Golden Azrael

The 'grand standing' Arr is more intimidating, I agree. It has a showboating sense of grans standing intimidation. It does seem to be a difference based on body type. I don't tend to like the 'bulky' giant body type. I always found it looked visually constipated to me. A bit like the Michelin tyre man. 'Odd', less well proportioned. hashtag/Ahhrrr. Ty, I'll give this a try. Azrael.

That would be reason enough to push the recharge in my build. Boss sleeping sounds with S.F sounds very K-ool. I open with confuse then put the 'sleep' down. The Static Fields is a signature power. Worth 6 slotting. 🙂 I found myself trying to click the power buttons in your video. Enjoyed watching the attack chain. Chain Fences and making them fall over. My favourites. Confuse and slept before hand...they don't stand a chance. Decent stats on recharge and damage. I have -recovery in my current SO based general IO build. So when I get in amongst them I floor them with Power Sink. And spam Chain, Mu Ball. Chain Fences, Confuse, Static Field are pivotal powers. You need the chain fences to keep the mob from leaving so you can power sink and 'link' them to fall over. They can all be fitted for -recovery. And I have. Two in Chain fences. And end mods in the other powers as well. I enjoyed watching your play style. (WHAT was the 'SF' macro button for?) That's another veteran idea. Have a battery of stats to keep an eye on above next to the map window. I'll be sure to do that. I normally just have the defence ones. I remember asking for help with my Elec domi on live. I remember one of the posters saying you can't have it all, you have to make 'some' sacrifices to get to perma domi/hasten and def capping. I'm wondering if I didn't have Charged Brawl. I know I didn't have Chain Fence. Not sure I had the charged armour either as I was focused on draining their end as I had an end problem. Even after a 3.5 billion build. But the domi bar would fill up with perma domi. Not sure I had snipe either. But given the changes, that would be hard to give up. Azrael.

Amen to that. All I'm getting our 'Hurrrr!' tanks. Captain Powerhouse? Can you enlighten us in our (aaahhh...) hour of need? I was hoping it would sneak into the Tank patch... /Taunt 1 or /Taunt 2 Azrael.

Ty for posting the video. 🙂 Interesting to see a 'non-standard' farmer. A domi at that vs Energy mobs. (As opposed to the standard fire farmers.) Looks impressive to me and that you might be having a bit of fun with that one. Elec fences and mu ball doing their thing. And Barrier for some extra shielding. *Looking at your Enhancement screen. 🙂 My builds have to hang in PVE. So I understand where you're coming from in that regard. I'll look forward to seeing your final build. Azrael.

Ty, Oedipus for the reply. Much appreciated. 🙂 I'll check your 'in progress' build out. That it can kinda of farm is interesting and intriguiong to me as well. (I've been trying to push the envelope on farmers and see what other things can farm. eg. Fire blasters...ice tankers etc.) I never did 'farm' on live (well, not in the conventional sense.) But I've been getting more into farming on Homecoming. I've 'seen the light' in that regard. A video of it in action? Yes please. I'll give you a gentle nudge in due course. 😉 Been trying to remember the build, powers wise, I had on live. I know I had perma domi, perma hasten and some decent defence (the build cost me 3.5 billion in influence...I remember that. Ouch.) I had Gremlin, Voltaic, Mu pets. And I'm pretty sure I had all the primary and 2ndary bar chain fence. I did have hasten. ofc. The Mu epic as mentioned with pet and power sink. Not sure I had the charged armour being honest. And flight. (But no hover, I recall.) I recall going barrier and reactive and that's as much as I can remember on my incarnates. Not sure what Alpha I picked. Maybe it was musculature. Meanwhile, I'll check out your build! Azrael.

Caulderone, ty for adapting your build. I'll have a good look at it. 🙂 Mbre2006. I caught some of your interesting 'domi' contributions in the Gravity/Energy threads..? (I tried to put some of those general pointers into my own build. But I just fell a little short due to the, well, you might call them the 'constraints' of the build I enjoy.) So ty for adding weight to Caulderone's build. I'm intrigued. I tend to like the helping contributions from the CoH community. They give me insight beyond my scope of vision. It's nice to see a build 'Aha. That's the idea of I'm after.' 🙂 I'll post an update after I've scrutinised Caulderone's built and made some progress in thought and deed. Azrael.

Ps. I'm currently running with general IOs with that slotting. My incarnates. The only set pieces I've fitted are Numina Recovery and Performance Shifter Chance for End. Azrael.

