Linea

tldr: There is no recourse and you can not get your influence back. This was your mistake, or a typo on your part, it's not clear which. You bid on the 'each one' price, not the total for the entire set. You don't bid 10 * 14m to buy 10, you bid 10 * 1.4m (each one) to buy 10 at 1.4m each. bidding 10 * 14m translates as 10 * 14m = 140m. If you did this multiple times because you were anticipating buying 50 or 100 then yes it would more or less empty that character's bank, however that bank is limited to max 2b per character. I've typo-ed like this myself, and I expect anyone that buys bulk has sooner or later done so as well. There is no recourse and you can not get your influence back.

Re: DDR Ageless Radial T4 +special. A pair of these rotated will keep a whole team 63+ish. Not rotated a pair will still keep a whole team 42ish. Not paired it varies 22 to 88? But still well worth it. Vengeance 😜 Clarion*PBU*Vengeance*Bubbles is a thing of beauty. The timing is rough, and you often have to settle for less. But when it all comes together!

Anything above 801.2 and you don't have to complete it, just survive it while doing your best to kill all you can. Each tier up is effectively twice as long and twice as difficulty as the one before. At level 12 or 13 it took me an hour just to clear 1 spawn (solo) and get inside the door.

I've done that. One of my older versions of Kiski used PBU as a build-up. These days I prefer Souldrain, the one with the shortest recharge that you can almost perma, and guassian proc it ... *evil grin*

Lowbie Teams, Itrials, ASF, and 801 too. Incarnate capping a whole team is nothing to sneeze at. Before the changes to Clarion * PBU stacking, a single FF could pump out 74 Defense teamwide. I'm not sure what that number is now, but it's still very very high. 69-ish? This is including Maneuvers and Dispersion Bubble. You'd need to test it in-game to make sure to account for the Clarion*PBU changes.

This is a long standing issue, since issue 0, with how +/- resist and +/- damage are coded and linked together internally. Changing it requires completely rewriting all the internal code, effectively rewriting the entire powers system and who knows how much more of the game internals. Significant progress has been made in that direction, but we may never get all the way there. If PB/PBU were allowed to buff those bubbles or similar powers, they would also buff or debuff offensive damage of the same type as the resist, becoming an unintended extremely long term damage buff (or debuff) to that damage type. As an example, a Clarion*PBU*Cold Bubble buffed Ice/Ice/Ice Blaster could have a nearly permanent roughly +75 damage buff, which is roughly equivalent to perma BU. This was considered undesirable, so they marked the powers as unbuffable. At the time, it was not possible to mark the one aspect of the power unbuffable. With all the powers revisions that have been done since i25, it might be possible now, it might not, you'd have to talk to the powers guys. I expect that is one of their goals.

Generally you build for one or the other, SLENFCTP or MRA. Sometimes you get both by accident. Sometimes you mix and match. I generally don't recommend mix and match, but sometimes I do mix and match myself, and as long as you realize you have some really odd holes in your defense, it can be very effective. A notable hole in one of my M/sLEnFCtP builds is Smashing Ranged .... I'm nearly invulnerable most of the time, till some numb nuts puppy throws a rock at me *SMASH*. So on that build I watch out for puppys and earth controllers, otherwise I shrug off pretty much everything else. That map with all puppies all hurling rocks, yeah, that's NOT a map for that build.

I've threatened many times to build my Bio/Kat tank. One of my partners in duo alpha testing 801 was frequently a Bio/Spines. We each had our weaknesses. I would take the the DDRs for them and they would take out the Shockers for me. Which was worse for you? EB Cannons, EB Rads, or something else?

