HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO RUN WITH SUCH THINGS IN MY FEET ! - Laura Kinney
Everyone knows here that X23 on a claws build is basically another Wolverine, and if you weren't aware of, now you are ! So i decided to test X23 on a Movements build in some CDRs. She's known for being squishy, could a movement build make her tougher then ? Plus Movement builds are cool, except on Juggernaut of course (the guy is just running, did you ever read any comics ? No ! Come back when you did).
1. X23 Best Assets
Best overall X23's asset is definitely her mobility, she's far better than Wolverine at cleaning stuff and being mobile is quite often the best way to not die (at least when one isn't shooting at you with bullets). Dancing Blades and Whirling Dervish are purely awesome, her signature makes her lethal and mobile and you can basically use it twice in a row.
Open the jugular is also a huge asset in X23's kit, 5s Knockdown is a lifesaver, it does a way better job than disembowel cause it has a huge (almost circular) area. Best way to deal with a pack of enemies in a few seconds. They'll still be knocked down when you'll be able to execute them with another Kick.
X23 has a lot of life on hit and health regen, she's definitely way better than Wolverine in this department (what the!?!), still her own uniques are lacking of Heart of the beast points, this is poor job, all passives should be buffed through uniques.
I dumped all my remaining points in there but one can definitely max it instead of maxing twirling lunge. Personally i don't have much issues with health recovery (Lab Kit helps a LOT), my main issue with X23 is that she's just being oneshot without any warning...
Special mention to Covert Assassin that could help you a lot to use "hit & run" tactics, it also helps your TU to keep the aggro. If you're targeted, disappear and wait for you TU to soak up damages instead of you. It just lacks of something more interesting damage wise, like auto-brutal on the first power you use out of stealth, something like that.
2. X23 Worst Flaws
X23's worst flaw is her lack of survivability. She only has one CC, nothing else to help her surviving. Covert Ops fails at being useful as X23 should definitely be a silent killer when Stealth is just a "flee" mechanics in this game. As i said above, her main issue is awfully scaling passives and a huge mess in her own kit (too much passives and toggles). Since Defense rework she's even worse, her defensive stats are non-existent, and max Covert Ops wouldn't help her much anyway cause her dodge rating won't scale at all. You will have to rely on itemization and mostly Omegas here.
Moving her Dodge rating to her toogle (you need to max this one anyway) and making it scaling better (around 3k dodge at 50 ranks) would really help her, she's agile and would definitely be better at dodging stuff.
Second worst asset is her lack of damages. She's not THAT bad on a movement build since she's dealing damages in moving and quite efficient at dealing area damages, but she's definitely weak for a fragile melee toon. This is a tricky worst case scenario when a toon is fragile AND weak, cause you can't loose much dps to make him/her tougher. We'll need to be cautious with her and try to make her as balanced as possible.
Capoiera isn't tagged movement, enough said.
Final worst flaw is her ressource management. I'll be clear here, i don't want to waste my time in using a basic power on a low dps toon. Everything i did with her was with one purpose in mind - Solve all of her Rage issues with enough ressource recovery and power cost reduction.
3. Presentation
A few things are useful on X23.
A cosmic Doom's medal, you want that whirling dervish to last forever. If it can help to knock down your enemies longer too, let's be it. Skrull unique medaillon of bravery would be a nice option tough, i haven't tried it yet on her.
Skrull Hammer and Claws of the sisters are useful too, her own uniques are lacking of skill points, health and rage management anyway.
I chose a Lab Kit as an artefact to make her regen a lot of rage and health, Fist of Apocalypse helps with survivability and attacks speed but one could use a Mane instead, it will buff her dps a lot since she's lacking of critical in this build. She applied bleeds quite easily so don't hesitate.
I used a River of soul enchantement for easier rage management. If you don't need it, you can try an unstoppable force instead, or even a Moon eclipse which could help with rage recovery and add extra survivability. This last one is underrated, i found it quite useful on many toons. Doop isn't mandatory in CDRs.
