Ringo

Originally Dark Armor was the only set you could get Psi (and toxic? Or was that later) resist with, so the "trick" to DA was figuring out how to use all those swiss-army-knife powers to keep you alive and then not have to worry about Rikti ever again unlike those million Invul users Now though DA is mostly just a quirky set whose tools change up the standard Melee experience

The Shocked mechanic is a big boon to the damage potential of Electric Blast and is worth pursuing even if you're not trying to use End Drain as soft control. So if you're not able to use Short Circuit without dying then you're definitely missing out on the top tier of Electric Blast. It doesn't make the Blaster version bad, but it definitely doesn't feel as good as it can. Sentinels have 1) an easier time not dying in Melee and 2) a faster recharging Thunderous Blast (90 sec for Sentinels, 170 sec for Blasters) which is the most powerful end drain in the Electric Blast set. Similarly the Electric Blast set feels good on Defenders because they have a notably higher end drain percentage in each power (unlike Corruptors whose end drain % is only slightly higher than blasters/sentinels) which gets you those good Shocked values. IMO Elec Blasters work great if you get their survivability up, or if you just prefer to have a ranged nuke over the PBAoE of other sets. Plus Elec Blast is one of the few sets (along with Rad Blast and Sonic) that performs better with multiple copies on the same team. More end drain equals more damage for everyone!

If you're not using hard controls Domination becomes a rechargeable Breakfree/Endurance/Damage triple inspiration. It's a great button that doesn't take a power slot, but if you can get better use of your build slots there's no reason you need to have PermaDom global recharge levels.

I usually grab Flash to slot IO sets, but I have learned to leave it off my power bar. If there's a situation where I think "AoE hold would really turn the tide right now!" that may be true with other control sets, but using Flash gets me killed 99% of the time. Better to run away than use Flash

It's correct. Martial Arts doesn't get the -def secondary effect of Katana/Broad Sword, so it gets the boosted Storm Kick. Divine Avalanche and Parry can stack (and are 15% boosts), Storm Kick cannot. (edit: none of them stack for Tankers, see below) The Brute version of Storm Kick gets 7.5% def. Scrapper and Stalker gets no defense boost. Shield, being a later defense set, gets both Defense and some Resistances. But it's notable that for non-positional defense Storm Kick gives defense to everything except Toxic and Psychic damage. So Ice Armor, Invuln, and Willpower tankers aren't getting the same benefit as Shield or Super Reflexes

Previously I would have absolutely ranked Elec as a top ranged set, but with the Shocked mechanic not using Short Circuit just lowers your potential damage output. Water is very fun, if lackluster in ST. I'd recommend everyone try it at least once

Pure ranged with no PBAoE, your top AoE contenders are: Assault Rifle Archery Ice Beam Rifle Seismic Water Storm Blast Out of those I haven't played Storm Blast. Seismic needs to be on the ground which interfers with one of the upsides of "pure range" which is hover blasting. Beam Rifle is a better Single Target blaster with Disintegration spread as a treat. So I'd say the Top 5 AoE ranged primaries are: 1) Water 2) Assault Rifle 3) Ice 4) Archery 5) Seismic

No worries! You were absolutely correct about Sentinel Stunning Shot, it's mandatory

This is the Blaster forum. Blaster Stunning Shot does 15 damage (as opposed to Sentinel's 100)

Smoke Flash gives you crit chance doesn't it? And yeah, Explosive Arrow is decent AoE damage, has a better damage type, kb or kd it's still less time being shot at, and can proc Forcefeedback. It's not incredible but it brings many assets to the table Also Stunning Shot is great with a disorient power in your secondary for mez stacking. Otherwise it's skippable

In Bodyguard mode the only things that matters are: 1) Your Defense. Don't get hit and your henchmen don't take damage 2) Your Resistance. Take less damage so your henchmen have less damage in the "shares" they take. 3) The AoE Defense of your henchmen so they don't take double damage from the same attack that hits you and them. Typed defenses can also help here, but AoE is the most direct mitigation. So in building with an aim for Bodyguard mode (especially if you use Taunt), and assuming you can't simply not get hit, your personal resistances are going to make the biggest difference in keeping your henchmen alive. So with Forcefields as an example - no, it's not an effective help with Bodyguard mode because the bubbles really only help with the "double dipping" problem. Sonic is even worse for Bodyguard mode because the bubbles don't matter for damage shares. Sets with personal +resist, -dmg to enemies, or AoE healing are going to get the most out of the shared damage mechanic. Dark and Pain are strong contenders. EleAffinity might also be? Radiation has the correct tools as well.

If you're running a scrapper I'm not sure your Defender is going to be able to survive using those Rad Toggles - it should pull aggro at some point and then dead defender.. I'm not even sure what should be on Auto - Accelerate Metabolism? Honestly sounds like an Empath with Fort on Auto and switch over to cast AB. RA, and RA on you before a big fight is possibly all you need? Pain Domination with the Soothing Aura toggle on, Anguishing Cry on Auto and then switch to hit yourself with World of Pain and Painbringer before a big fight also seems like a winner. Possibly even an MM in Bodyguard mode instead of a Defender? You could put the Pets in Passive Follow and it would give your MM that much more health protection. Or leave them in Defensive Follow and get some added firepower whenever an AoE attack sets them off

You use the Sleeps to divide and conquer. Solo, small teams, and disciplined teams versus tough content will mean putting mobs on time-out until you choose to deal with them. After that you just burn 'em down because Mind/Fire is *fire*. As far as bigger, steam rolling teams? Yeah your Sleep powers aren't critical, and I guarantee you someone will doggedly kill or hold whoever you try to Confuse. But that's big teams for you! Mind Control doesn't feel like other control sets and a Mind Dom is a fun way to really lean into Mind Control's strengths

I played Mind/Fire to 50 on Live and loved it

I don't have any opinion on the topic of this thread, but @arcane you gotta know that when you're half the posts in the thread and you haven't actually said a single thing of substance? You might be the problem here

Well Fire has -def now, so it's easiest to build for but with a complete build it shouldn't be any safer than a S/L farm. Basically, armor-wise, S/L and Fire should all be equally viable with the right build Hmmm... Energy doesn't have an extra effect besides Knockback, right? Wonder if Energy farming could be a thing

In the past Fire farms were also favored because there were no -def attacks, making it safer than Lethal I am curious about Cold farming. Presumably -recharge and slows make it take too long? Added: in regards to battle axe, the lethal -def should technically make farms with harder targets, bosses/ebs, go faster by stacking -def on the high hp targets

Chill Eochai wants to be my pal Rage Eochai stomps me like a bug

Didn't even think about Entangling Aura setting up Containment. That's something to look forward to!

That build is 3 years old, back when Afterburner wasn't an auto power

Huh, I could understand PA with less damage or less taunt (not no taunt tho, wth?) but both seems overkill

How is the new kid on the block - Illusion Control - working out for Dominators? Is PermaDom less impressive?

I already went ahead and grabbed the name Ill Natured for my new ill/nature. No idea how it'll play but I'm excited to roll a new Illusion controller

I'll pull up the build in Mids later, but I find your reasoning on the choices you make to be solid! My Homecoming main is a Plant/Storm controller which is focused on throwing out damage, so seeing your build is a big perspective shift. Things like Roots being essential to set Containment, keep mobs from scattering due to /Storm, and doing proc damage is simply unnecessary for your build and that's exciting

Spiders and Widows! Also some of these screenshots really make your costumes POP. Phoebe, Triton, and Sifon are my favorites! Also, I'm really curious what parts Spore King's costume is using