Hopeling

It's not semantics. If the debuff were unresistable, Opportunity by itself would bring Dominatrix from 50% to 30%. It doesn't. My first example allows for some confusion on this point, since the target has 50% resistance, and so "amount resisted" and "amount left" are the same. Here are some other examples: This is a Fire Tarantula, which has 20% resist to everything. I've applied -16.21% total debuffs to it. Its resistance was actually reduced by 16.21*0.8=12.968%, which after some rounding, becomes 20-12.968=7.04%. It does not remove 16.21% of 20%; that would have left the target at 20(1-.1621)=16.76% resist. For comparison, Rest gives an unresistable -1000% res debuff. My sentinel is /Elec, so he has 75% energy resistance. If this worked like the above, I would resist 75% of that debuff, so only -250% would get through, leaving me at 75-250=-175% resist. That's not what happens; Rest's debuff is unresistable, so it applies in full and floors my resist at -300%: Now, resistable debuffs are still quite good. Almost all resistance debuffs in the game are resistable. But I've seen people say in multiple places that Opportunity is unresistable, and I was surprised to find out this was wrong.

I also tend to underuse them unless they have a really nice secondary effect (Build Momentum) or I have some big attack that they naturally pair with, like Shield Charge or a nuke.

For completeness, if the Opportunity -20% were unresistable, the calculation would go: 0% +50%-20%=30% total Apply -5%-9.6%=-14.6%, of which she resists 30%, leaving -14.6%*.7=-10.22%, for a total of 30%-10.22%=19.78% resistance.

All buffs are additive. The game doesn't actually know what a 'debuff' is as opposed to a 'buff'; it just thinks that some buffs have positive numbers and other buffs have negative numbers. Similarly, some buffs are resistable, and some are not. Resist buffs in particular are a bit weird to calculate, because "energy resistance debuff resistance" is just energy resistance. But the process goes like this: Take base value (0%). Add up all the unresistable effects and apply them. In this case, Dominatrix has +50% resistance from her passive. Resistance bonuses are almost always flagged as unresistable; you can see this on eg Tough or any armor toggle. Now add up all the resistable effects and apply those, subject to debuff resistance (ie, the total resistance from the previous step). Resistance penalties are almost always flagged as resistable. In this case, that works out like so: 0% +50% = 50% total We're applying (-5%+-9.6%+-20%)=-34.6% energy resistance, but Dominatrix resists half of that because she had 50% resistance at the previous step, so really it's only -17.3%, giving 50-17.3=32.7% total. It's definitely NOT "remove 34.6% of the resistance the target already has". If that were the case, -res would do nothing on targets without resistance, and it's easy to verify that this is not the case. In fact, it's in the same screenshot: you can (barely) see at the bottom of the window that Dominatrix has -34.6% psi resist, because she started at 0% and then suffered the full effect of the debuff.

In several conversations here, I've seen people say that Opportunity's -20% res is not resistable. I assumed this was correct, because people said it, and there was no reason not to believe them. But I noticed this with a power analyzer today: I mostly was just curious how much energy resistance Dominatrix has, because I remembered it being pretty high, but wasn't sure if it was to all types. But look at that: 50% base resist, a -20% debuff plus some others, and more than 30% left. Even without doing the arithmetic, that can't be right. And sure enough, that's -34.6% resist total. If they're all resistable, those debuffs get cut in half to -17.3%, leaving her with 32.7% total, which is exactly what Combat Attributes says. So: Opportunity's -res debuff is resistable, both the -5% from all attacks and the -20% from filling the bar. And sure enough, the detailed power info lists -20% resists, but does not say it's unresistable. Unless Single Shot specifically is bugged, but the power info for other Sentinel t1 attacks says the same thing.

I basically just use it when it's up. If possible I try to swap to a boss to apply the debuff, but if not, oh well.

This is only vaguely related, but: does anyone know how to open Super Packs with a macro, if such a thing can be done? Opening these in bulk by right-clicking and using the context menu is tedious.

@Cheapshot since he was asking about it the other day.

