test content
  • Games
  • Social
  • Arc News
  • Support
  • Zen
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Forums > Home› Builds and Roles

what passive for this Mage?

superalfgornsuperalfgorn Posts: 558 Arc User
edited August 2014 in Builds and Roles
Ok this was my first character, a Grimoire. I then changed it several times since I got my LTS... and now I am fast approaching lvl.40 and would like to settle on a build.

There are a few important points:
-Ranged Damage Role. So an Offensive Passive.
-The Guard/Earth Splitter powers. They use the moon staff and are too cool to drop them.
-The focus on the Eldritch Blast through specs (Make It Count, Administer, Trapped). I really like how it looks and chose the spec trees to boost it to the max.

My questions are:
1) What passive???
Right now I have Shadow Form. Which does nothing for Sigils and Earth Splitter. I like the heals and threat reduction, though. Below is the build with Night Warrior. It fits the character as an invisibility spell, and boosts all damage while layering some dodge/avoidance I am currently lacking.

2) What Mastery?
Guardian seems a boost to Eldritch Blast, but I am unsure how much that is noticeable.

3) I would like to occasionally help the group in Alerts. Shall I change Resurgence to Palliate? However the higher cooldown summed with the low +Heal does not convince me.


PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Morganna Le Fay

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Squall
Level 6: Field Ops Training
Level 9: Survival Training
Level 12: Sniper Training
Level 15: Jack of All Trades
Level 18: Martial Training
Level 21: Covert Ops Training

Powers:
Level 1: Eldritch Bolts
Level 1: Eldritch Blast (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Sigils of the Primal Storm (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Night Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Concentration
Level 14: Circle of Arcane Power (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Guard
Level 20: Earth Splitter (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Skarn's Bane (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Hex of Suffering (Rune of Lethargy)
Level 29: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 32: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 35: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Rebirth

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

Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
Ego: Sixth Sense (2/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (2/3)
Guardian: Make It Count (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Overseer: Administer (3/3)
Overseer: Ruthless (2/2)
Overseer: Impact (2/2)
Overseer: Trapped (3/3)
Mastery: Guardian Mastery (1/1)
______________________________________________________________
My Characters

Post edited by superalfgorn on

Comments

  • selpheaselphea Posts: 1,229 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Try switching Overseer for Avenger and go all out for Crit Chance. 3 ranks of Sixth Sense, 3 ranks of Find the Mark (dump Make it Count - it's additive). With Avenger, take 3 ranks of Preemptive Strikes and Avenger Mastery. Then spam charged Eldritch Blast followed by tapped Earth Splitter. If you get 2 crits in a row your next Eldritch Blast will charge super fast, and with Ego Surge you have a very good chance to get 2 more crits in a row again.

    It's a lot of effort for relatively unimpressive damage compared to simple 2GM spamming, but it will be an improvement over just using Eldritch Blast.

    And given the damage split, lack of Int and reliance on charged attacks, NW is about as good a choice as it gets.
  • riveroceanriverocean Posts: 1,690 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Night Warrior isn't a bad choice. The nice thing about Night Warrior is that you can cast sigils without breaking stealth. Also it buffs all your damage and allows you bypass 10% of all targets defenses - on all attacks.

    Another offensive option could be Ego Form. Which will also buff your Paranormal and Physical damage. with Ego Form you'll also gain some damage resistance.

    In your shoes though. I think I'd go with hybrid mode and pick AOPM as the passive. Since you already started out as a Grimoire. And AOPM will buff all of your stats nicely and buff any teammates near you.
    Questions About AT Play? Visit Silverwolfx11's Updated AT Guides!
  • superalfgornsuperalfgorn Posts: 558 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Honestly I was tempted by AoPM... but you can have only so many characters with it before it gets boring :biggrin:
    ______________________________________________________________
    My Characters

  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,862 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    selphea wrote: »
    Try switching Overseer for Avenger and go all out for Crit Chance. 3 ranks of Sixth Sense, 3 ranks of Find the Mark (dump Make it Count - it's additive). With Avenger, take 3 ranks of Preemptive Strikes and Avenger Mastery. Then spam charged Eldritch Blast followed by tapped Earth Splitter. If you get 2 crits in a row your next Eldritch Blast will charge super fast, and with Ego Surge you have a very good chance to get 2 more crits in a row again.

    Yeah, avenger mastery is prob the best route to maxing eldritch's damage, if that's the main goal.

