SMALL DB slotting question


Eldorado

 

Posted

I've been staring at Mid's Hero Planner (old and NEW versions) for a couple of days now, as I respec my 50th DB/WP scrapper. Overall I'm pretty happy with the new build on paper, but I'm in a quandary as I try to six-slot two powers for the IO set defense bonuses. I've decided which SETS I want -- one Mako's Bite set, one Touch of Death set -- but not the "where":

Ablating Strike -- level 50 Mako's Bite, or level 40 Touch of Death? I recall slotting this looong ago for extra recharge since it's used in three combos, so the extra recharge from Mako's wouldn't hurt -- ToD has a 43.43% recharge bonus versus Mako's 66.25%. (And like many here, I mostly spam Attack Vitals and Sweep, but every once in a while I'll use the other two, like when I exemp down or miss another combo.) Since it IS in three combos (and leads off Attack Vitals) the extra accuracy from Mako's WOULD be nice -- Mako's has a 66.25% bonus versus ToD's 43.43% in accuracy as well!

Or maybe I should put the ToD here, since it's a lower base damage attack than Vengeful Slice, so when I miss it's missing with less damage?

Vengeful Slice -- here's where the other of the two sets goes. It's the heavier hitter of the two attacks, so perhaps the slight extra damage from ToD's set bonus would pay off here. Until or unless I miss more often because the accuracy bonus is lower...when I was fighting level 52 and 53 mobs, accuracy wasn't that big a deal for me, but with 54's nowadays, and their accuracy debuffs? Hmmmm.... /e headdesk

I'M thinking "six of one, half dozen of the other." Ideas, suggestions, or other obvious pro/con points that I missed would be welcome!


"But it wasn't anything some purples and oranges and lots of screaming in fear couldn't handle." -- Werner

30 level 50's: 12 scrappers, 7 other random melee types, 11 blaster/blapper/support squishies, two accounts, and a TON of altitis since 4/28/04

 

Posted

Wow -- this has been here since yesterday afternoon and there's NO replies/LOL's/opinions yet?

I think I'll take this to mean that my original "six, half dozen" assessment was right. Maybe I should just flip a coin?


"But it wasn't anything some purples and oranges and lots of screaming in fear couldn't handle." -- Werner

30 level 50's: 12 scrappers, 7 other random melee types, 11 blaster/blapper/support squishies, two accounts, and a TON of altitis since 4/28/04

 

Posted

5 crushing impacts (no dam/end) and an achille's heal proc


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by LordPig View Post
5 crushing impacts (no dam/end) and an achille's heal proc
Thanks, LordPig --that's definitely "outside the box" thinking on this one! You're obviously talking about putting those into Ablating Strike, since Vengeful Slice won't take debuff IO's?

While that would get me 2.75% more accuracy and recharge than Mako's, as well as global acc and rech bonuses as well....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eldorado View Post
...I'm in a quandary as I try to six-slot two powers for the IO set defense bonuses.
...I'm really counting on the 3.75% defense bonus (melee or ranged) I'd be getting from one of those two six-slotted sets!


"But it wasn't anything some purples and oranges and lots of screaming in fear couldn't handle." -- Werner

30 level 50's: 12 scrappers, 7 other random melee types, 11 blaster/blapper/support squishies, two accounts, and a TON of altitis since 4/28/04

 

Posted

Actually, my first thought is to ask why you are slotting sets that give primarily positional defense on a typed defense secondary. A good slotting for Abalating Strike is, as stated above, 5 Crushing Impacts + an Achiles Heel proc (if you want recharge), or 4 Kinetic Combats/Smashing Haymaker + whatever you need to get the damage, accuracy and recharge up to satisfactory levels (if you want defense).

Assuming you use Blinding Feint > Attack Vitals combo a lot, the set with the higher recharge should go in Vengeful Strike since it has a higher recharge requirement (I don't have the exact numbers on hand, but someone will probably show up with them soon) in order to run the chain gapless. That said, Vengeful Strike is really a very poor attack due to the long animation, so if you mix up your attacks and running a gapless ST attack chain isn't all that important, I would put the set with higher recharge in Abalating Strike.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Laevateinn View Post
Actually, my first thought is to ask why you are slotting sets that give primarily positional defense on a typed defense secondary.
Well, I'M certainly glad that you asked! And the short answer is either "I'm a sleep-deprived idiot" or "so far, all of my experience with going back and respeccing and adding defense to builds has been with 'positional.'" Or maybe it's a combination thereof....

I'd been pretty happy with "right around" 20% positional melee/ranged/AoE, but just a little playing with Mid's and Crushing Impacts just now got me to about 27% energy/negative, 30% fire/cold, and 31% smashing/lethal! (Psi stayed right about 20%, so I can't complain.) On the other hand, with my -current- slotting, the maxes-at-35th Crushing Impacts left me with less-than-desirable acc/damage/end/recharge numbers for my attacks, so I need to play with those slots a little more.... But it seems that this has DEFINITELY steered me in the right direction, so thank you!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Laevateinn View Post
Assuming you use Blinding Feint > Attack Vitals combo a lot, the set with the higher recharge should go in Vengeful Strike since it has a higher recharge requirement (I don't have the exact numbers on hand, but someone will probably show up with them soon) in order to run the chain gapless. That said, Vengeful Strike is really a very poor attack due to the long animation, so if you mix up your attacks and running a gapless ST attack chain isn't all that important, I would put the set with higher recharge in Abalating Strike.
Ablating Strike shows a 6 second (base) recharge and 1.03 sec "cast time"; Vengeful Slice is listed as 8 seconds (base) recharge and 2.43 sec animation time. On the other hand, I usually tend to alternate Attack Vitals and Sweep, so I'd been -thinking- I'd "put the set with higher recharge in Abalating Strike." That's what my Mid's file is saved as, but I was asking myself "is this a GOOD idea? I know - I'll ask the forum!"

And right now I'm very glad I did -- thanks again!


"But it wasn't anything some purples and oranges and lots of screaming in fear couldn't handle." -- Werner

30 level 50's: 12 scrappers, 7 other random melee types, 11 blaster/blapper/support squishies, two accounts, and a TON of altitis since 4/28/04