Anyone running max HP Aura of Courage build?

trzebiat

I'm curious what gear choices others who went this route took. I decided to go this route to make things more interesting (partially because I main OP, and also often play with OP), I finally got the 50k HP armor from PoM and currently sitting at 183k HP in party (with VIP bonus, empty Vivified Relic gear and R8 Radiants, one 4k HP artifact, no HP guild boon) and it's real fun to play.
I went back from Greater Dod rings to Rising Power and Precision +4 for defense slots. 11% Life Steal works fine for me but I was thinking about switching some insignias from Arpen to Life Steal once I get the final piece of companion gear to get Arpen from there, I use HP insignias if possible.
I'm wondering if it's also worth to use HP armor kits on all pieces since other stats like Power/Crit can be stacked on companion.
For artifacts I'm thinking about DC Sigil (main), Eye of the Giant, Horn of Valhalla (for 600 CA bonus), GWF Sigil and Wheel of Elements as backup instead of DC Sigil when using GWF Sigil as main. For MoF Rene loadout Heart of Black Dragon as main for debuff and Artificer's Persuasion purpose (instead of GWF Sigil to keep Arpen the same).
I'm using Valindra neck and belt and the new MW II Rubellite set looks really nice.

Also important question, should I use Storm Pillar at-will on trash instead of Chilling Cloud and just tap it to get more AoC procs or it requires charging and is not worth over Chilling Cloud?

thefabricant

I am running 1. I don't recommend spamming Storm Pillar since you do need to fully charge it for the AoC multiproc. Better to use other skills.

trzebiat

Good to know, so Chilling Cloud and Magic Missile then. Out of curiosity, how much HP do you have? Are you using 50k HP armor and stacking it everywhere or just defense slots and boons?

thefabricant

trzebiat#2067 said:

Good to know, so Chilling Cloud and Magic Missile then. Out of curiosity, how much HP do you have? Are you using 50k HP armor and stacking it everywhere or just defense slots and boons?

Just defense slots and boons. I switch to the HP armour if there is an OP in the group otherwise I run with a normal chest piece. I have ~218k hp.

niadan

I can get to 240kHP without potions and food, but that is not optimal, so like @thefabricant normally run around 220K. I have dod rings, protectors set, psion, hp artifacts except for Lantern, hp in all def slots, kits, and insignias, ls guild boon and ls on companion (do not have hp guild boon). 100% crit, 32K power 85% arp.

Just remember that % damage increase companions are better than energon and snail is better than hp mount. Feytouch increases AOC damage (lightning for trash fey for single target).

Blast to play with or without OP.

dairyzeus

I'm at about the same place as fabricant and niadan, roughly 214k before any buffs are applied. I'm down to 9.8% life steal though which is a little rough sometimes. It'd be better if I went with savages instead of draconics for defense, but my tank likes draconics.

I run wheel, GWF sigil, eye of the giant, and thayan book.
I'd like to run DC sigil, Eye, GWF sigil, and thayan/kessel/fragmented key.

I think GWF sigil and Eye of the giant are definitively best in slot for CW due to the extra HP in the third stat. From my rough calculations, Taking a 4000 HP artifact didn't seem worth a loss of 1000 offensive stats.

trzebiat

Thanks for the replies guys. It seems my thinking is similar to yours. Funny I never saw any CW on PS4 who would stack HP even just in defense slots, every CW I saw was stacking Life Steal there. I guess I should tell my friends who have CW to also start replacing Darks for Radiants as I often run with them on my OP.

I'm already using epic Snail for 15% AP gain and I recently got my Lightning to Pure (again), maybe in the future I could afford getting Feytouched for bosses (would be nice to have it in case my OP needs it). I was thinking about making Mirage weapons (as it seems to be working as intended with multiprocs) so I could use it then as second set for different enchant (currently using Fey) or maybe it'd be better than Fey overall. I'm currently using Assault Relic boots with Recovery and have Lifesilk (both reinforced with Recovery from the time I was planning to only play MoF Rene), so I guess I could make Raid boots, reinforce everything with HP and switch armor and boots for more Recovery when there's no OP providing AoC and AoW (can always cover the difference in Crit with potions/food).

I still need to work on companions, get Siege Master and Air Archon, currently sitting at WHR, OBC, rare Earth Archon and Wisp (just for legendary bonus). Once I get the final piece for Sellsword (missing Bold/Fierce Sword Knot +4) I'll be able to switch gear between OP and CW so I'll have a lot more Crit and Arpen from gear and 5-6 R12 Azures and maybe 1 Dark.

