Zect

I use it as a 3x eradication mule. That's over 1.5 EN def per added slot, baby! I personally think this should be the way to go. That is, the combo system should deliver decent dps without the use of IO's; but if you are able to muster high rech, then ignoring the combos and going with individual attacks should deliver better performance, as is currently the case. I'm sure there is some way to fiddle with the combos to increase their power without adding more DPA to BF>AS>SS>AS, or god forbid BF>AS>SS. Because DB, as it stands, is already an extremely powerful set and like most lethal sets can fit 2 -res procs in its chain. It doesn't need a buff to its power ceiling, which would contribute to power creep; what is reasonable to ask for, however, is a lifting of the floor.

Interesting. Your build does not show any incarnates selected but I assume spiritual alpha and barrier core based on your stats, specifically the 82.5% SL res with rune on. It tickles my brain to wonder if you have hit on the same idea that I had, ie cycling 2 min of melee core hybrid, 1 min of rune, 15 sec of mog, 30s of barrier core then try to survive the 15s "hole" by any means possible, after which melee is back up again. I do not agree with some of your set choices, e.g. titanium coating as they do not seem slot-efficient, and specifically not chasing EN res harder. You really need a lot of neg resists with all the nictuses. I would personally even ditch FC res to chase as much EN as possible with the goal of hitting a good SLEN res breakpoint. I also have to wonder if the DB/ is a concept thing - my first choice would be one of the sets with parry, which can quickly spam it to turtle up vs melee. I will also point out 1 potentially fatal weakness: you may need much more slow res because all those nictus attacks inflict -rech. You get hit a couple times, all your powers stop recharging and you just die is my experience playing non-def sets vs hardmode nictus.

