Extor Prime

If you like many pets on the field Illusion might be up your valley. Three decoys, Phantasm, spectral terror, plus a patron pet if you decide to go with a patron pools.

Specifically, with regards to Phantom Army. Back in the day on Live, it used to be that it could trigger on every attack that PA decoys make, and it buffed the decoys themselves. Nowadays it seems to trigger when I cast PA (a buff labeled "boost up" shows up), but do the decoys trigger it as they attack and do they benefit from it at all?

...bugger. You're right 😞

Defense bonus is great for traversing zones without fear of being hit by stray bullets (missiles, boulders, beams, strategically lobbed chickens). It is also great for getting outta dodge in a hurry. Example: in RWZ, I got blindsided by the spaceship and fell down next to a pillar and a spawn of L54 slugheads. I popped Renewal of Light, then Fly and AB and got away, avoiding fire. If I didn't have AB, I probably would have gotten shot down.

I rewrote my characters' bios several times as they leveled. My main went from a street vigilante to a major force for the blueside and his bio reflected it. My Mastermind, who has always been a robotics genius, was a new arrival to Rogue Isles when I made him, and built crappy robots because that's all he had parts for. But as he leveled up, he stole and acquired more and more money and tech and his creations improved.

I feel that it depends on what power level your character is and where in his career as a hero he is. If you are a street-level tough guy, or a beginner, or both, your vigilantism could be something you do to spice up your unremarkable life or find meaning. You still go to work regularly (and maybe hate it), but it's when you put on the mask that you truly come alive. OTOH if you are a godlike incarnate who stares down giant monsters on a weekly basis, you probably are on somebody's payroll (Longbow, Hero Corp, etc.). Assuming that there are huge persistent threats, it makes sense to pay you for what you do best - kicking those threats in the teeth! You are a precious resource whose wellbeing might make a difference between Lusca eating a bunch of people tomorrow or restaurants serving octopus sushi at a discount price. Like heroes from Tiger and Bunny or One Punch Man, you make your living hero-ing and maybe have a side gig to keep you sane and remember that it's not all fighting all the time. I.e. my main is a professor at Paragon U, and he enjoys teaching, but keeps limited hours and realizes that his first and foremost obligation is to fight on the City's behalf when the next threat comes calling.

This is my main from back on live, Extor Prime. He is an Ill/Cold controller and I play and present him as an "off-brand Green Lantern". Not terribly creative I know, but I like the looks of these costumes I made. The Arachnos costume I put together when I switched to redside to get access to patron pools, and played it off as an undercover mission. My goal was to create an edgy-looking aspiring Arachnos operative, I think I did OK.

You're one optimistic bugger, I like you. Never lose that child-like sense of optimism. Not even when the world rolls ya.

Negotiations imply that both parties have a degree of leverage, or something to offer each other. Otherwise it is "two wolves and a sheep discussing what's for dinner." With all appropriate deference and respect to the HC team, what could HC ever offer NCSoft that would offset an extremely bad (from corporate standpoint) precedent? The one that goes "our IP and codebase is in someone else's hands, money is being exchanged and we aren't getting our slice of the pie?" HC could not possibly offer enough money to NCSoft to make an appreciable difference. NCSoft will want so much that even with donations being very healthy NOW, HC team will lose their shirts the moment the playerbase dips. I want to be optimistic, but all I can manage at the moment is scepticism. Good luck to us all.

Nope. Not enough of AoE.

I have BanPan radial on my farmer and it is indeed a useful per, but I don't like the looks of them. As in at all. 😞 I guess I'll go with Longbow Core after all. With the 15 minute CD and 5 minute duration, they are less of a pet and more of a bomb I will drop on something that is hard to crack. Might as well go with the best option available, -Regen being a lovely supplement to my less than stellar DPS.

What about Blessing of the Zephyr KB protection IO? Does it need to be in an active power to give the bonus?

Great, thank you. Anyone else, any votes/opinions about other choices?

