Hello everyone. Since I12 and the introduction of Epic AT's on the Villain side, I was like a kid in a candy store, I had been waiting since launch for Arachnos gear, and to play as a beefed up Arachnos npc was amazing.
I have tried out each of the various types of AT's and career branches for them, and none in my opinion stands out like Bane Spider, which for some reason gets a bad rep on these forums, my only guess can be because who ever is playing them and posting, simply isn't playing them right, or is just full of it.
The fun Begins at level 24 with your mandatory career track respec. Here you have the choice to choose your future, which for the sake of this guide we will assume is Bane Spider Soldier.
With your new respec you start choosing powers from level one onward. Lets start by saying that as a Bane you're focus is a hybrid of powerful melee and ranged attacks. But I would recommend you start off by grabbing Bash, and starting off with more melee based attacks such as pulverize, and Shatter(shatter is your most powerful attack, and when in cloak is comparable to a stalkers assassin strike). Crowd control is your melee aoe power, and is very nice especially if you get a multiple target stealth strike from cloak. Its important to note that each of your melee attacks has a toxic DoT which ticks five times after each strike, which comes in very handy.
The Bane track also offers an array of ranged attacks, which are very useful, and when slotted properly also very deadly. After grabbing up your melee requirements, I would highly recommend Mace beam, which is a standard energy blast with knockback capabilities. Mace beam volley is also very useful, as it is an aoe attack, capable of hitting multiple enemies in a wide arc. Mace beam blast, is another aoe power, but does significantly less damage, I would not recommend it unless looking for another knockback. Poisonous Ray, is a must have for any aspiring Bane Spider, it is a heavy ranged DoT, that has six ticks of heavy toxic damage, at level 50 with a decent IO set it can do up to 250pts of damage. Placate is also a must have, as it allows for a quick stealth strike against target.
Next we move onto defenses, After playing a wolf for the first 24 levels, you should have gotten used to playing with Manuevers and assault, which should be a mainstay in your power tray, not only do they buff you, they buff the group, making you a desired commodity. Offensive training offers a decent accuracy boost, I would recommend it. Wolf Spider armor, from the Training and Gadgets tree should definitely be kept, it staks well with the bane Spider upgrade and provides excellent resistance to sleeps, stuns, immobilizing, and hold effects. Combat training defensive give a moderate boost to ranged defenses, grab it. Leadership, is a toggle with group buffing capabilities like assault and manuevers, and provides perception increase, as well as to-hit and confuse resisitance(would recommend this power for a group heavy player type). Lastly is the Call reinforcements power, which summons 2 Arachnobot disruptor pets to aid you in battle. The bots are great for drawing aggro, and dealing with large groups of enemies, unfortunately I find, for me anyways they get in the way, and can be rather cumbersome, I would reccommend them for a huntsman or crab spider build, not so much for a Bane.
The Bane Spider armor Upgrade offers good protections against all types of damage, as well as giving you a scaling health point boost. Not to mention it stacks nicely with wolf armor providing great status effect protection. Cloaking device is also a must have, your entire play style with a pure Bane build is enhanced dramatically by it. While under cloak each of your melee attacks(pulverize,bash,shatter, and crowd contol) will perform critical hits, it also has a good defense stats to all damage types.
Surveillance is a must have, especially in battles agaisnt bosses or Hero/AV npcs. The defense debuff it provides to hostile targets is highly useful at -20% defenses to target.
Finally we have Web Cocoon, a very useful single target hold, its identical to the Patron Power from the mace mastery pool, of the same name. Good for holding a Boss or Lieutenant while you clobber the minions.
Thats about it for the Bane Powers, Power pools and patron arc's are of course useful, and differ depending on preference and playstyle. I would of course recommend grabbing Fitness, so you have access to Stamina. Travel powers are up to player preferances, I use Super jump, others may not.
Its important to remember, that while similar to a Stalker, you are not one, as a Bane you have far more HP, a better variety of attacks, and the ability to buff for group support. Like a Stalker you may use your cloak for criticals, but are not driven by it, your higher hp allows for dealing with larger enemy mobs(while not to the degree of a brute).
Investing in Invention sets is also a must do, but I'd say wait till 50, that way you have optimum stuff. Mako's Bite is great for your pure melee attacks. Devastation or Apocalypse if you can afford it will slot out your ranged powers Mace Beam and Poisonous Ray admirably (great bonuses to HP and Health). A Positron's Blast set in Volley, Obliteration in Crowd control. Bah, just play around with it and have fun
This is my first guide, hope this is helpful to people interested in Bane Spider, any other suggestions feel free to post, I'll update. Flames will be ignored. Have fun out there
