Redlynne

Trick question ... are there any powersets that you would consider Verboten for pro parenting reasons? Some parents wouldn't want their child playing a character that uses guns ... so Assault Rifle and Dual Pistols are out ... but wouldn't have a problem with Archery/Trick Archery. Other parents want to not have their children playing "arsonist" types who set everything ON FIRE ... for what ought to be obvious reasons. If you want to Keep It Simple and not overload your son with myriads of options to keep up with and play through, I would honestly say that my SR/MA Tanker build (the v3.1.1 using Thunder Kick option) is probably going to be the SIMPLEST to play while still feeling powerful and awesome. The thing is that although it is "simple" to play, there's enough going on with it to keep things interesting (this is the build for my "main" character). The only thing you wouldn't want to pair it with (as a duo) is ... knockback. However, that would then open up the opportunity for you to play (yourself) my Mind/Nature/Primal Controller build that would make for an almost ideal combination, since it would give you plenty of "support" options while clearing the way for your son to feel like he's doing "most" of the work of kicking keisters of whatever the two of you are fighting against. He would be the "martial arts fighter" and you would be the "flower power girly" one who backs him up (and makes life SO MUCH EASIER for him). There are other possibilities of combinations of builds that I have posted which might appeal to your duo combinations, but if guns are a No Go then my Time/Dual Pistols/Soul Defender would not be an option, nor would my Huntsman build (since that's all rifle attacks on a Soldier of Arachnos). I would say that my Ninja/Time/Mace Mastermind build would be a LOT of fun to play (for you) but can get a bit fiddly and complicated if you're not familiar with how to set up keybind files to control the Ninja swarm and so on, and I've been having an incredibly fun time playing this build through Praetoria. I also have a Water/Ice Corruptor build, but the "support" on that one would be lacking and would probably appeal more to your son if he's more into ranged blasting than wanting to "suffer" the joys of Scrapperlock (although Tankerlock can happen too). So yeah ... options ...

There are times when you don't need it ... and times when you do. I'd rather Have And Not Need™ than the reverse. I've also found some curious edge case uses that keep cropping up often enough that keeping Crush feels like a wise decision, even if it isn't always "needed" per se. Redundant backup tools still come in handy from time to time.

There is. They resist debuffing via Level differential, and -ToHit is a debuff.

That's an overinterpretation. There's a difference between "I can get away with staying in Human form RIGHT NOW" and the alternative of "I only want to be in Human form FOREVER" since one is a CHOICE depending on the situation while the other is a MANDATE imposed at the respec screen. Sticking with Human form for a time does not ipso facto mean that you want to play a Human form ONLY build. It just means that FOR THE MOMENT I'm not flipping around between forms, while still having the OPTION to flip around between forms if the situation calls for it. The real point is picking the right tool for the job, depending on the circumstances at the time ... which is an extremely FLUID criteria, since circumstances change almost all the time. Deciding whether or not you need to change forms constantly or if you can stick with one form for a while (even though you still have the other forms in reserve) does not mean you want to respec out of the other forms ... it just means that you're deciding not to use the other forms RIGHT NOW.

I just cross-checked in game with my SR/MA Tanker (Redlynne) and verified that having an attuned Dam/End Pounding Slugfest and an non-attuned (Level 15) Disorient proc Pounding Slugfest in the same power unlocked the 2 slot set bonus just fine. The limitation is that non-attuned enhancements have a "fixed" Level on them, while the attuned enhancements will "float" within the range of the set. So long as your current Level (active/exemplar/whatever) is no more than 3 Levels below whatever the level of the enhancements you've slotted is, then you get the set bonus for those enhancements. Attunement simply allows the Level on an enhancement to vary (within the range of the set itself) as you Exemplar, rather than keeping it pegged/fixed at a single Level. In that respect, attuning works out well for most enhancements in most sets, but for procs that do only one thing (the proc effect) there is no benefit to attuning them if you acquired the proc at the minimum Level for the set. So if the set has a 30-50 Level range and you buy the damage only proc as a Level 30 enhancement, there is no useful benefit to attuning that damage proc ... but you would want to attune the rest of the set (just not the proc). However, if you acquired the proc for that set as a Level 50 enhancement, then yes you would want to attune it so that you wouldn't lose the set bonus from the proc slot every time you Exemplar below Level 47.

