Jon

Hey guys. I've been playing around on a Fire/Rad the last few days and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters. I figured I should post the build I'm using for it because it seems to be a little bit different than other people's approaches that I've seen on the forums. Important notes for this build: Perma AM + Hasten Fast snipe when you apply +5 boosts to the tohit enhancements in Tactics (which I'm not sure you can do in Pines) The ability to use the snipe in your regular attack chain with all your toggles on without running out of end Softcapped S/L/E defense, N/Ranged also softcapped when Support Hybrid is active Intended primarily for level 50 play (requires T4 Alpha and Clarion to function smoothly) A lot of people seem to not like Choking Cloud but I personally love the power. I play very aggressively by jumping into melee a lot, which is why I went for S/L defense instead of Ranged, and Choking Cloud has been really helpful for getting through alpha strikes and general survivability in close quarters. I also really hate EM Pulse and will probably respec out of it at some point. I will probably replace it with Fallout - both powers are already pretty situational (which is why I didn't bother with slotting on EM Pulse), but at least Fallout doesn't screw with my end use. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 2.22 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Mystery: Level 50 Magic Corruptor Primary Power Set: Fire Blast Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Fighting Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Fire Blast (A) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance (42) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge (43) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage (50) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Level 1: Radiant Aura (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal (3) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance (3) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime (5) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime (5) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (7) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb Level 2: Fire Ball (A) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage (42) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime (43) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (48) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod (15) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge (17) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge (19) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge (19) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy (21) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Endurance Level 6: Rain of Fire (A) Ragnarok - Damage (11) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge (13) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (13) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance (15) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown Level 8: Radiation Infection (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance (39) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff (40) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge (40) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance Level 10: Enervating Field (A) Endurance Reduction IO (21) Endurance Reduction IO Level 12: Aim (A) Recharge Reduction IO Level 14: Super Speed (A) HamiO:Microfilament Exposure Level 16: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (17) Recharge Reduction IO Level 18: Blaze (A) Superior Malice of the Corruptor - Accuracy/Damage (40) Superior Malice of the Corruptor - Damage/Recharge (42) Superior Malice of the Corruptor - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (43) Superior Malice of the Corruptor - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (46) Superior Malice of the Corruptor - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (50) Superior Malice of the Corruptor - Recharge/Chance for Negative Energy Damage Level 20: Lingering Radiation (A) Recharge Reduction IO Level 22: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (23) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (23) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (27) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 24: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (25) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (25) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance (27) Kismet - Accuracy +6% Level 26: Blazing Bolt (A) Apocalypse - Damage (29) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge (29) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (34) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance (34) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative) (39) Endurance Reduction IO Level 28: Choking Cloud (A) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold (36) Superior Entomb - Hold/Recharge (37) Superior Entomb - Endurance/Recharge (37) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold/Endurance (37) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold/Endurance/Recharge (39) Superior Entomb - Recharge/Chance for +Absorb Level 30: Tactics (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff (31) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge (31) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance (31) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance (33) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance (33) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up Level 32: Inferno (A) Superior Scourging Blast - RechargeTime/PBAoE +End (33) Superior Scourging Blast - Accuracy/Damage (34) Superior Scourging Blast - Damage/RechargeTime (50) Superior Scourging Blast - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime Level 35: Scorpion Shield (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 38: EM Pulse (A) Recharge Reduction IO Level 41: Boxing (A) Accuracy IO Level 44: Tough (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (45) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (45) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (45) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge (46) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge (46) Reactive Armor - Resistance Level 47: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 49: Vengeance (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Scourge Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Run Speed IO Level 2: Health (A) Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration (9) Miracle - +Recovery (9) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery (11) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance Level 2: Hurdle (A) Jumping IO Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (7) Performance Shifter - EndMod Level 0: Born In Battle Level 0: High Pain Threshold Level 0: Invader Level 0: Marshal Level 50: Pyronic Core Final Judgement Level 50: Degenerative Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Clarion Core Epiphany Level 50: Agility Core Paragon Level 50: Polar Lights Core Ally Level 50: Support Core Embodiment ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1595;729;1458;HEX;| |78DA6594C96F127114C76798A1B4B40815BAD20DBA0005A6D0367A30D1A4B56DD49| |2D49AA8F14226654A27A985004DECD1BBFBC593CBC1AD8956BDA8F1A456FF049768| |BCB8246E55136F26A6BE99EF932132013E6FBEBFF77BEFF11D7EA48EED6E589B3AB| |E4B10DDE38B6AB1981ECF150ACBF952AE604FA9597D4EA0CB915A2996B4C28A8362| |7F793D3DAB2E65B58C32A917B4F418ED2D05ACB5B1E5F9796556CDE86A49CF2DA52| |78EEAC52205827326975B540EE4352DD36086D39A9AD797B2EE7F3719AD505CD0F3| |2EF37E52CF2E9468D53F91D7E714AB7A4A9DD3E8C31CAA95864AD23B6413F8DA948| |48B86280B914BE0E0053079197C2E9673EDC227C9D46C9F995F40F92BF31B58B301| |86A98FC87DC477D022EFC1C10FE0D047F025254A22FA48276CA6B6E524E839056E3| |DCD3C03FACE8211821D7D64FB3034E708D830CADCC635B7832FA89703FD24C74368| |03F7C0D07DE603F015E5D52157AC0BC0171F334A29F5E82DD447A1F5D2D377215F7| |0ED20C8821024CDCD35DC9CE761C6A846237BDC78137E846EB15F6BECD76D307E07| |4CDE055F534D2FF7F772BD66EAD5C4DFADC9080CCDC7FC857DEDFBC046CA6DE1DC1| |6CE6DE5DC560FD8FE87963BA937CDD9C673B6C5E04D479CA980810433C99EB24F6F| |A8949F9FAFFF910C9F1E837D4F98EBCCA7E0C033D04B3376F2DECE2BA8DB7595798| |D791DECB9C15C058DB1BAF937D81D41BD9E3E30D00F2607C03C5912441F5B90BDE8| |652F7AD98BB7847EF6BB9FFD1669BE306BE176681269519E396A184CFEC586E179A| |C8BEE43C46E301E60064199F62A3C87C2730CF11C433C878F7212DC33C1391D72F9| |ACD28B2E61B04A495429C92A65A44A19AD52F658CAE674D5EA8C5C3EF982682A751| |E3ADF9CBFE1A4553E1F621C7EFDB03449DC09BF6AF7C28FDA83F87ECE00FCFB5EB9| |3F8CFD3F2D4D14CFE3D9D79C03F73B0D15BD0F55C4872BE2231571D047DB389E6AB| |162F35AF5FE27FC6EB684509315AF07F16F6BC47F01D1B60ADE| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

