Earth/Force ranged tank?

doomedluke1 · December 2015

Hello to all,

I'm trying to create a build based on Earth and Force powers to emulate gravity powers (ranged only), but I'm in doubt if this way is it possible to have a tank and still have a decent damage. Most of my doubts are about Super Stats and specs, and maybe I should put in the middle of the powers something to build threat. Thought about Force Wave but from area mantains, I think this is the weakest because of the ticks being per second and not 0,5 sec as other similar powers. Also, using Earth Form doesn't allow me to use tank role, will I still be able to have good threat using it? Chose this because of the boost for crushing damage which will also affect the Force powers. Thanks in advance!

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Asa-Tyr

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Scourge
Level 6: Ascetic
Level 9: Quick Recovery
Level 12: Wordly
Level 15: Field Ops Training
Level 18: Command Training
Level 21: Paramilitary Training

Powers:
Level 1: Wield Earth
Level 1: Stone Shot (Shard Burst, Challenging Strikes)
Level 6: Earth Form (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Tremor (Challenging Strikes)
Level 11: Force Eruption (Gravitational Polarity)
Level 14: Force Shield (Force Sheathe)
Level 17: Field Surge (Rank 2, Power Swell)
Level 20: Inertial Dampening Field (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Aggressor (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Fissure (Rank 2, Reconstruct)
Level 29: Force Cascade (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Force Detonation
Level 35: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 38: Resurgence

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Electro Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Electric Arc

Specializations:
Constitution: Tough (3/3)
Constitution: Resilient (2/2)
Constitution: Quick Healing (3/3)
Constitution: Armored (2/2)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Tenacious (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (1/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (2/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Mastery: Constitution Mastery (1/1)

cyrone · December 2015

Just a friendly reminder, Force Cascade will gobble up your passive.

jaazaniah1 · December 2015

If you want to have a better chance of doing more damage and holding aggro you should drop IDF in favor of Concentration. Also Ego as PSS instead of Con?

doomedluke1 · December 2015

Thanks for the answers. Some questions, though?

cyrone said:
Just a friendly reminder, Force Cascade will gobble up your passive.

Thanks for the reminder. If I remember correctly, my Impulse char doesn't suffer this penalty. Why does that happen? Any advice on an equivalent power to substitute the Cascade?

jaazaniah1 said:
If you want to have a better chance of doing more damage and holding aggro you should drop IDF in favor of Concentration. Also Ego as PSS instead of Con?

Won't doing this two things cut a lot of my survivability?

flowcyto · December 2015

I wouldn't recommend trying to tank w/ an offensive passive, unless you were doing something specific like tanking Gravi w/ a passive that gives ranged physical resist. You'd also want to use Hybrid role and Bulwark in Protector to make up for lacking the threat gen bonuses of the Tank role. And yea, all the passives that give specifically Physical dmg resist are energy forms anyways, so Force Cascade is out then. Ya could try a AoPM hybrid tank, I suppose, though ur still kinda squishy then.

Here's how I'd prob make a standard Ranged Earth rank, w/ a few Force powers thrown in:

http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.html?v=11&n=&d=1342ObMGHQU0000H000H30JH50088003705J5037G00HA09I40a3E03DM00EI04MB0100002sib438W2MGB

Could try EGO/Con/Dex, as mentioned, for a bit more dps- though you'd be lower health and a bit more knock-prone.

doomedluke1 · December 2015

flowcyto said:
I wouldn't recommend trying to tank w/ an offensive passive, unless you were doing something specific like tanking Gravi w/ a passive that gives ranged physical resist. You'd also want to use Hybrid role and Bulwark in Protector to make up for lacking the threat gen bonuses of the Tank role. And yea, all the passives that give specifically Physical dmg resist are energy forms anyways, so Force Cascade is out then. Ya could try a AoPM hybrid tank, I suppose, though ur still kinda squishy then.

Here's how I'd prob make a standard Ranged Earth rank, w/ a few Force powers thrown in:

http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.html?v=11&n=&d=1342ObMGHQU0000H000H30JH50088003705J5037G00HA09I40a3E03DM00EI04MB0100002sib438W2MGB

Could try EGO/Con/Dex, as mentioned, for a bit more dps- though you'd be lower health and a bit more knock-prone.

