Pylon Damage Thread

[marcussmythe]

Beta Server (Justin)

 

Savage Melee/Bio Armor Stalker (concept build after running numbers on savage melee and theorizing what it could do)

 

T4 Musculature Core Paragon

T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface

T4 Ageless Core Epiphany

T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus)

 

Offensive Adaptation

No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has.

 

Savage melee is a bit of an enigma. I did some careful testing to figure out the numbers, particularly on hemorrhage and rending flurry (as well as savage leap), and decided to see how this character could do on pylon testing.

 

How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up.

 

Attempts with 1st rotation (Assassin's Frenzy - Hemorrhage - Savage Strike - Maiming Slash - Savage Strike - repeat)

 

2:28 = 386.89 DPS

2:21 = 399.75 DPS

 

Attempts with 2nd rotation (Assassin's Frenzy - Hemorrhage - Maiming Slash - Savage Strike - repeat; ageless makes this rotation possible but you could build a set to do this rotation if you had the correct secondary)

 

1:45 = 492.99 DPS

2:06 = 432.13 DPS

2:11 = 420.51 DPS

1:52 = 455.17 DPS

2:12 = 423.26 DPS

 

What is particularly impressive is that this rotation has no -res procs built into its attacks (just the -res from reactive interface). This is its pure, raw damage output for the most part.

 

Overall this is a pretty damn strong set with some good endurance efficiency + solid AOE to boot.

 

Kaeladin - I want to thank you for your time and effort spent building and running things on test to get clean data, when most of us are just throwing 'what we have on live' at the nearest pylon, and especially for your very 'condition controlled' reports and multiple runs.

 

Im not surprised to see Savage Melee showing brutally well on Stalker - especially as it is my understanding that its an underperformer on most ATs.  However, I'll note that the Stalker ATOs radically improve the damage output of the class, such that BS, another underperformer on the other ATs that bear it - so it may simply be that Stalker ATO set + anything is going to be impressive.

 

My current picks for 'that would be nice to see' (assuming you care to)

 

1.)  StJ/Bioarmor Stalker in a high recharge build.  Its my understanding that StJ/SR used to be the king of Melee Pylon testing, and I anticipate that offensive adaptation will provide more benefit than the recharge reduction in SR (I may be wrong).  Im also curious as to how the transition from proc % to PPM will impact the old king, as I believe its old, live numbers reflect % procs rather than PPM (I may be wrong).  Can Stalkers hold the crown for leet melee deeps in the face of the awesome might of the Biotitans?

 

2.)  Is there any methodology that would let one reliably test with a crowd around you?  Anything Bioarmor can do, Shield can do BETTER (at least for the sets it would take) and 'surrounded by minions to feed AAO' is a very common real-game case, though its hard to duplicate on a Pylon.  Maybe we should plan to get a controller to bring a crowd to the DPS-test, and then keep that crowd locked down just to feed it.  As such, Id be really interested in seeing the classic double-perma-buildup build DM/Shield or the current 'hot chick', Broadsword/Shield Stalker.

 

3.)  What do we think other outliers, high and low, might be?  Id be curious to get numbers for some cellar-dweller sets (Ice, Energy Melee, and their like) and also run a set or two with and without damage-buff defense sets, to get a better feel for the impact.

 

If any of the above sounds like a demand for your further time and effort, please do not take it as such.  I appreciate what youve done so far.

 

[hejtmane]

Beta Server (Justin)

 

Savage Melee/Bio Armor Stalker (concept build after running numbers on savage melee and theorizing what it could do)

 

T4 Musculature Core Paragon

T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface

T4 Ageless Core Epiphany

T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus)

 

Offensive Adaptation

No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has.

 

Savage melee is a bit of an enigma. I did some careful testing to figure out the numbers, particularly on hemorrhage and rending flurry (as well as savage leap), and decided to see how this character could do on pylon testing.

 

How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up.

