Coyote

Single-target damage is fine. You get Infrigidate slotted with 3 damage procs and Achilles... you get 5 or even 6 damage procs in Fossilize (because Earth does -Def with everything so you can live with lower base accuracy), and yout slot up the Immobilize for damage, and you have a decent single-target rotation. You can hit higher cons starting at low levels due to all the -Def. So you do okay with single-target damage. It's AoE where you have nothing going on, but that's not too unusual for half of the Controller sets... Ice, Earth, Gravity, Mind, Illusion all struggle with AoE damage. For single-target, an Earth/Cold slotted specifically for damage should be fine. Infrigidate is over 150 DPA, Fossilize is about 150, and Stone Prison is about 100, so it's not hard to maintain a single-target rotation that's over 100 DPS. Add in -Res and -Regen effects, and it can drop AV health bars. For AoE... good luck. I'm using Wall of Force and waiting for the epic AoEs. Until then it's a slog, but that means that mission difficulty gets raised by +Level rather than by xNumber.

Okay, I don't have time tonight to go over this build, so I'll go over it tomorrow. Just as a note, the only reason to 6-slot a set, EVER, is if the bonuses for the 6th slot are good. Otherwise, it's almost always better to throw out 1 or 2 of the set's worst IOs, and replace with an IO from another set that has an effect proc, or that enhances the better aspects of a power. For a quick note tonight, this is my Ill/Storm build, which has the perma-PA to stand against AVs, and DPS to beat their regen. Endurance IS a problem, and I'm switching from Clarion to Ageless due to that: Edit: and as a side note, I wonder if that suggestion was a joke. Lightning Storm COULD be used for draining, but really only for an Electric/Storm, and even then it's not worth it: Damage, Accuracy, Recharge, and Endurance Reduction are the main things to slot in there, and a Force Feedback. I go with 5xApocalypse and the Force Feedback, personally, but there are other decent options.

Sure, that's fine... if Zombies do more damage than Grave Knights as a base before Soulbound, then certainly they should get Soulbound. I was saying that IF another tier does more damage than the tier 1s (before damage procs, because damage procs won't be affected by Soulbound), then putting it in the other tier may be more helpful. And, also, if it's close... then the Tier 1s should get it, because the ToHit bonus will help them more than Tier 2 and 3s. Basically, if you have a MM set where the Tier 1s are clearly outclassed in damage by the Tier 2s or 3s (not sure if there is any where this is the case, though, as the utility henchmen are usually put into Tier 2 or 3 so that you start off with a DPS tier), then it should be put into that higher damage tier. But if Tier 1 is tops or close to tops, then it should get it.

I'm not sure that this is right. Yes, Soulbound will trigger more on Tier 1 pets, but it will boost a lower base damage, thus it may not actually boost your overall DPS by more. Now, I think that it adds ToHit, which IS more useful in the lower Tier pets... but I think that you get the most increase if you put it into your highest-DPS tier, whichever that is. For example, Grave Knights for Necros. Another consideration is aggro... I think I'd put it into Bruiser for a Thugs/Pain, since he'll have single-target buffs up and I want the aggro on him. He's a high-DPS tier anyhow, but boosting his damage will pull aggro away from the crazy Arsonist.

I like Petrifying Gaze with like 4 damage procs and a Lockdown proc. It becomes a pretty hard hitter, and has a chance to one-shot Hold a boss.

I agree with this, or limit the stacking to 2 at full strength, then the 3-5 stacks have half effect. And the point about feeling the effects of what other teammates do for you without IOs, and then not caring much about teammates giving +Recovery or +Defense once you have IO and Incarnate levels is good... letting characters cap defenses on their own too easily cuts down the value of +Def buffs, which should be major selling points for some sets like Cold and Force Fields.

What's the issue, lack of damage, lack of surviving, or lack of endurance? PA should be perma, which means you only have to survive usually 1 shot from the AV when the new set of decoys comes in, before they grab aggro, and you can often even avoid that by ducking behind an obstacle before the summons. And I try to make sure that I have either 1 Luck or Unleash Potential running, to be capped vs Ranged Defense so it would take a lucky shot to hit... and very few AVs will 1-shot you at range. You should be able to perma PA easily once Incarnate using Agility as the Alpha (and Ageless if necessary, though it's more necessary for Endurance management), but you can probably get perma-PA before it, by putting a Force Feedback +Recharge in Tornado and in Lightning Storm. Each use of one in a minute is equivalent to a 7.5% Recharge bonus, and you can usually fire Tornado 3x and LS 2x in a minute, so that's a lot of Recharge boosting, more even than Accelerate Metabolism.

