Ego Knight - help at low levels

tinyactivist

I'm leveling in a dedicated duo alongside a friend who is, by concept, playing straight Fire DPS. I miiiiiight be able to talk him into Support Drones, but for the most part, I need to be responsible for my own survivability and his by way of a tanking spec. My limitation here, though, is that the character's psychic, and needs some ego weaponry involved.

So, here's what I'm thinking, for our current level. Thoughts? Good idea? Bad idea? Where to go from here, at 17 and such? Have a little while to tinker with the retcon before we meet back up.

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Void
Level 6: Shooter
Level 9: Acrobat
Level 12: Ascetic
Level 15: Impresario
Level 18:
Level 21:

Powers:
Level 1: Ego Blade
Level 1: Ego Weaponry (Rank 2, Siphoning Strikes)
Level 6: Ego Blade Frenzy (Challenging Strikes)
Level 8: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2)
Level 11: Form of the Master
Level 14: Parry (The Elusive Monk)
Level 17:
Level 20:
Level 23:
Level 26:
Level 29:
Level 32:
Level 35:
Level 38:

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Flight
Level 35:

Specializations:
Dexterity: Combat Training (3/3)
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (2/3)
Dexterity: Quick Reflexes (2/3)

sagewithbubbles

tinyactivist wrote: »

I'm leveling in a dedicated duo alongside a friend who is, by concept, playing straight Fire DPS. I miiiiiight be able to talk him into Support Drones, but for the most part, I need to be responsible for my own survivability and his by way of a tanking spec. My limitation here, though, is that the character's psychic, and needs some ego weaponry involved.

So, here's what I'm thinking, for our current level. Thoughts? Good idea? Bad idea? Where to go from here, at 17 and such? Have a little while to tinker with the retcon before we meet back up.

How sold are you on Lightning Reflexes? Because Invuln's quite a bit easier to work with, and at higher levels, you can get dodge gear to stack dodge/avoid on top of Invuln's already impressive defenses.

Here's my suggestions, based on you trying to be both tank and healer.

http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.html?v=5&n=&d=1237TIGPKNW4111E100E209E50J9B03A600F503K8087G007B03IF0KEI04DL00EK0500000mTP0aGG43CM

Pop Bionic on your friend, then lunge in, hit Thunderclap and go to town with Ego Blade Frenzy. Use Ego Blade Annihilation on big targets after you get 5 Ego Leech stacks, then swap to Ego Weaponry if the adds are dead and the big guy's still alive.

Rec minor plus the lunge/thunderclap proccing MSA will do pretty well for energy.

You'll continually heal him (Sentinel Aura), and any time he hits a target you used Thunderclap on, he'll heal (Sentinel Mastery).

ayonachan

Lightning Reflexes.
Lightning Reflexes alone is the most user-friendly defense passive to use at lower levels. All other defense passives excel either at trash mobs or boss attacks(that you won't see until you reach level 40) with very minor differences that one would notice while leveling up. Once you reach level 40 then you have the headache that is determining your 'build' that you will use for the rest of your days.

Parry with Elusive Monk.
In all honesty Energy Shield with Laser Knight would be much more beneficial to you. As it stands Elusive Monk is lack-luster and only beats Laser Knight because it lacks any wonky animation or special effects.

Ego Blade Frenzy.
From my personal experience there has never been a time where this was useful. Honestly the only place where mobs stack up to where the cone can cover them all is the power house training room dummies or bosses who don't move. Also, if I remember correctly, it roots the user in place making it significantly worthless for ranged-mob types who move backwards whenever their target moves towards them.

Form of the Master.
If I was you I'd go with either Form of the Tempest or Mental Discipline. Mental Discipline has a 'free' advantage that turns your single Ego Blade into Dual Ego Blades(your character holds one in each hand). Mental Discipline is also the only remaining form that applies the damage buff after all damage bonuses have been added...think of it as if each of your attacks now produce a 'mini' critical with up to 18% "Critical Severity" onto every attack and your Critical attacks gain up to 18% more critical Severity. Oh and it also raises your critical chance based on what rank and how many stacks of ego leech you have for a bonus of up to 10%.

Easiest way to determine the difference between >Any 'main damage' Form< and Mental discipline is that if:

No Passive Damage Bonuses(This means no SS and no Stars, nothing short of the stuff that you can't get away from)
Control: 105
Mental Discipline 18%: 124
Form of the 2.8%(8-Stacked): 153

Id Mastery at 42% Bonus Damage with no other passive value (Still no bonuses other than the one that you can't get away from)
Control: 151
Mental discipline 18%: 178
Form of the 2.8%(8-Stacked):174

Hybrid Role(36%+24%+24%) & Id Mastery(107%) No Stars or Offense.
Control: 287
Mental Discipline 18%: 339
Form of the 13%(8-Stacked): 351

Hybrid Role(35%+26%+26%) & Id Mastery(109%) 12 Offense(3.5%) Non-Physical Damage Boost(25%) No Stars
Control: 310
Mental Discipline 18%: 366
Form of the 12%(8-Stacked): 364

Edit: Oh and the power used for the crap above was a rank 1 ego weaponry with no points in anything.
That is about all I have for now.

tinyactivist

My thought with Form of the Master was that, soon, I'm gonna need to be looking at Storm's Eye Prana and Bountiful Chi Resurgence. Ego Blade Frenzy I don't really *like*, but it's there as a way to apply Challenging Strikes since Ego Weaponry can't. Laser Knight and Energy Shield ... that's a neat idea. I think I'll try switching to that and Mental Discipline.