Maelwys

Power Boost (and Radial Clarion) buffs all defence powers whilst it's active. That means toggles and auto powers only get the buff for the duration of the Power Boost; but if you activate a long-duration click power which boosts defence (and that power does not have the "Ignores External Strength Boosts" flag) then it will also be affected and gain the buff until the clicky itself expires. "Farsight" is one such power, meaning you can have Power-Boosted Farsighted for the entire duration of Farsight as long as you activate Farsight during Power Boost's buff window. And you can stack that with Radial Clarion as well for superbuffed Farsight; although doing so would be complete overkill on a character with Bots/ shields. As-is, with regular Powerboosted Farsight the character will be sitting on 45.85% Defence to all according to MIDs, which is wrong, because Mids always get s PB shield value wrong. It's actually at 51.38%! The pets will only be on 37.18%... but the two +5% Def aura IOs aren't taken which would push that to softcap. With Radial Clarion and Powerboosted Farsight; add another 7.5% Defence to all that; so the MM would be on 58.88% and the pets on 44.68%.

I remember a series of tests being done a very long time ago on taunt/aggro mechanics on the original live UK forums. The short version is that back then taunt was considered a binary on/off switch - either something was taunted or it wasn't - but these tests flipped that to show that in fact Taunt worked as an extremely high Mag "mez"; and the duration of a taunt effect dictated who actually ended up at the top of the foe's threat list. If multiple tanks were taunting the same enemy then the longest duration taunt effect won. The aggro cap was part of these tests, and from what I recall "Taunt Duration" won out once again - mobs possessing the longest duration taunt you've inflicted would always sit at the top of the (capped) list of things aggroed on you. This meant that someone at the aggro cap could still continue to inflict taunt effects on as many enemies as they like; but foes beyond the cap will ignore the existence of these taunt effects until the inflicter dropped below the aggro cap again. Therefore there was/is some benefit to slotting for taunt duration and continuing to pummel away at enemies as fast as possible - since any foes that die and drop off your aggro cap will "free up space" - allowing any extra mobs that possess taunt effects that you've previously inflicted to be drawn back to you again (potentially suddenly ignoring the presence of squishies in the process). In practice these days that might make a bit of a difference if a team attacks several groups at the same time and whittles down the minions/lts quickly - if the bosses/EBs are still affected by a lingering-but-previously-ignored taunt effect then they'll snap back to the tanker without the tanker actually having to manually provoke them again.

If you're unable to defeat the mobs fast enough, then lots of CC abilities is the best way to go IMO. Because whilst the aggro cap lets you keep a certain number of things stuck to you like a magnet... AoE mez and/or knockdown abilities can neuter enemies that are outside of that aggro limit - they don't need to have you on their hate list for you to keep them permanently debuffed/mezzed. Permadoms are king here; with Controllers a close second. Lots of buffs and debuffs is an alternative - debuffing foe Damage and Accuracy; and/or buffing your teammates survivability. Defenders, Corrupters, Controllers, Masterminds and even VEATs will all be decent here... but personally I've had the best experiences on HC playing Teammate Support with an Illusion/Time Controller - multiple solid AoE CC abilities and debuffs, Perma Phantom Army, softcapped defense to your entire team with Power Boost and Clarioned Farsight + Group Invis, plus Chrono Shift and Temporal Mending for Healing. It's pretty damn powerful. As far as Tankers go here... Rad Armor is a standout due to Ground Zero's target cap; Bio Armor due to the -damage debuff from Parasitic Aura and Genetic Contamination; and Dark Armor due to Oppressive Gloom and Cloak of Fear, etc. A number of primaries have AoE mez; but Stone Melee (Fault and Tremor) and Ice Melee (Ice Patch) might be a good idea. The Epic pools also have a fair number of pets and pseudopets.

Yeah - because neither of them buff your "Recovery" but instead directly restore some endurance. Think of it like taking a blue inspiration. Likewise the Power Transfer Proc doesn't count towards your "Regeneration" because it directly restores some health.

