Omega-202

@Luminara...again, you are not this stupid. I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and I'm going to assume you're having an off day. Re-read what Snarky wrote. He's not playing at arbitrage, he said he buys low value purples on the cheap and converts and relists. That's not even flipping or manipulation, that's increasing supply of desired purples and taking a cut.

Before the past few weeks, the price has kept pretty steady at 1-2k for months (or years), and has only trended down since the seeding. Your alternate explanation is that suddenly, with no impetus, players have gotten impatient in the span of the last few weeks and just randomly decided to start jacking up their yellow salvage bids? Yeah? Is that what you're suggesting? If that's the case, why is rare salvage still south of 500k? If players randomly got impatient en masse, why didnt that budge? What about special rare enhancements like Perf Shift and Gamblers? Nope, those are steady. Purples? Still south of 20mil, and i got a few nice bargain buys this week. ATOs? Still at 8mil or below. Converters? Still ~70k. So the only thing people got impatient with the last 2-3 weeks is yellow salvage...or someone or a group of someones is manipulating.

That seems like a distinction without a difference. The timing of the spike would suggest that if it is multiple people, they coordinated this. So its either one person being an annoyance or a group of people being an annoyance together. If its a group, it actually sadder that multiple people think its a good idea to make like 30k per transaction (buy at 1.5k, selling right now at ~6k 'buy now', two 10x stack transactions to flip). The margins seem minimal so they have to be doing it as a joke or something.

Nah, I hate to defend Snarky but this is bullshit. There's a big difference between doing some marketeering, flipping a few enhancements compared to using a full server list of alts to capture the second biggest market in the game and drive it up 10x. If you're going to sit there with a straight face and argue otherwise...what are you doing? You're not that dumb.

Do we know anything for sure? Uncommon salvage has been steady at 1-3k for over a year and suddenly shot up to 10k in the last few weeks with no apparent reason. To concludr that its just due to the cumulative effect of thousands of veteran players like yourself coincidentally all deciding to raise their personal price point in the span of 2 weeks seems unreasonable. Occam's Razor and all. Simplest explanation is that one individual is playing the system instead of thousands of individuals all trending up for no apparent reason at the same time.

I am really confused by the responses in this thread. I don't think Snarky or anyone else is arguing that this is some monumental problem that needs solving or that the current prices are absurd, when you look at the big picture. I don't know where you all are getting that from. The issue here is that someone is pulling a dick move that doesn't benefit them in any way and is just inconveniencing people all around. If someone goes to a movie theater and texts the whole time with the screen at max brightness, is it a big deal? No, not really. But people can definitely say and think that person is a jerk for doing so. That's what this is. Someone's being an inconsiderate ass and Snarky and others are justifiably calling them out. You all need to just let people vent sometimes, especially if it's about someone going out of their way to mildly grief the whole community.

