Werner

Welcome to the forum, and I'm not trying to be mean, just prevent you or others from making a mistake - this isn't an ultimate Spines/Fire farmer. It probably isn't even an average Spines/Fire farmer. I'm no Spines/Fire farming expert, but I would expect to see 45% fire defense on an average Spines/Fire farmer. 39% is perhaps good enough, but I think most people go all the way. I would expect to see more AoEs, specifically Spine Burst, Electrifying Fences, and Ball Lightning. I would expect to see perma Hasten or fairly close to it - you say you have it, but the build doesn't even look close to perma Hasten unless I'm missing something. Hasten shows a 19.7-second gap, but it will actually be longer than that, because during the gap it is recharging more slowly, so probably a few seconds longer than that. It's an impressive amount of regeneration, but if you need it at all (I'm not sure you do), you probably only need it because you have 39% fire defense instead of 45% fire defense. It would have been easier to get that last 6% fire defense and not worry so much about regeneration. That frees up your epic to pick up some more AoE. Endurance can be an issue then, but you have Consume, though many people prefer Ageless. I doubt this is the ultimate Spines/Fire farmer either, but as an example of a solid Spines/Fire farmer, you could refer to this thread: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/7594-farm-fresh-builds-farming-focused-builds-and-tips/ In which Warlawk (edit: Ugh, how do I tag someone?) posted this example build, which has the basic features I would expect on a Spines/Fire farmer. There are a number of other Spines/Fire farming builds posted. This just happens to be the first one, and an example of what I'm talking about.

One of the nice advantages of Dark Melee is providing a heal to sets that lack one. Regeneration has more healing than it knows what to do with, so it lacks the synergy of some other secondaries.

Worth considering, though the only thing I could lower and still be soft/hard cap with +5% is melee defense, which is 46.7%. But I've also been running some incarnate content, at which point nothing is going to hit the defense soft cap with +5% defense. And nothing will hard cap with 5% resistance. Also, my smashing/lethal defense is 40.1%, so the 5% would take that to the normal soft cap, which would be nice. Barrier is probably better than Rebirth since I already have a fast-recharging heal.

I planned Ageless for my build. But I've found that with my end game build mostly in place, Consume is plenty to cover my endurance needs. That opens up other possibilities, like Barrier or Rebirth, that might do more for my survivability when things get ugly. It seems like that's the basic choice - Consume or Ageless. The only time so far that I could have used both was soloing a pylon using only my AoEs. With only one enemy to hit with Consume, and with the AoEs burning way more endurance than my single target chain, I had to turn off most of my toggles to finish the job.

Me: "Super Jump... we've already maxed your speed with the first slot. I'm guessing height translates directly to distance, and that you want distance and height, but if all you wanted was speed, we can save a slot. Do you think 59% SLFCEN defense with a single enemy in range is overkill? ... dropping SLEN to 57.x%... opened up enough flexibility to improve damage and decrease endurance use. You'd still soft cap with two enemies in range." Friend: "What would you do with the extra slot from Super Jump? I want to know what I'm exchanging. I don't care about extra damage. Rigger is an indestructible taunt bot. So 59% is not overkill. Plus we hate being debuffed, do we not? Being debuffed to squishiness is not tanky. We are tanky." So I put the 59% SLFCEN back in there, and after a little further discussion, kept the two-slotted Super Jump, but at least was able to keep the better slotting of Haymaker and Foot Stomp. Hopefully endurance will be OK with all the procs and with Taunt not taking any endurance. If he isn't already, I'll encourage him to monitor his defense to see how often in practice it ever falls below the soft cap. If he finds that he's usually well over, maybe we can do version 2 of the build were we lower defense and pick up some other things. Final version 1:

