Renatos1023

Honestly, just wanted share my experience and to hear the thoughts of others on Psi Armor on a Scrapper. I just hit 31 on mine - started with DFB, hit the Hollows for some Frostfire, then did Posi, Synapse, and Yin so far. Scrappers are not my main AT -- I love me my Defenders. But I wanted to try Psi Armor and I didn't want to be a Tank. Generally, when I want a Scrapper, I go with a Defense-based set. I'm always cautious about using predominantly Resistance based sets on Scrappers because the 75% res cap is such a huge hit compared to a Tank's 90% res cap. But here we go: Renato: Energy Melee/Psi Armor Scrapper - Lv.31 Lv.1-15 These levels were relatively normal for a Scrapper. The basic shields do what they do, there is really nothing special in the first 4 secondary powers that you can take through level 10. I struggled with endurance and had to decide which shields I wanted to use. I think that is typical for this level of Scrapper. I read that Psi Armor has a hole to lethal res, which clocks in at 15% un-enhanced (which I thought was relatively low, IMO). This is also the same value for Fire and Cold res. Not sure that counts as a hole, but it can definitely be felt before you get Devour Psyche. The first 15 levels flew by due to DFB + Frostfire, but they were endurance intensive. Attack-wise I rotated through Barrage, Energy Punch, and Power Crash. Gotta say I love Energy Melee so far. Hits hard, and the cone was a nice add (I haven't played energy melee since live when it struggled) You'll likely have to juggle your toggle defenses until you hit 16 and get Devour Psyche. The first 15 levels go by quick, which is nice, because you don't get the first two set-defining powers until 16 and 20. Lv. 16-25 This is when you start to feel super, and you get those first set defining powers. I have to say I thought I'd hate the Devour Psyche cone on a Scrapper...but nay. It has such a long range and wide area that I always hit a good number of mobs with it. Its lovely once you get the stacks maxed out so that you only have to hit one target to maintain those stacks. This power, once slotted, greatly helps with your endurance issues. The regen also helps with the (IMO) relatively lower resist numbers. DP was a game changer for me at 16. I felt meh, then...boom...felt strong. And that is just with basic IOs. Psychokinetic Barrier at Lv.20 is the cherry on top of your Devour Psyche Sundae. The two powers together allow you to do stupid things at low levels - granted I had good teams behind me in all my TFs. But I did main "tank" and absorb the alpha multiple times. PB fills that "self-healing" hole that you've been looking for. A nice boost to MaxHP plus an Absorb shield, along with some other resistances. Take it and slot it well. Precognition is a no-brainer. Free auto-defense with some +perception...yes please. I also got Total Focus which really made me start to appreciate Energy melee. Hits hard and opens some avenues on other powers for more effects. Lv. 26-31 I finally got some slots into my EM attacks and picked up Energy Transfer. Total game changer for your damage game. I now understand why EM is the king of single target damage. Is AoE lacking, sure. But I only took the cone and haven't yet taken the PBAoE. Picked up Aura of Insanity and Memento Mori. I can't say I've yet to notice any big changes or mez effects with AoI. Granted mine is only slotted with an Acc so far. So, I'm guessing that once I can get some of those Hami Acc/Mez enhances in it, that will make a difference. I've yet to use Memento Mori, but I just slotted it with 2 recharge and a Heal so far at Lv.31. I'll have to check back in once I've tried it out in combat. Overall Thoughts: At Lv.31 I've really liked both sets. The stuns from EM hit often enough that I think they help with survivability. And as I said, once you get Devour Psyche and Psychokinetic Barrier, you really start to feel like the Scrapper you want to be. DP and PB will likely lead you to some scrapperlock deaths....but isn't that the point of being a Scrapper.

