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This lack-of-damage (on a successful toHot roll) has been observed (and reported) for a long time. It has been most noticeable for me on Scrappers/Stalker Epic Snipes, as the Snipe is very different than most of the other attacks which allows the results to stand out. I have observed it recently on a Corruptor who has the Snipe as a regular part of the usual attack chain. I want to say: the issue was present prior to the Homecoming changes that included shortening the Range of the Fast Snipe. The base damage of Snipea is variable (different values Fast or Slow, Fast damage includes the first 22% of+ToHit); I have come to assume/guess that there is a slight issue in one of the math routines that results in a NaN and/or has some sort of error-trap fall-thru. I have also seen the hit registered (in the combat log) with no damage. And sometimes no damage from the snipe and some damage from a %proc.

Overwhelming Force KB->KDcan only go into one slot (it is a Unique), but the KB powers can take Sudden Acceleration KB->KD (That set is not Unique). There is something else slightly different about Energy compared to other primaries: It doesn't have a damage-over-time component. DOT is something that takes a while to get used to. I have grown to appreciate DOT for characters where I have to do a lot of target-switching anyway (as well as characters that do -Resistance). I've been leveling an Energy/Time Manipulation, and I while I don't have a /Poison Corruptor I do have a /Poison Controller so I am not completely ignorant of how the powers play. I am NOT using KB->KD in the primary (Energy) attacks (sorry PUGmates!): The KB is a (poor, but not insignificant) form of protection Every primary attack can be used for %damage and/or set bonuses Time Manipulation has a few tricks (an early PBAoE toggle, a location-based slow) that allows me to have a radius where I am of extra debuffs I think if you go Energy/Poison you will need to pay quite a bit of attention to switching targets, even with Knockdown... but especially without it. On my Mind/Poison Controller, I found that I did NOT like the way Venomous Gas worked/require me to play. I think on Corrs it has a 15' radius, in comparison the low-level choice of Time's Juncture has a 25' radius. My suspicion is that /Poison on a Corruptor will be very good against single-targets, but rather uneven against large spawns. Part of this is because of the relative difficulty in raising Corruptor defenses (to counter LOTS of attacks and the RNG). If you go with this combo, I would absolutely plan to spam Envenom (as an attack with %damage, and with as many extra resistance debuffs you can fit it) so plan on giving it many slots.

Obligatory comments: World of Confusion was best described as "Postage stamp of Confusion". AoE Confuse powers (Attacks much more so than Toggles) are much improved by adding a %damage piece to them, because getting even a little bit of damage on a MOB means that you are in the running to collect a reward drop from it, even if the XP/Inf is fractional. Some folks will talk up the potential to stack a higher Magnitude Confuse (even if it is only a short time) by leveraging %Contagious Confusion in an AoE, but the reward drops are much more reliable than whatever the chance of an extra magnitude confuse is. Put that piece in single-target Confuses instead.

I had a Grav/Kin on Live, and she was recreated (probably on the first day of Torchbearer going up) on Homecoming as one of my early nostalgia efforts. Part of the nostalgia was remembering just... how... slow... it is to solo that character without leveraging all that Homecoming has to offer (easy enhancement options, extra XP, etc.). What always comes first to my mind about my Grav/Kin are these: The secondary doesn't need much in the way of slotting, The secondary allows slotting of lots of different travel powers, and can make characters speedy, in multiple ways. The latter bullet point is practically irrelevant in the current Homecoming, but it was a real selling point for me on Live: we go fast, they go slow. I did respin my character to be able to have faster solo map-clearing times, but it relied too much on Epic/Patron power pools for my taste. My build philophy has aged since then, and with new enhancement options and power pool choices I would probably approach the combo differently. As @Heatstroke wrote: I have a feeling /Time Manipulation (especially with Epic Power Boost) would serve just as well in most mass combats... there are obvious tradeoffs in approach... but also give a player more options when solo.

Before the Achilles Heel %-Resistance was ~2 Minf it was much higher... at least when I worked in that niche. Specifically for that piece: because of the level range and set, and (from years ago) the powers that could take it, made it profitable but not steady (my experience). Again, specific to this piece: Wasn't one of the recent changes to Fiery Sword attacks to give things like Fire Sword Circle a -Defense component? If so, there may be many more opportunities to slot the piece, as mentioned by @Bionic_Flea (including some farmers).

