loyalreader

Didn't even read the rest of the thread, but this is a major issue with Regen for me (had a 50 regen scrapper on live, and a 50 regen brute on HC). How about resist -endurance drain as well? The two things that the set is supposed to be good and no resist?

Others have commented on the six-slotting of toggles - you'd be wise to listen to them. If you aren't using Ice Storm with Blizzard you are (to me) missing the point of playing this combo. Those two powers together make you an absolute murder (er... arresting) machine. It isn't even fair. I'd strongly reconsider. You'll want to build for recharge to get Blizzard up as much as possible. There are plenty more opportunities to do that in your build (i.e. LotG in Combat Jump). Finally, I have both Freeze Ray and Freezing Touch. Both are slotted with 4 Basilisk's Gaze and two damage IOs. That gives an LotG worth of recharge in each power and does ridiculous amount of damage (I suppose I could boost the IOs to eke out even more damage...). Best of all, you can hold bosses. Don't sleep on the holds and slows in these sets. They make a huge difference for survivability. Holding a Zeus Titan while you ice it to death is a thing of joy.

Assault Rifle/Tactical Arrow Blaster. Burst has Def Debuff and Electrified Net Arrow (hits as hard as Burst) is an immobilize. Not built for it, but it's nice.

I have the same. He's an '80s action hero. I took Force Mastery. He has Temp Invul, and Force of Nature for those special Rambo moments (PFF is a LotG mule), but I do wish Munitions would get an update. I found with the changes to Full Auto and Ignite, he needed a respec. I actually dropped Oil Slick Arrow as he moves far too quickly to mess with it. AR is a lot more fun with the recent changes... at least for me.

I feel like AR was always 'worth playing' although certainly not the strongest blast set. The latest changes have made it a much more enjoyable experience for me. Moves much quicker and (feels like) it does more damage.

Ok, this is a sick idea. And I love it. I see this as a gadget character so I'd choose Energy/Devices with Force Mastery as your APP. From your primary you would take Power Blast and Aim (I'd *really* be tempted to take Nova as an 'oh $%&t' power, but I respect the limitations you've put on this). Take everything from Devices. Fighting - Boxing, Tough, Weave. Speed - Hasten, and SuperSpeed Leadership - Maneuvers and Assault Leaping - Combat Jump, Super Jump, Acrobatics (you could sub Jump Kick for Super Jump for if you want an attack vs. the travel power... I hate SS for travel) Force Mastery - Personal FF, Temp Invulnerability... maybe Force of Nature as your 'oh $%&t' power Slot for as much recharge and defense as you can. For Power Blast I'd consider 6 Sudden Acceleration. For Taser 6 Stupefy. Caltrops gets 5 or 6 Ice Mistral Torment. Smoke Grenade 5 or 6 Dark Watcher's Despair. Weave gets 6 Reactive Defense while Maneuvers gets 5 Red Fortune and one LotG proc. Both Tough and Weave get 4 Unbreakable Guards. Also slot both defense procs and the Aegis proc there too. I'd 6-slot Targeting Drone with Gaussians. Combat Jump gets a LotG proc, as does Personal FF. Gun Drone gets Expedient Reinforcement. I'd be tempted to put the Blaster sets in Time Bomb and Trip Mine but haven't done the math. Basically you stealth in dropping Bombs and Mines. Gun Drone tanks for you and draws the enemy to your bombs. Then you do crowd control with Caltrops (slow), Smoke Grenade (to hit debuff), Power Blast (knockdown), and Taser (stun). Web Grenade immobilizes flyers. Would be a pain in the butt , but could be fun.

@Snarky aren't you technically 'Rouge' already? It is *red*side after all... 😉

If you are from the UK it's a truck (you hop in the back of a truck in King's Row). Fun fact - in the US we have a tongue twister: red leather, yellow leather. In the UK it's: red lorry, yellow lorry. I apologize in advance for wasting your time... In Baltimore (US) where I am 'lorry' is a nickname for a woman named Laura.

