 |
| Yishun really needs H.P Lovecraft, but def not the other way round. |
But before that...
Let me explain the misleading nature of the post title. After all, it must be noted that the first female president of Singapore isn't crazy despite living in Yishun (however, I'm pretty sure she'd appreciate Lovecraft's insane genius despite his history of being a racist).
When I mention one woman and two guys, it has got nothing to do with free porn ever since Nanyang Polytechnic earned its momentary flash of infamy (just don't ask me whether Tammy was going for a diploma in radiography since I'm pretty mindful of my future girlfriend reading this post eventually). When I say one woman, I'm referring to Natasha Romanova. When I mention two guys, I'm referring to her having the quality to charm two daring sons of a gun instead of just one.
Quite obviously, this part is about how I did my KGB planning. Don't know what is KGB? Okay, never mind.
One of the greatest challenges in using a ranged character lies in trying to make the most out of melee damage bonus when it comes to hero synergy. Trust me, keeping my current hero synergy list in mind is a pain in the neck (gamers will understand why and I mean the neck). It took me quite a while to do the balancing act when it comes to Stormy Mary Sue. However, I relished the challenge. This is not a challenge directed towards a gamer per se. Rather, this is a challenge issued to a tactician. Or rather someone who thinks like one (note: hopefully, I can do a separate post on how I managed to pull off what the Hand would call IMPOSSIBRU!).
For this (amazing) female parallel of Spiderman, it's not that hard. The reason why being the Lethal Weaponry talent. This talent is my staple. Period. And it has got nothing to do with Mel "Passion of the Braveheart" Gibson, Danny "not the Archuleta from Predator 2" Glover, and Jet "not black" Li. Lethal Weaponry presents two key aspects of Black Widow's range and melee dps. The ranged Snap Shot basic deals damage over time via Shrapnel Cut while Stinging Strike becomes Deadly Blade (full auto Bullet Barrage also deals Shrapnel Cut damage, but that's not part of my KGB Black Widow). Using both moves in tandem with a hefty focus on melee damage bonus via hero synergy means plenty of damage over time. Taking into account that I actually prefer doing Snap Shot spam in general, it means a great deal once Natasha enters stealth modal (read: that's what her knife is used for). In particular, stealth knife usage is very damn useful in patrol boss fights.
As for the first row of talents, it's a straightforward case of Swift and Silent. If your preferred choice is Acrobatic Assassin, chances are that your Black Widow will be going commando (read: nothing to do with the lack of underwear, but rather the fact that it took more than just the KGB for Stalin Joe to win the Battle of Stalingrad). Kinetically Charged Battery is fun to use if your Black Widow is high on voltage. Problem is, the damage bonus coming from Red Room Reflexes would be compromised (read: you won't be able to focus on voltage increment and stat increment at the same time for the infinity tree). So yeah, it's Swift and Silent for me, KGB for Natasha.
As for the third row of talents (since Lethal Weaponry belongs to the second row), my original pick was Hidden Explosives. It was a fun thing to do, but only while it lasted. The reason why being that I felt like maxing out the dps potential for Rolling Grenades. Hence, a Fistful of Grenades. There's a stupid reason behind this change. Namely, the need to achieve an achievement involving fragging people with this move.
 |
| Seriously, Gazillion set a good example in making achievements cool. |
As for the fourth row, I was swinging between Drone Swarm and Master Operative. The reason for the former lies in dealing more damage for Micro-Drones. As for the latter, it basically means you won't be breaking stealth once you pulled that off. It's like asking Black Widow whether she prefers a flamboyant showman like Hawkeye or a man without fear like Daredevil. However, I have to admit using Coup de Grâce played a large part in me using Master Op. It was fun while it lasted, I have to say. Again, I blame Rolling Grenades for that. In short, prolonged stealth means making the most out of your first move more than anything else. In this sense, Drone Swarm is a better option than Master Op. Or Mistress Op. Or whatever Op.
As for the final row, it has to be the most straightforward choice. Because I prefer being Robin Hood winning the hand of his Maid Marian rather than Wilfred of Ivanhoe pursuing his Lady Rowena, I chose full stealth modal in the form of They'll Never Know What Hit Them. I'm more of a signature move spammer (a habit I've cultivated via Nightcrawler and further honed via Gambit), so this option suits me more than the other two. So no, I don't do kicks and point blank focus. After all, I consider myself a tactical gamer, not the technical type.
Note: Once I've done the Rolling Grenades achievement, I might go back to my original choice. Namely, Hidden Explosives. Seriously, dodge bombing is fun. It prevents you from dodge spamming while increasing the dps. A good tradeoff for tactical gamers like me.
List of chosen talents:
Swift and Silent
(because she's part of the KGB)
Lethal Weaponry
(because lethal weapons isn't just about black and white)
Fistful of Grenades
(because you don't need to be Bruce Lee to unleashed your inner fists of fury)
Drone Swarm
(because bombing those Hydra terrorists is fun so long no one kills Bob)
Never Know What Them
(seriously, it's self-explanatory)
Move list
Firstly and foremost, I'm officially hooked on the four key bind. So what is a four key bind? Basically, it's binding four powers (minus signature moves) to A, S, D, and F. Together with both ends of the mouse clicking plus the signature move, it makes in total six moves. For the last key, namely H, I reserved it for ultimate power. It's actually easier to press H than to press U. At least for me, that is. Below is how I did my KBG Widow build.
