Nyghtmaire

“You doing vampyre stuff…?”

I feel you. After level 42ish, smaller teams feel like the way to go. Dial down the pace a tad and amp up the input.

I’m strongly tempted to yank out the Sudden Acceleration proc and just go nuts.

I have a psi/martial that I’ve enjoyed immensely. Very speedy; stun city. Lots of KD. The character is my shonen/Naruto inspired toon (a little bit Kakashi as a starting point with the psi powers feeling like the Sharingan). Toggling Burst of Speed happens to make you faster while everything around you slower. That and FFB procs feed the recharge to bring Psychic Wail up faster which, unfortunately, is the only really big AOE. But Burst of Speed also gets you into melee range to pull of that one trick pony. Combat Teleport is an option to get out. Ad a side note, all the stuns stacking with Oppressive Gloom helps it feel like the character is moving faster than mobs can see.

Albeit less so at last call?

Very fair point. Buildup is 100% for 10 seconds, or equivalent to 33.3% over 30 seconds. This is ignoring that Soul Drain *can* be made perma; Build up cannot under any circumstances. I hear what you’re saying. And I’ll reiterate, no objection to changing shadow maul and shroud. But most of the complaints in this thread re TotB seem to involve scenarios that speak to inefficient usage or not appreciating the design. If the latter, player may as well recolor a different secondary with a toggle sustain and headcannon it emo.

Don’t know how I missed this thread before, but so it goes. TotB is better used during the mop-up phase before you proceed to the next spawn. If it is the first spawn of the map, my standard practice is open with Umbral Torrent, fly in to fire Soul Drain, hit Black Star, Dark Consumption to even out endurance while I’m flying back to range, then hit TotB, cone city mop up while single targeting bosses. TotB on last 1 or 2 mobs then onto next group. Overall (and I’ve read through the thread and appreciate everyone’s perspective), I’m on the “it’s okay” side of things (ranged dark/dark/soul on Everlasting). I like that its range. I like the fear and -ToHit component and use it for this purpose when I’m soloing. It’s just one more layer of soft control that happens to be awesome at recovery. (Currently slotted with 6 Cloud Senses mainly for exemping and run Musculature Radial for Alpha to boost endurance modification and ToHit debuff). Dark Shroud - since I play primarily at range except when I duck in to set up Black Star, I’ve skipped it. I think damage toggles tend to be a trap on blasters generally and wouldn’t take unless to mule a set or if the power did something else (like stealth, fear or more -ToHit). Since already slot starved, very unlikely in current iteration. Soul Drain is fine as-is. I like the jousting (thanks @Nemu!) and have it perma with lucky FFB procs in Umbral Torrent. It is still a 50%+ damage boost for 30 seconds (compared to Aim, which is 62.5 for 10, or equivalent to 20.833 over same time period). This power rocks. Not a fan of blaster Shadow Maul and specced out of a more melee-focused build because of this. Any change is fine. Although I would prefer if blasters got Touch of Fear from Dark Melee to stack with TotB. Better fit to theme. This is my favorite character with the most badges, vet levels, multiple incarnate abilities, and most trashy temp powers. Won’t turn down a pass-through of Dark Manipulation, but it’s very comfortable and makes sense to me.

To gently redirect my altitis (yet not trigger any ODD tendencies), I’m focusing on an AT a week. This is BLASTER week. One in my stable is a Psi/Fire/Mace that has been languishing at T3 since before power reordering and both sets’ revamp. Time for a new build! Before I get out my trusty legal pad and pen, I have some questions: 1. In Psychic Blast, what are the preferred single target attacks now? I currently have TB, MB, PL. Thinking of swapping MB for WD (tiny bit of control option and faster cast time) and adding PD, again as it’s a super fast cast time. SM seems too slow but what do I know?!? 2. Currently soft capped S/L/E with Scorpion Shield. Seems like a nice opportunity to switch to Fire APP for Bonfire and build towards 32.5 R/A and a decent chunk of melee. I can map out 85% slow resist with this approach but have a path to 100. What is the functional difference between 85 and 100? Worth pushing it all the way? When it helps, ITS GREAT. But doesn’t seem to be something that comes up too often. 3. Burn and Consume both look like stinkers. Consume I never used (except as a mule for E/N def) even though it’s in the build except when preemptively to deal with sappers. And Burn’s radius is tiny. Any compelling reason to keep these? (Leaning towards dropping burn for the reduced cast time Combustion while keeping FSC - drop FSC instead single at least Burn is fast and leaves a patch). 4. Use to play in melee range with lots of jousting. Hot Feet helped with a KD proc. Still worth keeping? Or more trouble than it’s worth if I’m no longer soft capped? As always Hive Mind, many thanks. Please don’t send a Mids link. I’m off that sauce for the time being.

