HomeIncreasing DPA without Spending Money Part II
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Increasing DPA without Spending Money Part II
by Gwendoline Sun Mar 17, 2013 1:10 pm
1b) Let's move on to banes. Examples of banes are Lifebane (against corrupted creatures), Terrorbane (against corrupted creatures), and Daemonbane (against demonic creatures). To maximize the damage you do against an Epic or Coven Boss, consider adding a bane to your setup! The easiest way to do this is to increase powers like Agonizing Acupuncture (Lifebane), Purge (Terrorbane), or Grave Touch (Wildbane).
Agonizing Acupuncture is a personal favorite here, as the scrolls are cheap (I guess the prices will go up now ... =P) as each level of Agonizing Acupuncture gives you 2 levels of Lifebane. That's Level 6 Lifebane at Level 3 (2 scrolls) and +30% final damage to the Boss that you are fighting!
(N.B. An easy way to figure out which power or item to use if you have to choose between two is to look at the symbol. Curses are normally damage specific--firecurse, icecurse, angel's wrath--and you will notice the icon for the power has a tiny "+" sign on it. This means +10% to damage per level. The other set of damage modifiers can be damage (e.g. ignite, freeze, exorcism) or creature type specific (i.e. banes), and you will notice a tiny arrow pointing up on the icon. These give you +5% to damage per level.)
I do not use Vampiric Feats often (i.e. nukes), as I switch between 3-4 setups frequently, so I choose Powers based on their passive bonuses. This means that all the PvB/PvCB setups I have ever used have a combination of Heroism, increase my damage potential (e.g. Let the World Burn or Electrocute), or increase my Ciritical Damage potential (i.e. Blacksmith's Blessing). However, I will switch out a power if I have the correct bane. For instance, now that I have Agonizing Acupuncture at Level 5, I will regularly switch out Megalomania 5 in favor of Agonizing Acupuncture when I am facing corrupted bosses as the +50% to damage from Acupuncture is far superior to the +15% to damage from Megalomania.
(N.B. Switching between builds does not preclude a nuke strategy! There are items out there that have attunement--the Hourglass of the Ancients dropped by Khaem-Miamen in R7 for instance--is a great example. In fact, get that Hourglass! It adds +2 to Heroism too! Alternatively, following the Champion's path of the Talent Tree also gives you attunement at Tier 6. I have 3 points in that, and I get to use my nuke powers in about 1 in 6 to 1 in 7 Boss attacks)
In short, look at the Boss type that you are facing, and mix-and-match the type of Vampiric Power that you are using (and to a lesser extent, your accessories too) to maximize damage. You can currently have 6 accessory slots max and most of you will have 3-4 (or at least I have 3-4 ... ;P) slots dedicated to accessories that increase the damage of my weapon. The last two are things I save for specific Boss types. For example, when I had problems with the Primordial Dragon in the Dragon's lair, I equipped a Chain of Dragonteeth and when I needed some healing to save some credits--Portal Bosses give only 3-4K credits on defeat--I equipped the Amulet of the Mai and Netherwings.
(N.B. As you can see, accessories are secondary to my strategy when it comes to Bosses. If you have an accessory that gives you a bane, by all means, use it. However, I prefer to use that slot to increase my weapon's damage type)
The next power I recommend for maximizing damage is Blacksmith's Blessing. Now, this is not an easy power to get, as the only time it was available for "free" was during the Silverlight Lake event. Without that special event portal open, the only other place to get it is in the Dragon's Lair. However, this is a power that is worth considering as each level gives you +10% to critical damage. Yes, that means that 10 scrolls and Level 2 gives you +20% critical damage already and if you have a Traveller servant equipped (more on servants in a later post), your ciritical damage is +40% at least (I say "at least" because some modifiers in CoB are linear, while others are compounded; more on this later also if I remember!).
If this seems confusing, I almost always use the following combos for Bosses only:
a) Heroism or Damage Type Power (e.g. with Stormcurse/Fire/etc.) and Blacksmith's Blessing.
b) Bane-type Power and Blacksmith's Blessing.
c) Very, very rarely, that I only remember using it once was Bane/Heroism and a Nuke-type power (Path of the Righteous, in my case).
This works very well for me because higher level accessories and weapons come with a natural modifier to getting a critical hit!
Which brings us nicely to High-Level Weapons. I'm totally biased here and I am not much of a PvP player, but I think the best weapons for Boss hunting are the High Level BB weapons, Legendary Weapon for each damage type (e.g. Graveblade for Shadow, Icegloom for Ice, etc.) or the weapons that the Epic Portal Bosses drop. Why? They all come with bonuses to Heroism, most have purple sockets, and all have bonuses to hit and bonuses to cause critical damage. The number and levels of the procs that they have are just icing on the cake (for examples, check out the wiki entries for the Spear of the Moon Goddess, Icegloom, or the Stormbringer's Bladestaff; more on the Bladestaff later).
