Questions: Titan Weapon or Staff?

[Kodo]

Hi,

 

My Son and I will be duoing and I'm going to try to build a group every time that we play. He's going to play a Tanker and I think I want to play a scrapper.

 

Here's my questions:

 

1. Titan Weapons look cool but the animations look extremely slow. Also after watching videos and reading around, it seems like the animations are lagged too. Are the animations so slow that it's not enjoyable?

 

2. If I go Scrapper + Titan Weapons, what's the best secondary? I started think Reflexes but then started reading that Lighting or Bio is better. If they do have slow animations and it's all about one hit power, then I think Bio does make the most sense right?

 

3. I like the idea of Scrapper Staff too. I like the idea of a Long/Large weapon and moving around fast and attacking fast. Is staff fast? Also best Secondary for Scrapper staff?

 

4. What is the fastest non-hand-to-hand scrapper weapon?

 

5. If a Scrapper, Brute, and Tanker all pick Titan Weapon, Does the Scrapper do more damage b/c it's a scrapper? Meaning Scrapper>Brute>Tanker as far as dps goes?

 

 

Thanks

[Rokkeb]

Titan weapon starts slow and builds up momentum into going fast. But the first part of leveling, is pretty brutal. Overall it's an extremely powerful set though. Bio is basically the best secondary for scrapper right now. The static damage addition plus dot additives push it towards the highest overall dps gain.

 

Staff animations are definetaly faster than titan, also faster than mace, axe, broadsword, and I think katana. Claws and dual blades will feel faster imo.

 

Problem is staff has some short times and long times for animations. But it feels pretty fluid, honestly it's mostly the long animation on it's big aoe.

 

Again bio would be best. But honestly pick whatever you want as a secondary (except dark.. that's more like hard mode. It's very good, but kills endurance and seems to take a deeper understanding of IO sets, as well as funds to get those sets to really shine)

 

For non weapon sets 4 seem to be very popular.

 

Fire melee, for consistent good single target and ae damage.

 

Dark melee for consistent high single target damage, and personal survivability powers.

 

Electric melee (paired with shield) for aoe group nuking carnage. But it blooms very late.

 

And street justice, a solid dps set with a combo mechanic to give it some flavor in combat. ( staff also has this btw)

 

Funny enough all 4 of those are typically paired with shield for best results, although Bio would be strong on all as well.. except elec/shield has that very specific nuking build.

 

Scrappers are good though in that pretty much everything is good. You just need to find what's fun to you.

 

 

[Murcielago]

TW/Bio is the strongest and prettiest with IOs but without them its an end hog.

[Zumberge]

I'm going to try to answer some of the Titan Weapons stuff (I've got a TW/Elec brute at 49) but I just want to start by saying that this:

 

My Son and I will be duoing and I'm going to try to build a group every time that we play.

 

...is a blessed sentence.  It's a good sentence, I like it.

 

1. Titan Weapons look cool but the animations look extremely slow. Also after watching videos and reading around, it seems like the animations are lagged too. Are the animations so slow that it's not enjoyable?

 

It's not going to be for everyone, I can tell you that for free.  It has a lot of feedback since it's very smashy-sounding and enemies tend to get knocked down by a lot of the attacks, but the mechanics behind it are unique to the set, take a little getting used to, and are kind of tied to the animation thing you mentioned.  So here goes.

 

TW is like most melee sets: Seven attacks, a taunt, and a Build Up.  Five of those attacks have very slow animations, but after they connect you get five seconds of the Momentum status.  While you have Momentum, these attacks will then use much faster animations until it expires, at which point the process repeats.  Two of these attacks may only be used if you have Momentum, but they only have fast animations (and they're good attacks).  The set's Build Up is called "Build Momentum" and in addition to the usual ten seconds of boosted to-hit and damage, it gives you ten seconds of Momentum.  It's about short bursts of attacks and damage, rather than the more flowing chains from other sets.

 

Also, if it's not clear, the Momentum status doesn't refresh on the second and following attacks.  You have five seconds, it goes away, then the next attack will bring it back again for five seconds.

 

2. If I go Scrapper + Titan Weapons, what's the best secondary? I started think Reflexes but then started reading that Lighting or Bio is better. If they do have slow animations and it's all about one hit power, then I think Bio does make the most sense right?

 

It's not the animations that get you, it's the massive endurance costs.  I'm not going to say that a secondary that either gives you +recovery or a power that drains endurance is necessary, but if you're going to commit to the Titan Weapons lifestyle you absolutely need to commit to it 200%.  To that end, Fire, Ice, Elec, Bio, Regen, Energy, Rad, and Willpower all bring something to the table, though not equally.  Lightning and Bio are the two standouts for me, the former because it also has +recharge and the latter because it's a perpetual motion machine if you're willing to micromanage toggles a little.

 

You weren't wrong to think SR, though.  Recharge is very good for TW, but having endurance is better.  Bring blues.

[Zolgar]

So, if you're duoing with a tank, don't go Titan/Bio scrapper.

 

It's not that it's not a good combo, quite the opposite, it's an amazing combo. It's a combo that kills GMs solo.  It's a combo that is going to make that tank feel like they're not doing anything because the moment you hop in to a mob, everything is dead. I think I would choose something more single target focused than Titan, bio is still a good choice for self survival, just remember that it's got a taunt aura so you may pull foes off the tank occasionally.

 

Consider for duoing with a tank instead going with a stalker, honestly. Tanks tear down lts and minions efficiently enough, so you as a stalker can focus on the bosses, and you rely on the tank to hold agro (... well you really don't, but it's easy to pretend you do), and don't pull much agro away from him.

 

 

[Without_Pause]

Elec also protects against end drain.

