Erratic1

March 26, 2021

Couldn't help but think of this thread on last thing I was doing.

Started a new Tanker and was at the point of wanting to run Posi 1. Recruited people but could only find three others, a Defender, Brute, and Stalker. So we decided to try to four man it. Granted we did not turn the level up or anything nor put any impediments on ourselves. But you know how things go with new characters with limited abilities.

We had someone go down on first mission where it wasn't clear that we were not engaging every group, just those directly in path to objective. After that it wasn't too bad, but I worried about Oranbega, zombie ambush, and the final mission. Oranbega was no problem. Zombie ambush was no problem. But final mission...

...started off well with us sticking together. Got to the point of heading in and the question was asked if we should clear around door first. I said sure and two of us went to do so. But someone had already opened the door. Life totals got thin but never so bad it look like a wipe. We pulled it off without losing anyone. Inside door wasn't bad but then comes the shadowy duplicates.

Duplicates had me, the Tanker, eating inspirations like candy. Shadow brute and stalker hurt, oh how they hurt. But we managed the entire run with only that one loss in 34 minutes.

Take from the above what you will. Fear of dying added to fun? Sure. Limited team size added to fun? Sure. Limited abilities added to fun? Sure.

Not saying I am on board with mandating anything because sometimes you want/need to wade into a sea of enemies and vanquish them all. But sometimes you need it to be a challenge too.

March 26, 2021

37 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

This is extremely helpful!!!! Thanks so much Erratic for writing this up, it went over some synergies that I wasn't even thinking off.

Also, the color scheme for your powers on your Fire/Dark is AWESOME. Some others have mentioned Dark/Energy... Would you throw that combo in there with the others you mentioned?

Thanks so much for the compliment on the costume! The compression I had to use to get the video to fit the size limitation for posts makes it appear fuzzier than in game. A better snapshot of it is viewable here.

Dark Blast I've covered, so let's look at what Energy Manipulation brings to you:

Power Punch, Power Thrust, Bone Smasher, and Total Focus are melee range attacks. I have tended to in my previous breakdowns skip over the melee attacks but if you do that with Energy the question becomes, "Why are you looking at Energy Manipulation?" and what else it brings to the table had better be fantastic beyond compare. Where other sets say, "I'm going to immobilize, slow, or hold foes to keep them from getting to me," Energy Manipulation says, "Go ahead, get close to me and see what happens!" And what happens with these powers of the set is you knock the target away from you or knock them silly (or dispatch them depending on how much health they have left). They are single target however, so not answers for groups of things and if you miss the guy is by definition all up in your junk ready to stomp you a new...well, you get the idea. How well this approach works is going to be highly subjective. Given you will be getting some survivability out of debuffing To-Hit, it might not be an unworkable tradeoff. But then...

...then there is Stun. Another melee stun against a single target at base. But (and I never knew this until now) it can be combined with Boost Range to stun something at range. It can be combined with Power Boost to make it an AoE, so now you have a way to deal with groups. And you can combine both Boost Range and Power Boost to do an area stun at range. Problem here is you do not get Boost Range until level 28 and Power Boost until level 35. Use with Power Boost shifts its recycle to 90s from 12s too. Still, the stuff you fight in your 30s is more dangerous than at lower levels so you'll have it by the time you're facing the nastier foes the game has to offer.

I really shy away from trying to influence anyone to play one way over another, preferring to point out the benefits and tradeoffs things bring to table, so read the following less as saying, "Don't play this" than, "Here is what you would be getting into." You are not getting the healing or recovery regeneration the other sets offer with Energy Manipulation. You can perhaps make this up elsewhere either by power pool, epic pool, or IO choices. But most of that will be doable only in later play.

March 26, 2021

5 hours ago, Snarky said:

Huh. You got me there. I like to throw random comment. Always say Wazzup or Heyas at team start. Maybe ask about group intentions to clarify at beginning. After that my commentary generally goes down to "Here" or "Anyone have eyes on?"

