Videra

Edited to clarify: It also has a 10 target cap and 15 radius, as opposed to 16/25. It fits into bane builds easier, tho.

Honestly, I do wish Tar Patch was worth taking. That cooldown? The hit check? Cringe. Bonfire also got rinsed for literally no discernible reason - which had the side affect of making every non-patron ancillary pool utterly useless on Masterminds.

It isn't. Did you know that almost every Arsenal Control power is a pet that is unaffected by your set bonuses, and that they aren't autohit? Do you know that this makes the set flounder violently against any enemies that are three or more levels above you? It is a set that needs +5 boosted purple set levels of accuracy to even function meaningfully on cimerorans. Arsenal Control is a set that is only strong against the weakest, most common enemy groups and at low levels where the poor base Acc of the pseudopets and patches isn't visibly harming you. I mean, dude, the -To Hit portion of Smoke Cannister is not paired with the Autohit -Perception component of the power, no, THE -TO HIT DEBUFF IN ARSENAL CONTROL! IS! TIED TO THE CONFUSE HITTING! Just to offer some insight. This set is genuinely bad, for reasons beyond the lack of an AOE Immob.

That . . . is meaningless. That history hasn't existed since the days before GR. People are pitching solutions to the problem. Do you have any ideas in there that might be good?

I'd really like to know what this statement actually even means. CoH and CoV are the same game - Brute and Tanker can start on the same factions. This is a balance issue, it has nothing to do with a perceived rift between the two variants of CoX.

TBH, the fact that several targeted nerfs to things that used to rule AE farming have made the game overall worse is genuinely depressing. Make Brutes have something that causes them to have appeal over a scrapper or tanker, so many good suggestions have been made in this thread - and if a non-issue like farming really is such a big deal to the powers devs? Shrimply remove Influence rewards from AE, problem instantly solved.

Yeah! I've been editing this piece by piece because I feel like a zombie atm.

This is a very simple topic, to be quite honest - we all know that Duplicity and Fear Incarnate are not exactly great. A two magnitude terrorize? A two magnitude Confuse? Now, the -10% Damage (All) and -10 To Hit (All) buffs aren't necessarily worthless, but fifteen seconds on a three minute cooldown? I dunno, chief. Call to Justice - a 30 second PBAoE +40% Damage (All) and +10% To Hit buff? Thirty seconds, six minute cooldown. Potentially useful! Frenzy, however? It gives 30% recharge for twenty seconds, buffs your damage 60% during that time as well. Brutes and Dominators both have their AT bars filled, Stalkers are put into hide and get an additional 40% Damage Buff. It's a much more substantial buff - think of it as something alike to a miniature Geas of the Kind Ones, especially if you're playing a dominator or stalker. Alignment, as we all know, is something of a vestigial mechanic at this point in the game's life. You can simply walk up to Null The Gull in Pocket D and change it, instantly. So, I ask, is it plausible we could be given the choice to pick an alignment power in the same way? Why does it need to take a week for you to get these (largely) fluff powers? This is a topic I've been chewing on for a bit. It would be a nice QoL change if we could select between alignment powers without necessarily being locked to Villain or Hero.

Hedgefund is correct in that the backpack sticks if you have a single crab build. But, if you like the look of the Arachnos outfit, you may consider spending 10 Prismatic Aethers on one of the toggle 'disguises' from the Vault Reserve - they're model swaps, so they hide the Crab Spider backpack.

So I just want to start of by saying this guide is not 100% complete and never will be, I intend to keep adding to this guide with every new bit of information I learn from personal experience or what others have told me (You can help add to it by messaging me in game at: @Videra) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CALLING ALL SPIDERS! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let's start at point-break: VEATS, Villain Epic Archetypes, are a set of Archetypes (Classes) that act as a hybrid between support and damage dealer. Their support is primarily passive, taking the form of auras like Tactical Training: Assault, a 'Leadership' toggle which passively increases the damage output of your team. They are also quite sturdy. Can you support like a Defender? No, but you are an invaluable force multiplier that can do more damage than the defender. (Usually) Can you match the damage of a blaster? Generally, no, but you still reliably do more damage than most support archetypes. (Citation Needed) Can you lead a random Team/League? Of course - a VEAT is never undesirable. Can you solo x8/+4 Content? With ease. Why play a VEAT? The Lore: Some Fluff: The difference between an Arachnos Soldier and an Arachnos Widow: Leveling from 1-24: Soldier Sub-Classes Widow Sub-Classes: Leveling from 24-50: Damage Resist Numbers: Soldier of Arachnos Enhancements: Power Pools: Ancillary Power Pools: Lore Pets: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARACHNOS SOLDIER: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soldier Powers: Crab Powers: Bane Powers: Pets: Knockback: Sample Builds: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARACHNOS WIDOW: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Widow Powers: Night Widow Powers: Fortunata Powers: DDR and the fact you have (Almost) none: Sample Builds: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SHARED ISSUES AND INCARNATES: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About that Inherent: Endurance: Incarnates: Still a work in progress, I will update this further over time.

