Bopper

Semi frankenslot. I try to blend in endmod, heal, and recharge.

Updated the front page to look more like a Guide. Anyone who would like to proofread and provide constructive criticism, please PM me with your comments and I will strongly consider them for edits. Also, I will take suggestions if there is anything I haven't covered that should be. Pseudopets is probably the most glaring thing, and Pseudo-Chains (e.g. Jolting Chain). I will definitely add those in later.

Excellent video editing. I enjoyed the Jazz flute... couldn't stop picturing Ron Burgundy.

The opportunity to proc is every 10 seconds, and that opportunity counts for every teammate (including pets). So if you are running around the city by yourself, it will proc at a 6.5% rate every 10 seconds (not very often). But when you have a team that is all getting hit with tactics, if it procs on any of them, you get the buff. Edit: For more information, check out the comments section of this Guide. I linked to the start of the content you care about.

I believe there is a Bug Reports section on the forums. You might want to post this there. It might help you get a GM's attention.

Mathematically, it's less valuable as a proc will have much less added damage percentage than it would on a Defender or Controller. Also, Blasters are likely more reliant on chasing set bonuses for survivability, which is not as much of an issue for Defenders/Controllers. In the end, it can add value in certain situations, but I doubt I'll see a proc monster Blaster that is a game changer (although I'd love to see it if someone makes it happen).

I have finished analyzing results of my Jolting Chain test yesterday and have posted it in the comments section of the PPM Information Guide. The TL;DR: what I suspected yesterday has been confirmed. The initial cast on the target acts as a single-target attack (no surprise), and the jolt chains act as a non-click attack with a 15 foot radius and a 10 second ActivatePeriod. Assuming no recharge and a 3.5 PPM Proc, the initial cast would have a 58.7% probability to proc. The jolt chains should always have a 21.7% probability to proc (recharge won't matter).

Did some additional testing on Jolting Chain as it is a very unique power for Proc'ing. The results of my tests (provided below) show that the initial cast does in fact act as a Single Target attack, then it summons pseudopets in a chain, where each pseudopet can hit only 1 target and it searches for that target in a 15 foot radius around the previously hit target. This pseudopet uses the non-click formula, so it uses the Proc's 10 second ActivatePeriod for its calculations. Quick note, this test is not as extensive I normally like to do. Normally I use Beta server with HeroStats, however a recent update to Beta has caused HeroStats to not work. This forced me into making a new character on live, which I did. However, due to lack of resources I only got him to level 17 and slotted it with Explosive Strike (ES) and the Gladiator's Javelin (GJ) procs (both 3.5 PPM). Then I ran around Perez Park filling up my combat log which I finished parsing through today. Here are the results: Jolting Chain Test ES Proc GJ Proc Opportunities % Combined Cast 39 42 73 55.5% Jolt 1 28 14 112 18.8% Jolt 2 23 23 127 18.1% Jolt 3 19 29 99 24.2% All Jolts 70 66 338 20.1% For the initial cast on the single target, the probability of proc'ing for each of ES and GJ is 58.7% Prob = 3.5 * (8+2.07) / 60 = 0.587417 For the Jolt pseudopets, the probability of proc'ing is 21.7% Prob = 3.5 * (10) / (60 * (1 + 0.15*0.75*15) ) = 0.21754 My results had 73 opportunities for each proc (146 samples) and there were a combined 81 procs, which resulted in a 55.5% proc performance. Using Binomial Probability theory, the likelihood of getting 81 procs or less out of 146 samples is 23.61%. So although the results are a bit unlucky (86 procs would've been the most likely result), we are in the ballpark of what was expected. For the Jolt pets, there were 338 opportunities for each proc (676 samples) and there were a combined 136 procs, which resulted in a 20.1% proc performance. The likelihood of getting 136 procs or less out of 676 samples is 17.01%. Again, the results were unlucky (146 procs would've been the most likely result), we are not so far outside the expected performance to suggest the formulas used are incorrect. If HeroStats gets fixed for Beta, I will do a more extensive test (add the 4.5 ppm purple proc) on much more targets (Rikti Monkey island is useful). Hopefully additional results will lead to the testing performance regressing to the formula's suggested performance. For now, I will go ahead and confirm that this is how you calculate the Proc performance for Jolting Chain (and by extension Synaptic Overload, which works the same way).

If it helps motivating you at all, I've been using HeroStats for a couple of months exclusively on Beta and this is the first time it broke. Hopefully if you find a fix, it will stay fixed for awhile.

