Introduction to Arachnos Widows - Night/Blood/Fortunata

[KaizenSoze]

Version .2 updated for page 7 changes

The format for this guide is taken from the Stalker Guide written by @Croax

 

Strengths

  All Widows

    Easy to cap all three positional defense type

     Critical melee hits from stealth

     85% Psi resists

     Scaling resists, as HP falls, all resists increase

     Versatile playstyle

     Excellent support via toggles for defense, toHit, and damage. Can double up on all toggles using the Leadership pool

     Melee damage scale 1.0

     Ranged damage scale 1.0

  Night Widow

    High melee damage with the smart use of placate

    100% critical damage build when using Slash or Eviscerate

    Stalker like playstye while providing good support

    Moderate ranged AOE damage

    1900+ Hit points using Pain Tolerance, max HP IOs, and other buffs

    High durability for a non tank/brute, can exceed tank/brute  durability with smart play against certain enemies

    Solo: mobs running is a real problem. Stacking dots, debuff, and the fact they miss a lot, causes the mob AI to start running very early. Placate can help somewhat, but provoke is your best option.

  Fortunata

    Moderate ranged damage

    High melee damage

    Good controls with Fated Sealed

    High damage PBAOE

    Low hit points for a melee - Accolades + Unbreakable Guard 7.5% = 1283 hp

    Critical hits limited to only 66%

 

  Weaknesses

  Endurance issues due fast firing melee attacks

   Limited defense debuff resistance

   Hard to reach high resists, except psi

   Expensive for a max build - lots of purples and winter sets

   Most damage is lethal or psi. Can be very tedious when fighting robots solo

   These can be greatly improved with IOs and Incarnate, but leveling can be painful.

      

ATO inherent power

Conditioning provides a slight increase to regeneration and recovery. Honestly, it’s not a great power as one of the biggest pains to leveling is still endurance.

 

Edited April 22 by KaizenSoze

[KaizenSoze]

Warning a lot of opinion below

M = Mandatory

O = Optional

S = Skip

 

Primaries   

 Widow Training

    Poison Dart

      O - moderate damage full slotted. Only for pure ranged builds.

    Swipe

      O - fast melee attack - good spot for Spider's Bite ATOs

    Strike

      O/M  - moderate melee attack - optional for some Fortunata, mandatory for Night Widows 

    Dart Burst

      O  - narrow ranged cone. Pure ranged builds only.

    Follow Up

      M/O - Damage, plus to hit and global damage buff, which can stack on itself self once

                 Night Widows have to pick either Follow up or Build up, while Fortunata are not restricted 

    Spin

      M - Good Melee PBAOE, but a bit endurance heavy. See placate power for more details.

    Lunge

      M - Strong melee attack

    Confront

      S - Single target provoke, one of the least taken powers in the whole game! If you really want a taunt take Presence: Provoke.

 

  Night Widow Training

   Mental Blast (page 7)

     O - Moderate damage. Good for finishing off psi weak mobs.

    Build Up

     M - Damage/To Hit buff. Must pick either this power or Follow Up. See placate power for more details.

    Smoke Grenade

     O - Useful only in rare situations, clicking items with dangerous mobs nearby

    Slash

     M - High damage melee attack. Lead from stealth with this attack for a 100% crit.

    Eviscerate

     S - 90 deg melee cone, longish animation. Hard to hit more than two mobs. But it’s your only other Night Widow AOE. Requires practice. From stealth, 50% chance to crit for 100% damage bonus against each target.

    Psychic Scream

     O - Moderate/High damage ranged cone. Somewhat works against Spin. Good on teams. See placate powers for more details

 

  Fortunata Training

    Mental Blast

     O - Fortunata’s have much better ranged attacks, but for a ranged Fortunata you might need it for an attack chain

    Telekinetic Blast

     O - Moderate ranged damage, knockback, possible Force Feedback recharge. Fated Sealed makes the knockback happen 100% of the time.

    Subdue

     M/S - High ranged damage,  MAG 3 immobilize is just a bonus for ranged builds.  Fated Sealed makes the immobilization happen 100% of the time.

