Arbegla

So, the wheels in my head have been turning.. and just how useful is Provoke in the grand scheme of tankerminding? I know the idea is to have you take all the damage, and abuse bodyguard mode, but if you're already running into groups first, or locking them down quickly with other things, does provoke really benefit the overall build much? I'm talking fast paced Mastermind builds, speed groups, things like that. I've been looking over my bot/traps build, and I could swap Provoke for Spirit Ward (and its amazing absorb shield toggle that is on test) which will give my bots a pretty decent buffer if they pull aggro, or mobs get out of my control. It will also allow me to save my pets so Triage Beacon can work its magic, or the Protector bots can get a heal off. But it prevents me from actually having a Taunt.. And I'm not sure if that matters much in the grand scheme of things. Even against AVs/GMs, Provoke Taunt doesn't always force things to focus on me, and my pets will be incarnate softcapped for defense, plus double stacked Triage Beacon for almost Instant Healing level of regeneration. Add in the resistance auras, and the bots can take a hit or two, without me having to really think twice about it. How do the aggro tables work? If my pets die, does their aggro fall onto me? Or does it just go away? I ask, because a good tactic might be to just let my pets do their thing, then the aggro table will eventually land on me (which my pets dying, and me refreshing them) and then I don't really need taunt anyways, I just need my pets to wipe and for me to refresh them. Any hard thinkers out there want to weigh in on what would be more value overall? Provoke, or Spirit Ward?

Its not, but it does exist. The suggestion made it seem like there wasn't any indication of the crash. The blinky dot also works for powers like Hasten, AM, Domination, etc.

This should be what you want.

Oh goodness, this was made before inherent fitness was a thing 😞

Hey everyone, I've been mulling around making a /traps guide, but I've come to realize that I generally play it much differently than most people. (source, Forums posts, and in game comments) Because of that, I wanted to know how do ya'll play /traps? Any AT really, though my main is a bot/traps MM. I even looked over the Weekely discussion about /traps, and how there was a consensus that Seeker Drones was really underwhelming. Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

Actually, the power does start 'blinking' within 5 or 10 seconds of its duration about to drop off. Its hard to notice, but if you're paying attention, it is there already.

I've always wanted to Resistance Rifle on my robotics MM. I would love to have more customization options.

While I can't comment much on the ice/ portion of the build, I wanted to just give some advice about the /traps. The thing about Seeker Drones is that they are most useful when you summon them as an alpha soaker. They are pretty durable, and then enemies will target them first. So you summon them right in the middle of a group, they take the first hit, and then debuff said group. It works great when you don't have a tank/brute/scrapper/etc to take the first hit, and their debuffs last a decent amount of time. Their debuffs also stack, because there are two of them, so while the numbers might not seem like much, against a single target you're getting double the values.

While the sets themselves don't affect the pets, there are plenty of things you can slot in them to help you out. Frankenslotting (using Tri/Quads) can give you ED capped values for enhancements in your pets without using a lot of slots.

I'll have to say my Bots/traps is my most fun MM. I play Traps as a very aggressive in your face kinda way, which makes things very fun as I'm constantly doing something, and the bots are sturdy enough to handle their own. I've been releveling it up H side, and I really love how the power progression is working out. Every new power adds another layer to the play style, so things work out really really nicely.

But you do know who to poke. 😁

I like how the overhead smash also has -fly. Sending Longbow Eagles to the ground is still the best thing. Abusing Falling damage is always fun.

I've done A LOT of running around Talos and Independence lately, due to the level range I'm in, and I can confirm that the 'level' ground isn't really level. Even on the long bridges in IP, there are small cracks in the road that can launch you off the ground. Maybe that is what is causing Momentum to not build up?

I'm glad the deep dive helped. That's why I was really confused on just /Traps Poison Trap, without even realizing that /Poisons Poison Trap was so much different (but also kinda the same, with the trigger, and pulse hold/puke) would calling @Faultline or @Captain Powerhouse over to look this over help resolve some of the possible issues? Not sure if its worth a bug report if its intended behavior. Especially that weird Domination tag you found.

Do we know what enemies/mob types are considered human? Regarding the puke animation?

Layered mitigation is the best mitigation. That is easily proved by any of the melee ATs stacking defense, resistance, regen, and heals to become unkill-able. Saying that RoP is a force multiplier means that once you hit a certain point (i/e, high recharge, high defense, some combination of the other mitigation things available) RoP multiplies that even further by providing resistance to all damage types, AND coveted Mez Protection, which is usually the last form of mitigation that a normally squishy AT needs. To your point, Build Up, and Aim are actually force multiplers, because they stack, in a multiplicative way with other aspects of the damage formula, giving you near maximum tohit (95%) for their duration and a pretty hefty damage boost as well (which again, stacks with anything else you have). This is the definition of a force multiplier: A capability that, when added to and employed by a combat force, significantly increases the combat potential of that force and thus enhances the probability of successful mission accomplishment. https://www.militaryfactory.com/dictionary/military-terms-defined.asp?term_id=2165 The scarcity that it is taken doesn't actually make that point, as it shows that when it is taken, its used as a force multiplier to cover gaps in the characters. Considering Corruptors also get access to 4 secondaries that provide Mez protection (Traps, Sonic, FF, Elec) to themselves, out of 16 secondaries, that means that 25% of Corruptors already have Mez Protection. RoP gives another 11% of them access to it. RoP will more than likely change to a 60/180 power, retaining the 33% uptime, and lasting as long as an inspiration, when used proactively, or reactively. Its still a massive force multiplier, and with these changes, it'll have better low-mid tier performance, and slightly less high-end performance.

From my understanding of your write up, the scale 8 hold in /Poison's Poison Trap (PPT?) requires an Accuracy check, so if it misses, no hold happens, and then you just have the normal 2% chance for hold during the pulsing. I think people don't typically use PPT for the hold, they use it more for the debuff (though that isn't nearly as good as /Traps Poison Trap, TPT)

So the pulse from the gas is every second? And every 'pulse' has the -regen/-rech and the 1% chance for Puke (plus 2% change for the hold). Can the pulse stack on itself from the same source? i/e, the overlapping pulses stack the duration/magnitude of the debuffs? Or would multiple traps be required to stack the effects?

I know any Damage procs will work for the pets, and there are some procs (like the Gaussins +BU proc in Enforcers) that work. Then you obviously have the resistance/defense auras. I have no idea about the +regen/+recovery globals though.

I definitely agree that the power pool attacks need a good once over for DPA values. Even the other Origin Power Pools have pretty bad animations. Might be outta scope for this page, (fingers crossed for page 3) but its good at Arcane Bolt got looked at now.

Ah. Ill/Traps is a pretty popular build now, but it definitely wasn't on live before hand.

Just confirming that this is for Poison trap from /Traps, not Poison trap from /Poison. 🙂

While this is a little off topic, I would very much disagree with this. The new Freak-lok arcs show that there is development going on, its just @Piecemeal (pun not intended) and a few others who are adding things here and there when they can. I think once the Devs are done with their tweaks, they might take a good hard look at the coming storm story, and see if they care enough to address it. Either on, or offline.

(note: I like the whack-a-mole combo mechanic) Would it be possible/probable to tie to bonus damage to the number of Sorcery powers you take? Like the fighting Synergy? With both Spirit Ward and Enflame getting the 'you're a toggle now' treatment, having Arcane Bolt just do more damage the more Sorcery you know could make it simpler.