Best Builds for Solo

[Lockpick]

What are currently the best builds to solo hard content?  I would like to build one character to solo TFs, AVs, and GMs.  I expect to sink a ton of inf into this build, so would like to get the highest performance build to do content I have not been able to do previously.

 

I played predominately scrappers on live and on Homecoming I have leveled a SOA (Huntsman), 2 Blasters (DP/MC & DP/EM), a Sentinel (DP/Ninjitsu), and a Stalker (SJ/SR) to 50.  I have read that Dominators are good for solo, but have never leveled one.  I had a level 50 Illusion / Radiation Controller on live, but even though he was IO'ed I couldn't solo TFs, AVs, and GMs back then.

 

Basically I need the easy mode build to be able to do the TF/AV/GM content, so I can start doing it and then I can try more challenging builds once I gone through solo with the easy mode build.  I appreciate the feedback!

[Without_Pause]

3 minutes ago, Lockpick said:

I had a level 50 Illusion / Radiation Controller on live, but even though he was IO'ed I couldn't solo TFs, AVs, and GMs back then.

Curious to know how that was built.

[MunkiLord]

Easy mode for this would likely be a Scrapper capable of soft capping defenses. DM/SR is stupidly easy to softcap with high recharge, but it's primary advantage would be the massive DDR. That is what I started with when going for AVs and Task Forces.

[Lockpick]

3 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

Curious to know how that was built.

Back then I used Local Man's guide for the build.

 

http://guidescroll.com/2011/07/city-of-heroes-illusionradiation-controller-guide/

[Lockpick]

2 minutes ago, MunkiLord said:

Easy mode for this would likely be a Scrapper capable of soft capping defenses. DM/SR is stupidly easy to softcap with high recharge, but it's primary advantage would be the massive DDR. That is what I started with when going for AVs and Task Forces.

 Would you be able to do Lady Grey TF with a scrapper?  Seems like the Hami couldn't be done without some holds.

[MunkiLord]

19 minutes ago, Lockpick said:

 Would you be able to do Lady Grey TF with a scrapper?  Seems like the Hami couldn't be done without some holds.

This is a good point. Probably need to find a Scrapper primary that has some sort of hold to stack with one from the epic pools.

 

Ice Blaster would be a possible choice as it has two fast recharging holds, ranged damage, and almost all secondaries with a strong melee or three. Staying alive for Hami being the biggest obstacle. But I was able to do a solo Master ITF with an Ice/Fire, and someone else did it with at Ice/Fire at +4x8 difficulty. 

[Yomo Kimyata]

29 minutes ago, Lockpick said:

What are currently the best builds to solo hard content?  I would like to build one character to solo TFs, AVs, and GMs.  I expect to sink a ton of inf into this build, so would like to get the highest performance build to do content I have not been able to do previously.

Well, since TFs major stumbling block are the AVs and GMs, I’d say that your major stumbling block would be -regen.  The easy path is make the most damage heavy melee character you enjoy, then buy a few hundred envenomed daggers.

[Extor Prime]

Ill/Cold. Arguably a straight upgrade to Ill/Rad. Trade-off is that you have to lean heavier on +rech bonus sets (because no AM) and don't have a heal.

 

And it's a bitch to level until you get Heat Loss, but nothing that recovery serum could not help.

[Seigmoraig]

How would a /Dark MM do in this regard ?
/Dark has some -to hit, some - res and some - regen and a single target hold.
Just curious as I have recently rolled a Demon/Dark and it seems /Dark has all the aforementioned points covered

Edited October 3, 2019 by Seigmoraig

[oxmox]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cityofheroes/comments/cwnoqs/solo_build_for_challenging_content/

 

Reddit thread from a little while ago on the same topic may give you some ideas.

 

Ill/Rad controllers are the OG AV/GM solo heroes, I'm sure that with some adjustments to your build or playstyle you could've taken them down solo.

[Snakebit]

Has anyone Solo'd the Market Crash?

 

I was talking with a friend tonight about duo'ing the TF and can't make up my mind if I should suggest 2 solo capable scrappers or a brute and a support.  It'll come down to budget I guess,  I've got 120m to spend but probably don't have a toon that would be a lot of help in an AV fight, except maybe an Ice/Rad corruptor, but the adds... Traps seems iffy because of the AoE. 

 

Anyway, what's your thoughts?

[nihilii]

IIRC the Market Crash robot isn't affected by -regen, so that's something to consider when attempting to solo it with a toon that relies heavily on -regen. But just about any duo should do. With 2 melee you can swap aggro between the two of you, which is very useful because the robot stacks -maxHP on the target he's attacking, until you're low enough you get oneshotted.

[Murcielago]

Anything with -Regen is going to be the best at solo'ing hard content. It's the ultimate debuff. 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Murcielago

[Coyote]

I'll second Illusion/Cold at the top end, though it's only tops once you get a lot of +Recharge.

Illusion/Storm is also excellent... just took down Jurassik so it can handle GM regen (with an envenomed dagger, but I was also 43 so once Incarnate it should be able to discard the dagger).

Illusion/Rad should also be solid, I remember taking down GMs with one on Live.

 

Other options are Mind/Psy Dominator... perma-Hold or perma-Confuse the target, and use Drain Psyche to keep it from regenerating much while you work on it. Also Fire/Psy, though without Confuse to start the fight it will be more dangerous until you stack enough Hold magnitude.

