Please Help Me with My Rad/Rad Build

[PhotriusPyrelus]

And I kind of mean "help" in the same way a child does when he asks for "help" with his homework.  >.<

A very kind person showed me a build in a different thread, but there's a lot that confuses me and that I just don't like about it.  Two chief issues rooted in theming preferences are are A) I don't want to mess with non-heroic alignments, so I can't use Mace Mastery and 2) I don't want to use the sorcery tree  - as an aside, is it just me, or is Rune of Protection *obnoxiously* overpowered?  25% res all, and practical CC immunity for a full minute on only a 3 minute CD (low enough to pretty easily get 100% up-time)?

I've been working on just picking powers and I'm kind of stumped.  So far:

 

1. Radiation Infection

1. Neutrino Bolt

2. Accelerate Metabolism

4. Fly

6. Enervating Field

8. Mutation

10. Irradiate

12. Lingering Radiation

14. Hover

16. Evasive Maneuvers

18. Choking Cloud

20. Boxing

22. Fallout

24. Tough

26. EM Pulse

28. Neutron Bomb

30. Atomic Blast

33. Weave

35. Maneuvers

38. Tactics

41. ???

44. ???

47. ???

49. ???

I skip Radiant Aura because it clashes with my character concept (radiation doesn't heal, what kind of fantasy nonsense is that?!  ~_^), and if I'm doing my job right, people shouldn't need healing anyway, right?  Yes, I do have Fallout and Mutation, mostly for the luls, but also because sometimes people make mistakes, and as someone I used to know was fond of saying: "it's easier to res than heal".  Though from my experience in PUGs, both are kind of dead slots; people usually either awaken or release before I can use their defeated self as a nuke and then revive them.

I'm not sure if I should get Neutrino Bolt (NB) or X-Ray Beam (XRB); XRB has a much stronger defense debuff, but there's gotta be a good reason the build Linea linked used NB instead.  Also less thumb-twiddling with NB at very low exemplaring.

I pick up Fly at level 4 mostly for exemplaring.  I pick up Hover and Evasive Maneuvers for more speed when traveling, and because in missions fly is usually *too fast*, so I like to have hover for the slower speed and higher friction.  It gives me 4 different options for velocity (H, H+EM, F, F+EM).

Everything else should more or less speak for itself.  I'm not sure if I really need Proton Volley or Cosmic Burst.  I have nothing against them, but I don't see much need for them.  I'm more interested in doing debuffing than in DPSing.  I thought about getting combat jumping for extra defense.  I skipped Aim because I'd probably always forget to use it.

 

---

As for enhancements and slotting, I really just don't know.  I don't even know where to begin  I miss pre-sets CoH, when enhancing was so much simpler for my smooth brain.  x_x  Related question: how do enhancement slots work with exemplaring?  Respeccing doesn't really make it clear there is actually a level attached to the enhancement slots and in fact, you can 6-slot your level 49 power with a respec, when you can only get 4 in it via natural level-up.  But on the other hand, I did a very low-level exemplar the other day and even though I have 6 slots with 5 rechargers in Accelerate Metabolism, it had its full 7 minute cooldown.

A few parameters I would like for enhancement:

Choking Cloud with lots of hold duration so it gets off many pulses during its duration to keep Minions and Lts locked-down once they're in it.  Mids says it activates every 5 seconds, City of Data seems to suggest it's every 2 seconds.  Either way, about 10 seconds of hold duration should work.

I would like Accelerated Metabolism to be at or near 100% uptime if possible.  I know I don't have Hasten and that makes it a tall order, but I really *really* do not like Hasten. Aside from the aesthetics and that *awful* sound effect, it's easier on my afore-mentioned smooth brain if I can just set AM to auto-cast and forget about it than having to remember to hit AM *and* Hasten every 2 minutes.  I guess it might help to know the exact opportunity cost to make a more-informed decision, but not knowing that, I'd really just rather not take Hasten.

Unless it's a stupid idea*, I'd like Irradiate and Neutron Bomb to be slotted for defense debuff to make large mobs all the more easy to hit for the team (and for EM Pulse and Atomic Blast).

*- I half-think it is; the defense debuff on Rad Blast seems one of the worst secondary effects, because DPSers should want to be hit-capped without it and Radiation Infection already does -31.25% def.  I almost rerolled to a different blast, but I just can't give up the matching aesthetics (yes, I do know about customizing power colours, but I still doubt it would look right).


