Atlas Reactor: Orion
After I became the fourth player to level up Grey to 20, I tried to level up Gremolition too and aim for the last 2 slots i.e. 4th or 5th player. I knew, from the game's Discord channel, there was one other person trying the same and he was very close to doing so. So the moment it was announced a 4th player did so, I knew I had no chance and thus abandoned it. Honestly, I was looking forward to play other lancers because somehow I felt I wasn't contributing as much as I would like to as Gremolition.
So next I aimed to level up Orion since there was only 2 too. I was a little hesitant because during Beta phase I was much better as Aurora and Quark. I fiddled about some mod combination and I finally found one that I am comfortable with.
First off, the list of his abilities and available mods can be found in Prep Phase site. Far easier than reading my wall of text :)
Mods I've been using are:
(1) Devour Energy (default is Amplified Eruption)
(2) Shared Agony (default is Rebuild)
(3) Benevolent
(4) Intervention (default is Enhanced Reconstruction)
(5) Refresh The Source (default is Energy Accumulation)
In my opinion, primary role of a support is to minimise damage through heal, shield and, in Orion's case, transference. This is the guiding principle of how I finally settle on this set of mods.
Unlike other freelancers (to date anyway), Orion doesn't get energy (to charge up ultimate ability and, more importantly, to gain shards) by using abilities (unless you purposely choose such mods). He gains energy mainly from taking damage. Hence, the second ability, Fate Transfer is a favourite use by many players to gain energy and at the same time minimise damage received by an ally.
All mods, except one, of Fate Transfer would transfer 75% of damage to Orion, mitigated by shield. However, once you do this, what do you do next to heal yourself? It's not an issue if you were at full health but what if you were not? Do you then cast Astral Fusion on yourself? Doing so means not fully utilising your healing ability.
That is why I use Shared Agony. Yes, it transfers only 50% of damage but ally also gain some shield. I've calculated, based on damage of 40 and 80 separately, this mod in fact has the highest damage mitigation. It's cheap too: 1 loadout point.
After using Shared Agony, you shouldn't be in dire need of healing and so casting Astral Fusion on an ally is enough to heal yourself too for that turn.
By the way, Fate Transfer can also be used simply to help you survive as it gives substantial amount of shield. Just cast it on an ally that is unlikely to be hit :)
Intervention overall gives the best healing in terms of total healing (i.e. heal on ally and you). Innate Potency is better only if you have only one or no shard. Enhanced Construction is better if you have 4 or 5 shards but it has smaller first turn heal on ally, shards or no shards. Usually the first turn is crucial to securing the life of an ally. What's the use a second turn heal if he's dead in the first turn, right?
Naturally this means that Quantum Core (free action) is cast only on ally which you will also cast Astral Fusion on. Remember, the goal here is to keep the ally alive. Benevolent is the best mod to give a little bit of survivability to the ally.
I use the ultimate ability when I'm down to, say, 75hp to help top up my health and reduce cool down of all abilities, especially the support abilities, via the Refresh The Source mod. It will be cast earlier if I'm in greater danger or to help kill enemy(ies).
Oh wait, if you gain less energy (unless you're being hit directly, in which case you're in deep trouble!) because less damage is transfered via Fate Transfer, how are you going to build up energy and shards? Use the energy mod, Devour Energy, on the main ability. After all, this has no cooldown. Just spam it away. It can save your life too because you may need just a little more energy to cast Cosmic Flare and thus refreshing your support abilities. True story :)
To end this post, here's a video of a recent match:
N.B: there is already a 5th player who managed to level Orion up to 20. I right away said, "NOOOOOOOO" in the team chat. Oh well, back to sampling other freelancers :)
So next I aimed to level up Orion since there was only 2 too. I was a little hesitant because during Beta phase I was much better as Aurora and Quark. I fiddled about some mod combination and I finally found one that I am comfortable with.
First off, the list of his abilities and available mods can be found in Prep Phase site. Far easier than reading my wall of text :)
Mods I've been using are:
(1) Devour Energy (default is Amplified Eruption)
(2) Shared Agony (default is Rebuild)
(3) Benevolent
(4) Intervention (default is Enhanced Reconstruction)
(5) Refresh The Source (default is Energy Accumulation)
In my opinion, primary role of a support is to minimise damage through heal, shield and, in Orion's case, transference. This is the guiding principle of how I finally settle on this set of mods.
Unlike other freelancers (to date anyway), Orion doesn't get energy (to charge up ultimate ability and, more importantly, to gain shards) by using abilities (unless you purposely choose such mods). He gains energy mainly from taking damage. Hence, the second ability, Fate Transfer is a favourite use by many players to gain energy and at the same time minimise damage received by an ally.
All mods, except one, of Fate Transfer would transfer 75% of damage to Orion, mitigated by shield. However, once you do this, what do you do next to heal yourself? It's not an issue if you were at full health but what if you were not? Do you then cast Astral Fusion on yourself? Doing so means not fully utilising your healing ability.
That is why I use Shared Agony. Yes, it transfers only 50% of damage but ally also gain some shield. I've calculated, based on damage of 40 and 80 separately, this mod in fact has the highest damage mitigation. It's cheap too: 1 loadout point.
After using Shared Agony, you shouldn't be in dire need of healing and so casting Astral Fusion on an ally is enough to heal yourself too for that turn.
By the way, Fate Transfer can also be used simply to help you survive as it gives substantial amount of shield. Just cast it on an ally that is unlikely to be hit :)
Intervention overall gives the best healing in terms of total healing (i.e. heal on ally and you). Innate Potency is better only if you have only one or no shard. Enhanced Construction is better if you have 4 or 5 shards but it has smaller first turn heal on ally, shards or no shards. Usually the first turn is crucial to securing the life of an ally. What's the use a second turn heal if he's dead in the first turn, right?
Naturally this means that Quantum Core (free action) is cast only on ally which you will also cast Astral Fusion on. Remember, the goal here is to keep the ally alive. Benevolent is the best mod to give a little bit of survivability to the ally.
I use the ultimate ability when I'm down to, say, 75hp to help top up my health and reduce cool down of all abilities, especially the support abilities, via the Refresh The Source mod. It will be cast earlier if I'm in greater danger or to help kill enemy(ies).
Oh wait, if you gain less energy (unless you're being hit directly, in which case you're in deep trouble!) because less damage is transfered via Fate Transfer, how are you going to build up energy and shards? Use the energy mod, Devour Energy, on the main ability. After all, this has no cooldown. Just spam it away. It can save your life too because you may need just a little more energy to cast Cosmic Flare and thus refreshing your support abilities. True story :)
To end this post, here's a video of a recent match:
N.B: there is already a 5th player who managed to level Orion up to 20. I right away said, "NOOOOOOOO" in the team chat. Oh well, back to sampling other freelancers :)
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