You'd be better off slotting for +Health in HPT vs the slotting of -tohit in RTTC.
DB/WP isn't exactly a combo that needs Hasten, so you might want to 1 slot it, but I'm also not sure what sort of damage you're looking to achieve.
Not really sure why you're slotting Crushing Impact either. Is it just for the added 5% +RCH?
I'd put Gaussians in Tactics, and 1 slot FA with the END RED IO.
The slots in Resurgence are wasted. Stick with 1 slot, move the other 3 slots around, and the +END Proc in the self rez is a REAL waste, as it would only activate when you USE the self-rez.
I'm not saying don't take the self-rez (if I had the power slot, I'd take it on my DB/WP), but you really don't need to slot it.
Super Speed. The Winter Gift's bonuses are pretty...well..lousy. Slot Super Speed with the +slow resist IO, and call it good, move the other 2 slots somewhere.
While you don't seem to want to go as far out as I did with my build, here's what my build looks like and it can maybe give you some ideas on what to go with...
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BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Wow, I had no idea I was THAT far off 
As I said, this is my first high level Scrapper, and only my second 50 in total, so I don't have that much experience.
I'm not really looking for any specific amount of damage, I'm just hoping to be able to slot so that I can solo AVs.
I most certainly don't want to go as far out as you have, seeing as I only have about 200 million inf. across all of my toons, meaning my budget is pretty tight (I suppose I'd be willing to spend all of it, if I have to). I just checked WW's, and realized how much I'm going to have to pay for a full Gaussian set, so looks like I won't be able to afford that either.
Do you think you could put together a build for me, one that I might be able to afford? I'm guessing my power choices weren't that bad, since you didn't comment on them? Or were they just not as horrible as the slotting?
Edit: I already have the Miracle: +Recovery, so that's not going to be a problem. Also have a Steadfast Protection: Res/Def, if that helps.
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Well a lot depends on you. Some of that isn't to hard to get if you just play, and stay hero/villain and work on getting Hero Merits. It'll take some time, but easy enough to do.|
Originally Posted by Xetrov
Wow, I had no idea I was THAT far off
As I said, this is my first high level Scrapper, and only my second 50 in total, so I don't have that much experience.I'm not really looking for any specific amount of damage, I'm just hoping to be able to slot so that I can solo AVs. I most certainly don't want to go as far out as you have, seeing as I only have about 200 million inf. across all of my toons, meaning my budget is pretty tight (I suppose I'd be willing to spend all of it, if I have to). I just checked WW's, and realized how much I'm going to have to pay for a full Gaussian set, so looks like I won't be able to afford that either. Do you think you could put together a build for me, one that I might be able to afford? I'm guessing my power choices weren't that bad, since you didn't comment on them? Or were they just not as horrible as the slotting? Edit: I already have the Miracle: +Recovery, so that's not going to be a problem. Also have a Steadfast Protection: Res/Def, if that helps. |
As for enough damage to take out an AV, you just need enough +RCH to get it so you can run Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals Combo, and you got it.
As for your power picks...that's up to you really. I skipped the Sweep combo, as I just didn't have the room for 1K Cuts.
Seeing as how I can't do the Sweep Combo without 1K Cuts, I took Nimble Slice over Power Slice, which gives me access to the Empower and Weaken Combo when I exempt down for Positron TF or Cavern of Transendance Trial.
When going after large spawns I just go BF -> AV Combo -> Typhoon's Edge -> Repeat. It works for me, but 1K Cuts for the Sweep Combo would give you better AOE.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
About the being able to solo an AV, I was really thinking more about the survivability. My main being a Blaster, I don't have much experiance slotting for survivability (not that I have much experiance with slotting at all ), but I figure this is pretty important for a Scrapper, especially one hoping to solo AVs.
