Final slot in a damage aura...

[Story Archer]

So you're a melee type with a damage aura and in the first five slots you've got your accuracy, endurance redux and damage all pretty much sorted out - what's the best thing to do with that final slot? For discussion's sake, let's assume that whatever piece you select, it won't be adding to any existing set bonuses.

 

Fury of the Gladiator (Chance for Res DeBuff)

I was unable to find the duration of the DeBuff, but -20% to multiple targets at a time is nothing to sneeze at.

 

Overwhelming Force (Damage/Chance for KD)

Seems like a legit option. The chance for KD would at least provide some mitigation when surrounded by mobs, and you get a little damage bonus besides.

 

Cupid's Crush (Damage/Chance for Confuse)

Seems like the strongest overall option to me right now. I couldn't find the PPM rate for this, but near as I can tell, the duration is just under 12 seconds, which is pretty legit mitigation, certainly more than simple KD. The Damage increase is also greater than that offered by Overwhelming Force.

 

Thoughts?

[arcane]

The best things to do with damage auras are usually to pursue acc/dam/end, some set bonuses, and any self-buffing procs. For instance a Tanker damage aura with 4 SMotT (including proc) and 1 SGF proc is doing a lot of self buffing (on top of the nice bonuses) unless you’re one on one with an AV. Blaster defiant barrage is another example of a self buffing proc that fires reliably when you square off against groups.
 

Procs that affect enemies are better used in other powers.

Edited March 13 by arcane

[Story Archer]

53 minutes ago, arcane said:

Procs that affect enemies are better used in other powers.

 

Yet, for some reason, every metric tells me that my damage auras consistently deal more damage with damage procs than with sets alone. 

 

In my particular case, it's a mix of set bonuses and damage procs, and I'm not running a Tanker. I didn't want to get too specific because I was curious what other perspectives people might have. Let's assume that someone wants to just be a lunatic and actually slot procs that affect enemies into a damage aura - apart from straight damage procs, are there that are available to everyone which you would suggest? Ideally focused on some combination of mitigation and damage?

 

Edited March 13 by Story Archer

[Skyhawke]

1 hour ago, Story Archer said:

Overwhelming Force (Damage/Chance for KD)

Seems like a legit option. The chance for KD would at least provide some mitigation when surrounded by mobs, and you get a little damage bonus besides.

 

Soooooo much this for me. I have several characters with damage auras and I love putting the OF chance for KD enhancement in them. Yes, it's a form of mitigation. Yes, I keeps enemies from running out of the damage aura. Yes, it's funny as hell. 😁

[Story Archer]

16 minutes ago, Skyhawke said:

 

Soooooo much this for me. I have several characters with damage auras and I love putting the OF chance for KD enhancement in them. Yes, it's a form of mitigation. Yes, I keeps enemies from running out of the damage aura. Yes, it's funny as hell. 😁

 

Yeah, good point about it stopping runners - as a Scrapper, that might benefit me more than the greater mitigation of Confuse even if I have a ranged attack or two.

[TheMoneyMaker]

An Acc if you want... but otherwise I'd fill it with procs and balance the endurance costs in other ways.

[Snarky]

Knocking things down is a great, almost perfect, damage mitigation in this game.  If you have not used Over Force KD elsewhere now is the time.  

[Camel]

32 minutes ago, Story Archer said:

 

Yeah, good point about it stopping runners - as a Scrapper, that might benefit me more than the greater mitigation of Confuse even if I have a ranged attack or two.

I typically slot my melee characters' damage auras with 5 pieces of Superior Avalanche for the phenomenal set bonuses AND the ability to knock enemies down occasionally. It is rather good, do not sleep on it! It happens more frequently than you would think and is absolutely a decent form of mitigation. Damage procs aren't bad, but I really only proc out Irradiated Ground in Rad Melee because it can accept so many dang procs and the damage from it isn't as good. Albeit, I do believe two of the patches can stack on top of each other so it's still worth enhancing the damage values if you can.

Acc/Dam/End redux is what will give you the most mileage, but Acc/Dam + damage procs is good too, especially if you have zero endurance problems. I haven't tested the Cupid's enhancement... but I'd wager it's not really worth it, at all. But it couldn't hurt to try!

Edited March 13 by Camel

[arcane]

Well maybe I’m outvoted. Certainly damage procs could still improve a damage aura’s output, but I’m still under the impression that they make a more radical difference in single target attacks and high recharge AoE’s. So I usually use my aura and my low recharge AoE’s to get my accuracy/recharge bonus situation in order. But that’s just me.

[Uun]

An 8 foot radius damage aura slotted with a 3.5 PPM proc will have a 30.7% chance to fire every 10s. A 2.5 PPM proc (Overwhelming Force) will have a 21.9% chance to fire every 10s.

 

Outside of set bonuses, the most efficient slotting for damage auras is Scirocco's Dervish, Avalanche or Superior Avalanche acc/dmg, acc/dmg/end, dmg/end.

