Tips on War Mace

[Greentea]

Hi guys, I hope you all are doing well.

 

I rolled Rad/Mace tank a while ago. I really like War Mace a lot due to KU, KD, and Stun. However, I really can't afford to take them all. Which abilities are skippable?

 

My build personally skipped Pulverize and Crowd Control. Is that a problem? What else do you guys skipped? 

[Yomo Kimyata]

I don't think I skip anything on a tank, but I would drop Whirling Mace before I would drop Crowd Control.

[Greentea]

Care to explain why? Whirling Mace is the only [Pb]AoE from War Mace. Though, it's nothing special...

[Yomo Kimyata]

Crowd Control has much higher damage and has 180 degree range and a really good chance for knockdown.  In general, I think I would sacrifice the meh damage on the mobs behind me for that. 

 

In practice, however, I keep them both. 

[Gobbledigook]

Don't drop it on your foot!

[Parabola]

Yeah really don't drop crowd control. It's a huge cone and it does massive damage. I swear I've seen it hit people behind me! It's the perfect power for a force feedback proc too.

 

Rad/mace is a bit of an embarrassment of aoe riches though. I'd drop whirling mace or ground zero before crowd control. You could also decide that you didn't need radiation therapy as a proc bomb but that somehow feels like sacrilege!

 

Shatter is also too good to drop. Hits hard enough to justify being used in the single target chain and with the tanks arc increase it can hit a lot of bad guys.

[Greentea]

So, I discovered Rad/Mace is hungry for more slots. Gosh, this is hard. 

 

By the way, I skipped GZ, I liked procbomb Therapy than slow mo GZ.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Heliodorus

[Parabola]

Your best single target attack chain is jawbreaker->clobber->shatter if you can get the recharge together to pull it off. That may allow you to save slots in single target powers you eventually won't be using. I like to put just a couple of winter ios into another low level attack so I've got it for exemping and the slow resist is always nice.

 

Shatter doubling up in both the single target and aoe attack chains is hugely efficient in terms of slots. That power is a bit more understated than clobber or crowd control but it's a real star of the set.

[Greentea]

7 hours ago, parabola said:

Your best single target attack chain is jawbreaker->clobber->shatter if you can get the recharge together to pull it off.

How much global recharge are we talkin' about? I made a build; took everything except Pulverize. I'm a bit scared of end issues though lol. Crazy expensive.

 

[zenblack]

If you can't make Jawbreaker work with slots, you can slide in you T1 for your +res proc and accept you are not a scrapper and you are forced into a T1 pick. Whirling Mace is jank. It has a smaller than  you'd expect radius and it is hardly worth the animation time while Crowd Control will always smash a good chunk of mobs.

 

Edit: If you are looking for more endurance than the max you can get out of all the green and blue parts you can always go physical perfection. Focused accuracy isn't bad as a tactics replacer and gives you acc res which is good if you are actually tanking.

Edited August 16, 2020 by zenblack

[Greentea]

I thought so too, but I do like doing lowbie TFs once in a while. Crowd Control unlocks at 38 while Whirling Mace can be used at 20. 😕 

 

I'm not a fan of Whirling Mace. Nothing special about it--radius is smaller, but it shouldn't be an issue due to beta decay/taunt.

anotherTANK.mxd

Edited August 16, 2020 by Heliodorus

[Warboss]

Just my 2 infs worth:

Radiation Therapy, I'd six slot with Preventative Medicine. If you want a proc in there, take only one. If understand procs (which is hard on my brain), I think on that power only one will fire at a time. Or, build it with all Oblitz.

 

Beta Decay, only really needs one slot. On other builds if you have slots available feel free to give it more, but usually slotting beyond the one is overkill.

 

Whirling Mace, I'd keep it, I like the power. I know some player do, some don't, I do.

 

Ground Zero, I slot with Oblitz and the KD proc from Avalanche. It's up enough that I can use to keep mobs off their feet.

 

Jawbreaker, do you need the proc in there? This will be a style of play call. If you noticing it adding significant damage, keep it. Otherwise the slot might be helpful elsewhere.

 

Clobber, again, check the proc. If you changed that over to six Hecatomb you'd add 6% Psi resist (Tox won't really matter at this point).

 

Other than those changes, I'd say it looks good. How does it play and how do you feel about it?

 

** Forgot to mention, did you know you still have 3 slots waiting to be used? The version of your Mids build that downloads shows 3 slots around level 44/45 that haven't been used.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Warboss

[aethereal]

1 hour ago, Warboss said:

Just my 2 infs worth:

Radiation Therapy, I'd six slot with Preventative Medicine. If you want a proc in there, take only one. If understand procs (which is hard on my brain), I think on that power only one will fire at a time. Or, build it with all Oblitz.

There is no mechanic in the game which prevents multiple procs from firing on the same power activation to the best of my knowledge.  There are procs that will fire on only at most one target of an AoE power, but no powers that will, if slotted with two different procs, prevent one of the two from firing.

[Tath99]

Go without a Travel Power before dropping [Crowd Control].  It is really good!  You *can* afford to get all Mace Attacks: on my Mace / Regen Brute, for example -- I went without Epics & Travel Power -- to stay pure to the Primary and Secondary.

