Solo No Inspirations +4x8 MoITF

[Werner]

I just finished a solo +4x8 Master of the Imperious Task Force (zero defeats, no temporary powers) with the additional restriction of using no inspirations. Succeeded on the first try. Katana/Dark Armor. I remember when the Rikti War Zone Challenge was difficult, when soloing a single level 50 AV no temps, no insps was difficult. I think this game has experienced a bit of power creep.

 

 

My build. I finished assembling it this morning. Inspired by and some slotting from @Sir Myshkin.

 

Spoiler

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Alexei live: Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(7)
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), GldArm-ResDam(7), GldArm-End/Res(9), GldArm-RechRes(9), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(50)
Level 2: Death Shroud -- SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(11), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury(15)
Level 4: Murky Cloud -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(21), UnbGrd-ResDam(21), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(23), UnbGrd-Max HP%(23), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(25)
Level 6: Hover -- Ksm-ToHit+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(25)
Level 8: Divine Avalanche -- SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(A), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(29), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(29), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(31)
Level 10: Obsidian Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(31), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 12: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A)
Level 14: Tough -- TtnCtn-ResDam(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(33)
Level 16: Dark Regeneration -- FuroftheG-Acc/Dmg(A), FuroftheG-Acc/End/Rech(34), FuroftheG-Acc/Dmg/End/Rech(34), Prv-Heal(34), Prv-Heal/Rchg(36), ThfofEss-+End%(36)
Level 18: The Lotus Drops -- SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(37)
Level 20: Cloak of Darkness -- ShlWal-Def(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(39), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(39), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(39)
Level 22: Weave -- ShlWal-Def(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(40), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(40), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- Rct-ResDam%(A), Rct-Def(42), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(42)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- Hct-Dmg/Rchg(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Hct-Acc/Rchg(43), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Hct-Dam%(43), AchHee-ResDeb%(45)
Level 28: Tactics -- AdjTrg-ToHit(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(45), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 32: Golden Dragonfly -- Arm-Dmg/Rchg(A), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Arm-Acc/Rchg(48), Arm-Dam%(48), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(48)
Level 35: Superior Conditioning -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 38: Focused Accuracy -- AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(50), AdjTrg-ToHit(50)
Level 41: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 44: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A)
Level 47: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
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: Fury 
Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Prv-Absorb%(15), Prv-Heal(17), Mrc-Rcvry+(17), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(19)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(19)
Level 0: Born In Battle 
Level 0: High Pain Threshold 
Level 0: Invader 
Level 0: Marshal 
Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany 
Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon 
Level 50: Degenerative Radial Flawless Interface 
Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment 
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve 
Level 0: Portal Jockey 
Level 0: Task Force Commander 
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion 
------------

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		|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

 

A previous iteration of the build found the Cimerorans easier, as it had Divine Avalanche slotted for defense, and so it was very difficult for them to start a cascading defense failure. This one suffered from that a lot. Less so once I settled on an attack chain of Divine Avalanche -> Soaring Dragon -> Divine Avalanche -> The Lotus Drops. I used Barrier when that wasn't sufficient. And I ran away a few times when Barrier wasn't sufficient. The previous iteration of the build didn't have anything close to the DPS required for level 54 AVs, though.

 

The Nictus were pretty simple once I realized that only the Bright Novas were debuffing my defense. After that I always took them down first.

 

The times I came closest to dying were a handful of cascading defense failures, and one time fighting Minotaurs where I wasn't paying attention to my endurance, then noticed it when there was just a sliver left, just in time to not detoggle. And then during the final Romulus fight after it had gone on for probably an hour, my mind drifted off to think about other things, and I wasn't even conscious of the screen or what I was doing for maybe 15 seconds. Fortunately my fingers knew my attack chain, and nothing bad happened, but oops. Attempt these things when you've had a full night's sleep and didn't do a bunch of yard maintenance during the day. I successfully hit Barrier shortly before each Nictus fell during the Romulus fight, and I have a lot of stun resistance. I was pretty worried about it, but I don't think I got dropped below half health during the stuns. 

