Can someone create a Bio/ Guide?

[Big Mean]

Bio has been a super fun tanker primary.  But I can't seem to find a guide on slotting.  There are too many powers that take too many enhancements.  The hive mind must have an idea on the best way to slot for min/max and quality of life.

 

The old tanker forums used to have guides for every primary.  And a guide is just that right?  A guide to give newbs like me an idea of what could be your baseline build before you waste a lot of time and influence experimenting on your own.  I don't want to make this post about two different ideas; I'm really after some kind of bio guide at the moment.  But a sticky post of primaries would be helpful to every one I think.  

[oldskool]

While a guide would be nice, there are a lot of caveats that need to be considered.  

Bio Armor responds well to the IO system, but it takes more than just slotting in Bio Armor to make the character effective.  Some power sets are largely self-contained where they require very little outside help in order to meet their mitigation goals (like Super Reflexes).  Bio Armor's merger of IO system use is going to be dependent on your secondary and pool power preferences.  That word preferences is really important in my opinion.  Not everyone likes travel powers, or some like specific travel powers, some like the Fighting Pool, some want to build without it, and so on.  

Since Bio Armor works well with the IO system, expense is also something that needs to be taken into consideration.  Anyone with an unlimited budget can create an amazing Bio Armor (or any) character. You can soft-cap multiple, if not all, defense and have high resists.  The Incarnate system can also play a role here.  

In other words, Bio Armor character builds are more about the complete package vs just the primary. 

All of that said, Bio Armor is kind of like a hodge podge of design decisions from Willpower and Regeneration.  You have layered defenses like Willpower along with some active/reactive healing potential like Regeneration.  Willpower builds often seek to raise Smashing/Lethal resistance and get as high on typed defenses as possible.  Bio Armor builds should be seeking some ideas there.  Regeneration can work very well with an emphasis on recharge to bring heals up often.  Bio Armor builds can make use of lowering its 3 click powers too, but on some Tanker builds these may not be the clutch heals they are on Scrappers/Brutes/Sentinel/Stalkers.  

For defense toggles, a basic idea is to 4 slot them with 1 end and 3x resistance OR defense.  For passives 1-3 slots depending on taste of its type.  For passives with multiple effects the slots can expand up to 6 and basic slotting can be a mix of effects (3x endurance buff + 3x heal, or 3x heal + 3x resistance, etc.).  For damage toggles, like Genetic Contamination, I like a mix of accuracy and endurance before damage though I nearly always 6 slot them.  Damage toggles are completely idiot proof damage add-ons that will work even if you get distracted chasing your cat off your keyboard.  Furthermore, damage toggles can be a good choice for the Might of the Tanker ATO proc (the full set ain't bad either).  This will passively trigger the bonus resistance effect for you and has the potential to stack multiple times (up to 3) without any real thought from the player.  The more enemies around you, the more likely the stacking.  I have it slotted that way on my Dark Armor Tanker.  It works. For the healing powers, especially within Bio, you need to evaluate for yourself how necessary these are to your survival.  I personally want Parasitic Aura to have the highest uptime I can on any AT because I find the power to be very strong.  This means I want to devote some slots there, but it really depends on where the rest of my build is going.  DNA Siphon and Ablative Carapace can range in slots depending on recharge goals.  The more global recharge you build, then more available these become.  It is very possible to get their cooldown to meet their durations even on minimal slots.  Still, I like at least 3 slots in all 3 of these heal powers if I can manage it.  

Now, for specific IO set bonuses there are a number of ways to skin the proverbial cat.  You need to evaluate what your goals are and where the priorities need to be for the content you're shooting to do (regular, incarnate trials, a mix).  Know too that there are various resources in this game that can give you temporary bonuses and those too may weigh into your build plan.  Temp powers and inspirations can be as much a part of a build idea or playstyle as the IO plan itself.  Current influence/infamy budgets are also a factor.  A plan for a future respec if your dream build is too expensive is also a factor. 

I like to build towards "just enough".  Just enough damage that I don't bored with a character, and just enough defense to survive standard content.  For iTrials, there are boosters, teammates, even secondary builds if I really want to push it.  I tend to play a lot of generic team-up content and solo.  So I like all-around builds.  

