WumpusRat

Aura doesn't fit the character's concept. If I remember right, she clocks in at 75.5% lethal and psionic resist, so just capped to both. And buildup isn't always available, so I like having the +to hit always on.

I have a water/regen sentinel floating around that I haven't played in a while. It was one of the elementals I was making, and was the water (obviously) elemental. I picked regen since I liked the idea of it "healing" by just pulling more water out of the air to replenish itself as parts of it got splashed around from impacts. I'll have to go revisit her and see what her build is like when I get home tonight.

3-slotted with def, def/end and def/global, maneuvers can give around 4% def. It's not a ton on its own, but when you stack it with the two auras (5% each) and any innate def your pets might have, combined with powers that boost def within the pets themselves (like the enforcers maneuvers, or the protector bots' force fields), and any buffs your secondary has, it can add up quickly. I have a number of MMs where my pets have softcapped defense vs everything, and maneuvers is a part of that.

Okay, here's the datablock for the build. It's my kind of typical "fairly cheap" sort of build to throw together, not using any purples, not catalyzing a bunch of stuff to get +5's, and using attuned enhancements so I can do lower-level TFs and stuff without too much loss. |MBD;23130;1340;1788;BASE64;| |G1laACwKbBuZfSeOBuYtPTK/LkW69szcUHk0jgmTfJLS6wK5Pj2MnFmz6HT11elUvnp| |ZoO0AlL6St6n+V9WeUJ+uWV2NiD15QbHBArz795/u/RQtlXCB3ux20BV89W7pJb3NSy| |mNSsUO9ilNLOL7Lap3aM6l/ye0oN+SWAAsNsTZTTLTKukIMUb7MjjFolCp6PPUT9aik| |Nrz34QfpwlI/g6F4/ZNXwH0kCYoeCWeCHo7rcfQFmdbHfeNIQ5qSMdQ+CyAu4eo1xmZ| |LWQtBIE1pUkKOmWTBOpnCxNWI90H4QRh7xuBvsdjeoFAhATryW0Hj5z0hkrqM/yf4cQ| |AjiElJqRdslyRHUV6Bm0sMT3IwPb1cXwhy5txI9LCIqcpYNF+4cEAQ0W8HRw3fGk71L| |C62PpS0Rct1PSKaF2maLITC2LBseuG5NkzeuOQ45T20KQ9MA+WlCGrQSog7VThrXESR| |HuotkWh9DNUHN1uBKzewuDi/0Q/Po77pGwi6EwnVadgpOegWseWWPyKP5wf/lvaKSDk| |KnROeTxZtcBC0EI6KFxuIOg+9BXvobJHXBSqvAV70plLxpnlH8TQtdDHHQq20T/UqpO| |MChRA3ZPRgOJQ13YH2rZPC6pzkalBk+Kvdoeat6aWXIPLYu6Qmn8qbluiczDGmYlGES| |hfURUojgee6WQxmUFN3sJbMfoVlxCWLGLUs1NTzumpYJjOW0TfYdIcruGxb7rPWWFtI| |XXj3hv5CBZTAQOobDENMA6Fa5rcRjYp+XAFEibLcAseV/glzD34d/H/Pv92ZJ4DsX/w| |uXTzud9n5uqjD82JCnkwjINblER8KRnlKeMU7rmR6YSkcyPlAOiYRGbH9LlgqMgoPJl| |qvewMONx1DpehDekq5ZFepLWZ+GMTLEi/JIvrNs9eVFhFeNxVgpcyS5ilq8uOOuDzlG| |KzCPGWeAeYrAvAlBhnRkjKzaLidkb0erxDExXWJAeZMjD9em1vHVq5Cmx3ne023PqOT| |nrYeopZ4rd9De++g2uGLsYEBy54XPtUAHOx8b73Kp36nTk2TuA7d9pRgBxRQmKFcI7S| |dxjZMmKktHHjRbchytize2+NofZifnik64EHUk5xuysluFJCs8rGJBjTYf5VlITbwx8| |1VPNk3rF6fT1wOGkjxrOgIK3SLS0AY7CgIa1DhEjBbdI0MU//wJB1wIRHJOu2p7JUbU| |PnhmSetJvni85I9NnX3oBR2LcQHhDegOLIMQfYF62+8fh+3Q6YcCqtzulUB5zqwK+Di| |dAceCdbPr+08mbAhRteQo583Z1nRtxtH70hvAIGsE8Q3iC7wzglXvqXuXWBCjwQdvQa| |csCPbmEFplE168wBvMU5PZS1ayuScTM5u1NR4EWrC7+CtuxaixfyjvwV4VpRzHlcJ09| |0Do/arGtCepFF4zCc21G007kW+Ukwj1+8+DdteStgehXjkCaYGxOcwa5K9BOOzKDzXM| |R0hgAeESbtaPGdeTLTrMW6eXmE0mnh/HWiiZ3RCHp4vm08S0m1P+FCkkrTpyywIa2jX| |4DJYfAoyYvmGHgzryguj91oYvfQhIk15gEtWSqz6sALgTeSoEvv8ebFNOTDwg95jv9Z| |X11Ab7fWtW3lU8u20blS/BeKK9TqU3p4In0NTNhKJP+RzYWQH3qVna0Lf4oXj82I6zM| |mRv/YxKRBkkpfufZUk2S4vcuwsmA2wj9BakgbtKrWuXNrQdzRB3DhBdJACd+Y8Mo/p6| |ibrLyxQbKgAsmA/3p+maxEMm9vD0fKO14KRAOUgvrrgR0=|

