Harlequin565

This is me too. Current build has 2 end mod and 1 Panacea unique. But even that may be overkill. Not got all my final toggles running yet though so I'm waiting until 50 to see if it's needed or if I can drop the End Mods (or just one of them). From 1-45 though I have had no end issues. Have turned off blue insp drops!

I have respecced out of my Tough slots and use it as a mule to carry the two +def IOs and leave it switched off. It just doesn't do anything if I do get hit. One or two shots that get past my defences are dealt with by greens or Energise. More than that and I'm dead and Tough would have been no help.

I was always chomping yellows to get insta snipe so I could Burst>Snipe>Blast in a seamless rotation for single target damage. The snipe changes allow this now without issue, so you've posed a good question. For me - the answer is no. When I look at the build, I have to ask - what else do I want/need? Dropping Tactics would lose me the +toHit as well as the +2.5%def to all from the Gaussian set as well as the build up proc. I can't see anything else I'd want that would be better than that (and "better" is subjective here!). Single target is covered, ranged is covered. Defence is covered, to hit is covered. I'm not a player who likes stunning things or the slow animations of Total Focus (though if they ever give blasters the dominator animation tweaks that might sway me!) so there's nothing I'd invest the power pick or slots in. Energise takes care of all my End needs and in an iTeam, there are so many buffs flying around it's rarely a concern. I need to bring damage to the table, and missed shots = damage debuff, so Tactics is a really good fit.

Hi folks, After the most recent patch, I've noticed that items in my mail window (character items) are inaccessible. It's not possible to resize the top part of the window and it seems that items are scrolling off the bottom and you can't get to them. In this instance I can just about click on that one circled in red (underneath windfall), but there are items beneath that that I can't get to. As you can see, the scroll bar on the RH side is down as low as it'll go. I'm on borderless window

Strange. I ran a comparison of Windfall + Normal rewards vs Tickets + Recipe Rolls and Tickets came out way way ahead in terms of recompense. I found Windfall very underwhelming. 2 x 20 minute runs of a +1/x8 farm and no purples but 1 PvP recipe. I was disgusted. I did get a lot of rare (not useful) recipes, enhancements and insps though. All of which are relatively valueless.

Great thread. Thanks for "reviving" it 🙂 I have 2 guides... Fire/Storm Controller : Energy/Energy Blaster :

Depends on your build and where the holes are. For me, Alpha: I went Musculature for more damage. Destiny: Clarion for mez protection Judgement: Ion for no reason other than I enjoy it. Interface: Diagmagnetic for -to hit which effectively becomes +def and the -regen which is always welcome on AV hunting teams. Lore: I'm experimenting. Hybrid: Assault for more damage.

Well if you like the idea - then go for it! Finding the slots to power it out would be the tricky bit for me. I'd probably lose one of the melee strikes which wouldn't be that terrible because I rarely hang around in melee any more. They're more emergency GTFO attacks. So it actually sounds like a pretty good idea. I have it on my MA/SR scrapper for a bit more AoE and the KD is very reliable. I imagine it would work pretty well to be honest. Recharge on it is quite slow though, so having it up for every mob would be unlikely.

Just an update in case anyone has a similar issue... The problem has completely righted itself over the early part of this week. I suspect that the router everything was sticking at, was fed some new jaffa cakes and all is now well.

Thanks guys. I'll do some research on the VPN option.

So I've been having problems connecting to Homecoming since Thursday afternoon. I'm in the UK. I normally play on Excelsior. The game was basically hanging at various places. On Excelsior, it could be characters in Atlas (Talos was fine), on Torchbearer I could play fine. Later, on Excelsior, it would crash on zoning or base entrance. Teasingly unplayable. A suggestion was made to try Reunion (an EU server). The game crashed at server selection. Reliably. On Discord, GM Fiddleback gave me the ip addresses (thanks for this!), and this is where things get interesting. I can ping the NA servers with a 92ms response time. Traceroute though gets a lot of unresponsive timeouts. I can't even ping the EU servers. At all. No response. Traceroute goes unresponsive after the third hop. And this morning, Facebook is off the air. Can't ping it, Traceroute dies at the same third hop. Sites like BBC.co.uk and google, and YouTube all work fine, but that third hop is always to a different server. My limited knowledge is suggesting that that 3rd server hop is where the problems are happening. So my question to the community is a) Can I force my internet traffic to take a different route? (I tried changing my DNS but that hasn't worked) I guess if I can do this, and the problem goes away, it's proof of what the problem is. b) Is there a way to escalate this? Going through my ISP will undoubtedly result in tedious "turn it off/on" "reinstall windows" shinanegins which I'd like to avoid. Is there any further investigation I can do before picking up the phone to them? I'm not a network expert btw...

