Death can be Beautiful - The Life of a Night Widow
By
Crashburn,
Posted on: 2008-08-21 19:20 in Player Guides
Ok it's time to talk about Slotting, enhancements, IO's and so on.
Slotting -
This is very subjective and as such I thought it deserved it's own section rather than trying to suggest slots for each power (even though I did put in a word or two on those powers that really only need a few slots). I'll make generalities about certain strategies you can use when planning your slots but again this is one area where personal preference usually wins out.
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[*]First are your attacks. There's 2 strategies to use here for slotting and unfortunately neither one are what I would call "cheap" particularly for the newer player. Generally speaking, the number of slots you want to put in your attacks will depend on the sets you are planning to use in them.
Some will want to go with Mako's Bite and Touch of Death for the +Defense buffs on the 6 peice set bonus. If you choose to go this way you will want to favor Mako's as it provides Ranged Defense which is the weaker of our positional defense stats.
Another viable strategy is to slot for Crushing Impact. The idea here being the 5 peice set bonus of +5% global Recharge, which will aid in making your Mind Link permanent. You can get away with only slotting 5 slots in your attacks then as the 5 set bonus is the important part of this set. You don't HAVE to limit yourself to 5 slots here, however. In my build I was able to comfortably 6 slot all of my attack powers including Poison Dart so feel free to 6 slot away.
For Poison Dart or any other Single Target Ranged power you might take I really like slotting Thunderstrike. It's cheap, easily available, and provides another +Ranged Defense bonus at 6 slots. There is also a +Accuracy bonus in there, not that you really need it but every bit helps.
[*]Lets Talk about Toggles next. I could get really carried away here about slotting and which sets should go in which toggle and so on but I want to try to keep this as simple as possible and instead explain the types of enhancements or sets you might want to look for when deciding what to put in. By the time you are in your 40's you will have 4 maybe 5 Toggle powers. Half of these require only minimal slotting if any at all.
Mask Presence is one which you can invest slots into and try to crank out as much defense as possible from it. If you have the extra slots go for it. Personally I think that the defense contribution form this is small enough that it's not worth the extra slots required for that smidge more defense. In addition you should already be really close to the soft cap anyway. Those slots can go elsewhere.
Indomitable Will is another. I really only recommend 2 slots at the most for this power. You'll want end reduction to try to bring the cost down but you can also slot for resistances as well. With 2 End Redux/Resistance IO's you can get the END cost close to the 0.12/s mark and still get respectable resistances so don't go overboard here.
Your 2 Remaining Toggles deserve a good bit of slotting, however. TT: Maneuvers can make great use of a full 6 slot defense Set as several of them have really nice set bonuses. TT:Leadership likewise can make wonderful use of Bonuses from the ToHit Buff sets.
[*]Passive Powers - These powers generally don't need much in the way of Slotting, but really provide some interesting opportunities when it comes to 2 and 3 peice set bonuses.
Take Foresight as an example which only requires 2 or 3 slots to provide it's full benefit. There's no End cost or recharge time so you can slot entirely for defense and be done with it. But why not use those slots for some extra bonuses. If you look through the various sets some of them have some pretty significant bonuses at just 2 peices. My preffered sets for Foresight are Serendipity and Luck of the Gambler for the same reason. +Regeneration. Serendipity gives a +5% bonus and Luck of the Gambler gives +10%. Obviously Luck of the Gambler is better but it is also more expensive. Just try to nab a Defense IO and a Defense/End or Recharge or somesuch from either of those sets. Anything that helps you heal faster is really good for a widow as you lack a self heal.
As for your other passive powers take a look at the set types they will take and see if there are any interesting bonuses you can take advantage of.[/list]
IO Sets -
For the most part you will want to look for sets which will provide set bonuses that will give you +Recharge, +Defense, +Regeneration, +Recovery, or +Damage. Luckily most sets give some or most of those but if I had to rank the most important ones to me I would put Recharge, Defense, and Regeneration as my top 3 priorities.
Some of the sets can be rather expensive, particularly the melee sets and most of the Defense sets. Usually this is the case because that particular set may include a unique enhancement which does something special. These are really nice, but you CAN live without them. if you have the Infamy to afford these ultra pricey sets and IO's by all means. But don't feel like you will be severely gimped if you don't.
Below I will list what I feel are good sets to invest in that for the most part wont break your budget. If you do have enough to afford the pricey sets and individual IO's you likely don't need my advise in what to slot anyway 
<ul type="square">[*]Mako's Bite - pricey as with all melee sets but not terribly so. It includes a nice +Ranged Defense bonus at 6 peices, and comes with a + damage proc. The downside is that the proc is Lethal Damage.