Can it be done? I have Elec Control. Elec Assault. And the Mu Patron. Yes. I like and use all the powers. 🙂 I'm not one for hacking out half the powers from my primary and 2ndary to make a 'defence capped' build. Objective. I DID, on live, have a Perma Domi, Perma Hasten and around 35% defence. I'd settle for something like that (I don't recall having Surge Power but I did have the Mu pet...and the L38 Voltaic pet.) Can I get back to something like that with my build? Basic Playing style: I play with Surge of Power and Domination tick tocked with a bit of down time between each one... So when Surge drops (allows me to manno-on-manno with +2x8s...) I can hit the domi button and be fully end restored and a demi-god of control. My Attack Chain: I start off the mob with Confuse, then drop the sleep, then chain fences and finally, Power Sink. So end drain and -end recovery. A couple of rounds of this...and... I find them very easy to 'blap' their lights out with melee attacks *(Charged Brawl, Havoc Punch knocks them off camera and Thunderstrike sprays them flying)...yes...even with 'moderate' Dominator damage. I find mobs with no end are far more brittle. Takes a bit longer. But a couple of rounds of elec control and their softened up for the Bua-shakka. I am considering losing Leadership Assault and Tactics for Hover and the L38 pet. I find the pets are good 'soft armour.' (I do miss that little flying electric sentinel thing. And hover I miss having in interior missions.) My Build. http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1572&c=720&a=1440&f=HEX&dc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m short of the recharge time I need for Perma Domi. I'm miles away from Perma Hasten. And my current defence is 'piddly.' This is an expensive build by the looks of it. It's my 1st attempt. 🙂 No perma anything or decent defence. 😕 Problem is. Yes. I use and like all the powers listed. Though I'm considering losing leadership (assault and tactics) for my other pet at L38. And I could get Hover to fit some defence and global recharge. So, using my build, can we optimise for Perma Domi, Perma Hasten and Defence capped range? This build isn't a total disaster, the regen, recovery and resist dam' numbers aren't too bad. But 72.5% recharge is not...enough? Feel free to post your build attempts. Quite a few are saying it's quite 'easy' to have perma hasten, perma domi and be capped. I'll believe that when I see it. (Without half the build being craved out.) Is there room to fit other sets and optimise my build to get Perma Domi? Can perma hasten be achieved? Can the defence numbers be squeezed higher? Azrael.

You know. I'd like to see a 'Might' damage aura like Invincibility's defence bonus for tanks. Ie. A damage bonus for each mob near you. (A bit like the Assault incarnate thing.) Tanks are slow and plodding. So even if this were the case, if they were to 'grab an all you can eat aggro buffet' (TM) then they'd still take ages to clear said mob or 2 or 3 because Tanks are slow attackers. eg. Ice Melee. It's dreadful. The rubbish Ice Swords. Take them out an you have a Frozen Fists, Frost, Freezing Touch and Ice Foot Stomp. There's no real bit hitter or two in this. So EVEN if Ice hit twice as hard? It would still be very slow at clearing aggro'. Tanks play like giant door stops. Tough. Tough is great. But being able to affect the fight by 'Smashing the mob in the face' is what it doesn't seem to do as well. Aside from an aggro' aura bonus? I'd like to see a 'Might' press button. ie. BU converted into a 1 minute stage of, well, build up. Do these two suggestions and watch tank uptake go down like barn storming. Slow and Harder. And an index linked damage bonus per mob to grind mobs down better. A sustained 'burst' of damage for 1 min to 'punch a mob in the face to affect the fight.' (They changes might even make Ice Melee respectable...seriously, ice melee needs work.) Azrael. PS. I've set built an AoE Shields/SS Brute. Sure. It's an IO uber set build. But. When I play it? It's a thing of wonder. When I play this? I think. 'This is what my tanks should be.' Tough but also able to smash and pummel and be generally ruinous to any mob or two (c'mon...I'll take on two mobs of ya....) who gets in the way. A big part of me feels the CoV surpassed the design limitations of the originals in many ways. Why else would so many more people play Brutes than tanks? You get 'most' of the toughness, most of the taunting, most of the hit points with damage that completely eclipses the design original. Not just that, the fury building mechanism teases and toys with the coh brute player. It's a compelling mechanism to get greater damage. Damage is popular. I'd privately argue that all ATs should have similar damage. My answer would be 'how you get there' is the play differential. ie. Slow and hard as opposed to quick and light or burst vs dot damage. Single target vs AoE target.

I have a fire/fire blaster farmer. High resists, some def'. Devastatingly damaging. Can survive without the incarnate shields. It makes influence really fast. +4 x 8. I have a fire brute farmer as well. Not done his 'build' yet. But have some incarnates on him. +4 x8. Have to burn the inspirations a bit more. Also quite good at making influence. I also have an 'AoE' shields brute for S*L farming. Though I run it on the fire comic con. As to how I do it? I progressively aggro' as many mobs as I can and smash or burn them as fast as I can using all attacks, AOEs, toggles, DoTs...and Inc and non-inc nukes. Azrael.

I've given this a few days testing now. It is most impressive. On the fire farm +3 or 4 x8 it lays waste to the mobs. It rocks, shudders, melts and shakes the mobs to the core. It's highly kinetic. And on that point. I will add Handclap from Dant's build at some point. That extra bit of disorient and mitigation e.g. when Rage drops would be most welcome. And I find Hand clap great, showboating, fun. The original Niyce numbers are correct. The Agility incarnates gives the extra 3% defence (at Tier 3) to soft cap Incarnate Def' on melee to take it to 56% AND bring the AOE numbers past the standard soft cap. I built my build with Attuned IOs only. Azrael.

