Ego blades min/maxing

noyjitatpwe · February 2018

I returned after a long break to find this and many of my characters have completely changed so I'm looking for some basic info and possibly builds.
I'm lifer so I use freeform for all my characters but i'll mostly be using mentalist powers other than perhaps self buffs here and there.

Is there now a hard cap for ego stat like there is (or was for strength) meaning after say 200 ego stat i won't see any noticeable increase in damage.
Strength still doesnt' affect ego blades at all does it?

How useful is dexterity for mental discipline and other parts of ego blades? If I already have high crit/crit severity where should I draw the line? Do I really need it or am I better served stacking as much ego as possible?
My character will have legion/vigilante gear as I never got around to even starting on the justice gear. I have no plans to pvp/duel at this time and I just want to kill things as quickly as possible while having an advantage or click power for bad times. It looks like ego weaponry is still best used as a tool power with advantages: siphon strikes and stressed out. Am I wrong there?

I don't want to sit around low on energy so where do you draw the line on stacking recovery?

Telekinetic lance had an advantage point or was used in a rotation with ego blade annihilation but I don't remember what it did exactly. Like you would use ego blade and then lance to reset something (my memory is hazy) something was moved or changed here.

I already obtained ego blade pandemonium but do not have lance rain at this time.

criswolf09 · February 2018

The advantage you are talking about from TK Lance was called Id Infusion which made the buff that returned your stacks of Ego Leech consumed to you buff your dmg by 15%. Since the recent TK review last year it is recommended to go with high Dex to increase the Crit Chance and damage bonus granted by the Forms of Telekinesis, Mental Discipline for Melee and Mental Precision for Ranged. Also if I remember well, the soft cap of Ego for TK attacks in general is 70 points but I might be wrong, if so someone please correct me. The set now can apply a damage resistance debuff which stacks 3 times and procs the forms and the energy unlock now grants energy over time each time you gain an stack of Ego Leech scaling with Rec/End. Hope this helps. The Ultimate TK power for range is called Mental Impact.

flowcyto · February 2018

- "Is there now a hard cap for ego stat like there is (or was for strength) meaning after say 200 ego stat i won't see any noticeable increase in damage."

No hard cap, though there's a soft-cap at 70, after which the return drops off to about a quarter.

- "Strength still doesnt' affect ego blades at all does it?"

It still does not, though Str PSS can still be alright for a more defensive option via Juggernaut and Con SS (while still having Physical Peak and Brutality).

- "How useful is dexterity for mental discipline and other parts of ego blades? If I already have high crit/crit severity where should I draw the line? Do I really need it or am I better served stacking as much ego as possible?"

Mental Disc now scales exclusively w/ Dex, so if taking it then Dex should def be ur main stat for a dps build. Crit rating and crit% via Dex still share a DR curve, and unless you have Dex Mastery you should generally get one crit severity bonus on gear (severity rating diminishes rel quickly). Based on this and previous info, you can prob surmise that you should not focus on Ego if taking Mental Disc.

- "My character will have legion/vigilante gear as I never got around to even starting on the justice gear. I have no plans to pvp/duel at this time and I just want to kill things as quickly as possible while having an advantage or click power for bad times. It looks like ego weaponry is still best used as a tool power with advantages: siphon strikes and stressed out. Am I wrong there?"

Sure, though Siphoning will lower ur dps significantly, so its not optimal to take from that standpoint. But the self-heal can be very strong, so it depends on what ur prioritizing. The combo can still be a good/fast way to stack Stress and Ego Leech when paired w/ EBA's buff.

- "I don't want to sit around low on energy so where do you draw the line on stacking recovery?"

You won't need much if you gear for lotsa Dex w/ Mental Disc as is, and cost discount rating on utility gear can also help. I'd generally just benchmark what stats you need for a smooth rotation by testing it in the PH/PTS first.

- "Telekinetic lance had an advantage point or was used in a rotation with ego blade annihilation but I don't remember what it did exactly. Like you would use ego blade and then lance to reset something (my memory is hazy) something was moved or changed here."

You never really needed to use TKL in a TK Blades rotation if you already had EBA- unless you wanted a ranged 'rupture' of Ego Leech. The easiest and a very high dps rotation for TK Blade now is alternating between Ego Weaponry w/ Stress adv and charged EBA, pref using something like Brawler spec's Setup to further boost EBA.

- "I already obtained ego blade pandemonium but do not have lance rain at this time."

