Martial Arts after Alert - passive & stat choices?

ulyana13gru

Hey all. I used to run martial art builds back when they were decent in PvP and I mainly ran with dex/int quarry builds.

Now I am very unsure of what to build for. Is quarry still useful with Dex/int for MA? The energy regen was immense with MSA. WoTW sure has more damage now but what about the energy and scaling?

And with these new mastery things, is strength worth it now? Help is immensly appreciated as far as these things go, like making a solid base for a MA toon.

Regards,

holloweaver

Have a look here.

sagewithbubbles

ulyana13gru wrote: »

Hey all. I used to run martial art builds back when they were decent in PvP and I mainly ran with dex/int quarry builds.

Now I am very unsure of what to build for. Is quarry still useful with Dex/int for MA? The energy regen was immense with MSA. WoTW sure has more damage now but what about the energy and scaling?

And with these new mastery things, is strength worth it now? Help is immensly appreciated as far as these things go, like making a solid base for a MA toon.

Regards,

You get three superstats now instead of two (One Primary and two Secondary).

Dex/Int with Quarry still works pretty well, though you could also use it with Way of the Warrior or Night Warrior (new passive, has less of a damage bonus but gives charge speed increase, resistance penetration and a powerful Shadow Strike you can use from Stealth).

What role do you want to fulfill with the character?

If you want to go with a survivable melee attacker, my first thought would be something like this:

http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.html?v=6&n=Punchy%20McFightanMagic&d=1243a9ABGME4000D100D507DE00DA03A6007G00DK04DN03J503DI04DL00EI05D20466030mZg2LQo3VEw

MSA will proc off of BCR, Conviction, Evasive Maneuvers, Thunderbolt Lunge and Rising Knee, and any crits will proc Form of the Tempest's energy return. Dragon Uppercut can proc Rush, for even more energy.

One Hundred Hands will be your basic attack (it's an AoE that also does respectable single-target damage), with Dragon Uppercut for harder-hitting spike. Rising Knee applies a nice damage resistance debuff on the enemy (use it before Dragon Uppercut).

On defense, Thundering Kicks and Evasive Maneuvers both give flat dodge bonuses (meaning they don't get eaten by diminishing returns as badly as "rating" increases), and you've got Conviction and BCR for healing. I'd suggest using Conviction as your "maintenance" heal, and only pop BCR if you start to drop below about 60%, since BCR imposes a damage penalty on you for its duration. BCR combines nicely with Masterful Dodge as a panic button. You've also got Con as a secondary, which will help a bit there.

On offense, One Hundred Hands will shred most henchmen, and Dragon Uppercut hits pretty damned hard on single target. Ego Surge with the Nimble Mind advantage will drastically boost your crit rate while it's active.

Things you may want to change:

If you don't want to keep up two defensive buffs, swap out Thundering Kicks for Inexorable Tides (nice fast AoE knockup). If you want another heal, Resurgence or Bionic Shielding could work, though keep in mind that Resurgence and Masterful Dodge will impose the Active Defense cooldown on each other.

If Ego Surge's graphics bug you, you could try Aggressor (from Might), Intensity (from Martial Arts), Lock n Load (from Munitions) or Ice Sheath (from Ice). I tend to like Ego Surge better than any of them though.

If you really, really hate the graphic on One Hundred Hands (I know a few people that do), you may want to pick up Inexorable Tides early on, then grab Dragon Kick and Burning Chi Fist instead of Dragon Uppercut. It's more expensive, power-choice-wise, but it could work.

If you want another stun and cooldown, try to work in Thunderclap (from Might). It's graphically-subtle enough that it could work as a Martial Arts technique, and it's a fast-recharging AoE stun in melee range.

For gear, Nemesis Heirlooms are the best for leveling. Take them off at 40, and grab purple-rarity Primary Offense/Defense/Utility gear from the Silver Champion Recognition you'll get from Unity Dailies. You can also pick up purple secondaries for cheap on the AH.

Your first purchase with your Silver Champion Recognition should be an Avoidance Primary Defense, which you'll then slot with a Gambler's Lucky Gem. Your second purchase should be a Cooldown reduction/Cost reduction Primary Utility.

Also, apologies in advance for the formatting on the link Holloweaver provided. The migration to these forums broke the tags, and I've been too lazy/busy/annoyed by it to fix them. I should get around to that one of these days.

forrksakesexco

Your first purchase with your Silver Champion Recognition should be an Avoidance Primary Defense, which you'll then slot with a Gambler's Lucky Gem. Your second purchase should be a Cooldown reduction/Cost reduction Primary Utility.

Heroic Breastplate of Elusiveness - gives +139 Avoidance

Heroic helmet of
Speed +186 cooldown reduction +93 cost discount
Efficiency +93 cooldown reduction +186 cost discount
Energy +14 maximum energy +93 cooldown reduction +93 cost discount
Topography +139 minimap radius +93 cooldown reduction +93 cost discount
Utility +139 cooldown reduction +139 cost discount
All have 1 x armor, 1 x enhancement, 1 x core slots

Heroic Gloves of Precision - gives +95 Critical Strike

There are some other types of Gloves and Breastplates but... they are seldom used

gamblers lucky gems and other cores