Which of the two is better suited for farming old raids, dungeons, questing, getting achievements and such? I enjoy my warlock in group content, but want something new to farm old content with. I want to collect a few mounts, experience older zones and content solo. Druid has cat form to be fast and guardian to pull half a dungeon and solo bosses. And tagging mobs for quests should be good with Moonkin. DH has cool mobility and a good dps and tank spec to solo older group content. I read that a lot of people recommend it for solo action and call it OP. I am not sure if it can keep up with Druids efficiency through shapeshifting which sounds really good to me for the purpose listed above.
I am fairly new to wow and haven’t seen a lot outside of DF. I do enjoy both classes gameplay wise and just would like to have an outside opinion on those two so I can make my final opinion.

https://preview.redd.it/skw22qw0ap1d1.png?width=1347&format=png&auto=webp&s=78d87e8f4d21c180e2662811769db1e5edcef553
Ngl after 5 years I am basically an invalid.

Hi there!
Today I'm just sharing some fun synergies between two jumps: Generic Gamer and Generic Creepypasta. This is hardly a systematic, thorough analysis of the synergies here, I just wanted to highlight some of the fun that someone could have visiting both of these jumps.

Synergies

DPS x Don't Go Down WIthout A Fight
This is just a really, REALLY good combo. DGDWAF is one of the capstones for the Documenter line in Generic Creepypasta and it is a perk that makes your blows HURT. It doesn't IMPROVE their ability to actually deal harm, but it does improve their ability to make your foes FEEL hit. The perk's effects are stronger when you ARE dealing damage, making you stunningly capable in fights against normal enemies, but still a distraction when you're fighting weirder stuff. DPS... improves your damage-dealing capabilities over all, letting you actually hurt stuff that SHOULD be immune to your hits and making successful hits hit harder. With DGDWAF you could punch a ghost and it'd sting that floatly fuck. With DPS you could punch a ghost and it'd hurt, at least a little. With both... Oh with both you could do a LOT.
The Truth x The Face (Or, to lesser extents: Well of Wisdom. Beautiful Mind, and Silver Tongue)
The Truth is a profoundly powerful perk. It is a "If you tell the truth, people believe you" perk which is... it's stunningly powerful, and embarrassingly easy to overlook, but with The Face and/or the other perks here you can get a sense for how best to USE the truth. All three of the charisma, wisdom, and intelligence boosting perks are really good when used in conjunction with The Truth, because with all three you can more easily figure out a route to best getting to a place where truth is the most powerful. Sometimes it's not enough to have the truth, you need to know when to BEST sprinkle it into whatever you're talking about. These other perks are that key. The Face is really good here because you can more accurately speculate about how the truth will be received, and know how BEST to deliver it for maximum impact with it, though Well of Wisdom would also probably do a good job here. Still, this is an underrated combo.
Eat My Way To Victory x Parasite
Be an emotivore who gets buffed by feeding on strong feelings! This is just a fun combo, and I imagine that together it makes it so that emotions you feed on, at least strong enough ones, give you status buffs.
Skinwalker x Dating Simulator
This is a particularly tricky combination. For the record, there is a lot that can be done if you have Skinwalker AND ESP a combination which lets you steal memories of those you kill, but with Dating Simulator there's a lot of deceptive stuff you could do with this fusion, especially if you have perks which allow you to sus out how people will respond to the stuff you say before you say it (and Generic Gamer has several of those).
Inhuman Durability x Tough As Nails x Tank
This is the "Come at me Bro" combo, one that just makes you a heavy-ass tank. This is, I imagine, the best way to be REALLY buff in this jump, in terms of surviving stuff.
Inhuman Durability x Gamer Body
This is a very fun combo because Inhuman Durability means you can tank all sorts of shit, while Gamer Body stops you from being impaired by pain or harm, allowing you to take blows, walk through them, hurt enemies, even while taking damage.
Emotional Manipulation x The Face
This neat combo allows you to cue people up for the greatest reactions possible to your words and presence. You can easily manipulate unique targets even in a crowd to make them susceptible to your words and ensure they are primed to react as powerfully as you want when you converse with them.
Screamer x DPS
Screamer is a sonic attack a cryptid can unleash that can be heard for miles and deals hearing damage to those physically close to you. DPS makes it an overall better attack, and allows it to affect any type of enemy even those that should be immune to such strikes, which means this can just be DEVASTATING to foes.
Support x Membership
Oh hey, a leadership perk doing wonders for a member of an organization? Wild. That +2 to your homies coupled with a -2 to your foes is STUNNING in this jump. I think it can be difficult to understand just how significant a +2 or -2 modifier can be, but when it's to EVERYTHING that easily builds on itself. Having allies, which can be tough if you go to Generic Creepypasta early (which really is when you should, this jump loses a lot of its charm when you can steamroll everything), and is VITALLY important if you're a human and not a cryptid, makes this jump a lot safer and the tremendous buff that is Support gives you both knowledge and the sort of boons you need to be on the frontlines of the war against the weird and actually survive.

Ways To Have An Easier Time

Progressing Difficulty
This is a weird combination, but Generic Creepypasta is a deceptively dangerous setting and this perk fucking HELPS. Progressing Difficulty is a perk that, barring something like drawbacks or you INTENTIONALLY looking for danger, makes stuff scale to your level. This is ENORMOUSLY important for more dangerous settings, and for jumpers who are transitioning into more dangerous settings, and the way it works is that your enemies will always be at around your level (maybe dangerous enough to pose a challenge but not dangerous enough to like one shot you), or lower, which gives jumpers a LOT of breathing room and makes a setting like this a viable early jump even if you have no little to no superpowers other than this before you arrive here. Drawbacks and scenarios trump this, and if you LOOK for danger you can find stuff that is as strong as the setting dictates, but so long as neither of those conditions apply this just gives you a hilarious amount of breathing room.
Take Your Time
This is another great perk that radically lessens danger. It's probably not as directly powerful as something like The Devil's Own Luck, but with it any sort of meme-y ass enemy that sends you a threatening note or a blursed video tape will have to wait to sneak through the TV until you're ready, which... I IMAGINE some enemies here can do. I know of in-jump perk combos that'd let YOU do that, if you wanted, (I Know, x Traveler could do it, as could other combinations) so I assume some spooky motherfucker in-jump can do it.
Mini-Map x Threat Cursors
This Generic Gamer combo is a GODSEND for this jump. WIth this you have a method of determining how dangerous a cryptid or cultist is to you specifically, that is fiat-backed and can only be overcome by a drawback. What's more, you have immediate warning even without seeing someone, even without someone being able to otherwise be detected, so long as they are in range. A truly powerful combination.
The Devil's Own Luck
This powerful perk just makes life overall a bit easier, a bit safer, and a bit better. In a setting like Generic Creepypasta there will be moments of normalcy, long stretches of it even (provided you didn't go ham with drawbacks or purposefully seek out baddies to fight). This perk is helpful for reaching those moments, and for giving you the tiny bit of extra leeway that you may need to survive the moments that are not so lucky. In this world with monsters, gods, and cultists, civilizations still exist and people live entire lives without having any defining encounters with the supernatural. That means something. With this you can find a way to that peace, if that's what you want.
Gamer's Mind & Gamer's Body
Unsurprisingly, these two perks are hilariously powerful. In this jump, in particular, immunity to stuff like insanity and mind-reading is incredibly strong, and the ability to recover from any level of damage or almost any negative conditions that don't outright kill you with a six hour rest is... powerful. The ability to recover from most encounters with cryptids or MIJ (Men In Jumps) with some rest is easy to sleep on, but can very decidedly save your life.