    I'd prob pair Avenger w/ Vindicator over Guardian, though. Its not quite as RNG as Find the Mark. Also may want to rotate out the sigils for that setup, since they can't crit (although they are good if they dun get destroyed). Hex crits can also count towards procing Avenger mastery, but only one crit from it at a time will count, iirc.

    Overseer is still a good fit for Eldritch blast - but its more about also benefiting the team and ur own heals. Also, ER's parapara can help ya squeeze a bit more dmg from eldritch (w/o spamming ER itself, which I wouldn't do for thematic reasons).
    <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!
  • riveroceanriverocean Posts: 1,690 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    superalfgorn wrote: »
    Honestly I was tempted by AoPM... but you can have only so many characters with it before it gets boring :biggrin:

    I totally agree. :D.

    I have three AOPM creations already. It's such a great passive for a hybrid/freeform that it makes it hard to pick anything else. I am looking at Night Warrior myself for a gadgets build I have.

    But it's such a squishy passive. I've haven't yet figured out how to use it without feeling totally gimped. :frown:

    But it's great as an offensive passive.
    Questions About AT Play? Visit Silverwolfx11's Updated AT Guides!
  • selpheaselphea Posts: 1,229 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    flowcyto wrote: »
    Yeah, avenger mastery is prob the best route to maxing eldritch's damage, if that's the main goal.

    I'd prob pair Avenger w/ Vindicator over Guardian, though. Its not quite as RNG as Find the Mark. Also may want to rotate out the sigils for that setup, since they can't crit (although they are good if they dun get destroyed). Hex crits can also count towards procing Avenger mastery, but only one crit from it at a time will count, iirc.

    Overseer is still a good fit for Eldritch blast - but its more about also benefiting the team and ur own heals. Also, ER's parapara can help ya squeeze a bit more dmg from eldritch (w/o spamming ER itself, which I wouldn't do for thematic reasons).

    Trouble with Vindicator is Earthsplitter is an AoE and Eldritch Blast is ST, and TBD works better with Force of Will than AS if only half the loop is available.

    ER makes sense but it seems really buggy for proccing PS and Avenger Mastery crits. The ER animation seems to cancel the generic blast animation on attacks like Shadow Blast and Eldritch Blast, and then the two attacks apply so fast that the game sometimes treats it as one attack, so it doesn't consume Preemptive Strike and if it crits it doesn't count towards Avenger Mastery. That was the main thing keeping me from breaking the 4k DPS barrier on Darkness. I actually had an easier time with Infernal/Defile where there was no animation cancel and PS/AM procced reliably :/ Of course, the 30% debuff and 3 DoTs helped a lot too.
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,862 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    selphea wrote: »
    ER makes sense but it seems really buggy for proccing PS and Avenger Mastery crits. The ER animation seems to cancel the generic blast animation on attacks like Shadow Blast and Eldritch Blast, and then the two attacks apply so fast that the game sometimes treats it as one attack, so it doesn't consume Preemptive Strike and if it crits it doesn't count towards Avenger Mastery. That was the main thing keeping me from breaking the 4k DPS barrier on Darkness. I actually had an easier time with Infernal/Defile where there was no animation cancel and PS/AM procced reliably :/ Of course, the 30% debuff and 3 DoTs helped a lot too.

    Interesting finding about ER. I wonder, since the spell has a DoT component that seems to be crit-disabled, if the DoT interaction is making the direct portion of ER exhibit some odd behavior like that.
    <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!
  • selpheaselphea Posts: 1,229 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    flowcyto wrote: »
    Interesting finding about ER. I wonder, since the spell has a DoT component that seems to be crit-disabled, if the DoT interaction is making the direct portion of ER exhibit some odd behavior like that.

    It's animation priorities. Certain powers will kick in and override the animation of other powers. So far I've found PF -> MR and Shadow Blast -> ER but I have a feeling it's a tiered list where animation X cancels animation Y cancels animation Z. Older animations like the generic Eldritch Blast are probably easiest to cancel and newer ones like Rico Throw will probably override most animatins.
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,862 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    When you say animation priorities, do you mean some activation times are overriding others (or ignoring delay), or it being due to latency? Cause from my testing thus far, animations themselves are just A/V ques that can un-sync even w/ single power spam, while not impacting the parsed numbers underneath. I haven't heard of the anims themselves mechanically impacting dps until this, though (well, I should say, beyond creating simple user error from unreliable ques).
    <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!
  • selpheaselphea Posts: 1,229 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    flowcyto wrote: »
    When you say animation priorities, do you mean some activation times are overriding others (or ignoring delay), or it being due to latency? Cause from my testing thus far, animations themselves are just A/V ques that can un-sync even w/ single power spam, while not impacting the parsed numbers underneath. I haven't heard of the anims themselves mechanically impacting dps until this, though (well, I should say, beyond creating simple user error from unreliable ques).