Ok. I've tried Hello Niyce One and DantetheStoic. I've (inspired by the thread that caught my attention...) made this. It cost a cool 500 m in cash and another 400 m in Merits. A 900 m build. Not cheap. Been after a Shield/SS build that was defence capped for a while. This caught my imagination. The last one I had on live cost me 1 billion and was positionally capped on Melee, AoE and Range. By 1%, I think. 56% Melee // 48% Ranged // 47% AOE Defense (-3%? On all three?) These numbers caught my eye. I thought, aha. Melee capped on incarnate. I ran the link to your build and the stats come up 3% short on all three. 'After' I made the build in my zeal to finally find a superior capped build...with sound res' numbers to back it up. When I went to test it in combat and put all my toggles on. I had to blink. Surely, I can't be 3% short? I rant the link and it confirmed. 3% short. So maybe a unique is missing? Or the -res (on one set of power) could have a sixth slot to cap the AoE. That's the only thing I could find as to why the AoE wasn't capped. But the melee is short of the incarnate soft cap. Or just maybe it wasn't 56% in the 1st place and it was a typo. Not a disaster. And perhaps quibbling (I don't want to sound churlish. It's a good build.) My build on live was 45-46% on all three. So this build is better on one. Ties on another. And the AoE falls short by....1%. And seems faster and more potent damage wise. 3% less isn't the end of the world. But after spending best part of a billion and not getting capped on AoE I was a little agog. How does it play.? It probably eclipses my original. The extra AoE of Mu Ball and Fence vs the Fireball epic I had on live adds extra AoE. And contains the mob. I'm not seeing that much end drain or that much KO. But it's a proc. It seems to have a smoother attack chain, faster and a platform of decent res' behind that defence cap. (Well, apart from AoE by 1%.) This builds on Shield's Defensive / Res' base to good effect. Very hard to kill. Very survivable. I have incarnates from my old (non-set build) such as Hybrid Melee. Diamagnetic. My Alpha is Cardiac. Ageless. No pets yet. Didn't have to use the melee hybrid much. Maybe the odd inspire... There are windows in the opportunity that weaken this. I wouldn't call it impossible to kill. At it's peak it's tough to kill. And there are time you don't need the hybrid incarnate at all. But there are windows of opportunity where if you're on 3 mobs it can take a kicking and you're down to the last 1/4 of HPs. That might be off the back of a Rage drop. I DO play with the % stat open to keep an eye on this. And try to pop purples as this 'crash' happens. The sooner they nerf this 'crash' the better. Hopefully the tanker patch deals dividends. Another point. I wouldn't say it leans on Ageless to keep it's end up. There are times you get the double end crash from Hasten and Rage and your stamina bar is in real trouble. But seeing as most of the time you don't need the inspires you have them on standby for pinks, greens and blues. Instead of using them to prop you up. (Like I do on my Fire Blaster farmer.) Most of the time. The end is sufficient. I'd say Cardiac helps in this regard. I have Vigor. But it's only T1 and I will try this on T3-4. And I wonder if Vigor is what gives the extra 3% on the defence numbers? Dante. I saw things in your build I liked. Hand Clap. I regret not taking it. I'd happily lose the single target Mu strike. My new to force feedback and the recharge procs. 6 slots? Not sure I'd go that far. Your regen and stamina stats seemed a good deal better than Niyce's. (Do yours include the incarnates you've picked?) I don't have the stomach to rebuild again just for Handclap. But to me. This build could do with extra mitigation. As quick as Footstomp is to come around there are times when extra mitigation and stun would come in handy. The knock down proc in chains isn't enough. I now feel I could throw out Mu single target, pinch one of the slots from Niyce's taunt (two slots for taunt seems a bit much) where I don't feel the psi proc fires that much. I'd keep that maybe but take the 2nd slot and put it into hand clap. And pinch another slot from somewhere to make Handclap a 3 slot and go Forcefeedback proc, knock down and maybe a stun. Even two slotted for FF proc and KDown would have had me happy. It's end hungry. But I'd use this mainly when Ageless is up and in full flight. You're not that far behind Niyce's defence numbers except in range where you fall behind quite a bit. But there are opportunity to 6 slot two powers and get 5% extra range taking you to 42%. I haven't done your pet (Banished Rain?) yet. But I'm going to. A cool idea. I hope I don't sound negative. You both inspired me to make a 900 m build! 😮 It plays great. It's robust. It's fast. Incarnates. From where I am on Cardiac, Hybrid Melee, Interface Diamagnetic (tiers 3) and Pyre judgment (T1) I'd say there's room for me to finest it by -res the mobs. I'd be tempted to take Reactive. And then we'd see this baby cut through mobs like a hot knife through butter. I think it would suit this. I'll try the Degen' one as well. I'll for for the Assault as I don't need the Hybrid most of the time. So I can really push the damage numbers even further. And the Banished Rain for the buff. Sounds a cool idea. I've tested this on the firm and s&L farms. This thing cleared both on +4 x8. Leaving a fire farmer gasping in its wake. It's an AoE monster. I used Pyre Judgement (from my old build) on T1 and it toasted mobs. It will be awesome on T4 Radial. Great for a Shield/SS farmer. An ode to my old build which had fireball which I liked using. But I wanted to try Mu ball and Fences. It's getting talked about. It's not bad at all. No problems. I just wonder. Is there room to push this build just a bit further to the Soft Incarnate cap..? This has got 2 AT sets purpled. It's got 3 more purple sets. This is a serious build....and there doesn't seem like a vast room for manoeuvre. But could those def numbers be eek-ed higher? I have an SR tank which is a very interesting build to compare. Where I'm Inc' soft capped with strong res numbers to back it up. But a comparison for another day. I'm just a handclap and 2-3 slots in that being a happy camper. Mu Lightning doesn't give 'me' much. I find Handclap fun. Yeah. It doesn't do damage. But the disorient does damage mitigation with knock down to back that up. I'll pout a while about that. Maybe work up the will to tweak the build after the dust has settled. Robust and yes, 'great fun' to play. Regards, Azrael. PS. I put the Taunt in Against the Odds. I certainly attract aggro...!

