11 replies to this topic

[Silv3rstr3ak]

I'm looking for advice on keeper builds, was thinking of going Barrier, Fade Step and possibly Disruption Field for my actives and focusing primarily on barrier improving passives. Are there other actives I'm missing the value of? I know I should take 4, not sure if I'm on the right path. Also wondering about the value of Mana Surge, Dispel and upgrade, as well as Energy Barrage and upgrade. Any tips or advice for higher difficulty viable builds would be greatly appreciated.

[Naitaka]

Chain Lightning, Static Cage, Barrier, Disruption Field. Taking Fade Step instead of CL if you have another person on your team that can apply shock. Your job is pretty much Barrier spam, Static Cage on choke point and Disruption Field on boss when your melee goes in to dps the boss. Keeper's a pretty versatile class so there're probably a lot of builds available but the one I mentioned above is what I found most useful in Perilous.

[veramis]

Agree with above. I get all barrier passives except reinforced barrier because I'm not sure how good the 10% damage reduction buff is. Then in primal spirit tree I get all the passives down to gathering storm. In threatening pugs, veilstrike may be a decent alternative to static cage. Much lower mana cost so is less likely to interfere with barrier spam and if you get smothering veil you can apply nice damage reduction to enemies with it.

[Hiero_Glyph]

Barrier is a given but be wary of using Knight-Protector to reduce the decay rate as you may want to increase the chance of getting Elegant Defense to proc.  I have found that casting Barrier when needed, as opposed to trying to keep it active at all times is vastly superior.  Also, Disruption Field is far too situational and Energy Barrage can disable single targets much better.  For groups Static/Lightning Cage can be great but it has a long cooldown forcing it to be used only once per encounter.  Chain Lightning can be used several times (4x as often) and deals good damage along with providing status effects that can be detonated.  Chain Lighting also procs Clean Burn far more often which is great for your other skills.

 

For me, I'm currently using Barrier, Chain Lightning, Fade Step and Energy Barrage and I am not having any regrets.  If you want more control then just drop Fade Step and pick up Static/Lightning Cage instead.  Dispel is far too situational to be of much use; in most cases casting Barrier will do more for your team than using Dispel.  As for Mana Surge, it is nice if you have the available skill point but Guardian Spirit is far more valuable.

 

EDIT:  Try not to fall victim to the Barrier spam tactic.  While effective to a limited degree it is better to eliminate the threat quickly instead of trying to endure it.  Also, understanding who to Barrier and when they need the protection is critical.  Simply spamming it means that it will decay and leave them with a  weakened Barrier when they should have a full one.

[JoshRainf]

im going to give this disruption field a go later on i think. it seems to be quite useful especially for the boss stage. 

[veramis]

Disruption field is very useful for keeper, you should be slapped if you don't have it on her. Barrier spam and knight-protector are just fine, you very often have quite some barriers still up when your barrier is off cooldown if you are using winter stillness or the 0.5 cooldown reduction per basic attack. Energy barrage is very weak.

[andy_3_913]

Ok, I have to ask.....I'm a bit confused with barrier.
Do I cast it at a target, at an area, myself, what?

Hopefully I'm having a case of can't see the wood for the trees.
I'm not normally this thick

[Robbiesan]

@andy

Cast barrier on yourself and/or teammates for protection. It's similar to a warriors guard feature. Simply put it's an energy shield providing a layer of protection, and once it's gone player with take damage to health.

Keep in mind that barrier starts depleting right away even if not taking damage, so cast it situationally (as need be).

[Beerfish]

Ok, I have to ask.....I'm a bit confused with barrier.
Do I cast it at a target, at an area, myself, what?

Hopefully I'm having a case of can't see the wood for the trees.
I'm not normally this thick

If you are very very lucky the team will recognize the value of barrier and stay close enough together for you to barrier multiple targets.  I try and keep it cast on the front line fighters but use it on myself and archers if the spawn is big.  In a lot of cases you will not be lucky and the melees guys will be running at top speed away from you making it very tough to keep barriers up.

 

One ability I find very handy is 'Veil strike'  where you summon a giant hand to pound down ion an area of effect.

[andy_3_913]

Thanks for clearing that up for me

(Another confession: It took me quite a few games to realise I should let go of RMB before I cast it. D'oh)

[veramis]

RMB can be held down and still let you point AoE's. I have autohotkey running with RMB-hold macro running all the time while playing my keeper. http://forum.bioware...t-for-pc-users/

 

I try to run with the melees and keep on barrier'ing them unless enemies are going for the ranged teammates. This lets you use disruption field often since that power can only be cast around the keeper. Because upgraded barrier can absorb so much damage, a decent strategy in pug threatening is to have the entire team at the front together so that the barrier can be on everyone. Don't stick together vs enemies like behemoth or demon commander though.

[themageguy]

You know one of the impressive things about DAMP? The original 3 characters aren't too outclassed in their roles by other characters.

Keeper and Legionnaire are very solid options for their roles, and the Keeper can be versatile yet still remain a great character to use.