Exactly. The difference is due to different goals in optimizing. Optimizing for AoE, where most of the action and XP is, means putting the -Res in larger AoE powers, in this case Leap. Optimizing for AVs, where the lack of optimization might actually make a difference (lower AoE damage, considering how high either Sav/Bio or Sav/Shield are in AoE, will slow down fights a bit but rarely result in actual problems, just slower success), means putting into something that's going to be in a single-target DPS rotation. And usually the only good AoEs to fit into single-target DPS rotations are those smaller cones like Shadow Maul or Shred, which are not going to be as good as single-target attacks but at least are going to be in the ballpark, along with higher chances to proc the IO on a single target. As you say, there are so many different options in the set that builds can go in very different ways and still be optimized, just for very different goals.

I'm not saying that you should necessarily follow my plan, but I looked at Hemorrhage, and I love the idea of an attack cycle that builds up 4 Frenzy (but not 5) and then fires Hemmorhage after Assassin's Frenzy. That way you get 8 stacks over 2 activations, instead of 5 and then 0 because you were Exhausted on the 2nd repetition. So, looking at activation times, it seemed to me that Shred would fit very nicely in a Maiming - Shred - Assassin's - Hemoslaughter cycle, building up 4 Frenzy. However, Shred would be kind of weak as a single-target attack. I think it's great since it has a decent cone that reliably hits 2 targets, and can hit 3-5 on a corner pull without much difficulty, but as part of a single target rotation, it's a bit lacking. But... any other attack I'm going to put in there wouldn't be great in any case, so I don't want to get and slot another attack when Shred works and also helps in AoE. So, how to make Shred actually useful in a single-target rotation? I think I hit on an answer: slot it up with 4 slots base as an attack. Since it has a good recharge, you can get away without Recharge slotting and get good values, or else you can put 3 of the ATO set that gives Smash/Lethal Defense if you're building for that (though you get Recharge enhancing, and you actually don't want that). This gives you 2 slots, and you can fill them with Achilles Heel and Fury of the Gladiator to get 2 -Res IOs into a single power. Now, the power averages about 14% -Res debuffing per use, and about 20% long-term on an AV since you can't stack each debuff, just extend the duration. Even with lower damage stats, a 20% -Resistance debuff is well worth putting into the cycle, and turns Shred into a good part of a single-target rotation. Since Maiming is pretty good and AF & Hemo are great, you end up with a very nice looking single-target rotation while still slotting up a power that can be used in AoE situations.

Phantom Army, frankly, seems like a REALLY powerful power for even 18. I couldn't see pushing it up earlier. Although I would love to swap Flash and Spectral Terror, since Flash isn't that usable early until you get some set bonuses for Recharge and Accuracy.

I really like the animations, especially since they're DIFFERENT. If you want straight hard power projection, there is Energy Melee, Energy Blast, and Energy Assault, as well as the Martial Art/Assault/Manipulation. There are enough other options for hard-hitting martial arts and power projection, that I like the option of having a softer "casting" style.

I love those players. They make the game interesting 😄

Agree with Cold, agree with Gravity. I think Electric is fine, it has enough damage mitigation through pulsing Sleep and End drain early... Synaptic Overload is a better power than Paralyzing Blast so of course we'd want it earlier, but I don't think that there is more than a "would be nice to have" argument for it. Not like the other sets, which really have issues related to waiting very long to get those powers.

I read about the Guardian AT as a proposed melee/buffing set. So I wondered... wouldn't you get the same effect just by proliferating MELEE attack sets to Defenders? Does it really seem either too weak or too strong to let Defenders (and by extension Corruptors) have Stone Melee, Dark Melee, Superstrength, etc? You can have a Stone Melee/Kinetics character, or make the Martial Arts/Kinetics Ink Men that players have been asking for, and you don't have to create a new AT for it. Just proliferate a different TYPE of attack set.

I rated Demon/Storm as the highest DPS on paper. The reason is that Demons is high damage and Storm is high damage.... but Demons debuffs Resistance, which multiplies its damage. And Storm's. And Storm debuffs resistance, which multiplies its damage. And that of Demons. The only issue is Endurance, especially if you use the personal attacks (and you should for max DPS). Ninja/Storm wouldn't be, because even with Ninja a bit ahead of Demons, they're not providing 50% or better -Resistance, which would make a big boost to Storm's damage.

