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Looking for build: Leveling PvE Solo TK, Ego/Dex/Rec for Crit.
p4nj4kr3jn
Posts: 189 Arc User
So Ice was a blast! (Get it? ;p ) But that character is now 40 so I started a new one: Telekinesis.
Because of the double xo I didn't plan out my character first, I winged it and before I knew it got to 28! Using basically two attacks, that is: Telekinetic Assault and TK Burst. My general thought is to make a DPS build centered on trying for crits.
As always, this is my playstyle:
I do Ranged damage characters, that PvE only, and only solo not team. I will be using as gear either a full set of armadillo, or half armadillo / half heirloom. And FYI, my fun in this game is in the leveling up, as soon as a character hits 40, I permanently retire them to start a new one. Also, I don't do Alerts, Story missions, I prefer the standard straight up regular missions. I do not like hard content, I prefer easy content.
I am almost certain to take Regen as my slotted passive, it keeps me alive quite well normally. This time I went with Ego/Dex/Rec for higher crits - with Ego's spec Sixth Sense to add to the crit that Dex secondary gives me - as I recall, Ego/Dex/Rec can wind up with higher crit chance than Dex/Ego/Rec due to Sixth Sense alone.
Even though it is belated, I'd like to optimize a levelling build for the next set of levels. What attacks in TK are especially well worth it? What attack chains make sense?
I picked up Regen of course, which is great as always, as well as Force Shield/Sheath for a lingering block that also returns energy. I got the TK unlock Ego Reverberation, which seems to be doing its job. I picked up Mental Discipline, especially since it is a change of pace from Concentration.
TK Lance is weird, sometimes it seems to hit hard, other times less so - I just got it, so I am still learning it. Also got TK eruption which is interesting in that it gives one a pseudo Form damage boost for a decent while, though not a fan of how it flings people around, forcing me to chase them down.
My goal is DPS, lots of great powerful attacks that crit as often as possible, as I level while solo. Any build ideas that fit this? Any words of advice?
Thanks.
Because of the double xo I didn't plan out my character first, I winged it and before I knew it got to 28! Using basically two attacks, that is: Telekinetic Assault and TK Burst. My general thought is to make a DPS build centered on trying for crits.
As always, this is my playstyle:
I do Ranged damage characters, that PvE only, and only solo not team. I will be using as gear either a full set of armadillo, or half armadillo / half heirloom. And FYI, my fun in this game is in the leveling up, as soon as a character hits 40, I permanently retire them to start a new one. Also, I don't do Alerts, Story missions, I prefer the standard straight up regular missions. I do not like hard content, I prefer easy content.
I am almost certain to take Regen as my slotted passive, it keeps me alive quite well normally. This time I went with Ego/Dex/Rec for higher crits - with Ego's spec Sixth Sense to add to the crit that Dex secondary gives me - as I recall, Ego/Dex/Rec can wind up with higher crit chance than Dex/Ego/Rec due to Sixth Sense alone.
Even though it is belated, I'd like to optimize a levelling build for the next set of levels. What attacks in TK are especially well worth it? What attack chains make sense?
I picked up Regen of course, which is great as always, as well as Force Shield/Sheath for a lingering block that also returns energy. I got the TK unlock Ego Reverberation, which seems to be doing its job. I picked up Mental Discipline, especially since it is a change of pace from Concentration.
TK Lance is weird, sometimes it seems to hit hard, other times less so - I just got it, so I am still learning it. Also got TK eruption which is interesting in that it gives one a pseudo Form damage boost for a decent while, though not a fan of how it flings people around, forcing me to chase them down.
My goal is DPS, lots of great powerful attacks that crit as often as possible, as I level while solo. Any build ideas that fit this? Any words of advice?
Thanks.
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This build is using Seraphim as it boosts paranormal damage (which Ego damage is a type of). I also usually run in Support role for lots of energy. Recovery as a super stat covers your energy needs, so Regen should be fine as a passive.
