Stormwalker

I've seen lots of references here to the Steel Canyon signature arc for getting Unveiler. I just tried that on one of my characters, and I found it not as good as my go-to for Fakes. Try Nemesis Rex (available from Ouroboros, 40-44 range if I recall correctly). You'll not have your Incarnate powers, of course, since you'll be Exemp'd to 44, but whereas I was only getting 1 Fake per spawn (with one or two Warhulks alongside), the Nemesis Rex mission has two in basically every spawn at -1/x8 (one "Fake Nemesis", and one "Fake Nemesis Rex". And yes, "Fake Nemesis Rex" does count for the badge. I've used this mission on several characters now). Also, a fair number of these spawns will be Fake Nemesis, Fake Nemesis Rex, and a bunch of jaegers with no pesky lieutenants. Typically, two runs of the Nemesis Rex mission at -1/x8 will get you the badge even if you are starting from zero. So, unless you are depending on your Incarnate powers to survive at -1/x8, I recommend Nemesis Rex for the badge. That said, if you also want the Warhulk badge, the SSA mission is probably better; I don't see nearly as many of those in Nemesis Rex. It's possible that I just had bad luck with the SSA mission, since I only ran it once, but I was getting 2 Warhulks per Fake generally.

My latest is "Catastrophe". She's a Claws/Energy Aura brute. Catastrophe was discovered in the wreckage of an Arachnos lab after a spectacularly destructive accident. Her bio in-game is as follows: Catastrophe is pretty much a force of nature. The one thing anyone unfortunate enough to cross her path can tell you is that, just as she claims, she is Catastrophe. She is also, of course, a catgirl. Because the pun was inevitable. Actually, her entire character concept arose as follows while messing around in the character creator because I wanted a Claws/EA brute: "Greyscale catgirl. Energy Aura. Entropy powers? Catastrophe!"

I essentially have three characters I think of as Co-Mains. Skylancer is my Energy/Enegy/Force blaster. A girl who at age 10 developed a terrible disease that left her sickly and weak and unlikely to survive to her 20th birthday, who at 17 risked what was left of her life on an experimental treatment developed from hero biology - one which ended up not only saving her life but giving her superpowers. She knows what it is to be helpless and weak, and she's determined to spend the life she was given back helping those who need it. Relentlessly cheerful and yet unflinchingly determined, she's a difficult character to find a song for. I had to turn to anime to come up with one that fit her. Her theme is "Sacred Force", by Nana Mizuki: Stardriver is my Energy/Energy/Energy hoverscrapper. You wouldn't expect a girl born in space to be quite so down-to-Earth, especially not when she's one of the mightiest heroes on the planet. You really wouldn't expect it when she's the daughter of two near-mad scientists who launched their own very poorly-planned and yet somehow successful space program. And yet, she's about as straightforward as they come. Perhaps it's that her stranger-than-fiction origins have desensitized her to the weirdness of Paragon City. Supervillains? Evil conspiracies? Alien menaces? Eldritch horrors? She's not impressed. She's not afraid. She's not interested in listening to your monologue. She's here to arrest a criminal. Her theme is "Throwdown", by Pillar: Kitten America is the third of my "Co-Main" characters. She's my Claws/Super Reflexes/Energy scrapper catgirl Captain America homage. I haven't found a song that fits her yet. She's a little too weird and a little too complicated (and yet also not). I'm sure I'll find one eventually, though.

I'm not patient enough for Controllers. I'm barely patient enough for Defenders (and not patient enough to solo with one). Dominators I can manage in small doses.

Just going to add that whether it is worth slotting enhancements from 1-22 depends heavily on how you are getting from 1-22. If you are doing it old-school, soloing, doing the original story arcs, (which tend to be slower than the new ones) maybe even forgoing the XP multipliers? Yes, you want to enhance your powers. If you're running DFB repeatedly? Probably shouldn't bother with much enhancement.

