Most Survivable in Croatoa, 25-34?

[roleki]

As we are heading into the fall, I got the idea to solo something through the Croatoa content, but most everything I have in that range is extremely floppy and between terrible offense and having to retreat to heal, it takes about 8 minutes to defeat a random smattering of Fir Bolg.  Unappealing!

 

So, if you were going to solo through Croatoa (theoretically), what would be the AT and combo of choice? 

 

I was thinking a Brute or Tank, but which, I do not know.  There's a lot of Fire, Lethal/Smashing and Energy/Negative energy going on in that zone, so maybe instead of resist-based armor I should be looking at Shield/Nin or something?  

 

Any ideas?  What would make it less of a slog?

[SeraphimKensai]

Try Stone Armor if you haven't, its a pretty good powerset. I made one I really like paired with radiation melee that works really well.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Yeah, I've had a tough time trying to get toons through Croatoa. I recently started my ElecM/Dark brute through there and she seemed to be handling it alright; don't think I have her settings turned up though because she's not slotted real well yet.

[Clave Dark 5]

My go-to is always stalker, because you can walk around just about anywhere to enjoy the scenery without everyone around you getting pumpkin spicy about your presence.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Clave Dark 5

[Meknomancer]

I made a 2nd fire/rad tanker on the 2nd account specifically for low level content allowing my squishies or toons that simply struggle low level like masterminds prior to their 2nd pet upgrade that can't solo av's to doorsit through tf's like Karsis/ Tarikoss/Silver Mantis/Yin etc so that when they are weekly's i can grab a couple of drops of the new currency. It murders stuff thanks to burn all minions/lieuts are instantly dead and i only have to use st attacks on bosses/av's. And thats before it hits levels where its also running irradiated ground. It can solo pretty much everything up to and including aeon so i can doorsit that and get a couple dsyncs. On the lower level content like croatoa its a beast. I'm pretty lazy so i just hop in mobs and target the boss with the tier 1 on auto and click burn occasionally and thats all i have to do, mobs melt. I do have a stone/rad tank and a rad/stone brute but they aren't the same without burn, its not even a contest how fast and easily you go through stuff with a fire armour tanker and the double damage auras mean you don't even have to watch whats happening, you can turn away, look back and theres just a single half beaten up boss to tap on.

[roleki]

13 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Try Stone Armor if you haven't, its a pretty good powerset. I made one I really like paired with radiation melee that works really well.

 

I may try that; I've never done Stone Armor because people used to complain about Rooted or whatever.  I know that's no longer a thing, but it's still carried over in my brain that there's inconveniences built into Stone.  

 

 

9 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

Yeah, I've had a tough time trying to get toons through Croatoa. I recently started my ElecM/Dark brute through there and she seemed to be handling it alright; don't think I have her settings turned up though because she's not slotted real well yet.

 

I might only slot up one ST and one AoE, and pour the rest into armor.  It's not the kill speed that is deterring me so far, it's the constant health maintenance.  I just want to liiiive.

 

6 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

My go-to is always stalker, because you can walk around just about anywhere to enjoy the scenery without getting everyone around you getting pumpkin spicy about your presence.

 

I hadn't considered a Stalker, have never run one of those. Being sneaky would come in handy... I wonder how Stone is on a Stalker??

[TygerDarkstorm]

Yeah, green insp's and the heal in Dark Armor are what have definitely helped me so far. Striga and Croatoa are zones I've never really played through before, so I do hope to get toons through them at some point when my ADHD doesn't make me feel like there's better things to do lol.

[Clave Dark 5]

45 minutes ago, roleki said:

I hadn't considered a Stalker, have never run one of those. Being sneaky would come in handy... I wonder how Stone is on a Stalker??

I can't say, it's a set I've never got round to for some reason.

[SeraphimKensai]

1 hour ago, roleki said:

I hadn't considered a Stalker, have never run one of those. Being sneaky would come in handy... I wonder how Stone is on a Stalker??

