oldskool

@Wavicle retested, same mission... Master Brawler can definitely get turned off. It does in fact stop showing the white circle around it. That said, my other toggles did not drop, but Master Brawler absolutely did. I don't have video software to capture it, but this is now the 3rd time I have seen this behavior. The +4 mission had 55's in it. I had 4 bosses which I suspect may have contributed to being overwhelmed. I started a new mission at +2 difficulty. I could not replicate the same behavior.

I play a Willpower/Super Strength Tanker from time to time. The changes to Willpower are pretty damn good. I was very much hoping to see Resurgence get a treatment like Second Wind in Regeneration. This did not disappoint, and the in-kit heal was a welcome add on. Strength of Will was one of the few T9's out of the box that was decent for what it was, and so I will miss the longer duration from before. In trade, I get a MUCH stronger defense steroid which the set didn't have. Willpower can struggle a bit raising up defense layers like some other sets, and Strength of Will letting my temporarily cap all my resistances (due to what I had for slotting on Test) was a majorly welcome change. Overall, no notes. Good changes no bugs noticed during my session.

I tried Rage and that -20% resistance debuff took my Tanker's resistances from 90% to 70%. Immediate respec into Unleashed Might. That Rage debuff is *brutal* for Tanks, on the flip side, I like Unleashed Might. I also really like having Handclap as a damage option. I was using Cross Punch to supplement AoE with Footstomp, but there is now some options in the primary. I appreciate that. Overall, I liked the changes with the exception of Rage. That new crash is not fun when a resistance set gets so heavily punished with that effect.

Spent a bit more time on this tonight, and in some actual missions vs Pylon BS. Additional things to note: 1) The tool tips have the critical damage listed next to 0.0% chance to X damage. I like that. 2) Against regular content the criticals are working as intended, and their damage is much more notable than the Pylon test last night. It looks like my tool tip Executioner's Shot has around 270~ damage and my critical hits were over 100 damage. 3) Seeing "Critical" when using Bullet Rain was pretty satisfying even if the damage in the chat window wasn't that great. The Sentinel ATOs could definitely use a pass at some point down the road. Chance for Opportunity could be a bit more interesting with these changes and the Sentinel's Ward is just lack luster. None of this is news, both the ATO procs are just... lack luster even if their full set bonuses are worthwhile. The Vulnerability feature of tagging extra targets... I love it. All-in-all, very positive changes. I'm hopeful that players running primaries with Aim are happy even if the T9 doesn't get boost. All that should do is alter some strategies, but still. I like the direction this is going in.

I also came across a situation where Master Brawler detoggled. Its possible I may have gotten stacking overwhelmed in the mission I was running. Level 50, +4 content, x8 party size vs Carnival. There were a few instances where Tenebrous Tentacles was absolutely immobilizing me but there was no indicator that I was Immobilized. I could not move. In the second instance of this, I got Immobilized, dogpiled, and then held all toggles dropped off. When I was getting mezzed I could see Master Brawler was not actually active but my other defenses were. I don't have enough of a sample to really pin point what happened but it does seem like something may be bugged in Master Brawler.

