Lethality Build - Cull and Poison Optimization

[digidevil]

Hey guys,

 

I've been playing around recently with a hybrid build that makes use of Kolto probe TA tick to chain cull. Despite being a hybrid build it has a very high dmg output (I sometimes manage 204k dmg with 150k healing or more).

 

If you wanna have a look --> http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401rfcMzhZZGMbkrMhd.1

 

Rotation is currently:

 

Corrosive Dart (If not active)

Corrosive Grenade(If not active)

Shiv (If no or 1 TA)

Cull (as many times as you can)

Shiv(as soon as it cools down)

Kolto probe(refresh)

 

 

I do however have 3 questions for any lethality agents out there.

 

1. How do I maximize my poison dmg stat wise? what stats should I be prioritizing?

2. Based on the above rotation what would you chance to increase dmg output?

3. How can I hit for 2.5k whilst in this build (considering how low dmg cull is)?

 

 

Please feel free to try out my build and leave comments, its worked wonders for me. may do the same for others.

[vimm]

As far as your stats go, crit is very nice for your DoTs, and it restores your action as well.

 

You really don't find that Cull hits hard?

[Big_Swifty]

That's a standard 18/0/23 build for lethality ops.

 

Unfortunately, I can't see the questions that you asked anymore ... stoopid forums!

 

I assume that you PvP, since you were asking about how to get more than 2.5k dmg.

 

Answer #1: Crouch -> Explosive probe. Simple as that. Also, Explosive Probe leaves a short-duration DoT that benefits from the +12% crit that you have on DoTs in that build (but you don't get 2 energy when the DoTs crit since they are not poison effects)

 

Answer#2: Cull does do more than 2.5k damage in total, but, unfortunately for the warzone medal, it does damage three times (at the same time)... once for the ability, once more for the first poison effect, and once more for the second poison effect. Neither of these alone is 2.5k damage, but combined they are. Also, I am pretty sure that the two additional damage ticks that you get from Cull (the Internal Damage ticks) ARE considered poison effects, and so you could get +2 energy for each, if they crit. Also, those two ticks also benefit from the +15%-poison-damage-to-targets-below-30%-health talent (that you can't get in your current build) and from Weakening Blast (which you also can't get at the moment). With those talents, Cull can really do a LOT of damage on Weakened targets below 30% Health. Personally, I don't think going more than 23 in Lethality is worth it, though... you'll do great damage as it is.

 

 

SO

1. Don't forget Explosive Probe!

2. Cull is better than you might think

3. You didn't mention Backstab... don't forget that either! Backstab can (sometimes) do more than 2.5k damage

4. Don't forget to get the relatively-easy-to-get 2.5k healing medal as well, with that build!

 

 

 

(aside: I have a Lethality op, that I have leveled through PvP to 43 at the moment (so lvl 43 valor too)... I have tried a lot of variations on Lethality builds, and I am currently 11/0/23. Once I get the cash to respec again, though, I am going back to 0/11/23... for better or worse!)

[Big_Swifty]

As for how to increase the damage of your poison effects, you just need to increase the TECH Damage Bonus on your character sheet.

 

Thankfully for a Lethality Operative, a healthy mix of stats does a great job.

 

Notes:

1. Increasing Cunning by 1 will increase the damage bonus by 0.2 (and your Crit Rate by a small amount)

2. Increasing Tech Power by 1 will increase the damage bonus by 0.23

3. Increasing Power by 1 will increase the damage bonus by 0.23

4. Increasing Crit chance will also increase your damage, of course, since you will crit more often.

 

Of the three, Tech Power is the "cheapest" (in that you can increase Tech Power by, for example, 50 by upgrading from a level 48 melee weapon to a level 49 melee weapon), whereas you could never increase wither Cunning or Power by nearly as much by upgrading an item by one level (I just made that number (50) up as an example... it's not real!)

 

But Tech Power only exists on a few items - gear and mod up to increase Cunning, Power, and Crit.

 

Power and Crit suffer from Diminishing Returns, though. Once you start to get 300+ rating in, say, Crit, you should probably start working on Power, and vice-versa.

 

Finally, since you will already have a Base crit on DoTs (6% from Talent + 12% from Talents + 5% from class buff = 23%), getting to approximately 50% crit on DoTs is pretty easy... you won't need to stack Crit Rating beyond 300 like some other classes do. Instead, you can work on Power and Surge a lot earlier than other classes.

 

Given that you heal DoTs from your Kolto Probe Also has a base crit of 23% (it benefits from both Lethality crit talents), Surge can really increase the amount that you heal (and the DoT damage that you do) when you crit, which will be often.

