[Alt-itis Therapy]

1 minute ago, Shenanigunner said:

Welcome home. 🙂

 

🙂

[Alt-itis Therapy]

So upon discovering that my beloved CoH had returned, I completely spazzed out over the new (to me) options and all of the changes that had happened since I hung up my cape years ago. In an effort to get things under control, I've finally committed myself to two of each AT, not including Khelds or Arachnos (one day, maybe). I wanted to give myself a good mix of playstyles and power set experiences while avoiding the random things that I know I'm not overly fond of. This is my final list, my dedicated 22:

 

Blaster:

• Alpha Spectrum (Fire / Atomic)
• White Star (Energy / Energy)

 

Controller:

• Speed Orchid (Plant / Kinetics)
• Time Shadow (Illusion / Time)

 

Defender:

• K-D1VA (Kinetics / Sonic)
• Fear the Never (Dark / Ice)

 

Scrapper:

• Serrated Angel (Katana / Willpower)
• Ladyshrike (Claws / Energy Aura)

 

Tanker:

• Iron Anvil  (Willpower / Super Strength)
• Lady Mossad (Shield / Martial Arts)

 

Brute:

• Crimson Skye (Staff / Electric)
• GenX 4 Life (Street Justice / Radiation)

 

Corruptor:

• CoX and Chill (Ice / Cold)
• Mujere de Agua (Water / Storm)

 

Dominator:

• Defoliator (Plant / Fire)
• Mistress Montclaire (Mind / Psi)

 

Mastermind:

• Sheen 2.0 (Robotics / Time)
• Drakken Ruhl (Necromancy / Dark)

 

Stalker:

• Hyperstrike 2.0  (Street Justice / Energy Aura)
• The Eldramoor (Dark / Shield)

 

Sentinel:

• Hurtz (Electric / Electric)
• Six-Gun Angel (Dual Pistols / SR)

 

Almost all have been made and most advanced to 20th at least - a few are still pending and a couple of the names haven't been checked, but the rest are all well on their way. Honestly, I'm not really sure why I even posted this - I'm just really excited to have it settled and looking forward to the adventure. 

[Necro secondary]

Necro'ing this thread again - I'm seeing a lot of hype for the Necro/Dark pairing... I've been on the fence for a while on what my first MM should be, and I'm torn between Necro/Dark and Necro/Cold, so much so that I've put off making the character til I decide.

 

The benefits of /Dark have been mentioned above and are clearly very strong, but with Cold you get the Ice shields and strong options for both large mobs (Sleet, Heat Loss) and hard targets (Infrigidate, Benumb). Am I overlooking something or is Dark that clear of a winner?

[Looking for a math nerd (Siphon Life as Regen)]

2 minutes ago, arcane said:

Preventive Medicine procs the same no matter where you put it IIRC.

 

So if I put it in Siphon Life it would go off whether I used the ability or not?

[Looking for a math nerd (Siphon Life as Regen)]

1 hour ago, ZemX said:

 

Heal is easy.  Regeneration?  Who even knows how that works?  The only thing we can all agree on is that it must be nerfed in the next patch.

 

Well, if I can figure out what the percentage of a character's Health regenerates in one minute (base only, without Health) and then figure out what percentage of a character's health an unslotted Siphon Life would heal if it successfully lands every 10 seconds (or 6x per minute), it would seem to be a somewhat direct comparison...

 

Killer avi image, btw. I find that I, too, am better at doings than at understandings. 🙂

 

[Looking for a math nerd (Siphon Life as Regen)]

19 hours ago, Snarky said:

I do not know the numbers. I have used siphon life a lot, across archetypes, mostly Brutes. Paired almost always with Dark or Invul.  

 

The feel is real.  I enhance this as an attack only.  No extra heal.  When used as part of your attack chain it provides a noticeable improvement versus everything except massive spike damage.  For that you need the "oh crap buttons"Dark Regeneration or Dull Pain or some such, possibly also eating some skittles if the situation persists or also hitting Rune of Protection or some such.

 

But in normal play this power works hard.  Especially noticeable at low levels before enhancement sets flush out or all powers are not yet in.  A real gem.  Hits hard and heals you a nice bit.

