I understand that Phaseslam is probably her hardest Action Skill to use, and unfortunately people consider it to be trash (which I heavily disagree with). This is due to two things at play here.
Her other action skills hit harder. Even with Jab Cross and Do Harm, her other action skills like Phasecast does more damage, especially in the takedowns. While I don’t find this to be a huge issue, as it has good synergies with her other augments that make it worthwhile (and it does great damage outside of the raids with enough points in jab cross), I can definitely see the argument that it should receive more damage. Perhaps getting melee bonuses like Phaseflare does would be beneficial.
It has no invincibility frames, and this puts off a lot of people. You can get shot down while doing the animation, and it can lead to you getting into FFYL very quickly. This can happen most often if you are fighting enemies with weapons that have high rates of fire. You can also get killed while slamming into barrels, and that can be annoying as well. It’s why I find that it requires the sustainment skill to use properly, and after playing with it for a while, I’m kind of polarized on this issue. This is because I found that the lack of i-frames required me to play a bit smart than I anticipated (ie. Don’t phaseslam near barrels, have a good way to sustain before Phaseslam, know what you can hit with your action skill and what you can’t, etc) and it felt very rewarding to clear slaughter shaft with very little issues because of this. On one hand, it would be easier to use, no doubt. On the other hand, I think it’ll make Phaseslam a little too easy to use in regular mobbing scenarios, and kinda takes away the high risk-high reward nature of it.
What do you guys think? Am I alone in this? And should I make a guide on how to use Phaseslam endgame for those that want to use it, but have trouble doing so? I’d like to hear your guys thoughts.
TL/DR: Phaseslam could use a damage buff to an extent, but I’m not too hot on the idea i-frames due to to it interfering with the high-risk, high reward playstyle that i find it thrives in. Will probably make a guide on how to Phaseslam.
Do it! Any guide and insights are valuable to new players or vets as well.
Though I disagree on the too easy part: what other action skill is high risk/high reward style? Maybe Buzz Axe Rampage but not even that, really, with correct skill point allocation.
AS are supposed to help the player not to put them at risk. But that’s maybe just my take on them.
I believe phaseslam needs a damage boost too. It also needs a dedicated LCOM, which to my knowledge, it doesn’t have one atm. As well as triggering stuff like spark plug, launch pad, to name a few.
Will do! I’m always down to help out the community figure out how to play or use certain things. And I understand what you mean. I use Krieg myself and Buzz Axe Rampage shreds in the right hands. However, I do have to state that the melee set up is by no means safe, even with great skill point allocation and gear. Melee Krieg will always run the risk of downing him self by not only tanking enemy shots, but also by himself due to how StV works. I also think that Zero’s Deception is also high risk-high reward, as with both guns and melee, one wrong move can result in instant FFYL. That being said, I do feel that with no I-frames on Phaseslam, it puts Amara into that same category, and has you strategize on when to Phaseslam while being able to have it available at the appropriate time. It’s kinda like a balancing act tbh. While I myself find this rewarding, I am not opposed to the idea of it having I-Frames, just a bit indifferent if that makes sense.It was just something that I found rewarding when making my melee build around it. If it ever does get those frames, it would definitely make Phaseslam more approachable.
Huh. Funny enough, I use slam artifacts while using Phaseslam (particularly spark-plug in conjunction with sustainment) to keep myself alive. Also to note that slams procc Jab Cross, so good synergies between slams already. I also use either a Muse or a Golden Rule for some extra cooldown depending on my set up (Golden Rule+Pestilence is just broken af). If there was a com that let you procc slam artifacts on phaseslam, that would be dope as hell.
narfkeks
(May this forum rest in peace - Davin Dittrich)
#6
I always found that Amara’s Phaseslam and Phasecast were too weak on damage, even during normal mode. So I would agree that a general base damage increase would help those action skills, especially now with the Phaseflare thrown into the mix.
I don’t know about I-frames for Phaseslam as I always use it to evade attacks in the first place. But more outgoing damage would also mean less incoming damage as things would die easier, so that would somewhat help that. Also, lower cooldowns would be great and needed.
Phasecast is fine in general, but being able to use it even more frequently would help the flow of their playstyle and would be a more indirect buff to their damage. A lighter buff to the base damage would still be appreciated.
My suggestion would be this: Phaseslam skills:
Cooldowns reduced by 20%
Base damage increased by 50%
Phasecast skills:
Cooldowns reduced by 25%
Base damage increased by 15%
The idea is to reward the inconvenience of Phaseslam with high damage output and at the same time embrace the convenience of Phasecast with even more frequent usability.
A big problem with Phaseslam is that it has terrible access to anointments compared to Phasecast. The 2 best anoints for buffing action skill damage are URad and Splash. With no i-frames, using URad with Phaseslam is a death sentence. For splash, you’d either need to use avatar to use the skill back to back with only the second activation getting the boosted damage, or use Golden Rule and focus on self damage for cool down. And both of those options for a skill whose damage will often be worse than phasecast, and whose utility is outdone in melee builds by TTB and even Eternal fist to a lesser extent now.
I feel in a similar way for i-frames. Destroying barrels beforehand and making sure you have some sustain while enemies aren’t straight aiming for you (i find throwing a grenade helps with this) while you slam allows for some decent phaseslam (especially with a 300/90 zhev’s eruption). That being said, that’s a great suggestion for the damage and cooldown for both skills. Extra damage and less cooldown for both would work out really well.
