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The Ultimate Knock melee build.
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Posts: 1,156,071 Arc User
The Guardian of the Planes, the Defender of the (insert random weak people here) - the Avenger/Gladiator/Sentinel/Big Daddy of Mass Destruction;
The Cannonball Sphere of Annihilation.
Taking advantage of two key traits - the energy unlock from Unstoppable for knocking enemies in melee, and the sweet, sweet healing when you hit stunned enemies with Sentinel Mastery. Everything else is offense.
With a 210 Rec or so I was getting back 76 energy from every knock - so this build is never going to use the energy builder unless you forget to knock, or get tasered or whatever. And no other tricks or powers spent on energy, no MSA + Conviction + something else etc, the Offensive Passive + attacking is the energy unlock.
And since I hate it when others knock say blow Hi Pan out of range of the 5 people in the group - every single knock in this build is a knockdown, or a knock-to, except for the very last Alpha Strike of Rage. So everything in range should be spending a lot of time stunned, and knocked down to the ground, hence the sphere of destruction.
End/Int/Pre/Ego do not matter in the least. A good crit mod for offense should add some nice crits on top of the Str tree if you want, but the goal is as much base damage as possible, and with the Rec and energy return you should never have to stop attacking. **edit - one slot dedicated to Dex will be useful, as with that + crit gear + str tree for crits should be able to hit some decent 30ish crit change numbers, severity 60, or 71 or so with Unity gear probably, so not terrible to dedicate a slot to it maybe** plus whatever you add from Str tree.
Super Stats:
Level 6: Super Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Super Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Super Recovery (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Devastator
Level 6: Physical Conditioning
Level 9: Relentless
Level 12: Quick Recovery
Level 15: Paramilitary Training
Level 18: Impressive Physicque
Level 21: Discipline Training
Powers:
Level 1: Bludgeon
Level 1: Cleave (Rank 2, Defensive Stance)
Level 6: Unstoppable (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Arc of Ruin (No Quarter)
Level 11: Enrage (Rank 2)
Level 14: Brimstone (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Vicious Descent (Relentless)
Level 20: Unbreakable (Rank 2, Better You Than Me)
Level 23: Thunderclap (Collateral Damage)
Level 26: Demolish (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge
Level 32: Imbue
Level 35: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Iron Cyclone (Vortex Technique)
**edit for better leveling
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2)
Level 35: Jet Pack (Rank 2)
Str specs (most are easy, or go crit focus, doesnt really matter)
Sentinel tree(from level 20-29) and Mastery - aoe stun + anything else = your defense is healing through beating up on stunned enemies. Anything else will add some damage, or add some defense - but that is not what the build is about - it already has as much damage as can reasonably be piled on - like 300%+ (which works out to maybe 150% with Cryptic math), adding in 20% more from some tree and dying a lot more is less handy than staying alive long enough to keep swinging.
The hold line and wither used since no other heals in the build anyway - 20% more hold time turns a 2 second stun into a 2.5 second stun or so...not insignificant. And if Wither actually works stunned enemies take 10% more damage.
Guardian tree - for the ever obvious 'best defense', Retaliation for extra 10% damage and some healing, and a bit more crits. Taken last because gear is going to suck anyway, so forget about the offense/defense until later anyway - healing first.
This is a very active clicking/button mashing build, and the huge healing from Sentinel Mastery will not kick in until 40, but maybe the passive healing will keep you alive long enough to reach 40.
Defense - whatever gear can be piled on for defense adds to offense, so it is double duty.
The real defense is enemies being stunned constantly and knocked to the ground. Disabled enemy = 0 damage enemy. But with gear plus Defiance should be hitting maybe 30% reduction, and then some hard DR from Unstoppable. Its not a ton - but the best defense is a good offense so they say...
