DA/Stone help


Justaris

 

Posted

I've decided to try my hand at a DA/Stone Tanker. I'm hoping to be able to stun spawns and allow my team to arrest them at our leisure, while being able to survive extremely well in situations where that ability isn't an option. This is my first DA character that I've been serious about, so I'm not sure what build tricks to use. Dech's guide was helpful, but I've reached a point where I need someone to just look at my build and give me some pointers. This is a very rough draft, so I'm sure that I've made a number of errors.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.959
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Rorn: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Dark Armor
Secondary Power Set: Stone Melee
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(5), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(7), RctvArm-ResDam(7), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(34), GA-3defTpProc(34)
Level 1: Stone Fist -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(45)
Level 2: Death Shroud -- Erad-%Dam(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(34), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(37), C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(40), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(40)
Level 4: Heavy Mallet -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(45), Hectmb-Dam%(46)
Level 6: Obsidian Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(9), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RctvArm-ResDam(11)
Level 8: Dark Regeneration -- Theft-+End%(A), Theft-Acc/Heal(50), SMotTanker-Rchg/Res%(50)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-ResKB(A), Ksmt-ToHit+(43)
Level 12: Super Jump -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 14: Spring Attack -- Erad-%Dam(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(21), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(33), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(40), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(42), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(42)
Level 16: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 18: Murky Cloud -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(19), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19), RctvArm-ResDam(21)
Level 20: Fault -- FrcFbk-Rechg%(A), Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(48), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(48), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(50)
Level 22: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(23), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(23), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 24: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(25), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), RctvArm-ResDam(27)
Level 26: Oppressive Gloom -- Amaze-ToHitDeb%(A)
Level 28: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(29), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(29)
Level 30: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt(A), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg(31), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(31), Zinger-Taunt/Rng(31), Zinger-Acc/Rchg(33), Zinger-Dam%(33)
Level 32: Soul Transfer -- Erad-%Dam(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(37), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(37), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(42), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(43), C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(43)
Level 35: Cloak of Darkness -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(36)
Level 38: Seismic Smash -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Mako-Acc/Dmg(46)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A)
Level 47: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Super Speed -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(3)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(3), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(5)
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon
------------
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

  • 2.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
  • 2.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
  • 2.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
  • 2.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
  • 2.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
  • 2.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
  • 2.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
  • 2.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
  • 29.13% Defense(Smashing)
  • 29.13% Defense(Lethal)
  • 6% Defense(Fire)
  • 6% Defense(Cold)
  • 21.63% Defense(Energy)
  • 21.63% Defense(Negative)
  • 6% Defense(Psionic)
  • 17.56% Defense(Melee)
  • 13.81% Defense(Ranged)
  • 6% Defense(AoE)
  • 5.4% Max End
  • 20% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
  • 5% SpeedFlying
  • 224.9 HP (12%) HitPoints
  • 5% JumpHeight
  • 5% SpeedJumping
  • Knockback (Mag -12)
  • Knockup (Mag -12)
  • MezResist(Immobilized) 18.7%
  • MezResist(Terrorized) 2.75%
  • 9.5% (0.16 End/sec) Recovery
  • 40% (3.12 HP/sec) Regeneration
  • 5% SpeedRunning




Code:
| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1502;690;1380;HEX;|
|78DA6554DB4E1351143D67662AB414684B6FDCA1775A5AA8FA6E8CA089A1A180F1C|
|D34231EEA843253A7359127E5C11FF0411F7DF7C157AFD10FD12FF082FE80A99BD9|
|8BD2A413609DD967EFB3D75AB30FB5271BC1B7B74EAE0919BCD1323B9DC61DD33E5|
|4AEAF6636AD7D418FB1EBB8F6082DA679A7B1A10E94DD51950DD33D6C5C778F1C37|
|899D9A6A2955D9EB3AB6E2B508D61DA755D95266DBB29BE3DECB4DABF9B04B6F01E|
|F6DAFADD483B0B7AC99B6D57EDC32BB96634F6DB6ADFDCAA6ADDCE671A36676BACA|
|3D4E128722FDBEF7D31F7946ADE7130BB4C81BC25864BCB40C4C312E2708E7092FE|
|B42540D910E083C545B27481922B0C318DC05EE31AE5AC2AB597D2A3D7C477D25FA|
|CA538DCFFDC198FEC59839E29A7C0BE83066A9AF8EBE3AFA4EA0EF04FA86CEFBAE6|
|85E4DB9C4F891FAFAB8AFEE83DE51E81D85DE00F47EA2DC11CF9C9E3612D13D4ED5|
|49E037F6204E1FD3CFE749FF77EE51FC27BC9C04ED8D314F31863D1917621CDCC7A|
|13B0ADD4B3F19F3D0BD6203A13B4FBA27B9564E963816027E20AE61E80A435704BA|
|22D01585AE029D33C5E7E853CF99D71ABECBDA33C6EA09A3240D31E4C6E0751C5EC|
|7E1F50CBCD62937010E0970488243121C66C0E10BF19DE65C31BDCD1C0CAA9FE598|
|361BE3FE735160883147DCE7E1DFBCCD750B0EB00D7419971E013B8C5FA9E7226A1|
|7E17D06DE67E0FDB9E745785EC4EC7DA6DA14B8A5C02D0D6E69702B11B72CCECFC2|
|AB1CBCCAC1AB1CBC2AE33E940F185FD33815302B057CD33734282578547AC51A52E|
|45105335041DE1A304D7BEB38631DF33667F4EF28FDD023568CFE8DEF158776D787|
|22D5A1C895A1C8D5A1C8D650A46EA02D45A417F187FAF7B8F73BD0FF7F206499F5F|
|CB9884979973DD66EF3FC9C0EE61738FFEF454C93F04B7B81D97AC9580F9C9DC63D|
|EF0DACCD81F5FD81F50E5D942AD6FF0197D8E214|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|