ANYWAY, this is really long so I'll stop word vomiting now.  If you made it this far, thank you for reading, even if you don't have the time or energy to help.  ❤️

[Uun]

9 hours ago, PhotriusPyrelus said:

is it just me, or is Rune of Protection *obnoxiously* overpowered?  25% res all, and practical CC immunity for a full minute on only a 3 minute CD (low enough to pretty easily get 100% up-time)?

100% uptime is impossible as the 3 minute recharge can't be changed. The recharge of RoP can't be enhanced and is unaffected by global recharge.

 

9 hours ago, PhotriusPyrelus said:

I'm not sure if I really need Proton Volley or Cosmic Burst.  I have nothing against them, but I don't see much need for them.  I'm more interested in doing debuffing than in DPSing. 

You do you, but I'm not sure how you envision occupying your time. Rad Em has 3 debuffs - 2 of them are toggles and the other has a 90s recharge. Presumably you would be blasting? Neutrino Bolt, Irradiate and Neutron Bomb is hardly an attack chain. 

 

9 hours ago, PhotriusPyrelus said:

Unless it's a stupid idea*, I'd like Irradiate and Neutron Bomb to be slotted for defense debuff to make large mobs all the more easy to hit for the team (and for EM Pulse and Atomic Blast).

All of Rad Blast's powers debuff defense and the debuffs stack. There's really no reason to enhance the debuff as it just becomes overkill. The attraction of blast sets that debuff defense is that they accept a large number of procs.

 

9 hours ago, PhotriusPyrelus said:

Choking Cloud with lots of hold duration so it gets off many pulses during its duration to keep Minions and Lts locked-down once they're in it.  Mids says it activates every 5 seconds, City of Data seems to suggest it's every 2 seconds.  Either way, about 10 seconds of hold duration should work.

Always rely on City of Data over Mid's. The most efficient slotting for Choking Cloud is 3 end/hold enhancements (from 3 different Hold sets). 

 

9 hours ago, PhotriusPyrelus said:

how do enhancement slots work with exemplaring?  Respeccing doesn't really make it clear there is actually a level attached to the enhancement slots and in fact, you can 6-slot your level 49 power with a respec, when you can only get 4 in it via natural level-up.  But on the other hand, I did a very low-level exemplar the other day and even though I have 6 slots with 5 rechargers in Accelerate Metabolism, it had its full 7 minute cooldown.

You keep all your slots when exemplared but your enhancements become less effective. 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Exemplar_Effects_on_Enhancements

[Sanguinesun]

10 hours ago, PhotriusPyrelus said:

And I kind of mean "help" in the same way a child does when he asks for "help" with his homework.  >.<

A very kind person showed me a build in a different thread, but there's a lot that confuses me and that I just don't like about it.  Two chief issues rooted in theming preferences are are A) I don't want to mess with non-heroic alignments, so I can't use Mace Mastery and 2) I don't want to use the sorcery tree  - as an aside, is it just me, or is Rune of Protection *obnoxiously* overpowered?  25% res all, and practical CC immunity for a full minute on only a 3 minute CD (low enough to pretty easily get 100% up-time)?

I've been working on just picking powers and I'm kind of stumped.  So far:

 

1. Radiation Infection

1. Neutrino Bolt

2. Accelerate Metabolism

4. Fly

6. Enervating Field

8. Mutation

10. Irradiate

12. Lingering Radiation

14. Hover

16. Evasive Maneuvers

18. Choking Cloud

20. Boxing

22. Fallout

24. Tough

26. EM Pulse

28. Neutron Bomb

30. Atomic Blast

33. Weave

35. Maneuvers

38. Tactics

41. ???

44. ???

47. ???

49. ???

I skip Radiant Aura because it clashes with my character concept (radiation doesn't heal, what kind of fantasy nonsense is that?!  ~_^), and if I'm doing my job right, people shouldn't need healing anyway, right?  Yes, I do have Fallout and Mutation, mostly for the luls, but also because sometimes people make mistakes, and as someone I used to know was fond of saying: "it's easier to res than heal".  Though from my experience in PUGs, both are kind of dead slots; people usually either awaken or release before I can use their defeated self as a nuke and then revive them.

