What do you think is the single most powerful power/ability in the game?

[Andreah]

31 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

Judgement even though merely being a nuke

I've struggled to find good synergies of other powers with Judgments. They don't benefit from bonuses like most other powers do, so I've had to look more tactically. 

 

One way I do so, is to exploit Judgment's ability to single-shot defeat minions to thin them out of the way of a Fold Space, so that it will pull in more Lt's and Bosses for a subsequent Fulcrum Shift and traditional T9 nuke:  Judgment -> clears minions -> Fold Space -> bunches tougher mobs -> Fulcrum shift -> maximize DMG debuffs/buffs -> T9 Nuke. 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Andreah

[Oubliette_Red]

Kinetics Fulcrum Shift, where on a full team you go directly from buffing to a Mastermind with minions that (generally) have a much better AI.

 

[Uun]

1 hour ago, Andreah said:

I've struggled to find good synergies of other powers with Judgments. They don't benefit from bonuses like most other powers do, so I've had to look more tactically. 

If you go radial, the Judgements have interesting secondary effects:

Cryonic:  -50% speed/recharge for 30s / 25% chance for 12s mag 4 hold

Ion: -100% recovery for 10s / -35% endurance / 25% chance for 12s mag 4 hold

Mighty: mag 20 knockup

Pyronic: 25% chance for 12s mag 4 stun

Void: -50% damage for 30s

Vorpal: +30% defense (all) for 10s

[Enchantica]

BRAWL!  6 slotted BRAWL.  One accuracy, 3 damage, one recharge! I insist that it's the first 6 slotted power I have on all toons, NO EXCEPTIONS! 

J/K 😜

 

[Oklahoman]

On 10/15/2023 at 4:17 AM, MoonSheep said:

i’d imagine fulcrum shift would be in the top 3. being able to give an entire team +300% damage instantly is quite noticeable

 

I don't worry a whole lot about slotting and min/maxing, but I'm curious how you are slotting fulcrum shift for +300% instantly. May be a dumb questions, I just don't focus on that aspect of the game too much.

[TheOtherTed]

3 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

Siphon Speed does nothing for to-hit.  Plus, you're a Kin, you don't need to stack blues.

...and I never said Siphon Speed affected to-hit.  Stop putting words in my mouth.  Rather, Siphon Speed reduces the time needed to ready Transference (and other skills that require targeting an enemy), so, if I missed Transference (which very rarely happened), I didn't have long to wait before it was ready again.

 

As for carrying a stack of blues, it helped when a team got so into bulldoze mode that they wouldn't leave a target standing before I could hit Transference.  That happened often enough that I kept an insp column dedicated to blues.  And, if on the off-chance my Transference missed, I had some ready to drop on people who needed endurance Right Now.

 

In a way, this discussion highlights an issue I run into often in cooperative games - the difference between mechanical thinking and tactical thinking.  Both are equally important IMO, but the "SB plz" crowd seemed to lack the latter, to a surprising degree.  It's never about how one power works - it's about how one's entire build works, plus how a player leverages that build appropriately in the face of rapidly changing situations.

 

If it helps, though, I left the Kinetics game over a decade ago.  Too busy, too stressful, and too many people who just couldn't see past SB or heals.

[Without_Pause]

1 minute ago, TheOtherTed said:

...and I never said Siphon Speed affected to-hit. 

You wrote in way to imply FS had +Recharge. You wrote in a way to imply Siphon Speed added ToHit. If you can't see that, then that's on you.

[MoonSheep]

36 minutes ago, Oklahoman said:

 

I don't worry a whole lot about slotting and min/maxing, but I'm curious how you are slotting fulcrum shift for +300% instantly. May be a dumb questions, I just don't focus on that aspect of the game too much.

 

up to 10 targets of 25% each (250%) + the PBAoE buff of 50% from the caster (a defender in my case) = 300%
 

the buff is uneffected by slots, can only slot for acc, rech and end redux

[MoonSheep]

22 minutes ago, TheOtherTed said:

If it helps, though, I left the Kinetics game over a decade ago.  Too busy, too stressful, and too many people who just couldn't see past SB or heals.