Even more thoroughly complete information can be found HERE.

Group Fly, as is, has an activation period of 2s and a buff duration of 10s ... and it already natively does not stack from same caster when used as a toggle aura (which costs 1.3 endurance every 2s, or 0.65/s before endurance reduction. If you want to keep it as a toggle buff, you only need to do 4 things to it: Change the buff duration from 10s to 60s. I figure this is an easy enough edit to make. Apply the Ignores Enhancements and Buffs property to the flight speed ... so everyone with the buff flies at the same speed (formation flying!). Set the flight speed buff to automatically hit the unmodified flight speed cap. Remove the ability to slot Fly enhancements into the power. Alternatively, you can do all of that and change the power from a toggle to a click with a 60s recharge (so it's perma even with any recharge enhancement) and can slot Recharge enhancements and you're still good to go. Either way you SOLVE the problem with how Group Fly works. S imple E asy E ffective ... not being done ... ... yet ...

Credit for this idea added to the write up of the v3.1.0 explanation (now including v3.1.1 edit).

Flash Arrow -90% PerceptionRadius for 60s -6.25% ToHit for 60s Neither effect stacks from same caster.

Although some of us have been brave enough to figure out a way to achieve perma lightform WITHOUT HASTEN ... The Lightform "crash" (such as it is) can be something of a double edged whiffle bat. I say that because if your HP is below 50% when the "crash" happens, it will RAISE your HP to 50% when the "crash" occurs. So ... if your HP is above 50% when Lightform's buff duration ends, your HP will be "harmed" so as to bring you DOWN to 50% HP. But if your HP is below 50% when Lightform's buff duration ends, your HP will be "healed" so as to bring you UP to 50% HP. Obviously, whether that's a bad thing/good thing is really a matter of context ...

If you're constantly (multiple times per minute) flipping around between forms, then no ... Orbiting Death isn't going to be good for how you play your Warshade. If, however, you've got an aggro magnet who can hold the attention of everything leaving you free to do "whatever" then you can totally stick with Human form for a while and use Orbiting Death to chew up piles of $Targets while also using other Human form powers ... but you need to "stay" in Human form in order for that to be a useful strategy/plan of attack. Note that this gets a LOT easier to do in groups when you've got Eclipse, you just need to have some other Human form attack powers that you can build a repeating attack chain out of while using Orbiting Death to chew up HP on piles of $Targets (and then Stygian Circle for ... fuel ... when they drop). Is it going to be "superior" to being in Nova and/or Dwarf form(s) while doing that? DEPENDS ... on the situation, circumstances, team/league and a huge pile of other variables that are almost too numerous to calculate (let alone be willing to yield to spreadsheet math in a vacuum). So if you're dedicated to the "play all three forms at once" style of play, then Orbiting Death may not be for you. However, if you can settle in and stick with Human form for "a while" as someone else plays Aggro Magnet for you, Orbiting Death can be a rather significant source of damage production at very little endurance cost ... it just won't produce that damage "all at once" or quickly for you, but it DOES make a difference over time.

I use these.

5 slot Snap Shot with Decimation (keep the Build Up proc) and you can produce some really surprising results. Snap Shot Decimation - Accuracy/Damage Decimation - Damage/Endurance Decimation - Damage/Recharge Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Decimation - Chance of Build Up Your best results will happen when you Snap Shot before using AoE attacks, since the damage buff will affect every $Target hit by the AoE(s) ... and if you build your attack chain right you can get the buff on multiple AoEs. You just need to activate the attacks within the 5.25s buff duration AFTER Snap Shot finishes animating, but it's perfectly fine to activate a power at 5.1s into the 5.25s buff duration and have the damage buff apply to that attack, even though the animation time "overhangs" beyond the 5.25s after Snap Shot before the animation is completed.

And here I thought they were working on Carp Armor/Carp Melee ...

At MOST you'd want to have a 2 minute duration, not 10. Any buff can be voluntarily canceled early by right clicking on it to make it stop.

