Is AMPR still the best way for Tank Brawlers to regen MP?

I'm a general-purpose/tank Brawler. By "general purpose", I mean that I didn't completely forgo of damage, coz I don't like the idea that I'm a sitting duck if my DPSer die of stray AOEs. In short, I'm an offtank.
Now back to why I made a thread.

Lately, I've been having difficulties keeping aggro against DPS 4-skill spammers(opener>Save>Smite> Consec).
There are 3 reasons why.
1. Because Brawlers doesn't have innate accuracy. Even with full crit gears, high flee bosses are pain in the ass. TK is guaranteed crit, but that's just 1 skill in a long combo.
2. My combo is not only long, but also slow. If the boss is quite nice and just stand toe-to-toe with me, then all is well. But lately, newer bosses are mobile as hell. And God forbid if my combo ever gets interrupted; a good chunk of potential aggro down the drain.
3. I don't have enough MP to have a spam showdown with my partymates. And this problem stems out to why I'm forced to use a long slow combo; because I'm trying to squeeze value out of every MP bar.

My current combo:
Smash > HS save > Sonic consec > Shell consec > TK smite > Protection/Aegis Swift

I've been thinking lately, is AMPR(Sober, Aggravate, Eerie) still the optimal way to gain MP as a Brawler? Or is Quick Draw far superior? What are the chances of QD activating on a 4-skill combo?

I wanted to change my combo into 2 shorter combos for a long time now, because it could give me more flexibility, and more TK guaranteed hits. But MP pool is disallowing me.

 

Yes. for me. Since you aren't completely a tank, you don't have the luxury of standing down the boss and charging. Also auto attacking prorates your damage making your martial skills hit harder.

 

I can face-tank bosses to a certain degree. I only avoid certain skills that even true tanks will avoid(Fractional dmg, Mezza lasers, and such).

What I mean by offtank is that I didn't go as far as equipping Drills or Magician's Ring, or removing Smited TK in favor of more swifted skills.

EDIT: I don't think you really read my initial post, since I was actually asking about AMPR vs Quick Draw. MP Charge is out of the question, since high AMPR beats non-staff charging anyway.

 

I've had the same problems with my Brawler. The misses are just frustrating currently, but I have a few suggestions that may help. If you're willing to forgo your Knight Talisman/Speed Talisman you could try out Bow Thimble and an accuracy potion to offset your hit rate a bit to gain more MP. This works for my low level Brawler, but i'm not sure how well it works in later areas.

With a 4 string combo it should be a 65% chance of activation I think. I'd ask @Mugami for an exact rate though.

On the case of Quick Draw. If the accuracy potion/ring doesn't fix things for you, it would probably be your next best step. I'm not sure if Quick Draw procs on misses though.

 

Actually it was @NineArts who figured out quickdraws proc rate not me. He's your man for that one.

How to achieve best mp return rate:

• Jamadhar (shop) (w Silver Roar xtal)
  • 30 Atk (90%), Untradable, Attack MP Recovery+2, Critical Rate+40%, DEX+3
• Any MD in secondary
  • Doesn't matter
• Ooze Armor (w Silver Roar xtal)
  • 36 Def, Untradable, Attack MP Recovery+4, Short Range Damage+3%, DEX+2%, Critical Damage+1%
• BD Crown (w Silver Roar xtal)
  • 11 Def, Weapon Atk+5, Attack MP Recovery +3, Fire Resistance -1%
• Ring of Greed (w Silver Roar xtal)
  • 0 Def, Attack MP Recovery+5, MaxMP+500, Atk-25%, M.Atk-25%

Total: +26​

• Sober 10
• Short Rest 10
• MP Boost 10
• Power Wave 10
• Quickdraw 10

Total: +30
and +30/3secs (while combo/auto attacking)
Req: 70sp

12+26+30
_________________________________________
Total AMPR: +68
​

Now, I don't recommend this build. I use mage ring instead of Greed, for one.

Use 2 combos:
Combo 1 is 8cp and 100MP
Combo 2 is 2cp and 100MP

I know you're wondering why use an MD.

A: Power Wave will deal full damage with an MD equipped. And many bosses have a skill which is longer than 3 seconds and many are slow. So run away to 13m every once in awhile or stand your ground (if you stun a boss), grow some balls, and CHARGE! Unless you're a pansy with 800hp, you'll be fine even if you get hit once.​

I approve this message!
#LikeABoss
​

 

I was too afraid to ask this because i might get bashed because im an avid Power Wave User.

