Linea

I'd say ask @Croax. I've never found any significant faults in his logic. I don't have anything objective on psi melee. Subjectively and Anecdotally, Everyone I know that has tried Psi melee with the intent of clobbering AVs and other hard targets has in the end been disappointed in some way or another. It really seems like it should be a good plan, bypass those T9 armors and resists, but it doesn't appear to pan out as well as expected. But this is not an objective measure, it's purely subjective and anecdotal. ymmv.

Given how many tanks die in 801.5 and lower, you're doing great. Add Kinetic Dampeners (to Rune/Hybrid/Rune/Demonic) to cap Energy resists, and all you're missing is enough Heal/Regen ... with minimal support you should be able to handle an 801.7

A single int+5 in Aid Self will let you use it while standing in 1 set of caltrops. I call that good enough. Or there's always DM or RadM.

I don't have a set chain for StJ. I just adapt and follow the damage intuitively. I'd have to go solo a few pylons to get back into the rhythm. But as I recall it settled into two different fairly predictable chains based on First-Half of Ageless Radial vs Last-Half of Ageless Radial. But if anything messes up the rhythm, I just adapt and go with the flow. Dig around the forums, I'll bet it's out there somewhere. It's something like Bu -> Optional MB -> AS -> CU -> Optional_Filler_As_Needed ( SB or (HB, SB), or (HB, SB, HB)). You dont' have to wait on anything, and as soon as you engage this is gonna go all to hell in a handbasket. Don't wait on the combos, use what you've got. But if you can get 1 other Stj in before AS->CU then you will spike hard.

Both. The stalker is a little more durable since it can shed aggro, while the scrapper has a mild taunt and really doesn't shed much if any aggro. Otherwise they balanced out different but roughly equal. Any top tier dps set, if you drop below the top tier you may start running into dps check issues. I'm running 350 to 400 dps on the full 801 armor builds, and that's just barely by the skin of my teeth enough dps for Vicious. DPS Checks, Blech! If we could downgrade the AVs to EBs, I'd probably be soloing on Relentless 😜 I rather suspect I could have run the full dps builds on both Villainous and Malicious as I barely touched my armors on those runs. But I have my doubts about running the full dps build on Vicious, as I did frequently need to use my full armor. But If you can figure out how to balance that out, it would definitely be helpful, and potentially open it up to most primaries. There is a lot of room between the two extremes of double armor vs double damage, the trick being how to find it and build it.

You can, but you MUST share both the .cvg file AND all of the .critter files used to create it. If you don't included the latter .critter files then, CoH will incrementally and exponentially slow down when trying to load those missing files. If enough files are missing it will lock up entirely. If too many files are not missing then you can recreate them with in-game editing. If you're past the point of no return and locking up, then you can either recreate them with a script, I use a perl script to extract and recreate them from the .cvg, or you can delete the problematic .cvg or .storyarc. The HC devs were aware of the issue of CoH wanting to re-read ALL files when even one is changed, and may have fixed this bug behind the scenes, but they also may not have.

Assuming Full Tier 4 Incarnates and Full Tier 4 IOs, built for maximum damage .... Scrappers 600+ dps Stalkers 500+ dps Brutes 400+ dps Tanks 350+ dps Tanks start tough and tend to spend resources on damage. Brutes start with both durability and damage, and can then build toward scrapper or tank, but generally not both. But this does make them in many ways the most flexible melee AT. Brutes are also the kings of farming. Scrappers start with damage, and tend to use resources to increase durability. Stalkers start with damage, are the easiest to maximize that damage, but don't quiet peak as high as the highest scrappers. Stalkers also tend to lack AoE.

