Staff & Dark

[Nayeh]

I'm just sharing thoughts. Feel free to discuss.

 

So I just reached 50 and I really enjoy this Scrapper combination. However, I'm not exactly geared up and I'm not very adept at building sets as I really dislike how clicky Mid's builder is with it's lack of automation options. I'll probably end up mirroring another /Dark build from around here.

 

 

Darkness is Endurance heavy!

This is probably the most exhausting Hero I have ever played. Between the Dark Armor toggles, Fighting pool toggles, and Dark Regeneration (a whopping 33 endurance base cost) and Travels my Endurance was always wavering. Throughout much of my adventures I left Fighting Toggles off because I couldn't afford them even when using Form of the Soul and Sky Splitter. Hopefully slotting will radically change this.

 

I have yet to try any other Staff form other than Form of the Soul due to my Endurance struggles so far.

 

Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom

They're both amazing. I admire the almost non-existent Endurance cost on Oppressive Gloom however minions wandering off in disorient is a little counter-productive in a Staff Fighting set with 2-3 AoE attacks. Cloak of Fear has been absolutely amazing with a really neat animation and I have been considering how effective -ToHit and Fear Procs/Sets would perform on this toggle? Is having both Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom really that beneficial? I feel like Oppressive Gloom overwrites fear as a harder form of CC since it doesn't work like the Mesmerize aspect of Fear.

 

Dark Regeneration

This power, despite it's enormous Endurance cost sold me. Only 2-3 hits and I'm almost always blasted with 100% Health.

 

Darkness Customization: Minimal FX

Thankfully this was an option. I would not be playing if I had to be a great ball of darkness with constant white noise playing.

 

Getting Knocked down...

I nearly wanted to break my keyboard after doing a Story Arc with Devouring Earth. Every minions slapped me to the ground and ultimately that caused most of my deaths whilst incapacitated. Only recently have I slotted Blessing of the Zephyr: KB Protection but I have yet to observe results on effectiveness. I should have spared myself the heartache and picked up Acrobatics while leveling.

 

Staff Fighting

They are long animations. I absolutely hate how obnoxious Serpent's Reach and Innocuous Strikes are. How essential are they to a build? I feel as though they ruin combinations to take advantage of Eye of the Storm and Sky Splitter buildups and consider taking up Precise Strike in placement of one of them.

 

Serpent's Reach can be a neat finishing move but for how long it takes to whirl the staff for a single target blow, I feel the effects are lackluster. If Serpent's Reach was at least a narrow cone attack I could see this as a very viable attack.

 

Innocuous Blows makes me cringe. I hate this toe-stubbing move so much for how stupid it looks. I recall mentioning this on a team when I first acquired the skill and a team member shared thoughts and mentioned they picked up Hover so it looks like they're eye-gouging instead.

 

Epics (Energy or Weapon) or Patron...

I enjoyed the Energy Buffs on my Brute but I wanted to try something more flavorful. I went with Weapon Mastery and really enjoy hurling Shurikens that even kinda flows with my character's theme. Caltrops is a really sweet skill but it disperses monsters which again leads to counter-productivity as a Staff wielder Scrapper and will for sure be replaced with Web Grenade. Targeting Drone looks amazin' but that Endurance cost though... As for the Patrons, none of them really appealed to me.

 

 

Any input or wisdom to share beyond "Get a build, bruh" ? Perhaps this post could provide others with insight.

 

 

[Werner]

It is indeed endurance heavy! Slot a lot of blues leveling if you don't have influence. If you do have influence, get yourself the Panacea, Miracle, and Numina uniques. A Performance Shifter would help a little as well. These should make a big difference.

 

Generally speaking, you choose either Cloak of Fear or Oppressive Gloom, not both. I dislike the minion wander and self-damage, so I went with Cloak of Fear. The damage from your aura will often wake them from their terror long enough to attack, but I believe they do so at a reduced rate, and that it's still decent mitigation. If you need heal fodder for an AV fight, consider turning off your damage aura, and they'll get very passive.

 

Dark Regeneration - buy yourself a Theft of Essence, and my memory is that used in crowds, it steals as much endurance as it costs, so no more endurance problem from using your heal. You might even recover endurance if you're lucky.

 

I've slotted a single knockback protection IO while leveling, but still sometimes get knocked back. Maxed out in an IO build, I'd want 11 or 12 points of knockback protection. Acrobatics adds yet more endurance drain, so I prefer to get this through IOs, but that's questionable if you have to use slots to get those IOs, since slots are precious. So I fiddle with it both ways and see which seems to be better.

 

If you're still having endurance trouble after all that, I'd consider Body Mastery for Conserve Power and Physical Perfection. But the incarnate powers also give you several ways to handle endurance. I like to be endurance neutral when maxed out, but that's overkill in nearly every situation.

[Nayeh]

On 8/30/2019 at 8:59 AM, Werner said:

 If you need heal fodder for an AV fight, consider turning off your damage aura, and they'll get very passive.

 

Dark Regeneration - buy yourself a Theft of Essence, and my memory is that used in crowds, it steals as much endurance as it costs, so no more endurance problem from using your heal. You might even recover endurance if you're lucky.

 

I haven't considered those two. Thanks for that.

[Seigmoraig]

For Knockback protection, a single IO is usually lacking because the mag it offers is middling. It is fine for ranged types, but for melee you really need to pair it with Steadfast Protection to bring that KB protection to a respectable level. I would avoid Acrobatics because not only does it waste a power, it doesn't bring much to the table for the end it costs.

 

Once you get Miracle, Numina's and Performance Shifter you should be good on the end drain department, but if you still are in trouble you would need to add extra slots to stamina or find some set bonuses from IOs that give +recovery as I am not sure scrappers can get Energy Mastery epic pool (maybe they can but on the wiki it's not there but these aren't 100% accurate to the custom changes on homecoming)

Edited September 4, 2019 by Seigmoraig