ZemX

I occasionally get a problem where the keys act like I am pressing CTRL when I am not. Maybe it missed a key-up event or something. At-TAB out and then back in to the client usually fixes that for me. No need to restart. Not saying that was your issue but it might have fixed it.

I'm not sure it's going to matter what secondary or epic pool you choose. Invuln/Any, built properly, is going to live up to the name on the product label. If you're after hardmode survivability, that's more specific and you probably want to hang out in the few threads that are going about it now to see what works best there and what struggles with it.

I think redside's Dean MacArthur -> Leonard arc is better. Best is doing that first and then switching to blueside for Nance -> Adair. The nice thing about DMac->Leonard is it can end on a fairly heroic note if you want. Plus, who doesn't want a badge called "Army of Me"?? 😈

Shauna Braun, I think. Independence Port Vigilante contact arc.

You've already skipped some by doing the Wards. Here's the best crack at the timeline I think I've seen. If someone else knows of a better one, they can post it: To experience it all in order with one character is tricky and you'd had to have done the Wards entirely in Ouro flashback. That said, the Ward storylines aren't THAT connected to the Praetorian Invasion that you'd probably be bothered by it. I would pick up with the other content and return for Mr G. / Provost M. much later on.

Really? Nobody?

I'm surprised PhysPerf would be needed on a Bio, though I'm not to 50 yet with mine (and it's Staff so less end hungry than RadM). I am so addicted to CJ for combat mobility, I think I'd probably only use FA situationally and drop into Efficient Mode if I had to. But that's a lot of recovery already. The usual procs in health/stamina. Inexhaustible with another PerfShifter (and great EndDrain resist). DNA Siphon with Theft of Essence. And still as a last resort to all that, Efficient Mode. I've not needed it on my Rad/Rad at least, though RadA has admittedly slightly better recovery even than Bio, so maybe not a good comparison either.

I want to pair it with Staff. 😞

I vaguely remember there being a timer in this mission. Is that just the timer on those ambushes?

As convenient as the side switching stuff is now, you still have a few bugs to dodge. They don't always happen, but sometimes... You might not be able to join a blue team as a Rogue if the leader is already inside a mission, even if you are in a blue zone. You might get auto-kicked from a blue team as a Rogue if you visit an SG base, Ouroboros, Pocket D, or Cimerora, even though these are neutral zones. On a mixed team the mission can't be set by the leader if some of the team is in Ouroboros. This can happen on "Board Transit" missions because it's popular to open an O-Portal and use the portal in Ouro as the "transit" entrance instead of walking a few hundred yard to a train station. 🤪 I don't think any of this has ever happened to me on a Task/Strike Force, but on regular missions teams, yes. If I think I have time, I'll hit Null the Gull to switch Rogue/Vigilante to match where the missions are being run. If worried the team will fill, I'll send a tell first asking to wait for me to switch. Also a good test. Someone not willing to wait a minute for you to switch probably isn't much fun to team with either. Most people are fine with it though. Also a good idea to send a tell if you want to switch to a different character for that team.

Yes, but... WHICH ONE?!

Team leader: "LF Emp" LFG channel: "You don't need an Emp!" Team leader: "LF Emp"

Wow, I need to update Mid's more often. Mine was apparently really out of date and showing me low values for Bio's defense in these builds being posted. I was wondering why you were all so excited about them. 🤪 Now I want to try Bio/Staff because I need NINE MODES OF OPERATION!

I have a normal body guy. Taller than average, but not max. height. I find the various energy/elemental swords don't look quite as silly because the blade end isn't solid material, so you can imagine it is weightless. It also works for me with the audio. A couple of the attacks seem to "whoosh" but not have any impact sound, which seems weird to me if I am swinging a railroad crossing sign or a giant mallet, but not weird with the energy blade. They also mesh better conceptually with energy/elemental-themed armor sets, of course.

That does look good, but if concept is a little more important than performance, I'd swap Super Jump, Gloom, and DN for Project Will, Mighty Leap, and Wall of Force. And I'm not saying one should enhance PW and WoF for knockback distance to turn their KD into KB... but I'm also not NOT saying it. 🤪

I am nearly always standing in the middle of a group while using it. The whole point of having a 70 foot range, 22.5ft radius, autohit Taunt with -range debuff is that I don't have to leave that group to bring things to me or tear stray aggro off teammates. If I've got most of the enemies right there with me, I might as well be cooking them on the spot and dishing out AoEs than dancing around a room smack-taunting a few outliers to maintain control, while trailing a dozen enemies chasing behind me, I figure. I weigh it against any other 1-slot wonder I might replace it with and usually can't come up with too many contenders that make the actual "tanking" part of the job quite as easy or effective as that. In the context of this thread which is about compromising a little of that to do more damage... sure, it makes perfect sense to skip it. If you solo half the time, there's half the time you're never using Taunt.

It's even not that bad for all close combat chars either. It's mainly Tankers and Brutes who attract a lot of aggro that can be dicey at highest difficulty. They can't turn off the automatic taunt in their attacks. I've found it's best not to be sidekicked as a tanker on a team doing +4/x8, for example, until I've got a good I/O build... or at least half of one.

I lost count too. 🙂 It was five or six I think. Will be fun to do that again when he's 50+1 and able to hit better than 20% of the time against the dreaded Cimeroran Phalanx. 😈

Isn't taunt duration the ONLY thing that plays into the threat formula related to taunt effects? I don't see mag mentioned and I don't know of any taunt mag protection that exists anywhere, just resistance (which shortens duration). Regardless, I've never bothered enhancing taunts for duration either. It's just never a problem taunting off anybody else, especially with a tanker. Maybe because I prefer tankers with decent AoEs early in their sets. Laying down a taunt effect is nice, but adding damage to it while that taunt is still ticking away? Nobody can top that because your damage is multiplied by taunt duration remaining which is then multiplied x1000. I can lose aggro to someone else who is taunting but, in my book, that's cool. If they want aggro badly enough to taunt for it... I can share.

If you're referring to the advanced difficulty modes, yeah, you won't want Scrappers tanking for you. But you also won't want Tankers DPSing for you. I don't think you'll necessarily NEED Tankers, but you'll want to think more about having some combination of folks on the team controlling/supporting/tanking so you can have some others doing the real damage dealing. Scrappers in that situation will be what they were always meant to be: Damage dealers that do less damage but survive better than Blasters. Blasters who have gotten used to being nigh-untouchable with soft-cap defenses won't be having fun without support/tanking in that situation, that's for sure.

No joke. PSA if you're a resist-based tanker: Pack some orange candy for the Manti and keep an eye out for the Rad Defender variety of PP Elites. They have THIS evil little thing on them... ETA: This is a toggle, so unlike the unresistable Tar Patches that certain other NPCs also have, you can't run away from this. But you CAN run away from your fellow Tuesday Tankers, who should thank you for not sharing this with them. 😈

Again? Around here we call that a "Tuesday".

I think it's pretty well known that you need a taunt, preferably a taunt aura, to efficiently AoE a spawn. You compared Tankers, who not only ALL have taunt auras, but also have AoE gauntlet taunts in every attack... to an AT that by-design has neither. You'd see the same problem comparing Scrapper primaries that have a taunt aura to ones that don't. And comparing Tankers to Brutes, I think you'd see pretty predictably the Brute outpacing the Tanker in most cases. There might be certain specific combos that do better on Tanker, but that'd be about it, I expect. If I'm serious about soloing on a Stalker, I try to find a way to fit in Provoke and/or an AoE immob to at least keep some enemies from running.

It's the same -20% debuff to defense for both, but... 1. Tankers have more hit points. 2. Tankers have a higher defense modifier and thus probably more defense to start with. 3. Tankers have a higher resistance modifier and an ATO to stack even more res, so they'll take less damage even with debuffed defense than the Brute.