Riverdusk

Don't forget in this new world as well you can slot a KB to KD IO into handclap so mobs no longer are getting scattered. Still may not be worth taking to a lot of people, but it is potentially marginally more useful now than it used to be. During leveling up at least, I think it'd be something I'd consider now myself.

If there's a Katana player on a team with a Broadsword team, you can be sure the Katana player will remind the BS guy (and everyone else) that Katana is so much better. At one point it was like Katana players were doing Crossfit and they just wouldn't shut up about it. (Note: I've had BS scrappers and experienced this almost every time I came across a katana player. I've actually had them private tell me until I started ignoring them. I don't know what the heck is wrong with these zealots.) I've played katana a lot and have never and would never do this. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised how rude people can be. Now, if I'm asked, like in this topic, I'll always say Katana will give you better dps, but broadsword is fine if you like seeing big numbers, for PvP (as someone else brought up), or if you just like the feel/animations/character concept reasons better. Or of course if you want to use a shield. I do think they should give broadsword a slight damage bump. It doesn't have to be exactly as good dps wise as katana as broadsword does have some of its own advantages, but a little bump wouldn't hurt.

Opposite actually since SD and Bio's +damage% buff is higher for a scrapper. Combine that with that higher buff affecting a higher base damage on a scrapper than a brute or tank. Fury doesn't really have anything to do with it as fury buffs base damage, not enhanced/buffed damage. Interestingly enough I noticed the -damage debuff in bio for being in defensive stance is the same for both brute and scrapper, but the offensive stance damage buff is higher for scrapper.

This. Death Shroud for Brutes and Tankers has taunt. Death Shroud for scrappers and Stalkers does not. Yeah, I know, was kind of my point. Difference between dark armor and shield is noticeable for dark armor's lack of taunt aura. Gotten to the point I really can't stand playing any of the scrapper armor sets that don't have one.

Not sure why so many people seem to think phantom army does knockback, they definitely do not. If that's what you meant.

It uses a lot of END and takes no sets. Assault's +10% to base damage isn't even usually noticeable unless you stack several in a team. 9 times out of 10 I'd rather take maneuvers. You get the defense and probably get more offense out of having a place to put another LoTG +7.5% recharge speed than you do from assault.

It is strange how often I hear that. I finally went ahead and tried an electric/electric sent and found it pretty good. Electric blast especially seems better put together for sentinel than any other AT that has it. Back to the original topic, electric blast is also very good for staying at range, with the exception of short circuit. You could choose to use it sparingly or not at all really.

Not true from my experience and not from the power description Scrapper AAO +300% taunt on target Brute AAO +400% taunt on target Brute is stronger, but scrappers do have a taunt aura in AAO. I definitely notice it. I play a dark armor scrapper and things are running away from me all the time despite the damage aura. Very annoying. Playing a shield (or WP, scrapper WP also has one as well as a couple of other sets), and things rarely run away from my scrapper.

I played around with slotting the Overwhelming Force proc in Fire Imps. It's not reliable, but they frequently juggle bosses with a 20% chance on each Brawl from each imp to proc knockdown. Thanks for the idea, actually going to try this on my character with voltaic sentinel. Might be worth a giggle.

Preach it. Back in the day, I used to see posts saying the Scrapper inherent was bad because it couldn't be planned for or strategized around. But to me it's always been a fun surprise when CRITICAL pops up. People also complained that crits are "wasted" on foes with little life remaining (strangely, I don't remember anyone saying that about Scourge), but that's just an opportunity to shout "Boo yah! How do you like THAT?!?" at the monitor. I actually feel that way about scourge. On most foes it doesn't seem to trigger until it'd be dead anyway and it does feel wasted to me. Elite bosses and Archvillians being the exception of course, on those it is wonderful. I do like crits more than scourge myself.

Almost guarantee they were speaking of this. As an example if a melee smashing attack is used, the higher of your melee or smashing defense is what is used to determine if you are hit. You don't get a roll against both.

Good timing to see this after listening to several people whining in help channel today about the recent changes. ::) Had to turn off the channel. Well said Philotic Knight!

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Procs_Per_Minute

Probably the only controller type that can kill stuff fast early is gravity. They have some killer single target attacks in lift and propel. Other sets tend to be later bloomers, so yes that's normal.