[*]Tough of Death - A bit more pricey than Mako's but otherwise nearly identical in their make ups. This one provides a +Defense to melee defense instead of Ranged, and has a Negative Energy proc instead of a Lethal one. The downside is that ToD sets max out at level 40 and wont have as big a bonus to them as a level 50 Mako would. Generally the reason this costs more is due to the Negative Energy proc which is resisted less.
[*]Crushing Impact - Pricey but less so than either Mako or ToD. It lacks a Damage proc component but that will mean this has a greater adjustment to accuracy. Not a big deal for you if you have TT:Leadership but can be something to consider. As far as set bonuses goes it has +Recovery, +Accuracy, +Psionic Resistance, and the big one - +5% recharge time. Really the only reason to pick this over ToD or Mako. It is the cheapest option of those 3 sets though.
[*]Thunderstrike - My single target ranged Set of choice. +Recovery, +Energy and Ranged Defenses, +Accuracy, and a minor increase to all movement speeds. It's easy to come by and cheap as well.
[*]Devastation - More expensive than Thunderstrike but has some REALLY nice bonuses. Well one really nice one anyway - The 2 piece set bonus of 12% regeneration. You have no self heal so this bonus cannot be underestimated. Other bonuses include +Damage, +Psionic Defense, and a modest boost to your Max HP. It also has a chance of Hold proc which is nice but can never be relied upon.
[*]Red Fortune - Also my defacto choice for a 6 slot defense power set. It's not cheap per se but tends to be less so than Luck of the Gambler, massively so at the full 6 piece set. It provides not only +Ranged Defense, but also +recharge. There's also a 2% damage increase in there as well.
[*]Luck of the Gambler - The full set bonuses on this set are fairly lack luster in my opinion, but the 2 piece bonus is sheer awesome in a bowl. As stated previously +10% regeneration is Huge for an AT without a Self heal Power. You can also walk away with a massive +7.5% global recharge from the Recharge IO here but that one is very expensive.
[*]Adjusted Targeting - The 6 piece Bonus for this set is pretty pointless for a Night Widow as it's Status Resistance, which we have covered handily with Indomitable Will. However, 3 of the 4 additional set bonuses plain rock. 2% Damage, 9% accuracy, and 5% global recharge. Good all around set at 5 slots.
[*]Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Also a nice set but the really attractive set bonus is the 6 piece bonus which is a straight +2.5% defense across all the positional Defenses. It's a popular way to go and would definatly be a viable option to slot for in TT:Leadership. The downside though is the Chance for Build Up proc. It's expensive and really is not very reliable. If you have the cash go for it, but if you are on a budget I would pick up Adjusted targeting before this.
[*]Multi-Strike - Another set I really like because the bonuses are solid and it's cheap and easy to aquire. The 5 and 6 piece bonuses are 1.88% defense to AoE and Melee, the other 3 are just minor resistances. But again it's cheap and provides nice solid enhancement bonuses to the power.
[*]Scirroco's Dervish - Expensive but worth it. the 2 peice bonus is HUGE again with a +10% regeneration. Additionally it provides +accuracy as well as +defense to AoE and Psionic. The +defense isn't a high priority for me but the +Regeneration is. I chose to 2 slot this set in spin and then slot the other 4 slots for Multi-Strike. Saves some cash and I get to take advantage of the best bonus from either set which is the +Regen.
[*]Positrons Blast - Targeted AoE damage which can be placed in a few powers we have access to but I wouldn't expect to see this set being useful in too many Widow Builds. However, if you do have a Targeted AoE power this is the set to go with. It provides a nice +Energy Damage proc, +6.25% Global Recharge, +Accuracy, and a small +Recovery. It's expensive on a budget though. [/list]
To sum up, try to plan ahead for which sets or enhancements you will want to place into powers. Pay special attention to set bonuses, especially the 2 piece bonuses as they can often be overlooked despite being astonishingly good.
Death can be Beautiful. A Night Widow Guide on a budget
Reserved for Power Pools.
Same reason. Natch.
Death can be Beautiful. A Night Widow Guide on a budget
Thanks so much for writing this.
I normally read through guides sections before I make any toon to avoid having to re spec too many times as I find what style of play I like for any given AT, but of course with VEATs there were no guides so I had to lvl my Crab on the fly and had to re spec 3 times before my Hover Crab of Death satisfied me. When I decided to make a widow I went back hoping for a decent guide and while there were a few pointers here and there there was no real guide.
I have only reached lvl 38 so far and aside from the lvl 24 re spec I am still experimenting, mostly with when to take powers as I , like you, have gone the melee route. I have furthur decided to refine the build to single target melee so I have put off Spin so far although I will probably re spec to get it a bit earlier. It was really the choice between Elude and Spin at 38 and my single target plan fits better with Elude.
Couple of comments.