@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian

 

Posted

I would drop spring attack for tremor and find slots for DR because you could do with them imo.


He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.

 

Posted

Some feedback in no particular order:

1) I agree that Dark Regeneration could use a bit more slotting. You have the ToE proc, which is a very good start, but more accuracy, recharge and endurance would be helpful here. Don't worry about enhancing the heal, it's powerful enough out of the box.

2) You have seven 1.25% Energy/Negatibve Defense bonuses in this build, and only five can count under the Rule of Fives. I suggest you drop Cleaving Blow out of Death Shroad and Soul Transfer and use those slots elsewhere in the build.

3) I don't agree with the placement of the Might of the Tanker +Res proc in Dark Regen. I suggest you place it in Death Shroud instead.

4) Combat Jumping is underslotted for Defense.

5) Switching to a full six-slotted Stupefy in Fault will get you more Energy/NegEnergy Defense.

6) This one's a matter of taste as some would argue against another toggle in a build like this, but I recommend Maneuvers to add another Defense power into the mix. By doing this you can easily soft-cap your Defense to S/L/E/N damage in combination with the other changes I've suggested. I would drop one of your travel powers (either SS or SJ) for this.

7) With the other changes, you have more than enough S/L defense, so you can reduce the slotting on Taunt. I'd go with two Taunt/Recharge/Range IOs and a Taunt/Recharge IO. You can add in the chance for psy damage proc if you want.

8) Last but not least, I'd question the choice of Alpha in Spiritual. You're already running Hasten and playing with slotting on Dark Regen I have its rechage below ten seconds when Hasten is up, and at around 13 seconds when it is down. This is without Spiritual. Spiritual gets you an extra 1.5 seconds when Hasten is down and an extra second when Hasten is up, and isn't enough by itself to make Hasten perma.

Personally, I feel that the Recharge, Stun and Heal benefits you're getting from Spiritual are not as helpful as other Alpha options would be for this build. The Heal you quite frankly just don't need, Dark Regen is powerful enough to cover you without enhancement of any kind. The Recharge is of course always helpful, but you're already running Hasten and for a build with a goal of extreme survivability there are better ways to go. The Stun is nice for Fault and OG, making Spiritual a better choice for a Dark/Stone than it might be for other secondaries.

That's the case for Spiritual. For the goals you outlined, however, I'd recommend a Resistance-boosting Alpha instead to synergize with your softcapped Defenses. For this you have two options. The first is Cardiac, which has the very attractive additional benefit of applying endurance reduction across the board. The range boost can also be moderately helpful for Taunt. The other Resistance option is Resilient, which gives better Resistance numbers but at the cost of not really giving you much else. With some enhancement boosters on your Reactive Armors in Dark Embrace and Tough, you can get within half a percent of S/L resist cap this way.

My recommendation would be to tinker with the build and see if you can run with Maneuvers in addition to the other toggles and with your normal attack chain and see how you do on endurance. Cardiac if you need the help, Resilient if you don't. My DA tank runs Resilient.

9) Additional Incarnate Powers - I'd also like to take a moment to mention the Ageless Radial Epiphany power in the Destiny line, which gives Defense Debuff Resistance, a weakness for characters who reach the softcap via IOs. Using Ageless will protect you from having your Defense stripped away by debuffs. I have mine set to autofire instead of Hasten.


