How to learn Mids-Fu? (Also, builds/sets pre-50?)

[Menelruin]

So, back when I played before Shutdown, I only had the Invention system unlocked for maybe a week or 2 before the game was gone.  Nowadays I see tons of builds posted which help a ton....after you're 50.  I still have no clue what I'm doing in terms of CREATING a build, and my only 50+ character squeaked by on standard IOs from 1-49. How much is this hurting my teammates by being a dead weight?  Does anyone know where I can find some 20, 30, or 40 budget builds to just help get a bit of an edge while leveling?

 

Secondly, what is someone's thought process and/or order of operations when creating a build?  I see lots of folks who have mastered Mids and seem to be able to cap defenses on almost anything, but what is step one?  Do you have an established list of sets you always fall back to, and then adjust your power choices accordingly?  I don't suppose someone has a tutorial on planning a new build out from scratch.  Folks have been VERY helpful in making builds for me, but I don't wanna have to always pester the forums for stuff =/

 

EDIT:  As a side note, I tend to pick my power sets based on concepts first, rather than optimization. 

Edited November 11, 2019 by Menelruin

[Yomo Kimyata]

First of all, I suggest marketing on all your characters.  If you spend 10mm inf on a set for your level 20, especially if it is attuned, it’s a lot more bang for the buck than doing the same for your 50.  There are a number of guides out there and will be more soon on how to make inf on lowbies.

 

Secondly, I like looking at buying into attuned sets as soon as they are available, particularly if they add good bonuses.  Melee toon hits level 17?  Slap a 4-set of Kinetic Combat in there for the defense bonus.  I use Entropic Chaos and Basilisks Gaze for the recharge bonus.  They aren’t free, but aren’t very expensive.

[MunkiLord]

36 minutes ago, Menelruin said:

So, back when I played before Shutdown, I only had the Invention system unlocked for maybe a week or 2 before the game was gone.  Nowadays I see tons of builds posted which help a ton....after you're 50.  I still have no clue what I'm doing in terms of CREATING a build, and my only 50+ character squeaked by on standard IOs from 1-49. How much is this hurting my teammates by being a dead weight?  Does anyone know where I can find some 20, 30, or 40 budget builds to just help get a bit of an edge while leveling?

You're not hurting your teammates, so I wouldn't sweat that too much if I were you. Finding builds for lower levels is difficult, as most people only go through the detailed planning for end game. That being said, if you start a thread with a leveling build, you could get some good tips and suggestions for any build you post. Plus if your leveling build has the same powers as your final build, you can start slotting ATOs and attuned sets early so you can be stronger while leveling. But if you know your build is going to change significantly with a respec and you don't have billions of influence, then using cheaper sets while leveling might be better.

 

39 minutes ago, Menelruin said:

Secondly, what is someone's thought process and/or order of operations when creating a build?  I see lots of folks who have mastered Mids and seem to be able to cap defenses on almost anything, but what is step one?  Do you have an established list of sets you always fall back to, and then adjust your power choices accordingly?  I don't suppose someone has a tutorial on planning a new build out from scratch.  Folks have been VERY helpful in making builds for me, but I don't wanna have to always pester the forums for stuff =/

 

EDIT:  As a side note, I tend to pick my power sets based on concepts first, rather than optimization. 

Generally I'll have some end goal in mind, permadom, permahasten, softcap defenses of some sort, etc. If I'm starting from scratch all on my own I'll start throwing in the powers I know I'll take and then fill in with extra choices as I have room. Then I'll start doing some standard slotting like putting 2 recharges in Hasten, a Luck of the Gambler Recharge in Combat Jumping, Numina and Panacea uniques in Health, etc. Then I'll try and decide where to put the ATOs and start slotting key powers and choose sets with the bonuses I'm going for. I don't know if that's the best way to do it, but it does work for me.

 

One thing I always, always do is compare my build with another one. Sometimes I'll do that from the start, other times I'll wait until I make my first pass and see what someone else did and compare their ideas to mine and tweak accordingly. You can run two instances of Mid's at once, and that's something I strongly suggest for most, but especially for people learning how to use it. A lot of it is repetition, after a while you'll learn what sets you use a lot, and which you generally skip. Using another build to look at while you create yours from scratch can be helpful. Another thing I'll do sometimes is just use another person's build and then make tweaks that are tailored to me(I always take Combat Jumping).

 

I also agree with everything Yomo said. Kinetic Combat is something I use consistently and Basilisk's Gaze is on almost every character with a hold.

