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Jd's And Combat Cloak


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I've been adding posts in the terran and progen racial areas about endgame gearing and why I run the gear I do.

 

it's time to discuss the most misunderstood class in the game.

 

This is strictly a discussion about plasma beams.

 

It's time to discuss jenquai's(specifically) jd's and combat cloak.

 

Explore 25 a special moment in a jd's life.. it turns them from an also ran to a plasma breathing glass cannon.

 

I'm going to discuss my playtime on my jd in st4 and the gear she had and why I used it and the changes I would make.

 

And maybe make a little herrasy about "uber" beams and setups I would use now vrs then.

 

This will only discuss currently available gear in the game. In the future if the dark matter cannons and stuff get added this will change till then this is what we have.

 

We'll start off with THEN.. the go to what I feel is the better setups NOW.

 

Then. Alpha strike setups

 

GoD ED DG 2 Defenders prides.

 

Now. ED/DG/Dp's

 

The philosophy of the beam and timing and the zen of the 150,000 damage alpha strike, and how to make 1.5m dpm on a jd effectively.

 

A few basic facts:

 

1. The combat cloak buff lasts 5 seconds, it doubles the base damage of your beams.(which is not doubling your beam damage)

 

2. You can recloak in 3 seconds with a lvl 8 ursa.

 

3. 60% turbo will fire a 10s dg in around 6 seconds.

 

4. Beam damage starts dropping at 50% range and it half damage at max range( ty zackman for clarifying that)

 

5. A high turbo jd in raid firing mode barely out dps's a ps (go do the numbers if you do not believe me).

 

6. Yours and mobs shields wait 5 seconds from the last taken damage to start recharging.

 

With the above facts lets discuss how to gear a jd and why(this applies to a je/js with different guns and firing timing but the basics are the same)

 

There is 2 schools of thought on cc and turbo levels and guns on a jd and both are right and both are wrong. For different reasons.

 

School 1: Fire your guns in 3-4 seconds to hit twice from 1 cc strike.

 

The gun setup ideally would be a dg/ed and eod's

 

DG = 10 seconds

ED = 10.80 seconds

EOD's = 6 seconds

 

With enough turbo you can drop the dg/ed into the 5 second reload range the ed and dg provide excellent buffs and eod's would easily be in the 3-4 second reload range.

 

You would fire the eod's twice from cc and recloak and fire again when the eod's are ready to fire again.

The big problem with this setup is the ed/dg only fire once in the cycle, you could skip the ed/dg and just run eod's and activated turbo and fire all 5 twice at around 4 seconds and do the same thing it's your choice on this.

Good luck on keeping up with the having to wait 4 or so second before you press the cloak button before a mob turns around and minces you for dinner.

I'm not a big fan of being decloaked for 7-10 seconds. Oh yes cloak takes 3 seconds, and a hull hit interrupts cloaking.

 

The sequence is chim/fire-- wait 4 seconds-- auto gunfire/press cloak total time decloaked is around 8 seconds.

I call this suicide.

Sequence 2 chim-fire/cloak/fire/cloak/fire/cloak constantly you are going in and out of cloak roughly every 4 seconds the mobs will not have a problem zeroing in on you.

Call it what you will but equipment damage and debt and frustration will ensue.

This is what you think when you see higher dps numbers on the eod's vrs defenders prides.

Yes they are higher dps, but dps means in continuous firing mode which makes 0 difference to a cc jenquai.

 

School 2: 5-6 second reload using 9-10 second beams and 60-77% turbo

 

ED = 10.8 second reload

DG = 10 second reload

DP's = 9 second reload

 

In this combo I would not run the GoD beam at 11.0 second reload is to slow for this type of combat.

It's a dps weapon it's better for raids.

Second reason is it slows the sequense down to much so mobs will occasionally start recharging shields on you waiting for it to fire.

The same can be said about the ed as pointed out below but I'd have a tough time giving up the ed vrs the god so run a little more turbo.

