Sir Myshkin

What's your goal for the build, or what are you hoping to achieve? From a budget stand point, sure, that build would "work" and a small purple puts you in range of at least softcap on Ranged Defense, but that can be a difficult marker to hit when there's other, simpler options available like Haijinx mentioned. To put that in perspective, I already had a Nrg/Nrgy laying around: It's not quite soft capped (45%) to S/L, but Power Boost definitely will spike it over that number for short bursts as needed. This was one of many experimental builds I was working with to try and come up with a specific Blaster concept I personally wanted to run. It ended up leading into something more like the following build (which you can find more info on in if you follow the "Mad King" link in my signature):

To Coyote's point, Dark has actual debuffs that can make a significant impact in your play experience that Time Manipulation lacks, however Time will be a bit easier to deal with building your Defense, and has several tools focused to that idea of slowing/stopping the enemy whereas Dark is more about redirecting and causing decay. I had my own Fire/Time/Fire on Retail that I enjoyed and spent the (much more difficult back then) effort to get it to T4 Incarnate abilities. "Unkillable" squadron of Fire Imps is pretty amusing.

Storm/Energy Defender, a Mad King Special (Matador MK1S) T4 Musc (Radial) T3 Clarion (Core), Vorpal Judgement (Radial) T1 Degenerative No Temps/Insps 4:45 for the recorded run I've taken this thing up against a lot of random content and it's just a monster. Not the fastest thing on the block, but for a Defender it is a wrecking ball. Still don't have the last few pieces with the Interface and debating on the Hybrid with how the Double Proc might actually play out with all the Storm abilities. I'll be honest, the majority of this build's output is in Storm! There's a ton of behind the scenes stuff happening with procs that is easily glanced over, but tons of +100% global pops, +100% Dam every time I drop Lightning Storm so getting a boosted Snipe+Burst after each. This is far from a "perfect" run, but I did it on a whimsy because of how wild this thing plays.

Based on my experience with Rad Melee on Scrappers, you definitely want to take Radiation Siphon, but you don't want to rely on it solely as your heal. That being said, it can actively serve as your buffer. My Scrapper is a Rad/DA, and despite having Dark Regen on tap, I rarely use it because of how often I can cycle through the Siphon and have it pop for a heal and keep me topped off. Since Radiation Armor will have its own tools to help support your green bar, I wouldn't be too stressed about the Siphon being a focused heal, but definitely take it because it is one of your stronger hitting attacks.

"What're you doing?!" "Killing the surrounding spawns to avoid the obvious trap ambush you walked into." "Why aren't you helping us?!" "Because you walked into the trap ambush and died." "Come help us now!" "I am, by clearing the mission for you. Just stay on the floor, it'll go faster."

I wanted to highlight something important about this with the recent Tanker changes that are now live. AoE's and essentially anything that a) does damage, and b) takes accuracy to hit a target effectively has Taunt bursts that ring out like constant shock waves of "HIT ME, HIT ME" all over the place for Tankers. Now not just Taunt is a truly viable option to aggressively grab aggro. Yes these components were present before, but the rework has massively improved the overall capability of a Tanker to reach out and TAUNT enemies. Keeping that in mind, being cognizant of all tools available will maximize overall ability to manage any battlefield consistently. As a personal add about Tanking in general: In the realm of Incarnate Insanity, don't be surprised if another player (of any AT) jumps ahead of you. There's "being the Tank" and there's "being Point." If someone jumps ahead and struggles to deal with the aggro they obtain, that's on them, and if it negatively impacts the team then don't be afraid to have that conversation. There are some cases, though as others have talked about with "pets lead the team", I play a Storm Defender that absolutely rushes the next spawn because Tornado doesn't give a flipped trailer who is on first, it will aggro whatever it pleases. I take ownership of the path it takes, and collectively the Tornado and I tear a pretty heavy course through a map. It's nothing against the Tank, but I just don't have time to wait for them to alpha the next spawn, my invulnerable wind storm does that just fine on its own. So be a Tank, manage aggro, protect the team (as a whole), you don't have the be the first thing in the next spawn if you can instantly grab the overflow when you get there and manage it.

I’m talking casual things that every set is already taking advantage of: Tough, Weave, IO’s, stuff of that nature. One doesn’t have to build abnormally or otherwise uniquely specific just for Regen. Yes some sets innately survive specific circumstances better in say an SO environment, or exclusively on their own without power pools, but every set, in a vacuum of itself, has inherent weaknesses we, as players, build to improve. My own Regen, since I can only speak for myself, has only 33% S/L/Melee Def and ~50% S/L resists among other meandering values, and has Shadow Meld as an additional ability beyond Tough/Weave. I have absolutely zero issue “tanking” and soloing +4/x8 content in this game. If I’d wanted to I could’ve shifted to 45% S/L Def at the cost of some proc choices I made instead. The core difference in survival is the willingness of the player to pay attention, and that’s part of why I personally think so few people like playing Regen. It can be a far more challenging/frustrating set to attune to.

