I guess the best thing to do is run the Peak and the Badass Round Magic Slaughter with and without CM.
I kinda feel like those are the supreme tests…maybe Hyperion Slaughter Round 5
And with and without Able.
Trial by combat so to speak.
See which one actually works better although it may take several runs to decide.
Sigh…So many questions…so little time…LOL
I like the Bee, but I’ll only use it on VHs who have good shield recharging skills, like Axton, Maya, and Zer0. Sal has no recharge skills, Krieg doesn’t play well with shields, and Gaige doesn’t need a Bee with anarchy; that and it doesn’t do DT any good. I like the Antagonist for non-Krieg VHs though.
But Gaige is one of the best Bee users if you want it. BSS keeps it up all the time and the Fibber is just amazing with the Bee.
[quote=“Gulfwulf, post:23, topic:1265517”]Sal has no recharge skills, Krieg doesn’t play well with shields, and Gaige doesn’t need a Bee with anarchy; that and it doesn’t do DT any good</font color>.[/quote]LOL, mayhaps it Amplifies The Stare</font color>?
Able’s numbers might not look impressive, but keep in mind it will literally always be up while you’re fighting. You don’t even have to be managing to kill anything, just keep firing and keep healing. This makes it a lot more powerful than something like Roland’s Stat from BL1, which although much stronger and longer lasting, is gated by having to actually get kills (fine when kills are coming easy, not fine when they aren’t). I managed to solo Hyperius in NVHM on my first ever attempt at it specifically because I had Able in my spec (and an Infinity so I didn’t ever run out of ammo).
The only time I have ever considered and have used Crisis Management is with my Leatherneck build where it is up all the time. Otherwise I cannot see it being used outside of a few situations as those mentioned where it is briefly useful. It’s too bad the melee bonus is not something else such as damage reduction or move speed, then it would make the skill far more appealing.
Crisis Management buffs are also addititive so it not a major increase in damage output if you go into FFYL like what Last Ditch Effort is or Do or Die (with slag grenades) is.
Well guys…
And admittedly this is a VERY small sample.
But I ran the Badass round of the Magic Slaughter a bunch of times with Able Specced and Not CM…
and vice versa…CM specced and not Able.
And I think we’d all agree that the Badass Round is a place where Able should be constantly working as you are damaging enemies almost nonstop in that fight.
Strangely. Every time I had Able Specced I died…and every time I had CM specced I won.
Now I’m more confused than ever…LOL
Go figure.
Even with 10/5 out of Able you’re not going to be able to take an excessive amount of punishment. The advantage Able brings it enables you to heal while behind cover while taking pot shots at enemies or having your turrets help you heal. It obviously does not do diddly squat when you are on your knees trying to catch the various internal organs falling out of your rib cage.
Crisis Management does help but not a whole lot, it might give you just enough to get back up on your feet but it is not a major game changer, and it especially does not hold a candle to a Last Ditched Effort + Pressure (which also works in FFYL) combo.
As for your small sample size I would just chalk that up being coincidence. Now if that were to happen out of a batch of one hundred or so runs through Magic Slaughter than it would appear that CM is showing signs of being helpful.
In the case where you know that you will be in FFYL often, Spec CM as long as you don’t sacrifice too much for it. I think Able has more use where you want to avoid FFYL altogether, but if you can’t avoid it like in some raids, It might not be a bad thing to chose CM over Able.