Whirlwind as Damage mitigation for a scrapper...
The best use Ive seen for Whirlwind is in PvP, where it cancels out all the activation animations of powers and ensures that your character is never rooted in place.
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The best use Ive seen for Whirlwind is in PvP, where it cancels out all the activation animations of powers and ensures that your character is never rooted in place.
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Avoiding rooting is probably very useful in PvP, and may well be useful in PvE too. However I think that it delays actions until every full whirlwind cycle. The other issue is that unless you keep moving you end up losing endurance really quickly. I bet tanks will hate it.
I also suspect that non spines scrappers might have problems with it due to the nasty flinging enemies around and therefore getting them out of melee range, however as half of my attacks are ranged it doesn't matter so much.
Also as an anti stalker measure, I don't think it will be that effective as the knockup range is really close, so enemies attacking you in melee can be out of knockup range.
This is my 3rd attempt at turning Unthing into a Taz style scrapper ( 1st one live in i4, 2nd in test with I5 ). I am seriously hoping it works, even if it may well [censored] all my teammates off. If not then I still have 1 earned respecs and 2 yet to earn.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
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This is my 3rd attempt at turning Unthing into a Taz style scrapper ( 1st one live in i4, 2nd in test with I5 ). I am seriously hoping it works, even if it may well [censored] all my teammates off. If not then I still have 1 earned respecs and 2 yet to earn.
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Lob a PM to The_Jersey
i gave it a whirl for a half day running perma whirlwind, i found that as it bounced people so high into the air that my dps was really low as i only got a chance to hit them once every bounce, so while i wasnt getting hit much i wasnt hitting much either.
I tried it when they first click powered IH as the endurance costs were similar. but i found with that additional cost per baddy my endurance really went thru the floor fast.
certainly its a cool looking idea but i couldnt get it working either.
minus points i really found:
the whirl radius was too small
the end use per hit was too much
it seemed to effect my jumping rather badly so i couldnt manouver as well as before.
vastly lowered dps
@ExtraGonk
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i gave it a whirl for a half day running perma whirlwind, i found that as it bounced people so high into the air that my dps was really low as i only got a chance to hit them once every bounce, so while i wasnt getting hit much i wasnt hitting much either.
I tried it when they first click powered IH as the endurance costs were similar. but i found with that additional cost per baddy my endurance really went thru the floor fast.
certainly its a cool looking idea but i couldnt get it working either.
minus points i really found:
the whirl radius was too small
the end use per hit was too much
it seemed to effect my jumping rather badly so i couldnt manouver as well as before.
vastly lowered dps
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For the reasons you said perma is over the top.
They have reduced the end per second and per hit so that it is more reasonable. However I wouldn't suggest it unless you have stamina and quick recovery or perhaps conserve power.
I found that with 3 knockbacks and 3 end reds, I can keep endurance usage heavy ( as opposed to unmanageable ) by moving around. DPS is reduced, but with spines as my secondary I have 2 good ranged attacks so it isn't as badly reduced as it could be. The knockbacks are important as the end cost is per fling and knockback delays the time until you next get the end cost.
It works to counter groups who are slightly too large for sustained dps and gives you another tactical choice. As far as the radius is concerned you have to move around a lot. Luckily as you are never rooted with whirlwind it isn't as much of a probably as it could be. This is probably the best tactics anyway as the enemies take a while to get up after landing, so they don't attack you for a while.
Also because it reduces the DPS you are receiving it works as a oh I'm going to die power if you are regen.
I quite like it as a situational power.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
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i gave it a whirl for a half day running perma whirlwind, i found that as it bounced people so high into the air that my dps was really low as i only got a chance to hit them once every bounce, so while i wasnt getting hit much i wasnt hitting much either.
I tried it when they first click powered IH as the endurance costs were similar. but i found with that additional cost per baddy my endurance really went thru the floor fast.
certainly its a cool looking idea but i couldnt get it working either.
minus points i really found:
the whirl radius was too small
the end use per hit was too much
it seemed to effect my jumping rather badly so i couldnt manouver as well as before.
vastly lowered dps
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For the reasons you said perma is over the top.
They have reduced the end per second and per hit so that it is more reasonable. However I wouldn't suggest it unless you have stamina and quick recovery or perhaps conserve power.
I found that with 3 knockbacks and 3 end reds, I can keep endurance usage heavy ( as opposed to unmanageable ) by moving around. DPS is reduced, but with spines as my primary I have 2 good ranged attacks so it isn't as badly reduced as it could be. The knockbacks are important as the end cost is per fling and knockback delays the time until you next get the end cost.
It works to counter groups who are slightly too large for sustained dps and gives you another tactical choice. As far as the radius is concerned you have to move around a lot. Luckily as you are never rooted with whirlwind it isn't as much of a probably as it could be. This is probably the best tactics anyway as the enemies take a while to get up after landing, so they don't attack you for a while.
Also because it reduces the DPS you are receiving it works as a oh I'm going to die power if you are regen.
I quite like it as a situational power.
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I recently respecced to include whirlwind myself, in part to try to muster some more interest in my otherwise retired scrapper.
Whilst I would question its usefulness while soloing, as you wouldn't generally be facing sufficient enemies to warrant its use, it is certainly useful in teams as an opener - run through the enemy, throwing them up in the air, whilst your teammates start laying into the mob. By the time you're almost out of enduance, the enemy mob is reduced in size and much less of a threat to anyone. I suppose dark melee has the advantage here that Dark Consumption can then bring you pretty much back to full endurance so you can help mop up the rest of the group.
Oh, and it can be used with fly as well - just remember to start whirlwind first, otherwise the animation doesn't start!
@Hakeswell
Union Ilservian, Evinlea
Defiant Expeditor, Hakeswell
Arc: 70119 Hellion Initiation
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I also suspect that non spines scrappers might have problems with it due to the nasty flinging enemies around and therefore getting them out of melee range
[/ QUOTE ]Last time I used it it was knockup, not knockback.
I can testify it works pretty well, especially on a smallish team that has bitten a bit more than it can chew 
And hey, no retiring the scrapper!
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I also suspect that non spines scrappers might have problems with it due to the nasty flinging enemies around and therefore getting them out of melee range
[/ QUOTE ]Last time I used it it was knockup, not knockback.
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Yes. But knockup is enough to get them out of melee range. Especially as if you want it use it for any length of time ( due to the end cost ) you need to have knockback enhancements in it. Knockback enhancements are 66% each so with 3 you get + 200% knockup. For +1 or +2 minions this is loads, about 2 to 4 times the height of Whirlwind.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
I tried a strange build out last night for my spines/regen scrapper, taking whirlwind as a PvE damage mitigation power. It seemed to work reasonably well in an unconventional way but seemed to slow my attacks done, has anyone else tried this?
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.