Trick or Treat (ToT) Guide/Optimization (Halloween Event)

[Shin Magmus]

Introduction

   So, you heard it's Halloween again and you want to get in on some of those Trick or Treat teams.  There are other components to the Event, but today we're only talking about Trick or Treat: the zone-wide event that affects all interactable "doors" on maps that match your effective level range.  Note that doors below your effective level range will do nothing.  For the exact mechanics, why you need to be sidekicked on a team/league, and why people default to lv50 zones like Peregrine Island and Kallisti Warf, I recommend consulting the wiki.

 

 

General Knocking Mechanics

   In order to Trick or Treat you'll have to "Knock" on a door in the zone by clicking on it.  Any interactable that can lead to a mission is a "door", even if it's literally a rock, a manhole cover, etc.  Each separate panel of a double-door counts as its own individual door for the purposes of knocking.  After clicking on a door, you will randomly get a Trick (enemy spawn) or a Treat (temporary power or other reward).  Somewhat counter-intuitively, most people want Tricks instead of Treats here.  Successfully Trick or Treating will cause a 10s cooldown until you can click a different door, or a 300s cooldown until you can click the same door again.  That means you should be looking at the available doors like a list, and click the next one in the list once every 10s until you get to the end.  If the entire list of doors takes you longer than 5 minutes to complete, you can go back to the first door with no downtime.  Areas with lots of doors in close proximity are best, although the community seems to have figured out the general best locations.  It is a common misconception that you have to set your notoriety (difficulty) settings to a certain value for Trick or Treating.  In reality, the game only checks the number of players on your team to determine the level difference and number of enemies spawned.  Since more players working together can knock more times in total and this effect is multiplied by the increased level of the spawns, it is in everyone's best interest to form many full teams and work together in the same spot as a league.

 

 

Elite Bosses

   There are 5 Trick or Treat Elite Bosses (EBs) which can RANDOMLY spawn; these are the strongest foes you will face and some of them have particularly nasty powers which I've detailed below.  These enemies are actually the focus of the event, at least when it comes to rewards.  Every one of these EBs gives 10x the normal exp/inf rewards on defeat.  Additionally, there are 5 badges for defeating the Elite Bosses and each one gives a character 2 Prismatic Aethers, for a total of 10 per character (badges are level-locked at lv25).  The badge rewards are one-time only and do not refresh in a subsequent calendar year, so many people will rotate through their characters to try and get the badges on all of their lv50s for example.  These badges are:

 

"Vampiric Heritage"

You have defeated 5 Ancient Vampires, the eldest of the vampires in the ancestral lineage of those who thirst for blood in the darkness.

- Summons a Dark Servant, significant AoE ToHit Debuffs, Mesmerize (Sleep) and Dominate (Hold).

 

"Spectral Anomaly"

You have defeated 5 Spectral Werewolves, lycanthropic beasts who embraced undeath in order to become one with the night eternal.

- Flying, typical annoying Werewolf is resistant to Immobs and Slows, Necroplasmic Grasp (Hold).

 

"Mummy's Curse"

You have defeated 5 Arisen Mummies, ancient embalmed zombies who had returned to life to seek their vengeance against tomb robbers.

- Extremely tanky with Unyielding / Unstoppable but vulnerable to Psionic damage, destroys your Resistance with Fetid Breath and Envenom: this can cause an unaware player to die very quickly, Tainted Knockout Blow (Hold).

 

"Unholy Coven"

You have defeated 5 Crone Matriarchs, these ancient witches lead the Coven from the deep shadows, practicing forbidden sorcery unseen by the world.

- Flying, significant Tohit and Range Debuff from Hurricane, buffs and heals allies with Empathy powers and Spooky Fog (clone of Arctic Fog), can drain significant amounts of Endurance over time, treat them as a Support and prioritize killing them first.  Do not allow multiple Crone Matriachs to stack up near each other.

 

"Reaper of Souls"

You have defeated 5 Hollow Reapers, the highest ranking members of the Unseelie Court who invade our world when the spirit realm is at its closest.

- Flying, uses only Titan Weapons melee attacks with one exception, Living Nightmares is a massive cone with 2.0 Base Accuracy that inflicts resistance-ignoring Terrorize on up to 16 players, the mez duration cannot be reduced by stacking Tactics.

