In YOUR opinion, what is the strongest DPS power right now?

Discussion in 'War Room (Powers, Artifacts, & Builds)' started by Drake_DuCaine, Jul 15, 2021.

  1. CCPONCHO Well-Known Player


    Agreed. It's also easier to see powers true ceiling when you run elite content.
    • Like x 1
  2. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    The absolute ceiling can be tested easily with soaring target. The applicable ceiling in raids.

    It is a fact that powers are still not completely balanced. If power A has an ability that cost 300 power and hits 8 targets at max range for x(500 each for example) and power B has an ability that cost 300 power and hits 8 targets at max range for y (400 for example) that it’s just a fact that A has a stronger ability.

    Now it gets mor complicated than that. Powers have dovetails power specific mechanics that also play a role. But some things can be tested pretty simply. For example you can take all powers and see how much damage their finishers do. But even that is hard to fully test because HL has aoe, rage has a none channel finisher, and nature has a finisher that turns to aoe in a form.

    Powers can be channel based, combo based, burst based, DoT based, or even a combination of them all. Applicable potential is just hard to truly test which is why balance is hard to achieve. Look at nature. Nature has a high ceiling but in content can suffer if adds are spread out since there is no one to spread poisons too. Or bosses can have immunity phases which end up shedding the nature poisons. You can buff nature but than in boss fights where adds just spawn endlessly or bosses have no phases, nature will have a clear advantage. And you have powers like electric, you can buff it’s ST but what happens when they have EoG spams? Or better yet what about it’s aoe potential. If you buff electrics ST to much than electric would be the clear favorite.

    Gadgets is a special power. I’ve always assumed that they just can’t nerf it because it’s Batman’s power (more Batman plot armor… great). I honestly don’t remember a time when gadgets was ever a bottom tier power. But what makes it so good? It has high burst, high clipping potential with stealth and turret. It’s stealth is miles better than mental invisible since mental pain split (I think that’s what it’s called) has a slight channel/delay. It the most versatile power. But it also has high power consumption and it higher damaging potential rotations aren’t the easiest to master (not learn, master) because how clip heavy it is. Gadgets is probably the closest power to old school HL with its max potential being more in line with its users skills.

    Other powers don’t have high level of skill = potential. Combo powers and mental are the closest when it comes to rotation complexity but they don’t share gadgets max potential.

    And holy run on Batman that was a lot longer post than I thought I was going to write lol.
    • Like x 2
  3. Psycho Tech Dedicated Player

  4. Mertal Defer Level 30

    This
    • Like x 1
  5. Mertal Defer Level 30

    Dc currently is struggling to balance the powersets a nerf often means after it’s done a power set is close to unplayable”Looking at rage”. Rage is most effective in melee range yet it’s unplayable in raids elite and content in melee range”About to get another random unnecessary nerf to Berzerk”, Hardlight power cost doesn’t match its damage output having to drink colas to maintain your rotation is unacceptable when munitions can do your same damage with no power issues and using 1.2.3 is absurd. HL and Celestial while are fun as heck to play are pointless why should you do a powerset with mid tier damage that’s also vulnerable to interrupt, lag ect while having high power cost vs Electric or munitions with rotations that require little to zero effort to do massive damage.
  6. Mertal Defer Level 30

    I mean this as kind as I can make it. This is why some power sets don’t get fixed many people are explaining to you what’s wrong and your still going to force it on everyone it’s fine. Compared to other powers it’s weak, It needs work. I’m happy you can top the charts with ransoms a good Water will be destroyed by a good Munitions, Gadgets, Electric. The power set needs work.
  7. Qwantum Abyss Loyal Player

    No one likes quantum eh? Last time i got out damaged was the other night by a gadgets league mate. Before that? Well, its been quite a while……
    Quantum FTW, love it
  8. American Marksman Active Player

    I’m going to say gadgets because you can dominate with either a precision spec or might spec. Not only that but you have a ton of options to work with so you can get really creative with gadgets. Nature and munitions are pretty good as well. However, for the old timers, the most dominant dps in the history of the game was back in the day with Light DPS when construct damage was based on precision. Was so good it caused them to change the game. Ask anyone that has played longer than 5 years they’ll tell you.
    • Like x 2
  9. ALB Dedicated Player

    It's gadgets by far. Especially with the cheese going on with it
  10. Anubis New Player

    What about sorcery? Prec or might?
  11. xxHELLSTROKExx Loyal Player

    I've been sorcery for almost 10yrs now. Prec works but I'm not a prec type. Might works but pet build works the best by far for it. The usual meta will keep you in a decent place on the board. A pet build in almost anything against the majority, you will be at the top if you're maxed out on artis and gear and all that. Without artifacts involved, sorcery would probably be one of the worst. But artifacts exist and can make any power do very well. It's all about how far youre willing to go.