Questions do incite chaos. That's a good thing. It's up to Homecoming to make sense of that chaos. They will do what they must. Their solution over fixing Snipe's IO pay wall was elegant and in the spirit of the game's original (non-IO infested) pick up and play mandate. If they can do the same for the Tank AT's melee 'brokenness' I'll stand by what they decided. They've shown good faith so far. Truth? If you find any, let me know. Though any player can find this 'truth' by playing several tanks, squishes, brutes or TWs or Ice melee on a tank. I don't think 'it' needs a nerf. 'Lacks a solution' is closer to the mark. Try thinking of one, maybe? Better to find one before reaching for the nerf (negative thinking) bat. Who is hiding or denying? Or in short. Good luck balancing any MMO. That said. 'Balancing' could mean bringing up the under performing sets higher. For which their are numerous solutions. Some people (homecoming too) may decide it needs a nerf under the 'balance' guise. They've played the game for years. I think they've provided numerous quality of life aspects to the game. The original developers put SS/TWs out there like that. They had many years to fix them. So why didn't they? They stood by their design decisions. Or it clearly wasn't a priority to 'fix.' I don't think they are broken as such. I don't think they need nerfs. They can stand on their own. That said, I don't like TWs play style (I still don't get it after 20 levels....a bit shoe horned into the CoH game engine? I'd just throw it in the bin and start again) and the crash from Rage agitates playing the SS strength set. A bit of tidying up on those two? Up to them, I guess. You either have the penalty or you don't. If you have a penalty you decide how much. What. When. 1st stack of Rage? 2nd? 3rd? And again. How much? -Luck? -res? End Crash? Recharge crash? Defenceless 'beating on' thing for 10 seconds? Or run away thing? As an example, on my SR/SJ tank. I can get BU really quick. Every 25-28 secs. 'Click.' And? Well. I click it. Having Rage as a click every 2 mins is a bit whoop de doo to me. Other tanks only get a single stack of 15 sec(?) of BU. And Rage has two mins of 80% dam and 20% to hit. Then you can stack it....and again for a brief while. Simplicity if the ultimate sophistication. And the batton is passed and onus is now on Homecoming to find that solution. A burden of love, I'm sure. The creative solution is to make the other sets better. Whilst also tidying up the flaws in 'broken' sets e.g. Rages in SS (and TWs? Good luck.) All the noodling over number comparisons on Rikti towers is pretty academic. It's pretty obvious. Most players can tell which ATs and sets are most 'fun' by playing them. Sure, I can write down the numbers from EM and Street Justice side by side. But the play styles and hitting power is obvious through just playing it. The 'crash' mechanism seems out of mode design wise. It caused more irritation than anything. Especially in Rage's case. A single crash less press rage button for two mins? And adjust the tier 1 and 2 damages for SS. I think Cap Powerhouse has said it far more eloquently elsewhere. Other tanks have to click BU and wait 45 seconds -1:30 for 15 seconds. 'All those who have power are frightened to lose it.' It will mean a class AT pass to noodle the damage numbers for each melee set higher for tanks. (To compete better with the SS 'Rage' Tank) or... A chance to flex their developer design muscles and give each Tank AT an equivalent mechanism e.g. in EM, ice or stone's case. Another idea is a generic hero set could be made of the many melee animations out there for a 'Rage-less' set following the BU design. Additionally, offer SS minus Rage as an optional set, stick in BU and buff the rest of the lower tier numbers. If it was me? I'd just make BU last a minute. Even that would give the old tired tanker melee ATs like EM/Ice and Stone a shot in the arm. Azrael. I think it's going to come down to this. Eventually. You can't do it all at once, I guess. They did a good job tidying up snipe from behind it's IO paywall. I look forward to them democratising other Tank AT melee sets in this fashion. They're very respectful of the spirit of the Coh Game and Developer's intentions but if they can add something else, a better idea or refinements or even take a design leap if its justified...I'll be interested in seeing that they do.

