Combat

1. Scrappers (the only AT so fun to play it has a neurological disorder associated with it- scrapperlock)
2. Brutes (BRUTE SMASH is just behind scrapperlock in my opinion)
3. Defenders (first 50 and namesake, played them more before IOs broke the game for self-buffing)
4. MMs (Can kill anything, my vote for AT with highest potential)
5. Warshades (At high levels against lots of foes, amazing. Not so against AVs, but still fun)
6. NWs (very good DPS, slightly squishy)
7. Crabs (like herding cats, but able to have strong defenses, pets, and lots of AoEs)
8. Corrupters (just don't have any)
9. Tanks (Boringly low damage)
10. Dominators (Slightly more fun than controllers, but less potential awesome. Still wait 1-32 but at least you can do damage before then)
11. Controllers (epic power, but 1-32 is torture, and torture isn't fun)
12. Banes/Huntsmen (I don't see what's so special about them. If I wanted to play a pre-buff Mace/EA, I would)
13. Blasters (aka, 'the gimp', blasters are like CoH on hard mode. Less damage than a scrapper and no defense! Hurray!)
14. Stalkers (aka, 'villains can be gimp too!' Less damage, less survivability, and relies on gimmicks.)
15. Peacebringers (the gimpiest of the gimp. Very low damage, low defense, spawns special super mobs, relies on gimmicks, etc. I won't EVER roll a PB until they are brought into balance)

If you can stand it, a Granite Tank can be a Zen experience. With Ice Melee for the true hardcore Zen masters.

Also, anything with a damage aura and good defense. Just walk in and watch things die, while you go and enjoy your nice cup of tea, check out that webpage on rock gardens, practice yoga, etc.

Did you know that you could escape the terrain fairly easy back in the day? This is was fixed when a group of over 20 players (#s not guaranteed to be accurate) escaped the War Walls and began heading towards the sun. The Devs caught all but one fairly quickly, but that one made it 50 miles towards the sun before he was caught. Teleportation also let people get under the arena, and other places as well. One place that I discovered didn't require teleportation were various stores throughout Paragon City. For example, the natural (just 'Store' on the map), had a hole that you could jump through and land behind the counter, an off limits spot for players. By repeating jumping you could get inside, and then eventually outside the building into the black nether space surrounding it. I have a character parked next to one of the stores just for old times sake.

Did you know that character used to be able to cap damage without outside buffs? That's right, old school Hami-Os could enhance a power up by 50% in two or three attributes, and when you get six Dam/Acc Hami-Os into a power it would bring you to the damage cap of 400% (for some ATs, though the may all have been capped at this rate back then). This made the game trivial because even BU and Aim wouldn't help your damage. I actually think that with ED in place we should go back to the old school numbers.

That's all I have for now, but I've sure I'll think of more.

Did you know that for one very brief moment in time Peacebringers were the most OPed AT in the game's history? For a very short amount of time, there was a bug that allowed PBs to slot an infinite number of enhancers in their attacks, bringing them to much higher than the damage cap. A PB reportedly hit the ACTUAL damage cap, the amount of damage that is hard-capped as the maximum amount possible to deal (IE, even with 10^99 damage bonus you wouldn't deal more). This allowed said PB to two shot Hamidon. Needless to say, this was fixed quick and PBs were forced by karma to be the weakest AT in the game since.

I don't mind that stalkers do less base damage than a scrapper. It matches my thematic picture of stalkers. However, I do think that they could be improved. Keeping with my picture of stalkers, I would increase critical damage to 300% regular damage, perhaps adjusting critical rate slightly to adjust for higher critical damage not being overpowered. This would also translate to AS, (which I make non-interruptable, a 2.5 sec cast, whose damage is distributed so that it has slightly lower damage than expected, and enough critical damage to match or exceed current AS). This would make it deal more damage than a scrapper, but unpredictably. Suddenly you'll one-shot a lt or boss, then go back to low base damage, then jump for a one-shot kill, etc. It would, however, make a stalker an elite damage dealer against big targets like AVs and GMs.

