The Cutting Edge Gadgets Guide

Discussion in 'Oracle’s Database (Guides)' started by Penryn, Jul 24, 2017.

  1. loupblanc Dedicated Player


    Just want to add in that, as of right now, Implosion Mine will setup Burning PI on Electrified targets due to the Frostbite interaction, just like Cryo-Field and Cryo Foam. But using Freeze Breath on Electrified targets does not setup the Burning PI.

    This means in things like solos, duos and open-world, one can use Implosion Mine in conjuction with either Gauss Grenade or Taser Pull, and not have to bother with using an encasement breaker, since the targets will have a Burning PI.

    Should add that Implosion Mine on Electrified targets can setup Burning.
    Should add that Word of Power setups Electrified power interaction.
    • Like x 1
  2. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Thanks. I updated the description for Implosion Mine and uploaded a new PI chart.
  3. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    It has been a little while since I last posted. Real life has been keeping me very busy since the end of Survival Mode. Looking at the latest dev threads, we're slated for some large game changes in Episode 35:
    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dc...elopment-update-weapons-and-artifacts.303564/

    Weapon rebalancing, artifact rebalancing, and powerset fixes are slated for Episode 35's release. It is hard to tell how that will affect Gadgets gameplay, but I'll try it out when I get enough time in my schedule.



    On to guide related matters, I've been doing some testing lately related to Crowd Control and Breakout Profiles. So here is a small guide article with some of my findings:

    Inflicting Effective Crowd Control Using Knockdowns

    To briefly recap a couple of key points, crowd control refers to any ability that inhibits the capability of a target to fight. How a NPC responds to a control effect is known as a "breakout profile." When a NPC breaks out of a control effect, it will flash and become immune to control effects for a period of time. Usually a breakout is triggered because a certain stun or control effect threshold has been exceeded. Some NPCs have no breakout profile and can be stunned with impunity. Knowing how Breakout Profiles work is an important aspect of Controller gameplay.

    After doing a lot of testing on raid NPCs, I've discovered the way crowd control works in DCUO has a lot of quirks and can be very buggy at times. However, there are ways to work around the limitations of the system. I will explain one method that can be used to inflict effective crowd control and some of the pitfalls you will encounter using it.

    In raid level content, the most common breakout profile you will encounter is the "3 second" profile. With this profile, any effect that inflicts a "STUN" that lasts more than 3 seconds will trigger an automatic breakout after 3 seconds have elapsed. This will be followed by a 8 second immunity period. The Shogg Lord Daemon - the one you have to pull into the circles in Chaos Gotham - is an open world example of a raid-level NPC with a 3 second breakout profile.

    For Gadgets Controllers, powerset control effects can be broken down into the following categories: Knockdowns, 3 second stuns, 6 second stuns, 12 second stun, and abilities with no effects. For the categories highlighted above, here is how the Daemon will respond:
    • 12 Second Stun - The Daemon will breakout after 3 seconds. Example Ability: Cuff'em
    • 6 Second Stun - The Daemon will breakout after 3 seconds. Example Abilities: Cryo-Foam, EMP Pulse, and Paralyzing Dart among many others
    • 3 Second Stun - It is up to the whims of the server on whether the Daemon will breakout for any specific cast. I believe this has to do with several bugs on how stun timers are implemented in the game's server code. It is related to the timer bugs where you can sometimes get an extra damage tick out of a DoT. For this particular category, the Daemon may breakout after one cast or it may take up to 10 consecutive casts. Example Abilities: Gauss Grenade
    • Knockdowns - The Daemon will not breakout of a knockdown. With correct timing, it is possible to keep the Daemon knocked down indefinitely. Example Abilities: Gag Glove, Sticky Bomb, and Napalm Grenade
    Here is an example of a "chain knockdown" using Sticky Bomb on the Daemon:


    That is 30 seconds of a dangerous NPC being effectively locked down. Using a 6 second stun at any point would have generated a guaranteed breakout after 3 seconds with 8 seconds of follow-up immunity.

    Chain knockdowns are best used to keep a specific enemy out of action. It is possible to keep a large NPC group knocked down, but that can be very tricky to do. Gadgets knockdown powers tend to scatter NPCs.

