Lightform Crash - "I swear I'm okay!"

[The Trouble]

I recently did a Dr. Quaterfield PUG Taskforce on my Peacebringer.  At 85% Psi Resist, I was practically invincible.  I was defeated only once when trying to extract a Blaster that got in over their head (Blaster solidarity!).  As usual, I forgot to fire off Quantum Flight.

 

Anyway!  Every 1:30, my health drops to half thanks to Light Form's crash, which triggered my team to react almost every time.  I kept getting handed greens, or folks would rush from across the map to help me out.

 

I have started some PUG's, with a warning that "I live at half health, don't panic." But the best support players are pro-active.  If I ever get in the weeds after giving this warning, there is zero time for a teammate to run in and help me the handful of times that I actually need it.

 

So Post-Crash PB's, and Pre-Stygian Circle/Eclipse Warshades, how do you communicate that you're okay without discouraging future rescues?

[Laucianna]

Honestly I don't tell them, in most content the people who can heal don't get to do it often so if it helps make them feel important then I am happy to let them panic over healing ❤️ 

[Tiresias]

I feel like the best option is to be tracking Light Form and be ready to fire off a heal as soon as it drops. In general, I'm standing by with Essence Boost, which has a 92s recharge on my build, so it lines up perfectly with Light Form's crash. I actually find it harder to deal with the Endurance crash than the HP crash if I am facing enemies that End drain me.

[The Trouble]

On 5/5/2024 at 10:59 PM, Tiresias said:

I feel like the best option is to be tracking Light Form and be ready to fire off a heal as soon as it drops. In general, I'm standing by with Essence Boost, which has a 92s recharge on my build, so it lines up perfectly with Light Form's crash. I actually find it harder to deal with the Endurance crash than the HP crash if I am facing enemies that End drain me.

This is absolutely the correct answer, thank you.  "Heal yourself."

 

I realized that, in the end, this was a 'skill issue' as the children say.  With such high resistances, I got used to ignoring the crash completely... and that's not a good habit at all.  I recently got slammed to the ground right after a Lightform crash during an Incarnate Trial.  I had enough time to fire off that heal before I got clobbered and I just didn't.  So "warn the team" is shifting responsibility.  Hit that Heal button ASAP.  Make that health bar full before the team even realizes it was even low.  I'm the Swiss Army Knife of the team, and I gotta act like it.

 

Make this a habit, folks.  You don't want to be the reason your pals miss out on any "Master of" badges!

 

Regarding the End crash: Conserve Energy. Gives your End recovery (and/or procs) a chance to outrun the Sappers enough to break even.  Space out your attacks, and focus on them.  For Carnival, stay at range when you deal the final blow. For a herd of Mu, a gig of Freak Stunners, or a junkyard of Clockwork, I suggest high Energy Resistance and hope.

 

Anecdotally, I feel like the Panacea and Performance Shifter Procs help a lot here too because you're not waiting on regen, but instead you're just granted end points.  Panacea feels like it hits more often.  Numbers folks, please correct me on this if you feel inclined.

 

New plan: Every 1:30, I'll fire off a Heal of my choice, and then Conserve Energy* even though it's very inconvenient to my attack chain 🙂

 

*Edit - Conserve Energy is up every 3 minutes on my build.  My advice is only half-helpful!

Edited May 8 by The Trouble

[Tiresias]

5 minutes ago, The Trouble said:

This is absolutely the correct answer, thank you.  "Heal yourself."

 

I realized that, in the end, this was a 'skill issue' as the children say.  With such high resistances, I got used to ignoring the crash completely... and that's not a good habit at all.  I recently got slammed to the ground right after a Lightform crash during an Incarnate Trial.  I had enough time to fire off that heal before I got clobbered and I just didn't.  So "warn the team" is shifting responsibility.  Hit that Heal button ASAP.  Make that health bar full before the team even realizes it was even low.  I'm the Swiss Army Knife of the team, and I gotta act like it.

 

Make this a habit, folks.  You don't want to be the reason your pals miss out on any "Master of" badges!

 

Regarding the End crash: Conserve Energy. Gives your End recovery (and/or procs) a chance to outrun the Sappers enough to break even.  Space out your attacks, and focus on them.  For Carnival, stay at range when you deal the final blow. For a herd of Mu, a gig of Freak Stunners, or a junkyard of Clockwork, I suggest high Energy Resistance and hope.

 

Anecdotally, I feel like the Panacea and Performance Shifter Procs help a lot here too because you're not waiting on regen, but instead you're just granted end points.  Panacea feels like it hits more often.  Numbers folks, please correct me on this if you feel inclined.

 

New plan: Every 1:30, I'll fire off a Heal of my choice, and then Conserve Energy even though it's very inconvenient to my attack chain 🙂

 

If you have aggro for your team, your damage comes fourth.

 

First is keeping yourself alive. If you are dead, you can't hold aggro.

Second is keeping your pull managed. A properly managed pull is easier to tank and is cleared faster. It's also safer for the rest of your team.

Third is keeping your teammates alive. CoH gameplay tends towards self-sufficiency, but everyone could use a hand from time to time.

Fourth is dealing damage. If you are managing your pull properly, you don't need much damage to keep the targets on you -- at least the important ones.

 

As the pull pares down into a less-dangerous state, you can worry less about your own survival and start dishing out pain, because you know you aren't going to get insta-popped by an edge-case event.

 

When I'm the primary source of pull management for the team (notice I'm intentionally not using the word "tank", because I may not be the tank), I generally start the pull by teleporting in with White Dwarf, using taunt to pick up aggro, slamming everything to the ground with the AoE attack (I forget the name), and then soaking the alpha strike damage up with the White Dwarf heal. After that I'm into my Changeling rotation, including spamming taunt if I'm the tank. I will turtle up in White Dwarf if I'm taking a lot of incoming damage, because the additional health can make a difference. Ideally, I'm just soaking the alpha and then handing off the pull management to a Tanker so I can just freely go through my damage rotation.