I'm definitely not a fan of the Freem, but as for tool suggestions... In the olden days before IOs; a Dark Tanker used to either use Acrobatics or Hover; because the "I've been knocked back" animation whenever you're flying is much less problematic than when you're on the ground. Aside from stacking KB via IOs... Clarion works too; as does a friendly Kinetic with Increase Density, etc. or just plain old Inspirations.

IIRC because of the "10000% Knockup/Knockback Resistance" most of the Defensive sets get; the Mag and duration of incoming KB effects end up being cut drastically. So it really takes a single big hit to affect you (which has its remaining Mag over the threshold reduced to a tiny fraction - enough to knock you down but not back) because if/when multiple KB powers hit you then they need to do so simultaneously for it to spike over your protection. Unfortunately the stats display screen is a little laggy and it doesn't update regularly enough to catch the difference between "simultaneous" hits and "almost simultaneous" hits... so sometimes you'll see lingering values from short-duration effects (like KB) which aren't actually stacking. I'd guess that the Inv/ is getting KB less regularly due to its Defence; and if you softcapped the Rad/ then it'd behave identically? Oddly enough Kheldian Dwarf forms have Mag 100 KB Protection and are functionally immune to FREEM...

Last I checked it was ~10m already anyway and I was under the impression that the Endurance/Healing buff it grants in Health was pretty much common knowledge. (Panacea does, however, have some rather interesting interactions with certain powers like Triage Beacon, Spirit Tree and Spirit Ward... and I've found the latter particularly useful on my Earth Dominator for keeping Stoney alive!) 🙊

Multiple abilities which decrease the radius at which you're noticed ("Stealth Powers") no longer stack with each other. However they *do* stack with a Stealth IO. So you could have SuperSpeed and a Stealth IO; and they'd stack. Or Infiltration and a Stealth IO, and they'd stack. But SuperSpeed and Infiltration would NOT stack. Each AT has a different Stealth Cap which increases as they level up - but this always caps out at 200ft+ in PVE. (Once upon a time this used to actually matter in PVP zones for detecting Stalkers) Most enemies in the game have a perception radius of around 50-55 feet. "Snipers" have a greater radius - 149 feet. + Stealth IOs grant you +30ft StealthRadius (which by itself would mean "most foes" start to see you ~20ft away instead of ~50ft away) + Infiltration grants +36ft StealthRadius Combined that's ~66ft; meaning normal foes won't ever spot you... but you still need to be careful of "snipers" (within missions these are mainly Nemesis LTs), GMs, Rularuu, etc. Alternatively you could just take Power Pool Stealth which by itself grants +55ft StealthRadius. Hide (Stalkers) and Superior Invisibility (Illusion Control) are the only stealth abilities that will let you walk right up to a Sniper unnoticed. However you can also debuff enemy perception via things like Smoke Grenade.

I don't think I've ever seen a single push notification request on these forums?? But admittedly the very first thing I tend to do on every web browser is install a proper popup/ad blocker such as uBlock Origin. ...after a quick hunt I can see an option to enable push notifications at the bottom of my forum account settings page. I assume that there's an option in there to turn it off again if you've previously enabled it...? I regularly browse the forum from at least four different devices (Laptop, Phone, Tablet, Home PC) and multiple browsers and I've never had it whinge at me about these.

I've taken Aid Other on several support toons over the years (e.g. FF, Cold, Sonic and Traps) as an extra layer of damage migitation; and usually in those cases I'll also pick up Aid Self. And occasionally on Melee Defence sets that lack a Heal (Shield Defence, Super Reflexes, etc) I'll try to fit a copy of Aid Self in. I'm perfectly fine with the current Heal% values and recharge time... but I really hate the interrupt. It makes it far more difficult for a resistance-focused character to activate these healing abilities than a defence-focused character; and even at the defence cap if I happen to be affected by a DoT or even a debuffing Pseudopet like Earthquake then that effectively locks me out (by way of chain-interrupt) of activating these heals until the effect expires. Field Medic removing the interrupt from Aid Other can partially deal with this issue - but that means taking a minimum of two additional Medicine Pool power picks over and above the one I'm actually using (not always possible!) and it does nothing for the interrupt on Aid Self. So personally I'd much prefer it if the interrupt was removed altogether, or failing that if taking Aid Self removed the Interrupt on Aid Other and vice-versa... and if that came about then Field Medic could potentially be altered to grant things like additional raw Healing %, +Absorb, +Recovery and/or a Heal over Time without running afoul of the Cottage Rule. If this means that a balance pass is needed; then by all means lengthen the Recharge and/or raise the Endurance cost (3-4x that of the main powerset equivalents seems to be generally touted as a good rule of thumb) as long as I end up with heals that can reliably trigger whenever I need them to trigger. Is it really so much to ask that the "Medicine" pool provide better and more reliable healing than Sorcery Pool Spirit Ward with a Panacea proc in it? 🤔