There's also the factor that familiarity with the powersets involved is going to play a big role in duo performance. For example, I'd get much better performance out of a Scrapper than I would out of a Controller, simply because I play Scrappers a lot (and have played numerous Scrapper powersets) and have never actually played a Controller. Similarly, I'd bet the person from Repeat Offenders who posted earlier in the thread (forgot their name, and I'm too lazy to look) would probably get better performance out of Defenders than anything else. So ultimately, the "best" duo for a particular pair of players is probably going to involve an AT (and particular powersets) they are well familiar with. My two currently running duos are a Kin/Psi defender with a Dark/Dark scrapper, and a Storm/Electric blaster with an Electric/Storm defender (which were created for theme reasons more than powerset synergy). I wouldn't list either of those among the "best" combinations; the former does have excellent synergy since Kin solves pretty much all of Dark Armor's problems, but Dark Melee's lack of AoE damage output is still an issue, and the latter was chosen more for theme than synergy (and they're still fairly low level so I am waiting to see how this develops). Both have been even more effective than I expected (and I had high expectations), which gives me a sense that with proper powerset selection Defender + Scrapper and Defender + Blaster can both be legitimate contenders. I haven't thought that hard about what powersets would be best, though, because I usually choose for theme. That said, I can tell you without hesitation that the primary for the Scrapper in an optimal Defender + Scrapper combination would be Claws. It has more going for it than any other Scrapper primary, both in terms of damage output AND added mitigation (from the KD in Focus and KB in Shockwave, ideally slotted for KB -> KD). I suspect the Blaster Primary would probably be either Fire (for raw damage) or Ice (for utility with still very solid damage), and which would be better would probably depend on the Defender set chosen.

As I dig deeper into the build, I'm very impressed with it in general. There are a number of things that I had not considered here. Thank you again! I do have a few questions about it, however. I see that Tough is in the build, but not enabled (and the Smash/Lethal resist is at 89.2% without it). Am I correct in believing that Tough is present purely as a mule for the Impervium Armor: Psi Resist IO, and not actually intended to be used? Or did I accidentally turn it off while examining the build and not notice? I notice there's no Numina's +Regen/Recovery unique in the build. Does the additional regen not contribute enough to be worth including it? How much difference do the damage procs in Foot Stomp make in terms of overall damage output? I find myself very tempted to slot two more pieces of Superior Avalanche for the extra Fire/Cold resist, but not being experienced with Tankers (and not very experienced with Super Strength in general), I don't have a good sense for how much that would hurt the performance. (never mind, I was looking at the wrong set bonuses). Any recommendations on which Interface and Hybrid to take?

Based on my duo'ing experiences with a friend of mine, I find that generally either Defender + Scrapper or Defender + Blaster works very well. Defender + Scrapper is a little easier/safer, but Defender + Blaster kills arrests faster, and a good defender can make even a Blaster nearly immortal, presuming the powersets are selected for good synergy. Tanker + Blaster seems to also work quite well.

I found Terra Volta to be the quickest place for this, personally. Most every spawn of Freaks in the zone has 2 Tanks in it, and there are Freaks everywhere. You can basically make a loop of the east half of the zone and have a constant stream of Freak spawns. Did this a couple of weeks ago on my Staff/WP scrapper and it went very quickly. Also a good place to hunt Super Stunners for that badge.

On the first point, I agree. That's another reason I backed out. I realized I'd already said everything I was going to say and was just rehashing the same arguments. At that point, it's time to stop. On the second point, it's because this game inspires so much passion in general. Anytime you have that much passion, it's going to get misdirected sometimes. As with people in general, this community has the weakness (misdirected passion) of its strength (passion for the game in general). Or, to put it other terms, we get angry because we care. We care because we're emotionally invested. The very reason this game came back from the dead, the very reason we're still here to argue about it, is the reason we argue about it. (And let's remember - the dev team is emotionally invested, too. We may not always agree with every decision they make, but they care about this every bit as much as we do, or they wouldn't be doing it. This also means that they're probably a bit more sensitive to people's reactions than they might otherwise be, as well. After all, for them this is a labor of love).

I'm reminded of Batman, during the Knightsend arc, calling out Jean-Paul Valley for relying on his fancy suit way too much. Azbats: And what do you rely on? Batman slams the sliding doors shut on Azbats' arms, then clocks him Batman: Whatever is at hand. Azbats was a Tech Origin. Batman is a Natural Origin. Batman relies primarily on his mind and his superb combat skills, which he put himself through Training from Hell to develop. The gadges are accessories to those skills. Similarly, Spider-Man (I'm referring to the original Peter Parker here) is a science origin even though he uses a lot of gadgets (like his web shooters) extensively. This is because what allows him to be Spider-Man is the power he got from the radioactive spider bite. Everything else, even the web shooters (as iconic as they are) is just an augmentation of that.

