Time/Dual Pistols/Soul ... Yet Another "No Escape" Build

Redlynne · July 19, 2019

Need to stop hijacking Redlynne's builds, which have been part of my inspiration for doing a time defender in the first place!

Okay, it's official. I'm a BAD INFLUENCE™ ON YOU PEOPLE.

There, I said it.

Besides, I'm amused by how my build threads have this tendency to turn into theorycrafting debate clubs (not that I mind, mind) ... mainly because that's exactly the sort of thought provoking I'd like to see come about as a result of my builds (and pontificating on them). Can't pull off nifty bits like this and not Share The Wealth (of Knowledge), right?

oldskool · July 19, 2019

Edit: Removed a lot of stuff that was more a response about procs generally. It was probably too much for this thread and the response.

It was good info, I don't think the proc info took away from the discussion. Dual Pistols is a neat set with its swap ammo that opens up so many proc options: Slow, defense debuff, knockback.

Fair enough.

Originally I asked about the 6th slot for Decimation: Chance to Build-Up in Red's build. I totally get the 5pc for the recharge, but the proc is 1 PPM. With 0 recharge reducers in Executioner's Shot that's something like 18% chance to trigger. With the default 60-ish% from the set, it drops to 11-12% chance to go off. YUK.

So I haven't had a lot of love from that proc. I have had a few times where the stars have aligned, and I have had it go off with Gaussian's in Tactics. However the lack of control on the results just isn't my cup of tea.

For more group debuff fun, Hail of Bullets can take the Gladiator's Fury -20% proc. I messed with this tonight, and works like a champ. I moved my Sentinel Dual Pistol build to largely a proc based one and took out a Pylon in around 6 minutes. That's just ranged attacks, no melee at all or even any Ancillary powers (I do have Caltrops). No procs had a range from 12 to 8 (was trying some configurations). I didn't turn on any Incarnates either. I relied on my endurance power in /Nin vs turning on Ageless. Plus I was a little sloppy here and there. I may be able to get it closer to 5 or 5.5 minutes. Procs are a hell of drug!

Tried a few test missions where I can leverage even more -resist with this character since Piercing Rounds has the Annihilation Proc. I put Positron's in there (5pc no Range/Damage) and figure it to be around 42% chance to trigger the debuff or the energy damage.

Some may think, wait, that's all 3 -20% procs and what your class can do. Isn't that overkill? There is no kill like overkill. Also, when I play I do not play to expect people to have optimized builds. So I try to make my characters as self contained as possible. So if I team with people that have these things, then well at least I can add time to debuff duration. ;) Otherwise, this character of mine can leverage 94.6% -resistance if all the procs can trigger which includes the innate (-5% resistance) and Opportunity (-20%). Reality it is more like a high uptime on -45% with spikes around -65%, but that ain't shabby for a class many like to discount as subpar.

Anyway, now on to the other Dual Pistols guy I have and make sure it works they way I want.

P.S., My Corruptor is still low enough that I am tempted to restart as a Defender for the bigger debuffs. I'm quite torn about it hence the reason I keep hanging around here. Plus, Red's builds are just great inspiration and fun reads. I loved the Huntsman one too. That was one of my favorite characters back in the day. That write-up makes me really consider if I want to keep my Crab or convert it to a Huntsman... or better yet, both (Huntsman with a backpack!). I also made a SR/MA tanker because of you, Red. It had so many good ideas, I just had to make one myself with my own preferences adding to it. You're a true hero! :)

Redlynne · July 19, 2019

Originally I asked about the 6th slot for Decimation: Chance to Build-Up in Red's build. I totally get the 5pc for the recharge, but the proc is 1 PPM. With 0 recharge reducers in Executioner's Shot that's something like 18% chance to trigger. With the default 60-ish% from the set, it drops to 11-12% chance to go off. YUK.

So I haven't had a lot of love from that proc. I have had a few times where the stars have aligned, and I have had it go off with Gaussian's in Tactics. However the lack of control on the results just isn't my cup of tea.

In terms of being predictable or controllable (or reliable) ... granted, the Decimation proc isn't going to be particularly high on chance to proc in Executioner's Shot. And also granted, that the 6-slot set bonus for Decimation is nothing to salivate over, I totally get that too. So really, if there is a slot anywhere in the build(s) I've made in this thread that ought to be thought of as being "loose" or even "low hanging fruit" if you prefer for reassignment elsewhere ... dropping this proc from Executioner's Shot would probably be my first option if I REALLY wanted to assign that slot somewhere else. The thing is, that since Decimation is an enhancement set for single target ranged damage attacks, out of all of the choices in Dual Pistols, putting that proc into Executioner's Shot is honestly the longest recharge power option you've got to choose from, if you're going to use the proc at all (and I get that you're saying you wouldn't).

So the question then becomes (obviously) ... is there a better slot alternative than putting the Decimation proc into Executioner's Shot?

And just as obviously ... that's a matter of opinion, depending on what you want to get out of your build.

I would however point out that I'm assuming that if you're using Executioner's Shot (at all), you're likely to either be using it in a single target rotation of Pistols > Dual Wield > Executioner's Shot > Repeat ... or as a "filler" attack (for recharge reasons) between uses of Empty Clips and Bullet Rain when mowing down large quantities of crunchies.

The Build Up proc lasts 5.25 seconds, but will "apply" to attacks that are queued up before the buff ends (just like how Eagle's Claw works for Martial Arts). Basically what this means is that you could potentially "stretch" the overall animation time of attacks that get to use the build up buff so long as the attack chain takes less than 5.2 seconds to animate completely, and you can then queue a long animation time power at the end of that to "carry" the buff beyond the 5.25 second limitation due to the fact that the game mechanics work on a Resolve First/Animate After basis. I'm thinking specifically of a rotation of Executioner's Shot, Pistols, then Dual Wield or Empty Clips or Bullet Rain (since all 3 of these attacks have the same arcanatime for animations) followed by Piercing Rounds as working well to exploit the Build Up proc (when it procs). The entire attack chain would last 7.5 seconds but would "stretch" the effect of the Build Up proc across all FOUR attacks, which wouldn't be that shabby of a return on investment (when it procs). Of course, in order to "get" that kind of return out of the proc, you'd need to be using that rotation by default, otherwise the best return you'd be getting is buffing to three attacks instead of four, simply because of the timing issues involved (1.848*3=5.544 which is greater than 5.250). Bottom line being that in order to stretch the Build Up proc across four attacks, you need to use Pistols after Executioner's Shot so as to be able to squeeze that start of the fourth attack in before the Build Up buff expires 5.25 seconds after Executioner's Shot began animating (due to Resolve First/Animate After game mechanics).

