So I need some Learn2Play lessons on Savage Melee

[FFFF]

So after abandoning a Staff/SR scrapper (see here), my newest experiment has been a Savage Melee/Radiation Armor scrapper. I already have a Psi/Radiation Armor brute so I figure since Rad Armor was so good just about any new primary would be good. Well, that hasn't worked out how I planned. Let's leave aside the fact that I'm beginning to think that Rad Armor is just better on brutes because of higher caps and a larger hit point base, but it's the Savage Melee side which has been the most disappointing.

 

So far I picked Maiming Slash (good), Shred (ugh, what a tiny cone and slow animation), Blood Thirst (good), Vicious Slash (good) and Rending Flurry (jury's out).

 

First without boxing (which I took for Tough), I don't think I have a smooth attack chain. Feels like Savage Strike needs to be taken. I generally don't like tier 1 powers in general, but it feels otherwise; the attack chain has too many gaps. No problems with Maiming Slash and Vicious Slash, it's Shred and Rending Flurry that seem awkward to use.

 

How exactly do you chain an attack together with this mismatch of attacks? 2 x single target, 1 cone, 1 PBAoE. I've also heard mixed reviews on both Hemorrhage (a DoT?) and Savage Leap (a teleport power with a long recharge).

 

I love the concept character I've made  - she's bio-engineered mutant who became a savage after escaping, but the attacks feel awkward. And I hate the Exhausted message that shows up.

 

I'm looking for advice and the viewpoint of folks who have brought up a savage melee character to 50.

[Frosticus]

I'm not sure where you heard that savage leap is anything other than amazing.

Stuff it full of procs and some acc/dam and let it delete mobs

 

Rending flurry is quite good with dot factored in, but with full blood it is a really good pbaoe.

 

Hemo is meh. Dot is too slow imo

 

You single target chain might need strike until later when you add an app attack. Some people use shred as a single target attack because it can take 2 -res procs.

 

For a sav/rad you'd likely: sav leap > ground zero> viscous >  boosted rending

skip viscous in that chain if blood thirst was up.

Not much should be left standing to clean up.

[Grimm2]

I've been playing the Tanker version of this combo lately. The AoE alpha strike of procced Leap/Ground Zero/Viscous/full blood Rending is absolutely magic. Gotta proc the Leap and Ground Zero, though. 

 

I hate the single target, I'm not sure exactly what to do about it. I use the T1, Shred (which tanker has a better area on), Viscous, Leap when it's up. I usually pop Thirst for the guaranteed dot, and flail away. I like the -res procs in shred for solo and team, it will get the job done, but it is for sure the dopey attack. Like a kitten standing and waving it's arms, Whap Whap Whap.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Grimm2

[Hjarki]

Savage is, in my opinion, one of the top tier melee sets. While solo-only metrics such as Trapdoor runs or Pylon tests aren't going to show the impact of the set, being able to run with +20% recharge/EndRed from your melee set is a huge advantage for building solid all-around characters able to take on more than trivial content for time tests.

 

In terms of using the set, I almost never take either Hemorrhage or Rending Flurry. Because you get locked out of the entire Blood Frenzy mechanic if you consume 5 stacks, these attacks tend not to be worth their payoff. While you can carefully play around consuming stacks at <5, it's impossible if you ever activate Blood Thirst.

 

For AE, Savage Leap is a fantastic ability. On a Stalker it's especially nice since you can Build Up and then crit from Hide as your opening move. Combat Teleport makes precisely jousting with this ability much easier (since you can macro the exact distance you need to move to maximize your leap), but it might not be practical for many builds. Shred is only really a good ability on a Tanker, so you'd normally want some form of AE in your armor set to augment Leap.

 

On a Tanker/Brute, I'd normally recommend Maiming/Vicious/Gloom as the rotation while Stalkers can just do a relatively straightforward Savage/Maiming/Savage/Assassinate mix.

[Wimbochismo]

I'm not sure if anyone has ever mentioned this. Not sure if it's a bug or a feature.

 

I tested it again tonight on my Savage/Dark Brute. If you execute something like Rending Flurry at full stacks you will get locked out of Frenzy. But if you Blood Thirst, this still gives you full stacks of Blood Frenzy and cancel's the lock out.

 

Worth thinking about.

[Grimm2]

21 hours ago, Wimbochismo said:

I'm not sure if anyone has ever mentioned this. Not sure if it's a bug or a feature.

 

I tested it again tonight on my Savage/Dark Brute. If you execute something like Rending Flurry at full stacks you will get locked out of Frenzy. But if you Blood Thirst, this still gives you full stacks of Blood Frenzy and cancel's the lock out.

 

Worth thinking about.

I'm pretty sure it's a feature. Blood Thirst has less +dmg than any other Build Up variant, but has the utility of max Blood stacks and 13 seconds of 5 ticks of dots for every attack performed over its duration.

 

Though since you spend around 3 seconds screaming into the void when you activate it, I guess you get only 10 seconds of juice out of it. 

[Wimbochismo]

45 minutes ago, Grimm2 said:

I'm pretty sure it's a feature. Blood Thirst has less +dmg than any other Build Up variant, but has the utility of max Blood stacks and 13 seconds of 5 ticks of dots for every attack performed over its duration.

 

Though since you spend around 3 seconds screaming into the void when you activate it, I guess you get only 10 seconds of juice out of it. 

 

Haha yea that's been my experience with it.

 

I brought it up bc your ability to max stack Rending Flurry more often is then dependent on the cooldown of Blood Thirst. On a perma Hasten build with a rech slot it can be around 30 second rech. It may be worthwhile to go harder on rech in it to then increase aoe dmg potential.

[carroto]

Has anyone tried Savage Leap targeting through an ally?