VoidSpawn

@Linea, I think your Primaries for /Stone are great, but please consider adding Ice to that list. EM is the keeper, but Ice is a sleeper. Especially with Stone pushing additional fire damage into the ice. Equinox FTW. Hell, I don't think I've done that combo. I might roll one now...

I was discussing this with @Bill Z Bubba a few days ago. He informed me that, even though EM/Bio was great offensively, he thought that his toughest scrapper was in fact his EM/SD. This parallels his Tank selection, too. I agree that /SD on a Scrapper can be super tough. I've used my own modified version of @Murcielago's DM/SD Scrapper, and it performed seriously well. So did the DM/Inv Scrapper that I used to run. I also delved into IM/SD, and it is seriously rugged; hard to kill with all of its mitigation tactics. Did Spines/DA, and it's an interesting gimmick. I've done a variety of /Bio, too; fun, great offense, but always on the literal edge because, sometimes, they're just squishy. I've also used @Linea's EM/EnA build, and it will take you as far as you are willing to go, even in soloing advanced Star modes. I've played all of the Scrapper armors to 50 or beyond. I've soloed ITFs, Star content, and Incarnate DA at highest levels. The S-tier here might not be the top of a Primary and the top of a Secondary, IMHO; it's looking sorta nonlinear, if you factor what "survivable" actually means. I could play Fire/Fire/Paper Towels and it could Phase Shift/Inviso/Combat Teleport till the end of time, and simply joust everything to death. Is that survivable? And, yes, I was shocked [SHOCKED!] that Bill Z didn't list his infamous Claws/SR. I thought it was godlike. Apparently, he thinks otherwise. -void

The Dev Team is immortal. Cogent augmentations. Well done. -void

Jack and J'Hil went up the bridge To help Void with Doc V Jack got mad and kicked J'Hil off "Nerf Void!" Jack cried. "He's fighting more than three!" Yes, I took the new Electric/Electric Sentinel out for a "solo" of Positron II because I thought that, even at level 34 and with only SOs, it was an excellent combo. Even with that truncation down to level 16, it could probably still give it a good run. Especially if set to minimum difficulty, and having a few summons in tow. So, as one might expect, everything was a solo breeze until the AV fight with Dr. V. What should have been a straightforward pummeling of the AV, with the help of a few of my friends (Echo of Statesman and a Shivan), turned into a topsy-turvy Bizarro encounter. Because, obviously, summoning the Echo of Statesman actually summons Jack Emmert from his crypt to assume the role of Echo of Statesman. At least, that's what it looked like to me. Upon the bridge, with a lone Dr. V just standing there picking at his own leprous scabs, I summoned Echo of Statesman first, right on top of him. Bam! Echo of Statesman immediately pounded Dr. V. I next summoned the Shivan, right next to Dr. V, and it immediately engaged. All good so far, right? Settling down, I initiated my combat sequence, launched a bolt at Dr. V, then all Hell broke loose. Dr. V immediately waddled at me, ignoring all alleged aggro control from Echo of Statesman, who is classified as a "Tank", most amusingly. As Dr. V engaged, Echo of Statesman and the Shivan appeared to exchange goofy, confused glances with one another, then they slowly began to limp over. Behind them, Humpy, Lumpty, Dumpty, and Bill sloshed over the bridge, rapidly overtaking them. They all hit Dr. V and me at the same time. And that's when Echo of Statesman kicked the Shivan off the bridge. "WTAF???" I foamed, seeing the impossible happen before my own eyes. "That's not supposed to happen! Jack Emmert's taken control of his ancient avatar!" I realized. "He's going for The Final Nerf because he hates me for soloing the Shadow Shard bosses and beating a full team of 8 in PvP by myself back in Live! His Nerf Hammer knows no limits!" Then, with a seeming flicker in his eyes, Echo of Statesman lifted off the bridge, and flew off somewhere into the sky, leaving me alone to face the exploding mobs and the AV. Somewhere off in the distance, Echo of Statesman's voiceover brayed, "This is what you get, Void! ED and my awesome Nerf Hammer didn't stop you! But this will! NYAA-HAA-HAA-HAA!!!" Well, of course, long story short, not much stops me, even on a non-min/max toon, and even when Jack Emmert personally steps in to sabotage me. I slipped into Void Mode, chuckling to myself, and put Dr. V and His Body Shamed Band out of business. And because I care, I gave them all a parting gift of Ozempic and some Adkins fudge bars for their good health going forward. I had to admit, the El/El Sentinel is one tough cookie, even at that level, and with only SOs. Then, as I was about to shut it down, both Echo of Statesman and the Shivan popped up on the bridge near me, grinning vacantly. SMDH, and realizing that Jack had relinquished control of his ancient avatar in order to resume his role as Nerfmaster General on the new Pen Island game, I typed the obligatory "gg team" in chat and took a screenie. -void

Thank you, Warshades.