Debuffs. Every fight can start with a lunge - which procs a stun, aoe knockdown, and Vicious Descent does silly damage for a lunge, like twice as much as any other lunge AND it procs Enrage if you hit 3 targets or more. So Lunge = energy back from passive/knock, stuns target so next 8 seconds of attacks heal you, and everything in 10 feet is busy not attacking you until it gets back up, and then the mayhem is fully underway.
One option, as seen by having Imbue - is to be the Cannonball of Destruction. With my garbage gear on the PTS, and only a measly 110 Str or so, an Imbued Lunge was hitting for over 2k on the crit. I expect with real gear and whatnot - I could hit an easy 3k, and maybe 4k Aoe crit on a lunge. That alone will clear a patch of minions in most open areas other than the 10-15k mobs in Alerts. So you could theoretically go from group to group while leveling up and Cannonball half the stuff on the map for fun times.
Next, if the enemies are in the least bit tough, Arc of Ruin charged up procs Disorient, so 10% less damage to you, and with the Adv they take 10% more damage for 15 seconds after as well. Cleave combo to proc a Rage AND Defiant for a bit more defense.
Thunderclap, stuns everything, more not being attacked, and more healing.
Demolish for single target crushingness. 12% further damage buff on targets. If target is easy, just tap this until dead.
Brimstone - Aoe knockdown. If enemies are mostly squishy, you can skip the rest and tap this instead until dead - refilling your energy all the while, and by the time most things even think about getting knock immunity - they will be thinking about it from jail.
Iron Cyclone is the other part of the Sphere (a play on the old D&D magic item Sphere of Annihilation that sucks in anything around and destroys it on contact) - good for stealthed enemies floating around, or the guys with guns that like to spread out to shoot you - you spin this and make them come close to face their doom, and again getting energy back while doing it. This is a real energy hog, and with a 200ish Rec and a piece of cost reduction gear, the 70-100 energy cost was completely negated by the 76 energy back.
Unbreakable w/Adv for some staying alive power - and to proc a lot of Rage for those annoying cut scenes. Masterful Dodge because even a 3000 point bubble is not going to last long in a big fight, but at least this will give you a steady reduction to try and stay alive while stunning/healing your way back to health.
Last - Unleashed Rage. Max stacks, Imbue - boom time. The only time knocking away stuff - because hopefully it will all be dead when it lands, and if you really need to get the mob off you.
With my trash gear and low Str I could hit a normal UR for 5k or so, Imbue for 10-12k. I imagine once real gear, and a 300-400 Str gets in there those numbers will go up a bit. **edit and just announced UR will become a melee attack...so maybe double damage from before.
I hate one trick builds, it becomes super boring, so this build has a lot of options to make things go away. And I have spent too many years not relying on pug clerics that cant heal, or having no cleric at all - so everything I make is going to have as much self healing in it as I can manage.
Against easy targets - you can pretty much use any of the Aoe attacks to wipe everything but the 1 or 2 tougher guys, which should go down under 1-2 Demolish hits, or just keep using Brimstone.
For Alerts - some Aoe healing, lots of high single target damage, lots of Aoe damage, lots of Aoe stuns, and Aoe knockdowns, and two of the attacks in the cycle give at least a physical damage resistance debuff to enemies, so anyone in group with that should get a nice little boost.
I really wanted at least 2 more powers for this build to try and make it more durable, TK Shield for the 16% extra damage resistance, and IDF to add a fairly good layer of extra defense, as with lots of defense gear, plus 1 defiance stack, plus 16% shield, you could hit around a 40% damage reduction alone, plus the extra from Unstoppable and IDF adding like 85-100 more reduction...but not enough powers means...kill it fast!
Enjoy.
The Cannonball Sphere of Annihilation.
Taking advantage of two key traits - the energy unlock from Unstoppable for knocking enemies in melee, and the sweet, sweet healing when you hit stunned enemies with Sentinel Mastery. Everything else is offense.