Agree. Time to drag out George Bernard Shaw’s apocryphal quote: Never wrestle with a pig. You just get filthy and the pig enjoys it.

Sexy bats? Out of disinterested curiosity…

Mostly, the abbreviations drop the vowels from the enhancement set name (mostly but not consistently). Here is list of the available enhancement sets by power category.

When you build up static charges, Tesla Cage will allow you to release the charges in a chain lightning like effect. Edit: Here are the patch notes.

I was sooooo disappointed on Live when I learned MMs did not get a patron pet option. I wanted more. More pets!!! (but no, only take on controllers and I haven’t gotten around to leveling a crab)

I like @biostem’s idea. With three builds, you’ll have some flexibility. For example, the Sherlock Holmes character might be built like a pool power build only on level 25 IOs taking almost none of the primary and secondary (mandatory level 1 and 2 picks notwithstanding). Supplement with temp powers for theme. Bonus points for tray switching binds for each change. Damn that’s a cool idea - tempting!!

I can only comment on Sonic. It is - nicely put - a little lackluster. I like it for some reason that I can’t really articulate (Necro/Sonic and Earth/Sonic Controller both of whom are incarnated out, and leveling a sonic/dark blast defender because of theme - listening to too much Cure so I wanted a goth kid character). Pros: You’ll have plenty of time to use your primary attacks and PPP/APP abilities. Some benefit to the MM also as Sonic Dispersion buffs you and gives you a bit of mez protection. Disruption Field pairs nicely with melee pets (which you have many to choose from!). There are also only 4 must-take powers - the 3 shields and Disruption Field. The rest is to taste. With all 3 pet uniques and fully slotted shields, your pets will capped to smashing, lethal, and cold, and be at ~75% resistance for the rest except psionic (a mere 35%). Cons: Liquify could be a great power but has a prohibitively long recharge. Endurance is a challenge, requiring thoughtful build choices to minimize the impact, especially if you want to avoid being lazy and going Cardiac for your Alpha (think this is a weak idea for MMs since it does next to nothing to help your pets melt face). Ignoring Liquify, it is a one trick pony for debuffs: -res (though it’s a nice trick). If you’re a player that is not inclined to resummon, you’ll also want some sort of heal. Either Heal Other or Spirit Ward will patch up well enough except on the highest difficulties. However, it locks you into a pool power that may not suit your theme or overall design. Also (and by no means do I have any experience slotting Beasts), it looks challenging to get all the protective pet uniques shoved in there while taking care of the rest of their slotting needs. All that said, sounds cool to me. Might have to try it!

No shame in that game. And keep some in email - just in case. At this point, why not always be eating candies. The more you eat, the more you get from defeats. Keep the boosts coming!

Oh man - need the sword. Of the 3, I vote Broad Sword - the animations are closer to the usual depicted style. But armor - Energy Aura. He sometimes absorbs energy blasts (or deflects with his sword); imagine Energy Drain is a good stand-in for that. But really in the end, need to set up some costume switching! **edit - and of course Scrapper (until tankers get energy aura - one can dream)

Same. Never rushed to get married as fast as this character. That and adding more KB protection since I just can’t. stop. hitting. the. Spacebar! Trying to decide between Dark Consumption (+) and Power Sink (-) as I don’t plan to have room for both.

@kyuwyn I checked my character in-game and realized I misremembered my Reverberant slotting: no Contagious Confusion proc. Instead Overwhelming Force proc for KD chance since almost everything it copies has a damage component. For leveling (had I to do it over again), I would slot the OWF proc and an Accuracy IO.

