Persuade me to choose a pool power

[tidge]

6 hours ago, ZemX said:

 

I really want Fold Space on a Tanker.  I want it every time I find myself on a team with 2-3 controllers and I know my odds of ever gathering mobs into a nice tight group for AoE is about nil.

 

Fold Space is always something I consider taking on a Tanker, but I have never taken it, because:

• I don't want to slot it for Accuracy, Recharge, or Range to make it more available.
• Tankers already have large AoE, so more positioning of enemies is less necessary
• It doesn't work on level 54 bosses, AFAIK
• With Combat Teleport, I can get to that problematic spawn (or single mob) just as easily as tossing out a Fold Space
• I am trying to keep an eye on the larger battlefield, but if I observed something I'd want to engage, I'll either toss Taunt, a ranged attack, or my Tanker at them.

I have played in PUG with a Tanker who uses it, and while I can adjust, frankly it feels like it is (at best) simply breaking up what I am trying to do, at worst it reminds me of "wait here while I gather the map" (except that it doesn't grab the map faster than the rest of us can deal with it).

 

Hasten is one of those powers that I find works well on some characters, but generally play is smoother if I just build for recharge from LotG and set bonuses (this is true for Dominators too, which want to hit perma-dom without relying on Hasten or Force Feedback). My simple calculus is if it takes 2 clicks of two different powers to defeat a mob (or a spawn of mobs) it takes a long time for the benefit of the extra global recharge to manifest itself... again, assuming 25%-65% from sets plus whatever I can scrounge from LotG.

I recognize that if an attack chain is min-maxxed such that the character has the minimum number of attacks which generate an uninterruptable attack chain exists as a possibility for narrow ranges of content is something that can be pursued, but that is not for me.

 

[Ironblade]

22 hours ago, DougGraves said:

Stealth is nice but not used much teaming.  

I would disagree on that.  I run the weeklies a lot and, since we're mostly there for the rewards, there is a lot of stealthing missions.  Having the Stealth power (which actually grants full invisibility, despite the name) is very useful.  Most of my characters also have Teleport Target and *ALL* of them buy Assemble The Team.  And, of course, you can put a LotG +recharge in Stealth.

 

My default answer would have been Assault and Tactics because I take those on most characters - but you said you already had those.  If you also had a rez power, I would have said Vengeance for sure, since you would be running over to the dead teammate anyway.  It's still a good option (since it can also take a LotG) but not as compelling.

 

Overall, I would lean toward Stealth and Teleport Target.  Being able to summon that one person who always gets to the mission last, or gets lost on Orenbega maps, or who has Assemble The Team charged and ready, etc - very team-friendly.

[lemming]

For something that is tricky to time, but is hilarious when it works.   Firing off Meteor, and then Fold Space on the targetted spot.

[biostem]

22 hours ago, DougGraves said:

So what would be the 2 most useful powers to take?

From a functional standpoint, combat jumping and mystic flight give you a LotG mule, immob protection, extra jump height, flight, and teleport...

 

For a little mote flavor and as an "oh sh!t" power, water spout and hibernate could be useful.

 

If you wanted to up your damage and survivability a bit, sleet and frozen armor are quite useful.

 

Best of luck!

[roleki]

21 hours ago, BZRKR said:

If you have the slots, it's a place to 6-Slot Preventative Medicine for a 8.75% recharge bonus.

 

Not a bad idea, but I almost never have slots left over for pool/EP powers on account of how much I rely on full sets in the primary/secondary and a certain set of uniques on every build.   This is where the lack of a single proc that does +Res, +Def, +Regen, +Heal, +WIS, +End, +ToHit, +Rech, -Slow, -MAYO, +Stealth, and KB protection is really glaring.

[DreadShinobi]

On 1/24/2023 at 6:25 PM, roleki said:

I have no idea what Experimental Injection does, it sounds stupid and I hate it.

 

I like the experimentation pool because one of the prerequisites to Adrenal Booster can be your travel power, which makes it a relatively low investment choice. I was able to fit it in on my EM/EA stalker that skipped the fighting pool and in addition to the dmg/tohit/rchg it helps out a bit with stun stacking. Experimental Injection is straight up dirty OP in small team environments. With a 60 sec duration and a potential <45 sec recharge you give a blaster, corr, etc Mez Protection as needed and +100% regen and +25% recovery and you're now this Blaster's new best friend. For a stalker, it is indispensable utility that can't be replicated. Now the stupid part is that Experimental Injection has a 10 ft range, and if you have the intention to want to keep this buff up relatively frequently on a particular ally then the 10 ft range can be really annoying. 

