A few quick Incarnate questions (for a Rad/Stone)

[Story Archer]

So my Tanker is a Radiation Armor/Stone Melee and I've enjoyed the run to 50 immensely. He's currently got Fault instead of Tremor (let me know if that's a bad call), with Fault, Stone Mallet and Heavy Mallet slotted with +Rech procs. Ground Zero and Radiation Therapy are slotted out with procs to serve as mini-nukes and Hasten is not quite perma (before the FF procs kick in, at least). Soul Mastery adds Gloom to the attack chain and Darkest Night for an added layer of protection.

 

Alpha question: 

My default Alpha for melee types is usually Musculature, but I'm wondering if this particular build might benefit more from Spiritual Core Paragon (+Rech to smooth out the attack chain and get Particle Shielding & the mini-nukes up faster, +Healing to benefit Particle Shielding's absorption and +Stun to make Fault more effective). The question is whether the +Healing actually benefits the absorption and whether this would be the right way to go.

 

Interface question:

I'm really torn between Degenerative, Diagmagnetic and Reactive. Large groups aren't a problem, so this is really targeted at making my single-target attacks their most effective against EB's, AV's & GM's. 

 

• Degenerative: Is a 75% chance to -Max HP more effective than a 100% chance to -Regen (from Diagmagnetic)?

 

• Diagmagnetic: While it's not my primary (or secondary) means of defense, I'm already layering on some pretty decent -ToHit DeBuffs with Beta Decay and Darkest Night, is the added ToHit DeBuff from this worth taking into consideration?

 

• Reactive: Currently 3rd place in my consideration, I can't help but to think about how heavily resisted Smashing damage is and the damage proc that comes with this one really seems like the only one of the three that's worthwhile.

 

Lore question:

Given my chosen power sets and durability, what would be a good Lore pet to go with? Should I only worry about layering on the damage at this point? It would be nice to be able to at least think about soloing some of the big names, though that might be unrealistic...

 

Destiny question:

No clue what to go with here. Ageless to help out Recharge on all my big guns? Barrier just to help out the team, especially since I don't take Taunt on this build? Rebirth for more healing (I don't have any idea how this interacts with Particle Shielding)? Incandescence to help with various missions, TF's & SF's? Any advice here would be welcome.

 

I've already decided on Ion Core Final for Judgement and Assault Radial Embodiment for my Hybrid. Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer, I'm really stumped on these.

 

 

Edited October 10 by Story Archer

[ZemX]

28 minutes ago, Story Archer said:

He's currently got Fault instead of Tremor (let me know if that's a bad call)

 

If you're happy with your group clearing speed, then I can't say it's a bad call.  But just in general, AoE is a big advantage on Tankers due to the increased areas and target caps.  Fault is good.  But both is better.  If I really had to choose between, them, I'd probably go with Tremor though as it's going to hit more targets more easily and it recharges a bit faster, making it that much more likely have full coverage on FF:rech procs along with the other two powers.

 

Like a lot of things, it depends on what content you run most often.  Since I mostly team and do so on teams where tanking actually helps, my goal is usually reaching the most targets the most often, to keep all that aggro.  So I don't skip any AoEs.    If you're mostly soloing, bosses and other tough enemies will be limiting your clear speed more than AoE will.

 

As for the rest, you have plenty of recharge and it's easy to cap recharge debuff resistance on Rad Armor.  I always go with Musc and Reactive.  Barrier seems most often called for in Hard Modes and just in general seems to provide the most immediate relief to teammates in trouble.  I don't think too hard on the others.

 

I'll say that not having high defense or the means to protect any that you get from other sources, I often just ignore it.  Which means I get hit a lot.  Which means debuffs are a problem.   As good as other Epics are, I always find myself leaning on Energy for Focused Accuracy so I don't get toHit floored by all the enemies that debuff, toHit... and they do seem rather common.  Laser Eyes and Torrent aren't the best, but not terrible either if you want to add some ranged and more AoE.  Laser Eyes are even a decent ranged Taunt given the tanker AoE gauntlet taunt and the fact LBE is autohit now.  Just lacks the range debuff of the Taunt power itself.

 

But you said you skipped Taunt anyway, so perhaps team tanking isn't really a goal for you.

[Story Archer]

47 minutes ago, ZemX said:

 

If you're happy with your group clearing speed, then I can't say it's a bad call.  But just in general, AoE is a big advantage on Tankers due to the increased areas and target caps.  Fault is good.  But both is better.  If I really had to choose between, them, I'd probably go with Tremor though as it's going to hit more targets more easily and it recharges a bit faster, making it that much more likely have full coverage on FF:rech procs along with the other two powers.

 

Like a lot of things, it depends on what content you run most often.  Since I mostly team and do so on teams where tanking actually helps, my goal is usually reaching the most targets the most often, to keep all that aggro.  So I don't skip any AoEs.    If you're mostly soloing, bosses and other tough enemies will be limiting your clear speed more than AoE will.

