Jibikao

When SoA first came out, my friend and I both made Fortunata. He is hybrid with Follow-Up and claw attacks while I am all ranged. Starting at lvl 24, I feel my damage is a lot lower because I don't have Gloom. However, once I have Gloom and set bonuses, I feel my performance is way smoother than his hybrid. Yes, claw redraw does slower things down a bit and I don't need to "chase" a runner.

I can see the idea in hybrid Fort because there is no melee class in the game that has Fort's defense, buffs and controls. If you make a melee Fort, you can out-control any other Melee. You just focus more on melee and less on controls.

Now if you mostly only use claw attacks and only use control powers in the beginning or on runners, then your melee dps shouldn't be hurt that bad, but if you rely on Dominate in the attack chain, you'll get hurt by weapon redraw.


I have to guess a melee Fort should solo better than a true Night Widow because a simple stacking hold can save you a lot of effort in the end because some bosses turn into god-mode. A Fort can avoid that.


Well, the gist is, whichever way you play, you can't make a "bad" Fortunata!!

I probably won't recommend MA. Yes, it has good ST damage but that is probably the most you can get out of that set. It has some nice stuns once you get Eagle Claw and a fun knockback kick in Crane. Sometimes it's annoying to chase though.

As for a secondary that you just click and forget, well, Ninjitsu is not that bad. Just set the mez shield on auto. Willpower has a good mix and Energy Aura is pretty much click and forget too. The only thing you need to click is the healing power.


Well, if you only prefer soloing, then I guess MA is good. It at least blooms quite early with 3 higher damage attacks.

What a bummer... I was excited about Power Boost.

So Damage and Damage Resistance are "paired up", so Power Boost cannot increase Fortitude's defense because it has +damage component?

I do remember one of the dev said he never really liked Power Boost because it's too hard to balance it. Oh well.

I know if you use Power Boost and cast Fortitude, it can improve Fortitude's +defense value? Isn't that A LOT of +defense? lol

It doesn't list under description but maybe it's a typo because I can't imagine why they would include +defense but not +resistance?

Has anyone tried?

I was reading the description and looks like Power Build Up from Epic set can increase +Defense value but it doesn't mention +Resistance value.

I am going to respec my Sonic/Pain Corr and I wonder if Power Build Up can increase my World of Pain +resistance value?

Actually, there is Power Boost under Soul Mastery which has half the recharge. If Power Build Up can increase +resistance, I am sure Power Boost can too? The only difference is that Power Build Up increases +damage too (and with 240s recharge).

I understand some sets can be "weak" but as long as they are "fun" and not too weak, it should be fine.

I level my Elec/Earth to 50 finally but something is lacking. I really enjoy the different play style. I feel like a Brute but when my controls don't matter (against AV, ITF finally fight with soul drain), I feel my melee build is not effective.

I took Mu Mastery for Energy Drain to enhance my draining ability. I am not set on this patron though.

I use mostly +defense sets because I really need some defense to stay melee all the time. Well, I am not good at math but I also made my very first perma dom in Gravity/Fiery/Ice. I feel /Fiery assault does more damage AT RANGE than my all melee Earth. Yes, /Earth has better burst damage but dps-wise, I feel it's inferior and it's sad because I feel if I am taking more risk at melee range, I should deal more damage.

I didn't take Mud Pots because the last thing I need is to wake up foes that I put to sleep.


Has anyone does dps comparison for /Earth? I have a feeling it's on the low end. I tried to solo pylon and I have a hard time even taking down 10%. My endurance drain isn't strong enough on pylon. I am sure Freezing Rain will improve my dps if I use it.


The two range attacks Spear and Hurl are so slow. Spear is better because it's knock down but Hurl is only an 8s attack. I may use more if it's at least 10s attack.

What do you think? I enjoy Elec/Earth a lot but I am not so sure how he survives in Lamba/BAF. Those AVs can't be controlled and they hit hard.

A few things that I think can make Earth better:

1. Increase Hurl's recharge to at least 10s.

2. If the cottage rule stays, maybe they can add some -damage in Mud Pots?

3. Increase Fissure's radius to 15's. (Why is Controller's Earth Mastery has better Fissure than Dominator's lvl 38 power?

I have a 50 Elec/Earth who I haven't played much lately because I feel Earth Assault needs a bit more improvements. While the melee damage gives you that "wow feeling", the actual dps is not that high considering you put yourself at risk to go melee most of the time. I don't use Spear and Hurl 'cause both of them are just too darn slow for me.

I didn't take Mud Pots because the last thing I need is waking all the sleepy foes when I go in.


I really think they should have given Earth Assault Earth Embrace or something that gives melee Dom some survival when controls don't work. Mud Pots costs too much endurance, has too little radius and the damage is just so-so. I am reading Mids info and it costs freaking 0.78/s? wow... that is a lot of endurance and the radius is only 8'.


Does Mud Pots attract a lot of aggro? I mean if you run both Hot Feet and Mud Pots, that's a lot of aggro-magnet. My honest thought is neither. I have a very old 50 Fire/Thorn and she took Hot Feet early on and then dropped it. I guess I can eventually put Hot Feet back since sets can reduce endurance cost a lot now.

Some nice ideas.

After leveling a MA/Will to 50, I've noticed that I get "double critical" after Placate more often than I thought. Nothing is more beautiful than seeing Double Eagle Claw critical. I want to see more Double Critical chance. We are still not sure if it's a bug or intended but it fits Stalker's Burst damage mode.


Give most attacks 100% critical from Hidden is also a good idea, although they may need to adjust Spines. Maybe 75% from Throw Spine or something.


After finding out that Bane's Placate actually gives 10% tohit chance, I have an idea for improving Placate. How about adding 10% Defense-All + 15% Resistant-All right after Placate for 10s or something? If Stalker is tied to Placate in every set, I think Placate needs to be better. There are times Placate just hurts your dps but if I can get more survival out of it, I'll use it and it should be useful against AVs too.

And while we are at it, please reduce the casting time a bit. :P


And also, improve Assassin Strike. I think it's taking too long especially with interrupt. I don't care how you want to increase the damage...through -resist or unresisted damage. it just needs to improve Stalker's overall dps on an AV. If a BU + AS can't even kill a +2 lieut, something needs to be done.