Help with a Bestial Martial Artist: Shion

Comments

• pwkardokis Posts: 9 Arc User

  December 2013 edited December 2013

  Since you're 40 the first thing I would do is drop INT since it's not scaling any of your powers. A heroic primary and random purple secondary utility piece will essentially give you +185 INT before mods. You'd be better served with REC or END. I prefer REC.
  
  In the DEX tree, I'd steer clear of Combat Training, since having primary DEX puts you way into diminishing returns for critical strike. I would max gear utilization instead. You'll get much better defense and probably better damage. I like the idea of Power Swell but never found it to be noticeably useful. Check your tooltips to see what actual reduction you're getting and decide if it's worth it. If it's not, you could put those points back into Combat Training or Brush it Off.
  
  Probably the biggest thing I see with the whole build is not maxing Deadly Aim. The bonus it gives is MASSIVE and I can't imagine a build that shouldn't take it. You can spare the points from Quick Reflexes and Evasion since they unfortunately add very little. Maxing Gear Utilization probably does more for your survivability by itself than both those skills combined. Since you have a defense passive I'd actually take the points out of them entirely and put them into expose weakness; it's quite powerful, and works well with Penetrating Strikes from Brawler.
  
  The Guardian Tree is a curious choice. I see what you're going for with Locus and The Glory of Battle, but frankly I don't think Dragon Kick by itself is enough to make all those points worthwhile. I use Warden, but part of that is for the combo bonuses. Either way be sure to max Ruthless, Fortified Gear, and The Best Defense. These are all common to both Warden and Guardian.
  
  In the Brawler Tree, again you'll want to pick up Ruthless. It's hard to overstate crit severity's importance. Penetrating Strikes is good, so that would leave you with a point for either No Escape or The Glory of Battle. All I'll say on that is I find No Escape terrifyingly awful even with three points.
  
  You're really missing out on Brawler's potential if you're not taking Setup or Finishing Blow. Setup would again require a combo and a heavy hitter to pair it with, but you might be surprised the sort of damage you get out of something like Thundering Kicks -> Burning Chi Fist/Dragon Uppercut. I strongly recommend giving it a try before discounting it. It's not 2011 anymore and many combos are definitely worth a look. Thundering Kicks will do a lot more for your dodging than Crashing Wave Kick's advantage, for what it's worth.
  
  This ended being longer than I expected so I'll let someone else cover the actual powers.

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• raighn Posts: 2,339 Arc User

  December 2013 edited December 2013

  Actually she's lvl 30 currently... not 40 yet... I just hit 40 on another character and hopped on her since she's probably going to be my next goal for 40... her or my Telepathy hero...
  
  At one point she was running Regen as her passive. When I switched her to LR I did so without resetting her specs and I didn't think much about it when I was putting together her build on PowerHouse... so I'll certainly look into taking Gear Utilization, Deadly Aim, and Expose Weaknesses instead of Combat training, Quick Reflexes, and Evasion.
  
  As for having picked Guardian over Warden... Lotus stacks up pretty fast in my experience, and Retribution has helped to save my hide on a few occasions... I understand what your saying about taking Ruthless... I'm just not really sure if it's really as necessary as you make it out to be though...
  
  I'll give Thundering Kicks a shot again... I had it in an earlier build for her over a year ago and it was a bit glitchy at the time... I could have full energy and it'd refuse to activate unless i clicked the skill a dozen times... I'm sure that if you suggesting it now then that issue must have been resolved sometime ago. I really did like the adv from it more than crashing wave kick tbh...
  