 

Attempts with 1st rotation (Assassin's Frenzy - Hemorrhage - Savage Strike - Maiming Slash - Savage Strike - repeat)

 

2:28 = 386.89 DPS

2:21 = 399.75 DPS

 

Attempts with 2nd rotation (Assassin's Frenzy - Hemorrhage - Maiming Slash - Savage Strike - repeat; ageless makes this rotation possible but you could build a set to do this rotation if you had the correct secondary)

 

1:45 = 492.99 DPS

2:06 = 432.13 DPS

2:11 = 420.51 DPS

1:52 = 455.17 DPS

2:12 = 423.26 DPS

 

What is particularly impressive is that this rotation has no -res procs built into its attacks (just the -res from reactive interface). This is its pure, raw damage output for the most part.

 

Overall this is a pretty damn strong set with some good endurance efficiency + solid AOE to boot.

 

Kaeladin - I want to thank you for your time and effort spent building and running things on test to get clean data, when most of us are just throwing 'what we have on live' at the nearest pylon, and especially for your very 'condition controlled' reports and multiple runs.

 

Im not surprised to see Savage Melee showing brutally well on Stalker - especially as it is my understanding that its an underperformer on most ATs.  However, I'll note that the Stalker ATOs radically improve the damage output of the class, such that BS, another underperformer on the other ATs that bear it - so it may simply be that Stalker ATO set + anything is going to be impressive.

 

My current picks for 'that would be nice to see' (assuming you care to)

 

1.)  StJ/Bioarmor Stalker in a high recharge build.  Its my understanding that StJ/SR used to be the king of Melee Pylon testing, and I anticipate that offensive adaptation will provide more benefit than the recharge reduction in SR (I may be wrong).  Im also curious as to how the transition from proc % to PPM will impact the old king, as I believe its old, live numbers reflect % procs rather than PPM (I may be wrong).  Can Stalkers hold the crown for leet melee deeps in the face of the awesome might of the Biotitans?

 

2.)  Is there any methodology that would let one reliably test with a crowd around you?  Anything Bioarmor can do, Shield can do BETTER (at least for the sets it would take) and 'surrounded by minions to feed AAO' is a very common real-game case, though its hard to duplicate on a Pylon.  Maybe we should plan to get a controller to bring a crowd to the DPS-test, and then keep that crowd locked down just to feed it.  As such, Id be really interested in seeing the classic double-perma-buildup build DM/Shield or the current 'hot chick', Broadsword/Shield Stalker.

 

3.)  What do we think other outliers, high and low, might be?  Id be curious to get numbers for some cellar-dweller sets (Ice, Energy Melee, and their like) and also run a set or two with and without damage-buff defense sets, to get a better feel for the impact.

 

If any of the above sounds like a demand for your further time and effort, please do not take it as such.  I appreciate what youve done so far.

 

I know in the old pylon test days some of the dm/sd did a just pylon test and then also did a test by going and rounding up  minions to feed their soul drain +aao with he taunt aura from shields before starting the pylon test and yes it was a very nice boost to dps

[Eva Destruction]

 

I had my Fire/EM blaster up to 1:54 time which comes out to 458 DPS.  It isn't built strictly for pylons or anything like that but an all around PvE Build that is softcapped to just about everything defensively.

 

Would you mind posting your attack chain? 

 

I did crack 300 DPS on live, and that was without Reactive Interface and with less recharge, but with Lightning Field with a Fury of the Gladiator proc in it.  In theory, /Elec should be capable of higher ST DPS than /EM.  Of course, I haven't played around with the new snipes at all.

[Eva Destruction]

 

I know in past pylon test some of the dm/sd did a just pylon test and went and rounded up minions to feed their soul drain +aao with he taunt aura from shields before starting the pylon test and yes it is a very nice boost to dps

 

We all did it.  It's an INSANE boost to DPS.  DM/anything and anything/Shields benefits a ton from having Soul Drain or AAO fodder; with DM/Shields it goes from "why do I even bother" to all the top Scrapper times being DM/Shields by quite a significant margin.

[Kaeladin]

Beta Server (Justin)

 

Martial Arts/Bio Armor Scrapper

T4 Musculature Core Paragon

T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface

T4 Ageless Core Epiphany

T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus)

 

Offensive Adaptation

No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has.

 

Just wanted to see what martial arts could produce for ST DPS; of note, martial arts is a good candidate for taking cross punch to shore up their AOE (surprise! Cross punch is a solid cone!).

 

How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up.

