ninja surprise

Somewhat shy, yes. I'll DFB a toon to 8, then do Posi 1 and 2, Synapse, and Yin. Trade those merits for Boosters to sell and hopefully buy all the IOs needed to thrive. I play the market a bit but don't farm. But does this imply resist armors need to be expensive to be good? For instance: comparing these Ice vs Radiation Armors. Ice hits softcap on S/L/E/N by 30, has a sweet heal, and a big fat Fire and Psi hole. Rad with Tough gets into the mid-80's resistance to S/L/E/T and a bit lower on the others closer to 40. Without Tough S/L is low 60%. I found the build on the forums and tweaked it into a leveling build. I replaced the purples and Tanker sets with IOs that could be slotted at 30. On the other hand, Ice is probably the cheapest to soft-cap. Capping M/R/AoE typically requires six-slotting attack sets. The last couple days I've been playing a Staff/Invulnerability Brute. It's around level 33 with 55% S/L resist. Playing at +0x4 it does pretty well, dying occasionally when I forget to watch the green bar. Invincibility bumps defense to around 30% when surrounded by a bunch of critters. I'm going to try a respec on my Rad/Rad to get Tough earlier, slot in some Touches of Death/Mako's Bite and things, see if I can't get it tougher. right now at level 41 with Tough it's at about 50% resist to each type. 😞 Very few set bonuses or uniques. That's why I was looking at builds and wondering if resist requires a ton of expensive sets to be excellent. (EDIT: forgot my Rad/Rad is a Brute, maybe the lower base values is why it's so wimpy.)

What if the inside of the station were still there but the guy wasn't an active contact? It's random whether you get assigned the inside or outside cop, so it's not like you can choose which one you want. Or if I could talk to either of them instead of being assigned one that'd be a great alternative.

SR/Electric is a load of fun! I took Lightning Clap and slotted some +stun, KB>KD, and the FF+rech. It's a great way to say "Hey dudes leave me alone for a little while!"

This would confirm Resist is a way-past-endgame build: You have to get to 50 before you can even start earning the stuff to make it good. And even after you have the sets you have to get the next alt to 50 before it can slot the purples and Hamis. Is that accurate? You're right. With Invuln I'd been following an old plan to soft-cap Smash/Lethal defense as a way to avoid most damage that is mixed Smash/*. With Willpower I'd try to get as many +Regen bonuses and uniques as I could, but it still couldn't beat the incoming damage. So I put them all onto a Defense toon and sing glory glory halleluia. It'll take me a little while to look through the builds you posted, thank you for putting them up. That's what I do with my Def toons and they become super survivable at around level 25. (Some of the uniques or sets have a minimum level of 22.) (And of course it takes longer for a SR Scrapper since they don't get Evasion until 32.) And I know Defense is random. The other day I was on an ITF with a Staff/SR Brute. It survived everything, including multiple instances of the team wiping during the Generals and Phalanx Computer missions, but Rommie's nictus negative energy AoE would two-shot it. It seems to be non-positional NE damage. And my funky Titan/Ninjitsu Scrapper will survive an entire Tin Mage without any problems whatsoever... except those tentacles around the pylons kill it faster than the heal recharges. But my poor resist toons, oh boy they just get whittled down till defeat. My Rad/Rad Brute just got Tough at 40 though, so I hope that makes more difference with some slots in it. I'll respec with some of the tips in this thread. I plan on taking another stab at Electric Armor too. I had an Elec/SS on live named Paranoid Heroine because it seemed like everyone was out to get her.

Is Ground Zero supposed to be a mini-nuke? or a sort of utility power? It seems to recharge so slow for how little damage it does.

First up: I'm seriously disillusioned on Resist builds. My main on Live was a Dark Melee / Super Reflexes Scrapper. Didn't tank much that I can recall, and trying out lots of Tanks and Brutes here. Got a SR/Elec and Shield/Stone tank to 50 and they are a blast. I read the forums and get itchy to try out other stuff, but keep getting frustrated at how certainly the Resist sets get squashed down and die. Are they only good after 50 + Incarnate + tons of IO investment? For a Defense build I get the toggles, a couple sets each giving +Melee, Ranged, AoE, the +Def uniques in a Resist power, and poof: Softcapped for less than 100 mil nice and early. Barely ever get hit and survive most content (besides those horrible Rularuu, some DE stuff, etc). Carnies, Malta, and most of the mobs hated by all are barely a speedbump. Still works great when exemping for TFs or teams. But I try out Willpower: Can't regen fast enough, get whittled down and die. Invuln: Survive until Dull Pain doesn't recharge and die, or get attacked by something not S/L. Radiation Armor: Survive until I try to punch and can't click a heal. Or: take alpha, heal, then get squashed. Dark Armor: Heal twice, run out of End and die. I look for build tips and to cap resists it looks like it requires a lot of six-slotting sets where every piece costs 20+ mil, loads of uniques and procs, and then Incarnate buffs. You can add +Def that lasts until the first debuff. Is Resist a bowl of rose colored glasses? Is there a good, cheap resist set/build? Or is it pure end-game godliness?

