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Argantis PvE / PvP Destroyer Build
argantis
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
First off let me say that I could care less about min / maxing a build for the sake of damage numbers. I play a build because I I both enjoy the build and provide value to the group. I have leveled several GWF. Two of them in closed beta. One to 47 Offensive Destroyer, and one to 50 Defensive Destroyer. One to 38 in open beta, a Sentinel build that I gave up on due to lack of threat mechanics, I gave up on that as my main and rerolled a mostly Offensive Destroyer build. I am a level 60 Destroyer ATM and have respecced once in feats, luckily my power selection was good enough to not need any respec there. I am also working on a Defensive Sentinel build once again and they are level 52 currently. I may post some thoughts on that once they attain a similar gear level and I can actually compare the merits of the builds on an equal gearing level.
The goal of my build is to focus mostly on offense. However I will attain some survival and defense in 5 heroic feat points and one passive selection along the way, but for the most part this build is a bit of a potion pig but highly flexible in what you can do with it.
Heroic Feats
Unstoppable Action 5/5: 25% Bonus AP gain while Unstoppable is a big part of the build for a Destroyer. The main reason you actually go with the Destroyer Paragon is to have Unstoppable up more often based on dealing damage and not just taking it. This allows you to regain Slam faster and cycle Unstoppable and Slam off of each other to get them both back up more often.
Disciple of Strength 3/3: 6% increase to bonus damage from Strength. Not as nice as the 15% that the GF gets... why this was ever nerfed is still beyond me... (major sad face @ Cryptic)
Endless Assault 3/3: A major feature of my build and IMO a good idea for just about any GWF.
Steely Defense 5/5: 20% of defense converted into Power. This is a major feature of my build to add both offense and defense at the same time. It actually makes Defense your most valued stat but I still take Power over Defense.
Weapon Mastery 3/3: 3% more Critical Hit Chance, pretty important for any GWF.
Devastating Critical 3/3: 15% more Critical Severity is pretty much a must have for any GWF and IMO the highest value Heroic Feat available to increase damage output in both PvE and PvP. Wanting both this and Weapon Mastery maxed was a huge part of why I selected Human, the 3% increase to Defense along with Steely Defense did not hurt either.
Being a Human you will have one discretionary point left. I put it into Constitution Focus to get 5% increased effect to my Constitution ability score. The extra health and Armor Penetration seemed like a better option than other one point selections at this point.
Destroyer Feats
Great Weapon Focus 5/5: 10% increase to famage of At-Will Powers, a must have for any Destroyer.
Staying Power 5/5: 10% reduction in Mitigation to Encounter Powers on the WMS debuff, a major feature of my build and IMO pretty important for any Destroyer.
Deep Gash 5/5: 15% of your Power as bleed damage over 5 seconds. I like this a lot better than anything in the third tier of Destroyer Paragon feats, and as such it becomes a better option to move down the tree. Disciple of War is also an option here, but since PvP gear has little to no Recovery on it, that is more of a PvE only option for others to consider.
Battle Awareness 5/5: 25% shorter cool downs for Savage Advance in PvP is pretty interesting and the 25% more Power while Slam is active is just.. amazing.
Destroyer's Purpose 1/1: Gain Determination from damage done and also 10% more damage when Unstoppable. Thsi tells you everything you need to know about what a Destroyer should do and be about.
Sentinel Feats
Student of the Sword 5/5: Critical hits reduce your targets Defense by 15% for 5 seconds, stacks up to 3 times for 45%! This is a must have feat for any GWF build. If other players cannot understand the value of this to a group for progression then they are... not someone I care to play with.
Powerful Challenge 5/5: 15% more damage to Marked Targets. Scale Agility is an option if you want more survival for PvP and PvE, but I chose this because I PvE more often than PvP. Not only do I gain some benefit from my Indomitable Battle Strike Marks, but when I group with a GF my damage shoots up quite a bit. Obviously this means that you need to time your Indomitable Battle Strike to take out weak mobs for play style maximization.
Main Power Set
Weapon Master's Strike, Reaping Strike, Flourish, Indomitable Battle Strike, Restoring Strike (Roar is an option here along with just about anything else including Takedown for PvP, I just like the self heal for PvE). Slam and Crescendo for Daily Powers.