 

 

Recommended Archetypes / Powersets

   Combat in a Trick or Treat League involves huge numbers of enemies spawning in at known points, and very little movement.  The conditions are different from most regular content in the game and much more akin to a Rikti Mothership Raid.  Because of this, certain types of powers and specific powersets will perform disproportionately better than normal here.  The basic summary is that you want autonomous sources of damage with automatic targeting (pets or psuedopets).  You also want to stack a ton of Defense Buffs and Tohit Buffs, to avoid troublesome enemy powers and be able to hit them through their unending barrage of Tohit Debuffs.  If your teammate dodges the Arisen Mummy's Envenom, that's way easier than trying to survive after being hit by it.

 

Best ATs

   Surprise: It's Masterminds (and Crabberminds).  As is often the case in City of Heroes, the right Support Powersets make or break performance in Trick or Treat leagues.  Unlike normal however, there are basically no penalties being levied against MMs (such as needing to move long distances quickly).  Additionally, there are no extremely high HP enemies such as Arch-Villains to really benefit Corruptors via their Scourge inherent.  This skews the scale towards MMs in a way that they are not used to.  All VEATs are strong here for their double Leadership buffs, but Crabbermind-spec Soldiers of Arachnos will be the most useful teammates and force-multipliers.  The autonomous nature of pets also means that these ATs are the best for the League Leader to play themselves, dealing damage while that player focuses on tedious menu-ing and team-management.  One good counter-argument against too many MMs is clutter and lag though.  There's not much you can do about that besides lower graphics settings and turning off all Particle FX.

   Do not interpret this as me saying that the other Support ATs are suddenly bad choices: Defenders and Corruptors are basically never bad (as long as they pick good Powersets).  Your generally strong character will still be strong.  Even the fugly Sentinel is less terrible than usual, assuming they quickly target EBs and consistently apply Vulnerability to them so the rest of the League can burst them down.

 

Best Power Types

   Anything you can summon which independently targets enemies is S-tier.  I mentioned traditional pets for the MM Archetype, but there are lots of other examples: Controllers with extra pets, Crab Spider pets, Patron Pool pets, and even specific Support powerset pets like Acid Mortar and Lightning Storm.  If your pet cannot move, try to place it so it can see (and reach) as many doors as possible.  Another great choice is any long-duration AoE location effects that can be stacked with themselves, and AoE Slows (preferably with -Fly effects) to prevent the enemies from running or flying away.  Some good examples here are Sleet, Freezing Rain, Caltrops, Tar Patch, Ice Slick / Liquid Nitrogen, Bonfire, etc.  Tohit Buffs are the most important to be able to counteract all of the Tohit Debuffs, but any good Buffs will still be impactful.  Shadow Fall is a uniquely useful Buff because it boosts Defense, Resistance to key damage types, and provides Terrorize Protection.  Dead characters cannot click doors for you, and there will be "lowbies" on the League.  Reliable "shield" buffs that can be easily maintained on the entire League can be a huge help to "lowbie" survival: Cold Domination, Thermal Radiation, Force Field, and Sonic Resonance.  Conversely, regular PbAoE buffs on long CDs can have diminished effectiveness because of how scattered the League usually is, making it very hard to hit as many players as you'd want with otherwise great Buffs such as Overgrowth and Farsight.  You also want to prioritize powers and powersets that can passively affect enemies instantly or are autohit.  The entire Leadership Pool is great here, and all VEATs are a good choice for their doubled Leadership (but Crab Spiders are best).  Toggle Buffs or Debuffs that can be left in a location are also great, such as Shifting Tides, Disruption Field, and Venomous Gas.  If you're on a melee AT you'll really want one of the armorsets with a damage aura for the same reasons.  Be aware if you are the "anchor" of a power such as Disruption Field and make sure you stand near as many enemies as possible.

 

Best Powersets

- Demons, Thugs, Ninjas: If we've established that MMs are strong ATs here, then these are certainly the best primaries.  These 3 Powersets all have excellent damage, but Demons also have -Res Debuffs, while Thugs have special bonus Leadership that works on other MM pets.

- Cold Domination, Storm Summoning, Traps, Dark Miasma / Affinity): These 4 Support powersets have something special about them that is more relevant, or more effective, in the Trick or Treat environment.  They also access to the right mix of Buffs and Debuffs overall, and all 4 can place something down preemptively that will affect enemies as they spawn out of the doors.

