Staff Fighting Tanker

[One IV All]

Staff Fighting!

 

So I dig the animations/sound effects of Staff Fighting. Combo system seems pretty cool as well. I want to give one a spin! It also seems like the new Redraw change on Homecoming helps it a bit.

 

That being said, which of these primaries do you recommend pairing Staff with? Someone mentioned a “Dragoon” thing in another thread, which I thought was awesome… I’m definitely taking Super Jump 😂

 

**Dark Armor**: I’ll be honestly, this was the tanker I saw that sold me on the pairing. I did some research and it seems like a pretty mythical combo. Looks like you can get 90% Resist to ALL with the Tanker ATO and Lv. 3 Sky Splitter plus soft cap melee/ranged/AOE defense. On top of that, a huge heal every 12 seconds or so? Honestly sounds pretty nutty. I’m pretty sure you need to take Cardiac Alpha to hit some of these numbers though.

 

**Willpower**: Seems like Regen 2.0. Why I think Staff could pair nicely is it brings some extra resists with Sky Splitter + knockdowns for crowd control. Keeping enemies on their butts will really let Willpowers regen take over. Plus, zero clicking so you can just focus on Staff stuff.

 

**Rad Armor**: Everyone seems to love it, and I get why. Looks like Staff would pair well with it for the same reasons everything seems to work with Rad Armor. It also brings +res and +def, which Rad will like. Wouldn’t be the most damaging Rad Tanker, but could arguably be the tankiest.

 

**Bio Armor**: BECAUSE YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY STANCES, AMIRIGHT?

 

**Super Reflexes**: I hear SR tanks are some of the toughest around. With great DDR and scaling resists (plus what Staff brings) I imagine it’d be really tough to bring down.

 

**Invuln**: From a pure brick wall stand point, this might be the toughest. Able to hit max HP pretty easily, great resists and defense + some DDR. Like SR though, no damage aura or AOE’s, so it would be a bit light on damage. Brings +tohit though.

 

**Electric Armor**: Honestly, it just looks sexy. I like that it protects against end drain, has a good heal/end discount. Since it manages end so well, I could probably go with Musculature as the Alpha.

[ZemX]

6 hours ago, One IV All said:

So I dig the animations/sound effects of Staff Fighting. Combo system seems pretty cool as well. I want to give one a spin! It also seems like the new Redraw change on Homecoming helps it a bit.

 

More than a bit, though to be fair it is cosmetic. The redraw never harmed Staff's performance but it sure made you THINK it was slowing you down.  The set is much more aesthetically pleasing now that you don't redraw the staff every time you use a non-staff power.  And on a clicky primary like my Rad/Staff Tanker has... that was a lot.

 

Overall, of course, be aware that Staff suffers poor DPA.  It feels best when you have a nice big group of enemies around you and are hitting them all with a chain of three different AoEs.   But it still isn't winning a Trapdoor contest against Super Strength's one dumb foot. 😈

 

Long as you're cool with that, it's a fun set.  I think you did a pretty good job listing what it brings to various primaries.  I've done Rad and SR myself and am currently working up a Bio/Staff for the Reunion Tanker Tuesday (on a Saturday) Tour.  The mix and match of stances is indeed silly.  But it's nice to be able to be in offensive staff for the RES bonus and Defensive Bio for the survivability... at the same time.  In fact, though it does give you those NINE modes of operation, I tend to always leave Staff in offensive stance.  I'll probably cycle Bio stances as the need arises.

 

Honestly, Invuln was on my radar for a while.  I think I might eventually have to try one with Staff just to see what silliness can be pulled of with the resistances.  It might be a case of having to do less with IOs if I can count on RES from Sky Splitter.  Might even be able to chuck Fighting pool entirely.  Imagine some other uses for those power slots.   Not entirely having to take Focused Accuracy might mean better epic pool selection for attacks.   Hmmm.....

[Xandyr]

I've  played it with WP and Bio. Both pairings are great. Never did any 4* content with either. 

 Having said that, I've survived about everything thrown at them. Build WP for +HP, +regen then def/resist. It's hard to faceplant with softcapped defense, backed up with good resists...while regenerating 200-300 hp/sec.

 Bio is....bio. Offers more damage,  and the +def/resist Staff offers helps survivability. 

 

 Dark/Staff sounds fun as well. May have to try that.

[Sovera]

As Zemx pointed Staff is pretty but needs an urgent pass from the devs. We whittle the enemies and despite having a lot of AoE it is all mediocre AoE. Still, it looks so very cool that we don't mind as we slap bunches of +1 enemies. It's when we are down to a boss and hitting it for five minutes (hyperbole) that we start feeling the drag.

 

But, welp, we can't always stick to Fire Melee 😛

 

The Dark Armor pairing does not actually get Melee/Ranged/AoE defense (Guarded Spin only grants defense to Melee and smashing (or was it slashing?) It's Martial Arts that can make any resistance based Armr having 45% to Melee/Ranged/AoE ON TOP of 90% resistances). 90% on a resist base Tanker is not hard to do (the ATO accounts for 14%/20 % all by itself after all).