This is the build I used to solo 801.2, once and only once and never again, at +4x8. I rate the build +1x8 instead. It's a standard Rune/Hybrid/Rune/Demonic/Kitchen Sink build. I used it to lead well over 500 teams in 801.2. You do NOT Leroy, you have to use strategy and tactics and limit things to one spawn at a time. If it gets ugly, use your candy, pull out all your T9s and pray. Ability to alpha and take out most of the spawn, using judgement -damage at the same time, can be very powerful. You're cutting incoming damage by 2/3, and then halving what's left for the next 30 seconds. If your behind your T9s at the same time for the next 60 to 180 seconds ... and so on. But if you just Leroy into a room, you'll be dead before you can fire the first volley. However, it is an old i25 build, so I'm sure there is room for improvement with the changes made since. Water Atomic - Ciaraine 2b - [i25].mxd

801.0-Static at +0x8 *IF* you want to use 801, and be applicable to the widest range of builds, I'd say use 801.0-static +0x8, it's a set static map and not random. That should be doable by just about any brute. With the current meta, even tanks build to offense, while 801 assumes that if you are defense based you back it with at least some resist, and if you are resist based you back it with at least some defense. Brutes these days typically build to offense, if they planned to build to durability they'd probably roll a tank. The only armor with a strong argument to build to durability on brute instead of tank would be granite so that the +damage dilution also acts as a -damage dilution. As a reference, my EnM/EnA Scrapper ran 27 minutes on +4x8, and 17m on +0x8. I'm not at all sure what that will tell you or how to use that information. But Hey, I'm always game to run another 801. 😜 801 Tank Armor Durability Ratings (solo durability, not teamed) Here's how I rate the armors on Tanks, but that's not the same as brutes. I'll get to brutes later. 801 Tanks: 12: SR, SD 10: Inv 9 or 10: Stone 6 or 7: All other Tank armors. (Except Regen if it ever gets ported) 801 Brute Armor Durability Ratings (solo durability, not teamed) For the brute conversion, and standard content, I wouldn't change the ratings, other than to move stone up to 10, and add EnA at 7. However, for 801, the loss of defense numbers in the conversion pretty much squishes all four top armors down even to a 7 and adds EnA into the same tier. 801 Brutes: 7: SR, SD, Inv, Stone, EnA 5 or 6: Everything else except Regen. I have no rating for Regen. I'd really like to convert the scrapper to brute with minimal dps loss, so I can pickup the higher resist cap and/or darkest night. But that's a very tall order. The primaries have similar conversion issues. I know what I'd pick as a Tank, Scrapper, or Stalker, and those are not the same across those three ATs. But Brutes are even messier to correlate, which is why I asked.

RadA/RadM + Cold/Water (with Rune/Hybrid/Clarion/Amps for status protection) I'll second Rad Armor/Rad Melee + Cold/Water. The only real questions being on which frames. For 95% of the game, I'd say Brute and Defender or Corruptor. For the 5% that is ultra hard, I'd say Tank and Defender. Resist capped RadA/Radm can rate 6 or 7 in 801, add the cold buffs and it could go as high as 10. If you want to go above 10, then you have to switch to ddr capped armor backed by rdr capped resist. But nothing in this game rates much over 7, not even the ASF on max. Way back on live when someone asked in global for help with AVs, I'll pull out an otherwise mothballed SO Only Cold/ and devastate the AV, done, back to the garage for storage till next time. RAdA/RadM + Traps/Water Similar to above, Traps was one of the classic AV killers, and is entirely self contained. In a duo the slightly slower movement pace of Traps/ shouldn't be an issue. RadA/RadM + FF/Water Similar to the above, but you lose -regen capability. On the plus side the Clarion*PBU*FF can Incarnate Defense Cap your RadM. Perma-Double-T9 Armors, no crashes. Or swap to a Pair of Ageless Radials for near-incarnate capped and 55+ perma DDR on a resist based resist capped rdr capped frame. Double Ageless +ddr would be my pick, alternated so you stay in the 80s ddr range. This gets into the OMG silly range of durability. SD/RadM + Eafn/* SD with healing and resist boosts, *face palm*. And another completely self contained Defender. However, you do lose the advantage of -regen. SD also brings a bit more offense to the fight.

Any immobilize. I would even go so far as to say that I wouldn't play AR without an immobilize. The immobilize can be primary or app, that doesn't matter so much, just so long as you can stack it enough to hold bosses in the burn patches. You might also want to look at immobilize procs.

