Seems with all the negative focus on banes lately, what with the whole banes are nerfed and thus are Suxors attitude some have been having it was somewhat a breath of fresh air to come across this build on the us forums
Link (scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the build)
Showing that with the right slotting you can achieve some most impressive figures in terms of both defense and offense.
But in short this person not only made a bane but a night widow build both aimed at maximum offensive potential and overall the bane came off better. Heres some of his findings:
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BANE SPIDER
First I explained where I went with this toon. I built this character to be the very best at maximizing it's damage mitigation as well as it's damage output. I also thought it important that the AT maintain a decent amount of usefulness in team settings against EB's/AB's and the like.
Now these numbers and stats are from my Bane build which is filled to the BRIM with purple IO's and rares so this is the absolute IDEALIZED Bane Spider build if one had an unlimited checkbook and could build it as they saw fit.
This build is a melee based build taking none of the ranged attack powers and built to take as much punishment as possible.
VITAL STATISTICS
Defense to S/Leth/Fire/Cold/Energ/Neg/Psi/Melee: 31.9%
Defense to Ranged: 43.5%
Defense to AoE: 31.9%
Resistance to Smash/Lethal: 39.6%
Resistance to Fire/Cold: 16.9%
Resistance to Energy/Neg: 13.1%
Resistance to Toxic: 11.8%
Resistance to Psionic: 14.9%
Regeneration: 266%
Max HP: 1503.48
Endurance Recovery: 2.79 eps
Endurance Use: .87 eps
In addition to these overall statistics. Every attack in the line is under 5 seconds. The toon's placate recharges in 16.4 seconds. The character has the Call Reinforcements pet which is two -1 Arachnos Disruptor's that are PERMA. Essentially this turns my one man Bane into an army of 3 hard hitting damage dealers and the pets also have strong melee ranged holds and immobilization's.
The build also has perma Hasten and the real kicker I of course saved for last. The most powerful weapon in the Bane's arsenal is the power Surveillance which is a single target debuff to an enemy. The power on this build has a recharge of 13.2 seconds and a duration of 20 seconds rendering it effectively perma. It debuffs the target's defense by 19.3% and debuffs the resistances by 20% with an Achilles Heel proc for an additional 20% making it a 40% RESISTANCE debuff.
In addition to Surverillance which is a huge enemy debuff power this build also has one of the Maneuver toggles which provides a huge 15.4% Def buff to all players on the team.
NIGHT WIDOWS
I built this toon exactly as I built the Bane Spider. I concentrated on a melee build that maximized damage output with superior survivability while also maintaining a strong supportive role to the team make up.
Again this build is the OPTIMUM Night Widow build complete with tons of purples and unique IO's to make the Widow as powerful as I possibly could make it.
VITAL STASTICS
Defense to S/L/Fire/Cold/Energy/Neg/Psi: 27%
Defense to Melee: 50.1%
Defense to Ranged: 38.5%
Defense to AoE: 38.5%
Resistance to Smash/Lethal: 23.1%
Resistance to Fire/Cold: 6.3%
Resistance to Energy/Neg: 1.3%
Resistance to Toxic: 0%
Resistance to Psionic: 60%
Regeneration: 261%
Max HP: 1244.86
Endurance Recovery: 2.77 eps
Endurance Use: .87 eps
In addition to these overall statistics. Every attack in the line is under 6 seconds. The toon's placate recharges in 19.9 seconds. The Night Widow does have better status protection that is true than the Bane. However with careful IO placement and slotting the Bane has almost no problems with in game status protection and better still. With the auto powers having the status protection built in that means there is no way you can have it 'knocked off' by either endurance drain or negligence hitting the wrong key.
The character does have a tier 9 God mode which with perma Hasten which this build has has an uptime of 180 seconds and a downtime of 90 seconds before it's recharged..
The most powerful weapon in the Night Widow's arsenal is the power Mind Link. This power is PERMA with my build and provides a 30% self boost to Psionic resistance, 15.4% Defense buff to all forms of attack to the team, and a 7.71 To Hit buff to everyone's attacks. In addition to that this build also provides a 7.71% Maneuvers defense buff to all forms of attack to the team.
One note. In addition to these stats this build also has the dreaded Smoke Grenade which has a -perception debuff and a 5.1% to hit debuff to all foes that are hit by the power. This also helps the team and is a small but added welcome to the team.
The Night Widow as you can see has more to offer the team at least that way I built it then the Bane does in respects to an overall team buff. It provides a 23% buff to the team's overall defense as well as a not too shabby 7-8% buff to the team's to hit buffs.
However other than a buff to the defense to the team which is very powerful and helps tremendously all the parties involved. As you can see from the defense, resistance numbers. Night Widows are outclassed by banes in almost every significant category. The Bane has more HP and far more resistances and defenses than the Night Widow. Furthermore the Bane in my build has perma pets which in affect add 2 more combat bodies to a team composition increasing the overall team DPS as well as helping to spread about aggro and give the team time to rest and focus their energies on the most powerful foes first.
FINAL CONCLUSION
The Night Widow is very strong with a powerful tier 9 to help it against strong and dangerous foes. But outside that tier 9 the Bane is just stronger on almost every other field that matters. The Night Widow does have a few more melee attacks that is true. But the Bane has extremely powerful melee attacks especially it's Executioner's Strike which with Build Up I clocked at dealing an absolutely stunning 682 damage when the proc fired. I could then immediately placate the foe I was fighting and with my superior recharge hit the enemy AGAIN with 682 damage.
For this reason and the other's I have included in this little rundown I find the Bane Spider to be the better choice of the two AT's and I have no regrets with mine and have enjoyed him immensely.
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After reading this I'm now somewhat glad that banes have a lot of potential and can in fact outclass some of the other SoA, I'm also glad that I had planed on leveling up a bane spider and nightwidow first before trying the other 2 paths out.