 

 

 

All told:

1. Tech Power

2. Crit, but probably not beyond 50% for your DoTs

3. Power and Surge - Power to increase damage and heals directly, Surge to increase damage and heals of Crits

 

 

... at least, this is my understanding of how it all works!

[MobiusZero]

I'd say the best way to increase your DPS is to get Weakening Blast and forget the hybrid build. When you go hybrid you skip some of the key abilities, such as Escape Plan, the aforementioned Weakening Blast, Counterstrike, License to kill, and/or one or two of the 4th tier talents (Vanish, Lethal Purpose, etc.).

 

Hybrids also skip Imperial Brew, which makes zero sense to me. Imperial Brew is pretty much the most important talent a Lethality Op can learn (Yeah, it's pretty stupid that it's in Conc. tree!).

 

Given that you heal DoTs from your Kolto Probe Also has a base crit of 23% (it benefits from both Lethality crit talents), Surge can really increase the amount that you heal (and the DoT damage that you do) when you crit, which will be often.

 

So you are saying that Lethal Dose increases Kolto Probe crit chance? Is this really true? Not like it will sway me to the hybrid side, but it's an interesting bit of info.

 

Does anyone know the base amount that KP heals for, total (1 single probe)?

Edited March 7, 2012 by MobiusZero

[Zerikin_Loukbel]

Does anyone know the base amount that KP heals for, total (1 single probe)?

 

[119 + (bonus healing * .336)] * 6 * [1 + (crit % * surge %)] not counting +% healing

[digidevil]

I'd say the best way to increase your DPS is to get Weakening Blast and forget the hybrid build. When you go hybrid you skip some of the key abilities, such as Escape Plan, the aforementioned Weakening Blast, Counterstrike, License to kill, and/or one or two of the 4th tier talents (Vanish, Lethal Purpose, etc.).

 

Hybrids also skip Imperial Brew, which makes zero sense to me. Imperial Brew is pretty much the most important talent a Lethality Op can learn (Yeah, it's pretty stupid that it's in Conc. tree!).

 

 

 

So you are saying that Lethal Dose increases Kolto Probe crit chance? Is this really true? Not like it will sway me to the hybrid side, but it's an interesting bit of info.

 

Does anyone know the base amount that KP heals for, total (1 single probe)?

 

 

You would be amazed at the effectiveness of a good hybrid. Also if I had any extra points they would be in imperial brew without question. The only way to add to it would be to remove from Medical Engineering and License to kill, unfortunately both are essentially to build.

[MobiusZero]

I'd say Imperial Brew is more essential than license to kill. Your DoT's should be doing much more damage than your Culls.

[Arrys]

I haven't run the cull hybrid since I was levelling. Has anyone tested if any of the cybertech grenade effects count as a poison dot?

 

Been doing an aoe snare CC week and might have to play with cull again now I have better gear for it.

[Taliknor]

You could ignore cull and simply run an extra 18% damage on your darts, (basically subbing carbine shot for cull.)

[MobiusZero]

You could ignore cull and simply run an extra 18% damage on your darts, (basically subbing carbine shot for cull.)

 

This kind of build is more "healer" than "hybrid."

[Canis_Anubis]

Power and Crit suffer from Diminishing Returns, though. Once you start to get 300+ rating in, say, Crit, you should probably start working on Power, and vice-versa.

 

Note quite true, though the conclusions are not altered by this fact: Power and Crit scale linearly off of themselves, but geometrically off of each other. That's why you want to strive to balance your power and crit gains as opposed to exclusively stacking one or the other. In practice, it's not really difficult to figure out what to take when you're contemplating an upgrade for a particular slot.

[digidevil]

Alot of people here suggesting that I ditch cull energy decrease for an 18% increase in dart dmg..

 

Are people really suggesting that chaining cull is less effective than an 18% dmg increase to corrosive dart? o_O.

 

seriously the TA u get from probes lets u chain cull continuously when used with proper timing.

 

Also out of curiousity I wanna know about some other hybrid builds and what sorta success people have with them I.e. dmg and healing stats

 

My record still stands at 205k and 158k with my build.

Edited March 9, 2012 by digidevil

[Ich_Bin]

Also out of curiousity I wanna know about some other hybrid builds and what sorta success people have with them I.e. dmg and healing stats

 

My record still stands at 205k and 158k with my build.

 

312k damage / 365k healing in a full length Voidstar with a healing/lethality hybrid.

I found the spec to be quite efficient but got bored of all the dot and hot spamming really quickly. So I only played it for 4 days and then went back to concealment (I think concealment is not as good as a hybrid build but is way more fun to play).