I'm just gonna say that one of the reasons I bailed on that thread was that I was getting riled up to the point that I was having to bite my tongue on a lot of things I was tempted to say, some of which probably would have gotten me in trouble, and if I'd kept going I was going to say something I'd regret. That's part of what I meant when I said it was causing me stress. Highly contentious topics like that one tend to do that. A warning is just a warning. For what it's worth, if I'm guessing correctly (very big if there) which comment it was that was found to be insulting by the devs... well, honestly, it was insulting. Not so much because of what you said, though, more because of how you said it. Which... well, is going to happen sometimes. Leaving the forums isn't the answer. I may disagree with you on the subject of that particular thread, but the forums are here for us to express ourselves. Disagreement is going to happen.

I've said more than once in this thread - including in one of my responses today - that properly used KB can provide significant damage mitigation to a team. It can also help in herding enemies together. How much advantage this provides is dependent on usable terrain, however. You need corners to push things into to make it work. And it can. It requires some effort to do it, but Energy Blast with its KB brings more to a team (when properly used) than Energy Blast without its KB. But there's something else you're dismissing. Team play is not the only way this game is played. And in solo play, KB for a blaster is absolutely a positive. It provides more effective self-defense than KD does by 1). keeping the enemy out of attack position longer (because their flight time is also time when they are not attacking) and 2). Getting them out of melee range. For that matter, KB converted to KD via Hover is a (slightly) more effective KD than pure KD, because when you KB enemies into the ground hard enough? They bounce. It's not as effective as KU in that regard, but it's better than KD. Also, this is a freakin' superhero power fantasy. Being able to knock your enemies around is, frankly, part of the fun. Of course, indulging in that fun comes with a certain amount of responsibility to be a good teammate and not let your fun be a burden on your team, but I for one am perfectly willing to accept that responsibility in order to have my fun. And there's one last thing I'm going to say, and that's this. I'm out on this thread. It's causing me stress. I'm getting flak from both sides at this point and it's sapping my ability to enjoy the game. Screw that. I've already said everything I have to say, anyway.

What the Hell? I am PRO-KNOCKBACK! My favorite character is my Energy Blaster! I have been arguing against changing the Energy Blast set or putting in a KB -> KD toggle, because using knockback without disrupting the party is not actually difficult. All that is required is 1). situational awareness, 2). caring enough about the good of the team to make sure you use your powers in a way that benefits the team, and 3). a little understanding of how your powers work. Have you not read anything that I have written in this thread?! Where do you get this idea that I have a prejudice against people who use knockback? There is a very huge difference between someone having knockback and using it appropriately, and someone who is "willfully disrupting the party" as I put it. That was my entire point!

Thank you. You may have expressed what I was trying to say better than I did.

Taking the primary in isolation here, because I actually think Energy Manipulation is quite good: Energy Blast is capable of dealing fairly good single-target damage. I don't disagree with that - I said as much myself in one of my earlier comments. Its AoE output is not good, though. Mostly because Explosive Blast is terrible. I'll grant Energy Blast is in a better place with regard to AoE than it was before the T9's were normalized, because that improved Nova quite a bit (and it was pretty bad before). But Energy Blast is never going to contribute to team kill speed the way Fire does, and (since we are talking here about an Energy Blast set which has been stripped of its KB, just to remind you of the context of my original comments), it provides has no secondary effects like the other sets do to complement their damage output. Properly used, Energy Blast as it is right now can in fact contribute quite a bit of mitigation to a team. To get the most of it requires either making use of the terrain, using Hover to turn KB into KD, or slotting KB -> KD, but it can be a significant contributor to reducing damage intake on your Tank. Without its KB, all it has is damage, and at that point it's just Fire without the raw damage that makes Fire the most popular set.

