Trying to figure out the new Polarize mechanics

[Chroia]

Apologies if such a thread exists, search finds too many results and idk how to show them by thread.

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* Armor stripping is affected by power str. [Casually tested - ~10-11 casts to strip a level 135 Baliff at 269% str, ~16 at 140%.]

(Both 140% and 269% stripped level 135 Corrupted Butchers in 1 cast.)

* Doesn't do damage to unarmored+unshielded targets, e.g. Charger, armor-stripped Grineer.

* While the maximum propagation distance is affected by duration - same as M. Prime, the initial radius is affected by range, unlike M. Prime.

* Haven't been able to pin down 'armor shard' damage, but it doesn't seem affected by power str.

 

Its damage seems unimpressive, and seems that stripping heavies would take way too long.

Like every other source, it now requires sufficient (flat) damage to strip shields.

 

Aside from being usable as a 'duration shield/overshield generator', all in all it doesn't seem to be particularly useful. Am I missing something?

Edit: Clarification - I'm not looking to build only for Polarize.

With Pull and Crush unchanged, and Magnetize fairly straightforward, I'm trying to make sure I understand it so I see where it fits in Mag's kit.

 

Edited June 1, 2016 by Chroia

[Replacement]

Weird to comment in players helping players, since I'm supposed to be giving YOU the help, but I just wanted to say - thanks for the testing!  It's very much appreciated!

Edited June 1, 2016 by Replacement

[Xekrin]

29 minutes ago, Chroia said:

Its damage seems unimpressive, and seems that stripping heavies would take way too long.

From the way I understand it, Polarize isn't really intended to be super damaging on its own, nor really strip armor super fast.  People are simply too used to the old polarize which was the only ability mag had going for her.  Now you Polarlize and use Magnetize to do damage (combined with the shards and armor stripping) then perhaps pull and or crush to quadruple the damage.

IE, there is synergy between the abilities, so really all are required to get a good damage going.  Relying purely on one or another will only produce a single affect (pull = stun, ragdoll, magnetize = shieldblock, bullet attractor, polarize = some damage, armor stripped, crush = some CC flat damage, and with augment armor stripped)

All together they can do a great deal of aoe damage though.

[Exploderizer]

If you want to strip armor, you're gonna have to use the Crush Augment. It removes armor by a %, and dramatically lowers the amount of Polarize casts needed to remove armor. You're gonna want to build for basically everything. I'd say duration and range are more important than Strength, seeing as Polarize now does flat damage values, and strengthening that won't help much in the later stages. It works nice with Crush, as it keeps enemies still, and prevents them from moving away from each other, which causes their shields to explode nearby, amplifying the effect of Polarize.

[Inarticulate]

As best as I can tell, Polarize strips a fixed amount of armor instead of a percentage. It's probably the same number as the fixed shield damage it deals (visible on the Abilities screen).

I haven't had the time to test enough to see if the shield explosion also occurs when armor is stripped, but if it does, Polarize will ironically be more effective against Grineer than Corpus (albeit the fixed damage is still rather lackluster). The problem is that because Polarize now expands, the first enemy it hits will explode, depleting the shields of nearby enemies before Polarize can reach them, preventing Polarize from triggering further explosions. This isn't the case with armor because the explosions will deplete health and shields, but not armor, so every enemy will trigger a separate explosion

[HellEnforcer]

Polarize's only real usability right now is to replenish allies shields. And hope the wave will reach them in time. Neither the damage nor the armor stripping is currently worth its cost.

As a side note. Supposedly the idea is to use polarize with a group of enemies that are inside magnetize as the armor shards increase the bubble's damage. However, you can charge the the bubble far faster, cheaper and easier by shooting at it.

[DxAdder]

At 200% power str it will strip 800 Shields/Armor, It only does damage if you exceed there shields/Armor.

This is why with enemy scaling it sucks right now.

 

[Zyrgi]

Mag's new abilities for dummies:

Pull - Pulls enemies, small CC, negligible damage as it used to be.

Magnetize - Absorb + Vortex. Great at locking down choke-points. If you stand in the epicenter, you might get rekt by a stray projectile.

Polarize - Strips shields and armor, deals area damage based on drained armor/shields and produces shards. Great for low level, utter trash for high level/endless missions.

Crush - Slight AoE CC, almost no change.

[xiaodenden]

1 hour ago, Zyrgi said:

Magnetize - Absorb + Vortex. Great at locking down choke-points. If you stand in the epicenter, you might get rekt by a stray projectile.

Nice summary.  This has been fixed in the latest update: Fixed Mag dealing self-damage with Magnetize.  It was actually kind of fun living dangerously though, haha.

[Zyrgi]

2 minutes ago, xiaodenden said:

Nice summary.  This has been fixed in the latest update: Fixed Mag dealing self-damage with Magnetize.  It was actually kind of fun living dangerously though, haha.

Probably the post was made right before the update. Regardless it's probably still a bad idea to camp inside the bubble just because it is the place to which all projectiles travel to and bombard rockets, grenades and stuff can still kick your &#!. It's better to have the bubble between the enemy group and you or at worst - stay at the outskirt of the bubble if your range allows it. Could solo 40 min void survivals easily with this strategy now. Phage and quanta are pretty awesome at feeding the bubble as well. Polarize is just too underwhelming to even care spending the energy on at higher levels.

[xiaodenden]

Just now, Zyrgi said:

Probably the post was made right before the update. Regardless it's probably still a bad idea to camp inside the bubble just because it is the place to which all projectiles travel to and bombard rockets, grenades and stuff can still kick your &#!. It's better to have the bubble between the enemy group and you or at worst - stay at the outskirt of the bubble if your range allows it. Could solo 40 min void survivals easily with this strategy now. Phage and quanta are pretty awesome at feeding the bubble as well. Polarize is just too underwhelming to even care spending the energy on at higher levels.

Oh yes,I agree with you that it's not a good idea to stand inside the bubble even after the fix.  My strategy is also put the bubble between me and the enemies or at choke points and then feed it with quanta for crazy damage.  Yes, Polarize is a bit underwhelming to boost the damage of Magnetize right now because of what continuous fire weapons can do.  Overall I like Magnetize can be used both offensively and defensively.  It's really the bread and butter of Mag's powers now.  

[Akavakaku]

2 hours ago, Zyrgi said:

Mag's new abilities for dummies:

Pull - Pulls enemies, small CC, negligible damage as it used to be.

Magnetize - Absorb + Vortex. Great at locking down choke-points. If you stand in the epicenter, you might get rekt by a stray projectile.

Polarize - Strips shields and armor, deals area damage based on drained armor/shields and produces shards. Great for low level, utter trash for high level/endless missions.

Crush - Slight AoE CC, almost no change.

Thank you, I needed this.

[Chroia]

Replacement: Your appreciation is appreciated.  :p

Exploderizer: Thanks for the tip about Fracturing Crush, I'll give it a shot. And yeah, Range/Dur is what I've settled on.

Inarticulate: Re- amount of armor reduced, no idea. Yes, stripping armor triggers a damaging explosion (hence - armorless target? No damage). Interesting point about Corpus vs. Grineer.

HellEnforcer: Polarize - yeah, that's about what I figured  :/  Side-note: I hadn't seen an armor shard do more than 63 damage per hit, so... yeah.

Zyrgi: Thanks for that.  I actually rather like the Miter for feeding a Magnetize. I may be quite happy if they end up going with the 'bubble buster' aug for it, after all.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Chroia