Splash damage anoints would be great to have actually, as i use 300/90 on my zhev’s eruption right before and after i slam for max damage. Less cooldown would make fair better in a fight. Does the eruption roll in splash? If so, that would be great to have and would make phaseslam damage a whole lot better.
Pair it with an ASS Frozen Heart for protection, life steal and powerful melee after.
Boost it through splash damage (COM/artifact, Arms Deal, Heavy Rain, Unweave the Rainbow), elemental damage (Tempest) and Action Skill Damage (COM, Jab Cross, Do Harm).
Equip a 300/90 weapon, preferably the Psycho Stabber if doing a melee build. Or Facepuncher, if you’re that way inclined.
ASS Frozen Heart allows you to use Topped Off for fast regen.
Also get regen from COM, artifact, Restless and Expedite.
Frozen Heart nova is also boosted by splash, 300/90 and Mayhem scaling so that becomes extremely powerful.
I wouldn’t turn down buffs, but when you build around Phaseslam it really can be good. I just wouldn’t take it up against the Guardian Takedown crystals since staying in place doesn’t work for this build. If they keep this week’s change, however, Phaseslam builds will be able to take on the Guardian Takedown.
I’m using Phaseslam in my melee build so Psychostabber with 300/90 is always in my hand. I would like to see Amara with invincibility during the animation of Phaseslam, cause there is nothing more annoying than going down right after the jump.
Barrels are deadly, and they will always down you when slam near them, but thats fine, cause it’s on the player side.
I think Phaseslam damage is good now in mobbing, but I’m using splash on com, artifact and skills, plus AS dmg on COM and 300/90 bonus. Adding melee bonuses would be overkill.
Does melee effect Slam? I thought it was only effected by splash, action skill damage and elemental damage.
narfkeks
(May this forum rest in peace - Davin Dittrich)
#16
I know that we can build around both Slam and Cast, but I think that they don’t really feel good until one does so. And at least on normal mode both Phaseslam and Phasecast should feel strong. And they just don’t. They barely one shot mobs and absolutely don’t one shot badasses. At least make it so that regular mobs are guaranteed to be one shot if hit by a Phasecast or Phaseslam (let’s say while using Shock on Flesh even). Endgame scales steep enough that it wouldn’t break the game in endgame anyway.
That sounds powerful, even for guardian takedown! Do you use glamour at all? If not, then i really suggest you should, as it’s severely underrated. It turns anyone that gets hit by it into your ally, making the guardians unable to interrupt the charging of whatever crystal you are working on. Gearbox actually fixed that skill awhile ago, so now you can damage and kill the enemies that are affected by glamour, and so guardian takedown, even without the event, is possible with this set up i believe. I’d also suggest using a static charge and a Facepuncher for that part still, as you technically don’t want them on your crystal lol.
I find it does pretty well for mobbing as well. It only loses very noticeable damage whether you are playing on the 4-player scaling takedowns or you didn’t match elements (Fire slam on armor, Cryo on shieldsc etc). I’m still down for either buff, however. Cuz i-frames would def be nice, and it’s pretty wild on how Phaseflare gets melee buffs on hit as well.
I mean, that’s usually how it is for a lot of action skills, not just Amara (unless you are moze, in which iron Bear is OP). Rakks and pets don’t do much for FL4K unless you spec for them at the cost of damage, and Zane’s clone can only really be used for utility it’s purposes unless you full spec into red tree. And so I don’t know about not being able to one shot badasses, as I’m able to do slaughter shaft on TVHM (Mayhem 11) just fine. Do you mind if I ask how you set up your Phasecast build (or Phaseslam)?
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narfkeks
(May this forum rest in peace - Davin Dittrich)
#21
I obviously don’t mind, but currently I have no build centered around Phasecast or Phaseslam. But I know what is possible. But that requires gear specific enough that most people just wouldn’t even try to go for those builds. Without any major grind and just running a regular Avatar build with a bit of splash and action skill damage thrown in both do alright on their own on M11. But that’s already a tough ask for like 90% of the player base. But we’re talking about Mayhem 10/11 so that’s alright.
But just to elaborate on the “feeling powerful” thing in normal mode. Fl4k has multiple charges and can - on average - fire 1.5 Rakk Attack per 1 use of Amara’s base Slam and Cast skills. That is more than enough to kill any basic mob and even some unshielded Badasses. And due to the shorter Cooldowns Rakk Attack can be used to grant short bursts to finish off enemies. The desired applications are different. Moze is Moze, no comparison needed. Iron Bear is straight up broken all around throughout all difficulty modes. Zane has the utility of multiple action skills active at a time and if you look up what they do on normal mode, they can put in a lot of work, the Clone starts as a mere distraction, but with the capstone becomes basically Zane 2.0 with many weapons. The Drone is mediocre first, but the Rocket Pods do a lot for the basic damage output and it’s beam augments can do very well against groups of enemies.
It’s generally hard to compare skills with an uptime against those with charges of singular actions.
But that’s also why I don’t think that Amara’s Slam and Cast need massive buffs (relative to Borderlands 3 standards that is). Phaseslam could use more love as it’s a way riskier move and even if you use it defensively, which in turn will just lower it’s damage even further. I want the risk to be worth it, because it really is not unless you run some specific setups.