Left click: Snap Shot
Right Click: Silent Killer
A: Rolling Grenades
S: Deadly Blade
D: Micro-Drones
F: Stinging Shot
G: Twilight Cloaking Device (i.e. signature move)
H: S.H.I.E.L.D Assault (ultimate power)
As you can see, Deadly Blade is my only melee attack. In solo running, I'd most likely be using to max out the damage over time. Hence, a lower dependence on it. If I have enough free time (since I really need to get myself back on track for Neverwinter and Tera Online as well), I'll be messing around with her knife attack. The easiest way to pull it off would be using it as a follow-up to Twilight Cloaking Device since I can rack up the damage like a crazy Johnny on the loose. However. I do have the natural tendency to go wild card at times. Which means I'm still incapable of playing by the book, hence a decent chance of me trying to knife the Red Skull like that psycho from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Sans the cloaking process, of course. Needless to say, it's far easier for me to do exactly that in any patrol boss fights (unless we're talking about the off-chance where you're the only person running the gauntlet).
Stinging Shot is a no-brainer. I need voltage, Black Widow needs it more than I do. It has to be my most convenient starter move. I don't recall being this comfortable in pressing the F key when it comes to other characters in my current roster.
As for Micro-Drones, that's because I realized using only Stinging Shot is a pointless waste of resources. It's good to be thrifty, but only if you're intelligent enough to spend decently instead of hoarding everything like Smaug himself. Oh, and one more thing. Going Twilight means voltage spam. Micro-Drones>Stinging Shot spam>stealth modal>knife attack.
Note: For those willing to be bold (since fortune does favor the bold), you can try doing a simple one-two with Coup de Grâce and Deadly Blade. If done correctly, you can easily facilitate a swift boss death. Just remember to do dodge bombing.
Gear
I have to admit I may have accidentally created a monster here. While using a pure character Unique gear set is fun, I ended up becoming the Thomas Edison of Marvel Heroes Omega. The reason why being that for slot 5, I opted for Cerebro. Although that's because I'm still waiting for her Gloves of Siberian Winter to drop, the mental damage proc was just too damn good to go under the radar. Firstly, I don't have to waste any infinity points on mental damage. Which means more points to up the Red Room Reflexes dps. For now, the balance is good enough. Basically, the gear set looks like this.
Slot 1: Natasha's Dual Subcompact Pistols
Slot 2: Raiden-Tech S.H.I.E.L.D Prototype Armor
Slot 3: Drop Leg Holster Rig
Slot 4: Balanced Reinforced Stilettos
Slot 5: Cerebro Remote Interface
Ring: S.H.I.E.L.D Graduation Ring
Legendary: Special Issue Emergency Communicator
Relic: Relic of the Snakeroot Clan
Artifacts: Hand of Doom, Essence of Dread, Mental Focus Headband, Advanced Latverian Regalia
Team-up: S.H.I.E.L.D Agent (3rd team-up option)
As you can see, this build is heavy on the summons and CC. The good thing about S.H.I.E.L.D Agent team-up is versatility of usage. If you want to play the safe bet, option 1 is the way to go. But option 3 is where the fun part starts. Unlike other team-ups, the S.H.I.E.L.D Agent allows up to two summon powers while not in play. This makes for a cool fragging game where you don't have to worry about numbers. At the same time, it can make full use of the Latverian Regalia (minus the dumb ally summon proc) since you don't need to get yourself hit in order to add one minion to your battlefield arsenal. You won't be running short of ally cover and combined with the 3rd option bonus (+240 damage rating and +12% summoned ally damage), it means less aggro heat and a better chance of exploiting the 4% damage bonus against unaware targets from her hero synergy (note that this doesn't render Deadpool's first hero synergy redundant since less aggro doesn't mean no aggro).
Interestingly enough, the only reason why I chose a legendary item deemed next to useless/actually useless was due to the auto-revive and ally summon. Problem is, its rank 5 power is worth nothing less than the square root of sod all. In fact, I won't be surprised if there's little to no synergy value between this and the auto-revive (if so, that'd explain the griping over this thing). At the end of the day, if the cover fire tactic is your game, then good. Otherwise, you may need to look somewhere else. Personally, I'd prefer Norn Stones (although Savage Axe of Ares can give her an absurd amount of raw damage if you happen to go crit build).
Note: All four artifacts in the list confers bonus Intelligence. Which means the crit damage can easily scale like crazy. However, base crit chance is now only at 28% or so. -.-'
Add note: Snakeroot relic is surprisingly good for Black Widow. Initially intended for experimental purposes, the outcome was much better than otherwise expected. Trust me, mobility can do a great deal for both the offensive and defensive since positioning is very important for any range/range-melee build. In fact, I actually lost count on how many times Black Widow was able to evade the attacks based on movement speed alone.
P.S: Mental Focus Headband also deals mental damage upon proc while Essence of Dread gives mental damage increment. In a nutshell, this is virtually a stunlock build I ended up creating out of nowhere. Suffice to say, it means crit hitting becomes somewhat of a secondary issue. Refer back to what I said on the Norn Stones.
