Linea

801 took a very long time to balance, and uses out of game tools (but doesn't have to, it's just easier). It's easy to slap together a simple group for solo only play, but the default simple AE methods tend to not scale well. There is an exponential^3 potential difference in a small team of SO only non-incarnates, and a full team of 8 full Tier 4 IO Tier 4 Incarnate players. A single T4^2 player can encapsulate the capabilities of a full team of 8 SO Heroes. And that only gets worse when the synergistic Incarnates start bouncing off each other in teams. That's probably a 64:1 power ratio difference, if not potentially worse. I've seen vet teams crumple to 801.0, and at the same time I've seen rare teams stomp 801.5, and I have a few very rare teams asking for more. My BEST tank crumpled to 801.9, and I expect THAT (very rare) team to come back and ask for MOAR! The IOed INCARNATE is out of the bag, and there's no putting it back. I would fully support a two additional settings: No Bosses - We already have this Regular - We already have this Bosses to EBs: Minions -> Lts, Lts -> Bosses, Bosses -> EBs Bosses to EBs Plus: Minions -> Bosses, Lts -> EBs, Bosses -> EBs All EBs: ... all EBs You could give AVs a similar synergistic treatment. I'd probably never touch that outside of teams, but I can see some teams loving it. No AVs - We Already Have this Regular Avs - We Already Have this EBs to Avs - regular EBs to AVs All AVs - All AVs

Here's an alpha pass at a translation of one of my armored builds. EAfn Elec Defender - Alpha 1 - [i26].mxd

