Lhanis

I don't think the combo is strong, it's Kinetics that is. As noted above, this was largely an exercise in seeing what I can do to make up for Sonic's shortcomings and hopefully make it into something I can comfortably solo with. And with the help of the folks in this thread, I'd say it was an overall success. Fulcrum Shift was always going to be the breadwinner here, and that's perfectly fine - that's just how it goes with Kinetics. Besides, in content where people have access to lore pets, 90% of peoples builds hardly matter in the first place, and that's not unique to this scenario. The focus on Sonic's -res is purely for my own benefit when I'm not in a party.

I had the day off and I did end up taking this to 50 over the course of it (Double-Double xp is hilarious, ToT took me to mid 20s, Moonfire got me to mid 30s, took a break for Patron arc, and then ITFx2 to 50. Almost made it in my first 8 hours of START vender xp boost). And... I'm in love, to be frank. I know Kinetics is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, but Sonic turned out to really be my jam - I'm very fond of the control-heavy blast sets after all the time I've spent in my abusive relationship with Dark Blast. It's keeping me safe enough to figure out how to Kin properly, with minimal faceplanting. While durability might be an issue solo, raw power is keeping me moving a lot faster than I expected and it's just been outright fun to play. I do believe Corruptor was the right choice for me though, as once Kinetics gets into it's rhythm you have a surprising amount of time to blast It also gave me my full suite of AoEs very early (I exemplar a lot, this was important to me) even if I do have to wait longer for FS because of it. It needs some tweaking, but it is absolutely going into my permanent roster. I already have plans to take a crack at maybe Ice or Energy/Kin, but that is a problem for later me - right now I'm just having a grand ol' time getting it settled in with incarnates.

Hover is there both for theme and because I've played so long with it I don't think I could go without. I get lost in battles easily, and being able to sit above the chaos helps me keep track of where I am and need to be. It also makes cones much easier to deal with, in my experience. Siphon Speed keeps it moving more than fast enough for me to dip in and out of proper ranges, even if it's slower than more experienced players would like. See above. Hover's not something I'm willing to drop, and I like Tele as travel. I also frequently run with a dear friend who is... directionally challenged, and a bit spoiled - hence Tele Target. On top of all of that... IR just bugs the hell out of me lol. I've never been a Jumper in CoH, and the floaty air movement is something I could never get the hang of. Agreed, and the only reason it isn't there is simply because I thought extra LotG mules might be more important. Will probably drop Infiltration for it on the next pass. I like Density just because it's an easy and early place to put Res Set uniques, and the bit of +Res it does give helps some low level groups out. I'll probably keep it just on the grounds that it's another skill that doesn't really need slot investment. Generics are +5, even if I forgot to do so in mids. The slotting on SB and Transference is mostly just because I wasn't really sure what to do with them and it seemed like a good set bonus. Playing this combo for a bit though, I'm learning real fast that chasing RDef is not nearly as valuable as I expected with the amount of time I'm in the middle of things. I'm just not sure what is good here. No joke, it's there because I forgot Transfusion doesn't deal damage that would break Siren's sleep. I had it in my head for some reason that I'd be needing to use CC to make it safe enough for me to get in for FS/Trans, which... isn't realistic, tbh. Will be removing it. Probably for Posi proc, as not much else will go there. This is something I struggle with on my Dark Def as well, PM is such a fantastic overall set that makes me want to slot it there, but being a to-hit check heal means constant suffering if I do. But where Twilight Grasp generally doesn't feel worth pressing for anyone but myself due to the need for melee range and slow cast time, I'm getting a lot of work out of Transfusion and I do think I'll be changing it's set. Doing so would make me a little more comfortable changing up the slotting in Stealth and Maneuvers to something more useful as well. Siphon Power is simply a victim of the power pick limit. It's a nice-to-have, but one I felt I could live without in order to fit what else I wanted. I'm also already plenty busy, and It'd be losing out on Sonic's -Res stacks trying to maintain copies of it. I'm actually second guessing this. Generally I take Build Up/Aim late, and leave it to line up with my nuke. But Amplify is a weaker BU, and I'm already getting a ton of value out of FS in the same level ranges I'd have it if I did take it... so I'm wondering if it's even necessary. I went Intuition Radial for one specific reason - Musculature is only providing me Damage and Endmod, and I don't see having more Endmod being useful to me. Intuition trades that for Range, which helps wonders for the cones as Sonic has short ones already (plus, even longer teleports is never bad, I've spent the past few weeks being a mobile taxi for all the shadow shard TFs). Spiritual Core would tank my PPM on the proc'd skills, and I feel like I have more than enough Global +Rech that it just isn't needed. All that'd do would push me to FS to damage cap a bit faster, and that could just as easily happen with a single extra recharge in FS. I'd also prefer a +damage alpha, simply because Sonic needs all the help it can get with my intent to make this a solo-capable beast.