Have a Regen Scrapper that has absolutely no issue in pretty much any content I've thrown it at. Even took on Crimson Prototype, which is an AV with a design that specifically neuters Regen with stacking -MaxHP debuffs. I did die, but only because we got down to the point where I only had 200 HP after a very long haul. It's not impossible for Regen to hold up to a lot of the content in this game if you build appropriately. It does take unifying additional survival tools to maximize its potential in the 50+ content.

When you slot procs into pets, you have to be mindful of what attacks/abilities are actually responsible for why you can slot certain things. Now generically speaking most pets like what Controllers get are only available to the standard Recharge Intensive Pet IO's, but there are some cases that allow things like Knockback, Defense Debuffs, (etc, and more for MM class stuff). When those options become available they're specific to a certain skill (sometimes skills) in the pets aresenal where that can be used. Furthermore, for some of them, that ability/attack can be one used fairly frequently which makes the investment worth the inclusion. In the case of things like the KB>KD from Sudden Acceleration, that's just a straight conversion IO and that's all, whereas the Overwhelming Force is a conversion+proc chance (when the set doesn't have KD/KB). So yes adding the damage procs to pets does work, but it is contingent on the ability that is attached to the associated proc which would be the source info for the frequency chance. If you want the hard math on it, the formulas for proc probability based on power type is in a guide written by the user Bopper.

I try very carefully to keep that mindful for others when they're reading about Regen. There's so many that have an unfortunate taste for the set because of early experiences that many don't make the effort to see what it can really be built in to. The ultimate thing I've ever learned about Regen comes down to one simple factor: the player must be present. And I agree that scaffolding is key to making something positive out of Regen to get it to a level capable of rising to the top. It is strangely both a difficult set to master, and also one that can become one of the most casual/leisurely played sets too.

The bulk of the idea is in the first topic post, and each section that was tested has its own dedicated post within that thread going into more detail about a specific set. That aside, if you're really looking for an AoE focused path, consider Storm/Energy. In my signature is a link (Mad King) that talks a bit more specifically on how it plays. It is definitely a high-octane build that drives teams. You have to be prepared to always be in the next spawn because Tornado waits for no Tank. If I'm at the helm of that build, I'm driving the team. Not by fault of ego, but by fault of having to control my own chaos. Explosive Blast, Nova, Tornado, Lightning Storm, Freezing Rain, there's always something going on. The build also doesn't require Ageless to fix endurance (all self contained) which means your Incarnates are a pool of "whatever you want." Personally took Vorpal so I could have another +Def ability, and I get to take Clarion for mez protection. I haven't found a more aggressive monster than Storm/Nrg Defender.

There Tyrant stood, a monolith to science and magic gone wrong. At his feet like flies swarmed newly formed Incarnates berating him and biting mercilessly at his shins, his entire form crackled with an overabundance of power sapped from the Well. He lifted a foot, mocking the heroes and villains alike who dared to impede him, and dropped it with a violent crushing force into the Earth which came with a spark of white lightning that seeped up through the rubble and rock and shot its viscous life-stealing energy out into the chaos. Some fled, some unable to make it out fell in the wake of such awesome might, but there in the center stood one lone figure, a silhouette in the madness of light and energy. A Scrapper. His armor cracked, his flesh beneath burned and peeled, blood seeped into the air and vaporized, and then his flesh repaired itself, healed full, and then repeated the cycle. The lightning of Tyrant was trying to shear him apart by the atom, and he would have none of it. Beneath his helm, where a chunk fell free and burned into ash, his undeniable grin could be seen. Tyrant looked down, perturbed at such insolence, he struck again, stronger, and with more power. More heroes fell, others flew madly across the battlefield attempting to rescue their fallen comrades. The Scrapper merely lifted a hand and slowly rolled his fingers down into a fist, a Vorpal Blade springing out from his forearm. For a moment everyone became aware of that one hero, knowingly, painfully standing there, but not falling, refusing to accept the destruction around him. For a brief second a calm hit the air in between heartbeats and lightning pulses, and everyone heard when the Scrapper said: "My turn."