    Any powerset can do great with prec really if you're good with it. And then any power built any way can smash a great prec or might player if you tac swap and they don't. The game really does have great balance right now despite what most think.
    • Like x 4
  12. Xibo Loyal Player

    Shark Frenzy with WD can be a good option but with the power itself (without use SS abilities) is complicated!
  13. Shalayah Committed Player

    P
    All of the best melee powers with the best loadouts use SS powers lol. Can you make do without Dervish in some? Sure but Dervish is one of if not the best melee power in the game. Why wouldn’t you use it?

    Water single target in my experience is pretty decent as well. It’s not one you could just use straight up, but it does good damage in the right hands just like every other power.
  14. thedemonocus Loyal Player

    If we are just talking about pve any power can be good if you know how to use it. If you are willing to put in some time with the sparring targets and test stuff out you can make any power great.
    • Like x 1
  15. Anubis New Player


    Thanks m8, I have been sorcery healer for more than 8 years now and I saw that the pet build is important but I was double checking how is the meta going with sorcery.

    so just to double check again, for pet build u suggest: source shard, HV and Grim for (PI) ? or Source shard trans and strat
    • Like x 1
  16. xxHELLSTROKExx Loyal Player

    My current build is 200 source/ 200 grim/ 200 quislet. Quislet was recently buffed and is doing much better than he was at release. I have tried other combos such as source/grim/ solar and using a trinket pet and sidekick in rotation but while it did put up good numbers, it wasn't close to this.

    So actual build/ rotations for me are:
    AoE: godwave/ offering/ soul bolt/ grim/ supercharge generator (not the best but it's for hallways) and the baleful transmutation super that I almost never use. Could replace with boon but I leave it in so I could use this loadout in an add heavy boss fight. Trinket and 3 boo's. Must have trinket to keep your cr high as possible. Pets only care about cr so this is a great build if you're low sp also. Might is your secondary concern.

    St: godwave/ offering/ vengeance/ fury/ finisher/ polymorph. Orbital/ ST tier 3 turret/ supply drop/ buff trinket.
    Godwave resets more often from the finisher, especially around the 50% cooldown mark. It rarely resets from vengeance but can happen. Always pop godwave THEN offering. Fury will let loose too soon otherwise. When your super is ready: drop supply drop, drink soder, pop trinket, hit godwave, then super, then offering. Polymorph can crit up to 5x and I crit that for around 125k and quislet does about 135k damage with his buffed supercharged attack.
  17. Kimone Luthor Genetech Clone

    Muni is good, Gadgets is good (and for practical purposes probably the best cross of "approachable" versus "skill-execution driven"), HL is (supposedly) good, even though you don't see them Everywhere any more, even a solid Fire Might character can be impressive, but the thing that I have seen, personally, that just chews things up and leaves quivering bits of people mulch behind it is high-end Mental Might.

    Muni is basically the most effective mobile "color by numbers" damage, Gadgets is more clip heavy than most other things, but it has more forgiving clipping, lots of options, and is more workable than Mental is. That's the trade-off, in a nutshell.

    To make Mental work your rotation is basically going to be you clipping, jump cancelling, or using floating tap between literally every Ability you use, you're gonna need at least 3 DPS Armories, between 3 and 5 200 Arts for DPS options alone, at least 400 SP, and even after you do all that you're never gonna be at a "safe" range during a big fight, Ever, because Mental's best damage is all Single Target, medium-close range. The only less "safe" thing to play is Rage Melee.

    Clear your calendar before you make that switch though. You're gonna be spending a *lot* of time in front of that Sparring Target before it looks like anything BUT burning garbage. It's not user-friendly, at all, unless your definition of fun is at least a little masochistic. It's Work, it's probably the least forgiving Powerset insofar as top-end execution requirements (even my Precision rotation requires quite a lot of clipping, cancelling, and a precise awareness of Invisibility mechanic timing in order to produce results, and it's basic arithmetic next to a Might rotation) but it gets Results. Capital R. Bold red font.

    Note: I'm not saying any of this because of the people I've beat with Mental. I'm saying it because of the people who've beat me with it, and the other people I've seen it beat. It's the only thing I've ever seen straight double my output on a scoreboard. At any rate.
    • Like x 2
  18. Anubis New Player

    c
    cool I will definitely try that, thanks again
    • Like x 1
  19. Stanktonia Dedicated Player

    Gadgets should have its ability to use supercharges while in stealth removed
    • Like x 1
  20. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    HL does high damage. Not really sure what you are talking about. And rage isn’t bad at range, people just don’t test loadouts.
    • Like x 1