Weapon Master's Strike is your fall back. Everything must be debuffed all the time. With 3 points in it though, you can fall back on this when unstoppable is up as well. IMO this should be an At-Will power for any GWF build, I dont care if you are an Instigator (Wicked Strike), Sentinel (Sure Strike), or Destroyer (Reaping Strike). 10% more damage is a key feature for the bread and butter of the majority of our damage, the other at will power.
Reaping Strike is amazing damage when used right. You can watch for a little shine effect on your weapon to know when it is fully charged to prevent loss of damage with over charging. This is actually our best AoE damage as well, it just requires that you play with people who do not step on your build with useless knock backs. Unfortunately some Guardian Fighters, Devoted Clerics and Control Wizards are idiots. Nothing is more irritating than seeing a mob go flying away for no good reason only to make three to four melee players chase it. I cut the Devoted Clerics some slack since the only time they are not the tank is when a GF actually decides to tank instead of DPS. Anyways back to Reaping Strike. The glow effect is almost like the cliche gleam on a shiny tooth with a wicked smile. When you see that let it go.
I would like to see Cryptic buff this skill in two ways to help out the GWF in group play. But right now I still use it and live with the draw backs.
First I would like to see them add a block mechanic into it similar to what the Guardian has. Something like increasing the deflection severity by 25% or the deflection chance by 25% when it is charging up to help offset some of the squishy nature of the GWF class that makes us the least survivable, and most potion dependent, class in the game.
Secondly I would like to see them make it so when a mob interrupts your charge up that you automatically release the attack and get whatever damage you had charged up at the time. This would help prevent a lot of DPS loss with knock back, knock up, and charge effects and may even make this power more useful in PvP. As is, this is a PvP only power and one only players that are comfortable with timing attacks will use.
Flourish is a must have for both PvE and PvP for me. It does several things. First of all it adds a LOT of AP gain. More than any other power hands down. Secondly, the rapid succession of attacks allow you to quickly stack Student of the Sword debuffs. Third, in PvP it allows you to stun and damage chain your encounters. Fourth, it has a decent amount of range to it and will move you into position when things get a bit sloppy. Fifth, the damage output is pretty significant.
Indomitable Battle Strike is the heaviest hitter we have and much like the dazing strike for Trickster Rogues, it will hit a number of targets if they are in a close proximity. The Mark mechanic is just a bonus.
Restoring Strike is nice damage and the heal on it should not be ignored. It may seem weak leveling up, just stick with it, along with added Power the healing will scale. In mostly PvP gear at around 8400 GS I get 2.5K to 3.8K critical hit heals off of it with Combat Advantage.
Slam is the number one, best, hands down, you absolutely want this, use it all the time, Daily Power for pretty much every GWF. It just adds an amazing amount of damage in PvP and can even be useful in PvP.
Crescendo is a nice damage burst option and Control power for both PvP and PvE. It is a single target option for when Slam will not get as much mileage for the group as the control effect. I sometimes slot in Savage Advance for similar reasons.
PvP Powers
Takedown will replace Restoring Strike to allow a Flourish - Takedown - Indomitable Battle Strike damage chain that is just downright devastating to other players. Once you get Flourish off there is nothing they can do but eat a TON of damage. If this don't outright kill them they are either close to death or standing in an Astral Shield.
Savage Advance was mentioned above, It is nice to allow you to reset your encounter power damage chain more often in PvP. The damage and control effects are just funny and a bonus.
Sure Strike is not a must have but certainly is a much better option for PvP than Reaping Strike.
Optional PvE Powers
Mighty Leap is nice for AoE Damage and mobility. I also took it to allow me to easily swap over to an Instigator Build if I so desire.
Not So Fast is also a nice option. Once again to allow swapping to an Instigator without a full power respec. Not to mention that it helps you build the lower base of your tree and unlock the later powers.
Wicked Strike was taken once again to allow a feat only respec into an Instigator build.
Play Style Elements
This build is centered around a few things and the following should be noted.