[bweeda2]

So there are a couple IOs that you want in every build possible, so that is a good place to start. Steadfast 3% Def, Gladiators Armor 3% Def, Shield Wall 5% Res, Kismit 6% Acc (somewhat optional), and a couple Knockback Protection if you dont have a mez protection ability or take Acrobatics from the Leaping pool. 3 Slot Health for Miracle: Recovery, Numinas Rec/Reg, and Panacea: Chance for +HP/End. I generally 2 slot Stamina with Performance Shifters (EndMod and Chance for +End) on every build, sometimes 5 slotting Stamina with Performance Shifters if I run End heavy. Gaussian's Chance for Build Up in Build Up adds a ton of DPS to your rotation, and Reactive Armor's Scaling Resistance Damage is also very powerful for a single IO. Lastly Ill throw a Celerity: Stealth in Super Speed or Sprint if I dont have it, and a Winter's Gift Slow Res in Combat Jumping, sprinkling some Blessing of the Zephyr KB Protection in any other Travel Power I have.

 

A lot people will go for Perma-hasten, or close to it. This usually entails lots of 5 slots of Purple IO sets (Pro-tip: almost never use the pure purples in these 5 sets, i.e. Hecatomb: Damage, use them as singular damage IOs since they are I think 52% dmg, versus a normal dmg IO which is 33%, the reason you don't 5 slot with the pure purple IOs, is 5 slotting with all the others, you are very very close to the cap for their primary stat, you can see this when you hover over the power in Mids). For Recharge, and honestly every build regardless if youre going for perma-hasten, you should always have 5 LotG: Global Recharge Speed. Rule of 5 caps it so you can't benefit from more than 5 of the same set type, so its pointless to have more than 5, but I throw one in every single Defense power I have to reach the goal, and you should too.

 

For normal IO slotting, like Hasten or Fiery Embrace for instance, never 3 slot them with Recharge IOs, always 2 slot normal IOs, the Enhancement boost them to +4, +5 if youre really feeling it, but the difference between +4 and +5 is very small. 2 slotting these gives you another slot to throw in something else which is very valuable.

 

Soft-Cap Defense is 45% and Resistance is 90%. Very few builds will obtain this for all the types, most will get Smashing/Lethal capped (except Stone Armor, you can cap almost all the Defs and Res), but it is ideal to still have a decent amount of both Def and Res in all the different sets. Once you figure that, you mostly use the same sets per type in every build if you are min/maxing since they are the most efficent at that (for instance Kinetic Combat for melee abilities gives 3.75% Defense to S/L in a 4 slot set bonus). I always use both superior ATO sets for whatever archetype I am, they have very good set bonuses.

 

Some sets are near impossible to meet the cap on more than 2 or 3 types, but that's pretty standard with how this game goes, I generally shoot for high 30s for Def and Res, and I always have fun with the toon.

 

Last little bit I want to add are Frankenstein builds. Throwing 3-4 Chance for X dmg procs in an ability rather than a full IO set can be beneficial if you are satisfied with the set bonuses you have prior. For instance, on my War Mace/Energy Scrapper, I have 5 Chance for X dmg procs in Shatter (my 2 piece set is Armageddon: DMG and Chance for Fire Dmg, since you are not fully slotting with a bunch of IOs that would give more damage, using a purple pure IO really helps in Frankenstein abilities). I also always Frankenslot Snipes (Moonbeam on my Scrapper for instance) due to the way they work on homecoming (Instant cast in Combat, 5 chance for x dmg procs make it hit like a truck)

 

Hopefully that helps, just a couple of things that I always keep in mind when I build my toons! The better you get at it, the more fun it is to just theorycraft different builds. When you think you have finished a build, always click View Totals to check your Survival Stats: Defense, Resistance AND your EndRec versus EndUse. With the Ageless Destiny in the game and potentially the Cardiac Alpha (33% end red passive) you can push for not a ton of +recovery set bonuses more than usual. I like to get my EndRec about twice my EndUse, since EndUse is just toggles, not your average enduse regarding button pushing.

 

quick EDIT: check out other people builds and try to understand what they did what they did. I've learned a lot from builds shared that have great %'s and copied their style

Edited November 11, 2019 by bweeda2

[Shred Monkey]

Disclaimer:  There are 100 ways to skin this cat, I'm not telling you what you should do, but here's what I do.

 

Step 1.  Calculate your attack chain.  This tells you what attack powers to pick and how much recharge is needed in each power, and how much global recharge you're aiming for.  It's also going to tell you if you you're going for so much recharge that Hasten is required.  This I do in a spreadsheet.  There are some tools out there, but it's a topic that is way deeper then this discussion.  I just list it because, really, this is where I start when making a build.  Once I have the chain, I add those powers to the build at their lowest available level.

 

Step 2.  Select the survivability powers from your secondary/primary pools and fill the in 3 slotted with their main state (Defense, resistance, or health... just use level 50 crafted IOs for now).  Also add in your status protection power.  At this point look at the survivabilty totals and it will give you an idea of what gaps you are going to want to fill in with sets and pool powers.

