Lockpick

So many concepts... I was thinking about making a Shaman like character, but couldn't decide on the AT / Power Set. I was thinking Plant/Nature Controller with the Sorcery pool. Anyone have any thoughts? These are the powers Shaman has according to the Marvel Wiki: Alter Appearance Astral Projection Mystical Bolts Healing Illusion Casting Cause sleep Elemental/Weather Control: Shaman could affect weather, such as causing a blizzard. He could also use small elements within his pouch, such as creating a stone golem or a fire barrier. Plant Control-Shaman could cause vines to appear and entangle foes Natural Dimensional Nullification: Through the power of nature, he could nullify extra dimensional magics or return an extra dimensional being to its home dimension. Restoration: Using his pouch, Shaman could revert altered beings to their natural state. A special ritual could cure people possessed by the Wendigo. Teleportation Time Travel Flight: He could levitate and fly riding wind. He seemed to be mostly adept at flying vertically. Totems: Shaman could use various totems. Commune with Animals Commune with Spirits: He could request any spirits present in an area to assist him with the Spirit Staff. Telepathy/Empathy: Shaman has mentally linked to his daughter. He could also detect the presence of evil.

Yes, run Smoke and Mirrors instead. 12 merits in about 7:30, so 96 merits per hour. In your hour and 20 minutes of play time you would have 120 merits. Or run the SSA missions that give you 20 merits for about 10 minutes. On the other hand if you want suggestions on running the Task Force faster I would suggest: Investing in the 2 prestige mission teleport powers as that will help a little with the time Running with the notoriety at lowest settings Stealthing the missions you can stealth I can't remember the time it took me to do it, but I didn't have the mission teleports and I came away thinking the time to merit was slow when compared to the other options I mentioned.

I was checking out Hide on a new character the other day. I believe I was seeing the defense in combat was 1.88% with only Hide running. Are you sure it is 3%? I'll go check again when servers are back up. I was checking because Mids seems to over inflate the defense that Hide provides, so when I do my builds I turn Hide off to see what my defense will be. I was trying to figure out what number I could add to my defenses to make sure I soft cap which is why I tested Hide.

I find that on my Stalkers that endurance is painful until the later levels. I was thinking it might be nice if Hide functioned similarly to Field Operative. I don't think Hide should give as much Recovery or Regeneration as Field Operative, but was thinking allowing the ability to slot End or Heal IOs for the passives would help with endurance in the early levels. I also wouldn't mind if it allowed us to slot Resist IOs. How overpowered would this be?

My concept was similar, but I did decide to go with Build-Up. I adjusted my current build to replace Build-Up with Burnout. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Mercenary 2: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier Primary Power Set: Bane Spider Soldier Secondary Power Set: Bane Spider Training Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Medicine Hero Profile: Level 1: Single Shot -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(5), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Dcm-Build%(46) Level 1: Bane Spider Armor Upgrade -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(13) Level 2: Burst -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 4: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A) Level 6: Pummel -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(7), TchofDth-Dmg/Rchg(7), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), TchofDth-Dam%(43) Level 8: Heavy Burst -- SprSpdBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprSpdBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprSpdBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), SprSpdBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), SprSpdBit-Rchg/Global Toxic(29), AchHee-ResDeb%(33) Level 10: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(11), DefBuff-I(11) Level 12: Combat Training: Defensive -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(31), Ksm-ToHit+(33), Rct-ResDam%(34), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(45) Level 14: Bayonet -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(15), TchofDth-Dmg/Rchg(15), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), TchofDth-Dam%(43) Level 16: Wide Area Web Grenade -- HO:Endo(A), HO:Endo(17), HO:Endo(17) Level 18: Venom Grenade -- SprDmnofA-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDmnofA-Dmg/Rchg(19), SprDmnofA-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), SprDmnofA-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), SprDmnofA-Rchg/DmgFear%(45) Level 20: Frag Grenade -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(21), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(42), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(45) Level 22: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(50) Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46) Level 26: Burnout -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 28: Surveillance -- HO:Lyso(A), AchHee-ResDeb%(33) Level 30: Cloaking Device -- LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(46) Level 32: Mental Training -- Run-I(A) Level 35: Tactical Training: Leadership -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(36), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(36), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(36), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(37), GssSynFr--Build%(37) Level 38: Call Reinforcements -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(39), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(39), SlbAll-Dmg/Rchg(40), SlbAll-Acc/Rchg(40) Level 41: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(42), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(42) Level 44: Injection -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 47: Aid Self -- DctWnd-Heal/EndRdx(A), DctWnd-Heal/Rchg(48), DctWnd-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(48), DctWnd-Heal(48), DctWnd-Rchg(50) Level 49: Tactical Training: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(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: Conditioning Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A) Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(13), Pnc-Heal/+End(29), Prv-Absorb%(34) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21) Level 0: Task Force Commander Level 0: The Atlas Medallion Level 0: Portal Jockey Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon Level 50: Pyronic Core Final Judgement Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Cimeroran Core Superior Ally Level 50: Ageless Core Epiphany Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment ------------ ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1613;739;1478;HEX;| |78DA65945B4F135110C7CFB60BB51728482F5C4B5BA85C4A0B4563E213414512A1D| 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I've got a great name for a Sonic character, but have never played Sonic before. I'm looking for a character that can solo, high DPS, and strong survivability. Any thoughts on the AT / power set combinations I should be evaluating?

