Story Archer

Alright, this is what I think I'm going to go with. A couple more purps than I'd normally have, but it's got my Ranged / AoE Defenses up to 45% / 42%, my universal recharge up to 70% before Haste and has all of the Hold control I mentioned before. No Rune of Protection here, but I do get Hover back, which is just too valuable a tool for ranged Blasters.

I think you still have to take either T1 or T2 at 1st level regardless. I'm actually really enjoying what I'm getting out of /Atomic. As I said, most of the powers I would take for the build are functionally identical anyway and the difference makers seem to work better on /Atomic for me. You're right, I definitely prefer a dedicated ranged Blaster. I went back at things and I'm trying something a little radical. I dropped Fire Breath, leaving me only a fast-recharging Fireball for AoE whenever I'm not nuking with Inferno. However, that has allowed me to take and six slot Positron Cell, Radioactive Cloud AND Char, giving me a host of Hold options to really stack up the control when I need to. I've got my Ranged / AoE Defense up to 45% / 40% AND this build is going the Sorcery route, letting me take Rune of Protection for a nice +20% Resist All/Mez Resist whenever I think I'm going to need it. I'm still a little on the fence about that last part, trying to decide if I'm better off with that or Hover or CJ instead.

Yeah, that's Wintered out for sure. I noticed that you had Vengeance checked on it, though - those bonuses would really only apply after ally has died, so I'm not sure you can rely on those benefits all the time. Once you toggle that off, my build actually has better Defenses, Resistances and Regeneration, so its worth considering. I made a few additional changes - I pulled the second slot and the IO's out of Ionize and Aim - they only got me 4% in damage bonuses and 3 seconds faster recharge. I dropped them into Weave and Maneuvers to get me to 4-slotted Luck of the Gambler, adding another 18% Accuracy. I'd love to plan for more purple sets - like Superior Defiant Barrage in Blaze - but I simply have too many alts and no supporting SG to speak of, so I have to assume that I'm always going to be operating on a budget.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. My thoughts on the two powers mentioned: I should get a pretty strong boost in accuracy from sets and powers like Tactics or Aim, so I figured I could get away with single-slotting it. My intent was to only use it in the rare instance I find myself getting surrounded (as if from an ambush or a tank wipe). Slots are at a premium in the build and Bonfire's 3 second activation time just kind of turned me off. I'll admit though, now you've got me reconsidering six-slotting Char and using those slots on Radioactive Cloud instead. I actually at one time had Beta Decay in, single-slotted just as you said with the -Res proc, but then I realized that I would basically get no benefit from either the +Recharge or the -Res unless one or more foes were within 15' of me. I'm not a Blapper, and since my playstyle is better suited to staying back and attacking at a distance, it seemed like a waste of a power slot and an unnecessary endurance drain. I've got pretty good +Recharge as it is.

Close to it, yeah. I'm fairly experienced with /Ice but I've never played /Atomic. I'm probably only going to take five powers from whichever Secondary set and three of them are essentially copies of one another (Chillblain/Electron Shackles, Build-Up/Ionize and Freezing Touch/Positron Cell). The fourth would be either Ice Patch or Radioactive Cloud which aren't the same power but I'd be using them in the same way. That leaves Frigid Protection vs. Metabolic Acceleration as the deciding factor here. I love the larger radius of Frigid Protection (30' VS. 15') but the Regeneration, Mez Resistance and Recharge benefit provided by Metabolic Acceleration seems to make it the clear winner. Am I reading that right? I'm already leaning towards /Atomic due to play-style, I like that it's hold is ranged rather than melee and I think the Gamma Burst interaction is kinda cool (makes my single-target Immob a little more useful). I don't like that I have to wait 10 extra levels to get MA over FP, but in the grand scheme of things that's not that big of a deal.

Which is better?