    Aim

     M - Fortunatas get both Follow up and Aim. Take both.

    Psychic Scream

     S - Low damage ranged cone

    Dominate

     M - Mag 3 hold, but can be proc’ed into a high damage attack with a good chance to hold bosses

    Psionic Tornado

     O - Moderate Ranged AOE with knockup, not knockback. Long cast time, large radius, decent damage, does not procs well, but takes Force Feedback for recharge. Much better than Psychic Scream. Fated Sealed makes the knockup happen 100% of the time. It can be a good crowd control tool.

    Scramble Thoughts (page 7)

     O/M - Mag 4 stun with a psi damage dot. Very useful for controlling bosses. Excellent soloing power.

    Total Domination

     O - Mag 3 AOE hold, long recharge. Fated Sealed adds 50% to the duration.

    Psychic Wail

     M - Very high PBAOE damage. Follow->Aim->Psychic Wail massive damage plus a mag 3 stun. Must take otherwise why are you playing a Fortunta!

 

Secondaries

  Teamwork  

      Combat Training: Defensive

      M -Passive melee only defense

     Combat Training: Offensive

      O - Passive. Can only slot accuracy IOs, not to hit. Provides 33% toHit debuff resistance

     Tactical Training: Maneuvers

      M - Bread and butter defense toggle

     Indomitable Will

      M - Must have mez resist toggle plus some psi resists

     Tactical Training: Assault

      O - 15% group damage buff, nice to have if you have the room

     Tactical Training: Leadership

      O - Great group buff, 1 Hami/D-Sync, 2 slot or 6 slot with Guasian set

     Foresight

      M - Non-toggle mez protection, psi resists. Plus scaling resists that increase as your health drops.

 

  Widow Teamwork

    Pain Tolerance

      M/O - Provides up to 7.5% resistance to all. Up to 322 max health.. Greatly increases the durability of Night Widows. I think it’s mandatory, but if you’re happy with your current build you could skip it. Greatly helps with getting 2 shot, before your scaling resists kick in.

    Mask Presence

       M - Makes you a mini stalker. If you hit Slash or Eviscerate you get a 100% critical damage bonus. All other melee attacks only get a 66% bonus. Ranged attacks do not get any bonus damage. The stealth radius is greater than the Fortunata version, so Celerity IO in sprint  is not required to hide from bosses.

     Mental Training

       M - Recharge, running, flying bonus. Large resistance to running, flying, recharge debuffs.

     Mind Link

       M - Large group defense bonus, nice to hit, plus psi resists. Not hard to perma on Night Widows, hard to perma on Fortunatas.

     Placate

       M - Fast recharging AOE placate. There is a 5 second window to get a melee attack off for critical damage, even if you are hit. This greatly improved the effectiveness of Spin and somewhat Eviscerate. I prefer Build Up over Follow now, to maximize critical hits. You must take this power, unless you are tanking for the team. Placating a mob will cause it to shift to the next teammate, so it works against tanking.

     Tactical Training: Vengeance

       O - Personally, I forget to use, by the time I remember I have it the player has rezed

     Elude

       O - 60% positional with defense debuff protection. Endurance crashes at the end. I have heard it’s useful in PvP

 

  Fortunata Teamwork

    Fated Sealed(Page 7)

      O/M - Increases the duration of all controls by 33%, mezz resistance by 35%, makes secondary control effects happen 100% of the time

    Mask Presence

       M - Makes you a mini stalker. Your first melee, not ranged,  attack gets a 66% damage bonus, critical, stalkers get 100% bonus. Combined with the Celerity stealth IO in sprint makes you invisible to most mobs.

     Mind Link

       M - Large group defense bonus, nice to hit, plus psi resists. Not hard to perma on Night Widows, hard to perma on Fortunatas.

     Confuse

       O - Nice to have with Coercive Persuasion proc, but not used often

     Tactical Training: Vengeance

       O - Personally, I forget to use, by the time I remember I have it the player has rezed

     Aura of Confusion

       O - Nice to have with Coercive Persuasion proc, but not used often. Long recharge.

