Story Archer

Or, at the very least, a way to keep from repeatedly banging your head on the keyboard waiting for your attacks to recharge while grinding through the lower & mid levels. I don't think it'll be needed in this build, but I'm also playing with a Claws/Rad Brute right now and all of a sudden Hasten is looking a lot more significant with Particle Shielding and the mini-nukes that come with it. The problem is that I'll basically have to give up Fold Space to get it, so I'm trying to see if I can get by with FF +Rech procs in Focus and Shockwave for now.

Thanks for the clarification. Your stance is kind of the reason why I made the OP in the first place. I find my Scrappers to be extremely survivable late-game, everything I'd need them to be as long as I'm not trying to specifically Tank. I feel like the damage difference between the Scrapper and the Brute is generally much more noticeable than the survivability difference (although, it bears repeating that I have much less experience with Brutes). I also feel like the single-target damage difference between the Brute and the Tanker is nowhere near as noticeable as the difference between their survivability and AoE damage. Hence the question 'why a Brute'? I've been trying to figure that out myself by experimenting with which powersets might benefit the most from a Brute's unique niche but it seems to be a fairly short list. I had a discussion with a friend recently who proposed an interesting 'fix' for Brutes, which would be instead of (or in addition to) a Brute's generic boost to damage increasing with their Fury, granting them an escalating critical chance that starts off basically nonexistent and also increases with their Fury so that, in the rare instances that they are fully maxed out, they're critting at just as high or higher a rate than Scrappers. Honestly, that feels really thematically appropriate to me and would help them out a lot with sustained damage vs. tough single targets without unbalancing them the rest of the time.

Quick question regarding Claws since I've got some knowledgeable people about: how necessary is the KB/KD IO for Shockwave? Assume I'm running content that is at least +2, will that generally be enough to mitigate KB to KD, or do I need to get the IO if I don't want to be sending guys flying all the time? I see the mag listed in Mids as being KB: 1.82 but that doesn't mean much to me.

Oh, my first 50 was a Katana/Willpower Scrapper, so I know well what they can do. As great as it is for levelling up, I do feel that Willpower is one of the weaker defensive sets vs. higher-level content, fwiw. It just seemed to me that in your comment you were specifically comparing ST damage.

I feel like it should play to the Brute's strengths with relatively high End Recovery and attack rate, and as a Res/Absorption based armor set. Looking forward to combining proc'ed mini-nukes with Spin to serve as an AoE blender, and I don't think the singe-target damage should lag too far behind. I ran a Rad/SS Tanker to 50 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, but noted that I played her a lot more like a Scrapper than other Tankers before, so I thought this combo might make for a nice Brute, which is something I have very little experience with. I was curious if anyone had any thoughts, advice or experiences to share?

I can't speak for all Tankers, but my Rad/SS Tanker moonwalks through content without any of those things... it'll be interesting to see if my Claws/Rad Brute does the same, but it seems like you're talking about single-target only here.