In order:

SS/Fire Brute- Fastest killer, and damage = less time needed to survive. Brutal combo.
Ill/Cold or Ill/Rad- Can kill anything in relative safety. See Silverado.
Bots/Trap- Traps has some nasty, nasty abilities, and Bots can help it with even more -regen, stacking seeker drones, and bonus +defense and heals making the pets very survivable. Again, see silverado.
DM/SD scrapper- Insane dps when surrounded, decent to great survivability with OwtS and Rebirth +regen. Lacks a little AoE damage, but should be enough to take on +4 AVs (the real test of a +4 TF). I have personal experience with this combo, and probably could take a +4 ITF in about 2 hours, give or take about 15 minutes. Should be able to do STF too. LGTF requires special tactics and may be impossible, LRSF VERY difficult to survive but possible. Dr. Khan is possible, but hard.

Mind/Fire can do some TFs, like the LRSF, but I'd call it gimmicky and not necessarily the overall best choice.

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: Every scrapper combination is an adequate soloer by itself, and can be taken to the next level with IOs and incarnate abilities. They come in different flavors, both mechanically (defense vs resistance) and stylistically (willpower's ease of use vs regen's clickability). They can be AoE specialists, like electric, single target specialists like dark melee, or decent at both. Nothing in the game is as simple as a scrapper. You deal high damage, can survive most things, and don't have to worry about mezzing or other effects as much as those on the squishy side of the fence.

At high levels, certain scrapper combinations are absolute BEASTS. With incarnates, scrappers can pull off feats before withheld to only very certain combinations like Illusion/Radiation controllers. For instance, my DM/SD scrapper has soloed the ITF in under an hour with no temps or deaths, can deal over 300 dps in solo Pylon runs (higher with Lore pets), and has taken down virtually every AV and GM in the game available at level 50. I'm currently practicing to run a solo-STF. These are the kinds of things that a scrapper can do with the right combination/build/incarnate and most importantly, the right player.

The usefulness of kinetics or cold will change depending on team. If there already is a kinetics user, another will not add as much, because a single kin can keep a team near the damage cap (excepting perhaps Brutes). A cold, however, will give roughly the same amount of help no matter what the team is composed off (it is much rarer to hit the -res cap than the +dam cap). Also, +dam is deceptive. When you are level one, with no enhancements or buffs, a 10% +dam increase equals 10% more damage. But when you are a level 50 Brute with double stacked rage and high fury, that same +10% will be more like a 1-2% increase. If you have 300% damage increase including enhancements, moving to 400% isn't a 100% increase in the damage dealt. Instead, it would be a 25% increase.

In contrast, -res of 10% would be a 10% increase at level, level 50, and even super duper level 50 IOed to the gills with T4 incarnates. And if I'm correct, it works that way even if the target has resistance buffs against. This isn't necessarily a plus, because it means that an AV with 90% resistance won't be debuffed to 80% with a 10% buff, but to 89%. Why? Because it would be 10% more damage (versus it and you'll see that the target would go from 10% damage taken to 11% damage taken). This may also work with targets that are already debuffed, but I haven't tested it. If so, that same -res debuff would debuff a target with -100% resistance by 20% instead of 10%. The point is that -res is more potent than +dam given the same quantities. A good rule of thumb is that 1 point of -res is worth at least 2 points of +dam, and that ratio increases as the damage cap is approached. For a final bonus, -res bonuses also increase the effectiveness of -dam (which can easily half the damage of any unresisting enemy by up 50% with certain powersets, and that stacks with defense and resistance).

So, for all around effectiveness, go cold. Your resistance debuffing powers will work no matter the team composition and will complement any +dam buffing (and -dam debuffing) on the team. But, if you wanted to just give a big extra punch to most teams, roll a kin. The kin also would have the advantage of giving a +recharge increase.

