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WotW vs LR for Unarmed

merlinmonroemerlinmonroe Posts: 40 Arc User
edited June 2014 in Power Discussion
I want to PVE and mostly solo, with some alerts.

I'm mostly looking for a surviveable character.

I've used LR for a while and found it to be very surviveable. I've always played it as a hybrid, because I don't like tanking.

I just tried a low level toon with WotW. It definitely does more damage. It is pretty surviveable. I think it is a little less surviveable than LR.

Does anyone have a preference? I'm guessing that WotW would be better, because fights would be over quicker and it would be better for alerts and other group situations.
Post edited by merlinmonroe on

Comments

  • ajanusajanus Posts: 501 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    The thing with dodge is you either stat/gear/ability for it completely, or you don't...

    WotW kinda gets around it because it gives a decent defensive boost while being an offensive passive, meaning you intend on taking damage sometimes...but usually at "just the right time" you will dodge a crucial ability...that's really all you can ask from WotW.

    I prefer WotW due to not wanting to completely dedicate a build to dodge. I like hitting hard, especially if I'm melee. I would much rather take my chances as dps, even moreso while leveling...you just kill things so much faster.

    Furthermore, I prefer to take Con as a secondary superstat a lot more now...since it is amazing, that I usually don't need the "extra" defense that LR would provide, WotW gives enough to make the fights quick, and me take a bit less damage, almost to the point that a defensive passive would just be unnecessary to level with. You could probably substitute any offensive passive for WotW for context here.


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  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,852 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    They are both very good passives, but somewhat suit different purposes or play-styles.

    WotW is one of the most versatile offensive passives. Although it is better when built around dodge, even just nabbing BCR/RR and MD can be 'enough' for it on non-tanky toons that don't plan on taking too many heavy hits or for too often.

    LR is decent as is for a defensive passive, and it can somewhat easily become the most broken one when combined w/ enough dodge-increasing abilities- but that will restrict ur power selection a bit and require some extra maintenance.

    Taking LR and giving up an offensive passives and the dps role will be a very considerable hit to your dps, though. Again, the two passive are somewhat aimed at different playing prefs- which one you like kinda just depends on ur tolerance for risk and/or how patient you are.
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  • morigosamorigosa Posts: 710 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Way of the Warrior is, of the offensive passives, one of the strongest defensive options available - I think only Quarry is competitive, and I can't think of a way to make quarry mesh well with melee attacks.

    However, it's not on its own enough that you can just do what you like - especially in alerts, if you're relying on just Way of the Warrior to keep you alive, you're going to faceplant quite a bit. It needs to be paired up with additional defensive boosts (gearing for some amount of dodge / avoidance, picking up a good self-heal, taking and ranking up a block, or preferably all of the above).

    If your goal is high survivability - something that can solo alerts and lairs without ridiculous top-end gear - you're going to need a defensive passive. LR works just fine, but for a super-durable melee, I'd actually recommend defiance; it scales with con, which works really well with strength as your primary super stat, specced into con granting extra defense, and then a wardicator offence-defense feedback loop. (And con as a secondary super stat, of course.)
    Invulnerability or LR or regeneration work too, but defiance has the very nice advantage of also giving you a strong energy return.

    (As an aside: My heavy weapons character, with melee role and Night Warrior - which is a bit weaker defensively than Way of the Warrior - was able to start soloing alerts around level 32-ish, using a combination of conviction, ascension, masterful dodge, and ebon void - MD I left unranked, but the rest I maxed. Edit: and this was with int as a superstat; I can't cycle directly from MD to ascension and back, but they come up fast enough to ride through the gaps with just conviction and sometimes blocking. Unfortunately, she just folds over and dies if I try to take her through any of the level 35+ lairs - so if you're okay with needing a group for those, go for WotW over a defensive passive.)

    Also note that you can, if you've got the powers to spare, pick up both an offensive passive and a defensive passive, and swap between them as needed. Defiance works particularly well for this purpose, since you don't need to rank it up.

    Ajanus: I disagree on going completely for dodge or not at all. I've run the math, and even now, I get a better time-to-live by adding a bit of dodge to an otherwise dodge-free character than I get out of going pure defense. It doesn't help effective health, of course, so you don't want to rely on it against burst damage, but having, say, 30% dodge chance and 40% avoidance is still, on average, reducing damage by 12%. Over a long fight - soloing a lair boss, for example - that adds up.
  • monsterdaddymonsterdaddy Posts: 795 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    When I use WotW I prefer to gear and spec for high defense especially with Laser Knight as I find it more important to have non random damage mitigation. I find its enough to tank Gravitar in melee role.

