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Vladek's SB Fury Face-Melting Guide
strykr75601
Member Posts: 37 Arc User
After many requests, I've finally made it.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1coX919R12KxKFC7WalNBHw-bfTrz4otmgb5vmrFB-60/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1coX919R12KxKFC7WalNBHw-bfTrz4otmgb5vmrFB-60/edit?usp=sharing
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Comments
- Protector's Friendship
- Assassin's Covenant
- I claim Human and Dragonborn are the best races for SW. Both are better than Tiefling.
- Orcus set isn't as necessary as you may think, specifically in group content with significant damage bonuses. Consider the CON belt an alternative (no set bonus).
- Endgame groups with DCs and OPs tend to favor Hellbringer over Soulbinder. The cooldown reduction allows you to spam Killing Flames quite often and enemies typically do not live long enough to enjoy being hit by more than a couple Soul Scorches (at best). Even if enemies do take longer to kill, whatever gain you achieve from Soul Scorch + Blades + Essence Defilier must be compared against Owl Bear Pillar of Power + Firey Bolt/Arms of Hadar/Hadar's Grasp + Hellish Rebuke (and the Hellbringer self-damage buffs, of course).
- Hellbringer improves team buffs, enemy debuffs, and team survivability.
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
Blood Pact of Cania was reported broken many mods ago but my understanding is it was fixed. My initial guess is that it was fixed with either Underdark expansion or SW "class balance".
It will have to be tested because what worked in a previous patch may not work in the current patch.
Can´t tell what this will do on a 100% critbuild with 165% Severity using vorp, same or less?
My understanding is ability scores are in their own multiplier "bin". So if your CON is 28, that's 18%. Factor in 5/5 Blood Pact of Cania for another 5%. Total is 23%. This damage bonus is separate from the damage buffs from feats, power, and third party effects (Into the Fray). Therefore, it is not subject to the same scale of diminishing returns experienced by the Dragonborn racial bonus (3% power) or Tiefling racial bonus (5% damage bonus when enemy has < 50% health).
To answer your question, the damage will be LESS, as it can never be MORE than 5%. This is why maxing your character's ability score damage bonuses are a great idea.
You have no obligation to use dark revelry so in damnation path you can use the feat that allow you to go outside POP ans still benefit 5s buff/debuff ( same for the rest of the group party).
As for dps output, it is extremely rare to see SB on ps4 but you say no SW can outdps you, i have yet to see a SB with similar GS/gear outdps me xD.
But it's a well writed guide for those who care only about SB and dps.
I think Fernuu has proved that the difference is very small.
And i dont see why i would choose SB if i can do same dps with HB while buffing defense and dps of the whole party. (not to mention that POP now debuff ennemi since last update.)
It feels like : " i dont want others doing more dps than me and i will not help them do more damage and get extra defense"
Don't take it personally, but i think considering HB and SB, SB is a selfish build when HB is a very viable build and team-friendly.
Sure most of the content don't need that kind of "support" but with endgame it's really nice addition.
If i do even 10% less damage while the team do more damage and have better survability, overall it's a good thing.
If the difference between HB and SB was huge, i would go for SB but that's avsolutely not the case here...
Refusing to buff the party just to do a little more damage isn't my way of playing a coop game xD
I'm not judging thought, everyone play the build he wants.
First of all, I don't view my choice to go SB as a selfish one. I have always preferred SB over HB mechanically, and in no way did I state that SB is a superior class to HB. (Quote from my guide: "I am not saying conclusively that SB is better than HB for PvE play. I, personally, have always gotten better results as SB, but obviously some people will find the opposite to be true for them.") I simply have never had an HB beat me. I don't believe that it is impossible to do by any means. In my experience, and for my character specifically in the groups I generally run, a 7.5% damage output boost to my party would still net less overall outgoing damage for the run as a whole. Obviously, this will not always be the case, but I build my character for the majority of the runs I do, not for a select minority. Moreover, with Dark Revelry, I give my party 20% of their base power as a bonus, so I hardly think I ignore supporting my party.
Secondly, as for the debate regarding race. I have never noticed a significant difference in damage between the three races I have played my SW as: Tiefling, Dragonborn, and Drow. On paper, Tiefling and Dragonborn have the best bonuses suited for maxing out your statistics like crit. And, for my build, as I stated, crit is essential. That was the purpose for recommending those classes for a Soulbinder build.
Third, yes, you can choose to max out two tiers of a feat tree to skip over the next one, and indeed that is path I take when I am running a Temptation SW. In the specific case @beckylunatic referenced, the temp HP from Compounded Soul is marginally more beneficial to me, and the party, than the 10% chance to apply lesser curse. Most enemies in range of attacking me are also in range of me attacking them, which means they would automatically have a lesser curse applied to them, thanks to BoVA. If they were not in range, yes, Vengeful Curse would indeed curse them, but I would gain little to no benefit from it, as they would not suffer from Creeping Death. If there are specific questions regarding the choice of one feat over another, I welcome them and will do my best to add that information to the guide.
Finally, I appreciate the input @d4rkh0rs3 gave on the differences between Soulbinder and Hellbringer, and it indeed is valid and good. I do agree that I need to put a bit more information into the section regarding mount insignia bonuses and I will; this guide will be updated as I learn more about the class. However, I would appreciate it if the comments comparing SB to HB were to end, as this guide is solely to highlight my SB build, not to compare the two trees.
Thank you all for your feedback on my post, and I welcome further as it is updated.
One final thing, for those who have used the build and this guide, please, I would appreciate feedback regarding your results. Feel free to mail me ingame at Vladek@strykr75601.
Shown above is the parse for a single cast of SS
Now, when you multi-cast SS, cursing after each application, something slightly different happens. The FIRST cast seems to proc the slightly lower burn tick FIRST, while the second cast seems to have its lower tick LAST.
Above is the parse for multi casting SS
On average, SSB seems to deal 70-85% of the initial cast of SS, spread across 5 ticks. I have not yet tested it with buffs, or any other factors beyond my character's powers.
If you do a 10k hit the DOT is 80% in 5 ticks a 1,6k
On Preview actually that DOT ticks 6 time for 100% like 6x1,666, obviuosly a change.
80% is probably a reasonable rule of thumb, but I can't say for sure the exact number. If what @schietindebux says about Preview is true, though, I am reasonably excited for that buff to SS.
You should take into account feats like "Burning Soul", Dark Revelry and some boons also, and use the test weapon.
Doing so all is as it should imo.
I honestly don't see a problem with "selfish" builds (bit of a misnomer in this case) as long as they do their job. Because debuffs have a cap, it helps if someone brings the the raw damage numbers. For the record, the HB's damage buff (Flames of Empowerment) is subject to that cap (it's actually a debuff even though only you benefit from it).
The meta is also ever-evolving. Tyrannical Curse doesn't stack with Warlock's Curse but they don't override each other anymore so SBSW WC+SS spam during TC is a massive damage spike in PvE. It's very noticeable in long fights.