 

I didn't treat it as a kill all. I stealthed where I could. I used Lore pets, but they were mostly suicidal and didn't help much. 

 

Have others done or tried this? What primary/secondary/archetype? I don't really know what's possible in the current game. Apparently a lot.

[Werner]

Thinking further, I think the build has several issues that made this more difficult than it needed to be, and I may try solving in a future iteration of it. First up is that I didn't take Oppressive Gloom. I think this may have been a mistake as I suspect the Cimeroran minions debuff defense as well? So perhaps with them stopped from attacking, I would have had fewer instances of cascading defense failure, which was the main threat during the run. Another problem was that 10 points of knockback protection wasn't enough. I know 12 points is enough from experience. I wonder about 11.  It was more of an annoyance than a threat, though, perhaps since I took Hover over Combat Jumping. And as mentioned earlier, a more defensive slotting of Divine Avalanche might be nice. Or it might not, because it would lower DPS when I'm using it to prevent cascading defense failure.

[Sovera]

You'd think I'd be all over that since I was all over soloing stuff back in WoW, but I never seemed to find the same interest here. I find it too plodding and a slog, but it also helps that I never settle on a character for more than 10 minutes.

 

Kudos Werner, and that's a bitchin' beard on that dude!

 

I'm going to say yes on Oppressive Gloom restraining the minions, though bursting them down would have had the same effect. Some times more damage equals more survival because of things like those.

[Werner]

25 minutes ago, Sovera said:

You'd think I'd be all over that since I was all over soloing stuff back in WoW, but I never seemed to find the same interest here. I find it too plodding and a slog, but it also helps that I never settle on a character for more than 10 minutes.

Yeah, it is certainly a bit of a slog. I have more fun casually teaming with friends. 

25 minutes ago, Sovera said:

Kudos Werner, and that's a bitchin' beard on that dude!

Thanks!

25 minutes ago, Sovera said:

I'm going to say yes on Oppressive Gloom restraining the minions, though bursting them down would have had the same effect. Some times more damage equals more survival because of things like those.

I'ma killin' 'em as fast as I can! LOL. He's just not a big AoE character, and wasn't really meant to be. I went Katana/Dark long, long ago for the AV soloing. Now I play him because, well, I just like to. I have more efficient killers. But I just find him fun and think of him as my main. Anyway, Oppressive Gloom is probably what I'll do rather than adding more AoE and turning him into something he isn't. Vengeance is just muling Luck of the Gambler, and may be the least painful thing to trade for it. Oppressive Gloom works fine with a single slot, and costs very little endurance. The real cost is the hit point drain, but a slow drain to avoid cascading defense failure is really not a serious problem when you have Dark Regeneration, particularly when the stun prevents most minion damage. Maybe not a lot from minions and with my resistances, but probably more damage than it's causing.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Werner

[Sovera]

39 minutes ago, Werner said:

I'ma killin' 'em as fast as I can! LOL. He's just not a big AoE character, and wasn't really meant to be. I went Katana/Dark long, long ago for the AV soloing. Now I play him because, well, I just like to. I certainly have more efficient killers. But I just find him fun and think of him as my main. Anyway, Oppressive Gloom is probably what I'll do rather than adding more AoE and turning him into something he isn't. Vengeance is just muling Luck of the Gambler, and may be the least painful thing to trade for it. Oppressive Gloom works fine with a single slot, and costs very little endurance. The real cost is the hit point drain, but a slow drain to avoid cascading defense failure is really not a serious problem when you have Dark Regeneration, particularly when the stun prevents most minion damage. Maybe not a lot from minions and with my resistances, but probably more damage than it's causing.

You've already got this min maxed to the kazoo so I don't think I can offer any improvements. The only thing that jumped to my eye was the Superior Blistering Cold and maybe cut Superior Brute's Fury in half. But since you're +5ing everything the gains are minimal as all stats are already past ED levels. You're also aiming for Fire/Cold resists which further increases the difficulty in fitting everything.

