Welcome to SLASH! A Dual Blades / Willpower Guide
By
0neye,
Posted on: 2008-02-22 24:42 in Player Guides
Addendum #1: When using Resurgence, you take a -21% hit to Accuracy and -28% hit to Damage after the buff wears off for (I'm guessing) about 15 seconds.
Thanks for the great guide! As a newer player of CoX the depth you added here was a great help. 
My DB/WP Brute is 40 now, and I am really digging this class!
Good guide - I agree with most of the comments, and particularly enjoyed the Robocop reference.
The one thing I would disagree with is about Blinding Feint. I think that it is a pretty good power, definitely worth taking and I think worth using regularly.
First - it is necessary for Empower. I agree that this combo is sub par, compared to AV and Sweep. But in the earlier levels, Empower and Weaken will help a great deal, getting you past early bosses and COTs with higher defenses. I never use it either Empower or Weaken when I Can use AV and Sweep, but Getting To that Point was easier with them. Also, it helps when I do Flashback missions. I had respeced out of Nimble Slash, then had to go back to do Positrons TF for the Accolade, and missed the combos. If you do any Flashback missions, it is worth keeping the early combos.
Second, Added Damage And Accuracy. I have two attack chains - Blinding Feint > AV for boss/AV/GMs , or BF > Sweep > AV for herding/farming. I start both with Blinding Feint because it boosts the damage for the rest of the next combo. Blinding Feint may not do much damage itself (although it is not That far behind Power Slice) but it gives a Big boost to your Big Hitters. If you hit multiple targets with your AOEs, that boost can be in the multiple hundreds of points of damage. And, Blinding Feint helps you make sure to Hit those combos, because it boosts the accuracy for the rest of the next combo. Dual Blades needs to prioritize accuracy buffs, because missing once nullifies a combo. Hitting BF before each attack chain is a pretty substantial boost. I have slotted mine for the To Hit Buff, not for the attack itself.
Third - the To Hit Buff IO Sets are worth taking, and BF gives a good thing to put them in. Adjusted Targeting and Gaussian's Fire Control are both good sets, with very good set bonuses, that synergize well with DB and WP. Gaussian's gives a movement bonus, a 1.88 % HP bonus, a 2.5% recovery bonus , a 2% damage bonus, and a 2.5% melee defense bonus. Adjusted Targeting gives a 2% damage bonus, a neg/energy Resistance buff, a big 9% global accuracy buff, a 5% recharge time discount, and then some status protection. Out of those, almost all of them are very helpful. And Gaussian's Chance for Build up Proc is perfect with BF - even if it has a low chance to proc (5%), BF is already an auto build up if it hits, to it stacks well. I definitely notice it hitting often enough to make a difference.
Don't get me wrong, as a scrapper or tanker BF is a good power. There's no doubt about it. But for a brute (which is who this guide is primarily aimed at) not so much. Sounds to me like you're a scrapper FivexFive.
It can help in the early levels a little in regards to accuracy, but the damage boost is fairly insignificant for a brute. Brutes have a lower damage modifier than scrappers, so that means BF does even less since the damage bonus is applied BEFORE enhancements, just like Buildup for Blasters and Follow Up for Claws scrappers. A brute also gets nearly all of their damage bonuses from Fury. Does it add more damage? Sure, there's no disputing that. But enough to warrant using it over another attack that does better damage? I don't think so. Especially if you've already got Power Slice for the sweep combo. You've got another attack to fill a potentially slow attack chain pre-IOs right there without spending another power slot.
Not only that, but with proper slotting the accuracy bonus is minimal. It's not hard OR expensive to cap your accuracy against +2's while maintaining 90 - 100% bonus to damage via IO sets and frankenslotting and STILL getting good end cost and recharge reduction bonuses. It's even possible with only one or 2 Crushing Impact sets to cap your accuracy against +3's, with each set running roughly 10m or so using lvl 40-45 IOs.
And I guarantee you, should you ever run across anything like rikti drones or CoT demons that use Invincibility from the Invuln set, BF isn't going to help you hit them since chances are... it's going to miss too. It misses, you get no accuracy bonus.
Now as I said, it's a fine power for scrappers and such... but for brutes... it's a waste of a power choice in an already tight build. As a brute, if you're really gung ho about spending another slot to give AV more damage, then get Hasten so you can spam AV without interruption at all.
Just my $.02
I only have 5 attacks on my lvl 50 DB/WP brute. My attack chain is BF + Vitals Combo + Power Slice. You don't even need IOs to pull off this Buzzsaw build. You can actually skip Power Slice if you slot heavy for recharge. Skipping 1000 Cuts and Typhoon's edge means you only have one cone attack in Sweeping Strike. What this does is turn you into a strong single target destroyer. All the attacks are fast animations and good damage, so for a brute you build fury super fast and damage adds up really fast. Your one big damage attack sweeping strike is cone so you can lower entire mobs quickly if you place yourself correctly, and Power slice qives you that knockdown every few seconds to keep the strongest enemy of the group on his/her a$$.