Good stats. But can't say I'm a fan of it. The crash and all. It's not that I'm a fan of Rage. I just think when one tank melee type has access to that type of damage and to hit that (caveats noted) then creates a disparity. I don't believe in nerfs. I don't believe all alts should be the same. But I think the answer with regards Energy Melee (or indeed Ice....Stone) is giving an effective speciality that is equivalent. And I don't think EM has that single target specialism that it once had. ergo. The answer for me is to restore it. Is it via a longer BU button? A melee set review for the tanks? By introducing something new like a builder mechanism? Homecoming will have to decide that for themselves. Brutes are popular for a reason. Two actually. I've asked a lot of brutes. 'Why brute? Not tank?' 'A solo damaging tank.' 'Tanks are for teaming.' So you not only get the damage (tEH DMRG!) but you get a good mechanism to 'get there' with it. And if you have Rage with SS you're in triple heaven. There's a reason, then, why Brutes and SS are popular. How this comes back to EM? I've tried rolling En/Invul as a Brute. I'm L18. An attack chain of Barrage, Energy Punch, Whirling Hands and Total Focus. (Why no Energy Punch? I find it a bit 'meh.' But you do miss it from the attack chain...making things somewhat pause worthy so I may put it back in as Fury will supplement it's meh.) I do have BU as well. The damage is ok. But it's hard to build up a head of steam on it. It's not bad. It doesn't feel Hero 1 or Overdrive good. (Those NPCs really seem to clobber the mobs...) My impressive of it being on a Brute is only more so of it being on a tank. That single target damage could be pushed higher. If you're going to be slow and plodding? Hit harder. I did do the break down stats of EM on a Beta server Tank and Street Justice L50 on live. Across the board EM is far ahead on each equivalent tier. But SJ is much faster, ofc. Yet EM didn't seem as effective to me. You can grind the mobs on +2 x 8. And I was slowly getting back into it. (Memories of grinding Council mobs on live.) I still feel those damage numbers could be pushed up higher. The worst offender being Energy Punch. Be nice to have an idea or schtick like 'Barrage' where your attacks could be 'doubled' via an Energy Builder. Even if that were the case. Hardly game breaking. (I felt that a bit in combat. A bit 'grindy.' The 'Barrage' effect could be built in numerous ways. Procs. Building energy. etc. See next comment. I did have one idea that dropped whilst playing it. 'Barrage.' An energy builder instead of BU. And when it gets to a certain point. BAMM! You release a barrage of energy. Double damage. Having a burst of double damage via a combat mechanism would be good. There's good examples of it in Dual Blades, the Dominator Psi Button of Godliness. The single target numbers were better than I thought they'd be. But in practice. They don't feel they're hitting hard enough. Is a few % more damage in a melee set review going to cut it? Some of these sets are just old. Then, in EM's case, got nerfed. It's probably on HC's list of things 'to do.' EM could do with a shot in the arm. They could link an 80% boost in damage to Taunt. When you reach a certain amount of targets (the more aggro you take...) the more you dig deeper into your might to deal with the situation. So it's based off your reason to be. Taunting and grabbing aggro'. If you added 80% based damage to tanks melee. I'd say that was adequate given how slow they are. EM would look far more attractive. Ice and stone would blush less. I keep revisiting this thread because I like the premise of it. I did role an EM/INvul on live before it got nerfed but didn't get past L11 to get a sense of it's overall picture. Before live closed I went back to it and finished it post nerf. Fun. In a grinding sort of way. It needed a bit of patience for it's plodding play style. It needs improvement. It's just a question of 'how' it gets there. Azrael.

Yes. Steve Jobs era iMacs ran City of Heroes at 32 fps or higher in bootcamp. My 2008 iMac ran CoH just fine. Start in performance mode and tweak the settings from there. Watch Occlusion and Particle count in your GPU settings. Full blow ultra mode might be tricky. My current iMac handles that no problem. But my old one was at 4 fps. So, performance mode and 1200 by 1024 was the order of the day or 1600 by 1200. Try it. Azrael.

I don't doubt TWs damage potential. But I think it plays dreadful. The weapon swishes about erratically. I still can't figure out what it's doing. The disconnect in play feels weird to me. Stone/Ice/EM all have a solid sense of hit and land the punch. TWs flits around like a giant kipper. It feels like a power/weapon from a another game that doesn't fit into the CoH play mechanic. Dual Swords. Katana. Most sets have a sense of gravity. Dark melee. When you hit. You can 'feel' it. I've had to give up on TWs for a while at L20. I just don't like it. That aside. Why are other tank melee sets like Stone/Ice/EM languishing behind TWs? The tank AT is getting a design pass. Long overdue. But I feel this was an opportunity to do a very simple damage design pass in terms of 'in class AT' review. eg. SS has Rage which can be 2-3 stacked. TWs is out there on its own because the Devs wanted the punters into play the new mEGAR powUR set. Sure. My request is two fold. 1. Give Tanks a domi button. Which builds upto being ready to press? 2. Press for a 2 minute 'BU' (basically, a single stack 'press' of Rage or a Two Minute BU. Semantics.) This would result in reducing the disparity of the other tanks. SS would still be POWURful. TWs would still be out there. But boy, it would allow the older (fun to play) sets more oomph. Which they are surely lacking. Azrael.

