Fire/MA: the Brunker, and compilation of Fire Armor builds.

[jojogladco]

7 hours ago, parabola said:

I couldn't tell you where I got this from, I may have misunderstood what I was reading! As you say they certainly don't stack from multiple applications so if they are resisted there seems little point to them overall.

The -resist procs in general and Achilles in particular have always caused some confusion as the whether or not they are resisted because rather than:

"Entities Affected: Foe (Alive)" in the power data

they show:

"Entities Affected: Self"

 

Which lead to the thinking that since the proc causes the target to cast the debuff on themselves it wouldn't be resisted. I believe this was debunked in the past year via power analyzer use but don't quote me on that. The debuff procs definitely don't show the unresisted tag in City of Data. 

[StriderIV]

12 hours ago, Sovera said:

That is exactly how it works in terms of applying the -res debuff. That's why they don't stack and the usefulness is dubious in big teams. All it takes is one person having the -res procs for the other seven to have theirs obsolete. Except in terms of keeping it up. While a damage proc will just do damage, period.

 

I don't think the -res procs bypass resistance resists. It is the first time I have heard of this and the simple test versus an AV seems to indicate this is not the case because otherwise a mere regular damage proc would not have kept up with -40% res from both procs. On a pylon the -res proc swings the end result noticeably.

 

I don't know how much of the -res remains once it goes through the +3 level shift and then the AV's resistance resistances, but a case can be made that even if only 5% (random number) goes through it's still 5% for the whole team wailing on it.

 

But the testing on normal mobs does not seem to influence things much mostly because it is not a matter of removing the proc and leave the power with nothing, but of swapping the -res for a damage proc, and the damage proc seems to keep up handily.

Hey Sovera!

 

So I've been working on your Fire/Ice Tanker build, the hidden gem. It's been a good time, but I'm seeing all of this popping up in regards to Fire/MA. Would you recommend I run with that build instead? Fire/Ice and Fire/EM both have the double build up mechanic, but what is it about Fire/MA that makes it so special and moves it in front of those 2?

[Sovera]

2 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

Hey Sovera!

 

So I've been working on your Fire/Ice Tanker build, the hidden gem. It's been a good time, but I'm seeing all of this popping up in regards to Fire/MA. Would you recommend I run with that build instead? Fire/Ice and Fire/EM both have the double build up mechanic, but what is it about Fire/MA that makes it so special and moves it in front of those 2?

Dragon Tail. Despite having low damage it animates fast and takes the Force Feedback proc which speeds everything. Neither EM nor Ice have that and having it in the AoE makes everything recharge faster which means more damage, more AoE.

 

But I'll be honest with you that if you are having fun with Ice then carry on. You don't need to chase the most min maxed version. Then again this is CoH and we have 5k character slots so go nuts if you want to try it.

 

Personally I'm rather enjoying it. With the changes to everything from dropping the heavy proc approach to dropping the -res procs everything feels nice and chunky even in the low levels. Or even more so in the low levels where there is little recharge due to not having access to all the bonuses.

 

And as Parabola mentioned kicking people while wreathed in flames plays well with my aesthetics. I barely restrain myself from macroing 'HURRICANE KICK!' and 'HADOUKEN!.

[StriderIV]

1 minute ago, Sovera said:

Dragon Tail. Despite having low damage it animates fast and takes the Force Feedback proc which speeds everything. Neither EM nor Ice have that and having it in the AoE makes everything recharge faster which means more damage, more AoE.

 

But I'll be honest with you that if you are having fun with Ice then carry on. You don't need to chase the most min maxed version. Then again this is CoH and we have 5k character slots so go nuts if you want to try it.

 

Personally I'm rather enjoying it. With the changes to everything from dropping the heavy proc approach to dropping the -res procs everything feels nice and chunky even in the low levels. Or even more so in the low levels where there is little recharge due to not having access to all the bonuses.

 

And as Parabola mentioned kicking people while wreathed in flames plays well with my aesthetics. I barely restrain myself from macroing 'HURRICANE KICK!' and 'HADOUKEN!.

That last sentence is a major sell 😂 I wasn't sure how the set would feel with skipping it's T9, but it seems like it still flows well. It also seems like Fire covers MA's AOE problem, and MA adds some needed defense to fire. Win/Win I guess. Should be pretty decent for fighting AV's I'm sure.

