HW DPS Tweaking

tykune

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats:
Level 6: Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Master
Level 6: Mighty
Level 9: Agile
Level 12: Enduring
Level 15: Martial Focus
Level 18: Physical Conditioning
Level 21: Acrobat

Powers:
Level 1: Bludgeon
Level 1: Eruption (Rank 2, Magma Burst)
Level 6: Decimate (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Thermal Reverberation
Level 11: Way of the Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Enrage (Rank 2, Endorphin Rush, Giant Growth)
Level 17: Arc of Ruin (Rank 2, No Quarter)
Level 20: Annihilate (Rank 2, Scorching Blade)
Level 23: Brimstone (Rank 2, Aftershock)
Level 26: Fire Snake
Level 29: Masterful Dodge
Level 32: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 35: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2)
Level 38: Absorb Heat (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Millennial Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Inky Ooze Tunneling

Specializations:
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

Gear:
PO: Justice Gloves of Precision
Con Enhancement 7
Dex Enhancement 7
Impact Prism 7 x2

PD: Justice Tights of Agility
Con Armoring 7
Dex Armoring 7
Gambler's Lucky Gem x2

PU: Justic Mask of Efficiency
Dex Enhancement 7
Con Armoring 7
Growth Amulet 7
Growth Amulet 7

SO: Vigilante's Critical Belt
SD: Vigilante's Armored Bracers
SU: Vigilante's Bolstering Eyepiece

Supestats and Stats:
291 Strength
285 Dexterity
285 Constitution
10 Intelligence
10 Ego
10 Presence
13 Recovery
10 Endurance

Offense: 839
Critical Chance: 33%
Critical Severity: 113.3%

Defense: 373.7
Dodge Chance: 47.7%
Avoidance: 61.2%

I had Invulnerability at first, which seemed like a pretty solid build defensively, but it seemed to lack damage. Then someone introduced me to Way of the Warrior as a means of buffing my damage massively, but I took a bit of a hit to my defense.. my main worry is whether I've become too squishy. My offense went from 937.9 to 839 and my Defense went from 472.6 to 373.7. From what I can tell, Way of the Warrior almost doubles all of my physical damage, and even increased my fire DoT as well which is a huge benefit. I have no issues with energy, but my main concern comes to defense and survival.

I dropped Guard and grabbed Evasive Maneuvers to help boost my dodge chance up to mitigate more damage with Avoidance, but I am not sure how to best balance this for damage and the ability to stay alive.. or if the dodge and avoidance I have now is enough. I would like to somehow keep Way of the Warrior, but at the same time be defensively efficient. Any and all advice would be welcome.

flowcyto

Due to passive dmg DR, the boost that WotW + the melee dps role will give is gonna be more like a 35-50% final dmg boost- which isn't 100% (double) but still considerable. Dropping from 940 to 840 Offense isn't gonna do much for dps - when Offense is that freakishly high its already very heavy into its own DR.

If ur up in melee, using Thundering Kicks over Evasive may be more practical, as EM will lunge you away and has a cd, whereas TKick's dodge can be refreshed anytime as long as ur in melee reach.

If ya want a bit more sturdiness, then ya can trade some Dex for Con, as Con will give more maxHP and Defense via Juggernaut here. Otherwise, for a melee dps ur build is pretty high on survival for using an offensive passive. The only other thing I may consider is trading Firesnake for another AD or heal cd, though like the Dex trade its exchanging some dps for more survival.

tykune

flowcyto said:

Due to passive dmg DR, the boost that WotW + the melee dps role will give is gonna be more like a 35-50% final dmg boost- which isn't 100% (double) but still considerable. Dropping from 940 to 840 Offense isn't gonna do much for dps - when Offense is that freakishly high its already very heavy into its own DR.

If ur up in melee, using Thundering Kicks over Evasive may be more practical, as EM will lunge you away and has a cd, whereas TKick's dodge can be refreshed anytime as long as ur in melee reach.

