A Laura Kinney (X-23) guide.

 

This build is ONLY for the Council of Ancients (CoA) server while X-23 is temporarily supercharged.

 

 The reason why I haven't included powers nor talents at the top is because Laura has two viable builds: one that focuses on Grievous Wounds and Disembowel (the BLEED build), and one that focuses on Cyclone Kick spam to recoup Dancing Blades charges (the FEET build). The former is better for single-target damage while the latter is better for dealing with multiple bosses at once and for moving around fast and quickly dispatching chaff. I will start explaining how the first one works, and if you're only interested in the second build, skip to just before the THEORY section to learn more about it.

 

I will be adding a power and talent configuration for each build in the TALENTS section below.

  

 

 

Filler powers:

 For BLEED build.

 For FEET build.

 

Opener (all builds):

 >  > x5

You always want to open by leaping into battle with Rending Leap, immediately followed up by Crimson Sweep, as the first one applies Weaken and the second one applies Vulnerability, and then you burn all 5 stacks of Dancing Blades to activate her signature buff: Killer Trance. This is regardless of the build you use.

 

Follow-up (BLEED build):

 >  >  > x2

 >  > x2

Her whole kit revolves around keeping Killer Trance up, and to do that we engage in a rotation that consists of Rip to Shreds, Disembowel, Cyclone Kick, and finally 2 uses of Dancing Blades. Since Cyclone Kick won't be up before we get to Dancing Blades x2 again, the 2nd loop of the rotation becomes Rip to Shreds, Disembowel, Dancing Blades x2.

 

Loop rotation after Follow-up (BLEED build):

 >  >  >  >  > x2

 >  > x2

Not being able to Cyclone Kick every other loop coincides with our need to reapply Rending Leap and Crimson Sweep to keep the bleeds going. This is why the rotation after the first followup consists of of a loop of two strings: Rending Leap > Crimson Sweep > Rip to Shreds > Disembowel > Cyclone Kick > Dancing Blades x2, followed by a smaller chain of Rip to Shreds > Disembowel > Dancing Blades x2. After that, we go back to Rending Leap and repeat the same process over and over until whatever we're burying our claws into dies (if it hasn't died already).

 

 !!!! The explanation of it all might sound a bit overwhelming, but when you actually start doing it you realize it's very intuitive. Basically, when you need to add Cyclone Kick to the rotation again, it means that you have to reapply your starting bleeds in Rending Leap and Crimson Sweep—or visceversa, whichever you find easier to remember. !!!!

 

Now if you're here for the FEET build, then the rotation is much simpler:

After the Opener (check above), you want to simply hold Capoeira as filler while you spam Cyclone Kick and you use Open The Jugular whenever it's off-cooldown. Every use of Cyclone Kick and Open The Jugular will give you back a charge of Dancing Blades, so your aim is to keep regaining Dancing Blades charges while spending them whenever possible—remember Dancing Blades is still your most damaging power so simply spamming Cyclone Kick won't be as effective. Don't forget to throw a Rending Leap and Crimson Sweep every once in a while as well.

 

 

 

Laura (X-23) was blessed by Thanos, he gave her the strength of several characters in the form of Rogue's stolen traits:

Taskmaster: Gain additional 1.5% base damage from every stat on top of the usual 4% per point in Durability and Speed, with those 2 specifically now giving 5.5% base damage per point. In addition, the passive grants 15% defense/deflect/dodge rating multiplier plus a flat +360 to the same defense/deflect/dodge rating stats.

Venom: Passive +5% Damage and +5% Critical Hit Chance. While you are in combat you and your allies get a buff of +10% Damage Bonus and +10% Critical Hit Chance.

Spider-Man: +1020 Dodge Rating and +1% Damage on Core powers for every 250 extra Dodge you have (this interaction will be explained further below).

Falcon: -15% Movement Power Cost and +15% Movement Power Damage Bonus.

Domino: +1500 Dodge Rating whenever you Critically Hit/Brutally Strike and +360 Critical Hit chance whenever you dodge an attack.

Beast: Activating 4 Movement powers within 5 seconds restores 25% of your max Wrath and +10% Damage Bonus and 10% Critical Hit Chance for 8 seconds.

Drax: +25% Brutal Strike Chance, -10% Crit Hit chance.

