Crab vs Huntsman

[lokiie1984]

I've been running Huntsman for a pretty long time now and i wanted to try out Crab but i haven't messed with crab since the game was live. So i'm curious about play style differences if there are any.

 

Pros and cons of crab too if people know any. I haven't decided yet if i would want to go all ranged, or a mix of range and melee or maybe Crabbermind and perma pets. So far I've seen a number of builds but not many people talking about what their spec can do.

 

So far the things i really enjoy about the Huntsman is the damage and defense. Being able to talk on a full group by myself is always nice. Really the only thing i get annoyed by is the attack chain. It's four buttons with a couple single targets mixed in as needed. You feel badass but after a while it just gets so repetitive.

 

So yea any info would be appreciated.

[Six-Six]

I have a Huntsman-Mu that's pretty much AoE crowd control as I didn't take any mace powers. While I enjoy him to death, I don't think it's fair to compare him to my melee-range Tankermind Crab nor both of them to the Pure Bane. The Crab has 4 (but uses mostly 3 including the Mace from Black Scorpion PPP) melee attacks and 3 range attacks. either chain is fast enough for me to choose just melee or range; but the ability to switch it up is what makes it fun. His attacks damage is not the highest, but they are supplemented by 6 pets (again, one courtesy of Black Scorpion) plus his Lore which is rarely needed to be summoned. Defences and resistances are through the roof.

One thing I've noticed with the Crab is that while his attack chain is fast, it feels janky compared to the more fluid AR+nades of the Huntsman. Both are more AoE but I like how the Crab can go melee when the situation needs it, or whenever I feel like it. I like toons that can switch attacks.

On my Pure bane and pure widow, I simply cycle through the same melee attacks, so I get how you feel that it becomes routine. But on both of them, I like the rhythm of the attacks. The bane's are slow to animate, but they hit like a freight train, and she's just as tanky as the crab. the widow is fast and nimble, but his damage comes at the cost of some of his def/res... until I figure out a fix.

[lokiie1984]

3 minutes ago, Six Six said:

I have a Huntsman-Mu that's pretty much AoE crowd control as I didn't take any mace powers. While I enjoy him to death, I don't think it's fair to compare him to my melee-range Tankermind Crab nor both of them to the Pure Bane. The Crab has 4 (but uses mostly 3 including the Mace from Black Scorpion PPP) melee attacks and 3 range attacks. either chain is fast enough for me to choose just melee or range; but the ability to switch it up is what makes it fun. His attacks damage is not the highest, but they are supplemented by 6 pets (again, one courtesy of Black Scorpion) plus his Lore which is rarely needed to be summoned. Defences and resistances are through the roof.

One thing I've noticed with the Crab is that while his attack chain is fast, it feels janky compared to the more fluid AR+nades of the Huntsman. Both are more AoE but I like how the Crab can go melee when the situation needs it, or whenever I feel like it. I like toons that can switch attacks.

On my Pure bane and pure widow, I simply cycle through the same melee attacks, so I get how you feel that it becomes routine. But on both of them, I like the rhythm of the attacks. The bane's are slow to animate, but they hit like a freight train, and she's just as tanky as the crab. the widow is fast and nimble, but his damage comes at the cost of some of his def/res... until I figure out a fix.

I have a 50 widow too, cant recall which spec i went with though. It was fun but i prefer to stay at range. I really wish we could recolor our powers though.

So far i've been looking into sentinels as well as SoAs, seems like damage potential is about the same minus the double stacking leadership. I almost wonder if that's the issue with my huntsmen. All the group buffs make it too easy lol.

 

 

[Six-Six]

Currently working on another widow. She's earning her incarnates now, but I just switched her from a pure range Fort to a hybrid fortunata to see how that feels. The problem I have with forts is that they have so many useful and un-meh powers that it's easy to lose yourself and end up taking a lot of them while being a master of none. I don't have MIDs so I have to do the whole guess and check thing to see if the build I have in mind works. Tends to become expensive, but a whole lot of fun trying it out. I suppose you need to have a fairly clear idea in which direction you want to take your spider. If not, they are so versatile in their power sets that it's easy to get lost and start taking powers you don't really need or won't really get you what you want. I remember times running my pure fort with a dozen powers having to stop and think in the middle of a fight, which power do I click next, do I want to stun them, hold them, confuse them, etc. There were just too many choices to make her attack(s) fluid and second nature. Then again, another explanation is I can be a total newb as well. 😃

I have 10 sentinels, and I don't care what people say about them and their lacking damage. I enjoy sents and often play them as ranged tanks. Some, like Dual Pistols and Elec are ranged, but play like melee in the sense that you're always up close and in the middle of the fray. Sent armour is awesome. That plus Fighting and Leadership pool usually results in a very tough bugger, if you manage the end of all those toggles. 

Incidentally, I think Leadership Maneuvers is over rated. yes it provides a decent chunk of def, but at a great cost in end. I usually take Leadership for Assault and Tactics so I can 6-so Gaussian for one of the best bonuses there is. When I do take Maneuvers, I usually just put an end redux in it to keep end at bay. Weave, I think, is superior to Maneuvers if it came down to choosing one or the other, even at the cost of a power pick (Kick or Box).
 