 

What the pairing DOES do is brutally mitigate the Dark Armor endurance consumption thanks to one the Staff forms. Dark Armor suffers a lot from endurance problems (having obviously been made to be used with Dark Melee... that has an endurance recovery clicky) so Staff fixes that, enjoy your obscene heal every 15 seconds 😄

 

 

Consider Fire Armor despite not being in the list. The lower damage of Staff will appreciate the assistance from Fiery Embrace and Burn though Radiation Armor achieves about the same though in more indirect means.

[Hjarki]

3 minutes ago, Sovera said:

We whittle the enemies and despite having a lot of AoE it is all mediocre AoE.

Staff has amazing AE on a Tanker. You can just Hover above the crowd and rotate Guarded Spin/Innocuous Strikes to chew up spawns in short order. Having extended reach Cones on a Tanker with a 10 target cap is fantastic.

 

Where Staff stumbles is single target.

[Sovera]

Mediocre = bad numbers. It has the girth but lacks the sta-... the damage numbers to go with it.

[JStacy337]

I have an Inv/Staff/Mako that I absolutely adore, but that I have no clue how to build her. I know that just using basic IOs has her tanky as heck, but I would love to get some bonuses on her

 

Yeah, if anyone has any advice for Inv/Staff/Mako (Mako for all three of the cone attacks), feel free to share them ❤️

[lemming]

9 hours ago, One IV All said:

Staff Fighting!

 

**Electric Armor**: Honestly, it just looks sexy. I like that it protects against end drain, has a good heal/end discount. Since it manages end so well, I could probably go with Musculature as the Alpha.

I have a new 50 Elec/Staff tank that while not amazing in the DPS area, does melt crowds of minions away pretty well.   I'm running them as a secondary for a Katana/Nin scrapper.    Running them against hordes of Carnies is pretty satisfying.  The one weakness so far, Lusca.   That toxic hole is just painful.   Everything else just dies on the bug zapper.

[Onlyasandwich]

10 hours ago, One IV All said:

Honestly sounds pretty nutty. I’m pretty sure you need to take Cardiac Alpha to hit some of these numbers though.

 

All of these primaries are great, and I don't think there's really anything to call out in combination with staff specifically. Some are stronger than others sure, but I say go DA if it is speaking to you! Just know that you'll want to sacrifice a few slots (ideally 3 unless you are going flight pool with Evasive maneuvers) for Knockback protection. If you have evasive and can afford to run it, 1-2 KB protection IOs are fine due to the KB resistance provided.

 

Rad, Bio, and Invuln are probably the best from a min/max "really awesome armor sets" perspective.

 

SR can run really lean on slots, which frees you up to focus more on your attacks. Very simple to build.

 

ELA, WP, and DA are all excellent as well though. 

 

Cardiac Core is indeed a strong choice on DA. It's one of the few armors where I'd pick this over a damage option, as you really benefit from doubling down on resists, and the end redux is a life saver. 

Edited March 18 by Onlyasandwich

[Hjarki]

3 hours ago, Onlyasandwich said:

 

All of these primaries are great, and I don't think there's really anything to call out in combination with staff specifically. Some are stronger than others sure, but I say go DA if it is speaking to you! Just know that you'll want to sacrifice a few slots (ideally 3 unless you are going flight pool with Evasive maneuvers) for Knockback protection. If you have evasive and can afford to run it, 1-2 KB protection IOs are fine due to the KB resistance provided.

 

Rad, Bio, and Invuln are probably the best from a min/max "really awesome armor sets" perspective.

 

SR can run really lean on slots, which frees you up to focus more on your attacks. Very simple to build.

 

ELA, WP, and DA are all excellent as well though. 

 

Cardiac Core is indeed a strong choice on DA. It's one of the few armors where I'd pick this over a damage option, as you really benefit from doubling down on resists, and the end redux is a life saver. 

I think Radiation is a particular standout for a few reasons:

• Staff gives a much-needed 'defense toggle' for LotG to a set that otherwise provides none.
• Staff's notoriously poor single target damage is counter-balanced by -regen in primary for fighting AV/GM
• Radiation can nearly can all resists, so being able to push the final mile with Staff's +resist move can make a truly beefy tanker.
• The potentially massive +Melee/Lethal defense bonuses counter-balance the lack of DDR.

With Invulnerability and Super Reflexes, you tend to be forced into using Perfection of Soul to manage endurance. So you fall into a do-you-get-what-you-pay-for? quandary where you have to ask yourself if those sets are so much better than a set like Radiation that they justify such a low damage secondary. I think Super Reflexes is different enough than Radiation that you could potentially make the argument - but you can probably make an argument for other endurance management sets like Savage of Dark that's even better. For Invulnerability, I don't see it.

 

In terms of Bio, it's the "defense version" of Radiation in many ways. However, Bio Tankers are notoriously squishy and I don't think any of the three modes of Staff help this much. Bio doesn't need Soul, Mind is silly almost any time and Body just raises your horrible non-S/L/T resists to slightly less horrible.