I like the convenience of Master Brawler being a toggle even if the fact it has a constant toggle cost is a downgrade from the previous Sentinel version. In the previous Sentinel version I would spend the endurance for an effect with the no end cost benefit of mez protection. It may have been a bit too good to be true. New Master Brawler has a standard toggle cost for ...just mez protection? It certainly feels a bit weak in comparison to other toggle mez protection powers. Ironically, Practiced Brawler will carry a perception of being "better" because it does more upfront even if the absorb effect in and of itself is nothing to write home about. In other words, I see almost zero reason to change my Scrapper or Stalker SR builds to swap from Practiced Brawler. I want to click that power on cooldown. Now, when I do I also get a minor absorb too. There isn't that much incentive to swap to Master Brawler besides the perception of it being convenience at the cost of it constantly requiring endurance on an already toggle heavy set. I guess that extra toggle use gives some relevance to Elude since that has recovery built in. Unfortunately, Elude's cooldown is so much longer than the effect it isn't that useful as a supportive power. New Elude likely has the biggest impact on users still leveling up where a burst of defense may seem reasonable while still fleshing out slots with SOs. Also, it can have some value for the regen/recovery if you spec into it via enhancements but the downtime doesn't make it as reliable. At level 45+ (for exemplar play with Incarnates), Elude has an identity crisis where it doesn't really contribute much that is new. Frankly, the healing is pretty much made obsolete in my opinion at this level range by Rebirth's constant healing; something I already do. All in all, the changes here don't really pack the punch to make them feel more impactful. I think it is entirely reasonable to view what happened to Master Brawler as effectively a nerf (removed its absorb, forced an end cost) to Sentinels and traded some of that functionality to Practice Brawler for an effect that in a practical sense no one even asked for. Additionally, I doubt players are waiting for that right moment to click Practiced Brawler and so the absorb just seems strangely placed. Lastly, Elude doesn't feel that impactful for the changes. I actually have Elude on my Sentinel. I use it occasional for the endurance boost which is really unchanged with this test other than the obvious benefit of no crash. However, my use case is niche, and even with the change to the power will continue to be... niche. The changes made aren't genuinely enough... BUT... I do think building on a heal in Elude is something Super Reflexes is missing as a set. The lack of native healing is one of the more commonly brought up weaknesses and is a role a T9 could fit into. Elude could be an inverse of Moment of Glory. MoG gives Regen a bunch of defense and resistance the set doesn't have. Elude could give SR resist and regen it doesn't have. Edit: You know... since my feedback so far is that PB's absorb feels out of place, and I can certainly see a reason to not give it Master Brawler.... The idea of having absorb in this powerset could be a role Elude takes on. Having an extra health layer may be a nice compromise vs replicating resistances or just giving regeneration rate.

Quick observation summary: I played my L50 Dual Pistols Sentinel on Brainstorm last night for a short run at a Pylon using Incendiary Ammo. The 40% critical hit damage was turning out to being very similar to the proc damage in my powers. For example: Executioner's Shot with Apocalypse had the Chance for Negative damage reported 62 negative damage in the combat log. Due to my enhancement slotting (126% damage with Musculature Core Alpha) the critical damage with this power was 69 (niiiiice). That is not quite 40% of the power's reported damage against the Pylon, but very close. Suppressive Fire with Unbreakable Constraint Chance for Smashing damage reported 62 smashing damage in the combat log. My critical damage was also 62. In Dual wield I had similar findings where the overall damage value of the critical, with a power with lower total damage, was more on par with average damage procs. About 40~ish damage per crit. The damage increase is welcome. Any damage buff to Sentinels is still a damage buff. However, in practice this is not particularly overwhelming and in some cases pretty 'meh'. I do intend to test a bit further with the AoE powers but given what I see so far, the lack of critical hits off T9 powers is a bit perplexing. I presume there are internal metrics which we don't have showing a certain degree of imbalance or at least cause for concern of imbalance. The change also feels like a more conservative damage buff and is not, again in practice, that heavy handed. Another consideration is that for sets with AIM the outcomes may be much more wildly in their favor. Dual Pistols does not get that benefit and cannot prep a "Aim -> T9" damage drop. So, that may also be a reason.

I have not tested anything yet, but in just reading the listing all I can say is... THANK YOU. Even if some of these changes don't make it, I think the fact you put them out there to test warrants the thanks. Why? Years ago those of us playing Sentinels got asked about what kind of changes we wanted to see. There were loads of great comments, and the team made significant improvements to the AT. However, what I just read in this list is something I had asked for and felt would have been improvements to the AT. And... I finally see it happening at least in some form. I couldn't be happier. I'm ecstatic about the critical effect, but more than that... The 70% to 75% shift on the defenses brings a smile to my face. I'm also overjoyed to see the Ninjutsu, Willpower, and T9 changes. Brutes getting higher base HP will make some of character's lives so much easier like how much more of a struggle it can be to cap HP on Brute Regen than it is on Tankers, Scrappers, etc.. Now, it will be easier for everyone. Simply amazing. Super Strength getting an option to move off Rage? OMG... HELL YES. Can't way to test these... I have so many builds positively impacted by what I read here.

I hadn't been as actively reading up this upcoming Issue, but I stumbled on the changes here: There are changes in this mix floated about from several years ago. The implementations for all of these are not the suggestions, but the outcomes are. For example, several of us had proposed changing the defense values to match Scrappers going from 70% to 75%. I know I had been a proponent of critical hits, but the way the implementation looks is pretty cool AND keeps to the vision described years back. I.e., the Perception benefit, the use of the meter building up, etc. Reigning in the critical damage to being 40% is pretty nice. I'll be testing these as I have time, but that is really limited unfortunately. Still, I encourage others to check it out and provide feedback. These are changes many of us asked for years ago, and I'm excited to see them. And... They make sense given the scale of the game is going to go up with the new changes so Sentinels do need damage relevance. Also, defense changes help keep pace with the shifts but will make lower levels better too. Other changes for other characters I play have me excited to play CoH more than I have in several years.

