Optimal 3 agents for DPS?

SecretFox created a mod that automatically switches level 50 Agents to match your target:

Included in the ZIP folder are two text documents that give an overview of how creatures and dungeon bosses are defined as species.

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For talismans, not weapons :

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If by 3 Crit power glyphs you mean one in each weapon and one in a talisman then yes it’s advisable to keep the same ratio of active glyphs which has always been 5/2/1 Crit/CP/Hit. The reasoning behind other agents being more appealing is that even with two active elaborate Crit power glyphs you will be about 500 shy of the soft cap. So depending on your weapon choice agents like quartermaster get a significant boost. Note as Dumbox mentioned at the end of the day the difference is fairly minimal.

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I read elsewhere that after glyphs are maxed that some folks would opt for 4 fierce 3 devastating 1 accurate. With elaborate glyphs being a thing, I didn’t know if that was still an option. Thank you.

That was originally thought to be an option but the loss of a Crit glyph would bring you well below the Crit soft cap and without having any agents that provide Crit rating it’s impossible to get both stats close to the soft cap with that setup. Also one extra elaborate Crit power glyph puts you well over the soft cap for Crit power so the are some wasted stat points.

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I’m guessing Lydia’s better than the Quartermaster no matter what until you’re pretty close to full reds, cause I’m halfway and although they’re close, Lydia wins (Lydia’s +50 basic, -9 power move damage with my maxed finger/neck signets and ~1500 combat power, other stuff they appear equal)

Of course that assumes you use basics at all often (in my build it’s near 2 basic 1 power in long term)

Does anyone super kind mind creating single post with updated list of agents and short explanation in which case better to use who? Like, as far as I understood, you’d still want to use African agents (is Che available now? I remember him being booster only agent and I feel like I read somewhere he won’t drop from boosters too), then
 that’s the question. You say mob specific agents are better? OK, then who’s third? Yablokov? Quartermaster (I have 2/3 of elaborate but not even all of them red yet and really far from maxing my glyphs)? Callie James if I use offhand ele and Cr.Flame? Margot or Skelly?

Like this post?

Yeah, just it’s 4th message of thread and then there are 40+ other messages arguing and half year later there new agents added. That I mentioned. So. I asked:

Thanks for reading full message of mine.

Thanks for the snark. I forgot that unless you write “NO, SERIOUSLY” then people assume that you’re being sarcastic.

Reading through the thread, there are plenty of comments like:

So asking someone to clarify exactly what they want doesn’t seem that extreme.

The 10% agents seem to be in the third spot (reading the thread). The questions about using offhand is going to come down to your parse (also mentioned in the thread).
If you’re after a single post simply consolidating the information, then you’re probably going to be out of luck, because there’s too many different variables.

And this is why I said ‘short explanation in which case better to use who’. I didn’t ask static list. And I believe that forum is kinda supposed to be good place for guides. Yet this is only thread about agents? Like, OK, I’ll just choose those with prettiest pictures but. :woman_shrugging: I hope it’s too early to say about being out of luck.

The purpose of my post on optimal agents was to be a guideline on how to select the agents likeliest to be most effective for your build. At the time, it was a fairly good method, but the introduction of new agents and the increase in the soft cap for critical hit chance and critical power rendered the list obsolete. I’m hesitant to respond with a comprehensive list because, in all honesty, it can be difficult to determine which agents are optimal for a given build without an intimate understanding of how its damage is distributed.

The difficulty is compounded in that the difference between each of the best agents’ contribution is usually minuscule. For example, the optimal agents for a Chaos DPS build, assuming glyphs are fully leveled, would be Lydia, Ann, and the matching Druid agent for the mob you are attacking; yet, the difference between Lydia and the Quartermaster is less than 1%. Moreover, Lydia may not perform as well if your critical hit chance is not at or near the soft cap, making Oleg a better option in the mean time. No matter whether you choose Lydia, Quartermaster, or Oleg, in this case, you will be performing within 98% or 99% of your full potential regardless.

Still, I suppose one could adjust the list a bit and be close to what is optimal. The best agents for DPS are likely to be arrived at in this manner:

1. Choose an Agent From South Africa That Matches Your Primary Weapon

  • Mesilande Gwinyai (Assault Rifle)
  • Victor Cromely (Blade)
  • Aliya Zehhar (Blood Magic)
  • Ann Thophora (Chaos Magic)
  • Wekesa Ikande (Pistols)
  • Mehmet Muzzaffer (Elementalism)
  • Che Garcia Hansson (Fists)
  • Queen Ranavalona IV (Hammer)
  • Dennis Masuhlo (Shotgun)