I have a stone/regen brute sitting at 50 with all Incarnates up to the 3rd tier. Stone works as well with regen as I think a set can work - it does good damage, regen helps with the end costs, and I use the knockdown power to mitigate attacks. Having said that, regen is... not great. I wanted to prove the naysayers wrong with this toon. I cannot. Just pinged 50 with a ss/sr brute and the experience is night and day. Super Reflexes at 50 feels almost unfair. With procs to boost HP, end, and res, he is far more effective than my /regen brute with far less management. At 50 my /sr brute has over 90% defense debuff resistance, and I believe 60% recharge debuff resistance (have a proc in his travel power to help). At a fully incarnated 50 my /regen brute has 20% recharge debuff resistance BECAUSE OF A PROC. For a set that relies on recharge and healing, that's a crime. A claws/regen scrapper was my first 50 on live (original I know) so it isn't like I haven't tried. Regen needs a serious update. Having said that, I hope you are enjoying the journey as much as I've enjoyed reading your posts 😉 TL;DR - nerf regen

Thanks @High_Beam. Looks like you and I are on the same page, and I agree with all of your feedback. I missed that the OP had Power Boost. I had that and dropped it (didn't need the extra kb). Curious to hear your thoughts on whether it's worth it? Also... I actually took Force Mastery for thematic reasons (I do run both Tough and Temp Invulnerability) and I have PFF but I use it as a LotG proc mule only. Agree that it's pretty useless. Maybe as an 'oh $%&t' power, but there's better ones available.

Some of this is personal taste so keep that in mind. I'd change your slotting for Hover. I'd leave the stealth proc in there and add a Kismet kb proc. If you can afford it add a Luck of the Gambler proc. For Fly I would put a Winter's Gift proc in there instead. Your slotting is fine though. I think you are better off just slotting a recharge reduction in both Aim and Build Up. I like your slotting for Energize. Tough looks good to me if you are going to keep it untoggled. Weave... with Energize up all the time you really don't need to worry about endurance. I'd do the proc, def, and def/end. For Personal Force Field throw a Luck of the Gambler proc in there. Why waste the slot? For Tough - you said no toggles. If you aren't going to run it, just put an Aegis proc in there and call it a day. That gives you extra slots. I'd double slot both Aim and Build Up and add an extra recharge reduction to each. That would also allow you to 3 slot Maneuvers, which gives you the defense you are looking for. Slot it the same as Weave and run it. That's only two toggles. I promise you won't notice the end drain. Hope that helps!

Samsies. However... I rolled an AR/TA blaster and it's a *lot* of fun. Oil Arrow and Ignite work really well together. Lots of fun AoEs and hits way harder than arrows. I want to roll an arrow/arrow corruptor. Thinking that could be a lot of fun. Also, couldn't agree with you more about Bane Spider. Wanted to love it. Did not.

Nova is going to change the way you look at your character. You're going to want it up all the time so you are also going to want to build for recharge. I think you'd be missing out if you didn't take at least one of the other AoE attacks - Torrent or Explosive blast. If you are facing large mobs they are your friend. Finally, you need to decide if you are okay with the amount of knockback you're doing. Especially if you are teaming. I don't worry about it with single target attacks - you just need to be aware of what you are doing - but with the AoE attacks you are likely to become the pariah of your team if you don't turn that knockback into knockdown. The single target attacks you've chosen are solid. My feeling is you have too many melee attacks - two should be fine - but that's up to you. You said you wanted to build for ranged defense so melee attacks are for when someone gets up in your face or if anyone is alive after Nova. I wouldn't sleep on Power Thrust. You don't have to take it anymore but it's a cheap 'go away' power. You could 1 slot it with an Accuracy and be fine. If you want to focus on ranged defense, Thunderstrike for your single target attacks and Mako's Bite for your melee attacks will get you far. Sting of the Manticore for your snipe gives you recharge and ranged defense. I'd look into that as well. I'd recommend getting Torrent and either 6 slotting with Artillery for the ranged defense, or 5 slotting with Positron's Blast and 1 Sudden Acceleration (kb to kd). The latter gets you recharge at the expense of defense, but won't upset teammates. Depends on how you want to use it. For cheap Nova slotting I would do 5 Obliteration and 1 Sudden Acceleration (kb to kd). I recommend Aim, Build Up, and Boost Range. All can be 2 slotted with Recharge Reduction. You may have seen my response to your post about Energize - it can also be slotted the same way. I'd also take Hasten and slot it the same. You say you don't want toggles. That makes no sense to me but... ok. If I were doing a budget build I'd still get Tough and Weave. Invest in the two defense procs - Gladiator's Armor and Steadfast - and slot them in Tough. You don't have to run it and you get an automatic 6% defense to everything. If you find yourself in a good financial position throw the Aegis and Unbreakable Guard procs in there too. I'd slot Weave however you can afford and run it. You said 'no toggles' but... why? With Energize up all the time you won't notice Weave as a drain on your endurance. You will notice the extra 5% defense. A full set of Reactive Defense gives you a ton of great benefits, including really good recharge. Or you can slot with 2 - 3 Luck of the Gambler. Both options will be very expensive so something to work towards. Besides that you can throw a stealth proc in Hover and a Luck of the Gambler if you can afford it. You can get knockback protection in either Hover or Fly. Everything else depends on if and what you take as an Ancillary or Patron power. Good luck!