Edited April 22 by KaizenSoze
smoke nade update

[KaizenSoze]

ATOs

  Dominion of Arachnos - Take it for the set bonuses. The -dmg and fear are not that great.

  Spider's Bite - Your first ATO piece should be the global toxic proc. The set bonuses are also nice.

 

Patron Pools - VEATs only get access to four pools

  Leviathan Mastery - Mix of short and long cast, expensive AOEs

  Mace Mastery - Shatter armor and Web envelope.

  Mu Mastery - Decent AOE immobilize and damage. Energy damage which is good for robots which are resistant to lethal and psi.

  Soul Mastery - Gloom is a very good ranged negative energy attack. Dark Obliteration is a decent negative energy AOE 

 

Build Descriptions

These are terms I like to use, they are not fixed categories, but preferences in how I think builds are designed.

Night Widow - Claws melee - Night Widow Training/Widow Teamwork

Night Tank - Night Widow build for very difficult content like soloing ITFs or hardmode

PUG Tank - Night Widow build for team tank when a tank/brute is not available 

Blood Widow - Hybrid melee/ranged/controller  - Fortunata Training/Fortunata Teamwork

Fortunata -  Controller/ranged   -  Fortunata Training/Fortunata Teamwork

Fort Tank - Fortunata build for very difficult content like hard mode or soloing some TFs

 

Build Guidelines

  Widows only get 26% Defense Debuff Resistance, so you need to have greater than 45% positional defense in the end. It’s not that hard to get there with IO sets and enough recharge to make Mind Link perma, but it can be expensive. Fortunatas are noticeably more expensive to build than Night Widows, because Mind Link has a higher recharge on Fortunatas. Purple sets are a must for Fortunatas if you want perma Mind Link. But perma Fortunata Mind Link is not required, if you play smart.

  For soloing 4x8, I go for a minimum of 50% positionals. Defense debuffs are becoming more common.

  Night widow must take placate. It allows you to get more critical hits and removes attackers for 10+ seconds. Combined with Pain Tolerance, you can be pretty tanky. I tend to use Build Up over Follow Up now to maximize critical hits. Build Up->Placate->Slash is your bread and butter single target attack chain.

  Blood Widow’s single target attack chains are the same as Night Widow. If Psychic Wail is up, then Follow Up->Aim->Wail ASAP. I will often use hide to get in the middle of groups and start with Aim->Wail.

  Fortunatas use Psychic Wail just like Blood Widows, but will back out to play at range.

  Fortunatas Scrambled Thoughts is great for knocking off mob toggles. If you slot for stun duration, you can perma stun two bosses.

 

Leveling suggestions

Keep toggles to the bare minimum until you get accolades, Incarnates, stamina, and health piece that help recovery

Endurance issues are a normal pain of leveling. Plan for it, slot endurance and endurance reducers. SG or vendor endurance buffs if you can afford them.

You are very squishy in the beginning, low/moderate  hp and low defense, this lasts until better slotting and mind link is up most of the time. Use Super Group base buffs to help ease the pain.

Once, you have endurance and defense slotted well. You can ex-emp down very well till level 15, then you lose your stealth.

Edited April 22 by KaizenSoze

[KaizenSoze]

Melee widow leveling build to 23. You might not be able to run both Assault and Leadership full time. If you have end buffs. Let em rip.

Spoiler

Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.1.25
https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Leveling Melee Build: Level 24 Magic Arachnos Widow
Primary Power Set: Widow Training
Secondary Power Set: Teamwork
Power Pool: Speed

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Swipe -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(3), EndRdx-I(19)
Level 1: Combat Training: Defensive -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(9), DefBuff-I(17)
Level 2: Strike -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(7), EndRdx-I(19)
Level 4: Combat Training: Offensive -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(5), Acc-I(5)
Level 6: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- EndRdx-I(A), DefBuff-I(11), DefBuff-I(17)
Level 8: Follow Up -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(9), Dmg-I(11), EndRdx-I(23)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- EndRdx-I(A), ResDam-I(23)
Level 12: Spin -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(13), Dmg-I(13), EndRdx-I(21)
Level 14: Lunge -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(15), Dmg-I(15), EndRdx-I(21)
Level 16: Super Speed -- Run-I(A)
Level 18: Tactical Training: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 20: Tactical Training: Leadership -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 22: Foresight -- ResDam-I(A)
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
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: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 1: Conditioning
Level 2: Rest -- EndMod-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(3), EndMod-I(7)
------------
------------

 

 

 

Leveling hybrid range-melee widow build to 23. You might not be able to run both Assault and Leadership full time. If you have end buffs. Let em rip.