The god isn't all it's cracked up to be at least not for a jenquai running in cc.

The basic idea behind this combo is the silly high damage cc strike from behind and at close range.

Remember what I said about 150,000 hits and 1.5m damage per minute this is the combo I am talking about.

With this basic combo and a chimaera 9 debuff you can hit a plasma weak mob for close to 150,000 damage each time you decloak.

 

Sequence: Chim-fire-cloak-reposition-fire guns when reloaded-recloak-reposition-fire-cloak et all.

 

You will want to come in cloaked behind the mob you want to attack ( assuming they can't see cloaked)

Get within 1k of the mob chim them fire and recloak the entire sequence takes 3 seconds total with practice.

The mob will scream like it's been hit with a hammer and turn around and start looking for you while your guns are reloading you get behind the mob and hit them again and recloak, this give you a more relaxed(sorta) fighting style vrs the absurdity of the previous two methods of fighting.

You are always cloaking and staying cloaked in this method. it's far far safer then waiting 8-10 seconds.

The reason you want to get so close is because of the beam propigation of power and loss of damage over half your beams range.

Essentially your beams once they reach half of your range starts to drop off damage and will lose 50% of there effective damage at maximum beam range.

So in essence closer is better.. MUCH better.

If you get good at doing this you can hit a mob 10 times per minute and hit them for 150k per hit, I dunno about you but that's getting nuclear on the mobs ass.

 

NOTHING in the game can do this kind of single target damage not a pw a te or anything this is what makes a jd the most feared and misunderstood class in the game.

 

But it requires a fairly specific setup and a game play style thats pretty fast and ferocious.

 

The combo: I'll give specifics and optional setups and why I use the gear I do.

 

Weapons

ED

DG

DP x3

 

Shield

DD(nothing better really)

I still like the awcs more it gives a higher cap for your reactor but your choice.

 

Reactor

HOTM (any % since recharge is kind of irrelevant)
Optional Cygnus/SSR9*

 

Engine = Ursa 7 or 8(cloak buff)

 

Devices from top to bottom slot

 

Slot 1 Chimaera(duh)

Slot 2 Martyr's Heart(swap for pegleg for summon in raids)

Slot 3 AWCS***

Slot 4 Deadly Focus**

 

* You want reactor cap on a jd the martyr's heart is for life saving, shield leech = suicide(this is based upon st4 and leech not working as intended)

the hotm has the highest cap in the game

Cygnus and ssr9 are second in cap

 

** AWCS = 1232 reactor cap

Martyr's heart = instant reactor recharge

Chimaera do you have to ask?

Deadly focus = beam energy conservation/reactor recharge buff out of cloak

 

*** I've changed around and started using the intolerance instead either one works.

 

I have a 125% god now and I use it but the method is still valid. You can skip a god because it throws your timing off still.

 

Turbo toys PB/CVE/AotW/warder stuff/Skull = 40 to 104%(114% with a dea) turbo In st4 I usualy just had my pb with me, your mileage may vary.

The turbo amount is used to adjust the beams timing to suit your needs.

CC takes 5 seconds to wear off and cloak = 3 seconds but mobs can take upwards of 10 seconds to re-situate themselves after you recloak.

Confused mobs are good.

The reason this works is the basic game mechanic that you do not start recharging your shield(player or mob) until after 5 seconds of not taking damage.

A cc hit ticks 6 times @ 1 second intervals shield recharge + 5 seconds after damage = 11 seconds that the mob is not regaining shields so you can hit them again, and again and again.

You are not always in a hurry you can take a little time and get behind a mob or to the side to hit them while they are turning.

 

The reason you want a hotm is the high cap and the added intolerance type buff.

The awcs raises your reactor cap 1232 = about 8700 reactor cap the higher the cap the more times you can fire without using your martyr's heart.

Dea and a js's reactor opt help but are short term aids and in long fights like say soloing a hellbore in ap or whatever the buffs wont last forever but a hotm/awcs are forever.

