Light Bringer Awakening Thoughts

[superkleenex]

So when I first saw the awakening skills for LB, I was sufficiently underwhelmed. The 2 active skills we got looked boring and not anywhere near as flashy as what the other classes got.

Having played with the new skill set yesterday, I will straight up say that I was completely wrong. LB finally has a set of combos to use, finally feels like more than a healer and sunshine spark spammer. If there is a way to get this passed along, I feel like the changes they made were beneficial to the class.

Thanks ED!

Edit: seeing that this post is getting looks, I'll do an analysis on the class and changes if someone asks.

[FLCLnoodles]

Oh I'd like your analysis on the class. I haven't touched my LB since like 80 cap lol. What does your current skill build look like?

[JustAway]

FlyingBringer 10/10

[ceruulean]

Plays great, heals great

now even more shinier and flashier with hidden art

rubicon and quantum trance make u almost as flexible as glad and tempest

[postboundarts]

:0 The new changes for Light Bringers are pretty cool! The class feels so much better to play compared to before (basically the whole time I've been playing DN). There isn't a need for getting skills from the Abyss Walker tree anymore (but you can choose to get them if you want) which is nice. I do have a few questions about the awakening though, sorry about the long post!
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I thought Rubicon would be a lb skill, but it's dark attribute and on the AW tree. Is it worth for a LB to get it? I'd imagine it's just for dodging attacks, but LB already has Quantum Trance.
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The awakening skill linked to Illusory Chakra seems useless outside of pvp? It only doubles a single auto attack after running a certain distance... Or maybe I read the description wrong? If someone can clarify this awakening skill for me, that would be great.
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Also if it's ok, I'd also like to see other LB skill trees! I have 42 extra sp to use and I have no idea where to put it. I've already gotten all of the skills I need and I somehow have a lot extra lol

[superkleenex]

-I thought Rubicon would be a lb skill, but it's dark attribute and on the AW tree. Is it worth for a LB to get it? I'd imagine it's just for dodging attacks, but LB already has Quantum Trance.

I personally got it for the i-frame. It's fast, a really short CD, and can be used at any time except in the air, whereas Quantum Trance requires that we are in a light skill to be able to use. Can also be used while knocked down, and still has the 5 sec cd.

-The awakening skill linked to Illusory Chakra seems useless outside of pvp? It only doubles a single auto attack after running a certain distance... Or maybe I read the description wrong? If someone can clarify this awakening skill for me, that would be great.

Nope, you aren't wrong. I found the damage as low compared to all of our other light skills as well as the wind up time to maximize the damage, so it doesn't even make it to my PvE rotation unless a boss ran away from me. It feels like a PvP skill to me too.

[superkleenex]

TL;DR: we got a much needed damage buff to our class, and while they took our burst heals away, we now have 3 good enough heals. I'm pretty happy thus far. We should have SP to play with after we get to where we should be.

Core of the build: https://dnskillsim.herokuapp.com/na/...-0-00-----0--0
My personal final build: https://dnskillsim.herokuapp.com/na/...-0-00-----0--0

So my initial thoughts on Light Bringer (since that's the only one I play):

Light builds got hella buffed by this. I was doing, at best, 8 mil DPS on the golem before we got this change, I am now able to do approx 14 mil DPS without having optimal combos, and with the same gear.

Class Mastery I change: We got a buff to our Agility and Strength gains to be on par with the other awaken classes, this is a small damage boost, but a boost non the less. Outbreak still procs the ATK damage increase, but we no longer need to use Miraculous Chakra as the other trigger, we get an actual damage skill to also proc in Full Brightness.

Class Mastery 2: Increase in damage again with the passive damage boost from 7% to 10%. SSS usage now decreases cooldown on Pulse Ring. A buff to our ability to support with Pulse Ring, doesn't hurt. I have spent a lot of time thinking about getting rid of Chakra Cure from my build because of this change, but ultimately decided not to drop Cure.

Awaken Skills

Piercing Star Awaken: damage buff and aoe increase. I didn't even use Piercing Star before this change. Gives us a nice buff to damage from range as the range is huge, and I found this being my filler skill if nothing else was on cooldown.

Chakra Illusion Awakening: gives more damage to the skill, a huge AOE, and an extra damage proc for it. A nice change, but I rarely used this skill in the first place, and with the other short cooldown light skills, this is better used as an i-frame with a better damage at the end. 100% a bait skill for PVP, and a filler skill for PVE, takes super long to get charged up and leaves us pretty vulnerable. I don't know anything about super armor adds or what not, but this skill would basically require it to be useful.

Chakra Grip: It feels really underwhelming because it's really bland, but the low cooldown is super nice.

Unseen Art: This is now going to be the bread and butter for us. Does 3 hits of damage that proc with basically any of our light damage skills that are in the Taoist and LB tree. Since we are using those anyway, this procs all the damn time. In doing my DPS run, and not always using this skill on cooldown, it was the highest damage of the session, even higher than SSS. I don't know if that was a fluke or what, but it's now going to be important to place this properly when doing a boss run.

