Test Discussion Episode 43: Artifact M.E.R.C.Y. Amazotron Matrix

It is intended for it to apply a PI. The only thing I don’t know if is intended is the aoe PI (as in applying PI in aoe, the aoe attack itself is intended to apply a PI).

I think the supercharge generation on Godwave and MAP is fine, it will be hard enough to fit a supercharge on the ability tray with these let alone a supercharge generator, I mean artifacts requiring added tray abilities need to fill multiple niches to compete with artifacts that provide passive benefits.

Ehhhh, that’s a pretty large amount of super regen. It will instantly cause players to call for nerfs to electric and rage. Both powersets already running quislet/scrap/EoG could then drop scrap and do even more damage while getting what seems to be even more super regen. It will be bad for balance. I run the normal pet build and with gw and quislet, I fill my bar much faster than my toons using just scrap.

Is Fury without Mercy supposed to do better single target damage? It's damage without Mercy seems to be mostly unchanged.

With Mercy, Fury's single-target damage increases by about 30% (Considering Offering damage only).
With Mercy, Fury's AOE damage plummets by fully 1/3 vs Offering with a PI applied.

As-is, this is not a good artifact for fans of Fury.

Mercy is intended to buff the damage if both aoe and st for both fury and crystal. This was done to make it so that sorcery and earth, who has pets designed to do this, aren’t forced to run with rsk or even be outdone by powers who didn’t have pets with this function.

So he’s the ST is intended to be higher. However the aoe appears to be bugged and will probably be fixed next patch. So Monday or Tuesday maybe?

Is Quislet + Grim + MoM better than Quislet + Grim + Source?

I really depends on your loadout and rotation. Quislet and Grim don't benefit from MAM, while they do with Source Shard. So in the end, you decide on your play style. That's what is good about MAM, because it adds another tool to your toolkit and allows for you to decide what works best for you.

Powerset dependent. Sorcery, probably not. Earth, maybe. Electric, definitely. Loadout and rotation will make the most of it. Or again, there are some powersets that are doing better (for me anyway) without source and just using map/grim/quislet or just dropping another completely non pet artifact out like Strat in a trans/Strat/solar setup. My munitions build is happy with map/EoG/scrap. A 200 quislet would be even better than scrap. But have definitely seen a great increase in dps out with map on muni and electric. Just because it’s a pet artifact doesn’t mean it’s only going to pair with other pet artifacts. Chances are you’re (the universal you) already running rsk. So if you’re happy with 2 artis and ones like meh, give mercy a try and replace a pi application 6sec cd power.

Hmm... what damage adjustment did Crystal and Fury get, not telling a noticeable difference?

I'm wondering if anyone managed to pick up artifacts and loadout with MAM but without Shard? I've mostly tested earth and sorcerer, and so far I haven't been able to find an option without a shard for them...
I like the idea of ​​the artifact, but I get the impression that it is too attached to Shard and Quslet....
The version with Grim is weaker, the version with 2 boos is much weaker...
Variants without a Shard are also weaker...

If it strengthens the boos themselves by 15%-20%, then the option with DKS and 2 boos would become possible.... if add a decrease in the CD to the Henchman trinkets and an additional boost of the henchmen during the activation of the Mercy protocol(ideally, make a trigger for a big attack of the henchmens after the protocol and reduce cd....), then perhaps some of the options without a shard would become possible...

I haven’t been able to get on but when I first got on test the number values for crystals and fury’s aoe attack were bugged and were doing little damage. I’ll test it when I get back on.

I actually don’t see it codependent on shard or pet artifacts. I’ve been able to make it work just fine. I originally tested this in a shard build, meta build, and an off meta build.

I’ve been playing around with ice and munitions trying different combos that don’t involve shard. No combo I’ve found is as good as meta but it’s not a big loss overall and it seems like the shorter cd of the trinket pets would make up for it over time. It basically works if you drop pi application moves on anything I’ve tried tho. Just not sure where it’s super regen ability is going to land so can’t tell which is better, a super pi applicant or running mercy protocol in that spot. It flows much better without source but that’s the deal with source. Can’t have a right to left loadout with it. I can if I just use mercy tho. My favorite/ best results combo so far has been mercy/quislet/scrap or EoG or trans. Just running trinket pet/orbital/sd/ buff trinket. Haven’t tried playing around with multiple boos yet.

