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I rarely slot 5 LOTG +rech. Typically I slot 2-3, even on dominators and Illusion controllers. I don't like adding unneeded powers as mules and I manage to get the global recharge I need from other sources. I also happen to like the set bonuses from Shield Wall and Reactive Defenses. The builds that get 5 LOTGs are those with defense armors that have a lot of powers to put them in.

Another option is to pick up Oppressive Gloom (mag 2 stun aura) from Dark Mastery. That said, I find that the power/slot investment required to make Thunder Clap useful isn't worth it.

You're not considering the benefits of enhancing other attributes of the powers. Changing the slotting on Fearsome Stare takes the tohit debuff from 15% to 24%. Adding slots to Darkest Night provides a similar increase, with the total going from 32% to 47%. Changing the slotting on Fade increases your S/L/N/P resist by 5%. Changing the slotting on Soul Absorption increases the recovery buff by 70%. All those buffs apply to your entire team, not just to you. Also, you're only looking at the set bonuses of the sets removed, but not those of the new sets that would replace them. For example, 6x Cloud Senses would provide 6.25% +rech and 3.75% ranged def. Not the same as the 10%/5% Superior Will of the Controller provides, but not a complete loss. If you replace Tough with Living Shadows, you could move the SWOC there and if you replaced Weave with Ball Lightning you could slot Ragnarok or Bombardment. I haven't worked out the net numbers, but it's better than what you're showing above. Most of the Incarnates in the build seem fine. I wouldn't recommend Diamagnetic interface, as the -regen and -tohit are both heavily resisted by AVs. I would also recommend something other than Phantoms for lore as they're just not very good.

By skipping Shadowy Binds, Living Shadows and Shadow Field, Heart of Darkness and Dark Grasp are your only means of setting up containment. Not a huge issue since you're relying on %dmg procs for most of your damage. You don't take any epic blasts, leaving you with one attack plus Umbra Beast (damage from the Shades is minimal). I suppose this is fine if you don't solo. I would add 1 acc IO or acc/mez HO to Dark Grasp for the occasions you exemp. Your accuracy drops significantly without Nerve and Tactics. Add 1-2 slots to Darkest Night. It provides far more protection than Weave or Maneuvers. Fearsome Stare should be slotted for tohit debuff (Cloud Senses or Siphon Insight), not fear. Change the end/rech and psi resist in Shadow Fall to def and def/end. Slot Haunt with Expedient Reinforcement. Change 2-3 slots in Fade to a resist set. Change 2-3 slots in Soul Absorption to end mod. You don't need Tough and Weave, especially if you slot Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare properly. Consider taking Ball Lightning and Living Shadows instead.

Other than defense-based armor sets (SR, Shield, EA, Nin, Ice, Stone), I typically don't bother to soft cap defenses. The only time I shoot for resist caps is tanks/brutes playing resist-based armors (Dark, Elec, Fire, Rad). The majority of my non-armor builds generally have around 25-30% defense and 40-60% resists, with the emphasis dependent on whether I select a resist or defense armor with the epic. I've got Nature defenders and controllers that run around 15% defense and are still very sturdy. If I'm playing sets with significant tohit debuffs (Dark Miasma, Trick Arrow, Poison), I use the debuffs to bridge the gap. The exceptions are characters with Time Manipulation or Darkness Affinity, since defense can be soft capped without dipping into pool powers. The flip side to this is that I want to maximize the characters offensive/support/control abilities. I don't want to skip useful powers from my primary or secondary just to take defensive pool powers.

Here's the current build for my Dark/Dark/Fire. This predates the changes to when powers become available, so many of the powers can now be taken earlier. Uundead - Tanker (Dark Armor).mbd

