Recently returned to Anarchy Online.
WIth all the new items (Awakened, DIO items etc) does anyone have some tips for endgame Keeper setups for DD/PvM and setups for PvP?
For DD, I’ll repost a comment I made on the old forums back in January. Note that the linked document contains multiple tabs (sheets) with the different setups used.
2HE is more dmg. You get brawl, another perkline, a harder hitting weapon, but lose some hits per minute. The raw weapon damage between ME and 2HE is really similar. Brawl makes up for almost half the difference in the number of hits per minute, so I don’t think you should worry about having a harder time keeping procs up.
Here are some tests I ran (just normal perk setups, aura/blessing/samurai/holy mark/conc/cohi/crusade for ME, replacing blessing w/ reaver for 2HE):
The ME builds are more optimized than the 2HE builds because I actually use ME, but 2HE still wins. The raw DPM numbers aren’t the point here, just their relative values, but if you want to compare then here’s the scenario: self-buffed with eye of the predator+db2, no procs running (I expect to have similar uptime on procs for both builds, so best not to run them for accuracy), no suicide symbs (sinew/cortex/berserker), and no wen-wen/grenades/kizzers/coffee/hasty augmentation cloud/lesser playful cub, so would be easy to get raw numbers significantly higher.
And just to see I tried a run on the punching bag with all the bells and whistles except suicide symbs, still self-buffed, and got 322.4K DPM for the ME DD setup, an increase of ~30K DPM. Would see a similar increase for 2HE, putting it at around 360K DPM. To improve upon that you’d want HEOT, DB backpiece, ring of ultimate force swap (I used blue ring in all tests for consistency), ACDC, +dmg NCUs, the 3 suicide symbs, and a weird perk setup, dropping aura/holy mark for ambidextrous/freak strength/mountaineer and crusade for whatever primary/secondary is best DD for your breed I guess? And you’d want to look into how effective +crit vs +dmg is at that point, might be able to find better pants or boots. I feel like you’d definitely be able to eclipse 400K DPM against the punching bag.
ME will be closer if you can reliably sneak attack though, say in an inf easy or something.
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For PvM most people will go with a setup somewhere between the ME Evades and the ME DD one above, with almost all Infantry symbs. But for best success soloing and highest ability to save your team from wiping, you want to go with a setup that uses more Support symbs and better NCUs to support casting Watch Ward, Barrier of the Righteous, and Imminence of Extermination as quickly and as frequently as possible. Here are the setups I’ve used to solo various encounters:
Here’s an example of how a caster playstyle works: DB2 Keeper solo
Here’s a playlist of some notable encounters I’ve soloed on my Keeper (each video contains a detailed description and a link to the setup used): Keeper soloing playlist
If you want to go full support (bad soloing, bad offtanking), you can stack healing efficiency in tandem with a high NanoInit and -%Nano cost build (for Watch Ward spam). Healing efficiency affects Aura of Revival which got a boost recently (in 18.7 I think) and Adaptive Ambient Renewal, so now people actually use it. That setup will incorporate Umbral Hand Wraps, Enhanced Jathos’/Kegern’s, the neutral Xan Defense board, Ancient Resorative Fungus, Reanimated Healer cloak, and Bracer of Brother Malevolence might be nice too.
I didn’t PvP much but when I did, here are the setup(s) I used with swaps for DD/AR/DR/NR depending on the fight (all for within the Battlestation): PVP setups. This was before I went caster focused though. I imagine full Awakened is pretty common too. And you’ll see the the Energy Hammer to get Brawl.
For PvP I used Bio Shielding/Samurai/Blessing/Holy Mark. I think this is pretty standard?
For everyday PvM I don’t run Bio Shielding. It’s a pretty selfish perkline. It basically only helps you and mostly in emergencies–which is like, all the time during PvP, but hopefully not very frequently in PvM. I run my Keeper for more of a support and DD role, with the capability to offtank if necessary. Also note that I’m nanomage, so I get an endurance booster to help make up for the absence of Bio Cocoon.
AoR was boosted in 18.7 to roughly twice its original effectiveness at endgame (or even more if it wasn’t affected by +%healing efficiency or had weird bugs before, not sure), so it’s pretty good now.
HP from Blessing improves offtanking ability and has heal actions which can be really nice for support (Bio Shielding has heal actions too, but they’re too slow/weak to save a teammate who’s about to die). The healing from Curing Touch is great, even better than the in-game description indicates–a base of 6900, not 3485, I believe. And affected by +%healing efficiency.
Holy Mark is good for offtanking and the AAO and AAD debuffs can help the tank survive and the raid do some extra damage.
In extreme solo scenarios I drop Cybernetic Samurai for Bio Shielding and go with less DPM instead of dropping AoR. Most solo scenarios don’t require this though. Keepers have to be able to mitigate/recover from damage very consistently. The 1m30s w/o Bio Cocoon is plenty of time to die–you gotta be good enough at mitigating/recovering from damage (Watch Ward spam, Barrier of the Righteous/Imminence swapping, proc swapping, heal auras, evades, stims) to survive that 1m30s, and usually that means you can survive the whole fight without Bio Cocoon. The same consistency isn’t required for profs with Acrobat, as there’s only 25s where you’re without +800 evades. That said, I haven’t tried dropping AoR for Bio Shielding during soloing. Maybe it would work out.
If you know you’re going to main tank on some tough unsoloable stuff, dropping AoR is something to consider. You’ll have the doc’s full attention, the 3% reflects will help, and there’s a higher chance you as the tank will be in an emergency situation requiring Bio Cocoon.
