InvaderStych

You definitely want all three of those powers from /MC. Reaction Time is /MC's "Sustain" aura, meaning it grants large amounts of +Recovery in addition to its other effects. On critters that are effected by -spd/-rech it makes for a nice "I'm faster than everyone" feel. I don't remember the %, but it is significant. Close to or equal with the aura in /Ice. Whatever the aura/click is on a blaster that gives love to the blue bar, pretty much almost always take it. I can't think of a case not to, but I'm sure if I said always someone would come along with an exception. 🤣 RttL - its basically a lightweight to-hit and damage buff that has a chance of occurring with each attack. It could be a better power if it stacked, particularly compared to a traditional Build Up, but don't skip it, imo. Besides, it can't slot anything so free slots for other things. Inner Will - Definitely take this power. If you put it on Auto it will trigger when you are either Mez'd, clearing it like a break-free, or when you drop below half health with a little heal. Manually it can only be used under either of those conditions anyway. I never found a satisfactory way to bind that with auto-hasten in the traditional fashion, but I never finished a respec with Hasten on that toon anyway. Ki-Push is too OP to skip. Hard to imagine skipping SK but I suppose it could be done since Beam is kinda range-y. BoS is way too fun to skip, and DT is a good follow up from that. I guess it depends on how you're playing as to how many kicks. 😉

I am pretty sure you can set this stance to be the default for fly. I know I do the opposite in the Tailor (edit - someplace - pool powers using "no pose" maybe? been a minute, I don't think it is in stances) to use the Fly style while running Hover/EvM with Fly off. "Pretty Sure."

If you've got the one for Cimmie and the one for Oro then you get the Time Lord accolade, which is +rech and resistance to Slow/Teleport. Once you've got the accolade, logging out in either Cimmie or Oro adds to the zone day job and the accolade power. First Ward day jobs are often forgotten, but some are quite good. Log out around the Psych Ward for one that gives resistance/def to Psi. The D.U.S.T. Ranger training one is +dmg, +ToHit, +range. Small values like any other Day Job, but I don't know how many ppl know that FW even has them.

The only one I (used to, been a minute for this particular toon) regularly re-up that qualifies for your list is the Enchantment of Serafina for my Psi/SD scrapper. Because the +dmg to Psi is too juicy to leave on the table. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=temporary_powers.temporary_powers.enchantment_of_serafina&at=scrapper It does mean running that <opinions may vary, not my favorite> strike force to get it though. 🤣 Edit: I am mostly certain the text description is wonky. It doesn't "add" Psi dmg, it buffs existing Psi dmg. There is always the chance I'm wrong, but it seemed that way in regular use.

<Your Favorite Blaster Primary>/Martial Combat. Everyone should have at least one (or have at least given a decent test drive to the set) /MC blaster. Because Ki Push is a Repel you can chain it and Burst of Speed (or combat teleport, but that's a different thread) to nullify bosses while soloing. Dragon's Tail and SK have very good KD for a bit of control. Set Inner Will to Auto and never need to click a break-free again - really helps with those old man reflexes. Most importantly, its as fun as a blaster secondary gets, imo.

I've not been in game this go around (moving/moved), but I might tweak my plans for a future Ice/Stone Sentinel into a Storm/Stone. It'll probably still be a while before I am setup here though, so someone should do that in the meantime. 🤣

I propose we rename General Discussion to ... Deep Thoughts by Snark Snarky Let your mind read his posts in that voice. Thank me later. 🤣

It was really pretty to look at, and they did the correct thing by not giving Gosling a lot of words so it is a bit like watching him in one of Winding-Refn's movies (Drive, Only God Forgives). Considering my massive affection for the original, I didn't find any reason for Nerd Rage though. Give it a go if you want some eye candy. 😄

I didn't realize until I looked it up that David Mamet didn't direct that one. I thought he wrote and directed it, but just the screenplay apparently. It has his fingerprints all over it though; particularly his early stuff that has a very "Filmed Play" feel like Oleanna. Since we're talking Mamet though ... State and Main was 200% funnier than I expected it to be. It might be funnier to folks who've worked on a movie set before, but I imagine it translates. The Spanish Prisoner also caught me by surprise, I think because I started watching it without realizing who I was watching. When it comes down to it though, it was Redbelt that was the biggest surprise. Easily my favorite Mamet film.