I'm not sure if I should get Neutrino Bolt (NB) or X-Ray Beam (XRB); XRB has a much stronger defense debuff, but there's gotta be a good reason the build Linea linked used NB instead.  Also less thumb-twiddling with NB at very low exemplaring.

I pick up Fly at level 4 mostly for exemplaring.  I pick up Hover and Evasive Maneuvers for more speed when traveling, and because in missions fly is usually *too fast*, so I like to have hover for the slower speed and higher friction.  It gives me 4 different options for velocity (H, H+EM, F, F+EM).

Everything else should more or less speak for itself.  I'm not sure if I really need Proton Volley or Cosmic Burst.  I have nothing against them, but I don't see much need for them.  I'm more interested in doing debuffing than in DPSing.  I thought about getting combat jumping for extra defense.  I skipped Aim because I'd probably always forget to use it.

 

---

As for enhancements and slotting, I really just don't know.  I don't even know where to begin  I miss pre-sets CoH, when enhancing was so much simpler for my smooth brain.  x_x  Related question: how do enhancement slots work with exemplaring?  Respeccing doesn't really make it clear there is actually a level attached to the enhancement slots and in fact, you can 6-slot your level 49 power with a respec, when you can only get 4 in it via natural level-up.  But on the other hand, I did a very low-level exemplar the other day and even though I have 6 slots with 5 rechargers in Accelerate Metabolism, it had its full 7 minute cooldown.

A few parameters I would like for enhancement:

Choking Cloud with lots of hold duration so it gets off many pulses during its duration to keep Minions and Lts locked-down once they're in it.  Mids says it activates every 5 seconds, City of Data seems to suggest it's every 2 seconds.  Either way, about 10 seconds of hold duration should work.

I would like Accelerated Metabolism to be at or near 100% uptime if possible.  I know I don't have Hasten and that makes it a tall order, but I really *really* do not like Hasten. Aside from the aesthetics and that *awful* sound effect, it's easier on my afore-mentioned smooth brain if I can just set AM to auto-cast and forget about it than having to remember to hit AM *and* Hasten every 2 minutes.  I guess it might help to know the exact opportunity cost to make a more-informed decision, but not knowing that, I'd really just rather not take Hasten.

Unless it's a stupid idea*, I'd like Irradiate and Neutron Bomb to be slotted for defense debuff to make large mobs all the more easy to hit for the team (and for EM Pulse and Atomic Blast).

*- I half-think it is; the defense debuff on Rad Blast seems one of the worst secondary effects, because DPSers should want to be hit-capped without it and Radiation Infection already does -31.25% def.  I almost rerolled to a different blast, but I just can't give up the matching aesthetics (yes, I do know about customizing power colours, but I still doubt it would look right).


ANYWAY, this is really long so I'll stop word vomiting now.  If you made it this far, thank you for reading, even if you don't have the time or energy to help.  ❤️

 

 

First off, the very kind person who posted a build in your other thread essentially posted builds that are specifically designed for high end challenge content that the majority(yes the majority) of the player base do not play and as well intended as a build to match with other people that go on those missions together (ie the others also built theirs to work with the others on the team).   It is a solid build mind you and can work on teams doing most other content, but the specific choices they made in regards to all their powers and more importantly the sets and the set bonuses are focused on that specific content/group style needs.

 

To be quite straightforward/blunt, you're not that sort at the moment.  You're essentially new and hitting the steep learning curve with what Homecoming presents when playing and very likely, you're just going to be primarily focused on 1-50 leveling in a more relaxed sense, will do some general post 50 content as the mood suits you, and then you'll perhaps then play something else, parking the defender to use when the mood suits you again.    This would be a common framing for how not a small number of people play the game and absolutely nothing wrong with it.

------

 

That all said, let me try to explain/clarify/discuss some of the points you made in your post that hopefully may help.

 

 

1.  "non hero alignment"   For the sake of understanding things, players can switch alignments freely at any time via an npc in pocket d(null the gull).  This allows players to go between all zones, do content specific to those zones, or in the point you were making, gain access to the powers of the patrons that used to be exclusively and only for villain characters.

 

I can only assume this is because you feel your character would no longer be "good" from some sort of roleplaying sense.  My best answer to you is, be more creative/thinking outside the box, if that is your primary concern.  However, if you're staunchly opposed and wishing to intentionally limit your character in this fashion, that's very much an Roleplayer's perogative and nothing wrong with that of course.... except that it shifts intentions of your character from being a min/max/optimal(semi subjectively mind you) to a thematic character.

