Sir Myshkin

But you’re just talking about concept, and not the reality of what a regenerative character is. I’m not talking about slapping 50-60% Resistances together and Reconstruction, I’m talking about expanding Resilience, expanding the baseline coverage of the character beyond just S/L so they have a better footing. Then in a Resistance path still having enhanced baseline Regen in the 400-600% range, but also grant enhanced healing effects (not just from their own powers, but support they receive from teammates too). With a more sophisticated T9, looking at a build that can feel more like a stable 60-75% Res character a portion of the time, and use their boosted healing to compensate the other half. A more “I heal faster, but I’m not insane” kind of Regen. Something that doesn’t need Tough, Weave, Maneuvers, a bucket of IOs, Shadow Meld, and a Happy Meal to walk outdoors. The opposing path to that would be the truly more traditional Regen with a handful of heals/absorbs, a minimum baseline of Resistance with no additional add on (in set), and powers that stack more Regen and Absorb effects when used. Get a character down a path to where they can walk around burning 200 HP/s. That’s the truly insane type of Regen. One that doesn’t wait for a Res or Def check but takes the hit and shrugs it off instantly. It’s possible to get a Scrapper up to this currently, but it’s taxing to keep them there, and they have gaps that are irritating, and the set lacks Regen Debuff Resistance which is just ??? Crazy to me. Hopefully that elaborates my rambling a bit better.

In-game text on the NoPhase indicator still says 120/s, hasn’t been updated. You’re apparently not the only one.

Thinking outside the box, especially with sets like Willpower and Bio Armor present, I'd really like to just flat out go a new direction and leave our current Regen as a historical record for players to play and use, and build a ground-up alternative that doesn't rely on the same bones and has some more dynamic options to change how it plays for the individual player. I'm picturing more the variance of different concepts in the realm of what it means to be a "Regen" concept. Most instantly travel to Wolverine in their thoughts, but this isn't the only core concept which applies, we have slower healing, more resistance based concepts out there too that span a wider range of books/authors beyond just comics. I'd really like to see us be able to choose whether we build a Resistive Healer, or a Speed Regen, or possibly have some kind of blending options. Take as an example if I start off with a character out of the box who has a duality level one power you have to choose which form gets toggled on, either enhanced healing, or enhanced regen. If I choose enhanced regen, powers I take going forward will have stacking Regen bonuses, my heals won't be heals, but absorbs, and the set will aggressively ramp up its Regen to be a constant Instant Healing level percentage. The alternative path would be enhanced healing effects with mild regen (albeit considerably better than any normal character), and resistance based, but selective. The player will have to choose their weakness. S/L, F/C, E/N, T/Psi, but for each taken it extends the recharge of their T9 which would be a "Moment of Glory" but longer duration, lower values, but higher potential uptime depending on the choices the player makes. Of course... a bit hypothetical to the options in coding such a configuration, and purely a whiteboard/napkin brainstorm moment, but it's the other side of the coin everyone always talks about.

...That ...doesn't sound right. checks in game Huh, there is a noPhase auto lock out activated. I'll be honest I don't remember that ever existing, but I can't exactly say I've put excessive hours in my Ice Tanker to have noticed if/when on that one, and my build never focused on a high-recharge Hibernate in the first place so I wouldn't have personally ever paid attention to it. However! The noPhase lockout is not 120/s, but appears to only be ~85/s, why an odd number I don't know but I activated, the auto hits, I turned Hibernate off after 5/s, and I can reactivate Hibernate within 80/s, so it's definitely not a full two minute lock out either way. Someone call Orkin! @Captain Powerhouse Hey Zed, we got a Bug.

Devil's Advocate on this. Even in the case of a light build with no Hasten, Hibernate can be up within 40-45/s, and doesn't require a player to be encapsulated the entire 30/s, that's purely amusement at that point. Most builds will be fully healed within 10-15/s, it's running at a base line of 1,000% Regen boost. That is a heal at that point. Once a minute the Tank gets a full debuff cleanse and a full HP bar. Icy Bastion cannot compete with that from a safety-net stand point. Yes the player may be able to continue active engagement with enemies during the recovery period, but the separation is coming down to A) 100% Immunity and Full Heal versus B) Improved Survival and Health, both cover the same duration of time, but one guarantees safety and health where the other only extends the expression of hope. One requires the temporary sacrifice of mobility with a duration based on player discretion, the other does not. You're argument is that Hibernate is not a reliable Heal, but it is in-fact a better, stronger option than Icy Bastion which is also just Regen based, and that it adds Resistance factor. Yes additional Resistance is a nice addition, but as Sovera pointed out Hibernate uniquely fills a hole that is otherwise rather difficult to get rid of in most other conditions within this game, and that is the ability to buy time to clear debuffs. On average most significant debuffs will be gone within 5-10/s, but if a cascade has been allowed this can be massively negative and hard to survive, but Hibernate is nearly instant immortality (30/s of it no less) once it activates making it possible for the Tanker to clear those debuffs and regenerate in time to come back into the fight strong and fresh. Icy Bastion just flat-out can't compete with that, and it is a specific aspect in how Ice Armor was designed despite it not being a very flashy or impressive T9, it is acutely the most frequently usable one.

