[SH] Chompy's Guide to Chompin

[Foomy44]

Since we got the stabbity rework coming out (friday maybe?!?!?! Edit: Friday patch confirmed by dev ingame!!! GET EXCITED) and I know it's not currently a very popular spec I figure I would share some knowledge for all the people that will be trying it out for seriously for the first time. This guide is all about Chompin, and one must be able to stay alive to maximize Chompin time so it's a pretty tanky setup though I imagine plenty of the tactics will apply to a more dps oriented playstyle.

First off, the gear. I go full dominator. The bubble procs constantly when you are getting focused, the tanky stats are all great if you are trying to be tanky, and your squig armor buff works double on the armor set bonus last I checked. I like SC weapons with HP regen and crit reduction thou other SC weapons are good and subj weapon is probably good since it procs on AoE and you spam plenty of it. WL and BW are the bane of my existence so for jewelery I find Winds Impervious for extra resistance and armor is too good to pass up. In the last slot I throw a Fleshrender because HP regen OP and the reduced armor pen has good synergy with my stupid high armor, and for the cape I should probably wear BL for the tali slot but I hate PvE so just rock the subj cloak.

For tali slots, I go almost all armor because we get double value out of it and I love being able to say I got 6k. It's pretty effective but doesn't help at all against BW and isn't enough to currently to save you from a WL (Pretty sure armor debuffs hit your base armor, which then does not get doubled by squig buff, so they are basically 2x effective against us and WL has a real good one). Toughness might be a better tanky stat, especially since it will help horned squig survive, I will try it out once I get a second set of dominator.

For renown mastery I do similar things on most classes, at 55 I aim for max Deft Defender, Reflexes, and 2 ranks in Futile Strikes. I'm only 62 atm, probably gonna pump toughness with the rest of my points, my chance to be crit is 0% so don't really need more futile strikes I think, a more dps oriented spec would probably wanna go crit chance (although we have 0 synergy with crit in melee so str MIGHT be better, not sure on those numbers).

Ok, why go stabbity? ATM, mostly because you are a masochist, but also sex appeal (obviously) and they do bring a bit of utility at least. Bad Gas CD increase debuff is AMAZING, it absolutely wrecks healers and IMO is the most important tool in your arsenal in most situations and the biggest reason pounce is gonna be a huge buff to SH. Destro side we are also the only class I believe to get Pierce Defenses tactic which is -15% to all avoidance stats for 10 seconds on any enemy that avoids one of your attacks. IMO stabbity spec is better at applying this debuff than ranged because the chance increases with every attack you make and our channeled PBAOE Big Bouncin throws out more AOE attacks in less time than a ranged spec can. We also have the best aoe knockback in the game I think, it's range seems better than most single target tank knockbacks (without the KB tactics), is definitely further range than the BO one. I have won tons of scenarios thanks to good knockbacks in the right place, and after rework charge + pounce + knockdown + knockback basically means most runners aren't gonna be getting away from your group. If all that and the knockdown doesn't seem useful we also get disarm, silence, aoe slow, 100% uptime single target slow, and the option to self punt away from danger and go ranged when needed.

Tactics time. Pierce Defenses is amazing and one of the main things are you bringing to a group/WB so use it unless you are overflowing in SHs. It is very easy to run out of AP when spamming aoe so Clever Stabbin is useful if you plan on being in long fights. Everything you do is close range so you get a lot of value out of Sneaky Stabbin, even in my tank gear that does crap damage. The goblin racials are great, Whazat Behind You makes you noticeably tankier in RvR against ranged but if you have a guard and good heals you can probably pass it up. Run Away is obviously amazing but honestly we might not need it after the rework so this will probably be the first one I drop from my setup to make room for new stuff. The 15% extra defenses tactic in the rework sounds crazy good, especially for my tanky Chompin style, I will definitely be using it 24/7. One tactic that will be worth trying out post rework is Sharp Toofs, it really adds a lot to your burst and I imagine will be a big part of a pure burst dps spec once we run with horned squigs all the time, maybe He's a Bigun too. All By Meself might be worth taking for the no CD pounce. It doesn't seem that effective on WL to me since they lose a giant chunk of their damage with no cat, but stabbity spec will still have all of it's utility with no pet so being able to constantly get yourself ontop of enemies and into ideal AoE spots could be REALLY useful (plus who doesn't wanna see flying squiggies, I fully plan to organize a flying squiggy WB where this tactic and pounce spam is required at least once). Morale pump tactic is good if you like morale, and after the rework if horned squig is doing good damage our M3 might be amazing, lookin forward to testing that out. No CD pet tactic is probably useful if you like your armor buff a lot, I never use it personally, too many other good tactics and armor isn't the only thing keeping you alive. It might be a LOT more useful for a dps spec if horned squig ends up being a large chunk of your damage, or might be needed more after rework if horned squig is harder to keep alive in a crowd, I'm currently pretty good at leaving my gas squig in safe places to keep him alive but that won't be an option soon.

Mastery points. Take everything in Stabbity except Ere Squiggy, that tactic is seriously worthless. With extra points take Run Away! in quick shootin, more move speed is good. You can't use it while in squig armor unfortunately so remember to use it before jumping inside your squig if you are gonna need the speed.