Hm, let's see... The Kitchen Sink Summoner T1: Summon Genin T2: Summon Wolves T3: Toroidal Bubble T4: Upgrade Pets T5: Faraday Cage T6: Summon Death Knights T7: Maintenence Drone T8: Summon Bruiser T9: Fulcrum Shift

Not using any purple sets other than superior ATOs. I tend not to use them in most of my builds. I'm at work at the moment, so I can't look over the sets and such, but I can load them up in mids tonight when I get home and post them.

Yeah, getting hit by confusion and suddenly you a) no longer have bodyguard mode and b) now all your pets are pissed at you can be a quick trip to the hospital.

In-game. Copied them straight from her build on the beta server last night when I was testing out a couple changes. <edit> Although thinking about it, I might have jotted down the fully stealthed defensive numbers. So they'd be about 8% less. So around 27% aoe, 32% ranged and 47% melee (62% with one DA stack).

My current scrapper using it is katana/psi armor, based on the "soulblade" Pathfinder class. She's another in my "reverse isekai'd into Paragon" group. I'm still fine-tuning the build, but right now her final layout (before adding any incarnate stuff) is: Smash, lethal, psi resist at 75% 58% negative 50% energy 46% cold 41% toxic 38% fire 35% aoe def, 40% ranged def, 55% melee def (resting, one stack of divine avalanche takes her melee def up to 70%, so she's comfortably softcapped for incarnate-level content). Add in some incarnate powers, and she'll be even stronger.

I have a couple that I need to get back to leveling again. Harlequin Romance (a former Carnie ring mistress who is determined to make people fall in love, or else) The Abdominator ("I am here to pump *clap* you up!") Doom Perignon (a massively egotistical narcissist whose favorite crimes are sneaking into Manticore's house and rearranging the paintings, or hacking Luminary's OS to make her internal clock off by 27 seconds)

You can also set up tabs to monitor only certain parts of combat. On several characters I keep track of personal damage, pet damage, hit rolls, and healing all in different tabs.

I slotted mine with the full Cupid's Crush set. The set bonuses are all awesome, gives a ton of recharge, and occasionally a giant spiked tentacle will confuse a target so that they start shooting their allies, providing even more CC.

Eh, I don't see it that way. It's a preference in the way to play. Chasing def DOES mean you have to build in certain ways, take specific powers/enh sets/etc just to achieve that goal. Whereas going by concept means you can pick different things, though if you're adhering strictly to a concept it has the same limitations on what you can pick. Its no more condescending than saying "Which do you prefer, strawberry or chocolate ice cream?" and having people weigh in on the pros and cons of each. Then you'll have someone go "but what about neopolitan?!" Nothing says you can't like both, or mix them. 🙂

I like the "calendar photoshoot" going on on the little island just east of the tram station. It seems to be random whether or not it's there, and if the person posing is a male or female. It's a couple of photographers and one of the Blackwing people lying on a bench in a sexy pose, clad in the helmet, gloves and boots, and a bikini/speedo. Laughed my butt off when I first found it. 🙂

...and that would be part of the concept, would it not? Nothing says a blaster's concept CAN'T be something like that, if that's your idea for the character. It's not "condescension", it's simply a preference. I don't think minmaxing is "bad", it's just not my preferred way to play. I don't chase the meta, I just build what I want to build for the concept I have.