You and I are in a similar boat Shred. I played a lot of Scrappers on Retail, they (and Melee in general) took up the core of my roster for sure, but here on Homecoming I have found myself shifted away from that into other things like Defenders, a Tanker, Blasters, Sentinels, Corruptors. Heck I even have three Masterminds, and I hate MM's.

The kind fed by two cups of crazy and a dozen packets of sugar stolen from a local food chain. I can tell you Tanker wise you got to start with a baseline expectation that for the Tanker to survive it first has to be able to solo an enemy buffed, player debuffed, no insp, no temp, MoITF run to make the qualifiers. Ooh, Ooh, can we do an All Trick Arrow run?! Have you tried that yet? Or at least maybe a TA heavy team with something giving some additional minor support? Suddenly visualizing even just four applications of Flash Arrow and PGA with just their unresistable portions stacking up...

... I was super prepared to respond with a lyrical reference to one of their songs relevant to your post but I got rather distracted. See, their new album since six years ago comes out next week. I'm kinda freaking out over here.

The only way to fix Rage is to Nerf it. Nerf Rage!

I replaced a laptop this year and picked up the Steel Series Rival 3 since it's one of the only lower-priced Bluetooth+Wireless optioned mice with a decent gaming sensitivity levels (there's a Logitech 305 I think that's the closest thing, without BT). I chewed on the thing for two weeks, and even after purchasing it and using it I'm still personally aggravated by the switches inside for the mouse clicks compared to Logitech. They feel stiff and require a modicum of extra force in the tap of the finger to get activation/response, but the mouse has a nice weight (light) and has a nice texture and grip to it. I'm rather torn on it. Steel Series also has a rather interesting Rival 700 level mouse with customizable buttons I've been looking to try and monkey around with that looks rather interesting. Said it earlier, but yes, the G600 is a fantastic mouse! The Naga and the Scimitar--while similar--have some odd differences in their button layout though if you haven't tested them in person. The Naga's kind of swoops in an arc from front to back inwards with minor divots down the center row (you can kind of see it in the picture you posted) which isn't quite as inituitive for memory/placement as the G600 in my opinion which is two distinct "zones" of front and back sections with raised marker points like an F and J key would have on a keyboard with G13 and G16. The Scimitar's differences are it swoops down into the base and the 1 and 4 keys are very close to the bottom of the mouse making it hard to click, and while that whole side panel can be repositioned, even at "max height" it's still not enough for a person with even moderately sized thumbs to successfully use. Feel wise most concede that the G600 is also a wider, more palm-filling mouse compared to either of the Naga or the Scimitar as well. Logitech G300S is an Ambi mouse out of the box, and the ... Logitech G900 if I recall is convertible (or purchasable) as a southpaw with a couple of thumb buttons and is a gamer-grade mouse. Oh, and the Logitech PRO mouse is technically Ambi, but promoted as just "this is the mouse" kind of thing, no left/right distinction. Steel Series Sensei Ten and 310 are Ambi mice, and there's one of their Rival series... can't find it anymore. Technically Razer did/does have a left handed Naga but... yeah. Adapting to the button mix isn't nearly that complicated, and honestly I just use the first six thumb functions for most of my own utility personally. I use three power trays, first six buttons are 1-6, hitting alt gives me tray 2, and hitting the g-key (ring finger button on the mouse) or ctrl gives me tray 3, so I put all my clicks in those slots.

As someone who has a nose in that industry, while Razer has been around for a considerable time, they definitely stand on advertisement more than quality of the products and getting customers to buy in on the belief that if the item fails in a few years it's because they "took it to the limit" of the gaming experience. A lot of continuous buyers for Razer specifically will return every couple of years to replace a part of the peripherals for one defect or another. They have a great look that appeals to a lot of gamers and PC users alike, but they have not had a consistently broad-spectrum quality product in easily ten years compared to their competitors. I can just as easily point out some personal negatives about a couple of others too, but for what it's worth, if anyone remembers when Logitech announced their G600 It was partnered with CoH as the Ultimate MMO mouse, and I bought in then and didn't give up on that mouse ever since. It claimed to be a serious contender of life span and I know for certain I got my clicks out of it. It often only shows up around the fall for sale, and can be bought "on sale" for $30 from it's "$79.99". For anyone who's ever been a Naga Multi-Thumb fan, this is always my go-to suggestion. For those who are Razer users moving away, my suggestion would probably be a Hero series G502 as it will have a similar grip/palm placement for the hand, similar button components for the thumb, and both wired/wireless options.

