NEW Optimal Attack Chains?

Whatever the t9 attack is. I forget the name :P

lol Okay gotcha. I was curious for my own Nin/Nin, whom I still haven't tested the changes with.

The attack is Golden Dragonfly.

Here's what I posted on the other thread. It's just a rough breakdown since Mids has yet to have an equivalent for sad mac users like me.

***

Initial Strike: 5 Gladiator's Strike, 1 Hecatomb proc
Assassin's Strike: 6 Stalker's Guile (catalyzed)
Build Up: 6 Gaussian's
Spinning Strike: 5 Ragnorak, 1 Endurance IO
Shin Breaker: 5 Gladiator's Strike, 1 Achilles Heel
Crushing Uppercut: 5 Hecatomb, 1 Endurance IO

Hide: LoTG global recharge
Ninja Reflexes: 3 LoTG (global recharge, def, def/end), 1 Endurance IO
Danger Sense: 3 LoTG (global recharge, def, def/end), 1 Endurance IO
Caltrops: Ragnorak proc
Kuji-In Rin: Recharge IO
Kuji-In Sha: 5 Panacea, 1 Gladiator's Armor +Def
Blinding Powder: 6 Coercive Persuasion

Sprint: Microfilament Exposure
Swift: Flight Speed IO
Hurdle: Jump IO
Health: Miracle healing, Miracle +recovery, Numina regen/recovery, Numina healing, Regenerative Tissue regen
Stamina: PShifter end mod, PShifter +end, End Mod IO

Recall Friend: Zephyr KB protection

Fly: Zephyr KB protection
Hover: Shield Wall +res
Afterburner: Zephyr KB protection

Kick:
Tough: 5 Aegis, 1 Steadfast Protection +def
Weave: 3 LoTG (global recharge, def, def/end), 1 Endurance IO

Maneuvers: 3 LoTG (global recharge, def, def/end), 1 Endurance IO
Assault: Endurance IO

Web Grenade: 5 Gravitational Anchor
Physical Perfection: PShifter +end

Alpha: Musculature Core Paragon
Judgement: Vorpal Radial Final Judgement
Interface: Reactive Core Flawless Interface
Lore: Robotic Drones Core Superior Ally
Destiny: Incandescence Radial Epiphany

***

Anywhere it says 5 slots instead of 6 assume I'm skipping the proc.

Ranged, melee, and aoe defenses are all between 46% and 50%. Tons of regen coupled with 28% s/l resistance with tough on makes him very survivable. 12 KB protection thanks to Zephyrs covers the only status weakness. Global recharge is 95%.

Because nearly all the sets are purple or pvp the bonuses don't go away at lower levels, meaning he rips things apart even when exemp'd. The only problem with purple sets is the lack of endurance reduction, hence the End IOs you see in there. With these slotted I can run 7 toggles, run my expensive attack chain, and never run out of endurance.

I went with Weapon Mastery since it afforded me Physical Perfection and Web Grenade (which is better than you think). It's a -fly immobilize that recharges so fast you can stack them one right after the other, holding pesky fliers and even AVs if you need to. It also mules for an inexpensive purple set and is nice for the "natural" stalker vibe.

Sorry this couldn't be in Mids but I hope it gives you the basic idea.

But what happens when you get maled down? You lose Heavy and Sweeping Cross? That's two early attacks.

What two other goodies that you got in place of Heavy and Sweeping? Just curious.

I did more arcs in DA last night. Sometimes I start with BU + AS and sometimes I just run in with BU + Uppercut since Uppercut's critical damage is so high. The fear from AS is still decent to slow down some aggro on me.

I am still not used to the new AS change. My attack chain is all messed up. I just know I want to click AS as soon as 3 focuses are up!

This is true and the one downside I've found with the build. Exemping any lower than 13 will have serious consequences since you will have IS, AS and nothing else. Exemping this low almost never happens, though. I led a Cavern of Transcendence (lvl 15) a few days ago and still vastly outperformed the rest of the group with just IS, AS, and SS for attacks. Purple set bonuses don't ever go away so my recharge was as high as ever. It wasn't optimal, but I was never waiting around for something to refresh. Being able to use AS as a recurring part of your chain and not just an opener is a huge boon as well.

Hover and Afterburner since both allow me to slot an extra Zephyr KB protect. I don't use Hover because the extra defense isn't needed and creates problems in lots of different TFs and Trials, but Afterburner I use constantly.

