Ash Build Improvement Suggestions Needed

[Zareek]

Greetings!

 

So I've been playing Ash for a good amount of hours. I've come up with a build that works for me overall. 

 

Depending on the level of enemy I fight, I have different strategies. High levels (level 100-150), I approach slow.

 

Secondary for confusion and high rad + viral,

Teleport + dagger with covert lethality for assassinating targets

Primary for quick burst damage

Bladestorm for spreading damage across enemies while giving myself a break to recover shield.

 

For lower level, my primary Harpak usually does the trick the majority of the time.

 

Anyways. I've been considering a possible improvement for my build all day. First I considered removing intensify and fortitude, and replace them with rage and quick thinking. At higher level, if I slow down, or I get caught off guard in a sneeze or something, I can die in seconds. Even those pesky snipers can be difficult to avoid.

 

I tried taking back my fortitude in exchange for my Ice Spring. The quick shield recovery does wonders when I take a break with my smoke bomb or BS. With this build I did the sortie extermination, and I came out the other end just fine. However the  rage + quick thinking combo seemed rather weak.

 

Another thing Ive considered to give myself better survivability at higher level is adding a 100% Steel fiber (need 1 rank more). Which would give me a total of 300 armor. But is it worth it? Is the value still insignificant?

 

I want to hear what other players thought would be a good idea here. Im not much for bladestorm builds, so damage mods for abilities are not that popular with me.  My biggest "issue" is survivability at higher level when I slow down my gameplay.

 

Zareek

[Yazeth]

If you are doing R+QT then you must have a Flow mod as well. Vitality is also needed to max out your energy cap.

Replace Fortitude, Handspring, and Intensify (since dmg doesn't mean much for you) with Rage, QT, and Flow (Primed Flow is better). I would also argue that you should replace Ice Spring with Handspring.

I would only put on Steel Fiber if I had an Arcane Ultimatium maxed out, which gives and additional 60% of your total armour upon Finishers.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Yazeth

[Zareek]

If you are doing R+QT then you must have a Flow mod as well. Vitality is also needed to max out your energy cap.

Replace Fortitude, Handspring, and Intensify (since dmg doesn't mean much for you) with Rage, QT, and Flow (Primed Flow is better). I would also argue that you should replace Ice Spring with Handspring.

I would only put on Steel Fiber if I had an Arcane Ultimatium maxed out, which gives and additional 60% of your total armour upon Finishers.

I did consider adding primed flow with R+QT, but handspring is just such a nice mod to have. Ive lost count how many times it has saved my &#!. As far as Ice spring goes, it's not as effective as Id like to think. Faster movement and slow when freezing enemies is nice, but probably expendable for high level content.

 

I'm just worried that sacrificing fortitudes faster shield regen and handsprings (second chance), means that Ill simply swap one survivability strategy with another. Then the question is, which one is better?

 

I don't use regeneration abilities, so health lost that activates the energy gain, that activates the energy shield, is going to be lost for good. When my health is gone, Ill be relying on energy for the rest of the mission, beside what health I can gain back from either restoration gear or maybe teleport + finisher with weapon drawn and life steal? (havent tried that to see if it would heal me).

 

Shield regen and fast recovery from knockdown is constant throughout the mission. Shield regen is usefull when pulling back for a few seconds, or initiating bladestorm. But shield is somewhat insignificant at higher levels, as all of it can be depleted in 1-2 hits, and handspring is only useful when I go down.

 

So there is a lot to consider for me to make these changes

[Yazeth]

Use Lifestrike to regain your health. I highly recommend it.