You may be thinking about this power wrong. It's not an incredible heal, but it provides stun protection (always good for a squishy) and it significantly reduces the endurance costs of... everything. So your attacks, shields, Hasten, etc. all cost far less endurance than they would without Energize. This enables you to keep firing at and punching baddies (or goodies if you are playing redside). Build it for recharge before anything else. It should be up all the time. Most people set this to fire off automatically. If you are running Hasten you'll have to remember to click it when it comes up. It's bright yellow so... should be easy. I put it next to Aim and Build up on my top rack so I never miss it.

I have a DP/Martial blaster who I have respeced countless times. I finally 'cracked the code' by losing both Swap Ammo and Piercing Rounds. Standard rounds do a shocking amount of KB, and with my Musculature alpha it feels like I'm getting a little something from my buff to -Def. BoS into the middle of a pack, hit Hail, then Dragon's Tail, and keep firing off AoE attacks. Everyone is either on their butt waiting to be finished off by my single target attacks or... arrested. I just hate the look of Piercing Rounds. No numbers to prove it but I'm quite sure it hurts DPS. I don't need it. I'm not a min-maxer - as proof I took the Munitions Ancillary for the sweet additional KB/AoE of LRM Rocket - but x2/x4 is a cakewalk, and I fight both Malta and Carnies. It's super fun.

I'm not an expert either, but I'm running up one of these (except going Scorpion Shield) and have an AR/TA/Munitions with an AoE build so have a little experience. Just to make it clear, you shouldn't need to be in melee with this character. Doing so with your /mental character was because of your level 20 power, which relies you to hit enemies. Ninja doesn't have that. You can right click on the power to 'set it and forget it (TM)'. So your approach with this character will be different. As mentioned, stealth isn't necessary with Shinobi. I found some enemies still saw me so I slotted a Celerity stealth in Sprint and that solved the issue. Since you are trying to build an AoE machine, I suggest building for (as others suggested) ranged defense and recharge. Body Armor gives you laughable resist numbers - slot your two defense procs there. I'd throw two Unbreakable guards in Tough (one the proc) and call it a day. Maybe the Aegis proc as well to reduce downtime on mezzes. You are not going to have high resists. I don't know what kind of $ you are planning on spending, so I'll keep it cheap and you can look at purple sets at your leisure. As you know those will give you both higher stats and better passive recharge, so definitely worth doing if you can afford it. Same with the archetype sets, which also give you good ranged defense. In fact, if you can afford it I would prioritize those. Otherwise, Artillery is a good one for ranged defense for your ranged AoE attacks. Since you are going to want to use the 6th slot in Explosive Arrow for a kb to kd proc, I'd 5-slot that with Bombardment to give you the extra range. Thunderstrike is solid for ranged defense for your single target attacks. My preference is to take Snap Shot and not take Aimed shot since you can spam Snap even when mezzed but... really your call. Sting of the Manticore in your sniper attack gives you both ranged defense and 7.5% recharge. Chef's kiss! Also agree that Leadership is a good way to go. I like to get Maneuvers, Tactics, and - for my last pick - Vengeance. The latter gets one-slotted with the LoTG proc. For my natural characters I pay for jetpacks and don't choose a travel power. You can take Combat Jump (or Hover if you like) and slot a LotG proc, a kb proc, and any travel procs (I'm looking at you Winter's Gift) there. Your call. Superspeed to me seems a waste. Don't sleep on the other Ninja powers. They are there for a reason - to help you when things go pear-shaped. I think Smoke Flash as a one-slot wonder is a no brainer. I think slotting it with accuracy is a better play, since you shouldn't have to use it that often, but someone smarter than me should confirm. Blinding Powder is a great 'oh $%&t' power and is an AoE. Malaise's Illusion 6-slotted gives you ranged defense, recharge, and other good stuff. Choking Powder is a single-target hold (also does ok damage) but it can lock down lieutenants and 4-slotted Basilisk's Gaze gives you both ranged defense and recharge. To me that makes more sense than taking Sting of the Wasp in your case. I *would* take Golden Dragonfly. It's not a reliable AoE but slotting it with 5 Obliteration and 1 Force Feedback recharge proc should boost your recharge nicely and do some good damage to enemies that get in your face. Finally, I never 3-slot anything with the same enhancement (diminishing returns) so you shouldn't need more than two slots of Recharge Rdx in Hasten. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Yeah... that was my issue. Knew about the regen but did not about DDR. That definitely makes a difference. Thanks all!

