Sands of Mu

[SirBronco]

I am not sure this has been covered but would be great if sands of mu could be enhanced. It is in the middle of my attack chain. My toon's name is Boxer. and well yes he is a boxer in every respect of the word. His attack chain is smite, shadow maul, sands of mu and flurry. While flurry is pretty weak.....sands of mu is even weaker. Least flurry can be enhanced. With sands of mu not being enhanceable this attack chain is not even close to as good as most power sets. It is a shame as this is my favorite toon in the game right now. Any reasons why sands of mu isn't enhanceable or flurry is so weak? Why do some sets seem overly powerful yet the one toon I really care about I find to be less then adequate? Anyways rant over. If you feel free to add comments please do so. Thanks and as always be safe out there.

 

-Sir Bronco

[DougGraves]

Dark Melee is being buffed on beta.

 

Sands of Mu is free, so it will not be made better.  It is supposed to be only good at low levels until you get your real powers.

 

I have spoken.

Edited February 27, 2020 by DougGraves

[SirBronco]

It is a real power though as it sits in the middle of my attack chain I use it as a  "real power"!

[Gulbasaur]

Shadow Maul and Dark Consumption are both getting buffs, currently in testing on Beta. Basically, Shadow Maul will hit more targets quicker but do less damage... but as it's quicker it'll do about the same DPS in real terms. 

 

On my dark/dark tanker, I took Boxing and Cross Punch from the Fighting pool and I get a lot of use out of them. People write the attacks off too quickly - they each boost each other's damage and make very solid filler attacks, which Dark sort of needs. 

 

[Sovera]

4 hours ago, SirBronco said:

I am not sure this has been covered but would be great if sands of mu could be enhanced. It is in the middle of my attack chain. My toon's name is Boxer. and well yes he is a boxer in every respect of the word. His attack chain is smite, shadow maul, sands of mu and flurry. While flurry is pretty weak.....sands of mu is even weaker. Least flurry can be enhanced. With sands of mu not being enhanceable this attack chain is not even close to as good as most power sets. It is a shame as this is my favorite toon in the game right now. Any reasons why sands of mu isn't enhanceable or flurry is so weak? Why do some sets seem overly powerful yet the one toon I really care about I find to be less then adequate? Anyways rant over. If you feel free to add comments please do so. Thanks and as always be safe out there.

 

-Sir Bronco

Just because you want it to be a 'real power' does not make it so. But you have other options. You could go Street Justice and skip the kicks though that will lose you Shadow Maul. That will let you be a boxer without having a dark aura surrounding your fists. The last attack hits pretty hard and is a punch, sort of.

 

You can get Punch and Cross Punch from the Fighting Pool, but these only sort of qualify as 'real powers' since they are weak. You'll get there, especially in a team, but not too fast.

 

I suggest you stick with Dark Melee though, since you can make an attack chain of the three first attacks (Shadow maul, as mentioned, is going to get a big upgrade and the recharge is fast enough to work it into a rotation) without having to include weak things like Flurry or Sands of Mu. This will work out much better both for the numbers as well as your theme.

 

I'm going to say even now you should pick Shadow Punch instead of ignoring it. For your theme it will work better and give you better numbers (you do care about those since Flurry and Sands of Mu were bothering you). If you can stand having Siphon Life in the chain (not really a punch, but you're already running with a dark aura overlayed over your fists so I'm going to say embrace it. Magic/cursed boxing gloves?) you can do Shadow Maul, Smite, Shadow Punch, Siphon Life, and then start over.

 

If you really want to include Flurry you can do Shadow Maul, Flurry, Smite once you get enough recharge and never have to include Sands of Mu or Siphon Life.

[Greycat]

It's not enhanceable because it's a free, temp power. That's how it is.

 

And yeah, I use it (and nem staff/blackwand) on characters with Super STrength since their damage isn't lessened during a rage crash. Sands takes just about long enough for the crash to wear off.

[Snarky]

Sands of Mu is a GREAT power.  With Super Strength it is a power that works during Rage crash - because it is unbuffable, positive or negative.  Think about that and what you are asking.