I also rolled with /Kin and just hit 37. So far, it has been really fun. Pyro/ reminds me of Earth/ with the sheer number of controls I can toss out -- always seem to have something up to throw at a mob, and the +recharge and +dam that /Kin offers are always boon to any team. Once I picked up Transference any and all endurance issues just magically disappeared. I went /Kin for a kind of energy control theme. Plus, I know /Kin likes to be in melee and I thought the PBAoE aura from Pyro/ would provide a little bit of extra protection for that.

100% support this, I've always thought it should be shorter too. This is the 1 TF that I never look forward to doing on any of my characters, but I want the badge for the accolade. The number of kill alls is annoying, plus the endurance issues that most low-level toons have is compounded by all the -end in the Clockwork attacks which really just makes the TF as a whole unenjoyable.

I would like to open the discussion on the title topic: should the repel effect be removed from Mind Control's Telekinesis? Foe me the answer is a resounding YES. The trawl effect is perfect, but it should just be centered on the target. No repel. I don't want to guess where my AoE immob will end up. Is it here, there or anywhere? Your guess is as good as mine. And it has a long recharge - its not like Mind is immob-ing every mob: there is a good recharge. The repel is just a relic from a previous power that needs to be removed. Just a thought.

I also agree with this. Something to make controls stick longer/actually affect tough targets - I had suggested a chance to ignore mez resistance/protection, but would be fine with literally anything that makes my primary useful against harder targets, like Romans in a +4 ITF.

As I mentioned in another post, I really like the fact that Adaptive recharge lets you use your AoE hold on a smaller number of mobs - this was definitely needed and a neat way of going about addressing the long recharge issue. However, I still think that the top line recharge number should be less than 240 seconds. If I get a fully saturated hit with my AoE hold, I now am back up to the 240 second base (minus whatever recharge I have). Blasters on the other hand have nukes that wipe out a mob that recharge in 125 or 170 seconds base (not counting Arch or AR) -- why is an AoE hold at so much more of a recharge disadvantage than a Blaster nuke, we all know which one is more efficient at removing mobs from the board. Can we get the max recharge down to like the 180 second mark, similar in line with the longer recharging Blaster nukes. Just my 2 cents, as I've never understood why the recharge of AoE holds was always so long, especially considering that theres a lot of mez resistance at higher levels, making the holds that much less effective than a nuke anyways.

I want to start off by saying that I love the idea of finally being able to command Controller pets, definitely a needed change that was long in the making. As someone who mostly mained Controllers back on live, that was always something I wished I'd been able to do. So yay for this change! I also like the idea of the adaptive recharge based on the # of enemies hit for the big control AoEs. That will definitely help in smaller teams, or to use in other situations. However, I still think the top line, fully saturated recharge rate should be less than 240 seconds. Even if you do hold the max number of mobs, the 4-minute recharge is a little ridiculous. Blaster nukes (not counting Arch or AR) seem to range between 2m5s or 2m50s -- and they generally wipe out most of a mob, not just hold them. I think that 4-minute top line recharge should be no more than 3-minutes. Now, I don't play on beta, so I'm not able to test these changes, so please take my following question with a grain of salt: How does extra containment damage help Controllers be better controllers? As I said, I used to mostly main Controllers on live, but since coming back to Homecoming have found them relatively lacking at upper levels due to increased mez resistance/protection of mobs - maybe its just my perception, but controls either seem to not have an effect or last such a short time that it feels like a waste of endurance to use. This, along with the reduced secondary buff/debuff numbers, is why I pretty much just main Defenders now. I feel like the current iteration of Containment's bonus damage and sporadic chance for the extra +1 mag does not overcome the issue of being able to lock down mobs at upper levels. My hope was that a fix to Containment would address this issue, rather than adding more damage (I get it, more damage is the current meta, but a Controller should control first and foremost, no?). One thought I had was a fixed chance for control effects to ignore an enemy's status protection (i.e., a 20% chance that your control powers will ignore status resistance/protection). A Dominator can overcome an opponent's protection by stacking higher mag and duration controls due to Domination (and for many, this is perma, making them more effective at lockdowns than most, if not all, Controllers) - maybe Controllers should be able to get around that protection in a different way. The chance for +1 mag should still stay, but it is currently useless on say an ITF due to Cim mez resistance -- just one example of why a chance to ignore mez resistance could help Controllers be more effective at higher levels. Just a thought I had while looking at the patch notes and my current perceptions playing Controllers on Homecoming. Not sure what the % chance should be for ignoring status resistance/protection, but I feel as though it should be relatively moderate due to a Dom's ability to dramatically increase their mag/duration with their inherent power.