Does the Nullifier contribute enough damage to the overall DPS to justify himself?

Fair enough; so are you a Longbow lore user and are you happy with them?

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Longbow_Radial_Superior_Ally Looks mostly S/L...

So after experimenting with various Lore pets on a private server, I narrowed the pool of candidates somewhat, but I still can't make a final decision. I'd like some feedback from those who actually use the pets on a regular basis. The toon in question is an Ill/Cold controller. The current pool of candidates is: 1. Longbow Radial. - Upside: it's a competent crew; the cataphract constantly fires the big plasma blast (-regen) and the warden constantly heals; in fact, she does well keeping the cataphract alive and even helps out my daft Phantasm when it gets hit. Considering that I have no heals in my arsenal, it's very useful. - Downside: the cataphract is rather awkward-looking, and the warden is just plain ugly. Cataphract disappears after 3 minutes and change. Majority of damage is S/L. Also, according to the DPS tests, Longbow are quite mediocre in both single-target and AoE department. 2. Phantom Core. - Upside: they are very thematic for my character (they look just like Phantom Army). They put out good DPS against single targets. And they can fly (not that I particularly need them to). - Downside: Mediocre in AoE department. Provide no buffs or debuffs. 3. Warworks Core. - Upside: very good-looking. Good single-target DPS (second best according to DPS test? or maybe even THE best since the Cimerorans were nerfed?). Provide -regen debuff (though not as strong as the Longbow one I guess?). - Downside: rather abysmal in AoE scenarios. I know Banished Pantheon Radial has the distinction of being the only offensive untouchable lore pet, but they aren't particularly thematic for my character and I don't think I want to use them at all. Could someone help me break this analysis paralysis?

Moaning about "toxic people on the internet" in 2019 is like moaning that water is wet.

It also somewhat depends on how much resistance and defense you have stacked. If you can take a couple attacks without getting one-shotted, then there's no particular need to get PA exactly perma. You can also plug the hole with the Phantasm - it summons a decoy as soon as you summon it, so recasting it will provide a distraction for your target. I say as long as your ranged defense is near 45 and your PA recharges in under 65 seconds, you should be just fine.

