InvaderStych

There is a cap of 5 copies of any given set bonus, including "enhancement" effects like LotG's +Rech. By any given set bonus I mean to say identical ones. For example, you can have 5 copies of "5% Enhance(Rechg)" regardless of the source. In other words, if you ran 3 Crushing Impacts, 1 Adjusted Targeting, and 2 Impervious Skins - all of which can grant the same "5% Enhance(Rechg)" bonus - you would still only get 5 instances of the bonus and the 6th would be dropped. You could though keep 5 of those, and switch out one for something that gives "6.25% Enhance(Rechg)" and get up to 5 copies of that bonus, theoretically. In Mids you can click the "View Active Sets" button and the list will show you where you have exceeded the cap by tagging them with '>Cap' in red.

How have I not seen this? ... Now That's a Laugh I've Not Had In A Long Time, A Long Time ...

I haven't figured out the relationship between Beta Decay and Accuracy. In game it is listed as 1.00x; however, it does hit very often (puts a little radiation cloud on affected mobs). Unless you have someplace more reliable to place Achilles' then yeah drop on in there and it'll trigger as any other proc in a toggle (chance every 10s). Personally I have -def in attacks (katana) so I dropped 3 dmg procs (Cloud Sense, Lady Grey, and Shield Breaker if anyone is curious) in Beta Decay just for the fun of getting extra damage out of a power that provides none normally. Radiation Therapy has a base accuracy of 3.00x - which means it's near-as-makes-no-difference to auto-hit although it is probably subject to streak breakers. Throw the Theft of Essence +End proc in there ASAP. The -150% Regen is for enemies affected; at least that's the value shown in my Mids install, in game the -regen is not listed in details but mentioned in the power description. Toggling it on in Mids doesn't seem to reduce regen % when viewing totals, and in game it definitely does not debuff player regen. Haven't gotten to GZ yet, but the lack of an accuracy listing in Mids might be because it hits teammates with a heal as well as enemies with damage. "Detailed Info" in game hopefully lists more, well, detailed info. 😉

Interesting. Broken/Incomplete/In Need Of Fixing in what way? The Frenzy stacks seem to apply their buffs in game as described. Would love to know more about this if anyone has info. My only experience with the set is here on Homecoming in the last couple months, so if it played differently in the past I wouldn't know. It doesn't technically negate exhaustion. It just gives the 5 stacks while you are exhausted. The marker for exhaustion sticks around in the upper right, and regular attacks won't replenish them if you were to do say Rending -> Blood Thirst -> VS -> Rending. That said Rending at 5 stacks has a *huge* radius, so definitely worth being able to have on demand. Looks like Rending is on a 5s recharge on my current build outside hasten, so inside hasten and with Force Feedback up the filler attack is nearly extraneous. Attack chain on Savage shouldn't be much of an issue; Hemorrhage is garbage (as is the cone, skip the cone) on a Brute, so the T1 and T2 are better choices. The only power I use that triggers Exhaustion is Rending Flurry. Until I slotted BT with Gaussian's I never used it during an opener, but at this point I'll hit if for the Build-Up chance, fire off an Ice Blast for the Decimation Proc (another Build-up), then Savage Leap into the mob at that point. I highly recommend Force Feedback in Vicious Slash as well. I should probably pull some enhanced recharge from VS to get it to fire more often, but ATM outside Hasten VS recharges in about 3.6s on my current build. 2.8s when Hasten is up. I'm notoriously bad at figuring out optimal chains, but I tend to fire VS as often as it is up and probably have too much recharge in attacks because unless I'm debuffed I've nearly always got more than one ST attack available. (T1, T2, VS, and Ice Blast from Arctic Mastery). On teams there's rarely time for all of that setup, so it's just Leap -> Rending -> Thirst -> VS -> (ST if needed)-> Rending. Full Disclaimer: I'm not running a "High End" build by any stretch of the imagination. There's one "Purple" in the whole thing (Armageddon Proc in Leap), and I haven't re-worked it for being lvl 50 or really build for defense yet either. I did prioritize +rech while collecting various leveling sets and currently sit around +75% global before Hasten.

