Sovera

You do not need to play the game in absolute min max mode. If a ranged character who covers up for the weakness of the tanker friend is something you wish to play then go for it, and ultimately you will make their life easier at the start and at the end (at the start because you provide with endurance and heals and at the end because once their defenses are in place you can pump their (and yours) damage). Two meleers can accomplish the same content though, and not be fussed with CC. You just won't cover for any weaknesses, but even then if you go with Ice Melee you can make something impossible actually happen.

The suggestions so far have all been good. It's true about the CC being a weak point for a ranged character but having a few breakfrees (and the fact you'd be playing with a Tanker who is first in running to danger) should limit this. Remember you can buy more breakfrees from the auction House simply by typing /ah between missions. You can easily go around with six greens and six breakfrees if need be. I would still say a Kinetic for the reasons stated above. At some point heals and defenses are no longer of use (especially in a Tanker duo) since the Tanker is very sturdy and does not require extra sturdy. Helping with the damage and endurance takes over and that makes a Kin helpful through the whole leveling range from squishy Tanker friend to tough-but-slow-damage Tanker friend. In my own experience when we start getting whittled down by the enemies a single 50 inf purple or orange inspiration is enough to turn the tides, and sadly that's what all the contribution from Defenders and Corruptors usually boil down to: preventing that one or two 50 inf inspiration sporadic use. Where they shine is as damage boosters. Honestly, if we were to put a tankermage duo and a tankermeleer duo I have good reason to believe the tankermeleer duo will do everything easier and faster.

Touch of Death is one of the best melee sets. S/L resistance, E/N resistance, S/L defense, comes with a damage proc, decent raw stats spread. It only lacks recharge. Other sets come with bad bonuses (I'm sure someone will pipe in on how tox/psi is useful for their build) or have bad raw stats (Kinetic Combat), or useless procs (hold? Heck). No, ToD is one of the best evenly balanced melee sets IMO and being level 40 really does not hinder this. I'm not against the idea though, but other than having more raw stats by the ten level bump I'm not sure what would be gained.

Not sure the concept has been well thought. You're saying if you fight against someone and lose, they get stronger so you get less of a chance of winning?

Anything kinetics. Maybe Fire/Kinetics Corruptor. They will love Speedboost for their whole career (especially as Dark Armor) and the early healing and later on when the later is no longer necessary it is swapped for the damage boost. Defender if wanting the Kinetic goodies sooner. While the tankers survive a lot it depends what enemies you two decide to tackle. The more exotic (Praetoria, Ward, etc) the more having a source of healing can turn the tides. And when enemies are particularly dire do not discount the Kin's auto-knockdown toggle (with proper IO otherwise it's knockback). Honestly you could go Plants but it's a terrible set in terms of fun. One Seeds of Chaos and there is nothing to fight since mobs are ignoring the team. Very efficient, very powerful, but with an end result of nearly being the equivalent of clicking a button for free XP with only the hassle of moving between mission locations.

People praising the -res need to actually use it in a test and see the results with and without. The prime place where it might shine is the pylon test where stuffing the maximum number of -res sources allows for amazing times (/cold as a prime example) all thanks to pylons being +0. My own tests against +4 AVs (+3 with T3 Alpha) showed something like a 4-7% damage increase because of the purple patch effect. But this is two 20% -res with better uptime since slotted into attacks being spammed. The upside of the '4-7%' boost is that it's 4-7% for each player which makes it a reasonable choice. Outside of AVs/GMs the -res procs have shown to not affect the killing speed as tested on farm maps and the Trapdoor test over the Scrapper forum, and this is with the -res slotted in AoEs unlike WR who is a ST power. Looking at Weaken Resolve on Mids shows it has a 90% chance to make an Achilles' -res go off with a duration of 15 seconds and around 13-14 CD without any recharge slotted. The casting is 2.24 though. My experience on this (take it with a grain of salt, and of course anyone willing to run said testing mentioned above would fix all 'gut feels') is that the power is fine on a support character in a full team against an AV/GM. Any time it is up and the character can choose between tossing a T1 or T2 or using Weaken Resolve it will (probably) help the team more to choose WR thanks to everyone adding their % which is bound to be more than a support character's T1 or T2 damage. That said it would still only shave a few seconds (not a minute) and even less than one might think on quick fights that are short. A damage based character would probably suffer too much from sinking 2.24 seconds into a non damaging character (yes, I know, procs. Procs can be slotted into damaging attacks as well though), and of course that nothing under an AV/GM will be worth using it on even for a support character. Think of it like a /Rad's anchors and if they are worth using on normal mobs. Bopper can probably math this out.