 

kin for sure is an involved, fast paced set which isn’t the right fit for all players wanting to play a buff set, but is certainly in the top 3 most powerful sets in the right hands 

 

people quite rightly focus on SB given how powerful it is as a quick to apply buff. teams with SB are a lot more capable than those without, even the run speed part of the buff is a helpful benefit to a team. a kin should focus on applying FS and SB, everything else is of minor importance - i say this as someone who only plays two alts over 4 years, one being a kin/sonic def

[roleki]

If the rules say I can't vote for Hasten, and all the obvious candidates (PA, FS) have already been covered, then I'm going to say Faraday Cage. 

 

Not only is it fantastic mez protection that arrives (in a level-up build) right when you realize you NEED mez protection, it also gives decent +Res to most damage types and protection against End/Rec/Rech debuffs, and protects everyone in the cage from KB/KU/Repel and Immobilize.  Top that off with the fact that it *can* be spammed to wipe off accumulated magnitude mez, such as you might see in an MSR.

 

Plus, those characters that take it don't have to contort themselves to shoehorn mez protection into the build, so they can afford to get a fun Destiny power like Ageless, which is like gifting everyone around you with a distant cousin of the *real* GOAT, which is Hasten.

[Oklahoman]

58 minutes ago, MoonSheep said:

up to 10 targets of 25% each (250%) + the PBAoE buff of 50% from the caster (a defender in my case) = 300%
 

the buff is uneffected by slots, can only slot for acc, rech and end redux

 

OK, so there's not some magical enhancement out there I'm missing that would take a single target from 0% to 300% in one casting. Whew.

[Andreah]

1 hour ago, MoonSheep said:

 

up to 10 targets of 25% each (250%) + the PBAoE buff of 50% from the caster (a defender in my case) = 300%
 

the buff is uneffected by slots, can only slot for acc, rech and end redux

Also, if you have recharge, or if you use Siphon sped rapidly, or have the Force Feedback +recharge proc'ing, then you can often double or even triple stack Fulcrum Shift.

 

I three-slot my Fulcrum Shift with Dsync Provocations for Accuracy and Recharge. That might be overkill for most folks, and is certainly out-of-budget for many. 

 

Between Fulcrum shift and Siphon Power, I can get that 300% for the melees in my team out of a single target, like an AV we're pounding on.

[Andreah]

1 hour ago, MoonSheep said:

1 hour ago, TheOtherTed said:

If it helps, though, I left the Kinetics game over a decade ago.  Too busy, too stressful, and too many people who just couldn't see past SB or heals.

kin for sure is an involved, fast paced set which isn’t the right fit for all players wanting to play a buff set, but is certainly in the top 3 most powerful sets in the right hands 

Kinetics is noticeable easier to run than it was before the powers like Speed Boost and Increase Density became targeted AoEs. If you used it in the distant past and you remember it demanding you be a tediously repetitive buff-bot, I recommend trying it again. You may be very pleasantly surprised! 

[Frostbiter]

Travel Powers. If it wasn't for Fly I'd probably not have played for as long as I have.

[TheOtherTed]

1 hour ago, Without_Pause said:

You wrote in way to imply FS had +Recharge. You wrote in a way to imply Siphon Speed added ToHit. If you can't see that, then that's on you.

I really hate quote-mining myself, but here goes...

 

6 hours ago, TheOtherTed said:

Recharge is moot with Fulcrum Shift

Note the word "moot."  One of its meanings as an adjective is "irrelevant."  In other words, +Recharge doesn't help as much if you've gotten a good dose of Fulcrum Shift, since even second-string damage abilities become more powerful than is typically needed in a fight.

 

That said, I could have been more clear with the following:

5 hours ago, TheOtherTed said:

As for to-hit, I also had Tactics and Siphon Speed

Unfortunately, I made the assumption that you'd see the relevance of including Siphon Speed in my discussion.  I could have been more transparent about that.  What I meant was, less down time = less of an issue if Transference misses.  My bad.

 

Maybe you lean more towards the mechanical side of the mechanical / tactical spectrum, whereas I lean more to the latter.  That's fine, but don't mistake that for being "right" or "wrong" in a discussion that touches on both.

