Without_Pause

Single Target: 1 Acc, 1 End, 3 Damage, Optional 1 Recharge. Multi-target: 2 Acc, 1 End, 3 Damage. This is on a basic SO/common IO level. EA offers +Recharge so that will help in that regard. You can pick up Hasten as well and 2 slot it with Recharge. I would say for combos, Attack Vitals will be the best one with adding in BF to get the benefit of it and Typhoon's Edge for more AoE.

In the end there are no best combos for max DPS for DB. I forget what the ideal chain is. I just know it needs a high amount of recharge. By no means can this be copy/pasted, there are some ideas here to look over. I would skip over 1K cuts and its ridiculous animation time.

I also found this thread fairly informative although as always, any data which is based on pylon and Trapdoor testing should be taken with a grain of salt as they use non-general gaming builds.

Savage stands out on a Brute more due to the DoT nature of Savage. End reduction is universal for any AT and the +dmg technically works better on a Scrapper. It's basically S tier on any AT which has it despite Hemorrhage being skippable.

Try 35-50. My auto default is doing the one newer contact's arc to hit 4. Run a DFB with a team so I can go to the Hollows, pound out the first two contacts in the Hollows solo while teaming for Frostfire at +2, being level 13, and no 2x XP booster, and that can be done in a night's session. Next night I go do the Posi TF. I'm like level 17 already. I can do the Midnighter's arc or some other arc and ding 20+ in no time if I'm teaming. On the opposite end, I ran a team for Tina's arc at +2, went through 9-10 missions, and got all of 1.5 levels. WTF is this 1-22 slog? I would be insanely okay if 2x XP boosters never existed. I would also be all sorts of fine if AE was locked out until a player dinged 50. Lets be honest, vets know how to get to 50 asap without AE anyway. So no, this is not some terrible restriction for vets of the game. What honestly blows me away is the lack of in depth guides for power sets. This game is old. There is no sticky in each of the AT sections or the guides section where a player can come in and look at a run down of each of the powersets and come away with a solid idea about about the powerset and ideas for slotting. We have players with hundreds of characters. Some of them have 100+ characters at 50. Even on the 'lower' end having 40+ characters isn't that out of the question and that's just on Homecoming. Odds are that player had just as many on Live. And yet, where are the guides to the things we are playing? That's what new players need. In the history of the game the Scrapper forum has been one of the most active, and yet as of late it feels like there might be one post in a week. Fine, all of the pylons have been soloed. Trapdoor is seeking retirement, but where are the guides? And yes, the kettle being black, I am currently waiting on some things to happen in my life so I have more time to sit down and write out some guides to some of the things I have played.

If/When you do switch in purples, put in the damage proc for Hecatomb versus the D/R IO since damage is already so over the ED cap, and recharge is partly so.

I'm not saying get rid of 2x XP boosters. What I am saying that those might be my most love/hate thing which has gotten added, and it is far more on the hate side.

You should take the primary and secondary data and incorporate it into the actual build area so it is a single column format. Case in point, in the Build area, I would show what sets are used for the power selected just below where the power is listed versus in a completely different section.

My guess is the +Recharge it offers aids the other attacks to where it increases DPS enough to warrant being added in. I also know Gloom helps Claws for DPS, but I can do a attack chain without it, so I never grab it. As the OPs states, these are builds done with a specific goal in mind. These are by no means builds you are going to see doing everyday content. My biggest take aways are just how poorly Kinetic and Psionic perform and just how good Battle Axe is. This confirms my initial plays of the Kinetic and Psionic. Kin is just simply too slow for the damage it produces. Let it be a slower but harder hitting Claws as there is virtually a 1:1 correlation for powers between the two sets. Psionic has an issue with Insight. More so since Boggle helps trigger it but it is poorly implemented. Almost no one wants to take Boggle when other sets get actual attacks which are used in attack chains. Rename Boggle to Insight so that's where it gets generated and make it a toggle. Two easy fixes for sets in desperate need of balancing.

I thought about that after posting. People would instantly go that direction in terms of thinking before ever really thinking Red Hulk. This is why it is so simple to avoid being so obvious, and yet people feel like they have to do an outright copy.