AE 801 Incarnate Team Missions WARNING: Do not attempt 801.6 and above unless you have tried the lower difficulties and found them too easy. +4x8 801.6 and higher generate 3.5k+ sustained dps, with frequent 10k+ spikes, and rare 20k+ dps spikes. This is 98% Fatal to Solo Unsupported 75% resist cap ATs. Just search '801' in AE. AE 801 is a variety of missions created for fun and challenge, and is designed for a team of 5+ Incarnates; but is also designed to be solo-able on much lower difficulty settings by most Tier 4 Incarnates. The difficulty of the missions increase as the numbers increase from: 801.0 Easy, …, 801.2 Standard, …, 801.5 Hard, ..., 801.8 Extreme, 801.A Epic, ... 801.F. Most Tier 4 Incarnates should be able to solo 801.0 set to -1x0 no-bosses, but do not expect it to be easy with all of those builds. On the high-end 801.5 and up +4x8 have killed over 1,500 tanks that I know of, likely more that I don’t. I suggest you start no higher than 801.2. This is my standard map for testing an armored character's combined offense and durability capabilities. If you can solo 801.2 +4x8 in the time given (2 hours), then you have enough offense and durability to handle 99% of what the official game throws at you, ... with the exception of some +4 AV dps checks, other cheaty encounters like Hamidon, and the newer Hard Mode settings. I would suggest 801.5 as a maximum starting point for a FULL TEAM. Most teams never get past 7, and very few have ever done A (10) and up, while only and handful of teams have completed D (13), and less than a handful have completed F. If you just want a quick and dirty less comprehensive test of durability try '801.0-Static' +4x8. This is the shortest easiest map in the 801 series. There are also a static versions of 801.3 (Tier 2), 801.6 (Tier 3), and 801.7 (Tier 4), which are also shorter and easier. My favorite these days is 801.6, which I run almost exclusively. Random teams for which it is either too easy or too hard are about equally rare. Some of the maps are semi-random map sets, However, the hardest actual maps are unfortunately not randomizable map sets. 801.6 has been redesigned to better fit between 801.5 and 801.7 801.5 generates 2k dps sustained damage, with frequent 8k dps, and rare 15k dps spikes vs an unarmored target. If you are not prepared to take 15k dps to the face, you may want to start with 801.0 set to +0. For reference, I’ve soloed the standard difficulty 801.2 +0x0 no-bosses on SO-Only defenders, blasters, controllers, etc. I’ve also soloed the harder versions +4x8 on my more durable full T4 IO T4 Incarnate Defenders, Scrappers, Controllers, Etc. I make the assumption that if I can solo it, you can run it with a team. On the Extreme end, I only have one tank build that can Solo +4x8 801.C, and that under extreme duress and difficulty (and with nowhere near enough offense to finish it in time. It takes 60+m just to clear the entry room solo). Recommended Team 801.0: 5 Tier 4 Incarnates set to +0. 801.3: 5 Tier 4 IO Tier 4 Incarnates 801.7: A Full Well Balanced Team of 8 Tier 4 IO Tier 4 Incarnates Other Recommendations: A "Tank" and an "off-tank". These do not have to be Tank AT. The ability to take 15k damage to the face, or otherwise control aggro will be very helpful. A third Tank is not out of line, but may not be required either. I'm pretty sure the 801.D team ran 3 tanks, 2 blasters, 3 support/control. Resist and Defense Buffs and/or De-Buffs. Due to ‘Incarnate To-Hit’ and ‘Incarnate Damage’ running without buffs, or the debuff equivalent, is not recommended. One or Two Control. Due to backwards compatibility with being able to solo +0 (with a controller), controls are particularly effective. CoH Mobs in general are weak to (in order): Confuse, KB/KD, Fear. Control can, if employed precisely with care and coordination, eliminate 90% of the damage from 90% of the mobs. Control is extremely useful, but since 7 and up are EBs, matched coordinated or stacked controls get a greater emphasis. Control becomes even more difficult in 11 and up, you might need 3 controllers instead of 2. Leadership Buffs. Something to help punch through T9 Armors. Tactics, Overgrowth, Mindlink, Blasters, etc, are particularly helpful here. I want an 801 Tank: TLDR: Inv/ with Kinetic Dampeners I typically run /Bio Scrapper (or really any of my builds regardless of AT) up to 2, /EnA Brute up to 6, Inv/ Tank up to 9, and SD/ Tank up to D (13). Each of these can more or less hold a door indefinitely solo +4x8 at those levels. More info in the post below. WTF Killed Me?!? Post and Link on One of many ways to die in 801. See Also AE801 Design Notes AE801 Mission Table Note: As far as I'm aware, at last count only 6 teams have completed F. AE801 Spawn Design Note: Not all maps follow the same spawn definition. Test each map carefully. Most maps seem to behave in the following way. The easiest maps will be relatively small and sparsely populated. As difficulty increases, I add ‘rescue’ and other objectives to densify the maps and create adds. As you get to the much harder maps you can expect mobs hiding around corners, above you, behind doors, etc. Eventually you will even encounter ambushes. The faster you move through the missions the more the push back will increase. And lastly, 801.3 and above mobs are particularly more difficult than 801.2 and below mobs. Each primary spawn is backed by a “dangerous” EB; 1 dangerous boss, and 1 less-dangerous boss; 1 or 2 dangerous lieutenants, and 2 or 3 less-dangerous lieutenants; 1 dangerous minion, and 7 normal minions; furthermore every spawn will have at least one minion level sniper, if not higher level snipers. The “dangerous” mobs are further broken down into various difficulties, and spread out pseudo-randomly in the .cvg such that it’s either impossible, or extremely rare to get two particularly dangerous mobs in the same spawn. However, you can get two very dangerous overlapping spawn groups. In fact, there are many places in the maps where 3 to 5 groups overlap dangerously close, and two overlapping groups is not at all rare. All mobs have at least partial ‘Incarnate To-Hit’. Due to AE mechanics this varies from ~53 to ~65, and is not the exact 59% of official content. On easier difficulty maps you can expect some mobs to lose their Incarnate To-hit and fall back to normal standard soft-cap after a short period of time. If you are moving slowly, pulling, fighting, and easing forward, this will make future mobs much easier. Mobs will also become much easier in protracted fights as opposed to alpha strikes. Beware, some of the highest level snipers have Aim, you should be prepared to take at least some damage if you give a sniper free reign to take pot shots at you. Bosses Summary as an example: 33% - 19/58 – Primary Buff/Debuff Control, these are the primary heart of each spawn. 17% - 10/58 - Standard AoE damage 17% - 10/58 - Standard Light Damage 15% - 9/58 - Supplemental Buff/Debuff primarily for -resist balance and a bit more challenge 8% - 5/58 - Difficult to Control 8% - 5/58 - Tier 9 Armor, Control them first or else. AE Spawn Mechanics Note: Not all maps follow the same spawn definition. Test each map carefully. Most maps seem to behave in the following way. Don’t shoot the messenger If you want random or controlled spawns, you will have to randomize, or control your .cvg file yourself. You can do this by the order in which you edit critters, or you can do this outside of AE with some limitations. The former will potentially take you hours each time you want to change even one power in one critter. The latter once you get used to it is, at least for me much easier. AE creates three lists: minions, lieutenants, bosses. These lists are created in sequential order from your .cvg file, which is created by default in alphabetical order from your .critter files. Then rolls a random index in each list. Then it spawns sequentially through those lists. Each x8 Spawn will have approximately 2 bosses, 4 lieutenants, and 8 minions. This means, if you have 2 nasty bosses in your group, you’ll always get 2 nasty bosses. If you have two or three copies of your bosses in a larger group of easier bosses, but your three bosses are in your cvg file together as boss1, boss2, boss3, then you’ll get spawns of 2 hard bosses, 1 hard boss with 1 easy, and a bunch of easy spawns. If you wanted a random hard boss here and there, you’ve completely failed by default. This is the default AE behavior. Additional Spawn Detail: For additional spawn density you can use ‘rescue’ objectives, and sometimes other objectives. AE is very strange in the way some of these interact, particularly the ‘any’ objective types. Make sure to test carefully that one objective type isn’t over-writing another objective type. It’s both possible to over-spawn a map and create more spawns that might otherwise ‘normally’ be available; and it’s equally possible for one spawn type to overwrite another and not spawn as many spawns as would other wise ‘normally’ be available or that appear to be available. To futher confuse the situation, editing storyarcs often only count the edited objectives instead of recalculating all objectives. This interacts with the above in strange ways, sometimes beneficially, sometimes detrimentally. Warnings: WARNING NONE OF THIS IS OFFICIALLY SUPPORTED, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. AE will try to rewrite your .cvg constantly If you change even one power, you will need to re-order and re-write your .cvg Backup your .cvg, lots. Then lots more. Then a few more times, just in case. If you want to manipulate the .cvg: You will need to save it in-game (and stay online), then out of game back it up, then manipulate it, then save it. The updated version should then appear in-game. If you’ve made a backup.txt of file.cvg, this can save you time next time you want to work on it by logging in, saving your .cvg in-game, then out of game type backup.txt > file.cvg to return it to the saved state and start working. AE 801 DPS Tests 801.5: 2k dps average, 8k spikes, 15k max spike 801.A: 5k dps average, 10k spikes, 25k max spike 801.B: 10k dps average, 25k spikes, 46k max spike AE 801 Actual CVG Spawn Lists: Note: EBs are not sorted, as they only spawn when purposefully put into a spawn individually. However, you can see the sorting with the Bosses and below, and the note how various spawn compositions would look given the sequential nature of spawns. Random Starting Index, Then Sequential Spawn. AE801 Additional Information and Files for 801.6 (Link) Tagged For Search: AE 801, AE801 cvgui.pl IC - 6035.cvg

