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Field Testing the Archetype: The Tenebrous AT

qawsadaqawsada Posts: 736 Arc User
edited December 2019 in Builds and Roles
This is more of my experience with the Archetype rather than an actual guide, but if you like to share your build and experience with the archetype, by all means. More knowledge about the archetype can benefit future players that bought or unlock these Archetype into their account, and it may help them become better players for it. With that said, lets get this started.

The Tenebrous AT is a Support Archetype that uses the power of darkness to suck the life out your enemies, sending them into a fearing frenzy. In terms of other Support Ats, they are the DPS of the bunch since you’re DPSing while you’re healing. Keep in mind that unlike all other Support Archetype, the Tenebrous AT has almost ZERO targeting direct healing power towards the players. With that being said, lets go with their power line up.

Power
Level 1 – Shadow Bolt - This is your generic energy builder that might fear your enemies. There nothing else to say about this.

Level 1 - Shadow Blast - This is your main attack if you’re not using any other power at any other time. At full charge, you’re guarantee to Fear your enemies, and Fear is really important for this build. While it has a darkness debuff abv, Devoid, there is two particular adv that you might look into. The first adv that Shadow Blast has is Psychotic Break. This will turn your Shadow Blast into a stun if fully charge and if the target is feared. This makes a great and quick way to apply the Sentinel Mastery in your build. The other adv is Back to the Darkness. If you take a Summon Shadow power, this turns your blast into a quick burst heal for yourself. Needless to say, don’t ignore the potential of this power.

Level 6 - Shadow Embrace - This AoE cone power, with the adv call Draining Shadow, allows you to life steal the entire mob and not die. On top of this, it cause fear, so you’re be able to keep this power up for a long, long time. Great for soloing trash mobs.

Level 8 - Harbinger - When this passive is equip, you’re given a small amount of defense, healing power, and an energy return if you’re hit by dimensional Power. Also, it buffs ALL of your life drain powers in addition to the earlier buffs. Considering most of your powers are life drain power, this passive is made for this AT.

Level 11 - Lifedrain - Your main healing power. Obviously, if you’re going the healer route, you take the Vampiric Sympathy adv. To get the full amount of heal towards your allies, your target must be feared. This wouldn’t be a problem since you have many option to fear your target. You simply target the foe and hold down this power button. Jumping around your allies is purely optional, but recommended due to the player healing cap. This power also counts towards your DPS, so try to switch to a lively target to reap up the party healing benefits.

Level 14 - Fear Consumption - This Recovery based form require any mental state, including Fear, to stack. Just remember to fear your target so you can stack this to 8.

Level 17 - Soul Vortex OR Ebon Rift - For me, Soul Vortex seem to offer more for my build than Ebon Rift. With Soul Vortex, I can click and forget while with Ebon Rift, I have to hold down the power to maintain it. Soul Vortex comes with a Healing Rune, has an adv that can Fear your target, and give dependency. Meanwhile, Ebon Rift has fear as part of the base power and an adv call the Endless Void, which give anyone around the Rift a chuck of health. However, Ebon Rift has a longer cooldown after you use it compare to Soul Vortex.

Level 21 - Ebon Void - If you’re struck while using this block power, you get a decent amount of heal. Because of the combination of your Support Role and the defensive mechanism of the Harbinger passive, you’re not going to die anytime soon against a mob of trash mobs when you use this block power.

Level 25 - Spirit Reverberation - When you fear something, this ticks and you get some energy in return.

Level 30 - Grasping Shadows OR Summon Shadows - Either one of these are fine. For Grasping Shadow, because its a paralyze power, it will trigger the Sentinel Mastery. Being AoE, it can also help spread fear and paralyze on trash mobs. The adv, Consumption, will turn this power into a heal, which is helpful in cosmic fights. Summon Shadows, on the other hand, let you summon three shadows to fight for you. They seem like useless pets at first, but the use of this power made it a harder choices to choose between itself and Grasping Shadows. For starters, with the adv Devouring Darkness, these shadow pets will now heal you every time they attack. If this isn’t enough, then there is that adv I mention with Shadow Blast, Back to the Darkness. When you use Shadow Blast with this adv and there is a few shadow pets next to the target, it will rupture the Shadow pets and heal you a good amount of health. The heal is almost as good as Resurgence, which leads me to the next power...

