Doctor_Kumquat

More specifically, the DoT has an 80% chance of doing damage each tick. If you are very lucky, you could get 4 or 5 damage ticks, for 60+ damage; if you're less lucky, you'll see more like 30 damage. What this means is that most characters will do better with the DoT than the small amount of -res, especially those with rain powers.

The stun/fear from Oppressive Gloom and Cloak of Fear will last longer, but that's not very important on an aura power, as long as you stay near the mezzed targets. The stun from Soul Transfer will last longer as well. Dark Regeneration will probably heal for more, but that hardly matters when 2-3 targets will full-heal you anyway. Cloak of Darkness would provide a little bit more +defense. Your +resist toggles will not be affected.

As a DP/Energy blaster, the main benefit of Power Boost will come from extending the length of your stun effects from your melee attacks and Suppressive Fire, along with boosting many other power pool goodies. Medicine pool heals will heal for more HP, defense buffs (Combat Jumping, Maneuvers, Weave) will give a bit more defense, Vengeance goes from really nice to mindblowingly good, etc. Tough will NOT be affected, because resistance buffs are never affected by power boost.

On the DP front, your cryo rounds would probably pack a stronger (though not longer) movespeed debuff, although the -recharge would not improve. The other three ammo types would be unaffected, since KB was made unaffected by power boost a year or two ago, and -damage is never affected by power boost for the same reason that +resist is not.

I liked Soldiers of Arachnos so much that I made three - one crab, one bane, and one huntsman. If you don't mind your bane having crab legs still on his back, then just using a dual build will work fine when you feel like smacking things around with a mace instead of blasting them.

As for actual builds... I don't have the time to post a full build for you, but I will say that Tactical Training: Maneuvers (and the other two, but especially Maneuvers) and Venom Grenade are absolutely amazing, and I'd be ashamed of playing a Soldier of Arachnos without them. TT:M, when slotted, gives the whole team over 15% defense to all types, for very little endurance, without you doing anything. Venom Grenade is both an excellent AoE attack from a raw damage standpoint and an excellent force multiplier for you and your team.

For Wolf Spiders, basically all the attacks are worthwhile. I'm not a fan of Wide Area Web Grenade, because the area really isn't very wide at all, but the -recharge debuff it applies is handy for bosses. Pummel has a decent stun chance, but I didn't like closing to melee range for it when all my other attacks were ranged. All three AoEs are nice, although Frag Grenade is the most skippable of the three - it has the smallest radius, a potentially annoying knockback chance, and a fairly high endurance cost.

Crabs are pretty straightforward - you have a lot of big, flashy ranged powers to blast stuff apart with, and a bunch of armor abilities to keep you alive when you do so. If you want a tankmage, Crabs are where it's at. Fortification and Serum, along with your other defense powers and pets to provide distractions, provide a level of personal survivability that few other ranged specialists can boast. Their ST DPS normally isn't as impressive as their AoE, but if you can get their pets to focus fire on a single target, it's darn impressive.

For Banes, most of the mace-based AoE is garbage. The melee attacks are beefy and satisfying though, and Crowd Control makes up for the pointless ranged AoE options. I'd still keep Venom Grenade to soften them up and provide more AoE. Mace Beam is average, but Poisonous Ray is superb when paired with Venom Grenade. Grab Surveillance and Cloaking Device when you can; Placate and Web Cocoon (sp?) are mediocre, and likely skippable. Pets are a matter of taste; they provide solid damage and control but can get in the way of a stealthy playstyle.

Rebirth or Ageless would both work well for a Forcefielder; the Rebirth just makes it THAT MUCH MORE impossible for anyone to actually die in your presence, although it is pretty heavy overkill normally. Rebirth = more endurance and recharge and debuff protection, which is also quite handy; you can help prevent cascading defense failure for you and your teammates, more rech = more dmg, and I don't know if you have any endurance issues but it doesn't exactly hurt to add even more recovery.

