Am I doing it wrong? Dual Blades - Strength/Dexterity

[Archived Post]

Hello, since the start of the game I've been using dual blade powers.
My talents aren't in that particular order I think, but they revolve around strength, ego and dexterity

Am I doing something wrong? Someone said that at level 15 they hit for 1.5K I can do crits that come close to 300

What am I doing wrong?

Also, at what level strength can I pick up the second heaviest weight int he training room?

Somehow my strength in-game isn't 125 like it says here, but 114

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anon: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Strength
Level 13: Super Dexterity

Powers:
Level 1: Rain Of Steel -- Rank 2
Level 1: Blade Tempest -- Rank 2, Accelerated Metabolism
Level 5: Focus Of The Unleashed Tempest
Level 5: Jet Boots
Level 8: Eye Of The Storm -- Blade Beyond The Veil
Level 11: Electric Shield
Level 14: Bountiful Chi Resurgence
Level 17: Sword Cyclone -- Accelerated Metabolism
Level 20:
Level 23:
Level 26:
Level 29:
Level 32:
Level 35:
Level 35:
Level 38:

Talents:
Level 1: One Of Mind And Body
Level 6: Mighty
Level 9: Martial Focus
Level 12: Professional Athlete
Level 15: Physical Conditioning
Level 18: Bodybuilder
Level 21:

[Archived Post]

The reason your strength isn't the same is because the Hero Builder is using level 40 super stats which is like +80 to stat.

Other then that things look good. Main thing is I think the 1.5k are from single blade. Dual Blade is all about Melee Cone attacks so you hit multiples so doing less per hit should be about right due to the fact you hit multiple targets.

[Archived Post]

So I'm basically crowd control/farmer? q_q

What about the picking up of teh heaving weights? Those are my range attacks >_>

[Archived Post]

Imho you shouldnt take rank 2 on your energy builder :)

[Archived Post]

Since you dont have Ego as a superstat your crit damage is going to be lower than someone who took dex/ego. Str/Dex is probably not an optimal combo, but I doubt it's terrible. You also skipped the hardest-hitting (single hit) power: Dragon's Wrath. (In fact, you skipped them all?) The other key reason to get Dragon's Wrath is that it gives you momentum, which makes Cyclone generate a ton of energy instead of draining you dry in two seconds. (You must not be terribly impressed with Cyclone so far. Once you get DW, you will love it)

Some other issues with your build:

Focus of the Unleashed Tempest is a waste of a power slot since you can get the buff from Grinning Ghost (upgrade to Rain of Steel) and you will definitely need a defensive passive for soloing. (I'm surprised you've gotten this far without one. I also can't beleive you leveled from 1 to 17 with two attacks) ;) I'm guessing you spend a lot of time with Eye of the Storm up?

[Archived Post]

i dont think i have rank 2 on that, i just saw that i had like 40 upgrade points and i thought that they were for level 18, i have basic rain of steel

[Archived Post]

i thought single target attacks were pointless for me didnt actually look for anything other than area effect, let me log in and see what i have on my char

[Archived Post]

i thought single target attacks were pointless for me didnt actually look for anything other than area effect, let me log in and see what i have on my char

You were too fast. Read my edit above regarding Dragon's Wrath.

And in any case, single target is not pointless for anyone. The toughest villains will usually be alone, so you need to put up decent single target numbers as well.

[Archived Post]

I read it now. This is what I have http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9374/screen01.jpg (http://img215.imageshack.us/i/screen01.jpg/)


Should I just respect to the point where I can buy that single target thing or wait until whatever next level i need to get another power?
i also have two advantage points, what do I put them in ? ;d

[Archived Post]

The only thing that's really 'wrong' per se, is that you have Focus. If you can spec out of that and into Dragons Wrath you'd be good. (and pick up grinning ghost and a defensive passive) I'm still not really sure how Eye of the Storm and Cyclone would be useful together, but maybe they will be...

[Archived Post]

What do you mean "eye of the storm and cyclone not useful together" ?

Eye of the storm is an aoe and defense thing, it like reduces damage and deals damage at the same time (I think), and cyclone is my strongest skill at the moment (although I can't keep it up long since I have low energy).

