[Endurance Drain Should Do Something]

9 minutes ago, Troo said:

EBs and AVs seem to still be able to wield massive attacks.

 

That's because drain was specifically nerfed against AV's and EB's in i27p3 (source).
 

Spoiler

Critter Changes

 

AV, and Giant Monsters should now be able to use their weakest attacks when fully end-drained. AVs should be able to use attacks that cost less than 10 end to cast. Giant Monsters should be able to use attacks that cost less than 15 end to cast.

 

EB and Arch Villain min recovery is now capped at 25% instead of 0% Giant Monster min recovery is now capped at 50% instead of 0%

 

12 minutes ago, Troo said:

Could it be compelling to add a second path to defeating an enemy rather than just chipping away at the red bar?

 

Compelling, but unlikely. Homecoming, for all its numerous virtues, increasingly becomes about dps to the exclusion of all else. The things that people want and which are added are either dps, or dps with additional steps (e.g. -res, which was added to FF; there are now only 3 buffdebuff sets with no -res in them, and they all have +dmg instead). This is not an issue exclusive to HC, and in fact most MMO's have it far worse, but I tend to notice it more here because this game has never had strict dps checks and has always featured a diversity of playstyles.

 

If you don't believe me on this, here's a thought experiment: what would it take to make the next blast/melee set added both 1) the lowest dps one and 2) popular. Q.E.D.

[Defense/resistance/mez]

23 hours ago, LKN-351 said:

Specifically, How much Def do I actually need?

 

You want enough mitigation to survive the threat environment you fight in, plus a bit more for margin of error - any extra is a waste.

 

If you are unsure, then for a general-purpose build, my recommendation is at least 1 primary mit layer capped (either 45% def to all or 90% res to all on a brute) and your armor set's survivability tools adequately slotted: they all provide something extra, like heals or maxHP or debuffs (even SR has scaling resists) so following this advice never leaves you completely dependent on a single mechanism.

 

Adjust up and down from there as you see fit, based on your play experience, skill level, the sophistication of the threat environment, and of course your powerset. I don't cap res or def on my bio armors for example because the set natively has so much healing and absorb.

 

Quote

Should I focus on s/l/e/n/c/f/t/p? Or positional?

 

In general, work with what your armor set provides you: if it has def, add def. If you have res, add res. If it gives positional def, like SR, add positional def; if typed def, like EA, then typed.

 

The reason is that both def and res in coh, contrary to common sense, good balance and sensible game design, show accelerating instead of diminishing returns. If you are at 50% res, and add +10% res, it now takes a fifth more damage to kill you. If you are at 80% res, and add +10% res, it now takes twice as much damage to kill you. So it's more effective to chase the cap of whatever you are closer to - but if you're there and still determine you want additional survivability you want to branch out.

 

Quote

Should I not worry about certain defenses?

 

Resistance, should I focus on certain aspects there? which should I ignore?

 

If you're positional defense, you can ignore psi defense, because most psi attacks have a positional vector.

 

If you're typed defense, you still want to ignore psi defense because there is very little slot-efficient psi def in the game. Most of it comes not from IO sets but from +def to all powers like weave.

 

If you're resistance, you can ignore cold, toxic, and psi to various degrees. The first two are rare, and tend not to appear in threatening amounts when they do (but the one set with a toxic res hole, elec, has literally 0% tox res outside of the ult, so you need to be a bit more knowledgable in identifying toxic threats). Psi is reasonably common at endgame, but most psi enemies have lackluster dps because there aren't many strong psi attacks in game. Psi tends to hurt when most of the mobs in a spawn deal psi damage, as you sometimes see with certain wisp-heavy (or even all-wisp) Rularuu spawns, the psychic clockwork mission, and the mission that's all IDF Seers; or with certain specific mobs like tarantula queens (TK blast and psi wail) or penny yin (who actually gets full-fledged psi melee). Decide how much res you need depending on how capable you are in identifying, adapting to, and neutralizing these threats,

[Scrapper: Am I Doing it Wrong?]

1 hour ago, Herotu said:

What does scrapper do better?