I only wonder if it's worth to stick with +4 Rising Power/Precision rings for defense slots or take double offense ones (I could use Power and Life Steal, missing Precision).

Looks like a plan for the next RP. I could totally strip my OP from Radiants and use them on CW and she wouldn't feel the hit to HP/Power that much after going back to R8s, I did it once when starting CW and almost didn't feel the difference on OP.

dairyzeus

trzebiat#2067 said:

Thanks for the replies guys. It seems my thinking is similar to yours. Funny I never saw any CW on PS4 who would stack HP even just in defense slots, every CW I saw was stacking Life Steal there. I guess I should tell my friends who have CW to also start replacing Darks for Radiants as I often run with them on my OP.

I really don't recommend radiants. HP is great, but lifesteal is just as important. I personally think savages are the right way to go for a nice balance, but I do well enough with draconics too.

trzebiat

dairyzeus said:

trzebiat#2067 said:

Thanks for the replies guys. It seems my thinking is similar to yours. Funny I never saw any CW on PS4 who would stack HP even just in defense slots, every CW I saw was stacking Life Steal there. I guess I should tell my friends who have CW to also start replacing Darks for Radiants as I often run with them on my OP.

I really don't recommend radiants. HP is great, but lifesteal is just as important. I personally think savages are the right way to go for a nice balance, but I do well enough with draconics too.

So just get Life Steal to satisfying level (something about 15% maybe, at least 20% shouldn't be needed in normal play, right?) and then go for HP? I get all Life Steal currently (~11%) only from boons including one over Crit, 1/3 last ToD boon for 4%, Bloodstained Shirt and two epic insignias of Leeching and I use Endless Consumption. Assuming no defense slots on companion that's only 4 defense slots on character with double offense rings. With defense slots on companion for Darks, on character could be used full Radiants then while still keeping good Life Steal.

niadan

I have lifesteal boon (no hp boon sadly) and radiants everywhere except for ls on companion. Even if I had the HP boon, I think that the ls from companion would be enough.

dairyzeus

trzebiat#2067 said:

dairyzeus said:

trzebiat#2067 said:

Thanks for the replies guys. It seems my thinking is similar to yours. Funny I never saw any CW on PS4 who would stack HP even just in defense slots, every CW I saw was stacking Life Steal there. I guess I should tell my friends who have CW to also start replacing Darks for Radiants as I often run with them on my OP.

I really don't recommend radiants. HP is great, but lifesteal is just as important. I personally think savages are the right way to go for a nice balance, but I do well enough with draconics too.

So just get Life Steal to satisfying level (something about 15% maybe, at least 20% shouldn't be needed in normal play, right?) and then go for HP? I get all Life Steal currently (~11%) only from boons including one over Crit, 1/3 last ToD boon for 4%, Bloodstained Shirt and two epic insignias of Leeching and I use Endless Consumption. Assuming no defense slots on companion that's only 4 defense slots on character with double offense rings. With defense slots on companion for Darks, on character could be used full Radiants then while still keeping good Life Steal.

niadan said:

I have lifesteal boon (no hp boon sadly) and radiants everywhere except for ls on companion. Even if I had the HP boon, I think that the ls from companion would be enough.

Guess I should have clarified, my bad.

I'd definitely use the HP boon if you have access to it, the lifesteal boon will typically be overkill on the lifesteal front. If you have to use the lifesteal boon, then you're absolutely right. Start stacking HP everywhere you possibly can.

I'm of the opinion that it's not worth sacrificing any offense slots for defensive slots to get more HP. I don't have ACT to be sure, but using best and worse case numbers on what percent of my damage comes from AoC losing offense slots isn't worth it.

That being said, and assuming you have all double offense items on you and your companion I've found that I like having a bit of extra lifesteal from savages to get me to the a comfortable lifesteal level (between 13% and 15%).
Also, I have and always will be a hater of single stat enchants. Single stat enchants are like throwing away 100-200 stat points.

My fault for posting a bit of a too absolute sounding response. There's tons of ways to get to the percentages you want.

trzebiat

I upgraded some stuff already, so currently have Fey weapon set with Lightning and Mirage with Feytouched, Rubellite set and also Company neck (I still need to test which one I feel better with on trash with Contolling Action/single target with Critical Power, with and without Aura of Wisdom/Hastening Light). I have over 200k HP in group with R12 Radiant, R10/11/11 Savage (no HP guild boon, I use 3.2k Defense one) and 14-15% life steal which is very comfortable. I made Eye of Giant, Horn of Valhalla and GWF Sigil, but the last one puts me at 72% RI thanks to Arpen from companion so I use Wheel instead until mod 12, where I'll use it to reach 85% RI, as well as Thayan Book instead Valhalla plus changing few insignias from HP and life steal to arpen.