 

I've tried mangling your build a bit but I don't think I managed to make any sort of improvement. You did get a bit of defense in Avalanche and there is a free slot in Golden Dragonfly which can be turned into a damage proc, or a FF proc if such a thing even has a use when you rely on Dark Regen and the one is up just under 10 seconds anyway.

 

No, I think your build is squeezed to the max as it is. You love your Brute and I get it, but a Tanker would net a 20% res (plus the natural boost to defensive values they get, so even more) allowing a relaxing in the x-treme slotting choices. Picking martial arts instead of katana would be  another 10% defense across the board further easing slotting (but not helping all that much against cascading failures), but with all of this it would just be another generic character and not THE Alexei you love.

 

 

 I also suppose soloing on a Tanker would be too easy though 😛 

[Werner]

10 minutes ago, Sovera said:

You love your Brute and I get it, but a Tanker would net a 20% res (plus the natural boost to defensive values they get, so even more) allowing a relaxing in the x-treme slotting choices. Picking martial arts instead of katana would be  another 10% defense across the board further easing slotting (but not helping all that much against cascading failures), but with all of this it would just be another generic character and not THE Alexei you love.

Haha. Yes to everything you said. Quoting myself from a private conversation on this exact subject:

 

"If I were making a Dark Armor Tanker, I think I'd go with Martial Arts for the extra 10% defense to all instead of Katana's melee/lethal, and focus on positional defense. Not sure, but that's what I'd be curious about, what I think would work well. I think by again accepting a partial energy/toxic hole, you might, just might, be able to incarnate soft cap defense and cap the other resists without too badly gimping the rest of the build. Your build makes me think it might be possible, as does marcussmythe's in this thread where he hits the regular soft cap with Fire Melee. Add another 10% to that, and you're within spitting distance of what I'm hoping is possible. Those are honestly the only two Dark Armor Tankers I've looked at, and I don't play with Tankers enough to have a good sense for how good the builds are. And I probably won't fiddle with it myself, because it just isn't what I want to play. But yeah, I'd say Martial Arts over Katana on a Tanker. Maybe see what you can do. 😉"

12 minutes ago, Sovera said:

I also suppose soloing on a Tanker would be too easy though 😛 

Probably so. But I might still give it a look. I'm doing 280 DPS on my current build. If I can hit that number on a Tanker and also get higher survivability, that's hard to argue against. Except that if I'm on a team, people might expect me to... well... tank. On a Brute my friends still let me get away with Scrapperlocking. I think they'd be less forgiving if I was on tauntless Tanker. 😉 But maybe I can fit Taunt in there. Maybe I can learn to tank. Maybe I wouldn't hate it.

[Werner]

29 minutes ago, Sovera said:

maybe cut Superior Brute's Fury in half

Quoted for emphasis. Everyone should consider this when building a Brute, because on most builds 10% smashing/lethal defense is more valuable than the other bonuses. But here, for this specific build, I wanted recharge and mostly smashing/lethal resistance even more than 10% smashing/lethal defense. The conditions are peculiar to the rest of the build, though. On most builds I'd split the set.

[Sovera]

2 minutes ago, Werner said:

Haha. Yes to everything you said. Quoting myself from a private conversation on this exact subject:

 

"If I were making a Dark Armor Tanker, I think I'd go with Martial Arts for the extra 10% defense to all instead of Katana's melee/lethal, and focus on positional defense. Not sure, but that's what I'd be curious about, what I think would work well. I think by again accepting a partial energy/toxic hole, you might, just might, be able to incarnate soft cap defense and cap the other resists without too badly gimping the rest of the build. Your build makes me think it might be possible, as does marcussmythe's in this thread where he hits the regular soft cap with Fire Melee. Add another 10% to that, and you're within spitting distance of what I'm hoping is possible. Those are honestly the only two Dark Armor Tankers I've looked at, and I don't play with Tankers enough to have a good sense for how good the builds are. And I probably won't fiddle with it myself, because it just isn't what I want to play. But yeah, I'd say Martial Arts over Katana on a Tanker. Maybe see what you can do. 😉"

Probably so. But I might still give it a look. I'm doing 280 DPS on my current build. If I can hit that number on a Tanker and also get higher survivability, that's hard to argue against. Except that if I'm on a team, people might expect me to... well... tank. On a Brute my friends still let me get away with Scrapperlocking. I think they'd be less forgiving if I was on tauntless Tanker. 😉 But maybe I can fit Taunt in there. Maybe I can learn to tank. Maybe I wouldn't hate it.

