Sovera

I'm very much not a Controller person since I would rather blast things than make them stagger, but, I'm playing with a friend new to the game and playing a support to help them is not a bad thing instead of just playing a damage dealer or tank which ends being a case of 'do all the work while friend follows'. The leveling journey was pretty interesting and my interest got piqued into at least slapping a build together using your concept. Keeping in mind I don't play Controllers this is what I have so far. View This Build In MRB I'm short on slots so I did not slot a couple of staples such as the 5% and 3% resistance uniques. I also have a couple free powers I don't really know what to do with. Soul Absorption lets me lean on proccing things out and even not worry about slotting endurance reduction in others and not be worried about my blue bar (which will help my friend as well) and the extra regen will help both friend and imps. Depending on endurance woes I may yet swap the slotting for 5 Synapse and one generic endurance IO for the simple reasoning I have two sources of healing (Twilight Grasp and Fluffy's Twilight Grasp) but no source of endurance. The imps seem to have 10% defenses from both pet uniques, then 14% from Fade, then 6% from Shadow Fall and finally 4% from Maneuvers giving them a total of 34%. The rest of their protection will have to come from a mix of Bonfire, holds, heals, -ToHit and Fluffy being his unwilling but helpful self. Nothing that will really make them survive on a normal +4x8 team but at that point its best to just let them be dead and keep throwing Tar Pits and Bonfires. Fire Cages is a power I loathe on principle and I've ranted enough about it, but when/if solo it has a place. I'm not sure whether to keep it six slotted for damage as is or six slot Overpowering Presence simply for the proc. Fire Cages procs terribly but it's an AoE tool which ensures it will spawn and the Energy Font is a little 4th Imp for all purposes. I remember it did horrible damage, such as 20 damage on grey mobs, plus it can be killed, so I'm not sure if there is a point to this. I have another dubious decision in not taking Hot Feet which at this point we might as well ask why am I playing Fire. Which is a valid question when Plant exists but Seeds of Confusion is broken and Bonfire less so. I just do not like Hot feet and how little damage it does, the cost it has, and how it wants me almost in melee. Though I would in theory be (almost) in melee range so the pets get Shadow Fall on them. Other than that Fade is perma, Soul Drain is just about perma, there is a nice three ST attack chain in theory without gaps, and despite not having Weave the build's at 42% ranged defense which I'm fine with considering -toHit. I also left Bonfire without the Sudden Acceleration since spamming Fire Cages seems like better control, but I do loathe using that skill when in a team... Decisions, decisions... It may be smarter to go the usual route of one recharge, then Sudden Acceleration and a Force Feedback proc. That would save three slots and despite the Force Feedback proc only activating once Bonfire will still be amply ready for the next group. With those three slots I could add the 3% and 5% resistance uniques and throw the last one somewhere. Incarnates seems like definitely leaning towards Intuition since it boosts... well.. pretty much everything, from damage to To-Hit debuffing to immobilizes and Holds even though I doubt I will be playing the character that far ahead.

It's about what I mentioned accounting for AT difference. Fiery Melee times are a 16%-ish difference with and without -res. Again, if the 16% showed up in all content it would be easier to accept the -res procs as uniform, but when building a tier list this matters. I had not tested with different ATs other than Tankers but my replicable 25% damage difference shrunk to about 16% VS pylon. That makes me think that if the shrinkage happens against +4 AVs (+3 with level shift) then my observed 4-5% damage boost using -res procs instead of damage procs may shrink to 2-3%. This with then the caveats of: if someone else is using the -res procs then no gains, and for general clearing of a map -res showed no impact (at least on my tests, but small data spread), and that on pylon tests some sets will loom ahead.

I may be missing something but the column under -res procs is blank which would suggest none were used. My suggestion would be to have these tests done without the -res procs. They unrealistically boost damage by as much as 25% on a pylon if using both procs which gives a really false idea of a set's 'power'. I would not be surprised if most of what made Fire Melee climb the rankings was as much the animation trimming as the Achilles' -res being slotted. Just seeing your comment on fishing for -res procs with Cross Punch shows how much the pylon tests influence use those IOs. Hitting a +3 AV reduces the damage boost to (not by, but to) 4-5%, and on regular gameplay (Trapdoor for example) the -res procs have shown to not make a difference if replaced by damage procs. But for the pylons it propels any and every set that can slot these against any other set that cannot. This wouldn't be so much of a pet peeve if the power of the -res procs was uniform but outside of pylons it's either small or gone to place so much import into them. Regardless, your testing, your data, and re-testing everything would be colossal considering the time you've already poured into this project. So and so. It is bad, but in this context the fact it cannot slot any -res procs automatically gives it a damage loss. Ston is also using Concentrated Strike which has been mathed out as bad when opposed to just using the first three attacks. But it won't do miracles since the set needs a good pass.