Only taking 5 attacks allowed me to get Tough and Weave, as well as all the WP powers, Hasten for an emergency, the entire Fitness pool, Combat Jumping and Super Jump. If you skip Hasten and Hurdle you can get Aid self....but I never need a heal.
This build is my favorite in the game right now. Lots of fun, I recomend trying it out on test server to see if you like it. If you like Claws...you'll love this.
Hmm could you maybe post your build or something. Ive always wanted to get into DBs but with all the combos and everything they just seem a little...complicated. After reading through this guide im thinking i may give them another go and your comment about this compared to claws made me really hopefull. Claws is probably my favorite set and i would love to try something somewhat close to them for brutes.
Vengeful Slice has the KD, not Power Slice, and simply going for the AV combo gives you this attack. Power Slice is, as I said, a good filler attack, a much better filler than any of the other attacks available outside the AV combo.
Also, I don't even need BF for that attack chain. I use AV > Power Slice and go seamlessly from one attack to the next with my slotting, not using anything over a lvl 44 IO and no hasten, and no special +rech IOs, only what I get from frankenslotting.
I realize a lot of people like BF, and that's up to them to decide, but I'm just afraid they are taking the power out of some sort of compulsion to take a build up like power simply because it's there, despite the fact that for a brute it really truly does so very little and only delays your more powerful attacks. I really really wish there was a way to record DPS without having to be a math genius, which I most definately am not, just so we can see the effects of using BF, and another round without using it.
I agree BF isnt needed. I take it for a few reasons, I like how it looks, it is very fast animation, and the Vitals + Power Slice attack chain gets boring after awhile...having a 5th attack in there spices it up a bit. The tohit buff is actually pretty helpful at times.
As far as the damage boost you get from it....not so much. My brute normally has anywhere from 200-300% damage boost with fury built way up, so the tiny bit more from BF isn't really noticable. I would like to see a test also with and without BF. My guess is you'd have slightlty higher dps without it.
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Interesting guide, but I'm going to have to take issue with your analysis of Blinding Feint:
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Blinding Feint
I'm not too fond of this power. Sure, it increases your damage, but for a very brief period of time, only 10 seconds. In order to take full advantage of it you would need to use it before every Attack Vitals combo. Well, the damage of this power itself is very low. It does more damage than Brawl, but not by much. Also, it is only used in one fairly pointless combo, which drops its value even more. If you want it, take it, but don't expect much from it. However if you do take it, slot it with atleast 2 ACC SOs, 3 DAM SOs, and a recharge. Yes, it takes 6 slots to make it bearable. If you can't fit that many slots, then forget it. Not worth the effort.
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I would disagree with just about everything you said in here, at least insofar as it applies to scrappers and tanks.
(1) BF does 0.8 DS damage; Brawl is 0.36. That's 2.222 times brawl damage.
(2) BF SHOULD be used before every AV combo. It occupies 1.33 seconds of cast time. The AV combo takes 4.82 seconds.
Assuming 100% damage enhancement (meh, close enough to the ED cap, although it might be a little optimistic), a scrapper using AV just by itself will get 708 damage every 4.82 seconds.
If you ignore double stacking, BF adds another 1.33 seconds to the chain (thereby requiring less recharge to make it chainable). It adds another 133 damage due to the damage buff, and then another 119 damage from its own (buffed) damage -- another 252. Therefore, increasing the length of the attack chain by 28% increases damage output by 36%. That's clearly a good tradeoff.
Now, when you account for the fact that both Ablating Strike and Vengeful Slice get double-stacked BF, you're adding another 69 damage to the pot. Therefore, the overall damage increase that you get from using BF goes up to 45%. In other words, BF+AV does significantly better sustained damage than AV alone. If you account for the fact that you'll probably need to add another attack to AV to get a chain, at least until you have a very expensive IO-ed build, the analysis favors the inclusion of BF even more. If you have less than 100% damage enhancement, then the analysis favors BF even more.
(3) You want to slot BF first for accuracy, then for recharge, and then for damage after you've hit the ED cap for recharge. With IOs -- I like 5 slots of CI, plus a regular recharge IO -- you can get up to 95%+ recharge and damage both, while having plenty of acc as well. That's really how you should be slotting BF.
The tl;dr version:
Take BF, slot it for recharge, and you'll do way more damage than you will without it.
I slot BF for max Accuracy and recharge, but then slot for ToHit buffs instead of damage. I like to fight +3-+5 enemies, so I can never have enough accuracy or tohit buffs.
I'm curious though, is the tohit buff even worth it? How much am I affecting my DPS by not slotting BF for damage?
My tohit is 75% base, with IO sets it is 81%. With BF it is 96.69%, and for a few moments when stacked it is 112% I don't know how much this is helping me, but I rarelt ever miss and I like that.