First, let me congratulate you on asking a very important question, one that will improve your enjoyment of the game for countless alts to come. I really think that CoX becomes an entirely different and much more interesting game once you learn build design. You're able to express your character concept in more and innovative ways, make a lot of sub-optimal (or, as I prefer to call them, challenge or skill-based) builds work, finely customize a character to suit your playstyle, and improve your play experience regardless of goals. Note that while some scoff at knowledge and draw a false dichotomy between "building for concept" and "minmaxing", both are really part of the singular process called build design; the goals just differ from character to character. As always, the forumites have not given you a straight answer yet, so I will. Note, however, that the following is a discussion of general principles for which there are many exceptions. Build design comprises three parts: What you want to achieve (i.e. design goals) How to achieve it, through the choice of powers, slots, IO sets, AT, etc. Where it can be improved, that is, iterating and optimizing the build based on actual play experience For #1, to determine the what, we look at the following: The meta: what bonuses, powers, IO sets, AT's, etc. have been proven to be most efficient in the current meta. This may give us some broad goals to shoot for, inform us of potential weaknesses, or even direct us to underexplored design spaces. For example, defense is strong in the current meta, so it makes sense to see if we can get some unless it turns out to be impractical. Note, however, that the community has its biases and blind spots, and the meta is not always correct. I've lost count of the times powerful and highly effective powersets are considered "unplayable" by ignorant forumites. What is achievable: that is, what levels of stats are realistic given the tools available to us. For example, dark miasma, storm and cold can almost doublestack their -res power, so it is generally worth building for that. What play environment or use case the character is designed for: e.g. farming, hardmode, normal levelling, soloing, etc. For example, if I plan to do hardmode ITF, I would note that nictus are a major threat and my build should avoid a weakness to neg. What is ideal for the AT/powersets: For example, rad armor is a res set with click sustain. Therefore, "turtling up", i.e. abandoning recharge to focus solely on defense may not lead to more survivability in practice, because part of its survivability comes from frequent use of those clicks which requires high rech. It may also need slow resistance, to avoid losing that rech. What your personal preferences are: Last, but most definitely not least, you would take into account your own personal preferences and priorities. You may not want to take powers that are statistically very strong or desirable, for example, because they clash with your playstyle or concept. Based on the above, we would make a series of judgment calls and decide roughly what kind of bonuses to shoot for, which powers are most likely to be useful, which procs/uniques we definitely want, etc. For #2, we would then select our powers and begin the process of filling them in with IO's, in order to attain our desired enhancement values, procs/uniques, and set bonuses. (We should already be informed of what these are after going through #1.) This process also tends to involve lots of trial and error, swapping in and out different options to see what effects they have. Note that the majority of this step is either about optimizing dps, or optimizing power/slot-efficiency. The reason is that, for utility and mitigation, you typically want to hit specific breakpoints, e.g. 45% def, hardcapped resists, perma-chronoshift, 50% meltdown uptime, etc beyond which more of the stat investment provides comparatively little benefit. However, dps and power choices/slots are two things you can never have enough of. Killing things faster will never be not useful, and power choices and slots are the fundamental currency with which to purchase everything a toon can do. If you're able to achieve your build goals using fewer power choices and slots than expected, then you can spend the excess on other things, or you may find that you have flexibility to skip things you were previously forced to take. (Optimizing dps, especially ST dps is far more well-studied, so I will pass on discussing it here; but the basics would be chosing an attack chain filled with high-DPA attacks, ensuring that high-DPA attacks occupy the majority of the attack chain's animation time, and loading up on damage procs while using the PPM system efficiently. For aoe dps, standards are fuzzier and dpa somewhat less important, but generally we may aim to build a broadside that wipes all enemies of a certain rank and relative level, or pick enough aoes that form an attack chain of their own, typically about 3.) Bearing this in mind, we generally default to the most slot-efficient choices in each category, and each category typically has some very slot-efficient sets,- or sets that provide desirable uniques, that make good default starting points. For example, if you need melee def, you could slot 6x ToD or 6x oblits, both of which offer 3.75% melee def and a damage proc. However, oblit also offers 5% rech, making it overall more slot-efficient. Therefore, oblit is a not a bad point to start in the absence of other factors. (Other good choices in pbaoe include eradication and avalanche, each with their own merits and weaknesses. You may also consider your ATIO's or purples, which are typically slot-efficient.) We then tweak the slotting, using the following techniques to try and improve slot efficiency: Double-dipping: Trying to get a particular power's slotting to provide multiple benefits, such as both providing a necessary unique and a desired set bonus. For example, I may slot 3x unbreakable guards (Res, Res/end, triple) for 2.25% e/n res. However, I may notice that I could drop the triple for an unbreakable guard +7.5% HP unique. The missing res enhancement could be made up for by putting a steadfast +3% def, which does have half a dual's worth of res enhancement. For 3 added slots, I got 3 things in 1: a reasonably slotted res power, a set bonus, and a needed unique. Underslotting: deliberately trimming back unnecessary/excess enhancement values, in order to potentially save slots or replace them with non-enhancing pieces of a set (e.g. damage procs). You may find that losing a large enhancement% only reduces the effectiveness of the power slightly, e.g. defense enhancement in hover/CJ. And after slotting your alpha and sets, it is always worth reviewing the enhancement values of each power to see if slots could be trimmed. Boosting/frankenslotting: deliberate use of boosted IO's or hami/d-syncs to increase enhancement values in a highly slot-efficient manner. Muling: In the event we have an excess of power choices, set mules allow us to slot sets our most-useful powers cannot fit. It also allows us to trade powers for slots because each power comes with its own default slot. For an extreme example of this in action, consider that not many are aware that 2x Celerity provides 2.25% SL res and it goes in Sprint AND prestige sprints. You could take all 4 prestige sprints and slot them & sprint with 2x Celerity, spending 5 slots to get 11.25% SL res. That's a 2nd Tough, and it doesn't even cost end to run. Variant slotting: We may slot a set differently than expected, e.g. slotting Consume with pbaoe damage despite it not being a strong attack, or Freezing rain with taoe damage despite only doing about 1/3 the damage of an ice storm. The reason is that some power categories have better IO set options, or offer set bonuses or enhancement layouts that we prefer. This is different from muling, because we still expect the power to perform its listed function, making up the missing enhancement values through the alpha slot, set bonuses, or playstyle changes (e.g. herding up more mobs before using consume, double-stacking freezing rain). The Alpha slot is a special consideration. It can be used in 2 major ways, which often overlap. To provide stats that are difficult for set bonuses to supply in a slot-efficient manner, by using the part that "ignores ED" as a big set bonus. For example, rather than try to chase lots of individual res bonuses, it can potentially be easier to slot resilient core alpha (often worth between 3% to 5% res to all depending on powerset, essentially a third +res to all unique). +Dmg% is not easy to get in large amounts from sets if you also want def and rech, so blasters may slot musculature instead. etc. To make up for missing enhancement bonuses, e.g. rather than try to slot every power for acc, which would consume a large number of slots, it may be more efficient for a controller to slot Nerve instead. This would allow spending slots on damage procs, which are a big portion of controller DPS. You may have noticed that a lot of build design depends on having a considerable base of knowledge: what the meta is, what IO sets are generally good, how your powers work, how they should be slotted, etc. There is a lot of intricacy to the IO system, which is what gives it such replay value. However, there's no need to be intimidated, and once you have the knowledge, the process mostly comes naturally. You don't need to be a renowned artist or michelin-starred chef to enjoy painting or cooking. Think critically when looking at others' builds, never be afraid to try new options, and keep an open mind. Did that help?

