Without_Pause

I'm quite positive there are players with Level 50s who are specifically playing those characters when they see a FF pop up. A Tanker exempted down makes +4 FF much smoother. I have seen some repeat Level 50s on various FF runs I have done. It just feels like a known thing that a FF will be done at +4, so help from a Level 50 is nice to have.

Getting to 19 feels a bit weird. There's nothing meaningful about that level. You aren't even in Talos if Blue side. Level 17, 22, and 27 are far more important when it comes to slotting.

The number one way to have a FF go slow is doing it +4 with the lead not having a 2x XP booster. If the lead has that, I've done it in maybe 90 minutes at most, and the team is blowing through it by the end. If its going that poorly to start, you exit and reset. There is zero reason for a FF to take even two hours.

You aren't using Hover, so how would you be fighting in the air to the point you would be KB protection? Elec is a Res based set, so going for it is fine. You don't have DDR natively, so I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of Def. Any -Def debuff will strip you of it and +ToHit buffs will essentially bypass it.

The fact that this thread exists tells me all I know to know what a Kin can do. Keep checking those pants.

I would. Even adding in Mass Hyp shortly after. You negate alpha strike. You can sleep an ambush. If playing Gold side, those happen a lot. My Mind Controller was pulling off stuff my Ill would have struggled with or taken far longer to deal with in the early parts of the game. Add in the new TK and Mind is significantly better in the early part of the game.

I didn't realize Barrage had -Regen in it. It being -100% just feels really odd since some powers for a Defender aren't even -100%. You are correct on the definition of a mule. DPA = Damage Per Activation.

To be fair, the Sent will be far safer doing its damage.

The option for this and its text is on the screen when making a new character. It doesn't imply the instant Level 50 part well enough, IMO.

So Reunion went from being more than a retirement place for my characters to simply being that. I had started soloing on Reunion and had more plans to do so. The 2x XP was a nice option for my lower level characters. Alas.

Mildly interesting how many of these are animated. I find them easier to pull off and obviously the budgets are cheaper. This feels like the better way to go forward.

- Split the Scrapper's Strike set so you can double up on the +5% S/L Def as you are only at 35.2%. - I don't understand taking Barrage and then one slotting it. It's not even a mule. - Wasting a purple on Energy Punch feels odd as well. - Super related, you took the Soul Mastery pool and didn't take Shadow Meld as an 'Oh crap" button which can be one slotted with a LotG: +Recharge thus saving you a slot elsewhere like gaining a slot for Hasten. - I haven't done EM with WP, so I'm not even sure how much you need Hasten. - Moonbean is great DPA, and it is 3-slotted. - I'm not sure you need Dark Blast. - I would more likely do Shadow Meld with Soul Storm, but you have two attacks 1-slotted and two attacks 3-slotted. - I would rather properly slot up the attacks you have that are worth slotting. - I would rather see something like Resurgence if you have nothing else to take and it works with a single slot. Take that versus Dark Blast and you now have four more slots to play with. - Strength of Will can be a mule if need be. See Barrage not even being worth that. - 5-slotting Power Crash gets you more Regen. 6-slotting adds to your Def as one mere example of adding more slotting to your attacks. - A Chance for a Hold IO is a bit of an odd IO to put into a power which can Disorient. - Damage procs in toggles aren't worth it.

Siphon Speed. And yes, I still use Siphon Power even post FS. It's useful against things like AVs.

You guys realize Mind exists? I have a Level 50 Ill/dark. I had and soloed a Mind/kin of Live. Saying there is nothing better early on than Ill is just outright ignorance.

I said nothing of Rad. Ill doesn't get its consistent AoE control until 22. It doesn't get Phant until 26. That right there is as bad as any other control set if not worse. Again, PA doesn't come until 18 and has serious downtime out of the box. SI is nice to have, but the bulk of Ill is had via its T7-T9.

Red side is a bit similar to Gold side from a damage type standpoint. You definitely want something which can deal with En and Psi damage. End drain will be an issue due to the sheer number of Mu. I haven't done it yet, but I would lean on the idea of using an /elec Brute. I recently created one for Gold side though. If fully kilted out is the end goal, Ill/dark Controller is as close to an 'any' map build you are going to get from a non-melee.