Hopefully you're not using -res procs for the pylon tests otherwise this horribly skews the sets between the have and have nots, while at the same time having little to no impact on regular gameplay.

Do you have a build laying around with necro/dark that you could share?

Yes.

My mids spazzes when I try to export a file. I might need to rebuild old builds from scratch and see if it works but for what it's worth here's a screenshot. I can rebuild it if you'd like: It's a prehistoric build and I tweaked things a lot since it was a prototype for my Fire/MA that I ended up playing much longer and because of this refined it until I no longer needed Tough to be capped and still have the 45% to all. This one still has Tough toggled on (but not really a problem with how Rad sweats endurance) but has really dubious slotting looking back at it such as the -res in Beta Decay. The numbers are with one stack of the ATO and then a second for 90% to S/L/E and Barrier's 5% to finish capping negative and melee/ranged/aoe.

Rad/MA Tanker was my very first build that boasted of having 90% resistances to most things on top of having 45% defense to melee, ranged, and AoE. And then having an absorb shield that doubles as Recovery tool, and a heal that doubles as blue bar filler. A bit nutty of a build but the damage was slow as heck though and I turned to Fire Armor and never looked back since I found I was about as sturdy just by dint of killing things dead. Rad Armor ends up being more damage with a ton of procs than Fire Armor, but Fire Armor starts straight at level 18 (or 13 if exemplared down) and not abusing the proc system where Rad Armor pretty much wants max level and incarnates to do both damage and be sturdy ('just' sturdy while leveling/exemplared).

He thinks dedicated tankers take damage :D:D:D

Imagine antagonizing/intimidating an enemy to a point they would rather stand on a puddle of burning napalm just so that they can hit you.

You can play a hero and still use the red side epic powers.

I see you've just met Diantane. We've had the guy around for a few months and every so often he will make a thread and drop some of these nuggets of wisdom. Then vanish, not reply or refute. Cycle repeats after a few weeks.

Working on a Dark/Bio atm. Dang, Dark animations and skills make it sluggish as heck, but I can't complain about the damage. The selling point to me is the quick AoE with two 1.2 powers.

Under level 20 everything works and especially a MM. The woes of MMs start at level 54, AoEs. and fast moving teams (though Speedboost ought to alleviate the later). Kin provides no defenses and only some resistances and minions are too dumb to when pulled from the group for them to go back on their own so they will be out of range for the heals. But. If you are having fun it is the only thing that really matters.

Your opinions are always interesting, Dian, but they remain opinions. You're entitled to them, but at some point you ought to decide if the world is against you and everyone is wrong, or if you are the one that is wrong.