Executioner's Shot (Build Up proc duration of 5.25 seconds beginning when Executioner's Shot starts animating)
Pistols
Dual Wield ... or ... Empty Clips ... or ... Bullet Rain
Piercing Rounds (begins animating at 4.815 seconds after Executioner's Shot started animating when queuing powers successively)

= ~7.5 seconds of total animation time elapsed

Just a thought.

For more group debuff fun, Hail of Bullets can take the Gladiator's Fury -20% proc. I messed with this tonight, and works like a champ.

Ooooh ... ouch. That may very well be a clearly superior slotting choice than a Decimation Build Up proc in Executioner's Shot.

Probability to Proc = PPM x (EnhancedRecharge + CastTime) / (60 x AreaMod)

AreaMod = 1 + Radius x (11 x Arc + 540) / 40,000

EnhancedRecharge = BaseRecharge / (1 + RechargeBoost_from_Alpha_and_Enhancements/100)

Slotted enhancement from Level 31 Obliteration set (5 slots, no proc) is +76.3%.

1.0 * (105/1.763 + 0.132) / (60 * (1 + 25 * (11*360 + 540) / 40000)) = 26.09% per 1.0 PPM of the proc slotted into Hail of Bullets when 5-slotted with Obliteration enhancements.

26.09 * 3.5 = 91.3% chance for a 3.5 PPM proc on activation of Hail of Bullets

Okay ... that's RUDE ... and looking a lot more reliable/useful than a Build Up proc in Executioner's Shot.

Good call.

Tried a few test missions where I can leverage even more -resist with this character since Piercing Rounds has the Annihilation Proc. I put Positron's in there (5pc no Range/Damage) and figure it to be around 42% chance to trigger the debuff or the energy damage.

Hence my reasoning behind wanting to put the Avalanche proc in Piercing Rounds along with a 5-slot Postiron's Blast (although I skipped the Positron's proc).

Some may think, wait, that's all 3 -20% procs and what your class can do. Isn't that overkill? There is no kill like overkill. Also, when I play I do not play to expect people to have optimized builds. So I try to make my characters as self contained as possible. So if I team with people that have these things, then well at least I can add time to debuff duration. ;) Otherwise, this character of mine can leverage 94.6% -resistance if all the procs can trigger which includes the innate (-5% resistance) and Opportunity (-20%). Reality it is more like a high uptime on -45% with spikes around -65%, but that ain't shabby for a class many like to discount as subpar.

Especially for a powerset like Dual Pistols which EVERYONE expects to be subpar on damage production owing to the fact the powerset lacks a Build Up power. That kind of Resistance debuffing is akin to having most (if not all?) of a Team-8 backing you running Assault. It truly is a force multiplication kind of deal ... AND you'd have the Farsight+Build Up buffing to Defense to be able to use it in relative safety.

You're right ... this is getting SCARY ... and that's not even including all of the OTHER debuffing going on from Time's Junction and Distortion Field "pinning" your $Victims $Targets in place where you can do the most damage to them where they can't fight back all that effectively due to Recharge and Slow debuffing.

Ooof.

P.S., My Corruptor is still low enough that I am tempted to restart as a Defender for the bigger debuffs. I'm quite torn about it hence the reason I keep hanging around here. Plus, Red's builds are just great inspiration and fun reads. I loved the Huntsman one too. That was one of my favorite characters back in the day. That write-up makes me really consider if I want to keep my Crab or convert it to a Huntsman... or better yet, both (Huntsman with a backpack!). I also made a SR/MA tanker because of you, Red. It had so many good ideas, I just had to make one myself with my own preferences adding to it. You're a true hero! :)

Okay, now it's *really* official. I'm AN INCREDIBLY BAD INFLUENCE™ ON YOU PEOPLE.

Fixed that for me.

Now, if I could just stop playing the forums long enough to actually play the game for a while ...

But if I do that, I'll stop INSPIRING other people to enjoy the game and the community as much as they do, and we all wouldn't LEARN quite as much as we do (and have).

Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions ...

But thanks oldskool. It's people like you that make all the effort I put in here on the forums "worth it" ... for everyone.

Pass it on, indeed.

oldskool · July 19, 2019

Just a thought.

Oh I thought. ;)

My thought on it is one of the reasons why I went back on the post in the first place. The Decimation buff lasts 10 seconds. It has a 5.25s effect of Build-Up and a remainder effect which is essentially a lockout period. You are also very deliberate with your slotting so I thought, nah, Red must have a reason for that proc and the 6th slot.

Like you point out, for 5.25s you get a boost to damage to everything within that window of opportunity. However, the chance for that window of opportunity is small, and it is uncontrolled. Over a long period of time it can grant a burst damage effect when it happens, but the odds aren't in anyone's favor for consistency. I have a higher chance of having all 3 procs in my Executioner's Shot going off than I do of ever seeing Decimation fire off. The chance for Decimation with 5pcs is around 11-13% as I mentioned. My procs have, actually, a 58.9% chance to go off [0.589*0.589*0.589 = 20.4%]. I don't *expect* all of them to fire, but it is possible. I digress though, with such low odds of firing off, the real up-time of the effect is so small that it doesn't make an appreciable difference in damage. At least, not for my testing. Before Justin went down, I had tested a few Pylon runs purely to observe double Build-Up proc chance (Gaussian's and Decimation). Decimation activated about 1 time per Pylon with me just chipping away for 15 minutes. Last night Gaussian's went off once, and it wasn't even a great take down time. However, my fastest times were piling on actual damage procs which activate more consistently every attack cycle.

In short, Build-Up procs are overrated for Dual Pistols in the most general sense. However, if you are going for the 5pc in Decimation that 5th slot may as well be the Build-Up proc. The 6th slot could function better in Hail of Bullets with a Gladiator's Fury for that wannabe Sonic Blast action unless you really want that final set bonus.

Of course, everyone gets the YMMV. ;)

Redlynne · July 19, 2019

You are also very deliberate with your slotting so I thought, nah, Red must have a reason for that proc and the 6th slot.

Well, this was a "quick and dirty" look at Time/Dual Pistols/Soul so as to cross-compare it (more fully) with the precedents I'd set (for myself and everyone else, apparently) with my Time/Dual Pistols/Dark builds. So I wasn't thinking THAT deeply into it. More like a "here's an opportunity, might as well take it" kind of deal.

In short, Build-Up procs are overrated for Dual Pistols in the most general sense. However, if you are going for the 5pc in Decimation that 5th slot may as well be the Build-Up proc.

To be honest with you, for 5 slots in single target ranged powers, I often times have a preference for Entropic Chaos over Decimation, since both get the same Recharge bonus at 5 slots. But that's just me.