Also, Radiation Armor. Quite surprised by this set, high base resist numbers except for cold. Technically one could skip Ground Zero (I've seen at least one high-end build without it) as the long animation time might break flow for certain builds. It also has the typical T9 that most would consider optional as well. That said, GZ looks like an interesting mini-nuke, and has room to slot recharge before PPM numbers suffer and the T9 comes with a significant +dmg buff which I am interested in trying out on a scrappy. As an armor set though it feels quite good before taking those two powers.

@macskull has a PPM reference doc and calculator (many thanks for that btw) in their signature line. The second sheet has the calculator and one just drops in the base numbers for the power in question and then the % of enhanced recharge applied.

LOL, fair enough. Fun factor is top on my list of reasons for anything in this game anyway. Besides, I don't really care for SS - that "fun factor" thing - it just seemed like a good example in the moment. Still though, Blood Thirst: Take it, Slot it with Gaussian's Proc, Love it.

Don't skip Blood Thirst. Yes, the animation is long, and it doesn't work like build-up. Best use is immediately after spending your stacks of Frenzy and thus locked in a state where regular attacks don't add any - ie immediately after hitting Rending Flurry at 5 stacks. There's a (10 secs?) "Exhausted" delay before you can naturally build Frenzy again. Pop Blood Thirst in that state and you get all 5 stacks. Skipping Blood Thirst would be like skipping Rage, imo. Wiki is way out of date on Blood Thirst. Would be interesting to see how it played the "old" way.

Many options of Brute/Tank/Scrapper for your son. /Willpower is very fire and forget for a secondary; currently running a Savage/Willpower brute that is just ludicrous fun. I'd stay away from /Regen for now. No hate from me on /Regen, but it is fiddly and technically "Hard Mode" in comparison to other armor sets. My next Brute will be /regen for the challenge. Defense sets (Energy Aura, Super Reflex, Etc) excel on Scappers, Resistance sets Excel on Brutes/Tanks because they have a higher cap. That's not hard and fast though. Defense Tanks (See @Redlynne's suggestion above) are very good as well, for example. That said, it is easy to look through the animations during character creation (power customization screen) and he could pick pretty much any combination of sets that appeals to him in terms of fun factor/aesthetics. If his preference is to be "Indestructible" over doing tons of damage but being more fragile, then lean towards Brute/Tank. If your son likes to move Fast, Fast, FAST, go Brute. For your support role, hard to go wrong with Kinetics, especially partnered with melee. Defender or Corrupter versions. Thermal is another good choice. My preference (as someone who plays 90% melee) would be to stay away from anything Storm (or similar sets) because mobs flying all over the place is (imnsho) really annoying to pair with for a melee toon as we're constantly chasing them down and that gets old fast, again, imnsho. "3rd" set is either an Epic or Ancillary (depending on hero or villain) power pool that unlocks at later levels. Different flavors available for different ATs - usually designed to shore up certain aspects. Like ranged attacks for melee ATs, or Mez Defense and assorted Shields for ATs that usually lack those.

I can see why - my new Kat/Rad was partially inspired by following your exploits (both in the Before Times, The Long, Long Ago, and more recently on HC) with Kat/Dark and is turning out to be quite fun and interesting. Hadn't given Katana a serious go before this one, no real reason for that save that I got sidetracked by Brutes back during Live. Those power choices though - really tight. Definitely going to work Avalanche in, but my rough draft drops Flashing and still doesn't have Hasten in the mix. I'd rather not drop the T9 from /Rad as the +dmg there could be interesting to play with, and given I usually don't have the budget to go full on "Purples" with a build I usually like to have the "Oh Shit" button. I suppose I could go without Leadership picks - but that leaves me with a Fear/Confuse hole in terms of Mez protection. Not really sure how important that is in practical terms though. Decisions, Decisions, lol. Heck, I haven't even respec'd into Hover yet - I'd like to try something other than my tried and true CJ/SJ combo that has been on basically every melee I've made. Good thing we get all those free respecs these days. Either way, he's only 27 so far, so I've got lots of time to figure it out. Sorry, I'm totally rambling, heh.

Quick Question for @Werner and @Sovera - Those chains are with or without Hasten? Also, looks like no love for Flashing Steel? Currently running it while leveling and getting good results with both Achilles and CritStrikes Procs in there. Asking for my Kat/Rad scappy. 🙂

Awesome. Helped Immensely. Nice Pro Tip on the Golgi Exposure.