I preface this by saying I did not reinvent the powder and with how there are only so many 'winning' ways of Tetris-ing the IO bonuses others surely came up with the same answer. But, for new players or what have you here is a /bio build that can be paired with pretty much anything. Why Bio Armor? Bio Armor is one of the best armors currently in the game if for no other reason that the Offensive Adaptation grants a 25% damage boost. But then it also has an absorb shield (that also does a small heal), three endurance recovery tools in Inexhaustible, Drain DNA (which also does a small heal) and Parasitic Leech (which triples as a small heal, an absorb shield, and an endurance recovery tool). For other ATs there is argument to be made that Bio Armor is, maybe, a bit squishy, but this is not a problem for Sentinels who will usually be outside of melee range either because being a ranged AT or because they will be safely hovering on top of the mobs close enough to use all their PbAoEs if such is the case, but outside of their melee range. Why not Bio Armor? Aesthetics and theme are important too. Having fun is not quantifiable. Not everyone will be into Bio Armor's looks even with minimal FX and sadly Ablative Armor and Parasitic Leech still make an ugly carapace that mars the otherwise less glaring Minimal FX options. Slotting. The Sentinels's ATOs compete with the Brute ATOs for which are the worst in the game. As is the case with most ATOs the bonuses are great, but the special (a chance for Opportunity and an absorb shield) are inconsequential. As such they can be slotted into AoEs which are by dint of their nature not specially good for damage procs. This frees the single target attacks to have at least or two damage procs to help things along. After playing Sentinels somewhat extensively I went from the true and tried 45% defense to a more humble 33%. The hovering out of melee range, the nuke that helps decimate half a spawn, and how a single small purple inspiration (12% defense) pushes the number back to 45% in case of getting too much agro has served me well. Trapdoor tests were done where I could not safely hover out of the way and the 33% defense was enough without even using a small inspiration. Three example builds: Example 1: We don't have a convenient AoE to place our ATOs. If the build happen to use a T1 for a smooth rotation then the T1 is good place for it since T1s usually are bad for damage procs (usually only 15% to 20% chance to go off). In this case changing from full ATO slotting to 5 Decimation and one damage proc increases the damage in.... seven points. Not 70, just 7. Dark/Bio is an example of this since Umbral Torrent is both aggravating and useful and in order to remove the aggravating part then a knockback to knockdown IO is needed. At that point since we broke the 6 slot bonus we might as well slot a Force Feedback proc which leaves four slots. The quick witted reader might look at the nuke and ponder why not slot the ATO there. Which is a valid point, but a sizeable loss of damage. Nukes have such a long cooldown that any and all procs going in there will have a maxed out chance to go off. Slotting Blackstar with a full ATO would have it do 560 damage. Slotting it with damage procs makes that go to 777. So switching from procs to ATO is a 28% damage loss. The still astute reader will notice how the nuke has no accuracy slotted. That is because the nuke is never ever going to be used without Aim being used first which takes care of that. Sent (Dark Bio).mbd Example 2: Beam/Bio. We have two AoEs we can slot our ATOs into. Great, problem solved! Since Heavy Shot takes a Force Feedback proc it would go without a damage proc with the usual slotting and so it took the Apocalypse set in order to have one. With 44% chance for the damage to go off it's decent. Sent (Beam Bio).mbd Example 3: The nuke is a rain power. Rain powers take very badly to procs so there is hardly a point in slotting procs in there. Because of this the nuke can take the ATO. Sent (Ice Bio).mbd

Same as before I reckon (but did not actually test for myself): when it procs it gives 3-5 points for the opportunity bar.

Cloudburst is good damage though. You say 'instead of Cloudburst' as if we were rich in ST attacks, but without Cloudburst we would be using the T1.

You're preaching to the choir, Windy, I'm not the one in need of convincing (Windball/Dust Devil, lezzzz gooo!). But I'm saying the devs always look at a set in it's globality and not in a per power basis.

This sort of talk would probably be best over either the Suggestion forums or the Gold Standard discord and then beep Booper instead of railing lost in the Corruptor forums But you guys do need to not see things in a vacuum. Chain Lightning may suck (well, there is no 'may' involved) but the set has Storm Cell and Cat 5 helping with the AoE damage. Tests like Trapdoor or whatever comparing performance have more weight instead of directly comparing powers. My own change for Chain Lightning: Windball (like fireball, geddit?), same coding as fireball, but animation is a mini Hurricane (smaller radius, fast swirling FX expanding from point of impact and then shrinking back to nothingness). Damage a bit lower than fireball since its secondary effect would be an implosion effect stolen from Axe Cyclone helping mobs stay inside the two ground effects we put down.

The power needs Ion's coding. No one pops Ion and goes 'shit, it missed that first target'.

