Been running all three on Havoc 40 with a Chordclaw / Transonic Blades build and I’m curious which Keystone y’all think is best for a melee focused Skitarii. (I’ll just run Phosphor Pistol or Plasma Gun and magdump, not taking the right side tree ranged talents.)
Made this comparison chart for easier theorycrafting comparison… All values are compared at their max stacks, with the keystone modifiers I actually run:
| Flensing Protocols + Honed Dissector, Servo-Sinew Surge, Higher Purpose |
Redline Capacitors + Advanced Power Mgmt, Res. Opt. Canticles |
Power Overload + Static Capacitor Drain, Critical Power Overload |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Stacks | 8 | 5 | 30 → overload |
| Damage | +20% | — | +15% permanent |
| Strength | — | +5% per charge held on use for 10s | — |
| Toughness DR | +20% | +25% | +20% permanent |
| Capacitance gen | — | +25% | +25% permanent |
| Crit chance | +12% | — | — |
| Melee attack speed | +12% | — | — |
| Max charges | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| Per elite/spec kill | 15% Toughness, +5% Capacitance | — | — |
| Team Buff | — | — | +15% Dmg / +15% TDR, 8s, team-wide |
| Enemy Debuff | — | — | Electrocution + 15% damage taken, 8s |
A few things I’ve noticed:
- Flensing does a lot more for the Transonic Blades than Redline does. The 12% crit and 12% attack speed are wasted on Chordclaw since it’s already a guaranteed crit, so all of it lands on the blades. Redline’s Strength mostly moves breakpoints, which matters less if you’re using Chordclaw for carapace anyway.
- Redline and Higher Purpose generate capacitance completely differently. Redline is a rate increase, so it’s the same value no matter what you’re doing. Higher Purpose is per elite/special kill and procs per enemy cleaved. In Havoc density the kill-based one pulls ahead fast.
- With Axial Slash, one sweep through a pack of elites gives you a huge chunk of a charge back, refills Flensing to 8, and gives you a load of toughness. Redline gets nothing extra from cleave.
- Flensing’s “lose a stack when hit” barely matters. One Chordclaw into a few elites refills you from zero, so it’s a reset button, not something you worry about maintaining.
- Advanced Power Management is +5% Strength per charge you had on use, not per charge spent. If you dump to zero constantly, you’re getting a fraction of the 25%.
- Power Overload seems better suited to Havoc than people give it credit for, long runs and high density mean Static Capacitor Drain comes online well before the end, but would definitely be the last choice for standard Auric QP
- IF YOU’RE NOT RUNNING CHORDCLAW, probably Redline Capacitators win out
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Voltaic Emitter gates its best effects behind 2-3 charges and has no kill refund, so you’re banking casts and waiting on the clock. Redline’s rate plus the fifth charge fixes that.
ACD is pure drain. Duration equals your capacitance pool, so generation rate is uptime. APM also works properly there
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Curious what others think! Roughly where I think each one belongs:
Flensing: Chordclaw + Transonic Blades
Redline Capacitators: Voltaic Emitter & Advanced Combat Doctrines (still an incredibly strong choice for Chordclaw/TB though)
Power Overload: Arc / electric-heavy builds