Ankhammon

Hopefully someone more proc savvy can assist with this. What I can tell you is that if you use that proc and the one from Dark Watcher you will get lots of attention. I had both in Time's Juncture and another player used em in Willpower RttC and we both could report pulling mobs off most everyone short of the tank. Add to that Hurricane's minor ability to absolutely floor tohit and it sounds like a winner even if it won't trigger enough to be useful the way you intended.

Based on the backstory you are trying to put forth and the visuals you can obtain, I would say that Poison is more what you are looking for. Don't let anyone tell you that Poison trap is no good. It's placement is only 1.118 seconds for a level 26 power that by end game you could have running every 25ish seconds and will last 20ish seconds while doing over 400 pts of damage. And oh, yeah it's autohit. If the story thing is at issue, this could be a "pure" essence of yourself you need to handle differently... besides by the time you get Venomous Gas you will hardly ever see the trap being set. Just run into mob and release. It's the set defining power, IMO. Just remember to proc extensively. Graphically, poison allows you to spit on people and throw gunk. It has like 4 really good debuffs, 2 holds and other stuff I never took. 🙂 All that being said, it's a bit tough to level if you solo a lot so I would suggest maybe going controller and giving your char a touch of Poison Ivy. Make a Plant/Poison and you will have an easy time of leveling. Confuse/debuff/debuff some more/Carrion Creepers/Poison Trap. Move on to next group. You could even call yourself Poison Hy-Vee, Produce Manager. 🙂

The old ones created a hero for those who wanted to solo. They called him Scrapper. 🙂

With some creative shopping you can start improving as early as level 10. In order to do this you need to un-dfb your early levels and do archs that give you reward merits that you can swap out for enhancement converters. Then it's just a matter of sell one to get infl stake and then create some to keep and some to sell. Once char I'm working on recently has about 7 procs and he's level 28. He's a TA/Dark defender who by level 30 (need a couple more slots to put the IO's in) will have kb prot/+6 defense/stealth/a couple damage procs which working with my already decent setup and I can do maybe +2/+4 solo. As time goes on it will get better and yeah it's 50 that he gets all the stuff he wants IO-wise. Will this guy ever fire farm? no. But then again, when can a brute neuter 4 different groups at one time while cooking one of them and halfway nuking a second out of existence? That's my plan anyway. I like playing with a bit more challenge while leveling and Defenders fit the bill for me. It gives me the feeling that my character is really growing. Honestly the payoff is more than worth it. Just ask a Time/DP or a Poison/Beam Rifle. IMO, Defenders are fine solo with the exception of levels 11 and 21. I really hate those levels. 🙂 And I only pick on brutes because they can be tweaked to have large personal defense and damage at the same time. It's just the appearance they give with all the fotm/farming/fortune making they can do.

My view as a Defenderphile: Yes all ATs can solo, but that's a far cry from Brutes being able to tank and having damage 775% while Defender damage cap is a bit smaller at 400% and does way less damage to start with. My personal opinion is there could be some minor tweaks but most players wouldn't want them and it's not really game changing anymore. For instance, The Defender forums are now being filled with Proc'tastic alternatives to their limited damage caps and even seldom played character combo's can get up to a decent level of damage while solo. So that's not something worth "correcting". The only issue with Defender Solo'ing is from the setup they have to start with Prior to damage and the Devs decision to make almost all damage from your enemy have a status effect by level 40ish. Since a Defender will use toggles that drop or debuffs that are only effective for X seconds, then even a small sleep in a damage power takes on a significant problem for an AT that functions from a buff/debuff perspective primarily. Even if you floor their chances to hit, it's still 5% and it can ruin a good setup. To me the Defender model lacks any real sort of inherent mez protection until Incarnates. So in my wish list would be a gradual scaling up mez prot (or resist) as the defenders health goes into the red. To me, that fits with the defender concept of being able to reach within themselves to protect others even as they approach their critical end. I would add that to Vigilance (maybe reducing the end discount to help even it out). Solo it removes the "I'm held and out of BFs so remember to get some when you get to the hospital" situation. On a team, it helps... you get it. NOTE: I don't think this was my idea but I remember this being discussed back in the day and it always seemed appropriate to me. Nowadays, we have Rune of Protection from the Magic line that allows me to have that exact mez protection plus some resistance to help with the situation. . Plus, Defenders get some mez ability and two primaries get some mez protection altogether. So even with this weakness, we don't need it.

