Lately, all the Punisher guides you have seen are primarily Deadly Barrage builds which is fine, but I find their is or should be much more to Punisher that can be done, besides only Deadly Barrage. This is my

Punisher Instill Fear guide!

Note: Please read the current edits(they are in bold)! Their is some things this site isn't up to date on and I reference certain key points in my revisions due to this!

Revisions:
v1.1: Added visual aides and fine tuned a few definitions.
v1.2: Changed out Show no Mercy for Chemical Mine to maximize Shotgun Blast and because of a fear bug coinciding with Show No Mercy. Also added a damage video!
v1.3: Took out Combat Lunge since I personally don't need it and I'm comfortable enough to aim rolling backwards, switched it to 1 point into Lock and Load since I tend to have enough cosmics and/or +1 into firepower to get a decent amount of spirit back. If you still manage to have luck with finding a good stat item that also grants +7 to 8 lock and load, then put that 1 Lock and Load point into Killer instinct instead. Also, added Ringed Ruby of Raggador for survivability option. I typed in my core preference since cores are not updated on this site yet.
v1.3.1: Wrote a section with video about how I handle trash at Midtown Manhattan. Bosses you're most likely there with other people so you just take them out accordingly (just use punish the guilty properly as in make sure you when you do fear them they will run into the wall or a corner).
v1.4: Took off some points from killer instinct and added them to Flashbang Grenade just in case I get grouped in MM or any group challenges to throw a fairly long stun on trash mobs instead of fearing them all over the place.
v1.5: Took off all 5 points from Flashbang grenade and added 1 point to the new sticky mine passive. I placed the remaining 4 points back into Killer instinct. Also, Impact shot isn't giving it's synergy bonus to shotgun blast (even though I have reported it numerous times)
v1.6: Synergies are now gone! Now you Max points in Shotgun Blast, Flechette Blast, Chemical Mine, Killer Instinct, Cold Blooded Crusader, and Pain Tolerance. Put 1 point in Quick Escape for movement , 1 point in Sticky Mine for immobilization, 1 point into Punish the Guilty unless you have gear for any or all (Quick Escape, Sticky Mine, Flamethrower Blast, and Punish the Guilty) that gives a point or more into it, then you put the point into Lock and Load which is 4 with Punish the Guilty, Quick Escape, and Sticky Mine or 5 without Punish the Guilty, 6 if you also have Quick Escape gear, 7 if you also have Sticky Mine gear, and of lastly Flamethrower Blast making it 8 (I personally don't recommend find gear to this just to stack up Lock and Load and I would try to find gear with Shotgun Blast or the very least Chemical Mine or Flechette Blast) . Finally got to display the core I recommend too and updated Relics.
1.6.1: Removed 1 point from Lock and Load and placed it into Flamethrower Blast. Switched out Ringed Ruby of Raggadorr and replaced it with Blinding Brazier of Balthakk.
1.7: Removed 2 points from Lock and Load and stripped 17 points off of Pain Tolerance into Driven by Vengeance (My build is intended for damage, Pain tolerance is a nice buff, BUT critical and BRUTAL strike is better). Added recommended BiS Whole 9 Yards and added pics for Whole 9 Yards and Anti Metal Ammunition (Until Hellfire Ammunition comes out of course :P Also any gear you find for your 1 point wonders (Chemical Mine, Punish the Guillty, Quick Escape, and Flamethrower Blast) Those points will fall into Killer instinct respectively.
1.7.1: ........ I finally dropped the Doom Medallion! I find the Medallion unfit and with the BiS slot belt being his unique, I can't fully maximize power duration to 50%. The new Medallion I use is Bullseye Medallion along with Artifact Edge of Infinity. Due to Driven by Vengeance giving a nice hefty brutal strike and critical strike.... I want to capitalize on this by adding the most notorious Crit/crit damage/brutal strike artifact along with Bullseye's crit and critical damage bonus. Since we're not going to be invisible that long anymore, I shifted points from Killer Instinct to Pain Tolerance. Since Blinding Brazier is no longer in use, I shifted 1 point out of flame thrower and placed it into Killer Instinct. It's too much to be used as an upkeeping move since Power Duration is off and the move has a pretty bad anchor aka takes a bit to get out of the animation to flee respectively. Added Shield Life Support Gear as Best in Slot chest!
1.7.2: Changed out Edge of Infinity for Xerogen Crystal. Changed out Bullseye Medallion for Grim Reaper Medallion (Since Marvelbase doesn't have a medallion version for some reason o.O. Pics will still be in the guide) ... both of these give BRUTAL STRIKE chance (well Xerogen gives a lot more brutal strike chance).
1.7.3: Added a video under rotations for Shotgun/Flechette Animation cancel vs using 1 or the other by itself and another video of the updated unified rotation.