I have a Granite tank (I know Stone Armor has been revamped but this is a pet project) and was wondering if, with Granite, I still need rooted. If I could find one slot for a knockback resist proc I'd be sitting at 14 points kb resist, and a ridiculous amount of other status resists. Besides the regen I'd be missing - which seems redundant on a tank that never gets hits, has heavy resists for pretty much everything, and Earth's Embrace - I don't see the point. Am I kidding myself?

I rolled a DB/Willpower scrapper modeled after Michael Myers in Halloween (hockey mask and all). In my head canon his super-power *is* the tier 9 rez. Otherwise he's just a strong, stealthy psychopath wielding two meathooks as weapons. So he always takes on more than he can chew and rezzing is part of his battle plan. Of course that's an outlier...

That simple. In other words would that ‘fix’ the problem of having to target OSA air I just lay an Ignite patch on it? Thanks!

Thanks @arcane. I have a number of blasters but this is my first /fire. The reason I'm confused is because the recovery powers have - in my experience - come in two types: passive (/dev) or active (/electric). But this one is weird because it has a 'to hit' component, but unlike /electric or /dark, that 'to hit' doesn't affect the recovery portion. At least as far as I can tell?

Hey all, I'm a little confused about slotting Cauterizing Aura. Most guides I've seen in the forums have it slotted for PBAoE. damage. Can someone let me know their reasoning for this? Wouldn't you be better slotting it with a Heal and an End Mod and call it a day (maybe an Accuracy)? Is the damage worth it, and aren't you better served by the heal/end? New to the power so not challenging... truly curious. Also... does this power make Consume irrelevant? It seems like it would...

Hey @Snarky, I'm going to give you the 'feel' answer instead of the 'numbers' answer. You know how your brute goes into melee cold and that first punch/stab/cleave/pummel does meh damage? Then you take some hits and all of the sudden you're able to give a smackdown? It's like the first part without the second part. But ranged. I have a sentinel who is a lot of fun to play (helps that I love the concept) but, man, it can be a slog.

I like my Stone/SS Tank. Granted it took a lot of influence to make it playable but it's a lot of fun. I disagree about the -speed and -recharge. There should be some cost to the massive amount of resistance you get with Granite and Rooted. I do agree with the -dam. Thematically it doesn't make sense, and it seems like overkill to me on the above mentioned cost. In the thread that @SeraphimKensailinked there were some complaints about Granite replacing the way your character looks. I would love to see, as some suggested, some alternates for the way Granite looks but am otherwise totally ok with that mechanic. It's what happens in the comics and can be considered part of the 'cost'.

I'm baffled by the responses to the OP's question, and especially the antipathy towards it. OP, you are correct - there is no point to the fees. Full stop. It's completely arbitrary and doesn't really serve any purpose in the current game economy. Now the question of whether or not to make a change is certainly up for debate. I don't have a dog in the hunt, so I don't care. There are plenty of ways to make influence in this game.