So, Power Boost...

[Neiska]

Hello Forums,

 

I was in a conversation with a friend regarding Masterminds, regarding the Power Boost + Farsight combo, for increased defense buff. But we got to talking about what else it might be used for. The power itself seems a bit vague, with its "increased special" effect. They asked what else it might be used for, and I have to confess, I couldn't give them any for sure answers.

 

I do suspect that it increases some effects, such as web grenade, but I'm not 100% kiss elbow for certain on that. Just what it "seems" to be doing, if I pop a grenade right after my Farsight, it seems to affect more than it usually does.

 

A few things I do know however - 

 

1. The Power Boost lasts long enough to get off 2 powers, if you are fast.

2. The don't affect toggles, only activated powers, and last for the duration.

 

And that's it. So, are there other uses for this power? Would it help CC powers? Maybe powers like Nature Affinity or Dark? I am unsure what all would fall under "special" category, so I am curious to see what else it would affect.

 

Thanks bunches!

[Luminara]

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=blaster_support.energy_manipulation.power_boost

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=epic.mastermind_mace_mastery.power_boost

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=epic.primal_forces_mastery.power_boost&at=controller

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=epic.corruptor_soul_mastery.power_boost

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=epic.power_mastery.power_build_up

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=dominator_assault.earth_assault.power_boost&at=dominator

 

Heal/absorb, mez, endurance (reduction, possibly modification, maybe also discount, it's not specific) and all Defense types.  Power Build Up and Power Up (there are two other dominator Assault sets with Power Up) also buff running and flight speeds, and damage.  None affect any debuffs in any way, none buff Resistance, none buff any buffs not specifically flagged (such as Recharge Reduction or Jumping Speed)... but there are occasionally unexpected interactions between powers and enhancements (for example, Accelerate Metabolism has no +Fly, but slotting it with Universal Travel IOs gives it a flight speed buff), so it's possible that someone could find some unintended use of Power Boost and its derivations.

[SmalltalkJava]

It buffs /nature's absorb.  But your still capped at 50% of the targets HP as absorb

[DreadShinobi]

40 minutes ago, Neiska said:

 

1. The Power Boost lasts long enough to get off 2 powers, if you are fast.

2. The don't affect toggles, only activated powers, and last for the duration.

 

And that's it. So, are there other uses for this power? Would it help CC powers? Maybe powers like Nature Affinity or Dark? I am unsure what all would fall under "special" category, so I am curious to see what else it would affect.

 

Power Boosts lasts 15 seconds, if youre only using 2 powers every 15 seconds I would be concerned.

It does affect toggles for the duration of power boost.

It affects activated abilities for the duration of the buff or debuff even if the duration of the power extends past power boost ending.

 

20 minutes ago, Luminara said:

Heal/absorb, mez, endurance (reduction, possibly modification, maybe also discount, it's not specific) and all Defense types.  Power Build Up and Power Up (there are two other dominator Assault sets with Power Up) also buff running and flight speeds, and damage.  None affect any debuffs in any way, none buff Resistance, none buff any buffs not specifically flagged (such as Recharge Reduction or Jumping Speed)... but there are occasionally unexpected interactions between powers and enhancements (for example, Accelerate Metabolism has no +Fly, but slotting it with Universal Travel IOs gives it a flight speed buff), so it's possible that someone could find some unintended use of Power Boost and its derivations.

Didn't expect to see you provide misinformation on this subject. 😕 

 

The endurance note on powerboost does not affect endurance reduction, it does not affect endurance discounts (energize, overgrowth). It does not affect recovery buffs (stamina, chrono shift). It does not affect recovery debuffs (electrical blasts, poison trap, lightning storm). It does affect endurance grants like transference, but not the endurance grant in chrono shift. It does affect the endurance taken away from the target from powers like transference, pt, lightning storm, and electrical powers. It does affect the endurance granted to self from some electrical powers such as lightning bolt. 

 

It does affect the strength of tohit debuffs and defense debuffs. 

 

The one thing I do not remember is if it affects the -special in powers like benumb or weaken. I believe @Frosticus would know this. I am pretty sure at one point power boost increased the -special of benumb and weaken but I don't know if it still does.

 

Power Boost does increase the defense buff of some click powers, but it also has a really nice affect of boosting your toggle defense buffs for the duration of power boost such as Stealth, Combat Jumping, Maneuvers, and Weave. This is particularly relevant for blasters energy manipulation power boost which can be made perma (60s base cd) and you can therefore rely on the increased value of your toggle defense buffs to hit softcaps easier. 

 

Blaster Combat jumping with a lotg +rchg and a lotg-def IO and Weave with the same slotting provides 4.01% defense-all and 8.01% defense-all respectively while under the affect of power boost. This is higher value than Tankers get on CJ and Weave with the same slotting. 