I AM BACK and i bring more insanity along, here is my crackhead take on a combat venture, Alpha friendly ofc
if i ever buy this thing for shits and giggles - i will paint it neon pink and call it somethin funny

Is this insane enough? If not i will find a way to make it MORE insane Also what should i replace/fit into 2 mid slots?

Just something I did for fun. Having played a stupid amount of this game, these are changes I believe will make each gun good but most importantly fun to use. All weapons are currently "viable" but most don't feel good to use despite this fact.
Primary Weapons:
AR-23 Liberator:

• Damage 60 70

(breakpoint for 2 hit kill in Devastator head)
AR-23P Liberator Penetrator

• Damage 45 60

(should feel like current Liberator but with worse mag capacity)
AR-23C Liberator Concussive

• Recoil 28 20
• Fire rate 320 475

(same fire rate as SMG 72P with a recoil reduction to make it feel similar to currently)
AR-61 Tenderizer

• Damage 60 80

(hits better breakpoints vs bugs but very similar to base Lib vs Bots)
BR-14 Adjudicator

• Recoil: horizontal recoil reduced by 80%
• Capacity: Extra mags increased 8 9

(with effective mouse/stick drag the recoil can now be controlled. The extra mag brings the total ammo capacity near to that of the other AR's.)
R-63 Diligence

• Damage: 125 128

(allows for 1 tap headshots sub 25m on Devastators. Further cements this as the close range battle rifle compared to the R-63CS.)
R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper

• Damage: 140 175

(unchanged vs Bots, allows for consistent 1 taps vs bugs.)
MP-98 Knight

• Damage: 50 60
• Recoil: 20 10
• Bug fix: Receives full ammo back on resupply.

(fix the legacy errors and make it controllable in 3rd person. Also makes it more ammo efficient)
SMG-37 Defender

• Unchanged

(gold standard for an SMG)
SMG-72 Pummeler

• Unchanged

(effective side grade to both SMG-37 and Lib-C)
SG-8 Punisher

• Unchanged

(gold standard for a shotgun)
SG-8S Slugger

• Heavy stagger added back.
• Projectile velocity reduced 25%
• Projectile drop increased 25%

(Much better close up but less able to function as a marksman rifle.)
SG-225 Breaker

• Capacity: 13 16

(game has been power crept enough, the nerf is no longer required much like the Railgun)
SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray

• Ergonomics: Improved to match other Breaker variants.
• Capacity: 26 30
• Recoil 45 28

(easier to control and better at quickly spraying down light hordes)
SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary

• Unchanged

(gold standard for Breaker family)
CB-9 Exploding Crossbow

• Damage: 420 550
• AOE: increased to original value.

(550 is the breakpoint to be able to 1 hit Devastators in the weak point or 2 hit otherwise. 2 hit kill Brood Commanders. Can now clear chaff as well while dealing with elites.)
JAR-5 Dominator

• Unchanged

(gold standard of explosive primaries)
R-36 Eruptor

• Damage: 420 650
• AOE: Restored to post AOE nerf value but before the shrapnel was removed.

(A large but fair AOE paired with the ability to 1 shot Brood Commanders/ Devastators like before. Importantly it won't be able to 1 shot chargers due to the shrapnel bug. Despite claims it was +100 shrapnel was much closer to +300 to 500)
SG-8P Punisher Plasma

• Unchanged

(Gold standard for AOE weapon)
ARC-12 Blitzer

• Unchanged

(Already strong but one bug fix for arc weapons away from becoming a monster. May need to be adjusted down once this fix happens depending.)
LAS-5 Scythe

• Scope: Changed to Sickle/Liberator scope
• Damage 350 400

(now able to beam heads with a good scope vs Bots and higher DPS will help vs bugs.)
LAS-16 Sickle

• Unchanged

(with almost 100 shots per mag and the ability to run forever, the lower damage and worse breakpoints is a fair trade vs kinetic AR's.)
Plas-1 Scorcher

• Unchanged

(Gold standard of Plasma weapons)
Plas-101 Purifier

• Rework: 3 tiers of charge up.
• Tier 1: Trigger pull 200 damage 80 fire rate. (no splash)
• Tier 2: Trigger hold 1.25 second 300 damage.(small splash)
• Tier 3: Trigger hold 1.75 seconds 400 damage. (large AOE splash like currently)

(better matches the description of the weapon. High incentive to hold your fire for longer but allows for it to be used as a weaker Plas-1 when required)
Stratagem Weapons
The following are pseudo primaries and so will be looked at as well.
M-105 Stalwart

• Ergonomics: Improved by 25%

(Often struggles to feel competitive with top tier primaries but should blow them out of the water if you are giving up your stratagem slot. Will hit more shots and clean hordes easier.)
MG-43 Machine Gun

• Capacity: reserve mags 2 3
• Reload: able to reload while moving.
• Damage: 80 90

(Very little reason to give up a stratagem slot for a Adjudicator damage equivalent with low max ammo and a stationary reload. With more ammo and the ability to move and shoot this will be a good choice.)
MG-206 Heavy Machine Gun

• Rework: Backpack fed weapon. Does not require reload.
• Capacity: Total ammo 225 250
• Damage: 102 128

(Will have cleaner breakpoints vs Bots allowing for 1 shot headshot kills up close and won't have its current ammo problems. Will still be hard to handle and consumes a backpack slot but worth it)
Bonus:
Recoilless / Quasar Cannon

• Damage: +10%

(Currently both launchers do not 1 shot Hulks or Tanks in their rear weak spot. Both survive on a tiny amount of HP. This change will fix that making launchers viable vs Hulk backs and the backs of tanks)

• Projectile: Hitbox size increased by 25%, projectile has priority on weak spots.

(if the projectile contacts a Hulks front plate and it would have hit the head but instead touches the body armour first it counts as a headshot. Simulates penetration of the round. Also the headshot hitbox is larger and more forgiving. Currently the launchers are completely outclassed by the AMR and Autocannon vs Bot armour, requiring the same level of precision for a headshot but not being versatile weapons or having fast follow up potential.)
SPEAR

• Projectile: Hitbox size increased by 25%, projectile has priority on weak spots.
• AH studios makes a daily sacrifice to the machine god to appease it and fix the SPEAR lock.

(shooting a hulk from the front should always award a headshot kill but currently it's random chance. This change will fix that.)
Extra Wish list:
Bot Trooper Infantry:

• Rework: Hp increased 100 400
• Rework: Appear in higher frequency alongside Devastators at higher difficulties.
• Rework: Accuracy improved

(currently Bot infantry pose 0 actual threat outside of calling in drops. They can be ignored almost indefinitely and they wont kill you. This change makes them more like the terminators they are suppose to be. Taking a decent amount of fire to go down while still being a fodder tier enemy. This is also a massive indirect buff to AR's as dealing continuous damage to low armour targets is where they shine.)
Feel free to offer feedback. and don't forget to downvote for that one change you don't like.