Lots of swoosh. While the team moves onto the next mob and you're up in the air....hash tag....embarrassing. (Get that guy a coat hanger....) 😛 Energy melee isn't the only 'slow' set. In fact....Radiation Melee I like. On a brute it's very chomp worthy. However....I....find.....the....attacks....pause.....just.....enough.....before.....each....attack....that.....they.....make.....Energy......Melee.....seem.....quick.....by.....comparison. Not enough to be entirely annoying....just mild anxiety....(is this attack going to hit or what?) Wait....wait.....they're she goes. Phew. Is radiation melee the new Energy Melee? It hits really hard. But it doesn't have the piston like chomping of Energy Melee. Semantics. I asked, 'what ways could energy be improved?' Or some such. I gave you my ways it could be improved. We get it. You don't like it. So hold your nose. You want your suggestions. (Whatever they are? They aren't in the above paragraph.) Energy is an old set. It's not alone. Tanks as an AT whilst not 'broken' were certainly overdue for a design pass. And Homecoming have wasted little time in addressing a handful of basic problems with base/max dam caps, aggro, range of effect and taunt caps. Long over due. But hardly ground breaking changes. I could never take a tank seriously that 'love taps' the mobs. Is he a tank or not? Individual melee reviews seems like it will be further back in the queue (if the new mob res' review is going to take place....that sounds like a lot(!) of work. I would have thought that just switching EM back to its pre-nerf could be done quite easily. But I'm not a programmer. That's a presumption on my part. That's how many would fix it. If they were happy pre-nerf? That's the way to go. With the new Tank AT review I guess EM fans would be like a pig in muck. Me? The AT review and having played other tanks before that review. Ice. Stone. EM. I don't think EM is alone in needing fixing. Sure, the under pinning of that is the broad AT design pass. But Captain Powerhouse did mention a 'builder' bar for a 'Fury' type mechanism. But he backed away from the idea. I say, 'Shame about that.' Give me a domi button that builds. Press button. 2 mins of 'BU' style damage. Hardly game breaking. Tanks are still 'slow' punchers. And that's the design aspect I'm happily in agreement with. But a lot of the noodling talk about Tier 1 and 2 swapping. (Damage isn't enough....etc. I won't take that power, not worth it...) The long ET animation. Shrugs. If you're slow. It's got to hit harder for me. Rather than going through every melee set and tweak until the end of time and the endless 'noodle talk' about that .01%... Even if over tanks like Ice/Stone/EM had BU for a single stack press for 2 mins with a 30-45 sec recharge in-between it would be hardly game breaking. Rage is a 2 or 3 stacking 'Rage' toggle. Quite different. My point being, EM, ice, Stone....clearly they were in for an early design changes the the fury mechanism. But Jack took the proposed design gimmick and gave us Brutes instead. Brutes are the new tank. The Fury mechanism eclipsed the original. To be fair to tanks. It wasn't the only AT eclipsed with the ATs in COV. They were pretty much all surpassed. Finally 🙂 If all you want is ET back to the original and your t1 and t2 swapped around, by all means, keep lobbying Cap Powerhouse for that. Heck, why not give Stun an AoE effect and some high damage? That would shake things up a bit. Doesn't make sense that you can ET someone and then love tap someone for stun. Surely a head knocking off stun with some damage would be nice with nice AoE gravy. So yes. Got loads of ideas for EM. But we'll be waiting a while for any of them to take effect. Azrael. Rage already has happened. It's on a SS melee tank. That's quite a disparity between SS and other sets. There needs to be an equivalent mechanism for other tanks. SS can be special and unique. By 2-3 time more unique? So the 80 dam and 20 to hit x2-3 more than Stone/Ice/EM? Added to that. Cap' Powerhouse has already muted (but yes, backed away from...why....oh why....) a fury like bar for Tanks. So giving Tanks more oomph and excitement....not just the damage....but an exciting gameplay mechanic is in Homecoming's thoughts. Tank ATs are no longer cast in stone. If a good idea (maybe from this thread....) comes along....they make push forward and implement it. How true. All those that have power are 'fraid to lose it. Nerfs, I find, are a negative approach. I can't have it? So no one else can. Rather than that. Let's be positive. EM/Ice and Stone look like mere shadows compared to TWs (which sucks by the way to play....I thought that on live and still do) and SS damage wise. Give the other tanks a single stack of 'Might' for 2 mins with a dollop of recharge in-between. Not game breaking. Other tanks would still be behind but not embarrassingly so. It will make tanks more compelling to play. Less tap. More oomph. Then Stone Hammer will look like it's really letting some one have it. And Big Ice Sword will seem less ridiculous. And if you're going to be up on that Christmas tree with ET? You can really clobber that mob with fairies dancing around his head. BU is part of the EM set. So it's quite legitimate to discuss it in the narrow confines of EM but also in the broader window of the Tank AT. But they are related issues. How do I know this? In my experience. On beta? EVEN with the much waited and needed for design pass. A L50 with Inc' EM compared to TWs is embarrassing. One resulted in many deaths (not to mobs, just to himself.) The other brandished the justice of Gabriel himself, trouncing the mobs with AOE beyond imagining.

Well. So SS and TWs stand taller than the rest of the Tank AT melee sets. (Why wouldn't SS stand so tall when it can double stack Rage?) The question is, are other melee set fans happy with that? What does this mean for Ice, EM, Stone, Street Justice etc? They don't have 'Rage' (or an equivalent 'Might' mode.) And so we seriously consider BU a 10/15 sec Icarus moment anywhere near the same as a 2 minute damage and to hit buff? What are the options? 1. Manually pass over each Tank Melee set and noodle the numbers higher? So they are higher than base SS numbers? 2. Give all tankers 'Rage' (But this reduces the unique SS. But is it fair SS has access to this vat of Damage and To Hit for 2 mins vs 15 sec for the rest?!) 3. All tankers have BU. So make BU a a 2 minute click of single stack 'Mighty' (SS is unique as it can double stack its Rage. The deficit to all other tankers is reduced as they FINALLY get a single stack of 'Rage', I'd call it 'Mighty.' eg. The name from Incarnate's 'Might.') Cap Powerhouse talked about adding a 'Fury' or damage strength bar to Tanks. I wish he had. It would have added more interest to tank's combat. A bit like a domi bar. The best mechanism in the game for me. You hit and hit and then 'Might' button 'press' and you get 2 mins of 'BU'. It would be fun and unique to tankers vs Brute. Just drop in the Domi Button builder and press mechanism into the Tank AT. 'Instant' solution and one which would add value. Simple. Effective. Fun. Tank's are having the 'AT' pass (long overdue at the moment.) But I'd argue these changes are somewhat expect and conservative. They all make sense. Higher base dam and cap and wider aggro taunt and range of attack amplified. I've built an EM tank and a TWs tank on Beta. They're not in the same universe. An EM tank vs a SS tank are not in the same universe. So the answer to that is? Azrael.

