evetsleep

Is that 8x4? I haven't tried with a blaster before but if your alpha doesn't kill the spawn don't you end up with a lot of runners? Btw, not saying other AT's can't farm. Really any can, but runners would significantly slow things down I would think.

Can confirm .. but also bio helps darks lower damage. They go pretty well together and compliment each other.

The cool thing they did, as others mentioned, is they allowed you to take fish out of the powers and also have a full range of colors to use. For example, you could have a MM master bot which is infused with nanobots (in the form of animated black sludge) which can be used to control other robots (your minions) as well as be used offensively\defensively against foes. There are a LOT of different creative things you can do with this particular powerset give the color\power customizations they made available.

I would add that a nice thing about bots is you get a forcefield bubble on your toon from the protector bots which can pair nicely with marines defence to help add to the MM's individual toughness. Also in addition to -regen from the MM attacks the damage type (energy) for bots is probably less resisted than mercs. Not a huge difference, but worth noting. I find bots tend to be a little more resilient with their shields and heals. Don't get me wrong.. I very much love the dakka boys, but I appreciate the pewpew crew too 🙂

I'm going to go ahead and say it. Concept is King. We get 1,000 slots per server. Use'em (I have 826 now 🫡). Marine is so well done it still surprises me how powerful it ended being, especially in the hands of pet wielders. That being said I've given them all a spin and they all have different ways they can play well with Marine. Recent I took the much maligned Beasts and paired it with Marine (Wet Fur!) and they do really well with everything that the new set brings. Personally I think the choice first is do you want to be in melee range with your pets. After that come up with a concept you like and have at it!

I've started building, where it makes sense, many of my sentinels to be close range (occasional melee range) and I've been pretty happy with it. They are not blappers, but staying out of melee all the time seems to be leaving a ton of potential damage on the table (specifically later on when you get access to the ancillary melee attacks).

It works on brute for both katana and broadsword :). I was running my broadsword/fire brute today ... Inspired by this thread and I was reliably sitting at 47% melee/lethal and he's not IO'd at all yet.

I just want to chime in to add on to the blasphemy. Fire armor really needs a taunt and you'll only get it from a brute or tanker. Between those two I prefer the brute because, as far as I recall tanks cannot stack parry but brutes can. On my broadsword/fire brute I could softcap (~45%) melee\lethal just about as soon as I picked up parry via a few parry hits since it recharges really fast.

Holy moly....while I was out at the gym today getting my creative juices flowing I had an idea, but then I said...no way. Got home and FFS...the name was actually free now...I feel a great sense of responsibility to do it justice: 🔥❄️Frost Burn❄️🔥

I just picked up one I've tried for years to get: Captain Wavy Hands Kinetic Melee/energy Aura brute Yes I know kinetic melee isn't great. I'm past making meta characters and I focus on concept (because it's king) these days.

Also I think it's often forgotten that tanking things doesn't just being highly survivable, but also generating threat and taunting. Sentinels don't really get a taunting ability so off-tanking without a taunt won't really work (IMHO). Brutes, and to some extent, some scrappers, could off tank since they're both durable and can taunt. If you're looking to off-tank I'd recommend a brute or a taunting scrapper.

Honestly I don't think you can efficiantly farm without a brute or tank. It's not just about damage output but high defense, resistances, and importantly taunting to keep the baddies from spreading like cockroachs in the light. Anything can farm, but at +4x8 I don't think it's realistic to do it without a highly survivable taunting AT. My 2 inf.

If footstomp scratches a particular itch, Frozen Aura from Ice Melee is very similar without needing Rage... It's also a pretty fun/safe/effective set IMHO.

Concept is king 👑. Bio Armor is awesome, but it doesn't always fit. More power to you 🙂

I've been noodling this question myself lately.. specifically on what to bring along with my farmer (other than another one.. I am far too impatient to build another). I'm considering: Illusion/kin - really for the improved illusion for threat reduction and safe casting of fulcrum and speed boost for the recharge buff.. quicker burns and other AoE attacks. Illusion/Marine - Marine has some really interesting things that boosts recharge, damage, to hit, etc.. doesn't really need to be illusion, but I'm thinking invisibility will minimize taking aggro off the brute In the end the problem (for me) is dealing with the aggro you'll get as a non-farmer. If you have some tools to deal with that without being annoying to the farmer you're golden. As a defender I think kinetics, Marine, or trick arrow are the best options since they boost the things a farmer needs: damage and recharge.