I took another look at slotting last night, and figured out that the reason I had slotted with Crushing Impact, was because it was the only yellow lvl 50 melee dmg set. I checked out prices at WWs, and found that if I were to slot with Mako's Bite instead, I'd have to pay about 60 million inf. per set, for a total of 180 million just for those three powers. Then there's Multi-Strike, at about 20 million/set, which puts me at 240 million for the sets for my attacks. I have no idea what defensive sets and healing sets I would want, but I can imagine it's going to be expensive. I have about 450 merits across my toons, which would get me two Mako's Bite, or ten Multi-Strike. I don't think I have the patience to earn enough merits for all my needed sets, so something not too horrible expensive (less than half a billion) would be nice if possible and functional.
Didn't really mean for this to be a rant about money. My questions, really, are:
1. Is Crushing Impact really that horrible? Is it worth it getting Mako's Bite?
2. What defensive and healing sets do I want, and are there any cheaper, yet viable, alternatives to Gaussian for Tactics?
3. If I don't really need Hasten, would it be a good idea to drop the Speed pool for the Leaping pool with CJ and SJ, and throw a Celerity: Stealth in Sprint instead for the stealth?
Caution: long post ahead!
In answer to your specific questions, Xetrov:
1) The orange level IO sets generally (almost always?) give better set bonuses when you slot multiple enhancements from the same set. Crushing Impact gets you a handful of added hit points, a 7% accuracy bonus, and a 5% recharge bonus. Mako's Bite would give you a few more hitpoints, a 3% damage boost, and ranged, energy, and negative defenses. Touch of Death would give you a few more hitpoints than Crushing Impact, a 2.5% damage boost, and melee, lethal, and smashing defenses.
Since market prices are all about supply and demand, you can get an idea of which sets are more popular based on pricing, but a lot of people who are building for survival are investing in sets with good defensive bonuses.
2) If you look at the set bonuses for having a full set of Gaussians, you'll see that gives a decent recovery bonus, a damage bonus, and an across-the-board defense bonus to just about every damage type -- and that's why it's in demand and expensive! There are alternatives if you just want extra "to hit" and endurance reduction, like Adjusted Targetting, but that only gives an added accuracy and recharge bonus and not extra defense.
3) A lot of scrappers love CJ and SJ -- SJ because it's one of the fastest travel powers, and CJ because of the extra mobility in combat. And of course, CJ has a tiny endurance cost but provides an additional bonus to all types of defense!
The nice thing about Willpower as a secondary powerset is that it's inherently based upon resistances [which reduce damage after you're hit] and regeneration, and does a pretty good job of survival just with those. When you start adding defenses to it and getting hit less in the first place, it's just icing on the proverbial cake!
Of course, these days there's a lot of people who are also trying to build more survivable characters, which means the prices for those desirable sets are higher than sets that don't add such nice set bonuses. I know I got "sticker shock" myself when I came back to CoX after a short break and rolled my DB/WP scrapper, then started learning about the Auction House for the first time! (I'd been busy with real life and had merely been logging in once in a while, but had missed pretty much all of Issue 10.) But I loved my new character, and wanted to be able to experiment with the new-to-me IO system, and started coming up with ways to make influence.
Once I dedicated myself to learning some of the ins and outs of the consignment house system (and not very well, either) it took me a few months to eke out my first billion, which is what I thought it would cost to outfit my scrapper. After I spent that and scrounged and scraped together my second billion, I started reading the Market Forum and discovered that a lot of players had better systems for making influence and were willing to share them! There's a TON of influence out there, and a lot of ways to make it without farming or grinding. I highly recommend at least checking out a few of the stickied "guides" in that forum to see how you can carve out your own piece of the giant pie. 
One of the ways to do that or to get your own high-level IO's (which BrandX alluded to) is through the use of tip missions and Hero Merits. I'm guessing that your 450 merits are the "old fashioned" kind from story arcs and task forces -- but you can earn one Hero Merit in two hours or less of "tip missions" spread over two days. Two Hero Merits will allow you to buy ANY desirable non-purple or non-PvP recipe like Luck of the Gambler: Recharge or Miracle or Numina's procs, which you can craft and sell for upwards of 150 million influence, or use yourself in your build.