Ofc there are certain fights where CR is necessary like in the simulations where you barely can deal damage to the boss unless they're broken. However I think in all other scenarios composure reduction is just useless.
All you get from it is a short stun. That's it. No debuff to the boss, no buff to your characters, it's just a short stun. Yeah, you can stop the boss' pattern and you get a little bit of time to deal damage uninterrupted, but this is not worth putting a whole character in a team for. The much more convenient way to stop a pattern is to use your ultimate, since you can save it until the exact moment you want, unlike composure break that just happens when it happens. And the DPS loss of a composure reduction character is pretty significant.
In my opinion the only reason to have Zombie and SSR Genos in the team is when you need Assault characters specifically, since there just isn't that many in the game yet. You might as well ignore their composure reduction mechanic though, and spec them for damage.
I think even healing is more important then composure reduction, since ~30-40% of your DPS stems from AI controlled characters, that enjoy tanking every boss' attack with their face, so it's worth to have some healing sometimes to save that DPS from disappearing. Composure reduction can't do that.
The only reason to run composure reduction character in the team is if you're playing casually and can't avoid attacks, even a few seconds of stun might be useful for you. Then you're gonna want both healing and composure reduction to make it as easy on the controls as possible. Although you might run into a problem of not having enough damage to clear bosses, but it can be circumvented with grinding for better memories. You can beat almost all the content with almost any characters after all.

I want to preface this with the fact that I am not an amazing player, I have not ran ghosts much only 4 times and 2 of those were after my solo. The reason to run it now is we have an amazing artifact, we don't know whats coming so why not just get it done now. The builds i used were not my own as if i was going to try this I would have used Hunter. I will be doing this again on my PS5 account but I don't see why it would be any harder than on my PC account.
The guide that gave me the idea to even attempt this was made by ItzTizzle on Youtube, he makes great guides i highly recommend checking him out.

• Link to the video: Again Credit to ItzTizzle
• Here's a link to the maps I used, I needed them as i had only done the dungeon once 2 seasons ago.

Now on to my tips, for the first 2 encounters they are incredibly easy as a solar titan the only spot where you might die would be to moths in the first encounter and drowning in the 2nd. I used a machine gun instead of a sword though I never really fired it for the first encounter..
For Echtar the only troublesome spot was the underwater section, my biggest tip is to only go for 1-2 symbols at a time if you aren't 100% sure the path to take. I almost died the 1st phase trying to get all 3. Its a marathon not a sprint, you're better off taking an extra 30 seconds to get your bearings before diving back down than wiping and having to do encounter 1 again.
Now onto the one that gives everyone trouble, Simmumuh. Honestly wasn't that bad there are some steps to follow to make it pretty safe.

1. Once you crush the ghost to start, kill the moths don't worry about anything else she always spawns them at the start. Simmumuh will spawn moths every time Volgath the knight spawns meaning 3 times per damage phase.
2. Kill the boomers, if you leave them up they will kill you if they target you while the boss has line of sight on you. They re-spawn after every damage phase and are the 2nd thing to focus after moths.
3. Take the time to double check the symbol before you crush the lightbearers ghost, you have ample time after killing before they re-spawn to spin the camera around.

Now here is where i differed from the guide above, loadouts. Tizzle used his super to break her shield and sleeper simulant for dps. After my 1st damage phase i quickly realized I suck at throwing hammers, it would have taken me 8~ phases with the damage i dealt. I decided to just rock arbalest and initially planned on using briars contempt alongside the trace from RoN but I dont have 1 crafted so i went with doomed petitioner with enhanced surrounded.
With arbalest breaking the shield, unloading all linear shots and finishing with my super I got the kill in 4 phases. Now I don't know if it would have been a 3 phase as my first i did so little damage only landing 5 sleeper shots but it feels possible.
Here's the 3 loadouts i used:

• https://dim.gg/w7lgldq/Pre-boss - After echtar I re-saved the same loadout but changed the super to throwing also swapped the scavenger to void but if you decide to use sleeper or briars keep it as is.
• https://dim.gg/hz6fmri/Echtar-dps - my initial plan was to avoid using any raid weapons so I used supercluster which worked fine, I had planned to try using slice but only successfully did it once. It does unravel if you pick up an orb which was quite nice.
• https://dim.gg/pb7khqa/Si-mommy-DPS - I only used the trace because it had reconstruction on it but really ammit works fine too, you just need something for moths I don't think i got a single kill with it.

I know some people really hate loadout swaps but its really not bad in this dungeon, for echtar swap before you deposit the last vestige and for Simummuh I swap while crushing the final ghost before heading back through the water.
For controller players, you will want to rebind your charged melee and uncharged. With auto it's very easy to yeet your hammer and that could be fatal. I use right on the d-pad for my charged melee and r1 for uncharged but i've been doing it for a long time now so i am quite used to it. The reason you want separate bindings is the way roaring flames works, it turns your uncharged melee into a pseudo-charged melee. This lets you create sunspots as well as orbs every punch with 3x heavy handed.
I know solo flawless runs always seem so daunting, and normally they are however for this dungeon specifically with the amount of healing we have currently as long as you can shoot moths and punch acolytes there is nothing in here that can even bring you close to death. 2x arc resists with concussive dampener and restoration lets you sit there and DPS Simummuh as if you were in a well. With the extra 15% from solo op, plus whatever the debuff is from revitalizing blast it really cuts down on the phases especially if you mess up a rotation. Less phases, less room for failure.
~~ I hope at least some of you give it a try, I absolutely hated this dungeon on launch still kind of do as the traversal and opening encounter are too long. However at least for now, titan survival trivializes any real difficulty.

[5/8][Tank][Healer][Ultimate][Savage][NA][Aether][Midcore][DT][TEA]
Hello there! Crown Jewels is an Aether static in need of tanks and a shield healer for current TEA prog (lowest prog point in the group is currently around 3rd NISI pass, but everyone else has seen further [inception+] or cleared). We are ideally hoping to be able to clear TEA before DT! Tank spots can continue into DT savage as well, but are not required to. Please be confident with LL & LC minimum if expressing interest in joining
Team comp: [MT] [OT] // WHM// [Shield Healer]// RP/ SAM// DNC// SMN
Schedule: Tues/Weds/Thurs 7-10pm est
-We typically take two 5-min breaks and one 10-min break within the 3 hours of prog time (raid lead is ND so I need these to help me focus longer, & the additional 5-min breaks help reduce random interruptions in prog for things like water, bio). -Not required, but some of us will prog together outside of these hours in pf
Loot priority: Gear - dps>tank>healer; Mount (savage) reversed - healer>tank>dps
We are looking for reliable team players who are willing to focus and be serious when needed but also down to have fun.
Expectations/Requirements

• Must be on time and ready to go (with food, pots, gear mended) for scheduled raid time - must notify in advance of absence or late attendance
• leader will provide food and pots for members if needed or requested, but please request outside of raid time
• Real life is always first priority, but please communicate!
• Previous raiding experience is highly preferred (ultimate savage)
• Absolutely NO toxicity allowed. Things like constructive criticism, feedback, suggestions, tips, and explanations are welcome, but shaming or belittling are not. -Please also bring your patience, as we all make mistakes! (this is not a hardcore or super high-parsing group; we obviously want to make good prog -- but wipes here and there are still expected).
• Required to join discord VC for all raid times (not required to talk/unmute but cannot remain deafened) - for callouts & social interaction 🙂
• please also try to keep comms clear and chatter to a minimum during pulls, especially when approaching or at current prog point
• Players must emulate growth mindset; focus on skill-building, team-building, and continuous improvement -- Do your best! ♡ -It is an expectation and a requirement for each member of the group to dedicate time outside of scheduled raid hours to ensure you are prepared for raid and have what you need to be successful and consistent. This will look different for each player, and some may need more time set aside and/or more interventions than others; but this can include things like: -Reviewing instructional guide videos and/or POV videos -Examining logs, replays, XIV analysis results, -Filling out/updating mit sheet plan -Familiarizing with the timeline and written notes -Looking at pictures and diagrams; studying the raidplan toolbox(es) -Running simulators for various mechanics -Putting in extra prog time in party finder
  -Members must be inclusive/accepting towards others 🌈 🩼
  

Please dm me if you are interested!