I really dig this guide. There's a lot of useful info in here for anyone who is interested in AE content creation. The AE creator can seem a little daunting, but you break it all down well and even throw in some extra tips & tricks along the way. Thanks for making this!

Just quoting this bit to add that I think that Sleeps need to be fundamentally reworked because as it is now, sleep is one of the most useless types of mez in this game. Sure, it has use solo, but so little of this game is played solo that most sets with sleeps regard those powers as skippable. The only sleep power I have ever used that actually felt worthwhile was Static Field because of how it pulses and reapplies the sleep after an enemy is woken up from it. In my opinion, this highlights a huge problem with the way other sleeps work mechanically. This kind of falls out of the scope of this thread, of course, but I would not say no to some improvements to Ice Manipulation. I do agree with the idea that the set probably just needs some numbers tweaked or some individual powers buffed rather than a complete overhaul. I always thought some sort of randomness to sleep might help it a bit. Instead of a 100% chance to wake the target, make it around 25%. Enough to make it worth it to put them to sleep, but also risky enough to prevent it from being a "hard" mez. Also prevents it from being to similar to how Fear functions. (Since Feared targets retaliate but then go back to being Feared) Even in the real world. If a person is put under for medical reasons, they don't instantly wake up as soon as the doctor pokes them with the scalpel. I would like to think super abilities are at least as potent as the drugs they use to put us under in the OR or even the dentist chair. That is an interesting solution that I would definitely be interested in. Another one that a friend of mine came up with was adding an increased crit chance mechanic to sleeps so that waking a sleeping enemy up with an attack will net you extra crit damage. The idea is that sleeping would make the enemy extra vulnerable, which conceptually makes sense to me.