    For LR I find myself gearing for defense w/LK also unless I want to reach 100% dodge. Its too risky to gear for all dodge but not reach 100% as one undodged hit could be devastating, i.e. Frosticus
  • merlinmonroemerlinmonroe Posts: 40 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Thanks everyone for your replies.
    It appears that the consensus is that WotW is better in general.

    What is the best self heal for WotW? For LR, it is definitely BCR/RR. Is that true of WotW? Are other heals better, or is BCR better with a rank 3?
  • monsterdaddymonsterdaddy Posts: 795 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I find that with Rush I can afford to use the more energy intensive Conviction to avoid the damage debuff of BCR. That build also happens to be a high crit/sev DEX/CON/INT with MSA so Conviction helps proc MSA and Ego Surge helps with crit heals.

    If the above elements are not present to make the case for Conviction then there's nothing wrong with BCR which is a fine low energy heal.
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,852 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    BCR/RR is still what I'd get as a main heal w/ WotW. Rank 3 WotW and one dodge gem alone can get ya close to 40% dodge at lvl 40- that's a good rate for the Reiki adv.

    Reiki's proc is the same amount as the tick at rank2, sooo.. using some sample #s (129 = r2_RR amount, 155 = r3):

    129 + 129x = 155
    x = 0.202 (ie, same as the diff in one rank)

    In order to get same ~total healing from rank3 vs. rank2+RR, you'd need at least 1/5th an RR proc every tick interval (ie. 2 sec).. or one dodge every 10 sec on average. If something hits every 2 sec (say a slower boss) that would mean a ~20% avg dodge rate. If getting attacked every 0.5 sec (0.5 sec is the ICD for for RR procs) that'd only require a ~5% dodge rate (base is 10%) to even RR+rank2 w/ rank3.

    IOW, although it depends on the frequency of (dodge-able) attacks inc, its likely that RR+rank2 is better for total healing than rank3. A 'safe' cutoff in most cases would prob be at about 20-25% dodge, imo. Do note that rank3 will do more healing when not getting hit at all, however, and I'm not really counting the initial application of BCR giving 2 ticks w/in a sec.. which slightly favors rank3's numbers in total.
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  • aiqaaiqa Posts: 2,620 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Thanks everyone for your replies.
    It appears that the consensus is that WotW is better in general.

    I would not say that. It completely depends on what kind of build you want to play.
    What is the best self heal for WotW? For LR, it is definitely BCR/RR. Is that true of WotW? Are other heals better, or is BCR better with a rank 3?

    Conviction heals more, but requires a little bit more paying attention. With the 10% damage debuff on BCR I would only take BCR for builds that dodge pretty much every hit, and even then not on dps builds.
  • monsterdaddymonsterdaddy Posts: 795 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    It appears that the consensus is that WotW is better in general.
    Oh, I missed this comment. I don't think anyone was trying to tell you one was better than the other. It's really apples to oranges since it is Melee vs Tank role.

    You can tank Gravitar on WotW but not Frosticus. You'll die in 2 seconds on a Mega Destroid Terminator with WotW but you can survive the eyebeams with a 100% Dodge LR tank. It all depends on what you want to do with your hero.
  • merlinmonroemerlinmonroe Posts: 40 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Thanks everyone. I have considered tanking with LR.

    I tried tanking on WoW several years ago. I failed my first try and didn't try again. Everyone expected me to run around and get every aggro. I've been afraid to try tanking since then.

    Is tanking with LR really complicated? Since it appears that tank role attracts aggro, would I have to run around a lot?
  • selpheaselphea Posts: 1,229 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Out of curiosity, why are you narrowing down to just WotW and LR?
  • alexandrafreyaalexandrafreya Posts: 90 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I used to Tank in WoW alittle...but I was terrable at there, It really take the right kind of person there I think but things here for Tanks is..different :P

    Most mobs die too fast to even really worry over threat wise, and on bosses..anyone who doesn't want threat..won't get threat, so really with a good build Tanking is fairly simple in most cases.

    That being said...I don't think LR is the best passive for a first try at Tanking really. It has afew short term buff to maintain and can be tricky for leveling/low gear. LR really shines in the best gear with 100% chance to dodge attacks.

    Personally...I would go with Invulnerability, it is a strong passive and would allow you to get the hang for tanking before trying out more difficult ideas, that being Said..if you do go for LR there is a good guide for it here in the Forums.

    Alexandra.
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,852 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    If we're just talking ease of use, the best passive for that is Regen. Invuln, LR, and Defiance all need maintenance heals to stay healthy- Regen only needs extra heals or defenses against hard-hitting content or if the user gets overzealous. PFF would be similar to Regen, but not one I could recommend atm due to the buggy shield regen rate. Not saying Regen is the best passive, though- just the most hands-off.

