tidge
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Posts posted by tidge
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Here is a single macro to do what @Yomo Kimyata suggests, to self-target, just make sure there is no trget selected in the reticle. I picked Tar Patch, but any power (and macro image) can be selected.
/macro_image "DarkCast_Aim" "TARP" "powexec_location me Tar Patch$$powexec_location target Tar Patch"
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Personally: I think Iron Man rules are somewhat silly, as all players can choose to take self-rez powers from pools. There is also the "all it takes is a sloppy league leader to murderize anybody" effect.
by the common assessment of the silly Iron Man thinking: I'd say you were dead, Kev.
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The -Regen effects of some Beam Rifle attacks are good, but I think they are not nearly as important on a Sentinel as they are on something like a Defender, because of the wide difference in (ranged) damage scales between those AT. I'm sure there are some corner case content where the BR -Regen can manifest itself, but for most play I'd focus on Sentinel DPS.
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On 8/1/2024 at 12:42 PM, Ukase said:
Since the Monstrous Aethers came out, soloing a GM is suddenly considered a no-no, because other people want loot, too. So, I just don't bother with trying anymore.
Players may want the loot, but they don't always want to make sure the events respawn. As long as it is more common for multi-boxers and "dedicated monster hunting teams" to leave extra spawns around, I see no reason for solo GM hunting to be considered taboo.
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My BR Sentinel went with:
T2 Single Shot, 6x Sentinel's Ward
T3 Cutting Beam, 6x Ragnarok
T4 Disintegrate, 6x Opportunity Strikes
T5 Aim, 6x Gaussian's
T6 Lancer Shot, 6x Apocalypse
T7 Refractor Beam, Centriole, Guidance, 4x %damage
T8 Piercing Beam, 6x Annihilation
T9 Overcharge, Frozen Blast +Javelin Volley (Acc/End/Damage/Recharge) + 4x %damage
Because it is such a single-target focus of the set, and with a Sentinel's choices for secondary being what they are, I felt like I needed all the attacks after the T1/T2 choice (plus Aim).
I didn't feel like the character really came together until I had Refractor Beam (slotted).
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I can answer part of @Rudra question about henchmen and nuGMs.
For most GMs, it is exceptionally rare that I lose more than one henchman at a time to any GM attack... and I'd say that 80% of the time I resummon a henchman right at the feet of a GM... which is not smart, but I've got a LOT of the aura thing going on. I'l target another nearby henchman or pet, and cast the defensive/resistance buff on that, as soon as I see the new henchman appear in the pet window. Some fraction of time, the new henches are defeated, but it is uncommon enough that I haven't changed my strategy (for most GMs). The hench buffs act like AoE casts, so I can get the newly summoned buffed before I can select them (watch the pet window to see this work).
There is one other thing I try to do with GMs... I try to make sure that they have something to hit so that their streakbreaker is less likely to come up in one of the GM big attacks. This isn't a particularly well-considered strategy, but it's something I'll do, often by having a simple buff pet out to be hit by the GM.
The other reason I don't try to summon new henchmen away from the MM (when fighting GMs) is because most MM henchmen will immediately move to be adjacent to the MM... and my MMs are almost always in the thick of it, base-to-base with the GM anyway. I may as well get the MM auras on the henches ASAP.
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Knockback is an effect that gets magnified by level shifts, perhaps this is what you are seeing? If not facing something that already suffers more KB (e.g. Clockwork) an enemy that cons less than white will take KB instead of KD (with no special IO slotting).
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14 hours ago, shortguy on indom said:
- HAS ANYONE TRIED THIS... ?
16 hours ago, shortguy on indom said:- WAS THINKING IF THERE WAS A WAY TO SEE HOW MMs HANG IN SURVIVING COMPARED TO OTHER ATs?...WAS ABOUT TO SEE ABOUT MAKING A SIMPLE TOOL, BUT DID A FORUM SEARCH AND FOUND THIS POST/GUIDE: The Survivability Tool - Guides - Homecoming BY BOPPER
As with at least one of the other recent 'spreadsheet' efforts (the "why don't I ever see six %damage"?), I think this question about trying to spreadsheet individual MM+henchmen survivability misses the point. The henchmen aren't a player class, the henchmen (can, if directed) increase the survivability of the Mastermind and/or (can, if directed) increase the DPS of the Mastermind.
