Jacke

Could it have been what the Black Knights do in Night Ward: Taunt and Placate? Try it again, but pop off a Break-Free?

@Maelwys, I think my view of the usefulness of Font may be because of the effect of running Arctic Air, a 25ft PBAoE Confuse aura, as well as application of Cold Snap and Ice Slick. All work to cut down mob attacks. I get so many Fonts because my Toon is always using Block of Ice (with Font) as well as Chillblain (slotted for Damage) as well as Arcane Bolt for strong ST Damage. The Damage is likely enough to bother the mobs. Even on higher Notoriety content, I've not noticed the Fonts get defeated. But there the Damage would be less. If the Font inherits the slotting of the Power it's in, that's not the best Accuracy for them. I do have Tactics at L47 (for Jack Frost, who does have ED-capped Accuracy but attacks with 1.0 Base Accuracy). Also, the Base Accuracy of the Damage Auras for both Font and Fiery Orb is 1.0, so they're not going to be great for hitting without Tactics. The Toon doesn't have Infrigidate either, the sole -Def Power, as its -Damage only affects Fire Damage. Just can't fit in all the Powers into a build. It's kind of a bit of extra Damage and some interference on mobs aggro. I may some day swapped the Power Sets between Cold Snap (Will of the Controller) and Block of Ice (Overpowering Presence) as some times I want to be absolutely sure my 3 ST attacks are ST. And right now with Font in Block of Ice, that's not true. EDIT: Rolled out a new build for my Ice/Cold Controller. Did swap around the Controller ATOs so Font is now in Cold Snap.

I've not found that at all. On my Ice/Cold Controller, I have the Font on Block of Ice and I've had up to 3 of them out. Because of the awesome Arctic Air I'm normally in close and the Fonts just wander over to some mob and ruin its whole day. Even if I'm at range but in combat, the Fonts move quickly enough to take on the mobs. Even on +4 content, I've found it rare to see the Fonts defeated before they expire. I've got the Expedient Reinforcement special in Jack Frost, so the Fonts will l have +10% Resist all but Psionic within 20ft of my Controller. I've not played Dominators very much, so I'm not familiar with its ATO Fiery Orb. Someday someone will get numbers on the Font and the Fiery Orb and we'll have a better idea. Until then, here's the CoD2 pages: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/entity.html?entity=pets_overpowering_presence_pet https://cod.uberguy.net/html/entity.html?entity=pets_dominating_grasp_pet Both are downgraded in HP from other Pets the same amount. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pets.overpowering_presence.resistance&at=minion_pets https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=villain_pets.dominating_grasp.resistance&at=minion_pets Both have damage auras. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pets.overpowering_presence.shocking_aura&at=minion_pets https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=villain_pets.dominating_grasp.blazing_aura&at=minion_pets And both go away after 20s.

Part of the problems with Kinetic Melee is that it is misunderstood. First the T9, Concentrated Strike has a low DPA and a long Cast time. It's worse that Martial Arts T9 Eagles Claw and that one I skip on all ATs. I do take all 3 of the other ST attack, T1, T2, and T3, as well as Cross Punch (better DPA even ST than the T9) as the PBAoE T7 is a bit slow on the recharge. Power Siphon is actually better than Build Up. Using the first 3 ST attacks, quickly pump it to 5 stacks of +Dam (I monitor it in Combat Attributes) which is greater than Build Up and lasts longer, but with the same base recharge of 90s. Here's the latest build on my Kinetic Melee/Ninjitsu Scrapper. It's a Gold-side completist, so it'll be a while until I get it to L50. Scrapper KineticM-Ninjitsu.20250828.WpnM [i28p2] @Jacke - Jacke Discreet.mbd

I've reported the minimap issues with the Safeguard and Mayhem Missions. They should eventually be resolved.

Thanks for that, @Snarky. I'm familiar with non-suppressing stealth, as there's 15ft of that on Blaster Devices' Cloaking Device Field Operative. Cloak of Darkness has more. I plan to eventually make every Dark/Dark combination (Mastermind Necromancy/Dark). Also, for my Dark Armor Toons, I'm planning to go with Obscure Sustenance for all of them. Its extra effects make it seem to be a better choice over Dark Regeneration.

From what I've heard, the spaghetti-nature of the AH code is likely the worst in City. That's going to be a major project that will be tackled some day, likely when there's also other reasons. Also, there's still the bug that a Toon can try to enter an SG Base while that SG Base is being unloaded from memory and saved, leading to the server terminating the City client instead of doing something kinder like bouncing the Toon back to where it tried to enter the SG Base. So that's also an area for work.

Just remember, there are double agents. But going triple is suicide. Be seeing you.

Trip Mine also has the tag (in the upper left of the linked page) "Strengths Disallowed: RechargeTime". https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pets.mine.trip_mine&at=minion_pets Don't know if that means the Force Feedback Proc has no effect.