I can't respec to remove focus. It costs about 40 gold and I only have 10. I'm having a hard time getting more money to do that respec, but unfortunately I level up in farming so the prices go up even more.

[Archived Post]

What do you mean "eye of the storm and cyclone not useful together" ?

Eye of the storm is an aoe and defense thing, it like reduces damage and deals damage at the same time (I think), and cyclone is my strongest skill at the moment (although I can't keep it up long since I have low energy).

I can't respec to remove focus. It costs about 40 gold and I only have 10. I'm having a hard time getting more money to do that respec, but unfortunately I level up in farming so the prices go up even more.

worst case scenario you could reroll, lvl 1-10 takes about an hour or so tops

[Archived Post]

I currently play a DB at lvl 40.

There are 3 things that make DB godlike.

* Grinning ghost upgrade to Rain of steal, this is a must have period. (This also make Focus of the unleashed tempest redundant. Get a passive def instead).
* Dragon's Wrath, another must have because when you fully charge it you make so much energy per hit you never run out until the buff fades.
* Force Shield with Laser Knigh, I like it because I can fight with an active shield reducing dmg without blocking. (I still block heavy hits ofc).

With these 3 you start with you energy builder until grinning ghost proc.
Then you do a full charge of Dragon's Wrath and follow up with a full Sword Cyclone.

All henchmen and villains around you will be dead and you can focus on anything bigger still standing.

[Archived Post]

What do you mean "eye of the storm and cyclone not useful together" ?

Eye of the storm is an aoe and defense thing, it like reduces damage and deals damage at the same time (I think), and cyclone is my strongest skill at the moment (although I can't keep it up long since I have low energy).

I can't respec to remove focus. It costs about 40 gold and I only have 10. I'm having a hard time getting more money to do that respec, but unfortunately I level up in farming so the prices go up even more.

Re EoS and SC: I simply meant that in any situation where I need to prevent a lot of incoming damage, I would block. Then use SC to kill everything. EoS just seems like a half-measure. I don't have numbers yet, but I'm guessing a block power immediately followed by SC will be both more mitigation and more damage.

Yeah, it's a shame respec's are prohibitively expensive, since mistakes like this really aren't the player's fault. This game is in dire need of better documentation.

[Archived Post]

I currently play a DB at lvl 40.

There are 3 things that make DB godlike.

* Grinning ghost upgrade to Rain of steal, this is a must have period. (This also make Focus of the unleashed tempest redundant. Get a passive def instead).
* Dragon's Wrath, another must have because when you fully charge it you make so much energy per hit you never run out until the buff fades.
* Force Shield with Laser Knigh, I like it because I can fight with an active shield reducing dmg without blocking. (I still block heavy hits ofc).

With these 3 you start with you energy builder until grinning ghost proc.
Then you do a full charge of Dragon's Wrath and follow up with a full Sword Cyclone.

All henchmen and villains around you will be dead and you can focus on anything bigger still standing.

What did you focus? Str/Dex? Dex/Ego?

[Archived Post]

With the up coming patch where they say:
* Changed the way Strength adds to physical melee damage powers. Damage bonus is still capped at 20%, but this cap is now much easier to reach, and can be reached just through some modest effort at collecting gear, without a Characteristic Focus in Strength. This change has NO EFFECT on damage added from taking Strength as a Characteristic Focus. This is a distinct and separate bonus.

Means that you get the added bonus from str by just added some stat points into it, so you dont need to make it a superstats, but more your 3rd stat option. And therefor i would go dex/ego, for those crits are just lovely.

Or con if you want to pvp

[Archived Post]

So, what passive should I take? I keep hearing about how terrible LR is, but I don't have enough End to grab PFF. Regeneration?

Maybe LR will work well with Energy Shield+Laser Knight?

[Archived Post]

I like RL, it goes very well with dex. And hell there are items that give like + dogde 6,5% + 25%avoidance (out of my head) and you can take powers to put it even higher (you get like 12-15% from the dogde in archery) So you can get to a points where everything above 1 sec is a dogde and 1 sec and lower stil have a very good changes for dogdeing. Take smoked bombs for the ooh banana situation and your dandy

[Archived Post]

With the up coming patch where they say:
* Changed the way Strength adds to physical melee damage powers. Damage bonus is still capped at 20%, but this cap is now much easier to reach, and can be reached just through some modest effort at collecting gear, without a Characteristic Focus in Strength. This change has NO EFFECT on damage added from taking Strength as a Characteristic Focus. This is a distinct and separate bonus.

