Marine Affinity Slotting?

[Obsidian Blue]

So far I've taken all the powers and I'm wondering how to properly slot some of them. Also thinking I should drop Shoal Rush as it does not seem to be of benefit. 

 

 

[tidge]

What is your planned play style?

 

I wouldn't skip Shoal Rush, as it is a good debuff, works with Tide Pool, and is Marine Affinity's version of Infrigidate for a T1 %damage power.

[Seed22]

On 8/24/2024 at 12:05 PM, Obsidian Blue said:

So far I've taken all the powers and I'm wondering how to properly slot some of them. Also thinking I should drop Shoal Rush as it does not seem to be of benefit. 

 

 

Skip Shoal Rush. It serves no purpose at 50 and has terrible proc rate. Everything else is a must have

[Obsidian Blue]

On 8/25/2024 at 2:56 PM, tidge said:

What is your planned play style?

 

I wouldn't skip Shoal Rush, as it is a good debuff, works with Tide Pool, and is Marine Affinity's version of Infrigidate for a T1 %damage power.

 

I'm a causal player (missions and story arcs). The main reason I'm asking about slotting. Is because I know powers in other power sets are good without the need to ad more slots. So basically I'm looking to avoid over slotting power that don't need them. 

[Psyonico]

Even if you don't proc it out, shoal rush provides a nice amount of defense debuff, it also interacts with tide pool to create a "frenzy"

[Psylenz0511]

As @Psyonico said, frenzies are GOOD, knock down aoe style is as good as a brief hold. If they can't 'stand' in the tide pool, they can't attack you or allies.

[biostem]

If you're playing any sort of build that can quickly empty your end, I recommend slotting Toroidal Bubble with 3 end mods and 1-3 recharge reduction, (it's already kind of perma out of the box, so these recharges can probably be replaced with dmg res IOs or procs/uniques as desired).

[Psylenz0511]

<oops wrong thread>

Edited August 29 by Psylenz0511

[laudwic]

On 8/27/2024 at 5:34 PM, Obsidian Blue said:

 

I'm a causal player (missions and story arcs). The main reason I'm asking about slotting. Is because I know powers in other power sets are good without the need to ad more slots. So basically I'm looking to avoid over slotting power that don't need them. 

 

On 8/27/2024 at 10:18 AM, Seed22 said:

Skip Shoal Rush. It serves no purpose at 50 and has terrible proc rate. Everything else is a must have

 

Huh?  When I solo (ie. I can do things to a spawn before someone else runs in) I drop Tidal Pool on the spawn, which doesn't cause aggro, drop in Shoal rush which gives a nice defense debuff, slows them, AND (with Tidal Pool) knocks a ton of them down, then I hit them with Whitecap for another knockdown (plus the -Res).  My 50 Marine Affinity/Electrical Blast Defender is running +2/4 without difficulty.  In Shoal Rush I think I have two Hami-Os (acc/Def Debuff really cheap in auction house and a Slow IO)

 

Honestly, if I were to skip a power in Marine, I would skip Soothing Wave.  It doesn't heal you, it is a cone, and its additional effect is a 15% damage debuff for 10 seconds.  So, its nice to shoot into Melee and heal the tank or scrappers, I guess, as your debuffing those around them for 10 seconds.  Personally, 5 slotting Barrier Reef with Nictus, I rarely see the green part of my health bar move despite having a very kamikaze jump into the middle of the spawn play style as a 50 Marine/Electric (Offender/Sapper)

 

(EDIT - Apparently Soothing waves can heal you, but with the resists you have with bubble and the absorb you'll have from barrier reef, and the fact that you still have green inspirations available, I see a 10s damage debuff when they are probably just falling down at that point anyways, by far the most skippable power in this set)

Edited August 29 by laudwic

[Psyonico]

15 minutes ago, laudwic said:

I would skip Soothing Wave.  It doesn't heal you

Yes it does. And the damage debuff is a nice bonus.

[tidge]

I skipped Soothing Wave, considered adding it as a late-build power, considered adding it to a second build, and I still don't have it.

 

Generally: I find Ally Heals to be a somewhat mixed bag for 2024 CoX. I don't want to yuck on anyone's yum or explore the precision calculus of role-diversity for hard mode, so please recognize this is my general attitude.

 

However: I feel that enemy debuffs always deserve a look! Reducing enemy damage by 12% should be pretty good! However, it needs to hit enemies, and the duration is 10 seconds, with a similar short base recharge time. I can believe there is an opportunity for some clever slotting (especially if any %procs can help teammates), but I'm thinking minimal Accuracy/Heal and pass on trying to get juicy healing set bonuses from it.

 

I considered taking it late, but I didn't really have slots for it and my 32+ powers were pretty much dedicated to mules for enhancements. The easy change from my Controller build would be to swap out the level 41 Unleash Potential (2 slots) but I selfishly want that power because the modern 2024 game is so unpredictable in getting healing or buffs (from other players)! Ironic or not, you decide!

 

I can see arguments for having Soothing Wave, but I haven't seen one to convince me to take it.. except as part of a "total support" build.

 

Edited August 29 by tidge

[Psyonico]

12 minutes ago, tidge said:

However, it needs to hit enemies

I need to test this, does the debuff really have a to hit roll? And if so, why does the power not take accuracy enhancements?

[tidge]

It would be my mistake if it doesn't need a ToHit roll!

[Psyonico]

I opened up my combat log tab and hit soothing wave toward enemies, the log said that it applied "wet" to the enemies but didn't say anything either way about the damage debuff.  I suspect this is because, according to CoD, SW calls a second power that actually houses the debuff.