 

Attempts with following rotation: Storm Kick - Crippling Axe Kick - Storm Kick - Cobra Strike - repeat.

 

2:35 = 380.19

2:26 = 395.44

2:49 = 359.7

 

A solid showing, considering no -res procs built into the ST set. It won't approach stalker levels of ST DPS with its best sets, but dragon's tail + cross punch provide very solid AOE options while still producing some ST numbers. Also, gooo bio armor!

[marcussmythe]

It really does seem (though weve not yet done Apples:Apples comparisons) that Stalker is -embarrasingly- better on throughput than Scrapper.  As Im less familiar with StJ, id want to see an StJ Scrapper or MA Stalker to be sure.

 

My money is that most of that grows out of the Stalker ATO rehide and resultant shenanigans.

[Kaeladin]

Beta Server (Justin)

 

Staff Fighting/Bio Armor Stalker

 

T4 Musculature Core Paragon

T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface

T4 Ageless Core Epiphany

T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus)

 

Offensive Adaptation

No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has.

 

And another one for staff fighting. Important: Scrapulous found this conclusion, and I wanted to double verify; the Stalker Build-Up proc (which is supposed to work on most attacks) ONLY WORKS ON THE ATTACK YOU SLOTTED IT INTO (Edit: This behavior seems inconsistent; verification required). In other words, that attack has to be slotted with the proc AND you have to use that attack to trigger the build-up refresh chance.

 

How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up.

 

Attempts with following rotation: Assassin's Staff - Sky Splitter - Precise Strike - Serpent's Reach - repeat.

 

2:52 = 355.74

2:58 = 348.23

2:39 = 373.97 (got some decent refreshes on build-up)

2:42 = 369.5

 

I can definitely say that the ST DPS between this and scrapper (just from my own personal testing of staff fighting on scrapper) is a no contest; stalker version of staff fighting is definitively better on ST DPS, and I'd wager stalker version of staff fighting in general is the better of the ATs.

 

As far as what was said earlier, some stalker sets (particularly sets do electric melee, kinetic melee, street justice, savage melee, and staff fighting to name a few) REALLY got better deals with the inclusion of AS into their kit(s). Electric melee, for example, loses lightning clap (wowee) to gain AS, which is huge for the kit considering electric melee has one of the lowest base ST DPS kits of any AT.

 

The top-performing ST DPS stalker kits (which I believe are probably StJ, DB, and now possibly Savage Melee) will definitely do more ST damage than most of the scrapper kits. But scrappers do have the one outlier in Titan Weapon; dark melee could also be a real contender, as dark/shield has historically been a very, very strong ST damage combo.

A solid showing, considering no -res procs built into the ST set. It won't approach stalker levels of ST DPS with its best sets, but dragon's tail + cross punch provide very solid AOE options while still producing some ST numbers. Also, gooo bio armor!

[Kaeladin]

Beta Server (Justin)

 

Street Justice/Bio Armor Stalker

 

T4 Musculature Core Paragon

T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface

T4 Ageless Core Epiphany

T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus)

 

Offensive Adaptation

No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has.

 

An important disclaimer; I didn't realize this until I watched some videos of other people's attempts. These bio builds I'm running (for the TW/Bio scrapper, MA/Bio scrapper, Savage Melee/Bio stalker, Staff Fighting/Bio stalker, and now Street Justice/Bio stalker) are all general PvE builds that I normally run. The one exception is that I ended up taking a slot out from DNA siphon on my TW/Bio scrapper to put an extra recharge into Build Momentum (the -res on water spout ended up not being worth it; general PvE build is the same otherwise).

 

These are not specialized pylon-killing builds. Personally I'm more interested in seeing how a DPS set can do in the context of a "regular high-end build" as opposed to a specialized set-up for pylon DPS. Nothing wrong with the latter! However, I wanted to make sure it was clear that I'm posting these results with this build philosophy in mind; if anyone wants to see the actual "chassis" of what I'm working with for my /bio characters, I'm happy to do so. Anyway, onto the Street Justice times:

 

How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up.