Storm/Energy Defender, anyone who says this isn't a thematic pair is selling you something. Fight me. TA/A Defender Past that I'm not much of a thematic person either I guess, but really it comes down to just not finding the excitement in thematic pairings. Logistically they make sense. Pyro, Iceman, having that unified nature. It's not often in comics you find someone walking around with obscure things like Gravity Control and Ice Manipulation and be a top selling character, I tried figuring out that out in my own musings, how do you try and make that make sense even in a hypothetically fictional world? But still, those off-the-wall pairings are always the more fun, outlandish ones to play.

It's not a bonus, it's a trigger that occurs from activation, and the probability of occurrence on that proc is typically--at best--going to cap out at three stacks at any given time. It is useful to have the proc in multiple highly used powers, but it isn't an "always on" thing, it does have to fire off to get the bonus. *And when I say stacks, the proc provides 100% global recharge bonus for 5/s, and it can stack on itself like a queue where each trigger will add an additional 5/s of bonus time. Given that even in a best-case scenario even three stacked triggers is hard to get, I typically point to that being most folks cap limit, but an average build will typically see 1 to 2 triggers throughout common use here-and-there.

Meltdown is specifically for the damage bonus and nothing else. Depending on which iteration of the build you look at there may even be Adrenal Booster in there which is keeping up 30% for long stretches. Capped resistances in most gameplay is actually really strong, and holds up to about -30% defense debuff before it starts to really suffer negative effects. I’ve taken it into the Incarnate trials and Tanked with zero issues. If you want to really push it into ridiculous there’s a variant of the build I have base line defense added in, but it isn’t a primary focus for most as it’s a pretty extreme-case kind of build. Yes, but several of the builds, if they’re in full gear, are cycling a lot of +Dam so Nova is likely to annihilate whatever it hits minus bosses, so the KB will be a non-issue most of the time. I don’t carry a converter in Nova on the Storm/Nrg and it clears most spawns just fine at Defender levels with a Decimation proc BU pre-Nova, so the Blaster will operate even cleaner.

Every time one of these pops up I never remember to share one bio that exists solely because of the community. I had a long-standing character concept that lacked a backstory, but rolled it on Homecoming just to play it through. In the process of leveling up I crowdsourced the character's backstory through the teammates I played with (all PUG's). Other the constructing it into a coherent format, the content of this Biography is that of our Community Mind: The simplicity of the character was, per the name, an Orbital Lancer, a long range weapon capable of firing from space and targeting a pinpoint location on Earth, but that "weapon" being an actual individual. One further detail I couldn't fit that I thought was really cool that folks came up with is that the energy he generates in his body is being pulled out through the gauntlets and powers the gun. I just personally like glowy effects! I later added the flicker/sparkly radiation dust-like particle effect around his head to coincide with that leaking power concept they came up with.

Some quick heads up for the future: In-game will always have accessible data for you to check out as the others have shown above, just use [ and ] brackets around the power name (so like [Barrier]) and enter it into chat, it'll give you a clickable box that opens the info window. If you're not able to (or don't want to hop on) that same data does exist in Mid's, but is broken down a bit differently (but similarly). In the Incarnates window each of those abilities can be selected and "locked" in place to view their attributes in the corresponding boxes in the bottom of their window, and as you scroll through it it shows you the same information of how it has timer scaled values that slowly tier down/off.

Dimension Shift oddly enough ended up being close to a power in the game Warframe (for those that may be familiar with it). The Warframe Limbo has an ability that generates a dimensional shift in the same manner where damage doesn't cross over in/out, but the he himself can shoot in/out through his own abilities, and so long as someone is within the field they can impact enemies within the field. The big difference here is that there's no immobilizing effect, the size of the field can be changed through enhancement, and when it collapses it causes damage to the enemies within it. This isn't the first time I've said it, but I would really like to see our version of Dimension Shift can turned into this where the size can be enhanced and it causes damage to the enemies inside when it collapses, and the bigger the size, the larger the damage (and longer the cooldown). So someone could keep it as a panic button, or turn it into a true fast-fire weapon. Flip on, flip off burst damage.

