Good secondary for Seismic? Aiming towards a mix of solo and grouping.

[lokiie1984]

I've had a bit of a love hate relationship with Sent. On the one hand I like what they could do but I'd always get bored before I could ever get to incarnate abilities. However the revamp sounds pretty neat and even way back in live i always wanted a ranged stone set so that could be pretty neat. But when it comes to secondaries I have no idea. 

 

I have the most experience with bio, but I'd like to do something different this time around. 

 

I do enjoy soloing at higher difficulty and I also enjoy groups that do the same thing (even if it's just a couple points up.) So something that helps keep me up would be handy... Does the game have Viagra as a secondary set?

Edited November 7, 2022 by lokiie1984

[evetsleep]

I really like defense secondaries.  I have a seismic/super reflexes that is a ton of fun, but lives a little on the wild side with no true heal.  If that feels a little risky, ninja would be a solid pairing.

 

Of course there's always seismic/stone which probably is both thematic and functional.

[lokiie1984]

I was actually just looking at SR. It sounds like it could be fun to play with. I've never really used any pure defense sets before, so it's something new to play around with. 

I did think about stone, I think I remember reading that they changed the slow movement thing but I think I'd want to avoid stone for now at least. 

[InvaderStych]

1 hour ago, lokiie1984 said:

I did think about stone, I think I remember reading that they changed the slow movement thing but I think I'd want to avoid stone for now at least. 

 

There's no movement penalty in /Stone.  Pretty sure that was just while in Granite (might still be?) in the first place, but Sents (Scrappers/Stalkers also) get Geode (can be skipped) instead.

 

Terra Firma does require being on or near the ground to confer its buff, and Rooted can only be activated while on the ground, but continues to function anywhere from that point.

 

Brimstone is an OK damage increase, but felt lack-luster compared to the other versions without either Critical Hits or Fury involved.

 

Super durable, if expensive on endurance - with Stone as a primary that would be one very safe toon.

[Bopper]

Stone does pair well with Seismic since both have powers that require being near ground. If you prefer to fly/hover, then you're better off with something else.

[Underfyre]

Hell, Seismic has an entire mechanic dependent on your proximity to the ground. Not hover-blast friendly.

 

Electric Armor also has mechanics that work best on the ground.

 

Bio Armor: for top end damage output

Dark Armor: good resists, Obscure Sustenance required for end management

Energy Armor: +20% recharge, great all around defense/resistance

Fiery Aura: Burn was crippled and is a shadow of its former self. Molten Embrace is the lowest of the damage proc secondaries. Okay resists, very quick Heal. You'll need it.

Ice Armor: Looks bad on paper, never played it, heard nothing good from those that have.

Invuln: +10% to hit, best all around resists/defense, very slow recharge heal.

Ninjitsu: Good position defense, good utilities. Still don't like it very much.

Radiation Armor: Has the T9 that all other T9s should aspire to be. Like, it's literally the only unskippable defense set T9 in the game. Good blend of resists and healing/regen. +20% Recharge, PBAE attack.

Regen: Best version of Regen available.

Stone Armor: Has ground mechanics. Second best damaging proc, technically first best, but Bio has another +25% damage. Has regen, recovery and recharge. Typed defense, F/C is the weak spot.

SR: Best positional defense, resists scale as you take damage. Master Brawler makes it the best version of this set as well. +20% recharge.

Willpower: Straight in the trash.

Edited November 9, 2022 by Underfyre

[drbuzzard]

11 hours ago, Underfyre said:

Hell, Seismic has an entire mechanic dependent on your proximity to the ground. Not hover-blast friendly.

 

Electric Armor also has mechanics that work best on the ground.

 

Bio Armor: for top end damage output

Dark Armor: good resists, Obscure Sustenance required for end management

Energy Armor: +20% recharge, great all around defense/resistance

Fiery Aura: Burn was crippled and is a shadow of its former self. Molten Embrace is the lowest of the damage proc secondaries. Okay resists, very quick Heal. You'll need it.

Ice Armor: Looks bad on paper, never played it, heard nothing good from those that have.

Invuln: +10% to hit, best all around resists/defense, very slow recharge heal.

Ninjitsu: Good position defense, good utilities. Still don't like it very much.

