Story Archer

I've seen it said that it definitively didn't, but that was a really old post and I'm not sure if Homecoming or updates have changed that.

How necessary they are depends on your playstyle, but as a 'fire-and-forget' every couple of minutes you're definitely better off with the Beast and Servant than without. Also, they might seem kind of squishy on their own, but when you add perma-Fade, Shadowfall and Maneuvers, they get a lot less squishy in a hurry. Then add the pet Resist and Defense auras and the benefits of the occasional Darkest Night or Fearsome Stare and suddenly they become durable as hell. That's not counting any ancillary benefits they might get from your teammates as well. Here's my 'don't break the bank' L50 build. With more or less perma-Fade she is at the soft-cap for all positional defenses AND at the hard cap for Smashing, Lethal and Energy Resistance. She also features 164% Global Recharge. [Mistress of Chains].mbd

Not sure what you mean by 'no budget', but this would be one of the cheapest you could do, apart from just going straight generic IO's... I'm still selecting the 'must get' IO's, however and a few of the cheaper sets. I didn't do anything with the L50 slots because by then you will probably be looking for something a bit fancier. As it is, this build puts you at the defensive soft cap for Smashing, Lethal and Energy and gets the recharge down for everything you need it down for. Let me know if this works for you. K-D1VA (minimum).mbd Or did you mean a build where you have unlimited funds?

Except that's not exactly what Zep says... #1 Debuff radius around target. Each target gets a moderate debuff (I forget if there is a to-hit) and the total targets is counted. #2 BUFF in same area as #1 debuff a stacking buff based on the total number of targets debuffed. #3 BUFF in a radius around the caster. Otherwise same as #2. So it is NOT accurate to say that the buff received by those around the Kin and those around the Kin's targets are the same, correct? The way you're explaining it, it sounds like those around the Kin are receiving one static buff regardless of the number of foes hit with FS (50%?) while those around the target receive a variable buff based on ow many foes were hit (25% per foe?), all with the understanding that proximity can allow for both buffs to overlap... if those numbers are correct, that means a Kin standing right next to a single target would receive a 75% damage buff (50% + 25% x1), yes? I appreciate the response, I'm just trying to make it make sense. I find it interesting that those standing near the Kin are buffed for 45s while those standing near the target are buffed for 30s... I wonder why the discrepancy.

Sorry for the thread necro, but searches reveal so much conflicting information. Is what's listed above (still) accurate, and are the buffs the same per target whether you are near the kinetic using the ability or near the kinetic's target(s)? For instance, if the kinetic hits 5 grouped foes from a distance with FS, do the people near the target and the people near the kinetic get the same bonus to damage? Also, definitively, does FS need Accuracy? It takes Accuracy enhancements but Mid's doesn't list a base accuracy for the ability.

I've run a Kin/Sonic since back when the game went live. There are a number of ways to play it, but I definitely recommend you not skip your defenses - particularly your Area defense, since you'll often find yourself moving into the thick of it and even if a good tank is holding aggro all those AoE attacks flying around can ruin your day. I have a lot of different versions of the build - I can show you what it would look like at a particular level, with only generic IO's or maxed out with unlimited funds, just let me know what you need. Linked below is the base build with only two purple IO sets - the AT-specific ones for Defenders. You can easily replace these with their non-superior versions or a third set of Thunderstrike (for Screech) and a set of Eradicate (for Dreadful Wail) for much, much cheaper. This build basically has it's Smashing, Lethal & Energy defenses over the soft-cap and it's Ranged and AoE right at it (43.7% or 42.5% without purple sets). That should be more than enough for you to do your job without fear of becoming an accidental casualty - remember, Defender, your group is counting on you! Also of note - Accuracy is important, for you especially. Until you start getting together some of those set bonuses that will boost yours, you should slot Siphon Power, Siphon Speed and Transference with an Accuracy enhancement rather than what I've shown here. [K-D1VA].mbd The thing about this build is that it can be played in so many ways. You can hang back and focus on purely buffing and healing your party, you can focus on a single hard target, debuffing their speed, damage, etc. all while piling up -Res debuffs so that your allies hammer him harder, or you can be an effective crowd control/AoE threat by cycling Shockwave -> Howl -> Siren's Song (in that order) over and over to just melt mobs away and popping the occasional nuke with FS + Dreadful Wail if you're lacking a Blaster to do it for you.

It seems an odd power that doesn't get used much, if at all, in its current form - especially considering that by the time most characters can take it, everyone else has likely handled their Endurance issues and Vengeance seems so much more appealing an option. How about this as a fix/alternate take: Make the power an auto ability Have it give a small increase in both Recovery and Recharge Reduce the duration for 30 seconds. Have it only apply to foes of Lieutenant level or higher with scaling impact depending on the rank of the enemy defeated. That would seem to better capture the intended mechanical and thematic feel of the power, it would make it appealing to anyone taking the Leadership pool and would see value at all levels but not to the point that it would be game-breaking.