Generally my characters are built with a concept in mind, and I set their slots and such up to reflect the concept. Though I will certainly try to make them as durable as I can within that concept. While I do like getting reasonable amounts of defense and resists, I don't really try to 'softcap' unless the concept for the character is someone who is meant to stand there in melee and not go down. A few of my characters have hasten (my two dominators and several of my trollers, as well as one mastermind), but most skip it. I'll take a resist power from one of the epic/patron pools if I think it'll fit the character concept, but if not I'll figure out something else to take instead. Generally if I take hasten at all I'm going to try and push to make it perma, simply because if I AM taking it, it's to crank down the recharge on one or more powers in the primary or secondary that have enormous recharge times, and I want to get them down as low as possible. My ninja/empathy mastermind has perma-hasten, in an effort to bring the regen/recovery auras down to as close to perma as I could get them. One of my doms is an illusionist, so I wanted to get phantom army perma, and the trollers that have hasten are /nature and /marine, so I wanted their big buffs up as much as possible. But basically it's concept first, then mechanics. If it comes down to it, I will abandon mechanics for concept, but I will not abandon concept for mechanics.

I just picked it up on my two plant users (one dom, one troller), and it's definitely worth taking, even if you don't bother slotting it. It's VERY tanky, and can snag aggro from up to 5 mobs for a few moments, letting you unload your bigger controls without immediate reprisal. I'm going to have to experiment with various taunt sets on it and see what kind of mileage I can get.

I'm a huge fan of it, personally. I hated the fact that sleep before was basically either skipable, or its only use was to turn it into a proc-bomb on the sets where the sleep did some minimal damage, like Symphony. Now sleep is an entirely viable form of CC. It's like a second aoe hold for a lot of sets. My symphony bard is a true CC monster now. Aoe sleep, aoe stun, aoe hold, aoe fear, aoe immob, and a confuse on top of it. "Stand still and allow me to play your requiem..."

I have several characters that have full suits of armor as their primary costume, and have whichever armor set I feel works for the concept. A few examples: The Fighter (from my 'reverse isekai'd D&D characters' group): Shield/Axe tanker. She has enormous amounts of defense, which thematically is from both her shield AND her plate armor that she wears. It's made of mithril, which makes it incredibly durable and light, so she can leap and run in it without hindrance. She also has capped smash/lethal resist, so that even if something DOES manage to get past her defenses, the "armor" still blocks most of the physical blow. The Power Armor Girl: Energy Blast/Invuln Sentinel. She's basically thematically similar to Iron Man, in that she's got a suit of armor that allows her to fly, shrug off attacks, and fire pewpew energy blasts at things. She's durable, and most damage just glances off the armor (due to high defense) or doesn't hit very hard if it does get a direct impact (resists). The Paladin (also from the reverse isekai group): Willpower/Katana tanker. Like the fighter, she wears full plate armor, but doesn't use a shield. So she doesn't have quite the defense that the fighter does. She does, however, have enormous melee defense due to her skill with a sword, able to parry and deflect attacks (set bonuses and frequent use of divine avalanche). The armor absorbs impacts (resists), and her abilities as a paladin can restore her health if she starts to falter (regen). I have a ton of other characters who wear armor (both medieval and high-tech) and simulate the protection through various armor powersets, or other abilities (toughness, epic/patron armor powers, etc). But it's pretty easy to come up with a "heavily armored" character and simulate that armor with one of the many armor sets.

