Uncle Shags

Alternatively: VG stacks with the other buffs making them stronger, has an easily managed end cost, and you get to hang out in melee range. Melee range isn't a bug, it's a feature. If you don't like it, that's fine. If you hate going in melee, don't take it. If you don't want to take tough and weave, don't. But trying to minimize and downplay its benefits is unnecessary.

I'm trying to wrap my head around this with an analogy and I think I've found one that works. My dad has a side by side with a funky speed governor. It goes 25mph without the seat belt engaged. Which is okay. But if you put on the seat belt the governor shuts off and it can go 60. If you don't want to wear a seat belt that's fine. And maybe 25mph is great. But you shouldn't try to convince yourself or others that you're going just as fast as you would be without the governor engaged.

It depends on the team, but yeah, I do a lot of jousting. I like to try to pop my pbaoes right over their heads. One thing /fire does have going for it is the hot feet slow and fear. Without that I've had to be more careful. I even joust with my melee attacks occasionally. I've also got combat tp with a backwards bind so I can zip in and out. It's a much more active/twitchy style than my other toons. I got rid of almost every survival tool and traded in for dps/recharge and mobility. I don't even have the +def/resist unique ios slotted, which sounds dumb. But it's fun!

1.8s Arcana time vs 2.9s. Standing still in nearly melee range for 3 seconds isn't pleasant. I can't stand fire breath. Also, unlike FB, BS isn't a full dot. A big chunk of damage hits before the dots. Procs also hit at the same time. I’ve found the cone is fine. The range on mine is over a hundred feet, which makes the far width 56ft. LRM has a 4 second cast time and a 240s recharge... And force bomb hits 10 with a 60 second cast time. My Bilespray recharges in 10 seconds. It does what I want it to do: it gives me another quick, big aoe button to mash when my others are on cool down. Have you tried it? I quite like it. It makes a disgusting sounds as an added bonus.

I like bilespray much more than fire breath. Faster, better range, and hits 6 more targets. I need the full 16 target cap on all aoes for my pure dps blaster. Not having 6 extra enemies trying to kill me makes a big difference.

Meh. You've got to try to die and the recharge is twice as long as Inferno. Or you can hit 16 targets each with Fireball -> P Shockwave -> Bilespray for Inferno level damage, and then do it at least 3 more times while you wait for your next nuke.

Other than for theme and procced out char (which is nice), I think triple fire is overrated. I don't think /fire/fire is the most damaging compliment to a fire primary blaster. I'm not sure what the MOST most is, but for instance, I've found my /mental/leviathan is much more destructive than my /fire/fire. I realize this is risky, as I'm saying this to people who like fire. Fire x 3. Please don't get all flamey and try to burn me. I'm a nice guy. And your super power should be about CONTROLLING your fire....

I'm a big believer in CJ, but when the build is tight, sacrifices must be made. It may sound silly because end cost is fairly high, but athletic/ninja run gives the same mid jump adjustment as CJ. I usually can build to afford the endurance. Combat tp is the other option.

Wow, this is awesome. Also, nice word play. Edit: I'm curious about the numbers for TW when in momentum.

They're player designed missions that are harder than normal content. They get harder the higher the decimal. It's useful for testing survival.

I built a DM/SR on test and took it for a spin. It could take 2 groups at once of CoT, Council, Arachnos, and Carnies at 54x8. It wasn't super fast, but the survivability was there. It wasn't as tough as my SR/DM tank which can solo all 54x8 radios and up to 801.5 with endless waves of multiple groups forever, but I think 2 groups at once for a scrapper is pretty dang good. I think trading survivability for damage is a delicate balance on every AT, but because of the raw damage potential of scrappers it can be a very big deal. I compared my TW/Bio, for instance, and vs some of the 54x8 radio scene it performed noticeably better by relying on kills as mitigation. But for other stuff (Arachnos) it melted while the DM/SR wasn't ever at risk.

Epic ranged attack/snipe is another option for runners. You have to wait til 35 though. With fancy slotting you can max the heal and the damage.

You can tell a lot about a person when they make personal attacks like this. Fine, I will educate you. DDR makes SR superior to Inv. Def debuffing enemies (which there a lot of) that will melt Inv will do nothing to SR. Once SR is above the cap it stays there, getting hit 5% of the time, while Inv defense crumbles. So what does SR do when those 5% of attacks make it through? According to you I should be "assured" that's still "plenty durable". You'd have to hope for team heals, or wait for regen, or pop an insp. Maybe that's good enough for how you play. But I can assure you that there are times when it's not enough. But good news! DM can heal. 250 hp every 3 seconds is not "okayish" and it plugs SRs only hole. Also, much of DMs damage reputation is based on testing with Soul Drain hitting one target. When it's saturated and perma it's awesome. OP, go for it if you want. The combo is great.

OP isn't asking about Inv. They're talking about starting up their old toon. And the fact that SR doesn't need the - to-hit is a good thing, not a bad. It needs a heal. Which DM has. And I'll just say it: DM/Inv is crap compared to DM/SR for survival. This is kind of weird. An old player is coming back to relive their glory days. I say to go for it because I know from experience it's a great combo. You immediately try to talk them out of it for niggling reasons. Seems weird...

If you're just looking for pure damage look elsewhere. But if you want to trade a little damage for a ridiculous amount of survivability, DM/SR is my pick.

Amazing combo. Giving SR a heal is game breaking.

I like it! I too have wondered what's the point of anything but damage if that's the only win condition. As was mentioned, the mechanic kind of already exists: I think it would add a new layer of depth to the game that would be a breath of fresh air. If I had the power I would

You're great.

If you mean what can stay at range with high degree of safety my vote is for Doms. More control than trollers and more damage. Going into melee to attack is available but not necessary.

"Hey boys, we've got a complaint over in General!" "What?!"

Maybe for you. I'm not so comfortable telling someone else what they should build for.

It sounds like you're torn between concept builder and min/maxer. You say you start off with a character idea, but then it get a morphs into a min/maxed Frankenstein chasing stats. For some people that's fine and the way they like it. But if you're doubting that then maybe try to put the mids away for a bit. Just lean into your original idea with less focus on chasing numbers. Guaranteed it will play just fine, especially on a team. Shit, it might play better! Or, if you have the cash you can have multiple builds. Have one that's tweaked out min/maxed, and another that's just fun, with all the fun powers you want.

Have you considered a game pad? It takes a few sessions to get used to, but once you do you can keypress all your abilities rather than mouse click, which then allows you to mouse turn instead of keyboard turn, which is much much faster and fluid. I use the logitech g13.

Exactly. I feel like dev opinion had been swayed by the incessant whine of the "tankers do too much damage" crowd and felt like a nerf was a good idea. But once they started to see the numbers and the reality behind them they recognized their earlier position was based on a load of bullshit. At that point they had to reduce the obvious over-nerf, but had to do something to save face. At that point it was all PR.