So i'm running a Tank/Buff spec build and i'm wondering. Which 4set group buff would go best, the 60% power increase and 20% defence increase with 25% chance to proc everytime I use an encounter power for 6 seconds or the 10% crit severity increase for 8 second everytime I crit?
I use into the fray, knight valor, aoe taunt for my powers
Honestly, my guys told me they barely noticed my Knight Captain's buff. Either it doesn't proc that often (to be fair, I have 900 Recovery so it's not like I'm slinging powers all the time), or +60% Power isn't much.
And it might not be, really. Power adds a flat damage bonus, and the difference between 4k and 7k is not that much (maybe a few hundred damage points per attack). The +25% Defense is nearly unnoticeable, since Defense isn't the main mitigation tool for anyone (it's either stripped away whole by Armor Penetration and Plague Fire, or it isn't focused on in the first place, in which case +25% to nothing is... nothing).
Knights Captain gives better over all increases in PVE. With the caviate of what your group comp is. An all Crit build CW and TR party for instance
Reasons:
1. The crit boost activates far less often since you will crit far less often.
2. Knight's Captain is a boost both in damage but also in the amount of incoming damage.
3. Knight's Captain is a far smaller boost in damage but it is consistent rather than RNG dependent.
What you should know is that the buff spec really benefits under-geared parties since it makes up for their gear shortfall and it helps skilled over-geared parties since it helps smooth out the little mistakes and speeds things up. It is the middle of the range parties where it suffers and neither boost is of particular use here.
Sadly it is these middle of the range parties you usually find unless you have a set group or a good guild. With my group our DC usually only has AS and Sunburst as heals on his bar and has the option to slot a utility or damage encounter in the third slot. When me and the DC pug if they don't work together as a group this is not an option.
I've been running the buff spec since the patch hit for threat changes and have had no problem with groups, I am just struggling on choosing between the T1 knight captain or T2 high general.
I actually crit quite often because I have Ioun stone of allure + the tricksters +5% crit buff
this is why I am struggling to choose between the 2 lol
I have both sets, and to be honest I like the knight captain alot better. The buff is up anytime we are in combat. I have never it noticed NOT up honestly. the 60% power boost equals out to a rough 20% overall increase in DPS, based on the testing we did as a guild. This not only buffs DPS, but also increase the strength of the heals. Even though it is only a 25% proc rate, you are attacking with cleave and everything else so much, you will pretty much always have it up.
Also with the high generals, you are adding the 10% crit severity for 8 seconds when you crit. That means that your party also has to crit in that time period. Also from what we looked at, that 10% crit severity increase was less than the 20% dps increase across the board consistently. You can also look at it this way, with Knight captain, if I increase your power so you are doing 20% more damage, then when you crit, your overall crit is going to be higher than just an additional 10%.
The KC set procs off of anything. Not sure on stats. I stoned my gear different. I focused on Armor pen and crit more so then defelection. But with my KC set I am at:
Power 7K
Crit 21%
Armor Pen 24%
Defense 3K
Recovery 2.1K
Deflection: a whopping 409
Thats with my stone and mostly rank 7's but still some 5 and 6's in my armor. I have been been playing with KC/stalwarts/High General/Timeless to figuree out what works best for how I play.
So +10% damage for 4 people vs +60% power for 3 people.
Its 60% for power for 4 people. The healer also benefits from it. When we parsed it with ACT, his heals were around 17-20% higher with KC than without. If I have time tonight or tomorrow, I will try to parse it out and get some screen captures of actual data to validate the differences between the sets.
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fimconteMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
Its 60% for power for 4 people. The healer also benefits from it. When we parsed it with ACT, his heals were around 17-20% higher with KC than without. If I have time tonight or tomorrow, I will try to parse it out and get some screen captures of actual data to validate the differences between the sets.
Offensive wise it's only 3 people though. I don't think any of the current content requires more powerful heals if you have competent players.
I do agree that it might be more useful to run KC, since you might not be Debuffing the same target as the TR/CW/GWF are.
The debuff proc chance nerf didn't help Valiant either, since GFs do not have that many spammable encounters and our at-wills tend to be somewhat slow, so it's not really viable to consistently maintain it on multiple targets.
I've moved on to Stalwart, but I keep KC in my inventory for some fights where I have to kite or whatnot.
P.S. To the OP, KC > HG.
Fans Glory to the Gladiators,
Gods Glory to the Heroes.