Fire is a premier damage dealing set, though with no mitigation. Mind's high control made it safer to use, so it's a good combination, but I wouldn't call it a top damage dealer... both Fire and Dark put out enough damage without having to spend time in animation (pets and Hot Feet), that Fire/Fire and Dark/Fire should both be easily ahead of it. And Plant's confuse ability plus Creepers clearly make it better at AoE damage. Anything with /Fire is going to be good at doing damage, especially single-target at range, but Mind isn't one of the higher damage options as a primary. Just one of the safer ones, and Fire Assault can use safety.

I'd never drop Whirling Hands, because it's the only main AoE power. The AoE Hold is very skippable, especially for Electric Control which will rely on every-spawn confusing and draining rather than on alternating an AoE Hold with some other AoE control, like Mind Control. Power Sink is a good option for an Electric Control character as it helps sap enemies a lot faster. I don't know if it's important enough to make the character less fun to play, though it would probably be more effective with Power Sink, and a pet, and an AoE.

To be honest, my first character on CoH was Illusion/Rad. I actually had NO idea why players ever complained about Sappers, Sorcerers, CoT Demons, KoA, Ring Mistresses, etc. Then I played a melee character with status protection, and found that there are actually NASTY DEBUFFS in the game. Who knew?!? 😄 Squishies have to worry about mezzing, and have proactive actions that may prevent it. Melee characters may have to worry about debuffs, and often have fewer proactive actions. Given break-frees, Rune of Protection, and Clarion, I don't think that mezzing is really an issue, just a challenge.

I think that Sentinels were considered as fulfilling a major needed role for PLAYERS, not for TEAMS. Basically, the idea of having a character who is armored/tough AND ranged, like Iron Man is a standard hero/comic book archetype, and this allows players to play that archetype.

Thank you, I had forgotten about the formats for this. Now I can finally do my Rain of Skulls macro: " powexeclocation up:max Wormhole" (this only applies to Skulls... I am going to make a Rain of Fire macro for use on Hellions. Not sure if a Sky Rainers macro is called for) 😄

Agree completely: 1: always put the chance to Hide ATO in Assassin's Strike for the reasons stated above. 2: the set has good bonuses, and I always 6-slot it in AS.

Always put the unique Defense IOs in Combat Jumping... you have it available earlier than Weave, and it costs less Endurance to run, so you'll never have a reason to not use it in combat. You don't need to put the Stealth IO in Combat Jumping, it can be slotted into Sprint, freeing the slot for Kismet Accuracy. As KK said, put damage procs in Jolting Chain (and also maybe the Devastation Chance to Hold, and maybe Force Feedback Recharge). It can become a very useful power if it's giving you back Recharge bonus and doing noticeable damage as well as knocking down and occasionally Holding mobs. And as he said, take the slots from Conductive Aura. I would take Chain Fences over Bonesmasher, at least after a respec when more attacks are available. Even leaving out Whirling Hands, against a single targe if you slot up Jolting Chain (it's fine for use as a single-target blast), you'll have JC, TF, a Hold, a Snipe, and Power Burst, as 5 single-target attacks/mezzes. That's already enough that you're going to have multiple powers ready to go and recharged. Adding Bonesmasher gives you another higher-DPA power, which is nice, but not as worthwhile as AoE endurance drain and recovery debuffing from Chain Fences.

Lastly, Plant/Savage, my favorite. It would be soft-capped with Level 50 IOs (I design at 40 to have some leeway for leveling up), and doesn't use Link Minds so it has access to Sleet. Agility Alpha would also cap it. I would like to squeeze out more slots for Rending Flurry, and 1 more for Mighty Leap to cap out more easily, so I'll have to see if there is something that feels like it could sacrifice a slot to Rending Flurry. I don't think the defense is as necessary since I do plan on going with Agility Alpha.

Here is a Mind/Fire. It is also capped with Agility as the Alpha, or you could make some changes to cap it now: run Mass Confusion with 5xMalaise for the Recharge and the 1 Fiery Orb ATO, and that allows you to change Blaze to Thunderstrike x6 which easily caps you, or to Thunderstrike x2 plus some damage procs, which would also cap you if you free 1 slot to put into Mighty Leap for a 2nd BotZ (it could be the Fiery Orb ATO slot, that's cool but not really necessary).

Here is an Electric/Earth build. Depending on what your Incarnate is, it would be capped to Ranged Defense if you take Agility as the Alpha.