Nayeh

Here is an idea: Instead just merely allow your Costume Customization to use any of the weapon models while still keeping the abilities intact. Ex) A War Mace Tanker models is mace to be something other than a mace - a Sword. Although he appears to be wielding a sword, he is still performing War Mace line skills. I'm sorry but I love the War Mace skill line and don't want it revamped, just buffed.

Assuming you're Team-oriented and not Soloing: With Illusion/Darkness you have plenty of access to Stealth. For leveling purposes, Super Speed + Shadow Fall are enough to sneak through most missions as long as you constantly move, meaning you won't need Superior Invisibility so early. I recommend picking Superior Invisibility up later just to carry Luck of the Gambler for Recharging, even then I personally have little use for it until I run into enemies with extremely high perception. Pick up Group Stealth (facilitates ghosting) and Fade as they provide Defense. Pick up Flash AND Howling Twilight. Alternate between these two abilities on engagements. Tar Patch is also a major contribution to large crowd control this kit has to offer so place it as much as possible. Assemble Team Teleport and Recall Friend are very useful for your mission ghosting and for when you need to reposition bodies to setup your Howling Twilight resurrections. All of the Pets are useful. You definitely want to maximize your cooldowns and use Phantom Army to initiate fights so as they obtain all of the Aggro attention. Throw in Procs for giggles (Such as Knockdown) and they become incredible bullies for your leveling process. Spectral Terror will be your fastest recharging Pet and I find it useful to drop Procs on him as well. Skip Black Hole. If this power was a Toggle (So it could be strategically applied and removed like Dimension Shift) then it could hold some value but in it's current state - it's a frustrating time sink. I once had it for a day or two before ultimately respecing out. As the previous poster mentioned above, Soul Absorption is a great tool. Once you're 50, you'll feel like a Support - Mastermind with all the Pets, and it's a damn good feeling because you're pets certainly aren't squishy alongside your Heals, Debuffs, and Defense. Must Haves: Hasten Blind Deceive Twilight Grasp Tar Patch Howling Twilight Shadow Fall Fade Phantom Army (I mean, why would you pick this combination and not want a pet army?) Spectral Terror Phantasm Dark Servant On average, I could have 7 pets out. With Procs, Lores, and Temporary Summons, I could have 10+ Pets running around.

It might be overkill because I'm a nub at building and just threw things together over time. I'm running an Illusion/Darkness Controller I absolutely adore playing with permanent Phantom Army and amazing Support/CC potential. Global Bonuses: 70% Hasten 10% (x4) Ultimate Improved Recharge Time Bonus (Apocalypse, Unbreakable Constraint, Absolute Amazement, Coercive Persuasion) 8.75% Gargantuan Improved Recharge Time Bonus (Will of the Controller) 5.0% Moderate Improved Recharge Time Bonus (Dampened Spirits) 7.50% (x4) Luck of the Gambler Phantom Army 53% Invention: Recharge Reduction +5 44.5% Invention: Recharge Reduction +1 42.4% Invention: Recharge Reduction +0 26.5% Soulbound Allegiance

This is an interesting note because I never receive Impact damage when my Singularity is the one that casted the Hold.

If anything. a Vacuum effect would be fun and OP. Imagine you're Darth Vader choking your opponent and hovering him toward you as he snags a few friends on the way.

And color tintability and option of a lava and crystal form...

I was reading the comments about "Burn" having a fear component. Why is that? I guess ONLY the Brute/Tank variant doesn't have it?

I've noticed this too. Prior to the last few days the transparency of "Stealth" was not as invisible as it appeared in the screenshot. It also had a slight glowing color-tintable aura. It's been kinda gamebreaking because you can no longer visually differentiate between Stealth and Invisible and you can't see your character...

Get more complaints about using Fade on a MSR than anything else. 🤣

I haven't considered those two. Thanks for that.

Can confirm. It keeps changing between "Spit" and "Throw" animations. I feel like the activation time is now longer than what it states, there also appears to be a delay from character movement and the substance projectile.

