Tath99

Me and my duo partner have negotiated a few challenge rules for the playthrough. Not using XP Boosters and potentially turning off XP to enjoy the arcs are amongst them. Good suggestion though! We are on the same wavelength. 😉

Thank you for the great suggestion. I do like Throwing Knives for its early attack potential. I'll bear your excellent advice in mind once Oil Slick Arrow becomes available.

Thank you for the great input so far. Perhaps folks could suggest their favourite story arcs blue-side that work well with "street smart" heroes?

Hmm. The drops being Natural would have been a bonus. Bentley - You're right. It is a desire to face Human-centric foes for the most part. I doubt my duo partner or I will go redside. So it is more a case of hitting the 'best-Humanoid' story arcs, perhaps? Outcasts, Trolls, Council, Warriors, Rikti, Cimerorans are our usual fare. Circle of Thorns (Hate the Ghosts), Clockwork are probably out.

The Tsoo? The Council? 5th Column? -- Are these Natural? Thank you Troo for the link. That will be most useful.

Hi All. A friend and I are considering a playthrough of the game as a duo of Natural Origin characters. The playthrough will be an old-school SO only run. IO sets will not be allowed. It would be beneficial therefore, if our route through the contacts hit as many Natural origin enemy types as possible. Does anyone have any advice upon? -- Enemy types that drop Natural SO's? -- Contacts & Story Arcs that hit said enemy types? Typically, we play through Atlas / Hollows / Steel / Talos / Striga / Brickstown / Peregrine Island. Any thoughts or suggestions on good story Natural origin Content & Contacts to investigate? (The characters will be a pair of Trick Arrow / Archery Defenders). Thanks in advance. -- Tath99

Trick Arrow is a multiplier to its secondary. Archery as a secondary is light on endurance with a fast early rotation and high accuracy. If you have ever been mauled by Redcaps in Croatoa you know what this feels like. Try running a Redcap mission on high difficulty. The Sleep Arrow has -damage for 20 seconds on any foes you hit. Flash Arrow has -to hit and Entangle and Glue Arrow stifle enemy recharge. You can do serious damage in 20 seconds - which can defeat or cripple foes? If you don't defeat them all? Hit and fade. Retreat around a corner or two whilst the enemy are wading through the glue. Take a knee. Pop a green. Come back and hit them again. Trick Arrow is a set to play smart with. Not face tank.

Consider Ninja / Sonic. Minions are expendable. If your character is ruthless they are figures on a balance sheet. Put -res field on the melee pet of the moment and they will hit like a truck. Especially from Stealth. *Goes off to re-roll Ninja.

[Afterburner] for extra deployment of goodies(?)

Both Radiation and Invulnerability are excellent for Tanking damage. Rad has a PBAOE Heal and PBAOE attack which help get the enemies' attention. Even so I'd consider taking Taunt because it allowes finesse in targeting a wayward group. For your secondary attacks I would suggest something with its own mitigation. Knock-ups / knockdowns in Mace / Superstrength / Battle-axe are recommended to buy time for Heals to recharge.

Aah. Now Hasten was one of the things I was thinking about. Redlynne elsewhere on the forums has mentioned making builds without Hasten but a lot of +recharge. I was wondering if there was a "sweet spot" where you could have a build without Hasten, with the intention of only one stacking Rage -- and avoiding the stop / start awkwardness from two stacks of the power. That and Rage +hit and Rad -def. How does that all work? Edit -- Re: the OP and high damage. I can recall trying PvP way back when on a Tank vs. Brutes. [Knockout Blow] was always capable of hitting a Brute hard but never finishing them off easily with the rest of the chain. i.e. Hitting a ceiling of damage output through the attack speed of your powers. (Superstrength hits methodically rather than with great spike efficiency. Which is Stalker / Scrapper territory I would suppose.)

You have piqued my curiosity Gobbledegook with your mention of the FF proc on Rad / SS. I am attempting to level up my own Rad / SS right now. Would you be willing to share a build / further insights?

It depends on the base accuracy of the power, the difficulty you play at and the foe type. Certain powers might also fall into a "Cannot afford to miss" category. i.e. The powers are critical for your attack sequence, their end cost is high. Misses lead to defeat.

Not getting hit takes pressure off Regenerations Heals. Not getting hit as hard takes pressure off Regenerations Heals. Healing More Often & Healing for More are your priorities. All dependent on how much mitigation you have in your other power set. Defence / Resistance / Recharge / Heal are all valid. Probably in that order.