I appreciate the reply. I tend to lean more towards less controllery options like Blasters, scrappers and Brutes, and I love a good Defender, but I'm really fascinated with this particular power combination (Plant/Fire Dominator). On the Controller side, Seeds of Confusion has got to be the best power out there - AoE, prevents them from attacking you and tends to cluster them together for AoE attacks plus you get it so early and can use it so often. With that as my base, I just use Strangler (+Vines when necessary) to lock down particularly tough foes and that's it - everything else is glorious fire damage. Toss in Carrion Creepers to just wreck havoc and it doesn't really matter if you have the pet or not. Plus I've found it surprisingly easy to beef up this guy's defenses without having to depend solely on purple IO sets. This is probably the only Dominator I'm ever going to play, but I plan on playing the hell out of him 🙂

How about The Shodaw? 😛

Here's what I'm kind of working on at the moment (Fire/Atomic/Fire). It gives me two stackable ranged Holds with potential for higher Mag, focused almost purely on staying at range and gives me positional defense of 25% Melee / 35% AoE / 45% Range with nice S/L Resistance and 515% regen. It only uses 1 purple set (Superior Blaster's Wrath). EDIT: I've swapped out Bonfire @44 for a single-slotted Radioactive Cloud because that seemed like the better '@h s#!t' button due to its quick animation time. The duration isn't long, but it's long enough for me to get somewhere safe. [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] (Is that the best way to share the data chunk? I haven't had much luck figuring out how best to import Mids)

So, quick breakdown of playstyle and what I'm trying to accomplish: I prefer to remain at range as much as possible (little to no Blapping), try to group but end up soloing at least a quarter of the time and my build priorities are, in order: 1) damage, 2) soft-capping ranged defense (if possible) and 3) having a pair of single-target holds I can stack on bosses when needed. I'm also not in a situation where funds are unlimited and generally assume that I have to work primarily with non-purple IO sets, though I might be able to sneak one or two in there. In the final build I plan on taking all of the Fire powers except Flares and possibly Rain of Fire. I'm fairly experienced with /Ice but I've never played /Atomic. Since I will probably end up with four powers from either Secondary set with three of them essentially being copies of one another (Chillblain/Electron Shackles, Build-Up/Ionize and Freezing Touch/Positron Cell), so Frigid Protection vs. Metabolic Acceleration has to be the deciding factor here, I think. I love the larger radius of Frigid Protection (30' VS. 15') but the Regeneration, Mez Resistance and Recharge benefit provided by Metabolic Acceleration seems to make it the clear winner. Am I reading this right? TIA for any insight.

I'm planning out a Will/DM Tanker and I'm looking at three different places that I can slot these two procs (Stamina, Quick Recovery and Physical Perfection). They aren't unique so it seems to me to be a pretty effective way to load up on free healing and endurance. Don't know how much I'll need it with everything else going on but it seems like a pretty good use of the slots. Technically I've never actually played with multiples of these two before - is this going to work the way I think it's going to work? Any reason why I shouldn't do this?

I've had a lot of trouble finding any kind of guide or power breakdown myself - just new or is the power set unpopular for some reason?

Gotcha. Good advice, thanks. How have people slotted this in the past - with anything at all? (asking whoever might be reading)

lol - I'm not entirely sure if this is an endorsement or a warning... are wider toggles poorer options for procs?

So I'm working on my Fire/Cold/Fire build and I'm trying to decide the best way of slotting up Frigid Protection - 30' is a big aura to take advantage of. Initially I was just going to go with an EndMod and the Chance to Stun from Energy Manipulator and use the slots elsewhere, but now I'm wondering if trying to proc it out might be the better way to go. Something like this: Frigid Protection Impeded Swiftness - Chance for Smashing damage Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold damage Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Energy damage Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun And possibly even Theft of Essence - Chance for +Endurance Performance Shifter - Chance for +Endurance Am I putting too much attention on this power or is it something that I REALLY need to be taking advantage of? How have you guys slotted it, and how high of a priority should I be placing on it - say, over slotting Bonfire? TIA.

That's the way I'll go, then. Thanks for the advice!

So your advice would be to keep (and slot) Flares and Fire Blast? I actually feel a little better about that due to Defiance (I tend to play more 1-50 than post-50), I just hated wasting a power slot. Selecting and slotting Spirit Ward the way you suggest would seem to keep it from being a total waste, even if it pushes Rune back from L20 to L24.

Good evening, my friends. I'm putting together a Fire/Ice/Fire Blaster and I intend to take the Sorcery Pool - I like Flying, I think Rune of Protection is a great power for a Blaster and the magic theme fits the character well. Of course, that means that I need to take an additional Sorcery power which means in all likelihood Arcane Bolt. Since I'm probably taking it anyway, I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and use it in place of Flares or Fire Blast as far as devoting enhancement slots to and using in my attack chain (with the other, Blaze and Blazing Bolt). According to MIDS it deals more damage than either of the other two, but of course its recharge is (a little) longer and the activation time is cumbersome to say the least. So, do I take Arcane Bolt and forget about it, or do I save a power slot by replacing Flares or Fire Blast with it?

Excellent - thank you so much.

I'm looking at the Mids tools, trying to figure out the Pet IO sets a little bit: Pet Damage category Edict of the Master +Def Sovereign Right +Res Recharge Intensive Pets category Expedient Reinforcement +Res Call to Arms +Def I assume that these Uniques buff the pet, not the character that summoned it, correct? I'm guessing that's the case since 1) it'd be WOW and 2) none of the numbers move on Mids when I slot them.

G’day, all. I’ve newly rediscovered CoH (crazy happy to see it alive and well) and I’ve decided to rebuild a character concept I always loved but never really got to level up – Plant/Fire/Fire Dom (The Defoliator!). I’ve been playing around in Mids and what has struck me most is the wide array of options available on which to base your playstyle. Obviously it’s great to have options, but I’m struggling with what to focus on… sure, eventually everything will be slotted to try and take advantage of sets for the collective set bonuses, but as far as what I’m actually going to USE the lion’s share of the time, I’m simply not sure which way to go and thus, how to build for it. FWIW, I’m probably going to play this character solo at least 50% of the time with the rest of his play limited to small groups – Controllers/Dominators have never felt particularly useful on those steam-rolling 8-man power leveling teams, and I have characters much better suited for them anyway. I'm one of those oddballs who tends to enjoy actually playing through content rather than power-leveling, and post-50 play for me is more of a reward than my sole driving motivation. My first thought is to lean heavily into what I consider to be a (the?) jewel of the set, Seeds of Confusion by level 8. Do I take advantage of that, hit Fire Breath and then run in and mix it up with Incinerate and Combustion or sit back with Carrion Creepers, Rain of Fire and Fireball? Should I build Roots for damage and use it as a follow-up to Seeds before the AoE barrage? Is there a time when Seeds starts to become unreliable or impractical? Is Vines really worth it? Sure it stacks with Strangler and locks down groups but it doesn't deal damage, has an incredibly long recharge time and it seems like I'd get just as much benefit out of Seeds, not to mention the clumping effect Confusion tends to get you. Do I spend any time at all building up and buffing Fly Trap with Leadership or is that simply not enough return on investment? What about putting together a strong single-target attack chain with Strangler, Fire Blast, the new-and-improved Bolt and Blaze? How much defense is too much defense? Is Fire Shield adequate for someone who shouldn’t be in the line of fire very often, or do I need to go the Fighting line? If I do, with all those toggles, does Consume become a priority, and if I’m running in to use that, should I reconsider including Combustion & Incinerate as follow-ups? Sure, not every plan works best for every situation, and, like I said, it’s good to have options, but at the moment I’m just not sure what direction to focus my attentions. At the moment I don’t plan on taking Entangle, Spore Burst or Spirit tree, I know that. I’m on the fence between Incinerate and Flares, trying to decide between a ranged attack chain or focusing on melee. Don’t know how badly I’ll need Consume yet and I’m not currently planning on taking a travel power, just (probably) Combat Jumping + a prestige run with the Jetpack as a back-up. As I said, I’m really looking for advice on tactics and play-style, more than any sort of end-game build since I can always respec into that when the time comes. TIA for any insight - I'm really looking forward to trying this character out.

I'm assuming that Phantasm benefits from everything, like a normal pet, but what about Phantom Army? Does it benefit from Leadership? What about buffs, like a Kin's Siphon Power or Speed Boost? And, finally, do you still not gain experience from mobs defeated by the PA? TIA, just trying to get a handle on the best way to build/plan for an Illusion Controller (my first one).

