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Advice welcome for new AT
netherny
Posts: 54 Arc User
Hi all,
Well, I finally did it, I'm trying the Scourge for the first time. I broke down and bought the Scourge AT unlock, and a costume pack I thought would fit the theme
Anyway, it seems so far that this AT is very different from other Avenger types I've played before.
I was wondering if any of you experienced players might be willing to give me your advice on what I should do with this character step by step, as I level up. She is level 6 and parked in the Powerhouse right now while I do research. Needless to say, I want to make the most of this character.
I only do PvE. I also realize there are a lot of dynamics in this game that at first go totally un-noticed. So far, the threads I've read seem split 50 / 50 between taking Venomous Breath and Vicious Cyclone, and for various reasons. After looking at their descriptions, I'm kind of leaning towards Cyclone... but Venomous Breath might be good too.
As this is a ranged toon, my play style with those is to stay hovering over the enemies whenever possible and out of melee range, and just blast away.
Also, a lot of players have mentioned trying to stack in some STR and DEX, for "Enraged" and to make the most of Crits when they do happen. I have no idea how you would get Enraged on a ranged toon, but... maybe I'm just getting confused. Maybe it comes from "Aspect of the Infernal"?
SO.... if you've ever wanted a chance to give a "Scourge for Dummies" post, now is your chance lol.
One poster said in his thread to just stick to CON CON and more CON during the early levels. Anyways, I knocked out a quick build idea at the Powerhouse thing...
http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.html?v=9&n=Scourge%201&d=5735bPNWi9bM070Q004Q20BQ703Q903Q500QH03QD04K705QB00QG03QC05QI05000000000Cji42iO0fyc
Well, thanks for reading this, and please try not to flame me too hard lol.
EDIT: Oh, my in game handle is @jennabeezy, character Saryn
Well, I finally did it, I'm trying the Scourge for the first time. I broke down and bought the Scourge AT unlock, and a costume pack I thought would fit the theme
Anyway, it seems so far that this AT is very different from other Avenger types I've played before.
I was wondering if any of you experienced players might be willing to give me your advice on what I should do with this character step by step, as I level up. She is level 6 and parked in the Powerhouse right now while I do research. Needless to say, I want to make the most of this character.
I only do PvE. I also realize there are a lot of dynamics in this game that at first go totally un-noticed. So far, the threads I've read seem split 50 / 50 between taking Venomous Breath and Vicious Cyclone, and for various reasons. After looking at their descriptions, I'm kind of leaning towards Cyclone... but Venomous Breath might be good too.
As this is a ranged toon, my play style with those is to stay hovering over the enemies whenever possible and out of melee range, and just blast away.
Also, a lot of players have mentioned trying to stack in some STR and DEX, for "Enraged" and to make the most of Crits when they do happen. I have no idea how you would get Enraged on a ranged toon, but... maybe I'm just getting confused. Maybe it comes from "Aspect of the Infernal"?
SO.... if you've ever wanted a chance to give a "Scourge for Dummies" post, now is your chance lol.
One poster said in his thread to just stick to CON CON and more CON during the early levels. Anyways, I knocked out a quick build idea at the Powerhouse thing...
http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.html?v=9&n=Scourge%201&d=5735bPNWi9bM070Q004Q20BQ703Q903Q500QH03QD04K705QB00QG03QC05QI05000000000Cji42iO0fyc
Well, thanks for reading this, and please try not to flame me too hard lol.
EDIT: Oh, my in game handle is @jennabeezy, character Saryn
Post edited by netherny on
0
Comments
Specs:
Rec: You don't need withstand or efficient; I'd invest in Staying Power and maybe another point in Rapid Recovery - the regen boost is small, but you'll have no self-healing for quite a while.
Overseer: Conservation is of debateable value - it'll really only matter for Defile charges. Regardless, you definitely want to pick up Ruthless for more crit severity (it stacks with the same named spec under avenger); if you're keeping Conservation, I'd drop points from Enhanced Gear first.
Avenger: Offensive Expertise is worthless - you have no active offenses. Can't Touch This is also not worth taking. If you want to push AoE damage, go Ruthless, Round 'em Up, Relentless Assault, Anguish. If you want to push single-target burst damage with defile, go Ruthless, Anguish, 1 point in Round 'em Up, Pre-Emptive Strike, and then the last two points into anything that's not offensive expertise or can't touch this.
Mastery: I'd go Avenger Mastery, especially if you took pre-emptive strike: on my (freeform) infernal DPS character, I end up with a single-target attack sequence of infernal blast (with virulent propagation to keep poison stacks going), charged defile, tap defile until avenger mastery lights up, repeat.
Power selection: Oddly, Crippling Coils synergizes well with Venomous Breath - r2, paralytic bile, infectious bile... Still, this is mostly a matter of choice.
Advantages:
Infernal Bolts: Don't bother with Toxin Overload - you should have better ways to build poison stacks.