I see this build is more crit and avoidance based... Never tried that. Having DEX SS would make up for not having EGO, right? Looks interesting. The offensive powers I'd like to mantain the ones I chose (think of it more about force/gravity than earth magic), Force Detonation and Fissure work well with MSA and also Fissure gives some healing besides of DoT. I also switched out FC for Typhoon, but the rest I'm still undecided.

flowcyto · December 2015

Yeah Dex PSS could also work, though its dodge/avoid options are pretty weak compared to Expose Weakness and Deadly Aim's contributions to dps/threat. Usually you'd take Dex PSS for the dps options. If ya want more dodge, Con PSS's Deflection actually scales better than Dex's, and doesn't have as high opportunity costs.

Ego PSS is still prob the best compromise there, as it gives ya reliable Defense (Force of Will), Ranged cost discount (Insight), and crit% + severity increases (for both dps/threat and crit-enabled heals). Still lacks knock resist, but that can be worked around usually.

jaazaniah1 · December 2015

Flow covered the reasoning behind going Ego PSS.

IDF is mostly good against mobs, not so much against the major villains like Gravitar or Frosticus (if you do Rampages). Some people believe the best defense is a good offense (at least against mobs). If you can mow them down quickly before they do much in the way of damage the end result is the same as a longer fight in which you take less damage. Also, Concentration gives you energy as you build/maintain stacks, allowing you to attack more and do more damage. IDF doesn't give you energy so you may have to use your energy builder more often, lessening the amount of damage you do.

doomedluke1 · December 2015

I spent the day tweaking the build, checking the tips you guys gave me and trying to adapt to what I wanted. XD

Came to this:

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Scourge
Level 6: Ascetic
Level 9: Quick Recovery
Level 12: Wordly
Level 15: Field Ops Training
Level 18: Command Training
Level 21: Paramilitary Training

Powers:
Level 1: Wield Earth
Level 1: Tremor (Challenging Strikes)
Level 6: Defiance
Level 8: Concentration
Level 11: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 14: Force Shield (Force Sheathe)
Level 17: Field Surge (Rank 2, Power Swell)
Level 20: Crushing Wave
Level 23: Ego Surge
Level 26: Fissure (Rank 2, Reconstruct)
Level 29: Typhoon
Level 32: Force Detonation
Level 35: Telekinetic Maelstrom
Level 38: Conviction

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Electro Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Electric Arc

Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Aggression (2/2)
Ego: Sixth Sense (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Tenacious (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (1/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (2/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

The stats look nice, at least in the defensive side, but damage doesn't seem all that great.
With Heroic gear and rank 4 mods focusing on Con and Int, i got
9688 HP
Energy 46/117
Offense 543.5 (+ 17%)
Crit. Chance 31.7
Crit. Sev. 75%
Defense 331.2 (+78%)

flowcyto · December 2015

W/ Ego's Insight and Defiance ya may not need Int SS if just for the cost discount and MSA, though the cd reduction can still be okay. Ya have to weigh that vs. Dex SS for a bit more crit%. Kinda up to you I guess.

If ur not shelling out for a Depleted Uranium Core, you prob want to gear for severity + crit% (instead of straight crit% or offense) as long as ur not using Dex Mastery. W/ Guardicator, I'd expect ~100%+ severity by lvl 40 gearing stanbdards.

Else, the main dmg increase will come from putting normal ranks in ur powers, since each one is 20% final dmg. I'd also go w/ Cave In as ur main single-target attack if ya wanna stick w/ Earth. Cave In is the highest dps attack in the set that doesn't have a cd, and it can have CripC- which adds threat per use (so ya can tap-spam the flat threat if the target is >25 ft, and half-charge it if w/in 25ft so ya still build Concentration). Ya prob don't need Crushing Wave (which has issues building Conc) if ya got Tremor. If ya want a close-range AoE attack, Quicksand w/ CS is imo better than CWave.

pwestolemyname · December 2015

As a Tank, what is your plan to hold Aggro? You have a Defensive Passive, so your damage is going to be significantly lower than most Offensive Passive DPSers. One Challenging Strikes is definitely not going to hold aggro against even a moderately decent DPSer. You need some Crippling Challenge.

My question is, why are you trying to make this a tank? Switch back to Earth Form and go forward as a hybrid DPS/control. Between the slows and such from Earth and the KB/Up from Force, you do have some decent battlefield management abilities. Seems like that would go a lot more like what you want.

I have tried to simulate gravity, as well. It is really hard to do.

doomedluke1 · December 2015

Flow, I switched INT for DEX and with a bit more proper gearing I got almost 40% crit chance. The cost of powers suffered a bit but I think the damage now is pretty decent.

I know Crushing Wave from the cone area powers is kinda suboptimal, but it fits better both the char concept and my play style, I was also missing a cone area mantain with this char. It's giving about 1350 damage crits with 8 stacks of Concentration.