I want to thank you all for your insights! I made a few minor mods to the build: I can see how I may have mis-spoke. I should've said "with Link Minds down", as I def took that power. I don't think this build has LM permanent, so I wanted 45%+ for my positionals without it. Apologies for that confusion. That was a Q that I forgot in my Q section. I was not sure which procs I was supposed to put into Dom. I know its proccable but I took a guess. I'll add the FF proc to Tornado, but that seems to be a good portion of my AoE. Also, I have Subdue in my build and not Mental Blast (thats a screw up on my part) not sure if that changes the Decimation proc. But please let me know. You hit the nail on the head for my choice. I wanted that extra Energy damage proc. But good points! So, I wanted this too. But I couldnt get anymore res into the build without sacrificing defense (which I thought was more important.) I'd love to see a build with decent res. Cause those ITF AVs hit like friggen freight trains. Agent Shara - Arachnos Widow (Fortunata Training - Fortunata Teamwork).mbd

I finally got my first VEAT to 50 after 21 years. Yay! Now I just want to figure out the best way to slot her. My goal was soft-capped positional def w/out Link Minds which I think I succeeded at, plus a healthy dose of global recharge. Currently at vet level 15 and this is what I have come up with in Mids. As of today, these sets aren't completed, and I am mostly running with basic IOs at the moment, plus most of the special IOs (Kismet, LoTG, and the ones in Health and Stamina, plus Gaussians). I did get my full set of Coercive for my confuse power (had some lucky drops). But this character is only about 40% set slotted. So far she's been a blast though. Did a bunch of +4 ITFs and been scraping in that influence. Please feel free to pick it apart - as I said this is my first VEAT 50, so kinda on the learning curve atm. I have to say, this has been one of my most fun rides so far. A few notes: 1. I didn't take any power pools beyond CJ/SJ and Hasten. I really do enjoy all the Widow powers and the diversity I can bring to a team (Tanky, Buffy, Damagy, Controllery) 2. I had Scramble Minds but hated the animation time - I felt like I was always hitting dead things, so that got removed. 3. I'm a novice (to say the least) with procs. So, I chose a two for my nuke and Psy Tornado - please let me know if I should change those for something with a better proc rate. (I want the set bonuses of what is there, so really just the 2nd proc is up for grabs) A few questions for those more experienced: 1. Am I dumb for not stacking leadership, or at least Maneuvers? I'd be willing to dump Combat Training: Offensive (but its not like that would clear up any extra slots). 2. Any comments on the incarnate abilities I chose. I focused on recharge, defense, and end. recovery for the most part. Thanks! Agent Shara - Arachnos Widow (Fortunata Training - Fortunata Teamwork).mbd

The Ice powersets are probably one of my favorite to play with across all ATs. My Cold/Ice Defender is definitely up there in top tier play. She's kitted out and I routinely lead ITFs with her. I also have the Ice/Ninja combo on both Blaster and Stalker. I gotta say this was the first Stalker I ever took to 50 and it was very strong and fun the entire way.

Adding onto the OP - are the patron pools worth the effort? I'm running my first Widow blue side and just hit 36. I seem to have enough powers to choose from moving forward without dipping into the patron pools (which I've never done on any char before since I generally just play blue side). Are VEATS fine without the patron pools, or would I absolutely be missing something? And if so, what is considered the best one (currently running as a Fortunata).

