Good soloist that isn't "selfish" while teaming?

[biostem]

So one thing I've been battling with is trying to come up with a character that is good solo, but also contributes more than just damage while teamed.  My current thoughts lean toward a defender with a primary heavily geared toward debuffs, like poison or trick arrow, or a blaster with a more debuff/controllery powerset, but I'd love to hear some feedback from you folks!  Thanks for reading!

 

PS:  I'm pretty much open to any AT/powersets...

[Apparition]

Arachnos Widow.  You are either a Claws/Super Reflexes Stalker or Psi Blast/Super Reflexes Stalker with great team buffs.  Heck, you can mix it up and have both Claws and Psi Blast for melee damage, ranged damage, holds, and team buffs.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Apparition

[StriderIV]

4 hours ago, Apparition said:

Arachnos Widow.  You are either a Claws/Super Reflexes Stalker or Psi Blast/Super Reflexes Stalker with great team buffs.  Heck, you can mix it up and have both Claws and Psi Blast for melee damage, ranged damage, holds, and team buffs.

+1 to this suggestion. I started building one out after some of @Bopper’s posts a while back. I run mine as a hybrid set up that truly feels like a “scraptroller”. You can solo well, and at the same time be a benefit to any team. Mind Link OP.

[ZorkNemesis]

Spiders also work out like Widows.  You have the nice force multiplier of your built in leadership (Spiders get a whopping 10% defense on their Maneuvers to make up for not having Mind Link) and the Venom Grenade is a nasty AoE -Res, plus bots to take more aggro.

 

For a non-epic AT, a Defender or Corrupter with Dark Miasma is excellent in both team and solo play.  -ToHit all over the place, an excellent soft control with Fearsome Stare, Tar Patch -Res, Shadow Fall defense, Fluffy's myriad of debuff support, regen debuffs on healing, you can't go wrong.  Pair it with something like Radiation or Seismic for -Def, Dark for extra -ToHit, Pistols for flexible damage/debuff options, or Fire if you think Dark covers enough debuffs and you still want to quite literally melt things.

[Nemu]

Rad/Elec or stone or super strength proc tanker

 

You can do sentinel nuke level damage but against more targets with Ground Zero and Radiation Therapy so you have the damage, and you'll have those up every spawn. Being a tanker means you get those powers early so a finished build is also much more exemp friendly. Rad therapy provides -regen, ground zero buffs your teammates and debuffs those enemies still alive, you have taunt and a debuff/taunt aura that also helps your own recharge, If you wanted to you can take leadership pool to provide additional buffs to team.

 

The 3 secondaries all have area KB/KD powers for additional crowd control which is very useful for soloing. My Rad/SS/Soul proc tank has maybe 20% defense and 80% resists and still does fine soloing +4/8 due to overwhelming alpha strike damage through the proc AoEs supplemented by knockdowns.

 

I think I remember somewhere you don't use IOs, if that's the case than go the more traditional route as the other posts suggest.

[Yomo Kimyata]

There are so many ways you can help your teammates.  the question is, do you want to do it actively or passively?

 

With respect to the latter I got some side-eye in another thread by suggesting that a DM/Shield scrapper could be a support character.  You could be/are kicking off a lot of -to hit with your dark attacks, and granting lots of defense to your teammates without doing much of anything.

[biostem]

47 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

I got some side-eye in another thread by suggesting that a DM/Shield scrapper could be a support character.

I suppose it's all a matter of whether you consider "support" to be tied to the AT or to the buffs/debuffs they bring to the table...

[Force Redux]

My Trick Arrow/Dark Blast is amazing in teams and very solid as a soloer. Both power sets compliment each other like peanut butter and jelly. For theme, TA/Water is also comparable. 

[MTeague]

On 2/19/2022 at 4:13 PM, Force Redux said:

My Trick Arrow/Dark Blast is amazing in teams and very solid as a soloer. Both power sets compliment each other like peanut butter and jelly. For theme, TA/Water is also comparable. 

 

My only hesitation there is I like being able to light Oil Slick arrow without resorting to origin powers.  I know you CAN light oil slick with ... what is it, magic, and tech's free lvl 0 attack? But I'd want to do it with my secondary.  That said, Trick arrow is AMAZING.  I love my Fire/Trick Arrow controller. 

[Onlyasandwich]

10 minutes ago, MTeague said:

light Oil Slick arrow

All you need are some fire or energy procs in an AoE. Acid Arrow is a good option here, even though I will typically have a solid AoE I want to drop a proc or two in anyhow.

 

No need to actually target the oil slick - just let the procs do their work while you unload your attacks.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Onlyasandwich

[oedipus_tex]

I feel like a lot of Corruptors are this out of the box. Particularly /Cold, /Dark, /TA, /Elec Affin, /Poison. The comparable Defender version is often pretty soloable as well.

 

[ScarySai]

As a general rule, most 'selfish' builds that excel in solo are just as good if not better in teams, unless you skipped something important.

[Force Redux]

23 hours ago, MTeague said:

 

My only hesitation there is I like being able to light Oil Slick arrow without resorting to origin powers.  I know you CAN light oil slick with ... what is it, magic, and tech's free lvl 0 attack? But I'd want to do it with my secondary.  That said, Trick arrow is AMAZING.  I love my Fire/Trick Arrow controller. 

I totally agree. I  light mine reliably with various procs solo, but in teams I don't even need that most of the time due to the prevalence of fire and energy damage.

[Bill Z Bubba]

17 hours ago, ScarySai said:

As a general rule, most 'selfish' builds that excel in solo are just as good if not better in teams, unless you skipped something important.

