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Auroxis

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  1. Auroxis
    Stalkers are the new Melee ST kings, no doubt(which I would argue they should be). However, their strength comes with a considerable AoE damage weakness and slightly less survivability than a scrapper.
  2. Auroxis
    This thread had a solid debate on this very topic.
  3. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Grim Saint View Post

    Do you have a source for this? I don't doubt you're correct but I'd be curious to see a comprehensive order-of-operations for calculating damage. My searches so far have been fruitless.
    Well it has been the case on scrappers, and I have personally observed it with my stalker(you can easily test it with yours).


    Quote:
    Sadly this is not actually the case according to the patch notes from i22's launch. Assassin's Strike while not Hidden has a base 0% chance to crit, and I assume this means teammates won't add to this chance either. Assassin's Focus is therefore the only way to build probability for AScrit.
    I don't see anything about teammates not affecting AS crit, so that remains to be tested.

    Quote:
    I did, however, try running a chain based roughly on yours and actually improved my DPS - soloing a pylon in 3min 21sec. SS was substituted for SC and I threw in HB to build focus and allow AS time to recharge:

    (BU-AS-CU) HB-SB-AS-SS-HB-SB-AS-CU

    The nice thing about this is that it only requires about 190% recharge meaning you don't need hasten to run it, and the attacks before AS give it an overall crit rate of 88.95%. The finishers are both fully combo'd and the timing puts Stalker's Guile before CU every time (assuming no misses).
    According to my rough calculations my chain gives about 10% more DPS even with 66% crit. This is likely due to HB being relatively weak, or all other attacks being awesome(did you know you can get CU a lot more damage per activation with purple and SBE procs?).
  4. Auroxis
    I wonder how this works with temporary pets.

    For example, if I slot Positron's proc into Water Spout, will it have a 100% chance of going off every proc check?
  5. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Grim Saint View Post
    I'm aware that AS gives the two combo points and I wasn't talking about your chain specifically. However looking at it now I see that you only have two attacks between each AS, meaning you're losing out on the guaranteed critical. At best you'll have a 66% chance for it to crit, which considering the potential difference in damage is a big loss in DPS.
    AFAIK the chance to crit is additive(could be wrong though). So at a 10% base, 21% for 7 teammates, you're at 76%-97% crit chance with AS.

    Quote:
    As of the patch today the Stalker's Guile proc is fixed so that it will fire a maximum once every 10 seconds. Since most chains we're talking about use AS at least twice in 10 seconds the trick is rigging it so the proc falls in front of CU and not a less damaging attack. As of right now, using the chain above (including the part in parentheses) will crit the first CU, but not SC and the second CU. If this is continuous the next thing to crit will be SC on the next go through, which means you lose it on the CU that follows. My point about placate was that it can be used to shore up that gap with sufficient recharge.
    My chain is just over 10 seconds, which means CU will crit every time (assuming no misses).

    Quote:
    I'm not sure where you're getting that 6% figure. A fully combo'd finisher adds 25%. The breakdown is 1 combo: 5%, 2 combos: 12%, 3 combos: 25% + better secondary effects. Both finishers in your chain are firing with a full 3 combos. A critical will double the total damage after combos are factored in.
    Crit does not take combo damage into account. So 100*2+12. In other words, it's a 12% increase if you don't crit, 6% increase if you crit, if you have 2 combo points before the finisher.
  6. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Grim Saint View Post
    In an earlier post I talked about the benefits of using CU from hide instead of AS but I did some number crunching and thought I'd share my findings.

    From hide CU will critical for a base 353.68 at level 50 versus AS's 389.28. The difference is only 10% and you're paying for it with a 3.17 second interruptible wind-up. Granted you also get demoralize and the ability to stay hidden if you miss, but these perks are only really useful while soloing. On teams and especially in itrials you will almost never get through that wind-up before getting hit with something's AOE patch, and even if you DO make it through chances are your target will be at or near death by the time it fires considering the rapid pace of raids.

