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tidge

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Everything posted by tidge

  1. On the general topic of Invulnerability, I agree with Sir Myshkin: Manage your expectations. Without using the Fighting Pool (or Combat Jumping, or Hover) the non-positional (and non-Psi) defenses can all sit at around 30%... without any +Defense enemy buffs from Invincibility. The same sort of build can casually have 50% - 70% resists to every typed damage. With extra HP I found that after a certain point in the game I could run this sort of build solo against a LOT of content without ever touching Dull Pain. It isn't handling uber-difficult settings and TFs meant for teams, but it is plenty durable. One thing I will caution about Invulnerability: It isn't necessary to go over-the-top with slotting for Resist Physical Damage/Elements/Energies or Temporary Invulnerability. The toggles are a perfectly satisfactory baseline. Assuming that Endurance is under control: the main reason to slot them is for specific IO set bonuses, typically typed Defenses and Resists. The Homecoming Tankers now provide and improved buffs for Leadership toggles, so Maneuvers should be (at the very least) considered for most Tankers.
  2. On Tanks, I will occasionally have 2 sprints: The default slotted with a Stealth piece, and a prestige slotted with simple Run IO. If a team is sprinting through a large (crowded tunnel) map, sometimes I don't want to cluster all the mobs if I can help it.
  3. I have had very bad experiences with Radeon cards, specifically the RX 560. I am using Windows 7, 64-bit. The software & drivers always seemed to 'want to do more' than I needed: whenever I had multiple tabs in a browser, or if I had any sort of media playing with audio (running Media Player, YouTube, Sound Recorder) the card would eventually crap out. Something as simple as running an instance of Civ V and playing an mp3 would cause issues. Homecoming CoX would play, but there was no reliable setting that would let me be in a zone with more than about 20 other players. I was never overclocking, but there was also something peculiar about the default settings for the Radeon card, as viewed in the Wattman & Afterburner utility: The default settings didn't have the fan come on until 70+. This should have been 'ok', but in practice I saw the video card crapping out before it got to that temp. I changed the default to have the fans on all the time, and that did reduce the time between crashes... but the GPU was still 'doing too much' for even limited things like web-browsing. I have never had problems with NVidia cards.
  4. Street Justice is a melee set with a combo gimmick, but I find that it is pretty easy to ignore (or otherwise not worry about).
  5. I find the Presence pool to be a synergistic choice on Defense-based melee characters (Scrappers, Arachnos Widows): The Provoke AoE is generally more useful than a primary single-target Taunt, Placate or Intimidate is useful when leveling when a breather is needed. The gem is Unrelenting (on a high-recharge build) for buffs or heals (or a rez). Invoke Panic is a very nice PBAoE control. The only wish I have for this set is that I could pick Unrelenting or Invoke Panic as the second choice of the set, as once I made my decision about the first power, the second required power choice is not as appreciated.
  6. This is something that happens on Stalkers. I'm not sure why.
  7. I take Brawl on all my toons.
  8. I keep coming back to this complaint... If you take your villain 'all the way through' Red side (lvl 1 - 50), you will get a significant amount of NPC dialogue that is *very* respectful/fearful of your accomplishments. For example, finish the Lord Recluse SF and there are several Red side NPCs which congratulate you. I don't recall any dialogue kudos for having done the Statesmen/Ms. Liberty TF.
  9. Shh... I use Recluse's Victory to collect the Iron Man/Woman (necessary for a Villain Accolade) and Time Traveler badges!
  10. I think Body Mastery is a fine choice. I also agree with @Croax about trying to have as solid a build as possible before Epic/Patron pools are considered. Some builds need Epic/Patron less than others, mileage varies. I was going to post this in a different thread re: 'Having too many attacks; why bother with a Snipe?'. Aside from getting the bonus potential damage from the Snipe (+ToHit, Hidden status, slow Snipe bonus, %Damage): For my Stalker the (fast) Snipe 'flows' better in my attack chain Runners! (I especially don't like adjusting tactics when I've gone back into Hidden while chasing down the last runner from a spawn) Pulling (heresy perhaps, but sometimes teams require it) For high DPS characters (Stalkers, Scrappers) I prefer Soul Mastery over Mu Mastery mostly because I personally devalue (most) relatively low-damage attacks, immobilize and holds... my feeling is mostly motivated by worrying about investing 'too many' slots in level 35+ powers. Soul's second pick of Shadow Meld is a fine mule for Defense IOs (generally LotG +Recharge).
  11. Oh, Triage Beacon; A spinning aura of what? Not Health but Regen. I definitely don't think Triage Beacon is even in the bottom three of Homecoming MM /Traps powers. It is not a good choice for fast-moving teams, but if a fight is going to stay in one place for a while, I find that shortening the time between healing tics is quite helpful. I have Preventive Medicine %Absorb slotted in Triage Beacon, but I never noticed a pet getting an Absorb layer from it. As I wrote elsewhere: I skipped Triage Beacon for the Medicine pool while leveling. While leveling I felt that the on-demand Healing was more useful than +Regen; but I reversed the decision at the level 50 respec. The only time I can say that I really missed not having Triage Beacon was on the Positron TF parts 1 & 2.
  12. Allow me to echo... I can't write for others, but for me 'Crabbermind' is a more of a philosophy than an actual AT. It's a neat option, but the pets are more like an Epic pool add-on than a defining feature of the Crab sets. These pets only last for (max) 4 minutes, and it is possible to have the resummon (Disruptors and Patron) ready in less than that time with some effort.
  13. tidge