Updated version of the build below. @Sovera, thanks again for the feedback. Some things that I'm seeing with this new version is that: 1) S/L resist is way up there, just by adding Tough. I'm overcapped just with one stack of the Might proc, let alone the Cimeroran Citizen day job that I've always got running on my 50s. I'm thinking it might be overkill for lvl 50 play, but I guess it will come in handy for exemplaring if I take Tough at an early enough level. I definitely don't feel like I'll need Barrier, so I guess I can just go Ageless. Dunno...I'll have to see if this seems truly needed, or if I'm sacrificing other options just to hit the S/L cap easier. The original build had 70% S/L with no stacks, 83% with 2 stacks, and 88% with 2 stacks and Cimeroran Citizen. Tough just seems like overkill, especially when Maul is giving me 3 stacks pretty consistently and in order to take the Fighting pool, I had to drop CJ, Meltdown and Darkest Night. 2) I don't think I'll swap the ATOs between Maul and Siphon, as I'm finding that the resist proc is more useful in AoE situations and I can always cycle Maul into my single target chain if needed, without a DPA loss. 3) The extra defense with Weave seems nice. With 2 stacks of Dark melee -tohit + Beta Decay, anything in close range is probably going to be whiffing a lot, even with ranged attacks from melee range. With Fold Space, I can make sure things are largely in melee range, getting debuffed from Beta Decay, Maul and Soul Drain. Lacking substantial DDR, I don't know how important it will be to focus on all of that defense, but it should help. 4) Winter's Gift in Combat TP doesn't seem useful, so I left that out. Combat TP is it's own slow fix. I barely walk anywhere, the character just teleports to targets. 5) I did some optimization of procs and proc rates. A lvl 34 Heal/Rech in Radiation Therapy keeps 90% proc rate, but gives as much recharge as can be squeezed out for more up-time. Less resisted damage type procs are swapped in for S/L/Psi ones, where appropriate. Thanks for the reminder I'll have to play around with this a bit more. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Science Tanker Primary Power Set: Radiation Armor Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee Power Pool: Concealment Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Teleportation Power Pool: Fighting Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Alpha Barrier -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(3), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(3), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(5), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(5), ImpArm-ResPsi(50) Level 1: Shadow Punch -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(7), TchofDth-Dmg/Rchg(7), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), TchofDth-Dam%(11) Level 2: Gamma Boost -- PrfShf-End%(A) Level 4: Shadow Maul -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(A), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(13), SprMghoft-Dmg/Rchg(13), Arm-Dam%(15), CldSns-%Dam(15) Level 6: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 8: Proton Armor -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(17), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(17), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19) Level 10: Fallout Shelter -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(19), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(21), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(21) Level 12: Radiation Therapy -- TchoftheN-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(A), TchoftheN-%Dam(23), PrfZng-Dam%(23), Obl-%Dam(25), Erd-%Dam(25), ScrDrv-Dam%(27) Level 14: Beta Decay -- HO:Enzym(A) Level 16: Siphon Life -- SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(29), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(29), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(31), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31) Level 18: Particle Shielding -- Prv-Absorb%(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(31), Prv-Heal/Rchg(33), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(33), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(33), Prv-Heal(34) Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34) Level 22: Teleport -- Range-I(A) Level 24: Combat Teleport -- GssSynFr--Build%(A) Level 26: Ground Zero -- Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erd-Dmg/Rchg(34), TchofLadG-%Dam(36), ScrDrv-Dam%(36), Obl-%Dam(36), Erd-%Dam(37) Level 28: Soul Drain -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39) Level 30: Fold Space -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 32: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A) Level 35: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), GldArm-End/Res(40) Level 38: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(40), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(40), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(42), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(42) Level 41: Midnight Grasp -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Hct-Acc/Rchg(43), Hct-Dam%(43), CldSns-%Dam(45) Level 44: Gloom -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Dmg(45), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(45), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(46), CldSns-%Dam(46) Level 47: Dark Obliteration -- Rgn-Knock%(A), Rgn-Dmg(48), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(48), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(50), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(50) Level 49: Grant Invisibility -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 1: Gauntlet Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(39) Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon Level 50: Portal Jockey Level 50: Task Force Commander Level 50: The Atlas Medallion Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 50: Eye of the Magus ------------

Thanks for the feedback. Points taken across the board. As I'm leveling the build and getting used to it, I'm seeing a lot that I can improve on. Kismet has outlived its purpose but was nice early on. The proc choice was what I actually had on hand in the base, but obviously once I have the time, swapping Scirroccos, Zingers and Obliterations with Cloud Senses, Eradication and Deaths Touch is on the to-do list. While I agree that the defenses are not min/maxed, I was hesitant to default to the easy out of Kick/Tough/Weave, but I might rebuild and see where that gets me. Regarding survivability, I'm not finding that I have any issues, even against +5 Praets sidekicking lvl 38 up to lvl 50 in RWZ missions, so that's comforting. Definitely would be nice to hit the caps, but the healing is pretty ridiculous and I can easily keep 3 resist stacks up. I'm going to see what I get swapping CJ, Grant Invis and Meltdown for Fighting pool, and cannabilize slots from Shadow Punch and see what I end up with.

Sonic/Energy Blaster is a non-traditional suggestion. Screech, Stun, Energy Punch, Bonesmasher and Total Focus all disorient, Power Boost to extend duration of the stuns, Siren's Song for an AoE sleep that leaves a whole spawn slumped over and woozy. Otherwise, Energy or Stone Melee alongside Dark Armor also stacks stuns.

