Post by SteelShaman on Oct 22, 2011 2:25:44 GMT -5
The goal of this build was to make a character that deals decent damage while managing to stay alive. It started out as a concept build based around Pestilence, but by the time I was done I had a build that could solo the 5-man Powerhouse on hard mode. So much for Offensive Passives lacking survivability, eh?
If you're looking for a build with huge amounts of critting and spike damage this one isn't it. The goal here is to instead use DoT's and AoE's to shred spawns efficiently. With no reliance on critting you won't be seeing ridiculously high damage numbers, but you WILL see steady predictable performance.
Gearing Strategy: Get your Superstats at least high enough for a 30% damage bonus from each. After that you need enough Endurance so that your energy bar is big enough to take full advantage of your enormous equilibrium from the Recovery superstat. It won't do you much good to have an equilibrium of 175 if your energy bar caps out at 125. If you can squeeze it in, some Intelligence will also be of benefit as some of the Supernatural powers have rather high energy costs. Not really required (I didn't bother with much Intelligence on my test build) but nice if you can get it.
General Soloing Strategy: If the mobs are lined up for it, hit 'em with Venomous Breath. Henchmen will be dead in seconds, leaving the bigger mobs for clean up. If the mobs aren't lined up for Venomous Breath to work its magic, you can hop in the middle of them and use Vicious Cyclone instead. For single hard targets, I usually open with Defile to get them debuffed then move in for Devour Essence to finish them off. When dealing with large numbers of mobs it's a good idea to pop Bionic Shielding before you dive in. Alternatively, for big spawns you can hit one of the bigger mobs with Defile to start its AoE DoT ticking in addition to the damage you will be dealing with Pestilence. Then block for a bit to give the mobs time to get all their special little attacks (like KB's and such) out of their systems and cut loose with Vicious Cyclone. Remember that with Pestilence, even while you're blocking you're still dealing damage. It's not uncommon for henchmen to get to half life before I have time to hit Vicious Cyclone.
Patient Zero: Level 40 Champion
Superstats:
Level 6: Super Constitution
Level 13: Super Recovery
Powers:
Level 1: Infernal Bolts
Level 1: Venomous Breath -- Rank 3, Rank 2, Infectious Bile
Level 6: Devour Essence -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 6: Power Flight -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 8: Pestilence -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 11: Aspect Of The Infernal -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 14: Vicious Cyclone -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 17: Bionic Shielding -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 20: Ebon Void -- Voracious Darkness
Level 23: Supernatural Power
Level 26: Resurgence -- Rank 2
Level 29: Defile -- Rank 2, Plague Bearer
Level 32: Inertial Dampening Field
Level 35: Shadow Shroud -- Terrifying Visage
Level 35: Teleport
Level 38: Unbreakable
Talents:
Level 1: Inhuman
Level 6: Quick Recovery
Level 9: Healthy Mind
Level 12: Negotiator
Level 15: Enduring
Level 18: Tireless
Level 21: Brilliant
Power Explanations:
Infernal Bolts: Ranged energy builder. Enough said.
Venomous Breath: Cone ranged toxic AoE. Good damage, low energy cost, and with the Infectious Bile advantage also acts as a mini-CC. You can practically get through the lower levels with this power alone.
Devour Essence: Single target melee toxic damage that also heals you. When combined with Bionic Shielding this power can make it hard for mobs to even move your health bar at times. That being said, the heal portion (while good) is not strong enough to serve as your only heal. You will rely on this a lot as your single target killer in the lower levels.
Pestilence: Slotted Passive. While in combat it deals AoE toxic damage to any mobs around you and also places a dot on mobs that you use a damaging power on. The damage from Pestilence actually surprised me with how good it is. I've played around with Infernal before with a different passive, and mobs died noticeably faster with Pestilence.
Aspect of the Infernal: Toggle buff power that increases all the Toxic damage you deal. It also grants a stacking buff called Infernal Strength every time you Knock a mob. Not that many powers in Infernal do KB and this power may be getting changed soon. Recently for about a week on the PTS this power had a slightly different mechanic, granting Infernal Strength every time you hit a mob with a Poison debuff (a mechanic not currently on Live for Infernal). The Devs have since pulled it from the PTS and restored the original version. No idea if they're going to stick with the new mechanic or not.