I use a Norn Stone legendary, weird choice but quite effective on toon who lack of skill points. This legendary isn't that bad on physical movement based characters, especially with ressource issues. Extra durability and speed are nice defensive buffs too, more health and regeneration, if you can survive the lack of critical, i think that this one is better than Excalibur on X23. Shield of Perseus is always an option but it won't solve all of X23 issues.
X23 badly needs extra health so i chose a health core, but if you can find an ARMOR core with invisibility on medkit, that would be an excellent choice i guess. I also plays with Wolverine TU for obvious reasons, but any team-up with a taunt would do the job. If it would be too easy, it wouldn't be fun. ^ ^
First CDR - AIM
Challenge: Test of Blood and Wrecking Ball
I didn't test THAT hard CDRs with X23 cause she's quite limited and dies really easily when things are becoming harsh.
Test of blood is really awesome on X23, infinite ressource is all you need. Traps are lethal so better avoid them as possible.
Wizard isn't the worst boss you can find in AIM so i guess i was lucky, anyway he insta-killed me once, i couldn't say how. X23 really lacks of damage mitigation, even with 30k health, she can still die easily if you're not cautious (or unlucky).
Second CDR - Subway Station
Challenge: Test of lightning and Wrecking ball
Test of lightning is also awesome with X23, you can basically spam her signature. Even with reduced damages, everything she does is based on CDs so enjoy.
I didn't have much issues with Mob guys, X23 is quite effective at cleaning trashes but Kingpin was a tough opponent here. TU is useless, he dies each time Kingpin is charging, Kingpin hits like a truck so staying too close is really deadly. Since X23 dots are way too weak, this fight is longer than usual. Hit & run.
Third CDR - Military base
Challenge: Wrecking ball and Traps
Traps are a pain.If you can't avoid them you're screwed.
Hydra enemies are dealing a lot of damage at range so keep them busy with your TU and keep moving. Being mobile is your best way to deal with them as plasma shots are quite slow. Quite often you'll have to deal with numerous opponents in there, but X23 is a decent cleaner, this won't be much of an issue.
Octopus...Another melee big hitter. Keep moving around but if he hits you, you're dead (again). He killed me only once though, maybe some unlucky strike, dunno.
Fourth CDR - Military base
Challenge: Test of Lightning and Test of Blood
Lightning and Blood are the two challenges you're aiming for. Both are nice if you're still having ressource issues.
Lady Deathstrike is a really tough opponent and quite lethal at close range, but if you can manage quick hit & run tactics on each of her charge, you'll be fine. Ultimate helps a lot too. ^^
Fifth CDR - Bamboo Forest
Challenge: Test of Fortitude, CC immune and Contagious
Just like Wolverine this one is really painful. No medkit prevents you from using its invulnerability core, you can't knock down enemies so... You just lost everything that makes you not dying too much. Contagious doesn't help either but since your health recovery is more than decent, don't bother much with that.
This kind of scenario takes more time, fights are really tough and ninjas are beasts at close range. You can die from only one blow, be cautious.
Mr.Hyde is a really nasty opponent, he can kill you with charges, single cane hit or any single shockwave. I just had to soak up only one wave and it means insta-death. Dangerous melee bosses are lethal so use your Ultimate on them: She'll destroy them way faster (if she survives).
X23 is quite limited by her own weaknesses, with better damages and survivability she would definitely be able to run harder CDRs but she's currently lacking of both. Still she can run CDRs, i would only avoid Test of survival, NOT dying at all isn't what she's the best at. I never test Restraint and brutality cause this is no challenge but only raw damage limitation (not much interesting gameplay wise).
Endurance is no way, obviously. ;)
Anyway, X23 has a lot of potential, especially compared to Wolverine, and she's only a 200ES toon. She's a lot of fun on a movement build, so enjoy !