Taking a stab at Tri-Dark

[Soulsifter]

 Made 17 fairly smoothly. I knew going in, it was an end hog so early SO slotting has this in mind. damage powers are acc/end redux/dam on fast casting ones and the end redux is swapped for a rech redux on the longer ones. Seems to work ok so far. Selective use of the toggles is mandatory. In a fast kill group darkest night is shelved to help that little bit. 

 

 Final slotting looks to add as much endo recovery as I can without compromising the other facets. I also tried to make sure my accuracy was over 50 (including the tactics %). 

 

We'll see how it goes 🙂 I wanted more knockback protection and higher melee def. Any thoughts?

 

 

EDIT:

 

After sleeping on it - I went back and tweaked the build a tad. I'll include the new version below this original post. 

 

Grey Divide - Corruptor (Dark Blast - Dark Miasma).mbd

 

 

 

New Version:

 

Grey Divide 3.0 - Corruptor (Dark Blast - Dark Miasma).mbd

 

 

Edited Monday at 05:30 PM by Soulsifter

[JJDrakken]

If your willing to accept the you'll be CC'd a lot.

 

It's fine.

 

I'd go a different way, but that's just me.

[Soulsifter]

In regards to the latest version (3.0 at the end of the OP), would a set and slot swap between Gloom and Tenebrous make more sense? My thinking is the AOE Tenebrous would leverage the AOE +End proc better? Is this flawed thinking?

 

Curious.

[JJDrakken]

1 minute ago, Soulsifter said:

In regards to the latest version (3.0 at the end of the OP), would a set and slot swap between Gloom and Tenebrous make more sense? My thinking is the AOE Tenebrous would leverage the AOE +End proc better? Is this flawed thinking?

 

Curious.

 

This is how I would do a non defense based Dark/Dark Corr.  I'd go with Soul Mastery, It's Dark Mastery but better.  It's a Patron Power you get from Patron First 6 mish Arc on Redside. Any Villain, Rogue, or Vigilante can start it at lvl 35.  You can also join a Patron Badge team and just get the badge at any level to unlock Patron Powers at 35.  The badge does not need to be of the Patron you want the powers for. You just need the badge to select the Patron's powers you want.

 

Soulshifter's Corruptor (Dark Blast - Dark Miasma).mbd

[Camel]

I'm not a flyer, so your mileage may vary with this build. But something I really try to do with any Dark Blast Corrupter is always try to fit in Spirit Drain. Not having an Aim in Dark Blast is felt immensely and being able to simultaneously boost your damage and +to-hit with Soul Drain will be noticeable. Layer in Tactics as well and you largely have your accuracy needs covered. 

I also am not opposed to using Recovery Serum and a Survival Amplifier to help stop any endurance woes at low level, so any build I make, covering my endurance issues is never a priority, and at high level play, I almost always take Ageless on practically every single build except for my Kinetics. That being said, a proper build as well as the two endurance boosting accolades will do wonders in regard to endurance issues.

The AoE in Dark Blast is not my favorite, I really don't like cones because I often play in melee with my ranged toons anyways and having a targeted 'PBAoE' style attack like.. Neutron Bomb or Fireball is my preferred playstyle. But touching back on Dark Blasts' AoE, I personally think Torrent is better than Night Fall. This is obviously a playstyle preference, but my reasoning is that with proper slotting (Force Feedback +recharge IO), you can almost seamlessly spam Tenebrous Tentacles and Torrent. Torrent also mitigates damage pretty well by not only debuffing the enemies to-hit, but it also knocks them on their bums. At the expense of losing out on some damage, of course.

I would also try to slot Armageddon in Blackstar and put the Corrupter ATO with the damage proc in something like Gloom or your sniper attack. IO sets like Apocalypse and Armageddon are great... and any chance you have to slot them in a build alongside your Corrupter ATOs you should. This maximizes your proc potential while still getting all those goodies like the 10% recharge bonuses!

Anyways, here's my in-game build and I've been enjoying it for the most part.  If anything, definitely get Spirit Drain in your build somehow, it's a game changer. 

