a Katana/Invul scrapper of almost the identical build. That I love playing. Only differences - I like Sting of the Wasp a bit better than Gamblers Cut. And I opted for Stealth, Invisibility & Phase Shift over Combat Jumping, Resist Elements & Resist Energies. Combat Jumping is great but it detoggles with Ninja Run and it's just a pain to keep switching back and forth. Resist Elements and Energies are also both good but I've come to really like the Stealth set. Stealth gives some defense. Invisibility is really nice when soloing for strolling through a map unharmed. And Phase Shift is a wonderful "Oh crap" power. Much better than something like Unstoppable. And it recharges fairly fast. Minor differences of course. Your build looks excellent.

No real argument with your choices.

I know Gamblers Cut has better DPS but I'm not really attacking non-stop with either Gamblers or Sting. Usually I'm just throwing in one of those attacks while waiting for Lotus, Dragon or Dragonfly to recharge. So the higher damage on the occasional attack seems more useful than the DPS.

I also agree completely about Combat Jumping. Loved it absolutely before Ninja Run. But now it's sort of a pain to use since I really like to keep Ninja Run up. And Ninja Run seems just as handy as the extra bump in maneuverability from Combat Jumping.

I also used the temp Phase Shift quite a bit - but I have to say it's just better knowing there's no limit. I would hesitate on using the temp power when I got in over my head.

But certainly stealth and Ninja Run use more endurance.

All just a matter of personal preference. Again - thought your build was excellent.

One last point on Phase Shift. I just honestly think unlimited phase shifts are more likely to keep my toon alive than a relatively small amount of extra cold, fire & energy resistance. Particularly as the degree of difficulty ramps up. Soloing a big mob at a high level of difficulty greatly increases the chance of things turning ugly. At that point being able to use phase shift repeatedly is really nice. Incredibly nice actually.

That said - I really like Resist Energies and Resist Elements and am not trying to change your mind about your build. You just asked for feedback and I personally find the stealth set more helpful than the extra resistance. But that's just me.

Fury of the Gladior ends up "double stacked" on every attack, for a (100%-81%^2)*20% = 6.878% DPS buff. So if you do 200 DPS without it, you'll do 213.756 DPS with it.

You don't have the recharge for the chain to be gapless. Golden Dragonfly needs to recharge in 3.43 seconds for that, and you're at 3.59 seconds. I think your gap will round up to 0.264 seconds.

I got 206 DPS with the gap while Hasten is up, assuming I did everything right. I rushed it and didn't double check my work, but I was thinking about 200 DPS before I started, so it's probably good. So yeah, probably around 200 DPS.

Edit: If we're talking about Phase Shift, can't you just use the temporary power? I have it on several characters. I have never, ever thought to click it. Seems like it would work, though.

This is how I built mine (still a project, the character has not been leveled). I'm posting the build here, because it seems to aim for the same kind of end game performance as yours (I didnt go crazy expensive with pvp IOs though), so I guess it might give you some ideas. What I tried to do here in the first place was to get the GD, GC, SD, GC chain gapless (249.65% rech in GD, so a recharge time at 3.43 or lower), and decent defenses.

As it is in this build the chain costs 3.39 end/sec, with 1.08 end/sec more from toggles and a recovery of 4.02 end/sec counting both procs. I did not count any endurance accolades, so factoring them in, and with CP in case it should run pretty fine. The dps in this build can certainly be increased by playing better with procs in the chain, on this point it's just a rough draft as it is now.

