Incarnates for Hardmode

[thebondfamily]

Hey all! Me again. Just finished building out my ice/fire/fire Hardmode build. Went with what is considered the standard fare. Was wondering, what incarnates am I T4'ing for HM?

 

Right now I have T4:

Musculature

Barrier

Diamagnetic

KoV

Pyronic

Assault

 

Should I be getting Melee Hybrid for resistance and regen? Switch from Musculature? Run something other than KoV Support Lore for the long buff? Thank you for the insights!!

[FUBARczar]

Honestly in a big team environment where you have to have buffers/debuffers (4*) then the damage dealer should be pumping out damage.  The best combo IMO is to go with:

 

Alpha - depends on build, I usually have Agility or Musculature, and then Vigor on my /Earth (same would go for /Fire b/c of Heal over time sustain) blasters.

Destiny - Barrier (but usually have Ageless Radial too, as an option)

Hybrid - Assault Radial (always have melee as well as an option)

 

 I am a blapper 99% of the time and I have noticed that melee hybrid isn't as useful as it was before.  Why not? Because a blaster can't solo and take alphas like they can in non-hardmode.  Teams don't kill the Nictus instead of ROM like they used to, so I simply don't need the stun protection as much as before.  Also with the new aggro rules and increased damage it's not a make it or break it power anymore.  You have to have your team or else...

 

That said I usually have Rune in my blaster builds and always have melee hybrid on my blasters as an option.  It's good to have options.

[Astralock]

Musculature and Agility are the top two Alphas for most Blaster builds, you're fine there. 

 

Diamagnetic is fine for Interface.

 

Pyronic and Void are the top two Judgments for Blasters, IMO, so you're fine there again.

 

Destiny... in addition to Barrier, I would add Clarion Core.  Too many people undervalue AoE mez protection, and don't have Electrical Affinity, Force Field, or Sonic Resonance characters.  Clarion Core can be put to good use on hard modes if you don't have any of those power sets present.

 

Knives of Vengeance Radial Lore pets are fine.  If, adding Clarion Core Destiny, you have enough Incarnate salvage to spare, you may want to think about adding Longbow Core or Banished Pantheon Core Lore pets, but neither are necessary.

 

Hybrid, Assault is the top Blaster Hybrid.  Melee is only worth it while soloing or duoing.

[FUBARczar]

6 hours ago, Astralock said:

Musculature and Agility are the top two Alphas for most Blaster builds, you're fine there. 

 

Diamagnetic is fine for Interface.

 

Pyronic and Void are the top two Judgments for Blasters, IMO, so you're fine there again.

 

Destiny... in addition to Barrier, I would add Clarion Core.  Too many people undervalue AoE mez protection, and don't have Electrical Affinity, Force Field, or Sonic Resonance characters.  Clarion Core can be put to good use on hard modes if you don't have any of those power sets present.

 

Knives of Vengeance Radial Lore pets are fine.  If, adding Clarion Core Destiny, you have enough Incarnate salvage to spare, you may want to think about adding Longbow Core or Banished Pantheon Core Lore pets, but neither are necessary.

 

Hybrid, Assault is the top Blaster Hybrid.  Melee is only worth it while soloing or duoing.

I don't have Clarion on a single Blaster (of which I have many, and more than I have any other AT) because there are better ways to address it especially when weighing the benefit to survivability of Barrier.  Ageless Radial also has more utility IMO. 

 

Ironically Clarion Radial is the more powerful one, with the +special/secondary effects, but most who take Clarion seem to take Core (prolly cause it last the full 2 minutes while Radial is only 90 secs).    

[Astralock]

5 minutes ago, FUBARczar said:

I don't have Clarion on a single Blaster (of which I have many, and more than I have any other AT) because there are better ways to address it especially when weighing the benefit to survivability of Barrier.  Ageless Radial also has more utility IMO. 

 

Ironically Clarion Radial is the more powerful one, with the +special/secondary effects, but most who take Clarion seem to take Core (prolly cause it last the full 2 minutes while Radial is only 90 secs).    

Barrier, IMO, is overrated.  I never took it until recently because many hard mode teams demand everyone on the team to have it.  Even then, despite having it I only use it on those hard mode teams that require it.   On the other hand, every single character I have takes tier 4 Clarion Core, Incandescence Radial, and Rebirth Radial Destinies, in addition to a tier 4 Barrier Core Destiny now.  Even melee characters.  Those characters who need Ageless Destiny take that as well, but it’s not a must have on every character because having four tier 4 Destinies on every character already feels a bit much.