Quantum Trance (skill cancel): We now get an i-frame when using outbreak, full brightness, chakra grip, and chakra miracle and energy (though I don't see myself using with these 2 except for emergency i-frames). This IS CHAINABLE INTO STRIKE RING, SUNSHINE SPARK, NETHER BURST, AND RUBICON (in all honesty, Rubicon's damage sucked in my trials). You can also use this cancel, hit our double jump while in the air cancel, and then use Strike ring to get higher into the air and get more strike ring hits off, I was able to get 22 hits off instead of the normal 17. I'm super thrilled about this combo potential.

Chakra miracle: Eh, I don't have much physical damage yet, this felt not as emergency related as before.

Other changes:

Nether burst, strike ring, and sunshine spark: Nether burst and SSS no longer require that you do an additional air jump to use the skill, ultimately making them faster casts for us. Hella nice for PVP. Strike ring allows us to use with a jump as well if you just want a faster proc and knock up from it.

Heal cat: I mean, it's a heal, so that's nice. The cooldown sucks at 45 seconds for it for a 10% heal, when energetic chakra heals for 15% at a 30 sec cooldown. This one might be worth dropping.

Pact of Azuna: Damage cat is light damage now. I got to 88% light atk without optimal gear, so this is huge for us.

blessing of azuna: removed the dark damage buff it used to give us, so now we are basically required to go light damage. I'm ok with this though, but still frustrated that there are nest skills that wipe summons. This is a 15% elemental buff, which is huge when it's not present.

Full brightness: I thought the AOE would be bigger, but another damage skill is nice, but this one doesn't have an EX, doesn't hit super hard, and has a smaller AOE than Strike Ring. I dropped points from this skill to make other skills better.

SSS: Can now be shot while in the air and doesn't have the "leap-wind up", so it casts faster. This change is actually a really big deal.

Strike Ring: can be cast while jumping. I wonder if a skill that knocks us way in the air, gets air dodged, and we use way the hell up in the air. This change is actually a really big deal.

Dark Line: now CTC. I only went down to it to test Rubicon, and that should be as far as you go as well putting points in. It used to do ~3 mil per hit before the patch, now it does 1.1 mil, when my outbreak is doing upwards of 10 mil on a 6 sec cd. The cooldown went up as well, meaning that the original 27 sec cooldown for 2 dashes is now 27 seconds for 1 dash, and will take 54 seconds to get back to a double dash. A huge damage nerf for us, and I recommend not even bothering. It's not on my skill bar.

Rubicon: So this will have 3 uses: on-demand i-frame (why I chose to get it), skill cancel (which we already have quantum trance in our kit now so this isn't important for us), or just as a super short cooldown after we use quantum trance and realize "oh crap, I don't have nether burst, strike ring, or SSS on cooldown, I need ANY damage I can get out of using that cancel. The damage is piss poor, but it's an on demand i-frame. If you PVP, this is basically a must have for another i-frame, the damage isn't why you get it. It can be used while knocked down, which is actually really nice on a 20 sec cd for pvp, 5 sec for pve. Costs 10 SP though, so you better really want to have it.

What I believe is the optimal damage combo:

• drop unseen art
• outbreak -> right click, quantum trance, sunshine spark. (right click allows you to back up and since you can't throw SSS straight down, you need to be far enough away from the target to throw forward)
• chakra clip, fullbright, quantum trance, strike ring
• outbreak -> right click, quantum trance, nether burst (right click allows you to back up and since you move forward when using nether burst)
• chakra clip through enemy, turn and face, 3x piercing star
• rinse and repeat

[superkleenex]

TL;DR: Really nice changes to the class that improve flexibility that we did not have before, makes us faster and gives definite combos (not Windwalker fast, but a definite improvement). Brings 1 of our heals up higher, adds 1 spammable gap closer while improving one of the other gap closers.

Long analysis:

Light builds got hella buffed by this. My gear sucks, but I was doing, at best, 8 mil DPS on the golem before we got this change, I am now able to do approx 12 mil DPS without having optimal combos, and without full SP used.

Of the dark skills, the only 3 I put on my skill bar was Clones, Nether Burst, and Rubicon. I left the other 3 off completely since we don't need them now as filler skills. And Dark Line sucks now.

Builds:

Base build: as low as you can go. We get to be a little bit flexible with our paths, mostly because we now go full light build and the dark skills drop way off in damage.


Personal build:


Awakenings:

Class Mastery I change: We got a buff to our Agility and Strength gains to be on par with the other awaken classes, this is a small damage boost, but a boost non the less. Outbreak still procs the ATK damage increase, but we no longer need to use Miraculous Chakra as the other trigger, we get an actual damage skill to also proc in Full Brightness.

Class Mastery 2: Increase in damage again with the passive damage boost from 7% to 10%. SSS usage now decreases cooldown on Pulse Ring. A buff to our ability to support with Pulse Ring, doesn't hurt. I have spent a lot of time thinking about getting rid of Chakra Cure from my build because of this change, but ultimately decided not to drop Cure.