General goals: 

 

32.5% defense puts you 1 small purple inspire away from 45% defense.  Barrier Incarnate will grant you 5% defense and resistance at its lowest point.  Melee Hybrid can buff your defenses and regen.  Temp Powers can make you immortal in situations.  

90% resistance to at least Smashing and Lethal damage which is the most common type.  Energy resistance is ideal for 50+ content, but you get what you can get here.  I don't suggest breaking your character to shore-up a single weak point.  

Global recharge, and ideally Hasten, especially for Bio to make things like Parasitic Aura up more frequently.  However, this greatly depends on what secondary is involved.  Also, if I have an idea to build high defense/resistance already, then the heal powers start to lessen in priority.  

Sounds complicated?  It should, because not all of these decisions translate into characters that all players like.  That's the 500lb gorilla in the room of writing guides.  You can't please everyone and sets like Bio Armor are so flexible they fit multiple playstyles on the Tanker.  The higher your budget the more of a God you can create but a guide should not assume everyone is dropping $500m to $1b per character in order to make it function.  

If you have a specific pairing in mind, then it is FAR easier to talk about that combination than it is to offer advice in a vacuum. 

[ninja surprise]

On 4/11/2020 at 7:27 AM, oldskool said:

While a guide would be nice, there are a lot of caveats that need to be considered.  
...

If you have a specific pairing in mind, then it is FAR easier to talk about that combination than it is to offer advice in a vacuum. 

What I'd like to see is an explanation of what the powers do and what good enhancement options for them are.  Just looking at Bio in Mids it seems I can either buff my survivability by eliminating my damage output, or boost my damage by becoming a glass cannon.

Can Bio be tough and have good damage output?

[oldskool]

13 hours ago, ninja surprise said:

What I'd like to see is an explanation of what the powers do and what good enhancement options for them are.  Just looking at Bio in Mids it seems I can either buff my survivability by eliminating my damage output, or boost my damage by becoming a glass cannon.

Can Bio be tough and have good damage output?

So for comment #1, yes.  That's basically how the adaptions work.  Defensive will increase your mitigation options at the expense of damage and offensive does the opposite.  There is still the efficient adaption which is neutral to both extremes while giving the player some quality of life perks like endurance relief.  

For comment #2, yes.  Bio armor can be tough while offering more damage.  Plenty of folks run offensive adaption all the time and feel survivable.  

 

Another quick overview of powers: 

Hardened Carapace, Environmental Modification, and Evolving Armor are the 3 mitigation toggles.  With SO's alone these provide the following stats: 

23.4% Defense to Energy, Negative, Fire, Cold 

11.7% Defense to Psionic 

 

46.8% Resistance to Smashing/Lethal 

5.9% Resistance to Energy/Negative/Fire/Cold 

 

Bio Armor functions similar to Willpower in that it has asymmetric coverage in mitigation types.  It has no Smashing/Lethal defense but it has moderate Smashing/Lethal resistance.  It has very low elemental resistance, but rather high elemental defense.  

 

On top of the asymmetric coverage, Bio Armor has two click powers that are intended to be use frequently.  Ablative Carapace is a regeneration and absorb shield buff.  The absorb shield functions like bonus hit points and this is a strong mitigation layer to have.  DNA Siphon offers a hit point and endurance recovery buff while also debuffing regeneration of enemies (and taunting them).  It is worth noting that DNA Siphon can be slotted as an attack.  It can take on the procs available to attacks or the set bonuses that the PBAoE category offers.  It is also reasonable to slot it like a heal.  

Genetic Contamination is an offensive toggle that works as a damage aura like Death Shroud, Lightning Field, or Blazing Aura.  This power also applies a damage debuff to enemies.  

Parasitic Aura is a long recharging enemy targeting personal buff power.  The more enemies it hits the stronger the personal effects (e.g., regeneration buff) becomes.  The duration of the effect is 45 seconds with a 270 second cool down.  This power can take more than just one category of enhancement depending on what a build needs. 

Taking in all of the above, what does this mean for IOs?  

