"(mcbengalsfan wrote)
Unequip your companion, go to a location where you are receiving zero buffs and see where your power is and if you are above 30K you are good to go as a AC DC; otherwise go DO. That is the simple way of looking at if you are deciding to be a AC DC or a DO. "
NOTE: this went live before I was done with it. intend to put in pics and things. I hit send by accident derp
truncated from another thread, but I thought I'd be thoroughly highjacking that thread to go in this direction there.
I did this. I went to portal of tuern and unequipped my companion my base power is 34.801 and my recovery unbuffed is 15.5 buffed 18.7
switching around defense and offense enchants I can easily get myself up to 36.2 unbuffed power. and 19k recovery. (weird. I got this result but now in practice my recovery has gone down again.
Should I be practicing as an ac instead of a do?
I'm a little torn. on one hand it would be nice to be able to switch between either easily. my Do would be a little less powerful for solo content. but it seems like there might be more pressure on me. lol. I don't like it when people micromanage. makes me not want to play. looking at these pics should I stay do or practice acdc. it is also very important to me that I am decent enough to be an alpha or beta choice instead of worse than. (and that would mean some practice of course but just based on stats at the moment. are my stats bad enough to be not a top choice for an ac but decent enough for a do or ....
as do I run with orcus set, lantern, and I was workign on all brutal 13. I had about 95 percent crit. 17k recovery and 32 power unbuffed.
even if I do switch to ac I cannot switch out my companion because I use the gear between my hr dc and cw. they all run fire. and they all will run the new companion when it's released.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvJfb0rEdWx6gTLVhlJJ8EZkEngbhttps://1drv.ms/u/s!AvJfb0rEdWx6gTTQYa2losS_IumFhttps://1drv.ms/u/s!AvJfb0rEdWx6gTXom9z1srBXFiptRight now as a Do I have no problems getting into very good tong runs that go from 18 minutes to 26 minutes on average. with these stats should I just stay do given tong is my primary activity at the moment? or should I be working on building radiants instead of brutals?
aka Cat.
xbox: guild excaliber
Tiberius Rex: combat sw hr 16.6k
Shepard Book: DO dc 16.8k
PC
Imaginary HR Friend.
Comments
Really, why not have a loadout for each?
DO for general purpose play.
AC if you find a DO with worse base power than your own.
You should probably stay DO. DO is much more passive than AC is, allowing you to focus on running a DC rather than micromanging stuff.
part only dc, do what you want
party two dc, just pm the other dc and coordinate, no reason to make a show of it. Should be doing that anyhow to coordinate who is using what powers.
end game dc should probably have at least 4 loadouts anyhow
solo
party only dc
party two dc - ac
party two dc - do
AC I have only one loadout that I actually use, and I play AC only in party and only if necessary. While Righteous is my tree of choice for both, AC needs to pick up the BoB and Gift of Haste feats.
AC loadout #2 has more healing feats, but I haven't really wanted or needed to use it since I was a fresh 70. Theoretically it could be useful if I needed to be a primary healer for some current or future end-game activity, but in those situations I'm either on DO and proccing Repurpose Soul heals and/or I'm partied with a Devo OP or Templock.
Daily activities are so easy after a certain item level that you can build pretty much whatever you want and get the job done.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
Why h because in a 2 dc format you don't want to have overlaping feats since they don't stack. A good example is a DO doesn't need weapons of light in a 2 dc format but a DO would want weapons of light in a 1 dc format. Yes on PC we already have mod 13 and the rebalance for DC powers
Generally it's true that there isn't a reason to keep WoL on DO, but the lack of useful alternatives, especially in the early feat tiers, makes it not worth it for me to bother having a separate loadout just to swap it. I'm actually glad for this redundant feat in Cradle since there is a solid chance that my AC partner will fall off during push/pull. Many of my clears have finished out with me as DO and 3-4 others who managed to stay on the platform.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
From casual observation it looks like it's as simple as the greater value WoL taking priority. My 17k+ DO has more base Power than a mid-range AC, but of course an AC of comparable ilvl should be significantly higher. If I have a great deal more Power than the other DC, I usually end up swapping. If their Power is comparatively very low, they probably don't have the Recovery and AP generation to maintain AA, anyway.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
I redid my DO group loadout to get Gift of the Gods from Faithful. Campaign boons are picked for recovery and healing. I don't use a Dragonheart or Griffon and need lots of recovery.
My questing DO loadout is full Righteous with campaign boons picked for DPS.
I run with plenty of high recovery AC DC that have lower power than I do. Based on your recommendations I as a DO with a base of 43K power should go without WoL when running with a DC that has a base of 35K power. That is 8K or 800 more power they get form me having that feat. Looking over the DC feats, honestly there are not any worth taking that jump out at me that say take me, take me....due to how bad DC feats are.
That aside, this allows my lazy butt to have only 2 loadouts, one for AC and one for DO.
Now my CW, that character has 3 or is it 4 loadout due to having 2 Paragon Paths and 3 paragon feat paths to create various builds. DC have two paragon paths with only one good paragon feat path.