Em 'restored?' (Whatever that actually means...) Put ET back to it's previous (unremarkably plain) 'less showy' state. I'd be fine with that. What else? That it? (I used the pom poms on live and was 'fine' with it. I found the rest of the set 'light' on damage. Focus was ok if somewhat slow. Barrage was ok for an early power. Energy punch sucked though. That is the kind of power that sets up the T1 vs T2 swap agreement....well, in Energy's case. And it worked better as a T1 on the Beta, for me.) I spent 1 billion influence on my energy tank build on live. It was diamond hard with great res and def' due to the invul' primary. Energy? I enjoyed playing it. You have to get in there and stick with it and enjoy it for what it is. And I did. Now? Post live? Even with all the new Tanker AT changes...Energy feels 'short' of what I'd expect. (I guess I was happy in ignorance before....now I'm aware Energy is missing 'something' I'm dissatisfied?) Slow and Hard hitting. (It's ok on Brutes...because the damage keeps getting higher... Stick a couple of recharge in there and keep pumping...) As for 'Rage' (mere semantics. Perhaps the word has more in common with a Brute with 'Fury.' Ironically, a mech' originally destined for Tanks, it seems...) Related to the Energy 'neutered' Melee debate is the ability for tanks to break out and take it to the next level for a while. EM isn't alone in its under performance. (If Energy thinks its got it bad, how come nobody picks Ice melee? Which is torturous.) In one fell swoop, there is a simple pivot that could settle 'this' debate once and for all rather than noodling here and there. SS gets a massive boost in dam and to hit for 2 mins and it can be stacked and other sets like the mediocre EM get 10-15 sec of 'touching the face of god' ? No wonder SS is popular. What about EM? Ice? Stone? Or the 'light' Street Justice? It won't be a debate settled in the current beta server tanker AT pass. So we won't be hitting like Overdrive or Hero 1 anytime soon. (Having, as a brute or blaster, been on the receiving end of Hero 1's punches...he hits like a truck (near one shotting)!!! Or stop and watch as Overdrive dishes the smack down on a small mob whilst you watch or struggle to get your attacks in...) EM? You can hit BU and have your 'Icarus' moment for ten seconds or 'whatever.' It's reach far exceeds its grasp. I'd argue it doesn't even reach far. A small smudge in damage for the T2 Energy Punch and the 'back to pre nerf' ET? Is that all we wish for? Azrael.

Not in my Universe. Anything is possible. I have some sympathy with where Energy is as a tanking set. (Energy gets pilloried for being mediocre on Blaster, Sentinel etc.) I find it fun. But on the tank? I find it really mediocre. I duo buddy got to play it before the nerf, I didn't. He was addicted to the sound fx and the boom boom KA BOOM waltz of it. Post nerf. I played on on live post nerf (I did have a pre-nerf Energy / INvul that I only got to L8-11 so never really got to test the pre-nerf E Transfer.) I don't think it's game breaking to go back to pre-nerf Energy Melee. Having tried out a Beta Tanker changes roll on both Energy Melee/Invul and Titan Weapons/Rad? They're not in the same universe. I died several times on my EM/INvul on +4x8. Not so with TW/Rad which hung on doggedly. Reverse the EM nerf is no threat to TWs. Again, I say. Energy isn't the only tanker set that is mediocre. The one way to change it is to turn BU into a 'click' for 2 mins. And it, coupled with the broad base and cap tanker damage changes would be transformative. Then a stone hammer would hit hard. A chill would hit hard. An E Transfer would blow the doors off. SS got rage. But I get the feeling they (the original Devs) ran out of time or inspiration for the other tankers and put the 15 sec BU buff in as a catch all. Coupled with the poor end, poor dam and slow hitting? Meh. So you ended up being a taunt door stop. The only time that seemed to change was for Rage tanks re: SS tanks. And an all too brief BU for other tanks lagging behind. If you're going to hit slow? Hit hard. I don't really feel any of the Ice/Stone or En tankers do this. Slow? Sure. Hard hitting? Meeeehhhhhhh. Campaign for 2 min click BU? And that problem goes away on those 'fun' but old sets (they're just old and been left to rot AT and power sets.) We're debating the Rage crash in addition. That's a separate but related debate. What about the rest of the tankers? They get to stand and watch SS with a crashes Rage while they pick up the crumbs from teh tanker table? Just give the best of them a 2 minute click. Don't even have to swap out BU. Just turn the time up from 15 sec 2 mins. 'Done.' Ice melee on tanks sucks. Stone melee is fun but you have to churn the attack cycle. It looks like you're really clobbering them. But the damage number outside of BU are 'meh.' And Energy? Looks like it's been neutered at the vets. Dink dink...the sound of some energy pomps rolling along the floor.... My belief is that all ATs get there in their own way and their own mechanisms. Be it Rage, AoE, DoT, Range, Melee. Every AT will have it's own weak link be it a glass chin, hitting slow, having to build up their damage to peak. Every AT should have a strength and weakness. Those design decisions weren't perhaps fully resolved in the original cast of the CoH types. In many ways, the CoV ATs eclipsed the designs of the originals. One forum member told that Jack Emmert told him that 'Fury' was originally intended for Tankers and a year later we got Brutes. That's a telling remark. I'd be quite happy with ALL tanks getting the Fury mechanism but the Tanks keeping a low cap, weaker single target damage. If that can't be done? Give ALL tanks Rage. A single click of it as BU for 2 mins. I don't see that as game breaking. Brutes still get stronger Single Target and higher peak dam cap. But weaker taunt and AoE efficiency. Azrael.