This is wrong. The HG set will proc a +10% CritSev. to both you and your party. Ive tested many times. It will not, however, appear as a buff. You need to catch it on your first Crit when testing by looking directly at your character sheet. In my case it goes from 76% CritSev to 86% when active. Also it seems to have a unadvertized cooldown, as i cant retrigger the buff from a crit till about 50secs after the first buff ends. Thats why you cant just look at random times for it. I have no option on how it compares, but it works, thats for sure.
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And it might not be, really. Power adds a flat damage bonus, and the difference between 4k and 7k is not that much (maybe a few hundred damage points per attack). The +25% Defense is nearly unnoticeable, since Defense isn't the main mitigation tool for anyone (it's either stripped away whole by Armor Penetration and Plague Fire, or it isn't focused on in the first place, in which case +25% to nothing is... nothing).
Can't say anything for High General.
Reasons:
1. The crit boost activates far less often since you will crit far less often.
2. Knight's Captain is a boost both in damage but also in the amount of incoming damage.
3. Knight's Captain is a far smaller boost in damage but it is consistent rather than RNG dependent.
What you should know is that the buff spec really benefits under-geared parties since it makes up for their gear shortfall and it helps skilled over-geared parties since it helps smooth out the little mistakes and speeds things up. It is the middle of the range parties where it suffers and neither boost is of particular use here.
Sadly it is these middle of the range parties you usually find unless you have a set group or a good guild. With my group our DC usually only has AS and Sunburst as heals on his bar and has the option to slot a utility or damage encounter in the third slot. When me and the DC pug if they don't work together as a group this is not an option.
I actually crit quite often because I have Ioun stone of allure + the tricksters +5% crit buff
this is why I am struggling to choose between the 2 lol
Also with the high generals, you are adding the 10% crit severity for 8 seconds when you crit. That means that your party also has to crit in that time period. Also from what we looked at, that 10% crit severity increase was less than the 20% dps increase across the board consistently. You can also look at it this way, with Knight captain, if I increase your power so you are doing 20% more damage, then when you crit, your overall crit is going to be higher than just an additional 10%.
Do you also know if it's still possible to reach these stats using knights captain:
2k Deflection
3k Recovery
22-24% Arpen
Using rank 7s and Ioun stone of Allure
Power 7K
Crit 21%
Armor Pen 24%
Defense 3K
Recovery 2.1K
Deflection: a whopping 409
Thats with my stone and mostly rank 7's but still some 5 and 6's in my armor. I have been been playing with KC/stalwarts/High General/Timeless to figuree out what works best for how I play.
It only procs for your allies, same as KC set
You get the benefit too.
So +10% damage for 4 people vs +60% power for 3 people.
Valiant also has the most recovery/power of t1 sets.
Gods Glory to the Heroes.
TR:Anirul Corrino@Fimconte
GF:Irulan Corrino@Fimconte
With a well geared group, what does that -defense buff really do? Almost nothing?
No, it still gives +10% damage.
Because it can take targets into negative (tested on dummy) and that 450 translates to 10%.
Gods Glory to the Heroes.
TR:Anirul Corrino@Fimconte
GF:Irulan Corrino@Fimconte
Its 60% for power for 4 people. The healer also benefits from it. When we parsed it with ACT, his heals were around 17-20% higher with KC than without. If I have time tonight or tomorrow, I will try to parse it out and get some screen captures of actual data to validate the differences between the sets.
Offensive wise it's only 3 people though. I don't think any of the current content requires more powerful heals if you have competent players.
I do agree that it might be more useful to run KC, since you might not be Debuffing the same target as the TR/CW/GWF are.
The debuff proc chance nerf didn't help Valiant either, since GFs do not have that many spammable encounters and our at-wills tend to be somewhat slow, so it's not really viable to consistently maintain it on multiple targets.
I've moved on to Stalwart, but I keep KC in my inventory for some fights where I have to kite or whatnot.
P.S. To the OP, KC > HG.
Gods Glory to the Heroes.
TR:Anirul Corrino@Fimconte
GF:Irulan Corrino@Fimconte
This is wrong. The HG set will proc a +10% CritSev. to both you and your party. Ive tested many times. It will not, however, appear as a buff. You need to catch it on your first Crit when testing by looking directly at your character sheet. In my case it goes from 76% CritSev to 86% when active. Also it seems to have a unadvertized cooldown, as i cant retrigger the buff from a crit till about 50secs after the first buff ends. Thats why you cant just look at random times for it. I have no option on how it compares, but it works, thats for sure.
Is it stacking with Tide, GWF debuff?, and or plaguefire?
It's the same debuff type as Plague Fire, so you get +19% total if you have 3 stacks of GPF and Valiant debuff on target.
Gods Glory to the Heroes.
TR:Anirul Corrino@Fimconte
GF:Irulan Corrino@Fimconte