    The knockdown method also well in Elite content and Survival Mode since NPCs commonly implement the 3 second breakout profile at those difficulties.

    One of the nice things about the chain knockdown method as it relates to Gadgets it that Stasis Field can be worked into a regular rotation too. As long as Stasis Field is detonated within 2 seconds of casting, the target will not breakout. It may look like the NPC is breaking out, but the NPC will not have an immunity. That means a Gadgets Controller can use their Supercharge Generator while keeping a NPC stunned. Here is a demonstration:


    In that video, I alternate using Sticky Bomb/Napalm Grenade to detonate the Stasis Field and keep the Daemon knocked down.

    Is this method fool-proof? No. There are several things that can cause the chain knockdown method to fail. A breakout will be triggered if the player casts knockdown abilities too quickly. Waiting two seconds in between casts has yielded good results for me. Also, things become more complicated when a tank is in the group. Most pulling powers will pull a NPC out of a knockdown and back into a fighting stance. Also, several tank abilities inflict their own crowd control effects. Overlapping control effects can trigger a breakout. Actively countering can cause a NPC to breakout. If you are trying to keep a specific NPC knocked down, talk to your tank ahead of time to coordinate crowd control. Sometimes you will encounter a NPC that is temporarily immune to control effects even when they aren't showing any signs of a breakout. I believe that to be a bug in the game's crowd control code.

    For anyone that is curious, the chain knockdown method can be used in conjunction with most consumables. Dazing Device has a 2 second stun which is below the 3 second threshold seen on most NPCs. Explosive Detonator has a 3 second knockdown. Chronometric Emitter is advertised as a 3.5 second stun when it reality it is a short stun followed by a knockdown.

    I hope that writeup helps someone out. The same method can be used by any Controller powerset that has an ability that inflicts a knockdown with a reasonable cooldown.
    • Like x 2
  4. loupblanc Dedicated Player

    One more thing to add. Currently, Freezing Breath animation can also be cancelled by tap melee or tap range.
  5. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Updated. Thanks for the information. Let me know if there is anything else.
    • Like x 1
  6. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Here are some thoughts from a week of testing Metal Part 1:

    Weapons Update
    I'll pass on commenting on this. Weapon balance is a giant mess right now.


    Supercharged Neo-Venom Boost Tactical Mod
    I know people have been waiting a long time for this:
    [IMG]


    Level 200 Artifact Updates
    If you're playing Gadgets Controller, there isn't much here to be excited about. Most Controller artifacts are simply small percentage boosts to existing effects. As for the interesting stuff, Scrap of the Soul Cloak's Level 200 effect gives an innate 7% Supercharge recharge that can't be stacked with the Chest mod. Claw of Aeklund gives a 5% Crit Bonus and Magnitude buff to all Crit percentages. Amulet of Rao allows you to debuff up to 8 targets with one cast.

    I'm still playing around with Artifacts on the DPS side to see if there are any interesting combinations. Solar Amplifier gives Empowered Channeling to Amplified Heat Vision. Eye of Gemini provides a 5% Might/Precision/Vit Bonus while standing in the circle. Dead Kings Scepter gained a random single-target damage proc. Grimorium Verum drops the passive power regeneration penalty for pets like Suppressor Turret and Robot Sidekick. Philosopher's Stone doubles the duration the caster's damage buff and free power casting. Venom Wrist Dispenser received a heavy nerf.


    Content
    There isn't much to comment on here. Metal Part 1 features extensive asset and mechanic reuse. A lot of the content will feel very familiar to long-time players. As for the raid bosses, I found most of the bosses to be primarily AoE based. These bosses love summoning large numbers of adds.
    • Like x 2
  7. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    In the latest PCTest Build, Battle Display's duration was updated to be 20 seconds. It retains the same power cost and cooldown. I think I've updated all of the references in the guide to account for that.