Good luck with your toon

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1411;713;1426;HEX;|
|78DA9D935B4F134114C767DBADA5B4A5ADBD41B9142A97D2CB0A8A466E12104CB81|
|42B559E54B294119AACDBA65D8CBCF901341A30FAA0BEFA1D8C4F7E1CF533987A2E|
|4323F1CD4DFBFFEDCEFCE7CC3967774A2F560342BC5C125ACF1DCB6CB5F62AD5A6D|
|968C8A677DB748E9BA6E55F3BAAD9E6F08A651E48AF10227E6ED82B494B4A63D374|
|4C98EF8CAECAA7D26E4963DD7E7E6CD9B269EED7AC9A731259B78F6453DA8E717E1|
|328D7EB9671B7E6D8B2D50AAA87C323A7661F76D353A521E501BBB6A4D980F1C85A|
|A3563556EA07277B25B3E5C8E6492F643409FFD7981A5D6D8F187709312D5C79469|
|6A04F3272844BDF0151318FAB345AE516531ACD4C13BA661849C0A058009FA67CDA|
|10DC4C88EE342343088C1016C1E7669FEE2E5384C026A1A7C4D82684EF113C60F7B|
|05D788A0287DEC29097526A7BBC65404684EF132EEF302A84588AECB13805D26095|
|8FABD77D1B5461619350DC225C2D31B6096FC0EE67BBE6FF489D487C22B86126A80|
|A0D72A1092EB4972BECE57A97C01752BE10FB52EC4BB1A1C0762FF822AA21918794|
|EBC02E639D0C431B8CDBD4E72EB04755D8E819E53A744A187ECFF84038055F5CBDE|
|DF80F172E1DFE4918F9C5B0A83D23CF0857EA840CAC4A72745732CF33177006863E|
|D5C63E6EFE28377F949B3FCACD1FAF927D19ECFDF459B45DFD31AA6A3C4C98E0D79|
|200C3A0DA7030F6F74CF1B7C034DF8121ADEA482F526913B384C939C63C638190C3|
|34A36205566554D80C87CDF1BE458EAE83614C19C62E24966343C52D4496F71559A|
|EFD4B50883CAFD1F2DCF302377B17CC86EA8A718DBFA3EB84E919C60DC64D421236|
|9F52B1A7B2147B40EF1C4EF8C125B6FE1929EBEA24C288462369BD7338DBBE309C1|
|49EFDDFEB6BE07C4BDF4E37E8039432CA2ECA2394C7284F504C947D942A4AFB5B67|
|75E816E6358B3287328F1287FCC42B747AF160F951022841941E94104A18258A924|
|2F98CD2FE03550CEC86|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Yeah, on brief glance, it didn't look like that gap would hurt you beyond the obvious minor effect. There are some chains on some builds where even a tiny gap will mess up how various powers and procs stack, pretty much destroying the chain. This doesn't appear to be one of those cases.

Yeah, the 200ish DPS for your build was with the Fury of the Gladiator included.

I think your build looks fine and if I stole some slotting choices I might get a little bit better performance in some areas. However, I really dislike complete IO mules such as 5 slotting Boxing with the Purple set, even when it could be a good choice. It's just something I "won't do". Blame me and my stupid self-imposed rules of how-to-build a character... :P

I'd also pick Energy Torrent (liked it on my MA scrapper), but it requires redraw with Katana so it's out. Blah. If they ever change that it's one of those powers that on my list to add because it can remarkably increase survivability.

I still doubt the gap in my GC > GD > GC > SD chain is going to bother me. I have a similar gap on my Fire/SR's (my first and cheapest AV soloer) and it took me multiple AVs until I even noticed the gap. And even then, it doesn't bother me at all because it gets the job done. In general missions I can finish most enemies with one application of the chain so the gap is all fine there. Against AVs? We will see about that, but if it worked with my FM/SR, I think it will work with this one, too.

EDIT: This did spark the idea that I could move slots from CJ, Tough Hide and Invincibility into Kick or Brawl to place an additional set of Kinetic Combat. 20% Slow/-Rech Resist and 0.7% Def(All) vs. 3.75% S/L Def? I kind of like having 40% Slow/-Rech Resistance, and my current S/L Def is lower than this build's by 2% or so and it is already sufficient for just about everything. Choices...

I'm pretty much thinking along those lines. I like my balanced Def (weighed towards S/L/E/NE, though) because it works better in general missions. Also if one Luck allows me to soft cap with one enemy in melee range, it's good enough.

