Frosticus

Yes there are numerous examples of AT specific adjustments to powers that go outside AT modifiers. They are usually minor, or flavour oriented like the differences between brute claws and scrapper claws. FWIW widow follow up doesn't have dot toxic. It works exactly the same as regular followup albeit with a moderate adjustment to base recharge. The boost it gives is governed by AT modifiers (boostup), which are higher for scrappers, blasters, lower for brutes etc. Spin is a fine example though. The primary difference is twofold: 1. There are clearly documented. Widow spin clearly shows the damage, recharge and bonus toxic in plain sight. 2. The differences are explained via the ingame description of the power - yada yada "and poisons and slows the enemy" 3. Those powers still work exactly the same and still do the same function via the same mechanics. 4. If widow spin did something distinctly different, like an aoe stun it would be named something different. You can bet on that. There was no communcation with devs (in open beta), but it comes down to what the power "phantom army" actually means. The two versions share the fact that they summon 3 intangible phantoms. Every other aspect of the power from the control mechanics to the damage, to the powers they use, to the animations within have been changed. It is not explained or documented in game. If spectral terror cast holds for doms rather than fear it would have received a name change. Blaster secondary manipulation powers provide a pretty clear path. A LOT of those powers were altered to become sustain powers. /elec manip had several revisions on its sustain with lightning field ultimately becoming dynamo. It is still lightning field, but now does different things so it warranted a name change. They could have just left it as lightning field and told players "figure it out". Dom phantom army is still 3 summons, but it does completely different things via different mechanics and different powers. It warrants a name change, or it warrants a clear description of the different functionality in game.

I'm not sure that means anything with regard to what I'm saying. Do fire imps do less damage because doms have a secondary dedicated to damage? Does confounding chant do less, or more on doms even though they have a secondary dedicated to damage? I'm fine with illusion being revamped for doms and powers being changed. I'm more or less fine with the power as redesigned even though they missed some really great opportunities with the changes. It just needs to indicate that it has been altered (fairly drastically) in function and performance from the other Phantom Army. If a player used PA on a troller and then used it on a dom they would likely think it is bugged for one of them if they had no prior knowledge of the power. It really does behave quite differently.

It is identical across kinetic melee sets that have critical. Your point would be true if it crit for stalkers but not scraps right? So it is identical function across ATs which is my point. PA is not, I'm looking at MMs because they have divergences from normal buff/debuff but even those have different names when the power is altered

Scrapper version does that instead of critical damage. It is intended to be fair compensation whether true or not. Stalker version works identical. In this case the power is just objectively downgraded and different.

They also no longer taunt of course so they are no longer a "control" power via the same mechanisms that the controller version uses. I'm drawing a blank on any other powers across the ATs that have been changed so fundamentally without a name change. Do you happen to have an example? Edit: dom PA also has some attacks not found on the troller version, which further segregates the two

Ya we all know the troller version is superior because they can tank most anything the game throws at you and keep them taunted. Sure it would have been great if the dom version did that as well, but such is life. However, what I didn't realize on test was the DAMAGE nerf they also hit the dom version with. The attacks do much less damage and have a larger healback % on several of them. Troller PA punch 73.4 dam, 56.7 healback (70% healback) Troller PA powerbolt 44.5 dam, 31.1 healback Dom PA punch 55.6 dam, 43 healback (77% healback) Dom PA powerbolt 37.4 dam, 26.2 healback It's still a good power as far as pets go and I don't mean to look a gifthorse in the mouth because we finally have illusion. Beggars can't be choosers so I'm not saying it should have something to compensate like shorter rech, or small aoes (on the control aspects of the powers they use). I'm of the mindset that it would have been better to change the name of the power though because it is very different from the troller version which seems inconsistent relative to everything else in the game.

I like poison, but i feel it plays best on defender, or controller. It can be a challenging set to solo with, or be on a team with little support/aggro control. All in all poison/fire/psy defender was one of the most enjoyable builds I've ever done 0-50. It really is a sum of all the pieces experience.

Not related, but I've been having a blast on a petless necro/elec. An endless supply of "pets" that you don't have to control or resummon that allow you to chain the powers back on to yourself. As long as you keep attacking it just chews through things with 2 self heals, bottomless endurance and rapidly refreshing absorb shielding on yourself. No aoe though haha.

I mean you are because you are acting like this 20yr old non-competitive pve game is an e-sports event. The number of players that care about your specific style of play are less than have replied in this thread. That doesn't make it invalid, it just makes it extremely niche. My high end teaming days are on hold with a newborn, but I have to ask. Why is your ultra honed 4* ITF team not running /cold corruptors rather than cold defenders? If the answer is, you are - then why are you deliberately misleading the OP into thinking a cold defender is ideal for the best of the best speed running 4* ITF team? Like he could just show up with his cold defender and join as a walk-on by broadcasting in zone or something? If the answer is you aren't running /cold corrs then ask the person that is in charge of your strategy why not? your lore choices show you are seeking additional damage, /cold corrs give up a very small amount of team mitigation in favor of a huge damage bump. Which is what years of previous high end teams have already figured out. I have 50's of ill/cold, fire/cold corr, and cold/fire def. I'd never join challenging content with them unless there was other support to keep me alive. Huge hybrid forcemultiplier, but alone just joining random TF's they pull aggro and die. Even my poison defender has more personal mitigation and will do better in an unorganized, poorly supported TF. Without knowing the OP's specifics your advice ranges from terrible to good and back to terrible again - because you actually meant /cold corruptor. Finally, based on our recent discussion about TA there is no chance you are your group's leader, so also ask them if they are already seeing the next "meta" forming. This content is going to get chewed up just like every "difficult" thing in the past if the player base deems it worth their time.

ya single target confuse that causes aggro doesn't make a whole ton of sense to me. If it got out super fast (like seeds animation) I could see using it midfight a lot more. That said, it is free damage if I was already going to confuse an enemy during the fight anyway. I'm sure it has uses, proly just requires a different approach than i'm used to.

Search up @Bopper, he put a proc guide (among many other useful echanics guides). Whether the proc(s) is useful depends on the math, your expectations, and what you are giving up in exchange. I have builds that just proc out a few main attacks - like a sentinel nuke 3-dam/rech, 3 procs cause I always use it with aim. Or dominator call Hawk- a hard hitting single target attack with near perfect proc probability that can take 4 damage procs. I have builds like my plant/poison that put procs in pretty much every possible spot as an experiment that turned out super fun. The 5-6 pcs bonuses are where lots of people get their defenses. It can be difficult to give that up.

PA If musculature core then I use the following slotting: 4 piece Expedient Reinforcement (don't use resist proc, or acc/dam) all +5 2 piece Soulbound - proc and +5 acc/rech =95"% acc, 125% dam, 59% end, 99% rech They provide good damage and can "control" a boss well enough (which I don't need on a dom, but oh well). They don't hold a candle to the troller version though. As an aside if mobs are fleeing you then you might have to forgo casting spec terror. Things that brush off the fear are still affected by the afraid (run) part of it. So AV's can get pretty squirrely.

My sav/shield/soul could skip hide with minimal downside. I open with savage leap. Only used slow AS a couple times in earlier levels. I actually wonder if placate would suit that build more as it is rare to "need " help at the start of the fight. Sav/shield/mu spec of the same character would miss it though as I opened with ball lightning > leap

It gets worse! When phantasm summons the decoy the dam thing does the knockback cone too!

ya clockworks would do it too. I guess there is a chance if all PA attacks hit close enough together it could knockback a normal target too.

Are you fighting enemies below your level? PA shouldn't be knocking enemies back, just down. Phantasm on the other hand....welcome to knockback city. PA definitely benefits from the BU proc in soulbound. It makes a significant difference.

I don't know what to tell you. Thanks to test server I already know some of the combos in this very thread are going to see 600-700 dps (without -res procs, phantasm, or hybrid). I'm not sure how much damage you think PA contributes? *(its about ~130 dps on an ill/x/ice). x = not sonic assault

It works really well. The boost to recharge is awesome while leveling. Your final build may or may not need to +rech from blood stacks, but the end discount applies to all powers which can be really nice as you are unlikely to have much end reduction in PA. Sav is also extremely endurance friendly even without blood given the dpa of its attacks. Rivaling even fiery. It is almost scary how fast a combo like ill/energy (which is awesome btw) can tank their blue bar. looking at their best melee*+best ranged of the top 3 damage sets: * a disservice to fire, but apples to apples Blaze+incinerate produces 244-303.4 (dot chance)(w/ avg 275 base damage) or 11.1-13.8 (avg 12.5) damage/end* *fiery can improve this efficiency with long lasting fiery embrace (30 sec of +85% fire damage) TF+powerburst (w/energy focus) produces 462 base damage or 13.7 damage/end Viscous + Hawk produces 331-453 (dot chance & full blood) (w/ avg 387 damage) or 15.2 to 20.6 (avg 17.6) damage/end* *didn't include any blood discount to endurance

Have you seen a team fail a DFB? Cold dom is one of the worst defenders for that. I'll delete my 4 cold doms now Check and mate 👍

Unless OP pops in and said they were actually seeking meta 4* speed run build I'll take them at their word that they were seeking a build that would play well across all TF's. Some people find they enjoy the lower level TF's like posi or even katie. Some people find joy in normal TF's like market crash and just run it with a few friends. Some people want to dabble in soloing TF's. And yes some people enjoy 4* speed runs, but not everyone enjoys watching lore pets play the game, or rushing everything at breakneck speed. I think you are stuck in the mindset that your way is the best and only way to play. It is not.

4 star meta speed ITF = all TFs? Ok Cold is awesome, trust I have a bit of experience playing the set. It has always been "meta" for high level teams. Did OP specify meta speed 4 star lvl 50+ TFs? Or all? Maybe I misread.

I keep seeing this repeated. Dark assault is a good set, but it is square in the middle of assault sets for single target damage under most scenarios (high rech and/or procs). Doms generally aren't much in the aoe department, but it is middle of the pack there too. It does offer great utility, has a desirable damage type and gives a fairly usable spot for the +dam proc for those lacking a more suitable place for it. It is somewhere between 4th and 9th out of the 12 sets.

Rad/sonic Teamed or solo it just enables everyone to do things easy to hard. For low level content that occasionally gets turned up too high making people whiff - rad infection is a godsend For higher content - EF, AM and sonic blasts keep the team running quickly Lingering rad is still one of the best powers in the game - good range, big aoe, high values, can be stacked a bit solo - arguably the best -regen power Goldilocks combo for almost any team.

Not sure when it happened, but fairly recently spectral terror started accepting accurate tohitdebuff sets. So whatever build you settle on consider cloud senses for that power. ~21% aoe tohit debuff (10 targets) is comparable to an enhanced Fearsome stare (~18%) from Dark control (16 targets though). Spec Terror debuffs for ~35 seconds vs 20seconds. *of note the single target attack/debuff of spectral terror is not an enhanceable tohit debuff (15%)

Same boat. But debating whether I want to finish my elec/bio (sitting at 38) or drop it in favour of elec/stone. I've played a lot of bio across the AT's, but have never put time into stone armor. Seismic blast is a neat set once you figure out how to chain in boosted stalagmites consistently. But all my sentinels have been hover blasters, so playing on the ground would be a large divergence for the AT.