 

Scrapper+

1. Much better ATIO
2. Scales better with +dmg (kins, musc alpha etc) due to higher damage scalar
3. Better epics (in particular, access to epic snipes - brutes can't get zapp, psi lance etc.)

 

Scrapper-

1. Less base & max HP
2. Low resist cap
3. AT name doesn't sound as cool as brute

[Titan/Bio Build]

I would:

• Slot DNA siphon, abalative carapace and parasitic aura heavily: these extremely powerful abilities are the bulk of the set's sustain. In particular abalative should be maxed on absorb - it effectively increases the amount of damage needed to 1-shot you and grants more time to respond to bursts of damage. Another advantage is that unlike heals and regen, it can be used preemptively, before you start taking damage.
• Remove some slots from passive +recovery/+health powers: they contribute little survivability
• Judiciously use enhancement boosters to save slots (eg can 2-slot hasten instead of 3-slot)
• Pursue a focused mitigation strategy: you go after a random mix of various resistances and defenses, but don't really hit any breakpoints. A breakpoint is a local maxima of performance beyond which further investment yields little benefit, such as the defense softcap (45) or resistance hardcap (90). So you either shoot for some such breakpoint, or cut the investment if possible.
• Slot all low-hanging fruit (both +3 def uniques, both +res uniques, panacea proc in a passive, touch of essence proc in DNA siphon)
• Slot double -res procs and take whirling smash to increase both ST and aoe damage. TW/bio can fit two -res procs in its ST rotation and on top of that add more -res (rend armor, evo armor)
• Slot environmental adaptation more fully - it's the main source of ENFC def, and bio is designed to counter SL with res and ENFC with def
• Drop defensive swing and take crushing blow, the usual starter for the 5s momentum window. However you may prefer the safety of a parry and take the dps hit, so file this one under playstyle differences.
• Try to find a better home for armageddon than genetic contamination (low dpa aura, toggle = low procrate + wasted rech enh)
• Consider musculature radial instead of core (you lose a very small bit of +dmg for the equivalent of an SO in all your endurance powers, which could be a lot of slots saved)

And finally:

Consider a different epic. So, epics are very often a matter of concept or playfeel, but bio doesn't get a lot from energy epic. Different epics may add high-dpa attacks or offer access to powerful, slot-efficient set bonuses. My personal favorite is mako's and arctic air. The key is to think of it as something like shatter armor: a -res power you can load with procs and wreck AV's with.

 

Stripping out the 15 commons you slotted in all your passive regen/recov powers loses you 9.46hps and 0.9eps. A single panacea proc, fitting in the default slot of health, is 3.23hps and 0.375eps, or a little over a third as much. So that's 1 slot, versus the 15 you invest now. You can take a look at these for ideas on minimizing your slotting of your passives.
https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/19022-hpregen-proc-cheat-sheet/

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/8892-slotting-for-endurance-recovery-a-cheat-sheet/

 

The touch of essence: chance for +end proc in DNA siphon is completely overpowered, and I will not stop preaching this until I get it nerfed into the ground. It rolls and checks to proc separately for each enemy hit. When used in crowds of enemies, you can get upwards of 50 end per power use. In fact, since corpses are valid targets for DNA siphon, you can use it on a pile of corpses, and get a full blue bar back (normally DNA siphon only gives recovery, not +end, from corpses).

 

Here is an example of slotting for def and res in a more focused way. Your barrier has a 2m cooldown and always gives at least 5% res and 5% def to all for 2 min. So it can be thought of as a perma-5% def and res click. That brings this build to ~90% SL res and 45% ENFC def. You don't need psi res because most psi enemies do shit dps, unless they are called penny yin.

 

 

Edit: I just noticed your offensive adaptation (and hence the self -res malus) is not toggled on. So you're still actually 7.5% SL res from the hardcap. This could be a useful exercise for you - think about how to close the gap yourself, if you like. The usual suspects are aegis, mako's lotgs, and celerities (in sprint/prestige sprint).

[Fugly PUG 2 star ITF]

I wasn't there, so I have no comment on good or bad play in this specific circumstance. However, a few things about the recruitment message you saw strike me as, if not red flags, signs that you're not going to get what's advertised.

