oedipus_tex

Not sure I'd call it a shield power, but the pool power Invisibility used to do this. I kinda wish PFF worked more like that. A huge Defense bonus as long as you perform only defensive actions, dropping if you attack.

Keep in mind if you're leveling up manually you'll want to wait on some of the slotting and make sure you're slotting enough accuracy and damage. The build I posted assumes you've got a lot of global Accuracy, a ToHit bonus from Kismet, and that you're able to use Fulcrum Shift. Prior to that point you should probably stick to more traditional slotting.

Keep in mind that AVs heavily resist -ToHit, so you won't want to count on that too much. Looking over the posted build, I'd be tempted to drop Propel and Fly in favor of Arcane Bolt and Mystic Flight. I haven't mathed out Arcane Bolt and its proc chances but I suspect overall it comes close-ish to the damage of Propel. More importantly, it unlocks the rest of the Sorcery pool. Adding Enflame and Rune of Protection would add some additional damage and a mezz escape hatch. If you hadn't specified AV soloing specifically I'd be eager to make the switch. For AV builds the potential lost DPS may matter more. A bonus of Arcane Bolt is that given the zillion other things you'll need to cast to fulfill your Controller duties it tends to proc, offering you a "free" high damage blast. Less so if you are wailing on one static target, though. Back in days long past, AV soloers took the Fire pool for marginally better damage in the single target blast and because Fireball, despite being an AoE, has superior DPA to most ST ranged blasts. I am not sure if this is still true. All of the ST blasts in the APP pools are not particularly incredible. I haven't looked at the current meta for Illusion/Cold trollers in a while, but I think a lot of them might have been using the Ice APP (Hibernate is undeniably useful for closing a dangerous gap or to evade a nasty enemy attack). For Gravity/Dark though I'd be very tempted to roll with the Psi APP. The blast isn't any better or worse than the other APP blasts, and Psi Tornado is slow. But unlike a Illus troller you're going to have to tank through a lot of AV aggro. Some of them have Psi attacks and that Psi defense bonus in Indomitable Will is very attractive.

Earth Control is a very low damage set that will probably be very slow to solo starting out. It will get a bit better at higher levels once you get your pet and the full suite of Kinetics powers, but will probably always be a bit slow. With that in mind, you'll likely want to grab the Sorcery pool for Arcane Bolt and possibly Enflame in order to add enough damage to make things tolerable. It sounds like you are just coming back to the game so its not immediately clear to me if you are looking for a level 50 build or something you can use to level up. Kinetics builds are also notorious for being a "house of cards" where one element depends on another and only when all the bonuses are combined does the build really work. That out of the way, here's a fairly generic Earth/Kin/Earth level 50 build. This build assumes a few things: Nerve Radial is the incarnate alpha slot, which provides bonus Accuracy Destiny Barrier is the target Destiny power, which means we can slump a little on our Defenses This is mainly for fighting groups of enemies, where we can assume we'll be saturating our damage with Fulcrum Shift, which makes proccing powers more attractive than slotting for raw damage. We want to spend some money, but maybe not the bank. I could go more expensive with more purple or Winter's Gift sets. but opted for something more sensible. \

Yeah, Bitter Ice Blast is probably the easiest direct comparison because you don't have to fiddle with the extra DoT. BIB does 120 damage with 12 sec recharge, Explosive Shuriken does the same, except BIB has an animation that lasts 1.07 seconds versus Shuriken's 1.67. 1.67 isn't strictly terrible, but on the whole there's probably better things you could be doing with that time. That's not all negative. Martial is one of the few Assault sets I don't feel compelled to take the T8 and T9 power, so that leaves it open to take 5 powers from the APP where most Doms can only pick 4.

