Early Impressions: Power sets

[Miasma]

Yesterday I was messing around trying to make a pistol/element deck and some of my earlier concerns proved false, including the casting time.  Thor's hammer takes two seconds to fire off but funcom was smart enough to balance it as it turns out, it does twice as much damage as two one second single target abilities.  So that's fine, I'd keep it and not worry about casting/channeling time since it looks like if an ability takes 2.5 seconds it does 2.5 times as much damage as a one second ability.

I couldn't make a deck I really liked though, there seemed to be some promise using the elemental builder with a passive that causes an affliction DoT, then building off affliction but I still couldn't get much synergy.

[Segoris]

Ramblings from a mad man. Feel free to yell at me about things I'm not doing right or things that could be improved on that I'm not seeing

Last night's Ele/AR build I ran (another dps was reliably applying afflicted, so I didn't need bloodsport).

It feels odd because the build is rotation was a clean 3 resource finisher usage (even for AR abilities). This kept Highly Strung's 10% bonus damage up at all times. So basically, I always have +19% damage (Highly Strung + Twisting the Knife) and up to +29% with maxed Lethality (which was normal), and then up to another 25% with Do or Die and 15-25% additional if someone else was using Short Fuse, not even counting anyone using Breaching Shot for +pen chance, though since I'm geared for pen/crit dmg I was penetrating plenty last night.

Rotation of 3x Ignition->Blaze->Fire in the Hole->repeat.
There are two alternative rotations.
1) this wastes 1 AR resource and using a rotation of 3x Ignition->Blaze-3x Ignition->Blaze->Fire in the Hole->repeat. This I think would be about equal to what I'm doing now.
2) 3x Ignition->Blaze, 2x Ignition and queing up FITH to fire immediately after firing Ignition->1x Ignition->Blaze and repeat while firing off FITH upon reaching 5x resources. Not as clean as firing both finishers off at 3 resources, but may increase dps. I don't know if it will since it's a flat dps finisher based on # of resources. I'd like to find a finisher that is single target dealing X dmg + Y dmg for each resource, as using both finishers at 3 resources would probably increase dps since I'm getting the base dmg more often and receiving the same amount of bonuses per resource spent. The reason I prefer to fire FITH with Blaze is I need to test the global cooldown since that is why I prefer clean rotations here while using abilities that have a cast time.

Adjustments if needed:
If affliction was needed I'd drop Body Piercing for Fatal Flourish/Dark Potency and Lethality or Live Wire for Bloodsport
If Short Fuse/Final Fuse was needed, I'd drop Lethality or Live wire as well as Do or Die
If purge was needed I'd drop Electrical Storm for Magnetic Wipe

I may switch the AR part for Blood, but I need a few more points for Finish the Movement. That build will look like this.

The rotation will be 2x Bloodline->Blaze->Bloodspike->1x Bloodline-Blaze (procs Highly Strung at this point)->Bloodspike (procs the bonus damage, now with highly strung added as well), repeat.

Mostly the same adjustments from the AR/Ele build work here as well. I'm just not sure if the full bloodspike damage is worth losing Lethality (probably is, but need to test). Another option is dropping Live Wire, but I need a better parser to be able to see if that is still worth it in either of these builds. I also want to test Explosives Expert and see how much damage that does. I'd really like a true test dummy here, as the semi-dummies in the starting area where you pick your first weapon die too easily =/

[Ghambit]

Yah Thor's Hammer is gonna get the nerfbat I think.  Typically I pop shotgun's penetration active grp buff (with the passive I think it's like 55%), then either toxic or molten earth (shot/ele elites) for the hinder with the AR passive that makes hindered targets unmissable (this costs like 3ap to buy into;  MUST HAVE if you Hinder).  Then pop the active ele ability that makes everything free (so... free thor's hammer) and throw in an automatic crit.  And voila...   near 2000 dmg sometimes even with only QL3 gear and enough hindrance to pop Combust for only 1 resource for a few secs.  

I've bought mostly into Hit instead of attk since Elementalism relies on accuracy more than anything else.  Casting times can be high, so missing/glancing is NOT an option.  The raw dmg. more than makes up for it.   Secondary consideration is crit of course with this build.

Later on as I get closer to 'Grifter' I'll start relying more on turrets, which is what the build ultimately calls for. Otherwise not much synergy.

Bug:  Also, lawl that 1.0s ele ablities fire at the same rate as instant shotgun abilities reliant on animations.

[Segoris]

Yah Thor's Hammer is gonna get the nerfbat I think.

I'm not so sure about that. The ability itself isn't so strong it requires nerfing, and your example requires a 45s cooldown active and a passive to improve said 45s cooldown active.

