Novella
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Posts
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Joined
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Ah my mistake. I agree, the BW attacks definitely work good enough and most of them are the core of the Night Widow attack chain anyway. I wish I wasn't so anal about sticking to the actual powers of the Blood Widow because I would love to add Smoke Grenade and Evis to my Blood Widow, but a las I can't.
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Has it ever been brought up why Siphon Life doesn't offer double life since it can crit and give double damage? I know that some might not like that idea, but to me it seems like it would make sense considering you are hitting the target for extra damage, so why wouldn't you be able to siphon "just a little bit more life" in the process.
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Quote:By using the Fort powers for control/utility, does that not make you a Fortunata rather than a Blood Widow even if your melee attacks are from the Blood Widow selection.Originally Posted by PhroX
I've still got a fair few Fort powers for control and/or utility, but in terms of killing stuff, my Fortunata is highly dependent on the BW powers, particularly when it comes to ST damage, where my entire attack chain is made up of them (and, despite doing this for concept reasons, I ended up with a far more powerful character than one that uses the Fort attacks...). As such, I can't see a BW having any real problems, particularly if you squeeze in a few NW secondary powers like Mind Link. -
Quote:The build itself was created so that I could completely my trifecta of having a Night Widow, Fortunata and Blood Widow. The Blood Widow build is very front loaded with attacks until the mid 20s, but you do have some room to sway. All of my Widow characters stay consistent with the NPC versions so they don't have Superspeed, Hover, Fly, etc since the NPC characters don't.Originally Posted by Redlynne
Ah ...now that is analogous to building a Huntsman, where you dip into the Bane Spider Training secondary (for Bane Armor and Surveillance mainly, Cloaking Device optional) and the Bane Spider Soldier primary (only for Build Up). Care to share your build, and insights, with the class?
My Blood Widow does have Mask Presence even though an actual Blood Widow doesn't, as well as Mind Link, but those are just two powers that I wanted to carry over because I like them. I may end up dropping them both to stay consistent with the Blood Widow background, but for now I do have them. Aside from those two Spin is the only other power I took that Blood Widow's do not use and I may end up dropping that also.
The draw back is that with market prices being so silly right now my build is probably very costly, however I lucked out and just used sets from another defense based character that I deleted so I didn't have to buy anything. The build is capped to smashing, lethal, fire, energy, melee, ranged, and area of effect defense even with the suppression of Mask Presence. Mind Link is perma if you chose to have it on auto, but you're still capped positionally to melee and range even without Mind Link. Before Mask Presence suppression the melee and ranged defense numbers are 58.1% with area of effect being 39.3%. With Mind Link they go up to 73.6% melee and ranged, and 54.8% for area of effect. -
However I will also add that I am currently working on a Blood Widow character that has 54.2% melee and ranged defense and 55% global recharge.
I will more than likely keep her a sa Blood Widow completely, but I will end up choosing the Night Widow Training, but not taking any of the Night Widow attacks. I will take that branch just to get access to the Widow Teamwork powers which makes her even more deadly and still makes her a Blood Widow. -
It's not really possible on a Widow because you would end up having to dip into the specialty powers at some point. However I don't think anyone in their right mind would want to stick with just pre-24 powers.
I thought about making a character strictly to just have her be a Blood Widow since I have a Night Widow and a Fortunata, but it just wasn't a feasible idea since the character never really matures. -
Quote:Finding people that like procs using search is completely irrelevant to anything being said here. I said I find them useless so why would I care if other people like them? I said procs are bad because they are not reliable damage and that much is fact considering that they are based on a % to fire. You are using them as a means to boost your damage and its an unreliable boost at best when you have other means of boosting your damage with a guaranteed effect.Originally Posted by Wiccania
You are not offering alternatives. You are telling me to drop my Makos' for a set that I already have lots of bonuses for. You tell me I could have higher bonuses in a big pile of stats. You tell me Procs are bad (A quick search of the forums will bring up a lot of folks who would argue otherwise). You tell me procs are unnecessary (true, but they are nice).
1. Swap Mako's for Crushing ImpactQuote:On top of all this your only suggestion is to replace the Mako's with Crushing Impacts. I told you why I didn't want to do that in a previous post. You offer no other suggestions on how to achieve these magic higher numbers. You only say REPLACE THE MAKO! and assume I know exactly what you are thinking I should do in addition to that to improve the build. Currently following your suggestions to the letter would make my build a lot weaker. I have enough accuracy and to-hit to hit anything. I have the cap on 5% recharge set bonuses.