I took a rough pass at recreating my old namesake Katana/Regen Scrapper as a Brute. I'm sure there's still plenty of room for improvement, but it looks pretty solid to me, as long as you're on point with all the ways you have of preventing and recovering from damage. You could get the resistance higher by swapping out the Achilles' Heels, but I want to be able to do at least a little damage. Attack Chain: DA GC GD GC DA GC SD GC Perma Hasten and Dull Pain. 3135 hit points. Decent resists. Subtract 30% from all the defenses to get his baseline - the game is including the buff from Vorpal Radial Final Judgment. It only lasts for 10 seconds, but it's one of your very many tools. I haven't tried it, or thought about it much, but it seems to me that Regeneration is in a particularly good spot to benefit from the incarnate powers that provide only temporary boosts. - in this case Barrier, Vorpal, and Melee. Regeneration is packed full of temporary boosts. The more you have, the less temporary it all feels. There should always be something there ready to go. You just have to be on your game clicking on it. I'm starting to remember what it was like better. It felt like Regeneration never let me down. Only my skill as a player let me down. I didn't die for lack of tools. I died for lack of using them optimally. Yes, this is a top dollar end game build. Yes, it benefits from the defense from Divine Avalanche (or Parry, or Defensive Sweep, or active mitigation, or whatever). Yes, Regeneration might feel a little squishy leveling when you're short on tools, short on defense, short on resistance, short on everything. But it's hardly the only set that feels less solid leveling than with a full end game build. That's what you're working towards, after all. I really think the main issue is how much attention Regen requires, how unforgiving it can be, and how much time all that clicking can take, reducing your damage output.

Regeneration is fine.

I have it, or at least my version of it. I'm still using it sometimes for fine tuning and for comparing very similar builds. But it's missing a lot of things that matter - active mitigation, status protection, defense debuff resistance, other debuff resistance, the different distribution of damage types in incarante content vs. regular content, a good way to easily account for the changing buffs of some incarnate powers, how it's easier to survive if your set doesn't require constant clicking at just the right moment, how easily you benefit from team buffs if you team. Including all of that in a disciplined way would be very complicated. Not including it would be inaccurate. I'm doing more build tuning on my instincts than I probably used to. A bit off topic, I guess. I've not messed with it, but I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, or at least that you could toss in a lot of them at once. If you do please let us know. I want to know if my farmer can solo AVs under Scrapper challenge rules, but I've been too lazy to run the Praetorian arcs again. At least I know I have sufficient DPS, even if it isn't stellar.

I'm almost with you. Some people are posting times without converting, so we seem to be headed that direction. And since we're questioning the right formula, that pushes us further in that direction as well. Times seem less ambiguous, and multiple runs tell us where we might expect our average time to lie. And that's fine if we're just interested in comparative data, just who is faster. But to me at least, this was never a competition, perhaps because I'd so clearly lose. 😉 I've always just wanted to know my DPS. Knowing that I do 210 DPS single target and 140 DPS AoE gives me a better idea how I'll perform in game than knowing how long it takes me to drop a pylon. (Edit: Another point in favor of converting to DPS is that it's a simple linear scale. Times are not. Half the time is not even twice the damage output. I suppose we have similar issues when discussing survivability, though. With survivability, converting to DPS makes for a nice linear scale, but reducing survivability to a single number is... complicated and inaccurate.)

I hardly think I'm a Rage Guru, let alone a long standing one! In the old game, I leveled a SS/Fire non-farmer the old-fashioned way by missioning and street sweeping, and he definitely had and used Rage. I never liked the crash, but eh, whatever, we all live with it. I know Rage is good despite the crash. But now the crash is even more annoying. And, like, it interrupts my flow, man. LOL So I dumped it, even knowing it was good numerically, and even thinking it would hurt my clear speeds. I was surprised when dropping Rage did not seem to put me at a disadvantage, so I thought more closely about why. Still theorycraft, but I think it makes sense. Anyway, I just wanted to recreate that old character, basically. I don't think I ever even took him on an AE farm. If I were making a farmer for farming's sake, I'd probably go Rad/Fire. I hate Spines.

I suspect you're right about the ticks, easily checked, but your approach works either way. The formula I showed assumed that you started at the best possible time. I'd want to know the exact timing of the ticks if it isn't 15, and I'm suspicious that it isn't 15 exactly, but some multiple of 0.132 like it would be for a player. I'm not sure why Pylons would be using a different clock, or a different way of judging when a power had recharged.