Thanks for the correction. I'm still wrapping my brain around PPM details. At the risk of derailing, Rad Therapy has a base recharge of 60s with a 1.03 cast. At a glance using the Google Doc PPM calc that's well over the 90% clamp. Enhancing recharge there to 41s (ToE Heal/Rech and Touch of Nictus Heal/Rech) seems to drop the chance to around 75% if I am using the G-Doc version of the PPM calc correctly. Using only one of those enhances recharge to 48 secs, resulting in 88% chance. Any of that sound right?

To hazard a guess- The chance to trigger is calculated once. If it triggers you get the +end from each target in range. Again, @Bopper and the other Proc Experts should have a more precise explanation. ToE will fill my bar (again, speaking to Rad Therapy, but Dark Regen should be the same) given enough targets in range. I think the PPM chances were more about frequency than number of targets, again hazarding a guess here.

Can't speak to Dark Regen specifically, but I've been running Theft of Essence in Radiation Therapy (targeted AoE heal from /Rad armor) and it (effectively) procs per target. That is to say I get the +end per target. I don't know if it calculates the proc once and applies it to all targets in range, or if it calculates individually per target (Proc Experts will know), but I do know that more targets = more endurance gain. In theory it should work the same in similar powers.

Sorry for the confusion. Not addressing you per se, just referencing your list for some light forum humor. Expand 'ZFG' to something that rhymes with Zero Ducks Given, and well .... nevermind. Just something that would be funny (to some) as a tag under char names.

FWIW: Beta Decay can take 3 dmg procs and Achilles -res. I'm still figuring out all the PPM details, and I know that toggles aren't the really a great place to Proc, but it's been an interesting experiment on my (currently leveling) kat/rad scrapper to add damage to a power that otherwise has none - provided one has the slots to spare. Low returns on the scrappy I imagine as damage from primary powers is already nice and high, so ultimately I'll likely one-slot-wonder it with something. Mostly I wanted to fiddle around with -def, -res, and -regen baked into a scrappy for soloing big game - the procs are just for fun at this point.

How does this not have a ZFG tier or accolade? Shouldn't need more than the abbreviation to deliver the message.

+1 for Spines/Dark. Towards the end of my time on Live that toon ended up basically curing my alt-itis for quite a while. IIRC had the normal endurance issues while leveling that comes with /DA, but felt beastly once kitted out. Now that scrappys can get /ice I might try spines/ice at some point. The damage aura in /ice comes rather late, but there looks to be potential synergy there with the -rech -spd from quills, chilling embrace, and regular attacks. Might have interesting slotting options too.

This. So. Much. This. Can't speak to Stone Armor, but if Savage Leap isn't the single best movement/positioning tool available for a Brute, then idk what is. Works more simply and much faster than Spring Attack or Shield Charge, and recharges faster than both by quite a bit. 40s for Leap, vs. 90s for Charge, and 120s for Spring. I ran SA (from the leaping pool) on my Svg/Will Brute for a while before and after getting Leap. Now that I've built for some recharge - still lvl47 atm - I dropped SA a while ago because it was a clumsy interruption in an otherwise very fast/smooth chain. I haven't finished my "Pre-Incarnate, No Purples L50" build yet, but the work-in-progress has Leap every 12.5s inside Hasten. At that point Rending Flurry is recharging so fast you are basically Taz with Teleport. Leap does need Procs do do any significant damage, but it's utility for a Brute (losing less fury moving mob to mob, among other things) is amazing. Can't speak to Staff, but I am considering paring it with Rad on something. Can't decide which AT though.

