Which AT for high level/ultimate solo play?

[Neiska]

Hello Forums,

 

I have found myself playing alone more and more recently, as not as many teams or friends can be found, so I want to have a character who will be a strict soloist. Not only on missions, but I would like to also hunt GMs/AVs, perhaps even solo some TFs and so on. I am actually not entirely sure what is or is not possible to solo, both mechanically as well as realistically. Sadly I find myself more and more playing alone these days, with friends on less and less. So I thought I might make a character specifically built for it. So which AT/Build could truly solo from the very beginning all the way to level 50 +4/8 content? Solo AVs? GMs? Maybe even TF's? (I am not even sure what difficulty people mean when I hear them say they solo those things.)

 

So I intend to start a new AT, and "enjoy the journey" from 1-50 as a strict soloist, never teaming once, and never using mailed/shared merits/money/drops. (I guess it could be an "Iron Man" self challenge I guess?) I don't even intend on using the EXP buff.

 

Am open to any AT really, I just found myself musing about it and thought I would ask those that have actually done those things.

 

So what are peoples thoughts? A Tanker? A Scrapper? Mastermind maybe? I am not even sure who the top solo builds/ATs are at the moment. I am not even sure if one AT can even solo "all" of those things, or if they have to be tailor-made to do it, or if there is a "King Soloist" currently?

 

Thanks bunches in advance!

[Astralock]

Radiation Emmission Corruptor is your best bet.  Depending on your primary, you can solo most TFs, SFs, and GMs with ease.  I recommend a primary with good single target damage.  Fire Blast, Ice Blast, Beam Rifle.  Perhaps even Dark Blast, as its -to-hit debuff and additional self-heal would help with survival.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Astralock

[Psyonico]

The only toon that I've soloed a GM  on was my Beam/Traps Corr, though there are probably others that I have that could do it.

 

Illusion/Dark

Illusion/Traps

Illusion/Rad

 

to name a few contenders.

[Astralock]

Just now, Psyonico said:

The only toon that I've soloed a GM  on was my Beam/Traps Corr, though there are probably others that I have that could do it.

 

Illusion/Dark

Illusion/Traps

Illusion/Rad

 

to name a few contenders.

 

Illusion Controllers are great at it, but I wouldn’t recommend soloing on one from level 1 up.  It’s a very bumpy ride until you have decent recharge in Phantom Army.  A Corruptor, especially Radiation Emmission Corruptor, will be a much smoother ride from the beginning and be just as effective in the end.

[Troo]

range:

a fire or ice /dark corrupter

damage, heals, control, etc. with -res procs most all an find enough debuffs to take out some large targets.

 

melee:

an energy melee/energy aura stalker will zoom through content

[Infinitum]

4 minutes ago, Troo said:

 

melee:

an energy melee/energy aura stalker will zoom through content

 

I second this - with the right build - this is the most optimized single target dps killer that is out.

[Neiska]

Thank you everyone. I am curious as to why Rad Emissions stands out, as I can see it has -def, damage, and regen, but I am guessing its the -regen that is the biggie?

 

And I was actually thinking about energy melee, but would have thought scrapper would have been the go-to. I never played a stalker, so that might be fun! In that case I assume its just a case of out damaging an AV's/GM's regen and so on?

[MoonSheep]

poison/fire defender

[Astralock]

5 minutes ago, Neiska said:

Thank you everyone. I am curious as to why Rad Emissions stands out, as I can see it has -def, damage, and regen, but I am guessing its the -regen that is the biggie?

 

And I was actually thinking about energy melee, but would have thought scrapper would have been the go-to. I never played a stalker, so that might be fun! In that case I assume its just a case of out damaging an AV's/GM's regen and so on?

Radiation Emission is a better GM soloer than Dark because of its permanent-500% regen, and it’s -to-hit debuff can be just as good or better than Dark Miasma’s.

 

A lot of support sets can get -regen, but only last thirty seconds.  In the down time, you will either need to rely on Longbow Lore pets or plink away with envenomed daggers.

 

Also, if one of your goals is to solo GMs, then I would advise against a melee AT.  There are a couple of power sets that can do it, but it’s slow in comparison.

[Troo]

@Astralock good point, though /dark does have Howling Twilight with it's -500% regen for 90s on a timer that is easily perma

 

rad emission has some -res and -def out of the box which are also nice. I just find /dark more forgiving (could just be playstyle)

Edited August 3, 2022 by Troo

[Neiska]

So far I see these suggested, with what I think are pros/cons, many of these are new to me so it's all guesswork, feel free to correct me if I have things wrong -

 

Illusion controllers - 

Pros - Strong endgame, good at Single Targets of all kinds.