Ask in help for someone with Recall Friend to come and TP you out.

Absolutely Yes. https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,3394.0.html

The only AVs that run about is that daft one in DfB. The rest (IMO) all stand still while you wail on them (Maurauder excepted) I can get 3 lightning storms, 2-3 tornadoes and freezing rain on an AV and that puts out far more damage than hitting rof over and over again to get containment so I can blast it. Plus the pets take care of any adds too. A stack of bonfires & lightning storms on the prisoner route on a BAF is a chucklesome sight.

It looks "light" on damage to me. Do you use Char with that slotting? Ball Lightning might benefit from dropping the proc and going instead for the Overwhelming Force End/Recharge. I play mine as a "mez everything so that you have time to kill at your (relative) leisure". So I have T-Clap, and a purple set in Cinders as well as Chance to Hold procs in Char and Fireblast. With the Fire anc, I have Fire Shield so I'm capped to Fire rez - which is handy for farming (as is having the backup AoE stun when/if Flashfire misses stuff). Fire Blast & Bolt work nicely together. Often it's quicker for me to murder with a fast recycling Fireball than sit through the long animations of both Tornado & Storm (I usually pull one but rarely both in a group at +2/x8). All of that is based on "I have fire" which you don't, so it's probably not relevant. I also have the support Hybrid which gives more end redux. Yes, Fire/Storm is incredibly end hungry. I empathise & agree with you on that!

It's not finished is it? I'd avoid Total Focus. Slow = dead melee blaster. Also, you have no slots for it. Energy Torrent is looking weak in terms of a damage option Nova & Explosive Blast are going to scatter mobs everywhere which isn't great for team play (fine for solo though if that's your aim) I'd not bother with Invis if I had stealth + the stealth proc in something like Sprint. Unslotted Bone Smasher? Why? This was my build: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,3394.0.html

Indeed they are, and that's what makes this game great. The same class can play completely differently. Thematically I wanted more Fire, hence my differences but I may try a build with Earth... I don't think I'd slot Kick or Gale though. I just wouldn't use them ordinarily. Thanks for sharing though!

The Build 5 x purple sets - 'spensive 1 x ATIO set (uncatalyzed so as not to clash with the 5x10% bonus limit) 3 x LoTG This is where all our recharge comes from and we have very close to perma hasten (1.5 sec downtime). If you want to bung a third slot in there, you can have it perma. The rest of the expense comes in the form of 4 slots of Gladiator's Armour (with the +def proc) and the def/rez procs in Steamy Mist. The planner considers the Sudden Acceleration proc to be unique, hence me "dummying" another from the set there, but it should be a KB-KD proc. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Firestorm: Level 50 Magic Controller Primary Power Set: Fire Control Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Char -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(3), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Dvs-Hold%(7) Level 1: Gale -- Acc-I(A) Level 2: Fire Cages -- GrvAnc-Hold%(A), GrvAnc-Immob/EndRdx(7), GrvAnc-Immob/Rchg(9), GrvAnc-Acc/Immob/Rchg(9), GrvAnc-Acc/Rchg(11), EndRdx-I(11) Level 4: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13) Level 6: Smoke -- ToHitDeb-I(A) Level 8: Hot Feet -- ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), ClvBlo-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Mlt-Dmg/EndRdx(15), ScrDrv-Dmg/EndRdx(17) Level 10: Steamy Mist -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(17), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(19), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(19), EndRdx-I(21) Level 12: Flashfire -- WiloftheC-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(A), WiloftheC-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(13), WiloftheC-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(21), WiloftheC-EndRdx/Rchg(23), WiloftheC-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx(23) Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 16: Freezing Rain -- EndRdx-I(A), Ann-ResDeb%(36) Level 18: Cinders -- UnbCns-Hold(A), UnbCns-Hold/Rchg(25), UnbCns-Acc/Hold/Rchg(27), UnbCns-Acc/Rchg(27), UnbCns-EndRdx/Hold(29) Level 20: Hurricane -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb(A), DarWtcDsp-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(25), DarWtcDsp-Rchg/EndRdx(29), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(31) Level 22: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A) Level 24: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(31) Level 26: Bonfire -- OvrFrc-Dam/KB(A), Rgn-Dmg(33), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(33), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(34), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(34) Level 28: Thunder Clap -- AbsAmz-Stun(A), AbsAmz-EndRdx/Stun(31), AbsAmz-Stun/Rchg(34), AbsAmz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(36), AbsAmz-Acc/Rchg(36) Level 30: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 32: Fire Imps -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(37), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(37), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Dmg-I(46) Level 35: Tornado -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(39), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(39), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), SudAcc-KBtoKD(40) Level 38: Lightning Storm -- Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(40), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Apc-Acc/Rchg(42), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(42), SudAcc-KB/Dam/Rchg(42) Level 41: Fire Ball -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(43), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(43), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(43), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), RechRdx-I(45) Level 44: Fire Shield -- GldArm-ResDam(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(45), GldArm-End/Res(46), GldArm-Res/Rech/End(46) Level 47: Fire Blast -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(48), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50), Dvs-Hold%(50) Level 49: Super Speed -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Containment Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(50) ------------