Spoiler

Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.1.25
https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Hydrid ranged melee: Level 24 Natural Arachnos Widow
Primary Power Set: Widow Training
Secondary Power Set: Teamwork
Power Pool: Speed

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Poison Dart -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(3), EndRdx-I(5)
Level 1: Combat Training: Defensive -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(7), DefBuff-I(15)
Level 2: Strike -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(3), EndRdx-I(9)
Level 4: Combat Training: Offensive -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(5), Acc-I(11)
Level 6: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- EndRdx-I(A), DefBuff-I(7), DefBuff-I(15), DefBuff-I(21)
Level 8: Follow Up -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(9), EndRdx-I(11), Dmg-I(21)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Spin -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(13), EndRdx-I(13), Dmg-I(19)
Level 14: Lunge -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(17), EndRdx-I(17), Dmg-I(19)
Level 16: Tactical Training: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Super Speed -- Run-I(A)
Level 20: Tactical Training: Leadership -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 22: Foresight -- ResDam-I(A)
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
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: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 1: Conditioning
Level 2: Rest -- EndMod-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(23)
------------
------------

 

 

 

 

Full builds. Both Gulbasaur and Tidge have their builds in the thread. Tidge's ranged build is on the last page.

 

Here is my Blood Widow build

 

Pure Night Widow melee build

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by KaizenSoze

[Gulbasaur]

I like how you presented the guide! Very clear and I'm 100% going to rip off the style of it in future. 

19 hours ago, KaizenSoze said:

  Dominion of Arachnos - Take it for the set bonuses. The -dmg and fear are not that great.

Blasphemer! Fear is basically a pulsing Hold. For a single slot, it's very potent for whole-team damage mitigation. 

 

19 hours ago, KaizenSoze said:

Psychic Scream

     S - Low damage ranged cone with a long cast time. Might as well be zero stars

I actually really like this power - it's very proc-friendly and the Fear ATO proc was made to go in a power like this. Because of the (relative) fragility of widows, a lot of their damage mitigation comes from control and being able to fear 25% of a group of enemies very regularly is a huge boon. I'd say the same thing about the Confuse powers - I'd consider them essential, but that's very much a playstyle thing. Being a controller with tanking capacity is a fortunata's whole shtick so I think it's a good idea to lean into it. 

 

19 hours ago, KaizenSoze said:

   Expensive for a max build - lots of purples and winter sets

I'd debate this unless you're chasing recharge, which I think is less mandatory than many people assume - I think I only had one purple IO apart from the ATOs until recently. 

 

Great guide!

Edited September 30, 2020 by Gulbasaur

[KaizenSoze]

2 hours ago, Gulbasaur said:

I like how you presented the guide! Very clear and I'm 100% going to rip off the style of it in future. 

Blasphemer! Fear is basically a pulsing Hold. For a single slot, it's very potent for whole-team damage mitigation. 

 

I actually really like this power - it's very proc-friendly and the Fear ATO proc was made to go in a power like this. Because of the (relative) fragility of widows, a lot of their damage mitigation comes from control and being able to fear 25% of a group of enemies very regularly is a huge boon. I'd say the same thing about the Confuse powers - I'd consider them essential, but that's very much a playstyle thing. Being a controller with tanking capacity is a fortunata's whole shtick so I think it's a good idea to lean into it. 

 

I'd debate this unless you're chasing recharge, which I think is less mandatory than many people assume - I think I only had one purple IO apart from the ATOs until recently. 

 

Great guide!