PM me if you're on Beta. I have an Electric Controller I'm trying to test, but hit a wall while HeroStats is broke on Beta. We can flesh out whether or not the immunity is doing anything.

Ah, I always forget to check sprint. I would not put stealth in hover, leave it for LotG muling. Other things worth considering is frankenslotting (somewhat). For example, I don't 6 slot Superior Vigilant Assault, I split it into 2 3-slot sets (then add procs), that way I get 20% recharge and 7.2% endurance instead of 10%/3.6%. But no matter what you do, enjoy. You'll be added value to any team.

Great find Soggy, and everything Arcanaville mentioned seems to hold up in my spreadsheets. Cast Jolting Chain will hit as a Single Target ranged attack with an accuracy mod of 1.0 If target is hit, 2 Chain_Jolt_Pets will be summoned, the first will be after a 0.25 second delay, the other will be after a 0.50 second delay. These pets will have a 15 foot radius, max target of 1, and an accuracy modifier of 2.0. If a Chain_Jolt_1 hits, it will summon 2 more pets, the first after a 0.5 second delay, the other after a 1 second delay. The accuracy modifier will be 1.5. If a Chain_Jolt_2 hits, it will summon 2 more pets, the first after a 1 second delay, the other after a 2 second delay. The accuracy modifier will be 1.0. The Chain_Jolt_3 will not summon more pets. So the sequence of a max 15 hits will be: 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 1.25, 1.50, 1.75, 2.00, 2.25, 2.50, 2.75, 3.00, 3.25, 3.50 There was some good nuggets in there I did not know about the combat mechanics, for example the AoE missing a target but continues to look until it hits (or hits the max target cap), that's good stuff. Also getting confirmation about the Chain_Mode flag is important. With too many players using Jolting Chain, it could render its effects useless too harsh, it could degrade its performance.

Well... I would say you should try for a proc-heavy approach and I can provide you builds that I've done. But as for you build specifically, there are a few things that stand out. First, I'm shocked you didn't take Swap Ammo. That provides a lot of flexibility, soft control with Cold, survivability with Toxic, extra damage with Fire. Also, I would say slotting Kismet is useless, you get more than enough ToHit buff with a power boosted Farsight, so swap that with a LotG and it will shave off 2 seconds for your Chronoshift. The last thing I'll say is your build looks to be endurance heavy, with a net of 1.61 end/sec. You should want at least 2 end/sec. If it helps, check out my Time Manipulation Guide in the Guide Forum. I have details on the powers, and some builds in the comments section. I originally had a Time/DP/Power build before I went to a /Soul build. Honestly, either is good since that power boost with Farsight is delightful.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if an update to CoH is causing this issue.... but HeroStats is not working for me on the Beta (Justin) server. There was an update that just loaded which now shows a HC Beta and a HC Beta - 64, yet HeroStats is not working on either. It keeps showing up as "Offline". Any suggestions?

From what I'm looking at (i24 data dump), Jolt_1 has a 5 second duration, Jolt_2 has a 4 second duration, Jolt_3 has a 2 second duration. They also have a "Period" of 3.25, 2.25, and 1.25, respectively. I don't know which one matters.

You're correct, for no recharge the single target cast should be 58.7% and 75.5% for the 3.5 and 4.5 PPM procs, respectively. The cast will summon 2 pets, those 2 pets will each summon 2 more pets, and those 4 pets will each summon 2 more pets (1 + 2 + 4 + 8 = 15 targets max, 14 from pets). My numbers, assuming the 15 foot radius (that is used to find a nearby target for the chain) is correct and the Proc's activate period is used for calculations (10 seconds), the probability to proc is 21.7% and 27.9% for the 3.5 and 4.5 PPM procs, respectively. This is where I need to do extensive testing to flesh out if my calculations are correct or if there is a different formula (or different numbers used in the formula). As for the theory-crafting of slotting recharge, you're right, the performance difference in using 100% recharge and 0% recharge is about 6.5%, however this assumes you will always hit 15 targets. That's a hearty assumption to make as not all mobs will have this many enemies and the accuracy of the jolts is not auto-hit (I believe a break in the chain will not fire off any more summoned pets). Now, given that this power only has an 8 second base recharge there might be no need to use anything more than global recharge (150% global will bring it down to 3.2 seconds, and an extra 100% slotted recharge will bring it down to 2.29 seconds). Finally, casting Jolting Chain on the same mob too quickly might be detrimental as the kChain_Jolt_Mode flag might still be active when the power is recast, which could prevent a target from getting hit again. Now, if it's a large enough mob, this might not be a big issue, but if it's only a few enemies, it could play a part. I'll be honest, I wouldn't be too worried about the flag issue as the cast time is fairly long (2.07 seconds, and whatever else added with arcanatime) and longest flag duration I see comes from the first Jolt pet that gives a 5 second duration on the kChain_Jolt_Mode. So odds are it will wear off before the target gets hit again.

