Linea

That which kills AVs best is not necessarily that which kills hordes well. 8/10 of my builds have soloed a +4x8 ITF, but I'm not sure I'd recommend any of them for the job. The ones that take out the AVs most easily struggle with the hordes, and vice versa. All of the following have soloed a +4x8 ITF. At least once ... and probably never more than once as it's a non-trivial task for most build. Kat/Bio* - The more durable DB/Bio, 801 certified. It struggles more on the AVs due to lower ST dps, but the durability more than makes up for it. This is probably my top pick for the job. DB/Bio - less durable, more dps, assuming you can keep yourself alive, it chopped up the AVs very nicely. Armored Illusion/Rad - Destroys AVs, takes out 54+ GMs in 3 minutes. By far one of the best AV/GM killers in the game. But it struggles vs hordes, the AoE damage is relatively low. Armored FIre/Atomic Sniper Blaster - This one will be difficult from a player resources perspective. Consider it an advanced class. But the payoff is nice. you walk into a room, stroll around collecting up the whole room .... then nuke the whole thing flat in about 10 seconds. Then with roughly 325 ST DPS you have enough firepower to take out most +4 AVs, it won't be fast, but you can do it ... assuming you can juggle your survival ... and use pets as available to speed things up. StJ/EnA Stalker - 500+ ST DPS or more *rolls eyes*, but roughly equally durable as the armored blaster. Harder to put in the durability hole as compared to the blaster, but once it's in the hole it has a harder time digging itself out of the hole as compared to the blaster. Roughtly equal overall durability. Also relatively low AoE, most stalkers have relatively low AoE due to an AoE Attack being sacrificed in order to add the Assassin's Strike. Kat/EnA - Most broken (in a good way) build I've ever played. The ST dps is probably too low for lots of +4 AVs without using reds. The worst part of the build is the heal comes late-game. Bots/Traps - Classic AV killer, but may struggle on some of the harder AVs or in over-aggro situations. Relatively low objective DPS. subjective DPS is much higher. Time/(FIre,Water,Ice,DP)/(Dark,Soul,Mace) - Tank-Mage, but depending on build may need reds for the harder +4 AVs. Armored Nature/Fire/Dark Self-Damage Cap Defender - I do not normally recommend resist based builds on 75% resist cap ATs ... but this one is might just be worth the cost. Armored Water/Atomic Blaster - This is my "main tank". Very Durable (at least in my hands), and good overall damage. However, ST damage is a bit weak, you'll need reds or pets to take out any of the harder +4 AVS. Armored Procced Storm with (Fire, Ice, Water, DP) - This is probably the very advanced class. I'm not even sure which way I'd build it Def vs Cor, but probably Def. Then balancing Armor vs Procs will be a nightmare. However, the DPS potential along with debuffs is just plain old silly. I can see a build like this hitting 500+ ST dps, more than enough to take out stubborn AVs in 5 minutes or less. Add pets and you should have enough offense to rival the classic Illusion/Rad and have more overall AoE capabilities as well. But it won't be an easy build to design nor easy to drive, at least not when facing +4x8 over-aggro cap hordes. And more ... there are lots of builds that can do the job. I've even soloed a +4x8 ITF with my Empath, but I really don't recommend that, it was a 4-6 hour run. There is absolutely no build that is best at all three, Farming, ST, AoE, and Durability. The closest you'll get would be Titan/Bio, but Titan/Bio really needs to be built toward relatively high recharge and not armor. Titan without enough recharge falls off both an objective and subjective dps cliff. If you can't build it to it's strength, you're better off with a different set, like DB/Bio. Titan build correctly would be even less durable than DB/Bio, but higher dps. But that in turn means you have to work much much harder to keep it upright vs the harder enemy groups and/or AVs when solo. Teamed this isn't an issue, but solo can be a different story.

Yeap, been there, done that with my Huntsman too, very similar tactics. The "Track Star" drives me batty.