Literally every single dps has best in slot supports and team comps they work or dont work in.
DHIL - Hanya/Sparkle/Tingyun/Yukong Acheron - Pela/Welt Blade - Bronya/Sparkle Jingliu - Bronya/Sparkle Ratio - Topaz/Silver Wolf Black Swan - Kafka Argenti - Tingyun And so on
People who are so adamant about not wanting to use firefly with HMC, who literally everyone who plays the game has, what even is the argument?
Based on leak showcases Ive seen, at E0S1 with her premium team she has comparable clears to Acheron E1S1 teams with a STACKED acheron build (I am talking about my own 80/249 Acheron Welt Pela Aventurine team here)
She seems like the "Alhaitham of HSR" where most of her damage comes from not just building crit and throwing her with the resident atk%/dmg% buffers, but instead capitalizing on a mechanic which was recently added to the game (or in Haithams case element). Or a better comparison may be Kuki Shinobu, but since she was released earlier than what ended up skyrocketing her damage contribution the situation is a bit different, but mechanically both her and Firefly are in a similar spot where your damage in an ideal scenario comes from somewhere other than raw crit dps.
Not wanting to use her with her best in slot support even though theyre even a good pairing lore wise... why? Do you have fun playing Acheron Tingyun HuoHuo teams? She is the best dps in the game and is tied to running 2 other nihility units and flat out doesnt work with a lot of traditionally good supports. What teams do you even want FF to work in that you are so against using her with HMC?
And why compare her to Boothill based on "damage per screenshot"? She gets 3 actions in 1 cycle (with enough speed built and dance3 on Ruan Mei or HMC probably very easily 4) and gets 100% action advance and 50 extra speed in ult form, Boothill needs a speedtuned Bronya for that, in which case you either have to remove sustain, HMCs super break, or Ruan Mei from Boothills team. Boothill is also a very strong unit no doubt, and is less restrictive with team comps he can use, but he also will have a BiS team, just as every other dps.
The biggest thing is how Gallagher being Fire and FF implanting fire weakness makes her a lot better than Boothill if we are speaking of a break oriented team. Sure, Boothill can do the damage "on his own" but I would argue a Bronya that is speedtuned to a 161 speed Boothill is a much bigger headache to solve (both getting a 161 Boothill and the Bronya) than just having HMC and Ruan Mei on the party setup screen.
The argument I also see a lot about how certain bosses have their toughness bars locked in certain phases is some of the most stupid shit Ive read in a while too. Youre supposed to solve the mechanic which reunlocks their toughness bar, and not brute force your damage through it? The only exception is that one triple trotter occurence in simulated universe but if THAT is your metric of which dps is good or not, brother I dont know how to say this but you might be more on the spectrum than I am.
Not to mention with both FF and Gallagher getting action advance on ult and having insane toughness damage I wouldnt be surprised if you could just bypass the rough parts of some of those boss phases by jumping to the front of the action order before the boss gets their turn to begin with.
tldr: people complaining about Firefly needing super break to do insane damage or that her damage per screenshot isnt as high as Boothill lookin kinda goofy

Doesn't matter for tier but I like your opinions.
I am working towards the Type 5 heavy(O-Ni) but I also have a tier 8 in line for the IS-4 and IS-7 as well and I have a good ways into the E100 line(Tiger (P)).
I have good reason for the Type 5 heavy since my favorite play style is super heavy or shell bouncing simulator: Super heavy all around armor especially when angling. Heaviest top armor vs artillery in game Heaviest tank so ramming is funny and shoving tanks off cliffs is funnier. Giant cannon with a slightly better pen and DPS output than E100 and Maus without sacrificing insane overall armor. Giant tank able to cover allies in need. Able to handle all side conflict to an extent until gold rounds come into play. Now I'm aware the Maus is actually a little better in all around attacks against it from all sides due to much heavier secondary plating, but the Type 5 has the better gun and DPS output with a secondary able to fire even faster than the Maus' secondary so tracking tanks to help myself escape or force them to stay in the open to be fired back at is helpful in such situations. The higher DPS I prefer over the total armor all around for survivability in a surround situation because as soon as I take one or two tanks down the pressure gets alleviated quickly. It also makes people play careful knowing my gun hits harder than the Maus'(490 Average vs the 600 average the Type 5 does if you use the standard gun or the 1300 derp gun every 20 seconds w/reload boosts for commander and such).
I don't know it's funny for a super heavy tank to have access to a mid-grade naval cannon straight from the Yamato battleship able to hit them that makes people play crazy carefully when they know it has a shell ready to fire at you.
Other notable heavies I loved is the KV-4, KV-1, Tiger (P), O-I(Exp too) and the Matilda(I know medium tank but it had the armor of a heavy tank. Churchill was fun too but... That Churchill-VII was hard to work with until the last couple gun upgrades).

Hello all,
I am looking for some recommendations, I have leveled both a full feral (leader of the pack > Omen of Clarity) and full balance (Moonkin form > Reflection) druid, and I am in the process of leveling a third SF druid. I wanted to level as a healer, but given how dead HC feels right now, I want to live the Druid dream as a versatile class to fill Healing and DPS roles.
Right now I am theorizing two different builds and I am not sure which is better overall.
First is the Omen of Clarity / Boomy build: Druid Classic Season of Discovery (SoD) Talent Calculator - Classic World of Warcraft (wowhead.com). Pros: Very safe in open world, Moonkins are almost as tanky as Dire Bear, and allows you to very easily solo elite mobs, and more difficult quest mobs (root + dot). Barkskin + Hurricane does a tonne of damage fairly safely, allows you to AOE mobs and finish them off in Dire Bear Form. You can focus on + spell power items over raw stats, and hybrid DPS in dungeons, i.e. Cast in Moonkin with mana / for bosses, and switch to cat to DPS in dungeons with Omen of Clarity. Cons: Less dps overall than HotW spec, mana hungry.
Second is the Heart of the Wild build: Druid Classic Season of Discovery (SoD) Talent Calculator - Classic World of Warcraft (wowhead.com). Pros: I can make use of a wider range of gear, and would be able to level essentially as feral and heal in dungeons. This build would level significantly faster than a Omen of Clarity / Boomy oriented build. Cons: I'm not sure how viable healing Sunken Temple+ would be, even with a healing offset.
Let me know what you think I am open to suggestions.
Right now I am leaning towards Boomy, leveling would be significantly safer from my experience, however leveling efficiency would be significantly reduced when compared to HotW spec. I have already lived the Boomy dream and am not sure if I need to go through it again, the leveling time between my initial builds was roughly 27h played or 18% faster as feral.