Poison Dart vs Swipe; I started with Dart for all the reasons you mentioned, a ranged attack for pulling and runners is always good, but as I got more of my melee powers I found that the recharge time was putting a gap in my chain that got frustrating so at 24 I went to swipe. Like you I usually put 2 ACC in all attacks but with the CT: Offensive running two slots it was no problem running just one and using a recharge in that slot.
Placate; I wasn't going to take this, but since my SG runs Lib Farms on a pretty regular basis to either lvl alts past the painful 20s or mostly just for inf and drops, I passed the point where I planned on using my Vet re spec so I decided to try it out for a couple of lvls to see if it was worthwhile before I used my re spec. I am loving it. Mind link active, BuildUp>Slash>Lung>strike>Swipe>Swi pe>Placate repeat chain, boss dead. And yes two swipes is not a misprint, that's why I took swipe over Dart. I find I can get two swipes in just before Slash is up again even without Hasten, which by the way I am probably going to drop in favor of Combat Jumping.
Thanks again for the guide and am looking forward to the rest of it.
You forgot to add that CT
has sliding resists.
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Poison Dart vs Swipe; I started with Dart for all the reasons you mentioned, a ranged attack for pulling and runners is always good, but as I got more of my melee powers I found that the recharge time was putting a gap in my chain that got frustrating so at 24 I went to swipe.
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They both have the exact same recharge time.
Nice. I've PMed Ex to get this added to the guides section. Thanks.
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Poison Dart vs Swipe; I started with Dart for all the reasons you mentioned, a ranged attack for pulling and runners is always good, but as I got more of my melee powers I found that the recharge time was putting a gap in my chain that got frustrating so at 24 I went to swipe.
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They both have the exact same recharge time.
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yes I meant Cast time not recharge, very slight difference but enough to make my attack chain stop a sec. With Spin thrown into the equation it probably won't matter but it just seemed to work better for me.
Don't undervalue the -Regen component on Poison Dart.
While against minions, it works out to often-negligible damage, against very big opponents (EBs, AVs, GMs, Hamidon) it effectively scales with their hit points.
AVs, GMs and Hamidon may strongly resist the -Regen effect, but they also have such incredibly high HP that "hit points they don't get back" can become a significant (albeit unenhanceable) portion of the attack's damage
As I'm having difficulty viewing RedTomax, I'll speak in formulas only.
First, determine the enemy's HP regeneration rate in HP/sec
Second, determine the enemy's resistance to -Regen by level difference (reducing the power's base effectiveness) and by type/level (eg, Romulus resists 80% of the -Regen debuff)
Third, determine the effective Regen debuff that would apply (25% x effectiveness%)
Fourth, multiply the Regen debuff that would apply against their Regen rate (69.95 x 5%)
Fifth, multiply the number above by the duration (I think it was 10s, but I can't recall for sure...in which case it's like doing another 34.98 damage per attack against Romulus).
Note that Regen debuffs, at most, can only take ALL of an enemy's regeneration away. Against non-resisting enemies, this means that the regeneration debuff is no longer beneficial after the 4th perma-stacked debuff.
The general rule, though, is that the bigger the enemy is, the better Poison Dart performs (in the Romulus case, it's DPA is roughly 71.51 before slotting...though the Toxic and -Regen effects are not affected by any +damage you might have or slot)
Great job!
Great job Moonlit_Whisper. If my Night Widow on live were much higher I might have started a guide, but you saved me the effort. A good solid guide that anyone could use to make an effective Night Widow.
This guide gets the PS238 Student Seal of Approval.
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You can also walk away with a massive +7.5% global recharge from the Recharge IO here but that one is very expensive.
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I think 'very expensive' is a massive understatement like comparing a mile to a light year.
Triumphant Defenders Forever
Psylenz FF/Psi, ArticQuark Storm/Rad, Symon BarSisyphus Bots/psn, Max VanSydow Thugs/Dk, Cyclone Symon Bots/stm, Blue Loki Ice/Cd, Widow 46526
HelinCarnate:OMG it is so terrible. I have the option to take 3 more powers but no additional slots. Boo F'ing hoo.
excellent guide, almost exactly how I feel about all the powers, especialy all the ones which became "I'd really like this power but theres no way I'd drop anything I've got to grab it" my NWs been 50 for a while now and I'm slowly working on getting her slotted with all the sets I want (which includes 16 purp IOs...) and have experimented with several builds to get her to the point she's at now and after all that you've hit the nail pretty much on the head. Post up your build, I'm curious now to see how close it is to mine
Legion of Valor / Fallen legion
Victory
Bumping to the top for an excellent NW guide. 
It looks like your numbers are a bit old. Activation times on Widow powers were changed a while ago, and I don't think City of Data has kept up. Mid's does a better job. I believe these are the current numbers.
