Hi, I'm generalthl, MAJOR SWAGLORD, PoA level player, and chat moderator from ShinKaigan's twitch stream:
- #ShamelessPlug
I go by many names in game, including: kraKNT, gensux, EdTheShrek, Nivmettnamese, and many many more....
I like whistling, long walks on the beach, and puppies.
This guide is pretty heavy on the text and pretty light on the pictures. Man up. Do some reading.
Kappa
I will update this with other Taka builds when I have enough experience with them / can be bothered.
Tension Bow
Spoiler: Click to view
I made a spreadsheet a while back to compare tension bow to a comparable weapon power alternative. Comparing the basic attack damage between tension bow and two heavy steels (both cost the same amount of gold) showed that 3 autoattacks with both setups dealt the same amount of damage to low armoured targets (below about 100 armour).
Since the Tension bow proc resets every 6 seconds, it meant that all I had to do was get 3 autoattacks off in 6 seconds to deal more damage than with a tension bow. This is pretty achievable.
Flat weapon power actually gives a few more advantages over tension bow - the increase in jungle clear speed is really significant, as is the amount of sustain you get from your passive in teamfights and duels.
tl;dr Only ever get a tension bow if for some reason you don't expect to survive long enough to get off any autoattacks.
Tyrant's Monocle
Spoiler: Click to view
Monocle gives 50 weapon power, 30% crit chance, and 30% crit damage. The first thing to mention is that the crit chance is basically a wasted stat - at 5 stacks you should be critting with every basic attack anyway, so crit chance doesn't do anything for you unless you don't have 5 stacks (which you almost always should have).
The 30% crit damage will increase your crit multiplier from 1.5x to 1.8x - at level 12, taka has 130.4 base weapon power, so with a tyrant's monocle you'll be doing (180.4*1.8)=324.72 damage per basic attack before armour mitigation. With a sorrowblade you'll be doing (280.4*1.5)=420.6 damage per basic attack before armour mitigation - that's an extra 100~ damage PER BASIC ATTACK.
At lower levels, tyrant's is even less efficient since you have less base weapon power.
Fun fact: On taka it takes ~470 Weapon Power before Tyrant's Monocle is a better purchase than a sorrowblade - you'd already need two sorrowblades to even consider a monocle (at that point attack speed and defensive items would still be better)
tl;dr DON'T BUY A MONOCLE. EVER. THAT MEANS YOU AS WELL, TIMMY! I MEAN IT...
Tornado Trigger
Spoiler: Click to view
For the sake of not clogging up the guide with too much maths, I'll try and keep this one shorter:
Tornado Trigger suffers from a similar problem to monocle: the crit chance is really inefficient and the extra crit damage doesn't really make up for that.
Tornado trigger is generally worse than bonesaw, even in situations when you are the only source of Weapon Damage on your team and the opponent is not stacking armour against you.
tl;dr Tornado Trigger works, and you can build it, but it's rarely the best item you can get.
Breaking Point
Spoiler: Click to view
Breaking Point is actually a viable item on taka since he benefits from being melee and able to stack it easily. The crit chance doesn't help him much, but if you are expecting drawn out fights and don't expect to die too easily, breaking point has the potential to make you hit really really hard and heal for a ton due to your passive. I would reccommend a more defensive build if you do build breaking point (three or four defensive items). (see the BP Tank Taka build) - the play style is roughly the same, except you can afford to take a bit more damage. The biggest downside to breaking point is the build path, though it can still work well.
tl;dr BP is good if you don't expect to die in fights
Infusions
Spoiler: Click to view
Taka is one of the best infusion users in the game (alongside Joule) - both infusions increase your damage output significantly, and the defensive stats make you a real pain to kill. Use them - ABUSE them. Prioritise Weapon Infusions over CP infusions unless you need the burst more than sustained damage.
tl;dr Try to have infusions running at most times in the late game. Infusions are really really gold efficient and will straight up win you the game if you use them properly.
