Over-reaction?

[Ukase]

For most of you, this is not going to be a surprise. For me, it kind of was. 

I did a Katie Hannon TF a day or so ago, and I thought, this would be a good use for the new Mark & Recall accolade. A teammate said it would only work with allies that fight, like Dr. Todd in Moonfire, or (proven to me, by me, the Rescue the Fortune Teller mission). 

Well, while planning on getting the Sheer Will accolade, because...for red side requirements, they're all merits, so why not?

I had done a Tarikoss the other day, and a Renault last night. So, next on the list was Silver Mantis. I'm technically at work. And I was curious if Mark & Recall would work on the first mission. I started it solo - just to test it out, not planning on finishing it. 

Much to my surprise, and in contrast to what I was told by a well-intentioned teammate - it does work! The tattoo artists do not fight. They're not allies. Just a couple of Tsoo ink artists. 

But here's where the real surprise to me was: A fire/natty corruptor solo'd Duray like he was a weak Elite Boss, not an AV. Maybe I'm misremembering how strong AVs are? I know not all AVs are the same. I would have much more thought into tactics against Ghost Widow or Lord Recluse. But I mean, Duray ran more than he fought. 

To be real clear, I didn't use any super inspirations. I didn't use my envenomed daggers, or summons (I had both in case I needed them, but I really didn't realize how effective this character would be solo. I made this character specifically to maximize my merit earning. I have one that sits in the abyss, but as you all know, you get 80 the first time, and 40 the next (in an 18 hour window). 

So, I thought to just remake one, to get 80 on an initial run. More useful for weekends on Okie's overflow raids, or when he does an earlier raid. 

Now, it did take me 2 hours to complete the TF. But 60 minutes of it, I was outside in my garage on the rower. Gotta get my workout in before it gets too hot, and work calls cause too much distraction. And the mark& recall probably saved me 5 minutes or so. 

I know many characters can solo AVs. I just assumed they were doing what I did - use supers, summons and envenomed daggers. I guess the natty debuffs are stronger than I give them credit for - or, I think more likely, lower level AVs just aren't as hard for an exemplared 50. 

Is my being super impressed with this AT and power combo an over-reaction? 
Recognize, I've been playing this game since issue 3. I'm 3rd rate speeder at best, but I wouldn't say I was highly skilled. Just better than mediocre. Maybe better than average at blasting. But overall, better than mediocre. Why was this so, well...easy? 

(and of course, I was running at 0/1, as it started as just a test.) 

[Snarky]

31 minutes ago, Ukase said:

For most of you, this is not going to be a surprise. For me, it kind of was. 

I did a Katie Hannon TF a day or so ago, and I thought, this would be a good use for the new Mark & Recall accolade. A teammate said it would only work with allies that fight, like Dr. Todd in Moonfire, or (proven to me, by me, the Rescue the Fortune Teller mission). 

Well, while planning on getting the Sheer Will accolade, because...for red side requirements, they're all merits, so why not?

I had done a Tarikoss the other day, and a Renault last night. So, next on the list was Silver Mantis. I'm technically at work. And I was curious if Mark & Recall would work on the first mission. I started it solo - just to test it out, not planning on finishing it. 

Much to my surprise, and in contrast to what I was told by a well-intentioned teammate - it does work! The tattoo artists do not fight. They're not allies. Just a couple of Tsoo ink artists. 

But here's where the real surprise to me was: A fire/natty corruptor solo'd Duray like he was a weak Elite Boss, not an AV. Maybe I'm misremembering how strong AVs are? I know not all AVs are the same. I would have much more thought into tactics against Ghost Widow or Lord Recluse. But I mean, Duray ran more than he fought. 

To be real clear, I didn't use any super inspirations. I didn't use my envenomed daggers, or summons (I had both in case I needed them, but I really didn't realize how effective this character would be solo. I made this character specifically to maximize my merit earning. I have one that sits in the abyss, but as you all know, you get 80 the first time, and 40 the next (in an 18 hour window). 

So, I thought to just remake one, to get 80 on an initial run. More useful for weekends on Okie's overflow raids, or when he does an earlier raid. 

Now, it did take me 2 hours to complete the TF. But 60 minutes of it, I was outside in my garage on the rower. Gotta get my workout in before it gets too hot, and work calls cause too much distraction. And the mark& recall probably saved me 5 minutes or so. 

I know many characters can solo AVs. I just assumed they were doing what I did - use supers, summons and envenomed daggers. I guess the natty debuffs are stronger than I give them credit for - or, I think more likely, lower level AVs just aren't as hard for an exemplared 50. 

Is my being super impressed with this AT and power combo an over-reaction? 
Recognize, I've been playing this game since issue 3. I'm 3rd rate speeder at best, but I wouldn't say I was highly skilled. Just better than mediocre. Maybe better than average at blasting. But overall, better than mediocre. Why was this so, well...easy? 

