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Impulse - how good is it?
novaninja555
Posts: 839 Arc User
I have been seeing some awesome force moves lately, however annoying it may be to have to keep leaping on targets whenever some nutcase knocks it too far. Anyways, I was wondering..
How good is the impulse? Is it worth the price? Is it fun? Being hybrid, is it more defense or offense oriented? (Most hybrids have a good reason to be hybrid: ranged&melee , defense-offense balance, jack of all trades )
How good is the impulse? Is it worth the price? Is it fun? Being hybrid, is it more defense or offense oriented? (Most hybrids have a good reason to be hybrid: ranged&melee , defense-offense balance, jack of all trades )
"Good can be found in heights, even in the deepest pits of evil" but "The valleys of evil always exist in the mountains of good."
~me
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Good things about it are Geyser_Detonation, FC (but not if using KM), PF, Hardened, Force Sheath, annnd.. not much else.
At least its easier to grind trash mobs w/ Crushing Wave over melee ATs that only have 10ft cone AoEs, but its not much better and the dmg is still crap.
Its a roach if setup right, but isn't gonna kill anything well, and other kits can support allies better. It'll also have a hard time holding aggro if ya wanna try to make it tanky.
I'd class it as a 'Jack of All, Failure at All'.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
But a few points, it can be either pseudo-dps, if you choose KM or highly defensive if you choose PFF as the passive.
I prefer PFF as I find survivability more desirable than pure damage. It's damage is oriented more towards spike damage, even it's maintain has 1 second pulse time, but defensively it's very durable, you need to be smart with which advantages/powers you choose. As powers such as Protection Field, and Field surge actually buffer your defense for a short time and advantages such as Gravitational polarity and Power Swell can provide a significant damage boost, especially if combined. and the Force Sheath advantage on Force Shield is a must, as it increases energy generation significantly
It does have it's bad points, force snap is out of place on a ranged AT, some players see the knocks as a bad thing. Though there are ways around this, Crushing wave doesn't have a knock. and a tapped Force Cascade has no knock either. Though you have to wait until level 40 for Cascade.
There are a couple things that should be avoided at all costs though, NEVER take Containment field or the containment field advantage on Force cascade as it actually protects enemies from damage.
Oh an aside, Protection field can be used on both yourself, allies, and even most friendly NPC's which after you hit level 17 makes escort missions a breeze if you refresh the protection on the escortee every 20 seconds or so.
While it's true there is a slight bug with the PFF regen being too slow, there are ways around this, as both defensive and energy boost drops, actually regenerate the PFF by a certain amount.
Just.. not having to end build much or at all cause I could get Conc + an EU like MSA (and AOs like LnL), not having to deal w/ a passive being canceled for a long time cause I could choose something like Quarry or AoPM, and actually dealing decent damage w/ the charged attacks was all satisfying. Can easily keep mobs preoccupied w/ the set while bursting them down. If I didn't want to KB stuff too much/far I could just Geyser and tap-spam FB around for quick resistance stacks, or use CW.
I like the weight or feel behind many of Force's powers, but to me the Impulse's low power didn't really do them justice. Putting much more dmg behind them and in a build that could fuel the attacks better made it 'feel right' to me.
If all ya did was give the AT the option to take Concentration, and swap Geyser's position w/ Force Snap, it'd be a more satisfying kit to play outside of turtling.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
"Good can be found in heights, even in the deepest pits of evil" but "The valleys of evil always exist in the mountains of good."
~me
Sounds like you chose the wrong passive, yes KM suffers from cancellation by FC, but PFF does not and simply using Energy refraction and field surge at the right time allows you to fully charge any time you want, Both are energy forms, and time out anyway, so there's no real penalty and you don't lose your passive. Sure your damage output is a little lower, but defense is far greater.
And to me being able to survive to the end of a fight, is better than doing a ton of damage but still dying from a lucky hit.
You could say the Scourge AT is a complete opposite to Impulse AT, poison is quite a strong set DPS wise in CO.
Scourge AT has access to an active defensive which acts as a super heal pretty much.
