Nova Build

[Dark5eiD]

I love my nova..but i am forever trying to make up for squishyness. i get by quite well because she is so agile, quick and powerful. plus i have very powerful primary,secondary and melee weapons that are forma 3-6 times. at any rate i have two builds that i would appreciate some feed back on. keep in mind i am mostly playing t3 survivals and etc...

 

http://goo.gl/LBjnPI   - currently using this one

 

http://goo.gl/oAyzHL  - this is the build i was using for the longest time.

 

im hoping i can get some constructive criticism on this. im not a player that goes around priming every room i walk into. i gun 90% of the time until the sheet hits the fan. i also enjoy worm hole quite a bit so im not looking to get rid of that. thanks ahead of time :)

 

 

[Genoscythe]

Id drop QT and Rage for vigor and intensify, nova is a caster, if you wanna gun I suggest you use rhino or loki. Dropping vitality for antimatter drop/streamline would be good.

 

Nova is kinda squishy, yes. But if you run with a group for long survivals youre probalby going to have a trinity, so you dont really have to care for that.

 

So your second build with streamline instead of vitality would make a good one.

 

If you really wanna gun only with nova, get the power damage mods away and use vigor + vitality + redirection. You'ill be able to cast a 2005 damage debuff on enemies, only the explosions will be weaker (which doesnt matter much in high level def or survival anyway.)

[Dark5eiD]

thanks very much for your insight. not to drag this out , but i had an idea which i have never tried. stacking fast deflection and fortitude to get 170% recharge. i already have a full redirection and vigor giving me an additional 120%. if i can keep the shield up it just might be enough. im going to try this out.

 

http://goo.gl/hKYASw

 

dont need flow any more. 225 is enough to cast level a room and pick up orbs, plus i have siphon on.

[Darzk]

Drop Blind Rage 3 points, and use Streamline. Then MP costs just 50 energy, 2 orbs. QT/Rage/LotsofShield builds are hard to justify because you lose a lot of damage potential.

 

AMD is a keystone ability for high levels. Far better to have that and ditch Wormhole, imo.

 

Shield regen is generally made moot by Sentinel's Guardian precept. 

 

Handspring or SureFooted might be viable.

 

Edit: I've seen people use Flow/QT builds without Rage or Vitality and they work decently well, but you have to pay attention and not spam abilities till you're out of energy or you've lost all survivability. When using QT, you can drop both a med health and energy restore and gain 170 ehp per pulse.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Darzk

[(PSN)ShadowDancing-]

This is the least squishy build I've come up with so far:

 

http://goo.gl/qdSB8a

 

I'm not a big fan of Rage because Nova is too squishy to benefit from it much and the slot is better spent on something else.  Use an energy pack instead

I'm not a big fan of Blind Rage because it is way overkill 98% of the time and the slot is better spent on something else.  Use AMD when Mprime slows down instead

I'm not a big fan of Vigor because +120% shields on Nova is not much benefit and the slot is better spent on something else.

[(PSN)ShadowDancing-]

Oh, and efficiency builds are a lot more effective than Blind Rage builds.  With a max efficiency build you can almost do 4 MPrimes for the cost of 1 MPrime in your build.  But your MPrime only does 2x the damage.  So damage / energy is far far higher with efficiency than Blind Rage.  And whenever Blind Rage would have really helped you, you can just use AMD instead.

[Darzk]

Except you can't stack multiple MPs. If your MP is too weak to chain, having a single explosion on enemy death has lost a TON of damage potential compared to one that wipes out the whole room.

 

MP builds are one of the few exceptions to the efficiency>damage rule.

 

At higher levels where MP wont chain anymore regardless, then I agree that an efficiency and max+range build is better, as MP becomes just a debuff.

 

On your 'least squishy build' I would drop Worm Hole for Stretch or Overextended, the extra range greatly benefits both AMD and MP debuffing potential.

 

Possibly ditch ES for CP, but its hard to justify Flow then. QT without Flow becomes pointless so may as well slot OE and Stretch, and 1 utility mod... hey look we're at my lategame build: http://goo.gl/4tuDwg

Edit: on reflection Intensify is kinda pointless, I just wanted to use the V polarity. Rage maybe? Hmm... I could see using Rage as a replacement for ES aura to justify using Flow and make a QT build... something like: http://goo.gl/6w4xho Vigor instead of OE if you're okay with the tiny range, for ultimate tankiness (lolNovaTank, 3650 ehp)

Edited April 4, 2014 by Darzk

[(PSN)ShadowDancing-]

Except you can't stack multiple MPs. If your MP is too weak to chain, having a single explosion on enemy death has lost a TON of damage potential compared to one that wipes out the whole room.

 

MP builds are one of the few exceptions to the efficiency>damage rule.

 

At higher levels where MP wont chain anymore regardless, then I agree that an efficiency and max+range build is better, as MP becomes just a debuff.

 

On your 'least squishy build' I would drop Worm Hole for Stretch or Overextended, the extra range greatly benefits both AMD and MP debuffing potential.

 

Possibly ditch ES for CP, but its hard to justify Flow then. QT without Flow becomes pointless so may as well slot OE and Stretch, and 1 utility mod... hey look we're at my lategame build: http://goo.gl/4tuDwg

Edit: on reflection Intensify is kinda pointless, I just wanted to use the V polarity. Rage maybe? Hmm... I could see using Rage as a replacement for ES aura to justify using Flow and make a QT build... something like: http://goo.gl/6w4xho Vigor instead of OE if you're okay with the tiny range, for ultimate tankiness (lolNovaTank, 3650 ehp)

 

I realize you can't stack MPs, but I've been disappointed with the practicality of MPrime centric builds because:

(a) at low levels any Mprime wipes the room, and the room next to the room, even with a max overextended

(b) at high levels any Mprime is just a debuff

(b) at medium levels, I have a BFG.  So many BFGs to choose from. Who cares if Mprime only killed 75% of the room ?  I have a 5 forma Synapse and it kills anything at medium levels in a single tick.  And I can just cast MPrime a second time because with ES, Flow, and max efficiency you can spam it forever.  Could I add Blind Rage and kill things a few milliseconds faster ?  Yeah, I suppose.  Have you met Synapse/Penta/Soma/Phage/Ignis/WTV/Tysis/Stug etc etc ?  If I really want to be lazy, I just bring a 6 forma Ignis and wave it in the general direction of something that MPrime failed to kill.  Not effective at high levels, but at medium levels with the 2x damage debuff from Mprime is gets the job done.

 

Even at that medium level sweet spot for MPrime, a max efficiency + max intensify still does 1200 damage and kills enough things.

 

Maybe it's just a play style thing.  But for me MPrime as debuff + BFG + AMD at any level opens up more mod slots and energy efficiency.  Having a build specialized for such a narrow range of levels and missions when things still die more or less instantly doesn't seem worth the hassle.

 

I can't bring myself to drop Wormhole.  The additional rush speed and tactical maneuverability on large maps is just too convenient.  With an efficiency build you can spam wormhole gratuitously.  Wormhole is a crutch, but such a beautiful awesome crutch.  I do sometimes swap Intensify for Overextended, especially for AMD centric missions.  That's handy.

[Dark5eiD]

thanks alot guys. looks like i have some testing to do.