I played a Storm/Rad defender on live from about i3 to shutdown. I only knew of a handful of others back then and don't think I've seen one on HC. I haven't remade the character, but I do play both sets. Rad Blast Neutrino Bolt/X-Ray Beam: You have to take one of these. X-Ray Beam has marginally better DPA. Irradiate: Excellent PBAoE with a huge range. Very procable. Good follow up to Atomic Blast. Electron Haze: Short narrow cone. Gets a lot of hate due to its long animation but the damage isn't terrible. Also has a 25% chance of kb, but it's low mag. Optional. Proton Volley: Very cool looking snipe with photon torpedo sfx. Your best ST attack. Aim: Slot with a %bu proc and use before Atomic Blast. Cosmic Burst: High damage ST attack with a mag 3 stun. Neutron Bomb: Targeted AoE. While the animation isn't that long, the projectile has a slow travel time, so you won't seen the orange numbers for a few seconds, especially if the target is at max range. Note, the damage is locked in when the attack is fired. Atomic Blast: PBAoE nuke with a mag 3 hold as a secondary effect. Storm Summoning Gale/O2 Boost: You have to take one of these. Gale is a low damage, high kb cone. O2 Boost is a ST heal that also provides protection against end drain, stun and sleep. While Gale has its fans, I take O2 Boost and 1-slot it with the Preventive Medicine %absorb proc. Snow Storm: Toggle slow and -fly. Can be useful at low levels but won't be needed once you get better powers. Either skip or 1-slot with an end/slow IO. Steamy Mist: Toggle PBAoE stealth, def, F/C/E resist and confuse protection. 6 slots isn't enough for all the things this power does. It accepts all the +def and +res uniques, plus the defense and resistance are both worth enhancing. Freezing Rain: This is a debuff, not an attack. Although it takes accuracy, it doesn't need it. Slot with 2x recharge IOs or 3-4 pieces of a defense debuff set. Don't bother slotting for damage or procs. Hurricane: Massive PBAoE tohit and range debuff with repel and small (5%) chance of kb. Situational with a steep learning curve. Hated when used badly but very effective in confined areas. Thunder Clap: PBAoE mag 2 (minion only) stun with a huge acc penalty. Skip. Tornado: Summons a mobile pseudo pet that does high damage (autohit), knockback and debuffs defense. Requires a kb>kd IO or it will send stuff flying. Lightning Storm: Summons a stationary pseudo pet that shoots lightning bolts with a small (5 ft) AoE. Also does kb, but it's low mag so kb>kd isn't mandatory.

Freezing Rain isn't worth slotting for damage. Probably not the best place for the +absorb proc either. I usually slot 2x recharge IOs or 3-4 pieces of a defense debuff set. Not sure what you're trying to do with Arcane Bolt but there are better options for 3 slots than a set that caps at lvl 20. Tornado is over-slotted for damage. You could replace one of the D-Syncs with a recharge IO and not lose any damage. Water Jet needs more accuracy. I would drop Aqua Bolt for Dehydrate. It has superior DPA plus provides a heal. The slots in Web Envelope could be deployed better elsewhere.

While Pylons are listed as AV entities, which have a perception radius of 54 ft, they may actually be coded as Turrets, which have a perception radius of 100 ft. They definitely ignore stealth (much like Rikti Drones). Their Swarm Missile power has a range of 350 ft. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/entity.html?entity=rikti_war_zone_pylon

THIS Blasters get "sustain" powers at lvl 20 that boost their endurance and health recovery.

If I'm recruiting and not at max level for the TF, I'm prepared to run it at my level. That said, once the team is assembled, I'll ask if anyone over max level wants the star. This doesn't mean a 50 - I recruited for a Citadel recently and asked if anyone over 30 wanted the star (I was 28). This affects the difficulty level (Signature TFs always spawn at max level plus the leader's notoriety) and often makes more powers available. I don't view this as bait and switch, but a courtesy.

I don't sweat defense as much on my Poison/Sonic. I took Scorpion Shield, skipped Tough/Weave, and have 38% S/L, 45% En and 29% ranged. I also have Rune of Protection and Melee Core, so mezz isn't usually an issue.

Maneuvers and Weave are overslotted. If you're going for set bonuses, there are better choices than Red Fortune (i.e., Reactive Defenses, Shield Wall). You're missing the Reactive Defenses and Shield Wall +res uniques. Elixir of Life can mule any of the resist set uniques (except Impervious Skin +regen). Unbreakable Constraint or Gladiator's Net are better options for Poison Trap than Lockdown. It procs quite well, so you can slot at least 2 %dmg procs and still maintain hold duration and set bonuses. Don't skip Piercing Rounds. It provides 20% -res. 1-slotting Tactics with Rectified Reticle is pointless. It only provides +100 ft of perception, while Tactics already provides +432 ft. You need to slot end red if you want to run Tactics. Power Build Up is a questionable choice. While you do benefit from the +dmg and +tohit, Poison doesn't really benefit from the +special. I would go with a different epic.

Control in this game consists of status effects. You've got no holds, no immobilizes, no sleeps, no confuses, no fears. One chance of stun, one slow and some knockback/down. This is NOT a control set. You've got a melee attack, an absorb shield, a resistance shield, a heal and a tohit debuff. Sounds a lot more like a support set (defender primary / corruptor, controller, mastermind secondary). https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Status_Effect

I haven't played Electric Melee since back on live (and never as a stalker) but I just leveled an Ice/Stone. Stone is quite good (although you'll want all the powers). It's a hybrid set, relying on defense for S/L/E/N/P and resist for F/C/T, then layers on some +regen and +hp. It makes for a very sturdy stalker. Geode (the T9) is similar to Hibernate but you can be broken out of it if you take enough damage.

There are quite a few factions that have protection to mezz but not to slow (Cimerorans, Arachnos Bane Spiders). As you approach the movement speed floor, slows really mess with NPC AI. They become more focused on getting somewhere instead of attacking you. There's now D-Sync Deceleration (or Stereocilla HO), which is even better.

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Inspirations#Resist_Effects_Inspirations

See below. Note that the Entities Autohit field in epic Bonfire is blank (it isn't on the controller/dominator version). Ice Patch is autohit and doesn't even accept accuracy. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pets.bonfire_epic.bonfire&at=blaster https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pets.icepatch.icepatch&at=minion_pets

Aiming for 45% defense with Dark Armor isn't worthwhile. The set has no DDR (defense debuff resistance) and your defense will be stripped away quickly. It's more productive to max your resistances (your En and Tx resists are low). Because scrappers have a 75% resist cap, I prefer Dark Armor on tanks and brutes (which have a 90% cap). The best place to put the Critical Strikes proc would be Barb Swipe. It has the shortest animation time after effect, allowing you full use of the 3.25s critical window that follows the attack. Put a 4th Shield Wall in Cloak of Darkness for the 4.5% E/N resist bonus. Instead of Psi Mastery, consider Soul Mastery for Moonbeam and Shadow Meld. I wouldn't bother with Maneuvers other than as a LOTG mule and would drop Assault and Vengeance entirely. Consider swapping Super Jump for Mighty Leap and then build to Unleash Potential.

While necessary for zone invasions (Rikti, zombie, etc.), I find levelless mobs boring. By necessity they're always even con and don't present a challenge.

I missed the original post last week, but here's my build. Your's doesn't look all that different, but here are some thoughts: Slot Umbral Torrent for damage, not debuff. Don't skip Abyssal Gaze. They increased the damage in one of the recent patches and it's now one of the better ST attacks. Consider slotting Eagle Eye for healing instead of end mod. I find I don't need the extra recovery and the added regen is noticeable. No Gaussian's %BU proc in Upshot or Aim? Uunrest - Blaster (Dark Blast).mbd

Swap the status/regen piece or the psi resist piece in HPT for a second Heal IO to increase your HP. Both Heal IOs should be +5. Consider swapping LOTG in IW for 2 more pieces of Shield Wall for the HP and E/N resist bonuses. Unless you're just using it as a mule, Teleport Target requires accuracy if you want to use it against foes. Note, it will works against minions or even con lieutenants. Chance to Heal Self in Resurgence seems pointless. Just slot a Recharge IO. Replace the status/regen in Strength of Will with a resist IO or a psi resist piece. The +regen only lasts 120s and needs to be in an active power. Also, the +regen is unique and won't work if you also have it slotted in HPT. Assault is pointless on a brute.

I'll generally T3 everything before I start crafting T4s. The order I go in is somewhat dependent on the RNG and what slots I happen to have materials for, but usually Interface > Destiny > Lore > Hybrid > Judgment. Going from T3 to T4, the order shifts to Destiny > Hybrid > Interface > Lore > Judgment.

I'm T4 on all slots (plus a second T4 Interface) and have plenty of materials for the other slots if/when I decide to craft additional components. I just happened to accumulate a bunch of shards and notices and was curious what folks thought before I converted them to threads.

I agree as to Terra Volta. Perez Park, Boomtown and Crey's Folly aren't much better. They have no contacts and the only reasons to go there are the occasional mission door or to fight Kraken/Babbage/Jurassik. After hazard zone street sweeping died out, the OG devs never came up with new reasons to go there.