Flux Vector

If you're still looking for new player advice, my suggestion is to play a Corruptor rather than a defender or controller because it's just going to be more straightforward and new player friendly to use your class's core competencies. Choose a blast set from among Fire, Ice, Assault Rifle or Beam Rifle for raw power, or just pick one that goes with your concept. Broadly speaking, the support sets that have the most heal-centric gameplay are (in order of recommendation) Nature Affinity, Thermal Radiation, Pain Domination, and Empathy. I'd add that I rate Time Manipulation and Dark Miasma ahead of Nature Affinity as "support sets with healing in them," but they are not heal-centric sets and rely on using buffs or debuffs and crowd control more than the others on that list. Combine those things in any way you like and you should find success.

New taskforces, especially more redside strike forces or "purple side" task forces. Some well-designed incarnate tier taskforces (as opposed to trials) so that there's a layer of accessible but challenging incarnate content that doesn't revolve around "mini raids." Leave behind the whole "time to complete" as a metric of rewards and do things to counteract "rush culture." The way merit values are currently assigned to content creates perverse incentives for players and can actively detract from the fun. Trials as they currently are designed, I can really take or leave. Most of them are too short and too oriented towards rushing from objective to objective as quickly as possible. Honestly I'm over "rush culture" and would like to have a game with a steadier sense of pacing and fewer incentives to bypass things. If trials could be made more deliberately paced and engaging, use mechanics that provide opportunities for decision-making and managing an encounter, provide good roles for crowd control and support characters, and start using everyone's health pools as a resource instead of having a binary "you're fine or you're dead" feel for most characters, I'd be keen with up to 3-team trials as well. But in doing so, do away with "participation metering" for rewards - again, this creates perverse incentives for players and actively detracts from fun.

I had both claws and DB characters on live, personally I think DB is the more fun and better performing set. There's a few reasons, but a big one is that your optimal chain runs with Sweeping Strike, which is a fast hard hitting single target power that happens to be a cone. It's like if Claws Eviscerate had a 1 second animation speed instead of a 2.5 second one. DB is also neat for having its "second best" attack chain be one of its combos, and be within 10 base dps (before buffing/slotting/procs/etc) of the "best" chain, so you really aren't losing THAT much performance if you wanted to make a DB character who didn't throw everything into recharge and focused on other angles in their build. Claws is still pretty good, but I had more fun with DB.

Follow up - lunge - strike - swipe. If AOE - follow up - lunge - strike - spin. If NW - every other rotation single target, use Slash instead of Swipe. You can also try to work in eviscerate instead of Swipe if you like.

Don't drop medicine. Field medic's not really worth it but aid self definitely is. You'll want it in many cases. Double leadership eats endurance you could be using yourself, because your claws are better dps than most characters. They're in the same ballpark as a dark melee scrapper. You're already giving people 25% tohit or so with mindlink and TT: Leadership so adding tactics is superfluous; you're already giving them almost 30% defense from TT: Maneuvers and Mind Link, adding another 5% from regular maneuvers is kinda silly for the cost. A second copy of assault is okay, but not if you can't support the end cost while still stabbing things continuously, because your dps potential really is that good. That's why you need to redesign yourself around an attack chain of follow up - lunge - strike - swipe and purge all ranged attacks from usage entirely. Never redraw your claws unless it's to use psychic wail.

I assume people want to make the most effective character, especially if they are asking for help on a build. That implies that they aren't getting what they want out of what they're doing, and they aren't going to know what's better if nobody tells them. Widow claws (either side) are better DPS than scrapper/stalker claws, and are in the ballpark with scrapper/stalker dark melee as one of the most damaging melee character setups you can possibly run. Top 10, if not top 5. I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to do titan weapons short of levelling one to cap and then testing it on a pylon.