However, if aiming for maximal enhancement value while still getting the Recharge bonus from 5 slots, Decimation minus the Build Up proc is the way to go.

The 6th slot could function better in Hail of Bullets with a Gladiator's Fury for that wannabe Sonic Blast action unless you really want that final set bonus.

Well, you've convinced me!

Which is kind of why I do these theorycrafting of builds as a crowdsourcing of tribal knowledge the way I do, because it's always possible there's another angle which I've overlooked that would be superior to the choices I've been making. Things like slotting Resistance debuffs, which last longer than Build Up buffs, when they proc, and putting them into powers that have higher chances to proc is just one example of this sort of thing in action.

vyrzeden · July 19, 2019

The 6th slot could function better in Hail of Bullets with a Gladiator's Fury for that wannabe Sonic Blast action unless you really want that final set bonus.

Well, you've convinced me!

Which is kind of why I do these theorycrafting of builds as a crowdsourcing of tribal knowledge the way I do, because it's always possible there's another angle which I've overlooked that would be superior to the choices I've been making. Things like slotting Resistance debuffs, which last longer than Build Up buffs, when they proc, and putting them into powers that have higher chances to proc is just one example of this sort of thing in action.

*Looks at my build, realizes the same move can be made for Inferno* Yeah, be right back...

Redlynne · July 19, 2019

*Looks at my build, realizes the same move can be made for Inferno* Yeah, be right back...

+1 Inf to you too ...

Bopper · July 19, 2019

I used to have the -res proc in HoB, but now I've been using the -res proc in my Soul Drain, while using a 5 piece Armageddon (with DMG proc) and a FF proc in my Hail of Bullets. Given I use HoB twice as much as SD, it can hit up to 16 tgts, and I imagine the final 11 (iirc) ticks of damage likely gets the -res boost, I wonder if I should switch back.

Redlynne · July 19, 2019

I used to have the -res proc in HoB, but now I've been using the -res proc in my Soul Drain, while using a 5 piece Armageddon (with DMG proc) and a FF proc in my Hail of Bullets. Given I use HoB twice as much as SD, it can hit up to 16 tgts, and I imagine the final 11 (iirc) ticks of damage likely gets the -res boost, I wonder if I should switch back.

This kind of thing is where you'd want to be "fitting" the chance to proc percentage to the frequency of use for the power itself. What I'm trying to highlight here is that the increased recharge time of Soul Drain would push the chance to proc WELL beyond 100% chance in a way that winds up being "wasteful" ... just like how dealing 1000 damage to something with only 15 hp left is wasteful.

The flipside to this is that putting the Resistance debuff proc into Hail of Bullets instead of Soul Drain would (potentially) increase the uptime of the proc to potentially as much as 60-70% of the time, even though the chance to proc falls below 100% due to recharge enhancement on the power (as I mentioned above, it would be over 90% but not as high as 100%).

So yeah ... switching back to using the Resistance debuff in your Hail of Bullets power rather than in Soul Drain is something that deserves some careful consideration.

Bopper · July 19, 2019

The only thing giving me pause is losing the 10% recharge from the set bonus. Otherwise, honestly, it's a no brainer. I'll look at my build and see what works for me, but in a vacuum, the buff is better left in HoB.

Bopper · July 20, 2019

This is my first time attempting to record myself playing. It's nothing special. But I figure I would share my Time/DP/Soul Defender clearing the Comic Con S/L Farm in under 8 minutes (+4x8, w/Bosses). I honestly don't know if that's fast for a defender. I know it's not fast for a Brute, I'm not trying to compete with that. I just thought it was fun to make a character that could kick ass while not sacrificing (well, not sacrificing too much) on the Buffs/Debuffs if I was on a team.

Redlynne · July 20, 2019

Watching that gameplay made me realize that all the times I've explained how to use the Hop 'n' Pop move on an Ice/Ice Tanker to convert the Cone attack Frost from being a "slice of the pie" in 2D into being a PBAoE-ish attack didn't go to waste. I see that you were repeatedly jumping up in the air and activating Empty Clips at the top of your jump so as to hit everything clustered up around you. Very nice.

It's the difference between these two options ... of 2D versus 3D positioning when activating a Cone attack like Empty Clips:

Bopper · July 20, 2019

Haha, thanks. That is exactly what I was doing. I just wish I had Combat Jumping instead of Hover. Honestly I wasn't even thinking about the 3D aspect of it (which is actually the most important part of that move). My intention was to simply get quick range on the enemies to expand the width of my cone, then come right back.

Redlynne · July 20, 2019

I get the feeling that I just need to write a guide to put in the Guides Forum about how useful it is to slot Range enhancement into Cone attacks.

Maybe in a year (or two) after one of my alts reaches 50 (at the rate I'm earning levels) ...

Bopper · July 20, 2019

Certainly. You could show the volume of a spherical AoE covers (4/3 x pi x Radius^3) and compare it to the volume of a cone (pi x Range^3 × tan (Arc/2) / 3).

Of course relying on the entire volume of coverage is unrealistic. But even comparing the area of the disk is useful (pi x Radius^2 vs. pi x [Range x tan (Arc/2)]^2)

Redlynne · July 31, 2019

Yet another evolution of the Time/Dual Pistols/Soul build ... this time taking advantage of the advances that Bopper has been making with research into PPM for procs. Also, since we now have Spoiler tags to help collapse these long form posts in these new forums, I'm going to be making use of that added functionality here.

The changes from previous builds of mine in this thread is relatively minor, but with some rather profound implications. Again, the purpose of this build isn't to reach for a pylon killer, but rather a soft (verging on hard?) controller-ish performance profile that leverages movement slowing, recharge debuffing, and full on mezz capability in addition to the tohit debuffing and defense buffing to achieve relative safety. The nice thing with this mix is that it's multiple layers of response, such that if a $Target is immune (or even just highly resistant) to a control effect, they almost certainly won't be immune/resistant to the entire mix of effects arrayed against them by this build to neutralize them.

The first change that I made from previous iterations of this build was to take a slot from Hasten and Power Boost (each) and redeploy them within the context of the build. One slot went to Chrono Shift so as to slot in the Performance Shifter proc (which will have a capped 90% chance to proc due to the long recharge time), which will substantially mitigate the cost of casting Chrono Shift. The other slot went to Hail of Bullets so as to slot a Force Feedback proc into this power, thereby helping to increase the opportunities to use Hail of Bullets in shorter time frames. To compensate for these shift of slots, Hasten and Power Boost now each have common 50+5 Recharge IOs slotted into them.

