The Trouble

There's an unfortunately vocal minority in this game that like to denigrate "farmers". They see a level 50 on a character that's only 3 days old, and they like to call it out. Then there's the edgelords that poke fun at years-old level 30-somethings. Having the birthday off by default protects people from having to SPAM the ignore commands, and that kind of harassment in the first place.

I have an Ice/Sonic Blaster I loaded up with Lockdowns. Your post inspired me to finally try Devastations, too. Granted, I didn't do a full technical analysis of the log, but it looks like Lockdown fires off *way* more often than Devastation. Just throwing my anecdotal information into the mix until someone less lazy provides spreadsheets. Speaking of anecdotal: Of the Elite Boss trick-or-treat monsters, Arisen Mummy is the only one that takes more than 2 holds to stop. This Blaster can solo all of the other Elite Bosses unscathed by chain holding them.

On Live, I chased perma-Hasten on nearly every character. Nowadays, I have that kind of recharge on (I think) 3 characters. An Illusion/Dark Controller for that constant Phantom Army goodness, and stacking Tar Patch. A Fire/Time Blaster that has the choice of either a single-target attack chain, or an AoE attack chain. Only the heaviest of hitters apply. An Invulnerability/Super Strength proc-monster Tanker with Knockout Blow recharging in about 7 seconds. FF:Recharge is relied upon to get there, just like we're discussing here. I firmly agree with the sentiment you've said here regarding perma-Dom, but with every character: Build/compromise for as much passive Global Recharge as you can without leaning on Hasten. I almost resent the power, now. It flushes a chuck of Endurance down the drain at the worst times, and it's just another thing I have to worry about activating. I could put it on auto... but then something even cooler can't benefit from being automatic. Anyway, this may be the longest way I've ever said: "I agree with almost* everything in your post." *If Hasten is too much of a bother for me, then you bet I'm much too lazy to head back to my SG to refresh buffs 🙂

I felt similarly for a long time. I made multiple attempts, even back on Live. Broadsword gameplay just didn't click for me no matter how cool the concept or costume. That all changed when I saw a random post someone made talking about their swordsman proc-monster. I suddenly felt excited to play a Scrapper that had collected dust for months... and the first Scrapper I've ever cared about. The damage and debuffs on this guy evaporated my apathy towards the set, and an entire archetype. I'm not saying this specific thing will work for you, but you might find some inspiration by checking out other people's builds. Maybe there's something out there so inspiring that the slowness won't even bother you anymore?

My Huntsman features: Softcapped positional defenses. 100% immune to slow effects. Lots of -Res debuffs. Maintainable blue bar... attack away! Try it out, I think you'll like it. Invincible Huntsman - (Bane Spider Soldier - Bane Spider Training).mbd

I like this! Maybe just add this effect on to Supremacy, as in whatever travel power you use gets applied to your pets. Granted, I don't know his internal workings as an NPC, but another idea would be to just grant everyone Null's phone number like a trusted Contact. It would be nice to access his options without having to zone twice.

First a clarification: I usually don't include Incarnate stuff in builds because they tend to be very subjective. I also have built multiple Incarnate options to switch out for certain content or just my general mood. Usually running with the following: Alpha: Musculature - Extra damage is always welcomed. Interface: Reactive/Degenerative - About 50/50 split between these two. Extra damage. Judgement: Ion - Convenient to use and thematic! Lore: Polar Lights - Pretty and thematic. I can only sacrifice so much in the name of more damage. Destiny: Clarion - Barrier is extremely popular, but this one has saved more teammates than I can count. Probably my favorite Incarnate power ever. Hybrid: Assault - Hey, more damage! There are good arguments for multiple different types! For instance, Vigor(?) in Alpha can make your heals really pop.

Succinct, and easy enough to understand for all PuGs: "KB is more damage mitigation than KD." For all follow up questions, and unsolicited advice? /ignore Everyone remembers the newbie who set off Nova and ruined the Tanker's work. But no one notices when an Energy Torrent sends most of a crowd back to the other end of a slow field (or other zone debuff). No one vocally appreciates the Super hovering over the boss, dribbling them like a basketball. Or when another gat-dang Warwolf pops up, and the team really needs a bit of a breather, and sending that dumb fuzzbucket pachinko-ing down four flights of stairs would be extremely satisfying regardless of the team's status. Knockback rules. Spread the word.