 

Attempts with following rotation: Build up - Assassin's Strike - Crushing Uppercut

Shin Breaker - Assassin's Strike - Sweeping Cross - Heavy Blow

Shin Breaker - Assassin's Strike - Crushing Uppercut

Use build-up procs (from ATO) before assassin's strike(s)

- Repeat

 

2:17 = 412.69

2:12 = 423.3

2:22 = 402.81

1:56 = 463.36

1:50 = 481.4

2:25 =397.25

2:20 = 406.7

 

Surprisingly, I think Savage Melee (given that we're talking about identical builds here in terms of the /bio portion; the two builds for Street Justice and Savage Melee were VERY similar) can compete with Street Justice for ST purposes. Street Justice has the advantage of having its damage delivered in smashing-based format, with no DoT component, but Savage Melee is by far the more endurance efficient set with solid AOE to boot.

 

But unfortunately, given that we're also comparing this to a generalist PvE Titan/Bio scrapper who was pushing low 1 minute times in the exact same conditions, I think TW/Bio scrapper still has the advantage (along with monstrously powerful AOE).

[marcussmythe]

Given the greater ability of the Stalker to control the pace of battle, Im onay either way with them ballparking ‘around’ each other on damage out.

 

Now of course all results are thrown off by a -certain- powerset...

 

It does raise a question, though?  While Bioarmor isnt the best designed set for tanking on, IMHO, could Bio/Titan push Tank DPS up out of ‘god I hate soloing’ into ‘vaguely relevant’?  Im sure it would be quite nice on Brutes (though nothing like scrapper performance) - Ive a Spines/Bio Brute IOed and Incarnated else Id roll one (though the impact of Bio on Brute DPS will be less than on Tank, Brutes still have about the same base, plus fury - and the Tank’s Brusing comes at the cost of using Defensive Sweep regularly.  Boo for Defensive Sweep as first power...)

 

Gooo Bio Armor!

[Kaeladin]

Beta Server (Justin)

 

1) Dual Blades/Energy Aura Stalker

T4 Musculature Core Paragon

T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface

T4 Ageless Core Epiphany

T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus)

 

No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has.

 

And now to test out another highly acclaimed ST DPS set for stalker, Dual Blades. I had two concepts in mind; the first was to test a standard high recharge build that could run a high base DPS rotation. Energy Aura allows you to softcap your defenses rather easily, so I used my set IOs to add some extra damage (while still running what I'd consider to be a "generalist PvE build").

 

How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up.

 

Rotation: Ablating Strike - Sweeping Strike - Ablating Strike - Assassin's Blades - repeat

I obviously open with Build-Up + AB to start. Ageless makes this rotation the stronger of the two, but once you dip below 310% recharge on ablating then you transition to a second rotation which will be mentioned in the other DB pairing.

 

2:15 = 416.84

2:36 = 378.6

2:16 = 414.75

2:11 = 425.51

2:11 = 425.51

2:25 = 397.25

2:20 = 406.7

 

A nice showing from dual blades! However, after looking back into some of the old archived Pylon Threads (as if I hadn't already looked enough) to explore some of the top performers thoughts on dual blades, I made a /bio stalker build and decided to run the following set:

 

2) Dual Blades/Bio Armor Stalker

 

T4 Musculature Core Paragon

T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface

T4 Ageless Core Epiphany

T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus)

 

Offensive Adaptation

No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has.

 

Rotation: Ablating Strike - Sweeping Strike - Nimble Slash - Assassin's Blades - repeat

I obviously open with Build-Up + AB. This is the rotation to use when you have less than 310% recharge in ablating strike. You want to cram recharge into your assassin's blades so that you can minimize "gap" time, as it becomes your second most recharge-intensive move (besides ablating). And so what did we get from this?

 

1:34 = 540.72

1:55 = 466.24

1:47 = 491.17

1:57 = 460.53

1:56 = 463.36

2:12 = 423.3

1:47 = 491.17

 

Wow, look at those times and numbers! The synergy of Dual Blades' very high ST DPS (with the ability to squeeze in two -res procs of different types), and the offensive potential of bio armor (if only they got the scrapper version, which is SO much better!) made for an incredibly strong pairing.

 

And with that, that will be my last reporting for the night. Many a pylon went down in the name of testing.

[Dan Petro]

 

I had my Fire/EM blaster up to 1:54 time which comes out to 458 DPS.  It isn't built strictly for pylons or anything like that but an all around PvE Build that is softcapped to just about everything defensively.

