The Godchild

...I'm referring to people who seem to think any name relating to the present pandemic the world is facing is funny or even appropriate. I have noticed over the last few days that there have been several names on Everlasting relating to said pandemic and I'm kinda disgusted that people think its not inappropriate in the slightest 'until' someone says something or more often quits the team because the name in question triggers them due to a family member suffering at this time. These aren't old characters created months ago either I might add...these are brand new alts, made within the last couple of weeks or even more recently in the case of a rando I came across last night (not even a week old) who blatantly had "COVID" (full caps on it too) as the first part of his name. Giving the situation with everything in the world right now, I really do feel like people using names relating to said situation should be reprimanded...its not a laughing or joking matter to some people and its in terrible taste to bring it into a game where people are just trying to have fun and NOT think about the world falling apart right now :/ Yes, we have plenty of memes floating around about it and we're all having a giggle over some of them...but there's still lines people should not cross with their jokes. ...that's my 2 cents on the matter anyway, since its been bugging me all night and I had to say something at least :/

This was a weird one I didn't notice at first but when I tested it out a few times it finally dawned on me what was going on. Partially because...well, who actually slots +range as a melee type and it was my choice in Alpha's that ended up bringing this all about (Gogo cardiac core's +20%). tl;dr version: While the bonus range allows for longer leaps as intended...the actual 'aoe' part that is the attack does NOT trigger if you attempt a Leap beyond the base 70' range. Its....interesting to watch it in effect since at 84', I can pretty much jump straight into another mob from the middle of the first mob...but that's all I get out of it. I instantly appear next to the primary target of the leap but do 0 damage to it and everything nearby, the only damage I see is my death shroud tic'ing within the first second and that's it. I tested it repeatedly and pretty much the moment I hit 71'....no damage trigger on the leap or any form of aoe damage. This is probably tied to Savage Leap acting like a pseudopet, similar to shield charge or lightning rod (which don't break a stalker's hide for the same reason) and the 'pet' part doesn't follow along properly if you leap further then it's normal range. This also makes me question if SC and LR have the same weird interaction with +range now: Will you teleport to the desired location...but do no damage? Leap is a targeted effect, not a location effect so it might be a unique factor for it. tl;dr pt.2: For whatever reason, the aoe part of savage leap seems to be locked at 70' regardless of what the buffed range is and doesn't trigger beyond it. Either someone needs to go in and tweak the range interaction slightly so the aoe portion is properly buffed/affected by +range enhancement, or...just have Savage Leap not be affected by +range completely if that's the easier option. Honestly, the bonus range is fun....but its a big waste of an opener aoe if its not doing damage and 14' is really, REALLY hard to gauge on the fly in the middle of a fight...70' is plenty of distance to leap when you need it. Side note: I was sad to note that leaping the full 84' still doesn't give more then 3 stacks (ie: The max stacks for leaping at 'max' 70' range). If it gave 4 or 5 stacks, it would at least be a trade off since I could follow it up with a max-stack Rending Flurry...but that sounds like it'd be complicated as hell to do giving spaghetti code n'all.

I know right? I needs no actual slotting itself to be perfectly viable as the 'survival' power of the set...if anything its kinda OP since its a bit more of a buff then the norm since its technically an attack. As for Attacks...hm, water has alotta damn good aoe's so I can see why the single stuff is what's on the chopping block. Unless you're attached to the +hot from dehydrates full tidal effect, skippable...water spout's double hit is nicer.

Shinobi-iri + Clobber + crit = potentially 1-shotting a +1 boss at your leisure as an opener. I'm on the scrapper side of this choice....war mace is amazing on a scrapper, Shatter/Crowd Control with the potential to deal double damage should not be taken lightly...you can (and will) lay out large groups in moments if you know how to aim either.

Huh...then I guess its a unique quirk of AR then. Good to know, with no interrupt the long cast really isn't much of an issue and I'll continue to enjoy popping heads off for huge numbers.

AR (and I do believe Archery) don't use the fast/slow animations....its slow all the time, but it gets a higher damage scale (the original 2.76 probably) in return. AR's snipe is probably the highest damage snipe in the game presently, be it out-of or in-combat version...even more if you're running Targeting drone and have perma+22%+ Tohit/bonus damage. Not uncommon for me to be landing 700-900+ damage in-combat snipe shots, or 1500+ out-of combat super shots. tl;dr version: Weapon-using sets run by different rules when it comes to snipes, shame that beam and DP don't have snipes to really compare with.

Honestly, you don't need to soft cap defenses...a nice luxury? Sure, but I'm getting by happily with basically minimal defenses and just mowing things down before they get close enough to return the favor. Its almost like playing regen where its an all or nothing deal...either you're perfectly fine or a puddle on the floor because someone got a lucky/heavy hit on ya and things went downhill fast. Kinda like defense. Incarnate soft cap is like 55-58% range so you're right on the mark for normal content but have some work to do if you want the the i-cap, wouldn't recommend unless you're like...SR/Nin/EA/Inv/etc. Had M30 on live but wanted to try something different this time around and I don't regret making the swap to buckshot. Its costs less endurance to use (10 vs 15), has a much shorter recharge (8 vs 16) and I can get the slotting I wanted out of it plus the KB>KD proc for 4 slots. Range is less, obviously and a bit more fickle to aim as a cone but its a wide cone, has reliable KD, and pairs well with Flamethrower. I have plenty of long range attacks so buckshot gives me a good solid mid/close-range in more contained areas. As for the +rech proc....eh~. I personally don't use/like it since I get more then enough recharge already and dropped hasten from all but a couple of specific builds long ago...there comes a point where you have 'enough' for a solid rotation and random spikes of it aren't going to really do much overall beyond waste slots I could be using for something else. ...and on that note: ...100% passive is 'too low'? Like...how much are you after? Unless you're aiming for perma-hasten/domination/chrono shift (125-135%-ish range) there's generally little reason to go past 75-85% if you've got any sort of recharge slotting in your powers. I went for 100% because I was basically trying to avoid sets with +def bonuses (since my ocd likes the pleasing sight of the same numbers across all 3 positions) and sets with +rech bonuses tend to be a good way to go in that respect so I opted to focus on recharge, damage and regen/+hp instead. 20 second FA's, 16 seconds on Surveillance and 4 second snipes...can't argue, my rotation is pretty much snipe > burst > slug > repeat w/ Surveillance every third rotation...not much can stand up to that kinda singled-out punishment other then AVs. FA rips through every other mob, occasionally every mob depending on what level the mission is, with buckshot/flamethrower waiting for cleanup if needed so I'm not really hurting for rotations in either situation. Hit really hard, often...and be able to survive a surprising number of "How am I still alive?" moments that make blaster fun (for me anyway)...occasionally getting smeared all over the pavement because karma comes knocking eventually though, it usually makes me laugh when it does happen. This is more a build option if you wanna try out the 'glass cannon' type of blaster I guess: Squishy as hell, but rains insane damage in from far enough away to avoid the worst attention, with enough self-repair options to survive what's left...if anything.

Yup! Defiance is great if you can just keeping hammering out attacks. Dropping a trip mine here and there isn't a bad way to get a damage boost as well as making a little safe space for yourself if baddies get too close. I usually have 129% damage buff...but dropping a mine right before opening up with a snipe boosts it to almost 150% so that opening hit make a pretty big mark...and gives you a mine to hide behind if the target wants to voice their objections to you ventilating their head. Also...since a friend did up DP/devices as well, Time bomb > Trip mine > Hail of bullets makes for a pretty ridiculous opener since time bomb has a 5 second delay before kaboom, trip mine doesn't trigger in-combat even if it goes off...and the resulting HoB will perforate everything with the jacked up damage bonus before time bomb goes off and finishes what's left. Almost wanna roll up dp/devices myself since that sounds fun as hell to do.

Woo, another blaster....third 50 and a rebuild of one of my oldest characters from live (my second live 50 from like i5 or something). Compared to Fading this is a much more traditional blaster, heavily long-range focused though still comfortable in mid or even close range...but honestly part of the survival comes from abusing the range AR has to offer. The other part of the survival is just flat out killing before things get to return the favor and AR also has lots to offer in that regard too, or just noping the hell outta bad situations to regen and heal up before ducking back in. The Devices change that recently went live have been an utter godsend (other then the gun drone thing, but I've flogged that horse enough already), the targeting drone and trip mine/time bomb changes were something the set needed to be more viable...and holy hell did it ever become viable along with the snipe changes and AR's somewhat unique snipe mechanic: there's no slow/fast animations....same slow animation for either but the in-combat snipe has increased damage to compensate and gets basically the max possible buff based on your tohit (caps at +22% which TD can easily hit) which makes Sniper Rifle one of the highest (if not the highest) damage single target attacks in the game presently. Its not uncommon for me to be landing 700-900 damage mid-fight snipes...and I've hit over 1500+ damage on proper Sniper shots as well. Again, everything that isn't a generic IO or a single piece is attuned so set bonuses will function at whatever levels you still have access to the powers they're slotted in. Key features: Overall Defense: 16% Melee/Range/AoE Resistances: 37.5% S/L, 21.5% F/C, 13.3% E/N, 8% T/P ToHit Bonus: +29.14% (With TD, max snipe bonus damage) Damage Bonus: 69% or 129% (With TD....giggidy~) Global Recharge: 100% (just because) Hit Points: 1784 (With accolades) Regeneration Rate: 2.30% - 41 hp/sec (with Field Op) Endurance: 116 Recovery Rate: 3.46% - 4.0 end/sec (with Field Op) ------------ Project Lithium: Level 50 Technology Blaster Primary Power Set: Assault Rifle Secondary Power Set: Devices Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Medicine Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Munitions Mastery ------------ Level 1: Burst Decimation - Accuracy/Damage Decimation - Damage/Recharge Decimation - Damage/Endurance Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Decimation - Chance of Build Up Level 1: Toxic Web Grenade Accuracy IO Level 2: Slug Apocalypse - Damage Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative) Level 4: Buckshot Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Overwhelming Force - Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 6: Taser Devastation - Accuracy/Damage Devastation - Damage/Recharge Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 8: Combat Jumping Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 10: Targeting Drone Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up Level 12: Sniper Rifle Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime Superior Defiant Barrage - Damage/RechargeTime Superior Defiant Barrage - RechargeTime/+Status Level 14: Super Jump Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points) Level 16: Smoke Grenade Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff Dark Watcher's Despair - Recharge/Endurance Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance Level 18: Flamethrower Ragnarok - Damage Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance Level 20: Field Operative Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Preventive Medicine - Heal Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb Level 22: Kick Empty Level 24: Injection Accuracy IO Level 26: Aid Self Doctored Wounds - Recharge Doctored Wounds - Heal Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge Level 28: Trip Mine Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Armageddon - Damage/Endurance Armageddon - Damage Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage Level 30: Tough Impervious Skin - Status Resistance Impervious Skin - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge Impervious Skin - Endurance/Recharge Impervious Skin - Resistance/Recharge Impervious Skin - Resistance/Endurance Level 32: Full Auto Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Superior Blaster's Wrath - Damage/Recharge Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Superior Blaster's Wrath - Recharge/Chance for Fire Damage Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown Level 35: Body Armor Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% Level 38: Gun Drone Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge Level 41: Surveillance Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Defense Debuff Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Recharge Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge Analyze Weakness - Defense Debuff/Endurance/Recharge Level 44: Assault Endurance Reduction IO Level 47: Maneuvers Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge Luck of the Gambler - Defense Level 49: Resuscitate Recharge Reduction IO ------------ Level 2: Swift Run Speed IO +5 Level 2: Health Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration Level 2: Hurdle Jumping IO +5 Level 2: Stamina Performance Shifter - EndMod Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge Performance Shifter - Chance for +End ------------ Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Vorpal Core Final Judgement Level 50: Preemptive Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Robotic Drones Core Superior Ally Level 50: Barrier Radial Epiphany ------------ Click this DataLink to open the build! ------------

That would be a freakin' sweet idea actually, I'm 110% behind it. Misdirection from concealment is what you're after. And sadly...like all non-stalker/VEAT placate powers, its generally more like an aggro dump then a re-hide option. I use to use smoke bomb on my nin stalker like....a decade ago and it was utterly trash, yeah it was an aoe....but it didn't actually put you back into hide and while solo...the enemies just ignored it since you were the only target around. Granted, with how the new snipe works and targeting drone...there's a chance they might have rigged Misdirection to actually do something significant but I honestly have no interest in finding out.

Easiest way to tell when you're 'in combat' is the yellow circle around your snipe power...assuming you have a set with a snipe. No snipe...yeeeeeah that's a bit of a pain I would assume. As for Deice powers in relation to triggering in-combat Smoke Grenade: Doesn't aggro anyway, so no...doesn't trigger in-combat. Surveillance also falls under this same no-aggro catagory. Trip Mine: Oddly this doesn't trigger it either Time Bomb: Ditto Gun Drone: Ditto again. Seems like 'pet' type powers never trigger in-combat...which makes trip mine and time bomb hilarious to use mid-mob then turn and super-snipe or boosted-nuke something before the rest of the goons realize what just happened. That would just be like giving a blaster Placate....I don't see that happening anytime soon unless they ramp the recharge on smoke grenade toa level that would make it almost unusable >.> If you really want to get the boost back....just run away >.> That works just fine I find...

AoE also covers things that you're not the direct target of...like getting caught in the aoe of a fireball, footstomp, most non-targeted/use anytime attacks/etc. Fireball is actually a good example since there's 2 ways you'd be targeted by it: Directly (you are the main target) or indirectly (standing near the main target). The main target would be using ranged defense vs the initial projectile, people caught in the blast would be making checks vs AoE. When I forget to turn my aoe toggle back on after stealthing something...its noticeable how much stuff you get caught in even with high aoe def without the toggle :P

Eh, I like having my set bonuses at basically any level I would have access to those powers (Permadom/hasten still during a manti on my dom for example) so its more of a personal preference thing. If you wanna min/max that extra little bit just because...go ahead and +5 whatever but the attuned version works just fine. Also might just be a slight ocd thing too...I like the round look, and not having to care about it once slotted since they scale up anyway so I can start building early without having to upgrade along the way. Straight up buying the attuned versions was the same price or in alot of cases cheaper then non-attuned since people either want the lowest level, or the highest...or I was buying a cheap piece from a different set in the same type to play converter wheel of fortune for something way better. Also pay no mind to the levels the slots were actually put in...I was basically just straight copying it from ingame waaaaaaaaaaay back when on live and I never bothered to fix it in mids since I'm not quite that ocd yet and the 'hide level placed' feature if a thing >.>

Gwah...that took long enough to figure out, I totally forgot how to get the datalink. Anyhoo...here ya go! Oddly a couple numbers don't match up to the ingame numbers, namely the melee/ranged def being differen though ingame they're identical :P Click this DataLink to open the build!

Its good for a set bonus if you have some build room, but otherwise...take at your own discretion till something new happens.

Gun Drone: "Hey boss, I found some angry guys that wanna talk to ya!" Me: "...god damn it" ...think that sums it up pretty well.

I'd be a bit more behind that idea if they made 3 changes: Drop the recharge down so you can summon it more often for that sole purpose, and reduce the 'active' time down accordingly...maybe like 30 seconds down from 90 seconds. Be able to summon it via a targeted location like most other pets, since it presently appears directly beside you with no other option. Give it an alpha attack that it'll reliable use the moment after it's summoned (seeker drone/flashbang/etc effect). That'd actually make it useful for a solo blaster, something you can drop into a mob, have it mez or otherwise distract while you rip off an aoe or 3 into the group from a safe distance rather then having to get within groping distance of mobs. That 10% res aura isn't enough of a bandaid to deal with the 2 vulnerabilities...smashing damage is literally the most common damage type in the game next to lethal, and fire is nottoo far behind either. Lets not even get into energy damage and its 0% res to that.

Not all that much...honestly I didn't even notice the -def part for the longest time, usually it was the -10K damage debuff that held my attention :P Unless its like....a +4 mob with high acc/weapon-type powers or endgame uber-incarnate mobs (54+) I really don't notice, if they do land a hit or two either my hybrid regens the damage right after or I can just pop Rebirth if tits go cloudward in short order. Even with the crash, her defenses are still well above 30% which is more then enough to dodge most attacks still unless RNG has it in for ya.

Since I've sparked alot of questions and interests teaming up n'rampaging around...figured it was about time to actually post her build so people can see what actual madness went into this build. Amusingly, this was actually what I would consider a 'cheap' build compared to my others...only 2 full ATO sets, 1 purple damage proc, plus the usual pvp procs...vs the usual 3-5 purple sets, etc etc. Basically you can play the rng market with converters to make most of the rarer stuff like the lotg procs, so those pieces cost next to nothing to get your hands on. All sets are attuned so you maintain a large portion of your defenses n'other bonuses pretty nicely, solo pieces and generic IO's are all +5'd for max effect and just because I could. Also, this is a weirdly sneaky build as well, Stealth + stealth IO and turning off Evasion (Aka the taunt aura) means you can zip around unnoticed and do all kinds of silly things like soloing key mobs in stealthable missions. Also-also....be warned that leveling up will not be easy at first...SR is like tissue paper in the early levels before you get your defenses built up properly and SS's huge end usage/Rage crashes will make your blue bar cry frequently at its mistreatment till you get the +end procs going. Once you get things built up and in order though, you'll never really have to pay attention to your end bar again...even with rage crashes. Key features: Overall Defense: 55-58% (I only monitor aoe def since its the lowest of the 3, melee/ranged are +3%) Resistances: 53% S/L, 20% F/C, 16% E/N, 15% T/P (Dodge/Agile/Lucky can crank these numbers way up when your health drops) Debuff Resistance: 95% Defense debuff (Cim mobs are a literal joke, as is Anti-mater), 60% Perception/Recharge/Speed debuff Tohit Bonus: +31.5% (With Rage) Damage Bonus: 30% (Without Rage/Fury, usually up in the 250-300% range otherwise) Global Recharge: 85% Hit Points: 2080 (With accolades) Regeneration Rate: 1.17% - 24 hp/sec (Rebirth and Melee jack this waaaaaaay up as needed) Endurance: 119 Recovery Rate: 3.02% - 3.6 end/sec (PS and Panacea +end procs play a big role) ------------ Soul Fury: Level 50 Natural Brute Primary Power Set: Super Strength Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Concealment Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery ------------ Level 1: Jab Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal) Level 1: Focused Fighting Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge Red Fortune - Defense Red Fortune - Endurance Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Level 2: Punch Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage Superior Brute's Fury - Damage/Recharge Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Superior Brute's Fury - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Superior Brute's Fury - Recharge/Fury Bonus Level 4: Focused Senses Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge Red Fortune - Defense Red Fortune - Endurance Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 6: Haymaker Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal) Level 8: Knockout Blow Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 10: Practiced Brawler Recharge Reduction IO (+5) Level 12: Combat Jumping Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 14: Super Jump Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%) Level 16: Kick Empty Level 18: Rage Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up Level 20: Evasion Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge Red Fortune - Defense Red Fortune - Endurance Level 22: Tough Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP Aegis - Resistance Aegis - Resistance/Endurance Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge Level 24: Dodge Luck of the Gambler - Defense Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 26: Agile Luck of the Gambler - Defense Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 28: Lucky Luck of the Gambler - Defense Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 30: Hurl Superior Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage Superior Unrelenting Fury - Damage/RechargeTime Superior Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime Superior Unrelenting Fury - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime Superior Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime Superior Unrelenting Fury - RechargeTime/+Regen/+End Level 32: Foot Stomp Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage Level 35: Quickness Run Speed IO (+5) Level 38: Weave Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge Red Fortune - Defense Red Fortune - Endurance Level 41: Taunt Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Range Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Recharge Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Recharge/Range Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage Level 44: Superior Conditioning Endurance Modification IO (+5) Level 47: Physical Perfection Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration Level 49: Stealth Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance (+5) ------------ Level 1: Fury Level 1: Sprint Unbounded Leap - +Stealth Level 2: Swift Run Speed IO (+5) Level 2: Health Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance Level 2: Hurdle Jumping IO (+5) Level 2: Stamina Performance Shifter - EndMod Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy Performance Shifter - Chance for +End ------------ Level 50: Agility Radial Paragon Level 50: Melee Core Embodiment Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Mighty Radial Final Judgement Level 50: Demons Core Superior Ally Level 50: Rebirth Radial Epiphany ------------

...oh dear god, don't even get me started on the malta gun drones >.< Those things are insane damage sponges...and one of the most aggressive pets, they 'will' chase you across a map without a care.

5 merits per booster isn't terrible. But yeah...you;ll want to save them for lvl 50 io's to get the most outta them. They're excellent for adding litlte extra bits to stats...but also keep in mind you CANNOT boost attuned IO's...since those scale with your level.

Sent version functions basically like the scrapper version...no bonus damage, no bonus crit though...but it does what its suppose to do: Make you sneaky and stealthy. Amusing that the blaster version doesn't accept running set io's, that'd make it 5000% better imo since the sent and scrapper versions allows that slotting and you basically get invis for nothing with a single stealth IO in in. The janky nature of the blaster version is just so inconsistent compared. You have no indication of when the +damage buff is in effect, and it almost randomly triggers in the midele of a firefight since you generally aren't keeping count of the time between when the +damage buff comes back up. Played a litetl with the blaster ninjutsu set...and basically stoipped playing after a few levels because it just doesn't work :/

Only for blasters since their hide/stealth/buff power is janky as fuck and unreliable compared to the melee versions of the set (except stalkers...nin 1.0 is a joke >.>) Sent/Scrapper version works just fine for me :3

I'm ground-bound...so yeah, the usual flight-based benefits obviously affect it, but that just adds even more layers of issues to the drone: How does it taunt when you're too far away for its aura to work? Why does it even need a taunt when you're flying? It makes me head hurt thinking about it >.<

Really, I'm not 100% sure why anyone felt the need to add the taunt factor to it. Gun drone was fine before...but now, ehhhhh....I summon it, and it basically dies 3-5 seconds later because its taunt is a mag 4 AoE around it, not something tied to the attack its using on someone. This is not a helpful change I must say... The glaring issues with the drone are as follows: Vulnerability to 2 common damage types (+20% from Smash and Fire) and weird res to other types (50% lethal, 30% cold and 70% psi) that don't really matter too much since it doesn't give it any lasting power regardless. Toxic damage eats through it like paper, as does negative and energy...3 extremely common damage types at endgame. It can't be healed, buffed or supported in ANY way (except +damage) because of all the 100% resistances to buffs it has. How can you have it tank when you can't support it at all? Its taunt is an aura around itself, not the target its attacking. Unless you stand right next to the drone, its taunt is useless since it tends to remain in the same spot till you move a significant distance away from it. More often though it collects a bunch of dudes around it that it's not even attacking and dies soon after because it has no means of defending itself or prioritizes nearby targets. The drone acts like it has less range then the player that summoned it, it'll just float there doing nothing most times unless you intentionally move in closer to the range where enemies can see/react to your presence. I know this was a pet mechanic they had to add in to force MM pets to actually use their melee attacks (ninja shuriken spamming waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day for instance), but this is a ranged-only pet with an attack range that's the same as a player (80'-ish range) that won't acknowledge anything unless it moves within about half that range. Possible changes that could be made to make gun drone more viable as a tank pet: Vastly increased regen/add a HoT/self-repair function or remove the 100% healing resistance Remove the PBAoE Aoe taunt, replace with a single target (or even an aoe) taunt tied to the target its attacking...possible debuffs to add to this feature like -damage or -tohit Increase is resistances considerably, remove damage vulnerabilities...possible immune to toxic and psi damage since its a machine, it already has immunity to all status-type effects to that end. Increase passive defenses to a level that would make it much harder to hit compared to the 0% defense it has atm (it also can't be +defense buffed because of its resistance to it :/) Add another attack that is an aoe of some kind, be it cone or targeted. The drone only has a single ST attack at present., something like a flash bang or seeker drone would be a good compliment to it for tanking. The Sniper/gunslinger from The Old Republic comes to mind since they had a concussion blast that was a pbaoe knockback to give you some safe space when people close in, something like that as a knockdown/disorient would be a great help. Vastly reduce the recharge to make it more of an on-demand tank pet. Presently with 100% rech bonus and about 50% rech slotting it comes up in about 80 seconds vs the 90 second 'active' time, not helpful when it gets destroyed in less then 10 seconds. You can have more then 1 drone out presently, but changing it to only allow a single drone wouldn't be hard to do, they nerfed storm's Painclouds to only have 1 out at a time afterall so its not like they couldn't make that change to gun drone as well. Reduce the taunt mag down to a level below what a player can generate normally so npc's favor taunting players over the drone, I've watched brutes taunt something only to have it turn on my drone instead since the mags were identical and the drone had attacked more recently. Mag 1 or 2 would be perfectly viable for an off-tank role, and wouldn't impact anything while solo. Personally I'm of the opinion that gun drone should be reverted back to the pre-taunt state since its not a pet that's designed to tank anything...its a dps pet with a single ST attack and a very limited range (less then a player has normally) and nothing that makes it strong enough to take any degree of attention from more then a single source. The notion of trying to have it do something else is nice...but honestly its not designed for the role its now been given, either revert it back or make it actually tanky to compensate for its new role. Till then, imma just not summon it and focus on keeping my distance and popping heads off with Sniper Rifle.