You don't think people who willfully choose to disrupt parties (category 3) should be kicked from the party? What do you suggest be done with them? If you don't think people who don't realize that they're disrupting the party (categories 1 and 2) should be informed that they're disrupting the party and advised on how to use their powers without disrupting it, then... I don't know what to tell you. Again. I am someone who is against kicking people from parties just because they have knockback. I've had the experience of having to argue for myself as an Energy blaster that "Yes, I know how to use my powers without ruining the experience for everyone else," because people wanted to boot me right from the start when we hadn't even fought anything yet. What I'm trying to get at is that learning to use KB without disrupting the party is not as hard as people seem to think it is, and anyone who IS disrupting the party either 1). is new and doesn't know how NOT to disrupt the party yet, 2). doesn't realize they're disrupting the party, or 3). knows they're disrupting the party and doesn't care. What solutions do you propose to 1 and 2 that don't involve advising the player how they can not disrupt the party? And what solution do you propose to 3 that doesn't involve removing the willfully disruptive player? I'm a little baffled by your reaction here.

I think you misinterpreted what I was saying just like someone else did. What I was saying is that people who decided to try such a set would discover what those of us who already play Energy Blast already know. It's not a particularly good primary. It's fun (and the KB is part of what makes it fun), but it isn't strong. Also, it should be noted that the specific thing I was responding to was to a version of Energy Blast with the KB removed, not with it replaced with KD. This means you'd lose the ability to slot Force Feedback procs in the set, which would... not help its performance.

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. A lot of people who don't play Energy Blast because of KB would try it... and discover that its performance is not particularly good. Energy Blast is OK from a ST perspective, but its AoE is weak by Blaster standards. The only reason to play Energy Blast is its flavor. And the KB is a significant part of that flavor.

I'll pass, thanks. If the KB was removed from Energy Blast, as I've already stated, I'd retire my Energy Blaster. Who happens to be my favorite character. Honestly, I'd seriously consider leaving Homecoming entirely and go re-create that character on some other CoH server somewhere. Yes, this is that important to me.

I suspect most people would find that without the KB to give it flavor, Energy Blast isn't a very good set.

Honestly, as someone who enjoys KB when I'm soloing on my Energy blaster?? I've never found the KB vulnerability on Clockwork makes that noticeable of a difference. Possibly because of the KB magnitude cap. By contrast, it drives me nuts when I'm on one of my Scrappers and an attack that normally deals KD does KB instead. Though, for myself, I'd prefer to see a change so that KB vulnerability doesn't change KD into KB, but still increases the magnitude of actual KB, rather than just removing the vulnerability.

Agreed. Or even making it so KB vulnerability doesn't turn KD into KB. Originally, KD vs. KB was purely a question of magnitude. Clearly, however, some functions like the KB ->KD IO's override that somehow. Could the same mechanism be used for KB vulnerability to prevent it turning KD into KB?

And this is also a point. Managing knockback is not really a skill thing. Turning it into a positive is a skill thing, but keeping it from being a detriment is mostly a "don't be a selfish jerk" thing. If a melee AT is attacking something, don't KB it. That's rude. Don't KB things into other spawns or near other spawns where someone who chases them will aggro that spawn. Don't scatter the pack when the party is trying to herd it. Don't KB stuff away from the Tanker and then ignore it so it can run around and cause havoc. So, for the most part, a player who is disrupting parties with knockback is either: A total newbie who just completely doesn't get it yet. Completely oblivious to the consequences of what they are doing. A selfish jerk who doesn't care that they are dragging down their team. Those who fall in category 1 and sometimes 2 can be taught. Those who fall in category 3 should be kicked from teams until they change their behavior. Of course, sometimes it's not obvious which category someone falls in, which can be a problem. And, as previously noted, the Synapse TF is a special case, because what you have there is typically a bunch of players who normally don't have KB (because Clockwork are weak to KB and thus turn their KD into KB) and therefore have not learned how to manage it.

Still, when I very first created my first Energy Blaster on Live, by the time I got to my first TF (which was Posi, the old version because that was the only version back then), I had already realized that KB was a thing that could cause problems if misused. Though I will grant that I knew this partly because my very first character was a Scrapper, and I was familiar with the annoyance of having my melee target KB'd out of reach. Still, the "rules of KB" I mentioned in my earlier post? I developed those very early on. Before I even got to Synapse. Of course, talking about this causes me to realize something which may be relevant here: the changes to the availability of powers on HC mean that Explosive Blast (which is the second-most difficult to manage power in Energy Blast behind Nova) is available at substantially earlier levels than it was on Live. By the time you got Explosive Blast on Live, you had been given ample time to learn to manage your KB. Much less so, now.