    As for Weapons testing, the current PCTest build is better balanced. There is nothing that is "extremely overpowered." There are a lot of weapon combos that underperform though. Still, I find there are at least a handful of choices for each specific situation. For single-target ranged, Dual Wield Flurry Shot is still good if you are able to jump cancel it consistently at the optimum point. If you aren't good at jump canceling Flurry Shot, Brawling Enhanced Shuriken works fairly well. For ranged AoE, there are a few options. Shield's hold range attacks perform very well. Several of Handblasters AoE moves also parse very well. For AoE melee, Brawling's longer combos parsed very well. I don't consider them to be viable in raid content though.
  8. Illumin411 Loyal Player

    For ranged AOE, I'm pretty happy with the buff to Dual Wield explosive shot. :D
  9. Stardazer Committed Player

    Would anyone be able to recommend a DPS loadout (ranged/melee) that would be formidable in the new content that doesn't include Stealth. I know it's a staple power for Gadgets, but I honestly after so many attempts keep screwing up my rotations because I always press something or get stunned.
  10. loupblanc Dedicated Player

    What is your melee loadout, range aoe loadout, single target loadout?
  11. HolidayKiller New Player

    Just returned to the game after a few years and looking for some loadout help. I'm currently in a precision build and using dw/bow weapon mastery. I've watched a few videos on YouTube of loadouts but none of them actually explain what they are doing they just show the parse. It seems like most people are clipping a power with the turret then jump cancelling the turret and hitting a different ability going into stealth and using our prec boost buff then spamming flurry shot wm. But I have no clue exactly which abilities I should be using and how often to use them etc. Also another issue I'm having is the prec buff doesn't break stealth and I'm unable to do range taps to start my wm combo while in stealth. So im obviously missing something crucial there lol. As far as artifact s I literally just came back so don't really have anything so can work in whatever is suggested. I'm currently in flight but was gonna respec to superspeed as that seems to be the go to.
  12. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Which video(s) are you watching? I can explain what is happening if you link to one.

    Depending on your lag, you can clip Cryo-Foam with Battle Display while in Stealth. You will be rendered visible, receive all of the DoT ticks from Cryo-Foam, get the Precision buff, and get the Stealth form damage tick.
  13. HolidayKiller New Player

    I've watched countless lol but here I will link a couple. But I'd appreciate advice from the experienced guys on this forum as well instead of just copying the YouTube rotation. Always trusted the forum guys a bit more



  14. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    In the second video, the player is showing two loadouts:

    1. "ST Loadout - Medium Range"
    Loadout: Tornado Pull (Superspeed), Battle Display, Suppressor Turret, Taser Pull, Stealth, Robot Sidekick.
    For Stealth: Neo-Venom Boost, Surprise Attack, Robot Sidekick

    The basic rotation isn't too complex
    1. Summon Robot Sidekick
    2. Tornado Pull clipped with Battle Display clipped with Suppressor Turret. Jump cancel Suppressor Turret.
    3. Taser Pull clipped with Stealth. From Stealth, immediately use Surprise Attack
    4. Spam Dual Wield Flurry Shot.
    5. Wait for Battle Display to come off cooldown. Use Tornado Pull clipped with Battle Display clipped with Suppressor Turret. Jump cancel Suppressor Turret.
    6. Wait for Stealth to come off cooldown. Use Taser Pull clipped with Stealth. From Stealth, immediately use Surprise Attack. If there is a gap between the timing of #5 and #6, use a couple combos of DW Flurry Shot.
    8. Go back to Step #4.

    Use Neo-Venom boost to give yourself a temporary DPS boost.

    2. "ST Loadout - Melee Range"
    Loadout: Tornado Pull (Superspeed), Battle Display, Suppressor Turret, WhirlingDervish (Superspeed), Stealth, Robot Sidekick.
    For Stealth: Neo-Venom Boost, Surprise Attack, Robot Sidekick

    Basic idea is the same as the previous one:
    1. Summon Robot Sidekick
    2. Tornado Pull clipped with Battle Display clipped with Suppressor Turret. Jump cancel Suppressor Turret.
    3. Stealth -> Surprise Attack.
    4. Spam Dual Wield Flurry Shot. Clip the end of Flurry Shot with Whirling Dervish when it is off cooldown. Jump cancel Whirling Dervish and go into your next Flurry Shot.
    5. Wait for Battle Display to come off cooldown. Use Tornado Pull clipped with Battle Display clipped with Suppressor Turret. Jump cancel Suppressor Turret.
    6. Stealth -> Surprise Attack
    7. Go back to Step #4.