 

Power Boost also at minimum boosts the unsuppressed movement speed of Swift (your inherent auto power) and Sprint for the duration of power boost. 

[Mezmera]

Power boost affects +tohitt, control, defense buffs, quite a bit of things actually.  If there's a power with resistances hardcoded into that power then power boost will not affect that power.  Your toggles like weave and tactics get a buff for the 15s that power boost is active then they lower back to regular.  

 

For example I have Unleash Potential slotted to net me 21% defense to all.  Now when I power boost then click Unleash Potential it'll add another 50% of that defense value to the power.  So for the longer lasting defense buffs power boosting is phenomenal, I get 31% defense out of Unleash Potential for the full minute rather than the 15s.  Then I alternate in the incarnate Barrier to maintain high defenses.  I can't power boost Barrier though because resistance is hard coded into it along with the defense.  

 

Power boost is a very quietly underrated power but those that know what it can do would never trade it for something like BU or Aim.  It is a bit abused in some cases like Time because their self buff can be power boosted and then they can also double dip into Unleash Potential for easy perma capped defenses.  So don't get used to it because they are tinkering with how power boost affects things thanks to Time.    

Edited August 16, 2021 by Mezmera

[macskull]

55 minutes ago, SmalltalkJava said:

It buffs /nature's absorb.  But your still capped at 50% of the targets HP as absorb

The absorb cap is equivalent to the target AT's base hit points: 803 for MMs, 1017 for most squishies, 1071 for Corruptors/EATs, 1205 for Stalkers/Sentinels/Blasters, 1339 for Scrappers, 1499 for Brutes, and 1874 for Tankers.

 

42 minutes ago, DreadShinobi said:

The one thing I do not remember is if it affects the -special in powers like benumb or weaken. I believe @Frosticus would know this. I am pretty sure at one point power boost increased the -special of benumb and weaken but I don't know if it still does.

It used to but that was changed in late 2019 IIRC, along with the interaction between multiple +special powers (+special would boost +special so people were using things like Clarion and Power Boost to do some pretty silly things).

[Doomguide2005]

Unless it has been changed Power Build Up does effect endurance drain powers such as in Electrical Blast.  It can do (did?) wondrous things to Short Circuit in Mids on an Emp/Electric build I was working on.  As in ~ -70 end and -200% recovery per cast and the build was capable of stacking that twice within both SC's and PBU's duration at least briefly.

[DreadShinobi]

13 minutes ago, Doomguide2005 said:

Unless it has been changed Power Build Up does effect endurance drain powers such as in Electrical Blast.  It can do (did?) wondrous things to Short Circuit in Mids on an Emp/Electric build I was working on.  As in ~ -70 end and -200% recovery per cast and the build was capable of stacking that twice within both SC's and PBU's duration at least briefly.

It affects the direct reduction in endurance to the target. It does not affect the -recovery debuff.

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, DreadShinobi said:

Didn't expect to see you provide misinformation on this subject. 😕

 

I missed the ToHit note at the end of the line pertaining to Defense.  It happens.  I pre-emptively dealt with by linking the relevant data so if I did miss something, the person asking the question could find it for him/herself.  I also noted, in my response, that what the power did in regard to endurance wasn't specific, and included modification in the possible effects.  Last time I checked, draining endurance fell under endurance modification.  So no, I didn't spread misinformation.

[Doomguide2005]

2 minutes ago, DreadShinobi said:

It affects the direct reduction in endurance to the target. It does not affect the -recovery debuff.

     Then unless Mids was (late issues on Live) incorrect that would be a change since Live, appears to be currently incorrect in the descriptive text in CoD v2.0 as well as in the power details which indicate it does in fact effect recovery.  Granted I'm still learning to read the details correctly in some cases but it certainly lists "endurance" as something that has its strength effected.  And owing to my lack of computer I can't look at the build in the current version of Mids.

[macskull]

1 hour ago, Doomguide2005 said:

     Then unless Mids was (late issues on Live) incorrect that would be a change since Live, appears to be currently incorrect in the descriptive text in CoD v2.0 as well as in the power details which indicate it does in fact effect recovery.  Granted I'm still learning to read the details correctly in some cases but it certainly lists "endurance" as something that has its strength effected.  And owing to my lack of computer I can't look at the build in the current version of Mids.

Endurance and recovery are separate mechanics, just like regeneration and health. PB has never affected recovery or regeneration. Neither the descriptive text nor the power attributes say the power affects recovery, just endurance drains (and since +end is just negative endurance drain it is also affected).

 

[nihonsean]

Does it boost Force Field Generator from Traps? Because that would be kind of huge.

