Gulbasaur

I had a mind/storm controller on live and on HC and I've always enjoyed the combination. It's very hands-on, with strong hard and soft control, although mind/ really, really benefits from recharge as the AoE hold has a recharge time of ten million years. The fear cone is outstanding and confuse is something you love or hate - it's a total game-changer when you learn to spot the mobs that confuse well as many will buff or heal your team. It's also quite proc-friendly, so you can turn control AoEs into damage ones. I find debuff sets work well on controllers as you can be very combat focused. Storm is very "embrace the chaos", but it's very powerful in good hands.

Yeah... masterminds are very different! I could never get my head around them because I'm a run-at-it-screaming kinda guy. It's useful to know how defence works in this game. Here is a decent explanation but basically, for probability purposes, you get 50% "for free" so 45% defence means an even level minion will only hit you once every twenty attempts (you have a 95% chance to not get hit). Minions, lieutenants, bosses, elite bosses etc all have different modifiers and the difference in level is taken into account, as well as ToHit buffs and debuffs... but 45% is a lot and more than 60% is really a lot. At 45% defence, a +4 AV will still only hit you about one in every ten attempts. Widows can tank most AVs very easily because of this. Maneuvers gives you 3.5% defence without any enhancements, so lets say with enhancements it's 8%. If you run it and TT:M, that's 16% that you give to your teammates, which is pretty decent. If you add Mind Link, you're giving them about an extra 15% on top - that's 31% defence, which is incredibly generous. At 50, most people have at least some defence of their own from IO sets and almost every tank will have over 20% defence even if they're a pure damage resistance set. Even if you're not building for it, it's quite easy to build up about 10% defence across the board by accident. Defence can be debuffed, which happens mostly in incarnate level stuff and the shadow shard, but it's not common enough to be a risk unless you're soloing as lots of teammates will also take Maneuvers and you need to take multiple shots of it to really be in danger (hence a problem solo) but you have pretty decent resistances so it shouldn't flatten you unless you really get in over your head. It's also pretty common for people to take the Barrier incarnate power, which gives massive boosts to defence and damage resistance. Also, remember that lots of toggles can absolutely hammer your endurance, so you'll need to plan for that. This guide is really helpful to working out how to get the best bang for your buck for endurance. For magnitudes, this is really helpful. Mag 3 will usually immobilise a boss (and some AVs), although some have more protection. Your goals are great, but I think you'd find a bit more balance if you scaled it back a bit. Again, take a look at the fortunata stuff - you lose some melee options and Mind Link becomes harder to make perma, but you gain a lot of control and some decent AoE damage. Also, I really rate Rebirth Destiny and Melee Hybrid as survival incarnate powers as they patch up the main problems of no healing and medium damage resistance.

You weren't kidding. I can see what you're trying to do, but 76-84% positional defences is absurdly high for most of the game. The "soft cap" is 45%, with around 60% being really, really high for most circumstances... unless you're soloing against enemies who debuff defence a lot, you really don't need it that high. For reference, I have lower defences (~50-60% with Mind Link, ~35-45% without - not perma) and lower damage resistance (~15-20% avg without Hybrid or scaling dam res buffs) and I can solo AVs. I can even tank for squishy ATs and hold aggro. For general gameplay purposes, you don't need that much defence. I've literally only had my defence drop significantly once and that was solo in the shadow shard being hit by multiple debuffs when I pulled extra mobs... teammates usually have you covered as Maneuvers is such a common power at 50 that it's not usually a problem. I get what you're doing... but don't make yourself so defensive you stop being able to fight. If you want to be more team support, maybe try out a fortunata build for the extra control powers - AoE confuse, hold, stud and knockdown powers are great damage mitigation. Also, Mask Presence has such a low endurance cost and two thirds of the defence is lost when you enter combat - if you can cope with the loss of the set bonuses, I'd just leave the LOTG recharge enhancement in there and use the two slots somewhere else. Also, from experience Superior Dominion of Arachnos - Recharge/Chance for -Dmg and Terrorize is best used in an AoE because it procs often enough to be used as damage mitigation - I use it in Psychic Scream on my fortunata and it quite often drops the fear effect on 4 enemies or so at once. Maybe even Electrifying Fences? The payoff is a drop in tox and psi resistance, but you have psi resistance at cap so it'd really be toxic damage. Personally, I'd say it was worth it for the extra control - it limits enemies attacking to once every five seconds. tldr: If I was making this, I'd drop the fighting pool entirely, lower defence by about 10-15% overall, use Mask Presence as a one-slot wonder and move the chance for Terrorize to an AoE. I'd think really hard about dropping the leadership pool, too.

I've had this happen as well.

