Dark/Dark/Dark Build

[dirtydirty1]

I have been banging my head around trying to figure out a good Dark/Dark/Dark build, can someone please help with a build that is not restricted by what it cost to make it great as can be. Looking to use it for PVE Soloing and with teams.

 

Thanks for all the help from someone.

[oldskool]

I always ask this, but what is good to you? 

Also, have you searched this forum with just the term "dark"?  There are two Dark/Dark/Soul builds that could be adapted to Dark Mastery instead.  You'll find them just searching that one word on page 1 of your results.  Those builds were ones I posted for the purpose of that discussion, but my actual Dark/Dark/Dark is different as I do not bother with Darkest Night. 

I know have run my mouth multiple times about both Dark Armor and Dark Blast separately in other topics.  So a more broad search of the basic term should yield you some results vs a narrow search. 

If you have read over the search results already and still having trouble, then circle back to "what's good to you".  Its possible you feel stumped by trying to do too much with powers like Cloak of Fear, Darkest Night, and trying to find out how to cap defense/resistances.  If that is also the case, then I can tell you from experience to just pick a path and stick with it.  If you're investing heavily in to hit debuffs, then you can get away with less general defense (though more defense always helps). 

These kinds of questions and thoughts that run through my head are why I do not start with just dumping a build.  What works for me is probably a complete turn off for you (and I've been told that in not so many words more than once). 

[drbuzzard]

He's spot on. There's a variety of different build approaches for that secondary. Some go for using the mez, some layer defense on top, some just optimize the healing and resistance. There's lots of different ways to get good use from dark armor.

Edited January 28, 2020 by drbuzzard

[dirtydirty1]

Thank you oldskool and dr.buzzard.

 

Actually oldskool, there was a build you had posted I utilized and respecced my toon based on...after I finished I realized it did not have oppressive gloom. is that a power that you absolutely should take or no? Also could not get your build to open in Mids kept referring me to hero builder.

 

Thanks for the feed back much appreciated

 

[oldskool]

12 hours ago, dirtydirty1 said:

Actually oldskool, there was a build you had posted I utilized and respecced my toon based on...after I finished I realized it did not have oppressive gloom. is that a power that you absolutely should take or no? Also could not get your build to open in Mids kept referring me to hero builder.

Those builds are older versions before the newest Mid's was released.

TL;DR: Lots of thoughts below to explain WHY I take Oppressive Gloom/Cloak of Fear below.  In short, sometimes I build Dark Armor characters (I have at least 1 of each AT now) with a mind towards tactical play.  Other times I just take the set because I like it thematically and let my inner emo teen run rampant.  Dark Armor is fun to me because the final 3 powers are all optional unlike how other sets play with more powerful picks in those later levels.  This opens up a lot of creative build options that appeal to me.  Also, I care about the actual control values vs the side effects like to hit (which is rather small in Cloak of Fear for its cost). 

Oppressive Gloom, Cloak of Fear, and Soul Transfer are all optional.  You don't need any of those three powers.  Dark Armor gets all of its most important powers by Cloak of Shadows.  

Oppressive Gloom and Cloak of Fear do not stack magnitude on their own effects.  That means when you run them they will only ever effect the targets they effect and nothing more.  For maximum minion control both powers will work together.  Let's say Cloak of Fear will fear 10 targets when it hits.  Well any targets not already feared will be stunned by Oppressive Gloom.  So in essence these two powers can let you potentially control more minions when working together.  

However, in practice I find that much minion coverage to be nearly pointless.  If and when I decide to include either Oppressive Gloom or Cloak of Fear it is because of some synergy with a primary exists that I wish to enhance.  If no major synergy exists then I skip both.  I also almost never take both together.  

For the Sentinel I tend to find Cloak of Fear to be a near worthless power pick as there is no other Fear power to enhance the magnitude.  As a matter of personal preference, I actually care about the control and the debuff it provides is superfluous with Dark Blast.  Honestly, the only power combo in the game that I actually consider worth pairing with Cloak of Fear is Dark Melee because of Touch of Fear.  They stack magnitude and debuff which is how my first character ever was able to solo many of things it did.  

Oppressive Gloom on Sentinels has a few opportunities to stack magnitude in power sets like Psychic Blast, Beam Rifle, Assault Rifle, Archery, and Water Blast.  Any power set that an ability with chance for stun works.  I do run Oppressive Gloom on my Water Blast/Dark Armor Sentinel.  

See, I don't run Oppressive Gloom on my Water Sentinel to control minions.  F minions.  They drop like a house of cards after Tidal Forces + Geyser.  However, Geyser (backed by the Tidal mechanic) and Oppressive Gloom becomes a high magnitude stun which will effect everything short of a Giant Monster/AV.  

When played for maximum carnage, a Sentinel should be deleting weaker enemies in roughly 1 to 2 attacks at the start of combat.  Your T9 nuke (Blackstar) followed by your next highest coverage (10 target) AoE (Dark Obliteration).  Blackstar has so much to hit debuff baked in to it (-35%) that any enemies that live through that attack and were hit by it will be blinded.  Using Obliteration afterwards imposes another -5% to hit debuff if it lands.  If those enemies aren't dead arrested they will be at -40% to hit if they aren't resisting it.  Even if they resist that debuff will still be in the -30% range.  You'll only need a small bit of actual defense in order to dodge their attacks.  Now, enemies not debuffed will have better odds to hit and since they won't miss as often you should make them priorities.  You can tell who is debuffed by the black clouds around their heads.  If you see targets with clear heads, then help them out by blasting them with darkness so they don't feel left out.  Odds are if they are Bosses, they won't give two damns about your Oppressive Gloom in the first place and they cannot be controlled by Cloak of Fear on its own.  If they are minions then they should be isolated targets and likely not much of a threat unless you're punching too far above your weight class.  

Don't try soloing +4/x8 missions until after you've gotten your T3 Alpha unlocked at the least so you can have better accuracy scaling.  At 50, and IO'ed even somewhat you should be able to handle +2/x6-8 reasonably well.  It may not be super fast, but you can survive it.  

Edit: Cloak of Fear is also -5% to hit on 60% base accuracy at an endurance rate higher than any other toggles in the set.  With the way Obscure Sustenance works you can handle that endurance drain for roughly 10-20 seconds before it will become an issue.  Since the base accuracy is so low building that power with enhancement slots is necessary in order to not make it just behave like an endurance sink for little return.  The fear won't work on big targets but the debuff can.  Though with Dark Blast there are more economical ways to apply the same to hit debuff while also doing damage to speed things up.  In other words, if you're in a battle of attrition, then Cloak of Fear can potentially reduce that.  That mattered in a world of just Single-Origin enhancements.  With how tanky you can build DA these days that level of attrition management might not be worth the endurance cost.  Same can be said for Sentinel Darkest Night.  It is very expensive to run it when your endurance can just be funneled into damage.  While the to hit debuff looks nice on paper, see above comments about Blackstar which makes Darkest Night highly situational.  The reduced enemy damage in Darkest Night is also pretty small for the endurance drain.  Then again, I play Dark Miasma on a Defender so my bias is to scoff at such peasant magic. 😉 

Edited January 28, 2020 by oldskool