I'm planning a respec and would appreciate critiques. This is an unlimited-budget build; I wanted to meet the following goals but I'm not totally satisfied with how I did so: Capped S/L resist Reasonably close to perma-Hasten 32.5% typed defenses (ie, capped with one Luck) - not quite there on F/C, but close enough Lots of procs: both ATOs, both purple damage procs, Achilles' Heel, Fury of the Gladiator, the Gaussian proc Plenty of HP and recovery, to sustain TW attacks and still run Musculature This is intended for broad general use, so I also managed to cram some utility choices in there: Focused Accuracy (for debuff resistance, only used situationally), Resurgence (because sometimes I do stupid stuff), and Confront (mostly a set mule, but occasionally helpful for pulls or mobs that really like to run), 40% F/C resist, 50% slow resist. Hero Plan by Hero Hero Designer 2.23 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Hymnblade: Level 50 Magic Scrapper Primary Power Set: Titan Weapons Secondary Power Set: Willpower Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Crushing Blow -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(5), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(5), AchHee-ResDeb%(40) Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(36), Prv-Heal/Rchg(36), GldArm-3defTpProc(37), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(37) Level 2: Titan Sweep -- SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprScrStr-Dmg/Rchg(7), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprScrStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprScrStr-Rchg/+Crit(11) Level 4: Mind Over Body -- RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg(39), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39), RctArm-ResDam(46) Level 6: Follow Through -- CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx(A), CrsImp-Dmg/Rchg(11), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15) Level 8: Build Momentum -- GssSynFr--Build%(A), RechRdx-I(13) Level 10: Indomitable Will -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(40), Ksm-ToHit+(50) Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), WntGif-ResSlow(36) Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A) Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(25), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(39), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(46), Prv-Heal/Rchg(48), Prv-Absorb%(48) Level 18: Rend Armor -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Hct-Acc/Rchg(19), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Hct-Dam%(21), SprCrtStr-Rchg/+50% Crit(23) Level 20: Quick Recovery -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(25), PrfShf-End%(31) Level 22: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 24: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(27), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29), UnbGrd-Max HP%(29) Level 26: Whirling Smash -- Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Erd-%Dam(40), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43) Level 28: Heightened Senses -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def(42), LucoftheG-Rchg+(42) Level 30: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(31), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), ShlWal-Def(37), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(50) Level 32: Arc of Destruction -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Arm-Acc/Rchg(33), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Arm-Dam%(34), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(34) Level 35: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 38: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45) Level 41: Fast Healing -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(43) Level 44: Confront -- MckBrt-Taunt(A), MckBrt-Taunt/Rchg(45), MckBrt-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(45), MckBrt-Acc/Rchg(46), MckBrt-Taunt/Rng(48), MckBrt-Rchg(50) Level 47: Focused Accuracy -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 49: Resurgence -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Critical Hit 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 -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(17), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(27) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(17), PrfShf-End%(23) Level 1: Momentum Level 0: Portal Jockey Level 0: Task Force Commander Level 0: The Atlas Medallion Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve ------------

This isn't actually true. Purples keep their set bonuses even when exemplared. The enhancement values scale down below 32, but that's true for every enhancement, it's not a purple thing.

+0/x1, haha.

Unrelatedly and less impressively, I just failed a MoITF because I got into an argument in /help right after engaging Romulus, then died by not paying attention. So that was dumb. But I'm confident I'll get it on the next try; the whole thing was a cakewalk up to the final fight, which lured me into a false sense of security. Negative energy damage is also not /Elec's strong point. Also, I soloed Clamor quite easily for the weekly. Didn't even need to use any defensive inspirations. /Elec is absolutely perfect here, Beam's -regen is resisted less at level 25, and Sentinels get complete attack chains by 26 instead of 32 like most melee.

...I think you talked me into it. I'm going to give this a shot sometime.

Weave gives almost twice as much defense as Maneuvers. Tough is very useful for most builds, while Tactics gives no defensive benefit at all. Leadership toggles are also more expensive endurance-wise than Fighting toggles. The main reason to take Leadership is for the team benefit, or because you already have Weave and want yet more defense. Having to waste a power on Boxing is annoying, but it's a waste even for melee characters; very very few builds use it as an actual attack.

I'm not at a computer, but I've posted mine before if you're willing to dig through post history. It's not ideal, but it works well, and although it's a high budget build, the purples could easily be swapped out. I have some ideas for a respec; may put up a build thread this weekend.

Renewal of Light makes you untouchable for 30 seconds, so probably you would've been fine regardless, but there are other use cases where it definitely does help.

Both will do very well, and getting groups generally isn't hard. But for your goals I would give a slight edge to the brute: Fury makes them pretty OP before SOs, and at 50 they can tank if needed.

The defense bonus is useful when you want to hit a clicky under fire. It's also a place to slot an LotG. Otherwise nah, it's mostly just speed. Not a great pick in terms of combat usefulness.

Right, they were an i24 feature and never made it to live.

Every secondary has a Sustain power which gives a pretty ridiculous amount of endurance. Energy gets perma-Conserve Power (118% endredux, 3x as much as Cardic), /Mental gets Drain Psyche (one of the very few things in the game that can literally hardcap your recovery stat), and the rest get an enhanceable +50% recovery (ie, twice as strong as Stamina) in a toggle or easily-perma click power, which will put you over 4 end/sec recovery with just SOs and no accolades. Basically, any Blaster secondary can support an Ice Blast attack chain pretty easily.