Ahh, didn't know that was a thing. Thanks! Here we go if anyone is interested: Nox Eternal - Tanker (Dark Armor - Spines).mbd

This is the build I use for my Dark/Spines Tank who is one of my main ITF characters - and probably the only Tank I've enjoyed running in a while. There have been multiple times when I haven't even hit my heal through the whole TF. This build is pretty immortal with 49% melee/34% Ranged/46% AoE defense (along with pretty high defenses across the board) plus capped S/L/N/Psi resists (and close to capped F/C res). I settled at 11pts of KB protection and am fine for the vast majority of content. Sorry can't ever figure out how to correctly import a build, so I figured I'd just share the screenshot.

For an alternate animation, what about something similar to the Dark/ hold, where the target seems to just be petrified, with their hands up and held in some shadow mist. Except instead of the shadows around the character, it can be some brown/dark dust and dirt. Just a thought since that animation/code is already there.

I like Sentinels because, as someone else mentioned, you can fill the damage or alpha breaker roles as needed. Because of this, most of my Sents use a defense based secondary as I find it easier to fill the alpha breaker role that way. My two fave Sents that I like to run are: 1. Dark/Nin/Dark - I went Dark with primary and ancillary pools because the stacking -Acc helps boost your defenses even more. Nin also has some good powers to help keep you upright when you do get hit. 2. Fire/Stone/Fire - This was a concept build, but also very fun once you get soft-capped defenses. Fire helps to melt mobs quickly, and I took the AoE immob from the ancillary pool to help keep things under RoF. Both of these have no problem finding teams and/or running point when needed.

Haven't played Regeneration since live. One of my first characters was a Kat/Regen Scrapper. We all know that the melee Regen is meh. Sentinel Regen seemed like it was better, so I decided to take a run with it. My Rad/Regen Sent just hit 37 and it has actually been pretty fun. I'll admit my other Sent secondaries are stronger, but this was a concept character. Just looking for some Regen feedback. This build is without incarnates. I was trying to get my Sm/Le Resist over 50% (which I just did) and also get my positional defenses over 25% (also a super close cut). I couldn't figure out how to export a link to the build or get my incarnate choices in (my Mids magic is very limited) but this seems solid. Currently, I'm only using basic IOs as I level and it has been fun so far. But I am trying to fashion a good build. I appreciate any feedback. Thanks! Ren

I agree with Gershwin. Thermal is a jack of all trades, but master of none set. Having played all of the defender sets to 50 between HC and live, Thermal/ is on my lower end of sets. It isn't bad, but it is very spread out in what it does....between shielding, healing, buffing, and debuffing. I went Thermal/Fire for my Defender for theme. IMO the Thermal/ debuffs are lacking. But this comes from my love of playing Cold/ and Storm/ both of which have a rain -res/-def debuff that is pretty much auto-hit. I hate that Thermal's T9 can miss, because for all intents and purposes it is the same debuff as Freezing Rain/Sleet (which I believe are like T5/6 in Storm and Cold). The rain debuffs from both Storm and Cold just are so much better than Thermal's T9, that it's hard for me to play my Thermal anymore. I think that is my biggest gripe with Thermal...the T9 really needs to be adjusted to come in line with Freezing Rain/Sleet. Thermal is fun, don't get me wrong. But it is one of the busier defender sets, kind of like Empathy. YMMV, I say play it and see if it fits your style. None of the Defender primaries are terrible, Defs are my main for a reason.

Thanks for the feedback Uun!

So, I finally got my first Dom to 50! Now, Earthen Assassin is looking to slot the ATOs. I was looking at 6-slotting both sets, as the +recharge and +defense components look pretty good. My first instinct was to put a set in Stalagmites and the second set in Volcanic Gasses (not sure which should go where, or if it really matters). Are there better places to put the Dom ATOs? Fossilize and Stone Cages were other potentials, but I put 4 Basilisks Gaze in Fossilize and a full set of Gravitational Anchor in SC. (I also rarely if ever use purples, so those are not in my current draft build). Thanks for any insight!