    Ice/Bio

    I have Moonbeam as part of my Spines/Bio rotation. Hide is the mule for the Kismet +6% ToHit, and Build Up has the Gaussian proc (firing at 90%) for even more +ToHit. If you have waited long enough to go into Hidden, you should be ready for a slow snipe for even more damage. I have Moonbeam 6 slotted: 5xSting of the Manticore (w/ %Toxic) and a Gladiator's Javelin (%Toxic). The part I like best about having it is that streakbreaker forces Moonbeam to hit if the Assassin's Impaler misses, which takes a lot of the sting out of the initial miss. I even wrote a poem about it:
  14. As opposed to Blue side, where the character 'agency' is constantly tracking down items stolen from M.A.G.I., if you aren't trouncing characters in DfB just to get early XP and boosts because you can't be bothered by Twinshot.
  15. Does your build already have that bonus 5 times?
  16. As much as I would appreciate Merits from Safeguard/Mayhem Missions, once the appropriate contact is unlocked it would be trivial to speed run these for Merits. Blue side I believe all the Safeguards are launched from a truck next to the contact; Red side involves more travel across Cap Au Diable (to submarines, ships) IIRC.
  17. tidge

    Shazam!

    Billy Batson, a.k.a Shazam a.k.a. Captain Marvel a.k.a The Big Red Cheese be like: /macro_image "CarnivalOfLight_IncandescentBurst" "S" "SHAZAM!!!$$e ultimatepower"
  18. This is where my head-space landed a long time ago (on Homecoming). It is interesting to test builds against EXTREME CONTENT, but I find those challenges to be a grinding chore, especially solo.
  19. tidge

    Ice/Bio

    This is similar to the the slotting I have in my Street Justice Scrapper's Crushing Uppercut. Rather than the extra Hold proc for (more) Smashing, I went with one of the Psi procs for a different damage type. For my damage-dealing toons it is typical that at 50+ my builds generally end up with only two procs in any given attack: One from a set with bonuses I want (often Global Recharge from a 5-piece Purple) and one from an appropriate damage type. For me %Damage slots are the first ones I consider moving if I need slots elsewhere. I don't object to proc %Damage in principle, but the biggest benefit of %Damage is for AT which do relatively small amounts of damage. I'll admit I don't know the answer to this question: Does Build Up have an effect on proc %Damage? I'm reasonably sure that %Damage wasn't buffed on Live.
  20. tidge