After finally reaching level 50 and playing the game while slowly picking up the accolades I feel a bit conflicted on Parasitic Leech. As it is the endurance is slightly too much on the red, but I have not picked the accolades yet which will add another 0.28, nor Musculature's 33% that will add another 0.32. At reaching level 50 I ended up taking Parasitic Leech instead of the caltrops. ...and I find even as a one slot wonder I am using it to replace Ablative when I need heal/shielding, and using it instead of Rebuild DNA when I need endurance. In either case I get the other side of the coin be it heals as well when wanting endurance or recovery as well when wanting heals. I played around with taking the slots from Rebuild DNA and give them to Parasitic as well and the numbers were pretty decent with getting as much as something like 1.5 extra recovery with a single enemy, or as much as capping out recovery if hitting five enemies. The only reason I did not go for it was two fold: - Rebuild DNA does not need targets. Parasitic Leech does. Anyone who remembers the old Consume from Fire Armor will remember the absolute *pain* that was needing endurance, only one enemy in range... and Consume missed. Try again in one minute. This is something relying on Parasitic Leech is bound to make happen. - The power of Parasitic leech lays on being a five target AoE. Even as a one slot wonder there is a hefty 464% regen and 215% recovery if hitting 5 targets which is a compelling reason to leave it as a secondary heal or recovery tool one slotted wonder. But because of carrying a second recovery tool I'm now pondering whether the 45% Musculature is not more logical. What restrains me would be relying on Parasitic and have to go through the 2.1 animation. Going from 2.97 to 3.57 will be already very good, but also going from Rebuild DNA giving 48 endurance (ignoring the proc in it for now) to 54 will also help to tilt the balance. At that point Parasitic's value will go down. But caltrops if of dubious use for a Storm Blast-erino. I was playing DA with a small group of friends and when we split I kept soloing spawns. Not at great speed, because Sentinel, but, +4 (no level shift yet), and it's a 33% defense build and no inspirations were being used. I was even pulling two groups sometimes. Storm may not be the wet dream of a power focused player but it handles fine and the -tohits and panic run-ing it inspires plus all the KD does wonders for ourselves and the team. Right now I'm leaning towards keeping Musculature 33% as this should/will minimize extra clicks to keep endurance up, take Parasitic, remove the proc from DNA, giving the slot to Parasitic, then +5 two Heal/Rech IOs and keep it as a second (third really since both Ablative and Rebuild DNA heal) back-up. Maybe not truly needed, but nothing else seems really useful to pick either. Numbers on the test server show that hitting a pylon with no Musculature slotted does 215 damage. With musculature 45% it does 246, and with Musculature 33% it does 238. Some quick maffs says the 45% damage boost increases damage by 14.4% and the Musculature 33% damage boost is a 10.7% increase. Damage loss is a staggering 3.7% and the reason why I seldom take the 45% version. I think 3.7% is not worth when it will add 2.1 second animation clicks to the gameplay. Best instead save those for back-up heals and thus keep Musculature 33%. Welcome to my TED talk and here is the latest iteration. Once I settle for one I will go through the thread and deleting the other versions: Sentinel (Storm Blast - Bio Armor).mbd

Added more info including the accolades and more details on easy money making, then it was getting to be so spammy that I spoiled everything.

As Oldskool said that mechanic is now gone. Instead you get a clickie called Vulnerability which makes mobs take more damage when hit. It's not a super important clickie though and I reserve it for archvillains. Dehiydrate does heal you which is one of the perks of Water. Heals are something that Stone Armor lacks since it relies on regeneration instead. Keep it in mind for the future if you find yourself being whittled to death but it should not be a big thing since Sentinels get little agro. This is the extreme cheapness build. Really not needed since money is pretty easy to make even just selling merits: A more normal 'cheap' build. Does not have the same defenses as the first so carry small purples to use if suddenly taking too much damage. Also, cheap being relative since Decimations are 3-4 million a piece and the ATOs are 7-9 million a piece. But you can easily buy one by one and just throw it on top of the previous extreme cheap build without worrying about using Unslotters. In the end as you keep making money you can then slowly transition to the expensive build bit by bit as well even though you will then want to use Unslotters and not slot over and destroy stuff worth 3-4 million. You can then save those no longer needed IOs for your next character or just sell them back to the AH. With this build you're already at 90% of the maximum potential and the original expensive build just adds a bit more damage and finishes rounding up defense:

Check out the Prestige Sprints, one of them does a slide FX you can then recolour at a trainer/tailor and might be more fitting than having a stone golem sprinting around like mad. This is the expensive build. You get two free powers to do what you'd like with (these usually are taken up by travel powers). Aua Bolt is the weak link and could/should be replaced by Dehydrate, but it's up to you. Just swap the slotting if you do. If you would like a cheap/leveling build during the time you're picking up money to buy all the things let me know.