 

In terms of thematic play,  the rule is: anything is ok.  However, if you seek to straddle the line between thematic character and optimizing within that thematic/avoidance of things that dont fight your themes, then (depending on the build/theme) that can be more challenging.

 

Its basically an issue of concept vs meta.  We cant really sort that for you, so that's going to ultimately need to be a decision for yourself.

 

2. If you dont want to use sorcery pool, then dont.  Linea's build uses it because as I pointed out at the start, their build is specifically intended for survivability in addition to support for specific teams that match the challenges of the harder content in the game that most dont play.   

 

People take the sorcery pool for many reasons not just for certain builds to be more resilient either.   However, your feelings that Rune of Protection are over powers is rooted in your still being new to the game.  It isnt overpowered(cant wait for you to see incarnate powers...) as it has a long cool down timer that --cannot-- be affected by global recharge benefits. Its a fixed 180 so its only up for a minute then 2 more minutes after that before it can be activated again.  It is a situationally used ability in other words but this was already pointed out to you. 

 

You'll also notice in that build they slotted it with enhancements that give specific bonuses... which was also another important goal for the build and related to what I stated before.   To be blunt, you're seeing again the build from a new player standpoint and not a long time HC player one. 

 

3.   "Skipping radiant aura".  To be quite blunt, teams are not going to like you for skipping your healing aura to help with the team. "Doing your job right" thinking to be honest is again a potential mismatch between the set's powers and your perception of it.  In group dynamics terms, this is going to be a challenge for you leveling as people in groups will be expecting you to be healing and debuffing equally.  Or if you're the only one who would've had a heal on the team(as can happen frequently) there's going to be some people unhappily questioning what's going on. 

 

Again, I recognize you're going for a very specific thematic build. This is what I was eluding to the thematic vs meta far above.   To that end, I would also like to suggest to you to again be more creative/outside the box.   Due to how you can change colors of powers and other things, you may be havinga situation of a mismatch between your wants and the power sets themselves.   As a completely arbitrary example, one could make a poison primary defender with a dark blast secondary, color them both a sickly orange and call them a radiation sickness Role Playing themed character.  Lots of ways for people to get creative.

 

However again, if you are adamant about your choices, then that's fine.  I just recommend that you also be equally resolved in how you're going to navigate the social dynamics with other players when you're not helping to heal them and friction occurs once you explain(or dont) that you didnt take the healing power for the set.  If you intend to group constantly and with a variety of people, this is likely to occur so you need to be prepared for that eventuality.   Mind you, if you're playing on Everlasting(the defacto RolePlaying server) you may have a better way to role play that away though.

 

4. As for Radiation blast powers that you said you didnt understand why Linea took,  again, look at their set bonuses and how it adds up with the overall ---goals--- for the build and the specific game play.   You want different as a roleplaying thematics player? Great. Build 100% as you wish.  If you want to build min/max, then you're going to need to start delving into why players make specific power choices and for what content their going with.  Linea would 100% not build that build and choose those powers and slots/enhancements if they were planning to make a casual MSR specific rad/rad or just running a toon 1-50 to then park at 50.   

 

Goals shape the character's powers/slots/enhacement choices.  This is a tricycle at a NASCAR race track saying they want to run that tricycle on the track, not understanding its not a car, and then not understanding why its not being allowed to race in the coca cola 500. (Im making an intentionally silly example but to illustrate the stark contrast between the information gap that you have and the expectations due to that gap and not giving this example as a means to slight you.)

 

 

5.  Your choices for hover evasive maneuvers are fine.  Just remember the defensive bonuses from ev drop when you start attacking.  Also just because you then toggle it off to just use hover doesnt mean you're going to go slower.   Addressing your information gap again, if there's a kinetics on your team, they can speed boost you(which also btw boosts your recharge rate so you can use powers faster), and so you'll be fast with it. Im simply pointing this out to reinforce your assumptions mismatching what the dynamics of your team can potentially bring(or not).

 

Slotting and what enhancements you put in them also is a factor.   Because you still do not have a firm grasp on set bonuses and other beneficial enhancements, explaining that in detail may be too much. Suffice to say, though both are ways for people to help bonus boost their global recharge and other benefits. 