  So from your input I've made the following changes:
  
  PowerHouse (Link to this build)
  
  Name: Shion
  
  Archetype: Freeform
  
  Super Stats:
  Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
  Level 10: Strength (Secondary)
  Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
  
  Talents:
  Level 1: The Fist
  Level 6: Mighty
  Level 9: Agile
  Level 12: Brilliant
  Level 15: Martial Focus
  Level 18: Body and Mind
  Level 21: Coordinated
  
  Powers:
  Level 1: Righteous Fists (Drunken Master)
  Level 1: Thundering Kicks (Rank 2, Floating Lotus Blossom)
  Level 6: Parry (The Elusive Monk)
  Level 8: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 11: Dragon Kick (Rank 2, Lashing Dragon Tail)
  Level 14: Form of the Tempest
  Level 17: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Resurgent Reiki)
  Level 20: Pounce
  Level 23: Intensity
  Level 26: Masterful Dodge (Unfettered Strikes)
  Level 29: Evasive Maneuvers (Sleight of Mind)
  Level 30 --- Current Level
  Level 32: Command Animals
  Level 35: Ritual of Primal Summoning (Unbound Ritual)
  Level 38: Arctic Beast
  
  Travel Powers:
  Level 6: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3, Versatility)
  Level 35: Swinging (Flippin')
  
  Specializations:
  Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
  Dexterity: Power Swell (2/2)
  Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
  Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
  Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
  Guardian: Locus (2/2)
  Guardian: Retribution (2/2)
  Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
  Brawler: The Glory of Battle (3/3)
  Brawler: No Escape (3/3)
  Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
  Brawler: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
  Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

  ^-^ cute, cuddly, @Pandabutt ^-^
  

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• creamymarine Posts: 22 Arc User

  December 2013 edited December 2013

  What do you think of something like this:
  
  PowerHouse (Link to this build)
  
  Name: Shion
  
  Archetype: Freeform
  
  Super Stats:
  Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
  Level 10: Strength (Secondary)
  Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
  
  Talents:
  Level 1: The Fist
  Level 6: Mighty
  Level 9: Agile
  Level 12: Brilliant
  Level 15: Martial Focus
  Level 18: Body and Mind
  Level 21: Coordinated
  
  Powers:
  Level 1: Righteous Fists
  Level 1: Thundering Kicks (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 6: Parry
  Level 8: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 11: Dragon Kick (Rank 2, Lashing Dragon Tail)
  Level 14: Form of the Tempest
  Level 17: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
  Level 20: Pounce
  Level 23: Intensity
  Level 26: Masterful Dodge
  Level 29: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 32: Command Animals (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 35: Ritual of Primal Summoning (Rank 2, Unbound Ritual)
  Level 38: Dragon Uppercut (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  
  Travel Powers:
  Level 6: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3, Versatility)
  Level 35: Swinging (Flippin')
  
  Specializations:
  Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
  Dexterity: Power Swell (2/2)
  Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
  Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
  Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
  Guardian: Locus (2/2)
  Guardian: Retribution (2/2)
  Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
  Brawler: The Glory of Battle (3/3)
  Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
  Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
  Brawler: Setup (2/2)
  Brawler: Offensive Expertise (1/2)
  Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)
  
  
  Specialisations - I would write pretty much the same thing pwkardo did, but left your Guardian specs alone as I feel you like it very much as it is.
  In Brawler I took the points from No Escape (useful only in pvp) and put it to use in Setup and Ruthless.
  
  Now to powers:
  
  Removed the adv from your EB, it really is just a gimmick that you would put there if you have points left to spare, which you dont.
  The EB itself ticks fast, therefore has a high chance of getting a crit, which gets you a Focus stack.
  
  Thundering Kicks do grant a buff on the third hit regardless of the adv, but it is your shot, takes the same amount of points.
  
  Removed Elusive Monk from Parry, using it on a LR toon is not going to get you much, while it saps your damage.
  
  Removed a rank from Chi Resurge and the adv from Masterful Dodge.
  MD's adv really does not do much for you, its better to invest these points somewhere else, feel free to test in in ph.
  
  
  Evasive Maneuvers: while are a defensive passive user but not a tank, it is still not a good idea to have an aggro wipe on you.
  In cases where the mobs have their attention on you and not that big bad tank or the squishy DPS over there it is a bad form to make them go after the dps (or healer if present), as it is where they are going to go after losing interest in you.
  In a case where you are overaggroing the tank, he is clearly not doing a good job if you menage to do so with a defensive passive and no challenging moves.
  Having said so, putting Evasive Maneuvers into rank 3 gives you a nice flat dodge chance increase.
  
  Putting all the removed adv points from other powers into use in your pets, even if i removed the ice one as the one least fitting and most acceptable to lose (from my perspective).
  
  Instead of your ice hound you get Dragon Uppercut, a solid single target attack that can fuel itself with the Rush buff, it's knock up is also a nice interrupt and light crowd control on tough classed mobs, just like the AoE stun of Dragon Kick.
  
  You can go for Chi Fist instead if you like, it deals higher dmg, but does nothing else.
  
  Going all the way back to specialisations - Setup lets you perform a Thundering Kicks Combo, buffing your next attack, which you should make Dragon Uppercut or Chi Fist (as it is a percentage increase it would get you more with Chi Fist), boom, much higher damage, rinse and repeat until the target can take no more beatings.
  
  Hope it helped, remember to test things in PH before commiting to anything.

  _________________________________
  
  And if that don't work?
  [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

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• raighn Posts: 2,339 Arc User

  December 2013 edited December 2013

  Ok I've taken your suggestions and adjusted them a bit to what might work better for me...
  
  PowerHouse (Link to this build)
  
  Name: Shion
  
  Archetype: Freeform
  
  Super Stats:
  Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
  Level 10: Strength (Secondary)
  Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
  
  Talents:
  Level 1: The Fist
  Level 6: Mighty
  Level 9: Agile
  Level 12: Brilliant
  Level 15: Martial Focus
  Level 18: Body and Mind
  Level 21: Coordinated
  
  Powers:
  Level 1: Righteous Fists
  Level 1: Thundering Kicks (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 6: Parry
  Level 8: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 11: Dragon Kick (Rank 2, Lashing Dragon Tail)
  Level 14: Form of the Tempest
  Level 17: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
  Level 20: Pounce
  Level 23: Intensity
  Level 26: Masterful Dodge
  Level 29: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 32: Command Animals (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 35: Ritual of Primal Summoning (Rank 2, Unbound Ritual)
  Level 38: Arctic Beast (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  
  Travel Powers:
  Level 6: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3, Versatility)
  Level 35: Swinging (Flippin')
  
  Specializations:
  Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
  Dexterity: Power Swell (2/2)
  Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
  Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
  Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
  Guardian: Locus (2/2)
  Guardian: Retribution (2/2)
  Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
  Brawler: The Glory of Battle (3/3)
  Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
  Brawler: Ruthless (1/2)
  Brawler: Setup (2/2)
  Brawler: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
  Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)
  
  While Arctic Beast may seem like the "least fitting and most acceptable to lose" in your perspective... none of them are in mine... I designed her from the start to utilize a wolf pack and had intended to include all 3 wolf summons from the very beginning... I leveled her up for the most part with all 3 pets as well but a couple levels back I reluctantly sacrificed them for some better damage output and energy management with the intention of picking them back up again as my final 3 skills.
  
  Your adjustments however looks quite nice... and allow me the 12 adv points I need to rank up my wolves...
  
  I've also considered WotW as a possible passive... i'm actually on the edge wondering if I should switch to it or stick with LR... the higher damage output plus the energy return when my opponent dodges would be nice... plus it still provides a dodge buff of it's own.... but... I'd probably have to take Elusive Monk back to maintain an acceptable dodge rate for survival... and that would probably just negate the damage bonus all together... I've never used WotW before so I'm not really sure how well it actually performs... insight on this would be helpful...
  
  If i had just 1 more power selection I could possibly fit MSA in there without changing my play style any since I'd be getting energy return off BCR, Intensity, MD, Pounce, and EM... mostly the first 3 but there really isn't anything I can sacrifice for MSA... I guess Rush and Focus should be enough for energy return though...

  ^-^ cute, cuddly, @Pandabutt ^-^
  

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