I think there needs to be a requirement of at least 25 words every 5 minutes or you are booted from the TF. Would that work for you?

The other night we exited a radio mission in Founder's Falls and the next mission was not only at the same door but it was the same map. Of course I had to ask, "Were we not just here and did we not clear the place out?"

Team member responded, "That's how tight the rental market is. Bad guys move in immediately."

March 26, 2021

13 minutes ago, Sovera said:

In my own experience (but please take this with a grain of salt since what I am about to say is subjective and not math) heals and shields don't help (much) against DDR.

Strider above mentions how 'so many heals won't be overkill' and that's one thing I've experienced myself: when the DDR nation attacks heals don't do enough. Or much.

A shield is just a preventive heal, but when we are taking 95% of the hits it gets eaten.

Probably need to factor in the statement about Heals/Absorb was...

...about Radiation Armor primarily ("sets" does open it to other powerset, true)
...in relation to Invulnerability

Radiation Armor is going to be debuffing the To-Hit of anything nearby. So it is really resistances, heal/absorption, and screw with your ability to hit me up close.

However I may be misreading because I am reading the use of "heal" in the statement to primarily refer to Absorb as the distinction was being drawn between Rad and Inv and in particular there was the comment about having a thousand extra hp. Healing and Absorption are functionally identical in a lot of way--hp to be burned through subject to your resistances/defenses--but the ability to have them in place without taking action is meaningful (though as you note, if they are being chewed threw quickly enough that meaning can drop to nothing).

March 26, 2021

1 hour ago, Heraclea said:

IME, adding a bit of defense to resist based sets is much more worthwhile than adding resist to defense based sets.

I feel absolutely no shame at adding Scaling Resist to my SR tanker. No shame whatsoever. 😛

March 26, 2021

9 hours ago, StriderIV said:

Looking to roll my first blaster... ever. A friend recommend Dark/Fire to me as a combo, saying it’s pretty survivable (for a Blaster) and can function well at range or up close.

Dark does debuff To-Hit, but asside from its final power the amount is relatively low--5.25% on Dark Blast, Gloom, Umbral Torrent, Moonbeam, Tenebrous Tentacles, Abyssal Gaze, and Life Drain with -35% on Blackstar. The effect does linger for roughly 10 seconds on most of those power (two get up towards 20s), so stacking occurs and you could reasonably have a target or two with a couple of stacks of debuff on them. Because some number of your powers are single target though I probably would not count on facing a group of opponents and having more than two stacks on them (single targets would get more since that is all you're shooting at) but even so a -10.5% to hit is going to reduce your incoming damage somewhat.

If you were to build appropriately with IOs you could probably get to a fairly survivable position. However that would unfold over time and require a chunk of influence to toss around. In the mean time you're not going to be in the same neighborhood of survivability. Better off than other Blasters sure, but since you have not player other blasters you may not appreciate that things are indeed better for you than they otherwise would have been because you will be taking damage and suffering status effects, just at a lower rate than with other primaries.

As far as pairing with Fire as your secondary, it brings endurance recovery (Consume) and healing (Cauterizing Aura) to the table. Both of those are PBAoE powers, meaning you need to get close to targets and how much endurance or healing you get depends on how many targets you hit. Using Tenebrous Tentacles you can immobilize a group of foes while reducing their chance to hit you slightly and get close, so they can serve to keep you in both endurance and health, which means less downtime and sustained attacking resulting in faster levelling. While you will not get the power until level 38, Hot Feet could also help your survivability by making it harder for melee opponents to get close to you.

So to my mind, your friend has not steered you wrong, it should be a reasonable combination.

Allow me to also point your attention towards two other secondaries--Dark Manipulation and Tactical Arrow.