I put this together to give it a run and see how I feel about it. My power picks/slotting won't be to everyone's taste of course, I take a lot of powers for "flavor" over minmax (see Dark Embrace), but I figured it's at least worth sharing so people can yell at me for my poor choice of pool powers 🥲 Notes: - Shout and Scream slotting is interchangable. I could make better use of the ATO by splitting it, especially since I'm forgoing Hasten, but it's probably not that important and the free global acc and bit of AoE Def is nice. - The 4piece LotGs are much of the same. I could probably get better slotting on Stealth and Maneuvers, but Transfusion and Shockwave could use the help as far as acc and the HP is nice. - Power Boost likely isn't doing much for me here but I've always found it makes a nice +Def button on Def/Corr, and the fact that it bumps up the +End on Speedboost is nice (it also entertains me that it boosts runspeed as well, for those who forgot/didn't disable it at Null). Bonus: I get to occasionally use @MoonSheep's signature Power Boosted Veng! - Stealth IO should probably be in Sprint over taking up a slot on Hover, but I see it as QoL as I am lazy and don't like flicking Sprint on and off. Kin likely won't care about the extra toggle cost and I could just leave it running, but... eh. I'll take it to 50 and see how I feel, maybe tweak things here and there. But this should be good enough for now. And if all else fails and I'm not satisfied with it, I can strip it for a Kin/Sonic Def just to have for party play. Ya'll are wonderful people, and your advice was lovely as always! Edit: I realized when browsing my enhancement tables that I forgot Amplify - dropped Infiltration and slotted Gaussian proc into it. Even a weak BU is still free damage for Wail! Oops! Corruptor - Sonic Kin wip.mbd

And actually, that brings up another point entirely - if Sonic Blast is back to being flat and individualized -res packets, would it do any better as a Blaster? I'd think no, simply due to it's anemic damage output, but it's worth asking I suppose. I'm still looking for an excuse to run a /Ninja, and stealth/crits + Blinding powder are on theme for what I had in mind.

That is the rub, I think. My first thought with this combo was simply take advantage of Def's scalar and let the character just be pure support, in which case my damage simply wouldn't matter as much compared to the buffs/debuffs it brings. But I always have a hard time letting myself gear out a character I know won't be able to play by itself. Corruptor probably is the way to go, simply because of that, even if the difference has never felt that big to me to begin with (Beyond Def's ATOs generally being awful, anyway). This I would normally agree with, but it's actually Sonic Blast that I'd consider non-negotiable over Kinetics due to concept. I'd never done anything with it before and I'd like to rectify that. Kinetics is more of a "how do I fix this low damage set" over any desire to bring the buffs to a party - that's just icing. There were other options on the table, but I'm trying to break my long-ingrained habit of slapping Dark Miasma on everything and calling it a day. 🤣 My main for many years now has been my D3 Def from live, the eternal cone-dance is long ingrained at this point. It's annoying, but manageable and I already have CT binds in mind to alleviate this. - Good information all around though, I do appreciate the pointers. I hadn't realized Sonic has changed again, Mids still reflects old values and the Short/Lingering vibrations system... I may need to reconsider my power picks in that case. What has me curious then is wether or not I should be chasing procs on Sonic Blast over full sets; If the -res componant is higher and more straightforward now it feels like I should be implementing recharge to keep it layered over worrying about PPM, and I know procbombing Siren Song will kill the sleep effect entirely.

On one hand, a blast set I've been repeatedly told to just play on Defender for the better -res values. On the other hand, a support set I've been repeatedly told to run on Corruptor for the higher damage cap. I want to put these two together, but I'm not sure which AT to use. I don't know how well they'll mesh, though I figure Kin will at least help with Sonic's traditionally lower damage output and either way I'll have a decent little support package to use as a tag-along for a friend's farms. I'd like it to be able to reasonably solo, which I figure Siren Song > FS can help facilitate despite the lack of traditional defense tools. Is this wishful thinking? Am I mad for trying? Should I give in and make a Sonic/Sonic Def instead? Advice is needed!

