Jibikao
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Yup. /Storm's Tornado can take BOTH Pet and Recharge Intensive sets. It's crazy good.Originally Posted by Dark_Impact
I recently returned to the game after close to a year's break. My 35ish Ninja/Pain was one of the last MMs that I hopped on. I forgot just how squishy ninjas were until then. At this point I can't believe I got them as far as I did. As pain, I spend all my time healing, and always falling behind. After a few missions, I had had enough.
But, I love the look and feel of ninjas, and they do great single-target damage. So I re-rolled as a ninja/storm, and am sooooo glad I did. The added survivability from debuffs and control >>>>>>>>>>> the healing of pain. I much more enjoy putting mobs on their arses with ice storm, and de-buffing them with hurricane, and actually having time to use personal attacks (yes, I know sub-optimal) and observe the controlled chaos of my pets in action. As pain I didn't have time to enjoy the carnage, it was always a mad rush to just keep them alive.
One other minus for ninja/pain is you cannot slot recharge intensive sets, so that's another 5% def and 10% resist you cannot use. I don't consider myself a min/maxer in CoH, but I try to avoid combinations that do not allow all 4 pet aura IOs.
I've been wanting a lvl 50 Ninja. I don't think I'll invest much more in Ninja/FF because I just don't like bubbling them that much. I am a team-player and I do team a lot but bubbling all the teammates plus pets is just too much for me. I feel bad if I don't bubble teammates but my genins die so fast without bubbles.
I am debating.. Ninja/Pain (I'll have to use Oni and Genins for two pet sets), Ninja/Dark or Ninja/Storm. Looks like Ninja/Storm is the best choice so far. Damn, I already have lvl 50 Merc/Storm and lvl 46 Necro/Storm. lol -
I've given Kheldian a try 3 times and 3 times were all during Double Exp period. I tried Peacebringer 3 times and I deleted him before level 14 3 times.
Why wasn't I informed that PB is so un-fun?
- Kinda low damage
- Resistance shields but with no mez protection
- Power tools don't work in Squid form (I didn't know that at first)
- Mix of range and melee attacks but no reliable controls like Dominator
One of my friends been using his old Warshade. He's doing quite well. He hates Peacebringer though. -
I have a lvl 50 Spine/EA Stalker.
/EA is decent but not great. I would take willpower and ninjitsu over EA any day.
I was trying to farm at +6 in newspaper mish. The first two went well against CoT and Councils. The third mish is Carnies. Well, my spines did a lot of damage on carnies (lethal) but man, there were two Master Illusionists and I completely forgot I have zero psionic resistance. I died in 7s. lol I wasn't even paying attention to my health 'cause I forgot EA has a huge hole in Psi damage.
I don't plan on filling that psionic damage hole with sets. I don't think Energy Aura is worth the trouble to be honest but you can try to add as much psionic defense or resistance if you want.
The aoe heal is little with just one or two targets. My complaint on the heal is that it takes a while for the healing to kick in. Brute can probably enjoy the healing more than Stalker.
I see Brute Energy Aura as a unique stalker-like build. You get an unsuppressed stealth. I've seen Fiery/EA Brute jumping from mob to mob without being seen. It was funny.
PS: I hate that replusion aura in Stalker.
PS2: Type defense from sets is freaking expensive. Good luck. -
Quote:This I agree to some degree. I used to run a Necro/Storm build that focused on me blasting and using Hurrican to push everything away from me and putting -tohit recharge in Grave Knight and Lich so all of us were blasting fast. I ditch this build after they got rid of -recharge in pets.Originally Posted by Jade_Dragon
I once made an analysis that if you have three powers, the MM attack powers, that provide about 25% of your damage (more like 20% past 32, but let's not nitpick) and six powers that provide the remaining 75% of your damage, then on the average a Pet power is about the equivalent of two attack powers. Or conversely, the attack powers are about half the value of the Pet powers. Of course, this doesn't include the defensive benefits of Pets, but it's a good rule of thumb.