(N.B. I have not tested this, but High-End PvP weapons like the Ice Lance and the Ring Sword should work just as well. The only problem I see with those weapons is that comparable PvE or PvB weapons would have Heroism on them, and they would have multiple instances of the Frostfist or Envenom proc, while the weapons that I have used as examples only have one. There are ways around this. Read on!)
The problem with the strategy above is that High Level BB weapons tend to be Holy, Legendary Weapons are hard to craft (its actually easier to get them to drop!) and the Epic Portal Boss weapons drop infrequently. I favor Holy weapons, but that's because the first two items I bought were the left and right dragon eyes. Its easier to use a Holy Build now without donating, I think, because of the Armor and accessory types you can get in Crow's Hill Crypt. However, all those items are crafted and will take you a while.
I favor the weapons dropped by Epic Portal Bosses as the first item to target for most players and if you are following my strategy, you are after the armor pieces that those Bosses drop anyway. I think most players would (and should) target the Scimitar (sword) that the Oblivion Emperor drops, as it does Physical damage; the Cow King drops a dagger that does Toxin, the Hive Overlord a polearm that does Electric, and the Primordial Dragon an axe that does Fire. Its not that the other weapons are "bad," its just harder to increase toxin, electric, and fire damage.
(N.B. Fire damage is easier to use now with the release of Crow's Hill Crypt, but the items/powers you need are scattered all over the place, so its not easy. Possible, but not easy. Toxin can be very dangerous but the best powers/items are in R11--not accessible to most of you reading this yet. In my opinion, Electric is the hardest to use if you don't donate).
The ultimate weapon (not counting the Legendary Axes, as they cost 5000 Blood Sapphires each) is the Stormbringer's Bladestaff. If you manage to craft this (took me 4 months, but its possible to do this much faster, as I only do Portals on weekends. So only 1 Portal a week max), your damage potential increases dramatically. And I am saying this even though its not easy to find powers/accessories to increase Electric Damage. You almost don't have to though, as combining the Bladestaff with the original pieces of the Dimensional Walker set (i.e. Head, Arm, Chest, and Boot Armor; Belt is new), the Stormbringer's Compass, and the Traveller, I do anything between 3,000 and 90,000 points of damage every time I attack a Boss! Combine this with inscriptions that increase Heroism (or better yet) Electric damage on your other pieces of armor, plus banes/blacksmith's blessing, and I have done as much as 140,000 + damage when I attack a Boss!
(N.B. the large difference in damage is from the number of damage increasing procs that go off, how often I get Chain Attack, and how often my attacks are intercepted by Servants).
Whee! That's it for now! One last section dealing with Servants, Mounts, and Glyphs to go.
Agonizing Acupuncture is a personal favorite here, as the scrolls are cheap (I guess the prices will go up now ... =P) as each level of Agonizing Acupuncture gives you 2 levels of Lifebane. That's Level 6 Lifebane at Level 3 (2 scrolls) and +30% final damage to the Boss that you are fighting!
(N.B. An easy way to figure out which power or item to use if you have to choose between two is to look at the symbol. Curses are normally damage specific--firecurse, icecurse, angel's wrath--and you will notice the icon for the power has a tiny "+" sign on it. This means +10% to damage per level. The other set of damage modifiers can be damage (e.g. ignite, freeze, exorcism) or creature type specific (i.e. banes), and you will notice a tiny arrow pointing up on the icon. These give you +5% to damage per level.)
I do not use Vampiric Feats often (i.e. nukes), as I switch between 3-4 setups frequently, so I choose Powers based on their passive bonuses. This means that all the PvB/PvCB setups I have ever used have a combination of Heroism, increase my damage potential (e.g. Let the World Burn or Electrocute), or increase my Ciritical Damage potential (i.e. Blacksmith's Blessing). However, I will switch out a power if I have the correct bane. For instance, now that I have Agonizing Acupuncture at Level 5, I will regularly switch out Megalomania 5 in favor of Agonizing Acupuncture when I am facing corrupted bosses as the +50% to damage from Acupuncture is far superior to the +15% to damage from Megalomania.
(N.B. Switching between builds does not preclude a nuke strategy! There are items out there that have attunement--the Hourglass of the Ancients dropped by Khaem-Miamen in R7 for instance--is a great example. In fact, get that Hourglass! It adds +2 to Heroism too! Alternatively, following the Champion's path of the Talent Tree also gives you attunement at Tier 6. I have 3 points in that, and I get to use my nuke powers in about 1 in 6 to 1 in 7 Boss attacks)
In short, look at the Boss type that you are facing, and mix-and-match the type of Vampiric Power that you are using (and to a lesser extent, your accessories too) to maximize damage. You can currently have 6 accessory slots max and most of you will have 3-4 (or at least I have 3-4 ... ;P) slots dedicated to accessories that increase the damage of my weapon. The last two are things I save for specific Boss types. For example, when I had problems with the Primordial Dragon in the Dragon's lair, I equipped a Chain of Dragonteeth and when I needed some healing to save some credits--Portal Bosses give only 3-4K credits on defeat--I equipped the Amulet of the Mai and Netherwings.