With great power comes great RTFM -- Lady Sadako
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server

 

Posted

Thanks for all the advice I made some adjustments taking your advice into consideration and came up with this. I was already planning on Ageless Radial. In practice, I won't actually need all of my toggles on at the same time in content where I don't have access to incarnate abilities. So I'll be able to turn off toggles as needed if my PS procs get some unlucky rolls. I also have Conserve Power for those emergencies. My main concern is accuracy. Another concern I have though is my defense. Correct me if I'm wrong but half of the benefit from Cloak of Darkness will suppress during combat right? That would drop me below the S/L softcap and I'm already not quite at the E/N softcap. A tertiary concern is AoE damage. I'm hoping that Death Shroud + Taunt + Tremor will be able to keep AoE heavy squishies from stripping my aggro, but I'm not positive it will be. Anyway, here's what I have:

Code:
| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1500;698;1396;HEX;|
|78DA6594CB5213411486BB6726868440120224DC0249C8DD04A2EE2D4BD02A8A949|
|158EEACD4086D8884499CB0302B457D0217BA74EFC2ADD7D297D0953E8117F401B4|
|E261CE4F4855A680AFE7F4E9FECFF9BB87F2FD35DFABAB871785F45D6E9A9D4EED8|
|669ED29DB5536EB8D6D418FB1D5B22D370D6678A6B6A6EE28ABA38A6BA6BD57BB64|
|EFB7EC0866CAAAA954B17AD0B2148F85AFD26A358B9BCA6C37ACFA98F372A551DF3|
|DA037FFC9D48EB23BBB8DB6D779AFB695DA09ADB71BDBC5754BD9F56EAD6C760E94|
|DD8D500539FA7DE3A13FF2B8B09E4B4469903684B1C83C1303E3CCE930718118612|
|6BC020FADAD10E286F05E678E6F310355E6D9AC264489D8100E5F93AE645D5D7ED5|
|9D58F64873F6CD7E67E67E3293A4A34347874E003A13D099804EE11EEB14A0F38E7|
|45CAC63B8D0DF08FA1B417F5EF41739C775BCA7356EA7B89EE19ED09D1A0A5DDE6F|
|25CC392B7F596725761CF788693A520FEB48CF379ECBFD13CEDAB7B4DF287A1D450|
|D3ED4E0430DE3A8214CFB8C71AF620CFBA4A87F3FC7347F1B7BDF3DF193F9813482|
|ACA10527A5139B0C8053CC0CED13828FA1071C5B7AC88C1D828FC0C7CCE527CC34A|
|D9DE2B5722ACF5EA441493587794E0FE37C22389F599CCF2CCEE723D539032F66AE|
|71EDA50D70132C3375DA770EB973F06D1EBECDC3B7287C33287701FD2FA0EF287C8|
|8A2FF20E52C226711394B985B426E8EFA8CC3A338EE6302F731F103DCE7BE972DB0|
|C5CCD3DA24D626E1430A3EA4E0430A3EA4BFF05EE9CFCC38D59681BF19F89A055FD|
|095CBE34EE4117B4997A4C8BD88E273F6EB1379BB8ABC55E4CD1BFD6F947EE81159|
|A3FFC5F77243B3AB4391D250E4FC50E4C2506473285231204B11E9443C81FE77DDF|
|BE5EDFF3F10B2C0B5FF3E8D497993CF47DBE0F33E1ACCCF70FE9FD39826E189F694|
|693C6356BCC7BBB1E6AD81B13930BE3D30F6D1C52E61FC1FF786DE84|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|


@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian

 

Posted

With regard to Cloak of Darkness: No, the stealth will suppress but the Defense values will not change while in combat (Source). Tactically, Cloak of Darkness is very handy for managing aggro since it helps you to avoid aggoring something accidentally. It's also very handy for stealthing since all you need is a Stealth IO in Sprint combined with it to give you full PvE invisibility.

Combat Jumping is still underslotted for Defense - a single 50+5 Defense IO there will put you very nearly at the E/N softcap. With a few more boosters to your existing slotting you can reach that goal fairly easily. I don't know how many Enhancement Boosters you have ready access to (you can buy them directly off the market and anyone who's opened a fair number of Super Packs probably has a few). If that's a no-go for you, simply freeing up two slots for CJ instead of one should accomplish much the same result. I took a slot from Stone Fist for CJ, you could potentially take one from Heavy Mallet as well if you opt to add two slots there.

This should be an extremely survivable build. As for holding aggro, between Death Shroud, OG and Taunt you should be able to hold aggro very nicely even with a great deal of DPS incoming from your teammates - just keep in mind that there are maximum aggro limits. When I lose aggro it's generally because the spawns under fire are more numerous than the aggro target limit will allow me to control. This is where the mez auras really come in handy, and OG is my favorite of the two. I use Soul Mastery rather than Energy Mastery for Darkest Night, for two reasons. First, the ToHit Debuff from Darkest Night stacks directly with Defense for extra survivability. Second, debuffs have high threat value, so a toggle debuff anchor also helps me to maintain aggro.

