Seeking Critique of Super Strength/Energy Aura Build

[Pepinillo]

Hello! New-ish player here. I'm looking for help with this SS/EnA build. I used to play many years ago and recently learned about the private servers; trying to have a build to shoot for before getting started.

 

I had originally planned to play a Tanker, but Energy Aura caught my eye and I think it better fits the theme that I have in mind than any of the Tanker sets. Though even if I'm not playing Tanker I still want to actually tank, so I hope that I've built enough survivability for that.

 

I did mention theme and that's definitely guiding some of the power choices here, like taking Teleport or skipping out on Soul Mastery.

 

I'd like to try and put this guy through just about everything the game has to offer, so if you see any room for improvement please let me know.

 

Brute (Super Strength - Energy Aura).mbd

[Erratic1]

As it appears to me...

 

• You've got Hasten toggled on but it is not actually perma.
• Your offensive powers all have pretty low accuracy values. You could fix this via your alpha slot, not proc-bombing, or taking Focused Accuracy (which you could take instead of Boxing).
• You have no +To Hit. At the very least I would place Kismet: +6% Accuracy (which is really To-Hit) in one of your defensive powers.
• You have very nice Defense values, but keep in mind Energy Drain boosts Def. You might be able to save some slots or gain other bonuses by trading down some of your existing Defense values.

 

On the build I have for me (not played near enough) SS/EA Brutes the numbers look like:

 

 

Sidera - Super Strength - Energy Aura.mbd

 

Lower defense numbers (cannot have everything) but even on target hit by Energize brings her defenses up to a nice value. She has perma-Hasten and is capable of double stacking Rage (permanently if she times Energy Torrent right and gets a proc off Force Feedback). 

 

[Pepinillo]

18 hours ago, Erratic1 said:

- Helpful Reply -

 

Hey Erratic, thanks for taking a look. I've made some adjustments; the revised build is attached below.

 

1. Hasten - Thanks for pointing this out. I think I really overestimated how much uptime Force Feedback is going to get and have adjusted accordingly. I should have roughly the same global recharge as your build now. I didn't triple-slot Hasten like you did, but I hope that between Entropic Aura, Force Feedback and Cross Punch's little boost that it'll be okay.

 

2. Accuracy - I've slotted in Kismet, took Focused Accuracy, and as a result of pursuing extra recharge I now have a more standard slotting on attacks with less procs and a bit more accuracy. In order to take Focused Accuracy I dropped Superior Conditioning instead of Boxing. I also swapped Maneuvers for Combat Jumping to offset the endurance gain. Was endurance your concern with recommending Boxing as the skill to drop?

 

3. Defense - I actually read your previous thread about this combo when I was looking around for guidance. It was pointed out there that the Rage crash -20% def could be problematic and that's the reason I chose to push defense so high. Do you find that it isn't much of an issue then? As you'll see, I'm still a little overcapped.

 

 

 

Brute (Super Strength - Energy Aura) v3.mbd

Edited October 4 by Pepinillo
Build changes

[Erratic1]

@Pepinillo,

 

As goes Hasten, there is a point where you are close enough to perma that being a little short does not usually make too much difference. If being a little short allows you to shore up some other aspect of character performance, I would say go for it.

 

Endurance was not a concern. Between Energy Drain and Energize you should be good for endurance. I just don't see what Boxing is bringing to the table.

 

You make a good point on the impact of Rage Crashing. 

[WuTang]

In your initial build you did not have Rage toggled on, even with just one application you had plenty of accuracy. Now, IMO, you have too much. And all those FF: +Recharge slots have relatively low chances of helping you. However, Knockout Blow absolutely loves procs. Keep any recharge enhancements out of it and it will proc 90% on any proc you put in it, even FF: +Recharge. You can get it over 1000 damage every 6 sec. I think I slotted it with 3 Hetacomb: Dam, Dam/End, Neg Energy proc, and the last 3 were FF: +Recharge, Unbreakable Rest. Smashing proc and lastly ToD: Neg Energy proc.

 

Edit: Also, in Rage, I would slot Adjusted Targeting: ToHit/Recharge and Recharge and +5 them both. This way you get basically the exact same recharge but with a lil +2% damage buff. And everywhere you have a PS: +10% endurance proc I would also slot the end mod from the same set, you'd have 2 which would add 15% more movement speed, if that matter to you.

