Overclock

Yeah, I caught some of the problems with the build about a day after I posted it. The final build brought the LotGs down to 5, added in the two resist set +Def IOs and still got to soft capped Melee, Smash and Lethal defense. Shield is a boring set, but that's a feature in this case since the goal of the build was to give something to a 72 year old player who's not particularly careful about which powers he presses in which order. Boring with tons of defense and an inexhaustible supply of End means no need to pay attention, you can just charge into everything and have fun.

Did a bit more tinkering and came up with this as my best first pass effort: Durable Brute - Brute (Dark Melee).mxd

Anyone have some good IO'ing tricks to help max out of the survivability of a Dark Melee / Willpower Brute? Or a build that plays as more or less indestructible? With my early Mids efforts, I'm getting capped Def to S/L and F/C but E/N is only at about 30% and none of the resists are anywhere near the cap (S/L is closest in the high 60s). Regen's a bit over 600% and Max HP is up around 2400 with the accolades in effect which is more of both than I have on a lot of builds, I just don't have a good sense of how resilient that will be in actual play.

This isn't quite fair to players without influence, but have you tried using Envemoned Daggers? They're available from the P2W Vendor in Nova Praetoria and they pack an enormous amount of -Regen (500% if memory servers). That should be plenty enough to let you outpace his regen. I'll admit, it's not a great answer since people shouldn't be dependent on temp powers, but it is an option for getting past him if you're stuck. Or you can team with someone and the extra damage they bring should do the trick (though again, not a great option with how sparsely populated the gold zones are).

One note: Increase Density gives the +Resistance to everyone it hits, but only the person you target gets the mezz resistance part of the effect. It's weird and annoying, but important to remember since it means you do need to cast it individually on people who need the Mezz Prot (if you care, generally squishies can fend for themselves).

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this before me, but the tried and true method for taking out most EBs and AVs is: Step 1.) Go to Bloody Bay Step 2.) Lose your fear of being ganked because no one is there anymore Step 3.) Earn a Shivan temp power by doing the quick mission for them Step 4.) Unleash Shivan on EB/AV. Step 5.) Help Shivan out if you feel like it (actually required on AVs, often not on EBs) Step 6.) Profit! Seriously, the Shivan temp power can be an incredibly decisive factor in any tough fight and its so easy to get these days. The P2W Vendor has other temp summons available but they're generally weaker than a Shivan and can be a lot pricier than an quick trip to Bloody Bay.

You make a compelling case @Mercurias. I've played AR before on live and haaated it, pretty much for the reasons mentioned. Looking between /Ice and /Nin, it's a harder call. Both have their issues and their strengths. /Ice I think has a perk over /Nin in this case though -> Ice Patch has some synergy with Ignite and packs higher damage in it's early attacks, where /Nin offers control. Also, since I won't be using Set IOs (apart from a KB->KD proc potentially), the LotG slotting advantage to /Nin goes away. So...since at least a few seem to be voting for it, I guess AR/Nin is the least survivable solo Blaster option?

I'm kind of leaning towards Sonic/Nin based on the thoughts above. When the "Flavor of the Month" post came out, I rolled up a Fire/Fire Stalker because those were the lowest picked sets for Stalker Primary and Secondary to make it to 50 and the combo turned out to be wonderfully fun to play. I'm not expecting Sonic/Nin to be anywhere near as enjoyable but I think it fits the bill of not being a (positive) outlier in terms of performance (aka no worries about "well of course Sonic/Nin Blasters can solo, they're the OP exception"). The other bonus is I've never played Sonic or Nin on a Blaster (only Sonic on a Defender) so it'll be nice to run with some sets that are new to me. I also like the idea of facing mezz heavy foes. CoT should work fine at low levels, and there's *plenty* of other options at higher ones. I'll have to eventually tackle Carnies, Malta, and Knives probably since those can be a nightmare even under good circumstances. At +0/x1 though (which is all someone who's having trouble soloing should really be trying) I think they should be fine. The only thing I think it's fair to avoid is Praetoria. Praetoria is a great set of zones, with some well written story arcs and interesting missions, even more so when you add in the First Ward and Night Ward, but it's definitely not where players who are having trouble surviving should be dipping their toes.