Fire Imp's only attack (Brawl) has 1.2 Base Accuracy. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pets.imp.brawl&at=minion_controllerpets For 1.2 Base Accuracy and slotting ED-capped Accuracy, against +4 Targets (as they are +4 to Pets), final ToHit is about 92%. -Def and Tactics would help, but only a tiny amount. And except for those Pets that are just extensions of the Toon (Electrical Blast's Voltaic Sentinel, etc.), it's the Base Accuracy of the Pet attacks, which are independent AFAIK of the Base Accuracy of the Pet Summons Power (which doesn't use it AFAIK). There's details to this I don't know, but there's other changes to the game that need to go in before the Level reductions of MM Henchmen gets remove. Until then, Masterminds really need to take Leadership and Tactics, unless their support set has a very good -Def Power (like Radiation Emission). Soulbound Allegiance Proc would only help intermittently and that's effective a lower final ToHit chance. Don't know about the untargetable Pseudopets. Some of them may be independent, others may be Toon extensions. But all should benefit from Debuffs like -Def. I know Phantom Army does. Good thing as EVERY attack they have is Base Accuracy 1.0. Can't find where in CoD2 is the "Ignores external strength boosts" for PA, but I know they have it. As does Trip Mine.

@Maelwys, the key takeaway here is getting that ED-capped Accuracy into Pet Summons Powers. I think like out of all the Pet and Recharge Intensive Pet IO sets, only 3 ED-cap Accuracy just by themselves: Brilliant Leadership (barely) Blood Mandate Sovereign Right I've been making up mixed sets for Toons with Pets as I do new builds (so far behind in builds...). After that, if needed (don't need to on the first one I fixed, my AR/Dev Blaster's Gun Drone), add in either Tactics or the use of a -Def Power. Only some Pets (I think they're all NOT targetable) are considered extensions of the Toon and thus get the benefit of the Global Enhancements, including Level Shifts (outside of what MM Supremacy grants to the MM's Henchmen).

In other news, I've made a new build for my Dark Armor/Martial Arts/Soul Mastery Tanker. Still very low Level so it's a long way from being tested. But after looking at Dark Regeneration and Obscure Sustenance, I've decided to go with OS for all ATs. And I'll find out if its other buffs are worth the lesser amount of Healing.

The interpretations as I mentioned above were confirmed to me. Not sure of the above. Inspirations and Global effects from Clicks are in Global Buffs and if they were included, others would be. But these are testable with appropriate use of Combat Attributes window. That also includes the Caster's Global Buffs. If we had EXACTLY the same view as what the Powers Devs use (and some documentation as well), this would be much simpler...maybe. But we don't, alas. CoD2 is better than nothing. But it's also got nil documentation and a steep learning curve.

Hey @ScarySai, @Maelwys, I said I looked at Beanbag and it's still not good enough to fit into my AR/Devices build. Beanbag is a ST attack and would need to replace another ST attack, either Burst or Slug (Sniper Rifle is too good, as is the Pseudo-ST Ignite). (See ST chain below.) Beanbag could maybe replace Burst, but replacing Burst (currently with 2 Procs, Apocalypse chance of Neg Dam and Achilles Heel chance of -Res, as well 4s Base Recharge) would hurt a lot. Beanbag replacing Slug is more likely. Burst has Cast ArcanaTime of 1.188s, DPA of 59.79/s, Base Recharge of 4s, Base DPS of 12.7/s, and Base Range of 90ft. Outstanding feature is 8s -7.5% Def, which means it can slot the Achilles Heel Proc. Slug has Cast ArcanaTime of 1.584s, DPA of 51.61/s, Base Recharge of 8s, Base DPS of 10.56/s, and Base Range of 100ft. Outstanding feature is 25% chance for Mag 1.25 KB. Beanbag has Cast ArcanaTime of 1.056s, DPA of 51.19/s, Base Recharge of 10s, Base DPS of 5.46/s, and Base Range of 60ft. Outstanding feature is 11.92s Mag3 Stun. So, to get that Stun, the build would take a hit on its Range and likely DPS. My current ST chain is: Burst - Ignite - Sniper Rifle - Burst - Slug If Exemplared such that Ignite is disabled, can swap in Buckshot. Beanbag maybe could replace Slug and move that to the start. But the Range is down to 60ft. Build has +10% Range, so that would be 66ft. When Ignite currently has the shortest range at 81.3ft. And I use that ST chain at more than 66ft range. Beanbag is better than it was. But it's still not good enough for me to put into a build. EDIT: Alternately, I could put in Beanbag and replace another Power. Making just a situational Mag 3 Stun. But Beanbag's always been that. I tried it out years ago. But if I use Beanbag and I get that 5% chance to miss, I've got to do something else. So I just haven't included Beanbag and always do that something else. And I don't think I can find any Power in the build I'd want to drop to make room for Beanbag.