You might play around with this for a bit and estimate how heavily you are relying on Conserve Power. If you can do without it, Soul is a strong choice.


With great power comes great RTFM -- Lady Sadako
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server

 

Posted

I've made some further adjustments, mostly with the goal of freeing up a few slots and moving them around. I've dropped Hasten as I'm not convinced I needed it. This is probably going to be what I end up running with for awhile. If I find my endurance usage can support it, I may switch to Soul Mastery in I24 (when I'll be able to recolor that to look like sand too). Any major oversights here? The reason why not all the Kinetic Combats are boosted is because I have 2 sets of SBE Kinetic Combats and a collection of seemingly random auction house ones scattered on various alts. If I can level boost more of them then I'll certainly do it in game.

Code:
| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1500;719;1438;HEX;|
|78DA65944B4F135114C7EFCCDC0A2D050A145A5E2D2DD027AD54DD1A63044D90C64|
|28D3BD38C702D23306DA62C6427317E0117BA32CAD6855B9FD14FE0D2B8D04FA082|
|7E004D3D9DFFA134E9A4EDEFCEFF9E39AF7BA6C5FB4BFE57D70E2E09CD7F65C76C3|
|42A374D7B5B399EA259B536045D72BDE6D83DB418C74E6549DD557643E5974C67BB|
|72D9D9AD3961DE29AA1DA5F2E5BD9AADB016FE52ADB6935F5566DDB2ABFDEECD55A|
|BBAB5477783275B9BCA696C59759F7B5FAE2BB539B25CB736F2CBB672AAFB95A2D9|
|D853CE7E9832C8D0F78D977EB456624D8F88D02229858C826762CC383816224E13C|
|3E0AC4FF0D594A244887B856FAD452906D6C140199CB08805295E533C8DE369DF0C|
|578B5DD45DCEC560933ED65DFFE92330F30B9CA77806C733385E600D1C5E6796C19|
|378EF289E07F1A487EBEBE5FA7AB93E1FD7173E877CDED3333D6E924DD9336CB8B1|
|73FB2D7F5E713664807F7530067D8C8ED48B3886F73BEA098F6A2E33FF84EB63210|
|2DBB7E4BF8F6DFB38273FE7E4E79C0638A710F9ED47CDA29FFD26A80F83D0F4C13A|
|B4CC3D70C1023F508C21C4D08782C8231860725E29F233023FC6C843CDCD6DE6011|
|83B603E82BF24D98EC2561BCDA2B749A646398638C7D004B48F147F9CFB3E7E033E|
|D2D7C1C20A739559040DF233C97D99E4BE4C715FA6B82F11EE8B24DB69AE6F9AEB8|
|A04917384EB1B229B28DB44D96686F766B82719AA2B8EDC3D719EBBD91FCC9FCC5D|
|D43467336B60969E9DE767E74B98F304CF7F82E73FC1F398FC025FC9AF2D7AC5731|
|AA314F72C95C55C1C9296E5F3C83E83B6708858B917B8CF7DA6E78352BCA4A1C8A3|
|36917F8AFE7DA29E2FB2CF453E9B29D97E47E9439748CBF61BDFCC74ED2E7629852|
|EE57C9772A14B59ED524A92C392A2B98A37D07E9F9B47BEF6FF82D072C8FDF7A9A6|
|69B7705EFA0ACEFFB8D33E05FB3FA79AAE714FF4C7A07C02967C2D6F8879BB636D7|
|6ACEF74ACFD34D8055EFF073185DFEB|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|


@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian

 

Posted

Looks good. I'd recommend Achilles Heel: Chance for -Res over the Lady Grey proc in Laser Beam Eyes, but that's the only thing I think I'd suggest changing. Alternatively, if Laser Beam Eyes isn't working well for your concept, you can always obtain that E/N Defense by three-slotting Eradication in Soul Transfer.

The Force Feedback proc is nice when it works, but think of it as an occasional bonus rather than something you build around. Not a bad choice to put in Fault, just don't count on it always firing.

That's about all I've got. It sounds like you have access to at least some Enhancement Boosters - I encourage you to go nuts with those, especially on the sets that cap out at lower levels like Eradication or Kinetic Combat. Also very good for your 1-slot or 2-slot powers like Build Up and Conserve Power, and for milking just a bit more Defense out of each of your Defense powers. I dropped a ton of those things into my DA build. It worked very well before the Boosters, but they made a noticeable difference.


With great power comes great RTFM -- Lady Sadako
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server

 

Posted

Thanks for the help Justaris, I appreciate it

I'll swap to an Achilles in LBE, not really sure why I didn't have that in the first place. And yeah, enhancement boosters aren't a problem. I feel like I've opened a million super packs at this point, so I have a seemingly endless supply of the things.


@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian