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Now that Armor Penetration is working for us.....
adinosii
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,294 Arc User
It seems that Armor Penetration is now actually working for (at least some) DC powers. This means that instead of being just an useless waste of points, it might now actually make sense to allocate some points to ArPen...but the question is what else to sacrifice instead.
Here are my current "solo" PvE (with my tank companion summoned) stats, where I need to be able to do decent damage, and where some ArPen would probably help.
Power 4862
Crit Strike 2485
Armor Penetration 0
Recovery 3036
Defense 2832
Deflect 304
Regeneration 0
Life Steal 190
And my "group" stats (with my stone summoned) where I am 100% focured on healing/buffing/debuffing.
Power 5934
Crit Strike 3321
Armor Penetration 0
Recovery 3993
Defense 2947
Deflect 410
Regeneration 0
Life Steal 190
Now, I can change any stat up or down a bit...several hundred in most cases - simply by switching enchants or items...or by respeccing or changing boons, for example.
The question - which stats would you sacrifice to get some ArPen? Where am I allocating excessive points at the moment?
Here are my current "solo" PvE (with my tank companion summoned) stats, where I need to be able to do decent damage, and where some ArPen would probably help.
Power 4862
Crit Strike 2485
Armor Penetration 0
Recovery 3036
Defense 2832
Deflect 304
Regeneration 0
Life Steal 190
And my "group" stats (with my stone summoned) where I am 100% focured on healing/buffing/debuffing.
Power 5934
Crit Strike 3321
Armor Penetration 0
Recovery 3993
Defense 2947
Deflect 410
Regeneration 0
Life Steal 190
Now, I can change any stat up or down a bit...several hundred in most cases - simply by switching enchants or items...or by respeccing or changing boons, for example.
The question - which stats would you sacrifice to get some ArPen? Where am I allocating excessive points at the moment?
Hoping for improvements...
Post edited by adinosii on
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For solo PvE you can swap in a different set of accessories and/or put Armor Pen runestones and items on an augment pet. I have an extra cat on my DC that is loaded up with Armor Pen, and yes, it does make a difference when you are in damage mode, but it's a luxury to be sure.
Armor Pen is still a fairly useless waste of points for a DC EXCEPT when you are assuming a DPS role. It just doesn't really add anything to the class' support function, and therefore I don't consider it to be a necessary stat unless somehow you are constantly being called upon to fill a DPS role in your parties.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
I'd still probably take deflect, regen, etc over armor pen for PVE (not solo) seeing as the most dmg spells I can run at once is 1, unless there's another Cleric in group.
I view this a welcome improvement to the class in general now. Great for anybody wanting to run a pew pew cleric and definietly can improve soloing.
I've also noticed my flamestrike is back to criting again
Yeah, this is my biggest disappointment. The patch notes led me to believe it might be fixed. ("Many powers that didn't properly trigger certain effects now do.") Also, unless this was changed with module 2, Repurpose Soul is calculated according to the base damage roll. Armor Penetration wouldn't make the heals bigger, just the damage.
The best strategy is to get everything to "soft cap", maybe push the most important stat for your build a bit higher, then dump everything else into Power. For all the new bonuses from campaigns, active companions, and artifacts, what it really does for us is let us switch enchants to Radiant and gear for more power.
I have to say, even though power isn't that great in small amounts, the new paragon path has some pretty sweet power buffs. Without doing some testing I can't tell you the specific mechanics, but a combination of Anointed Army, Rising Hope, and Battle Fervor is quite impressive. My Power jumps from 4716 to 7029 when those three buffs are up. That much Power is enough to make a noticeable difference.
What I would do if I were more motivated is figure out the coefficients for all our powers. Then we could determine exactly how much Power would benefit us and compare it, at least in terms of dps, to ArPen.
I dont think flamestrike triggers it either, with an 11 to 15k damage crit. This spell has a lot of leeway on its damage roll.
Yeah I don't run daunting light but it would provide nice aoe heals from repurpose. I think the heals from repurpose are still based off of base dmg so apen wouldn't affect that.
Didn't repurpose used to proc huge numbers on Hammer critical strikes? Like when people used to hit draco with a 120k hammer etc? Not that this really matters since Hammer sucks now, but it would seem odd that it procced off of hammer before yet still never procs from flamestrike (especially now that it can atually crit for decent damage again)
And yes, repurp did used to proc from HoF. No idea if it still does, it's been an age since I used it.
Personally, I went for the Fabled Formian set to get roughly 800 ArP as it works wonders on mobs (Just requires a ton of full runs). I'm not inclined to stack more than that for PvE as crit/recov are far more valuable, but when you go from critting 12-14k to a whopping 16-19k via non-divine Daunting Light on mobs just with 800 ArP, I find it validated. NOTE: Divine mode varies wildly based on active debuffs from 22k-50k.
The other suggestion:
Get one of the MC/VT weapon/icon sets with ArP, stack 1-2 Dark Enchantments on the offensive slots of those items to get to 700-900 and call it a day. You'll be glad you did as it helps tremendously in generating divinity. If anything, you're contributing a lot more DPS to the party.