 

Step 3.  Decide what type of soft-capped defense you're going to do.  Some ATs I might go for ranged defense only.  Others I'd go for smashing/lethal.  Ideally, I'd get either all 3 positions softcapped, or 6 of the 7 types softcapped there's a psi hole in most builds).  Or, If neither of these are an option, Softcapped to both smash/lethal and Ranged is a very solid option.

 

Step 4.  Start adding pool powers for defense.  Basically, this is Combat Jumping, Weave (with boxing & tough), and Maneuvers.  Then I slot the two +3 defense IOs.  In all my defense powers, I put in 3 slots and put in LoTG +recharge, Defense, and Def/end.  With all these added, I look at where I am and how much more I need to get me to my soft cap goals.  I'll also look at the epic set at this point as well for defense powers... but sometimes this is not an option or not required.

 

Step 5.  Add defense bonus sets to my attacks and resistance powers.   I'm not going to list all the good sets here, you'll need to learn these as you go.  (For example:  Mako's Bite in melee gives ranged defense... Kinetic Combats in melee give Smash/lethal, etc... )  Many of the AT sets and Winter sets give really good defense bonuses, too. 

 

Step 6.  Still looking to get to soft cap defenses, here... It's time to fill in some set mules.  Epic sets and pool powers, etc, anything with a big bang for the buck.  Don't forget to look at Winter set options here as well.

 

Step 7. Once you've hit your softcapped goal, so you need to go back and check for recharge.  You might have to swap a few sets around in your attacks if one of your attacks needs a lot of recharge while another does not (this is where knowing your attack chain at step 1 really helps).

 

Step 8.  Check your endurance usage.  Slot the Numina's and Miracle uniques in health. 3-slot stamina with Performance shifter proc & Endurance, and then a plain Endurance IO.  Then use this same three in any other power that takes them.  You can use the Mid's calculations and a spreadsheet to figure out how much recovery you need, but generally, I just try to get as much recovery as I can, then tweak it back down after playing for a while and realizing my end bar never moves.

 

Now, it's time to just tinker until it looks good.  At this point you're probably out of slots, and have an extra 2-3 powers to pick.  It all becomes a shell game at this point as you fine tune the build trying to squeeze out what you're looking for.  You might shave off 1 slot from combat jumping by taking vengeance and putting the LoTG+recharge in it's default slot.  You can grab your travel powers if you want some, or any other powers you want to have, but don't need to slot.  You might throw some slots in tough if you're going to run it and not just use it as a mule.  You might get more regen out of health or any other +regen powers you have.  Theres lots of options at this point and they're all pretty specific to your chosen build, so just keep toying with it until you like what you've got.

 

So that's it.  That's what I do.  Also, since I feel like I'm confessing my min-max-nerdishness here, i might as well go all in.  I usually do a level 12 build and a level 22 respec build that just run optimal attack chains for those levels... then I do a level 32 build that gives an intermediate attack chain and sometimes a level 37ish build that stretches me to level 50 where I can respec into to the final build discussed above. 

 

Also, I have no qualms about buying attuned sets for my low levels.  Especially if I know I'm going to use them in my final build.

[Drazah Krad]

building in mids has two possible outcomes. You min max to try to perfect a build, it's expensive and its tedious.

 

OR you get a hero to be more enjoyable and functional. This is cheaper and will get you through anything in game.

 

it's your decision which you are trying to do. The above posters have given great advice already and there's always people that will help if needed. Above all remember if your team feels you are dead weight, that's their problem as this game realistically isn't tough enough to worry about carrying a teammate.

[MunkiLord]

A friend I grew up with also plays this game, and we created a shared Google Drive account and that's where we save our builds and help each other tweak them. It's super helpful, especially since our build styles are different. I got lucky in that regard, but if you can find a running mate to constantly bounce builds/ideas off it's awesome.

[Call Me Awesome]

Personally I start working on an IO build when the character gets close to level 20 and by the time he's 30 he'll be all set IO's that I'll likely use all the way to 50.  There's a few givens on nearly every character I build:

1. Miracle +recovery unique in Health, later a Numina's +recovery/regen unique to keep it company.

2. Kismet +Accuracy (Misnamed, it's actually a much more useful +tohit) in Combat Jumping

3. Stealth IO in a travel power or Sprint.

4. Performance Shifter Chance for +end and Endmod IO's in Stamina

5. For melee or defense characters I include the Steadfast 3% defense, Gladiator's Armor 3% defense and Shield Wall 5% resistance uniques... these will be pricey at roughly 10 million each.

 

After that the build depends on how I want to take it.  For a ranged character I'll focus on Ranged defense bonuses... the Thunderstrike set is a good, relatively inexpensive option for your single target attacks.  Always buy attuned IO's, if you're crafting then craft, sell and buy back as attuned; it's a MUCH better bang for the buck than buying Catalysts to attune them.