[TheOtherTed]

27 minutes ago, Andreah said:

Kinetics is noticeable easier to run than it was before the powers like Speed Boost and Increase Density became targeted AoEs. If you used it in the distant past and you remember it demanding you be a tediously repetitive buff-bot, I recommend trying it again. You may be very pleasantly surprised! 

Thanks for the encouragement, but even without using SB, I remember it being a busy set - and frustrating as all get-out when your teammates don't leave you a single mob to hit with Siphon Speed or Transference.  I'm not young, and Scrappers are about the busiest I get these days.  Controllers are my current sweet spot.

[GM Crumpet]

I hate speed boost with a passion and would happily kick kins from my team if they spam it. Big wide open maps? Go ahead, fill your boots. Small twisty caves/ council maps? For the love of dog stop!! 😛

I know I can turn it off at null but I always forget until I'm disentangling my corpse from scenery or shooting past the mob I'm aiming for into the one behind them....

[honoroit]

would be nice -> in the prism shop, 1 (yes, 1, one, only 1x, one) prism:

 

temp power: summon sea(gull).

[Andreah]

3 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

I know I can turn it off at null but I always forget until I'm disentangling my corpse from scenery or shooting past the mob I'm aiming for into the one behind them....

I'm going to start opening base portals whenever someone on my team complains about SB. "Here you go, type /enterbasefrompasscode ZONE-8888, go to the portal to Pocket D, visit NULL. We'll wait for you."

[UltraAlt]

5 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

I know I can turn it off at null but I always forget

 

It didn't take too long back on Homecoming that I started making a habit of going to Null the Gull as one first things that I do when I bring a new character into THE CITY.

And, yeah, turning the movement buff from speed boost off along with group fly and team teleport happens with every character.

[Oklahoman]

I remember commenting one time in a LAM that I was so speed boosted that if I tapped W I would end up in a Keyes trial.

 

You can LRT to PD, too. And I wish I could place ole' Null in my base.

[Andreah]

1 hour ago, Oklahoman said:

You can LRT to PD, too

Yeah, but sometimes people don't have that. And the ones who have not visited Null seem to correlate in my experience with those who don't have LRT either.

[lemming]

18 hours ago, TheOtherTed said:

Thanks for the encouragement, but even without using SB, I remember it being a busy set - and frustrating as all get-out when your teammates don't leave you a single mob to hit with Siphon Speed or Transference.  I'm not young, and Scrappers are about the busiest I get these days.  Controllers are my current sweet spot.

Oh, another bit they improved.   If the mob dies, you still get your health or endurance.    That took a lot of frustration away as well.

[mrgambit]

Lots of good choices here! If I had to pick something? It'd have to be freezing rain/sleet.  Boatloads of  long-lasting soft control and debuffs right out of the box that's also not too hard to bring down to a pretty short cooldown. Gets even better when you have a second person that can also summon it. You love using it, but also can really mess you up if you're not careful against enemies that have it in AE arcs and such.

Edited October 17, 2023 by mrgambit

[Doomguide2005]

On 10/16/2023 at 3:01 AM, GM Crumpet said:

I was shocked at how good Mire is on a Warshade. You get two and with a lot of enemies round you they boost the WS to damage cap and you just obliterate everything. Use it with Eclipse and your WS is seriously OP. It's like Fulcrum Shift though as the more enemies in range the better it is, but it's not team wide. Soloing +4/8 is actually easier than soloing +4/2 🙂

 

Warning nostalgia ahead:

First time I saw this combo it was a "wtf just happened" moment.  To one side of my screen the WS entered the mob and in what seemed like an instant the mob went 'poof' (Quasar - post Mire I presume) as their end bar basically bottomed out only to completely fill again (Eclipse).  I had seen this sort of nuke post nuke thing happen as an Empath in Green Machine but it took having at least a near full team, mostly to get the damage buff needed as this was pre-IO.  This was a small team with minimal buffs and not a Kin in sight.  The speed at which all happened still boggles me today in the age of Incarnates.