Some random thoughts from a "build-as-you-level" budget character in case anyone might find that sort of thing useful. This Svg/Wp Brute will probably be my first 50 on the HC servers; that means trying to be tricky with some budget building, but it's also a good chance to remind myself how the system works, lol. I ran with the -rech proc in RttC for a while, and just took it out for the respec at 37. I'll likely revisit the -rech idea as I get more slots. This combo seems to excel at extended fights with big groups, and having played to 38 without it I can tell a minor difference. With the -rech proc mobs would start to disengage from melee when they ran out of things to do, only to get hit with a taunt and come running back. Maiming Slash will take Slow sets, which could add another -rech proc in a frequent attack. I know, objectively, taking the fire Epic pool is probably numerically superior, but Arctic fits the character theme better, and feels more "heroic" than Energy Mastery. Though the latter would probably simplify slotting later on. Interestingly Ice Storm will end up being another source of -rech. I have a feeling that with a Brute the better choice is max damage, but I'll probably revisit stacking -rech as a form of mitigation on the next respec. I discovered that Zinger Psi Dmg pieces are dirt cheap and went a little slap-happy with them in the early 20s. Like dirt cheap. The recipes go for a few thousand, so you're basically getting them for the salvage and crafting costs. Highly recommend them for some cheap extra damage while leveling. 37ish feels like a good level range to start dropping extraneous attacks - in my case Shred and Spring Attack. SA is useful filler until Savage Leap is up more often, and the KD mitigation is good for soloing big groups while you level, if you're doing it the old fashioned way, lol. At this point though, even without LoTGs, the moderate recharge in this build showed me what I have to look forward to later. Here's where I landed at 37; moderate budget. Representative of what can be done with just resources from the one character and a little crafting on the cheap. Next few steps are to work on the usual suspects; LoTGs, Miracle/Numina 2-pcs/ea, Steadfast +Def, etc, etc. Basically the sort of stuff I can keep after 50. Also, that Zinger set will get replaced pretty quickly, most likely with ATO pieces as I get more of them, I tried to focus on cheap recharge and cheap regen at first, then sacrificed some of the regen (Perfect Zinger Sets have both) to get more dmg enhancement on attacks (CI's have recharge, no regen). I haven't done any runs with the two Perf Shifter procs yet, but without them I was running into some end issues if I left Tough, Weave, and Sprint running. That should improve sharply over the next several slots. Anyone know if placing the ATO Proc in Rending Flurry does what I think it should - chance to fire/target like a dmg proc - or is it some unusual "1 shot/activation" and thus better off in a faster ST attack? Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 49 Mutation Brute Primary Power Set: Savage Melee Secondary Power Set: Willpower Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Hero Profile: Level 1: Savage Strike -- PrfZng-Dam%(A), PrfZng-Acc/Rchg(3), PrfZng-Taunt/Rchg(3), PrfZng-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(5) Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Heal-I(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(23), UnbGrd-Max HP%(23) Level 2: Maiming Slash -- CrsImp-Acc/Dmg(A), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), CrsImp-Dmg/Rchg(25), PrfZng-Dam%(31) Level 4: Mind Over Body -- ImpSki-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpSki-ResDam/Rchg(9), ImpSki-EndRdx/Rchg(11), ImpSki-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(21) Level 6: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I(A) Level 8: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A) Level 10: Indomitable Will -- Ksm-ToHit+(A), EndRdx-I(11) Level 12: Blood Thirst -- AdjTrg-Rchg(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(13), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(13), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(36), AdjTrg-ToHit(37) Level 14: Vicious Slash -- PrfZng-Dam%(A), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg(15), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), CrsImp-Dmg/Rchg(37) Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- HrmHln-Heal/EndRdx(A), HrmHln-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(17), HrmHln-Heal(25), HrmHln-EndRdx(27) Level 18: Rending Flurry -- PrfZng-Dam%(A), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), UnrFur-Acc/Dmg(21), UnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(29), UnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(33) Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29) Level 22: Fast Healing -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(33) Level 24: Quick Recovery -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(39) Level 26: Kick -- Acc-I(A) Level 28: Heightened Senses -- RedFrt-Def(A), RedFrt-EndRdx(31), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(31), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(36) Level 30: Tough -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 32: Savage Leap -- Erd-Acc/Rchg(A), Erd-%Dam(33), Obl-Acc/Rchg(34), Obl-%Dam(34), PrfZng-Acc/Rchg(34), PrfZng-Dam%(37) Level 35: Weave -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 38: [Empty] Level 41: [Empty] Level 44: [Empty] Level 47: [Empty] Level 49: [Empty] Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Fury Level 1: Sprint -- Qck-EndRdx/RunSpd(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- RgnTss-Regen+(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A) Level 1: Blood Frenzy ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1186;564;1128;HEX;| |78DA7593CB6F125114C6CF301728EF16DAF2A640494B35128DAE6D6CB16E8A69D28| |54B1CE92D4E421864A65597FE0B6EDCF9881B4D4C13FF1CDF7BA3D5851B13152FF7| |3B4112E22493DFDCEF9C39F77CF7D1BAD78C9E5C7BB0494664BB67B96E7B6B78E4C| |9B9D6916779B6D3A7F113546F46EBED96EC49D9D8B78EAD2E0FD20834E5A1ECBBB2| |71C3EEF506CE5D39A4E89EE3F41ABBD21AD8FD6E580FF607521EC4F4E78EDDBDEDA| |940122367D8916DE7B03DFE3D757560771A57861DCFEEB45B96EBC9E1FD8C6A614D| |BD2FEAC4CFC824D747B42EC87787E9806200BE19A7193AD74735D2DAF20F13FC09B| |EAC730A8DFCC64DE4880330D0614A30730B2CF1BC6FD5D0447DD3CCAA8FA2A0B91C| |18CE838B057059ADA11FB9E42FA14E3A88A51D6BC13AB4F70A21E419A1DF845A15C| |44E544E04F922F21C3D449F309F82ABCFC0DA63F0FA06518CFDC5B8EF38FB8CB3BF| |79F69B639F35F6F941216118DA5F62D340EE1698D906734DF095EA6D81E759E0799| |27F7CBAFFE417703120B45E0882E50858558B9062CFA9B398BBC07CA7B0C4B125DE| |C332F3A3429A63E9879873ED119F055533CB6B9BCD21FF93421EF9221F47DFA5043| |30CAEC69811D054758ABC6F45DE87D7CAEB0A7B5DF90C6FE553B0F20BF35708E7AB| |C267B3C66B2254BD2AD7AB72BDD1FF9E82981C76D259746646393FA35C98512ECE2| |89766941D31B92CA3DDE968008DEF89C9452143FF119AA7B149FDC7D7B08AB22DE3| |1C6C7D9BD62EE31A9C4E6B7CE4BF4F6BBC7D72FD5F377F018E10CDE8| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

