Best Brute or Scrapper for Rikti Busting
By
BrandX,
Posted on: 2009-11-27 24:27 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
DM/WP would probably be good, but I've heard that DM/Elec/soul is even better at Rikti stomping.
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Electric Armor is hax against Rikti - it's really unfair. I'd go for Fiery Melee instead of Dark Melee, though. Dark may deal damage faster against single targets, but the price is essentially zero AoE damage potential. Fiery Melee gets excellent single target DPS in a damage type Rikti don't resist much, and gets a fairly ordinary amount of AoE goodness as well. With Electric Armor, you won't much miss the utility of Dark Melee - at least, not against Rikti.
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Originally Posted by Cyclos
DM/WP would probably be good, but I've heard that DM/Elec/soul is even better at Rikti stomping.
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TEH WERDZ ON SKREEN HURTZ MI BRANE!
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There are a lot of combinations great for busting Rikti, and while I love Dark Melee you're relegating yourself to primarily single target damage, so be sure to include Dark Obliteration when you pick up soul. |
Originally Posted by Celestial_Lord
Which would be the best brute or Scrapper for busting up Rikti? I know Rikti aren't fond of negative energy, so I'm thinking possibly a Dark Melee / Willpower / Soul Mastery Brute.
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My SS/WP Brute smashes Rikti just fine.
As /WP, you'll do quite well against Rikti, but you'll still need to be careful vs. mass ranged fire especially when RttC isn't fully saturated.
Good luck with whatever you choose.
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I beg to differ. I made a Dark/Elec/Mu (Mu mostly for concept) character for the express purpose of slaughtering Rikti, and most of my kills come from Dark Consumption - the +End power in Dark Melee. Of course, it's at the end of my initial attack chain for a reason, but the fact remains that Soul Drain and Dark Consumption are both potent AoE attacks in and of themselves.|
Originally Posted by Jabbrwock
Dark may deal damage faster against single targets, but the price is essentially zero AoE damage potential.
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I solo missions at +0x8 for inf and recipe drops, and don't generally use Inspirations.
I use Ball Lightning on a group to get it to notice me, since it's a DoT and interrupts the Commmunications Officers, whereas Taunt just makes them notice you and summon the portals. Then I run and hide like a little girl around a corner somewhere and wait. About half the enemies will run up in melee range, and the other half will stand by the corner and shoot. Once everyone's there, I hop over to the shooting guys and wait for the melee ones to catch up.
Fury's WAY full by now, and sometimes it's a good time for Energize. Pulling out Dark Consumption (which, with my slotting, has 2.35X Accuracy), I usually get the max of 10 targets, which is a huge boost to damage and tohit. Then it's Electrifying Fences and Ball Lightning (which recharges in the time spent herding), then Dark Consumption to refill all the Endurance I used. This usually kills all the minions in the group, and the lieutenants are half-dead. Taking a step back, I fire off Static Discharge (since everyone's immobilized by the fences), then jump back in to finish the job with the melee attacks.
By the time endurance gets low again, I still have Power Sink in tow.
I've got a video uploaded to YouTube. Click here!
At the time of this posting, it's still processing, so you may need to wait a bit.
Anything other than Electric Melee/Electric Armor
Ele/ElA Vs Rikti: They bounce off you, you bounce off them
Well, it's not really THAT bad...but it's aggravating.
Edit: Electric Armor roxorz their boxorz.
Well, that video wasn't very convincing. You hit the first attack (Ball Lightning) at 0:17. You kill the last rikti at 1:37. 80 seconds to kill a group of +1 without bosses is awful by my standards, although part of it would be because of your choices - lacking lightning field and shadow maul, cornerpulling.
I'm going to throw in another vote for a Fire/Elec brute. I had one before the buff, and it was already fast and safe against riktis (don't go scrapper though, the lowered resistance cap makes that particular combo much weaker).
Brutes work quite well when it comes to farming, and electric armor does wonders against the Rikti. You get 90% energy resistance, so their rifles do very little damage. Your lethal resistance isn't too bad, though stacking some S/L/Melee defense helps a lot in this department. You get +recharge from lightning reflexes, great endurance tools from power sink and energize, and a great damage aura, that can do as much AoE damage as ball lightning over time.
