Doomguide2005

I do similarly and I use the Lockdown proc although it is a mixed bag of results. Thing is as long as you are paying the end it's (CC) essentially a 'free' Hold attack against everything around you as you port in. Pop in, drop Char or other Hold on the boss, and go to town. I've also found Air Superiority to be very good at keeping a boss ineffective as it's a very reliable knock effect and can keep the boss bouncing and it can take a proc Hold as well (Blistering Cold set)

I believe @Voltakhas some in AE. I have not tried any of them however.

I have a bunch of Empaths, currently 4 of my 11 characters at level 50 are Empaths with several more on their way up). All of them very capable of healing especially their "team builds". You want to mostly pass out the heals and fill green bars exemplar or cap you level (turn off your xp gain) and help lower-level teams. You'll generally find a lot more to do at those levels. Or play on smaller teams tackling larger groups of foes. PS: Mine also tend to blow up stuff between passing the buffs and heals.

NO thank you, the change would not be remotely helpful or desirable for my Earth/Storm. The build is designed to stun its foes ... Stalagmites -> Thunderclap (not much isn't stunned at this point) -> Fissure. Now if you want to buff it to also due kd/kb or other kind of debuff go for it. More than likely the knock will get neutralized shortly though as Stone Cages gets dropped to keep them from wandering all over

And most of all welcome back!!

Hmmm, well most of my nuke users are Defenders ... and my /Rad Blast thinks a taunt would be hilarious as most of his taunted survivors stand there held for the duration. Of course, the damage and debuff plus the fact I've stunned the surviving bosses beforehand typically means I really don't need a taunt, they're already pretty pissed with me. I guess the running would be stopped by a taunt but we are talking about a blast set. No need to chase you have plenty of ranged attacks for runners.

Besides when else I'm i going to hit up the fridge or the bathroom?

Just to note @Snarkywould have been using the old version Soul Drain back then. Dark Mastery now has Spirit Drain which is a ranged power and does a lot less Negative Energy damage than the PBAoE Soul Drain from Soul Mastery.

I feel you but yes it was 10 bars. And blasters were true glass cannons. No sets meant getting knocked about. No sets meant your defense really was kill them first. I had friends who spent multiple levels at the debt cap on their blasters. Soft cap was something only SR scrappers could hope to achieve and for most of us it was a concept. The amount needed was at best known by a few. For most of us the value was 'lots'. No exchanging 3 inspires for another ... running out of breakfrees got painful. Getting thru the 30's took forever in part because of debt. Debt these days is almost hard to get by comparison and vanishes before you're aware you have some.

Yes the small cubic looking symbol (the second icon) is the one that lets you know you can stack it as the caster. Compare it to the symbol for the pet or Shadow Fall both of which don't stack and have an icon for "replaces existing effect"

Quick and dirty rebuild. There's definitely room for further improvement such as suggestion to move AB earlier. Folks would probably suggest splitting the Superior Scourging Blast to grab the 3-set bonus twice. But it should be a solid move in the direction I'd take it and give you a solid base to build on from here. Any comments from Psy Blast users I'm sure would be welcomed as well. Lady Death PsyEmpSoul Vanima81 (v2.00 i27.7) Forum Original.mbd

Healing Aura and Heal Other - typically I 6-slot my Preventative Medicine in one and either a Doctored Wounds or Panacea get 5-slotted in the other. I'll want those slots to reach the global recharge set bonuses. Global recharge is what I'll be after first and foremost on a build unless it will commonly be used for solo work or maybe small team. But for running with larger teams my mitigation will come primarily from inspires, epic resist shield, my Auras especially Regen Aura and whatever buffs the team is providing. I'll often mix in START powers specifically Envenomed Daggers, Plasmatic Taser and Stun Grenades. Absorb Pain - Still not sure how I feel about this power. Very potent ranged heal with plenty of those who strongly believe it is an excellent power. I'd lean towards either 5-slot Preventative Medicine or Doctored Wounds OR just 2 slot it with 50+5 Heal IOs. Both Stealth and SuperSpeed can help shed or avoid aggro if you find yourself using it in the midst of a heated encounter. Resurrect - I'd slot the base slot with an Endred IO. Even at high levels of global recharge the team isn't likely to wait while your Rez recharges multiple times. Further unlike your Defender mirror you don't have Vigilance helping reduce the cost if it all goes pear-shaped and Rez is costly to use. Murphy will somehow dictate your RA will be on cool down and your endurance running low when you need it most. Clear Mind - probably really doesn't matter what IO you use in the base slot but the one I'd be least likely to use though is recharge. Base recharge is 4 seconds already before you consider your global recharge effect. I like to use Range to get that one guy who always seems to be waaaay over there when it comes time to buff them. Fortitude - one of your best buffs as well as one of the best in the game. There's about a gazillion ways to slot it up using anywhere (typically) from 3 to 6 slots. That said it would be unusual to 6 slot Gaussian's in here. I'd probably only do that for a small team/solo build and only for actually reaching the soft cap or beyond. My most common slotting is 2 Membrane HOs, a LotG global recharge and lately I've started dropping in the Gaussian's proc which will fire and buff you afaik when you cast Fortitude. Hit an ally with Fort then targeting thru them then pound their target with one of your heavy attacks. Recovery Aura and Regeneration Aura - slot Recovery to taste noting it's pretty much potent enough right out of the box to solve all but the most end hungry builds endurance issues. Typically I use a minimal slotting plan here to save slots for elsewhere in the build -> A single recharge plus 2 endmod/recharge IOs (and you can get by on just 2 recharge IOs). But I've seen folks using as much as 6 slots to gain set bonuses. Regen Aura I'd be more prone to 5 slot again with either Panacea or Doctored Wounds. You can save slots here as well if desired as the greatest benefit of the buff is the boost to recharge on the user which can't be enhanced. That said I want a good reason not to enhance the regen of the aura before trimming slots here. Adrenaline Boost - a t9 truly worthy of the name and one of the reasons you want at least enough recharge to make it perma. I've never tried to use a Performance Shifter +end in the power (or in Recovery Aura for that matter) but that is one of the advantages of a high global recharge your Auras have a cool down under 40 secs and its hard (not impossible) to burn thru your blue bar in that time, so I've never had more than one slotted in Stamina. Some specific thoughts about things in the build. It appears you are shooting more for S/L resists than recharge. Personally, unless you are routinely on teams of 3 or less, I'd aim for more recharge. I'd be shooting for perma-Hasten or within a few seconds of such (again if you intend to team on larger teams). Numina's for this reason is not what I'd place in Healing Aura. Further unless you use HA at least every 120 seconds the Numina's proc will experience down times. You can probably skip it altogether as between your Auras, HA and inspires etc. are unlikely to need its boost. I'd free up 4 slots by only using the base slot in Health and Stamina (Miracle +recovery and Perf Shift +end). Likewise, only 1 slot in Fly (the unique). Add LotG global recharge until you have 5 of them slotted. Use the added slots to extend slotting in powers to the 5th slot for +recharge set bonuses. More slots can be potentially had from Recovery Aura, Regen Aura and Adrenaline Boost if desired. I'd probably only single slot Stealth and Sprint. Likewise, I find Fly and Evasive Maneuvers sufficient to move about when needed so I'd likely swap Hover for Air Superiority (and 5 slot ideally with Hecatomb). AS is very quick firing and excellent way to get a flier out of your face or knock a boss or other foe on their hind end rendering them harmless as needed. Psi Lance 5 slot for +recharge. Psy Wail slot with Oblits or purple (damage and +recharge). Adrenaline Boost needs to be taken at or very soon after 30th. Do not put off to 47th. You missed out of Power Boost. If you are going Soul don't miss PB, Fortitude got addressed above. If I get the time, I'll make some of these changes and post the build. Must get sleep now.

@Vanima81I'll be back to comment particularly on the Empathy side of the build as it's been a long time since playing Psy Blast.

Hey @Snarkylooks like some competition for a god-awful PuG teaming story. So do tell Shortguy what inspired this post?

Yep needs work. Count me as another vet who tried to use the waypoints and got utterly lost by those markers. We're good now but sheesh was it frustrating trying to get un-lost the first time or two till the key required corridors got mentally mapped so I could basically ignore the not so helpful waypoints.

I think any revision needs to stay away from any debuffs on foes. Further to stay in theme no foes should be required to obtain any buffs/heal/absorb used by an Empath. No mixed buff/debuffs like Heat Loss or Fulcrum Shift either. I do not think this necessarily has to mean constantly losing comparisons with NA. Still mulling over the suggestions. I do find several of them interesting, at least conceptually. For me the primary ones needing a looking at are Resurrection and Clear Mind though I do think the later is under-rated and under used even in the endgame. The merging of the Auras is interesting but not sure if I would want to reduce the recharge at the cost of strength particularly with respect to RegenAura portion. On the otherhand the difference in buffing for 1200+ vs 1600+ on a single-target is probably hard to note in anything short of the hardest content.

Indeed! No way any sensible developer would allow AB (as is) to self and target buff at the same time. Unless one likes the idea of +200% recharge buffs (Empath A buffs Empath B, Empath B buffs Empath A). Even without getting buffed by AB most of my Empaths are already in excess of 175% global recharge (endgame build without Incarnates). Would be fairly simple to approach the recharge hard cap full-time and easy to do so periodically using Geas of the Kind Ones.

I wouldn't touch 5 pets at -5 in exchange for 1 pet like Rocky at -0. Rocky hits and hits like a truck with Seismic Smash. Rocky at -5 will miss more often than not and have about as much impact as a wet sponge. And that is basic math.

Huh? Clearly you're playing a different game than I am.

As a player of many Defenders I feel your pain and frustration. And when I go to use a buff or even a heal and find the teammate in question is not with the main body but several walls and rooms away they tend to fall off my mental target list. I'll 'chase' you a short way at a fork in the halls as even decent teams can sometimes get split but that's about the limit of me chasing anyone. After that triage gets applied and I stick with the main group. "Advice" is noted for potential value or ignored as appropriate.

Same, did it to my Emp/Sonic maybe a half dozen times in a FF league. Wasn't hover blasting per say as I was at or close to ground level running Fly and Evasive Maneuvers so it was more an unusual joy ride

So ... Your tank was momentarily Nullified? PS: That ones for @Scarlet Shocker

Not sure how well it would work on Willpower as you probably tend to get a lot more attention but my support types will often shoot to get defenses about one typical debuff amount above whatever cap or value they are trying to maintain. Basically it's the always on version of Parry, Shadow Meld or Barrier being described above. Your cascade risk goes from 1 in 20 to 1 in 400 (0.05 × 0.05) which will still happen but if nothing else gives you more breathing room to see it happening and do something to counter the imminent cascade failure.

I haven't played Fire Melee except as a Brute back on Live probably pre-Incarnate and I'm still learning where and how to determine the ideal spots to place (or use) the ATOs. So where would the recommended placement be?

A few immediate thoughts (and a question or two): A net recovery of 1.7 end/sec would be less than I would want to be endurance wise. Even with accolades you are barely over 2 end/sec. I'd prefer over 2.5 end/sec. My Claws/SR is if anything too much sitting at 2.43 end/sec with 2 Performance Shifter +end as well. And Conserve Power access for countering heavy end issues. Too many primary attacks. Focus should be a bread-and-butter attack and is under slotted as such. Is this for level 50+ play or do you plan on frequent exemplar work? I would take Quickness earlier, but this won't matter as much if this is a play at 50+ build. Not the end of the world but it always makes me sad a bit when I see Tough only slotted to hold the uniques basically. On the other hand, not running it and grabbing the accolades makes your end situation much improved. I'd try to push your defenses in one of two ways. Either over 59% (the incarnate cap) or have them all around 47 or 48%. Again, not a deal breaker but 54% is somewhat in no man's land. Unless you plan on solo work in DA or Cimerora incarnate content frequently I'd be fine with just above the soft cap relying on teammates or inspires in incarnate content (or Barrier). I'd love to see one or more of the -resist uniques make their way into your attacks. I see a lot of full sets used which makes me nervous. It's a likely sign some bonus or bonuses are being chased inefficiently. If you miss with Follow Up while exemped below Focused Accuracy access you end up under 95% 'accuracy' on some of your attacks including Follow Up. Depending on personal preferences this may or may not be an issue. Here's my Claws/SR/Body scrapper. She's high on survival and mitigation. She can spend a lot of time at the scrapper hit point cap when running end game content (lvl 45+). GRETA-001 (v1.11 i27) - Scrapper (Claws).mxd