Defenders are, IMO, the most versatile AT. I can build one defender to be tougher than tanks and have equal to greater damage than that tank (But I don't taunt as well). I can build another to rival scapper's damage (The scrapper can have better focused damage to cut through the middle of a pile, but much less AoE, and little to no debuff for hard targets). I can build many that push into the blaster spectrum of damage, and have better survivability than blasters (blasters have better alpha burst, but not long term sustained damage). The only thing really holding back defenders are the AT caps. There's just very little I can do about the damage cap and resist cap. That skews builds toward defense, which means you have to counter DDR, but that's not an impossible thing to do. And it skews you to defender damage caps which limits your burst damage, but when you can sustain that cap longer, your overall long term sustained damage can be greater. Depending on exactly which sets, builds , teams, and targets, sometimes a corruptor is better; but by and large the greater flexibility of the defender build usually ends up better. I probably play my main blaster more than my defender or any other build, but I also wholly acknowledge that the defender is overall the more powerful build, only slightly less durable than the tank, and only slightly less damage than the blaster. The defender however, does take a lot more player resources and in-game resources, the blaster, scrapper, and tank are much easier, simpler, and cheaper to drive.

Here is how I rank blast sets. Based on my playstyle, +4x8, Solo, Linea-Style Armored Builds, No-Procs (this was pre-proc builds), Harder Mob Types like Incarnate Resistance that don't clump or play nice for AoEs and Debuffs, etc ... other significant changes have likely happened since then as well .. But the bottom line is, there are plenty of viable choices other than Sonic.

That's how I approached it, mostly. I think I'd pull the one unique slot from Weave back into AB to guarantee it's recharge. Otherwise, that looks like the best build yet.

I generally recommend: Fire, Ice, Water I personally like DP, and dislike Sonic, but those are personal tastes, neither objective nor even subjective to performance.

Put the acc proc in weave, it's sooner. You might not even need the acc proc, given you slot tactics sooner in the build. With that in mind, replace the acc proc with better slotting in tough, or with a resist unique in weave or ... Also move the resist unique in maneuvers to Weave so it's available sooner.

Harlequin Device is a translation of my (almost) GM Compliant build. Burke and Strauss are more traditional Empaths with more healing capability, and then varying armor vs attacks, and should be close enough to be easily modified to be GM compliant. None are Proc-Builds. /Energy is ripe for a Proc-Build. Incarnates are mostly place holders. There's so much in each build that would vary by taste. Note: these may or may not use the MRBU update. MRB: https://tinyurl.com/y6akcwre MRBU: https://tinyurl.com/vnhnjlo Mids Archives: https://tinyurl.com/wsn5v4j Emp Energy - Burke 6 - [i26].mxd Emp Energy - Harlequin Device 2 - [i26].mxd Emp Energy - Strauss 5 - [i26].mxd

I've had a few fish poop try this with me. It's annoying, but more likely to get the fish poop warned or banned than you. One-Star them so you can recognize them in the future, and/or add them to your ignore list.

Interchangeable builds without the need to respec. Emp Rad - Burke IO - [i26].mxd Emp Rad - Burke 6 - [i26].mxd

If you set Mids->options->config->exemp_math->base_to_hit=48, that will take care of 50+1 vs 54s automatically for most powers and builds. Of course always double check, mids does have it's issues.

An older Fourcade Variant, NOT proc based, .... and it wouldn't be unreasonable to pull some defense and start working procs into the build on the offense side especially. (almost all my builds were designed before the proc and ppm changes were finalized and really started working their way into builds) Nature DP - Fourcade 2 - [i25].mxd

Fourcade is nearly-perma self-damage cap, resist cap based build, but you can cap SL defense via P2W:Kinetic Dampeners and maybe Amps. Hard to check the exact numbers without getting in-game. Laoraine is a more traditional def/res sniper build, but without the self-damage cap. Nature Fire - Fourcade 2td - [i25].mxd Nature Fire - Laoraine 2c - [i25].mxd

Alpha first pass brainstorming build. Lots of painful choices required. Earth EAfn Controller - Alpha 1 - [i26].mxd

Feel free to comment and add more builds. None of these are finished builds, just brainstorming. Most are standard alpha format with Rune/Hybrid/Rune. I have lots of comments on the set, but it pretty much boils down to: "Don't get all your pets and teammates dead. You need them to bounce buffs off." EAfn Water Defender - Alpha 1 - [i26].mxd EAfn Fire Defender - Fourcade 1 - [i26].mxd EAfn Fire Defender - Alpha 1 - [i26].mxd EAfn Ice Defender - Alpha 1 - [i26].mxd EAfn DP Defender - Alpha 1 - [i26].mxd