Thank you for feedback!

 

I updated the guide to take your comments into account.

 

Steal the format, but thank Croax, as I stole it from him.

Edited September 30, 2020 by KaizenSoze

[tidge]

I always like reading about people's takes on the AT, but I think focusing on Night/Blood might clarify the opinion on a few things (like choice of powers). I think this guide did a slight disservice to a two areas which might help it stand out. As written, it appears to be more of a guide for final (or at least late-game) builds.

 

1) The guide explicitly directs players to switch to Blue Side. There is no explanation of why this is recommended, nor is there a description of what is given up. If this is a guide for beginners, everything should be on the table.

 

2) The guide doesn't explain much about play style and choices pre-24. This may not interest everyone, but if the player is new to the class I don't think it is fair to assume power-leveling into the mandatory respec. Power choices at low levels will depend on play style. I have found that pre-level 24 I go heavier on the toggle choices specifically to team. Powers at lower levels are slot-starved, so bonuses from team toggles 'go farther' at low levels.

 

For example: I don't value the ATO %Fear proc (on a Fortunata) as much as @Gulbasaur does; however I find that it is more useful when leveling up than when in a final build. At end-game (and when exemplaring) the %Fear has value as a control, so my $0.02 is this: if going for a (many piece) set bonus from Dominion of Arachnos, take a good look at the build's powers for Enhancement Diversification and (power) recharge for proc-ability before deciding to simply drop any %proc in place.

 

There is nothing wrong with builds for extreme end-game content, but that isn't the whole game. There are also different end-game play choices. My end-game builds very rarely have as many (team) toggles. I want to point out that there are many different types of 'end-game' play styles. For example, when I solo I rarely use Mind Link... for the type of content I run, I use it as the mitigation for the lack of  defense debuff resistance (DDR). If a build can get  Perma-Mind Link, by all means there is no reason to NOT keep it up.

 

One thing that I feel should be always be mentioned for the VEATs is that players have access to multiple builds: It is easy (if expensive) to use the multiple builds to explore different power choices/career paths. You can have both a Widow and a Fortunata, and the 3rd build slot can be used to cover different play styles (solo v. team).

 

[KaizenSoze]

Tidge you're right. I am working on leveling builds this week.

 

Something I could use help with.

 

I'll put on note about why new players should head to the blue side.

 

Also, about the multiple builds.

 

All feedback is appreciated.

[KaizenSoze]

Does anyone know how to get the sticky flag on a post?

[Kazander]

Question, in the guide you have the following:

 

Slash

     M - High damage melee attack. Lead from stealth with this attack for a large crit until you get slash

 

What are we using slash for until we get slash?  is there another power we should swap out or sub in before slash or afterwards?

[Greycat]

I'd argue with "go to blue side and start leveling," personally. Not only because it makes the "redside has fewer people" self-fulfilling, but - well, the E in EAT and VEAT stands for "epic," which in original-developer-speak meant the 1-50 story arcs Khelds and SOA/Widows get. That said, I'm not a fan of the VEAT arcs... but there's one practical reason to wait to switch, even if you don't care about those, if that's what you want to do. The (Port Oakes, 10-ish) arc given by Brick Johnson unlocks another costume slot, for those interested, for you to "disguise yourself as a hero." Early leveling's fast, in any case, so it's not taking *that* long to wait.

 

(And nitpick - misspelled Kheldians in the bit where you're talking about Cim.) 🙂

[KaizenSoze]

1 hour ago, Kazander said:

Question, in the guide you have the following:

 

Slash

     M - High damage melee attack. Lead from stealth with this attack for a large crit until you get slash

 

What are we using slash for until we get slash?  is there another power we should swap out or sub in before slash or afterwards?

I juggled lunge and slash. Fixed now.