This is in no way a troll post, please don't think that for a second. I just 'finished' my first Brute (Staff/Elec) and I started brainstorming on what my second should be, but I kept running into the wall that every concept I came up with seemed like it would be better served by either a Scrapper or a Tank, both of who's inherents don't have to be actively 'managed'. I'm very open to the possibility that I'm missing some aspect of Brutes which makes it stand out from the other two, but it seems like more of a relic from a period of the game when it was the only melee option available to redside players which necessitated a less effective compromise between the two. Please know that I'm certainly not here to debate - I'm having the same struggle trying to find a viable concept for a new Defender after leveling my first (Kin/Sonic) to 50 in a world where everything seems so much better as a Corruptor. I just want to learn and (hopefully) get some advice on my next build from players more experienced with the AT. These are my thoughts, and PLEASE correct me if I'm incorrect in any way. I would expect this character to have about a 75/25 mix of solo/team play. I feel like a Brute is best served by being able to go-go-go in order to maintain Fury, so when looking at power sets, I'd like something that will offer me some +Rech and something that will help me manage my Endurance issues, without which the first 30 levels or so seem like a frustrating slog at times. It also seems like you don't necessarily want to prevent foes from attacking you so much as you want to mitigate those attacks when they come. With the higher Res cap and more HP than Scrappers, it seems like Brutes benefit more from Res-based secondaries which has me leaning strongly in that direction. It seems like damage auras tend to benefit Brutes more than Scrappers, especially through the early and mid-levels, though this only exacerbates the Endurance issues. I assume that the 'pulses' of damage auras don't benefit Fury? Similar to Tankers, it also seems like damage procs benefit Brutes more than Scrappers since procs don't crit. At the moment, I think I've got the defensive side down to /Dark or /Rad. For /Dark, I like the damage aura, the Heal and the +End, but I feel like I'm leaving something on the table if I don't plan on taking the Fear aura or the Stun aura, which I don't. I've never played anything with Dark Armor, which is a selling point, but I can't help but wonder if (yet again) it may be a better choice for tanking. For /Rad, I absolutely love Beta Decay and the two mini-nukes, and I feel like the absorption shield is under-rated in how effective it is. Its also nice having a Tier 9 with little to no drawback. The only cons to it imo are 1) no damage aura and 2) I've already played 2 different Tanks to L50 with Rad Armor, which is why I know it so well. I'm open to other options, but I've ruled out Def-based sets, Willpower and Bio. Fantastic as Willpower is for the levelling grind, I feel like it has a much lower ceiling when it comes to high-level content, especially when soloing and going toe-to-toe with hard targets. Try as I might, I still struggle with my dislike for Bio's visuals and, it just doesn't seem to have the level of solo survivability I'd prefer. Maybe I'm missing something about it, if so please enlighten me. Offensively, I'm think I've also got it down to two options in Claws/ and DM/. Claws is in the lead right now because I've never played one to 50, I love its mix of single target & AoE as well as its ranged options which are rare on melee types. Its reduced End cost relative to other sets also makes it a plus. The only negatives, if you want to call them that, is that I've just started a Claws/SR Scrapper and I know that lethal is a heavily resisted damage type. The only reason why DM is trailing is because one of its biggest selling points, the self-heal, seems a bit redundant with either of my secondary choices and its big gun Shadow Maul eventually starts to feel a bit too repetitive to me. At the moment, I'm leaning strongest towards Claws/Rad. Combining the mini-nukes with Claws' excellent AoE's should let me clear the maps pretty efficiently and I'd like to think that I could leverage enough +rech to get a solid single target attack chain going. Will it have enough survivability and enough damage output to go mano-y-mano with EB's and possibly even AV's? And, as mentioned at the start of all this, why should I play this combo (or any other) as a Brute over a Scrapper or a Tank? What unique advantages does it offer with regards to damage, survivability and/or play style? Thanks so much in advance for anyone who chooses to weigh in.

DB / Ninjitsu is my main and I show it off a little here: It might be worth considering Ninjitsu for the broader toolbox it gets, but nothing irritates me more than when I ask for input on a build and people start telling me to play something else instead. Specific to your question, first I'd follow the DB powers I took as they give you two smooth attack chains - one for groups and one for single-target - both of which allow you to still take advantage of useful combos without having to chase them, which is to say that they're complimentary to what you're doing, not the focus of what you're doing. Attack Chain #1 (for groups): BF -> NS -> AS -> TE Attack Chain #2 (for single-target): BF -> SS -> NS -> AS I also get into a discussion about another build I'm running - Claws/SR - here: There's some good insight into how to build a SR Scrapper there. And with smart slotting, you don't need to go crazy with the purple inspirations like I'm showing there. I've got that character in her 40's and she's at around 55% on all three positional defenses and 95% DDR without a single purple in the build.

I don't know why, but I can't ever get the data chunks to work for me. What is it that you use Hasten for? Personally, I've never found that Claws needed it for a tight attack chain and SR doesn't have any clickies that really benefit from it.

My goal was to put something together that was sleek, efficient and didn't require any maintenance on the defensive side. One of the great things about Claws is that it offers the opportunity to use a wide variety of purple sets to their maximum effectiveness. The global Accuracy is so bananas on this set, I really only have Focused Accuracy to mule the Gaussian's to top off the defensive numbers. Global Recharge is more than enough not to have to worry about Hasten, and tossing the Rebirth Incarnate on top is just *chef's kiss*. I haven't played these two sets together before - anything obvious (or not so obvious) that I'm overlooking? [Sheen] (Claws - Super Reflexes).mbd EDIT: Posted the wrong thing by mistake - fixed it now.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. 🙂 I know that DDR is basically non-existent with this set, but I'm running with 35% Melee, 21% Ranged/Area, and combining it with the ToHit DeBuff benefits of Beta Decay and Darkest Night when needed. Collectively they actually help me out a lot in the 'getting hit' department - which, honestly, I try to take advantage of more to limit DeBuffs than actual damage. Plus, looking at Barrier, I'm thinking of linking it to a movement button as a means to keep it more or less perma - it fades over time, sure, but I'm already pretty far along without it so the combo should be really effective most of the time. For me (with this guy anyway) 'team tanking' generally consists of running in to take the Alpha, clearing away the riff-raff with some combination of 3 wide and powerful AoE's and then holding the attention of the biggest threat left in the room. For fast-moving teams, that's usually more than enough, especially if they are also getting the benefits of my Barrier and Darkest Night. What's your Lore pet of choice?

So my Tanker is a Radiation Armor/Stone Melee and I've enjoyed the run to 50 immensely. He's currently got Fault instead of Tremor (let me know if that's a bad call), with Fault, Stone Mallet and Heavy Mallet slotted with +Rech procs. Ground Zero and Radiation Therapy are slotted out with procs to serve as mini-nukes and Hasten is not quite perma (before the FF procs kick in, at least). Soul Mastery adds Gloom to the attack chain and Darkest Night for an added layer of protection. Alpha question: My default Alpha for melee types is usually Musculature, but I'm wondering if this particular build might benefit more from Spiritual Core Paragon (+Rech to smooth out the attack chain and get Particle Shielding & the mini-nukes up faster, +Healing to benefit Particle Shielding's absorption and +Stun to make Fault more effective). The question is whether the +Healing actually benefits the absorption and whether this would be the right way to go. Interface question: I'm really torn between Degenerative, Diagmagnetic and Reactive. Large groups aren't a problem, so this is really targeted at making my single-target attacks their most effective against EB's, AV's & GM's. Degenerative: Is a 75% chance to -Max HP more effective than a 100% chance to -Regen (from Diagmagnetic)? Diagmagnetic: While it's not my primary (or secondary) means of defense, I'm already layering on some pretty decent -ToHit DeBuffs with Beta Decay and Darkest Night, is the added ToHit DeBuff from this worth taking into consideration? Reactive: Currently 3rd place in my consideration, I can't help but to think about how heavily resisted Smashing damage is and the damage proc that comes with this one really seems like the only one of the three that's worthwhile. Lore question: Given my chosen power sets and durability, what would be a good Lore pet to go with? Should I only worry about layering on the damage at this point? It would be nice to be able to at least think about soloing some of the big names, though that might be unrealistic... Destiny question: No clue what to go with here. Ageless to help out Recharge on all my big guns? Barrier just to help out the team, especially since I don't take Taunt on this build? Rebirth for more healing (I don't have any idea how this interacts with Particle Shielding)? Incandescence to help with various missions, TF's & SF's? Any advice here would be welcome. I've already decided on Ion Core Final for Judgement and Assault Radial Embodiment for my Hybrid. Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer, I'm really stumped on these.

For fun AND effectiveness without needing a specialized set of skills to play, I'd suggest Staff/Electric. My Crimson Skye is one of the most fun characters that I've played. As a Res-based secondary, it maximizes what a Brute is good at in that regard and grants you a damage aura to boot. Just as importantly, it keeps your Endurance topped off which you want when you're go-go-go, trying to maximize Fury. Meanwhile, Staff adds a nice defensive buff in addition to multiple cool-looking AoE attacks. Besides, whipping around a staff, dealing all that AoE and crackling with red lightning is just too cool.

Which would be the more effective Interface Incarnate when battling EB's, AV's & GM's? For argument's sake, let's ignore the secondary benefits of Toxic DoT or ToHit DeBuff - if you're trying to put down a big dog, which option would be more effective? My initial thought is Diagmagnetic for its -Regen. I don't really understand how the -HP works and if/how it is resisted, but I've been told that when building characters for survivability that +HP is better than +Regen, which suggests that the reverse is true as well. Anyone care to weigh in?

Gotta be my DB/Ninjitsu Scrapper. Ever since I made Veil of Blades my badger and Main, I've fallen completely in love with her (in a purely plutonic sense, of course). Scrapper damage with a high crit rate, built-in Stealth, a click Heal or Endurance boost whenever I need it and survivability that rivals some Tankers I've played. The stats below are without my T9, Rune of Protection or any temp or Incarnate powers...

Welcome home!

I think you might be missing the point there - it's sort of like our individual freedoms. You're free to do anything that makes you happy... right up until the point where you're infringing on someone else's freedom to do the same. There's no wrong way to have fun - UNLESS your fun is hurting other people's ability to have fun. When you make a choice to join a group, you're making a choice to give up some of your usual autonomy for the benefits of being in that group, and the great thing is that the very second you feel like that trade-off is no longer working for you, you can simply quit and find another.

With a Ninjitsu Scrapper as my main, every PUG I join, if it hasn't been explicitly stated that it's a kill most/all, I always tell the leader (privately) that I have Stealth ability and can stealth any of the missions if they want to, just so that they know they have that bullet in their gun, but I let the leader make the call.

So I have an Incarnate Scrapper who's pretty damned strong (but nothing more than other experienced players might have), and I frequently find myself running with pick-up groups at varying levels. Often times I am significantly stronger than all but 1 or maybe 2 of the people that I'm teaming with and I find myself running content on a difficulty level I could probably solo. Under these circumstances, if we're in 'kill most' mode and the rest of the group doesn't seem to be having too much difficulty handling our foes as a group, I'll find myself leaping into a second mob alone or going the other direction to speed things along and create a little more of a challenge for myself. I won't face final bosses without waiting for everyone, but anything else I'd consider pretty much fair game. Thus far, no one has called me on it, and it wouldn't bother me if the show were on the other foot (I probably wouldn't even notice unless I was leading the group), so I haven't thought much of it but a recent post regarding rudeness in the game has me thinking. Would this sort of behavior bother anyone, and if so, why? If, under the circumstances described above, I was asked not to do it, I wouldn't, but then I'd probably move on after the mish to find a bigger challenge unless I was chasing a badge or something.

You can '1 star' people? lol - I just put him on ignore. I figured that he didn't suck at CoH so much as he simply sucked at life. The punishment for people like that is that they have to live being a person like that, no need to get drug down with them.

This might be obvious to some, but I think it's a very good point to make. By and large the veteran CoH community is staggeringly helpful and patient, but it's those with experience (and the expectations that come with it) who are the most likely to be rude, even unintentionally. We very much want to build this community up, and its very easy to run off potentially new players by overwhelming them with stuff that they're 'supposed' to know. I've had a rude awakening on speed runs myself more than once. Honestly, since my return I can only think of one time anyone was overtly rude to me in the game. I was running the only Tank on a mind-level PUG and the guy who had put it together made a point of telling everyone to 'stay on him' at the beginning of the mission. There was no other explanation for it other than that, so I assumed that he had had a bad experience with people wandering off and wanted to avoid multiple pulls. I took the lead, taking the alphas and doing the Tanker thing, got to the Boss and realized that the group had split up at some point. I messaged that I had found the Boss and kept him focused on me so that the others could catch up, but he was defeated before they did. When we exited I got kicked immediately - I assumed it was a glitch and messaged the leader for a re-invite and proceeded to get an endless stream of vitriol because I hadn't stayed with him like I was told. Seriously, it went on for a good while. To put it into context, this wasn't some farming run, there weren't any stated goals other than finishing the mish, the guy was just supremely pissed that everyone hadn't stayed WITH him as he had in structed and that the mission had been finished without his being there to oversee the victory. He got pretty nasty and I remember being just completely blindsided by it. He seemed pretty experienced too. But that's it. That is the only time I can remember in my entire history of playing the game where I would consider someone as having been overtly 'rude'. Anything else has always been a well-intended miscommunication that was easily and good-naturedly resolved.

Right. I have almost total patience for someone not knowing how to 'properly' build a character, get the most out of their concept or even not knowing how to perform various tasks in and out of combat - we were all learning at some point, and this community has, in my experience been almost without exception patient and willing to teach. On the other hand, someone who's actually ruining the fun for others either through deliberate ignorance or just deliberateness period is completely unacceptable. I had a PUG with a guy who never stopped talking, in character and in the 3rd person while in character, all while using a build clearly put together for RP purposes more than combat effectiveness... but he wasn't half as annoying as the guy who constantly pulled multiple groups and caused repeated TPK's, even when warned against it...

I always wanted to play a MM at a moderately high level, join a PUG for a TF, and then not summon any pets and see if anyone else noticed. Just as an experiment.

Afternoon, all. After having had fun playing both Blasters and Defenders, I'm finally ready to make a run as a Corruptor. Taking a que from the late-game experiences of both those other AT's, I've come to the (possibly incorrect) conclusion that buffs/debuffs have a much more limited role in post-50 gameplay than they do up to that point. Most L50+ characters have already resolved their defenses and, in many cases their Endurance usage as well by then, which seems to limit just how much help you can give them and how much time you should spend doing so. Leaning into the Blaster side of things a little bit, I think I've settled on Fire/Kin, working off the idea that Fulcrum Shift in combat and Speed Boost outside of it are all teammates are really looking for that they can't do on their own. Transfusion and Transference might occasionally be useful as well, but it seems in most late game situations I simply need to keep Speed Boost steadily applied between encounters, drop FS to open a combat and then blast away. Is that an accurate observation?

Holy crap - those HO's are going for 140,000,000 infl each. I was not ready for that. What's the recharge rate I need to be at to make sure those procs are firing optimally on BF?