Ice armor seems very viable for the quick numbers I ran on it. Definite advantage to me over the tank or brute version is getting icy bastion instead of hibernate. If you really want you could still get hibernate on top of it as well, it is there in one of the epic pools. Ice melee isn't actually bad since they added damage to Frozen Aura. Freezing touch is a DPA monster. Frozen fists is the real stinker of the set, but I don't see how you make an attack chain without it unfortunately. Psi melee would be another interesting choice, you could really stack the -recharges with it. Dark melee is always a winner and the -tohit and having an extra heal of course helps your survival a lot.

Just wanted to say thanks here as well for adding this option in the latest patch for both controllers and masterminds!

Amazing patch, thank you! ;D

I've been told several times I'm "wasting my money", but what I typically do is actually start slotting cheap sets at 25, not just regular IO's. The key is cheap sets of course, which isn't always a possibility, but sometimes is. I don't care a bit about the set bonuses they offer at that level, it is about the fact that you can get ones that enhance in dual or triple areas. For melee, ones like bruising blow or bonesnap are good examples and there are many others. They sell for cheap and use nothing but common or uncommon salvage. With some frankenslotting you can get good accuracy, damage, recharge, and endurance, and often do it using only 4 or 5 slots, saving those precious early slots to use elsewhere (until later). All for not much different than the cost of making regular IO's. Of course if you are blowing through the levels it may not even be worth the extra bit of time it takes, but for those taking it slower it can definitely be worthwhile imo.

Would like to 2nd this request. Masterminds also don't get the minimal fx option on cold domination. Seems like it'd be an easy port? (I know programmers hate when people say this). Would also like to see a minimal fx option added to other sets that currently don't have it. Radiation armor being a prime example. I've heard people call it migraine inducing with all the flashing swirling graphics it has and I agree. Unplayable set for me until, and if, it ever gets a minimal fx option. Regardless though of course, just happy to be back and happy with what we get even now. Keep up the great work!

Once you get enough recharge to get at least close to perma army and can spam howling twilight (and of course twilight grasp) a ton, AV's are easy for illusion/dark. I even solo'd Kraken and Jurassik. Ran out of time with the game shutting down before I got to really try any other GM's.

Good summary Mikazuki. I think the main issue is I very much disagree with your assertion that "there is no contest" between the two. Personally I think it is a very close contest. We can agree to disagree there. And yes, whichever set, go forth and melt faces.

Not sure what you mean by this. One, dark doesn't have any -defense at all actually. So, not accurate, and that actually is a point in radiation's favor. Then again usually by end game, against most mobs, hitting isn't that much of an issue. Second, dark's -res debuffs pale in comparison to rads? Radiation's available -resistance is enervating field which gives -22.5%. Dark's is tar patch which gives -30%. Not only does dark's not "pale in comparison", dark's is actually superior. You could argue that tar patch isn't available as much, but +recharge is such a priority for most illusion controllers, it is up for use very quickly. Rad's toggles themselves can be a pain to use on illusion since it has no aoe immobilize so you can have issues with toggles running off or things not sticking together. Now, it may be argued that AM's +20% damage boost makes up for dark's better -res, but then again, that doesn't help phantom army which is a big part of your damage. Back to dark, dark servant, while it doesn't do a lot of damage, does some. It also throws immobilizes out there quite a lot, which helps set up containment and keeps things from running off, something illusion can have more difficulty with since illusion doesn't have immobilizes of its own. Now, while being leveled up, generally I'd say rad is probably just a bit faster and dark is safer and more controllery. But honestly the sets are very comparable in effectiveness in the end IMHO. The biggest advantage rad has is simply the +30 recharge you get from AM which makes perma phantom army easier/cheaper. But it is still possible to reach perma army eventually with dark as well.

darn... looked and your right. what i get for posting while waiting for server maintinece to end i guess. prestige sprint can slot seperately, so you could power-slide +stealth and regular sprint -end. which would be an inetresting option. You wouldn't want to put a stealth IO in an auto always on power anyway. Do that and you couldn't turn the stealth off. Good luck with those escort missions.

My first thought was DM/Shield. Soul drain can give you some incredible damage boosts, as can shield.

Forgive my noobness, but what is it about scrapper that makes this combo perform better? Brutes are meant to do low to medium damage and be more tanky than a scrapper, think of them like a halfway point between a scrapper and a tanker. They were the villians version of a tank back when they could only be a villian. Scrappers on the other hand are high damage out the gate as a DPS"class" and they get to do critical hits for extra damage. But they are not as tough, on paper at any rate. I have seen some brutes do insane damage and some scrappers be harder to kill than a tanker. Funny side note, I'd swear I remember a dev saying they thought masterminds would act as the tank of the villain side. Players never saw it that way though.