    Use Neo-Venom boost to give yourself a temporary DPS boost.


    The difference between the two loadouts is attack range. You need to be very close to use Whirling Dervish. Also, I think getting the timing down for the second rotation would be a bit harder. You need to pay attention to three cooldowns instead of two like in the first example.


    Does that help? Do you want something specific explained from the first video?
  15. HolidayKiller New Player

    In the first video near the end he does a melee and ranged precision loadout. Was hoping to understand exactly what he was doing. Especially the ranged one as that's what I primarily do.

    Also do you have any of your own advise for a precision loadout? You seem quite knowledgeable. It seems we are using powers quite a bit in these loadouts which is confusing as I thought the point of the precision loadout was to primarily use weapon attacks. This seems more of a hybrid style rather than weapons expert which seems odd. Is that just they way it goes then?
  16. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    When it comes to Weapon Expert loadouts, you pick a weapon for a specific situation and build around it to optimize your damage. At the very least, you'll always have a weapon buff (Battle Display) and a pet power (Robot Sidekick/Suppressor Turret) on your loadout. After that, you start looking at the duration of your weapon attacks and whether they can be clipped. If you're using something like Two-Handed Doom Spin, that has a lengthy animation and can't be clipped. So in that case, you might add a long-lasting DoT like Cryo-Field into the mix. Cryo-Field can be clipped with most beneficial powers like Battle Display. If you are primarily using shorter duration attacks that can be clipped, then you start looking into adding some burst powers with high base damage modifiers to your rotation. The advantage of clipping is that allows you to overlap multiple damage sources within the same time window. Stealth->Surprise Attack is a good fit for for something like Dual Wield Flurry Shot. Surprise Attack has a high base damage modifier, so you don't need a large Might stat to get good damage out of it. Stealth can clip several DoT/burst powers and it gives you the advantage of a second loadout bar. Taser Pull offers excellent single-target damage, so it makes a good clipping partner for Stealth.

    Some of this also comes down to personal preference. I like keeping a shield like Neural Neurtalizer on my Weapons Expert loadout. It is a 12 second shield with a 12 second cooldown. It has helped me out a lot in elite content where it can be difficult to see boss tells due to visual effects pollution. Some people prefer to skip the shield and go for a maximum damage build.

    Just always keep in mind that your weapon is going to be your primary damage source for Weapons Expert. You pick complementary powers to help min/max your DPS potential and increase your survivability. So that's the basic idea for building a Weapon Expert loadout. Do you want me to go further into explaining the theory behind the loadouts from the second video or some particular segment of the first video?

    It is also worth keeping in mind that different weapons are optimal for different situations. Dual Wield Flurry Shot is for single-target. Dual Wield Explosive Shot does good damage for ranged AoE, but I've seen other weapon attacks parse for better ranged AoE damage. Two-Handed Doom Spin is the current Flavor of the Month for melee AoE situations.
    • Like x 1
  17. Illumin411 Loyal Player

    I don't know if you plan on running elite content but in my experience I found the stealth sneak attack to be too disruptive to the rotation between it's animation and limited range. There's already a million things stunning, disrupting or needing blocks and rolls and DW Flurry shot performs best when consistency is the focus. It also doesn't hit all that hard unless you're speccing at least 60SP in to Might/Power and/or using artifacts that give both prec and might (ex. Grimorium, Eye of Gemini, etc). Also, stealth sneak attack will drain your power keeping you from getting the prec buff from the troll which only goes to the top three power pools. That's just too many negatives to make it worth it IMO.

    As for turret canceling, again for elite content, IMO using that slot for a shield to help with survivability and pickups is more valuable than those extra half seconds of damage the turret canceling gives you.
    • Like x 1
  18. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Guide Updates
    GU 100 and Metal Part 2 are supposed to be released tomorrow. As part of that update, Gadgets received some changes:
    -When Battle Drone is cast from Stealth in Controller role, the Controller role version will be used.
    -Photon Blast now has the [Finisher] label
    -Photon Blast received a massive buff to its Base Damage for >35% and <=35% health situations.

    The guide has been updated to reflect these changes.