I'll readily grant that Enflame being included in the Thunder Kick build is THE most "expendible" option for replacement with a(nother) One Slot Wonder™ power. Conserve power would make for a very decent alternative option if a one slot Enflame does not appeal to you. There's even a curious synergy with Victory Rush if you have Conserve Power. Victory Rush lasts for 120s and has a 300s recharge time (which cannot be enhanced to recharge faster). Conserve Power, with a single 50+5 common Recharge Reduction IO, lasts for 90s and would have a ~252-255s recharge time as a One Slot Wonder™ power in the context of this build. 120+90=210 So if you use Victory Rush ... let the 120s duration run to completion ... and then use Conserve Power at some point within ~50s of Victory Rush expiring, then Conserve Power will recharge in time for use again after the next Victory Rush ... and you'll only have ~90s of downtime when neither Victory Rush nor Conserve Power are in effect. On top of that, the Thunder Kick version has the longevity of endurance to attack continuously during that ~90s downtime (which could be split before and after Conserve Power even!) and not exhaust itself before the next Victory Rush cycle. Yes, that does sound like a remarkably viable alternative.

Take Inertial Reduction from Kinetics. Swap the +Jump effects for +Fly. Done.

Okay ... I simply MUST toot my own horn about something here. So I spent the past few days consolidating INF(ormation) on Redlynne (who is a Praetorian and still only Level 15, but is finishing the last story arc before moving on to Neutropolis) so as to respec into the v3.1.0 Thunder Kick version of this build (with only Level 15 slotting) and was able to put together the full 6-slotting for Thunder Kick and Storm Kick and then take the build out for a spin (against Syndicate in the Power arc). Now, prior to the respec, I'd had Thunder Kick, Storm Kick and Cobra Strike, but the slotting in those attacks had been pretty anemic, due to lack of slots and wimptacular enhancement values (and because I'd been slotting up my defenisve toggles first as per prior build strategies). While soloing, fights were a slog (for what ought to be obvious reasons) and would usually cost me about 1/4 to 1/2 of my endurance bar by the time that each fight would end. Those fights were VERY safe however, because I'd been slotting up my defensive toggles. So, previously my offensive potential had been weak. Now with the respec, 10 out of 14 added slots by Level 15 have been spent on Thunder Kick and Storm Kick and OH MY GOODNESS what a difference this has made! Here's the slotting again: Level 1: Thunder Kick (A) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage (9) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (9) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (11) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown (11) Pounding Slugfest - Damage/Endurance (13) Pounding Slugfest - Disorient Bonus Level 2: Storm Kick (A) Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage (3) Might of the Tanker - Damage/Recharge (3) Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (5) Might of the Tanker - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (5) Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (7) Might of the Tanker - Recharge/Chance for +Res(All) Since I could I simply went ahead and bought everything as Attuned except for the Pounding Slugfest Stun proc (because the proc didn't need to level shift). And just look at the set bonuses I get for that! Overwhelming Force (Thunder Kick) 12% (0.94 HP/sec) Regeneration 3% DamageBuff(All) 28.11 HP (1.5%) HitPoints Pounding Slugfest (Thunder Kick) 8% (0.62 HP/sec) Regeneration Might of the Tanker (Storm Kick) 2% DamageBuff(All) 35.14 HP (1.88%) HitPoints 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime) 4.5% Resistance(Toxic,Psionic), MezResist(Immobilized) 7.5%, MezResist(Held) 7.5%, MezResist(Stunned) 7.5%, MezResist(Sleep) 7.5%, MezResist(Terrorized) 7.5%, MezResist(Confused) 7.5% 5.25% Resistance(Smashing,Lethal), MezResist(Immobilized) 8.75%, MezResist(Held) 8.75%, MezResist(Stunned) 8.75%, MezResist(Sleep) 8.75%, MezResist(Terrorized) 8.75%, MezResist(Confused) 8.75% That's +20% Regeneration just from Thunder Kick alone ... +3.38% HP between the two of them ... and an additional +5% Damage, just from those slots. But the REAL kicker (ahem!) was how the combination PLAYED ... because it was just poetry in motion. To back up just for a moment, I had contemplated putting 5 slots of Kinetic Combat plus the Pounding Slugfest Stun proc into Thunder Kick, but the set bonuses didn't add all that much value to the build overall and the recharge factored into the Kinetic Combat set would lower the proc chance for both the Knockdown AND the Stun procs, reducing