I'll start with what I'd keep: The "pick an archetype, then pick two kits" structure. I think this structure is genius. I wish more games would pick up that model. Port over most of the existing archetypes (more on this in a second) Keep the Magnitude system for stacking mezz--again a piece of brilliance I wish other games would copy Keep the concept of super side kicking Keep some version of the IO system What I'd consider changing: Do more to separate the intent behind certain archetypes Defender: Push further into the realm of a support role Corruptor: I'd change this archetype completely. Instead of Blast/Buff, they'd get a primary Blast-Buff combo set and a secondary Blast-Buff secondary called a Corruption set. For example, in the primary could pick Corrupted Fire Blast + Thermal Radiation. Then for your secondary you could pick Corrupted Dark Blast + Dark Miasma. Melee archetypes: Tanker would only melee archetype mostly immune to mezz (unlike all of them at present) without relying on a T9 Brute damage more directly tied to number of enemies facing this exact moment, not just a "Rage bar." Stalker would have very high defense versus a limited number of targets but not handle huge groups well without sheering off aggro Scrappers walks the line in the middle of these Balance stuff Rebalance Armor sets so that armor is viable from start to finish of the build, not just "coming together" at high levels Lockout timer on Inspiration drops so that don't rain down on player's quite so freely after becoming lawn mowers. Nothing crazy punishing, but long enough that the inspiration system doesn't greatly favor high damage characters over low damage ones. All archetypes would be more vulnerable to enemy mezz; however enemies with mezz would be rarer and the punishment for being mezzed less severe Remove or rebalance the Dodge mechanic Add an explicit stat for how well a given character handles multiple opponents at once, to give more dynamics to battle parameters.

PFF is a strange power, a bit outdated IMO. It's probably more effective as an APP power than in the Force Field set its native to, especially on Blasters that have a strong heal or regen. It is also marginally useful on pet builds or for certain iTrials that have dash segments. PFF provides you with amazing Defense to all and some Resistance. However on the archetypes that actually get PFF, the Resist cap is still 75%, so in practice PFF is like being soft capped without needing sets to do it. As most players with experience being soft capped are aware, even with 95% chance to dodge, you can still take damage, so PFF doesn't make you as invincible as you might hope. As you add set bonuses the value of PFF tends to drop off, especially if you already soft capped to thing that is attacking you, where ducking into PFF may not have any effect but cut you off from attacking them.

Explosive Shuriken is IMO a disappointing power. Its AoE damage is a minor fire DoT, and not a full strength burst.

Gremlins would like you to know that they hate you too. In fact, right now they are plotting a suicide dive into the mob you were waiting to aggro.

That's not a bad idea. Villain APPs provide pets so a Yin APP presumably could as well.

I like the idea of a purple Fear set. RE: Sleep sets What I'd like is a proc called Chance to Re-Sleep or something, with a structure like this: 60% Chance for Mag 3 Sleep after a 2 second delay (only targets who are not sleeping) 60% Chance for Mag 3 Sleep after a 4 second delay (only targets who are not sleeping) 60% Chance for Mag 3 Sleep after a 6 second delay (only targets who are not sleeping) Basically, add a pulsing effect to Sleeps so that enemies fall asleep again several times after the initial effect. Actual numbers and number of Re-Sleep ticks up to the balance team folks.

Most developer teams actually agree that it would great to have this. The thing preventing it is the technology, not concerns about balance. It would be gold on Dominators, some Controllers/Corruptors/Masterminds, and Tankers, who are often pushed into powers that aren't worth long term putting on the power bar. Folks are right about Entangling Arrow though. It was a stinker of a power for a long time, but the new version is worth taking.

I may have stretched a bit with the phrase "everything in range" but we are talking about a Mag 4 stun on 65% of targets, recastable every 8 seconds. 🙂 I think avoiding that for the sake of keeping Dominators relevant is important. I'm not sure how the PPM works out in either Thunderclap or Dark Pit, but it's got to be in a similar range. There are so many other examples of Stuns in that 30-45 range. Psychic Scream, Fissure, some others I'm sure I'm forgetting. It's a real red flag area.