I guess since the point of this exercise is to show how to handle solo missions with even the "worst" combo, that I should also put in the rider for "no IOs" since solo only players are also likely to cry "but I'm too poor to afford IOs" (to which I would point them towards @Shinobu and her amazing guides on working the AH for 100M in a week). I should say "no IOs"...but with one caveat* for Sudden Acceleration. I'm almost morally opposed to playing - or seeing someone else play - an AoE KB set and not have the KB->KD proc slotted. If it's a teammate, I'll usually suck it up and just bear with it, but AoE KB, *ESPECIALLY* Radial AoE KB, is a level of evil I simply cannot be party to. The other thing I need to work out is which missions would be the best to showcase? As in which missions/enemies are people the most likely to give up on playing their blaster after facing? I don't think I need to literally solo to 50 to prove out that it's possible (the old MAN builds proved you didn't even need powers to get to 50), and this is more to show *how* to handle the rough patches, rather than prove that they can be handled (with Blasters soloing Mo{Everything} I think the proof's already there). *other caveats may apply - some builds just demand certain IOs

Blasters have a reputation of being "hard to solo" and "floor magnets" with but as a high damage AT they can handle a lot of solo missions simply via overwhelming offense. I want to put together a video series for new players showing how to handle both the basic missions and some of the tougher ones you can reasonably take on solo (aka not soloing a MoITF, just normal stuff, like soloing a Posi 1 or the regular arc missions). My feeling is that those can be done with basically ANY Blaster combo. But which one is the hardest? Which, in your experience or estimation, is *THE* worst combo of Primary and Secondary for surviving soloing content. Not "completing", since a combo can be miserable because it's sloooow, but rather the combo which makes it the hardest to avoid debt entirely.

Is that the unmodified Recharge time or does adding Recharge enhancements decrease the chance of the attack providing a stack of Assassin's Focus?

Bane's have some great melee options, and can provide an impressive amount of team support. The build for it is pretty simple too. For offensive support you can lean on Venom Grenade + Surveillance + Arctic Breath (from Leviathan Mastery) to provide a ton of -Resist (can also throw in Poisonous Ray for -Def and an Achille's Proc). For defensive support you can can provide Tactical: Maneuvers (10% base - much higher than regular Maneuvers), as well as the other Leadership toggles.

Not commenting on this particular build at all, just shooting down the idea that Traps and Devices are in any sense equivalent. What this build offers that Devices can't is -1,000% regen and -26% Res. There's a bunch of other debuffs, but those two alone can turn an AV fight into a trivial endeavor. Devices is a fun powerset, but it simply doesn't have that kind of impact on hard content.

There are some odd choices there from what I see. For example: - You're slotting Combat Jumping with Blessing of the Zephyr for Ranged and AoE defense, assumedly, but you're already well over the soft cap on both. - Also, despite having a lot of defense powers, there's no Luck of the Gambler: +Rech IOs slots (and it can't be a cost issue because there's plenty of pricey IOs in the build). - Slotting 2x Pancea in Health seems odd, when a Numina's or Miracle could fit in there instead. - Why leave Venom Grenade until 49 too? It's -Res is an important part of a Soldier's kit and with 1 slot it's horribly underslotted. - Mu Mastery is an interesting choice. Leviathan Mastery is the more common option. Was there a synergy with Mu that the build is striving for? Overall the build seems like it could trade off a lot of the +Def its currently got since it shoots far past soft cap and shoot for +Rech instead since there's a number of powers that you want up as often as conceivably possible.

I think when you're talking about fighting end game AV's it's a mistake to discount Rad as being "only for soloing" or "clunky in a team setting". Rad's toggle debuffs can be a pain on a team because teams will inevitably kill the debuff anchor, or knock things out of the debuff cloud. That's not ever an issue with AVs though. With an AV as the anchor it doesn't matter if the anchor dies (and they're not going to die first) and they're not going to be knocked back into another spawn either. If you're solely focused on high level AV killing then you have to be willing to admit that the trash around the AVs isn't particularly meaningful. Every other AT can obliterate those just fine, and at no level has a TF ever stalled out because a regular boss was too hard for the team to get through. Compared to the other AV-killing sets, Rad has a lot of advantages too: Storm -> really only offers -Resist as a meaningful debuff on AVs. Completely lacks -Regen. Also the -Resist is location based so a mobile AV can waltz out of it. Traps -> Again, AVs can leave the area the Traps are setup in. It's not a common problem, but unless the Rad user is foolish enough to get mezzed or run out of End, the AV's not escaping the toggle debuffs and can't escape the -Regen debuff either. Cold -> Can match and exceed Rad's debuff totals but requires a boatload of recharge to do it. Without serious set IO slotting Ice will have significant gaps in the coverage its debuffs supply. This is fine if you are only interested in Perma-Hasten level builds, but even in that range Rad has a small advantage that a bunch of -Recharge debuffs won't send it's performance plummeting down into the gutter.

A few of thoughts: - While Def based builds do help avoid debuffs and mezzes which other builds fall prey too, there are enough auto-hitting debuffs out there which will completely wreck Def builds, especially at low levels that you may want to be careful relying on Def alone to see you though, unless.... - ...Unless you go with Level -1 mobs. Not that they can't debuff and mezz you too, but a 1 person, -1 level spawn, even of the 'roided out Praetorian mobs, shouldn't be a problem. - That in turn might allow you focus on evaluating sets based on how quickly they'll let you take down really weak foes. You're trying to see all of the content after all but that doesn't mean slogged through a mission for an hour because it's a Defeat All will necessarily be fun.

Each faction gets their own storyline, doled out in 5 level increments. Probably worth playing through each one once but not ones you'll revisit a lot after that as I recall (aka, once you've made a PB and done the PB arc, you'll probably skip it if you role another PB).

I'd love to see your build. It sounds like it would serve as an excellent baseline for what a high-end tank should be able to put up in terms of res/def and click power potency and availability. If you can throw it together in Pine's/Mids post it up here ok? Yeah, this is still a work in progress, hence posting it here for feedback. Endurance - that seemed like a potential problem even just looking at it. Offsetting that is the End recovery from both DNA Siphon and Parasitic Aura. Also the Performance Shifter procs give more actual recovery than what the totals are listed as. Still not sure it's enough but there's more Endurance in the build than there appears at first glance. Hasten - The build's got ~50% global recharge, and recharge has diminishing returns the higher its stacked. Not bad to have more and sacrificing Hasten was largely to allow for the dip into the travel pools for quality of life tools, like Recall Friend to move teammates around and Fly to navigate 3d environments with ease. It would be viable to drop Fly in favor of a temp power fly and take Hasten instead though so that's an option if I can make it work. Ripper - Needed to sacrifice one attack power because of slotting constraints. On reflection Spine Burst might have been a better choice. Spine Burst - it is slow, but it's the only AoE available at low levels, and there's some consideration here for exemping. Probably worth ditching though. Throw Spines - again, need slots for it. There's no point taking an attack if you can't slot it up. As for question on slotting (like why 6 slot taunt, or slot for Slow) in almost every case the answer is "the set bonuses". To get a reasonably high level of Defense, you need to slot some weird things. I'm going to go back and tinker on this some more though, and thanks to everyone who's commented so far!

After working with a friend on their Bio Armor build, I updated this one. Highlights include: - Better defenses to everything, including brushing up against the soft cap for Energy, Negative, Fire, Cold, and Melee attacks (and a small purple away for the rest) - High Regen and a good uptime on all of the clicks. - PbAoE Chance to Knockdown for fun with big spawns - Good slotting on all attacks and click defenses. - No use of PvP sets or Purple IOs Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Dragonstriker: Level 50 Technology Tanker Primary Power Set: Bio Armor Secondary Power Set: Spines Power Pool: Teleportation Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Hardened Carapace -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(3), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(3), UnbGrd-Max HP%(5), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(7), GldArm-3defTpProc(7) Level 1: Barb Swipe -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(5), TchofDth-Dmg/Rchg(9), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), TchofDth-Dam%(11) Level 2: Environmental Modification -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(13), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(13) Level 4: Spine Burst -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(15), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(15), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Obl-%Dam(19) Level 6: Inexhaustible -- PrfShf-End%(A) Level 8: Lunge -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(19), TchofDth-Dmg/Rchg(21), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), TchofDth-Dam%(23) Level 10: 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 12: Evolving Armor -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(31), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(31) Level 14: Adaptation Level 16: Ablative Carapace -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(33), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(33), Prv-Heal/Rchg(33), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(34), Prv-Absorb%(34) Level 18: DNA Siphon -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(34), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Obl-%Dam(37) Level 20: Build Up -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(37), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(37), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(39), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(39), GssSynFr--Build%(39) Level 22: Recall Friend -- Range-I(A) Level 24: Fly -- Flight-I(A) Level 26: Genetic Contamination -- Avl-Rchg/KDProc(A), Mlt-Acc/EndRdx(43) Level 28: Impale -- Dvs-Acc/Dmg(A), Dvs-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Dvs-Dmg/Rchg(40), Dvs-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Dvs-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Dvs-Hold%(42) Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(45) Level 32: Parasitic Aura -- NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(A), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(43), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(45), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(46), NmnCnv-Heal(46), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(46) Level 35: Boxing -- Acc-I(A) Level 38: Quills -- PcnoftheT-Acc/Slow(A), PcnoftheT-Dmg/Slow(48), PcnoftheT-Acc/EndRdx(48), PcnoftheT-Rng/Slow(50), PcnoftheT-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(50), PcnoftheT--Rchg%(50) Level 41: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(42), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(48) Level 44: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(45) Level 47: Soul Tentacles -- Acc-I(A) Level 49: Darkest Night -- EndRdx-I(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 -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(29) Level 14: Defensive Adaptation Level 14: Efficient Adaptation Level 14: Offensive Adaptation ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1488;687;1374;HEX;| |78DA65944953135110C7DF90412409020910F62D621634807AB744D42A8B9428D18| |3DBD4541C939161869A095572F42B78F1E051360FE272702BFD2C5EDD504B0141C0| |B133FDAF48395395FCDEFCBB5F77BF4EBF64EF8C8557CEDE3D21A4F02943751C25A| |79A539A1DCC69F9A2691956614ED0533766AB05CB744AB64EC61A527AD94F19D36E| |69A6A36546754B396F175453CF2B27ED69CB8EC221AB199A96999CD14DCD119109C| |B32323992662CBBA49674CB0C79D219432F144B616F3DAEA9E45DA8634359A7B7D8| |E9193D9F19B5674B9A3269CD1A4A56754A9A3DD74AB524E9F3234E5F52B956B75AA| |C0584189145D53AB8C994B798FB62E4D8453CCAEF2F12020FEDBD424890EF55E6FE| |6BE07566F006A830D728AFC479ABA466C98B176E021B98AF287E00F103DB559E766| |007DC6536FC015D6644706D3F297E35C717D5F7D9F692E2D5205E0DEA8DA0DE26D4| |DB847A5B506F0BEA7D4D7B6BB1B7B6C8F15A75F036B37D0A34989DD3CCDF544B886| |B0984D0E36EF4B81B3DEEDE60AE936F1DFBBA5BB4AEC76F53FF81EDBD1FC14FE067| |66DF177095B94D7B1BB1B711BDEB43EFE2E85D1CBD8BA37707D1BB3774D628CE1A9| |D876D015C641E5A0297C147CC016A7033EF15CD69E16921D262D06271D676886D5C| |9FD4F640F6B4B4C3B6B794BF03F93B1EB296980717C045666A095C66B650AE2EC4E| |DC25C1DC65CED52CE1E11F4E2F65C602D7D113E93CC2339F01278992951DC7E9CA1| |BF9D73BDA33A07D0E381C7EC37B4023E618E3C059F81CF99018A97C44C24311329C| |C441A3331849990C97710671AFCEF4C37C92583BA32A8EB7D58886168C37D8428CD| |A25CB9ABE5D1725D91922B37DF4DFBACC33E65C4A71CF329C77DCAB84F999091961| |4C9536A1B2AF7DC5D0D56FE1760FDB657392779B7F1ABCFEBFB3F459270DF3BEF31| |7F95EF14E26FEC596FEE59FF053A960840| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

*Transfusion, your -regen debuff has an interesting secondary effect of a large aoe heal. fixt ;) That might be overselling the -Regen on Transfusion just a bit. From Mids it's a -50% Regen debuff. AV's will resist this by 85% prior to any reduction from being higher level. So optimistically call it a -7.5% Regen debuff. Radiation Emission's Lingering Radiation on the other hand is a -500% Regen debuff. After AV resistances that's -75% Regen. Cold Domination's Benumb is also -500%, as is Dark Miasma's Howling Twilight, Thermal's Heat Exhaustion, and then there's Trap's Poison Trap at -1,000% Regen. So, yeah, Kin's can debuff Regen but not even close to the sets that are usually called upon to provide -Regen when it's really needed.

Depends on the level of global recharge you have. At high levels, Ice is in the running to be one of the best debuffers in the game. That's going to require heavy (and expensive) IO slotting though. Without that it'll still be good but there'll be meaningful downtime when AVs you worry about in the late game won't be debuffed which can vary from not a big deal to a real pain Dark on the other hand can get by with a lot less Recharge and remains competitive throughout the life of the game. Ultimately though, both are amazing sets and can easily earn their place on any team.

Checked it over and found a few tweaks to suggest: - It would be nice to yoink the 6th slot from Healing Aura and dump the Numina's Proc in Health so it can proc continously rather than when Healing Aura is triggered but that would mean giving up the 6th slot +Def bonus. The build doesn't end up with a ton of defense, but every bit helps so open call which option is better. - You can definitely take the 2 slots from Health - as an Emp you don't them there - Slotting Dark Blast for -ToHit leaves me cringing, but it is a build choice you can make. I much prefer more damage, but if you can make the ToHit debuffing + Def work more power to you. - The last 2 set bonuses for LotG aren't worth much and Manuevers doesn't benefit from heavy slotting. I'd take 2 slots from there too since the 4 piece bonus is decent. - Nightfall can pick up 5 of those slots to be full - Adrenaline Boost can use a slot for more recharge - Life Drain still wants some slots to be useful, not sure where to get them from though. Here's a quick datalink with those changes: http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1462&c=668&a=1336&f=HEX&dc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

Yeah, 80% rewards for 50% of the work means you get through 2x the normal number of mobs with the same damage out, yielding 160% xps over time compared to not using Confuse. (A 160% xps rate presumes a steady stream of mobs in, like on an good farm map - actual results will vary, but the overall point about Confuse yielding more xps rather than less holds true in a lot of cases.)

I thought the i24 changes only removed the crash from Blaster nukes. If Defender nukes are crash-free now too then, yeah, that could be useful as an emergency ToHit Debuff since it floors anything short of an AV.

So here's some power-by-power thoughts: Healing Aura - Must have, good slotting - No Changes here Dark Blast - no choice but to have, question on slottin - Dark Blast is your most spammable attack. Slotting it for -ToHit is ok, but bear in mind that AVs almost completely ignore debuffs like that - only -Res (which they don't resist at all) and -Regen (which can have such huge numbers than even AV resistance can't cope) are worth using on tough targets like that. Overall I think it's a better choice to slot Dark Blast for damage and just kill what you're fighting sooner. Heal Other - Must have, good slotting - No changes here Gloom - solid power, good slotting - As note, I opted not to take this on my Emp/Drk team build only because I needed the power picks for other options, and the slots. It's a good power, and defenders absolutely should be attacking, but in a pinch I think you can sacrifice this one, unless you're intending to solo at all in which case this is vital. - Also, see the point on slotting choices for Dark Blast. You'll be able to cripple a boss with this much ToHit debuffing but crippling a single boss really isn't that big a deal. Absorb Pain - solid power, good slotting - Personally I'd put this one later in the build. It's primary purpose is patching up a tank who's taken a big hit. The -Heal you take is something you need to careful of, and early on Healing Aura and Heal Other should see you through just fine. Resurrect - solid power, maybe too much slotting - Definitely worth having, but can be delayed if you bring Awakens along (or make they as you go). Shouldn't need extra slotting really - if your team is dying that much, having Rez up quicker's just going to prolong the pain. Clear Mind - Must have power, too much slotting - These slots are definitely better spent elsewhere. Fortitude - Must have power, other slotting options exist - Having Gaussians in this is fine, if you need slots elsewhere though you could switch them out for Hami-O's, giving up the set bonuses but getting better inherent values out of the power in fewer slots. Moonbeam - good power, good slotting - Again, for a soloing build this is an excellent choice. For a teaming build it's a decent one, but could be sacrificed for other powers. Stealth - weak power, too much slotting - If this is just a dump slot for a LotG set, there's better options. If you want to be Stealth, Super Speed is a better choice. If it's in theme for your Emp, then go for it, but even then, I'm not sure committing to the full LotG set is the best approach Recovery Aura - must have power, probably overslotted - The base recovery aura effect is fine for End Recovery, I'm not sure Performance Shifter is bringing must value here. Grant Invisibility - ok power, too much slotting - The 3 piece LotG bonuses aren't worth that much. If it's in theme, just dump a +Rech in there and skip the other two. - I've used this one in the past but gave it up in favor of Super Speed + Stealth IO + Recall Friend. The problem with turning a teammate invisible is that it can wear off at bad times. I'd usually rather stealth wherever we need to go myself and then Recall Friend or Assemble the Team to bring people to where they need to be. Dark Pit - marginal power, good set mule though, with good slotting for that purpose - A low accuracy, low mag, short duration stun makes for a pretty dismal (and skippable) power but it does allow you to slot a set you otherwise couldn't. I'm not sure it's worth it for that alone, especially since the build isn't getting a ton of global recharge. I'd also be concerned that without the purples it's a really poor option to go with. Would definitely put this a LOT later in the build if you stick with it. Tenebrous Tentacles - must have power, would add slots - This one could do with more Acc, and potentially more recharge. Granted an Emp/Drk isn't a controller, but providing a cone immob that debuffs to hit can make big spawns a lot easier to deal with and this is one that should be fired at every spawn you come across. Regeneration Aura - must have power, slotting could be adjusted - I'd consider dropping the Endurance from Harmonized in place of a plain Recharge IO. That knocks about 30 second off the recharge time which is potentially more valuable than the small bit of Toxic and Psi resist. Nightfall - great power, desperately wants more slots - A lot of the slots that could come off the earlier powers? They'd do well here. Nightfall's damage is an Emp/Dark's best AoE and it inflicts the To-Hit debuff, which stacks with the one from Tentacles. Slot this puppy up and give it the love it deserves. If you're attacking you'll be firing this on cool down. Torrent - poor power, but at least no wasted slots - An AoE KB power is a tool that requires careful and thoughtful use. It can be good, but it can also be disastrous, not only reducing overall damage but leading to team wipes all on its own. Unless you're really sure you want to be a Pinball Wizard, this is one that can definitely be dumped. Adrenaline Boost - must have power, could really use different slotting - The overall values are low and the Chance to Stun isn't doing anything useful from what I remember. Life Drain - ok power, but only with better slotting - Life Drain is hampered by a long cast time, but slotted for healing it can be occasionally useful when you've taken significant damage and need more than Healing Aura can restore quickly. At 1 slot though it's basically useless. Blackstar - ok-ish power, but only with better slotting - A nuke with 1 slot is simply a method of flushing your End down the toilet. Much better to ditch this and taken something else instead as even with full slotting its still questionable if an Emp should allow themselves to be Out of End at any point in a fight. Mystic Flight - ok power, might be over-slotted - The set bonuses for Soaring aren't much to write home about - would skip and just go with the base slot, perhaps with the Winter's Gift in it? Or just flight speed and be done. Spirit Ward - ???, might want more slotting? - I have no experience with this one so I can't comment on it much Rune of Protection - great power, good choice for slotting - Might want to get it earlier in the build though - mezz prot is worth it's weight in gold Arcane Bolt - good damage, slow cast time, wants more slots - Also no experience with this, but the numbers look good. Without slots though it's not worth taking any of the attack powers. Other Powers to Consider Stamina - this really want some extra slotting, at least 2 more and a 3rd wouldn't be unreasonable Recall Friend - super useful both for getting teammates to the mission door and mission objectives as well as recalling dead bodies to move useful places, like out of combat so they can use an Awaken or into combat so they you can use Vengeance. The Entire Leadership Pool - A huge help for team overall, and a set mule with Maneuvers. Vengeance in particular is worth grabbing since it can single handedly turn around team fights that are going south by turning a liability (a fallen teammate) into an asset (a more productive buff than what the corpse was doing while standing in some cases) Hover - Emp's like being out of combat and Hover is great for keeping you away from mobs you don't want to be near. Hasten - Emp's best buffs are on long cooldown. Getting a boost on bringing those back, even without perma-Hasten is well worth it. Super Speed - If you're going for Hasten, might as well get a travel power that you can add an IO to in order to turn invisible. Power Build Up (from the Power mastery Epic Pool) - Super Charge your buffs for really difficult fights to give people God Mode at critical junctures