Stalker and Scrapper both. (StJ, EnM, etc) / EnA. Running overlapping chained T9s as needed. Didn't really need them until I hit Vicious. For Villainous (1/5), I'd say just about anything can pull it off. Probably 80% of my builds. Malicious (2/5) cuts that down to about 40%. Vicious (3/5) cuts that down to less than 4, due to the AV DPS Checks, primarily on Ripplesurge, secondarily on Zoe/Rodney #2, and last on Midas #4. Vicious (3/5), */EnA Stalker and Scrapper both. You really need 350+ dps, I'd say 400 dps, while maintaining def/res/ddr/rdr/regen/healing, as well as confuse/perception/to-hit. Durable enough is probably 20% of my builds, but durable enough AND packing 400+ dps, yeah that's about 4 tops. I have a sentinel that can survive it, but drops 150-200 dps over the scrapper. The brute with a full durabilty build drops 100 dps over the scrapper, but IS nearly twice as durable. A Tank that is fully durable drops 150 dps. Either a Brute or Tank that pushes dps higher, doesn't take long till it drops durability too low. I'm certain there IS a balance point in there where both Brute and Tank can do this, but that's a much more subtle balance than I usually aim for. I tend to build toward extremes of either durability or damage or taunt potential, and the point you'll be looking for will be hiding somewhere in-between. I do think that point exists, I just don't know how long it would take me to find it. I took my RDR Capped Rad/Kat Tank into a solo Relentless ASF, survived nicely. Finger-fumbled and died, but that's normal. Mind you that build has crap dps, I wasn't actually trying to solo it or pass the DPS Checks, I just wanted to test durability of a resist set vs ASF. Overall I'd say SLE Resist/RDR Capped Brute/Tank is viable for the ASF. The question then becomes how to you keep RDR capped while pushing 400 dps at the same time. That's not a question I can answer, as it's not my build style. Assuming Vicious (3/5) or above, regen will matter at least for Ripplesurge and Midas. I would say you can potentially ignore it elsewhere, but it is still useful if can get it, but not required. Fubar Midas pool 3 or 4 and you'll have a much nastier fight on your hands than you potentially bargained for. Definitely worth looking into. I've yet to get to test my SD/ vs Relentless Goldbrickers. She runs a native 69/54/54 defense, with good but not perfect resists. I suspect that would need to be reconfigured some for Relentless. It's a very tough question.

59 is the standard incarnate soft-cap, 65 for some of the praetorian incarnates. If a build is capable of it, I build for that when possible.

I've soloed up to Vicious (Difficulty 3 of 5), I do not expect Ruthless nor Relentless to be soloable. The hardest fights where, depending on difficulty settings: Zoe/Rodney #2, and Ripplesurge.

Snipes are very good damage, and great for supplementing a weaker ST damage chain. Which obviously varies from build to build, some will need it more while others not at all. I use Shadowmeld more depending on the situation. When up to my eyeballs in Incarnated Psionics or worse (801/ASF) I'll use Energy Drain double or triple stacked for ~+10-15 defense, Energize for the EndRdx, and Shadowmeld. That's ~+35 ish defense, and mostly applies to Psionics as well, If I back that with Rune or Hybrid, what was my weakness is now much more manageable, at least for long enough to take out a boss and start dropping the incoming damage down to more long term survivable levels. The same for any other minor weaknesses or debuffs.

This is one issue.

Has anyone complied a Tier list for Brutes similar to Croax's Stalker Tier List? Seems like that would be a useful thing to have bookmarked somewhere.

Just exactly how much offense do you want !?! StJ without a secondary can push over 500 dps easily. I tend to run extremely heavily armored builds (that are tougher than many tanks), and they run in the 350 to 450 dps range, but that's because I devoted almost all my resources to durability instead of damage. But even this lower dps is enough to effectively solo just about anything that IS soloable. I also often have a second build that is damage oriented, but tend to prefer the armored builds. If it's an StJ stalker, run any armor you want. If you want absolute maximum dps, I'd probably say /Bio. StJ/Bio (all around) EnM/Bio (ST dps) ElM/SD/Snipe (AoE dps)

Any really, particularly if you go high recharge near-perma souldrain. As a general rule I recommend Fire, Ice, Water ... but paired with time, you get a lot more options, particularly if you want to proc out the build too. Bopper and others have some really nice proc builds built on /Time.

Pretty sure D is the current version, and 2L is the version I'm going to respec into later. C is an older version, and 2J is another alternative, but I'm not planning on going that far down that path. J is more of a general purpose path, and I prefer the 801/SoloASF path. I'm going to ease up just a tad on the 801/ASF armor to add a little more Psionics armor. But Only a little, as even a few points of SLE armor means massive increases in incoming damage at the higher to-hit numbers of Incarnate/801/ASF Hardmode settings. (and any or all of these builds may be scrambled a bit, as they are my personal working copies) RE: Taunt Aura EnA Taunt aura is in my experience just barely enough to hold AVs (and other targets) most of the time. It's also a very tight area, if you let small stuff slip even a foot or two away, they can escape. Stuff WILL escape and run sometimes, and some AVs will run even when triple tank taunted. Nothing's foolproof. EnM Ena ShadowMeld Scrapper - 801 - Recharge-T9 ver 2L - [i25].mxd EnM Ena ShadowMeld Scrapper - 801 - Recharge-T9 ver 1d - [i25].mxd EnM Ena ShadowMeld Scrapper - 801 - Recharge-T9 ver 1c - [i25].mxd EnM Ena ShadowMeld Scrapper - 801 - Recharge-T9 ver 2J - [i25].mxd

I have more Dual Pistols and Katanas each, than all other power sets combined. The orginal Kiski build 10+ years ago was Dual Pistols/Time, and she can solo a +4x8 ITF, toe to toe tank a 4 tower buffed Lord Recluse, solo up to 801.6, and makes 801.7 work for it even if it does eventually kill her. If you prefer to go more offensive, then DP/Time/Dark with Procs is probably he way to go.