2. Reslot your build to make it more efficient. (You have Mid's so play around with it more, that much I shouldn't have to explain).
3. Drop Leadership, or at least the amount of slots you have in it.
4. Drop slots out of Mind Link.
These are all things I have said in my posts yet you claim that I only made ONE suggestion and that was trading Mako's. Obviously you haven't been reading what I have been typing.
Assuming that you have been playing around with multiple sets in Mid's it should be implied that you would know that by swapping out Mako's and reslotting other powers as I previously mentioned would benefit your entire build.
For example, there is no reason that a Night Widow should need to use Leadership. People will argue that it helps the team, but my counter to that is that if you are playing in a somewhat decent team, most of your teammates will also be IO'd and therefore don't really need the small amount of +tohit that Leadership offers all the while costing you endurance since its s toggle. In my opinion its worthless.
Why do you have Combat Jumping? Sure its a toggle that offers defense for a minimal cost, but its a power much like Leadership that you have on use for if you look at your slotting in the overall build. I am going to break my own rule of never posting my builds and show you my build so that you can use it as a blueprint and see what I mean when I say reslot your powers.
First off lets stop focusing so much on DPS, DPA, and all that other nonsense. It means nothing to me. I don't care about activation times as long as what I hit dies when I hit it. It's that simple. If you plan on PVP'ing then sure that matters, but if this is for the PVE side then DPA means nothing. If you are attacking out of hidden status then it really doesn't matter if the activation time is 2.3 seconds or 5 seconds as long as what you hit dies from the attack. You keep going on about cutting down times on your highest DPA powers and that is fine, but you are too focused on that when its really not important at all.Quote:You want me to dump Hasten yet I bet you haven't even looked at DPA numbers. With its 2.3 activation and lower damage than Lunge, Eviscerate is one of the worst DPA attacks in the NW arsenal. I'd rather take Hasten and make a better chain of higher DPA attacks. Admittedly that does deny me access to another nice PBAoE set but I can live with that. Easy enough to get 5% recharges in Defense sets.
You say that Eviscerate is one of the worst DPA attacks in the Night Widow arsenal, yet completely ignore the fact that its a cone and you can deliver that damage to numerous enemies at once whereas Lunge is one and done. Look more and cumulative damage rather than damage/activation.
I am saying to dump Hasten because personally I fight Night Widow builds with Hasten to be pointless. I have said that three times total now. If you like Hasten fine, keep it, I have also said that previously also. I am simply saying that you can have an overlapping attack chain WITHOUT needing to take Hasten.
At the end of the day if you are happy with your build that is all that matters. -
Quote:The point I am trying to make is that your build with the current slotting that you use has less recharge, less accuracy, less damage, less recovery, less max endurance, and less defense than mine because of the IOs and how you chose to slot when compared to my Night Widow build.Originally Posted by Wiccania
I already have five 5% recharge bonuses in the build. I have a bunch of accuracy bonuses and I am running a to-hit buff. Crushing Impacts get me far fewer effective bonuses than Makos' do and when you are at or near the ED cap for damage enhance then Procs help you push your damage up even further. Attacks that have low damage but are frequently used get a lot of milage out of procs as well, hence why I procced out Follow Up.
As for my attacks and Hasten. Slash and Lunge are the two best DPA attacks available and Hasten is knocking an entire second off thier recharge. That may not seem like much at first glance but you must remember you are dealing with attacks with activation times of 1.3 (Slash), 1.1 (Strike) and .8 (Follow Up and Lunge).
Crushing Impacts five you health, recharge, and accuracy, as its main bonuses and Mako's give you damage, health and ranged defense. Sorry but those are not better bonuses and the only reason you are at the 5% cap is because of the powers you chose to use those sets in. Five slotting Mind Link is just flat out dumb (sorry no offense meant), but you are wasting an extra slot and you get far better mileage out of Mind Link by using 4 defense/recharge IOs rather than a set like Red Fortune. My ML recharges in 86 seconds your recharges in 89 seconds and I have 1 less slot in mind than you do. If you want to leep Hasten that is fine, but as I said before I personally feel it is a complete waste on a Night Widow because you should have an attack chain that has no downtime without needing to use Hasten and have the ability to double stack Follow Up.
As for using procs sorry but I completely disagree with your logic for using them. Using just 5 Crushing Impacts gets you 95.5% (using level 40s) damage in a single attack where as a full set of Mako's gives you 93.64% (using 50s). The mako proc is crap damage and crap damage that is dependent on it firing off. Again a complete waste of a slot in my opinion and bringing up ED is completely irrelevant because with proper use of your attacks you should be dropping most enemies with relative ease at +2 if you use Evis correctly as your 2nd attack after Follow Up.