So my En/En Blaster guide was all about how much fun you can have blowing stuff up. Fire/Storm though, is truly a king of the battlefield. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Most of the time you'll use half your arsenal to murder everything. Some times you'll use another quarter just to relieve the boredom. Then there are times when you'll cut loose with everything - usually because your team is dead/dying. Fire Control Take everything. Respec out of Ring of Fire at 50. I want control from my Fire/Storm. So I have Devastation Chance to Hold procs in both my single target attacks. Char (chance of Mag 5 boss hold with 1 cast) & RoF will serve you well as single target damage through the game. Slot for damage. If you're doing your job right, your target should be dead before they come out of an unenhanced hold. Smoke is -acc which equals +def, so works nicely with Steamy Mist to give you some mitigation. Flashfire & Cinders are two amazing AoE mez powers. Take both. Bonfire with a KB-KD in it keeps enemies on your burn patch and gets them flopping - providing very strong soft control. Imps are great in a farming build because they maul your helpless enemies. However in misison teams they are as tough as a wet paper bag and if they do survive they usually pull more agro. Ring of Fire is a useful source of damage until you're IO'd out. With the vast amount of recharge available in this build, you can chain Fireball, Fireblast & Char when you're not doing ohter things (and you often are). However getting to that point takes a while and Ring of Fire is a useful filler. The Immob is handy at lower levels, but at 50 you have far better things to be doing than immobilizing a single target. Fire Cages is a really useful tool. The AoE immob is useful, but it's the setting up of containment, the visual "who is the enemy and where are they?" aspect, and the restraint to prevent your KB powers spraying all the mobs everywhere until you get some procs. That's why I slot for immob over damage. However Fire Cages does also need slotting for End. You're going to be wheezing A LOT until you get either the Cardiac Alpha, or +End friendly team mates. AM and SB won't sustain you on their own though so you need to slot for -End where you can. Storm Summoning Take Everything. Apart from O2 Boost. You are not a healer. Arguably Snow Storm can be dropped too if there's something better you prefer. I always have other things to do than Snow Storm. Gale is removed from the tray. I have far better tools at 50, but when levelling, it can provide mitigation. If you have foes inside Cages, then it turns to KD which helps a bit. Snow Storm I hardly ever use (so have swapped for Super Speed) because the -Slow and -Recharge in it never seems to make a difference worth worrying about. Steamy Mist. Hmm... So I've managed to get soft capped defences on my blaster which has *no* starting defence. Steamy Mist sounds like a good start on the road to high defences, but I just couldn't manage it. I've tried though, and got 20odd% defence to most, and 40-60% resistance to most. Steamy Mist ended up being more of a proc holder. The +stealth is nice, and coupled with the stealth procs or super speed will grant invisibility. Useful, but (arguably) not always a "must have". Freezing Rain is essential. It's an (unenhanceable) resistance debuff which translates to a straight 30% damage buff to all enemies in the rain. Plus they're flopping around. Plus they're 30% easier to hit. Hurricane. Awesome. Signature Power. When it touches an enemy it gives them a significant to hit penalty and range penalty. The downside is that it sends them flying. The KB portion though is turned into repel if the enemy is immobilised, so Fire Cages is useful here. Also, some enemies are unaffected by KB/Repel so you can sit on an AV without worry. KB-KD Procs won't cancel the repel effect, so I didn't bother. Hurricane is reserved for herdicaning (when stuff is immob'd with FC and being repelled anyway), debuffing AVs & EBs (many/most of which are immune to repel) or utter "oh shit" moments. Thunderclap isn't great at first glance. Mag 2 only, so it's not that useful vs Bosses & LTs. Combined with Flashfire though, you can stack Mag 5 which will stun a room of bosses in 2 clicks. Tornado & Lightning Storm are excellent sources of damage and crowd control. I have a KB-KD proc in both. If you want a more chaotic Stormer, go without, but for farming, it's handy keeping everything on your Bonfire. Herdicaning Using Hurricane as a herding tool is relatively easy to do. Practise on low level (grey) thugs in hazard zones. First, set up with Fire Cages. This prevents silly knockback and turns Hurricane into a repel. Much easier to see the effect of the repel too with the burning circles. Having mobility and speed helps here, so I use Sprint and Combat Jumping or Ninja Run. You then need to "dance" around the edges of the mobs, gathering them up using the edges of your hurricane