My suggestion would be to wait till i21 and play a SR/MA tanker. You'll be able to soft-cap earlier than anyone with the new +10% to positionals in MA. You'll be able to put a lot of recharge in when you put purples and quickness together (140% with that and hasten), and should be able to steamroll in safety through all lowbie content. For even more money, add in PvP IOs (which I believe work at all levels, though I could be wrong). If they do work at all levels, adding in a few heal sets could get your recharge up to nearly perma-hasten levels. This set may be able to play at higher difficulties at lower levels than virtually any other set. Others may out-damage it though, even with the recharge bonuses.

Here's a build I just cooked. It has soft-capped defenses, decent recharge, and enough AoEs. Pets are mostly slotted for defense bonuses, but probably are still usable.

I think I might do a video of me doing the map, just to give people some ideas for speeding up times. I'll admit, I was actually surprised out how fast that run was, even with the deaths. But then again, this character has done a lot of pretty amazing things for me, like soloing a MoITF in under an hour (58 mins at the 4th Romi kill), and could not have done nearly as well without incarnate abilities/inspirations. I actually think the no-death/temps/insp run was the most impressive thing I've seen because I know my character would almost certainly take more time under the same settings.

I think I have the fastest time so far: 29 minutes, +4/x8, on my DM/SD scrapper. Of course, that's using inspirations, and I had 5 deaths (mostly do to not paying attention).

My strategy was to go for Blazes of any variety, then Ragers, then Sparklings. I tried the map twice before without finishing just to get an idea of where all the spawn points were, and started off by zerging for altars. Once they were dead, I went for the speaking bosses, then mystery. I used aggro as my stealth (when you are at aggro cap, new enemies won't immediately attack you, allowing a fast player to escape combat by going towards other mobs). In order to survive, I used one sturdy, one luck, OwtS, and the t4 regen destiny. That put me at 75% smashing/lethal res, enough defense for Ragers, and about 110 hps if I use Siphon Life whenever its up. With double stacked and HOed out AD, I shrugged off defense debuffs and mezs (I have close to 40 mag of protection with double stacked AD and OwtS running).

Unlike normal groups, I used a lot of movement in combat, trying to stay at the ideal range, which is just outside of melee, making them want to engage in melee but being unable to. I abused my burst AoE abilities by attacking the target boss groups with a rush of Fireball, Shield Charge, Ion Judgement, DC, Fireball. This left most of the minions and lts dead or at least very injured, and then I cleaned up with dark maul and fireball, siphon lifing as needed.

Overall, I'd say it was challenging from a survivable standpoint, but not necessarily from a DPS standpoint. I was much focused more on staying on my feet than I was on actually dealing damage, and mostly used damage as a way of reducing threats quickly. Without insps, I would have to be much more cautious, and would take about 45 mins to an hour. I wouldn't mind throwing in an EB or AV to test DPS, though I understand keeping it a survival challenge. I probably can cut a minute or two out by not dying, but I'd say it won't go down much further for me on this character, until I get Demonic Aura anyway. Maybe on a more survivable character with more focus on AoE it could be done more quickly. I'm guessing a SS/Fire Brute could do fairly well at it, though my personal bet for the best would be something like a soft-capped Willpower/Fire tanker.

I remember well the days of perma-Elude (which, by the way, was more powerful than the soft-cap today because of the defense mechanics), I also joined in May of '04. Kids now-a-days don't understand what it was like back in the good old days. Back when Hamis were 50%/50% enhancers, a character could hit the damage cap just through enhancements, scrappers and tankers could get better survivability than today even without perma-T9s, etc. Oh, and perma-hasten could be had very easily (just 6 slot it, and that's if it wasn't a toggle at the time!). But the best thing was the aggro cap. Cheap, yes, but herding all of Perez Park on my D3 was a great feeling.

Anyway, it's too bad that the crash still impacts, though I guess it still follows the rage model (-def canceled, but health/endurance hits still apply). I guess Unstoppable is still not a power I'll use, but this is great for those with just end crashes or smaller crashes like SoW.