 

To start off, it's a pug 2*. For those not in the know, pug 1* and 2* tend to attract players who are inexperienced or for whatever reason not confident enough to do 4*. Now, there's nothing wrong with that - people have to start somewhere - but I find it odd that they also advertise 1h completion time and 100m in loot, since it likely won't be a very smooth or efficient run.

 

Then, they say "know what you're doing". I never ask people to know what they're doing, and no serious leader I know of does, either. One may filter out a couple of the unconfident and anxiety-ridden (which conversely might turn out to be gems in the rough if given proper support and knowledge), but real problem players are never deterred by such messages - the whole reason they are bad is they think they know what they're doing when they don't.

 

Then of course there are things like the lackluster comp and lack of communication. Good players can make suboptimal comps/builds work, and they all have ESP and can read each others' minds, but if you're running with pubbies, and especially if you know your team will attract the inexperienced, it pays to spend some time looking at these aspects.

 

I am a huge advocate of frank and forthright criticism. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with telling someone that their performance is poor or that what they're doing is wrong. However, saying nothing the whole TF only to go "X you're blocked" at the end sounds like hilarious cowardice to me. Not only is this not criticism, at the very least, one should be able to get as well as one gives.

[Reported?]

An elite squad of GM-ninjas paradrops into your home and uninstalls coh for you while your mugshot is sent to the report-er for gloating on social media. That'll teach you to say unflattering things about my costume. Muahahahaha. Bwahahahahahahaha!

 

 

 

People can report anything they like; it doesn't necessarily mean you have done something wrong.

 

P.S. I have not actually reported anyone.

[Looking for end-all be-all tank for completion]

6 hours ago, Erratic1 said:

Yep, the clicks are important. Besides, I thought Stone was the acknowledged toughest set.

 

Stone has the best mitigation out of the box.

 

That is not necessarily the same as best, which is what OP asked and what I answered, or even toughest in certain situations. While both are extremely powerful in coh due to accelerating returns, res doesn't protect against irresistible attacks, nor def against autohit (or just annoyingly high tohit) ones, but healing, absorb, and regen work against both. In hard mode, where all armor sets operate near or at mit caps, a tank's dps output becomes more relevant than ever; every second the AV stays alive is a second more for someone to screw up and wipe, losing lore pets.

 

The OP is asking for the "hero's hero". The tank that, and I quote, "makes AVs cry and minions arrest themselves". The OP sees attracted to the tank that they view as "subjectively the best for all content, including endgame".

 

To me, it seems like the OP is looking for something other than the Great Meat Wall of China (though there's no shame if that's what you'd rather play) - something more like a tankhealermage. That's why I say, if you want the fastest hero, play the Flash; the strongest, the Hulk; but if you want Superman, play Bio Armor.

[Seismic Blast/ Nature Affinity Corruptor]

This build is competently made and covers all the essentials. The suggestions I can make to you are primarily minor optimizations, not fundamental changes to build goals or

 

My preliminary thoughts are:

• Meteor needs -kb in it (But maybe you do want the kb; I think it's hilarious.)
• You probably don't need the entropic heal proc, since regrowth heals yourself
• You probably don't need that many slots in maneuvers (specifically, the acc bonus from 4x lotg) since you already have +tohit from overgrowth. Think about 4x shieldwall if you like or trim a slot

If you are splitting up your ATIO2, one option for meteor is 3x scourging blast (DR, ADR, DER) + overwhelming force KB2KD. This caps damage enhancement and loses only 5.5% rech enhancement (less than a second more cooldown) compared to 5x ragnarok. The low acc is not a problem, since you have +tohit from overgrowth and will presumably use aim before nuking.

 

Your FF proc should go in upthrust if possible. FF procs really shine in the spammable aoes, less so in nukes. With it in meteor, even with a hypothetical 100% procrate, you only get 1 proc (5s duration) every 45-50s. In upthrust, you have a potential chance to proc it every 5s for 5s. See what I mean?