While I have NEVER paired primary and secondary from the same theme in all my long years of playing CoH, Dark Manipulation really does pair well with Dark Blast because it too is tossing out To-Hit debuffs all over the place. It also has two ways to help you recover endurance (Dark Consumption, which works like Consume and Touch of Touch of the Beyond). While you do not get a heal in the set, Touch of the Beyond gives a very strong health regeneration effect along with boosting endurance Recovery. Dark Manipulation's version of Build Up, Soul Drain, is a PBAoE which buffs your damage based on the number of targets you hit for 30 seconds, not the usual 10 seconds. And eventually you get Dark Pit, which is an area attack that will leave foes stumbling around disoriented. Here is a video snippet of me testing it out prior to using a big boom on my Fire/Dark blaster. The first thing I do when I get there is use Soul Drain (you will see my Damage Bonus go up to +114.80% because of it and I am using Inferno without any damage enhancements slotted) :

As goes Tactical Arrow, it is full of useful tricks. You get an area slow, single target immobilize and holds early too (Glue Arrow, Electrified Net Arrow and Ice Arrow respectively) as your earliest powers. Flash Arrow is another To-Hit debuff and reduces the range at which targets notice anyone. Its not going to allow you to just walk up on a target but you can make it hard for a group to see you and work on another nearby group or sometimes even pull members out of a group (but sometimes that draws notice from other members). Eagle Eye is where things get silly as it is a serious boost to both recovery and regeneration. In fact it gets you more endurance than Stamina does. My Sonic/TA blaster may seriously consider only using one Endurance Modification enhancement in it (as opposed to sticking three in Stamina) its so good. And while the regeneration boost does not turn you into a Regeneration Brute/Scrapper it quickly brings you back to full health between fights. Paired with the -To Hit from Dark Blast and/or slotting Healing enhancements into it, you might become quite survivable. Gymnastics brings you knockback protection, which all by itself is reason to take the power, then ladles on Speed Debuff resistance, and +20% Recharge bonus along with a tiny Defense boost. Normally the defense boost would not be worth mentioning but if you're reducing your target's ability to hit you a defense boost only makes it even harder (though you really would want to get Weave and do an appropriate IO build in the end).

So I'd think Dark/Fire, Dark/Dark, and Dark/TA would all work for you.

March 25, 2021

The game hates me. Someone thought it was a good idea to disallow the Electricity Aura choice for Eyes if you use Think Tank for the head.

WHY!!?!!?!!?

Edit: OMG!!! I got it!!!!!

Behold what ~~could have been~~ now is!!! Its alive!!!!!!

March 25, 2021

The merit to Touch is for those people who, for whatever reason, do not want to take Dark Consumption. But that seems awfully thin.

March 25, 2021

24 minutes ago, America's Angel said:

How's this look?

I would not disagree with that mirroring the consensus of the rankings of powersets within primary and secondary categories.

I think where there is room for argument is what happens when you combine them. Is C-Tier/C-Tier something horrible, bottom of the heap, should be avoided.

Fire/Fire is doubtlessly more popular than Elec/Mental, but the question is if Elec/Mental is so bad that it should not be played by beginners. As noted, I have made a Sonic/TA, which is C-Tier/C-Tier. It is not something I would warn people off of (so far).

March 25, 2021

Rad Armor is Resistance focused. I would say to focus on maximizing Smash/Lethal, let every other resistance mostly ride along to whatever values they will end up at, get as much Defense as you can and remember that Beta Decay debuffs enemy To-Hit. Arguably with Beta Decay debuffing To-Hit of things in melee range, you might focus a bit more on Ranged Defense if you can.

I did not put any thought into what follows. Took my DM/Rad build, switch to Fire/Rad, then filled in the gaps. Also not suggesting it is particularly good, but it gives you something to look at.