 

 I have seen many Minds of Mayhem and Underground Trials outright fail due to a lack of AoE mez protection.  Heck, I have seen a couple of Rikti mothership raid league wipes due to a lack of AoE mez protection.  It’s extremely undervalued, and I find that often I am the only person on the team or league with it.  If I go down, I have seen the league follow due to being mezzed.

[FUBARczar]

1 hour ago, Astralock said:

Barrier, IMO, is overrated.  I never took it until recently because many hard mode teams demand everyone on the team to have it.  Even then, despite having it I only use it on those hard mode teams that require it.   On the other hand, every single character I have takes tier 4 Clarion Core, Incandescence Radial, and Rebirth Radial Destinies, in addition to a tier 4 Barrier Core Destiny now.  Even melee characters.  Those characters who need Ageless Destiny take that as well, but it’s not a must have on every character because having four tier 4 Destinies on every character already feels a bit much.

 

 I have seen many Minds of Mayhem and Underground Trials outright fail due to a lack of AoE mez protection.  Heck, I have seen a couple of Rikti mothership raid league wipes due to a lack of AoE mez protection.  It’s extremely undervalued, and I find that often I am the only person on the team or league with it.  If I go down, I have seen the league follow due to being mezzed.

iTrials is the one and only place currently that needs Clarion, but even then only needs say 1 per team, so 2-3 for a league.  Clarion is easily the most overplayed Destiny.  

[Astralock]

6 minutes ago, FUBARczar said:

iTrials is the one and only place currently that needs Clarion, but even then only needs say 1 per team, so 2-3 for a league.  Clarion is easily the most overplayed Destiny.  

It isn’t the only place.  It’s very helpful on both Hamidon and mothership raids as well, to counter all of the fear mezzing from the blue mitos, and all of the various mezzing from the Rikti.  It’s also helpful on hard modes if you don’t have any Electrical Affinity, Force Field, or Traps characters on the team.  Which is frequently, if you PUG.

[MoonSheep]

55 minutes ago, Astralock said:

Barrier, IMO, is overrated.  I never took it until recently because many hard mode teams demand everyone on the team to have it.  Even then, despite having it I only use it on those hard mode teams that require it.   On the other hand, every single character I have takes tier 4 Clarion Core, Incandescence Radial, and Rebirth Radial Destinies, in addition to a tier 4 Barrier Core Destiny now.  Even melee characters.  Those characters who need Ageless Destiny take that as well, but it’s not a must have on every character because having four tier 4 Destinies on every character already feels a bit much.

 

 I have seen many Minds of Mayhem and Underground Trials outright fail due to a lack of AoE mez protection.  Heck, I have seen a couple of Rikti mothership raid league wipes due to a lack of AoE mez protection.  It’s extremely undervalued, and I find that often I am the only person on the team or league with it.  If I go down, I have seen the league follow due to being mezzed.

 

i agree - i run incan on both my alts that run hardmode content. being able to quickly regroup the team after a mass death event is valuable 

[FUBARczar]

2 hours ago, MoonSheep said:

 

i agree - i run incan on both my alts that run hardmode content. being able to quickly regroup the team after a mass death event is valuable 

maybe you wouldn't have a mass death event if they were protected by Barrier...

 

 

On a speed team for Aeon and HM ITF 1 Incan is necessary, just for it's TP.  And anyone can just craft a T1 to do the job. 

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by FUBARczar
word omission

[FUBARczar]

3 hours ago, Astralock said:

It isn’t the only place.  It’s very helpful on both Hamidon and mothership raids as well, to counter all of the fear mezzing from the blue mitos, and all of the various mezzing from the Rikti.  It’s also helpful on hard modes if you don’t have any Electrical Affinity, Force Field, or Traps characters on the team.  Which is frequently, if you PUG.

Remember the title of the thread is "Incarnates for HARDMODE"  

 

It's fine to have an option to swap out/in clarion as the need may arise, but currently on HM there is no reason to have more than one per team ever, if even one at all.  So it's sad that people go Core when Radial actually offers something juicy.    

[MoonSheep]

8 hours ago, FUBARczar said:

Remember the title of the thread is "Incarnates for HARDMODE"  

 

It's fine to have an option to swap out/in clarion as the need may arise, but currently on HM there is no reason to have more than one per team ever, if even one at all.  So it's sad that people go Core when Radial actually offers something juicy.    

 

but doc.. i need the deaths for my powerboosted veng 😛

 

variety is the spice of life too