 

I've ran a few tanks, but I'm definitely that sort of player who disappears mid-mission to go solo the objective, or go find the clicky, or who purposefully takes a left when everyone went to the right. I can't do that on a Tanker. A Tanker is like a parent and it does not abandon the team to go wander off so ultimately a Tanker is not fully for me. But I am super happy to play on a Scrapper who has an agro aura since I get to off tank when it's needed though, but a Scrapper without an agro aura is just a Stalker but without Hide and in that case why not Stalk?

 

 

I did make a DA/MA Tanker build a couple weeks back when I 'discovered' MA. There is plenty of room to improve since I just aimed for the bare 'minimums' of 45% to melee, ranged, and AoE, while having 90% to all res with three stacks of the ATO and Barrier (it still sounds nuts when saying that out loud :p). Aiming for two stacks is ultimately better.

 

Rad Armor for the two heals (With Radiation Therapy acting like Dark Regen's little cousin, including taking the Theft of Essence proc) would have better recharge and better debuff protection.

 

Spoiler

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Dark Armor
Secondary Power Set: Martial Arts
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Death Shroud -- SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(3), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(3), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(5), EndRdx-I(7)
Level 1: Thunder Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Storm Kick -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(7), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), TchofDth-Dam%(11), PrfZng-Dam%(11)
Level 4: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(5), Rct-ResDam%(17), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(19)
Level 6: Obsidian Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(50)
Level 8: Dark Regeneration -- ThfofEss-Heal(A), ThfofEss-Heal/Rchg(19), ThfofEss-Acc/Heal(21), ThfofEss-Acc/EndRdx/Heal(21), ThfofEss-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(23), ThfofEss-+End%(23)
Level 10: Murky Cloud -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), Ags-ResDam(25), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(25), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(27), Ags-EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 12: Dark Embrace -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(29), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(29), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 14: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A)
Level 16: Crane Kick -- SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(A), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), FrcFdb-Rechg%(33), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(33), TchofDth-Dam%(33)
Level 18: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 20: Dragon's Tail -- Arm-Dam%(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(34), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Arm-Acc/Rchg(36), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(36), FrcFdb-Rechg%(36)
Level 22: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 24: Cloak of Darkness -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(37), Rct-Def(37)
Level 26: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(37)
Level 28: Focus Chi -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(39), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(39), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(39), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(40), GssSynFr--Build%(40)
Level 30: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Tactics -- AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(A), AdjTrg-Rchg(40)
Level 35: Electrifying Fences -- Bmbdmt-Dam(A), Bmbdmt-Acc/Rech/End(42), Bmbdmt-Dam/Rech(42), Bmbdmt-Acc/Dam/Rech(42), Bmbdmt-Acc/Dam/Rech/End(43), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(43)
Level 38: Eagles Claw -- Hct-Dam%(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(43), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Hct-Acc/Rchg(45), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(45), TchofDth-Dam%(46)
Level 41: Ball Lightning -- Bmbdmt-Dam(A), Bmbdmt-Acc/Rech/End(46), Bmbdmt-Dam/Rech(46), Bmbdmt-Acc/Dam/Rech(48), Bmbdmt-Acc/Dam/Rech/End(48), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(48)
Level 44: Tough -- Empty(A)
Level 47: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(50), Rct-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Super Speed -- Empty(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 -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(13), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(13)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(15), SynSck-EndMod(15), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(17)
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon
------------

 

 

 

[Bill Z Bubba]

Just so ya know, Werner, when I soloed the max diff ITF, I HAD to use ultimate insps. Otherwise the autohit fluffy would tear me to pieces before I could kill it or final Rom. So kudos, mang. Well fought.