[Sovera]

11 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

That last sentence is a major sell 😂 I wasn't sure how the set would feel with skipping it's T9, but it seems like it still flows well. It also seems like Fire covers MA's AOE problem, and MA adds some needed defense to fire. Win/Win I guess. Should be pretty decent for fighting AV's I'm sure.

You can swap Crippling Axe Kick for Eagle Claw if you'd like, especially now that I'm abandoning -res procs. In its favor CAK does animate faster and I loathe being stuck in super long animations to then whiff.

 

But Eagle Claw has a 33% damage buff lasting 3 seconds. This is long enough to do Crane Kick and Storm Kick (as long as the animation starts within the window of opportunity it does not matter if it finishes when the buff has expired), or Burn and Dragon Tail. Kind of like having your cake and eating it too with Build-Up and a sort of Follow-Up.

 

I personally dislike long animations (nearly 2.8 seconds) but the main reason for taking CAK may be gone so I should test it and see how that buff plays. It's just not a huge buff. For example Burn goes from 363 to 403. Nice to have, but, 2.77 animation *cringe*.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Sovera

[StriderIV]

1 minute ago, Sovera said:

You can swap Crippling Axe Kick for Eagle Claw if you'd like, especially now that I'm abandoning -res procs. In its favor CAK does animate faster and I loathe being stuck in super long animations to then whiff.

 

But Eagle Claw has a 33% damage buff lasting 3 seconds. This is long enough to do Crane Kick and Storm Kick (as long as the animation starts within the window of opportunity it does not matter if it finishes when the buff has expired), or Burn and Dragon Tail. Kind of like having your cake and eating it too with Build-Up and a sort of Follow-Up.

 

I personally dislike long animations (nearly 2.8 seconds) but the main reason for taking CAK may be gone so I should test it and see how that buff plays.

I might start building it out and see how it does 😛 Keep us updated though on how that testing goes! I'd be very interested in hearing how it works out.

A different note: I've been looking to build a Rad Armor hero. Not sure what to pair it with. Didn't you mention that @Monos King has a DM/Rad Armor hero that is a PvP and PvE beast?

[Sovera]

1 minute ago, StriderIV said:

I might start building it out and see how it does 😛 Keep us updated though on how that testing goes! I'd be very interested in hearing how it works out.

A different note: I've been looking to build a Rad Armor hero. Not sure what to pair it with. Didn't you mention that @Monos King has a DM/Rad Armor hero that is a PvP and PvE beast?

He certainly kicked my butt in PvP 😄 I'm not used to meleers smacking me around but I expect he built for PvP.

 

DM/Rad is super sturdy but calling it a beast might be overeaching. Playing a Scrapper to have Tanker level of damage we might as well play a Tanker. A Scrapper will still be squishy for debuffing enemies.

 

But it will excel at taking down hard targets such as AVs thanks to three heals.

 

Heals just tend to be overrated. It's better to not take the damage in the first place. Invulnerability, for example, lacks all the bells and whistles of Rad Armor and only has one heal in an obscenely long cooldown, but it can AFK in the ambush of ITF's first mission where Rad Armor would be torn to pieces.

 

I personally go full on damage so barely played Rad Armor other than one character to 50 and never touched Invulnerability other than one test once. I have the Rad/MA linked in the first post. It has a ton more bells and whistles and debuff protection than Fire Armor, just not the damage output.

[StriderIV]

1 minute ago, Sovera said:

He certainly kicked my butt in PvP 😄 I'm not used to meleers smacking me around but I expect he built for PvP.

 

DM/Rad is super sturdy but calling it a beast might be overeaching. Playing a Scrapper to have Tanker level of damage we might as well play a Tanker. A Scrapper will still be squishy for debuffing enemies.

 

But it will excel at taking down hard targets such as AVs thanks to three heals.

 

Heals just tend to be overrated. It's better to not take the damage in the first place. Invulnerability, for example, lacks all the bells and whistles of Rad Armor and only has one heal in an obscenely long cooldown, but it can AFK in the ambush of ITF's first mission where Rad Armor would be torn to pieces.

 

I personally go full on damage so barely played Rad Armor other than one character to 50 and never touched Invulnerability other than one test once. I have the Rad/MA linked in the first post. It has a ton more bells and whistles and debuff protection than Fire Armor, just not the damage output.

Fair enough. I'm definitely on board with a Fire/MA Tanker. I was curious how you felt the Rad/DM combo would fair on a tanker, compared to a Scrapper. On paper, it seems like it'd be pretty damn sturdy to me. I do have a Invuln/SS, so I know about the just being able to stand there forever component of that set 😂 Just exploring new things.