Hi all! With TFS looming over the horizon, I wanted to take a look at some Exotic weapons we have in that grand ol’ arsenal of ours that haven’t been doing too hot in a while… or ever. We have a lot of strong choices nowadays, and even some fun niche ones too, but there are a lot of picks that just don’t make sense, have better legendary variants, or are outdated asf (looking at you specifically, DARCI). In this post, I want to share some fun ideas I had for how to rebalance these exotics, adding new functionality in both their intrinsic abilities and catalysts. I don’t even think all these exotics necessarily need a huge intrinsic buff: sometimes a catalyst is all it takes; just look at how nice Trinity Ghoul is with its catalyst, and that’s just a teeny tiny change.
What I count as an underpowered exotic is a weapon that doesn’t really have a place both in regular play, endgame activities, or as a niche weapon with certain uses. So something like Tractor Cannon, although not a DPS/adclear option, is super super useful against certain bosses like Crota or in certain situations, therefore, in my mind it is not underpowered as it has its place. Something like Hard Light, though… yeah.
I’m swinging the hammer kinda heavy with the buffs because it’s more fun that way. I hope you all enjoy, and please share your ideas too! Bonus if you make a bingo card to see how many of these exotics Bungo actually changes in TFS. We’ll find out soon enough, I’d imagine.
Oh, yeah, and this is just my opinion. I know some or a lot of these weapons are usable. But alas, this is what I think.
KINETIC WEAPONS:
Sweet Business: Adds intrinsic Overload capabilities. Once this weapon is spun up, it will remain spinning until reloaded. This assures that once you enter combat, you won’t be stuck having to get ‘er goin every time a new enemy jumps you. Catalyst now adds Killing Tally. This perk would make the weapon much stronger (duh) but also it has good synergy with Sweet Business, as the playstyle opts for keeping the weapon out, in use, and continuously fed from ammo pickups or actium war rig.
MIDA Multi-Tool: Adds the ability to change the rate and mode of fire, so that the weapon can behave like a pulse rifle and an auto rifle by changing perk options in the gun’s menu. Scoping in now highlights information about enemies and distance, just like DARCI does.
Crimson: Perhaps this sounds repetitive, but for weapons that sustain fire, Killing Tally is really solid. This would reward the user for continuous precision kills to maintain Killing Tally, a strong bonus on top of Exotics have a 40% buff against red bars.
Cerberus+1: Damage againts elite (orange bar) and major (yellow bar, non capitalized names) also increased by 40% to match the minor (red bar) enemy increase. New intrinstic perk: Interial Quakes: sustained damage on one target causes shockwaves to summon at the location of the target, disorienting them and dealing high damage. This offers Cerberus+1 a variant of Kinetic Tremors that has increased functionality, as it’s an exotic, as well as the ability to activate off of non-precision hits since.. yeah hitting crits with Cerberus is ass.
Bad Juju: Catalyst increases super energy gained from a kill closer to D1 levels, to make it more of a super battery. We get our super back so quickly in PvE with the amount of orbs we generate; let’s ratchet Bad Juju up to make it a competitive super generating option. The catalyst also gives Desperado.
Bastion: I wish I knew what to do to make it better. But it needs help.
Traveler’s Chosen: This weapon was designed back when Bungo was like “lol we hate damage perks”. Gathering Light now grants an escalating damage bonus in addition to its previuos effects. Consuming Gathering Light increases this weapon’s RoF for 10 seconds to compensate for being reset to its baseline.
Cryosthesia 77K: Here’s a dousey. Every third precision shot applies x25 slow to enemies. The special “reload after kill” show now loads the gun with a projectile that is akin to a coldsnap grenade, seeking out and freezing a target. Catalyst grants headstone so you can make more stasis crystals with this bad boy.
Wicked Implement: Make this thing a 260rpm scout. That is all.
ENERGY:
Coldheart: Catalyst adds voltshot. Increase the damage ramp-up for sustained fire.
Borealis: Why does this thing not have anti barrier. Half of its gimmick is breaking barriers. Give it anti barrier lmao and it’ll be top tier in GMs. That’s literally all you need to do?
Skyburner’s Oath: Increase rate of fire for Scout Rifle mode. Make it unstop intrinsically.
Merciless: Catalyst gives Controlled Burst, further decreasing charge time and increasing damage.
Hard Light: Add incandescent, voltshot, and destabilizing rounds depending on the elemental mode that is selected. Catalyst allows it to swap between Stasis and Strand, giving Headstone and Hatchling respectively.
Fighting Lion: Just revert some of the nerfs on this poor guy for crying out loud. Life was more fun when he was still kickin’.
Prometheus Lens: Sustained damage will this weapon can cause enemies to ignite prematurely.
Tommy’s Matchbook: Buff the scorch this weapon deals against enemies. Increase hipfire accuracy further to make sure you can hit your shots. Allow for kills on scorched enemies to trigger brief health regeneration.
POWER:
D.A.R.C.I.: Ammo type switched to special, damage is decreased to compensate. Deals further increased precision damage after hitting 3 shots in a row. Catalyst adds Reconstruction and High-Impact Reserves.
Legend of Acrius: Add one-two punch, as well as the ability for Acrius to add a solar centurion shield if you are within close proximity (melee range) of an enemy.
The Wardcliff Coil: Buff the damage! This weapon and EoT deal less damage against bosses since they fire a salvo but it’s too weakkkk. Also, catalyst jolts targets if 5 or more rockets hit the target.
The Prospector: Grant this weapon a GL variant of bipod” grenades deal decreased damage, but this weapon can carry double the amount of grenades. Grenades chain lightning between themselves and targets when exploded, and the catalyst now adds auto-loading holster.
Worldline Zero: Uhhh….
Sleeper Simulant: Buff that damage Bungie. Make it a powerhouse again.
Black Talon: I’m not gonna lie I have no idea what to do to make this thing better.
One Thousand Voices: Make this thing hurt, Bungie. Buff it’s fuckin damage. And make it guarantee ignite enemies if the entire beam hits a target. Chain reaction is added as well to chain explosions from target to target.
Truth: Rockets have a larger blast radius than normal, and debuff nearby enemies with Volatile. Bipod is added to the roster of perks. Rocket tracking becomes closer to its D1 level of aggresiveness. Catalyst reloads this weapon whenever a void debuff is cast to double capacity.
Deathbringer: Too much setup, too little payoff. Void orbs now weaken targets. The void orbs now take less airtime to reach max damage increase.
Eyes of Tomorrow: Make it do more damage against bosses. Stop being a pussy. We have Gjallarhorn, Dragon’s Breath, and whatever the fuck else. Make. Them. Fear. It.
Deterministic Chaos: Removes the sustained fire requirement for triggering weakening and volatile rounds. Enemies are made volatile AND weak at the same time (every 4 shots), and every 16^th shot is now a quadruple damage bullet.