As with the previous %damage spreadsheet effort, this ask is simultaneously too complicated (for many reasons, including the presence of the MM, and whatever the MM is doing) or would too simple to be meaningless (because henchmen, even if not in bodyguard mode don't go off on missions by themselves). My PoV is that this question (second quote box) is missing a lot of fundamental mechanics about not just the MM class but also the game environment, some as detailed by @Rudra above.
My own experience is: MM's are perfectly capable of surviving content, but they have to:
- Build for it, Defenses first for themselves and the henches
- Use Bodyguard mode and keep henches nearby to have "MaxHP Pool"
- Don't ignore resistances of the Henchmen... to a point
- Adjust tactics as necessary
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11 hours ago, High_Beam said:
I am running an MA/WB Defender right now at 20 but ran a WB/TIME Blaster so I know what the WB attack chain gives me. Definitely don't take Water Jet, it always succeeded in disappointing me so I respec'd out of it.
"Disappointment" is a good way to describe my experience with Water Jet. On paper, it looked like it would be a key attack for Water Blast, but in practice it always disappointed. I kept it in my build for (what turned out to be) far too long in an effort to make it work. There are a few higher-tier powers that have had similar outcome for me... sometimes using such a power a different AT can make such a power work better, but I don't think Water Jet falls into that category.
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7 minutes ago, WumpusRat said:
Not sure why you'd want to skip that.
I tried it, and found it lacking. I also had better power options to support the playstyle I wanted, and I already had a single-target attack from the Water Blast set. The Devs did fix one problem that it used to have: consuming Tidal Power on a miss, so it is improved.... but like I wrote: it requires both the use of Tidal Power, and the first use to hit, and the second 'enhanced' use to hit in order to see benefits.... and that assumes that the player is waiting around for the stars to align for both Tidal Power and Water Jet to be ready to even consider using them... which often means trying to juggle the other attacks so as to NOT consume Tidal Power.
If the Enhanced Water Jet wasn't tied (tide?) to consuming Tidal Power, and was more like Arcane Bolt's "Arcane Power" effect (which is a standalone) I'd be personally less bothered by trying to juggle maximizing its potential... but without the (unreliable, and attack-chain-pacing) Enhanced effect, I felt like I was doing less DPS with Water Jet than without it. When I team with Water Blast users I keep an eye out for "ENHANCED!" and I simply have yet to see it occurring often enough for me to change my opinion.
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9 minutes ago, Thraxen said:
I would never skip water jet. It is awesome. Can use it twice back to back.
Excellent graphics, but I found it to be a mediocre attack... and the Tidal Force (which is what allows "Enhanced Water Jet" to occur) is IMO better used on another attack.
For build-crafting purposes, I also don't find a late-choice non-snipe to be the best place to look for enhancement set bonuses, except to possibly swing into Winter's Bite.
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11 hours ago, Nostromo21 said:
I've skipped Hasten - do I even need it with so many powers...? Also, I grabbed Mystic Flight at 6 and Stealth at 10, so might need to insert Hover in there somewhere for the extra control while pew pewing.
There are only two reasons IMO to take Hasten:
- The character intends to use so few attacks that they need Hasten to sustain the chosen attack chain, and (related)
- There is one (or more) extremely long recharge (or otherwise cornerstone) power that requires the extra global Recharge (e.g. Domination on some builds)
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Is Brine's -MaxHP and -Resistance not providing (enough of a) force multiplier effect? I can see why as a single-target power it may not be optimal for clearing large spawns, but I would think that against harder targets it would certainly help (modulo purple triangles), if only for the aggro-grabbing potential.
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Does Health slotting in Brine affect the -MaxHP of a target critter?
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11 minutes ago, Sakura Tenshi said:
Suggestions and ideas sub forum, folks; where suggestions and ideas are shouted down and told the posters have skill issues and need to build more optimally!
Are the posters being shouted down, or are they being given suggestions?
