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shushilady

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Everything posted by shushilady

  1. This was my thought process when I rolled my poison/DP defender. From a numbers perspective it sounds *great*, but when it comes to actual gameplay poison doesn't work as smoothly. Realistically, Weaken won't debuff enough of the spawn to mitigate the alpha strike on anything higher than x1, and because the splash effect only applies half of the debuff values to adjacent mobs it's not potent enough to neuter the mobs that do get hit. I thought that the set would improve after picking up Venomous Gas for the complimentary debuffing, but unlike Time's Juncture (which has a built in slow and a larger radius of 25 vs VG's 15) there's no inherent way to keep mobs in the area of effect. Poison trap is great for damage, but as a hold or personal survivability tool (which is what the set really needs IMO), it is unreliable, even with a lockdown proc. At higher levels of difficulty the hold is especially underwhelming. I like Neurotoxic Breath, but applying it to any meaningful portion of the spawn requires jumping way out of melee range because the cone is so narrow. This wouldn't be a problem if VG's effects lingered for a few seconds, but as it stands now mobs will definitely get a few pot-shots in. If one of those shots happens to mez, it's essentially face plant time. Opening with Neurotoxic Breath is a no-go, because even though enemy recharge is shot to hell that first volley is gonna HURT, and unlike most other primaries, poison doesn't have a way of recovering from that damage. With all that said, teams do clear much faster when I'm around. The only problem is that VG draws a lot of aggro if it tags something before the tank, and because I'm in melee range often I get *skewered* by AoEs. On higher difficulties it doesn't take many AoEs to put me down. I could hang back and debuff from range, but then I'd be missing out on the great debuffs of VG. I agree that the set does have a lot of potential with significant IO investment, but I don't want to invest that much in a set that feels so clunky out of the box. IOing is also trickier for poison because it doesn't have any inherent survivability tools to build on outside of its potent, but unwieldy, debuffs.
  2. There's a thread going on in the Defender forums that might give you some insight into the set (https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,5910.0.html). I've been leveling a poison/dp defender who is currently sitting at 35, and while the debuffs are strong the set has some significant flaws in teams and solo. For example, applying venomous gas without getting stunned and nuked immediately, or the slow projectile travel speed on Alkaloid making it a clumsy heal.
  3. Update at level 34 on Poison/Dual Pistols: -Thought about shelving the character, but I decided to wait until picking up venomous gas. Well, I got it yesterday and it is...underwhelming. The debuff values are great and promising in theory, but with a 15' radius the power requires that I get uncomfortably close to the action for the debuffs to take effect. I regularly got pounded by AoEs and stuns when I edged close to the action to apply it. Drawing aggro was a problem too if the mobs hadn't been taunted or otherwise engaged yet. -If it weren't for the "spines" sound effect on venomous gas, I wouldn't know that it was being applied. There's no clear visual zone of delineation between "debuffed" and "not being debuffed anymore and about to kill you", unlike with powers such as hurricane, time's juncture, or choking cloud. I've found this to be a theme with the whole set actually. There's not a ton of visual feedback about who has been debuffed, which makes spreading the love efficiently a bit of guessing game on a full team. -For solo-ing mez=death. The gas gets toggled off and since the debuffs don't linger the mobs start hitting again right away. I've started carrying a tray of breakfrees. Feel a bit like a blaster, but without the damage or snazzy protection toggle. The set would really benefit from some position tools to make the most of the debuffs and venomous gas' small radius. -Still struggling to deal with alphas, especially as more and more mobs have mez. Council vampires, for example, ruin my day if they don't get held by the gas trap--which is unreliable, even with the lockdown proc. I could target my debuffs on mezzers to initiate, but even then that leaves other mobs un-debuffed to wreck my face (e.g., the Warwolf throwing concrete at me), and doesn't solve the de-toggling problem. I'll be picking up my ST hold when I respec, but if there are multiple mezzers or other hard hitting mobs it's still a crap shoot. -On the bright side: the -dmg stacking from chemical ammo, weaken, and venomous gas is pretty great. A +3 Warwolf boss swiped me for ~65 damage, after knocking me for about 4 times that earlier in the fight. My ambivalence is resolving into a big nope, which is unfortunate since I like the char concept and I love defenders. A different secondary that offers more control and safety would probably help the situation. Dark especially, with its self-heal, -acc, and TT would be a great pairing. I could also see the set improving with incarnates and a lot of investment for ranged defense, but that's time and influence I'd rather save for a power-set that feels good out of the box.