I suspect it was produced using licensed samples based on other tunes in the game, but can't say for sure. I can say for sure that I have the Atlas Park theme song in one of my music production libraries. The orchestra hits that show in the default library sample have been removed from the in-game version, but they're the same tune. Source: Orchestral 2: Modern (Cinematic 03) Produced by Sony Since many musical themes are reused throughout the game, but with the exact same instruments, I strongly suspect most of the music up until Going Rogue was put together in Acid Loops (or something similar) by a competent music producer, rather than an actual music writer.

Most of these are "blink and you'll miss it" powers. If you want to show off, they need enough time to appreciate it! So that means Bitter Freeze Ray wins. You can say "Hey, check this out!", and your friends will have enough time to create an account, roll up a character, and observe your awesomeness all before it goes off!

For my own homage, I couldn't picture a Batman type being anything but a Stalker. Especially that fear proc after an Assassin's Strike! He hits so incredibly hard that I don't miss the lack of AoE's. I went with Street Justice and Ninjitsu, and picked up every gadget I could cram into my build. Most of what I picked were for thematic purposes, maximizing on fun/cool. Attached is my current build (that frankly needs a respec). I think my overslotting leaves a ton of room for others to customize, so I'll risk embarrassment to encourage others to Batman with us. Capped positional Defenses! 🙂 Vengeful Vigilante - Stalker (Street Justice - Ninjitsu).mbd

Peacebringer. Hands down. I can fly, teleport, heal myself and others, survive in space, and shapeshift into cool monsters. Now it's time to look out the window and sigh wistfully...

This is the basic Proc Monster concept I tried on Test Server. My "real" build is shaping up differently due to practicality, but this build is the proof of concept that kickstarted the real journey. This isn't a solo +4/*8 type of thing at all! Just a fun and weird thing. 🙂 No, I leaned heavily into damage. In the spirit of this front-loaded bizarre build, I think I'll give that a shot (even if just on Test) If you could somehow fire off all of your holds at once, the math says just two of these characters could hold an AV. Enjoy! *Edit to add: I forgot to mention in addition to potentially melting Greenies during a Hami Raid, the MSR Raid also benefits if the team decides to take down the Drop Ship. If you can fly fast enough, you can stack your own holds. Blaster (Ice Blast - Sonic Manipulation).mbd

I have an Ice/Sonic Blaster that's "abusing" the Lockdown: Chance for Mag 2 Hold procs. I'm relying on Global Recharge Reduction for speed up attack chains, so these suckers proc A LOT. Adding in the magnitude from Lockdown, just imagine the following: 4 Single-target ranged holds at Mag 5. 2 Single-target melee holds at Mag 5. 1 Single-target melee hold at Mag 3.5 1 PBAoE hold at Mag 3.5 Chain locking multiple bosses feels insanely powerful on a Blaster. This much fun feels illegal. Once I get to Hami levels, those green Mitos are going to MELT.

Dwarf forms need some layer of defense. Both Kheldian types can cap their resistances with just SO's in human form, even if temporarily. It makes one of the key selling points of Dwarf redundant. So how about "form charging"? Take form-thematic buffs into the other forms. Make those buffs last equal (or proportional) to the time you spent in that form. Spending up to X seconds in Nova grants a Damage and ToHit buff once you shift. Spending up to X seconds in Dwarf grants Mez resistance and +Defense once you shift. This encourages shifting without punishing human-only types. Not perfect ideas, but I'd like to put them in the pile regardless.

Hssshssss. Sss Shsshss. Sssss Ssshs Shs! Hss Shsssss? Ssshsssshss Hssss sss Shssssssss? Ssssssshsss ssssshsss sssh? Sss Shshssssss shssssss hssss. Shsssshsss Stheno!

Hey everyone, do this build instead. I've honestly been too lazy to +5, so the impact hadn't occurred to me. With your excellent edit, White Dwarf is approaching max resists without Lightform. Also, adding a regen, and moving the Absorb into what I always thought were "throwaway" powers is rather humbling. Those, and other subtle shifts polished up this in a way I hadn't seen for myself. The damage increase will be palpable. This is really awesome work right here. Post your builds people! You'll never know what spices are missing from your recipe until another cook tastes it.

