Post by nintova on Jun 1, 2011 13:30:48 GMT -5
I wanted to take an Offensive Passive that is generally shunned and make a go of it. I did a lot of searches for decent info on Pestilence and came across the usual suspect (Namely Willblack) with easily digested info about the power set in general. Pestilence in particular, however was left out (with good reason I’m sure from a min/max stand-point. he has FAR more seat time with the powers than I do.) It seems the consensus is to run Iceform, Fireform or AoRP. I think I can make this build work (it has wonderfully up to level 15 last night). I’m gearing for Endurance so I can get all my buffs off and a full charge of Defile for my Alpha Strike.
Agent Orange: Level 40 Champion
Superstats:
Level 6: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Intelligence
Powers:
Level 1: Sonic Blaster -- Refraction Of Sound
Level 1: Two-Gun Mojo
Level 6: Holdout Shot -- Stim Pack
Level 6: Flight
Level 8: Pestilence -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 11: Ice Sheath -- Supercooled, Rank 2
Level 14: Force Eruption -- Gravitational Polarity
Level 17: Aspect Of The Infernal -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 20: Unbreakable -- Better You Than Me
Level 23: Toxic Nanites -- Rank 2, Nerve Damage
Level 26: Defile -- Plague Bearer, Rank 2
Level 29: Conviction
Level 32: Lead Tempest -- Rank 2, Tread Softly
Level 35: Killer Instinct
Level 35: Teleport
Level 38: Retaliation -- Punitive Pummeling, Rank 2
Talents:
Level 1: Sureshot
Level 6: Coordinated
Level 9: Accurate
Level 12: Investigator
Level 15: Agile
Level 18: Brilliant
Level 21: Jack Of All Trades
The Skinny:
Sonic Blaster ~ This is the glue that makes the energy accumulation bearable. First it is a maintain. This is important as you can target a mob, then maneuver to get the best coverage (and maximize energy gain). At low levels this makes bad guys melt. When you get pestilence @ 8 it becomes a face melter, especially when Enrage is kicked in from…
Two-Gun Mojo ~ Another maintain that is great for lower levels and becomes an effective way to dot runners and buff yourself. With a full maintain. You get 20 seconds of Enrage.
Holdout Shot ~ This is a great low level health return and health dot when you take Stim Pack. It’s also a nice damage dealer too for the level you get it because if it crits (with Dex as a SS this is a good possibility) then the critical severity is set to 100%.
Pestilence ~ The red-headed step child of Offensive Passives. The reason we are here! Ok, what it does is constantly tick damage every 2 seconds to everything within 10 feet of you WHEN YOU ARE IN COMBAT. For those that are costume conscious our audio defensive this is important since you don’t have to see it or hear it unless you are in combat. It did derail my pigpen concept however since it’s not always on. Ah well. The wonderful thing about Pestilence, though, is it stops healing effects for 8 seconds and will apply itself to ranged attacks turning them into an 8 second dot. Neat! The damage ramps up as they lose health. SUPER NEAT! When coupled with a few things to follow this becomes a very serious damage delivery device indeed!
Ice Sheath ~ This is the Active Offensive damage adder. It does a few things that we can take advantage of as well. First it gives 15% damage Strength and 15% Critical Severity for 15 seconds. That’s a nice damage boost and really helps with the lack of ego in this build. Second it has a chance to apply a debuff called Chill. What this does it slow them by 50% and stacks three times. On the 3rd stack it will trap them in an Ice Cage. This works even on Super villians and above even if it doesn’t immobilize them. Ice Cage is a root that has a dot effect. If it goes the full 15 seconds it explodes for 208 damage to nearby enemies. The final ability on it we don’t take advantage of. For completeness sake it’s called Cold Snap.
Force Eruption ~ I’m a big fan of Multi-purpose abilities. This is certainly that! As a AOE get outta my face ability it’s fantastic. Being squishy you need a way to create distance. What REALLY rocks though, is that Pestilence makes this a Dot. I send things flying giving them instant damage and watch them try to get back up, run to me and die tired from the dot. SWEET! If you do a full maintain with the advantage Gravitational Polarity this becomes a very nice damage adder. It gives a hefty 15% to all damage. With Enrage, Ice Sheath and Gravitational Polarity my Alpha Strike potential is amazing.