Swipe, 0.83
Strike, 1.18
Follow Up, 1
Slash, 1.33
P.S. A purpled Night Widow is very nice. I solo'd a Rikti Pylon and took out a level 53 spawn in the RWZ containing 3 bosses (without Inspiration). But it's not TOO overpowered, as a similar level 54 spawn beat me.
Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.
I've moved on to Diablo 3, TopDoc-1304
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It looks like your numbers are a bit old. Activation times on Widow powers were changed a while ago, and I don't think City of Data has kept up. Mid's does a better job. I believe these are the current numbers.
Swipe, 0.83
Strike, 1.18
Follow Up, 1
Slash, 1.33
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I'll double check my numbers but most of them I took in game using the powers details window, hence the reason it took me more than 2 hours to write up the first post.
Thank you for the kind words everyone, and also the criticism's. There is always room for improvements, and I am far from perfect so I would imagine there are more than a few mistakes in there. If you see anymore please let me know and I will do my best to verify and change those.
Also I will be trying to re organize it a bit to make it easier to read.
Thanks again.
Death can be Beautiful. A Night Widow Guide on a budget
Don't think I missed it, no mention of the steadfast protection res/3% def, a really cool IO for any VEAT.
Mine is currently 34 and having a blast with it. The Cap SF with me, a fortunata and 2 non exemped so unbranched soldiers was a thing of great beauty and as easy as any SF I've ever done.
It's true. This game is NOT rocket surgery. - BillZBubba
I'm late to comment, but wanted to just throw out a thanks for this. I've been very slowly leveling my widow, and am so cautious building her because I want to minimize respec burns to get things right. Having some commentary on the powers really helps me map out in my mind where I want to take my character.
RagManX
"if the market were religion Fulmens would be Moses and you'd be L. Ron Hubbard. " --Nethergoat to eryq2
The economy is not broken. The players are
How important is TT:Leadership?
I didnt take it on my Fort but my widow is a different animal...not sure.
http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/n...stumes%202011/
Over the past few months I have looked long and hard for guides pertaining to Night Widows. Gameboy1234 was the first one to take the plunge and delve into this wonderful branch of the SoA Archetype but we have not really seen anything being put out there since. I've finally experimented, respec'd, and replayed my widow enough that I hope I can contribute some information of my own. Hopefully the lessons I have learned through my mistakes and haphazard experimentation can help others make informed decisions.
I want to preface this by saying that a great deal of what I know about the Night Widow today had it's beginning here on these forums, and from the advise given by many other players. Further, the majority of what I write here is my own opinion and should never be taken as the final word. I strongly recommend individual experimentation to find out what works best for you and your own play style. And please remember this is a game and we are all here to have fun
I'd also like to say that this guide is aimed more towards the newer player who has only just made their first Epic Archetype and probably does not have a huge account of Infamy laying around to dig from. Obviously if you have the infamy you can do a lot more than is written down here, but I'd like to show that one does not have to have near limitless resources to make this Archetype Viable.
Given that VEAT's in particular have a mandatory respec at 24 which opens up a whole new branch of powers depending on your choice I am going to write this with the assumption that you have made it to 24 and are able to choose all of the Night Widow powers from the get go. So without further blabing on my part lets begin with Widow and Night Widow Training.
Level 1 - Poison Dart
Average Damage @ 50: 72.29
Recharge Time: 4.00 s
Endurance Cost: 5.20
Activation Time: 1.50 s
Poison Dart is a power that you will either love or hate. The general trend lately is to stick primarily if not exclusively to melee attacks over Ranged attacks. I fall into the category of favoring the melee attacks as well, however, I wouldn't give up Poison Dart for the world.
It can be used for any number of things from filling an attack chain up if you have some dead time to pulling, but where it really shines is taking down runners. It hits pretty decently for a level 1 power, and recharges very quickly. More often than not by the time something is running away from me, I can finish them off with a single shot of poison dart. I absolutely love it. Additionally it imposes a penalty to regeneration and a Toxic Damage over Time component.
That said, if you really don't have room for a Ranged power (and Widow Builds are very tight in most cases) I wouldn't sweat it too much if you decided to drop this one.
Level 1 - Swipe
Average Damage @ 50: 57.83
Recharge Time: 4.00 s
Endurance Cost: 3.21
Activation Time: 0.67 s
Swipe is a great single target attack. It's fast, it recharges just as fast and hits pretty decently. It follows the melee focus and is a really good solid attack. If you are looking to create a machine gun style attack chain then this probably should be a part of it.
Personally, though, I respec'd out of it at 24. The reason was that with the addition of Mental Training and recharge enhancements in other harder hitting attacks I was able to create a near seemless attack chain without this power anyway. It was wonderful leveling up to 24 on but I was looking for anything I could trim out of my build once I hit my 20's. If you find yourself in the same situation I can say I have not since regret my choice to drop this power.