Corruptor (Dark Blast - Dark Miasma).mbd

Edited Monday at 06:50 PM by Camel

[Soulsifter]

@Camel

 

Interesting build. Your end situation looks dire to me. How do you offset 1.93 end drain before casting powers against a 3.5 end return?

 

A question about the Gaussian's proc in Tactics, will it even proc reliably in an aura? It seems some of your to hit is leveraged with it's going off. 

 

Personally, I think health is over slotted. You have two heals plus insp. I would take the absorb proc out, move that free slot to Twilight and get the +end proc in there. 

 

Dark Servant is a team killer 😄 That blood thirsty bastige is not something I'll put in my dark builds. His motto seems to be "AGGRO THE WORLD!" Live weened me off him 😄

 

I do like some of your proc'd powers and your use of the hami's to get the acc up to good levels. I'm toying with my build to see about that myself 🙂 

 

As for the Torrent, I didn't want to deal with knockback in this build. I'm usually an absolute fiend for knockdowns, but it seemed unnecessary in this one. 

 

Thank you kindly for the input.

 

Cheers! 

Edited Monday at 09:40 PM by Soulsifter

[Camel]

1 hour ago, Soulsifter said:

@Camel

 

Interesting build. Your end situation looks dire to me. How do you offset 1.93 end drain before casting powers against a 3.5 end return?

 

A question about the Gaussian's proc in Tactics, will it even proc reliably in an aura? It seems some of your to hit is leveraged with it's going off. 

 

Personally, I think health is over slotted. You have two heals plus insp. I would take the absorb proc out, move that free slot to Twilight and get the +end proc in there. 

 

Dark Servant is a team killer 😄 That blood thirsty bastige is not something I'll put in my dark builds. His motto seems to be "AGGRO THE WORLD!" Live weened me off him 😄

 

I do like some of your proc'd powers and your use of the hami's to get the acc up to good levels. I'm toying with my build to see about that myself 🙂 

 

As for the Torrent, I didn't want to deal with knockback in this build. I'm usually an absolute fiend for knockdowns, but it seemed unnecessary in this one. 

 

Thank you kindly for the input.

 

Cheers! 

The two +endurance accolades, team buffs and the occasional Recovery Serum and/or survival amplifier from the P2W vendor help alleviate all the end drain. I also rarely solo, so there are frequently +recovery buffs flying around from the team. Most of my builds have high end usage and I've never noticed an issue. I run all my travel powers simultaneously, Super Speed, Athletic Run, Sprint, etc and very rarely find the need to turn them off. Ageless is a staple in most of my builds too. Having more recharge and almost unlimited endurance is a love affair I can't quit! 😄

I have never built a character around endurance management and the only time I've felt that being an issue was with my Fire Controllers. I also don't mind using the blue inspirations that will inevitably drop while naturally playing the game. I'm not a 'purist' though and leaning on certain aspects of the game to keep my endurance up while playing very aggressively is not an issue for me and doesn't detract from my build "feeling good" to me.

The proc can go off a decent amount, the reason I put that in Tactics is because A; Enhancing the +to-hit/endurance reduction only brings marginal returns with one slot and B; The proc has an increased chance to go off the more your teammates are running Tactics. If Dark Blast had an "Aim" type power, I would put it in there instead. But the benefit of it occasionally going off is worth it to me, especially for having to invest zero slots in the power.

The +absorb proc is just sort of a staple for me. Unless my build already has the means to put an absorb shield on me, I always slot it somewhere. I don't frequently faceplant, but I can definitely recall many a time that the Preventative Medicine absorb proc has come in clutch. Using Blackstar while being the first to engage a mob comes to mind. The nuke takes 3 seconds to activate, and I've definitely survived alpha strikes because of that absorb proc.

I take Dark Servant for that reason! As well as just being able to mule a ton of sets that offer great bonuses. I typically do high end content and play a lot with the speed running communities on Discord. Having Dark Servant means one extra body to draw aggro to us. His PBAoE -to-hit buff and his general powers are semi-decent too. Definitely not a staple though and I could and have forgone choosing him on some of my Dark builds. But he mostly stays.