Before I begin I want you to know I'm genuinely not ragebaiting. I fully believe this. But I am so ready for the downvotes. I feast upon your anguish. Say what you will.
If your favorite youtuber or a prydwen tier list convinced you, as a free to play player, with limited resources to fully invest into a unit that is/was "the best dmg output for the 4 dream realm bosses" you got what you paid for. Did anyone say marilee was a BEAST in arena? No. Did someone say she was the best unit you could invest in for afk challenge? Nah I didn't hear that either. Now here's a tricky one, did lilith games or farlight ever come out and say Marilee was the best A-Level unit in the game long term? Maybe I missed it but I did not see that post. Normally in games like this I see f2ps or low spenders accepting that they won't compete with whales and spending resources smartly in order to build generalist teams rather than all in on one form of content. But whether it be the obvious youtube clickbait or the tier lists.. you greeded for the biggest damage number in one area, for one currency. And you got it. Congrats. I know f2ps who were placing in the top 100 of dream realm going all in on korin marilee etc. Now it's a new season (they've said there would be a new season or at least introduced us to the basic concept of a season quite a while ago so it's not as though we wouldn't have expected the content to shift somewhat). And there are new bosses with new battle styles and new statlines. And it's time for you to either do subpar damage or bench your built units and all in on one content form yet again. Here's hoping you learned something.
It would be one thing if the current bosses, eye guy or frog guy or throws snowballs guy or derpy dragon guy got patched like this was a pvp game and they buffed their stats wasting your resources... but these are new bosses. If you were to dump every resource from day 1 into the *meta* pvp team and then a new unit released that countered that team would you be upset? You knew the game would release new units. You knew your resources were limited. You spent them on only excelling at one form of content and you did for a time. Now if halfway through primal wolf they doubled his defense and made the units u built shit for it I would consider that very, very scummy. But these are new boss characters with new stats. If you have an accountability issue you can deflect and blame whoever told you to build marilee I suppose. But as an avid dev hater in many games before, I don't see how this investment or decision making falls on the devs shoulders. In every gacha I come to I've done hundreds of hours of simulations and theorycrafting because it's what brings me joy. And every time people like me try to get the word out about generally well performing units (or "futureproof") in AFK or the most versatile/highest teamwide dps teams in star rail, or most energy/resin efficient farms in genshin or summoners war, etc. etc. And that information rarely blows up because it forces people to think.
I already see people spamming this sub with PWEASE PWAY DA GAME FOR ME I DONT KNOW WHAT DO WHO'S GOOD AFTER THE NERFS TO INVEST IN I JUST HIT 1200 CURRENCY AND I HAVE TO PULL SOMEONE IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL SIMPLY PERISH EVEN THOUGH NO ONE IS 1 OFF AN UPGRADE I JUST NEED TO KNOW I HAVE A RESOURCE AND I NEED TO SPEND IT BUT I CANT MAKE DECISIONS FOR MYSELF BECAUSE THEN IF IT GOES WRONG IT'S MY FAULT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME IM SHAKING ND CRYING.... And even still every time we spread info trying to say hey look these characters might be good long term or this might help depending on what you care about most or your favorite guy might hit for a slightly smaller number but doing this will give you an overall more powerful team or more efficient path to endgame- the result is the same. People want to hear what gives them the biggest on screen number so they can feel like they did a good job. Congrats your invested guy (or girl lol) does the biggest single target number. This is still true. The *nerf* is increased damage reduction. The output is unchanged. What changed his how much is received, like there's a resistor in between. You still have the girl that pumps out the most dmg, it's just not demonstrable in the current/approaching game because it turns out in a game where majority of content is 5v5 or vs constantly changing bosses... it just isn't that good. You got what you wanted though. Lie upon the bed you have made and stop karma farming with the 34th post about new season "nerfs" I've seen this week.
Maybe you'll use this to guide you to thinking more about what benefits your account most. If you're lacking supports or tanks units like antandra or koko can outperform a 93rd dps pickup and it's a lot harder for koko to become irrelevant due to new content when her main effect lies in dmg reduction for your own team. Just an example. It's funny how easy it is for people to write off Alsa as a skip because her damage is too situational or conditional but it seems very obvious with a character like korin that shreds armor that.. if the target had less armor his effectiveness would fall off drastically.. Yet you pour everything into him. Anywho I'm done yapping for now. Hopefully in a week or two it'll be safe to open this sub again and not see 12 pt times new roman 2-3 page essays over the same thing. I'd like to see more art or people talking about their favorite character designs! Adios for now. Good luck out there Magisters~