 

So I suggest shuffling your slotting as follows:

• Shatter: 5x apoc (all but DR, you don't want the R to reduce procrate), 1x achilles -res
• Entomb: 6x malice of the corr
• Tombstone: 5x manticore (all but AIR), 1x toxic damage proc - this still runs shatter entomb quick-tombstone
• Meteor: as above
• Rock shards: 3x scourging blast (AD, quad, proc), 1x ragnarok DR or posiblast ADE, 2x damage procs
• Upthrust: 5x ragnarok and 1x damage proc

This has some minor gains and produces 2 free slots at the cost of about 0.53s longer cooldown on meteor, but the main benefit is what I believe are better locations for your FF proc and a kb2kd in meteor. The catch is that your scourging blast +end proc is no longer in an ST blast, but as a nature you already give near-perma endrdx so you have more freedom on where to place it without running out of blue.

[Titan Weapon/Stone Armor build for review]

I would just like to say that the name made me crack a smile.

 

EN res is the rarest res*. Scrappers don't have access to a lot of it. Your main options in approximately decreasing order of feasibility are: 4x shieldwall (you can almost always afford at least 1 set of this because you need the unique anyway), 3x adj targeting, 6x bombardment if you have an epic aoe, and 5x basilisk if you have an epic hold. I would be very surprised if you could get more than 40 without significant compromise to your other major build goals. Why not try to cap EN def instead? That should be quite easy with a few sets of eradications given all the pbaoes you have access to.

 

* after SL, but most builds need less SL due to Tough.

[Looking for end-all be-all tank for completion]

Bio is best because it has everything. It has mitigation, sustain, and dps. Its mitigation is a combination between def and res. Its sustain is a split between regen, direct healing, and absorb. Its dps is a mix of self +dmg +tohit and enemy -regen -res. It even has strong debuff resists (missing mainly -def) and an excellent endurance economy.

 

When you have this kind of layered, well-synergized defense and offense that is unlikely to be neutered by any single foe, and when you have high values in all three variables of the Tanker Equation (survivability = mitigation * healing * dps), you have the best armor set in the game. However, bio is not an afk set. You might need to press a button every now and then to live.

[What does City of Heroes mean to you?]

I don't play coh for the story, the comic book theme, the community, the missions, the pvp, etc. While all of these are pretty good in coh, I contend that they are common in the modern gaming landscape. There's lots of good story games out there, for example, if you know where to look (hint: not anything from a major, especially AAA publisher).

 

What really strikes me about coh is the degree of agency it affords players over character builds.

 

Modern games, especially MMO's where people can be ostracized for suboptimal or just non-meta character choices, are very afraid to let players make terrible builds. You can't screw up a build in most games, because the game systems will not allow you to. Stats are assigned automatically, key powers are given by default, and at most the player might have a minor choice between different equipment pieces, talent trees, or stances.

 

On the other hand, coh is unusually willing to let players do things that in most MMO's would be considered self-defeating. Coh will allow you to theoretically make a toon that will run out of end and detoggle itself, for example. It will allow you to skip all your best attacks and strongest powers. There are some very basic guardrails: the game won't let you play a toon with 0 damaging powers. At least one of your level 0 power choices must do damage, even if you are a controller or mastermind. But in general the character creator is happy to let you do what you like, even if it's not optimal, even if it's objectively a bad idea, even if it won't actually work - and equally important, to try again for minimal cost. You can play a 0 def 0 res blapper and try to survive. You can try to solo the ITF with a petless MM or empath fender. Have you tried a high-dps, procbombing invuln tanker using unstoppable to cap res and unrelenting and ageless to mitigate the crash? Pointlessly high-effort, but startlingly effective.

 

The game is still terrified of letting its players fail in general. The pve is laughably easy, and you can't actually fail missions, for example. "Failed" missions are just successfully completed missions with a different narrative ending. And the build design landscape isn't as varied and interesting as it could be: IO set choice still boils down to the big 5 potential build goals (rech, def, res, procs and enhancement values). But it masks these behind the illusion of choice presented by 24 power choices and 67 enhancement slots to assign.

 

So, to me, coh is the game that still dares to offer players real agency in build design, comparable to what you might get in a tabletop game of Pathfinder or D&D. The only other comparable games I have found are Dungeons & Dragons online, and EVE Online where you get to design your own ship.

