Flash Guard & Massive Hunter: A Potential Alternative To Iron Will?

[Drazn42]

As the title says, I would like some help exploring the possibility of using damage reduction mechanics instead of the current "75% chance to not die" meta. 'Cause while that sounds great on paper, surely not being in the position where death could happen would be a better idea? Right?

Also, confirmation on whether the Flash Guard abilities even work outside of Guard Stance would be good. The wording of them seems that way, but we all know how SEGA love their invisible restrictions...

Build using Massive Hunter to achieve 45 seconds of ~40% damage reduction + Super Armor, and ~15% reduction when on downtime.

Build forsaking Massive Hunter to achieve ~20% damage reduction consistently

Both builds take 5 points out of Fury Combo Up, since losing 5% of your damage for one attack seems like a small enough trade for more tank, and thus more consistency for those of lower skill levels (Such as myself )

Your intelligent, thoughtful and constructive comments please~

[Sayara]

They aren't reliant on Guard Stance. They'd have to specify otherwise. So i can confirm that. I can see it working, I am even going the whole 9 miles and making it 100% tank as well. (if i go TE/hu I'll have use with support spells and explosions vs raw damage)

but this works as well. Massive hunter is definitly useful this season

[Drazn42]

They aren't reliant on Guard Stance.

That's very good news, thanks for that

But do you have any experience using a setup such as the ones I've linked as a Sub Class for a strictly DPS focused build?

I want to know how useful %Damage Reduction is in this game, especially Endgame.

[milranduil]

I've been considering using such a tree for RaHu for super armor during Sat Cannon and what not since s-atk ups don't mean much besides less ass bust/slide end damage. Instead of automate halfline though, I would probably keep fury combo maxed and do 5/10 iron will for 47% survivability if it's something that can one shot me. It would also reduce the effect of making mistakes when soloing SH AQ and lv 3 infected boss touches you for otherwise 700+ damage

[IndigoNovember]

But do you have any experience using a setup such as the ones I've linked as a Sub Class for a strictly DPS focused build?

I want to know how useful %Damage Reduction is in this game, especially Endgame.

If you're focused on damage, then it's not very useful since you can just dodge or guard everything instead of tanking the hit.

I'd also like to advocate Automate Halfline (100% activation rate) over Iron Will (75% activation rate) for safety net on a budget.

I've been considering using such a tree for RaHu for super armor during Sat Cannon

Do it, it's great.

[Drazn42]

If you're focused on damage, then it's not very useful since you can just dodge or guard everything instead of tanking the hit.

The point of taking Hu over Fi is to make up for not being very good at dodging. After all Fi is always better damage than Hu as a sub

As much as telling people to get better at dodging and playing intelligently is a good idea, people should be encouraged to adapt their builds in small ways to ensure they don't die and become completely useless...

Fury Combo Up is unique in that your total possible damage doesn't change after you take the first point in it. You just reach the cap faster with more points. So with 5 points instead of 10 you only need one more JA to reach the cap.

Not a huge difference in actual damage, but 5 points that you can use to make yourself a lot more consistent (i.e not dying) since Automate is not completely foolproof. Not to mention Massive Hunter can result in more DPS from NOT needing to dodge etc.

[gigawuts]

Hm, this seems like a good thread to ask this in:

Do people find Massive Hunter to be worth it with 1 SP? Or does it expire too quickly? Hunter builds I tinker with are stretched pretty thin, so doing just 1 sp in Massive Hunter lets me spend points elsewhere...but that 15 seconds could mean a lot and that shorter cooldown seems pretty great.

Or I could just wait until the level cap is raised.

[Alandsmj]

If you have very good armor with resists and high HP, 1 point in MH might work in the current difficulty. If the monster damage of the next difficulty is high enough to one shot players, 5 points would seem mandatory, since the main point of taking MH with automate is to tank monster damage while doing your own damage without being interrupted, alive.

But that said they will probably give everyone reset passes. And for 4 more SP you get like 15 more seconds of (almost) Combat Escape like (though mate needing) invulnerability (assuming your net does not lag), and 15% more damage reduction and 10 seconds less CD. It's too juicy to pass.

[gigawuts]

I'm less interested in the damage resistance and more interested in the flinch immunity. There are some enemies in the recent areas that are just nonstop flinch splash and zigzagging nuisancery, so being able to pop massive hunter and not get nicked for 30 damage + flinch between releasing my PA button and actually beginning an attack with hyper armor would be super cool (like, say, earlier when I was fighting two wheeliebosses in shironia).

I may honestly just sacrifice 5% damage to make it work. I'm not really bothered by the idea of doing 11,000 damage instead of 11,550.

[Alandsmj]

I tried both 1 point and 5 point and decide to go for the later because it enables so many options. It basically creates a 45s period (instead of 30) when you can spam your most powerful PA nonstop without worrying dodging or parrying. Recovering PP is also way more convenient. It is like a 45s burst time as long as you have enough mates. As I mentioned, if the damage is too high (because of less optimal armor, low HP, etc.), the 15% extra damage is actually quite handy to keep you alive when tanking damage.

I ended up sacrificing 5 SP from Fury combo to fill Fury Gear when using HU as a main.