I'm going to be a bit of a contrarian. Neither widow should be ranged. The optimal path for fortunatas as well as NWs is to use the claw powers. Both widows have the same top tier attack chain: Follow Up -> Lunge -> Strike -> Swipe. Night widows can replace every other Swipe with Slash for a very small DPS gain but to entirely replace Swipe with Slash you need to use Ageless Destiny, Geas of the Kind Ones, or an external buff. The fortunata psychic powers are bad not because they are psychic, but because their power stats are much worse (much slower animation speeds), and because follow up really is that good. They're about equal for soloing hard content. Fortunatas are mildly better at dealing with nasty crowds via psychic wail and CCs, particularly Confuse (the best thing to do with a nasty enemy is to get it to kick the crap out of its friends). Night widows have placate and elude for making their lives a little easier against AVs and GMs, but it's not going to be decisive just convenient. Both of them will lean heavily on Aid Self in those scenarios. You can do anything with either, and you'll use roughly the same tactics in the process. NWs don't do substantially more damage - one slash every 2nd cycle of your attack chain doesn't add a ton to your output (under 10dps as I recall). AOE probably averages out, though NWs can more consistently use psychic scream because it doesn't make you redraw claws; offsetting that is that psychic wail for fortunatas is a lovely power and with the recharge a fortunata build wants anyway you can wreck about 2 spawns a minute with it. The main difference is you can get a NW close to their maximal potential without any weird build tricks, PVP IOs, or purples. Fortunatas need a 1%'er build to get there. That's really the only practical difference besides psychic wail vs elude.

I recommend this build to people who want an effective NW. It uses no purples, no ATOs, and no PVP IOs. If you are going to go into the realm of using those, I'd recommend looking at Fortunata instead; the only thing I ever missed when going from NW to Fortunata is Elude. Highlights: Optimal self-buffed attack chain for widows available (Follow Up - Lunge - Strike - Slash/Swipe) Softcapped to all 3 positions with some debuff padding. 3 seconds off perma-hasten. Aid Self. Elude to counter defense debuffers/for incarnate content. Benefits from most Alpha slots. Can substitute any travel power. Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Natural Arachnos Widow Primary Power Set: Night Widow Training Secondary Power Set: Widow Teamwork Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Medicine Villain Profile: Level 1: Swipe -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(3), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mk'Bit-Dam%(42) Level 1: Combat Training: Defensive -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 2: Strike -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(7), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mk'Bit-Dam%(43) Level 4: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- RedFrt-Def(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(37), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(37), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(39), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(43) Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(17) Level 8: Follow Up -- CrsImp-Acc/Dmg(A), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), CrsImp-Dmg/Rchg(9), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), GssSynFr--Build%(13) Level 10: Indomitable Will -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A) Level 12: Lunge -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Mk'Bit-Dam%(23), RechRdx-I(45) Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 16: Spin -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(17), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(19), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Obl-%Dam(37) Level 18: Slash -- CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx(29), CrsImp-Dmg/Rchg(29), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45) Level 20: Mystic Flight -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 22: Foresight -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(33), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(33) Level 24: Mind Link -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(25), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(25), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(27), RedFrt-Def(27) Level 26: Mental Training -- Run-I(A) Level 28: Tactical Training: Leadership -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(48), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(48), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(48), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(50) Level 30: Mask Presence -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 32: Poison Dart -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(34), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34) Level 35: Dart Burst -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(36), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(36), PstBls-Dam%(36), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46) Level 38: Aid Other -- Heal-I(A) Level 41: Aid Self -- IntRdx-I(A), NmnCnv-Heal(42), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(42), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(50), DctWnd-EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 44: Tactical Training: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 47: Placate -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 49: Elude -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- UnbLea-Stlth(A) Level 1: Conditioning Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Mrc-Heal(43), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(45), NmnCnv-Heal(46), Prv-Absorb%(46) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(39), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(39), PrfShf-Acc/Rchg(40), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(40), PrfShf-End%(40) ------------ ------------

I play a fortunata primarily; anecdotally speaking I can say there have been multiple people ingame at level 50 who are confused about why their snipe power changes behavior while I'm on the team giving them a bunch of tohit buffing via TT:Leadership and Mind Link. And then are really happy that it became instant and start using it as often as they can. Many others just don't have their snipes, most likely because it was an "almost always skip" power back on Live for a lot of folks and the fact that fast snipe exists seems not to be widely known. I'm not going to say that these specific changes are the best idea, but I do think it does address those particular flaws. More importantly in my opinion, it puts another attack in the hands of a lot of sets that don't have complete attack chains without taking powers from elsewhere or getting extremely high recharge from IO builds. The traditional model of the ranged attack sets had 3 "standard" single targeted attacks, while the traditional model of the melee attack set had 4 - frequently the 4th being an extremely hard-hitting power. Changing sniper attacks to be a 'tier 4' type of blast for everyone is a valid - if not obvious - means to bring some additional parity between ranged and melee classes. I think any veteran COH player with two eyes and a brain can recognize why that parity is badly needed. I understand people are concerned about their particular builds and their particular characters, but I'm also sure there will be ways you can incorporate and improve on this change with your knowledge and talents. Getting tactics to buffed tohit rates for fast sniping imposes an endurance, slot, and powers tax on your build - what can you accomplish by moving those things elsewhere? It may well end up being superior for your IO build. And it definitely will be superior for the players who do not want to play with IO builds, or just aren't very good at them. One of the Live team's ideals was not to balance around the end-game, highest tier of potential character builds and to keep the game accessible and fun at all stages.

All I'm reading is that Blasters might be a little less worse than melee ATs, who were gods among ants for years back on Live. Both Cryptic and Paragon literally reduced the game's death penalty more than once because of Blasters, and blasters were the only AT with that kind of problem. I don't think we're anywhere near them getting out of hand.

Psychic assault, fire assault, and martial assault are my favorites at the moment.

Sure, if you believe everything "they" say. Personally I think it was the other way around, given the hate-on that the Cryptic team had for farming in general. They wanted to nerf PSW, and noticed that the set was garbage without it, so they rebalanced it to try to compensate and keep the players who had it from causing too much ruckus. It didn't, in my memory, work out quite that way. People who already were playing /psy dominators were largely doing it to farm, and then losing their edge on that made them switch to brutes. It took a while for the population of /psy dominators that I saw around to recover. Whether or not you like or dislike farming, Cryptic was on the record as disliking it and made more changes to combat farming than almost any other thing, even to the point of making the game hostile to 'squishy' characters in many ways without any compensation, and it 100% drove the aggro cap and the AOE target cap, as well as playing at least some role in the global defenses nerf and the addition of ranged attacks to numerous enemies who didn't have them before, along with proliferation of crowd control among NPCs and a variety of other solutions that never actually worked because players will always find a way. Paragon eventually gave up on trying to discourage/punish farming; whether this was because they realized that they couldn't or because the changing of the guard led to a new mindset, I'll never know. But Cryptic definitely despised it. And IMO, they made the game worse in material ways for everyone trying to stop it.

Every power can proc a proc individually, though I believe multiple instances of the achilles proc from the same person may refresh the duration rather than stacking the -res. I don't remember it clearly, and I do know that you at least used to be able to briefly see the Numina and Miracle buffing procs "double up" if you are tracking recovery/regen and zone fast enough ingame, but I just seem to remember that Achilles Heel may be a special case in this regard and not stack extra -res because of how popular it got.

PSW was nerfed on Live many years ago because of dominators being too effective at farming with it.

I think gravity is fine. Singularity is an amazing defensive pet and wormhole is a highly useful power that is unique in the game - nothing else does what it does. And you can easily have it up every spawn. Suck those enemies o ... in, I meant in. It forces them to be very closely stacked and makes them a lot handier to AOE for your friends. Or you.