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I've been pretty liberal posting my builds. I'll admit that since I don't use MIDS (or similar) I'm mostly turned off by folks just wanting to "do comparisons". I mean: I made my build why do I need to put it in a format easy for someone else unwilling to simply copy it into their program of choice? My standard 3-bots build (page 5): A single-bot build (page 5, IIRC):

The Kismet +6% ToHit is a lifesaver for a lot of content. It is especially useful while leveling up.

For MM secondaries with some sort of healing that can be applied to the bots (or allies!) Recharge on Maintenance Drone is probably not that important. I can attest that for my Robotics/Traps... I think it is somewhat important (in a final build), for a few reasons: The Maintenance Drone sticks with the MM, even if the henchmen are positioned elsewhere. The Maintenance Drone seems to be taking damage at a higher rate than the MM... I suppose due to AoE, but it does appear to sometimes get aggro. The Maintenance Drone is a fire-and-forget power for the MM. As soon as a henchmen takes enough damage, the drone does its thing... without being directed to do so. Generally, my Robotics/Traps relies on Incarnate-level Defense soft-caps with a modicum of Resistance, plus Bodyguard mode. I often run into enemies that debuff defenses and/or mezz the MM... so the henchmen start taking more damage than I'd prefer. TL;DR: There are often times when I stray into combat where I end up having to respawn the Maintenance Drone more often than I'd like.

I take travel powers on approximately 19-out-of-20(*) characters. 1) It feels more like a comic-book world with an actual travel power. YMMV 2) I can slot them both as mules and for Enhancements (boosted or attuned, depending on the character). 3) The travel powers generally are pre-reqs for another power I want. 4) I like to get to the mission door ASAP. I always supplement my non-fliers with a temporary Flight power. I also get the Jump Pack for extra flight boosts. Some examples of characters where I did NOT take a "travel" power: The page 5 power pick placements made it very uncomfortable for me to fit in a travel power pick, so I simply passed. (not sure this counts) I have used the revamped Concealment pool to use Infiltration as a travel power as I was going to use several other powers in Concealment to mule LotG +Recharge anyway. I also used Infiltration to mule the Kismet +ToHit as early as possible in that build.

Definitely get a dedicated video card. This is pretty much the one piece of hardware that will keep a "gaming" machine viable fr long periods of time (*1). Don't bother over-clocking. "Solid State" storage will improve performance/load times. I like to have multiple drives, one for the OS and one for "everything else." When I am really motivated, I put an OS partition on each SSD so that should their be a catastrophic failure of one system drive I can do a quick swap and have the machine up and running ASAP. If building a machine, don't get a power supply that is close to the (upper) edge of what you need. It is good to have some headroom in the power supply, typically because when you replace devices (e.g. video cards) they will usually want MOAR, and if you add devices they will also add to the power budget. Typically this advice is only good for desktops, with laptops the options are much more limited. (*1)This is not an effort to (re)ignite a video card war, but I have sworn off of AMD video cards. I can believe that there exist people that bought and used a single AMD video card without any trouble, I ended up burning through two different AMDs in a relatively short period of time. In addition to the rather short lifetime I found that I had very little control over what the cards were doing (in terms of power consumption, fan speeds, voltage levels) and it seemed as if the drivers and ancillary software were both contributing to my issues and getting in the way of me doing anything about those issues. I'm sticking with Nvidia, no matter the price point.

I definitely agree: my Dark Blaster plays differently than my other Blasters. Despite having taken the melee powers, I find myself rarely engaging in close quarters. This is the character that I miss the original (for Homecoming, Fast) Snipe ranges the most... the longer-range (fast) Moonbeam paired nicely with Umbral Torrent for drawing the attention/hitting enemies at distance (including runners). I usually don't recommend %damage in Blasters, but I felt like fooling around. Originally I did not have Tenebrous Tentacles in the build... then started playing with them at higher levels, and with page 5 forcing some other changes I decided to go with them. I went with Dark/Temporal. I'm not sure it is the most creative, The one thing I like about this build is that Chronos is on fast timer, with a very high %Build Up chance, even without Hasten. 5-Slotting Arcane Bolt is a choice based on the concept as well as the set bonus. I could probably consider reworking this as a Corruptor...

