Fury Flechette

A few things...

1. Slot neutrino bolt like any other blaster power with accuracy, damage and recharge. For defenders I'd understand why people would proc neutrino bolt, but you don't have to do that here.

2. Where's X-Ray beam? X-Ray beam is a good solid attack and you can fire it off when mezzed. It should be in your build IMO.

3. Having played around with both, Electon Haze > Irradiate. Yes, you can have both, but if you had to pick one, I'd take Electron Haze. Don't let the knockback deter you...it's only 25% chance and not nearly as obnoxious as powers from energy blast or AR. Electron Haze is also front loaded damage while Irradiate does its damage in ticks. As a blaster, I'd much rather have stuff dead up front rather than slowly cooked to death (where they can still fire back).

4. Cosmic Burst - take it at 18. Move other stuff around, but take it at 18. It's blaze but with a stun. It's a great power to both stun that annoying Lt or minion and do a lot of damage to it at the same time.

5. I'm not sure why you didn't take frozen armor if you went cold mastery. If you're just looking for cherry picking a couple of extra powers, force epic for PFF and the shield or fire for char and the shield would be far better choices. Frozen armor would be a great addition, and with a few Kinetic Combats in powers like Bone Smasher and Power Thrust, you'd be very close to capped.

6. Concentrate on one type of defense. If you're going for range, then go all in. I'd rather be strong in one type of defense rather than mediocre in a few. Anything below 20% defense is almost meaningless. S/L defense if you're going cold epic is an obvious one to concentrate on.

7. Build up and aim are way underslotted. They're core powers and should receive enough enhancements so they are close to max recharge. In the build above, you have tons of set mules but underslot core powers. Revise your build to use less set mules (boxing, tactics, manuevers, cj) in pool powers and more slotting in core powers.

First, and most importantly, pick a power set combination you find fun. The best character is the one that you have the most fun playing.

Second, download a build planner like this one. You can get an idea pretty quickly about power combinations, what level certain powers are available and how to enhancement them.

Third, do a little research. Take a read at the guides at the top of this forum. I'd say anything issue 10 or later is mostly still valid and even the earlier versions can give you an idea of what a particular power set combination is like.

Fourth, for basic questions like where to buy enhancements, etc. Visit paragonwiki.com. There are various different kinds of enhancements you can buy directly from stores: training, dual origin (DO) and single origin (SO). And some that must be crafted, invention origin (IO) or bought pre-crafted from the market (Wentworth's or Black Market). See this article for more details.

Fifth, welcome to the game.

I'm not sure who you would qualify as an expert. I'm loathe to make a post on this thread. You do realize that people make build comments for free taking their own time to do so. Asking to qualify themselves as an expert before hand is nothing short of obnoxious.

And as for the build...to be blunt, it stinks. Especially because of the vast amount of influence you spent on it. And no, it's not out of jealousy. I have billions myself and have no problems outfitting my characters in the best *if* it's what makes them the most effective.

I'm not going to go over every little detail but I will point out three things.

1. Purple procs are exceedingly good for dps yet you've excluded them every time.

2. Your build has no focus. When people build they work towards a goal: capped ranged defense, capped S/L defense, high recharge, high survivability, etc. Your build is all over the place and the only focus you seem to have is that you like to warehouse expensive sets in your build. More expensive IO sets does not necessarily mean that they're the best choice for your build.

3. You should read this: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Enhancement_Diversification. You're way over the caps in multiple powers and the amount of increase will be shockingly little to improve your build.

A friend of mine purposely set his difficulty at -1 from level 2 onwards and at times even turned off xp. He set to complete every story arc at their natural level just to see how many merits he can earn.

Even with this handicap, he found leveling very fast, and had to turn off xp multiple times. This is strictly soloing.

Given the fact that his character is now level 46 (he was level 2 about 3 weeks ago), I don't think that the leveling curve is slow at all.

I didn't like either of the builds posted, so here's one that I drew up. Stats:

* Soft capped 45.9 melee / 45.9 ranged / 45.1 AoE
* Endurance efficient: .55 end/sec usage, 3.15 sec recovery
* Good natural regen: 319% (so you can forgo aid self)
* 96.3% global recharge
* No purples used, though honestly the build could be tweaked very easily to include them.
* Hasten as a periodic buff - only 1 slot, but I figure you'd rely on your natural base recharge most of the time and just save it for tougher fights. With a high global recharge, you honestly won't miss it.