[Werner]

15 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

Just so ya know, Werner, when I soloed the max diff ITF, I HAD to use ultimate insps. Otherwise the autohit fluffy would tear me to pieces before I could kill it or final Rom. So kudos, mang. Well fought.

Thanks! I didn't know there was an autohit fluffy. I guess 87.4% negative resistance made it mostly irrelevant then, and focusing on resistance rather than defense was a good build choice, at least for that fight. It was meant as my general-purpose build, not a specific ITF build. I guess I shouldn't try this on my Dark Melee/Super Reflexes Brute when I finish leveling him and getting all the goodies for him. Sounds like he'd get destroyed.

[Bill Z Bubba]

17 hours ago, Werner said:

Sounds like he'd get destroyed.

 

Actually, I bet Siphon Life will keep you standing without issue.

[Werner]

40 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

Actually, I bet Siphon Life will keep you standing without issue.

Well, OK, I’ll at least try when he’s built, so we’ll find out soonish. Trying to avoid being a one trick pony, I pushed his hit points and resists and regen as well. I’m thinking Rebirth, that even with high regen and Siphon Life, it’s still more healing that he’ll need. Not sure. I may experiment. In the old game, my DM/SR was simply weaker in most cases than my Katana/Dark. I predict it’ll be the same here. But I liked playing both. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Werner

[Bill Z Bubba]

With the SM and DC changes, I'm seriously considering revisiting DM/SR on a scrapper.

[Caulderone]

12 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

With the SM and DC changes,

The DC changes were abandoned.  Only SM got the update.

[Werner]

Shadow Maul is much improved, at least. It still doesn’t excite me, but at least it normally hits a few enemies. I took it and I use it.

[Caulderone]

22 hours ago, Sovera said:

 I also suppose soloing on a Tanker would be too easy though 😛 

21 hours ago, Werner said:

I'm doing 280 DPS on my current build.

My rough napkin math says the ST tank katana chain (GD-GC-SD-GC) would be doing about 180 DPS.  The regular mobs would be much easier (you being harder to kill), but the AVs would be an even longer slog.

[Werner]

16 minutes ago, Caulderone said:

My rough napkin math says the ST tank katana chain (GD-GC-SD-GC) would be doing about 180 DPS.  The regular mobs would be much easier (you being harder to kill), but the AVs would be an even longer slog.

Thank you for doing some napkin math. It sounds like L54 AVs would be difficult to impossible without help that I don't want to resort to, such as inspirations and Envenomed Daggers. My previous build had 180 DPS. I couldn't put down a level 54 AV even with Lore pets. I could do damage while the pets were up, assuming they didn't kill themselves, but the AV would heal back up while the pets were down. At 280 DPS I didn't need Lore pets at all for the few AVs I've tried, which is good since I lack Mastermind skills and they seem suicidal.

Edited April 21, 2020 by Werner

[nihilii]

On 4/20/2020 at 3:59 AM, Werner said:

Have others done or tried this? What primary/secondary/archetype?

Inspired by your thread, I went and had a go at this just now.

 

Using my Fire/Rad/Psi Sentinel... which is tuned for constant insp use, and built around Ageless. Fun times!

 

Needless to say, when you start from 40% melee 20% ranged 20% aoe defense, no DDR and a resistance cap of 75%? There was *a lot* of kiting involved. Starting as soon as mission 1. It took me roughly as long to get through each mission, with mission 3 rather than 4 being the longest.

 

Total time about 2 hours and 50 minutes, pretty intense all the way through. I must have had a dozen close calls if not even twice that, especially in the caves of mission 2 which aren't so friendly to kiting +4/x8 hordes. Switched from Ageless and Assault to Barrier and Melee to finish the remaining 2 missions, but that came with its own challenge as this character can't sustain her attack chain without Ageless.

 

For the final fight, I kept flying to take out the Nictus 1 by 1 while letting Rommie pelt me with his one ranged attack. No big problem here, save that Romulus will run and aggro everything on a character without aggro management (also true for mission 3).