Just quoting this bit to add that I think that Sleeps need to be fundamentally reworked because as it is now, sleep is one of the most useless types of mez in this game. Sure, it has use solo, but so little of this game is played solo that most sets with sleeps regard those powers as skippable. The only sleep power I have ever used that actually felt worthwhile was Static Field because of how it pulses and reapplies the sleep after an enemy is woken up from it. In my opinion, this highlights a huge problem with the way other sleeps work mechanically. This kind of falls out of the scope of this thread, of course, but I would not say no to some improvements to Ice Manipulation. I do agree with the idea that the set probably just needs some numbers tweaked or some individual powers buffed rather than a complete overhaul.

+1 for more character sorting options. There have already been multiple times where I've actively wished I had something to sort my characters by level, by AT, or by name.

No need to be hostile to someone who is commenting on something you said. Why even make a post if you're just going to be snarky to the first person who replies? Anyway... I'm not really sure what you are trying to say. Masterminds have the same incarnate options available to them as everyone else. No single powerset in the game is benefited by every single Alpha/Interface/Destiny/Hybrid ability but there is always one that will work for you. I personally have played several MMs at the incarnate level and never had any qualms with the options there. I've also never once had someone reject a MM from a team, or even express dislike for them beyond when pets block a doorway or something.

So 1.5billion to insta-level a character? That would make a nice inf sink. Please add an option to buy merits in bulk though, I think clicking the buy merits button 1500 times would take longer than just leveling them. If it was an influence sink along the level of 1.5 billion influence per token, I’d be +1 with this. It still requires effort and keeps people in the game, and it wouldn’t be a “gimme” for most players If you're going for a comically large inf sink that makes the entire idea pointless, then yeah that works. But it makes way more sense to set the price at something a little closer to the amount of inf you'd make farming for the same duration of time it takes to PL someone to 50 instead. That would be MUCH less than 1.5 billion because you can already get to level 50 really fast as it is. The whole idea is would be to remove the meaningless farming grind from the equation. The problem with PLing is that it fills up zones unnecessarily fast because people are on 2 accounts at a time, which may not technically be allowed during busy periods but is almost entirely unenforceable. It also unfairly gates out people whose machines can't handle dual-boxing from being able to PL themselves like everyone else. Adding some kind of level 50 boost mechanism would be a huge QOL improvement without being a massive change from the speed of leveling as it currently stands. It certainly would not be an 'I Win' button by any means. Anyone who has spent time building and paying a level 50 character should agree.

I would love something like this. Being forced to watch the same voiceless cutscenes over and over again is incredibly stale, particularly that Dr. Aeon one.

That's not a real concern. Any content run at 50 will generate influence, and you can even get rewards merits from simply getting all of the explore badges in a zone. When Homecoming launched, I PL'd myself to 50 with 0 influence to my name, and yet somehow I have been able to enhance my characters just fine. An auto-50 button/token actually would have a lot of value, and it is something that MANY MMOs have done with a lot of success, but I'd rather it not be a one-time thing. It seems weird to me that we are fine with people dual-boxing to PL themselves but not fine with letting people just have the 50 that they're doing all that for anyway. I imagine it would be better for server stability to cut out the main incentive of dual-boxing by making it so that people are able to get what they need from just 1 account.

If we're talking new MM primaries, a Clones set would be really cool. Your pets would be clones of yourself.

From what I understand, that was more reserved for the signature characters, which were kind of seen as avatars for the old devs themselves. So like Manticore, War Witch, Captain Mako, etc. were out of the question, but random NPC's from the game world are fair game. I certainly think there are ways to RP chars like this that are interesting, but none of those ways involve alienating yourself from other players due to a strict adherence to the lore (which completely goes against the entire point of both RPing in general and playing this video game).