In my experience: Slowed Response, yes; Distortion Field, No. The latter accepts more %damage pieces, but (because it is a pseudopet?) the %proc chances are pretty bad, and even when slotting accuracy in the power itself the chances to trigger are quite poor (Accuracy slotting recommended as %damage also needs to make a ToHit roll). I can see cases when the %damage from Distortion Field will occur, but how often it happens is rather poor considering other places where the slots could be used: either for %damage elsewhere, or Quality-of-Life choices like more Endurance savings/Recovery/Travel Speed/whatever. The experiment that solidifed my opinion on this specific power was to take a character with Distortion Field into a low level Hazard Zone (large spawns of enemies which con grey) and toss the power. Depending on player level, this should effectively reduce the ToHit portion of the %proc to minimal consideration, so it is possible to observe the %proc chances empirically. Do the same experiment with Slowed Response, the results were dramatically different, far beyond the different recharge times (as observed by the caster, not the pseudopet). Again: I'm not saying that the power never %procs, just that it is unreliable enough that anyone of the single-target powers (the slow, the hold) will, on average, end up doing more net %damage (assuming those powers are used). My reconfigured build (Corruptor, again) went from 6 slots in Distortion Field to two; two of the moved slots went to Slowed Response 🙂

No comments on utility for Incarnate content. In some ways the game is degenerate enough in that content that it feels like entire primaries or secondaries aren't needed. I am also working up a /Time Corruptor (so pre-level 50). I like it just fine, although it doesn't seem 'top tier' (at this point). As this is specifically not a defender, it would be imprudent for me to offer too much analysis, but here is a hot-take: Time Manipulation as a primary may not offer as much opportunity for "Offender" (%damage) builds. Yes the single-target Time Crawl and Time Stop offer %damage, but as near as I can tell the only reliable chance for AoE %proc chances are from Slowed Response. Solo probably would be a slog until enough slots exist and Endurance can be handled. I'd think that simply keeping Farsight up and running Time's Juncture (while staying in the action) would be valuable for teams. Even with fast-moving teams it shouldn't take much effort to have Distortion Field in play for two-out-of-three spawns. There are of course, pools that can be added to further support teams. Sorcery's Enflame is a decent mixed-utility power for example.

I have a few builds that do exactly this (put a FF +Recharge into Kick) but it is basically as a joke, in my case I think there is one character that has Kick because I was specifically getting all the Fighting pool powers, there is one that is holding a weapon and I wanted to avoid redraws, and there is another girly-man that simply kicks. Taking/slotting Kick with +Recharge used to be my default if I was using the Fighting Pool for Tough / Weave, because on low-enough content any potential little bit of +Recharge can help. Now that (in Homecoming) the level requirements at which higher-tier powers become available have been lowered, the first choice of the Fighting pool isn't that important (for me) and truly it is rare that I have enough power choices to take three powers from the Fighting pool as early as I used to (when we had more "dead zones" in builds with old levels of power availabilities). Unless the character is specifically holding something, I will almost always choose Boxing when going into the Fighting pool.

I'm withholding and actual "thumbs down"; this is my warning that insisting on "doorbusting" during a Penny Yin or Citadel TF deserves to be met with "durr-busting"(*1). It is definitely NOT a minute or two on Citadel (yeah, you go break doors while there is a pool room to deal with) and it completely breaks the flow of a combat-focused Yin TF. If you want a blueside doorbuster mission, load up on temp attack powers and run the Aaron Thiery arc. (*1) My absolute least-favorite moment of a Yin TF Leader's cognitive dissonance crying that he wanted doors to be defeated "for the badge", and then later pitching a fit when the extra rooms were opened in the Terra Volta reactor map (to get extra bosses "for the badge(s)" obviously).

At least I know the OP wasn't about me, yet I want to say that I find the League interface to be somewhat tricky to navigate, especially if I am looking for a specific player name. The UI is visually cramped, more so depending on the length of player names... not to mention how busy it can get when monitoring teammates powers. A rookie may be just as likely to quit/kick someone from the league as they are to pass the star. At least be thankful Incarnate trials are not content where folks have to go out of their way to pick specific players to lead teams or worry so much about balancing teams in a League.