Earth and Force powers are kinda slow compared to some other powerframes, so against mobs in alerts it's a bit hard to build aggro, but I'm being able to easily hold aggro cycling through Cave In, Tremor and C. Wave in most groups against alert bosses, and in many cases stealing aggro when there's "monsters" in the group at least for moments. Got to Clarence last night with about 3/4 of his HP and still stole aggro a few times, but also died a few times (but I think the guilt was of my controller failing to block sometimes). Was fighting Mega D today in hybrid role and someone asked me how I was getting aggro after receiving Palliate. I saved the last power slot to decide between TK Maelstrom, Resurgence or Conviction after I played the build a bit. I must confess I hardly get the point of Conviction though. TK Maelstrom is an awesome power but I felt the lack of a proper heal.

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Void
Level 6: Acrobat
Level 9: Shooter
Level 12: Ascetic
Level 15: Quick Recovery
Level 18: Wordly
Level 21: Impresario

Powers:
Level 1: Wield Earth
Level 1: Tremor (Challenging Strikes)
Level 6: Defiance
Level 8: Concentration
Level 11: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 14: Force Shield (Force Sheathe)
Level 17: Field Surge (Rank 2, Power Swell)
Level 20: Crushing Wave
Level 23: Ego Surge
Level 26: Fissure (Rank 2, Reconstruct)
Level 29: Typhoon
Level 32: Force Detonation
Level 35: Cave In
Level 38: Telekinetic Maelstrom

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Electro Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Electric Arc

Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Aggression (2/2)
Ego: Sixth Sense (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Tenacious (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (1/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (2/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

flowcyto · December 2015

Yeah for a fight like Clarence ya want to block at the right times.

Good to hear that threat isn't as much of an issue. AoE threat shouldn't really be a big problem for Earth or Force, since they have powers that can apply Challenging Strikes often and easily. CWave is still fine as an AoE aggro tool for that reason- its more about widely applying CS multiple times to keep mobs grouped on you, than it is about the dps. The main issue there is still that CWave doesn't stack Conc unless ur main target w/ it is >25ft away, since it lacks enough ticks to proc Conc via the 4-tick rule. If ya can still keep Conc stacked through that then CWave is fine.

Conviction is mostly a maintenance heal. Its good for keeping ur health up through sustained dmg. Having one short-cd heal like it is nice for that reason, as otherwise ya have to rely on larger heals w/ longer cds to stay healthy (or a healing ally, which ya can't always rely on). Ya can still do much content in CO w/o having a short-cd heal, but it'll prob make ya more reliant on health packs and whatnot for tougher fights.

I'm not sure if that build ya posted is an outdated one (I imagine it doesn't reflect the actual build as its missing most adv points), but ya prob want to change Field Surge for another AD. FSurge is kinda lackluster if ur not using PFF as ur passive.

carrionbaggage · December 2015

In your current iteration, dropping INT means that you won't be getting much energy from MSA.

For variety, here's another take on it:

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Glacier
Level 6: Investigator
Level 9: Boundless Reserves
Level 12: Accurate
Level 15: Survival Training
Level 18: Field Ops Training
Level 21: Healthy Mind

Powers:
Level 1: Force Bolts
Level 1: Stone Shot (Rank 2, Shard Burst, Challenging Strikes)
Level 6: Force Shield (Force Sheathe)
Level 8: Defiance
Level 11: Concentration
Level 14: Cave In (Rank 2, Crippling Challenge)
Level 17: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 23: Telekinetic Maelstrom (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Shockwave (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenging Strikes)
Level 29: Resurgence (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Gravity Driver (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 38: Masterful Dodge

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Displacement Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Flight

Specializations:
Intelligence: Tactician (2/2)
Intelligence: Battle of Wits (3/3)
Intelligence: Detect Vulnerability (3/3)
Intelligence: Expertise (2/2)
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: The Rush of Battle (2/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Mastery: Intelligence Mastery (1/1)

Shockwave doesn't fit in the powersets you mentioned, but it could be seen as a gravitational field. It's great for spreading Challengiing Strikes across a large area. Tap-spam Cave In when tanking a boss.

TK Maelstrom, Gravity Driver, and Stone Shot (charge) --> Cave In (charge) give you some utility stuns, which are boosted by Battle of Wits.

