Holosmith - No Kit DPS build is SO soft!

So I LOVE the concept of the Holosmith. The whole "Green Lantern" vibe makes this class probably the most impressive & unique since the Chronomancer. So much so, that it's even gotten me to dust off my account's very first 80 that I wound up bailing on even before HoT.

I'm using the build on metabattle called "No Kit Power DPS" (which I'll link below), but I'm having a rough go of it, mostly due to the fact that I'm getting downed in almost every fight. I have the rotation down perfectly, and can do some monstrous damage, but just keeping myself up longer than 10 seconds is just a bridge too far it seems. As opposed to my Deadeye or Reaper, where I have some sort of passive sustain - Signet of Malice / Blood Traitline - I'm finding that Heat Therapy doesn't kick in soon enough to save my ass. And using the Photonic Blasting Module Trait, I actually have to Overheat to get it to fire up, which means I have to be attacking, which means I have to be in melee range, which then means I take a brick to the face and knocked out.

I'm thinking of running Marauder's Gear. Getting an extra few thousand HP should HOPEFULLY help. As that's what I run on my Reaper.

Any suggestions from you guys? With the amount of sustain my Reaper runs, maybe I'm spoiled...

Build Link: https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Holosmith_-_No_Kit_Power_DPS

Are you running this in fractals/raids, or open world? And are you running it with a healer?

There's a few problems with trying this build in open world or without a healer:

• It has fewer CC's than the rifle kit build. There are significantly more chances for the enemy to hit you, which means you will be going down more often. The kit version has 2 extra CC's -- Big ol' bomb and Rifle #4. Rifle 4 gives you distance, and big ol' bomb is great for when you expect enemies to spawn or clump nearby.
• It has none of the active defenses that the rifle kit build has. Smoke bomb (bomb kit #4) provides some major defense against large numbers of mobs. Rifle #5 gives you a leap and the ability to leap far away from enemies if they're heckling you. Both bomb kit and grenade kit feature AoE cripple/chills.
• It doesn't take advantage of healing turret's synergy with photon forge. When photon forge is used in conjunction with the water field of healing turret (and its toolbelt), you can heal yourself and allies significantly more than any other zerk class would. If I'm low on health, I'll typically lay down HT, engage photon forge, holographic hammer, holo leap, and then detonate the turret. That's two blasts and a leap on a water field, plus the initial heal and overcharge from the turret -- which usually amounts to nearly 10k health total for me, about 4-5k health for the team.

If you feel you understand what you're doing enough, you should try the version with kits, just change out the heal for HT.

@"Vagrant.7206" said:Are you running this in fractals/raids, or open world? And are you running it with a healer?

There's a few problems with trying this build in open world or without a healer:

• It has fewer CC's than the rifle kit build. There are significantly more chances for the enemy to hit you, which means you will be going down more often. The kit version has 2 extra CC's -- Big ol' bomb and Rifle #4. Rifle 4 gives you distance, and big ol' bomb is great for when you expect enemies to spawn or clump nearby.
• It has none of the active defenses that the rifle kit build has. Smoke bomb (bomb kit #4) provides some major defense against large numbers of mobs. Rifle #5 gives you a leap and the ability to leap far away from enemies if they're heckling you. Both bomb kit and grenade kit feature AoE cripple/chills.
• It doesn't take advantage of healing turret's synergy with photon forge. When photon forge is used in conjunction with the water field of healing turret (and its toolbelt), you can heal yourself and allies significantly more than any other zerk class would. If I'm low on health, I'll typically lay down HT, engage photon forge, holographic hammer, holo leap, and then detonate the turret. That's two blasts and a leap on a water field, plus the initial heal and overcharge from the turret -- which usually amounts to nearly 10k health total for me, about 4-5k health for the team.

If you feel you understand what you're doing enough, you should try the version with kits, just change out the heal for HT.

Running it in Fractals mostly. Open World isn't a problem.

I'll try the Healing Turret combo. Sounds like that may be a good idea.

Thanks!

EDIT: Took your advice, ran the HT through T4 Fractals, and there is a VERY noticeable change in my survival! Thanks again!

Do u use the healing totem toolbelt+projectile finisher for regeneration too? Holo really has no big issues surviving and for fractals i like no kit over the raid build.

I concour, Holosmith feels so unique and creative, when I first used the photom forge I just hyped myself, it's so awesome the way you use different holographic weapons, feels so badas.

About your survival, yes, Holosmith feels very very squishy compared to heavy armor users. If youre struggling you should consider using things like Hard Light Arena for the damage reduction.You will get used on the class eventually, just care about aggro and learn how to drop it, usually its good to use Holographic Shockwave then fall back, remember your auto attack range on photon forge is really long, so use it at max distance to keep yourself off on getting aggroed. Dodge its your best deffensive move, you have poor endurance so use your dodges wisely.

I always go with healing turret, regardless of what the meta says. While it's doing it's cleansing burst, you can leap through it for more healing. Same thing with the toolbelt. Using photon forge 2 when pressing the HT toolbelt.

@Faction.4013 said:

@"Vagrant.7206" said:Are you running this in fractals/raids, or open world? And are you running it with a healer?

