Elly's Build/Combos/Gear, need opinions.

[Ellyidol]

I can keep agro at guardian . Can't keep it at normal mobs when eng are all casting transference but guardian is fine when I see u I will add u.

I'm not telling ur build is bad there is no good or bad build just wanted to know if u could tank with that

Interested in seeing that!

No worries, didn't perceive you to say that, thanks!

[Nightarcher]

Here's my build at 26:



Pros:
--excellent crowd control (like you Elly)
--nice armor buff
--enough taunt to hold boss aggro, usually
--extra 15-second crit buff for sticky situations as well as extra damage during a boss


Cons:
--no regen skills = higher pot usage (expensive)
--not having a point in Force Hammer means I can't combo with engineers, and less taunt


I'll wait to see the last skills and then adjust my build.

[Ellyidol]

I just came from a couple of runs with 3 engineers and 1 operative. Most efficient runs I've been in I think. Barely any pot consumption, easy aggro, and good damage. Does having more than one operative make it harder for everyone? Lol. I thought more than one engi was useless too?

I had aggro 100% of the time on guardian, btw. Matutd was the lone op, was talking to him about his build and it seems I should be able to hold aggro despite a full damage spec op, not sure though.

And thanks, night! I really love my regen skills though, especially to solo with. Heh

[Rast]

I find 2 or more Engineers to be a huge boon. I had such a hard time staying alive on my Commando I rolled an Engineer just to try something different; he's so much easier to play and solo with. You can fix a lot of bad play if you're a good Engineer. As a commando, even though I can control aggro, if things die to slowly or there's just not enough healing, I either use a massive number of pots or I end up dead.

Rast

[Register]

Yeah, tricky business with Taunt though! I've seen aggro go from have it to lose it in literally a second or two.

Btw, don't you think your IM penalty is too high if not at 6?

Not really. Its not hit percent so tanking goes fine. I barely have any dodge at all so it doesnt dodge penalty is fine by me. Losing just a few points of dodge lol....What else does it take away? Cant remember......But im thinking of dropping Increase Mass completly. With a good engie, I really dont need it. I want more points in Vigor for a lack of engie/good engie. I dont really like Growing Rage because its just crit. My combo I use kills the Burrower mobs and with 2 or 3 other people, the human (??) mobs go down quick.

As for aggro, I do absolutely fine keeping it on mobs because they die fast. With bosses I can keep easily unless its a pure damage op or something. On guardian, I try to not keep aggro ALL the time (imma terrible tank, right?) if there is not a good enough engineer to heal. Ill use my taunt skills when Guardian is about to kill somebody...or a little before...

[krazii]

Good Guide Bro! Currently leveling my Commando and they are lot's of fun. Coincidentally, I have my skills in the same place except that at this point I use pots, so no regen skill or IM for that matter, i put them into Slam. My opening is slam, singularity, back up and pick off mobs one at a time or use well to finish. I'm still getting used to gravity well, neat skill and highest aoe damage.

Also, your op question: We do have a debuff, Neutral Shock, but I think it's seldom used and there's too many other offensive skills to use. Maybe in PVP.

btw: I've played with Elly many times and he has no problem keeping aggro at Guardian.

Kraz

[Register]

I just specced a little bit ago. I decided to ditch Increase Mass.I put the extra points in Vigor. This is what I have...I think....going off of memory cuz my bro is playing In my ipod...

2 neutron stomp
5 Singularity
5 Vigor
5 Kinetic resevior
5 Gravity Well
1 gravitational slam

Its not a lot of skills to go through but its mainly built for soloing in OL. At level 26, im putting a point in Gravity well or something lol...

[Ellyidol]

I've heard that 50 armour = 1 damage reduction only too. I don't know if it's true, just putting it out there.

Anyone notice if two commandos taunt's cancels out each other? 0.0 I notice that on runs with two commandos with the same single operative, the guardian loves to aggro him. But if it's just me and the operative, rest engineers, the guardian sticks to me.

Very very weird, but I can fully confirm that Taunt doesn't seem to increase at all with skill level. If it did, I would have an incredibly hard time keeping aggro at guardian, but I seem to be able to successfully get aggro most of the time.



Btw, has anyone tried sticking with a 22/24 Scrapper instead of a Wastelander? Any experiences there?

[Nightarcher]

Btw, has anyone tried sticking with a 22/24 Scrapper instead of a Wastelander? Any experiences there?

By scrapper do you mean the actual Scrapper weapon or any generic non-green commando weapon?

Well either way, commandos should either use the Wastelander or a Scavenger/Plat Rifle. Wastelander for AOE, Rifle for heavy damage and good DPS during bosses.

[Ellyidol]

By scrapper do you mean the actual Scrapper weapon or any generic non-green commando weapon?

Well either way, commandos should either use the Wastelander or a Scavenger/Plat Rifle. Wastelander for AOE, Rifle for heavy damage and good DPS during bosses.

The green weapon

I was comparing earlier, I could have sworn the 24 Scrapper had the best DPS stats, commando for bosses really. 22 Scrapper is good for tanking stats, I think.

I'll check again

[Acyer]

Nice build so far. But all builds at this point aren't impressive as we still lack new skills. If you feel your build will keep aggro then by all means use it. I will judge builds when we get to a higher cap.

[Dark Avenger]

cool I have pretty much same build as elly and jaytb. I did have my I'M up to 6 but after reading this I removed it and love my build now. Thanx for the help and info.

