Uun

It ignites Oil Slick. Other than that it's a pretty standard T1 immobilize. If you've got a primary that does fire or energy damage, you can skip it, but Glue Arrow is nothing to write home about.

Unbreakable Constraint proc has the same damage as the Apocalypse proc. I'm sure you can find another place to slot Apocalypse on a blaster.

I couldn't care less if it had no secondary effect. It's one of the highest DPA melee attacks available to a blaster (behind only Eagle's Claw, Golden Dragonfly and Seismic Smash). Which of the other ST holds have -regen and -heal. None? And it still accepts 4 damage procs, so I call BS on the damage.

Suggestion forum is over thataway ⬆️

That's fine. You don't even have to run Maneuvers to get the the LoTG global recharge buff.

The proc grants a power for 0.5 seconds. That power provides a 50% buff to the chance to critical for 3.25 seconds. Mid's is just picking up the first part. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=boosts.superior_attuned_superior_critical_strikes_f.superior_attuned_superior_critical_strikes_f&at=scrapper https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=set_bonus.set_bonus.critical_strikes_proc&at=scrapper

On my build the only power I skipped was Scorch, but BU is definitely skippable and I could see skipping Phoenix Rising and Fiery Embrace. None of these require more than 1-2 slots, so you're not picking up slots. I would skip Breath of Fire before skipping Incinerate. It's the 2nd best DPA in the set. Running 3 Leadership toggles adds a lot of end cost and I don't think you get much benefit from it.

I pop SoW when I get end drained and toggle dropped (WP has no resistance to end drain). Happens pretty often against Arachnos Mu Guardians/Adepts.

Old builds will work fine. Neither set has changed in forever.

It isn't flashy, but a 20-foot AoE with 65% -recharge (and 91% -speed) is nothing to sneeze at. It mitigates a lot of damage.

There's no reason to take both Shriek and Scream. Pick one. Distortion Field is primarily a slow, not a hold. The hold has a 2% chance to occur every 1 second. The power is also autohit and doesn't require accuracy. Generally a recharge in the base slot is all you need. You can slot procs if you're so inclined, but the results aren't great. If you're going to run Maneuvers and Tactics (and not just use them as mules), you'll need to slot end reduction. I don't recommend skipping Siren's Song. It's the most damaging of Sonic's 3 cones, plus the sleep is autohit. I would skip Force of Nature.

Ice doesn't have KB, Energy does.

Sentinel version of Inferno has a shorter recharge (105s) than the blaster version (145s). Hail of Bullets has a 105 second recharge while Inferno has a 145 second recharge. With enough recharge you might get Inferno up every spawn, but it's certainly easier with HoB. That said, the difference in damage is HUGE. HoB with incendiary ammo has base damage of 238 while Inferno has base damage of 410 (both including the DoT).

The Gravity immobilizes do NOT have -kb (the holds do).

I play both sets and feel the opposite is true. Mind's AoE controls are sleep, hold, fear and confuse (plus Telekinesis, which has a 10-ft radius and 5-target max). Because the confuse is on a 4-minute recharge and sleep is situational at best in a team setting, Mind relies heavily on the fear (which is on a 40-second recharge). While the fear has a long duration, it doesn't prevent foes from attacking and is resisted by some factions. Fire's AoE controls are immobilize, stun, hold and knockdown, with the stun on a 90-second recharge and the knockdown on a 60-second recharge. Stun is more consistently effective as it prevents foes from attacking (and when combined with immobilize essentially becomes a hold). Unless you're facing flyers or resistant foes, knockdown patches are also very effective. The key, however, is that Fire has more uptime on its AoE controls.

Mind's controls are decidedly less effective than those in many other sets, specifically its reliance on sleep and fear for AoE control due to the 4 minute cooldown on its AoE confuse. Dark, Earth, Fire, Gravity and Symphony have AoE stuns on 90 second cooldowns. Earth, Electric, Fire and Ice have AoE knockdown patches on 90 second (or shorter) cooldowns. AoE sleeps on most sets are typically skipped or used situationally due to the their lack of usefulness in a team environment. I readily admit that Seeds of Confusion is vastly OP and don't want Mass Confusion changed to match it, however, I think a reduction in cooldown to 3 minutes is warranted. I also stand by my comment above that Mind needs lacks sufficient methods of setting up AoE containment.

I usually 5-slot with Devastation or Decimation. Procs don't have a great return in powers with a 4-second base recharge.

Forgot to mention it earlier, but I've run the Old School Challenge version of the LRSF a few times (this disables incarnate powers, set bonuses and super inspirations and returns the Vindicators and Freedom Phalanx to lvl 54). Not really advanced difficulty, but still challenging and a lot of fun.

15-foot AoE, 5-target max

For those unaware, Martial Combat has Burst of Speed, a self-teleport (+ AoE attack) that can be used 3 times before it needs to recharge.

Two factors are primarily responsible for eliminating the scarcity of desirable IOs: 1) pooling of enhancements/recipes on the AH and 2) enhancement converters. Pooling was instituted by the HC devs and enhancement converters were a late (I22) addition to the live game. In combination, this made it easy to increase the supply of previously scarce items simply by playing converter roulette. With the price of converters pegged at 30 for 10 reward merits, there is no meaningful cost barrier to converting enhancements multiple times until the desired result is achieved. The supply of LOTG +rech IOs and the like became essentially endless. I don't recall when PVP recipes started dropping in normal content, but obviously that vastly increased their supply and opened them up to the same converter roulette. Compare this to HOs and D-Syncs. While pooled on the AH, they cannot be converted. There continues to be scarcity of highly desirable items (Cytos, Enzymes, Membranes, Provocations, etc.) and prices on the AH reflect this.

I've run both ASFs and ITFs from 1* to 4*, but I do them infrequently. From a time commitment/enjoyment standpoint, I think 2* is my sweet spot. I prefer ITF largely because I find ASF too gimmicky.

I only have 2 MMs, Beast/Traps and Thugs/Elec. Beasts are pretty good about attacking while in defensive mode if I shoot at something. Not sure if this is due to the Pack Mentality mechanic. Thugs on the other hand seem to sit around reading magazines in defensive mode. Unless something is directly attacking them, they ignore that I'm in combat. I'm constantly having to switch out of BG mode to get them to engage. They also seem to lose focus on foes that have had their end drained and are unable to attack unless I tell them to attack my target. I agree that the lag between summoning and being able to upgrade is very annoying.

My SG on Excelsior is a solo stronghold but on Torch I belong to a SG consisting of remnants of a SG I belonged to on live. We generally get together and play on Monday nights. I do have global friends, but for the most part I rely on several chat and discord channels that are fairly active in organizing TFs and incarnate trials, both on Excelsior and Torch.

Holy necro-post Batman!