explain some Gara mechanics?

[_Anise_]

Gara is fun! her prime release made me revisit her and I just took her on a steel path with some janky build I just threw together with no survivability mods and didn't die once!

 

I am practically running an over the top high energy refresh build with energy generator, equilibrium and arcane energize but still find myself bottoming out on energy occasionally (I think this is why I originally stopped playing her unprime before I owned a lot of the energy restore methods)

1)does she suffer with energy? or am I missing something ? I am above 100% efficiency and have high energy gen build, it just seems to struggle to take off but once it does its usually good (mostly)

2)her shards seem to have a lot of unwritten rules ?

a)if I cast it at nothing it casts on me, so if I cast it at an enemy it debuffs them ?

b) What if I cast it at al ally ? does it do the same as bumping into an ally (which gives them shards)?

c)does that ally also get the (same) damage dealing buff (if given by bumping or casting it at them) that I get or do they only gain the DR ?

3) more shards, when it scales to 90k (or more) is it actually dealing 90K damage per second to stuff within that short < 2m range ? sometimes I noticed that at least at lower damage ranges it dosn't seem to be doing a while lot.

4) vitrify shatter, why is it unwritten rule that exploding it from the outside adds to shards damage scaling ? I don't understand why it wouldn't do the same shattering it from inside ? is it just to make it a little more awkward to get the good effect ?

not a question but also unwritten is that spectrorage scales splinters, idk why I had to goto the wiki to find that one out!

finally something odd I noticed, It's known that vitrify refreshes the cooldown on shards (another unwritten rule?) but seems when another Gara casts vitrify it refreshes the cooldown on my shards buff! wonder if that part is intentional.

 

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_]

20 minutes ago, _Anise_ said:

2)her shards seem to have a lot of unwritten rules ?

a)if I cast it at nothing it casts on me, so if I cast it at an enemy it debuffs them ?

I dont remember what it does but yes casting splinter on an enemy does deal damage or debuff them

b) What if I cast it at an ally ?

If an ally touches your splinter cloud they gain damage reduction.   If you cast ON an ally they gain the slinter cloud which gives them damage reduction and the damaging effect to enemies.  (Im not sure if they get damage stacks from shatting Mass Vit.)

c)does that ally also get the (same) damage dealing buff (if given by bumping or casting it at them) that I get or do they only gain the DR ?

3) more shards, when it scales to 90k (or more) is it actually dealing 90K damage per second to stuff within that short < 2m range ? sometimes I noticed that at least at lower damage ranges it dosn't seem to be doing a while lot.

Splinter Cloud damage ticks I dont bother to math out.  They seem to do a tick like every 2-3 seconds with each enemy going on its own timer...    So yeah sometimes stuff lives for a little bit even though they have entered your splinter cloud.  

4) vitrify shatter, why is it unwritten rule that exploding it from the outside adds to shards damage scaling ? I don't understand why it wouldn't do the same shattering it from inside ? is it just to make it a little more awkward to get the good effect ?

I hate this ALOT.   I think gara would be more fun if her wall shatter inwarded to kill everything you just glassed over.    But her wall shatters OUTWARD, and a fair distance...   so it does make A LITTLE bit of sense that you have to be outside the wall to get damage stacks with splinter.  Your absorbing all that broken glass.

not a question but also unwritten is that spectrorage scales splinters, idk why I had to goto the wiki to find that one out!

Spectro mirrors add damage to splinter when one shatters or the whole thing expires but its not worth going out of your way for.   

finally something odd I noticed, It's known that vitrify refreshes the cooldown on shards (another unwritten rule?) but seems when another Gara casts vitrify it refreshes the cooldown on my shards buff! wonder if that part is intentional.

 

Theres 3 good gara builds.   

1. Pure DR build.  Max Duration/effeciency/Strength and sacrfice all range.    Not great for being the offensive power house gara can be but you should be pretty damn invinc.  

2. Well rounded all stats build.   Duration/effeceincy/couple of range mods and a couple of strength mods.   This is to make your splinter cloud a little bigger and your Mass Vit.   Now when you stack damage onto Splinter you can just run through crowds of enemies and kill them.   The extra range will also help you hit more enemies when you shatter wall which should help u stack damage.   

3.  Duration/Eff/Range build and sacrifice strength and also use Spectrorage augment.   This build is focused on Spectrosiphon.   You create a huge ring of mirrors that distracts enemies in a very large area and also makes them drop energy orbs 50% of the time when they die inside.   Dont wait for the ring to kill stuff cuz it wont.   This build grants everyone around near unlimited energy.   You can use splinter and try to stack damage but it wont be very effective.   Your DR will be super low also.    (I put this on Necro for awhile, but I like my shield tank nekro best w/ condemn)

I only have 2 and 3.   

3 is awesome for XP farms/defense.    

[AlyxisPrime]

There is also a build that focuses on Splinter Storm.  Maximum damage and range.
Mine gives 90% damage reduction while giving the world's deadliest hug to anyone in the same room.