Awesome! I'm copying your idea and trying Posi 1 and 2 solo at +0x1 on the V3 build. Not glamorous or too challenging, but a fine test run and I actually get to read the clues and stuff solo. The fear proc in Psychic Scream turns it into excellent crowd control, albeit a bit random. When it hits, it's a nice survivability bonus as enemies just stop attacking you. Really glad I moved this attack to earlier - excellent value cone attack and the proc just makes it better. Dr Vaz spawns as an AV - envenomed dagger was incredibly useful (but I reckon I could have done it without) and I turned on Stephenie Peebles' wedding band for a bit of extra protection. I also used the backup radio, but my backup immediately went off to punch a random zombie and was of no use at all. That power really needs the pet control menu from the Lore pets to be useful. Vaz's AI seems to be programmed to move back to the centre of the raised platform every now and again, which is pretty irritating if you knock him (or he just walks off, as happened a few times - not a huge amount of common sense, even if he does have a doctorate) off as he seems to either fly or teleport back up there (not sure which - he just suddenly wasn't there). The ambushes that spawn can do a bit of damage as they explode, but you can separate them from Vaz very easily and AoE them down. I survived it, chomping down about half my inspirations on the way, mostly due to the ambush mobs. That's my second solo AV done with this character, which is pretty satisfying. Positron 1 (L15): Only hairy moments were when I faced a lot of enemies at once, which isn't really unusual for the level. My Domination isn't quite the one-shot wonder of yours, but it's still solid. Doc Buzzsaw got me good once, but she fell down quickly enough. I was expecting the Atlas Park final mission to be awful but it was actually a merry romp. Seeing it with such low spawns was interesting. No problems at all. Positron 2: Main difference is significantly higher defence - maybe foresight comes on? Not sure, but either way 20-30% defence at level 16 is tanker-tier. Absolute cakewalk. I realise the difficulty was low, but exemplared, it's very strong and has a solid attack chain with a reasonable degree of control and really, really high defence and resistance for the level. And yes, Psychic Wail is completely disproportionate in how powerful it is. I'm sure nukes used to wipe your endurance out... also also, just checked City of Data and the i25 patch notes, and it looks like Dominate still lacks a positional tag. I'd noticed it was effective against MoG'd paragon protectors, so that's useful to know.

Swap the Numina proc for the Panacea one (or even use both if you can find a slot somewhere). It works out slightly better over time, even it comes in lumps rather than a steady flow. I found this guide really helpful. Don't forget you can use enhancement boosters to get up to 5 "extra" levels in normal IOs - use them to shave off endurance in TT:A and boost up the EndMod in Stamina. It's a bit spendy, but it's worth it. Mask Presence has a fairly low defence buff when you're in combat - about two thirds of the defence value is suppressed and it's very cheap to run so your two /EndRed enhancements aren't particularly efficient there - it's like being given a discount and then using it on the cheapest thing in the store. It really is a one-slot wonder, in my opinion. . You might be better off moving a slot to make room for Panacea, or adding an endurance reduction to something else? It looks like your attacks are mostly 5-slotted so your 3 most used attacks could possibly be cheaper a bit - reducing endurance cost in attacks is usually better over time than reducing endurance cost of toggles. Foresight takes damage resist sets, and Unbreakable Guard has a 2.5% global endurance discount on 2 slots. It's not a lot, but it's something.

The fact that people are using my builds as a guide is nice to know. I think the backbone of it is definitely the power choices more than the IOs and yeah, it definitely does well solo. I've settled down on the third version of the build, which exemplars down a bit better because it has an AoE, which I was really missing. It's still an absurd powerhouse at top level. For the IOs, I'd focus on getting the really unique ones first. The fear proc in psychic scream is really, really good and the global toxic damage one is fine. It's nice when it goes off with other procs, which happens reasonably often. The one I think I get the most bang for my buck for is definitely the Preventative Medicine one, though. With the scaling damage resistances, it just means that getting injured isn't really a problem. Glad you're enjoying it!

The Attributes window does occasionally bug or not include things. I have seen that Hybrid incarnate powers occasionally just don't get added onto the total but appear on the list. Also, you might have been unlucky. The fact that is doesn't stack with Hasten is weird - maybe it just doesn't stack with any recharge buffs. Bonfire, probably, but because of it resetting the timer every time it procs, it's probably those two working together to keep you fired up with +recharge.

Version 3: More AoE, reordering This is basically the last version - main notes are slight reordering of powers so I have an AoE earlier for flashback reasons. Subdue has been swapped out for Total Domination, which is filled with procs to make it more impactful - it has a very long recharge time. I've really enjoyed playing with this build, and thanks everyone for feedback. It's still absurdly powerful and this is the best I've got without dipping too much into glass cannon or mighty glacier territory. Like all the epic ATs, it's a master of none (though I've solod AVs), but if you're playing an epic AT that's probably what you want.

