marcussmythe

Bio Armor (offensive mode only) is a 30% to damage from Hardened Carapace being active, with an additional ~22% toxic add on. At the cost of -7.5 resist to all, and giving up the bonuses from the other adaptations. AAO caps considerably higher (80%? 100%), and on a set that gives better DEF/RES. Shield lacks the healing, regen, and rec of Bio, and AAO requires an audience for function. Also locks out certain powersets. Its Horses for Courses. DM/Shield is a classic world-beater, as DMs self heal and end siphons do the only things that Shield doesnt, and comes with a really awesome version of build up that also wants a crowd, and Ive joked that Shield rubs up against being the perfect defese set. Positional DEF, decent RES, buffs for team, and oh, a huge damage buff and a solid AOE. Its only downsides are quality of life - you have a shield on your arm, set-lockouts, and clickie mezz prot. Bio of course leaps out for any set a shield cant be used with. Titan Weapons is the New Hawtness, and Bio is a great set. YMMV, but Id do one of each.

Right. And Shield/X is also very appealing - but its been done, and done very impressively. I wanted to try something different.

Thank you for this! I was looking at Titan/Bio - while the Bio Armor damage bonus in offensive cant reach the levels of AAO - its closer than I thought, about 50-55% between the flat 30 and the ‘additonal toxic damage’. And I really want to see what it can do with Titan once Titan starts spending most of its time in Momentum...

Thats not bad, not bad at all. Some things leap to mind- 1.) Id not ignore Barb Swipe. While I only use Lunge for a placeholder (I notice you skipped it entirely, thats okay, too), Barb Swipe has -great- Damage Per Animation. I use it and love it as part of my boss-rotation. 2.) Im going to disagree with conventional wisdom on the utility of the 'accurate heal' sets in your AOE Leeches. If Im firing those off, Ive got a large enough crowd going that I dont find I need the + to/hit to get all the healing/endurance/regen I could ask for. 3.) I question the utility of the Superior Conditioning and Physical Perfection. Bio needs some things in life, but I find it rarely needs more Endurance. Even if flip over to offensive stance and unslot my Agility Alpha, it just means I have to kinda-sorta pay attention to how Im timing my +REC/+END Buttons (IE not forgetting them). I use those slots to pick up Gloom. 4.) I cant say enough good about Gloom. Gloom has amazing Damage Per Activation for single target work - the worst part of spines being single target. Sure, its a DOT, but your probably hitting a hard target if your worried about DPA on a single target. Take along with Impale if you want a pair of long range attacks - or replace lunge with it. Im attaching my build below. With Agility Alpha and in Defensive Adapatation, your going to softcap all typed defenses but Psionic, or come so near as to not much care. Your also going to have softcapped Smashing/Lethal or so near as to not matter even over in efficient stance (and in offensive stance, your DEF being in the mid-40s is enough to keep you up just fine as well) Shes got a tiny bit less Regen and Recovery standing than yours, but I dont find I need it and those bonuses get swamped by the massive buffs you get from (particularly) parasitic aura. Neither of us perma our hasten, but for me, trying to do so cost too much in other places, and I dont much notice a 10 second 'hitch' (the hitch does get worse when I switch from agility to musculature) Ive designed it to be as tough as possible without waste in Agility Alpha/Defensive Stance, as offensive as possible without unnecessary vulnerability in Musculature Alpha/Offensive Stance, and to play pretty much as smoothly as I could ask in Agility Alpha/Efficient Stance. Weve got stances, lets use them! Full Disclosure - My live build is only about 75% slotted, and its the expensive IOs left to go. And it still feels like cheating. I imagine yours does as well. We're really just discussing how we would like the lillies gilded, at this point. Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! C'len: Level 50 Magic Brute Primary Power Set: Spines Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Barb Swipe (A) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage (3) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (3) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (5) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (5) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance Level 1: Hardened Carapace (A) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (7) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (7) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (9) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime Level 2: Spine Burst (A) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (9) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (11) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (11) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance (13) Armageddon - Damage Level 4: Boxing (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage (13) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance (15) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge (15) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 6: Build Up (A) Recharge Reduction IO (17) Recharge Reduction IO Level 8: Hover (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (17) Luck of the Gambler - Defense Level 10: Inexhaustible (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal (19) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge Level 12: Environmental Modification (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (19) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (21) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (21) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 14: Tough (A) Aegis - Resistance (23) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance (23) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge (25) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance Level 16: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (25) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (27) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 18: Quills (A) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage (27) Superior Brute's Fury - Damage/Recharge (29) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (29) Superior Brute's Fury - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (31) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (31) Superior Brute's Fury - Recharge/Fury Bonus Level 20: Adaptation Level 22: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (31) Recharge Reduction IO Level 24: Ablative Carapace (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime (33) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (33) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge (33) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge Level 26: Ripper (A) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage (34) Superior Avalanche - Damage/Endurance (34) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (34) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (36) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 28: Evolving Armor (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (36) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% Level 30: DNA Siphon (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime (36) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (37) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge (37) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge Level 32: Lunge (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage (37) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance (39) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge (39) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 35: Gloom (A) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage (40) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/RechargeTime (40) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (40) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (42) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (42) Superior Winter's Bite - Recharge/Chance for -Speed & -Recharge Level 38: Genetic Contamination (A) Eradication - Damage (42) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (43) Eradication - Damage/Recharge Level 41: Parasitic Aura (A) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb (43) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (43) Preventive Medicine - Heal (45) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance (45) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime (45) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime Level 44: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (46) Luck of the Gambler - Defense Level 47: Throw Spines (A) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage (48) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Damage/RechargeTime (48) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (48) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (50) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (50) Superior Unrelenting Fury - RechargeTime/+Regen/+End Level 49: Fly (A) Flight Speed IO Level 1: Brawl (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage (39) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance (46) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge (46) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Fury Level 1: Sprint (A) Run Speed IO Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Flight Speed IO Level 2: Health (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal (50) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge Level 2: Hurdle (A) Jumping IO Level 2: Stamina (A) Empty Level 20: Defensive Adaptation Level 20: Efficient Adaptation Level 20: Offensive Adaptation Level 0: Born In Battle Level 0: High Pain Threshold Level 0: Invader Level 0: Marshal Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment Level 50: Void Radial Final Judgement Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Agility Radial Paragon ------------