 

Would you mind posting your attack chain? 

 

I did crack 300 DPS on live, and that was without Reactive Interface and with less recharge, but with Lightning Field with a Fury of the Gladiator proc in it.  In theory, /Elec should be capable of higher ST DPS than /EM.  Of course, I haven't played around with the new snipes at all.

 

Elec should def be higher DPS.  I just use blaze/blazing bolt / energy punch as my attack chain.  I took a video that is around 1:53 - 1:55 to kill the pylon.  I'll try to upload it either tomorrow or sunday.

 

*edit* NVM, it uploaded pretty fast.  I feel like if I had ageless i'd smooth the attack chain out some, but I just have rebirth atm since energize gets rid of end issues.

[Kaeladin]

Beta Server (Justin)

 

Dual Blades/Bio Armor Scrapper

 

T4 Musculature Core Paragon

T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface

T4 Ageless Core Epiphany

T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus)

 

Offensive Adaptation

No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has.

 

Given how much more offensively loaded Bio Armor in scrapper is, and that Dual Blades is also another high ST DPS set for scrapper, I wanted to see what kind of numbers the scrapper variant could produce. I know for a fact that the DB/Bio scrapper would do substantially more AOE damage (due to a MUCH stronger Attack Vitals chain). But what kind of rough ST DPS numbers could it produce?

 

How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I press Blinding Feint

 

Rotation: Blinding Feint - Ablating Strike - Sweeping Strike - Ablating Strike - repeat

With the ageless 10% recharge buff, let alone the significant buff in the beginning, it's worth using this over the Attack Vitals chain according to my calculation. In general content, Attack Vitals is better for AOE situations + at lower levels of recharge.

 

Attempt 1: 1:52 = 475.17

Attempt 2: 2:30 = 388.44

Attempt 3: 1:59 = 455.03

Attempt 4: 2:09 = 430.05

Attempt 5: 2:16 = 414.75

Attempt 6: 1:55 = 466.24

Attempt 7: 2:08 = 432.73

Attempt 8: 1:53 = 472.14

Attempt 9: 2:29 = 390.15

Attempt 10: 2:08 = 432.37

Attempt 11: 1:52 = 475.17

Attempt 12: 2:01 = 449.7

 

Definitely a notable level of variance, but across the board these are impressive numbers for a scrapper! The ST DPS of DB (in this testing situation due to the power of having two different -res procs in the attack chain), combined with the raw power of bio armor on scrapper, makes for an impressive showing for scrapper ST DPS; in fact, this is actually matching a number of the stalker times in some cases!

 

Overall I was very pleased with this performance and will definitely be investing into this character on Live in the future.

[Microcosm]

Kaeladin, love seeing these times! One thing to note on the staff stalker though, there is a better attack chain of AS, SR, MB, PS. Sky splitter will hurt your dps a smidge.

 

Also curious how /rad works out in all this for scrappers. It also has +dam and -regen, but a +rech power which helps with those tight chains like db needs. I had a db/elec on live and was considering doing db/rad because it still has some recharge to help db but gets the new toys as well. Getting db's top chain is pretty difficult without Sr or elec...

[DSorrow]

Two additional tests:

 

Ill/Cold, now with T3 Spectral Interface (75% chance for damage): 2:15 and 2:12 for 412 and 418 DPS, respectively.

 

TW/Elec, no other changes except a better attack chain of RA>FT>AoD>CD>FT: 3:22 and 3:17 for 318 and 312 DPS, respectively.

 

Used around 8 52-54 Rikti Chief Soldiers to build up fury before starting my time and keeping it maxed during the fight.

[StrikerFox]

How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I press Blinding Feint

 

Rotation: Blinding Feint - Ablating Strike - Sweeping Strike - Ablating Strike - repeat

 

I wonder how Moonbeam would effect DB Scrap's pylon times. A double Blinding feint + Kismet +acc would provide enough +tohit to make MB an insta-snipe. The 'No Redraw' option would make the chain seamless. Though with each BF miss, the attack chain may change. Also I'm not sure if the crit chance is the same for attacks from Power, Ancillary and Epic pools. Or if Superior Critical Strike buff would even work with MB.