Level 35 - Resurgence - You would think that with all these powers that prevented you from dying that you would be given this power. Even if you didn’t rank this power, it will give you an insane amount of heal.

Level 40 - Dark Pact - This is a reskinned Redemption. A staple to any healer set, you use this power to revive your fallen ally (allies if you take the adv).

Build
Here is a build I use, but you could build it anyway you wanted. I took Sentinel Mastery over Presence Mastery simply because how powerful this mastery is in a cosmic fight. With this mastery, you use a certain crowd control power on the target and any ally attacking said target will get heal in return. The first build use Grasping Shadows
as a debuffer and a party heal for you raid group, but you can replace Vulnerability and Wither for a different specialization. The second build allows a bit more survivability by using Summon Shadows as another source of personal heal, whether you let them live and have them siphon HP for you with each attack, or you consume them as a second Resurgence.
The Tenebrous AT : Build 1 - The Tenebrous (Support)
v3.42:34

Super Stats
Level 6: Presence (Primary)
Level 10: Recovery (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: The Tenebrous (Con: 8, Ego: 10, Pre: 10, Rec: 10)
Level 7: Agile (Dex: 8)
Level 12: Finesse (Dex: 5, Pre: 5)
Level 15: Intimidating (Pre: 8)
Level 20: Impresario (Dex: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 25: Lasting Impression (Pre: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 30: Tireless (Rec: 8)

Powers
Level 1: Shadow Bolt
Level 1: Shadow Blast (Psychotic Break)
Level 6: Shadow Embrace (Draining Shadows)
Level 8: Harbinger (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Lifedrain (Rank 2, Vampiric Sympathy)
Level 14: Fear Consumption
Level 17: Soul Vortex (Soul Drain, Fear Machine)
Level 21: Ebon Void (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 25: Spirit Reverberation
Level 30: Grasping Shadows (Consumption)
Level 35: Resurgence
Level 40: Dark Pact (Rank 2, More Souls!)
Adv. Points: 26/36

Travel Powers
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations
Presence: Repurpose (3/3)
Presence: Selfless Ally (2/2)
Presence: Grandeur (3/3)
Presence: Vulnerability (2/2)
Sentry: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Sentry: Precise (3/3)
Sentry: Sentry Aura (3/3)
Sentry: Fortify (1/2)
Sentinel: Caregiver (3/3)
Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
Sentinel: Wither (2/2)
Sentinel: Genesis (2/2)
Mastery: Sentinel Mastery (1/1)
The Tenebrous AT : Build 2 - The Tenebrous (Support)
v3.42:34

Super Stats
Level 6: Presence (Primary)
Level 10: Recovery (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: The Tenebrous (Con: 8, Ego: 10, Pre: 10, Rec: 10)
Level 7: Agile (Dex: 8)
Level 12: Finesse (Dex: 5, Pre: 5)
Level 15: Intimidating (Pre: 8)
Level 20: Impresario (Dex: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 25: Lasting Impression (Pre: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 30: Tireless (Rec: 8)

Powers
Level 1: Shadow Bolt
Level 1: Shadow Blast (Psychotic Break, Back to Darkness)
Level 6: Shadow Embrace (Draining Shadows)
Level 8: Harbinger (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Lifedrain (Rank 2, Vampiric Sympathy)
Level 14: Fear Consumption
Level 17: Soul Vortex (Soul Drain, Fear Machine)
Level 21: Ebon Void (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 25: Spirit Reverberation
Level 30: Summon Shadows (Rank 2, Devouring Darkness)
Level 35: Resurgence
Level 40: Dark Pact (Rank 2, More Souls!)
Adv. Points: 30/36

Travel Powers
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations
Presence: Repurpose (3/3)
Presence: Selfless Ally (2/2)
Presence: Grandeur (3/3)
Presence: Force of Will (2/2)
Sentry: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Sentry: Precise (3/3)
Sentry: Sentry Aura (3/3)
Sentry: Fortify (1/2)
Sentinel: Eternal Spring (2/2)
Sentinel: Caregiver (3/3)
Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
Sentinel: Genesis (2/2)
Mastery: Sentinel Mastery (1/1)

Healing Rotation
Cosmic Raid - For the most part, you’re simply going to Life Drain like no tomorrow. You just hold down that power button, jump around your allies, and you’re set. Use Soul Vortex on Cooldown or use Ebon Rift after a giant AoE attack from a cosmic. If the raid is losing more health then they should have, use Shadow Blast or Grasping Shadow to trigger the Sentinel Mastery, if you took that spec.

