Dual Blades Attack Chain?

[Lanark1027]

Hey all, I've got quite a bit of experience with Scrappers and Stalkers but for some reason or another I've never given Dual Blades a try. I'll probably pick up all the powers as I'm levelling just to give them a try, but what should I be looking at/planning towards for an end game attack chain, as a Stalker?

 

The combos all seems kinda awkward, one of the combos involved placate, another one included the cone attack and I think the other combo included both T1 attacks. Nothing wrong with any of that I'm just wondering if the combo route is optimal or if there's a better chain. I'm going off of memory on these so I could have something mixed up.

 

If secondary matters I'm leaning towards Rad, but Croax's post is making me consider Stone as well. I guess as a secondary question, I was planning on rolling this char as DB/Rad and then also making a Axe/Stone Scrapper. Would I be better off sticking with that or swapping the secondaries (so DB/Stone Stalk, Axe/Rad Scrap)?

 

Thanks for your input!

[Worm_Kalpa]

For a quick reference, here are the dual blades combos with the power combinations for stalkers in the right-most column: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Dual_Blades#Combination_Attacks

 

I have a dual blades stalker that is pretty fun to play.  I took all the powers in the set, including Placate, and use all the combos except for Empower.  From what I recall when I first made the character, the general advice was to pump up recharge so you can use the Sweep combo as often as possible.  The Sweep combo is a PBAoE with a 10 ft radius that does lethal damage knockdown and is activated by by Build Up -> Assassin's Blades -> Ablating Strike (which is also a defense debuff).  So its a good opener and can be used in the middle of combat when Build Up is recharged.

 

Also for a reference, here is the data for Sweep: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=redirects.stalker_melee.ablating_strike_sweep&at=stalker

 

The Attack Vitals and Weaken combos are alright, not great but I like using them when I can't use Sweep.  I haven't used the Empower combo much.  You're right about the awkwardness of the combos, since you have a short window to use the next attack in the chain.  But it's nice seeing a combo go off and I treat the non-Sweep combos more as a bonus then a necessity of the set.

 

Hopefully others can give some more specifics on the optimal, or at least a pretty good, way to play Dual Blades.

[Lanark1027]

Thanks, I didn't realize there was a fourth combo (Sweep) and sounds like that's the best of the bunch. BU > AB > AS is nice and simple.

 

After one of the recent patches I respeced my Widow in order to pick up Placate. It feels a little cheeky using it in combat but I can't deny it's a very useful option to have. So I'm willing to take it and use it, especially if Empower is worth it.

 

Still curious to know if the Sweep combo is the way to go in the end game, especially as a ST chain. I'll wait for other Blade masters to chime in

[StrikerFox]

I think on paper, the best attack chain is [BU]-AS-Abl-SS-Abl-repeat. But it needs an insane amount of recharge to run since Ablating would need to recharge in 1.28secs for it to be seamless. It needs something like +365% recharge. With a lot less recharge, [BU]-AS-Abl-SS-NS/PS-repeat can be used. The BU-AS-Abl portion would activate the Sweep combo. Or if you wanted to use the Empower combo, replacing Abl with Placate (BU-AS-Plac) will activate it.

[BU]-AS-Abl-SS-NS/PS-repeat would probably perform better since fewer damage procs would be sacrificed since it requires less recharge to run.

I'm not a fan of the Attack Vitals combo on Stalkers. It uses 3 of DB's worst dps attacks which negates it's usefulness. I'm also not a fan of the Weaken combo on Stalkers. Lower levels when Weaken is more useful isn't achievable until lvl 26 (Other ATs can use it at lvl 6).

Even the Sweep combo isn't that great on a Stalker. Other ATs can build enough recharge to run it seamlessly. Knockdown after knockdown, back to back. Stalkers rely on BU's recharge to use it. Also because Stalker's Sweep ends with Ablating, a ST melee attack, any damage procs slotted will only have a chance to trigger on the initial target. Other AT's Sweep ends with a PBAoE, so procs have a chance to trigger on all targets in a 10' radius.

Imo Stalker DB is lacking compared to other ATs in terms of combos but regardless it's still a fun set to play. If you can build enough recharge to run AS-Abl-SS-Abl, it's probably fast enough to integrate a snipe into the chain. Also with that much recharge, Empower can be made perma. Empower lasts for 20secs, BU and Plac would need to recharge less than that. I've only been able to get that much with Super Reflexes but the build sacrificed a lot to get there.