I would go a step further and say I do not take certain powers specifically because the sets or IOs they can host do not contribute to the overall build. In general, the following types of powers tend to be unattractive: Anything that takes no sets at all (obviously) Most Slow powers Most Healing powers Most Sleep powers Examples of likely-to-skip powers for me derived from this rule: Mind Control's Telekinesis, Ice Control's Shiver, Storm and Cold Dom's Snow Storm, most Sleep powers in general. Poison's Neurotoxic Breath, Trick Arrow's Glue Arrow (this last one being a bit more attractive than the rest). It is not that slow is necessarily a poor ability, just that it's not something you'd likely ever slot for. An example of a power I would skip if I could, but really can't, is Ice Slick. It takes no sets at all. So I take it and privately resent that Bonfire not only does better knockdown (and is available in a Blaster app), it also can slot the chance for +100% Recharge proc. Powers that tend to be much more attractive than others tend have these profiles: Takes Defense sets (these rule over almost anything else due to Luck of the Gambler existing, along with the other various one slot wonders) Affects enemies and has a base Recharge around 18-30 seconds, close to the sweet spot for 3.5 PPM powers Especially if it: takes Hold sets, -ToHit sets, -Defense, or Damage sets And even more especially if it has an animation at or below 1.5 seconds APP powers and support set powers are usually the first place to go looking for powers with these profiles. They often have longer Recharge, intended originally as penalties. However in a PPM system that longer recharge translates to an advantage by making the proc more likely to fire. You also, specifically, want at least one power in your build that takes Resistance sets. This is such a strong rule that it if there were a ten commandments of IO builds it would be the first or second item on the tablet. For an example of a near-miss power that would be very desirable but isn't because of a twist of fate with slottable sets, Poison's Neurotoxic Breath is a cone power that Holds. However the Hold is unenhanceable. If not for that fact I'd be proccing it out with 6 damage procs and it would outstrip many actual blast powers in damage. I mentioned before that Stun is less attractive than Hold, but in context of AoE powers that's probably a good thing. Stun AoEs tend to be on much friendlier recharges than Holds. Armed with a Chance for +2 Mag Stun, I could reliably stun bosses with Dark Blast, Storm, Super Strength, or any other set that provides a base Mag 2 stun. Hand Clap for example recharges in 30 seconds, while Dominator/Controller Flashfire recharges in 90. With that proc, any melee character with Hand Clap would stun every enemy in range every ~8 seconds. So that's why I am urgining caution on that particular front. Mezz magnitude is as much of a balance equation as Damage, Defense, or Resistance.

It's possible I don't fully understand the intent of Wind Control and also that the values in the set were still being tweaked, but the publicly available version of it does include an AoE Confuse power with 120 Recharge, 15ft radius.10 targets max that also returns 10 endurance to you. Not quite a Seeds level power, but I'd take that over Mass Confusion. This was going to be in a set that also has a 90 second recharge Stun in the Flashfire/Stalagmites vein, some sources of -ToHit, -Damage, -Defense, and a few other tricks.

IMO Trick Arrow/Ice Blast has a lot of potential on a Corruptor. Mainly because the one thing Ice Blast lacks is a spherical AoE blast. Acid Arrow proc'ed for damage fills that hole while also being a vehicle for -Resist procs. It helps that Ice Arrow can be procced for huge damage too, so you can throw it into a 1-2 Hold-Hold on bosses.

Creepers for sure. In particular, you'll want Positron's Blast and Bombardment. You can also probably proc Strangler. If you go with the Earth APP, there are options to either proc out the attacks or just grab damage procs as part of set bonuses. Here's a sample Plant/Trick Arrow build I've been running that's super procc'y to give you some ideas. Keep in mind TA has sources of -Defense that makes proccing a bit easier to pull off.

You'd want to cross reference this with any changes made by the Homecoming team, but the version of procs and set bonuses as they existed as of Issue 24 is publicly available. It can help you better understand exactly what is happening with these abilities, such the as the cooldown period, size of the sphere if they have one, etc. Procs and Set Bonuses follow the same design structure as each other, which is also the same structure as Powers and Inspirations. I attached the most up to date public version to this post. Exact numbers may vary from Homecoming, but I don't recall Homecoming making too many significant changes other than adding some new items to the list. Set_Bonus_Set_Bonus.powers

I appreciate the difficulty of the challenge you are in. 🙂 I would start with the Gaussian's Fire proc. I think that particular proc is a philosophical decision for the team. It was turned into a PPM proc around the time crashless nukes came on the scene. The way they play into each other may be resulting in that proc being much better than anticipated--a mostly reliable Build Up on top of Build Up you can chain into a crashless nuke. My eyeball estimate is that that one proc is adding about 30% damage to the opening nuke-follow-up-AoE salvo from blast characters. That multipled damage is then multiplied again because end game characters fight +3s and not +4s.

IMO a lot of these procs would work better as Tier 2 set bonuses rather than one-slot wonders. That's where a lot of the difficulty with balancing are originating. If I had to commit two or three slots to get a proc result I'd think about slotting way differently. If the procs were in sets I wanted anyway, with defense and recharge, it would also mean I could more comfortably chase those things. Perhaps a couple of one-slot wonders isn't a bad idea, but like with the Hold category of sets, I think the whole class of IOs would be better balanced if you had to at least dual slot from a set to get the damage. From a tech stand point I don't know if unlocking a proc as a set bonus works, but IMO its worth thinking about.

I'm going to put money on Trick Arrow/Beam Rifle or Trick Arrow/Water. I haven't played the former, played the latter til the late 30s prior to the recent buffs. These sets fill the holes in the opposing set well, while allowing you to remain fully ranged. I'd add Trick Arrow/Ice if I didn't happen to think that's probably better played as a Corruptor.