You could easily fit in fighting if you cared to, slot the Steadfast Res/Def and have a lot more flexibility in your build; however, since the build was capped without it, I didn't go for fighting pool.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Elec-SR: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Electrical Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Blaze Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Charged Brawl -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(3), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(31)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(5), LkGmblr-Def:50(11), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(17)
Level 2: Jacobs Ladder -- Oblit-Dmg:50(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(3), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:50(7), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(29), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(29), Oblit-%Dam:50(37)
Level 4: Focused Senses -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(5), LkGmblr-Def:50(11), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(39)
Level 6: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit:50(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg:50(13), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx:50(15), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx:50(15), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx:50(31), GSFC-Build%:50(40)
Level 8: Thunder Strike -- Oblit-Dmg:50(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(9), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:50(9), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(19), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(27), Oblit-%Dam:50(37)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(13), Zephyr-ResKB:50(17), DefBuff-I:50(39)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(40), Zephyr-ResKB:50(43)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 18: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(A), Numna-Heal:50(25), Mrcl-Heal:40(37), Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(39), RgnTis-Regen+:30(46)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg:50(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(21), P'Shift-End%:50(25), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg:50(43), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc:50(43)
Level 22: Chain Induction -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(23), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(23), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(27), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(31)
Level 24: Dodge -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(40)
Level 26: Quickness -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 28: Agile -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(34)
Level 30: Lucky -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(50)
Level 32: Lightning Rod -- Oblit-Dmg:50(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:50(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(34), Oblit-%Dam:50(34)
Level 35: Evasion -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(A), S'dpty-EndRdx:40(36), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(36), S'dpty-Def:40(36), S'dpty-Def/Rchg:40(50)
Level 38: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 41: Char -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(42), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(42), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(42)
Level 44: Fire Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(46), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(46)
Level 47: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:50(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(48), Posi-Dam%:50(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- QckFt-EndRdx/RunSpd:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

I'm not really sure how to take this request for help.

If you have an unlimited budget, build a fire/kin of your own. That's what I'd do. If your friend's fire/kin is properly built, he doesn't need your blaster.

I see farming nowadays as mostly a solo activity *if* you've invested in your farm build. If your friend has mostly a SO build then you want to roll an empath or another kin. He'll do plenty of damage in a farm environment without your blaster disrupting targets for fulcum shift.

If you're still insistent on "helping" then just build a fire/em with all the AoEs, aim, build up and boost range. SOs will be just fine because you're not solo farming. I wouldn't spend the influence on pricey IOs to build a blaster for the scenario you describe. It's a waste. Your friend should be locking down all targets anyway...why would you need survivability?

One small thing I wish they could correct. When you talk to the City Representative to enter the room with the capsule, she tells you that the room is just down the hall. My character was sent to another building in Atlas Park. Probably a bug.

Wasn't able to find this mission in the Ouro crystal within the base. I'll try the one in Ouro - aren't they the same?

Ultimo - how is this different than the myriad other posts you've made about FF defenders? If you don't like it, just delete it and reroll. Pretty simple.

You've got to know by now that people regard you with a jaundiced viewpoint because you say essentially same thing over and over again. And nothing they post seem to sway you even though they bring in mounds of evidence.

I think I offered something constructive in the last iteration of this same post. Not going to make the same mistake twice.

As sarcastic as the OP's suggestion is, if you look at the state of the game, the PvE game *IS* too easy. High end builds can trivialize any PvE content in this game. Players are soloing hard taskforces, multiple AVs and GMs.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they do another round of "balancing" in preparation for GR. This isn't me calling for another round of global nerfs. Personally, I'd hate it. But I wouldn't be surprised if they contemplated it.

DR has already been beta tested in PvP. At some point, it makes sense to unify the rulesets. Making damage equivalent to animation time is probably a conceptual rule they should've implemented long ago. Same with things like heal decay, which forces players to come up with something other than heal spamming. The plethora of +def IO set bonuses is rather broken too, and DR would neatly solve that problem.

The backstory for GR (like CoV before it) provides another opportunity to capitalize on PvP. I don't think that they'll leave PvP in the state they have it in, but I think it would be naive to think that some of the balancing they've already done in PvP won't eventually make their way to the PvE side of the game.

I've gone head to head with a perma-drain psyche (though not soft capped S/L defense) fire/mental blaster with my fire/shield/blaze. Verdict: toss up.

The fire/shield is more durable (and mez protection helps) and build up + AAO + shield charge can pretty much wipe out an entire group with the exception of bosses, which are heavily damaged.

The fire/mental once it gets going can go non-stop since it doesn't run out of end, and can launch AoE after AoE. Oddly, the only thing that slows it down is that it has no way to attract aggro and stuff runs away a lot (not a problem with AAO with a shield scrapper).

Bottom line: you won't be disappointed with your fire/ment once you build it. I'd say performance is roughly comparable.

Nicely done Silver. Perhaps we should promote 'silverado' as a verb. Usage: my blaster just silveradoed Anti-Matter.

I've been pretty surprised with AR/Mental. I have an AR/Dev at 50 and have leveled (though she's been deleted since) an AR/Energy.

I actually think the key powers for mental manipulation are psychic scream (another high damage cone), drain psyche, psychic shockwave and world of confusion.

I think of the powers I listed I think I'll get the most scoffs at world of confusion. It's terrible when you first get it, and honestly, I thought I made a horrible mistake when I picked it up. However, once you have a well slotted drain psyche, psy shockwave and a decent amount of global recharge, world of confusion works out pretty well. It provides just enough mitigation to safely charge that group, get in psy shockwave and then use drain psyche.

After you're charged up with drain psyche, you're pretty much unstoppable for the duration and can unleash cone after cone of damage without worrying about endurance or face planting.

As for redraw, yeah, it has it. But so does archery or combining AR with any other secondary. You just get used to it.

AR/Mental requires quite a bit of investment in IOs to get it going on all cylinders, but once built, it's a very nice late game build.