to debuff the enemy. They can't melee you because they're immob'd and repelled, but they can range you, so make sure you touch them with the hurricane to debuff their acc and give them -range to make it harder. The trick is to go round and round them to "herd" them up into a clump, then drop a bonfire on them. At higher levels this gets trickier, as it takes time to hit everyone with the power, so ranged enemies often get off a few shots before they're debuffed. This is why ranged defence and other powers (like smoke) can give you a bit more survivability. Popping purples will also help. Sometimes team members will agro additional mob groups, and this can be a useful tactic to clump things back up again. Just watch the Tank to see how they are dealing with the issue. Most melee types get quite whiny about knockback so get behind the mobs and try and herd them back to your lazy melee team mates. I don't bother doing this in regular play. You have far more useful kiling tools available, but when things go horribly wrong for your team, you can not only save lives, but tidy up the battlefield, by pushing everyone into a corner or a clump. You can also Tank. Ancilliary Powers Fire Epic. Take blast, ball & shield. Shield will hold procs and get you to the res cap vs Fire which is handy for *those* kind of farms. Hasten is essential as it gets your big hitting Flashfire back asap and makes a Fireblast - Char single target rotation work quite effectively. Cinders and Bonfire are quite slow to recharge too, so more recharge always helps. I feel this build works better going for as much recharge as possible vs defence options. Everything else is optional. I went manoevers/CJ for the LoTG mule and a bit more defence, but you can mix 'n' match these as you see fit. Incarnate Cardiac. That is all. Fire/Storm is extremely endurance hungry and rather than building for +Recovery in your build (at the expense of recharge) it's simpler just to wheeze it out for 50 levels, then get Cardiac. Building a Fire/Storm as a badger or exemper will be tricky, but I only exemp down when in a team, and there are often times where there is +recovery in the team to help out with the shortfall (RA, AB, AM, etc etc) The rest of the powers aren't that important. I went Pyronic (themed), Storm Elementals (themed), Reactive (fire dot, thus themed), Support (passive end redux to all) & Clarion (because I hate getting mezzed). Farming Fire/Storm can solo farm +1/x8 fairly quickly - I can clear my current farm map in about 25 minutes which is slower than some purpose built farmers, but it's with a build that is massively strong in all types of PvE. Open with flashfire, cages to hold them in place, rain to get the res debuff then bonfire to start crisping. Let the imps go to work while you season the barbecue with fireball & fireblast for damage, and char to hold runners. Next mob gets Cinders. Mob after that gets Flashfire, then you may have to wait a moment before the 4th group unless you have Judgement or want to risk a Thunderclap - in which case you don't stop. Team Play @50 Depends on how active you want to be. Mostly, it's the Freezing Rain force multiplier with Fire Cages to set up containment, then jump into the pack and fireball/blast whilst Hot Feet crisps things. Most L50 teams have cleared the mob by now and are moving onto the next so tools like Lightning Storm, Tornado and Bonfire aren't worth setting up. Flashfire/Cinders are also rarely used because teams roll over groups so fast. If you're fighting +4s, you can't rely on your AoE holds much anyway (less chance to hit & shorter duration), so sticking to damage is your best bet. Vs AVs you're a powerhouse. Freezing Rain & Bonfire sets up the capability and with 2-3 Lightning Storms and another 2 Tornadoes out you're dealing a ton of damage. Add a Hurricane debuff and you don't need your mezzes (they don't reliably hold the AVs, and you rarely need the control anyway as anything non boss is flippety flopping from the Bonfire/Rain) Downsides Fire/Storm works best close in (for hot feet, lightning storm & t-clap) so you'll likely faceplant quite a bit while you get used to it. In fact, devensively, it isn't a great class at all (unless you turn on hurricane). If you pull agro that isn't stunned, held, flopping or debuffed to the acc floor, then you're going down quick. Controllers have the lowest health (or is that Stalkers) so even building for some sort of defence is at best, just prolonging your agony. Control, then Burn - that's your motto. If you Burn first, you're going to die. Unless it's bonfire. Which does both. Nicely :) Activations are also annoyingly slow. Bonfire, FR, LS and Tornado take forever to cast - esp if you're doing one after another. In contrast, Fireball, Char and Fire Blast are super quick, so I tend to mix them in with the bigger attacks. I've died a lot on Battle Maiden's blue patches in Apex due for the most part to Lightning Storm and Bonfire's animation times.