Even on a first try success, easily one of the most challenging things I've done. This Sentinel had no business surviving some of the stuff she did, but there's a great deal of mitigation to be had from kiting. Thanks for pushing me to try this, Werner. 🙂

 

Re: Tanker subtopic. DA/Katana may or may not be a winner, but I expect many other flavors of DA would take on the same challenge without too much trouble. DA is beastly on a Tanker, to the point you can stuff the +RES Tanker proc in Death Shroud, all the +def +res uniques somewhere, and then basically forget about building for mitigation. I'll probably have a go tomorrow with the most unfair combos of them all (DA/TW) and report.

Edited April 21, 2020 by nihilii

[Werner]

1 hour ago, nihilii said:

first try success

Woohoo! Grats! I'm glad I inspired you. 🙂

[Werner]

1 hour ago, nihilii said:

I'll probably have a go tomorrow with the most unfair combos of them all (DA/TW) and report.

Super curious now. Yeah, Titan Weapons might be the best way to get the DPS from a Tanker, and Tanker Dark Armor is crazy good. If they can be merged well... oh, my. Yes. Yes, please. Do report back! 😀

[Frosticus]

On 4/19/2020 at 6:59 PM, Werner said:

Have others done or tried this? What primary/secondary/archetype? I don't really know what's possible in the current game. Apparently a lot.

Nicely done!

 

I have done this test on my sav/shield/mu stalker.

I failed MO, but did successfully complete 4x8 no insp/temp/lore with 4 deaths. I detailed the experience a bit in my savage guide.

it would have been impossible without melee hybrid and OWtS as well as ageless radial for the ddr (for me at least)

i kited lots and jousted Romy the whole time in the end. That particular combo has incredible 2 hit damage and a fast snipe so never sitting still really helped.

the extreme aoe of the build means you only have to face bosses. 

[Werner]

32 minutes ago, Frosticus said:

I have done this test on my sav/shield/mu stalker.

I failed MO, but did successfully complete 4x8 no insp/temp/lore with 4 deaths.

Four deaths isn't bad. Grats!

 

I used Lore, but I don't think my experience would have been any different without it, and if I do it again, I won't bother. Me no good with pets. No jousting with the Brute, of course, just get in melee range and tank the damage while putting out merely sufficient DPS that meant probably over an hour in the final fight. Perhaps most frustrating was the first ambush when I was finally down to just Romulus, and in fighting off the first ambush, Romulus healed almost to full again.

Edited April 21, 2020 by Werner

[nihilii]

I went through it with the DA/TW today!

 

Amusingly, this took 2 attempts. The character is built with the assumption of either Ageless Core (+recovery), or Ageless Radial (+debuff res) coupled with Conserve Power and Recovery Serum/the occasional blue insp. With no insps nor temps, her end becomes much harder to manage.

I noticed Ageless Radial on pretty quickly, but decided to tough it out. Until I had to AFK for lunch anyway right as I was engaging Sister Solaris' friends. So I went up flying, and when I came back ~30 minutes later, I used this "out of combat" opportunity to equip Ageless Core. To then jump into a big horde of dwarves and novas that accumulated around Sister Solaris.

First realisation: hey, that debuff resistance actually helped a fair bit. My life is going down quick. Better use Dark Regen.
Second realisation: now my attacks are taking a long time to recharge, and Dark Regen isn't coming back so fast either. Right, they've got slows, too. Well this is bad.

Third realisation: I'm not going to be able to take this. Better run away. That is, fly away.
Fourth realisation: why is my jetpack not working?! Oh. Oooh. The dwarves have -fly in their attacks too.

 

...and I died. Really, if I had been a little quicker on the draw, it would have been no trouble to (say) use the Jump Pack and hop away. Goes to show, overconfidence can wreck even some of the most overpowered characters.

Starting over, the second run was a smoother experience. Mission 1 and 2 were mostly uneventful, taking a few minutes each. In mission 2 I ran from cyst to cyst, exploiting the 17 aggro cap and positioning myself as to not "wake" the Bright Novas with AoEs while attacking cysts.

 

Mission 3 was a bit more challenging, I had to fly away from the beast pack a couple times; those minotaur -res -def debuffs can stack up with normal Cimerorans streaming in.