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I find a lot to agree with in the statements of my colleague Senator @PeregrineFalcon, I have things to say about one comment...
14 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:There are many things an MM player can do to increase how long their henchmen survive. From power picks to placement of henchmen on the battlefield to waiting until the tank has aggro before ordering henchmen to attack. And I think that discussions about henchmen survival should focus on that instead of trying to convince the developers to buff MM henchmen.
As I have written before (elsewhere): A Mastermind has to adjust playstyle, tactics, and expectations more than any other AT depending on content, teammates, and difficulty. Different folks can have different opinions about whether this is "fair", my personal attitude is that this is just one more thing that makes the MMs so unique to CoX and I find it worth embracing.
Tankers, RNGesus bless them, screw up *my* MM play more than any other AT. As soon as I'm teaming with a Tanker that has half-of-a-clue how to play the AT I have to make adjustments. I don't think it is wrong that I have to make adjustments to play with others.
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Ultimately, I think the choice will come down to the play style and character building preferences. Water Blast will offer more instant gratification in terms of doing damage, while Storm Blast is likely to yield more damage-over-time (partially because of what Marine should be bringing to the table) for large spawns handled by solo play.
My opinion on which powers to skip for each secondary:
Water Blast
T1 Aqua Bolt, because you will take T2 Hydro Blast.
T7 Water Jet, because it is a single-target attack power that relies on too much going right to yield returns
Storm Blast
T1 Gust, too situational and you will take T2 Hailstones.
All the other powers work quite well as Defender attacks.
Personally? I would lean into Storm Blast, because of the pseudopets, the possible AoE soft controls (knockdowns) and the Damage-over-Time, and the %proc-ability of the secondary. I like Water Blast, its biggest advantage (for me) would be that I'd be focusing more on targets than geography of the battle map. Storm Blast can move critters around, which could be a disadvantage for some players.
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8 hours ago, BurtHutt said:
I am wondering if Intensify is worth it. I am kinda over the boosts that work for 15 seconds...
That's a valid point. On my Defender, I typically try to immediately use the Fast Snipe, and then cast a Damage-over-Time power, and then a fast cast attack. Some debuffs also require accuracy checks, so not-missing-when-it-could-be-important is a partial consideration.
On DPS characters, the Build Ups/Aims are for things that go high defenses, like Moment of Glory. This is me replacing red/yellow inspirations with a click power... on some blasters I have the recharge time around 22 seconds, with a near 90% proc chance!
As for theory-crafting builds: if there is a power I want to have early in a build (often a T3 Pool power) that I know I'll be using (or otherwise relying on, like Rune of Protection), then often I'll delay the Build Up/Aim power... because those things that go high defenses start to show up in the 30s. The extra ToHit and Damage is only speeding up defeat times, I don't consider the Build Ups/Aims to be that critical.
Mileage varies if the set it is in needs a secondary effect from them (like Water Blast). My Water/Atomic took both build ups, but took the Atomic one first.
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17 hours ago, Loquis said:
Perhaps some advice on maneuvering your troops and/or a recap on useful hotkeys?
IMO: Directing henchmen is one of those skills you have to get somewhat good at, and then it becomes necessary to make some (character) design/play choices about how to support your skill level (as a player). I have some tricks I pull off with my henchmen, but I'm no master... rather I try to build my MMs so that they can handle somewhat difficult content and then adapt to the variables within that content... like RNG deciding that the enemy AoE nuke is going to roll low enough to hit my entire squad at once!
Writing for myself, I prefer Robotics above all other Primaries because the henchmen are ranged attackers. I can deploy them and be pretty much assured that they will be where I want them to be. I have to support them by keeping aggro, and my design choices have been (1) maximize their defenses and (2) Maintenance drone!
For the Primaries that include more melee... I find myself having to be a lot more careful about controlling both the henchmen *and* the battlefield. It is a personal limitation of my own that I have a lot of trouble keeping track of my retinue, however many scampering critters there are from spawns in x8 play, and try to pay attention to the geography of whatever map I am on. I suppose staying in Bodyguard mode all the time is one approach, but I don't find that to be a particularly efficient way to work through content.