I can understand having 3 loadouts with two AC builds. One with ByS and the other without it. You could do the same again with the DO build, but again, there are no feats that scream take me take me....for a DO.
Like I said, I'm lazy, I will stick with my current setup for now.
As for the OP, stick with AC DC when you are the lone DC. Your base power is high enough as well as your recovery to be an AC DC. It will get a bit high as you get flush out your enchantments, gear, mount equipped power, etc...
I was in your boat and my base at one point was around 29K. I am now at 43K. So it can go up.
I typically am the DO and not the AC DC. I can play both roles just fine because whatever stats I need I get through my companion. When I play DO I swap out one piece of my companion gear for companion gear on my CW. I get more crit when I do this. When I play AC I use the gear and enchantments that provide more recovery.
It is a balancing act but if you have gear to swap out it makes it easier playing both DC builds.
2. In a case where you have more base power than the other DC, why are you running DO and they AC and not the other way? It's like giving the bloody death course to a support OP (or something non DPS) while having a BiS GWF (that does their job) in a party. Sure, can be done, but why to do it?
Also, while I’m generally a big fan of parties maximizing damage output, I think it bears mentioning that it’s not always necessary to force the other DC’s choice of path. ACs playing as DO are a bit sad, and DOs need fairly high ilvl and possibly special gear to mimic an AC adequately. I’d only press the issue if the other DC wanted to play AC and flat out couldn’t maintain AA uptime. Otherwise they can play AC if it’s more fun for them.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
In general, assuming people trying honestly to cooperate, a glance a the gear can tell who has what (out of combat) or people just say/coordinate before to decide who can play what better, at least in my expiriance. A 5k here or there is not the issue, but 15k is significant or as you said, a player who doesn't know the other path rotation, or just doesn't like to play one of the variants. All the DC I saw are coordinating among themselves what they want and who will be better at what, but again, I don't pug.
Obviously not something that works well in public queue, more so, I saw on reddit an AC DC that has power (radiants) on a companion, I've never understood this, and even asked but got no response, but I guess now I know, it's probably to provide false image of being AC of higher power, to get into groups / just look better than actually is.
on a side note, AC is generally used more overall - 2x dc and 1x dc runs, always have an AC. albeit, AC requires better gear for power share. but DO is also high in demand, and you do get 2 loadouts, so what's the hold up?
Using 30K power here is what is a DPS gets in power.
Player: 16500
Companion 16500 * 1.8 (for R13 bondings) = 29700
Total power that is given to a DPS is 46200.
Given that most DPS have around 50-70K power from their companion a AC DC that can pump 46K power to a DPS is very close given diminish returns on power to the 20% damage buff that a DO provides.
I personally run with GF tanks because of the AP gain I get that helps me keep AA and HG up.
That was at 30K power. The OP has 35K and that is even more he is share. The question is can he do HG and AA and keep both up. If he can, than he should play as a AC all the time unless another DC that has a AC primary build has more power than him. If he cannot keep HG and AA up, than I do recommend him playing both and figuring out which build he likes better.
I will state this, playing a DC is harder than being a DPS but easier than being a tank.
Like I explained, a year ago it was around 30K base needed for a AC build to keep up with the DO. With the changes to bonding it is higher. I don't know the currently value but it is higher and like I said, the immunity from AA does provide a benefit that a DO cannot offer. It is figuring out what is really needed in a 1 DC group - the slight bonus in buffs or a bit more protection.
Most groups I run with when I am the lone DC always want the AC build for the extra power over the 20% damage buff because I tend to run with players all running R13 or higher enchantments. If I do a random Q and see lower geared players I do run DO or run DO when grouped up with a AC DC.
As for my claim about HG and AA, it is possible with a GF Tac build as a tank, using a recovery potion, using AP Vault of Piety potion, and food. I have done plenty of T9 without a 2nd DC and I only will do that with a GF Tac Tank for the extra AP that the GF provides. Without potions my recovery with my bonding is at 23K on my AC DC build.
Losing my companion hurts my AC setup as my AP gains drop very fast and it becomes an issue keeping AA and HG up. With my companion up it is not a problem with a GF Tac Tank.
(There, should be fixed to not include Bruenor's Helm).
Power boons taken are a max rank Barracks (8000), Sharandar (400), Dread Ring (250), Tyranny of the Dragons (400), Elemental Evil (300), Underdark (400), and 3x Power from Chult (1000). If you really wanted to tryhard mode, you could throw in 2000 from the Icewind Dale Cool boon, though I am too lazy to include it because I can't be bothered to drain my stamina before each fight.
Defense boons taken are a max rank Stables (8000), Tyranny of the Dragons (400), 1x from Omu (500)
Deflect boons taken are Sharandar (400), Tyranny of the Dragons (400), and 2x from Omu (750).
Lifesteal boons taken are a Dread Ring (400), Tyranny of the Dragons (400), Underdark (400), and Cloaked Ascendancy (500)