Yep. Slotted into a Toggle/Auto it's a 50% chance to grant 7.5% Endurance (and a decent amount of health) every 10 seconds... which is massive endurance return, almost as good as base Stamina.

Vanden's guide should still be a decent rule of thumb:

Are you sure you're actually toggling the ability on? Reactive is an Interface Incarnate Slot Ability; which means it's an Auto - it's passive and always active. Assault is a Hybrid Incarnate Slot Ability; which means it's a Toggle - you need to actually Click and Activate it before it starts working. It's coded as a Toggle with a maximum duration of 120 seconds and a 120 second recharge, so you can get ~50% uptime on it. (there is a piddly always-on global damage increase from just equipping the Assault ability... but the main point is the buff you get from running the Toggle!)

That's one of my /Psi permadom builds with "near-perma" Drain Psyche; and so it assumes at least 1 foe in Drain Psyche range - without DP it clocks in at a far more modest 3.3 End/Sec! 😛 That said, my WP Tanker does sit at over 4.6 natively, and my Bio Tanker is almost always at the Recovery Hardcap (~9.8 End/Sec for them).

Pretty much. I prefer consistent to spikey; and a 25% chance to kick in every 10 seconds (Performance Shifter) is much more spikey than a 50% chance to kick in every 10 seconds (Panacea) - the former has a 17.798% chance NOT to kick in at least once over the course of a minute... whilst the latter has just a 1.563% chance. And as you point out, the difference in average endurance return between a single +5 EndMod in Stamina's base slot and a Performance Shifter is negligible. In the below example it's 0.280625 End/Sec (Proc) versus 0.25 End/Sec (50+5 EndMod IO) Also, whilst I'm levelling up endurance typically isn't that much of an issue because of the START vendor selling Recovery Serums for 50k inf per 5 charges.

Panacea is always the first IO I slot; in Health. Stamina usually gets an +EndMod IO in the default slot. As I level up, the first extra slot goes into Health (Miracle) and the second into Stamina (a Performance Shifter Proc) ...and that's usually "Good Enough" for me. If I need more self-healing then I may stick a Power Transfer "Chance to Heal Self" Proc in Stamina. If I need more recovery then I may stick a second EndMod IO in Stamina and/or a Numina Proc in Health (roughly the same at 50; but the Numina exemplars better) The Preventive Medicine unique is important too... but since it's a set bonus rather than a proc, that typically goes in something other than Health. If I ever have a surprisingly large number of enhancement slots left at the end of a build (which almost never happens) then I might slot a Regenerative Tissue proc and ED-cap the Healing% slotting in Health... but the last time I properly overslotted Health was for an INV Tanker in circa Issue 9. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Visual Guide] This was me "back in the day" (pre-Panacea and Power Transfer): This is my usual goto standard these days (exact setup depends on how many slots I have going spare and how much self-healing a toon has) This is "I'm a finely balanced permadom with no fecking slots left"

Nice, that's an interesting one! I noticed you weren't +5-ing the PVP or Purple IOs (which don't need attuned to keep their set bonuses when exemplaring) so there's a little bit of wiggle room. Should be able to get 85% Psi resist and raise the damage in some of those Human Form AoEs whilst keeping LF perma without sacrificing much other than a few % of global recharge (example below!). Perma LF - NoHasten PB 2.mbd