The world needs Statler and Waldorf now more than ever.

Rubbish. Properly used Stalkers are great on teams. Especially after the introduction of Combat Teleport. Easy to stay just far enough ahead of the main wave to AS a boss right as the aggro sponge is arriving. Wasn't impossible before that, but now it is easier/smoother. They're great on TF missions that can be sped; stealth the glowies, or find the Big Bad and ATT everyone in. This. They're durable enough to go toe to toe with hard targets, and ST damage is their specialty. Running a stalker on a team is all about target selection. Lack of AoE makes them a little slower to solo than a similar Scrapper, and the myth that they're "no good" on teams doesn't help. Ran my Fire/Stone/Blaze on teams throughout the TFC series (in level for each, for the sticklers out there) and probably about 50/50 overall while leveling it. No one complained, lol.

Eliminate the Smelters first. They are stacking Melt Armor as their opening volley. The Rifters go second. Their -Res grenades are patches that can be avoided. Don't bring fire damage, Brickers have high resistance to it. Had to give up on my solo 1* run with my new Stalker because of the resists to Fire. Too much of a pain to solo it that way. Psi/SD scrappy solo'd 1* during Beta. Difficult, but not in a bad way.

This. So. Much. This. Just because MarvelMouse (and its imitators) hires lazy writers, producers, and directors who understand neither subtext nor the adage "Don't talk about it, show it" doesn't mean that a "message" is anything new in Sci-Fi or Fantasy fiction. Where's that "It Always Has Been" meme again? 🤣

Counterpoint: Stalker. 😉

Heh, nope. If you don't want door sitters then kick them from your team. There is no reason to write code to solve what is ultimately a behavioral issue with people. There are countless reasons, especially on a large map with a good team, to split to clear or to send the Ninja ahead for objectives. Reward distribution in this game is just fine, there is no problem here that diligent team leadership cannot solve. This. So much this, all day long. There is a reason I trend toward playing hard-target specialists. 😉 Less so this. The assumption that anyone who brings a strong build to a team situation is always just "Flexing for an audience," is just that, an assumption. Not a great habit to develop, leads to a lot of false assumptions and misunderstandings. Don't bother. You'll (the generic You, not directed at the person being quoted) feel better in general. Assuming people's intentions is a waste of time. Especially on the internet. If they're "flexing" it'll probably come through in chat. If they're just someone who is good at building and wants to join a team, that will as well. So much Visiting of Intentions in this thread. Folks, chill out. 🤣 Not every toon needs to wait for the Tank. Waiting for the Tank when you're heavily armored melee is rarely necessary unless we're talking very difficult or Challenge/Hard Mode content. Staying just ahead of their path is the way. Tell my Stalkers/Scrappers to wait for the Tank and I'll tell the Tank to hurry the f$%^ up. Porting the Stalker into a mob to queue an AS to trigger just as the Tank is arriving is Big Brain Play. Fight Me. 😉 The whole design of this game lends it to far more interesting play than centering a team around a Tank. Why are we trying to force UnHoly Trinity play around here and make the game more boring? 🤣

I was doing something similar with a Beam/Dev blaster built for Hover/EvM. Beam is high damage, decent range. Take those Talons bosses that love to fly across the map for a minute. Beam/Dev was great for that sort of stuff. I wouldn't worry too much about solo survival as it sounds like you're building for teams. Turns out there's a "Containment Specialist" badge. (I forget how I got it, but I'm sure its on the wiki). Great badge title for a character built for taclking strays and headless chickens. ... I should finish that toon, its sitting at 50 waiting for a respec and some iPowers.

You can clip my toe-nails, but ... ... you can't ... ... clip ... ... my ... ... wings!

Brimstone doesn't accept +dmg buffs. It just either crits (scrapper/stalker), gets a specifically-written +dmg that aligns with Fury (Brute), or just does its base dmg (Tanker, Sentinel) without a specific buff. The -Res in /Bio would still push it ahead though.

The new arc in Cimerora (Valeria?) might be an interesting metric. Even with most/all incarnates filled it is tough to solo at x8. I don't think I've run it at max difficulty. I think it can be re-played in Oro? I've been moving and dealing with other RL stuff, so been a bit since I've been in-game.

Probability Manipulation. Which can sort of be simulated with various sets, but there's no way to use it's true power: immediately finding the one magic rock among the millions of rocks upon the beach where your team-mates are locked in a life and death battle the stray fire and debris of which simply falls harmlessly around you.

Thanks! Way behind in updating the thread. I'll be mostly done with my move by the end of the weekend. Going to try to swing back around to the thread soon after though!

Yup. I'm with @Wavicle on this one, @Hjarki. Even setting aside the non-issue of the rare combat escort1 there are arguably good reasons to put it there. Not the least of which being that the bonus doesn't care if one is Hidden or not. As long as the toggle is on, it is up. Just like sticking it anywhere else. I guess I could slap it into CJ since it is an added slot either way, but why bother? Literally comparing six to a half dozen. 🤣 Why would I waste set bonus and stat enhancement potential in the toggles that actually matter once the battle has begun by slapping a Kismet in there? Since we seem to be referring to my /Stone build ... ... Putting it in Crystal would be silly. If anything but a defense set goes in there it should be EndMod, or in my case a PerfShifter. Maybe a Power Transfer if one has the slots. ... Minerals is out, comes way too late in the leveling process. ... CJ could have been an alternative, but see also Leveling Process. Placing it in Hide means I can slot it immediately at level 7, even if I have not taken CJ yet - which I hadn't, because CT is my travel choice at 4 these days. ... See above about set bonuses as to why not put it in Stone Skin, Rock Armor, etc. Kismet is a "One Hit Wonder" piece. If there's a one or two slot power like Hidden that is always on and costs no endurance, it is a great place for it. 1 - About those "combat" escorts. It is trivially simple to toggle Hide back on when the ambush is on its way. The npc is going to stand there and wait for the fight to finish anyway. NPCs that are coded to fight along with you can see through Hidden and follow you anyway (might be some that don't behave well, but I found none on the F/S/B stalker playthrough). If it is an NPC that you need to keep alive, then you're turning off Hide anyway to prevent them from getting too much aggro. Finally, Rescue/Kidnap NPCs can easily be left for the end of a mission when the map is cleared. It's just not a big deal. 🤣 Sure, like the post prior to this. Build your build your way, but calling Hide a "Bad" place for that place for that piece because of NPC escort missions is a bit of seeing a tree and missing the forest, imo. 🤣

You won't have any issues finding either PUG teams or more regular groups to team with on a WS. I'm willing to take a punt and say that in-game, there are more people who DGAF what toon you are playing than there are who insist on specific stuff for general teaming and regular task/strike force teams. Folks who give you a hard time for your AT on a PUG team are probably best avoided anyway. In general the in-game folks are far more relaxed about "the bestest" than the sub-set that frequents the forums. Regularly scheduled events should be no trouble either. MSRs, iTrials, Hami Raids. Seen 'Shades and 'Bringers on all of them. If you're goal is to speedrun 4-Star Hardmode ITFs all day long, then yeah, what gets rolled and brought to the team starts to matter. But that doesn't sound like the goal for this toon, and not every toon needs to be designed for such challenges. With this as your goal, don't give "Good or Bad AT" a second thought. I've teamed with many 'Shades that could be described as Absolute Units. My philosophy is that concept and/or interest in a given AT/power combination are King, all other concerns are secondary. If the idea or experiment holds my interest, then I max it the hell out.