The Alpha build is a pretty standard if old Linea Armored Build. I do not at all recall what I was doing with the concept builds, but at a guess I was looking into Resist Based Builds ... which I do /not/ normally recommend on 75% resist cap ATs. Cold Sonic Dark - Eve Concept 2 - [i25].mxd Cold Sonic Dark - Eve Concept 3 - [i25].mxd Sonic Cold - Alpha 1 - [i25].mxd

I've always said (Full T4 Incarnates) are half your damage, and T4 is double T3, T4 or stay home. This is not strictly true, but it's scarily relevant. You're not helping me to change my mind. A 1:45 pylon time is well above my normal dps levels on anything other than a stalker.

Yes. As to T3 or T4, I'd have to to look, I'm as likely to be T3 as T4. I've not been as overzealous T4ing lately as I used to be. But nothing would be below T3. I was running for speed/damage, solo, not protecting a team or any other distractions. All those things severely effect performance. The bigger problem you're going to run into here, is you're testing builds, players, and playstyles as much or more than you are sets. I wasn't even beginning to try to be fair about testing sets, I was just curious what my main stable would do. And I was hoping the empath would beat all the tanks /and/ survive to tell the tale so she could tease them all. Unfortunately runners are a pain and she came in last. I'm personally curious how Dahlia will do. She's my only "Tank". I'm curious to see how much that difference costs her. Here's how I rate them. Note I've not rated the Rad/Kat. It should be slightly better than the Rad/Staff. Name Build AT Off ST AoE Ciaraine Water/Atomic Blaster 94 81 100 Jilaiya Medici Emp/Fire/Dark Defender 79 77 80 Amhra Kat/Bio Scrapper 77 91 70 Kitana Kat/EnA Brute 60 87 47 Lucy Medrano (dam) SD/RadM Tank 59 77 50 Lucy Medrano (tank) SD/RadM Tank 52 57 50 Radicat Rad Armor/Staff Tank 50 57 47

+4x8.