[Sovera]

All tests are 5 minutes long to smooth the 5% miss rate.

 

Bigger numbers = better.

 

Chimera.

- Degenerative 75% chance for DoT and -res procs: 62% / 68% / 72%. 10% difference. Damn you RNG game!

- Degenerative 75% chance for DoT and damage procs: 60%

- Degenerative 75% chance for DoT, one -res in CAK, damage proc in Burn: 54% / 65%. 11% difference again.

- Degenerative 75% chance for -HP and damage procs: 54%

 

 

The rest of the testing can be found here.

Edited February 20, 2021 by Sovera

[Bill Z Bubba]

Ok, I'll do some pylon retests. After pizza. Cuz I need pizza.

[StriderIV]

2 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

Ok, I'll do some pylon retests. After pizza. Cuz I need pizza.

Pizza is life. A man with priorities, I see.

[StriderIV]

2 hours ago, Sovera said:

All tests are 5 minutes long to smooth the 5% miss rate.

 

Bigger numbers = better.

 

Chimera.

- Degenerative 75% chance for DoT and -res procs: 62% / 68% / 72%. 10% difference. Damn you RNG game!

- Degenerative 75% chance for DoT and damage procs: 60%

- Degenerative 75% chance for DoT, one -res in CAK, damage proc in Burn: 54% / 65%. 11% difference again.

- Degenerative 75% chance for -HP and damage procs: 54%

 

 

The rest of the testing can be found here.

Did you do any tests seeing what was more optimal in your final Fire/MA build, Crippling Axe Kick or Eagles Claw?

[Sovera]

20 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

Did you do any tests seeing what was more optimal in your final Fire/MA build, Crippling Axe Kick or Eagles Claw?

Not yet, today was a different set of testing.

[StriderIV]

30 minutes ago, Sovera said:

Not yet, today was a different set of testing.

NW man, appreciate all that you do!

[StriderIV]

On 2/20/2021 at 4:20 PM, Sovera said:

Not yet, today was a different set of testing.

Update on this: started rolling one and it is tons of fun so far 😛 cool "energy" top options based on how you color the fire around your hero. I feel like a DBZ character haha.

[Sovera]

On 2/23/2021 at 7:22 PM, StriderIV said:

Update on this: started rolling one and it is tons of fun so far 😛 cool "energy" top options based on how you color the fire around your hero. I feel like a DBZ character haha.

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday at facing Carnies and see myself impervious to them. They are usually a big pain in the ass, but pre-emptive use of Consume made me immune to their endurance drain effect on death, and the defenses made me immune to the psi attacks.

[StriderIV]

3 hours ago, Sovera said:

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday at facing Carnies and see myself impervious to them. They are usually a big pain in the ass, but pre-emptive use of Consume made me immune to their endurance drain effect on death, and the defenses made me immune to the psi attacks.

All the while destroying everything in your sight? 😂

[Sovera]

I have consolidated testing results, Incarnate priorities and tips, rotation clarifying and etc in the OP. I don't think that there is much to add from here on.

[Sovera]

Also, how to die through 90% resistances and 45% defenses:

 

[Glowman]

@Soveragreat build! Do you run hover all the time, some of the time or is it only a mule?

[Sovera]

1 hour ago, Glowman said:

@Soveragreat build! Do you run hover all the time, some of the time or is it only a mule?

All the time for the defense and 3D mobility both. 'Jet Pack' from the P2W vendor is free and provides a 30 second boost that takes Hover to Fly speeds. It's very useful to go from pack to pack.

[MisterBison]

First, let me express how much this tread rocks. 

It rocks as much as BillZBubba is rocking claws. 

 

No really, it is a staple of numbers study. 

 

Now, let me correct a tid something I'm reading a bit too much. Resisting enemies don't make resistance debuffs less relevant. Nore more. They are just the same. 

 

Even the devs stated that (can't remember where, nor who) "Resistance resisting resistible resistance debuffs" (or 4RD) was actually meant for resistance debuffs to stay relevant whatever the resistance of the debuffed was. It will have the same "feeling". 

 

Take 100 damage applied to a 25% res mob. 100 is a nice round number but it works with any. You inflict 75 through res. Now, add 20% res debuff on it. It's only 15% now, because of the resistance (4RD). So 100 damage is not 75 but 90. 90 is 75+15, and 15 is 20% of 75. So you increased your damage by 20%.

