Jibikao

Mmmm, weird. I went to City of Date just now and the details for the sets are not there. Is the site being updated?

Exactly. How many online games can survive 5-6 years and still make profits? To me that IS "doing it right". There is no perfect game but I just came back to this game again...and again...and again! I took two major breaks and Going Rogue got my attention.

It is also true that City of spoiled me because I find other games too involving and very very unfriendly when it comes to teaming.

I think this game has done a lot of "right things"!

This is correct.

And also, AH proc DOES NOT stack from your pets and even from yourself. I've tested this 1.5 year ago. Not sure if things have changed (I doubt it). You can take Burst to increase the chance of AH proc appearing but it's really overkill if you already have it in both Soldier and Spec-op.

PS: AH Proc does STACK in Acid Mortar because AM is a temporary pet that actually disappears after 60s. If your recharge is fast enough, you can set two AMs out easily and get two AH proc + your own AH proc. (although I haven't tested this lately so things may have changed)

Try Merc/Storm and you'll never go back to your Merc/Poison! Trust me!

I have a strange interest in Merc that my very first MM is Merc/Poison. I thought he was sort of under-performing as at that time, my friend was using Robot/Dark. I was very jealous of that burning Missle, Tar Patch combo.

Then after /Storm got introduced to MM, I chose Merc again.. don't know why. I actually started as Necro/Storm but I don't like Hurrican pushing mobs away from my melee undead.

Man, Merc/Storm is almost perfect for Merc. All ranged.. provide Fire, Ice and Energy resistance that Merc don't have. You basically have all the resistance except for Psionic.

And did I mention that Tornado can take BOTH Pet and Pet Recharge sets? LOL That is ridiculous. I put 4 pet uniques in Tornado.. oh baby.

I put two procs in Soldier and Spec-Op and Commando has knockback smashing proc as he still has several attacks that can trigger proc damage.

Merc/Storm >>> Merc/Poison. In fact, I find /poison very very underperforming. Sure, it has two good single target debuffs... but a lot of time, I would take Freezing Rain > Poison Debuffs. Freezing Rain's debuff value is based on "pet" value so your MM's FR debuff is the same as Corruptor's value.

For Grave Knight, put Tohit debuff enhancements. They add more than the procs. I've tried endurance drain proc from tohit debuff set. It is absolutely horrible. I even tried it in pvp thinking that maybe that proc is better off in pvp and it did absolutely nothing. I even bugged it 'cause the effect is just not noticeable. If something is not noticeable, what is the point of inventing it?


If you can afford, buy Accurate Tohit Debuff's Negative Energy proc for Lich. He can take it. It's basically like 20% chance critical for Lich since all of his damage is equal to Dark Blast damage, which is about the same damage as the proc damage. The only power that can't trigger the proc is the single hold but that hold is on a long recharge anyway. Every other power in Lich can trigger that proc.

Other than that, Necro is not very exciting when it comes to damage proc. You are better off adding pet uniques to increase their survival. (Which reminds me, I used to have fun putting tohit debuff -recharge sets in them so they could shoot faster... ugh, no more -recharge in pets)


PS: I almost think adding procs to Merc is almost a "must". Without those procs (resistance debuff and negative prco and smashing proc for Commando), I feel Merc's damage is quite low. Maybe this is dev's way of buffing Merc (through inventions) but inventions should never be the base-line performance.

I've taken it twice and twice I respec it out at higher level.

Why? Because by the time that I feel my Commando should tank, Serum doesn't offer Psionic resistance and that's one resistance that many Brutes don't have and your soldiers don't have psi resistance.

The duration is pretty short at 60s.

I guess with short duration is ok but I hate that endurance drain in the end. Why draining a pet's endurance?? I have to throw him a blue or two. I would rather save my inspirations for purple or orange and toss them to Commando and goto him. That's your "semi-god" right there!

The damage buff from Serum is really not noticeable.

So basically, unless you have nothing else better to take or you really like Merc set or you want to use it as a slot for unique set, I would advise you stay away from Serum. I took it twice and I always forgot to use.

Not sure how much you want to focus on your build, but if you have time and enough "money", you can try to put Pet Unique enhancements in Dark Servant. They can add extra 10% Defense to all and 20% resistance to all. I don't remember if Dark Servant can take both Pet Set and Pet Recharge Set though...


My vote is Merc/Storm. My most favorite MM of all time. My lvl 50 Merc/Storm makes my lvl 50 Merc/Poison look so horrible.

There's a lot of advice on Blue side already.

On Red Side, if you really just want damage without worrying too much about aggro drawn to yourself, VEAT is a very good choice! Crab seems like your type of build. You can add more damage for the team by taking two Assault Leadership. Between 30% damage buff and your Venom Grenade's resistance debuff, you can pump out a lot of aoe damage while not worrying too much about dying 'cause you already have awesome defense, resistance and health (serum). You must have a lvl 50 villain first which I guess you don't yet?

Dominator is also a very good replacement for Blaster-type. You can aoe control first and then start doing damage.

In terms of raw damage, I think both NW and Claw/SR are pretty comparable. The problem with NW is low health (you can try to get 20% +health) and higher endurance cost. In a long fight against AV, my problem is usually running out of END towards the end. If the boss uses psi damage, then my chance of winning is a lot higher.

On a team setting, I will take NW > Claw/SR any day as long as that NW takes training maneuver.

My NW carries both Assault leaderships and uses Follow Up. Her dps is very sick as far as I can tell.

I think by design, Scrapper/Brute is supposed to be better than any VEAT in soloing situation but once you team, that's when VEATs destroy everything.

For soloing? If you are willing to buy sets for Fort, Fort is the best soloer of the 4 branches IMO. No, Fort doesn't kill the fastest but she is extremely safe!

I don't know..if you think Spine Scrapper has "low" damage, then you may not be impressed by Fort's damage.

My Fort carries both Assault leaderships and has tons of set bonuses. Soloing for her is a joke because one of her heavy hitters is a mag 3 hold (Dominate). Fort has excellent defense and mez protection too.

Crab is not a very good soloer until later or if you build like a "tankish" Crab but then you may lose some dps.