I say it's just right. It's easy enough for novices that want to play the simpler easier game, and at the same time there's plenty of room for optional self-imposed challenge. Not everyone is playing the same game. Or, we don't all play this game the same way. Perspective and play-style matter. If you made the game difficult for me, you'd make it unplayable for 95% of the player-base. I'd love to see more difficulty settings: +8x16 ... I have artificially played +9x8, and find it a nice challenge. +11 however, is too hard, with minions being almost like AVs. Increased difficulty should also have increased reward. Then perhaps, more people would play optional increased difficulty content. If you want a challenge, go to AE and search '801', then solo (or team) any of those arcs +4x8. What is 801: A) it's where I test all my builds solo +4x8. B) It's "What's Next?" for Tier 4 Incarnates. C) It's intended as a mission for a team of 4-5 Incarnates. Something that someday I may make a series of "Incarnate Radio Missions" out of. I will be making more of these, applying the same mechanics and designs to other combat groups like: Council, Longbow, Malta, Carnies, etc ... How is 801 Designed This was designed after talking to a couple of the devs for an hour or so about difficulty and power design ... Incarnate To-hit, on average, but with some Snipers. This varies up and down due to AE mechanic limitations. If you grab a Defensive Amp you'll be above "Incarnate Average". Without the amp you'll be below average. There are snipers with greater increased to-hit, but also anything with an Aim mechanic will be standard to-hit most of the time. All of the Rage Mechanic mobs are roughly Incarnate to-hit for 2 minutes on then several minutes of lower to-hit. If you move fast you're facing full incarnates, if you move slow you're facing more normal non-incarnate to-hit levels. Be aware, debuffs with incarnate to-hit levels are no joke. High density mobs, with at least one +perception sniper in each group. This means adds are always a potential issue. It also means combat can be almost non-stop, and very intense. A dangerous Buff/Debuff/Damage EB at the heart of about half the groups. 1 in 4 bosses and Lts are: Buff/Debuff, Damage/Debuff, AoE Damage, or Standard Damage. This means that an average x8 spawn will have one 'dangerous' Boss and one 'dangerous' Lt. The rest are more random. There's a small chance of special Status Protected Snipers or T9 Armored Snipers in each group. There are not many of these, but you'll definitely have to deal with a few of each sooner or later. There are lesser LT and Minion Snipers in most x8 groups. Every x8 sized group has at least 1 minion sniper with +perception. Increased damage and armor on the softer targets. I'd increase this further, but it is currently limited by AE mechanics.

Beam, 100%.

I recommend leadership for almost any build and AT, not just defenders. However, I never pick powers nor slot powers. I create builds as a whole. It is my opinion that picking THIS power and slotting it THIS way would cause issues with many builds when the build is looked at as a whole. That's not to say you can't start with the default slotting, but also don't be afraid to change default slotting either. Even for powers that I almost always slot one particular way, there are always exceptions to the rule sooner or later. Be aware there were some issues (maybe bugs) found with the bu proc and tactics. I don't recall the issue so I don't know if it was reflected above.

Nice to see you again Werner. I've got to go back and read this whole thread now. In the meantime, Here's one of my Kat/Dark builds. Kat / Dark Brute - Black Cat m3d:

Traps Beam Sniper - Quarterback 1 - [i25].mxd Traps Beam Sniper - Soldier 2 - [i25].mxd Traps Beam Soldier - Soldier 1 - [i25].mxd

Slows do not count. Rune/Hybrid (Core T4)/Rune/Demonic/Kitchen Sink add significantly to your survivability. Overkill if you're not soloing +4x8 or main-tanking, so it's going to vary significantly by player. If you aren't going melee, I'd recommend Assault Radial.

Re Procs: I build builds as a whole, and that proc in that power costs the build as a whole something, does what it gain offset what it costs? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Just brainstorming, off the top of my head, I think I'd love to see a fully procced DP/Storm, but that still retained armor. That should be a tricky and interesting build, with nice ST damage and I'd be curious to see where the AOE damage clocked in. Re Benumb: I mourn the loss of Benumb. Benumb does more than just that -regen, the -damage -special can completely gut an AV. But Vengeance can indeed turn the tide of a battle. I'm very torn on which I'd pick, but I think I'd lean just the slighted bit toward Benumb. But my Cold/ spedialized in killing AVs, so the emphasis is a bit different, and that perspective and purpose influences everything.

Zip Format - Part 2 Mids Archives - Part 2.zip

Zip format - Part 1 Mids Archives - Part 1.zip

Clarion*PBU*Farsight is the order I use due to duration 12 on Clarion and Duration 10 on PBU, I should have been more clear, it didn't occur to me. Clarion Radial should not be modifying PBU, this is probably a bug.