Torrent does do KB, but I slotted the KB-KD IO in that power to mitigate that. So unless I shared the wrong build, it should have the Overwhelming Force IO in there to make sure that they get knocked down! The real boon is that it's a means to get +recharge with the Force Feedback IO. This means more nukes, quicker heals, Howling Twilight and Spirit Drain coming back online quicker, etc. It's especially useful for your AoE chain, because the 5 seconds of +100% recharge can mean the difference between spamming your AoEs or not. Personal preference there, I'm a sucker for powers that can effectively use the Force Feedback proc.

Cheers!

[Soulsifter]

I appreciate the insight from an end game player. I've been back 5 months or so now and have a few 50's and a bajillion somewhere below 😄 I do have a few with incarnates ( only the first initial levels, however ) As always I'm addicted to the building and refining of play from start to end, then start over. It's been the most joyful to me, as a gamer, for as long as I can remember. 

 

 I've started to delve more into the mechanics and have learned a great deal from some notables on these forums for sure. My brusk ( blunt?) manner has not served me well, unfortunately I tend to ask first, think later. I'm nearly certain I rubbed Uun the wrong way, but honestly I've learned the most from their comments and only recently re-read the posts and my reply's.  I struggle with being social. I meant no insult which, of course doesn't disallow the fact that insult may have been taken. 

 

 An apology of sorts then. 

 

Again, thank you kindly it's very much appreciated! 

 

Cheers.

Edited Tuesday at 02:04 AM by Soulsifter

[Nemu]

On 3/3/2025 at 4:37 AM, Soulsifter said:

I knew going in, it was an end hog

 

If you are anticipating endurance issues, the hasten crash can add extra stress to your endurance management.

 

I looked at your 3.0 build, you can get more mileage out of splitting the ATOs into 2 sets of 3s for more Max End and more Max HP.

 

Here's my edit. Goals for the build:
+Recharge, no hasten

+Max Endurance

+Recovery

+Max HP (at Corrupter HP Cap with accolades)

+Slow resist, however much I can fit in with what's left

 

Grey Divide Nemu Edit - Corruptor (Dark Blast - Dark Miasma).mbd

 

Opening with fearsome stare should softcap your defenses. You have 2 self heals, so you really don't need the power transfer heal proc. The numina recov/regen is in twilight grasp so use that once every 120 seconds to get the benefit. Your accuracy is going to be an issue vs +4s without the purple sets and tactics or team buffs, but it is enough to tackle even con to +2 during the leveling journey.

[Black_Assassin]

I would personally pick @Camel build out of the ones in this thread, but then I tend to forgo defenses to max damage opportunities and lean on the power picks to keep me alive. I think going either Dark or Soul Mastery and not taking Spirit Drain or Soul Drain is criminal. Spirit Drain is objectively better than Soul Drain as it can be made almost perma.

 

I like dark servant, as its free debuff that you don't have to worry about. Also free heals, I tend to slot 2x Acc/Heal hami in mine along with 4 slot cloud senses including the proc. 

 

Another pick I like to make is Petrifying gaze with a 53 Acc/Mez hami and 4 hold damage procs. That is juicy damage opportunity. 

 

Also fun is Howling Twilight slotted to nuke. So 50+5 Acc/Rech Absolute Amazement, 50+5 Recharge and then 4 TAoE/Slow Damage procs of your choice. You can trade the recharge for another proc if you'd prefer.

 

 

[Zect]

The Camel build is definitely the best one of the ones posted. Beats the JJDraken one in maxhp and def, moderately behind in res, while featuring almost twice the rech and superior buff, debuff, supportive and damage output. It runs gloom moonbeam lifedrain, allowing it to increase dps and self-heal while cutting 1 attack power (and save a lot of slots in the process). There are optimizations to be made, like going 6x cloud senses in fluffy instead of 4x basilisks + 4x eradications. The best part of fluffy is the -tohit aura, as any master illusionist worth her salt will tell you in-between making PI radio teams cry; but overall it is very competently made. 