[Looking for a simple Invul/Dark melee tanker build]

I once made a sample invuln tanker base with no purples or winter IO's (very few enhancements more than 5m apiece, in fact), that can be customized with your choice of epic or pool powers, and has about 40% def to all with 1 foe in range and 70% res to all with 1 stack of might of the tanker proc. It's for StJ, but you should be able to easily modify it to work with /dark.

 

 

[SS / Regen]

My SS/regen has, I think, 65 SL res and 55 ENFC res. On top of this, I cycle barrier, melee core and rune of prot. Barrier is perma, and when it + either of the other big mitigation clickies are active I will have at least 87 SL and 77 ENFC res, then the heals and mog take care of the rest. You want to try and refresh barrier while both rune and melee hybrid are down, to get the most of the strong initial 30s.

 

It's very tough, and it excels against certain enemies that have abnormally high tohit. Heals and regen work equally well against all damage types and don't care what enemies' tohit is. But I think all this really proves is that if you're willing to toss all your incarnate slots, a ton of power choices, and most of your set bonuses into mitigation (plus take a parry set like staff or MA on top, as most other regens are), anything can be made indestructible.

[BS/Shield Brute - Help]

You're squishy because your build has bad DDR (no 2x active def, no grant cover) and somewhat low def (only melee capped). While you have high resists with owts, its uptime is too brief to carry the mitigation all on its own. Since you're not cycling owts > rune of prot > melee core, you need to ensure your def is sufficient for your mitigation needs.

 

A shield brute should have:

• North of 45% def. The excess is a buffer against -def attacks and leadership from certain enemies. How much more is up to you, but I don't recommend more than 54% (i-capped with a defense amp).
• 70% -def resist before ageless. 91% with ageless radial. This is achieved by stacking active defense twice and taking grant cover (the -def res does affect you).
• As much HP and resists as you can assemble after achieving the above, without sacrificing offensive power

6 hours ago, Hawk Enforcer said:

**Level 2: Slice**
- A: Overwhelming Force: Accuracy/Damage
- 7: Overwhelming Force: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- 9: Overwhelming Force: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- 9: Overwhelming Force: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- 11: Overwhelming Force: Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown

 

Underwhelming Farce is very weak. Outside of the proc, it has only a few very niche uses. You're better off with one of the good pbaoe sets and slotting just the proc separately.

 

6 hours ago, Hawk Enforcer said:

**Level 24: Phalanx Fighting**
- A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Recharge
- 25: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
- 25: Luck of the Gambler: Endurance/Recharge
- 27: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- 27: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
- 29: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

 

Slotting phalanx fighting does not enhance the always-on portion. It only enhances the part you get when allied toons stand near you. Generally, the stronger enhancement should be in eg. weave, and you can mule the defense uniques in phalanx. Avoid heavy investment in phalanx where possible, because it is a lot of slots spent that you may not see a return on.

 

On a related note, I think you are overdosing on acc bonuses especially since you already have focused acc and 2 purple sets. Usual lotg slotting is either 3x or 5x (for the SL res), occasionally 6x if you need psi/tox res. You can afford to trim some acc bonuses and compensate with a kismet +tohit somewhere.

 

6 hours ago, Hawk Enforcer said:

**Level 1: Slash**
- A: Analyze Weakness: Chance for +ToHit

 

This means you only have 2 effective ST attacks. I am curious if this is a deliberate choice, or if you just ran out of slots.

 

Of the 2 level 0 attacks, Hack is the better by far. The best BS rotation that does not use epic or other attacks is headsplitter hack disembowel hack (small gap) repeat, requiring about 304% rech enhancement in hack to be gapless. If you're a hasteless build, you can mix in parry (weaker but gives melee def) or slash instead.

 

6 hours ago, Hawk Enforcer said:

**Level 18: Whirling Sword**
- A: Armageddon: Damage
- 33: Armageddon: Damage/Recharge
- 33: Armageddon: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
- 33: Armageddon: Recharge/Accuracy
- 34: Armageddon: Damage/Endurance
- 34: Armageddon: Chance for Fire Damage

 

I wonder how important the psi/tox res from the 6th slot is to you. Generally, you do not need psi or tox res if you softcap positional def, since most psi attacks have a positional vector. Dropping the 6th slot would open up the possibility of putting offensive procs.