I did a guide here: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,3394.0.html It has almost capped ranged defence as well as S&L. That's my only survivability. I don't bother looking for health or resistance. They miss or I die. I didn't want to spend slots and enhancement money on increasing my survivability for a few more nanoseconds. Some notes... As said already - Total Focus is a "dead while animating" power. Looks cool, but ultimately undoes all your hard work building for defence - Energise. I have a single recharge IO in it. That's enough to keep it perma - Hasten - essential for me and that's with a ton of global recharge on top! (see build in my link) I forgo Powerbolt mainly because I have enough recharge to chain blast, burst and snipe. And my build is a "50" build which means I have Clarion for mez protection so don't need anything else. I rely on speed and mobility, which Stealth would kill (I use SS+Stealth proc in Sprint for invis). THat said - there are more than a dozen ways to skin a cat, so feel free to take what you like & leave the rest :)

I did an Emp/Psi guide back in the "Olden days" which is still pretty relevant. I was going to update it but it's quite long and I have no interest in playing it any more, so it felt a bit daft going to the trouble of writing a guide for something I don't enjoy. https://web.archive.org/web/20120904011100/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=123106 Basically, Empathy relies on long cooldown powers so recharge is the key. With enough recharge, you can maintain Fortitude on lots of people, thus resulting in far less time spent "healing". This was my build at shutdown. It was massively overly expensive but played really well. My issue with Empathy was that it took massive investment to make it decent - unlike some of the other sets. With the state of the market today, it's nowhere near as bad. Hasten is perma with just 1 slot of recharge. Recovery Aura is back 25 seconds after it exhausts and Fortitude recharges in just 13 seconds allowing you to cover an entire team in it. That's not including the Force Feedback proc. It relies on team play and rarely pulling agro for defence which isn't great. Defender blasts are pretty insipid compared to other ATs so as long as you're careful with your AoEs (Scream), you'll do OK. With the silly recharge, TK blast is your bread & butter as a fast activating attack chained with Will Domination, dropping Scream in when it recharges. I tend to apply Fort to Blasters, Cors, Scrappers, Khelds/Villain epics, & Brutes, and Clear Mind to other Defenders, Blasters, Cors, Controllers, Khelds and Doms. That generally keeps you fairly busy. On teams light in these ATs, you can blast a bit more. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Mellenta: Level 50 Magic Defender Primary Power Set: Empathy Secondary Power Set: Psychic Blast Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Flight Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Healing Aura (A) Panacea - Heal/Endurance (3) Panacea - Hea/Recharge (3) Panacea - Endurance/Recharge (5) Panacea - Heal/Endurance/Recharge (5) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance (31) Panacea - Heal Level 1: Mental Blast (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage (37) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance (39) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge (39) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage Level 2: Heal Other (A) Panacea - Heal (11) Panacea - Heal/Endurance (13) Panacea - Endurance/Recharge (13) Panacea - Hea/Recharge (15) Panacea - Heal/Endurance/Recharge Level 4: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (9) Karma - Knockback Protection (11) Kismet - Accuracy +6% Level 6: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (7) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge (7) Red Fortune - Endurance (9) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge (15) Red Fortune - Defense (34) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance Level 8: Psionic Lance (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (42) Devastation - Damage/Recharge (43) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge (45) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Level 10: Psychic Scream (A) Ragnarok - Damage (17) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown (17) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance (19) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge (19) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Level 12: Fortitude (A) Adjusted Targeting - Endurance/Recharge (21) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge (23) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff (23) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge (25) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge (25) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 14: Super Speed (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 16: Telekinetic Blast (A) Apocalypse - Damage (27) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge (29) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance (29) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge (31) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (31) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 18: Recovery Aura (A) Recharge Reduction IO (21) Recharge Reduction IO Level 20: Will Domination (A) Defender's Bastion - Accuracy/Damage (33) Defender's Bastion - Damage/Recharge (33) Defender's Bastion - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (33) Defender's Bastion - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (34) Defender's Bastion - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (34) Defender's Bastion - Recharge/Chance for Minor PBAoE Heal Level 22: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO Level 24: Resurrect (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 26: Regeneration Aura (A) Panacea - Heal/Endurance (27) Panacea - Endurance/Recharge (36) Panacea - Hea/Recharge (36) Panacea - Heal/Endurance/Recharge (36) Panacea - Heal Level 28: Tactics (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance (37) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance (39) Rectified Reticle - Increased Perception (50) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff (50) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up Level 30: Clear Mind (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 32: Adrenalin Boost (A) Panacea - Heal/Endurance (40) Panacea - Endurance/Recharge (40) Panacea - Hea/Recharge (40) Panacea - Heal/Endurance/Recharge (42) Panacea - Heal Level 35: Scramble Thoughts (A) Absolute Amazement - Chance for ToHit Debuff (37) Absolute Amazement - Stun (42) Absolute Amazement - Endurance/Stun (43) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge (43) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge Level 38: Vengeance (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 41: Assault (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 44: Mass Hypnosis (A) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep (45) Fortunata Hypnosis - Accuracy/Sleep/Recharge (46) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep/Recharge (46) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep/Endurance (46) Fortunata Hypnosis - Accuracy/Recharge Level 47: Psychic Wail (A) Armageddon - Damage (48) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (48) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (48) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (50) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance Level 49: Hover (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 1: Sprint (A) Unbounded Leap - +Stealth Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 2: Swift (A) Run Speed IO Level 2: Hurdle (A) Jumping IO Level 2: Health (A) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery Level 2: Stamina (A) Endurance Modification IO Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Vigilance Level 4: Ninja Run Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon ------------