If ya want a bit more sturdiness, then ya can trade some Dex for Con, as Con will give more maxHP and Defense via Juggernaut here. Otherwise, for a melee dps ur build is pretty high on survival for using an offensive passive. The only other thing I may consider is trading Firesnake for another AD or heal cd, though like the Dex trade its exchanging some dps for more survival.

What is the cap on Offensive? And is it something I should consider lowering to increase my defense? Also, isn't there a cap on how high stats can go before their bonuses fall off? Is Thunder Kicks worth throwing ranks into, or is it fine where it is?

flowcyto

There is no cap to Offense; its return just diminishes as you get more of it. Increasing Defense directly is more effective, though here I'd prob just gear more Con. The build already has pretty good mitigation stats via gear/specs, but could perhaps have more health to work with.

And TKicks is fine to rank up- if you have the spare adv points. About 3% more flat dodge per point (and more dmg from it). If ya want more free adv points, ya can consider dropping R2 of Enrage (only really good for the size boost out of combat here) or NttG on the lunge (if this us a pve build).

tykune

flowcyto said:

There is no cap to Offense; its return just diminishes as you get more of it. Increasing Defense directly is more effective, though here I'd prob just gear more Con. The build already has pretty good mitigation stats via gear/specs, but could perhaps have more health to work with.

And TKicks is fine to rank up- if you have the spare adv points. About 3% more flat dodge per point (and more dmg from it). If ya want more free adv points, ya can consider dropping R2 of Enrage (only really good for the size boost out of combat here) or NttG on the lunge (if this us a pve build).

I mostly have NttG on Decimate to ground flying mobs, which is why I didn't rank it up. Does rank 2 of enrage only grant 2 stacks of enrage on activate? And if you had a choice, would you take Rank 3 of Thunderking Kicks or Floating Lotus?

flowcyto

Normal ranks of Enrage only change the starting stack #, yes (as w/ most toggles, which is why most aren't typically ranked), though here it will make you a bit larger out-of-combat w/ Giant Growth (though ofc that has no combat use).

I'd prob take R3 of TKicks, as Floating Lotus is better defensively if ur constantly spamming TKicks instead of occasionally (R3 is higher dps too, ofc).

raighn

If defense is the problem and you want to keep the offensive boost you've got from WotW... perhaps you should try out Unstoppable... you'll get the same offensive bonus with a solid defensive benefit similar to Invulnerable on a smaller scale. It's far more reliable than WotW, that's for certain.

flowcyto

The defensive boosts from Unstoppable are knock resistance and a quite small dmg shield. It doesn't give anywhere near the defenses Invuln does (nor should it, really), though the extra knock resist can help a lil. For overall mitigation, WotW's dodge/avoid boosts are stronger.

tykune

flowcyto said:

The defensive boosts from Unstoppable are knock resistance and a quite small dmg shield. It doesn't give anywhere near the defenses Invuln does (nor should it, really), though the extra knock resist can help a lil. For overall mitigation, WotW's dodge/avoid boosts are stronger.

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats:
Level 6: Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Master
Level 6: Mighty
Level 9: Agile
Level 12: Enduring
Level 15: Martial Training
Level 18: Physical Conditioning
Level 21: Acrobat

Powers:
Level 1: Bludgeon
Level 1: Eruption (Rank 2, Magma Burst)
Level 6: Decimate (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Thermal Reverberation
Level 11: Way of the Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Enrage (Giant Growth)
Level 17: Arc of Ruin (Rank 2, No Quarter)
Level 20: Annihilate (Rank 2, Scorching Blade)
Level 23: Brimstone (Rank 2, Aftershock)
Level 26: Parry (Elusive Monk)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge
Level 32: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 35: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Resurgence Reiki)
Level 38: Absorb Heat (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Millennial Flight (Rank 2)
Level 35: Inky Ooze Tunneling

Specializations:
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

Gear:
PO: Justice Gloves of Precision
Con Enhancement 7
Dex Enhancement 7
Impact Prism 7 x2

PD: Justice Tights of Agility
Con Armoring 7
Dex Armoring 7
Gambler's Lucky Gem x2