 

 

[Greentea]

Yeah, I changed the build again. I had 6 prev med slotted in other rad tanker builds, but I find this particular build really tight, especially with war mace. 😕

 

Warboss: Beta Decay should be okay with two slots, it's not exactly overkill if you see the values. Combine that with proc bombed Rad Therapy is really good. I actually don't like Ground Zero. It requires accuracy, unlike Rad Therapy, which have higher base accuracy. Also, Ground Zero have a slow mo animation. Rad Therapy win hands down. The procs in Jawbreaker and Shatter definitely helps.

 

You made a good point about psionic resist from hecatomb. I might drop one Psi resistance IO, and change the proc with hecatomb damage IO. That means 3 slots left for lv44...

 

 

I was too tired and didn't noticed one slot left. /facepalm

Revised.mxd

Edited August 17, 2020 by Heliodorus
Fixed the build after Warboss suggestions.

[Greentea]

8 hours ago, Tath99 said:

Go without a Travel Power before dropping [Crowd Control].  It is really good!  You *can* afford to get all Mace Attacks: on my Mace / Regen Brute, for example -- I went without Epics & Travel Power -- to stay pure to the Primary and Secondary.

 

 

That might be true, but I need Combat Jumping. Super Jump is just a bonus.

[Haijinx]

9 hours ago, Tath99 said:

Go without a Travel Power before dropping [Crowd Control].  It is really good!  You *can* afford to get all Mace Attacks: on my Mace / Regen Brute, for example -- I went without Epics & Travel Power -- to stay pure to the Primary and Secondary.

 

 

Agree

 

Skip Epic Attacks

Skip Leadership junk

Skip Travel Powers 

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by Haijinx

[KC4800]

Very late getting to this, sorry.

 

I took all powers from primary and secondary on my Rad/WM

I assigned 36 extra slots to primary and 24 to secondary.

 

Since you're asking about WM specifically:

Bash 1 slot - I put the Chance for +Resist ATO in there, only really throw it when beating down bosses who can hurt you

Pulverize 5 slots Gladiator Strike, I like the set bonuses

Jawbreaker 6 slots Kinetic Crash I highly recommend this as it is a most useful attack when you exempt down. Plus lifting up baddies off their feet is signature of the set, makes it fun.

Taunt 1 slot

BU 3 slots

Clobber 5 slots, 3 Hecatomb, 1 Absolute Amaz Stun Duration Purple, and Rope a Dope Acc/Stun, again a signature power of the set. I have always played WM even back when clobber did no damage on live. Can't imagine playing this set without a long duration Stun. 

WM 4 slots Superior Gauntleted Fist

Shatter 4 Slots, 1 ACC IO+5, 3 Armageddons

CC 4 slots Scirroco's Dervish

[Sovera]

59 minutes ago, KC4800 said:

Very late getting to this, sorry.

 

I took all powers from primary and secondary on my Rad/WM

I assigned 36 extra slots to primary and 24 to secondary.

 

Since you're asking about WM specifically:

Bash 1 slot - I put the Chance for +Resist ATO in there, only really throw it when beating down bosses who can hurt you

Pulverize 5 slots Gladiator Strike, I like the set bonuses

Jawbreaker 6 slots Kinetic Crash I highly recommend this as it is a most useful attack when you exempt down. Plus lifting up baddies off their feet is signature of the set, makes it fun.

Taunt 1 slot

BU 3 slots

Clobber 5 slots, 3 Hecatomb, 1 Absolute Amaz Stun Duration Purple, and Rope a Dope Acc/Stun, again a signature power of the set. I have always played WM even back when clobber did no damage on live. Can't imagine playing this set without a long duration Stun. 

WM 4 slots Superior Gauntleted Fist

Shatter 4 Slots, 1 ACC IO+5, 3 Armageddons

CC 4 slots Scirroco's Dervish

I have to confess this slotting hurts mah sole.

[KC4800]

try some balm

[Sovera]

17 minutes ago, KC4800 said:

try some balm

It's fine to slot the way you'd like. I just didn't want new players to think it was a good way to do it.

[KC4800]

58 minutes ago, Sovera said:

It's fine to slot the way you'd like. I just didn't want new players to think it was a good way to do it.

Yes, only old players should slot this way

[CaptainLupis]

38 minutes ago, KC4800 said:

Yes, only old players should slot this way

I'm afraid I am with Sovera on this one, out of context of the rest of your build (or knowing what your build goals were) that slotting just looks bizarre. If it works for you though that's all that really matters.

[KC4800]

4 hours ago, CaptainLupis said:

I'm afraid I am with Sovera on this one, out of context of the rest of your build (or knowing what your build goals were) that slotting just looks bizarre. If it works for you though that's all that really matters.

Reading the OP, he/she said they liked War Mace for the KU, KD and Stun. well, hell thats what I slotted for. Not for a premium attack chain that must be followed to get maximum efficiency. Just have fun anyway you like though.  

[zenblack]

Well. Part of the fun of War Mace is it can hit really hard even though smashing is resisted quit a bit. But if you like that slotting and think it's good enough, who are we, the people who have a different viewpoints on what words mean, to tell you anything?