Recently, I looked at Beanbag for my main Toon, AR/Devices Blaster. It does more Damage now than it did in the past. But I've developed that Toon since 2005. The build is tight and I don't want to lose any of the existing Powers to add in Beanbag. Just the way it is. When all Powers in a Primary and Secondary Powersets are good, still to fit in the more-than-6 needed Pool/Epic Powers to flesh out the Toon's build so it works well, thus have to skip what are good Powers. EDIT: Looked at it again. I'd almost be willing to drop Slug for Beanbag. But Beanbag has a Base Range of 60ft, while Slug has a Base Range of 100ft. Beanbag has a faster Cast but Slug has betterDPA. Sticking with Slug. For now....

I've written up important advice for the builds of all Toons who depend on the vast majority of Pets and Pseudopets here.

EDIT: The situation for Mastermind Henchmen is more complex. @Maelwys has done a good analysis here with slotting recommendations. https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/59720-question-on-pet-power-slotting-procs-vs-io-bonus/#findComment-743792 The first thing any Toon that depended on Pets or Pseudopets (example all Masterminds, Traps Toons (8 out of 9 Powers, all but Web Grenade), etc.) needs to do is get their Pets final ToHit close to 95%. The vast majority of Pets do not benefit from the Global Buffs that the Caster has. No Level Shifts (except from the MM Inherent Supremacy), no Global ToHit, no Global Accuracy. Some Pets (like Trip Mine for all ATs) don't even get benefit from the Leadership Auras (there are flags that exclude those buffs). Only Pets who are considered an extension of the Toon benefit from the Global Buffs. The example I use to point this out, especially in CoD2, are 2 Pets on a Electrical Affinity/Electrical Blast Defender: Electrical Blast's T8 Voltaic Sentinel is an extension of the Toon and does benefit from the Caster's Global Buffs. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=defender_ranged.electrical_blast.voltaic_sentinel&at=defender Note the Double Green Box on the right side of the Create Entity Effect, "Boosts are copied to entity". That means the slotted Enhancements are copied (with some restrictions shown elsewhere) to the entity, the Pet. Elsewhere this is called "Use Combat Mods". Note the Double Red Box on the right side of the Create Entity Effect, "Entity has creator's modifiers". That means the Caster's Global Buffs are copied (with some restrictions shown elsewhere) to the entity, the Pet. Elsewhere this is called "Use Caster Mods". Note that the Effects of the Pets are all listed immediately here. Note that in game, the Pet cannot be targeted. Any aggro the Pet gets is immediately passed to the Caster. Electrical Affinity's T3 Galvanic Sentinel is like the vast majority of Pets and Pseudopets and doesn't benefit from Caster's Global Buffs. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=defender_buff.shock_therapy.discharge&at=defender Note there's only a Double Green Box on the right side of the Create Entity Effects, "Boosts are copied to entity". That means the slotted Enhancements are copied (with some restrictions shown elsewhere) to the entity, the Pet. Note that there's a link to a separate Entity page for the created Pet. Where you see a lot of information and links to the Pet's Powers. Note that in game, the Pet can be targets usually (not all Pseudopets of this type can be targeted). This type of Pet includes all Mastermind Henchmen. As well, there is a large and effectively unfixable bug in Mids Reborn: It doesn't recognise this difference and always gives Pets the benefit of the Caster's Global Buffs. You cannot depend on MRB's calculations of the final ToHit chance of the vast majority of Pets and Pseudopets. To avoid calculating every case of the vast majority of Pets, I have 2 rules I use to get the Pet's final ToHit close to 95% in content the Casting Toon may see as +3 (+4 with the Toon +1 due to an Incarnate T3 or T4 Alpha Boost slotted--which the Pet sees as +4 all the time): Slot the Pet Casting Power with ED-capped Accuracy (~93%+). If the Pets has important Attack Powers that aren't autohit and have a Base Accuracy of under 1.2, do one or both of the following: Have the Caster take Leadership's Tactics, even just the base Slot on a Mastermind. Have a -Def Power applied to the potential targets. Two examples of Pets who's Attack Powers have 1.2 Base Accuracy: Devices' Gun Drone Fire Control's Imps Most Pet IO sets do not have enough Accuracy, requiring mixed slotting of different IO sets to get there. This has to be done for ALL Pet and Pseudopet Summons Powers of the second type from above. Some Pet Toons won't have a -Def Power, so in that case they'll often need Tactics. Mastermind Henchmen have other Level reductions from that of the Mastermind that complicates this. Mastermind Supremacy Inherent Power can offset this, but Henchmen need to remain close enough to the MM. I have heard that this won't be changed until other changes go in.