The build lacks knock resist, but based on your other versions that seems to be acceptable. If it doesn't kill your concept, shoehorning in Circle of Primal Dominion would be nice for knock-heavy encounters. Switching to CON Primary could also grant some knock resist, but at the cost of some damage output.

doomedluke1 · December 2015

Flow, I finnaly understood Conviction, thanks. It's not about the amount of healing, but about the really short CD, and it's nice for a build with MSA. Unless I'm fighting enemies with very strong attacks, Conv. has been very useful.
This build has been very fun for PVE. But I must confess I feel a bit squishy when I'm been overwhelmed by, let's say, a large group of mobs or, for example, the two big robot toys from the BH's alert, especially when the team is not very powerful. When both come after me I can die really quickly even while blocking, even with +9k HP and 74% dam. resistance.

I also felt the lack of knock resist but I think I'll have to live with that if I want to mantain the damage, unless I go for a pure tank, I think. I did think in changing PSS for Con but its spec tree doesn't have a spec which gives Def through secondary SS like Ego does... Would it be worth it?
For now I'm mostly stuck with the build I'll post bellow until I have enough resources to mess around again, but I'm thinking about swapping Field Surge or TK Maelstrom

for a more effective healing power.

Also thanks to carrionbaggage too for remindind me of Gravity Driver. I ran to try to find it in the Auction House and got lucky, found it for a price I could afford. I decided to swap Fissure for it because, besides fitting better the concept, the healing from Fissure needs you to be in its area and being a ranged char that's not what I really want.
I'll pass Shockwave for now but I might take a look when I'm able to retcon.

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Asa-Tyr

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Void
Level 6: Acrobat
Level 9: Ascetic
Level 12: Shooter
Level 15: Impresario
Level 18: Wordly
Level 21: Quick Recovery

Powers:
Level 1: Wield Earth
Level 1: Tremor (Rank 2, Challenging Strikes)
Level 6: Defiance
Level 8: Concentration
Level 11: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 14: Cave In (Rank 2, Crippling Challenge)
Level 17: Crushing Wave (Rank 2, Disruptive Force, Challenging Strikes)
Level 20: Field Surge (Rank 2, Power Swell)
Level 23: Force Detonation (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Typhoon (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Force Shield (Force Sheathe)
Level 32: Gravity Driver (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Telekinetic Maelstrom (Rank 2)
Level 38: Conviction (Rank 2)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Electro Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Electric Arc

Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Aggression (2/2)
Ego: Sixth Sense (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (1/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (2/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

I may have got confused about levels and advantages but it's mostly this.

jaazaniah1 · December 2015

How is your energy situation? Are you getting hit enough for Defiance to really kick in? If not, you might switch Dex for Int to more properly fuel MSA (also helps shorten cooldown periods). When you get to 40 and have good gear you can easily get your crit chance above 30% without Dex as a SS.

Field Surge > Masterful Dodge (unranked) would probably be a better option (since you aren't using PFF) and free some Adv points. E.g. take Conviction to R3.

You have a lot of attacks and relatively few defenses for a tank. Put the attack you think you are using the least in your last slot and then field test the character some more. If you really do find that you don't use that attack (or some other) very much then swap it for some other defense such as Resurgence, Bionic Shielding or BCR.

flowcyto · December 2015

Pretty much agree w/ what Jaaz said (as far as R3 Conviction, R1 Masterful Dodge, etc). Making the last power slot more of a wild card can be nice, as retraining the last adv_power slot is relatively cheap to do once you've finalized the rest of the build (just make sure ya get most of the adv points for the other powers ur more sure on before getting that last power trained).

I'd prob designate Gravity Driver as the wildcard. Its a nice ultimate for boosting group performance, but as a tank you have higher priorities, imo- like making sure ur not too squishy. TK Maelstrom also isn't really needed w/ the AoE ya have already, but its up to you what sort of powers ya want to keep for the helluvit.

How much maxHP do you have? Defiance builds benefit the most from Con-stacking. I'd also prob replace Locus in Guardian w/ Tenacious, as its more reliable Offense if ur getting hit. If energy is good atm then ya can also move a few points from Insight into Follow Through for the severity boost. They're not going to be big performance boosts, but can help.

doomedluke1 · December 2015

Thanks for all your patience, guys.

Since I finished farming the christmas event, I can relax a bit now, and took Asa-Tyr back to the Powerhouse and used my last retcon (T_T). I've been playing with him this week and found that in normal missions with more balanced groups I can tank easily, but in bigger fights with lots of min-maxed chars, it's a bit harder to get aggro. I could tank Gravitar yesterday with relative ease in a private instance, but as I pointed out before, when I'm been overwhelmed by enemies I can die fast. I have a Behemoth char and I think he's more durable than Tyr, but I'm getting to the conclusion that I'll have to live with that if I don't want to sacrifice the concept.