Barrier is obviously redundant, and Clarion is fairly silly with Dispersion already there. That said, my Blaster recently found out just how amusing it can be to pop DOUBLE Power Boost right before hitting Vengeance; /EM has the normal power, and Clarion Radial packs both Boost Range and Power Boost. Together, stupid-awesome stuff happens.

More specifically, Electron haze normally has a 25% (?) chance to knock enemies back. If you throw the Ragnarok proc in there, it will have a 15% chance to knock enemies down, a 25% chance to knock enemies back as per normal, and a 5% chance to knock enemies a bit farther back than normal. The two procs do not affect the chance of the other one occuring.

@Mr Grumpums: The "other" Destiny tree (Clarion) provides comprehensive mez protection as the Core boost, and +range and +special for Radial. The core branch is perma (120 sec duration/cooldown), but the Radial branch only lasts 90 seconds to balance out the AoE +Range/Special.

If you and/or a bunch of your other squishy, buffing friends would appreciate having mez protection, longer range, and an AoE Power Boost, it's a pretty handy tool. Also, it seems RADICALLY less popular than the obvious Barrier/Rebirth survivability buffs, so if your blaster or defender wants to provide a different sort of Destiny buff to the team, don't completely write it off. I know my Arch/EM blaster has been giggling about being able to teleport a mile in 7-8 jumps, and turn Fistful of Arrows into a 140 foot long cone.

Hmm.. a Dark Blast chain that could do ~150 DPS (solo for max vigilance, and paired with Tar Pit). Nice work, Garent. If I get around to dusting off my FF/Dark someday, I'll likely do something similar.

My Sonic/Sonic is one of my main two Incarnate charactes, so I'll throw in my $.02.

Judgment: Mostly a matter of personal taste, but I went with Ion because it fit slightly better with the char. concept than hurling fireballs / ice cones, and so I didn't have to worry about lining up the right central target for max. coverage while laying into an AV with my debuffs. Only one I'd avoid is Void.

Interface: I was really, really tempted by the damage proc in Reactive. I am in love with my Apocalypse proc in Shriek, because it lets a tier 1 defender blast hit for over 200 damage, and more damage procs would make a big difference on a sonic/sonic. However, I went with the -damage proc from Paralytic for now; unless I'm deeply mistaken, -resistance can amplify the effects of -damage, since the two stats are so closely linked. As a sonic/sonic, Paralytic -damage could take out a significant bit of a nasty boss/AV's threat level. I'll likely get the Reactive DoT as well, once I get my other powers up a bit more.

Lore: Like with Interface, MOAR DAMAEG seemed fun, but the differences between the groups appear mostly thematic. My main split was between Seers and Warworks; I use the Psi epic pool, and even more psionic damage can only help vs. enemies like Marauder, but a harder hitting melee combatant like Victoria would be more useful against more targets (and could carry my disruption aura if there isn't a suitable meleer on the team. I haven't unlocked it yet, so I still have some more time to be indecisive.

Destiny: Don't QUITE have it unlocked yet, but I already have my rare radial Rebirth crafted and waiting to go, and will upgrade it to V-rare as soon as I get a few more threads for the last 4 common components. Layering lots of +res (already covered) with lots of +regen/heals is one of the easiest and strongest sources of protection a character can access. Plus, Barrier (and maneuvers, and IO defense buffs, and ...) seems very common already, so diversity is more helpful than more redundancy.

Standard practice for non-MM characters:

Look around and precisely target things with the mouse, activate 98% of powers and run around with the keyboard.

Numbers 1-5 (or 6) on all three trays are easy enough to access with the left hand, and so they get the common powers. Tray one gets the main attack powers, Tray 2 gets the common supplemental powers - buffs, heals, and sometimes extra AoEs. Tray 3 gets single-target buffs (forcefields / speedboost), powers requiring a targeting reticle (teleport, Rain of Arrows, etc.) , and rarely used attack powers (AoE holds, vet. attacks, etc.). My toggles, temp powers, etc. go on the right side of the tray - usually, travel toggles are on tray 1 and meaty toggles are tray 2, so I can't accidentally detoggle myself as much. I don't use custom keyboard binds to activate powers, just a customizeable targeting bind to point out priority enemies (Void Hunters, ITF generals, Sappers, and anyone else I don't want to get lost in the fray).

