Looking for Widow advice - first respec (Lvl 25) and totally lost

[Pilotball]

I've been playing melee build so far, because there didn't seem to be any other way to play. I'm lost now and have no idea which way I should build. Any suggestions on how to proceed, I've been going through this forum, but am lost. It looks like there are 3 options : Range, Hybrid and Melee builds. 

 

My only opinion right now is that the end use is insane for the amount of damage I am doing. 

 

Any help/suggestions would be great. 

Thanks

[KaizenSoze]

30 minutes ago, Pilotball said:

I've been playing melee build so far, because there didn't seem to be any other way to play. I'm lost now and have no idea which way I should build. Any suggestions on how to proceed, I've been going through this forum, but am lost. It looks like there are 3 options : Range, Hybrid and Melee builds. 

 

My only opinion right now is that the end use is insane for the amount of damage I am doing. 

 

Any help/suggestions would be great. 

Thanks

First question, Night Widow or Fortunata?

 

What is your budget? Widows drink endurance, so if you're on just SOs, make sure and slot endurance reducers.

 

Night Widow you should go for melee. Night Widow AOEs suck, Poison Dart is a decent single target ranged attack. The Epic pool will give you Gloom which is a very good ranged attack.

Fortunata - I would go for hybrid melee/ranged.

 

 

[Pilotball]

I've played a claws scrapper, so I figured I would try the ranged path. It's just so odd to play melee for 25 levels to throw it all aside and rebuild. I have plenty of funding available. 

I see the link in your signature, I glanced through it earlier, I'll give it a good read. Hopefully that will get me started. 

[SeraphimKensai]

Why not do both? You can have multiple builds and even make a macro to change them on the fly. My widow is a Bleeding Fort Night. Essentially I have a fully built Night Widow, Fortunata, and Blood Widow (support) all on the same toon that I can hot swap the whatever role that is needed. Yes it's expensive but it's uniquely cool to be able to swap from night widow to fort back and forth as necessary for the situation. Only drawback is it pops all your cool downs so you have to time it for right after you've used hasten or your destiny/hybrid.

[KaizenSoze]

1 hour ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Why not do both? You can have multiple builds and even make a macro to change them on the fly. My widow is a Bleeding Fort Night. Essentially I have a fully built Night Widow, Fortunata, and Blood Widow (support) all on the same toon that I can hot swap the whatever role that is needed. Yes it's expensive but it's uniquely cool to be able to swap from night widow to fort back and forth as necessary for the situation. Only drawback is it pops all your cool downs so you have to time it for right after you've used hasten or your destiny/hybrid.

Gentle, gentle, don't scare him away. We must coax him into the dark... Archnos side.

 

Did anyone remember the cookies?

Edited May 9, 2022 by KaizenSoze

[KaizenSoze]

1 hour ago, Pilotball said:

I've played a claws scrapper, so I figured I would try the ranged path. It's just so odd to play melee for 25 levels to throw it all aside and rebuild. I have plenty of funding available. 

I see the link in your signature, I glanced through it earlier, I'll give it a good read. Hopefully that will get me started. 

Yes, it is a weird quirk of VEATs. Because there are two exclusive power branches, you have to pick one at level 24.

[Frozen Burn]

1 hour ago, Pilotball said:

I've played a claws scrapper, so I figured I would try the ranged path. It's just so odd to play melee for 25 levels to throw it all aside and rebuild. I have plenty of funding available. 

I see the link in your signature, I glanced through it earlier, I'll give it a good read. Hopefully that will get me started. 

 

Just to give some context.... Widows and Arachnos Soldiers are what are known as VEATs, or Villain Epic ATs.  (Warshades and Peacbringers are HEATs - Hero Epic ATS.)  These epic ATs were introduced later in the game and meant to be a challenge.  That is why you start generically and then can specialize later - and also why there are SO many powers to choose from.  And of course, you only the same amount of slots as any other AT - so part of the challenge is picking and slotting what you want.  Another challenge that has always been with the Epic ATs is the endurance use - they suck endurance heavily and it was much worse when they first came out.  There have been tweaks and updates over the years during live, but they can still be a "challenge" for building and playing compared to the other standard ATs.  

[tidge]

For your first VEAT, I suggest the following:

• leveling through normal content
• have just enough attacks so that missions are not a slog
• try to pick all the different non-attacks
• run with and without toggles

IMO, this is the most straightforward way to see first-hand how Endurance costs affects your build and you will get a sense for what all the different powers affect playstyle. If you are really having Endurance issues, it is entirely possible that you are using Hasten "too soon" in your leveling. There certainly can be reasons to want Hasten on a VEAT (Mind Link is probably #1, AoE %damage attacks are probably #2)  but you don't really need it... and until you have lots of set bonuses as well as excellent -Endurance in attacks (and other powers) it is simply an Endurance tax trap. I agree that Widows/Fortunata can see Endurance issues without Hasten, but Hasten (plus button mashing) and Sprint are usually the top culprits for draining the blue bar.

 

Respecs are plentiful: I don't think you will end up keeping all the powers you experiment with, but seeing how each works will give you a deeper appreciation for what your build(s) could do.

 

 

[Errants]

5 hours ago, tidge said:

For your first VEAT, I suggest the following:

• leveling through normal content
• have just enough attacks so that missions are not a slog
• try to pick all the different non-attacks
• run with and without toggles

IMO, this is the most straightforward way to see first-hand how Endurance costs affects your build and you will get a sense for what all the different powers affect playstyle. If you are really having Endurance issues, it is entirely possible that you are using Hasten "too soon" in your leveling. There certainly can be reasons to want Hasten on a VEAT (Mind Link is probably #1, AoE %damage attacks are probably #2)  but you don't really need it... and until you have lots of set bonuses as well as excellent -Endurance in attacks (and other powers) it is simply an Endurance tax trap. I agree that Widows/Fortunata can see Endurance issues without Hasten, but Hasten (plus button mashing) and Sprint are usually the top culprits for draining the blue bar.

 

Respecs are plentiful: I don't think you will end up keeping all the powers you experiment with, but seeing how each works will give you a deeper appreciation for what your build(s) could do.

 

This, this, this. 100% This.

Freespec for all toons every 10 levels to 50, plus the forcespec for VEATS, and multiple builds... Try everything, see what YOU like, and then winnow the chaff from there.

Good advice for any AT, not just VEAT's.