I haven't used Piercing Rounds on Sentinel in years. However, I do use it on my Corruptor and Defender characters. Piercing Rounds had a nice buff a few Issues back, but I just hadn't tinkered with the new version on Sentinel. I definitely recommend it for team support and especially so on Corruptor/Defender builds.

Aww, thanks Six-Six. 🙂

As a person that both plays this combo, and also builds into this outcome, I do have some first hand experiences to share. The overall gist in the OP is pretty close in this case. You can definitely push one power with this logic, or... you can do that with multiple powers. Dual Pistols has access to a lot of different set types which happen to have damage proc options. Slows, Defense Debuff, Damage sets... etc... You can potentially fill up one attack with all procs and do some decent damage. But, there is a bit of buyer beware in that approach. That's Stamina. Repeatedly attacking is going to be your highest form of endurance drain and you may have some challenges in managing endurance if you overbuild for procs without minding the drain. Super Reflexes has some built in global recharge. The defense sets can combo into Super Reflexes to really let you push your global recharge very high. That can potentially get you into a lot of actions per minute and Dual Pistol powers, especially the ones with great proc potential, ain't exactly cheap to use while hammering out damage. My personal preference is to slot my single target attacks for additional procs and balance it with some Acc/Damage, and Acc/Damage/End enhancements. So, no, I don't fully proc all my attacks because the endurance drain just isn't fun to deal with. You can fix this with Ageless but... I don't always want to run Ageless. So, I am accepting of a loss of damage in order to have some quality of play, and besides... not stopping my offense is better than having to stop to chew a blue pill or pause damage. If you're on a team... well, then this issue may not matter to you at all and that is a separate consideration to make. Fun things to do here: Suppressive Fire can use the Unbreakable Constraint Chance for Smashing proc which has a pretty solid chance to go off in this power. You can also add in some psychic damage from other hold sets if like. Executioner's Shot is my preference for adding Achilles' Heel because debuffing resistance while solo is good stuff, and the Apocalypse Chance for Negative and your choice of other procs can round this out. Dual Pistols can be surprisingly effective despite its 6second base recharge. You can add in some extra smash damage (knockback set, slow set) and cold damage (slow set). If you wanna go half-way to just bump up damage and also have some endurance mods, then 3 piece Thunderstrike works well. Thunderstrike can get you Acc/Dmg, Acc/Dmg/End, Dmg/End. If you wanna rank those to +5 you could or you could attune them for exemplar play. Either way is great. With Musculature Core Alpha you can definitely hit ED on damage in your attacks while still making use of endurance reduction and fill in 3 slots with procs. For the AoE attacks, I don't really bother to proc bomb for the Sentinel, but on my Corruptor and Defender I do like Force Feedback Chance for Recharge. On other ATs where other powers with long recharge times may benefit your play style, Dual Pistols can be leveraged to make that a bit faster. I know Dual Pistols is not a super popular set, and I don't want to suggest it is some stellar DPS set. However, it is incredibly flexible in how you build it and its versatility can open a lot of different gameplay doors. The *only* AT I don't like Dual Pistols with is the Blaster. I can't get into the set, at all, on the Blaster. But I love it on Corruptor/Defender/Sentinel. I feel the proc use really shines on those ATs where on a Blaster I am overly concerned with using attack slots to spec in defenses. I find I don't need to do that so much on the other 3 ATs. Obviously your mileage may vary. 😄

@SomeGuy And with some changes you could both A) cap your HP and B) increase your recharge. I am not suggesting you make any of these changes, but if you would like to tinker in Mids to see what I see... Replace the 3x Doctored Wounds with Panacea. That will get you close to HP cap (like 4hp shy), and you'll see you're now over capped on 10% regen. To fix that, 3x Reactive Defenses, where ever you wanna put them - maybe MoG with the /Recharge options, would overcap your HP but remove the other conflicts. You could raise your current global recharge up to 181.3% while capping HP. You'd lose some of the resistance buff benefits you had. You would also regenerate around 4 hp/second more - which is negligible. Very doable to cap HP though.

