A Build for Hexbane

jaybee37

My character, Hexbane (level 40), is in need of a build. (No relation to Lord Hexbane, lol.)

The original concept for the character is a living nightmare. Originally, I tried a bunch of different builds with darkness and telepathy. I'm less than happy with telepathy as it is at the moment, and I like the sorcery and infernal revamps, so I'm tempted to fiddle with builds involving them. However, I'm of multiple minds about what, exactly, I'd like to do with the character.

While I'm happy to receive builds from people, I'd rather discuss what is feasible within the frameworks of darkness, sorcery, telepathy and/or infernal at this time. After that, maybe builds could flow.

Crowd Control: This is where I'd prefer to go. However, I don't know if I could keep enough dark/infernal powers to stay on theme. Best CC seems to be from telepathy, and while I'd be delighted to include telepathy in my build, I'm not sure if it would feel right. I realize this isn't that instructive, and there's no way for someone else to be aware of what feels right to me. I'm just being honest about why I haven't thrown together that build yet.

DPS: Almost any build I would use would be able to use a second passive to dps at some point. I wouldn't need "leet dps", but I would have to keep up with Dino, Eido, etc. (I mean, if there was a build that could tank or heal as needed, maybe I'd go with that, as that seems like a really neat combo. However, I'm not sure how much threat I'd generate, so most builds I can imagine end up dps/tank or dps/heals.)

Tank: I'd like to be able to tank cosmic content. I realize this will likely require a bit of gearing, and I don't mind that. I'd like ranged tanking, over melee, but most cosmic tanking is melee anyway. There's really not a way to stop the big thing from strolling right up to you in most cases.

Healer: I'm never really impressed with systems that require healing as a form of support. I much prefer buffs/debuffs, and other forms of damage mitigation. Having said that, there are some heals that I like on this character, like drain life/essence and iniquity. Both feel "witchy" to me.

Hybrid: I've heard tell of a hybrid healer who uses drain life to do both decent heals and (some) dps. This sounds unusual, and is thus attractive to me, especially for this character.

Any help anyone could give via discussion is appreciated. Thanks!

jaybee37

Okay, Since I've had no nibbles on this, let me narrow down what I'd want. I would like a simple dps build with a dual passive and enough heals or other support benefits to keep around in support mode--if we've got too many dps or not enough support.

Framework: I'd like to stick to theme with darkness as my main damage dealing. I'd dip into either infernal or telepathy for support abilities and maybe have one sorcery power laying around, because magic.

Passives: My offense form would probably be either Shadow Form or Enchanter, depending on what second set I'm going with.

Stats and Specs: I'm considering Super Statting Presence and Constitution/Dex, as I'm designing it like a DPS. Presence is great for heals and crits, plus gives me wither for CC shenanigans. I'd probably choose Avenger (using Ebon Ruin or Shade Storm with the Devoid debuff from Shadow Blast anyway) as well as Overseer for support with a severity increase. I'm on the fence with mastery skills, though Overseer is tempting, assuming the damage and healing bonus apply to the base layer, as advertised.

We'll stop there for now. Is there anything that screams "BAD IDEA" at this time?

kamokami

jaybee37 said:

Okay, Since I've had no nibbles on this, let me narrow down what I'd want. I would like a simple dps build with a dual passive and enough heals or other support benefits to keep around in support mode--if we've got too many dps or not enough support.

That's a helpful and cool way to think about goals for builds

jaybee37 said:

Framework: I'd like to stick to theme with darkness as my main damage dealing. I'd dip into either infernal or telepathy for support abilities and maybe have one sorcery power laying around, because magic.

Shade Storm has great DPS. I'd build around that

jaybee37 said:

Passives: My offense form would probably be either Shadow Form or Enchanter, depending on what second set I'm going with.

For your support passive I'd suggest one of the auras:
AoPM - can't go wrong here and will be useful if you decide to solo stuff as well
AoRP - if you want to contrast the DPS gameplay with a sudden switch into tough mode
AoAC - if you have a lot of powers with CDs or are generally looking to run a fairly unique rotation
AoED - it does magic dmg, so if you have debuffs for magic or paranormal dmg resistance then this could work well

jaybee37 said:

Stats and Specs: I'm considering Super Statting Presence and Constitution/Dex, as I'm designing it like a DPS. Presence is great for heals and crits, plus gives me wither for CC shenanigans. I'd probably choose Avenger (using Ebon Ruin or Shade Storm with the Devoid debuff from Shadow Blast anyway) as well as Overseer for support with a severity increase. I'm on the fence with mastery skills, though Overseer is tempting, assuming the damage and healing bonus apply to the base layer, as advertised.

We'll stop there for now. Is there anything that screams "BAD IDEA" at this time?

That works great. For Vulnerability to be useful (Wither is from the Sentinel tree) you'll need a fast semi-spammable CC power to proc it. I'd also suggest planning for 2 sets of gear....one set for DPS and one for support.

jaybee37

Hey, is there a "trick" to getting better energy with Spirit Reverb? I run dry often. I guess I could just change the focus to infernal or something and go Supernatural, which I've never had issues with. I figured I'd ask first.

flowcyto

Ebon Ruin and Shade Storm are a bit costly to use heavily. For ERuin, you can alternate between it and SBlast if you want to save some energy overall (and if using Avenger's Preemptive Strike). Otherwise, SReverb scales w/ Con, so you'd want to boost that and w/e stat scales w/ ur chosen toggle/form. AoPM and AoAC can also relieve energy a bit, but that's assuming ur okay w/ taking either as ur passive.