You do have access to healing abilities via your spec tree (REC PSS's Rapid Recovery), it can be doubled up with Ebon Void block, which steals life from attacking foes.
Due to the high damage orientation of the Scourge AT, I'd assume most would focus on CON and EGO to fuel survival and their damage form/ranged damage base dmg. REC is the primary stat and can lend itself as an initial critical strike buff based on energy, which is always interesting to use.
But like most cases with AT's, good gear, healing devices (in some instances) and being aware of what you are pulling helps.
I've seen quite a few Scourge ATs around, so if pure DPS is your preferred style try it out.
About Impulse:
Yes. It is a hard AT to work with, but it is possible to work with...just takes a little effort. It would greatly benefit from taking Concentration vs IDF as an option but I imagine IDF is there to attempt to cover up/lessen the impact of the bug on PFF's regeneration, which has been there forever.
Basically Impulse is workable, but ultimately fails (IMO) to qualify as a paid for AT.
The protect other abilities of the AT do not scale with any of the stats it has (Proc Field scales on bonus healing and is boosted by PRE for example) and it generally is quite annoying in forced KB situations...so every situation. It could have been built better as right now it ultimately is the AT you'd buy if you just wanted to knock things around and have questionable survival abilities.
But then again...Behemoth knocks stuff and survives very well...it just does this from melee range.
The Scourge AT, whilst it doesn't have any particular defence against knocks or incoming damage, the output it has is enough to suffocate and weaken your foes, generally allowing you to stay alive and blaze through stuff pretty well.
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It's better buying a FF slot to make a Force based character than buying Impulse
This. I manage about 8000 Q per week that's about 30 zen per week. So I need 142 weeks to get it (of course only if I ignore the q crates... That's about 2 per month) so ... 50,000Q+32,000Q/ month = 82,000 Q.
32/82 x 142 = ~ 56 weeks ----> 1 yr and 4 weeks.
That had be the roughest grind ever. Especially since I am not on during Rampage hours.
Of course the time will be halved with a lucky FF slot 50% sale.
"Good can be found in heights, even in the deepest pits of evil" but "The valleys of evil always exist in the mountains of good."
~me
The scourge is one of the 2 best archetypes in the game, objectively speaking. It's survivable, has a few self heal options, and throws a TON of damage. The major upside to an AT is the lack of a dps soft cap. The major downside to DPS ATs is how fragle they are. The squall has that benfit, but without the usual drawback. That, to me, is a great AT.
RIP Caine
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Problem is, PFF itself is still under-performing, and KM is actually pretty good defensively since Ranged Physical is a common dmg type encountered. Even 'choosing right' w/ the Impulse makes it very weak offensively, not able to keep mob attention (unless ur teammates are all lowbies), and still lacking in an actual healing in case it does get focused.
And even if ya took KM and didn't suffer the energy form cancel (doesn't really matter till max level anyways- leveling through normal stuff w/ KM is still quite faster), ur not likely to die just cause ur not likely pulling aggro anyways (unless you recklessly pull first, but that'll sink most ATs, and many early FF builds).
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
It is not. It has strange power proggression, low DPS, and a choice between either the weakest defensive passive ingame, or between cancelling your own passive when attacking (Really, who did design it that way? That's even more flawed idea than teddy bear...).
It hits as weak as a tank AT, but it is not as survivable as tank ATs (actually, some tank ATs can hit harder, lol). And even if it was... It can't even hold threat, so it would be pointless anyway.
Can't match DPS ATs, can't match tank ATs, what is its real purpose except knocking things while soloing? Whatever the purpose is, it certainly is not worth the Zen. Unless you purchase only for the theme.
The Force is a nice powerset, but this AT is basically like someone built it as a demo why to not play Force powerset... A paid demo.
There's no point in showing so much blind love to this AT. Worse, to get even more people into spending any money on it, as they will regret it.
It's better to point at what needs to be corrected. Pretending that premium ATs like this one are fine will never get them fixed.
The Scourge beats the Impulse hands down in any comparison, except maybe for standing power. But the Impulse standing power has no purpose anyway.
What's the other best AT?
"Good can be found in heights, even in the deepest pits of evil" but "The valleys of evil always exist in the mountains of good."