@Spaghetti Betty has done it again with a spectacular Regen/SS build (post is downstream in this forum), so I thought I'd take a dive into this rather deep pool and modify that spectacular build, just so we could explore min-maxing its Tanker concept a bit more. Not for 4* content, or anything epic like that. Just to add a few more subpercentile points to its overall Tanker Toughness rating, so that all former doubters of the magnificent glory of Regen may be illuminated, and henceforth prosper. I employed a minimalist approach to my min-maxing madness, because one does not brazenly paint over a DaVinci masterpiece with crude crayons. The following deltas occur between the original Spaghetti Betty post and this post: All possible IOs are maxed to +5. This is a common tactic used for maximum min-maxing performance. It's extremely expensive, and not recommended unless you're able to do it without losing any sleep over it. Char has been replaced by Fast Healing. This is to add more Regen power and add to Resistances. Removing the Decimation proc dulls down both procced damage and to hit for the potential 5 seconds of fun that the Decimation proc offers. So we'll see less potential damage by removing Char and the Decimation proc in it, but we'll balance that by making the build a bit more tanky. Melt Armor has been replaced by Salt Crystals. This is to add a Deep Sleep attack and add to Resistances. Integration's healing IO set has been changed from Panacea to Preventive Medicine. This adds to Resistances. A very few IOs have been added and/or replaced with new selections. They are easy to spot. These add to Resistances. Both Eye of the Magus and Barrier: Core Epiphany have been added, but only Barrier has been turned on, and set to its minimum effect at 120 seconds. This is to demonstrate what will always be on and running. The remainder of the "Loop": Moment of Glory and Rune of Protection have not been turned on, though Melee: Core Embodiment has. The "Loop" of #s 6 and 7 may be maintained with little effort, and should afford an awesome shield of Defense and Resistance over and above what is "steady state" (shown below). If we activate all members of the Loop, or even partially activate them in tiers, Defense and Resistance start to peg. Most powers are set to "max" on their sliders. This is the optimal performance, so it must be demonstrated. As is evident, the "steady state" (or almost mostly steady state) elevates the Resistances to unholy levels, breaching that Tanker-necessary 80%+ threshold of Resistance in almost all places. This means that, without engaging the Big Guns, the Regen Tanker can hit levels of Resistance formerly reserved for Stone Tankers in Granite form. Once the Loop is engaged, everything pegs. Add Max Hit Points of 3534, and 212 HP/s regeneration to this mix, as well as a 12 second Reconstruction of 1167 and a periodic Absorb shield of 807, and you've got a Total Tanking Regen Monster. I'll leave it at this, and once again thank @Spaghetti Betty for the inspiration to create another Void Monster. -void MIDS BUILD INFOGRAPHIC: BUILD: Void Mod Spaghetti Betty Tanker (Regeneration - Super Strength).mbd

Know this:

To summarize what I discern as the erudite views of those who responded to this thesis: Building a solid Regen Brute may indeed be done; however, a lot of conditional ellipses shall follow... That's a bit of snark. Because Snarky is needed. Please return to the boards, Snarky!

Thank you very much for your review and analysis, @Spaghetti Betty! While it is certainly true that I built it with defense in mind, the build doubtless will become much stronger once I take into account both your and @WuTang's advice. I think I'll go "all in" with the offered advice and see how things turn out. Thank you! -void