Here's one you can look at modifying to your tastes. Nature Archery - Laoraine 2c - [i25].mxd

Here's a couple of quick passes at an armored build. You'll have to adjust to taste. Oops, wrong primary. Ah, here's one. Pain DP - Alpha 1 - [i25].mxd

The Empath didn't even chip a nail. Runners Suck: Jil was however rather vexed at all the bosses running away like they'd been taking track lessons from Rommy. Without the Runners Cia (Blaster) would have beat them all, and Jil (Empath) would have beat all but Cia (Blaster) and Kate (Scrapper). Here are my top 5 (favorite) characters: (These are NOT mirror builds, so grain of salt, tongue in cheek. All are fully armored Tier 4 IO Incarnate Builds, built for standard Linea Armor instead of damage.) Kate (Kat/Bio scrapper): 9:05 Cia (Water/Atomic Blaster): 9:42 ... Runners Suck! Asja (Kat/Ena Brute): 9:45 Lucy (SD/Radm Tank): 9:45 Jil (Empathy/Fire Defender): 13:14 ... Runners Suck!

Some builds ... EAfn Fire Defender - Alpha 1 - [i26].mxd EAfn Fire Defender - Fourcade 1 - [i26].mxd EAfn Fire Defender - Myshkin 1 - [i26].mxd

Almost any AT can "Tower-Tank". Depending on your team composition and builds, you vary tactics and/or which tower is best to take down first. LR is 75% defense soft-cap while buffed, as opposed to 45% (standard) or 59% (incarnate). Bring maneuvers, bubbles, purple candy, etc. As I recall that's the yellow tower, but you'd need to look it up. The red tower is damage, and is a fairly ridiculous damage buff. Buffed he can dish out 4500+damage, and do so in short order. If he double-hits you it's really gonna hurt, and triple-hit will probably kill even the most heavily armored and buffed squishy. Triple-hits /do/ happen, but rarely. Last but significant is his -End attack. That's the one that gives many otherwise durable builds serious trouble. *end crash* *splat* Kiski (Time/*/Scorpion w Rune/Hybrid/Rune) tanks him face to face solo and is successful 2/3 or more of the time. She prefers the red tower come down first as her SLE defense runs 100+, SLE Resists are capped (at 75%, which means she has ~5k effective hp). She also really prefers to have some +Recovery or +End buffs. ... of course the obvious answer here is to 'Tower-Tank' him.

I'm pretty sure you would be terrified by the answer to that question. ... the forum self-selects to a higher than average strata.

I've done a lot of mirror builds ... That are not perfect exact mirrors. In most cases I create a dozen or more builds to compare and contrast and pick what I feel is best for each. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses. Every set combo is different, so for your particular exact build this may or may not apply. The Brute can be built as either (roughly equal damage to the scrapper) or (roughly equal durability to the tank) at level 50 ... or anywhere in-between the two goals of damage and/or durabilty. That flexibility is an incredible asset. The Brute starts with lets call it average damage, and average mitigation, and can go either way, striving for a scrapper's damage or a tank's durability. The Scrapper starts with damage, and in general strives for more damage, and with rare exception will not be able to match the brutes durability. The Brute starts with lets call it average damage, and average mitigation, and can go either way, striving for a scrapper's damage or a tank's durability. The Tank starts with durability and then spends it's entire life trying to strive toward the brutes damage potential. The tank could also go the other direction and strive for more durability, but in general that direction is over-armor (as opposed to over-kill). Other Points I generally do not recommend resist armors on 75% resist cap ATs I generally only recommend the tank if you want maximum taunt or maximum durability above all else, both of these ARE valid desires and roles. Otherwise brute is "durable enough" and you usually have more damage that makes life more enjoyable solo. I really appreciate a good tank on a team. Professional tanks on a tank frame really are worth their weight in gold plated latinum. But most players will probably enjoy playing the brute more. As a reinforcing note: I really can see and feel the difference it makes to teams on the rare occasion when I do pull out the full tank frame. But I almost always prefer to play the tank-built brute instead (if not the scrapper). The tank has a constant barrage of AoEs and taunts and can juggle an entire room's worth of aggro. The brute can manage about half that. The scrapper is lucky to hold half of half or less, but with most teams that's "just enough". Overall, I probably play the brute the most, as it's the most comfortable combination of taunt, durability, and damage ... even if the tank is a bit more durable with better taunt and the scrapper is a bit more damage. Here are my favorites (stalker, scrapper, brute, tank): StJ Ena WaterSpout Stalker - Alpha T3 - [i25].mxd Kat Bio Scrapper - Alpha 3 ITF - [i25].mxd Kat ENA - Mu 1i - [i25].mxd Rad Kat Tank - Radicat II - Mu 3f - [i25].mxd SD RadM Tank - Alpha 5b - [i25].mxd