A bar so low it can't be tripped over. 😄I'm not saying FA is the second worst armor. It's definitely in the second worst tier. Add in a Res set on a Scrapper, and yeah.

Money would need to be involved for me to run a /fire Scrapper. 😄

While I went Brute, I've enjoyed my time playing Dark/elec when I had one on Live and recently again for Gold side. I can see thematically Elec/dark working for a Stalker, but I loath Thunderstrike's animation time.

Thanks. I needed a good chuckle.

So far my pick of armor is Elec since it best covers dealing with incoming damage. Gold side has enough ToHit buffs to deal with so Def based armors can have issues, and can get variable amounts of time to get going. The damage aura is just going to make things all the easier in terms of damage output. I would lean Kat since it is the faster set and thus easier to build Fury with. I've soloed Gold side/Wards in parts. I like it for its difficulty and just being different. This is my first real attempt at going through the initial Gold side content since Live. I'll do the Ward arcs once I hit 20.

One thing I learned in school is how often absolutes were not in fact true. I'm not saying I was tanking on a Brute, but I was out surviving the comparable Tanker build while soloing. Also, good luck to a Scrapper and Stalker doing more damage than a Brute with a damage aura in the lower levels. In short, I rerolled a Tanker build for Gold side content for the sake of exploring said content to a Brute, and I'm doing missions faster and safer. Sure, eventually the Tanker will get its footing and stop being so boring to play, but the advantages of being a Tanker in this situation is nil.

It's all sorts of obvious for those who have done similar test, but if one is doing content for the sake of it, a Tanker is simply overkill in mitigation and target cap size. I ran a Tanker and Brute through Gold side up to Level 10, and leveling was significantly different. More so when both builds use a damage aura. While I don't really count a death at Level 4 during an ambush, the Tanker almost fell again until a level up kicked in. The Brute has been on cruise control. I have genuine questions if the Tanker could have stayed upright on some of the situations the Brute cruised through as I did different contacts on the second run. Enhancements haven't really factored into this due to how low of a level the characters are. I at best put in the Res: +3% Def IO for any of the armor slots. I used uncommons for the attacks. I got some Res IOs coming in at 12. At this point, I already axed the Tanker and will continue on with the Brute, as again, it is simply the better AT for the given task. Soloing the Tanker was a bit on the boring side and I ran them through first which made soloing the Brute second all the more noticeable. Again, there are sets which are problematic in terms of under or overperforming, but that ship has sailed.

I have hopped upward to get more coverage with cones. My criticisms of EM are two-fold. The animation time of TF, and it does arguably too much damage at least on a Scrapper as it overkills so many things. So so many things. I probably should run it on a Brute instead if TF was reasonable. Animation time is also why I don't have a Elec Melee character. I still yearn for a fast paced Sonic Melee set to be the energy damage type set for me. While I love Claws, Spin recharges slower on a Brute.

Level 1-20 are fairly streamlined with all ATs for damage, sans Brutes. Fury is practically cheat mode 1-20. Separation happens post level 20. More so once ATOs come into play if that's allowed compared to a SO comparison. Tankers will gain the mitigation to boost the x# side of the difficulty setting as where the Scrapper can boost the +# side. The real difference when it comes to BS is how more likely it is resisted. A Scrapper can get around this easier than a Tanker can. Various bosses at +4 will be painfully slow on a Tanker on average. At least certainly with similar slotting compared to the Scrapper. There are various factors in this. Case in point, what Alpha and Hybrid are taken if that is also part of the testing. The quirks for me are that depending upon what armors are used, a Scrapper can get rather close to the mitigation of a Tanker, see Scrappers doing ITF at +4x8. Maps, even at x8, often do not have mobs with the size of 16 in them. This means a Tanker needs to spend time herding mobs to get there, or their target cap advantage goes wasted. What really gets wonky is set 'x' for a Scrapper versus 'y' for Tanker and talking to yourself about game balance when a Tanker is on pace or out pacing a Scrapper with the obvious added mitigation. I'm old enough to accept game balance was never the point really in any game. It was making sure builds were fun enough to play to begin with.