Learning Mids

[Retroman]

Mids Reborn is a fantastic tool and I'd like to learn how to use it properly and work the numbers in my favor.

 

I've been trying to figure out what's the 'best' balance amongst Set Bonuses.

 

I open Mids and am a bit overwhelmed about what I'm seeing.

 

I'm building a Martial Arts / Willpower Scrapper (Heroside).

 

I look at all of the Set Bonuses available.  The problem is:  I want them all.  (I'm a pig!)

 

I'm hoping that you good people on the Forums here can point me in the right direction for a proper balance of Set Bonuses between the following (in order of importance):

 

1.   Accuracy
2.   DmgBuff (Smash / Melee)  (#2 because w/o Accuracy, DmgBuffs are useless).
3.   DefBuff / ResDmg / MezRes  (as many as possible but definitely Smash / Lethal / Melee and maybe Ranged and AoE).
4.   Regeneration
5.   Recovery

 

For example, when I click the 'View Active Set' button:

 

1.   Would an aggregate Accuracy Set Bonus of +25% hit all targets 95% of the time?  If not, what's the number?
2.   I've heard that there's a softcap and a hardcap for Def and DmgRes.  On a scrapper, what are these values?
3.   How much DefBuff and ResDmg Set Bonuses would I need to softcap (or hypothetically) even hardcap)?
4.   Is there such a thing too much Regeneration? (not counting having more than 5 of the same bonuses, of course).

 

There's a lot going on and I know that I can't have everything that I want but once again, I'm trying to strike a powerful yet efficient balance.

 

I'd like my hero to make Hamidon piss himself just thinking about me.  😈

 

I know that's not realistic but it's fun to think about, isn't it?  😁

 

[Erratic1]

11 hours ago, Retroman said:

I'm hoping that you good people on the Forums here can point me in the right direction for a proper balance of Set Bonuses between the following (in order of importance):

 

While you may often, or even exclusively, team the makeup of teams is variable and the safest course is to aim to be self-sufficient as much as possible as defeated heroes do nothing useful. That means you will want to have sufficient endurance to continue to function appropriately and sufficient survivability to simply continue functioning.

 

The endurance part of it is usually the easiest part to cover since you can stick the appropriate number of slots and IOs into Health and Stamina to reach a workable level of recovery. You could also choose Body Mastery for more endurance options (though I personally feel that is usually a poor choice).

 

As goes survivability on a scrapper, you are looking at Defense, Resistance, Regen, and Absorption.

 

On the Defense front, even level opponents have a 50% chance to hit you. Upping your Defense drops this but as they always have a 5% to hit you, your basic target is 45% Defense. Note, there are two ways Defense works--by damage type (Smashing, Lethal, Fire, Cold, Energy, Negative, and Psionic) or by "position" or how the damage is delivered (Melee, Ranged, Area Attack). Toxic cheats. With higher level foes gaining bonuses, going above 45% can be beneficial. Keep in mind that some very few foes auto-hit, so you're not avoiding their attacks. Also some foes attacks lower your defense (Defense Debuff) to which the only protection is having Defense Debuff Resistance. Willpower has a tiny amount of that because Willpower is kinda a hybrid set and you have other tools to deal with incoming damage.

 

As goes Resistance, on a scrapper (or anyone not a Tanker, Brute, or Kheldian) the cap is 75%. As Smashing/Lethal are such common damage types, you will want to be sure to reach the cap on those. This is not to say the other damage types are unimportant, just Smashing/Lethal are omnipresent.

 

Regen is something you really cannot ever have too much of. But don't forget, you're surviving for a reason--don't shortchange your damage output in the pursuit of unbounded Regen.

 

Absorption is not in your arsenal (short of IOs) so I would not worry about it.

 

After that I would probably focus on getting enough To-Hit to to lower whiffing to a tolerable level (Accuracy tends to be pushed upwards by IO sets anyway) and then, as a scrapper, damage, Damage, DAMAGE.

 

 

[Retroman]

3 hours ago, Erratic1 said:

After that I would probably focus on getting enough To-Hit to to lower whiffing to a tolerable level (Accuracy tends to be pushed upwards by IO sets anyway) and then, as a scrapper, damage, Damage, DAMAGE.

 

Don't To-Hit and Accuracy basically mean the same thing?  😕

[Erratic1]

29 minutes ago, Retroman said:

 

Don't To-Hit and Accuracy basically mean the same thing?  😕

 

No. They both increase your chance to hit but do so differently.

 

Per the wiki:

 

HitChance = Clamp( AccMods × Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods – DefMods ) )

 

Clamp means the value inside the parenthesis is limited to a range of 5% to 95%

 

Accuracy is multiplied against the sum of your Base Hit Chance and To-Hit less the target's Defense.

 

[Retroman]

So which will give me more bang for my buck?  ToHit Buffs Bonuses or Accuracy Bonuses?  Or should I go for a balance between the two so I'm getting a bonus on each side of the equation?

[GM Impervium]

ToHit (iirc) is generally the better way to go, though harder to find. Not many set bonuses offer a ToHit bonus, and set bonuses that offer +Acc are a dime a dozen.

Note that the Kismet: +6% Accuracy IO actually buffs your ToHit, despite it's name, and it goes into defense powers, so that's definitely a must-slot!

