Without_Pause

I had a level 50 Claws/regen on live and my namesake is a Claws/wp on HC. Since Kin is very Claws like, I don't view RT as "eh." It can be used for alpha strike and a way to create breathing room if things get hairy. Some bosses don't get KBed, they get KDed. I was running +2/x4 and in times of need I would just jump up and then use Shockwave. Doing so gives you better range for more targets and can change KB to KD. No IO required. Now, if there is some differences between the similar powers, then maybe RT won't be "all that," but I don't think it is a straight benefit to lose it and gain AS even though AS is awesome. Note I did recently give Kin another spin and was liking it. I rerolled because the animations are just slightly slow enough and the concept was close enough if not better in a SJ/ea stalker as I wanted something natural looking as possible. SJ loses out on a ST attack but gains AS when going Stalker, so pure win. I would offhand say Kin is about a C+, but I would need to get a build to at least 32 to really say. 50 with a final attack chain would be even better, but at least 32 gives me first hand experience with all of the attacks. I could see it moving into a B- or so.

Being in the controller forum, Ill/rad is a classic big game killer. I would grab some vet powers to make the early levels a bit easier. 18 is basically the starting point for the build. I also know that farming is frowned upon, BUT if you go into AE and do a search for "bad" you will see I listing of maps which any AT can go through. I prefer the space one. They are maps with just mobs of single bosses and you are set at level one, but access to powers up to level 6. Grab a 2x XP pack and you can hit 18 in fairly short order. If you want to go and do content after that, you can as I would find leveling to 50 that way mind numbing. I honestly just do it to get past the initial crappy levels to where a build seems to actually function and have a legit travel power. I would also look in the general and stalker forums for merit farming as that can be a way to earn merits to buy things since influ will be harder to amass sans a dedicated AE farmer. I would also look into the market forums for ways to generate influ. Ill having a way to stealth means you can do the minimum for missions which allow it. Note, on live I had an Ill/rad in my 40s which was soloing on +4 with just common IOs. I have some builds I like to solo on, but if I want an AV killer, Ill/rad every time. There is an arc for King's Row which has an EB in it in case you want to go through that. I haven't checked to see if it is an option using the ability to do out leveled arcs. Switching between sides enables all the more big bads to take on. I don't know what the arc options are for EB level fights lets say under level 20. Silver Mantis can show up for a bank robbery mission from scanners in your 30s. She is...not nice. I have seen her take out whole teams.

In short, the HC team is running this as a non-profit. They post what money they need for the month, raise that, and then stop funding. This enables them to play nice as talks continue. If ever the deal gets made, they have an actual for profit business which they can switch to. The game will remain free. There are other groups who run their own servers with different versions of the game, but the HC team is the only one in talks with NC Soft. In other words, if they pull it off, this will be the version getting the most exposure and financial backing. * This is all best to my knowledge.

I skipped it on my SJ/ea so far at 23 just to try things out, and I honestly don't feel the need for it. With two more attacks to factor in, it would be like, "Wait, why am I stopping?"

Flip side. Got on a team which honestly outside of the cake room of death had too much support in terms of needing control. We were cruising +2 in our 30s to where +3 likely would have been an option. I was on my Dark/dark and in the end I felt like a crappy D/d defender since a defender would have been putting out more damage. I think a good general rule would be two players for control, and anything else after that. Team splits, ambushes, etc. happen so a team could use a second player for control. Pretty much outside of that, damage and buffs/debuffs. Some sort of alpha strike taker is nice to have, but not required. I did have a moment where I fell to the bottom of the cake room, was stuck finding a way back up, and was surrounded. I was frantic as death would mean not hitting 32 by missions end. Honestly thought I was done for and held off till teammates showed up so I was pumped about that.

Any CoH wiki is essentially outdated.

Another advantage is /dark offering a different damage type when Psy does get resisted. I got it to 12. It is a nice change of pace from my Water/ice so that's one benefit in a land of constant deleting and rerolling. Part of me thinks even switching to Water/dark would work out even better. Might be why there are 20 level 50s for that build. Ice/dark could be rather good as there are 6 of those. I don't think it will be bad, but I guess the question is what does it outclass? Outside of theme, I could easily see either powerset being use with something else and at least being equally if not more so happy. I also think Psy/ice would work and that's one with two 50s. I just think the issue here is why Psy? I think part of it is sound effects as Mental Manipulation is used more often. Hell, there's 13 Dark/mental 50s.

