Ground Breaking Guide to Earth

http://www.thedcuobook.com/

This website has a number of useful info on all of the powers in the game, not just for earth, but other powers as well. It can help you see how earths powers stack up against others. For example the base dmg of sand blast is 45-71 if the target has more then 35% health and 85-118 if the target has reached the 35% mark. To compare to mental which 45-63 and 97-129 at the 35% mark. Meaning sandblast deals more damage then terrorize if the target has more then 35% health. So as a finisher its not all that great, but it does do nice damage. I guess my point is that sandblast is lacking a little.

Alright tested this out finally in Wave, definitely a no go uses way to much power to even justify the damage. I ended up swapping Shards for Upheaval and Tectonic Break for JH and switched back to DW's. Still feels like I'm missing something

I've been warming up in lower raids and I'm just not impressed at all with either the might or prec damage. I need to do some major testing and determine base damages and t values for jackhammer and upheaval. The damage in general is just lacking I think.

Yeah I'm just stumped with trying to find a range build. Melee isn't an issue at all though.

Eh I still think melee is lacking compared to HL.

I have never liked upheaval. Only a 35% modifier, it's range is just a hair shorter than one would expect, it's slow, and a huuuuge power suck. Rumblecrush based loadouts are lacking as well, imo.

It's one of the first points of debate in thedcuobook, which sadly I never got around to test. Maybe I should later. Anyway, there was this theory that maybe Sandblast is actually more powerful than the other finishers when the target's health was higher than 35%, but while it gained a bit more damage on < 35%, the increase wasn't as much as, say, Final Ruin.

So I got around to thinking about what a revamp to earth could be, and seeing what the devs have done with Celestial has inspired me a bit. What if we included ranged attacks into the aftershocking mechanic. Tapping range instead of melee would produce a different effect for the same move. You would have the same animation, just add on more diversity to the power. Also you would be able to mix and match ranged and melee attacks in the after shocks.
-ex.1- upheaval- ranged aftershock- will now launch a shard of stone at a single target dazing the enemy.
-ex.2- gemstone shield-ranged aftershock- will produce an aura of rocks and debris that deals damage to enemies around you, each aftershock will increase the damage done(1.1,1.2,1.3)
-ex.3-jack hammer-ranged aftershock- deals a line of focused damage in front of you.

Thoughts, ideas, concerns?

That is an awesome idea!

can a dazed loadout work with the t5 content i dont care if im not top dps as long as im not 800k+ behind lead dps i just dont want to have to be all ticks and i miss being able to use jackhammer or at this point am i just dreaming. and if a dazed loadout can be used what t5 set of armor should i use and what mods?

I love the concept, adding viable ranged attacks to a class that could really use some.

Yeah it works. When I first started T5 stuff I rolled with Crystal and DS so I could continue to melee uninterrupted, but if you choose to range then whatever your loadout has been until now should be fine. I haven't rolled with Crystal in Nexus/Paradox post U29 but she works fine in T5 ops. Might/prec in reds, the rest is dependent on your playstyle.

Interesting. I've not been tanking as much recently, as I've been focusing on my main. My tank is not ready for T5 raids yet, though I've run just fine through the Ops. I typically run with: Epicenter, Tectonic Break, Localized Tremor, Jackhammer, Earth Grip, Gemstone Shield. I run more as a damage tank in the lower content, just packing enough tank gear to meet the dom requirement, then using DPS gear. I do a lot of juggling with TB followed by LT or Jacks, then pulling back in with Epicenter. Since the T5 raids are more about survivability and holding aggro, I could drop out TB and LT and put in Brick and Damage Shift. I've not been a huge fan of pet tanking, but like you said, you're basically using it to get another absorption window.

It would also give Earth a few more single target precision based attacks. Also changing it this way will allow those that love the powers as they are( even if they do need a damage boost) and add more variety to a power set that seems like it is two power sets in one.

great idea... something the devs should look into ...

