Started a new topic: Tip of the Day: Acceptance of Reality

This helpful hint is How to maximize your DPS output in any type of encounter. First off the term DPS in the game of Destiny is miss used and impossible to measure on the fly without the use of Add-Ons*. Damage Optimization is a team sport and the boss only has so much health. If your damage is 8.5 Million of 16 Million then yay for you but your team needs some advice because 5 players shared that last 7.5 million collectively. Decide if your there for fun or there to win because 100% there is an optimized set of Best-in-Class subclasses for each boss encounter. Every deviation from there lessens that percentage as a base line. There is a difference between your talent making it work and you using your best option. Damage stacking is about balancing consistency, potency, and ease of activation. 1.) Let’s talk about how to optimize your damage and it starts with the make up of your fireteam regarding the types of subclasses at your disposal. Many of them on paper seem logical or helpful but then when you go through the motions, they are collectively useless and aren’t benefitting the group. In “normal” content this doesn’t matter as much but in Master level or higher content you’re only hurting your chances of success. Winning is about the success of the fireteam not about you. 2.) If you stand in proximity like in a well or platform, how likely are you to hit your teammate in the back or have enemies that get within melee range of you……don’t use explosives or don’t get mad when you blow yourself up. 3.) The second consideration is what the boss is doing when you’re engaging it and how easy and consistent your fireteam can apply damage to the critical locations. As of late, Raid Bosses are mobile and in your face the entire time with hard to hit crit spots. Divinity only provides a 15% debuff but makes hitting crit spots a no brainer. Tether can supplement that extra 15% for 12 seconds. The biggest question is; is the fireteam capable of having a net gain in damage from using tether over blade barrage or gathering storm? That will depend on fireteam size and what they are using in their kits. 4.) There are 7 different categories of buffs and debuffs. Each major category stacks with the others however not buffs within each category. They stack by Multiplying not Adding. o Ie. base damage of weapon x .3 (tractor cannon) x .47 (surrounded) x .22 (3x Surge Mods) x .25 (Well of Radiance) x .25 (Activity Surge) x crit spot multiplier= number shown 5.) Lean into the listed surge. It’s a free 25% multiplier, use it. 6.) Certain armor pieces provide damage bonuses. Ie. Boots of the Assembler, Currias of the Falling Star, Star Eaters Scales etc. 7.) Next up is what Mods and weapon perks are you using? You can fit 3 surge mods in your boots and the bonus is 10%/17%/22% for each one equipped. There are certain armor pieces that can give you a 25% increase for a time after you activate the term required by the armor piece. This takes place of the mods and does not stack with them. 8.) Lastly is looking into your weapon perks. In my opinion, it is better to consistently have your perks active versus having super situational perks that only activate with a bunch of sub steps. That’s not to say situational perks like surrounded aren’t good if you have similar copies for different encounters, and everyone lets the adds live. There is an outstanding google doc authored by a team named Court Projects that goes super into detail and shows more info than I can't simply put into effective words. They keep it up to date with the latest patch affects and I advise literally everyone go check it. Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1i1KUwgVkd8qhwYj481gkV9sZNJQCE-C3Q-dpQutPCi4/edit#gid=242217075