For attacks, I start with TK Assault. It's has good DPS. When my Ego Leech stacks reach 5 max, I then fire off a fully charged TK Lance. I see you noticed TK Lance giving different ranges of damage, this is because a full charged Lance will eat your Ego Leech stack for bonus damage. I find that a full Ego Leech stack will basically double the TK Lance's damage. After the Lance, switch back to TK Assault. You'll find your Ego Leech will stack back up fairly quickly between the mechanic from TK Lance and the chance of TK Assault giving them.
TK Eruption serves a multi-purpose for my toon. First, it's a nice, "get away from me!" blast if you start getting mobbed. Second, if you do have that mob, it's a great way to build Ego Leech. Third, the damage buff if you at least half-charge it can be helpful (I sometimes use it just for that). If you'd rather not fling people, consider switching to TK Maelstrom which is a very nice stun (it's a Tier 3 power, though).
Empathic Healing and Conviction are my self-heals. Empathic Healing also heals others of course, and I do try to toss a quick burst of it if I see somebody is in trouble. Mental Reinforcement also adds a layer of protection on myself or others.
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name: Glimmer
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Dexterity (Secondary)
Level 15: Constitution (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Void
Level 6: Showmanship
Level 9: Finesse
Level 12: Shrug It Off
Level 15: Shooter
Level 18: Ascetic
Level 21: Acrobat
Powers:
Level 1: Kinetic Darts
Level 1: Telekinetic Assault (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Ego Reverberation
Level 8: Seraphim (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Telekinetic Eruption (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Mental Discipline (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Telekinetic Lance (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Force Shield (Force Sheathe)
Level 23: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Empathic Healing (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge
Level 32: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 35: Evasive Maneuvers (Sleight of Mind)
Level 38: Mindful Reinforcement (Rank 2)
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Flight (Rank 2)
Level 35: Lightspeed
Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (2/3)
Ego: Sixth Sense (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Find the Mark (2/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (1/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)
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- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
Tunnel over to baddie group, hit Ego Surge if up, tap Block for Sheathe, untunnel, hit TK Burst, TK Maelstrom, then TK Eruption. Use TK Lance & TK Assault on any remaining baddies. Retunnel, rinse, and repeat. Advantages: by the time TK Eruption flings peeps around, they're probably done, and any that remain can prolly be TK Lance due to at that point more leech stacks.
Flowcyto: Right now I have 26.5 Crit chance @ level 28. Twenty of that comes from my Dex SS. If I remove Dex I lose that, so I don't get your idea that I can still get good crit without it. (Ego's Sixth Sense is adding 6.5%, which is great, but not on its own enough.) My total crit kinda of looks like this:
Dex/20 + SixthSense/6.5 + EgoLeechStacks/10 + Vindicator/4 or 6 = 40% and up crit without gearing. Not shabby I think. But if you know how to make that better (at level 28 without factoring in gear) I'm all ears.
What I actually did on the way to 28 was took Rec as my primary, then when I got my first secondary, swapped it out and made Ego primary and Rec secondary, and then added Dex as my final secondary. I think my pattern in levelling in *general* seems to be to take Rec as primary right off at level 6, then demote Rec to secondary at level 10. Most of my builds so far have kept Rec as a secondary, it's just so damn useful and lets my EB gather the dust it rightfully deserves.
My next major build decision is what to take after I am done with Vindicator, at level 30. I would love something that adds to Crit chance even more, but there's not much that I see outside of Vind:
* Surprise Attacks for a boost to critting against a baddie with 90%+ health (alpha strike)
* Find the Mark to get a *chance* for a temp crit chance boost
* anything else worth considering?
So, thoughts?
It seems ya picked Con SS to axe over Dex SS, though, which is fine if ur okay w/ the lower health and weaker returns from ES/NM, but also keeping in mind part of that is due to taking Regen over an offensive passive. If ya were taking the offensive passive, then I wouldn't recommend axing Con SS.