What exactly do your words mean? You can work with any combination of artifacts, even with omegadron, lazarus pit and starheart... my question was how competitive are these combinations against meta? 10% difference? 20 %? Or perhaps your builds are better than the meta?

I’m aware that anything can “work”. I’m also aware that you were asking more about viability. And it’s just as viable without shard or even pet arts in general. It’s only requirement is having rsk or crystal/fury. It’s not codependent like source shard is. For example. Source shard can technically “work” with just rsk and no other pet arts. But let’s face is, it’s not as good. That’s cause it’s dependent on other pets. Mercy on the other hand doesn’t require anything else. So viability it works.

As for how it compares percentage wise to meta arts that’s hard to just say out right since some powers actually do much better than others using certain arts. And some arts do situationally better. I did do a list before regarding how much damage I was doing with different arts set up. I didn’t post it because it was a lot if information and only a portion showcased mercy damage. I did not want to turn this thread into something it wasn’t. If the devs are ok with it I’d be happy to post that here. I’d just want confirmation since it’s a lot lol. If they are ok with it I may just do a condensed version of it

Clarify one point, weaker than the meta, I understand this, but in comparison with MOM + Shard + Quslet? It’s just that the amount of testing is too large, and I want to outline patterns .... so as not to test ineffective builds ....

So on sorcery, definitely still stronger to run grim/source/quislet with the normal fury offering combos. Pretty sure you already know that. Again, think it’s speed related. Map moves things slower. I haven’t touched earth ever so I still haven’t tried anything with them. I do know map and fury isn’t working properly on AoE so I didn’t bother testing that. Rsk taking fury’s slot, it was lower but more consistent than grim/quis/source. Averaged out pretty close but still less than the normal pet meta.

Ice, source map quislet worked well. Pretty much within 5-10% of a scrap/EoG/tetra or trans setup. The issue there, I wasn’t using supercharges and EoG will pull ahead if used properly. No doubt there. But in a solo or duo, and open world map is the better choice. It works well with ice in close/melee range. I’ll just put this bit of info in here, rsk from range on adds is pretty terrible. They just move too much and he reacts slow. A stationary boss at range has seemed fine. St, I tried sa/tetra/map and scrap/EoG/map and then quis/EoG/map. All were close, I’d say 10% again. It’s not overpowering any combo that I’ve found but it’s also viable due to the cd reduction. I did not try dks setups. Probably worth a try to do dks/map/quis and compare to trans/quis/3rd option

Water, I just couldn’t find anything that works with source. There aren’t any really fast cd powers. Melee seemed like a possible option but wouldn’t have room for a super and I feel like waters supers/dehydrate are too good to give up. So I went trans/map/quislet vs EoG/scrap/trans and sa/EoG/trans and sa/scrap/trans. Again, map lost but it was closer (5%) on AoE and it felt good which is important. And no use of trinket pets again so still think map/quis/trans would win. St, anything with solar wins so with trans/map/sa, it’s good. Giving up the drowned pi in AoE is an instant win because using that power at all always drops parsers no matter how it’s used. It’s just so weak. So loadout (when mercy is equipped) was always:
Mercy/ebb/depth/shark rsk and either whirlpool or call or dehydrate. Flows well, sets pi except for shark. Trident may be the better call but couldn’t get good timing so gave up to focus on looking at damage differences.

Munitions, pretty sure I posted already. I like it but again, it’s viability will depend on how much super it generates. Muni is probably always going to be happiest with trans/Strat or quis/ solar. Map loses to that with identical loadouts by about 15%. But if you compare a toon with scrap/EoG/ tetra or trans, map/quis/trans wins on parsers by about 5%. But then you would pull ahead with the EoG build by running turret spam. But the powerset takes to mercy well.