2. Choose an Agent Matching the Mob Type You’re Attacking

  • Amelia Bindings (Spirits)
  • Brann Mac Diarmoda (Aquatic Creatures)
  • Fearghas Abernathy (Cybernetic)
  • Finn Mulligan (Animals)
  • Francis Rowan (Filth)
  • Lady of the Mists (Humans)
  • Laughing Jenny (Demons)
  • Lynch (Undead)
  • Nuala Magorion (Constructs)
  • Sif Minervudottir (Supernatural Beings)

3. Choose the Faction Quartermaster

4. Otherwise, Choose From Among These Agents

  • Sarah Skelly (only if your primary weapon is either a Hammer, Blood Focus, or Elementalism Focus)
  • Virgil (only if your primary weapon for a single-target build is a Chaos Focus)
  • Oleg Yablokov
  • Lydia Darling
  • Margot Crowley-Mathers
  • Nassir (Assault Rifle)
  • Montgomery de la Roche (Blade)
  • Carter (Blood Magic)
  • Hayden J. Montag (Chaos Magic)
  • Deputy Andy Gardener (Pistols)
  • Amir (Elementalism)
  • Mihas Blaga (Fists)
  • Petru (Hammer)
  • Aurelie (Shotgun)
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Well I didn’t expect difference will be that tiny. :thinking: But I’ll keep in mind that one day I may do 1% more if I chose her. :smiley: @DumbOx thanks a lot for explanations!

It may surprise you to know the difference for a single-target Chaos DPS build between Virgil (the best Agent for this build) and a Druid Agent is about 1.02%, according to my best calculations. I reckon it’d be about the same, if not a little more, for an Occult Defence build using Oleg Yablokov or the Faction Quartermaster in place of Virgil.

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This isn’t accurate enough - Sarah Skelly is also bis for Blood and most likely Elemental, due to the multiplicative nature of the specialties.

My take on the agent sorting:
1: SA agent
2: Sarah Skelly (hammer, blood, ele) / Faction Quartermaster / Oleg Yablokov
3: druid agent / Faction Quartermaster / Oleg Yablokov

Chaos DPS is a special case, see what DumbOx suggests.

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Thanks for the clarification. Since I wasn’t sure which other weapons Sarah Skelly is an optimal choice for, I limited my recommendations to what I was certain of. I’ll update the list to reflect your advice for Sarah Skelly.

Why isn’t Sarah Skelly better than the Faction Quartermaster for all weapons? I’d think that having 8% extra damage on power abilities, which is what you use 90% of the fight, would be better than the meagre 2,5% damage boost from the FQ.

Some weapons don’t get the bonus like blade for example which hasn’t been fixed for over a year. Or AR which is the most popular choice for DPS doesn’t get the bonus for incindiary grenade which accounts for almost double the damage of your power ability. Hammer clearly benefits the most from it because it not only works on demolish but also since the weapons special effect is built into demolish attacks gets the added benefit of boosting rage attacks.

This is obviously a very exaggerated statement.

This isn’t how one compares agents. You have to take into account both the lvl 25 and lvl 50 bonuses from agents, and not randomly comparing a lvl 50 agent bonus to a different agent’s lvl 25 bonus.

For the rest, Drenneth explained why Sarah Skelly doesn’t quite perform as well as expected for some weapons.

@Szalord
Well, yes – 90% is a slightly exaggerated statement – for all weapons. It depends on a persons build also, I assume.

My build is using Pistol/Shotgun (Havoc), and far from a meta. Active abilties are Hair Trigger (only because the game requires me to have it on the bar - never use it), Unload (sub-optimal dps, but less energy intensive due to the timer), Controlled Shooting (AoE and solo play), Raging Shot/Both Barrels (depending on situation), Trick Shot, and Six Line/Clean Slate/Opening Shot (also depending on situation).

Passives are Fixed Game, Holdout, High Roller, Heavy Caliber Rounds, and Bamboozle.

Agents used are Wekesa, Oleg, Skelly.

In my case, I only use power moves & elite. With the Vali gadget I never run out of energy. So, I could maybe lower it to 70 or 80%. :wink: This is, of course, not conting the passive/gear triggers during the fight. Switching from Havoc to Energy on the weapons would enable me to use Dual Shot instead of Unload, increasing my dps, but leveling weapons is a pain. :roll_eyes:

I understand your and Drenneths reasoning, but the reality is that using Skelly now increases my dps far more than the Quartermaster. The difference is about 3k dps (tested on MBs). Perhaps this will be different when I hit max IP, having better stats on crit/crit power.

I’m always game for suggestions on improvement.

Edit: Forgot to say my Glance @ 39.9, Crit @ 37.5 (plus expertise), and Crit Power @ 125.8 (plus Havoc & expertise). I assume these stats might have something to do with Skelly outperforming the Quartermaster.