Other sources of ToHit are Build up (in the case of MA, it's called Focus Chi), Tactics, and the Focused Accuracy power from the Body Mastery Epic pool. Though these are all powers and not enhancements, and nothing's going to stop you from having 5% chance of missing, so you don't have to go nuts fitting everything into your build.

[Arbegla]

One thing to consider in the ToHit vs Accuracy argument, is how they affect the overall damage formula.

 

HitChance = Clamp( AccMods × Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods – DefMods ) )

 

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Attack_Mechanics

 

The Clamp is between 5% and 95%, however:

 

Because AccMods (basically any Accuracy you slot, be it from Enhancements, or set bonuses) are multiplied after your ToHitMods are calculated, Accuracy actually increases the 'floor' at which you can be debuffed. What this means, is if you're hit with a pretty large ToHit debuff or the mob has really high DefMods but you have really good Accuracy slotted, instead of having a minimum of 5% ToHit, your minimum is really 5% * AccMods.

 

This works for enemies as well however, and mobs get AccMods from rank and level. So they could have a higher then 5% chance to hit you, even if you have softcapped defense, and there isn't anything you can really do about it, as there is no such thing as a AccMod debuff. Only ToHit debuffs.

[Nemu]

Mids does the math for you. Some tips:

 

Your chances to hit will decrease the higher level mobs are relative to your level. Most seasoned builders will shoot to have chances to hit at 95% bare minimum against +3 mobs, as end game +3 mobs is the highest differential assuming you have alpha incarnate level shift. Some also try to shoot for at least 95% chance to hit against +4 mobs for non-incarnate content.

 

First simulate higher level mobs by going to options - configuration and click on the Exemping and Base Values tab. Set the Base ToHit to 39 to simulate fighting +4s, set it to 48 to simulate fighting against +3s. Hit ok.

 

Now highlight a power and look at the "Accuracy" in the expanded info window. That will tell you your chances to hit and it will factor in the to-hit and acc buffs from your slotting and power picks. No Math required. As long as it's 95% or higher you have the maximum chance to hit against mobs assuming no to-hit debuffs from enemies.

 

Other numbers you should pay attention to:

 

You should slot attacks as attacks and make sure most of all that the damage portion is well enhanced, around 95% is the soft ceiling for enhancing damage, but advanced builders will let that number dip a little if they incorporate damage procs into the slotting.

 

Long recharge powers will benefit from more recharge enhancement, the soft ceiling for enhancing recharge is also around 95%

 

When you are slotting sets they always have a mix of endurance discount and recharge enhancement along with whatever other primary stat they enhance (damage, healing, debuffs, etc) Most of them are "good enough"

 

Stacking set bonuses help you acquire global "always on" benefits such as increased defenses or recharge. That's really the trick to building in mids once you understand the basics of enhancements.

 

Most newbies post builds that lack cohesiveness and a lot of that comes from lack of FOCUS, and a lack of understanding of the overall game plan. I have done several posts where I deconstruct a poster's build and help them define their game plan and build with specific focus.

 

Street Justice/Regen Build Help - Brute - Homecoming (homecomingservers.com)

 

Help me fix this mess (Beam/Temp) - Blaster - Homecoming (homecomingservers.com)

 

 

 

[Retroman]

On 11/2/2021 at 3:11 PM, Nemu said:

First simulate higher level mobs by going to options - configuration and click on the Exemping and Base Values tab. Set the Base ToHit to 39 to simulate fighting +4s, set it to 48 to simulate fighting against +3s. Hit ok.

 

OK.  Here we go:

 

Against +4s (Base = 39):

 

1.   Thunder Kick = 114.1%
2.   Storm Kick = 88.12%
3.   Cobra Strike - 94.38%
4.   Crane Kick = 88.12%
5.   Crippling Axe Kick = 121.1%
6.   Dragon's Tail = 121.1%
7.   Eagle's Claw = 114,1%
8.   Rise to the Challenge (WP) = 72*%
9.   Kick (Fighting Pool) = 82.32

 

 

Not too shabby!  Only a couple under 90%.  I can live with the 94,38% on Cobra Strike and I never use Kick anyways.  72% on RttC is a bit worrisome though.

 

 

 

Against +3s (Base = 48):

 

1.   Thunder Kick = 136.9%
2.   Storm Kick = 105,7%
3.   Cobra Strike  = 113.3%
4.   Crane Kick = 105.7%
5.   Crippling Axe Kick = 145.4%
6.   Dragon's Tail = 145.4%
7.   Eagle's Claw = 136.9%
8.   Rise to the Challenge (WP) = 86.4%
9.   Kick (Fighting Pool) = 98.79%

 

Looks pretty sweet!  Should I look for another Acc Bonus (+6%) to get Storm Kick and Crane Kick up to 94.12% vs. +4s?

Edited November 4, 2021 by Retroman

[Nemu]

I almost always find room to slot the kismet unique, it's free global +to hit for all your powers at the cost of 1 slot. You don't need to worry about RTTC, it's autohit.

 

The benefit of going over 95% is that there is buffer if you do get hit with to-hit debuffs. But that's something inspirations can counter as well.

[Retroman]

On 11/4/2021 at 9:22 PM, Nemu said:

I almost always find room to slot the kismet unique, it's free global +to hit for all your powers at the cost of 1 slot.

 

Yup.  I've already got it.  👍