See, I disagree when you say that running out of endurance "breaks immersion". Personally, being able to "fight for days" when you're just starting out seems less immersive. A brand new hero isn't going to be as well-versed in their abilities, won't be able to manage the strain of using them and pace themselves as easily. More experience (and mechanically, more slots, better slotting, etc) allows the character to fight more efficiently and effectively, using their powers with less strain. And in the late-game, when you're fully slotted and have as many holes in your powers plugged as possible, you can "fight for days" without worrying about most things. Managing your endurance for a character is part of the game. If you're struggling with the willpower set, you're definitely doing something wrong. How many slots do you have in stamina? How many slots do you have in quick recovery? Do you have SO's in them? How many end reducers do you have in your powers? Are all the SOs up to date? My shield/axe tank was struggling with end issues all the way to 50, and I would constantly tinker with the build to try and get a bit more duration of her capacity in combat. Now that she's got her "final build" done, she's got no end issues at all (unless I run up against stuff that drains end), and she can "fight for days", as long as I don't go too ham on stuff. No using my biggest end attack on something that has a sliver of health left, for instance. So no, making endurance "a non-issue" wouldn't add any more fun to the game. It would just be removing a layer of complexity from the game. "Dumbing it down" as it were. End is fine. As a new player instead of asking something to be removed to make it easier, ask for advice on how to deal with it.

One of my favorites was a gravity/trick arrow troller I made, who abused the hell out of Dimensional Shift. Drop DS on a pack of mobs, drop an oil slick, disruption arrow, acid arrow, step into the DS and light the oil slick, step back out. Watch the mobs flail and burn while heavily debuffed. Pick off any that manage to extricate themselves. Rinse, repeat.

Most of my characters don't have hasten. The few that do are generally characters with powers I want to bring down as close to perma as possible (Overgrowth, Phantom Army, Carrion Creepers, Serum, etc), or on my couple doms in order to get perma-dom. Most of the others don't bother, since it's easy to get 4-5 attacks with a smooth attack chain, especially if I mix in a cone or pbaoe even against 1-2 mobs. Taking hasten seems like "wasting" a power pick and pool a lot of times since in order to get the most out of it you kind of need to try and bring it down to perma or as close as possible, at least imo, which means being forced to build for as many recharge bonuses as possible, rather than other set bonuses that might push the character towards benchmarks I'd rather have (capped resists, zero endurance issues, etc). I don't tend to lean on incarnate powers to get around weaknesses, so I tend to build within the concept to account for as many of them as I can.

Yeah, the CoH rng has always been extremely finicky. The reason the streakbreaker got put in place originally is because we complained so much about streaks of misses with 95% to hit. Nothing like having 95% to hit and missing ten attacks in a row. These days I still see stuff like "Miss, streakbreaker forced a hit, miss, streakbreaker, miss, streakbreaker, miss, streakbreaker, miss, streakbreaker."

I put a writeup of an elementals set like that the other day in the suggestions forum. As far as other MM sets, generally the theme they follow is something somewhat "generic" rather than tied to any specific faction/group, so as to not limit the players' concepts. Stuff I'd like to see: Elementals Goons (guys in suits, or the old Batman style thugs with black shirts that say "Thug" on it) Spirits (with dark/psi powers) Dinosaurs Medieval knights/archers Animated Objects

Let's see... About 40 of them: Reverse-isekai'd D&D characters ported into Paragon. Two of them: Twin sisters who were part of the Tsoo, but broke off due to conflicting moralities and now fight each other to prove who's right. 10 or so: Small aliens who chased a Rikti ship to earth and now hunt them planet-side. Several: Pulp-era heroes who were frozen in time and have come out in the modern age. A creation made by a dying inventor who perished at the hands of the Clockwork, and now hunts them exclusively to avenge its creator. A girl who streams her crimes and taunts heroes during them, hoping to lure bigger and bigger names out so she can stream them getting their asses kicked. An immortal French mage who was part of the Circle of Thorns but now ends up arguing with the Midnight Squad more than anything. A healer defender whose mind completely shattered during the Rikti destruction of Galaxy City and used up all her power to bring the corpses of her dead team back to "life". A woman who has absolute post-cognitive hindsight, and spends every day trying to narrow down the number of horrible past day's crimes she sees every night at midnight. A narcissistic egomaniac who believes she is so far superior to everyone else that she only commits the most ludicrous of crimes just to annoy people. A tiny "shoulder devil" who has convinced a number of white-collar working guys to become an outlaw biker gang. Several more: Elemental spirits given form and now wander Paragon and the Rogue Isles enjoying themselves. And a ton more.