1) Unstoppable and AP gain for Slam should be cycled and not used together. Ideally you want to Slam early on ins a multiple enemy fight. Do NOT be afraid to use this often, it will be back up soon, don't "save" it for situational use unless you are doing so for an add phase in a boss fight. It will pull a TON of threat in those situations to be ready to potion up. Also as soon as your Determination is filled, which will be quickly, then you hit Unstoppable. Once you do that used your encounter powers to build more AP with your feat selection synergies.
2) Your encounter powers are for single target burst damage in both PvE and PvP. Use them wisely on the most dangerous enemies. You can break the Unstoppable / Slam chain with Crescendo if you need to really mess up an enemy, but that is more for PvP than PvE.
3) Your main AoE damage is going to come from Reaping Strike in PvE. Make sure to communicate with classes that knock back about this and let them know that you would prefer if knock backs only happen when they are needed.
4) Absolutely, at all times, keep Weapon Master's Strike debuff up. It is completely possible to click to your next ability as soon as you click the button, do NOT wait for the second swing animation.
I hope you all enjoy the build, I know that I do and I also know that it works well in both PvP and end game epic content. Don't worry about the naysayers for the class. It is highly likely that those out damaging you are either supposed to, or are not and things will get balanced.
Edit: Passive Power Selection: I took Bravery to help with the run speed and deflection for survival. I also took Weapon Master for the stacking Critical Strike Chance. I have yet to find any GWF build that I choose anything else on. Sometimes I use Destroyer to work down the tree but I always replace it later on with Weapon Master.
I also started with the 16, 16, 12, 10, 10, 10 starting ability score array. I put +2 Strength in for an 18 to start with. My Dex was 16, Con 12, and the rest 10's. I pumped Str and Dex exclusively as I leveled. Con is a viable option for more defensive builds than this one. I also like that I get as small bonus, 2% base, 3% with campfire, to my non-class ability score perks. It all adds up to make a difference IMO over other builds that ignore the non-class ability scores.
Edit 2: I do also have Roar and it is a nice option to compliment Flourish and IBS. Especially if you have a healer that can make you not notice the Restoring Strike is gone, or a GF to group stuff up. I just tend to run in groups with healers that are sporadic, or sometimes no healer at all, as well as GF that tend to spread things more than gather them. So Roar ends up as an Optional power based on your group dynamic. Ideally it should be the third encounter power, it just has not worked out that way much for me.
The goal of my build is to focus mostly on offense. However I will attain some survival and defense in 5 heroic feat points and one passive selection along the way, but for the most part this build is a bit of a potion pig but highly flexible in what you can do with it.
Heroic Feats
Unstoppable Action 5/5: 25% Bonus AP gain while Unstoppable is a big part of the build for a Destroyer. The main reason you actually go with the Destroyer Paragon is to have Unstoppable up more often based on dealing damage and not just taking it. This allows you to regain Slam faster and cycle Unstoppable and Slam off of each other to get them both back up more often.
Disciple of Strength 3/3: 6% increase to bonus damage from Strength. Not as nice as the 15% that the GF gets... why this was ever nerfed is still beyond me... (major sad face @ Cryptic)
Endless Assault 3/3: A major feature of my build and IMO a good idea for just about any GWF.
Steely Defense 5/5: 20% of defense converted into Power. This is a major feature of my build to add both offense and defense at the same time. It actually makes Defense your most valued stat but I still take Power over Defense.
Weapon Mastery 3/3: 3% more Critical Hit Chance, pretty important for any GWF.
Devastating Critical 3/3: 15% more Critical Severity is pretty much a must have for any GWF and IMO the highest value Heroic Feat available to increase damage output in both PvE and PvP. Wanting both this and Weapon Mastery maxed was a huge part of why I selected Human, the 3% increase to Defense along with Steely Defense did not hurt either.
Being a Human you will have one discretionary point left. I put it into Constitution Focus to get 5% increased effect to my Constitution ability score. The extra health and Armor Penetration seemed like a better option than other one point selections at this point.
Destroyer Feats
Great Weapon Focus 5/5: 10% increase to famage of At-Will Powers, a must have for any Destroyer.
