Burnt Umber

Hey all, it occurs to me that, if people are up for it, we could do some Redside time capsule hunting after the LRSF. A team seems to really make getting the associated badges for the event a bit easier.

I think I'll bring Hostia Usta - Fire/Dark Corr.

Neat! Would Necromancy fit here? Or is it just "Dark ___ " powersets?

I'll try to bring Gelida Obscura - Ice/Time Corr.

I think the trick with VEATs is that much of their power comes from being a passive force multiplier on teams with non-obvious powers. That is to say, powers like Tactical Training: Maneuvers should be taken as soon as possible and also stacked with the normal Leadership: Maneuvers pool power. Similarly, Mask Presence and Foresight are quite good defensive powers and benefit from being slotted as such. Mind Link is another great defensive power but it can have a long recharge; I use it as a pre-fight buff when things look tough rather than this forum's commonly held belief that you should try to make it "perma." From there, things vary depending on which path you take. A Night Widow will feel a bit like a pre-revamp claws/super reflex stalker with a bit of Willpower mixed in (the new Pain Tolerance power is a nice addition in this regard). Mask Presence is particularly valuable because it provides you with the "Hidden" status as Hide does on stalkers. Slash operated like you "Assassin's Strike" power and build-up/placate operate as your critical strike management tools. Placate also helps manage aggro and has a relatively quick recharge. Spin also crits from hide so it can be a great opener rather than the single target powers. (It should be noted that spin can have a heavy endurance cost so it can leave you drained if used too frequently or is under-slotted.) A ranged Fortunata is sort of like a cross between Mind/Psionic dominator and a Psychic Blast/Willpower sentinel. You have primarily have ranged psychic blast attacks and mind control powers. I paired mine with Soul Mastery and have an attack chain of Soul Tentacles > Psychic Scream > Psychic Tornado > Dark Obliteration. I also get to use Psychic Wail as a nuke when I can. Other than that, Scramble Thoughts is now a potent DoT psychic attack that will stun even bosses (it's MAG 4). Dominate/Total Dominate work as as holds for more traditional lock down powers (dominate is also a good damage/proc-bomb power but I personally don't slot it as such). Aura of Confusion is a melee AoE version of Mass Confusion, so it can be a very useful power too. A Fortunata-Widow hybrid (i.e., a Fortunata that uses the melee claws powers) is a combination of both of the above. You draw on the base Blood Widow powerset and can mix in the Fortunata powers. As such, it can vary a bit depending on which powers you take and how you slot them. However, it can be particularly nice to chain Aim > Follow-Up > Psychic Wail to clear spawns near effortlessly. I hope this helps a little. I've also attached my current builds for mine as examples, but they are by no means perfect. NoxWidow.mbd NoxFortunata.mbd NoxHybrid.mbd

It's no problem! I honestly have a bit of inf. banked, so I'm happy to help if folks want to upgrade their builds or to respec them before this weekend.

Oh, if anyone needs some inf. for a build for this weekend, send me a line in game and I'll send a sum along.

I'll bring Nox Atrissima

I'll try to bring Super-Radiance - Kin.Energy Defender.

Ah, okay! Thanks for clarifying.

I'd like to bring Kataigis - Elec./Storm Controller. But could you please clarify on what "Be your original self" means here?

I'll bring Umbrifer - Dark/Elec. Brute.

I'll bring my Crab Spider Veneficio in his my Night Widow Nox Atrissima in her native Arachnos Costume (does that work for the theme?).

I'll try to be there next week (on time maybe?) with Caelum - Elec./Eng. Blaster.

At the risk of being a bit brazen, I believe that article - a player's guide - is mistaken. I can't recall having Bodyguard working without my henchmen following me; I also don't recall the actual Developers describing it as working that way, with the Patch Notes themselves saying that henchmen have to be in Defensive Follow.

Although I understand the OP's frustrations, I'm not a fan of the suggestion because it would mean that pets would not be summoned in Bodyguard mode. The reason they summon to the default stance of Defensive Follow is for them to be in Bodyguard mode; it has been that way since Bodyguard mode was introduced. The OP's suggestion would mean that the MM is more squishy when (re-)summoning pets rather than more protected.