The other major change was a "reshuffle" of enhancements slotted into Pistols, Dual Wield and Executioner's Shot, done in a sort of "fresh cup, move down" kind of way so as to slot a non-Defender ATO set into Pistols. The purpose behind slotting a 5-piece Decimation set, with the Build Up proc, into Pistols here is to leverage the "low end" minimum proc chance in Build Up so as to achieve more procs per minute than Pistols "ought to" be capable of producing in a pure single target attack chain that is using Pistols, Dual Wield and Executioner's Shot repeatedly.

Specifically, with a 1 PPM on the Build Up proc, this means that in order to hit the minimum chance to proc of 6.5% on a 1 PPM proc (see Bopper's research on this subject if you want to know where that computation comes from) the power in question needs to have an animation plus enhanced (by slots and incarnate) recharge time of 3.9 seconds. Subtracting out the Arcanatime animation for Pistols of 1.118s, this leaves a recharge time ceiling of 2.782s after enhancement from slots and incarnate sources (global recharge modifiers "don't count" for this). Starting from a 4s base recharge time, to get to 2.782s on slotted enhancements and incarnate sources alone requires a mere +43.8% recharge reduction from enhancements and incarnates. Note that this build, according to the version of Pine that I'm using to make this, has +52.66% recharge reduction slotted into it, meaning that without global recharge modifiers Pistols would have a recharge time of 2.62s which is less than the 2.782s required to reach minimum proc chance per use of Pistols.

Now what makes this build choice seem so irrational at first (but wait for it, I'm getting there) is that because the proc chance gets "floored" at 6.5% every 3.9s on a 1 PPM proc like Build Up, this means that if the recharge continues to drop below this floor, the chance to proc stays fixed at 6.5% per use of the power, but the power can wind up getting used more often ... essentially giving you "extra bites at the apple" (so to speak) in a way that can potentially RAISE THE PROC RATE above the default 1 PPM(!). Specifically, with the build I'm presenting here, the animation time for Pistols is 1.188s and the recharge time (with Hasten and Chrono Shift boosting recharge) falls down to 1.09s, for a grand total of 2.208 seconds of animation plus recharge time. Compared to the 3.9s "floor" time for a 6.5% proc chance, this hasty animation and recharge time means that (theoretically) you can "squeeze in" what amounts to 106 seconds worth of chances to proc at 6.5% into a 60 second window for a 1 proc per minute rate, thanks to going "past the floor" of the minimum recharge time. Essentially, you can make 7 attacks at 6.5% proc chance rather than merely 4 attacks at the 6.5% proc chance "level" dictated by the recharge formula. At a very granular level, this means that you're functionally looking at being able to make "2 attacks for the price of 1" on proc chances in that ~4 second window ... and by getting 2 chances to proc at 6.5% each, instead of just 1, in a give time frame you are looking at an increase in chance to get 1 proc per 4 seconds (or so) of up to around 10-12% or so for 2 proc chances rather than one (see Chuck Lots Of Dice! reasons for why this works out this way).

Essentially, this means that ... ideally speaking ... you can functionally increase the PPM on the Build Up proc from a mere 1 PPM to what amounts to something more like a 1.75 PPM at the most.

Now, of course, in actual gameplay, it isn't going to work out QUITE that ideally ... but that at least gives you a starting point to work from when thinking about this issue, because one of the first things you're going to do with Pistols once you really get going on slotting out a build is "weaving" Pistols between other attacks to as to fill in the gaps and dead spots. Since a LOT of the other attack powers in Dual Pistols take 1.848s to animate, with a 1.09s recharge time on Pistols you can easily pull of an attack chain that cycles like this against a single target:

Pistols -> Dual Wield -> Pistols -> Executioner's Shot -> repeat

Total animation time = 1.118 + 1.848 + 1.118 + 1.848 = 5.932 seconds

This means that you'd be using Pistols essentially once every 3 seconds ... AND ... if you manage to proc Build Up at any time from Pistols during this sequencing, so long as you're queuing up attacks while the previous attack is animating, you'll be able to get the Build Up proc to buff FOUR attacks in a row(!) because 1.848*2+1.118=4.814 seconds and the Build Up buff lasts for 5.25 seconds(!).

Also note that Empty Clips and Bullet Rain also share a 1.848s animation time, meaning they can be "substituted in" for Dual Wield and Executioner's Shot in the above rotation without disturbing the "balance" of the total animation time ... however the longer recharge times for Empty Clips and Bullet Rain will mean they can't be used repeatedly in succession unless Force Feedback procs in either Empty Clips or Bullet Rain, but if Force Feedback DOES proc it too will last 5 seconds, which is shorter than the animation time needed to "wrap back around" to get back to either Empty Clips or Bullet Rain again on the attack rotation.

So essentially, so long as Pistols is getting used once per 3.9 seconds, the chance to proc Build Up is "floored" at 6.5% chance to proc. However, when cast repeatedly in an attack chain that activates the power that the Build Up proc is in every 3 seconds repeatedly (okay, every 2.966s, but who's counting?) over an infinite span of time you wind up with an "effective" proc rate of ~1.3 PPM rather than a mere 1 PPM thanks to "going past the floor" of how fast you can go on recharge with the Build Up proc.

Oh and just in case anyone is wondering, I've calculated that the (relative) damage increase over the Pistols -> Dual Wield -> Pistols -> Executioner's Shot attack chain using this build when Build Up procs at being almost +150 damage from the output of getting "four bites at the apple" due to being able to squeeze animation times into the 5.25s window of opportunity after Build Up procs, so ... not too terrible.

For anyone who wants to compute chances/odds to get 1 proc out of multiple attempts, simply do the following:

1 - (1 - proc chance)^number of attempts

So for 2 chances to proc, the odds you're going to get (at least) 1 proc is ... 1-(1-0.065)²= 12.5% in 6 seconds

After 3 chances to proc, the odds you're going to get (at least) 1 proc is ... 1-(1-0.065)³= 18.2% in 9 seconds

After 4 chances to proc, the odds you're going to get (at least) 1 proc is ... 1-(1-0.065)⁴= 23.5% in 12 seconds

After 5 chances to proc, the odds you're going to get (at least) 1 proc is ... 1-(1-0.065)⁵= 28.5% in 12 seconds

... when using the parameters I've laid out in the above explanation for Pistols when using Pistols every 3 seconds with a 6.5% chance to proc per attack.

Oh and just for completeness sake ... 1-(1-0.065)¹⁰= 48.9% in 30 seconds ... and 1-(1-0.065)²⁰= 73.9% in 60 seconds ...

Bottom line here is that using the Chuck Lots Of Dice!! strategy can work in your favor, even when the odds are low, so long as you keep on chuckin' dice pretty quickly.