 

Lucky result? Let's look at 50% res. 50 net damage without debuff, -10% net res debuff, so 60 damage with debuff. 10 more damage, that is 20% more damage than before the debuff.

 

I could do the mathematical demonstration in nice Word or LaTeX, but you math-inclined should get the reason why it works without it.

 

Bottom line is, don't scoff at any number of -res being meaningful "only" against the non resisting pylon. It's still doing its part. More enemy resistance is just more -res cap (because it's harder to reach -400% through the resistance). Also, it means the res debuff will be more meaningful, because the mob is gonna survive longer instead of dying due to the damage of the attack that debuffed! 

 

Now that means that, when soloing content, whatever gives you the least kill time is always  the king, but in group, where one alt is the minor part of the team, resistance debuff is capitalized by the whole team. Inflicting 20% debuff means "you're" inflicting 20% more the dps of the whole team, that's, for 8-man teams, 1.6 additional player base DPS. In 4, it's still nearly a full player. 

 

Though I guess this was not doubted anyway, just being as clear as possible for the neophytes that may pass. Sorry if I sounded pedantic. Thanks for your attention. 

[Sovera]

10 hours ago, MisterBison said:

First, let me express how much this tread rocks. 

It rocks as much as BillZBubba is rocking claws. 

 

No really, it is a staple of numbers study. 

 

Now, let me correct a tid something I'm reading a bit too much. Resisting enemies don't make resistance debuffs less relevant. Nore more. They are just the same. 

 

Even the devs stated that (can't remember where, nor who) "Resistance resisting resistible resistance debuffs" (or 4RD) was actually meant for resistance debuffs to stay relevant whatever the resistance of the debuffed was. It will have the same "feeling". 

 

Take 100 damage applied to a 25% res mob. 100 is a nice round number but it works with any. You inflict 75 through res. Now, add 20% res debuff on it. It's only 15% now, because of the resistance (4RD). So 100 damage is not 75 but 90. 90 is 75+15, and 15 is 20% of 75. So you increased your damage by 20%.

 

Lucky result? Let's look at 50% res. 50 net damage without debuff, -10% net res debuff, so 60 damage with debuff. 10 more damage, that is 20% more damage than before the debuff.

 

I could do the mathematical demonstration in nice Word or LaTeX, but you math-inclined should get the reason why it works without it.

 

Bottom line is, don't scoff at any number of -res being meaningful "only" against the non resisting pylon. It's still doing its part. More enemy resistance is just more -res cap (because it's harder to reach -400% through the resistance). Also, it means the res debuff will be more meaningful, because the mob is gonna survive longer instead of dying due to the damage of the attack that debuffed! 

 

Now that means that, when soloing content, whatever gives you the least kill time is always  the king, but in group, where one alt is the minor part of the team, resistance debuff is capitalized by the whole team. Inflicting 20% debuff means "you're" inflicting 20% more the dps of the whole team, that's, for 8-man teams, 1.6 additional player base DPS. In 4, it's still nearly a full player. 

 

Though I guess this was not doubted anyway, just being as clear as possible for the neophytes that may pass. Sorry if I sounded pedantic. Thanks for your attention. 

I have gone through these math (not myself, ow, I'm not a math person) explanations in the past. What I wanted was to test the result. I actually did not post them in here but laid the testing somewhere else.

 

I don't even claim I followed the right methodology or anything. Things like 'super simple difference in HP subtraction' may not even be appropriate for the test. But they were consistent in a 5-8% range. Now that is still multiplied by a full team and thus worth to have slotted. At least in spreadsheet terms. I find that in actual gameplay things die too fast. Even AVs.

 

But this part is a personal opinion and I hope I made that visible so other players don't take it as gospel.

[Sovera]

Decided to try a Fire/Elec Melee.

 

To my surprise it actually leveled pretty well. Having Build-up available at level 20 allowed to get through Posi 1 and 2 at 0x8 without a big hassle since BU + Gaussian is a pack killer. It is particularly welcomed in the parts with early Circle of Thorns since BU (and Gaussian) is great at punching through the mage shield and the -accuracy the ghosts stack which can mean the death of a soloer once we are unable to strike back.

 

The ST was nothing much since I leveled with the T1 and the T2, but Burn saved the day as it does. Once Chain Induction was obtained the extra punch was also noticeable and packs melted at a good clip.

 

The AoE was quite alright to be honest. Thunderstrike is too lenghty for what it does but the Tanker buff makes that AoE a lot wider than it is with other ATs.