Edited October 7 by WuTang

[Pepinillo]

On 10/7/2024 at 6:02 AM, WuTang said:

In your initial build you did not have Rage toggled on, even with just one application you had plenty of accuracy. Now, IMO, you have too much. And all those FF: +Recharge slots have relatively low chances of helping you. However, Knockout Blow absolutely loves procs. Keep any recharge enhancements out of it and it will proc 90% on any proc you put in it, even FF: +Recharge. You can get it over 1000 damage every 6 sec. I think I slotted it with 3 Hetacomb: Dam, Dam/End, Neg Energy proc, and the last 3 were FF: +Recharge, Unbreakable Rest. Smashing proc and lastly ToD: Neg Energy proc.

 

Edit: Also, in Rage, I would slot Adjusted Targeting: ToHit/Recharge and Recharge and +5 them both. This way you get basically the exact same recharge but with a lil +2% damage buff. And everywhere you have a PS: +10% endurance proc I would also slot the end mod from the same set, you'd have 2 which would add 15% more movement speed, if that matter to you.

 

Thank you for the feedback. I've made some more adjustments based on your post as well as looking around at some other threads.

 

I traded Focused Accuracy for Superior Conditioning, but ended up 6-slotting Rage for set bonuses so my accuracy might still be high. Maybe I could dump Kismet to free up a slot?

 

I slotted up Knockout Blow almost as suggested, taking a couple Winters instead of Hecatombs to push the build up to 100% recharge debuff resist.

 

You did get me curious about the Force Feedback proc chances so I plugged the numbers into the formula from this thread to figure it out. You were right; with the currently slotted recharge levels, FF proc chances:

   

Haymaker:     20%

Knockout Blow:     90%

Cross Punch:     18%

Foot Stomp:     24%

 

With that in mind, I swapped them out from Haymaker and Cross Punch. Foot Stomp's chances don't seem too terrible for an AoE, so I kept that one.

 

I brought defenses back up again, going for 55% on S/L/E. Assuming I've got the numbers right; 1 stack of Energy Drain, plus Agility Incarnate, plus Barrier Incarnate would get me to 65% which would drop to 45% during Rage crash. Possibly overcompensating for the crash there, but that's the thought process for those defense numbers.

 

Brute (Super Strength - Energy Aura) v4.mbd

[WuTang]

10 hours ago, Pepinillo said:

 

Thank you for the feedback. I've made some more adjustments based on your post as well as looking around at some other threads.

 

I traded Focused Accuracy for Superior Conditioning, but ended up 6-slotting Rage for set bonuses so my accuracy might still be high. Maybe I could dump Kismet to free up a slot?

 

I slotted up Knockout Blow almost as suggested, taking a couple Winters instead of Hecatombs to push the build up to 100% recharge debuff resist.

 

You did get me curious about the Force Feedback proc chances so I plugged the numbers into the formula from this thread to figure it out. You were right; with the currently slotted recharge levels, FF proc chances:

   

Haymaker:     20%

Knockout Blow:     90%

Cross Punch:     18%

Foot Stomp:     24%

 

With that in mind, I swapped them out from Haymaker and Cross Punch. Foot Stomp's chances don't seem too terrible for an AoE, so I kept that one.

 

I brought defenses back up again, going for 55% on S/L/E. Assuming I've got the numbers right; 1 stack of Energy Drain, plus Agility Incarnate, plus Barrier Incarnate would get me to 65% which would drop to 45% during Rage crash. Possibly overcompensating for the crash there, but that's the thought process for those defense numbers.

 

Brute (Super Strength - Energy Aura) v4.mbd 40.08 kB · 0 downloads

I like it. Once you choose your incarnates Knockout Blow will be hitting for over 1K for sure. I'm not a fan of placing procs with less than a 70% chance of hitting, but I would advocate for one other tiny proc change... Slot a KD proc from the Winter set in Foot Stomp, not only is it hilarious watching bad guys flop around ever 4-6 seconds but it adds mitigation as well.  I might leave Kismet in if you plan to run Posi's, but yeah otherwise I don't think you need it. Rage is fine how you slotted it, IMO. I might've filed this one for a future build...

 

Good luck out there!