Wow! I think I started around i4 or i5 so I never had to deal with the bad Dark Miasma. Or I did, but was too new to MMORPGs to realize how bad it was (I think my first few mains were Scrappers). But I couldn't imagine that being an actual functional heal. That sounds miserable lol.

I really do like this idea. This would solve the issue completely - straight knock-up or knock-down would vastly improve the gameplay experience. Running at +4 and trying to corral mobs that have been hand clapped all over the place is just frustrating.

tl;dr but this quote below sums it up. I only read until the second response because this is what I would have said. Dark is one of my favorite sets to play and I love TG how it is. Also, because tl;dr (and it might have been said above) but TG heals as long as you get the heal off before the target dies, unlike Kin's Transfusion. Which makes it doubly more valuable. If they change that, I'd be mad. TG is unarguably the best targeted heal in the game so I do not want HC devs touching it thank you very much.

The ITF is my favorite TF to run. Ever. I do it multiple times on all characters. What I hate is Imperious' Hand Clap KB in the last mission. No matter if I'm running as a Tank or a Def, that KB sucks. Can the Devs please buy him a KB --> KD IO. I'll front the influence. But all joking aside, this is a QoL enhancement that would help everyone. You'd no longer have to run him off to die in a group on the other side of the map. It sucks to see your amazing herd go....well...everywhere. If that is too difficult - alternatively let him just not be there. I've never been on a team that missed him when he was dead. I'm not trying to change a whole TF or screw with people's power sets, but the vast majority of ITFs i'm on do not want that KB.

I've played a lot of Scraps/Tanks on live and a handful here. I think the main question is: wouldn't you get a metric ton more utility out of the +def/+res or the +end/+recovery Destiny incarnate? I couldn't imagine skipping the mez resist power on any melee character (or Sentinel) solely because it is likely better than the incarnate ability in the long run. And most of the status protection powers offer something on top of status protection, for example: Electric: offers end. drain protection, end. recovery debuff protection, and some Psi. resistance; Bio: seems to offer some defense (haven't played, so this is from description only) Energy: offers recharge bonus and defense debuff resistance; Ice: offers resistance to slow and defense debuff; Regen: offers more regen; Ninjutsu: offers fear and Psi resistance plus some extra speed I can't think of a reason that skipping the mez protection in any set would be beneficial. Thats the boon of being a melee character or Sent -- you don't have to take Clarion and can do much more with one of the other Destiny sets. Just my 2 cents.

Having most Defender primaries to Lv.50+ I have to say both Thermal and Pain feel lackluster. Now I will say that both my Thermal/Fire and Pain/Psi are both in their mid-40s, and not kitted out. But by that point you can feel that they slightly lack, compared to other sets -- but that is not to say that they aren't fun, and also not to say that they can't keep a team upright...both sets definitely can. I usually play characters for concept and not for "strongest ever UBER" and my Thermal and Pain have both been very fun. I just know what my limits are with them. Thermal does feel busier since you have the two shields and Forge to keep re-applying, plus the heals as needed, so I feel like I blast less with him. Whereas my Pain pops the PBAoE +Res shield when it is up and then blasts and heals as needed. I do have to say Painbringer is one of my favorite buffs. Especially when on me. Pop that on anyone and they're likely not going down. Thermal is probably better on the debuff side as you don't have to jump in the middle of the mob to debuff your enemies. If you go Pain Dom I would suggest a secondary with a PBAoE nuke so you can pop your debuff and then your nuke right after one another (which is why I chose Psi blast). With Thermal, you can pretty much choose any secondary that fits your concept. Although I will say, if I re-rolled mine, I wouldn't go /Fire because of the PBAoE nuke, since both my debuffs can be fired from range. But as a Defender you're going to rock either way. Defenders have been my primary AT since I came back to Homecoming (I loved Controllers on live but at high levels they just don't bring what a Def does these days). And you have 1000 slots, play both (hell, play ALL the Defender primaries 🙂) - I can say you'll likely enjoy them.