Gunnarr

A bit of a necro, but can't you set up a macro or bind that makes this fire off at your feet?

I'm still new to stalkers, so I am wondering why you wouldn't open with AS from hidden?

Flying Carpet speed can be increased a little by slotting Fly Speed enhancement in Swift (and/or Sprint). If you are not otherwise using those slots for anything.

Well...we made it to level 14.8 before she admitted that she wasn't having as much fun trying to be a support character - not butt-kicking DPS enough with her current toon. Maybe later when she has a lot more experience she might revisit Frostlight and try again, but she wanted more direct damage...so back to the drawing board. Her first toon was a Dual Blade/Nin brute but she was frustrated with no range attacks and it didn't get far. She tried support, ranged is more fun but (not violent enough). So, on the ride home we discussed her favorite Marvel movie hero (Black Widow) and how to make a hero with similar style attacks and such. After some looking around, we built a Tech origin Blaster AT (range DPS+melee DPS=probably violent enough) Dual Pistols/Martial Combat/Electrical Mastery lets her shoot people, kick them, eventually stun them with electric shocks. A couple of pool powers along the way to round out her attacks (Air Superiority, Boxing), Tough/Weave for defenses, Stealth/Combat Jumping, and eventually Fly (rocket boots). She wants to try Jump Kick (to simulate BW's common takedown spin move) but I'll show her the animation on a throwaway toon before she decides. Not optimized at all, lol, totally a theme toon. We did the Matthew Habashy arc and got some merits and beat the snot out of Hellions all over Atlas, while she cackled at the animations. Single shot from 'Pistols', whirling around with Empty Clips, the taser origin power (totally fits the theme), a Chuck Norris worthy spinning roundhouse kick, and a two handed knockdown punch with Air Superiority. Spent a little time to get all the exploration badges in Atlas and got more merits. She's much happier back doing DPS, so I rolled up a Dark/Time controller to accompany her (vaguely Doctor Strange inspired, but mostly because I liked the guides I have read about Time, and the Sorcery power pool). The whole spectrum of control/buff/debuff powers, with a grim magic flavor. Not terribly original names "Jane Widow" and "Miskatonic Mage", but she's having more fun, and thats the goal.

I just hit 20, so I'm going to respec into your build now, and go back to doing storylines since I have a new contact. Thank you for the tips, I had no idea DNA Siphon would do that! Also, that is a really great link for making money, thanks again! (I wish there was a Beer emote, best I can do is give you a Trophy)

Thank you so much for the help! Since I'm almost completely without experience as a tanker, I think I will try to stick with the theme and include the sharks (at least) from LM, and try your second build. If/when I get it to 50, I'll have a better understanding of how to play it. So far its been solo streetsweeping and radio missions, once I left Atlas Park. The only thing so far that really had me worried was a group of red/orange Tsoo, the boss could go intangible and fly and they had me backpedalling and popping insps for a bit. Unfortunately for them he flew off for a minute before coming back, and by then I had healed up and applied a beat down to his troops. I have questions, of course 🙂 I see you have Brawl 4 slotted? It takes no End to use (something I did not know), so it's a filler, or a finisher for mobs with a speck of HP bar left? Why not put the slots in Boxing? Does it matter whether I take Kick in place of Boxing? I don't have a 'kicking' attack, animation wise. I've been popping the Ablative Carapace just before I enter range of the enemy to take the Alpha, then just mashing attack buttons as they refresh, trying to line up my cones (still using Sands of Mu at this level) with a little step or two to the side. What's the defensive rotation like? I haven't seen the higher level Bio powers in action so thats why I gave them so many slots in my build before. You have a lot less in them, so I'm wondering how/when I will use each.

Well, I discovered that Stealth is a waste of time on a Tanker with auto taunting auras...sigh...I play a stealthy character every chance I get so this was a blindspot in my thinking. Time to rethink my build a little, since I am almost to 20 and get another respec.

OK Updated Build v2.0 Ditched SJ in favor of Stealth, delayed my T9 attack a little, tried to build for recharge primarily. A lot of expensive stuff in there, but if the build is good it will be worth the grind/farming/waiting. Orcinus v2.0 - Tanker (Bio Armor - Dark Melee).mbd

Found a very old post where I tried to build a WP/StJ Tanker with the same costume (it didn't pan out), but the advice there and a couple of nice PMs today gave me a little better starting point. Just got home and now have a frosty beverage in front of me and Mids open to tinker with the build.

So, I rarely played a tanker on Live, and I've never played Bio anything. I've also never found the Leviathan Mastery EPP to be appealing, either in style or effectiveness, but for this character, along with Dark Melee, it seems to fit. I have the bare bones of the build - the powers I'd like to have - but no idea how many slots are good for each power, or if there is a necessary priority for any of them. Starting blue side, but will make the journey to red side to get the villain epic pools unlocked (and then come back). I didn't really choose a travel power until the very end, because with the P2W powers and team/mission/long range teleport he can get around well enough so far. I did buy and slot a Celerity:Stealth enhancement (attuned/15th level) into my Sprint, because I considered taking Stealth as a power or SS, but haven't really figured out how to make either fit. Stealth fits thematically, much more than SS (but with the minimal FX, SS could replace SJ or something and not ruin the look). I have played him to 12th level so far, and enjoying it, but its time to come up with an actual build plan I think. I'm not worried about soloing AVs or GMs, so DPS is always nice but I just want to be very, very hard to kill. Feedback/suggestions are welcome Orcinus: Magic origin, a failed spell by an insane CoT mage (because who in their right mind tries to combine an Orca with anything). Constantly wrestling with his violent urges, but generally fighting on the side of law and order. EDITED: New build follows in thread below

I'm going to suggest a Stalker - it's a melee only AT (so if you would rather hover-blast things, disregard and go with a Sentinel). Top level stealth at level 1, same choices for secondary/tanking as a Brute (including Ninjitsu, which is a touch better than Super Reflexes because it includes a heal, and there are 3-4 powers in Ninjitsu that are completely optional). Stalkers are designed to bypass trash fights you don't want to bother with, go straight to the target/boss, and assassinate it. Triple damage critical hits when attacking from stealth, but can stand in the open and melee like a scrapper. Pretty much the definition of "I work alone, and the mobs should fear me". With the free psuedo travel powers everyone can get at the P2W vendor, you don't even need to waste a slot on a travel power if you want something else in its place. Dark melee/Ninjitsu offers great utility and survivability, but there are plenty of good primaries to pick from.

I tried that and it said something like "This character is not online, unable to fetch global handle" (I don't remember the exact wording, but it gave me the impression that I can only get a global handle on someone who is in game at the time I request it). I wouldn't even stress too much about, but this is the server my wife and I just started playing on together (her first ever experience with CoH) so I am loath to go to another server and start over just so I can play my old main name with her character.

Well it started with her saying "I want to be stealthy so I can go around and look at everything and not get killed" (look up Stealth, see that only Hide/Stalker or Superior Invisibility/Illusion Control offer out of the box total stealth)....which led to "My first character is a melee person and it sucks having to chase everything down" (look for ranged attack options, Stalker is melee only so Illusion controller remains)...which led to "I want to be able to heal people (brief education on how CoH doesn't follow traditional Tank/DPS/Healer design) OK then I want to be able to heal buff whatever support people"...which led to a long look at various Controller secondaries "too ugly, too noisy, too complicated, too melee, not violent enough" and finally Cold because it has "wintery stuff and looks pretty nice". [long session in character creator fine tuning things like color of hair and ice effects...all her first choices for name were unavailable...Frost+Light powers = Frostlight"] We are definitely not building her characters with optimization as a first priority. I can't tell you how many times we got as far as adjusting the colors for her powers, only to have her say (after rotating the model so you can see the power animation) things like "I don't like the way her butt looks, go back to the first screen" or "Can we go back and fix her thighs? She looks like she should be in a chicken costume instead of spandex." I will definitely try to optimize whatever she picks, but how we end up there is an interesting process. Me (thinking) "Well this gives her a decent ST attack chain, plus some animations she thinks are cool, I can hold aggro with my-" Her: "Can I make their heads explode? That's a psychic power thing, right?"

Back in the day (Live) this was my main, and I have one now on every server, except Torchbearer - it appears to be taken, but I never see this person in game. If anyone knows him/her, I'd love to ask the player if they would relinquish the name. I have not been able to figure out any other way to locate/contact this player. 😞

She learned to take notice of where the Police Drones are parked, and to run for one of them if it looks like we're going to get wiped. Now that she can fly she just heads for the upper atmosphere. We (lol) have learned that we can beat a couple of reds and oranges, but even one purple is too much. Thanks for the answers everyone, she will be very happy to learn that she can be as 'helpful' as she wants as long as she doesn't do real HP damage.

I did not count the gift I got from Yomo, so I have a few million inf. Since I have a handful of (old) 50s that I had from way back, I can always earn some more inf once I remember how to play. I have a Spines/Fiery Aura Brute from old time farming, but its apparently not meta anymore and I haven't even tried an AE mission yet. Too busy having fun at low level with my wife who is totally new to the CoH game. 🙂

So the Wife (who has *always* played pure DPS in every game she's ever played) decided she wanted to try a support character. After checking to make sure she hadn't been replaced by some kind of alternate reality clone, I helped her make a new character. For various reasons, she ended up rolling up a Illusion/Ice controller, called Frostlight. This lets her have superior invisibility (so she can go anywhere to explore and look at things), some pets, a few buffs/debuffs, and still murder arrest bad guys. She can also fly now, which has led to some spectacular crash landings and comedic moments while she learns to hover blast things. So far, she's enjoying it (Level 11-ish now), but she had a lot of questions that I realized I do not know the answer to - regarding 'helping random players' that she sees in game. So... 1. If she sees a hero getting the stuffing beaten out of him by a crowd of mobs, can she throw an ice shield on him to improve his resistances, without aggroing the mobs? What about a heal? (We assume that debuffing or damaging the mobs will generate aggro for her) 2. Does helping the random hero (without actually blasting the bad guys with an offensive power or debuff) screw up that hero's XP gain? What if she does debuff them, but doesn't actually damage them? (We assume that any mob we damage or KO will rob the hero of XP, so trying to avoid that). 3. A hero runs by with a crowd of mobs in pursuit...is it OK to ambush the mobs? She has done this by default, assuming that if a hero is running away from a crowd of angry mobs, they don't feel prepared to fight and win - and it triggers her Mom gene to apply violence to the bullies. [I explained that quite often, the Hero was the one who started the fight, but I got The Look so I stopped talking and got back to waffle stomping the mobs.] 4. A hero is standing near a big bunch of mobs, maybe about to do the Leroy Jenkins thing and rush them. Is it bad to drop buffs on him (ice shield, etc)? Will that mess up his XP gain? What about things that boost HP regen/End recovery and so forth? There's more, but these are the big questions that came up during game play this weekend. Any advice, etiquette, or general tips?

What is the bat console? I tried entering this in game like when you type /ah to pull up the auction house but it didn't recognize the command.

She decided to make a Natural-origin Dual Blade/SR Brute, with the Sai weapon form to simulate Black Widow from the Avengers. There isn't anything that really does 'dual batons' well, as far as we could see, but it let her get in the game and run amok. I ended up doing a Magic-origin Necro/Dark MM (mostly because I saw someone using 'Mystic Flight' and said 'OK, that looks amazing'). I've played Bots/x MM many times in the past, so this is a pretty different flavor for me. My zombie's name is Larry. I'd forgotten how different COH is from other MMOs, so here are some moments from yesterday's "First Day in COH" that reminded me. My wife: -spends more than an hour in the character creator getting her costume just right, while taking notes on cool things that aren't right for THIS toon, but maybe a future alt... -gets stuck in the Outbreak tutorial, because she was trying to enter a mission door that another player used instead of the one across the street with the yellow arrow... -gets the Void Skiff free flight disc power (a random nice person gave each of us each 1.5m Inf as a 'welcome to the game' gift!) then spends fifteen minutes zooming, crashing, swooping while laughing and squealing - her first ever game where she can personally fly. -gets pushed into traffic by an irresistible NPC walking by, is then bumped into by a truck - squawks of outrage until I show her how much the free Athletic Run power boosts her jumping (cue five minutes of running and jumping over everything, more amazement at the jump distance) -sees two gang members trying to mug an NPC, proceeds to apply the beat down to every mob in sight. Is amazed when an NPC uses her character name in a chat ballon later. -develops an immediate dislike for other players with vision blocking and noisy pets/effects who join her at a vendor, and is apparently griefed by a Demons MM player who follows her around standing next to her each time. Eventually he goes away, but she wrote his name down for later revenge (she's from Chicago, and holds a grudge like a Sicilian Elephant) -accidentally walks over the badge behind city hall and then (after I explain how they work) develops a desire to 'get all the badges' -discovers that fall damage is a thing in a superhero game, while getting the badge on top of Atlas' statue. She is immediately healed and buffed to the eyebrows by a swarm of helpful 50s standing around. -discovers KB when she uses the nemesis staff to see what it does, then spends a few minutes playing 'Hellion in the Corner Pocket' street pool -discovers KU when a red street punk shoots her in the chest with a pump shotgun (he regretted that immediately afterwards) Half a day playing the game, much of it spent on tuning her looks and explaining mechanics, she achieves level 3, and says "That was AMAZING!" Thank you all again for the help and advice 🙂

Outstanding! Thanks everyone for the prompt, clear answers! Time to roll up our toons. See you on Torchbearer!

Been gone from the game for many years, out of the blue my wife noticed it and said "I'd like to try this as a duo" and after coffee we are going to give it a go. She's pretty simple in her play style (you've never met anyone more 'scream and leap' than her) so I'll be following along trying to keep her from getting flatlined as she shoots/kicks/splodes things. However the whole 'hero vs villain' thing has given us pause. If she wants to play a Brute (style/animations, rage) but be a hero in Paragon City, can she start there? Likewise, if I play a MM (necro/dark, or bots/thermal) can I start there? Or must we start in the Villain/Red side and make our way to someplace else and then go to the Blue side?

I have been thinking about a toon who's primary purpose in life is to assist in the Terra Volta respec trial, specifically the lowest tiered one for 24-33. As a secondary function he would go around helping folks get to hard to reach badges etc (with flight, recall friend, grant invisibility, etc). Illusion/Storm looks like the best possible combo for it, but it would be a very unconventional build. In the TV trial, Spectral Terror+Hurricane would be perfect for defending the reactor, and of course the pets would be handy. Has anyone else made such a build already?

I'd like to see your build, Force Redux, if you don't mind sharing it.

If you don't run solo, the game will automatically upgrade some to EB, can't be helped. Have t dial the difficulty back a little manually or something , or just kill the EB too

Mids definitely shows Fiery Embrace affecting other attacks with a lesser buff for damage (but none of the prestige attack powers are affected, like Sands of Mu etc)