Penetrating Strikes vs Core Strength update 47

This was the only test I ran last night for PS vs CS. I'll run some more during actual content but this has me wondering: what's the point of two chest mods that both do (basically) the same thing? That's like if we had two different feet mods to damage opponents while blocking or two different neck mods that boos resto.

Ey! Don't give 'em ideas or next thing you know, we'll see penetrating strength and core strikes.

Uh-huh huh-huh-huh... uh-huh, huh-huh huh-huh huh-huh... penetrating strength...

I think it's time for a mod revamp....
With AM in the mix, some powers rarely use weapons, those mods need additions or adjustments.
I would like to see 'escalating Might' moved to the weapon mods.

I could see that in a future update. I mean there are some mods that just make you scratch your head, like the mod that doubles power received from defeated enemies. Definitely has some utility, but only for about 30% of all content and it's never really needed.

Well to be fair both were pretty identical even before the update. There was a small difference between them. However I still believe Penetrating Strikes is better assuming the adjustments are buff based and don't adjust Defense directly. For example if the CR adjustment buffs Damage Received instead of Defense. I have no proof for that theory but would be the best scalable option without messing with too many stats (adjust Defense and you also need to adjust Defense : Damage Mitigation ratio too at some point to prevent 100% mitigation, etc.)

At CR 114 I get roughly a 500% boost against a CR 56 target. That would be a 35500 Defense loss at 71 Defense : 1% mitigation to that enemy if using Defense (so each NPC would need to have a very large Defense score to prevent negative Defense) or a simple -500% Damage Received debuff which should be similar to modifiers. If similar to modifiers Penetrating Strikes is still better if even by a very small amount.

I don't know the base Defense of Sparring Targets anymore so I have no testing basis for that idea though.

so you want powers that dont use weapons and do all might dmg to not recieve thier might bonus. am i reading this right? i never use my wpn on my quantum so id never get my bonus. wpn mods require wpn use to activate, unless your HL.

One thing i think the tool tip for core strength is incorrectly worded it does not increase your damage by 10% it increases your damage modifier by 10% which are 2 every different things. Ive seen this is other post so I could be wrong about this but if true seeing that you didnt use a power your modifier is 0% so you didnt test core strength at all.

That was only needed during the beginning of OC. After that, its use pretty much vanished unless you were doing solos.

That's what I assumed initially as the old sparring targets had no defense, so I'll need to run some tests against live opponents (probably bounties) to get a better feel for any potential changes.

There was an update awhile ago where they allowed weapon mods to activate with might based attacks too.

That could very well be the case. Haven't seen a dev indicate as much but it's definitely worth a test later tonight.

Penetrating strikes is better. Simply because the 10% is hardly noticeable. However PS is only slightly better.

No, the bonus should still work innately...
Why have blast Adapter or power Recovery mods if the weapon is hardly used(?) It's wasted slot for AM users. Moving 'escalating might' over to weapons would free the hand slot up for 'empowered channeling' or something that helps AM players

If you're a support role, CS is better. DPS, PS is better.

The Blast Adapter on the weapon works for powers too though, specifically for powersets like Quantum and Mental that don't use a weapon.

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you are saying ?

I did not know that... I think I have the power return adapter on my Quantum toon.

Blast Adapter:
Weapon attacks have a chance to blast your target and five other nearby enemies for additional damage.
This effect may only occur once every 60 seconds.
20 to 36 Health - Target Area
Knockdown - Target Area (2 seconds)

Yea it was changed several updates ago.

That used to be true back when healers and tanks received a damage penalty. They no longer do.

It appears that I was mistaken, and that Core Strength adds 10% to one's damage modifier and not a flat 10% increase to damage. I guess what I'm wondering is how damage output is calculated now as we go up in cr. Is defense ignored as our cr increases? Are there behind the scene modifiers that slide depending on our cr? I've seen shiny's post about the amount of damage increase/decrease related to cr increase/decrease, but I would like to know the "how."

Actually I kind of like his idea better. There should be a bigger gap between people who are clipping and not.

Escalating Might is a Neck Mod, not Hand.

They changed Blast Adapter after Quantum's AM came out. Just using your AM without weapons gives you the benefit.

lol'd