Infernal Blast: Don't take Accelerated Metabolism. At least consider Virulent Propagation - being able to refresh poison stacks is useful.
Condemn: Take Redemption Denied over rank 3. Having an AoE stun/paralyze is a very useful boost to survival.
Aspect of the Infernal: Don't rank this. You'll build up stacks fast enough.
Everything after that point is mostly a matter of choice; I'd be inclined to go with r3 defile, for more damage when tapping it, and r3 ebon void, and actually ranking my travel power... but, eh, not a huge deal either way. Something sortof like this would be what I'd go for.
As for the strength for enrage thing... looks like there are advantages on vicious cyclone or resurgance that could grant a single stack - but, well, that's just one stack. I wouldn't bother. Similarly, don't bother with dex - but do seek out crit chance gear where you can.
Stat-wise, I'd favor just getting whatever of your super-stats are most convenient, with rec and con roughly equal in priority, and both favored over ego. Shouldn't matter too much until level 40, though; at that point you'll want... call it 8k hit points to not get splattered in rampages.
However, I'm going to follow up with what you said....
http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.html?v=9&n=Scourge%201&d=5735bPNWi9bM070Q000Q205Q705Q903Q605QH00QD05K707QB00QG03QC05QI03000000002Msb3SWl3UxN
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna hit the sack... I was nodding off at the keyboard.... getting old sucks lol.
But, so far I'm really liking this AT
-Prioritize Ego over Rec, since that's where much of the extra dmg comes from for the AT (would be a bit diff if it was a FF, since then the passive dmg DR hits Ego gearing much heavier). Higher Ego (and Con) has a side benefit of lowering Resurgence's cd a bit too w/ 2nd Wind.
-Some End gearing can help w/ Defile use, though I find I get better results not using Defile-heavy rotations for single-target dps on the Scourge (vs. R3 Epidemic spam w/ defile's debuff rolling). W/o being an FF, the Scourge can't really get a very high crit rate, so I haven't made mine centered around using Defile w/ AM procs.
-Not completely skip Dex if using an AM build, since they are pretty heavily crit-based.
-Pass on Virulent Propagation for R3 on Infernal Blast, since the blast refreshes poisons (including defile's debuff) on tap as is for the target. VP is okay for some extra splash AoE dmg, but imo Scourge doesn't really need help in the AoE department as is.
When you get higher level and energy issues are less, I'd get much CD reduction gear to help lower the cd on Resurgence and health packs- handy if ya wanna do harder content w/ the AT.
Scourge is a strong and easy to pick up AT.. if a bit mindless w/ all the endless AoE spam
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
That's the way I imagine this toon... a pretty tough and hard to kill individual that can spray poison... mwa hahaha!! (ahem, sorry) I mean, otherwise, why have CON as one of the stats? I'm just the kind of person who would rather bank on the sure thing than a gamble.
""-Prioritize Ego over Rec, since that's where much of the extra dmg comes from for the AT (would be a bit diff if it was a FF, since then the passive dmg DR hits Ego gearing much heavier). Higher Ego (and Con) has a side benefit of lowering Resurgence's cd a bit too w/ 2nd Wind.""
Yep... you made me go back and look again, and it's true... Ego is one of the Secondary Stats of this toon. Whoa. Like at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I think I may have Chosen Wisely. Con, Rec, and Ego. On a ranged toon. Not bad.
"-Some End gearing can help w/ Defile use, though I find I get better results not using Defile-heavy rotations for single-target dps on the Scourge (vs. R3 Epidemic spam w/ defile's debuff rolling). W/o being an FF, the Scourge can't really get a very high crit rate, so I haven't made mine centered around using Defile w/ AM procs."
It's funny you should mention End gear... I recently was experimenting with End stuff, and it kinda scared me at first, by making it look like my Equilibrium was going down, but actually I was just plain gaining more max energy. So, I must assume from you saying that, that this means Defile is one of those maintains, where it ticks down until you run out of power? (I don't know because I've never had it before, and the Powerhouse Builder doesn't say the activation type and energy cost of powers. I wish it did.
And yes, you've made me look again at how I'm gonna do Epidemic and Defile. Your way does make sense. And once again, I would MUCH rather go into a battle KNOWING I can do really well, instead of gambling on a few crits that, if they don't happen, I can get my butt shot off lol.
"-Not completely skip Dex if using an AM build, since they are pretty heavily crit-based.
-Pass on Virulent Propagation for R3 on Infernal Blast, since the blast refreshes poisons (including defile's debuff) on tap as is for the target. VP is okay for some extra splash AoE dmg, but imo Scourge doesn't really need help in the AoE department as is."
Yep, looks like I'm gonna go with RM over AM, just so I can stand around and strike awesome poisons... um I MEAN... POSES (Freudian Slip there hehe hehe), instead of relying on a crit chance. I mean, if an ability says it WILL give you better crit chances, that's one thing, but I don't want to gamble on something like... "IF you get THIS MANY crits in X amount of time THEN this might happen. IF all the bad guys hold still long enough for it. I'd rather have the +30 Super Stats. But that's just me. So anyways, I would rather go R3 with Infernal anyway, as it tends to be a "Bread and Butter type attack, and you always want them to hit hard.