Has anyone tested to see if using a crashing power (such as Unstoppable) again before it crashes cancels the crash? For instance, rage has a big defense crash that is stopped by using it before the crash. If so, Burnout is much more useful

Personally I'm planning at the very least on a StJ/Fire and a StJ/EA. With fire I'd go for softcapped SM/LE, and use it for the combination of FE and CU (talk about max damage). Also, if the AoE is good it may become an alternative farming set, though I highly doubt it will beat current top-end builds. With EA, I'm be going for recharge, recharge, and more recharge, trying to run the fastest chain possible (and get more Crushing Uppercut!). It should be a fairly high power set with good defense, heals, a little resistance and the best possible chain.

I'm planning on rerunning some toons for Street Justice, including a SS/SR brute named Old Wippernapper, who may be rerolled as either a StJ/SR or StJ/EA, as either would work with his concept. Also, a KM/Fire scrapper named Just Tracy will be rerolled as a StJ/Fire scrapper. I'm not sure whether time manipulation or energy beam will make me change any characters, but one character may be rerolled as a Dark Blast/Energy Manip Blaster (currently a D3). And thats about it.

Well, if those are base, CU is my new favorite power. Sure, you won't use it all that often. But when you do, things die. With a 25 second recharge, the "average" I would aim for would be about 8 seconds without spiritual, a little less with. That would be about once every 2 chains of your builders, so I see a top-end chain being RB-SB-HB-SC-RB-SB-HB-CU. It would take a fair amount of recharge, but use all 3 -res powers (counting the 2 procs). I really am looking forward to running a StJ/FA for the extra damage goodness.

Well, it is a little unbelievable. But we already have teleportation, instantaneous matter creation/destruction, computers that win at jeopardy and tons of other nearly unbelievable feats (to be fair, the middle one is just something we recently figured out to explain black hole radiation).

One alternative to buying/popping lucks like mad is getting a good supply of the tier 3 lucks, emailing them to yourself, and using them one a time for your defense needs (I believe that a tier 3 luck will softcap you by itself). That way you don't have to worry about having enough drop for you, or having them clutter your inventory. On the downside, it means that you will have to multi-task and have your email open. Also, those are in limited numbers on the market and may cut into profits (if you try and rush-buy them they can get expensive).

On another note, what I'm now doing is turning off chat while farming and opening my salvage window in its place. This lets me keep track of tickets without taking up valuable screen space. I wish I could use combat attributes and set "salvage x" count as an attribute. That would be SO useful, and not just for tickets. It would also help for shards, threads, merits, etc.

To be fair, Dark Melee and the T4 regen destiny ups survivability numbers considerably for most powersets. For instance /SD isn't that amazing, but with my DM/SD I get a score of 3600 (113 hps/.05/.63), which I'm assuming is using Werner's method. Of course, that's assuming smashing/lethal, its lower with other types. With OwtS, it is closer to 7000 (I have nearly capped SM/LE res with that power on). To be honest, any build with a combination of soft-capped defenses, decent resistances, and the regen destiny + high natural hps (which is health recovered by both healing and regeneration) is survivable. And believe it or not, regeneration can be built so that it has soft-capped defenses, decent resists, and high natural hps.

Just a quick question, are those numbers base? If so, those are MAD! For instance, crushing uppercut would deal more damage the headsplitter even without combo points, and at tier three would deal quite a bit more. For instance, if those slots are base CR+slotting would make CU deal 723 damage (just imagine if CR was the full 100%). Add FE from /fire, and you have around 1000. Add -resists and you can imagine what a full power crit could do.

Congrats. You've done sometimes most people have never done it a team (a +4 ITF is tons of fun, but very few run them now).

Personally, I'm going to attempt this on my scrapper as soon as the last pieces of my build come in. With the amount of in-game inflation its amazing the total cost. 5 purple sets can come to 15 billion (actually about 10 billion for me), plus multiple Hami-Os (some +3), plus Panacea, plus glad armor, plus the rest = something close to 25-30 billion.

One thing I've never understood is the following statement: Brutes have the highest damage cap. Becasue, technically, they don't, they have the hardest to achieve (though fury helps a great deal). The -real- damage cap is found by multiplying base damage scale by percent damage cap, and scrappers actually deal slightly more damage than brutes at their damage cap.