Level 1 - Mental Blast
Average Damage @ level 50: 58.59 psi
Activation: 1.67 s
Recharge: 4.00 s
Endurance: 5.20
-30% recharge on target
If you want to dabble in ranged powers, or even make a ranged variant of a Night Widow then Mental Blast is an option. Activation time, recharge and endurance are all comparable to Poison Dart. It has a recharge rate reduction of 30% but lacks the regeneration penalty or DoT Component of Poison Dart.
You could use it in place of Poison Dart if you wanted to mix in some Psionic damage over Lethal/Toxic. However, it's average damage is a little lower. The Trade off is that most things do not have a significant resistance to Psionic damage in a world where Lethal resistance is pretty commonplace.
My advise - If you want one ranged attack power like I do take Poison Dart or Mental Blast but not both. Choose one and go with it as each one has it's upside and downside.
Level 2 - Strike
Average Damage @ lvl 50: 111.66 lethal
Activation: 1.67
Recharge: 8.00
Endurance: 4.49
Placate/Hide: + 64.06 lethal
Strike is the big brother of Swipe. It has roughly the same activation time but double the recharge and as you would expect hits quite a bit harder. With Mental Training and some +recharge component from enhancements you can get this recharge down enough that you will very seldom find yourself waiting for it. As with all Widow Claw attacks it comes complete with a -20% run speed, and recharge speed as well as the DoT.
Unless you are trying for a Ranged only build I cannot imagine any reason you would not take this power. It's a cornerstone of nearly any attack chain you might come up with.
Level 6 - Dart Burst
Average Damage @ lvl 50: 60.60 Lethal (50 ft cone, 30 deg. arc, 10 targets max)
Activation: 2.00s
Recharge: 8.00s
Endurance: 8.53
Dart Burst is another Ranged power so if you want to go that way you may want to look more into this. However, as tight as this build is I can't see any justification for more than one ranged attack power. Poison Dart and Mental Blast both win over this one primarily for the activation time, Recharge time and Endurance cost which are all higher than either of Mental Blast or Poison Dart.
I can see where it might come in useful, and for adding in some AE to a build fairly light in that department maybe it's an option. But I think Spin does a better job - More on Spin later.
Level 8 - Follow Up and Build Up
Follow Up
Average Damage @ lvl 50: 50.72
Activation: 0.67s
Recharge: 12.00
Endurance: 10.19
Self Buff: +10 To-Hit and +30% Damage for * 20 seconds
Build Up
Activation: 0.73 s
Recharge: 1m 30 s
Endurance: 5.20
+20% To Hit for 10s
+80% Damage for 10s
This is the subject of much debate. Which is better? Well there really is no concrete answer here. What I can say is that which one you should take will depend entirely on what type of play you enjoy more. Note that you cannot choose both. When you pick one the other will be locked out for you.
Do you really like seeing big big crits coming out of Mask Presence? If you said yes then Build Up is probably the choice for you. Honestly few things are as satisfying as using Build up then Spin in the middle of a group of baddies.
Are you the type of person who likes seeing consistant, sustainable damage rather than spotty burst damage? if this is more your style then Follow up is probably the better choice for you.
Build Up really only has it's place in putting a huge hurt on something with a crit out of Mask Presence. It really only will allow you a few attacks before it wears off but those attacks are guaranteed to hurt. Then you have to wait for it to recharge before you can use it again.
Follow up is different. It's actually a part of your attack chain which has a side benefit of increaseing the damage and accuracy of all attacks made after it for 20 seconds. With some recharge you can even stack this bonus for a few seconds. The end result will be a semi permanent increase to your entire attack chain. The numbers you see with Follow up will never equal those of Build Up, but Follow up almost never wears off. The only downside is that it requires a successful to hit check to provide it's bonuses.
I personally went the Follow Up route but pick whichever one suits you better.
Level 12 - Spin
Average Damage @ lvl 50: 95.68 lethal, PBAoE 8 ft. radius 10 targets max
Activation: 2.50s
Recharge: 14.00s
Endurance: 16.85
Hide/Placate: 50% chance of +48.96 lethal
Spin is a shining Jewel. Take it, love it, use it and be filled with glee! It's a bit endurance heavy but this is in my opinion a Night Widows best form of AE damage. It's a 360 degree damage field that can crit from Hide, incurs a -recharge and - run speed as well as a DoT on anything it hits. The fact that it looks cool doesn't hurt much either.
The only real hard part about spin is deciding when to take it. Widows have the choice of 3 powers available from the 2 Primary Branches at level 12. I put off taking this until 28 because I was so focused on many of the powers from the Widow Secondary set. In Hindsight I would have liked to have taken this sooner, but it is really difficult for me to decide where I should have fit it in. Regardless this is another power I cannot imagine anyone not taking.
