BitCook

Even in closed Beta, the code has already mostly been laid out. If we're playing it, in any fashion, then there's always going to be resistance to large changes. Which, I believe has been some folks contention in these forums. Feedback was given, but for whatever reasons, mostly glossed over. Again, in a community like this, where it's volunteers and no corp is driving dates or schedules, It would probably save a lot of grief to hash this stuff out with people before code has been written. Put out a design document and solicit feedback before having people write code. As a developer, I know that it's REALLY easy to get blinders for the cool thing you wrote and not consider wider implications.

Perhaps the time to solicit feedback would have been in the design phase to not run into this, or issues like the beanbag one that came up before. I get that significant effort and time have gone into coding powers... and changing them now would be a lot of work and difficult. However, I would assume you want people to really use/enjoy the things released. There are some really smart people in the community and I don't see the harm in perhaps soliciting feedback BEFORE coding and locking in powers. While you are never going to please everyone, getting community input in the design portion would likely mean that you have less issues like this; where the feedback is that this seems to be a somewhat sub-par set as it stands in part because sleep is not a team friendly or very useful mechanic for anything other than solo leveling. Just something to consider for the next time sets are being designed and thought about.

Having a niche is really important in determining what set you want to play. If it doesn't play different than other sets, or worse, plays different and is bad... well... why put it in the game? I REALLY like the idea of tying sleeps with some other debuff. That makes them worth a cast or a consideration in any content.

But the ability to not break sleep which is one of the core mechanics of the set would be huge, and unique. It's not like AOE immobs are really killing people most of the time.

Yes. That is a set that I would play. Very cool. I hope the devs take a look at that. Control sets should have something unique to them, or there is little reason to play them over any other set. I like the Sleep/-DMG combination as it gives a reason to use sleep powers while on a team. You can control adds, or debuff what the team is fighting. Either way, the powers have use.

Sad to lose the defender values for sleet, but totally understood.

That is a VERY bold and sweeping statement. I can make cases for lots of controller secondaries and much of that depends on what you are trying to do. For certain toons, yes, /Dark is the best and there's no doubt it's very strong. But, there are also other very strong picks as well and it is clearly not the best in all cases.

Always appreciate advice. I'm very happy with the build and have done most of the content in CoX with it, some solo, some on teams. I never really seem to lack the things I need so I'm fairly content with slotting. Yeah, the energy font isn't amazing, but I enjoy having it out there and while another damage proc might be better there have been a few outlier cases where it's really helped. Endurance on this build is not an issue. With Conserve Power up like 3/4 of the time and CS covering some other time, I never worry about the blue bar. As for the invisibilities, I want both for the defense, the superior stealth, and being able to give more defense to my team. This character happily tanks for groups of blasters and bunches up mobs for quick and efficient disposal. If the blasters go AWOL, you are able to clear, not fast, but you can clear ANY content. +4/8 any mob groups with perfect safety. If I were flipping a slot, it would be to take out the energy font and put in the purple build up. I may test it out and see how it plays. I did think about cloud senses, but I do enjoy the ATO bonuses. Might test that as well at some point. As for high DEF, yes... that's the beauty of time. With the recharge I have, there is always something to do and if you lapse PA for a short bit, it's not an issue. When I'm grinding down AVs, I never worry about that issue. Energy Torrent proc bombed is nice, I did have a build with that at one point, but switched to have two reliable procs and set bonuses along with 100% damage. I think that mostly boils down to preference. But damage is not really an issue. You crank out a lot. As for Temporal Selection... LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT. Solo, it goes on Phantasm, giving you another decent Energy Torrent and adding some punch to the pet. On teams, find the blaster and give two of them some amazing boosts. Damage and Recharge. It might be the best one slot power you could take as it has an impact both on teams and soloing and noticeably increases clear speeds in both cases.

Poison has a -Secondary on some of its powers. I don't bother with Mez protection on any of my /Poison controllers.

I enjoy playing characters who can do a little bit of everything. I've made dozens of 50s and kitted them out. But perhaps the most versatile one I have come across was my Illusion/Time. It seems to have an answer to nearly everything I've thrown at it. On a scale of 1/10, here is how I rate this combination and build: Boss Killing: 7/10 - You have decent ST damage, but not amazing. It's very safe and you'll likely never die to a boss. Trash Clearing: 4/10 - Probably the weakest aspect of this set. It does not do AOE well. Yes, you can damage a lot of things and your recharge makes it pretty fast to clear mobs, but overall, it's just kind of slow at this. However, everyone and their brother seems to focus on this, so if you join any team, you're golden. AV Stomping: 8/10 - It may not be the best AV clearer... but I've pretty much done them all and not had much in the way of problems while solo. On teams it's just as good. Only gets dinged since it is not as fast as some of the best. Mission Running: 9/10 - One of the best mission runners I have ever played. Both for teams and also for solo. The only downside is when you get the dreaded kill all and are playing on x8. You can do it, it'll just take longer than some other mission runners. Task Forces: 8/10 - Great on Task Forces, the only thing holding you back at all is the weak AOE. At early levels you are a support tank, at later levels you can pretty much fill any role. Solo Friendly: 9/10 - This is a toon where you can pretty much do it all. AVs? No problem. Missions? Task Forces? Yep. The only thing I have not really tried is solo GMs, which I think would be doable. I just haven't wanted to take the time to try. Team Friendly: 9/10 - The toon provides AMAZING buffs for the team. You can tank and shut down EVERY mob you come across. You provide good -Res. The Build: Build Notes: * With Powerboost, you get another +13% to all defenses, making you capped to everything for defense... with the addition of having a massive -33% to hit BEFORE power boost and over -50% to hit when you have hit Powerboost. * You majorly buff your team. -> +35% to all defensive positions -> +50% recharge -> +25.5% to hit -> +30% Recovery (for 1/3 of the time) -> +Stealth for the whole team * Additionally, you can give two people on the team (or your pet) -> +25% damage -> +30% MORE recharge for a total of +80% recharge. * Reliably stack -42.5% resistance and either -20% Defense to -40% Defense (Power Boost) * Every mob you have the ability to shut them down with Time's Juncture, Distortion Field, and Spectral Terror. With those three things, you can lead into any mob and sit there while they are slowed and debuffed and your team destroys them. If you are solo it gives you a chance to deceive who you want and pick them off one by one. * Single Target hold capable of holding a boss 90% of the time in one cast. Since it has a hold proc, you are likely to get MAG 5 over 90% of the time. Now, that only sticks for 8 seconds at even cons, but it's more than enough time to stack a second if you need it. * Complete stealth ability to get through missions really fast. Teleport friend to bring the team when you get to where you want. * A survivable Illusion pet. Phantasm is great when it gets Power Boosted Farsight, Chrono Shift and Temporal Selection. I find that he lives through just about everything and does just fine damage. * Off healing. While you are not a primary healer, you absolutely have the recharge to become a passable off healer. With Chrono Shift firing off every 85 seconds and a heal up every 4.5 seconds you can do a decent job of keeping people on their feet. * Tanking. You have Perma PA. This means that you can solo just about everything and act as a tank for you group. If your debuffs and defense aren't enough, PA will be. I have soloed every AV with this character with no issues. * Confuse for utility. Confuse is amazing, even if I don't use it all the time, when solo, it becomes an extra pet for extra damage. * Massive Recharge with no endurance issues. Between the Recovery of Chrono Shift and Conserve Power being available 65% of the time, you don't have to worry about endurance or need to consider incarnate abilities to fix that issue. Cast what you want, when you want it. How to play and have fun! Positron: Always challenging depending on what level the TF is started at. At 10, you only have a few abilities. At 15 it's better giving you access to Distortion Field. Spend most of your time moving into mobs like a tank, using the debuff of Time's Juncture and the combined slow with Distortion Field to keep you safe. Mobs will not target you through Superior Invisibility until they are debuffed and neutered. Synapse: You get the remainder of your core abilities. Being able to Distortion Field and Spectral Terror each mob while having them under the effects of Time's Juncture will make your team invincible. The proc damage in DF is nice for a little faster clear. PA is not perma, but you have it up quite a lot. Yin: You should now have perma-pa, or very close too it depending on what you used for enhancements. All the rest: You come into your own at 39 when you get both Power Boost and Energy Torrent. That gives you fully capped defenses and boosts to special when you need it. It gives you a spamable AOE that is procced out for damage. While you don't have easy containment, you can use Flash or Blind to get a few people for extra damage. The workhorse of Terror, Field and Time's Juncture is still staple. At 50, you should be able to solo any +4/8 content you want. Things just do not hit you, even if they are not targeting decoy's or PA's. I routinely duo with friends and they go from being fragile blasters to tanky damage dealers because of the buffs and debuffs this character throws around. Alternative Builds and Thoughts: If you want more recharge, add in the Basilisk's set into Distortion Field. I like the procs there because it does do a decent amount when you toss it on a full mob. Energy font. Most people don't like it... but it's a near lock when casting Distortion field. Having a little damage and some stun is just another layer of mitigation. Swap in another proc to be more offensive or even use a 5 slot purple hold set there for even more recharge. Move Temporal Selection to 10. Temporal selection is a great power and being able to use it on allies is amazing. I've grown to like it far more than I thought I would. When solo, cast it on your PA to make him far more dangerous. Replace the build up proc in spectral wounds with a standard damage proc. None of them are going to proc well in that power, but you do cast it a lot, so even a poor proccing power is going to give you something. Still you can argue that slot is better served in Distortion field or adding a third blessing of the Zephyr into Hover to make it faster. Controller - (Illusion Control - Time Affinity) r2.mbd

Have you shared your build on this? Looks very solid although from the powers you can't have more than 20% ish to most defenses. Edit: You did in the Ice Minstrel thread. Thanks!

Thanks for the info! I always have some strange builds and you never know what you want in a character. Like someone with multiple auras and fold space for fun 🙂 Great stuff as always!

Certainly some of us will. Widows are so flexible, it's amazing what you can make them do. Can't wait to see what you come up with. I now have three builds on mine. The one I started with. The one you helped me with, and now ConeAnn 🙂 I just wish I could name switch when I build switch!

Awesome! Thanks, I'll play around with it. The increased range would probably be better than the boosted damage, but I'd have to run some Trapdoors to see the difference. Also, totally want to thank you for helping me with my less fanciful Fort build. You gave me wonderful advice on it and your threads are amazing! Love this community.

Right? Take away the pun nature of the character, it works well. When you dedicate yourself to positioning on a character that has great tools to position, it's not really a liability. I have had a great time playing this because it's so different from what I normally do.

I would. More range is more people hit. I do want to run some tests to see if any range enhancers affect the proc rate. That will be tonight or tomorrow. Also, thank you for embedding songs into the thread! ❤️ I should politely request that anyone replying try to keep that trend 🙂

If you ever have been sitting around thinking, "Why did Cones go out in the 80's?" Or better yet, "How can I make a character with most of their attacks greater than 2 seconds?" then this is the thread for you. Homecoming, I present you, ConeAnn The Destroyer! What is this? If you clicked on this title hoping for some sage build advice and puns... well you've mostly come to the right place then! Maybe not quite as much on the sage advice, but certainly on the puns and concept! I often like to tinker with builds and have hundreds on the Beta server. I don't post very often because most of the time other people have likely done the concept and probably better. Still, I do a lot of, "this probably won't work" builds, and usually they don't. But sometimes... just sometimes... they surprise you. Before I get into the details, let's lay out expectations. This is probably NOT the best Widow design you can make. However, if you are looking for a mid ranged puncher who sprays AOE like a "Material Girl" using a credit card on a shopping spree, then this might just be for you. The Concept The concept was simple, what would be an effective character who has maximum cone use? The Solution Night Widow. It would work with Fort as well, but I wanted to keep it simple and the extra recharge that Widows get helps the build work. While Night Widow only has 2 native cones, and power sets like Dark Blast smirk with their three... if you add in the Leviathan epic, you get access to three additional cones. These cones are all 30 degree arcs and not like some of the narrow abominations that AR or Dark get! The second thing to note is that not only does it add three cones, but two of them proc VERY well. Which is why this build worked out far better than I expected. Add that to the Global Unique Superior Spider's Bite for another bite at the proc barrel (only 12%) and you have a lot of cones doing a lot of damage. Finally, you have all of the goodness of Widows. Mobile. High defense. Good survivability. High damage. Stealth. Like many builds I try, I always look to see who has done one first... and perhaps often times better. In this case, I couldn't find one that matched what I was looking for. People seemed to care about utility or survivability, or some crazy concept called a Fortunata... The Build View This Build In MRB Build Notes: Cone Proc Rates: Bile Spray - 88% @ 3 Procs + 12.5% res debuff Arctic Breath - 88% @ 5 procs + 20% res debuff School of Sharks - 62% @ 4 procs + 12.5% res debuff Psychic Scream - 47% @ 3 Procs + 12.5% res debuff Dart Burst - 28% @ 3 procs That's a lot of procs, and they go off... A LOT! Twelve of them in seven seconds at over a 60% rate, averaging 70+% rate. If you wanted to tinker, you could remove one of the 12.5% procs, probably in school of sharks and replace it with another damage IO/proc since you're likely applying the 12.5% res debuff already. Without incarnates or counting the RES procs, the AOE chain averages over 100dps, which is enough to technically burn down an AV (95 dps overcomes regen). Mind you, I wouldn't want to do this, your ST chain is SOOOO much better for hard targets. Still, it's nice to know that you could do it if you wanted. You have full stealth: If you are sprinting, you have the celerity and mask presence going off and you can stealth just about anything. This makes setting up positions very easy. Mind Link is permanent without Hasten: I like hasten for the cone chain. But with five of them, should you decide to get rid of it, you can and Mind Link will still be up with five seconds to spare. That would let you take fold space, or some other fun power. Even without Mind Link, you still have decent defenses, sitting at 30-40% for every position. I mean I have never said, "If You Forget Me" while in a Task Force and missing that Mind Link was sitting there, unused and "Waiting". (Note: I lied. This happens all the time.) Range: All of the cones have enhanced range. I have played around with subbing out some of the Posi's for Detonation Damage/Range. It makes the cones practically ranged attacks with some topping 80ft. You can hit a lot at that range with a 30 degree arc. I find that if I sit about 30 feet away from the mobs, I get a good combination of mobs hit. Incarnates: The choices are pretty straightforward. Musculature Core Paragon for the Alpha. You don't need End and more damage is always useful. Ion, or which ever AOE you want. Reactive for the -RES proc. Since you're a proc build, you leverage -RES far more than other toons. This is a must. Rebirth Radial for a nice heal and boosted regen. This gives some sustain you are lacking when you do get hit. Swap barrier for hard run. Assault Radial for the double hits. Great for when you want to burn down a EB or AV. Exemplar: You have a decent ST chain available as low as 13. Anything in the 30s will be totally fine. Ran a Citadel and felt like I was pulling my weight in a way that I just didn't on lots of other builds. You still have three AOEs which cycle quickly and defenses to wander around without too much worry from 21 and up. Shakrnado: Yes... I know that I am mixing references in a Madonna post with Sharknado. However, I do have to say that this build allows you to target a mob that's above you and the animation has flying sharks. If that is not a reason to play this, nothing else I can say will sway you! Notes on Playing The nice thing about a Widow build is that you have some space to do different things. This build has a 5 power ST chain (of which you only need 4) and a 5 power AOE chain along with capped defenses. The play style is to stealth your way up to a mob, position for maximum carnage and then open up with Cones of Destruction casting them "Over and Over"! I always lead with School of Sharks. Not only does it proc very well, but it keeps people bunched up for the remaining cones to unleash on them! Combat Teleport is great as a melee user, but what about ConeAnn? Well these binds will make your life a lot easier: /bind SHIFT+W "powexeclocation forward:30 Combat Teleport" /bind SHIFT+A "powexeclocation left:30 Combat Teleport" /bind SHIFT+S "powexeclocation back:30 Combat Teleport" /bind SHIFT+D "powexeclocation right:30 Combat Teleport" (Credit to MistressOhm for posting them in the TP thread) I find that I hit people with some cones, then as they start to swarm, I use SHIFT-S and jump back 30 feet and hit them again. It's a wonderful power and for a character that relies on positioning, it's pure Gold. Or if you just want to teleport to a target, then use something like this: /bind MBUTTON "powexeclocation target Combat Teleport" (Credit to Dr. Altair on Discord) I like to have it bound to the middle mouse button, but change to taste. When you do get swarmed, don't be afraid to back out, or conversely, use your melee attacks to beatdown anything that dares to get too close. They have some nice DPA and you should be fine. Eviscerate is even more AOE goodness! There does come a point where you have burned down the Lt's and Minions (Usually one round of AOEs) and you're left with a couple of bosses. While you can cone them to death, don't be afraid to get in all personal. While you CAN tank, if you have a tank on your team, let them run in. You are there to be "Causing a Commotion", not stand in a pile of sweaty extras. Trigger off the immob just as the mobs converge on them. This build works REALLY well with tanks since they keep everything in nice neat little packages. Then rotate through and things will vanish in no time. Summary Often, when you build something, you kind of have some hopes. This one was a pleasant surprise. I usually pass over cones for AOE that's easier to use. However, when the character is built around that, it's not an inconvenience, just a playstyle. All of these cones have similar arc and range, making it easy to use and set up and this build has FAR and AWAY exceeded my expectations. No, it's not the best Widow build you can make, but it's a lot of fun and really seems to help teams out as well as solo just fine. So if you're out in Paragon, and you see ConeAnn The Destroyer, you might have asked "Who's that Girl" but "Step by Step" she is going to "Turn It Up" and bring the "The Look of Love" with Cone's a plenty! It doesn't have to be "Like a Prayer" since you have great defense which means you will always "Live to Tell" an never have to wory about "Til Death Do Us Part".

There aren't a whole lot of clunkers. The only real issue with the set is that you are forced into a T1 or T2 power that is eclipsed later by other powers you could take. Psi Lance at 2 was such a nice benefit when you could do that. Mind you, that's not a huge complaint, but that's really about it. You can make an argument for every other power in the set depending on if you are going to be AOE or ST focused. As for slotting advice, pick two powers you are going to use a lot... proc them up. Decent Procable Attacks: Lance and Will Domination are your best attacks for Procs in a ST chain with Mental Blast being a decent third. Wail and Tornado are the best of your AOEs for proccing. Scream is okay and don't bother with Chain.

Tested the Build. It works just fine. Very durable. Clears 54s without incarnate powers. Died to Chimera, but I think that was more of my play than the build. Will have to test that more. Although, with incarnates, it should be a breeze since the hold is the only thing that really gives you pause.

There is still a bug in Scramble. It does not take Damage sets, in game. Unless they fixed that recently. But if it did, you could put the other AT set in there... or a purp set. Lots of choices. Edit: Just tested and that looks like it's fixed now! Woo!

Finally, for those of you wondering what it looks like as a Defender... (Note: Power order was done quickly to see the comparison) vs, a corrupter Solo they will do about the same damage with the Corrupter pulling ahead by a couple percent due to scourge. The Defender will provide better buffs which looks something like this: To teams you provide: 23.63% resistance to all damage5.4% Defense17% To hit bonus82.5% Damage buff74.5% Endurance discountand if you drop spores on someone, some light healing and end gain. I'd probably go Defender with this character as I don't see a ton of need for the corruptors advantages. The Corrupter will do more AOE on a team, but ST is pretty much a wash with the defender doing better solo. DPS Defender (Team / Solo) Will Dom - 182.6 / 201.9 DPS Lance - 330.2 / 349 DPS Dom - 282.4 / 292.2 DPS Tornado - 61.8 / 68.3 DPS Wail - 212.5 / 234.6 DPS DPS Corrupter (Note: This does not account for scourge which can add about 15-18% average total damage on hard targets) Wil Dom - 207.2 DPS Lance - 343.5 DPS Dom - 288.4 DPS Tornado - 67 DPS Wail - 230 DPS

Note: I have not played this build... so I am not sure how well it will work. I don't really like Hover in a Nature build, but it's what you were looking for. I just wanted to give perhaps a decent starting block where you could tweak if you want. Nature has some great resists so I tried to capitalize on that. Additionally, I wanted a solid ST DPS chain, which it has in: Lance -> Domination -> Will Dominate. There's a hold in there so it splashes some CC in the ST chain which helps. Between Wail and Scramble, you should have some nice CC which combined with your resists should keep you mostly safe. Mass Hypnosis is great if you want to lead off, or handle ambushes and adds, for one slot, you put a whole mob to sleep. Overgrowth takes care of hitting +4 mobs and is up over 80% of the time. When it's down, you're going to suffer a little, but still can likely hit what you need. Defenses are not capped, but will when you are on a team, at least to ranged and again, you have SOLID resistances to most damage and healing to make sure you stay in the fight. To teams you provide: 17.7% resistance to all damage 4% Defense 13% To hit bonus 66% Damage buff 56% Endurance discount and if you drop spores on someone, some light healing and end gain. Now, if you want more recharge, the ST attacks are slotted mostly for high damage with Lance and Dominate being mostly procs. You could swap out sets there and get some more recharge and damage. You can drop Hypnosis and put in infiltrate with a LoTG there. Other slotting options would be to drop the Build Up proc in Dominate and put another damage proc there. Some people dislike Entangling Aura, I think it's a brilliant power which keeps minions from swarming you. You don't have to run it all the time, but when you need it, it's fantastic. However, that would be the first power on the chopping block if you wanted to add back in Scream for more AOE. It also is a way to stack Mag on bosses for when you use Dominate on them. Still it's always an option if you decide against it later. When leveling, put more slots into Stamina and Health until you get Overgrowth to be reliably active. Until then, you need the END. As for incarnates, I never plan for them. I don't really like the Incarnate phase of the game that much but do play it. It's just that I don't plan builds around having them available to you. However, I would assume you would want to have Musculature Radial or Cardiac Radial. Assault Radial. Ion. Degenerative, Probably Barrier. Have fun! Hope it works out and you enjoy it! View This Build In MRB

Hey, I literally have a character concept whose an immortal and has a fully slotted Rise of the Phoenix. That's both concept AND functionality right there! When Rise isn't up, I valuably contribute a body for Vengance buffs to the rest of the group. Who needs Weave, Maneuvers or Armor?!

I have made a lot of Poison characters... and I have some issues with Poison as a solo set. 1) It lacks survivability. Yes it's got some amazing -ToHit debuffs, but that -ToHit is essentially halved. One half is provided by your PBAOE aura, the other is an essentially ST (8' AOE) debuff with a splash mechanic. In a perfect scenario, you can get the Aura, Debuff, and splash all on the same target. However, in the time it takes to do that, you are likely in a bit of a spot 🙂 Against a Single Hard Target it's pretty good for survival, but as you scale enemies, the -ToHit is massively reduced and you have little else to live off other than the combination of -Res and -Dmg... which, it's very good at. In practice, few of my Poison Characters could go toe to toe with Chimera and come out victorious without incarnates. 2) It requires you to be in Melee... without giving any other defensive powers. Between Poison Trap and Venomous Gas, you really really want to be in melee range. However, that's also where you struggle to survive. 3) To be survivable makes you take away from killing things. With the right sets you can make anything survivable. However, Poison is also one of the sets that really loves Procs. So... if you want damage to leverage that -RES you really want to also have highly procced powers. Procs and Defence are not compatible in many cases. I found that with most of my defender builds I might be able to cap a positional, but at the cost to damage. The recent def changes make just slotting for S/L as a poor mans melee defense not as good any more. The change to Rune of Protection made it harder to leverage that as a survival mechanism. So, you are left with either gutting your damage or making yourself more resilient. Now... I have made a poison/Rise of the Phoenix toon who was a load of fun... but that's kind of an outlier. I have actually had a lot more success soloing on controllers with Poison as they address the biggest issue the set has, living to apply those great debuffs. Still, with that said, I have four Poison Corruptors/Defenders... and I solo a lot... so it can be done, just not sure if it's one of the better sets to do it with.

Totally agreed. Also, with the merit drops of Hami and TinPlex, you can get 2 Winter IOs for merits every night by running those (which most servers have daily runs). Full set in three days with no marketing needed take a lot of the sting of the 25mil pack away.