Piercing Star Awaken: damage buff and aoe increase. I didn't even use Piercing Star before this change. Gives us a nice buff to damage from range as the range is huge, and I found this being my filler skill if nothing else was on cooldown.

Chakra Illusion Awakening: gives more damage to the skill, a huge AOE, and an extra damage proc for it. A nice change, but I rarely used this skill in the first place, and with the other short cooldown light skills, this is better used as an i-frame with a better damage at the end. 100% a bait skill for PVP, and a filler skill for PVE, takes super long to get charged up and leaves us pretty vulnerable. I don't know anything about super armor adds or what not, but this skill would basically require it to be useful.

Chakra Grip: It feels really underwhelming because it's really bland, but the low cooldown is super nice. Adds a gap closer that we desperately needed. The AOE is surprisingly large.

Unseen Art: This is now going to be the bread and butter for us. Does 3 hits of damage that proc with basically any of our light damage skills that are in the Taoist and LB tree. Since we are using those anyway, this procs all the damn time. In doing my DPS run, and not always using this skill on cooldown, it was the highest damage of the session, even higher than SSS. I don't know if that was a fluke or what, but it's now going to be important to place this properly when doing a boss run.

Quantum Trance (skill cancel): We now get an i-frame when using outbreak, full brightness, chakra grip, and chakra miracle and energy (though I don't see myself using with these 2 except for emergency i-frames). This IS CHAINABLE INTO STRIKE RING, SUNSHINE SPARK, NETHER BURST. You can also use this cancel, hit our double jump while in the air cancel, and then use Strike ring to get higher into the air and get more strike ring hits off, I was able to get 22 hits off instead of the normal 17. I'm super thrilled about this combo potential. It makes our combos a lot faster as we don't have the duration of the skills finishing any longer.

Chakra miracle: Eh, I don't have much physical damage yet, this felt not as emergency related as before.

Other changes:

Nether burst, strike ring, and sunshine spark: Nether burst and SSS no longer require that you do an additional air jump to use the skill, ultimately making them faster casts for us. Hella nice for PVP. Strike ring allows us to use with a jump as well if you just want a faster proc and knock up from it.

Heal cat: I mean, it's a heal, so that's nice. The cooldown sucks at 45 seconds for it for a 10% heal, when energetic chakra heals for 15% at a 30 sec cooldown. This one might be worth dropping.

Pact of Azuna: Damage cat is light damage now. I got to 88% light atk without optimal gear, so this is huge for us.

blessing of azuna: removed the dark damage buff it used to give us, so now we are basically required to go light damage. I'm ok with this though, but still frustrated that there are nest skills that wipe summons. This is a 15% elemental buff, which is huge when it's not present.

Full brightness: I thought the AOE would be bigger, but another damage skill is nice, but this one doesn't have an EX, doesn't hit super hard, and has a smaller AOE than Strike Ring. I sacrificed points in this skill to improve skill flexibility.

SSS: Can now be shot while in the air and doesn't have the "leap-wind up", so it casts faster. This change is actually a really big deal.

Strike Ring: can be cast while jumping. Chain it with either Outbreak left click o Chakra Clip and Quantum Trance for a super fast cast. This change is actually a really big deal.

Dark Line: now CTC. I only went down to it to test Rubicon, and that should be as far as you go as well putting points in. It used to do ~3 mil per hit before the patch, now it does 1.1 mil, when my outbreak is doing upwards of 10 mil on a 6 sec cd. The cooldown went up as well, meaning that the original 27 sec cooldown for 2 dashes is now 27 seconds for 1 dash, and will take 54 seconds to get back to a double dash. A huge damage nerf for us, and I recommend not even bothering. It's not on my skill bar.

Rubicon: So this will have 3 uses: on-***and i-frame (why I chose to get it), skill cancel (which we already have quantum trance in our kit now so this isn't important for us), or just as a super short cooldown after we use quantum trance and realize "oh crap, I don't have nether burst, strike ring, or SSS on cooldown, I need ANY damage I can get out of using that cancel. The damage is piss poor, but it's an on ***and i-frame. If you PVP, this is basically a must have for another i-frame, the damage isn't why you get it. It can be used while knocked down, which is actually really nice on a 20 sec cd for pvp, 5 sec for pve. Costs 10 SP though, so you better really want to have it.

What I believe to be the optimal PvE combo:

• Drop unseen art
• Outbreak -> right click, quantum trance, sunshine spark. (right click allows you to back up and since you can't throw SSS straight down, you need to be far enough away from the target to throw forward)
• Chakra clip, full bright, quantum trance, strike ring
• Outbreak -> right click, quantum trance, nether burst (right click allows you to back up and since you move forward when using nether burst)
• Chakra clip through enemy, turn and face, 3x piercing star
• Somewhere add in clones
• Rinse and repeat

[superkleenex]

As a request, if anyone has Board Damage charts for our class, I would love to see those.

[FLCLnoodles]

Cool, thanks for your build and thoughts!