 

6. Have to be blunt on mids:  Love it, but its absolutely a mess with so many inaccuracies that the people who  are tasked with maintaining it just simply have not or cannot address. Some having existed for years with it.   City of Data too has inaccuracies(albeit less so).   A third option often recommended too is to make and play around with builds on the homecoming beta server as you can insta a 50, and get any enhancements you want free to then test around with.   

 

However:

 

-You're not familiar with the full details on enhancement sets, bonuses, and more. More importantly you're not familiar yet with how to think on it as a recipe for a larger whole result.

 

-You're still not familar with even playing the powers of sets, the AT's themselves, nor how what you do interacts with others in a group.

 

My advice to you in all these regards then: 

 

-Pick your power sets for an AT, and play from your interests(as you clearly do wish to do already).  You're not going to be wasting money(or shouldnt be) on delving into set enhancements while you level.  Just use the standard Invention Origin enhancements(IOs) and learn just more or less how to play, and the group dynamics of playing with others in these regards. 

 

-Over time you're going to learn the game and then start being able to delve into the more complicated and detailed meta that everyone speaks to.  Right now though you're having a dissonance between your wants and the reality of game play and due to your info gap, its making your situation more challenging.

 

 

6. Without haste and many sets that give bonuses to global recharge time and more, 100% you're not going to achieve recharge time goals on powers that you've been expressing.  Again, wants vs reality of game play meta.

 

7. Chocking cloud doesnt always work. Its not a guarantee to affect targets in the way you believe.  You're also going to need to be well within melee range of not just the mobs that may be held, but also ones that arent.  Because you're building a toon to be more thematic vs resilient, this means you're going to be licking the pavement more than you may envision yourself doing so(especially when you opt to not take your healing aura power).   Its essentially going to be more situationally used (and in recipe with other powers that you use.   

 

8. Slotting for defense debuffs in general isn't going to be necessary as a whole due to the stacking amounts of it from your power sets, also 1-50, stuff is going to die relatively quickly making it less effective as an enhancement consideration when there are other things that can be slotted in some powers.   Also, some mobs can be resistant to defense debuffs, especially at higher levels of content. Again, meta vs reality.

 

9.  Skipping aim is your choice but again, in some build situations, its not just about the +tohit and +damage but also the enhancements slotted and the bonuses given on activation (gaussian's +build up turning the power into a much stronger +dam/+tohit buff when the proc goes off.  Again that's fine though. You're not building for effectivity but for thematics.

 

10. This is the big one that so many players to the game just never come to understand:

 

There is no one best, cookie-cutter, way to play a character.  Its all situational and in some minor cases, subjective as well.

 

The game was ---intentionally--- designed this way decades ago by the original devs and continues to be perpetuated by the current team(albeit with some lesser amounts to that).   This game was originally a subscription model game. That meant that making the time sinks and the complications of playing making players subscribe longer and thus bring in more revenue was the intentional goal(as most live service games are).

 

But...  this should not be construed to mean that making a mastermind toon(arbitrary example), giving it only the 3 range attacks it gets, a secondary that only debuffs, and then expecting it to be toe to toe equal with most other AT's and players you're playing with on a team.  It will be more or less a hamstringed build with challenges.   Again nothing wrong with that(we've seen petless mm builds for years on here).  But what it does mean that its challenge.  Many new players who make decisions that go outside of the parameters intended for the ATs/power sets and face those challenges become discouraged.  You're giving signs of that being the case at the moment.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

So in summary

 

You're too new yet to understand the powers, the enhancements, Archetypes, and how they all work with groups etc etc etc.  Your lack of knowledge on all these fronts is conspiring to, along with the the much higher end meta of details of play, to make you confused, misunderstanding various things etc.

 

You're 100%, categorically, making a themed roleplayer style character.  And its effectivity is altered/challenged by your choices.   As long as you accept that, and the challenges that it incurrs, then enjoy.   If you do not accept that, then you're going to need to start rethinking, adapting, and doing things that are incongruent with your current perceptions and expectations.  You're just wanting to casually play and enjoy. There is NOTHING wrong with that, but you also need to understand the wants vs the reality of the situation that may or may not impose.

 

So my best advice: 

 

1. Just use mids as a ---general--- powers choosing planners for now.  You're not ready to tackle the more detailed ins and outs of the sets/enhancements etc.