10 minutes is my average, across AT, for just 'blowing through' it. The slowest ATs are probably Masterminds. My point is: It's a viable farm that also has incarnate rewards. It also offers defeats for badges, if that is part of the jam.

At level 50+, I rather like running through the Heather Townshend Dark Astoria arc at x8 (at 'even' enemy levels). Clear times vary per character... but these four missions don't require clearing... typically I find that it is usually between 30-40 minutes to clear all of the maps. This is slower than AE farming, but you can get a couple of Empyrian merits out of the effort. I try to keep the levels 'even' because of drop rates. Two runs is usually 'about right' to get a level 50 PVP or Purple recipe drop.

In the context of 'solonly', I disagree (with caveats). If nothing else, the other AoE mez powers are typically much better at helping clear maps, because of %damage. As I implied in the linked post... Mass Hypnosis is pretty much a contingency power (in solo, on teams) for use when things go pear-shaped. A well-slotted Terrify (also from Mind Control) is IMO a far better power to use whenever it is available.

I'm with @Supertanker. I don't use Mass Hypnosis very often on my Mind/Poison Controller, until: I'm on a team that is missing a LOT of attacks, I'm suddenly drawing a LOT of aggro It is mostly true that (2) isn't that much of an issue... up until a second spawn has its attention drawn to me! The first condition is (in my experience) rather common. All it takes is running x8 missions at a higher level of difficulty(*1), and/or "splitting the party". I don't a priori object to players on a team splitting up, this circumstance is most problematic when players are not entirely sensitive to the capabilities of teammates. If everyone is hitting with their attacks/controls... an AoE Sleep is far from optimal. If a majority of players are making and missing attacks... it can be a godsend. (*1) For example: that first room on a Frostfire mission with a +4x8 setting.

I don't have any Radiation Blast blasters, but it is a set I use on other AT. I do have an /Atomic Manipulation Blaster, so perhaps these nuggets of experience will help: For Atomic Manipulation, I took every power in the secondary except Electron Shackles (I don't like single-target Immobilization, except in corner cases) and Positron Cell (same reasoning, but for single-target Holds on a DPS character). My picks/slotting for /Atomic. The melee attacks offer the chance to lean into a wider variety of Enhancement sets/bonuses. YMMV. Atomic Manipulation is a solid Melee set. Some caveats: It may not pair very well with Radiation Blast across all levels. I work the melee attacks into my attack chain, using Combat Teleport to position/reposition myself between range & melee. Melee/PBAoE means you have to make the character able to 'hang' in melee. Atomic Manipulation isn't for a "Range/Hover" type of play style.... unless perhaps the powers I skipped were taken instead of the melee powers. You are (more-or-less) going all-in on Energy damage. I don't recommend trying to build only for %damage on DPS characters, except for the no/low-damage AoE powers. %damage as part of a Enhancement set is fine by me. It is necessary to one-two (negatrons/positrons) with Atomic Manipulation powers to get the Gamma Burst effect. IIRC the only way my choices can get the Gamma Burst are via the Negatron Slam and Positronic Fist combination... so I don't see it at lower levels. I can't say that I miss not having it across all content. If you want it earlier, you have to take Positron Cell. Ionize is IMO a GREAT build-up power. I typically prefer the secondary "Build Ups" to those in the Primaries, although I often add the Primary ones to the builds at much later levels. I wasn't originally sold on Radioactive Cloud, but once I found myself in melee combat (at least half of the time) I saw how useful it was, especially on x8 content. With Radiation Burst in the primary, the Atom Smasher attack from the secondary may not be necessary... or the two powers could be tag-teamed. The animation time on Atom Smasher is painfully long IMO. On my build Atom Smasher is the attack I use the least; I use it primarily when I am dog-piled and haven't yet selected the specific target I want to focus on.