Anyway ... I did all that Decimation proc option stuff simply because the alternative was ... the Entropic Chaos proc ... and I figure that between the Defender ATO proc for a PBAoE Heal and Temporal Mending there just wasn't enough "demand" for a healing proc in the build at that point. So I went with Decimation rather than with Entropic Chaos in Pistols.

However, this was done so as to open up the 6th slot in order to put Winter's Bite into this last slot.

Now, according to the information that Bopper as dug up, there's an unvetted assumption that Winter's Bite has 4 PPM on the basic proc and 5 PPM on the superior version. Put THAT into Pistols (and using Pistols once every 3 seconds!) and suddenly you've got a pretty significant perma movement slow and recharge debuff going on for your $Target, in addition to everything else that the "No Escape" build is doing to them to ruin their day. And while stacking EVERYTHING this build can do to debuff a $Target onto your "main" $Target that you've got selected is probably going to wind up in "overkill" territory (except against the highly resistant types), I still think it's a good idea to keep all of the recharge debuffing in the AoEs of Time's Juncture and Distortion Field so as to affect more than JUST your $Target with these kinds of debuffs. That way, you can achieve a "soft shutdown" of entire groups of $Targets via slow movement and recharge debuffing in a way that Fear and/or Endurance Draining might not be able to manage, while reserving an even stronger "nearly hard shutdown" of your primary $Target that prevents them from attacking you all that much (and if they don't defeat you, you can just heal the damage right back up and keep pounding away at them).

Anyway, here's the results of that effort.

Feel free to poke holes (again) in what you see here. That's what these forums are for, after all.

Level 50 Technology Defender

Primary Power Set: Time Manipulation
Secondary Power Set: Dual Pistols
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

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Hero Profile:
------------

Spoiler

Level 1: Time Crawl
(A) Accuracy IO: Level 50

Level 1: Pistols
(A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage: Level 27
(3) Decimation - Damage/Endurance: Level 27
(3) Decimation - Damage/Recharge: Level 27
(5) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 27
(5) Decimation - Chance of Build Up: Level 25
(7) Winter's Bite - Recharge/Chance for -Speed & -Recharge: Level 27

Level 2: Dual Wield
(A) Vigilant Assault - Accuracy/Damage: Level 27
(7) Vigilant Assault - Damage/RechargeTime: Level 27
(9) Vigilant Assault - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 27
(9) Vigilant Assault - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 27
(11) Vigilant Assault - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 27
(11) Vigilant Assault - RechargeTime/PBAoE +Absorb: Level 27

Level 4: Empty Clips
(A) HamiO: Centriole Exposure (+2 Dam/Range)
(17) HamiO: Centriole Exposure (+2 Dam/Range)
(17) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range: Level 50
(19) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50
(19) Pacing of the Turtle - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50
(21) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 21

Level 6: Hover
(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 25

Level 8: Temporal Mending
(A) Preventive Medicine - Heal: Level 27
(21) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance: Level 27
(23) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 27
(23) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime: Level 27
(25) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance: Level 27
(25) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb: Level 27

Level 10: Swap Ammo
Level 12: Time's Juncture
(A) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff: Level 27
(27) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge: Level 27
(27) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance: Level 27
(29) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance: Level 27
(29) Dark Watcher's Despair - Chance for Recharge Slow: Level 21
(31) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge: Level 20

Level 14: Temporal Selection
(A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge: Level 50

Level 16: Bullet Rain
(A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage: Level 27
(31) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance: Level 27
(31) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge: Level 27
(33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range: Level 27
(33) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 27
(33) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 21

Level 18: Distortion Field
(A) HamiO: Microfilament Exposure (+2 End/Fly/Jump/Run)
(34) HamiO: Microfilament Exposure (+2 End/Fly/Jump/Run)
(34) Pacing of the Turtle - Endurance/Recharge/Slow: Level 27
(34) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge: Level 20
(36) Basilisk's Gaze - Chance for Recharge Slow: Level 10
(36) Lockdown - Chance for +2 Mag Hold: Level 30

Level 20: Suppressive Fire
(A) HamiO: Endoplasm Exposure (+2 Acc/Mez)

Level 22: Time Stop
(A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold: Level 27
(36) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold: Level 27
(37) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 27
(37) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 27

Level 24: Farsight
(A) HamiO: Membrane Exposure (+2 Def/Rech/ToHit)
(37) HamiO: Membrane Exposure (+2 Def/Rech/ToHit)
(39) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 25

Level 26: Slowed Response
(A) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
(39) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 10

Level 28: Executioner's Shot
(A) Defender's Bastion - Accuracy/Damage: Level 27
(39) Defender's Bastion - Damage/Recharge: Level 27
(40) Defender's Bastion - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 27
(40) Defender's Bastion - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 27
(40) Defender's Bastion - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 27
(42) Defender's Bastion - Recharge/Chance for Minor PBAoE Heal: Level 27

Level 30: Hasten
(A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50+5

Level 32: Chrono Shift
(A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50
(42) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge: Level 27
(42) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 21

Level 35: Piercing Rounds
(A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage: Level 27
(43) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance: Level 27
(43) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge: Level 27
(43) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range: Level 27
(45) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 27
(45) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 20

Level 38: Hail of Bullets
(A) Obliteration - Damage: Level 31
(45) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 31
(46) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge: Level 31
(46) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 31
(46) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 31
(48) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 21

Level 41: Soul Drain
(A) Obliteration - Damage: Level 31
(48) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 31
(48) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge: Level 31
(50) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 31
(50) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 31
(50) Avalanche - Recharge/Chance for Knockdown: Level 50

Level 44: Power Boost
(A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50+5

Level 47: Stealth
(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 25

Level 49: Grant Invisibility
(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 25

Spoiler

Level 1: Brawl
(A) Accuracy IO: Level 50

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash
(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide
(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick
(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush
(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge
(A) Run Speed IO: Level 50

Level 1: Sprint
(A) Celerity - +Stealth: Level 15

Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest
(A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50

Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift
(A) Run Speed IO: Level 50

Level 2: Health
(A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance: Level 10
(13) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 20
(13) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery: Level 30

Level 2: Hurdle
(A) Jumping IO: Level 50

Level 2: Stamina
(A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50
(15) Performance Shifter - EndMod: Level 27
(15) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 21

Level 10:   Chemical Ammunition
Level 10:   Cryo Ammunition
Level 10:   Incendiary Ammunition
Level 0:   Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0:   Portal Jockey
Level 0:   Task Force Commander
Level 0:   The Atlas Medallion