Hi Tankers I've been away from the game for a spell and never really got to explore the revamped Gauntlet and all that it had to offer. I'd always wanted to give Rad/ a try and thought it would pair nicely with /Dark, which could fill in the low +Def in Rad with the -ToHit secondary effects. I also wanted to give the touched up /Dark a try and see how the Gauntlet AoE buffs impacted the set. Finally, I thought the combo would go really well with Fold Space, which again, I never really got to try out before I took a break from Paragon City. It does not seem like this is a common combo as the builds I've found for Rad/Dark look a bit dated and unoptimized, so I'm looking for some build / min-max pointers. As I noted, my build skills might be a bit rusty from my hiatus, but below is my first crack at this set up. Some aspects I want to preserve and build around, even if they may be non-optimal: 1. Fold Space is a tool I definitely want to keep. 2. Stealth / Concealment pool is a keeper as I hate not having the option of full invis, even on a Tank that can just run through a map. They are also perfect LotG mules which Rad/ desperately needs. 3. I like Gloom/Obliteration, and they seem to still be highly valuable DPA, even with the revamped Tanker scalars. All build feedback/critiques/edits welcome! First draft build: This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Science Tanker Primary Power Set: Radiation Armor Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee Power Pool: Concealment Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Teleportation Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Alpha Barrier -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(3), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(3), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(5), ImpArm-ResPsi(5), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(7) Level 1: Shadow Punch -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(7), TchofDth-Dmg/Rchg(9), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), TchofDth-Dam%(11) Level 2: Gamma Boost -- PrfShf-End%(A) Level 4: Shadow Maul -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(A), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(15), SprMghoft-Dmg/Rchg(15), PrfZng-Dam%(17), ScrDrv-Dam%(17) Level 6: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 8: Proton Armor -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(19), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(19), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(21) Level 10: Fallout Shelter -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(21), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(23), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(23) Level 12: Radiation Therapy -- TchoftheN-Heal(A), TchoftheN-%Dam(25), PrfZng-Dam%(25), Obl-%Dam(27), Erd-%Dam(27), ScrDrv-Dam%(29) Level 14: Beta Decay -- HO:Enzym(A) Level 16: Siphon Life -- SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(31), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(31), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(31), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33) Level 18: Particle Shielding -- Prv-Absorb%(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(33), Prv-Heal/Rchg(33), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(34), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(34), Prv-Heal(34) Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36) Level 22: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(36), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(36), Ksm-ToHit+(37) Level 24: Combat Teleport -- GssSynFr--Build%(A) Level 26: Ground Zero -- OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg(A), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(37), TchofLadG-%Dam(37), ScrDrv-Dam%(39), Obl-%Dam(39), PrfZng-Dam%(39) Level 28: Soul Drain -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Arm-Dam%(42) Level 30: Teleport -- Range-I(A) Level 32: Fold Space -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42) Level 35: Meltdown -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A) Level 38: Midnight Grasp -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Hct-Acc/Rchg(43), Hct-Dam%(45), PrfZng-Dam%(45) Level 41: Gloom -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Dmg(45), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(46), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(46), CldSns-%Dam(48) Level 44: Dark Obliteration -- Rgn-Knock%(A), Rgn-Dmg(48), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(48), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(50), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(50) Level 47: Grant Invisibility -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 49: Darkest Night -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 1: Gauntlet Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(13) Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon ------------ Thoughts?

Could totally do that. Put on follow, autocast Venom Grenade, switch back to the deadstick Crab every 4 minutes to recast pets. The only issue is getting perma pets without being able to perma Hasten. Or, perma hasten on auto, but no auto grenades.

Might as well dual box MMs at that point. Main reason to use the Crabbermind over an MM is for the massively higher personal damage and the Venom Grenades. If you're dead sticking the Crab, then the benefit of running Crab over a second MM disappears.

Electric is pretty active though. You'd essentially need to play two characters at once. I do actually like the idea of an MM though. Lower support values, but more passive damage. Thugs or Demons/Sonic seems like a decent choice for a set you only need to pay attention to once every 4 minutes.