Not sure if you’re aware, but you can perk reset on demand now (for 20 million credits). If you find yourself doing a mix of PvP and PvM, or you’re the main tank frequently, go with Bio Cocoon/Samurai/Blessing/Holy Mark. If you rarely PvP and you want to help gimpy org teams out as much as possible, go with AoR/Samurai/Blessing/Holy Mark and perk reset for PvP. If you mostly PvM in a support role but you’re afraid of not having Bio Cocoon for emergencies, go with AoR/Samurai/(Blessing or Holy Mark)/Bio Cocoon.
I’ll also discuss my symbiant choices. In my setups there are non-standard choices for the purposes of soloing hard stuff and optimizing the caster build. (Using http://kennyboy.org/ao/ for symbiant comparison)
Eye Support: +Intelligence, +Nano Init
Eye Infantry: +Sneak Attack, +Multi Melee, +Sharp Objects
For caster setup I chose Support. Don’t know if PvPers value Sneak Attack or Multi Melee, but Support also gets extra AR from trickle, so could be good for all.
Head Support: +Intelligence, +Max Nano, +Nano Init, +Nano Pool, +Psychic
Head Infantry: +Melee Energy
For caster setup I chose Support. Typical choice is Infantry.
Ear Support: +Intelligence, -Nano Cost
Ear Infantry: +Concealment
For caster setup I chose Support. Typical choice is Support.
Right-Arm Support: +Nano Delta
Right-Arm Infantry: +Brawl, +Fast Attack, +Offense Modifier
For caster setup I chose Support. Typical choice is Infantry.
Chest Support: +Max Nano, +Nano Init, -Nano Interrupt, +Nano Pool, +Psychic, +Sense
Chest Infantry: +Body Dev, +Dimach, +Strength
For caster setup I chose Support. Typical choice is Infantry.
Left-Arm Support: -Nano Cost
Left-Arm Infantry: +Brawl, +Offense Modifier
For caster setup I chose Support. Typical choice is Infantry.
Right-Wrist Support: +Nano Delta
Right-Wrist Infantry: +Melee Energy, +Multi Melee, +Sneak Attack
For caster setup I chose Support. Typical choice is Infantry.
Waist Support: +Agility, +Max Nano, -Nano Cost, +Nano Pool
Waist Infantry: +Body Dev, +Brawl, +Dimach, +Melee Init
For caster setup I chose Support. Typical choice is Infantry.
Left-Hand Support: +First Aid, -Nano Interrupt, -Skill Lock
Left-Hand Infantry: +Fast Attack
Left-Hand Implant: +First Aid, +Fast Attack, -Skill Lock (but less than Support)
For caster setup I chose Support. Typical choice should be Implant but you’ll see many people using Infantry (??). QL 300 imps don’t need to be farmed anymore, can just buy from shop.
Others are standard Infantry symbs (or Support Feet if Evade Clsc isn’t required for encounter).
You see in caster setup I lose a lot of AR. In PvM it’s not a big deal, even though it leads to me not reaching the MBS of my weapons and having a very slightly higher chance to miss in certain encounters. Could have a bigger impact on hit chance in higher evade encounters like Lee brothers and (I think) Phobettor.
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Also note there’s a new skill called Deflect, which should be maxed. There’s some info about it here.
As far as the rest of your IP goes, I think you should have enough as long as you’re somewhat conservative with nano skills. In this video you can see my IP expenditure in a caster setup for Solo/Support/DD PvM. The video also shows you my base perks/PvM gear, and the gear I swap into depending on scenario. And it shows you how quickly I can cast Watch Ward at both full def and full off. I don’t always use CoNC, so my nano skills look a little inflated when I do, and I need swaps to cast certain buffs requiring SI/TS (non-aura buffs).
A non-caster’s IP distribution will look different. A lot less or no Nano Init and Nano Pool, Brawl if you want that special in PvP, maxed Sneak Attack (I guess), less insane amounts of IP into marginal DD skills like Grenade, Ranged Energy, and Sharp Objects, and less Multi Melee if you don’t plan on swapping weapons.
If brawl is such a large difference can’t you just use a kyr’och energy hammer type 112 to keep brawl instead? Would mean more attacks/procs which should be more than enough to put it back on top.
Not say it’s crazy amounts more but it is indeed more, but hey least it’s better than some gimpy adventurer.
P.s. Btw the 13% crit difference on lotv tests is really weird, like you got a crit buff or something.
Note that my reply was made in the context of this thread. Someone had already mentioned that Dawn+Hammer and Dawn+Dusk were similar DD, so I didn’t bother including it.
Brawl isn’t such a ‘large difference’, but you get it for free in the 2HE build. In switching to Energy Hammer, you split your damage type energy/radiation, go from 2750 MBS to 2400 MBS, and from 300-350(500) to 325-400(325). I did a quick test just now and was critting for about 1K less and normaling for about 100 less. Like the original thread says, add in 4 Brawls per minute and I think the damage of Dawn+Hammer will be pretty close to Dawn+Dusk. It could be a bit less or a bit more depending on your crit chance and average Brawl, but I doubt it it will be a big difference in a straight parse. Of course Brawl recharges when you’re not fighting, so there might be a more significant difference when fights are staggered, like an Inf mission. But 2HE also has this advantage, so it’s a moot point when trying to determine ME vs 2HE. And I’m not too concerned about the proc uptime difference from the extra 4 hits per minute, but maybe I should be?
As for the crit-% difference: I just did some 3-minute parses in my current setup (different than the ones tested, but that’s not relevant), here are my crit chances 1) 55% vs punching bag, 2) 63% vs punching bag, 3) 47% vs LoTV. 3-minute parses probably just aren’t long enough to make statistically sound generalizations from. If the parses don’t agree with your intuition or experience then it would be great if you could share some of your own. It would be nice to get numbers for Dawn+Hammer, HEoT, and Excalibur.