Divine Avalanche Scrapper Guide, Version 1.0
By
Akrapovic,
Posted on: 2004-12-10 01:08 in Player Guides
I have been rotating parry every third attack against bosses and it really seems to help. I tried doing it every other attack and you can almost keep 2 stacked constantly. The thing that keeps me from keeping a constant 2 stacked are the long activation times for disembowel and headsplitter.
I may end up using it every 3rd attack while build up is up and every other attack when it isn't.
Gotta agree, I built a horde of scrappers to see what was most fun for me and the Katana/SR is by far the most enjoyable and solo's best (claws/Dark Melee with SR being the others. I gave up on Dark and Regen secondary because the endurance drain of one and the christmas tree effects of the other just rubbed me wrong)
Upon reaching 8th and getting DA I was sold. I have no other non-tank toon that can dive into a horde of a dozen even cons with a couple lts and come out on top. With the dark melee guys I run out of end and get hit too much, but with the Katana my endurance doesn't suffer as much, I can effect a much wider cone than Maul, and DA stacks on my FF and CJ to make me nigh unwhackable as long as I can keep the enemy close.
Such a great power, and although you mention it's benefits are better noticed with non-SR secondaries, I gotta mention that WITH SR you're just that much more untouchable, plus you don't need hasten so much as a DA every 3rd strike is a major boon.
Super sweet power. Katana may not be the heaviest hitter, but you get more time to use it!
Hey thanks for writing this up, I think people will find it useful. I've used DA all along with my scrapper, he's about lvl 26 now. I've always been extremly tough but never really thought about why. My DA is on auto-attack, I have it on my alt bar so I don't even think about it, I just hit my normal attacks and DA fires while they refresh or I'm distracted doing other things. I have it slotted with 1 ACC and 2 DEF right now. That's probably a big reason why I do so well.
I was thinking about adding more slots to combat jumping (1 slotted right now), but perhaps I should add another def buff or two to DA instead?
I have integration slotted with two SO end reducers. I don't have stamina but I'm starting to regret that. I might respec or just start taking the fitness pools at 28. Now that I have Soaring Dragon, I can attack almost endlessly without turning on Haste, so it eats my end a good bit. Plus I run Integration and CJ all the time, with IH to come in a few more levels...
I wonder, should I be slotting Integration with heal instead of end reduce?
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Eeek, no - don't slot Divine Avalanche for damage - it'll never be a good attack for damage - but as a defensive power it's awesome.
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Early in a Katanas career, slotting DA like a normal attack can be beneficial and will boost your DPS. DA has the same damage as Gambler's Cut. So you could use an early build chain of DA, Wasp, and Steel fairly effectively. In the early game, double stacking isnt that important and you could easily pop a luck to compensate.
Later in the game, the DEF buff becomes more important as mobs hit harder and you get 2 more attacks to add to your attack chain, so changing the slotting to a DEF skill is probably wisest at this point.
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Such a great power, and although you mention it's benefits are better noticed with non-SR secondaries, I gotta mention that WITH SR you're just that much more untouchable, plus you don't need hasten so much as a DA every 3rd strike is a major boon.
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My Kat/SR used the DA Skill to compensate on slotting for DEF. Rather than try to 6 slot toggles early, I used the DEF bonus from DA to compensate which allowed 6 slotted attacks first. This meant I never had to slot my toggles and I only slotted my passives when enemies started hitting harder in the early 30s.
This means a Katana/SR user could get to a toggle-less, perma-Elude build without a respec if desired. (Not as safe as doing heavy toggles and then respecing into perma Elude, but the added DPS from actually 6 slotting attacks early makes up for it and with DA its not that dangerous. Just make sure to slot up the passives entering the 30s. YMMV).
However, my decision now becomes, do I keep DA post perma-Elude?
I'm personally trying to decide between a Kat/SR and a Kat/Regen now, anf from all I read plus this it doesn't seem like there's even any comparison now. Still, while I can make regen fit my concept, I'm not totally sold on SR being replaced by DA, can anyone attest to how/if this effects SR scrappers, or if there's really only disadvantages to SR instead of regen because of it?