Here are a couple builds I've been tweaking over the past few days, and am now pretty happy with. They are all quite sturdy (capped or near-capped S/L and ranged defense, good resists across the board except psionic), and have all the right things near-perma before incarnates. Said things could be made perma before incarnates by shifting some slots here and there, but my OCD about defenses won't let me give up any more to squeeze out a drop of extra recharge. Posting just data chunks to keep things compact so fire up Pine's. First up is Illusion/Cold, and to be perfectly honest I vastly prefer it because it's just so damn chill to play. As long as you keep up with the single target rotation, remember to apply Benumb and Heat Loss (and remember to move into PBAoE range for the latter) and liberally sprinkle in Confuse, you always feel in control and never in any particular danger. Your defenses and Benumb keep you nearly perfectly safe: with Benumb applied, you can facetank a Rikti Pillar's volley and barely feel it, provided it even hits. (Without Benumb you can STILL facetank it and survive, but it'll hurt quite a bit more). You have two choices for Epics: Mace Mastery and Ice Mastery. Mace provides a better shield, an extra pet that tosses in debuffs, and an extra single target attack for more debuff stacking. The drawback here is that you are stuck with the mace, which causes redraw and may not be thematic. Ice provides an extra AoE (Ice Storm), a quicker single-target attack and a slightly inferior shield. (It is also more thematic). I honestly can't say which one I prefer, though I suspect in pure performance terms Mace edges out Ice, at least vs. harder targets, because of the extra debuff stacks. Important thing to note is that this build will be a drag to level before you get Heat Loss. Either PL it, or grab Recovery Serum from P2W. Incarnate must-haves are: Agility Core Paragon Alpha (recharge and recovery), Degenerative Core Flawless Interface (-max HP and a small DoT) and Assault Core Embodiment (buffs PA spawned when it is active). Destiny is up to you: you can take Ageless for even more recharge and recovery (which may save your bacon if you somehow whiff a Heat Loss), or Clarion for mez protection (because you have exactly bugger all in that department), or Rebirth for a big heal. Lore pets are up to you; I've had good success with Polar Lights Radial. Ill/Cold/Mace build: | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1464;657;1314;HEX;| |78DA65944B4F13511886CFB4536A6F14A4DC0B45CACD02A503449726720B0809095| |B159B3260E3D8D6B624BAF41798A844776A8C40C1F81FFC1BC6BD2BA0805B835FE7| |7D5B9A74D299E7CC779FF7CC74EDE5BCFFC7D2EB7B4A6B99B39285C2E65C3653CC6| |72DCBCCBB37526933933255E570CB19BDF655C3E2CB96B55B4867335543A42EE6FE| |EEF6767C2E6B6D6DCE679FA733C9A2C429EF7A56D23672A6B915B0978BE99DA7C57| |466C7873BAB72EBB7D7AB6632278EF0422E9D8AD7D55D4BA64CB9148A66FE5597CC| |352CE7274DF1B8D2D584432943578E49320EEA5364027C16A8E568EAA7D8DA74D55| |4D26CDF67014A5EB9B479C4372D803716C925D0BB4C1AE0A088E5D450D739AE6C5B| |3369494F17EA2A573B7A696EE85BB1B97B109791380F6D1EC67D11F83893EF217A3| |53F025B1E939BE0CD276412744A830066D2039DB2E8D35568DA69FB42B3A8DF9100| |6306A84B4E10398E2067E878809CAE10EEBF095AA97BEB197A7595C19E73F2020C5| |3839C3C5B1BEABADABCA813F681FD7E324036830341D02333B573A6F67ED41BF885| |FA03BF419