That's fine. From an ult standpoint, Pandemonium is one of the strongest- for a melee dps that's built for it.
--

As an example, here's a more glass-cannon TK Blades build:

(Unnamed Build) - Freeform
v2.4.2-29

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

Talents
Level 1: The Squall (Dex: 8, Ego: 10, Rec: 10, End: 10)
Level 6: Impresario (Dex: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 9: Shooter (Dex: 5, Ego: 5)
Level 12: Worldly (Ego: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 15: Accurate (Dex: 5, End: 5)
Level 18: Daredevil (Ego: 5, End: 5)
Level 21: Amazing Stamina (Rec: 5, End: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Ego Blade (advantages)
Level 1: Ego Weaponry (Rank 2, Stressed Out)
Level 6: Mental Discipline (advantages)
Level 8: Id Mastery (Rank 2, Rank 3, Id Blades)
Level 11: Telekinetic Reverberation
Level 14: Ego Blade Frenzy (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Ego Blade Annihilation (Rank 2, Mental Acuity)
Level 23: Ego Blade Dash (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 26: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 29: Ego Surge (Rank 2, Nimble Mind)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge (advantages)
Level 35: Fiery Embrace (Rank 2)
Level 38: Ego Blade Pandemonium (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Adv. Points: 34/36

Travel Powers
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations
Ego: Mental Endurance (1/3)
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Aggression (2/2)
Ego: Follow Through (2/3)
Ego: Sixth Sense (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (2/3)
Warden: Slaughter (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Brawler: The Glory of Battle (1/3)
Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
Brawler: Setup (2/2)
Brawler: Flanking (3/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

Warden Mastery could also work here. More survivable setups could use the healing/shielding advs on Ego Weaponry and EB Frenzy, and/or employ Con SS. Gears mostly for Dex, and some Rec for sufficient energy.

noyjitatpwe · February 2018

flowcyto said:
- "Is there now a hard cap for ego stat like there is (or was for strength) meaning after say 200 ego stat i won't see any noticeable increase in damage."

No hard cap, though there's a soft-cap at 70, after which the return drops off to about a quarter.

- "Strength still doesnt' affect ego blades at all does it?"

It still does not, though Str PSS can still be alright for a more defensive option via Juggernaut and Con SS (while still having Physical Peak and Brutality).

- "How useful is dexterity for mental discipline and other parts of ego blades? If I already have high crit/crit severity where should I draw the line? Do I really need it or am I better served stacking as much ego as possible?"

Mental Disc now scales exclusively w/ Dex, so if taking it then Dex should def be ur main stat for a dps build. Crit rating and crit% via Dex still share a DR curve, and unless you have Dex Mastery you should generally get one crit severity bonus on gear (severity rating diminishes rel quickly). Based on this and previous info, you can prob surmise that you should not focus on Ego if taking Mental Disc.

- "My character will have legion/vigilante gear as I never got around to even starting on the justice gear. I have no plans to pvp/duel at this time and I just want to kill things as quickly as possible while having an advantage or click power for bad times. It looks like ego weaponry is still best used as a tool power with advantages: siphon strikes and stressed out. Am I wrong there?"

Sure, though Siphoning will lower ur dps significantly, so its not optimal to take from that standpoint. But the self-heal can be very strong, so it depends on what ur prioritizing. The combo can still be a good/fast way to stack Stress and Ego Leech when paired w/ EBA's buff.

- "I don't want to sit around low on energy so where do you draw the line on stacking recovery?"

You won't need much if you gear for lotsa Dex w/ Mental Disc as is, and cost discount rating on utility gear can also help. I'd generally just benchmark what stats you need for a smooth rotation by testing it in the PH/PTS first.

- "Telekinetic lance had an advantage point or was used in a rotation with ego blade annihilation but I don't remember what it did exactly. Like you would use ego blade and then lance to reset something (my memory is hazy) something was moved or changed here."

You never really needed to use TKL in a TK Blades rotation if you already had EBA- unless you wanted a ranged 'rupture' of Ego Leech. The easiest and a very high dps rotation for TK Blade now is alternating between Ego Weaponry w/ Stress adv and charged EBA, pref using something like Brawler spec's Setup to further boost EBA.

As an example, here's a more glass-cannon TK Blades build:

(Unnamed Build) - Freeform
v2.4.2-29

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

Powers
Level 17: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Ego Blade Annihilation (Rank 2, Mental Acuity)
Level 23: Ego Blade Dash (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 26: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 29: Ego Surge (Rank 2, Nimble Mind)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge (advantages)
Level 35: Fiery Embrace (Rank 2)
Level 38: Ego Blade Pandemonium (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Adv. Points: 34/36

Specializations
Ego: Mental Endurance (1/3)
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Aggression (2/2)
Ego: Follow Through (2/3)
Ego: Sixth Sense (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (2/3)
Warden: Slaughter (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Brawler: The Glory of Battle (1/3)
Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
Brawler: Setup (2/2)
Brawler: Flanking (3/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

Warden Mastery could also work here. More survivable setups could use the healing/shielding advs on Ego Weaponry and EB Frenzy, and/or employ Con SS. Gears mostly for Dex, and some Rec for sufficient energy.

