Where do you put your Time (Manipulation)?

[InvaderStych]

Tell me about Time Manip, if you would be so kind dear reader.

 

What's your favorite AT for it, and why?

 

Delayed? That T1 immob, necessary for the effect? Should I care about the effect?

 

Any skips in the set?

 

Stand-out combos?

[Meknomancer]

Fire/time/dark corr was one of my fav cmbos for a long time and i ended up with 2 of them on torch and excel. Monster damage with perma soul drain/fireball/rain of fire for mobs and fire blast/blaze/snipe for the st stuff. Pretty unkillable but i did skip at least 3-4 powers in the set. Din't really need the - regen with all the damage and dint have slots for distortion field/temp selection. Enjoyed them so much i ended up running time corrs with dark (not impressed) ice, rad, dp and fenders with dp, fire and rad.

 

2 trollers elec and fire, not a big fan of it on them as /dark and /cold just feel superior in every respect.

 

MM's. Bots/Necro/Mercsx2 (everlasting and torch) and Thugs. Time crawl/Time stop/Distortion Field/Temp Selection make it into the builds instead of the fighting pool. Most holds need 2 applications or a 2nd hold to stack with to pin down bosses. Hit a boss with time crawl before applying time stop and its a 1 shot hold. And - regen. With just those 2 powers and slowed response you can solo pretty much anything in the game. Page 5 bumps to some of the pets made a massive difference, they can mow down gm's and av's in a couple of minutes or less very easily. Fav combo right now and most played toon is mercs/time.

 

Its a fantastic set, Times Juncture rocks it lets you keep up on fast teams without needing to apply stuff to anchors unlike /rad or /dark and its a perfect herding tool. 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Meknomancer
add comment

[Uun]

I've got a Fire/Time/Soul corruptor that's fully tricked out and an Illusion/Time/Primal controller that I'm leveling now. The corruptor is an absolute beast. Time has fewer synergies with Illusion, but it fit the concept and the team buffs/debuffs are still good.

 

Always take an epic that includes Power Boost (or Power Build Up), which provides a huge boost to Farsight. Farsight is 12.5%/9.375% defense (primary/secondary) unenhanced and 19.5%/14.625% enhanced. Power Boost takes that to 20.8% on a MM, 22.0% on a corruptor, 26.15% on a controller and 31.79% on a defender. That applies to yourself and all teammates in a 25-foot radius for the full 2 minute duration.

 

Time Crawl, the T1 in Time Manipulation, is a slow. (Time Wall, the T1 in blaster Temporal Manipulation, is an immobilize.) I generally 1-slot it with an accuracy and call it a day. In addition to the -recharge and -regen, the Delayed effect does a number of useful things:

• Increases -tohit, -dmg and -speed of Times Juncture
• Increases Time Stop hold by 1 mag
• Significantly increases -res and -def of Slowed Response

[StriderIV]

I've been slow leveling a Time/Rad Defender and it's been a blast. It very much feels like a "Scrappy" Defender that jumps right in there with Tanks. Rad Blast takes some -res procs, which helps with damage, and Time is a nice mix of tools. Not sure how it'll hold up to endgame/hard mode content yet, but it's been great leveling so far. Just a bit End heavy.

[StriderIV]

16 hours ago, Meknomancer said:

Fire/time/dark corr was one of my fav cmbos for a long time and i ended up with 2 of them on torch and excel. Monster damage with perma soul drain/fireball/rain of fire for mobs and fire blast/blaze/snipe for the st stuff. Pretty unkillable but i did skip at least 3-4 powers in the set. Din't really need the - regen with all the damage and dint have slots for distortion field/temp selection. Enjoyed them so much i ended up running time corrs with dark (not impressed) ice, rad, dp and fenders with dp, fire and rad.

 

2 trollers elec and fire, not a big fan of it on them as /dark and /cold just feel superior in every respect.

 

MM's. Bots/Necro/Mercsx2 (everlasting and torch) and Thugs. Time crawl/Time stop/Distortion Field/Temp Selection make it into the builds instead of the fighting pool. Most holds need 2 applications or a 2nd hold to stack with to pin down bosses. Hit a boss with time crawl before applying time stop and its a 1 shot hold. And - regen. With just those 2 powers and slowed response you can solo pretty much anything in the game. Page 5 bumps to some of the pets made a massive difference, they can mow down gm's and av's in a couple of minutes or less very easily. Fav combo right now and most played toon is mercs/time.