Anything works. Tankers are so tough out of the box that it is hard to go wrong. I see the ITF bandied as a tough encounter and my Fire Armor soloed it at +4x8 with buffed enemies no inspirations used, and that's Fire Armor who is supposed to be squishy. Rather think what you would like as a playstyle instead. Big damage to kill things faster? The traditional 'go AFK in the middle of two groups and return 15 minutes still alive (Fire Armor does not do this btw)? Fancy tanktroller (Ice Melee comes to mind, minus the ITF all other enemies flop around making the team extra safe)? Several sets can do the afk-in-the-middle-of-two-groups shtick so if that's what you want but it's not required. I also did a few of the 801 teams and the squishy Fire Armor did not die, so again, think about what you'd like.

If it did as much slow as RoF does it would almost act like a pseudo agro aura (less effect once fight +4) which might be why? Dunno. could be worth a trip to the bug forums.

Tweaked the Fire/Super Strength to not need to have Tough toggled on to reach 90% S/L. Usual gimmicks of two ATO stacks + Barrier for 90% resistances and 45% S/L. I'm not 100% happy with the ST rotation but the FF proc in KO Blow should mean KOB - Haymaker - Burn - Haymaker - KOB is possible, but if the FF proc does not go off despite KO Blow's phenomenal chance of making procs happen then inject a Jab in there to cover said gap. While leveling and without all the slotting in place it's probably best to go KOB - Burn - Jab - Haymaker - Jab. If it's still not enough then add another before Burn. Punch would be better than Jab, but, Tankers don't get to choose. Boxing is -slightly- better (heck, even Air Superiority might be better considering the 100% CC) but fitting everything early implies using Jab instead. Burn fixes SS's lack of an early AoE and makes leveling a SS character palatable while Rage makes Burn the heavy hitter. Handclap was picked and slotted just for the Rage crash where spamming it and Footstomp ought to give a breather.

Mud Pots' slow must be bugged, which is weird since the set only just came out of a refit and everything was probably looked at. Mud Pots does 40% and has zero effect on enemies (I even paired it with Spines and enemies moved around as they pleased without a iota of difference). Rain of Fire has 40% slow and the enemies visibly run in slow motion. Unless RoF stacks (possible).

Aren't radio missions the equivalent of street sweeping? All in the same area, mobs you can control via notoriety, not much talking? My own experiences with sweeping are meeting purple mobs I need to avoid and trying to find non grey mobs to get XP. Sometimes just a street apart.

Slot your +6% res in what ST attack you do use. No build has an infinite AoE chain and at some point a ST attack will be used. Follow-up, Radiation Siphon, Freezing Touch, etc etc. These are powers we usually don't want to leave recharge and not used. I put mine in low level powers so I can even them when exemplared, and try to put them in a skill I will spam. Sometimes because of constraints I put them in long animation and long recharge powers but that's not good since there will be little stacking

Done some tweaking to the Rad/Stone Brute and got it down to 5:33 from 6-7 minutes. I think the 'secret' might be less the new slotting and just not using Devastating Blow. Smash, Siphon, Smash is 5.8 and Atom Smasher is 6,4. It honestly feels smarter (and better) to wait out that small gap and AoE again. Took it to the pylons and averaged 3 minutes. Which is not super great considering it has two -res procs. EM/Stone got 2:30 without -res but goes past 7 minutes for Trapdoor, and Claws/Fire 2:15-2:30 pylons with two -res but also 5-5:15 Trapdoor. So Rad/Stone is only slightly slower than Claws/Fire despite not having Burn or Fiery Embrace, while also being much sturdier. Regardless the endurance consumption is big. Not a problem in Trapdoor since there was time to recoup between spawns but had to use Recovery Serums for the non stop hitting pylon test.

Difficult to fit everything, and yeah, crash is a worry as always. You do not need to faithfully reproduce the build and can just copy some of the slotting where it looks like an improvement.

