Without_Pause

Well I checked other Brute PBAoEs and Spin is on the shorter side which is why I made the comment.

How is the recharge on Spin long? It is 14 seconds, and a quick scan isn't showing anything quicker. A number of PBAoEs are at 20 seconds. I also never felt the need to add a filler attack for Claws in terms of attack chain even when leveling. You have a complete ST attack chain at 18. You already get a boost in recharge as well.

Oh, do tell how you came to this conclusion since you seem to understand both sets and are willing to call EA rubbish. SR and EA both have three toggles for defenses which each cost 0.13 end and thus 0.39 end overall. SR has no mez toggle and PB costs 10.4 end to click. Both offer +20% recharge. The only way you are using more end on a EA build is if you are using Disrupt, which is highly skippable. I don't have it in my build and have no plans on adding it into a build as I just find the power replaced with something else. This says nothing about Energize or End Drain. To say "Energy drain DOES NOT help in the slightest" is negligence is being kind. "Never have I had to eat some many blues just to stay in a fight in my life." (glares at Shield) FYI, one can skip one of the control toggles from Dark and still use .468 end and that's not even factoring in DR's 33.8 end usage. It is fine to not like a set, but spreading false information which can easily be looked up and countered isn't the fertilizer you think it is.

That should only really matter when leveling since you have have access to powers 5 levels higher than a TFs cap. Case in point, once you hit 38, FS can be used on a Manti TF.

I did a character's Alpha using Shards. It was the last aspect to get to T4. As in all of the other powers were at T4 before I got my Alpha done. I'll likely do the same going forward simply because the conversion rate is just so terrible. Part of the issue outside of the drop rate for Threads being so much better, Threads can essentially be farmed by doing the daily DA mission and taking the 10 Thread reward. I think one should get a Shard on level up or three when you get a Vet level. This would put getting the T4 for Alpha done right around the time the rest of the T4s are done. Hell, getting any amount of Shards for doing the daily would be great as well. It is frustrating since Shards are used as currency along with rewards for doing the WST and players are doing those by default for the extra Merits. Love CoH to where I have obsessed over it. There are dev decisions which as simply asinine. The use of Shards and Threads is one of them.

Like I said, it depends on the type of storm. Having lived in the northern part of the US, ice is absolutely involved in a storm.

First thought was Elec/ice. I guess it depends on what kind of storm. I don't really think of Stone when I think of storm. Elec/kin might be an option since Kin mimics wind.

I've done a number of builds using common IOs as I leveled and then using a second build for end game which almost has no common IOs at all. I can slot out a build with commons for a few million, so not much is lost. I can pop a respect if need be and store those commons for another character. I now do this with cheap uncommon IOs. Also, I am getting into situations some builds are just different if I'm doing content up to level 35 and then 35+. See a build taking an attack early on to make attacking easier, but said attack being dropped later. There is also the case where level 27 is a good switching spot for a build as various sets start being slotted at that level. I have a WS and Fort, but I honestly haven't played around with doing alt builds for them. The Fort is nearly done in terms of Incarnates, so I might only switch out two powers if I want to tweak the build. In short, build 1 is initial leveling, build two is 27-35 area, build 3 is end game. This can be done using the same build but with a respec. I can see using 2 builds in the end.

The other main difference is StJ traded a middle ground ST attack for AS and thus it did well in getting converted over.

I tried to convince my wife my 10 million influ error wasn't that big of a deal. That's the worst one I've had.

For the sake of someone bumping into this thread, CoH is owned my NCSoft. Cryptic has no current ties to it.

Rad has been great on my Tank. I think Claws is fine on a Brute. The issue is it being better on a Scrapper since FU is better there and in a case where one is soloing, the resisted damage in Claws can be more annoying. This can less an issue on a Scrapper due to crits. Granted, my main here is a Claws/wp Brute.

I would have added /rad but you think /bio has too many clicks. I haven't used /fire for non-farm content, but I love /ea on the Stalker and Scrappers I have used it on. Energize will be the dominate click you use as end usage can be handed rather easily.

I mentioned disliking Seismic animations elsewhere, but I caved and ran one to 12. Well, it is going to play better in melee despite lacking a PBAoE so something like Time is far better than Thermal since Thermal would rather be a Hover blaster. I guess I'm keeping the Thermal/fire.

Mine's only 25. Previous mood was waiting until 22 and slotting common IOs. I would do sets at 50. Now I will slot whatever as I level and then do a final respect at level 50. I just have been playing the build with almost no real slotting. Once I get a tank to 27(its 26) and can pull a respect on that build, I'll like start working on getting IOs into the Time/rad. I haven't really looked at a build yet. I did a lot of support of live, and not much has survived on HC, and less so Defenders. The Time/rad is my second highest, but it might be the one I want to invest in when I get around to it. And yes, the PBAoE aspect is partly why I paired the two together. I was doing Poison/rad when I decided that it would be better as a Poison/dark.

I think Elec for me would only be tolerable on a Stalker. Mine is still only level 14, so I still have to see how well it pans out. Thunder Strike being AoE is about the only saving grace with that long of an animation time.

My own current list of defenders which I am investing in Dark/dark. A solid classic combo. While controls can be a weaker on fast moving teams, there are times where a team can lack controls so having that is nice. Time/rad. Kind of an alternate take on Kin/rad as I have done Kin to death. I just think it is a solid all-round build. I was thinking about what mattered in end game content, and Time checked the most boxes. Cold/water. Can be made into being quite survivable. Cold will be great for end game content. Thermal/fire or /seismic. Similar to Cold in that both sets have fast animations which matter on faster teams. Applying the shields isn't as one click as I would like since team members can be spread out, but still. Current version uses Fire only lacking anything else I really wanted to play at the time. Fire is better on a Corr, but I wanted Def numbers for Thermal. Seismic I plan on switching to at some point since it is new and adds some mitigation. I've played a horde on live. I would need to play Kin/elec after the recent changes to Elec, but I found the build a better pairing as a Controller. It was still my main on live. Kin is essentially better on Corrs and Controllers, but Kin/sonic is a legit reason to go Defender. Kin/rad is a toss up between Defender and Corr, but I rolled Defender. Rad/sonic was great for teams/solo. Might prefer Time/sonic theses days. Sonic blast is just really good on a Defender. Dark and Storm are great while on the end heavier side but with IOs and Incarnates, what are end issues these days? My only complaint on Dark is DN's animation time. The current meta prefers faster animations, so DN can go unused at times.

As a hater of longer animations, I get why you might not like it from a flow point, but it is the farming preferred pick for a reason.

All this talk about raw damage with Claws and EM and not a single mention of Rad. Y'all disappoint.

I think the most obvious pairing is with Kin since you are stacking -dmg. Animations from a volunteer group is always going to take a bit of time to do.

Except this is better on a Defender.

The problem with this is the lack of Def on the team. I assume the OP picked FF over Cold for related reasons because outside of adding Def, I would pick Cold over FF in practically every case.

A couple of nights ago I think I checked and Excel was around 900. Again, I don't check if it is red, and I rarely do dual boxing these days but outside of heavy weekends when a patch comes out one should be good.

I have to use two of them everyday at work and have added them to where ever I can. Trust me, I know they are hated.

I know some might not like it, but two-factor authentication would really axe this sort of thing.