The biggest hurdle was endurance management. On the Sentinel, despite her being built with Ageless use, it wasn't too hard to deal with, given that Radiation Armor comes with a lot of endurance tools on Sents. This Tanker doesn't have so much leeway to play with.

So I did the unthinkable: dragged back Rest to the power bar.

 

(To be fair, I also used BP lore pets on the Sentinel. The +recovery buff was a significant help. This Tanker only has Longbows, and I made it a point to avoid using Lore.)

 

Took on Requiem by attacking him at full speed while Conserve Power was up, flying away on a hill, Resting, attacking again with a full end bar, flying away again... Rest recharges so fast nowadays, even level 54 AV regen can't really keep up. At least when the AV is Requiem, who damages himself with Oppressive Gloom.

Swapped back to Ageless Core for Romulus. Not much to say about it. Hit him until he goes down.

Mission 4 was more of the same. The final fight is really no trouble for a DA Tanker (provided you attack the Nictus first, so the ambushes linked to Romulus health don't jump you while they're all alive).

Final time: 1 hour 29 minutes. The same challenge played out so completely differently with the two characters, it didn't even feel repetitive. It is pretty interesting to go without insps for such challenges. You can often skip learning about your enemies by just popping lucks and powering through. Come to think of it, not only your enemies but your own characters. I found use in 2-slotted Defensive Sweep, in using knockdowns with purpose, even in Rest.

I did use Lore twice, mostly to speed up things. In mission 3 against the Romulus Phalanx, as the computer doesn't regen. They helped take 1/4 off it and died on the first wave of robots. Then in mission 4 once I had killed the autohit Nictus and the healing Nictus, as I was confident those previous kills proved I had the DPS and survivability to beat the next Nictus regardless (and the pets died right as the summoning Nictus died, making for a proper final duel with Rommie.)

[Werner]

That's awesome. It sounds like your DA/TW Tanker does better DPS than I do. Have you done Pylon runs? It's hard for me to imagine that you don't also have better damage mitigation. I'm going to have to play around in Mids'. Can you post your build as a starting point for me customizing it to my tastes? I'll want more than sustainable endurance without temps or insps to handle endurance draining enemies, but I may not have to lose much to get there. I have a TW/Bio Scrapper at 50 that I've not figured out what to do with even though Titan Weapons is lots of fun with all the AoE and knockdown. I may reroll him as a DA/TW Tanker. That combination would suit him better anyway. I have to educate myself a bit on Tanker DPS. Bruising in the tier 1 attack, right? So I have to spam Defensive Sweep? Except that it's a low DPS attack. Probably Ageless Radial, since I should be able to pull off 90% resists to all but Toxic, so then Barrier would only be helping defense, which is mostly only going to matter when suffering from cascading defense failure, which Ageless Radial should do a better job of keeping under control. Do I need Musculature for the DPS? With Ageless Radial  rather than Core, losing Cardiac or Agility will also make endurance management tougher. Hmmm. Well, I won't know much until I start poking at it. Thank you for giving this a shot and posting your results, approach, and experience. 🙂

[nihilii]

The recent Tanker buffs removed Bruising in favor of raising Tanker damage scale instead. So you're good with the usual Rend Armor -> Follow Through -> Arc of Destruction -> Crushing Blow -> Follow Through (or any other attack chain you prefer).

 

I went Musculature because all I care about is DPS, but I feel like Cardiac + Ageless Radial + Conserve Power would be better overall for a no insps/temps character (in fact, I would have crafted a quick T3 Cardiac 5 minutes in this TF if I had the materials for it).

I can't find recorded pylon times for this character on my spreadsheet, but I want to say she's above 300 DPS for sure.

 

Build

Spoiler

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		|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

 

Edit: I gave a Pylon a go, and got 2:55 = 344 DPS. This was without using Hybrid, and getting KBed twice (the build doesn't have enough KB protection for Pylons).

Another run with Hybrid on and getting KBed just once gave me 2:28 = 386 DPS.

Edited April 22, 2020 by nihilii