Thanks for the link, but I couldn't find anything in there on the stats of pets - Health, Accuracy, Defense, etc...

Wow - that was eight hours ago... any idea what the problem is?

Haunts, Umbra Beast and Dark Servant... I'm trying to get an idea not just of their general abilities, but their base accuracy, the relative damage they do with their attacks and their starting Defense and Resistances. Is that info (updated) listed anywhere that I can find?

Just tossing this out there for those looking for a Dark/Dark build, it's working really well for me so far: Mistress of Chains.mbd Hasten, Fade and Soul Absorption are all about 5 seconds off from perma - note: I really wish Fade and SA were on the same timer so that they could consistently be applied together. Defenses are crazy strong. With Fade you're soft-capped at all positional defenses as well as over the soft-cap on S/L/E damage resistance. Even without Fade, you're STILL over 30% on positional defenses and soft-capped on S/L/E resistance... add that in with Darkest Night and you don't even really need Fade, though your pets and your teammates will thank you for it. Heart of Darkness makes for a great mini-nuke/mez, up every 35 seconds or so. With only about 2.5 purple sets worth of IO's, it's also a very cheap build in the end-game.

I've long wondered about that, since on Mids there was never conflict between 5x LotG and other 7.5% buffs - I always assumed it was a bug, but this is good to know!

A lot of good advice there. I took some of it into account and played around with the build a bit more. Since I should rarely be in melee ranged of most foes, I felt like I had a little room to play with there - the new build has 38.7% Melee defense but 48%+ vs. Ranged and AoE. My accuracy is still where it needs to be and I reduced the slotting in Maneuvers and Weave and added SWotC into Fearsome Stare as you suggested. I also tweaked the pet slotting a bit, deciding to lean into defense and not chase resistance too hard. I'm also able to turn off Tough and still be right at the S/L Res hard cap, so that saves a little Endurance. Hasten/Fade/Soul Absorption still aren't quite perma, but you have to give up so much chasing it, it's just not worth it imo. Mistress of Chains.mbd

Alright, here it is: Mistress of Chains.mbd What I like about the build: With Fade up, all my positional defenses are between 42% and 44%, meaning that I'm bumping right up against the soft-cap. I could actually get them all over the cap by going with a full set of Guassian's in Tactics, but with all the ToHit DeBuff flying around, I thought that would be a waste. Even before Fade, I'm pretty much soft-capped on Resistance to the three most common damage types (S/L/E). My pets (and my team) are very well supported with Shadow Fall, Maneuvers and Tactics running as well as having all of the meaningful pet uniques represented. Ideally I'll catch them with Fade and Soul Absorption as well but I don't feel like I can count on them to always be nearby when those go off. Dark Grasp hits like a truck (for a Controller, at least), and Heart of Darkness gives me a nice mini-nuke to combo with Fearsome Stare pretty much every mob. I like that I don't have to lean too heavily into purple sets, with just Coercive Confusion and a handful of L50 procs. Some considerations: I originally wanted to proc out Possess to give me a second single-target mezzing attack power, but I found that the damage rarely made a difference and the set bonuses from Coercive Persuasion were just too nice to pass on. Since Heart of Darkness and Fearsome Stare pretty much give me all the crowd control that I need, I dropped all of the procs out of Howling Darkness with the intent that it'll primarily be used for Rezzing, -Regen in Boss Fights and an emergency Mez in case of an ambush or something, rather than a regular part of my attack chain. I chose to omit Living Shadows. At later levels I wasn't getting any meaningful damage from it, didn't need the Immobilize and, since almost all of my damage is proc-based or pet attacks, I didn't even really need the containment. Any thoughts?

Oh, damn - nice. Thanks, I'll do that ASAP. Can you weigh in on the inherent accuracy that MIDS shows for Dark Servant?

I really want to - especially the updated build, because the advice is so good - but I get some sort of error every time I try to export it. Best I can do is a data chunk, and I don't think anybody really uses those anymore.

Getting back to this, does Fluffy have a massive base accuracy, meaning that we don't need to slot it for that? Looking at Mids it seems to start at 96%, but then it also has Fluffy benefitting from Focused Accuracy, which it shouldn't - is that base Accuracy applicable to something other than its attacks? It's not so much about NOT summoning the Tarantuala, it's that it wouldn't be out all the time anyway, and I may only have enough slots available for it to mule effectively, if what it's muling helps everyone else then it seems worth it to me, otherwise I might select something else with that power slot. If one had to go and one could be fully slotted, would you go with the Tarantula or the Haunts?

I'm still trying to understand a few things - wouldn't that floor Fluffy's accuracy, with no accuracy enhancements whatsoever?