Thing to remember is that that -150% amounts to more like 22.5% against a lvl 50 AV. It helps, but their debuff resistance means you reaallly have to stack the debuffs to crash them.

Yours do not stack with themselves. Hit em all you want, 20%, it just refreses the duration. As it debuffs the target, all benefit. I do not know if separate Sentinel Sources Stack. In general, they should. In which case, it could get really ugly really quick...

Okay, tested it on a SCRAPPER (I imagine numbers will be similar on a Sentinel) On a Scrapper, Hardened Carapace while in Offensive Adaptation lists at and provides a damage bonus of 31.25% (if Sentinel is a lower number - Im not surprised, they tend to lower scrapper numbers for sentinels) THEN the attack lists a separate toxic damage packet - across 3 attacks of differenet animation times, one an AOE (Followthrough, Crushign Blow, Titan Sweep) it appeared to be consistently within a fraction of 22%. Theres a damned strange outlier - Brawl gets a much larger (percentage bonus wise) toxic damage bonus at around 47%. Setting aside brawl, it looks like being in offensive stance is worth a solid 50% bonus damage (applied like a non-ED effected enhancement bonus). For a Sentinel, Id guess its closer to 40% applied to the Sentinels already lower base - but thats still a no-joke bonus, even at 50 (and then it gets run through the Sentinel's Res Debuff.. Nummy!) The cost of course is the -7.5% Resistance to your whole character. While painful, if you account for it in selecting powers and playstyle choices, it looks like Bioarmor could be a huge bonus for 'offense focused' characters that (for whatever reason) do not choose Shield, Radiation, or Fire.

Preliminary testing looks like the ‘minor additional toxic damage’ is in the 20-25% ballpark. Having trouble getting good numbers (Brute was being used for testing - and fury messes things up pretty badly). Im PLing a TW/Bio Scrapper to Adaptation - and will try to get a PvP partner for testing - will report back. Something strange was going on with brawl, for one thing.

The interesting thing will be where the amount of the total damage buff compares to a saturated AAO, and what overall mitigation looks like once you accept that you are planning around offensive stance.

Incarnate stuff is cool. Its fun. I enjoy adding new game changing buttons to push. But... but. At times, I feel like my core character gets lost in ‘press button to buff entire team for a while’ and ‘press button to doublestrike/add mezz to attacks/yadda for a while’ Admittedly, not much to be done for Lore and Judgement. But could we get alternate lyrics version of things like the Hybrid and Destiny slots that have reduced effects, but are always on? Scale it to the ‘fade time’ and downtime of the existing versions - and then maybe scale it down a bit more if balance requires - But I like consistent performance to at least be an option, rather than adding more clickie-god-modes to stqck with the already often common clickie god modes already out there.