[KaizenSoze]

1 hour ago, Greycat said:

I'd argue with "go to blue side and start leveling," personally. Not only because it makes the "redside has fewer people" self-fulfilling, but - well, the E in EAT and VEAT stands for "epic," which in original-developer-speak meant the 1-50 story arcs Khelds and SOA/Widows get. That said, I'm not a fan of the VEAT arcs... but there's one practical reason to wait to switch, even if you don't care about those, if that's what you want to do. The (Port Oakes, 10-ish) arc given by Brick Johnson unlocks another costume slot, for those interested, for you to "disguise yourself as a hero." Early leveling's fast, in any case, so it's not taking *that* long to wait.

 

(And nitpick - misspelled Kheldians in the bit where you're talking about Cim.) 🙂

I was going off personal experience. The red side was a ghost yard when I made my Widow.

 

The extra costume wiki link mentions Brick Johnson. So, that is covered.

 

Fixed the typo.

[Doomrider]

On 9/29/2020 at 6:19 AM, KaizenSoze said:

 

   No defense debuff resistance

 

This isn't technically true. I would reword it to 'Low defense debuff resistance'. With Foresight slotted properly you can get close to 27% DDR. Not a lot, but it's something.

[KaizenSoze]

48 minutes ago, Doomrider said:

This isn't technically true. I would reword it to 'Low defense debuff resistance'. With Foresight slotted properly you can get close to 27% DDR. Not a lot, but it's something.

Doh. How could have I not noticed that!

 

Mids only shows 17%, but it's not listed in the power description, it's only on the status resist page.

 

In game show 27%, which as you said isn't much, but it's more than I thought.

 

The best thing about writing the FAQ. I have already learned a few things I didn't know.

Extra costume slots and DDR are two.

[RobotLove]

On 9/29/2020 at 8:19 AM, KaizenSoze said:

Foresight

      M - Non-toggle mez protection, psi resists. Plus scaling resists that increase as your hps drop.

Also your largest chunk of positional defense (7.5%) outside of Mind Link. TT:Manuvers being 5% for comparison.

 

On 9/29/2020 at 8:20 AM, KaizenSoze said:

Leveling suggestions

Keep toggles to the bare minimum until you get accolades, stamina, and health piece that help recovery

Endurance issues are a normal pain of leveling. Plan for it, slot endurance and endurance reducers.

You are very squishy in the beginning, low hp and low defense, this lasts until better slotting and mind link is up most of the time.

Once, you have endurance and defense slotted well. You can ex-emp down very well till level 15, then you lose your stealth.

The celerity stealth piece is very useful as your normal stealth will not allow you to stand next to mobs. Buy it early if you can.

I would suggest Combat Training: Offensive with 2-3 slots early. Even at DO levels this should give enough global acc to skip yellows in attacks entirely and just slot end redux. Good until the 30s then can be respecced out of for the later game.

 

On 9/29/2020 at 8:20 AM, KaizenSoze said:

Patron Pools - Generally not interesting, unless you like pets or PvP

  Leviathan Mastery - Long cast, expensive AOEs

  Mace Mastery - Shatter armor and Web envelope for PvP.

  Mu Mastery - Decent AOE immobilize and damage

  Soul Mastery - Gloom is a very good ranged negative energy attack.

Dark Obliteration has performed well for me in place of scream or tornado. Better cast time, good damage, good damage type, good debuff, lots of proc potential. Exemping is its only real issue.

Darkest Night can help 'fill the void' as it were if you don't/can't perma-Mind Link. Main drawback is its high end cost.

Soul has a lot of good options beyond Gloom.

Edited September 30, 2020 by RobotLove

[Gulbasaur]

Super late to notice, but CT:Defensive has a secret scaling resistance buff attached to it that duplicates Foresight's buff. It's not mentioned anywhere in game, but it's definitely there if you check your stats.

[KaizenSoze]

1 hour ago, Gulbasaur said:

Super late to notice, but CT:Defensive has a secret scaling resistance buff attached to it that duplicates Foresight's buff. It's not mentioned anywhere in game, but it's definitely there if you check your stats.

Interesting. I will have to test that to see how much resists it provides.

[Gulbasaur]

I am bored, unemployed and avoiding doing anything productive, so I tested it.

 

Edit: CT:D, not CT:O

 

Both are something like 0.4% resists for every 1% under 75%, so that's 0.8% with the two together.