I've seen other threads about the "secret defeat alls" and making them obvious. Changes I'd like to see on Detectives: Put them both outside or delete the inside detective; the police building is a pain to navigate to get to the inside detective is a hassle to get to. Move the police van to the police building! Why is the van on the other side of the zone? After doing the Bank mission, eliminate the "return to the detective" step. There's no need to talk to the detective to get more radio missions, they just sit there with the red bar full saying "talk to them again so they can thank you" or something. I don't know, I never go back anymore. Can we get the detective's cell phone number? Why do we have to run over and talk in person just because they don't want to discuss the bank mission over the radio?

Also there is a Taunt Duration, so critter's you've taunted beyond the 17 will suddenly "remember" they were taunted when one of the 17 in your aggro bubble get defeated.

The way the game is built, it is absolute torture if you cannot move vertically. It's bad enough bluside and in door missions where there are so many immovable objects and mobs that cannot be displaced. It's the main reason I avoid redside: the zones are a pain to navigate on the ground. How about making Rooted work like Electric Armor's Grounded where the buffs only work while you're on the ground but you can still jump and maneuver? For Granite, I think it'd be cool if it had the same Lava and Crystal skins as the Earth Control set. I haven't played a Stone armor and probably never will because I really like being nimble. But aren't the DE critters that look like Granite more maneuverable than a Granite tank?

Did Character Items stop blinking after you clicked on it?

In Fireball's arc, the mission Talk to Cee Baller, ask about the spells and get this text: Should be "wish" not "which"

Bonsoir mon ami! Looks cool, it would be really nice to have a anti-terror power in the game.

I'd love to be able to make some enhancements with EndRedux/PlusRange, for instance. I was just poking at my blaster lamenting how few (single target blast) sets enhance range. Even the optimistically named Far Strike only gives have of one enhancement to range.

I don't have an Electric Armor toon right now, used to main a SS/Elec Brute. I frequently duo with me on my Shield/Earth tank and a pal on their Elec/DB tank. For whatever reason, their favorite thing to do is run Dark Astoria missions to fight Talons of Vengeance. Talons: Tend to be in caves Have lots of kb/kd powers have encounters in the big rooms and in elevation-changing tunnels My buddy has superspeed and combat jumping and no anti-KB outside Grounded. He'll get knocked down at least once per mission either while fighting in the slanty caves or while jumping around in a big room. I keep telling him to put an IO in one of the travel powers but he prefers speed. For clarity: I'm not arguing for changing Electric Armor or Grounded. But depending on how you play the KB problem can happen frequently. But still not as frequently as Dark or Fire armor.

That's three for, and zero against!

Could you suggest how to do this with Electric Armor / Dual Blades? I can only get to about 80% resist on most things except Energy.

What about the Crey Protectors who bubble up when almost defeated?

How about making a new toon and only crafting one incarnate every 6 months? That'll keep you busy for a few years at least.

So you want a travel power like being on the ice in Pocket D's Christmas event? That sounds like more of a pain in the butt than anything. How would it work with travel power suppression? When attacking it'd immediately root you?

Would it be possible to give Blazing Aura alternate animations from other burning auras? Like Hot Feet, or just a minimal FX option without the pulsing circle? I mean, dude's already on fire. Reason being: The pulsing of Blazing Aura really hurts my brain. I've tried it a few times and always delete the toon in frustration. Disclamer: I'm not a farmer, there's just a few concepts I'd like to try and I have to auto-exclude Fire Armor because of that pulsing animation.

Pretty much every encounter ever. I don't know if I'm ever in a combat where I don't jump at least once - into the spawn or around the spawn to get into a better position for a cone/aoe/etc. Or when fighting and traveling through caves, Freakshow office maps, or any map with stuff on the floor that's easier to jump over than run around. Do you normally never leave the ground during play? I don't know what that "state of the team" thing is supposed to mean... if I'm getting knocked down I don't look around and sigh in relief "at least I'm the only one". It still means I can't fight or heal or taunt or something. But personally I would put a KB IO into Fly since its speed can't be enhanced anyway and not worry about it.