 

If your build uses the AT specific IO's (Tanker Set, Blaster Set, etc) then I suggest running TF's and using Merits to buy them... they cost 100 merits each and at the Auction House you'll pay close to 10 million each, so a full set will run close to 60 million.

 

In the early going you can simply buy whatever's cheap and frankenslot (slot different set pieces into a power to enhance it without worrying about set bonuses) then gradually replace them with set IO's as you can afford them.  Unslotters are cheap and you can store the old IO's in your SG Base to reuse on another alt or simply sell them to partially finance your build.

 

I've noticed that in the last couple months IO prices have started to spike, many have doubled or tripled in price as more and more players are getting more and more inf but so far it's nothing like Live where things like the Gladiator's Armor 3% def IO could cost 2 BILLION.

[Mr. Vee]

I generally make my final build before rolling the toon if i've played the sets before. That way i can IO as I go and on some toons even avoid the level 50 respec (unslotters ftw). There are obviously some differences in the leveling builds due to purples not being available til 50 and certain sets coming much later than the power i have them projected for. Also with ATOs being available starting at 10 I'll often throw them in a different power than i plan just to get the bonuses earlier. it helps to have some cheap junk on hand to slot at lower levels that you yank and store for the next toon. also keep set bonus analogues of purple sets around - posi for rags, decimation (or entropic if poor) for apoc, crushing impact for heca, etc. i find eradication to be the best sub for armageddon despite different bonuses. 

 

I also have a bunch of attuned pvp attack stuff on hand since you can slot those at 10. i don' think i've ever slotted a non-proc of those sets at 50 but they're great for leveling builds. Just keep in mind that anything with set bonuses is probably going to outperform a generic build, and can be place and forget until you're ready for your final stuff. 

 

Also don't forget about the amplifiers at the p2w store - they're cheap for early levels (at level 1 24k will get you 8 hours of all 3. it takes 60 mil at 50) and are just fantastic. defensive, e.g. gives 4 mag protection to all mez including fear and confuse which some melee sets don't even get, 7.5 resist all and 5 defense all. 

[Menelruin]

Thank you so much, everyone, this helps a lot!  I have 2 more related questions:

 

1:  I always see a lot of mention of including either the Jumping pool or Super Speed pool for various sets.  Are there any notable IOs/sets for either Flight or Teleportation?

 

2:  For a trial run, what is probably the single EASIEST AT/set combo to try and boost up in mids?  I'm not talking about what has the best ultimate potential, just which one is the least challenging to bring to whatever it's specific max potential is?  Like if a Spines/Fire brute can become 10/10 with a fortune and lots of work, but if something else can become 7/7 with little effort......?  Just something for me to play around with and cut my teeth on.  Any suggestions?

[Call Me Awesome]

1 hour ago, Menelruin said:

Thank you so much, everyone, this helps a lot!  I have 2 more related questions:

 

1:  I always see a lot of mention of including either the Jumping pool or Super Speed pool for various sets.  Are there any notable IOs/sets for either Flight or Teleportation?

 

2:  For a trial run, what is probably the single EASIEST AT/set combo to try and boost up in mids?  I'm not talking about what has the best ultimate potential, just which one is the least challenging to bring to whatever it's specific max potential is?  Like if a Spines/Fire brute can become 10/10 with a fortune and lots of work, but if something else can become 7/7 with little effort......?  Just something for me to play around with and cut my teeth on.  Any suggestions?

Leaping for Combat Jumping is kind of a no-brainer, the power uses literally almost no endurance (0.07/sec if memory serves) so it's a turn it on and leave it on power.  It provides a small defense boost, immobilize protection, increased mobility and it's great for slotting some Defense IO's for the bonus (Kismet +accuracy, Luck of the Gambler 7.5% recharge).  Flight & TP don't really offer themselves for that, although Hover will take defense sets too.

 

Easiest to work with?  I'm not sure there really is one where IO sets are concerned, there's so many different ways to build and so many valid options for set bonuses.  Take a character you enjoy playing and fiddle around in Mids.  Go to the AT forums and ask for advice for your particular powersets.  Most of us don't bite and we'll give you some ideas.  Effort is kind of irrelevant, a more valid comparison would be cost.  As an example in my Invuln tanker guide in the forums I suggested ways to build a soft capped Invuln tanker without spending a ton of inf doing so.  My suggested sets will get you probably 85-90% of the way to as tough as it's possible to make an Invuln tanker.  I also appended in my current build for my Invuln which doesn't bear a whole lot of similarity to my guide and is almost as tough as it's possible to build.  My guide's build should run 20 - 50 million, while my current build probably would cost a BILLION inf.  What am I getting for spending nearly 20 times the cash?  Likely an increase in durability of 10-20% and some utility.  Cost/performance the bang for the buck is certainly my guide build.

