The Titan Weapons Iceberg

[Ratch_]

A Brief Overview:

Titan Weapons mechanically is an interesting set, it's gimmick is called Momentum. Momentum can be gained by either: A) Use an Attack B) Use Build Momentum. Once you have gained Momentum, all your attacks become incredibly fast for a short period. In the instance that you A) Use an Attack to gain Momentum, you should be aware that the attack used in this manner is slow. You get access to the fast version(s) while you are in Momentum. Notably, the power set also has a few attacks that cannot be used until Momentum is active.

One last important note about Momentum as a mechanic, there are essentially two different durations. Going back to that A) Use an Attack B) Use Build Momentum scenario, if you do A) Use an Attack then you will have 5 seconds of momentum. If you do B) Use Build Momentum then you will have 10 seconds of momentum.

From this point onward, I may refer to Titan Weapons as TW.

Touching on the Titan Weapons Revamp (nerfs + QoL adjustments/buffs):

Above are the patch notes for all the changes, but there are a few things that I want to bring up (namely 1 misconception I still seen thrown around).
"Titan Weapons has redraw" - TW did have redraw, it does not anymore....not really. TW has redraw 2.0, which is covered in the patch notes, but for clarity essentially this boils down to: You will only draw your weapon if you are not in range of your attack, not in combat, or the attack is recharging. This also means that yes, you can use non TW attacks and instantly pull your Weapon out with no animation time cost. This is a buff and a welcome QoL thing.
The second notable buff to the powerset, one that I think is incredibly valuable, is that momentum is gained even on miss. Before if you missed your attack (it's fairly slow btw, 2+ seconds of animation) then you did not gain momentum, which meant you had to do it again. I don't think it should be understated just how valuable of a change this was.

On the other side of the changes, the power set took on a variety of damage nerfs and cast time increases. One other large change was Whirling Smash going down from 15ft radius -> 10ft radius. I was fine with this at first since it was definitely abnormal...but seeing how Stone Melee for scrappers has a 15ft radius melee AoE now, I can't help but feel slighted by this change. Tangent aside, all this ends up meaning you spend less endurance and do less damage than before. Depending on who you were, the lower endurance cost may serve you better than how hungry the set was before. Just from pure pylon testing, the damage nerfs seem to be at least around a 20% loss from where it used to be in a sustained DPS scenario.

There is one last change that I want to touch on that is not covered in those patch notes, as they were actually released rather recently. Sheathed Weapons have been added as a costume option and it's totally badass. You can now walk around CoH with a BFW ( a big fucking weapon ) on your back and I couldn't be happier.

Choose your weapon, it won't matter which. Even the swords do smashing damage:

From here on out I will be referencing specific powers in the set. As a sort of legend I will list out some acronyms and what they stand for.
 CB = Crushing Blow
 FT = Follow Through (usable in momentum only)
 WS = Whirling Smash (usable in momentum only)
 RA = Rend Armor
 Arc = Arc of Destruction
 BM = Build Momentum

The biggest key to mastering this set is through maximizing momentum windows. The amount of damage you have access to is incredibly high during it (momentum), and that is by design. These dps phases are meant to be offset by downtime (ie. not have BM up for an extended Momentum duration). Being forced to use the slower versions of these attacks (which by no means are bad) still don't quite hold a candle to the dps that can be accomplished in a 10s momentum window. To simplify the flow and pattern of titan weapons it can be broken down quite simply. Going back to that original breakdown:

A) Use an attack - 5s of momentum duration
 - In 5s momentum durations, you should be doing 4 attacks.
B) Build Momentum - 10s of momentum duration
 - In 10s momentum durations, you should be doing 7 attacks.

Often times, the attack you lead with (meaning the first attack used) in these windows will be the final attack done before the window is finished. As a brief example: Let's say I am doing a 5s duration momentum window: FT is attack #1, RA is attack #2, Arc is attack #3.

•  Use slow CB to gain momentum -> #1 -> #2 -> #3 -> #1 (momentum is lost)

As an example of a 10s duration

• BM -> #1 -> #2 -> #3 -> #1 -> #2 -> #3 -> #1 (momentum is lost)

The main reason I am chunking information like this into patterns is because it can be a helpful mental note to keep in mind. Not only can it be a sort of guideline to see if you are hitting your mark but also useful should you need to diverge from a standard attack chain. All TW attacks are incredibly similar in animation time, meaning the pattern doesn't need to over compensate should you want to start with Arc of Destruction instead of Follow Through. There is also a side motivation here that I hope this model can help me demonstrate the below more clearly, as the pattern and number of attacks used is what is most important, not the specific attacks themselves. And what I hope to demonstrate is something that I think many could benefit from in regards to helping out their Titan Weapons experience. Using the above model, let's expand upon this pattern and introduce a full "rotation".