I'm starting to work on new builds for my Dark Armor Toons. The changes for Cloak of Fear and Soul Transfer I can figure from their CoD2 entries. But this one I'm wondering about for all Dark Armor builds for several ATs (Scrapper, Tanker, Sentinel, Brute, Stalker): -- Dark Regeneration versus Obscure Sustenance ? This one is more complex. One feedback I've heard is that a build should take Obscure Sustenance while Levelling but for a final L50 build take Dark Regeneration. The reasoning is that the +Recovery buffs from OS helps Levelling builds but the greater healing of DR helps in final builds. But DR needs to hit mobs to Heal while OS doesn't. OS also provides Regen and Debuff Resistance for ToHit and Regen. Apparently, there's currently a bug in Sentinel's DR that it currently can't take Accurate Healing IOs, which will hopefully get fixed soon. So, questions: Does the above apply for all ATs? How workable or unworkable each is for Levelling and L50 builds for Scrappers? Same for Tankers. Same for Sentinels. Same for Brutes. Same for Stalkers. EDIT: Decided to go with Obscure Sustenance for all 5 ATs, even at L50. Will see how it works out.

It's common, Psy. 😺

Those are the traditional Issue 0 Contacts in Atlas Park,1 for each of the 5 Origins (Magic, Mutant, Natural, Science, Technology), which determines the Mob Gangs the Toon is sent against. A Toon can get 5 of them every 5 Levels. Above the first group, L1 to L5, there are more than 1 per Origin, with usually 3 possible that the Toon connects to 1 of them for each Origin. The Contacts I'm talking about are the ones added much later, a group of 4 each in Atlas Park and Mercy Island. Of each 4, can do the missions of 3 of them during Leveling. The 4th needs to be done by Flashback. Here's them listed as from the 2 Zones: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Atlas_Park Level 1-7 Matthew Habashy └► Officer Fields └► Aaron Thiery └►Sondra Costel └► Aaron Thiery https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Mercy_Island Level 1-7 Operative Kuzmin (Mercy: -1219, 243, -88) └►Fire Wire (Mercy: -2726, 239, 139) └►Doctor Weber ((Mercy: -1037, 238, 525) └►Lt. Harris (Darwin's Landing: -533, 98, -1295)

Welcome back! All your Toons exist on the HC Shards, not locally on your own computer. They're located via the Game Username and Game Password you used to log into the Game Client Program (which connects to the HC servers over the Internet). Glad you're enjoying yourself.

There are 4 Contacts each in Atlas Park and in Mercy Island for those Arcs that were added. You can only do 3 of them from each as there's 2 options in the middle of the runs of 3. Do the missed one via the Pillar of Ice and Flame and you get a Badge for both Hero and Villain starting zones.

I'm planning to have just 1 Energy Blast Toon. An Energy Blast/Atomic Manipulation Blaster. The Secondary has a fast casting Immob that has strong KB Resistance, so it'll turn Knockback into Knockdown, so at least the ST attacks won't need a KB>KD IO. I looked through all the Blaster Secondaries in CoD2 for those with KB Resistance on the target and the faster Cast times. As for Energy Manipulation, I have a long time Toon I need to someday play more often, a Sonic Attack/Energy Manipulation Blapper.

What @Luminara said. For Blue-side, every 5 Levels, there's 5 Traditional Contacts, 1 for each Origin (Magic, Mutant, Natural, Science, Technology), who mostly have missions and an arc or two sending the Hero against a particular mob group or two. For each Origin, there's about 3 to 4 for each 5 Levels that gets selected when your Toon gets high enough. There's also extra Contacts, some mostly added in after the early game Traditional Contacts. And the Police Radio for its missions and the Safeguard missions. Red-side, you have the Paper missions which then lead to the Mayhem mission and then to the Red-side Contacts. Again, some added in more recently. Gold-side, there's 4 Factions (Resistance Wardens and Crusaders, Loyalist Responsibility and Power) and about 4 to 5 Contacts per Faction. With a few added in and more in First Ward and Night Ward. This page lists most categories of Contact: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Category:Contacts_By_Level I have a Blue+Red-side Completist, a Shield/Rad Melee Tanker. Also run 2 Gold-side Completist, a copy of my main, AR/Devices Blaster, and a Kinetic Melee/Ninjitsu Scrapper.

I agree. I've got 6 Trays in a Stack on the lower-right of my UI. And I use my Commands Popmenu so I don't need common Click Powers in the Trays. And those Trays are already packed by L50. Adding even 1 more Power that I'd need to Click or Toggle on would be a pain. I've heard that the current Incarnate Powers won't get new ones added until Toons have to face much stronger opponents. I do think that the current Incarnate Powers need some sort of rebalance, especially in the details of the crafting. But even that is a major undertaking. I would think that would be done before adding new Incarnate Powers.