As far as damage, aty 50 on an even con minion BF does 33 damage. The second time(when it is effected by itself) it does 41. If I had it slotted for 97% damage....would that basicly be double the damage? An extra 41 damage every 5 seconds would actually be pretty nice. I might have to try slotting for damage instead and see how bad my accuracy suffers.
Edit* With full fury BF is doing around 85 damage to an even con minion....I will have to slot for damage. That is quit a difference in DPS.
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I like to fight +3-+5 enemies, so I can never have enough accuracy or tohit buffs.
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Without slotting, BF is +10% tohit. So, with that and +6% kismet, here's how your tohit progresses with level:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Even: 91%
+1: 81%
+2: 72%
+3: 64%
+4: 55%
+5: 46%
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If you've got, say, 60% acc slotting (which is about what you get from level 40 CI sets), then that caps you up til +3s; you've got 88% vs. +4s and 74% vs +5s. If you're rolling with more like 80% acc enhancement, then you're capped up till +5s, which you hit 83% of the time. Of cousre, you might also have some set bonuses thrown in there -- you probably could get away with slotting for damage instead of tohit.
Now, the other side is that BFs base damage isn't that high, and any benefits you might get from damage slotting could well be overwhelmed by the damage boost from fury. So YMMV here. I think as long as (a) you took BF in the first place and (2) you've got a lot of recharge in there, I don't think it matters that much whether you go ToHit or Damage.
Personally, I love the bonuses from Crushing Impact, so I went with that, which kind of locks me into damage. You might be able to find something that you like in the ToHit sets.
Ya, because I slotted for tohit, I couldn't put CI in there. This forced me to put Red Fortune in one of my defense powers instead of LotG.(for the 5% recharge) I think I'll try it on test first, but go ahead and put CI in BF, and replace the Red fortune with another LotG. I have the kismet IO plus quite a bit of Accuracy bonuses. Which brings me to another question...
Under the power attribute window accuracy is listed as 1.00 at base. Mine is currently at 1.57x. What the heck does this mean? Can anyone help me understand how to read this? Most of my attcks are slotted at around 45-50% so I would expect this number to be a % also...not sure what 1.57x even means.
I think it means I have 57%. If that is true, then with the 45=50% I ahve slotted on rach attack, I think I should be fine. That's over 100% accuracy.
I also noticed without slotting for tohit in BF, my tohit buff still gets up to 102 instead of 112 with slotting. Wasn't reallt worth it.
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Under the power attribute window accuracy is listed as 1.00 at base. Mine is currently at 1.57x. What the heck does this mean? Can anyone help me understand how to read this? Most of my attcks are slotted at around 45-50% so I would expect this number to be a % also...not sure what 1.57x even means.
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I believe that it means you have 57% in acc bonuses from sets. It functions just like an additional 57% acc enhancement in all of your powers, except not subject to ED. So 60% from slotting, plus your 57% set bonuses would give you 117% in all of your attacks.
With that much accuracy, slotting ToHit in BF definitely strikes me as overkill. Since CI gives you recharge, health, and even more accuracy, it seems like that'd be the way to go, if it were me.
I agree, by slotting CI in there instead, and replacing the red fortune with a 4th set of LotG...I will be getting an additional 16% accuracy. So in the end I shouldn't be losing any accuracy at all. Here I thought by build was perfected.
Just sucks I gotta spend another 30 mil to by new sets and waste the red fortune set I already slotted.
You can only get a respec once from each of the 3 trials ....right?
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I would disagree with just about everything you said in here, at least insofar as it applies to scrappers and tanks.
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As I stated in the first paragraph of the guide, the information I presented is primarily directed at brutes. Also, I stated in a previous post in this thread, BF IS a good power for scrappers and tankers.
I would have said in the title of the post "guide for brutes" but there just wasn't enough room.
It isn't as needed for brutes as it is Scrappers and Tanks, but it is still good none the less. 30% boost to damage is 30% boost to damage any way you look at it. It actually stacks for about 4 seconds in my attack chain so it is giving 60% boost to damage almost half the time. This has my brute above 300% damage boost with fury at 90% or above. All I'm saying is it is still very goos for a brute even if it less noticable.
One particular thing: Dual Blades and War Mace have both had their 'animation pause' eliminated. Dual Blades, in particular, was balanced around that 'pause' not being there.
This means that, for DB and Mace only, redraw IS a factor.
Don't you mean for Mace and DB redraw ISN'T a factor?
All the weapon sets are losing their redraw in issue 12 btw.
No, I meant that.
You have to pay attention to what will cause you to re-draw your weapons, hence, it's a factor.
More specifically, let's say on claws you do Follow-up, Slash, Boxing, Swipe. The way things are now, the animations will look like this: Follow-up -> Pause -> Slash -> Pause -> Boxing -> Pause (while redrawing) -> Swipe.
On DB, a similiar combo would look like: BF -> NS -> Boxing -> Redraw -> PS
Your talking about mixing other attacks in that make you redrw your weapons...ahhh I see now. Yes it is true, but untill they fix the fact you have to redraw your weapon after healing or kicking or whatever....I never mix other attacks into a weapon set anyways.