 

Thank you for all the testing. Amazing job!

[Rikis]

Given my disappointing times on my DB/Rad Scrapper on the pylon, I decided to check my team on clearing a mission of the 125 Fire Farm Comic Con AE arc (+4/x8). I'm happier with those results, from start to finish, I cleared it in 7 minutes, 46 seconds. Obviously that isn't a scientific test by any means, but I figured I'd try considering my Scrapper is S/L/F/C soft capped and is more about survival than dishing out damage.

[Dan Petro]

1 Minute 23 seconds on my PvE softcapped to all Ice/Fire blaster.  (I.E. not built for max pylon times or max ST DPS).  589 DPS with no lore pets.

 

I recorded 4 runs, will upload the fastest (ranged from I think 1:32 to 1:23 so pretty close)

 

Attack chain is Burn when up.  Blizzard when up.  Then BiB/Freeze Ray /Fire Sword when those powers are down.  Aim and BU weaved in as they come up, but apparently only have them slotted for 1 recharge .

 

[Kaeladin]

1 Minute 23 seconds on my PvE softcapped to all Ice/Fire blaster.  (I.E. not built for max pylon times or max ST DPS).  589 DPS with no lore pets.

 

I recorded 4 runs, will upload the fastest (ranged from I think 1:32 to 1:23 so pretty close)

 

Attack chain is Burn when up.  Blizzard when up.  Then BiB/Freeze Ray /Fire Sword when those powers are down.  Aim and BU weaved in as they come up, but apparently only have them slotted for 1 recharge .

 

 

An excellent time and strong performance; nice job!

 

Did you happen to do any times without the hybrid toggle on? No worries if not.

[Sir Myshkin]

Massively disappointed by this, because the "on paper" DPS should be dramatically higher, but:

 

KM/SR Stalker, 317 DPS (3:22)

 

Had a horrible time with stacking Assassin's Focus. I feel like Quick Strike might be recharging so quickly that the game is getting confused as I can consistently get stacks from Smashing Blow, but QS fails to snag it nearly ever, and I even ran into one instance of AS getting its orange ring, and then keeping it for an immediate second strike (effect triggering twice in a row). Tried several runs with QS>SB>QS>AS>CS hitting BU before AS if it was up, but that chain actually came back worse than not using CS (which kind of leaned towards my experience on live with KM/SR Scrappers).

 

Final chain I ran was QS>SB>QS>AS with popping BU every single time it came up, and it netted me the fastest time.

Ran with T4 Musculature, T4 Hybrid (Double Strike), T4 Degenerative (-MaxHP 75%).

 

Without Incarnates the build was getting around 240-245 DPS, which is terrible considering on a Scrapper I was hitting that same range. If this were actually my character, I'd probably fiddle around with the build more, but since I only did the testing for someone else, it is what it is.

 

 

And another one for staff fighting. Important: Scrapulous found this conclusion, and I wanted to double verify; the Stalker Build-Up proc (which is supposed to work on most attacks) ONLY WORKS ON THE ATTACK YOU SLOTTED IT INTO (Edit: This behavior seems inconsistent; verification required). In other words, that attack has to be slotted with the proc AND you have to use that attack to trigger the build-up refresh chance.

 

The proc works on all attacks, I can confirm this in testing from above that I've had the proc fire off a fresh Build Up on pretty much every attack in my chain at some point.

 

Edited to specify this: I had the Build Up proc in Concentrated Strike, and my final run I didn't use the ability at all and relied purely on natural BU recharge and proc refreshes. I had plenty of moments in there with double stacks BU effects.

[Dan Petro]

1 Minute 23 seconds on my PvE softcapped to all Ice/Fire blaster.  (I.E. not built for max pylon times or max ST DPS).  589 DPS with no lore pets.

 

I recorded 4 runs, will upload the fastest (ranged from I think 1:32 to 1:23 so pretty close)

 

Attack chain is Burn when up.  Blizzard when up.  Then BiB/Freeze Ray /Fire Sword when those powers are down.  Aim and BU weaved in as they come up, but apparently only have them slotted for 1 recharge .

 

 

An excellent time and strong performance; nice job!

 

Did you happen to do any times without the hybrid toggle on? No worries if not.