Speaking of LotG: Recharges -- and sorry this is turning into such a long post on so many sub-topics -- there's a couple of different facets to soloing AV's. One, as you discovered, is building for survivablity and the defense to stand up to the incoming damage. The other is YOUR damage, which has to overcome their defenses/resists and very high amounts of regen. Temporary powers like Evenomed Dagger will help lower their regen temporarily, but a lot of scrappers who trying to solo AV's rely on sheer damage per second -- and THAT usually requires A LOT of recharge to run the most efficient attack chain. And "a lot of recharge" can get very expensive very quickly, since the biggest recharge bonuses are found in the LotG IO and in purple sets.
I know that I was somewhat disappointed after outfitting my scrapper to the point where I could wade through a batallion of Council thugs on 0/x8 and stand at the base of a Rikti pylon and not get myself killed -- but I still couldn't muster up enough DPS to make a dent in said pylon until I got enough recharge through LotG: Recharges and my Alpha Slot. So it was back to Mid's Hero Planner and back to the market for more influence and more IO's! I've decided that high-level builds are kind of like custom cars as a hobby: a month after you're finished with building some super tricked-out design, either something new will come along or you'll have a new idea and start tearing it apart again -- and throwing more money at it!
As you can see, AV soloing and other Crazy Scrapper Tricks™ can get expensive fast -- I'd say only a small percentage of players can afford to create builds in order to do them, but we certainly talk about those things in this forum a lot, which has led me to joke that we need some disclaimers about them.
Hopefullly this long-winded mess answered more questions than it created -- and definitely check out the Market Forum for influence-generating ideas for your new "project scrapper."
"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
I'll have to disagree with Eldorado.
WP isn't based on Resistance and Regeneration. It's based on Resistance, Regeneration and Defense.
Heightened Senses is a Defense to all except PSI power. The S/L Defense is low, yes, but still that's what the power is.
Crushing Impact isn't a bad set at all, but if I was building for survival, I'd most likely only use it on builds where the Defense Set is based mostly on Defense (like SR, Ninja, EA, maaaybe Shields depending on what my defenses are at).
So the popular set with WP will be Kinetic Melee. It gives S/L Defense bonuses that are really good.
Of course, every other typed defense build is going to want that set as well (INV, some EAs possibly, squishie builds that try to focus on S/L Defense builds).
My suggestion, Hero Merits! 2 days = 1 of the Kinetic Combat IOs you need. 8 days gives you 4 of the Kinetic Combat IOs you would want to slot into 1 attack (you skip the knockback proc), then franken slot the last two slots in the attacks.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
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Yep. And if you're patient enough to do the research, you can find the currently best selling single A-Merit IO's, buy the recipe with the A Merit, craft them, sell them on the Auction House then use that money to buy the recipes of what you actually want to equip on your character.|
Originally Posted by BrandX
My suggestion, Hero Merits! 2 days = 1 of the Kinetic Combat IOs you need. 8 days gives you 4 of the Kinetic Combat IOs you would want to slot into 1 attack (you skip the knockback proc), then franken slot the last two slots in the attacks.
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For example, I grabbed one of the Kinetic Combat IO Recipes with an A-Merit, crafted it and sold it for 130 million. Minus AH fees and crafting costs, I had enough cash to buy 2 or 3 IO recipes that I wanted for my character. A couple Obliteration pieces and a Numina: Heal I think it was, not that the details matter.
Oh, one other thing to mention just in case you didn't know. Once every 20 hours 50 Merits and 20 million Inf can be used to "buy" an A-Merit. Very handy way to speed up your A-Merit rate.
Beowulf -
Too many Alts, not enough 50's. Story of my life...
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Well, if that's all you've got to disagree with in my post, I'm in good shape. |
Originally Posted by BrandX
I'll have to disagree with Eldorado.
