Arachnos Bane Soldier, added value Guardian (Mace Swingy - ABS Training)

[thilenium]

Morning!

My global handle is @Thilenium and my ingame characters start with or contain 'Thile' in their name - no exception. So far I have played and equipped about 20 characters. ten of which I took through the incarnate stuff. Others I 'swiped left'.
When I started on Rebirth I teamed up a couple with a guy playing an Arachnos Soldier. While I have his build I put my own spin on it. Arachnos soldiers are in my view somewhere in between Guardians and Corruptors providing the team with buffs while also being able to dish out some good damage. You have a huge number of damaging skills to select from but I am playing him as melee primarily (being able to sneak attack tipped the scale).
The build represents the current status of my gear and also my zillion hours of experience in improving and reviewing on character builds (tailored to my tastes - sure. and that is where we might not find common ground. but see for yourself).

all the best, Thilenium


Summary Arachnos Bane soldier (Mace Swingy - Bane Spider Training)
+ decent starting character
+ good defenses
+ good team synergies
+ can be played as melee and/or as ranged damage dealer
+ 'Blink Blitz'

- weapon change animations me not like
- limited costume choices (but we do not care about that, right?!)

Contents
a) The role of a Arachnos Bane Soldier
b) Mace Swingy as Primary
c) Bane Spider Training Secondary
d) 'Blink Blitz'
e) Genesis Incarnate Power

a) The role of a Arachnos Bane Soldier
Just being there and following a teammate already brings some great benefits to any party. Arachnos soldiers have their own and stronger version of the Leadership-Power Pool. Which you can combine with the Leadership-Power Pool. In this version you provide +17% defense, +15% to-hit, and +30% overall damage to everyone. Just for comparison: 'Reforge' gives that minus the defense and comes as a team-buff only in the Guardian version of it. Also: No recasting. There. Roll the credits.
Also also: good damage dealer
The specialization for Bane soldier comes at level 24, with a free respec thrown in. Before that as you like.

b) Mace Swingy as Primary
I do not like weapon change animations... that being said 'Venom Grenade' and 'Frag Grenade' are just too good to pass up. And since I want some area of effect and already doubled down on change animations I added 'Blink Blitz' and 'Ball Lightning'. One of the Mace attacks has some build in area of effect as well, combine it with 'Electrifying Fences' and that takes care of area of effect capabilities. As for single target damage: four skills are enough. You can use either 'Shatter' or 'Crowd Control' for sneak attacks too. If you prefer a bit more situational stuff, less area of effect, with even more debuffing and more damage on single targets, check out the second build.

c) Bane Spider Training Secondary
The secondary has a rather good mixture of defense and resistance skills that allows for convenient slotting and also the Leadership skills that make this Archetype a good addition to any team. Since none of those skills need recasting you can concentrate purely on dealing damage and positioning.

d) 'Blink Blitz'
Blink Blitz' is my goto-power for every melee build: lands you smack in the middle of an enemy group, taunts them (for Brutes or Tankers) and gives you defenses. All in one neat package. Follow it up with your other area of effect-skills and you have all the enemy's attention. Blink Blitz sometimes lands you in obstacles. With enough cooldown you can use it on a mob to get out of it again. Or you can use the command /stuck.

e) Genesis Incarnate Power and helpful keybinds and macros
Genesis Incarnate Power:
Socket Core Flawless Genesis
>> Choosing a Genesis power in Mid's messes with the build sheet, that is why i keep it unselected. This one increases the chances for Interface-procs, but more importantly: passively gives your champ 10% more hitpoints and endurance, increasing survivability and sustain. Any champ, any role - this is it!

Helpful macros and keybinds:
/bind g "target_enemy_near$$follow"
>> autofollow nearest enemy

/bind f "target_enemy_near$$face"
>> face the direction of the nearest enemy

/macro INC "windowtoggle Incarnate"
>> Open the Incarnate window

/macro M1 "powexec_name Pulverize$$follow$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto Bash"
>> Uses those two skills in succession. follows the target.