For a while I've been observing other MM players, especially recently in open-world Giant Monster fights (since the introduction of Monstrous Aethers). Almost universally I see every other MM player (and there are a handful of players with multiple MMs, so there is some bias) do nothing more than simply dogpile a GM... this strategy isn't reliable solo, so several of those MMs dual-box or triple-box. and lean into spamming heals. This is basically a strategy that works in most non-AV, non-GM fights for a solo MM... so I'm not at all surprised that this is how the multi-boxers play against GMs.
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7 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:
I second this choice; one of my favorite blasters to play.
This combo is an absolute hoot! With the passives from Martial Arts, leveraging Burst of Speed pretty much allows for a seamless shift between melee and ranged combat. Combat Teleport allows other combinations to do the same, of course.
It may not feel much like "Havok" but only because classic Havok is IMO pretty much designed to be a ranged-exclusive.... which might be more "Sentinel" than "Blaster".
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Energy Blast / Martial Arts Blaster.
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1 hour ago, Little Big Demon said:
Fast summoning, fast enhancement, improved buffing.
The summon animation takes forever when you are in combat. You can't even target your pets while they milk their entrance more than the queens on rupaul's dragrace, but they sure as heck can die before they are up. Then, after they are up and ready you still gotta give them their school lunch and backpacks just so they are useful. Speed everything up. Make them able to take action/interrupt the summon animation sooner, make them targetable by friendlies sooner, make the empowerments quicker.
It would be great if the empowerments were just a permanent passive you didn't have to reapply every time (Mayhaps make them an autopower on the mastermind that then applies to their pets, much like the alpha slot incarnate does) but presuming the code of the game doesn't make that easy just speeding up this whole process means masterminds are not punished for their own gameplay. It also softens issues where the pets die too quickly, resummoning doesn't take you out of the battle nearly as much and can become a part of the gameplay loop.
Summon All feature would be neat, one click and all available sets of pets come in at the same time (Overlapping summon animation to reduce how long it takes)
Currently applied buffs (Limited Selection) to the mastermind transfer to freshly summoned pets, retaining the remaining time from the mastermind. Kind of a radical change but often people will buff before the mastermind has summoned their pets or while the pets are out of range and then theres nothing you can do. Most single target buffs should probably be exempt from this, would be a little broken to put stuff like Amp Up on a Mastermind and have it apply to 6 pets at once. I say most because the single target grant stealth I think would be fair to apply to the pets. Most AoE buffs like speedboost, barriers, or aoe absorb shields (Matching the % remaining from the Mastermind) would make a lot of sense and save some headache.
A small aside, I would also consider a brief period of invulnerability for the pets while being summoned but before they can take action. At the moment they can't be targeted directly by players but enemy aoe and in some cases targeted attacks can certainly hit them and often I could keep the pets alive if only they lived long enough to be buffed in the first place.
Henchmen, not pets.
Homecoming already has implemented much faster re-summon timers.
While it is true that a MM cannot immediately target a newly summoned henchmen, it is possible to target an already existing henchmen or pet (at least I haven't found anything in the pet window I couldn't target) and cast the empowerment buff and it will be applied to a newly summoned henchmen. I mention this workaround, because not being able to immediately target a newly summoned creature, but still be able to affect it with AoE, is a feature of the game engine. It isn't specific to MM henchmen. See Rezzing enemies, or newly summoned enemy pets/minions/whatever. I try to summon henchmen outside of obvious AoE, depending on what I am fightining.
The only empowerment buff that makes sense to me to "bake in" to the actual summons is the first empowerement... my argument has long been that it makes no sense that the first empowerment comes before both the T2 and T3 summons. However... recent changes to what can be slotted in those powers is a useful improvement over what we had before.
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I'll repeat: As far as attacks from the Mastermind (direct or via pseudopets) go... I would not franken-slot those, except for enemy-affecting things like debuffs (and to a lesser extent, knockdowns or slows).
Masterminds pay a heavy endurance tax on their powers... so more casting to try to get more %damage is generally a strategy that slows down play. If the %damage is in single-target, then that's also a sort of wasted effort IMO, because directing even one reasonably slotted T1 henchmen against that target is likely to do more damage.
