Nightcrawler Blink dps leveling nightcrawler pve pvp
Guide by Crem Last update at Mar 23rd 2014, 08:32

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Brimstone Blitz 1
1  60
LM: Agile Strike/Swashbuckler Slash
A: Teleport
S: Blink Strike
D: Infernal Brimstone
F: Shadowmeld
G: Acrobatic Escape
E: Righteous Frenzy
RM: X-Slash, Advancing Guard

Copied from MalfeanWW Lazy n00b Builds
A. Basic - Agile Strike is pretty awesome. It does decent damage, and restores spirit on hit. Since this build is mostly for leveling and easier content, more spirit is never a bad thing..and we'll use it mostly for this restore mechanic. If you find that you aren't running out of spirit much, take Swashbuckler Slash because it deals more damage. DUMP POINTS INTO THIS ABILITY WE'RE REALLY USING IT FOR SPIRIT GAIN AND DONT NEED TO MAX IT.

B. Incredible Acrobatics - Gives us an absolutely amazing amount of Movement Speed, Dodge rating, and chance to completely Evade attacks. Its a completely absurd passive that has amazing synergy with Pym's Shrinking Seurm, meaning we'll almost never run out of spirit. Running faster is also never a bad thing. MAX THIS ABILITY AT ALL TIMES.

C. Teleport - Our standard level 1 Movement power. Nightcrawler teleports, shocker. KEEP ONE POINT ONLY IN THIS ABILITY

D. Infernal Brimstone - A pretty amazing DoT that Nightcrawler lays down at his current location. Drop it and then proceed to Blink Strike for tons of AOE damage. These two abilities together will absolutely melt mobs. MAX THIS ABILITY AT ALL TIMES

E. Blink Strike - Nightcrawler's high damage base AOE skill. Nightcrawler bounces between targets, and this ability has been modified slightly since its release. When you hit it, Nightcrawler teleports to target location (meaning you can almost use it as a Movement power) and begins his animation. The power ends once he has bounced around and hit whatever targets are possible for him to hit. This ability will absolutely murder trash elites/champions-especially with Brimstone in your grab bag of tricks. MAX THIS ABILITY AT ALL TIMES

F. X-Slash - Our single target spirit spending shredder. Brimstone Beatdown isn't that good, which is why we don't use it, and we're not going to max particular use of Nightcrawler's swords abilities (and his passive that buffs swords) but this ability is way too good to pass up. Does a monstrous amount of damage, and we should use it to murder bosses. Also be sure to drop Brimstone for tons of damage, and an easy ways to clear boss adds as they spawn. MAX THIS ABILITY AT ALL TIMES

G. One Step Ahead - A passive that gives us a ton of damage (upwards of an Excalibur's) with a ton of defense for a short period of time after you use a teleport power. So just teleport around (and Blink Strike procs this as well) and you'll be tankier and do more damage! MAX THIS ABILITY AT ALL TIMES.

H. Advancing Guard - A toggle that gives you flat damage, def, and moar Movement Speed. I prefer this over Heartseeker because we can find other ways to get crit-and its not so much crit that I feel like it outweighs the much better damage buff. Thanks to @Decepticle for really championing this one. If you want, take Heartseeker (which also gives more spirit regen). Its up to you. MAX THIS ABILITY AT ALL TIMES.

I. Acrobatic Escape - Our CC break 1-point wonder. W00t. PUT ONE POINT INTO THIS ABILITY

J. Flash and Grab - If you want some more advanced gameplay, throw a point into this to be able to teleport enemies ontop of you for your AOEs. PUT ONE POINT INTO THIS ABILITY

K. Master Swordsman - A passive that only buffs X-Slash, but might be worth 1 point for the 240 crit rating and bleed it'll put on X-Slash. PUT ONE POINT INTO THIS ABILITY

Playstyle-
- Trash? Infernal Brimstone and Blink Strike stuff down, especially Blues and Yellows.
- X-Slash anything that's left.
- Running low on Spirit? Agile Strike ftw! Also you've probably got a Pym's.

Uniques:
Slot 1 – Excalibur's Sword (Nightcrawler Unique) - A lot of teleporty folks don't like this, but I do. Lots of damage, applies Vulnerability for you, crit rating, attack speed (a lot of crit rating by the way), decent damage, and a generous amount of points to our Toggle and X-Slash. Pretty solid overall, and if we only took one item to buff swords-this should be it. Satan Claw is a great All-Hero alternative.

Slot 2 – The White Cloak of Paradise (Nightcrawler Unique) - Is alright. Lots of tanky stats, +to our CC break (ick), +One Step Ahead (awesome) and +to our left tree, which only really buffs our Acrobatics passive - so more Movement Speed/Dodge etc. Not bad, I prefer Carbonadium Warsuit as an offensive option (Any Hero Unique) or a Symbiote Infestation (+Stats-Speed/Durability, and some tanky stuff)

Slot 3 – Black Gloves of the Priesthood (Nightcrawler Unique) - Give us some much needed tankiness in the form of health, +1 to all powers, spirit, attack speed and damage (basically gives us a third weapon with the Shark). Must have.

Slot 4 – Fairy Tale Swashbuckler Shoes (Nightcrawler Unique) - Dodge, spirit, +Teleport abilities (yes), Spirit on hit, chance to frenzy. Absolutely amazing.

Slot 5 – Great White Shark (Nightcrawler Unique) - Crit, crit damage, brutal damage, damage, +chance to bleed, +1 all powers. Amazing! And part of one of the coolest storylines ever. Go look it up!

Artifacts:
Pym's Shrinking Serum - You dodge constantly and will never run out of spirit.
Advanced Meta - We could use the +1 to all powers and flat damage. (or a HoD here if you can)
Advanced Kung Fu - Tanky stats and offensive stats, awesome.
Advanced Crimson Crystal - Health and physical damage - w00t!

Blessings:
Hela's for the brutal since we can get some crit
EDIT: Removed some misconceptions I had about Fandrals on him, see immediately below
@Wyvernfist correctly points out that Helas are more damage at 45% base crit, meaning Fandral's are actually a viable and potentially -best- option. 12% Dodge is quite a bit of mitigation!

Costume:
+1 Fighting and Strength, his stats are kinda low.

Legendary:
If you're taking Advancing Guard, grab a Gungir for crit if you're taking Heartseeking (gives you crit) then get an Excalibur. The life on hit is amazing. Honestly I'd consider getting an Excalibur anyway because we could use some life on hit and flat damage is awesome. Norn Stones seem viable as well post stat-rework since his stats are low and we could use more points on our powers.

Insignia:
Dat O'Grady.

Uru item:
Physical Uru with Bonebreaker or Heartbreaker. Bonebreaker giving us that +1 Strength makes it an obvious choice for me with a core.

Relics:
Lemurias for life on hit.

Medallion:
If you are lacking in crit, Bullseye-otherwise Kingpin or Kurse (health/damage)

Leveling Strategy
Your basic is pretty cool but honestly its all about Blink Strike at the early levels. Snag X-Slash to kill bosses, use your basic just to get spirit back. You get access to your passives early-and we're really just waiting on our Toggles to finish us out along with Infernal Brimstone. Once you get Brimstone, practice hopping in, dropping it-and Blink Striking ontop of the group and teleporting away if you get into trouble. You might be somewhat squishy at first, but once your Dodge and health items/artifacts get rolling you should be fine!