Dual Blade Combos

So I have a lv35 DB/Dark Scrapper, the build is all planned out and looking good, and she's fun to play, but the way I am doing it I skipped Nimble Slash. According to information in-game, Weaken is a rather pathetic debuff, and Empower does next to nothing compared to just using Blinding Feint as often as possible. With that in mind I decided I would only use Attack Vitals and Sweep, and just throw Blinding Feint in between each combo.

I want to ask people out there who actually have DB toons if they do the same thing, or if maybe they use all the combos. Is there any merit to Empower at all, or is my current plan the best way? Well that, and if I have to pick up and slot another attack on the build I might cry from lack of slots.

Among forum goers, higher level builds typically use Blinding Feint, Attack Vitals and Sweep. Some skip Sweep. Very few use Empower, and I think even fewer Weaken. You're fine.

Some top end builds just skip the combos altogether and go for some crazy high recharge attack chains.

I personally do the exact same thing. As long as the sweep goes off properly, I can keep a single (non-knock-resistant, of course) target on his *** until he's dead.

This Paragon Wiki page shows a list of all the combos for each class. I'm sure you're aware of them already, but I thought I would provide the reference. To find out exact values for the buffs, debuffs, and damage, look at City of Data's page for Dual Blades. If you look at the finishing attacks and starting attacks, you can figure out which effects will be applied. For example, Typhoon's Edge has two combos associated with it. Look at One Thousand Cuts and you see it grants "Enable Dual Blade AoE Mode 1". Then, you can look at One Thousand Cuts again to see what AoE Mode 1 does.

The Empower combo only gives 12.5% damage bonus, compared to Blinding Feint's 37.5%. It has lower DPS attacks in it, so it is almost always better to perform a higher DPS chain than to get that tiny damage bonus.

for squishier characters, I'd definitely have Sweep

I'm working on a DPS build for my DB/SR Brute.

What I love most about this game is that there's no "right" way to play. People can have plenty of fun with SO's, and still beat most of the content, or they can invest billions of influence, accomplish more, and have different kinds of fun.

The problem is, that also makes it difficult to answer general questions without knowing a lot of details. All I know for sure so far is that the OP has been here for 15 months, and has made 4 posts on the forums.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrandX I have 59.62% Recharge in Alabating Strike and Sweeping Strike, 79.12% Recharge in Blinding Feint and Vengeful Strike, and 57.5% Global Recharge, and this allows me to run BF -> AV Combo -> Repeat non-stop without any gaps in the chain, and I'm using a DB/WP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrandX Electric Armor and Super Reflexes will of course make it easier to obtain, as they both have a passive power for an additional 20% Recharge, and seeing as how I don't see it that hard to obtain 5 LotG +RCH enhancements for your build, SR could do it easily, while ELA would need a few power picks from Power Pools to obtain it. So, I'd say no, getting BF -> AV Combo -> Repeat is an easily obtainable feat no matter the Defense Set, without the use of Hasten.

The OP is playing a DB/dark, meaning he's still not going to have a seamless BF -> AV Combo chain with "just" five LotG's. My DB/WP's chain still has a tiny hiccup with five LotG's and a Spiritual Radial boost. From a build you posted a while back, I believe you're getting your extra 20% global recharge from two purple sets -- THAT will certainly help you run that chain without any gaps!

While you and I don't see finding 5 LotG +recharges to be "that hard", some other people out there still do. Obviously, a lot of people still see getting "purples" as difficult rather than an "easily obtainable feat," so I don't think that most DB scrappers out there are running BF -> AV nonstop. (If they're hanging out in this forum, and have unlimited budgets, there's obviously a much higher chance that they are doing so.)

Without knowing the OP's budget for his build, I suspect that his original plan of BF -> AV -> BF -> Sweep will work quite nicely regardless of price.

I still _have_ all the attacks on my DB/WP, but under most circumstances I just endlessly chain Vitals and Sweep, with Blinding Feint as a bookend / gap filler (just like any other build up).

It is amusing when fighting -RECH opponents, as I have enough attacks to cycle and keep attacking.

Also, when playing casual, it is sometimes fun to mix it up a bit to relieve the monotony. DPS efficiency isn't a holy grail, its just a measure of objective capability. Fun is also an important measure, it's just a subjective one. For me, watching my little blender of death jump around and twirl his blades is amusing, and mixing up animations by using the lesser combos / attacks contributes to that.

Even when I'm not using them the other attacks are set mules.

My DB/WP is 41 currently, so he's still in leveling build mode. When I get at or near 50 I'll respec into an endgame build and likely drop some if not all the lesser attacks in favor of more utility abilities. An alternate build is attractive however, and I may very well retain the "fun" version on build 1 and use the second build as the "serious" version with heavy IO investment.