EDIT: First bit of calculations were totally incorrect, thanks to me overlooking things... (whole post edited)

Before actually respeccing into this build, I did a few calculations about endurance consumption, and I'd like someone to verify them for me. I did it wrong once, so wouldn't surprise me if I was wrong again! :P

I used Hasten's uptime percentage (87%) to calculate its average Rech buff which in turn I used to calculate CPs average Recharge time. My attack chain is going through my 111.8 endurance in 151 seconds, assuming a Perf Shifter proc equals 0.2 end/sec recovery and Hasten equals 0.11 end/sec consumption. Conserve Power is down for about 130 seconds on average, and I'm recovering all my endurance back within about 77 seconds of activating Conserve Power.

Should I move a slot from somewhere to add a slot to CP to increase its uptime or rather add an EndMod IO to PP to increase static Recovery by 0.1 end/sec? Or is it just fine as it is? I'm just asking, because I don't want to run dry on endurance just because my Perf Shifter procs happen to proc slightly less than average (say, equal to 0.3 end/sec) during a CP cycle. Also note that I'm calculating this for 100% usage of the higher consumption chain so this is not 100% accurate, but if it works with the higher consumption 100% of the time, it should always work.

EDIT2: Thought I'd just post my calculations.

Time from 100% to 0% end: End / Total consumption = End / (chain + toggles + Hasten - recovery) = time

111.8 End / ((3.74 + 0.98 + 0.11 - 4.09)end/sec) = ~151 seconds. Numbers respective to the line above.

Hasten uptime ratio is 87%, so I think average +Rech (for long recharge powers) will be 0.87 * 70% = 60.9%

This bring Conserve Powers recharge time on average to: 600 / (1 + 0.609 + 0.675 + 0.424) = 221 seconds. Deduct the uptime of 90 seconds from that and it's down for 131 seconds, which is lower than the attack chain's time to consume all my endurance.

Recovery with Conserve Power: (recovery - total consumption) = recovery - (chain + toggles + hasten) = 4.09 - (((4.71 + 3.28 + 2 * 1.73) / 5.64) + 0.54 + 0.11) = ~1.45 end/sec.

111.8 end / 1.45 end/sec = ~77 seconds, which is under the 90 seconds Conserve Power is up, giving me some safety marginal with the randomness of PP procs, but I'm not sure if it's enough.

EDIT3: Further calculations reveal that I'd only need an average of 0.23 end/sec from the PS procs in order to go from 0 to full endurance within 90 seconds of Conserve Power.
I calculated it like this: Endurance / (StaticRecovery + RandomRecovery - CChain - CToggles -CHasten) = CPDuration, and I hope that's correct. Haven't done maths for nearly a month thanks to holidays...

111.8 / (3.69 + X - (4.71 + 3.28 + 2 * 1.73) / 5.64) - 0.54 - 0.11) = 90
111.8 / 90 = 3.69 + X - ((4.71 + 3.28 + 2 * 1.73)/ 5.64) - 0.54 - 0.11
(111.8 / 90) - 3.69 + ((4.71 + 3.28 + 2 * 1.73)/ 5.64) + 0.54 + 0.11 = X
(111.8 / 90) - 3.69 + 2.03 + 0.54 + 0.11 = X
1.24 - 3.69 + 2.03 + 0.54 + 0.11 = X
X = 0.23

I think I can safely expect at least 0.23 end/sec from the two PP procs combined.

I used the windows calculator for this so I could easily be wrong.

I read the first post and was ready to respond. Then read Mallard's posts and flinched at the advice there. Then all the math came out so I scrolled down to comment.

Flashing Steel and SJ are great ones to drop. With /inv I wouldn't think of ditching DA which obviously hurts your DPS.

Re: Phase shift.
I carry it. Two in fact, and both temp powers, Etherial Shift and Hyperphase. You can craft the one [or three, check the salvage needed to see which one is cheapest] and it'll be 5 shifts of 30 seconds. When you're 35, go to Warburg and talk to the second fellow on the left, run the patrol and get your 30 minutes of shift in 30 second intervals.

I use the crafted one first. When it runs out during a TF or something, I use the Warburg Hyperphase. The reason is you can always buy more recipes but you can only run that Warburg patrol three times per toon.

Hyperphase activates too slow for a real OH**** power. It's for when you've gotten away and need some time to hide, unless you click it, in my opinion, too early.

oh, and katana ftw, brother.