Can someone point me to or give me a "Bio Armor For Dummies Walkthrough"

[string5]

I have lot's of experience with all other Armors, but Bio makes me feel like a noob.

I also use Mid's as a crutch for all of my builds and it just doesn't tease out the details.

 

Basically what is the game plan for survivability and how does it work under the covers?

 

Thanks!

[Nemu]

It's got a mix of layered mitigation, Ablative carapace will put in work. Here's my take on Bio survival:

 

 

[twozerofoxtrot]

5 hours ago, string5 said:

Basically what is the game plan for survivability and how does it work under the covers?

 

 

I had people explain this to me but what really helped was just leveling several Bio characters to get an idea of how things came together.  Obviously this led to some bruised feelings and faceplants at first but I still recommend doing it. Bio isn't a learn by textbook set.

 

First trick: you can build for anything but it's not obvious what's best. Recharge and MaxHp are the most important. Any build that slots a lot of weird sets to softcap everything should be a red flag. You should be able to softcap FCEN in Def mode easily, and have 90 SL res in any mode. You aren't really meant to cover all bases completely. If you can get Melee Def into the high 30s that's a plus. This is basically all you really need stat wise to survive. 

 

Second Trick: Absorbs and Regen. Keep Ablative Carapace up as often as possible. I six-slot this with Prev Medicine. Use DNA Siphon aggressively.  Adding acc/damage and a few procs to this power is great if you can afford the slots. Parasitic Aura is another good source of both Absorb and Regen, but as you gain confidence with the Bio playstyle you might elect to drop it. I think it works best on a dedicated tank but superfluous on a more damage oriented character. 

 

Third Trick: Switch Adaptations. At high level play with your build complete you'll probably be in Offensive Adaptation most of the time, so keep that clicked active in Mids when building, but frequently check through them to see how your stats fluctuate. Adaptations are the best part of Bio, and depending on what your team needs you can adjust to that on the fly. The changes to your offensive and defensive performance are significant and if you're having End troubles in a TF or just in the early leveling phase, Efficient Adaptation is a lifesaver.

 

 

How this all comes together:

 

You have a mishmash of protective stats and a ton of HP and Regen. What protection you do have will make your absorbs more effective. It's not really there to protect your green bar as much as your grey bar, unlike other sets. The absorbs in turn give you time and space for your beefy regen to work. Ideally you just slap Ablative Carapace on cooldown and Parasitic Aura after a big dive, and your HP will never dip below 90%.

Edited January 27, 2023 by twozerofoxtrot

[Erratic1]

1 hour ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

You should be able to softcap FCEN in Def mode easily, and have 90 SL res in any mode. You aren't really meant to cover all bases completely. If you can get Melee Def into the high 30s that's a plus. This is basically all you really need stat wise to survive. 

 

Agree completely with the above. Cap F/C/E/N Def, cap S/L Resist. 

 

1 hour ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

Second Trick: Absorbs and Regen. Keep Ablative Carapace up as often as possible. I six-slot this with Prev Medicine. Use DNA Siphon aggressively.  Adding acc/damage and a few procs to this power is great if you can afford the slots. Parasitic Aura is another good source of both Absorb and Regen, but as you gain confidence with the Bio playstyle you might elect to drop it. I think it works best on a dedicated tank but superfluous on a more damage oriented character. 

 

I use a slightly different approach:

1.  Did you just surround yourself by six or more foes? If yes, pop Parasitic Aura. If no, neither (2) nor (3) below likely apply (outside of AVs or giant monsters).
2. Is your health down by 25-50%? Pop Ablative Carapace. 
3. Is your health down by more than 50% and Ablative Carapace on cooldown? Pop DNA Siphon.

 

 

1 hour ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

Third Trick: Switch Adaptations. At high level play with your build complete you'll probably be in Offensive Adaptation most of the time, so keep that clicked active in Mids when building, but frequently check through them to see how your stats fluctuate. Adaptations are the best part of Bio, and depending on what your team needs you can adjust to that on the fly. The changes to your offensive and defensive performance are significant and if you're having End troubles in a TF or just in the early leveling phase, Efficient Adaptation is a lifesaver.

 

My Bio is SS, so Offensive is not really adding a lot to things (probably under a 10% damage boost to what you're doing if you are at 85% Fury with Rage up). I built him to operate in Efficient stance and rarely depart from it. I expect to go in, start swinging and not stop until everything is down...group after group...repeated unto infinity.

 

1 hour ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

 

How this all comes together:

 

You have a mishmash of protective stats and a ton of HP and Regen. What protection you do have will make your absorbs more effective. It's not really there to protect your green bar as much as your grey bar, unlike other sets. The absorbs in turn give you time and space for your beefy regen to work. Ideally you just slap Ablative Carapace on cooldown and Parasitic Aura after a big dive, and your HP will never dip below 90%.

 

Very much agreed.

 

[aethereal]

The thing that improved my Bio play was understanding DNA Siphon (which was thanks to some kind-forgotten individual on this board).

 

DNA Siphon gives you healing per live enemy, but Regeneration per dead enemy in its effect.  It's easy to overcap the healing it can give -- at risk of starting the obvious, you can't heal above 100% health.  But the Regen is a gift that keeps on giving.  So you want to pop DNA Siphon at the right time, after you've killed a bunch of, but not all of, the minions in a given spawn.  You'll still go up to full health, but you'll get a nice chunk of ongoing mitigation through your Regen.

 

Parasitic Aura is for the beginning moments of attacking a spawn, when most everything is still alive.  Ablative carapace is for towards the end when you don't have many targets for DNA Siphon or Parasitic Aura.

[PLVRIZR]

Here's @Xandyr's:

 

 

[Xandyr]

21 hours ago, string5 said:

I have lot's of experience with all other Armors, but Bio makes me feel like a noob.

I also use Mid's as a crutch for all of my builds and it just doesn't tease out the details.

 

Basically what is the game plan for survivability and how does it work under the covers?

 

Thanks!

After reading my guide (in sig, and @PLVRIZR linked it ), if you have any other questions, feel free to reach out.

 

-X

[Grimm2]

In s/l farms with my bio/claw/energy tank, I find i use Parasitic Aura (on the living) and DNA Siphon (on dead foes) for the endurance management as much as for the HP regen. Ablative I only press once in a while. 30% s/l def, 90% s/l resist.

 

Sets with frequent opportunities to trigger Force Feedback procs are really nice for Bio, as a side note. 

[hakurr]

This is an excellent guide for Bio it would be nice if people with your knowledge of a primary of secondary power made more guides like this.