Since starting to play with proc builds it doesn't seem particularly right to think of all or nothing. I see better results from mixing a few proc'd out powers and then more traditional "let's add more Defense" kinda IOs. That being said you have two extremely unique opportunities with Dark and Elec. Dark can load up on -tohit and proc's (Clouded Senses and Siphon Insight). Good return on investment for either. Elec can load up on Performance Shifter proc's which would make your endurance usage ridiculously low. I use one on a /Elec char in Short Circuit and sometimes i get endurance. With this you can go super global recharge happy and never skip a beat due to lack of endurance. With that you can then switch things up and go more offensive with your Incarnate choices perhaps (not done the math all the way through on this).

I wish someone had the old healer doc from early CoH. It was pages of absolute hilarity. The author argues that the most important person to the team is the healer and he/she needs to be ready to heal at a moments notice. So, it is poor healing to heal others and waste all your endurance when you need to put things in priority. Furthermore, you should only use your most powerful heal on others which was, of course, the rez. Anyone else remember that forum post? It was gold I says, pure gold. 🙂

With that face, you should tell Kif to self-destruct.

Mix it with TA and now you are Throwing out that kaboom and nohit with a hold em all (EMP Arrow +Ice Arrow) on the next group and then a "Let's just cook em" Oil Slick Arrow on the next.

Sorry, I was using Power Build up not the Soul Power Boost. I figured if you were gonna use it every minute or so might as well get a damage boost too. And I didn't add any of the Incarnates on purpose. That way peeps can play to figure out if they want a different one. The joys of mids include different ways to get to the same results.

Only Problem with Darkstar is slotting it with all the goodness you can get. I would think something like 2 Lyso's, 2 Armageddon's and 2 Cloud Senses. Get you like 93.32% -tohit (w/ BU ~ 155%), 397 pts of damage, 175% acc on a recharge of 96 seconds (66 w/ Hasten) at a cost of 24 End. So one third of the time you can floor baddie ACC with just this power + a BU. FYI, throw in BU + Dark Pit and you can stun the Minions of another group for 23+ seconds. Torrent and Tents with BU will add in 45% -tohit on the rest of the things you haven't covered. With Just your "offense" you have cut all damage to your team by approx 3/4 or better with just those five powers (6 including Hasten). Maybe Tex can fix my math on this as Incarnate numbers aren't my best thing. Yep, Defenders suck. 🙂

As far as slotting for Spores, I remember trying just plain Heal x 2/End x 2 early on (admittedly, I never finished the char) and almost all my healling and all my end needs went away. I relied on it when I had a massive AV battle (like 45 minutes or so on a test char). Looks like fully loaded LS is giving ~3 end and ~10 hp per tick. I bring this up because much of the consensus at the time was it wasn't really needed as a power.

One of the tasty little treats in Naff that most ppl don't notice is the combo of end regain in Lifegiving Spores and the End discount in Overgrowth.