I only summon zombies to take alpha and I didn't bother to heal them. I just put one -recharge in them so I can summon for next mob sooner. It was a weird build but I kinda like the ST damage from all the Dark Blasts.
So yeah, if you blast yourself, your damage output is comparable to at least tier 1 pets, except for Ninja. Genins' damage is higher than your arrow attacks for sure.
PS: TT: Maneuver is too important to skip though. -
I highly doubt that VEATs will get APPs. We should be happy that VEATs can get patrons.
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Quote:Yup.. high lethal resistance, malta robots have up to 40% or higher? Executioner definitely has pretty high lethal and Silver Mantis too.Originally Posted by Golden_Avariel
I don't, in general, have any trouble with arachnoids so I didn't realize they had high resistance to lethal attacks. Good point. Probably the same with the Executioner I imagine... and Silver Mantis *shudders*... and Malta Zeuses... and all the others that have sent me to the hospital so many times in the last few levels.
I already have Aid Other and Force Field is my secondary. I'll be getting Assault very quickly and that should help too.
I definitely agree Serum needs some love. -
Quote:I had a lvl 22 Ninja/Trap on Triumph when people were running Trapster super team.Originally Posted by Eiko-chan
No one has mentioned /Traps at all. I would think there would be some good synergy there, too; not quite as much +def as FF, but a well rounded suite of debuffs to accompany it all.
Anyone play a Ninja/Traps? How's it play?
Ninja/Trap is not bad, just like Necro/Trap. You just run in with your ninjas so they benefit from FFG. It's definitely good for soloing. The thing about Genin is that any serious aoe damage wipes them out when you run in and your aid other can't save their a@#$ in time. -
Quote:Don't agree. One of sonic's "gem power" is Disruption Field which debuffs around an ally target. None of the Merc is melee (even though they run in but that is still not melee-oriented).Originally Posted by BenRGamer
It'd work well with MM's, especially Mercs/ with the -Res debuffs and the +Res buffs it offers.
Who agrees?
I am tired of casting bubbles on Ninja/FF so I'll definitely pass /Sonic.
/Sonic on Thug and Demon could be different. -
I would rank it as one of the best control powers in the game. You drop it "out of sight" and go in and just pick your targets.
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Quote:Time Bomb takes 8s, interruptable..and then another 15s to detonate.Originally Posted by Hart
If you've got Traps as a secondary, you're forced to take an immobilize as your first power.
AVs can be immobilized pretty readily.
Immobilized stuff is easy to blow up with Time Bomb.
...and that's about all I can think of to do with it.
I think even Defender can easily out dps Time Bomb's damage in 23s... -
Time Bomb would have been a lot better if the user can choose when to activate it and it expires after 15s.
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You are not the only one. My friend's dp/trap took Time Bomb. I told him to give it a try because I haven't used it in ages.
He tried it and he absolutely hates it. It takes forever to set it and it's interruptable and what's funny is it won't explode right away if the enemy steps on it. I guess "time" bomb means it can only explode after 15s.
He respec it out after he got free respec at lvl 41. He said Trip Mine is good enough. -
Quote:Originally Posted by DMystic
And this is the problem.
Which also translates onto teams. Since the Stalker has less health and does less damage than a Scrapper there is no reason to go looking for a Stalker, and less reason to grab one for your team since you can just grab a Scrapper for more damage and a better Off Tank.
Brutes received their changes because they were able to out damage and out survive scrappers. Now a Brute is unlikely to out damage a Scrapper, but that Brute will survive more than a Scrapper could.
Something similar needs to happen for Stalkers.
Currently a Stalker barely out damages a Scrapper, at the damage cap and with 7 teammates within arm's reach.
So at the Stalkers Maximum output they barely out damage a Scrapper.
That's messed up and I really do hope Stalkers see some changes(hopefully not to survivability though).
One thing I've noticed with my lvl 25 Martial Arts Scrapper is that damage buffs on me make a huge difference, more noticeable than on stalker. Scrapper's base damage is so high. This is my first serious Scrapper. I just want to see if Scrapper > Stalker is just "grass is greener" mentality. This means Stalker gets more critical rate on a team while Scrapper gets more benefit from damage buffs. And Stalker's critical rate can be inconsistent because 30' radius is not very big.
