Its so hard to pick a character to fully invest in

[Erratic1]

11 minutes ago, zenijos10 said:

Sappers can be a problem for any and everyone

 

Not for those with high Endurance Drain Resistance.

[zenijos10]

6 minutes ago, Erratic1 said:

 

Not for those with high Endurance Drain Resistance.

I suppose that's true. Which is why so many have suggested electric armor, which is a good choice, but SR is good too for different reasons.

To the OP, I say, try 'em both!

Edited May 9 by zenijos10

[Erratic1]

22 minutes ago, zenijos10 said:

I suppose that's true. Which is why so many have suggested electric armor, which is a good choice, but SR is good too for different reasons.

To the OP, I say, try 'em both!

 

One suppose since the attack arrives as a ranged one, suitably high Ranged defense, while not perfect against sappers, is also very good. If they don't hit you, the drain doesn't happen.

[FupDup]

Energy Aura could be a good armor set for this because it can easily softcap energy defense (the type that the Sapper gun uses), comes with good end drain resistance, has a strong endurance discount power (Energize) that can be easily permanent, and has a clicky +end power in case you do run low somehow. 

 

Note that one of the Sapper's attacks is actually AOE defense, not ranged: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=guns.sapper_gun.sapper_overload&at=minion_grunt

[Azari]

I fully invested in my invuln/ss tank cuz I feel cool having the same powers as statesman and back alley brawler. It’s so classic.  Not the best AV soloer tho but let’s be honest, soloing AVs is kinda boring…  
 

Maybe make a battle axe/invuln/psi mastery scrapper with max HP and rebirth radial? 😛

Edited June 2 by Azari

[Ukase]

On 5/7/2024 at 9:41 PM, Damoklese said:

My experience has been that no combo can meet these 5 requirements.

So, you are somewhat accurate here - and, like it or not, this is by design. Good ol' Jack Emmert who used to run the show was quoted as saying (paraphrased): The only reason to play is to team up. 

We hear/read how folks who play blasters are sometimes stymied by a lack of status protection. 
Scrappers are sometimes stymied by lower resist caps/HP and kb from errant blasters and pets. 
Tankers are sometimes stymied by a lack of dps on hard targets. 

The list goes on. 

Consider an ill/rad controller. A bit awkward leveling. But, as fantastic as perma-pa is, if you get held/stunned without a breakfree at the wrong time, your PA won't be perma because you can't execute the power. 

Everything in game is sort of like rock-paper-scissors. 
This is better than that. 
That is better than those. 
Those are better than this. 

So - what do you do? You have to change your mindset, or you're just not going to be happy. 

Or, you can roll a fire tank. 

 

On 5/7/2024 at 9:41 PM, Damoklese said:

1) Solid protection from crowd control

2) Clickable defenses that can be perma'd OR some form of sapper protection that keeps them from becoming a wet noodle when sapped

3) Adequate damage that would allow for soloing AVs, or at least duoing effectively.

4) Isnt a mastermind (I just dont enjoy pet management)

5) Durable.  Either through high defense/resist or through healing, or through great crowd control, or whatever.  Just not flimsy.

A fire tank has plasma shield, which provides status protection. (combined with a blessing of the zephyr kb protection in your travel power) 
A fire tank has consume - which refills the endurance bar. 
A fire tank has burn. 
A fire tank isn't a mastermind. 
A fire tank, built properly (and not for a farm) can be durable. 

But, even a fire tank isn't going to allow you to just stroll into a mob of 0/4 malta if you don't do something with the sappers first. Leveling, you'll have a rough time satisfying all 5 criteria on your list. But, once you get your epic/patron powers, you can get access to a hold (or stone secondary with seismic smash) to dispatch sappers before they zap you. Sappers require proactive solutions. You can't just be oblivious to what they do. The only powerset that might be able to handle it are those with defenses high enough that the sapper will miss, or the attack is mitigated through debuff resistances, like Super Reflexes. But that's a resistance; not a protection. 

Sadly, if there are multiple sappers, and you're solo - you're in a tough spot. You can smash one, char the other, maybe. Or you can use tp foe and just grab one sapper. 
There's a number of ways to solve the problem - but most of these methods are not seamless or eloquent. And some aren't perfect. But, you can practice them. 
There's always going to be a solution - and sometimes that solution is a different AT/powerset combo, and sometimes, that solution is as simple as a large luck inspiration, or a 2nd wind insp. 