Because scrappers need to gain less +damage to maintain their damage cap, I find them slightly easier in that regard, and by manipulating my inspirations I maintain two or three yellows and oranges and more than enough red and purple. Other posters have reported that they don't manage a large amount of +damage. It may be that a scrapper would post higher damage numbers, though they would be less survivable (it works better at 50 I think, and I think that if scrappers ever get a set comparable to SS, it will work better than the current king).

My personal farm guy is spines/fire, and he works decently. I find I don't need 90% resistance to work well, I run him at 50, and he started with very little IO enhancement (numina and miracle procs were about it). I run a 5-mish fire arc at 4/8, generally finish in about 1 and 45 seconds with a lot of tickets wasted (I get 100-200 on mission completion, so I've already generated 1300-1400 by the time I complete). Without sells, I can get a little over 70 million in an hour, though that number should be considered circumspect since I haven't tested it thoroughly. I was using bronze recipes at 10-14, but my plan was to test the other ranges once I got a large sample size for each (about 1000), so you've saved me a fair amount of trouble. Silver recipes were much less work (no deleting!), which is the main reason I used them before, but bronze are much better for actual money. The main reason to go 10-14 is the steadfast res/def, which I could instasell for 20 million or be patient and get more. At roughly 4-5 of those an arc (my average, because of the relatively small drop pool for that range), which I complete in about 11 minutes, I could get 80-100 million just from those, and a little more from smaller recipes (like the regen tissue proc). Anyway, I use that character because I had him, and he could run these types of missions without further investment, not because I knew he would be the best (he isn't, though I could speed him up quite a bit by adding +recharge and leaving the mission earlier).

Thanks for this resource. The buying guides were helpful, and I may decide to run me up one for level 10 recipes (the fire/spines scrapper is also going to be my flashback guy, so I have a need for low level recipes).

For macros, I recommend a loadfile bind that cycles between "insp_combine (tier 1 non wakies)", "insp_combine (tier 2 non wakies)", and one for deleting the various rezs (obviously those aren't the actual binds, and I'd add a tier 3 if I were running with bosses), and a second bind for using enrages. This reduces your clickage to 2 buttons, one for not-red and one for red. (fun fact: I have never, since may 2004 when I first started playing, used the F keys to activate inspirations; I either clicked what I needed or had a bind). I have enough defense that one Good Luck will cap my defenses, so I add small purples to the combine macro but not larger ones. Also, consider adding break frees to the deletion bind, because I find that they are on a slightly rarer drop scale and therefore are more likely to clog space (though this may just be conjecture). I also have a bind for targetting the closest enemy, which replaces the control+tab keybinding (for target enemy near) with a button on my mouse. This allows me to make sure I hit someone near me, not a runner, and I click it everytime I use a TAoE or cone, just to make sure the maximum source of damage is near me (because enemies will be dropped faster if they are hit by all my effects, not half). I also have a bind for a second mouse button (I have 5), for follow. I usually use this in scrapperlock, not farming (combine with first button for easy scrapperlockage). For attacks I have burn, fireball, throw spines, and spine burst for regular combat, plus consume and judgement. I try to avoid spine burst until I have to use it, it really is "sucky" because its animation time. One last thing: instead of the traditional power trays, I use 3 3*4 trays with the basic tray above them. The trays allow me to separate defenses, AoE, and single target attacks more efficiently than having multiple flat trays (and the final tray is mostly just used for temps and teleport powers), and I use the set up for all my melee characters (it is much easier than remembering where I placed everything and learning a new muscle memory set everytime I play a different character).

For me, with my high latency, I almost always get "misfires", where something above a red will get eaten along with the red that was supposed to be. I use this to keep my life and blue bar full, and lower levels would have increased acc and resistance from it, but I'm not sure it works with a faster connection. Unfortunately, this also means that I gain reduced benefit from using things before going in, because it can take north of 30 seconds to a minute to load the map (not that it always take that long, which is why I can still finish in about 11 minutes). I recently upgraded that spines/fire scrapper to a build that optimized smashing/lethal defense (32.5), not recharge, because he really doesn't need a lot and he still isn't primarily a farmer.