I'm drawing blanks on the names of the games partly because it was some time ago, and I never played them, but there have been character designers which go into far more detail. I still think CoH is really good despite its age. I recently took a character and redid their look. Even though the new look is incredibly basic, the change is significantly better. I was poking around and went, 'Wait, when did this pattern get added?'

I think it should be fine. You aren't even referencing one of the many versions of Hulk. I don't think any big green skinned guy = Hulk needs to really happen considering the trope of green Martians. I'm not sure how much adding in a bio would help the case, but it wouldn't be difficult to give the character a bio which further pushed it away from Hulk. In short, if this character is an issue, then pretty every time I log in I see a character in violation. It is kind of frustrating that you could simply make a non-green skinned guy and no one thinks about Hulk although I wouldn't recommend being red skinned.

Read the room. You're quoting something from 6 days ago.

I did a terribly quick run through of the blast sets. Note, I have yet to play Seismic or Storm, so YMMV. I essentially looked at 5 areas and rated a set 1-3 based on how well they did at that aspect. The areas are: ST Damage: Can one skip on of the T1 or T2 attacks and feel like they have a decent attack chain. AoE: Do they have 2 AoEs without a nuke. Secondary Effect: Does it have one, is it meaningful, can it lead to procs? Control: What meaningful aspects of control does it bring? Damage type: S/L get a 1. Dark and Psy get a 3, although I fully accept just how much blow back I can get for saying Psy is a 3. Both seem to fall into the category of hardly resisted, or incredibly resisted. I bumped Psy down a tier anyway. Everything else is a 2. By all means, I know people will argue specific numbers so I will merely focus on the grouping of the sets and why they land where they do. Hell, I repeatedly admit I changed sets from one tier to another. I won't claim to sets being ranked within their tiers. Tier 1 Assault Rile: The pro for this set is that it does well in AoE. The downside is pretty much everything else. While KB is okay in the land of IOs, the fact that all of its AoE do it means someone is slotting a lot of that proc in order to keep things contained. Defenders to a default like mobs packed together for debuffs. Assault Rifle actively goes against that. In the end, you use IOs to fix the issues of AR versus improving it. Archery: It has better ST damage and there isn't the KB issue outside of one power. The nuke rotates fast, but that's about it. I don't think lighting your own Oil Slick Arrow is going to really bump it since that's a single instance of why Archery works. Tier 2 Energy: This honestly feels like it should be higher because it just feels like it is the poster child of being a middle ground set versus being higher. It's just an incredibly average set which needs some IOs to contain it. Still the best looking nuke. Dual Pistols: I'm likely under valuing this as I know people like to use this set with proc heavy builds. In all honestly, its base damage type is what holds it back from being higher. Seismic: My biggest complaint is that any Earth/Stone type sets are great at control as where this deals a lot with -Fly which is way less exciting and not something you can IO into. Storm: Again, I'm pleading ignorance here, but I find it telling there are four powers which are labeled as being better for Corrs. Tier 3 Electric: I had this in a tier lower even after the rework. I knew the backlash would be coming. It likely still will. It's hard to factor in how much the pets adds, but also needing a pet isn't really helping one's case. Short Circuit requires the Defender into melee and with a long animation time. It's still rather average overall with a great secondary effect even if that aspect is questioned just how it really impacts things. The damage boost is nice and needed. Old school Electric cakewalks into Tier 2. Dark: The ST damage isn't great, but when you factor in how much a heal comes in handy with sets which don't have one, it is a bit more excusable. It's a nice rounded set which can compliment other sets while ultimately not being that much of a 'Wow' factor with so much of the damage being DoT based. Sonic: And coming in with arguably the best secondary effect even though you can't slot IOs for it. AoE is light, but control is high and it makes it super easy to solo. This is one I can see being higher. Dirty hack, one can slot the Call of the Sandman: Chance to Heal Self in Siren's Song. Fun fact, I had a Rad/sonic on Live and even just using common IOs it lead me to soloing defenders. Water: Another set I bumped despite its score. It's just too damn useful overall and the heal helps fill in similar to Dark. I have a Water Blaster at 50. I need to make a build for it. Maybe after I get a better idea of Water it will move higher. I really like the set despite the numbers. Psychic: This might be the one set I debate more than anything because this was tier 4, and I'm like, 'Is this better than certain others?' Maybe some day. I've also debated a number of times when trying to decide on making a character or not and just using a different and higher ranked set instead. There is still a lot to like here. Tier 4 Beam: I only briefly have played it, but it very much is one of the sets where when it is on, it feels incredibly good, and then you have to wait for Disintegration to kick in again. Tons of control and KD versus KB. AoE is deceptive since Disintegration adds to it even when using ST attacks. Another which was ranked lower, but I think it as a harder target killer is worth mentioning. I need to reroll my low level Time/beam over to my main account, or maybe try a different primary as I have 4 other Time characters already. Rad: It's control and damage type are middle ground, and that's about it for negatives. Sure, -Def isn't as important in end game fights, but you can still proc for it and it still makes low level gaming that much easier. In all honestly I hardly ever think to roll a /rad defender even if it was what I used on my first hero on Live. But yeah, I am continuing to invest in my Time/rad. I played it last night, and I was like, 'This feels good.' Still surprised I got the name Irradikate. Fire: No, drugs and alcohol were not involved, but yes, I had this in Tier 3. At some point, you can't overthink things. Fire's control is Rain of Fire and things being dead. You can't slot for its secondary effect, but said secondary effect is better than a proc anyway. Fire is simply Fire and Moar Fire, and that is enough. It's basically a Blaster and Corr set given to Defenders. So yes, for Defenders it is 'Tier 3,' but again, let's not overthink things. Ice: Ice Storm and Blizzard are DoT heavy, and that's about the only negative I have. Ice has been historically stupid good at damage and utility for a blast set while Ice Control languishes at damage for reasons I have no idea why. Oddly enough, Ice is one of the more lightly resisted sets. Also, this is the set which simply outclasses Psychic for me. You can't be Tier 4 if someone already has your seat.