You're not wrong when facing *a* singular spawn on X difficulty. A good Tank + Defender can push *multiple spawns* on X+ difficulties. It is my own preferred playstyle with my duo friend to always seek to push the envelope in interesting ways. Tanker sets historically have their own strengths / weaknesses and finding a player-partner who helps overcome them is rewarding. Old-school SO-only City of Heroes was fun because it allowed teamwork to shine. Don't get too hung up on each Tanker's foibles.

Heh. I broke the mould and went WM / Regen on my Brute. At one point Azrael's BA/Shield was puffing and panting and taking hits whilst I just kept on going because of [Quick Recovery]. Shield *is* a good pick. But Regeneration works too these days. Both WM and BA have excellent mitigation. You might also want to the sound effects when making the choice too. Both have nice impactful sounds. You might prefer one over the other? You might also have a preference when it comes to weapon customisation.

Tanker + Blaster is the obvious choice. Tanker + Defender is the premier choice however: Tanker defends Defender. Defender bolsters Tanker. Tanker is elevated. Defender is elevated.

"Da, Tovarisch. It is true. I did grumble. Changes made Russian Bear, very sad." Energy Melee had a unique single-target burst speciality for a time. It was fun for being in a unique niche. Then they "fixed it." And the fun was diminished.

Thank you for the info & pointing that out. Can we begin by agreeing the [Poison Dart] animation looks better / is logically more appropriate? Given so, perhaps there are grounds to adjust the damage scale and the animation at the same time?

Please consider adding the Arachnos Widow [Poison Dart] animation as an option for [Toxic Dart].

Please consider proliferating Radiation Emission & Radiation Blast animations as alternatives for the Poison set. Alkaloid -- Radiant Aura. Envenom -- X-Ray Beam. Neurotoxic Breath -- Electron Haze. Antidote -- Neutrino Bolt. Elixir of Life -- Mutation. Additionally, consider adding X-Ray Beam to the majority of Poison set powers -- to give the set a more thematic science / mutant origin angle. (Especially if editing of the X-Ray Beam graphics is an option to make each more individual.)

You make a good point. It cannot be both. Bear in mind however that Devices has [Trip Mine] AND [Time Bomb] already. These, I would argue were originally intended to be the +damage powers within the set. If that still holds true, they need to be in the right spot - leaving [Gun Drone] requiring a somewhat different schtick / emphasis. Whatever that is - [Gun Drone] needs to demonstrably / logically outshine [Trip Mine] and [Time Bomb] below it - and be deserving of its position as last pick in Devices.

Actually, I was musing over exactly this whilst making my post. Would it work as intended? (If the Pet used Placate would it protect the Drone but regrettably push aggro back on the Drone owner?)

My suggestions were made in the spirit of:- - If Taunt were to work, [Gun Drone] would need to be more resilient. More hit points, resistances, buffable, healable. - Its role would need to be akin to, but lagging behind, the performance of Singularity. - A design decision must be made to make it a 'Tanking Pet'. Currently it is in a half-way house position. I don't disagree that the power should "shoot things good". Fixing that necessitates questioning its rate of fire, single or AOE attack type, damage type. However, sustaining that damage, for the full duration of the power, requires some aspect of granting the pet greater survivability. Having had Taunt attached to [Gun Drone] has highlighted how physically weak the player version is (anecdotally) compared to the Malta version. With or without Taunt [Gun Drone] should be tougher.

Hi All. I am currently re-playing an AR / Devices Blaster and having a whirl. The build is intentionally limited in AR to Burst, Slug, Buckshot, Flamethrower and Full Auto -- fuelled by Hasten. I say intentionally, because the really interesting side of AR / Devices is actually the secondary, Devices itself. As you may be aware Devices has gone through some changes. I would be interested in other players points of view on how to build a /Devices strong / more Controllery style Blaster - given its new resurgence -- and how many different ways you can think of building a /Devices concept -- emphasising slot count towards Devices. For example, - Toxic Web Grenade & Caltrops -- heavy slotting here for ground area denial / creating a kill zone. - Taser (and AR's Beanbag) -- a double stun combo for locking down a Boss. - Smoke Grenade -- A Core Power. How heavily should you slot it, given you can stack its -to hit. - Field Operative -- A Core Power. Defence / Healing / End Modification. Are there variations in which way to slot? - Trip Mine and Time Bomb -- Great powers used alone or together. - Gun Drone -- Good / bad / droppable? - Hasten & Recharge -- how much +recharge is enough or optimal? - Defences & Resistances vs. Stealth / Smoke / Field Operative. I am currently playing this AR / Devices Blaster with an AR / Devices duo partner. Individually they are good, but together, they rise to a whole new (Super-Soldier) level. I heartily recommend this duo combination to fellow players. Your thoughts on slotting / Devices in interesting ways are welcome. (playing Canis Major on Reunion)