    Ignoring delay. It's very consistent that for example, using Ebon Ruin after Shadow Blast has both attacks casting at the same time, while using Shadow Blast after Ebon Ruin results in a noticeable delay between shots.
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,862 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Hm, I could def buy that.

    So I guess to recap- As we prob know by now, instead of the ideal model that the tooltips would lead on:

    [<-activ->][<----- cast ---->]

    its more like:

    [delay][<-activ->][<---- cast --->]

    Ability queuing, which I assume this game doesn't really have, would make the model more like the ideal example, but w/o it one'd assume all powers have a hidden delay between the start of activation and the end of casting. What this would show is that some powers could ignore or cut into this delay if they were queued at the right time (as if ability queuing worked).

    Cryptic can't ever make anything easy, huh?
    <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!
  • selpheaselphea Posts: 1,229 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    flowcyto wrote: »
    Hm, I could def buy that.

    So I guess to recap- As we prob know by now, instead of the ideal model that the tooltips would lead on:

    [<-activ->][<----- cast ---->]

    its more like:

    [delay][<-activ->][<---- cast --->]

    Ability queuing, which I assume this game doesn't really have, would make the model more like the ideal example, but w/o it one'd assume all powers have a hidden delay between the start of activation and the end of casting. What this would show is that some powers could ignore or cut into this delay if they were queued at the right time (as if ability queuing worked).

    Cryptic can't ever make anything easy, huh?

    Pretty much :p

    Looks like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTBlxZoKU7g
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,862 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Thanks for the demo! Seeing it in practice, I've done similar things when mucking around w/ preemptive strike combos, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised there's some amount of delay-skipping allowed when mixing certain abilities.

    Can't say I have the time/energy to lead the charge on analyzing that topic, though :x (def not atm).
    <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!
  • superalfgornsuperalfgorn Posts: 558 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Interesting discussion!

    I guess to solve the ER problem one could charge it a little bit, right? then the animation cancel should not kick in and the masteries/specs should work. Not as good for optima dps, but I can live with that.

    I could fit in ER for something.... like uh... mmmh... the sigils are still nice for some situations... maybe HoS? the root from EB should be enough for the Trapped procs.

    Mmmh Since I like the group support aspect of Overseer, I think I will just try Avenger in lieu of Guardian. I tested the Guardian Mastery a bit, my feeling is that's really underwhelming.
    ______________________________________________________________
    My Characters

  • carrionbaggagecarrionbaggage Posts: 733 Community Moderator
    edited August 2014
    I remember seeing this character on a Cybermind run. Thematically, she certainly stands out.

    In my experience, Overseer's support is a bit underwhelming. The benefits from Administer (the bonus is additive, not multiplicative) and Impact (small, inconsistent debuff) are barely noticeable. Trapped is an excellent spec, but I'd only recommend it if you're regularly cycling one of its triggers in your attack pattern, like in a Mental Storm build. Taking the time to cast Hex would lower your damage output to trigger the debuff, and the root from the EB is very unreliable (and firing the EB significantly lowers your damage output). I think you'd get more benefit from choosing Guardian/Avenger.

    The charge-tap cycle that Selphea outlined is a good way to use Avenger Mastery. Another way to use it is with a maintained AoE attack, which makes use of the Round 'Em Up and Relentless Assault specs in the Avenger tree. You could run an attack cycle of Skarn's Bane (full maintain)>Eldritch Blast (full charge, hastened by Avenger Mastery)>repeat. That cycle doesn't make much use of Preemptive Strike (unless you add another attack after the blast), so you could consider taking Surprise Attack and alpha strike often with a fully-charged Eldritch Blast. Earth Splitter would still come in handy as an interrupt, or an alpha strike against multiple lined-up enemies.