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Your talking about mixing other attacks in that make you redrw your weapons...ahhh I see now. Yes it is true, but untill they fix the fact you have to redraw your weapon after healing or kicking or whatever....I never mix other attacks into a weapon set anyways.
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"Working as designed" as per BAB and Castle. IE, yeah, it sucks, but it doesn't suck enough for them to sink multiple issues worth of animation time into fixing (No, this is not debatable, to 'fix' this would require no new powersets or even any more PP until around I16)
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It isn't as needed for brutes as it is Scrappers and Tanks, but it is still good none the less. 30% boost to damage is 30% boost to damage any way you look at it. It actually stacks for about 4 seconds in my attack chain so it is giving 60% boost to damage almost half the time. This has my brute above 300% damage boost with fury at 90% or above. All I'm saying is it is still very goos for a brute even if it less noticable.
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Not really. It doesn't apply like that. The damage boost is applied just like Build Up and Aim, as in it is applied BEFORE enhancements and other modifiers, IE to the base damage.
Say you have an attack with a base damage of 50 points at lvl 50. Then you add in 100% from enhancements (realistically closer to 95% but for sake of ease we'll say 100%). That makes the attack 100 points of damage. Then you factor in Fury, say 200% bonus, which is easy to maintain and often goes higher. Fury is cumulative with the enhancement bonus, as well as all other bonuses. That makes your total bonus 300%, or three times the base, so now your attack is doing 200 damage ((base*bonus%) + base).
30% from BF applied to the base makes 15 damage. You just made a 200 damage attack do 215 instead. Granted this applies to a few attacks since the buff lasts 10 seconds, and for the quick can be double stacked.
But in the end, it's more realistic to look at BF as not a 30% damage boost for brutes, but more like a 10% damage boost. And that percentage goes down as your fury bar goes up. 100% fury is a 300% damage boost. With enhancements, you're closing in on 400% of base damage.
Now take into consideration that BF will do LESS damage than most other attacks. BF has a BI of 1.67. Nimble Slash isn't much better at 1.75. But Power Slice is significantly higher at 2.42. Granted that still doesn't quite add up to the amount added by BF but... you didn't have to spend another power choice to get it, and frankly you won't even notice the difference between using PS and BF to fill your attack chain. I've done several respecs using BF and not using BF, and frankly I've never noticed the difference.
I guess that's the whole point of my argument. You're spending a power choice and 5 slots for a boost that hardly registers.
I don't undrstand your logic. How do you think a 30% boost is really a 10% boost? I watch the real numbers window and my damage boost jumps 30% when I use BF, and another 30% when I stack it. This keeps my damage boost total at just under 300% When I don't use BF it is around 250% I'm gonna have to believe the "real" numbers over you.
Ok, guess I'm not very good at explaining things, I over simplified it and just made it more confusing. So let's make up some numbers to use with Brawl Index. I'm using the BI numbers from Mids for this.
Brawl = 10 damage
Blinding Feint BI of 1.67 = 16.7 damage
Power Slice BI of 2.42 = 24.2 damage
Ablating Strike BI of 2.75 = 27.5 damage
Vengeful Slice BI of 3.42 = 34.2 damage
Sweeping Strike BI of 3.54 = 35.4 damage
Enhancements damage bonus = 100%
Fury damage bonus = 200%
Total = 300%
Now to work these numbers using the simple equation of ((base*bonus%)+base)
Now we have some numbers to work with. I don't have any solid numbers for AV's damage but I figure it's roughly about 60% of Sweeping Strike.
Attack Vitals damage = 21.2 damage
AV > Power Slice attack chain = 142.5 damage, 570 with 300% damage boost
Ok now we have to add up for BF without giving it an additional 30% damage since it does it's damage before the buff.
BF modified damage = 66.8 damage at 300% damage boost
AV combo total damage = 118.3 damage, 508.7 damage with 330% damage boost. Total with BF damage = 575.5 damage
Total damage difference per combo = 5.5 damage in favor of BF > AV
Granted these aren't exact numbers and there are plenty of variables I didn't take into account like class damage mods, resistances, and such, but it should still give you an idea of why I think BF is a waste of a power choice and 5 slots for a brute.
Hopefully Arcanaville or someone better at numbers than I am will hop in and check my math, and/or point out anything I may have missed.
[Edit] Oh, I believe Brawl at lvl 50 has a base of 15 damage, I just chose 10 because it's simpler to work with.