But yeah, she's quite energy hungry.
I run with a max rank arcane energize and Zenurik's energizing dash.
Parasitic eximus sometimes causes issue, try to find and kill them quickly.

[_Anise_]

not sure its optimal but currently running 207 duration 130 efficiency 100 range and 154 str not sure how much she relies on str but I could add in growing power and power drift once I unlock those slots

[McCIoud]

1 hour ago, _Anise_ said:

1)does she suffer with energy? or am I missing something ? I am above 100% efficiency and have high energy gen build, it just seems to struggle to take off but once it does its usually good (mostly)

Only when first ramping up the infinite damage of her 2

 

1 hour ago, _Anise_ said:

a)if I cast it at nothing it casts on me, so if I cast it at an enemy it debuffs them ?

b) What if I cast it at al ally ? does it do the same as bumping into an ally (which gives them shards)?

Yes, and enemy cast makes them take more damage. And ally cast gives (I think) 50% resistance and the same damage build up as if on yourself, it's just harder to stack it on allies because you need to pass the wall over them, then shatter with them outside the wall.

 

1 hour ago, _Anise_ said:

3) more shards, when it scales to 90k (or more) is it actually dealing 90K damage per second to stuff within that short < 2m range ? sometimes I noticed that at least at lower damage ranges it dosn't seem to be doing a while lot.

Yes, but it is also affected by enemy resistances.

1 hour ago, _Anise_ said:

4) vitrify shatter, why is it unwritten rule that exploding it from the outside adds to shards damage scaling ? I don't understand why it wouldn't do the same shattering it from inside ? is it just to make it a little more awkward to get the good effect ?

Well it wouldn't make sense that glass shards would add to your damage aura if you send them flying away from you when inside, rather than into you while outside it.

 

1 hour ago, _Anise_ said:

finally something odd I noticed, It's known that vitrify refreshes the cooldown on shards (another unwritten rule?) but seems when another Gara casts vitrify it refreshes the cooldown on my shards buff! wonder if that part is intentional.

Intentional, some abilities that don't stack will instead refresh the duration. Like wisps motes, your own 100% speed more can be refreshed by any wisps speed mote even if it was weaker.

[_Anise_]

17 minutes ago, McCIoud said:

Yes, and enemy cast makes them take more damage. And ally cast gives (I think) 50% resistance and the same damage build up as if on yourself, it's just harder to stack it on allies because you need to pass the wall over them, then shatter with them outside the wall.

perfect ! ah that answers my question and followups ! I think I can essentially double dip the damage scaling if I put it on a companion! (or ally) provided it is inside the wall when I drop it and go outside of the wall when I detonate it :3

hunter command going to make a hug happy death kitty haha

 

17 minutes ago, McCIoud said:

Yes, but it is also affected by enemy resistances.

that also answers my question perfectly!! as to the lower damage levels not seeming to be doing much at all! I think in the lows thousands it might have been doing several hundreds on high armor targets!

so my only remaining questions...

bumping into someone to give the shards is exactly the same as pointing at them and press 2 just without the energy cost? guess for the sake of convenience of putting it on at range? (I am just assuming yes to this)

When an ally gains your splinters do they gain the current damage scaling or does it start from scratch ? (again assuming it starts fresh, I need to pay attention next time to see if damage number goes onto their buffs list)

 

thanks cloud most helpful !

 

[MonsterOfMyOwn]

her 2nd is either damage reduction and cumulated damage at melee range.

• cast 2 (once in a game if you manage to refresh duration efficiently)
• cast 4 in the middle of the mobs (refresh 2nd duration, and stack damage)
• bullet jump outside the wall
• cast 1 to shatter the 4th.
• kill the remaining mobs
• find mobs
• cast 4...

 

 

[Leqesai]

Best build is Spectrosiphon max CC build. You can pull solid DR from Splinter Storm as well as additional CC+timer refresh from her 4 (mostly using the 4 to coat enemies not to impede). 

I've played all the build varieties with Gara and the most fun I've had is with the above setup. Splinter Storm damage builds, Tank builds etc. they're all just really boring IMO. The Spectrorage Gara setup scales really well. And if you're really dead-set on using splinter storm as a nuke AOE thing then you can (it scales much slower with this setup). Spectrorage is the overlooked and underrated ability in her kit. It is easily the most powerful ability she has though IMO.

 

This is what I recommend:

I'm mid-leveling her back to 30 on this setup but splinter storm gives 90% DR with this setup. There are a few things that can be done to change things up a bit but generally this has been my favorite build with Gara and what I used prior to her prime access for a long time.

[McCIoud]

3 hours ago, _Anise_ said:

bumping into someone to give the shards is exactly the same as pointing at them and press 2 just without the energy cost?

Bumping into enemies just does the damage of splinter storm, casting on the enemy is the only way to give them the debuff.

3 hours ago, _Anise_ said:

When an ally gains your splinters do they gain the current damage scaling or does it start from scratch ? (again assuming it starts fresh, I need to pay attention next time to see if damage number goes onto their buffs list)

From scratch