The ability to use 2x XP packs to get 50 all the quicker and having a way to farm content to offset any influ loss seems fairly obvious why Spines/fire builds happen. I did the Patron arc with mine and got it to 44. I think I see the end of me using it though. I think instead at some point I'll delete/rename the character so I can use the name for something outside of AE and work in a TW/bio brute who can still do S/L maps while being regular content viable. Hell, if my level 32 Claws/wp brute can solo regular content at +2/x4 with nothing but common IOs, a TW/bio brute will be more than fine. I've done Spines in other builds. I've made it truly look good once. The lack of ST is frustrating. And /fire? (chuckles)

Also note the AT to least take Flucrum is MMs. Let that sink in.

While I like my Dark/dark a lot, it is definitely going to need to work to solo before 32. 38+ and things should pick up nicely.

I rolled a D/d and Psy/d. I might only keep one. My problem is I absolutely love Water and so far have gone /ice and /temp with it so I never devote that much time to /dark. /dark don't do much for Water either or at least in a standout way. Water/dark would be interesting with Water's mitigation and Death Shroud. That's about it for something to lure me.

Highest/lowest average percent taken per primary and secondary would be interesting. Time seems to do quite well so I think it would rank rather high. Some sets are good enough to focus heavily on, and others you use it since it gives you just what you need and you can spend those slots elsewhere.

What level 50 Kin doesn't have Fulcrum Shift? It breaks my brain.

Maybe wait and see if there is enough interest and resources to pull off what you are seeking? I don't anyone else trying this so maybe give it some, I don't know, time.

Since you rolled it, at least try it out. If it isn't working out, try it on a stalker at some point even if you need a different concept. Switched a SJ/sd scrapper to SJ/ea stalker and I don't know when I'll role another scrapper.

SJ on a Stalker loses a single target attack and gains AS. That to me is a significant upgrade. I didn't get far with my SJ/sd scrapper, but absolutely love my SJ/ea stalker who only just stared to slot common IOs. Since melee has to factor in moving around more than ranged attacks sets, burst is far more important than DPS where a ranged player can merely stand there and Tab through mobs. BS should easily be more than fine on a stalker. I would look for a set which gives +recharge as BS is known for being slow.

Interesting enough in that Psy is the most popular attack set for stalkers at level 50 based on the FotM threads. I made a Psy/dark blaster and at least /dark can fill in when Psy is getting resisted.

Hang out in AE.

I work in IT and essentially spend far too much time being on a PC. I use two PCs within a day which use Win 10. I'm tempted to get another memory card for my Raspberry pi and stick a IoT copy of it on there. I have no qualms. I feel like going to Win 7 was the bigger jump.

To be fair, being at max run speed but slow in combat does seem to go away from the idea of a speedster like the Flash. Elec does give you +recharge and /sj does animate as a whole fairly quickly.

I don't really work on builds until it hits 50, and I know I want to keep playing it. There's no point in saying here's what I would take and how I would slot it when I wouldn't do the same in an actual build. I need to know what the build feels like playing it, how I would play it, and build around that. It just seems odd on a blaster with two defensive sets giving you a way to mezz a boss, thematically fit, and yet hardly anyone plays it.

I friend sent me 4 mil as a way to help me starting out.

I don't think the player base on the forums is really representative for all of those who play. I don't think players as a default have a farmer. Just having a level 50 can get you a lot of rewards. Cost of pimping out builds on HC is cheaper or at least easier versus live.

/regen just needs more investment and /wp will be a smoother ride. /regen also has a well known character and others giving it the needed eyeballs. It is tougher to think of a superhero who has willpower versus regen or invulnerability.

I find /wp works better on a brute. SJ works better on a stalker. Between the brute and scrapper, I would go brute since with the combo system you are likely building up to your combos and building fury anyway.