WP isn't based on Resistance and Regeneration. It's based on Resistance, Regeneration and Defense. Heightened Senses is a Defense to all except PSI power. The S/L Defense is low, yes, but still that's what the power is. |
Still, I think the innate defense in WP is like the peas in fettucine carbonara. "What? There's PEAS in here too? Sorry -- I'm distracted by all the bacon and cheese...." 
There are resistance based sets, and defense based sets. My point was that there's NOT very much innate defense in Willpower to speak of, so adding a few defensive IO bonuses makes a pretty noticeable difference, and adds another whole layer of protection to an already strong secondary.
"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
First, may I just say "WOW!"? This was immensely helpful! I had no idea about these Alignment Merits. This changes everything! And here I was thinking I had to grind TFs day in and day out just to be able to buy a single Mako's Bite.
I'll be back tomorrow or something with a new build, hopefully!
Thanks to all three of you! I was not even aware there was a market forum here, I'll make sure to check it out when I have time.
450 Hero Merits, now THAT would have been awesome!
Just a quick question: I can't for the life of me get enough recharge to chain the Attack Vitals combo seamlessly without Hasten. Any tips?
Also, with Frankenslotting alongside the Kinetic Combat sets, do you mean to put other partial sets, or just regular IOs (possibly HOs) with damage/recharge/whatever I need in the power?
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I haven't heard of anybody chaining "just" Attack Vitals seamlessly -- that would take an extreme amount of recharge indeed. |
Originally Posted by Xetrov
Just a quick question: I can't for the life of me get enough recharge to chain the Attack Vitals combo seamlessly without Hasten. Any tips?
|
When the people with the higher-end DB/WP builds can run Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals without any pauses, they've usually got A LOT of recharge from purple sets and multiple LotG 7.5s. (BrandX's build above has +57.5% recharge, from two purple set bonuses and five LotG 7.5s.) Of course, those enhancements have a market value of a couple three billion, too. AV soloing isn't cheap or everybody would be doing it, right?
My "unpurpled" build has 37.5% recharge from five LotGs and an Uncommon Spiritual Radial boost, and that give me enough recharge to JUST ABOUT pull that attack chain off. There's about a quarter second "hiccup" in my chain when I try to do that, which I can overlook for now, in the hopes that the next level of Alpha slotting will eliminate it. (I could also try dropping some Obliteration sets into my build in place of Scirocco's Dervish, but I'd rather have less recharge and not have to pay the higher END costs. As it is, I can fight nonstop for 20 minutes and not have to worry about my END bar, which is a nice feeling.)
The downside to using Hasten to achieve the sort of recharge you need to reach that "best possible" attack chain and that kind of DPS is "what do you do when it crashes?" I'm not talking about the Hasten crash, but if you're trying to solo AV's, when your DPS drops they're likely going to start to regen all the damage you did when Hasten was active.
"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
Quote:
Did I miss this the first time, or did you add it with an edit? |
Originally Posted by Xetrov
Also, with Frankenslotting alongside the Kinetic Combat sets, do you mean to put other partial sets, or just regular IOs (possibly HOs) with damage/recharge/whatever I need in the power?
|
As far as Frankenslotting goes, it's generally a matter of putting in whatever you need to achieve the desired result. I don't think there's a hard and fast definition besides "using parts of a set rather than all of them."
I've got Mako's Bite Acc/Damages in my Kinetic Combat sets for more accuracy and damage, though Crushing Impacts would have been cheaper. Why? Because I had them laying in my respec tray and was going to have to sell them back, and wasn't sure selling them back and then crafting five CIs would be worth the effort. So go with generic IO's or HO's or some mix-and-match IO's from anther set - whatever will do the job in a particular power the best!
"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
You didn't miss it, I edited it in, but before you finished posting, though.
I thought all Scrapper were soloing AVs It's practically all you hear about from lvl 50 Scrappers (or used to be, at least). Anyways, what should I fill the waiting time with, then?
Would you mind sharing your build, Eldorado?