Energy leech takes 5-7 seconds + 3 seconds to recloak??? are you crazy!!?!?!?!?!

Psi shield = useless it's gone the first time you get hit. Just ignore it's there trust me.

You can substitute a cygnus/ssr 9 and a intolerance for the hotm but it's an extra device slot used and which device are you going to give up?

I couldn't think of anything I wanted to give up. Can you?

GoD beam is over rated in cc gameplay use it in raid mode. Or skip it altogether.

When dark matter guns and the bogeril/vrix stuff come in this list might very well change.

I want to point out there is no deflect devices since the mobs you will be hunting in this mode can 1 or two shot you if you screw up.

There is no real point to a ivory ward/psi shield buff on a jd except when in group/raid mode, which is a discussion for another day and time.

Reactor recharge buffs? they only work decloaked. You decide.

Bring a scutums for decloaked recharge and raids/groups your terran buddies with love you long time.

 

I have extensive time and effort put into this type of jenquai combat, I taught kenu how this was done(you can blame me for see cloaked also) I have discussed this in-numerable times in the game and other places on the forums and my beam dps list(and name names and uncover the bodies and skeletons). Back in the old days I used to solo the rd base and gobb and his minions and other 62+ mobs on my jd and js using this method. It takes a bit of practice but it's well worth it when you get the basic sequence down.

 

Hints I show the slowest gun in slot 1 in my hotbar this tells me when all 4 guns are ready to fire.

slot 2 use whatever slot

3 in my hotbar is the chimaera slot

4 is the martyr's heart

5 is cloak.

 

Jenquai can have visual issues with cloak so be wary you might have to give up a long fight if it occurs, I'm sorry guys but that is how it is right now.

 

The key sequence is 3 f 5 till you debuff the mob then it's f5 f5 f5 till you need a reactor hit then it's 4 f 5 then back to f5 etc..

This is what my hands on my keyboard is most comfortable doing for any length of time adjust to your hands and comfort level.

Also this is the trick that let the jd's solo the rd base all those years ago.

Mobs unless they are missile slingers can't fire backward, they have to turn towards you to fire so when the mob starts turning away from you fire at them all you want they have to make a complete circle to fire at you again.

Keep your eyes open this might change.

 

I wanted to put this down in the forums for people to discuss and ponder and scratch there collective heads over.

I hope you guys find this handy and if you would like to discuss it here and adjust it for yourself feel free this is a forum so discuss it.

Good luck and have fun.

 

 

>>>>>>>> Energy beams New section<<<<<<

 

Since this was written Der Todesengle was opened and the Sunfocus 2000 beams are now available.

 

This is a 8 second reload energy, high damage beam. It has some pretty nice buffs also.

 

Beam energy conservation and reactor renewal are the interesting buffs on it.

 

The use of a Sun Focus for the beam energy conservation would negate the need to leave a deadly focus installed and open up a device slot.

 

Reactor renewal is installed so think monocerous.

 

So since the original article was written for the peculiarities of plasma beams I thought I would add a little thought on energy beams.

 

Since we have a turbo energy beam available(aka the black streak) let us dicuss the firing tactics for a beam like this and changes you can make.

 

If i were to gear for a energy setup on a jd I'd use a black streak (6.0 reload) and 4 sun focuses(8 second reloads) and i would try and cram as much turbo as it takes to get it as close to 5 seconds as I could on the reload speeds. The destroyers gleam's timing might work against it for this (9.1 and the tractor/repulsar 9.0)

 

It's the same idea as the plasma beams but you need to fire your guns faster so the mob doesn't recharge it's shields.

 

Remember that your shields and the mobs shields start recharging after 5 seconds of not taking damage.

 

So I would try and get your beams firing in the 4-5 second range this way since your beams are instant damage vrs dot damage you can keep enough damage on the mob to keep it from recharging it's shields.

 

A second option if the mob allows damage to plasma is toss a EoD for the ticking damage to relax the timing a bit for people without skulls and foc's and higher levels of turbo.

