Consuming your grenade for all those previously mentioned benefits is nice, but sometimes you just need to throw a good exploding orb. We're taking Pulse Grenade here, and using it instead of consuming it for Unbreakable does the following for us:
- Jolts Targets (this also stuns Overload champs)
- Grants Volatile Rounds (Facet of Bravery)
- Procs Ashes to Assets (Increased Super energy)
- Procs Firepower (Generates an Orb)
I'm not going to relist all the benefits of picking up an orb because I just did that, just remember, it's a lot.
- Increases Grenade Recharge rate and Damage (Artifact Mod Shieldcrush)
Basically, the most important reason to throw your grenade instead of using it for Unbreakable, is if there are:
1. A lot of enemies in front of you
the jolt will clear out trash, though arguably still using Unbreakable here and starting the loop is probably more fun, if not riskier and less efficient
2. Stun Overload Champs
Combining the other ability into one section here, we're taking Shiver Strike with this build. I know, it's hard to believe we're taking anything other than Frenzied Blade, especially once you get the reasons, but let me cook.
Although it isn't listed anywhere in the ability description for some reason, Shiver Strike does actually slow targets on hit, and shatters enemies killed by the ability, resulting in a very small radius slow burst.
Why is this important? Using Shiver Strike does the following for us:
- Slow stuns Overload Champs
- Kills grant Unraveling Rounds (Stuns Barrier Champs)
- Hits grant Radiant (Increased Damage, Stuns Barrier Champs)
- Procs Facet of Devotion (Bonus Light Transcendence)
- Procs Facet of Hope (causes Barricade to charge faster)
- Deals more Damage if used with a void Overshield active (not intrinsic to this melee, but does help it feel better [This happens because of Artifact Mod Shieldcrash])
We can also use this melee to get us out of a sticky situation, much the same as Frenzied Blade, however on a significantly shorter cooldown, and with just a bit more utility in my opinion, although Frenzied Blade does sever targets hit with it, so you can achieve pretty much all the same results here if you want to swap it out, but you won't be able to stun overload champs with your melee (not that you probably really want to be doing that but it can be nice to have a solid "oh sh**" button sometimes).
Finally we'll cap off the section with the class ability. All things considered, this one can be completely left up to you. Towering Barricade can provide good coverage if you leave yourself in a bad spot, and Thruster can get you out of a bad spot and turn your Drengr's Lash into an AoE Burst, rather than a Line effect. I opted for Rally Barricade because I like the extra stats it gives, I like that it can (although admittedly probably shouldn't) be used as cover, and because it stays out of the way so that you can immediately fire down on suspended targets. I also have a hidden agenda in that I plan to use a Stoicism with Spirit of the Bear and Spirit of Alpha Lupi on it once I get one, since Lupi doesn't proc off of Thruster (bungo plz).
Casting your Barricade doesn't do anything out of the ordinary.
- Generates an Orb (Reaper)
You get all the Orb benefits obviously
- Generates Grenade Energy
- Generates Melee Energy
- Suspends Targets
I will say that the other reason to use Rally Barricade is because of Facet of Solitude. It just makes it that much easier to land precision hits, thus triggering the severing blast, which will then trigger Facet of Devotion and so on and so on. Basically I get just enough synergy out of it to justify using it over the other two options.