You say this as though it were a bad thing, but this is a significant equalizer in the prices of different pieces of a set; it ensures there is never any one piece that is worthless, while bringing down the price of the most valuable piece. What a terrible and poorly-thought-out suggestion! Suggestions should take into account game balance, including the balance of the game economy, as well as the interests of all players, rather than only your personal convenience.

It’s odd that you say this, because devices really shines in melee: tripmine bombing baby. It even has stealth to help you get close. And taser is a stellar melee attack. You are certainly not the first person to neglect most of the power of their secondary and play half a blaster though.

Define "worst". A lot of the bosses that people mention here are pretty great. I love watching some dumb blaster get frozen by a teleporting gunslinger's cryo rounds and promptly fragged; or a terribly played tanker get detoggled by the super stunner they just killed and proceeding to get handed a taste of the floor. Hi-la-rious! Heroes getting humiliated never gets old.

This build has too little recharge for the amount of defense it has to really perform at a high level. It also seems like one that isn't yet updated to the latest changes, judging from the levels at which powers were taken. I can't tell if this is a budget build given the relative lack of purples, ATIO's, provocations, boosted IOs and other slot-efficient choices, but let me show you what you're missing out on. This is your build as above: This is the first ice/cold corr build I could find on my device: The first build is softcapped to S/L/E and the second is softcapped to M/R. However, the 2nd build provides around twice the amount of global rech while featuring significantly higher S/L/N resist due to an APP res toggle. The 1st build's freezing rain has a cd of 24.71s while the 2nd build's freezing rain has a much shorter cd of 15.72s, being able to double-stack it for twice the -res, while also sporting 2 -res procs to really style on the baddies. In short, the 2nd build features far superior dps, support, debuff and survival powers. Now, I'm not going to post my build: that would deprive you of the opportunity and fun in learning build design - teach a man to fish and all that - and because I've also just noticed plenty areas it can be improved. (However, there are many builds floating around for you to copy; ask around.) But we can take a look at some slotting issues. The biggest problem with your build is the choice of a typed defense strategy. I strongly recommend switching to a positional defense strategy. Due to their power and slot layout, corrs generally have an easier time building for def/rech when going positional compared to typed. Going positional also means you can choose a different epic than mace, e.g. soul or dark would offer both resists and soul drain for additional dps. Now let's take a look at some build issues. No maneuvers, no haste - critical design errors unless specifically going for a challenge build. By dropping CJ and taking maneuvers in its place, you would give both yourself and teammates more def, and you can easily afford the end it costs with heat loss. Corrs should generally take advantage of page 5 power creep and skip either one of these 2 powers. (You cannot skip both, unless you take both the T1 and T2 blast from Ice/, or take Frost Breath, neither of which is recommended.) They are both pretty lackluster, though if you solo I recommend snow storm - it helps keep things inside sleet because sleet does not knockdown very efficiently. The impeded swiftness is a huge waste of slots. It gives primarily positional, not typed defense, and even for that it's a poor deal. When building for defense, a key metric is the amount of Defense Per Added Slot (DPAS) you are getting, i.e. assuming the base slot as free, and counting only the slots added to the power. Let's take a look at the DPAS of various sets: 6x Gaussian's - 1.50 def/slot 2x Botz - 1.25 def/slot 4x Unbreakable guard - 1.04 def/slot 5x superior avalanche - 1.00 def/slot 6x Obliteration - 0.75 def/slot 6x Impeded swiftness - 0.5 def/slot Unless you really need that last bit of defense to push you past a breakpoint, or unless they offer some other benefit (e.g. rech or a good proc - Oblit being a great example), only sets with a reasonable DPAS of at least 0.75 or more should be considered. You skipped Freezing Ray, which is not only a mez also the highest-DPA power in ice blast. The DPA of ice blast powers roughly goes Freezing Ray > BIB > BFR > T2 > T1. Freezing ray is also extremely proccable and can ferry an unbreakable constraint purple damage proc further improving its DPA. Drop either the T2 or T1 blast and replace with Freezing Ray for an attack chain of either Freeze ray > T1 > BIB > T1 or Freeze ray > BIB > T2 depending on recharge. While this slotting isn't bad, you can afford to get away with minimally slotted shields if you are strapped for slots and/or running agility core alpha (which is a strong choice for most corrs). A corr running both shields, maneuvers and arctic fog hands out approximately 25% def to teammates. They can live with 2 or 3% less. Boosting these IO's may also allow you to potentially save a slot while losing minimal defense. To boost IO's in mids, right click the slot, hover over the desired IO, press + on the numpad to boost (up to +5), then place as usual. If you can afford only the base slot in aim it should be the gaussian's proc. It has a very high, almost guaranteed chance to trigger in this long recharge power turning it into aim + BU. You spend 3 slots to get 0.75% HP and some flyspeed. Slotting an unbreakable guard +7.5% HP in a resist power and a +5 flyspeed common in hover would give you literally 10 times more HP and almost the same flyspeed (33.11 mph vs 34.81 mph). If you want to hover fast, I also hope you have a +5 flyspeed in swift. I assume that steadfast protection is an error and should be steadfast +3% def instead. You generally don't need more than 4 pts of -kb on an unarmored AT. If you do, replacing the flyspeed/end in Fly with Botz -kb would be better (Fly doesn't need any flyspeed enhancement since for long distance travel you can just click afterburner.) Tough should be slotted if at all possible, since the res provides a nice cushion under the brittle outer shell of def. Possible slottings are: 3x Gladiator's armor for -4 KB (make sure to boost to +5 - PVPIOs and purples do not weaken when exemped down and should always be boosted where it makes a difference) 3x Aegis for 3.13% F/C def 4x Unbreakable guard for 3.13% melee def Boost boost boost boost boost. For god's sake, start boosting like an insecure man gobbling dick enhancement pills bought off the dark web. Boooooost. Sleet should have have a recharge as close to 15s as possible so you can doublestack it for more -res, and shield breaker as a low level set has weak enhancement values. You need to compensate by using boosters, the alpha slot, and/or frankenslotting. Another option is to drop shield breaker and use eg. 3x scourging blast, 5x ragnaroks, 5x bombardments, 5x posiblasts etc. All are good fits for sleet to max out its rech while picking up a rech bonus. This slotting should be swapped with ice storm's in order to maximize recharge, or replaced with another set that does (eg 5x Ragnaroks 1x damage proc). Blizzard is a powerful debuff because it inflicts the strongest (and permanent) debuff: death. If you took dark or soul mastery, you could slot 6x oblits in soul drain for more rech, more def and more +dmg. Just mentioning.

Hardly. Define "best": best ST, best AOE, best defense, easiest to play, etc.? What are your metrics and reference data for each? If you want the very best ST dps, for example, that basically limits you to Munitions mastery - nothing competes with surveillance slotted with an achilles proc. But if survivability is your metric of choice, then you need to go with a high res APP shield instead such as Force mastery - /force blasters can hardcap SL res with difficulty.

I apply SB when running from one pack to the next. When I refresh siphon speed sometimes I may reapply it as well, to be sure. I may reapply it if there have been a significant amount of deaths. SB lasts 2 min, is a large aoe, and has a short animation time. If it consumes 1/4 of your animation time, something is very abnormal. It is not the job of corruptors and defenders to chase teammates down to apply buffs; it is the job of teammates to stick near you. If they don't stick near you, it means they have made a rational decision to pass on your buffs. Often, corrs and fenders mistakenly play with a "supportive" mindset and believe their duty is to follow teammates around like a buff-puppy on a leash. This could not be further from the truth. Look at the names of these AT's: Corruptors corrupt. Defenders defend, and military experts agree that the best defense is a good offense, therefore the job of a defender is to murder things. If you were meant to dutifully follow teammates to the ends of the earth applying buffs, your AT would be called the Waiter or Butler.

Absolutely not! And the reason is this: Various powersets and set IO's are balanced around their endurance consumption or amount of endurance reduction. See e.g. storm and SS with their formidable DPS but punishing endurance consumption, or oblits with excellent set bonuses, but low endredux amounts; the melee def being the 6th piece bonus which eliminates any option of compensating with frankenslotting makes this set a masterpiece of IO set design. This suggestion will not only result in power creep, it may even cause endurance management to not be a factor at all in build design, and make plenty of endurance management powers redundant (which will then lead to whines about them being pointless - see the various complaints about boxing/kick - and result in even more power creep). The game already offers numerous ways to mitigate endurance cost early on; it's up to you to use them intelligently, or PL past the low levels if you refuse to.