None of the suggestions for tweaks (for 'true' Stealth, for MOAR healing) nor travel reshuffle offend me. I have yet to do a serious exploration of the Experimentation pool, perhaps I'll burn a respec and see how it works on the Defender. If adapting my posted to a Corruptor, because the (Superior) Scourging Blast of the Corruptor has a reliable (in an AoE) %+End/%+Heal... I think after hitting level 50, I'd recommend pulling the Theft of Essence %+Endurance slot and move it to a "Quality of Life" power (assuming a similar progression of powers and a similar dedication to %procs in attacks), places I look: Endurance reduction in a toggle (often a Travel power, or a Resist or a Defense power) An extra slot in Stamina for the Power Transfer %Heal piece My recent experiences with Corruptors has been that they burn through Endurance at what I think of as a "classic CoH" rate, so leveraging their ATO for %+End usually turns out to be important for my playstyle. I also wouldn't object to anyone pulling four slots from Aim (leaving the %Buildup, adding a Recharge IO 50+5) to consider the following: Shuffle sets/slots between Tough and Dark Embrace, adding two slots (for 4x Unbreakable Guard) to the power that will "always" be on. Add two slots to Weave (2x Cytoskeletons are probably best, but even IOs or boosted Shield Wall pieces would be fine) This would be if you wanted improved Melee defense (and alternate set bonuses) at (I think) a slight reduction in Ranged/AoE positional defenses. I rather like the 6x set bonuses from Gaussian's but I don't always try for it.

I'm not referring to balance among power sets, but balance among Archetypes. As far as the precious argument about FF %+Recharge(*1) goes... characters still have an endurance cost (*1)to bear with casting powers (faster), and as a practical matter the five seconds of extra global recharge is going to offer only marginal improvements in defeat speed... especially if a character has already got global +Recharge. This is just my experience: Trimming even as much as six seconds off the recharge time of a 'nuke' only yields marginal improvements in completed mission times... mostly because smarter use of the 'nuke' almost always trumps spamming the 'nuke'. To the extent my experience is derived from play and/or testing: I almost never play Incarnate content, and I rarely play level; 45+ content. I have seen %damage procs help improve the performance of non-DPS ATs both while leveling, and when they have lots of extra slots (at higher levels). (*1) Knockback powers that can slot FF: %+Recharge come with additional price in game-play: They scatter enemies, making AoE attacks less reliable (most evident for even-level spawns, as well as enemies susceptible to knockback) (*2) Specific to global Recharge and Endurance burn: IMO Dominators provide the clearest manifestation of what extreme rates of Global Racharge will result in. If Domination didn't auto refill the endurance bar, perma-Domination would involve a very different sort of calculus.

I choose to believe that there won't be wholesale changes to %procs. I don't doubt for a minute that there is some serious consideration of hitting them with the "nerf bat", but in practice: adding %damage procs allows entire ATs to come within an order of-magnitude of mission completion, with respect to clear times, as ATs with larger inherent damage scales. Since game rewards (XP, Inf, Drops) are essentially entirely tied to defeats (Aether Particles are the only reward that leans away from this paradigm) %damage procs provide far more balance in the City especially since there is no practical "gate" to adding them to any build.... as they are achievable through crafting, through the market, through converter roulette, etc. With %damage PPM available, the game has become an overwhelmingly balanced play experience. I can't imagine sacrificing this just to explicitly return to an era of the game when some AT achieve rewards a a significantly reduced rate.

Welcome home!

Below is the build I use for a Rad/Dark Defender, perhaps it will offer some ideas for a Corruptor. The ATO are different, but not that different. Note that this build has two (plus one) elements I don't typically end up with: It doesn't rely very much on Very Rare+ set bonuses, the Corruptor has slightly better damage scales so perhaps leveraging more Purple sets would be better It doesn't have a "true" travel power, primarily because I wanted Combat Teleport to play with the various PBAoE (plus one) It is heavier on the %-Resistance procs than I usually choose. I think in my case: I want to believe that because of the %proc-tastic heavy component of this Defender any added -Resistance is improving defeat times more than any other Quality-of-Life choices I could make with those slots. There certainly are other areas where the choices can be criticized, but I rather like the way this one plays across all levels.