[Current Tri-form Warshade build] Bit of an all-rounder; but more emphasis on survivable damage dealing via Eclipse + Mire + Nova Form shenanigans. + Perma Hasten. + Perma Eclipse with resistance capping out after 4-5 foes. + Whilst in Nova Form, all of its attacks can hit the damage cap with just a single mire; so little if any need to enter Dwarf Form when DPS-ing large mobs of foes (100% base +112.5% from 10 foes in Mire range + 24% from Set Bonuses and Assault Radial + 45% from Nova Form itself +13.5% from the SKG ATO = 295%; so 105% damage slotting required in the power itself needed to hit the cap. Ebon Eye has the lowest damage slotting of all the Nova form powers at 112.67% - the rest can hit the cap with just 9 foes in Mire range!) + Five "Healing" Procs (3x Power Transfer + Panacea + the Essence Transfer ATO) + Gravitic Emanation slotted with Stun Duration and Damage Procs just for funsies. + Clarion for Mez protection + Banished Pantheon Lore pets since Carnies aren't needed to hit the damage cap. It can technically hit the Defense softcap if you leverage Vengeance and Incarnate Clickies, but I wouldn't bother. Warshade.mbd - - - - - - - - - - [Current Peacebringer Bi-form builds] Human/Dwarf obviously, with Two flavours. One is a "utility option" with Pulsar, TP Target, Tactics and Vengeance... and the other is a "damage option" with Boxing, Kick, Cross Punch and Weave (Weave is just a mule for a LOTG). Personally, I prefer the former. + A smidge shy of Perma Hasten, but has Perma Light Form, Perma Inner Light and Perma Essence Boost. + KB>KD IO in Human Form Flare. FF Proc in Dwarf Form Flare. + Human Form attacks - Solar Flare and Radiant Strike are Proc-bombed for high damage. The rest are are slotted to achieve most of the +Recharge set bonuses, with any remaining slots used for damage procs. Incandescent Strike is both due to the high activation chance of the two 4.5 PPM procs. The Obliteration set in the Cross-Punch build's Dawn Strike can technically be swapped for an Armageddon set if you're OK with lowering Solar Flare's damage a smidge; but the recharge benefit is negligible and Obliteration's other set bonuses are better. + Dwarf Form attacks are all Proc bombed. + Dwarf Form Flare currently has the two -res Debuff IOs plus a FF Proc (due to the reasoning that one Flare should be for damage and the other for debuffing; and "if you're tanking something then it's likely tough enough that you want it debuffed") but these could be moved to Human Form Flare if you want a better chance for them to activate. Again, the "utility option" build can hit the Defence softcap if you leverage Vengeance and Incarnate Clickies... and this can be a bit more feasible on a PB because there's less need for Clarion which frees you up to take Barrier (for the +Def and/or allied Rez). Peacebringer (Bi-Form Pulsar).mbd zPeacebringer (Bi-Form CrossPunch).mbd

(i) Nope (ii) It doesn't matter much, because... (iii) It works as a Set Bonus. So as long as you have that enhancement slotted somewhere on your build, all of your powers will get a chance to heal you; not just the power it's slotted in. The activation rate within the set bonus itself is listed as a flat value - 12% for the regular ATO and 18% for the superior... meaning that it doesn't function as a "Proc" under the hood and won't care about recharge slotting in your attack powers. Compare that with the VEAT ATO's set bonus (which does function as a proc and does care about recharge slotting in your attack powers!). However bear in mind that each time you 'zone' you'll need to activate the power you have this ATO slotted in before the Set Bonus actually starts working. Personally my 'Shade has it in Ebon Eye so that I don't need to explode any corpses before it first starts to trigger and it's usable regardless of whether I'm in Human or Nova form. If you're trying to gain extra self-healing on a Warshade, I'd also consider slotting Power Transfer Procs in your Form Powers and Stamina; plus a Panacea Proc in Health. [EDIT] - Found the patch note that fixed the bugs people were having with it expiring etc - see here . I know it can still be a little buggy sometimes if you slot it in a power that has a native activate period, so regular "Clicky" attacks are fine but maybe steer clear of sticking it in toggles such as Orbiting Death.