I suspect you're right. I see that one of the things the attack does is set the mode (of the target) to kChain_Jolt_Mode and it seems to last for the remaining duration of the Jolting Chain attack. The jolts also seem to require a check of the target to determine the kChain_Jolt_Mode is not set.

Hmmmm….interesting. I think the Jolting Chain needs some extensive testing. I think each summoned pet ("Chain Jolt Jump #") has a 15 foot radius and a 4 second recharge (but also 4 second activate period). I suspect the formula is using the activate period, which means it would use the activate period of the proc (10 seconds) which is why you're seeing pretty decent performance. If I have time this weekend I'll want to do some extensive testing with it. Overall, the Jolting Chain (and others like it) might have a decent advantage, as the initial cast is single target (higher Proc performance) then the pet chain adds an AoE attack layer that uses a 10 second ActivatePeriod in a 15 foot radius, which can hit up to 14 additional targets beyond the single target. Again, I need to get a lot of test samples to confirm this. But I have a hunch... I am curious though, do the jumps all have to be unique targets, or if you had 3 targets would the jumps keep bouncing between them? If so...that would be significant.

Nice work as usual. Look forward to the results of your tests. Edit: I have a special request. Try to look very closely at the Chain Mechanics. They aren't true Chains, but rather acts kinda like Enflame, as it summons a pet that looks in an area and hits 1 target, then repeats a few cycles. I can give you parameters of the chain_pets if you need them (radius, recharge, etc). I mostly want to confirm your results match what those parameters would dictate.

I'm sorry I haven't read the thread to know the full context of this post. But long story short, don't trust Mids/Pines with calculating Proc damage. It does it wrong. They are working to fix it. If you need estimates on Proc probabilities and calculating expected (average) damage, you can reach out to me or read the Procs Per Minute Information Guide in the guides forum. As for the recharge boost from Ageless, that does not impact proc probabilities. Only the alpha slot from incarnates can impact proc probabilities as it acts as a recharge enhancement to your powers. So unless we're talking about Agility or Spiritual alphas, you have nothing to worry about. Edit: Sorry for my quick response earlier, coincidentally I was busy working on my PPM guide when I saw the tag. @Knottewe you are correct. Pines is using Global Recharge in its PPM calculations which is erroneous and is the reason why Ageless is causing the change in estimated proc damage. I have already posted the bug to Mid's Reborn's GitHub, and I am sure they will eventually get to it. They are doing excellent work on the tool, but resources/time is limited, they can only fix so much. I have provided them with some of the functions that are used, but I believe they already had them. I trust a fix will be incorporated in the near future. In the mean time, I recommend going into configuration and click the minimum damage calculation, that way you don't see the Proc estimations. Calculating the estimated damage is simple enough using the formulas in my guide. Take the proc damage, multiply it by the proc percentage, and you have your expected (average) proc damage.

It's a work in progress, but the details in the Proc Information Guide would go into combat mechanics. I also have a Time Manipulation Guide which is a powerset guide (speaks to all ATs: Defender, Corruptor, Controller, Masterminds) Great work.

Out of curiosity, has anyone built around using Power Boost (from epic) with Fade? I believe it's an 11% defense added, which could help focus on other IO set bonuses besides defense. I don't play controllers normally, but I'd love to try out a /dark

If you want to buy IOs from the Auction House, always buy Attuned. They will level with you, so you can buy them whenever. The only time you should ever NOT buy attuned, it would be the Very Rare level 50 purple sets.

I'm trying to find the exact details. But I think the buff is 37.5% damage, and the proc might be 0.67 PPM. You should be able to test it though and get the exact numbers. Bring up your combat attributes and watch your ToHit and Damage. When it procs it will show the contribution.

I actually had the same feeling when looking over the post. I agree, and will revisit the front matter to provide a single formula, then leave the rest as a breakdown.