To see comparative differences between the two (mine on left, yours on right):

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.4.7
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Fiery Melee
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Armor
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Scorch -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(3), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Alpha Barrier -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(5), Ags-ResDam(7), GldArm-3defTpProc(7)
Level 2: Fire Sword -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(9), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(9), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 4: Cremate -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(13), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23)
Level 6: Proton Armor -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(15), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Ags-ResDam(17)
Level 8: Incinerate -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(19), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(21), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(23)
Level 10: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 12: Fallout Shelter -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(25), Ags-Psi/Status(25), UnbGrd-ResDam(27), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(27), UnbGrd-Max HP%(29)
Level 14: Gamma Boost -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(29), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(31)
Level 16: Radiation Therapy -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg(31), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury%(33)
Level 18: Breath of Fire -- Artl-Acc/Dam(A), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(34), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(34)
Level 20: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Beta Decay -- HO:Enzym(A), HO:Enzym(34), HO:Enzym(36)
Level 24: Tough -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(36), Ags-ResDam(36), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(37)
Level 26: Fire Sword Circle -- Erd-Acc/Rchg(A), Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 28: Particle Shielding -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(39), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(39), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 30: Weave -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(40), Rct-Def/Rchg(40), Rct-ResDam%(40), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(42)
Level 32: Greater Fire Sword -- SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(42), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(43)
Level 35: Ground Zero -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(45), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(46)
Level 38: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 41: Gloom -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 44: Darkest Night -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb(A), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/Rchg(48), DarWtcDsp-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(50)
Level 47: Soul Tentacles -- Artl-Acc/Dam(A), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(50), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(50)
Level 49: Meltdown -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(11)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), PrfShf-End%(13)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
------------

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March 25, 2021

15 minutes ago, Nemu said:

Good for you!

I don't care.

Clearly cared enough to make a response. 😜

March 25, 2021

On 3/23/2021 at 5:59 PM, Nemu said:

Anything Sonic/. Shout ages me by 3 years every time I use it, the nuke is the only redeeming thing about the set as a blaster primary. I'd wish sonic blast onto my worst enemies if I want them to suffer.

Seems at odds with...

Quote

Knock yourself out, I have no doubt they can work.

...especially when the qualification I gave was:

Quote

Is there some combination you could offer which is utterly unworkable?

Qualifications:

I have only gotten the character to level 22 (too much time farming legendary drops in Outriders I guess).
Most things are workable through the 20s and opponents you see later in the game are nastier.

I thought I'd had some previous attempts at blasters that achieved serious control but they ain't got nothing on Sonic/TA. Its almost silly what the combo brings to the table. Blaster secondaries come with single target immobilize and some add on a hold or slow. TA gives you immobilize, hold, slow (area), and area perception frobbling. Then Sonic gives you sleep (area). I've glued (slowed) an opponent and its friends then chained Howl and Shockwave so they never get to me and are all getting hit repeatedly. I've slept groups and then dispatched their members one at a time (well, do have to deal with untimely waking there). Posi 1 had me glue the door to city hall and well, that went quickly. Flashed the side group once we entered and no accidental having to deal with two groups.

But wait, there's Eagle Eye. I have never played with the archery sets before, either as a primary or secondary and now I wish I'd paid more attention. Eagle Eye is virtual cheating. In one power you get +Accuracy, + Perception, To-Hit debuff resistance, +Regeneration, and +Recovery?!?!? Did I mention the +Recovery is better than Stamina? Stamina is +25% to base recovery, Eagle Eye is +50% to base recovery. Where with other blasters I would have to pause to rest to recover endurance and/or health with Eagle Eye you just keep on fighting. If you don't get killed by the time you make the next spawn you're fully healed and have all your endurance back.

Then at higher levels I am going to get Slow and Knockback resistance?

What is supposed to be unworkable here?

March 25, 2021

3 hours ago, Grimz said:

Yo, making a Savage Melee/Dark Armor stalker and kind of wanted to have their outfit be inspired by Evelyn from League of Legends... Anyone up to take a stab at it?

Evelyn.costume

March 24, 2021

1 hour ago, Nemu said:

Knock yourself out, I have no doubt they can work. You can even compare your fire/dark against the sonic/ta and I'm sure you'll notice disparities.

Take shout, use it, and know true suffering 😆

I've got a Kinetics/Sonic Defender. Been there, done that.

