Dragon Nikana (End-Game/ Max Build Help )

[DonGheddo]

So ...the build i actually have works nice... but i want to push it to the limit and i was wondering... which build (eng-game wise ) would fit the best..... suggestions ... ?

 

My build : 

Edited August 27, 2015 by DonGheddo

[ToxicTroublermaker]

And whats your build?

[DonGheddo]

And whats your build?

Look now

[Shehriazad]

Replace crit chance with crit damage and call it a day. Unless you can afford getting rid of Life Strike of course.


Also don't invest too heavily into it now unless you got a ton of Forma because it's not unlikely for Nikana Prime to be the next Prime access batch... (not saying it's guaranteed...but it's not unlikely, either)

Edited August 27, 2015 by Shehriazad

[Valiant]

Also don't invest too heavily into it now unless you got a ton of Forma because it's not unlikely for Nikana Prime to be the next Prime access batch... (not saying it's guaranteed...but it's not unlikely, either)

Agreed.

 

It's why I've also not bothered putting any more Forma/time into it.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Naith

[S0V3REiGN]

Why do you have Berserker in there and not Fury?

[Darzk]

Remove Buzzkill for Fury. Slash damage is terrible against armor and Fury stacks multiplicatively with Zerker, resulting in 227.5% attack speed.

 

Edit: Swap the 90% Fire for Cold as well for a little bit of Anti-Alloy. Although looking at the build's elements again this seems like it might be an Infested setup, in which case Corr/Fire/Slash is right.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Darzk

[IggySnow]

Why do you have Berserker in there and not Fury?

This ^

 

don't they give you the same attack speed buff but fury is permanent? Or do beserkers stack together? I don't remember.

And TBH don't try for crit% when its only 15% base. you need at least 20% base for it to be of any use and zerk will proc enough with 15% anyways.

[Bouldershoulder]

Crit damage alone would be reasonable in mmorpgs against tough npcs, where total damage over a greater time frame matters. But here it's the difference between 1 and 2 hits in most cases. So the more crits - the better. I'd only swap buzz kill for organ shatter, or any faction mod. Faction mods give 30% boost to all other damage mods as they multiplicatively increase base damage against the faction.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Bouldershoulder

[taiiat]

Status performance of Katana's is alarmingly good with 3 Status Mods and ANY Stance equipped.

it might be an IPS Weapon, but the effective Status Performance in Combat is like, 90-95%, despite the stat being 42%.

i swing a few times, and i have a few Slash, and probably a Viral.

this makes Katana's incredibly capable at fighting higher Level Enemies, with being able to have superb Status performance.

Slash Damage isn't super awesome against Armored Enemies, so generally best to not use that against them, and focus on more Elemental.

here's a suggestion.

put on whatever Stance you like. but have a Stance.

the last slot, idunno, whatever you like. if you want to use Berserker and Crit Chance for more speed instead of more Damage, i can't make that decision for you.

i'd suggest either another 90% Elemental for more Primary Combo. pending situation Buzzkill could be useful.

don't they give you the same attack speed buff but fury is permanent?

Berserker has always stacked 3 Times, up to a 75% increase.

separate Timers for each stack.

[COZZY91]

You don't need true steel if you have fury. If you plan on doing melee only raids (clan mates and I do this for fun) you will NEED channeling damage.

[(PSN)Hooligonzo]

So swap Killing Blow into the empty spot. 

[MidnightDreary]

There's a whole lot of poor advice here.

 

Generally, you are on the right track. 

 

The question is are you using your sword in quick melee or running with the sword alone?

 

Quick melee:

I would get pressure point, spoiled strike, fury and proper elemental combo mods for the faction you are fighting.  This will let you quickly cut down what is in front of you, with the minimum number of strikes, to get back to shooting your guns. 

 

Melee only:

It might be good to go with pressure point, life strike (with Rage on your warframe, unless you have another heal), beserker, fury and your elemental mods.  This will quickly build up the combo counter for very high damage.  The crit chance is good enough that you do not need true steel with the speeds you will be swinging with blind justice.  You should always use the most effective elements.

[Acidulant]

Primed Reach / Life Strike / Pressure Point / True Steel

 

Berserker / Buzzkill / 2 elementals

[MidnightDreary]

Primed Reach

 

Woah.  Terrible idea for end game content.  Significantly reduces damage output and has a very minor effect on a nikana. 

 

On something like the Atterax, fine.  On a normal length sword, absolutely not.

[taiiat]

Terrible idea for end game content.

