~Before Reading this guide, I've included a short summary of what it is about
~This guide delves into a skill mechanic that has existed since T3 Era for Engineers; It is only the changes brought forth in T4 that this type of build has been able to exist.
~The setup of this build brings a high level of availability to Alfredo making this very ideal for Raid Nests.
~This build is like a Fire Elestra Build to Shooting Stars
Table of Contents
If you would like to skip around to certain parts press CTRL+F and the type a name within a section to move down faster.
Section I. Builds
1.. lvl 50 builds
2.. lvl 60 builds
a. Demolition Skyline Offensive Route
b. Cannon Routec. Mine Thrower Hybrid Route
3.. 70 Cap Build
a. Alfredo Stomp Build
b. Chemical Warfare Build
c. lvl 70 Tower Build
d. lvl 70 Raid Build
Section II: Skill Descriptions
1.. Academic Tree
2.. Skyline Tree
3.. Tower Tree
4.. Demolition Tree
5.. Alfredo Tree
6.. Shooting Star Tree
Section III: Build Highlight
1.. Laser Burst!
Section IV: Class Preparation
1.. Skill Crest Section
2.. Armor and Weapon Crafting Section
Section V: Misc Info
1.. Raid Build
2.. Current Passives
3.. Elemental Damage Testing
4.. Hotkey Sample
5.. Extra Tutorial
6.. AI Patterns
Introduction
Hello I've been wanting to introducing this special Shooting Star build for awhile now, and I've about finished gathering my information for this.
This guide delves into some deep skill mechanics given to Engineers and for Shooting Stars in the T4 Era. This will give some insight to newer players seeking knowledge without overwhelming them and to help veteran players understand this class more.
For new players, Shooting Stars are the kind of class that focus more on their instantaneous damaging skills for DPS, while being supported by Alfredo.
They mainly focus on Physical damage and their main stat is Agility.
This is mainly a PvE build that doesn't simply focus on the instant damaging skills, but on summons as well, also this does not focus into PvP much..
This guide uses "Setup Builds" which shows leftover SP for differing variations to this kind of build so that its not strictly fixed. I've made this for veteran users so those who do use this can add and remove some SP and end up to their preference style. In the end though you will still have access to the special style that this build introduces
Section I: Builds
I'll begin with the lvl 50 builds
I've added 2 variations to the lvl 50 Academic build
Stun Grenade Build
Napalm Build
Engineer
For variation I've made a setup for which shows leftover skill points
Link Below is the setup ^
http://dnarmory.com/skill-calc?i=5-46-47-50#bmiQHaiaomFYZLoU7dfr
A Raid Build has been added for lvl 50 check this link
http://dnarmory.com/skill-calc?i=5-46-47-50#btV9DTM-Ob4zEKWL_qY6
lvl 60 builds
SP is more restrictive at 60 cap due to investment in more important skills and more EX skills
Academic
I've added 2 variations to the lvl 60 academic build
Stun Grenade Build
Napalm Build
Engineer
Note: I've only setup for the lvl60 cap, but follows similarly to the 50 cap build just that more SP is invested in the parts that you favor.
3 Pathways
After a careful review I've concluded on 3 various endgame/raid builds for shooting stars at the 60 cap that I'd highly suggest to use, depending on one's preference.
1. Demolition Skyline Offensive Route
Note: Mine Thrower and Mecha Shock are maxed out here
2. Cannon Route
Note: For Cannon Tower lovers, cannon is maxed out
3. Mine Thrower Hybrid Route
Note: This one puts mine thrower at lvl 11 with mecha shock and cannon tower balanced out.
This build can be found here under LollyStar's build
http://forum.mmosite.com/thread/2/217/20130415/LollyStar_Max_FD_Shooting_Star_PVE_Build-516c0523d4151a913-1.html
Use either MMOsite's simulator here: http://dn.mmosite.com/tool/skilltree4.shtml
Or Here
http://dn.duowan.com/s/t4/shootingstar.html < Don't translate this page it won't work if you do
Shooting Star Tree for both lvl 50 and 60 are usually maxed so no need for a pic for that
70 Cap Build
With 70 Cap Era coming upon us, this cap is abit of a monstrous thought process. 70 cap gives us a preview of how 80, 90, 100 caps will be like.
Meaning that with the deeper investment into important EX skills at 70 cap, the Developers are wanting us to move into our specialized class focused skills to build up builds and making hybrid builds far more difficult to make.