March 23, 2021

43 minutes ago, Nemu said:

Of course!

Anything Sonic/. Shout ages me by 3 years every time I use it, the nuke is the only redeeming thing about the set as a blaster primary. I'd wish sonic blast onto my worst enemies if I want them to suffer.

If I enjoyed blasters more, I would probably take this as a challenge. As is, I have only taken one to 50 and mostly burn out on them no later than the mid-30s (though my current Fire/Dark is holding my interest and is level 38). I should probably work her to 50 before giving into temptation.

43 minutes ago, Nemu said:

I have a lot of disdain for the "blasters is for ranged" crowd so I'm gonna go with anything /Dev as well. /TA gets a nod too, OSA saved it a little. Prior to the patch /TA would have been a hard no-go for me (Puts on flameproof suit)😁

Following that line of thought, any build that takes a secondary and skips all the melee damage options.

Did I mention my current Fire/Dark blaster? Granted I do plan to take Midnight Grasp at level 49 as a holder for Kinetic Combat IOs to round out her Smashing/Lethal defense. I have no intention to take her blapping (even if the playstyle is intriguing).

43 minutes ago, Nemu said:

Come to think of it, anything that's not a melee blaster, a panda or Fire/Elec is a no go for me.😆

In all seriousness I'm not going to take that comment from the OP quite so literally. I think a reasonable interpretation is "are any combos so under-performing that I'm going to regret picking them later on as I progress." In that context, any low damage primary paired with a low damage secondary goes against the blaster mantra of "kill or be killed." For that reason I'd rank the likes of sonic/dev and elec/dev bottom of the barrel especially if the player avoids melee range like a plague. /Dev is especially suck-tastic because of the setup time. You can replicate all the quality of life benefits of those utility toggles - stealth, endurance, +to hit, and defense - through IO sets. You can not, however, replicate the likes of bonesmasher or thunderstrike through IO sets and that's where devices really falls short. Of course I anticipate people saying solo with the proper setup you can get insane damage with /dev, but that's a luxury that players don't have most of the time, especially on teams.

Devices does not hold a lot of conceptual allure for me. How about I consider Sonic/TA?

March 23, 2021

1 hour ago, Nemu said:

There is a difference between being proud of what you play and making the most of it and judging powersets on performance.

Arguably true, however he OP requested:

Quote

I'd love a quick reference that says "that's a no-go" or "sure, give that a try" for each of the pairs.

From your own statement you really enjoy your AR/TA build. So presumably it does not fall into the category of "no-go".

Is there some combination you could offer which is utterly unworkable?

March 22, 2021

8 hours ago, Ukase said:

I don't disagree, but I think the point was, new characters/players start in Atlas. They find themselves being invited, sometimes randomly, without a tell. They go in the mission and are level 17 to 25 in short order, depending on the size of the team and the map.

Some farmers even tell the new players to visit p2w and get 2xp, and neglect to explain that there's no influence as a cost for the "free" xp buff.

If somebody wants to farm, that's great. The economy needs farmers to keep things inexpensive. But there's absolutely no need to level up any new, inexperienced players who have never fought Frostfire.

If it weren't for the creativity some of our players show in mission creations within the AE framework, I'd suggest they shut it down. XP is better outside of AE anyway, provided you have the right missions geared towards your farmer's strengths.

I enjoy the game, have my favorite mission arcs, don't 2*xp outside of DFB, never request a farm (though quite happily join PI +4/8 which are not really meaningfully different...humans are strange about what they find a difference in), and admit annoyance at LFG being spammed by people looking for farms to join. However....

Influence is optimally generated nowadays by playing the AH market. Who cares if you do not get influence while levelling when you'll generate it like the US Treasury prints money. If xp is better grinding "real" missions, you have to factor in getting groups and travelling between missions. AE there is minimal travel time--exit, start next scenario. The farmer who invites who doesn't care that you are sitting safely at the entrance (heck, prefers you to be there), and poof, you're level 30 in an hour.

