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Earth help
irollones
Posts: 6 Arc User
I want to make an Earth toon (freeform) because I love the animations, but the set confuses me and seems to lack any synergy. It mixes ranged and melee, it doesn't have a natural fit for an energy unlock, and it seems to have a lot of overlap. I'd like some advice on the following:
1) What's a good energy unlock?
2) Overlap. Is there any reason to keep Stone Shot after you get Tremor or Cave In? Any reason to keep Tremor after you get Fault Line?
3) Passive? I want to be more of an offensive player than a tank, so I don't want to do Defiance or Invuln. Unstoppable is good if you stick to the melee attacks, but I'd prefer to emphasize the ranged attacks. Right now I'm using AoPM for lack of anything better. Thoughts?
4) What about a good form? Was probably going to go with Concentration because of all the charge-ups.
I really want to like this set, but I'm having a problem making sense of it.
Thanks!
1) What's a good energy unlock?
2) Overlap. Is there any reason to keep Stone Shot after you get Tremor or Cave In? Any reason to keep Tremor after you get Fault Line?
3) Passive? I want to be more of an offensive player than a tank, so I don't want to do Defiance or Invuln. Unstoppable is good if you stick to the melee attacks, but I'd prefer to emphasize the ranged attacks. Right now I'm using AoPM for lack of anything better. Thoughts?
4) What about a good form? Was probably going to go with Concentration because of all the charge-ups.
I really want to like this set, but I'm having a problem making sense of it.
Thanks!
Post edited by irollones on
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Comments
1) With earth..it is a tricky one..here is a list of all current Energy Unlocks. I think what you might want to look into instead is using concentration as an energy unlock type power.
2) Stone Shot is useful for reliable application of Stagger debuff. Tremor and Faultline essentially do the same thing one with a long over ground animation and one with cracks under the groud. I am not sure which is more potent but I'd imagine perhaps Fault Line is. You can run without Tremor but it could detract from your concept..
3) Kinetic Manipulation would work very well as it emphasises ranged physical damage (Crushing) which if you are focusing on Earth will be you main damage mechanic. As long as you dont take a power which would consume an energy form like Force Cascade, you should be fine.
4) Have a look at 1. Concentration can sort of act as an energy unlock since I dont imagine many or any of your powers will be on cooldown enough for MSA.
Earth was always a bit too tanky for me, it's moves are slow but powerful like Earth, but if some faster Earth powers were drawn up it would make it more of a fun set to use.
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1: The only real Energy Unlock options I'm seeing that wouldn't require you to go out-of-set (aside from the Energy Unlock itself) are Wind Reverberation or Overdrive due to Quicksand. Aside from Land Slide, the lunge, Molecular Self-Assembly doesn't really have anything reliable to work with. Fissure and Seismic Smash are each 15 seconds, and Aggressor is a minute and a half. You don't really have any good options, here.
2: For your specific examples, Stone Shot has the advantage of having 100 range as opposed to the 50 range of the other two powers. It's your only 100-foot option. It also applies Stagger to the primary target, which you can then utilize with Fault Line (if you take the advantage) to root and then knock up your enemies, Fissure for a chance to knock up your enemies, Upheaval to deal increased damage and (if you take the advantage) to knock enemies to you, or Cave In to stun your enemy. Aside from Land Slide, Stone Shot is your most reliable way to apply Stagger.
As for Tremor versus Fault Line... Tremor knocks enemies higher, meaning more fall damage. Tremor also has higher damage per shot, but a longer charge time, which equalizes the damage a bit, but still means Tremor is a better spiker. Tremor can also be used to sorta isolate an enemy, by charging it only partway and sending all surrounding enemies flying off in other directions while your primary target is knocked straight up. Lastly, taking the advantage on Tremor lets you apply Stagger to a group of enemies instead of just one, provided your primary target is already Staggered.