Tried the KM/Stone and it was the usual. Yin in 55 minutes and fighting through molasses. Burst is otherwise a good AoE but the 2.9 animation to hit mid two digits is not doing any favors to an already ailing set. Also tried the Spines/Stone, but if the gimmick of slows was the intention it turned out to be a dud. The slows are obviously bugged and do nothing, not even a slight movement delay. Things like Rain of Fire, Tar Patch, not to name everyone, makes the enemies move noticeably slower, but the 40% from Mud pots + the 16% from Quills + another 16% from Spine Burst did zilch. This looks like a bug and I assume the recharge is not working either but no idea if so or not. The damage was... actually quite alright. Did Yin in 49 minutes which is not super super great (Spine Burst sucks very very badly though). The T1 and T2 was enough and Ripper when both were on CD or on a heavy AoE situation. Brimstone should help the weak ST damage but it will never compete since no set can use its T1 and T2 and actually do good damage. But, with two auras at the same time it did not feel particularly slow (T1 and T2 was enough to kill +1 minions and that's all I can really ask for). I'll drop the build over the test server tomorrow for both a Trapdoor and pylon test. I needed one power more to fit Afterburner and was short on slots so ditched Throw Spines which is blasphemy (I don't like cones anyway), but just swapping for Super Jump and scrounging slots from the procs and etc would fit it back in.

First thing: welcome back! I would actually recommend a Brute instead of a Scrapper. The damage difference is minimal until builds are min maxed, Bio is used, and a Snipe is picked from the epic pool. For non such min maxed both Scrapper and Brute are shoulder to shoulder with Brutes having a better low level experience and being generally sturdier as well as all armors having an agro taunt aura. Scrappers only have like half of the armors who can agro. Regardless of which you pick consider that all builds are budget friendly for the simple reason the difficulty can be tailored. But with that I would suggest Radiation Armor since it has an early heal + endurance recovery baked in a single skill (Radiation Therapy with a Theft of Essence proc) that alleviates all the problems usually associated with leveling. Radiation Melee also has a very forgiving rotation, a baked in heal in one of the attacks, and passive AoE that allows you to focus on a boss while the minions are dying by themselves. For money making and a character start check my signature.

The fault is partially to blame on your incarnates. Paralytic is one of those Incarnates that has no discernible effect in game and probably needs dev attention. To fight AVs you need Degenerative. I've swapped Agility for Musculature and added damage procs where I could to help. For example Knockout Blow went from 325 damage in your build to 645. All the defenses were lowered to 40% though (Fire/Cold slightly lower but it is not very important). This is meant to be easier to slot and then rely on Barrier for a panic button since a good chunk of the game is easy enough that 40% is enough and when it gets hard and you use Barrier you stay at 45% defense until Barrier has recharged (incidentally 90% to S/L since the 5% applies to resistances as well). That said you have gaps in the attack chain because KO Blow has a lengthy recharge even with Gloom since KOB recharges in 8.5 seconds and a rotation of Punch - Haymaker - Punch takes 4.7 seconds, with Gloom it goes to 6 seconds. Punch is really terrible (slightly worse than Boxing even, and all power pool attacks are terrible) but you could get around this by adding more Punches. Punch - Haymaker - Punch - Gloom - Punch - Haymaker makes 8.7 seconds allowing KOB to be back up. In practice you will be able to skip one or two attacks in that chain because of the Force Feedback procs in Haymaker and KOB speeding up recharge, so when possible don't use Punch. Assault adds almost nothing to damage (something like 4% despite what the tooltip says (easy to test. Hit something with Assault on, then hit again without. calculate percentages)) but you've a free power and if your endurance can take it *shrug*. Otherwise take Strength of Will as a second mini panic button. Or swap Resurgence for it. If you can scrounge a slot Strength of Will needs only two +5 res IOs. Or even Handclap for when Rage crashes happen and you're surrounded.

But you seem stuck that one test is game play conditions and the other is a DPS test, and that the DPS test is not a gameplay conditions test. Yes, you are correct.

Did you miss the part where I mentioned -two- tests, one of which is 'normal game play conditions'?

Pylons are a metric, flawed as it may be. At least we know how much damage gets done. But chasing the maximum better pylon time has ruined the concept of testing a build since it's all about stacking -res procs and effects despite the minimal effect they have in regular gameplay. As for 'unless double stacked', double stacked is the normal way it goes in any minimally IO slotted build that has Hasten in. It's not chased, it just happens on its own, and actually requires an effort on the part of the user in not letting it double stack.

The devs don't need to be defended. It's a suggestion forum, suggestions are made. Devs see them. Devs decide to implement them. Or not. Lawyering from players is not a part of the equation.

Gloom improves every build it is inserted in, but honestly give Sav/Stone a try. Very sturdy and Fury pumps the bleed DoTs, Brimstone DoTs, Mud Pots, while Sav with its two AoEs can keep on clearing groups. When I tried EM/Stone Whirling Hands and Brimstone did not make AoE clearing feel good.

I've taken a break from the game but I'm actually pondering making a new Tanker and come back since CoH is my comfort game. Tbh and not something people want to hear in the Tanker forums, but Brutes are just better to play the game. Game does not ask or require uber tanky and anything that kills a Brute will also kill a Tanker. When both survive without a problem the question is why pick the version that does less damage. Which, despite some -very- vocal people (love ya, Bill) the Tanker firmly is. Perhaps in a world without Incarnates or 50 inf inspirations that can be restocked between missions. Reasons to pick Tanker is for the combos. Which is why despite what I just ranted about Tankers I'll be making one. I've refined my oldie Fire/Energy Melee, with its two early-ish AoEs and EM to counter a Tanker's lower damage, to not need Tough toggled on and have Energy Punch instead of Barrage (Barrage 'steals' Focus). Barrage still needs to be taken but it is going to be muled and I want to test if the leveling experience feels better with it. To be honest it should have replaced Fire/Claws as the 'dragon' option, but I've a soft spot for Fire/Claws. I'll post the pylon times later if the leveling felt good, and maybe replace Claws with it.

The damage was lower than I liked and DoT damage is not a good mesh for CoH. Perhaps if there was a mode with harder enemies. The AoE is nice and three PbAoEs are good for clearing faster though. The Brute version came out pretty amazing, especially the Savage/Stone with Brimstone helping and Fury pumping out the myriad DoTs. But even that one it ended up slowly turning boring with the very fast attacks doing delayed damage. On tougher enemies Savage shines combined with it's Build-up mechanic that ensures 100% bleed chance. Start hitting things and see the numbers climbing. Hit a hard enemy and see its HP disappearing a flurry of whittled numbers. But then fight the minion by its side and here we are hitting it 3-4 times, and often hitting it a fifth just to be sure it dies after having experienced enemies alive on a sliver of HP after trusting the DoTs to kill it. That slows the actual gameplay, or it did with me.

Super Strength is one of the strongest sets. This is not gut feelings. We have tests. Tests have been posted. It both clears maps (Trapdoor test) and beats up pylons in pretty top tier echelons. But it does so only when double stacked even when it creates a loop of 10 seconds down and 50 seconds up. So simply asking for a buff won't do. What the set has is clunkyness and unacceptable downsides with the crash. Lets keep in mind it is 'top tier', not the best. Energy Melee has no downsides (the HP loss is tiny and countered by regen alone, and that's if the armor set does not have a heal) on top of phenomenal CC that can stun even AVs, on top of being the top tier damage. So reworking Super Strength to not have Rage's crash should not be a big deal. Handclap definitely needs to do damage though (sonic damage, yes?) because all sets should have an early AoE. A better rework than Fault though since Stone Melee -still- has no early level AoE thanks to Fault being a terrible power even after the rework (yes, it can CC, but the damage is crummy and the accuracy coupled with the recharge compounds how it is a level 50 power-when-all-the-IOs-are-in-place). I would say lower Rage's power to... 50% or something. Two stacked it would grant 100% instead of 160%. Claws goes around with 70% with two stacked Follow-Up. Or rename Rage to Adrenaline and make it a mini-Fury mechanic where the longer the fight goes on the more Adrenaline is pumping and the damage gets higher (I favor this approach since it is proactive, people do not just hang around while their Rage stacks gets higher merely by existing). 'Adrenaline' is a good concept, but it can be called whatever. Even 'Seriousness' (but it does not roll off the tongue) because even Super-man or Goku will invariably start the fight with taps and as they realize the enemy is not being defeated they up the strength of their blows. So it's less Hulk raging and more 'oh, okay, you're not stopping, but you're also not dying, so it's safe to hit you harder'. What a lot of people seem to forget is that these power-ups do not exist in a vacuum. Despite Claws going around with a perpetual 70% damage boost it has not crushed the competition (it's actually a well made set, but tests have not shown it to be a monster and what it does comes more out of being able to slot two -res procs), and this is because the damage of the attacks is slightly lowered to compensate. Same as Super-Strength being mathematically pretty bad without Rage. So walking around with a mini-Fury effect does not have to be OP when the rest of the rest is balanced around it. What really matters is the mechanics of Rage and 10 seconds twiddling thumbs is -bad-. It is not fun. Unfun designs have no place in a -game-.