Gauntlet_Prime

I don't know but I too would like to know.

This is my build I have but there may be better builds out there. It is tough enough before incarnates but not the usual softcap defenses everywhere type many build for.

Regen is just a dramatic under-performer. I needs help badly but is constantly ignored. It has minimal resists to debuffing and relatively low defense. Because of this it can be easily debuffed into uselessness via -recharge (because of it's click intensity). Most people looking to play the regen theme instead play Willpower as it does what regen does but with layered defenses on top of it. The set is still playable but it is numerically not as good as the other sets.

Concept wise it is fantastic but Katana felt wasted on mine. One of Kat's big selling points is its parry but as a tanker you cap SR without even trying. If you take out the parry then it is just a standard weapon set which is nice but doesn't synergize much mechanically.

Thanks for the list. Not sure how I feel about forcing a long animation like placate to be the finish to Empower. 😕 Either way it is nice to get the info.

The info windows are nigh useless for this and there seems to be differences in what I can find on the internet. Can I just get a simple list of the combos please?

For what it is worth I cannot recommend dark/savage enough. Fast animations, good (read huge) aoe, and dark is tough and has the best heal in the game. If it can't kill you in 12 seconds it just cant ever kill you.

Excellent. Thank you everyone for the excellent bits of info and guidance. This is very helpful.

Thanks @Microcosm for the info. Good to know the best attacks to focus on. And I think I will go with you on just ignoring the combos unless they just happen and slashing like a madman.

Fine, use logic and math to answer my concern about logic and math like some sort of smart person! 😛

That is an interesting idea but I wonder how the math would play out with fast vs slow sets. I think things like claws would just run away with consistent fast animations just climbing that crit mountain really fast. But then again big slow crits on something like TW might even out over time. On the idea of a Teleport Confront: I love it. I don't think it needs to bring a buff or have any other effect than taunt. Maybe a KD/Imobil as you "surprise" your target and they freeze or stumble. Have a -fly effect as you pull flyers to the ground. Effects like that don't directly effect damage which I think is more than adequate as a whole for the AT. But an on-demand crit would force its cooldown to be larger than I want and potentially lead to balance changes none of us really wants. To me this would be a scraplock power that just has you porting from crowd to crowd in scrapper ecstasy. After all, what scrapper does something so pedestrian as running to the next group of mobs?

Oddly enough I like it on my brute and people seem to dislike on brutes. I never have any issues with it and it is one of my default attacks for me. I imagine it is only better on a tanker where it is significantly wider.

I actually find a single Karma or Steadfast mag4 KB protection is enough for something like 95% of KBs in the game. After that you gotta push all the way to Mag12 which is a significant investment for minimal effect IMO.

So here is my concept. I am a dark elf immigrant from one of Portal Corps many adventures into other realms. My character helps an away team make it back to Paragon Prime and I ask to join them. As thanks for rescuing and guiding them to safety they bring me back and Numina herself sponsors me, finding my mix of dark magics and combat prowess interesting. Visually I like everything that is going on there. Here is the thing: I haven't touched DB since well before the fall of live. I am hoping that there are some skip-able powers here because I am starved for slots. What combos should I be focusing on? Right now I am only 18 and Empower feels ok but the animation investment is a little rough for psudo-buildup I think. Weaken is also somewhat bland feeling. I certainly don't feel more survivable when the mobs are "WEAKENED!". I really only need the general DB advice but seeing as the title is searchable posting builds for future readers would also be a welcome way of forwarding discussion on the topic. Thank you for spending the time to read this.

It is a savage thing. Some DoTs crit up front and some crit at the end as well. DoTs in general are terribly inconsistent (as are a lot of design philosophies in the game). The Homecoming team has been pretty consistently working to make these things more homogeneous functionally though.

I gotta go in on the WP/SJ guy. I just picture a guy with the tattered shirt and pants who made it through the Galaxy tutorial by just being to stubborn to go down. That is how he awakens his healing power and decided to be "The Last Man Standing" to protect him neighbors and get them to safety. Then change to a regular shirt and pants outfit to start atlas. Could continue the story into the Shining star arc when Manticore takes him under his wing and steers him from a street level hero to top tier as you are leveling. That is when you get a proper uniform for heroing and he starts really giving his all to it. I may have gotten a little invested in that one hehe.

Nimu, we have spoken about this... You need to ask for permission before you bring up our lord and savior; SPIN! It was part of the accords we had to stop the complaining about diversification.

Fire melee has no secondary effect that is defensive so something that is really tough or heavily layer defenses on its own would be best IMO. Dark armor, Radiation, Bio, and Inv would all be good choices.

Darkir is up there preaching truth. I made a Savage/Bio after that post and he is crazy fun. Bio gives splendid adaptability and savage feels like the name says; wild-ass lunatic animations just rending EVERYBODY around you. Oh and a point on the offensive stance. I don't use it all the time. Ussually I am in the efficiency stance and slot my power for lots of recharge to stack with the blood recharge to result in maximum uptime on shred and rend.

Man, I dunno. My buddy's SS/Inv brute is a monster and i haven't ever heard him complain about SS. Double Rage is broken.

FACTS! It is an amazing feeling being immortal. My Rad/Rad brute is a beast but does occasionally get in a animation lock and die... my dark/savage tank never thinks twice about any mobs solo. Just walk up and dare em to try.

KB protection is very easily accomplished with cheap IOs that can be slotted as early as level 7 I believe. I think Karma will give 3 mag protection and can just be slotted in a passive. There is also Steadfast I think that can get you up to 7 or 8 mag with both of them. As far as the taunt aura the damage from Death Shroud tends to work just as well solo. I only ever notice in a group if someone has a taunt aura. Then I go fulls scraplock and enjoy being able to go ham without taking damage. It does mean i can't scrank for a team in the tanker has to leave though.

This.

I am not entirely certain what you are even asking for. Are you saying you want access to all the travel powers outside of the pools in some meta-pool to choose from and to have them all stack with stances? Or are you asking for more particle options added to matching power customization (eg. flight has access to every flying power's particle effects/animations in ICON)? Personally I would like to see a revamp of travel powers in a broader sense. I think It would be more interesting to just have all of them in a single pool called travel that is separate from the other pools. Just a Travel pool with the travel specifics in it. Flight and Afterburner, Teleport and long-range TP, Super Jump, SS, and the newer origin travels (including their free-clicky powers) then leave the rest of the stuff in the pools. The flight pool would still have AS, hover, etc. I also think the travel support powers should just be included with the travel power (ex. Flight gives Afterburner) because it just feels right. But that is just me.