 

Is it a good candidate for the Preventive Medicine +Absorb proc? As part of a steady attack chain it would seem to be an ideal fit?

[Different pairings with Illusion?]

On 3/29/2023 at 10:17 AM, Uun said:

I'll second Poison and I'll add Time to the list. Chrono Shift really helps in achieving perma PA.

 

Interesting. I've got a quick question about Illusion/Time. I'm not super familiar with Controllers; I've played a Plant/Fire Dom and I've poked around with different Illusion toons but never all the way through to Phantom Army and I know absolutely nothing about Time. I have an Illusion/Time concept that I really want to go with (pulling past and future versions of yourself to help in a fight, that kind of thing) and I was curious about their synergy (or lack thereof).

 

Are there any decent Time guides out there? I don't mean just generic sample builds but a breakdown of the various powers, their strengths and weaknesses, what to skip, consider and absolutely take, etc? I haven't been able to find any but admittedly my search-fu is a bit weak.

[What’s the most bombastic name in your stable]

My favoritely-named toons:

 

CoX and Chill (Ice/Cold Corruptor)

 

Defoliator (Plant/Fire Dominator)

 

Serrated Angel (Kat/Will Scrapper)

 

Six-Gun Angel (DP/SR Sentinel)

 

Hurtz (Elec/Elec Sentinel)

 

Rebel Yell (Thugs/Sonic Mastermind)

 

[Looking for a new tank to main]

On 10/25/2023 at 1:09 PM, Reningrendir said:

I have played a stone/stone tank and I love how hearty they are. That being said the slowness is starting to get to me and I am looking for something new. I am stuck between a perma light form peace bringer and a shield tank. I know both are good and peace bringers are cooler visually and have heals but in the heat of battle I don't know which one performs better due to a lack of experience. 

 

Fellow tankers, from your experience would you rather have a peace bringer or a shield tank?

 

I think that you should consider Shield/Martial Arts for several reasons.

 

1) You can reach soft-cap defenses, mez resistance AND Resist to all of 26-28% practically by level 12 only slotting IO's and a couple of uniques (see my recent post on this forum). That means that you can get right back into the tanking you're used to without any sort of painful grind.

 

2) The Martial Arts powers are visually very dynamic and will definitely 'feel' different than the slow stony you're used to. Moreover, with defense so quickly and easily taken care of you can spend more time focusing on your offense for a change.

 

3) All of the knockback/knockdown will feel familiar and will let you slot those +Recharge procs you're probably used to.

 

At the end of the day, while Peacebringers can tank (if by 'tank' you mean stand there and absorb damage), they are a wildly different play experience from Tankers. Depends how far you want to venture from what you've enjoyed in the past.

 

[Is this right??? (Shield/MA)]

16 minutes ago, PLVRIZR said:

You have Storm Kick toggled on, so you get +10% defense to all positionals.  In game, it's temporary (3 sec.?).

 

Right, I mentioned Storm Kick, and of course its temporary, like Divine Avalanche or Guarded Spin, except its to ALL positionals. The question is how long does the buff last, because the kick's base recharge is only 6 seconds and you have to figure any decent build will get that down to 3-4.

[Is this right??? (Shield/MA)]

As I return to the game I loved for so long, I've been trying to familiarize myself with what's new, what's changed, etc. Tanks were never something I really played because I tended to solo a lot and back in the day that's just not what they were intended for. Now I've read some good things about them and I'm giving them a look with fresh eyes. After dipping my toe in with a cursory Willpower/SS build, I went looking to put together a concept I hadn't ever really gotten to try - Shield/MA - and I was not prepared for what I found, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something here:

 

 

 

Is this right? It can't be. Now I'm not going to build this character exactly like this but I just wanted to see - by level 12 with Storm Kick, only the most basic slotting and a few Unique IO's, this character is already essentially at the Defense cap for all, has his status protection in place AND is resisting everything but Psi at 26% or higher? If true then that's just crazy. All Tankers can't be like this now, can they?

 

[DM/SR build on the cheap(ish)]

3 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

It should be in the toggles and passives.

 

I know that's where it comes from - how do you raise it? Does it improve automatically through normal slotting of Defense IO's?