[Carnifax]

4 hours ago, nihonsean said:

Does it boost Force Field Generator from Traps? Because that would be kind of huge.

Nope. Or at best "Yes for the tiny duration of Power Boost IF you cast it first and then FFG and it inherits the PB buff for the remaining 10-15 second PB duration". FFG is basically a floating pet with an AOE toggle. 

 

One interesting aspect of Adrenal Booster. It also does some Power Boosting for 60 seconds (a much smaller amount than standard PB). So AB could in theory boost Def toggles for 1 minute, provided they aren't flagged to ignore buffs (any power which does Def and some Resists, such as Fade, should always be flagged to ignore buffs). 

[Doomguide2005]

11 hours ago, macskull said:

Endurance and recovery are separate mechanics, just like regeneration and health. PB has never affected recovery or regeneration. Neither the descriptive text nor the power attributes say the power affects recovery, just endurance drains (and since +end is just negative endurance drain it is also affected).

 

       The post you're quoting is a response to DreadShinobi's post above my post and while I probably should have typed it out fully I was speaking about the recovery debuff of SC specifically and wrt PBU.  Again the specific build (Empathy/Electrical/Power) never made it into the Live game but Mids (correctly or not) clearly indicated both aspects of Short Circuits debuffs being boosted by PBU at the time I was creating the build.  So something is out of whack (or been changed)

Edited August 16, 2021 by Doomguide2005

[Neiska]

Thank you for the input everyone. I was more or less wondering what other noteworthy uses there were for it, outside of /Time. There was a brief discussion about it in Discord last night, but overall it seems Buildup is the much better option for the classes with it available, at least offensively speaking. This was mostly me musing what other builds/powers might make use of it outside of /Time.

 

IIRC in the discord last night people did point out it affected CC, but not its "Mag" effect, but its duration. I don't often play CC focused characters so I can't personally say how valuable that would be.

 

It is nice to know it affects +absorb though, which makes me wonder about /Nature, /Electric, and even the new /Sorcery pool if you could apply it to give "bigger bubbles".

 

I love finding little "gems" in games, or power combinations, especially if they are outside the box so to speak. I was thinking something like Power Boost, then activating a power, then hitting burnout, and using that power again all within the Power Boost Window sort of thing, but even if Power Boost isn't that grand outside of /Time, that makes me wonder about Buildup/Aim/Focus and Burnout.

 

I am still reading conflicting thoughts though, some say outside of /Time and Farsight, Power Boost isn't really worth taking in a build. Other's say its good, but don't provide many examples or list specific powers aside from @Mezmera above.

 

Still, fun to think about.

[Mezmera]

30 minutes ago, Neiska said:

Thank you for the input everyone. I was more or less wondering what other noteworthy uses there were for it, outside of /Time. There was a brief discussion about it in Discord last night, but overall it seems Buildup is the much better option for the classes with it available, at least offensively speaking. This was mostly me musing what other builds/powers might make use of it outside of /Time.

 

IIRC in the discord last night people did point out it affected CC, but not its "Mag" effect, but its duration. I don't often play CC focused characters so I can't personally say how valuable that would be.

 

It is nice to know it affects +absorb though, which makes me wonder about /Nature, /Electric, and even the new /Sorcery pool if you could apply it to give "bigger bubbles".

 

I love finding little "gems" in games, or power combinations, especially if they are outside the box so to speak. I was thinking something like Power Boost, then activating a power, then hitting burnout, and using that power again all within the Power Boost Window sort of thing, but even if Power Boost isn't that grand outside of /Time, that makes me wonder about Buildup/Aim/Focus and Burnout.

 

I am still reading conflicting thoughts though, some say outside of /Time and Farsight, Power Boost isn't really worth taking in a build. Other's say its good, but don't provide many examples or list specific powers aside from @Mezmera above.

 

Still, fun to think about.

 

Power boost is very much worth taking in a build.  Most all characters that can get it already are able to take Aim or Build Up and then can also add this weapon.  Speaking on my Cold Corruptor I get Power Boost from Soul Mastery which I can also get Soul Drain and I also have Aim from my primary.  I use power boost for Unleash Potential but I can also skimp on the team shields with just a lotg and power boost them for good defense values.  

 

In of itself Build Up may or may not be better than just Power Boost but most every character can get both.  Dom's get Power Build Up which gets you half the damage boost of BU along with the power boosting abilities which imo outdoes BU.  You're just subbing out the +tohitt portion a regular BU would get you but you can boost your tohitt from other things.

 

Power Boost does not increase the mag as you've been told it doesn't yes.  But being in Domination and then also power boosting your control to last for days is such a weapon.  Then while I'm boosting my controls I'm also boosting all of my defenses and tactics.  Then I have gone Soul Mastery so then the +tohitt I get out of Soul Drain also gets boosted, the end drain in Dark Consumption also gets boosted so that I don't even have to slot it for endurance modification and with just a few targets I go from 5 end to full.  