( ...hang on, does everything a Vampire hits 'Submit Reply' on not count as a "Necro" by default anyway...? 🤔 )

Your build is a bit... all over the place. Fireball, Rain of Fire, Fire Breath and Blaze have ED-capped damage but Fire Sword Circle and Blazing Bolt don't. None of them are procced out. Aim and Build Up are way overslotted and you've put the Gaussian Proc in Combat Teleport?? Hot Feet isn't noticeably slotted for Damage, Endurance Reduction or Slow. Bonfire is slotted for +Knockback and has the Force feedback Proc (which won't affect you since it's a pseudopet) You've taken Rune of Protection, which is fine, but it's not slotted for Damage Resistance and you're not alternating it with a similar buff like Melee Core. Fire Shield has no resistance slotting beyond the Steadfast +Def Unique. Maneuvers seems to be used as a mule for Defence Uniques, but it includes the Kismet Unique which functions as a proc not a set bonus. No Combat Jumping on a mobile powerset with multiple PBAoEs. The Fury of the Gladiator -Res Proc is in Rise of the Pheonix? NO BURN??!? 🤯 🔥 😛 If you're going for maximum damage, slot for damage% but for recharge% pay close attention to Proc rates ("PPM" aka "Procs per Minute") - Mids does a reasonable job of calculating the average damage of "damage procs" in various powers, however other stuff like -Res procs and the Gaussian you'll need to calculate the rate manually based on the properties of the power and how much +recharge you've got slotted in it. In general for procs you'll want to go for low amounts of recharge slotting in the power itself, and high amounts of Global Recharge from things like Hasten, Set Bonuses and Ageless Incarnate. This plus this will get you exact values - Maximum Proc rate is 90% so if you're over that then you can add more recharge slotting. Unfortunately I don't have a recent Fire/Fire/Fire build immediately to hand - the closest is a Fire/Ice/Fire, but it's a very similar idea - kill all the things as fast as possible. Should be a reasonable starting point at least - Blaster - Fire Blast - Ice Manipulation.mbd

> Protector bots - slot for defence or damage? Both. In each of the Pet Powers you can easily ED-cap damage and get substantial Accuracy and Endurance Reduction using just three slots, which leaves three slots free for other things like Aura IOs, Damage Procs and (in the case of the Protector Bots) +Defence IOs. The only other "unusual" slot you need to consider in Robotics is sticking a KB>KD IO in the Assbot - since by default its regular Swarm Missiles still inflict KB rather than KD. How much Accuracy is "good enough" depends on what you're fighting and your secondary and pool powers etc, but generally Masterminds will want enough Accuracy in their pets to have 95% chance of hitting regular enemies that are "+3 to you" (so +5 to your T1s and +4 to your T2s). Assuming you're taking Tactics and leveraging Supremacy; that means ED-capping Accuracy in your T1s, ~60% on your T2s and ~40% on your T3. How much Endurance is "good enough" varies wildly; but in Robotics at present the Protector Bots guzzle TRUCKLOADS of endurance, the Assbot technically consumes almost as much but has the benefit of 50% uptime on Conserve Power so in practice it can make do with a bit less outside assistance; and the Drones can almost keep going all day long even unslotted. The amount of allied +Damage and +Defence buffs you have from your secondary powerset will affect what Aura IOs or Damage Procs you want... but as a rule of thumb it's usually a good idea to aim for 5-6 aura IOs (never bother with the 'Commanding Presence' one; some people like the SCoM one but personally I tend to build to hit the softcap without it) which means that after "regular" slotting you'll likely have 1-2 slots free for damage procs and/or the Soulbound Allegiance "Chance for Build Up" IO. Below is a functional example from my Bot/Kin (which skips the SCoM and CP Aura IOs; Fulcrum Shift means that Soulbound is superfluous; so it just uses regular Damage Procs in the Drones and Assbot). I've subtly different setups for my other Robotics MMs (currently /Thermal, /Elec, /Time, /Empathy, /Dark and /Traps) but the concept remains the same.