Todays Holiday Helpful Hints. Damage Resist and Survivability I am writing this off the cuff so forgive me if its not all inclusive. This is geared towards the solo experience, and I can promise you they are effective. I have solo flawlessed all 8 dungeons and have executed these methods in the most difficult content so 100% I know it works. It includes things from all classes and some from specific ones. Resilience: This is hands down the most important stat that you have and it should be as close to 100 as possible. *Stats work in increments of 10 so anything between the 1-9 within those increments doesn't give you extra so be mindful of that when using your mods. The chest element resist mods: As a basic loadout 1 of each is fine and as the content gets harder double the element that you find the most lethal (ie major/boss) during an activity and the other keep as the most common damage minors shoot. take out the one that is super rare or does not appear. Restoration: Solar is the subclass this keyword belongs to and it is super powerful. In most situations it will heal faster than you will take damage and is on a timer. A fragment in your subclass can effectively extend this. Healing grenades is a generic way to proc this however there are other ways too. Fire sprites and armor pieces can also produce this key word so be on the look out for those. Rifts/Barricades: To keep from being mowed down while placing these they should be used pro-actively from behind cover not re-actively out in the open so you don't die in the animation. I have seen people lose their minds because because of that. Strand:.....It speaks for itself but suspend alone is a solo player's best friend and should be used often. This is done most affectively by hunters and titans as they have aspects that specialize in that and can use it almost infinitely. If you are alone floating adds don't shoot back Armor Pieces: If you are a titan main than you have the most God like armor in the game relative to just staying alive. Precious Scars procs Resto by just shooting adds with a weapon matching your subclass similar to the hammer so now you have the total package. Hunters have Assassins Cowl but you need to get melee kills but you can use it across all sub classes and it cause invis. HUNTERS, depending on the level of the adds they will track you while your invis and walls then just kill you after then so stop relying on it. Boot Mods: Ladies and Gents, you should always be making orbs and Syphon Mods for your most used weapon should NEVER leave your helmet. Mods like Better Already and Recuperation have saved my life more times than I can count and to have orbs ying all over the place is like chunks of HP just waiting to be picked up. You will use them especially in activities like Coil when Tier 3 and 4 adds are spawning infinitely. Like I said this isn't all inclusive so if you have your own methods by all means use if it works. I was just thinking about it and wanted to jot it down for ya. If you have any questions, please let me know and always thanks for reading and hope to catch you online.

This helpful hint is my inventory management recommendations The first step is deleting exotic weapons you rarely or never use. Other than 2 you can pull them from collections. Secondly, most if not all weapons are not that special! You don't need a billion copies of the same thing. Pick a couple that are different enough while also having perks that work cohesively. The game recreates better versions of the same -blam!- with better perks and perk pools every season. Its not a puppy or a thing you had since you were 12.....put your mouse over it and hold F. When it comes to armor a 67 role with flat stats is NOT good. The number listed with the combine stat points is meaningless. It's a distraction that makes you feel you got something meaningful. If you want an easy way to your guardian stats with a 100 in multiple places WITHOUT using fragments is to do the following. 1) Only keep armor that has at least 18 stat points in multiple columns without mods or masterwork regardless of the total number. *This also applies to exotics unless its your only one. 2) Let DIM build your loadouts. Your never gonna be able to optimize your kit when you have millions of possible combinations. 3) Just because you want it to be useful doesn't mean it is. Don't be a hoarder and delete it. *Just remember if you keep a few nice things you're a collector, if you keep a few garbage things you're a hoarder........

This Helpful Hint is focused on build crafting and ultimately how to go from idea to final form. You may ask where do I start? The first step is to pick a major role you would like play in the combat spectrum and more specifically how you want to accomplish that. There are alot of ways of doing the same thing however some are more effective than others. Next, go into your exotic armor collections and see which ones you have and then read what they do and the task to figure out whether or not you like their ease of use. This way you don't jump through a ton of hoops only to find out you don't like the gameplay loop. Once you decide, use sites like Destiny Item Manager or D2armorpicker to optimize your armor to get your stats focused into where you need them. After use stat mods to maximize those must have stats for the icing on the cake. Then use armor charge and other like mods. Do a thing and get X energy back. If your cool downs are 1 min + then getting even 50% back cuts 30+ secs. I also like the font mods with stacks on stacks and time dilation. Each armor charge adds +30/50/70 stat points for 15 secs. The stacks on stacks give 2 armor charge per orb and with new orb system they are never in short supply. Don't sweat it if your needed stat can't get 100 because the Font mods have your back to supplement the difference. Then on to your guns, What are you the most consistent with. If your not the best with the ideal then you won't be as effective as you would be if you just use what your good with. Eff the meta and use what you slay with. Lastly, onto your subclass. Pick the fragments that further dig harder into that idea you wanted to see. Don't worry about stat loss or gains just drive head first into the power fantasy. At the end you can move some mods and round out that piece. Lastly, load into the hardest place you can to see how it performs. Normal strikes make garbage look like gold. Build crafting is now a fundamental aspect of the game and the devs are building the encounters with the assumption that you’re doing these things. That’s why adds seemed over tuned even in normal content. These build crafting steps apply to all types of players not just the “Elite”. If you don't know how to use Destiny Item Manager I'll be happy to walk you through it.

Thanks man.