I am simply offering you alternatives to make your character better. If you feel that you need to slot procs and use Mako's which are not better bonuses then so be it. Good luck to you. -
Well personally I have Manuevers, Assault and Vengance on my Night Widow because I like stacking the bonuses of the powers and the endurance cost is not a hog like the previous person said. Once you start using IOs endurance issues are completely null on Night Widow builds.
As for your powers I would slot Crushing Impacts in your attacks because the bonuses you get from Mako aren't really that great unless you need the ranged defense. Sure Make gives you damage and health, but to be honest you can health, recharge and accuracy from Crushing Impact and that is far more beneficial to a Night Widow.
As for Hasten I will also consider it a complete waste of a choice on Night Widows because you can run around with 100% recharge without using a single purple or Hasten and your powers will recharge plenty fast with just that. The heavy hitting attacks in my build recharge in 3, 5, and 6 seconds and I have plenty of overlap so there is never any downtime. However if you feel you must take it then so be it.
I am not a fan of procs and to be honest they aren't really adding much damage to your attacks beause with the bonuses that you can get from stacking Assault and from your IO sets you can have a perma +50% damage buff and things drop plenty fast without having to waste a 6th slot to get a proc.
Aside from the things I said above I can't really help you much more because our builds are very different, but nevertheless this should help you make your build more efficient. -
My Spines/Willpower Scrapper is built for regen and defense and it works perfectly. I did not bother worrying about recharge since with IO's you get plenty of recharge from the sets to apply to the power. Willpower doesn't have use for +rech and aside from Spines Burst, you don't really need to worry about +rech for Spines/ either.
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I went nerve on my Night Widow and cardiac on my Fortunata. Those are the only two that actually can help me because neither of them need recharge or damage for that matter.
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I can help you but first I have to ask if you meant to slot your character so sporadically?
You don't need to use so many Mako's because you would get a lot better return using Red Fortunes in your two toggle defense powers and Foresight. Slotting those powers can get your the 25% recharge and then you can use Maneuvers, and Vengeance as holders for luck of the gamblers. You don't need Hasten because you can run perma-Mind Link without it. At 85% global recharge and slotting 4 def/rech in Mind Link that would give you roughly 4 seconds of overlap since it would recharge in 86 seconds and has a 90 second duration.
Slotting Tactical Leadership is a complete waste of slots in my opinion because you don't to slot it and personally I would skip it outright.
Those are the things that stick out to me, I can get more in detail but I need to finish a couple more tips. If you have more questions feel free to shoot me an in-game message at @Novella. -
Go with the Kinetic Melee/Ninjitsu Stalker and you will not be disappointed. I made one as soon as Going Rogue when live and at first I had no desire to make a Kinetic Melee character and thought it would be a waste of a set, but after playing on a Stalker it is one of my favorite combos. Cap your defense, have some recharge for your heal and just enjoy the utter chaos you will be able to cause. Hide + Burst is absolute heaven since its a fast recharging power that gives you critical attacks in an area of effect. I compare its damage to Fire Sword Circle which is one of the best area of effect melee powers available.
I can't really speak about the Scrapper version since I have never really had an interest in playing a KM Scrapper, but I love love love my Stalker. -
I delete every temp power recipe I find unless its the recovery serum or the kinetic dampener. I can't stand any of the temp power recipes that do damage. I also don't slot my vet powers anymore either because I make my characters with a story in mind and those powers just don't work for my Stalkers.
I'm not so much worried about slotting my attacks at lower levels, I just don't see a point in taking BU or Placate earlier than level 20 personally. Some people love taking them earlier, but for me it just doesn't work with how I play. I take powers early and focus on balancing my character then in the when I do select BU or Placate I tend to not slot them until in the late 30s or even 40s for that matter. -
Personally I never worry about capping area of effect defense on my Nin Stalkers. Melee and ranger are all you really need. My Kin/Nin, EM/Nin, and EM/Nin are all capped to melee and range and nearly capped to area of effect, but you just don't really need to worry about it too much since you won't find yourself in the middle of huge spawns, and if you do with you being Elec and having Lightning Rod that will wipe out just about 50% of most spawns
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Quote:Originally Posted by Arbegla
I've put off getting placate until after i get build up, and in some stalker builds, thats mid 20s, but i would never skip it entirely.