 

Lol.
You can always pm me any question. Some people think I probably have a smug attitude, but that's far from the case. I'll always answer any question from anybody in pm to the best of my ability. And I don't look down on anyone who wants to learn.

 

So mugami, as u said in ur Secondary Weapon Effect thread. Power wave will activate all sub-stats on md as secondary, is this true?

 

If I may suggest, to counter opener>save>smite>Consec, use opener>save>smite>Consec.

Smash > Shell (Save) > Triple kick (Smite) > Sonic (Consec)
When you need to or see a good 3 sec window, do
Sonic > Protection > Aegis (all Consec) ranged, takes you time to get back to tanking position, but takes target time to approach you. I'm assuming Protection and Aegis cost 100mp, if I'm wrong, let me know.

Hope this will solve your problem.

 

The problem is opener>save>smite>consec spammers either have high Max MP or uses Quick Draw, or both. After 4-5 combos I'm forced to autoattack to gain MP, while they continue spamming. Hence, I'm asking if AMPR is still a competent way for MP regen.

 

U're asking question that Im sure u know the answer, even in doubt. MP charge is surely out of the matter, while quick draw requires u to waste 10 SPs (but is still do-able). Now it's either sober analysis or stacking ampr gears, or bit of both.
The real problem that intrigues u n many of us brawlers is actually how to keep aggro. Then ofc we need aggro% gears stacking. Also i believe save combo reduces aggro amount of the tagged skill in sequence.
U may want to throw smash>sonic wave (cons)> bash (cons)> shell break (cons) combo as battle opener n then cycle it after stun resistance cooldown (15 secs i believe) is ready, remember to throw it again after u gain mp until stun proc. This combo is still the bread n butter of being brawler n usually gives u necessary amount of aggro to keep bosses' attention, especially when both bash n shell break proc.
U can try throwing triple kick in between above combo cycle ofc, tho it will reduces ur generated amount of aggro.

 

I see ^^

And I suppose Quick draw is currently not in your scope?

 

I think this is the best analysis you can get. On one hand, I feel the Protection and Aegis are dragging you down; on the other, I see why you are doing it. It's a tough choice to make here.

@DansAway suggestion is worth considering. Taking on buffer, tanker and DPS in one char will spread your focus thin.

 

This is quite the opposite of my experience. My oldest combo was Smash > Sonic > Impact > TK, all Consec, and the improvement in aggro is worlds apart when I switched to my current. Heavy Smash as 2nd skill almost guarantees instant aggro even if there are other consec comboist that hit before me(slow loading). Consec combos ramp up too slowly; even the old 4mp Snipe combo will sometimes out-aggro you(or even consec 1H) , if you weren't first hit..
I haven't been out-aggro by anything other than open> save> smite> cons spam.
The silliest aggro stealer I've met uses Save Impact and Smited TK, so I don't think your theory is even close to being correct.

It's actually what I've been contemplating. If I should drop Sober/Aggravate in favor of Quick Draw.

 

In that case, I think Quick draw will help you.

I think the safe combo part is a DPS issue. You have a long combo so you generate large aggro over long period of time. But with a save-impact combo, the aggro growth is 800 per 4 seconds for Triple kick and Snipe builds, I have a 2h that generates 1000 aggro per 4 sec, it is hard to keep up with these combo spammers unless you become a combo spammer yourself.

Try the combo I suggested and see if it helps? The first one is a spammer so it puts you on par with them. Problem is the second buff combo, as you could lose aggro while buffing and can't get it back...

 

This was true before the nerf to all secondaries.

Since the "nerfdate", I haven't retested that.

@chalkie-kun & @Saphos I don't use triple kick because I use a breaker mage. With an md as primary, shell break or heavy smash are the better skills along with storm (obviously).

I'm also relatively positive that a save skill only generates 50% of the normal in aggro and consecutive seems to be 20-30% less.


When I'm in a (very good) party, I either choose to be the breaker or the tank, and change my combo and ring accordingly.

As a tank I use mage ring and use consecutive with the last two skills being impact(consecutive)>shell break/heavy smash (smite). I don't care about doing damage so mage ring is more advantageous because that 1800MP really helps me spam enough to keep aggro from the best snipers.

As a breaker tho, it's full consecutive or save/smite depending on the boss and party makeup. (I gauge proration and party member combos on the first run or two.) I let the Tank tank. Saves my revitas.

 

I agree. Focus on 1-2 task and trust your party with the rest.