- Most other Support Powersets: Anything with good -Res output will be very helpful, as will AoE Buffs that are easy to maintain on the entire League such as "shields" or Speed Boost.  Really, every single Support Powerset is a solid choice except for Elec Affinity and Empathy.

- "Rain" psuedopets: Rain of Fire, Ice Storm / Blizzard, Storm Cell / Category Five, and Whirlpool.  Some ATs can take a "Rain" in their Epic Pools.  No, Rain of Arrows does not count... I'm sorry that Archery sucks; beg the Homecoming Devs to buff it.

- General top-tier powersets: A good character is still a good character.  Energy Melee Scrappers aren't going to suddenly become bad in the Trick or Treat environment.  While they don't specifically do anything to excel, strong single target DPS is going to be needed to put the EBs into the dirt.

- Anything with Psionic Damage... yes really: I'm not joking, The Arisen Mummy is that tanky.  Also, the AoEs in Psy Blast and Psy Assault aren't even bad, and Dominate is an S-Tier attack on the ATs with access to it in Psionic Mastery.

 

Tactics

   Trick or Treat enemies pack a ton of combined ToHit Debuffs, and things can slow down a lot if most of the League can't hit their attacks.  Every single player has access to Tactics in the Leadership pool, and it's not like extra stacks of Assault or Maneuvers are bad either.  If you're on a "lowbie" in a Trick or Treat League, strongly consider running full Leadership to improve everyone's effectiveness: Respecs are basically unlimited, and you can Respec into your "real" build after you hit level 50.  Remember that your damage dealt and Debuffs inflicted are reduced by the level difference between you and the enemy, but Buffs on teammates don't have any reduction.

 

Repel / Trawl / Fold Space

   Since 100% of the enemies will spawn adjacent to walls, and sometimes near corners, you may want to use Repel powers to try and bunch enemies together.  The likely candidates here are Storm Summoning's Hurricane and Force Field's Repulsion Field.  Here's the thing: the enemies already spawn perfectly bunched on top of each other for you.  It's very unlikely that you can position yourself in a way where you can reliably cause any benefit through forced movement via Repel.  You can try, but you're just as likely to push enemies away in the opposite direction behind you.  This issue is compounded by the addition of the Fold Space power.  Fold Space will abruptly move enemies together, and if their new position is somewhere you didn't expect, then your Repel power instantly switches from "helping" to "harming".  Even Fold Space itself can be annoying if used incorrectly, and it should be used near doors rather than out in the middle of an open area.  There is an exception though, and that exception is Trawl.  For those unaware, the Homecoming Devs created an inverse-Repel effect which draws enemies towards a central point: called Trawl.  Singularity and Axe Cyclone are good sources of this effect, so positioning your Singularity close to a door can be helpful if you use Gravity Control.  Telekinesis can be used to clump up a ton of enemies but it is difficult to use effectively, requiring active movement from the wielder.  Black Hole was also recently changed to have a Trawl effect, but it will instead Phase Shift enemies that cannot be forcefully moved; you should avoid using Black Hole because it will Phase Shift many of the enemies and grief all other players.  In summary: Repel is not necessary, Fold Space is good but can be misused, Trawl is just flat-out good, and Black Hole is a griefing troll power to be avoided.

 

 

What NOT to do

   As long as you understand the mechanics of knocking, then this part is pretty obvious.  Do NOT sit around without clicking doors.  Do NOT repeatedly click the same individual door and wonder why it isn't doing anything.  Do NOT play Empathy and hover in the middle of the space with Healing Aura on autocast, contributing nothing.  Do NOT use Repel or Fold Space irresponsibly and pull enemies away from the people currently fighting them.  Do NOT use Nova or Meteor (without KBtoKD) and fling the enemies miles away.  Do NOT Phase Shift the enemies.

   This event makes it possible for extra bodies to genuinely be helpful regardless of the player level: extremely rare in City of Heroes.  As long as you're doing the bare minimum knocking and NOT being actively detrimental, chances are you are helping.

 

 

Summary:

   I just want to reiterate that everyone should understand where to knock on the doors and how frequently to do so: every 10s for a different door and the door you started with resets after 300s (5 minutes).  This event is ridiculously popular every year, and you can help everyone around you just by spawning in more enemies more often.  Even if you're just there to try and leech some easy levels, running Leadership toggles for the League and knocking as often as possible are still in your individual best interests.  Hopefully this information empowers you to go out and make this Halloween the best it can be for everyone.

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Shin Magmus
Added Pumpkins

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