You do have to watch for psi damage from the mentalists at higher difficulty settings, as your psi resistance isn't the greatest, but 0/8 should be a cakewalk.
As for the primary, you can pick just about anything you want. Claws/Elec, Elec/Elec, SS/Elec all have some great AoE options. Dark/Elec is a lot faster than you think it would be. I'll take an Elec/Elec, SS/Elec, or DM/SD on rikti maps set for 2/8 for fun from time to time, and all of them perform well.
As for energy resists, it isn't that noticeable.
I'm going to break the mould a bit and say /Shield Defense.
I built a Vanguard Colonel with Sword/Shield heroside. Despite it only being lethal damage for the most part, the -def is nice to keep things going.
And the main reason; Shield Charge. Rikti don't like shield charge, and drones especially hate it.
I've not tried it, but Elec/Shield, with Lightning Rod AND Shield Charge, would be particularly nasty.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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I'll cast a vote toward WP. It has energy defense, psi RES, and all around has high HP and regen. WP also has the bonus of being good at just about any other content in the game, too!
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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Yeah, my SS/WP Brute is pretty awesome against Rikti.|
Originally Posted by Dispari
I'll cast a vote toward WP. It has energy defense, psi RES, and all around has high HP and regen. WP also has the bonus of being good at just about any other content in the game, too!
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But not Romans. She's terrible with Romans.
My DM/SD scrapper solos 8 person spawns of rikti with bosses almost on auto pilot.
The more people I meet, the more I'm beginning to root for the zombies.
DM/ELA is the best combination. My RWZ challenge involves the traditional 3 +4 boss spawn and two Heavy Assault Suit elite bosses. It's still not very hard...
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Grab Tough/Weave, get the +HP Accolades going, grab a Steadfast IO, you'll start to have a much different perspective.
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Originally Posted by Take_It_Easy
Yeah, my SS/WP Brute is pretty awesome against Rikti.
But not Romans. She's terrible with Romans. |
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
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Definitely will help to cap your hit points, and get your regen as high as you can without gimping other aspects of the build.|
Originally Posted by BrandX
Grab Tough/Weave, get the +HP Accolades going, grab a Steadfast IO, you'll start to have a much different perspective.
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I run with 30% vs. SM/L. Softcapping would mean suffering from cascading defense failure less, but it wouldn't prevent it completely.
Your options are generally SoW, Darkest Night, and popping oranges - or some combination of those.
That will help considerably against cims spawned for a full team.
Of course having a solid amount of support on the team will also be instrumental, but you don't always get optimal groups and it's good to aim for as much self sufficiency as possible.
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Quote of the game, ladies and gentlemen.
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Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus
Of course having a solid amount of support on the team will also be instrumental, but you don't always get optimal groups and it's good to aim for as much self sufficiency as possible.
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My BS/DA is quite adept at slaughtering Rikti. Of course, he is also softcapped, so that helps a TON.
I usually wade in and get a couple Parries stacked and that takes care of 90% of the lethal damage. My softcapped ranged defense keeps those energy blasts at bay (since Energy is DA's lowest resist). Usually I focus on the bosses, and Death Shroud generally kills of the minions without me ever having to swing at them.
It's not foolproof, but it works pretty good for me. I've noticed it seems to be more about how you build the character than what specific powersets you have. BS/DA doesn't seem like it would be a Rikti-killer, but I have one that does just fine.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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This pretty much sums up why I like DM/Elec/Mu for it. Mine only really needs the ST attacks from Dark. Between Soul Drain, Ball Lightning, and my damage aura, anything below a lieutenant dies without me touching it.
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Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
I beg to differ. I made a Dark/Elec/Mu (Mu mostly for concept) character for the express purpose of slaughtering Rikti, and most of my kills come from Dark Consumption - the +End power in Dark Melee. Of course, it's at the end of my initial attack chain for a reason, but the fact remains that Soul Drain and Dark Consumption are both potent AoE attacks in and of themselves.