The best case is knowing not only when, but also how to use Dimension Shift in ways that a team is unlikely to recognize that you’re even using the power until a scenario arises that it becomes apparent your application of its function is literally saving them. Having said that, and I cannot stress then enough, there are still outlier cases where “this might be the best time” still turns into someone getting frustrated for one reason or another for lack of understanding it’s mechanics (or just knee-jerking). Keep these things in mind about Dimension Shift: Prime situations in my mind: enclosed spaces where you have been ambushed and will continue to get further ambushed, but are unable to retreat/proceed. Don’t use it on the incoming spawn, use it on your team and envelop them to act as a shield from outside damage. A team crunched together will often never notice an activated Shift since they’ll be happily swinging away at whatever’s there trapped with them. Wormhole is another super attractive way to cluster bomb groups together, we all know this, but what’s cool is that you can Wormhole into an active Dimension Shift, and the Shift doesn’t have a mob cap, so it’ll force immobilize everything you throw inside it. Will you be using the power constantly? No, but you have to prioritize unique ways to take advantage of what it can do. I take Force Bubble on my Fire/FF, but do I have it running 24/7? Haha, no, but there are some pretty fun tricks with that power to keep it around for.

I really should get someone to pin the proc monster threads. Acid Mortar does work with the Procs, the firing effect will go off the AoE formula and the Mortar itself is a pet. So it can be worth tossing slots into it for the added proc potential when they’re available in a build (which for traps there’s often more than plenty). And don’t worry about proc rate, you’ll still see some good returns on it even when it’s just a ST enemy in range. If want more of the deep dive (minus a bunch of technical math) check out the Defender Proc Monster link in my signature.

sniff sniff Smells like Nerf Rage in here.

What's worse: that I couldn't remember the Pylon formula off the top of my head, or the fact I realized I didn't need it to know what DPS 8:30 would produce? Also, you should be getting better than that without even considering Opportunity or Reactive/Degenerative -Res/-MaxHP. The real amusing part would be if you could get seven bodies to fill a team for the Gaussian proc, that thing would go off several times per minute and heavily skew results there as well. I napkin mathed the gap versus the damage and there didn't look to be much difference in Gloom > Abysaal > Gloom > Antumberal versus Gloom > Abyssal > Dark Oblit > Antumberal until I remembered that the back-end formula on AoE for Procs will wreak havoc on Dark Oblit for ST on a Pylon alone which made me think of this: If you haven't built it yet, I could suggest a minor tweak just for the kicks of this test and trade Engulfing Darkness for Smite and steal an extra slot from Netherworld Tentacles to give it a 5-piece suite of Hecatomb (exclude acc/rech) plus an extra damage proc. That'd give you Gloom > Abyssal > Smite > Antumberal and still keeps the bulk spirit of the build while incidentally giving it a rather heavy ST bump. Yes yes, Smite is a great ST attack but I had reasons for not including it originally.

It can pull off Gloom > Abyssal Gaze > Antumbral Beam at the height of Ageless, add in an extra Gloom once a gap starts to form. The ideal approach would be starting with Meltdown, running 60/s, then activating Adrenal Booster when Meltdown drops for a continues +Dam, and the +Rech of Adrenal helps stabilize the drop in Ageless at its tail end. During "normal" play the FF+Rech in Umbral Torrent would be the last key to keeping MD+AB on loop. In a ST scenario against a static Pylon you'll likely run into a window of downtime in its starter run of 15-20/s. Do with that knowledge what you will. It's kind of a "Do I double Rage before I test?" kind of scenario. Once you get the motor running though, it'd be easy to bounce Pylon to Pylon on that two minute cycle of Ageless > Meltdown > Adrenal Boost. It's your barbeque my friend. Shouldn't find it too have too much trouble though. Meltdown will hit 75% cap, Particle provides regen and absorb (I'd probably suggest starting off the test with that activated already), and the heal jumps in for 50% every ~16/s (so about 600-800 HP depending on whether you test with Accolades added on or not). There's also multiple Power Transfer procs in there to maximize that passive heal chance. This build also oozes so much endurance recovery it can solve the world's energy crisis so make sure to throw Darkest Night on the Pylon, that added -Dam will give you an extra bump in protection that will make that 75% cap feel a bit more like 80-90% and also give more mileage to the 12% defense in the build by simulating it up to ~20-25%. While Adrenal is up it too will be boosting secondary effects like the -ToHit in all of the Dark attacks*. Like I said, not atypical for most folks. This thing is built on Mad King principles.

If you want something interesting to poke holes in it with, this is a build I put together quite a bit back now designed around being on a team and cycling Meltdown and Adrenal Booster back and forth for a constant buff in favor of using something like Aim for short-term bursts. I used to have the math figured out for it back in the day, don't have it laying around anymore so I couldn't tell you what it's supposed to do, but it's definitely not an atypical Sentinel.

Saw this request yesterday but I wasn't near my computer to actually post a reference build. The referred Linea builds are older ones that are focused on survivability (packed defense for a lot of different damage types) which tends to make them a bit more costly because of the enhancement choices. Of them the "Old Two" is probably the most reasonably non-overboard option. This is something I have on file more geared towards performance in the damage realm (ahem, proc style of course) based off working knowledge of Kin/Elec from back on Retail. I swapped to Robotics/Kin MM with Homecoming for plenty of my own reasons and never rebuilt this character: