Switching Roles while Learning

rajakaji

I seem to be in a limbo between L40 and Endgame. Open World missions and Daily Alerts are mind numbingly easy, but I'm not strong enough/don't know enough to contribute anything meaningful to cosmics, lairs, or even the borked special alerts they threw in to keep people from finishing Vigilance. Anyway, enough life/sob story, sorry, to the point.

I have a Might/Earth Tank I want to retcon as a DPS until I'm confident enough to wear a shield on my portrait with all the expectations and resposibilities that come with it. Sorry for not using aesica. Can't get it to work on my phone. It keeps refreshing and losing all my entries.

Main attacks are Demolish R2 + Below the Belt, and Cleave R2 + the Defiance stacker. I had planned on using Demolish as my main attack and just use Cleave to build Defiance at the start, but I seem to do more damage just using Demolish to set up the Debuff and then switching to Cleave, even with only R2, so I'll probably max that out. I also switched to Warden Mastery when it became my main attack. I'm trying to avoid Knockback cause it disrupts formations even though Haymaker and Roomsweeper are more raw DPS.

I also use Tremor when I need range, and Quicksand to draw people into Melee.

Enrage and Pylverize seem to synergize well since both sets have knocks though it doesn't do as much for Tremor. Quicksand is really just a utility AoE pull.

Everything else is up in the air. Particularly I'm trying to settle on a passive that will boost Crushing damage for both sets, and so far Unstoppable and Earth Form both seem a little underwhelming.

A little on gameplay. I'm doing Kiga and Quijibo to try and learn the mechanics and improve my reaction time between reading tells and blocking. Staying away from Dino cause I know you mess up the fight if DPS isn't up to par. I've got all the tokens, gotten pretty good with the Rampages, at least as a DPS, but lacking the GCR to upgrade to the next Gear Tier. Also mostly using Con/Def/HP Mods, I'm guessing I should swap them out for Str and Crit.

flowcyto

Cleave, as w/ most basic combos, isn't very good dps. I'd prob skip on making it a core dmg attack. You can always use non-KB knocks like Arc of Ruin w/ adv, Beatdown, Tremor, Demolish, or Brimstone on trash to build up knock immunity before using KB attacks like Annihilate, Roomsweeper, or Haymaker. I may also pass on Quicksand, mostly cause it doesn't knock for Enrage or Pulv, and you could get something like Havoc Stomp or Shockwave w/ advs to group up mobs and still work w/ Enrage.

I'm not sure of all the attacks that you want, but here's an example dps build using Might w/ some Earth:

(Unnamed Build) - Freeform (Melee Damage)
v3.44:36

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

Talents
Level 1: The Devastator (Str: 10, Con: 10, Rec: 10, End: 8)
Level 6: Paramilitary Training (Str: 3, Con: 3, Rec: 3, End: 3)
Level 9: Relentless (Str: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 12: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 15: Amazing Stamina (Rec: 5, End: 5)
Level 18: Bodybuilder (Str: 5, End: 5)
Level 21: Physical Conditioning (Str: 5, Con: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Wield Earth
Level 1: Beatdown (Blindside Blow, Reckless Endangerment)
Level 6: Enrage
Level 8: Pulverizer
Level 11: Night Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Demolish (Below the Belt)
Level 17: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 20: Havoc Stomp (Rank 2, Major Impact)
Level 23: Haymaker (Rank 2, Reckless Strikes)
Level 26: Endorphin Rush (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Tremor (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Stone Shroud (Rank 2)
Level 35:
Level 38:
Adv. Points: 30/36

Travel Powers
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations
Strength: Swole (2/3)
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (1/3)
Strength: Overpower (2/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Upper Hand (2/3)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (2/3)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

The last 2 powers can be w/e ya want. Melee-Earth is in a bad spot atm, so I generally avoided including those sort of attacks. Earth can still provide ranged knocking AoE in Tremor and some utility like the block enhancer, though. The slotted passive is fine being Unstoppable, WotW, Stormbringer, or Earth Form, but Night Warrior is also good w/ charged attacks like Haymaker (and you don't have to slot/use the Sneak-related stuff if it's not fitting enough).

For single-target dps, you can initially use Demolish to put up its debuff, and then alternate between 1x combo of Beatdown and 3x charged Haymaker from there on (w/ Beatdown managing buffs/debuffs). AoE can be done w/ a mix of Havoc Stomp (wide pbAoE pull-in), Tremor, and/or Beatdown's cleave. Gears mostly for Str, w/ some Con and Rec.