Electric, trans/Strat or quis/ solar wins again. It was a bit more of a spread but still seems in the 10-15% range. I think someone will beat it once they figure out how to use the pi application to their advantage. Right now, setting pi is easy because it’s got a great application. But you want super regen yet we don’t use the actual pi applicator. I want to play around more but I think one of us could find a viable loadout for both pi’s being used. This power can run source combo but it wasn’t smooth. It has enough fast cd choices tho so I’m sure there’s a combo I’m not thinking of. Basically, I’m not the one to test electric. I’m learning but think someone more comfortable with it will find a better build.

Gadgets, I’m shocked but I couldn’t come close to meta might builds with source. Best I could pull off with only having 2 moves was 75k. I may have been using a bad choice for a 4-6sec cd power. But it was taser pull spam for the fast cd choice. On st, I used hv. But following meta with little knowledge on the powerset, I was 25% (at least) higher than when using source map quis. It doesn’t make sense to me, it should work better than I got it to. Dropping source, things went back to close enough range when mixing and matching. Again, nothing beat meta once map was introduced. It did have some close highs but in general, the same 10-15% lower than meta result.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten. Have notes at home with numbers but as of now, I can find viable but I can’t find beating meta. I will repeat tho, no trinket pets were used. In a longer fight, that will presumably put it within 5% of meta is my thought/ assumption. I’m sure people are expecting me to make a buff request but I can’t. If rsk gets buffed then other pets need it too. And they don’t need it. I really believe it comes down to the speed of it so 10sec parsers aren’t telling the whole story vs maybe 2 60sec parsers. Plus if he does get buffed, then source builds may be overpowered once enough people have enough time to sort it out fully. If we’re this close within a week of testing, someone a year from now will be magic with it imo.

So now my question, why only 2 boos? I usually run baby/mom/jr and a trinket to keep my cr up. But I was thinking 3 boos and trinket and just swapping in orbitals and sd when necessary. I’m guessing you’re going to say cuz of dks? Makes sense but I haven’t tried that combo at all. Which again, I think that’s the problem. There’s so many possible variations to this and then powerset differences. I’d rather see it launched as is (fix the fury/crystal AoE thing if it’s still going on) and maybe take a buff later on vs buffing now and overpowering it. Honestly, it’s not a damage thing. It’s an ai thing and a possible non contact attack thing. I can miss on sparring targets from far enough away. Sometimes I get 3 mercy shots and a follow up regular rocket. Sometimes I hear 4 rsk mercy attacks. The source timing is much harder with mercy (like we said, seems like you pop mercy then gw vs gw then offering) and waiting on source cd seems like a bigger damage loss vs waiting on offering/gw cds. Very nuanced and just not comfortable enough with it yet to decide if a buff is in order. Rage is up next, I think melee is going to be a happy place for mercy. And again, mid range is the better option vs ranged. Have to make sure the attacks don’t miss.

Edit: I think some players will like it/ find it more viable than others. If you’re a solo player or run more pug groups in reg vs all elite runs then it’s a great choice. In elites in meta groups with buff trolls and eogs, pet builds have it rough. I’ll clearly argue all day that they are viable but they aren’t gadgets prec/ electric cb spam/ rage melee berserk. So this ain’t for those types. But nothing is except the same old same old. Give us all enough time and we’ll get it close to them tho. In the meantime, it lets any average player pick up some good damage easily. Just keep your pet out and pop trinket pets as often as possible. It’s also a decent equalizer for low sp players because pets only care about cr. If you’re under 250sp, a rsk with mercy/quis/grim, trinket pet and henchmen will put you in a good place in all situations with any powerset.

It's speed related. Since MAM replaces your attack powers with a beam that gets boosted. This beam is coupled with a targeting beam that checks if the enemies are single or multiple and decides to attack based on that. That targeting beam deals a little damage, but there is a delay between the big hit. So it's really the reason why MAM is running lower for Fury and Crystal. Without MAM, they just use their normal big hits. I wish there would be a bit of compensation to increase these two because of it. The damage loss for pet classes kind of make this disappointing, yes, it increases the pet trinket uptime, but that increase doesn't help the overall damage loss. But if the devs want to start with it being lower and maybe inch it up after it hits live, that would be good, but I do think something needs to be adjusted for Fury and Crystal.

With RSK, MAM works perfect. When you hit MAP, it does exactly what is expected and I really like that.