If I made a Scrapper, then I might consider dropping Second Wind once I got my HP capped without that power being active. That is possible with a well slotted Ailment Resistance, IO sets, and Accolades. That said, I'd probably still keep it as a backup heal unless there was some other defensive power I wanted which provided similar or better value to me. In a lot of cases those other options are gated behind other power choices. So, that is another thing to consider too.

Yup, good point. If one builds for Instant Healing instead on a Brute then an expected Regen rate of 600-800% is reasonable while Instant Healing is down.

I'm obviously not the poster, but I do just wanna call out that having over 1000% regeneration rate with Reactive Regen, with 0 stacks, is absolutely doable even without Incarnates. I currently have an MA/Regen Brute with roughly the same regeneration rate. With Incarnates it is higher. Staring at my character in game, and she is absolutely regenerating nearly 5% health per second without any stacks at all. New regen is really that good now. Believe the hype. Edit: With Vigor Core maxed out the casual regen rate is slightly over 1200% and goes over 1400% at max stacks. With Melee Hybrid, that's over 1500% (1700% with max Reactive stacks or 234 hp per second with max hp... Yes, it is dope).

Energy Aura is relatively straight forward. Its a *typed* defense set. You're going to eventually want to stack things like Smashing, Lethal, Fire, Cold, Negative, Toxic, and Psionic defenses. Energy is easy enough to cap following everything below... Kinetic Shield and Power Shield are both toggles. You're probably going to want 1 endurance redux in both and 3 defense. Repelling Force is a passive. So, 3 defense is all it needs. Kinetic Dampening is also a passive and 3 resistance will do fine. That's the basic stuff. Tools like Energize can be variable in slots depending on your other power priorities. Energize doesn't require accuracy. Same goes for Power Drain. Overload may not be needed, depends on your preference really, but doesn't require much investment. And that's essentially it. If you can afford both +3 defense to all IO's, then you can slot them in Kinetic Dampening. That'll get you +6 more defense. Taking things like Weave, Hover or Combat Jumping, and Maneuvers will get you near softcap defense before considering any other IO set bonuses. That said, there is no single way to slot all of your other powers plus Energy Aura to do... whatever it is you want to be doing. There are a lot of good set combinations and power combinations to potentially get into. You'd need to be a lot more specific for more specific tips.

@HowlingBlade My preference for Sentinels is usually Musculature Core Alpha. However, sometimes other Alpha options, including the Radial versions, may be of interest for specific builds/purposes. So, "Why Musculature Core Alpha"? ... Simple. Its the highest damage enhancement modifying Alpha slot. That's it. Don't over think it. MOAR Damage is often what I want out Sentinels. That said, if you feel your build struggles a bit on endurance, then Cardiac is pretty amazing. It makes your endurance reduction IOs better, and also pads out some resistances. That can be great for a set like Fire which can feel like a little endurance piglet if you're adding additional toggles. Also, FYI, but you can always build other Alpha/Hybrid/etc... as you get more Incarnate materials. You're not stuck with one choice. But you did ask for preference, and mine is damage.

Its been a while, but at one point I had a comment that the true power of the Sentinel was to generate troll posts on how useless the AT vs X ATs. One can certainly make some valid complaints about one thing vs the other, but more often than not discussions around the Sentinel generally devolve into hyperbolic nonsense. Just take much of the criticism with a grain of salt (some of it is valid, but a lot of it is blown way out of proportion).

For a bit more context on why Beam is considered being where it is, that is mostly due to the Sentinel version having another area power. Beam is generally a high single target damage set in other ATs, but has lower AoE potential (which really may not even be an issue depending on AT). The Sentinel version is less of the single target powerhouse, and a bit more normalized in how it handles multiple targets. It is still a good set, but the comparisons of it don't fully work against other ATs. Just something to keep in mind.