Oh boy...

My En/En is softcapped to S/L and Ranged. It feels like this covers a significant amount of incoming fire whether I'm in melee or not. The majority of the def bonusses come from 6 slotting, so you're not gimping yourself as suggested in posts above. Thunderstrike (ranged), Mako's Bite (ranged), etc etc. There's lots of ranged def to be found. In terms of S&L, I went for Scorpion Shield epic. 1 slot that you can get at 35. Add in Manoevers, Weave & CJ and you're doing pretty good. Top it off with the +def uniques and you'll be doing ok. Blasters kill stuff so 6 slot your attacks and kill stuff. Fancy holds, stuns and (lol) sleeps are for other ATs. Not getting hit means getting stunned/held/slept far less. I'd never go resistance on a blaster. Late game enemies have a ton of other effects tagged onto their attacks, so having them just plain miss is best all round. Ranged defence is my top priority. Building for S&L was just for fun. The great thing about Blasters is damage, so if the enemy misses once, they're probably dead. That's why I went Musculature with my alpha - killing them first can be very good mitigation.

Wait... MIDS has the sudden acceleration proc as unique... you mean it isn't?

I have yet to find anyone who can explain to me how to control the KB from Explosive Blast or Nova. There is no surgery to it - that's the whole point. If I have a blaster on my team who is using Torrent as his main AoE and bolt/blast to "precision" strike enemies, he's more likely to get the boot because he's not bringing damage to the table. I'd rather have a defender whose piffling damage will at least come with the benefit of a force multiplying primary. If there's an enemy that needs keeping away from the team because it's dangerous, then it probably has significant resistance to KB. If it's a minion/LT, and the team is scared of it, well... Nova is up in 40 seconds on my build, which is every 3rd mob, or every other mob with a +recharge buff. Nova + Ex Blast = most stuff dead. Anyway, the "KB Bureau" has been created. I'm on Excelsior. Perhaps we can get some En/En teams going and get some love for the Knockback. Stormies are welcome too!