PU: Justic Mask of Efficiency
Dex Enhancement 7
Con Armoring 7
Growth Amulet 7 x2

SO: Vigilante's Critical Belt
SD: Vigilante's Armored Bracers
SU: Vigilante's Bolstering Eyepiece

Vitals:
Health: 9,411
Energy: 42/140

Supestats and Stats:
291 Strength
285 Dexterity
285 Constitution
10 Intelligence
10 Ego
10 Presence
13 Recovery
10 Endurance

Attack:
839 Offense - 876.5 max tenacious
33% Crit Chance - 70.4% from Nimble Mind
113.3% Crit Severity

Defense:
373.7 Defense - 380.7 max tenacious
Dodge Chance: 47.7% - 54% from Elusive Monk
Avoidance: 61.2% - 69.1% from Elusive Monk


So this is my finalized build. I took a purely dps approach rather than trying to make myself tanky. I have Absorb Heat (Rank 2, Rank 3) and Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Resurgence Reiki) as my healing abilities. Masterful Dodge is my panic button for when things get especially hairy. I went from Rank 3, to Rank 2 in my flight ability to pay for Elusive Monk, which isn't much of a loss considering what I gain. Though Elusive Monk reduces my damage by a negligible amount when it is active, I hardly even notice the damage reduction, since most of my attacks are charge attacks, Elusive Monk disappears by the time my attack finishes charging to deliver full damage, only to trigger Elusive Monk once more when it lands.. meaning it only stays active when I am energy building with constant attacks and after attacks finish, allowing Elusive Monk's damage reduction to be out of the way while remaining quite potent. Everything else seems pretty explanatory. I would very much love some opinions on this final build.

flowcyto

Well, if ur going for the block lingers w/ a dmg penalty, Laser Knight can be stronger than EM, since its a flat 15% final dmg shaved off inc hits (better for mitigation, though it means less BCR/RR procs). I'm not sure if Annihilate charge spams gives 100% coverage on either linger or not. Never played around w/ that combo much.

tykune

flowcyto said:

Well, if ur going for the block lingers w/ a dmg penalty, Laser Knight can be stronger than EM, since its a flat 15% final dmg shaved off inc hits (better for mitigation, though it means less BCR/RR procs). I'm not sure if Annihilate charge spams gives 100% coverage on either linger or not. Never played around w/ that combo much.

What do you mean by 100% coverage on either linger? Also, I'm being told different things it seems.. one person is telling me that Elusive Monk is better than Laser Knight, but you seem intent on telling me that Laser Knight can be stronger than Elusive Monk.. so I am slightly split on the matter.

flowcyto

LK is overall better than EM for mitigation, as I said, but for dodge builds EM can lead to more BCR/RR procs and/or get you past 100% dodge (not relevant here).
If LK or EM's buff is dropping off before ur next melee attack hits, then its technically not getting 100% uptime. That's what I meant.

tykune

flowcyto said:

LK is overall better than EM for mitigation, as I said, but for dodge builds EM can lead to more BCR/RR procs and/or get you past 100% dodge (not relevant here).
If LK or EM's buff is dropping off before ur next melee attack hits, then its technically not getting 100% uptime. That's what I meant.

There is a split second where it drops off right before the attack lands, an extremely low percentage of attacks would make it through that quickly. I've watched the effect drop off about .2 seconds before the charge finishes... so... 90% coverage?

From what I can tell, there is no passive way of getting past 100% dodge without throwing off constant buffs to keep it in place, and that is if you can keep it up constantly. The only thing I have right now that would throw me up that far is masterful dodge, but if I would get more benefit out of Laser Knight at my current dodge and avoidance, I may go that route.. but I assume that Elusive Monk gets better the more dodge you have

flowcyto

EM does get better w/ more dodge, mostly in terms of reducing rng and getting more heals from BCR. But, LK is constant flat mitigation. They're just two diff approaches, and either can work here.

100% dodge is still possible outside of MD, but you'd have to switch gears and make LR ur passive to even lay the ground work for that, and yea it still takes upkeep for it.