Power boost effects fall off fast, something like 10 or 12 seconds. The same for Clarion +Special and PBU. Also, there is some decreasing returns limiting in the interactions of PB, PBU, Clarion, and any other similar power. That said, (cast in this order) Clarion +Special * (PB or PBU) * Energize should boost the stats of the energize until it either expires or is cast again over-writing the old boosted numbers with the unboosted ones. I'm not sure how it would handle the endrdx. If it was endmod for recovery it should boost it, but I'm not at all sure how it's going to interact with endrdx.

Stalkers: Two-shotting EBs is fun. 😜 StJ, maybe not quite second AoE, maybe third, then again maybe it's second. But it's good. It's a really solid good all around, for stalkers. EnM gains lets call it 15%, 1.15x StJ ST damage, but the AoE is just ugh. But going StJ/Ena Stalker to EnM/Ena Scrapper, I didn't lose any AoE, and I kept the 15% gain on ST. The downside being my alpha is a bit lighter, I definitely absolutely pull aggro due to taunt in the aura, and I can't shed aggro to save my life. Overall making the scrapper less durable. On the other hand, the scrapper can off-tank with that terribly pitiful little taunt aura if push comes to shove. There is a place for both builds, depending on your goals. That said, neither of these have enough AoE to really write home about, they are clearly intended as primarily ST damage builds. My abysmal trapdoor times pretty much confirm that. Which is why overall I'd probably recommend Kat/Ena or Kat/Bio instead. Kat/Ena running dampeners is a beast early on and only gets better except for the Psionics hole. While Kat/Bio is a beast later and a really good all around build. I consider Kat/Bio the modern Kat/Regen, for better and worse, and it really is one of my favorites.

The top 3 for stalkers are: EnM - maximum ST damage, terrible AoE. It's AoE is bad to start with, and then gets 2/3s of the AoE ripped out in the Stalker Conversion. I recommend EnM/EnA Scrapper for this version. Stj - Best all around, Second best ST, Second Best AoE. ElM - Best AoE, and not horrible ST, *IF* and only *IF* you pickup a snipe, probably Gloom and ShadowMeld. I would also second the opinion that Stalker ElM is probably the best version of ElM in the game. I'd almost wonder how we could backport it back to the other ATs.

Nature self damage cap and Resist Cap experimental build .... I would call this one an advanced build, not a first timer. Nature Fire - Fourcade 2td - [i25].mxd And a more traditional easier to drive defense armored version ... I would recommend this one instead for a first timer. Nature Fire - Laoraine 2c - [i25].mxd Also, there's an argument for yanking one of the recharge ios in aim, forcing max proc rates for the Guassian. I've done both 2 and 3 slot, but these days I trend toward the two slot to maximize the proc. The ability to punch through T9 defense armors on a guaranteed proc is very handy.

Tank, any tank. But you will pull aggro and might get yourself killed, maybe. But the durability part just comes naturally, you probably don't even need to work at it. Brute, you'll pull less aggro than the tank, but you'll also probably need to work at durability at least a little bit. Scrapper, 50/50 depending on the sets you pick, you might or might not pull agro, and you really do need to work on durability. Stalker, you won't pull aggro, you can shed aggro, but you absolutely do need to work on durability. I'd recommend StJ/Ena for the most part, but it does have a psionics hole. Sentinel, you won't pull aggro, and like the stalker you can shed aggro, but you also absolutely do need to work on durability, and your offense is the worst. Any primary with /Ena /Regen /Inv .... and others will all work. Bots/FF Mastermind ... Buff, Fire, and Forget. The ultimate in lazy play. FF/Water, you'll work harder on keeping yourself alive, but depending on build you can go from ultra-durable self buffs to incarnate softcapping an entire team with Clarion+Pbu+Bubbles. And once buffed, it's no-harm no-foul if you die as your buffs persist for 4? minutes. Just get ressed and buff again before the next fight. My personal picks would likely be: Kat/Ena Scrapper or Brute (SL softcap at 13ish with dampeners), Kat/Bio Scrapper (overall favorite), Huntsman (best malfactor build I've ever played), FF/Water (second best malfactor build).