[Zect]

Given ED-capped D/A/E and no 6th slot bonus (btw I extremely love it when people are so specific about the optimization parameters), buff procs. These at least take advantage of the aura's ability to roll against multiple foes at once to cheat the PPM formula. Offensive procs have shit procrate so do not confer significant benefit.

 

That said, you will occasionally see things like glad fury and achilles' in damage procs if they cannot be fit anywhere else, because -res is damage with more steps, and damage is king in the modern coh meta.

[TheMoneyMaker]

21 hours ago, Snarky said:

Knocking things down is a great, almost perfect, damage mitigation in this game.  If you have not used Over Force KD elsewhere now is the time.  

I can't remember off the top of my head, but there's another set that has a knockdown proc also. I say put 'em both in

[Snarky]

1 hour ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

I can't remember off the top of my head, but there's another set that has a knockdown proc also. I say put 'em both in

Winter Avalanche

[TheMoneyMaker]

there you go

[Hogunn]

I thought procs don’t work well in auras, toggles, and rains….?

Edited Friday at 10:38 PM by Hogunn

[Camel]

6 hours ago, Hogunn said:

I thought procs don’t work well in auras, toggles, and rains….?

They don't. It's not worth it to chase procs in most cases. Slotting sets that enhances Acc/Dam/End takes priority in most cases. Superior Avalanche is the preferred set. Damage auras require you to be in melee and a 5 slotted Superior Avalanche gives you 5% melee defense bonus along with some other pretty useful set bonuses and a chance at knockdown. It also gives you really good Acc/Dam/End Redux enhancement values. It is, in my opinion, the best in slot for any PBAoE damage aura.  

Edited Saturday at 05:22 AM by Camel

[Maelwys]

Assuming that I'm not chasing survivability related set bonuses and have plenty of spare enhancement slots with free reign to slot whatever I want, I'd generally go for 5x Armageddon purples WITHOUT the proc, plus a common Endurance Consumption Reduction IO.

That way I get the Recharge and Accuracy set bonuses, plus good levels of accuracy, damage and endurance reduction aspect within the damage aura toggle itself... and I also get to save the Armageddon damage proc for a Clicky AoE attack where it pulls more weight.

[Major_Decoy]

10 hours ago, Hogunn said:

I thought procs don’t work well in auras, toggles, and rains….?

It varies. There are people who swear by putting the Tanker archetype +resistance proc in damage auras because you won't forget to use it, there's no animation time, and with enough enemies in melee, it'll stack a lot. It does make it harder to stack when you're up against a single enemy, but that only really matters against Archvillains and builds for soloing archvillains are a different consideration.

[tidge]

I almost never dedicate 'extra' slots (beyond Endurance Reduction, and possibly a secondary effect if it relates directly to surviving) to Damage Auras, I can offer my personal thinking:

 

#1: %procs in auras still rely on a successful ToHit check , and there are some Auras with poor ToHit chances (especially against +N)

 

#2: I almost always have a more optimal (to my eyes) place to put extra slots, either for more damage in attacks, set bonuses, Q-o-L, whatever. For example: a Travel power can usually take something useful to my builds (slow resist, KB protection, faster travel)

 

#3: As noted in passing above, sometimes a secondary effect can offer value. Buffs/Debuffs are on a lower enhancement scale, so franken-slotting may not offer much... but if I'm already hitting the ED cap for Endurance Reduction I may re-jigger to use Boosted/HO pieces to get a little something extra out of the aura.

 

As for the pieces mentioned in the OP... I have (with minimal testing on a couple of characters) yet to find a place where I think the Cupid's Crush %proc is really helping by itself. The short-duration, relatively low magnitude, and lowish PPM simply doesn't sing to me sweetly. It is of course a straight-up Damage enhancement, so it has that going for it. Of the Options in the OP, I would go Overwhelming Force Damage/%KB.

 

%-Resistance is IMO best used with teams, I'm aware of how they can perform in something like a Pylon test, but aside from bags of HP I think straight %damage is probably better for most characters (not sitting at the damage cap) for most content.

Edited Monday at 10:46 AM by tidge
hopefully some clarity!

[Latex]

I went with Gladiator -RES in mine, purely because I have nowhere else to slot it in my build, ideally I don't think you want procs in a toggle though. Got 2x Overwhelming Force elsewhere in attacks, but it's very very strong too.

Edited Monday at 08:29 PM by Latex

[srmalloy]

15 hours ago, tidge said:

I have (with minimal testing on a couple of characters) yet to find a place where I think the Cupid's Crush %proc is really helping by itself. The short-duration, relatively low magnitude, and lowish PPM simply doesn't sing to me sweetly. It is of course a straight-up Damage enhancement, so it has that going for it.

Note that the Cupid's Crush proc is a Dmg/Proc IO, so, like the LotG Def/+Rech IO, you're only getting the enhancement effect of a two-aspect IO for the damage -- 26.5% at 50, where a straight Dmg IO would be 42.4% -- so if you're not getting a significant benefit from the proc, you need to look hard at another IO from the main set you've slotted the power with, or a more contributive set IO if you're frankenslotting.