So, I dropped Hemm (good riddance) for the t1 attack, and just as a test because it was cheap dropped the -rech proc in RttC. Some thoughts at 30: I can see dropping the cone when there's more recharge in the build. I was comparing the cone size to Shadow Maul on a Scrapper, and might have been a little generous in the comparison. Even that aside, there animation time really isn't worth it ultimately if you're looking to optimize. Even without any recharge from sets it's almost better just waiting and dropping the PBAoE (rending flurry, iirc?) instead. With enough recharge you can just use that anytime you would want the cone. The proc is hard to measure, but at best it's probably a relatively cheap way to get a minor boost against big groups while leveling. I can't quite tell; haven't run it long enough yet. The in-game description claims it will fire "roughly 3.5 times a minute", or some odd description like that. Which, is roughly 17 seconds give or take a repeating decimal. No idea if that's accurate or how often these things tick these days. Does anyone know if the -rech status effect (from any power, not just the proc) has a graphical tell? Similar to how -to-hit has the shadowy reticles, or -def with the purple shield/down arrow graphic?

Rather than start another thread on this awesome combo I'm picking this one out of the search results to jump in with my random questions. Going to take a closer look at those builds later as my Sav/Will brute is still in his late 20s and it will be a rather long time before I can afford to kit him out with full sets. Shred's cone is really quite wide and the damage is decent. Is skipping it more about keeping a faster attack chain by taking the T1 instead? I'll admit that my knowledge of set bonuses is lacking, but has anyone tried fraken-slotting RttC with pieces from To-Hit Debuff sets? Something like this: Dampened Spirits: To-Hit Debuff + To-Hit Debuff/End for +2% dmg and +1.8% End DW's Despair: To-Hit Debuff + To-Hit Debuff/End + Chance for -Rech for +1.5% Health, +2.5% Recovery, +5% dmg And add one of the usual Numina's (regen/recovery) or similar from a healing set. Or is slotting it for heal just the way to go? Though it does look like the set bonuses from Numina's or Panacea might be worth taking the recharge pieces (wasted on a toggle) depending on what other set bonuses are on the build. The piece of that I find most interesting is the -Rech proc from DW's Despair. Would that be worth using on its own with more standard slotting?

I assume you're talking about the Stalker version of Savage? Better question might be why do stalkers have Build Up instead of Blood Thirst as on the Scrapper and Brute versions of the set.

Let us know how it goes. Now that I have Hemorrhage (thus 2 attacks that spend BF) it's not as straight-forward, but still works well for me so far. Also, yeah, unslotted Hemorrhage is fairly lack-luster. I wonder if flipping the BF effect so that it boosts up-front damage instead of the DoT would be a viable change?