Frostweaver

Kin/water is deceptively powerful. mostly because with a little careful proc slotting, you can dish out upwards of 300 dps ST, and a 750 pt aoe every 30 seconds, as well as an ongoing 150+dps aoe. And then, of course, the blaster standing next to you when you FS makes you look like you are holding a garden hose. But that's a defender for ya 🙂

I would love it if FF got a minor buff... like a -def (enhanceable) when an enemy steps into your big bubble or maybe a small damage component on your Knockback stuff... but bubblers, right now, with careful building, can perform just as well as any other defender, and better under 'special circumstances' the same way any defender is better under certain circumstances. I think they could use some love, but they are definitely not 'bad' by any stretch. Plus, who else gives a whole team decent status protection? Time and traps certainly don't. also, Malta and carnies. When you have a bubbler, sappers are a joke. Toxic enemies are neutered. Repulsion bomb is one of the better proc monkeys, as is force bolt. Yep, two powers-detention field and repulsion field, suck butt, but lots of sets have a couple of useless powers. And some folks actually LIKE repulsion field... with the right procs (kb-kd) and ageless, it becomes an incredible 'squishy alive' tool even deep into incarnate content. I think the only real problem with bubblers post-incarnates is people who don't know how to build for post-incarnate.

You know, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Time doesn't need to be nerfed at all. With Traps and only FOUR slots, you can get this: That's also the formula to softcap a defender to all positions. And, of course, it's easier on a team... no 'gather for buffs' that they all ignore, and if they see a big bubble and are having trouble, they just move a few feet so they are inside. and no extra slots for +recharge either. Unless you think traps, the most hated defender outside of bubbles, needs a nerf too?

This is a version with much higher ranged defenses, although her accuracy suffers a bit, but she should survive a bit better when FS fails to land and she's not defense-capped from Melee hybrid. She's not as fast as the other version, but she's still fast and cheap. Not sure which of the two is better... my other defender is time/elec, which is an UTTERLY different build style. but he did lead to me overslotting transference, in hopes that a couple of applications could make Romulus swishie.

I have been playing this toon for quite some time, and she was basically super-frankenslotted and never really had a 'build', although I wanted to eventually give her a REAL one. So after going through my characters to get all of them their anniversary badge, I stumbled across her again... and realized I really wanted to play her again. She's only vet level 4, but has a decent history from the level-up process. She has always been a major proc-monster, since long before the term was coined, but I wanted to take it a step or two further with the new sets to enhance her solo survivability as well as her NOT FACEPLANT in a group. Here's the build I have come up with: A few notes on my design strategy: After putting several builds together, I noticed that I was going almost completely super rare free... so I decided to work with that and make the build 'cheap' relatively.... At exemplar levels, siphon power tends to keep her damage high, while at higher levels fulcrum shift does wonders (as always) Thus, no tidal forces. She tends to play in melee range almost exclusively, so her mez protection is tied to melee. Exemplared, she has som mez problems, but who doesn't? I have macros to convert all of her inspirations into purples and breakfrees, although I will still occasionally pop a yellow to deal with stuff like smoke. Usually, a small purple is enough to keep her safe in MOST melee situations, along with FS crippling their damage and a fairly reasonable s/l resistance. I could not see any way to cap her defenses without crippling her rather sick buffing/debuffing/damage abilities, as this little nixie tends to out-aoe-dps almost all blasters (unless they are standing next to her when she hits FS, in which case they make her look like a kid using a squirt gun) I also didn't bother with super rare or winter sets because mostly they crunch dps, and I don't really need it. My usual solo strategy is to fly over to a group, target something in the middle, switch to hover, and make sure either my melee is up or pop a purple (or a purple and a break free if it's rikti...) when I drop, Melee immediately aggroes, so I hit FS, and then nuke, splash, and whirlpool. If the fs didn't stick, I fly back up and siphon, whirlpool and single target or siphon, and steam spray for debuffs and combo points for nuke. With occasional debuffs to recover HP or end as neccessary. Team, of course, I usually slide in next to the tank, FS for as much of the team as I can, then stand back and apply aoe's, heals, and debuffs as neccessary, but I often won't even turn hover on except on something like an ITF where a stray can suddenly become a huge groups of luts and bosses. Usually I will concentrate single target attacks on stuff like immunes surgeons and guardians, hovering over the fight, and not even worry about getting caught in my own FS... The scrappers and brutes do a lot more damage than I do at damage cap, and my nukes and aoe's still do nasty things even if they don't do quite so much damage. No hasten. nothing in water, her pools, or kinetics really has a long cooldown, hasten itself would, in fact, be her longest cooldown... and with the amount of -rech she already has, (even without purples) it rarely subtracts more than half a second off of most of her powers except, possibly, power boost. and being up half the time makes power boost already quite powerful. (although I do wish there was a way to make it perma). Is there a way to drop my reliance on purples and breakfrees to stay near cap, without wrecking my frankenprocs? Are there some very rare/winter sets that are actually worth slotting, or is me 'el cheapo' build good like it is? Is there a better way to engage solo or on a team? do I have too much end slotted, or too little? does my accuracy suck too much? Is my slotting a full set of pacing of the turtle in siphon speed retarded? Should I replace one of the entropic chaos with winter's bite, apocalypse, or decimation? or maybe lowball a thunderstrike or two for more def at the expense of recharge? Should I drop that Kismet acc for a glad armor resistance to almost cap my s/l and pump up my end a tiny bit more? I plan on finishing her respec tomorrow afternoon. I would really appreciate feedback... this is the most proc-monster build I have ever SEEN, let alone built.