 

IO's can help you fill in holes in your build, make you more efficient, make you more durable and lots more besides.  You need to look at your build and think "what bonuses would help me most".  For a Tank, Scrapper or other melee character that may be more defenses and resistance.  For a Controller or similar character that may be getting massive amounts of recharge bonuses so your big powers come back faster.  Before I'd even hazard a guess at bonuses you'd need I would need to know what you're playing.

[Menelruin]

1 minute ago, Call Me Awesome said:

Easiest to work with?  I'm not sure there really is one where IO sets are concerned, there's so many different ways to build and so many valid options for set bonuses.  Take a character you enjoy playing and fiddle around in Mids.  Go to the AT forums and ask for advice for your particular powersets.  Most of us don't bite and we'll give you some ideas.  Effort is kind of irrelevant, a more valid comparison would be cost.  As an example in my Invuln tanker guide in the forums I suggested ways to build a soft capped Invuln tanker without spending a ton of inf doing so.  My suggested sets will get you probably 85-90% of the way to as tough as it's possible to make an Invuln tanker.  I also appended in my current build for my Invuln which doesn't bear a whole lot of similarity to my guide and is almost as tough as it's possible to build.  My guide's build should run 20 - 50 million, while my current build probably would cost a BILLION inf.  What am I getting for spending nearly 20 times the cash?  Likely an increase in durability of 10-20% and some utility.  Cost/performance the bang for the buck is certainly my guide build.

Would that Tanker build also be good for a SS/Inv brute?  Also, has anyone started adjusting builds for the new Force of Will pool set?

[Call Me Awesome]

Just now, Menelruin said:

Would that Tanker build also be good for a SS/Inv brute?  Also, has anyone started adjusting builds for the new Force of Will pool set?

Most things would carry over yes.  Brutes don't have the modifiers that Tankers do so they don't get the same level of durability.  Maximizing the durability is a similar process however, you just won't get to the same outcome.  As an example Tankers get more benefit from Tough/Weave than any other AT; I don't have Mids in front of me now but I think Brutes get something like 75% of the defense/resistance out of those powers that tankers do.  That means that it's easier and takes fewer bonuses to reach the Defense soft cap in a tank than it does with a Brute.

 

Any build will always be a series of tradeoffs.  More defense or more resistance.  More durability or more recharge.  High defense to one damage type vs high defense to another.  It's seldom possible to combine everything together into one build, you always have to make choices... building more of one thing usually requires having less of something else.

[Hyperstrike]

I generally try to accumulate the following for Health and Stamina

Panacea Unique
Numina Unique
Miracle Unique

PerfShifter +End
PerfShifter Endurance

Once I hit about 30 I start looking at a generic IO build unless something CHEAP comes up.

Toggle Armors get  EndRedux/Res/Res or EndRedux/Def/Def in that order.
Auto Armors just get two Res or two End.
With attacks, I try to go Acc/Acc/Dam/Dam/EndRedux/Rech (slotted in that order).
Some people will tell you you don't need that much +Acc.  But I hate missing.
Not missing means that even if I'm doing less than maximum damage per hit, I'm still doing more damage overall.

Clickie ToHit boosters like Build Up and Aim usually get 2 Recharges
As does Hasten.
Things like Assault get 1-2 EndRedux.

 

 

Example: 