This build is honestly really solid as a baseline, and I wanted to change some stuff - but keep the bulk of it the same. To explain my alterations: Frostwork is significantly less useful on a Mastermind due to how fragile pets are to begin with. In theory it would help with Assault Bot, but Protector Bots and Battle Drones will still get vaporized by a stiff breeze - I find maintenance drone as an active heal that slowly depletes itself over time more reliable for the given value of mitigation it gives. The Attacks: I personally would value 400% -regen over two proc'd MM attacks. I also feel that the 10% RCH bonuses from Apocalypse and Ragnarok are more impactful because - while most MMs can ignore Recharge, largely - it's actually helpful on Cold. 5 PC prev med in Upgrade Robot: I was blanking on where to put the spare slots. You could probably drop the status/regen unique in the level 6 upgrade to get preventative medicine's six piece RCH bonus. Teleport for Vengeance: LOTG #5 is self-explanatory, Vengeance is also useful in teams. Edit: Fuck, I didn't notice that you put five LOTGs in already. Build editing without Adderall is pain. Put procs into Protector Bots, maybe. Put explosive strike in there, and the command of the mastermind aura.

You simply re-roll as a better control set than Arsenal, really. Problem solved.

Speaking as a support enjoyer who has a cold, a kin, a nature and even an empathy - I can tell you with my full heart that I don't believe for a second that the average player considers grouping when it comes to balance. Thus why I'm appealing to that - solo play is a vacuum because, outside of temporary powers, all you have is what's in your kit. If I were to take my Savage/Bio and re-slot it as a Scrapper, it would be near identical in terms of survivability. Yes, in a grouping scenario, the higher res caps might factor in - but there are a number of other ways that support characters keep you from dying than buffing your resistance - which yes, at a point where you've been buffed extensively, resistance will make you harder to kill. This doesn't take into account defense sets, -ToHit debuffs, defense buffs, et-al. Either way, yes, at the top end - Tankers are absolutely smoking Brutes like a blunt. They've been supplanted completely - and should be balanced accordingly. A buff to give brutes a stronger niche at the top will still positively effect the less learned players at the bottom.

Yes, but outside of team play, getting to that resistance cap is substantially more difficult without sacrificing a meaningful amount of damage. And the position most players *come from* on this matter is the vacuum that is solo play. Doom, however, was spot in his assessment RE: Teamplay.

No. They have the same resistance and defense scalars that scrappers do - their caps are higher, yes, but actually benefiting from that requires them to sabotage their own damage potential through slotting sets instead of procs. So, they're as sturdy as scrappers on average, do less ST damage than scrappers, and are outstripped in AOE and survivability both by tankers. What is a Brute's purpose?

Yeah, for real. And the way they keep deleting Shin's posts even when they're entirely constructive debate? Cringe.

We really need to just, stop responding to certain people who add nothing to conversations and try to force everything to be a debate - even when logic and reason is against them.

Horrible take. One of MM's most noticeable issues at this moment in time is that - in relatively fast teams, not even speedrun pace - pets struggle to keep up. This could be easily resolved with a pet recall button. Have you actually played the AT?

Sir, what are you talking about?

Here's a short-hand list of the most direct options to fix brutes: 1) Defense/Res Scalars between Tankers and Scrappers 2) Roll back the fury change that was made near the start of HC's lifespan so that it is at once an actual gameplay mechanic again and also provides the damage it used to. 3) Fix the garbage ATOs 4) That's it. That's literally all they have to do. This game has been optimized to hell and back, these simple changes would put Brutes where they should be - ahead of Tankers in ST, behind Scrappers and Stalkers in ST, roughly parallel to tankers in AOE.

Signed! I'm a brute enjoyer on a thematic level, clip it and fucking ship it. This should be in a damn hotfix.

Oh my god.

If you want the absolute most out of a tanker, you're looking at any combination of Rad/SS, Rad/Martial, Bio/Martial, or Bio/SS.

My Brother in Statesman, What Are You Talking About? Hasten, Burnout, Super Speed Stealth With One Celerity IO, among other things. Super Speed is quite literally one of the most player-favored translations of power pick to effect in the game.

The Powers Devs are not interested in making reasonable balance changes to armor. Exhibit A: Fire Armor being gutted.