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Whew. I thought I was getting "scrapperlock" on the forums now, too. |
Originally Posted by Xetrov
You didn't miss it, I edited it in, but before you finished posting, though.
|
"There were TWO questions?? Sorry -- I only saw the one, honest!" Quote:
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Originally Posted by Xetrov
I thought all Scrapper were soloing AVs
It's practically all you hear about from lvl 50 Scrappers (or used to be, at least). Anyways, what should I fill the waiting time with, then? |
As far as filling the waiting time, I recommend just going out and having fun! Turn up the difficulty slider and wade into throngs of bad guys at something/x8 and revel in the carnage that IS dual blades! I'm consistently amazed at what my character can survive with a few well-placed Sweeps between the Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals. After everybody goes flying and the incoming melee damage stops for a few seconds, RttC can do its job undisturbed while everybody stands back up. Plus, if I concentrate on the boss in a spawn, I can usually keep him in the air with Vengeful Slice, 1000 Cuts, and Typhoon as the end of Sweep, so that's three out of seven attacks. And by the time he's finished off, most of the spawn has also melted away thanks to the AoE's.
So go out there, run amok, arrest a lot of bad guys and perhaps get some good drops to craft and sell -- and have fun doing it!
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Originally Posted by Xetrov
Would you mind sharing your build, Eldorado?
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First I decided to splurge on a Gladiator's Armor +3% Def, then decided the PvP Debuff proc might help with soloing a pylon. (It did, but once again, I didn't have enough recharge to run BF -> AV until i19 and the Alpha slot came along!)Getting ready to post this, I just realized that I've got SIX +10% regen bonuses in there and one is wasted, so I'm planning on buying a Hami-O that'll get me a whopping extra 0.2% defense. Is three or four hundred million worth it for that negligible amount of defense? Probably not to anybody else, but as I said, this is the one toon that I've decided to stop worrying about the budget on!
This sort of build probably isn't for everybody, because as I've said in other threads, I try to do it all with this toon. I've got Confront for those times when I can't quite get there in time to stab a villain in the face to get the aggro off a squishy teammate, I've got all my attacks except BF slotted to maximize damage when I exemp down to help friends, and I haven't tried to softcap the defenses so I can maximize my healing, which also helps when exemping. But for all around general play and maximum fun, it works for me -- and that's what counts, right?
"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
Sorry, badly phrased! By waiting time, I meant what attacks would I use to fill the time between each Attack Vitals combo when fighting an AV, until I get enough recharge to chain it? Also, since Blinding Feint is not needed for my combos (currently planning on using Attack Vitals and Sweep), I have not picked that attack. Is it a must-have for AV-pwning? Also, do you think I'm going to need Physical Perfection to be able to sustain my endurance during a solo AV-beating? I suppose I could drop Resurgence and Strength of Will for those two if needed.
Btw, looking at that build, I see you have picked Combat Jumping and Fly.. Missclick?
Quote:
Though I don't have a high level DB character, I can answer this one. Blinding Feint is in there for 2 purposes. To lower the +Recharge requirements for the rest of the attacks in the Attack Vitals combo and to give a +Damage and +To Hit buff to all attacks in the combo including the damage dealt by Attack Vitals itself. Claws also has a power similar to this (Follow Up) and these powers boost the overall DPS of the attack chain by more than the lower DPS/DPA of the attack itself looses you.|
Originally Posted by Xetrov
Sorry, badly phrased! By waiting time, I meant what attacks would I use to fill the time between each Attack Vitals combo when fighting an AV, until I get enough recharge to chain it? Also, since Blinding Feint is not needed for my combos (currently planning on using Attack Vitals and Sweep), I have not picked that attack. Is it a must-have for AV-pwning? Also, do you think I'm going to need Physical Perfection to be able to sustain my endurance during a solo AV-beating? I suppose I could drop Resurgence and Strength of Will for those two if needed.
Btw, looking at that build, I see you have picked Combat Jumping and Fly.. Missclick? |
As for Combat Jumping and Fly, I assume that Eldorado is making use of his City Traveler Veteran award. Those with enough account activity time (54 or 60 months I think but am probably wrong) have access to Travel powers (Super Speed, Super Leap, Teleport and Fly) at level 6 without having to take a pre-requisite like Hasten, Hover, Combat Jumping or Recall Friend.