Welcome to SLASH! A Dual Blades / Willpower Guide for Brutes
So you've decided it's time to venture into the world of twirley blades. Good for you, and welcome aboard! I'll reserve all commentary for the actual powers and combos. Just please keep in mind that these are opinions based on my experiences as a DB/WP Brute which is quick on its way to its 3rd and final respec. I've tried many different combinations of powers and simply write this guide in hopes of helping you avoid the same mistakes I have. If you are the adventurous type though, I strongly encourage you to try out ALL of the powers in both sets and just use this guide as an idea of what to expect. Also keep in mind this guide is geared for Brutes, though most of the information here can also apply to Scrappers. As for Stalkers... there's just too much difference in the combos and in WP itself. Some information may be useful, but most of it won't apply for my shadowy brethren.
Dual Blades Combos
I'm starting with Combos first since that's where the meat of the Dual Blades powerset truly resides. Don't ask yourself what powers you want, ask yourself what combos you want.
Weaken
Nimble Slash > Ablating Strike > Typhoon's Edge
Weaken hits all enemies near you (via Typhoon's Edge) with a -ACC and -DEF debuff. The -ACC generally isn't enough to make a difference, even when stacked with Rise to the Challenges paltry -acc debuff. With proper slotting (and ample use of Ablating Strike) the -DEF isn't really needed, and doesn't really do much for you against mobs with high defenses anyway like Rikti Drones or CoT mobs. Besides, if you're having problems hitting something, I guarantee you that atleast one of the three attacks needed to pull off a Weaken combo is going to miss anyway, making this combo an effort in futility.
Empower
Nimble Slash > Ablating Strike > Blinding Feint
Empower buffs you with +ACC and +DAM. I have no hard numbers on just how much these add up, especially since to finish this combo you hit with Blinding Feint which buffs both by 10% and 30% respectively. However, the time it takes to actually land this combo, combined with the fact that it needs Ablating Strike to trigger, makes it less than desirable. Using this means you've killed your cooldown for Ablating Strike, which means you can't use Attack Vitals, and are forced to pretty much just spam whatever attacks you have that aren't on cooldown. That's bad.
Attack Vitals
Ablating Strike > Vengeful Slice > Sweeping Strike
This is where a large chunk of your heavy damage comes in, both single target and multi target when you can get a cone lined up. It inflicts a DoT on your foes, up to I believe 4 targets (that's the most I've ever been able to hit with Sweeping Strike). This combo is accomplished by using Ablating Strike > Vengeful Slice > Sweeping Strike, all of which are your primary heavy hitters as it is. This combo also comes up relatively quickly when slotted with IOs, so you can almost spam it, especially if you decide to take Hasten.
Sweep
One Thousand Cuts > Power Slice > Typhoon's Edge
This is, from what I've seen on the forums, a heavilly misunderstood combo. This is a good source of AE damage. Basically when you use Typhoon's Edge, it hits twice. Well when you use this combo, it hits a third time for some added damage, as well as a knockdown effect that helps immensely when you are swarmed and need a breather to either let Rise to the Challenge do its thing or simply to fire off an Aid Self unmolested. It's also very satisfying to watch ten mobs all packed around you go flying up in the air to land unceremoniously on their backs. Consider it a mitigation combo with some nice damage thrown in. It comes in very handy on bosses/EBs/AVs as well, especially if you have taken Willpower and have some extra baddies around to help jack up your regen. They can't hit you if they are on their backs, and that just means that Rise to the Challenge has that much more time to heal you while they are down and you aren't being beat on.
Dual Blades Powers
Nimble Slash
This power is mediocre at best. It is needed for for the Empower and Weaken combos, two fairly weak combos that frankly aren't worth the time it takes to set the combo up. Take it if you want in the early levels, that's about the only time it's useful, and respec out later.
Power Slice
I actually like this power. It does respectable damage even outside of combos, has a quick recharge time of 5 seconds (even better with IOs), and of course is needed in the Sweep combo. You'll definately want to take this one. Often times what I'll do is fire off an Attack Vitals combo and, since I haven't taken Hasten, will hit this power to give Ablating Strike, Vengeful Slice, and Sweeping strike another second or two to recharge so I can go seemlessly back into the Attack Vitals combo. Makes for a fairly quick and efficient chain.
Ablating Strike
Definately take this power. It's the opener for the Attack Vitals combo, and does nice damage on its own AND has an OK -def debuff of -7.5% base on it. At 6 seconds, it doesn't quite recharge as fast as Power Slice, but that's ok. It still recharges fairly quick and, with IO slotting, will generally recharge fast enough to keep Attack Vitals going nearly non-stop.
Typhoon's Edge
This is another power used in one of the prime combos of Dual Blades, the Sweep combo. You can, and probably should. opt to take it later in your build to make room for other powers, like your defensive powers from your secondary. The soonest you can use the Sweep combo is level 32 so it doesn't really hurt to wait on this one. Just be sure to take it and get it slotted before level 32.
Blinding Feint
I'm not too fond of this power. Sure, it increases your damage, but for a very brief period of time, only 10 seconds. In order to take full advantage of it you would need to use it before every Attack Vitals combo. Well, the damage of this power itself is very low. It does more damage than Brawl, but not by much. Also, it is only used in one fairly pointless combo, which drops its value even more. If you want it, take it, but don't expect much from it. However if you do take it, slot it with atleast 2 ACC SOs, 3 DAM SOs, and a recharge. Yes, it takes 6 slots to make it bearable. If you can't fit that many slots, then forget it. Not worth the effort.