"When you get higher level and energy issues are less, I'd get much CD reduction gear to help lower the cd on Resurgence and health packs- handy if ya wanna do harder content w/ the AT.
Scourge is a strong and easy to pick up AT.. if a bit mindless w/ all the endless AoE spam
Thank you once again for all the great advice, and may the Super Power Gods heap great fortune and prosperity upon you
I will try to find the best way to play this toon. And by the way, I'm liking the power animations... the bad guys seem almost surprised when they get hit with Infernal.... it's like *FWAM!* I'm only up to about lvl 12 so far... just showed up at the Southwest Desert area, but oh well, I'm not gonna get in a big hurry. I wonder how those toxic / radioactive zombies are going to react to me throwing similar stuff at them? Will they be partially resistant to it? Will Our Beloved Hero be DASHED to BITS on the JAGGED rocks BELOW?? Tune in next time for the hair raising conclusion of Saryn the Toxic Hero!!!
(And yes, the name is based on Sarin gas)
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j121/ShadowShape/Costume_jennabeezy_Saryn_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_461189946_zpsb404a615.jpg
Thank you all for the advice, and keep on blasting. Or... slashing, beating, pummeling, humiliating...
Okay, how about this....http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.html?v=9&n=Scourge%203&d=5735bPNWidhM070Q000Q203Q705Q903Q605QH00QD05K707QB00QG03QC03QI05000000001or942iO3UxN
Con is excellent to have as an SS, especially for an AT. Many ATs suffer form being quite squishy and/or lacking defensive moves or heals. One means of counteracting that is simply gearing more max health w/ Con and growth amulets on gear (other easy means is getting the Armadillo 3-set gear in the Q-store, which binds to that character and levels with your character). But when an AT has Con as an SS, not only can you get higher health innately, but gearing heavily for Con doesn't draw away from your SS's (which power things like passive damage boosts and how strong ur passive is). AT's w/o CON as an SS lose much damage from having to gear for more health, but the Scourge doesn't lose much at all from piling it on.
My Scourge has about 9.5k health at lvl 40. He could go even higher if I wanted him to and had better gear, and not lose out on too much. 10-11k+ HP is not un-reachable nor necc a bad idea. Compare that to the base lvl 40 health of ~4.5k, and Its a big improvement
Yeah its a decent SS setup- only major thing wrong with it is that Rec PSS is simply not a good pick for it as a dps AT that uses Supernatural Power as the energy unlock. It does hold its dps back a bit, but it's not as bad an SS setup as it could've been (like, say, the Inferno's).
Defile is the AT's final power gained; its a heavy hitting charge attack that debuffs the target for all toxic damage taken, so its good as an opener/debuff. It is a strong single-target attack, but it doesn't stack deadly poison itself, cost much energy, and has a long activation and charge time.
On a FF build that can get really high crit%, Defile can be paired w/ Infernal Blast and AM for potentially the highest single-target dps avail to Infernal SN. W/o all that crit, I prefer to use Defile just to put up its debuff at the start, channel epidemic, and just refresh both poisons w/ infernal blast in between. Its still good single-target dps to do it this way, and from my testing it beats out most rotations using Defile heavily for the Scourge (again, partly due to the lower crit avail).
There's many means to go about dpsing w/ the AT, though. Ya can always just stick to ur fave looking attacks and still likely do fine.
Again, AM can still be a good option for the Scourge, but take either one ya like more.
Yeah once ya get Vicious Cyclone or Venom Breath (along w/ Aspect of the Infernal) most leveling becomes easy for this AT, and it gets even (super) easier once ya get Supernatural Power and Epidemic later. Alerts/group mobs can still hit you hard, so just be careful if you go into an XP alert in groups. Don't AoE heavily while at low-level, unless ya got an uber-tank going in first, and focus more on CC w/ the coils or swarm spells and on single-target attacks, and block often if ya got heavy aggro.
Looks mostly fine to me. I'd prob still get Defile to R3 for the stronger debuff from it (it can work on-tap for that). Here's how I'd prob do ur spec trees:
Specializations:
Recovery: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Recovery: Staying Power (2/2)
Recovery: Efficient (1/3)
Recovery: Well Rounded (2/2)
Recovery: Second Wind (2/2)
Overseer: Administer (3/3)
Overseer: Ruthless (2/2)
Overseer: Overseer Aura (3/3)
Overseer: Conservation (2/2)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Avenger: Preemptive Strike (2/3)
Mastery: Recovery Mastery (1/1)
And as morigasa mentionned before, ya may want to consider ranking up at least one travel power. It def helps to be faster in and out of combat. Ya can take a rank out of the CC spell (coils) or Condemn for it.
good luck out there.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!