marcussmythe

Im doing Storm Elementals b/c I like the look and doubling down on AOE is fun. Next Lore Pet (after all Incarnate Slots are Lvl 4 - so ‘not soon’ will be Seers - Ill try to remember to report how they are.

Grabbed a Theft of Essence. Given a crowd, it seems to make the self heal endurance neutral, which is a big help. Still struggles pretty badly, but TW is also famous for late maturing. I may just have to accept suffering now as the price paid for not hating certain foes (psi!!!!) endgame. In the meantime, I suppose I can use him on TFs. A defender buff or two will fix most of what ails the build at the moment.

Update - lvl 23. I think Ive made a mistake. IOs slotted. I was hoping it would help. Got Acrobatics, because Knockback comes on every attack in CoH, it seems. Still at -1/x3 or 4 or so, to leverage my AOE. This may be a mistake. Rogue PPD slow me, and those assault rifles pile up DEF debuffs. Maybe I should step away from toggles that make me tough and focus on the damage or fear one. End Redux everywhere. It helps some. TW has moments of momentum fueled glory - but they slurp my END bar like its nothing, and the rest of the time everything I need is on recharge. Thought for the day - if youve never seen AT/Powerset Combo, there’s probably a reason. If you see AT/Powerset Combo everywhere, theres probably a reason.

The beauty of Staff Mastery is you get to pick which form you use - so adjust according to circumstance for best results. :)

Popular Choices for Lore Pets: 1.) Cimerrorans, for single target DPS. If your AOE focused, the DPS can make a real difference on cracking AVs solo. 2.) Polar Lights/Storm, for AOE DPS. Polar Lights are supposedly slightly higher, but Storm doesnt cause knockback. Im personally considering Seers - the usual, Mob-flavor of Seer casts fortitude. If the Pet one does, having a pet that casts the Fortitude buff on you could be cool?

Heres an example of bonus-shopping and some wierd slotting. Some odd QOL choices of my own (Flying... Tank?) But Im wierd like that. Everything this build does, will be easier to do on a Tank, due to having much higher values out of Bioarmor - but this may give you some slotting/muling ideas, etc. 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 Core Paragon ------------

I hear a LOT of feedback about Radiation, and am tempted to try it out myself (though perhaps not on Bioarmor). My thought here is that I really wanted to combine the two DOT auras, and that the constant base 'tick tick tick' of the dot auras, plus debuffs, plus the additional damage of offensive stance, would get me reasonable anti-boss performance (No, it wont be a 'Rikti Pylon Scrapper' in DPS - but what is?). Bosses go down okay. Having trouble with AVs - doable with inspirations/luck/at -1/temp powers, but in general the DPS isnt quite there. Will call back after the Incarnate slots fill up. For Radiation, more generally - my ONLY concern about putting rad with bio is that it might feel like the rad heal is a bit wasted. Outside of that Radiation Melee (like, admittedly, Bioarmor) has that 'new set hotness' - always remember in CoH, 'newer' powersets tend to be better designed than than older ones.

Gloom, from Soul Mastery, features in many optimized attack chains (though I note this is a Patron power, not a 'generic pool power'. Leap Attack, by virtue of being a decent damage PBAOE available at a reasonably low level, is a staple of more than one leveling build - whether or not it gets trained out later on depends on what else is going with the build and feel/theme/flavor. Air Superiority appeals on my all-ranged-attacks Sentinel, for reasons that should be self explanatory. Boxing, Kick, and Cross-Punch taken together do not a scrapper make - but Cross-Punch will be a decent AOE, given the other two. More broadly, pool attacks serve as a 'tax' on later powers from the pool - boxing exists to make Weave require 3 and Tough 2. Finally, as you note, pool attacks can serve as 'slot mules' for various IO sets that provide desired bonuses, and where room in the normal powers is lacking.

/jranger Eh, thats mean. Id be fine with a 'instant lvl 50 and can put any IO in any slot and have all incarnates unlocked' along with a custom title you can never take off. Would actually be useful. "Is X worth taking all the way and IOing out?" Make one, see if it works, and if you like it, play it up. If it doesnt, you didnt spend months on something you arent satisfied with. And heck, if all you want is the ending, not the journey - your already there, with a special title to say how awesome you are! We could at that point turn off drops and xp and influence in AE entirely, as well.

Ive got a Lvl 50 Spines/Bio Brute. 1.) I love it. 2.) I find that having two debuffing sets going at once is great for expanding the survivability of a mostly regen/heal/absorb based set (like Bioarmor) 3.) The heavy END income of Bio-Efficient Stance helps noticeably with the heavy END cost associated with spamming spines AOEs and running two damage auras at once 4.) Though I lived in efficient stance early on, at 50, Accolades/Sets/Incarnates start to open up your END budget. Im currently planning on building around softcap S/L Res (90 on a brute, the scrapper 75 will be easier to get!) and softcap DEF to most types in Defensive Stance - for tanking or really bad situations. Offensive stance has a heavy Resistance Loss, but the damage buff would really sing, espc. on a scrappers higher base. Stance Dancing is a thing. I ultimately think of Bioarmor as 'Willpower 2.0 - Son of Willpower'. If you like the mix of def/res/heal in WP, and are willing to trade time and attention (clickies, stances, etc. to manage) for a bit more power, it is a really amazing choice. Spines with its debuffs and AOE feeds well into Bioarmors 'Go to group, slurp up group, go to next group' ethos - like a less group/corpse focused version of a warshade.

Actually, I did mean defense - I can softcap a Bio Brute to all usual types (not, sadly, to psi) defense, and if I do it while in Defensive Adaptatation and while wearing an Agility Paragon Alpha, theres some breathing room left. Now, its not positional-defense-cap (I cant do that on Bio, I dont think, not without hideous cost if at all - and I agree that positional defense is grossly superior to typed), but the quest to softcap typed defense gets you within or near to a small pruple of softcap positional defense as a side effect, IIRC - away from that computer at the moment. Resist is BioBrute softcappable for Smash/Lethal - again, would be easier on a tank. Getting your other resists to 90 would seem impossible - Im having trouble getting high at all, espc on energy/negative (the winter sets are lovely for fire/cold) I just figure that given the smorgasboard of emergency buttons and the pants on head level of +regen bio can create, layer caking the others on top of it would be golden.

Do others find chasing defene softcaps to be worthwhile on Bio? Im tinkering with my final build on a Spines/Bio Brute, and have found that I can get softcapped in a pretty doable fashion - much more so if I only aim for the cap while in defensive adaptation. If its doable on a Brute, it should be pretty straightforward on a Tank. FUBAR - what specific problems do you see with Bobcat and Recluse? Do you think powers and slotting can address those problems? More generally, Im really curious about the END problems - Im finding it very hard to END crash my bio, even in defensive stance - but ENDMOD in Alpha Slot may be impacting that. More broadly, I kinda have to disagree on Spine Burst - while the animation is long for the damage, an additonal 360* AOE has been very useful to me - of course, I spend as much or more time working through every mission a contact will give as I do group tanking. Then again - Im coming from Brute, so Im looking at Spines/Bio as a general use damage AND Tanking set - more like a superheavy scrapper that can pinch-tank, rather than a deeicated tank - so my POV is likely a bit different from seeing it and asking how the set specifically goes to the task of tanking for teams on tough TFs - I tend to switch to my DM/Invuln (and later likely Dark/Titan) tanks for that.

Im coming around to Sentinels. They are I think very well designed and very well internally balanced. They reflect a much more experienced design team than the older powersets and ATs (which had numerous over- and under- performers in the ATs - and a lot of ‘later release’ powersets are just crazy good) As such, you would have to work to find a bad combo - and you at the other end just cant see to build the just-plain-nuts things that some ATs can manage. Its actually kinda nice, because you dont have the same drumbeat of ‘must avoid the traps/pursue the shiney’ that some other ATs and Powersets have - just pick something that fits your desires/playstyle, and rock on.

This build breaks from conventional wisdom in several places (Lack of Hasten most notably, power selections from three different travel-power power pools) I will assume those to be intentional and reflective of intended playstyle. Initial thoughts: I notice neither of the +RES IOs. I assume that is intentonal, as you've capped smashing and lethal, and the others are mostly so low as to make little difference - but still, thats a lot of RES to walk away from on a dedicated tank. And it seems to be a -dedicated- tank, yes? Not much concerned about damage output? If your already visiting the Darkness/Soul Pool, consider replacing Impale with Gloom - Impale has an animation during which empires crumble and species evolve. This doesnt just wreck damage out, it leaves you stuck in an animation while you might need to be clicking a dont-die button, or taunting a baddie off a buddy. Do you think you need a second slot in stamina? Ive found that if it has enemies to feed into the churning maw of Parasitic Aura, Bioarmor is an energizer bunny with levels of regeneration that remind me of old Instant Healing - or beyond - coupled with solid DEF, RES, yadda. Slow slotting, knockdown slotting in your PBAOEs, 6 slot taunt - do you anticipate that many people aggressively trying to pull aggro off of you?

WP less reliant upon attention being paid to it, in both building and playing. Dark requires more care and feeding at every step of the process - but responds better to min/maxing. How much work do you want to do?

Second on the ‘designed by experienced players’. A lot of ‘WTF were they thinking’, bad and good, present in other ATs/Powersets is just absent from Sentinels. This probably makes them a good choice for relaxed play, “I just want to play the game”, but leaves them feeling weak compared to the ‘good’ builds (usually good meaning damage) available to other ATs. Their a great place to build a cool superhero, but not nearly as fertile ground for serious sleeves-rolled-up levels of optimization.