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Invulnerability
Secondary Power Set: Super Strength
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- ResDam-I:30(A), ResDam-I:30(3), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(3), GldArm-3defTpProc:30(5), UnbGrd-Max HP%:30(5)
Level 1: Jab -- Acc-I:30(A), Acc-I:30(7), Dmg-I:30(7), Dmg-I:30(9), EndRdx-I:30(9), RechRdx-I:30(11)
Level 2: Temp Invulnerability -- EndRdx-I:30(A), ResDam-I:30(11), ResDam-I:30(13)
Level 4: Haymaker -- Acc-I:30(A), Acc-I:30(17), Dmg-I:30(19), Dmg-I:30(19), EndRdx-I:30(21), RechRdx-I:30(21)
Level 6: Dull Pain -- RechRdx-I:30(A), RechRdx-I:30(23), Heal-I:30(23), Heal-I:30(25)
Level 8: Resist Elements -- ResDam-I:30(A), ResDam-I:30(25)
Level 10: Taunt -- PrfZng-Dam%:30(A)
Level 12: Unyielding -- EndRdx-I:30(A), ResDam-I:30(27), ResDam-I:30(27)
Level 14: Resist Energies -- ResDam-I:30(A), ResDam-I:30(29)
Level 16: Kick -- Acc-I:30(A)
Level 18: Invincibility -- EndRdx-I:30(A), DefBuff-I:30(29), DefBuff-I:30(31), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP:30(31), Rct-ResDam%:30(31), RctRtc-Pcptn:20(33)
Level 20: Knockout Blow -- Acc-I:30(A), Acc-I:30(33), Dmg-I:30(33), Dmg-I:30(34), EndRdx-I:30(34), RechRdx-I:30(34)
Level 22: Tough -- EndRdx-I:30(A), ResDam-I:30(36), ResDam-I:30(36)
Level 24: Weave -- EndRdx-I:30(A), DefBuff-I:30(36), DefBuff-I:30(37)
Level 26: Tough Hide -- DefBuff-I:30(A), DefBuff-I:30(37), Ksm-ToHit+:30(37)
Level 28: Rage -- RechRdx-I:30(A), RechRdx-I:30(39), ToHit-I:30(39)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- EndRdx-I:30(A), DefBuff-I:30(39), DefBuff-I:30(40)
Level 32: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:30(A), RechRdx-I:30(40)
Level 35: Hurl -- Acc-I:30(A), Acc-I:30(40), Dmg-I:30(42), Dmg-I:30(42), EndRdx-I:30(42), RechRdx-I:30(43)
Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Acc-I:30(A), Acc-I:30(43), Dmg-I:30(43), Dmg-I:30(45), EndRdx-I:30(45), RechRdx-I:30(45)
Level 41: Super Jump -- Jump-I:30(A)
Level 44: Spring Attack -- Acc-I:30(A), Acc-I:30(46), Dmg-I:30(46), Dmg-I:30(46), RechRdx-I:30(48), RechRdx-I:30(48)
Level 47: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I:30(A), RechRdx-I:30(48)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- EndMod-I:30(A), Heal-I:30(50), RgnTss-Regen+:30(50), PrfShf-End%:30(50)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
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: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End:30(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+:30(13), Mrc-Rcvry+:30(15)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%:30(A), PrfShf-EndMod:30(15), EndMod-I:30(17)
------------

 

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1437;614;1228;HEX;|
|78DA6594CD6E125114C7EFC02042A1A5D2165A180A48CBA753A05DEBC256A396A40|
|9C62D19EB954E2453C250234B5FC18D2BE3DE852FE05BF811F521FC485CB93078E0|
|FC2F29CC84991F73EE39FF73EEB9F74EEBC561E4FDDD97B78416B9DDB35CB7F3D07|
|29EC941A06575ED5331B9827467D8DA39944FA5E34AF39EF3FCA2E7C881F5D8EED9|
|C3510AC32DD993D26C5FF4E97F7B38904E777826A227E7E73DF38EDD3D1BDA4E373|
|27D3B96569F5EC2D397765FCA2711780D1DE9BAF1A3BE7D6A1E5182EEA8D3B2DCA1|
|1C8C9254C60EDD1F43F4D026858D75512318BAF02926B429F5A69FF997590B0B5CE|
|380D862DF2B8A06F3AA628E19AE323F513E8DF3F93435867C11D0247D3FF4FDD08D|
|81D78C79AE41630DFA9F493FC0B1FE006C1B8A056612FC42BE41AE450B227712DCA|
|31A42AC2342AE6F6AFB50166209B52F21EF566D9E5F29280ACD286C69D54F5AFB15|
|68AE603EDFC87F95FD03ABD04C679819C507DCF7CC1F66F60DD513D745836A8CA34|
|F71E86515D19F9C22B473E8859F6A59C75CD63176BD364F9D7C12F049281FD45400|
|BF53FD9BF0D95C182BFC6336A9CED474938D7D29E4DF556C626D2897011D03B976A|
|15304F3E4B38DDE6E23BE08EE538E3C7A91470F8A60D95820F42B883D08F35998C4|
|EE20A6A288989A22626B884D504D25AC69A9C4366D43882AF4AAD0B9A168CC73AF3|
|ACFB7B4C426C76AE6C2D8BBA810759EBFBF9E655B037BB97193CF6AE335EFD5B43E|
|3BA3F4A34B94F5D9491F573CA3758FA5E1B1EC7B2C071ECBB1C772A2232D59B4A92|
|5149B9DEFF18FF0EC7B80D15FE1CB5F08DEF191473CBBE5FBCC9F9EA8DF97A3D083|
|E557CC187AF51F60E0C40E|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

[MunkiLord]

15 hours ago, Menelruin said:

Thank you so much, everyone, this helps a lot!  I have 2 more related questions:

 

1:  I always see a lot of mention of including either the Jumping pool or Super Speed pool for various sets.  Are there any notable IOs/sets for either Flight or Teleportation?

 

2:  For a trial run, what is probably the single EASIEST AT/set combo to try and boost up in mids?  I'm not talking about what has the best ultimate potential, just which one is the least challenging to bring to whatever it's specific max potential is?  Like if a Spines/Fire brute can become 10/10 with a fortune and lots of work, but if something else can become 7/7 with little effort......?  Just something for me to play around with and cut my teeth on.  Any suggestions?