Scout Traps
Buy them. They help you. Don't be a greedy sausage. That is all.
Defense Items
- Fountain/Aegis when you are expecting to take a large amount of crystal damage eg. vs celeste/koshka or vs aftershock Krul
- Atlas/Metal Jacket when against heavy WP comps. Atlas is a great item on taka as he can almost always apply it to the target he wants dues to his gapclosers. Atlas is better vs teams with breaking point.
- Crucible vs AoE crowd control (Adagio ult/Catherine ult)
You are nothing without stacks of House of Kamuha. Try to stay stacked or you'll be a damp squib.
- When clearing the jungle you want to try to maintain 5 stacks for as much time as possible - it will make you clear much faster and will allow you to pick fights that you otherwise wouldn't be able to win.
- Basic attacking gold mine/minion miners/kraken can be used to maintain 5 stacks in a pinch.
- Do not be afraid to use kaku to keep yourself stacked, but do be aware that it will be harder for you to get out of fights whilst it is down - It is almost always more important to have five stacks than kaku off cooldown until you hit level 6.
- At level 8 you can use kaiten much more freely whilst clearing - use it for a stack when you need to.
DPS Taka is what I consider to be one of the most fun playing experiences in VainGlory. Your job is to deal as much damage as possible and completely demolish teamfights in the mid to late game. Of course... you have to get there first:
Level 1:
Buy as quickly as possible and immediately make your way to the pair of mini jungle monsters by the jungle shop on your side of the map. If your jungle partner has a contract, let them start the camp. You should kaiten to get a stack of your passive, and keep basic attacking the minions until they are dead. You do not want to be looking for jungle fights at level 1, so just farm the rest of your side's jungle - try to move quickly between camps so that you don't lose your stacks. You should be level 2 after the first clear.
Level 2-5:
Go down to the jungle shop after the first clear, but be aware that the other team will likely be doing the same thing. You want to try and farm as much as possible until you hit level 6, so buy quickly and clear the jungle camps once they've respawned.
When clearing jungle it's usually not necessary to kaiten the monsters. You should be trying to clear using only basic attacks whenever possible. You can use kaiten to get stacks up if they time out, bt always be conscious of your energy usage.
You can fight in the jungle at level 3 or 4 if you have a jungle partner who has a decent early game (eg adagio, koshka). In less favourable matchups you can still win fights at early levels, but you are reliant on timing kaiten correctly to avoid the majority of the opponent's damage. If you do get into early fights, remember to use potions early, since they will significantly increase your survivability.
When you hit level 5
DO NOT PUT A SECOND POINT INTO KAKU. If you hold the skill point until level 6, you can put a point into both Kaiten and X-Retsu, so you have 4 in kaiten, 1 in kaku and 1 in X-retsu. This makes a significant difference to your damage output at level 6, which is when you should first be looking to do something proactive.
Level 6:
Taka's ult is amazing. The damage it does is great, it immediately gives you three passive stacks, and it gives you another gapcloser - making you practically inescapable.
At level 6 you should be looking to have a heavy steel, six sins and a blazing salvo finished. Against an enemy koshka it's okay to get an early light shield (or even a kinetic shield) and delay the six sins a little longer, just to make the jungle fights a little easier.
You should be looking for 2v2 or 1v1 fights in the jungle - try to have 5 stacks before you start fighting, so that X-retsu and kaiten go onto a shorter cooldown when you use them - it is often worth it to use kaku just to maintain your stacks.
In fights you want to try to hold on to either x-retsu or kaiten for chasing fleeing targets.
Most of your damage will come from basic attacks and x-retsu, so try to save kaiten for dodging enemy skills/chasing targets.
Mid and Late game:
Level 8 is another big powerspike for you, as you will have rank five in kaiten - as you finish sorrowblade and bonesaw your damage output will start to skyrocket. Your job in fights is to try to kill everyone. You do a huge amount of sustained damage (and decent burst), so you want to avoid CC and large amounts of burst damage in order to make as much of an impact as possible.
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