Need Help With Kat/Dark

One of the first characters I ever created was a mythical dark samurai, combining the offensive power of the Katana with the shadowy "ninja-esque" Dark Armour. The concept is one that I love, but after 5 years, I've managed to drag him, up hill, in a snow storm, to to the lofty heights of level 30.
No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot make him viable. He drops like a fly, despite having the Katana version of Parry on auto, and alternating it between other attacks.

I added in Tough and Weave, to help with the survivability, but that leads directly into the second issue:End.

I find that I'm spent at the end of one or two groups. I think one of the main problems is the usage of dark regeneration. That takes out nearly a third of my blue bar with every use, a move that seems quite mandatory just about every time it comes up.

I'm at work, so I cant put up a Mids breakdown, but I'm currently mainly using SOs, with the occasional non-set IO.

Any help would be appreciated, as I really like the guy, I just cant play him more than a single mission at a time, as its just too slow and painful

step one is to invest in a Theft of Essence: Chance for +End proc. Throw that in Dark Regen and, with proper slotting, you will have pretty good chances of actually *gaining* endurance when you use it.
Apart from that, get some accuracy and end reduction in it. Frankenslotting is a good route as well, since you don't have very many slots to spare.
Also make sure all your attacks have end reduction slotted in them as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze I hate to be the bringer of bad news... but Willpower sucks!!! you're better off rolling a regen

Most of the attacks have are 4-slotted with Acc,Dam,Dam,End. Parry replaces one of the Dam with Def. Soaring Dragon (? the second highest damaging attack, not the tier 9) has an extra Rech as well.
All of the armours are Res,Res,Res,End. The damage aura is Acc,Dam,End,End. I dont remember the rest, but you're right about being short on slots.
I'll definitely give the Theft of Essence proc a shot. That should be a big help. I think I've got a Heal enhancer in there that I could trade for another End.

Are you trying to do this with out IOs? on the cheap?

In my opinion, your armors are overslotted for leveling (at least until your attacks are fully-slotted). I'd go with two resistance and an endurance, and in the defensive powers, two defense and an endurance. Put those slots for your attacks. If you don't want to respec, then just focus future slots on attacks.

The biggest thing you can do to manage endurance is to add slots to and frankenslot your attacks (Death Shroud included) with an eye to endurance reduction. You can probably get 80% or higher endurance reduction in all your attacks while improving accuracy, damage and recharge. That should also be affordable on what you've gained from leveling to this point. That and the Theft of Essence proc should solve the sucking wind problem.

Survivability might be more complicated, but it sounds like you're on the right path - take, slot and use Tough and Weave. Your frankenslotting should give you the endurance to use them. I recommend Oppressive Gloom for leveling purposes (it worked better for me leveling even though I strongly prefer Cloak of Fear in an end game build). You should have Combat Jumping (Hover if critical for concept, but it burns more endurance, which is already enough of a problem). Slot a Steadfast Protection unique. Slot a Kismet unique. Make sure that double-stacked Divine Avalanche on top of your other defenses gets you to 45% melee and lethal defense. Make sure your Dark Regeneration is adequately slotted. Accuracy, recharge and endurance reduction are more important than healing as long as you're fighting crowds.

Jumping into a fight, rely on your stealth and Oppressive Gloom to break up the alpha strike. Lead with Divine Avalanche, and quickly follow with another. Don't leave it on auto, though. You only need it twice every ten seconds, and more will just eat into your damage, prolonging the fight and making it more dangerous for that reason. Now the minions are either stunned or plinking with lower-damage attacks from range. The lieutenants and boss(es) are probably having a really hard time hitting you due to your melee and lethal defense, which covers a whole lot of attacks, and your defense against other positions and types is at least non-negligible. What gets through is being significantly reduced by your resistance. And then every 20 seconds or so, you get a full heal.

I figure that'll be enough for around the +2x4 neighborhood. That's about what I was doing in the mid 30s with that sort of build strategy and prior to inherent fitness. Your endurance won't be sustainable, but it won't be anything that a few blues can't handle. You should be good to go through the endgame that way if you're trying to avoid slotting uber loot.

anyone have a link to a new builder? I can post mine, something i did really cheap a few years back.. It really does shread well.