FC47452BBCE7FC8DB177453BBEE7D3CC3AD03F2902C81D123F2187C21F| |3F622D7D1CBFD89F25986C80EE9D9C73DEFA35643D4E8401061EF08351AA23623D4| |6A841A8D5C82A37FC1BCF41E64EEE0347D33E42C78FB2E790734FE60EE42A0F26D6| |8F6DCC36F18F30E8CED81EF65F3C6B87F63873A7C2570E2883C26BF837B9233CEFD| |1B3F45AFC933B24C9E835317E425F85172E3E8E78C538B296A605013835A7C951E0| |9EE63829A86F5DA372B3F392A2F72D572156BF0261A2C468365A6C132DB60596DB0| |ACEBB57F08A5D9164F8B7CF79CE4C42B5E8DDE28DE91B36B9BA6ADC8625457FE13E| |8725A1F3F86F8727DFC0768E27F0BFE078B38E7DA| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| Ill/Cold/Ice build: | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1452;653;1306;HEX;| |78DA6594594F13511886CF69A7D46EB4C8BEEFA552282D10BD34912D282424DCAAB| |52903368E6D6D4BA297FE006FD404970B3546104D34EED7FE0DE35F60F7D6E0D779| |5F16D3934E9E996F3FEF99E9FCDD49FF8799FB17950E4D58A962313991CB960A39C| |B320BEEC574C6CCA64D555E6EB97A4F7C4761B159CB5A2D6672D92343E7A9984BAB| |CBCBB1899CB5949CCCDDCE6453258953DE859CA42DE64D732960DF4E67566E9632D| |9151F9EACF2A3DFBE9F3353797184A6F299746C366D26E753C59259B8D724B3F4CB| |F5422BAE43430D39944A18CA314CC64063848C83B702C7395AFD145BADA1AA36B5E| |D7B2940C943979E447CD51478669A9C01BDB36402EC11819C1A759D5165DBAA494B| |7ABA5057B9EAD14BBBA169D9E66E415C56E23CB47918F74AE0E34CBEABE8557D0D0| |C5D2793E0D91B640A744A83006632028D72D36EA8BA51A7EDAB1B47FD863839061A| |9213448E23C8199AAE20A7A90ECF6F0435D4BD6607BD5A76C93DB06D9F2C6B207DF| |3B2B75AD475D57A51A7C347FAC900D8554D06418FCC54CF99EA3BA055D72FD4EFFE| |0DFA24A691DA35FE45DEBAA099DA35AF630FDD1BE45BB077937C47BE07EFC8BCADC| |875B4F27CFAA2FFB3417AB6F3CCDBA9551F35DA1074B27727350A539B30B50A53A3| |810330F1072C48EF1EEADB33CA9831721C3C77813C0F1603E56F42DBF3F63FA2EF3| |138F800FC285B8BB06E644D3020BE27E45370E819F91CFC2439519E5B741BDA0CED| |80C3BBE43EB9078E1C809F0531F68B7D8166235FC96F60E23BF9037C2DBDE23CC73| |8356D338EBF59F9C92ABF504796C3C10A6FBCC292A8B08C5558C62B2C73159605E3| |F81F4269DBE209C977CF49B6BCE2D5F4F6623F3B2736AD2F6B5B53FF16F4D93E1D1| |F41FCEEE9F8359C9BFF21F80F5513E132| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| Second is Illusion/Storm. If you like chaos on the battlefield, you're going to love this, because once you get going, there will be a LOT of things happening. Lightning storms blasting things, tornadoes chasing and knocking enemies down, Phantasm knocking people around, PA of course, rain, and whatever PBAoE you decide to fire. Your +Recharge translates directly into more DPS (though you won't ever stack more than 3 Lightning Storms). For an Illusion controller, you will be doing a lot of DPS, but this comes with a cost. Compared to Ill/Cold, you do not have a way to refill Endurance (no Heat Loss); you don't have a way to neuter a hard target's damage output (no Benumb), and your defenses overall will be slightly inferior (moreso if you go Ill/Storm/Cold). A third option is to go with Mu Mastery and pick up Power Sink, Charged Armor and Ball Lightning (or Summon Guardian if you want an extra pet). This robs you of a big chunk of defense (since Charged Armor is Resistance) and some Recharge, but on the upside you can refill your endurance every 33 seconds by draining enemies. It's not QUITE a substitute for Heat Loss because it provides no additional Recovery in between applications. Eh, just stick with Mace or Ice and take Ageless Destiny