Taunt
Well, just like any other brute primary, this power is questionable. You aren't there to tank, you're there to beat things into a bloody mass of excess tissue and bodily fluids. You can certainly tank if you want to, and in that case this power is most definately useful. Personally I just let the stone/stone brutes do the tanking, or the tankerminds, or the MM pets, or the... you get the point.
Vengeful Slice
Oh how I love this power. It does very nice damage, but it's the knockdown that is the true beauty of this power. This helps to mitigate SOOO much damage when fighting bosses. Not only that, but it's needed for the Attack Vitals combo. Now say it with me. Attack Vitals is gooooood.
Get it. 6 slot it. Whisper sweet nothings in its ear at night.
Sweeping Strike
Here it is children. You're new favorite toy. This power is the finishing move in the Attack Vitals combo, and it's a cone with awesome damage, managable end costs, and an awesome (and fast) animation. Oh how I love thee. This one is another you definately want to 6 slot to make sure it's up as often as possible as it has an 11 second recharge.
One Thousand Cuts
This power has gotten a bad rep on the forums. The animation time is a bit excessive at 3.2 seconds, but it is a fairly cool animation. Your character swings their arms around for a few seconds before giving your target a bladed upper cut that sends it (or them since it's a cone) flying into the air. It is the opener for the Sweep combo, and if you can line up a cone it still does amazingly well. Heck, even if you don't line up a cone, it still does well. This is the highest damage attack you get. Also, if you time it right, you can knock down a few baddies with this, wait a second, hit Power Slice to keep the combo timer from running out, wait another second, and BEHOLD! Your foes are back on their feet just in time for you to knock them on the butts again with Typhoon's Edge, finishing the Sweep combo. Sure, it doesn't help your damage to wait, but if you've got a bunch of heavy hitters wailing on you, it doesn't hurt to keep them out of action for a little longer.
Willpower Powers
High Pain Tolerance
This is definately a good power to choose. Not like you could anyway. You have to take this if you like it or not. It increases your total health and gives you some resists against ALL damage. Yes, that's right kiddies. ALL damage. This will hold you over till you can get Mind Over Body while you are leveling up. In the end you want to atleast 4 slot this for 2 heals and 2 resists. I personally waited a long while to finish slotting this simply because I wanted all my attacks up to par. Like I said, I don't tank. You sure can if you want to with Willpower, but it's not mandatory.
Mind Over Body
Here's your main damage resistance power, and it protects you from smash, lethal, and PSIONIC. Yeah buddy. But it's only 16.9% base. Doh! But that's ok, you have other powers to help protect yourself. It should be noted that all defensive powers in this set are weaker than other sets, but Rise to the Challenge makes up for that, and let me tell you... I haven't used Rest in MONTHS. 4 slots minimum, 1 End Redux, 3 Resists (or IOs to taste).
Fast Healing
This is where a good portion of your mitigation comes in. Yes, mitigation. Willpower is a Regen based set. Not Defense based, not Resist based like most other Brute secondaries. Regen. This, along with Health from the Fitness Pool and Rise to the Challenge, will help you out immensly. Not only that, but it's a good power right out of the box. Toss in a heal enhancement and you're good to go, just remember to toss in another slot later. At 50 you'll want two lvl 50 Heal IOs in here.
Indomitable Will
Getting tired of being knocked back all over the place? Holds getting you down? Here is where you get to laugh at those silly people that think you'd look good with vines wrapped around your ankles. This power does an AWESOME job of protecting you. It's got Sleep, Disorient, Fear, Immobilize, Confuse, Repel, Knockback, and Hold protection. Not only that, but... it's also got PSIONIC defense. Ooooooh. Now you know why you chose Willpower. Psionic resistance AND defense?! Sign me up! You can get away with a single slot for awhile, but I definately recommend putting in another 2 atleast, 3 preferably. You want to get your Psionic defenses up there. Psionic defense/resist is the primary strength of the Willpower set aside from its insane regen.
Rise to the Challenge
Aaah, now we're cooking with butter baby! Get this at level 16. I don't care what you have to sacrifice. Get it. Seriously. And slot it. Fast. One end redux and 3 heals is all you need. And trust me, you'll want it. Just using SOs you get upwards of 240% or more Regen with 1 mob around. But that's not all. The more mobs you have around you, the better this power gets. Every extra mob near you gives that much more regen, up to 10 mobs. With 10 mobs around you, just from this power, you will have nearly 700% regen. WOW! Now you see what I was pushing for the Sweep combo? Put them on their back, and this will heal you right up along with Fast Healing and Health (you did take Health, right?). This power also hits your enemies with a -acc debuff, but it's so small it's nearly pointless. I say nearly because the only point to it is to cause agro, which gets your red bar climbing faster.