Do all the pets get the bonus even if they aren't all out? Like if I took Summon Tarantula and slotted it with Edict of the Master +DEF but never summoned it, would the other pets still get the benefit? Also, Soulbound Allegiance procs for the pet on the pet's attacks - it doesn't proc on me when I summon the pet?

I honestly think you can't go wrong with a Dark/Dark. My early experiences with it thus far have been a lot of fun, it's proven itself very capable in both solo and group play and it gives you a ton of different tools in the toolbox so you can customize it to your play style. That's also your answer to proc'ing because so many of the Dark powers have high inherent accuracies or are already autohit. See below for a snapshot of mine; I load up Dark Grasp, Possess and Howling Twilight in particular. My first Controller was Plant/Kinetics and she is an absolute baller, but her powerset is much more suited to group play, obviously. Illusion/storm is supposedly a steamroller, but they get run so often it's almost become a cliche. I do find myself wondering how strong a properly built Illusion/Storm would be in the late game, but it seems like it'd be a grind for the first 25 levels or so.

I've never really bought into the love affair with Creepers, but Seeds really is ridiculously effective, ESPECIALLY considering how early you get it. You just slot it with 2x ACC, 2x Rech and 2x Range to get it to broken status, and then at L50 Coercive Persuasion is just icing on the cake. That Contagious Confusion proc is gonzo on big maps.

(EDIT: I'm including my full build below - I'd REALLY appreciate any advice on how I might improve it, separate from the discussion taking place below) Mistress of Chains.mbd I'm trying to understand how all of these different pets work and how the pet enhancements work with them. This is my rough understanding of them: Haunt: So the two Haunts are summoned like an attack, directing them at a particular target whom they attack until it is defeated, then they follow you around for a little while, attacking additional targets as they appear. Even though they are summoned in a non-traditional manner, they take both types of pet enhancements. They can be attacked and killed, but don't draw any more aggro than any other character normally would, and in much the same way (be being near, by attacking, etc.) Umbra Beast: This guy gets summoned to a particular place and then decides who he's going to attack, spamming some kind of controls and regular melee attacks? The Beast also accepts both types of enhancements and draws aggro in the same, usual way. Dark Servant: A little different here. Functionally the same as the Umbra Beast, though with a different power set. Does NOT accept either type of pet enhancements. I assume draws aggro in the same way. Some questions: How do these creatures decide who to attack (closest first?) and which powers to use (is it random?)? How do the four Defense/Resistance enhancements work? Does the Dark servant benefit from the auras even though it can't take them? Call to Arms (Defense Aura for pets) - what is the benefit and how big is the aura? Expedient Reinforcement (Resistance aura for pets) - what is the benefit and how big is the aura? Edict of the Master (Defense bonus) - what is the benefit and does this only apply to the creature it is on? Sovereign Right (Resistance bonus) - what is the benefit and does this only apply to the creature it is on? Do they all benefit from Leadership powers? Do they benefit from area buffs and boosts like Shadow Fall, Fade and Soul Absorption? Is there any way at all to interact with these pets or control or direct them once you've summoned them? It seems like they're just something you summon and they float around in the background randomly making life harder for your foes, but if there is something more that I'm missing out on I'd like to know. Is there a link somewhere that shows the actual powers these guys have, their accuracy, duration, etc? Thanks in advance to anyone willing to take a stab at this stuff. It might seem like common sense to the old-timers, but it's all pretty vague in descriptions and wiki entries and we never know what's been updated or changed. I tried searching through the forums but kept finding incomplete, inaccurate or contradicting discussions. I'd really appreciate whatever information you can offer, and if there are any rules that apply to these specific pets (and can't be assumed to apply to other controller pets), please make a note of it.

Another enhancement slotting technique to consider is Lockdown in your Hold abilities - 6-slotted it makes your Hold potentially much more powerful and gives +2.5% AoE defense and +3.75% Ranged defense for each one. I have a Fire/Atomic Blaster that has only three purple IO sets (no Incarnates) and he's soft-capped on defense for Ranged and AoE both, largely due to three sets of Lockdown and a full set of Gaussian's in Tactics (+2.5% defense to all positional defenses).

Sentinels have closed the gap in damage?? I actually think it's just the opposite. I find it easier a lot of times to get a Blaster's Ranged defense at the soft cap than getting all of a Sentinel's defenses in that range. So, in practical terms, you've got better defenses and more damage on a well-built Blaster. The ones I tend to play, anyway. I have two Sentinels that I really like, an Elec/Elec and a Dual/Super Reflexes, but I've never really figured out where they fit in. Both Blasters and pretty much all of the melee sets seem better suited to doing whatever it is you'd want a Sentinel to do.

This is exactly right - any build you make will need these 10. After that, you can work for set bonuses to maximize defense and recharge or you can lean hard into damage proc's... both make effective characters. If you're soloing, defense and recharge, if you're teaming a lot, you can go the other way.