The extended roster:
Wildmutt Role: DPS Play Style: Agile and ferocious melee attacker with heightened senses. Notable Moves: Savage Pounce: Leaps at an enemy, dealing damage and stunning them. Sensory Track: Detects hidden enemies within a certain radius. Razor Claws: Swift melee attacks that cause bleeding damage over time. Super Attack: Feral Frenzy - Enters a heightened state, increasing attack speed and damage for a short duration.
Grey Matter Role: Support Play Style: Strategic support with abilities to hack and control the battlefield. Notable Moves: Nano Heal: Deploys nanobots that heal allies over time. Tech Override: Temporarily hacks enemy gadgets, turning them against their owners. Intellect Boost: Enhances an ally’s abilities, reducing cooldowns and increasing effectiveness. Super Attack: Mastermind Machination - Creates a field that boosts allies’ intelligence, allowing for faster ability usage and strategic advantages.
Ripjaws Role: Tank Play Style: Amphibious brawler with strong underwater capabilities. Notable Moves: Aqua Slam: Jumps and crashes down, creating a shockwave in water. Bite Lock: Grabs an enemy with his jaws, immobilizing them briefly. Whirlpool: Creates a vortex in water, pulling enemies towards the center. Super Attack: Tsunami Strike - Summons a massive wave, knocking back and damaging all enemies in its path.
Cannonbolt Role: Tank Play Style: Rolling juggernaut with high-impact collision attacks. Notable Moves: Rollout: Turns into a ball and rolls over enemies, dealing damage. Impact Crater: Slams into the ground, creating an area of effect damage. Rebound Rampage: Bounces off surfaces, increasing speed and damage with each hit. Super Attack: Meteor Ball - Launches into the air and crashes down as a giant ball, causing massive area damage.
Wildvine Role: Support Play Style: Nature-based support with crowd control and area denial. Notable Moves: Thorn Barrage: Shoots thorns that damage and slow enemies. Vine Grasp: Extends vines to pull enemies or allies to safety. Seed Bomb: Plants a seed that grows into a trap, ensnaring enemies. Super Attack: Jungle Jamboree - Summons a forest of vines that entangle and damage enemies while healing allies.
Spitter Role: DPS Play Style: Ranged attacker with debilitating slime attacks. Notable Moves: Slime Shot: Spits slime that slows and damages enemies. Goo Grenade: Hurls a blob that explodes, covering a wide area with sticky goo. Mucus Bubble: Encases himself in a bubble, gaining temporary invulnerability. Super Attack: Acid Rain - Spews a cloud of corrosive rain over enemies, causing severe damage over time.
Buzzshock Role: DPS Play Style: Electric skirmisher with high mobility and shocking attacks. Notable Moves: Volt Dash: Dashes through enemies, electrocuting them. Chain Lightning: Strikes an enemy with lightning that jumps to nearby targets. Static Trap: Leaves an electrified trap that stuns the first enemy that touches it. Super Attack: Power Surge - Overloads the area with electricity, continuously damaging all enemies nearby.
Blitzwolfer Role: DPS Play Style: Lycanthropic fighter with howling attacks and enhanced agility. Notable Moves: Sonic Howl: Unleashes a howl that damages and disorients enemies. Lunar Leap: Jumps great distances, pouncing on enemies from afar. Claw Rend: Swift claw strikes that can bleed enemies over time. Super Attack: Moon Frenzy - Gains increased speed and attack power under a simulated full moon.
Upchuck Role: Support Play Style: Consumptive support that can absorb and redirect energy. Notable Moves: Energy Ingest: Absorbs energy attacks, converting them into health or ammo. Gastro Blast: Fires a concentrated beam of absorbed energy. Matter Munch: Devours objects to create barriers or restore health. Super Attack: Digestive Overload - Releases a massive energy explosion around him, using stored power.
Ditto Role: Support Play Style: Multiplicative support with cloning abilities to confuse and outnumber enemies. Notable Moves: Clone Swarm: Creates duplicates that attack and distract enemies. Mirror Maneuver: All clones mimic Ditto’s actions, dealing damage in unison. Replicate Retreat: Sacrifices a clone to teleport to its location, evading danger. Super Attack: Multiplicity Mayhem - Floods the battlefield with clones, overwhelming enemies with sheer numbers.
Waybig Role: Tank Play Style: Colossal tank with massive strength and area control. Notable Moves: Giant Stomp: Causes a shockwave that knocks back enemies. Cosmic Beam: Fires a powerful beam from his eyes, dealing heavy damage. Towering Defense: Uses his size to shield allies and block paths. Super Attack: Galactic Slam - Lifts a huge chunk of the ground and throws it, crushing enemies beneath.
Arctiguana Role: DPS Play Style: Frosty sharpshooter with chilling ranged attacks. Notable Moves: Ice Beam: Shoots a beam that can freeze enemies in place. Frostbite Grenade: Throws a grenade that explodes into a freezing mist. Blizzard Breath: Exhales a cold wind that slows and damages enemies. Super Attack: Avalanche Ambush - Summons a wave of ice and snow that buries enemies, dealing massive damage.
Chromastone Role: DPS Play Style: Ranged combatant with energy absorption and redirection. Notable Moves: Prism Blast: Fires a beam that can split into multiple rays upon hitting surfaces. Energy Shield: Absorbs incoming energy attacks to charge his next Prism Blast. Radiant Rush: Charges forward enveloped in a protective energy aura. Super Attack: Spectrum Surge - Unleashes a full-spectrum energy wave in all directions, dealing massive damage.
Alien X Role: Support Play Style: Omnipotent support with reality-altering powers. Notable Moves: Cosmic Restore: Heals all allies within a certain radius. Event Rewrite: Reverses the last few seconds of gameplay for all players, except Alien X. Existential Shift: Temporarily increases the abilities of all allies. Super Attack: Universal Rift - Creates a zone where all enemy actions are delayed by several seconds.
Nanomech Role: DPS Play Style: Tiny, evasive striker with the ability to infiltrate and sabotage. Notable Moves: Micro Missiles: Launches a barrage of tiny homing missiles. Infiltrate: Shrinks down to enter and disable enemy equipment temporarily. Nano Swarm: Releases a cloud of nanobots that damage and disorient enemies. Super Attack: Molecular Disassembly - Causes enemy gear to malfunction and fall apart for a short time.
Fasttrack Role: DPS Play Style: Speedster with rapid strikes and quick evasions. Notable Moves: Speed Slash: Dashes through enemies, dealing damage to all in his path. Blur Dodge: Evades attacks with superhuman speed, leaving afterimages. Momentum Punch: Delivers a punch that gains power the longer he runs before striking. Super Attack: Velocity Vortex - Creates a tornado by running in circles, pulling in and damaging enemies.
Eatle Role: Tank Play Style: Durable brawler that consumes materials to boost his powers. Notable Moves: Bite Crush: Devours objects to gain temporary health and armor. Shrapnel Spit: Spits out digested material as high-velocity projectiles. Ravage Rampage: Gains increased size and strength after consuming large objects. Super Attack: Digestive Explosion - Erupts with energy after consuming a significant amount of material, damaging nearby enemies.
Gravattack Role: Tank Play Style: Gravity manipulator with area control and enemy displacement. Notable Moves: Gravity Well: Creates a field that pulls enemies towards the center. Orbit Slam: Levitates enemies before slamming them back to the ground. Mass Increase: Temporarily becomes immovable and reduces damage taken. Super Attack: Black Hole Barrage - Summons miniature black holes that travel across the battlefield, devouring anything in their path.
Crashhopper Role: DPS Play Style: Agile assaulter with powerful leaps and crushing landings. Notable Moves: Leap Smash: Jumps high and crashes down, damaging enemies where he lands. Hopper Blitz: Rapidly hops towards enemies, kicking them with powerful legs. Bound Escape: Uses his legs to leap out of harm’s way, avoiding damage. Super Attack: Seismic Stomp - Unleashes a series of ground-shaking hops that create shockwaves, knocking back enemies.
Walkatrout Role: Support Play Style: Evasive support with distraction and escape tactics. Notable Moves: Slippery Dodge: Evades attacks with unexpected movements. Bait and Switch: Creates a decoy to distract enemies while he escapes. Helping Hand: Quickly aids allies, providing them with speed boosts or temporary shields. Super Attack: Fish Out of Water - Flops around wildly, confusing enemies and making them miss their attacks.
Molestache Role: Support Play Style: Quirky fighter with mustache-based abilities for control and defense. Notable Moves: Whisker Whip: Lashes out with his mustache, striking multiple enemies. Stache Shield: Uses his mustache to form a protective barrier. Hairnet Trap: Entangles enemies in a strong, hair-like net. Super Attack: Mustache Maelstrom - Spins rapidly, extending his mustache to create a tornado that pulls in and damages enemies.
The Worst Role: Tank Play Style: Indestructible tank that can absorb a tremendous amount of damage. Notable Moves: Unbreakable Stance: Temporarily reduces all incoming damage to minimal levels. Aggravate: Taunts enemies, forcing them to attack him over his allies. Endure: Regenerates health based on the damage taken in the last few seconds. Super Attack: Ultimate Sacrifice - Draws all enemy fire to himself for a short duration, becoming invulnerable and then releasing a retaliatory shockwave.
Kickin Hawk Role: DPS Play Style: Martial artist with rapid strikes and acrobatic maneuvers. Notable Moves: Talon Tear: Delivers a flurry of slashes with his talon-like feet. Wing Rush: Uses his wings for a burst of speed, enabling quick strikes. Feather Frenzy: Spins with outstretched wings, hitting all nearby enemies. Super Attack: Hawk Hurricane - Executes a high-speed spinning attack that damages and knocks back all surrounding enemies.
Toepick Role: Support Play Style: Fear-inducing support that debilitates enemies with terror. Notable Moves: Ghastly Gaze: Reveals his face, scaring enemies and causing them to flee. Creep Out: Emits an aura that reduces enemy attack speed and accuracy. Face of Fear: Targets an enemy, stunning them with fright. Super Attack: Nightmare Nova - Unleashes a wave of terror, causing all enemies to experience hallucinations and become disoriented.
Astrodactyl Role: DPS Play Style: Aerial attacker with high mobility and precision strikes from above. Notable Moves: Energy Whip: Lashes out with a whip made of pure energy, which can hit multiple targets in a line. Jet Flight: Uses his jetpack to fly quickly across the battlefield, avoiding ground-based hazards. Meteor Dive: Soars high, then dives down at an enemy, dealing significant damage upon impact. Super Attack: Starfall Barrage - Unleashes a series of energy blasts from the sky, targeting multiple enemies or focusing on a single target for increased damage.
Bullfrag Role: Tank Play Style: Tough and resilient front-line brawler with crowd control abilities. Notable Moves: Frog Slam: Leaps high and crashes down, creating a shockwave that stuns nearby enemies. Tongue Lash: Extends his tongue to pull enemies closer or disrupt their actions. Amphibious Assault: Charges through enemies, pushing them aside and dealing damage. Super Attack: Ribbit Rumble - Grows in size and gains increased health and strength, allowing him to knock back enemies with each attack and resist incoming damage.