I have a Shield Defense Tanker (and love how it plays, and don't have any disagreements with the assessment), but it isn't as good a 'meat shield' across all content as my Invulnerability Tanker. As noted, I think it is the difference in max Health/HP/Healing (in addition to the spectrum of resistances) that gives the edge to Invulnerability. Pretty much all Tanker primaries can be made really Tuff (see also Bio). The main difference I see in my play style between Invulnerability and Shield Defense is that I have to play my Shield Defense (/Battle Axe) Tanker such that I am having to pay a LOT more attention to the positioning of both enemy mobs and teammates... which leads to more of what I suppose could be called 'kiting' with the Shield Tanker, but otherwise I don't consider 'kiting' to be a Tanker play style. The Tank ought to be able to toss a Taunt at any group at a distance they would engage with (modulo range and direct lines-of-sight for BAMF). I don't mean to imply that I slack when I play the Invulnerability Tanker... it is more that it feels like it is easier to 'sweep and keep' enemy aggro easier with it.

I pretty much agree with @SwitchFade. Invulnerability (all by itself) goes pretty far. Power pools are useful for 'turning it up'. If the focus is on being a 'meat shield', i think the secondary comes in by making sure you are getting the attention of as many mobs as possible... via Taunting and hitting (accurately and repeatedly)..

See Health Regeneration. From memory: Every player gets (Total Health ÷ 20) healing per tick. The time between ticks is (12 seconds ÷ Regeneration rate) Obviously, a player needs to have taken damage for this sort of Healing to mean anything. For my way of thinking... unless the character has a high base Health (Tanker, Brute), or is otherwise not even trying to have Defenses or Resistances, chasing more Regeneration (beyond what players get from the base Health (40%?) isn't likely to be particularly noticeable... as opposed to Endurance/Recovery, since toggles and clicks have an Endurance cost. Tankers/Brutes start with more HP and so getting it back with shorter ticks allows them to keep 'spending' Health. Any character that is considering increasing Regeneration as a viable strategy to avoid defeats should probably consider slotting the Reactive Defenses: Scaling Damage Resistance piece first, because it will further add to the base resistances while the character is not at full Health.

The only other unusual thing I noticed in the market recently was that Converters had been sitting relatively high (my opinion) and then fell back to a price that looked as if they were being dumped at a higher rate than they had been (just previously) bought at. I usually start to dump uncommon salvage when the individual stacks in a character's personal inventory get close to '10'... otherwise I'm generally using them to craft (recipes, or SG buffs). I do have an alternate strategy... keep reading. I notice the jump in prices, so I switched to... Pulling the yellow salvage I had sitting in personal vault space or in the AH and dumping it on the market. The alternate strategy is to slowly build up these stacks for times when folks go cuckoo for yellow. It's peanuts, but I like to imagine that there is either: a single 'returning' (from live) player that has some crazy scheme to corner the market, after they've built their first full-kit farmer natch', or a relative newbie trying to follow a market guide and has decided now is the time to get their BInf ASAP via crafting uncommons.

Welcome to the Procity of Heroes! Imagine what the vocabulary would be like if instead of Lord of the Rings it had been the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant!

I'll offer a minority viewpoint of (perhaps) no relevance for the Fire primary: My "Mystical Blaster" used the Sorcery pool as follows (page 5): Level 4: Mystic Flight (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points) (*) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance Level 12: Arcane Bolt (A) Apocalypse - Damage: Level 50+5 (*) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (*) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (*) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance: Level 50+5 (*) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage (Negative): Level 50 Level 24: Rune of Protection (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% I landed on this because (A) I wanted Rune of Protection somewhat early in the build and (B) I didn't have enough power picks to get everything I wanted (mostly in terms of powers to mule Enhancements). The DPA on Arcane Bolt isn't great... but it isn't terrible. I ended up using it as a place to 5-slot a Very Rare set. Because of my choices I was going to end up with a gap in attack chain or have some other sort of performance gap across a lot of content. For this character: level 24 is when I wanted Rune of Protection, often my builds that take it get it somewhat later. To be honest: unless my character looks like some sort of magic user, the Arcane Bolt animation kills the immersion for me. This guy leaned hard into the mystic aspect which made the above choices easier.