    As far as getting aggro as a tank, much of it lies in picking up the CC/CS advs on regular powers. You want one staple attack w/ CripC, and one staple AoE move w/ CS. You still need to do decent enough dmg to continue to hold threat, and due to the nature of balance in this game it isn't likely ya can always hold threat- but if you build cohesively then most of the times you can.
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  • merlinmonroemerlinmonroe Posts: 40 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    selphea wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, why are you narrowing down to just WotW and LR?


    I narrowed it down to WotW and LR because they are MA passives. I want an agile type MA. I don't think that many other passives fit within the MA conception.


    There have been some MA movies in which there was an invulnerable MA, but I don't want that in my concept.
  • morigosamorigosa Posts: 710 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I wouldn't narrow it down that far on the basis of theme - after all, none of the passives come with visual effects anymore. And, personally, I don't see the point in having theme limit the choice of things that are just background numbers - like the "talents" that grant various stat bonuses; it's nice if they match theme, but I'll pick 'em based on the numbers rather than the names.

    Alternatively, any of the defensive passives can be justified as martial arts concepts:

    Regeneration might be ki focusing techniques to keep your lifeforce strong (much like Conviction or BCR, just, all the time).

    Or Invulnerability / Defiance might be explained as special techniques for deflecting incoming attacks - which, really, is exactly the same as what LR does for you anyway; it's not like you can actually dodge attacks in this game. It's just damage reduction, not making things actually miss.
  • monsterdaddymonsterdaddy Posts: 795 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    flowcyto wrote: »
    If we're just talking ease of use, the best passive for that is Regen.
    I agree. No need to save energy for heals, no button to press. When in trouble, just hold block and wait to heal up. You can just focus on dps.

    You can still solo Gravitar with Regen and Heroic Gear with Rank 5s.
  • merlinmonroemerlinmonroe Posts: 40 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I experimented with WotW, LR and Regen.

    I made some new toons and tried each. At low level, Regen was definitely the most surviveable.

    I then used my lvl 31 toon and used each in the holo combat simulation in the powerhouse. I had mostly the same results, except that WotW killed them faster.

    The one problem with regen is that it won't pair well with Form of the Master since it doesn't help dodge. This would reduce damage with unarmed.

    Regen would be much better with a different MA form, such as SB, DB or claws.
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,852 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    FotMaster is a toggle I'd avoid on FFs anyways- even tanks. For Dex-based builds, whatever FotM can do, FotTempest can also do while not relying on dodge to stack- just crits (and you'll naturally have a good crit rate when gearing Dex for the toggle). W/ FotT, ya can stack Focus even w/o getting hit, and that's key as sometimes ya may not have aggro.
    <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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  • aiqaaiqa Posts: 2,620 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    flowcyto wrote: »
    FotMaster is a toggle I'd avoid on FFs anyways- even tanks. For Dex-based builds, whatever FotM can do, FotTempest can also do while not relying on dodge to stack- just crits (and you'll naturally have a good crit rate when gearing Dex for the toggle). W/ FotT, ya can stack Focus even w/o getting hit, and that's key as sometimes ya may not have aggro.

    The adv work different? The adv on FotMaster is really nice to get tripple BCR stacks.
  • merlinmonroemerlinmonroe Posts: 40 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I would like to give an update about my tests comparing WotW, LR and Regen.

    Earlier, I used the Holo combat sim in the Powerhouse. I used Hard opponents in 2 groups. Each time, I lost the fight and had 2 opponents remaining.
    When I fought opponents in 1 group, I won the fight using each of the three compared abilities.

    I just tried again using Normal opponents in 2 groups. WotW and LR combined with BCR lost the fights in both attempts.
    Regen won both fights and I didn't use BCR.

    I plan to make a new Unarmed MA using Regen.
  • tditstdits Posts: 666 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    aiqa wrote: »
    The adv work different? The adv on FotMaster is really nice to get tripple BCR stacks.

    Especially since it's debuff stopped stacking.
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  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,852 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    aiqa wrote: »
    The adv work different? The adv on FotMaster is really nice to get tripple BCR stacks.

    Storm's Eye? Yeah its good, but I found it not needed most of the time. At lvl 40 ya can get lotsa CDR gear to have a short BCR cd already. Its a good adv, but its costly and locks you into a form that makes you dodge-reliant.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • monsterdaddymonsterdaddy Posts: 795 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    tdits wrote: »
    Especially since it's debuff stopped stacking.

    It did?! Well FotM sounds promising for going up against an MD-Terminator ;-)
  • tditstdits Posts: 666 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    It did?! Well FotM sounds promising for going up against an MD-Terminator ;-)

    Yeah, the debuff stopped stacking at about the same time that all the 10% buff/debuff numbers became 9.5%
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  • aiqaaiqa Posts: 2,620 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    It did?! Well FotM sounds promising for going up against an MD-Terminator ;-)

    Yup, or tank frosticus with only BCR for a heal.
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