    For Might users, Photon Blast and Finishers in general are now worth considering on a single-target loadout.



    Notes from the New Episode
    I've been trying out the new artifacts and I'll just post some brief thoughts on each one:

    Page of Destinty
    This is a great healer artifact, but isn't relevant to Gadgets players.

    La Morte Card
    This artifact provides substantial boosts to Finishers and implements an "Impending Doom" proc that fires once a target reaches 35% health. The amount of damage Impending Doom is based on the number of times you were able to use your Finisher while the target was above 35% health.

    I really want to like this artifact, but I've had a lot of trouble getting good results out of it. It takes several minutes of Photon Blast spam to build up a good Impending Doom stack. You aren't going to get that in open world content outside the bounty. Almost all of the instanced fights in Metal Part 2 are AoE situations. For example, the final fight in the first raid features a multi-boss fight with a health regeneration mechanic. Ideally, you want to wear the bosses down evenly. That makes using Finishers in that situation suboptimal.


    Gem of Horus
    This artifact gives players a new tray ability called Talon Strike and is intended primarily for Precision players. The effect the ability has depends on your current hit counter. If you are between 6-12 hits on the counter, you get a 12 second "Bleed" effect on the enemy and DoT damage. If you use Talon Strike again on a Bleeding target while your hit counter is above 13, you'll deal large damage to the target. Depending on your weapon type, you might be able to fit in two "heavy" Talon Strike procs in a single 12 second window.

    My feelings on this artifact are mixed. It is an interesting concept, but I wasn't seeing a large damage boost from using it. Talon Strike has a long animation time, so the best way to use it is to always clip it with another beneficial ability. You are able to jump in mid animation to maintain mobility, but you have to wait for the animation to play out. I noted in testing that it was possible for one player to keep setting up Bleed and the Precision DPS could just keep using their "heavy" Talon Strikes.

    Just to note, it is possible to slot Talon Strike on the Stealth loadout bar.


    Strategist Card
    This is a general purpose artifact that relies on crit procs. If a player gets a damage crit on a target, there is a chance that an additional DoT proc will be inflicted. If a player gets a power healing crit on a group member, there is a chance than additional power over time proc will trigger. This additional power over time proc is unique to the player.

    On its own, this artifact is underwhelming. The "per-crit chance" proc is rather low. Also, it is hard to tell if it is working unless you are running an active combat log parser. The DoT and PoT procs just blend in with all of the other numbers you see on screen. I ran Strategist in Controller role in several raids and it was almost impossible to tell if it was making a good contribution to the team. If you're running parser tests without using any crit-chance boosts, you're only going to see a small bump to your parser output.

    However, things change when you pair the Strategist Card with the next artifact.

    Transformation Card
    This artifact provides large Damage and Healing crit chance/magnitude boosts in exchange for lowering overall damage/healing output. Don't let the lower damage output portion of the artifact scare you. If go work through the math, it works out to a modest overall damage boost at level 200.

    Where the Transformation Card really shines is if you pair it with another crit-reliant artifact like the Strategist card. I saw a substantial boost in my ranged AoE Play from the Tray loadout while running a combination of Transformation and Strategist. A loadout that consisted of Napalm Grenade, Fear Gas, Cryo-Foam, Paralyzing Dart, Stealth->EMP went from doing 30k/s to doing 53k/s on 30 second parses on 8 targets with those two artifacts equipped. I found that combination was great for situations where you had large numbers of high-health adds. The combination of Napalm Grenade, Fear Gas, and Cryo-Foam generates a large number of damage ticks which gives more opportunities for Strategist to proc. The more targets you have in a mob group, the better. The major downside of this loadout is that it takes several seconds for the DoTs to stack and the fact you lack good spike damage. So if you try to use that loadout for basic open-world missions or even for duos, you aren't going to see great results.

    For loadouts that rely more on smaller numbers of damage ticks, the results were mixed for the Transformation+Strategist combination.
    • Like x 2
  19. Careless Active Player

    Anyone have a good gadgets prec loadout without stealth?
  20. Tainted0Love Well-Known Player

    There is just soo much information here. How much of it is still relevant as i see edit date from ~2 years ago?

    I also would like a Gadget/Prec perspective.