 

Thanks! And sadly I did not.

[marcussmythe]

Massively disappointed by this, because the "on paper" DPS should be dramatically higher, but:

 

KM/SR Stalker, 317 DPS (3:22)

 

Had a horrible time with stacking Assassin's Focus. I feel like Quick Strike might be recharging so quickly that the game is getting confused as I can consistently get stacks from Smashing Blow, but QS fails to snag it nearly ever, and I even ran into one instance of AS getting its orange ring, and then keeping it for an immediate second strike (effect triggering twice in a row). Tried several runs with QS>SB>QS>AS>CS hitting BU before AS if it was up, but that chain actually came back worse than not using CS (which kind of leaned towards my experience on live with KM/SR Scrappers).

 

Final chain I ran was QS>SB>QS>AS with popping BU every single time it came up, and it netted me the fastest time.

Ran with T4 Musculature, T4 Hybrid (Double Strike), T4 Degenerative (-MaxHP 75%).

 

Without Incarnates the build was getting around 240-245 DPS, which is terrible considering on a Scrapper I was hitting that same range. If this were actually my character, I'd probably fiddle around with the build more, but since I only did the testing for someone else, it is what it is.

 

 

And another one for staff fighting. Important: Scrapulous found this conclusion, and I wanted to double verify; the Stalker Build-Up proc (which is supposed to work on most attacks) ONLY WORKS ON THE ATTACK YOU SLOTTED IT INTO (Edit: This behavior seems inconsistent; verification required). In other words, that attack has to be slotted with the proc AND you have to use that attack to trigger the build-up refresh chance.

 

The proc works on all attacks, I can confirm this in testing from above that I've had the proc fire off a fresh Build Up on pretty much every attack in my chain at some point.

 

Edited to specify this: I had the Build Up proc in Concentrated Strike, and my final run I didn't use the ability at all and relied purely on natural BU recharge and proc refreshes. I had plenty of moments in there with double stacks BU effects.

 

So, for best DPS, dont use the best attack in the set.  Thats a problem with the set design - suggest that we should lose the 'no crit refresh buildup' for just 'crit' on Concentrated Strikes

RE:  Quick Strikes - maybe since its a CHANCE to add assassins focus, the superfast recharge and animation on Quick Strike is hurting our chances?

[Sir Myshkin]

I know I said I wasn't going to run another test, but the whole Assassin's Focus/Quick Strike thing was really bugging the hell out of me, so I revisited things with more extensive tests.

 

Quick Strike's Focus trigger is...basically non-existent. I ran nine more tests, and it was pretty consistently not-present. The only time I'd really see it was when I popped BU in the midst of the chain. Something about the extra 1.32/s delay helped I guess, not sure. I checked this after having respec'd Body Blow into the build (swapped out intended build's Focus attack, for testing). Quick Strike has ... without really counting the numbers, what appears to be something like a 10% chance of creating Assassin's Focus, where SB and BB were consistent (~75%-80% chance), and AS continuously ate those stacks.

 

I recorded things for prosperity this round:

T4 Musculature, T4 Degenerative (-MaxHP 75%) consistent throughout all these tests. T4 Hybrid (2x) was toggled on for specific runs to get a metric difference. In all cases Build Up was used immediately in order to take advantage of the fast repeating attacks and the 5% proc chance (ontop of having a pretty solid recharge).

 

• 3:42 - Stand Alone chain, SB>BB>QS>AS
  
• 2:23 - T4 Hybrid
  
• 3:13 - Attempted to use Pet...it died, lulz
  
• 3:07 - Sloppy attempt w/ Water Spout (fudged attack chain trying to find timing, wasted about 5 seconds of screw up clicks)
  
• 3:50 - Tried T4 Hybrid with Pet, pet lasted about 10/s this time. Died about a 60/s in, decided to use Return to Battle out of spite.
  
• 2:36 - T4 Hybrid, Water Spout

**Read second edit

• 2:44 - T4 Hybrid, Water Spout, testing to see if time was accurate
  
• 3:23 - Retesting the inclusion of Body Blow into the attack chain over a dual QS, in combination with Concentrated Strike while using Spout and T4 Hybrid. Basically confirmed the CS sucks in the Stalker attack chain.
  