instead, and use Recovery Serum when exemplaring or leveling. Tornadoes cause panic, and panic causes enemies to run like scared little girls. This includes EBs and AVs. This build would benefit greatly from a reliable immob, but there's really nowhere to get it. Tornadoes will also chase after everything, potentially causing overaggro. You can get Spectral Interface Incarnate for a 25% immobilization chance, but your mileage may vary here (I didn't have much success with it, but it IS a dice roll). Embrace chaos and all that... Incarnate must-haves are: Agility Core Paragon Alpha (if you also take Ageless Destiny) or Cardiac Core Paragon Alpha (if taking something else); Degenerative Core Flawless Interface (-max HP and a small DoT) and Assault Core Embodiment (buffs PA, storms and tornadoes spawned when it is active). Ageless Core Epiphany is an easy choice if you just want to forget about Endurance issues once and for all. Another choice would be Clarion for mez protection or Barrier for overall defenses. Ill/Storm/Mace build: | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1488;657;1314;HEX;| |78DA6594CB4F135114C6EFD0A9B52F28F2866279B658A074A0BA3591972844926ED| |5D2942934292D694BA24BFF070DA80B75214FE3528D7F8A71635CCBD39589A9A7F3| |7DD8269D64E677E7BBE79C7BCEB97766E9C98CE7E3FCB3DB4AF34D6793C562623A9| |F2B15F2D9AC5970C4531933973255E572C83D589DBB348B2C64B35BC54C3E772904| |6A6CEE6CA5D39178295FD848C4B73636F2B94C6E4DB996F3E216DF34CD55B7359CC| |B66D6D64B5E8C2B43B1F2586F8B6672535EFCB39B9954A426EE523265CAA358320B| |4F3B25AF90DC6F34C5ABACABED8AA8AB861DF225A8BF225F832B551FA57EEA4A19B| |A7A2B9AC638DA4C83A55D9925E7C0ABF3E45D70409A63B39CCA9A6D54599A8B7C27| |BA1DF1ECF687B0773D023D8FC904D8B802762641A7C475206E83A34D83CD37CCF9B| |E8329919DB0B13B69E37381D7DCA4076CF5928DA026F1DDACDFDD8D7C6DA279B9A6| |77D26669ED1D22F40A63E0AAA0893D6A9A64CE5360778CBC09FA6F81EFC5A7993EC| |D279C3B05AF9F91E7247BD72EB9B4B0AF2DACADAF1534056D88676BFB04BFBECFE4| |17B0FF2BA84B9C0EC6E9609CFEFBA86D575EBBB83F5DBBD0FAF7C0C17DF2803C048| |78E40B7C4ED415CD5F31771D39516B1A7BD0FB0FE9E6801AE1160ED4317247B1064| |0F82EC41F037B826BE03ECDB007D43F409D127449F1B3F90D7BAF80C73BDE131CE8| |D9311303C414641C3009FCB268D70BD917D7C13E10370EC903C223F802FC4679467| |70F418398C9F90A7E4393871465E803BE21BE13E4658DF04EB33589FC1FA54BB525| |1F636CA7DF4EB35DF7059AECA01BD54CAE1BAD9689D62D42953754AAC4E59AC5396| |F5FF7F0EA5598AD327FF0566F2CB25B33C2BDA20CEF749AD764FB3FE49C7B5DA08E| |C4E6BB56DF4E28FF4C260ECED96EAF81F7F72F1F7| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| Ill/Storm/Ice build: | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1476;656;1312;HEX;| |78DA6594DB4F134114C667E9D6DA1B14A1DC2FD2428BB49416D05713B9894224E9A| |B5A9AB28526A5256D49F4D1BF022F0FEA83E025D17885F8A7185F8CCFD2023E9998| |7ABADF8734E9269BDFEC37E77C3373666697EFCDBADE2E3CB8AA34CF4C36592C266| |6F2B952219FCD1A055B3C9531722943D51E9BBCFEB3BED3B0C86236BB5DCCE473A7| |C2605DCCB5ED743A122FE50B9B89F8F6E6663E97C9AD2BC74A5ED2E25B86B1E6349| |BF3D9CCFA46C98D76AD29512EF36BC9486EC987676E2B938A2CA68CC472B258320A| |F7BB642E41799F6A8A4F55573B3551574D0FC947A0FE987C02AE9EE528F553572AA| |6AB67A269F4D1669B4CEDDC1C390F9E5F20AF833E2988C54CAA6A9690323507F95C| |742BFCACD6DB8877DC015D77C904D8BC4A2641BBF8DAE0DB64F36AA6E6F9863ECF7| |73025B21D31563B632E384827D8EE22DD604733A889BF93EB77F660BE16D1DC5C8B| |7BD282F84