 

Its a fantastic set, Times Juncture rocks it lets you keep up on fast teams without needing to apply stuff to anchors unlike /rad or /dark and its a perfect herding tool. 

 

14 hours ago, Uun said:

I've got a Fire/Time/Soul corruptor that's fully tricked out and an Illusion/Time/Primal controller that I'm leveling now. The corruptor is an absolute beast. Time has fewer synergies with Illusion, but it fit the concept and the team buffs/debuffs are still good.

 

Always take an epic that includes Power Boost (or Power Build Up), which provides a huge boost to Farsight. Farsight is 12.5%/9.375% defense (primary/secondary) unenhanced and 19.5%/14.625% enhanced. Power Boost takes that to 20.8% on a MM, 22.0% on a corruptor, 26.15% on a controller and 31.79% on a defender. That applies to yourself and all teammates in a 25-foot radius for the full 2 minute duration.

 

Time Crawl, the T1 in Time Manipulation, is a slow. (Time Wall, the T1 in blaster Temporal Manipulation, is an immobilize.) I generally 1-slot it with an accuracy and call it a day. In addition to the -recharge and -regen, the Delayed effect does a number of useful things:

• Increases -tohit, -dmg and -speed of Times Juncture
• Increases Time Stop hold by 1 mag
• Significantly increases -res and -def of Slowed Response

Fire/Time seem to have a lot of synergy on a Corruptor, with Time having ways to slow enemies and keep them in fire’s rains. 
 

I’ve always thought when I eventually ran a Fire Corruptor, it’d be a Fire/Kin. Fire/Time has to be in consideration as well.

[Meknomancer]

Fire/time has it easier with farsights better defences, slightly better -regen if you take time crawl/time stop and its a little less clicky on teams and herds mobs with times juncture so it doesnt need fold space in the build. Kin has more slots available, doesnt require the whole team to gather in 1 spot for buffs, has better end management and heal and is generally a much better toon on teams. I'm uncertain on the power boosted farsight i've had mixed results depending on what AT and if its maces power boost or primal forces version (i forgot i had an ill/time/primal as it never gets played, just feels like a lesser combo in the same way ill/kin does compared to a /dark /cold ) watching defence numbers drop when power boost wears off so i only get the 15 second duration of farsight boosted before it drops to its standard numbers. 

[Uun]

3 hours ago, Meknomancer said:

I'm uncertain on the power boosted farsight i've had mixed results depending on what AT and if its maces power boost or primal forces version (i forgot i had an ill/time/primal as it never gets played, just feels like a lesser combo in the same way ill/kin does compared to a /dark /cold ) watching defence numbers drop when power boost wears off so i only get the 15 second duration of farsight boosted before it drops to its standard numbers. 

Not my experience. I get the power boosted defense for the entire 2 minute duration of Farsight.

 

8 hours ago, StriderIV said:

I’ve always thought when I eventually ran a Fire Corruptor, it’d be a Fire/Kin. Fire/Time has to be in consideration as well.

Since I already had the Fire/Time, I did Ice/Kin.

[Meknomancer]

Just dragged the dusty old ill/time out. Opened combat attributes-defense. Power boost-farsight, def jumped to 77%. PB wears off 15 seconds later, def drops to 63%.

Makes no sense because it says its still giving me the full 26+ %

Edited January 10, 2023 by Meknomancer
add comment

[InvaderStych]

Interesting stuff.  Leaning towards Time/Ice on a Defender, which would be my first Defender, lol. Despite strong support for Fire/Time on a Corr, those Farsight Defender numbers are very appealing.  Might go Corr on this, I'll have to think about pros/cons/goals.  Sort of already have the name/look in my pocket, just trying to find a config for it.  "Feels" like a Defender though, so there is always that. 😄

 

Good notes on MMs and Controllers too, hadn't considered the latter.  I'll make an MM eventually (haven't since Retail), but not for a while yet. Got this and other ideas in the pipeline first, lol.

 

On 1/9/2023 at 6:26 AM, Meknomancer said:

Pretty unkillable but i did skip at least 3-4 powers in the set. Din't really need the - regen with all the damage and dint have slots for distortion field/temp selection.

