Elle the Ghost Blade - Tank 2.0

monsterdaddy

Elle the Ghost Blade Tank
v3.32:32

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

Talents
Level 1: The Rockstar (Str: 10, Con: 10, Rec: 8, End: 10)
Level 6: Physical Conditioning (Str: 5, Con: 5)
Level 9: Bodybuilder (Str: 5, End: 5)
Level 12: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 15: Paramilitary Training (Str: 3, Con: 3, Rec: 3, End: 3)
Level 18: Enduring (Con: 8)
Level 21: Energetic (End: 8)

Powers
Level 1: Bestial Fury
Level 1: Shred (Rank 2, Penetrating Strikes, Challenge!)
Level 6: Wild Thing
Level 8: Aspect of the Bestial
Level 11: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 14: Pounce (Furious Rush)
Level 17: Defiance
Level 20: Aggressor (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Tiger's Bite (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Reaper's Embrace (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge
Level 32: Lock N Load (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Energy Shield (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Adv. Points: 33/36

Specializations
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Brawler: The Glory of Battle (1/3)
Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
Brawler: Finishing Blow (1/3)
Brawler: Setup (2/2)
Brawler: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Upper Hand (3/3)
Warden: The Best Defense (2/3)
Mastery: Warden Mastery (1/1)

Devices
Slot 1: A Healing Potion
Slot 2: Neuroelectric Pulse Generator
Slot 3: Necrullitic Elixir
Slot 4: Necrullitic Elixir
Slot 5: A Backup Device

Additional Notes:
Justice Gear: Precision, Fitness, Efficiency
Onslaught Gear: Defender, Agility, Efficiency
Ability Mods: All CON
Other Mods: Warlord, Crit, HP x2, Cost x2

Returning after 3+ years and trying to take in all the changes, new powers and new gear. I decided to use the Brawler tree with Setup with Warden for bumping up DPS. I've used it before but Wardicator was hard to give up but now that it's gone...

Kept Warden over Vindicator for the Warden Mastery for an extra 9% Dam Res and the same 6% crit thanks to Upper Hand (3/3). Seems to also give slightly better Off/Def too. Estimate max Dam Res to be 226%.

The attack sequence is Combo, TB or UR, Combo, RC, repeat with NPG thrown in whenever available. Can substitute a TB if you can see you will have 3 or less bleeds. Parser records ~3K dps vs. PH Dummies -- is that good for a tank?

Went STR/CON/END and all cost reduction gear. Without Defiance energy the attack sequence is almost free of energy issues so it's viable for off-tanking. I found the new EU Wild Thing to be really helpful.

Theme-wise, Elle has the invisible PSI Blades bracer costume piece, so I made the TB and RC powers have invisible weapons so Elle looks like she is stabbing/slashing with the PSI Blades instead.

Was torn between Imbue, Lock N Load, and Aggressor. Any suggestions would be appreciated anything - gear, devices, etc. Also I have 3 Advantage points left.

flowcyto

Hm.. I assume R1 Antagonize is meant to be AotB? The build seems more like a dps-tank w/ Brawler spec and UR, which can be okay depending on your goals (Protector spec would be better for a more defensive approach, ofc). As far as AOs, Imbue can give the most return of the three for dps, though ranked Aggressor can be okay for getting some quick Enraged! stacks at the start. Also, Upper Hand has been changed to properly give dmg instead of crit, afaik. Not much has changed w/ many of the build's attacks/powers, either way.

monsterdaddy

Oops, yes I meant AotB. Didn't know they changed Upper Hand, did the bonus affect BASE damage? My Parser logs do seem to indicate it's still crit rate. I'll test it a few more times.

The goal is to be able to tank Cosmics. Build-wise it was probably find the highest dps build if all mods had to be CON. So I figured 18K HP with 226% Dam Res should be enough with 2 AD's. Just want to have the dps to hold Aggro. (So is 3K dps a good number?)

