Trying to maximize my debuffs

mcgwarface

Using Con Artist (summoned) and Rust Monster....using Trans Feytouched now....of course using bane.

Looking at Aura of Truth but Im not sure if it works or not. What else should I use to help w debuffs as a Prot OP?

dupeks

Bane is a good debuff power.

I don't like aura of truth unless another OP already has Courage and Wisdom covered. Coordinating with other OPs is key for smooth runs.

Personal opinion below:

Debuffs are cool and all, but one of the best contributions that prot-OP can bring is power sharing via Aura Gifts. Oath of Protection gives you power as you take damage up to 10% of your max HP, and that power is "shareable" through aura gifts. So to max party utility I like to capitalize on this unique prot-OP trait (because dev-OPs don't have access to as much power as we do). With good bondings, you can self-buff your power pretty high which means Shepherd's Devotion insignia bonus is a solid party buff (and Artificer's Persuasion is sexy for you too). It also means you can have great movespeed, and leave those pesky GWFs wide-eyed in your dust haha

mcgwarface

I run bane (just added that above) and gifts (I hit 110-150k power)....and a couple of those mount buffs. I agree they are great.

Just trying to squeeze in a few more debuffs...thinking I missed a companion active bonus somewhere and wasnt sure about Truth.

Tooltip makes it look good but seems like everyone runs wisdom (including myself) instead (my courage is always on)

dupeks

Unless there's a new debuff companion that I missed, I don't think there are any active companion powers that debuff incoming damage. Only summoned companions with certain debuff abilities. Apologies if I'm wrong on this.

But if you want a stronger debuff from a summoned companion, I'd switch to Dancing Shield. Shield doesn't stack, but 20% uncapped debuff is major if your party doesn't already have one. And the Sellsword / Con Artist / Rebel Mercenary debuff is 10% uncapped, but it stacks. For comparison, the Rust monster debuff is 5% and capped. (On a side note, because of the way the math works out, uncapped debuffs tend to be significantly better than capped ones... plus they are uncapped)

For WE, I also use T. Fey on my OP, because I like the personal damage buff (helps AoC) and enemy damage debuff (helps party survivability).

If you wanted max debuffs, you could sub PF, Frost, or Terror. But each of those currently has a stacking issue (slightly different issues for each WE) if there are multiples in party (actually T. Fey does too).

Edit: Lol you are running con artist sorry.

mcgwarface

Welll....guess ill wait and see if anything new pops up. I heard devs were looking into debuffs...not sure if thats a good thing or bad thing. Wish dancing shield was a non summoned active bonus

Ill probably just round out w more defense shred, I just heard about jagged dancing blade....unless thats summoned only.. Unfortunately it requires glory...where is solo que when I need it

Thanks for info!

dupeks

mcgwarface said:

Welll....guess ill wait and see if anything new pops up. I heard devs were looking into debuffs...not sure if thats a good thing or bad thing. Wish dancing shield was a non summoned active bonus



Ill probably just round out w more defense shred, I just heard about jagged dancing blade....unless thats summoned only.. Unfortunately it requires glory...where is solo que when I need it



Thanks for info!

Jagged dancing blade is deceptively bad. The active only effects the companion's damage and not yours or the party's.

So it's not a viable debuff companion. I would probably stick with Con Artist for now. And hold my breath about wep enchants.

I am also worried about the debuff rework. If they are not careful, it would be really easy for them to render useless many companions / wep enchants and with them playstyles. But the dev responsible for the WE rework was pretty upfront about saying they are aware of the delicate balance. So when the mad doctor gets to work on this, maybe we can voice polite and clear feedback to help them avoid that

rubytrue

Heart of the Black Dragon Artifact gives a 15% debuff, if I remember correctly. If you are running as a Drow, you can also get another 5% debuff.

mcgwarface

Okay, no jagged blade ......oooooo thanks for artifact tip!!

dupeks

mcgwarface said:

Okay, no jagged blade ......oooooo thanks for artifact tip!!

Dragon heart is especially good because it's an uncapped debuff. And it can also be used with an artificer's build, and has one of the better animations for that purpose (less finicky than red, which I still end up wearing because of the power / defense... although I'd probably be better off with a black).

You probably already know about this thread, but if not it's worth reading.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1226436/pve-damage-resistance-debuffs-effectiveness/p1

mcgwarface

Thanks!

rubytrue

dupeks said:

Dragon heart is especially good because it's an uncapped debuff. And it can also be used with an artificer's build, and has one of the better animations for that purpose (less finicky than red, which I still end up wearing because of the power / defense... although I'd probably be better off with a black).

You probably already know about this thread, but if not it's worth reading.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1226436/pve-damage-resistance-debuffs-effectiveness/p1

The animation alone makes it worth getting the Heart of the Black Dragon; it cracks me up every time because it looks like you are projectile vomiting, complete with brown chunks. And my toon makes this, "huuuuggggghhhggg" sound whenever it is activated.

mcgwarface

Its actually perfect because Im a black dragonborn Heavy night of drinking at the Neverwinter pub = black acid vomit the next day

rubytrue

Heart of the Black Dragon also has awesome stat bonuses: Armor Pen, Recovery, and AP gain...plus you get 620 defense for 8 seconds whenever you use it. Here's another bonus: if you have Artificer's Persuasion/Influence from the insignia bonuses--each of which lasts 15 seconds--you can pretty much make those perma if you *miss* your target with any of the Heart of the Dragon artifacts at mythic since they have a 75% cooldown reduction if you don't hit any mobs.

Artificer's Persuation: Whenever you use an Artifact power, your Recovery, Movement, Action Point Gain, and Stamina Gain are increased by 10% of your Power for 15 seconds.

Artificer's Influence: Whenever you use an Artifact power, your Recovery, Movement, Action Point Gain, and Stamina Gain are increased by 5% of your Power for 15 seconds.

As a paladin with Aura Gifts (especially ProtOP) these numbers can get pretty insane.

np55

The Greenscale Bowman has a power that will make the target take 5% more damage from ALL sources and he rarely dies because he is using a bow. It's only single target and I don't know how often he uses that power so maybe not the best choice. As far as I know.. He's the only companion in the game that makes a target take more damage from all sources.

trzebiat

np55 said:

As far as I know.. He's the only companion in the game that makes a target take more damage from all sources.

Lol.

First thing - debuff mitigated by DR and 75% effective vs lvl 73 enemies. Second - ekhm, Con Artist, Sellsword, Harper Bard, Dancing Shield, Ambush Drake, Repentant Dragon Cultist.