Lately I've been leaning into Corruptors (for concepts) mostly because of the primary/secondary power-pairings (and levels at which powers become available). While I don't have this pairing on a Corruptor, I think Radiation Blast / Dark Miasma is probably the most straight-foward pairing to make into a "do-it-all", especially it you lean into the AoE. Just make sure that you have the "ally-friendly" powers (this includes spamming of Howling Twilight on offense). The debuffs will help both in solo and team play. I can offer some insight from my Rad/Dark Defender: On the primary (Radiation) side, I would definitely include each of these, and probably turn at least two of them into %damage variants: Irradiate Electron Haze Aim (eventually, not before level 16) Atomic Blast I am not suggesting skipping the single target attacks, rather that they can be chosen to taste. On the secondary (Dark) side, the only power I would skip is Black Hole. I like Petrifying Gaze, it is probably more valuable solo than on teams. Twilight Grasp (probably NOT an early pick, but an important one) Unlikely that I would slot this for %damage. You can get by with 3x Touch of the Nictus and %+Endurance from Theft of Essence if you do want to be a little nastier. Tar Patch (Slow and Recharge time primarily, doesn't need many slots... Frankenslot to taste)... typical for me it is simply 2xRecharge IOs Darkest Night (also not needed early in a build, doesn't need many slots, I usually never add slots to it) Howling Twilight deserves to be 6-slotted: 2xRagnarok (Accuracy/Recharge, Damage/Endurance) 2xAbsolute Amazement (Stun/recharge, Accuracy/Stun/Recharge) 2x %damage (Make one of them Javelin Volley % Lethal, probably Bombardment %Fire for the second) Shadow Fall: 6-slot, add all the defense pieces (including Kismet +ToHit if the primary's Snipe will be taken) Fearsome Stare is a good %damage cone (I usually go 4x Cloud Senses, with %Negative and add a %Psi) on top of being a nice control. Petrifying Gaze: I usually go 3xGladiator's Net (Acc/Hold, Acc/End/Hold/Recharge, %Lethal) and 3 other %damage... I might miz it up if the 6th slot is added. Dark Servant: I usually go 4xCloud Senses and leave it at that. Final note: With lot's of %damage potential from Rad/Dark, don't forget you will need Accuracy/ToHit to give %proc damage a chance to hit. Franken-slotting for Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge in %damage powers is probably key, and having Aim be available as often as possible will greatly assist. The -Defense component of the Radiation Primary helps of course, but you cannot rely on it.

It sounds to me that part of what you may be witnessing the level-shift; the lower tier henchmen are facing enemies at +2 and +1 relative to you. How close are you keeping the henchmen to you?

I came here to complain that the poll options didn't include my reason for clicking into the thread.

The Pareto Principle: You spend 10% of your effort is on the first 90%; 90% of your effort will be spent on the last 10%.

I heard that with experience, this only happens something like 10% of the time.

I don't disagree, because the last thing anyone wants is a bajillion people pestering folks for their costumes, threatening legal action over "ownership", etc. Let's just agree that its an uncle who works for Nintendo that started the rumor.

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen energy transfer that I thought would never end. I've seen end of time when I could not recall friend, but I always thought that I'd quote you again.

Seems like legit reasons (graphics, animations) to avoid taking a set to me. I can't speak to the (new) Storm as a user, it doesn't bother me as a member of a team with Stormies. Seismic is a bit of a mixed bag for me: solo (when I am casting the powers) I quite like it. When I am on a PUG, depending on how close I am to the target(s) of certain Seismic attacks... I agree it can be disorienting to play with a Seismologist. (Upthrust's graphics are probably the most "in yer face, imma going to draw on the screen now", Meteor either brings joy or madness). The only other sets that I find graphically distracting are Titan Weapons (mostly because I experience some sort of cognitive dissonance with the game's collision boxes) and the various Nature powers (I'm amazed by the graphics, but there is so much of it!) I know that Bio's overlay on costumes was originally a deal-breaker for folks. As for the OP: I have a character concept to use the set... but it is a character concept I have probably seen at least a dozen other players also go with. I'll probably give it a try after thinking up a new/different concept that can use the set.... just like I waited to try out Seismic Blast.

I have been self-diagnosed as being on the alt-istic spectrum.