Incarnate Abilities that are META

[Snarky]

What are the Incarnate Abilities that, once taken, take a so so Archetype-Powerset and turn it into a monster?

 

We all know there are certain Alphas that are must haves for certain ATs and powersets.   Are there rare gems in some of the choices that really stand out? 

 

I am mostly looking at Alpha and Interface powers that synergize so well with certain ATs and Powersets that they redefine the playing experience.

[blue4333]

T4 Musculature for most ATs. From Blasters to Masterminds it increases kill speed so much 🙂 

 

Ageless Destiny makes end issues non-existent and smooths out your playstyle regardless of AT via recovery, recharge and sustainability. 

[Psyonico]

I'd say Ageless Radial on any than other than SR/Shield because of the DDR

[tidge]

Incandescence for reaping fast rewards during Trick-or-Treating.

[Chaos String]

My fave for the "squishies" (eheh) is Clarion.  Mez can get bent.

[blue4333]

@Glacier Peak May I know why I got downvoted? Is going Musculature T4 and/or Ageless going against the Homecoming™ Dev-Approved Way of Playing?

[Clave Dark 5]

14 hours ago, Snarky said:

We all know there are certain Alphas that are must haves for certain ATs and powersets.

That's the point of where I start finding the game boring.  I'm going to take what I want, play what I want and to hell with the min-maxing and "gotta have"s.

[Snarky]

4 hours ago, blue4333 said:

@Glacier Peak May I know why I got downvoted? Is going Musculature T4 and/or Ageless going against the Homecoming™ Dev-Approved Way of Playing?

Not sure why Glacier thumbs down on you.  But i looked at it as an iffy statement.  There are so many better choices when I build.  I would need to have a perfect build and balance to be like “okay, let me just add more damage”.  A couple of my Blasters, yes.   Everything else is looking to tweak the crap out of another area in the build. You may be right though.  I am here for feedback. So I waited for a discussion on the matter

[roleki]

Even though I know I am leaving DPS on the table and that mez is worthless, I feel compelled to go Hybrid Control on most of my Controllers and Dominators.  Everything is going to get obliterated by Tanks and Blasters anyway, I might as well get some messages  appear onscreen that suggest to everyone in attendance that I am, in fact, doing SOMETHING.

 

That's pretty meta.

[InvaderStych]

20 hours ago, Snarky said:

I am mostly looking at Alpha and Interface powers that synergize so well with certain ATs and Powersets that they redefine the playing experience.

 

Everyone sleeps on Gravitic Interface.  But if you're running a toon that leans into -rech/-spd, that might be short-sighted.  Reactive and Degenerative are often saturated on teams/leagues anyway (there are limits to the DoT stacks, from all sources), so Interface is generally a good place to experiment.

 

I gave Gravitic Core a go on my Fire/Martial blaster, stacking it onto Reaction Time.  Slow + Slow + Oh, yeah, RoF which is guess what? More Slow.  If I ever make a /Ice Blaster I'll repeat this trick.

 

Bear in mind I am one of those folks with not many alts post-50, and the one that are generally carry more than one option for multiple iPowers.

 

I'm working on an experimental Beam/Dev blaster designed specifically for team based fire support that might actually test out Hybrid Support to fully lean into the concept.

[Sanguinesun]

On 10/9/2022 at 2:03 AM, Snarky said:

What are the Incarnate Abilities that, once taken, take a so so Archetype-Powerset and turn it into a monster?

 

We all know there are certain Alphas that are must haves for certain ATs and powersets.   Are there rare gems in some of the choices that really stand out? 

 

I am mostly looking at Alpha and Interface powers that synergize so well with certain ATs and Powersets that they redefine the playing experience.

 

Hybrid:  Degenerative

 

If you only want to have the minor toxic dot proc, take Degenerative Radial Conversion. In some combinations of the -hp proc with the toxic dot proc chances, the toxic wont check its chance to proc until it first -hp succeeds seemingly.

[srmalloy]

15 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

I'm going to take what I want, play what I want and to hell with the min-maxing and "gotta have"s.

How dare you have fun in a manner that's not the dev-approved One True Way, in contravention of all the work put into altering improving the game to coerce encourage players to give up all the deviant play styles that they mistakenly think they enjoy? You, sir, are a bad, bad man; go to the corner and sit there until you realize the error of your ways.

 

War Is Peace

Freedom Is Slavery

Ignorance Is Strength

Shit Is Shinola

[Clave Dark 5]

Funny, I normally get that from players, not devs!  I have posted builds that went off in my own weird directions more than once and had few if any bother to comment on them; it's an assumption on my part, but I would assume it's because I start off with "I know this isn't min/maxed and I don't care..."  😃

[blue4333]

23 hours ago, Snarky said:

Not sure why Glacier thumbs down on you.  But i looked at it as an iffy statement.  There are so many better choices when I build.  I would need to have a perfect build and balance to be like “okay, let me just add more damage”.  A couple of my Blasters, yes.   Everything else is looking to tweak the crap out of another area in the build. You may be right though.  I am here for feedback. So I waited for a discussion on the matter

 

Not sure why my statement was an iffy statement. META means Most Effective Tactics Available.

 

No matter how much fluff and random personal anecdotes, COH is about getting from Objective A to B in a mission/TF/iTrial and if you're going for META, it means killing mobs as fast as possible in between the objectives.

 

AND Masterminds / Controllers with Pets (case of Illusion Control - PA) only benefit from Musculature and I'm pretty certain the other Alphas do not bestow their benefits to the pets.

[Snarky]

2 hours ago, blue4333 said:

 

Not sure why my statement was an iffy statement. META means Most Effective Tactics Available.

 

I clarified a couple things as I posted. 1) There are so many better choices when I build. 2) I did not originally respond because I a m interested in feedback.

 

Your opinion is valued. But, to me, it is an "if" statement.  "If" everything else on my build is going well, really well, then I just add more damage.  I tend to run a lot of Brutes and Cardiac makes a lot of sense.  Sometimes I choose Spiritual.  High Recharge = more damage on many builds.  And many powers recharging that help you do more damage by making you more effective.

 

Musculature is a solid choice. I find myself not taking it much.  Because I think, well, this Alpha offers that bonus, so if....

[Ukase]

On 10/8/2022 at 1:03 PM, blue4333 said:

T4 Musculature for most ATs. From Blasters to Masterminds it increases kill speed so much 🙂 

Huh? You've got to be kidding me. I've taken this on several blasters, brutes...I can't tell the difference with or without it. If there is a difference, I can't discern it. 

[roleki]

3 hours ago, Ukase said:

Huh? You've got to be kidding me. I've taken this on several blasters, brutes...I can't tell the difference with or without it. If there is a difference, I can't discern it. 

Numbers-wise, it makes a difference.  On the street?  Questionable.  If something has 800hp and I hit it with 2x 400 damage attacks, it's dead.  If I have hit it with those two attacks amped up by T4 Musculature, it's still dead, but I did 27% more damage to it.

 

I'll still take Musculature on builds where DPS is the point, but the gains only really start to become obvious in extreme cases, like farming or Pylon bopping.