Time I have well over 50 different variations, maybe over 100, and it depends on the goal, and level, and if leveling, and ... Kiski all dolled up in Amps, Dampeners, and the Works. A bit overkill, but if you got it, flaunt it. Make the Tanks Jealous. 😜 (I wasn't going to delete them and re-buy them just for a screenshot) Time - one of the STF builds if not the Sorcery FoN builds which was the original from way way back. The near-perma souldrain builds are more than durable enough for 95% of the game, and can pack near blaster levels of offense. If I'm not running the ultra durable STF variant, I'm probably running the near-perma souldrain variant. I typically run these on /Fire these days, but the originals were /DP. Another good choice would be the Time/DP or TIme/ proc builds, that just barely skirt the defense cap. There are a few threads devoted to them in the defender forums. Probably Bopper and Dahkness would be the two to look at. FF - again, probably the STF build. FF/Water would be best, but I'm not sure I ever made an FF/Water version of the STF builds. Traps - similar but I'm not sure I have a build handy, I retired my traps because most modern teams move too fast for traps to keep up. Others: Huntsman - no it's not a defender, but some variation on it, and I have dozens, is by far the best malfactor build I've ever played. FF above would be second best malfactor. Earth/Eafn - also not a defender, terrible offense, but very durable with stony effectively resist capped. Plant/Time/Fire - yet another variation of Time/ I'm very fond of this one, but it's an endurance hog and then some. _Linea.zip

Me Too ... but now I'm gonna have to double check. 😈

Build Style and Play Style obviously matter here. (almost) None of my builds are offense oriented, but instead heavily armored. With that in mind, I'm not sure any of my times will be helpful in any way to any one else. It's going to be a bit of apples vs oranges. Ciaraine - Water/Atomic 801.2 Armored Blaster - 7:00 Angel Hornet - Enm/Ena 801.6 ASF Scrapper - 8:00 I really noticed the lack of AoE, but the insane ST helped make up for it. I also really felt the Psionic Hole, and used a considerable amount of my time on survival/counter-psionics instead of offense. Angel can off-tank/solo up to 801.6 without any buffs at all, and up to 801.9 with minimal buffs. Kate Wolfe - Kat/Bio 801.2 Armored Scrapper - 8:00 This was the most comfortable overall, really good balance of Survival, ST, and AoE. She's also probably my favorite overall scrapper outside of 801 where I prefer the heavier armor and off-tank potential of Angel. If all the tanks rage-quit, Kate can't step in and take over in anything over 801.2 or 801.3, not without substantial buffs. Lucy Medrano - SD/RadM 801.C Tank - 8:45 Heavier AoE, and a bit ST weak. I felt the weaker ST. But outside of finger fumbles, she's my most solid tank. She's a solid beast. Alnamar - StJ/Ena 801.6 Stalker - 9:15 Stuff Runs Away. Asja Duvall - Kat/Ena 801.A Brute - 10:40 This was the only surprise, I expected her to rate better. Shes very comfortable, but the 801.A build is light on Aoe, and the ST is also a bit light, and feels more like a tank. The alternate 801.6 build has more AoE, but the same ST and would rate about where Lucy does offensively. I'm probably keeping the heavier armored A build, despite the lower damage. It gives me a flexible backup alternative to Lucy for a wide range of 801 runs on alternate servers. But I'm also considering swapping her back to the 801.6 build, too. It's a tough call. Dahlia Walker - Rad/Kat 801.6 Heavy Tank - 12:00 AoE galore, Taunts Galore, this is a tank-built tank. But despite the good AoE, and Great Taunt Potential, it's a bit lacking in ST. Still if I want a tank with maximum taunt and aggro holding potential, this is the tank I pick.

I would probably say Scrapper with a taunt aura for the highest combination of AoE and ST Damage. That said, in one of my +4x8 MOITF contests, it was a pair of Rad/Rad Brutes that won the fastest duo time. The builds were much less armor oriented than anything I run, probably leaning on inspirations as needed, and pushing offense pre-i27-proc builds. These days I'd look at something similar, but with a heavier proc load, and I'd probably prefer scrapper frame, but then again full fury all the time on a brute with the higher resist cap. It's probably gonna be a close call. This is not my build, and it is old, early i25. Radm Radm - MOITF - [i25].mxd

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.