Typed defense is usually the first goal for /WP, to build on top of Heightened Senses. S/L: Kinetic Combat and Blistering Cold are your best options. Unfortunately, Sentinels have a hard time using these sets compared to melee ATs. You may have to mule these in Brawl or Boxing. Reactive Armor or Unbreakable Guard in your resist toggles are also good, and +2.5% from the ATO set. E/N: This is where you have an edge on melee, because you have Thunderstrike, the other ATO set, and the ranged winter set whose name I can't remember. Again, Reactive Armor also helps, and maybe Eradication in PBAoEs. F/C: You can get a ton of this via winter sets if you want to. Aegis in resist toggles is also an option. From there, you might want to go for HP and/or resists, but you can get those from a ton of sets, often while also chasing other set bonuses.

I'm not sure SS would surpass TW in single-target damage either, but I'm not convinced it wouldn't, especially since fast-Moonbeam becomes an option - and I haven't seen anybody make a serious attempt to run the numbers. +200% damage on a Scrapper is a lot. Just to throw out a super dumb candidate for an attack chain, with double Rage and ED-capped damage slotting, assuming a straight port, KOB - Haymaker - Burn - Dark Blast - Moonbeam, plus Blazing Aura, is ~310 DPS. Double Rage means a crash for 10s out of every 60, so knock off 1/6 of that (you don't quite do zero damage during the crash, but for simplicity let's say you do) and you've got about 260 DPS left. This is before even counting crits, never mind Incarnate powers, procs, Fiery Embrace, and whatever else you can cram into a pylon test. I know that's not a record yet, but that's pretty ridiculous performance for "I haven't even attempted to optimize this". For comparison, the TW chain Rend-FT-Arc-CB-FT does about 240 DPS under the same conditions, counting crits and the -res from Rend Armor. And single-target DPS isn't the only metric in play; Rage is so strong primarily because of the way it boosts attacks outside of the primary, including AoE powers. SS by itself does only OK damage; SS plus Burn plus epic pools is amazing. Throw in a Foot Stomp in that attack chain and you're still looking at ~230 DPS single-target, while also doing about 1200 damage to ten nearby targets every 12 seconds. And while scrappers benefit more than brutes from +damage, they'd suffer less from the defense crash. Scrappers just take less aggro, so 10 seconds of vulnerability is less of an issue. They also have access to Shadow Meld (in the same pool as Moonbeam, no less) which is essentially perfect for mitigating the crash. If Rage was tweaked in the port, even just reducing the buff to ~60% per stack instead of ~100%, sure. My dream scenario is that they rework it to get rid of that stupid unresistable -def at the same time they port it... I've been a scrapper forum regular since long before shutdown. I've participated in most of these discussions. That's never been the primary objection. It has come up, so sure, I guess it's unfair to call it a strawman. I agree that it's not a strong argument. Rerolling FOTM isn't the problem; it's a symptom of the problem, and only manifests in players with a certain mindset. The primary objection is straightforward: a straight port of SS would be overpowered. You can attempt to dispute that point; I'm sympathetic to what MunkiLord said above about how it might not be any more OP than some other sets (although I'm not convinced he's correct about it). But when people respond to this by saying that games shouldn't even try to be balanced and it's the player's fault if they want to contribute, I'm not really sure how to even have a conversation, besides describing some of the ways in which imbalanced games are less fun. Balance is important in games of every genre, even the ones where rerolling isn't a thing. (Occasionally people also object because SS doesn't fit Scrappers thematically. I think this is the very worst argument.)

Honestly, this feels to me like a straw man. People don't want things to be overpowered because, broadly speaking, games are more fun when they're balanced than when they're wildly imbalanced. I don't care if somebody else rerolls, and I don't expect them to reroll en masse. But when I'm on a team, I like to feel like I'm contributing. If one teammate wildly overshadows everyone else, the game starts to seem a lot less fun. If they wildly overshadow everyone else strictly because they clicked the right icons at character creation, that's more annoying than being overshadowed because they're a good player or have invested a lot of time into building up the character - at least those give you something to aspire to, rather than just a feeling that you made the wrong character. I'm not saying SS scrappers would completely break the game by themselves. But when people talk about wanting balance, that's not a separate goal from wanting the game to be fun. CoH players talk a lot about how they like this game because it makes them feel super, so sure, characters should be powerful. But this is also a multiplayer game, and you don't feel very super when you're totally outclassed.

Yes, if anything it's the AT's strongest point. With the -res from Opportunity and the proc from Offensive, Sentinel damage is very close to Scrapper damage on a single target.

I'm really enjoying this build and the character in general; he's tied with my rerolled old main for my favorite character post-Homecoming. I've always loved Beam Rifle visually, but with no sphere attack and a 180s base recharge on Overcharge, it was just a pain to actually accomplish anything. Sentinels get Refractor Beam and a shorter recharge on Overcharge without giving up the set's ST goodness, so it feels very smooth. I haven't played any other Sentinels yet, so I'm not sure how well that extrapolates to the AT as a whole.