 

The gimmick of stealing endurance from enemies did noticeably sap them, but not enough to be of actual sapping use. It did alleviate endurance concerns by a fair bit though even if not enough to overcome the sapping from Freaks.

 

I don't particularly like Lightning Rod, but, it has value especially for a soloer. With a 60y range we can start outside of the enemies' agro and with BU + Gaussian buffing it minions tend to die straight away. This is welcomed since it limits the alpha (KD effect, killing part of the pack), and immediately followed by Chain Induction and Burn most things are dead.

 

For a soloer this is, IMO, a pretty good combo because of this. The slower speed at which soloing happens allows BU + Shield Charge to be up for every happen. Not so in a team that will murder things at a great clip.

 

 

In terms of actual damage per second this combo does not outdo the current champ. Unfortunately the long animations and lower ST damage plays against it making it so that doing a couple of clears of the farm map to calculate AoE killing speed left it in the same range as Martial Arts.

 

...

 

Yep, one AoE only doing half the damage of Thunderstrike versus three AoEs in Thunderstrike + Chain Induction + Lightning Rod. But the blazing fast 1.8 animation of Dragon Tail + the FF proc + stronger ST damage did not let the loudly proclaimed 'AoE set' get ahead. They both did it in around six and a half minutes.

 

Now, IMPORTANT, this is literally damage per second. CoH is not a damage per second game. It's a burst game. Kill things, run to next pack, kill those. Also the longer something lives the more time it has to hurt back. A fighting that starts outside agro range and neutralizes the alpha while killing most of the pack before they retaliate is very good for anything that is dangerous. if sticking to easy game like Council then this advantage will not be felt.

 

 

Unfortunately the ST is pretty poor. Just like playing Elec Melee with a Stalker so does Fire Armor help, of course, and if comparing Elec Melee with a different primary it will be night and day. Burn and Fiery Embrace makes a big difference. So if having tried Elec Melee with a different AT or primary and having been disgusted by the low damage this combo will play a lot better.

 

But downing a pylon still happened in near 6 minutes. This is because no -res procs were slotted. As per my previous posts I am no longer interested in slotting them. But I do have the Fire/Martial Arts runs done without -res procs and they were 4 minutes (3 minutes with). Two whole extra minutes showcases the low ST as befits making an attack rotation that uses a T1 and T2. Can't do amazing numbers with that.

 

My ST rotation was Chain Induction, Charged Brawl, Havoc Punch, Charged Brawl.

 

 

Overall I found this was a pretty nice combo to level with. Everything I soloed I did so easily. Packs melted and the lack of DPS was not felt when the burst killed things. Early BU allows to play like a demi god when Burn followed by Thunderstrike does nice things to the ego.

 

 

I reduced a couple of slots from Endurance recovery to lean on the endurance stealing gimmick. I felt it worked alright since we have Consume. It took several minutes of fighting a pylon with Tough and Focused Accuracy toggled on to eventually be forced to use a Recovery Serum.

 

Spoiler

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.4.7
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Electrical Melee
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(A), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(3), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Charged Brawl -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(A), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(9), GldStr-%Dam(45), TchofDth-Dam%(48)
Level 2: Havoc Punch -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(13), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(21), TchofDth-Dam%(21)
Level 4: Fire Shield -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(27), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(27), UnbGrd-Max HP%(29), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 6: Healing Flames -- Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(9), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(11), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(11), Prv-Heal(13), Prv-Absorb%(36)
Level 8: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(23), Rct-ResDam%(25)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(31), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(31), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(33)
Level 14: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(33), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(33), SynSck-Dam/Rech(34), SynSck-EndMod(34), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(34)
Level 16: Thunder Strike -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(40)
Level 18: Burn -- Arm-Dam%(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(37), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Arm-Acc/Rchg(37), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Erd-%Dam(39)
Level 20: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40), GssSynFr--Build%(48)
Level 22: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), WntGif-ResSlow(42)
Level 24: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 28: Chain Induction -- Hct-Acc/Rchg(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(43), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Hct-Dam%(45), TchofDth-Dam%(45)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(39)
Level 32: Boxing -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(47), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(47), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(49)
Level 35: Focused Accuracy -- RctRtc-Pcptn(A), RctRtc-ToHit(42), EndRdx-I(46)
Level 38: Lightning Rod -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(40), Obl-%Dam(46), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(49), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50)
Level 41: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 44: Tough -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(15)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(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 4: Ninja Run
Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon
Level 50: Pyronic Core Final Judgement
Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface
Level 50: Banished Pantheon Radial Superior Ally
Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany
Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment
Level 50: Portal Jockey
Level 50: Task Force Commander
Level 50: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
------------

 

[Sovera]

I just want to say that I wanted a break and tried several Scrappers these past days.

