Archery/Tactical Arrow Durable Build

[icehero]

Here is my durable build meant for solo power and full team events.

 

Built for range fighting

[icehero]

Blaster (Archery - Tactical Arrow).mbd

[JJDrakken]

 

8 hours ago, icehero said:

Here is my durable build meant for solo power and full team events.

 

Built for range fighting

Your not soft capped on your Important Defenses. Evasive Maneuvers shuts off it's defense when in a fight.

 

Try this out.

 

As you can see, EM is off, you are 1% from Soft Cap in S/L & 3% fromg E. As well being in 30's for your F/C types.. Which Dmg types most used and CC is connected to.

 

It's far more defensive then your previous. You can also get Destiny Slot: Barrier to shore up those percentages. This build also Perma Hasten.

 

 

Blaster (Archery - Tactical Arrow).mbd

[icehero]

Very good points made in that build.

 

I made some adjustments accordingly.

 

Is it better to focus range defense over s/l if I'm going to playing from distance?

 

I got range soft capped and s/l to 30%

Blaster (Archery - Tactical Arrow).mbd

[icehero]

33 minutes ago, JJDrakken said:

 

Your not soft capped on your Important Defenses. Evasive Maneuvers shuts off it's defense when in a fight.

 

Try this out.

 

As you can see, EM is off, you are 1% from Soft Cap in S/L & 3% fromg E. As well being in 30's for your F/C types.. Which Dmg types most used and CC is connected to.

 

It's far more defensive then your previous. You can also get Destiny Slot: Barrier to shore up those percentages. This build also Perma Hasten.

 

 

Blaster (Archery - Tactical Arrow).mbd 42.35 kB · 2 downloads

Also totally forgot to turn off EM good call!

[JJDrakken]

7 minutes ago, icehero said:

Very good points made in that build.

 

I made some adjustments accordingly.

 

Is it better to focus range defense over s/l if I'm going to playing from distance?

 

I got range soft capped and s/l to 30%

Blaster (Archery - Tactical Arrow).mbd 42.81 kB · 0 downloads

 

Nearly all attacks of have some S/L dmg type tied to them. Thus S/L Defense is still best option for a Squisher, followed by E & Ranged.

[icehero]

52 minutes ago, JJDrakken said:

 

Nearly all attacks of have some S/L dmg type tied to them. Thus S/L Defense is still best option for a Squisher, followed by E & Ranged.

So made some more tweaks. Got S/L to 40% and range to 43% but also have to go agility incarnate 

Blaster (Archery - Tactical Arrow).mbd

[Nemu]

If your game plan is to play at ranged let's break down the rationale for having the kind of defense you focused on:

S/L defense - covers attacks that primarily have S/L type, this may cover some ranged attacks, but others with pure energy/cold etc... anything that's not primarily S/L type will still get through

 

Range defense - Covers ANY attack with a ranged tag, doesn't matter which damage type.

 

SOOOOO, why S/L defense?

[icehero]

11 minutes ago, Nemu said:

If your game plan is to play at ranged let's break down the rationale for having the kind of defense you focused on:

S/L defense - covers attacks that primarily have S/L type, this may cover some ranged attacks, but others with pure energy/cold etc... anything that's not primarily S/L type will still get through

 

Range defense - Covers ANY attack with a ranged tag, doesn't matter which damage type.

 

SOOOOO, why S/L defense?

 

 

Okay so based on this soft capping range is more important then s/l

[JJDrakken]

28 minutes ago, Nemu said:

If your game plan is to play at ranged let's break down the rationale for having the kind of defense you focused on:

S/L defense - covers attacks that primarily have S/L type, this may cover some ranged attacks, but others with pure energy/cold etc... anything that's not primarily S/L type will still get through

 

Range defense - Covers ANY attack with a ranged tag, doesn't matter which damage type.

 

SOOOOO, why S/L defense?

 

Because A LOT, I do mean A LOT of attacks have S/L in the attack. That is checked for defense. Black Scorpion Shield is S/L/E Defense. So E is covered also. Ranged characters usually have higher odds of having a higher R defense, do to recipe sets for ranged attacks. I don't know if y'all are new, that's cool if you are. But you guys really should sit down & deep dive into Defenses and what mobs use for attacks. You will face a lot of S/L or attacks that may do E dmg, but also have S dmg in it(Thus defense). etc... A lot of CC has S/L/E tied to it. (Cept things like Carnies, which mostly pure Psi or Ranged, but some do have S/L)

 

Just do your research.