1) You do need to find some means of increasing Smashing/Lethal DEFENSE.  This can be done with 4pc Unbreakable Guard in Hardened Carapace/Evolving Armor, both +3 global defense uniques (Steadfast/Gladiator's Armor), and various set bonuses found within melee and PBAoE categories (e.g., Kinetic Combat, Obliteration).  

 

2) You should find some ways to improve your elemental RESISTANCE.  This can be done with the Superior Might of the Tanker ATO as one option.  The ATO proc can stack up to 3 times for an additional 6 to 18 resistance.  The stacking frequency depends a lot on where you put it, but if run in Genetic Contamination you can get around 2 stacks fairly regularly.  Some powers, like Knockout Blow, can practically guarantee 3 stacks when used on cool down but this is heavily dependent on the primary.  At a minimum this ATO accounts for +6 resistance to all with the Superior version.  Both +resistance uniques (Shield Wall 5% and Reactive Defenses Scaling 3%+).  Both of these add another boost to all resistances.  Fire and Cold resistance bonuses are rather common and fairly easy to raise even by accident.  Energy and Negative resistances can be a little harder to obtain.  The Superior Gauntleted Fist ATO set offers 6% E/N resist for 3 pieces.  You could potentially split this set for 12% E/N.  Shield Wall at 4 pieces offers 4.5% E/N resistance.  Gift of the Ancients offers 3.75% E/N resistance at 5 pieces.  Unbreakable Guard offers 2.25% E/N resistance with only 3 pieces.  Sirocco's Dervish offers the same bonus at 3 pieces and Touch of Death offers a smaller benefit at 3 pieces.  

As mentioned previous, you should try to push defense to at least 32% (easy for elemental types, potentially tricky on S/L).  If you wish to push to softcap, it is possible but considerations need to be made about trade offs.  What would you be giving up by doing pursuing that strategy?  Is it worth it to you?  

Getting up to 90% Smashing/Lethal resistance isn't that difficult, but raising the other elemental types can be.  This why I suggested a break point around 50% before.  One could go higher, possibly, or lower depending on what they want to do.  The elemental resistances are a weakness of the set, but proactive use of powers like Ablative Carapace/DNA Siphon/Parasitic Aura are the work around powers.  

If one could squeeze out more recharge into the build, then this too is a reasonable strategy.  Recharge makes the 3 proactive powers available more often while also supporting offense.  

Beyond the above, I'm not sure what else to say.  Bio Armor, like Willpower, is just as dependent on the IO choices you make in your attacks as it is on the secondary itself.  There are so many variations in how you can approach a build that it becomes impossible to craft more direct recommendations without telling someone how to play their character.  This is why a build discussion is far easier to handle than just talking about Bio Armor in a vacuum, because the power set doesn't work well in a vacuum.  

 

Edit:

 

I decided to tinker around with a few builds to toy with some slotting strategies, etc.  In the first post I replied to I already mentioned the basic number of slots that are handy.  For core mitigation toggles, that's 4 (3 of a mitigation, 1 end).  That corresponds nicely with 4x Unbreakable Guard, or 4x LoTG (if you want some accuracy buffs), or 1 LoTG + 3x some other set.  For the 3 heals, one could either go for minimal slots to just cover some recharge or go all the way to 6 slots for defense bonus.  It really depends a lot on the build plan vs just the power itself.  The reason I stress this repeatedly is due to global recharge.  Enough global recharge can make DNA Siphon/Ablative Carapace cool down in less than 30 seconds (the duration of the power) on minimal slots.  

Anyway, with the way I build characters I find it very hard not to hit at least 40% E/N/F/C defense and bare minimum 31% S/L defense.  That's due to me looking to improve damage in the secondary.  If I wanted to go all out on just defense, Bio Armor can soft-cap everything but Psi with IO investment.  I also find it very difficult to build a Bio Armor Tanker that can't achieve 90% S/L resistance even running Offensive Adaptation.  The elemental resistances can easily hit 30% even with Offensive Adaption.  Defensive Adaptation would push those over 40%.  Barrier and/or Melee in the Incarnate selections can improve those weaknesses further.  

Edited April 27, 2020 by oldskool

[Bunmaster]

Well i went for bio/spines, not 50 yet but i made a build by combining multiple  bio/x and x/spines builds. Not sure how it will work out. But i tried going without purples.