Quick Recovery
Stamina on Steroids. This power is 30% +recovery base unslotted. Stamina is only 25%. Sound good? Gets even better. Take both this and Stamina, 2 slot each with lvl 50 IOs, and you're sitting at 91.7% +recovery. I'll buy that for a dollar! Some would argue that you don't need to take Stamina. Sure, you can get away without it. But to me, these 2 powers combined is part of what makes Willpower such an awesome set. NO endurance problems, even with all 4 WP toggles running, along with swift AND, if you are so inclined, Tough and Weave to further round out your defensive capabilities. Alot of people complain that Tough and Weave cost too much end for what you get out of them. Well you won't be complaining any more with both QR and Stamina. Besides, you'll want to take Swift anyway or Hurdle if you're a Super Speeder, and Health you DEFINATELY want. This is a regen based set remember? The more the better. That only means you'd be saving on one power. Why not take full advantage of it?
Hightened Senses
This is where you get your defenses against Fire, Cold, Negative Energy, and Energy. Also gives you Smashing and Lethal defense too. Keep in mind here, this is DEFENSE, not resistance like Mind Over Body does. Also, this power doesn't give as much +def as you'd find in a +def based set, but it is still helpful in any case. Just like Mind Over Body, you want to 4 slot this, one End Redux and 3 Defense. Oh, and for you PVPers out there (and smoke bomb haters), it gives you some +perception too.
Resurgence
This is just about the only skippable power in the Willpower powerset. It's a self rez on a 5 minute timer. When you spring back up you are healed to 75% of your max health (now I'm not sure if this is base health or after High Pain Tolerance, but I believe it's the latter). It also gives you a 35% damage boost and I BELIEVE a 10% accuracy boost. After 90 seconds though it wears off and you actually take a hit to damage and accuracy, I believe to the same effect. -35% and -10% respectively. It's not a bad emergency power, and it's always nice to have a teammate say "Anybody got any wakies? Oh, nm". But if there is another power you'd rather take, go for that one and skip this.
Strength of Will
Here's your big boy defensive power. Now if it's worth it or not... I'll leave that to you to decide. The base resistance on it is only 18.8%. Not a whole lot. You can get more from popping a couple of inspirations. But stacked with your existing resists and an insp or two, it comes out to not being a bad power. You also get a bonus of 30% recovery. Might be handy for those of you who forsake my words and skip Stamina. After 2 minutes it wears off and you have a bit of an end crash and can't recover quite as well. However, if you took my advice, you won't hardly notice the end crash because QR and Stamina mixed together overcome the crash quite well. It's got a 6 minute recharge, which you can't change. This power isn't affected by +recharge in any fashion, be it from Hasten or IO bonuses. One good point about this power though is that you can drop in 3 resist enhancements and forget about it. That's all the slotting it needs to max out its effectiveness, saving you some slots.
Power Pools
Concealment
I can't really see this pool helping a brute much. The only thing I could possibly see it being used for is stealthing a mission, or if you're a PVPer and want the extra time to get to your enemy. Intangibility is always a nice OH SH%$ power, but worth 3 powers total? For a Brute, I don't think so.
Fighting
This isn't a bad pool to take on a WP Brute as it helps to even out your defenses very nicely. Boxing and Kick are kind of pointless, as you'll be too busy whiping your blades around to use either of those powers. Not only that, but using either of those two powers will put your blades away, causing redraw time when you use one of your DB powers. I know the Devs have said that redraw is factored into animation time so it really doesn't exist, but hey, sure seems to exist to me. Tough and Weave however are worth it. If you're going to take one of these, try and take both. With QR and Stamina you've got more than enough +recovery to handle them.
Fitness
Even with Quick Recovery, this pool still shines. You'll WANT to take Swift or, if you're a Super Speeder, to take Hurdle for the vertical movement. You're a Brute, the faster you get from one fight to the next, the less your red bar degrades. And Health is a given. Willpower is a regen based set, so adding Health just makes the whole set that much more powerful. Also here's a nifty trick for Health. If you get the money or get lucky, pop in a Numina's Heal and +Regen/+Recovery IO from the set. Those two alone give an extra 32% regen, let alone what the Heal IO does for Health itself. And as far as Stamina goes... I think I already stated my mind about it. Get it to make all of your Endurance problems go away.
Flight
Fly is, as always, the safest travel power. And the laziest. Point yourself in the direction of your mission and hit autorun, then go get some coffee. You might be at the mission by the time you get back. On the other hand, it's also the slowest. To each his own however. The problem with the Flight pool resides in the prereq powers. Either Air Superiority or Hover. Hover is kind of meh for a Brute. Air Superiority though is a nice power. But, again, you'll be too busy flinging your blades around to really use it. If anything, just pop in 2 accuracy enhancements and only use it to knock people out of the air.