With a 210 Rec or so I was getting back 76 energy from every knock - so this build is never going to use the energy builder unless you forget to knock, or get tasered or whatever. And no other tricks or powers spent on energy, no MSA + Conviction + something else etc, the Offensive Passive + attacking is the energy unlock.
And since I hate it when others knock say blow Hi Pan out of range of the 5 people in the group - every single knock in this build is a knockdown, or a knock-to, except for the very last Alpha Strike of Rage. So everything in range should be spending a lot of time stunned, and knocked down to the ground, hence the sphere of destruction.
End/Int/Pre/Ego do not matter in the least. A good crit mod for offense should add some nice crits on top of the Str tree if you want, but the goal is as much base damage as possible, and with the Rec and energy return you should never have to stop attacking. **edit - one slot dedicated to Dex will be useful, as with that + crit gear + str tree for crits should be able to hit some decent 30ish crit change numbers, severity 60, or 71 or so with Unity gear probably, so not terrible to dedicate a slot to it maybe** plus whatever you add from Str tree.
Super Stats:
Level 6: Super Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Super Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Super Recovery (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Devastator
Level 6: Physical Conditioning
Level 9: Relentless
Level 12: Quick Recovery
Level 15: Paramilitary Training
Level 18: Impressive Physicque
Level 21: Discipline Training
Powers:
Level 1: Bludgeon
Level 1: Cleave (Rank 2, Defensive Stance)
Level 6: Unstoppable (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Arc of Ruin (No Quarter)
Level 11: Enrage (Rank 2)
Level 14: Brimstone (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Vicious Descent (Relentless)
Level 20: Unbreakable (Rank 2, Better You Than Me)
Level 23: Thunderclap (Collateral Damage)
Level 26: Demolish (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge
Level 32: Imbue
Level 35: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Iron Cyclone (Vortex Technique)
**edit for better leveling
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2)
Level 35: Jet Pack (Rank 2)
Str specs (most are easy, or go crit focus, doesnt really matter)
Sentinel tree(from level 20-29) and Mastery - aoe stun + anything else = your defense is healing through beating up on stunned enemies. Anything else will add some damage, or add some defense - but that is not what the build is about - it already has as much damage as can reasonably be piled on - like 300%+ (which works out to maybe 150% with Cryptic math), adding in 20% more from some tree and dying a lot more is less handy than staying alive long enough to keep swinging.
The hold line and wither used since no other heals in the build anyway - 20% more hold time turns a 2 second stun into a 2.5 second stun or so...not insignificant. And if Wither actually works stunned enemies take 10% more damage.
Guardian tree - for the ever obvious 'best defense', Retaliation for extra 10% damage and some healing, and a bit more crits. Taken last because gear is going to suck anyway, so forget about the offense/defense until later anyway - healing first.
This is a very active clicking/button mashing build, and the huge healing from Sentinel Mastery will not kick in until 40, but maybe the passive healing will keep you alive long enough to reach 40.
Defense - whatever gear can be piled on for defense adds to offense, so it is double duty.
The real defense is enemies being stunned constantly and knocked to the ground. Disabled enemy = 0 damage enemy. But with gear plus Defiance should be hitting maybe 30% reduction, and then some hard DR from Unstoppable. Its not a ton - but the best defense is a good offense so they say...
Debuffs. Every fight can start with a lunge - which procs a stun, aoe knockdown, and Vicious Descent does silly damage for a lunge, like twice as much as any other lunge AND it procs Enrage if you hit 3 targets or more. So Lunge = energy back from passive/knock, stuns target so next 8 seconds of attacks heal you, and everything in 10 feet is busy not attacking you until it gets back up, and then the mayhem is fully underway.
One option, as seen by having Imbue - is to be the Cannonball of Destruction. With my garbage gear on the PTS, and only a measly 110 Str or so, an Imbued Lunge was hitting for over 2k on the crit. I expect with real gear and whatnot - I could hit an easy 3k, and maybe 4k Aoe crit on a lunge. That alone will clear a patch of minions in most open areas other than the 10-15k mobs in Alerts. So you could theoretically go from group to group while leveling up and Cannonball half the stuff on the map for fun times.
