Character Concept Struggling (To Tanker, or not to tanker, that is the question...)

[Redletter]

So I was messing around, trying to make a "Sand Manipulation" toon. Something like Sandman from Spiderman, or Mr.0 from One Piece. I was actually surprised how solidly you can do that, and oddly enough, you dont want to touch the Earth/Stone sets at all.

 

 For me, the choice that worked best was Psi Melee. The scintillating effect on the psi blades and the "phantom fist" when colored properly both pass for "sand" with remarkable accuracy. So, that immediately set me on the path of a melee character. As for armor sets, I found that, at least visually, Ice Armor and Dark Armor worked stupendously well (SR also works, if the goal is just say "my body is sand so your attack does nothing).

 

So... now I'm left with a dilema I've never had before. Since i've never played there armor sets before, and I dont know what their strengths are. Moreover, I've only played Psi Melee on a stalker, and while I love the stalker, I would rather not have yet another one.

So. It's Tanker, right? I love tankers, and being able to sandbag fools is the whole point of being a sand fool. But I also hate leveling a tanker. Like, truly, the experience is abysmal for me. Yet, I have quite a few of them, and once theyre leveled I adore them... but! I havent tried Brutes much, and this could be a fun opportunity for that, especially since I want to actually kick out respectable damage. But... at that rate why wouldnt I just be a Stalker? They have better class IOs, I dont have too many of them and the fact both DA and IA have self heals makes me more optimistic about surviving with them.

 

But... I also dont know how these armor sets preform at ALL. Like, it could be that DA on a Scrapper is just a total waste of DA's potential. Maybe IA on Tanker is so much overkill that you'd never need to be that tanky and slapping it on a scapper gives you the best of both worlds! I really have no idea.

So, I guess im just looking for insight here. Thanks in advance.

[Omega Force]

Why not a Stalker?  Damage aura, resistance caps and hit points.  Death Shroud is your most endurance-efficient attack, is affected by Fury, and Stalkers don't get it; Dark Armor is resistance based, which caps at 90% for a Brute instead of 75%; Brutes also have 300-1200 more HP.  (As defence sets, Ice and SR could go either way.)  Dark Armor also has a surprising amount of psi resistance, and Dark Regeneration properly slotted means if they can't kill you in under 30 seconds, they can't kill you at all.  The fear toggle also works for your concept, as they cower trying to get the sand out of their eyes.

[InvaderStych]

10 hours ago, Redletter said:

But... I also dont know how these armor sets preform at ALL. Like, it could be that DA on a Scrapper is just a total waste of DA's potential. Maybe IA on Tanker is so much overkill that you'd never need to be that tanky and slapping it on a scapper gives you the best of both worlds! I really have no idea.

 

Waste is a strong word, but for /DA I'd be inclined to go Brute as the aura benefits from Fury but not from Critical hits. (Criticals for Scrapper Secondaries When?)

 

Scrapper Ice Armor gets a decent T9, a little DDR, some utility.  Sort of an under-rated set, would be interesting with Psi Melee.  Though my memory of leveling a spines/ice was not one of overwhelming durability while along the journey.

 

Tanker's AoE buffs would benefit Mass Levitate, and PBS, but as that's the only AoE in PM that's hardly a reason to go Tank.  Though if absolute immortality *is* the goal, then go this route.

 

Some interesting stuff on PM here:

 

 

As interesting as all of that is, I suspect Boggle is still too slow to actually for my personal scrapperlocky ways.

 

And yet, the increased chance on TKB and the revelation that it takes 2 tics of Insight damage for Blade to be better dpa than MS had me thinking about doing a Psi Melee brute (I already have Psi/SD on a Scrapper) and see what MS-TKB-GPB looks like as an attack chain.  Probably with something ranged (preferably AoE) from an epic.  That would be pretty good with /DA.  Fear Aura, Knockup from Mass Lev, etc, etc.

