Turning the Vorcha Hunter into a hunter - all melee build experiment (peddroelm)

peddroelm posted this on 12 March 2013

Turian cabal - one of the best melee kits in the game has relatively FAST melee animations similar with the vorcha characters ... So I asked myself could a vorcha melee build be viable on gold ? Sure will not have the unparalleled hit & run capabilities of the cabal, with bloodlust specced for max melee damage it will also have drell like durability (cabal is sturdier) ...Still could it work ?

Raw damage number wise (having done bloodlust melee tests) vorcha melee is more damaging than cabal melee vs all defenses (with heavy melee vs armor comparable) ... (can get up to 90% melee damage bonus from fully stacked bloodlust)

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Maximal melee damage calculations

Vorcha hunter (250 LM / 600 HM)

Melee modifiers
0.95 passive
0.3 bloodlust
0.3 +0.2 consumable +gear
0.75 martial artist
0.6 bloodlust stacks
*1.5 omniblade

Maximal melee damage (without geth scanner)
250 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.75 + 0.5 + 0.9) * 1.5 = 1537.5 // LM
600 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.75 + 0.5 + 0.9) * 1.5 = 3690 // HM
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Good news is light melee has short animation (fast) and AOE? (hard to miss) .. Bad news the heavy melee however is single target (again similar to krogan melee) needs to lock on target - can lead to many frustrating and potentially show stopping embarrassing misses ... (An all melee vorcha build doesn't have the durability to afford to miss heavy melee attacks and live to tell about it ..) ...Can be somewhat mitigated by using light melee first to stagger, catching targets in submission net (time to do so a luxury not always affordable) or attacking stationary targets ..
Damage wise 2 light melee's comparable with 1 heavy melee and probably similar duration - you will still need some heavy melee kills to keep up the martial artist 75% melee damage bonus ...

Another piece of good news is that with 6b bloodlust stacked and an adrenaline module 3 - your vorcha will run across the map at blinding speeds ... Relatively easy to dodge no-homing bullets//projectile as long as you keep moving ... Makes it easy to get lots of grabs.. Resulting playstyle is similar to the high speed - high octane of the Alien in the AVP franchise ... Vorcha and Xenomorphs even have similar dental work ..

Geth Scanner - while not such a game changer as it is for the cabal - is still invaluable .. As the vorcha lacks escape abilities (past his excellent dodge) - you depend on the geth scanner to know when it is safe to go for the kill and when it would be practically suicide ...

With the theorycrafting done - I decided to test it ingame in a gold solo (never actually completed a gold solo - this was no exception) vs cerberus ...

Highlights video

No Music Version for tze Germans
Songs used Cargo - Ielele and In flames - Minus ..

[EDIT]gold game vs collectors [/EDIT]

Not the most viable gold build by a long shot, extremely skill intensive (I objectively suck with it) - still can be very fun, rewarding and unique playstyle ... And of course extremely vulnerable to lag - so

hosting warmly recommended ..


Experimental Build used in first video

Recommended build (lower melee damage - bit more druable)

- after that test the slow armored targets evolution is probably a better choice (dragoon issues) ..


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Bloodlust Melee damage tests

BL OFF MA OFF
+4793117 ms |ravager armor damage 487.500000 // 250 * (1 + 0.95) = 487.5
+4548 ms |ravager armor damage 487.500000
+1814 ms |ravager armor damage 877.500000 // 600 * (1 + 0.95) * 0.75 = 877.5
+43626 ms |ravager armor damage 487.500000
+1528 ms |ravager armor damage 877.500000

BL ON MA OFF (no stacks)
+7719 ms |ravager armor damage 562.500000 // 250 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3) = 562.5
+7079 ms |ravager armor damage 1012.500000 // 600 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3) * 0.75 = 1012.5

BL ON MA OFF (1 stack ) 1 kill
+11065 ms |ravager armor damage 637.500000 // 250 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.3) = 637.5
+1545 ms |ravager armor damage 1147.500000 // 600 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.3) * 0.75 = 1147.5


// MA off BL +2 stacks
+8094 ms |ravager armor damage 712.500000 // 250 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.6) = 712.5
+10892 ms |ravager armor damage 712.500000
+1746 ms |ravager armor damage 1282.500000 // 600 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.6) * 0.75 = 1282.5
+2290 ms |ravager armor damage 1282.500000
+1926 ms |ravager armor damage 712.500000
+1067 ms |ravager armor damage 712.500000
+1158 ms |ravager armor damage 712.500000
+1771 ms |ravager armor damage 1282.500000
+1415 ms |ravager armor damage 712.500000

// MAX - MA ON BL ON + 1 stack
+10736 ms |ravager armor damage 825.000000 // 250 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.3 + 0.75) = 825
+1745 ms |ravager armor damage 1485.000000 // 600 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.3 + 0.75) * 0.75 =1485
+4728 ms |ravager armor damage 1485.000000 // 600 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.3 + 0.75) * 0.75 =1485
+1713 ms |ravager armor damage 825.000000 // 250 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.3 + 0.75) = 825

// MAX - MA ON BL ON + 2 stacks
+36025 ms |ravager armor damage 900.000000 // 250 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.3 + 0.3 + 0.75) = 900
+1506 ms |ravager armor damage 1620.000000 // 600 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.3 + 0.3 + 0.75) * 0.75 = 1620
+1348 ms |ravager armor damage 900.000000
+1395 ms |ravager armor damage 1620.000000


// MA ON - bloodlust stacks off
+3520 ms |ravager armor damage 750.000000 // 250 * (1 + 0.95 + 0.3 + 0.75) = 750
+2801 ms |ravager armor damage 750.000000
+3568 ms |ravager armor damage 750.000000
+5443 ms |ravager armor damage 750.000000
+1891 ms |ravager armor damage 750.000000

+2751 ms |ravager armor damage 562.500000
+4492 ms |ravager armor damage 562.500000