Edited February 28 by JJDrakken

[icehero]

4 minutes ago, JJDrakken said:

 

Because A LOT, I do mean A LOT of attacks have S/L in the attack. That is checked for defense. Black Scorpion Shield is S/L/E Defense. So E is covered also. Ranged characters usually have higher odds of having a higher R defense, do to recipe sets for ranged attacks. I don't if y'all are new, that's cool if you are. But you guys really should sit down & deep dive into Defenses and what mobs use for attacks. You will face a lot of S/L or attacks that may do E dmg, but also have S dmg in it(Thus defense). etc... A lot of CC has S/L/E tied to it. (Cept things like Carnies, which mostly pure Psi or Ranged, but some do have S/L)

 

Just do your research.

 

I get what your saying. 

So if I soft cap range doesn't range technically also cover s/l attacks that are ranged?

 

So pretty much what I'm trying understand is does range defense cover technically ALL attacks that are ranged? And if that is true why wouldn't that be better to soft cap over s/l since range also covers any s/l ranged attacks?

[JJDrakken]

7 minutes ago, icehero said:

 

I get what your saying. 

So if I soft cap range doesn't range technically also cover s/l attacks that are ranged?

 

So pretty much what I'm trying understand is does range defense cover technically ALL attacks that are ranged? And if that is true why wouldn't that be better to soft cap over s/l since range also covers any s/l ranged attacks?

 

Ranged will cover that, Since Positional is checked first, then Typed.  But S/L with Black Scorpion Shield is easier to get to, with recipes helping cover stuff like E in the shield and general Ranged Defense.

 

Basically, you want as much of the D as you can handle. In every aspect that you can take it. More D, equals more chances of avoiding CC, now. AoE, Fire/Cold. That's tad harder to soft cap with Blasters.  That's an loss you'll have to accept, so try stay out of AoE, PBAOE, Cones, etc.. if you can.  THOUGH again, if you get your S/L/E defense up. You can avoid those AoEs, with S/L/E tied to them.

 

But also be aware, Defense is a fickle bitch.  She total sloot for RNG God. So sometimes you can get a Cascade Defense Failure(CDF). When even though a mob only has 5% chance to hit you(not counting any buff they have). They all could roll that 5% & under all at once.

Edited February 28 by JJDrakken

[Nemu]

20 minutes ago, icehero said:

 

 

Okay so based on this soft capping range is more important then s/l

Range defense covers ALL attacks that have a ranged tag. Doesn't matter if it's S/L/E/N/F/C/Psi/Toxic (if the latter two have ranged tags, some do, some don't, and none of those are covered by s/l defense). And attacks don't check for defense multiple times, it will just check against whatever defense of the appropriate tags that you have the highest of. As long as your range defense is higher than your S/L defense all ranged attacks will just check against your ranged defense.

 

If your game plan is to hover and stay at range there is absolutely ZERO value in scorpion shield other than it being an LOTG 7.5 mule. Most sturdy range builds will instead opt to pick up a resist shield and add another mitigation layer to softcap range defense. Even though it was slightly nerfed, bonfire is still potent with the kd proc and a lot of people opt for fire mastery for that and a resist shield. So now you have 4 layers of mitigation - kill stuff quick, soft controls, defense, resist

Edited February 28 by Nemu

[JJDrakken]

3 minutes ago, Nemu said:

Range defense covers ALL attacks that have a ranged tag. Doesn't matter if it's S/L/E/N/F/C/Psi/Toxic (if the latter two have ranged tags, some do, some don't, and none of those are covered by s/l defense). And attacks don't check for defense multiple times, it will just check against whatever defense of the appropriate tags that you have the highest of. As long as your range defense is higher than your S/L defense all ranged attacks will just check against your ranged defense.

 

If your game plan is to hover and stay at range there is absolutely ZERO value in scorpion shield other than it being an LOTG 7.5 mule. Most sturdy range builds will instead opt to pick up a resist shield and add another layer to softcap range defense. Even though it was slightly nerfed, bonfire is still potent with the kd proc and a lot of people opt for fire mastery for that and a resist shield.

 

Till all the AoE hit your face, cuz AoE is it's own thing.  Where S/L/E comes into play.  I've been doing this for a long time(Beta Blue till Sunset, Pre-HC, HC Day 1).  I might know some shit when it comes to a build 🙂

 

That and my

 

 

Is also there to help folks out, been pinned there for sometime now. No I'm not being arrogant, as folks love to say as a come back. It's called confidence. I'm confident in my knowledge of this game and my builds. One very few things I am confident in.  Every toon I created on HC can "Tank" do to things like Black Scorpion or recipe set combos. 

