Upgrading my demon/dark

[DocMidknight]

  I'm at a point where I'm considering doing a respec on my demon/dark MM but I'm kinda hesitant because I enjoy her build but I'm thinking I can get more out of her. My dilemma is I'm currently at the defense soft cap for range and the resist cap for s/l with soul mastery if I swap over to ice I can swap the resist for the s/l defense cap while still keeping ranged cap. I can possibly still manage to get resist cap as well but that would mean putting the glad and steadfast proc into my demons and rely on their shield casts to get it.....currently I'm capped without them.   Anyone have any advice......to respec or not to respec, that is the question?

 

 

  Thanks everyone for any help that gets thrown my way

[Force Redux]

Hello Doc. I think my big question is: How often are you in melee range getting whacked by melee critters with bit sticks and kicks? Because that's what the S/L defense would be protecting you from.

 

I personally think that with proper positioning  and use of your debuffs you do not need to build for Ranged AND Smash/Lethal, its a big overkill, unless you are tankerminding with things in melee range. Then that's different. 

 

Dark is about layers of protection. Damage Debuffs. ToHit Debuffs, Resistances, Defense, Heals, Fears, Stuns, Pet Aggro, etc. Unlike a Bots/FF, defense is not the only metric you should focus on, nor does it have to be at cap. 

 

And when you're in those iTrials, don't forget, you'll inherit buffs from others, so you'll make cap on most things without trying. 

 

I personally find my Demons/Dark does well in all content with my base Ranged Defense at 26% and my resists (with Gargoyle aura and Dark Embrace) as follows:

 

Smash/Lethal 68%

Fire 31%

Cold  18%

Energy 27%

Negative 47%

Psi 22%

Toxic 45%

 

That's for my MM herself. Not the demons.

 

Personally, I find I'm more survivable focusing on an array of things. 

 

If you could post a Mid's build, that might prove helpful. But based on my understanding of what you are saying, I'd be inclined to say do not respec, unless you find you are getting KIA'd a lot for some reason. And if you are, it's probably more about tweaking playstyle than numbers. Just my 2 Inf. 

[DocMidknight]

@Force Redux  I'm usually in the fray so to speak.....I play my MM's kinda like I play my scrappers. With dark I feel a little more confident in  my ability to tankermind...or in my case scrappermind may be a better wording as most of my toons are dark based.  Most of my ranged defenses came from a heavy use of the accurate debuff set cloud senses as I've found it works beautifully in my dark MM and in Dark Servant, I even slotted my heal with it to spam even more debuff.

 

   Best way to describe what I do is...…..pick the biggest bully in the yard and send the boys to go get him as I deal with his buddies, when they get done with that send them to the next or just let them cause mayhem. I'm switching between attacks, stuns/debuffs and heals. While I love my current build I'm just trying to see if a respec would benefit or leave as is......one piece of advice I was given was build the range/AoE up and not worry about the rest.  The main consideration was slotting up my attacks a bit more, currently my main attack is fearsome stare with it proc'd along with lash and nightfall both with an a/d/r from a purp set and a proc.

 

   A far as the KIA aspect...…..maybe once in a while and usually if I've walked away from my game while in a fight against arachnos, carnies or malta…….but she's one tough demon girl.

 

Appreciate the insight there @Force Redux  Thanks

 

   

[Force Redux]

Doc, its interesting to run into a different playstyle from my own, I'm glad you shared that. I definitely think if you are doing all right now, no need to change, but that's just me. On the other hand we do get alternate builds for a reason, why not try it and see how it goes? Respecs are easy enough on HC. Share your thoughts if you do respec. I'm sure some folks might like to see a bit more about your build. I'm wondering, did you go for Hybrid Melee?

[DocMidknight]

@Force Redux....I keep forgetting about the alt build idea. Thanks for reminding me.  Went hybrid support for the added pet damage, may switch that though as my playstyle has evolved into a scrappermind over the course of discovery on my demon mm.

 

 

  Thanks again for the ideas