Not saying this is crazy, but the few times I've brought in a traps toon to a farm the acid mortars didn't last long at all plus they take aggro away from the farmer (pealing off a few.. just enough to be a little annoying).

I'm currently running a bots\marine MM (where the bots are notorious END eaters). Toroidal Bubble goes a super long way to helping with END consumption on bots, so I'd image you're instinct is correct here.

I've tried both and they proc on cast but that's it. So not really worth it from my observation.

I mostly agree with you except for Trick Arrow. Fully slotted Flash Arrow combined with pets that have native defense and the defense IO's meshes extremely well. I rarely need to resummon my thugs and ninjas, while flimsy, have a self heal on their own. The -DMG in trick arrow goes a long way, also, to preventing minions from being one shot in most normal content.

I've tried both Power Transfer and the Performance Shifter +END proc and I didn't see either proc firing outside of the initial cast with the combat log open.

As someone with fire/Marine controller I can say Marine takes the edge off running hot feet in a very meaningful way as soon as I picked it before making any QoL slotting choices while leveling. If anything Marine Affinity is a fantastic set to combine with endurance intensive sets. I friggin love getting in a Super Stunners face and not worrying about what'll happen when they die the first time.

Well necro is primarily a resist primary which benefits from the +RES bubbles, whereas then ninjas benefit later on from the +DEF power, but also from the RES bubbles which makes them more durable. Really it's about experimentation for me. Ninjas and necro play similar, but often I feel like ninjas put out a little more damage in certain scenarios. I haven't decided which one I like more with Marine yet. I would say necro is much stronger when all the uniques are slotted which is kind of unique to them (which makes me wonder if it'll be ...ahem.. adjusted one day).

Let me just say .... I LOVE Whitecap my marine builds so far... but sometimes you need to gauge when to use it (if on a team, let the tank get aggro first). So far I have Fire\Marine Controller Necro\Marine MM Ninja\Marine MM Marine\Sonic Defender Marine\Seismic Defender I have plans to eventually go super aggressive and to a Marine\Fire defender (or flip it and do a corr) and also a gravity\marine controller. All of the above I've found ways to make whitecap useful and fun. As others have said this innate fear of close (not necessarily melee) range can cause you to leave a lot of damage on the table. That's perfectly ok if that's your thing. The thing is whitecap offers up some really good -RES debuffs along with KD and a little damage, which makes it extremely useful to use (especially if you add in procs). It really is a risk vs. reward scenario..very much like the old hover blaster vs. blapper debate. I have been treating my marine toons like a KIN (where you have to be used to getting close) and I've found it pretty darn rewarding and fun.

It is a little early, however I would think a number of MM primaries would mesh well with it (necro and bots come to mind...especially with the +END from Toroidal Bubble). It seems like it can do well both in melee and out of melee (beyond whitecap). I feels like a powerset which has a lot of useful powers which means .... tight builds. I have a number of thoughts on some interesting combos where I'm thinking of corruptor\defenders with PBAOE nukes to combine with whitecap (the usual suspects .... fire, dark, sonic, dual pistols, and rad). Time will tell which one feels the strongest and ... importantly fun. Personally I have a number of these in the works, but currently I'm having a lot of fun with my fire/marine controller :).

I think the thing I come back to is before the update that buffed some MM sets beasts were pretty decent (strong even). That hasn't changed. It's just that the updates really pushed some sets forward in a way that, numerically, makes beasts look worse. There is something to be said about a set that is reliably in melee all the time. That's the issue, for me, with zombies, ninjas, and to some extent thugs. They spread out when some decide to get in close vs others are at range. This makes a turtling MM difficult. With beasts you know they'll always be in melee and so you can tutle-up there and reliably heal, buff, etc. This is part of why beasts pairs so well with kinetics (and time, dark, cold). So if you like beast have fun with it! There is nothing wrong with them other than they don't have a new sexy mechanic to work with (yet).