 

Here's an example of how you can softcap while achieving the same or more resistances. 5 slots left to go.

 

 

(Note the energy torrent replacing evasive. Despite the description in-game, etorrent does knock down, not kb. This is a good example of the power of set diversity - how having more categories of IO sets available to us lets us take advantage of the most slot-efficient options in each.)

 

This build is still 35% or so rech away from double-stacking AD. For that, you need agility alpha, more rech, or hasten. The choice is yours. I would personally drop the unrelenting fury and settle for lower res, permahasten and double -res procs in the ST rotation.

 

Making this really reminds me of why I prefer shield on scrappers. Scraps have the option of an easy 5% aoe def from their ATIO2 so there's just a lot more choice to play with.

 

 

bsshield.mbd

[Trying Darl/Dark for the first time.]

On 4/10/2024 at 11:07 PM, schrodingercat said:

i thought this was changed so it could only proc once per skill use and not once per target.

 

1) I can't find this change in the patch notes. From what I've seen, HC does not do stealth fixes (they may not always explain their reasoning for a change, but they always report it).

 

2) If it was fixed, people would be whining about it. Very loudly.

 

3) It is explicitly flagged to stack in the game engine. (Pshifter +end proc does not stack. Panacea does stack, but only works if the target is friendly, which is not the case for powers like rad therapy and dark regen which target enemies - it won't fire even once.)

 

You might be misremembering the change, long ago, to power transfer +HP, which IIRC was in the opposite direction - they made it so that multiple power transfers in different autopowers could proc independently.

 

Regardless, feel free to correct me if you test it and discover otherwise - I'd be very interested in knowing if the proc's behavior has changed.

[Help on follow-up Tanker]

The reason you find dark difficult to survive on while leveling is that 1) dark leans heavily on dark regen and 2) has a few less-obvious weaknesses, such as lack of slow res and -KB. While leveling, you have neither incarnate end management tools, nor was anyone kind enough to explain the touch of essence chance for +end trick to you (unlike most such procs, it rolls and procs separately for each critter hit, so slotting it in dark regen can give a lot of end per power use).

 

Rad is a lot more all-rounded and stronger out of the box, with built-in slow res, powerful end management, formidable debuff resists, and its healing split into 2 powers (rad therapy is 3.0x acc and particle shield requires no tohit check, so neither of them is likely to miss). Despite having less HPS on paper, rad feels a lot stronger on common's only and is simply overpowered in general terms.

 

Most tanker primaries can be built to approximately the same, very high level of survivability. They differ in the investment needed to get them to that level, which is what is usually missing from these discussions. You can build a shield to have as much mitigation as a granite tanker, but it's generally going to require cycling owts and rune and whatnot. So that's a heavy cost in power choices and incarnate abilities. The stone just needs to turn on granite... but it does need to know how to deal with the movement restrictions (very easy now that HC added combat teleport).

[is s/l softcap at the expense of other damage types worth it still given the def changes?]

I usually assume any brute build that softcaps only SL either hasn't been updated since the changes or is still doing some SL farm.

[Is there really a massive proc nerf just around the corner?]

While most discussions tend to focus on procbombing builds, i.e. damage procs, the PPM system is actually reasonably fair - for damage procs. You can tweak the formula, tweak the proc amounts, but overall the idea of trading set bonuses and enhancement values for dps is not one I consider inherently problematic.

 

I find the non-damaging procs to be far more harmful to balance, including cases such as gaussian's (can be abused in a variety of ways to give uptime far higher than actual build up ever can), touch of essence (refilling the entire blue bar with 1 click likely was never an intended use case for this proc) and might of the tanker (13-19% res to all incl psi from 1 slot while in combat, most actual tanker powers aren't even this strong). They all need to be redesigned to not follow the PPM formula and become globals with their own distinct, and more balanced, rules for firing. We already have examples of such procs: preventive medicine is one, and it's why it remains valuable yet balanced.

[Quick question: does Tar Patch stack from the same caster?]

Based on my understanding:

 

23 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Stacking is per caster according to CoD.

 

This means that 2 players using the same power on the same target stack.