 

I have an 50 Stone Armor Stalker as well. its probably my sturdiest stalker. I once solo'd a +2x8 synapse tf, and turned hide off in a fight and went to make a sandwich. my toon was still alive when i got back from eating it.

[Spaghetti Betty]

Make an Ice/ tank. There are 2 major problems I personally have with Croatoa: Ghosts and Witches. The Ghosts will pelt you with -tohit and laugh at you while you're popping a tray of yellows just to land a hit. Witches will also do that, and then laugh at you more while they drain your End. By the time your Ice/ Tank gets to this lvl range, you will have all the tools you need to laugh right back at them. Pair with your favorite melee that doesn't deal primarily smashing/lethal damage.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Spaghetti Betty

[roleki]

2 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Make an Ice/ tank. There are 2 major problems I personally have with Croatoa: Ghosts and Witches. The Ghosts will pelt you with -tohit and laugh at you while you're popping a tray of yellows just to land a hit. Witches will also do that, and then laugh at you more while they drain your End. By the time your Ice/ Tank gets to this lvl range, you will have all the tools you need to laugh right back at them. Pair with your favorite melee that doesn't deal primarily smashing/lethal damage.

I am going to try that next, as -  apparently - a DB/Stone stalker is not the way to do it.   At 25 I just don't have enough slots in the right places to handle +1s and +2s that are everywhere I want to be.  Have to say, I didn't imagine this little project was going to be such an endeavor, but now I kind of HAVE to do it.

[KaizenSoze]

I just went through all Croatoa arcs at level, not Oro, with SOs. I used a Illusion/Nature controller.

 

But I teamed a lot of time. Still Illusion gives you the best invis in the game and pets that can take out anything you'll run into.

 

Plus, you have healing, buffing, and debuff.

[Sovera]

Fire Ar-...

 

<_<

>_>

[High_Beam]

I generally run characters with a Magic origin through Croatoa no matter what.  Two blasters were run through in real time leveling with just SOs, a DP/Atomic and a Seismic/Seismic, no problems and not blown timers or escaped dudes).  They didn't take very long and there were zero deaths.  These were set to normal difficulty (0/1).  I also ran through the entire Croatoa arc via Ouroboros on a DP/MC Blaster (not magic but secksi awesome) when she was in her early forties.  I note that part because I had not slotted much of anything in the way of Set IOs or even IOs at all.  Mostly all SO and a smattering of IO.  Bottom line there for me at least is blasters with AoE fare well.

 

Now the Empathy/Psychic Defender, a little slower and had trouble with the "stop the escape" or "protect the thingy" missions.  My Illusion/Grav troller was also slightly problematic.  But to me the Croatoa arcs are less about hard and more about tedious and sad really.  By sad I mean as you move through them you realize that there are no really good guys in that zone; everyone is kind of a jerk and it makes you want to not care about them.  Okay Sally isnt a jerk but if you are having a hard time fighting her you might want to respec.

[Spaghetti Betty]

4 hours ago, Sovera said:

Fire Ar-...

 

<_<

>_>

I dread taking my Fire Armor toons through Croatoa since they have to soak up all the debuffs. It can go south quickly.

[Sovera]

5 minutes ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

I dread taking my Fire Armor toons through Croatoa since they have to soak up all the debuffs. It can go south quickly.

 

That's me on Redside. Blue side I only need to worry about CoT but on redside the damn magic dudes debuff defense like crazy.

 

Still, I don't remember Croatoa being that bad though. Pumpkins dudes don't do anything special and the furries do some -defense but not to the extent of CoT. There are the witches but those are mainly sapping.

 

Kinda makes me want to make a new Fire Armor and give it a try now.

[KaizenSoze]

Tuatha de Dannan can hit like trucks, heal themselves, summon, pets, and debuff

Fir Bolg are probably the easiest, melee and fire attacks.

Cabal energy attack, end drain is the worse part

Red caps very accurate attacks, blinding

Ghosts negative energy and -tohit. I feel these are only dangers in large spawns.

 

Tuatha are the most difficult in my opinion. Due to hitting hard, debuffing, and healing. And their missions are always the earliest.