I would /love/ to see "Incarnate Radio Contact(s)" (maybe in Khallisti Wharf) utilizing 801 design groups and giving incarnate rewards. .... I've considered doing 801 versions of all the end-game enemy groups in AE... but the limit of 3 AE arcs per account makes it a no-go. There's also the non-trivial time it takes per enemy group as well.

Rommy Running roughly halves your applied dps.* If it's an issue, kill the nictus first, or both separate and kill the nictus first. Then you only have to chase him down for the last kill. I don't think any other AV runs nearly as much as Rommy, this is purely opinion, but !@#$ he knows how to run. You can also have 2-4 people with Envenomed Daggers. Stacked they help much more than most realize. One is meh, depends on the build and your raw dps, but teamed with a few stacked is very nice. *as measured while soloing him +4x8 with my builds. other builds and teams will vary.

FF Water Dark - Soul Drain - Overwatch 1 - [i25].mxd converted to Sonic Blast FF Sonic Dark - Soul Drain - Overwatch 1 - [i25].mxd MRA based defenses, Decent Resists, Extra Offense, ...

Heavily Armored Version ... Adjust levels etc to taste. Poison DP - Beta - [i25].mxd

(old) Cheap Easy mostly SO Builds ... but effective. ... ... then some more expensive (old) variants FF Water - Budget Build 2 - [i26].mxd Traps Water - Budget Build 1 - [i26].mxd FF Water Dark - Soul Drain - Overwatch 1 - [i25].mxd Traps Water - Quarterback 1 - [i25].mxd

The idea of the build was to test resist cap and (almost perma) +self_damage_cap. I soloed a +4x8 ITF with it. Standard Rune/Hybrid/Rune/Demonic/KitchenSink rotation. It plays a lot like a BioArmor scrapper. When you get defense debuffed you WILL die if you don't react and do something; However, with all that resist and absorb you typically DO have time to react. Without the absorb and resist you'd otherwise drop to cascade failure too fast to react. You can get defenses via temps and candy. I probably have a defense based perma-snipe version somewhere, but the +self_damage_cap is lost. And it's not translated to /Ice as ice doesn't have a snipe. This is probably it: Nature Fire - Laoraine 2c - [i25].mxd

I went pure resist build with self +damage ... I built it as Nature/Fire, but Nature/Ice is an easy translation. Nature Ice - Fourcade 1 - [i25].mxd Nature Fire - Fourcade 2td - [i25].mxd

I'd like to see 801 style remakes of all the major villain groups and then see 801 style radio missions that offer incarnate rewards. The obvious downside being, if you aren't on an incarnate team, you might get slaughtered. Other options and avenues would likely reap better return on investment for dev time.

Here's one of my older builds, designed as resist cap self damage cap, not defense based. Being NOT defense based it is much harder to drive than a defense based build, but the damage potential is nice. Nature Water - Fourcade 2 - [i25].mxd

Here are two very old, heavily armored, non-proc builds. (more modern proc builds will have more offense, but also likely less armor. Not that you need /that/ much armor.) The one was intended to be run with Amps, and possible dampeners and base buffs as well. The other is stand-alone. Storm Water Dark Defender - Druidess 2c - [i25].mxd Storm Water Scorpion - Alpha 1 - [i25].mxd

Tanks that can crank out 250+ dps in order to take out a +4 AV solo are not "average" tanks. I've done it, but it's not something I'd recommend to the average player, or even above average player. Tanks that can do that are probably Top 5% or better. I'm aware they are using the extra super difficulty settings only available in TFs, that is why I added "(but with all the toys, temps, and inspirations)". With the toys it's almost anything, without the toys and no deaths, it's a much much smaller subset. I wish there was more content like this, but without the AVs, as the dps-check is the most annoying aspect of this kind of thing.