 

Power Boost affords creativity that any other power cannot, it's such a great weapon to have, don't let others tell you otherwise.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Mezmera

[TheZag]

So it doesnt affect debuffs in any way but it does improve to-hit debuffs and defense debuffs....clear as mud,  got it.

[oedipus_tex]

To better understand why Power Boost and powers like it have specific restrictions, it might be helpful to take a step back and talk about how Attributes work in this game in general.

 

An Attribute is any statistic on your character that is tracked. Examples of Attributes are:

• ToHit
• Melee Defense (and each additional elemental/positional variation of Defense)
• Perception
• Recovery
• Regeneration
• Healing
• etc

 

Each Attribute also has what are called "Aspects." Aspects further specify the "what" portion of the Attribute. This is a lot easier to envision if you picture rows in a table, where the Attribute is the name of the row, and each Aspect is a column in the table capable of holding a value. For example:

 

 

	CUR	ABS	STR	MAX	RES
ToHit
Perception
Recovery
Regeneration

 

 

CUR and ABS stand for Current and Absolute, respectively. Current generally provides you with a percent of the current value, Absolute provides you with the exact value. Max is Maximum, RES is Resistance.

 

STR is where power boost comes in. STR stands for Strength. The value in STR multiplies the effect of any other values being written to the table. So if you have +50% STR, anything written into the table will be 50% stronger. The "unless" attached to this is some powers are specifically coded not to accept to STR buffs.  

 

 

So, why would a power not accept STR buffs?

 

Partly its because of how Damage is tracked. I'll use Fire and Energy damage as an example:

 

		ABS	STR		RES
Fire		How much damage you do with Fire	Multiplier to how much damage you do with Fire		How  much you resist in-coming Fire damage
Energy		How much damage you do with Energy	Multiplier to how much damage you do with Energy		How  much you resist in-coming Energy damage

 

 

Remember, STR multiplies any value written into the tables. So, STR is how powers like Aim and Build Up work--they multiply your Fire and Energy etc numbers. That works fine. However, its not appropriate for STR from Aim or Build Up to also multiply Resistance. This is where the origin of the rule that "powers that have enhanceable resistance cannot benefit from Power Boost" originates. It's not even Power Boost itself that's the culprit, its Aim, Build Up, and other powers that enhance the STR Aspect of a damage type.

 

 

One other gotcha with Power Boost--it matters when you read the detailed power description which specific Attribs are listed. For example, both Regeneration and Healing can take take Healing enhancement sets. However, Power Boost only boosts Healing, not Regen. The developers are perfectly capable of making a Power Boost-type power that benefits from a Power Boost effect, but so far mostly haven't. 

 

 

As a huge aside, it's from this Attribute/Aspect system that any Attribute that exists theoretically can have Strength and Resistance. This leads to some potentially weird scenarios. For example I'm not sure if there are any powers in game that actually provide -Regeneration Resistance, but given that any Attribute is capable of having Aspects, it definitely could exist. Same with seemingly strange stuff like -Stealth Resistance or STR effects multiplying -Perception or Global Recharge. STR is even occasionally used in places you wouldn't expect, like with the Rage stat that fills the Domination bar, by making it easier to fill the bar quickly when on a team.  

Edited August 17, 2021 by oedipus_tex

[macskull]

9 hours ago, Mezmera said:

I use power boost for Unleash Potential but I can also skimp on the team shields with just a lotg and power boost them for good defense values.

PB doesn't affect Cold shields.

[Mezmera]

10 minutes ago, macskull said:

PB doesn't affect Cold shields.

 

Well, I'll take your word on it, its much easier to monitor my own combat values.  I skimp on them anyways, teammates should just feel lucky I even buff them.  😜

 

Likely some cold resistance in those shields I take it.  I don't get off of my doms very much but cold's are doin just fine anyways.  

Edited August 17, 2021 by Mezmera

[Doomguide2005]

12 hours ago, macskull said:

PB doesn't affect Cold shields.

And that's because, if I understand things correctly, as @oedipus_texis explaining in his post, those Cold Shield's also have a Resist Damage component.

Edited August 17, 2021 by Doomguide2005

[oedipus_tex]

8 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

And that's because, if I understand things correctly, as @oedipus_texis explaining in his post, those Cold Shield's also have a Resist Damage component.

 

 

Correct.

 

Specifically, Cold's shields provide enhanceable Resistance. There are some powers that do provide Resistance, but it isn't enhanceable. An example of that is Force Field's Personal Force Field. Unenhanceable attributes don't benefit from STR, so its not necessary to flag the power to ignore it.