Let's denote Build Momentum as our rotation starter and ender (meaning we've gone full circle in our attack chain).

• BM -> #1 -> #2 -> #3 -> #1 -> #2 -> #3 -> #1 (momentum is lost) -> Use slow CB to gain momentum -> #1 -> #2 -> #3 -> #1 (momentum is lost) -> Use slow CB to gain momentum -> #1 -> #2 -> #3 -> #1-> BM

This is a fairly standard situation, and to be precise it's a ~25s rotation. The main attractor to me for breaking the chain down into numbers like this and the pattern is because you can simply just swap around the attacks assigned to the pattern and for the most part still execute it. To explain a bit about how I arrived at that ~25s, I am simply just adding all the arcana times together (you can find these numbers at https://cod.uberguy.net/html/index.html). #1 = 1.32s, #2 = 1.452s, #3 = 1.584s, slow CB = 2.244s.

     (1.32 x 7) + (1.452 x 4) + (1.584 x 4) + (2.244 * 2) = 25.872s. 

HOWEVER, if you want to do something extremely similar but do even more damage, then with the introduction of no redraw we can do that. Let's add an attack #4 to the list. FT is attack #1, RA is attack #2, Arc is attack #3, Zapp is attack #4 = 1.584s.

Build Momentum is once again our rotation starter and ender.

• BM -> #1 -> #2 -> #4 -> #1 -> #2 -> #3 -> #1 (momentum is lost) -> #4 -> Use slow CB to gain momentum -> #1 -> #2 - > #3 -> #1 (momentum is lost) -> #4 -> Use slow CB to gain momentum -> #1 -> #2 -> BM

(1.32 x 6) + (1.452 x 4) + (1.584 x 3) + (2.244 * 2) + (1.584 x 2) = 26.136s.

Essentially what we've done is introduced some animation padding between momentum windows and utilized a snipe which replaced both a #1 & #3. To break down a bit on why this is an important change to consider, just looking at some base DPA ( Damage Per Animation second ) comparisons, fast Arc is doing 69.6 smashing damage, FT is doing 111.5, and Zapp (quick) is 83.49 energy damage. ( 83.49 x 2 ) - (69.6 + 111.5 ) = -14.12 DPA LOSS. Upon first inspection we are actually looking at a damage loss here. However, let's also consider two other important variables, Zapp will scale up in base damage from it's current state with +toHit, and let's see how just adding a single damage proc balances things out. Adding a single 3.5ppm dmg proc to each of these attacks will instead yield: fast Arc = 97.48, FT = 153.7, Zapp = 132. If we compare these side by side: (132 x 2 ) - (97.48 + 153.7) = 12.82 DPA GAIN. So now we are at a ~12 DPA gain through the use of Zapp...and this is just a single enhancement added. The other advantage that is not pronounced here is that FT & Arc will have their proc% go down while Zapp will have it's 3.5ppm proc % capped until it is slotted with 70% recharge. Arguably, what I see as the biggest boon too here is Enhancement Diversity. TW itself has no ranged attacks and getting access to the Apocalypse set in a good usable power is huge for us.

Finally, there is one last specific pattern (chain) that I want to touch on, and that is the (almost) recharge cap one:

• BM -> #1 -> #2 -> #4 -> #1 - > #2 - > #3 -> #1 (momentum is lost) -> #4 -> Use slow CB to gain momentum -> #1 -> #2 ->#3 -> #1 (momentum is lost) -> #4 -> BM
   

(1.32 x 5) + (1.452 x 3) + (1.584 x 4) + 2.244 = 19.536s. This may seem out of reach but from my experience this isn't as uncommon as one might think. It doesn't happen as often on teams, but in leagues and iTrials this chain unlocks for me quite often so I felt it prudent to introduce should you find yourself in a similar situation. I consider this pattern to be the strongest one available to the set. At true recharge cap, you can drop the #4 and just go right into that next Build Momentum! Cutting out a whole entire 5s momentum chain does real wonders for the set and it becomes incredibly fluid.

Addressing the CS (Critical Strikes) Proc:

This is a common conversation topic in the scrapper community. Where do I put it? And how should I slot it? 
These choices do matter, but I would personally go so far to say it doesn't matter where it's slotted as much as how should it be slotted. 