Stone is fine, I just personally don't like stone. It's possible I won't mind the new stone armor, but testing it (if at all) is a very low priority.

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=v_goldbrickers.golden_brickernaut_hm.brickernaut_selfdestruction&at=boss_elite I'm just guessing at the interpretation, but .... Part of it is flagged ignore resistance. Looks like 13k, 20k, 20k, 20k?, 13k, with 40k+ ignoring resistance. Not sure if that's 3 ticks or only 2. Really doesn't matter, you're gonna be dead a dozen times over. As for what can survive, all my 801 builds have done 'well enough' so far. But I'm also still testing. Verdict is still out.

I think I noticed that and didn't realize it. Which means this is probably an issue of interaction of multiple players. And one of the other players is triggering the blue orb too close to the zone-in point, primarily in the mini-games. ... so extra coordination of "DO NOT MOVE UNTIL EVERYONE ZONES IN"? might work? Then RUN LIKE MANIACS! RUN!

Try duoing 801 +4x8 at 801.7 or above, or the ASF at Ruthless or above (You'll likely need a 4-man team for the ASF AV dps-check at Vicious or above levels). Eventually you'll set them hard enough that you'll die. ... Outside of that, and a few other situations I can think of, yeah, a well built tank only very rarely dies. 801: Solo +4x8 801.2 is standard and any tank of mine that failed it would be scrapped, that may be a bit harsh for others. Any Tier 4 IO Tier 4 Incarnate tank should be able to handle something between 5 and 7. A very good tank should be able to solo survive up to 12 (801.C, C is 12 in Hexadecimal). The 801 sentinel referred to above can handle 5 nicely, but struggles in 7 without a team. ASF: I feel like any Tier 4 tank should be able to survive Ruthless outside of the Self Destruct, AVs, and similar situations. Relentless, I've not gotten to test enough yet.

Angel Hornet is EnM/EnA and took out a Solo Vicious ASF (Difficulty 3 of 5). I'd say she's probably the one with the strongest of both offense and defense. EnA to maximize armors with T9 stacking and Demonic for the crashes, and EnM to maximize ST damage. She runs about 400 dps on the heavily armored 801 build. She should run 600+ dps on an offensive proc build, but I've never built her one. Her stalker counterpart's offensive build was 600+ on the test server. I chose scrapper instead because, stalker AoE is less than Scrapper, and I was looking to be more overall useful with more AoE and actually /wanted/ the scrapper's weak taunt, even if it meant I was a bit more squishy due to pulling more aggro. I chose the stalker (over the scrapper) on the stalker project specifically because I didn't want to pull aggro with taunt, but paired it with StJ to improve the stalker frame AoE performance over EnM. Same Idea, two different ways of approaching it. Kat/Bio is a real favorite of mine, but objectively many builds beat her in both offense, defense, and combined offense/defense. I'm just extremely fond of Kat, and Bio is a really nice, and offensive oriented, match for it. DB/Bio is another option, similar to Kat, but a variation on ST/AoE mix. A bit more offense overall, and a tad squishier. Favorites aren't always the 'best'. I have about equal numbers of Kat/ and Dual Pistols/, and each of those has more than all other sets combined. Favorites don't have to make sense. Armor Types (Armor Recommendations): Defense Armor: EnA (Any AT), Inv/ and SD/ as the Tank Alternatives. Resist Armor: RadA (Brutes and Tanks Only). Heal Armor: Bio (Any AT, paired with a Defensive Weapon). Offense Armor: SD, Bio

Here are some very old builds of mine. For a beginner I'd recommend the more heavily armored one, with less damage. The high damage build is an advanced build. None of these are leveling builds, although I do level with them. Nature DP - Fourcade 2 - [i25].mxd Nature DP - Charged Armor Prototype 1 - [i25].mxd Nature DP - Laoraine 2c - [i25].mxd

Maybe extend the first orb timer to 30s. I've had it spawn more than once within seconds of zoning, and I'm on a fairly fast machine. If you zone slower .... I would also like to see the graphics a tad larger diameter. I've sometimes been hit by an edge when I should have otherwise been outside it.

It's unlikely the existing devs will be able to find that level of excess resources soon(tm). I'd love it if they would do it, I have a 250+ hour base I'd love to import and upgrade to the current base tech. If you're a competent high level Software Engineer and C# programmer, the code is available, make it your own personal project. Expect to invest a years worth of your free-time in it.