Support Mod Discussion, Part 2 (Meridian, Orion, Quark, Su-Ren)

Meridian

Meridian

1.  Bludgeon (3) — Brink (3) — Compound (3) — Heave Ho (1) — Nothing (0)
2.  Daybreak (1) — Brink (3) — Compound (3) — Heavy Justice (3) — Nothing (0)
3.  Path (3) — Brink (3) — Compound (3) — Shining (1) — Nothing (0)
4.  Daybreak (1) — Brink (3) — Compound (3) — Nothing (0) — Sunstoppable (3)
5.  Daybreak (1) — Brink (3) — Whirling (1) — Shining (1) — Praise (3)

#1 is the only build I use on Meridian at present.  I think extra damage, extra healing, and weaken are very valuable, which leaves only 1 point.  Your ultimate is already pretty good and the mods on it are a little underwhelming / situational in my opinion, so I like this loadout a lot.

#2 is a heavier-CC build.  You have Compound Fracture to apply slow and weaken, and Heavy Justice to apply slow on-demand (if you don’t need the reveal).

#3 is a movement build — I haven’t tried it, but I hear some players swear by having the haste on your main each turn, which on a character like Meridian (who has no dash, but is frequently unstoppable) is probably very valuable for getting around.

#4 is a build simply to take unstoppable for allies, against something like a Helio.  Very situational.

#5 is an experimental energy build.  Yes, I know it’s only a 9-point loadout.  You take energy on 1, 3 and 4 and try to keep your ult up constantly, resulting in huge Praise the Sun value.  Would be interested to see how this one plays out.

Recommended Catalysts:  Second Wind, Regroup / Fade / Fetter, Probe / Chronoshift

As a tanky support, I think you need the extra healing from Second Wind, and you only have 1 defensive cooldown (your heal) so Brain Juice seems less valuable to me.  I think Regroup is very good on Meridian because your ult wants you to be near teammates and you don’t have a ton of ability to cover large distances.  Fade is kind of good in general so probably fine, and Fetter could actually be nice to add some extra CC, as you are fundamentally a melee.  I don’t think Adrenaline is needed, as you have Unstoppable on your ultimate, so I’d run Probe or Chronoshift, the latter being pretty good for extra CC / haste while unstoppable.

Orion

Orion

1. Amplified (2) – Rebuild (2) – Vengeful (2) – Enhanced (2) – Accumulation (2)
2. Amplified (2) – Divine (3) – Vengeful (2) – Enhanced (2) – Almighty (1)
3. Focused (1) – Divine (3) – Vengeful (2) – Enhanced (2) – Accumulation (2)
4. Focused (1) – Shared (1) – Benevolent (2) – Mend (3) – Refresh the Source (3)

#1 is my default Solo Queue build.  Amplified and Vengeful get you some nice AoE damage, Rebuild lets you use Fate Transfer without getting too low, Enhanced Reconstruction is extremely good, and Energy Accumulation lets you ult for 45 in a pinch.  The build relies heavily on having shards, and the idea is to stay at full energy for as long as possible.  (Note:  I previously had Augment Barrier here as Rebuild was bugged, but it appears to have been fixed.)

#2 is an unstoppable build (Divine Purpose), very good against teams with CC.  We only have 1 point for the ultimate, so we take Almighty, which isn’t terrible.  You can usually hit at least 1 enemy with your ultimate and gain a little extra health.  Given that there’s a lot of CC out there and this unstops both Orion and his target, this is a pretty good default build as well.

#3 is a variant on the unstoppable build.  We take Focused Flames (very good if enemies are smart enough not to bunch up), and this way we can take Energy Accumulation on ultimate.

#4 is a very ally-protective build.  Shared Agony is actually quite good for 1 point insofar as you still protect your ally, also protect yourself a bit more, and get a free 15 shields (i.e. the total damage you and the ally take is reduced by 15).  In general, I think you can choose between Vengeful and Benevolent based on personal preference – AoE damage is good, but Benevolent lets you save an ally at low health with Fate Transfer by giving them 10 shields.  In the first 3 builds I chose Vengeful; here I chose Benevolent because the focus is on protection.  Similarly, Mend the Broken lets you give a low-hp ally an extra 15 shields, which might let them live long enough to survive the turn and get the additional healing from the ability next turn, too.  Refresh the Source lets us use our cooldowns more often.  We’re sort of expecting to get low because we’re focusing on protecting our teammate (although Shared Agony doesn’t get us that low).  But combined with Brain Juice, you can put out a lot of important cooldowns quickly.