DA doesn't really replace SR, though it can cap melee defence againt +1 bosses (DA + Hasten = 77%) and even +3 bosses with some extra powers thrown in. SR does have a few advantages, even so. First, in order to do this, a Katana/Regen scrapper needs to spend about half to a third of his or her time parrying. This reduces damage. Second, DA can miss. Third, DA takes a little time to "warm up", since you don't actually get the defence until after DA hits, and don't get the 77% until after it hits the second time. This can make for some nasty alpha strikes if you're not careful. Fourth, it doesn't defend against ranged or AoE attacks, which can make up a significant part of enemy attacks.
What I'd suggest for an SR scrapper is to take DA and use it as an attack for damage until level 40. Properly slotted, its damage isn't terrible (it's the same as Gambler's Cut). This will give you a +20% or 40% bonus, constantly. Add that to even unslotted Focused Fighting, and you'll have 41% or 61%defence, enough to almost cap your defence against minions, starting at level 8. Once you get and slot Dodge, this goes up to 66% or 86%. I did this with a young Katana/SR scrapper, and was basically invincible. With DA, Sting of the Wasp and Flashing Steel, you can keep up an almost constant attack chain, even without Hasten (DA,SW,FS,DA,SW,...,DA,FS,SW,DA etc.) Once you get perma-Elude, though, DA will become basically irrelevant, and you may want to spec out of it in favour of a stronger attack. After all, if you're capped already against Archvillains, you don't really need any more defence.
On the other hand, if you decide not to go with perma-elude, DA can nicely supplement a toggle-based defence. Normally, the cap that toggles can reach is 66%, not even enough to cap against an even level boss. Whenever you face a tough boss or even Archvillain, you can just start attacking with your damage-slotted DA and push yourself up to 86% or even 111% if you use Hasten. Since it'll be slotted for damage, you can do an alternation like I mention in the guide above, but you won't even significantly harm your DPS.
The ability to slot DA for damage and still cap defence is what provides the synergy for DA and SR.
Wrath smash good.
I liked what u said very helpful, but i want to know if anyone has a complete guide to the new updated names
Sure, I hope this helps:
Sting of the Wasp = Hack
Gambler's Cut = Slash
Flashing Steel = Slice
Divine Avalanche = Parry
Calling of the Wolf = Confront (Taunt)
The Lotus Drops = Whirling Sword
Soaring Dragon = Disembowel
Golden Dragon = Head Splitter
Wrath smash good.
Setting up a Katana/DA scrapper, and wasn't planning to take Hasten till the 30s, because there is just too much other interesting stuff in Dark Armor and it would be hard to spare the slots as well. This Divine Avalanche tactic seems very interesting, though, its like having a controller put a melee only force field on you in a way (about the same +Def) even if you don't double stack it.
How well do these attack chains work with, say, 1 Recharge DO/SO in Divine Avalanche but no Hasten? What percentage of the time can you double stack, and does it mean feeding other attacks into the chain? Is it worth going 2 recharge and only 2 Accuracy Debuffs, is there better *net* Defense?
I'm curious on the changes to Divine Avalanche made in I5. I have a Katana/SR scrapper, and I kick [censored], but I diffently want to slot up Divine Avalanche more. Just not sure best way to do it.
Wavicle, Energy/Energy Blaster, dinged 50 in Issue 4, summer of 2005.
@Wavicle, mostly on the Justice server.
As far as I know, Divine Avalanche and Parry (from the Broadsword set) are essentially the same, and have undergone no major changes in I5 (aside from the animation fix on Parry). If this is all true, and I'm assuming it is, then either slot it 1 Acc and 5 Def, or 2 Acc and 4 Def.
The 1/5 slotting will give you a slightly higher defense per hit (~40% vs ~36% I believe), but the 2/4 slotting will make it much more reliable, and ensure that you have it double stacked as often as possible. 2/4 is what I would personally reccommend, and is what I will eventually do with Parry on my BS Scrapper.
Good luck,
Dr. Rob
I've updated this guide to take into account the ED changes. The new guide can be found here.
Wrath smash good.
Don't worry about the icon not showing up. From what I can tell, the buff icons only refresh every five seconds or so. That doesn't mean they're not active. I've seen it bump from one DA icon to three sometimes. The buff becomes active immediately on hitting the enemy and stays active for ten seconds.
Wrath smash good.