------------
------------

Set Bonus Totals:

Spoiler

11% DamageBuff(Smashing)
11% DamageBuff(Lethal)
11% DamageBuff(Fire)
11% DamageBuff(Cold)
11% DamageBuff(Energy)
11% DamageBuff(Negative)
11% DamageBuff(Toxic)
11% DamageBuff(Psionic)
1.88% Defense(Fire)
1.88% Defense(Cold)
4.38% Defense(Energy)
4.38% Defense(Negative)
5% Defense(Ranged)
3.75% Defense(AoE)
4.05% Max End
6% Enhancement(Heal)
47% Enhancement(Accuracy)
3.75% Enhancement(Max EnduranceDiscount)
7.5% Enhancement(Range)
95% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
15% SpeedFlying
GrantPower Preventive Medicine (10% chance, if Scourge)
61.04 HP (6%) HitPoints
15% JumpHeight
15% SpeedJumping
MezResist(Confused) 30%
MezResist(Held) 30%
MezResist(Immobilized) 30%
MezResist(Sleep) 30%
MezResist(Stunned) 30%
MezResist(Terrorized) 30%
9.5% (0.16 End/sec) Recovery
6.75% Resistance(Smashing)
6.75% Resistance(Lethal)
7.5% Resistance(Fire)
7.5% Resistance(Cold)
1.5% Resistance(Energy)
1.5% Resistance(Negative)
2.25% Resistance(Toxic)
2.25% Resistance(Psionic)
15% SpeedRunning

------------
Set Bonuses:

Spoiler

Decimation
(Pistols)
1.5% Resistance(Energy,Negative), MezResist(Immobilized) 2.5%, MezResist(Held) 2.5%, MezResist(Stunned) 2.5%, MezResist(Sleep) 2.5%, MezResist(Terrorized) 2.5%, MezResist(Confused) 2.5%
11.45 HP (1.13%) HitPoints
2.25% Max End
6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Vigilant Assault
(Dual Wield)
1.8% Max End
6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
11% Enhancement(Accuracy)
3% DamageBuff(All)
3.75% Defense(AoE), 1.88% Defense(Fire), 1.88% Defense(Cold)

Luck of the Gambler
(Hover)
7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Preventive Medicine
(Temporal Mending)
2.25% Resistance(Smashing,Lethal), MezResist(Immobilized) 3.75%, MezResist(Held) 3.75%, MezResist(Stunned) 3.75%, MezResist(Sleep) 3.75%, MezResist(Terrorized) 3.75%, MezResist(Confused) 3.75%
19.08 HP (1.88%) HitPoints
3% Resistance(Fire,Cold), MezResist(Immobilized) 5%, MezResist(Held) 5%, MezResist(Stunned) 5%, MezResist(Sleep) 5%, MezResist(Terrorized) 5%, MezResist(Confused) 5%
3.75% Enhancement(EnduranceDiscount)
8.75% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
GrantPower Preventive Medicine (10% chance, if Scourge), GrantPower Preventive Medicine (if Scourge)

Dark Watcher's Despair
(Time's Juncture)
15.26 HP (1.5%) HitPoints
2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery
5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
2% DamageBuff(All)

Positron's Blast
(Bullet Rain)
2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery
2.25% Resistance(Fire,Cold), MezResist(Immobilized) 3.75%, MezResist(Held) 3.75%, MezResist(Stunned) 3.75%, MezResist(Sleep) 3.75%, MezResist(Terrorized) 3.75%, MezResist(Confused) 3.75%
9% Enhancement(Accuracy)
6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Pacing of the Turtle
(Distortion Field)
2.25% Resistance(Toxic,Psionic), MezResist(Immobilized) 3.75%, MezResist(Held) 3.75%, MezResist(Stunned) 3.75%, MezResist(Sleep) 3.75%, MezResist(Terrorized) 3.75%, MezResist(Confused) 3.75%

Basilisk's Gaze
(Time Stop)
2.5% Defense(Energy,Negative), 1.25% Defense(Ranged)
2% (0.03 End/sec) Recovery
7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Luck of the Gambler
(Farsight)
7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Defender's Bastion
(Executioner's Shot)
15.26 HP (1.5%) HitPoints
7.5% Enhancement(Range)
6% Enhancement(Heal)
3.75% Defense(Ranged), 1.88% Defense(Energy), 1.88% Defense(Negative)
8.75% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Performance Shifter
(Chrono Shift)
7.5% SpeedJumping, 7.5% JumpHeight, 7.5% SpeedFlying, 7.5% SpeedRunning

Positron's Blast
(Piercing Rounds)
2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery
2.25% Resistance(Fire,Cold), MezResist(Immobilized) 3.75%, MezResist(Held) 3.75%, MezResist(Stunned) 3.75%, MezResist(Sleep) 3.75%, MezResist(Terrorized) 3.75%, MezResist(Confused) 3.75%
9% Enhancement(Accuracy)
6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Obliteration
(Hail of Bullets)
2.25% Resistance(Smashing,Lethal), MezResist(Immobilized) 3.75%, MezResist(Held) 3.75%, MezResist(Stunned) 3.75%, MezResist(Sleep) 3.75%, MezResist(Terrorized) 3.75%, MezResist(Confused) 3.75%
3% DamageBuff(All)
9% Enhancement(Accuracy)
5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Obliteration
(Soul Drain)
2.25% Resistance(Smashing,Lethal), MezResist(Immobilized) 3.75%, MezResist(Held) 3.75%, MezResist(Stunned) 3.75%, MezResist(Sleep) 3.75%, MezResist(Terrorized) 3.75%, MezResist(Confused) 3.75%
3% DamageBuff(All)
9% Enhancement(Accuracy)
5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Luck of the Gambler
(Stealth)
7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Luck of the Gambler
(Grant Invisibility)
7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

Performance Shifter
(Stamina)
7.5% SpeedJumping, 7.5% JumpHeight, 7.5% SpeedFlying, 7.5% SpeedRunning

Glowman · July 31, 2019

Any insight on incarnate abilities? Hit 50 with the build (loved it!) but not really sure what to do with incarnate slots.

Bopper · July 31, 2019

1 hour ago, mikeconqueso said:

Any insight on incarnate abilities? Hit 50 with the build (loved it!) but not really sure what to do with incarnate slots.

Personally, Musculature Radial for alpha, as I can use the extra damage, endurance mod, and debuff boosts.

Destiny I typically go Clarion, either perma mez protection (Core) or partial mez protection but stacked power boosting (Radial).

Redlynne · July 31, 2019

2 hours ago, mikeconqueso said:

Any insight on incarnate abilities? Hit 50 with the build (loved it!) but not really sure what to do with incarnate slots.