I feel that statement can only be made in a vacuum of Regeneration exclusive to anything but itself. While my TW/Regen build is slightly tweaked from the build I ran on Retail (has a bit more Resistance, forgoes Spiritual), in no way, shape, nor form have I ever felt like any situation I've walked into was inevitably going to kill me. In fact, just as I did on Retail, I find that 75% of my time playing the character I'm not actively engaged in half of my mitigation tools in the first place. I typically try and remember to keep Dull Pain always applied, I rarely use Reconstruction (in fact I hit it accidentally far more than purposefully), and I've got access to Shadow Meld and Moment of Glory and Instant Healing, and I rarely hit IH, let alone all three in cycle. I have the recharge capable in my build to SM > MoG > SM (15/s gap to repeat), on top of the ability to pop IH at any point in there. Oh, and I don't even use Defensive Sweep at all. IO's do a lot to aggressively change what Regen can wade through. I could soft cap some defenses, or extremely pad up specific resistances, I chose to go middle of the road on both and utilize additional tools. Throw in some meandering occasional team buffs and ... I completely avoid using anything but the passive portion of my secondary altogether. Yes that character has fallen a few times, but they were not at fault of Regen or any preconceived lack of capacity in the power set itself, but within myself as a player failing to anticipate--or otherwise respond to--a situation correctly.

You're looking at the effect a bit backwards. Radial creates the proc, which in the realm of when Bruising existed meant it could do more than it otherwise would. With the transition to a higher base value, Core is going to have more out right value. I tested Radial on a couple of builds and it consistently under performed compared to Core by a pretty significant amount. In a proc world Bruising was definitely a nicer touch as it allowed procs to leverage more potential, but the static performance of a "normal" build plan for Tankers is what got measured, and the change was an "even exchange" of performance in a ST scenario, where AoE (and realistic play) were massively improved. When I tested Titan Weapons, as an example, I did it paired with Super Reflexes, so everything was purely what I could pack into TW itself. Running that set I could get 2:45 on a Pylon with Hybrid Assault Radial, but I was doing 3:00-3:15 without it, so it wasn't doing anything impressive. When I switched to Core I started flipping into the 2:00 mark, the damage bonus had a much more significant impact on that higher scale, and that's the experience I had across the board with all the sets. That aside, yes Super Strength is going to be nerfed, 100%. Just a matter of how Soon(TM).

What, no one had love for Titan Weapons? I love my TW/Regen! Whatever anyone says to the contrary, it's a blast. But, consider War Mace, you'd probably find it less stressful while still being loaded with SMASH.

This power is so underrated. +1 Vote. Nothing quite like sapping an AV corpse to give a team +1.67 EPS Recovery (or ballpark that, can't recall if that was the exact value off an AV).

Just rolled a BR/EA Sentinel myself after a lot of debate about returning to the set. Played a BR/Traps Corruptor on Retail that I enjoyed, but didn't want to revisit. Been sitting on a character concept for a while that I'd tried tossing about with different Blaster primaries, but Beam Rifle just made the most sense, and Sentinel has a few tricks that Blasters don't. Even with your bump in traveling +Dam on the Sentinel, you still won't be quite as powerful hit-for-hit as a Blaster will (in the grand scheme). It takes about 28-30% +Dam just to get a baseline performance equivalent, and Blaster's have a better +Dam modifier so even just 10.5% from Assault is already going to outshine a Sentinel at +30%. If I take Assault and Aim and Adaptive Offensive (from Bio) on a Sentinel (a total of +90.5%), Single Shot will do 95.34 damage (with no enhancement) compared to just taking Assault and Aim on a Blaster (73% +Dam) which does 108.2 damage. If you're looking for raw damage, the Blaster is going to be the better path. If you want to have a "safer" or more durable experience, go Sentinel. I will say that, yes, there are some inherents built in to the Sentinel concept designed to improve it (and the team, technically) damage performance with -Def/-Res in the Opportunity mechanic, but that is just as countered by Defiance, and the fact that (depending on the set) the ability to pack in -Res (procs or built-in) to enhance that divide. There is also a power variance between Blasters and Sentinels. Blasters get Penetrating Ray (Snipe) versus Sentinel's Refractor Beam (Chain). Translates as slightly better ST DPS versus slightly better AoE. I will say that Sentinel (with a defensive set) will find it pretty easy to get to 120% Global Recharge. Between LotG 7.5%, the two AT-O's, Quickness (or variants there-of), and a couple meandering other +6-10% (doesn't take much more). You can end up skipping Hasten at that point as there's very little it provides Beam Rifle at that value.

Finally got around to settling on rolling up a Sentinel, dug around a bit to see if anyone else had experimented with Beam/EA (seems it's not that common). Wouldn't normally post a build that has similar end results, but I thought it interesting how different the path to 50 plays out in my choices versus HelenCarnate's, so I figured I would. Other than Psionic Def/Res, the values tap out pretty much exactly the same all down to--but excluding--Hasten. I didn't take Hasten since I honestly don't see the point when all it ends up doing is cycling down a second or two (where it might matter) on all of two abilities in the entire build; that's pretty unnecessary in my book. It would be possible to add it in and end up with it Perma (at 190 Global total, that's pretty much a given). Only major thing I can say here that is an interesting/major variance is the inclusion of Afterburner as a defensive "panic" button. Yes, it does take the character effectively out of combat, but it pops the defense up into iCap territory and pads in the event of any major debuffs that can be responded to. Gives the player a chance to breathe momentarily.

