Alpha incarnate for a Shield/Elec Tanker

[StriderIV]

Hi all!

 

Was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for Alpha Incarnates for a Shield/Elec Tanker. I was looking at both Musculature for the damage boost and End mod, but Cardiac also looks nice for the End cost reduction and Damage Resistance.

 

Any advice/opinions would be appreciated!

[Dark Dove]

If your positional defenses are at softcap (45%) and your smashing/lethal resists are reasonably high (75-80%+) and you have enough recharge in the build to power your essentials, you should pick Musculature in most cases, and if you are having endurance problems I might opt for the endurance modification path within musculature instead of core.  Ageless Destiny can completely fix all endurance issues as well, for incarnates, so the need to devote an alpha slot to Cardiac for endurance reasons is fairly low.

 

If you aren't at softcap defenses or need more resists, then it is a good time to consider something like Cardiac or Agility(for defense).  These become less useful once your IO set build is strong enough to not need those benefits, and Musculature is usually the path to strive for efficiency.

 

Generally with Alpha slots and incarnates in general you just need to assess your build's weaknesses and plug any holes that incarnates can cover.  I usually preach Musculature (sometimes Intuition depending on AT) because Damage is the luxury state of build; if you're doing great in all other areas and you can afford to use your alpha on Musculature, you're doing something right.

[Infinitum]

2 hours ago, StriderIV said:

Hi all!

 

Was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for Alpha Incarnates for a Shield/Elec Tanker. I was looking at both Musculature for the damage boost and End mod, but Cardiac also looks nice for the End cost reduction and Damage Resistance.

 

Any advice/opinions would be appreciated!

On my Shield tankers I usually build both Musculature Core and Resilient Core and swap them situationally.

 

I also get ageless radial which gives a timely end boost when needed but more importantly increased ddr.

[StriderIV]

8 hours ago, Dark Dove said:

If your positional defenses are at softcap (45%) and your smashing/lethal resists are reasonably high (75-80%+) and you have enough recharge in the build to power your essentials, you should pick Musculature in most cases, and if you are having endurance problems I might opt for the endurance modification path within musculature instead of core.  Ageless Destiny can completely fix all endurance issues as well, for incarnates, so the need to devote an alpha slot to Cardiac for endurance reasons is fairly low.

 

If you aren't at softcap defenses or need more resists, then it is a good time to consider something like Cardiac or Agility(for defense).  These become less useful once your IO set build is strong enough to not need those benefits, and Musculature is usually the path to strive for efficiency.

 

Generally with Alpha slots and incarnates in general you just need to assess your build's weaknesses and plug any holes that incarnates can cover.  I usually preach Musculature (sometimes Intuition depending on AT) because Damage is the luxury state of build; if you're doing great in all other areas and you can afford to use your alpha on Musculature, you're doing something right.

That makes total sense. I was having a similar train of thought. There are still some weaknesses I need to shore up in other areas, but I should be able to fix those with proper slotting. Thanks so much man.

[StriderIV]

6 hours ago, Infinitum said:

On my Shield tankers I usually build both Musculature Core and Resilient Core and swap them situationally.

 

I also get ageless radial which gives a timely end boost when needed but more importantly increased ddr.

Now I just need to spend more time getting more cores! 😂

[Saikochoro]

I generally use set bonuses and pool powers to achieve my survivability and recharge goals so that I can take musculature alpha. If I need to plug a hole I will likely use the destiny slot instead of the alpha. I value the damage buff too much to not take alpha. 

[StriderIV]

43 minutes ago, Saikochoro said:

I generally use set bonuses and pool powers to achieve my survivability and recharge goals so that I can take musculature alpha. If I need to plug a hole I will likely use the destiny slot instead of the alpha. I value the damage buff too much to not take alpha. 

Thanks man! Here is a big question: do you guys usually use threads to build the alphas and save shards? Or does it not matter?

[Infinitum]

12 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

Thanks man! Here is a big question: do you guys usually use threads to build the alphas and save shards? Or does it not matter?

I normally use shards and run the weekly to get a notice of the well to at least build the alpha to tier 3 by the shard rout

 

After that I run a lot of apex tin mages to get the incarnate salvage chance at the end of the TF.  I have gotten a few ultra rares, and rares.

[Saikochoro]

1 hour ago, StriderIV said:

Thanks man! Here is a big question: do you guys usually use threads to build the alphas and save shards? Or does it not matter?

I like to get T3 alpha ASAP for the level shift as well as damage boost. So I will use whatever gets me there quickest and that is usually threads for me.  However, I get T3 of other incarnates before I move on to T4 alpha. By that point I have a lot of shards and threads and will use shards to craft T1/2 alpha and then threads for T3/4. 
 

Honestly mainly depends on what I have on hand.  I also run the Heather Townsend Arc in dark Astoria a lot (using Oro crystal for subsequent completions). You can get it done in 10-15 mins and gives you an incarnate savage component roll each completion, which can include rare and super rare components. 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Saikochoro