 

2. Just play the game.  See how your choices work(or dont) for you.  That's experiential learning.  If you get to 50 with such a toon, great. Then decide if you're wanting to continue to progress it for its incarnate powers, redo its slots and start purchasing the 500mil to 1.5 billion influence in costs total  needs for set enhancements etc.

 

3. While leveling 1-50, just buy the standard invention origin enhancements just giving fixed % values for specific things like damage, acc, etc.   General rule for that no more than 3 slots of the same enhancement type as more causes the % values to get deminishing returns(Im 100000% simplifying this but you can read more on that from the wiki or elsewhere as its another thing in the meta).

 

4. Understand how playing with groups works from point 2 as well.  

 

5. Continue to read the forums, wiki, city of data, mids, etc and start learning more over time.  The knowledge will come and the understanding of the game will come.   There's so much more to learn outside of just building a toon that in some cases can be wholly more important.

 

6.  For newer players, the biggest challenge is money.  Learn effective methods in game from guides here and others on how to make money. Hint: for a new player its not about getting to 50 and then making money.  There are methods(and not not Market flipping or wasting merits for converters to selll on the market) that not only help a player make good money to fund their 1-50 needs for standard IOs but also in the beginning help to level them as well.

 

7.  Contrarian/alternative builds are fine, just be ready to accept the challenges they impose up to and including social/group challenges.

 

 

Best of luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhotriusPyrelus]

5 hours ago, Uun said:

100% uptime is impossible as the 3 minute recharge can't be changed. The recharge of RoP can't be enhanced and is unaffected by global recharge.

 

You do you, but I'm not sure how you envision occupying your time. Rad Em has 3 debuffs - 2 of them are toggles and the other has a 90s recharge. Presumably you would be blasting? Neutrino Bolt, Irradiate and Neutron Bomb is hardly an attack chain. 

 

All of Rad Blast's powers debuff defense and the debuffs stack. There's really no reason to enhance the debuff as it just becomes overkill. The attraction of blast sets that debuff defense is that they accept a large number of procs.

I didn't realize that.  I guess that explains why Mids wasn't showing a lower cooldown time on that ability.  And here I thought it was a bug.  @_@  My mistake.

Unless fighting only a single target, I spend a lot of time making sure my debuffs are actually effective.  With sufficient recharge reduction, Neutrino Bolt alone becomes its own 'attack chain'.  I mean in the two builds Linea shared on the other thread, it had a mere half-second CD.

Eh.  I really...really don't like procs...  But yeah, I guess that makes sense.

[Uun]

33 minutes ago, PhotriusPyrelus said:

Unless fighting only a single target, I spend a lot of time making sure my debuffs are actually effective.  With sufficient recharge reduction, Neutrino Bolt alone becomes its own 'attack chain'.  I mean in the two builds Linea shared on the other thread, it had a mere half-second CD.

 

Neutrino Bolt can absolutely be spammed endlessly (unenhanced it has a 1.5s recharge), but it's very low damage. Proton Volley and Cosmic Burst have roughly double the DPA and 3x the defense debuff, plus Cosmic Burst has a mag 3 stun. I don't recommend skipping them.

[Linea]

tldr:  We all do crazy things sometimes, particularly when it comes to concept builds.  If it's FUN for you, do it. 

• I build Extremely Heavy Armor builds.  Many tanks have less armor than one of my average squishy builds.  Each player has to adapt the build or the idea accordingly.  The average player will in general be better off emphasizing less armor, more AoE and/or Proc based Offensive Builds.  There are other builders that specialize in that direction.
• I build a build as a whole.  I typically do not slot powers, I slot builds.  It's a completely different way of thinking.
• As a relatively new player, you can completely skip IOs for now, and just use SOs and the Upgrade Button.  Get a feel for things first.
• If you want an easy introduction, I'd recommend
  • Sentinels - These are probably one of the best picks for getting a feel for the game in safety.  Rad/Rad Sentinel might be a good pick for you.
  • FF/ Defender - If you want Sentinel Like, a little more complicated, and adds buffs for the team while still being pretty safe to learn on.
  • Huntsman - Soldier/Bane with mostly rifle attacks.  This also adds team buffs and debuffs, and is the next pick for safety and ease of use.  You can bring one of these to Atlas at level one and still be a hero.  (I haven't done this recently, so I'm not sure of the mechanics, or if you'd have to pop through an SG base and/or Pocket D to accomplish it)
  • Masterminds - I probably should have mentioned this too.  You let the pets take the hit, while you primarily act as a defender.   This is another fairly safe learning environment, not as safe as above, but pretty safe, and masterminds excel on simple SO builds.  You can also make these as heroes, and I'm pretty sure you can start directly in Atlas now without needing to travel or change alignment.

