Pious Spam

reaper with no name

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2009

FaZ

21 Feb 2011 at 04:49 - 41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenomortis View Post

Let Strength of Honor be given.
Let Scythe Mastery be at 14.
Let scythe hit damage average around 20.
Then:
Pious Assault on a strip will do +19+29 bonus for a total hit of 20+20+19+29 = 88
Twin Moon Sweep will deal (20+20)x2 = 80.

Any further buff means TMS will outdo PA (Conjure or Orders, it doesn't matter). Splinter Weapon and IATS don't really count. At that point it becomes sensible to be depending on TMS over PA and taking Dark Fury (so no Conjure) and FGJ; if you don't have two damage buffs then it doesn't really matter, but bringing both is probably fine; TMS will outdamage Irresistible Sweep (68 damage compared to 80) at the cost of being adrenal.
Also I neglected to add in the effects of a Vamp mod - this essentially is a free +5 to TMS relative to every other attack.

IATS generally isn't worth it - the DPS gain is usually lower than an extra attack skill. Chthon's already shown that Irresistible Sweep is at least comparable and it can't be blocked and removes a stance.

If you are pushing for adrenaline gain, then Whirlwind Attack may or may not be worth it depending on the size of mobs being faced.

Perhaps I should explain my previous statement more thoroughly. TMS is not a good idea unless you have adrenal buffs beyond FGJ. If you do, however, it will be available all the time, and therefore becomes "better" than PA (though you would still want to use PA whenever it recharges).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

At max Norn, IATS does 160 damage / 20 seconds.

The +dmg on Irresistible Sweep is +28 assuming you PR it properly, and +48 to + 53 if you count the AoHM damage. Depending on rank, IR DPS catches up to IATS DPS at 3 or 4 hits per 20 sec. Even if you're not hitting multiple targets ever, you're probably using IR 3 or 4 times in 20 sec.

Only possible advantage of IATS is if that extra 20 damage spikes something out so you don't need to hit it again. Assuming spam on recharge, IS would do an average of 185.5 every 20 seconds by my math (3.5 triggers), so you're right. IS > IATS

Wow, a melee build that becomes less effective when using three PvE skills. Who'da thunk?

That would make (for me, anyway):

FGJ
AoHM
PF
PR
PA
IS or TMS, depending on team setup
WS
SY

Voodoo Rage

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2008

Sacramento, CA

Geezers

21 Feb 2011 at 06:29 - 42

Any great thing about this elite is that if your enemy tries to strip you as you run into battle, IT IS RECHARGED FOR YOU. Love it.

Xenomortis

Tea Powered

Join Date: May 2008

21 Feb 2011 at 15:20 - 43

Quote:

Originally Posted by reaper with no name

(though you would still want to use PA whenever it recharges). Why? Unless you're attacking a ball of more than 3 enemies (and even then it'd need to be around 5 affected by PA's AoE effect), then with two damage boosts (SoH and OoP), TMS outdamages PA and you simply spam that; PA doesn't have an advantage. This difference gets even more pronounced when GDW gets thrown into the mix.

If mobs are fairly large and you can reliably hit more than one enemy, then DF isn't really necessary for TMS and FGJ can recharge the skill on its own (two attacks on two targets will charge it; it recharges itself if it hits more than one target); although you'll probably still want at least two damage buffs before you add it into your build.

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

22 Feb 2011 at 04:28 - 44

Quote:

Originally Posted by reaper with no name View Post

FGJ
AoHM
PF
PR
PA
IS or TMS, depending on team setup
WS
SY That's pretty much where I've landed. I guess I'd consider IS/TMS/WS as a trio and take the most appropriate two for the situation.

Also, TMS is insane with an orders hero. Only really got to mess with that particular combination yesterday.