Super Reflexes is a good set to practice on. It is relatively easy to softcap which can open up chasing other bonuses. Dark Melee is a good primary because you'll want to build for a lot of recharge to reach your goals, while at the same time not putting too much damage in Soul Drain and getting as much healing and damage as possible in Siphon Life. The fact that it's awesome and fun as hell to play and MunkiLord is a DM/SR Scrapper are just bonuses.

[Menelruin]

7 minutes ago, MunkiLord said:

Super Reflexes is a good set to practice on. It is relatively easy to softcap which can open up chasing other bonuses. Dark Melee is a good primary because you'll want to build for a lot of recharge to reach your goals, while at the same time not putting too much damage in Soul Drain and getting as much healing and damage as possible in Siphon Life. The fact that it's awesome and fun as hell to play and MunkiLord is a DM/SR Scrapper are just bonuses.

Thank you! 

[Erydanus]

I think there's definitely levels of depth you can go into with build planning.

 

I also want to deliver this ugly truth: lots of times the set bonuses you get are not really worth anything and it's easy to be lured into slotting a set to get a bonus and then actually sacrificing the functionality of the power. Now at 50 when you're tuning a build for Content X using max level enhancements or attuned enhancements, that's less an issue.  While leveling I think the key is to get good numbers in your major powers, if you want to use sets then just cherry pick the good procs and easy to get set bonuses (and this has all been detailed above already). 

 

Finally as far as mapping out your build to get things started, especially when you're going by concept (like me) what I like to do is this:

 

0. If you pick every power in your primary and secondary you will still need to pick 2 pool powers to complete your build (this will happen at levels 24 and 30). Start thinking about if you want a travel power and when or if there's other abilities you feel you're going to need i.e., hasten. Also you can only pick 4 of the 5 powers in your epic pool unless you give up either your tier 8 or 9 in your secondary. Keep this in mind.

 

1. open the planner and pick your 2 starting powers.

 

2. With the planner still on the next low level power choices, skip ahead and look at the highest level powers. Start selecting the ones you are going to take as soon as they're available and work your way down from about tier 9 to about tier 5.  (The planner will automatically put them in the lowest slot available unless you've picked a higher power slot.) Typically you never skip anything in your primary (it's usually attacks) but in your secondary, well, that's another story. Some people don't like those powers, which tend to make them super specialized. For instance in a lot of melee secondaries the tier 8 is a self rez.  Personally I do tend to take those powers but not until about level 49 as they're handy for trials; for ordinary game play I'm fine with the self rez temporary power or an awaken.

 

3. As you reach down into the middle of your build you'll want to select powers like mez protection or personal defense shields, or any power that's essential for the AT to function (like stalker's assassin's strike, or mastermind pet summons and their upgrades)  as top priorities. Remember things you skip in this wave are not being skipped always, they are just not being flagged must-get-immediately.

 

4. Now, starting at the bottom go ahead and start picking the powers from low levels to top. As you're doing this be thinking things like, "Ok at level 5 I'm going to go to King's Row, do I want another attack, do I want to take Hover here?" and just keep going up. As you'll see you already made some choices of cornerstone powers and while you're able to usually get everything eventually you'll typically see you only have 3-5 powers to pick freely from because you've got some other things planned. For me, personally, a lot of my builds I do this and it's "Ok, travel power at 12 or 24, there's no other spot for it."

 

5. When it comes to the epics this can really be helpful. You can start tapping into the epic at 35 so if you have a tier 8 that you're ok passing on that's a chance to often get something really valuable like a defense shield, an essential attack, or something with high utility early so when you get to 41 you can go to the tier 3 of the pool.

 

Anyway once you've got your power order sussed out the slots usually take care of themselves, at least at the leveling level. Be sure to fill in slots for stamina (because it's easy to forget it since it's in the inherent section) and the spaces where you're sticking a proc and it's not the inherent slot, but keep in mind you're going to need to get attack and damage (etc) into your lowest level powers first, so I usually assign those using slots around level 10 so I'm not choked.

[Sailboat]

The very newest Homecoming-created sets won't be on these lists, but here's a resource i always fall back on:

 

Paragonwiki: Category: Sets that Imrpove...

 

Quirk of Paragonwiki:  if you use "Category:Sets for improving" instead of  "...that improve" you do not get the handy sortable table format (example: https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Category:Sets_that_improve_Smashing_Defense)

 

You want the table, because it's sortable by clicking the tops of the columns -- you can sort by "number of slots required" or value of the bonus you are looking for, so you could see all the sets that improve melee defense in order of best to worst bonus, or by type of power they go into, so you could group all the options that go into, say, your melee powers.

 

I find those tables super handy when trying to make a build.