Staying Power 5/5: 10% reduction in Mitigation to Encounter Powers on the WMS debuff, a major feature of my build and IMO pretty important for any Destroyer.
Deep Gash 5/5: 15% of your Power as bleed damage over 5 seconds. I like this a lot better than anything in the third tier of Destroyer Paragon feats, and as such it becomes a better option to move down the tree. Disciple of War is also an option here, but since PvP gear has little to no Recovery on it, that is more of a PvE only option for others to consider.
Battle Awareness 5/5: 25% shorter cool downs for Savage Advance in PvP is pretty interesting and the 25% more Power while Slam is active is just.. amazing.
Destroyer's Purpose 1/1: Gain Determination from damage done and also 10% more damage when Unstoppable. Thsi tells you everything you need to know about what a Destroyer should do and be about.
Sentinel Feats
Student of the Sword 5/5: Critical hits reduce your targets Defense by 15% for 5 seconds, stacks up to 3 times for 45%! This is a must have feat for any GWF build. If other players cannot understand the value of this to a group for progression then they are... not someone I care to play with.
Powerful Challenge 5/5: 15% more damage to Marked Targets. Scale Agility is an option if you want more survival for PvP and PvE, but I chose this because I PvE more often than PvP. Not only do I gain some benefit from my Indomitable Battle Strike Marks, but when I group with a GF my damage shoots up quite a bit. Obviously this means that you need to time your Indomitable Battle Strike to take out weak mobs for play style maximization.
Main Power Set
Weapon Master's Strike, Reaping Strike, Flourish, Indomitable Battle Strike, Restoring Strike (Roar is an option here along with just about anything else including Takedown for PvP, I just like the self heal for PvE). Slam and Crescendo for Daily Powers.
Weapon Master's Strike is your fall back. Everything must be debuffed all the time. With 3 points in it though, you can fall back on this when unstoppable is up as well. IMO this should be an At-Will power for any GWF build, I dont care if you are an Instigator (Wicked Strike), Sentinel (Sure Strike), or Destroyer (Reaping Strike). 10% more damage is a key feature for the bread and butter of the majority of our damage, the other at will power.
Reaping Strike is amazing damage when used right. You can watch for a little shine effect on your weapon to know when it is fully charged to prevent loss of damage with over charging. This is actually our best AoE damage as well, it just requires that you play with people who do not step on your build with useless knock backs. Unfortunately some Guardian Fighters, Devoted Clerics and Control Wizards are idiots. Nothing is more irritating than seeing a mob go flying away for no good reason only to make three to four melee players chase it. I cut the Devoted Clerics some slack since the only time they are not the tank is when a GF actually decides to tank instead of DPS. Anyways back to Reaping Strike. The glow effect is almost like the cliche gleam on a shiny tooth with a wicked smile. When you see that let it go.
I would like to see Cryptic buff this skill in two ways to help out the GWF in group play. But right now I still use it and live with the draw backs.
First I would like to see them add a block mechanic into it similar to what the Guardian has. Something like increasing the deflection severity by 25% or the deflection chance by 25% when it is charging up to help offset some of the squishy nature of the GWF class that makes us the least survivable, and most potion dependent, class in the game.
Secondly I would like to see them make it so when a mob interrupts your charge up that you automatically release the attack and get whatever damage you had charged up at the time. This would help prevent a lot of DPS loss with knock back, knock up, and charge effects and may even make this power more useful in PvP. As is, this is a PvP only power and one only players that are comfortable with timing attacks will use.
Flourish is a must have for both PvE and PvP for me. It does several things. First of all it adds a LOT of AP gain. More than any other power hands down. Secondly, the rapid succession of attacks allow you to quickly stack Student of the Sword debuffs. Third, in PvP it allows you to stun and damage chain your encounters. Fourth, it has a decent amount of range to it and will move you into position when things get a bit sloppy. Fifth, the damage output is pretty significant.
Indomitable Battle Strike is the heaviest hitter we have and much like the dazing strike for Trickster Rogues, it will hit a number of targets if they are in a close proximity. The Mark mechanic is just a bonus.