I went back to Int SSS as energy was being a bit of a problem, I think the few % points in Crit. Chance weren't worth having Dex as SS as the little energy and the high cost of Typhoon, for example, were limiting attacks. At least testing against the dummies in the PH, energy seemed to be a bit better this way.
Also gave up TK Maelstrom for Resurgence and Force Detonation for Ego Surge. Not sure if E. Surge is really needed... If I could spare one power slot I was thinking of getting Energy Wave instead, since it fits nicely the theme and can also provide some protection with the adv. I forgot to check Masterful Dodge, but anyways, will it work well as I gave up Dex for Int?
HP is about 10k, and Def ~300 (70% dam. res.) without proper gear to the new SS.
Charged Cave In can deal more than 4k with a critical, and tapping Typhoon can deal more than 1200 when it crits (charge crits over 5k). I know it's not the biggest damage, just so you guys have an idea about how he's working. (I didn't know Cave In is so strong

)

What I got so far:

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Asa-Tyr

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Impulse
Level 6: Academics
Level 9: Ascetic
Level 12: Daredevil
Level 15: Investigator
Level 18: Healthy Mind
Level 21: Field Ops Training

Powers:
Level 1: Wield Earth
Level 1: Tremor (Challenging Strikes)
Level 6: Defiance
Level 8: Concentration
Level 11: Cave In (Rank 2, Crippling Challenge)
Level 14: Crushing Wave (Rank 2, Disruptive Force, Accelerated Metabolism, Challenging Strikes)
Level 17: Force Shield (Rank 2, Force Sheathe)
Level 20: Resurgence (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Ego Surge (Rank 2, Nimble Mind)
Level 29: Field Surge (Power Swell)
Level 32: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 35: Gravity Driver (Rank 2)
Level 38: Typhoon (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Electro Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Electric Arc

Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (2/3)
Ego: Aggression (2/2)
Ego: Follow Through (1/3)
Ego: Sixth Sense (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Tenacious (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

PS.: I was just checking the effects of Tenacious in the laser test and I thought it's too small to keep it, maybe because of diminishing returns (I'm already with 500 offense)... +1% to damage and 2% dam. res. Maybe I could exchange it for Retribution or Find the Mark, as it seems they give bigger benefits?

jaazaniah1 · December 2015

You should see a big boost in damage with Ego Surge + Nimble Mind.

Maybe take the points from Aggression and put them in Follow Through. Once you have better gear you will probably not need Rush of Battle so much since your defenses will be better and RoB only works when you kill the bad guys and so won't help against Gravitar or in F&I. The points might be better spent boosting your crit chance.

I'd still swap Masterful Dodge in for Field Surge. You could put the 2 points then into Tremor. Dex has no special effect on MD, so no worries. When fighting mobs pop MD at the beginning of the fight. Mow down mobs fast with AoEs. Anything left after MD wears off will not be much of a threat at that point.

Once you have the higher end gear you should have better offense and defense.

I highly recommend having a couple Servitor Serums in your inventory for doing Rampages. They cost 3 Silver Champions Recognition (which you get from alerts and Unity missions) and are well worth it since they are self rez devices. Get them from the Champions Recognition vendor in the Recognition building. I've been in any number of Gravitar runs were people were knocked out and could not rejoin the fight because there was no rezer in the group and they did not have SS. I can never understand why everyone doesn't have at least one of those in their inventories at all times given how cheap and useful they are.

doomedluke1 · January 2016

I'm already with Heroic Gear so I think the stats won't change a lot, but the mods aren't all the right ones yet. I think I'll have to gear for a bit of Rec so my equilibrium and energy builder be better. Though I picked Rush of Battle thinking of bosses who summon mobs, I think you're right and put the points in Mass Destruction. As the benefits from Field Surge are minimal for this build (the shield is not very enduring) I decided also pick Masterful Dodge instead. It's not very thematical but I think will boost my survivability a lot.

Gravity Driver > Masterful Dodge > C. Wave or Tremor, seems like a good combo for most mobs, and then I can focus with stronger attacks like Typhoon and Cave In. For now I kept Energy Wave last in the slots instead of Ego Surge more for variety and theme, and for situations where I'm surrounded by enemies as I gave up Force Detonation, but if I feel the need I can swap them again.

Thanks for the tip of the Serum, I never took a look in the consumables part of the SCR store, didn't even know they exist.
I always wondered how there wasn't a rez item that could be bought through in-game currency... o.O

For now, until I'm sure about the Stats and Specs, I kept Asa-Tyr in the Powerhouse, don't wanna pay for all the retcon if I decide to change anything again.

But I really want to take him to action and see how he'll come out in combat now.

PS: Happy New Year to all you guys and thanks for the help!

Earth/Force ranged tank?

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