I'm a clicker too. Same thing, different interface. That will create a button labelled TP that will send you 100yds forward to the centre of the camera. /macro_image "SorceryPool_Translocation" "Translocation" "powexec_location camera:max translocation" This should give you a little translocation icon that you can click on to teleport (while flying). I'm about to respec to give myself Total Domination, which will be V3 of the build... not sure how it'll go. Anyway...

Fair. I want all four melee because of the redraw and the 3 range are useful in flashbacks, which I'm mostly running solo. They're separate attack chains, if that makes sense, and I'm not sure what I'd replace it with. I'm a peacebringer at heart, so maybe I just like the versatility when exemplared down... What would you swap out? I'm always open to suggestions. I suppose Scream or Tornado could come forwards and TT:Assault could be put back... I have toyed with the idea of swapping one out for total domination, but I've never felt like I needed it and the levels don't match up, and psychic scream could probably come forwards a bit.

Okay, poorly phrased. "Not something anyone could do" - it's meant to be a team enterprise.

This isn't City of Tank. If the tank can't cope with an entirely predictable game mechanic, they need to lighten up a little bit and, in my opinion, learn to work in teams better. Tanks don't get some magical pass to allow them to tell other people how to play. Yes, you should use knockback sensibly as it can disrupt the play of others and knock baddies out of AoEs, but also you are allowed to use it - it's a great mechanic as it's basically a short-term hold (stops attacks while they get up) and can be used as active damage mitigation. 95% of the time, a decent tank will just retarget the nearest enemy and carry on doing what they do. If they absolutely can't do that, then they can press F to follow while you go round the back and knock them back into any AOE patches you might have left behind. That's usually more of a concern than a tank having to react to combat for a second. A really, really clever tank could even TP the enemy back to where they need them. I play a few melee ATs and I have tanked on more than one of them and, honestly, there are more important things to worry about other than demanding that other people play for the tank's convenience. It's not that bad. You just retarget once in a while. Taunts usually come with a range reduction debuff, so enemies will almost always run into melee anyway. With the Dwarf flare - if you're using it, you're probably already tanking. I tend to shift into Dwarf mostly if a tank, usually a brute, has bitten off more than they can chew and take aggro off them for a few seconds. In this case, the knockback is absolute solid gold because it pretty much shuts down combat in an AoE while enemies take their time standing up. That's usually enough to stop a teammate from faceplanting and pull control back. tldr: You need to think about where you blast. Tanks just need to suck it up.

This game is phenomenally unbalanced since Going Rogue and it just gets worse with IOs - couldn't agree with you more. In current playstyle, minions don't even register on most people's radar past about level 40 - they're just a minor annoyance waiting to be converted into rewards. Allowing more of them to be tackled by a tank at once won't do anything other than reduce risk and increase rewards. I remember the "watch the tanker collect a map full of warwolves days" - it was great to hang out with your supergroup and chat, but it wasn't challenging at all. I would actually say it was the opposite - you were never at risk as long as the tanker was upright. Blasters at 50 aren't glass cannons any more - they've got 30% global resists and defences nearing cap. As soon as you have the inf to cover your expenses, you've beaten the game. I got to 50 on about i12? and rolling a kheldian was amazing because you could pull a group of mobs at range and take the fallout if you hit dwarf in time - at the time, nothing in the game came close to being able to do both. The average tanker who has even glanced at a guide is functionally indestructible. Brutes aren't too far behind and can do obscene amounts of damage. I've tanked AVs on my widow - Yes, they have high defence, but tanking AVs is supposed end-game difficulty. Of all the balance issues the game has (tankers being unable to compete with brutes is being worked on, stalkers got a big boost that pushed them into scrapper territory and then out the other side, defenders have struggled to compete since controllers got double-damage and GR just made it worse with corruptors and masterminds being able to do almost as good a job but adding more damage to a team, it's almost trivial to add defence to a resistance set but not the other way round, enhancements aren't available at all for several buffs and debuffs)... the aggro cap is like the lowest one down there, in my opinion. I wonder if there is a way to add a temporary override to taunt click powers, in the same way that happens in some ambushes, like a guaranteed "next attack is at me" control power.

The simplest way of thinking about it is that, behind the scenes, it applies one enhancement of whatever value to every power that will take it. So, if you take that branch of musculature, it'll be like putting a damage enhancement in any power that takes one and a damage debuff enhancement in any power that takes one.

Do you need Tough, Maneuvers, Assault and Hasten? That's a lot of toggle, and you probably don't need Maneuvers on top of Mind Link if you've got Hasten. Do you need superspeed and superjump? You can put a stealth proc in sprint and run the L20 stealth power for either some more defence or a proc mule. You only have five single-target attacks, which is very, very low, and one is picked up very late. Do you have anything that resembles an attack chain?