 

Note that Bio Armor also has some -Regen, so a melee character with Bio and the Envenomed Dagger should be able to stack enough -Regen to handle GMs.

 

Fire/Dark Affinity Controllers may also be quite good... DA has such strong debuffing that it even neuters AVs, and with its -Regen and the damage from Fire it should be able to beat Regen values.

[subbacultchas]

Always Titan/Bio scrapper with envenomed dagger, and my personal preference of Water Spout epic (double -res procs).

 

[Tahliah]

Heh, when I first saw the topic title my initial reaction was ice/ice blaster. Of course!  Great solo toon: Super dps, great mitigation, good holds.  But for GMs, there's only a few that work, and everyone has named them.  I would add an ill/kin, but I think that others are right that ill/cold is better (see my point about /ice /cold mitigation). 

[Sniffie1982]

Can't believe no1 mentioned illu/traps. Sure its expensive to get perma PA but it blows up mobs and av's all the same.

[DR_Mechano]

On 10/4/2019 at 5:57 PM, subbacultchas said:

Always Titan/Bio scrapper with envenomed dagger, and my personal preference of Water Spout epic (double -res procs).

 

The funny thing is, and I can personally atest to this. TW/Bio scrappers don't NEED envenomed dagger or -regen. They output such a ridiculous amount of damage that they flat out just beat AV regen rates. Considering my TW/Bio scrapper has gone up against level 54 AVs without those temp powers and just blasted through them is kind of ridiculous but very fun.

 

If you're dead set on soloing GMs. Slap in the Longbow Cataphract lore pet for that sweet, sweet -250% regen AND throw envenomed daggers at it.

Edited March 8, 2020 by DR_Mechano

[Heraclea]

For general mission running, I would suggest pairing a debuffing armor set like Bio (your self heal does -REGEN, which will be very handy trying to do what you want) with a debuffing melee set like Kinetic (-DMG), Dark Melee (-ToHit), Radiation (-DEF). 

 

The more interesting question is which AT to put them on?  Scrapper and brute are the obvious choices, but I would instead suggest Stalker.  Stalkers excel at running story arc style content by their ability to beeline to mission objectives while avoiding unnecessary combat.  Their single target burst damage capacities won't allow you to one shot any AVs but can't hurt either. 

[Sovera]

Though it is  not a combo I have played I'm going out on a limb and say Dark Melee/Shield. Shield has an easy time reaching the soft cap and has decent resistances. It does not have a heal but DM provides it. What makes me say /Shield instead of /Bio (despite 95% of my characters being /Bio) is that /Bio has a bit fat zero for defense debuff resistances whiled /Shield has 65% and higher depending on the AT. Anything that throws debuffs from Banished Pantheon to Crey to Cimerorans can eat most of my /Bios, and while they rarely do so is more because of AoE burst, CC, and knowing what is coming.

 

My /Fire Tankers and Brutes are also pretty sturdy but have big holes versus debuffs, though less of a problem since little debuffs resistances. But being put into a crawl with nullified recharge can and has been done with the excessive use of pre-emptive force the usual solution.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Sovera

[Snarky]

I have a few tricked out builds.  If I had to pick one to do all stuff with it would be my Dark/Invul Brute:

 

Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Snarky: Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury(7)
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(7), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(9), UnbGrd-Max HP%(9), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(11), GldArm-3defTpProc(11)
Level 2: Shadow Maul -- SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(17)
Level 4: Temp Invulnerability -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(21), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(23), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(23)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 8: Dull Pain -- NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(A), Mrc-Heal/Rchg(25)
Level 10: Siphon Life -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(27), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Hct-Acc/Rchg(29), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Hct-Dam%(31)
Level 12: Resist Elements -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(31), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 14: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A)
Level 16: Unyielding -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(33), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(34), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(36)
Level 20: Resist Energies -- RctArm-ResDam(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(37), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg(37), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 22: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(39), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(39), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(40), Rct-ResDam%(40)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(40), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Arm-Acc/Rchg(42), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Arm-Dam%(43)
Level 28: Invincibility -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(45), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(45)
Level 35: Tough Hide -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 38: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 41: Gloom -- Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(48), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Apc-Dam%(50)
Level 44: Dark Obliteration -- Rgn-Dmg(A), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(46), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(46), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(50), Rgn-Knock%(50)
Level 47: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Tactics -- RctRtc-Pcptn(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury 
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(17), Mrc-Rcvry+(19)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(19), EndMod-I(21)
Level 50: Agility Core Paragon 
------------

 

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[Sovera]

Toss it into a spoiler, @Snarky

[Snarky]

is that British or Australian term for the trash can?  Thought that was bin?  Its not that bad.  No tank, but keeps me alive even with peeps wanting to run +3 LRSF (something, no AV in room, hit me for 75% of my health bar.  I was like wtf?  Then hit Dull pain, Sip[hon Life, and killed the room.}

[Ironblade]

3 hours ago, Snarky said:

is that British or Australian term for the trash can?

I think they meant to enclose your multiple-screens-long-build-info in spoiler tags so we don't have to scroll past it if we're not interested.

[Ironblade]

Whenever I see a question like this, my first thought is, "What do you mean by 'solo'?"

 

Clearly a controller with pets is considered solo.

My empathy defender can solo quite a bit with a Shivan Shard or Vanguard Heavy.  But does that count as 'solo'?  It doesn't take long to get a Shard and that gives you five charges.