Rage is great for damage. You do more damage with Rage. You do even more damage with double Rage. Do something else during the Rage crash. That's what the numbers say... ...in nearly every normal situation. But farms are not normal. We have to be careful when extending our normal thinking to a highly-efficient farming build being played by someone with keybinds and/or macros to efficiently convert all inspirations to reds to chug down at a rapid clip. In such a case, you can often find Rage banging up against the damage cap, and even more often find double Rage banging up against the damage cap. Let's say that I do 50 base DPS and have 100% damage slotting, for 200% damage so far. We max out at 775% damage, so at 575% damage bonus beyond our base + slotting. Here's a table of DPS by damage bonus beyond our base + slotting based on how much Rage we have: 0 = no Rage 1 = single-stack Rage with 128.68 seconds recharge such that we hit Rage only during the crash 2 = double-stack Rage with 63.68 seconds recharge such that we hit Rage only during the crash bonus 0 1 2 1 2 stacks of Rage 100% 150 175 195 +17% +30% 200% 200 221 237 +11% +19% 300% 250 268 279 +7% +12% 400% 300 314 322 +5% +7% 500% 350 358 328 +2% -6% <-- double Rage hurts us 600% 388 358 328 -8% -15% <-- single or double Rage hurts us As we might expect, the benefit of Rage decreases as our damage bonus from other sources increases. What is perhaps less obvious is that once that damage bonus starts getting extreme, Rage and especially double Rage can become counter productive due to the damage cap and time spent not doing damage. I monitor my damage bonus on farms, and I'm going to guess that I average about 450%, but with wide swings around that number. At that level of damage, Rage might still help me just a tiny bit on average, but it would often hinder more than it helps. Double-stacked Rage hinders even more often, and might not even be considered a help at all on average. Beyond theorycraft, I can provide a couple data points that hint that this might be true in game, though two data points do not a statistical analysis make. My SS/Fire/Mu does not have Rage. I only measured one farming pass, but it was at 2.1 million influence per minute. Using the same methodology, a different SS/Fire/Mu farmer with Rage measured... 2.1 million influence per minute. I'm sure there are a ton of factors involved beyond Rage or no Rage, but it is at least a little bit suggestive. Super Strength is an inferior farming set either way. A good Spines/Fire, for instance, can farm about 2.3 million influence per minute, I believe. But if you like Super Strength, and you can accept a 10% loss in farming efficiency, a Super Strength / Fire / Mu farmer can do just fine - with or without Rage.

My thinking is that if the ticks are predictable, such as the first tick always being 15 seconds after you start doing damage, then we can still calculate with reasonable accuracy with a formula like the one I showed. But the ticks might occur at regular intervals having nothing to do with when you start doing damage. Then we’re maybe back to calculating an average, and those numbers get bigger error bars the shorter the times get. Good to see you!

I don't know where the 30675 hit point number came from, and the key values are really the hit points and the regeneration rate. 30677.15 * 5% / 15 = 102.257166..., which is probably rounded off to 102.26 on the power analyzer. And yes, a 2.15 hit point difference on the pylon is meaningless compared to the variability of other factors, such as the differences in time to defeat that we see on repeated test runs. But there's another aspect of the formula and even the power analyzer that I suspect is a simplification that was probably good enough when dealing with builds with 200 DPS, but would lead to inaccuracy on builds with 600 DPS. I suspect what the 5% / 15 is telling us is that it's healing 5% of its base health every 15 seconds, which is something we should check. If so, and given the short times being posted, we'd probably want to amend the formula further to take that into account rather than pretending that we get a tick of health every second. And for that matter, and I'm not sure how we'd verify this, it might be that the ticks of health are actually happening every 15.048 or 15.18 seconds - I'd need to refresh my memory on Arcanatime and whether or not and how it might apply to pylon regeneration. I'd want to test it rather than theorize, but I don't know how to test those tiny fraction of a second differences. For the sake of argument, let's say it's 15.048 seconds, and so pylons actually heal 30677.15 * 5% = 1533.8575 every 15.048 seconds. It's like defeating an enemy with 30677.15 + N * 1533.8575 hit points and no regeneration. And with the 20% damage resistance, it would be like defeating an enemy with 38346.4375 + N * 1917.321875 hit points and no regeneration. N would be the number of times the pylon heals during the run. I don't know when the 15.048-second ticks start. It might be unrelated to when the damage starts, or it might start once the pylon is not at full health. That's something else to test. Let's say it starts when the damage starts. So if we take under 15.048 seconds to destroy it, we did over 38346.4375 damage (extra damage on final attack wasted). Under 30.096 seconds, we did over 40263.759375 damage. And so on. So 38346.4375 + floor(time/15.048) * 1917.321875. That's the damage. Divide by seconds. So then we'd be looking at a formula like this to be more reasonable for these short times to defeat we're seeing now: (floor(time/15.048) * 1917.321875 + 38346.4375) / time = DPS But I'd bet that at least one assumption baked into that formula is false. We'd need to do some testing. It should be very close to the original formula for long defeat times, such as my 43:40 AoE run. That's 2620 seconds, so: (floor(2620/15.048) * 1917.321875 + 38346.4375) / 2620 = (174 * 1917.321875 + 38346.4375) / 2620 = (333614.00625 + 38346.4375) / 2620 = 371960.44375 / 2620 = 142 DPS And that's what I calculated before with the simpler formula. Some fraction off, but not enough to change the rounded number, and I was only checking for reasonableness. But I would expect it to give a slightly different number for a faster time, like Tsuko's 85 seconds. 38346.4375/85 + 127.825 = 579 DPS (floor(85/15.048) * 1917.321875 + 38346.4375) / 85 = 563 DPS Definitely don't start using the "new" formula yet. We need to check the assumptions first, and I suspect change it further based on what we find. But I'm suspicious that we do want a new formula. Of course anything is still going to be inadequate given all the random procs and rounded off seconds and so on.