Aspect of the Infernal ~ This is a toggle that increases the damage you do (+18%) with toxic power at the cost of more energy (+5%). What makes it sweeter is if you ATTEMPT to knock a mob you gain Infernal Strength. This is a buff that gives +1% to all damage. With 3 ranks it maintains 2 stacks. Force Eruption fuels this very fast as well as a power later in the build called Retaliation since it has the advantage Punitive Pummeling.
Unbreakable ~ The Oh Shiz! Of choice. I took the advantage Better you Than Me that gives the possibility of Enrage when I am attacked once every three seconds. Damage adders = GOOD!
Toxic Nanites ~ Ok, so we’re getting into ludicrous territory here. This is an “on NEXT hit” ability that simply adds an effect, in this case 2, if used within 18 seconds of activating the ability. This gives a toxic dot to our next attack. If that attack is a maintain it applies ONLY to the first pulse. That is an important distinction. For this build it is another layer to our alpha strike with a twist. With the advantage Nerve Damage It snares mobs. This stacks with chill’s effect. The damage given is 187 per 2 seconds for 12 seconds to a single target and 124 per 2 seconds for 12 seconds to AOE targets. Since this is toxic damage it gets buffed from all the powers we took before. Niiiice !
Defile ~ It took awhile to get a 100 foot ranged attack, but it was worth the wait. With all that has come before, they were meant to power this amazing beast. This is a single target nuke that debuffs the targets resistance to toxic damage by 10%. With the advantage Plague Bearer this is now an AOE Nuke/Debuffer and carrier of the Pestilence/Toxic Nanites while buffed by Aspect of the Infernal, Infernal Strength, Gravitational Polarity and potentially Enrage. The Alpha Strike and resulting dot damage is staggering. All from 100 feet away. Did you smile? I did.
Conviction ~ This is a fast recharging self heal. It may be a means of forcing Molecular Self Assembly to build energy. I haven’t decided yet. Howl might replace this as well. Again, I haven’t decided.
Lead Tempest ~ If you are surrounded, this is the face melter of choice. Being a maintain it is instant damage and a way to get the dot train rolling. With the advantage Tread Softly it’s an offensive/defensive power that is doubly effective if Enraged.
Killer Instinct ~ Energy return for critical hits.
Retaliation ~ This is a block that serves multiple purposes in this build. 1st it is a great way to turtle up and avoid damage. 2nd while maintained with the advantage Punitive Pummeling it has the ability to potentially knock all enemies away ( 20% chance every 10 seconds ) thus fueling Aspect of the Infernal. Finally it gives a +99% damage increase On Next Hit.
Agent Orange: Level 40 Champion
Superstats:
Level 6: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Intelligence
Powers:
Level 1: Sonic Blaster -- Refraction Of Sound
Level 1: Two-Gun Mojo
Level 6: Holdout Shot -- Stim Pack
Level 6: Flight
Level 8: Pestilence -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 11: Ice Sheath -- Supercooled, Rank 2
Level 14: Force Eruption -- Gravitational Polarity
Level 17: Aspect Of The Infernal -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 20: Unbreakable -- Better You Than Me
Level 23: Toxic Nanites -- Rank 2, Nerve Damage
Level 26: Defile -- Plague Bearer, Rank 2
Level 29: Conviction
Level 32: Lead Tempest -- Rank 2, Tread Softly
Level 35: Killer Instinct
Level 35: Teleport
Level 38: Retaliation -- Punitive Pummeling, Rank 2
Talents:
Level 1: Sureshot
Level 6: Coordinated
Level 9: Accurate
Level 12: Investigator
Level 15: Agile
Level 18: Brilliant
Level 21: Jack Of All Trades
The Skinny:
Sonic Blaster ~ This is the glue that makes the energy accumulation bearable. First it is a maintain. This is important as you can target a mob, then maneuver to get the best coverage (and maximize energy gain). At low levels this makes bad guys melt. When you get pestilence @ 8 it becomes a face melter, especially when Enrage is kicked in from…
Two-Gun Mojo ~ Another maintain that is great for lower levels and becomes an effective way to dot runners and buff yourself. With a full maintain. You get 20 seconds of Enrage.
Holdout Shot ~ This is a great low level health return and health dot when you take Stim Pack. It’s also a nice damage dealer too for the level you get it because if it crits (with Dex as a SS this is a good possibility) then the critical severity is set to 100%.