People have different tolerances for what repetition is fun for them. I enjoy the entire 1-50 run and have only minimally done end game activity. I may have two characters who have their Alpha and Judgement slots filled and no others even with a small raft of 50s. I need breaks from my characters, but I see other players who have run their Veteran levels up on a character into the stratosphere. I asked one player I've bumped into because they host run the TFC taskforces all the time just how many merits they had. 50,000 merits on a single character is an inconceivable amount to me. I can barely drive myself to reach a thousand intentionally. Some people may be endlessly fascinated with end game and building their version of Omnipitus and for them, forgoing the earlier part they have endlessly done (or not) is their choice.

All this to say, "Different strokes for different folks" (hopefully I've planted a earworm--yeah, I'm that old). It does not hurt me how someone else chooses to have fun.

March 22, 2021

18 minutes ago, Metatheory said:

I actually ended up going all in, using Spring Attack to zoom in to Drain position, and rounded it out with a PBAoE incarnate nuke as well. Not a lot left after all that. Since that time combat teleport has also come into play (non-damaging, but available much more often).

I guess once one has sufficient defenses to survive long enough to trigger everything while being attacked Combat Teleport would be a real plus. Currently I'm Fly/Hover and sometimes the Hover portion is handy while the one-two is recycling.

March 22, 2021

6 minutes ago, Metatheory said:

Are you enjoying it? Because if you are then you are most definitely not doing it wrong!

Yeah, I really am. I have had a miserable history with blasters over the years, only taking one to 50 on Homecoming (Beam/MC). This feels as much fun and fires my imagination. Of course being a better IO builder may help a bit on that last bit.

6 minutes ago, Metatheory said:

No doubt there are 'better' secondaries than dark, but I found it to be great fun and very serviceable - even before they made the sustain power less reliant on hitting its target. Soul Drain, as you point out, is really interesting on a blaster because it lasts for a long time and can provide a big boost when there are several targets. Also, it can be quite a serviceable PBAoE attack by itself, and seeing you are in melee anyway... ☺️ With all the other gadget-y powers that come with it there are a lot of good concepts for a melee focused blaster.

Touch of the Beyond surprised me with its significant boosting of Regeneration and Recovery. Its a real perk. Dark Consumption has been useful but I wonder if in the end it will be necessary. Of course that somewhat comes down to the speed at which you/the group moves.

As for Soul Drain...oh my. Even just doing Soul Drain without a follow up Inferno, I can tell a real difference in how quickly a spawn melts when using Soul Drain (assuming I hit a nice number of targets). And then there are those times when I do follow up Soul Drain with Inferno.

6 minutes ago, Metatheory said:

I made one with Radiation Blast last year and it was a lot of fun. You might find some interesting bits in here:

Will definitely check the thread out!

March 21, 2021

Reached the level where I got to try to do what drew me to Fire/Dark in the first place.

The following is more test of concept. No doubt I will find strange new ways of committing suicide when trying this against something like Carnies or Malta.

March 21, 2021

22 hours ago, Saikochoro said:

Caves.

No AH in supergroups bases.

Caves disguised as office buildings.

Back to back missions in PI we entered building into sewers.

March 21, 2021

Dead brutes do no damage, so cap one side (Def or Res depending on what the secondary favors) then try to get as much of the other as possible.

March 21, 2021

9 hours ago, Marshal_General said:

try from the black square on the left, go down 2 and over 4 or 5. Its a color right at the edge of orange and brown.

My character would look like this.

Went 3 over. That lowered the contrast between top and bottom enough that I then decided to brighten the other colors thusly:

I think your suggestion was a nice improvement. Thanks!

March 21, 2021

4 hours ago, Marshal_General said:

Go for a more bronze color.

So something more like?

March 20, 2021

Really annoyed when someone ports in or out from another zone in motion, shoving me in some random direction.

Know it is not their fault but it annoys me.

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Posts posted by Erratic1