Stock and standard answer for this question is ... whatever makes you happy.

No seriously.

Not everyone plays the game with the same playstyle, or is "going for" the exact same cookie cutter end state for their character(s). You're really better off deciding what works best for YOU and then investing in that direction. Take a good look at what the different Incarnate slots "do" for your build, based on the way you like to play it, and then start whittling things down towards what you'd want to have in your build. Research the end state slotting you want to have for each Incarnate and then work your way backwards to figure out how to get there.

The actual "getting there" is left as an exercise for the disinterested observer ... ^_~

Bopper · July 31, 2019

6 hours ago, Redlynne said:

The purpose behind slotting a 5-piece Decimation set, with the Build Up proc, into Pistols here is to leverage the "low end" minimum proc chance in Build Up so as to achieve more procs per minute than Pistols "ought to" be capable of producing in a pure single target attack chain that is using Pistols, Dual Wield and Executioner's Shot repeatedly

Do you happen to know the duration of the build up when it procs? I think it is between 5-6 seconds, and for Defenders the proc would be +80 damage, +40 tohit. If you can confirm for me those numbers, I can tell you exactly how much added damage (and dps) you'd be adding by leveraging the build up proc.

Redlynne · July 31, 2019

4 minutes ago, Bopper said:

Do you happen to know the duration of the build up when it procs? I think it is between 5-6 seconds, and for Defenders the proc would be +80 damage, +40 tohit. If you can confirm for me those numbers, I can tell you exactly how much added damage (and dps) you'd be adding by leveraging the build up proc.

Decimation Build Up proc is 5.25 seconds in buff duration.

The trick is to queue up a power that starts animating before that 5.25s duration ends and then thanks to the resolve first/animate after way that the game mechanics work, you'll get that Build Up buff for a power that continues animating well beyond the "mere" 5.25s duration of the buff itself.

For example ... if you queued up, say ... Hail of Bullets ... and it began its long sequence starting at ... oh, I dunno ... 4.97s into the Build Up buff duration, then even though the animation+duration for Hail of Bullets would last well beyond the 5.25s duration of the buff itself, the buff would still modify the "entirety" of that activation of Hail of Bullets (out to nearly 10s after the Build Up buff actually procced). Easiest way to think of it is that so long as you can activate a(n attack) power before that 5.25s buff duration ends, you'll get the +tohit and +damage buffing for the entire duration of that (attack) power's animation, regardless of whether or not the buff expires before the end of that animation that lasts beyond 5.25s.

This is why I'm saying that if you're using Pistols every 3s where you're "weaving" Pistols between 2 other attacks (that alternate) you stand a pretty decent chance of being able to stretch the use of the Build Up buff across FOUR power activations, and not just three ...

Edited July 31, 2019 by Redlynne

Hjarki · July 31, 2019

Build Up

If you're running a constant single target rotation at 1.3 ppm, this means you're getting an average of 80% (?) * 1.3 * 5.5 / 60 = 9.5% more damage.

Pistols is 36.15, Dual Wield is 47.71, Executioner's Shot is 76.63. If we assume +150% damage from other sources, your rotation will be dealing (36.15 * 2 + 47.71 + 76.63) * 2.5 / (1.188 * 2 + 1.848 + 1.848) = 81.0 dps. Build Up procs will raise this to (36.15 * 2 + 47.71 + 76.63) * (2.5 + 0.095) / (1.188 * 2 + 1.848 + 1.848) = 84.0 dps, for a marginal gain of +3.0 dps.

A single conventional damage proc has a 3.5 * (4 + 1) / 60 = 29.2% chance to proc for an average of 0.292 * 71.75 = 20.9 damage. With two attacks per cycle, this would be (20.9 * 2) / (1.188 * 2 + 1.848 + 1.848) = 6.9 dps. Or over double the return on that slot as you got from Build Up.

Rotation

Your current rotation is Pistols, Dual Wield, Pistols, Executioner's Shot. We'll use that 81.0 dps figure from above.

A rotation of Pistols, Piercing Ray, Pistols, Executioner's Shot would require +255% recharge on Piercing Ray (perma-Hasten is +275% and perma-Chrono Shift is +300%).

This would yield (36.15 + 83.14 + 37.59 + 76.63) * 2.5 / (1.188 + 1.848 * 2 + 2.64) = 84.5 dps.

For comparison, a Pistols, Piercing Ray, Char, Executioner's Shot rotation would yield (36.15 + 83.14 + 39.75 + 76.63) * 2.5 / (1.188 + 2.64 + 1.32 + 1.848) = 84.2 dps. However, this undersells the value of this rotation since it implicitly applies single target Holds and allows you to slot Unbreakable Constraint. A Piercing Ray, Char, Greater Fire Sword, Executioner's Shot rotation would be (83.14 + 39.75 + 76.63 + 91.08) * 2.5 / (2.64 + 1.32 + 2.508 + 1.848) = 87.4 dps while allowing slotting both Unbreakable Constraint and Hecatomb.

A Piercing Ray, Char, Cross Punch, Executioner's Shot rotation would be (83.14 + 39.75 + 38.70 + 91.08) * 2.5 / (2.64 + 1.32 + 1.32 + 1.848) = 88.6 dps. This rotation costs a lot of slots in otherwise unused powers, but does provide +30% global recharge. I made a quick 'melee Defender' out of Time/Rad (on the proc thread) that is an example of this sort of approach. However, for general purposes I tend to be leery of the costs involved in entering melee range.

Given that you're likely to either be interleaving single target and multi-target or you're fighting a single tough target, Dual Wield seems like a poor investment.

Note: In most cases, you have to include Piercing Ray in your rotation anyway due to the resist buff.

Swap Ammo

This is a tough call. For AE, you want to be in Fire. For Piercing Ray, you have to be in Lethal (presuming you want to -resist debuff the target). Switching between the two involves a dps cost that you probably don't want to pay - so you just reduce the knockback on Bullet Rain and spend all your time in Lethal (making Swap Ammo superfluous).

Procs in General

I find the greatest payoff usually comes from triple-slotting your attack powers. With 3 slots you can still pick up Ranged def from Thunderstrike/Sting of the Manticore and you can still 3-slot the ATO for recharge (or, potentially, range since you're using Empty Clips). This maximizes dps and you can normally find enough recharge elsewhere.

For example, my configuration for Time generally involves 5-slot Doctored Wounds (Chrono Shift), 5-slot Panacea (Temporal Selection) and 6-slot Preventative Medicine (Temporal Mending). Putting heavy set bonuses into those powers doesn't reduce their impact like placing 5- and 6- slot set bonuses in offensive powers does.