Looking at the build, it seems like you are frequently breaking your sets to frakenslot more expensive sets into the mix or over-/underslotting things with expensive uniques. I think that might be contributing to your "muddied" feel. Some of that might be fixed by taking more essential powers sooner, and reallocating slots from passives to you active powers. For example, you take aim early on and 4-slot it with Gaussian's, but leave the more important TT: Maneuvers until the 40s - even though it's a core power to your defense - and underslot it. I'm not sure I fix your problem and it certainly isn't perfect, but here's a revised version of yours: Crab 2024 revised.mbd

I slot Dark Servant with two To-Hit Debuff IOs and three Acc./Mez. HOs. I feel that maximizes what the pet generally does with the heal being a nice bonus.

I'll try to bring Nuntius - Sym./Thermal Controller. If you need to do that "arc," I may be able to do it on an alt. sometime after Theme Team on of these days when we do one of the shorter TF.

I could definitely log in with another alt. afterwards. I'd also be up for doing any of the Spring Fling missions people might want to do before the event ends (soon?).

So, besides Venom Grenade, Wide Area Web Grenade and Frag Grenade are great power picks, and the immobilize will certainly help keep your foes at range. Your +25% range goal would lend itself to the cone damage powers Heavy Burst and Suppression; dipping into Leviathan also gives the Bile Spray and Arctic Breath cones, with the latter giving more -Resist on top of Venom. Although it will perhaps compete for slots for Bombardment, the Artillery ranged AoE Damage sets will give more range to your powers and give lots of Ranged defense. On that note, ranged defense is relatively easy to come by for Crabs, I think. The Tactical Training: Defensive passive gives unenhanced 7.5% ranged (bumped up to 12.5% with enhancements). 6-slotting your native Manuevers as well as Leadership's with Red Fortune will provide some ranged defense; 6-slotting Lightning Strike in your couple of single target ranged attacks also will provide some ranged defense; and 6-slotting Blood Mandate into whatever pets you get gives a good amount of ranged and AoE defense. Your resists are middling natively, but that can be upped a bit depending on your slotting. Serum (the Dull Pain like power) can become permanent without heavy investment into recharge, and I like slotting it with Preventative Medicine. I'd temper my expectations for Omega Maneuver (the quasi-nuke): it does poor damage and has somewhat poor range so it may end up a dropped power, but your mileage may very. Unfortunately, you are remembering the way that Banes get capes from their backpacks. Crabs get the gnarly arms instead. Additionally, you didn't mention it, but be sure to slot the SoA ATO enhancement for global toxic damage somewhere in your build. It procs frequently enough to be really helpful.

I'll try to bring Sideros - Beam/Invul. Sentinel.

Though less vehemently, I too am not fond of the new tip system. Previously, I could hold onto tips and discard the one I didn't like at my leisure. Now, the game discards tips based on whether I've actively committed to doing them. Further, I find I get the tip notification even when I have three active tips - the system now gives the notification whenever it would have been possible. It's quite irritating. Like the OP, I realize there are restrictions when things need to be put out, but also like the OP, I am disappointed that actual additions with need for testing were still being added to the release candidates just before it was pushed to the Homecoming servers from Beta. This feature should not have been tacked on at the last minute.

For a while on the Beta Servers, the power Water Spout in the Leviathan Mastery (Mako's) Patron Pool was changed to take Pet and Recharge Intensive Pet enhancement sets and not to take Ranged AoE enhancement sets. However, in Release Candidate 1 and following releases, the change was reverted for Controllers/Dominators but retained for Scrappers/Stalkers. I wish that the reversion were itself reverted. Now, there is an inconsistency where Controllers/Dominators and Scrappers/Stalkers do not follow the same rules when slotting the same power. I also feel that the initial change made sense and added consistency because Storm Summoning's Tornado - from which Water Spout was cloned - takes Pet and Recharge Intensive Pet enhancement sets and doesn't take Ranged AoE enhancement sets. Additionally, Controllers/Dominators are both classes that are more likely to have pets, so they were more likely to have benefited from that initial change than Scrappers/Stalkers do.

I'll try to bring Alichino - Demons/Pain MM.