Means that you get the added bonus from str by just added some stat points into it, so you dont need to make it a superstats, but more your 3rd stat option. And therefor i would go dex/ego, for those crits are just lovely.

Or con if you want to pvp

With this change I would always go Dex/Ego.

[Archived Post]

I really hope they plan on giving out free retcons with all these changes to stats they are doing in the next patch. This along with the TK End to Ego changes could really make my two main characters less than optimal, and the min-maxer in me will cry.

[Archived Post]

i thought single target attacks were pointless for me didnt actually look for anything other than area effect, let me log in and see what i have on my char

You could always mix in some heavy hitting single blade attacks and pretend like, you're two blades come together/combine to allow the attack. Seems pretty cool to me :D

[Archived Post]

I can't respec focus of the unleashed tempest or whatever it's called. I heard it makes you fly slow too when it's active on the passive slot. Would getting grinning ghost and having focus as the passive thing do anything extra for me?
Double the focus = ?

[Archived Post]

Taking grinning ghost would allow you to spec a defensive power but you'd basically be losing that power slot from focus. Were you in the early-start? If so, you can get out of focus once they figure out how to give us free respecs... =)

[Archived Post]

Nope. Gotta spend a bajoolion gold to respec.
So, focus from passive and focus from grinning ghost doesn't make a difference in anything other than a free slot?

[Archived Post]

Yeah, they need to make it so you can simply chose which power to respec, instead of respec'ing everything that you've selected since. Even with that, respec'ing a single power is crazy expensive and not something people would be doing every day...

If you have both I think Grinning ghost would just be a waste. But if I were you I would probably pick up ghost and a defensive power and just pretend like focus doesnt exist... ;) Even with regen, life at 30+ is getting tricky. With no defensive slotted at all, I think melee would become extremely frustrating.

[Archived Post]

I'm thinking about getting defensive active the next time I can. If I am wasting a slot, might as well waste it in a good way and get something that doesn't waste the waster... you understand what I'm saying? Good. Neither do I.

So what's a good active defense? :P

[Archived Post]

Doesn't Grinning Ghost only stack one time whereas Focus can stack up to 8 times? I'm not sure what the buff actually does number wise, though, can't seem to find that information in game anywhere. I imagine if you are going to max dps you'd want something like Focus slotted instead of a 'wasted' defensive slot in the end anyway.

[Archived Post]

No, Grinning Ghost allows you to stack Heightened Focus up to 8 times, just like the slotted passive will. The only problem is keeping the buff on you long enough to get those 8 stacks of Heightened Focus. Tactically switching between your energy builder and Cyclone/EoS would allow you to ramp up those crits quickly.

Another problem is remembering to use your energy builder to refresh the buff. It's something I always forget to do.

[Archived Post]

I currently play a DB at lvl 40.

There are 3 things that make DB godlike.

* Grinning ghost upgrade to Rain of steal, this is a must have period. (This also make Focus of the unleashed tempest redundant. Get a passive def instead).
* Dragon's Wrath, another must have because when you fully charge it you make so much energy per hit you never run out until the buff fades.
* Force Shield with Laser Knigh, I like it because I can fight with an active shield reducing dmg without blocking. (I still block heavy hits ofc).

With these 3 you start with you energy builder until grinning ghost proc.
Then you do a full charge of Dragon's Wrath and follow up with a full Sword Cyclone.

All henchmen and villains around you will be dead and you can focus on anything bigger still standing.

Do you mean Energy shield from PA with laser knight? Cause there is a actual force shield with force sheath advacement. Which one is better? thank you :)

[Archived Post]

Wondering if Lead Tempest is worth taking as well. With Tread Softly advantage it helps increasing dodge/avoidance but no idea how it works along Lightning Reflexes.

[Archived Post]

Sooo, any big changes with new patch? :)

[Archived Post]

Yep, cyclone is now completely unusable.