 

Electric has a tendency to be simply a worse version of Radiation. Weak Psi/Strong Toxic is a much better combination than the reverse in a resist set.

 

Likewise, it's often tough to justify Willpower when Bio exists. Why play the 'Regeneration set' when the only time your Regeneration actually beats out sets that provide broader benefits is when you're surrounded by a mob of enemies?

 

Dark Armor could benefit, but the Energy hole is painful and you're likely to be stuck with Soul most of the time. With that in mind, Oppressive Gloom does combine well with so much Disorient in secondary.

 

[Duckbutler]

Invuln/Staff is really easy to cap S/L resistance and is definitely a contender in the brick wall category. Cheap in that regard, too. I shelved mine initially just to get a chance to observe other tankers more. Now I think she's just done because I'd rather play something more aggressive. Great starter tank though!

[Maelwys]

I'm rather enjoying my recently-50ed-and-tricked-out Bio/Staff Tanker.

Sure, staff tends to stay on Form of the Body 24/7 just like Offensive Adaption... but the +Def from Guarded Spin (~22% with a LoTG or two) covers Bio Armor's defence gaps nicely; and the +Res from Sky Splitter (+13.3% to all) plus a few +6.7% stacks from the SMoT Proc (mine's in Serpent's Reach) helps versus non-S/L damage.
Softcapped Defences, Hardcapped Resists and plenty of Absorb. Throw Bio's "Parasitic Aura" on a group of alive foes and "DNA Siphon" on a group of dead ones and your Regen/Recovery rate jumps through the roof and I've noticed it's not uncommon for me to see hardcapped numbers there too.

The real kicker is the procability though. Mercurial Blow takes Achilles' Heel -Res and Touch of Lady Grey; Eye of the Storm takes Fury of the Gladiator -Res and Force Feedback chance for +Recharge and Armageddon; Serpent's Reach takes Decimation: Chance for Build Up and Apocalypse; Sky Splitter takes Hecatomb plus any other ATOs you're missing... and then there's all that AoE -Res from Form of the Body + Eye of the Storm and Evolving Armor. You're a proc-laden resistance-debuffing AoE woodchipper.

Sure, /Staff isn't as standalone awesome as /SS Ragestomping, but Bio/Staff has got some real synergy going on making the whole genuinely better than the sum of the parts. It's nice for a change to play a toon that just naturally "comes together" so much...


EDIT:
Some actual numbers and a sample build, since I'm home from work now and can actually check in-game (Mids is pants at getting the stats right with all the stance mechanics)

Offensively, with "Offensive Adaption" running:

• +25% Damage and +7.5 ToHit from Hardened Carapace (Offensive Adaption) plus up to +15% Damage from Form of the Body (3x Stacks).
• It inflicts a constant PBAoE -10.64% resist to Foes via Evolving Armor, plus another -10% res for 6 seconds via Eye of the Storm with 3x Form of the Body Stacks (in the typical AoE chain this cycles every 9.1 seconds). With my current slotting, Eye of the Storm also has a 41% chance to activate the Annihilation Proc for a further -20% res for 10 seconds, and Mercurial Blow has a 17% of activating the Achilles' Heel Proc for yet another -20% res for 10 seconds.
• DNA Siphon will deal a constant -100% Regen in Offensive Mode and -133% outside of that mode.
   

Defensively, with "Defensive Adaption" running plus a 3-stacked SMoT proc: (there's a 67% chance of 3 procs being up, and 25% chance of 2)

• >90% Resistance to S/L/T (even in Offensive Adaption!)
• ~55% Resistance to F/C/E/N/P with 1 foe in range of Evolving Armor, or ~61.5% with 10 foes in Range.
   With 10 Foes in Range AND 'Melee Core Embodiment' AND/OR 'Barrier Core Epiphany'; can reliably sit at >80% Res to F/C/E/N/P.
• 67.4% Melee Defence (2 stacks of Guarded Spin) or 45.35% (1 Stack). Plus 45.21% F/C/E/N Defence. Can activate Stealth for a smidge more.
• Hardcapped Recovery [9.47 End/Sec] when Parasitic Aura is running (uptime 45s, recharge ~67-86s) otherwise 6.38 End/Sec.
• ~250 HP/Sec Regen when Parasitic Aura is running, otherwise ~115 HP/Sec.   
   Can hit the +2500% Regeneration hardcap in Efficient Adaption with 'Melee Core Embodiment' running.
• Constant PBAoE -14% Damage debuff to Foes via Genetic Contamination.
• Frankly more +Absorb than I know what to do with (can technically hit the 100% Base HP hardcap!)

Tanker (Bio Armor - Staff).mbd
 

Edited March 22 by Maelwys

[Nemu]

Amateurs.

 

Elec/Staff with whirlwind is obviously the way to go.

 

Obviously

 

Have you heard the Gospel of SPIN?