 

That said, a Critical Hit on Greater Psi Blade when Insight is up (and it's packed to the ED +dmg cap with 2 VR dmg procs) is a beautiful thing - but you already know that with the Stalker. 😄

 

Back on retail I used /DA to simulate a sort of hive-creature-swarm thing.  I would think Cloak's transparency pulls off a sand effect better than ice?

Edited February 21, 2022 by InvaderStych
not robotic

[Redletter]

On 2/21/2022 at 7:43 AM, InvaderStych said:

 

Waste is a strong word, but for /DA I'd be inclined to go Brute as the aura benefits from Fury but not from Critical hits. (Criticals for Scrapper Secondaries When?)

 

Scrapper Ice Armor gets a decent T9, a little DDR, some utility.  Sort of an under-rated set, would be interesting with Psi Melee.  Though my memory of leveling a spines/ice was not one of overwhelming durability while along the journey.

 

Tanker's AoE buffs would benefit Mass Levitate, and PBS, but as that's the only AoE in PM that's hardly a reason to go Tank.  Though if absolute immortality *is* the goal, then go this route.

This is all goos to know, as I had NO idea fury benefited AoE damage auras while criticals did not (I mean, even if they did, I think id still prefer fury's benefits overall for THIS particular application).

On 2/21/2022 at 7:43 AM, InvaderStych said:

Some interesting stuff on PM here:

 

Ive read that thread! It's really mechanical but...

On 2/21/2022 at 7:43 AM, InvaderStych said:

As interesting as all of that is... Boggle is still too slow...

 

On 2/21/2022 at 7:43 AM, InvaderStych said:

And yet, the increased chance on TKB and the revelation that it takes 2 tics of Insight damage for Blade to be better dpa than MS had me thinking about doing a Psi Melee brute (I already have Psi/SD on a Scrapper) and see what MS-TKB-GPB looks like as an attack chain.  Probably with something ranged (preferably AoE) from an epic.  That would be pretty good with /DA.  Fear Aura, Knockup from Mass Lev, etc, etc.

My experiments on the beta server show MS-TKB-GPB looks ok! It actually looks like a more natural chain than the psiblade powers, and throwing in a cheeky Laser Beam Eyes set with an Achilles as a starter, and/or just before the GPB, feels real nice (though not for THIS character, since sand men dont have laser eyes). 

On 2/21/2022 at 7:43 AM, InvaderStych said:

That said, a Critical Hit on Greater Psi Blade when Insight is up (and it's packed to the ED +dmg cap with 2 VR dmg procs) is a beautiful thing - but you already know that with the Stalker. 😄

 

Back on retail I used /DA to simulate a sort of hive-creature-swarm thing.  I would think Cloak's transparency pulls off a sand effect better than ice?

So! Fun thing that'll be hard to tell since these are still images...

 Mimicking sand with Ice looks like this

 

 Mimicking sand with Dark looks like this

 

like I said, theyre both REALLY close, like dark's LIGHTING is what really hurts the effect, messing around with the colors helps to curb it, but there's no way to really change the core way dark armor's vfx work, because SOMETIMES the color is SPOT on right? But then, dark armor will do it's "dark" vfx setting thing and suddenly fade to impermeable black, or the source of the lighting and how it blooms will make things seem a little off?

I'll likely do DA anyhow though, since in my testing it SEEMS to be the "better" set overall. both mechanically, and for what Im trying to accomplish.

 

 "Sand Melee"'s GPB

[InvaderStych]

4 hours ago, Redletter said:

This is all goos to know, as I had NO idea fury benefited AoE damage auras while criticals did not (I mean, even if they did, I think id still prefer fury's benefits overall for THIS particular application).

 

Just for clarity in case others read through the thread:  It's that the power is in a Scrapper Secondary (armor set) that is the determining factor, not just that they are auras.  Quills and Irradiated Ground will both generate Critical hits being Primary powers. The fire damage proc from Brimstone in Stone Armor is the only current exception to this, as far as I know.

 

4 hours ago, Redletter said:

Mimicking sand with Ice looks like this

 

Yeah, I like that. Very cool.

 

4 hours ago, Redletter said:

 "Sand Melee"'s GPB

 

I forget how good the yellow hues can look in game.