I'm just sharing thoughts. Feel free to discuss. So I just reached 50 and I really enjoy this Scrapper combination. However, I'm not exactly geared up and I'm not very adept at building sets as I really dislike how clicky Mid's builder is with it's lack of automation options. I'll probably end up mirroring another /Dark build from around here. Darkness is Endurance heavy! This is probably the most exhausting Hero I have ever played. Between the Dark Armor toggles, Fighting pool toggles, and Dark Regeneration (a whopping 33 endurance base cost) and Travels my Endurance was always wavering. Throughout much of my adventures I left Fighting Toggles off because I couldn't afford them even when using Form of the Soul and Sky Splitter. Hopefully slotting will radically change this. I have yet to try any other Staff form other than Form of the Soul due to my Endurance struggles so far. Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom They're both amazing. I admire the almost non-existent Endurance cost on Oppressive Gloom however minions wandering off in disorient is a little counter-productive in a Staff Fighting set with 2-3 AoE attacks. Cloak of Fear has been absolutely amazing with a really neat animation and I have been considering how effective -ToHit and Fear Procs/Sets would perform on this toggle? Is having both Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom really that beneficial? I feel like Oppressive Gloom overwrites fear as a harder form of CC since it doesn't work like the Mesmerize aspect of Fear. Dark Regeneration This power, despite it's enormous Endurance cost sold me. Only 2-3 hits and I'm almost always blasted with 100% Health. Darkness Customization: Minimal FX Thankfully this was an option. I would not be playing if I had to be a great ball of darkness with constant white noise playing. Getting Knocked down... I nearly wanted to break my keyboard after doing a Story Arc with Devouring Earth. Every minions slapped me to the ground and ultimately that caused most of my deaths whilst incapacitated. Only recently have I slotted Blessing of the Zephyr: KB Protection but I have yet to observe results on effectiveness. I should have spared myself the heartache and picked up Acrobatics while leveling. Staff Fighting They are long animations. I absolutely hate how obnoxious Serpent's Reach and Innocuous Strikes are. How essential are they to a build? I feel as though they ruin combinations to take advantage of Eye of the Storm and Sky Splitter buildups and consider taking up Precise Strike in placement of one of them. Serpent's Reach can be a neat finishing move but for how long it takes to whirl the staff for a single target blow, I feel the effects are lackluster. If Serpent's Reach was at least a narrow cone attack I could see this as a very viable attack. Innocuous Blows makes me cringe. I hate this toe-stubbing move so much for how stupid it looks. I recall mentioning this on a team when I first acquired the skill and a team member shared thoughts and mentioned they picked up Hover so it looks like they're eye-gouging instead. Epics (Energy or Weapon) or Patron... I enjoyed the Energy Buffs on my Brute but I wanted to try something more flavorful. I went with Weapon Mastery and really enjoy hurling Shurikens that even kinda flows with my character's theme. Caltrops is a really sweet skill but it disperses monsters which again leads to counter-productivity as a Staff wielder Scrapper and will for sure be replaced with Web Grenade. Targeting Drone looks amazin' but that Endurance cost though... As for the Patrons, none of them really appealed to me. Any input or wisdom to share beyond "Get a build, bruh" ? Perhaps this post could provide others with insight.

I used to play other games at a pretty competitive level and carried certain expectations of players and even provided coaching. Over time I chilled out and simply let people play however they please. The only thing that irks me is how quick players are to suggest an active support line such as Kinetics. It's astonishing how often I run into a Kinetic and begrudgingly avoid asking for Speed Boost refreshment despite constantly running out of endurance or having to manage endurance while knowing this buff alone would alleviate those issues all together. I would say 1/3 of the time I have a Kinetic that does not actively provide Speed Boost or useful Transference/Transfusions. I never say anything to them. I just mentally countdown the time that elapses until I get the buff. I get it. Kinetics is amazing. Stop throwing it out there as the "best" secondary Controller line for newer players that aren't accustomed to that.

I use Interruption Reduction on Teleport Ally and Aid Self. It's been quite noticeable having it in Teleports when I'm trying to speed up a mission.

This thread is silly. Knockback has practical use in terms of both displacement and an airborne stun-CC. There are plenty of Controllers and Dominators out there that are happy to drop Immobilize on a group that anchors the enemies to the ground and completely prevents displacement. Rarely have I encountered situations where Knockback did not work in a team's favor. If you want content where monsters are conveniently grouped together and don't roam I suggest sticking to AE in the bumper lane.

Ah yes, a slow projectile tool with laughable values to counter slows and damage is very efficient in the heat of a battle. Better off resting after a fight than waiting on me to hurl 8 Alkaloids. I don't hate the line, in fact I really enjoy playing the poison line. The line could use some adjustments because as it stands, it just feels under performing.

After getting a Sonic/Poison Corrupter to 38, I imagined having a "splash" AoE on Alkaloid and Antidote would dramatically change this line to not feel so gimpy. The Debuff aspects are already "spit and splash" effects that wouldn't be too far off in alignment to the said proposal. Having to deal with Alkaloid's slow animation for a pathetic heal isn't very rewarding at all. At least extending the heal to be a small radius on the target would make it feel more worthwhile. I also somehow thought Antidote would work like "Injection" from the Medicine line where it would have a Negative or Positive effect depending on the target. Unfortunately, it's just a long animation Clear Mind.

Yes. I love that and them fat 800+ Twilight Grasp heals on each person near me.

If you engage before other players then that is the case. If there is already an engagement then there is the option of extra CC damage diffusement from the knockdowns. Phantom Army is immune to damage and buffs effects. Do they even receive their own Procs like Soulbound?