Thank you! It is always cool to learn about new functionality. I saw another issue I thought I would bring up. When I make builds using Soul Mastery as the Epic pool, I cannot reverse the choice and select another option and Soul Mastery is locked. Example: I have a Stalker where I selected Soul Mastery: Moonbeam and Shadow Meld. I was able to softcap, so didn't need Shadow Meld. I deselected Moonbeam and Shadow Meld, but cannot select another Epic pool.

It does help! Thanks for your insight. I've been looking at Rad Armor for awhile, but all the builds I create do not look great. I have the same challenge with Bio, which everyone says is great. Oh well, now to find a name and a concept...

Getting ready to start a new character and I am thinking I want to try a Kinetic Melee. I may do SD as my secondary. Any thoughts on which AT fits best with Kinetic Melee? Also, any suggestion on a synergistic secondary? I don't have to do SD.

I have played StJ/SR to 50 and incarnates. It is a very strong build with high DPS and high defense. I have not played SD on HC, but my main on Live was a StJ/SD Scrapper. I think between SD and SR that SD brings more to a team due to Grant Cover and Shield Charge. I have no experience with Ice. I have played a few times with a StJ/Inv Stalker who took Provoke and he was able to tank pretty successfully on a 4/8 ITF.

Another suggestion: In Physical Perfection you have 2 standard Heal IOs. I would replace those with 2 heal set IOs at + 5. You can use a Panacea for 2.5% endurance and a Preventive Medicine for 3.75 S/L resist, etc. You could also use a Miracle Heal IO with the Panacea for 5% endurance, but the Miracle heal would only be a level 40 (+ 5).

The burnout mechanic was interesting to me because of the OP stating: You don't find that burnout would yield greater DPS?

I have been thinking about doing a Ninja/Storm, so have been looking for builds. I saw this one and thought maybe I would just try Thugs. Since the original build was not able to be imported in Mid's I rebuilt it, although I had to make some adjustments. The build is below.

One final post on this thread to close out. I used Bopper's build in this thread and then made some minor changes to my build to match my play style. Instead of Hover and Grant Invisibility I took Combat Jumping and Super Speed. I lost 7.5% recharge from the LoTG in Grant Invisibility, but I gained additional stealth radius and some Knockback protection from the IO in SS. I also use SS way more than I would GI, so I think the trade off was fine. The final build is very good. Capped defense to all positions, capped S/L resistance, 100 ft stealth radius in PVE, and I can clear the 2 Ourborus solo missions I use for merits or incarnate progression faster than my Stalker, which was surprising to me. I also took this build into the Comic Con S/L farm at 2/4 with no issues. I haven't tried 4/8 yet, but I don't think there would be any survivability issues. I'm not much of a farmer, so doubt I would use it for 4/8 farming, but it is cool to know I can. This character is also the most team friendly character I have, so it has been a blast to play. I am interested to see how this character does against a Pylon. I have never really tried Pylon testing, so maybe I'll give it a shot. In case anyone cares, the 2 Ourborus missions I will run if I have limited play time, but want to progress are: Incarnate Salvage (Lvl 50): Burden of the Past - 1 Empyrean Merit, 1 Incarnate component, plus either 1 more Empyrean Merit or 1 more Incarnate component in ~13 minutes Merits (Lvl 30 to 34): Smoke and Mirrors - 12 merits in less than 8 minutes Thanks Bopper! Great build and very fun to play. Off to finish my latest character (Staff / WP Scrapper)...