I am not sure about how it would be better on a stalker, but on almost anything else that teams regularly, it makes your entire team do more damage, including you. I am not quite sure how that is supposed to be worse than just doing an extra single target attack, unless you are like a sonic attack defender or something. Many powersets cannot slot -def, and weaken resolve and achilles heel from different characters stacks. People used to think that leadership maneuvers sucked too. And then, everyone started using it, and it's strength shone through. So basically I do not even begin to understand how some people could choose to dislike a -res, especially one that comes with a -def for slotting goodness.

I think we might have scared him off.

You still haven't provided an attack chain, build, or video that proves this assertion. Because it is wrong. Because EVERY brute that has the 'same' equivalent build as a tanker always outdamages said tanker. That is the way the game is balanced. Deal with it, stop taking it so personally. I love tankers too, but I am not foolish enough to try and pretend that they are something they are not.

That is literally the weirdest thing ever. I mean, tankers can do it, why not brutes?

Roddy Ripper, Jack the Quisenart, Involuntary Outlet, Stainless Steel Rack, ShivorShock, Gleaming Bolt, Zapscratcher, ChainCharge.

4 slot stamina. put in 1 performance shifter chance for end, 1 performance shifter endmod, 1 power transfer chance to heal self, 1 power transfer endmod. Now your speed is increased, your end restore is enormous, and you heal like a regen scrapper (okay not quite) but it makes a HUGE difference in survivaility and quality of life.

on something like Dark Armor or Ninjustu, or in an end game build for a controller who need something with containment, it is actually QUITE helpful. But it really only works if you have quite a few 'power pool' gaps in your build where you forego some of the set powers because they suck. It makes a decent replacement for time bomb or a single-target stun or sleep, for example. It's also outstanding in something like psi or dark where, if an enemy resists your powers, they resist them a LOT. Alternate damage types are the only thing that make my psi sentinel willing to take on that Marchand arc with all the stupid war walkers.

'asteroid maps' tend to keep loading spawn after spawn on top of you, and a good farmer can clear them in about 4 and a half minutes. a set of 5 asteroid maps plus white recipes and spare salvage/extra stuff will net you about 100m every 25 minutes or so with time taken out to sell and vendor and such. a cave farm map, excellent for afk farming, will take you about an hour to afk farm and will net you about 35-50 mil between all the drop sales and the cash. Yeah, it's easier, but active farming is still far more rewarding.

Yes, you are posting numbers in a vacuum. Which I have stated several times. Only stalkers care about one single attack in a vacuum, and that's only when they are building up to AS an EB. Everything else in the game uses attack chains, multiple powers working together. That's how farming works.

Someone has been fighting on political boards for far too long. I don't care about whatever debate crap you read on wikipedia this week. I just gave you a thread full of the top farming builds. My criticism was your overarching statement that Which, since you never posted a valid attack chain that can exceed Brute's fury-fueled 'farming' attack chains, looks an AWFUL lot like either a lie, or a troll. Since calling you a Liar would be vastly more offensive, I chose the term 'trolling' which has far less emotional baggage attached. To be honest, though, when you start throwing sperging Huffpo terms like 'ad hominem attacks' when I was questioning your motives rather than insulting your... underwear size or something, makes me far less inclined to use polite terms like 'trolling'. You are spreading false or completely untested information, and using a screen of out-of-context and irrelevant mid's numbers in order to cover that fact up and make it look legitimate. You are IGNORING animation times and attack chains in favor of raw unbuilt numbers. It's like pointing at GM's spark plugs and claiming that because the spark plugs are a good brand, the entire care is faster than a ford. You clearly have not driven a ford. Try it again when you actually have a real farming build.