I cant imagine building for Incarnate Softcap. If you are doing an Incarnate Trial, the level of +DEF flying around from various incarnate abilities is mind-blowing.

Hmm. Thats exactly the expected +/- 25% to base damage from the stance. So working as expected there. Its also an odd, and very high, 47% of the brawl base damage as additional toxic damage. That is unexpected. It may be a smaller percentage than that and appearing larger due to a target having resist to smashing but not toxic - but Ill lay that aside a moment. My anticipation is that the minor amount of additional toxic damage is not a % of the attacks bqse damage, but arrived at in some other way - maybe just a flat ‘rider’ of additional damage. If its a small fixed amount on the order of 5-10 points on all attacks, thats not going to prove noteworthy. If its actually doing 47% of base as additional toxic damage when in offensive adaptation, I think we’d be hearing the screams of the dying already. That would make offensive adaptation on par with Shield’s Against All Odds, without the need for a crowd (though carrying a hefty resistance penalty). Thank you very much for this. I regret I have only one influence to get. If someone has an empty ‘second build’ and Bio Armor, on any AT (Sentinel, Scrapper, Tank preferred), Id love to get more data. I need to get home, make a single damage type/bio armor and get it up to adaptation and run some thorough testing.

Hmmmm.... This requires further testing, ideally with an unslotted power and no other buffs against a target with known (ideally 0) resists. Maybe a brawl, unslotted, against an even-con minion of known 0 resist, in 'efficient', offensive, and defensive stance, and check the log to make sure its not coming from anywhere else? Something is weird here. My only character with Bioarmor is a Brute, so fury would mess this up for testing...

Background: A long time ago, when HOs were 50%, ED was a distant dream, Energy Transfer was what it was and not what it is, etc... I had a lvl 50, pure-HO Invuln/EM Tank. I chose this for the combination of 'tough enough to stand up to Archvillians' and 'able to hit hard enough to put those same Archvillians down. As an aside, she could tank pretty much anything in the game (though there werent nearly such scary things in the game then as now) Now, its many many rules changes since. Damage is MUCH harder to come by than it was when 6HOs was +300% Damage and there was no ED, and DEF is MUCH easier to come by with the introduction of sets and bonuses and the powers freed up by inherit fitness. So, I traipsed lightly through brute, and enjoyed my visit there, made a main. But the siren song of 'moar numbers' calls to me - And Id like to recapture that old unstoppable engine of destruction that was HERO. Given that survival is easier to find these days, and damage harder, that suggested a scrapper. But what scrapper? The Spreadsheets Say that Titan Weapons is where it -IS- for damage, but IIRC those self-same spreadsheets are based on an incredible amount of recharge that you wont have, especially not alone. Also, Im not smart enough to do my own DPS rotation calculations on an on-again-off-again set like TW, so Im just not sure (also not sure about having that big slow stick, just fun-wise) Also, TW doesnt rock it out with Shield, which is notorious for providing massive +DAM, so long as you bring an audience. But can TW's impressive numbers keep up for not having a perma-buildup out of its secondary? If we look at other secondaries, Bio carries that +25% in Offensive Adaptation, as well as a small DOT and some fun Debuffs. Radiation has, of course, all sorts of candy in it, from an 'Unstoppable' clone with major +DAM (though limited uptime), coupled with a regen debuff, a recharge buff, a burn patch, a.... ... man, who let Radiation out of testing without running the numbers... Anyway, just looking for the conventional wisdom on maximizing single-target PvE DPS Push, with 'sufficient' survivial to make that matter. Id rather not be running around with a Shield or Buster Sword, but if thats where it is, thats where it is.

I was familiar with the first - will have to test the second with brawl or the like. If its adding to all attacks, Im going to have to strongly consider Bioarmor (built to live in offensive stance) as my generic ‘I want a damage buff from my defensive power pool’ choice.

Whats the upper limit on Achillies Heel? Does it stack with itself (and if so, can you expect it to?)