I've done some thought process and would like to share the builds I've worked on so far.
lvl 70 Academic Build
I thought about making a napalm path based build, but it won't work for 70 cap, due to it causing an imbalance in both the academic and engineer builds.
I wanted to have some decent MP recovery in this build due to the high MP usage already from 60 cap.
lvl 70 Engineer Builds
I found some several pathways to build up this section, depending on preferences.
A. Alfredo Stomp Build
For People who like Alfredo Stomp EX damage will probably also like the growth at lvl 11
B. Chemical Warfare Build
Chemical Warfare finally has an EX to it, maybe leveling it up maybe of worthy usage.
C. lvl 70 Tower Build
Just is the title implies towers are focused upon in this build.
D. lvl 70 Raid Build
Quite Important to think about for any class going into raids, balancing out dps/ support skills is vital.
lvl 70 Shooting Star Build
As usual, all skills are maxed out
lvl 70 Simulator Here: http://dn.duowan.com/s/t4/shootingstar-70.html
I'll next be explaining the main points of this build.
Skill Descriptions
Academic Tree
Some basic skills to get are dodge(Roto-Twirl) attack, ground(Rise and Shine) and aerial(Aerial Evasion) recoveries.
HP boost is maxed.
Engineers in general don't burn up a crazy load of MP, so MP Boost can be left at 1 so that you can get MP recovery which is a very important skill to get for all classes.
Get that vending machine as its 0 SP usage
Alfredo Summon(Alfredo Drop) and Alfredo Recall(Bodyguard) play a huge role in this build so get these skills maxed out
Wax(Slip and Slide) ~ After T4 the main use of this skill, the speed boost remains at 50% at all levels. Only reason to raise this is for the slight cooldown reduction and knockdown effect(does not work on main nest bosses sadly). SP wise you can leave it at 1 if you are spending points in other skills.
Triple shot(Quick Shot)
Pros: This skill hits 3 times, at high levels it will out DPS Napalm and Stun Grenade. Provides good filler damage to bosses.
Cons: This skill lacks AoE and cannot hit multiple mobs at once.. which is important for a filler skill to have. Bullets are small and can sometimes be hard to aim with. There is too much SP investment in this skill at 50 and 60 cap making this not good for PvE.
Napalm
Pros: This skill hits a total of 6 times, 1 from the grenades impact and then 5 from the moving firewall that this skill creates. Has a moderate AoE making it a choice to level up. At high levels this skill has a much more balanced damage output then stun grenade. This skill is a fire element skill and will do more damage on foes who are weak to fire.
Cons: This is an elemental skill and this strong point is also a weakness against fire resistant foes. At 60 cap SP usage is hard to place into this skill.
Stun Grenade(Starburst)
Pros: This skill hits only once, but it is instantaneous upon impact. Has a good amount of AoE to hit multiple mobs. Skill can cause a stun effect to temporarily immobilize enemies. High SA break from this skill
Cons: The damage of this skill tends to be really low at times due to its singular hit. Stun effect is useless against main nest bosses.
Engineer Section
Every Shooting Star and GearMaster builds should get Rocket Jump(Rocket Crash) and Gravity Grenade for their utility abilities. They are not meant for damage so you will only need 1 lvl in these skills.
Skyline Tree
As shooting stars are still engineers, It would be best not to completely neglect this tree as I've seen in some builds. You will lose some DPS if you ever try going duckless
Summon Mechaduck(Quackum Crash)
Only need 1 lvl in this as a shooting Star to summon ducks.
The ball that you shoot out does damage before the duck comes out. In defensive situations do not let the ball hit your enemy as it will cause Agro toward you.
Mecha Shock(Quack Shock)
Main DPS attack for your ducks. After level 6, your duck will shock for 3 more seconds providing extra DPS. This skill is also of the Light element.
Mecha Siren(Quack Patrol)
This skill causes silence and removes buffs from your enemies. After level 6 it gains about 50% more damage. Skill does not hit high so SP investment in this skill is not worthy, can be left at 1 for its utility.
Will push mobs apart if they do not die from this skill.
Mecha Bomber(Kami-quackum)
The burst damage of this skill is just amazing after level 6, even more so when all 3 of your ducks hit. Causes damage reduction in your enemies attacks. Best time to use this is when your ducks are up close to enemies. Can only be used in combat.
Only problems with this skill is that if your duck is too far away it will run up to its target and during that time it is very vulnerable to being canceled out. After it explodes it will be immobile for a few seconds and being unable to provide extra damage during that time as well.