    You could consider replacing DEX with INT in your superstats, as late-game gear can provide a sufficient amount of +Critical Strike to trigger Avenger Mastery reliably from a full Skarn's maintain. The extra INT would help tame the massive cost of Skarn's, recharge your Actives faster, and would let you shoehorn in MSA as an energy unlock. Even though the build's MSA triggers aren't ideal, it would still provide a respectable source of energy if you cycled Conviction fairly often. You could still keep the Circle, but you would be less reliant on it - which is a major quality of life bonus in knock-heavy encounters. Adding INT would also open up Quarry as an attractive passive, depending on how you choose to balance your gear. But Night Warrior is still a solid choice with your variety of attacks.

    Those changes would look like this:

    PowerHouse (Link to this build)

    Name: Morganna Le Fay

    Archetype: Freeform

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

    Talents:
    Level 1: The Invincible
    Level 6: Field Ops Training
    Level 9: Healthy Mind
    Level 12: Ascetic
    Level 15: Academics
    Level 18: Investigator
    Level 21: Boundless Reserves

    Powers:
    Level 1: Eldritch Bolts
    Level 1: Eldritch Blast (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 6: Sigils of the Primal Storm (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 8: Night Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 11: Concentration
    Level 14: Circle of Arcane Power (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 17: Guard
    Level 20: Earth Splitter (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 23: Skarn's Bane (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 26: Molecular Self-Assembly
    Level 29: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
    Level 32: Resurgence (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 35: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 38: Rebirth

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

    Specializations:
    Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
    Ego: Insight (3/3)
    Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
    Ego: Sixth Sense (2/3)
    Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
    Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
    Guardian: Find the Mark (2/3)
    Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
    Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
    Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
    Avenger: Surprise Attack (2/2)
    Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
    Mastery: Avenger Mastery (1/1)

    I hope that helps!
  • superalfgornsuperalfgorn Posts: 558 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    carrionbaggage wrote: »
    I remember seeing this character on a Cybermind run. Thematically, she certainly stands out.
    :smile: In the Cybermind fight she is useful since the sigils last the whole duration in-between the digital storms. And the self-res remedies the occasional screw-up!

    I would love to have INT, but for a thematic choice (lowering the effectiveness, I know) I use the old Grandfather Winter primary and a flat stat distribution from talents. This means I cannot slot the Crit mods in the Primary gear. I would love to find the GFWinter Primary Utility. Then I would have the mini AoPM and the slot for Crit gear... then I will definitely switch to INT as a SSS!


    Remeber that Trapped procs off full charge EB at 50% probability! That's why I'm thinking of dropping Hex for ER.

    Nevertheless since Avenger seems the way to go I'll just try it out. It seems like it requires a lot of thought, which is a good thing. But Altitis always strikes and I forget the routineseach character has....

    ...speaking of which I 40ed last night Morganna... so a new slot has unlocked. MUST play a new char... :D
    ______________________________________________________________
    My Characters

  • carrionbaggagecarrionbaggage Posts: 733 Community Moderator
    edited August 2014
    Ah, I see what you're thinking now. I misunderstood the "EB" abbreviation in your earlier post; my brain read it as Bolts rather than Blast. And the gear situation explains a lot, too.

    Going Avenger/Overseer and dropping Hex for ER does seem like an interesting option if you can iron out the animation timing issues. If that's the desired direction, I'd probably drop a rank from Resurgence (assuming you need all the energy you can get from the Circle) to fund ER (Rank2, PP), and maybe swap Resurgence with Masterful Dodge at that point.

    Gratz on 40.
  • superalfgornsuperalfgorn Posts: 558 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    I am sure that the circle can be fine at Rank2 or even Rank1, probably. At least when spamming the Blasts. Thats a good idea to gain back some Adv points to fuel more powerful ER, which has also the heal debuff that's useful for some bosses!

    Great feedback overall ty all!
    ______________________________________________________________
    My Characters

  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,862 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Yeah CoAP is prob good enough at R2 for Skarn's. On my Grimmy AT I can spam Skarn's non-stop w/ a R2 CoAP + Concentration and no EUs running at all (~320 Int, 82 Rec). But that's w/ AoPM's Rec boost, so to make up for that you could add one Rec mod on ur gear (they're usually cheap on the AH, so its easy to get a high-rank one). Since ur gonna be interspersing a cheap blast pretty frequently, and have an EU option, that lightens the energy requirement even more.

    The added energy return from one rank in CoAP is roughly equal to +50-54 Rec from gearing, last I checked.
    <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!
Sign In or Register to comment.