Significantly reduces damage output and has a very minor effect on a nikana.

if you're having trouble dealing with the high volume of Enemies (since Katana's have pretty short Range), hitting more of them at a time certainly addresses this.

from not incredibly high Damage to slightly less than that isn't the end of the world. Primed Reach has significant effect on almost all Melee's, it's rather the reason why it exists. 2.65x Range is actually enough Range improvement to make a difference in Combat.

what you mean to say, is that you don't like using it yourself.

just as some Players prefer to use Channeling Mods, while others do not (though that's a little more black and white, the high number of Mod Slots you take up with Channeling Mods severely reduces your Elemental Damage but that's another Thread).

just as some Players may make room for certain Utility Mods because they find them useful for them personally, while others do not.

just as some Player may prefer lighter, faster attaching Melee Weapons, while others may prefer slower, more controlling ones.

[Hatzeputt]

If you want to end game melee, don´t be a scrub and get arcane strike, as for a crit melee nikana build, 24% chance for crits is pretty bad meaning 1 out of 4 will be a crit at best, meaning you will sacrifice 3 slots for a 24% chance, sure it might seem to be worth getting the additional attack speed from zerker, but you can get that from arcane strike and its not a lost slot or 3 either. Unless you run arcane avenger which is the only case that makes the crit build viable again.

 

Do the maths vs status and raw damage, your crit build with only 24% chance will lose the vanilla and applied dps race.

 

As for the no reach/primed reach guys, you can´t apply damage to the things you can not touch and nikanas are notoriously bad with range, primed reach takes care of that.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Hatzeputt

[MidnightDreary]

...don´t be a scrub and get arcane strike...

 

... your crit build with only 24% chance will lose the vanilla and applied dps race.

 

As for the no reach/primed reach guys, you can´t apply damage to the things you can not touch and nikanas are notoriously bad with range, primed reach takes care of that.

 

If he's asking for help on an end-game build, then he probably is not equipped to farm up arcane strike.  Or hell, maybe he does have that, but since that doesn't go on the weapon itself, it doesn't address his question anyways.

 

You are forgetting how quickly Blind Justice swings and how many of those strikes are multi-hits.  24% (even the base 15%) is very good with that stance and you will have max stacks of beserker in seconds.  Remember that beserker (attack speed) helps a player build up their combo counter, which is a direct DPS boost, particular on several heavy units.  By the 2nd or 3rd heavy unit you are melting them with a high combo counter.

 

It's not that I do not like primed reach, personally, it's that it is a clear loss in damage for little benefit on the nikana wheras it would be decent on orthos prime or very good on the whip weapons.  If reach / primed reach gave a static range boost like Ruinous Extention, then it would be great on the nikana, but it is based on percentage.  It's the same reason that on a firearm you don't use a puncture mod if the weapon doesn't have a significant amount of it's damage in puncture - the benefit is very minimal.

 

Endless missions, in particular, the heavy units are the problem and you do not need any range mods to hit them, you need damage to put them down before you get killed.  The only things which are troubling to hit with a nikana are Orokin Drones, but that just takes practice. 

 

You mod to address the highest threat enemies in a mission.

[JustGotFadedAhaha]

Take out molten impact and put in organ shatter. DPS would skyrocket with all the crit damage and attack speed. The more attack speed the more crits, so i think in the end overall damage would be higher than having that extra elemental.

 

Putting in organ shatter will effectively raise the crit multiplier to around x4. and doing x4 damage every 4th or so hit with the speed you would be moving at would be incredible. And to take it further you can theoretically remove true steel and replace it with a dmg mod if you have maxed arcane avenger. And for even more dps also have a maxed arcane strike.

 

If you are using ash or excalibur you can take this damage even further by using arcane trickery. Do a finisher and you go invisible for 20 seconds. And during that time you can do stealth multipliers. I main melee only and go on a LOT of long survivals. I have never run into problems killing enemies in the very late game with this build. I mainly use ash for this build.

 

Edit: after messing around testing a few numbers in game. it's actually better to remove true steel all together. 9% isnt enough value for it to take up mod space. you crit well enough already. Highest damage build I have found is using the following.

 

This build is for infested and void...

 

Blind Justice, Pressure Point, Life Strike (unranked), Berserker, Buzz Kill, Fever Strike, Shocking Touch, Killing Blow, Organ Shatter. All max except Life Strike. This will do highest damage and you will still crit and swing fast enough with berserker especially with arcane attachments on your stuff that i mentioned above. 

Edited September 7, 2015 by MyNutsHaveExploded

[(PSN)bLaiiSe_go_brrr]

I got P Reach, Crit mods, Berserker, 2 Elementals, Fury and Pressure Point.

It might not be the top DPS build, but it works well with the frames I go melee only with in T3/4 40 min long survivals so I'm sticking with it.