Re: the speed difference between crafting the new slots up and crafting your Alpha boosts:

I have two main characters that I have been running the incarnate content with, and although neither one has unlocked their Destiny or Lore slots yet (they're running at about 70% completion atm), they both have their tier 3 boosts for them pre-crafted and ready to slot, along with their already slotted T3 Interface and T1 Judgment powers. This is the product of running each of them through about half a dozen runs on each trial over the past week and a half.

In short, if you run the trials enough to unlock the slots with naturally-gathered iXP instead of directly purchasing the iXP with threads, you should have more than enough components/threads banked up to slot them up by the time you do get them. The T4s may take some time if you don't get any V-Rare rewards from trial completion - 4 rares and a bit of inf or 30 empyrean merits - but I've gotten a couple, waiting for when I get enough threads to craft up all the commons. Honestly, the biggest roadblock to getting my incarnate powers has been the 20 threads per common component, since I've only gotten one or two common components from the drop table (and dozens of stupid uncommons).

Not too many glaring errors, but slotting Liquefy for hold duration is a complete waste. Throw in 3x Membranes if you want to be slot-efficient, or your choice of to-hit debuff set if you have spare slots and want to chase the bonuses. The only things that really matter about Liquefy, slotting-wise, are the recharge rate and to-hit debuff.

World of Confusion is pretty pointless aside from serving as a nice Coersive Persuasion mule if you have the cash. Just don't think you're going to get very much out of it as an actual power.

Shout isn't that bad, but it's not that needed either. My Sonic/Sonic uses Shriek - Scream - Shriek - Dominate (or Howl or Sonic Siphon, as needed) for his main attack chain. Dominate is both a sweet hold and an impressive attack if slotted for it; I like a mix of cheap acc/mez/dam HOs in it, but straight lockdown works decently if you aren't worried about that.

If you can, you really really really want to put the Apocalypse proc in Shriek. Considering how much -res you're going to be slinging around, and how often you are going to hit Shriek, that one proc makes a massive impact on your overall DPS. If you are only going to slot a single purple IO, make it the Apoc proc. It's pretty fun when your tier one defender blast can pummel a boss for 300 damage. I'd also say that you should rip a slot out of something (Assault? Liquefy?) to drop the Posi proc in Howl to complete the recharge bonus.

For Alpha boosts, I'd suggest either Cardiac (more +res for you and allies, literally infinite endurance unless fighting sappers) or Musculature (really, when is more damage bad?). Nerve is excessive on most characters, and Spiritual doesn't add much for a character with little that needs recharge, and no heals or stuns. On that note, making room for the Medicine pool wouldn't be a bad idea; not required on a Sonic or any other defender, but it's nice to have at least some healing ability at times.

My Arch/EM soloed Marauder w/o temps or insps; wasn't too hard, just pack enough DPS and don't get dead. With insps and limited temps, could solo through most of the Praetorian AVs that don't have 50% lethal resistance, and hardcore temp power abuse could probably let you 'solo' those too.

GMs are impossible without either /mental or a helluva lot of envenomed daggers, but those are sort of outside the standard range of hero ability in any case.

Of note, AVs are less build-specific than GMs are - they have significantly less regeneration, so builds without -regen can still solo AVs if they have enough raw DPS. My Arch/EM blaster has soloed AVs before - without inspirations, even - it just took at least 15 minutes to do so, since I was just barely beating that regen (they had lethal resistance). However, that blaster would never dream of soloing a GM, unless he busted out every temp power in the book and a full tray of gigantic insps with more in email storage - they really do need -regen to make it practical.