Even though I think it is a mundane option, when I want an actual power for a squishy's mezz protection I lean into the Sorcery pool for Rune of Protection. I'm not crazy about burning a couple of pool powers to get it unlocked, but there are reasonable precursor mule powers, and Arcane Bolt isn't a terrible single-target attack for Controllers... although I prefer other pool power attacks. Often with Controllers I simply don't sweat the risk of enemy mezz and try to have a column of "Break Free" Inspirations on stand-by. Also keep in mind that the temporary SG base buffs (mezz resistance) can be crafted with some salvage... this isn't the same as protection of course.

Dull Pain is a power my Invulnerability Tank has (and has "perma") yet almost never uses (after having leveled up). It may be the only early-pick, 6-slotted power in my roster. Every once in a while there is some exemplared content where I find myself using it, depending on the PUG. While leveling, I do use it more regularly. I completely agree that in certain high-level content it gets put on auto, for the reasons described. I find that certain content requires juggling it with the Incarnate Rebirth!

I don't have a Necromancy MM, and I didn't want to yuck in anyone else's yum, but I find myself wondering if the Healing %effects/globals might only have been applied for 120 seconds on the henchmen. I can't explain what people think they see with Endurance Reduction. I assume that Robotics can also slot those Healing %procs and globals, but that they would only trigger when the MM casts the power. Maintenance Drone is where I 6-slot Preventive Medicine.. I suppose if I made some different choices the %absorb piece could be muled by Upgrade Robot. As @StrikerFox notes, the upgrade powers (for Robotics) have a pretty steep Endurance cost, but I don't have any context for comparison (I was bored with a Thugs MM, and I simply never felt like rolling up any others).

I can't imagine 6-slotting Health. A Healing piece (e.g. an IO) does improve Regeneration, so for Tankers and Brutes (high HP characters that will be taking damage and benefit from Regeneration) I recommend slotting the Numina Healing/Absorb piece along with the Numina global to double-down on improving Regeneration (2-piece set bonus!). Squishier characters are less likely to see as much benefit from the Regeneration as much as extra Recovery (because spamming attacks or running toggles that burn Endurance). Of course, Tankers often have another power than benefits from slotting Healing sets, so there are more dimensions to what gets slotted (and where). I usually don't chase Regeneration, except on characters with a large base HP. There are a few other sets (Willpower, Super Reflexes, VEATs) where I will consider adding more Regeneration to go along with something like Scaling Damage Resistance.

This never occurred to me. I have no argument against Boosters dropping, except that I have never felt that I was missing much by them not dropping.... and one +1 booster would excite me about as much as one Enhancement converter (not much)... of course they could be sent to the market, but my builds are eventually going to use them. This wouldn't be a priority for me, as it is nearly trivial for players (even with solo, low-level characters) to quickly run content (assuming zone exploration badges have been collected) to collect enough merits to buy a Booster (or a couple of Unslotters) from a merit vendor. IIRC each starting zone has at least one quickly repeatable (~6 minute) arc that gives at least 5 merits. The SSA1 (Theoden) arc can be rerun in about that time (all ATs) for 5 merits each run... not counting the 20 merits for first time and first weekly repeat.

I tried something similar (as I was desperate to find a use for a lvl 53 Golgi I had floating around as well as spare 50+5 Endurance IOs ) and I couldn't see any difference (in any henchman's blue bar). Whatever is happening with Necromancy does not appear to be happening with Robotics. If Upgrade Robot somehow improved Endurance consumption of all the henchmen, I'd probably just single slot it with a level 50+5 Endurance Reduction IO, as in practice my Protector Bots don't do as much healing as I get from my six-slotted Maintenance Drone.