Man, reading this thread makes me want to work on Ginsumatic (My DB Scrapper) now... >Sighs< Double XP Weekend coming up, can't play till Saturday and at least 5 chars I want to level up... Decisions, decisions...
Beowulf -
Too many Alts, not enough 50's. Story of my life...
Quote:
Use Power Slice. BF -> Attack Vitals -> Power Slice That' what I did untill I had enough recharge to run just BF -> AV|
Originally Posted by Xetrov
Sorry, badly phrased! By waiting time, I meant what attacks would I use to fill the time between each Attack Vitals combo when fighting an AV, until I get enough recharge to chain it? Also, since Blinding Feint is not needed for my combos (currently planning on using Attack Vitals and Sweep), I have not picked that attack. Is it a must-have for AV-pwning? Also, do you think I'm going to need Physical Perfection to be able to sustain my endurance during a solo AV-beating? I suppose I could drop Resurgence and Strength of Will for those two if needed.
Btw, looking at that build, I see you have picked Combat Jumping and Fly.. Missclick? |
However, if you're not going up against a single hard target, nothing better than going BF - Attack Vitals - Sweep
[Edit] Also, you don't need Physical Perfection to sustain your endurance during AV beatings.
I'm actually respecing out of Physical Perfection (though this means I lose a bit of +REGEN too) today or tomorrow, as I'll finally have the Patron Pools unlocked to grab some concepty Mu Bolts and Mu Shackles.
And I'll still have more END coming in than going out Sadly, Physical Perfection is concepty too, but really, Mu Shackles will just be more fun Endurance Sustaining is just about looking at the numbers, doing some math, and seeing if you need more or not.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Quote:
Yes, it's a must-have power for both AV pwning and DPS in general. Take it.
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Originally Posted by Xetrov
Also, since Blinding Feint is not needed for my combos (currently planning on using Attack Vitals and Sweep), I have not picked that attack. Is it a must-have for AV-pwning?
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"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Another long post, sort of reverse order:
Quote:
Actually, no -- Combat Jumping was one of the three "extra" powers I picked up with Issue 19 and inherent fitness. I'd always liked Fly for that character (despite it not being the fastest travel power) and I'd respecced out of Air Superiority when I got the City Traveller veteran power, which lets you pick up a travel power directly from the power pool without a prerequisiite power first. CJ was just an extra layer of defense....|
Originally Posted by Xetrov
Btw, looking at that build, I see you have picked Combat Jumping and Fly.. Missclick?
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Xetrov
Also, do you think I'm going to need Physical Perfection to be able to sustain my endurance during a solo AV-beating? I suppose I could drop Resurgence and Strength of Will for those two if needed.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Xetrov
Sorry, badly phrased! By waiting time, I meant what attacks would I use to fill the time between each Attack Vitals combo when fighting an AV, until I get enough recharge to chain it? Also, since Blinding Feint is not needed for my combos (currently planning on using Attack Vitals and Sweep), I have not picked that attack. Is it a must-have for AV-pwning?
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On to the actual question, though: I'm not an expert on AV soloing, but from reading a lot of threads here I see where BF -> AV seems to be the highest DPS chain available for Dual Blades. Reading about the Crazy Scrapper Tricks™ in this forum first got me interested in the idea of soloing a pylon, and I know how my personal journey went on that one:
1) Gradually build up enough defense that I could withstand a lot of other PvE abuse.
2) Go flail (uselessly) at a pylon using my favorite (everybody's second favorite?) attack chain of AV combo -> Sweep combo ad infinitum without the debuff proc in Ablating Strike.
3) Sneer at the pylon but be content with at least a "draw." I couldn't hurt it, but it couldn't hurt me either. Go back to drawing board, plot revenge.