I should add, there was some wonkiness with the polls as T1 powers were listed as under 100% when they were still mandatory, but the thread talking about what percentage of the player base taking powers within a powerset was a gold mine for figuring out what to pick at least on the initial go of playing a new powerset. This would be all the more interesting now that players aren't forced into taking T1 secondary powers.

Power Transfer: Chance of Heal Self in Stamina and Call of the Sandman: Chance of Heal Self in PGA help out nicely in this regard.

Something must be up, as I know of no plans to move it.

Strongest how? En doesn't have DoT which is what is going to be an advantage for a Corr versus a Blaster. En gets better DPS wise once you added in KB to KD IOs oddly enough, and you will want to do that as Kin absolutely doesn't want things being KBed away. I like En, but I prefer it much more on a Blaster.

Fire/storm also has to balance Hurricane and Hot Feet so I would lean Fire/rad.

Back on topic, I just wished the Homecoming Stats thread was done once a year. This way we can look if changes to sets mattered and changes in what is getting played is happing. Is the new unicorn the same as the old one?

Started my day selling stacks of uncommon salvage for 500k-1m per stack. I am listing them for 1k and they sell instantly.

I haven't built one although I need to work on a Time/dp which should be easy enough since I've done Time twice now. I would try to focus on one of the two powersets and then go from there. The attacks might be the easiest since the ATOs get slotted there. Figure out what you are building for. DP likes to be in melee so S/L and Range Def will be easy targets to go after. Outside of that, Recharge and the End to pull it off. Resist will be nice, but with Defender's Resist cap and lower HP, I don't worry about it too much. One note on slotting. If you don't need to 6-slot an attack for the bonus, skip the D/R IO. Either save the slot or stick a proc into the 6th slot. This can make it easy to get 2 damage procs into an attack.

Even if you factor in Live, I don't think I have done Hamidon 5 times. It might be 3, so I'm oblivious to the rewards outside of the HO.

In my Fire/time controller I put the -Res proc into Slowed Response over the Chance for Lethal. If you can find the slots, Time's Juncture can fit two damage procs in it as well.

Energy Aura. I could at least see the case for Elec if you were going Brute or Tank, but Scrappers have a lower Res cap. An Energy/ea Scrapper is great. I got mine in the high 30s before I realized I just don't like Energy Melee nor Elec Melee for that matter. I can't fathom Bots/time MM not wrecking so many things. If I were to make one MM, that would likely be it.