A different kind of Crabber

[Neiska]

Hello Forums,

 

I thought I would share a different take on Crabber Soldiers. Most of the builds I see are based around recharge and pets, which is a lot of fun but can be difficult to solo harder difficulties due to lack of pet tools and pet fragility. Well, since you can have multiple builds on the same character, I thought I would try my hand at making a Crabber build for solo play, focusing on harder +4/8 with bosses enabled difficulty. After many tests and attempts, this is what I came up with, and works quite well.

 

*Note* - This build has some personal preferences, as I generally dislike having to rely on inspirations to make a build playable because in long fights if you run out you can stumble, and I prefer to save my inspiration slots for things like team buffs and nukes. More on power picks later.

 

Also of note is the MIDs for this setup is a bit off, particularly with defense values due to Evasive Maneuvers. True, you will have a very high defense, until you get into a fight and those values will drop. With Evasive on, your ranged defense will be 71%. With the defense buff gone however, it will be 41%. The resist values are also about 4% off as well, so I posted an actual ingame screenshot of resist values.  

 

Pros- 

1. Extremely durable - This build plays like a hover blaster, but is very tough, having Ranged Defenses and boasts very high resists across the board, with more than 80% on Smashing, Lethal, Fire, and Cold, while having more than 60% in energy, negative, and toxic. Her lowest resist is psionic, but even that is a healthy 47%.

 

2. Very self-sufficient - This setup is very friendly on the END use, even when running full toggles. And uses both ageless and aid self for END recovery when needed, it doesn't even need to pop blue inspirations.

 

3. Ease of Play - Most of the features of this build are fire and forget, and they are constant - there is no juggling defensive powers, no windows to watch out for, very smooth performance. Your defenses and resists are constantly good. It really does feel like you are playing a flying bomber.

 

4. AoE/Debuffs - Like all crabbers, this build has great AoE with Debuffs. You won't see giant numbers pop up on your screen, but has a full AoE attack rotation, each of which has some kind of debuff built in or added. You will "chew" through groups with a constant stream of damage to all of them. This build does more damage than Mids suggests, due to stacking -resistance debuffs from Venom Grenade, Annihiliation, and Reactive Interface for a rough total of -25% resistance.

 

5. Immobilize - One of the attacks in the chain is Electric Fences, an Immobilize with a 47 second duration, and a 6 second cooldown. So needless to say, you are immobilizing a lot of things pretty constantly, especially with Frozen Blast procs as well. I haven't had much issues with runners on this build. 

 

Con -

1. The biggest con of this build is lack of Single Target damage, especially without any pets. There are a few changes you can do in order to improve that though.

 

Here are some screenshots with some in-game defense and resist values - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Powers and Options -

 

1. Frenzy - Why did I choose frenzy? Two reasons. The first is because the way it is slotted, it alone provides 12% fire and cold resistance. The second is so that I can AFK farm if I wish. I can just park this crabber on a moon map, turn on Frenzy, and go do some house chores. I don't use it when hoverblasting though.

 

Frenzy option - But if someone feels differently, they are certainly free to swap it out for something like Mu Lightning, as it would be fully slotted and be a respectful single target attack to add to the rotation. Doing that will drop your fire and cold resistance significantly however.

 

2. Medicine Pool - Why medicine pool? Well, first off Serum is a nice HP buff but a bad healing tool, so having another heal pretty much on demand is quite nice. Also with the Field Medic upgrade, each time you use Aid Self you will slowly gain back Endurance. (Roughly 25%) I more often pop it for END than I do for healing. 

 

Medicine Pool option - Someone could drop medicine pool and pick up Leadership and run a full set of both toggles. Doing that would be very draining on Endurance however, and you would be entirely reliant on Ageless and blue inspires, which I personally dislike. But Maneuvers would add another 4% to your defense and put you right at the defense softcap.

 

3. Evasive Maneuvers - Why Evasive? For the -fly protection. It isn't 100% full proof but is a noticeable difference. I don't get knocked out of the sky very often. Personally I consider this power mandatory for the hover-blast playstyle, but others might feel differently.

 

Incarnates -

Alpha - Muscled Core Paragon - This adds 45% damage which this build sorely needs, but also adds 33% time to your immobilize which is a part of your regular attack rotation.  If someone wanted to they could drop Muscled Core for Cardio, but their damage would take a noticeable dip. When I tried Agility, Resist, and Cardio Alpha's I simply didn't have the damage to solo on +4/8. But if someone wanted stronger, smoother play for lower difficulties they could swap muscled for something else.

 

Interface - Reactive Core Flawless Interface - a -res debuff that stacks with the rest of your -res sources, increasing overall damage. You could swap it for Degenerative, but that's largely personal choice.

 

Judgement - I went Ion, as its ranged and has a large target cap, as well as fits the Epic pool theme which is a bonus.

 

Lore - You can largely pick what you like, as none of them add anything significant to the build. Both Banished and Longbow are good, I chose the Knives of Vengeance for their buffs.

 

Destiny - Ageless Core - Even with the Medicine pool option, I do find myself getting interrupted at times. Rare, but it does happen. So this is more or less an emergency tool for when my aid self is getting interrupted or with END draining enemies. Because without your toggles, you will splat, fast.

 

Hybrid - Assault Radial - This gives all of your attacks a chance for more damage, which is fantastic since this build is so AoE focused it is a noticeable bump.

 

And that's it! A different take on Crabber Soldiers, one built more like a very tanky hover-blaster. This build performs well for me when soloing +4/8 difficulty, and it's very chill to play, and is even good on teams with the Improved Team Toggles, debuffs, and immobilize. So if you like playing hover-ranged but dislike having to constantly juggle defenses to survive, this build might be good for you.

 

Feedback is welcome!

 

Sin's Tanky Hovercrab mk 6.mxd

[Six-Six]

Glad to have another spider in the ranks. Lord Recluse will be pleased. 😃 

 

[Redletter]

On 1/21/2022 at 4:39 AM, Six-Six said:

Glad to have another spider in the ranks. Lord Recluse will be pleased. 😃 

 

 

*Crab

[Six-Six]

It's a crab spider, so still a spider. or did you think it was the seafood kind?

All Arachnos are spiders:
Recluse Spider
Huntsman Spider
Wolf Spider
Widow Spiders
Fortune Telling Spiders
Trapdoor Spider, (Arbiter) Sand Spider, Sun Spider (Kalinda)
and yes, Crab spiders
 

the thing on their chest should have been a giveaway, but I suppose not.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Six-Six

[Redletter]

5 hours ago, Six-Six said:

It's a crab spider, so still a spider. or did you think it was the seafood kind?

All Arachnos are spiders:
Recluse Spider
Huntsman Spider
Wolf Spider
Widow Spiders
Fortune Telling Spiders
Trapdoor Spider, (Arbiter) Sand Spider, Sun Spider (Kalinda)
and yes, Crab spiders
 

the thing on their chest should have been a giveaway, but I suppose not.

 

*Recluse Crab

Huntsmen Crab

Wolf Crab

Widow Crabs

Fortune Telling Crabs

Trapdoor Crab, (Carbiter) Sand Crab, Sun Crab (Crablinda)

and yes, Crab Crabs

 

 

 

[Six-Six]

That somehow makes me itch. =D