Consider your basic rotation. If you triple proc each power, you'd get:

Pistols = 3 * (4 + 1) * 3.5 / 60 * 71.75 = 62.8

Dual Wield = 3 * (8 + 1.67) * 3.5 / 60 * 71.75 = 121.4

Executioner's Shot = 2 * (10 + 1.67) * 3.5 / 60 * 71.75 + (10 + 1.67) * 4.5 / 60 * 107.1 = 191.4

Total = (62.8 + 121.4 + 191.4) / (1.188 * 2 + 1.848 + 1.848) = 61.9 dps

This would constitute a 76% increase in single target dps.

For comparison, consider the Char rotation I described above. The additional powers we need to check (taking Pistols/Executioner's from above):

Piercing Ray = 2 * (15 + 2.5) * 3.5 / 60 * 71.75 = 146.5

Char = 2 * (16 + 1.07) * 3.5 / 60 * 71.75 + (16 + 1.07) * 4.5 / 60 * 107.1 = 280.0

Total = (62.8 + 146.5 + 280.0 + 191.4) / (1.188 + 2.64 + 1.32 + 1.848) = 97.3 dps

In total, that means the fully proc'd Char rotation deals +128% more damage than the rotation you're running (without procs).

Procs in Time

This can take 5 different procs (4 if you ignore the unique Unbreakable Constraint). Because these proc at the expected PPM, those 4 procs would yield 4 * (71.75 * 3.5) * 45 / 60 = 753.4 damage per target per cast. While it's unlikely that you'd get more than a fraction of this (due to the length of the effect vs. the length of your average fight), it's still a hefty chunk . Also, Distortion Field doesn't need slotting at all - it functions out of the box just fine. Your global recharge brings it up fast enough, it has no accuracy requirements and its slow is already capped.

Slowed Response can only take two non-Achilles' procs. Since its proc chance is capped at any level of recharge you could possibly slot into it, this means you can get another 0.9 * 71.75 * 2 = 129.2 damage per cast by slotting Lady Gray and Shield Breaker. While this doesn't transform it into a major damage effect, it does add some damage to an effect you're using anyway.

Time's Juncture can take Impeded Swiftness, but this will only add 4.19 dps. For comparison, a Spines/Fire Brute sitting at +400% damage would get 15.7 dps out of Quills (slightly less than the quad-proc'd Distortion Field above does).

Redlynne · August 1, 2019

Aye, and all of that is true ... if you're building a DPS Offender who wants to solo burn Pylons in the RWZ.

Heck, I'd throw Enflame onto that bonfire of the vanities if that's what brings you pleasure.

The thing is, I'm going in a different direction with my build(s) here. Instead of being a damage monster, I'm being a debuff/control monster who "neutralizes" opposition ... rather than being a Scraffender (no, I'm not going to call it the inverted name, just no). Why would I do that? Because I like playing Controllers/Tankers who manipulate the battlefield as force multipliers ... and because I like the idea of playing a "No Escape" build like I've outlined here.

Also, as I mentioned, the alternative to Decimation (and its Build Up proc) would be to either slot in Entropic Chaos (with its somewhat superfluous Heal proc) or to slot Decimation in such a way as to get the 5-slot bonus without the Build Up proc at all (doable, but is it a superior option to the alternative?).

Mind you, the whole Build Up proc notion kind of falls by the wayside if 5-slotting the purple Apocalypse set (drop the Damage IO since it's wasted by ED) which would have a 4.5 PPM for 107.1 Negative Energy (which is more that the Pistols power can output natively with slotting, so each proc is basically a "critical hit" for increased damage). Note that with a 4.5 PPM the minimum chance to proc is 11.75% and requires an animation plus slotted enhancement/incarnate (but not including set bonuses or power effects on recharge) of 1.567s ... and the animation time on Pistols is 1.118s ... meaning that pretty much no matter what you do, you're probably NEVER going to be able to "floor" the proc chance for the Apocalypse proc ... meaning that if you're using Pistols every 3s as part of an attack chain, that Apocalypse proc is going to start going off "like crazy" thanks to the Chuck Lots Of Dice! method of how you'd be using the Pistols power.

My point being that while Decimation (and its Build Up proc) might not be the "optimal" choice when looking at longer spreadsheet time frames of analysis, in a very short run sense it can potentially be "good enough" as a damage spike producer that isn't "locked" into providing only a single damage type increase (see: Swap Ammo). That said, Decimation would make a decent stopgap on the way towards obtaining the resources needed to slot in an Apocalypse with proc plus Winter's Bite proc into Pistols as a "higher end" option for future investment and development.

Redlynne · August 1, 2019

Well that's ironic.

I go back into the build to do the obligatory "what if I had 5 purple sets in here?" alternate slotting theorycrafting ... and come away with a superior 3-slot frankenslotting for Chronoshift than making use of the Performance Shifter proc. That's because the Performance Shifter proc would only provide 10-12 endurance (with up to a 90% chance to proc). However, frankenslotting for End Mod/Recharge (x2) plus Heal/Endurance/Recharge with Level 50 set IOs yields +6.885 endurance over 30 seconds from increased recovery and costs 16.65 endurance to cast, instead of 20.8 endurance ... a savings of 4.15 endurance. Combine the increased yield from recovery with the reduced casting cost and you get ... 11.035 endurance using the alternative frankenslotting, which is comparable to the yield of using Performance Shifter (so not meaningful "net loss" there per casting) ... while at the same time increasing the amount of Healing gained from use of Chronoshift into the bargain. So net break even on the endurance side (with a slightly lower threshold for being able to cast Chronoshift at all due to lowered endurance cost when casting) and a buff to healing. I'd call that a better option, even if you do need to successfully proc Force Feedback a few times every 90s in order to make Chronoshift perma (since it's very nearly perma without the Force Feedback procs).

So I'm going to post the slightly tweaked update with the modification to Chronoshift here.

But then, I've also got the alternate slotting for the Level 50 purple set "upgrade" so you can see what that looks like. Global recharge buffing from set bonuses goes from +95% to +112.5%, pushing Chrono Shift from being nearly (but not quite at 92.6s) perma without Force Feedback procs to having a less than 90s recharge time (88.61s to be exact, a drop of almost 4s thanks to the purple set bonuses to recharge).

At some point, when I have way too much time on my hands (and don't feel like running missions for a while) I'll go ahead and compute what the respective proc chances are for all of the procs in this build, both for the pre-purple and post-purple variants of this build.

Anyway, first the non-purple update ... followed by the purple update.

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Level 50 Technology Defender

Primary Power Set: Time Manipulation
Secondary Power Set: Dual Pistols
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Hero Profile: