I took the On-Going build and messed with it a bit. Adding in other lessons you've taught us. I'm running a couple blue cores along with 2 PFE mods. GR9 / Scorpio for never having to reload and the ability to throw status effects 99% of the time. This build not only passes on damage to the whole group but it also does enough damage to solo heroic content with ease! Running GR9 for 200 rounds of Hollow-Point for myself/Scorpio to get things rolling and for crowd control. The GR9, using Sadist, makes sure I've always got the ability to make targets bleed and practically never have to reload in a fight. Coupling that with the Survivalist Tactical Link, granting +10% bonus Damage for allies on status affected targets, I'm handing out 30% (20% amp damage + 10% bonus damage) to everyone with consistency! Running Obliterate on my chest and Wicked on my backpack for those Amp bonuses! 56CHC/140CHD Thanks Fog!
Wow, after the first 2 builds I subscribed. Finally someone realizes the importance of giving EVERYONE buffs rather than giving solely yourself a buff. Each time I run my cavalier or future initiative build even with complete randos we can do a 10 minute heroic run on countdown
@@fogowar2022 Cavalier with hazard protection attributes, catharsis mask, picaro’s holster, w/firewall with the backfire makes you and your team almost completely immune to hazards AND any enemy skills. The backfire allows you to still deal a healthy amount of damage while being completely immune to its bleed effect lol. 10/10 would recommend, good sir
What you was mentioning about a healing being at full health and buffing the team is the healer using an Alp summit chest with Empathic resolve. I ran Empathic resovle/BTSU for a while and then swapped out the BTSU and put on a Opportunistic backpack.
The healer comment related to the Future Initiative buff. Your Alps/Empath setup will definitely work, the damage buff is only active when someone receives a heal though. In some situations it will be better though.
Love the build knowledge it's perfect. Heres one you might try out Fog try using a future build providing bonus armor. 2 piece Brazos chest + galvanize backpack or kneepads + backpack. Technician specialization + scorpio. You give your team bonus armor that to keep the future buff and also the vigilance buff should anyone be using it.
Sounds pretty good and I have no doubt it's a team boost. I have one similar but left it out of the vid. I also have an Ongoing healer/status hybrid that I left out as well.
I love your calm, non-sensationalist way of explaining things and i can tell you really want to help players out! Subscribed and please keep the videos coming 🎉
@fogowar2022 Great video. Very helpful. One suggestion would be to show the attributes on the gear and what mods you're using. Not sure what to roll and what mods to use to replicate these.
After vigorous testing of the support builds here minus the dps fi hybrid. Ongoing directive tank build is my favorite support. Not only better buffs then a high end tank. but i can properly play the leadership role now that i do more damage then a wet noodle.
Fog - one alternative setup on your merica build I like to use if team has plenty damage is galvanized backpack talent instead. Any thoughts on that talent with your build?
My personal opinion is the 900k bonus armour plus the white/blue flags should be enough survivability. The advantage of Galvanise (or even Protector) is you can cover the 5s gap on the cooldown of Pointman bonus armour but it's circumstantial and you're giving up 15% damage to have it. If others are running Opportunistic, I'd be more inclined to run the TP backpack.
Spectacular video! Your mathematical and data approach truly stands out. I've used your (1) Merica build on the initial three Hunters, (2) Direct Impact afterwars, then (3) Your BBB in the final objective and evacuation segment of Countdown - in that order. The team empowerment is so effective, I've not yet had any cheap quitters (people who quit to avoid the Evacuation fight). Imagine if two or more ran builds like these!
Wow Ako. A couple of those builds are difficult to farm for. And the fact that you put them all together AND used them all in a single mission; impressive. IMO, a combination of Direct Impact, Merica and Snake Eyes, with 5x Strikers would be the META CD team.
@@fogowar2022 Thank you for the kind words. The three builds are thankfully maxed out. It took a combination of Countdown farming and re-running Warlords of New York several times (to obtain the essentials for Optimization) and up-leveling Expertise. I've found it handy using a GR9 LMG as a secondary weapon when using Direct Impact. The Time To Kill might be a bit longer. But if I've applied Status Effect using the build and switch to the GR9 (with the Steady Handed talent) to kill, I end up with over 200 rounds of Hollow-Point Ammo. I can only imagine how many HP rounds the rest of the party gains! I'd love to run CD with others sporting your builds - do you have a Discord?
I've never noticed only half the team getting the special ammo. Seems wierd that some buffs would apply to all and some applying to only group. Have to check that out.
This is what I needed to know and could not figure out to it's fullest extent.... Thank you so much for the work... Any chance you got a spread sheet I can look at ...I love how synergy works...
Hey FOG, great stuff as ever. Just wondering what attributes/mods you're using in the first build? You talked about PFE mods and running three, but I can't see the blues on the screenshot I took of the overall build, so just curious about that, and the attributes you're favouring on each piece.
@@fogowar2022 Ah, sorry - Direct Impact (definitely the "self-licking ice-cream build", which would be a great name for it, although non-Aussies might not get it 🙂It was in that discussion that you mentioned PFE, so I was unsure if you were suggesting to run it on this build (I like the idea) or to run reds (I presume CHC?).
In Countdown, I'm generally aiming for around 50% CC. There's almost always going to be a Coyote's or two. As far as the PFE, I'll generally run 3x on my sweaty Strikers build, as it doesn't need any more damage. On the Direct Impact build, I think I was running 1x PFE for the video, I can mitigate a lot of incoming damage through Crowd Control. Go with whatever you're comfortable with, find the balance of damage/survivability for you. If it works for you, it's correct.
Love making countdown specific builds. While not the hardest content, i like to enjoy the gear grind while in there so usually run a mix of varied 100% haz/disrupt so I can pop shield with pointman and jammer pulse when i want without being disrupted myself. Found a use for the imperial dynasty holster in there aswell as the hunters actually get effected by it.
As well as gear/exotic farming, I use Countdown to level up proficiency for items. It forces you to come up with build ideas with pieces you wouldn't normally use. That's where I found how good the Imperial Dynasty could be.
Awesome video and some great ideas on some builds. On,h thing I would add and remind everyone still is stop using Drones and turrets on the Hunters! Happy Holidays and have an awesome New Year!
Hey Fog great video thanks for the info! I was thinking of you when the Project Resolve notes came out…. All new stats for ARs…. How you feel about it? All that work and then they go and change the stats! Selfishly, I can only hope this means more videos on retooled ARs?!?
I've got no issues. All the hard work and research was done throughout the last year. It's just doing the calculations with the new stats. I will put out a new vid when the stats become sured up, after the next PTS.
I been using that same tru patriot build the set up for months now i love it i even made a true patriot skill build with the set up also. Love the explosions red white and blue
Brappp brappp brappp all hail Fog Squad D2 Godz episode. Brappp brappp brappp. At last someone who appricates negotiating dilemma brappp brappp brappp. Glad you've started builds. Keeping us hungry
Thanks.. 👍 I’ve been wanting to play a support role in a group. I’ll be giving this a try. Side question- does the game scale to the highest shd/level in the group? Sometimes time to kill feels long and it’s when I see someone with a higher shd.
Heya- I feel like I've watched this 30 times= but still miss the name of the Exotic Holster on Direct Impact build. mind linking that so I can start working on the pcs?
I just never found a FI healer build of any sort to be worth the hassle in countdown. The amplified damage is certainly nice but the problem is, you‘ll almost never have everyone in range of your skills. That reduces the efficacy considerably. I experimented with bonus armor setups and found that they helped the flow of countdowns considerably better. I even put together a FI tank build to give people the amplified damage and a boatload of bonus armor, but it really was inefficient, imo (wasn’t a waste, though - turned out to a great support build for use in legendaries.) The real problem is when you get multiple support/tank builds in the same countdown and people are inflexible about switching setups to suit group comp. That usually results in a pretty annoying experience
You can tell in when you're out of range in Countdown, it's when the UI flickers in the bottom right and whichever bonus you're about to lose will flash above all the names. The range for FI seems pretty large. About the same as Pointman. I get your second point, two Pointman's or two FIs is redundant. That's why I carry a variety of builds on each character. If support is covered I'll just go into cruise control with a Strikers build.
I actually love ongoing d. But with iron Lung , always status e. Plus fire , and u can run with ninja backpack plus Ortiz plus eclipse , ton of fun, I do open world works great. Merry Christmas
I wish they'd buff TP, or at least fix the bug(?) where the explosive scales with your health and armor and not the target you killed like the description implies.
@@fogowar2022 it's hard 2 test but clearly doesn't obliterate everyone if you pop an elite next to any other type of mob in a spawn group. Oddly a nerf to SHD health scaling makes this part of the 4p worse, lol.
Sometimes it feels like that. I find some country's servers way worse than others. It's why I run these builds - more clears. I match my build to plug the team deficits.
Its really sad you have to explain that much at the end but good job. I hope people listen and stop acting like this is hard to get done. Make a build. Kill stuff. Be a teammate. Stop killing me with your drone
Like the video and builds but try matchmaking for countdown with anything but red strikers (I have tried) and 9 out of 10 times you will be kicked out as people do not appreciate build diversity.
There are some people who don't understand what some support builds bring to the table. Majority of the time I see people get kicked for just having low SHD and in a lot of those cases, they're running better builds than the one who kicked them.
I have a NBB focus SVD (lucky shot or Dread Edict)Aces build that works alright. MMRs have a good deal of weapon amps from brands to make up some delta in damage. Hotshot 2p and habsburg have been good for that at least.
I ran a similar version before coming up with the Direct Impact build. I think the Ongoing backpack is one of the easiest gearset backpacks to give up. If there's already a couple of Coyote's on the team, try the Creeping Death backpack with the Perfect Trauma chest. That was what I was running before I came up with the Direct Impact build, which has a bit more damage output from the OD chest (+15%). The fire from the holster also avoids the overlapping of the bleed from Trauma body shots and the hollow points.
I guess I am a selfish player because I run hartbreaker + Unbreakable + catharsis mask.😂 This is for challenging difficulty when comes to heroic I use hartbreaker chest instead of unbreakable.
I cant stand countdown..I really dont see the point of having one game mode that is so overpowered. If you are new in the game, then it is the most efficient way to grind watch while gaining so many resources, gear, exotics and caches. you should be there all the time. why run anything else.. the summit legendary missions open world its crazy, and not good for the game. and a bad way to progress through the end game or get good.. merry xmas
It's best for new players because it remains the only place to guarantee a matchmade team. I prefer Descent for Exotics, SHD and blueprints. Countdown is definitely the best for specific gear. TU20 looks like it will improve loot for other modes.
I took the On-Going build and messed with it a bit. Adding in other lessons you've taught us. I'm running a couple blue cores along with 2 PFE mods. GR9 / Scorpio for never having to reload and the ability to throw status effects 99% of the time. This build not only passes on damage to the whole group but it also does enough damage to solo heroic content with ease!
Running GR9 for 200 rounds of Hollow-Point for myself/Scorpio to get things rolling and for crowd control. The GR9, using Sadist, makes sure I've always got the ability to make targets bleed and practically never have to reload in a fight. Coupling that with the Survivalist Tactical Link, granting +10% bonus Damage for allies on status affected targets, I'm handing out 30% (20% amp damage + 10% bonus damage) to everyone with consistency!
Running Obliterate on my chest and Wicked on my backpack for those Amp bonuses! 56CHC/140CHD
Thanks Fog!
Wow, after the first 2 builds I subscribed. Finally someone realizes the importance of giving EVERYONE buffs rather than giving solely yourself a buff. Each time I run my cavalier or future initiative build even with complete randos we can do a 10 minute heroic run on countdown
I haven't really played around with Cavalier. I'll have to take another look.
@@fogowar2022 Cavalier with hazard protection attributes, catharsis mask, picaro’s holster, w/firewall with the backfire makes you and your team almost completely immune to hazards AND any enemy skills. The backfire allows you to still deal a healthy amount of damage while being completely immune to its bleed effect lol. 10/10 would recommend, good sir
Love the ongoing directive build, I use ridgeways chest instead of imperial dynasty for regen. Great video.
im amazed how u introduced true patriot, a set I found it very mhe but now I think it's pretty neat
Been looking for years for someone to actually talk about builds the way you do and so different ways to run it. Thanks for the great content!
Excellent video and tutorial. Thank you. #subscribed
What you was mentioning about a healing being at full health and buffing the team is the healer using an Alp summit chest with Empathic resolve. I ran Empathic resovle/BTSU for a while and then swapped out the BTSU and put on a Opportunistic backpack.
The healer comment related to the Future Initiative buff. Your Alps/Empath setup will definitely work, the damage buff is only active when someone receives a heal though. In some situations it will be better though.
Love the build knowledge it's perfect. Heres one you might try out Fog try using a future build providing bonus armor. 2 piece Brazos chest + galvanize backpack or kneepads + backpack. Technician specialization + scorpio. You give your team bonus armor that to keep the future buff and also the vigilance buff should anyone be using it.
Sounds pretty good and I have no doubt it's a team boost. I have one similar but left it out of the vid. I also have an Ongoing healer/status hybrid that I left out as well.
I love your calm, non-sensationalist way of explaining things and i can tell you really want to help players out! Subscribed and please keep the videos coming 🎉
@fogowar2022
Great video. Very helpful.
One suggestion would be to show the attributes on the gear and what mods you're using.
Not sure what to roll and what mods to use to replicate these.
After vigorous testing of the support builds here minus the dps fi hybrid. Ongoing directive tank build is my favorite support. Not only better buffs then a high end tank. but i can properly play the leadership role now that i do more damage then a wet noodle.
It's one of my favourites too.
Great video!!! Very informative. Keep them coming!!
Fog - one alternative setup on your merica build I like to use if team has plenty damage is galvanized backpack talent instead. Any thoughts on that talent with your build?
My personal opinion is the 900k bonus armour plus the white/blue flags should be enough survivability. The advantage of Galvanise (or even Protector) is you can cover the 5s gap on the cooldown of Pointman bonus armour but it's circumstantial and you're giving up 15% damage to have it.
If others are running Opportunistic, I'd be more inclined to run the TP backpack.
Lol props on those melee health kit interrupts on the hunters in the gameplay clips Fog. 👏
Spectacular video! Your mathematical and data approach truly stands out. I've used your (1) Merica build on the initial three Hunters, (2) Direct Impact afterwars, then (3) Your BBB in the final objective and evacuation segment of Countdown - in that order. The team empowerment is so effective, I've not yet had any cheap quitters (people who quit to avoid the Evacuation fight). Imagine if two or more ran builds like these!
Wow Ako. A couple of those builds are difficult to farm for. And the fact that you put them all together AND used them all in a single mission; impressive. IMO, a combination of Direct Impact, Merica and Snake Eyes, with 5x Strikers would be the META CD team.
@@fogowar2022 Thank you for the kind words. The three builds are thankfully maxed out. It took a combination of Countdown farming and re-running Warlords of New York several times (to obtain the essentials for Optimization) and up-leveling Expertise. I've found it handy using a GR9 LMG as a secondary weapon when using Direct Impact. The Time To Kill might be a bit longer. But if I've applied Status Effect using the build and switch to the GR9 (with the Steady Handed talent) to kill, I end up with over 200 rounds of Hollow-Point Ammo. I can only imagine how many HP rounds the rest of the party gains! I'd love to run CD with others sporting your builds - do you have a Discord?
For the direct impact build you only provide the amplified damage to your group so that’s half of the team.
I've never noticed only half the team getting the special ammo. Seems wierd that some buffs would apply to all and some applying to only group. Have to check that out.
@@fogowar2022 i know it’s like that in raids. Nonetheless I’m really liking your builds and presentation even better
In CD, is all about group dmg.
Great video, thank you!
This is what I needed to know and could not figure out to it's fullest extent.... Thank you so much for the work... Any chance you got a spread sheet I can look at ...I love how synergy works...
No spreadsheet sorry.
Hey FOG, great stuff as ever. Just wondering what attributes/mods you're using in the first build? You talked about PFE mods and running three, but I can't see the blues on the screenshot I took of the overall build, so just curious about that, and the attributes you're favouring on each piece.
Are you referring to the Strikers build or the Direct Impact?
@@fogowar2022 Ah, sorry - Direct Impact (definitely the "self-licking ice-cream build", which would be a great name for it, although non-Aussies might not get it 🙂It was in that discussion that you mentioned PFE, so I was unsure if you were suggesting to run it on this build (I like the idea) or to run reds (I presume CHC?).
In Countdown, I'm generally aiming for around 50% CC. There's almost always going to be a Coyote's or two. As far as the PFE, I'll generally run 3x on my sweaty Strikers build, as it doesn't need any more damage. On the Direct Impact build, I think I was running 1x PFE for the video, I can mitigate a lot of incoming damage through Crowd Control. Go with whatever you're comfortable with, find the balance of damage/survivability for you. If it works for you, it's correct.
@@fogowar2022 Ok, gotcha. Wasn't sure if the "3 x PFE" comment was directed at this build or not. 👍
Love making countdown specific builds. While not the hardest content, i like to enjoy the gear grind while in there so usually run a mix of varied 100% haz/disrupt so I can pop shield with pointman and jammer pulse when i want without being disrupted myself. Found a use for the imperial dynasty holster in there aswell as the hunters actually get effected by it.
As well as gear/exotic farming, I use Countdown to level up proficiency for items. It forces you to come up with build ideas with pieces you wouldn't normally use. That's where I found how good the Imperial Dynasty could be.
Imp dynasty with creeping death is actually pretty hilarious.
Awesome video and some great ideas on some builds. On,h thing I would add and remind everyone still is stop using Drones and turrets on the Hunters! Happy Holidays and have an awesome New Year!
Hey Fog great video thanks for the info! I was thinking of you when the Project Resolve notes came out…. All new stats for ARs…. How you feel about it? All that work and then they go and change the stats! Selfishly, I can only hope this means more videos on retooled ARs?!?
I've got no issues. All the hard work and research was done throughout the last year. It's just doing the calculations with the new stats. I will put out a new vid when the stats become sured up, after the next PTS.
Ongoing Directive works great with Carnage LMG.
True and the 30% reload speed from OD makes it much more viable.
@@fogowar2022 Exactly. And the generous mag means more Hallow-Point ammo for the team.
I been using that same tru patriot build the set up for months now i love it i even made a true patriot skill build with the set up also. Love the explosions red white and blue
Brappp brappp brappp all hail Fog Squad D2 Godz episode. Brappp brappp brappp. At last someone who appricates negotiating dilemma brappp brappp brappp. Glad you've started builds. Keeping us hungry
Thanks.. 👍 I’ve been wanting to play a support role in a group. I’ll be giving this a try. Side question- does the game scale to the highest shd/level in the group? Sometimes time to kill feels long and it’s when I see someone with a higher shd.
Scales to group numbers not SHD.
Like the logic of Snake Eyes. All the best Fog!
Heya- I feel like I've watched this 30 times= but still miss the name of the Exotic Holster on Direct Impact build. mind linking that so I can start working on the pcs?
Imperial Dynasty. Exotic talent is "Dragon's Glare". thedivision.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_Dynasty
Thanks! I ended up using this as it made sense to do so. LOVE this and the tank build. Really making runs so much more smooth!@@fogowar2022
This is Building upto a Great Collection of Christmas Builds.
I just never found a FI healer build of any sort to be worth the hassle in countdown. The amplified damage is certainly nice but the problem is, you‘ll almost never have everyone in range of your skills. That reduces the efficacy considerably. I experimented with bonus armor setups and found that they helped the flow of countdowns considerably better. I even put together a FI tank build to give people the amplified damage and a boatload of bonus armor, but it really was inefficient, imo (wasn’t a waste, though - turned out to a great support build for use in legendaries.)
The real problem is when you get multiple support/tank builds in the same countdown and people are inflexible about switching setups to suit group comp. That usually results in a pretty annoying experience
You can tell in when you're out of range in Countdown, it's when the UI flickers in the bottom right and whichever bonus you're about to lose will flash above all the names. The range for FI seems pretty large. About the same as Pointman.
I get your second point, two Pointman's or two FIs is redundant. That's why I carry a variety of builds on each character. If support is covered I'll just go into cruise control with a Strikers build.
With blue blooded build what reds have you rolled?
All CC/CHD.
I actually love ongoing d. But with iron Lung , always status e. Plus fire , and u can run with ninja backpack plus Ortiz plus eclipse , ton of fun, I do open world works great. Merry Christmas
Ongoing Directive is so versatile. I have yellow builds with it as well.
So in theory could these builds help incursion runs?
I posted the health/armour ratios for the Incursion NPC in another video. Those ratios are essential to calculating DPS accurately.
I see you run improvised holster and gloves. Is that better than running the named pieces?
I don't run improvised. You must have skipped the explanation on those builds.
can make a build for ortiz?
I've never really played around with it. I'll look into it and if I come up with anything worthwhile I'll let you know.
I use, Bagder mask, Ridgeay, The Setup, Picaro Holster, improvise Glove & Kneepad, Scorpio
I wish they'd buff TP, or at least fix the bug(?) where the explosive scales with your health and armor and not the target you killed like the description implies.
I wasn't aware of that TP bug. Thanks for the heads up.
@@fogowar2022 it's hard 2 test but clearly doesn't obliterate everyone if you pop an elite next to any other type of mob in a spawn group.
Oddly a nerf to SHD health scaling makes this part of the 4p worse, lol.
Team builds? Are team mates the people I follow around during my solo countdown play?
Sometimes it feels like that. I find some country's servers way worse than others. It's why I run these builds - more clears. I match my build to plug the team deficits.
You sound like Eric Banna
I get that a lot.
Its really sad you have to explain that much at the end but good job. I hope people listen and stop acting like this is hard to get done. Make a build. Kill stuff. Be a teammate. Stop killing me with your drone
I probably should have reiterated the drone/turret thing but I rarely see it any more, thankfully.
Like the video and builds but try matchmaking for countdown with anything but red strikers (I have tried) and 9 out of 10 times you will be kicked out as people do not appreciate build diversity.
There are some people who don't understand what some support builds bring to the table. Majority of the time I see people get kicked for just having low SHD and in a lot of those cases, they're running better builds than the one who kicked them.
Wear a Striker build when matchmaking and change it as soon as you land, that's the way to beat the numbnuts
Videoes like these really show this games meta isnt that simple
I always wondered if everyone ran the tartagrad
I run it rarely, if someone is already running Pointman.
Probably the only time I've seen a creator make proper use of the Ninja Bike backpack, well done
Thanks. It might change after TU20 but it's literally the only build where I use the NB currently.
I have a NBB focus SVD (lucky shot or Dread Edict)Aces build that works alright. MMRs have a good deal of weapon amps from brands to make up some delta in damage. Hotshot 2p and habsburg have been good for that at least.
@@grumpyoldman6503 I haven't run sniper builds for years but it sounds like a use case for the NBB that might be worthwhile.
Coyote mask 4 pc ongoing perfect trauma chest with st elmo. All red
I ran a similar version before coming up with the Direct Impact build. I think the Ongoing backpack is one of the easiest gearset backpacks to give up. If there's already a couple of Coyote's on the team, try the Creeping Death backpack with the Perfect Trauma chest. That was what I was running before I came up with the Direct Impact build, which has a bit more damage output from the OD chest (+15%). The fire from the holster also avoids the overlapping of the bleed from Trauma body shots and the hollow points.
I guess I am a selfish player because I run hartbreaker + Unbreakable + catharsis mask.😂 This is for challenging difficulty when comes to heroic I use hartbreaker chest instead of unbreakable.
I've got Clan mates who run similar with 4piece blue strikers and swear by them. I still give them s**t though. Haha.
I cant stand countdown..I really dont see the point of having one game mode that is so overpowered. If you are new in the game, then it is the most efficient way to grind watch while gaining so many resources, gear, exotics and caches. you should be there all the time.
why run anything else..
the summit
legendary
missions
open world
its crazy, and not good for the game. and a bad way to progress through the end game or get good.. merry xmas
It's best for new players because it remains the only place to guarantee a matchmade team. I prefer Descent for Exotics, SHD and blueprints. Countdown is definitely the best for specific gear.
TU20 looks like it will improve loot for other modes.