Theory Crafting: STR Nightsisters in P3 and P4

Theory Crafting: STR Nightsisters in P3 and P4
by Jupitus, EHL Officer


Are you also far from having she who shall not be mentioned? (Ahem, JTR) Tired of hitting like a wet noodle in the STR? Well, CRY NO MORE. Invite the Nightsisters to join you and rain down punishment of Biblical proportions on Traya and Nihilus. These F2P girls can do more damage than she who shall not be mentioned.

Which is as much to say, NS can more than rival JTR damage in the STR. Yet not all of us have JTR within reach. Although JTR is a gear check for the HSTR, we won't be able to do the entire raid with only her squad. That's where NS steps in. They can do silly damage in P3 and P4. On top of that, they are brilliant in TWs and TBs. As we saw in our last TW, in fact, facing a wall of NS is about as much fun as counting road signs on the highway.

Depending on what you want to use your NS for, you have to farm, mod, and gear them differently. So, take into account which phase you usually get to play in the STR. For me, it makes no sense to make a P2 squad, since P2 is always cleared while I'm sleeping.

STR P3: Deathstorm

Squad: MT (L), AV, Daka, Zombie, Initiate

Zetas: MT (Great Mother), AV (Rampage), Daka (Serve Again, optional)

Gear: Zombie G10 minimum. AV and Daka as high as possible. Initiate and MT can benefit from being geared lower.

Mods:
1. AV (Speed is king. Use a CD set + CD triangle)
2. Zombie and Daka (HP and Speed, unless you are at G12. Gear 12 Zombie can do damage)

YouTubers like Skelturix, Bulldog, and Metaverse have all their NS geared to G12. DO NOT COPY THAT. Those guys are running HSTR, which means that the Sith hit a lot harder. Because we are at T5, soon to be T6, you won't be able to kill MT and Initiate fast enough if they are well geared. Since you need MT and Initiate to die as quickly as possible, it's a good idea to have them undergeared, in other words. I do it by removing mods from my MT, and I use either a G1 Initiate, or Spirit.

Strategy:

Get MT and Initiate to die as quickly as possible. On a good run, I can get them to die by round 11-12. Because of MT's zeta, every time you do a basic attack with Daka, Zombie, or AV, MT or Initiate resurrects. They subsequently assist in the attack, then instantly die again. This stack 15% Offense, 15% CD, and 5% HP to AV for each attack. It comes down to me doing 250k each basic attack by around round 2-3.

How To:

At the start of the run, Daka, Zombie, and AV only attack Traya until MT and Initiate die. Every time MT or Initiate has a turn, they attack Traya, unless there is a saber with the Retribution Buff. If there is, then attack that saber in order to kill MT and Initiate faster. As soon as they are dead, use AV's Endless Wrath to clear all the sabers and topple Traya. Now you rain down punishment on Traya. Every basic attack will res and kill MT or Initiate, and you will see your damage from AV grow for each hit.

Be careful with clearing sabers when using a basic attack. If you do that, then MT or Initiate will res and your dps will slow down. I usually restart the run when this happens, often from the Daka double hit. Every now and then you will have to use AV's Strike Fear to heal Zombie. Keep her standing. If she gets the double speed debuff, it will cost you on dps. If that happens with 2 rounds left, it's oki, but not when it's round 7.

Phase 3 is a race against the clock. We can't prevent or even delay Enrage, so what we try is to do massive damage before time runs out.

STR P4: DN TM TRAIN

In Phase 4, we attempt to delay the Enrage by getting a Turnmeter Train going. Skelturix has made an excellent video on how this setup works, but here is a short recap.

Squad: AV (L), MT, Talia, Daka, Zombie

Zetas: AV (NS Swiftness, Rampage). Rampage is not essential, but it grants a huge damage boost.

Gear: Zombie (G10 minimum). All other NS gear as high as possible. My MT is only G9, 6* at the moment and my weakest toon.

Mods: NO SPEED NEEDED. YEHAA!

1. AV (CD set, CD triangle, Offense arrow and cross)
2. Talia (3x CC set. CD triangle, Offense arrow and cross)
3. MT (CD/CC sets) This chick hits like a truck!
4. Daka: (3x Health set, Health cross, triangle, and arrow)
5. Zombie: (Same as Daka, until you reach G12, then you can mod for damage)

How To:

Once your protection is gone, this setup starts to shine. Every time you attack DN, your team takes a little damage. Since you have 5 Healers on your squad, however, you won't die just yet. Due to AV's leader zeta, every time you heal up to 100% your toons receive TM. Talia is the star on your team, since her basic attack heals them all. The rest heal on timed abilities, so the trick is to juggle these so you can keep on attacking DN, keep healing up, and keep receiving TM so DN never gets a turn.

The one rule is that, if Talia has full TM, then you don't heal with any of the other NS. Every time DN does take a turn, hit Sion a few times so he doesn't fall too far behind, but also because DN's speed increases stack each time he's attacked, so he will reach a speed of 900 quite fast. He won't take a turn, though, as long as one of your toons has full TM.

Here comes the geek trick: In order to keep track of which NS has heal up, I go super low tech. This only works when I have the time to do it. I place 4 dice in front of my iPad, one for each toon. Every time the toon takes a turn, I adjust the die. This way, I can see if 2 toons have heal up, and I can therefore skip it on one of them.

Now it is up to you guys if you want to invest in these lovely ladies of the night. It is well worth it, and I haven't even focused on Arena, where they can beat many teams.