E11FA75B52668616D5A26317ED714390DF65C26AF802F24A79539AD656| |87D15F2081C382659B30E99431BE7D0C6350DB48386C00B3F8BF70BF22EEE9307E4| |5750179F4EFA74D267E826D6B42B9FDDDC97EE5D68437BE44BD0FF8A7C4DBE019DE| |2DB0B5FD5FB17BEE95A8958CBFE5B187F4FB4418E31C8B50F9F90ACC1306B10600D| |02BFC175C9F5B16E3EE6069813644E9039C11F98D786E48C70BC9130FA2E8D93117| |2021C8B9231F09D588C72BC51DE9F31DE9F30EF4F98F727CCFBF35E72423C7BA132| |E6307E4856C82370E2983C013F08221C2FF211FB3EF1098C7D26F7C903507528156| |58DA3DCCF3EBDEE0E57E5A91DD453A53AD6D01B6D50620DCA548332DDA02C35282B| |FAFF3F87D24CC5EE91FF0267F2CB21BD3C339A1FEB29D76B3734B3A687F5DA28E22| |AF5DA0EF6EB8FD42246EF9DB6B3F63F5BA9EC2F| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| Ill/Storm/Electric build: | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1483;662;1324;HEX;| |78DA6594C94F535114C6EFA3AFD64E50649E652C52282D835B1229E0402349B76A6| |9CA039AB47D4D874497AED58D130E0B75213824AE14887F8A71635C2B386C4D3D7D| |DF0734E94D5E7EF77EF77CE7DE7BDE7D2F7A33E2F9B0747B4E69BEF974A25088CF9| |BD962DE4CA78DBC23964C19D9A4A12ACD21CFE0C9DC5158F0523A5D2AA4CCEC91D0| |571573A1B4BE1E8C15CD7C261E2B6532663695DD50AE15536CB19C61ACB9ADEE623| |AB5B159F4A25FE94A94C71A2D1B899C0C3A1672A96430626652D984248B474BF168| |A25034F2B7DA6553A3F2BCD0145B59575B02BFAEEA9E904F41FD19F91C5C3DF128F| |55D572AACAB97A269CCA345EA2CEDD402B9089E5E222F820352199B652A6BB680B2| |3417F94A743BF2D9EDD710EFBA0E7A6E9071B07E954C804EC9EB40DE3A478B6669B| |E2F98F37D0593223B11637732E68C8B7483CD1ED20BB6D6839AE477F3FCEE4EECD7| |269A9767F14ED910DF26428FAED6040DAC4DC314D66F9F2667C0CE59F23CF85A3C8| |DF4341E40EB3E247F81BDBF49D6AC55F6D0C43D34F14CBDCDA02168413E5BCB2E7C| |67F7C87DF233A84B9E36E669639EFE2B38D3B60C3BF85E3AB6A1F5EF906FC0C1B7E| |43BF23DE896BC5DC8ABBAFE21EF7AA544AC65CF55ACBF235A1FD7E8E3D987FE90AC| |C1106B30C21A8CFC0537C43BC0BA0DD03B428F9F1E3F3DFE6FD8D7A67886B9DEF03| |8E6CE4D904172121C0B9161F08EADF21D69D67AA3F739F7001C7F483E221F8377C5| |13E0DD0B845087893039454E839333E42C784FBC419E2FF811DFDEE42E18DE233F9| |1FBA06A552AC41A87F83EBBF5AA6FB82CAD72518F94F258CD6CA84609D728D335CA| |4C8DB25CA3ACE8C77F0EA5598AD327FF05EEE4874B667967B441DCF3836AEDB266F| |D937E566BA3883BACD6B650FBF2719B6B1281ABFC0790EDF1A2| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

You win the internet today.

It's an awfully pretty place where you can log out (and log in) and laugh at the traffic.

This behavior extends to the biggest and the scariest villains it seems. For funzies on my private server I spawned Cap'n Mako and Black Scorpion for my ubercharacter to fight. Mako got the hell out of dodge when his health hit 50%; BS just kept running away like a little girl every time he got hit, and then coming back; but as soon as he'd receive a hit or two he'd run for cover again. It was less of a battle and more of a Benny Hill show.

Yep, the answer's "not a feature" in either thread, but here's to hoping it becomes a feature. There's not much value in the app "teaching" me anything (thankyouverymuch), but there's plenty in allowing me to emulate what actually happens in-game.

Agility core (+EndMod, +Recharge) Destiny Ageless Core (AKA IDGAF about Endurance anymore). Ionic Radial (HUEG chain AoE plus hold? Yes). Either Control or Assault Core (moar holds or moar damage, you pick). Degenerative Core (-MaxHP and a small DoT). Whatever Lore pet you like best.