Illusion/Dark Controller - Incredibly happy with this combination itself. I slotted Overwhelming Force (Chance for KnockDown) into Phantom Army and never looked back. Each pet runs their own Proc cycles, and I'm constantly seeing knockdowns. They're bullies now! Dark Servant is a pet bloated with Proc potential but I decided to throw on him "Touch of the Nictus" to get that extra edge of damage when the heals he occasionally throws out. I'm content with it. I placed Superior Will of the Controller on Spectral Terror to also add damage to a pet that seemed to lack in damage. It appears to proc upon being summoned/and/or casting. With the short cool-down of this pet I find myself constantly summoning it to help aid in damage. At one point I slotted the Fear disorient and some other damage proc. Ultimately I turned to slotted more Superior Will set for the bonuses because I wanted to get Phantom Army's recharge on point. For Incarnates I have both Cognitive and Diamagnetic Interface Procs. I couldn't really deduce how much chaos the confusion Procs were causing but I have seen them. I slotted the -Regen one later to see if I could solo any GM's. Turns out I can solo Lusca Tentacles and other small GM's but it's just not worth the time.

Ideally I would want Black Hole to function as a Toggle. You use it and then your team wants to penalize you while they wait out the full duration to attack. Not to mention the effects are not very noticeable like Dimension Shift.

I have found that Ice/Kinetic has the advantage of bypassing (more so ignoring) "AGGRO" and "Maximum Target" cap using rains. For instance, you could focus on the immediate crowd you're dealing with while additionally drop a Blizzard on a distant crowd. I imagine for a Fire/Kinetic you need to place yourself inside each group and deal with them as you move along whereas I'm dropping 2 groups at a time. A cycle for me would consist of: Drop a Blizzard on distant concentration of enemies. Move toward a separate concentration. Drop Ice Storm, Kinetics, Ions, Soul Drain and Single-Target Damages. Once Blizzard recharges, drop it on another distant crowd. Rinse. Repeat. The greatest aspect of all is that having Two rains frees of time to perform other necessary actions instead of spamming Fire Ball.

I noticed a few of those put focus on Self-sufficiency by taking lines from other pools together and creating an entirely new Hybrid pools. Though they do propose fun concepts, I see a deviation toward Self-targeted abilities which are not in line with a Support role. With Power Sets already completely fleshed out, less resources could be dedicated toward developing such a role. The idea behind matching an entirely Defensive poolset with a Weaponry poolset brings the user to the decision during encounters and building their characters. Do I want to build more toward fortifying my team or toward damage? bulwark [ bool-werk, -wawrk, buhl- ] noun fortification, support Inherit Ability: "(Positive/Negative) Reinforcement" The balance between choosing to be more Offensive (Weaponry) or more Defensive (Support). As a player continues to invest into one side, their abilities will enhance in that direction while the other falters. As battles ensue many players may find themselves within a happy medium. For anyone that has played "SMITE", this is basically Hel's passive meter. Ex) As you spend more time wracking up damage, you will deal enhanced damage so long as you neglect to use Defensive abilities. Invest more into Defensive action, your (Heals/Buffs/Debuffs) will enhance in value and your Offensive action will deplete with each usage.

After years of avid gaming, I have often found myself gravitating toward characters that fall under a Support category. The Support role shines where they can grant their team Buffs, Heals, and Debuffs necessary to secure victory. It's not about quick kills, it's about outlasting and adjusting to incoming assault. City of Heroes carries the roles of Defender, Controller, and Dominator that have the ideal Support lines I am referring to. These three archetypes all have something in common - They're all ranged roles. Where is the character that has been usually refereed to as something like a Paladin in other games? Yes, I am referring to a Melee variant to join frontlines. Unlike the Caster perspectives playing safe in position. Unlike the Tanks, Scrappers, Brutes, and Assassins. The Bulwark role will enhance combat whilst standing in the heat of battle. The damage may be sub-par, but that is the trade-off for being the Team-oriented Melee Support. Primary Lines: Cold Domination Dark Miasma Empathy Force Field Kinetics Nature Affinity Pain Domination Poison Radiation Emission Sonic Resonance Storm Summoning Thermal Radiation Time Manipulation Traps Trick Arrow Secondary Lines: Battle Axe Broad Sword Claws Dark Melee Dual Blades Electrical Melee Energy Melee Fiery Melee Ice Melee Katana Kinetic Melee Martial Arts Psionic Melee Radiation Melee Savage Melee Spines Staff Fighting Stone Melee Street Justice Super Strength Titan Weapons War Mace As you see, the lines don't offer very much for the user of the Archetype themselves in terms of the Defense. It's not an expert in combat, nor is it an expert in tanking itself. The Bulwark could potentially provide a bridge between Supporting your team and bashing skulls in. Let us build the Robin Hood Trick Arrow and Dual Blades Bulwark. Perhaps a thunderous Kinetic and Katana Shinobi. Let us make our Empathy and War Mace Paladins!