What is this build?!

This build is to maximize Punisher's fear bonuses and later game his increased damage on enemies who aren't attacking you. Also, I placed the points where you will actually be at a stopping point when you hit 60 since a lot of these moves can't reach 20 at level 60. Also, a friendly note: This guide was originally not to be some FREAK damage build, it was meant to utilize Frank's Fear utilities (his Crowd Control Factor) and your avoidances/mitigations. Due to a lot of recent changes, it became a high damage build!



Pros:
+ Works well with other skills, Ivory Idol of Ikonn is the solidifier for the build.
+ One of the builds you can Stab a stunned individual while you're invisible is oh so satisfying and high damage yielding!
+ Lot's and lot's of different ways to fear!
+ We will crit and brutally strike like the rest of them!



Cons:
- His widest AoE is his Shotgun Blast and not AS wide and far as Deadly Barrage.
- A bit more gear dependent
- Like any other CC builds, Ignore Negative Conditions....

Items/Stats to prioritize

Stats
Critical Chance > Increased Rank to Shotgun Blast > -% spirit cost (Assault Powers or Explosive Powers Depending on the Build route)



Gear:



These two are something you should be hunting for with a Harpoon Gun on a Whaling Ship!





This is THE belt to get. I chose to sacrifice 14% power duration for this belt, because it gives up to 19% close range (maybe 20 max?) from I seen and you get a TON of points into Firepower which is most of the tree we use in the first place. It also gives a fat amount of health and a nice little spirit bonus.... Like mine it gives 11 points into Lock and Load... so Lock and Load became a 1 point wonder for me again.







This is a very very powerful unique not going to lie. This gives a very high damage rating for one and it adds a little bonus vulnerability (the 221 more damage for 3 seconds part). It gives a really good fat damage nearly 4K on critical hit and gives a nice little brutal strike bonus. As of 1.22 the +1 Fighting Skill means nothing to us, but if they update Shotgun's with Fighting Powers in the near future... then this will be hard charging!







Since Power Duration is out the window, I decided to go with the Life Support Gear. This gives a fair amount of Health regen, BUT it gives a WHOPPING 5600 defense once you drop below 50%. You also get this 4% health orb when you get hit. The +1 durability is nice.




Medallion







As of patch 1.3 This Medallion doesn't ONLY give regen health when you defeat an enemy. It now gives Brutal strike chance and brutal strike damage! Also gives 16.6 spirit when you defeat an enemy! This whole Brutal Strike concept is extremely devastating!





This Medallion gives a good amount of Critical strike and EVEN more critical damage on hit bonus. I'm rocking about 42% crit with this Medallion and EoI so that's I have almost every other hit my critical damage on hit bonus is proc'ing! A good substitute for Grim Reaper Medallion as of 1.3



I'm not going to delete this, because I hold some sentimental value to this but this is RETIRED!




Doctor Doom Medallion hands down. Get yourself a nice 25% and just watch most of your skill set just relish in some good amount of Power Duration! The cower fear when attacked is a nice fall back and who doesn't want more damage along with it's Sidekicks health and Spirit?! :P



Core



The one I will be running is 20% SiF (or 25% rarity find) with 3 second invisibility/2 second invulnerability on medkit and .5%-1% Life Leech. The 3 second bonus does work with Power duration and currently I get 6 seconds invisibility using it and Life leech with this High critical and fairly High damage build (more because of critical on hit) that life will get noticeable since the damage is fast!


Costume



I focus on Critical Strike especially since Driven By Vengeance adds to this AND Brutal Strike.