 

I run a LOT of Dark Melee.  I would ask what AT you are, but it does not matter.  STOP using Sands as part of your normal attack chain.  It is not good that way.  It is very situational.  Say you wade into a huge spawn.  It is good then, it hits everyone.  Or you drop Shadow Maul and realize immediately it is hitting 3-4 fat targets.  Drop Sands then!  DO NOT make it part of your melee attack chain.  From about level 20 you need to be hitting targets with enhanced powers as much as possible,  Siphon Life is what needs to be in your chain.  It is not a situational just tap it when you need health.  That is a hard hitting mean attack that debuffs your enemy and heals you.,  It is quick.  If the end cost is bothering you drop some end reduction in it or a good set of enhancers.  gl

[Ukase]

7 hours ago, SirBronco said:

It is a real power though as it sits in the middle of my attack chain I use it as a  "real power"!

That is simply a bad decision on your part. Sands of Mu is a power that can't be enhanced with IOs. Ergo, no accuracy! It's a fine attack if it would hit more often than not. So - you simply take it out of your attack chain at level 12 or so and forget it exists. 

[quixoteprog]

It seems like the OP is trying to build a concept character that uses a lot of Flurry-like powers where their toon throws a bunch of punches in rapid succession. Hence the Shadow Maul, Flurry and Sands of Mu. SoM is there because it fits the concept. The thing you will need to learn to live with is that the problem with such a "high concept" character design is that it is usually far from the most efficient.

 

I think a better request for change would be to ask for more powers designed like flurry. I don't know the code base for the game but my guess is that it would be way, WAY easier to add another power or pool with a bunch of such powers than it would to make changes to how an existing temp power works. THAT is just not very likely to happen.

 

Not that such a request for more Flurry like power would be likely to get much attention, since powers like Flurry are not popular because the long animation times commit you for a long time to doing just that attack and can prevent you from saving yourself if you get in trouble, by popping an inspiration or using a self heal. Shadow Maul is pretty well regarded, I think, but that is mostly because it has a lot of other features that make up for the long animation time.

 

 

[Snarky]

Then grab the first two attacks from dark and all the attacks from fighting.  Again i run a lot of dark melee and Shadow Maul took a while to figure out bow to make effective. Lining the cone up is a little art form. I can generally sidestep and twist and get at least two even in small spawns. Trying to make SM and Sands work because they are graphically close to what you want i admire.  I love art.  But dig deeper artist. Look at other quick hitting powers that will fill the role. 1st two attacks from Super Strength?  Both with alternate animations!

[SirBronco]

Thanks for the advice. Yes this is hugely a concept character and yes I do want dark as he was dark melee on Live. I love those three attacks shadow maul, sands of mu and flurry. I was just saying #1 wish flurry was more powerful and #2 wish sands of mu was enhanceable as it is in some people's main attack string. Since Boxer. is a boxer I want him to have all the attacks like shadow maul. Just wish the ones I had were more powerful or enhanceable. That's all.

[RCU7115]

I wish they would reduce the endurance cost for Sands of Mu. I believe it cost around 20 and it is mainly used in your lower levels when endurance management can be a pain. 

I also would love to see Flurry get changed to a pbaoe that hit up to 3 targets. I love it's animation but as stated above it locks you into place to long for a single melee attack.

[Snarky]

2 hours ago, SirBronco said:

Thanks for the advice. Yes this is hugely a concept character and yes I do want dark as he was dark melee on Live. I love those three attacks shadow maul, sands of mu and flurry. I was just saying #1 wish flurry was more powerful and #2 wish sands of mu was enhanceable as it is in some people's main attack string. Since Boxer. is a boxer I want him to have all the attacks like shadow maul. Just wish the ones I had were more powerful or enhanceable. That's all.

Slot Siphon Life as a major attack power. You will thank me later

[Gulbasaur]

16 minutes ago, Snarky said:

Slot Siphon Life as a major attack power. You will thank me later

Absolutely. It's excellent.

[SirBronco]

Already did but only use it when my health is gone. Maybe I should move it into my regular chain of attacks. Now there's a thought. 

[Snarky]

9 minutes ago, SirBronco said:

Already did but only use it when my health is gone. Maybe I should move it into my regular chain of attacks. Now there's a thought. 