Leadership
I'm a fan of this pool on Masterminds, not so much on Brutes. You have other, more important, powers to take over the Leadership pool. Besides, the Brute bonus to Leadership is pathetic, and these powers won't do much for you at all. Not worth the power picks.
Leaping
This is where it's at if you ask me. Combat Jumping gives you minor defense bonuses, but it's the added mobility that aids Brutes the most. With a minor hop, skip, or jump, you are where you need to be to inflict the most pain. And Super Jump is just a great travel power. It offers both horizontal and vertical movement, and at a pretty good clip too. As a Willpower brute you don't need Acrobatics, so don't waste the power slot.
Medicine
I wouldn't really say this power is required for a Willpower brute. Your regen should be sufficiently high to keep you alive unless you get in over you head, and if you do, it'll be tough pulling off Aid Self anyway since it's interuptable. The Sweep combo helps with this, but it's still a stretch. Personally, I wouldn't waste the power slot. Pack a few green chicklets with you for emergencies and you're good to go.
Presence
Eh, I've never liked this pool on ANY toon. If you ask me, the only AT that should be dabbling in this pool are Tankers or Tankerminds. Nuff said.
Speed
Ya know, I'd really love this pool if it weren't for the fact that nearly every isle in the Rogue Islands has barriers of some kind. This pool fits better into Paragon City. Super Speed does have the advantage of getting from one fight to the next faster than any other travel power, including Teleport since 90% of the time there is a wall or three between you and the next fight. And Hasten definately isn't a power to scoff at. But Super Speed... just not enough vertical movement. Take it if you have room to add another travel power as well, but for that many power slots it's just not worth it to me, and DB/WP is tight enough as it is. Definately take Hasten if you can fit it in though.
Teleportation
TP Foe is arguably the best pulling power around. But hey, you're a Willpower brute. You do best in a crowd. The only thing this pool has going for it for a WP Brute is Teleport. It's got a high end cost, but of all the power sets out there, WP is the best equipped to handle it.
Sample Build
A few words about this build. You'll notice that all IOs are set to level 40. This gives me a more accurate idea of what numbers I'll have since I generally don't go for level 50 IO sets. The effectiveness versus lower level IO sets isn't worth the cost difference as it's only a couple of percents most of the time. The only level 50 IOs I ever use are Invention IOs that give 42.4% bonus. Also, feel free to change your travel powers as you see fit.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.30
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
Truestrike: Level 50 Technology Brute
Primary Power Set: Dual Blades
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Power Slice -- F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg:40(A), F'dSmite-Dmg/EndRdx:40(3), F'dSmite-Dmg/Rchg:40(5), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(11), F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(13)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- ResDam-I:40(A), ResDam-I:40(37), Heal-I:40(39), Heal-I:40(40)
Level 2: Ablating Strike -- F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg:40(A), F'dSmite-Dmg/EndRdx:40(3), F'dSmite-Dmg/Rchg:40(5), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(9), F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(13)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Heal-I:40(A), Heal-I:40(40)
Level 6: Typhoon's Edge -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:40(7), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:40(7), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(9), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(11)
Level 8: Swift -- Run-I:40(A)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I:40(A)
Level 12: Mind Over Body -- TtmC'tng-ResDam:40(A), TtmC'tng-EndRdx:40(25), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:40(25), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(31), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg:40(43)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I:40(A), Jump-I:40(15), Jump-I:40(15)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:40(A), Dct'dW-Heal:40(17), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:40(17), Numna-Heal:40(43)
Level 18: Vengful Slice -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:40(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:40(19), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:40(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(21), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(23), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(23)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- EndMod-I:40(A), EndMod-I:40(21)
Level 22: Indomitable Will -- S'dpty-Def:40(A), S'dpty-EndRdx:40(36), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(37), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(37), S'dpty-Def/Rchg:40(46)
Level 24: Health -- Heal-I:40(A), Heal-I:40(40)
Level 26: Sweeping Strike -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(A), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:40(27), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(27), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:40(29), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg:40(29), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(31)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- S'dpty-Def:40(A), S'dpty-EndRdx:40(34), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(36), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(36), S'dpty-Def/Rchg:40(46)
Level 30: Stamina -- EndMod-I:40(A), EndMod-I:40(31)
Level 32: One Thousand Cuts -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:40(33), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(33), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg:40(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(34)
Level 35: Resurgence -- RechRdx-I:40(A)
Level 38: Strength of Will -- ResDam-I:40(A), ResDam-I:40(39), ResDam-I:40(39)
Level 41: Electrifying Fences -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg:40(A), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx:40(42), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg:40(42), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob:40(42), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng:40(43)
Level 44: Mu Lightning -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(45), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(45), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:40(45), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:40(46)
Level 47: Summon Striker -- Acc-I:40(A), Dmg-I:40(48), Dmg-I:40(48), RechRdx-I:40(48), RechRdx-I:40(50), RechRdx-I:40(50)
Level 49: Teleport Foe -- Acc-I:40(A), Acc-I:40(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
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