Level 12 - Lunge
Average Damage @ lvl 50: 123.68 lethal
Activation: 0.83s
Recharge: 12.00s
Endurance: 9.48
Hide/Placate: +67.62 lethal
Lunge is another step up from Strike and is again a power which has a place in every attack chain. It's pure DPS simple as that. While it doesn't have any bells and whistles aside from the -Recharge, -Spd, and DoT of all the Widows claw attacks, it's hard to argue with the pure damage this can pump out. Another must have power.
Level 12 - Smoke Grenade
Activation: 1.37s
Recharge: 15s
Endurance: 7.80
Target Debuff: -90 ft perception and -3.75 To-Hit for 1 minute. AoE, 35 ft radius (16 targets max)
Smoke Grenade is a power that I was really excited about when I was leveling up. I hated fighting Night Widows primarily because of this power. However, when I finally got it I was really underwhelmed. It's - to hit debuff is really very minor. The Reduction in perception though is truly astounding.
I decided to give it a second chance and after having played around with it a lot I have decided that I do like this power afterall. I think it is very disposable so if you need to trim something off this is a good place to start but for utility it can be really handy.
I have found that it is really great when you have more than 1 large pack of enemies in a room and you only want to deal with 1 at a time. You can blind one and pull the other without fear. You can use it to blind patrols so they walk right on by the commotion of you killing off his friends. It can even allow you to grab a glowie literally right under the nose of an enemy.
If you want this power for the - To hit Debuff, you are going to be disappointed. If you want it to take advantage of the -perception then you will be a happy camper.
Level 18 - Slash
Average Damage @ lvl 50: 155.45 lethal
Activation: 1.17s
Recharge: 16.00s
Endurance: 14.2
Slash is the big bad heavy hitter of the Night Widow Build. If you are facing a single target, this is the attack to lead off with out of Hide. Use Build Up before it if you have it. It hits and it hits hard. When I first got this power I was dropping Minion to 20% HP with a crit slash alone. The animation is of a one two punch with a long saber like claw, which personally I don't care for, that splits the overall damage in half. Half on the first punch, half on the second.
Again get this, and don't look back.
Level 18- Confront
Activation: 1.67
Recharge: 3.00s
Target Debuff: Mag 4 taunt for 26.25s.
Ok It's a taunt. If you plan on tanking for a team as your primary role then maybe this has a place for you. Otherwise, I cannot find any reason to include this in a Night Widow Build. Normally I try to say something good about a power even if I don't like it myself, but for Confront I can't come up with anything aside from using it to save a fragile team mate who has drawn too much aggro from one mob.
Level 26 - Eviscerate
Average Damage @ lvl 50:129.06 5ft cone, 90 Degree Arc
Activation: 2.33 s
Recharge: 12.00 s
Endurance: 13.52
Hide/Placate: 50% chance +77.28 lethal
Eviscerate is another AoE damage attack and is probably the most recognizable attack in the powerset. It's the Jumping Spin that Blood Widows do and yes it does look cool. It also hits really hard.
I have this in my build but it's cone is pretty hard to work with so I wouldn't count on it as a full fledged AE attack. It will commonly hit multiple targets but only ones that are very close together. I also had a very very hard time fitting this in before level 41. You might put a higher priority on it and get it sooner, you might decide to leave it out entirely.
The choice is yours. In either case you can build a continuous attack chain without it, but the extra damage this brings to the table can make it worthwhile.
Level 32 - Psychic Scream
Average Damage @ lvl 50: 67.73 psi, Cone 60 ft, 30 degree arc (10 targets max)
Activation: 2.67 s
Recharge: 16.00 s
Endurance: 7.07
Target Debuff: -50% Recharge on target for 10 seconds
Another Ranged Power, and an AoE as well. I'd like to take this power. I really would. It's cool looking, it has a wonderful arc which can be modified by range enhancements, and it's Psychic damage. However, I just cannot find room for more than 1 ranged power in my build. The other downside is that this has a rather long activation time. I'd rather have Poison Dart or Mental Blast over this as my single Ranged power choice. But if I could find a way to fit this in I would.
Next we'll go over the many wonderful powers in the Widow and Night Widow Teamwork branches.
Level 1 - Combat Training: Defensive
+7.5 def to melee
Sliding Resists.
This is your primary form of Defense at level 1. It's passive so it costs you no END and you don't ever have to worry about it. Just slot it and forget about it. There's no reason ever to skip this power. You only need to slot it very minimally to get the full benefit of this power and it's a hefty Buff to boot.
Additionally it provides Sliding resists, which means that the lower you HP goes the greater the resistance buff it provides.