There's also the difference in AoE types. Tremor is a 15-foot sphere originating from your primary target's location, and Fault Line is a 5-foot cylinder from you, in a 50-foot line with your primary target. I personally prefer spherical AoEs, but others like cylinders and cones, so I can't really say which one is "better" in that regard. Overall, I'd actually rather take Tremor than Fault Line, given the extra utility.
3: Unstoppable still gives you a little bit of a boost to ranged physical damage, but nowhere near as high, and from what little Earth research I HAVE done, Quicksand counts as Ranged.
If you don't plan to use ANY melee attacks, Kinetic Manipulation would be nice. Alternatively, if you want to make use of both OR you are going to be using Intelligence as a Superstat (which would boost Concentration), Quarry is probably your best bet, as it boosts all physical damage as well as gives you a boost to Intelligence and Ego based on your Intelligence stat, up to +90 total. The Ego also gives you a straight-up boost to ranged damage, further increasing the effectiveness of the passive. And if you take both Intelligence AND Ego as Superstats, well... Quarry's going to be monstrous.
4: If ranged damage is your preference, and you have Intelligence or Ego, Concentration is absolutely going to be the best choice.
I would highly recommend using Intelligence as a Superstat, alongside Quarry and Concentration. You'll get a really good boost due to Concentration scaling off of Intelligence, another excellent boost from Quarry's Audacity buff, and the lack of any good Energy Unlocks will be offset by the cost reduction Intelligence provides.
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Re: Overlap
Stone shot has two properties that make it still useful for advanced Earth wielders. First, it is the only attack in the set that has a 100' range. Second, it has a 50%-100% chance of staggering the target based on charge. So even with more advanced powers, it is often used to stagger a target before taking advantage of the stagger effect with other powers. Stone Shot followed by Cave In can stun a target. Cave In just by itself is only single target crushing damage. (But at least it's a lot of it if you treat the power right.)
Tremor and Fault Line do the same job with different area effect patterns. Tremor's 15' sphere is great at both attacking ranged groups and close in groups. But not at the same time. Fault Line's 5'x50' cylinder is less effective in hitting lots of enemies, but can hit enemies close in and at range at the same time. Honestly, I feel that if you have Tremor then there isn't any real need for Fault Line. Fault Line isn't quite as powerful per strike, but is slightly faster. So the reverse is true as well. You can skip Tremor completely and take Fault Line instead if you like.
Re: Form
As a ranged attacker, Concentration is your best option. It is the only form currently that prioritized ranged damage. I recommend Intelligence as a super stat in order to fuel this power.
Re: Energy Unlock
Frankly, there aren't any that work well directly with Earth powers. With Intelligence as a super-stat, your best bet might be Molecular Self Assembly. However you are also going to need to decide on something with a short cooldown in order to trigger it. Conviction would work.
Re: Passive
Earth is mostly ranged crushing damage. So Quarry is a very solid choice for a range damage role using earth. Also, Kinetic Manipulation and Stormbringer work as well for Earth as they do for their native sets. So you do have a couple of options. Aura of Ebon Destruction and the new Night Hawk passives aren't tied to any specific damage types, so can make some interesting choices as well. A stealth Cave In could likely be rather spectacular.
My first attempt at a freeform Earth hero on the test server used AoPM, too. It does well, so I couldn't blame you for wanting to stick with that.
That's all I can think of for now.
I'll likely stick with both stone shot and tremor. Sounds like I may have to live without an energy unlock unless I take a short-recharge power for MSA.
It's a visually interesting set, but it doesn't seem to be very well conceived. Very little synergy within the set. Disappointing, but nice to look at!
for leveling and because i needed some filler powers, but i also tried the Earth Block and
lunge as fillers.
This was my second version, with DEX and Form of the tempest :
http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=2246411#post2246411
recently i've retconned to EGO / CON / REC with Concentration and since i wanted to use
Force Shield and didn't needed the lunge i took the EB from Power Armor :redface:
For leveling i would however always prefer a DEX build, since you only get a good crit-rate
without DEX if you have level 40 gear. Ok .. maybe with 3x also ..