Sabretooth: +3% Base Attack Speed and you regenerate +1% of your total Health whenever you strike with a melee power.

Kurse: +1750 Maximum Health and you get a free revive (with a 10 minute cooldown) whenever you are defeated.

 

On top of those passives, Laura's own powers have received many blessings by our purple overlord Thanos:

> Cleaving Claws and Capoeira grant you rapid healing and extra crit damage rating while also applying chill and slow to enemies (they're both used as the filler power depending on the talent build).

> Rending Leap and Dancing Blades both grant you the Commanding Aura (+20% Attack Speed and +10% Damage Bonus) and Infernal Contract (your Max Health is reduced by 50% but you gain +10% Crit/Brut Chance, +100% Crit Damage, +25% Damage Bonus, and +30% Damage Resistance) buffs while also weakening struck enemies. By themselves, Rending Leap gives a second (additive) boost to attack speed while Dancing Blades not only provides you a brief period of Invisibilty (on a decently large cooldown though), but you also receive Kitty Pryde's Soulsword buff (+100% Base Damage and +50% Dodge Chance).

> Every single one of Laura's powers has been given the Movement tag, this means they all count for any calculations or interactions involving movement powers. Additionally, all of her powers have also been given the Core tag (as in Rogue's Core powers), this means that Spiderman's stolen trait Laura got from Rogue gives her a +1% Damage boost per every 250 dodge she has—this is why we want to stack Speed instead of Durability.

> Cyclone Kick, Bloody Harvest, and Dancing Blades all have a chance of turning enemies to stone (from Shield of Perseus) and creating and a Tsunami (from Neptune's Trident) that makes enemies take 10% extra damage.

> Doubled the radius of Rending Leap, Cyclone Kick, Bloody Harvest, and Dancing Blades while Crimson Sweep got a x1.75 increase.

  

 

 

BLEED build:

We want all the talents that give us extra bleeds, boost the damage our bleeds make, or boost the damage/crit chance of our bleed powers. The last talent choice is self-explanatory if you look at what powers we're using. Cleaving Claws will be your filler power with this configuration.

 

FEET build:

First talent to boost movement powers in general (all her powers are considered movement powers right now), second talent is so you can spam Cyclone Kick over and over and the fourth talent is to make Bloody Harvest an even more formidiable AoE tool on top of Cyclone Kick and Dancing Blades. The last talent choice is once again self-explanatory. Capoeira will be your filler power with this configuration.

 

 

Slot 1

 Fragment of Twilight (Recommended) - 'Nuff said.

 Mark of the Uni-Power - Very very good unique. It's just... FoT exists. Don't be ashamed to use this if you don't have a good FoT, as this one performs better if the FoT's rolls are bad.

 

Slot 2

 Portal's Darkhawk Armor (Recommended) - Speed, a bit of bleed duration and a ton of brut. Slot 2 doesn't have many options, and this one takes the cake.

 All New X-Men Bodysuit - Her own Slot 2 is usually pretty good, but Laura is currently supercharged so she doesn't need this piece as badly since it leans a bit too much on the defensive side. Darkhawk provides a ton of damage that the extra Physical Damage Rating on the Bodysuit can't compete against. Normally it would be the ideal piece for her though.

 Bodysuit - If you can get good affixes on this (+4 Speed is mandatory, followed by either both Crit affixes or both Brut affixes depending on what you're lacking), then test it against the other 2 alternatives. If you feel like whatever piece you got here performs better than either of the other 2, then go ahead and use it! Additionally, the cosmic affix that gives you a 10% chance to reset all cooldowns and charges on movement powers is not necessary because you regain Dance charges by using her own kit, making the cosmic affix that gives +8% attack speed and +800 damage rating the better alternative.

 

Slot 3

  Coat of the Skull (Recommended) - No need to explain. This coat is always great. Just make sure the Damage Reduction, BDR, and Damage vs Bosses rolls are high.

 Kinney Family Locket - This one is not much worse than the coat, the caveat with this one is that you need a lot more rolls to go right for it to be a good one.

 Belt - Please refer to what I saiid about her Bodysuit in slot 2, the exact same thing applies here. If you decide to go with both cosmic pieces in Slots 2 and 3, you can go ahead and use the cosmic movement affix alongside the cosmic damage rating one.