Level 2 - Combat Training: Offensive
Buff on self: +10% acc, +33% resistance debuff to hit
This is another Passive power which serves to increase your Accuracy for all of your powers. This power really doesn't get as much credit as it deserves. This power alone is responsible for making a Night Widow so powerful in the early levels in my opinion. Heck all SoA's across the board actually since both Soldiers and Widows get access to this.
I am the type of player who HATES to miss. You can't do damage if you don't hit what you are swinging at. I always slot 2 accuracies in powers before anything else on all of my characters. The SoA is the only exception to this because of CT Offensive. Slot this power for 2 Accuracies and you can get away with zero to one accuracy in all of your other powers which will allow you to slot it for damage. You hit harder without sacrificing accuracy.
Now the downside. It's not as effective as Tactical Training Leadership as +To Hit has a bigger impact on the to Hit equation than +accuracy does. However you cannot take Leadership until level 20. In the meantime use Offensive. Personally Offensive served me well until level 35 when I respec'd into Leadership.
Bottom line: Later in the game you will want to drop this in favor of Leadership but until that time this is a wonderful substitute that doesn't cost any END. (Leadership is a toggle and therefore uses END).
Tactical Training: Maneuvers
Activation: .50 s
Recharge: 15.00 s
Endurance: 0.21 /s
PBAoE Buff: +5 def to all, AoE 80 ft.
This is your first Toggle skill and will give you your first bit of Ranged defense also. It would be a significant power even if that is all it did but it buffs your whole team's defense to all as well. It's fairly cheap on the END cost so run it without too much worry. This is one of several skills which make an SoA really shine in team play.
Some people skip this power and there is logic in the explanations I have seen for doing so but for all the benefits this power provides I cannot imagine building a Night Widow without it.
Level 10 - Indomitable Will
Activation: 0.75s
Recharge: 4.00 s
Endurance: 0.21 /s
This is a power that you will never see working. But that's the beauty of it. It's a Night Widows Status protection power and boy does it protect you from just about anything and everything out there. Ever since acquiring this power I have not been held, Stunned, Confused, Immobilized, Slept, or feared by anything I have encountered PvE. heck I have not even seen a single Knockback/down while this toggle is active.
You'll forget it's running half the time but heaven help you if you forget to turn it on. You'll notice an immediate and drastic difference.
GET IT! ASAP! I'd say more but really that's all there is to it. Just get it.
Level 16 Tactical Training: Assault
Activation: 0.5 s
Recharge: 15.00 s
Endurance: 0.21 /s
Self Buff: AoE, +15% damage, resistance to Taunt and Placate
This is a stright increase to all Damage across the board. It's the same end cost as all your other toggles and the Damage buff cannot be modified with enhancements. It's the type of power you leave at one slot, put an end reduction in it and forget about.
Try as I might I can't fit this in my build early on. I always end up planning for it in the late 30's and 40's. Is it a whorthwile power? is an extra 15% damage worthwhile? Thought so.
Is it skippable? I'd say yes. I'd prefer not to but if it comes down to it I'd say you can get away with it.
Level 20 - Tactical Training: leadership
Activation: 1.50 s
Recharge: 15.00 s
Endurance: 0.21 /s
PBAoE Buff: +10 To-Hit, AoE 80 ft; +51.90% resistance to perception, +69.20 ft. to perception, +60.55 resistance to confuse and terrorize, +5.19 protection to confuse and terrorize
When you can make the switch to this from CT:Offensive without worrying about the END cost of the toggle respec into this. It's preferable you do it when you have some slots to put into Leadership from the get go but not a necessity.
It's a bigger bang for your buck than CT:Offensive but it's also a power you should grow into. When should you make the switch? That depends entirely on your own build and slots. Just use your END consumption as a guideline to help you decide when you can make the switch.
Level 20 - Mask Presence
Activation: 0.75s
Recharge: 20.00s
Endurance: 0.21 end/s
Self Buff: +2.50 def all; +5.0 def to all when hidden, +40 ft to stealth radius to self.
This is the Night Widow version of stalker's Hide. It's not as good as Hide in that if you get really close to an enemy they will still see you, however, with some practice you can get to a point where you can use it with almost impunity. For instance, PvE perception is funky in that you can stand behind an enemy for long periods of time without them noticing you there even if you are inside their perception radius.
There are exceptions to this of course and you will learn what those exceptions are pretty quickly. But in all a very useful tool. In addition it grants us the ability to crit which cannot be under estimated. Again, get this power early.
Level 22 - Foresight
Defense: +7.5% defense to AoE, Ranged, Melee
Self Buff: +20 resistance to psi
Mez Resistance: +25% resistance to stun, sleep, immobilize, hold, terrorize, confuse
Debuff Resistance: +17.30% resistance to defense debuff
sliding resists
Another Passive skill, more status protection, and Defense. But wait there's more! This also has sliding resistances! Basically this means that the lower your HP gets the greater the amount of resistance this power will impart to you.