There's a few problems with trying this build in open world or without a healer:

• It has fewer CC's than the rifle kit build. There are significantly more chances for the enemy to hit you, which means you will be going down more often. The kit version has 2 extra CC's -- Big ol' bomb and Rifle #4. Rifle 4 gives you distance, and big ol' bomb is great for when you expect enemies to spawn or clump nearby.
• It has none of the active defenses that the rifle kit build has. Smoke bomb (bomb kit #4) provides some major defense against large numbers of mobs. Rifle #5 gives you a leap and the ability to leap far away from enemies if they're heckling you. Both bomb kit and grenade kit feature AoE cripple/chills.
• It doesn't take advantage of healing turret's synergy with photon forge. When photon forge is used in conjunction with the water field of healing turret (and its toolbelt), you can heal yourself and allies significantly more than any other zerk class would. If I'm low on health, I'll typically lay down HT, engage photon forge, holographic hammer, holo leap, and then detonate the turret. That's two blasts and a leap on a water field, plus the initial heal and overcharge from the turret -- which usually amounts to nearly 10k health total for me, about 4-5k health for the team.

If you feel you understand what you're doing enough, you should try

the version with kits

, just change out the heal for HT.

Great to hear! There's a big reason why so many engineers elect to use HT no matter what's meta, and those water fields are one of the big reasons.

@"Wolfb.7025" said:I concour, Holosmith feels so unique and creative, when I first used the photom forge I just hyped myself, it's so awesome the way you use different holographic weapons, feels so badas.

About your survival, yes, Holosmith feels very very squishy compared to heavy armor users. If youre struggling you should consider using things like Hard Light Arena for the damage reduction.You will get used on the class eventually, just care about aggro and learn how to drop it, usually its good to use Holographic Shockwave then fall back, remember your auto attack range on photon forge is really long, so use it at max distance to keep yourself off on getting aggroed. Dodge its your best deffensive move, you have poor endurance so use your dodges wisely.

I agree on all points! When I first read about it, I said to myself "Looks like another 2 years on the shelf for my Engineer" - I could not be more uninterested - I was looking through Sword skins one day, and noticed the Holosmith gets a LIGHTSABER as a class weapon just for starting the Training. I ran to get one set of HPs to get the weapon just for the skin, decided to give the class mechanic a try and was "OMFG" the entire time. I couldn't put it down.

@archmagus.7249 said:I always go with healing turret, regardless of what the meta says. While it's doing it's cleansing burst, you can leap through it for more healing. Same thing with the toolbelt. Using photon forge 2 when pressing the HT toolbelt.

Agreed, now I know better. As Vagrant said, the synergy is just too good to pass up.

The answer is Healing Turret + finishers. You've got 2 water fields and 8558239058023 finishers to use them. Don't ever EVER use that crappy Holo heal.

@Xyonon.3987 said:The answer is Healing Turret + finishers. You've got 2 water fields and 8558239058023 finishers to use them. Don't ever EVER use that crappy Holo heal.

Its not crappy, it heals a little less, almost the same if you count the heal if you use it over 50 heat, HT provides with 2 condi cleanses, but the strong part of Coolant Blast its that it has up to 6 condi cleanses in the toolbelt skill Cauterize, meaning that you wont waste your cleanse capability when you need to heal yourself, saving the cleanse for later.

@Wolfb.7025 said:

@Xyonon.3987 said:The answer is Healing Turret + finishers. You've got 2 water fields and 8558239058023 finishers to use them. Don't ever EVER use that crappy Holo heal.

Not if you use your finishers in the water fields you have. And that's exactly why I suggest to not touch the Holo heal. If you want an easy to use heal skill, even Medkit would prolly be better, still one water field and more condi cleanse etc. There's just no place where the Holo heal would be bis.

@Wolfb.7025 said:

@Xyonon.3987 said:The answer is Healing Turret + finishers. You've got 2 water fields and 8558239058023 finishers to use them. Don't ever EVER use that crappy Holo heal.

and yet burn yourself for the honour. Up to 6 stacks for 3 seconds o_O

As others have mentioned, healing turret is greater than the sum of it's parts. being able to holo leap or shockwave in the f1 as well as the main water field, which doesn't really need to be detonated with other finishers available I.E. pick it up to keep it on a SCIENTIFICALLY HOOFING 15sec cd ;P

@Wolfb.7025 said:

@Xyonon.3987 said:The answer is Healing Turret + finishers. You've got 2 water fields and 8558239058023 finishers to use them. Don't ever EVER use that crappy Holo heal.

Cauterize gives you burning regardless of the conditions removed. You could end up killing yourself if you're low on health and you cauterize weakness vulnerability and cripple. That's why you pick up the HT if you need condition cleanse.

Best advice is to avoid damage in the first place which will come with more practice. Time your dodges, stay out of red circles, and save your heal skill for when you need it. I run this build in CMs and T4s and don’t have any issues. It also helps tremendously to get 5 stacks of defensive and mobility potions as they will reduce damage taken and provide more endurance regen respectively. Additionally, they give toughness and boon duration based on your agony resistance. Hope this helps. Good luck.