Good or bad can get incredibly subjective in COX terms. This has a lot to do with granular specifics on how one choses to a slot specific powers and pair them with other specific effects. So, in order to help you out a bit better than just "this gud, that bad": Dark Armor may be a bit more complicated to get the most out of for a brand new player. If you're really brave, then go for it. If you're looking for easier things to play, then I'd recommend you stick with Willpower, Invulnerability, Energy Aura = Super Reflexes, and in that order. Willpower has almost no click powers across the majority of your leveling experience and relies almost solely on toggle powers. Invulnerability is very similar, but includes a click power, Dull Pain, early on. In both cases, their final powers could be considered optional (further lowering any clicks). Energy Aura and Super Reflexes are conceptually very similar and have a little bit more thought/interaction. The main reason I'd point you towards Willpower/Invul is both of these sets come with pretty robust resistance packages underneath everything else they offer. I feel they way these sets are constructed makes them pretty easy to build for since the outcome should be rather straight forward. Energy Aura and Super Reflexes aren't really complicated, but they rely a lot more on high defense values and less on other layering (Super Reflexes more so than Energy Aura). Invul, Super Reflex, Energy Aura are typically considered some of the strongest defense sets in the AT, *but* the catch is there is a bit of system mastery to really squeeze out the best performance. Of the three, Invul maybe a bit easier. Beyond that, most of the Sentinel primaries are pretty good. Just how good they are is going to depend an awful lot on a ton of minutiae you may not be ready for. Pick what you like.

@Grimm2 I had looked at the build a couple of weeks ago, but figured now is as good a time to say something as any. 😉 In the past, I used to weigh Pistols a bit heavier in my builds for a lot of nuanced reasons. One of those was in how I could make the use of old Opportunity as easy for me as possible while maximizing damage output in a scope of time (between 4 - 6 seconds; this helps when picking powers). Well, now that Opportunity is different, none of that older advice really matters anymore. So, this means when talking about heavy proc use Dual Wield can fit much, much, better into the discussion. DW was actually always a good alternative, and especially so with Homecoming's Ice Minstrel's Torment, but is basically even better now, in my opinion. That said, do you need a respec to change everything up to squeeze out maybe a bit more DPS? Probably not. I'm just bringing this up that there are other means to optimize Dual Pistols, within the context of keeping in the set itself, and other approaches are still pretty good. I don't play as much anymore, but I haven't seen a need to respec any of my Dual Wield characters since the last major patch. For the Sentinel, specifically, I run Dual Wield, Suppressive Fire, and Executioner's shot. I use two each of Gladiator's Javelin (Acc/Dmg, Toxic proc), a general damage IO +5, and then 3 more procs. The slotting of Executioner's shot is different as I leverage 2x Gladiator's, 2x Apocalypse (Damage +5, damage proc), and put Achilles' Heel here. All in all, each of these 3 powers has 4 procs and around 126%+ damage when Musculature Core Alpha can be used.

Seems like you discovered the root of your problem. Also, you may have started your Sentinel with incredibly unrealistic expectations.

I don't think there are going to be a whole lot of options for you skip powers with that pairing. Stone Armor wants most of its powers. Geode is one you can skip if your durability is good enough without it. Psionic Blast is a pretty power hungry primary, and it really does want insane levels of recharge before we start talking about skipping powers. The T1 power, Mental Blast, is pretty much crap. You can skip it and not look back. Telekinetic Blast, Will Domination, and Scramble Thoughts are still the cornerstone single target powers. If your recharge gets extreme enough, then Psionic Strike may not have a place in your attack chain. Otherwise, Psionic Strike may be useful as filler. For AoE, Psychic Wall is your hardest hitter. Despite the low number of targets, Psychic Scream is still an attractive choice for AoE heavy lifting. The reason for that is due to Psionic Tornado having a 20 second cooldown as part of its base power. So, unless you're rocking some incredibly high recharge you're likely going to want Psychic Scream. Eventually, you could respec out of it if you have faster options. Psychic Focus is your Aim power, and it is a spike damage burst effect. I don't usually recommend skipping it, but you may push it off while leveling. So, yeah... that's not a lot of skip options without careful consideration of what the final product could be.