The only place that Thor's and Red Mist are overpowered (kind of) are in pvp due to massive burst against glass canons and people with minimal hp. In PVE these abilities aren't overpowered, but feel that was in regular questing since if you fight a group of 2-4 then one mob is basically taken out almost immediately. I also think Thor's seems OP and due for a nerf because it's an inner circle ability, and people still aren't connecting that inner and outter circle abilities aren't supposed to be measured differently in terms of power or being upgrates (save for elites I believe).

For me, I haven't had Thor's act as a dps increase in dungeons, and don't have Red Mist to test yet (I'm hearing mixed results, meaning it is quite likely subject to one's build, which is awesome).

Red mist actually has an advantage of not being a damage type, and supposedly never misses, glances, etc. Costs no resources, but has a 30s cooldown instead of Thor's 15s cooldown.

[Nebu]

HELP!

I've been playing Pistol/Fists using pistol for dps and fists for self heals.  I'm thinking of abandoning fists in favor of something with more dps synergy.  That being the case do you all think that shotgun or elemental has the best synergy with pistols?  I'd like a primarily single target crit build, but have been looking at maximizing focus (channeled) synergy.

Any thoughts welcomed.

[Miasma]

Shotgun doesn't really have anything for crits.  I couldn't come up with a build I liked for pistol/element like Sky uses so someone else would have to talk to that.

[Ingmar]

Shotgun is all about causing/exploiting hindered, and also has a lot of penetration stuff and some stuff that works off weakened.

EDIT: It looks to me like hammer has a bunch of crit stuff.

[Falconeer]

Synergy chart:

[Falconeer]

So to answer your question Nebu, for crit synergy with pistols, pick hammers or elementalism.

[Sky]

Yeah, review the last bits about my build for where I'm at. When I get a while to play, I'm hoping to tweak what I've got some more. It's definitely triggering a ton of crits as is, and it's to the point where soloing in SC is pretty easy (crown mobs notwithstanding).

Not tonight, though; Sunday looks pretty well shot and that means Saturday is projects day...so maybe Sat night if the old lady is all facebook gamey instead of hangy outy (sadly I still prefer hangy outy). I don't know how people play mmo and maintain a normal life.

edit: looking at the chart, I'd favor elem: there is a bit more synergy due to hinders especially. I still vacillate between the aoe pistol elite hinder and the single-target elem hinder, they're both nice in different ways.

[Ingmar]

Are the guys with crowns supposed to be harder than the single dot guys? I can detect no difference between them.

[Sky]

 

[Miasma]

Crowns should be harder, you should defintely notice it because they generally have twice as much health as a single dot.  Are you sure the crown and dot were the same colour?  Because a red single dot could be harder than a blue crown.

Anyways, on to my no doubt terrible theorycraft for a weapon combo I have never used for Sky and now possibly Nebu.  I see a lot of pistols and elementals in the end zone so I'm sure they're both good once you can afford the outer ring stuff.  Allthough I can't say if all the pistols and elementals I see are using both together.

This is the only stab I can think of for an almost entirely inner ring Pistol/Elemental build and it probably sucks.  You would need fairly high crit chance gear.

It works on crit and mixes in some affliction dots and a nice penetration buff.  The only things that are outer ring is the pistol single target consumer "Start and Finish" which is only three deep into an outer ring so not too expensive and the passive "Mad Skills" which is four deep, it could be switched out with "Mind over Matter" in element for some extra affliction until purchased.

It has a standard single builder ability with two multi target consumers and two single target consumers, one for each weapon.

Actives
1 - Builder.  It is elemental because it has a better passive match below.
2 - Multi target pistol.
3 - Single target pistol.
4 - Elite.  Use as an opener then start building five anima points.
5 - Multi target element.
6 - Single target element.
7 - Self heal to save yourself.

Passives
1 - Straight 10% more element damage.
2 - Straight 10% more pistol damage.
3 - Builder now also stacks an affliction DoT.
4 - Crits cause a higher crit rating.
5 - Every affliction stacks a penetration buff.
6 - More crit power.
7 - Guaranteed crit every seventh attack.

1) I would open at range with "Dirty Tricks" to do some damage and stop them from getting to me while I apply my builder.

2) Apply my builder to five anima points.

3) If three or more enemies pop "Wanted" then "Inferno".

4) If less than three pop "Start & Finish" then "Thor's Hammer".  Note that if done exactly in order as "Dirty Tricks"->5 builders->"Start & Finish" you now have your seven counters from the "Elemental Force" passive guaranteeing a critical strike for "Thor's Hammer" so it will do a hell of a lot of damage.  After the five builders you will also have +150 penetration which is strong dps.  If possible try to time "Thor's Hammer" after you have your seven counters of "Elemental Force".