In the nicest possible way, what did you expect them to be? Most powersets basically do one thing. Unless you've come from one of the epic archetypes (which are all hybrids), almost all powersets are one of the following: support, control DPS, melee DPS, range DPS or protection. Masterminds and dominators each have one hybrid powerset. Most blaster secondaries are very powerful melee attacks, usually with a debuff, with Build Up later on. Tactical Arrow has a lot of debuff and soft control and Devices offers a little bit of everything if you absolutely don't want to get into melee range.

Yeah, the envenomed dagger is really good for taking down AVs. You can pretty much see its effects on the health bar, which is really good. I don't think it works on every AV, but when it does it really, really does. Stephanie Peeble's wedding ring is great on paper, but I never really use it in practice. Maybe if I was soloing an AV or tanking on my fortunata (it has happened) I'd whip it back out, but it's almost too good to use, in a way. The backup radio is pretty useful, as is the warwolf whistle and Amy's Ward and other summons. With the Lore pets, you've got an instant army which can be really useful while soloing. If you have support powers, you can turn them into five minutes of absurdity as you absolutely wreck enemies for as long as you keep your gang alive.

YESSS. Savage melee is ridiculously fun because it just feels frantic and awesome. It feels like you're always in like Turbo Aggression Mode. Personally, I think nothing beats human form peacebringers for sheer explosive awesomeness - their effects burn bright and hit hard and knockback is fun, dammit. I have a love-hate relationship with playing as a kheldian (fun to level because as you level you literally turn into a different archetype about three times, but I ran out of steam at 50), but I think very little beats them in terms of awesome visuals. That flash of light is strangely addictive. It's a shame that people get so raged up by knockback, because for sheer rule of cool nothing quite beats punching a boss across a room in a blinding flash of light and dawn strike is just epic when it goes off. It looks like a sort of orbital strike.

As boring as it is, I went with musculature. It's not glamorous, but it allows you to cover a few IO-set sins so you can focus more on survivability through bonuses. A huge amount of my survival tactics are "it can't hurt me if I take it down first". That said, I can see the argument for cardiac. If you're happy with your damage, you can certainly build up your overall tankiness - both EndRed and DamRes will allow you to just keep on going for longer. So, glass cannon or mighty glacier. Pick whichever you think would get the most from. Personally, from experimenting with my stalker, I found I got more bang for my buck with musculature as survival became less of an issue and the endurance problems can mostly be addressed with IOs and set bonuses, so I just went straight for musculature on my fortunata. The other one I think I get the most from is the melee hybrid - it's worth getting to T4 for the resistance bonuses, but I got to that point after deciding I was happy with my damage output and didn't really know what else to take.

Very true. The unique shtick of the VEATs is that they each fork into two different sub-ATs at 24 in a mandatory respec that gives you different options for lower levels. Widows can become Night Widows, which are stalkers with some control, or Fortunatas which are controller/dominators with melee options. They all have stealth and strong team buffs (basically Leadership with a huge endurance discount). Until then, they're basically scrappers with a few ranged attacks. Because of the weird respec, they play differently in flashback missions than they did levelling, with more access to control powers. If you can tough it out to level 24 as a support scrapper, you're in for a good time from that point onwards. Warning: They're very scrappery until you get the magic L24 respec, when you suddenly gain a load of single-target control powers. I have a tried-and-tested melee/control build that you are welcome to have a look at, but be warned it only works from the L24 respec onwards. My fortunata plays like a mind controller with nukes, claws and armour. Single and AoE holds, single and Aoe confuse, a couple of powers from psi assault, claw attacks and enough defence to tank AVs. About the most fun I've had at top level. The support side is from the TT:Leadership buffs (<Defender, >controller) and Mind Link, which is an absurdly powerful defence buff. Your first costume slot is your uniform - all of the others work normally. You have to start redside, but that's where your redemption arc begins, so raise yourself up from humble beginnings and fight your way to the side of good if you want to.

If I remember correctly, it's mainly the Carnies who do that and it's the mind control-like and illusions related stuff... but it's such a niche thing that I really, really wouldn't worry about it.

I'm going to invite you over to the dark side and suggest you roll a fortunata widow - it's a combination of mind control, psi assault and claws scrapper with strong team buffs and absurdly good survivability for its damage capabilities. It's 70% controller, 30% stalker, which makes for a very varied playstyle.

Oh, definitely. Understanding the core mechanics of range, patches (don't stand in them) and aggro (don't be the first to shoot if you won't survive the first shot back) are huge. Tanks can only get aggro if you let them get it. If you jump the gun, you deal with the consequences. Understanding the priority list for threat helps - the game is quite forgiving in that the sturdiest archetypes get priority, so once aggro has been established it's pretty safe to be a squishy... but if you're the only one attacking, you're the only target.

I mean, my build works but it's not the only build that works. Give it a try and report back. I do wonder what you're trying to do with psi defence specifically - positionals should trump it on every occasion.