And the easy paring w/ Vind is Guardian, but (due to TKA) Avenger could be a good possibility- you'd be more reliant on channeling TKA for Relentless Assault, though. Sentry is an interesting option to perhaps consider, since Precise would boost TKA and TKL (iirc), but not any of ur AoEs. Kinda just depends on ur priorities. I wouldn't take Overseer since ur not using a Blast nor taking adv of Trapped; Protector is more if ur using dual ADs and/or wanna be more tanky, but at the expense of dps. Rest of the specs dun really fit the build, imo.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
So I am not closed to going back to using standard gear, I am merely dubious that any gear easily available to me at my current level wouldn't make me give up more than it would add.
As far as taking an offensive passive, when I started playing CO I did try offensive passive and found my character to be extremely fragile. But after trying on Regen, it almost makes the game seem like easy mode a lot. I like easy mode, so...
I'll take a look at your spec ideas, I am very intrigued - thanks for the suggestions!
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
* many points from my primary
* many points from my secondary
* damage resist
* possibly offense and defense boosts
* the significant utility of not having to regear every five or so levels
That seems like a lot to give up for how much crit?
Now, if I am wrong and the tradeoffs are much more favorable, then lay it on me.
I'm not quite sure what ur comparing, though- dropping Dex SS for Con SS and getting crit rating instead? Imo if ya already have Dex SS then there's less reason to get crit rating, but ya wouldn't swap from EGO/Dex/Rec to EGO/Con/Rec for dps concerns either. That just depends on ur priorities, since it seems ya dun need Con SS as long as ya take Regen. In that case- yes, ya should swap Con SS for a another dps stat, assuming energy management was still fine.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
I guess what I should do is look on the AH to see what kind of gear is available at level 28 or below, and see how much crit I can get from that gear. Will report back with what I find.
My base Crit Chance before donning these items was 26.5 (not counting MD or any other powers). My base Crit Chance after was 32.6 - meaning that 118 Crit Strike wound up increasing my Crit Chance by (only) 6.1 percent.
So, at level 28, even if I gear for Crit, the total amount of crit chance augmentation I could expect would be around 6-7 percent. Faugh!
Meanwhile, by removing 2 Armadillo items, my Ego went from 193 to 149, my Dex went from 111 to 98, and my Rec went from 139 to 116. Boo.
I think this conclusively demonstrates that gearing sub-40 for anything other than Armadillo is often less than ideal, especially given that Armadillo is set and forget, while all other armor makes you regear all the time.
If I am erring in some way and anyone know how I can achieve a much higher base crit chance on this level 28 character, I am all ears. ;p
My initial premise was on possibly making room for Con SS, and if ya replaced Dex SS w/ Con then you could make up for some of the loss in crit w/ crit rating on gear. That was all I was getting at. If that doesn't apply to ur own scenario (and it seems like it doesn't) then that's that
In terms of this example, the hit to SS's can be partly explained by trading some itemization for 118 crit. You were somewhat right that the hit to SS's is larger then I remembered, but then ya have to weigh that vs. what ya gain. In this case, trading ~80-85 SS's and a 2nd set bonus for 6-7% added crit rating wasn't worth it to you (likely cause you already had higher crit from Dex and thus any added rating is diminished)- and that's okay.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
So perhaps what I *think* you may be getting is this: the idea that by devoting a stat to Con and perhaps taking a heal, a person can not need Regen and instead take an offensive passive upping the damage. By gearing for Crit one can not need Dex as much and therefore put in Con to accomplish dropping Regen and taking that offensive passive.
However, my approach went in a different, equally valid way: Sacrifice some damage (and skip the heal) by taking Regen, *not* an offensive passive, dump Con as a unnecessary (once one has Regen), grab Dex for the Crit, grab Q armor for the easy gearing and the SS's.
If I understand that correctly, I imagine both approaches can be effective. With an offensive passive, the first path might tend to more damage than the second, but with Regen always pumping the health up, the second path is perhaps more survivable and simple. From my druthers, I like not having to worry about casting a heal every so often, and I love not having to think about regearing as I level, and for me, simplicity yields speed, which means faster levelling.
I further imagine that all of this is much more critical for people who play on after level 40. But for levelling mission content, it sounds like many of these paths are equivalent, one just has to pick their poison, as it were.
