Story Archer

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?

I had no idea that Psi and especially Toxic were so heavily resisted. I always just assumed that S/L were the most heavily resisted by far, but what you say makes sense, regarding those who resist one tend to be more vulnerable to the other. In the build that I sent you, does bumping my Global Recharge back up to 95% case timing issues with regards to any of my major procs? The recharge on BF is still 5.5s. Also, do you think that Hasten has any place in this build? I could easily fit it in in place of Hover and find a second Recharge slot for it. I didn't bother with it because I liked my attack chain already, and the clickies seemed to come up often enough, but as I move into tougher content, is it something I should consider?

I really appreciate you taking the time to offer up these different perspectives, particularly the insight on getting the proc/recharge balance right on BF. I looked at some of the things you did above and incorporated them into the build I'm working with. I'm going to have to see if the attack chains are as smooth, and if not how I want to address that, but maximizing the proc opportunities in BF is certainly paramount. Any particular reason why you favor the Gladiator proc over something that deals a more exotic damage type? Here's what I'm playing with right now. [Veil of Blades 4].mbd

Was this intended for me? I've never posted a data chunk in my life and my initial build file is attached in the OP. I've attached the new build below. [Veil of Blades 3].mbd

So I tried moving a few things around - 5-slotted Energy Torrent with Superior Frozen Blast and replaced Laser Beam Eyes with Blinding Powder, 6-slotted with Coercive Persuasion. It basically cost me a 4% damage buff, the Build-Up proc, 7.5% recharge, and 6% Res to F/C/Tox/Psi, but I upped my defenses so that they're currently sitting at: Melee 50.2% Range 51.5% (up from 46.5%) AoE 51.5% (up from 46.5%) I'm not sure if the speculative benefits to Defense outweigh the ongoing benefits to Resistance and Damage, relatively minor as they might be, considering that I've got Kuji-In Retsu to click if I'm facing a slew of Defensive DeBuffs. On the flip side, Rune of Protection still pushes those four resists right up to the hard cap, even with the changes. Blinding Powder on its own doesn't seem like it would offer enough benefit to have an effect on the discussion either way. What do you think?

I've got Rune of Protection for when I need it, but I'm open to any suggestions if you see a way to meaningfully increase my S/L Res... the F/C Res is just a convenient by-product of minimally slotting the ranged attacks that I don't really use. It's true you don't see Cold much but you see Fire plenty and those two damage types are linked when it comes to set bonuses.

For some reason, this format won't open for me, it just bugs out.

Thanks for responding! I don't feel as if the build lacks anywhere in particular, I just want to make sure I'm getting the most I can out of it in a general sense. I figured with my defenses already over the soft-cap I was good - do you think that's a better area to focus on? I'm not sure where the additional defensive numbers would come from. I've got Kuji-In Retsu and Rune of Protection there for me when I need it, so I haven't really felt a lack of either Def or Res up to this point. I'm not sure what I'd want in that one slot more than the Build-Up proc - it seems ideally suited to a set up my follow-up attacks, especially considering the +50% Crit proc there too. Completing the AT set just gives me more recharge. I know it only really comes into play against AV's, GM's, etc., but what would be better? Is there something that you would suggest?

EDIT 01/31/25: I've been playing around with things, fine-tuning her damage, defenses and endurance recovery/consumption. Her current power selection more perfectly fits her concept and she's been an absolute blast to play. This is the updated build I'm currently running with: [Veil of Blades] Current 2.mbd (Note - not shown is the prestige slide power, in which I have a Celerity Stealth IO to stack with Shinobi-Iri.)

I've enjoyed a LOT of Scrappers, but the one that's been the most fun by far has been my DB / Ninjitsu. She's my badger and the closest thing I could possibly get to a main. Positional Defense: Melee 50.4% Ranged 46.6% AoE 46.6% Resists: S/L 58.5% E/N 28.8% F/C 61.1% Tox 61.8% Psi 75% In addition, she's got Rune of Protection to temporarily hard cap my Resists in tough fights and the T9 Kuji-Retsu and Ageless Radial Epiphany to make sure DDR isn't an issue. I've got two smooth, highly-damaging attack chains depending on whether I'm fighting hard targets or big groups to go along with a killer tool box that includes a nice self-heal, self-recovery and stealth toggle. If I'm soloing, she's the one. [Veil of Blades 2].mbd

Probably not enough - thanks for the response.

If you have a clickable status protection like Kuji-Rin or Practiced Brawler on auto-fire, could it be replaced if you took Clarion Core and auto-fired it instead, or does it diminish too much before recycling and create a window where you're vulnerable?

To start I'd say that you have way too much defense (with SR you don't need much more than 45%) and not enough damage resistance. I was going to type up a whole thing line by line, but it was quicker just to throw together a quick build. it's not perfectly optimized, but it should work a good bit better for you. This is a late-game build, of course, and won't be cheap influence-wise, but it's definitely something to work towards. If you have any questions why this or that, just ask and I or someone else I'm sure will chime in. Gumbo (Claws - Super Reflexes).mbd

Death IS an excellent DeBuff... I'm sorry - BEING ARRESTED is an excellent DeBuff.

I think it's generally ugly, and it's the set that makes me most wish we had more 'No FX' options... but that's probably not what you're asking about.

This is how the character is built currently, but I've got a couple of respecs available and there are a couple of things I wouldn't mind changing if I could come up with a better option (build at the bottom of the page). Overall I'm extremely happy with the character, so I'm not looking to tear apart the whole build, but now that I'm topping out I want to make sure that I'm not leaving anything on the table. A few things: I have two different attack chains that I use, depending on the situation, and I'm quite happy with both. They're very smooth and give me everything that I need, while also allowing me to benefit from the combos a little, so I'm not worried about chasing too much more recharge. As much as I hate to skip a primary T9, I just can't justify taking 1,000 Cuts with its long animation time. Attack Chain #1: BF -> NS -> AS -> TE Attack Chain #2: SS -> NS -> AS -> BF I almost never use Arcane Bolt, Energy Torrent or Laser Beam Eyes for anything other than the set bonuses. Ditto Kuji-In Retsu, it's just a mule for the LotG IO. I almost never need Focused Accuracy, using it only when dealing with lots of debuffs, but I feel it's better to have it as an option than not, and it opens the door to the rest of the Epic Pool. Should I have gone with the Ageless Destiny Incarnate to have access to better DDR instead of the heals provided by Rebirth? Thinking about it, that seems like the way to go. Any thoughts at all would be much appreciated! TIA. [Veil of Blades 2].mbd

How do you feel their performance is? I have them on my Scrapper and I never seem to really notice their effect... when I notice them at all, it's because they look like they're just standing around - but as I said, I don't have a lot of experience with pets, Lore or otherwise.

She's a Rad/SS that takes Rage and is heavily AoE focused. The only thing she really needs from her pets would probably be increased DPS because I never feel like I'm lacking anything. I don't have very much experience with pets across the board, but I do know that hate big pets that clutter the screen. Right now I'm thinking Cims for single-target dps or Polar Lights for complimentary AoE. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I'm actually running this as a DB/Ninjitsu Scrapper and she's turned out to be one of the top two characters I've ever played. Very smooth attack chain with about 95% global recharge and no Hasten. Blinding Feint has the +Crit. proc and the Gaussian chance for Build-Up proc slotted, so I'm really happy with her damage. Working towards my 1,000 badge goal as we speak. 🙂

I'm finishing up a DEF build (DB/Ninjitsu) and I'm playing around with the last few slots. With the understanding that the power set doesn't have much in the way of Def DeBuff resistance (about 35%), is it worthwhile to run those defenses up to the 47-50% range to help offset some of the occasional debuff's I'll come cross, or does that not really make much of a difference in real game world? So to speak.

True. I presume that's the same with the Incarnate -Max HP proc?

Thank you for providing that! I wouldn't be so quick to discount the -Regen... in my experience, if you counted the health not regained, it tends to equate to a substantial amount of additional damage.