InvaderStych

Steady attack chain; lacks in damage but packs a ton of Confuse.

Fastest way down those for me has been to CT myself right above the hole on anything that doesn't fly. I'm open to suggestions on how to get down those shafts quickly with a hovering toon though, lol. I sort of wish there were a wider cross-section of times in this thread. It's interesting to see what outliers can do and all that, but seeing longer times from the likes of @Linea was both enlightening and encouraging. We all know the durability for which their toons are built - if someone was out there getting that level of durability and posting 4 min clear times I might have to just /em tableflip and walk away. 🤣 My most durable toon (Psi/SD/Bod scrapper) can do the run without breaking a sweat, but she's unlikely to crack the 7 minute mark (owing to few AoEs) even if I do figure out how to speed down those shafts while in Hover/EvM. 😄 I was on pace for a decent time with the Fire/Martial/Scorp, but then I let my guard down and died, lol. Since the 4 minute club seems to be using Ageless, I assume then that Destiny is on the table for these runs?

Goodnight Texas - Hypothermic

Leap is the best spot for it on Savage Scrapper. For the price of one %dmg piece it's as near as "on demand" crits as a Scrapper is going to get. There's enough time to fire VS and RF for certain, maybe cram another single target swing in the middle. Not ideal for other reasons, like only having it every +/- 15s at best without tanking the proc chance and building for a boat load of global recharge as well as forcing Leap into single, hard target encounters which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I've had the same issue with certain power combinations over the years, and once Combat Teleport was released I took to learning some basic bind/macro stuff. Binds on the movement keys are pretty common for keeping a pair of clicks on Auto. The following is setup for a /Nin blaster (untested) but is a direct copy from what I use on a /SD scrapper to swap between Hasten and Active Defenses on Auto. W "+forward$$powexecauto Hasten$$powexecauto Kuji-In Toh" A "+left$$powexecauto Hasten$$powexecauto Kuji-In Toh" S "+backward$$powexecauto Kuji-In Toh$$powexecauto Hasten" D "+right$$powexecauto Kuji-In Toh$$powexecauto Hasten" Save that to a file (location depends on if you are using Launcher or Tequila) and use /bindloadfile <filename> to load it into game. If you've saved it to some non-default location, enter the full path. I suspect you could use the left-right axis for a pair of powers, the forward-back axis for another pair, and tapping the appropriate direction will swap which is on auto. Place them where you can see the cool-down timers easily and make a micro-movement as each comes available. I also recently adapted one of the rolling bind file techniques to get Aim and Sound Booster on a single button (Rad/Sonic Blaster). This might also be useful for your setup: First File: button5 "powexec_name Aim$$bind_load_file <File Name 2>" Second File: button5 "powexec_name Sound Booster$$bind_load_file <File Name 1>" In game use /bindloadfile to load File 1 to start the process. Replace "button5" with whatever button or key you want to use for this. Mash that button to fire and cycle the two powers involved. There are likely cleaner/better ways to get there I'm sure. 🙂

In Leap and Mass Lev above slot position didn't seem to matter; it's about damage firing on a delay, or DoTs/etc after the fact. Probably only works in a handful of powers. In Mass Lev I tested multiple slot positions, in the Leap test this AM it was in slot 2 (second from the left) for the first 2 screenshots, then in slot 3 for the third. Without finer resolution on the combat log it is difficult to be certain, but the 3rd screen shot and other evidence outside of Burn suggest that procs fire simultaneously. For example, when Leap is loaded with them I am pretty sure they don't roll over to the next second while listing them all against large groups. This is one of those things that, as evidenced in Burn, could vary in some powers. I'm still putting SCS +50% "last" out of superstition though. 😛 Besides, Right Justified "Procs" with stat enhancing adds to the left just looks better on the screen. Fight my OCD. 🤣