Artifacts






I have the 7% fear equivalent and with Power Duration I currently have 8 seconds of invisibility on a 30 second cool down. You can attack with this artifact and not break stealth! This artifact works well with Cold-Blooded Crusader!!!! Invisibility = enemies not attacking you (Great for solo'ing). The main thing is, if you get fear proc on this thing... it's very very very very long! Mine lasts for more then 15 seconds currently!







As of 1.3 Xerogen Crystal now gives brutal strike and brutal strike damage (a lot more then EoI does). This also has attack speed which helps when doing double shotty switch and has flat damage. This along with it's new vamped best friend Grim Reaper Medallion makes Brutal Strike build even more possible.







Since Driven by Vengeance and the big hit on Power Duration AND BiS being uniques... this is now the best artifact to use. Since DbV gives a lot of crit and brutal strike, we have it get boosted even more by EoI and Grim Reaper Medallion and of course Anti-Metal Ammunition.




RETIRED


With the high damage (850+!!!!!) you get from Burning Powered targets, you use Flamethrower Blast on them (just quickly tap it on them) and with Power Duration they're burning for about 6 seconds with 37% and you start blasting them down with Shotgun Blast and Flechette Blast with this newly found damage you got from torching the enemies!




RETIRED




I've been messing with this item a bit and it synergizes well with Ivory Idol of Ikonn and Killer Instinct since you're not being targeted and you get the bonus damage this artifact provides.








I've been using this in the new limbo if I need to survive along with my Ivory Idol if Ikonn. I can get to about 6 seconds of invulnerability on a 30 second cool down. This works well with solo'ing since I'll be invisible for 8 seconds then invulnerability for 6 so that'll be 14 seconds of a boss not being able to lay a finger on me.







I have the 23% slow equivalent of this and it's 5 seconds long (going to test it more if Power Duration effects this duration as well. the couple tests I've done felt like 6-7 seconds total, but I'll test this more). I use this item for mostly the slow effect so if they do run in fear, I have that chance to slow them so they don't run off too far and I love having enemy location on my mini map as well. The crit is a nice little cherry on top too!







Works well with Show No Mercy. Combat lunge shoot them once and use Show No Mercy. This is a good alternative if you don't have any of the other 2 since it's a decent hassle to get this to function properly and/or you know that first Show No Mercy is a kill shot.



Note: Ivory Idol of Ikonn is the Main Artifact of the 4 and to me nothing replaces it. The other 3 (Skrull Targeting Computer, Kree Hyper-Optics, and Idol of Khonshu) would replace each other respectfully.

Main abilities to focus on

Shotgun Blast: This is the main move for this guide. This move gets double damage when enemies are feared!!! This is going to be your main killer along with it's twin brother Flechette Blast.




Chemical Mine (until the website gets updated it's all 20 points into Chemical Mine. Their is no mandatory Explosive Rocket and Proximity Mine in game as of 13JULY13. -1 Explosive Rocket, -1 Proximity Mine, and +2 Chemical Mine) :This move does a good chunk of DoT damage and provides a slow , flat defense reduction (not percent), and weakening them in the process. This move unlike it's alternate counter part Show No Mercy benefits from Power Duration so you have them debuffed for a lot longer then "6" seconds.




Show No Mercy: (alternate build route, Max points this over Chemical Mine) This is your main move for trash mobs since it has SO MUCH BURST DAMAGE! It has no synergies unfortunately, but you couple this with Ivory Idol of Ikonn and Combat Lunge you got yourself a deadly quick kill (it triggers off of Fear or Stun) and their is nothing those mobs can do about it... unless you have party members fighting aoe people and you're getting poked at due to them :( . (Edit: I made posts about the bug where Show No Mercy you can run up to a stunned target and use Show no Mercy, but you can not run up to feared target and use Show No Mercy. You also can not use Show No Mercy on multiple times on a feared target until it goes away unlike a stunned target you can use it multiple times till the stun goes away as of 13JULY13 patch)



Cold-Blooded Crusader: This is going to be your childhood friend throughout this build. You're going to need it more so in the earlier levels for the Fear & Shotgun Blast combo, but in the later game killing the trash or fighting someone like Blob who has Toad and getting that high chance to fear after killing is oh so sweeter! This move gets an increased chance and increased duration per rank. This move DOES benefit from Skill Duration!