Takes ages to take down Carnie or Malta with a blaster with SOs. The former, I never liked. The latter I used to 'hate' but I have a grudging respect for now. I was in Steel the other day with a Brute EM/Invul and it's 'ok.' It's a little kludgy and clumsy. When the fury bar builds to about a 1/3 (hard to get it really going...) and you hit BU, then it's almost compelling. I hope the tanker changes make it more compelling. I still feel there are issues with this particular set as I do Ice, Stone. I had that 'idea' when I hit BU. Why not just make BU a two minute click for Tanks. With the standard BU recharge time between bouts..? For me, this would put the tanks on the map, damage wise...and add some lustre to old sets like Ice/Stone and Energy melee which are very grindy. Re-balancing enemy res. Should be interesting. If they're made tougher it kind of neuters the class change to the Tank AT. You'll be back to puffing and wheezing...and taking ages to take down a mob or a group of mob. As for fire/fire blasters. It's Russian roulette at the moment. I pop lots of inspires (lucks, toughs, reds...) to get through mobs of Freak and carry breakers for Council Vamps or Wolves that sleep or slap me. Azrael.

1. Revert to the pre-nerf Energy. 2. Make BU a two minute click with the recharge time as is. Fast. Hard. Single target. Damaging. Azrael.

Birds of a feather flock together. It's quite simple to me. Team with like minded people. I had a duo partner that wanted us to be 'Team Knock back.' So, someone suggesting something ridiculous like, 'Can't you line up your Nova against a wall?' doesn't happen. I have also tanked with a storm defender (same person, stuff blowing all about the place for 50 levels.) As long as I get initial aggro and they bunch up and I can get off my AoE attacks? After that, anything is fair game. But if a defender gets over zealous and breaks taunt and you're left in the middle of a rooted mob who are out of range lampposts, I just move to the next mob. Which suits me fine as I'm a progressive tanker. It's about understanding and equilibrium. So, I see things from both sides of the blast and knock back and melee fence. Azrael.

Yes. That's a good idea and point. Energy torrent is powerful enough to knock over some of the mob but not all? To me, that's erratic. I do like the idea that some that don't get knocked over get a stun. That what add another dimension to the set. One of the best suggestions I've ever read. Clever idea. As for the 'lack of damage', yes, it is the fun factor that balances that somewhat. To boost your damage, I recommended taking Assault and tactics so that you can hit more often than not. Try taking Victory Rush so you have at least 2 mins on full tap and try the elec epic for Power Sink to have end on demand. All of these add to your quality of life, to hit harder, more often and up time so your damage is greater overall. Make sure you take AIM for damage burst. Also, try teaming with a fellow, like minded defender that has Assault as well for some damage stacking. Try adding some -res into your IO set build as well. There are also dam' set bonuses from your IO set build. Don't forget to save up for and upgrade the Defender class AT sets. I got the oranges and upgraded to purples with Catalysts. And finally, Incarnates. You can go Musculature, Reactive and Assault mode. I'm running +4 x8 with a ranged capped build. I melt bosses and can take on swarms of Council vamps and werewolves. Even a Sonic defender who teamed with me and saw what I was doing and said, 'Damn, I'm jealous. I want to roll one of those....' Plenty of res into the build as well. Another way to boost your damage is...if you are end sufficient (I am) and your defense is capped (for range I am....and I have Barrier to send me over the top for Inc' content...) then carry plenty of dam' inspires. They boost your dam very well from mob to mob. Also carry res (orange toughs) to compliment your def capping...and help with any melee range stuff that you do. You can avoid the hand to hand stuff where vamps and wolves hit hard by hover blasting over them with torrent and exploding blast. Both of which have -res built into them. I may or may not match a brute at full tilt but you can push a given class to it's glass ceiling limits. In this case, I think I've proven my point on +4x8 with Bosses. Also, duo'd (where this arrangement comes into its own....) the ITF on +2 x8 with bosses with my Duo Partner. We made mincemeat out of the the 1st AV and big Rom? We beat him this time. Yes, we had Imperious help us and our Pets. But the end result will say, Defenders score victory. And there was a rush in that feeling. Vindication. Azrael.