Skyline(The Quackums)
Gearmasters ultimate. Much stronger then Shooting Stars ultimate in T4. A disco duck is summoned spinning and dealing damage within a certain range.
Need to get this ultimate because of this skill build's setup.
Tower Tree
This part is where most of the extra DPS for Shooting Stars come from. All towers in PvE are invincible, a really OP quality to them.
Gatling Tower(Gatling Quacker)
Gatling is not as strong as it used to be after T4. At high levels it can do some decent damage. Does really well against stationary targets.
But for that to happen alot of SP has to be invested into this skill. Its range is limited. Against really mobile enemies, this skill will lose its total damage output as it hits multiple times.
Cannon Tower(Cannon Quackum)
Cannon Tower is really strong after T4. Has a much larger range then Gatling tower and its damage is packed into singular hits.
Only thing hindering this skill is its 4 hit limit, other then that this is a suggested skill to use.
Ice Pump Tower(Frost Quacker)
Ice Pump Tower is like a combination of Gatling's multi hitting abilities and Cannon's high damage output along with high range. This is also an elemental skill of Ice. It can slow down enemies. Its debuff effect is useful for Ice elemental users and for usage of Shatter.
Only problem with this skill is against mobile enemies, where some of the icicles can miss losing out on some damage.
Demolition Tree
Ping Pong Shot(Super Ball)
Shooting Stars main spammable DPS skill. A must max skill. hits really hard on 8 mobs. EX version of this skill hits 10 mobs.
Only downsides to this skill is the mob hit limit and that the ball of this skill is small so if you don't aim properly it will miss.
Mine Thrower(Make It Rain)
Another main skill for Shooting Stars and this 1 hits 20 times. Very strong at high levels. A must get skill for shooting stars.
Downside to mine thrower is the specific distance that you need to be to use this skill.
Chemical Missile(Chemical Warfare)
A debuff damaging skill that reduces elemental defense and critical defense at all levels. Due to its long cooldown you only need this skill at lvl 1.
Demolition(Bullet Barrage)
Shooting Stars ultimate skill. After T4 this skill is just horribly nerfed in damage, but you'll need this ultimate in order to access the Shooting Star Tree and the main skills there.
Alfredo Tree
This tree gives Alfredo abilities to help you in combat
Alfredo Stomp(Alfredo Smash)
This attack deals a shockwave on a 360 degree scale. It does decent damage at high levels. This skill causes Provoke. Provoke is an ability that lures the enemies attention to a target that is specific. In this case, All enemies that get hit by this skill and those within a certain range will change their target to Alfredo for a certain duration.
SP wise I'm feelin that this is more of a utility skill so it can be left at lvl 1.
Update: Recent Updates have changed the Provoke duration time to a flat 5 seconds at all levels, making the reasoning for leaving it at level 1 more advised.
Alfredo Berserker(Piping Hot Alfredo)
His Action Speed,Movement Speed, and Damage output is increased by 40%
Action Speed is the movement of a skill, so when Alfredo attacks, his skills execute 40% faster
Movement Speed is just moving around, so when Alfredo moves around, he'll reach his target 40% faster
Raising this skill increases the duration of the buff and reduces damage dealt to him, but for this build you only need it at 1. You'll find out later why it only needs 1
Damage Transition(Alfredo Tank)
Alfredo's only supportive skill. Reduces damage for entire party. He will absorb a certain % of damage depending on level.
Can only be used in combat This skill is both good and bad.
An explanation of how this skill works:
When Alfredo uses damage transition, he will buff everyone near him, including ducks and relics. When you, your party members and summons take damage he will absorb damage for everyone who has received his buff. Alfredo will die faster under this condition.
If you really want to use this skill to its potential, avoid using this near any summons that have health specifically ducks as those get killed easily.
Alfredo Whirlwind(Alfredo Tornado)
This shooting star build drops Alfredo Whirlwind. You will find out why shortly
The problem I see with this skill is the cast time, its pretty long for a class that focuses on instant damage. Alfredo can get canceled out from this skill as he uses it. Alfredo tends to waste this attack on small mobs. The directional movement of this attack makes it hard to redirect when he uses on a target your not focusing on. Having this skill just makes him alot harder to control.
Shooting Star Tree
This tree has 2 new main attacks along with Ex skills.
EX skills are improved versions of currently existing skills.
Ping Pong Shot EX(Super Ball +)
Improves the total bounces to 10, hitting up to 10 mobs.