[Archived Post]

Nah, not really. still rapes up the henchmen and hurts villians alot. just finish off the stragler with whatever second skill you have besides energy builder or use dragons wrath again.


but seriously, 110 energy a hit? lololol of course it would be nerfed. I can keep a full maintain if i have 5 or more guys on me, FYI.

[Archived Post]

Yep, cyclone is now completely unusable.

Explain, please. Patch note was, well, cryptic.

[Archived Post]

You only get 5 energy per hit instead of 120. With 5 enemies you are gaining energy instead of losing.

[Archived Post]

You only get 5 energy per hit instead of 120. With 5 enemies you are gaining energy instead of losing.

You get 5 energy per spin, not per hit. It's not unusable at all, though. You just have to make sure you start with a full bar, and drain it dry, instead of stopping just shy to throw another DW and start spinning again...

[Archived Post]

Well, with the free retcon I went ahead and got some range powers which completely messed up my characters because I also went and chose strength as the primary thingamajiggar. I failed.

I'm restarting her, still strength, but now more into the claws/martial arts/might stuff. I can't be ranged, I don't know how. Woo!

[Archived Post]

You at least went str/con this time, right? =p

[Archived Post]

Constitution? Why? How does health serve me?
I haven't gotten a secondary superstat, but I'm thinking ego or dexterity.
I have the martial fists as an energy giver and 4 powers from might. (3 attacks 1 block)

I want to do damage, not be a tank, so why should I choose constitution?

[Archived Post]

Constitution? Why? How does health serve me?
I haven't gotten a secondary superstat, but I'm thinking ego or dexterity.
I have the martial fists as an energy giver and 4 powers from might. (3 attacks 1 block)

I want to do damage, not be a tank, so why should I choose constitution?

Str/Dex or Str/Ego just dont synergize at all. The main options for melee are str/con for tanky types and dex/ego for damage. Str is only really good with invulnerability tbh, and even then it's mediocre. For pure damage potential, it's fairly bad. Dex without Ego, or vice versa is bad for the obvious reason that the more of one you have, the more valuable the other becomes...

[Archived Post]

How am I supposed to pick up things, though? What is strength there for, then?
It's annoying if they have no use for strength other than a minuscule damage increase and picking stuff up.
I am sacrificing a LOT of desterity and ego by having enough strength to even consider picking up objects as heavy as the second heaviest weight in the training room.

[Archived Post]

I have Dex/Con as superstats, and up until a couple of days ago I was, while not exactly struggling, a little bit squishy to say the least. Then however, I put a couple of powers together and now I can rock through stuff pretty quick.

I have Lightning Reflexes
I have Energy Shield with Laser Knight advantage
I have the Grinning Ghost advantage
I have both Eye of the Storm and Sword Cyclone
I have Dragon's Wrath

The fight now generally goes > Lightning Lunge > full charge Dragon's Wrath > Eye of the Storm for a bit till full energy > Sword Cyclone > everything dead.

only problem is keeping everything in melee range. Gadroons are a bit of a bugger, but it's just about the pull and sort of rounding them up into a bunch.

I was concerned about EotS and SC not working well together, but they are awesome.

I was toying with the idea of Arcane Vitality for a heal, but mainly for the instant escape from holds when advantaged, but I think maybe smoke bomb or masterful dodge would probably work as well.

Only issue so far is when grouping with a mate (electricity build) after his first hit everything runs off and I end up chasing around after them.

[Archived Post]

I have a level 20 str/dex DB char and while I know the stat choices aren't optimal I'm not really having any trouble. Open the fight with the energy builder until grinning ghost procs. Smack something with a full dragon's wrath charge for momentum and kill all the henchmen with sword cyclone. What happens after that depends on what I'm fighting.

And of course lots of strength means you can also open the fight with a car to the face :) I've found that while CO can be fairly punishing with stat and power choices there's still a fair bit of room to play around what most people decide is optimal.

[Archived Post]

How am I supposed to pick up things, though? What is strength there for, then?
It's annoying if they have no use for strength other than a minuscule damage increase and picking stuff up.
I am sacrificing a LOT of desterity and ego by having enough strength to even consider picking up objects as heavy as the second heaviest weight in the training room.

