Could the Freedom Phalanx Beat Statesman's TF?

[Zumberge]

_{(This is a thought experiment involving actual gameplay mechanics instead of lore so I figured it went in Gen.  If not then I meant no harm.)}

 

So it's years after the fact, someone might have already addressed it, and canon's already changed enough to make it impossible, but we're going to need to talk about the elephant in the room.

 

Normally Statesman is a contact who sends you out on a task force to stop Lord Recluse, but for the sake of argument let's say that instead of helping him out your team of eight decided to do Citadel's task force instead, fell through a weak section of rock in a Council base, and are currently lost in Oranbegan ruins.  Without heroic luminaries such as the clear Marvel rip-off, the catgirl, that one with the concept you're pretty sure is a weird sex thing, and the guy who switched hero-side via Null the Gull because he absolutely had to have the Task Force Abandoner title "for backstory reasons," it then falls on the primary hero of Paragon City to... well, be a hero.  So he gets the Freedom Phalanx (as seen in the end of Recluse's original strike force) together to save the world themselves.

 

But could the Freedom Phalanx defeat Lord Recluse and save the world?

 

Here's the team make-up:

• Statesman: Invul/SS Tanker
  
• Back Alley Brawler: Invul/SS Tanker
  
• Synapse: Elec/Elec Blaster
  
• Citadel: Energy/Energy Blaster
  
• Manticore: Ta/Archery Defender
  
• Positron: Rad/Rad Defender
  
• Numina: Mind/Empathy Controller
  
• Sister Psyche: Mind/FF Controller
  

For the sake of argument they're all level 50 and have optimal IO builds because they got advice from Positron and had enough Merits saved up after years and years to get kitted out.  None of them have any Incarnate stuff unlocked because they're lazy and Statesman isn't using his Incarnate powers because he's afraid that the Well of the Furies will possess him or something.  For all intents and purposes they're normal level 50s, no plot armor included.

 

Personally I think they have enough support between /Rad, /Emp, /FF and /TA, but their DPS looks like it's suffering a little, especially with two Tankers.  Invulnerability Tankers at that; a lot of enemies on the TF deal non-S/L damage.  So I'm going to argue "no" on this one, but if they brought in Jim Tremblor and maybe Valkyrie or something instead of States and BAB they'd fare better.

 

Thoughts?  Ideas on how to fix the team?

[Redlynne]

With a pair of Mind Controllers stacking Confuse, they ought to be able to pierce the PToD for perma-Confuse on the Fanatical Four and advance to dealing with Recluse.

Statesman tanks Recluse while Back Alley Brawler tanks for the Pylon takedowns with Numina healing whoever is in really bad shape.

 

After that, it's just a matter of beatdown on Recluse, and there's enough debuffing from Manticore and Positron to get the job done.

[Vanden]

Nothing wrong with two Tankers on an STF. My first successful Master of STF run was on a team with two Tankers, including me, and this was before incarnate powers and before I got off my butt and put together an IO build for my Tanker.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

I think they'd be fine. Yes, their raw damage is a bit low but with a Rad defender debuffing Regen you don't need a ton of DPS to get past the AVs. I don't think they'd set any speed records but they should be able to do it.

 

As for the regular mobs, sure Invulnerability might not be the best for tanking some of them but you've got so much support it's not a major concern, plus in addition to the passive support Synapse can just drain everyone.

 

So overall, yeah I'd take that team on an STF. I wouldn't necessarily want to try a speed run unless the squishies are up for it but I'd have no concerns about beating it.

[Williwaw]

Of course, like most NPCs, the actual Freedom Phalanx "cheats", using signature powers and combinations of powersets that the player could never have, even with APPs.  (Back Alley Brawler mixes in Energy Melee with his SS, including his trademark Back Alley Brawler Punch; Citadel and Postron have a few Energy Aura powers, because "Overload" is thematic for both of them; Manticore has Teleport Arrow, an attack that doesn't require line of sight, plus Maneuvers and Stealth; Numina mixes Mind Control, Psi Blast, and Empathy, and is constantly stealthy due to being a ghost; Sister Psyche is mainly Mind Control/Energy Blast with two powers from Force Fields and one from Psi Blast; Synapse has the Synaptic Strike, a special electric version of Flurry, and Whirlwind from the Speed pool in addition to Elec Blast/Elec Manip; and that's not even counting individual "Resistance" powers and the good ol' Purple Triangles)

 

So if the actual Freedom Phalanx, with their "canon" powers, took on the STF, even if scaled down to player AT damage scales, they'd still have more options than actual characters of those ATs and powersets would have, but they might still struggle due to being very light on team buffs and heals (Numina just took single-target buffs and heals from Empathy).