Thank you for taking the time to respond at length. I think I'm going to go with Sonic/SR - it might be a bit boring compared to some of the other defensive sets, but I've played a SR Scrapper and Brute and it always seemed like the best defense was simply not getting hit. I'd like to see how this version of it plays. A quick look at Mids tells me that it's pretty easy to soft cap, leaving time to attend to making the most of my attack chains. Question about Master Brawler though - what actual Mez protection does it provide? Mids doesn't tell me anything...

I feel really good using Shadow Maul, which is what drew me to Cross Punch in the first place - using them back-to-back seems like a great way to clear out the minions in a set that doesn't have much going for it AoE-wise... if you take Kick and Punch, it reads as a base 69 damage compared to Shadow Maul's considerable 90 damage plus it has the chance to Knock Down and Stun foes. Seems like a worthwhile inclusion to me, but I've never actually used it, so I can't say for sure. If there are better AoE attack options which would compliment the playstyle as well, out there I'm certainly open to them. I've already got more than 5 LOTG's in my slotted build, so I don't think I can get the benefit of another one. I did take TP as a quicker 'get there from here', though I've found the free prestige powers adequate for 95% of my movement and team teleport on PUG's usually take care of the rest. I probably would have just taken Teleport Target there instead but I wanted a spot for the Blessing of the Zephyr Knock-Back IO, just in case.

Greetings all - newly returned player here looking to build my first Sentinel. My playstyle (for ranged characters at least) is one that lends itself to standing back rather than getting into the thick of things and I prefer less actively managed defenses so that I can focus on my offensive set-up. Figure this character will be 50/50 solo play and random pick-up groups. I've been parsing through the various primaries and I've decided that I want to lean into a cone-centric Sonic build, stacking Sleep and KB effects to keep the baddies out in front of me, so now I'm trying to find a secondary set that will compliment it mechanically, compliment my playstyle and hopefully allow me to find some sort of theme-based synergy I can use on the character concept (in that order of priority). [EDIT: Am I reading this right, that Sentinel Sonic Blast only Debuffs Res by about 9.5% while Blasters debuff it at 13%?] First thoughts: Bio-Armor seems... complicated. Dark Armor looks interesting, but flavor-wise it doesn't seem like a good match, and it does seem to encourage close-range interactions. Electric Armor seems like a very strong candidate due to its 'fire and forget' nature. Feels like a lot of toggles running at once, but Power Sink should help. How useful is Power Surge? Energy Aura - is it me or does this seem VERY similar to Electric Armor? Fiery Aura - I like the self-heal, self-end and self-rez options a lot and the damage bonus is the icing on the cake. An early leader despite its occasional need to interact with nearby foes. Ice Armor is another very strong candidate for me, though I generally hate the animations. Is there no downside to Icy Bastion other than a long recharge time? Invulnerability - for some bizarre and utterly indefensible reason, I've never cared for Invulnerability defensive sets. The need to be up close to take advantage of Invincible seems like a disqualifier. Ninjitsu - I can never seem to remember what each power does due to the names. Seems like a cop-out, I know, but it throws me off. Radiation Armor - I don't have any thoughts about it one way or another (no experience at all), but it doesn't seem too popular on the boards. Regeneration - Filled with auto and toggle powers that don't require me to close with baddies, on the surface this seems ideal to what I'm looking for... but I get the impression it'll let me down in tougher boss fights. Really on the fence about this one, so any anecdotal experiences would be much appreciated. Stone Armor - Despite its popularity on melee sets, I've never been much of a Stoner, probably due to the animations more than anything. Should I reconsider that bias for Sentinel-style play? Super Reflexes - A favorite of mine on melee toons, and the addition of Enduring seems like it really helps shore up the entire set. I like that none of the powers are dependent on me closing with my enemies, but I'm not sure I get the Master Brawler/Practiced Brawler dichotomy thing. What are the arguments against this set - is there an AoE hole with no Lucky? Willpower - Another favorite in melee sets and another very strong candidate for me. Does Up to the Challenge remove the enemy proximity requirement of Rise to the Challenge? I do worry a little bit about the set collapsing under the weight of debuffs, though. I'm really looking forward to reading any and all thoughts on this. Sentinel is a totally new concept for me and I'm trying to get my mind around the best way to approach it, not defaulting to a Blaster mindset though I suspect that I will play them similarly, at least at first. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read through this and, of course, for any responses.