This might be a little arduous or create a conflict with the theme of your character (I haven't seen the animation of this power) but you could go dex/ego and use Telekinesis (uses ego stat instead of strength to pick up objects)... You will have to play with it to see if it works for your build i.e. if the animation is showing your toon putting your hand to your temple and lifting an item with your mind, then I doubt this is what you want...

Just a suggestion to try...

[Archived Post]

I wouldn't worry too much about your superstats. I have a dual blader that uses Endurance and Recovery as superstats and he's a meatgrinder.

Also, it's possible to get the big crits on a Dual Blades char. If you have Ego as a superstat and Butcher's Blades on the T3 Sword Cyclone power, over 1k crits are possible.

[Archived Post]

I wouldn't worry too much about your superstats. I have a dual blader that uses Endurance and Recovery as superstats and he's a meatgrinder.


End/Rec is a far better stat choice than str/X. They synergize quite well, as long as you're not doing something silly like filling your gear with non end/rec. I think end/rec may actually end up being the best stat choices. Get str to 100 with gear, then pump your end until you can spin a full cyclone without momentum. Nasty...



How am I supposed to pick up things, though? What is strength there for, then?
It's annoying if they have no use for strength other than a minuscule damage increase and picking stuff up.
I am sacrificing a LOT of desterity and ego by having enough strength to even consider picking up objects as heavy as the second heaviest weight in the training room.

Leave throwing to the might characters. ;p Blades is all about being quick and agile, not 'hulk smash!' =) If you really must throw stuff, the TK suggestion isn't a bad one. Or you could just keep it as is with str/dex. Your character certainly won't be unplayable, and you won't even know the difference since you haven't played dex/ego. But if you really wan't to max our your damage potential, str/dex isn't going to do it for you...

[Archived Post]

I've been following this thread for advice on my DEX/EGO DB character and thought I'd ask here rather than start a new thread. What should I be buying around level 10? I currently have:

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: Level 12 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Strength

Powers:
Level 1: Rain Of Steel -- Grinning Ghost
Level 1: Blade Tempest
Level 5: Lightning Reflexes
Level 5: Acrobatics
Level 8: Dragon's Wrath

Talents:
Level 1: Quick Trigger
Level 6: Shooter
Level 9: Professional Athlete
Level 12: Martial Focus

with 1 power and 2 advantage points left to play with. I'm not interested in PvP. Question seems to be single target, AoE, or support power (such as lunge or Shield).

[Archived Post]

No, Grinning Ghost allows you to stack Heightened Focus up to 8 times, just like the slotted passive will. The only problem is keeping the buff on you long enough to get those 8 stacks of Heightened Focus. Tactically switching between your energy builder and Cyclone/EoS would allow you to ramp up those crits quickly..

Ranked up focus will stack the buff to 8 faster though; which will be useful in later groups if you fight in offensive stance (hence no passive defense), so it's not a bad power to consider later on in builds.

[Archived Post]

End/Rec is a far better stat choice than str/X. They synergize quite well, as long as you're not doing something silly like filling your gear with non end/rec. I think end/rec may actually end up being the best stat choices. Get str to 100 with gear, then pump your end until you can spin a full cyclone without momentum. Nasty...




Leave throwing to the might characters. ;p Blades is all about being quick and agile, not 'hulk smash!' =) If you really must throw stuff, the TK suggestion isn't a bad one. Or you could just keep it as is with str/dex. Your character certainly won't be unplayable, and you won't even know the difference since you haven't played dex/ego. But if you really wan't to max our your damage potential, str/dex isn't going to do it for you...

I already messed up my character with the free retcon that I had to delete her.

I saw what telekinesis pickup item/toss does. I want to be able to walk around with the object.

I made a might/martial arts character now to better fit my strength.
It's dreadful. Going from all AOE attacks to single target and knockback. :(

[Archived Post]

I already messed up my character with the free retcon that I had to delete her.

I saw what telekinesis pickup item/toss does. I want to be able to walk around with the object.

I made a might/martial arts character now to better fit my strength.
It's dreadful. Going from all AOE attacks to single target and knockback. :(

Yeah, after playing db, I dont know that I could play a single-target character.