the value added from both. However with the 4+2 combination of Overwhelming Force with Pounding Slugfest, not only did I manage to achieve a much higher +Regeneration AND +Max HP buff (thereby compounding the Regeneration gain!) than I had any right to be gaining from a 6 slotted single attack power(!), but I was even able to minimize the amount of recharge slotted into Thunder Kick so as to keep the Stun proc chance as high as possible. Win-Win-Win! Additionally, the Kinetic Combat Knockdown proc is set for 3 PPM, which even with +0% recharge would result in a 19.15% proc chance. By contrast, Overwhelming Force has a flat 20% Knockdown chance, regardless of recharge enhancement. Even better yet, by limiting the recharge slotted into Thunder Kick to the maximum extent possible, the Pounding Slugfest Stun proc chance is ~14-15% for every kick, which then markedly increases the mez potential of Thunder Kick (which natively has a 10% chance for a 7.152s mag 2 Stun). This combination means that ~22% of the time you use Thunder Kick you're going to produce a Stun duration of either 7.152s or of 8s duration, with either being a mag 2 Stun (and the odds of getting both for a mag 4 Stun is a mere 1.5% chance). The beauty however lies is how OFTEN Thunder Kick is getting used, since it recharges FAST (3s base) and so easily meets the Chuck Lots of Dice!! threshold of usefulness. Heck, even using Thunder Kick merely TWICE yields a ~41.5% chance of successfully getting a Stun proc (either from Thunder Kick itself or from Pounding Slugfest) ... and at THREE attacks the odds improve to ~55.2% chance for at least one Stun proc (either from Thunder Kick itself or from Pounding Slugfest) ... all without needing to "slow down" or spend extra endurance on using Cobra Strike (which only has a 75% chance to Stun natively). In other words, the suppressive mez potential of this 4+2 slotting in Thunder Kick is simply incredible ... but then when you add in the (flat) 20% chance for a Knockdown it starts getting even more gobsmacking, since between the 10% chance of Thunder Kick to Stun, the ~15% chance of Pounding Slugfest to Stun AND the 20% chance to Knockdown from Overwhelming Force you're looking at a whopping 38.8% chance of ONE of those three things happening every time you use Thunder Kick ... and if you hit a $Target with Thunder Kick twice (very easy to do) then the odds of getting (at least) ONE of those three procs happening increases to ~62.5%(!!!). To put it mildly, Thunder Kick is finally living up to its promise as an IN YOUR FACE attack power with a kick to it. But then it gets even better when you actually watch the animations owing to the way that Thunder Kick animates and how that interacts with the the Overwhelming Force Knockdown proc ... because it looks like you're kicking your $Target in the face SO HARD that it knocks them tea kettle over saucers in a way that LIFTS THEM OFF THEIR FEET! The way it looks is simply almost too perfect fit for the way that Thunder Kick animates! It's just beautiful to see. 🤣 So ... yeah. Thunder Kick Does Not Suck. Provided you slot it right (of course) ... and you use it "right" in concert with Storm Kick to maximize the damage buffing you get from Eagle's Claw. Right now, I'm thinking that the 4+2 slotting for Thunder Kick is very nearly as optimal as can be had right now, and especially within the overall context of this build in particular.

You tell me ... Max Targets: 10 Radius: 8ft sphere Damage (All): +12.5% (base) and +6.5% per $Target within the PBAoE = +19% to +77.5% damage buffing (1-10 $Targets) And it's also a Taunt aura ...

9 ... and I keep spending days/weeks on reformulating builds (which I can't do while playing). Honestly, I think I've spent more time "playing the forums" than I have playing the game!

In that case ... Martial Arts/Shield Defense ...

We call that rerolling.

The answer is that Orbiting Death is fantastic when someone else is acting as the Aggro Magnet™. Orbiting Death does really high damage to herded masses of $Targets when you've slotted up Orbiting Death. However, depending on how you want to build make sure you put a damage proc (or few) into it since when those damage procs happen it's like a critical hit for 10s worth of DoT happening all at once. You can use your other attacks while in Human form and approaching the dogpile of (soon to be) XP that are focused on the Aggro Magnet™ and just let Orbiting Death help mess them over for you, knocking out slivers of damage remaining so you don't need to waste active click attacks on overkill damage and so on. However, it is DEFINITELY a strategy best suited to being realized after you've gotten yourself fully slotted up to Level 50.

Have you ever considered piracy being a SR/MA Tanker rather than a MA/SR Scrapper ...?