Thermal/ or Sonic/ Defender would probably be the best low maintenance dual box character for the resistance shields. You can nearly defense softcap the pets with just the Crabbermind, so going FF is overkill. Resistance shields would fill the gaps and would provide more benefit than overkilling defense. Manuevers on the dualbox character should be plenty. Thermal would give you Warmth on auto cast for constant healing. Sonic would give you a mez protection toggle, a repulsion toggle you can put on a pet (perfect for a Mu Striker), a -res toggle you can put on a pet or the Crab, and an attack or Sonic Siphon on auto attack. Personally, I think a Sonic/Fire might be best, put on follow on the Crab, manually refreshing both shields every 4 minutes, Manuevers+Assault+Tactics+Dispersion toggled on, and Disruption Field and Sonic Repulsion running, with Fireball on AutoCast. Edit: you can also add Enflame on the support character for more damage. Endurance may end up being an issue, but you can always spec for heavy end redux and recovery.

Rain of Fire works well with Tar Patch. The AI on most enemy types will have the mob prioritize running out of the Rain instead of attacking. They will have a hard time doing so due to Tar Patch slowing them, so they'll be slowly shuffling around instead of returning fire. Enemies can't attack and move at the same time, so it becomes a psuedo-control combo in its own way. The only downside is if you hit the enemies with an immobilize, because then they can't run, so they go back to trying to use their ranged attacks. The combo works even better for Ice/ due to the stacking slows on Ice Storm and Blizzard, but it still works well for Rain of Fire.

Self rezzes are rarely worth it. Insps are available, as are the P2W self rez powers. I rarely find I've died so much that the P2W power isn't off cooldown.

However, there's something to be said about stacking a stun proc in stun powers, or more commonly, a hold proc in a hold power. Being able to one tap lockdown a boss on a non Troller/Dom can come in handy, even if it is only for ~3 seconds or so.

Invuln is probably the bulkiest Stalker secondary. You can hit 50% resists to F/C/E/N, capped S/L resists and soft capped typed defense to all but Psi, plus Dull Pain for + HP and healing. Easily enough to handle +3/4 8 at endgame, solo.

Understood, but a lot of Stalker secondaries also don't need the 2.5% positionals. I guess it depends on the build. I only have 1 character with the full set, most others just single slot the Gaussian proc in an appropriate power and call it a day.

Slotting for ANY recharge in Build Up on a Stalker is arguably wasted slots. The ATO proc makes it so that the natural recharge of the power almost never factors in because you're nearly guaranteed to have the proc fire before the power recharges.

Charged Brawl(60% stack), Chain Induction (100%) and Thunderstrike (100%) for stack builders (usually getting at least 2 CBs and a CI between each AS, and/or a TS also, if I need the AoE). Zapp as my post-AS re-Hide proc crit attack, with Ball Lightning and Rod for additional AoE, and proc-bomb Electric Shackles for instant Boss lockdown and funsies.

Yeah, I never ran the numbers in detail, but for me, it just seems intuitive to try to get as many stacks as possible between AS cooldowns, but hit AS on cooldown. Especially since my main Stalker is Elec, so there aren't any other big single target DPA attacks for AS to compete against for rotation time. Also, assuming you have the Hide proc in AS, the more you cycle AS, the more you should be proccing Hide, the more Hide crits in your chain. To me, its easier to just have many shots at AS proccing re-Hide than it is to try and time the internal cooldown window on the ATO.

No, but the Build Up proc is a global proc. Slot it in a primary power and it adds the proc chance to every one of your attacks. I can confirm what Bopper said. Hitting a group with BL and a primary AoE in quick succession is basically a guaranteed BU recharge. You can get some absurd BU up time that way, basically approaching perma BU (which also means high uptime on your Gaussian's proc slotted in BU) sometimes having double BU plus a Gaussians active at once.

General rule of thumb I always consider is that 6 AS's fired off at 2 stacks does as much damage on average as 5 fired at 3 stacks. So, if you're waiting so much that you could have squeezed in an extra AS or two in a minute of attacking, then you're losing DPS.

AoEs (BL and FB) work well as openers in group play to get the 50% crit from Hide or as a follow-up to AS in target rich environments, again to take advantage of the crit boost from the Hide proc in AS. But they're also pretty quick, so slotting them in mid chain usually doesn't ruin your stack building. If I'm teaming and surrounded, I often just hit my AoE on cooldown. Snipes are quick enough that they can be used mid chain and usually not ruin stack building, or they can be used after AS to utilize the re-Hide proc, unless your primary has a better attack to utilize it. Both work great to tag runners.