Or - you can do what so many have done - avoid Malta. It's very easy to do. 

[Player2]

Life is full of disappointments.  I'd say get used to it, but no... embrace it.  The differences are what set the different AT and powerset combos apart.  Nothing is supposed to do everything, so find what you feel like you can live with as shortcomings and then learn to love those shortcomings as the sign of what comes with the things that make your AT and powerset choice great.  Do you love the raw damage of a fire/fire blaster?  Then learn to love being a squishie.  And really, just learn it for awhile because once you get to level 50 and start working on your incarnate stuff, you'll be less squishie.

 

Also, instead of focusing on what mechanics make the best choice, make a character you can feel proud of... maybe it's a cool costume or you find the perfect name, perhaps you've got a fantastic backstory in mind for the characters that really strike your fancy.  Those you can feel some attachment to are always the most satisfying characters to play.

[mcdoogss]

On 5/7/2024 at 10:41 PM, Damoklese said:

I dont have the time or dedication to get multiple characters to the pinnacle.  Its so time consuming.  Id like to at least get ONE fully leveled and kitted out though, but every time I think ive found "The One".. i get disappointed by some aspect of them.  So lemme ask the community:

 

Can you think of an Archetype and powerset that has:

 

1) Solid protection from crowd control

2) Clickable defenses that can be perma'd OR some form of sapper protection that keeps them from becoming a wet noodle when sapped

3) Adequate damage that would allow for soloing AVs, or at least duoing effectively.

4) Isnt a mastermind (I just dont enjoy pet management)

5) Durable.  Either through high defense/resist or through healing, or through great crowd control, or whatever.  Just not flimsy.

 

Any suggestions?

 

My experience has been that no combo can meet these 5 requirements.

tanker can meet all those goals.  Of the recent 50s i’ve made:

 

Bio/Axe

Rad/Fire

Stone/SS

 

All can be built to be extremely durable but also pretty decent damage particularly area damage.  That AOE will have pesky minions like sappers dead in seconds, before they can get a second shot off and without you having to even target them.  Alternatively they will be durable enough to ignore entire groups while you burn down the sappers first.

Edited June 2 by mcdoogss

[Major_Decoy]

On 5/7/2024 at 7:41 PM, Damoklese said:

I dont have the time or dedication to get multiple characters to the pinnacle.  Its so time consuming.  Id like to at least get ONE fully leveled and kitted out though, but every time I think ive found "The One".. i get disappointed by some aspect of them.  So lemme ask the community:

 

Can you think of an Archetype and powerset that has:

 

1) Solid protection from crowd control

2) Clickable defenses that can be perma'd OR some form of sapper protection that keeps them from becoming a wet noodle when sapped

3) Adequate damage that would allow for soloing AVs, or at least duoing effectively.

4) Isnt a mastermind (I just dont enjoy pet management)

5) Durable.  Either through high defense/resist or through healing, or through great crowd control, or whatever.  Just not flimsy.

 

Any suggestions?

 

My experience has been that no combo can meet these 5 requirements.

 

Unless you mean "Without Envenomed Dagger" then I'm pretty sure you can meet these requirements with Stalker, Scrapper, Brute, Tank, and Sentinel.

I have soloed Leviathan with an Invulnerability/Titan Weapons Tank (though, to be fair, that was before the Titan Weapons rebalance) and a Psionic Melee/Shield Defense stalker. It took me 220 envenomed daggers, but I soloed the Manticore Task Force with a Radiation/Radiation tank.

[JasperStone]

On 5/7/2024 at 9:08 PM, Lunar Ronin said:

Arachnos Widow.

Yup, this was my first thought primarily with what you are looking for.

Or any of the Epics.

 

 

[Aeroprism]

This is why I love this game and why it's so beautiful.

 

Quote

Its so hard to pick a character to fully invest in

 

Don't.

Spread the love.

[Paradox Fate]

Always feels for me that their journey to 50 is the destination than anything else.

Once they got there, my interest in them sharply drops and I eventually would seek out something new to level. If I can be bothered.