If you want to stick with your current roster, any of the first three chars listed could possibly pack enough damage to solo an AV - the main issue will be making sure they don't solo you first. If you want to make a new big game hunter, then Ill/Rad controllers, Bots/Traps MMs, and Rad/Sonic defenders are all pretty solid contenders depending on how you want to approach it. The MM is likely the least expensive approach, in that they don't need as much investment in their own safety to have a shot.

One last note - one AV can vary RADICALLY from the next in terms of threat level. Choose your practice targets carefully =)

Strictly speaking, no. With three controllers you can stagger the seeds to keep all the baddies in your pocket, and stack immobs (and later Creepers) for solid damage.

However, with three rads, you could have not only perma-AM but darn close to permahasten if you took hasten - it shouldn't take more than an extra 30% recharge from sets to get there. Would having permahasten levels of recharge grease the wheels enough to make a serious impact in your group's oomph level?

You may hate superspeed, which is fine, but I've always found a stealth IO alone to be enough for my sneaking needs through almost any area. Would having full invisibility from the pool (and whatever extra LotG slotting boosts you can afford) be more useful? That's for you to decide.

One of the only things sweeter than seeing EXECUTIONER'S STRIKE rise over your victims' heads is following it up with Shatter Armor and amping up the world of hurt.

General tips:

Venom Grenade is phenomenal, and unless you are REALLY deadset on using exclusively Mace attacks, I'd suggest splashing it in and then pulling out the ol' bashing stick. When fighting on a team, the force multiplier of your Leadership toggles along with hefty -resistance debuffs makes a huge impact, and Venom Grenade is both a superb AoE attack in its own right and your best debuff.

If you are in love with the SMASH of the mace, Black Scorpion's patron pool offers Shatter Armor, which is like Shatter and Surveillance mixed together in the best ways. I prefer Mako's pool for the improved AoE power while teamed (Arctic Breath is another AoE attack with -res, and Bile Spray is another pure toxic damage AoE) but both work well, and BS would have the edge solo or against AVs.

Placate is passable as a defensive tool, but if you are looking for a means to boost your DPS, look elsewhere. From a DPS perspective, the time spent placating would be better spent using ANY other Bane attack, unless the followup attack was a target capped Crowd Control.

The mace melee attacks are great; the ranged attacks are somewhat less so, but still serviceable. The level 1 blast is decidedly average - it's similar to Bash, but trading out the toxic DoT for range and a chance for KB. Poisonous Ray, when used alongside Venom Grenade for the -40% toxic resistance, is every bit as tasty as Pulverize but from range. Poisonous Ray is a staple of my ST attack chain, and I wouldn't like living without it even from a pure melee standpoint; the fact that it has decent range is a convenient perk. How much you value them will depend on how much you like having non-melee options when the baddies are spread out / running.

The mace AoE attacks (aside from Crowd Control which is sweet) are total crap though. The mace AoEs are categorically worse than any of the wolf or crab options, and probably worse than the Patron pool options aside from recharge rate. Unless you are deadset on putting together a seamless AoE chain without using any of the gun powers, which would be a pretty bizarre concept build, look elsewhere.

General attack strategy for my bane, assuming solo or with a small enough team that you can fight without shifting tactics: Stealth in, use Surveillance on the boss, pop Build up, use either Shatter or Crowd Control for the crit depending on how closely packed the enemies are, then jump back and lob a Venom Grenade. Follow up with Arctic Breath, along with Bile Spray from Mako's patron pool (if lots of enemies) or Poisonous Ray and then back to melee (if very few enemies, or one REALLY important threat). If on a team, the rest of your friends will be enjoying the damage boost that your Surveillance, Venom Grenades, Arctic Breath, and (possibly doublestacked) Assault bring to the table, and the battle should be over shortly. If solo, your chain of Poisonous Ray / Shatter / Pulverize / Crowd Control should cut things down to size quickly, and the constant knockdown of Shatter and Crowd Control make a big difference in keeping you safe against ugly bosses.