Well, at lvl 26, I'll get Dragon Tail so I'll have at least one aoe that my Stalker won't have. :P
Another thing I've noticed is that my Scrapper can almost take down bosses for the whole build up duration, which is only a bit less than Stalker with Build Up + Assassin. My Stalker dies less because he draws way less aggro than Scrapper, which makes sense to me. But then again, survival issue is never my complain on Stalkers. I am used to playing fragile characters like Dominator. -
Quote:Damn... that means another 6 months? Oh well... I just want them to fix epic powers then. I want to critical with them. That's not too much to ask for right? I made a semi-range build with Focused Burst and throwing star.Originally Posted by Supernumiphone
My guess is that once most of the bigger bugs from I18 were squashed, the devs worked to rush out I19 ASAP to get the alpha slot in the players' hands. It was promised with GR so they surely want to get it out quickly. I think it's unrealistic to expect any Stalker changes to get squeezed into a rush job like that.
Considering that they are usually planning at least a couple issues in advance at all times, it seems likely that I20 is already solidified enough that there will be no room for any Stalker changes there either.
If we see anything before I21 I'll be surprised. -
Quote:Yeah...so I am wondering if we'll see any change in I19 or maybe later. I wonder if they have enough data to support either Stalkers need more team-love or not.Originally Posted by DMystic
the "So Stalker" thread is basically the last we heard.
Note: Devs never posted in there. but it was started after a comment from Castle about "being aware of where Stalkers currently are" and "planning to keep an eye on things"
it's not an exact quote,but that should give us a general idea. -
Quote:Well, I plan on taking Fire Epic so I'll have both Rain of Fire and Fireball. But yeah, before I hit lvl 38, it will be pretty tough with just Lift, Fire Ball and Fire Bolt. I do use Breath of Fire.Originally Posted by Hart
Sounds like it'd be great for soloing, less so for grouping.
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Well, I have a lowbie at lvl 11. My build plan is to rely on Lift, Fire Blast and Blaze for attack chain. Lift is a very decent range attack now on Dominator. It is fast and it offers good soft control.
I am going to be all ranged. I normally don't like all range Dominator because I think I am missing out on a lot of damage potential but I think Gravity/Fiery should be ok.
I took Hover to complete my all-ranged build. I think I"ll get stealth IO and just hide behind Singy. hehe -
Quote:I was checking the patches. Yes, I want to see a bit more changes. I am not going to lie.Originally Posted by BrandX
I don't think it's something they would announce. I think it's more of something you want and see.
I just remember Castle mentioned that they will be paying close attention to Stalker's performance when Brute's Fury was changed. There was a discussion about it in that thread. In fact, isn't that "so...stalker" thread carried over here from the test forum?
I brought it up because I see they are advertising for I19 already. -
Quote:If I remember correctly, arachnoids have very very high lethal resistance and high regen. Your Merc is at a very disadvantage fighting that EB. What is your secondary?Originally Posted by Golden_Avariel
I'm giving this power another shot to prove itself to me. I'm level 44 and having a rough time with some elite bosses (most recently Biff the arachnoid and the Executioner in the Easy Job Rogue morality mission). I'm hoping it will improve survivability and damage enough for that 1 minute to turn the tide and not have to use so many Shivans.
Does anyone have a recommendation for slotting it that isn't just using it as a mule? I'm thinking three Recharges, a couple of Resists, and a to-hit or some frankenslot version of that... maybe an Aegis set... not sure.
Also, I assume the Commando is the best person to throw it on given the +endurance buff alone since he seems to burn through his blue bar pretty fast during a battle?
Maybe a better question is - does anyone actually use this power and like the results?
I really want to try and make it work this time around. If not I'll respec out of it again when issue 19 goes live and never look back.
I would not use Serum because of the endurance crash. That EB fight will take a long time and what happens if your Commando has no End? You'll need to throw him blues. In that case, you might as well just throw him purples instead. Skip Serum and take Aid Other or Maneuver for team defense.