 

A jaguar might work well for the plasma tick and at 4 seconds can be ready to fire within 2 seconds and not mess your timing up.

 

Timing and damage for major energy beams.

 

Destroyers Gleam   9.1 reload 1170 damage

Black Streak            6.0 reload 877 damage(125%)

Ghost Edge             8.4 reload 1089 damage

Sun Focus 2000      8.0 reload 1030 damage

Tractor/Repulser      9.0 reload 483 damage(100%)(love the hull debuff tho)

 

As a fyi I use a streak, gleam and sf2k's on warknee a js and a manticore 9. For cc work since he has a skull and waking nightmare I can swap the gleam out for whatever.

 

This is just a little thinking about how I would gear a jd for energy beams it's nothing set in stone. Discuss and enjoy.

 

The picture is from st4 before the rd base was changed and removed and rebuilt. You can't do this anymore but it sure was fun.

Edited by Tradermagoo
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I myself been using the fire/cloak routine when using my JD, works better this way.

 

One criticism is the use of an AWCS since you are already using the DD shield (like magoo said nothing is really better for your plasma setup). The measly 300 reactor capacity difference cost you a device slot where you could equip an Intolerance for 10% more damage or an ivory for some extra deflects or a focus of the warder or... you get the idea.

In my opinion device slots are at a premium for every race and especially for the jenquai whose play style is more influenced by their devices than their guns.

 

On the Issue of GoD beam. ED as suggested is 10.8secs reload and GoD is 11, do you really see a difference? When one is ready the other is ready as well so there is absolutely no reason to use a DP instead of a GoD. It even has greater damage than ED @200%. As you go up in turbo those 0.2secs difference will be no more, heck you probably don't react faster than 0,2secs when you see your beams online again.

 

Lastly Energy leech is a viable option instead of using a Martyrs if you weight the situation correctly. MH should be installed anyway but you may find an opening to use leech instead once in a while. The hit you might take would be no greater than the hit from MH.

 

For a JD all i have to say is practice your technique and try out different setups to see what works best for you.

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JD

One of my favorite subjects.

(I'm going to get naked here)

My numbers are inline with what you are stating, my tactics are pretty close to the same.

My tactic do differ from solo to group. Fire-cloak is standard.

 

I still hold the belief that a group of cloaked Jenquai in follow with beam range below 50%

is deadly in a raid, with the Progen and Terran heads on fight as the aggo magnets.

 

I do have Max Energy Leech and The Martyr's Heart (I rarely use or install).

There is a right time to use the Energy Leech and with the right Targets in the right position.

I use Energy Leech on new targets when my reactor is low. It seems

that the NPC I have been shooting at acquire me much faster than a New target/Mob.

 

One weapon I wish I had is the Emerald Devastator, I blame myself for not playing enough and not having the beam.

 

The GoD would be nice for group raiding but not for my solo play.

I do like having the higher reload beam in the first shortcut slot, although I do spam the CC.

 

So while my beams are still ticking DPS I'm ready to inflict initial base damage from the same beams that are still ticking damage ! Sometimes you got to have nerves of steel.

I so want to use EMP but without a visibly seeing the reaction and drain effect on the NPC's reactor

I won't use them.

 

So currently I'm running:

2-DP

2-EoD

1-DG

DPS=23974

DPM=1,438,440

 

In a nutshell

Edited by Phorlaug
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4. Beam damage halves at half of your beam range. And decreases the farther away you are.

 

False information, should not be spreaded.

Beam damage starts to fall off at 50% of the max. beam range and will be 50% AT the max. beam range.

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False information, should not be spreaded.

Beam damage starts to fall off at 50% of the max. beam range and will be 50% AT the max. beam range.

Oh cool math !
Thanks I would still like to be well within the 50% range.

Would some of you think that a JD driving in a raid would be suicide ?

I would love to see the code for that Zackman. NOT ! :P

Edited by Phorlaug
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