Well, if your missing the AOE from ~Energy Melee~ (a set not known for its AOE), we should be able to find something good enough to hold you over until Shield Charge comes online at 26 and Tremor at 35. Obviously, this means power pools. Shield tanks often look at the fighting pool (tough, weave) and the leaping pool (combat jumping) or both. My initial thought is going with Spring Attack - Lvl 14 - with 3 DOs and during Hasten, recharge will be down to 1 minute. Thats - not great, but it will definitely help with groups. Just remember to walk in and saturate your Against All Odds (taken at 20) before hitting leap attack... if you trigger the leap attack outside the target group, I dont think you get the AOO bonus (I may be wrong). The other option would be to go into the Fighting pool and get Cross PUnch - lower damage, much lower recharge, but Ive not had as much experience with it.

Slow leveling! ;) But on a tank, Im usually tempted to pile in crowds as soon as I have any kind of AOE and enough resilience to face them - especially when (as now!) Im in a level bad where Ive done every mission under the sun so many times (No, Twinshot, I dont need to tour the zones finding out aboit Hospitals and Police Stations again. Thank you.)

Brutes have a taunt effect that Scrappers lack, by my understanding.

Im running it with Dark Armor. Pray for me.

So it may apply the debuffs but not the dots with the damage auras? I dont have my intercace slot past tier 1, so all it does ATM is a debuff - the graphic for which I am seeing on foes, from the toggle-dots. Ill probably get the damaging proc soon, and Ill let you know what Im seeing.

That has inspired me to keep a log of that experience, for what its worth. Creation: Went Dark Armor/Titan Weapons, as I -really- like the flaming sword for concept. TW is an end hog of epic proportions, so this is going to be a wild ride... Lvl 10 Update: Stopped for the night at level 10. Im more ‘TW’ than ‘DA’ a this point - a toggle might get used for a tough fight, if I have blue candy, but most of my survival is coming out of the +DEF in the first attack - and the -wonderful- heal out of DA. Having bruising on a low-damage attack that Ill eventually not need the buff from is a bummer, but for now, paired cone AOEs are very rewarding! I do recommend getting the first three powers ASAP and using the prestige enhqncements, particularly in the third power, the damaging cone. With judicious use of inspirations, Im running my missions at -12x4 already (no bosses!), and the XP flows like wine. Beast Run plus Sprint carries you a long way (though leaving it running will crash the bar!), but a need for verticality and character concept just lead to ‘flight’ (hover, much later, will be a DEF buff). Already looking forward to DOs into Stamina. Not much to report otherwise yet - but Ill affirm again that at low levels, with simple enhancements and few slots and limited END income, the self heal is the winner of the set. Lack of KB protection in mezz prot is noticed - will be IO patching when possible. In the meantime, a reformed balrog has some Hellions to educate on the matter of not calling up that which one cannot put down...

My only quibble is showing the 'full damage' as if Scourge auto-triggered. While Sentinel damage is a bit 'iffy' compared to their closest Scrapper cousins, I think its better than it looks on the surface.

RE: Corruptor Scourge My recollection is that Scourge is a smoothly increasing chance to crit, from 0 to 100%, inverse with base health. As such, it does not double the base damage (as would be the case if Scourge was an auto-crit every shot). It would appear to be a 50% damage increase, but it would actually be less than that - as the foes health drops, your average attack hits harder, so a tough target spends less time under 50% than above. My gut feel is that it would be at most a 33% increase in damage out over the targets lifespan, and less than that as damage is dealt in discreet packets rather than continously. Of course, Corruptors may have changed since then...

Funny thing - I tried the same trick with other 'Pure Res' sets, like Elec and Radiation. That 5% DEF that Dark Armor gets makes a HUGE difference in softcapping. Defense bonuses get more and more expensive (in terms of powers/slots) the deeper you have to scrounge for them. As you can see in the above build, we were getting into 'painful sacrifice' land here - +rchg is much more limited than I prefer - but to softcap the Radiation or Elec Tank takes it to a 'whole nother level' Softcapping Shield would be a good bit easier - but the resists wouldnt bet there (also, Id miss having a massive, fast recharging self heal!). Softcapping the likes of WP/Invuln/Bio is also easier - but those are TYPED Defense, and positional defense is just shorthand for 'and then you get murdered by psionic mobs'. Staff would probably be -better-, formally speaking, but I've no concept in mind for a Dark/Staff, but a big demon of fire and shadow? Thats easy mythology. It also leads to my unusual obsession with taking hover and fly, even on melee characters - Balrogs have wings and fly, and you cant convince me otherwise. :)