[Venture]

I dunno, if you've ever done the Brass Tuesday Mission from the Pandora's Box Signature Story Arc but the FP are in that and they suck. :(

 

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Pandora%27s_Box_(SSA)

[Rikis]

I dunno, you've ever done the Brass Tuesday Mission from the Pandora's Box Signature Story Arc but the FP are in that and they suck. :(

 

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Pandora%27s_Box_(SSA)

 

Any idea on how to unlock that arc on redside? I tried doing it from the first contact, but it said I needed to do a tip mission which I've never seen drop.

[Venture]

sorry only ever done it blue by talking to the jaeger in steel - you could try via ouro as they are listed there as well...

[Templarstone]

Yes they could, the damage may be a bit low but the amount of debuffs makes up for that. Also there might be two tanks but they are SS tanks and can lay out plenty of damage. They'd just KO blow and footstomp to glory.

 

Invuln can tank through a STF just fine , there is a reason it's such a classic build.  I've solo tank LR without support other then my insp tray all before Incarnates with it.  Invuln is strong against more then S/L and the " Mystical Psi hole" is a aged way of thought and has been since IOs.  Since you said optimal io builds both invuln tanks would be soft capped or near to range and aoe ( which all psi is one or the other ) and they have a Bubbler to cap everything plus give more toxic resist and end drain resist.

 

The tanks would also be sitting around 30-45 psi resist ( it's really easy to build it ,4 IOs alone give you a scaling 18-25% before you add in the numerous psi resist set bonuses) 

 

I've been on STFs of all types and make ups including multiple Duos , all tank, all blaster, all brute, all corr, all scrapper, basically all single type AT runs except Khelds and Mastermind.

 

Statesman: Invul/SS Tanker

Back Alley Brawler: Invul/SS Tanker

Synapse: Elec/Elec Blaster

Citadel: Energy/Energy Blaster

Manticore: Ta/Archery Defender

Positron: Rad/Rad Defender

Numina: Mind/Empathy Controller

Sister Psyche: Mind/FF Controller

 

This team above No issues. , They march through  each mission with ease.  Last mission they take on all of the fearsome four at once,  get to the towers , States tanks LR , Posi drops a debuff toggle on LR so he doesn't summon Bane's, they take out Orange and Green Towers only because they are Pros and States can take the extra damage LR puts out and they beat him down.  Then take out the flyer for fun. They may not win any speed rewards but they would save the day in the end

[Chance Jackson]

Yes they could, the damage may be a bit low but the amount of debuffs makes up for that. Also there might be two tanks but they are SS tanks and can lay out plenty of damage. They'd just KO blow and footstomp to glory.

 

Invuln can tank through a STF just fine , there is a reason it's such a classic build.  I've solo tank LR without support other then my insp tray all before Incarnates with it.  Invuln is strong against more then S/L and the " Mystical Psi hole" is a aged way of thought and has been since IOs.  Since you said optimal io builds both invuln tanks would be soft capped or near to range and aoe ( which all psi is one or the other )

You sure about that? I read a while back when the game was live that Psionics tended to be non-positional in order to be a weakness for positional defense toons

[Adeon Hawkwood]

You sure about that? I read a while back when the game was live that Psionics tended to be non-positional in order to be a weakness for positional defense toons

It's pretty variable, some psionic powers get positional tags, some don't. For example Psychic Blast powers get positional tags but Mind Control powers don't. Illusion control splits the difference with a positional tag on Spectral Wounds but no positional tag on the control powers.

[Templarstone]

Sorry I wasn't more specific but meant within in the STF  since that's what we were talking about, that range and area def would cover it . Since the enemies use psi blast  The Psi hole is still an outdated boogie man since resist is so easy to build up.

[Ironblade]

Invuln can tank through a STF just fine , there is a reason it's such a classic build.

Definitely.  I was on a (successful) master run with an invuln tanking.

 

Regarding the OP, I don't think BAB is a tank.  From the comics, he seems more like a scrapper (there were no brutes back then).

[Rumors]

Letting them use IOs, especially optimal IO builds, makes this pretty easy.  Make it a SO-only scenario and then we'll actually need to do some thinking and debating.

[jack_nomind]

Regarding the OP, I don't think BAB is a tank.  From the comics, he seems more like a scrapper (there were no brutes back then).

 

I agree he seems like a Scrapper -- he's even the face of 'melee damage' in the creator -- but he's officially a Natural-origin Tanker.  (Despite probably having claims to Mutant and Science, and *definitely* Technology.)  Don't forget, Scrappers didn't learn how to punch without needing vampirism or lightning until i22.

[Zumberge]

Letting them use IOs, especially optimal IO builds, makes this pretty easy.  Make it a SO-only scenario and then we'll actually need to do some thinking and debating.

 

I debated having it be SOs only, but the last time I did the TF was back when having good team composition and beating it was still a pretty big deal, so that was coloring the idea a little.

 

In any case they do seem like they'd have better odds than the Arachnos patrons and their lackeys doing the Recluse SF.