 

Slot 4

 New X-Men Boots (Recommended) - Over 1000 Damage Rating plus a ton of Speed and Durability? Yes please, and we already know that more Speed means more dodge means more damage, so yeah.

 Skrull Military Uniform - Very close call, this one's MUCH easier to roll however, so if you got a decent one lying around, put it on her if you can't seem to roll a good pair of boots.

 

Slot 5

 X-Force Mask (Recommended) - This one's tricky. The stats it gives are insane for Laura, but it's absolute HELL to roll an ideal one as the Damage vs Vulnerable is tied to the Damage Reduction roll, on top of needing to roll high on the CDR and BDR, the stat rolls, AND finally the Damage Rating vs enemies not targeting you. If you were one of the blessed ones that got all those rolls high and the stat rolls maxed, this one's BiS for sure.

 Cobra's Hood - Similarly to the Skrull Uniform, this one's much muuuch easier to roll for a good one and it's much better than an average X-Force Mask with average rolls. Use this until you can get that one X-Force Mask to rule them all.

 Brutally Awesome Summer Shades - They are, as their name says, brutally awesome. They also are, however, brutally annoying to get, which is why they're more of a luxury pick instead of recommending it more openly. They're also only a good pick if you have enough Crit Hit and Brut Strike chances that you know your sig will brut, otherwise the massive brut stats on these shades won't give you any extra damage and the item simply becomes dead weight.

 

Medallion

 Skrull Medallion Of Bravery (Recommended) - Both Brut affixes and a proc on medikit use that gives you +1 to all attributes (which we love since we have Taskmaster's passive) and a pretty decent boost to our damage rating. This medallion is perfect for her.

 Medallion of the Dark Dimension (Recommended) - Could arguably be better than the Skrull Medallion depending on which one has the better rolls. If you have both then test them to see which one comes on top!

 Cosmic Elektra Medallion - I'd say "the budget choice", but this medallion does really well on supercharged Laura because, as we already know, all of her powers count as Movement powers. Use this if you don't have either of the other 2.

 

Ring

 Midtown Guardian's Signet (Recommended) - Best ring for Laura damage-wise. The +30% Damage will always be up since all of her powers count as Movement powers. The 600 Crit Damage proc is also a decent chunk of extra damage added on top of an incredibly good ring for her.

 Sling Ring of the Kamar-Taj (Physical) - A very competent alternative. While it doesn't pack the same punch as the other ring in terms of damage, it boosts much better defensive stats and a proc that will let you go invulnerable every 5 seconds as long as you're using your signature like you're supposed to (which is all the time).

 

Insignia

 - Any of these Insignia passives are good for her, pick whichever has the best rolls. You ideally want Crit Hit+Crit Damage or Crit Damage+Brut Damage if you can spare losing on the Crit Hit Chance.

 

Legendary

 Savage Axe of Ares (Recommended) - You always want this, especially as you start gearing her and you don't yet have all the ideal pieces/rolls. Only once you're sure you've outgrown the need for the Crit Hit/Brut Strike chances the Axe provides you can think about using the next legendary.

 Ultimate Nullifier - Arguably better if you can afford to lose the sizeable chunk of Crit Hit/Brut Strike from the Axe—always remember Brut Damage is a useless stat if you don't brut. If you decide to go this route, then pair this with Skrull Military Uniform and Brutally Awesome Summer Shades for MAX BRUTS.

  

Runeword

 - The Uru comes down to personal preference. Usually people will have a well-rolled Power Doop Uru-Forged War Plate lying around in their stash or sitting in a different character since +800 Defense Rating is universally useful while Uru-Forged War Gauntlets are only good for Physical characters. Use whichever you have the best rolled Power Doop of.

 The Power Doop (Recommended) - Can be very annoying to get a good roll of since the roll range is massive, but if you do get a good one, go ahead and give it to Laura!

 Unstoppable Force - A solid alternative if you just can't seem to get a decent Power Doop even if your life depended on it since this one doesn't have any random rolls.

 

 

>>> I only marked 3 of them as Recommended because the last slot heavily depends on availability and roll quality. Use whatever you have or what gives you the most damage. <<<

 

 Black Cat's Advanced Grappling Hook (Recommended) - This beauty has all the stats supercharged Laura needs and more. The only issue is that you want most of its rolls very high, it's not like other artifacts where you can leave a not-so important stat with a bad roll, so rolling for a good one could get expensive.