Restoring Strike is nice damage and the heal on it should not be ignored. It may seem weak leveling up, just stick with it, along with added Power the healing will scale. In mostly PvP gear at around 8400 GS I get 2.5K to 3.8K critical hit heals off of it with Combat Advantage.
Slam is the number one, best, hands down, you absolutely want this, use it all the time, Daily Power for pretty much every GWF. It just adds an amazing amount of damage in PvP and can even be useful in PvP.
Crescendo is a nice damage burst option and Control power for both PvP and PvE. It is a single target option for when Slam will not get as much mileage for the group as the control effect. I sometimes slot in Savage Advance for similar reasons.
PvP Powers
Takedown will replace Restoring Strike to allow a Flourish - Takedown - Indomitable Battle Strike damage chain that is just downright devastating to other players. Once you get Flourish off there is nothing they can do but eat a TON of damage. If this don't outright kill them they are either close to death or standing in an Astral Shield.
Savage Advance was mentioned above, It is nice to allow you to reset your encounter power damage chain more often in PvP. The damage and control effects are just funny and a bonus.
Sure Strike is not a must have but certainly is a much better option for PvP than Reaping Strike.
Optional PvE Powers
Mighty Leap is nice for AoE Damage and mobility. I also took it to allow me to easily swap over to an Instigator Build if I so desire.
Not So Fast is also a nice option. Once again to allow swapping to an Instigator without a full power respec. Not to mention that it helps you build the lower base of your tree and unlock the later powers.
Wicked Strike was taken once again to allow a feat only respec into an Instigator build.
Play Style Elements
This build is centered around a few things and the following should be noted.
1) Unstoppable and AP gain for Slam should be cycled and not used together. Ideally you want to Slam early on ins a multiple enemy fight. Do NOT be afraid to use this often, it will be back up soon, don't "save" it for situational use unless you are doing so for an add phase in a boss fight. It will pull a TON of threat in those situations to be ready to potion up. Also as soon as your Determination is filled, which will be quickly, then you hit Unstoppable. Once you do that used your encounter powers to build more AP with your feat selection synergies.
2) Your encounter powers are for single target burst damage in both PvE and PvP. Use them wisely on the most dangerous enemies. You can break the Unstoppable / Slam chain with Crescendo if you need to really mess up an enemy, but that is more for PvP than PvE.
3) Your main AoE damage is going to come from Reaping Strike in PvE. Make sure to communicate with classes that knock back about this and let them know that you would prefer if knock backs only happen when they are needed.
4) Absolutely, at all times, keep Weapon Master's Strike debuff up. It is completely possible to click to your next ability as soon as you click the button, do NOT wait for the second swing animation.
I hope you all enjoy the build, I know that I do and I also know that it works well in both PvP and end game epic content. Don't worry about the naysayers for the class. It is highly likely that those out damaging you are either supposed to, or are not and things will get balanced.
Edit: Passive Power Selection: I took Bravery to help with the run speed and deflection for survival. I also took Weapon Master for the stacking Critical Strike Chance. I have yet to find any GWF build that I choose anything else on. Sometimes I use Destroyer to work down the tree but I always replace it later on with Weapon Master.
I also started with the 16, 16, 12, 10, 10, 10 starting ability score array. I put +2 Strength in for an 18 to start with. My Dex was 16, Con 12, and the rest 10's. I pumped Str and Dex exclusively as I leveled. Con is a viable option for more defensive builds than this one. I also like that I get as small bonus, 2% base, 3% with campfire, to my non-class ability score perks. It all adds up to make a difference IMO over other builds that ignore the non-class ability scores.
Edit 2: I do also have Roar and it is a nice option to compliment Flourish and IBS. Especially if you have a healer that can make you not notice the Restoring Strike is gone, or a GF to group stuff up. I just tend to run in groups with healers that are sporadic, or sometimes no healer at all, as well as GF that tend to spread things more than gather them. So Roar ends up as an Optional power based on your group dynamic. Ideally it should be the third encounter power, it just has not worked out that way much for me.
