05 Jul 2012 03:14
Tags updates
If you had previously found my "easter egg" page showing you the starting builds that I'm using for my first vertical progression, be aware that what I had before is now out of date due to the nerf to Post-Op. I've adjusted all the builds to use a different arrangement for the healing side of things. Tested the new healing "core" of all the decks and it works a peach. I can equal the healing output of the 6x best hots that you can stack with Fist healing. I tested both the Fist core and the Rifle core while letting swarms of werewolves chew on me in Beseiged Farmlands. Both the healing cores put out pretty much the same total healing mitigation while I just stood there and did nothing but heal myself through the onslaught.
About anima shot vs anima burst:
I think they are supposed to fire at the same rate, but anima burst is definitely slower. Test it out by counting how many shots you can get in 30 seconds. Anima shot is 1 shot per second. Anima burst is about 1.1-1.2 seconds per shot.
And to answer mrectoplasma's question, there's no doubt that Voracity can be a fun and useful passive to slot into a Blade build and do just what you said with it. However, the ability that you have to purchase in order to get Voracity is on my "must buy" list and it's also a mainstay of most of my builds, including the one I use for 85% of everything. That ability is called Clearing the Path and it is a PBAOE that is a 100% guaranteed penetration against every target that is Afflicted. Since my builds rely on an affliction engine, every target is afflicted, so everyone gets penetrated. So: Voracity gives you a 7.5% improved penetration chance, versus a 100% penetration chance; which seems stronger? Granted, if you have nothing but Frenzy builders and consumers in a particular build then Voracity can be especially strong! But my builds are not Frenzy-centric, so that's why I don't use Voracity as a general rule. That said, it is a "must buy" and I will keep ready to use when I start building out other weapons and building frenzy-centric decks.
Well, Reap and Sew looks pretty sweet…. for 8 seconds out of every 90 seconds (because of its long cool down). ^.^
My personal feeling about most of the 50AP elite actives is that I have no room for them in my very limited set of 7 active slots, because most of them have far too long a cool down for my taste. They'd be great in a game where you have 5 skill bars and 50 skills you can use situationally as needed. But when you have only 7 actives? Sorry, but far too many abilities with no cooldown or very short 4- or 6-second cooldowns simply win. Every time. For me. :) Well, there are a few 20- or 30-second CD elites that I think are worthwhile (such as Whiteout from elemental), but even there the pickings are slim IMO.
To put it in perspective, let's say Reap and Sew can in fact pump out a solid 1500 healing. First, does every team member need that much healing at the same time? Well, true you might safe the day after three people get caught unawares by a gimmick attack and they're nearly dead. But perhaps they should learn to recognize and avoid such gimmick attacks? So in most cases, you only have one or two targets that you have to constantly heal. So in that case, which does more healing? At typical "Blue Mountain" levels, Anima Burst alone will put out 60-ish heals per attack. Spam it for 5 seconds and you've healed 300-ish. Spam it for 25 seconds and you've healed 1500-ish… So: 25 seconds or 90 seconds to achieve the same goal? And that's without all the added heals from synergies with it, such as Healing Sparks and Leech Therapy. At "Blue Mountain" levels, Healing Sparks is pumping out a solid 16-ish per second. 16*25=400. Meanwhile, Leech Therapy is adding roughly 30-ish per attack, so 30*25=750. So really over 25 seconds, Those 25x Anima Bursts are giving you 1500+400+750=2650. Extrapolate that out to 90 seconds and you have put out 9540 points of healing. Even if you are tab-targeting around to 3 or 4 different teammates during that 90 seconds, it's a lot more healing output than Reap and Sew will give you for that valuable space on your actives bar.
Thanks for responding.
If you don't mind, what do you think of abilities like Reap and Sew? 53% leach for all group members for 8 seconds, topped with a post op heal. If they do 2-3k damage, that is 1500 healing to each member of the group. Pretty awesome based on my theorycrafting.
Blade torrent (or Bamboo cutter for less hate) seem to be an interesting twist to that build combined with voracity : of course you lose the 10% pen bonus of delicate strike/precision and 'only' get a 7.5% pen buff BUT it now benefits any frenzy, like… Fire at will. That would mean… more chances to pen (and weaken) a GROUP right ?!
More (useful to a newb like me), blade torrent is spammable like hell and you don't have to select specifically a target nor face it (Drawback is you can get a LOT more adds if you're not careful).
I suspect Anima Outbreak, which is also a Frenzy could benefit also from Voracity, with a nice chance to hit -and penetrate and weaken- several targets healing you more the more you hit (I'm thinking of PVP situations where there can be a LOT of targets clustered).
As i said i'm quite a beginner in term of builds and perhaps i'm missing something but… Im feeling Voracity and its Frenzy synergy do have potential.
Ps : didn't tried bloodsport, but 100% afflicted added to mass pen and weaken sounds yummy to me.
Just a quick response, ya I spaced putting Bloodsport in the first three builds where it belongs. I'll fix that page shortly. In the meantime, wherever you see Leech Therapy in the first three builds, pretend you're looking at Bloodsport instead.
There are some nuances here depending on whether you're soloing or grouping, and whether you're tanking, dpsing, or off-healing. But that's what makes this game great. Basically:
Now to UADarth's comments about Anima Shot versus Anima Burst.
And to Nadriewyn's comment about Dark Potency versus Fatal Florish, FF's description is incorrect. It's buff only stacks to 5x max, so there is zero difference between FF and DP other than DP is much cheaper to acquire.
For getting the 100% Afflicted going I use Bloodsport(Fists) which Yokai directed me towards the other day in a PM on the forums. So far I have basically everything in the first build done except 12 Gouge, almost done with Blue Mountain. Build so far works fine, though fights seem to take awhile, not sure if that's just way the build is due to having skills spent in surviability or just the mobs there are tougher.
But in that deck, u haven't a 100% ability to start the afflicted->pen->afflicted cascade.
With Blade torrent u have one.
That, I can (probably) answer:
- Dark Potency is cheaper (don't need to fill any inner ring), but: Since we're deep into blades anyway, AND get 10 stacks of pen rating instead of 5, Fatal Flourish sounds like a good replacement, indeed (unless it's bugged ;)
- This deck is (was?) all about pen rating supported by Affliction… and Blade Torrent/Perfect Storm does nothing for pen.
Couple of question:
-) Why do u use darm potency instead of Fatal Flourish? It seems just better with the 10 maximum stack. (I have the feeling that is bugged in the game, it arrive to 5 maximum
-)With the lack of Afflicted initial trigger, why you don't use the Blade Torrent/Perfect storm combo insted of delicate strike?
Tnx for the guide, it was very useful for a newbie like me :-)