4) Get some recharge in the form of three LotG 7.5s (pre-i19)
5) Go flail uselessly at a pylon some more using Blinding Feint -> AV and notice the long gap in the chain. Realize futility of exercise, try experimenting with other slower attack chains like Power Slice -> Attack Vitals.
6) Repeat Step 3. Grumble quietly while plotting some more.
7) Get even more recharge with my i19's new build and two more LotG 7.5s.
8) Go flail pointlessly at a pylon using Blinding Feint -> AV and notice the now shorter gap in the chain.
9) Repeat Step 3. Grumble and plot even more. Consider investing billions in purple sets, decide that my defense, regen, or other attacks would suffer as a result. Spend billions on other characters instead.
10) Open Alpha slot, get Common recharge boost. Repeat Steps 8 and 9 again.
11) Gather more shards for Uncommon recharge boost for Alpha Slot, flail uselessly at a pylon using Blinding Feint -> AV and notice the now REALLY SHORT gap in the chain. Watch pylon's heath bar refuse to budge. Wonder if pylon is mocking me. Decide that pylon probably is, or at least would if it weren't an inanimate virtual object.
Try not to draw parallels between Charlie Brown and the Kite-Eating Tree. 12) Repeat Step 3. Think about the problem some more and notice that most of the successful high end scrappers soloing pylons have significant debuffs and/or a debuff proc.
13) Buy an Achille's Heel: Chance for Resist Debuff proc and slot it in Ablating Strike.
14) Go stab a pylon repeatedly using Blinding Feint -> AV, still with really short delay in attack chain. FINALLY watch the pylon's health bar start to drop significantly. Grin like a maniac.
15) Take screenshots twenty minutes and five seconds later after finally defeating pylon solo. Laugh out loud and grin even more.
Later I added:
16) Spend entirely too much influence on Fury of the Gladiator: Chance for Resist Debuff PvP IO.
17) Stab pylon with BF -> AV and two debuff procs, watch pylon's health bar drop faster.
18) Calculate difference in DPS between old time of 20:05 and new time of 16:35, determine that I essentially only gained a lousy 5 DPS.
19) Divide price of PvP IO by 5 for "hundreds of millions spent per point of DPS."
20) Shake head in disbelief, before deciding that "it's only play money anyhow." Resume grinning.
So -- since I hate guesswork, I can't really tell you what other attack chains WILL be effective in soling AV's, but I can and did share what eventually worked for me.
Hopefully someone else will have a more elegant and effective solution for "second best DPS chain"?
As usually happens, this post went on for far too long. So if you'll excuse me, I've got to go get a kite out of a tree.
"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
Quote:
/e facepalm|
Originally Posted by beowulf2010
Though I don't have a high level DB character, I can answer this one. Blinding Feint is in there for 2 purposes. To lower the +Recharge requirements for the rest of the attacks in the Attack Vitals combo and to give a +Damage and +To Hit buff to all attacks in the combo including the damage dealt by Attack Vitals itself.
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I meant to address the +Damage and +To Hit buff components of Blinding Feint in my post, since they add to the other attacks and thus a big part of the total DPS. I think I got sidetracked as usual with too much other stuff in that post, including my "History of Pylon Soloing, Parts 1-6."
DOES it actually speed up the recharge in the subsequent attacks, though? I never knew that and Mid's doesn't make any mention of it, but that's interesting to know!
Quote:
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Originally Posted by BrandX
Use Power Slice. BF -> Attack Vitals -> Power Slice That' what I did untill I had enough recharge to run just BF -> AV
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"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
Quote:
There are two chains that are higher, but they take insane amounts of recharge. The best is Blinding Feint -> Ablating Strike -> Sweeping Strike -> Ablating Strike. Next best with slightly better AoE is Blinding Feint -> Sweeping Strike -> Ablating Strike. But the most practical high DPS chain for most builds IS Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals. The recharge requirements for that aren't particularly high for an IO build, but if it's still out of reach due to other requirements, do what BrandX suggested and chain Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals -> Power Slice. Properly slotted, either Attack Vitals chain should be fine for most AVs, just not some of the more lethal-resistant ones.