Thanks for the feedback. This is what I thought as well, but this thread (page 2, Erydamus) is saying the proc is better in the AoE powers and you are penalized for using fast recharge powers. I agree. This build is soft-capped defense to S/L, capped S/L resistance, and softcaps Melee with one Guarded Spin (all without Agility). My Hasten is 5 seconds off of perma without Agility, but I have used most of the strong recharge sets (3 purple, 2 Winter, 2 ATO) I can get, so don't see a way to improve it without impacting something else. Staff Fighting is quick, so not sure I even need perma-Hasten for this build. I may even want to go down the Musculature path, since I am not sure perma-Hasten will be worth the Alpha slot. I will likely just level both Agility and Musculature and see what I like best.

Made some adjustments to my build. Now have soft-capped defense to S/L and capped S/L resistance. I also have Shadow Meld to cap all defenses when needed for hard content. Still not sure if I am putting the ATOs in the proper powers. Currently level 38 and I'm having fun with the build, but damage does not seem as good as I thought it would be. I was looking at attack chains yesterdays and Mid's is giving: Mercurial Blow --> Precise Strike --> Mercurial Blow --> Serpent's Reach. I am using this chain effectively with single target, but with the forms and Perfection it is probably not the best. I have thrown in Guarded Spin for Defense and Eye of the Storm (EotS) and Sky Splitter when I have 3 stacks of Perfection. Eye of the Storm is where I have the +50% Critical ATO, so I try to add that to the chain regularly. I have not used Innocuous Strikes very often, but not sure what to replace it with as the Superior Avalanche set gives good bonuses for this build. Not a fan of the animation, but not sure this is what keeps me from using it. When I do get in trouble the lack of a self heal can be a problem for burst damage, so carrying healing inspirations is key. I also am getting the temporary heal power from P2W vendor to help. Endurance is not an issue at all with this set to this point. Planning on Agility as the Alpha power. This will give a little more recharge, which will make Hasten permanent. Thinking about swapping the sets in Guarded Spin and EotS, so I can put a FF recharge in EotS. This might allow me to keep Hasten permanent without Agility. I originally wanted Agility for the Recharge and Defense, but now that S/L is capped and Melee is capped with one Guarded Spin I may not need it. Anyway, I am just jotting down some thoughts on this build as I play through it in case the thought process helps someone. I don't see many threads on Staff Fighting, so maybe this post will help people in the future.

I was trying to figure out an attack chain for my new Staff Fighting scrapper. I searched the threads and found a post by Werner that talked about using Mids - Windows - Power Graphs. What the hell?! I never knew this was there. Then while searching Mids I saw Windows - DPS Calculator (Beta). I selected all the power for my character and the result showed: Mercurial Blow --> Precise Strike --> Mercurial Blow --> Serpent's Reach Is that the best attack chain? Is it based on my slotting, IOs, set bonuses, incarnates, etc.? Does it take into account the Staff Fighting Perfection mechanic? If the answer to all the question is yes I am amazed! All these years I never knew about some of this functionality...

On Live it was my MA/SD, but then became my StJ/SD. I had played tons of scrappers until I settled on my main. I haven't really played scrapper much on HC, but I just started a SF/WP that is fun. I'm not to sure about these SF/WP from a high end performance standpoint, but the animations on SF are cool. I think there is some thing to this comment. If you have a cool costume and concept as opposed to something generic it makes the character fun to play regardless of sets.