TW has a flaming sword

Shield wouldnt be bad on a Brute - Sheild is a great set, would be a great set still if you straight up deleted AAO and Shield Charge and replaced them with mandatory powers that did nothing. Shield is just that good. That being said, Shield’s greatest mechanic is a +DAM Buff. Brutes have the lowest base damage of any melee AT, and leverage their damage back up off of the (up to) 200% buff you can get from Fury (I find I never get past 180% or so, even when aggro-capped by baddies and swinging as fast as I can). Thus, while shield makes a good brute, brutes dont make the best shield - if that makes any sense. If I was gonna /Shield, Id do it on a scrapper. Scrappers higher base leveraged across AAO is just silly in its math results. I might also Shield on a Tank - but a Shield Scrapper softcaps all positions already with IOs/Incarnates, so going Tank doesnt add huge value while losing that ludicrous damage. For a tank, Id probably go Dark, with a Staff and a Plan, if I were being logical about it - but thats another post. No personal feedback on Radiation (though I hear good things!) As to Bio - I have a 50 Bio Brute. Bio is monstrous on a Brute. In its efficient adaptation, its regen and recovery admirably fills the ‘gogogogogogo’ playstyle that Fury rewards. In its defensive adaptation, it suffers (relatively) less from the damage debuff than other ATs, as its running low base damage and a massive +DAM buff, so the -DAM penalty is less noticeable. Also, in defensive stance, its easier to softcap Smash/Lethal Reisit and the vast majority of Typed defenses (you can do it without defensive stance, but you have a lot more build room for recharge or what-you-will if you aim for ‘enough to cap with Defensive Stance Bonuses). Offensive Stance is relatively less value for the Brute - again, lower base, so the +% damage isnt as noticeable. Still, every bit helps if your in a position to afford the resist hit - but Im more ‘offensive’ in efficient stance - I find the bonus END and regen frees me for more madness, and the damage bonus I didnt notice much. The obverse of the above is I think Brute is the -best- AT if your planning on using Bioarmor. Bioarmor on a tank is a bit gilding lillies, once IOs and Accolades and Incarnates hit the board - if you can softcap defenses and some types on the Brute, the tank gets less added value from the set - so be a brute and do more damage. On the opposite side, Bioarmor is a massive +regen set (that just happens to add good DEF and RES bases on top of it!) - as a result, the higher HP of Brute, coupled with an ability to softcap S/L resist, suggests to me that if you want Bioarmor, Brute is logical.

Solo, took me about 4 hrs ‘cold’ - no prep, no prior knowledge. I dont recommend this, other than in a ‘because it was there’ sort of way. I can see 90 as quite doable, maybe even less with prepositioning and cunning planning.

Even if utility is limited on a Stalker, the set is still great overall, and noted as being one of (the?) best stalker single target DPS sets (or so I have read) Scrappers and Tanks may find other uses for Boggle - I particularly approve of the idea of forcing the annoying buff mobs to buff you rather than the team. If you truly still dislike it, congratulations. You now have a power you can skip safely in your Primary - most days Im struggling to find powers to ‘let go’ in the name of pool powers.

Followup is less of a bonus for a Brute than for a scrapper or tank - but its still a nice bonus with good uptime. You should take and apply liberally.

I read your post, started a long reply, and then read the reply above me. Everything he said is true.

Im starting to think the answer is not ‘always softcap everything’ but ask ‘last time I died tanking for a team, what killed me?’ The answer is almost never ‘lots of smashing and lethal damage’, not at 50. Its psionic and debuffs, as far as Ive seen. (im curious to others reports). How does this inform our choices?

ED took away a lot of power. It particularly stung for me on the resistance side of powers, where previously an Invuln Tank could be amazingly tough with just their primary. The loss of Perma-Hasten was painful. ED gave a lot of flexibility. Many powers that were once six slotted now only demand 2 or 3, or you might with your increased slots slot up other powers, or mix recharge into your attacks and just use the ones you liked. While painful, ED was necessary if you want to extend the endgame - IOs and the like really needed the headroom on performance that ED forced. ED also resulted in a lot more variability in builds. While it was a nerf, and a painful one, its been good for the game, and I would not revert to ‘get 50, ++ SOs, and be done’ if I had the option. That said, some things were lost, never to be regained. My old Invuln/EM tank got hit in quick succession by the global defense nerf, the nerf to HOs, Enhancement Diversification, and a really petty bitch-slap to the only power that made the otherwise really crappy Energy Melee set worth taking - Energy Transfer. While you can still build a character that did everything she did, you cant do it with Energy Melee, or Invuln, or on a Tank - Powerset inflation is very real.

You rebuiled the character, from level one, every power choice and slot.