• 2:30 - Final test to affirm main attack chain, while using T4 Hybrid. Got hit once good, used Rebirth to insure I stayed alive.
  

 

So Average DPS: 389, I feel much better about this time. GO Kinetic Melee!

 

Edited to add in: I find it odd that some sets have better success with Water Spout. It actually ended up being detrimental to KM casting it on the Pylon. Even my best time with it (2:36) was still slower than my worst time with the standard chain not using it (2:30).

 

Edit on my edit: I forgot to add in the -Res proc to Water Spout. HA, I was scratching my head like "what the heck did I forgot?!" I remembered! So... have a dramatically different time for Water Spout now:

 

1:57 - 455 DPS SB>BB>QS>AS with Water Spout (And standard T4 Musc, Hyb Double, Degen MaxHP).

 

So, for best DPS, dont use the best attack in the set.  Thats a problem with the set design - suggest that we should lose the 'no crit refresh buildup' for just 'crit' on Concentrated Strikes

RE:  Quick Strikes - maybe since its a CHANCE to add assassins focus, the superfast recharge and animation on Quick Strike is hurting our chances?

 

 

In regards to Concentrated Strike, unfortunately I wasn't surprised by this flaw because KM suffers the same issue on Scrappers. The power hits like a truck, and has a neat mechanic with its ability to refresh the BU effect, but just like on Scrappers, it takes too long to animate and hurts the set empirically. On paper it always looked great, but in practice--especially with Procs and the like--it really hurts the set, especially when it misses. I'd rather miss one 100pt attack for 1/s, than a 300pt attack for 3/s. KM is very fluid in its ability to recover, and do a lot of damage in its first three attacks. Kind of follows a different philosophy that the upper tier attacks are burst-one-shot "fancy" abilities, but just as is true in martial arts, it's the smaller, fast, continuous hits that wear your opponent down. So... it makes sense that CS kinda sucks for DPS.

[Kaeladin]

Beta Server (Justin)

 

War Mace/Bio Armor Scrapper

 

T4 Musculature Core Paragon

T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface

T4 Ageless Core Epiphany

T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus)

 

Offensive Adaptation

No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has.

 

Another day, another set of pylon results. This time, I wanted to bring to attention the strength of a very, very underrated set; it's War Mace!

 

From a numbers perspective (i.e. the DPS spreadsheet I've been working on), I knew War Mace was strong. I wanted to show one small sample of its well-rounded strengths; it has a good AOE kit, strong ST DPS, and good CC effects on its moves. It is VERY end-heavy though (not at the same level as Titan Weapon!).

 

As always, the build used a pretty standard template similar to my other /bio scrappers, oriented towards general PvE (e.g. softcapped s/l defenses).

 

How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up.

 

Attempts with following rotation: Clobber - Jawbreaker - Shatter - repeat (I know, very complicated)

 

1:45 = 497.99

2:00 = 452.34

1:59 = 455.03

1:47 = 491.17

2:09 = 430.05

2:01 = 449.7

1:44 = 501.5

 

Strength in simplicity, as they say. Sometimes you don't need the flashiest moves to do some great damage. Sometimes you just need to club a fool over the head (or under). In any case, I hope this gives some proof of the power of War Mace (and, as usual, Bio Armor).

 

Gooo Clobber!

[marcussmythe]

War Mace has been an underrated set since forever.  I believe the magic was when rechave hit the point that Clobber was up so often. 

 

And yes, I admire its simplicity.  Many of the best DPS results we see here rely on a long attack chain, careful timing, and other micro tricks.  Warmace?  Hit stuff.  Stuff falls down.

 

Would be both pretty and strong and fall-asleep-at-keyboard simple to make it shine in general plah with a shield.

 

I now have a ‘War Priest’ character concept.  Dammit.

[greenstalker]

Good old days. My first run was a little shy from 3 min but I was using wrong interface. I found some of my old records in old forums and it seems I could go as good as 1.23 min. I am currently leveling my WS but once i am done with him I will return to my scrapper to finish my interface for a second run on pylon. I will post results from 5 run since I have both scrapper ATO procs the crits are crazy and changes things alot from better to worst.

 

Oh I am a katana SR.