I'll ask him about Super Jump, if the height/distance is what matters, or if he thought the extra slot would make him faster. Thank you. Still processing the idea of this being too much defense, and contemplating what I could get in a trade, such as more psionic resistance. As a minor tweak to at least break me out of the 59% or bust mindset, I swapped 1.25% EN defense to get 2.5% EN resistance. I made other minor tweaks. Haymaker is better slotted, and I fit the Superior Gauntleted Fist proc into Foot Stomp. I meant for it to be there or in Jab, but somehow lost it along the way and didn't notice. Little number differences here and there. Significantly higher melee defense, but that's just a side effect - I can't imagine there's much psionic/toxic/untyped melee damage out there. Anyway, here's where it stands at the moment, and I'm only stopping because I'm going to bed, not because I think this is done. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1580;772;1544;HEX;| |78DA65944B4F135114C7EF74A6A52DE5515A28082DB4144A0B8C8CE256172204A44| |9A5C69D21835CDB913A34D3C1C8D2C4E74E51E357F0BD71A72E7CF1057C04904F60| |226AA2C64762C6D3390798A493B6BF33E775FFF7CC9D66CF8F051E4F5C38C484C0E| |1925AA9CC1E57F5056E78B34BA66A6A8B3A83CB33A3150ADCA8033386E1D9317E9A| |EB152E4FEAE7964A3A37D439ADA499CB9D14CEF212E7727EA90C76DE34B85E308BC| |149BDC8C134E56DA321B7B85892C7B542D1D4F482DFBECB97399F6FB2CD69AECE73| |A352D4CA81EDFB32E4058F94B553726ED9E0B359B5627263B91D84C9F07DEB831FA| |1AAD8626C9FC89822B1213FA3CB72B3EB92ED73DD20AE20A59BC45B48CF6DE43BE8| |27603F97F003FB797E22BD7F90EF2147A41C310B86E263819868B3318FF71F20C78| |D39A29BFA34FE423653BFE6DFC86769C6EA28B78E725B28A7856AC2942BC3DE7CB8| |37C9771135872F21DB2E13AF20DBAF22F7424D3DCDA3BEE8C29886DC7386B880EC2| |A11CF22D760B106D4263590B618698B91B6186953229018959800A7A609D7634D16| |5C6C1DBA04EDB15AEE60AB6067F77CC7AA9E299C5CCF04323E4E9C442AA03E44EA4| |339404262F13CB2F71871A64A0FEB5D07D5510F4BAEB96C25222869A5D3D11A6776| |3F097C11F4B923A425491A92B4763FADDD7F1435F6FF6376BF0DD84707D60A1D549| |B0AE3134F40DF4E8A750EE25A29621062518A45698D14AD19815837EE4FE8FE8853| |4F6F2243104B90FEC481EA6B29B25198471FE9EFFB8CFB4C6F113F213307B177E61| |A9E80CC26EE631D3040B31C7883B1A1D7C457C497C8E117C455E406D40E52EDE05D| |8ADDA313769FF880F810A93CA21309FB9069FF32CD4DA1B985213642A76584625DD| |2CE1B0C9FEA094A4B3BEFB995A9898ED478941ACFFE1ACFA8D3E3C3894F3B7DC3F8| |F472122D0D3EC17EA212F335C37F00FAAC2DFFCE7F0613A8E6EBAE4F144EE0AEBC5| |3C094C4FC717C1AFE2DE41767FD00D67FDBF509C21DD4165871A11E7FD58B6B9F74| |D8730EFB6902526DD596F52454B5D1FFDC610F85C1A67CD551FBB76DD7FF1F54D40| |51C| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Super Strength / Fire / Mu Brute Single target chain - 7:01 for 211 DPS Blazing Aura + Burn -> Haymaker -> Knockout Blow -> Haymaker -> Punch AoE chain - 43:40 for 142 DPS Blazing Aura + Ball Lightning -> Burn -> Foot Stomp -> Electrifying Fences Only the Pylon and my attacks were used to build Fury. I did not summon my Lore pets. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1562;723;1446;HEX;| |78DA6594D94F135114C6EFD029D896520A94964D68CBBE0C5440E31683628D480D0| |9C437532B5CDB264D69BA24FAE883AFC635BEB880CBAB4FB2B9FC27BEBB206AA2C6| |15EB99399F74924E427E67CE3DDF3D5B99C8C5C9EAA7272E1F118AE3582A96CB458| |F660B79698DC4E2C979414FE55C219B94A92A329B8DA36844A6A4D4660B19998DCE| |E6B3321DCF277C7C34292FC8744E6AE1A4CC5E8A4E14B231F7C97442524C5EFB6F3| |8661617535A38958C27F24EB67533998EDB8DB7D98C940B2EC39C96B10599CD2592| |19CFF14C725E43FE423412CBE529838F8A1AA2BF8022F014AD62C92244481515CBE| |043A6FA087CCCAC7CC25CD16586BE68115F71F68DB9EB3BF883B9AA8772AC55B9AB| |1A3EFB3DF03EB3FA01B8C4AC5966DA688216E4B17814C357BB4DAF6DAAA8FBC2F78| |75E57180CD2B115FD58AB595FE76436D4802E66632DE8667691B60ADAAA6BECF35D| |076F309B6F82B798ADB7996BA4B2A13FDB5BAEA9F51D73F77B7013FCC0ECD862AE9| |3CA81FE1C5EC5E8ABC307EEE118FF38F7AD50814EAE5138E7F405AA6283E082DE85| |3DF8B1073FF610C41E2CA47723D68DD820628388EDFCC97C4E51F58ADDC8557F95E| |7AB92DE03BD07BBE80C43778AD93DC50C50AC976315EF00216413DDA083CE9AD047| |93B13B9B78416F2D9861CB6FCED7FD87D9B30DFE058BCC3EC1B9DC745F1B72B5A1A| |EBE0690D08EBDB61F86EE10E7ECDF0F1E000F3207AF70DC39BA3E006DE019EF7A70| |055C650EAD81EBE01BAEA99E6AEAE29A44D73841B588181DF5E2BEDE7D9C6378947| |30E8F81E3CCD05E10F7BD24D50066368039BE2268F069A7395E340A3102DF0866D1| |AAEEFC9F0B81DF4DBFD957A4478C947942659ED132CF589927AC7B9409DD539C369| |FDAB8E319151F0EF229E8C4562BF45D1A9A2DFBCED74228413EFF54F255287E9E48| |CD197C0DA6883DAAF868D6F5B2EEB3D97707F9EDFAEF84739D35D931937DDE64FFA| |289866087BD257BB3B364373594EC7FCF5AF8A4| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