    Long story short - there are very few instances where you'll want to use AS over CU from hide, especially endgame.

    Another thing I noticed while looking over StJ chains in this thread was a neglect of the combo system. A fully combo'd finisher does an extra 25% damage along with enhanced secondary effects - CU's stun becomes a hold for instance. It's an interesting problem trying to optimize both focus and regular combos without compromising one or the other.
    You're neglecting the fact that AS gives +2 combo points, and AFAIK Stalker's Guile proc will give you a second crit. So if you slot the proc into AS, you get CU critting and doing about 6% more damage after AS.

    AS giving +2 combo points is also the reason for my above chain, going for 3x combo CU and SC.
  7. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Granite Agent View Post
    With my slotting (5 Armageddons including Fire proc, Gladiator -RES proc), SC actually does more damage than Heavy Blow, Shin Breaker, or Spinning Strike. It seems to have better DPS than Shin Breaker (by a smidge), Spinning (by a lot), and just under HB. With the -RES Gladiator Proc, it also provides a second source of -RES for hard targets. If you really want to pump up your ST dps (for pylons or other hard targets), it may be worth keeping in your chain. It also costs significantly less end than Spinning for single targets. Just a counter point.
    The chain I had in mind for my StJ/EA is (BU+AS+CU)-SB-AS-SC-SB-AS-CU.

    This means I don't have to use HB at all, while getting a 100% crit chance with CU(assuming the AS doesn't miss beforehand) since the chain is just above 10 seconds, and a 76%(while solo, on a team it's close to 100%) crit chance AS(assuming no misses) every 3.5-4 seconds.

    AS requires tons of recharge to fit into that, but I can get close enough with purples, EA's +rech, and Ageless. On paper that's ridiculous DPS(and even more ridiculous burst), but it'll take a while before I get there.

    As an aside, StJ is hella fun on a stalker. Bosses drop like flies.
  8. Auroxis
    There seems to be a bug with StJ finishers, as their damage includes all 4 combo states. So instead of Spinning Strike dealing 100 damage, it would deal 100+105+113+125.
  9. Auroxis
    Tanker build has the extra 4%(more like 3% due to the reasons mentioned above), not the brute one.

    As an aside, brutes do have tools to surpass a tanker's S/L defense through the use of ATO's. 3 superior ATO's in different powers net you 10% S/L defense, while the Tanker ATO's do not grant any defense bonuses.
  10. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RogerWilco View Post
    Sorry that I keep asking questions, but with the double XP weekend I'm now quickly approaching on level 35 with my first toon (The SJ/Regen brute) so this discussion has a lot of interest to me.

    Can you explain why Darkest Night makes Soul Mastery good for survivability, compared to Energy Mastery? The latter seemed a lot more survivability focussed.
    Darkest Night reduces enemy damage by 21%, and reduces their chance to hit by 10% or more depending on your slotting. Furthermore, Gloom and Dark Obliteration reduce enemy chance to hit as well. Compared with the minor levels of regeneration given from Physical Perfection and the KD from Energy Torrent, the amount of survivability given from Soul Mastery is way ahead of Energy Mastery.
  11. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MisterD View Post
    I think it is still good..but as you say..it has lost a bit of sparkle. If you just consider stalkers with the change, yeah it is still very nice. But with the ato proc..going off every time, not using a power pic or slots..
    A solid strategy would be to save Placate for when the attack holding the ATO proc misses.
  12. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Justice_Bringer View Post
    More slots needed for that.
    I rarely see people put more than 1 slot into DN, and even if they did it doesn't matter. Soul Mastery is incredibly superior to Energy Mastery for survivability, period.
  13. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Justice_Bringer View Post
    Not at all.