~me
I think you meant the Scourge here, Taco. You really were scarred by leveling that Squall, weren't you?
I'm not positive which ATs EvilTaco picks as the best 2 (though I'd bet the other one is the Savage). I'd argue the best purchasable ATs are Disciple, Savage, Master, Scourge, and Void. People speak highly of the Invincible and the Specialist, but I don't have experience with those. I've liked playing the Inventor quite a bit, but I know some really don't like that AT.
Some of what makes an AT good come down to what you like--playstyle, preferred risk level, etc. That's why some folks enjoy the Impulse (or the Inventor), though most see it as both very frustrating and under-performing.
How could we advocate for some fixes to the Impulse AT/Force powerset? The Personal Force Field regeneration bug is probably job 1 for both the powerset and the AT. The weakness of Kinetic Manipulation (compared to other slotted passives like Earth Form or Quarry), the fact that Force Cascade shuts off Kinetic Manipulation, the lack of an offensive toggle for the AT, the inclusion of Force Snap on a ranged AT, what else?
I'd read that Inertial Defense Field wasn't scaling properly as you rank it up, but I don't know if that's still the case.
The lack of mobility when using Crushing Wave really bugs me, especially because you can push enemies outside the area of effect but have to stop the maintain in order to reposition. That may not bother other people.
How can we get the devs to look seriously at these problems? (Especially the regen bug for PFF?)
I would bet none of the current devs from CN we have were the ones responsible for implementing the original powers in question.
Granted, some things are so broken (ex. the Rampage UI, PvP kicking bugs- both of which I bet are linked) they should be fixed regardless- based on sheer principle of the matter. But I can somewhat understand the lack of initiative to mess w/ old code or systems that one didn't work on.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
You forgot the part where Crushing Wave can't proc Concentration unless you're more than twenty-five feet away, which you usually won't be for more than a tick. And it only procs on the primary target even then.
That Dork In The Suspenders, signing out.
WARNING: Not An Actual Internet Reviewer
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That's why you target something more than 25ft away and tap Force Eruption. Build Concentration before the fight and maintain through the same method.
"There is only one way to support a PFF tank: Send Cyrone lots of money weekly... because he's the only one to successfully be a true PFF Tank." - chuckwolf
CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL.... I mean... CYYYYYRRRRROOOOOOOONE.... is in combat PFF regen still bugged? u3u
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
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As far as I know, yes. Still bugged.
"There is only one way to support a PFF tank: Send Cyrone lots of money weekly... because he's the only one to successfully be a true PFF Tank." - chuckwolf
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I guess it's knowing how to rely on the stacking of the various support powers to prevent as much damage to the PFF itself. You'd be amazed how survivable a battle becomes if you activate field surge and protection field along with tapping force shield for the lingering force sheath just before entering a tough battle. That's 20 seconds of almost pure invulnerability, even more if Energy refraction triggers during the battle, not to mention the 15% damage boost from power surge.
Yes I use PF and FS as preventive measures quite a bit, and only occasionally have to use them to replace/restore a drained pff.
Another thing is taking advantage of boosts, both the blue and yellow ones instantly restore a large amount of PFF health, as do the occasional white "?" ones, though those are random.
I don't see why so many people are down on PFF. Sure it has the possibility of dropping but while it's up there is no power in the game that gives a higher true damage mitigation. And as I said earlier, there are ways to help prevent it dropping.
In fact it's very possible by stacking PFF and it's various support powers, all of which are standard on an Impulse, to actually gain health from being attacked. All the while gaining energy too.
Still doesn't solve problems with the Impulse being an unnecessary AT that can't perform for the team as well as other DPS builds and can't hold aggro as well as tanks.
This AT is simply redundant for anything but theme and doing solo missions. If it was a free AT? Sure, it would do. But as a paid AT it's simply not worth Zen.
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- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
I was, and was one of those essential in convincing the devs that PFF wasn't stacking properly with it's support powers.
I was also the guy that suggested a wide angle maintain power for the force powerset that later became the Impulse's go to power.
http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=131000
Rock that 116 shield hp every 3 seconds.
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