Recommended Catalysts: Second Wind / Brain Juice, Fade / Regroup, Your Choice

Second Wind is very good, as Orion is likely to take damage (I mean, that’s kind of his thing).  Brain Juice is also nice as you have 3 fairly important cooldowns.  I prefer Fade as a dash catalyst, but Regroup is probably good in certain situations too.

Quark

Quark

1. Leeching (2) – Growing (3) — Rapid Mutation (3) — Nothing (0) — Luminosity (2)
2. Leeching (2) – Growing (3) – Atomic (1) – Nothing (0) – Fusion (3)
3. Leeching (2) – Sharing (2) – Atomic (1) – Orbit (2) – Fusion (3)

Build #1 is Might Quark.  The other two builds are focused on self-survival, which is very important on Quark.  Growing Attraction is very strong if the ally doesn’t break tether, and because the 1-point mod on Dash is actually detrimental, we run a 9-point loadout on Build #2.  Fusion is still good even after the nerf.

 

Recommended Catalysts:  Second Wind, Shift, Adrenaline / Chronosurge

Second Wind is kind of a no-brainer.  You don’t have cooldowns, so Brain Juice is pointless, and you don’t really have big turns for Regenergy or Might.  Second Wind gives you some sustain, which you need, and it’s likely you’ll have a sprint turn somewhere just to keep pace with your tethered targets.  Quark is very positioning-heavy; in fact, that’s most of what you do.  Accordingly, we take Adrenaline against teams with CC so we can be sure to maintain our position.  Against teams without CC, we can run Chronosurge instead.  Finally, Quark is a rare case where I wouldn’t take Fade, since your tethers will show your position anyway.  Go with Shift and make use of that extra 1 square of range to access a safe spot that ideally maintains both tethers.

Su-Ren

Su-Ren

1. Forceful Strike (2) – Gaia’s (3) – Nothing (0) – Journey (3) – Chosen (2)
2. Forceful Strike (2) – Gaia’s (3) – Protector (1) – Resonant / Echoes (2) – Chosen (2)
3. Bo Staff Skills (1) – Gaia’s (3) – Protector (1) – Journey (3) – Chosen (2)

Gaia’s Blessing and Gaia’s Chosen are always taken.  There are some other good ult mods, if you are sure you’ll land it.  Gaia’s Chosen doesn’t really do anything if you get a high-value (80-100 damage) ult!  But it’s a nice back-up plan so you at least get some value if you don’t get huge ult value, and it can make the enemies’ calculations harder since they likely won’t know exactly how much it’ll heal for.

As for Spirit Bend, if you think the slow/haste will be valuable (it often is), run Spiritual Journey.  If you think your allies won’t cooperate for targeting, Resonant Spirit is good (and Protector is a very solid 1-point option on dash).  Spiritual Echoes actually isn’t bad either — there are enough scenarios where 2 turns wouldn’t be enough to get the effect off, and it’s a very powerful effect.  I love Forceful Strike, especially because it lets you spin without losing damage in a number of situations.  But Bo Staff Skills for a faster ultimate is nice, too, and the spare point for Protector is really nice.  Su-Ren only gets 6 energy on her primary, so +2 is a 33% increase!

As noted, situationally, something like Karmic Aftershocks might be decent on the ultimate, but generally you want to run Gaia’s Chosen for the reasons stated.  I also think Gaia’s Blessing is a clear choice on her 2.  Some people take Close to Greatness, but that mod isn’t nearly as good.  You aren’t usually adjacent to the targets you’re healing (as you need to position to hit multiple allies if possible, which means you’re often in an in-between position sort of a couple squares away from each), so it’s maybe a +2 or +1 — not worth it.

Recommended Catalysts: Brain Juice, Regroup, Probe

Su-Ren is very cooldown-dependent, so I think Brain Juice is a good choice.  You want those dashes back up.  I like Probe as a blast phase catalyst, because Su is fairly mobile and doesn’t need Chronosurge or Adrenaline as much, so get that vision out for your team.  Finally, Regroup is uniquely strong on Su-Ren because her heal is a blast phase free action, meaning that you can Regroup to your team and heal them that same turn.