(and of course, I was running at 0/1, as it started as just a test.) 

Corruptors are all S class.   Even the most bleh combos.  You are using a Fire Blast Corruptor.  So that, to me, is the cornerstone of why it is so effective.  One of the most awesome, maybe the most awesome, archetype in the game.  Then the best DPS attack set.   Beyond that I can say little of use.  I can madly speculate, but it would be heavy on madness and light on information 

[AlwaysAPrice]

Nature doesn't have the level of debuff of a dark or rad but it's got enough to make a difference, along with healing and +Res to keep you up through the fight, and fire's high damage helps get AVs down to Scourge range pretty fast for a solo player. Early to mid-game AVs are generally not as threatening as the ones faced in say 45 and up content, as they're intended to be dangerous but winnable fights for a team of appropriate level with SOs at best, but they're still hard-hitting giant sacks of HP most non-melee builds can't autopilot through. I haven't tested my own /nature corr against AVs yet but given my experience soloing /Dark: the -ToHit & -Dam from Spore Cloud and -Dam from Enzymes is probably enough to bring the threat of any even-con AV down into that feels-like-an-EB range, then the -Regen and -Res from the same two powers along with Overgrowth's damage boost would help accelerate the melting. I'd say it isn't an over-reaction at all to be impressed if you haven't handled an AV that smoothly with a support build before, but it's also not a surprising outcome for fans of solo corruption, especially if you were exemplared or even just well built out for your level.

[lemming]

@Voltor check the KH TF and Mark & Recall work for those missions.   He's checked a lot of the hostage scenarios.

 

[Ukase]

10 minutes ago, lemming said:

@Voltor check the KH TF and Mark & Recall work for those missions.   He's checked a lot of the hostage scenarios.

 

Thanks - I had been in that thread, but once I saw a bunch of uses, I stopped checking in - and that's when Voltor posted about this TF specifically. 

I'm all too horrible in that regard. I'll have an interest in something, and then I'll get distracted. 

[Snarky]

6 minutes ago, Ukase said:

Thanks - I had been in that thread, but once I saw a bunch of uses, I stopped checking in - and that's when Voltor posted about this TF specifically. 

I'm all too horrible in that regard. I'll have an interest in something, and then I'll get distracted. 

[Spaghetti Betty]

1 hour ago, Ukase said:

A fire/natty corruptor solo'd Duray like he was a weak Elite Boss, not an AV.

This isn't really a big surprise to me. Fire Control has fantastic DPS for soloing big targets, and Nature is a meta pick for a reason. Having -RES from Enzymes and the -Regen from Spores is enough leverage to make any general AV a cinch to solo! Toss a heavy-hitting epic on that like Earth or Mace (Poison Ray and the Toxic rantula are really good) and I can see a wimp like Duray going down easily.

 

There are plenty of great combos that can solo AVs without any kind of help! Most of them just aren't melee toons, believe it or not.

 

My best AV/GM soloer is a Necro/Dark/Levi MM! I just demolished Eochai in a little over a minute with him the other day.

[Riverdusk]

On 9/18/2024 at 10:01 AM, Spaghetti Betty said:

This isn't really a big surprise to me. Fire Control has fantastic DPS for soloing big targets, and Nature is a meta pick for a reason. Having -RES from Enzymes and the -Regen from Spores is enough leverage to make any general AV a cinch to solo! Toss a heavy-hitting epic on that like Earth or Mace (Poison Ray and the Toxic rantula are really good) and I can see a wimp like Duray going down easily.

 

There are plenty of great combos that can solo AVs without any kind of help! Most of them just aren't melee toons, believe it or not.

 

My best AV/GM soloer is a Necro/Dark/Levi MM! I just demolished Eochai in a little over a minute with him the other day.

 

Necro is especially adept at it now with the addition of the specters, considering they have a taunt.  Just like illusion controllers, having a taunting pet really helps take the heat off of you (and your more valuable pets in necro's case), to safely take out the big targets.  Necro doesn't even need crazy recharge to pull it off like illusion does, as the specters just spawn and quickly respawn if defeated.  All you need to do is keep blasting.

 

 

[Kaika]

AV solo testing is one of the first things I do with every 50.

 

No insp, no Temp, no daggers, no lores.

 

It's ALOT easier then people think, I main melee and even my tanks can all solo 54 AVs in a reasonable time and none of them are specifically built for just that. You just need a solid build and a good understanding of how DPS works and how to string together a decent rotation. All you need to do to solo most AVs is beat their regen, which is only around 100ish DPS(at 54), anything after that is just speed. From my experience this gets easier the lower level you go as the game expects much less from lower level players. A fully kitted out 50 can absolutely make a low level AVs look like EBs in TFs like you saw, regardless of AT. Corrupters are very good at this as well as strong debuffs sets make it trivial to beat the regen, and their damage is high enough they they can likely manage even without, specially with a set as strong as fire.

Edited September 24 by Kaika