Yup. The brute just happened to already be on beta. Mass Lev and Rad Therapy mentioned above were both on scrappers. Its a good tip though - the fewer variables the better and all. Like, "Take the Gaussian's out of Invincibility on the svg/invul scrapper before damage testing" 😄 ... but I digress. This is probably all just confirming the obvious, and likely not super useful for slotting, although maybe it is for some goals? Savage Leap, oh you funny, funny beast. I suspect that because damage is adjusted on distance traveled that imposes enough of a delay for it to get a boost from its own -Res as shown with Mass Lev above: Note that in the two samples below, the first shows damage on the same second as the -Res proc while on the second it is logged on the following second. I think we can confirm with a high degree of certainty that delayed damage powers will most likely benefit from their own -Res proc. In this shot I've placed a %dmg piece on either side of the -Res piece: slots 2, 3, and 4 just for another quick test to confirm that all procs fire simultaneously: Fairly confident that we can eliminate Leap from the list of places where slot order could be gamed to boost proc damage.

Okay, so I am fairly confident that any delayed damage power, even if the delay is measured in fractional seconds - Savage Leap AoE Power, for example - will have its damage boosted from a successful application of -Res. It was more difficult to tell with Leap because I was on a Brute testing on Monkeys, so variable fury made the numbers harder to evaluate. Mass Levitate, however, is on a long enough delay to test it out. Also confirmed that this works regardless of slotted position; tested with the -Res piece in slot 6 and slot 1 (keeping the numbering in the OP, 1 is Left justified, 6 is right justified). Two swings with Mass Lev: First no proc, second it fires. No screen-caps, but I tested Radiation Therapy a little with this as well. Up front damage not increased, DoT damage is. Essentially, when it comes to damage from the power itself - if it happens in log *after* the firing of the proc (delayed like ML/SL or DoT applied after initial dmg) the benefit is there, up front damage that logs before procs isn't going to be. How this affects the Burn thing, no clue. 😛 Nothing I've tested boosted proc damage within the same power as a -res piece regardless of position, so that's just Burn so far it seems.

Fair point. Leap's mechanics are probably slated for a look-see at some point. I cannot speak to the intent of the devs, but I doubt it's a big priority. 🙂 It's quirks mostly affect things like Hybrid double hit (more damage on the tele target than on AoE targets) or Brimstone (No damage on AoE targets, damage on tele target) and weird stuff like that. Leap is kinda mechanically flawed, but not OP "Broken" like Burn/IG. That Leap procs well is a function of PPM and it's coincidentally having sweet-spot numbers for keeping the rate high not that it is a quirky tele-nuke with 2 separate powers. Of course we all know that Change Is Coming to damage procs at some point. Though I do hope that "effect" procs aren't rendered useless via collateral damage. 😨 Burn/IG are pretty wildly different. I can't speak to Burn, but IG's tic rate makes it crazy effective, and it's pseudo-pet status means it works inside Geode among other probably weird crap I have no idea about. 🤣

I suspected Burn might be yet another "special case" power: much like IG's 5s ticks instead of 10, Savage Leap's "two-powers" architecture, etc etc. I did find an old screen snip from previously mentioned (tangentially related) testing that does suggest that @Sovera has found another quirk in Burn that *might* exist in some other powers, but my breadth of powers knowledge is not that great. Interestingly because this is from Savage Leap, there may be another quirk here I did not expect. This is from a Savage/WP brute against Carnies, probably +1? Unfortunately this is from before I turned on timestamps; there might be more screen-caps and a combat log in @Bopper's "What The Hell Is Double-Hit" thread. I wasn't going to post this, but rather go get a fresh one with timestamps against a pylon, but it looks like a decent quick look at this. Savage Leap -> Attendant 2 (last listed) is the "teleport target" Fencer and Attendant 1 were "AoE only" targets. Slotting here was <not a proc>,Zinger, Arma, Erad, -Res, Oblit. This was probably the first time I noticed the consistency in order in logs. 2 of 3 hit with -Res. Proc order and proc damage is consistent across all three. (The difference in double-hit dmg between the two is explained in the guide thread on Hybrid, and not related to -Res) I never noticed this until this post, but there is a 22.06 point damage difference in the "Savage Leap AoE" damage taken by the 3 mobs, in-line to suggest that in Leap, a -Res piece might affect it's own AoE dmg, I wouldn't expect this to work on all targets if it is because Leap fires two powers, but there it is staring me in the face. So the plot has definitely thickened and maybe going back in for a closer look at Leap is warranted after all. I have no idea if there could have been another cause for the dmg difference there, so more samples would help. I suspect that if this is another "quirk" of Leap, that it would function regardless of slotting order. The one thing I still do with this is slot SCS+50% *last* among the procs in Leap in case fractional seconds are relevant in the duration of the critical hit bonus. That's about the only thing I can thing of, outside Burn or similarly unique powers, where gaming slot position might have a benefit (firing procs with a duration), but at that point we're talking such small amounts of time it's quite academic. 😛 Edit: How long is a server tick? And can log time-stamps show a finer resolution than nearest second?