 

As for the rest, you have plenty of recharge and it's easy to cap recharge debuff resistance on Rad Armor.  I always go with Musc and Reactive.  Barrier seems most often called for in Hard Modes and just in general seems to provide the most immediate relief to teammates in trouble.  I don't think too hard on the others.

 

I'll say that not having high defense or the means to protect any that you get from other sources, I often just ignore it.  Which means I get hit a lot.  Which means debuffs are a problem.   As good as other Epics are, I always find myself leaning on Energy for Focused Accuracy so I don't get toHit floored by all the enemies that debuff, toHit... and they do seem rather common.  Laser Eyes and Torrent aren't the best, but not terrible either if you want to add some ranged and more AoE.  Laser Eyes are even a decent ranged Taunt given the tanker AoE gauntlet taunt and the fact LBE is autohit now.  Just lacks the range debuff of the Taunt power itself.

 

But you said you skipped Taunt anyway, so perhaps team tanking isn't really a goal for you.

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond. 🙂

 

I know that DDR is basically non-existent with this set, but I'm running with 35% Melee, 21% Ranged/Area, and combining it with the ToHit DeBuff benefits of Beta Decay and Darkest Night when needed. Collectively they actually help me out a lot in the 'getting hit' department - which, honestly, I try to take advantage of more to limit DeBuffs than actual damage. Plus, looking at Barrier, I'm thinking of linking it to a movement button as a means to keep it more or less perma - it fades over time, sure, but I'm already pretty far along without it so the combo should be really effective most of the time.

 

For me (with this guy anyway) 'team tanking' generally consists of running in to take the Alpha, clearing away the riff-raff with some combination of 3 wide and powerful AoE's and then holding the attention of the biggest threat left in the room. For fast-moving teams, that's usually more than enough, especially if they are also getting the benefits of my Barrier and Darkest Night.

 

What's your Lore pet of choice?

 

 

Edited October 10 by Story Archer

[ZemX]

6 minutes ago, Story Archer said:

For me (with this guy anyway) 'team tanking' generally consists of running in to take the Alpha, clearing away the riff-raff with some combination of 3 wide and powerful AoE's and then holding the attention of the biggest threat left in the room. For fast-moving teams, that's usually more than enough.

 

Yeah, like I said a lot of this is so dependent on the content you typically run and with who.  I find in most mid-level pick-up teams that I use Taunt a ton for grabbing stray aggro without having to leave "the pocket".    My opener is usually Rad Infection or Ground Zero since they have the widest reach in the "piss everything around me off before the controller does with his blasted AoE immob" dept.   But it's just really common to have stuff going on away from the main pack I have around me and it's nice to be able to reliably reach out and say "you there... get over here!" without having to go smack it in the mouth personally.

 

But yeah, all that only matters if the fights are lasting long enough for it to happen and/or the rest of the team actually needs the services of a tanker.  If I spent more of my time in 45+ teams, I'd probably think about dropping Taunt too.

 

11 minutes ago, Story Archer said:

What's your Lore pet of choice?

 

Have to confess here that I pick Lores based on theme.  I am vaguely aware they offer subtle differences but mainly, the only thing I care about getting from them is damage and because I spend as little time as possible in 45+ teams, I don't fret a lot over those other differences.   I'd say I most often go with BP or Longbow just because I love seeing the big guys.

[Sovera]

Tremor is definitely better than Fault. You get about the same soft CC from the knockdown it does while having better accuracy and more damage, and less endurance costs. Well, if you like Fault then carry on but if anything I'd have both.

 

While ZemX has already answered I'll add my own two bits:

 

- Against AVs and GMs it will be Degenerative that will have the most impact. The -100% regen is nothing (which is why Diagmanetic is never picked by anyone other than for flavour). And AV's regen is based off their maximum HP and the -HP proc diminishes their max HP which in turn makes them regen less. You can shave whole minutes off with it. On top of that -HP is not resisted (if I recall correctly). The downside is that -HP does precious little against anything else, even EBs. You can get away with the 25% -HP proc and squeeze a tiny bit more damage from the toxic proc at 75%.

 

- Against regular enemies Reactive is the best as the -res will affect everything and even increase its own damage chance. In fact, once more the 25% chance for the -res turned out to be the best when I tested. The downside is now the opposite of Degenerative in that the -res does little against an AV. AV's resist -res (though this is more a level 50 thing) and the higher level an enemy is the higher their resistance to debuffs. This makes it a double whammy against +3 AVs/GMs. Things to consider: we spend most of our time fighting normal mobs and 5% of our time fighting AVs.

 

- Lores are mostly the same.With 7 minutes recharge it's a thing used once in a while. They are squishy and die fast to which is bleh. I always pick Banished Pantheon but the Longbow have -regen which further helps with AVs (if you can keep them alive).