Force Powers, Part 1

While I still intend to post on the general gist of Force Powers and, more importantly, the specific Melee build I currently use, I just talked with one of our members, Winter Vos. He earned his lightsaber shortly after I earned mine. Winter has been discontent with his default Self Ability, though, and he just sent me a note that outlines not only why he chose to do away with Armor Piercing and replace it with a Force Power, but also the advantages of his Melee build, which, as he astutely points out, we should probably call something else. I'll post about my build in the near future, but, until I do, here's Winter -- and be forewarned, the following is epic: 

Even before I killed my way to the lightsaber, I kept hearing players in GC [Global Chat] harp on leveling up sabers to 7*. I guess this logic is in line with an obsessive focus on PR [Player Rating], considering how many of the top players don't use Force Powers at all. They spend all their electrum -- sorry, "event crystals" -- on leveling up gear. I saw one player with a full set of 6-8 Raid gear maxed to 7* already.  You really have to hoard electrum, nailing triple Commander for over a month to do that. Never mind the time it takes to grind all those shards. Anyway, my point is that most players in this game -- myself included -- are obsessed with PR. 

Or, in my case, I was  obsessed with PR. If I learned anything from sitting on that damned 100 level wall, stuck with all my gear maxed at 6* while waiting for the 3.0 update, then it was that Uprising is generally populated by players who hurry up to wait. It's like being surrounded by terrible drivers. Gas it as fast as you can to the next red light! Only, in this game, the red light lasts for months.  I understand this approach to playing because, as I said, I wanted to go go go get a lightsaber, too! 18,100 PR was my only goal for the entirety of T2 [Chapter 2] before the 3.0 update.

But wait. Now that I have a saber, as well as a bunch of 7* gear, why precisely am I still obsessed with PR? 

Well Winter, it's the Raids, stupid. The higher my PR, the deeper into the Heroic Raid map I can go and then, well, and then I can earn more electrum and shards, which will, ostensibly, allow me to run the Epic Raid map. Rinse and repeat. Not to mention that, the higher my PR, the more damage I do to Imperial dickheads. Waka waka! But to what end? Another wall? More hurry up to wait? For what? The Raids are a merry-go-round to grind grind grind.

All of this is as much to say that I just spent 5 6* electrum on a Force Power -- Whirlwind Rank 1 -- because I really want to enjoy the grind towards a 9* saber and 9* gear.  Yep, 9*. And we thought the electrum drought before 3.0 was bad. Has anyone done the math on how many 5* electrum it will take to level up just one piece of 8* gear to 9*? As far as I'm concerned, the release of 3.0 changed the nature of Uprising in many ways.  I'm now playing a long term strategy, rather than a short term, quick PR jump strategy. The game has changed for me. I feel the need to change with it. 

Ok, so, now that I've outlined why I did what I did, let's talk about Force Powers! But before I forget to do so, and because this is our  blog and not Cartel Chat, I'd very much like to say: Hey, Censorbot, go fuck yourself, buddy! 

Ahhhh, that felt SO good.

And so did absolutely obliterating 3 of those mini M-Sec droids on BKonn in roughly 8 seconds without taking a point of damage. That was on the first mission with this new Force Power. Here's my standard Melee build, Ability Set 1:

Targeted: Deceptive Leap 1

Directional: Dark Poison 1

Self: Whirlwind 1

Ultimate: Debris Barrier 1

Combat Passive: Hit and Run 2  

Non-Combat Passive: Cartel Savvy 2

First, I should mention, for players who don't realize it, you can have multiple Ability Sets ready and waiting to go. Just tap "Ability Set 1" to the right on the Abilities screen and you can create up to 5 different sets. And as for my standard Melee build, let's not call it Melee anymore. Melee is for Vibroweapons. If we can just make shit up -- like, you know, the name "Attacker" -- then let's go for broke. Imma call it my Jedi Build. Cuz I cut up like a duck, Z ;) 

For a long time now, I've hated every Self ability that I've ever used. Except for Ion Wave, which rocks, but it only rocks against droids. I picked Whirlwind rather than Malicious Fury because I wanted a Force Power that specifically took advantage of the fact that I'm swinging a lightsaber. And O man, Whirlwind swings it good.

Let me tell you about the power first. Then I'll talk about how I use it in conjunction with the others. 

The description for Whirlwind Rank 1 states: Attack and stun all nearby enemies with a lightsaber, dealing 12365 damage. Of course, the damage increases as PR increases. What I found interesting about Whirlwind was that most of my assumptions after reading this description were wrong wrong wrong! 

Basically, I assumed this power was like Cleave, only that you also stunned enemies while cuttin'em up. Nope. Whirlwind uses the lightsaber specifically to stun any enemies in melee range. It just so happens to also  do damage. Let me say that again: any enemy.  If you're as devious as I am, you just thought "boss." Yup, boss. Very boss. 

So Whirlwind fundamentally stuns multiple enemies in melee range. Droids, troopers, lurkers, monsters, you name it. While I literally just got it and haven't had a lot of time to really learn how to use Whirlwind super effectively, this is how I destroyed those mini M-Sec droids I mentioned:

With my new Jedi Build in tow, I did my Cartel Op today. I hadn't used Whirlwind at all, so I was clueless. So I get to BKonn and, wouldn't you know it, mini M-Sec droids start bumbling towards me and lobbing bombs. Just terrific. By the time I was 3/4 through the map, I'd figured out 1 basic attack line using Whirlwind: Deceptive Leap to position my attack and deceive opponent, Dark Poison to damage opponent until holographic decoy ends, Whirlwind to stun and damage opponent -- which, obviously, stops any  opponent attacks, special or not -- then, if anybody's still standing, finish them with Dark Poison. 

At the end of the BKonn map, I had to face 3 mini M-Secs after destroying several pairs of them. I decided to try a different attack line: Whirlwind to stun and damage opponents, Dark Poison to damage opponents, Deceptive Leap over opponents when stun ends, and Dark Poison to finish opponents. The cooldown on Whirlwind was so quick that, rather than use Dark Poison to finish, I could have used it again to stun and damage the droids, finishing them with the saber instead.

I should also mention the Daily Op I ran. I easily took down a Noble Boss -- or maybe, Ignoble Boss? -- using Debris Barrier and Whirlwind together. Debris Barrier absorbs all attacks and damages nearby enemies at 8243 per second.  So, you already know what I'm going to say, right? 

The attack line: Deceptive Leap to position attack and deceive opponent, Dark Poison to damage opponent until holographic decoy ends, Whirlwind to stun and damage opponent, Dark Poison to damage opponent until stun ends, Debris Barrier to absorb all attacks and damage opponent, lightsaber standard attacks to damage opponent, and Whirlwind again to finish opponent while Debris Barrier is in effect. Shit got real for Ignoble Boss in a hurry.  

And this note turned into a novella in a hurry, too! 

But I guess my point in writing all this is to point out that Uprising is a game. Yep, it's a game. I play it to have fun. Force Powers are not only powerful, but they're fun to use. And I'll now happily leap, whirl, and poison my way to Kabam only knows where. I'm a leaf on the wind. 

Captain Winter Vos

Jedi Knight of Bail

Officer, Knights of Bail

Lvl 100, 21484 PR