 

[Without_Pause]

I would point out Ice melee because it is awesome, and it offers control for the Fir Blog mission so many hate. I've done IM on a Brute and working on a Stalker as that's where it is best.

[Sovera]

20 minutes ago, KaizenSoze said:

Tuatha de Dannan can hit like trucks, heal themselves, summon, pets, and debuff

Fir Bolg are probably the easiest, melee and fire attacks.

Cabal energy attack, end drain is the worse part

Red caps very accurate attacks, blinding

Ghosts negative energy and -tohit. I feel these are only dangers in large spawns.

 

Tuatha are the most difficult in my opinion. Due to hitting hard, debuffing, and healing. And their missions are always the earliest.

 

 

Alright, sold, making a new one. Now I just need a concept.

[Ringo]

6 hours ago, High_Beam said:

I generally run characters with a Magic origin through Croatoa no matter what.  Two blasters were run through in real time leveling with just SOs, a DP/Atomic and a Seismic/Seismic, no problems and not blown timers or escaped dudes).  They didn't take very long and there were zero deaths.  These were set to normal difficulty (0/1).  I also ran through the entire Croatoa arc via Ouroboros on a DP/MC Blaster (not magic but secksi awesome) when she was in her early forties.  I note that part because I had not slotted much of anything in the way of Set IOs or even IOs at all.  Mostly all SO and a smattering of IO.  Bottom line there for me at least is blasters with AoE fare well.

 

Now the Empathy/Psychic Defender, a little slower and had trouble with the "stop the escape" or "protect the thingy" missions.  My Illusion/Grav troller was also slightly problematic.  But to me the Croatoa arcs are less about hard and more about tedious and sad really.  By sad I mean as you move through them you realize that there are no really good guys in that zone; everyone is kind of a jerk and it makes you want to not care about them.  Okay Sally isnt a jerk but if you are having a hard time fighting her you might want to respec.

I want an Illusion/Grav troller

[High_Beam]

25 minutes ago, Ringo said:

I want an Illusion/Grav troller

I meant to say Illusion and Grav Controllers two separate controllers.  So many alts.  thanks for the catcxh.

[Doomguide2005]

     The two I found the easiest were my Claws/SR scrapper and Earth/Storm controller(s).  Storms missing its big guns but it has Freezing Rain and Steamy Mists.  Freezing Rain is, of course, a hell of a debuff while Steamy Mist is an excellent start on stealth.  You also have Thunderclap which combined with Stalagmites will take out bosses.  And last there's Hurricane.  You can return the favor on the Cabal.

     And Earth Control has loads of control to take your foes out of the fight.  Many of which you can use from total cover and that definitely puts a damper on return fire.  All those Earth patches and Hurricane make short work of Stop 30 Firbolg and Protect the Henge

     And the scrapper is well a scrapper.  Forget my scrapper ever said the following.  Focus is a great tool for ranged attacks for pulling repositioning your foes so you don't get overwhelmed and *cough* face plant.

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Doomguide2005
Afterthoughts

[JJDrakken]

On 9/27/2022 at 4:09 PM, roleki said:

As we are heading into the fall, I got the idea to solo something through the Croatoa content, but most everything I have in that range is extremely floppy and between terrible offense and having to retreat to heal, it takes about 8 minutes to defeat a random smattering of Fir Bolg.  Unappealing!

 

So, if you were going to solo through Croatoa (theoretically), what would be the AT and combo of choice? 

 

I was thinking a Brute or Tank, but which, I do not know.  There's a lot of Fire, Lethal/Smashing and Energy/Negative energy going on in that zone, so maybe instead of resist-based armor I should be looking at Shield/Nin or something?  

 

Any ideas?  What would make it less of a slog?

 

Sentinel - Sonic Attack - Ninjitsu.mxd  

 

Try this out, you may like it.

Edited September 30, 2022 by JJDrakken

[roleki]

Thanks @JJDrakken!   I do like me a good Sentinel!

[PLVRIZR]

Elec/Elec tank.  End drain resist, for those damned witches...