Next, if the enemies are in the least bit tough, Arc of Ruin charged up procs Disorient, so 10% less damage to you, and with the Adv they take 10% more damage for 15 seconds after as well. Cleave combo to proc a Rage AND Defiant for a bit more defense.
Thunderclap, stuns everything, more not being attacked, and more healing.
Demolish for single target crushingness. 12% further damage buff on targets. If target is easy, just tap this until dead.
Brimstone - Aoe knockdown. If enemies are mostly squishy, you can skip the rest and tap this instead until dead - refilling your energy all the while, and by the time most things even think about getting knock immunity - they will be thinking about it from jail.
Iron Cyclone is the other part of the Sphere (a play on the old D&D magic item Sphere of Annihilation that sucks in anything around and destroys it on contact) - good for stealthed enemies floating around, or the guys with guns that like to spread out to shoot you - you spin this and make them come close to face their doom, and again getting energy back while doing it. This is a real energy hog, and with a 200ish Rec and a piece of cost reduction gear, the 70-100 energy cost was completely negated by the 76 energy back.
Unbreakable w/Adv for some staying alive power - and to proc a lot of Rage for those annoying cut scenes. Masterful Dodge because even a 3000 point bubble is not going to last long in a big fight, but at least this will give you a steady reduction to try and stay alive while stunning/healing your way back to health.
Last - Unleashed Rage. Max stacks, Imbue - boom time. The only time knocking away stuff - because hopefully it will all be dead when it lands, and if you really need to get the mob off you.
With my trash gear and low Str I could hit a normal UR for 5k or so, Imbue for 10-12k. I imagine once real gear, and a 300-400 Str gets in there those numbers will go up a bit. **edit and just announced UR will become a melee attack...so maybe double damage from before.
I hate one trick builds, it becomes super boring, so this build has a lot of options to make things go away. And I have spent too many years not relying on pug clerics that cant heal, or having no cleric at all - so everything I make is going to have as much self healing in it as I can manage.
Against easy targets - you can pretty much use any of the Aoe attacks to wipe everything but the 1 or 2 tougher guys, which should go down under 1-2 Demolish hits, or just keep using Brimstone.
For Alerts - some Aoe healing, lots of high single target damage, lots of Aoe damage, lots of Aoe stuns, and Aoe knockdowns, and two of the attacks in the cycle give at least a physical damage resistance debuff to enemies, so anyone in group with that should get a nice little boost.
I really wanted at least 2 more powers for this build to try and make it more durable, TK Shield for the 16% extra damage resistance, and IDF to add a fairly good layer of extra defense, as with lots of defense gear, plus 1 defiance stack, plus 16% shield, you could hit around a 40% damage reduction alone, plus the extra from Unstoppable and IDF adding like 85-100 more reduction...but not enough powers means...kill it fast!
Enjoy.
Post edited by Archived Post on
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Comments
For leveling you can take any given heal and then shift it up so its always the last power taken. Personaly I like Bionic Shield for this. Heals me or squishie suicidal NPC that I have to escort. As you have MD, you could take it earlier and then use BCR.
Now I just have to find an alt with free retcon token. That 'mastery' is interesting for a squishy offensive build. Must find what proc's it.
Yeah the true benefit wont kick in for all the XP Alerts I, or anyone else will probably be doing to help level now.
Bionic Shielding sounds the best, much higher burst healing if you are being attacked (and when wouldnt you be with this build...). BCR is one I avoided just because it is in the "you do less damage" category...heh. That and without a high base dodge really isnt very effective unless MD is hit, so it is only useful 20% of the time, where you can have Bionic up all the time pretty much.
Probably the most easily dropped power would be Iron Cyclone, it is the most flavor/extra part of the build. I would be hard pressed to want to get rid of anything else even temporarily.