Came back for S4 since S1 and fired up the good ol boomie from SL just to feel it out alongside my R sham. Noticed quickly its really fun to play atm and seems even strong, lil under 200 games and 2.2 cr in SS after droppin 60rating for 3x 3melee lobbys which went 3-3 and 2x 2-4. It wasnt as bad as I was expecting them to go but I did get overwhelmed at times.
I think my kiting was shit, and I kept doing travel form on some lobbys to try and get away (doesnt do anything cos you just get slowed insta anyway) or shapeshifting roots, sometimes moonkin form disengaging , typhooning ( didnt do this on cd atleast when overwhelmed) and most likely not casting enough cos 2 kicks are waiting for me all the time.
Would it be a good tactic to regularly bear charge the enemy healer on cd if i can keep los on my own healer? This would create space for my own healer and make me and my melee stack on their healer. Downside is loosing dps in bear form, or is it just most of the time do boomkin disengage and max dps?
How about clones, if they are tunneling hard and only thing they are kicking is my casts, should i try to get them to kick my starfire casts or juke it out with clone potentially proccing precog or getting locked in nature. Or just do max dps in these situations and forget the clones unless we aoe stun or possible cloning situation comes.
Is it also worth it to proc eclipses asap if you got 2 stacks of owl frenzy, prioing ofc if possible with some cds,
Everything in this post is situational but general tips are appreciated or even abit more detailed things to try for a fresh boomie enjoyer against melees, thanks in advance.
A little edit as I just remembered - Witherroot Tome on paper looks quite good, anybody tried it out/ whats the overall opinion on it?

For one-shot shenanigans, Golem is obviously the way to go, but for overall DPS, Shadow Skeleton Mages seems pretty hard to beat. It's mainly due to four things:

1. Aspect of the Damned is now basically a free 50%(x) additional damage.
2. Blighted Aspect uptime should be fairly high with just skeleton hits, due to all the extra projectiles and the new Aphotic Aspect. With mediocre rolls and minimal Masterworking, it should still be trivial to reset Blighted Aspect after about 3 seconds on a single target with minions alone.
3. The Terror and Gloom passives give free damage, and though there isn't consensus, some people think both of them double-dip for minions.
4. It's trivial to hit 100% Minion Attack Speed without using Kalan's Edict, so Shadowblight is there for the taking.

I'll be aiming for the build below. It has a few gimmicks that simulate minimal grinding: all rolls are only 2/3 of the max values (rounded), since perfect rolls are unrealistic; Masterworks are limited to 4 ranks, since it's cheap and easy to get to there; there are no Greater Affixes; and Glyphs are only Lvl 15. Even with these handicaps, it's well over half a billion DPS from the Mages alone. (Note: the amulet has Hellbent Commander, but I'm assuming we'll be able to put Skeletal Mage Mastery there instead at launch.)
https://maxroll.gg/d4/plannegq9m30we

Forward:
This league I wanted to innovate within the cast-on-crit (CoC) archetype by crafting a "league start-able" and scalable build. League start friendliness required diverging from conventional CoC standards, such as cyclone and spell-crit. Below is a synopsis of the configuration I used, and I hope it provides someone inspiration for innovation.
If you just want to see circles, here you go: Poison Reap Vortex - Day 4
Disclaimers:

• This build is a 'poe.ninja sleeper' as the site does not account for the relevant configs.
• I tried to maintain realistic configs on any pob posted, but things slip through.
• I focus on the league start and first few days of this build, as it is what feels relevant to the objective of this post. The current, end-game iteration of the build uses quite a few outrageous items.
• This build is unique to me, but may not be unique to the space.

The Attack Set-up:
The minimum requirements for CoC are simply an attack skill that hits, crits, and has good trigger uptime.
The configuration I settled on used:

• Rage Vortex of Beserking (RV) + Ambush + Diamond Flask
• Blood Rage scaling
• 'Hits cannot be evaded' sword or two accuracy clusters w/ masteries

RV was the obvious choice as ragestorm snapshots the Ambush exert, has a high hit rate from the '250% more frequency' line, and has uptime dependent on rage sustain. Varying Blood Rage's lvl and quality allowed for fine tuning of the attack speed to reach the CoC breakpoints.
Obviously a unique weapon/shield or crafted weapon with 'hits cannot be evaded' solves hit chance. Otherwise, using two accuracy clusters with the masteries '+acc per level' and 'more accuracy at close range' provided 100% hit chance.
Rage Sustain:
There are certainly many ways to generate rage for higher uptime on RV. I settled on the following combo, for reasons I'll touch on later:

• Rotblood Promise w/ Temporal Chains (TC) toggling
• Chains of Emancipation (CoE)

Toggling TC off while under 25 rage triggers CoE's rage gain. In hideout, I could get RV to be up for ~40s. In reality, I would often have to re-Ambush + RV as I would miss the rage trigger.
I did see that heiros have been using the new Mana-rage helmet on a similar set-up with great success.
The Spell Set-up:
All spells benefit from being cast quickly in a CoC set-up, both crit or non-crit. However, with the removal of the 'mana reduction flask craft' I didn't want to figure out mana costs. Thus, I settled on:

• Reap on Pathfinder leveraging Master Surgeon

Poison was the obvious league start scaling vector as Reap is a phys hit and blood charges provide a 'more damage' multiplier. Humerously, this was the first time Cruelty was the right choice. Pathfinder also allowed for easy poison damage scaling early and classic Pathfinder defenses.
Was it League start-able?
Unrealized to me at the time, Rotblood Promise is a Ritual unique and CoE is a Heist-quest unique. I had just looked at poe.ninja prices and saw they were cheap in 3.23.
I'm in the boat of people who recognize that the build you level with through the campaign is not necessarily your league start build. So for me, it was league start friendly as I could get it running on Day 2. I leveled with poisonous concoction and transitioned the moment I got both the ring and belt. I made a poe.ninja account on Day 3.
Here are the pobs for my pre-league template plan and a Day 3 poe.ninja pull:

• Template: https://pobb.in/mHwYwSNqJvmr
• Day 3 PoB: https://pobb.in/JCe7X5HBfpTx
• Poe.ninja link: Day 3

The build let me get all four voidstones and dip into T17 within week 1. I primarily farmed guardian rotations and did meta-crafting during this time. This helped me fund a few weapon crafts and some outrageously priced gear.
Scaling:
After my league start goals, there were obvious scaling vectors for this build:

1. Poison
2. new Unholy Might
3. Woke Spell Cascade (easy overlaps at 1.0-2.4 m)
4. CDR Breakpoints
5. Spell Crit
6. Low Life

In regards to CDR Breakpoints, I used three sources:

• Balance of Terror (20-25% CDR if you've cast TC)
• Woke CoC (I didn't pay attention to the CoC DD meta... I wasn't prepared for the prices)
• eldritch implicit on boots (5%) until using the '+3 to crit gems' mastery

Coincidentally, triggering TC activates the Balance of Terror. This was a happy accident.
Where are we now?
While not the focus of this post, the following is my current iteration of the build:

• Week 6 PoB w/ some FAQs in notes: https://pobb.in/u90Gde8aFvdU
• Uber Cortex w/ slams: Reap Vortex
• you can view Bog_Boy on poe.ninja if you want to see progression.

Note: Blood Rage is tuned for having onslaught and 50 rage. I have corrected automating Immortal Call. There are many improvements still to be made to the current build. Currently, I'm just pushing the dps number to see where it can get, but will probably reel it back soon.
Conclusion:
Path of Exile has a number of archetypes that people say must be played a certain way. Pre-league I asked a few streamers and their communities if they had any advice for the spell choice in a 'CoC Build with 100% melee crit and negligible spell-crit.' Consistently, the answer was "don't." However, shoutout to Jungroan for his consistent pursual of something different, as his build videos motivated me to look at things differently.
Hopefully this post gets someone excited to find a different way to league start and scale CoC, CwC, or innovate on any of the other archetypes in the game. I already have a few different ideas in mind for next league...
What atypical approaches have you taken in the game? Do you also recognize PoB as the real game, and PoE as the simulation?
TL;DR: spin-to-win adjacent