Vicious Cyclone: 360 degree AoE centered on you that does Toxic damage and a small amount of KB. I got this power mainly for theme (I love the animation) and to grant stacks of Infernal Strength from Aspect of the Infernal. It's also useful for those times when mobs aren't lined up properly for Venomous Breath. The damage is actually higher than Venomous Breath, but the energy cost is also higher. The area of effect is also very large.
Bionic Shielding: Bionic Shielding is a reactive heal that grants healing only when you are hit by a mob. Very good to pop it when beginning a fight you know is going to be tough. This combined with Devour Essence can result in some solid healing numbers. Using this power puts a debuff on you that prevents you from using it on yourself again for 15 seconds.
Ebon Void: Darkness block power. With the Voracious Darkness advantage the block grows in strength the more you are hit. You also receive a small heal when you block damage and apply a small amount of Dimensional damage to your attacker. A portion of the block keeps working for a few seconds after you stop blocking.
Supernatural Power: Infernal energy unlock. Any time you use an Infernal power that drops your energy below 10%, you receive a burst of energy.
Resurgence: Self heal power that scales with Constitution. It has a long recharge time, so think of this as an oh crap button when your life dips a little too low for comfort.
Defile: Very strong single target ranged toxic damage. Targets that survive a full charge have a debuff placed on them that increases the Toxic damage they take. With the Plague Bearer advantage they also receive a DoT that affects not only the original target but other mobs standing near them as well. Combining this with Devour Essence allows you to shred tougher targets quite nicely.
Inertial Dampening Field: A Force toggle that reduces the damage you take. Combined with Ebon Void, Bionic Shielding, and Devour Essence this power makes you pretty tough. It increases the energy cost of your other powers while running, but with Recovery as a Superstat, who cares? You'll have plenty of energy anyway.
Shadow Shroud: Active Offense that increases all damage you deal for a short time. It also causes you to gain energy when you take damage. With the Terrifying Visage advantage any mobs stupid enough to get close to you also have a chance to be feared.
Unbreakable: Active Defense that grants you a fair bit of damage absorption while active. Pop it when things go south or you expect a tough fight.
A final note: To level with this build you will need to do an early retcon to get Venomous Breath as your second Level 1 power. After that, the build can be leveled as is quite easily. To fund the early retcon you can use the Shared Bank if you have a hideout or just email one or more items you can vendor from another character.
If you're looking for a build with huge amounts of critting and spike damage this one isn't it. The goal here is to instead use DoT's and AoE's to shred spawns efficiently. With no reliance on critting you won't be seeing ridiculously high damage numbers, but you WILL see steady predictable performance.
Gearing Strategy: Get your Superstats at least high enough for a 30% damage bonus from each. After that you need enough Endurance so that your energy bar is big enough to take full advantage of your enormous equilibrium from the Recovery superstat. It won't do you much good to have an equilibrium of 175 if your energy bar caps out at 125. If you can squeeze it in, some Intelligence will also be of benefit as some of the Supernatural powers have rather high energy costs. Not really required (I didn't bother with much Intelligence on my test build) but nice if you can get it.
General Soloing Strategy: If the mobs are lined up for it, hit 'em with Venomous Breath. Henchmen will be dead in seconds, leaving the bigger mobs for clean up. If the mobs aren't lined up for Venomous Breath to work its magic, you can hop in the middle of them and use Vicious Cyclone instead. For single hard targets, I usually open with Defile to get them debuffed then move in for Devour Essence to finish them off. When dealing with large numbers of mobs it's a good idea to pop Bionic Shielding before you dive in. Alternatively, for big spawns you can hit one of the bigger mobs with Defile to start its AoE DoT ticking in addition to the damage you will be dealing with Pestilence. Then block for a bit to give the mobs time to get all their special little attacks (like KB's and such) out of their systems and cut loose with Vicious Cyclone. Remember that with Pestilence, even while you're blocking you're still dealing damage. It's not uncommon for henchmen to get to half life before I have time to hit Vicious Cyclone.