Can you give me the different builds you were using for Gadgets? You can PM me them. I want to test what you are experiencing. I was getting 80-90k ST with Quislet/MAM/Source using taser, photon, MAP, GW, RSK, bunker. With T3 motherbox.

I'm still excited to see this pet artifact. I'm already expecting to see better results on my current build. I'm mostly incapable to do the extreme sweaty rotations unless I use a macro, which I'm not going to do, there is no fun there. So I found a good build that is pretty competitive, but will lose to the extreme builds.

I’ll send you what I used but I’ll have to look cuz I don’t know any of the powersets names. Seems like your numbers are right in line with mine tho since yours had trinket pet usage. I never test with trinket usage unless I’m looking for the “holy cow” numbers. I just know it was map/rsk/gw/taser/4-6sec cd power/ supercharge slot. On AoE, I’d generally run without a super but for testing purposes, I wanted to run as I would in an add heavy raid situation which when I use source is 2 powers. A .5sec cd and a 4-6sec one. If you have any knowledge on the powerset, you’re in a better spot than me.

And yeah, it’s probably just a speed issue. Which is another reason I’m against a buff just yet. If, probably more of a “when”, we start getting comfortable with timing and how it all reacts to each other then I do think the 10-15% differences will start to turn to 3-8% ranges. It’s awkward. But so was source to most of us the 1st few weeks. Now it’s like 2nd nature to deal with. Once we’re that comfortable with map/source or any combination, there’s no way parsers won’t improve.

In my testing, I don't use my SC, which would result in a loss on Quislet's ST/AOE beam, but the overall damage numbers gets skewed as SCs kind of hit way harder and you have to build it up to hit them. So depending on where you hit them in the parse, can result in different numbers. Sort of like how Godwave could go off CD 3 times in a row one rotation and go full CD to wait, but I find this is still easier to know by averages over an SC.

I do agree that when we start using it in regular content, we can start seeing the benefits, but I do still think it would need to be adjusted up slightly. Kind of like Source Shard and Quislet did. Now they are really strong artifacts for the toolkit. (Still hard to beat Trans/Strat/Amp though... lol)

Yeah no, I slot a super but I don’t ever use one. I just set it up to how it would be run in live content. On the dummies tho, no never using one. Which is why when it parsers near an EoG scrap quislet build, I know for a fact that those will parse much higher in live. Like for electric, I can get close to meta parsers but that’s without using cb. Toss cb into the mix and anything related to supercharge use is going to win. Quis/scrap/EoG without super use is right there with mercy/quis/trans (that actually has a higher parser chance) but used right, the 1st combo will win. But in a situation where you can’t place EoG close to others due to mechanics, I’d go mercy/quis/trans vs scrap/EoG/quis. So I’m basically saying it’s situational. There’s a time and place for it. Now having said all that, I can’t beat trans/Strat/solar amp. And that one allows me to tac swap. Strat shows better on dummies than quislet because I’m not using supers. In content, maybe not all, I’d still choose trans/quis/sa with EoG swaps. All might btw, I’m still not testing prec at all.

Edit: with as much as it does, I’m still anti buff. It brings a lot to the table. I think the one thing it “needs” is to maybe match a supercharge generator. I’m on the fence with this suggestion. It’s already stepping all over grims shoes and this would now step on quislets 200 buffs shoes. Since I’m not mixing supers in, it’s hard to say but I feel like if it gives just the right amount, it could even itself off a bit over time. But in almost every powerset, might based talk still, replacing your super generator for AoE is the best option I’ve found. So using muni as an example, I’d run schrapnel grenade launcher and set my pi and generate good super. Combo’d with scrap/chest mod/ head mod and quislet, I’d be pumping out turrets. Which is great for EoG tac swaps. Or the easier/ riskier biggun use and no tac swapping. It’s hard to tell what it’s doing for super regen right now. It seems too much then not enough lol. Fluctuating isn’t easy to tell what’s up. Ice was kind of the same, giving up a non splitting generator/ pi application move works well when there’s less adds. 8 targets, it’s better to not rely on rsk/ map but 5 was close. But losing out on one extra blizzard in an add heavy boss fight could make it look bad on the board.