 

I don't have time now, but I plan on logging into a lower level Marine toon and using power analyzer and high level mobs to do more testing.

[Seed22]

7 hours ago, laudwic said:

Wave.  It doesn't heal you

Yes it does

[Seed22]

Soothing is your cookie cutter heal. Shoal is the obvious skip, and everything else is a must have.

 

If you wanna take shoal thats fine, but in endgame its not doing anything. But I guess in something like CoH that doesn’t really matter much

[laudwic]

10 hours ago, Seed22 said:

Soothing is your cookie cutter heal. Shoal is the obvious skip, and everything else is a must have.

 

If you wanna take shoal thats fine, but in endgame its not doing anything. But I guess in something like CoH that doesn’t really matter much

 

Soothing is replaced by the absorb from Barrier Reef.  I only need greens if I'm dealing with spawns that I know I'm a little over my head.  I'm currently running a 50 Def Marine/Electric Offender/Sapper.  I've opened all my incarnate save Hybrid.  Vast majority solo, an occasional Task Force.  I'm running +2/4, no level shifts yet.  I rarely use Greens (only if I haven't paid enough attention to Barrier Reef) and haven't visited the hospital in quite some time.

 

Start with Tidal Pool.  No Aggro and a condition precedent to a bunch of other effects.  Then Shifting Tides on something in the middle of the spawn.  Then Shoal Rush.  Now I have a Def Debuff for very little slots (I have to Hami Acc/Def Debuff cheap in AH and a Slow IO) and a good number have fallen.  White Cap into the middle of the spawn hitting more because of the def debuff.  So now -Res to all of them, and more are falling.  Then Short Circuit generally followed by Ball Lightning both benefiting from the -Def and -Res to kill End of anything under Elite Boss Level.  So, now the spawn is -Def, -Res, I have a damage bonus (from shifting tides) and the majority of what is there is slowed, without endurance, falling, and taking a little damage occasionally from frenzy.  

 

Shoal Rush at 50 gives me a soft hold, a decent Def debuff which aids my -end powers hitting, and slows them. 

 

Nothing is better than watching your zero end enemies try to slowly run away and keep falling. 

 

I can see Soothing Wave if your a Mastermind or if your going to hang back.  From my experience, this set seems to be far more effective being in the enemies face/in the middle of the fight to gain the benefits of being in Tidal Pool and Shifting Tides.  If you don't want to be in the middle of everything, then Whitecap is your skip power.  I just don't see wanting to be in the middle, where your hitting all the Melee characters with your bubble, then having to pull back so you can use your cone healing/debuff.

 

Life everything, it is playstyle dependent.  For my playstyle, at Fifty, doing Dark Astoria Arcs, Shoal Rush is far better than Soothing Wave.

 

[Psylenz0511]

On 8/29/2024 at 4:35 PM, tidge said:

It would be my mistake if it doesn't need a ToHit roll!

even more reason to take it for the debuff

[Crysis]

I found on all my MM’s that Soothing Wave has almost no value in late game.  Anything that can get through your Barrier Absorb and your PotD regen is likely to kill you before Soothing adds any healing.  So it and Shoal are both skippable and/or droppable(sp?) as you near 50 or later.  Take Vigor as your Alpha and even more so.

 

Plenty of other utility picks you can take and slot.  

[tidge]

As I noted in one of my long-ago posts in this very thread, I'm not a huge fan of heals-for-others powers, but it is silly to come down hard on another player that clearly has a different opinion.

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

I hid a few posts that seemed unnecessarily aggressive. 

 

We don't have to agree, but we have to do so respectfully.

 

Personally, I have skipped Shoal Rush on all of my Marines so far but have taken the heal.  It's one of the weaker heals in the game, in my opinion as a player, probably because it also has the enemy debuff.  I did use it leveling up but I didn't use it very much once I hit 50.

[Auroxis]

Well you can only skip one of them. And on defenders at least, the heal is nice to have in a pinch and is useful in stacking -damage (it's unresistable which is rare), as well as slotting the preventive medicine set for nice bonuses. On corruptors you can just 1-slot it with the preventive medicine absorb proc and never use it.

Edited November 8 by Auroxis

[Frosticus]

I'd skip both if I could on my ill/marine and my marine/seismic def, but they both have the heal.

My elec/marine corr is using soothing a bit more as I don't have any pets to take some of the focus and the set is much weaker than the defender version, especially with the defender procs in play. 

 

I haven't incarnated the corr yet unlike the other two.

Discord is certainly more active, but that's about where it begins and ends imo. 

Edited November 8 by Frosticus

[twozerofoxtrot]

I use a rotating bind to apply tide pool, shifting tides, and shoal rush to an enemy anchor. It's pretty devastating. 

 

As for Soothing Wave? Never taken, completely unmissed. Power of the Depths Perma + Barrier Reed absorb.

 

Why care about -12% enemy damage when they're on their backs before dying?

[Auroxis]

24 minutes ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

I use a rotating bind to apply tide pool, shifting tides, and shoal rush to an enemy anchor. It's pretty devastating. 

 

As for Soothing Wave? Never taken, completely unmissed. Power of the Depths Perma + Barrier Reed absorb.

 

Why care about -12% enemy damage when they're on their backs before dying?

You don't need to manually cast shifting tides every time, just anchor it on your tank or barrier reef. Whitecap activates rough waters (you don't need shoal rush for it) and brings barrier reef near the pack.