I heard Imbue's bonus may be higher the lower your health. Is that still true?

flowcyto

Yea, Imbue still works like that. Unsure about Upper Hand, but I do think the bug of it giving crit was changed since they also had to revamp it as well. As for threat- you should do fine as long as you can get in your hard-hitting moves like TB and RC in and still keep Challenge rolling from Shred (3k is high for a tank w/o buffs, though that's also w/ an uninterrupted rotation). You could consider getting Confront mods in offensive gear if threat is an issue due to heavy blocking or other fight mechanics, though. Maybe also get Challenge on a 2nd attack, since you're at an odd number of adv points anyways.

monsterdaddy

Well I tested Upper Hand with Viper's Fangs and 1) no stats/gear, and 2)with stats and gear. With nothing it looks like Upper Hand doesn't add crit, but strangely with stats & gear it looks like it is adding 6%. Very odd, will have to test it again.

flowcyto

Yea, its gonna be harder to test since the %age is small enough to be obscured via rng pretty easily. I guess the other way to test it is to look at the min hit for a possible 6% diff there, but then you'd prob want to eliminate other factors like toggle, gear, etc. and just use CoAP to give the energy for spamming for a long test (and you'd obv have to disregard any hits that happened before the debuff).

monsterdaddy

Gonna change the specs to Vindicator and Brawler. Decided to do Glory of Battle 3/3, an extra 49 crit (and offense) was about 3% extra crit so not bad when you have no DEX. Logged in 3.1-3.2K dps (with a NPG).

I find this build interesting since with just 153 STR and 101 END there are practically no energy issues thanks to Shred and Wild Thing. Couldn't make this build work with Reaper's Caress or Slash because it just didn't proc bleed often enough.

Oh, I decided to keep Lock N Load over Imbue. The 60% additive damage bonus was worth 20%+ base damage since I have such low additive damage to begin with.

flowcyto

Yea, Reaper's Caress won't have double the bleed rate if you're not using a MA/Focus toggle, but Shred does still w/ AotB (which also would put it above Slash's innate chance), so it makes sense that you are having more success w/ Shred atm. If you are getting better results w/ LNL then by all means stick with it; +20% base dmg is a reliable buff, even if you have bad crit rng for the duration.

monsterdaddy

I'm decided to get some more mileage out of my character by making her a true dual role toon - Tank/Melee. Gave up the Lunge for Way of the Warrior. Surprisingly high DPS performance as a melee fighter at Cosmics. I always felt a glass cannon hero nor a super tough but weak hitting hero didn't fit my vision of comic heroes. Now I can have the best of two worlds.

Testing in PH yields about 3.1K avg DPS for tank and over 5K for melee (swapping Onslaught Defender w/CON for a Slicer w/STR). Here's the final specs:

Elle the Ghost Blade Tank/Melee
v3.32:32

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

Talents
Level 1: The Rockstar (Str: 10, Con: 10, Rec: 8, End: 10)
Level 6: Physical Conditioning (Str: 5, Con: 5)
Level 9: Bodybuilder (Str: 5, End: 5)
Level 12: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 15: Paramilitary Training (Str: 3, Con: 3, Rec: 3, End: 3)
Level 18: Enduring (Con: 8)
Level 21: Energetic (End: 8)

Powers
Level 1: Bestial Fury
Level 1: Shred (Rank 2, Penetrating Strikes, Challenge!)
Level 6: Wild Thing
Level 8: Aspect of the Bestial
Level 11: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 14: Way of the Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Defiance
Level 20: Aggressor (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Tiger's Bite (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Reaper's Embrace (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge
Level 32: Lock N Load (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Energy Shield (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Adv. Points: 35/36

Specializations
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Brawler: The Glory of Battle (3/3)
Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
Brawler: Setup (2/2)
Brawler: Offensive Expertise (1/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

flowcyto

Yea, dual passive builds can be nice for people that are committed to a specific toon and want to get more flexibility out of them. As long as you can get good mileage form both passive's setups then its a fine approach. You could consider the Unstoppable or NW for the dps passive as well.