I may build it a bit differently for a Tank version, aside from the usual stuff like Challenge advs, spec tweaks, and a defensive passive (and a Con focus). Maybe use Defense Combo and R3 Haymaker instead of Beatdown, but there's many diff options there that could work too.

rajakaji

Thanks. I hadn't thought of Havok Stomp and Shockwave. I didn't know if they had knock to advantages. I'm running a behemoth alt to familiarize myself with the set a little more but I haven't got there yet, I'll probably try both in the powerhouse. Do you happen to know which one looks like Ground Pound I think it's called on Thing in MUA2? Probably Shockwave.

And yeah, Night Warrior does give a flat bonus to all damage. I missed the Charge Speed Boost though cause it hasn't been relevant. I'm not a big fan of blasts and my other character that has it does mostly ranged maintains.

I'll give Haymaker a go since most targets I'd use it in are immune anyway now that I think of it, and if not I can build knock resistance with ups and downs like you suggested.

flowcyto

I'll probably try both in the powerhouse. Do you happen to know which one looks like Ground Pound I think it's called on Thing in MUA2? Probably Shockwave.

Yea that sounds like Shockwave, but you can always see for yourself when you test stuff out in the PH_PTS. If taking SW, then you'll want its Power Shift adv to knock things into you.

Regardless, hope you you like the build (or whichever variant you end up using).

rajakaji

Just to make sure, I don't see Reckless Endangerment on Defensive Combo (though it's possible the guides I'm reading are outdated since might recently got a pass), so when I respec for Tanking and switch Beatdown to DC I should also switch Haymaker to R3 instead of Reckless Strikes?

Also, I'm debating between Self Rez (probably Aurora fits theme best), Earthquake, and Landslide between the 2 free slots. Any thoughts on highest priorities?

flowcyto

Yea, as I said you'd prob take R3 Haymaker then, unless you stuck in another source of Reckless somewhere.

As for the other powers for the dps version of the build- the Ult can be nice overall. Whether you get mileage out of the lunge and/or the self-res power kinda just depends on your own experiences (a good travel power can effectively replace a lunge in PvE, and there are consumables that can self-res you).

rajakaji

Athletics and Earth Flight are what I'm running on now. If there was a third slot or an equivilent device I would have thrown Tunneling in for theme but I decided Athl was more functional. And that's probably fast enough to drop Landslide.

In case it becomes an issue with the long cooldown, is there anyplace to get Triumphant Return or such besides z store and level reward pack? Or do consumables share cooldown with self rez powers in which case it would be a moot point anyway?

flowcyto

The self-res power is okay to get if you're still learning the ropes and want the extra assurance. Maybe train it as the last power/adv (so re-training out of it is cheaper), and once you get more experience and you're dying less you can replace it w/ consumables later and get a diff power. Afaik, the self-res powers don't share a cd w/ the consumables, though the consumables aren't affected by cd reduction either, unlike the powers (hopefully you shouldn't be needing a self-res that often to have to get both types, though).

rajakaji

After testing in PH I decided to drop Tremor because it and Shockwave are both 50' AoEs and Shockwave offers more utility with Knock To and seems to have more area. And that gave me another free slot for Landslide.

I stuck Aurora, Beatdown, Reckless Strike, and an Offensive Passive towards the end so I can RetCon them more painlessly later, as you suggested.

I've been lagging a lot lately so I'm having some trouble getting in a full combo of Beatdown and a few Haymakers while both buffs are still active. Hopefully that's not a permanent situation.

I thought it might have been a typo, but I noticed on some other Earth builds you put Stone Shroud at R2 instead of R3. Is it bugging at R3 or something or was it just conserving points?

Also I'm still curious if there's other sources of Self Rez consumables besides Zen.

flowcyto

I thought it might have been a typo, but I noticed on some other Earth builds you put Stone Shroud at R2 instead of R3. Is it bugging at R3 or something or was it just conserving points?

Yea, just conserving points. You can get it to R3 if you want.

I think there's also a res device that uses GCR tokens. I'm unsure what else there is aside from that and Recovery packs (which could also be in the AH), though.

jaazaniah1

flowcyto wrote: »

I think there's also a res device that uses GCR tokens.

It's called Phoenix Tear from the gcr/scr vendor. It's an involved and costly process to get one.

flowcyto

Yea I see now its 750 tokens just to get it. Sheesh.

jaazaniah1

You also need to acquire 1000 each of GCR, SCR and Until tokens to satisfy the Modern Age perk.

rajakaji

750 Gold? Along with the Perk, that's probably something to look into when I've run out of things to spend GCR on, if that ever happens. Definitely Justice first.