Below is a google doc containing a record of a number of runs that I've done in pylon bashing in an attempt to quantify some questions that I've had ever since I got into scrapping on Homecoming. Anyone willing to review it for me is also SUPER WELCOME TO, let me know if you spot any mistakes! I do also want to provide a disclaimer here: Please don't look at this and see the results as facts. Frankly, CoH has layers of RnG and I can't personally do a large enough batch or sample size of runs to really curb the RnG present in the game and end up with what I would feel more comfortable with in calling "averages". Instead, more of what is in this doc is what I am personally viewing as "perceived averages" or rather, indications of one.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Rs0YKR-8L1TtTQn8fR_TDcySNzVpaTmwHaXzmyUqwMo/edit?usp=sharing
         Towards the bottom of that first sheet there is a table listing all the runs I've done that looks like this:


I don't expect really any of this to make a whole lot of sense until you open it up and follow the links/inspect the builds used and the videos of my runs attached to sort of get a feel for what is being measured, but looping back to the original topic of slotting CS I want to point out one specific thing in this image. I have a naming convention noCS and 6pc cs under the Trial column.
noCS (this is the acc/dam/end/rech enhancement from the set) Touch of Death, Gladiator's Strike , and Force Feedback are procs.

6pc cs

There is only a 3% dmg enhancement difference between these two slottings, 6pc cs is ahead with 101% and noCS is at 98%. The reason for my tangent here is that the testing I did suggest that the biggest disadvantage for 6pc slotting Critical Strikes is NOT the fact you have a lower chance at proccing the Critical Strikes, but more so the opportunity cost for having slotted so many wasted stats. The ED cap is reducing the 20% enhance difference all the way down to 3%. If we take the avg proc chance of those 3.5ppm procs slotted in that power then each would roughly be equivalent to 28% damage enhance (if we also assume some crit chance in there). So if we take that assumption and compare the two powers, the two procs alone are providing an extra 61.1 damage, ~50% damage enhance.

I can understand if you don't wish to partake in slotting like this, but with the introduction of the Alpha Slot and IO availability, many full builds (pretty much all) can choose one power and not need to take set bonuses in it, but rather would benefit a lot more just taking proc bonuses instead.

 Closing

I originally was going to break down specific attack chains depending on CS slotting in powers, and while I have done that roughly within the google doc itself, this post has gotten long enough haha. If desired, I can try to relay that information a bit if questions arise about it ( and if I feel I even have the answers to begin with ). Regardless doing all the runs and compiling all my thoughts like this into one has been a TON of work. This has been a solo project and I've tried my best to double check all of the above, but I am human and mistakes are inevitable. If you spot one and see a correction or clarification that should be made, please feel free to point it out or reach out to me so that I can fix it! I hope what I've written in this post hasn't gotten too bogged down and is still plenty readable (and helpful 😅).
One last thing I do want to mention is that all my runs done in that google doc are still being uploaded to youtube and due to upload limits, it will be a bit before I can have them all uploaded, put into a playlist, and added onto that sheet. They will be added soon. 

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Ratch_

[SomeGuy]

So when is science going to allow me to have sex with a forum post? Cause I choose this one.

 

As someone that extensively put in a LOT of time figuring out TW and ways to optimize it before the nerfs/changes, what you've done is absolutely beautiful to me.

Edited September 30, 2022 by SomeGuy

[Yomo Kimyata]

5 hours ago, SomeGuy said:

So when is science going to allow me to have sex with a forum post? Cause I choose this one.

 

As someone that extensively put in a LOT of time figuring out TW and ways to optimize it before the nerfs/changes, what you've done is absolutely beautiful to me.

 

"Science"?  Or "State and federal laws"?

[moobiman]

I need some assistance with leveling. I think my titan/ninja scrapper is around lvl 14. I feel like this early game is stealth to open use my attack chain and hope most of it hits then kite to stealth and repeat while fishing for that crit opener. I don't want to burn money on enhancements this early but I definitely feel 60-70% of my attacks just miss

[BrandX]

1 hour ago, moobiman said:

I need some assistance with leveling. I think my titan/ninja scrapper is around lvl 14. I feel like this early game is stealth to open use my attack chain and hope most of it hits then kite to stealth and repeat while fishing for that crit opener. I don't want to burn money on enhancements this early but I definitely feel 60-70% of my attacks just miss

 

Kismet in Ninja Reflexes (this isn't burning money, this is just useful).

Steadfast 3% Defense and Gladiator's Armor 3% Defense, aren't a waste for this build to slot asap.  Possibly slot that Gladiator's Armor in Kuji-In Rin (mez protection).  And either burn a slot and respec it later, as I'd put the Steadfast in Bo Ryaku (Resist all passive).

 

Those three enhancements and any of the +Recovery IOs (and Performance Shifter) I wouldn't call burning.  Especially since, if you don't like the build, those are keepable IOs for any build 🙂

[SomeGuy]

19 hours ago, moobiman said:

I need some assistance with leveling. I think my titan/ninja scrapper is around lvl 14. I feel like this early game is stealth to open use my attack chain and hope most of it hits then kite to stealth and repeat while fishing for that crit opener. I don't want to burn money on enhancements this early but I definitely feel 60-70% of my attacks just miss

 

 

These are going to be some rough levels for anything. I'd definitely go with @BrandX's advice, if anything the Kismet getting priority.. If you can't hit you can't crit. If the thing stays alive it is going to eventually kill you.