[Boerewors]

I personally do not enjoy titan weapons at all, simple because they have no good hit animations/sound effects. Hitting with a massive TW feels like I am swinging a mystic feather around that hits hard. Super strength has real "oomf"  when it hits, the same with mace/sword, katana has the slice and dice feel and sound.

 

TW was never finished so it lacks that.

[Zolgar]

I personally do not enjoy titan weapons at all, simple because they have no good hit animations/sound effects. Hitting with a massive TW feels like I am swinging a mystic feather around that hits hard. Super strength has real "oomf"  when it hits, the same with mace/sword, katana has the slice and dice feel and sound.

 

TW was never finishes so it lacks that.

 

Pretty sure Titan was one of the final things released on Live?

 

[Boerewors]

If so then it has no sound effects by design then, which is a little lazy. There is SO much you could do with these massive weapons in the "feel" department.

[Shinobu]

 

I had more than one Titan Weapons character at 50 on live.  In fact, I might have had three.  It was definitely released before the game shut down, and not one of the last sets released either -- from what I remember water blast and nature were the last two sets that went live before the game shut down.

 

 

[Hopeling]

TW is a very late-blooming set; it won't feel very good until you have Whirling Smash and Arc of Destruction with some slots in them, but at that point it really takes off. As others have said, it's also pretty thirsty, so a secondary that helps with endurance is nice.

 

The Momentum mechanic means the set isn't actually slow overall: it's one slow attack, then four fast ones, then repeat. But that slow attack is frustrating when you miss (and don't get Momentum), or when you're doing things like badge hunting where you have to wind up again every time you see a target.

 

If so then it has no sound effects by design then, which is a little lazy. There is SO much you could do with these massive weapons in the "feel" department.

 

Titan Weapons was released well before shutdown, and definitely has sound effects. It has a ton of whoosh sounds and not so many impact/explosion sounds like Super Strength or Stone Melee, so sometimes it sounds a bit like Wiffle Bat Melee, but it has sound.

[Rockfall]

Titan has no feeling of smash. The numbers might be great, but there's no satisfaction in it. Even in a set with kinda meh numbers (stone melee), the smash factor is excellent (speaking as someone who mained a SM/ElA brute redside with a SM/Fire brute as well tailored specifically to batzul grid-ghosting). Titan has awkward animations, some of which look wrong on sharp things, and some of which look wrong on dull things, so no matter what you pick, something's going to look wrong on it.

 

IMO. Your artistic and smash preferences may vary.

[Primantis]

I think TW suffers from a thematic problem by allowing players to choose both Mallets, Swords, and other random objects.

 

It animates/sounds more like a Sword set, but not quite. Which of course, sounds completely weird if you're smacking people with a huge sledge of cement at the end of 5 feet of intertwined rebar

 

 

 

IMO they should have stuck with 1 weapon type so they could really get the sound and impact right. The "lets try to appease everyone" approach only made it luke warm.

[Zumberge]

I think TW suffers from a thematic problem by allowing players to choose both Mallets, Swords, and other random objects.

 

It animates/sounds more like a Sword set, but not quite. Which of course, sounds completely weird if you're smacking people with a huge sledge of cement at the end of 5 feet of intertwined rebar

 

IMO they should have stuck with 1 weapon type so they could really get the sound and impact right. The "lets try to appease everyone" approach only made it luke warm.

 

Calling the weapon a sword is a misnomer.  That thing was too big to be called a sword.  Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough.  Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron.

[Justisaur]

So, if you're duoing with a tank, don't go Titan/Bio scrapper.

 

It's not that it's not a good combo, quite the opposite, it's an amazing combo. It's a combo that kills GMs solo.  It's a combo that is going to make that tank feel like they're not doing anything because the moment you hop in to a mob, everything is dead. I think I would choose something more single target focused than Titan, bio is still a good choice for self survival, just remember that it's got a taunt aura so you may pull foes off the tank occasionally.

 

Consider for duoing with a tank instead going with a stalker, honestly. Tanks tear down lts and minions efficiently enough, so you as a stalker can focus on the bosses, and you rely on the tank to hold agro (... well you really don't, but it's easy to pretend you do), and don't pull much agro away from him.

 

Absolutely, a brute and a tank make you both feel half redundant.  Stalker is a great choice, if you do decide to go stalker, and since you mentioned it already staff/bio is a really good combo for it. 

 

Although I'd probably go with a damage & buff/debuff set - Corruptor, MM or Veat that way you get to improve both of your's performance and do damage, which tankers are lacking a bit.  If you really want to do melee I'd go Veat, you get double leadership which doesn't require any attention, and can act a bit like a stalker as a Night Widow or Bane, of course you have to start as a villain if you do that but you can run off to pocket d and change alignment immediately if you're being heroes.

 

If you really, really want a brute, you might consider Rad, as it's a bit more team friendly with a PBAoE heal and debuffs, it also has good end generation and is very tough. 

 

TW is a bit slow until about 20, once you have a set of attacks to take advantage of momentum and the build momentum power, after that it's probably the best. I haven't played with staff, but it looks faster in the earlier levels, and is good at bolstering def, which works really well with /bio's layered protections.

[RogDodge]

As others have said, TW is very slow starting out and is VERY End heavy.  I went with Willpower on my Brute and, with some other sets and Energy Mastery, no longer have any issues with TW's end usage.  Along with that, when you get a group around you, you can really mow things down with the AoE attacks, but you need to make sure the cone attacks are aligned correctly.

[Six-Six]

Not a man of numbers much, so I don't really pay attention to stats as long as I can kill and I don't die. I've been trying out staff brute and the animation is awesome! There's a power (3rd primary, I think) that you spin the staff in front of you to give multiple minor damage + def against lethal and range (or something). If you time it right, you're spinning the staff in front of you while the other guy is emptying his clips and it looks fantastic.