[lokiie1984]

3 minutes ago, Six Six said:

I have 10 sentinels, and I don't care what people say about them and their lacking damage. I enjoy sents and often play them as ranged tanks. Some, like Dual Pistols and Elec are ranged, but play like melee in the sense that you're always up close and in the middle of the fray. Sent armour is awesome. That plus Fighting and Leadership pool usually results in a very tough bugger, if you manage the end of all those toggles.
 

I have a beam/bio that was messing with. Pretty neat but the beam sound effects drove my girlfriend nuts so i dropped it. Now i'm playing around off and on with a rad/bio which is neat but i'm not sure if like the melee range aoes. I like melee solo but not so much in groups. My brain just wants to stay back and blast things rather then running up.

One of these days i do wanna get a sent to 50 with incarnates just to see how they do. I've heard good things about water, but i'm not sure if i could swing the powerset into how i want the character to look. Robo clockwork from praetoria. Suppose i could color it to look like oil or something... oil bending robot lol. I have found that if you do minimal FX on bio armor it has a slight nanite look to it which works well.  

[Six-Six]

Same with the SFX, until I discovered @Solarverse SFX Mods. Now my Beam Rifles are much more playable, along with other powers. I swear the SFX mods make the powers stronger! trust me. 😃

I have a Rad/Energy Blaster that is just a joy to play melee (Energy) and range (Rad). No doubt one of my favouritest toons EVER (maybe even more than spiders, and that's saying a lot).

The thing with Sentinels is, if you always compare them to corruptors and blasters, they will always fall short. I believe they have a different purpose. So the "lacking" doesn't bother me. They're still fun and useful. I just now prefer Spiders and the Blaster/Dom ability to be melee range.

[lokiie1984]

1 hour ago, Six Six said:

Same with the SFX, until I discovered @Solarverse SFX Mods. Now my Beam Rifles are much more playable, along with other powers. I swear the SFX mods make the powers stronger! trust me. 😃

I have a Rad/Energy Blaster that is just a joy to play melee (Energy) and range (Rad). No doubt one of my favouritest toons EVER (maybe even more than spiders, and that's saying a lot).

The thing with Sentinels is, if you always compare them to corruptors and blasters, they will always fall short. I believe they have a different purpose. So the "lacking" doesn't bother me. They're still fun and useful. I just now prefer Spiders and the Blaster/Dom ability to be melee range.

Is a capped defense blaster still squish? I don't think i've played a blaster since 2004. I also wonder how they do when exemped down. Do they retain enough of the defense to keep em standing up right?

[Omega-202]

4 hours ago, lokiie1984 said:

So far I've seen a number of builds but not many people talking about what their spec can do.

Mine can handle solo +4/8 with little to no effort for most factions at 50, except Cimerorans and other factions with hefty -Def.  I can still take those on, but at a slower pace.  

 

I have no problem with standard Praetorian mixed mobs, Longbow, Malta or Arachnos, and just need to be careful with Carnies.  Anything below +4/8 solo is a cakewalk.    

 

He exemplars very well, even after losing his pets, and I consistently "Tank" lower level TFs.  For example, I ran a Yin TF at +2/8 this week on him and after setting off the 4 computers ASAP, I was able to stand in the reactor door way taking the full brunt of the ambush by myself, and mowed them all down with AoEs without dipping below ~40% health at any point.  

 

Regarding your question of "is it repetitive?"...honestly, yes.  A standard Crabbermind will pretty much always be "spawn pets>Venom Grenade>AoE>AoE>Venom Grenade>single taget mop up" every spawn.  But it does that role really well.  To keep it exciting, I sometimes play a little minigame with myself of keeping my pets alive at all costs using Rebirth Destiny and tracking down any spiderlings that wander off.  

 

If you want to feel like an absolute badass, Crab is what you want.  If you want to absentmindedly plow through waves of enemies without breaking a sweat, Crab is the way to go.  If you want to accidentally find yourself successfully face tanking and beating a Praetorian Guard AV solo while the rest of the team was killed by a single ambush spawn (true story that I'm not that proud of), then go Crab.   But if you want something that's not repetitive, go with something else.  

[Six-Six]

Blasters are quite tough, despite not having inherent def/res powers. With the tertiary pool (like Fighting and Leadership) and a few smart set bonuses, they are very survivable. Mez protection is the only worry I have with my blasters. Some mitigate it with Sorcery's Rune of Protection and building up range def (so the mez doesn't hit you in the first place). Others just learned to live with it. They get mezzed but it doesn't last long. Just annoying how it turns off some toggles every now and then. But then even mezzed, they can still attack with T1 and T2 primaries.

Exemplaring down isn't usually a problem. pre 20, everyone's at a pretty level playing field, but you already have IOs, so your stronger than you were on the way up. 20-30 IO sets come into play, so you're never really that gimped. Of course, you're still more of a god of destruction at 50 with your incarnates. 😃

[Two Dollar Bill]

On 10/29/2020 at 1:53 AM, lokiie1984 said:

Pros and cons of crab too if people know any.

For me, the pros of a Crab Spider are being tough and essentially immune to crowd control while being able to engage in ranged combat, melee and/or summon pets. Playing a Crab does give you that badass feeling. I really hate being the first guy to faceplant when things go wrong, and I don't have to worry about that with a Crab.

 

My own Crab is designed specifically for playing on teams and exemplaring, and it handles that very well.