So currently I'm capped on crit (on both Rubellite and Company neck) and RI, the rest into power (6-7 R12 Radiants), so the only relevant stats left are power and recovery. Now since extra HP does nothing when there's no OP around, I just swap one artifact to trade 4k HP for 1k power (easier than changing armor and enchants from Psion to Lifesilk), or maybe 1k recovery would be better? Does it make sense or I'm overthinking it too much?

One more thing. I'm using standard DPS companion setup - Legendary Sellsword as summoned (Bold/Fierce/Heroic +4 with 6 R12 Azures), Air and Earth Archons, Siege Master and then I have both Erinyes and Fire Archon. Would it be better to stick with Fire Archon even though the up time is not that good, but it would affect AoC damage, or Erinyes (I have ~130% CA+Crit Sev, plus 10% from Wild Storm, I don't use anything else to increase it) would provide better damage increase with Lightning/Feytouched, at least without having access to AoC from OP (so good to swap for when running without OP)?

BTW, still haven't seen a single CW on PS4 who would stack HP. I really wonder why it's like that.

jano

A buddy of mine on ps4 stacks hp, i dont because my premade group has a gf not op for tank

niadan

I run my high HP build all the time now, solo, in group, with or without an OP.

dairyzeus

niadan said:

I run my high HP build all the time now, solo, in group, with or without an OP.

Same, I'm only inefficient by a few percent when not with an op, and if I'm not with an op it's usually for an activity where I don't need to be at my best for a smooth run

niadan

At BIS level, it is a decision between added power or added HP. I have my other stats maxed. So, in high power sharing groups I am barely noticing the lack of power, but in groups that have an OP, I am definitely noticing the added HP.

trzebiat

Nevermind, seems like I'm overthinking it. But after messing a bit with companion gear I can just swap GWF Sigil to Kessell Sphere for extra CA and Company neck/Owlbear belt with Raid boots to Rubellite set with Assault boots for extra Recovery if I want and still be capped at all relevant stats.

I do love running with high HP everywhere though, it's really amazing. I'm comparing my damage to a friend at similar IL who doesn't stack HP and have about 10-15k more Power (using Brutality and Rampaging Madness, at the cost of very low 4% LS), plus he's using Relic weapons with Lightning and Icy Veins (doesn't switch loadouts), running Fire summoned, Air, Earth, WHR and Erinyes. Also he has Tiefling and I have Human. The difference in our damage is small even with OP and AoC though. I'm testing Fire as summoned with Erinyes instead of Sellsword for a moment.

vincentr6669

What do you guys think about the forthcoming buffs to Empowered + Tenebrous and the nerf to Bondings?

Will it be worth to have a summoned Bulette Pup with 3xEmpowered Rank 14 for +96000 HP when running with Aura of Courage? Plus a Tenebrous Rank 14 to have 7% chance to deal 7% of HP as damage without internal cooldown.

EDIT: basically Bondings will be weaker and damage coming from HP (both Aura of Courage and Tenebrous) have potential to be stronger.

niadan

Power sharing will not be as high, so there will be a loss in that area, but could be interesting if you could somehow still get to 100% Crit and maxed Arp . I could get to around 360K HP.

Would cost me a fortune..and probably a change to Rene for the crit bonuses.

You would need 4 max Tenes to get the 28% max proc rate/ 7% damage as well.

When not running with a Pali we would hit like a wet noodle.

Will have to sell some bitcoin to afford the ad lol.

vincentr6669

niadan said:

You would need 4 max tenes to get the 28% max proc rate/damage as well.

The dev said somewhere that more than one Tenebrous only increases the proc rate (up to 28%) not the damage (always 7% at Rank 14).

niadan

Good to know...sry I missed that.

dairyzeus

I considered it when they first announced bondings at 50% uptime. I think something like that would fall best into a support build. Full power/recovery with an owlbear cub and close to 400k HP.

Your damage still wouldn't be on par with a regular dps build, but it would likely be a lot better than the standard support build.

Now that bondings are back at 100% uptime I'm definitely not going to bother with augments.

niadan

Until they nerf power sharing through companions...then maybe.