First things first, answering the question of the post itself. Just how powerful is dual pistols in the current update. Answer: Slightly better than it was, but just how effective that improvement is depends on a whole lot of factor. These factors can include: - Specific power slotting - Specific Archetype - Your total recharge - Specific Secondary choices (or for Defenders, their primary) - Whether you solo or group more - What your own goals are - And so on [Dual Pistols is a complex set, which I like, but that is a detriment to the set overall because you bend over backwards to make it tread water more often than not. It isn't like the knowledge that goes into the set pays off in some secret reward when one can pick Fire Blast instead and roll their face on the keyboard. lololololol...] RE: Suppressive Fire... Suppressive Fire was always good for procs. The change does reduce some of that damage, but you can fire the attack twice in the same time span vs the original's recharge. So, that is a nice buff. But how effective is it for damage? Well... that can get complicated. Let's take a back step and consider the following set of questions. What kind of Blaster do you plan to play? Do you plan to mix it up in melee? Do you plan to just sit back and pew pew? Do you care at all about set bonuses for the purposes of defense bonuses? You see, the new Suppressive Fire's significant impact on your single target damage cycle really only matters most in the context of using it with a mostly ranged routine (it is not a replacement to Executioner's Shot). On top of this, how you choose to slot Suppressive Fire is going to really make or break that power (full proc load out or not). So, the change to Suppressive Fire as a DPS add can become a 'meh' or even skip choice to certain Blaster builds. If you *really* want to explore proc damage without any care to defensive set bonuses, then the Sentinel is a pretty good choice for this. We're talking about a single target all ranged attack routine, and well... that's pretty much what the Sentinel does. If you're playing a Blaster, then there is a good chance you care a lot about AoE. On top of that you likely have better single target options in your secondary if all we care about is the most possible damage. Anyway, if one wanted to really push Suppressive Fire (at least with sets), then I would recommend using the 5pc Apocalypse set + Unbreakable Constraint damage proc. That'll set Suppressive Fire's damage reasonably high. Executioner's Shot then becomes a great place for Superior Blaster's Wrath. Both of these loadouts grant you set bonuses. This can enable Pistols + Suppressive Fire + Executioner's Shot as a fully ranged attack routine which does OK damage. And I really wanna stress... the above isn't the optimal way to slot Executioner's Shot. Hell, it isn't even the optimal way to play a Blaster (Blapping tends to do more damage, and more AoE is essentially the AT's niche). Its just the most bang (heh) for your buck when considering those three specific powers in the a total vacuum which just isn't a great way to plan out a Blaster. [And the difference of swapping the slotting between the two is likely going to be pretty low single digit loss in DPS; its peanuts] However, if you *really* wanna do it, then that is the slotting for those two powers I would recommend. If you can get away with proccing *any* power, then Executioner's shot is still better. That's even assuming all 6 slots devoted to nothing but procs. See where I am going with this? Suppressive Fire's change is nice, but it does not revolutionize Dual Pistols. Hell, if you have a better choice to replace it with from your secondary, then Suppressive Fire may not even be a consideration, at all. RE: Piercing Rounds... The change, in my opinion, is better in some ways for Corruptors and Defenders than it is for anyone else. You can run Chemical Ammo to debuff damage dealt and still impose the negative to resistance to support the team. Blasters could do that too, but when considering raw DPA powers there just better options. Piercings Rounds, in general, is still pretty meh for single target and for AoE its pretty much a waste of time. It can be effective as a team support power though. The changes to Suppressive Fire do toss a bit of a wrench into the mix which raises a question of do I use Piercing Rounds with it (i.e., Piercing Rounds -> Executioner's Shot -> Suppresive Fire -> filler) or keep to the classic routine at high recharge (i.e., Piercing Rounds -> Pistols -> Executioner's Shot -> Pistols). My thought is if you can have a high enough global recharge to have Executioner's Shot recharge in 2.9 seconds or less, then Piercing Rounds may end up being either a DPS loss or just break even. That recharge number is significant because Pistols + Suppressive Fire animates in that time frame. This also means the following: Executioner's Shot + Suppressive Fire + Pistols (its filler) + Executioner's Shot is not only possible, but spans 6.6 seconds of time. Contrast that with... Piercing Rounds + Pistols + Executioner's Shot + Pistols spanning 6.864 seconds, or even replacing a use of Pistols with Suppressive Fire going up to 7.392 seconds. If you can do more damage in 6.6 seconds using the faster animating skills, despite the existence of the resistance debuff, then Piercing Rounds is going to lose its value. This is especially noticeable on Sentinels because their version of the debuff is the worst, but it can be present on Blasters too. At the very least, there is the considerable opportunity cost of Piercing Rounds vs other options. On Corrs/Fenders, this is more a question of "Do I want to stack another 15% to 20% resistance debuff on top of my other resistance debuff options?". Anyway, that's what I had gathered when the changes were on test. There are going to be use cases with various personas that all of the above is absolutely meaningless. When looking at optimization (which is really what this entire question skirts around) things like extreme recharge matter. Your overall recharge is going to dictate what kinds of animation constraint yields the best results with various combinations of powers.