 

Temp selection is the ST "shield" buff, yeah?  Ever run into teams expecting you to have/use it?  Is the expectation less on a Corr than a Def?  I'd probably eventually learn to remember to keep it on teammates, but I tend to play more direct-action (read, melee and blasters) toons so I'd be in uncharted territory, lol.

 

On 1/9/2023 at 7:50 AM, Uun said:

Time Crawl, the T1 in Time Manipulation, is a slow. (Time Wall, the T1 in blaster Temporal Manipulation, is an immobilize.) I generally 1-slot it with an accuracy and call it a day. In addition to the -recharge and -regen, the Delayed effect does a number of useful things:

• Increases -tohit, -dmg and -speed of Times Juncture
• Increases Time Stop hold by 1 mag
• Significantly increases -res and -def of Slowed Response

 

Ah, yes, thanks. I've only played the Blaster version, and not much.  Looks like I'll want to have/use it for the Def (or Corr) version.

 

Might open different versions of Power Boost in CoD and see if there are clues to which one does what behavior. Entirely possible they are very different. Pool powers are a hot mess behind the curtain.

[Meknomancer]

I only take temp selection on my mm's, slots and power picks are too tight for the fenders/corrs. Although looking at my ice/time corr i see that i did take it but its a build i've never been happy with.

[Uun]

2 hours ago, InvaderStych said:

Temp selection is the ST "shield" buff, yeah?  Ever run into teams expecting you to have/use it?  Is the expectation less on a Corr than a Def?  I'd probably eventually learn to remember to keep it on teammates, but I tend to play more direct-action (read, melee and blasters) toons so I'd be in uncharted territory, lol.

Temporal Selection is a ST ally buff with +rech, +regen and +dmg. It also applies the Accelerated effect, which gives the target increased heals from Temporal Mending and Chrono Shift. It's definitely skippable and I've never run into anybody that expect to receive it. It's an OK buff, but nowhere close to Adrenilin Boost or Painbringer.

[Uun]

7 hours ago, Meknomancer said:

Just dragged the dusty old ill/time out. Opened combat attributes-defense. Power boost-farsight, def jumped to 77%. PB wears off 15 seconds later, def drops to 63%.

Makes no sense because it says its still giving me the full 26+ %

Did you expand the defense tab to see how the 77%/63% breaks down by source? I suspect that what's dropping after 15 seconds is any defense provided by toggle powers (Weave, Maneuvers, Combat Jumping, etc.). Power Boost will only increase those for its 15 second duration. However, if you activate Power Boost then activate Farsight, Farsight's defense will be boosted for the entire 2 minute duration of Farsight. 

 

I just tested on my corruptor.  Without Power Boost, Farsight provides 14.77% defense. With Power Boost it increases to 22.14% for the full 2 minutes. With Power Boost and Clarion Radial it increases to 29.64% for the full 2 minutes. I can't test my controller since he hasn't leveled high enough to get Power Boost yet.

[Zect]

7 hours ago, Uun said:

Did you expand the defense tab to see how the 77%/63% breaks down by source? I suspect that what's dropping after 15 seconds is any defense provided by toggle powers (Weave, Maneuvers, Combat Jumping, etc.). Power Boost will only increase those for its 15 second duration. However, if you activate Power Boost then activate Farsight, Farsight's defense will be boosted for the entire 2 minute duration of Farsight.

 

This is the correct explanation.

 

When you use power boost, both farsight and defense toggles are boosted. However, defense toggles in this game are not a constant effect. The toggle applies a defense buff with a duration of 0.75s every 0.50s, constantly refreshing itself to reflect buffs and debuffs on your person. This is unlike farsight, which is a singular copy of an effect that snapshots the conditions when it was cast and lasts 120s after. (See FF dispersion bubble/shields for another example.)

 

When building in mids, toggle off defense toggles first. Note the difference in farsight's def with and without power boost. Subtract this difference from your defense build goal to know how much defense you need to build for. Otherwise, you'll quickly find out that you are not in fact softcapped after 15s.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Zect

[Meknomancer]

That explains it. I did have the combat tab open and i was trying to work out what was going on with the numbers and totally forgot the 15 second power boost on defence toggles was vanishing. I must have been half asleep. Thanks to @Uunand @Zectfor the replies.