 

Caveat: none were leveled to 50.

 

- EM/Shield. Went into it wanting Shield's DDR. Didn't have significant amounts of it in the low levels.

- DM/EA. DDR scales with slotting, so only 31%-ish by Posi 1. Defense was being stripped. Got bored by Citadel but more because of DM than EA.

- EM/Bio. Balls to the wall damage search. But so so very squishy (early levels, not enough slotting to go around).

- Kat/Rad. I know this combo is very good. Katana gets 45% defense to Slash/Melee out of the box and Rad has lots of goodies including Radiation Therapy. But the damage was terrible. Leveling with just a T1 and DA was frustrating. By Yin I had Soaring Dragon and it helped but I was already bored. The ability to chain cone, PbAoE, cone, was of little help with so low damage. I know the damage takes off once I could do DA, Soaring, Golden, but couldn't stomach the idea of exemplaring and returning to this.

- EM/Rad. Best of both worlds. Not as squishy as Bio. Not as low damage as Katana. Was actually pretty decent. Nice fat crits and TF hitting hard with two damage procs and chaining cone, PbAoE, cone, was nice to clear packs. But, in the end I duoed Yin and.. it was... so slow... One hour and ten minutes. I usually solo it on my Fire Armors on the 50 minute mark since Freaks are annoying with the ressurects and heals.

 

That was my last Scrapper. None appealed, all were squishy, damage was good but not great. Nice burst, but the Yin showed it was not sustained. This would change later with more slots and etc, but just, no.

 

 

So I returned to Tankers and made one of the last combos I had not yet done: Fire/StJ. StJ has a reputation for terribad AoE, but oh hey, izzat you Burn? Also the Tanker inherent increases Spinning Strike's radius by 50% which helps fixing the AoE problem StJ has on other ATs.

 

Oh god.. It's so good to be back. StJ does not get their PbAoE so I'm just using Burn for AoE. But it does have Build-Up and Build-Up makes up for that loss. It's so good to be back. Melting a pack of enemies is orgasmic after these past days. StJ also has very good animations (I could live off Rib Cracker alone) and an easy early rotation. I'm always pressing buttons which is very nice. In the early levels Rib Cracker, Initial Strike, Heavy Blow, Initial Strike keeps me busy instead of waiting for things to recharge.

 

I don't need to, but I've taken Heavy Blow because of the FF proc I can slot into it. My next ST with an FF proc comes only at 38 so for leveling and exemplaring purposes I am going to keep it. Once at 38 the rotation will fit in beautifully with Burn helping with Crushing Uppercut's awkward recharge. By then things will be Rib Cracker (1.6 animation), Shin Breaker (1.6 animation) Rib Cracker (1.6). Crushing Uppercut recharges in 7.7. So 1.6 + 1.6 + 1.6 = 4.8. There is a hole.

 

But, we have Burn. So 4.8 + 2.3 = 7.1 and that leaves half a second-ish.

 

Burn recharges in 7.7 and the same applies. 4.8 + 2.4 from Crushing Uppercut makes 7.2.

 

That means I will be able to: Build-up (get three combo points), hit Burn (BU + Gaussian), Crushing Uppercut a boss (Bu + Gaussian + 3 combo points) and then start on the above rotation. Substitute Crushing for Spinning Strike in AoE scenarios.

 

 

The hole in the rotation has always been a problem for me. I've done tricks like using Spinning Strike to fill it but they were not just not optimal but forcing piano play. CoH is not a piano play sort of game to be honest.

 

Overall StJ is behaving well but I have only just begun leveling it. Despite the lack of slots things are dying faster than I expected. Perhaps the sure -10% res from Rib Cracker is helping there. I expect the same sort of Burn pushing behavior MA does thanks to the FF proc in Spinning Strike. It does not get the defense boost though. According to Mids Crushing Uppercut's facility with procs (two purple damage procs which even with near ED recharge are still at 89% to go off. Even the non purple ones) is what lets StJ push ahead of MA, but not by much by Mids' numbers. Using the ubiquitous pylon testing lets StJ push ahead thanks to the baked in -10% res but I will rather test the set against an AV and report my findings.

 

 

For now I'll keep on leveling it and say more in the future.

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by Sovera