5) Use the self heal liberally.

I don't like that the elemental closers must have five anima points to fire so you won't be able to use them to finish stuff off at three anima points, you'll have to use the pisto closers.  I also don't like the lack of an elite passive but couldn't find a good one on the inner wheel.

Edit: If the counter to ensure a crit from "Elemental Force" works the same as the others it will actually persist between fights meaning it could fire before "Thor's Hammer".  You could either right click off the buff or alter your rotation to fit.

[Ingmar]

The crown guys just seem to be normal dudes, but with names. Although upon reflection maybe I am comparing them to the skull guys like the golems over by the airfield? I dunno. They definitely don't stand out to me as hard so far.

[Zetor]

Mob power is something like this (repost from the h8 thread). You can mostly tell how tough they are from their hp.
- swarm mobs with little hp (three circles next to their name) in groups of 3-8 OR 2-3 with a normal mob
- weak mobs with moderate hp (one circle, but noticably less HP than normal) in groups of 2 [sometimes 3 in 'hard' areas]
- normal mobs with normal hp (one circle) solo [groups of 2 in 'hard' areas]
- strong mobs with high hp (skull, flag, crown) solo

Crown mobs are sometimes as strong as skulls, sometimes (much) stronger. If there's a little + next to the crown (or it's a crown+skull), it's even tougher.

[Miasma]

The little plus also means it's a rare and can drop a blue.  There used to be a good write up by yokai on the forums but I think the post has been archived since they changed their forums.

[Ingmar]

Yeah I definitely don't mean the crown+ guys, I saw Lutefisk wandering around and he had like 12,000 hp, so he was obviously in another category.

[Falconeer]

The crown with a plus is usually a rare that is worth an achievement too. The simple crown guys are named and as such are guaranteed a green but that's it. In this game the ONLY way to get blue items is from dungeons, not counting the very few blue items you get from a handful of big quests. So no random cool drops. To get the blues, run dungeons, or stay "average" in your greens.

At least they made the dungeons really awesome and worth doing besides the rewards, but yes either you do them or you stay green.

[Nebu]

So to answer your question Nebu, for crit synergy with pistols, pick hammers or elementalism.

Thanks.  The chart was wonderful.

[cironian]

Tinkered a bit with AR/blade again. I'm currently using this one:

http://www.drakkashi.com/secretworld/wheel.php?1=1&4=4&64=2&69=0&7=2&64=0&1=3&1=2&1=0&1=6&64=5&0=5&69=1&1=4

Very simple AoE rotation on the blade side with guaranteed penetration on the main damage dealer, AR offering flexiblity between extra damage and self-heals. No cast times except for the mandatory pull ability. It's fast, fun and quite sturdy in case I pull too much.

I'll probably throw out Eagle Eye for another ability that procs on penetration (Sudden Return maybe?), since my blade damage output greatly outweighs AR.

[Ard]

Okay, so I got my Elem/Blood affliction chain build going now, and it makes me giggle every time I use it.  Still not sure how it actually compares damage wise to other builds, but it's higher dps than my old one, and has some better crowd control tools in it.  It's a really expensive build though points wise, since it goes deep into a bunch of trees.

http://www.drakkashi.com/secretworld/wheel.php?28=0&42=4&24=4&27=1&40=6&43=1&72=2&43=2&44=5&43=0&19=0&27=0&28=3&42=5

I'm probably going to swap out vital fluids for live wire, as suggested by someone else earlier.  It does currently help some with getting off more blazes, but it just doesn't seem to do enough.  I'll swap out infection for misdirection for dungeons so I can help cement aggro on a tank since everything I do aoes.  Everything that isn't open veins or wildfire is neither a builder or a consumer, and is mostly insta-cast, for burst damage and crowd control.  I'm having a lot of fun with this so far, and am taking things easily now that I wouldn't have been able to before with my impair build.

[Ratadm]

http://www.drakkashi.com/secretworld/wheel.php?72=0&1=1&4=4&39=2&7=2&37=6&38=1&68=3&19=2&1=2&3=2&19=0&43=0&3=6
This is my fairly standard cheese pvp deck.

[Sky]

pistol/ele stuffs

I'm still standing by The Business/Shootout for crit builds. That elem builder is a single hit vs 3 hits for The Business; Start & Finish is only two hits vs the channeled Shootout. You can crit all those extra hits, more average crits per fight vs hoping you crit on a couple slightly bigger numbers. I saw much more reliable dps with The Business/Shootout combo.

