Excal Exalted Blade - Need Some Input Around Prep

[(XBOX)CKazz]

Rather new to the game and a heavy melee player, as I near 30 I hear we're getting a tweak to really be melee!  GREAT!

 

I have some things to do which seem to be still, or even more applicable now -

Energy Siphon, Potato for Frame and finding the right melee weapon to complement will be the next key 

 

But with what I already picked up, Skana may already be great for it?  And.. I guess Potato for it then too?

I already have it at 30 but haven't run it through with any formas, any suggests there or is the base just fine?

 

[i have other melee weapons including dual ether on the way and had plan to potato something 'newer', but...]

 

On that note I shouldn't assume the best aura is Energy Siphon, right now I have Rejuve and a couple others, thoughts?

 

Thanks!  Can't wait!!

 

 

 

[Gelkor]

Exalted Blade scales with melee mods, not your melee weapon.  Excalibur has a passive 10% melee damage and speed increase while wielding One Handed Swords, Dual Swords, and Katanas.  Exalted Blade itself counts as a one handed sword, so this passive always applies in Exalted Blade Mode.

 

All melee mods except Flight Speed and Rebound mods apply to Exalted Blade, so plan accordingly, this is one of the reasons why any of the Syndicate weapons+mods that increase damage by +100% are popular for Excalibur, as you gain the benefit of Spoiled Strike without using the -20% attack speed, plus gain the Syndicate proc. 

 

Exalted Blade's damage is 250 damage at base, split evenly between impact, puncture, and slash for both melee and wave damage.  The base damage is increased by power strength, which in turn is further increased by Pressure Point, Spoiled Strike, Syndicate Mods, and Steel Charge.  Elemental mods further increase damage of Exalted Blade, allowing you to build elemental builds for factions similar to how you would normally mod for going melee only (however, remember that the elemental mods scale with base damage, so prioritize pressure point and a syndicate mod before another elemental mod, as with regular melee).   Life strike works in exalted blade as well for both melee and ranged attacks, however it incurs it's channeling cost for every enemy hit by a blade wave, which can be very high given that blade waves punch through enemies. Exalted Blade's melee attacks scale with the combo counter, the blade waves have their damage increased by the combo counter, but do not themselves apply to the combo meter.  Radial Javelin's augment to melee damage applies to Exalted Blade melee attacks and wave attacks. 

 

Energy Siphon is deactivated while in Exalted Blade, but will allow for energy generation when it is not on. 

 

Range and Duration mods affect the range and duration of the mini blind you gain from using a spin attack in Exalted Blade, they do not affect anything else with EB, but still affect Radial Blind.  Power Efficiency decreases the energy cost and drain of exalted blade.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Gelkor

[Surtur]

First, energy siphon's effects are disabled while exalted blade is active.

Second, what melee weapon you have equipped doesn't affect exalted blade unless it is a long sword because of his passive, and the effects of the passive work in exalted blade if you have the required weapon equipped.

Exalted blade is almost exclusively affected by the mods you have equipped on your melee weapon. Base damage, elemental damage status, crit, all of those affect the stats of exalted blade. One exception is steel charge, which affects the base damage of exalted blade like a normal melee weapon

A skana isn't a bad weapon to use for exalted. It is one of the best weapons because if you get the augment for skana that affects exalted blade to and the radial proc works too.

[(XBOX)CKazz]

Thank you Gelkor/Surtur immensely for catching me up on the incoming exalted blade fun

* I just broke into syndicates so I'll look to understand / figure out what to go after there

* Much appreciate your explaining exactly why/how skana can be one of the best blades for it

 

It does seem you could simply use your favorite melee weapon and Exalt Blade more on need

 - But it also seems not building with a mind to EB (possibly as often as you can) might be a mistake

 

I've been a Radial Blind / kill everything with Melee fan with a bit of defense into my weapons - EB having some may get me to shed a bit

Edited July 14, 2015 by (XB1)CKazz

[Surtur]

Slide attacking causes a mini radial blind, so take advantage of that. What melee weapon you use doesn't hugely affect exalted blade unless it's a long sword to activate and carry over the passive. What matters is the mods. That's wwhy the skana isn't a bad choice. When you get the chance get skana prime for more out of EB viability. What matters most is the mods. As said, life strike and channeling mods carry over.

There is a better summarized version

[Gelkor]

Slide attacking causes a mini radial blind, so take advantage of that. What melee weapon you use doesn't hugely affect exalted blade unless it's a long sword to activate and carry over the passive. What matters is the mods. That's wwhy the skana isn't a bad choice. When you get the chance get skana prime for more out of EB viability. What matters most is the mods. As said, life strike and channeling mods carry over.

