Balanced Hybrid Crabber

[Neiska]

Hello fellow Arachnos,

 

After a lot of tinkering and experimenting, I made a very well-balanced Crabber that I thought I would share. With Crabbies, it always seemed you had to pick and choose your priority. Either having decent pets, or good defenses yourself, or were very tight on END use. I always wanted to melee next to my pets, but that always seemed difficult before.

 

Build Highlights -

1.) It is extremely durable, and self-sufficient, with both ranged attacks, some of the melee attacks, pets, and very good survivability. It hits the 45% melee defense, and is capped to Smashing, Lethal, Fire, and Cold resistances. With respectable numbers in the rest, the lowest being Psionic at 48%. Without any incarnates whatsoever. There may be a few slotting choices that strike people as odd, but I will go into those. This build is fully +4/8 capable.

 

2.) It has both Serum and Aid Self. Why Aid self? Because it has the END upgrade, meaning you can refill 25% of your END every 9 seconds or so. On my Crabbers it always seems to be hard on the END, and there is no other END tool available, and I dislike having to rely on Ageless to solve END problems. As slotted this build is easy on the END, but Aid Self will be available for a backup tool as well for emergencies and you are out of blue pills, and I hate having to rely on Ageless and Blue inspirations to make a build "flow" or be playable. I know Aid Self is rarely a power taken, but I feel on some ATs its a worthwhile choice.

 

3.) As presented, this build doesn't have any incarnates picked. This means there is a lot of room for choice there. People can take Agility to boost their recharge, or Musculature to increase their damage, and so on.

 

4.) The build has all the usual procs, specifically debuffing such as Fury of the Gladiator, Annihilation, and so on. I tried to fit Achillies in as well, but there wasn't room. But it has multiple ways to apply -DEF, -RES, Immobilize, and even Knockdown. Special note goes to Frenzy which often knocks things down frequently, which gives you just the time you need to use Aid Self to boost your END if you need it.

 

5.) It has some ranged attacks, as well as some melee attacks, some ranged, and a few single target attacks as well. 

 

Now for the downsides - 

1.) The Pets and Serum are not Perma, but they are close. The spiderlings are down to 237 recharge with a 240 duration, but Call Reinforcements is only down to 304 with a 240 duration. They are not heavily slotted either, being just slotted for recharge and a chance to knockdown. They are fire and forget. But I don't consider this a great loss, because even if you focus on making pets as strong as possible, they get clobbered on max difficulty, (at least when soloing.) So, this build relies less on them, but they are available to help.

 

2.) Sadly, there is no Aim. It was that or super speed, but if people would rather have Aim rather than a movement power, they certainly can swap them. But doing so will cost you a bit of knockdown protection. Another option is to drop the Medicine Pool for Aim and a few other powers of your choice. But this build has a full rotation as it is and doesn't particularly benefit greatly from Aim.

 

3.) There is no Frag Grenade in this build. It was that or Venom Grenade, and Venom Grenade is better for the -resist, and you can slot it with knockdown as well. I usually take Frag Grenade with Crabbers, but there was no space for it in this build.

 

So your attack rotation will be - Venom Grenade, Suppression, Arm Lash, Frenzy, and Shatter Armor. Arm Lash is very quick to refresh, with only 3.4 seconds, so you shouldn't need to use Channelgun, but it is there if needed for another ranged attack. There is also Web Grenade available as well to help stop runners.

 

Here is a snip of its stats, without any incarnates - 

 

 

 

