Guide to Buff Selection in PvE/PvP

One of the articles on my list of things to write about was regarding buff choices in both PvE and PvP.  Because buffs are invaluable in compensating for gear/build weaknesses and decreasing dungeon/arena clear times, I thought that newer players could use a guide on selecting the appropriate buffs for any of the wargames you choose to play.

**PvE:**

**Brothers of Fire**

*Must-have buff:* Elite Damage

*Secondary buff choice:* Base Damage (first choice), Critical Damage (second choice)

Because there is not really the option to spawn camp to capture a whole lot of backshot damage in this dungeon and there are a whole lot of trash mobs, it makes the most sense to grab both of the damage buffs.  However, if you simply want to prioritize your buffs for the boss fight at the end of the dungeon, the elite damage and critical damage buffs are best, especially if you can be the one to shoot one of the brothers in the back.

**Voltaic Fist**

*Must-have buff:* Critical Damage

*Secondary buff choice:* Base Damage (first choice), Elite Damage (second choice)

Because Regis is not impacted by elite damage and only takes damage to his back, the base damage and critical damage buff is the winning combo for this dungeon.  If you want to instead equalize the large fight in the code room where there are many elites, grab the elite damage buff instead of the base damage buff, but still keep the critical damage buff so that your damage to Regis is still boosted.

**Blade Dancer**

*Must-have buff*: Elite Damage

*Secondary buff choice*: Critical Damage (first choice), Base Damage (second choice)

It's best to maximize your back damage to the Blade Dancer here to bring him down as quickly as possible, so if you're prioritizing the boss fight, go for the elite damage and critical damage buff combo.  Alternatively, because there are a lot of enemies to kill in this dungeon without really having the option to spawn camp to get a lot of backshot damage, grabbing the base damage and elite damage combo is also a perfectly acceptable choice.  This is also the preferred choice for the team member who is going to pull aggro on the Blade Dancer and walk him back and forth from door to door so your teammates can shoot him in the back.

**Arena Bronze**

*Must-have buff*: Critical Damage

*Secondary buff choice*: Elite Damage (first choice), Base Damage (second choice)

For Arenas, knowing the spawn points so that you can get a lot of damage from shooting enemies in the back will really lead to the fastest clear times.  Because of that, the critical damage buff is of primary importance in arenas.  I personally prefer to use the Elite damage buff over the Base damage buff so that I can burn down the tougher enemies faster while the trash mobs don't need that much of an additional boost to kill if you have a decent weapon with decent perks.  It would also be perfectly acceptable to go for Elite Damage and Base Damage in Arena Bronze since there is a large amount of trash mob enemies.

**Arena Silver**

*Must-have buff*: Critical Damage

*Secondary buff choice*: Elite Damage (first choice), Base Damage (second choice)

I know the spawn points of Arena Silver very well, and always like to set up camp at the elite enemy spawn points, so I never depart from using the Elite Damage and Critical Damage buffs here.  The boost to backshot damage is just invaluable.  You could go for the Base Damage/Critical Damage buff combo if you're going to be the one focusing on burning down Regis.  It would also be perfectly acceptable to go for Elite Damage and Base Damage if you are the flex player in the Arena that moves around a lot to help your teammates and aren't really spawn camping for backshots.

**Hive Mind**

*Must-have buff*: Base Damage

*Secondary buff choice*: Critical Damage (first choice), Elite Damage (second choice)

Because those damn blinkers are the biggest threat in this dungeon, the base damage buff is really a must.  Furthermore, because the Hive Mind is not impacted by Elite damage or Critical Damage, this makes an even better case for the base damage buff being a must have.  As for the second buff you grab, I like to grab the critical damage buff to boost my headshots against the blinkers and my backshot damage against the chargers that jump down from the ledge in the room after the first hive cluster.  The Elite Damage buff is also fine to choose for dealing with the chargers and the Hellstorms.

**Arena Gold**

*Must-have buff*: Elite Damage

*Secondary buff choice*: Critical Damage (first choice), Base Damage (second choice)

The key to getting through Gold is burning through the Elites as quickly as possible, so the Elite Damage buff is absolutely essential here.  If you know the spawn points and can be the one to shoot the Blade Dancers in the back, the Critical Damage buff is highly valuable, and it's the one I always choose.  If you are the one that pulls aggro on the Elites, go ahead and grab the Base Damage buff as your secondary buff. If you have incredible gear and are also running a build with 0 points in survival here, you could grab the projectile resistance buff instead of crit or base damage if you wanted to have a little more consistency in your runs.

**PvP**:

The projectile resistance buff should ALWAYS be one of the buffs you choose for PvP because it acts as the equivalent of about 24 extra HP from a time to kill perspective.  As for the second buff you choose, I would look at it through the lens of your build setup and what you want to tweak.  Below, I've discussed the considerations specific to the 4 PvP builds that I recommend for use in PvP.  The math I've done is all based on Faraday usage because that is the meta weapon for PvP.

*9A-3C-8S & 9A-9C-2S*

As most people in PvP run with a 12A-0C-8S build, in order to compensate for not having the critical damage skill, I recommend grabbing the Critical Damage buff to boost your crit damage by 3 points, though if you aren't confident in landing many headshots, go ahead and grab the base damage buff to boost your bodyshot damage by around 1 point and your crit damage by about 1.5 points.  When comparing a 9A-3C-8S build with the crit damage buff and a 12A-0C-8S build with the damage buff, the hit values are on average about 1 point lower across the board with the 9A-3C-8S build, but you do get 18% higher accuracy with that build choice.  This 1 point difference only makes a time to kill difference if only hitting with bodyshots.  On a different note, you should also think about your play style and weapon choice.  I myself am not a strong close range player and like to change things up by using Gridlock and stay in the midrange to give those pesky Faraday users some trouble.  Because there is an inherent base damage difference between Gridlock and Faraday, I like to equalize that by grabbing the damage buff.  This also is preferable because it is more difficult to hit headshots from longer range, so prioritizing bodyshot damage makes more sense in this case.

*12A-0C-8S & 13A-3C-4S*

Because the critical damage skill already boosts critical damage by 15%, you could be content with your crit damage and go for the additional 1 point of bodyshot damage and 1.7 additional crit damage for more consistently high damage output.  If you are confident in hitting your headshots, you could decide to maximize your critical damage even further (by about 3 points) with the critical damage boost.  Finally, while certainly not a popular option, you can specifically compensate for the 12A-0C-8S build not having the marksman skill by grabbing the accuracy buff if you find yourself not hitting your shots consistently with this particular build.  When comparing a 12A-0C-8S build with the accuracy buff vs a 9A-3C-8S build with the critical damage buff, the difference in critical damage is only about 1.5 points lower with the 12A-0C-8S build in this case, which doesn't really have an impact on time to kill.  The name of the game here is to experiment to see how well you perform with each different buff.  Similar to my previous comments, think about your play style (close range vs. mid range) and weapon choice when selecting your buff.