So to answer the OP's question- AFK farming requiresx only two things. An armor that can cap a resistance/defense, generally s/l or fire, that will allow you to heal through a +4/x8 spawn indefinitely (most brutes and all tankers can do this easily enough) a single aoe you can 'auto'. all sets except dark, tw, and electric have this, I believe. heck... if you really want to a sentinel, scrapper, or blaster could probably make a build like that too, but you might have a few wandering singletons as the aggro mechanics are a little tough to deal with and you won't be reapplying melee incarnate taunt. (I bet I could even make a fire/nature controller that could do it...) Speed is irrelevant, because you cannot speed up patrols when you are afk... ANYTHING has enough DPS to eventually kill the spawns you pick up. There is no 'ultimate' afk farming build. That is reserved for active farmers. you have your defense, resistance, and your ONE auto aoe... everything else is just mules for making sure your defense, resistance, and healing are high enough to sleep through a constant stream of attackers. almost any powerset combo can do it. Heck, my stone/stone tanker can afk farm as fast as the fastest farmer.... everything is dead in a few hours anyway.

Why is it that every time someone makes specious claims about being able to outdamage a fire farming Brute they are unwilling to prove it? I am quite happy to invite you to atlas and do a fashion show with each and every build that I have tested. I have posted the numbers right here on the brute boards. I will happily do so again. You have been making dramatic claims backed by partial and incomplete mids numbers for your last 4 posts. Try again, with a build and an attack chain that beats the DPS for 2 auras +burn + spine burst/atom smasher, +ball lightning, +electrifying cages at 80% fury with musculature and ageless incarnates. This is the bare minimum for a fire farmer. In fact, go to THIS thread: If you have an attack chain that can beat these builds, have at it. Until then, you are just nerding with mids and completely misunderstanding the result. You haven't even bothered to post a BUILD that can do what you claim. That is called 'Trolling'.

Good job ignoring Burn. Look, we have gone over this a thousand times in the 'farm fresh builds' and other threads. a full fire brute attack chain on an active farm is burn, primary aoe, ball lightning, and cages (from Mu), with two damage auras running with max damage and 1-2 procs each, with the occasional specific add, like a cone, from the primary, or a build up of some sort time permitting. usually not neccessary, though. Unless you would like to SHOW me a tanker completely clearing a +4/x8 in less than 4:30, you are simply mathing mids. It has been done tons of times, and even with the new tanker damage boost it still doesn't add up. Not solo, and especially not in a team. _I_ have done the builds and tested them. a dozen other people have done the builds and tested them. At this point you are simply pulling a Sheldon. You don't have a <5 minute tank. _I_ don't have a <5 minute tank. NO ONE has a <5 minute tank (unless they cheat.... I have seen several people try to run on lower diff, or without bosses, or by having hard-to-see creatures on the map so they can 'skip out' without completely clearing it.) The standard map is $comicon fire farm$ #125 or #comicon s/l Farm$... that's what everyone else tests their builds on for comparison. Making a 'special map' is good for farming, but means nothing for comparison purposes. No Tanker can come close, not before the patch, not even after it, although it narrowed the window a little. And the gap widens when you have doorsitters or spectators. Go for it. Prove me wrong. With actual performance, not doctored mids numbers carefully ignoring a thousand realities like the fact that radius is irrelevant, and 'widened' tanker cones barely add more than 1 mob to the number caught. if you bob around trying to line up cones, mobs step out of your burn patches or fail to get hit by your aoe's, you get caught on top and cannot USE your aoe's effectively for a few seconds, or you wind up shooting your cone the wrong way and accomplishing the same as an ST attack... experienced farmers KNOW this. But like I said, prove me wrong with actual recordings. Prove the OTHER thousand farmers that have come to the same conclusion wrong. I double-dog-dare ya. I would LOVE it... EVERYONE would love it if you could create a Tanker build, or even a non-fire brute build, that could push rad/spines/fire brutes out of the top spot. better build means new more powerful farmer, which we would be happy to have (especially if it IS NOT a /fire brute... we'd like to be able to do normal content better with our farmer) but at this point I am starting to wonder if you even own a top-tier farmer... or if you are simply gaming mid's.

Hey, @Felis Noctu? Is there a reason Mids won't allow me to build a claws/stone brute? Thanks.

could you carve out two spots? Mu cages and ball lightning make a nice damage boost for when you want a little more aoe 'oomph', plus you could slot chances for +end in those so you are still overdoing your endurance management.