The problem with Serum is that your pet may not be able to hold the aggro during god-mode. -
Ninjas do good damage but they really suck at taking aggro.
I've tried Ninja/Dark up to only about lvl 15. I think Ninja/Dark has some good synergies but the healing aoe radius is kinda small. The fear will help a lot I bet.
The only other Ninja combo that survives well is Ninja/FF. I have one at lvl 46. I just eventually got bored of bubbling.
I think I'll try Ninja/Pain before Ninja/Thermal. Thermal requires bubbling too. At least with /Pain, you have an aoe buff for resistance.
I think Ninja/Storm could be good you. You may need to draw aggro to yourself with Hurrican. -
Quote:Which is rarely? lol Yup, I love my good ole' Merc!Originally Posted by Nalrok_AthZim
From what I've seen the devs visit the Stalker forum as much as the MM forum.
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Looks like Stalker is not getting another buff or "fix". I haven't seen any dev posting here at all.
So I guess the data mining must show that Stalkers are doing "ok" in the new zone? I've seen quite a few stalkers. I just don't know how many of them stick with stalkers after lvl 20 or 30.
Oh well, right now, I just want them to add critical in epic powers so I can enjoy my throwing star more.
Do you think Stalker will get another team buff or no? There are some good ideas around. -
Quote:I like my elec/earth but I am not sure about getting all the kinetic sets for him yet. lol But thanks for the info.Originally Posted by Mega_Jamie
Aligment merits make the prospect easier. And i've been really lucky getting the HOs I needed from either Statesman runs or Hami raids recently. Its expensive, but i'm enjoying my elec/earth so much that im making him my first fully IO'd endeavor.
I just can't decide if I want another heavy hitter like Energy Transfer or go with more psionic resistance/defense or more debuffs like Ice mastery. -
Oh my, I can't even afford one piece of Kinetic Combat. I usually like to buy sets for my characters in their 40s because once they hit 50, I may not play them as much and Kinetic Combat is so freaking expensive!
But I can see how you reach S/L soft cap now. I don't think I am going to be that extreme. I have yet to obtain any HO piece.
I think I am just going for a resistance shield with ranged defense from Mako. That's a lot more affordable. Or maybe I'll get some touch of death later. -
Quote:Originally Posted by UberGuy
Argh! Not this again!
"Random" does not mean equal outcomes.
Let's look at some real-world examples. When people play the lottery, there are usually reward tiers. If you match 5 out of 6 numbers in a power-ball type lottery, you win some (much) smaller part of the pot. You could win either the main pot or one of these smaller ones, and the odds you will win either are random, but you do not have an equal chance of winning the big pot or one of the smaller ones.
At all times you have some chance to be hit by lightning. You're a whole lot less likely to be hit by lightning if there's no storm overhead, but it has happened to people. You're a whole lot more likely to be hit if you stand in an open field in a storm and wave a golf club over your head, but even if you do that, you aren't guaranteed to be hit. There are only two outcomes here - you either are hit by lightning or you are not. If the random nature of this meant it was always equal probability of either outcome, you'd always have a 50/50 chance of being hit by lightning. How much would that suck?
The items in the drop table are weighted because we asked the devs for that. Everyone used to have the same chance of getting a snipe or sleep or confuse recipe as they had of getting a ranged or melee attack or hold recipe. But everyone wants (several) ranged or melee attack recipe, and very few people want snipes or sleeps or confuses. I believe it was in I16, the devs made (for example) attack sets more common and sleeps and confuses less common, because that better matched market supply to demand.
(Edit: those set types are just examples. They weighted all the types against one another based on, from what we were told, how often people slot that kind of set, plus probably other factors since all pieces within a set do not appear to be equally weighted.)
Ok, I hear ya! I was just curious that's all. The project was done with reward merits at the merit vendor and I guess the outcome is similar with the villain merit random 5 recipes.
PS: How come Achilles Heel is not on the list? AC proc is from a different pool? Mission drop?