 

• Scorpion Armor is a major keystone to sealing up defenses.
• Rune/Hybrid Melee T4 +Resist/Rune/Demonic ... Rune/Hybrid/Rune/ ... gap:  Is very effective. 
• Rune can be used reactively as well as proactively. 
• Rune's recharge is fixed, you can't change it nor enhance it.
• Even if you do your job right, people WILL need at least minimal healing.  But minimal is usually enough.
• I would agree, Res and Fallout are less useful in PUGs.  I generally just use the temp Res power.   Counter, Faithful Fans of Fallout teams are a blast with everyone nuking and dieing in rotation.  It's hilariously fun.  But those teams are almost non-existent these days.
• No clue why in picked which power now, but I frequently pick at least one fast recharge power if the build feels awkward.  If it doesn't feel awkward, I pick the higher DPS power regardless of recharge.   That build is an Alpha build, there could be plenty of things in it that need changing.  It's also ancient and the game is very different now, including many revisions to the powers themselves. 
• Snipes are a major DPS boost, particularly if you are running tactics.
• I bind Aim to Key-Press and Attacks to Key-Release so that I never have to purposefully press it unless I want to.  But also skip Aim entirely sometimes.
• Powers Exemp to Power_Taken_Level - 5.
  • Sets Exemp if the Power Exemps, AND:
    • Sets Exemp to IO level -3, except:   PvPs, Purples, and Attuned always Exemp to the minimum level of the set -3.  That's 7 for PvPs, not sure what it is for purples, but probably 7.  For other sets you have to look it up.
      • IO Enhanement Values ARE modified by Exemp Level.  Mostly this doesn't change much till you get below 30, and doesnt' change drastically till you get below 20.  You'd have to see if the Wiki still has an article on the math for that, it's very complicated.
• Slotting level does not matter, only Power_Taken_Level and IO Level.
• 6-Slotting 49 on respec is a feature.
• You can trust mids numbers the least, You can not always trust what the in-game numbers tell you either, they are generally only estimates. 
• The only source that is 99.9% accurate is City of Data 2.0 ... and then you have to do the math part yourself.
• If CoD says 2 seconds, that should be accurate. However, It also says "Stacking by Caster" and "Replaces Effect".
  • You also have to account for Purple Patch and Resistances.  But that's still about 3 seconds out of the box. If you want maximum effect, given the 50/50 odds, then yeah, 8 or 9 seconds would be good.  But I'd also put a lockdown proc in it.
• If you want perma anything, you almost always need hasten.   Also max recharge is around 400%.  I'd have to look that up again.
  • Perma-Hasten and Perma-AM are probably both around 165 Global Recharge, and that's not going to happen without both.
• As with Aim, I'd use binds to alternate Hasten and AM, so that I don't have to think about them too much.
  • But I also do some very advanced bindings that I would absolutely NOT recommend to a new player, nor most veteran players.
• Defense Slotting is entirely doable.  However, once you get into the 30s and higher, tactics and similar buffs take over and tend to make it obsolete.  It will extremely rare to run into a higher level team that actually needs defense debuffs.  But I also built a Petless MM and soloed a +4x8 ITF with her.  We all do crazy things sometimes, particularly when it comes to concept builds.  If it's fun, do it.

 

 

Edited April 30 by Linea

[Sanguinesun]

17 hours ago, Linea said:

• As a relatively new player, you can completely skip IOs for now, and just use SOs and the Upgrade Button.  Get a feel for things first.

 

 

I never recommend this point to new players.  The costs involved in doing this are more than if a player simply invests in regular ole level 30 IOs(not sets) as its a 1 time purchase and if they decide to later switch to sets after learning the game more, they can respec and reclaim those regular 30's to then recycle use on another toon.    One of the biggest challenges for new players is learning how to make money, but one of the other biggest challenges is learning how to be frugal with their money as well.

Edited May 1 by Sanguinesun