Heraclea

The only character I played through the revamped DA on was my Dark Melee/Reflexes scrapper. This character was built to be as self sufficiently unhittable as possible. She was AE-leveled, my only real AE baby, and built to have a chance against the overpowered AE mobs everybody liked to make. Her purpose was to avoid the AH by buying rare salvage on demand with tickets. She was the only character I had any interest in playing against those kinetic Tsoos. Goldside and the pervasiveness of these mobs with stacking debuffs in the new material was one reason why I was losing interest in the game before shutdown was announced. The big problem with the material is that it is extremely team unfriendly. Masses of those kind of mobs make it advisable to take them on one on one. If you have to fight them, you don't want to spawn bosses, and full team spawns of them are just no fun at all. This material suggested to me that the late-issue devs still didn't 'get' their game. They did not understand all of the factors that made it uniquely fun. They were adding generic MMO crap like don't-stand-here zones. I regret to say that in the first half of 2012 I was not playing much CoH.

The -damage effects of Kinetic Melee would appear to recommend itself as stacking with Bio's resistance. High endurance attack sets like Spines will be helped by Bo's endurance friendly features.

My i23 experience is that Willpower absolutely required Tough and Weave, and would struggle with alphas before they were in place. Invuln is at least functional without them. I dislike the fighting pool, mostly because it requires taking a throwaway attack. At least it frees a couple slots.

For holding aggro, Spines has a lot going for it once you get Quills. Note also that most Spines attacks can be frankenslotted for slows, which keeps mobs near, and for chances for recharge slow with Pacing of the Turtle, which reduces incoming damage.

One of the plaques needed for Atlas Medallion is there. If there's another way to get that I don't know what it is.

Never taken Unstoppable on an Invuln tanker. Never felt the need, even w/o set bonuses. Dull Pain is the only trouble bubble I need. This was true when Heraclea was Inv/SS and truer now that she's /Dark; even Dull Pain tends to sit neglected when Siphon Life is fully slotted for healing and available every six seconds or so.

The character that felt it the worst was my blaster. When you're level 48 on the speed ITF and Judgment nukes are going off all around by the time you picked a target, you start to wonder why you came.

AFAIK regen is not a tanker armor. Regen is godly in the levelling game, and not very good in the 40+ game. I have a fire/regen scrapper who farms Synapse and Citadel for my higher ups. You need some defense in the late game, and Regen is basically starting from zero there. You can nullify your actual advantages in Regen by taking Maneuvers, Tough and Weave, but by themselves and out of the box, those aren't great by themselves. Regen is basically for melee blasters; the need is to kill everything before it kills you. Also, Fire is one of the better sets against toxic; the self heal gives you long lasting toxic resistance that stacks with itself, so you can get up to 60% resistance there. Fire is king of Posi 2.

Many of those are fantastic. But I like costumes with a lot less flash. For Mother of Vinegar, I was going for a basic Colonial era tavern wench.

Variety is a part of it. Reduced ability to choose preferred content is bigger; this is even a larger issue with Praetorian content. I levelled there once, no wish to return. Redside gives you level 30 Carnies. Redside gives you kinetic Tsoos. Redside gives you Consiglieres. It's harder to find a team there because these mobs are basically solo only; fill a mission with them and it saps the fun right out of the game. (As I said, goldside is even worse; that stuff appears to be entirely solo-only.) When they were redside only, all of my masterminds came to grief once they hit Sharkhead. The zone was inescapable, and levelling a MM through one Scrapyarder mission after another was no fun at all. I may actually get interested in one now that they don't have to go there. Blueside, if you don't want to fight Clockwork or Vahzikok or Carnies or Malta or Vanguard or Arachnos or Longbow you never have to. You can go from 1 to 50 without facing any of those mobs quite easily. I may make one of my heroes a villain for a while after they've levelled and I have a big roster of 50s. But really, I have no desire to level a character there.

Thanks!

I am enjoying mine, and levelled her to 31 this evening. I don't expect heroics from her DPS; certainly not being able to one-shot a red lieutenant and surrounding minions like my blaster can. This may be because I am used to playing tankers, whose DPS is not awful, but is rather slow and steady, because if you are a tanker you have time. The blaster doesn't have time. The sentinel has time. My Water/WP sentinel has enough basic defenses to survive what the mobs throw at her, especially when she has them distracted with Whirlpool. Her defenses aren't actually that great, but she has a quick recharging self heal in her attacks, and the ability to keep mobs at bay rather than letting them gang up on her. I need to replace Whirlpool power button with a macro that casts it at a targeted mob. This is going to require a refresher course.

Evolving Armor is your taunt aura. It also gives you small broad spectrum damage reistance. It may not do so much when you have Genetic Contamination, but I think you need it nonetheless. There aren't really any clunker powers in Bio Armor. You will want all of the trouble buttons; Bio plays an improved version of Fire.

I took Hasten, very late in the build, on my electric/electric blaster, but so far I'm not seeing an urgent need for it on my sentinel so far. The blaster takes it because I want her big nuke up as much as possible, that, and Power Sink and Force of Thunder, basic survival tools. The comparable tier attack on my sentinel (Geyser) looks much more situational; knockback may need a workaround. Other primaries may have different needs. Recharge, damage, and endurance reduction are all plentiful in sets; where I typically find them wanting is in accuracy. Accuracy is especially vital on a self heal or other survival buff like Dehydrate. I do not hesitate to Frankenslot powers like that, seeking to maximize accuracy, recharge, and healing even at the expense of damage. You want it up as often as needed, and you want to make sure it hits, and you want to max out its heal and regeneration. These things will do you more good than any set bonus you might chase.

Goals of the build are DPS, debuffs, efficiency, and team utility. Character is currently at 25. Not building a tank here - this character is a lot more range oriented than my blaster, who is very PBAoE oriented and needs the defense. So I cam considering Leadership rather than Fighting. Also plan to parlay the slows in Water to apply as much -recharge on enemes as I can. Disconcertingly, the sentinel version of WP has no place for the Dark Watcher proc, which my scrappers and tankers usually use. Also plan to add the knockback to knockdown in Geyser; did not find it in MIDS. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Mother of Vinegar: Level 50 Science Sentinel Primary Power Set: Water Blast Secondary Power Set: Willpower Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Gadgetry Ancillary Pool: Ninja Tool Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Hydro Blast -- PcnoftheT--Rchg%(A), EntChs-Acc/Dmg(3), EntChs-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Rui-Acc/Dmg(9), Rui-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(34) Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Mrc-Heal(40) Level 2: Water Burst -- Ann-Acc/Dmg(A), Ann-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11) Level 4: Fast Healing -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A) Level 6: Dehydrate -- TchoftheN-Acc/Heal(A), TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(7), TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(7), EntChs-Acc/Dmg(9), EntChs-Dmg/Rchg(17), EntChs-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31) Level 8: Mystic Flight -- Flight-I(A) Level 10: Indomitable Will -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(11), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(39), LucoftheG-Def(43) Level 12: Whirlpool -- PcnoftheT--Rchg%(A), AirBrs-Acc/Dmg(13), AirBrs-Dmg/EndRdx(13), AirBrs-Dmg/Rchg(37), AirBrs-Dmg/Rng(43), Acc-I(43) Level 14: Tidal Forces -- GssSynFr--Build%(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(15), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(15), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(46), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(46) Level 16: Up to the Challenge -- RgnTss-Heal/EndRdx(A), RgnTss-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(17), RgnTss-Regen+(40) Level 18: Water Jet -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(19), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), PcnoftheT--Rchg%(46) Level 20: Quick Recovery -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(21), EndMod-I(21) Level 22: Mind Over Body -- RctArm-EndRdx(A), RctArm-ResDam(23), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(40), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(42), RctArm-EndRdx/Rchg(48) Level 24: Aqua Bolt -- AnlWkn-%ToHit(A), Dcm-Acc/Dmg(25), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(34), Dcm-Build%(34) Level 26: Steam Spray -- AchHee-ResDeb%(A), AirBrs-Acc/Dmg(27), AirBrs-Dmg/EndRdx(27), AirBrs-Dmg/Rchg(29), AirBrs-Dmg/Rng(31), Acc-I(33) Level 28: Heightened Senses -- GifoftheA-Def/EndRdx(A), GifoftheA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29), GifoftheA-EndRdx/Rchg(42), GifoftheA-Run+(45) Level 30: Maneuvers -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(31) Level 32: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(33) Level 35: Geyser -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A), AirBrs-Acc/Dmg(36), AirBrs-Dmg/EndRdx(36), AirBrs-Dmg/Rchg(36), AirBrs-Dmg/Rng(37), Acc-I(37) Level 38: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(39) Level 41: Strength of Will -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(42) Level 44: Tashibishi -- PcnoftheT--Rchg%(A), PcnoftheT-Acc/Slow(45), PcnoftheT-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(50) Level 47: Nano Net -- PcnoftheT--Rchg%(A), PcnoftheT-Acc/Slow(48), PcnoftheT-Acc/EndRdx(48) Level 49: Blaster Drone -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(50), Dmg-I(50) Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(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 -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A) ------------

I don't think Tankers have Regen. Could be wrong. I have a regen scrapper that I mostly use for farming Old Posi, Synapse, and Citadels, but which isn't much fun playing 40+ content on. Willpower has Quick Recovery. Bio has Efficiency Mode, which mostly is for soloing while defensive mode is for teams. I think Electric, Ice, and Dark armors have some kind of endurance recovery mechanism.

Mechanically, Shield is probably one of the better primaries to mix with Energy Melee. It's another set and forget set; you aren't depending on click powers like you would with Fire or Bio primaries. It does also put inspirations out of reach during the long forced AFKs while you watch the animations play.

I was curious about this too, and thinking of posting about it. My water/WP sentinel is barely 22, and following my usual plan for Willpower, has just taken Mind over Body - no need to have toggles chewing on your endurance when they barely do as much as a couple small insps. I was wondering whether slotting up the WP defenses could be postponed indefinitely until after all the attacks are slotted, and whether having Fighting pool was really needful on the character. Unlike my electric/electric blaster, who is mostly PBAoE based, the sentinel attacks from range. Like the blaster, a lot of her survivability seems to come from debuffs in her attacks. I plan on building on that by adding the Pacing of the Turtle or Dark Watcher's Despair procs in just about everything that will accept them. Should I make slotting the defenses a priority, or build up my attacks first?

Have another one fit to show off. Sparta on Indomitable: SPARTA-3759

The number one thing in my book that makes me like a character is lack of frustration. Tankers mean lack of frustration for me. The original Heraclea was Inv/SS, because she was rolled in i1. New Heraclea is Inv/Dark Melee, because my i23 experience is that this combination was even stronger. And she can be expected to have changed after spending seven years in the Underworld. I am remaking most of my favorite concepts, but usually with changes. Many of the changes combine two i23 favorites. I23 Betsy Ross was a joke character made for a 4th of July costume contest. There never was a particular reason why she should be a Spines/WP scrapper. One of her heirs is now a Bio/Spines tanker, Catrina Calaveras, who on an archeological dig received superpowers and a mission from the Aztec gods to Kill Skuls. Betsy's patriotic and colonial American costumes were inherited by Mother of Vinegar, water/WP sentinel, who also is going to be built around a plan using slow procs for team utility and survival. Grandma Gnosis, ill/emp in i23, is back, but merged with William Shakespeare, rad/archery, who was rolled in the brief moment that the Bard AE account badge was available; she is now ill/rad. Maiden Heaven is back unchanged as a fire/regen scrapper; she was and will be my lowbie TF merits farmer.

I mentioned before: my personal challenge is to see how much story I can pack into a very short bio text. Here's another try:

I think so, yes. At least, you always seem to be facing south when you rez in the medbay, and when you enter through the entrance.

Torchbearer was the original one back in April. People are rolling characters on all the servers now. I invested too deeply in Torchbearer to really want to move any of my characters to a different server, especially because Torchbearer has mo most elaborate and developed thematic SG base; it's become home to the Amazon characters that are usually my mains. But I think I have one character on all of the servers except Reunion. If I have one, it will be a tanker.