/macro XX "powexec_name Shatter$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto Return to Battle"
>> As a regular or as a sneak attack.

/macro M2 "powexec_name Crowd Control$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto Electrifying Fences"
>> Uses those two skills in succession.

/macro TAoE1 "powexec_name Venom Grenade$$face$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto Frag Grenade"
>> Uses those two skills in succession. faces the target.

/macro TAoE2 "powexec_name Blink Blitz$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto Ball Lightning"
>> Uses those two skills in succession.

Using Mids import the following using Menu: Build Sharing/Import DataChunk
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2nd build: more debuffing and pets if you like to do big team stuff a lot.
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[EDekar]

c) Bane Spider Training Secondary
The secondary has a rather good mixture of defense and resistance skills that allows for convenient slotting and also the Leadership skills that make this Archetype a good addition to any team. Since none of those skills need recasting you can concentrate purely on dealing damage and positioning.

Surveillance causes redraw if you are wielding a rifle.  Web Cocoon will also cause redraw unless you're wielding the Arachnos Mace.  Oh, Build Up in your primary will -also- cause redraw if not wielding the Arachnos Mace.  Don't you love redraw?  I don't.

*everything else*

It sounds like you're able to have fun with Bane Spider otherwise, and for that I wish I could say the same!  I like the concept of Bane Spider, but the terrible kit design and extensive redraw issues absolutely kill the sub-AT for me.  That it also has fairly poor DPA on all of its attacks and even worse on the ranged mace attacks certainly isn't helping my perspective.  You will genuinely have better DPA dropping the mace and using the rifle, except at that point you're not really a Bane Spider, are you?  Bah.

As for limited costume choices... eh?  You have your stock Arachnos uniform, and then anything else you could ever want to make.  It's not like Crab where you have a prosthetic spider limb backpack glued to your spine, so I don't really understand this drawback.  Do you mean the general lack of customization available to Arachnos Mace?  Because yeah... VEATs kind of got the short stick with weapon customization.  Widows can't even use Claws customizations even though they're using knock-off claws!

[thilenium]

yea, the soldier classes but also warshade and the other flying thingy, whose name i have forgotten, definitely needed some more love. but even with the weapon change animation i can make a case for this class here, dubbing it a guardian-type of gameplay. no recasting of the teamstuff comes at the expense of tedious animations while dealing damage. I ve tested the damage back to back with my main and they are on par. take away the animations and you suddenly have a champ that outdamages a brute while having pretty solid team utility.
this way both classes have their reason of being.

[Redlynne]

You will genuinely have better DPA dropping the mace and using the rifle, except at that point you're not really a Bane Spider, are you?  Bah.

At that point you're a Huntsman (rifle only attacks).

As a (former) Arachnos Soldier on previous servers (crashes to desktop on redside are just WAY TOO RELIABLE for me on Rebirth), playing a HuntsBane is actually a remarkably poor symmetry as a build. The underlying strengths of the Bane are basically "to be a Stalker with better group buffs" ... which means Stealth/Hide/Placate and bonus damage when making melee attacks with your Mace. This is where the Bane plays catch up on DPA, through damage buffing on attacks from Hidden (just like a Stalker) ... and just like with Stalkers, it isn't enough when fighting in sustained combat, but works just fine in "bursty" quick combat. But none of those damage bonuses for being Hidden accrue to attacks made using the Arachnos Rifle. So a HuntsBane is this sort of weird hybrid of a blaster/defender who can stealth (which suppresses in combat).

To my mind, the primary and overriding reason to choose Bane is because you don't want to wear a Crab Backpack for the rest of your life. Bane gets a few options to augment the playstyle, but they're mostly oriented around melee combat (ala Stalker) using the Mace while being a better team buffbot.

Conversely, a HuntsCrab gets Pets to herd and a Dull Pain equivalent power for increased survivability, rather than angling for sneaky/stealthy/assassin-y type powers and playstyle like the Bane does.