Stone Mastery Skippabples?

[Clave Dark 5]

So I'm still struggling with a build for my Mind/Poison/Stone, and even after skipping a fair number of the Mind and Poison powers, my choices are tight and I won't be able to take too many Stone Mastery powers.  But which ones to skip?

 

In a thread elsewhere, the possibilities of proc monstering Stone centered on Hurl Boulder, Fissure, and Seismic Smash.  Can't really fit 'em all*, so which one of those to leave out?  I've never had Stone before, but my gut was telling me Fissure would probably be least essential of the two.

 

But also, one reason I'm so tight on choices was so I could get the usual Boxing/Tough/Weave and then Maneuvers/Tactics combos to help out my defense.  Would I perhaps be better to pick up Stone's Rock Armor instead?  (How I wish Tomax was still around!)  And how about Earth's Embrace, a self-heal might go a long way on a 'Troller.

 

*I'll admit I took Telekinesis, which is junk these days, yes, but has still really helped save my bacon once or twice.  Maybe I can drop that and Tactics to free up two slots at best; three if I also drop Stealth, but it sort of fits the theme here and doing so would sting.

[Frosticus]

hurl boulder is very slow. you shouldnt need it given your other, better st attacks

[SwitchFade]

Earth/storm/Earth controller here...

 

Hurl Boulder is garbage.

[Doomguide2005]

1 hour ago, SwitchFade said:

Earth/storm/Earth controller here...

 

Hurl Boulder is garbage.

Yeah the easy choice is skip Hurl Boulder.   Mine (also Earth/Storm/Stone) just hit 50 and I plan to 5 slot both Fissure and Seismic Smash (maybe 6 in Seismic).  And of those two Seismic Smash is the straight up winner for outright delivery of pain albeit single target. 

 

PS:  Fissure I took for the stun (and the soft control of KD) ... gives her 3 stuns Stalagmites, Thunderclap and Fissure

Edited January 17, 2020 by Doomguide2005
Added PS

[Coyote]

Fissure is excellent... solid but not great damage, but excellent soft control and a Force Feedback proc.

Seismic Smash is also excellent... it has a high base Accuracy so you can get away with underslotting Accuracy. It does enough damage that you want to slot up the Damage, and then you fill the rest with damage procs. It should break 500 average damage against even-cons at 50. Not to mention a Mag 4 Hold.

Hurl Boulder is only good for Dominators, who got a balance pass that greatly sped up its animation. At 2.6 seconds or so, it's too slow for the damage that it does. Maybe if it had a 20 second recharge and comparable damage, it might be worth taking as a slow heavy hitter... but with a 10 second recharge, you can get better damage elsewhere. To compare, my Earth/Cold didn't bother slotting Accuracy in Fossilize since he has enough accuracy, leaving her to 6-slot damage procs so that it does about 390 damage. With a Hold effect, faster animation, and better Recharge. Since Hurl Boulder can't take Hold sets, its only advantage is Force Feedback. That's not enough to bother using it if I had it, not to mention actually taking and slotting it.

[Clave Dark 5]

Thanks all!

 

Because I had been thinking about "how cool" Boulder would be, I took it anyway, and I can see the damage is a bit wanting.  The range is also a bit disappointing (I mean, it can't be easy to hurl a huge boulder, right? But still).  I know this character's got a respec in her future, so I guess I'll drop it at that time.

 

Another question: how should I be slotting Tough and Weave?  I put a End reducer in each one but I still seem to chew through my End, even after slotting the usual Perf Shifter combo and another generic End Mod.  Do they need more End Mod slotting, some slotting to enhance the defense they offer?

[Frosticus]

I went ageless destiny on my plant/poison/stone. That allowed very aggressive slotting.

Cardiac or vigor could probably work too.

Victory rush is pretty good.

[Doomguide2005]

If you feel like experimenting try slotting Centrioles (Dmg/Range HO's) in Hurl Boulder.  See if that helps with range while maintaining the damage such as it is.

[Clave Dark 5]

On 1/21/2020 at 6:11 PM, Frosticus said:

I went ageless destiny on my plant/poison/stone. That allowed very aggressive slotting.

Cardiac or vigor could probably work too.

You mean for helping out with the Def or the End use?  I'm not so familiar with what the Incarnates do off the top of my head.

 

Also, Doom, that's a good suggestion, I keep forgetting about those.  I was thinking my build might end up with Arcane Bolt in it too, but wow, talk about a slow wind-up, that makes Hurl look much faster (and cooler).  I do wonder how the numbers compare though.

[Doomguide2005]

Still learning/relearning things Incarnate but:

Cardiac for endred and resistance.

Vigor for endmod (and heal) as I recall. 

 

Hopefully memory is correct or I get corrected quickly 😁

 

[Clave Dark 5]

So far the toon's been having End issues (as noted), so Cardiac is sounding good.

[Sir Myshkin]

On 1/21/2020 at 7:11 PM, Frosticus said:

Victory rush is pretty good.

This power is so underrated.

 

+1 Vote. Nothing quite like sapping an AV corpse to give a team +1.67 EPS Recovery (or ballpark that, can't recall if that was the exact value off an AV).

[FundamentalyConfused]

You can slot the stealth proc in sprint and drop stealth.