Here is an example of my Tenebrous AT usage in the Kigatilik Fight.
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Teleios Ascendant - For most of the fight, you're just Life Draining all the fight. You should be on the back of the Boss or at least, very close to the Tank so they can get your Life Drain. Get conformable and know the healing range of Life Drain so you can make the final boss room much easier. Use Soul Vortex on cooldown. If you can squeeze in Grasping Shadow, by all means. Most likely, you might be using a Fully Charge Shadow Blast instead of Grasping Shadow to trigger the Sentinel Mastery since the charging time for the Blast is faster. In my opinion, Gravitar is going to be the hardest room since you can't heal your tank at all if Gravitar send your tank flying to the ceiling, away from your Life Drain range. You should carry a Triumphant Recovery or a Phoenix Tear to self revive yourself if you happen to die in the lair. At the final boss room, you can alternate between a Fully Charge Shadow Blast and Life Drain to heal the poison carrier. If you’re carrying the poison, keep in mind that you have access to Resurgence and/or Summon Shadow to help deal with your own poison damage if Life Drain isn’t enough.

Gears and Mods
Because I'm cheap, I use the blue primary gears drop from the equipment box and bought the purple secondary gear on the side.
hbdFjoE.jpg

Regardless I would recommend the following if you're just starting out. Do note that the Secondary can be obtain from the Equipment box loot or the Champion Recognition Vendor:
Primary
  • Blue Tier/Fortuitous/Remarkable/Mercenary's Glove of Healing – x2 Presence 5 Enhancement/x1 Sentinel Brooch 5
  • Blue Tier/Fortuitous/Remarkable/Mercenary Breastplate of Greater Health – x2 Presence 5 Armoring/x1 Growth 5
  • Blue Tier/Fortuitous/Remarkable/Mercenary's Helmet of Efficiency – x1 Presence 5 Enhancement/x1 Presence 5 Armoring/x1 Gambler's Lucky Gem 5

Secondary
  • Transcendental Belt
  • Domineering Bracers
  • Friendly Eyepiece or Commanding Eyepiece

Comments

  • dohamiltondohamilton Posts: 7 Arc User
    My FF has been using Shadow Embrace, Life Drain, Ebon Void, and Spirit Reverberation for years; I'm really looking forward to trying out this new AT and wanted to add to the discussion.

    Shadow Blast: Full charge or go home.
    *Psychotic Break should be nice if you get in the habit of starting your rotation with two full charged SBs before going to Life Drain. I'm not sure if I can get blasts off fast enough to stack bleed without giving baddies CC immunity, but I'm gonna try.
    *Devoid 18% resistance debuff to everything you can throw? Shut up and take my advantage points!
    *Back to the Darkness is an interesting effect, but it seems counterproductive. Your summoned Shadows do their best work when all three are focusing on one guy, which is also a situation where the single-target fear from a full charged SB would be more efficient than leaning on Shadow Embrace and hoping for a good proc roll before laying on the Life Drain again. BttD would crash your DPS for a heal that you could have gotten by hitting Resurgence.

    Shadow Embrace: The greatest night in the history of Darkness was when they added a life drain advantage to this gem. Before, you had to choose between healing from Life Drain OR (with Dark Displacement) AOE CC from this. Now I can trip whole crowds while slurping up those shiny green numbers. Huge fan. But this AT has a number of other CC powers, so the knockdown advantage isn't as critical.

    Life Drain: Shadow Blast's advantages are tied up with amazing procs, so this has gotta be our single target money maker. Rank 3 would be nice, but few teams appreciate a healer with only self-heals, so R2 and Vampiric it is. LD has pretty good range, but sometimes you have to dance to keep the tank topped off while staying out of the way. You also need to keep rotating in fear effects, because LD sure doesn't.

    Ebon Void: First I gotta pour out a Mountain Dew for the 1pt./10 stack Voracious Darkness. I have found it hard to tell exactly how effective the 3 pt./5 stack version is, but I want to believe! Even without VD, EV provides a little trickle of healing while you turtle, something I miss when I'm using an AT that doesn't have it.

    Spirit Reverberation: Once you get this unlocked, you can just press the Shadow Embrace button and go get a beer. Your blue bar will still be there when you get back. Shadow Blast? Full charges all day. Life Drain? Not alone.