The fact that focus isn't a guarantee does mean you have to be somewhat flexible. The chain I use puts four attacks before AS and most of the time I'll have full focus by the time I use it. Sometimes I get lucky and get it in three so I can AS sooner, but sometimes I get unlucky and need to throw another attack before I get the orange circle. If you do see orange though, don't ever wait to use it. Out-of-hide critical AS is now the highest DPA attack in the game. You'll never go wrong by letting her rip

Blood Widow Ricki * Tide Shifter * T-34 * Opposite Reaction * Shaolin Midnight * ChernobylCheerleader

Entropy Legion * Hyperion Force * Hero Heights

Oh, I didn't know that. Purple set bonuses remain even when you get scaled down lower than -3 levels? Cool to know.

Purple Sets, PvP Sets, and ATO sets are like this

Superior ATO Sets are, since they're purple. Regular ATO Sets aren't. They function like normal attuned sets, meaning that the set bonuses go away if you drop lower than (minimum level for the set) - 3. Of course, the minimum level for ATOs is 10, so you only lose the set bonuses if you drop to 6 or lower.

Considering all the other things that can be made perma I think they're ok with this.

Don't consider it broken at all.

Maybe I'll consider it broken when CS crits for double damage as well.

I took out my old Kin/Dark out. Clicking Build Up all the time does get a bit annoying and besides I don't always use critical Concentrated Strike. I like critical Burst too. :P

Kinetic's Assassin Strike also needs to be increased to 1s casting time. I think it's currently sitting at 0.67s?

Well you have to consider what it is giving up for it. 1) CS is giving up it's ability to crit to recharge BU. Compared to a set like StJ, which gets to actually crit and deal more damage with it's t9. 2) Always clicking BU does mean you aren't dealing damage during that duration, and stacked BU does mean part of BU's duration is being eaten up by the next BU.

It's strong but I would not consider it overpowered, and you would only really be using such an attack chain in a Single target only scenario. As Jibikao mentioned, in an aoe environment you're going to be wanting to use your ATO hidden procs for 100% crit burst, not CS, which means BU will function the same as any other BU sans claws.

And yes, KM's AS does need to be balanced with other AS animation times.

Yes, I do think it's a bit much...It makes soloing at +3x2 so ridiculously easy, it's insane. I'd go +4 but my build doesn't have quite enough +ToHit to hit reliably yet. If it's a boss spawn = focus all crits on boss, he melts in about 1 1/2 rounds leaving a few minions to shadow maul...If it's a Lt spawn, 2-shot a Lt, subsequent shots will most likely 1-shot minions until you've got focus enough to 2-shot the other Lt. If I get a spawn with 2 bosses, basically just blast through one while you occasionally swap targets to Touch of Fear the other for the extra -ToHit or to control them outright. And if it's 3 bosses (I actually went and found some Rikti boss spawns or Death Mage spawns in Grandvile to try it), do the same as you would with 2 bosses, just placate 1. Kill 1 of the bosses within 20sec (easy) then switch to 2boss strat.

But my advice to you is:
-Use Midnight Grasp 1st for its crit
-Don't bother using placate during a fight unless you either need that crit or you're controlling a single target...Note: you don't need that crit
-Shadow punch....use Smite instead. It has a very high focus rate and hits much harder
-Shadow Maul is your friend! I didn't realize how ridiculous this thing was again until I started abusing it to munch minions. For comparison, it hits a few points shy of Midnight Grasp not counting its DoT.

My old DM/WP is pretty scary (and he was always scary). His build isn't optimal, he only has 33% def to smashing/lethal, and 35% to the other stuff, no real amounts of +rech and he can drain endurance quickly but his build has always focused on +dmg. Angry_Citizen's DM/Nin build, if I recall directly, called for 31% constant dmg bonus to make up for the melee mod difference between stalker and scrapper. Mine has 29% but he hasn't gotten to pick up and slot epic pools yet (lvl 43). I can tell you, he can munch EBs pretty handily, I'd say more effective than an equivalent Scrapper who'd have to rely on a 50% dmg bonus from Soul Drain in ST scenarios. The crazy thing is, all I have to do is die, and he jumps to 58% dmg...then he hits BU and jumps to 135% dmg...if he's on a team and he uses Vengeance, practically BU for 90sec...then he uses BU...Needless to say, I think a build focused on dmg bonuses for DM really makes a showing for how powerful and less resisted Dark Melee is. It wouldn't be rare to practically 3-shot bosses with a quick BU+stream of crits...

I'd say not likely!

Jacob's Ladder is not only better DPS than Havok Punch, but it can be slotted with a -Resist Proc, and a different purple set (for more purple proc goodness!)

And JL has the same animation time as HP.

This chain doesn't work anymore, to my knowledge, due to the 10.25 second "cooldown" of the ATO stealth. I've got another thread in these forums for alternative attack chains, but I'm pretty sure that since you can't get ATO stealth twice in ten seconds the second CS won't crit.

Yeah, I need some serious slotting help with this character too =D

I really need to delve back into the world of optimal IO slotting. Been SOOOOO long.



Mr. True Shot.