I dunno about "Proper", but I've found this one to be playable. The Crab themselves is softcapped to Melee and Ranged; with >2200HP and a reasonable spread of resists (with Melee Core Embodiment running plus the 5% minimum from Barrier it'll hit the S/L Resistance hardcap). Self-healing is a downside... but between Lore pets, the Panacea Proc and a ~95s Serum recharge it makes do. Mag 7 KB Protection is usually enough; and there's always Base Empowerment stations if you know you're going to be fighting lots of Longbow or Nemesis. Pets are getting +31% Defence to everything, so the PPP Widow is softcapped as-is (Foresight)... but the rest need Barrier or Support Incarnates running and/or for you to spam Dark Obliteration and Gloom. Damagewise the Crab isn't going to break any records, especially without Aim (although they've a Gaussian Proc in Crab Tactics) but the pets are all getting the benefit of Double Assaults, Crab Tactics, the Soulbound Proc; Venom Grenade's -Res; plus all three -res procs (FoTG + Achilles' Heel in Frenzy @61% chance each, Annihilation in Venom Grenade @25% chance). Admittedly it's still overshadowed by my Fortuna, but it's not bad for a Crabbermind. Arachnos Crab Spider (Soul).mbd Arachnos Crab Spider (Mace).mbd [EDIT: Reworked the build slightly to reflect its most recent respec. The "Soul" version has better master damage via Gloom and Dark Obliteration + Aim with the Gaussian Proc. The "Mace" version has better pet damage via the additional -Resistance debuff from Shatter Armor and is a bit lighter on endurance usage, however it also trades Aim for Vengeance (in order to retain a similar recharge rate and softcapped Melee/Ranged defense despite the lack of -ToHit debuffs!). The "Soul" build is currently my main one!]

100%. I used to buy gaming mice, but the poor build quality and bloatware has long since put me off. And realistically I don't actually ask for much from a mouse: (i) A wire, so that it doesn't require endless charging/battery swaps (ii) A scroll wheel, because I like to read forums and this isn't 1992 any more (iii) A shoulder button or two, because games have binds and occasionally my right thumb gets bored (iv) Adjustable DPI so that I can choose to move my cursor in a large circle on the screen without the need for a desk the length of a football pitch. I'm perfectly content with a sub-£20 Logitech job. My current model is a Logitech G203 LIGHTSYNC, and the very first thing I did was turn the stupid rainbow disco lights OFF. Thankfully that setting is in firmware, so the control utility software only needed to infect my PC for 20mins or so before it got the boot. The performance of the actual mouse itself is just as good as any of my old Razors; and I don't miss the extra buttons because I have a Keyboard *and* a Joypad for that sort of thing. Incidentally, 99.9% of the time I'm holding a joypad in CoH (occasionally my right hand moves to the mouse or keyboard numpad). The controls bind remarkably well to joypads (including my trusty old collection of Dual Shock IIs) and I find Analogue sticks are much easier for fine movement control and jumping around than WSAD or a Mouse. Left stick = move, Right stick = look, DPad = targetting, Other Buttons = Activate Powers on Tray #1. Extra Powers and Teammate-targeting controls are bound to the keyboard numpad. So the Mouse is mostly relegated to necessary GUI interaction and clicking on glowies. I can play with regular keyboard + mouse, but it feels a bit like trying to drive a car with my feet.

Very specific build, but my Bot/Kin/Flame MM makes quite good use out of Agility Core: 45% End Mod, 33% Recharge, 20% Defense The +Defence buffs their Protector Bot Bubbles (and Maneuvers and the Barrier Destiny and Support Hybrids) and was the main consideration for choosing an alpha - softcapped pets are much happier pets; and hitting that bar on a /Kin takes effort. The +Recharge brings their Fulcrum Shift, Siphon Power, etc. up sooner and lets me keep Bonfire up permanently. More +Recharge Enhancement slotting typically means less damage (via lower proc activation chances) but MMs don't rely on personal attacks, so the usual downside doesn't apply here. The +EndMod helps with their Speed Boost, Stamina and Transference. And it's fun to be able to one-shot a Boss's Blue bar from 60ft away.