    Summon Shadows: They're small, subtle, and adorable. And dumb. While solo, you can use them as practice for PUG healing: chase after them as they scurry in madness while using fear and Life Drains to keep them alive until they despawn. Are they better than Grasping Shadows? I don't know. I do know the summons don't hold up in the QWZ very well. Looking forward to more testing.
  • kallethenkallethen Posts: 1,576 Arc User
    The Witch AT is actually another one that does it's healing all indirectly like this new AT. It takes a little bit of an adjustment if you are used to the more traditional healing builds with direct powers. From what I've experienced so far, it can work well for the Witch AT and I expect it to work well here too. Healing friends while hurting foes is like a win-win.​​
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  • avianosavianos Posts: 6,021 Arc User
    You are doing amazing job with those Reports, keep it up :+1:​​
    POWERFRAME REVAMPS, NEW POWERS and BUG FIXES > Recycled Content and Events and even costumes at this point Introvert guy who use CO to make his characters playable and get experimental with Viable FF Theme builds! Running out of Unique FF builds due to the lack of updates and synergiesPlaying since 1 February 2011 98+ Characters (7 ATs, 91 FFs) ALTitis for Life!
  • brfabeirasbrfabeiras Posts: 182 Arc User
    Nice report, got me hyped to try this life drain healing stuff :p
    That said, I made a Freeform approach:

    Harbinger Healer - Freeform (Support)
    v3.42:34

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

    Talents
    Level 1: The Witch (Con: 10, Int: 8, Pre: 10, Rec: 10)
    Level 6: Shrug It Off (Con: 5, Pre: 5)
    Level 9: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
    Level 12: Lasting Impression (Pre: 5, Rec: 5)
    Level 15: Survival Training (Dex: 3, Con: 3, Pre: 3, Rec: 2, End: 2)
    Level 18: Diplomatic (Int: 5, Pre: 5)
    Level 21: Healthy Mind (Con: 5, Int: 5)

    Powers
    Level 1: Shadow Bolt
    Level 1: Fear Consumption
    Level 6: Spirit Reverberation
    Level 8: Ebon Void (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 11: Harbinger (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 14: Soul Vortex (Soul Drain, Fear Machine)
    Level 17: Summon Shadows (Rank 2, Devouring Darkness)
    Level 20: Lifedrain (Rank 2, Vampiric Sympathy)
    Level 23: Shadow Embrace (Rank 2, Draining Shadows)
    Level 26: Dark Pact (Rank 2, More Souls!)
    Level 29: Grasping Shadows (Unyielding Agony, Consumption)
    Level 32: Ascension
    Level 35: Resurgence (Rank 2)
    Level 38: Fiery Embrace
    Adv. Points: 36/36

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

    Specializations
    Presence: Repurpose (3/3)
    Presence: Selfless Ally (2/2)
    Presence: Grandeur (3/3)
    Presence: Force of Will (2/2)
    Sentry: Fortified Gear (3/3)
    Sentry: Precise (3/3)
    Sentry: Sentry Aura (3/3)
    Sentry: Fortify (1/2)
    Sentinel: Eternal Spring (2/2)
    Sentinel: Caregiver (3/3)
    Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
    Sentinel: Moment of Need (2/3)
    Mastery: Sentinel Mastery (1/1)

    I'm not an experienced healer, any tips build-wise? Am I missing any staple power/spec for this build?
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,740 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    brfabeiras wrote: »
    (...) I'm not an experienced healer, any tips build-wise? Am I missing any staple power/spec for this build?
    You can prob do fine w/o R1 Ascension, if you wanted to free up a power slot. Shadow Blast can still be nice to have for a basic nuke and reliable Fear apply when charged (and, as mentioned in the guide, its various advs can provide diff added benefits). You could also consider getting a normal long-ranged ally heal, in case you can't target something or be nearby an ally to heal them w/ LD, but that decision may come down to play-style. You can prob drop the AU adv on Grasping Shadows and/or R2 on Summon Shadows or Resurgence if you want to free up some adv points, regardless. You may also want to get Vuln and Wither in the spec trees, though that will depend on you using Grasping Shadows (which you'd already use to proc Sentinel Mastery).
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
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  • brfabeirasbrfabeiras Posts: 182 Arc User
    Thanks for the help, flowcyto, I'll test your suggestions :)
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