Im speaking about owerall power and most of combat needs in the game, just saying as an another viewing angle for main character.Īs you know, main thing for ascendant extending ascended phase and minimalizing weapon damage phase time for most of combats. Ascendaants +3 PL and Zero cost almost extendable to 1minute, and thanks to devoted you can be ascended again very quickly. My point is (IMO), ascendant is better subclass than soulblade for everything, "except" single target "melee" damage. And your advises matches better with original poster. The only thing that's maybe cool about Fighter/Ascendant is Disciplined Strikes/ Tactical Barrage and the ability to fill your focus completely with a use of Clear Out. The PEN bonus doesn't work for the powers you mentioned (unlike Tenacious from Monk or Berserker), also the increased crit damage is only for your proficient weapon. So stuff like Recall Agony on a tough boss or an occasional Disintegration on a high deflection but low fort enemy are still viable and nice options.Īscendant really shines if you are a power spammer - especially if you have abilites that either buff attack speed and recovery (like with Ascendant/Barbarian for example or single class Ascendant with Time Parasite or Ascended Streetfigher with Heating Up) or extend the duration of Ascended (Priest's Salvation of Time, Wizard's Draining Wall) or both (like Helwalker's Swift Strikes and +10 INT bonus) so that you can squeeze more casts into your ascended phase.Īscendant never appeared to me as a particularly great fit for a Devoted (especially if you want to focus on melee single target damage). Shred powers are cheaper for a Soul Blade. Most likely you will be mainly using Soul Annihilation - because it's great as single target melee damage tool. Soulblade is a nice combination of melee damage and occasional cipher power use.
"I already have 2 other Companions who deal AoE" But this doesn't seem to fit the OP's description too well: In my opinion Ascendant is not the right choice - if you want high melee damage.įor casting the occasional power a Soulblade is as good as any cipher (even better if the occasional power is a Shred power).Īscendant is nice if you want to spam powers while ascended. Very nice dmg synergy is Rogue/Soulblade of course since all of the rogue's dmg bonuses apply to Soul Annihilation as well. Wait: was the bug that kill by Soul Annihilation doesn't trigger Cleaving Stance ever fixed?īy the way: do Phantom Foes (flanked: -1 AR) and Body Attunement (-2 AR) stack? If so then Devoted (+2 PEN) + Soulblade (+1 PEN with Hammering Thoughts) would be a really nice "penetrator" even with the low-pen sword.
But as you said: You're not only doing melee dmg but can also cast powers like Body Attunement and Borrowed Instinct which can also be a really nice help even if you wantto focus on melee. Pure melee dmg potential is maybe higher for Devoted/Rogue in the end. Cipher can get Borrowed Instinct which stacks with Disciplined Strikes, giving you a lot of crits with Soul Annihilation which works well enough with Devoted's passive and Cleaving Stance. I wouldn't say that a Devoted/Rogue always does more damage than a Devoted/Soulblade over the course of a playthrough. Deathblows comes very late with a multiclass while Soul Annihilation is your friend from lvl 1 on.