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Originally Posted by Eldorado
I'm not an expert on AV soloing, but from reading a lot of threads here I see where BF -> AV seems to be the highest DPS chain available for Dual Blades.
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"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Quote:
It doesn't speed up recharge, but with another attack in the chain, the other powers don't need to recharge as quickly.
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Originally Posted by Eldorado
DOES it actually speed up the recharge in the subsequent attacks, though? I never knew that and Mid's doesn't make any mention of it, but that's interesting to know!
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"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Quote:
Okay, and "whew." So it IS simply "another fast animating, high DPS filler attack" as I'd suspected, which might be a better way of describing it to a certain person who hasn't had enough coffee before Double Expee Weekend, and I'm NOT losing my mind completely. |
Originally Posted by Werner
It doesn't speed up recharge, but with another attack in the chain, the other powers don't need to recharge as quickly.
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At least, not YET./e coffeemaker
"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
Quote:
Saddly, BF->AV wasn't enough for Silver Mantis |
Originally Posted by Werner
There are two chains that are higher, but they take insane amounts of recharge. The best is Blinding Feint -> Ablating Strike -> Sweeping Strike -> Ablating Strike. Next best with slightly better AoE is Blinding Feint -> Sweeping Strike -> Ablating Strike. But the most practical high DPS chain for most builds IS Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals. The recharge requirements for that aren't particularly high for an IO build, but if it's still out of reach due to other requirements, do what BrandX suggested and chain Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals -> Power Slice. Properly slotted, either Attack Vitals chain should be fine for most AVs, just not some of the more lethal-resistant ones.
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That's two AVs I've failed so far on my DB/WP ... Silver Mantis (kept turning on Temp INV when she got down in health) and Diabolique (keeps phase shifting).
I'd count Romulus with his 3 Nictus AVs, but I haven't given up on beating him solo yet...I just need to seperate them better.
...on that note though...I'm getting abouyt 190 DPS on my DB/WP. Nilhii (hope I spelled that right, and I think that's the right poster) said they were getting around 195 with the same slotting (I was getting lag on my Pylon runs, which may be the reason there's the difference), but adding in Assault could bump up the DPS of that combo, maybe even a bit past 200 (with the right IOs in the build of course).
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
As my DB/WP Scrapper is nearing 50 (first Scrapper, second total), it's time to start thinking about slotting, and due to the now inherent Fitness pool, a respec. I've played around in Mids, and have come up with the following. Any comments would be greatly appreciated
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,91
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
V: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dual Blades
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Power Slice -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(5), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(23), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Aegis-Psi/Status(A), Aegis-ResDam(3)
Level 2: Ablating Strike -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(3), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(5)
Level 6: Typhoon's Edge -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(7), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(7), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(25), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 8: Mind Over Body -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(9), ResDam-I(42)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- RedFtn-Def(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(11), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(11), RedFtn-EndRdx(43)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(13), RechRdx(13)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Winter-ResSlow(A), Winter-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng/EndRdx(15), Winter-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng(15)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(17), ToHitDeb-I(17), ToHitDeb-I(19), EndRdx-I(42), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 18: Vengeful Slice -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(19), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(21), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21)
Level 22: Maneuvers -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 24: Tactics -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 26: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 28: Sweeping Strike -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(29), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(29), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(31), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 30: Heightened Senses -- RedFtn-Def(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(31), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 32: One Thousand Cuts -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(33), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(33), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(33), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Resurgence -- RechRdx-I(A), P'Shift-End%(36), P'Shift-EndMod(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(46)
Level 38: Strength of Will -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(39), ResDam-I(39)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- GSFC-Build%(A), GSFC-ToHit(45), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(45), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(45), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(46), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(46)
Level 44: Boxing -- Dsrnt-I(A)
Level 47: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(48), EndRdx-I(48), EndRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Weave -- RedFtn-Def(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(50), EndRdx-I(50), EndRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Heal(27)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(25)