I solo missions at +0x8 for inf and recipe drops, and don't generally use Inspirations. I use Ball Lightning on a group to get it to notice me, since it's a DoT and interrupts the Commmunications Officers, whereas Taunt just makes them notice you and summon the portals. Then I run and hide like a little girl around a corner somewhere and wait. About half the enemies will run up in melee range, and the other half will stand by the corner and shoot. Once everyone's there, I hop over to the shooting guys and wait for the melee ones to catch up. Fury's WAY full by now, and sometimes it's a good time for Energize. Pulling out Dark Consumption (which, with my slotting, has 2.35X Accuracy), I usually get the max of 10 targets, which is a huge boost to damage and tohit. Then it's Electrifying Fences and Ball Lightning (which recharges in the time spent herding), then Dark Consumption to refill all the Endurance I used. This usually kills all the minions in the group, and the lieutenants are half-dead. Taking a step back, I fire off Static Discharge (since everyone's immobilized by the fences), then jump back in to finish the job with the melee attacks. By the time endurance gets low again, I still have Power Sink in tow. |
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
GuyPerfect: Just a suggestion, but if you're shaking down the Rikti for recipes and drops and not XP, you may want to consider running at -1/8. You'll mow through them a lot faster and as long as they're at least level 47, they can drop purple recipes.
I'm actually aiming for level 50 non-purples, and seeing 49s drop gives me Hulk-like anger.
A couple of problems with farming at -1, any powers with .67 kb no longer do knockdown, but back. That's Foot Stomp and Lightning Rod, for example. Also you get lvl 49 recipes and there's a severe discount for those. Sure you may be farming for purples, but there are still goodies to be had from mob drops. Also, and this is based on "feel" not actual data, but -1s don't feel faster than even cons.
As for best Rikti farmer, let me just say my elec/elec brute used an AE mission of Headmen Gunmen that somehow packed scores of them around an object. With an SO only build, I'd put him on top of that table and walk away to go about my daily chores, letting the damage aura do its thing. Now that's worthless, but I've upgraded to a fully IOd build and shored up his melee defense so boss swords aren't nearly so bad and I use him to farm Borea at +2/8. If I had Fire, or perhaps Dark, as a primary I'd probably up it to +3/8 but the higher rank's energy resists make fighting them time-consuming at a +3 level.
Global = Hedgefund (or some derivation thereof)
Thanks for the suggestion, y'all. I rolled up a Super Strength / Electric Armor / Soul Mastery (eventually) Brute.
@Celestial Lord and @Celestial Lord Too
Good choice, my primary Brute is SS/Elec/Mu, and he powers through +2/8 Rikti missions without a scratch. With Hasten and some +recharge you can turn on Lightning Field, run into the middle of the group and just cycle Electrifying Fences > Foot Stomp > Ball Lightning until everything's dead (which won't take long). I only need to pause for the Rage crash every couple of minutes, and I just use that as an opportunity to top up my end with Power Sink and re-apply the Immobilise (which doesn't do massive damage anyway).
I gather that Soul is a popular patron choice because negative energy does extra damage to Rikti, but I'm sticking with Mu because it has an AoE immobilise, which cuts down on runners without requiring me to jump out of the middle of the spawn to line it up. Without the Immobilise, I'd expect that more time would be spent mopping up single targets that ran out of Foot Stomp's range than would be saved by doing a little more damage with the Patron AoE. It probably doesn't make that much difference, really.
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My Axe/WP can 0/8 Rikti without breaking a sweat.|
Originally Posted by Tonality
You do have to watch for psi damage from the mentalists at higher difficulty settings, as your psi resistance isn't the greatest, but 0/8 should be a cakewalk.
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My Energy Melee /Electric Armor can 0/8, but breaks a little bit of a sweat (mostly because it takes a bit longer to kill... not as much AoE).
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Originally Posted by eltonio
This is over the top mental slavery.
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Which would be the best brute or Scrapper for busting up Rikti? I know Rikti aren't fond of negative energy, so I'm thinking possibly a Dark Melee / Willpower / Soul Mastery Brute.
@Celestial Lord and @Celestial Lord Too