On Live I would say 90% of my characters were Scrappers. I haven't played a scrapper to 50 yet on HC, so I thought I would give it a try. I never played Staff Fighting or Willpower on Live, so not quite sure how to build it. My concept for this character is an old man who is a master of the staff. I'm already thinking of all the funny stuff I can say as this character. Anyway, I have no idea how to build this character and am looking for some feedback. My build is below. I was trying to build for defense, resist, and recharge. My thoughts were to get Shadow Meld recharge down low and use that as my defense when Guarded Spin is not enough (Guarded Spin softcaps Melee). I didn't have enough slots for QR and Stamina, so not sure if my end is great for this build, but went Agility for End, Recharge, and Defense, so it might be okay. I don't know if RttC is slotted okay or if there is better slotting where I could recover some slots. I was thinking 3 Golgi HOs and then re-purposing the other slots. Anyone with any experience playing these sets have any feedback?

Nice looking build. One suggestion might be to replace the Fly IOs in Hover and Afterburner with the Shield Wall in FF and the Reactive Defense in FS. You can add a 5th LotG in FF and FS to boost S/L resistance. Or you basically free up those 2 slots to use somewhere else. One slot to Conserve Power and boosting the IOs to +5 could be an option. The other slot could go into Stamina for the 5th Performance Shifter for 2.5% Damage. Also, boosting your Recharge IOs in Hasten to +5 will make Hasten perma.

You have convinced me, going to switch it up. Quoting myself, how lame... Anyway, I shelved my Psy/EA Stalker and picked up the Time/DP Defender. I had gotten to 19 through DFBs and was trying to get to 22 (to slt 25s) with solo missions and it was a slog, which sent me to the Stalker. I decided to revisit the Defender and made the investment on some of the procs. Played a few TFs and am now at 29. Got killed a lot in the Posi 1 TF, but Posi 2 and Citadel were fine. Going to assume Posi 1 was due to the team not working well together. This build is still slow solo, but still faster than what I would expect with a normal solo Defender. I never feel like I am in trouble, except in groups when I try to do to much. The damage will draw aggro, so trying to work around that challenge. Missing a few PVP procs, so I expect the performance to keep increasing. The build I am using is Bopper's build, but I swapped out Hover for Maneuvers and changed some of the levels where powers were picked. Also, slotting is not accurate in the build below.

That fixed it! Thank you!

Thanks for all the replies. I do appreciate it. I slotted ML with 5 Armageddon and the FF proc as a default while I figure out adjustments to the build. I think this is a good point. I rarely use it and when I do it is when I am very large groups and starting to take hits. I use it as opposed to SM, which I have only used once. If I get rid of Overload I would use SM more. I slotted Overload with the 2 recharge to lower the recharge time with the idea Agility would also help with the recharge. I looked at other slotting (3 LotG), but the recharge seemed better at the time. Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time. I think I am going to take your build and try it out on the test server or just do a second build on this character. I am really interested in how it performs. Going into my build I was planning on Musculature, but with all the toggles I was having major endurance issues. I decided to go Agility because I liked that it had positive impact on 3 key areas (End, Recharge, and Defense). I felt the Damage for each power would be fine because each core power was already past the ED on damage. Also, wanted the extra recharge to perma-Hasten, perma-Widow, and close to perma-Energize. Haven't been impressed with the Widow though, she seems to fold like a cheap suit when I pull her out. Might pull out Widow and switch to something else. When teaming I tend to use it a lot, but not sure how effective it is. I will go into a group and Concentration-GSB-APB-ML-Void. My current build is listed below and what I have on Live. Thinking about switching Placate to Assault and will probably make other adjustments based on the suggestions here. Thank you all for your feedback; I really appreciate it!

Frosticus / Bopper, Thanks for the replies guys! I am going Agility for the Endurance and Defense, so won't be able to use Musculature core to boost damage. I am going to try the Damage IOs from the Armageddon and Obliteration sets. This will cap damage and I can add 4 procs plus get the 2 piece set bonuses. Not sure if I will have the required accuracy. Mids says I have 6% To Hit and 72% Accuracy.

I know this thread is for Defenders, but thought I would ask a proc question related to Stalkers since Sir Myshkin and Bopper seem to look at this thread. For my Psy/Energy/Soul build I was curious about slotting Mass Levitate power with procs. I was thinking about loading it up with 5 damage procs and FF + Recharge. My accuracy from set bonuses will give good accuracy and with Concentration I can probably hit okay. Any thoughts on this slotting compared to 5 Armageddon? I know procs are supposed to be good for ATs like Controllers and Defenders, but not sure if the math works out for Stalkers.