It is a keystone of your attack chain. The heal is great and sometimes the only thing keeping you up. But the primary function of the power is part of your core attack chain. On end hungy builds i throw a theft if essence proc into it for random end as well. That is truly random though. But the health and end are all secondary. It us a quick hard hitting attack.  Slot it with a hard hitting attack set and you will find yourself not even wanting to use sands of mu. Why would you when you can peel your opponent fast with siphon life and get a health boost?  My badger is an invul/ dark melee tank. Siphon Life is very important when burning down an AV

Edited February 27, 2020 by Snarky

[Ironblade]

9 minutes ago, SirBronco said:

Already did but only use it when my health is gone. Maybe I should move it into my regular chain of attacks. Now there's a thought. 

Absolutely it should be in your regular attack chain because, like most Dark Melee attacks, it debuffs enemy accuracy.

 

Regarding Sands of Mu, I can't support buffing it.  I think it's already a fantastic power.  At low levels, it does a hell of a lot of damage for a free power.  At higher levels, some of my characters will continue to use it on tightly packed groups if, and only if, their build includes a lot of overall accuracy buff.  Since it can't be enhanced, Sands of Mu misses too often unless you have Tactics or something else to help it hit.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Ironblade

[SirBronco]

I use sands of mu because I want three attacks that look all the same and a continuous chain of punches. Why it is hard for me to use siphon life in that string of continuous punches. I do like to open with soul drain. I have midnight grasp in my attacks to but I hardly use it unless I am on a boss.

[Arnabas]

11 hours ago, Greycat said:

It's not enhanceable because it's a free, temp power. That's how it is.

 

And yeah, I use it (and nem staff/blackwand) on characters with Super STrength since their damage isn't lessened during a rage crash. Sands takes just about long enough for the crash to wear off.

I use it on virtually all of my characters until well into the higher levels, and agree that it's quite useful on SS characters. I have no problem with it, personally.

[Solarverse]

Flurry slotted with Hecatomb. Problem solved. I promise.  🙂

[Gulbasaur]

11 hours ago, SirBronco said:

Already did but only use it when my health is gone. Maybe I should move it into my regular chain of attacks. Now there's a thought. 

Absolutely - it's primarily an attack. It can also take a proc that recharges 10%(?) of your endurance, meaning it's very endurance-efficient (and might even be endurance negative). 

[EmmySky]

I forget the contact but there is an arc in Faultline I believe where you can earn the original Sands of Mu.  It has about half the recharge as the P2W power but is still unenhancable.  Perhaps getting this power you can use both and help your attack chain.

 

I have a toon like yours, she uses shadow maul, flurry and sands regularly for her concept but relies heavily on the other powers to make sure the enemies die.  When incorporating a temp power or prestige power into your regular chain you have to rely on the other powers from your sets to top off everything.

 

Good luck with your concept...it can be done, mine is at 50+1 and very fun to play!

[Outrider_01]

Pfft, no body mentions Crosspunch from Fighting.  Fast recharge, decent wide cone, and nice quick animation...very easy to line up then Mu/Maul.  Doesn't hit hard, but it is back up fast and 3/5 times guaranteed you are gonna hit more than 2 targets with a nice knockdown added in.

[srmalloy]

On 2/26/2020 at 9:42 PM, DougGraves said:

Dark Melee is being buffed on beta.

 

Sands of Mu is free, so it will not be made better.  It is supposed to be only good at low levels until you get your real powers.

I have Controllers andMMasterminds for whom the prestige attacks make up most or all of their personal attacks. On my Rad/DM Tanker, both the prestige and temp Sands of Mu power do more damage than Shadow Maul. The changes to Shadow Maul are going to make it a little easier to get multiple targets in the cone -- it's not hard to get three; a little more range would be better than a wider angle; I'd prefer half again the current range and a 60° cone -- but it's damage reduction is going to keep the prestige power in my rotation. (Amusingly, with all three, she can make a rotation that is entirely Shadow Maul/Sands of Mu. It's entertaining when I can get enough mobs pressing in.)

[DougGraves]

1 hour ago, srmalloy said:

The changes to Shadow Maul are going to make it a little easier to get multiple targets in the cone -- it's not hard to get three; a little more range would be better than a wider angle; I'd prefer half again the current range and a 60° cone

 

with my dark melee tanker I just do the slide method to get more targets in.  Select a target one one end of a line of foes, slide to the other and and attack and if you do it quickly it gets all of them.

 

That does not work if I am on a big team and the bodies are packed in, but then I usually don't worry about how much  damage I am doing with my tanker on a big team.