Cons - Slow/difficult to level, especially solo(?), Unsure how good they are at other content besides big target soloing

 

/Rad and /Dark Corruptors -

Pro's - Strong Debuffs, good all around damage(?)

Cons - Uncertain how good they are at other content besides soloing AV's/GMs, not sure how durable/tough they are

 

Energy Melee/Energy Aura Stalker - 

Pro - Super strong ST damage, sneaky

Cons - Uncertain how good they are at other content, or how good/bad their AoE damage is. I think this would rely on out dpsing the AV/GM's regen, more than debuffing(?)

 

Poison/Fire Defender - 

Pros - higher debuff caps(?)

Cons - lower damage than Corruptor(?)

Edited August 3, 2022 by Neiska
Added Defender

[Infinitum]

1 hour ago, Neiska said:

And I was actually thinking about energy melee, but would have thought scrapper would have been the go-to. I never played a stalker, so that might be fun! In that case I assume its just a case of out damaging an AV's/GM's regen and so on?

 

Correct - and the scrapper equivalent isnt bad either - however the stalker is just perfectly balanced with the ATO Function, Energy Melees focus mechanic, and the extra ST whopper of AS.

 

The synergy of those three is what carries it slightly ahead where EM EA is concerned.

 

AS - TF - fast ET - EP - AS - EP - Fast ET - EP - AS.  That is a very simple fluid ST chain that maximizes potential with that combo as well.

[Psyonico]

If you're going for a corruptor, your best bet for primary is going to be either Beam Rifle or Sonic.  Beam has built in extra -Regen and sonic has extra -resist.

 

I'm going to argue that Traps makes a better big game hunter than either rad or dark, with purple Patch you're looking at a big hit to the -to-hit that you provide, whereas Traps has FFG.  Traps, Rad and Dark will all solo well throughout the leveling up process.

 

As for illusion.  It will be slow but safe.  Once you can pick up Deceive you can take out a hard target before aggroing a group.  PA and Spectral Terror are really when you start to be able to solo larger spawns.

[Uun]

En/En stalker is unquestionably good, but if you're looking for more AoE you could do En/En scrapper. In fact, most scrappers or brutes solo easily.

 

/Dark corruptor is one of the safest things you can play for any content due to all the debuffs. Mine is Rad/Dark, but many primaries will work. /Traps corruptor is also a good pick since you can take your time setting traps and mines.

 

There are quite a few mastermind combos that solo well. I've got a Beast/Traps that's very strong solo.

[Infinitum]

52 minutes ago, Uun said:

En/En stalker is unquestionably good, but if you're looking for more AoE you could do En/En scrapper. In fact, most scrappers or brutes solo easily.

 

Actually the EN EA stalker gets a buff to Power Crash that the scrapper and other ATs do not - so it actually has better AOE dmg than the scrapper version due to the dmg being higher due to it being proportional to the recharge being higher on stalkers vs the other ATs also.

 

Stalker power crash is the best version and probably the best aoe for EM across all ATs.

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Infinitum

[biostem]

I have had very good experiences with my radiation/savage melee or bio armor/savage melee tankers.  You have a huge margin for error and the damage is respectable...

[Astralock]

3 hours ago, Troo said:

@Astralock good point, though /dark does have Howling Twilight with it's -500% regen for 90s on a timer that is easily perma

 

rad emission has some -res and -def out of the box which are also nice. I just find /dark more forgiving (could just be playstyle)

 

The debuffs from Howling Twilight (including -regen), only last 30 seconds, not 90.  See CoD here.  Thus, you cannot get the -regen from Howling Twilight perma-able, and will always have a downtime due to Howling Twilight's base recharge time of three minutes.  Radiation Emission's Lingering Radiation's -regen debuff also only lasts 30 seconds, but the power has a much lower base recharge time of 90 seconds, and can easily be made perma-able with enough recharge.  That's why Radiation Emission is superior for AV/GM fighting compared to Dark Miasma/Darkness Affinity.

[Doomguide2005]

     Dark also has Tar Pit for -resist and Twilight Grasp a heal that also debuffs regen and damage.  And then there's Fluffy who also puts out TG (among other things).  Twilight's Grasp is only a 50% regen debuff but it stacks from both you and Fluffy and can help keep that gap in HT's regen debuff from being as painful.  In short Dark is probably safer and slower but it will get it done do to stealth, to hit debuffs and damage debuffs in addition to the aforementioned regen and resistance debuffs.

 

     Frankly once you get to Incarnates and Lore pets I'm going to say basically anything can solo almost anything.  The differences will be in speed and safety (and in the ease of getting there).

Edited August 4, 2022 by Doomguide2005
Typos

[Gulbasaur]

13 hours ago, Neiska said:

Cons - lower damage than Corruptor(?)