This clip really highlights the worst part of Changeling tbh. I didn't have my headphones on, but I can still hear it. I wish Lauci had left screenshake on just to showcase what it's like for any poor new player who happens to be nearby. 🤣 Jokes aside, I've always loved Khelds as an idea but never been able to get into them in practice - largely for... well, many of the reasons people have pointed out already. I'm no Kheldian vet like some of the folks here, so obviously take my 2c with a hefty spoonful of salt. But Khelds really could use some better... flow to their playstyle. One idea I had a while back would be that forms should maybe be handled in a similar way to how many powersets have an 'afterglow', for lack of a better word. Using a Fire ability leaves fire glowing in your hands for a bit, for example. What if the form powers were always available, and clicking them gave you the visual form-shift as part of the attack - maybe also providing the passive benefits of that form for the duration, until you hit something to cause another shift? That alone would remove so much of the 'clunk' that comes with shapeshifting, and could even spread into letting more of the powers be usable in more forms. Regardless of what we actually get in a revamp of the AT, it desperately needs to at least try and tone down the visual and audio backlash the shapeshifts include though. Dear god, my poor eardrums.

I live on Excelsior now, but during my time on Everlasting I had a Bots MM whose only purpose was petsay macro chains to advertise events/bases in Pocket D. Just remembering it is making me all nostalgic, I'll have to see if I can dig up my master-list of macros. I also have a second account with a single character on it - a stalker who exists purely for Teleport Target/Base Portal/TT that I made to help a... 'directionally challenged' friend navigate when they first started HC. Sees little use nowadays though, now that they've been here long enough to become a bit of a vet themselves.

I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it.

The thread devolved into build talk a bit, but this I can definitely answer. For Crab Spider specifically you will generally be playing some sort of Crabbermind. It doesn't have nearly as much flexibility, it's what you take Crab for. However, if you were to instead respec to Bane, you can create something the community refers to as a 'Huntsman' or 'Huntsbane' which mostly skips the melee aspect entirely in favor of ranged attacks, AoEs, and some very nasty debuffs. I bring this up because Huntsman fits the bill of what you're looking for to a T. It's light on clickiness, durable, and very straightforward to play. It is essentially a Sentinel that uses leadership toggles for it's armorset. It's also a blast to play (literally! You can have an entire attack chain that consists of grenades!) and I will always recommend it for folks looking for simple-but-effective ranged characters.

I have and regularly play both and, in fact, they're 2 of the only 4 character's that have stayed in my regular 'roster' and never been retired since I started on HC. Dark Miasma has always been my favorite powerset, even as far back as the good ol' days of Live. That said, I do absolutely have a favorite here... and it isn't the Defender. For all of my love for Dark Miasma, Dark Blast is a janky and uncomfortable set to play with most of the time (at least in my opinion). It procs wonderfully (which is important because the actual damage output is anemic at best) and it has more AoE than most blasts can get... but that AoE is the problem; You are saddled with 3 very narrow cones with differing arcs and ranges to work with. It almost requires Hover to get good use of them, and generally means you want to be as far back as Tenebrous will allow you to be and still hit the group - which conflicts with your desire to be close when dropping Blackstar or using Twilight Grasp. You eventually learn to deal with it, but that doesn't mean it isn't exhausting to constantly be managing your range and targeting on top of everything else going on in a speedy group. On the other hand, we have Dark Affinity, which is just better Dark Miasma - especially on a D3, where you aren't actually losing Fearsome Stare in exchange for it's goodies. Fade and Soul Absorption are game changers, the former being relatively simple to get close to perma (14% +DefAll and some free DDR to boot!), and the latter letting even the most thirsty power combos ignore endurance altogether when saturated (+50% recovery, and an additional 10% per corpse). Dark Control is also just as proc'able as the Blast, with Heart of Darkness being a standout AoE mini-nuke and fantastic opener. Umbra and it's backup dancers help keep damage rolling while you're throwing controls and support around, making for a much more comfortable and durable experience. Even defender's scalers don't give it much of a leg up here, since the -tohit from controller is already more than enough, especially when FS gets involved - and Howling Twilight isn't effected by it either way. Even before 'trollers got a free bump in damage with fear being a valid source of containment and pets being able to trigger it, I'm hard pressed to think of a scenario I'd rather have the 'fender. Dark Blast just doesn't bring anything to the table that Dark Control doesn't outshine - the 'fender might have a ST damage advantage vs AVs... but even there, a procced out Dark Control isn't far enough behind to be noticeable, especially when supplemented with Arcane Bolt from sorcery. Umbra does good work when you can get him to sit still and focus (which 'troller can actually do now thanks to the most recent update) and that closes the margin further than you'd think, especially in the odd occasion when an AV lets you have containment. All of that is to say... while D3 'fender was my first character on live and will always have a special place in my heart, I will always pick D3 'troller over it in a side by side comparison. You gain so much and lose so little. Whether that's telling of the awkward state Dark Blast is in, or just how strong Dark Control is, I could not tell you. Maybe a little bit of both.

So, I started messing around with things on Brainstorm and think I've got an outline for what I'm hoping to accomplish, and some actual answerable questions for the folks who know slotting better. Outline attached below. Original concept was going to lean into Cloak of Darkness completely hiding your character and taking a weapon set with hover to float around as a haunted, cursed weapon. Thought it would be fun. But while testing I accidentally fell in love with Spinning Strike in StJ. Sweeping Cross being skippable also lines up with my original goal of a 6 power primary. Where I'm having trouble is figuring out how I should be slotting these powers. Scrapper's high base damage makes me feel like I should be taking advantage of it more than cramming procs in to do the work, but StJ also looks like a set that gets a lot of use out of FF procs and I'm not sure where to draw the line. With what I have, the crit-proc ATO looks like it would work best in either Rib Cracker or Shin Breaker (unless I put it in Dark Regen for giggles, but on paper that looks very expensive on End). Crit window looks about the same, but I'm unsure if it'd be better in one over the other - better chance in Shin Breaker, but SB also looks like it'll want Achilles in it where RC can't take anything interesting that'd compete for space. I chose Soul for patron on account of Shadow Meld looking like a dream come true for bolstering during alpha strikes, but with StJ already being very ST focused and wanting you to stack combo I'm not sure how important I should treat Moonbeam. It's hard to find advice/examples of the revamped Dark Armor, and I can't tell if Obscure Sustenance might actually be a better pick. The revamp turned it into a clicky with no target requirement and a 25% heal on top of it's already very nice +Regen/+Recovery (though Mids doesn't actually reflect this yet) as opposed to Dark Regeneration's expensive target-based heal. OS also can have a majority of it's buff made permanant quite easily, but it has very little options for slotting compared to DR. Soul Transfer has the same issue as above, and it does so many things now that I'm not sure what I should be focusing on with it. If I take OS over DR, it'd make a good spot for Panacea/PM sets, but I don't know if that's worth losing other things that can go there. Lastly, I'm curious if Hasten is even needed with a setup like this. With StJ getting 3 decent spots for FF procs, I'm wondering if I might be better served dropping it for another power/pool entirely. The attached build was put together with non-superior sets mostly just because I wanted to see what things would look like leveling. I'm not above using purple sets (I've got more than enough inf set aside to make a fairly expensive build) but I'd like it exemplar as well as possible since I spend far more time below cap than at it. The only thing here that's really set in stone is that I very much want Fold Space which pushes me into Teleport for travel, and that I want Hover for both concept and to make Teleport more palatable. Scrapper - StJ Dark wip.mbd

So I was left to my own devices for more than 5 minutes, and the intrusive thoughts won. So now I have half a dozen half-built variants in mids that I've been putting together while I am supposed to be working try to decide which one I want to pull the trigger on and actually roll... and I'm very quickly coming to realize I really don't have a clue what I should be building for on a melee character. For reference, a vast majority of my characters fall into the Defender/Controller/MM variety, where you slap in rDef sets between your procs and just keep out of reach. Something tells me Scrapper needs a bit more than that though. Dark Armor is a Res set with minor defenses and some -tohit and fear. Do I want to try and chase positionals for extra padding despite the lack of DDR? Should I be trying to ResCap instead despite the scalar and max 75%? Do I actually want Tough and Weave? If I do want Tough and Weave, which I assume I do even if Tough just mules sets for me, that leaves me in an awkward spot for power picks. To get everything I want into the build, I need a primary I can cut 3 powers from. That's easy for some, since I don't want Confront and you don't usually take both T1 and T2. Psi Melee drops boggle, Savage can skip Shred, etc. But I have no idea what others like Titan Wep, Katana and War Mace can live without. And after all that is considered, I look at my endurance and weep for what Dark Armor has done to me, and start asking myself if I really need Death Shroud all that badly. I realize I'm mostly just shouting into the void, and that none of this is really specific enough to get any actual answers more than "it depends", but I just thought I'd share. I really did not walk into this expecting to have to relearn my mids-fu.

I don't care if Staff's damage isn't great, Innocuous Strikes is just such a fun animation 🤣 Trouble's post about the ATO procs' placement the other day is actually what started this whole thing for me... it was interesting to see how much of an impact they have on the AT overall, and reminded me Scrapper was something I'd never really given a shot. I'll be honest though... it never even occurred to me that you could slot it in Dark Regen since it deals damage. That's a wild thought. Cheers for that!