Damage increases by 20%
Bonus damage increased to an enemy if the ball has no other targets to travel to.
Alfredo Stomp EX(Alfredo Smash +)
AoE increased to 10m. and another shockwave dealing another 30% damage from this skill.
Mine Thrower EX(Make It Rain +)
AoE increased of explosions. deals 30% more damage
Splash
Splash is a trademark for Shooting Stars that show they focus on instant damaging skills. Splash hits 5 times in a sideway like pattern; suggested to use up-close for maximum pain.
Alfredo Beam(Alfredo Overdrive)
Alfredo's OP skill which hits in 4 directions like a cross. This build makes Alfredo Beam very imba..you see shortly...
Build Highlight: Laser Burst!
So this build drops one of Alfredo's attacks which is commonly used in most Shooting Star builds, that in which is Alfredo Whirlwind as I felt it did not fit into Shooting Star's style of an instantaneous damaging class.
But before I share what this build brings out, I must tell about the 3 advantages to summons for engineers and Shooting Stars.
1. The most commonly known is that summons provide extra DPS
2. Summons can lure agro away from you, so that your summons take damage instead, important for defensive and survival situations.
3. The third advantage to summons only exist for Alfredo and the ducks. Every time a new duck is summoned or when Alfredo is re-summoned, their passive skills reset every single time.
Here you will see that this build gives Shooting Stars a higher level of control over Alfredo after T4 and re-summoning of Alfredo from the sky turns him into a much more of an instant attacker thus the name of Laser Burst for this skill build. This also cuts Alfredo Beam's original cooldown by almost half the time.
This showcases what happens when you resummon Alfredo..But this does not mean you ONLY attack by resummoning him every single time the CD for Alfredo Summon comes off, use this like as if it were an attack skill, combine this with other attacks like you normally would except with a twist of being able to redirect this attack when flow of the combat changes.
You only spam Alfredo summon when your in a defensive and survival situation.
Current Passives
This is a short list of skills that reset for every new duck that is summoned and for Alfredo when he is resummoned.
~~Ducks
Mecha Shock
Mecha Siren
~~AlfredoAlfredo Berserker
Alfredo Whirlwind
Alfredo Beam
Skill Crest Section
There are 2 skill crests that you should use for this build
1. Ping Pong Shot DMG crest
2. Alfredo Beam DMG crest
Suggested Crests
Ice Pump Tower CD crest
Splash DMG crest
Other Optional Crests
Mine Thrower DMG crest
Alfredo Summon(Alfredo Drop) CD crest
Cannon Tower CD
Napalm DMG crest
Armor and Weapon Crafting Section
Shooting Stars focus on physical damage, their main damage boosting stat is agility.
When you craft your gears should look something like this
Head: Windswept
Top: Windswept
Bottom: Windswept
Gloves: Life
Shoes: Wind
Cannon: Windswept
Offhand: Windswept,Sturdy(Iron Wall), Destructive
There are 3 optional choices for offhand.
For dungeons
Windswept and Destructive are suggested
For Nests/Raids
Sturdy(Iron Wall) is more suggested.
Windswept on weapons is a double type suffix, it debuffs reducing the critical defense of a single target, but at the same time boosts all your attacks by a certain % depending on enhancement level and suffix level for 10 seconds.
The suffix of Destructive and its effect is actually very bad for Shooting Stars who use multi hitting skills in general as this suffix only effects 1 hit every 30 seconds. But the reason for this to be an optional craft on the offhand is the raw damage boost it provides, giving more of a permanent DPS boost rather then a conditional DPS boost.
Sturdy(Iron Wall) is a debuff only type suffix reducing physical defense of a single target and it is very bad against a multitude of mobs. This suffix is the kind that is meant for nests and raids, so suggested to use it there.
When you spark or code your armors and necklace and earrings your main goal is to obtain Agi/hp
Or if you have enough resources Agi/str/hp. If your a perfectionist then Agi/str/vit/hp on Epic Grade Equipment
For Weapons and Rings
The main goal is to get Phys DMG and agility, If you have enough resources then Phys/agi/str.
For Perfectionists or the rich then Phys/agi/crit is your goal
If you ever decide to go with Legend weaponry the best potential stat for Shooting stars to get would be this
Legend Weapons and Rings with 4.31% phys and at least light and Ice attack in it.
Why this 1 and not phys/agi/crit on legend weapons?