  4. How important is building for recharge on poison? I'm imagining some kind of envenom/weaken debuff machine gun build. Having poison trap up more often seems like it would be...OK, but I'm still figuring out what role the power has in the set. The set doesn't really offer much in terms of personal survivability, so I'm wondering if building for +def takes priority over +recharge. Obviously both would be great, but for a budget build what should I shoot for?
  5. Made a Poison/DP yesterday and got up to level 12 by pewpewing my way through the KR arcs. My thinking with DP is to double down on the damage debuffs with chemical ammunition, with the added option of switching to -res (piercing rounds/Achilles proc in pistols) and -def with normal ammo. Venomous gas with hail of bullets also seems like it would be fun too. However, as much as I like the idea in theory, I'm not sure I'll be getting to 38 on this char. Poison just feels clunky. Some specific thoughts: -No real way to mitigate alphas. The radius on weaken is tiny, and it still has to hit to take effect. I could open with envenom to reduce defense before applying weaken, but that still leaves me open to attack before the -tohit is applied. In any case, the -tohit debuff is quite weak (compared to other, similar tier debuffs) at ~10% for adjacent mobs. -Without any healing or self-buffs, there's no way to recover from the alpha. The self-heal from dark blast or water blast would have been a pretty nice compliment had either of those sets fit my character thematically. -Coming from storm and rad, I'm not used to my debuffs missing. It happens enough at +0/x0 to be obnoxious, although I haven't slotted for accuracy yet. Given how central debuffs are to the set, each miss feels like a big WOMP. Tactics might be good here, but I'm reluctant to add toggles into the build because... -Debuffs are expensive! Weaken and envenom are both 10.5 endurance a cast, and I spam them a lot to spread the debuff love. I'll have to dedicate some slotting for end reduction (probably just one), and slots for accuracy, which means there will be less slots to dedicate to enhancing the debuff values themselves. Some creative frankenslotting is probably called for here. -Neurotoxic breath is nice, but the duration is shorter than I expected at 20 seconds. See it mostly as a way of keeping mobs close together. The hold happens more often than I thought, but it's so short and unreliable (and unenhanceable for that matter) as to be a non-factor. The arc is also narrow at 30 degrees, and hitting the whole group means getting closer than I'd like to at level 12. -Aside from venomous gas, there aren't any other powers to look forward to. The res, ST hold, and clear mind aren't exciting to me. Poison trap seems like an unreliable hold with a bizarre -end component--maybe elec blast could capitalize on it. Not sure what my long term build goals would be for this char. Maybe ranged defense, but venomous is going to put me in melee quite a bit...
  6. I played ar/dev back on live and it was fun, but I think I've had my fill of devices. Do you have a sense of any other secondaries that mesh well with beam rifle? Sounds like targeting drone and field operative would be hard to give up.
  7. Also, the activation time on irradiate is MUCH faster than electron haze. Plus the -def in an AoE (vs a narrowish cone) is pretty huge, esp with the higher debuff values that defenders get. Nice to hit irradiate for the -def right before you kaboom yourself with atomic blast. You probably won't get a ton of use out of proton volley on fast moving teams, and with all your buffs those are the only kind of teams you're gonna be on 8) Now, with all that said back on live I took electron haze AND proton volley, because I love the rad animations and the pew pew noises.
  8. I had a /traps corrupter on live and remember it being a great set to put a bunch of cheapish procs in. Acid Mortar, for example, can take the chance for -res proc from Achilles Heel and the chance for hold proc from Devastation. When you consider that the mortar hits as an AoE and fires on its own every few seconds (meaning you can be doing other things), it can get kind of silly. The mortar is also real tanky, even without your bubble, and with enough recharge you can have more than one up at once. Any enemy that is targeting your mortar isn't hitting you or your team. I also vaguely remember some shenanigans with poison trap and procs. Something to do with the mini-pet and how the chance for hold tics work--maybe someone else remembers? Also, I totally second the -chance for knockdown in caltrops. With how often it ticks and how strong the slow is you can get baddies flopping pretty regularly. I never found a use for time bomb. Trip mine was circumstantial. It is a bit of a bummer that the two top tier powers of the set are kind of meh. That said, traps is great once it gets rolling. Just needs a bit of investment in terms of time/money. I agree about the set being more proactive than re-active. It's a bit like storm in that it shines when it is able to disrupt mobs. I'm not sure what secondary I'd choose now, but since traps has less essential powers than other primaries it does give you more freedom for pool powers/secondary powers. **Also, traps doesn't have a single toggle. The set is very endurance light, which just gives you more freedom to explore pools/secondaries. I kind of want to go make a traps defender now in fact :)
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