%damage requires accuracy slotting in the power, because just like global Accuracy/ToHit bonuses don't help henchmen/pets, they also don't help %damage hit... even if the %proc is successful. For example:
On 7/24/2024 at 2:21 PM, Redlynne said:Level 35: Slowed Response
- (A) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50+5
- (36) Shield Breaker - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 27+5
- (36) Shield Breaker - Chance for Lethal Damage: Level 10
- (37) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 10
- (37) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance for Negative Damage: Level 21
Same basic thinking behind the choices here ... and this is how the proc chances compute:
Slowed Response: Shield Breaker (3.5 PPM), Achilles' Heel (3.5 PPM), Touch of Lady Grey (3.5 PPM)
- 3.5 * ((90 / ( 1 + 59.11 / 100 )) + 2.27) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 25 * (11 * 360 + 540) / 30,000))) = 90% (Pre-clamp: 90.02%) per $Target
This makes an otherwise "unremarkable power" that doesn't do anything especially useful (Foe -Defense, -Resist Debuffing) into something "respectable" to toss into the mosh pit.
On my /Time Corruptor, I discovered similar to @Redlynne that what should have been a fine source of %damage was pretty poor without accuracy slotted. On that solo Corruptor I went with:
Level 28: Slowed Response
(A) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5
(*) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50+5
(*) Shield Breaker - Chance for Damage (Lethal)
(*) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance for Damage (Negative Energy)But for a MM, I might use a %-Res piece instead. I would certainly keep at least one %damage just to help keep aggro on the MM... It's hard for me to not add %damage to a 25-foot radius power that has a max target cap of 16! The only thing working against my inclination to add as much %-Resistance as possible to this MM "attack" is that Slowed Response already applies a pretty hefty amount of -Resistance.... and generally I prefer %-Res choices that can "stack" (i.e. extend the 10-second application time) which may-or-may not be possible with the Achilles' Heel piece. I generally prefer using multiples of the Annihilation piece.
"Street" Giant Monsters and guaranteed elimination
in General Discussion
Posted
Maybe I don't understand this post. It reads to me like this is saying the CoX Giant Monsters are too hard, which I don't think is true.
In my experience the CoX Giant Monsters have a floored 1-in-20 chance to hit most player characters, and I am pretty sure all of the GMs shuffle between single-target and AoE attacks. If the characters have any sort of resists.. or ya know... have a strategy that involves getting the GM to focus fire on a character with resists... then the limiting factor for GM defeats becomes dealing damage (to overcome the "sack of HP" -> Regeneration, plus whatever resistances the GM has)... as was noted above. The one giant monster that seems to catch some players defense values by surprise (in my experience) is the Arachnos Flier; because this spawns in a level 50 zone and spawns its own varieties of (lots of) minions, players fighting the flier have to be prepared in ways they don't exactly need for Kraken, Paladin, or Babbage.
My personal experience has been that most random pairs of level 50 ATs with incarnates) can handle most any of the nu Giant Monsters... and a single level 50 with debuffs can lead a small squad of lower-level characters with any sort of attack chain to whittle down most Giant Monsters that are not in level 50 zones. Different ATs have to change things up of course, and some will be relying on Lore pets for the necessary damage. Standing in place and button mashing may not work for nuEochai for example.
For the most part, I think the nuGM changes were pretty mild... mostly added resistances, some health boosts for low-level zone GMs, and in rare cases some long-timer AoEs. Those aren't particularly problematic for veteran level players, especially if they are willing to change up tactics. AFAIK, the only open-world GM with an "unavoidable damaging attack" is Eochai's Pumpkin Patch, which is a location-based AoE. I suppose folks can argue about Paladin's Pulse, but I think that attack is avoidable... if not it is at least possible to get out of its range.
Circling back to the debuff: Anything in the game with a large sack of HP will regenerate significant HP via the regeneration formula... just like players do. Debuffing giant monster regeneration is important! Raising the base health of some of the GMs was a good idea IMO, but this was more of a way to draw out the length of GM fights (for small teams) than it was to make the GMs particularly dangerous. Longer fights only make them more dangerous because of RNG and streakbreaker.