After running around for a while in search of Lusca in Independence Port with no success, I think that it would be nice to be able to trigger giant monster spawns instead of having to just hope you luck out and run into the one you're looking for. There are already ways to trigger some of them, but not all. My ideal implementation of this would be to have some kind of mission you could complete as a villain that would unleash a giant monster on the city or in the isles. It would be functionally similar to how a Rikti invasion happens whenever someone completes an LGTF. I'm sure there are other ways to do this that some of you might be able to come up with too, so please share your thoughts.

If you want to go for more of a full support role, I would definitely check out Controllers! The control primaries are all great ways to support a team that keep the gameplay active and help you contribute beyond more than just heals. I personally play Darkness Control/Empathy and enjoy being able to lock down groups and lower their to-hit with the darkness powers. It is a really fun support character. Empathy is a great set, but what makes it great is way more than just its healing capabilities. There are lots of great buffs in the set that, when properly utilized, make it so that you don't have to rely on your heals as much and can focus on your other powers. Think of the healing as more of a way to patch you up if damage gets through all of your other buffs.

I know you're trying to make a joke, but that second casting of Gang War is gonna win you fights for sure. Heck, I thought I was succeeding. Sure, a second dose of Gang War will help take down an EB that you're soloing, but an AV? Maybe it might finish him off if he's already on the way out. And I know that soloing AVs is a thing, but most players go in as teams. Your Gang War is a drop in the bucket (admittedly a fairly large drop, but still). Two uses of Gang War against a giant monster will amount to what, 1-2% of the damage the thing takes overall before dying? Even if I'm off by an order of magnitude (which I doubt), it's not going to win that fight for you. Against an AV? Yeah, no single power is going to have massive impact (save for some -regen debuffs, which actually would benefit greatly from Burnout in an AV situation). Against most other content though, having two Gang Wars out at the same time is going to do some amazing things to your overall performance for that duration. Okay? If you actually read any of my posts in this thread, you'll notice that I'm not making either of those claims.

I'm crossing zones all the time. I mean I literally do it at least once between missions. A boost to my travel power is almost the opposite of "situational." On the other hand, I never (getting multiples to 50 back live and now in my 30s with my new main) once felt like I needed to recharge all my powers for a large end cost and a large end penalty. Wish I happened to have a specific power up and ready at a certain point? Sure. All my powers? No. And the former can be easily managed unless (like your example below) I wanted to pull off two "ultimates" in a row, which really doesn't happen. I suppose Group Flight is useful for MMs who want to make their pets fly (why though?), but it is easily one of the most skippable powers in the game. Everyone already has their own travel power & access to jetpacks through the P2W vendor for the few situations they might need aerial mobility, and Group Flight can be really frustrating for players when someone activates it in a mission (which has already happened to me on Torchbearer) if you have abilities that won't work in the air. Group Flight is substantially less useful than Burnout, which actually has the potential to make a huge impact on gameplay in the situations where it is useful. "Yeah, me an fifty other heroes were beating on Jurassic but it was my second casting of Gang War that won the fight!" I know you're trying to make a joke, but that second casting of Gang War is gonna win you fights for sure.

On live I had a Beasts/Sonic who used both Call Hawk and Call Ravens. I wouldn't use the attacks on EVERY Mastermind, but there are certainly some (like Beasts/Sonic) where it can be appropriate. I'd say it probably depends heavily on what secondary you choose. I definitely would never play a Mastermind without taking all of the pet abilities available to me in the set. Those powers are the bread and butter of the entire archetype.