Okay a few thoughts and questions:
If about 70 ego is all I Really need or rather going beyond that hits it with severe diminishing returns Im going to easily be over it with just having it as my primary superstat and I also have vigilante secondary gear which would mean more ego stat. What are you thoughts about dexterity as my primary stat? Especially since the tool tip in the character window shows the primary superstat giving higher bonuses to all damage than secondary or would that be an incorrect tooltip? Or is the ego specializations alone too good to pass up? Those were what I used in the past. Base off the information im learning it appears I have a good deal of wasted stats on several characters with the limits of strength and ego stats.

What about convinction / fiery embrace? Just filler power suggestions or do you find that self heal in conviction to be more useful than say bionic shieldings heal or even nanobot swarm to use things like pandemonium and ego surge.... I think I remember nanobot swarm having a heal advantage too.

flowcyto · February 2018

Whether the PSS or SSSs give higher bonus depends on the role (ex. PSS for dps, SSSs for Hybrid), but in the grand scheme its not as huge a deal. 'Passive damage bonus' or 'bonus damage' (like from SS's) also have a DR that's easy to get heavily into as a geared dps (toggle/form, slotted passive, and SS's make up the bulk of it).

Its prob more important to look at other factors that are scaling any stat- like if something is scaling from your PSS or SSSs in the PSS spec tree (ie. taking 3/3 in 6th Sense in Ego PSS if the main focus is an SSS like Dex, instead of 3/3 in Follow Through if Ego was the main focus).

But yea, there are other SS setups that could work well too- there's usually more than one good option for dps builds there. You can explore other options, if you like.

Bionic Shield requires you to be hit to heal, and generally healers are better putting it on you since theirs will have much more bonus heal attached. Conviction is an easy, instant self-heal w/ a short cd that doesn't take any special conditions to use well (and it can still crit). Its not the highest hps thing out there, but its often taken just for its ease-of-use.

As for Fiery Embrace (or any self-res): its nice to have if you die to harder content, though its not essential either (you could wait for a support res, or recover in content that you can run back on, .. or just not die

There are also device items that can res you). Things like a threat wipe, or another AO, or Nanobot Swarm (to reduce cds), or an ally res, or a stun/CC, etc.. could also be good- depending on what else you may want to add to the build's core set.

noyjitatpwe · March 2018

@flowcyto

Thanks again for your time and build; I just discovered a zone that was apparently added at some point during my time away or perhaps I just never knew it was there while I was playing. Qliphotic Realm, my character feels completely and totally unplayable there

I'm asking for some guidance or knowledge on a hybrid and less squishy build for my ego blades/freeform. I tried pickup lightning reflexes for a hybrid build while keeping most of the other power suggestions you made but everything there annihilates me too damn fast. Same gear so I realize I may have to change out some things but I do have and want use my medusa presence 9 and depleted uranium core so those will be taking up 2 slots in my legion/vigilante gear and im currently working on getting my slicer onslaught piece.

My thoughts are personal force field / field surge in addition to the previous build but dropping conviction / fiery embrace in terms of a hybrid build In which case I may also drop masterful dodge since i'd have 3 active defense clicks.

I thought depending on what you suggest if it's simply taking a few different powers in place of the previous build you gave me that i'll take them near the end so I can just respec out of them as needed (really wish we had true alternate builds, alternate superstats, separate set of powers etc)

In the end I guess I could always avoid the zone with her unless I happen to be grouped.

**edited**

flowcyto · March 2018

Well, that was a glass cannon build, rofl.. Just using a defensive passive prob isn't enough.