The most fun? Not for me at least. The most fun for me is missioning with my friends at high difficulty levels. The most fun is laying waste to content that's supposed to be hard. The most fun is laughing about eating dirt when we screw up. The most fun is bringing other people's lowbies along on the difficult stuff and being happy with how fast they're dinging despite all the dirt they're eating. But solo? Honestly, yeah, half or more of my time I'm just on a farm, pounding enemies, not thinking a thing, relaxed and happy. I'm pretty sure I'd do it even if it weren't a good way to make influence.

It takes more work to make a /Fire that can both farm and do regular content. That's what I've done with my SS/Fire Brute and he's honestly not bad in regular content. But incarnate to hit, defense debuffs, psionic enemies, or God forbid all three at once, it gets real ugly real fast. I'm planning out a very different toon to handle that sort of thing, and it definitely ain't /Fire. But farming on my SS/Fire will let me easily afford it once I finish buying my friends their builds. And there are other ways to make influence fast. I just like the Zen of farming. Even off the farm, depending on build and enemy group, you might be able to drift off into Brutelock. While playing with friends, I decided to see if +4x8 Freakshow with bosses could kill me. The answer is no, and I don't even need my heal. I can stand in the middle, not even turn on Burn, go AFK, and come back to dead enemies instead of dead me. So maybe I'd be better at smashing/lethal farming than fire farming. I'll have to try it. But then there was that time I was in Brutelock after a few easy missions and jumped casually into +0x8 Praetorian floating psi women I can't remember the name of. I hit the floor so fast I don't even think I got a heal off. Then I used Rise of the Phoenix and ran right back out the door to change the difficulty level. Good times. 🙂