Sounds too vague to be helpful I guess, but I think the take away is that ya found a method that works for you here, and explored a bit into options to know more for the future. Not every player would want to use a defensive passive if they were building around dps, but others may be just fine w/ that concession (based off theme or experimenting w/ new setups or w/e). Neither type of choice is really 'wrong' per se, even for leveling. Its more like, 'does this build accomplish what I wished for? or meet some goals I set?'
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
Someday when I have time to kill I will have to test at the PH how much damage in the grand scheme of things one gives up by grabbing Regen in place of an Offensive passive.
Quick question, for someone (solo, PvE, levelling) who *was* getting an offensive passive, I am assuming that they would pair that with the Ranged Damage role, yes? So when I get around to testing, I should compare Offensive Passive + Range Damage vs Regen + Hybrid, right?
Of course to be a valid comparison I suppose I should also factor in how often one has to cast a self-heal, since that cuts into energy and DPS. I should also probably factor in needing to take Con as a stat, and therefore losing the benefit of whatever stat one has to drop to get it (and the DPS that the other stat brought to the table, for example, Dex with more crits, Ego with more ranged damage etc.) There ought to be a way at the end of the day to quantify precisely the tradeoffs in Con + Self-heals + Dmg Role + Off. Passive VS non-Con-SS + no need to heal so more attacking + Hybrid Role, to determine how much more fragile one gets vs how much extra damage one gets, all in all.
Won't happen (I don't think) for at least a few weeks, anyways.
So like seemingly everything, it'll largely depend on the details of the builds ur comparing, and also the difficulty of the content, I'd hazard to guess.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
Sentry I think is the most out of the box thinking, and also maybe the hardest sell. Precise, giving that 9% damage boost to my TKA and TKL is interesting, but none of the other 7 spec from that tree seem that useful to this particular character. I wouldn’t even get a Crit Severity boost. Still, 9% ST boost is 9%. If I were to start using TKL a lot more might be worth considering.
Both Guardian and Avenger have Ruthless, +10% Crit Severity. Guardian has Find the Mark, Avenger has Surprise Attack:
3x Find the Mark: on all ranged attacks, 30% chance of a 3% Crit Chance boost, stacks 3x.
2x Surprise Attack: +20% Crit Chance on attacking any baddie over 90% health.
Which is better? Let’s say I have 3 attacks I chain, I have a 2/3 chance of having at least one Find the Mark trigger, and about a 1/3 chance of having 2 FtMs trigger. Odds are over time that 3 attacks generally convert to one being at +3%. That’s not a lot…
On the other hand, Surprise Attack gives me +20% guaranteed, but really only on the first attack I hit a baddie with. But *every* first attack.
My current crit chance stands at around 40% not including either FtM or SA. With SA, that goes to 60%, meaning that on my first attack on a baddie, I have almost a 2/3 chance to crit on them.
I think that’s the deal breaker. I think I like that.
It is also a mark against Guardian (pun intended, lol) that apart from Ruthless (and FtM) there isn’t a lot in that spec tree that for this character I get excited about. But with Avenger, I get Offensive Expertise and faster Active Offense recharges, always good. Round Em Up doesn’t help at all as that applies to further cast AoEs and I typically am fighting toe to toe (to gather them up for my AoEs), but Anguish doesn’t suck, and will synergize with my Critting.
I think Avenger’s Surprise Attack wins it – thoughts? ;p
Its all about what style ya like. Sentry has the most defensive benefits avail of the 3, but the least dps overall. Guardian is nice cause its a constant boost to offense and defense when paired w/ Vind, and w/ maintains FtM can be at 2-3 stacks much of the time (stacks really depends on how frequently hits happen for ur attacks, so ymmv there). Avenger either has AO cd reduction for a small overall boost when cycling ES/NM, and/or has the 20% opener crit (though not for AoE, which I find to be inconvenient for trash as ya typically want to open w/ AoE on trash). and otherwise has RA to be compet w/ Guardicator's offense/defense boost. So, Avenger can certainly be better in some cases, but it kinda depends on what ya value, and in this case much of that is tied to using ST attacks as openers and maintaining RA as a buff (vs. Guardian's benefits largely just being passive or happening automatically).
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
OK, back to the drawing board.