And if you want to learn, in detail, about the value of Buffs/Debuffs in the world of CoH make a build that utilizes them extensively. Something like Sonic Resonance. Simple to use so you can blast to your hearts content but the values you add to the team are huge. You can tell any potential team that you can add over 55% resistance to all but Psi, a 30% -res toggle so it never goes away (-60% for an individual target), an "I win" button in Liquefy that just crushes (when available), and a sneaky good cage that can take one danger point out of action (Think like a DE stone or a Tsoo Sorcerer). You are literally making tank mages out of your team. Add to that you can blast away forever because your team will all take a tiny 10-20% damage during play that will leave you with an end discount that will last for days. Then add more control for your team with H2O or Ice, or more debuffs with Dual Pistols or Mental or Rad or anything else you can come up with. Just look as much for the secondary effects of the blast set as the damage. Once you get the hang of things you will soon realize you are actually controlling the battlefield. If you get worried you aren't "doing" enough damage, just take a second to realize you are adding and additional 30% or 60% to the damage of your whole team on top of the damage you can throw.

Anytime. Mids/Pines is my second favorite game. 🙂

Many years ago I had a Time/Ice that was tremendous fun to play. He was my Tankfender. He's on my list to do after I finish a couple other chars. Let me share another possibility for a build for you. I went with a very pricey build but you will be able to see lots more damage potential and way more debuff potential in this build as well as a lot more hold potential. I did sacrifice a significant amount of recharge to get it all together but I think it might give you some ideas. In particular, look at how support radial changes like for your char. It's not quite the build I would put together but I tried to keep all the main things you wanted with your build. Have a look and see if you see things you might want for your char. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Defender Primary Power Set: Time Manipulation Secondary Power Set: Ice Blast Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Sorcery Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Temporal Mending -- NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(A), NmnCnv-Heal(7), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(31), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(34) Level 1: Ice Bolt -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A) Level 2: Time's Juncture -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb(A), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(3), DarWtcDsp-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(3), DarWtcDsp-Slow%(5) Level 4: Frost Breath -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dam%(37), ImpSwf-Dam%(37), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(40) Level 6: Combat Jumping -- Krm-ResKB(A) Level 8: Distortion Field -- ImpSwf-Dam%(A), UnbCns-Dam%(9), Lck-%Hold(9), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(11), NrnSht-Dam%(11), GldNet-Dam%(15) Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46) Level 12: Time Stop -- Lck-Acc/Hold(A), Lck-%Hold(13), GldNet-Dam%(13), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(15), NrnSht-Dam%(50) Level 14: Spirit Ward -- NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(A) Level 16: Freeze Ray -- Lck-%Hold(A), Lck-Acc/Hold(17), Apc-Dam%(17), GldJvl-Dam%(23), GldNet-Dam%(36) Level 18: Farsight -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(19), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(19), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21), GssSynFr--ToHit(21), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(23) Level 20: Ice Storm -- PstBls-Dam%(A), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(27), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(29), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(29), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(31) Level 22: Mystic Flight -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A) Level 24: Rune of Protection -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(25), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(27) Level 26: Slowed Response -- ShlBrk-Acc/DefDeb(A), ShlBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(34) Level 28: Bitter Ice Blast -- SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg(A), SprVglAss-Dmg/Rchg(46), SprVglAss-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50) Level 30: Enflame -- Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(36), Rgn-Dmg(36), Ann-ResDeb%(37) Level 32: Chrono Shift -- DctWnd-EndRdx/Rchg(A), DctWnd-Rchg(33), DctWnd-Heal/Rchg(33), DctWnd-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(33), DctWnd-Heal/EndRdx(34) Level 35: Bitter Freeze Ray -- Lck-Acc/Hold(A), Lck-%Hold(43), ImpSwf-Dam%(45), GldJvl-Dam%(45), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(50) Level 38: Blizzard -- SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBst-Dmg/Rchg(39), SprDfnBst-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), SprDfnBst-Rchg/Heal%(40) Level 41: Dark Embrace -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(42), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(42), UnbGrd-ResDam(42), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(43), UnbGrd-Max HP%(43) Level 44: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45) Level 47: Soul Drain -- Erd-Acc/Rchg(A), Erd-Dmg/Rchg(48), Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48) Level 49: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(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: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 1: Vigilance Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Prv-Absorb%(5) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(7) Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 0: Portal Jockey Level 0: Task Force Commander Level 0: The Atlas Medallion Level 50: Intuition Radial Paragon Level 50: Void Radial Final Judgement Level 50: Degenerative Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Clarion Radial Epiphany Level 50: Support Radial Embodiment Level 50: Carnival Radial Superior Ally ------------