Its because of two main dps skills that Shooting Stars have in their engineer tree, Mecha Shock which is of light element, and Ice Pump Tower which has an Ice element to it. If your academic build uses a Napalm setup than fire attack is your other potential to have with this.
It is not suggested to stack elemental attack on A grade or Epic grade gear as those cannot have phys and elemental attack together, only on Legend Gear. You will lose overall damage to your non elemental attacks if you try to do so.
Short list of Elemental attacks for engineers
Mecha Shock~~ Light
Gravity Grenade~~ Dark
Ice Pump Tower~~ Ice
Napalm~~ Fire
Elemental Damage Testing 1/22/2013
This section tests some elemental damage from stacking light,fire and ice. You will see some visual differences in Napalm, Mecha Shock and Ice Pump Tower.
Some skills in their skill descriptions do not point out that they are elemental. One way to know if a skill is elemental is by the symbol shown near the damage number.
Napalm
Mecha Shock
Ice Pump Tower
I've aquired a ring I've shown you earlier, but this one contains the perfect elemental stats for Shooting Star's main DPS skills
0% Elemental Test
To help you skip to the specific parts
0:19 Napalm hitting between 26k to 29k per hit
0:31 Ice Pump Tower hitting about 11k
0:50 Mecha Shock hitting about 7.5k to 8k per shock
25% Elemental Test
To help you skip to the specific parts
0:18 Napalm hitting between 30k to 42k per hit
0:44 Mecha Shock hitting about 10.5k
1:10 Ice Pump Tower hitting about 15k
Some notes:
The base Phys damage from these are similar to each other due to the 5.75% on one set of rings and 4.31% on the Legend rings.
I have a 20% damage crest for Napalm in both videos.
Napalm is lvl 17, Mecha Shock is lvl 7 and Ice Pump Tower is lvl 5 in these tests
The damage boost may not seem drastic because these are DPS type skills
but shows that stacking elemental is a viable option, only when using legend gear.
Hotkey Sample 4/13/13
This section is a sample of how my hot keys are setup under this build. You do not have to follow it exactly cause every one uses their own gameplay patterns.
Page 1 The focus of the first page is on main summoning skills
Note 1: I've placed my main summoning skills on this page on slots 1-3.
Note 2: I've placed my grenade attacks on this page to serve as filler/support damage for my main summoning skills on slots 4-6.
Note 3: I've placed Mecha Bomber on this first page for defensive support on slot 7.
Note 4. I've placed Alfredo skills on slots 8-10 near the end so that I avoid recalling Alfredo by accident.
1. Summon Mechaduck
2. Ice Pump Tower
3. Cannon Tower
4. Napalm
5. Gravity Grenade
6. Stun Grenade
7. Mecha Bomber
8. Alfredo Stomp
9. Alfredo Summon
10. Alfredo Recall
Page 2
The focus of the second page is on the main instant attacking skills, main support skills and Ultimate skill usage.
Note 1: On this 2nd page I've placed my main instant attacking skills on slots 1-3
Note 2: Wax has been placed in slot 4 for easy accessibility to my fingers
Note 3: Support skills Chemical Warfare and Damage Transition has been placed on slots 5-6 to avoid accidental usage.
Note 4: Skyline has been placed on the second page to avoid accidental usage
1. Ping Pong Shot
2. Mine Thrower
3. Splash
4. Wax
5. Chemical Warfare
6. Damage Transition
7. Skyline
8. SPECIAL NEST SKILL(obtained from Manticore Nest(Hell): Gravity Ball
9. Gatling Tower
10. Vending Machine
Extra Tutorial
I've had some questions about how to use some skills in my earlier version of this build, and that these same questions I asked myself once long ago. So I've decided to put up a short video of a tutorial for usage of some skills.
Damage Transition, Mecha Bomber, Small insight to summons, Alfredo Summon secret.
Napalm
AI Patterns
Small section that observes the pattern of ducks and Alfredo under this build. Will help you understand how your summons attack.
~Ducks will more often use Mecha Siren first when approaching its target followed up with Mecha Shock.
~Alfredo will almost always start off by using Alfredo Berserker to boost his damage. This is the best time to actually re position him when you have him on the attack. If Alfredo stomp is toggled he will use this next more likely after berserker with Alfredo Beam coming in last.
Hope that this helps out new Shooting Stars.
Extra info may be added over time
Credits to chaose5 from forum.mmosite.com.
love the thoroughness of this page....love the academics!..hope more like this comes out often
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