Tri-Form with heavy emphasis on AoE damage Perma Lightform without Hasten Resistance cap at 85% on all types but Psi (at 80.2% - cap this with a temp power) All knockback melee attacks have been converted to knockDOWN. Exemplars smoothly to any level you'd like It's fun. You'll like it. Perma LF - NoHasten PB.mbd

A handful of Archetypes have a lot of versatility, but Warshades and Peacebringers also have access to a shocking amount of durability. We can easily get lost in the weeds when talking about damage output meta. I'm a moderately good player with a min-maxed build, and like tidge, I can't solo AV's or GM's with my Tri-Form Peacebringer. But what has my competent playing and maxed build done for teams? I have saved multiple tank-types because I watch the team's health like I'm a playing a support class. Dwarf up, get next to the battered Tank (don't want to scatter their hard work), and Taunt. Once the Tanker catches their breath, I get back to chipping away the enemy's HP at range. I can pull 4-5 Monsters at a time to the League during a Hami Raid, and then later help the DPS of the ranged team on the same character. It feels great never having to type "Alting". Without any changeling stuff, I get to feel like a hero's hero. You can get that feeling with other Archetypes, but you're never gonna look as good doing it 😎

This is absolutely the correct answer, thank you. "Heal yourself." I realized that, in the end, this was a 'skill issue' as the children say. With such high resistances, I got used to ignoring the crash completely... and that's not a good habit at all. I recently got slammed to the ground right after a Lightform crash during an Incarnate Trial. I had enough time to fire off that heal before I got clobbered and I just didn't. So "warn the team" is shifting responsibility. Hit that Heal button ASAP. Make that health bar full before the team even realizes it was even low. I'm the Swiss Army Knife of the team, and I gotta act like it. Make this a habit, folks. You don't want to be the reason your pals miss out on any "Master of" badges! Regarding the End crash: Conserve Energy. Gives your End recovery (and/or procs) a chance to outrun the Sappers enough to break even. Space out your attacks, and focus on them. For Carnival, stay at range when you deal the final blow. For a herd of Mu, a gig of Freak Stunners, or a junkyard of Clockwork, I suggest high Energy Resistance and hope. Anecdotally, I feel like the Panacea and Performance Shifter Procs help a lot here too because you're not waiting on regen, but instead you're just granted end points. Panacea feels like it hits more often. Numbers folks, please correct me on this if you feel inclined. New plan: Every 1:30, I'll fire off a Heal of my choice, and then Conserve Energy* even though it's very inconvenient to my attack chain 🙂 *Edit - Conserve Energy is up every 3 minutes on my build. My advice is only half-helpful!

You are correct in that your shields stay "on" but their effects are suppressed when not in Human form. Your instinct to save mules for the end of your leveling career is also a very common way to go (certainly what I did.). I'm with Laucianna's suggestion in selecting mules that have some sporadic utility. I slapped a +Stealth into my Sprint to pair with my Infiltration mule. Whenever a team lead says, "We're stealthing this mission." I'm able to run ahead with my Stalker companions to click through stuff. Clever power picks can open up even more versatility on this already broadly successful AT. If you spend enough time in Human form, Weave can add a good chunk of durability as DEF layers nicely on top of your RES. But no, you do not "need" it. Not even Hasten is "needed". My Lightform is permanent without it. Welcome to the fold! I have plenty of alts that I would love to move ahead with, but Peacebringers are so fun that I just can't stop playing mine.

I recently did a Dr. Quaterfield PUG Taskforce on my Peacebringer. At 85% Psi Resist, I was practically invincible. I was defeated only once when trying to extract a Blaster that got in over their head (Blaster solidarity!). As usual, I forgot to fire off Quantum Flight. Anyway! Every 1:30, my health drops to half thanks to Light Form's crash, which triggered my team to react almost every time. I kept getting handed greens, or folks would rush from across the map to help me out. I have started some PUG's, with a warning that "I live at half health, don't panic." But the best support players are pro-active. If I ever get in the weeds after giving this warning, there is zero time for a teammate to run in and help me the handful of times that I actually need it. So Post-Crash PB's, and Pre-Stygian Circle/Eclipse Warshades, how do you communicate that you're okay without discouraging future rescues?