Based on this thread, the position that Burnout is worthwhile is in the minority. My opinion is it's way too expensive in both end cost and recharge to be worth it. I can't think of the last time I though "oh man, if I just had all my cooldowns reset!" It's certainly one of the most situational powers in the game. My thing about Super Speed is that it's now just about the slowest travel power starting mid-game, in terms of getting across a zone. It's not much faster than SJ. Teleport is clearly the fastest. And with Afterburner, Fly is functionally faster. It's about 90% SS speed but without the need to deal with walls and things, which is something I've found I need to take SJ for anyway. And it has quirky weird powers like Whirlwind, which I doubt many bother with. This would all be fine if the final SS power was something amazing to compensate. They can't really make SS faster without exacerbating its maneuverability issues. They can't add mobility like running up walls because the game engine won't allow it. They can't give it a kind of "so fast it's instant" teleport-like feature without stepping on Teleport's toes. Maybe they could give it a speed-based attack but that's basically what Whirlwind is, so... I think I'm mainly just disappointed in Burnout. I don't think SS needs improvement. I'd argue that it is vastly superior to other travel powers and that, if anything, the others could use an upgrade instead. Teleport is fast but really only situationally useful. The point-and-click system is clunky and not easy to use in combat. Flight is useful but is slower, has no stealth component, and certain powers cannot be used in the air. Super Jump is probably the closest to rivaling Super Speed in terms of movement. Combat Jumping from the Leaping pool actually works really well in combination with SS to give you fast movement with vertical capabilities (plus a little bit of a defense boost, and a spot to put a LoTG global recharge IO). Having maneuverability, speed, and stealth available in combat with SS makes it possible to speed through content in a way that other travel powers simply can't replicate. SS+CJ is such a good power combo that I put it on virtually every character I make unless Fly/TP/SJ are absolutely necessary for my character's concept. Everything else just feels slow and less useful.

I like to use it on my Empathy Controller & my Pain Domination MM to get instant recharges on Adrenaline Boost/Painbringer so that I can buff a second person for tough fights. I don't really build my characters around the power, but if I have room and there's a power in my build that really benefits from it, Burnout can be a fun utility power to have at my disposal.

Praise be unto Pine

Counterproposal: launch the Earth itself into the sun instead to save humanity from the seductive sin of farming.

Some of you guys are bizarrely against Illusion Control on Dominators and I don't understand it at all. Why shouldn't both of the ATs that use control sets have access to all control sets? If it has to be changed a bit for Dominators, that's not impossible. I also don't think it's a huge deal if Illusion Control doesn't benefit from Domination that much. In Electric Control, Static Field doesn't benefit from Domination and its one of the key powers in the set. We've already gotten a ton of things we never would have gotten on live for similar reasons to what you guys are suggesting here, so I don't really think any of that holds up. And yeah, this game is free, but they're clearly doing development on things like this. It isn't ridiculous to suggest something like porting a powerset over to a new AT.

BRAVE BEGINNINGS! A new supergroup named The Vanquisher's was instrumental in taking down a secret Council facility deep in Boomtown on Thursday. While most of the heroes are relatively unknown, it's clear that won't be the case for long. Starting late in the evening they began an assault on the base, making short work of a small army of War Walkers. The base in question was the home of secret weapons research, including weapons of mass destruction. Investigators believe the council was planning on deploying these weapons on the city upon their completion. In response to this The Council deployed a prototype mech with devastating capabilities. The Vanquishers led the charge against this titan, managing to take it down before it could cause any significant damage. Amazingly while other heroes would have called this a successful night The Vanquishers kept going. Hearing reports of the Clockwork monstrosity Babbage, these heroes raced across the City to take it down with impunity. The citizens of Paragon can certainly sleep well tonight knowing these heroes are around. LUCKY LIMBO SAVES LIVES! A corporate building in Steel Canyon was under siege early this morning by a group of Tsoo members when freshman superhero Limbo (member of the new team ‘The Vanquishers’) appeared out of nowhere to save the day. Multiple eye-witness reports claim that he seemed to fall straight out of the sky right outside the building entrance at the exact moment the Tsoo began their assault. “He came from heaven to save us!” exclaimed one woman who was saved by Limbo in today’s incident. Security footage from the shop across the street shows Limbo falling towards the pavement, only to be pushed safely onto his feet at the last second by a gust of wind cast by a Tsoo sorcerer. Was this planned, or was it sheer luck? Either way, the people of Paragon City are learning firsthand that Limbo is a hero they can trust.

There are a few different efforts I have seen to get a more functional version going. Here is one: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,3093.0.html

It sounds like a very unique gameplay experience for a pet class, and while it is definitely very different from anything we have now, it also doesn't feel like too much of a departure from how the current ATs are structured and could reasonably be put together using existing assets already in the game. Conceptually, it also represents something not uncommon in comics that is presently rather difficult to replicate in the CoH character. I dig this idea a lot. I love Masterminds, so I'd be all over an AT like this.

Ooh... an IC twitter could be really fun.