Q Zone Solo Build Advice

magpieuk2014

Refusing to lie down in the face of the Q Zone, I hacked together this build from a Telekinesis based character, and it works. Sort of. It's loaded with defence and self-heals; a kind of persistence build, tbh, but I haven't got my head around the recen TK power changes and I'm looking for advice on how to improve the damage output. It has stickability and I can finish all the dailies, but a little extra damage wouldn't go amiss. Any advice?

Pale Moon - Freeform
v2.3.2-25

Super Stats
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: Abyssal (Con: 12, End: 12)
Level 6: Ascetic (Con: 5, Ego: 5)
Level 9: Enduring (Con: 8)
Level 12: Daredevil (Ego: 5, End: 5)
Level 15: Indomintable (Ego: 8)
Level 18: Energetic (End: 8)
Level 21: Tireless (Rec: 8)

Powers
Level 1: Kinetic Darts
Level 1: Telekinetic Strike (Rank 2, Siphoning Strikes)
Level 6: Telekinetic Reverberation
Level 8: Invulnerability (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Concentration
Level 14: Ego Sprites (Slave Mentality)
Level 17: Telekinetic Barrage (Rank 2)
Level 20: Telekinetic Lance (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Telekinetic Shield (Rank 2, Rank 3, Telekinetic Reinforcement)
Level 26: Telekinetic Eruption (Enhanced Form, Inner Peace)
Level 29: Mental Leech
Level 32: Unbreakable
Level 35: Palliate (Absolve)
Level 38: Ego Form (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Adv. Points: 35/36

Travel Powers
Level 6: Teleportation (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Acrobatics (Rank 2)

Specializations
Ego: Mental Endurance (1/3)
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Aggression (1/2)
Ego: Follow Through (1/3)
Ego: Exploit Opening (1/2)
Ego: Sixth Sense (1/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (1/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (1/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (1/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

aesica

There really isn't much you can do to up the damage without getting rid of Invuln for an offensive passive but in the q-zone, invuln is extremely useful so I totally get why it's there. I can offer you a few things to make the build even sturdier though:

1) Unless theme demands it, trading Telekinetic Shield for Ebon Void + Voracious Darkness might be worth considering. EB/VD synergizes extremely well with Invuln due to the passive healing effect + stacking damage reduction from VD combined with Invuln's flat mitigation. The result while blocking is that most hits will do single digit damage, and while small, the per-second ticks of healing from EV negate all of that.

2) The Instill Doubt advantage on both Telekinetic Barrage and Ego Blade Frenzy can really get the healing rolling in when used on a bunch of things. The drawback is requiring close range to receive the healing, but since things love to get in your face, that part isn't usually a problem

3) I probably wouldn't bother with ego sprites/slave mentality. Those 2 advantage points would be better off giving Instill Doubt to Telekinetic Barrage and that slot could go to something that works well even without advantage points, like Resurgence or Masterful Dodge​​

magpieuk2014

Thanks. I shall try EV -TK shield is only there because of the power set and because it's a good basic shield - but if EV synergises better and has advantages that sounds a good call.

Instill Doubt is a good idea too. I probably won't swap out Ego Sprites as that works extremely well as a DoT/self-heal combo, especially when you've got massed low-level enemies (it does around 150 per tick damage and then returns around 3-400 per target heal when the damage phase is over) but perhaps I don't need the Mental Leech/Dependency heals, or that could go to another damage power (an AO, even???)

spinnytop

You don't mention how you're stacking your stats. For Q Zone I would stack everything into Ego and not slot any gear for Con. That will up your damage and you'll still be plenty tough thanks to Invuln. Generally, killing them before they can get their stuff in motion is what you want to be doing, tank or dps.

Switch out TK Eruption for TK Maelstrom. You don't need the healing or defense from Eruption, and TK Maelstrom can be a powerful tool. Not only does it make everything around you stop what it's doing for a moment, and allow you to interrupt some of their nasty business, but when you tap it on a crowd you instantly get 5 ego leech stacks which allows you to do back-to-back full charged full power TK Lances.

I would drop ego sprites and grab Mental Impact personally. What you want is burst damage.

Also not sure on Palliate. If you want a big quick heal Resurgence makes more sense.

For TK Barrage adding the stun advantage to it is pretty strong. In Q Zone, shutting mobs down works wonders for making your life easier.

I also notice you have 2 passives, so I'd be interested in how you're utilizing that.


Lemme know if you wanna group up btw, I can bring Kagami and show you how I utilized TK powers, maybe you'll find something of interest.

kamokami

I believe this is a video of a squishy DPS doing Qzone. You can see the powers being used in the vid. Just need to burst dmg the groups of mobs before they kill you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLHOBLVG7Uw

The other way to go about it would be to use a Tank Vehicle with incend rounds and/or grav pulse. Then you can use any build you want.

If you want to dedicate the build to specialize in Qzone runs, then consider AoE burst dmg powers that would let you 1-shot the weaker mobs right away. Look at Ultimates like Grav Driver, Unleashed Rage, Vorpal Blade, etc...and/or look AoE charge powers that do a lot of base dmg like Cascade, Gigabolt, Chest Beam, etc...and yeah an AO to help get your burst to crit would be good.

carrionbaggage

Here's a tweaked version of the posted build, with extra AoE burst damage. "DPS with Invulnerability" is generally just a Challenge advantage away from being a competent offtank for content like TA, Warzone OMs, and certain events; so I added that ability as well.

