Renatos1023

Thanks! I'm in the process of trying to build a post-basic IO build and will take this into account. I have to say at 50, with basic IOs, and the handful of uniques I've bought, this character sits at a lot of resistance and ~26% Mel/Rng/AoE defense...I still need the second 3% def IO...but I don't get why people say to ignore Defense on a Dark....yea, I have no DDR...but at 30%def to M/R/AoE plus capped res, thats nigh unstoppable.

Yeah, I very much agree with your Spine Burst assessment. Once I respec, it will be dropped. The animation plays and half the things around me are usually dead. No reason for it to be that long. I will have to work in OG, I want it, but as a not veteran melee player, was unsure about its usefulness. Seems it is something to take. Would you slot it with just a base Acc or Disorient?

I wouldn't even mind if they removed the clunky version from Cold Dom altogether. I mean any Cold shouldn't care what their shields look like. Only the receivers care that they receive the buff (and don't look like square Michelin Man). Honestly, the easiest fix is just making all Cold shield the minimal FX ones, and removing the option for the square ones. Let the clunky ice shield options lie with the Melee ATs that can choose what they want. No one would even bat an eye and it would make it so much better.

Just got this character to 48. Have has a blast so far. But wanted to get some better opinions on a power swap. 90% of my chars are Defenders, so Tanks are a bit new to me. Have loved this character so far, but Spine Burst (the Spines PBAoE) seems to take forever to animate. I've died because of it. The power details say it takes 3 seconds, which is ridiculous - I can mix a drink while it goes off. While it has been a part of my rotation for 48 levels, I'd like to drop it. I went Psy Mastery, so I figured Psy Tornado would fill that gap as it has a lower activation time. Is that a good idea? I will say I currently have all the Spines attacks, except the tier 1. Just wanted to gather others' feedback on these sets. I have the first 6 powers in Dark/ cause even my basic Tank knowledge knows that the last 3 powers are not too useful (although part of me wants the the PBAoE disorient). As I said, Defenders are my main, so running a good Tank is generally out of my wheelhouse.

I've heard this before, which is why I didn't originally include it . But just changing the default during power selection would make a world of difference. I guarantee the majority of people wouldnt change back to the bulky version. What would even be more cool is, in the power descriptions for Cold, if the following text was added: "Most players prefer the minimal graphics version of this power." Which would be auto selected anyways.

I didnt want to say it in my original post...but maybe we add something to the Gull in PD about making ice shields minimal graphics.

So, I saw this challenge and decided I would do it my own way...just hit 37 on my Dark/Spines (not a fan of /Stone and never used Spines on any melee character since live). I am looking for feedback on the Dark/ side mostly, but will take secondary feedback too. This combo is very new to me, as I generally play Defenders. I have to say I REALLY love it. TWO damage auras are so fun. It is an endurance hog. I have slotted 3/4 of the endurance uniques that I can. One more to go. One question that I want to pose is: are y'all getting KB'd like crazy? I have two +4 KB protection IOs slotted (Steadfast and Universal Travel) -- I thought +8 KB protection would be solid. But I still feel like a friggen ping pong ball at times. I thought sets with built in KB protection only got 10....is that corrrect? Do I need to add more KB protection, and if so, how? This is my biggest gripe tbh. There is no reason that Tank sets do not have KB resistance.

I want to start this off by saying that I love Ice. I have Cold/ defenders, /Cold Corruptors, Ice/ Tankers and /Ice Scrappers. I love me some ice. What I also love is the minimal graphics of ALL the ice shields. I don't like looking like the square Michelin Man. And while I can control this when I am the Cold or Ice player, I cannot control it when I am the receiver of Cold buffs. I think that all Cold/ and /Cold shields should default to the minimal graphics versions. This would make the vast majority (98.87%, don't worry I did an internal survey of myself) not hate receiving the ice shields. I hate receiving the best shields ever, and looking like a bunch of colored squares because people don't know how to change their graphics (and god forbid they make the colors utterly atrocious). If the default were the minimal graphics versions, then people would have to actively be jerks to change that. Please Devs, make the default version of at least all Cold shields the version that doesn't make me look like squares.

Thank you both, much appreciated!

My question is quick and easy (I think). For the proc damage that comes from Storm Cell, do you need to slot Accuracy and Damage into Storm Cell, or do those stats come from the Storm/ powers you are using to create the proc damage? This question is mostly geared towards lower levels (27+) when I'm running on basic IOs (not sets). Just wondering if I should be slotting Acc and Dam IOs into it. Thanks y'all! Ren

Hate double posting, but don't want to start another post for this set - this combo feels almost as controller-y as my Earth/Storm. I have to say, I really thought I would miss having an AoE immobilize (and I do, but its very workable) but it doesn't really affect the effectiveness of the combo. /TA brings so much extra support, control, and debuffs. I just hit 32 and feel very comfortable managing multiple mobs. I know some people hate having so many location-targeted AoEs, but I love the fact that I can place almost every power where I want it and don't have to try and find the most center mob. /TA is one of the best secondary controller sets, I know that, but I didn't expect to like Arsenal/ as much as I do (having read the beta forums, I expected the utmost misery). Is Arsenal perfect, no! And maybe I'm biased with having chosen /TA, because it offers so much debuff and extra control, but I don't ever feel like I am lacking. Is there an extra mob...BOOM...I have arrows or grenades for it. This is a solid control combo. If I had to be honest, I rarely use the AOE knockdown power (maybe cause I now also have Oil Slick Arrow, which is much better anyways) and wouldn't mind if it was replaced with an AoE web grenade. But, overall, I do like this combo.

A Kin/Sonic defender might be your best +dam/-res combo. Meaning you boost your team's offense and lower the enemy's resistance, pretty much maxing the damage your team can dish out. As Frosticus said above, TA also puts out some good debuffs (probably my fave debuff set tbh) both -res, -def, and a bunch of others. I love Sonic Resonance but IMO it lacks in the -res department, especially if the ally-targeted toggle drops (or if the ally wanders off, goes afk, dies, etc...your -res in Sonic Resonance really relies on a single ally being in the middle of a mob). IMO, Sonic Resonance needs some work -- fantastic set thematically, but IMO from the title of your post with "maxing team damage" I think Kin/Sonic or TA/Sonic could probably do a better job. Sonic Blast lowers resistance so if you want to max your team's damage output that would be my choice on the blast set, plus it has the best PBAoE nuke IMO. Cold/ is also a fantastic set, once you get your recharge up and get perma-Sleet and Heat Exhaustion's recharge down, you can really pump up a team's damage. Both do -resistance and Sleet also has a nice chunk of -def. My Cold/Ice is one of my favorite defenders.

I rolled one of these today and put together a Posi 1....this is exactly correct. It took us 3 times to kill our clones because of blindness 🙂 -- I apologized profusely lol. I am thoroughly enjoying this combo.../TA really is one of my all-time favorite debuff sets and they really work well together. Just got to 24 after running DFB, Hollows, and Posi 1&2, and I feel like I'm contributing to teams. On another note: Was there ever discussion about Arsenal Control potentially using other weapons? I feel like all of its powers could also be shot by a Bow. With little Dev effort, I think many of the TA or Archery animations could be re-used. I feel like this is a missed opportunity and would make more people use this set if they didn't have to swap between weapons. But just a small critique.

I primarily play defenders. If you are looking to play an AT that deals massive, ranged damage.... you're in the wrong place (find Blasters and Sentinels). Defenders are support ATs. Your buffs/debuffs come first, and damage is secondary (as the sets are laid out). This isn't to say that certain Defender sets can't put out a lot of damage...they can. You just have to choose and slot carefully. My Cold/ and Dark/ Defenders are always first in the mobs because of their debuffs and nukes. They can mitigate/soak up Alphas, and deal a lot of damage...but that also costs a lot of influence. The set that you mention, Pain/, I have no experience with. I read its stats as a slightly more offensive Empath...a set I would never try to break alpha or be a damage dealer with. I think your Defender damage and usefulness comes down to your primary...Pain is more of a buff set, from looking at it (as I said, I haven't played it). And if you can't mitigate an Alpha strike as a Defender then that is TOTALLY fine, that is not your job. But a lot of Defender damage comes from the debuffs that your primary puts out. My Cold/Ice Defender generally breaks alpha strikes and can run point on most normal +4 ITFs (not the +star ones, screw those, they aren't fun). My Dark/Dark is just getting into incarnate levels but is a debuff beast. Being able to nuke every mob and shut down every group's to-hit is a boon. Defenders don't lack damage, you just have to figure out how to build them and there are many of us here who are more than happy to help.

Just jumping in to say that Sonic is definitely a good set, one of my favorites to be honest. My experience is on a Defender, and as someone said above you add 53% resistance to all but Psi. (granted, I'm guessing that this number will be in the high-30s for a Corruptor - which is still good). In a game where it seems that most people (myself included) build for high defense at end game, being able to plug that resistance hole for many (if not most sets) is a huge boon. I skipped Clarity, Sonic Cage, and Sonic Repulsion. I do want to point out that Page 7 did recently reduce the cooldown on Liquify from 300 seconds to 150 seconds (granted I think it should be 120s, but I'll take what I can get). So, it is now a much easier power to have up at least every other mob with some decent recharge.