And the Sentinel Mastery procs from any stun/paralyze/cc(but not knocks) etc. Making Thunderclap a aoe stun/rage builder/aoe heal...and dots proc the healing too. Making Condemn another very good goto power to stun/heal in an aoe as the poison dots last 10 seconds.
**edit and Heavy weapon damage is ridiculous at low levels so far. Cleave just eats stuff up.
By level 11 I had at least one 900 point Arc of Ruin crit, and Cleave/Skullsmasher(until I get Brimstone) for around 700. Very destructiony.
It never stops being ridiculous, my main is 34; One-shots henchmen with the first hit of cleave, regularly crits for 3k w/ 8 stacks of enrage.. >_>;
Brimstone is my new favorite power.
I feel really squishy compared to the tank I just leveled up - but except for bosses - nothing has any real chance to hit back unless I get way too much ranged agro.
Fun times.
**edited out Shuriken, blech. Cannonball Lunge it is.
Unbreakable at 20 for Alerts, very squishy vs bosses.
Brimstone is the main attack, have not bothered with Demolish yet. The energy alone from using Cleave is draining enough with the not great gear he is using, so adding in another non-knock attack is a waste so far. And it would only do a small amount of damage more against targets anyway. Will reassess later.
Saving the build until new Enrage form changes come - want to enjoy the last few levels as right now cycling between EB, Arc, 3 Cleave swings to add rage and only THEN getting to hit Brimstone is a pain. Out in normal missions do not need to worry about stacking rage as the damage is already high - but in Alerts trying to increase it in time to be useful was a real pain. Even Unstoppable takes 15 seconds to rack them up - and getting too much agro from too many things to try and proc it was not a great idea for a fairly squishy damage build.
The new Enrage stacking from knocks is going to mean Brimstone is the goto power, so will look at it again after to see if anything can be taken out.
Let us know how it works out.
Changes based on hitting 40 (actually hit 40 the day after I thought I was going to stay at 32, Black Fang being all generous with the hours and hours on end of free XP);
Remove Imbue, and Iron Cyclone. Less focus on Rec as Enrage adds enough energy to more than make up for the loss, boost Str higher instead. Had a 394 Str after shifting stuff around at the end there.
Also can remove Cleave once you get a chance - replaced with Mighty Kick w/Madness is much cheaper and faster way to add a Defiance stack, and since it knocks, also adds Rage stacks. If I recall a double dip from knocking with both Enrage and Unstoppable added 80-90 energy total. And for AOE Brimstone is far far better for a variety of reasons, more energy(meaning can do it forever rather than a couple hits and back to EB) more rage and bigger AOE for example.
Added in Annihilate as an alternate single target attack - as it gives similar damage to Demolish - but can spam it on bosses as it gives energy every 3-4 seconds unlike Demolish which drains it fairly quickly. Added Ego Surge/adv also as it adds very nice crit chance with a 200ish Con.
For leveling purposes I would not go the Rec/Unstoppable route - it was decent in open missions, but rather slow and painful in Alerts - far too much cycling between various attacks and still needing energy builder...but that was before the Enrage change. The old way I would totally go Int and MSA and then respec that out at 40. But with rage energy now it might still work out.
An alternate path would be dropping one of the powers for the sake of a shield - and I was thinking TK shield - with the adv, 16% damage resistance added to the secondary Q Armadillo gear plus primary plus specs adds up to about 80% rating, or something like a 45% DR - not shabby at all for a DPSish build.
Regarding the Sentinel tree nurf, since this was designed before when it was all awesome and stuff - the passive bonus is very small now, I was getting like 130 or so I think per 3 seconds. But the Mastery bonus was still giving around 400 hp per attack on anything hit by Thunderclap, so it still works out for lots of self and group healing as long as people are attacking.
Never really played the build after 40 as I went right back to leveling 4 other builds while Black fang was still around, and now I cant play, but it was a blast on non-Alert missions while it lasted.