Lol. Rage is +80% dmg. Double stacked rage, as most endgame SS tanks should have = 160%. Also, the massive tohit buff completely demolishes any and all defense buffs short of Crey MoG. Romans cower in fear. I forget what the cap on AAO is but it's 10% + 5.5% per mob. Assuming the cap is 10 like damage auras, it would max out at 65%. If the cap were 16, which you are not realistically going to get even in an aggro saturated situation, it would max out at 98%.

Imo Speed ITF is only alive if ITF is the WST (as it was recently). Then people take advantage of the WST to speed lots of alts through it for a notice. But yes, Everlasting TFs does cycle through everything in the game.

False-to-fact. Vines from /plant is a cone immob, so this statement is nothing less than a sweeping generalization. (Most blasters do have a T1 immob. Exceptions to power and slot layouts always exist, and they're a good thing. Hopefully, this taste of your own medicine has taught you that some generalizations are acceptable in set discussion, because if we're going to have to account for every little exception, we'll be here all day.) The truth is that if you really want to keep stuff in the burn patch, there are plenty of ways of doing so, and not all of them even involve aoe immobs. Glue arrow from /TA for example is nearly as good as an aoe immob. I mentioned others in my post, which you evidently have only selectively read. I'm not even sure why you're bringing up aoe immobs and shifting the goalposts, as the context of my post is to demonstrate how correct use of Ignite is needed to produce high ST damage, so we are comparing its ST damage to the ST damage of other sets. If Ignite catches even 1 extra mob in the patch it will be ahead of other sets in ST damage. That's a point in AR's favor, not one against it. You're just nitpicking to distract from how I've demonstrated that AR is, when built and played competently, in no need of buffs; it's basically the only way you can attack my credibility, since you've failed to attack my argument. However, doing so is not going to improve the performance of your AR blaster. If you're willing to learn and understand how to play it, it's a highly powerful and effective set, even by the metrics of those who disparage it. It simply comes in a different package than people are used to - and that's an asset, not a problem.

The corruptor version probably includes scourge damage, which in actual combat is only a % chance. Some powers do not play nicely with real numbers. The most accurate source for power data is city of data, as mentioned above. CoD shows the damage of each tick individually. Note that there are 4 ticks even though the duration is "every 0.3s for 0.91s" because there is a tick at 0s. Blaster - 67.57 damage https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=blaster_ranged.assault_rifle.burst&at=blaster Corr - 45.04 damage https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=corruptor_ranged.assault_rifle.burst

That is simply part of the build design process. If you knowingly pick a 2ndary that does not have a T1 immob, then you are either weighing whatever benefits that particular secondary brings you against the loss of the immob, or you have come up with alternative strategies. Perhaps you have judged that the +range from /energy is worth the loss, for example, and decided to rely on armored AT's in your team to hold the enemy still instead. Or, you are deciding to get an immob from elsewhere, such as an APP (ring of fire etc.). You may even be trying out some wonky new strategy, such as slotting frozen blast's immob proc in Ignite so that Ignite itself glues the enemy to the spot (no idea if this actually works, but now I want to try it). The fact that these sets lack a T1 immobilize is not the argument against my point you think it is. In fact, you have proven the complete opposite: because it demonstrates how such differences between sets give rise to different viable strategies, different builds, and hence different play experiences, increasing the replay value of the game and increasing fun. Diversity is strength, and variety the spice of life. Yet one more reason why Full Auto must stay the same it is.

That would mean that Fighting can carry 3 lotg's instead of one (In a pool that already carries the resist uniques to boot), making it far too efficient. Terrible idea. Fighting is one of few ways that ranged AT's building for SL def can get melee attacks to slot Kinetic combats/blistering cold in (especially non-blasters, who do not get melee attacks in their 2ndary). They are critical set mules without which numerous softcap builds cannot cap. Even melee AT's may need them to mule, depending on set and slot layout. With that said, I think you (and many others who call for such buffs) are looking at the issue from the wrong perspective entirely. Your view is "I'm forced to take this power; hence it should be useful and desirable for my build, no matter what." The correct view is "I want weave and tough; an extra power choice is part of the cost, and any extra use I can get out of it merely a bonus."

Kin is still great; FS is still great. Its effectiveness is perhaps less obvious in this age of oppressive power creep that has turned all enemies to paper, but you try running a 4* without one; everything takes twice as long when you do not have 8 damage capped toons killing things. Personally, I do not get many of the FS-related gripes. FS is not something you need perfectly grouped up mobs for. Firstly, it is a low recharge (60s base rech, 45s duration) power; if you get a bad FS, just use it again and double stack the buffs. If the blasters nuke before you can get it off, run ahead of the tank and pull the next group over. Secondly, you do not need that many mobs to cap damage. The damage buff from FS is like every other +dmg in the game, including enhancements. With enhancements and miscellaneous buffs, most toons are between halfway to two-thirds of the way to their damage cap. You are capped long before you see blue numbers in the combat monitor. We will use blasters as an example. Here is what a typical, well built endgame blaster's damage buffs look like: - Base 100% - Enhancements ~125% (IO's + musculature core) - Set bonuses 12% (low estimate; both ATIO sets + apoc) - T4 Assault hybrid passive 10% = 247% The blaster damage limit is 500%. That means this blaster only needs 253% more to cap. That is an 8-mob FS. If you double stack it, you only need a 4-mob FS. FS + siphon power on a single target give 125%. If you double stack them, that becomes 250%. The moral of the story is, there is really no need to fiddle about getting the perfect FS that catches everyone and every mob. The more important thing for kinetics players is to use it whenever you can, even if the positioning is not 100% ideal. Maximizing the uses of FS will smooth out your buff output and result in higher overall damage output.

I think everyone who replies to your post should also give their text the same blinding white background, just to screw with you. The ST hold of any controller should generally be 6x damage procced. Neuronic shutdown, GW embrace, gladiator's net, unbreakable constraint, gladiator's javelin, apoc. It does really good DPS. And that's all I got, because my eyes gave up.

I personally think the variety of content run on Homecoming is narrower than on Live. The reasons I can only speculate on. Doing well: TFs: TF commander TF's, ITF, Tinpex, MLTF/LRSF iTrials: Lambaf Farming (both in and out of AE) Sitting/PL begging Forum wars. Btw, I really love how Watkins' arc begins with a literal forum fight - I interpreted that as a blatant dig at forumites. epeen extending (AV soloing, TF soloing, undermanned hardmode runs, etc.) Marketing Spending 6 hours in Mids to engineer a build with 0.38% more def Hami Cybering (Everlasting only) Costume contests PI radios Hardmode Aeon SF - shoutout to that Korean guy who at one point ran them daily; truly a hero of the people. Did well on Live, dead on HC: Speed ITF - the reward was finally nerfed into the ground. All other TF's when they are not the WST All other iTrials RWZ missions - Likely because they were run to unlock LGTF, and LGTF is now dead. Hollows, Croatoa, Faultline, a lot of low-mid level contact arcs - For varying reasons. I think Hollows/Faultline you now level past too quickly. Croatoa died because KHTF is dead and nobody needs to unlock it anymore. Respec trials (unless blue + WST) Morality/tip missions Redside Dead on live, still buried lolpvp Anything in AE that's not a farm Goldside

People have been asking for buffs to what's already a very strong and balanced power pool since the days of live, and they have never gotten what they want, because of strong and valid reasons not to further buff one of the most effective power pools and pander to the softcap meta. However, there are two specific assertions in this post that need to be addressed. First is the claim that (boxing/kick) is a power you "aren't going to use". 1) They are valuable as slot mules. Numerous builds depend on 5x AA in boxing in particular, or 4x KC/5x blistering cold in either boxing or kick, to hit critical rech and def goals. 2) Their efficacy as attacks is increased by the synergy bonus from taking multiple fighting pool attacks. Take both and cross punch, and then you may find them more useful. If you chose to take a power, but fail to slot it properly, understand its full potential, or take supporting powers that make it useful, that's a build design error by you. It doesn't mean the power is useless. Second, defdebuff resist should not be something handed out willy-nilly, especially not in something as accessible as a power pool and certainly not one as universally strong as fighting. Defense is very strong in the current meta; it needs more counters, not fewer ones.

AR does pretty well vs a tower. Towers don’t walk out of burn patches, and they are long fights so the lack of an aim clone is not an issue. A non-munitions (ie, no surveillance) AR blaster should do at least 250 dps vs a tower. No lores, of course. That’s not top of the line (>300), but it’s also not terrible (<200). To do this dps in a real combat situation, the AR user must be able to stop the target from walking out of the ignite patch. For blasters, they can use their T1 immob from the secondary, which itself is a damaging blast, and slot it so that using it in the attack chain is not a dps loss. For corrupters and fenders, who are support characters, they rely on armored and control AT’s to keep the enemy in place. So AR is not underpowered; even by the metrics of munchkins, the data amply debunks that notion. Rather, it requires the player to correctly understand how its powers may be used to best effect. It’s equally powerful, but different. I’m bringing this up because it is related to the real reason people want buffs to Full Auto. Due to a variety of changes, including crashless T9’s, the addition of incarnate powers, the PPM system and how it interacts with the Gaussian proc, general power creep etc. the current meta for blast sets is to load up on buffs, broadside, and delete most of a pack in an instant. AR, as a set without aim, does not fit well into this meta as it is not designed for a single apocalyptic salvo of damage. What AR does feature is a complete ranged aoe attack chain right out of the box, when most blast sets struggle with tension between aoe powers of different shapes and ranges (having ranged aoe’s but a pbaoe nuke, or vice versa) and need complementary powers from other sets to assemble such a chain, or just do without. AR is designed to stand at range and lay down a continual withering barrage of aoe firepower. To give it a nuke comparable to the (arguably, overpowered) ones other blast sets currently have would just homogenize the set and make it overpowered. It’s equally powerful, but different, and that should be seen as an asset, not a problem.

You may need to build for both def and rech, and even press more than 1 click power. That's extremely daunting to the average player!

Exactly. The odd thing is, the game has been constantly getting easier for years. Powersets are continually being improved and buffed, while restrictions on powers and systems are lifted. Legitimate concerns over power creep and lack of challenge have been repeatedly brought up. So it's going to take much more than a few deaths in a mission to claim that any kind of opposite trend is in effect.

Looking at your build, you seem to be going for a typed defense mitigation strategy. I don't have mids open but just looking at your sets tells me you suffer a severe lack of S/L def; except for blasters, it is often difficult to build for S/L def on unarmored AT's without a def toggle such as Scorpion shield. Consider a switch to positional defense instead. It shouldn't be too hard to get permahasten, about 32.5-40 def to all 3 positions, and 55-60%ish S/L res. Here are common options for various types of def: Melee: 4x unbreakable guards in your res powers and 6x oblits or 5x avalanches in your pbaoe powers. Ranged: 6x corruptor's malice, 6x artillery, 3x or 6x thunderstrike, 2x botz, 6x optimized efficacy Aoe: 5-6x frozen blast, 6x scourging blast, 4x shield breaker, 6x Ice mistral (can fit in snow storm, though not recommended for freezing rain due to low rech enhancement) All: 6x gaussian's in Charge up. I am curious as to your reasons for not wanting to take hasten. Asking to improve recharge without taking hasten is a little like saying you want to have food without eating; there are contorted and painful ways of making it happen, but barring severe medical issues, you may as well just open the mouth God gave you. Looking at the build, i'm guessing you can't afford to spend a power slot on hasten because of all the thematic powers you want. I still suggest dropping either one of the two powers which, right now, are the least impactful to your theme and build, to take haste: Snow storm - the weaker of storm's 3 debuffs, expensive to maintain, and not really a "Thor, god of thunder" thing. Power sink - you seem to be using this as a last-ditch end management tool rather than the powerful sapping tool it is. It will not do much for you with its current slotting (no acc means it is not reliable and no endmod means you will need to hit multiple foes to get any real amount of blue back). Now let's take a look at some slotting issues. The slottings for these powers should be swapped. You can read up on proc mechanics elsewhere, but briefly, the game rolls to proc for every enemy caught in the blast of ball lightning. This means putting the scourging blast +end in ball lightning instead gives you a high chance to get end back when you use it on a group (though it can only proc at most once per power usage). This Slow IO is highly effective at slowing your endurance recovery and kill speed by being used in an endurance costly power in an endurance costly set. Slow enhancements do not enhance the -rech part of the debuff, i.e. they provide no additional mitigation. They only add to the -movespeed part. The combo of snow storm and freezing rain should make most enemies completely immobile, so endurance reduction would be better here. You do not have charged bolts leaving you with an incomplete ST attack chain. Dropping voltaic sentinel and taking charged bolts (and properly slotting it) will give you better overall ST dps. If transitioning to a positional defense build, Zapp is a great place to pick up sting of the manticore for 7.5% rech and 2.5% ranged def. The apocs can go in a different ST blast or lightning storm. The 6th piece bonus from apoc is useless; there is no way to get any significant amount of psi def from IO's. Instead of 5% psi def, you could have spent that slot on a Steadfast protection: defense unique giving you 3% def to all positions and types. The amount of toxic/psi res you get from these powers is too small to be significant. Generally, res only really matters if you are able to stack significant amounts of it. When Mother Mayhem wallops you for 880 damage rather than 1k, you still die in 2 hits and the res is wasted. You can drop 1 piece from each of these sets and replace with a proc or save slots. These powers do not need the lotg D/E. The def piece would be more significant as these powers do not cost any real amount of end. Arguably, they only really need 1 slot (just the lotg global rech). Adding a +5 Lotg defense would only give you another +0.5% def to all. That saved slot can be put in Steamy mist instead which gives much more def and benefits the team as well. If you can spare only the base slot, it should be the Gaussian chance for build up which has a very high, almost guaranteed chance to proc in this long recharge power. Try it out with the nuke; it's really nice. You spent 6 slots in Underwhelming Farce for the sake of -kb that you could have got from just 1 botz -kb in Fly. Fly does not need the microfilament because you already have afterburner for long distance travel and hover for combat situations. Tornado can be slotted with 4x expedient reinforcement + kb2kd proc for a recharge bonus instead. Note that lightning storm does KB, and will knock enemies out of your freezing rain patches. 5x apoc and 1x kb2kd proc will resolve that; the winter's bite can go in an ST blast instead, possibly Charged Bolt if you pick that up. If you cannot spare the slots to pick up the rech bonus from DWD, it may be better to go with 1-2 level 53 enzymes instead. They have higher enhancement than DWD especially endurance reduction. Hurricane is extremely expensive on endurance. The resistances from the 5th and 6th piece bonus are not worth it on unarmored AT's. Dropping 2 slots and replacing them with Gladiator's armor +3 def and Steadfast +3 def uniques will help your defenses far more. This is a good place to pick up recharge with 5x absolute amazements, if you can scrounge together 4 slots from elsewhere. This does high mag knockback, just so you are aware (as you have slotted kb2kd in your other kb powers). If transitioning to a positional defense build you could drop a slot of avalanche, still get the valuable melee def bonus, and add a kb2kd. The slotting in this power is so cute I quoted it twice. The defense bonus from this IO is for the pet, not you. The Voltaic sentinel itself is untargetable (unlike Galvanic sentinel), and does not benefit from it. Finally, carefully reconsider again your decision to skip hasten. No hasten means significantly weakened support and dps capability. Really, is any stormie thematic unless they have 3 lightning clouds out at once?

