Consistently underperforming WHY!?

gradii · June 2013

my toons consistently underperform in nearly every aspect. my builds have been looked at and most declared rock solid. why is it that I see people doing 19k with sniper rifle and with 404 friggin ego and a 109% severity I get no more than 14k at the very best with 8 stacks of concentration. I need the help of someone experienced who can help me, I am SICK and TIRED of being completely gimped. so help. someone. please.

gamehobo · June 2013

Unmitigated buffs are a possibility Gravitational Polarity and Blood Sacrifice come to mind.

Then of Course there are active offenses.

Then finally there are debuffs to enemy resistance (Like the one on Chest Beam)

theravenforce · June 2013

I wouldn't call 14k on Sniper Rifle "underperforming" if you were getting 4-7k max on it at lvl 40 then you'd be considered to be underperforming.

I've explained this to you time and time again, but you seem to just be dead set in the idea that you are some how bugged or gimped.

So in all fairness, I'm done.

prankenstein · June 2013

I'm with Raven on this one. Unless your build is completely and only for alphastriking with Sniper Rifle (which, in all honesty, is an awful choice for a oneshotkill build, Shadow strikers and Unleashed Ragers can pull it off a lot better) You're not going to be able to hit for 17k+. If so, try circles, and look up some specialization guides, I think there's 2 trees that have the increased damage for targets over 90% item. Unless you're cosmic-hunting, which is best done with maintains anyway.

sagewithbubbles · June 2013

gradii wrote: »

my toons consistently underperform in nearly every aspect. my builds have been looked at and most declared rock solid. why is it that I see people doing 19k with sniper rifle and with 404 friggin ego and a 109% severity I get no more than 14k at the very best with 8 stacks of concentration. I need the help of someone experienced who can help me, I am SICK and TIRED of being completely gimped. so help. someone. please.

Were they using the Eagle sniper rifle? It was an old PvP unlock from before On Alert. And Ego that high is a bit of a waste, due to the lousy scaling on it for damage (the crit severity's nice if you're using the spec, but there are other ways of getting it).

Also, the lack of damage buff diminishing returns on Soldier AT may be playing a part. Kind of depends.

What's your build, and are you using an Eagle, or are you a Soldier? And for the character you're comparing against, do they meet either of those conditions?

From the numbers you mentioned, it doesn't sound like you're "gimped" so much as you're comparing against someone that's built differently.

cyrone · June 2013

I guess I'll leave out my rediculous 10k+ Force Cascades on a character that doesn't crit....but I can't. I built my character to do *just that*. They're squishy as all get out but nothing usually survives the first strike on that character. :biggrin:

theravenforce · June 2013

sagewithbubbles wrote: »

From the numbers you mentioned, it doesn't sound like you're "gimped" so much as you're comparing against someone that's built differently.

THANK YOU. THAT is what I have been trying to get across. This issue is a consistent one, which I will not go into detail about. But regardless, of course I have no issue with people wanting to get better, that's the whole point of learning.

You say the point is not to compare yet you constantly drag examples from my toons to compare yourself to. Now do you see why we have an issue?

I've explained this to you time and time again. I can't believe you actually took this to the forums...

theravenforce · June 2013

gradii wrote: »

perhaps you would consider helping me then? although I prefer non squishy to squishy, USUALLY.

Depends on you concept really.

END Primary with DW isn't going to get you high damage values as I said before, the only way you can make your main do higher damage with DW would be to get some STR into that build.

Post your build and people will help.

cyrone · June 2013

gradii wrote: »

perhaps you would consider helping me then? although I prefer non squishy to squishy, USUALLY.

You know that I have no problem offering advice on builds. Be warned though, if I'm building a "blaster" then it's usually going to be squishy.

snoggymack22 · June 2013

gradii wrote: »

I have just the toon you can help me with then. Nova, currently rec dex int, she's already doing surprisingly good damage considering my track record. although it may just be me, I usually dont use fire powers, but I always wanted to give it a decent try.

I didn't think fire blasters were focused on big single target crits? Like in the 17k range? What power would they use for that even?

sagewithbubbles · June 2013

theravenforce wrote: »

END Primary with DW...

"DW" meaning "Dragon's Wrath"? I'm intensely curious as to what that build is.

theravenforce wrote: »

Post your build and people will help.

This. So this. If people don't know what you're starting with, it's hard to offer any help that actually ends up being helpful.

As a general rule...Energy stats (Rec/End) as your main superstat usually aren't the best way to start off optimizing your damage. This is mainly due to their spec trees. They're not "bad" (I'm trying very hard not to badmouth Rec as a primary superstat, bear with me...), but they aren't a good choice if your stated goal is optimizing damage. In those cases, they work better as secondary stats (especially Rec secondary on an Infernal build, or End secondary when using Fire/Elec).

Str, Dex, Ego and Int (against squishier targets or in a few other situations) are usually better for damage. Int's pretty versatile overall. Pre's a bad choice as a main for a damage-focused character as well.

All of the above assumes you have a choice (meaning you aren't an AT).

snoggymack22 wrote: »

I didn't think fire blasters were focused on big single target crits? Like in the 17k range? What power would they use for that even?