[Troo]

With only two power picks remaining you won't be able to get to another requiring two picks like Rune of Protection or Fold Space.

Vengeance then is a powerful selection for you team only character.

 

With the other power pick, it's a travel power. Pick your favorite.

 

If you're okay ninja running around. Then in my opinion the following are worthy of consideration:

Combat Jumping (Immobilization resistance, + Def, LotG Mule)

Hasten (A bit more power availability with a crash)

Victory Rush (more endurance every 2 minutes for you and your team)

Air Superiority (a nice extra attack)

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Troo

[BZRKR]

23 hours ago, roleki said:

 

Not a bad idea, but I almost never have slots left over for pool/EP powers on account of how much I rely on full sets in the primary/secondary and a certain set of uniques on every build.   This is where the lack of a single proc that does +Res, +Def, +Regen, +Heal, +WIS, +End, +ToHit, +Rech, -Slow, -MAYO, +Stealth, and KB protection is really glaring.

It seems so obvious that I can't believe that it's not already in game!🙃

[DougGraves]

I just respec'd an earth/earth dominator.  Dropped assault and tactics - I have quicksand for hitting, so I figured I didn't need tactics as well.  Picked up aid other, aid self, and combat medic.  Ran a Posi 1 and was very happy with the result.

 

With those 3 powers I was able to heal others and myself conveniently in combat.  Although healing myself sometimes said interrupted if I was moving.  So it seems to still have some interrupt time even with combat medic.

 

I plan on having 2 builds - one with healing and one with experimentation for increased damage.  I want to try corrosive vial with quicksand holding them in it.

 

One downside - I didn't realize that Team Transport and such were by build.  So it looks like I need to shell out another 15 million or so for P2W powers for my alternate build.

[tidge]

2 hours ago, DougGraves said:

One downside - I didn't realize that Team Transport and such were by build.  So it looks like I need to shell out another 15 million or so for P2W powers for my alternate build.

 

Those should still be in your powers, although you will have to add them manually back to your tray. (Timers reset when switching builds, FWIW)

[DougGraves]

47 minutes ago, tidge said:

Those should still be in your powers, although you will have to add them manually back to your tray. (Timers reset when switching builds, FWIW)

 

They might have all been on reset then.  I only checked a few minutes later.  Thanks

 

Edit: checked and they are there.  It was the cooldown.

Edited January 27, 2023 by DougGraves

[Yomo Kimyata]

Lots of good one/two hit wonders:

 

Concealment:  Stealth and/or Infiltration

Experimentation:  Speed of Sound if that appeals as a travel power

Flight:  Air Superiority, Hover, Fly

Force of Will:  Weaken Resolve, Mighty Leap

Leaping:  Combat Jumping, Super Jump

Sorcery:  Mystic Flight

Speed:  Hasten, Super Speed

Teleport:  Combat Teleport

 

For your purposes, I'd probably go with Combat Jumping for the ability to mule defense sets and it's a good mini-travel power that you will always have on and Hasten.

 

This is as good a place as any to ask if anyone has any good words to speak on Misdirection from the Concealment pool?  Placate is meh, but 15 seconds of -11.25% damage resistance is a nice damage boost for a few attacks once every minute or two.

 

 

[tidge]

2 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

This is as good a place as any to ask if anyone has any good words to speak on Misdirection from the Concealment pool?  Placate is meh, but 15 seconds of -11.25% damage resistance is a nice damage boost for a few attacks once every minute or two.

 

I've been experimenting with it on a level 20 Blaster (I have XP off most of the time; the character has been played for almost 2 weeks, so I am logging time with this power), specifically for the -Resist Damage. I have not seen particularly promising results with it. Some could be because of level, but it is a long-recharge power which requires a ToHit check, and requires two early power picks (I chose Infiltration and also Grant Invisibility as a mule). I plan to respec out of it at either level 24 or 26. It simply feels like it has cost me too much in terms of opportunity of other power choices for the little yield it offers.

 

I want to disclose that I have been playing this character as a "Blapper", so this isn't a case where I have specifically chosen a PBAoE power on a character that isn't close to enemies.

[DougGraves]

And I now have a build with the medicine pool to be a healer and one with the experimental pool to do more damage.  And it is great.

 

I did a posi 1 and when I discovered our one defender was enough to keep everyone alive, I switched to my damage build.

 

I am definitely going to look at doing more dual builds.