 

[DM/SR build on the cheap(ish)]

13 minutes ago, Thraxen said:

You want to get that ddr to 95%. That’s the best part of SR. 

 

It's at about 86% - how do you raise DDR?

 

[Looking for a math nerd (Siphon Life as Regen)]

I'm curious what a consistent application of Siphon Life might look like in terms of equivalent Regen, operating with the understanding that Regen outside of combat really isn't that important for most melee types. I'd like to be able to compare it to something like Rise to the Challenge (which also doesn't provide healing outside of combat). So something like Siphon Life is equivalent to XXX% Regen using the parameters below.

 

Basic framework - first off, I'm assuming that the heal is based off of some kind of percentage of a toon's health (as is Regen) and that it functions similarly across all AT's. That might be wrong, but hopefully not for the purposes of what I'm trying to figure out. So let's assume that:

• AT is at base hit points only.
• Siphon Life is not slotted for any additional healing.
• There are no additional ancillary healing bonuses or effects in place.
• Siphon Life is being used as part of a basic attack chain that allows it to reliably hit once every 10 seconds (or 6 times per minute).

 

Hopefully this is something that can be reasonably determined. If not then just tell me to piss off and I'll find some other random, esoteric aspect of the game to become preoccupied with.

 

TIA!

 

 

[Sigh...this is why we can't have nice things.]

How does somebody rig 10 million pieces of basic salvage?

[DM/SR build on the cheap(ish)]

2 hours ago, SomeGuy said:

Shadow Maul is bad. Touch of Fear is good. You can proc bomb ToF and have a high recharge AOE that also does some CC.

 

Siphon Life is for damage. Slot it that way.

 

That's a great suggestion for ToF, I never considered that. Back when I played DM many years ago, ToF was the power you never even considered. How would you recommend slotting it? I shouldn't need accuracy for it any more than I do for Siphon Life, so are you just thinking the six damage procs (4 damage, Glimpse the Abyss and Cloud Senses)?

 

I'm pretty happy with Siphon Life the way it is - the full set of Preventive Medicine really gives me some nice stuff I don't think I'd see from any other non-Purple option. The attack chain already deals pretty solid single-target damage and with my Resistances so low, when I do get hit, it tends to hurt. Having an ablative Absorb shield and being able to Heal up for a lot in response really tends to mitigate that one weakness. I'm open to slotting it for damage, I just tend to shore up defenses before worrying about MOAR offense, especially if I'm planning to run solo.

[DM/SR build on the cheap(ish)]

23 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

I know you have FA, but does Siphon Life hit that often with no Acc slotting? There certainly mobs which will challenge that type of slotting.

 

2 hours ago, SomeGuy said:

I'm curious what your global ACC is with FA OFF. FA eats a LOT of EPS. Curious if it's really worth it.

 

As the build above is shown (except swap a set of Adjusted Targeting in FA instead of Guissian's), with FA off AND no Soul Drain (something very unlikely to ever be the case), Accuracy is at 43% and ToHit at 6%. That puts Siphon Life at 77% Accuracy against +3's and 65% Accuracy against +4's. Again, this is without any purple sets whatsoever and without Focused Accuracy OR Soul Drain. Turn on either one of those and it jumps up to 86-87% vs. +4's and the Accuracy cap (95%) vs. +3's or lower. 

 

Honestly, once I upgrade the Scrapper sets and Soul Drain gets close to perma, there really isn't any reason to turn FA on except when debuffed or up against particularly hard targets. Still, it's good to have when you need it.

 

[DM/SR build on the cheap(ish)]

12 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

On my Claws/sr I have 158.8% +Recharge and a single Recharge IO in PB. Recharge is 66.41 seconds with a duration of 120 seconds. That's more than enough. 

 

Yeah, with Hasten the Recharge for it on my L50 build is just under 61s with only one IO, so I'm sure you're right.

 

 

[DM/SR build on the cheap(ish)]

9 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

You aren't the only one who I have seen do this, but I don't get the -KB protection when using /sr. The 3-slot bonus isn't doing anything for you either. PB doesn't need a second Recharge either. 

 

It's a little embarrassing to say this, but the +defense that the set provides evens out my Ranged/AoE Defense and that appeals to my OCD. If it helps, in the 50+ build I swap that out for a set of Warp which grants more tangible benefits. I've also decided to swap out the Guissian's to a set of Adjusted Targeting, since the bonus defense really is superfluous at that point.

 

I was under the impression that there was some benefit to be gained from stacking PB. If not then that's a slot that's easily used elsewhere. Thanks for your comments.

[DM/SR build on the cheap(ish)]

After getting a little frustrated with my DM/SR, primarily due to END issues and an understandably lackluster performance given that he was in the mid-to-late 20's at the time, I returned to my 'safe-space' Kat/Will for a while, but now I'm ready to get back on track and push through these growing pains to the sweet, sweet untouchability of later levels.

 

Playing around with different builds, I've been pleasantly surprised to discover how effective you can make them without having to go all-in on purple IO sets, which is good because my alt-itis and somewhat limited time rarely allows me to do so. This build in particular has come along very nicely, and while it's not what I would call a minimal investment, it's fraction of what I could have spent. There are no purples IO sets or Winter sets in this build, with only the lesser versions of the two Scrapper sets. To be honest, even the Scrapper-only sets could be replaced with less expensive IO's without too much of a drop-off in power level, I mainly have them in there for the Global Recharge and Crit bonuses.

 

FWIW, this tends to be my 'solo' scrapper and it's built with that in mind, though I certainly team with him from time to time. I'd appreciate anyone with experience playing such characters to chime in with any thoughts they might have, particularly if they see some sub-optimal slotting (within the criteria mentioned, of course). Hopefully, other players with similar goals and/or limitations will find this useful.

 

(data chunk at the end of the post)

 

 

There's some pretty good stuff here:

• 50+% defense to all, along with 84.5% DDR and attacks that inherently reduce ToHit (a little overkill, but that's fine)
• A self-heal that doubles as a solid attack and grants a chance for an Absorb shield every 4 seconds or so
• 300+% Regen, not counting a couple of Power Transfer procs
• A self-recovery that doubles as a solid AoE attack
• 93.75% Global Recharge which gets you just 12-15 seconds from perma-Hasten
• Stacking clicky mez protection that doesn't go away like toggles will
• A very smooth and efficient attack chain featuring a much less-commonly resisted damage type

 

I didn't lean into a Patron pool that gave mezzes or ranged attacks because I don't tend to spend much time controlling when I'm in Scrapperlock and the attack chain didn't need any additions, nor did I need to use any of those options to mule IO sets. Against +3 content or less you don't really even need Focused Accuracy toggled on. This is just straight-up meat-and-potatoes, hit things hard and don't get hit in return. I like that my normal foot speed with Swift/Sprint/Quickness/Combat Jumping (and Athletic Run) is more than enough to get me around locally and the TP really lets me dart across the map when I need to (it also fits the character concept perfectly). 

 

Admittedly the damage resistances aren't anything to write home about, so on the rare occasion that you actually get hit you tend to feel it. This is usually lessened somewhat by the Absorb shield that Preventive Medicine gives you, which is why I like having it as part of my steady attack chain, giving you a triple benefit - it deals damage, it heals damage and it potentially sets you up to avoid damage as well.

 

Again, any comments or suggestions are welcome and I hope this helps people trying to muddle through the mid-levels of DM or who are considering SR as a Secondary.

 

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[What do you think is the single most powerful power/ability in the game?]

10 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

Fulcrum Shift. Damage caps a team.

 

Speed Boost. +Recharge and the End to go non-stop. One of the only powers actively talked about while a player with said power is on the team.

 

Seeds of Confusion. While not good against single hard targets, it makes mobs irrelevant and is up often enough to where Plant needs little else.

 

Phantom Army. Makes alpha strike irrelevant and more so when made perma.

 

Hard to argue with Fulcrum Shift, Phantom Army, Speed Boost and Rage. All are excellent and should make anyone's top 5-10. Just can't get away from Seeds for me, though - of course my experience with it is playing a Dominator, so even Bosses get purple clouds more often than not. Creepers might not be top 5 but an argument can be made that they're top 10. As a 1-2 punch I'd say they're right up there with Speed Boost & Fulcrum Shift, though in wildly different circumstances. So, Plant/Kin for the crazy OP?

[What do you think is the single most powerful power/ability in the game?]

52 minutes ago, Snarky said:

So many variables.  Are we taking into account recharge and other minutae?   Because as fired off Blaster Fire Nuke or Earth Nuke are two room clearers

 

42 minutes ago, FFFF said:

It's Hasten. Even post-ED. It's probably the most common ability among just about every power build created.

 

By itself it's pedestrian, but being able to attack faster, use abilities faster and speed up getting your T9s, etc. Even if it was the last power in the speed pool, just about every power build player would probably get it.

 

Is it mandatory for a power build? Absolutely not. Do I think it makes every build better? Yes.

 

I suppose I should have been more detailed - edited the OP to clarify that. I meant powers from actual power sets, not generic power pool abilities that any/every build might take. Generic T9 nukes seem like they miss the point as well.

[What do you think is the single most powerful power/ability in the game?]

General question and then again with what you think is the ideal slotting. Not worried about getting into the 'OP' debate, just curious what popular choices are.

 

For my money I feel like it's got to be Seeds of Confusion. Basic slotting for Accuracy, Recharge and Range it's pretty ridiculous but at 50 with Contagious Confusion it just gets ratcheted up to a whole new level of domination/control.

 

Gotta figure Carrion Creepers gets an honorable mention here too.

 

EDIT: Okay a couple of qualifiers - it's got to be a powerset power, not something generic that almost every build takes like Hasten. I'd also say shy away from the traditional tier 9 nukes unless they do something distinctive that sets them apart from other Tier 9 powers.

 

[My first attempt at an Ice/Cold anything]

13 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

I'm guessing I can't get the data chunk to open because my Mids is older than the above.  So lets try uploading one version I have in Mids for my Cold/Ice/Elec

 

Grey Grissom ColdIceElec Hasten (v2.00 i27.6) - Defender (Cold Domination - Ice Blast).mbd 45.95 kB · 2 downloads

 

Off to see if that opens from my end.

EDIT:  See if that works for your version and let me know.  Be careful with what's enabled or not when looking at values.

 

 

 

Between being a Defender, taking the Force of Will pool and the Electric Mastery pool that's a wildly different build, but it does open my eyes to a few new things - thank you for posting it.

[My first attempt at an Ice/Cold anything]

1 hour ago, Doomguide2005 said:

I'll have to try and get a look at this later as currently on my phone on a break at work.  Defensive mitigation on an Ice/Cold or Cold/Ice in general when running with larger teams in particular doesn't need to be capped or even that high.  Several of your powers cause the foes to try and run out of the area rather than attack.  Mix that with all the slow and recharge debuffs well they just don't attack nearly as much while running slowly out of the AoEs.  Then add in the hold(s) in Ice and some of the most annoying or dangerous foes may not be moving at all.  One of my favorite sets though typically I run the mirror Cold/Ice.

 

Back later

 

Thanks for the preliminary thoughts. It's just instinct to try and cap my Ranged/AoE defenses on a ranged character, especially if it's not gimping anything else to do so. The build I posted above was for 50, but the pre-50 version (without the 'Superior' versions of Scourging Blast, Malice, or Frozen Blast) actually has my Ranged/AoE at 42% and 37.5% respectively, and even that is actually a lot lower until 47+ (31% and 27%) when I finally pick up and slot Weave & Maneuvers, so it's good to hear that I won't have to be too worried while leveling up and a lot more vulnerable.

 

Taking and slotting Spirit Shark Jaws and Summon Coralax as I do is responsible for about 8% of both defenses. If defense isn't that important, perhaps I should consider something else with those slots or a different EPP altogether?

 

An alternate version I'm looking at goes Psychic Mastery - it'll give me that second Hold to stack, Mind Over Body  to help with Psi Resistance and give me access to World of Confusion (which I love, even though its only moderately beneficial on a ranged character).  Leaning into more purps for slotting (Unbreakable Constraint and Coercive Persuasion) let's me jump my Recharge up another 20% and still has me at 40% Ranged and AoE defense. Again, all post-50.