Killer Instinct: This skill is great to have in parties! If you're solo'ing though, like mentioned earlier, with Ivory Idol of Ikonn, you can get the damage bonus from not being attacked! Yes, The damage with the fear bonus from Shotgun Blast and Killer Instinct will add up together!



Punish the Guilty: Really good early level move to get that Shotgun & Fear combo out. This skill benefits from Power Duration as well! What I personally do with this move is that I use Ivory Idol of Ikonn when I'm solo'ing and at the last second if I can't get the fear to trigger from my Idol, I use this bad boy on the boss (if applicable) to have a much worry free feeling. If you manage to find gear that gives or grants Punish the Guilty. Then, transfer the one point from Punish the Guilty to Killer Instinct.



Combat Lunge (1 point into this if you're running M: Really good for clearing trash when invisible! It also helps trigger Show No Mercy! This move too benefits from Power Duration so I can get in about 2-3 Show No Mercy's (1 on bosses).



Flechette Blast: This move is your other primarily move along with your Shotgun Blast, BUT what I do with this move is I have Flechette Blast on Hotkey to the 2 key and shot them to get the -defense and bleed bonus then switch to Shotgun Blast (hotkey to the 1 key) and go to town! Yes, this is also another move that benefits from Power Duration!



Lock and Load: This is still nice to have when you're spamming away Chemical Mines and/or Punish the Guilty. Put 1 point into it if you need a point into Punish the Guilty. You will be using Whole 9 Yards Unique with his like around 12+ free points into lock and load once you put that single point into it.



Sticky Mine: With the new patch 1.14, Sticky Mine has a new passive, it now adds the immobilization effects to Proximity and Chemical Mines, so I use this as the new solution to solve the mass fear problem in Midtown Manhattan to keep them stuck instead of scattering away! It also adds the initial damage to those mines as well!



Pain Tolerance: A good move to have if you need survival. They added health to this recently, but since I'm able to survive with my invisibilities and invulnerabilities (if you got the medkit version) then a bit of points here doesn't hurt.



Flamethrower BlastRETIRED: This does a good amount of energy damage and has a 4 second duration with a decent amount of energy damage (which is good, because most of our damage is physical damage). The thing is, you have 1 point into this ability and you're using it for a quick second (a spritz like motion) and catch them on fire. Reason being is, you will be using Blinding Brazier of Balthakk and get it's greatly increased damage towards burning targets. So this is a good jump of damage. Also, if you manage to get hellfire ammunition, Flamethrower Blast helps that burning targets amplifier as well!

Driven By Vengeance: As of 1.22 This move gives a good amount of critical strike and .... BRUTAL Strike! Yes, with this powerful move, you will have up to 203 Critical and Brutal Strike maxed out.... yes max this out for Max damage.

Video References:



Here's a video of the newer rotation, works on both bosses and mobs respectively (Chemical Mine > Flechette Shotgun Blast switch > Punish the Guilty > Flechette Shotgun Blast switch till chemical mine falls off > use Ivory Idol of Ikonn when things get too hectic / repeat from step 1):





Here's a video of using animation cancel "switch" shotguns vs using them individually (Either set both shotgun's as left mouse button and right mouse button or I have both shotgun's set on left mouse button and I switch between the hotkeys while holding down left click which mine is set to 1 shotgun and 2 flechette keys):







I hope you guys enjoy this build idea and I'm willing to hear different skill placements for this build! I'm not trying to have a debate with Deadly Barrage vs this, but if you have something you believe to maximize this build and why it would, it will be greatly appreciated! :)



Remember! this is no FREAK damage build, it's all about the Crowd control and avoidance/mitigation factors. Survival, he gets a good amount of damage when the crowd control takes effect. Due to patch 1.2 and 1.22 The survivability did greatly increase and shotgun damage is very noticeable now!




Note: The dummies do not factor in Killer Instinct or Skrull Targetting Computer damage bonuses.




Enjoy!



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