Are you talking about the last 2 updates, or in general compared to live? Fiery Aura has been significantly boosted. They actually got me to take rotp, which is now a 2nd emergency heal, aoe mez and soft control. Burn was also buffed for players who were not exploiting the bugged proc rate, featuring an increased target cap and powerful synergy with FE. FF is now overpowered. It was balanced previously vs cold, featuring power boost compatibility, mez prot and soft control instead of cold’s -res, -regen and +recov. Now, out of nowhere it gains half the aoe -res of cold. The -res needs to be removed for balance; it has no place in such a formidably defensive set, and only strengthens the current oppressive, un-fun dps meta. Sonic blast is significantly improved. This is one of the changes I was most enthusiastic about. It now does less -res, but significantly more dps, the long-animation time powers have had their animations shortened which improved the set’s handling qualities, and screech no longer needs whatever ridiculous amount of recharge it used to need for a chain of shriek>scream>shriek>screech, decreasing build tension. To me, this is the epitome of a successful revamp: not relying entirely on -res to carry the set made it viable across all AT’s, while also not pandering to the current meta. The new axe is fantastic with a capital F. The reverse repel is much more effective than fold space because fold space has a tendency to place enemies in a line rather than a tight clump (I suppose both can be combined for very spread-out trash). Anyway, I could go on but I don’t think there are any weak sets in the game. Certainly none that need buffs. I think a lot of the time, misconceptions that sets are bad simply arise from build design issues, a misunderstanding of the set’s strengths, unrealistic expectations, or a desire to force everything to conform strictly to the meta. I am always amused when I discover that the power sets I have been using successfully for years are, according to forumites, actually unplayable. A while back, people were asking for buffs to (blaster) munitions mastery of all things, claiming that the set was so terrible a blaster could only be improved by taking a different epic. The stated reason was that it doesn’t give enough SL res. I had to point out all the advantages an autopower offers over a toggle which people overlooked, but it also struck me that the amount of res you get is not the main point of this epic anyway. My beam/TA/munitions does over 400 dps. How much does your blaster do?