 Crossbones's Teaching Credentials (Recommended) - This is good, period. It goes well on so many different characters—damage, crit, brut, it's got it. You do need to be careful about the hidden roll on the Brutal Damage Rating after a Critical Hit (you won't see a % roll on it), it can low as low as 300 and since it can stack 3 times, if it's a very low roll you're missing a very big chunk of potential damage there. Try to focus on that hidden roll and the Crit Hit/Brutal Strike Rating rolls, the +Damage Rating rolls are such a small range that if they come out red% then it won't matter that much.

 Siege's Targeting System (Recommended) - A silly amount of Crit/Brut Damage rating and a ton of Brut Strike Rating as well. To top it off, it was a proc that gives you over +1000 Damage Rating and +736 Crit Hit Rating every 5 seconds (because of the halved cooldowns)—this is essentially a Gem of the Kursed on steroids.

  Advanced Circlet of Cyttorak - An insane amount of Physical Damage Rating coupled with a sizeable chunk of Brut Strike Rating and even +3 Durability. Characters who deal Physical damage and also have Durability as one of their main stats love this artifact to death, and Laura is no exception. The survivability bubble is just the cherry on top—this artifact is both really good offensively and defensively.

 Gem of the Kursed - A staple of almost any build since everyone wants crit and brut. It can sometimes end up being not the most ideal choice if the character's pool of artifacts is so stacked that even something as good this as ends up not being the best choice. Definitely use it at the beginning when you're lacking gear. As you start loading her up with good stuff, you might want to see if swapping it out for something else could give you more damage or not.

 Sentinel Targeting Unit - "The ultimate budget artifact". This goes on everyone, yet it hardly stays in full builds. Does that make it a bad artifact? Absolutely not, this thing absolutely rocks with that juicy +1500 Brutal Damage Rating and a +300 Crit Hit Rating comparable to a Gem of the Kursed. On top of that it gives you a free enemy radar, an extra layer of vulnerability, and finally some free extra Damage Rating against enemies affected by said vulnerability proc. If you're missing Siege's Cosmically Enhanced Targeting System or Cosmically Enhanced Crossbones's Teaching Credentials, this is an amazing replacement.

 Elektra's Bandana/Mask - The stats this gives are so big that it's hard not to recommend it even if a character doesn't use Fighting as a main stat (and Laura uses both Melee and her Signature as her main damage source). In Laura's case, Taskmaster's passive means she'd at least get +1.5% Damage per each point of Fighting either of this artifacts provide.  That's without mentioning Elektra herself that comes to your aid whenever you use your signature (which is basically all the time), so you'll have her constantly coming in to help you (and annoying the hell out of you at the same time with her tired lines).

 

 

 

 Mind Gem > Mental Focus - 150/150 (150 IP). Mandatory Node to max.

Power Gem > Strike Through - 75/75 (150 IP). Same as Mental Focus.

Time Gem > Temporal Loophole - 50/50 (200 IP). Attack faster? Yes yes.

>>> Once you have at least 150 IP spent on all those 3 Gems, the rest is not 'Mandatory' but still very much recommended. This is also where you can start thinking about putting points in Speed at your discretion. <<<

Reality Gem > Potency - 150/200 (150 IP). Our Signature is our best damage source, but we only get 150 for now.

Space Gem > Gravity well - 75/250 (150 IP). A good chunk of extra HP that's needed because of Infernal Contract cutting our HP in half during combat, plus the bonus for spending 150 points in the gem.

Time Gem > Chrono-Shift - 50/50 (200 IP). This will not only make us tankier but also give us more damage due to the Spider-Man passive.

Reality Gem > Potency - 200/200 (50 IP). We finish up this node to get her Signature's damage higher.

Time Gem > Speed - The rest of your IP goes here (25 IP per +1 Speed). This is where you dump the rest of your IP, go nuts.

 

 

Rough TTKs (geared):

High Health Raid Dummy: 60~70s

Trainyard @ DR: 50s~60s

Cable @ DR: 35s~45s

>>> (Cable takes longer if he gets into the habit of spawning with Cosmic Bulwark~)  <<<

 

 

 

If you've read everything up to this point, I appreciate you.

If you didn't, I still appreciate you but you'll never know because you didn't read this!

I'm done, bye.