If there is a downside to this power I don't know what it is. I suppose one might say overkill in the defense/status protection department but in the world of CoX I say there is no such thing.
Minimal slotting required. I went with 2 slots and called it good. Get this power and get it early. You'll be happy you did.
Level 22 - Mental Training
Self Buff: +20% Recharge, +35(?%) to run speed, +13.65 (%?) to fly speed
Protection Resistance: +40% to run, recharge and fly speed resistance.
If you are familiar with SR's Quickness power then this one wont be anything new to you. It passive, it's yummy goodness. There's nothing bad that can be said about this power.
Night Widow Secondary Branches have quite a few must have powers. They are all just THAT good. Mental Training is one of these. If you do not take this power I truly pity the time you will spend in game.
Level 26 - Mind Link
Activation: 3.67s
Recharge: 240s
Endurance: 10.2
Click AoE, 35 ft radius. This is important. This is a click buff, not a toggle. +5 To-Hit for 1m 30s. +30 resistance to psi damage for 1m 30s. +10 defense to all.
Night Widow Mind Link is better than Fortunata Mind Link solely because of recharge times. This is important because one of your goals as a Night Widow is to get this power as close to permanent as you can. For a Fortunata this task is many degrees of difficulty harder if not impossible. As a Night Widow it's relatively easy, however.
This is another Must have power and the reason is that this gem will take you to the Defense soft cap when combined with the +Defense powers described earlier in this guide. It will get you there with very very minimal effort in the way of IO sets or slots and so on.
The trick is figuring out how to slot this as it wont take +Recharge enhancements as is. You sort of have to "trick" the system. It will take any IO that has recharge as a component of the enhancement. Likewise with Hami-O's. The accepted method is to slot in 1 Defense/recharge IO from each of the Defense sets and then if you want to bring the recharge down further you can slot in another IO from one of the sets like Def/End/Recharge or some such.
Note: Currently you CAN slot in the +recharge IO from the Adjusted Targeting Set. This single IO will likely grant you the greatest reduction to the recharge time of Mind Link over any other that you could slot here.
Level 28 - Placate
Activation: 1.50 s
Recharge: 60 s
Mag 4 Placate on target for 17.50s
It's Placate. if you are playing a SoA you probably know what this is, but just in case - Placate when used on an enemy will momentarily place you back into stealth and will de aggro you from said enemy. This will allow you to get in another crit.
More crits = More damage = Good.
So why didn't I take this in my build? No room. Simple as that. If you can fit it in more power to ya.
Level 35 - Tactical Training: Vengeance
Activation: 1.17 s
Recharge: 300 s
AoE 100 ft
+25% defense to all for 2m
+35 To Hit for 2m
+35% to damage
+10 terror and repel protection
+69.2 resistance to Terror, Stun, Sleep, Immobilize, Hold, Confuse, Taunt, Placate for 2 minutes.
+100 kockup and kockback protection for 2 minutes.
Lotsa Buffs. Lotsa Useful stuff in there. The bad part? One of your team mates has to face plant before you can use it.
It's situational but when that situation comes up it's an awesome power. I wouldn't slot it beyond it's initial one slot and then I would just do a recharge enhancement and call it good there. I also planned this for my 49 power as a result. It's a great power, but too situational to justify taking it before something else.
Level 38 - Elude
Activation: 2.00 s
Recharge: 16 m 10s
Endurance: 2.60
Self Buff: (all for 3 minutes) +60% melee, ranged and AoE defense. +100 (%?) recovery, +200 (%?) Jump height, +34.60% defense resistance.
Crash: -100 Endurance, -10000% Recovery for 20 seconds
Elude is your big bad buff at 38. It works just as advertised. You activate this and you become nearly untouchable. Only in the most lucky instances will anything hit you PvE. It also lasts quite a long time at 3 minutes.
It's not essential though and this is why - You are already at the soft cap for defense by this time. Certain enemies can still hit you through the soft cap and even worse there are enemies out there that can create a cascade effect with defense debuffs which will be a nightmare for you. However, these are not commonplace situations.
That said I find Elude is worth taking for a couple reasons, not all of which might be obvious at first glance.
First, Elude provides a hefty endurance recovery increase. Night Widows can really burn through endurance in longer fights due to all the Toggles we run and moderatly hefty end costs on our attacks. When you are starting to flag hit Elude and you can continue to wail away at that ArchVillain or Elite Boss.
Second, there are times when as I mentioned above your defenses can be compromised. Elude can really save your rear end if you find yourself in that situation. Your survivability depends on your defense. Without it you will go down pretty fast.
The downside is the crash. When you do crash all your toggles will shut off as well leaving you literally defenseless. So make sure you are safe or can get to a safe place before the crash happens.
Death can be Beautiful. A Night Widow Guide on a budget