Pestilence ~ The red-headed step child of Offensive Passives. The reason we are here! Ok, what it does is constantly tick damage every 2 seconds to everything within 10 feet of you WHEN YOU ARE IN COMBAT. For those that are costume conscious our audio defensive this is important since you don’t have to see it or hear it unless you are in combat. It did derail my pigpen concept however since it’s not always on. Ah well. The wonderful thing about Pestilence, though, is it stops healing effects for 8 seconds and will apply itself to ranged attacks turning them into an 8 second dot. Neat! The damage ramps up as they lose health. SUPER NEAT! When coupled with a few things to follow this becomes a very serious damage delivery device indeed!
Ice Sheath ~ This is the Active Offensive damage adder. It does a few things that we can take advantage of as well. First it gives 15% damage Strength and 15% Critical Severity for 15 seconds. That’s a nice damage boost and really helps with the lack of ego in this build. Second it has a chance to apply a debuff called Chill. What this does it slow them by 50% and stacks three times. On the 3rd stack it will trap them in an Ice Cage. This works even on Super villians and above even if it doesn’t immobilize them. Ice Cage is a root that has a dot effect. If it goes the full 15 seconds it explodes for 208 damage to nearby enemies. The final ability on it we don’t take advantage of. For completeness sake it’s called Cold Snap.
Force Eruption ~ I’m a big fan of Multi-purpose abilities. This is certainly that! As a AOE get outta my face ability it’s fantastic. Being squishy you need a way to create distance. What REALLY rocks though, is that Pestilence makes this a Dot. I send things flying giving them instant damage and watch them try to get back up, run to me and die tired from the dot. SWEET! If you do a full maintain with the advantage Gravitational Polarity this becomes a very nice damage adder. It gives a hefty 15% to all damage. With Enrage, Ice Sheath and Gravitational Polarity my Alpha Strike potential is amazing.
Aspect of the Infernal ~ This is a toggle that increases the damage you do (+18%) with toxic power at the cost of more energy (+5%). What makes it sweeter is if you ATTEMPT to knock a mob you gain Infernal Strength. This is a buff that gives +1% to all damage. With 3 ranks it maintains 2 stacks. Force Eruption fuels this very fast as well as a power later in the build called Retaliation since it has the advantage Punitive Pummeling.
Unbreakable ~ The Oh Shiz! Of choice. I took the advantage Better you Than Me that gives the possibility of Enrage when I am attacked once every three seconds. Damage adders = GOOD!
Toxic Nanites ~ Ok, so we’re getting into ludicrous territory here. This is an “on NEXT hit” ability that simply adds an effect, in this case 2, if used within 18 seconds of activating the ability. This gives a toxic dot to our next attack. If that attack is a maintain it applies ONLY to the first pulse. That is an important distinction. For this build it is another layer to our alpha strike with a twist. With the advantage Nerve Damage It snares mobs. This stacks with chill’s effect. The damage given is 187 per 2 seconds for 12 seconds to a single target and 124 per 2 seconds for 12 seconds to AOE targets. Since this is toxic damage it gets buffed from all the powers we took before. Niiiice !
Defile ~ It took awhile to get a 100 foot ranged attack, but it was worth the wait. With all that has come before, they were meant to power this amazing beast. This is a single target nuke that debuffs the targets resistance to toxic damage by 10%. With the advantage Plague Bearer this is now an AOE Nuke/Debuffer and carrier of the Pestilence/Toxic Nanites while buffed by Aspect of the Infernal, Infernal Strength, Gravitational Polarity and potentially Enrage. The Alpha Strike and resulting dot damage is staggering. All from 100 feet away. Did you smile? I did.
Conviction ~ This is a fast recharging self heal. It may be a means of forcing Molecular Self Assembly to build energy. I haven’t decided yet. Howl might replace this as well. Again, I haven’t decided.
Lead Tempest ~ If you are surrounded, this is the face melter of choice. Being a maintain it is instant damage and a way to get the dot train rolling. With the advantage Tread Softly it’s an offensive/defensive power that is doubly effective if Enraged.
Killer Instinct ~ Energy return for critical hits.
Retaliation ~ This is a block that serves multiple purposes in this build. 1st it is a great way to turtle up and avoid damage. 2nd while maintained with the advantage Punitive Pummeling it has the ability to potentially knock all enemies away ( 20% chance every 10 seconds ) thus fueling Aspect of the Infernal. Finally it gives a +99% damage increase On Next Hit.