You are ignoring something. turn off the pbaoe on auto-fire. Burn beats it. Rad and spines both have an aura that does damage... the rest of the set is irrelevant while you are using fire armor. You are numbers-theorizing while ignoring reality. Add spines or rad's aura to burn, and compare it to every other set's 'primary aoe'. which wins? aura+burn. every time. burn is 3.4, quills/rad is 3.14. For an primary set to be worth ignoring burn for, it's primary auto-aoe MUST exceed 6.54. Looking through the various DPS, the closest 'competitor' is savage/rending flurry at a full 1 dps less... 5.43. Claws is a distant third at 4.74 for spin. If you are farming with something other than fire armor, secondaries with auras still win the dps game, but THEN you can ask yourself 'how much dps does an aura+aoe set do compared to an auto-aoe?" You notice something weird. Ice, Stone, electric, and dark all have dps auras. OF THOSE, Dark is the easiest to slot for capped defense/resist for farming. most of their auras do only slightly less damage than fire's aura at 4.17 vs 4.73, but the difference is minor. Except for stone armor's mud pots which is much lower. Basically, the closest thing that you are going to find to a 'fire farmer killer', for afk AND active farming is going to be savage/ice, savage/dark, or savage/electric., all brutes. All of those will perform VASTLY better if you want to go at normal combat as well, but dark and ice both have an edge in AFK farming because of oppressive gloom and chilling embrace, which will allow you to drop your resist/defense below cap and still screw incoming damage AFK. Of the two, I prefer savage/ice, because CE tends to 'catch' more passing aggro with it's bigger radius, and the slow tends to keep it closer while the -15% damage seems to slow incoming damage more than the fear and -to-hit of CoF.... but others may differ because CoF can slot procs and the -to-hit can be enhanced quite a bit, for higher DPS. That's it. But, if you would like, PLEASE try a dark/savage tanker and slot the crap out of CoF.... I haven't tried this combo myself, but maybe with the HUGE damage potential of CoF procced... it might get closer to fire farming brutes than any other tanker.

Nope. Much as I WISH that were true, it is not. Brute's 600% damage cap and sheer EASE of overcoming Tanker's damage in a red-sparse environment makes them the undisputed kings of active melee farming. I have 9 fully slotted melee farming builds, using every trick to crank aoe damage potential possible. 4 of those are tanks, ice/fire, shield/savage, fire/rad, and fire/fire. The brutes are rad/fire, claws/fire, savage/fire, and TW/ice. I also, using melee hybrid, have 3 farming scrappers as well, but even with 9 taunt targets, they just cannot hold enough aggro to farm like tankers and brutes. I WISH, and have tried desperately, to make a farming tank that can match a brute, but the fact that brutes, with normal slotting and fury, step into their first fight and immediately get about 340% damage (outside of incarnates) makes too big of a difference... and they hover there or higher no matter what reds drop. Tankers have 20% higher BASE damage now, but still, their damage is 200% when they step into the ring. Tanks have potential +200% from reds, brutes +240%... and at cap (with enough reds) brutes still do 30% MORE damage than tankers at every level. Even throwing incarnates 'double hit' into the mix makes very little difference in the huge gap of clear speeds between the two. Stuff crowds close in a farm. the difference between 10 feet and 15 feet is almost immaterial. But as much as I have tried, rad/fire and spines/fire brutes still own active farming. The two auras, the 'free' high end aoe from burn, the aggro holding, the much higher starting and red-fueled damage, simply make too much of a difference. I wish you were right, I really do, but you are not. And passive farming, fury doesn't care if you are afk, and blows Tankers UTTERLY away... and you don't AFK farm in a 'real world' environment.

Meh, his order is kind of messed up. Traps is never tier 3. You could argue it is tier 2 early game, but by end game all those tricks are almost unnecessary. It helps YOU cap your defense. brutal -regen and -resist that is FAST end game. some -to-hit and -damage to keep your fragile butt upright. a CRAPTON of added DPS. proc-trops, proc-cannon, and toe bombing. It does not add aoe buffs that high level players refuse to hang around for or decent healing that no one post-incarnates needs. And again, Proc-trops! come on! and poison trap is literally the bomb... The entire set is a Proc-tologists DREAM set. Pair it with something that has a little slotting flexibility, such as Rad, dark, or psi, and it is staggering... The problem is that most people pair it with the 'natural' secondaries, which tend to be slot-starved (DP/AR) or have minimal slotting options (BR/archery). You slot it badly, and yes, it's tier 3... you slot it right, and it's a hard tier 1.

Someone has apparently forgotten about spore cloud, an anchor debuff which gives nice -to hit and -damage, and also a fairly nasty -reneneration to rival any other set. It goes a LONG way towards keeping your pets alive against Hard targets and helping them kill it much quicker.

afk faring is a special case, because it requires 3 things. a damage aura in your secondary a damage aura in your primary a decent aoe that can be autoed. These are your three primary damage sources afk farming. If you can find a decent aoe that is MORE DPS than another aoe+aura, that might be your ticket also only two primaries have a damage aura, spines and rad... they are roughly equal at 3.13 dps base well, here is a chart: Ehh, I had a huge chart saying the different aoe's, aura, and autoables, but I should just chop it down to the basic numbers. radiation/fire is the best afk farmer. spines/fire is the second best, but darned close. That's it. The rest are more troublesome... but if you are afk, do you really care about your efficiency?