Low damage blaster sets vs. a twinked out Warshade with mires up and multiple pets out? Warshade can pull it out.

General case scenario? Blaster, because dealing damage is what a blaster IS. It's not a total runaway, and Warshades can do a great many things quite well, but if you're asking whether Squids will dish out more damage than a twinked out blaster whose sole purpose is to rip things to shreds as fast as possible, then... no.

To completely threadjack the threadjack back to the original topic...

Energy Punch + Bone Smasher may do more damage than Total Focus in the same timeframe, but they do not pack a guaranteed stun along with that damage. To be more thorough, you should compare (Stun + Energy Punch + Bone Smasher) to Total Focus. Total Focus may not be the best DPA around, but it always packs a mag 3 stun with the damage, and does a higher percentage of energy damage than anything else in the set (which makes a major damage difference against things with high s/l resistance). It also does it in a single packet, which makes a serious difference when dealing with things like Paragon Protectors that might pop Moment of Glory if you don't drop them from >25% hp to 0 in one blow. You can joust Total Focus, so that you are not in melee range for the duration of the animation, while chaining Bonesmasher + Energy Punch requires melee range for longer. It stacks with other stuns (from other teammates, from Bonesmasher 60% of the time, or from a stun in your blast set 100% of the time) to mez bosses, it serves as another Mako set mule for those chasing the ranged defense softcap, and it looks cool to boot.

Yes, there are alternatives to Total Focus, but for a single power to do so much, it definitely has its uses.

I'd love to bring my badger (Arch/EM blaster) along, I'm just not 100% sure I'll have Saturday night free yet. I've gotten most of the other Master run badges already, but been pretty lazy about the Redside ones.

For banes, even if you're all giddy with mace-based smashing goodness, Venom Grenade is where it's at. It packs a -40% res debuff for toxic damage (20% for other damage types), and every mace attack has toxic DoT attached. Venom Grenade, Poisonous Ray, and Bile Spray (if you take //Mako) are all pure toxic damage, that get the full juicy buff from Venom Grenade. With VG up, Poisonous Ray does as much or more damage as Pulverize, from range. Also, VG + Surveillance + Shatter Armor/Arctic Breath + Achilles proc = insane. If you bring along your pets to capitalize on that -res goodness, your DPS can possibly beat out even a Widow build, and with way more style.

I soloed every available contact in Grandville with my Bane, but also run him on large teams; for that, his approach changes, but he can still do decent AoE. I stealth in, hit the hardest target with Surveillance, crit with Shatter or Crowd Control depending on how dense the crowd is, jump back out while launching a Venom Grenade, then hit 'em with Arctic Breath/Bile Spray and wade back in for some more Crowd Control and mop up the bosses with ST damage. The mace AoEs are junk, but the other tools work well.

DPS-wise, Placate is pretty much rubbish on Bane, because the increased crit damage it brings (even with Shatter) isn't anywhere near as impressive as an AS from a stalker. Take it if you like the control effects, or because you want burstier damage to stop a Paragon Protector from hitting MoG or something, but not because you want to boost your general DPS.

Power Boost will *not* affect a Cold defender's ice shields, because they also provide trivial resistances and are therefore made to ignore PB. PB can still be a decent power, and Power Boosted Benumb can MASSIVELY shred any hard target's effectiveness (I almost feel sorry for Ghost Widow when she gets hit by one).

Overall, I'd give the nod towards Dark, Soul, or Psi.

Flash Arrow gets a lot of flak, but IMO it's one of the cooler tricks in TA. It's almost 10% of effective defense (slotted) in a huge, aggroless AoE that cannot be resisted. Radiation Infection may boast much mightier numbers, but it has a smaller radius, higher endurance value, can be detoggled, and gets resisted to nearly nothing when used against AVs. For a fire and forget power to start every encounter with, and as a tool to prevent unwanted aggro, Flash Arrow gets the job done. It's significantly more valuable than Entangling Arrow at early levels when teaming, and stays useful to 50.