 

Edited February 28 by JJDrakken

[icehero]

@JJDrakken @Nemu

 

After taking both your points into consideration this is my final build.

 

I was able to soft cap range & E and got s/l to 43% def while also still being able to take musculature incarnate set

 

Recharge at 103% with good regen and recovery as well. 

Blaster (Archery - Tactical Arrow).mbd

[Nemu]

1 hour ago, Nemu said:

attacks don't check for defense multiple times

I really don't think you got the gist of what I'm saying. There's no benefit to having S/L defense for a build focused on keeping at range. If you are hover blasting you are intentionally eliminating some of the damage vectors and restricting the attacks against you to either those with a ranged tag or an AoE (some ranged aoe attacks have an aoe tag instead of ranged, but it's a minority and isn't worth overbuilding for).

 

If anything this should be the one takeaway for you from this post:

ATTACKS DO NOT CHECK MULTIPLE TIMES AGAINST ALL YOUR DEFENSES. IT JUST CHECKS FOR THE HIGHEST DEFENSE YOU HAVE AGAINST THOSE TAGS.

 

For example: Range gun attack that has the Lethal damage tag and the ranged tag

 

You have 45% ranged defense and 44% S/L defense. That attack will only check against the 45% range defense that you have. If you fail the check it will NOT check again against the 44% S/L defense as a backup.

 

It's also important to note this: Multi-element attacks like an attack that has 60energy damage and 40 smashing damage will only check against energy defense, because energy is the highest damage.

 

All that investment into S/L defense is just cutting into your offense, taking away from other useful bonuses such as recharge.

 

Your defensive investment is better for blasters that venture into melee range, as S/L defense does cover quite a bit of melee and PBAoE attacks that mobs throw around.

 

There are valid reasons for building for S/L defense. Your game plan does not align with why you are pursuing this. As long as you are out of melee range (and it does not have to be 50ft away from mobs, most melee attacks have a range of 10ft at most), you are forcing mobs to either 1) chase you, or 2) shoot you. And range defense defends against the latter far better than S/L defense can. Supplement that with a resist epic shield backed up by soft controls, and you get a durable blaster that you are looking for.

 

Now you may construe this as me telling you what to do, but I'm just trying to enable you to make the most informed decision that you possibly can. And I do not think you are thoroughly informed as to why you should do what you are planning to do.

 

If you want an example of a build that applies range defense and S/L defense with purpose look at this:
 

 

I also see slotting that doesn't align with your goal of Range + S/L defense in your builds such as the 6th slot of the winter set that does nothing for you. If you want an example on optimizing you set bonuses and slotting look at this:

 

[JJDrakken]

I get what your saying. Your just stuck in a specific train of thought and think it's end all be all.

 

I just covered various aspects of protection for them.  That can cover AoE, Melee, Ranged & Typed dmg that also can be found in them. Doesn't matter how frigging high your ranged defense is. An AoE will still hit, less you have enough proper typed or AoE Defense.  Same goes for melee. 

 

While I'm a defensive build promo guy.  I also understand all other avenues.  Not everyone going remember to fly out up out of melee reach or if AoE hits someone near em and hits them,  Especially in enclosed areas.  There all things to remember. Not everyone going take Hover.  Some folks want SJ or SS or Teleport for Travel.

 

Gotta factor in all possible options.  Not focus on...DO THIS, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, BLAH BLAH. I understand far better then most, been at this since Beta Blue till Sunset, Pre-HC, HC Day 1.  I forget so many things in my own life, nothing in this game has ever left my memory.

[Nemu]

I suppose that you and I can go back and forth but there's no value in that. In the end I disagree with quite a few of your claims, but I'm not going to drag it out here.

 

People that want to learn can learn from our posts and reach out if they need more guidance. Those that don't can copy builds and still have fun. This game is easy enough that most builds are viable.

 

If people decide to reach out to me, then I'll provide them contextual breakdown of build, playstyle, and notable mechanics based on their ask. That's my commitment to helping this community.

[Thraxen]

If you plan on playing mostly at ranged, I’d get a resist shield instead of defense one. If theme isn’t an issue I’d get electric or other one that has s/l/e resists. 

[Thraxen]

Is the T1 attack better than the T2?