Here's a tankier hybrid that has quite lower dps, but should have a better shot w/ the Qzone:

(Unnamed Build) - Freeform
v2.4.2-29

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

Talents
Level 1: The Master (Str: 8, Dex: 10, Con: 10, Rec: 10)
Level 6: Covert Ops Training (Str: 3, Dex: 3, Con: 3, Int: 3)
Level 9: Acrobat (Dex: 5, Con: 5)
Level 12: Physical Conditioning (Str: 5, Con: 5)
Level 15: Martial Focus (Str: 5, Dex: 5)
Level 18: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 21: Impresario (Dex: 5, Rec: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Ego Blade (advantages)
Level 1: Ego Weaponry (Stressed Out, Siphoning Strikes)
Level 6: Mental Discipline (advantages)
Level 8: Invulnerability (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Telekinetic Reverberation
Level 14: Ego Blade Frenzy (Rank 2, Mental Block)
Level 17: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Ego Blade Annihilation (Rank 2, Mental Acuity)
Level 23: Ego Blade Dash (advantages)
Level 26: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge (advantages)
Level 32: Telekinetic Eruption (Enhanced Form, Inner Peace)
Level 35: Energy Shield (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Ego Blade Pandemonium (Rank 2)
Adv. Points: 34/36

Travel Powers
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations
Strength: Swole (2/3)
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (2/3)
Warden: Slaughter (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (2/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

And I just realized I forgot to give you a ranked block enhancer before, so I added one here. Also went for the shield/heal adv on some of the attacks, and gave you TK Eruption to tap to give you more defense and an extra heal. Wardicator specs and Str PSS (+ Con SS) is better for defense/survival than the more dps-focus you had before. Gears mostly for Dex and Con, w/ some Rec for energy.

jaazaniah1 · March 2018

You could sacrifice a power and have 2 passives and 2 complete or partial sets of gear (kind of depends how much time you want to spend on gearing it). One set would have more con and be oriented towards defense, the other for offense. I've done this on a couple characters and it works well in the Q zone. My healer does the Q zone with a modesty well-geared vehicle.

royalflvsh · March 2018

If you want a dual passive build for your ego blades character, I highly recommend Defiance for your survivability. It's not necessary to have a defensive passive, but it can help. If you must have one for your enjoyment of the Qliphothic Realm, Defiance is the way to go. Invulnerability is good too, but you have to rank it up to 3. Defiance is great at rank 1.

Whatever you do, keep your offensive passive for an alternate DPS build. My main is an ego blades toon. If you build well, with practice you can tear through the Qliphothic Realm stuff.

Someone recently recommended using a device called a Psionic Accelerator. I think it was Coach (pwestolemyname). Besides doing damage, this device throws out a powerful mass hold that helps you get the drop on the Qliphothic bad guys. It helped me a LOT in finally being able to get through the Destroid mobs without dying repeatedly.

I hope this is helpful to you.

jaazaniah1 · March 2018

In my experience I find that Invulnerability works best for Q zone. Yes, one has to spend point to rank it up, but with Defiance you have to build stacks, and that can be a problem when you first enter a fight. Plus, Invulnerability does a better job vs the small amounts of damage from the mobs.

royalflvsh · March 2018

Jaaz, my friend, you present a compelling argument. I turned my main Royal Flush into a dual passive build months ago, with a second suit of gear (Distinguished) all decked out with Constitution mods. This was my alternative to buying a threat wipe - I'd switch builds and go join the tanks. Royal's still primarily a DPS toon on all his other builds. I'll be honest. There was just no where else to squeeze four more points out of Royal without diminishing his DPS and sacrificing his placement on the Cosmic Hunter scoreboard. So I admit it.

I was too proud and too cheap!

So I chose Defiance!

noyjitatpwe · March 2018

Thanks for all the replies. After my long break I'm having to re-learn how to play and discovering what has changed over time in regards to nerfs etc. For now I kept my existing superstats and specializations and I'm using invul ranked up and laser knight on energy shield. I'm finding that feels much better in this zone than before and I can easily swap between id mastery in the builds.

I do have psionic accelerator but it gets resisted quite often guessing that's due to the 5 level difference, which makes sense.

I don't presently have the G or any amount of keys to trade for off spec gear but I probably will invest in that soon.

flowcyto · March 2018

royalflvsh said:
Jaaz, my friend, you present a compelling argument. I turned my main Royal Flush into a dual passive build months ago, with a second suit of gear (Distinguished) all decked out with Constitution mods. This was my alternative to buying a threat wipe - I'd switch builds and go join the tanks. Royal's still primarily a DPS toon on all his other builds. I'll be honest. There was just no where else to squeeze four more points out of Royal without diminishing his DPS and sacrificing his placement on the Cosmic Hunter scoreboard. So I admit it.

I was too proud and too cheap!

So I chose Defiance!

Either defense passive can work when solo, imo. Invuln is a bit better suited to trash, but stuff like good burst dps, AoE CC, and/or using Active Defenses aggressively (so you can go in and burst down a target w/o needing to turtle) are prob the most helpful things for mobs like that, and not so much the diff between Defiance and Invuln defensively. If you were lacking spare adv points, then Defiance is a fine pick for solo (prob need more defenses when starting out at 1 stack, though).

Ego blades min/maxing

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