Defenders get a damage buff solo, so the difference can actually be cancelled out by stronger -res debuffs. There are a couple of supprt sets that edge defenders ahead of their corruptor equivalent, particularly solo and before taking damage procs int account. 

[Voltak]

Actions speak louder than words 

Deeds have heavier weight than rhetoric 

So I will just leave this right here. 

Now you find me another AT that has actually verifiably done ALL OF THE DEEDS BELOW  -- 
 

ABOVE --  That was a lvl 54 CARNIES AV, not only did the Dom clear the whole map using NO INSPIRATIONS at 54x 8, but then he solo'd the AV lvl 54 at the end as well. 
USING NO TEMPS, NO P2Ws, NO EVENOM DAGGERs, nada. 
DID NOT DIE one single time. 
 

ABOVE -  ITF 54x8 , solo, NO INSPIRATIONS allowed, NO TEMPS, NO P2W, no envenom daggers, NO DEATHS. 

 

ABOVE -  LR SF , SOLO , 54 x8 , NO INSPS, NO TEMPS, NO p2w, no deaths, no envenom daggers

The ONLY AT in the entire history of the game TO VERIFIABLY DO THIS.  
 

ABOVE --  SOLO Vs 54x8 Carnies , USING NO INSPIRATIONS, NO TEMPS, no P2W, no deaths 

 

ABOVE -- Soloing one of the most difficult AVs  while down in the lvl 20s 

NO TEMPS, NO ENVENOM DAGGERS, NO P2W

I can keep going but this will suffice. 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Voltak

[Yomo Kimyata]

If you want to fight and defeat GMs, you will probably need a specific debuff character.

[Voltak]

24 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

If you want to fight and defeat GMs, you will probably need a specific debuff character.

You can get debuffs from your lore pets regardless of AT. 
Also, in the case of Doms, you can recruit nearby enemies to help you kill the GM. 

When I solo'd the LR SF with my Dominator, I had to deal with Kronos.  
Gunslinger Boss or EB helped me tremendously with DMG. I possessed him until Kronos died. 

Longbow pets provided the 500% regen debuff and also the resists debuffs.  

He was killed successfully. 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Voltak

[Neiska]

@Voltak - Impressive, thanks for the videos! 

 

Seen a lot of suggestions and ideas. I think I am going to try an Illusion/Dark/Fire controller. I don't know if she will be capable of everything posted in this forum, but after talking with friends and on discord I hope it's what I am going for. Something that is good for both solo and team play, who doesn't rely on inspirations/outside buffs to perform, and who can fight AV/GMs if I want to. I might get around to trying the other ideas here, but at the end it was that I have never played a controller past level 10 or so before, certainly never had one fully kitted or slotted out. And Illusion looks really fun. I just hope the /Dark is strong enough on controllers to do what I want to do, but going from here and talks elsewhere it seems it will be. I hope to take Fire Mastery so I can get Fireball for some AoE, and Fire Shield for some S/L resistance. I don't have a build yet, plan on tinkering in mids when I get home. (Posting from work this exact moment.)

[Voltak]

2 hours ago, Neiska said:

@Voltak - Impressive, thanks for the videos! 

 

Seen a lot of suggestions and ideas. I think I am going to try an Illusion/Dark/Fire controller. I don't know if she will be capable of everything posted in this forum, but after talking with friends and on discord I hope it's what I am going for. Something that is good for both solo and team play, who doesn't rely on inspirations/outside buffs to perform, and who can fight AV/GMs if I want to. I might get around to trying the other ideas here, but at the end it was that I have never played a controller past level 10 or so before, certainly never had one fully kitted or slotted out. And Illusion looks really fun. I just hope the /Dark is strong enough on controllers to do what I want to do, but going from here and talks elsewhere it seems it will be. I hope to take Fire Mastery so I can get Fireball for some AoE, and Fire Shield for some S/L resistance. I don't have a build yet, plan on tinkering in mids when I get home. (Posting from work this exact moment.)

The ceiling of what you can do solo with an Illusion/Dark troller is lower than what you can do with a Dark/ Dominator, especially if inspirations and outside buffs are taken out. 

However, I do suggest you use this Illusion troller to learn the ropes and improve your tactics and strategies as a player 

The reason is that no matter what build or power set combo you use, if you don't have the skills, you are not going to reach those higher levels of difficult stuff to do solo. 

Get as much practice as you can and push yourself more and more every time. 

It will reward you 

[Neiska]

@Troo @Infinitum

 

Thought of a question regarding your Energy Melee/Energy Armor Stalkers,

 

Why is Energy Armor and not Bio Armor higher ST damage? With the offensive stance and all, and I don't see any Damage Buffs from Energy Aura?

 

Just wondering!