There is a better summarized version

 

Just to point out, Exalted Blade replaces your equipped melee weapon, and as of 16.10.1, counts as a longsword, so you get the passive when in EB no matter what weapon you have equipped, even if you have no melee weapon equipped at all. Also the passive applies to Dual Swords and Katanas as well. 

Edited July 14, 2015 by Gelkor

[Surtur]

Just to point out, Exalted Blade replaces your equipped melee weapon, and as of 16.10.1, counts as a longsword, so you get the passive when in EB no matter what weapon you have equipped, even if you have no melee weapon equipped at all. Also the passive applies to Dual Swords and Katanas as well.

Oh? I did not know about that 10.1 change. I remember nikanas were unconfirmed but had not heard of the dual swords Edited July 14, 2015 by Surtur

[Gelkor]

Oh? I did not know about that 10.1 change. I remember nikanas were unconfirmed but had not heard of the dual swords

 

Yeah, I ended up doing a ton of testing to confirm that the passive was fixed for nikanas and dual swords, and then noticed that the passive was also applying in EB no matter what weapon I had equiped, so I tested it entirely unarmed, that's when I discovered that the passive even works with no weapon, it hasn't been changed since, so I assume it's due to EB "counting" as a one hander. 

 

Which is kinda nice, basically means right side syndicaters can use the Skana/Prisma Skana/Mire, and left side syndicaters can  use the Dual Cleavers/Prisma Dual Cleavers/Jaw Sword.

 

Test's

Edited July 14, 2015 by Gelkor

[Rakosta_Kai]

It does seem you could simply use your favorite melee weapon and Exalt Blade more on need

 - But it also seems not building with a mind to EB (possibly as often as you can) might be a mistake

 

You really can use any melee weapon... The EB mode will give the the passives associated with longswords regardless.

The fall-down point is missing the syndicate effect though.

 

Being candid with you, you can build Excal normally ( RB/SD builds) and be entirely competent in EB mode so long as you kitted for efficiency as well.

 

You'd have to tailor your setup for long term endless engagements a bit, but absent that, you could use a vanilla build and see it be entirely competent and efficient if played right.

 

I would also say for setting up to consider getting berserker if you don't have it.

Use Lifestrike to flavor (I use a rank 1) and holding the channel button only matters on the hit as oppsoed to to the strike, so let the channel button immediately after the heath regen.... Don't hold it indefinitely.

 

Lastly, don't be afraid to play with around with your builds... I had a lot of fun using a Reflection build (worked really well with berserker)... But I didn't notice a difference with melee channel equipped personally but have heard others say good things. The ability does alot of different things depending on how you set it up so keep that in mind.

[(XBOX)CKazz]

^ Thanks for all the refinements and great detail/testing guys, also adding your take Padre - yes, I already enjoy long term engagements and while I am arguably under-powered (rank / weapons / mods) for some of the invites I receive, as I'm built for survival, smack-down and smart use of radial blind w/o overextending, I tend to do better than many who should surpass me equip-wise/numerically.

 

[Doesn't mean some Grineer teleporting me around in 30-40 scenarios didn't give me some serious lumpage tho too, ouch]

 

And yes I am looking for Lifestrike.  I'm happy I was able to nab rejuve but energy siphon might do me better (I think),  Agreed though that it's fun to theory-craft to a point, I need the pieces/experience to see where I'm short and where some of this is unnecessary.

Edited July 14, 2015 by (XB1)CKazz

[(XBOX)CKazz]

Just to point out, Exalted Blade replaces your equipped melee weapon, and as of 16.10.1, counts as a longsword, so you get the passive when in EB no matter what weapon you have equipped, even if you have no melee weapon equipped at all. Also the passive applies to Dual Swords and Katanas as well. 

 

^ Interesting, as this makes it to consoles we may start with the 16.9 'not a longsword, effected by current wpn' and catch-up in 16.10.

 

Not a big deal perhaps but noteworthy to the min/max-ers.

At my stage in the game I'm just looking to adding it to my melee arsenal over super jump!  

Edited July 14, 2015 by (XB1)CKazz

[Gelkor]

^ Interesting, as this makes it to consoles we may start with the 16.9 'not a longsword, effected by current wpn' and catch-up in 16.10.

 

Not a big deal perhaps but noteworthy to the min/max-ers.

At my stage in the game I'm just looking to adding it to my melee arsenal over super jump!  

 

They made a bunch of the major EB balance fixes in 16.10.0/16.10.1 but they will likely bundle those in with the 16.9 you guys get, EB was really bad at initial release and they will combine the polished Excalibur build  with 16.9 for consoles, merely leaving out the other 16.10 gameplay stuff that doesn't center around Excalibur.

[Wawazat]

skana is a good choice but if you dont care about have a bad weapon on your back, the mire is another excellent choice. the mire augment provides +100% toxin damage (like a normal elemental mod) and the proc provides excal with energy even while in EB mode so that you can maintain EB... forever.