You can safely do like +2/6 and maybe better with just a TA. If you want to add like H2O to it you should be able to handle +2/+8 pretty easily. Poison/DP would be a decent farmer. You will need to wait until you can proc out Poison Trap and get a stealth but by 30s you will start feeling the power. Poison/Dark would be a good one too. Time/anything with aoe would work too. Mine is currently a Time/Elec and I'm leveling up at 0/+8 just chomping a blue or purple as needed. There are lots of combos that will get you feeling strong. Cold/ Storm/ Rad/ Traps/ Naff/ can all be made into farmer types. Pick an unusual combo (maybe Poison/Assault Rifle) and amaze your friends as you pinball all over the place laying out large crowds while they go "Huh, a defender can do that?" 🙂

A simple reason it's not on a lot of ppls radar is that it was a standard scrapper combo from fairly early on in the game.

Please look around for what you can Proc/do with Poison Trap. It's about a 25 radius hold with damage so it can proc huge numbers. for your combo, it can be as easy as Venom Gas/OG on/Dark Pit on the way in/maybe throw an Envenom/Poison Trap/heal any damage you took with OG on the way in. Clean up the boss. Black Star if it's a particularly nasty group. And for that boss, you can get a perma snipe and two fast acting single target attacks. Dunno if you'll be farming +4/+8 but I could definitely see +2/+8 as possible. Have a look at what I think would be the basics. Ymmv. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 49 Magic Defender Primary Power Set: Poison Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Envenom -- ShlBrk-Acc/DefDeb(A), ShlBrk-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(3), ShlBrk-Acc/Rchg(3) Level 1: Dark Blast -- Empty(A) Level 2: Weaken -- Empty(A) Level 4: Moonbeam -- ExcCnt-Stun%(A), Apc-Dam%(5), Thn-Acc/Dmg(5), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9) Level 6: [Empty] Level 8: [Empty] Level 10: Dark Pit -- Acc-I(A), RzzDzz-Acc/EndRdx(11), RzzDzz-Immob%(11), RzzDzz-Stun/Rng(13), RzzDzz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(13) Level 12: [Empty] Level 14: [Empty] Level 16: [Empty] Level 18: [Empty] Level 20: [Empty] Level 22: [Empty] Level 24: [Empty] Level 26: Poison Trap -- UnbCns-Dam%(A), Arm-Dam%(27), Erd-%Dam(27), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(29), NrnSht-Dam%(29), GldNet-Dam%(31) Level 28: [Empty] Level 30: [Empty] Level 32: Venomous Gas -- HO:Enzym(A), HO:Enzym(33), HO:Enzym(33) Level 35: Life Drain -- TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(A), TchoftheN-Acc/Heal(36), GldJvl-Dam%(36), Thn-Acc/Dmg(36), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37) Level 38: Blackstar -- Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Arm-Acc/Rchg(39), Arm-Dmg(39), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(39), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(40), ToHitDeb-I(40) Level 41: Oppressive Gloom -- AbsAmz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(A), AbsAmz-Acc/Rchg(42), AbsAmz-Stun(42) Level 44: [Empty] Level 47: [Empty] Level 49: [Empty] Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(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: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 1: Vigilance Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Empty(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- Empty(A) ------------

Tex, Let's test this theory of yours that any 8 Def team will be good. Let us test if, indeed, they rock! 8 Poison Defender By level 2: 320% -Res, 300% -Def, 300% -Damage, 150% -tohit and 596% Status Resistances (give or take) By level 4: add in 650% -Speed and -Rech So, by level 4 this team only has their Tier 1 blast available and so they are doing up to 170 or so damage per blast. I think you might be on to something here. But I'm sure you are running against debuff caps somewhere so... doom doom doom. I'll just roll another brute. 🙂 But what if you took 8 TA chars... EDIT: Oh gawd, imagine 8 PGA with a very fast ticking mag 2 sleep. nothing would move and add in 250% -Dam with just that one power.