One more mindset tip: You're the alpha-guy, not the finisher. First in, first out. Jump in, swing like crazy! And then when there's one or two half-defeated critters left and your momentum expires, YOU LEAVE THEM and go find new enemies to whomp. Yes, I know it can be difficult to leave something so close to defeat, but trust me: the other 7 people on your team can defeat them much faster than you can build momentum. And if you're solo, those critters will follow you to the next spawn and you'll finish them with some AoE. If I'm teaming with a Titan Weapons swinger and we both go for the same target I'll switch and go defeat something else so they don't feel sad that I defeat the thing before they've built momentum.

The thing that bugged me about Hjarki's tips was that OP asked for Ice/Stone advice and Hjarki recommended taking as few powers from the sets as possible and replacing them with pool powers. And sure, that's one way to do it but then why play this combo at all if the goal is to avoid the set's powers? The ultimate build along that path is "don't take any defense or attack powers just team up with defenders and blasters".

You should totally go Psi Melee to plug Invuln's psi hole!

Here's a level-up build that'll have you soft-capped to smashing and lethal by 20, and pretty close on E/N. You can slot the Kinetic Combats at level 17 and even if you use level 20 Def IOs in Frozen Armor you'll be soft-capped, or close. At 22 you can use lvl 25 IOs to really soft-cap. No pool powers necessary except Combat Jumping, because who doesn't take CJ? Oops, in the build I'd swap places of Chilling Embrace and the travel power so you can get around on Positron and Synapse while leveling up. It's probably less than 100 mil depending on how many of the uniques you get. The ones in Health and LotG+rech are optional. If you exep onto a Yin you'll be soft-capped to the big 4 and still have Energy Absorption in case the Freak stunners sap out your endurance. You can take whatever Epic or Patron pool you like the most: Earth for theme, Soul for the -tohit stuff, Fire for damage, it doesn't really matter. And here's the guide: Ice Armor, or I'M AN ICEBERG COMING THROUGH TOOT TOOT Frozen Armor: Default S/L Defense. Three-slot Def Hoarfrost: Save it till the 20's when critters do real damage. 4-slot heal/rech Chilling Embrace: Take it in the teens, one-slot slow or whatever. Wet Ice: Take it ASAP. One-slot Rech so you can turn it back on quicker after a toggle-drop. Permafrost: Take it ASAP and give it both the Gladiator's Armor and Steadfast Protection uniques for +6% def. Icicles: Take it immediately. Three-slot with Eradication Acc/Dam/End. Eventually add three Cleaving Blow for the +E/N defense bonus. Glacial Armor: Gives E/N Def and +Perception. Three-slot Def. Energy Absorption. Gets all your endurance back for very little effort. Give it a bit of Acc and End/Rech and use it any time you get carried away SMASHING EVERYTHING WITH DIRT or a sapper gets through. Hibernate. You are literally unkillable in Hibernate. Some use it as a panic button but the true Avalanche can grab a full mob's aggro and avoid the alpha strike in Hibernate, then pop out with the twin AoE KD stomps and SMASH everything. Only costs a smidge of endurance so it's another way to recover from Sappers and both recover Endurance and Health mighty quick. Stone Melee, or WHO PUT ROCKS IN THAT SNOWBALL Stone Fist = Smash badguys with a fist of stone. Take it and 4-slot with Kinetic Combat Stone Mallet. Smash badguys with a mallet of stone. Take it and 4-slot with Kinetic Combat Heavy Mallet. Smash badguys with a bigger mallet of stone. Take it and 4-slot with Kinetic Combat NOTE: Each of these has chance to knockdown, so with all three you'll be knocking over badguys regularly, which is hilarious and useful. Taunt. Take this later after you're soft-capped. Build-Up: take it later after everything else has minimum slots Fault. Three slot it with Acc/Rech and a Force Feedback +Rech. Use this as your Taunt and to keep spawns off their feet so they can't attack your team. It's hilarious. Hurl Boulder. Fantastic power. Same damage as Stone Mallet with the same range as a Blaster's blast: 80ft! Also does -Fly! You'll have it on the Katie Hannon TF and can knock Mary MacComber right out of the sky and on her duff, or take out flying Freaks on Penelope Yin's TF. Recharges quick enough you can almost get it perma, which is AWESOME. Make a "Here's mud in your eye!" bind for endless entertainment. Tremor. Good PBAoE. Give it three Eradication and three Cleaving Blow to max dam/rech with two +Def bonuses for E/N defense. Seismic Smash. Your big gun. Give it Crushing Impacts for the +Rech bonus, and then a dam/end/rech to help it come back quicker. At 50 you can keep pretty close to this build so that exemping is a blast, but swap IO sets for bigger bonuses.