I'm going to take the plung and switch from lostmauth to valhalla, and squeeze out ArP from elsewhere. I'm a sucker for setbonuses. Though it's going to suck not having an AP cloak.
When it comes to pets, would you take a dancing shield over rust monster or is there a reason why you prefer rust monster over it?
I tried to read as much of this as I could... a lot to take in. I run a pretty solid TacGF and in regards to AP gain I have no empirical data, no charts, and do not watch the combat log so I'll rely on my eyes.
With 0 AP, 1 hit from Orcus fills up my AP all the way and can pop a daily again. I also use Action Surge. While guarding attacks, we still take damage so the combo of 10% AP from Action Surge + Martial Mastery works for me and my build.
If I get take a ton of damage with my shield up, survive, then have full AP to pop Fighter's Recovery/Steel Defense.... The harder they hit, the more unkillable I become if I hit my rotations (til I get 1-shotted . I was just reminded recently that a dead GF does not generate AP...
As for Tact AP. unless something changed in this mod, 2% HP loss = 1% AP gained.
Has nothing to do with DR as the tooltip suggests, it all depends on how much damage you take, being immune to damage i.e. steel defense, gives you 0 AP. This is great for hard hitting bosses, but everywhere else is negligible.
I'm going to take the plung and switch from lostmauth to valhalla, and squeeze out ArP from elsewhere. I'm a sucker for setbonuses. Though it's going to suck not having an AP cloak.
When it comes to pets, would you take a dancing shield over rust monster or is there a reason why you prefer rust monster over it?
oh hai Grimah! big fan, by the way.
Rust Monster: Great Active bonus, decent runestone slots, decent DR debuff, and (not sure if this works) possibly working damage debuff (the companion attack that supposedly debuffs foe attack power by 8%, but lolcryptictooltips)
Dancing Shield: best debuff of any companion, 3x Defense slots, and 3x belt slots (which are fairly cheap compared to their ilk)
I personally use a Dancing Shield, but that thing finds a way to steal my aggro, even if I'm mashing Tab + Aggravating Strike + ET. So watch out for that on something like Orcus.
Using a Rust Monster "frees up" a slot for another useful active bonus, assuming you can live with a lesser DR debuff.
A bit off-topic, but regarding the Orcus fight; if you have trouble surviving in melee range (weak or no group heals, lag messing up rotation, etc) then you might consider using Knights Challenge and STAYING OUT OF MELEE RANGE while it's up. With rank 4, it locks him up hard for ~10 seconds out of every 20ish, during which you can mark, pop ITF to buff party, etc. while he does ZERO damage to your party. When it's about to fade, use LS or similar to jump back in to keep his focus on you. Note, it's a good idea to keep block up when he does casting animations, in case he's casting his ouchie ranged death touch nuke.
If you need even more help, pop out a defender companion and equip a lyria's (sp?) bell to rez it with. Doesn't even have to be a very good one, as even a fully kitted epic companion can get 1 shotted... it's just a speed bump to keep focus away from the rest of your party. The exception is after rez with the bell, which gives it full health and 10 seconds of immunity.
A bit off-topic, but regarding the Orcus fight; if you have trouble surviving in melee range (weak or no group heals, lag messing up rotation, etc) then you might consider using Knights Challenge and STAYING OUT OF MELEE RANGE while it's up. With rank 4, it locks him up hard for ~10 seconds out of every 20ish, during which you can mark, pop ITF to buff party, etc. while he does ZERO damage to your party. When it's about to fade, use LS or similar to jump back in to keep his focus on you. Note, it's a good idea to keep block up when he does casting animations, in case he's casting his ouchie ranged death touch nuke.
If you need even more help, pop out a defender companion and equip a lyria's (sp?) bell to rez it with. Doesn't even have to be a very good one, as even a fully kitted epic companion can get 1 shotted... it's just a speed bump to keep focus away from the rest of your party. The exception is after rez with the bell, which gives it full health and 10 seconds of immunity.
... That's an interesting use of Knight's Challenge.
For party protection/mitigation? I never thought about that.
Methinks I have an idea for an eventual Conq build...
(Llira's bell, methinks, but I'm not too picky about spelling.)
About SVA:A friend asked me about the arrow indications of the boss attacks.I did not payed attention to them cause currently AA power of the DCs is broken and no need to.
But a friend did notice the arrow and its indications,and these are: (thanks BEHEMOTH@checkmatein3 for pointing out )
1.Large arrow overhead with pulsing in ground: Hypothermia ,you need to hundle
2.Squat arrow with red circle : Freeze attack ,you need to run away
3. Two squat arrows ,or one arrow plus frozen edge on the screen : IBS attack ,prepare to guard or go immune
Comments
When it comes to pets, would you take a dancing shield over rust monster or is there a reason why you prefer rust monster over it?
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
Has nothing to do with DR as the tooltip suggests, it all depends on how much damage you take, being immune to damage i.e. steel defense, gives you 0 AP. This is great for hard hitting bosses, but everywhere else is negligible.
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
oh hai Grimah! big fan, by the way.
Rust Monster: Great Active bonus, decent runestone slots, decent DR debuff, and (not sure if this works) possibly working damage debuff (the companion attack that supposedly debuffs foe attack power by 8%, but lolcryptictooltips)
Dancing Shield: best debuff of any companion, 3x Defense slots, and 3x belt slots (which are fairly cheap compared to their ilk)
I personally use a Dancing Shield, but that thing finds a way to steal my aggro, even if I'm mashing Tab + Aggravating Strike + ET. So watch out for that on something like Orcus.
Using a Rust Monster "frees up" a slot for another useful active bonus, assuming you can live with a lesser DR debuff.
edit: now i think about it 20% is just too hard to ignore. Gawd its such a dilemma. having it taunt isn't exactly the end of the world.
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
If you need even more help, pop out a defender companion and equip a lyria's (sp?) bell to rez it with. Doesn't even have to be a very good one, as even a fully kitted epic companion can get 1 shotted... it's just a speed bump to keep focus away from the rest of your party. The exception is after rez with the bell, which gives it full health and 10 seconds of immunity.
For party protection/mitigation? I never thought about that.
Methinks I have an idea for an eventual Conq build...
(Llira's bell, methinks, but I'm not too picky about spelling.)
But a friend did notice the arrow and its indications,and these are: (thanks BEHEMOTH@checkmatein3 for pointing out
1.Large arrow overhead with pulsing in ground: Hypothermia ,you need to hundle
2.Squat arrow with red circle : Freeze attack ,you need to run away
3. Two squat arrows ,or one arrow plus frozen edge on the screen : IBS attack ,prepare to guard or go immune