archgemini24

That last part is the kicker. A click-intensive set, if played well and balanced for the loss of offense due to activation times and for having to require more attention, should be far more effective in boosting your performance (defensively and offensively) than a set with all toggles or passives. I have no idea how difficult it would be to find the sweet spot that makes the set worth taking and mastering but not breaking the game, because if it does not or cannot do all that, would the set be worth running, at all? I am thinking of two ways the powers might function: higher base mitigation values than normal but the powers are unaffected by recharge and slows, or slightly lower base mitigation values that are impacted by recharge and slows, but could stack.

Cross Punch is also another place for the Forced Feedback +Recharge Proc, so in a Base Form build it also has that utility. I would love that type of power as an option in the Luminous Blast powerset (looks at Power Crash longingly), but if it was there it would probably be KB instead of KD which would make for another Sudden Acceleration I would have to slot, lol! Fully agree on Tough. It was an extra place to drop a few Uniques. I usually do not have it in a tray, either, especially once I get Light Form fully up and running.

My attempt to tie this back to the original subject: Circle of Thorns might be overtuned to the point where folks will avoid them whenever possible, similar to how most folks curently avoid Arachnos and Carnies when they are options for Radios, which ties back to my original point about new-CoT difficulty where if all four groups are going to same difficulty (or close) yet just different in how they reach that score, why not go to DA (other than access)? Can CoT be tuned to where they hit the middle marks (that is, significantly harder than they are on live, but distinctly a step down from Arachnos and Carnies) similar to where we think Malta and Freakshow land?

Do those come up as Radio options? I usually see Council, CoT, Arachnos, and Carnies. Perhaps it is just my rotten luck, but, yes, those would qualify as the middle difficulty mobs. Good catch! Edit to add: thank you KaizenSoze! So Malta is rare, but Freaks do not come up. Good to know something matched my anecdotal observations.

Especially if you get the wrong configuration of Mages. Base to-hit being 64% in DA is irrelevant when 2 Ruins and 2 Deaths can break all your IO building efforts because you do not have Debuff Resistance (on my PB, at least I had Light Form to mostly negate the Tar Patch -Res). Any of my characters with Debuff Resistance were mostly ok, but anyone without was put on notice immediately. For all that I might as well go where my kill speed and survival scores are better because I am 53 instead of 51 against the same level enemies, the per-mob rewards are higher because it is Incarnate content, and I get a reward roll at every mission completion. Again, that was all solo, though. It does not look like teams are having too much more trouble, which is fine but I do not think was the intention. Among the Radio mission enemies, we had old-Council and old-CoT that maybe hit a 2/10 or 3/10 on the difficulty scale versus Arachnos and Carnies that hit 7 or greater, so there were some people arguing that Council and CoT were too easy. I would say these changes put them both at least among the Arachnos and Carnies (depending on build, potentially harder). Maybe I am just ignorant, but where is the end-game Radio-option enemy group that runs at the middle difficulty for the majority of players? That is, if you rolled 3 Radio missions, 1 being Arachnos, 1 Carnies, and 1 of that other group, you go ahead and pick that group if you want lighter work without rerolling the set?

Did some running against the new CoT with the characters I usually play (+3/8 or +4/8), and while I do not mind the added difficulty, the loss of "vent your frustration by unleashing your almost-fully-realized Demigod against them" enemy groups took some adjustment. I actually liked the added diversity of Mages... until the game decided to throw that diversity out the window and give me 2 Ruins and 2 Deaths in every spawn. My non-Regen Tanks, Scrappers, and Brutes held up well enough to where I probably would not think to change settings, but the Peacebringer will either need another look or just go back to +2 or +1. I freely acknowledge I could turn the difficulty down... or run back to DA, where those characters keep all of the power they have gained so the enemies Con 2 colors lower, my kill speed increases as a result, and I get better per-mob rewards. Are we ok with DA being a potentially equal or possibly easier place to grind?

I had always envisioned my Human-only build to a Lumi-Lumi Sentinel that had to wait until super late to get any sort of Mez Protection, but got some melee abilities to make up for it similar to Dominator Assault sets. As far as existing sets: I would say Energy/Invulnerability Sentinel, with Fighting and Flight pools: Energy-based attacks, some melee in Air Superiority, Punch, and Cross Punch, Resistance Shields, Dull Pain, Resist-based T9 (Unstoppable is a step down from Light Form, though). Warshades? Dark Control/Dark Assault Dominators or any Dark Armor/Dark Melee/Blast, Dark Mastery combination with Stealth and Teleport pools, perhaps? Covers the Melee, Blast, and Control, and mitigation (resistance, mostly) bits that Warshades offer.

First place my mind went to since I started playing that game. 6 total currencies in the City, 1 which is really a subset of another (Shards/Threads) and another which is mostly just for costumes (Aether), means most players will only worry about 4... globally. That is tame, and I hope it stays that way.

Adding my name to the Fulcrum Shift chorus, and to the general consensus that Speed Boost is pretty cracked. Shameless plug for Light Form, though. Self-Contained, capable of capping Resistance to all but Psi, permable, and even provides some cursory Mez Protection for Base and Nova forms. My Regeneration characters would happily trade Resilience, Instant Healing, Revive, and Moment of Glory for Light Form straight-up.

That part. My understanding is that Lightning Rod and Shield Charge spawn a pseudopet that does the damage, so they do not critical. As an off-shoot, they also do not break Hide. And, while all that is nice and allows for ridiculous tele-ganking, the plug is that Stalkers give up Thunderclap (lol) for Assassing's Strike (the big single-target attack that all the other ATs wish they got on Electric Melee), which can then be dropped on the boss of the spawn that is left. Flip-side, unless things have changed, Stalkers do not get the benefit of Against All Odds until Hide is broken. Really should not matter, though.

This is a really tough call between my two Kheldians: My Peacebringer is a character inspired by my kids. My Warshade is inspired by a friend who... damn, I can't think about it without tearing up. Knowing the person she was and how much we love each other's kids, she would tell me to keep the Peacebringer. I have lots of toons that are Pre-Snap returns, are absolute beasts, and hold sentimental value. I would hate to lose them, but as far as only one, they do not even make the podium.

If the OP has any intention on trying to learn a Kheld, it is hard to do better than this guide. If the plan is simply to go -1/x0, I would highly suggest the Peacebringer, though. It is a smoother ride, can get some Mez protection that carries over to its damage form (Lightform), and does not require enemies around to buff against. Shameless plug for Kheldians out of the way, I am going to echo most of the previous advice. At -1/x0, play what sounds interesting. At worst, the climb to power might be slow, but that just means more opportunities to play story arcs as they arise rather than through flashbacks. My suggestion would be a Stalker: good damage, mezz protection, best stealth capacity for missions that suck. Pick a combo with some recovery/sustain or really good damage (you do not need both) and you are good to go. If stealth is not needed, I am partial to Scrappers for where they sit on the damage/survivability spectrum, but Sentinels, Brutes, Tanks, and Blasters will all get the job done in fine fashion.

I actually like running the AoE part after Soul Drain in reverse: ToF -> Shadow Maul -> ToF -> Shield Charge. Gives time for AAO to saturate and lets all the smaller AoEs do as much damage to the spawn as possible before Shield Charge cleans them up. I acknowledge that more of the SC damage is wasted on Minions and Lieutenants this way, but you get more damage out of the other attacks on bosses since the initial salvo has not immediately deleted all the AAO fodder. That said, if you need some of the trouble mobs dropped as fast as possible, Charging first is not a bad idea.

I am not sure if doing both would make it a full-on nerf. The values would be lower, sure, but as a passive it would be free, always active, and still retain its capacity to carry the Unique Resistance and KB protection IOs.

That's what second builds are for! You can also get away with a lot of odd picks if you know you are going to be using it in a more dedicated group (or groups that use more dedicated lower-case "t" tactics... and Tactics, too, I suppose). You certainly will not have to kit it out as much as you would your primary build. As far as getting folks to stay dead for you, if you team with other people who also need a defeated body to use, the team manages to work that out. 7 folks running AM, the Full Leadership suite, and Fallout means the 8th is best served being defeated.