I've been playing Earth for a while pretty casually with a Prec based Daze/Jackhammer centric loadout and it's been good enough for what I'm doing, but I'm trying to squeeze more out of it and it's leading to some questions about core mechanics in DCUO that I've never really cared enough to find an answer for.
I'm writing this up as a sort of checklist for things to test myself, but since I'm writing it down anyway I may as well post it and get an outside opinion.

1) As far as I can tell Power Interactions don't modify already placed DoTs. Ie, I have to have the Dazed PI on the enemy <i>before</i> I drop a Debris Field on them, at which point I'll get all 11 extra ticks of damage from the PI. If I do the opposite and apply the Dazed PI <i>after</i> the enemy has entered the Debris Field no extra damage is done. Is this limited to Power Interactions or does the same rule apply to stuff like the Prec/Crit Chance buff from Reinforce?

2) When I clip a weapon attack, say DW tap melee x3, hold melee, do I clip from when I release the final melee hold or from when the animation for the final button starts? Also, clipping never cancels damage does it? Only something like a jump cancel will stop the damage coming out.

3) Similar to #1, do Jackhammer Aftershocks (or Aftershocks in general I guess) use the live PI, crit and prec stats at the time they land or does it use the PI, crit and prec from when the initial ability is cast (or the first Aftershock is cast)? Ie, if I put a Dazed PI on the target, then start Jackhammering, when the PI falls off do I stop getting the bonus? That's what I'd expect, but I assumed DoTs worked that way too.

4) I rebuilt my loadout pretty much from scratch and I'm using (Prec heavy):
Totem-clip-Unstoppable, short weapon attack-clip-Debris Field-clip-Reinforce, short weapon attack-clip-Jackhammer. Then I get stuck.
Is it better to keep Jackhammering until everything is off CD allowing me to quickly clip through it all at once while setting up PIs properly (also activating the 9x combo Home Turf Prec mod bonus), or should I be interrupting Jackhammer spam in order to maintain as close to 100% uptime for Reinforce, Dazed/Debris Field and Totem even though they come out in a pretty clunky, uneven, time consuming order?

5) Same loadout, but with Sandblast and a single target boss at 35%. I'm thinking Totem-clip-Unstoppable, short weapon attack-clip-Debris Field-clip-Reinforce, short weapon attack-clip-Sandblast (repeating the short weapon combo clipped to Sandblast until everything comes back off CD). I'm just questioning whether a Dazed Debris Field+Reinforce+Totem is worth missing out on a few of those heavy hitting Sandblasts. Should I cut it back to just a short weapon combo clipped with Totem clipped with Reinforce and Debris Field directly after?

6) What can I do for ranged? I run with mostly Prec and a Tank off-spec so I don't have many options for powers. I haven't done it with this exact loadout, but in the past when I've needed ranged attacks I've used DW's Charged Throw clipping the animation off, lunging in to setup PIs and anything that needs me to be near my target, then rolling to the absolute minimum safe distance to Jackhammer. As you can imagine my damage takes a massive nose dive in the new raids because I have to wait for a safe window to dive into melee range for a few seconds. Professor Lex in the stun room effectively reduces me to Charged Throw-clip-Reinforce, Charged Throw-clip-Jackhammer.
Subbing Stone in place of Unstoppable seems like the way to go, but it looks like a pretty weak move and the 35% damage buff isn't great (nice cooldown though). I almost need the tank using a stack of Dazing Device Vs for clipping so I can leave Unstoppable in for the rare occasion I need it. Totem has a long uptime so I can get away with using it only when there's a safe window to ninja lunge it in. From there Debris Field clipped with Reinforce would do it.

7) Totem appears to have a mid and close range pulses. Is it just one of those weird Watchtower dummy bugs where the damage doesn't apply properly because it's not a real enemy (like the Home Turf base dummies), or does it actually do about twice as many ticks when the enemy is right next to it rather than five steps away?

8) My loadouts don't really do much for burst and focused target attacks (if there's just one enemy it's fine, but something like the start of LoA or Nexus where I pick a target is another story). Can I do much there, or is it just something Earth lacks? Sandblast seems decent above 35% but not good enough to substitute for Jackhammer while geared for prec. =P

The loadout I landed on (roughly) is:
Melee
Reinforce, Unstoppable, Totem, Debris Field, Jackhammer, Sandstorm.

