I wanted more than anything to make a build centered around Poison Strike, Melee, Nightshade Blades and Biotic Focus... with as little weapon use as possible. I find playing the character much more rewarding than playing 'the weapon' and putting a Harrier/Raider/whatever on her. I'm not saying that I don't use the weapons, I do quite a bit... but they are more tools that allow her unique abilities to be elevated.
So here is the build:
4 - Poison Strike - Damage
6 - Nightshade Blades - Damage, Poison Duration, Exploding Blades
6 - Biotic Focus - Movement Speed, Duration, Biotic Shield
4 - Passives - Power Damage & Capacity
6 - Fitness - Melee Damage, Shield Recharge Delay, Fitness Expert
Weapons I use: Acolyte X w/ Pistol Power Amp & Melee Stunner, Collector SMG X w/ High Velocity Barrel & Extended Clip. This allowed for 200% recharge rate. The CSMG could be swapped out with a Hurricane or Blood Pack Punisher if you'd prefer... but the Acolyte is a must have IMO. The SMG is simply used for boss killing, other than that it stays holstered.
Gear used: Incendiary Ammo IV, Grenade Capacity V, Strength Enhancer III, Cyclonic Modulator III.
Strategy/Logic:
The Cabal has the unique ability to paralyze enemies at will, no other kit in the game has something like this. The whole point of the build is to accent this trait.... this is where the Acolyte comes in. You cannot paralyze something with shields... nothing removes shields as quickly and efficiently as the Acolyte (except the Reegar, but we don't talk about the Reegar).
One Acolyte shot followed by a Poison Strike will outright kill any shielded mook in the game with the exception of Possessed Captains/Phantoms. With Incendiary ammo, this causes a Fire Explosion, Paralysis, and death. You don't even have to turn around to watch it... it will show up in the kill feed a few seconds later.
Her melee is supremely awesome... because it looks REALLY cool and does pretty decent damage. I tend to favor the light melee combo when I'm on a cooldown, because it eats up time... then I can Poison Strike afterwards (either into the enemy, or use it to retreat/find the next bad guy). The Heavy Melee is also cool.. it does good damage, teleports you a decent distance, and can decapitate Possessed Abominations causing them to not explode.
Biotic Focus.... should be spammed. If you aren't on a cooldown, it's almost always beneficial to use Biotic Focus. The speed, damage reduction, and melee increases are all wonderful and should be kept on as much as possible. It's also your "Ohh $h1T" button... whenever you get shield gated, spam Biotic Focus and then spam your dodge. Reaquire your targets, reassess the situation, refill your shields with Biotic Focus and get back to killing.
The one weakness of the character IMO is against crowds... this is where Nightshade Blades comes in. When you roll up on a spawn or 3+ enemies... spam Nightshade Blades with reckless abandon. I mean spam the crap out of them too... like at least 2-3 of them. This will cause the weaker enemies to die outright, and paralyze the others allowing you to mop up with your badass Wolverine melee attacks. Nightshade Blades can even paralyze Phantoms... which is incredibly useful. I took the Exploding Blades evo because I wanted more stagger/Crowd Control... even though Nightshade Blades will stagger things if you hit them from close range.
Bosses: This can be tricky for some folks... melee and power spam is usually not the way to go about taking on big armor. This is where the SMG earns it's keep. Use right hand advantage and the Acolyte to strip the shields off of... an Atlas let's say. Then when the armor is exposed, lay into it with your SMG.
Another tactic I have discovered is this: Once the shields are down you can Poison Strike the Atlas for a Fire Explosion... then instead of turning around... do your backwards dodge and you will be facing the boss again. Shoot it for remainder of the cooldown, then Poison Strike again, repeat until the boss is dead. It causes the boss to spin around back and forth trying to track you... like a dog chasing its tail.It's hilarious and effective... if you get shot doing this (Atlas super homing missile) just use Biotic Focus, find a right hand advantage angle to shoot/recharge shields, then resume. You can get them so spun around that you can even bring your melee to bear towards the end of their armor/life.
All this brutality, and her incredible mobility make this an extremely enjoyable character to play IMO. She does have a learning curve, quite a steep one actually... as keeping her alive is no easy feat. But with a little practice, she can become a total badass.
People say that Poison Strike has hit detection issues, and this has been brought up several times on BSN over the last 48 hours. This is true... but the issues are pretty consistent. Poison Striking from an elevation change will cause it to miss sometimes (especially when you are attacking from above). I've also Poison Striked between a Praetorian's legs for no damage... which I thought was funny. But other than those situations... it hits 95% of the time for me... even off host. Since my tactic is to Acolyte the shields off (which staggers) I can typically close in during the stagger and line Poison Strike up... and it consistently hits.
There you go BSN. Enjoy.
Looking forward to the discussion. Let me know if I missed anything.MB out.
Modifié par megabeast37215, 02 mars 2013 - 05:23 .
Retour en haut
and damage reduction and barrier regen for biotic focus, and all damage on nightshades.