(N.B. As you can see, accessories are secondary to my strategy when it comes to Bosses. If you have an accessory that gives you a bane, by all means, use it. However, I prefer to use that slot to increase my weapon's damage type)
The next power I recommend for maximizing damage is Blacksmith's Blessing. Now, this is not an easy power to get, as the only time it was available for "free" was during the Silverlight Lake event. Without that special event portal open, the only other place to get it is in the Dragon's Lair. However, this is a power that is worth considering as each level gives you +10% to critical damage. Yes, that means that 10 scrolls and Level 2 gives you +20% critical damage already and if you have a Traveller servant equipped (more on servants in a later post), your ciritical damage is +40% at least (I say "at least" because some modifiers in CoB are linear, while others are compounded; more on this later also if I remember!).
If this seems confusing, I almost always use the following combos for Bosses only:
a) Heroism or Damage Type Power (e.g. with Stormcurse/Fire/etc.) and Blacksmith's Blessing.
b) Bane-type Power and Blacksmith's Blessing.
c) Very, very rarely, that I only remember using it once was Bane/Heroism and a Nuke-type power (Path of the Righteous, in my case).
This works very well for me because higher level accessories and weapons come with a natural modifier to getting a critical hit!
Which brings us nicely to High-Level Weapons. I'm totally biased here and I am not much of a PvP player, but I think the best weapons for Boss hunting are the High Level BB weapons, Legendary Weapon for each damage type (e.g. Graveblade for Shadow, Icegloom for Ice, etc.) or the weapons that the Epic Portal Bosses drop. Why? They all come with bonuses to Heroism, most have purple sockets, and all have bonuses to hit and bonuses to cause critical damage. The number and levels of the procs that they have are just icing on the cake (for examples, check out the wiki entries for the Spear of the Moon Goddess, Icegloom, or the Stormbringer's Bladestaff; more on the Bladestaff later).
(N.B. I have not tested this, but High-End PvP weapons like the Ice Lance and the Ring Sword should work just as well. The only problem I see with those weapons is that comparable PvE or PvB weapons would have Heroism on them, and they would have multiple instances of the Frostfist or Envenom proc, while the weapons that I have used as examples only have one. There are ways around this. Read on!)
The problem with the strategy above is that High Level BB weapons tend to be Holy, Legendary Weapons are hard to craft (its actually easier to get them to drop!) and the Epic Portal Boss weapons drop infrequently. I favor Holy weapons, but that's because the first two items I bought were the left and right dragon eyes. Its easier to use a Holy Build now without donating, I think, because of the Armor and accessory types you can get in Crow's Hill Crypt. However, all those items are crafted and will take you a while.
I favor the weapons dropped by Epic Portal Bosses as the first item to target for most players and if you are following my strategy, you are after the armor pieces that those Bosses drop anyway. I think most players would (and should) target the Scimitar (sword) that the Oblivion Emperor drops, as it does Physical damage; the Cow King drops a dagger that does Toxin, the Hive Overlord a polearm that does Electric, and the Primordial Dragon an axe that does Fire. Its not that the other weapons are "bad," its just harder to increase toxin, electric, and fire damage.
(N.B. Fire damage is easier to use now with the release of Crow's Hill Crypt, but the items/powers you need are scattered all over the place, so its not easy. Possible, but not easy. Toxin can be very dangerous but the best powers/items are in R11--not accessible to most of you reading this yet. In my opinion, Electric is the hardest to use if you don't donate).
The ultimate weapon (not counting the Legendary Axes, as they cost 5000 Blood Sapphires each) is the Stormbringer's Bladestaff. If you manage to craft this (took me 4 months, but its possible to do this much faster, as I only do Portals on weekends. So only 1 Portal a week max), your damage potential increases dramatically. And I am saying this even though its not easy to find powers/accessories to increase Electric Damage. You almost don't have to though, as combining the Bladestaff with the original pieces of the Dimensional Walker set (i.e. Head, Arm, Chest, and Boot Armor; Belt is new), the Stormbringer's Compass, and the Traveller, I do anything between 3,000 and 90,000 points of damage every time I attack a Boss! Combine this with inscriptions that increase Heroism (or better yet) Electric damage on your other pieces of armor, plus banes/blacksmith's blessing, and I have done as much as 140,000 + damage when I attack a Boss!
(N.B. the large difference in damage is from the number of damage increasing procs that go off, how often I get Chain Attack, and how often my attacks are intercepted by Servants).
Whee! That's it for now! One last section dealing with Servants, Mounts, and Glyphs to go.
Gwendoline- Anzahl der Beiträge : 20
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