[Yomo Kimyata]

22 hours ago, Menelruin said:

 

2:  For a trial run, what is probably the single EASIEST AT/set combo to try and boost up in mids?  I'm not talking about what has the best ultimate potential, just which one is the least challenging to bring to whatever it's specific max potential is?  Like if a Spines/Fire brute can become 10/10 with a fortune and lots of work, but if something else can become 7/7 with little effort......?  Just something for me to play around with and cut my teeth on.  Any suggestions?

Try something like War Mace/Willpower, either as a scrapper or a brute.  The attacks are all pretty vanilla, with some KB proc potential to play around with, and WP gives you layers of defense, damage resist, and regeneration/healing.  Defensively, you can choose to work on sets that provide defense or dam res and you can figure out what works better for you.  It's also a ridiculously strong build.

 

Also, don't be afraid to respec (or to use unslotters).  You get a free respec every ten levels, you can run repec trials, and you can buy a respec recipe in the AH for cheap.  Feel free to try things!

[Menelruin]

So a couple other slotting related questions, which I know will vary from case to case, but as a general rule....

 

1:  If your sets do NOT have sped up regen or recovery, how many total slots do most builds devote to Health and to Stamina?

 

2:  If your set DOES have them (Regeneration, Willpower, Fire Manipulation, etc.), how many slots do you usually devote to the improved versions from your set, and how many to bog-standard Health and Stamina?

 

I had been going with 3 in Health and 3 in Stamina for most builds, but that was with generic IOs.  Are sets vastly enough better to just use 2 slots, or even 1?

[MunkiLord]

18 minutes ago, Menelruin said:

So a couple other slotting related questions, which I know will vary from case to case, but as a general rule....

 

1:  If your sets do NOT have sped up regen or recovery, how many total slots do most builds devote to Health and to Stamina?

 

2:  If your set DOES have them (Regeneration, Willpower, Fire Manipulation, etc.), how many slots do you usually devote to the improved versions from your set, and how many to bog-standard Health and Stamina?

 

I had been going with 3 in Health and 3 in Stamina for most builds, but that was with generic IOs.  Are sets vastly enough better to just use 2 slots, or even 1?

In general, I 3 slot Health for the three uniques(Numina, Miracle, and Panacea) and put 1-2 slots in Stamina. If slots are tight on a character with superb end management, I might consider only using two slots in Health, especially if I use Panacea somewhere else for the set bonus. I'm also bad at end management, so take my way with a grain of salt. My Street Justice/Ice stalker has extreme problems and I just can't be bothered to fix it.

 

For Blaster Sustain powers I usually just slot that according to whatever set bonuses I'm chasing. I prioritize heavily slotting those behind other powers as I generally have an abundance of endurance outside of maybe going after an AV or Pylon solo. For endurance powers that do damage, it just depends. For Dark Melee/Super Reflexes Scrapper I don't put any damage in that particular attack and then an accuracy and recharge before I worry about end mods. My thinking for that character is I don't want Dark Consumption killing my Soul Drain fuel so I avoid damage. I need it to hit so accuracy is most important, and then maybe a recharge if I feel it's necessary. An endurance tool like that really only needs to hit 1-3 enemies to top me off, so end mod isn't a priority.

[Mr. Vee]

It depends on the sets - thirsty stuff like storm or dark armor you'll need multiple slots in stamina. If it's not terribly thirsty one or two is fine as you'll likely get a lot of help from sets and uniques and incarnates. If you go one slot stamina a performance shifter proc is the way to go. Thirsty sets i'd probably go 4 performance shifter.

 

Health I generally slot panacea, miracle, numina uniques (and preventive medicince unique if i don't have it slotted elsewhere). If i have extra slots i'll throw a regenerative tissue unique too and the health piece from either numina or preventive (assuming the preventive unique is there). If it's light on endurance usage i'll leave out miracle. If you have extra slot and are thinking about the regenerative tissue though you can now get the same 25% regen from an impervious skin status resist (assuming you have a power that'll take resist sets) plus the extra status resist. So only go regenerative if you have slots for both or don't have the resist power.

[Mr. Vee]

MunkiLord did you skip energy absorption on that stj/ice? My stj/ice hasn't had much problem since 35.

[MunkiLord]

6 minutes ago, Veelectric Boogaloo said:

MunkiLord did you skip energy absorption on that stj/ice? My stj/ice hasn't had much problem since 35.

I didn't skip it, so in groups or large mobs I'm fine. But taking on AVs or a Pylon I just suck end. Also haven't got much in the way of Incarnate powers yet, so that will help. I was going to work on it, then I discovered Blasters being awesome now and then I made a Dom right after the changes and I've been all kinds of distracted. At some point I'll revisit that character, I really like Street Justice.

[Menelruin]

Interesting, something I've apparently been doing wrong:  I'd started most builds with my attacks getting 1 accuracy, 1 damage, 1 recharge, then adding another accuracy and 2 more damage as I got more slots.  I guess the recharge is actually a lower priority than endurance reduction?