Are you sure? They all fire on the same clock tick. I didn't notice any measurable difference in moving the -Res piece to the far right playing with this a while back. Combat log lists them from right to left, as advertised, but procs in Savage Leap seemingly did expected damage regardless of where the -Res piece was placed. In fairness when I first noticed this I was testing Double-Hit (because it is weird with Leap, but it is where I noticed the firing order, testing had nothing to do with other procs or -res, per se) so my memory is pretty anecdotal in this instance. DoTs will benefit from a -Res piece in the power that fires the DoT, but powers like Mass Levitate, even with it's delay, don't seem to benefit from it firing in the power itself - though I did not really put that to a proper test on that toon either, soooo....... ..... it would be super-sweet if I was wrong about this, even if it is just a nuance. Ditto. Looking forward to more testing on this. I might fiddle with it some over the weekend, as I may have literally mis-spoke on this same thing in another thread. 😄

Monkey Blast When?

None taken here, for what that's worth. Check the tone of the OP in both threads: One is a discussion of in-game lore, a mission arc detailing the fictional politics of the medi-porter system, and clearly about in-game/character related things that fostered some interesting lore discussion and some side-chat on ST:TNG stuff. The other is a blatant, reactionary verbal jab towards players (regardless of where the tongue was located) which is made clear by the references to finding teams/rejecting ideas - which are player activities. Shorter: One is about the Game, the other is about Players. Don't make me use a cliche. 🙂

"You Sir have all the ID of a Hamster!" might become my go-to ol'timey'surrealist insult now. 😛 I gathered mastermind from context, but no way I could read that with my ancient, worn-out eyes. Besides, yanking on the proverbial chain was more fun.

Well .... Yeah. But you also can't softball us lot an opening like that either. 😉 Is it Hamster Id? 😛

LOBSTERWIND?

Yeah, one of the more annoying things about my scrapper before switching to hover/EvM was ML throwing my target out of range of my next swing. I'm also not a fan of the delay on the damage, but at least a critical will fire on activation which reduces corpse-blasting on teams a tiny bit. The upside to that was that following ML with PBS sort of inverted the "Hop Then Cone to get a 3D cone instead of 2D" trick by tossing the target it in the air. Using ML while Hovering is great, except when it's not: Tossing Goldbrickers above my head and they never come back down (ASF) comes to mind as an example. Pretty sure I never noticed this with Sky Raiders, but I can't remember now for sure. Resistances are real, and where they exist they can be quite severe. I ❤️ my Psi/SD scrappy, but she's not going to be much use on a BAF: Not enough AoE for prisoners and both Siege/Nightstar resist Psi at 70%. Council bots resist it at 50%, but who really cares, they're still lol-worthy and even without the smashing component from fists they fall fast enough. IDF soldiers with the room shaking packs can be annoying, but only when they drop a drone and that resists everything; IDF Bots, Neuron's Clocks, Anti-Matter's Clocks, all of those don't resist Psi at all. Psi Melee shreds an ITF though because the EB's T9 clone powers are irrelevant. That Psi dmg bypasses things like Unstoppable deserves to be part of the conversation if we're talking resistances at end-game. While Marauder is laughing at my Kat/Rad's lethal damage he's crying in pain to every ounce of Psi that cuts through when facing my Psi/SD. In general, Psi Melee is better than it's reputation, but all of the problems people cite regarding it are real. Barring some attention paid to Insight and Boggle getting it's activation time dropped significantly if it is to stay single target, it's going to remain a subjectively fun/sexy, objectively middle to middle+ set that is boosted more by some secondaries than others.