 

23 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

But to throw a monkey wrench in CoD also says stacks with existing effect.

 

This means 1 player using the same power on the same target stacks.

 

If an effect does not stack from the same player, but is intended to stack from different players, then it will have stacking is per caster and replaces existing effect. Example: infrigidate. You spamming it on an AV doesn't do anything more after the 1st cast, but 2 different coldfenders using it will stack (probably so people welcome duplicate AT's/powersets in teams).

 

Nearly every selectable power in the game, including things like blasts and attacks and travel powers, is flagged stacking is per caster. I actually cannot think of an exception off the top of my head. The most well known "power" that does not have stacking is per caster is the achilles heel -res. In this case 2 different kat scrappers applying it do not stack (neither does one of them slotting it in every attack).

[What are some of your most effective weird builds?]

6 hours ago, EniEni said:

 

I'm curious how you're managing such high defense. Is this through IOs and incarnate stuff?

 

Yes. There is very little that is innovative about this kind of build. The SL def comes from scorp shield, the FC def comes from winter sets, and the EN def comes from a combination of ATIO's, winter sets, and misc other sets, depending on your power layout. These are all conventional options for blasters.

 

The only incarnate power necessary is barrier, for the last 5% def: without barrier you cannot get close to permahasten. Which means such a blaster can slot musculature and assault like the dps blasters. You see what I mean when I talk about having 80% of two things?

[Trying Darl/Dark for the first time.]

I’m posting from mobile, so I can’t comment on the build itself yet. However, modern dark really doesn’t starve for end anymore. Just slot a theft of essence proc in dark regen and make sure to use it in a big crowd, and you might end up with even more blue than you started with. 

 

I don’t use it on my own darks because I optimize for sustain vs 1 foe much more than most people. But this isn’t about my personal preferences; I’m legally obligated to inform you what is effective whether or not I personally like it. Enjoy - before it gets fixed!

[Psi/Cold Corruptor]

36 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

What's EHP?

 

Effective HP, or, the amount of raw damage required to reduce to 0hp from full

[Gaussian build up proc activation frequency in build up versus in leadership: tactics]

Gaussian's in BU shines if you can dump a lot of DPA into the short window it's active. Especially wide area, high target cap DPA. Say, blaster nukes, or shield charge. If you're not that bursty but team a lot, tactics is better.

[How to fix this build? Dark/Sonic]

3 hours ago, Ejlertson said:

The issue is that there are far to few slots to share around, so something has to be compromised.

 

Yes. Part of the reason is some of your slotting choices are inefficient. When I say "inefficient", I am not making a value judgment on your build (unlike when I say "bad", "incompetent", or "amateurish"): I'm just talking mathematics. For example, you slot 5x dampened spirits in Darkest Night for 5% rech. This is 1.25% rech per added slot (discounting the base free slot). Looking at the available sets, we could slot 5x Panacea in Twilight Grasp instead for 7.5% rech, for 1.875% rech per added slot, or 50% more. In fact, 5x panacea 1x acc common offers comparable enhancement values to touch of the nictus, another set you slotted.

 

Now, I know why you chose dampened spirits and touch of the nictus - you're also making an effort to build for res. Building for multiple competing build goals like this, and balancing rech, def, res, not to mention enhancement values and the locations of critical procs, is challenging; it's why inexperienced builders focus on one primary goal (such as survivability or ST dps). For you, I recommend focusing on the most important bonuses first. We can revisit our choice later if necessary and try to fit some res in.

 

On the other hand, your choice of 6x cloud senses for fearsome stare is a very efficient choice; well done. You get 6.25% rech and 3.75% def for this, and even a damage proc. Both these bonuses are individually normally 5-6 slot bonuses, so you're getting a 2-for-1 deal here. The catch is that cloud senses is a lv 30 set, so its enhancement values are low. Consider using unattuned IO's and boosting them +5 to compensate for this.