    Ice/Bio

    In my build, it really is about the set bonuses (for Global Recharge). My point (to @r0ybuild) was more about replacing a 5-slot Preventive Medicine with a 5-slot Panacea... and since you want the Panacea proc in an Auto, that is where I dropped it in my build. Franken-slotting those powers (Health, Stamina, Boundless Energy, Ablative Carapace) is a perfectly fine choice. I'm less bothered (on a 50+ build) by slotting a Heal/End in an Auto power than I am by using a Numina +Regen/+Recovery proc. In my experience the benefits to Regen are rarely worth it (on a build that already has large Regen), and even it's Recovery boost is very small for many of my builds. I know it is common wisdom to slot Panacea/Numina/Miracle procs, but Numina is pretty far down on the list, for me. YMMV. On certain toons: I'd sooner use that slot to get a 2 (or 3) piece Defense buff from Blessing of the Zephyr.
  21. tidge

    Ice/Bio

    I like the build suggestion. With my /Bio Stalker I shift between the different adaptations as necessary; I've found that (while leveling, pre-incarnate) Endurance can be managed pretty well with some different slotting. I'll post the key differences on Health/Stamina here: My build is using one more slot (in the shown powers), but that is driven by my wanting the 6th-set bonus (+8.75% Global Recharge) from Preventive Medicine. If the Recharge isn't key, it can be held at 5-piece bonuses. Essentially my recommendation would be to replace a 5-slot Doctored Wounds with a 5-Slot Panacea (in an Auto power). I'm considering on breaking up the 2-piece Performance Shifter as I think I can eek out more Recovery by moving the slot to Boundless Energy and slotting a 50+5 IO there.
  22. tidge

    Moonbeam

    Streakbreaker Moonbeam Using Build Up and Hide, when Assassin's Strikes Miss
  23. I have a Bots/Traps MM that I mostly solo; I find this to be a pretty good pairing as the Bots are inherently slow at clearing large spawns so the AoE debuffs/control from Caltrops/Acid Mortar/Poison Trap help out quite a bit. This does require investing into KB->KD for the Bots so as to not scatter enemies everywhere. At endgame, I respec-ed into Triage Beacon (for set bonuses, and for solo 'tankerminding') but it is an easy power to skip while leveling. My final build skips the final three powers in Traps. I love the Seeker Drones, but they didn't fit with my end-game play style. Trip Mind and Detonator simply don't do enough (for me, YMMV) and are too niche to bother with (again, IMO). I hate having to take Web Grenade, but with moderate levels of Recharge Caltrops/Acid Mortar/Poison Trap/Seeker Drones can be available frequently enough to keep up with even fast-moving teams. In my build I also invested in primary attacks (after lvl 30) for more AoE Knockdown and -Res, but the Endurance management is a serious issue when trying to take such an active role in the offense.
  24. While it is different to have to unlock contacts via the newspaper missions, the missions don't have to be grinds. At least one of the three choices is either a 'defeat <name>' or a 'steal <object> from <group>' which can be sped. In almost every zone, your first contact (whomever chosen) will eventually offer you the others, although the 'second round' of options may be limited (from any one contact). I want to write this: Red Side progression through zones/XP/levels is surpsingly smooth. With the default setting for Inf/XP/difficulty, it is possible to always have content to play at your level... pretty much in the zone appropriate for your level. Any amount of teaming (SF for example) will likely earn you enough Inf to out-level a zone. I can see how this lead to feeling like a newspaper grind (because a player will have to unlock the new contact in a new zone) but as I wrote it really isn't that onerous. In my recent play to level 50 red side there was only one batch of levels where I felt went a little too 'fast' (I finished all the Nerva arcs); this turned out to be a perfect time to do more Tips (the merit reward at the end for the Morality mission is pretty good) and SF team ups. The higher level zones require 5 newspaper missions before the mayhem mission, IIRC. Lowbies only have to do 3 newspaper missions before the first (two?) mayhem missions are offered.
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