 

Anything works. Not being "selfish" on teams is a choice. Even my main scrapper can go into lapdog mode to protect teammates at the drop of a hat.

[StriderIV]

4 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

Anything works. Not being "selfish" on teams is a choice. Even my main scrapper can go into lapdog mode to protect teammates at the drop of a hat.

By "protecting" his teammates, Bill means "arresting" all the bad guys 😉

[Bill Z Bubba]

Just now, StriderIV said:

By "protecting" his teammates, Bill means "arresting" all the bad guys 😉

 

Well, yea, but especially the ones attacking my teammates first!

[StriderIV]

46 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

Well, yea, but especially the ones attacking my teammates first!

"The best crowd control is death.... errrr arresting. Yeah that's what I meant." 😂

[InvaderStych]

1 hour ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

Even my main scrapper can go into lapdog mode to protect teammates at the drop of a hat.

 

This is Chapter 4 in The Tao of Combat Teleport.

[Gobbledigook]

On 2/16/2022 at 11:51 AM, Nemu said:

Rad/Elec or stone or super strength proc tanker

 

You can do sentinel nuke level damage but against more targets with Ground Zero and Radiation Therapy so you have the damage, and you'll have those up every spawn. Being a tanker means you get those powers early so a finished build is also much more exemp friendly. Rad therapy provides -regen, ground zero buffs your teammates and debuffs those enemies still alive, you have taunt and a debuff/taunt aura that also helps your own recharge, If you wanted to you can take leadership pool to provide additional buffs to team.

 

The 3 secondaries all have area KB/KD powers for additional crowd control which is very useful for soloing. My Rad/SS/Soul proc tank has maybe 20% defense and 80% resists and still does fine soloing +4/8 due to overwhelming alpha strike damage through the proc AoEs supplemented by knockdowns.

 

I think I remember somewhere you don't use IOs, if that's the case than go the more traditional route as the other posts suggest.

Don't mention procs with that big proc thread going on in General lol.

 

Fortunata/NWidow is a great team asset often unnoticed by many and a pretty good soloist. I have yet to be on a bad team with my fortunata, whether that is pure luck or the amazing buffs the Widow brings. I have not tried a Spider yet but i presume they are pretty good also.

[roleki]

My first thought is a Fire/TA Corruptor... they're extremely cheap to build, bring truckloads of debuffs, some status protection (eventually) and they squirt fire everywhere.  

[Gaymer X]

On 2/23/2022 at 1:52 PM, MTeague said:

 

My only hesitation there is I like being able to light Oil Slick arrow without resorting to origin powers.  I know you CAN light oil slick with ... what is it, magic, and tech's free lvl 0 attack? But I'd want to do it with my secondary.  That said, Trick arrow is AMAZING.  I love my Fire/Trick Arrow controller. 

Doesn't Steam Spray do fire damage, at least according to Mids?  I think I've seen a Water/TA Corruptor light OSA on fire with one of their blasts.

[Apparition]

21 minutes ago, Gaymer X said:

Doesn't Steam Spray do fire damage, at least according to Mids?  I think I've seen a Water/TA Corruptor light OSA on fire with one of their blasts.

 

 

Both Steam Spray and Geyser can light Oil Slick.

[Force Redux]

48 minutes ago, Apparition said:

 

 

Both Steam Spray and Geyser can light Oil Slick.

 

Sweet mysteries of life.... 😁😁

[Tahliah]

On 2/15/2022 at 9:58 PM, biostem said:

So one thing I've been battling with is trying to come up with a character that is good solo, but also contributes more than just damage while teamed.  My current thoughts lean toward a defender with a primary heavily geared toward debuffs, like poison or trick arrow, or a blaster with a more debuff/controllery powerset, but I'd love to hear some feedback from you folks!  Thanks for reading!

 

PS:  I'm pretty much open to any AT/powersets...

 

All ATs are technically soloable, but I'm not into taking forever to complete a single mission, so while I love to run defenders and trolls, my solo toons tend to be blasters or mms (I don't have any melee toons over lvl 5ish, but those are also viable options, I hear. 😛 ).  

 

Qualifiers out of the way, I think that a beast/nature mm is worth considering. It seems that MMs are more welcome on teams these days (vs. back on live), and a beast/nature is fantastic (and fun) to solo and a great contributor to teams (both pre- and post-incarnate, though the contribution necessarily shifts at incarnate level as it does for all ATs).

 

When Going Rogue hit, I had a hard time because gold side was not squishy friendly (I tend to run squishies), so I started running MMs there and grew to love them.  They are tons of fun to solo and can handle with ease all kinds of content, including that which can be slow-going for lowbie defs/blasters/trolls/etc.  That said, some MM sets are going to be better on teams than others.  I love demons/ and beasts/, and the secondary choice can make a huge difference on teams (/nature, /time, etc.). 

 

Anyway, just a thought (and an attempt to not bang my ice/ice/ice blaster drum . . . yet again!  Heh.).

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

I'm kind of enjoying my Radiation Armour tank toon - though I might choose something other than Titan Weapons if I reroll.

As well as, well, being a pretty decent Tank, you get a whole suite of handy debuffs (2 x -Defs, -ToHit, and -Regen), and a combined mini-nuke/group heal (Ground Zero). Still in my late twenties so I haven't tested it against Recluse yet, but more than holding my own against the likes of Arakhn.

 

I can definitely solo quite happily with it - a Scrapper or Brute might get things done faster.  Stalker loses Beta Decay for Hide, which makes sense if you don't WANT to constantly aggro people, but makes you less of a walking nerf machine.

Edited March 3, 2022 by ThaOGDreamWeaver