Still need to make time to improve the build, but for now that's the solidly performing part (again, for a high crit build).

[Quinton]

Ele/AR build I'm fiddling with:
http://www.drakkashi.com/secretworld/wheel.php?40=0&42=4&40=4&43=1&64=2&65=1&40=6&40=1&42=5&40=5&43=0&24=3&41=6&65=2

I'm pondering alternatives to AR or improving the AR side of things.

3x Shock (w/ Volatile Current) to build and Afflict
Molecular Exploitation to do extra damage per hit on Afflicted targets
Dark Potency to +30 Penetration Rating (5x stack) for 8s whenever Afflicted is applied
Toxic Earth to Afflict with 4s DOT when Hindered
Molten Earth for Hinder (20s cooldown)
Coldwave (45s cooldown) for PBAoE Hinder for oh shit situations
Electrical Storm
Fire at Will
Anima Shot

EDIT: I see that using Bloodsport to get Afflicted, 3 round burst to build (over 2x the dps of shock, it looks like, when combined with extra bullet) is more common for this sort of thing...

[Ard]

Yeah, Bloodsport or Chain Reaction is probably your better bet for affliction than using a passive slot for shock.  You're probably better off using Salt in the Wounds from fist instead of Molecular Exploitation since you'll constantly be reapplying affliction then also, unless you use them both.

I'd personally only use toxic earth if you're going to throw in at least one more hinder, otherwise you're probably better off using Live Wire since you're using Blaze for auto-crits.

[Quinton]

Chain Reaction is nice in that it doesn't cancel if I glance -- actually does Bloodsport cancel affliction on glance or just the Bloodsport DoT?

[Seraphim]

Glancing with Bloodsport cancels the Afflicted state, which of course can be quite inconvenient. Bloodsport's still the best bet for single target builders though unless you use a combo like Shock and it's passive and don't mind the extra cast times.

[Xanthippe]

I feel like a dope, but I don't understand that chart.

For example, looking at the Blood Chart, under Fists it says Impair (in the crowd control color), Afflict (in the Rng Support color). What does this mean?

[Quinton]

I can't make heads or tails of the chart either.  I just spend a lot of time surfing the in-game AP assignment UI.

[Tyrnan]

This is what I've been running with the past couple of days. Was able to handle most of the missions rated hard in the Shadowy Forest (changed to an Ele hinder build for the hell mobs near the entrance to Carpathians, removed affliction from it for fighting those Fungal mobs after a very nasty surprise on my first encounter with them  ) and after a very rude awakening can handle those thermal mobs at the start of the Carpathians (had to throw on one piece of tank gear to give me enough buffer).

Actives:
Forking Paths - AoE builder with a small heal for hitting afflicted targets.
Clearing the Path - Ridiculous blade AoE finisher with auto-pen on afflicted targets (ensures Immortal Spirit is running almost constantly)
Cage Fight - Fist AoE finisher that also applies afflicted (used if fighting groups and I don't need a heal) (decided to add that to the build when I was typing this up but didn't realise it's not a consumer)
Hog Wild - Fist blast finisher. Will probably replace it when I get something better.
Wild at Heart - Fist ST finisher (more burst against single targets)
Martial Discipline - +50% chance attacks against you will glance. Sometimes the RNG gods don't like you and this gives you a bit of breathing room. I didn't really know what else to throw in there and already had the skill.
Surgical Steel - Fist burst heal finisher with HoT. Can heal for a lot thanks to Empower.
Stunning Swirl(E) - AoE impair.

Passives:
Bloodsport - Adds affliction to every attack.
Salt in the Wound - Deals extra damage whenever you apply afflicted.
Dark Potency - Adds 30 pen rating whenever you afflict, max 5 stacks.
Immortal Spirit - Gain a 5 second HoT every time you penetrate.
Mad Skills - Adds 30 crit rating whenever you crit, max 5 stacks.
Sharpshooter - Adds 30 hit rating whenever you crit or pen, max 5 stacks. This might not be needed but I hate glancing.
Empower(E) - Whenever a HoT crits the target gets an extra heal.

I can't check my stats right now since the game is down but from memory I have one blue heal piece at around 350ish HR, one blue tank piece which brings me up to around 3.5k health and the rest are blue/green QL10 DPS pieces. Everything is glyphed for crit and pen. Empower is what gives you your survivability. With a high crit rating it procs a lot, for around 175 HP from what I remember. I've had occasions where I've gone from around 50% HP to full on a single application of Surgical Steel thanks to the HoT from both it and Immortal Spirit critting a lot. The DPS isn't shabby either thanks to all the crit and auto-pen from Clearing the Path.