2,077,879 influence per minute 124,672,750 influence per hour Super Strength / Fire / Mu Brute. Not a dedicated farming build, as should be clear from my meager 31% fire defense, but with 47% melee defense, he hangs in there OK with only occasional hits of Healing Flames. T4 Agility, T4 Degenerative, T4 Ion, T4 Banished Pantheon, no Destiny yet (not sure which I want), no Hybrid yet (Melee). Single run, not a best run or an average of multiple runs. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.1 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Turiel: Level 50 Magic Brute Primary Power Set: Super Strength Secondary Power Set: Fiery Aura Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Punch -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury(7) Level 1: Fire Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(7), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(9), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9) Level 2: Blazing Aura -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(11), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(15) Level 4: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(17), Rct-ResDam%(19), BlsoftheZ-ResKB(50) Level 6: Haymaker -- SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(19), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(23) Level 8: Knockout Blow -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(25), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(27), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(29) Level 10: Healing Flames -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(29), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(31), Prv-Heal/Rchg(31), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(31), Prv-Absorb%(33) Level 12: Temperature Protection -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), StdPrt-ResKB(33), GldArm-3defTpProc(33), Ags-Psi/Status(34) Level 14: Boxing -- KntCmb-Knock%(A) Level 16: Plasma Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(34), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(34), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(36) Level 18: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(36), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(36), UnbGrd-Max HP%(37) Level 20: Consume -- EffAdp-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(A) Level 22: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(37), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(37), ShlWal-Def(39) Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(39) Level 26: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A) Level 28: Burn -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(39), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(40), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Obl-%Dam(42) Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(42) Level 32: Foot Stomp -- Arm-Dam%(A), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(43), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Arm-Acc/Rchg(43), FrcFdb-Rechg%(45) Level 35: Electrifying Fences -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(45), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(46), Ann-ResDeb%(46) Level 38: Tactics -- HO:Cyto(A) Level 41: Ball Lightning -- Rgn-Knock%(A), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(48), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(48), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(50), Ann-ResDeb%(50) Level 44: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 47: Rise of the Phoenix -- AbsAmz-EndRdx/Stun(A) Level 49: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 1: Brawl -- KntCmb-Knock%(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Fury Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A) Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(15), Mrc-Rcvry+(17) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A) Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 0: Portal Jockey Level 0: Task Force Commander Level 0: The Atlas Medallion Level 50: Agility Core Paragon Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Banished Pantheon Radial Superior Ally Level 50: Ion Core Final Judgement ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1567;729;1458;HEX;| |78DA6594D94F535110C6CFA5B7D4DB524A81D2B2096DD9C10B15D0B8C5A05823524| |302F1CDD40AC7B649539A2E893EFAE0AB718D2F2EE0F2EA932C6EFF89EF2E889AA8| |71C53AF7CE276DD29334BFB973E63B3373A6F7462E4CD63C397EE9B0501C4753B15| 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A friend just got his Invulnerability / Super Strength Tanker up to level 50 and is ready to pimp it out, no expenses spared. So I've been trying to figure out a build for him, but I never tank, which makes it more likely than usual that I'm missing some things. One big thing I could be missing is the prevalence of different damage types in incarnate content. My memory is that there was a lot more energy damage than in the rest of the game, so a large portion of the build is devoted to energy defense and resistance. If my memory is wrong, then the build probably needs some major retooling. To confirm something I thought I heard - you can +5 PvP IOs without losing the set bonuses when exemplared, right? They always behave as if attuned, just like purples? Or is it only purples? If I've looked up and calculated the Superior Might of the Tanker proc chance correctly, it's 5PPM, and has a proc chance of about 35% per enemy, which makes it almost certain to fire when Foot Stomping in a large crowd? Here's the calculation: AreaFactor = (11*arc + 540)*radius/40000 + 1 = (11*360+540)*15/40000 + 1 = 2.6875 EnhncRechg = ignores global recharge (?) = 20 / (100% + 119.48%) = 9.112 ProcChance = (EnhncRechg + Activation Time)*PPM / 60 / AreaFactor = (9.112 + 2.1) * 5 / 60 / 2.6875 = 34.77% Some notes: Intended as an incarnate and +4x8 team tank, go anywhere, do anything, never die, keep the team alive 59% SLFCEN defense with only one enemy in range of Invincibility for incarnate AV