[Azari]

I went with invuln/super strength tank as my infinite budget toon. It’s just so classic, akin to statesman, back alley brawler, or black scorpion.

[Riverdusk]

Also another tip among what others have already stated,  you can get some endurance drain resistance from a SG base buff.

 

And that leads into how I think there are a lot of choices to create a 'do it all character'.  The key is to not be afraid of using temp powers and eventually incarnate powers. Both START vendor and a SG buff table have a lot of options to make things a LOT easier or to fill in those gaps, envenomed daggers being one of the big ones someone else mentioned already. 

 

The SG base buffs are ridiculously cheap (1-3 pieces of common/uncommon salvage for 90 mins at a time) and some of them are incredibly useful (+20% recharge, +17% recovery, 20% endurance drain or slow resistance, etc.).  Some of the START vendor stuff can be expensive, but a lot of it isn't.

 

 

[BazookaTwo]

Sentinel

[Eiko-chan]

On 5/7/2024 at 8:41 PM, Damoklese said:

Can you think of an Archetype and powerset that has:

 

1) Solid protection from crowd control

2) Clickable defenses that can be perma'd OR some form of sapper protection that keeps them from becoming a wet noodle when sapped

3) Adequate damage that would allow for soloing AVs, or at least duoing effectively.

4) Isnt a mastermind (I just dont enjoy pet management)

5) Durable.  Either through high defense/resist or through healing, or through great crowd control, or whatever.  Just not flimsy.

 

Any suggestions?

Try an Electric Armor/Energy Melee Tanker.

1. Like all Tankers, you'll have near immunity to crowd control - throw in Tactics to cover your Confusion issues and possibly a Blessing of the Zephyr KB in your travel power if you jump a lot, since Electric Armor's KB protection is in Grounded, requiring you to be on the ground.

2. You will be effectively immune to Sappers - maxed out End Drain/Recovery handles that, and if you do somehow manage to fall low on endurance anyway, Power Sink is there to top you up.
3. Energy Melee is pretty high damage. You might not be able to solo every AV (I can't get through Honoree, for instance, but Captain Holtz was soloable even as an AV in the Ramiel arc), but you'll have a solid attack chain that should allow any partner you have to make up the difference.

4. Tankers aren't Masterminds, so... solved! 😁
5. If you slot your IOs right to max out your resistances, very little is going to be able to hurt you - I'm sitting on a toon with capped (90%) S/L/F/C/E resist, with Neg and Psi in the 60s. Toxic is only 22 but there's very little that does pure Toxic damage. And since Electric Armor comes with Energize, you'll have a self-heal for when your resistances and regeneration aren't sufficient. (I've been letting Ramiel's Honoree punch at me the entire time I've been writing this post and my health bar hasn't moved, so that's some solid durability.) 

 

I've attached the Mids build I tested for this if you want to have a try at it. It isn't cheap - both ATOs and four of the Winter Event sets are in here - but you can probably skip the Winter sets if you can get the fire/cold resistance you need from somewhere else. I just used them so I could also cap Recharge/Slow resistance so you'd have an unstoppable machine.

Does It All.mbd

[Seed22]

On 6/2/2024 at 1:15 AM, Azari said:

but let’s be honest, soloing AVs is kinda boring

No its not. I and many others find it pretty fun. Definitely not possible with every toon and probably not as fun with maybe certain builds but overall its pretty neat. 
 

Edited June 8 by Seed22

[DoctorDitko]

Echoing much of the above advice, but adding my favorite defense against Sappers (and I am known to seek out Malta, Carnies, and other oft-avoided baddies) -- Teleport Target, slotted for accuracy.

 

"Yep, spotted a Sapper. Incoming..."

(Team beats the crap out of the sapper(s))

"OK, room is ready to clear!"

 

 

 

 

[Cutlet]

This is something I've been struggling with severely the past few days. I've spent more time in Mids trying to figure out how to build my character and if that build is even viable late game. but the sad part is, I don't even know what late game is because I spend more time in Mids then I do playing and leveling. I've started so many alts and have started over so many times that I've lost a lot of motivation to even attempt to play the game.

On a slightly related note, I've always compared Sentinels to Blasters and only recently read on this forum to stop doing that and start comparing them to Scrappers and that really shed some light on my perspective of Sentinels. (In a good way)