    WP + CJ or Hover + Tough + Weave + Maneuvers + Physical Perfection + IOs = HIGH survivability for Tanking.
    Two words:

    Darkest Night.
  14. Auroxis

    Best team build

    POST-ACTION

    Whatever the team lacks.
  15. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Justice_Bringer View Post
    Because a Gloom isn't an advantage of SS. It's an advantage of Soul Mastery, which can be applied to every primary in the game.
    Apply it to Claws then, see how much benefit you get from it compared with SS.

    Quote:
    You do realize there are Brutes out there who select Energy Mastery instead for survival purposes or skip APP/EPPs altogether, right? Well, some of those people would like to know which primary puts out the best DPS by itself.
    Those are pretty end-case scenarios you're talking about, where players are willing to settle for significantly lower performance for the sake of concept or bad decision making.

    Also, I wouldn't be surprised if LBE from energy mastery is a solid replacement for Gloom(though undoubtedly weaker), since it can fit Achilles' Heel.
  16. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Justice_Bringer View Post
    There's a FAR difference between the best attack chain for a primary and adding powers from outside of that primary. Not everyone wants to attain the highest DPS possible in the game.
    One of the highlights of SS is its synergy with powers outside of its primary. Brute claws has close to none of that.

    So if you compare claws with SS, and ignore a major part of SS's strength, excuse me while I don't take your numbers seriously.

    Quote:
    Some people have other plans with their builds and thus want the highest DPS primary to make up for it.
    You can get Mu Mastery instead of Soul Mastery and still beat out top Claws DPS by a significant margin, while maintaining good AoE due to Rage + Ball Lightning + Elec Fences + Foot Stomp.
  17. Auroxis

    DB/Elec

    POST-ACTION

    Not sure what good it'll do, but I'll post the build I made a while back. It's expensive and some things are out-dated(enzymes, no ATO), and it makes some sacrifices for the sake of DPS(no Power Sink), but maybe it'll get the point across.

    The goals were the top attack chain with the help of Ageless Destiny, Musculature, Water Spout, and the S/L softcap.

    http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...A0E51F5C64E347

    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
  18. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RogerWilco View Post
    Thanks for the reply. Something else that's unclear to me: Can you pick powers from both an Ancillairy Power and a Patron Power, or are they exclusive? I've read on the Paragon wiki that you can choose only one Ancillairy Powerset, but I can't find if that rules extends to Patron Powers as well. I'm playing Rogue, so I have access to both once I reach 35, right? I need to do one of the Patron unlock missions to gain access to the Patron Powersets I think.

    I'm playing SJ/Regen.
    Ancillary applies to both Patron pools (Villain Ancillaries) and Epic pools (Hero Ancillaries). And just like Paragon Wiki says, you can only pick one Ancillary power pool.

    So no, you can't pick both Pyre and Mu and destroy everything with Fire Ball and Ball Lightning.
  19. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
    Realistically, not everyone is going to pick Gloom, just because it's the best.
    That's like saying that realistically not everyone will aim for the top Claws attack chain. Both statements are true but not relevant to this discussion.


    Here's another true statement which is actually relevant:

    If you want the top DPS with SS, you'll pick Gloom.
  20. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect View Post
    Take Gloom out of all those brute attack chains and the picture looks a lot different.

    Compare ST DPS of a powerset BY ITSELF, with no pool powers or APPs added to it if you really want to compare them.
    Why would I want to leave out an obviously huge advantage SS has? That will not bring about a realistic comparison.

    If you want to compare things so they fit your personal standards instead of looking at realistic scenarios, there's no point to discussing this further.
  21. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RogerWilco View Post
    Any advice on what would be good options from Power Pool, Ancillary Powers and Patron Powers would be to give more AoE options?

    I really like the animations on Street justice, they fit well with my Rogue's background story. It's now my highest level toon!
    If I wanted to add AoE to my Brute through an ancillary powerset, it would be between Pyre Mastery and Mu Mastery.

    Pyre Mastery gives you:

    - Highest DPA AoE attack in Fire Ball.
    - A nice power against EB's/AV's/GM's in Melt Armor.
    - No need to travel villainside to obtain it.