In fairness to you, that's not a terrible combination of powers. Combat Teleport isn't really a travel power it's more of a combat utility. Super Speed is also an invisibility power. In the newest iteration it lets you travel through creatures without them noticing you. It will even suppress your damage auras so they won't alert mobs.

The original CoX era is bookmarked by specific timestamps in my life, both involving hurricanes. I played it for the first time while staying with a friend who had electricity in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Years later, while staying with a friend for a different hurricane, I read the announcement that it was closing. More broadly, in its original run, CoX was a Saturday night choice between a real life night out at the goth/electroclash club I had gravitated to in lieu of gay bars, or ordering a pizza and spending the night leveling an alt. Both involved costumes and antics of different sorts. Escapism was probably the motivation. It's impossible to separate the game from the time period; unfortunate emo fashion choices (no I will not share pictures), the end of the Bush presidency, the first hints that we might see same sex marriage in our lifetimes, and the persistent tumult of conflict in a very conservative region of the country. All of this is probably always why my characters have always been slapstick or caricatures, basically electronic drag performances. The "city" part of "City of" is a mostly apolitical fantasy world that is an almost too-perfect reflection of American kitsch, so it was a natural place for camp and parody. Also, I initially was not impressed with the game. I was a veteran of text based MUDs, and around this time had achieved my "dream" of joining the development staff of one of them. Just prior to finding CoX I had resigned after a year volunteering as the Magic Guru, having written only one new spell but having learned how to program, a skill I would go on to use to begin game modding. When CoX closed, it affected me more than the shuttering of a video game probably should. I went into developer mode, trying to bring the spirit of CoX to game after game. The real game's reappearance was a shock to me as I'm sure it was to many. In its second run, I'm coming to the game in a much different position. I'm much older, for one. It's also possible for me to mod the game, on a private server, which was only a dream years ago. I play on Homecoming because this development team has a great vision, stable servers, and I've always found them extremely reasonable. I also don't know how to define "fun." For me it's always been about being able to get lost in the para-game, meaning the game itself but also the forums, MIds, and so on. And, in particular, being able to weather whatever the current climate of the real world might be, in every sense of that word.

Set bonuses apply to your character even if you do not actually click the power. It's occasionally useful to slot a power like Boxing or Brawl with an IO set that has bonuses even if you never plan to use the attack. In this case, we slotted the Winter's Gift set (for +5 Slash/Lethal defense) and the Kinetic Combat set (for an additional +3 Slash/Lethal defense). Winter's Gift also provides some -Recharge and -Run Speed resistance. The reason I didn't slot Stamina etc is that as a Blaster you already have double Stamina, from the combo of Field Operative and inherent Stamina. You might find yourself needing a bit more endurance support, but its unlikely IMO you'll need to slot heavily unless temp powers are a lot more costly than I imagine. RE: Travel powers, these are necessary sometimes to unlock stuff further down the chain. Given the focus of your build. I'd chase Pools that provide you with Immunities. From Pools you can get Immobilize protection (Combat Jumping), a small amount of Hold protection (Acrobatics), rotating mezz protect to all (Rune of Protection). You could also get some more immunities by going with the Leadership pool, but as I mentioned I thought Teleportation was funnier because you can combo it with Time Bomb. Truly power gaming it though I would drop the Teleport pool for Manuevers/Tactics/Vengeance. Skip Assault because I don't think global damage bonus increases temp power damage at all.

So I wasn't entirely clear on the rules of the challenge so if I violated the spirit of them my apologies. I also wasn't sure how gonzo you wanted to go with the slots. Here's a possibility that with Smoke Grenade in play (or Destiny: Barrier!) caps you to Ranged Defense and nearly to Melee. I can actually do better by dropping the Teleportation pool for Maneuvers, but I figured if I was building something this ridiculous, why not go the full journey and incorporate Fold Space and Time Bomb, so you can port things in and blow them up. This build also features: Protection from Immobilize (Combat Jumping) Minor protection from Holds (Acrobatics) Mezz-breaking (Rune of Protection) Knockdown at close range (Repulsion Field) Three sources of emergency Resistance for various kinds of emergencies (PFF, RoP and Force of Nature) Protection from KB up to Mag 11 50% Resistance to Run Speed and -Recharge debuffs My main criticism is I may have underslotted for Endurance, but IMO only slightly. I assumed it was okay to slot powers you're not actually going to use, like your first couple of mandatory attacks. This is a lot harder to pull off without slotting those.