Snipes, is it worth slotting +to hit for damage?

[myyth]

Now that you do not need to slot +to hit to get instant snipes I am trying to decide if I should respec my corruptor. 

 

Here are the changes from the patch notes - 

- ToHit is no longer required to achieve fast-snipe.

- for Corruptors Base 2.28 scale damage in their "quick" form, down from 2.76 scale.

- Every point of ToHit buffing the player has will increase or decrease this damage, up to a cap of 2.76 scale damage with +22% ToHit buff.

 

So if I slot +To hit buffs up to 22% snipe damage increases from 2.28 to 2.76 which is a 22% increase in damage. 

 

My corruptor had to take leadership tactics + patron power target drone to get 22% to hit. The other option would be leadership tactics + maneuvers+kismet which is still two power picks, 

Which means I have spent two power picks plus three slots of +to hit enhancements to get 22% more damage to snipe. 

 

Is it worth it to slot +to hit for that extra 22% damage to one power?

Or would it be more effective to forget about the extra snipe damage, pick two other powers and use the 3 slots elsewhere?

 

Thanks for any help

 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by myyth

[SlimPickens]

Personally I think a balanced approach is likely the way ill go.

 

Im not going to chase taking power picks that do not benefit me in any way outside of buffing one powers damage through the to hit % buff. So for instance, I will not be taking tactics because my accuracy buffs are already capping my to hit % for all my powers, and the damage increase for snipes is just not worth the power pick in an already tight build where I can fit in more utility from another pick.

 

i will be slotting the Kismet 6% in maneuvers which I am already keeping for its assistance to getting to def cap, so the one extra slot makes sense to me to slightly overcap my to hit% and also buff the damage of the instant and long activation snipes by the 6%.

 

But in your case, you can seriously consider dropping both tactics and targeting drone to free up 2 powers, the associated slots, and the end cost of running 2 extra toggles in favor of diversifying your build into something more useful than just going all out to buff one powers damage.

 

I think the change adds a welcome choice of both having the instant snipe power, and also getting to choose if you need it at top damage by taking the to hit% power picks to compliment it, or just being happy to have the snipe instant in your attack chain, and adding power picks that otherwise help the build in different ways. Choices are good.

[Justisaur]

I can't see 2 powers picks being worth 22% damage to one power enough to make picking them, unless you need some of that to hit to hit higher notariety mobs.  22% is probably overkill though, I agree with a more balanced approach.  I'd still consider the kismet first, I try to slot that on all my characters, as it helps hitting higher notoriety mobs.   If you team, you'll likely end up with a bonus to to hit from a defender, or other support anyway.

[Vanden]

I don't think desperately chasing that 22% number is going to be worthwhile, but just grabbing Tactics and slotting it normally for ~15% ToHit isn't a bad plan.

[natewest1987]

Not sure what kind of content you run but my fire corruptor used to enjoy perma insta snipe via soul drain.  I haven’t played her since the update, but that snipe damage is so good there’s no way I wouldn’t chase that cap.  If you can handle the rest of the set then soul drain could be another route that doesn’t feel so out of the way. 

[Mr. Vee]

Just a PSA - if you're playing at level 50 Tactics one-slotted with a +5 ToHit IO plus an offensive amplifier temp power from p2w will get you your 22%. At level 50 the amplifier is pricey for some at 20 million/8 hours but you're going to make that in 8 hours on any level 50 unless it just stands around most of the time (and the damage/recharge the amplifier also brings is non-trivial). The only problem with this is that when you exemp you'll lose your 22% (not sure of the exact level it drops below and don't care enough to test. definitely gone at 30). A kismet makes up for the exemping if you do it a lot but now that there's a sliding damage scale corresponding to ToHit you probably don't need to bother.

[LiquidBandage]

Another option is to make friends with a Defender. A Defender who has:

a.) Reached level 50

b.) Tactics with four level 50 ToHit buff IO enhancements

c.) Spiritual Radial Paragon Alpha Incarnate ability

d.) The ability to stand no further than 60ft from you

 

This will provide an umbrella of +22.08% ToHit. 

[Sailboat]

15 hours ago, SlimPickens said:

Im not going to chase taking power picks that do not benefit me in any way outside of buffing one powers damage through the to hit % buff.

Just as an aside, I enjoyed seeing "Slim Pickens" talk about the scarcity of power picks.

[Yoru-hime]

I'm still generally going for some +to-hit, both for the extra snipe damage and some buffer against -to-hit, but I'm not going crazy aiming for 22% solo anymore. I definitely like that there's no longer a binary "Good enough"/"Not helpful at all" line to aim for. How much I aim for depends on how tight the build is and whether I think the character is going to be solo a lot or usually on a team stacking buffs.

[Jolly Ogre]

If you are taking the snipe then what power in the attack chain are you dropping?

[HelenCarnate]

I just have tactics 1 slotted and kismet. Still plenty of extra damage and there is room in my build so I don't have to sacrifice another power. If you can get 22% great but no need to chase that magic number anymore. 

[Obitus]

To make a really rough back-of-the-envelope estimate, if the snipe is worth let's say 1/3rd of your total (single-target) DPS, then the full damage buff from +22% ToHit is worth ~7.3% net.  Some builds will lean more heavily on the snipe, but in general I'd say my number overstates the benefit of straining for the full 22% ToHit, because you can pick up incidental amounts of ToHit with much less effort (e.g. Kismet, the sporadic benefit of things like Aim or Build Up, or even Tactics itself, with less than max enhancement).

 

Is it worth rejiggering your whole build if you had no intention of taking or slotting Tactics?  Depends on the person, but I think most people would probably say no.  There are other benefits to Tactics, though; personally I think its +perception buff is a little underrated on soloing builds, for example - so you can just treat this snipe thing as gravy.

 

Regardless, the snipe changes in the latest patch are a huge quality of life buff, even for characters that already had the +22% ToHit.  My own Blaster used to lose fast snipe fairly often because he was hit with tiny ToHit debuffs.  It was also annoying that I needed every bit of a heavily boosted level 50 Gaussian's set to hit the threshold; I frequently lost fast snipe when exemplaring even many levels above where I took Tactics (and the snipe itself).

 

The old system was really clunky.  I think the Paragon devs would have changed it in short order if the game hadn't been shut down.

Edited August 30, 2019 by Obitus

[Tsuko]

 

 

[myyth]

Thanks for the great advice everyone! 

I respeced my corruptor and removed all the leadership powers and picked new epic pool powers. which is kind of a bummer because i specifically soloed the black scorpion arc and died many times trying to kill Dr Qualextrin just to get that target drone for instant snipe. And then two days later the patch drops! 

But the overall extra boost to dps which someone mentioned would be around 7% just is not worth taking two powers and extra slots. The new powers I picked I think will be a better choice. 

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by myyth