 

Secondly, you should focus on what aspects of a power need to be enhanced and how we can do this with as few slots as possible. For example, you slotted tar patch 6x pacing of the turtle for 3.13 ranged def. However, as a slow set it has low recharge enhancement, hindering you from double-stacking it (yes, the -res stacks). This power is also autohit so it does not need acc enhancement. So to focus on the most important thing we want out of this power, we can slot just 2x common rech IO's, boosted to +5. You can even add a slow common if you desire the -movespeed. (A meta consideration here is that slow sets typically offer weak bonuses, maybe with the exception of ice mistal, so we want to pursue slots in more attractive set categories.) Knowing which powers you can skimp on slotting while still retaining most of their potential is key to high slot-efficiency.

 

Similarly, consider your slotting in Howling Twilight. This power has 3 uses: as a stun, a mass rez, and an autohit -regen power. Which of these uses are most important to you? Since you don't have any other stun to stack with it (not even opp gloom from the epic), we might assume the rez and the -regen are more important. Therefore, some rech commons or sets that offer desired bonuses such as absolute amazements might be considered.

 

Thirdly, consider how well your build goals synergize with your powers and how your powers work with each other. You have a lot of -tohit in your build and some -dmg. How much defense do you really need? You could afford to live without the softcap. You have two -tohit powers in darkest night and fearsome stare. Will you really be using both of them every engagement? If you intend to prioritize one, you could slot the other less heavily. For example, if you decide that fearsome stare will be your main source of -tohit, you can slot darkest night with just a single enzyme and use it mainly on harder targets for the -dmg. This is also efficient since fearsome stare requires acc while darkest night is autohit. Hence, putting our set IOs in fearsome stare allows us to build in acc that the power needs. Doing the reverse (slotting DN heavily and fearsome stare lightly) might result in fewer savings.

 

Finally, think about your alpha slot. The alpha slot is an absolutely massive amount of stats that will majorly influence your build. I frequently see builds submitted for critique that have no alpha slot which is a little like designing an airplane but leaving out the wings. You should think about how to use it even if it's just "I would like to keep my options open for now".

 

Spiritual core would allow you to cut down on slot-intensive rech bonuses while boosting healing and stun, benefiting all of your recharge-intensive powers. Cardiac core would allow you to cut slotting resist enhancements (resist sets are quite weak outside of their uniques) while fixing your endurance issues - your build is on the end-heavy side. Intuition radial would strengthen your slows and -tohit and add damage. Think about how the right choice of alpha would allow you to cut even more slots from powers and invest them in set bonuses instead.

 

I need to get going so I don't have time to do a full build teardown. I've input your incomplete build from above in mids with some suggested changes. However, as a matter of principle I do not provide complete builds; builds are a dime a dozen, so I'm sure you can easily find some to copy if you want. I have refrained from slotting any powers you did not slot in your original build. It's up to you to complete it yourself.

 

Where will you put your unbreakable guard +7.5% HP? Will you add a gaussian's proc in tactics (it has a chance to proc for each friendly in range, even teammates and MM pets) or chose to put it in aim to buff your own dreadful wail? With the right choice of alpha and destiny, and some tweaks, you can easily have permahasten and 35-40% (45% with barrier) ranged/aoe def, or you might focus more heavily on damage by dropping the aoe def bonuses and investing in procs. The decision is yours.

 

 

You need mids v3.6.6. to open this.

banshee.mbd

 

 

[Suggested slotting on /Sonics powers]

25 minutes ago, Ejlertson said:

Sorry if Im dense but wont this be a problem since its only ends up at 23,5% ACC? Seems super low in Howl

 

Fenders usually run tactics because they get such good values for it. So that's tactics, a kismet somewhere in the build, and acc bonuses from 4x armageddons/4x ragnaroks/4x thunderstrikes/4x lotgs etc. I even have a build with acc from the epic (focused acc + scorp shield since I decided I didn't need spirit drain).

 

So, as low as 23% acc enhancement is not a problem in most builds. That said, do use your best judgment and add acc in the power if you have trouble hitting +3's.

 

33 minutes ago, Ejlertson said:

Any particualir one for the last one? Synthetic Nucleolus Exposure (Acc/Dam) to get damage and Accuracy up on it?

 

Nucleolus is good. But remember that as a kin you can often cap your own damage. So it usually helps in long single target fights, and you can possibly do without it (simply dropping the slot if you like). I encourage you to try out different combinations and see which works best for you.