 

Note that it is an endgame (incarnate) build because it will not function without ageless core, but it should not be too hard to adapt it for leveling, before respecing into the final build at 50. You can drop fighting and pick up dark blast, for example (dropping leadership is not recommended because leveling teams always struggle to hit).

The reason why JJDraken is not a fan of your build is because conventional wisdom on d3 is not to over-invest in defense. After all, you already debuff enemies tohit, so a heavy investment in defense is overkill. The approach of building res and maybe maxhp instead has merit, but maybe do so in a more slot-efficient way (3x freebird, just lmao).

 

Dark vs soul mastery

Dark:

• Opp gloom (stacks with other stuns you may take)
• Soul transfer (useful in 4*)

Soul:

• Power boost
  • Do not underestimate power boost. It boosts all your tohit debuffs, including the ones in your dark blasts. It boosts your heals considerably; a powerboosted twilight grasp can easily turn around a bad situation. It even boosts def from toggles, though only when the power boost effect is active. The version in soul also has extremely high uptime, potentially almost 50% on a permahasten+ build.
• Soul drain gives more potential damage buff than spirit drain (Same bonus per target, but 10 targets vs 5. They have the same uptime ratio). However from my experience it is much, much easier to saturate spirit drain than soul drain and spirit drain works even on corpses.

 

On 3/3/2025 at 5:37 PM, Soulsifter said:

I wanted more knockback protection and higher melee def

 

How many melee powers do you have? You can improve your movement and positioning so that when you go into range to use your powers, only a few critters are in range to hit you. Remember that TT immobilizes, so critters cannot crowd around you. By the time you move in, they are all glued to the floor and debuffed into the 9th circle of hell, which will help you avoid getting grouped up on. So melee def is pointless. (In general well-played ranged toons do not need melee def. This is why you will see even kins that only have ranged def.)

 

Rech/slows in tar patch are cute but remember that tar patch does movement slow not recharge reduction (which is never enhanceable, even if it was present) and TT immobilizes. So there is little point in the slow because TT will stop critters from moving and you can just go with commons (boost to +5).

 

Yes, putting ATIO2 +end proc in an aoe will proc it like mad. Buff procs are mad overpowered in aoes. It's why toe +end in rad therapy, or FF + rech in foot stop, are so imbalanced. Exploit ruthlessly.

 

Note that dark consumption is extremely weak. It has 3x the base rech, 360s, than the version in DM. Grass grows faster than this thing recharges. Even blaster nukes only have 145s base rech. Dark consumption will not significantly impact your endurance situation however you slot it so you should avoid heavily investing in it.

 

[Nemu]

18 hours ago, Soulsifter said:

I do like some of your proc'd powers

Most capable builders can make a proc build that caters to the current damage focused meta, you need to make sure that those types of builds aligns with what you want out of YOUR build.

 

Proc powers impose additional tax on build requirements. You need to make up for loss of Acc/Dam/End/Rech slotting in proc powers elsewhere. A heavily procced build will most always take hasten and as I mentioned, the hasten crash can be another tax on your endurance to deal with, in addition to you burning more end due to powers recharging faster. The lack of endurance reduction slotting in those procced attacks further exacerbates the endurance challenge. Since you recognize how endurance intensive the build can be, if you care about the leveling experience and exempt down often, let that be a factor for how you set your goals for the build.

 

Goals are important. They help you triage priorities and tolerance for factors that don't align with your goals. For the record, you don't NEED procs to be successful with any build.

 

If you had to choose between fearsome stare vs dark servant I'd lean towards fearsome stare. Most Dark builds will include both but I can respect your decision not to take dark servant. I also typically don't summon pets on teams due to the reasons you cited.

[Soulsifter]

A LOT of good info here. I try not to call out folks and their build ideas, even if it's not my cup-a, they made an effort to share and help so I'm supa cool with it, and them 😄

 

 

Thank you folks for giving me a lot to think of and to delve into. Having not a great deal of experience with the last 3rd of homecoming, it's a grey area I need to learn.