I don’t use Mids anymore (paper + pen + City of Data). But I have both sets separately on different controllers. I would not merge those builds though (Symphony/rad and plant/ta) since that would result in a massive mess. Symphony Very easy to set up containment with Aria of Stasis. Hymn of Dissonance (hold) and Impassioned Serenade are, when procced, very good blasts for a controller. In fact, almost ALL of the primary is good for proccing. The pet, however, is a pain to slot. Getting to 47 and opening up HOs was a blessing. I went with 2 Endoplasms, a Peroxisome, and (at 50) the purple Contagious Confusion proc. Leveling, I slotted an A/D pet piece followed by a level 30 Accuracy IO (at level 27). I solo about twice as much as I team on my symphony controller. Love the pet. It’s like the little dog talking smack while the big dog (my character) does the initial work. Blast/control with cones until the minions/lts are down, then juggle holds and confuses on remaining bosses. I’m finding +1/8 comfortable without incarnates for what it’s worth. Teaming is a chill breeze. Slotting the powers, I mainly frankenslot with various set pieces and procs except for Aria (6 Ice Mistral), Chords of Despair (4 Basilisk’s Gaze), and Confounding Chant (5 positron and additional proc). Trick Arrow Also very amenable for proccing. Entangling Arrow is likely the easiest to skip, followed by Glue Arrow and Poison Gas Arrow if you’re short on power selection slots. Good arguments can be made for keeping all of these powers (with the added benefit that they only *need* the base slot to work their secondary magic). Ice Arrow makes for an amazing damage power (1 Acc, 5 damage procs from hold and slow). If not proccing, also a good candidate to skip. Acid Arrow does well with procs, taking 2 -res and many damage. Build Factors But here’s the problem: EVERYTHING procs well. You’ll have to decide how best to meet your other build goals while balancing those options. These are the most likely culprits to consider: Global recharge is a must since recharge slotted in powers reduces the chance for procs to go off. And defense (mainly ranged followed by AOE) is desirable to avoid the worst of any debuffs. The combination likely works most efficiently as a hover blaster which has the added benefit of making your primary’s cones more effective by covering a larger area. Problem is that accounts for 6 powers right there; 7 with a “real” travel power; 8 with tactics of you want to skimp on accuracy for the rest of your powers. But, that’s 16-18 power choices from primary/secondary. Melodic Binding is easily skippable. That leaves dropping 1-3 from TA. Flash Arrow (fully slotted for ToHit debuff) can get you the equivalent of ~23-24 defense on an even level mob, half of which is unresistable. This puts your breakpoint for defense at ~21 (2 small purple inspirations or all of Flash Arrow), 32.5 (one small purple), or 34 (to meet the unresistable portion of Flash Arrow). With Hover (or combat jumping), slotted Maneuvers, both +3 defense uniques, and slotted Weave, defense will be about 19 across the board. Only leaves one pool power (likely speed for Hasten due to recharge needs). However, you’ll only need 2 powers with both a defense and recharge bonus to get over the ~21 hurdle (ATO catalyzed gives you 10%/5 range, and IcE Mistral’s Torment 6.25/3.75% AOE). Very efficient. Aria of Stasis is a good candidate for the latter. Alternatively, you can slot a full Lockdown set in either EMP Arrow or Chords of Despair (3.75 range/2.5AoE) and call it done on the defense end. For recharge, biggest concerns will likely be ensuring Confounding Chant and Oil Slick Arrow are up as much as possible. 90/180 seconds respectively. Oil Slick doesn’t really proc well so it can take a lot of recharge slotting or a set with lots of recharge. Confounding can take a little - around 45 or so before it has a negative influence on proc chances (if I remember my calculations correctly - double check Bopper’s spreadsheet to be sure). I think your combo is cool and has lots of goodies to get stuff done. If you’re mainly teaming, none of the above is critical. I tend to market and slot as I go, especially by level 27, so YMMV. Since I went with Rad as my secondary, I found the recharge a little easier to build for, aiming for 32.5 range defense and 21ish AOE. I hope this all helps and good luck/happy hunting!

Quick shout-out to the Tanker Tuesday crew for some teaching-by-example on the use of taunt to pull BIIIIIGGGGG groups together. Great lesson for those of us who are a little late to the tanker party. So yeah, thanks @Warboss and @PLVRIZR and the rest of the crew!

Shiii… that’s my accolade range with worse defenses and resistances. Time for a rebuild. Thanks for the info!

Some of the most enjoyable exchanges have been had in an AE farm. Bonus points for making the farmer lose their rhythm from laughter.

I’m thinking katana might suit theme better, all things being equal. Elric read faster to me somehow in his diffidence. Also a classic scrapper pairing with similar mechanics to BS albeit faster activation times.