ninja surprise

Try Bio/DM tank, it's a hoot with pretty good def/resist numbers in Offensive and the AoE and cones are huge. Shadow Maul hits critters standing almost behind you.

Hmm, I think I'll reroll my Shield/Stone Tank into a Brute.

I typically do take every attack, unless one is a real snoozer that I've used and didn't like. Example: the little cone attack in Electric Melee. Defense: no, I think 65% is such crazy overkill it would gimp the rest of the build. If I have a defense-based armor I'll get them to at least 45%, maybe 50% if it isn't too much trouble, then rely on buffs or inspirations if I need more. I try to cap what the armor's good at and I don't go crazy beyond that. I don't have infinite inf and I'd rather play than farm, so don't I don't try to get every purple, Winter, or AT IO. I just get it tough enough and that'd fine with me. Recharge: I almost never take Hasten. If I have defense powers I'll put some Luck of the Gambler +rech in there, if a set has both a +rech bonus and a def/resist bonus I need I'll use it. I typically wind up with 50 - 90% global recharge bonus and that works fine for me. Basically, to keep it easy: put your powersets into Mid's, turn on your armor toggles. Have some S/L resist? Boost it to the ceiling. Have low resist but high Defense? Buff that up and add some resist on the side. The game is easy enough that you'll do fine on SO's and don't need billion dollar builds to get by.

Nah, Group Fly came out before CoV and it was already universally disliked by the time MMs came along and tried to get use out of it. I think teams tried using it for Shadow Shard TFs to help non-flying teammates get around before jetpacks were invented.

A while ago I kept bumping into a tank named something like "Ironic" that was Invuln/Psi. Character description was something like "My weakness is psi, yet I fight with psi... how ironic"

Battle Axe has an attack called Beheader. Mace and Axe both wield a shovel; with Mace you hit with the flat side and with Axe you wield it flat to hit with the edge of the blade. Meanwhile Claws has two attacks where you don't even poke anyone, you just wave your claws and they fall over. It's a fun set though!

It's hard to tell from the Mid's stats - is Willpower decently strong enough to take incoming damage from a x8 spawn? I haven't gotten one high enough to IO it out, but it never seemed like the +regen from being surrounded by mobs was enough to outlast the incoming damage. I'm thinking about pairing it up with Claws though.

This is the way!

Yep, it's better to franken-slot Hand Clap. Give it a bunch of Acc/Rech, the Force Feedback and KD, and maybe some damage procs if you have slots to spare. or the purple Stun set + the KD proc.

You could create both of them on Test, enhance 'em both up, and play a few missions to see which you enjoy more.

In case you're unfamiliar with these sets - the Sudden Acceleration --KB/+KD changes the knockback to knockdown so all the mobs in the AoE just get knocked on their duff but stay where they are. It's a great way to knockdown and stun a spawn so you can use Bio's self-buffs. The FrcFdb-Rechg gives you a +100% recharge bonus when it procs, which it almost always does. Slotted up Hand Clap is a wonderful thing.

That's one of the reasons I take Elude from Super Reflexes - double backflip suckas! can't touch me!

It's the same, you just sub in "macro name" for "bind key" /bind SUBTRACT "target_custom_next enemy alive Sorc" becomes /macro sorc "target_custom_next enemy alive Sorc"

Am I wrong or does this illustrate the difference in damage doesn't seem so vast? With ~120 points between the Tank and Brute at 90% Fury the Brute might be able to one-shot some minions but on tougher targets, either way, you're going to punch it at least twice with the Brute wasting more damage beyond the target HP. Unless KO Blow is followed with a smaller attack, or AoE spill. However, if you're fighting an AV or other tough target then the extra Brute damage can really add up. Is that accurate?

Yin's pretty fun. I've started doing "defeat-all" runs where in the Council mission people go both directions, instead of just the one side, and in the last mission open all the doors. Also do them at +1 with the Council mission on +2, if the team can handle it. So much fun.

My Earth/Time does that while hoping someone on the team will come and defeat the spawn before my super sweet controls wear off. But it's so fun! I have combo-keys set up so I can drop the AoE's right where I want 'em to neutralize the entire spawn. I just can't defeat anything on my own!

But go AFK in the Shard and some Rularuu will tear you to shreds before you can poke 'em in the eyeball. Even have a tough time with Shield/Stone there because the flyers are immune to Stone's ground-based stun and KD. Every set can pick a foe they can effectively ignore but then get wiped somewhere else. The worst/funniest is when I'm doing great tanking for a team then run off to gather a spawn and faceplant because the buffs wore off that I was taking for granted from the Defenders and Controllers 🤪

Yep, with Rad I quickly discovered my survival depended largely on whether the big Absorb shield (I can't remember the name of) was active. If it was down I had to make sure the team was close behind or I'd get whomped. If it was up I could take an alpha and have the spawn nearly defeated without worrying about it.

Yess - the Earth Melee version because it makes the earth pop up, crumble, and send little rocks flying everywhere 😎

Stick with Scrapper. DM is still primarily single target, and with crits, works better on a Scrapper. Def cap is the same for both ATs so the advantage goes to Scrappers for more damage or Tank for more HP.

Fire Melee makes me sad. I ran it up on a Scrapper, then a Tank, and now on a Brute, trying to get it to where it feels like it's burninating the baddies. But it's just slow. It works on a tank because I'm basically just wasting time 'till the team catches up anyway, but on a Scrapper I want to one-shot things and see Minions topple by the dozen. Or if they used the Blackstar animation and made it Fart of Fire, the only backwards-cone in the game!

DM/SD is good and solid. DM/Super Reflexes can be better depending on your goals - fewer toggles and easier to soft-cap leaves room for more pool or Epic powers, or different IO strategy. Plus better defense debuff resistance plus scaling damage resistance makes for a very durable Scrapper. And you don't have to work your costume around having a shield.

Oh yeah, I love that one and the Electric Melee's Lightning Clap. And Thunder clap from Storm @Drazah Krad mentioned at the top of the thread. Everyone gets the Clap! I put a KB to KD in there with a ton of Acc/Rech and clap like T-Swift is on the stage.

Yep, and it really depends on power selection. Scrappers and Stalkers get the magic Crits to one-shot things left and right, which is amazing fun, but you won't be taking on large crowds. Tanks defeat slower, but are tough enough to last while you're defeating them. Brutes might run out of endurance before getting enough Fury to be effective. If you get an armor or primary that has endurance recovery, it helps a lot while leveling.

That's the spirit! Moar fun!