[frostine]

Nice build Elly. I first played this game as engineer and began playing commando when I reached lvl 25. Mostly because I wanted to understand how commandos work so I can better serve them as healer. I'm loving commando and have now surpassed my engineer in regards to leveling. You include a variety of taunting skills which other other builds lack making for messy game play. I hope other commandos follow your lead and experiment from there. I don't run into many who use the gravity well skill and I think it is one of the most important skills for clean and easy crowd control. Personally, I find pulling mobs into neat piles with gravity well and pushing that mob into a corner with singularity makes it easier for opps to finish off the kill without everyone scattered and running around the room. Don't be afraid to pull mobs onto you with this skill. Operatives should be able to finish them off quickly and Engineers should have you healed so that you don't need to waste stims or die.

Since the update I've been experimenting with Nebula just for fun...I cast nebula for aoe DoT, pull mobs on me and into nebula using gravity well (even more dmg), then knock mobs down with stomp to keep them in nebula for a another second or two (more dmg). At this point the mobs have taken a bit of dmg, allowing the group to stay close, operatives to finish off kills, and the engi to heal everyone easily. If I am taking too much damage and operatives can't finish off the kill fast enough I pop singularity to get the mobs off my back. The only draw back is that nebula has a long cool down. If the skill isn't ready I revert back to the usual routine.

[jeremyc]

hi,
I've reset my skills a few times while leveling.
I've tried gravity well then singularity together, and they don't work too well. You basically knock the mobs back into the party due to well sucking, should the engineers panic and cast suppression, suddenly all the ops get aggro till you can taunt them back. On the other hand, if you do it the other way round, it works nicely, singularity knocking them down, then well bunching them up as they're on the floor taking damage.
honestly, I still think getting at least 3 taunt skills is needed till 28, just cause of the cool down screwing up if a teammate manages to get aggro. The last button would be for increase mass, which does reduce quite a bit of damage regardless of what people say. Basically for me it stops about 30 plus damage. While this isn't significant on the new boss the director, taking 90 damage a hit and 60 damage a hit is the difference between a stim plus engineer heal outpacing the damage and you hitting the floor. More so on guardian runs as it literally cuts the damage in half.
Past 28, backbreaker cool down is only 5 seconds, so you can drop one of the taunt skills for utility if you like, perhaps for slam to slow down melee mobs or Kinetic Reservoir to starve off power pack use.
Will have to look at the last of the new skills. I'm guessing you guys aren't going to upgrade till 30 tanking wise as only the purples at 30 offer any dodge increase.

[McBain]

This build actually works well for me. Much better than what I had before coming across this thread anyway. I think overall, it depends on how you play, but this makes a lot of sense to me. The Gravity Well-Singularity-Graviton Slam combo works really well to knock down mobs in a hurry, so I've focused on that. My slight variation is that I've dropped Increase Mass and put those two points into Growing Rage. The big dodge hit with Increase Mass pretty much cancels out its effectiveness in my opinion, and the crit boost with Growing Rage, while having a long cooldown, can be an effective buff with particularly nasty mobs and especially bosses. Since the update I've added two more points to Graviton Slam as well, and it seems like that would be a good skill to eventually max out.

Now I'm looking at Back Breaker and wondering how it's going to fit into all this. Any thoughts?

edit: Scratch that, apparently Back Breaker can be used for a self combo. Probably an essential skill. Only problem now is narrowing it down to 8 skills. I think Force Hammer has to go.

[Ellyidol]

Updated first post for Slouch Build/Combo/Gear.

[Ellyidol]

Edited build out again.

[Ellyidol]

Added photos to gear section. Added conclusion and more overall descriptions/explanations towards the entire OP.

[Ellyidol]

Update:

1. Added introduction section, just to clear some stuff up.

2. Incorporated my other guide, Attack Commando Guide, into this one.

[Zaltiar]

Elly's Build/Combos/Gear

Mob Combo: (Buff up before using skills) + Gravity Well + Graviton Slam + Neutron Stomp + Singularity

This combo was changed from the previous one mainly to fully maximise the use of Gravity Well and Singularity. The old combo used to contradict these two skills; GW would pull but Singularity would push back out. This combo works a lot better for crowd control and ultimately better damage overall. I strongly recommend this new combo to fully crowd control and to prevent from being a 'Scatter Commando'. This is how it works:As usual, Gravity Well first to pull the mobs towards you. While they are being pulled, a Graviton Slam is a good skill to add more damage and slow debuff them so they avoid walking away quick after being pulled. By the time they are next to you or pinned to a wall, Neutron Stomp them followed by a quick Singularity. Remember, step back from the wall after GW to give you space for Singularity's blast to push them against the wall, and not push them away from it. The Stomp knocks them down which gives enough time for the Singularity cast-time to kick-in and push them towards the wall more plus knocking them down again.

All this time, you must ensure your normal attack from your Heavy Weapon is ON. Normal attacks from a Heavy Weapon is key to doing full AOE damage, especially if they've been well setup through your combo.

Also, if this combo is perfected, the mobs are dead even before they can deal damage, assuming you have a group with you or you have a damage enhancer on.

+1
I really like this combo! makes efficient use of skills and is very effective for large mobs. I tended to use Graviton Slam 1st to get aggro (if my teammates started ahead of me), then GW+Sing to stick them to the wall, followed by a Neutron Stomp+Back breaker for that backbreaker combo. <- But this combo mainly focuses on one main mob.
Hopefully new players/commandos-to-be find this thread and learn a thing or two