In my signature there's a link to submitted Pylon Test Runs and there's a couple of Blaster submissions in there ~1:40-1:50ish on Fire/* but no for-sure that they were 100% ranged-only attacks. I did a run with Energy/Electric but it focused on two Melee attacks from the Secondary too at 2:14 for a time. There's at least... I want to say two Sentinel times in this thread in the last 10ish pages or so, which should be range-only, but they weren't >2:00 that I recall.

Five months of testing and we're nearly there, woo! Bring on the Tanker Buff!

Not disagreeing with the method, it was just purely a personal thing against Incandescent Strike itself. The 3.432/s animation time is killer and I never had a huge connection with that long drawn-out swing. I also have a lingering mental footnote that's poking me about Gleaming Blast possibly being more efficient per second comparably, which is another "probably skip that anyway" reason. There's a few quirky spots I didn't fully fix where the accuracy isn't 100% stable at +4. I mostly just flew through and targeted a specific set and dropped a standard Acc/Dam, Acc/Dam/End. The Winter's Bite set I used in Nova Blast doesn't have a Dam/End option, but Scatter and Detonation do--which Inner Light just barely fixes either of those if that's flipped--so it is something, just not much (0.5 end). Actually just came across that testing it in the game the other night. Hard capped resistances in White Dwarf, turns out to be a rather interesting Exemplar toon if that all stacks correctly through the form (didn't actually validate it yet). The build was mostly a thought experiment on building under proc mentality. The consideration that it could be hard capped and have such a wide exemplar range at that level was interesting to build around. Thinking about the build as a whole really felt like the entire thing just peaked out at 20 and spent the rest of its journey just collecting slots however. I ended up with that build, a proc focused Human Form, and a 45% Melee/150% Rech Human Form. Officially rolled a PB to see if I could get it to mentally stick and play one again, but I have a feeling it'll just get shoved into the "delete eventually" pile 😞

I started looking at the Epic AT's this weekend, started with Peacebringers before taking a peak into the AT Sub-Forum knowing this post existed. Built a Human Form, then went and flipped it into a "Tri-Form" build. Came here after the fact to see if/how we approached the path differently for slotting*. All I can say is that I've learned some things playing "Mad Kings" that I translated into the expectation of performance for a Tri-Form build knowing that it's pretty easy to cut down necessity in favor of dynamic smash. I will say up front, not personally a fan of Incandescent Strike for its long rooting animation (esp in context of a Tri-Form) so it is definitively excluded in favor of having a more universal set of abilities. See what you think: *of course I made it a Proc Monster... or Proc Squid? Proc... Lobster?

Glad you're having fun with it! 😀 I will admit I didn't actually take the powers in the order they're listed there when I did my final respec. Power Burst and Sniper Blast I flipped with Tough and Weave, shifted Mighty Leap ahead, and brought Tactics down a bit as well. I realized that the 10-15 range was in struggle mode for attacks as I was re-selecting, but didn't actually change their order in the mid's file. Not sure if that's what you too might've done differently, but it was one thing I know out right was a bit weird that I changed in expectations of exemplar.

On Beta? Cause it can get faster. 😉 Editing in this just because I hate the idea of creating a double post even though it's not quite related: Didn't post it in the Beta threads, but I did go back with Kinetic Melee and test out its performance with the Tanker changes since it was the last thing on my list. I managed to get the attempt done before the Dec 6th patch, which is interesting because it gives me two data points measuring how the same build functioned just like I did early on with some of the first tests in my series before the Beta stuff hit months back. So pre rollback I could roll in and take down a Pylon with T1/2/3+Gloom under Power Siphon and Hybrid: Assault with a best time of 2:45, general swing from 2:45-3:00, post rollback (so what we're back to now) 2:34 with a swing up to 2:50. Then for T1/2/3+Gloom+Concentrated Strike under PS+HA: 2:27, with a swing up to 3:00 cause CS is terrible when it misses. I didn't see much deviation with CS inclusive chain, but that one is so fickle on CS hitting consistently and never missing that getting under 2:30 is a bit rough, but it does show how a more consistent low-tier-usage chain can overshadow the T9 being included, and how little variance they have. Comparatively I saw about a 10/s offset from nerfed-buff to rollback (~35 DPS difference)