Fun fact: All the tricks mentioned to prevent a Stunner from rez'ing also work to avoid the end-drain patches dropped by defeated Carnies. 😉

Most of us have been there at one point or another. Totally normal. I usually need to take a break from The Cities from time to time for [reasons], but I'll stop by here and Discord to chat with SG folks and the like during breaks from time to time, usually. I don't have any specific suggestions save, just go do other stuff for a while - I've taken one "extended break" from HC, and when I came back and ended up with one of my favorite toons - one that was a departure from my (previous) face-rolling melee norm. 😉 Hope that helps! Exploration Accolades and WST bonus merits? Oh! Also "Every Arc in X Zone" merits - should have gotten 20 each for the 3 Gold zones, though not all zones have these.

Well, kind of yes in a manner of speaking, but also not necessarily. I read it more as twisting memories, instilling or enhancing existing self-doubt, playing on weakness either real or imaginary, twisting perspective and the like. What I like about them is that they carry the narrative nicely of someone wrestling with these very questions. Winning over the corrupting influence of the Big R is certainly the main arc of them, but I don't think completely false/fabricated memories would be nearly as effective as twisting/distorting/calling into question real events would be, and R is pretty clever like that. 😉 IMO: Any Hero worthy of the term wrestles with these questions - even setting aside the act of killing outright - questioning/considering one's place in the larger social fabric is the difference between a Hero and a Sociopath with Good Intentions. 🙂 Yes, I will acknowledge in advance that those are two ends of the spectrum with lots of space between for all sorts of discussion, and I'll also admit that were I to be more diligent about personas and such I'd have at least 1 from all 4 branches, because not all toons are the same. 🙂 Fortunately/Unfortunately bouncing side to side for SG teams is frequently a thing, so most often Vig it is, which, if I am being honest, is where I'm most comfortable anyway. 😛

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/The_Chantry#Exploration_Badges 😉

What is it that you believe was patched/changed in Savage which we were not told was patched/changed? The biggest bump Savage got in P3 was the fix for scrappers that corrected the critical scale for ... crap ... I forget if it is MS or SS. Whichever one is 2 tics of DoT. That one was doing half the critical damage it was supposed to, which was fixed. Pretty much every other fix in P3 was either for Fire Armor (FE interaction) or PvP. Hemorrhage changes (over time) were all publicized, afaik, and it's still a questionable pick at best on any AT. I ❤️ Savage Melee; I've several of them, and it is a solid set - but let's not start the rumor mill about "Unpublished Changes" unless you've got data or other evidence to support the claim. Thanks. As @Hjarki has correctly stated - there are enough variables in these things already, we don't need to go around chasing shadows and rumors.

Food for thought from unlikely places. 😛 ----------------------------- Still, a whole lot for me to like combing those two; double sustain/absorb with a big slow, stun/hold in the two big melee strikes, KD in the kicks, Inner Will ... oh ... and BoS. Cheese the epic for the snipe and the 50% uptime massive defense, a dash of Combat Teleport, pick either a flyer or a speedster and that should just about do it. 🙂 ----------------------------- Conceptually? Some kind of Banshee in an episode of DBZ? A sports instructor who's "sonic attacks" come from a megaphone? You know, whatever. Sort of depends on if we're talking SRSBZNS concepts, word-play concepts, etc etc. ----------------------------- Trying to think of another one. 🤔 Well, I'm patiently waiting ("patiently" would be more accurate if there were an emoji for derisive finger quotes) for Stone Armor on Sents so I can roll Fire Blast/Stone Armor .... But that's less fun to theory-craft. 😉