 

Reactive Defences adds 3% plus 0.1% resists for every 1% hit points you lose.

 

I wish I put half the amount of effort I put into answering random queries on the internet as I did my MA thesis.

 

Edited November 19, 2020 by Gulbasaur

[KaizenSoze]

Great find. That's a lot of extra resists. I will update the guide.

 

[twozerofoxtrot]

On 9/29/2020 at 10:20 PM, KaizenSoze said:

Arachnos are the only non-incarnate mobs you will run into that are dangerous. They have very high defense buffs. I have seen -33% def at 4x8.

Hi, sorry for the pseudo-necro, but about this line: Have you ever run against 54 PPD? 

 

The are stacked with PBs, which have -def on every attack they use outside of dwarf form, and the dwarves taunt. This is offset by taking Tactical Training: Assault to a large degree, but it can still create frustration on Blood Widows and Fortunatas attempted to disrupt priority targets in a fight. Also all of those attacks are energy, so unless specifically built for it resistance is going to be on the low side. Oh, and sometimes they rez themselves. 

 

The way I usually get around this is the same way I handle them on my Invul/ Tanker: pop Ageless Radial. Although it's got a long recharge, typically the effects within the first half of the duration are enough of a boost to get you through a massive DDR failure.

 

Just to emphasize, again I run into problems with this group even with an Invul Tanker. Meaning Defense stacked up to the 70's in a full dogpile of enemies can still get cascaded into sub-softcap. They are my #1 most hated enemy group across all of my characters.

 

Consider adding them to this line?

[Gulbasaur]

On 3/2/2021 at 4:33 AM, twozerofoxtrot said:

Hi, sorry for the pseudo-necro, but about this line: Have you ever run against 54 PPD? 

I'd say that PDD are almost incarnate tier and I wish there were more mobs like that. I'm one of the "the game gets too easy too easily" people and mechanics that can't by bypassed by just having lots of defence are always welcome.

 

Oddly, fortunatas (and mind controllers) might be the best weapon against Peacebringers - psi damage is their weak point.

[KaizenSoze]

On 3/1/2021 at 11:33 PM, twozerofoxtrot said:

Hi, sorry for the pseudo-necro, but about this line: Have you ever run against 54 PPD? 

 

The are stacked with PBs, which have -def on every attack they use outside of dwarf form, and the dwarves taunt. This is offset by taking Tactical Training: Assault to a large degree, but it can still create frustration on Blood Widows and Fortunatas attempted to disrupt priority targets in a fight. Also all of those attacks are energy, so unless specifically built for it resistance is going to be on the low side. Oh, and sometimes they rez themselves. 

 

The way I usually get around this is the same way I handle them on my Invul/ Tanker: pop Ageless Radial. Although it's got a long recharge, typically the effects within the first half of the duration are enough of a boost to get you through a massive DDR failure.

 

Just to emphasize, again I run into problems with this group even with an Invul Tanker. Meaning Defense stacked up to the 70's in a full dogpile of enemies can still get cascaded into sub-softcap. They are my #1 most hated enemy group across all of my characters.

 

Consider adding them to this line?

I updated to include the three mobs at can give you fits at 54. Archnos, PPD, and Soldiers of Rularuu.

[Heraclea]

From Victory days I seem to remember a slotting trick for Mind Link, where you couldn't slot the power for recharge in a straightforward way, but if you slotted Defense/Recharge buttons from many different defense sets, you could add substantial recharge to the power.  Does this still work? 

[Giovanni Valia]

7 hours ago, Heraclea said:

From Victory days I seem to remember a slotting trick for Mind Link, where you couldn't slot the power for recharge in a straightforward way, but if you slotted Defense/Recharge buttons from many different defense sets, you could add substantial recharge to the power.  Does this still work? 

 

You're probably thinking of Adjusted Targeting: Recharge IO. That will give you the biggest boost to recharge in Mind Link. You can stuff a LoTG, and Shield Wall IOs in with recharge as well. Boosting the IOs will help cover the recharge gap a bit. I'm able to get perma Mind Link this way.