Edit: fixed actives.

[Sky]

I feel like a dope, but I don't understand that chart.

For example, looking at the Blood Chart, under Fists it says Impair (in the crowd control color), Afflict (in the Rng Support color). What does this mean?

It means both blood and fist use teh Impair condition for CC and Affliction for DoT; either applying it or causing effects from the conditions or both. Other than that, the attack types and conditions don't synergize. So using blood/fist, you'd want to pick skills that play off Impairs and Afflicts to synergize between the two lines.

The first column tells what each weapon type uses for various things, like Chain vs Frenzy for AE type attacks. If both weapon types use that for AE, it will show up in the chart as a synergy.

[Lantyssa]

Glancing with Bloodsport cancels the Afflicted state, which of course can be quite inconvenient. Bloodsport's still the best bet for single target builders though unless you use a combo like Shock and it's passive and don't mind the extra cast times.

I'm wondering if paired with Gross Anatomy if cancelling through a glance causes it to trigger.

[Rasix]

Using a pretty standard, ele/ar build. Why do I always forget in a MMO that I prefer playing ranged DPS when I end up doing group content?

Actives:

Ignition -  this seems to be the most solid builder I've tried.  Plus, it's a strike so it has additional options based on that.  It's pretty easy to get in a good cadence with this ability.
Blaze - Your bread, butter, steak, and dessert. Combined with Aidelon and an affliction state, you're going to put out a lot of dps.
Three Round Burst - AR consumer. 
Fire at will - AOE AR consumer.
Red Mist - Nice single target damage. 
Anima Charge - What's better than Blaze? DOUBLE BLAZEUUUUUUU.
Cold Wave -  It's nice for peeling adds off your healer.  This is really a flex spot and you can put whatever here.

The nice part about these actives is that really only blaze is required.  You can put in Arc Flash for AE fights really easily or when you need to purge.

Passives:
Aidelon - Free Blaze crit with affliction.  Egg roll cost extra.
High Strung - 10% damage if you can time your blazes right. 
Elemental Precision - 10% to elem.  This perhaps could be replaced, but I'd have to do some math.
Bloodsport - Apply affliction with every hit.  Can be replaced in instances if someone else is applying affliction (and isn't an idiot).
Call your shots - hit buff that's removed on glance.  Good way not to worry about having hit on your gear.
Lethality - increased damage until you glance.  Combined with the above, it's usually fully stacked (10%) damage.
Live Wire or Forged in Fire - Live Wire for deeps.  Forged in Fire if you're solo, your healer sucks, or you can't seem to dodge shit that's wrecking you.

If someone's applying affliction and weakened, you can put in Punishment.  This'll give you scary burst. Since you're also using a strike, you can apply weakened with Punisher (if by some way you don't have someone applying).

I don't necessarily like having 2 passives built on one ability.  But there are ways I can exploit affliction better, perhaps by switching out some different consumers and changing passives where I can.

Once I got my blue elemental focus (just a generic lucky drop in Polaris), I started doing enough burst damage that pulling aggro was a simple matter of an early crit/penetrate. Easy build to execute, very flexible outside the core, but not very creative or active with exploiting states.  It just has crazy burst damage that ramps up rather quickly.

[Ingmar]

I might have to rethink my build since I am starting to get my ass kicked every time the game sends me into a solo instance. Unfortunately I can't remember the names of any of my skills or exactly what passives I'm using at the moment, but if anyone has any tips I'm shotgun/pistols (and will be until I hit the bounty hunter deck fully.)

[Rasix]

The faction and story line solo instances can be brutal if you're not running a really tanky or sustain oriented build.  Even then, rogue agent is really hard and the one after isn't much easier (there's zero room for fuckups). 

Something that can help are:

1) The heal from the PVP misc line (never used, personally).  

2) The ability to apply weakened. You can apply weakened with shotgun strikes or blasts with certain passives. I believe there are also passives for crits or penetrates that add weakened as well.  

3) Tanky passives. I'm a big fan of the stacking magic and physical protection.

4) Sustain of any sort. I think pistol as some built into it.  Blade has a lot.  Blood/AR have sustain as well.

5) An "ohh shit" or "my deeps goes way up" button.  Shotgun has the penetrate active ability which allows you a ton of burst on a fairly low cool down.  

Of course my ele/AR build really only had some sustain in form of an elite hammer passive I leave in for soloing. Toward the end I could just burn through a lot, but dual skull mobs were an impossibility in the second to last main quest instance.