Patient Zero: Level 40 Champion
Superstats:
Level 6: Super Constitution
Level 13: Super Recovery
Powers:
Level 1: Infernal Bolts
Level 1: Venomous Breath -- Rank 3, Rank 2, Infectious Bile
Level 6: Devour Essence -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 6: Power Flight -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 8: Pestilence -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 11: Aspect Of The Infernal -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 14: Vicious Cyclone -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 17: Bionic Shielding -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 20: Ebon Void -- Voracious Darkness
Level 23: Supernatural Power
Level 26: Resurgence -- Rank 2
Level 29: Defile -- Rank 2, Plague Bearer
Level 32: Inertial Dampening Field
Level 35: Shadow Shroud -- Terrifying Visage
Level 35: Teleport
Level 38: Unbreakable
Talents:
Level 1: Inhuman
Level 6: Quick Recovery
Level 9: Healthy Mind
Level 12: Negotiator
Level 15: Enduring
Level 18: Tireless
Level 21: Brilliant
Power Explanations:
Infernal Bolts: Ranged energy builder. Enough said.
Venomous Breath: Cone ranged toxic AoE. Good damage, low energy cost, and with the Infectious Bile advantage also acts as a mini-CC. You can practically get through the lower levels with this power alone.
Devour Essence: Single target melee toxic damage that also heals you. When combined with Bionic Shielding this power can make it hard for mobs to even move your health bar at times. That being said, the heal portion (while good) is not strong enough to serve as your only heal. You will rely on this a lot as your single target killer in the lower levels.
Pestilence: Slotted Passive. While in combat it deals AoE toxic damage to any mobs around you and also places a dot on mobs that you use a damaging power on. The damage from Pestilence actually surprised me with how good it is. I've played around with Infernal before with a different passive, and mobs died noticeably faster with Pestilence.
Aspect of the Infernal: Toggle buff power that increases all the Toxic damage you deal. It also grants a stacking buff called Infernal Strength every time you Knock a mob. Not that many powers in Infernal do KB and this power may be getting changed soon. Recently for about a week on the PTS this power had a slightly different mechanic, granting Infernal Strength every time you hit a mob with a Poison debuff (a mechanic not currently on Live for Infernal). The Devs have since pulled it from the PTS and restored the original version. No idea if they're going to stick with the new mechanic or not.
Vicious Cyclone: 360 degree AoE centered on you that does Toxic damage and a small amount of KB. I got this power mainly for theme (I love the animation) and to grant stacks of Infernal Strength from Aspect of the Infernal. It's also useful for those times when mobs aren't lined up properly for Venomous Breath. The damage is actually higher than Venomous Breath, but the energy cost is also higher. The area of effect is also very large.
Bionic Shielding: Bionic Shielding is a reactive heal that grants healing only when you are hit by a mob. Very good to pop it when beginning a fight you know is going to be tough. This combined with Devour Essence can result in some solid healing numbers. Using this power puts a debuff on you that prevents you from using it on yourself again for 15 seconds.
Ebon Void: Darkness block power. With the Voracious Darkness advantage the block grows in strength the more you are hit. You also receive a small heal when you block damage and apply a small amount of Dimensional damage to your attacker. A portion of the block keeps working for a few seconds after you stop blocking.
Supernatural Power: Infernal energy unlock. Any time you use an Infernal power that drops your energy below 10%, you receive a burst of energy.
Resurgence: Self heal power that scales with Constitution. It has a long recharge time, so think of this as an oh crap button when your life dips a little too low for comfort.
Defile: Very strong single target ranged toxic damage. Targets that survive a full charge have a debuff placed on them that increases the Toxic damage they take. With the Plague Bearer advantage they also receive a DoT that affects not only the original target but other mobs standing near them as well. Combining this with Devour Essence allows you to shred tougher targets quite nicely.
Inertial Dampening Field: A Force toggle that reduces the damage you take. Combined with Ebon Void, Bionic Shielding, and Devour Essence this power makes you pretty tough. It increases the energy cost of your other powers while running, but with Recovery as a Superstat, who cares? You'll have plenty of energy anyway.
Shadow Shroud: Active Offense that increases all damage you deal for a short time. It also causes you to gain energy when you take damage. With the Terrifying Visage advantage any mobs stupid enough to get close to you also have a chance to be feared.
Unbreakable: Active Defense that grants you a fair bit of damage absorption while active. Pop it when things go south or you expect a tough fight.
A final note: To level with this build you will need to do an early retcon to get Venomous Breath as your second Level 1 power. After that, the build can be leveled as is quite easily. To fund the early retcon you can use the Shared Bank if you have a hideout or just email one or more items you can vendor from another character.