They usually just burn the hell out of things by stacking a ton of debuffs and using Conflagration. It doesn't do any less damage on single targets, and unless you're fighting something you can one-shot with an uberspike, its sustained DPS is going to rapidly pull ahead of anything else.

theravenforce · June 2013

sagewithbubbles wrote: »

"DW" meaning "Dragon's Wrath"? I'm intensely curious as to what that build is.

This. So this. If people don't know what you're starting with, it's hard to offer any help that actually ends up being helpful.

As a general rule...Energy stats (Rec/End) as your main superstat usually aren't the best way to start off optimizing your damage. This is mainly due to their spec trees. They're not "bad" (I'm trying very hard not to badmouth Rec as a primary superstat, bear with me...), but they aren't a good choice if your stated goal is optimizing damage. In those cases, they work better as secondary stats (especially Rec secondary on an Infernal build, or End secondary when using Fire/Elec).

Str, Dex, Ego and Int (against squishier targets or in a few other situations) are usually better for damage. Int's pretty versatile overall. Pre's a bad choice as a main for a damage-focused character as well.

All of the above assumes you have a choice (meaning you aren't an AT).

They usually just burn the hell out of things by stacking a ton of debuffs and using Conflagration. It doesn't do any less damage on single targets, and unless you're fighting something you can one-shot with an uberspike, its sustained DPS is going to rapidly pull ahead of anything else.

DW= Dragon's Wrath yes.

As for Fire, I'm currently levelling a Fire toon Solaris.

EGO/END/CON, I will admit energy wise, the start of a fight can be annoying but once I get going not much is left standing.

REC and DEX are great for crits, especially with REC primary as Cyrone so graciously showed me

END Primary, like my NRGMuffin.exe build, used for limitless energy, it's fantastic if that's your concept/useful for your build. I like the Readiness spec it really helps with equilibrium, almost nullifies the need to take REC lol.

Sustained DPS and Fireball are some of the best things in Fire Powerset, along with Fire Strike (which has been fixed yay!) and Firesnake's elemental Debuff you can hit for some harsh numbers if you try.

sagewithbubbles · June 2013

theravenforce wrote: »

REC and DEX are great for crits, especially with REC primary as Cyrone so graciously showed me

How are you consistently staying above 90% of max energy to get full use out of Supercharged? (I'm assuming that's a part of the build, I may be completely off)

Most of the ways I can think of doing it involve either Dark Transfusion's energy buff or high-Rec/little-to-no-End builds coupled with maybe Elec Form. And all of those seem like it'd be a pretty narrow threshold to work within. Or it could be an alpha-spike build or a "block then retaliate" sort of build.

Not saying it can't be done, but I'm curious. And lazy, as if I want more crit on a build than what I get from Dex/crit strike gear, I usually either grab Ego Surge with the advantage or go Ego/Str primary with Dex secondary.

What's the build like?

(I've been without internet for two weeks and I got bored enough to where I was planning out builds in my head)

theravenforce · June 2013

sagewithbubbles wrote: »

How are you consistently staying above 90% of max energy to get full use out of Supercharged? (I'm assuming that's a part of the build, I may be completely off)

Most of the ways I can think of doing it involve either Dark Transfusion's energy buff or high-Rec/little-to-no-End builds coupled with maybe Elec Form. And all of those seem like it'd be a pretty narrow threshold to work within. Or it could be an alpha-spike build or a "block then retaliate" sort of build.

Not saying it can't be done, but I'm curious. And lazy, as if I want more crit on a build than what I get from Dex/crit strike gear, I usually either grab Ego Surge with the advantage or go Ego/Str primary with Dex secondary.

What's the build like?

(I've been without internet for two weeks and I got bored enough to where I was planning out builds in my head)

For best results use it with END, have high Equilibrium, take REC/END high and laugh as your enemies melt.

Alpha Strike is the best use for that though.

Then again setting off Flashfire then standing it in alongside your melting foes grants you extra energy

sagewithbubbles · June 2013

theravenforce wrote: »

For best results use it with END, have high Equilibrium, take REC/END high and laugh as your enemies melt.

Alpha Strike is the best use for that though.

Then again setting off Flashfire then standing it in alongside your melting foes grants you extra energy

Makes sense. That's what I do on my Inferno.

By "consistently" above, I meant (and should've said) "constantly". Or rather, "constantly-enough to where the 15% crit chance outweighs the additional crit chance/severity you can get from Dex primary."

But using it for alpha strikes works pretty well too. Same concept of having it available when it benefits you (ie: When you're attacking).

selphea · June 2013

Frankly it's not that I don't want to help, but when someone posts a laundry list of what to do and your response is "highly HIGHLY skeptical", it kind of makes people want to not waste their time.

stergiosman · June 2013

Try this:
Ice form
Strafing Run
Fire Snake
Ego Surge
Evasive Maneuvers

Dex-Con-Int.
Guardian/vindicator specs.
Gear for dex in secondaries. 2-3 int mods in primaries and con for the rest.
If you have good crit chance try imbue too.
That combo will hit for more than 17k I can tell.

selphea · June 2013

gradii wrote: »

"high equilibrium is extremely hard to get when you have high end. perhaps its possible with end primary with readiness and very high rec." is what I said. read the post more thoroughly.

No, I think you should read my post more thoroughly. I don't think i made a reference to equilibrium and high end.

Consistently underperforming WHY!?

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