I was thinking time's juncture + D + hots jump in and hit the kb (forgot Cims), then slow bubble and unlease offense. I was mostly using all of this madness to kinda emphasize you won't be squishy and can get other things going if you want rather than fighting on the 487th char in a row. Personally, I like Sorcery for time a lot more than fighting. I think we are actually on the same page, it's why I liked cold for the secondary for time. slows and -rech added to all the delicious options for time = good NO GET HITSU!!

Other players on your team. Bah Humbug! I practice Zenned Scrapperlock thank you very much. I still don't pay attention to most others, but I'm smart enough to make sure I show up a quarter second behind the tank/brute.😄 Hey Redlynne, I know you are a Kevin O'Connor level builder so let me ask you a real question. Utilizing the kdown and maybe a TP to get you into a crowd and then the slows and HoTs you get with Time should be more than sufficient to survive an alpha strike sent for a team, correct? For me Time/H2O is more thought experiment than anything I've played or even seen live in game. My only Time builds are/were a Time/Ice that gave me severe scrapperlock but just about brute level survival skills due to all the slows and holds from ice and a Time/Elec which is not as strong but a heckuva lot of fun to play.

Give in to your true nature. You control the flow of damage not only for yourself, but also your team. You control the field of battle from it's ebb to it's apex and back again. Forget the cutters of cookies. There are only two true choices for you Dark and Psi for your epic. In each there is one truly defining power: Soul Transfer or World of Confusion. Seriously, with water kdown backing you up, you can easily forego the usual "gimme all the resistance and defense I can get" kinda build and just layer on some unusual but significant "other" powers. WoC (with contagious confusion) lets you stand right in the middle of the fight and turn baddies a plenty to your side and Soul Transfer gives you a deadly mag 30 stun which is just such a blast to lay down. Once you are over the "I'll get debt" thing you will even look for times to use it on purpose to prove how awesome you are. Either way, you can back it up with like Rune of Prot to give you uber levels of feeling like a tank mage. Here's how quick you can build up your defenses. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Defender Primary Power Set: Time Manipulation Secondary Power Set: Archery Power Pool: Sorcery Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: [Empty] Level 1: Snap Shot -- Empty(A) Level 2: [Empty] Level 4: [Empty] Level 6: [Empty] Level 8: [Empty] Level 10: [Empty] Level 12: [Empty] Level 14: [Empty] Level 16: [Empty] Level 18: Farsight -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(19), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(19), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21) Level 20: [Empty] Level 22: [Empty] Level 24: [Empty] Level 26: [Empty] Level 28: [Empty] Level 30: [Empty] Level 32: Chrono Shift -- Empty(A) Level 35: Dominate -- Empty(A) Level 38: Arcane Bolt -- Empty(A) Level 41: World of Confusion -- CrcPrs-Conf%(A), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx(42), CrcPrs-Conf(42), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(42), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg(43), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg(43) Level 44: Mind Over Body -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(45), UnbGrd-ResDam(45), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(45), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46), UnbGrd-Max HP%(46) Level 47: Mystic Flight -- Empty(A) Level 49: Rune of Protection -- Empty(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(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: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 1: Vigilance Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Empty(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- Empty(A) Level 50: Clarion Radial Epiphany Level 50: Support Radial Embodiment ------------

Sometimes it just depends on your outlook. For instance the tier 9 on Dark/ and Fire/ mean basically that you shouldn't have to take tough/weave. A self rez that goes boom or has a severe stun is enough in many situations to take control. I take both of those asap and love em. debt's never all that much in this game and there are still ways around it if you want or need to make it go away.

sounds like a job for the new pool sj power. it adds a pbaoe kdown.