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This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.1.2.5
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 49 Technology Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Crab Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Crab Spider Training
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Channelgun -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(39)
Level 1: Crab Spider Armor Upgrade -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(3), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(3), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(5), ImpArm-ResPsi(5), UnbGrd-Max HP%(7)
Level 2: Wolf Spider Armor -- ImpArm-ResPsi(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(37), StdPrt-ResKB(40)
Level 4: Boxing -- CrsImp-Acc/Dmg(A), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 6: Injection -- CldSns-Acc/ToHitDeb(A), CldSns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 8: Suppression -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(9), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(9), Bmbdmt-Dam(11), Bmbdmt-Dam/Rech(11), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(17)
Level 10: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(25), Rct-Def/EndRdx(25), Rct-Def/Rchg(31), Rct-ResDam%(36)
Level 12: Arm Lash -- SprSpdBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprSpdBit-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprSpdBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprSpdBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(15), FuroftheG-Acc/Dmg(17)
Level 14: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Ags-Psi/Status(33), ImpArm-ResPsi(48)
Level 16: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(19), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(21), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(21), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(23), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(45)
Level 18: Venom Grenade -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(23), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Ann-ResDeb%(36), SprSpdBit-Rchg/Global Toxic(48), Rgn-Knock%(49)
Level 20: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A)
Level 22: Tactical Training: Leadership -- AdjTrg-ToHit(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(39), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(40), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(40), AdjTrg-Rchg(43), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(47)
Level 24: Fortification -- TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(37), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(37), ImpArm-ResPsi(39), GldArm-3defTpProc(45), TtnCtn-ResDam(46)
Level 26: Frenzy -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(29)
Level 28: Serum -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(34), Prv-Heal/Rchg(34), Prv-Absorb%(36)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Aid Self -- IntRdx-I(A)
Level 35: Summon Spiderlings -- RechRdx-I(A), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(49)
Level 38: Web Envelope -- GrvAnc-Immob(A), GrvAnc-Immob/Rchg(43), GrvAnc-Acc/Immob/Rchg(46)
Level 41: Shatter Armor -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(42), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Call Reinforcements -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Field Medic -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Mental Training -- Run-I(A)
Level 1: Conditioning | Hidden 
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 1: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(47)
Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(19)
Level 20: Speed Phase 
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I hope this build/style might help some other players! I always wanted to be tough, self sufficient, and still have pets available, but not be entirely reliant on them. So if you want a tough nut to crack, that has ways to both heal itself and refill its own endurance, with lots of AoE and debuffs and still keeps the pets to help then you might enjoy this build.

[Two Dollar Bill]

Definitely a different take on the normally Positional-Defense-oriented Crab Spider, though I would trade in many of these powers for Frag Grenade!

 

If you like min/maxing for small bonuses, something you could do to make your endurance management a bit smoother would be to look at extreme enhancement bonuses that are being wasted by Enhancement Diversification, and turn some of the over-slotting into end cost reduction.
For example, the Immobilize bonus of Web Envelope is far past the point where it's economical to boost it any more. If you traded in the Immobilize IO for the Immobilize/Endurance one, it would have no meaningful effect on the immobilize value but you'd get a lot of your endurance back.
Likewise, Weave has a Defense/Recharge IO which provides virtually no defense bonus due to ED. If you swapped it for the Endurance/Recharge IO, you'd still be soft-capped to melee, but more fuel efficient. The recharge is worthless either way, but end cost reduction can still be meaningfully enhanced.
TT:Maneuvers is in the same boat. You could improve its endurance cost without losing soft cap.

[Neiska]

2 hours ago, Two Dollar Bill said:

Definitely a different take on the normally Positional-Defense-oriented Crab Spider, though I would trade in many of these powers for Frag Grenade!

 

If you like min/maxing for small bonuses, something you could do to make your endurance management a bit smoother would be to look at extreme enhancement bonuses that are being wasted by Enhancement Diversification, and turn some of the over-slotting into end cost reduction.
For example, the Immobilize bonus of Web Envelope is far past the point where it's economical to boost it any more. If you traded in the Immobilize IO for the Immobilize/Endurance one, it would have no meaningful effect on the immobilize value but you'd get a lot of your endurance back.
Likewise, Weave has a Defense/Recharge IO which provides virtually no defense bonus due to ED. If you swapped it for the Endurance/Recharge IO, you'd still be soft-capped to melee, but more fuel efficient. The recharge is worthless either way, but end cost reduction can still be meaningfully enhanced.
TT:Maneuvers is in the same boat. You could improve its endurance cost without losing soft cap.

 

Oh for sure. Always open to tweak more. Largely my slotting was for Def and Resists, getting what other things I could pick up on the way, and using the odd slotting such as Channelgun, Injection, and Boxing to help make up the other numbers I was missing. But you are right and I could fine tune it further for certain. This is what I have so far and it's working fantastically.