fights. That also gives some wiggle room for defense debuffs when surrounded, as should Diamagnetic Core's -5% to-hit in Foot Stomp. Hard-capped SLFCEN resistance - if he's hit Melee Core, and has only 1000 hit points left, and Superior Might of the Tanker was triggered by Foot Stomp. I want him to have perma Dull Pain. I didn't calculate how the recharge will be affected with Hasten not being perma, but I suspect it's fine. If not, it won't drop for long. He insists on two-slotted Super Jump because quality of life His favorite attacks in order - Foot Stomp, Jab, any fast-recharging ranged attack (Fire Blast in this build), Knockout Blow, Haymaker (I kinda shafted Haymaker) He doesn't want Rage He told me he was fine with having the psionic hole, so I didn't try to plug it, even though there are a number of ways I could have improved the situation. But with 36% 32% 32% positional defenses, -5% to-hit from Diamagnetic, capped hit points, massive regeneration on demand, and if necessary eating purples, I'm hoping he can weather psionic attacks, even if he's clearly much weaker against them than other damage types. Well, toxic is ugly too, of course. I'm not specifically avoiding purple sets in the build. It just ended up that way. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.1 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Rigger: Level 50 Mutation Tanker Primary Power Set: Invulnerability Secondary Power Set: Super Strength Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Leaping Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A) Level 1: Jab -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(5), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(7) Level 2: Temp Invulnerability -- RctArm-ResDam(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(7), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(40) Level 4: Dull Pain -- DctWnd-Heal/Rchg(A), Pnc-Heal/Rchg(13), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(13) Level 6: Resist Elements -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(17), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(17), UnbGrd-Max HP%(19) Level 8: Unyielding -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(19), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(21), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(40) Level 10: Haymaker -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(A), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(15), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15) Level 12: Taunt -- MckBrt-Taunt(A), MckBrt-Taunt/Rchg(25), MckBrt-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(25), MckBrt-Acc/Rchg(27), MckBrt-Taunt/Rng(27), MckBrt-Rchg(29) Level 14: Resist Energies -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(29), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(31), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(31) Level 16: Boxing -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(21), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(23), KntCmb-Knock%(23) Level 18: Invincibility -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(31), ShlWal-Def(33), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(33), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(33), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34) Level 20: Knockout Blow -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(34), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(36), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(36), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(36) Level 22: Tough -- HO:Ribo(A) Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def(37), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(37), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(37), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(39), Ksm-ToHit+(50) Level 26: Tough Hide -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(39) Level 28: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(39) Level 30: Maneuvers -- ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(A), ShlWal-Def(40) Level 32: Super Jump -- BlsoftheZ-Travel(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(42) Level 35: Tactics -- HO:Cyto(A) Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Erd-Dmg(42), FuroftheG-Acc/Dmg/End/Rech(43), FuroftheG-Dam/End/Rech(43), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(43) Level 41: Char -- SprEnt-Acc/Hold/End/Rchg(A), SprEnt-Acc/Hold/End(45), SprEnt-End/Rchg(45), SprEnt-Hold/Rchg(45), SprEnt-Acc/Hold(46), SprEnt-Rchg/AbsorbProc(46) Level 44: Fire Blast -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(46), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(48), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(50) Level 47: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(50) Level 49: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Gauntlet Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Clr-Stlth(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(9), Pnc-Heal/+End(9), Prv-Absorb%(11) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(11) Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 0: Portal Jockey Level 0: The Atlas Medallion Level 50: Melee Core Embodiment Level 50: Rebirth Radial Epiphany Level 50: Diamagnetic Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Void Radial Final Judgement Level 0: Task Force Commander Level 50: Agility Core Paragon ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1582;757;1514;HEX;| |78DA65944B4F135114C7EF74A6404B114A0B058142CBA394C748157706172204A44| |9A5C49D2145AEED481D9A7630B23451D78A1ABF82EF8D3B75E1F30BA844904F6022| 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It seems like Bio is the current answer to all questions. 😉 I should probably keep leveling my TW/Bio. I started him randomly, just "What are two sets that I've never played?" Then I found out from the forum that the combination is awesome once fully pimped out. It seems like I can't make a bad Scrapper or Brute even when I try. 😁