This. I always take Placate and Build Up back to back one before the other and always in the 20s area when that bubble of no primary or secondary selection kicks in. -
Quote:4.57%, just using this number since its what my Stalker loses going from hidden to visible. The amount is much higher for area of effect defense.Originally Posted by elimist
one question if anyone feels like answering it, anyone know what the suppressed value of hide is, and if this will be over softcap with the suppressed hide?
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Quote:You will love Kin/Nin if you decide to pair them together. I made one when Going Rogue went live and she is currently sitting at level 39 because I stopped leveling her for a while so that I could wait until issue 19 went live.Originally Posted by Angelxman81
I want to give Ninjitsu a try as secondary... I mean, a long term try.
I already have elec melee, dark melee, dual blades, broadsword and martial arts scrappers so Im looking for something else.
Maybe even rerolling dual blades if nothing else fits...
Any suggestions?
Thank you guys in advance.
Burst out of Hide is absolute love especially if you use Build Up just before and with capped defense you are never really at a risk of being defeated outright. Having Kuji-In Sha for healing is always lovely and as many have already pointed out, Ninjitsu is great and idea for Stalkers.
Another recommendation I would make is Energy Aura. A lot of people can't play EA, but I love it for Stalkers and you can easily cap your smashing, lethal, energy, and negative defense using the IO system. It is a much easier building for Nin, but you feel a lot more rewarded if you can do it with EA since its not seen as much and because a lot of people dislike it. I love both Nin and EA, although I think the change they made to Energy Drain back in the day to give it a little heal was terrible because the heal is basically worthless unless you use it in a large group.
If you want easy, fun and powerful, then go with Kin/Nin. If you want powerful, fun, and rewarding go with Kin/EA. -
I was just about to come back in here and say nevermind, I just realized that it doesn't. I forgot I could look in game and see if the crit was listed in the detailed information tab.
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I was wondering if Shatter Armor will critical hit if used when coming out of a hidden status.
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The only reason I take it is because of hits +HP component. If you are soft capped there really is no other reason to take it, although the added resistance can be nice and with the introduction of alpha slots it can be that much mor effective. I do not have a /Shield Brute, but I have it on both of my Shield/ Tankers.
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Unfortunately no.
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I love Ninjitsu and hope that it always remains exclusive to Stalkers. I have a EM/Nin, DM/Nin, and KM/Nin and all three are absolute beasts.
The only thing that I do not like about /Nin is the click mez protection, but otherwise there is nothing negative that can be said about Ninjitsu.
Personally I wouldn't remake a character you already have because that is repetitve in terms of primaries. You can pick just about any primary for a Stalker and get good performance out of it. I love Katana for Scrappers so I know that Ninja Blade will perform very nice and Golden Dragonfly has a very nasty critical hit. EM, DM, KM, and MA are also very good. I would have made a 4th /Nin when I did my MA Stalker, but decided to go /Regen for concept reasons and to experience a new Stalker outside of Ninjitsu.
In the end it doesn't really matter what primary you choose if /Nin is your secondary. -
Quote:I completely agree that someone with experience playing a Stalker versus someone with no experience playing Stalkers would have an easier time. However there are people who say they have experience with them who are still having issues and I personally think it really comes down to personal play style contributing more than the AT.Originally Posted by Polecat7
Okay. That answers the question I was posing, and was part of my concern. That means it's likely an experience gap, and I don't mean character experience. More experience playing the AT. I've admitted I'm not an experienced Stalker, and those who seemed to have a relatively easy time of it are experienced Stalkers (tho do correct me if I'm wrong) or at the least found it easy to get into that mindset.
I personally think Praetoria is Stalker friendly, but that might not be the same feeling someone else may have. I base it solely on the arcs I played and how I play the character. 5 defeats in 21 levels to me is good, but someone else might see that as excessive. Up until level 20 it was 3 defeats, but Colonel Duray handled me twice in the same mission. My additional defeats also came when I was teamed with someone versus being solo 1-20.
In the end as long as you like the character that is really all that matters. -
Quote:My Stalker used the pre-order enchancements and that's about it. I didn't bother slotting anything until I arrived in Talos which I then bought some level 20s until I get her to 22 so I can grab some common 25 IO's. I personally do not think Stalkers need IO sets to be effective. On all three of my Stalkers I have gone unslotted until 20. It can be a little frustrating due to random missing, but its not that bad to be honest since in the low level game you still hit pretty regularly.Originally Posted by Polecat7
Then you missed the point there of that comment. I was asking if the people who weren't having any difficulties were using IOs instead of the TOs and DOs you can get through Praetoria. To get a raft of IOs at those levels WOULD require playing the market.