Armor potion is a must have, the other potion is up to you. We get toughness and strength from squig armor that does not stack with potions, and ballistic from potion does not convert to strength in squig armor so not really a lot of great choices. Liniments are good if you are the type to use em, plenty of good choices. Otherwise I usually go toughness to help survive the 10 seconds you get locked out of squig armor after using AoE knockback.

Tips n Tricks. Your squig gonna die. All the time. Sometimes for no real reason at all. Get used to watching your pet's HP bar and using Tastes Like Chicken or Farty Squig the moment you know pet death is a sure thing, they both let you summon your next pet with no cast time which makes a huge difference. It can also be worth it to precast a different pet if you are safe for a moment and your armor pet is on CD so u will be able to instacast it later. We have an ability that increases pet auto attack damage, doesn't rly do much on it's own ATM but if horned squig gets stronger in the rework then using it before the giant squig M3 might be real fun. ALWAYS try to get behind your enemies for Bad Gas, it's the reason you are there and has a 20 second CD so watching it get parried/blocked (I think it's parry) is extremely painful. ATM switching to ranged spec when you get KB or in a bad spot is good advice but once we get pounce and our other toys it might not be needed in most situations, hard to tell atm. Concealment M1 is a must have, it lets you do real stupid things in front of enemy WBs and not die. Good knockbacks will make people love you, bad knockbacks will make teammates hate you, knockdown before knockback helps you aim a lot better. If not pushing enemy backlines we can do a ton of stuff to save teammates so keep an eye on your healers, even if you aren't close your pet can disarm a WH. My build is mostly about surviving in enemy backlines so you can use your utility but you can score very high on damage charts if you stay in enemy crowd and keep the aoe flowin, thou the burst really is not there without high ballistics/str and some offensive tactics. Gas squig is amazing at dismounting people and annoying groups from safety, I will probably still use it in quite a few situations even after it loses the armor buff.

That's all I can think of, hope someone finds it helpful. Would love to hear questions, criticism, or more advice from other SHs. I'll add more if I remember anything. Fly high squiggies. Fly high.

[Fallenkezef]

Do you still have ranged attacks with squig armour, like SW till has some ranged attacks in asaault

[Foomy44]

Do you still have ranged attacks with squig armour, like SW till has some ranged attacks in asaault

Nope, no arrow shooting allowed inside your squig armor, it is a pretty big difference. Even some of your stabbity melee abilities don't work in it (Stabbity, Cut Ya, and most importantly your melee interrupt Don't Hit Me). You also get locked out for 10 seconds anytime you leave the squig armor (SW is just 5 seconds) which makes stance dancing to get off a shot or 2 pretty risky. It's worth it plenty of the time now (especially to use Run Away! and catch/snare a runner, get in some damage while badly injured, or spam ranged AoE to get off Pierce Defenses procs on a zerg you aren't comfortable jumping into, plus your knockback kicks you out automatically so you don't really have a choice if you need to use it) but after rework getting locked out of squig armor for 10 seconds is gonna hurt a lot more so I don't see myself doing it as often, catching runners will be easy enough with pounce and charge.

[adamthelc]

The Melee Stabbity abilities not working in squig armor is bad design. Stabbity doesnt matter so much, because you basically get the same ability in squig armor. But the other 2 seem like a huge oversight.

[wargrimnir]

That probably means because the abilities are tied to animations, you would get some REALLY weird animations going off while in SA form. No one wants to see that.

[adamthelc]

Oh yeah I totally get that. It probably should have been designed as abilities that had themes or animations that made sense both inside and outside of squig armor.

Cut ya for example just doesnt make sense. I may be wrong, but it seems like it scales with str, which you aren't going to have outside of squig armor. So it just seems like a lackluster ability with no real place. The interrupt at least has some functionality if it doesnt scale with ballistic skill.

If I am wrong and they scale with ballistic skill instead of strength I guess they aren't as bad as I am making them out to be.

The game was released with lots of nonsense that didnt make sense like that though. Like if I remember correctly all of the WHs ranged attacks used to ballistic skill.

[Foomy44]

That probably means because the abilities are tied to animations, you would get some REALLY weird animations going off while in SA form. No one wants to see that.

Not gonna lie, finding out about /special was the day I decided to main SH, and just yesterday I discovered /warcry while in /special mode and have probably driven a few people insane spamming it at BOs. Can never have enough crazy squiggy animations

[Dankmeme]

Bigger wall of tesq than tesq

[Foomy44]

Bigger wall of tesq than tesq

Yeah, I'm going a lil crazy with anticipation for Friday so wrote this down to burn some time, It was almost 3x as long but I decided to not throw out too many specific tactics that will be outdated after the rework, and also to not theory craft too hard on builds and strategies for post-rework, I'm sure that will get it's own thread soon. At least I remember to use paragraphs this time

[charlysixb]

The Melee Stabbity abilities not working in squig armor is bad design. Stabbity doesnt matter so much, because you basically get the same ability in squig armor. But the other 2 seem like a huge oversight.

Would be fair to make those 3 melee abilities scale with ballistic instead of str? ( like spanner swipe ) Think it will fix it.
Not a proposal, just a question.