    Mu Mastery gives you:

    - Second highest DPA AoE attack in Ball Lightning.
    - Another solid AoE power in Electrifying Fences.
    - Second highest DPA ST attack in Mu Lightning.
    - End drain(which is good if you're Elec Armor).

    Aside from ancillary powers, you can get Spring Attack from the leaping pool, which deals good damage but has a painfully long recharge timer.
  22. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Plasma View Post
    3. Claws is pretty competitive with SS overall. SS will do more with double stacked rage and is more frontloaded, but once claws has its double-stack of follow up, it is looking good. But SS has a crash. Sitting there using the nemesis staff and sands of mu and waiting for your damage to return can be pretty irritating as SS. Claws has no crash.

    Anyhow, I've played both and I like both, but I think claws remains somewhat underrated. When you start comparing its raw damage per second of animation, it stacks up really quite nicely.
    You're forgetting the most important thing:

    SS has no redraw, so it can fit Gloom in its attack chain seamlessly.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Beauregard View Post
    However, I should note that Claws can equip Achilles' Heel and deliver about 20% more damage than strictly indicated by DPA.
    To get 20%, you'd have to hit with Slash/Eviscerate 5 times in the span of 10 seconds, which isn't possible without a gimpy attack chain(if at all).
  23. Auroxis
    WP deals with unresistable damage a lot better than Elec does. The opposite is true for energy damage, but that can be mitigated with inspirations and league buffs.
  24. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Justice_Bringer View Post
    Follow Up doesn't make it weaker. It allows Brutes to sustain the 60% damage buff and adds some damage during the build up phase.
    Compared to the scrapper version, it IS weaker, which is what I was saying.

    Quote:
    Swipe has the best DPS on both power sets yet it's missing from the chain.
    Swipe is the lowest DPA ST attack available. Unless it was recently changed, which means my argument saying Claws didn't always have good DPS still holds true.
  25. Auroxis
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Plasma View Post
    If I'm using barrier, I'll be capped on en, 67% s/l, 46.6% f/en with the initial build.

    With power surge I'll be dramatically over the cap in everything except psi. I anticipate that any time I'm using power surge, I'll probably do one of two things as it is ending: burnout->re-powersurge, if I keep that feature, or save barrier and pop barrier as it is ending, so I can power up my defenses while barrier is in 90%/90% mode. I anticipate only really extraordinary circumstances will require barrier to be used while surge is up, given the 90% Brute resist cap.
    It's a solid plan, but not without holes. You'll still have the endurance crash to deal with(can't power sink with no endurance), also, as someone who has tried employing similar strategies with power surge(using the phase shift temporary power), your timing may not always be perfect, and it will be painful when it isn't.

    Quote:
    When I think about how it plays, I feel like I may not have a huge problem with melee simply because of all the knockdown. The three main AoEs carry 66%, 75%, 75% knockdowns, and that's a remarkably rare things to have any minion/lt resist.
    KD isn't perfect protection either. Cimerora has spawns that don't really care too much about your KD.

    Quote:
    It's a shame Mid's doesn't know to use the "switch to power" flag when build momentum is toggled on. It would be nice to see the momentum cast times. Does anyone have a good guide to TW attack chains and the interaction with momentum and recharge? The other X-factor of the "perfect TW/elec" build is - "How much +recharge do I need and how much am I giving up by slotting sets for defense instead?"
    One of my mains is a S/L softcapped Elec brute with perma hasten, so high levels of recharge can definitely be reached. Whether that's enough for the top TW attack chain I'm not sure.

    Thinking about it further, since this is TW, you can rely on defensive sweep to get you to the melee softcap and build for 32.5% positional defenses. However I can say from experience that building for the S/L softcap is actually less slot intensive than building for M/R/A 32.5%, and brutes do not benefit much else from using defensive sweep(unlike tankers), so its use will lower your damage output.