EDIT 20250119: In response to a query in Help last night, I posted this build to show how to optimize a Regen Brute. The concept is based upon building to certain requirements, then implementing a phased approach to using powers (powers, accolades, incarnate powers, etc.) to maintain a viable level of hardiness. (A tip of the hat again to @Spaghetti Betty for their most excellent demonstrations of Brute Regen; and, in other places, Battle Axe.) First, build the Regen Brute out to have the highest level of HP possible. I settled for just over 3,000 HP, which is close to the cap, and high enough to serve as a strong basis for leveraging some of the HP-based powers. Second, invest in +Recharge. We want this as high as possible, while not sacrificing everything to the stat, as some things will never be made practically permanent (such as Instant Healing). Here, we're basically looking at Dull Pain, Moment of Glory, Reconstruction, and Instant Healing. We're resolving this one, for this specific build, by adding Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge to all applicable Battle Axe attacks. Doing this will effectively boost our +Recharge up to 300%, which is great. Third, Boost every possible IO you can logically boost. This is a min-max option, and is not required, though it is strongly suggested if you want to totally optimize the build by adding a few precious percentiles to your overall Personal Power Rating (which is a conveniently nonexistent stat at this time). Fourth, learn and implement how to Time Phase your powers in order to create a smoother, more well-rounded overall defense. There are many different combinations of usage during a Time Phase. We'll show one example below. Regen Brute Time Phase, Example (sans Incarnates): Phase 0: Brute is just outside combat range with a mob of multiple villains. Brute sets up combat by activating Dull Pain, which will last for 120 seconds, then MOG, which will last for 15 seconds. Phase 1: Brute closes to combat range with mob, takes Alpha. Brute and villains exchange attacks until MOG ticks down after approximately 15 seconds. Dull Pain is still in effect. Phase 2: Brute activates Rune of Protection after MOG expires. ROP lasts for 60 seconds. It also adds some Status Protections. Phase 3: Brute may activate Instant Healing at any time. It lasts for 90 seconds. Brute may also activate Reconstruction at will. It is, at this point of the character's development that we are chronicling, up once every 12 seconds. Phase 4: Brute may activate Eye of the Magus/Demonic accolade power, which lasts for 60 seconds, at will, to cover for any possible Resistance or Defense issues. The Time Phase is all about coverage and overlapping coverage (Defense in Depth) over combat time. Our goal is to weave all of our powers into a web, or matrix, that optimizes our overall combat defense over time. While there are a few that are mostly First Come, First Serve (viz., Reconstruction) where we fire them at will and/or when needed, the others mostly may be woven into a reliable matrix of defense, based upon their attributes, coverage, and durations. We won't cover Incarnates here, but several of them are applicable to the Time Phase. Barrier, Ageless, and several others count here. Some might prefer Barrier for generic defense and resistance over time, while others might select Ageless for excellent Debuff Resistance. Melee Core Embodiment is another choice to augment Resistance. It's possible to earn multiple incarnate powers per incarnate slot, too, so please keep that in mind. Questions? A very powerful min-maxed Regen Brute: Void0084Battle Axe Regeneration Brute 004.mbd

The end AV actually rolls out at 54+3. It's an Incarnate itself, which is interesting. I stacked heavily when going against it on the SD/EM Tanker, as my SD/DM Tanker's earlier attempt got Mot down only to 80%. That attempt, however, was without additional input, so I added that additional input (seen on the screen capture above) and went Max Overkill with it. Turns out, it was unnecessary; the SD/EM Tanker probably had enough punch to end Mot solo, with no additional help. That's /EM though, compared to /DM, on a Tanker. It's noteworthy, however, that the /DM Tanker seemed to take little, if any, damage at any time. That little dude is really tough. It might not be able to defeat some DPS checks without a lot of external help, but it'll almost certainly come out of the encounter without so much as a scratch on its shield. Also, thanks to @Spaghetti Betty for the reply and endorsement! -void

I have One with the Shield, but it's rarely necessary to use, if at all, in the context of the Dark Astoria Incarnate Arcs +4/X8, with no deaths. Mostly, it's relegated to a combination of panic duty and whatever-fits mule. @Uun outlines the whys and wherefores. Curiously, the SD/DM build in the Spoiler below can ramp up to 3,398 HP with OWTS engaged. Perhaps the math is off, or the code is befuddled by erroneous IO Boosting. IMHO, Battle Axe can be leveraged enough to need few powers to help it. @Spaghetti Betty's Rad/BA Tanker build demonstrates how to achieve this: Tanker - Modified Spaghetti Betty Air Fryer for Battle Axe (Radiation Armor - Battle Axe).mbd They call it an "Air Fryer," which is accurate. "Insane Buzzsaw of Doom" would be equally accurate. -Void

Awesome! Thank you!

@Frosticus, after reviewing your Ill/Marine YouTube videos, I've decided to roll one up for the pursuit of my own solo fun. There's a whole lotta fun stuff going on in that video, and that makes me really want to explore it, as I've enjoyed experiencing several of your other builds and your unique tri-Ill/Cold configuration. While I might be able to back-engineer the majority of your build based upon what I'm seeing in the video, and based upon some of your other published builds (they all have a distinct Frosticus DNA to them), at your convenience please let me know if/when/where you post one of your Ill/Marine builds. That would be the figurative icing on the cake. Thank you so much for mastering the solo experience, Frosty. It's inspiring to those of us who think similarly. @VoidSpawn

Thank you for your kind comment. @Werner set the bar as high as it could go. The build is in the "Reveal hidden contents" section. It's in the new Mids format. Your SD/MA Tanker probably could achieve this. You might need some external assistance with damage on the final AV, or you might not. Only one way to know... 🙂