Ranged (provided I can still remain within Jackhammer's rather large range)
Reinforce, Stone, Totem, Debris Field, Jackhammer, Sandstorm.

Any feedback is appreciated. Like I said I'm working on figuring this out myself but honestly DCUO goes against all my old hardcore raider instincts. Normally in a MMORPG I throw something together based on tool tips, ignore individual numbers and judge my effectiveness based on DPS during short/specific windows in the mechanics. Sitting down at a dummy and charting the performance of individual attacks drives me nuts.

1. While have haven't written anything down, judgind by eyeball measurements I would say Reinforce after a power is cast does not help with crits.
2. When you release the melee hold and for certain attacks I've noticed clipping to cancel damage, such as brawling's hold triangle won't register if I clip too soon.
3. Yes you lose Daze after 8-12 seconds and the bonus that comes with it.
4. I run with a similar loadout sometimes (only difference with my unstoppable loadout is I switch sandstorm for crystal) and my full rotation is one hit of JH for 50% buff, Totem clip Unstoppable, DF clip reinforce, weapon combo which I may clip with JH while Daze is still up, cast DF while waiting for Unstoppable. Up until the weapon combo my rotation doesn't change much (if smaller adds I go Unstoppable-DF-Reinforce-JH or weapon combo w/JH). Dazing with unstoppable will always be less smooth than with TB.

At work will answer rest later.

5. Us prec based earth dps don't get as much out of Sandblast as might or balanced builds, so I wouldn't make it your bread and butter.
6. After a couple embarassing runs in Nex with brawl and a few with pistols I've grown to love the shield when I choose to range. Keep the crit dam boost from melee but with improved ranging capabilities. As far as loadouts go I keep the two I use for melee, only difference being I use the shield. TB has really good range so unless you have great timing I would suggest using that instead of Unstoppable. Some people run with Rumblecrush for might based range loadouts, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone really.
7. I actually think it may even be three different ranges, as I've noticed either a simultaneous two ticks or two quick ticks when placed right under an opponent, a steady tick mid range, and a third sporadic tick when placed farther away. Third tick has either same range as DF or just a bit more.
8. Earth does lack strong single target attacks, so from a power standpoint there's not much one can do aside from using Sandblast (a more balanced might/prec player would obviously benefit more than a mostly prec player would) or weapon attacks preceded by Reinforce.

Has anyone else used Crystal since the update? I've had my earth toon for about a year and never knew she was supposed to be using Boulder Barrage. She used to do the charge up animation and just shoot a regular hand blast, which I figured was normal. She's still kinda slow for lower tier content but for T5 I roll with her about 80% of the time; she's great for low power consumption builds, she seems to fire a little quicker post-update, and I like that Boulder Barrage fires off three rapid AOE shots (from what I've seen target takes full damage and surrounding enemies take splash damage in an area comparable to Unstoppable). At cr 97 she hits 110-160 per shot and the highest crit I've seen was 344. Not crazy high numbers, but when you consider that she can stay up the whole fight on one cast (depending on healer and luck [can't tell her to get out of AOEs, unfortunately] she goes down 2-3 times tops in BIA, FAM or Prison, 5-8 in Nexus) I believe she's finally become a viable power for either prec or might based dps.

Thanks for the feedback. I ran Nexus last night and did better but I do think I'm holding the team back. On the charts my DPS looked fine, but only because I was running with two Celestial players who were still experimenting. There were so many times where entire minutes went by with me doing practically nothing because of buffs, AoE attacks, movements, etc. I ended up taking more stupid risks to set things up. Having Lex teleporting around the Security room away from everything I'd set up didn't help either. I'm so tempted to just switch to one of the more ranged friendly powers until T5 is over but I really like Earth.
I'm going to look into getting rid of Unstoppable. In any content where I can pass the dom check all it does it knock all the enemies out of range. By the time I get them clustered up the Debris Field is half gone and the Dazed PI is almost over. I end up losing more than I gain from the PI. I've just got to figure out how to do it with limited points to spend.