A Scrapper is designed to be a better damage dealer. Warshades were designed to fit whatever gap the gameplay threw at them, but at about 75% the effectiveness of the archetypes designed for those roles. The most extreme builds push classes beyond their design. That’s generally really challenging to do. Now you’re going even further into the fringe by choosing a strictly human Warshade, which is a hardmode within a hardmode in my opinion. What you’re looking for is viable, but only with an extreme familiarity with your powers, enemy types, and situations. I suggest moving to an alternate build that’s tri-form for now. Don’t respec, just switch. Check out the Mfing Warshade guide to learn how to roll through enemies like an ever-shifting black hole of fiery death. Once you’ve done the deep-dive into what Warshades are capable of overall, go respec your human-only build to see how far you can push your limits. Because only then would you know what tools you’ll need to emulate that Black Deathfire as a human. Don't give up on this character!

Want Perma Lightform without Hasten? I put together a derivative “GD Peacebringer” build that I finally feel confidant enough in to share. (Thanks Whitest Light!) There have been some great discussions about a Hasten-less Peacebringers with perma Lightform, but I haven’t seen any actual builds posted. I know there are talented folks out there that just need a jumping-off point to get their own build going, so here we go... A few things to note about my goals and method: Lightform permanent without Hasten (this build is a half-second away from that goal*). Every slot went into powers I actually use. No slot mules outside of one-slot-wonder power picks. Fully embrace the spirit of Jack of All Trades. Some cool features: With Lightform, all resistance is capped except Psionic at 80% (which will scale up to 85% as you lose some health). AoE focused, but a strong single-target chain is available in Human form. Infiltration + Stealth in Sprint make you almost invisible to everything for those times that you want that. LOTS of wiggle room for different approaches. *The Big Caveat: “A half-second downtime means this isn’t Perma Lightform.” So true. That split second can really slam you if you’re not careful. Your crash hits, and suddenly all those status effects plopped upon you go off all at once. Flip to Dwarf right before the crash like you did in your 40’s. You can heal up, then drop to human so Lightform fires off immediately (because you have that on auto...right?). If you don’t want to deal with that nonsense, then just Dwarf up at any time during Lightform’s duration. The Force Feedback procs set into both single-target Dwarf attacks pretty much guarantee at least one activation...and just one gets you permanently Lightform-ed. THE BEST OPTION: Make the Kheldian’s Grace enhancements the inferior version, instead of the three slots of Essence Transfer in Bright Nova Blast. You’d sacrifice just 2% of your Psionic resistance, and Lightform would be perma without any additional effort. “Why isn’t the build like this already?” reasonable people will surely wonder. Well, I’m a pedantic weirdo who values seeing that 80% in Psionic resistance more than the value of fire’n’forget Lightform. I’m getting help, promise. **Please note that getting some recharge from your Alpha Incarnate renders all of these compromises moot in 50+ content.** I also sacrificed a chunk of damage potential to get here. I wanted to turn all my melee knockback into knockdown, and because I was also chasing high recharge, there are two full sets of Sudden Acceleration utilized. I’ve never felt weak, though. Chewing through +2/x8 would be trivial for practically any player. Skilled players could very easily take on +4. Room for Customization: The last 4 powers are one-slot flavor powers. You won’t need Glowing Touch, Conserve Energy, Photon Seekers, or Quantum Flight. Pick anything you want. I use Photon Seekers as a PBAoE knockdown to mitigate damage. Quantum Flight is there for when things go really bad. I forget I have it because this build is so survivable… I never got in the habit of leaning on it. If you don’t care about Psionic resistance, then you’ll have so much space to personalize this one. Instead of Shining, Thermal, and Quantum shields, you could go with Boxing, Tough, and Weave. Just a little bit of defense for your Human form will make you beastly. Then you can do yourself a favor and pick up Cross Punch as one of your one-slot flavors. Force Feedback +Recharge was built for this power! Also, not chasing Psionic will allow you to ignore the 6th slot of most of these sets. Use the slot(s) in a different power (Weave?), or put whatever procs you want to make this build more your own. The exciting customization differences are going to be the things I haven't even thought of. The Build (DataChunk): The Build: Special Thanks! This thread convinced me to try Peacebringers. I had a MF-ing Warshade back on Live that would melt groups of baddies like all proper Warshades can, but I’m now finding the Peacebringer to be more fun. I hit Veteran level 50 with them this week. I have other Supers that could use attention, but this one is so much fun that I keep playing them. This thread also inspired me to learn how to best utilize the Auction House just to afford becoming a GD Peacebringer. That’s knowledge that’s let me trick out my entire stable of supers. I'm so grateful for this community. It's about time I gave something back. I hope this build helps someone!