Skill Point Allocation in the Weapon Master Era

I like to at least unlock the two control resistance innates from the movement tree (4 SP). To grab the crits from a weapon tree costs 7 SP per. To get one WM combo requires 43 SP (21 + 21 + 1). So, with 100 SP, you can get a combo (43), movement innates (4), and have 53 SP remaining. That allows you to unlock the crits from 7 more trees (you already have the crits from the two you mastered), giving you 9/11 total. Go for those with crit mag first. The 4 remaining can be used to grab 4/6 of the tier 3 innates from the two mastered trees. You could also take one SP to get another combo.

Personally, for my Elec toon I use three builds for skill points.

Build 1 = DPS build wherein I first get the 7 travel, then get wm for HB and Bow, then get all the +Crit chance and Dmg, then get two more WMs and the the prec/might bonuses from WM then tier 2 prec bonuses and then tier 2 might

Build 2 = Pure Heal = Same as above but for healing crit and bonus and resto in lieu of prec

Build 3 = Combat heal = Sam as Build 1 plus crit heal chance and bonus. I also add the resto bonuses from WM and gear wise put on enough DPS gear so that I am about 5000 resto and 1500 prec. For the new T6 alert and ops if I heal I def use the combat heal build as a pure heal build is wasted in those instances. With trinkets etc I am usually do about half the dmg as a solid DPS.

What loadout do you use for your Combat Healing build? I run DoTs and am working on making a video guide for it.

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It depends... mostly I run in healer role with: BioElec Surge, Flux, Biocapac, Static Push and Wired. If I run in DPS mode I just toss on Bio Elec Surge for those Ocrap moments and spam it to heal someone up. So depends on situation.

I find that simply spamming HB WM into explosive shot with 1500 prec does more than enough and you can use that concept on elec, nature or celest.

Yeah, I know that high prec and WM deals more damage. I just don't find it interesting. Instead, I like to stack 2 of the 3 DoTs from the AM and have fun with it. I love seeing big green, white, AND yellow numbers. xD

For Battle Healing, I run:
Arc, Cap, eBurst, VB, Galv, Wired.

Updated with the GU 40 changes to crit mag, after confirmation by Shiny Mackerel.

Thank you for putting in all the work here. I learned a lot from your post. I am replying because you have a mistake about your crit chance versus crit mag analysis. You imply that you should devote all of your SP to crit chance first, then go for crit mag. However, your formula results in a parabolic shape (with a fixed number of SP, X goes to crit chance and SP - X goes to crit mag). It turns out, the maximum damage would have you put roughly half of the SP in crit chance and the other half into crit mag. Always choose crit chance first though. To proove this, I welcome you to do your analysis again with the Full investment example. This time, look at half in crit mag, the other half in crit chance, then see if you get a higher result.

As an example, I looked at an allocation of 25 SP towards either chance or mag. It turns out that all chance gives me 1.075*DMG, all mag gives me 1.0726*DMG, and 13 chance and 12 mag gives me 1.1314*DMG

Hey Remander do you remember a thread/guide about Ice tanking? It was just one guys experience with it and not so much a guide like the others. I haven't been able to find it anywhere. And, there was another guide about SP's in regards to Tanking alone. Can't find that one either.

Very good observation. In my haste to solve the chance vs mag argument, I neglected to look at a mix. Thanks for bringing that up! I'll adjust the analysis to include that.

Sorry, never Ice tanked, so a guide like that wouldn't have caught my attention. Not sure if Kristyana looked at SP allocation in his Fire guide. I'd check there.

Updated the OP and credited you for bringing up the balanced approach. Thanks!

Many thanks. This answered a question I had to a T. Thanks for the the other guides you have done as well. Awesome info.

Thanks! One correction to that post, though. Additional testing has shown that balancing crit chance and crit mag gives you the most bang for the buck, so to speak. Go for a mix of the two, as you invest in other trees.

Before, I was in the mindset that the more precision innates i filled, the more damage I get. I went back after reading your post and filled all my crit mags and had enough for 2 crit chance. The difference is ridiculous. Not a numbers guy like you, but I immediately started hitting crits over 20k on a regular basis using bloodlust, trinket and infuriate and HB mastery. My max so far is a 27k. May not see much to some, but the highest I'd been hitting was 10-13 lol.

Anyways, bottom line, it works for whoever is debating this. I just wish I had done it sooner. Thanks again

I'm going to update this for GU 47 sometime this weekend.

Updated for GU 47! Only real change, other than a buff to the core, first, and second tier stat innates, was a change in the best and worst trees for health. Before GU 47, Brawling, HB, Rifle, Shield, and 2-H gave the best overall health at 210, whereas Bow, DP, and DW gave the worst at 192. After GU 47, MA and Staff are the tops for health at 258. The worst is 1-H at 222.

So how does AM fit into all this.

Well, AM is just a form of attack, like WM. The idea behind the information provided is to help you direct your SP allocation toward an optimal spec for your particular approach. If you use a play from the tray might-based powerset, you'll want to focus on the weapon trees that have more might, for instance.

Been meaning to add this to the guide, so I've posted it there, as well as here.

Tip: Regarding third tier innates, it's not necessarily optimal to go for them, when you have the SP to invest. If you plan to get a particular WM combo, go for it, but if you are just mining the innates, consider the following.

Healer: 17 SP to unlock third tier resto (in trees that have second tier) nets you +150 resto. Using those same 17 SP to just grab second tier resto gives you +170.

DPS: 17 SP to unlock third tier prec/might nets you +117 prec/+75 might (in trees that have second tier precision) or +75 prec/+129 might (in trees that have second tier might). Using the same 17 SP in second tier only would give you only +119 precision or +153 might. If your powerset is might-based, from the tray, you would be better off with second tier might. If you're precision-based, you only get a couple extra points, so the additional might may be a better option. Balanced powersets are better off going for the third tier.

Controller: If you want to maximize vit, you'll definitely want to go with second tier. the 17 SP to get third tier will net you +48 vit (in the trees with second tier vit), while those same 17 points will get you 68 vit from the second tier.

Tank: 17 SP to unlock the third tier health (in trees that have second tier health) will get you +234 health. You'll also get some dom along the way. You only get +4 more health by going straight second tier. Third tier approach is your best bet.

Whaaaaat? Am I reading this right?

If so that's amazing: You're saying instead of going all the way down to get that 25 might/prec, don't activate WM and get the Prec or might above it on the second levels?