Radiation Armor: Has the T9 that all other T9s should aspire to be. Like, it's literally the only unskippable defense set T9 in the game. Good blend of resists and healing/regen. +20% Recharge, PBAE attack.

Regen: Best version of Regen available.

Stone Armor: Has ground mechanics. Second best damaging proc, technically first best, but Bio has another +25% damage. Has regen, recovery and recharge. Typed defense, F/C is the weak spot.

SR: Best positional defense, resists scale as you take damage. Master Brawler makes it the best version of this set as well. +20% recharge.

Willpower: Straight in the trash.

 

Not sure I agree with all of this, though I agree with most. 

 

Electric armor only loses it's knockback protection if you're not on the ground. It's only one power, and really not that big a deal. I'm working on a hover sentinel with /electric now. I think it will work fine. My main concern is that the heal is too slow, like in the case of electric tankers. At least in sentinels you've got an offset of regeneration in conductive shield. 

 

Bio armor is great for damage output, but it's very 'clicky' if you want to be a durable as possible. I try to keep the absorb shield up all the time, which requires an annoying bind (auto click is on hasten, so you need a trick to do another), so I dislike playing it. However they are kings of damage. I don't actually play any of my bios anymore (got 3). 

 

Fiery Aura: You're right about burn, but on a ranged character you skip it anyway. Molten embrace gets a bad name IMO. It's basically half endurance price assault if you ignore the fire proc (which is small enough to ignore- it should be looked at). The quick heal is important, but you didn't mention cauterizing blaze, which is a great healing pulse toggle, which coupled with the resistances means fire is pretty tough to kill unless you have an AV beating on you (or you have delusions of tanker with 8 person spawns). Heck even temperature protection has regen in it now. Consume needs some love since you need to dive into melee to get your endurance back, which is not a good design decision. I'd prefer if they made it like obscure sustenance where it's a massive enough radius that it acts more like an attack. 

 

Ice armor I one I found annoying to try to softcap, and it uses its endurance power at the start of combat to build defense. Bleah. It's got a good 'oh shit' button, but has to lean on it too much. 

 

I think you are a bit too harsh on willpower. It's pretty durable since it's got a ton of regeneration, and most everything is covered by either defense or resistance. It does completely lack DDR which can be an issue, but if you like to play a hover sentinel with minimal concern about your secondary, it's fine. It does not, however, do anything for offense which is actually rare among sentinel secondaries. 

[Mythical Creature]

I thought about doing stone armor secondary, but the look didn't fit my theme. I ended up going with energy aura and it seems to work just fine and also went with my character theme. Energy Aura seems to work well with Seismic Blast because it has extra recharge and low endurance cost. 

[drbuzzard]

Energy is a good solid secondary, well rounded in defenses. I've always been fond of it. 

[CaptTastic]

As others have said, I’d say it was more a playstyle question than anything else. Seismic is played best from the ground so a set with at least some PBAOE would probably work well. 
 

It also depends on how much inf you’re willing to sink into the build. If it’s not much, SR is usually the best choice. If it’s a lot, I’d say Regen and Invul are a level apart from the rest from my experience - IF you spend heavily and spend well. But that’s just my experience and perception. 

[StriderIV]

On 11/18/2022 at 11:32 PM, CaptTastic said:

As others have said, I’d say it was more a playstyle question than anything else. Seismic is played best from the ground so a set with at least some PBAOE would probably work well. 
 

It also depends on how much inf you’re willing to sink into the build. If it’s not much, SR is usually the best choice. If it’s a lot, I’d say Regen and Invul are a level apart from the rest from my experience - IF you spend heavily and spend well. But that’s just my experience and perception. 

I’ve been looking for a Water/Regen build… did you have a sample Regen build lying around somewhere?

[CaptTastic]

22 hours ago, StriderIV said:

I’ve been looking for a Water/Regen build… did you have a sample Regen build lying around somewhere?

Hi Strider. You know me, got builds floating around for everything! Will see what I can dig out when I get a chance 👍🏻

[StriderIV]

11 minutes ago, CaptTastic said:

Hi Strider. You know me, got builds floating around for everything! Will see what I can dig out when I get a chance 👍🏻

Appreciate it, you legend!