(Unnamed Build) - Freeform
v2.3.2-25

Super Stats
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: The Scourge (Con: 10, Ego: 10, Rec: 10, End: 8)
Level 6: Ascetic (Con: 5, Ego: 5)
Level 9: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 12: Worldly (Ego: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 15: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 18: Daredevil (Ego: 5, End: 5)
Level 21: Amazing Stamina (Rec: 5, End: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Kinetic Darts
Level 1: Telekinetic Strike (Stressed Out, Siphoning Strikes)
Level 6: Telekinetic Reverberation
Level 8: Invulnerability (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Ego Form (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Ebon Void (Rank 2, Voracious Darkness)
Level 17: Concentration
Level 20: Telekinetic Lance (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Lance Rain (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Telekinetic Maelstrom (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Resurgence
Level 32: Unbreakable
Level 35: Mental Leech (Challenge!)
Level 38: Ego Sprites (Slave Mentality, Challenge!)
Adv. Points: 36/36

Travel Powers
Level 6: Teleportation
Level 35: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Specializations
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
Ego: Sixth Sense (2/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (2/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

Voracious Darkness is indeed a great ability when you want to stay aggressive under fire, but you could stick with TK Shield (or Force Shield) if you feel it's more thematic.

I threw in Resurgence, to give you a reactive AD alongside the proactive Unbreakable. You could push for Rank 2 if you don't mind taking the points from another power. Or swap it with Masterful Dodge (or whatever else you prefer), if you're comfortable running without a spike heal.

Warzone soloing:
Jump at a pack of enemies with Acrobatics, charging TK Maelstrom in midair. Land and release the charge for a burst of damage and Ego Leech stacks. The stun won't last long, but use that time to charge Lance Rain for a second damage burst. Mop up whatever's left with your single-target attacks. Lance Rain is handy in that strategy, but not essential. You can replace it with something else if you don't have it.

Offtanking:
Pop Unbreakable and gather up enemies with Ego Sprites. The energy from advantaged Force Shield is a nice alternative in that strategy, since Sprites won't trigger your toggle form or energy unlock. A different AoE with Challenge, like TK Barrage, can also work. Once they're clustered, use Mental Leech to keep up Dependency and Challenge while you block. Be careful about your damage output if you're babysitting squishy enemies, like Grond's mobs in TA.

DPSing:
Ego Form in Ranged role, Telekinetic Strike combo > Telekinetic Lance charge > repeat. Focusing your spec tree points more on the crit/severity specs should give you a nice damage boost, compared to what you had. Siphoning Strikes takes away a chunk of your damage output, but for your purposes the self-heal is a nice option.

magpieuk2014

Cheers all, I shall probably have to find a spare Level 40 and retcon to try some of these builds/methods, but they sound like there would be substaintial improvements.

To answer the questions, then: role is currently Hybrid, EGO approx 380, CON / REC 150, END 30, all else is 10. Defence is 225 (53% DR), offence 316 (11% DMG). Gear for the Q Zone is stock blues with a +25% healing bonus. I can certainly improve that, as there aren't any mods higher than IV currently slotted (I was working with what the character had in their inventory), and the healing bonus could be replaced with a buff to criticals for additional damage. That said I tend not to go all out for damage due to a) my ability to press the wrong buttons at important moments and b) client performance (I frequently find myself 3-5 seconds behind the game, so some additional slack in HP and healing is needed).

TK Maelstrom I will certainly try out; I was reallystacking up the self-heals when I built the original.

Palliate is a threat wipe for the Elder Worms and their irritating knocks. If you have the client issues I'm talking about above you'll know why that's there - ditto Unbreakable, which is a time out power while things get back in sync. I find I don't need spike heals from powers with all this self-healing going on; consumables for both heals and shields work absolutely fine.

Ego Form is still there because I find I don't need Invuln playing regular Grabs and Alerts.

Thanks again, I shall let you know how this pans out.

pwestolemyname

So, I made a really fun/easy QWZ build a while back. Retconned out of it eventually, but you could pretty much snooze your way through Q. The basics are AoAC, Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary, and a bunch of pseudo-pets (not summons), like Ball Lightning and Dust Devil. The pseudo-pets do not dump aggro onto you when they fade or die (don't even know if they can be killed). So, I would just stand at range, turn on Sigils and send in the pseudo-pets. The mobs generally couldn't see me, and if they did, I had some knockback power to get rid of them. Or I could just turtle and let the Sigils heal me while the pets did their work.

spinnytop

magpieuk2014 said:

Thanks again, I shall let you know how this pans out.

You should friend me in game tho. We could run QWZ together o3o

magpieuk2014

Retconned out of it eventually, but you could pretty much snooze your way through Q.

Nice if you're farming, but I actually want to find that sweet spot between too easy and too difficult, where you can complete things but have to concentrate and pay attention. That's fun!

highjusticar

pwestolemyname said:

So, I made a really fun/easy QWZ build a while back. Retconned out of it eventually, but you could pretty much snooze your way through Q. The basics are AoAC, Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary, and a bunch of pseudo-pets (not summons), like Ball Lightning and Dust Devil. The pseudo-pets do not dump aggro onto you when they fade or die (don't even know if they can be killed). So, I would just stand at range, turn on Sigils and send in the pseudo-pets. The mobs generally couldn't see me, and if they did, I had some knockback power to get rid of them. Or I could just turtle and let the Sigils heal me while the pets did their work.

I am curious as to which psuedo-pets you used. there is a bunch of them. I am thinking about redoing my pet build as a techno/steampunk summoner depending if I can find a look I like.

riverocean

I'm going to guess Wall of Ice, Ball Lightning, Dust Devil and Orbital Cannon with the advantage.

pwestolemyname

riverocean said:

I'm going to guess Wall of Ice, Ball Lightning, Dust Devil and Orbital Cannon with the advantage.

Yup, that about covers it! Actually, the only problem with the build was if the baddies aggroed on the Sigils. They could take them down and then see me. The other problem was that even on a full pull, it could barely make score on most Cosmics, and while people do love AoAC, I felt like I wasn't really contributing enough.