Post edited by argantis on
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Comments
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I have the PvP set on, so I get the extra HP when I go unstoppable. I even considered to take the 5 points in the Instigator line over the 15% to marked damage for a more PvP focused build and emphasize this more. I do very well in PvP. Much better than 50% one on one. I almost always kill other GWF and have a good shot to kill a rogue, or CW. I help with burning clerics and with a cleric and CW many times we can control middle while the other two float the other points. I got my full PvP set in about 6 hours of bonus PvP. Placing in the top 1-2 for my team most of the time and several times placing top player for the match.
I do have Roar, something I overlooked. I just don't use it much anymore since I prefer the heal from Restoring Strike. Flourish and IDS are pretty much main stays, I would not swap them for anything.
So you'd take unstoppable recovery over powerful challenge for more pvp oriented build?
Yeah, marking in PvP is just about non existent and the self heal will go a lot further, especially on a Destroyer Built that has Unstoppable up often.
1. - The Destroyers's slow but generate very good and excellent critical damage I will not deny a perfect convinaci
The forums don't handle special characters well, something as simple as an apostrophe from a different font style will cause it to cut off. This usually happens when you copy and paste your post. Even a copy and paste from the official PWE site for Neverwinter will cause cut offs on some special characters.
Yeah Reaping is highly situation dependent.
In PvE Solo I use it often. When my encounter powers are on cool down it will build determination faster than anything. I do a lot of movement to avoid splats, so the the charges and whatnot are only bad on certain bosses, such as the War Troll in Icespire Peak. But even then you will notice the script more as you play. Bosses follow the same sequence and never vary. So you know that once the charge is off, you can follow up with a reaping strike. A perfect example of this is the boss at the bottom of the ruins in the Pirate Skyhold zone. He has a splat that goes around him, so you need to move away, he will always follow this with a charge if you are not in melee range. If you get the timing down though, you can sprint out to the edge of his burst splat, charge it up immediately, turn and inch closer to the edge of the splat as you do so, then unleash it before he charges or as he is closing on his charge. Exexutioners Style Paragon Feat with this works really well for some amazing single target damage from this. While other players are sitting there waiting for the splat, you are actually charging up a big damage hit.
The other obvious use for me is when there are three elites grouped up. As long as someone is not knocking them out of range, which fortunately I run in guidl groups of considerate players who do not needlessly knock back, then you will get more damage out of this than any other AoE.
When unstoppable is up I spam WMS but you are correct that Wicked Strike does much more damage, especially if you cycle it with WMS debuff up. I am currently experimenting around with swapping Wicked Strike in more often for group play for this reason. In solo play I still use Reaping. In considerate group play I also still use reaping. In PvP I find that I am one on one much more often than grouped damage. Maybe just luck of the draw on my play times and the matches I am in. I am considering swapping in Sure Strike for this reason as it is our best single damage At-Will, in place of the Reaping Strike.
Not So Fast is an option, but I like the burst chain of single damage for some of the above reasons, not to mention that I can take out some of them bothersome astral shield clerics with it. With me and a decent CW, TR, or GF, we can usually negate that cleric. Between my stun, knock down, huge damage burst and their control and damage bursts it tends to work out well. For those situations I usually WMS the Cleric, Flourish, Takedown, IBS then follow with a Crescendo. If many players are around Slam. usually an Unstoppable is in there as well, to break CC against me if nothing else. I will even Unstoppable at half bar to do this if needed.
Yeah that is the default one everyone goes with for both PvE and PvP. I also like the lightning for a cheaper option. With our AoE damage swings we get a lot of mileage out of that lightning.
The Destroyer slow but generate very good and excellent critical damage I will not deny a perfect combination any enemy knows thast if he's definitely dead.
Unfortunatel we always have to walk around with a Cleric since melee takes us much HP and being slow cost us more dodge an evade
Regarding what you said the Roer I have hardly entered PVP since recently started playing PVE here but I have been very efficient use of Roar and then Restoring Strike more help from my Cleric that I have to partner who really saved my life many times, and really lucky I will say that I go crazy and kill him while trying to take care of as my Destroyer depends both my Cleric as my Destroyer.
I hope this thing and sorry for my English because it is very basic (Google)
DemoledroI (Uruguay)
PS: I liked your your guide and really very good.