OK, I turned it down to +1x8 just to see what would happen. I would guess I spent 1/3 to 1/2 the time damage capped, which I think is actually higher than benefits me since I think I need to include the damage enhancement in the powers themselves. Anyway, it took maybe 30 seconds to get there the first time because I went in with a tray full of random inspirations instead of loading up on reds, and then it kept dropping whenever the enemies started thinning out and I had to move to another group, and that was awfully frequent with the kill speed I had against +1s. I didn't track influence, but it was less satisfying than fighting +4x8. Too fast, I guess. Too much time hunting for the next group rather than killing.

It might sound strange, but Dark Melee / Shield Defense is supposed to be awesome. I liked my Dark Melee / Super Reflexes, and it can be very hard to kill if built for it.

Yeah, my namesake Katana / Regen was a fun build to play, and could do silly things with the best of them, but it took a LOT of attention. After that I moved on to Dark Melee / Super Reflexes (Sergei), which took very little attention, but also wasn't really any better. And then I went to Katana / Dark Armor (Alexei), and that was my favorite until the game shut down, but damn were defense debuffs my kryptonite. I do remember a thread where I think there was some collaboration on coming up with the best Katana / Regen possible. On paper, it was much better than the Katana / Regen I did all the AV soloing and other Stupid Scrapper Tricks with. Almost good enough to tempt me away from my Katana / Dark Armor. Almost, but not quite. These days I'm spending all my time on a Super Strength / Fire Brute, and it's reasonably solid outside of things like psionic damage, but it's not built to do Stupid "Scrapper" Tricks. I came up with a Kinetic Melee / Super Reflexes Brute build for a friend, and was so happy with how it ended up that I was like, "Now I'm jealous. I want one." So I'm currently fiddling around with a possible Titan Weapons / Super Reflexes Brute build, but I haven't even started one. I haven't fiddled with Regen in the current game, but I suspect it could be built to be very solid. Well, maybe "solid" isn't the word for a set that requires laser focus to stay alive when things get ugly. But very capable. I think Dark Melee / Super Reflexes would be a very solid old-school Scrapper. That's probably what I would build if I wanted to go old school.

If you're talking about solo farming, you hit the damage cap by having a fast kill speed, which means inspirations drop faster, and you convert them all into reds, which you're eating faster, which increases your kill speed, and so on. But my damage is all over the place during runs, probably mostly in the 300% to 600% range on +4x8 Comicon. I imagine it would be possible to hang out mostly at the damage cap if I turned the level down some, but I've not tried, and it would probably be counterproductive overall. I'm not using Rage. I also don't have a dedicated farming build. Anything that increases your damage output will indirectly also increase your % by increasing the rate at which inspirations are dropping.