Lobster

Excellent job guys, great way to implement this. You even did almost exactly what I was thinking with the veteran rewards (makes them more worthwhile too).

My hope was that a purchased slot would apply to all servers - ie it would just be the size of our stable "in general", but alas. This is still great. Same cost to buy 5 slots as to do 2 moves (which is what I've been having to do lately)!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
<QR>

Wow, whine overload.
/psi, just by the descriptions, doesn't look the least bit overpowered to me...Lulz

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

(bolded portion added by quoter)

Wow. That was brilliant. Because you totally invalidated/countered/added something intelligent to the conversation by adding "Lulz" to what I said, while leaving it inside the quotes. Thank you for taking the time to do that, really.

<QR>

Wow, whine overload.
/psi, just by the descriptions, doesn't look the least bit overpowered to me.

What would make it over or under powered?

NUMBERS!

So, enough with the whining and wait until we've seen those please.


I do really like the fact that they threw a cone in a secondary, so I can pick that up for primaries that I'd like a cone with (elec) or an additional cone for cone madness (sonic).

<QR>
Nice! Really wasn't expected more info today. I'll make good use of all of these features.

<QR>

For all the posters saying /storm sucks for masterminds - have you ever played with either a mastermind or the /storm set?

It will most certainly NOT suck. My first 50 was a fire/storm controller in the days before containment.

/storm masterminds will kick pve butt (I don't care about pvp, but they'll probably do well there too).

I really hate to say this, and I don't think I've ever actually said this to someone in these forums before - but if you think like this, you probably need to Learn To Play.

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah I am totally excited, but yet totally PO'd about this. I would like to see a red name explain why heros get cold and therm and villains get double storm. No emp. And if they even once thought hmmm how would this affect PVP. A bots storm mm sounds fun. but cmon now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Because /emp is lame and simplistic?

/ducks

...

I'm quite glad villains don't get emp, it's too much of a crutch for people still stuck in wow mode. I think thermal is a much more in line with what a set with heals should be in the CoH/CoV world.

I love all the pvp whining, keep it up! Man, I wish they'd never added pvp to this game; the amount of whining clamoring for pvp was so much less than all the random post-pvp whining.

For those that keep saying that villains got shafted - as far as new toy wise, remember that villains have the VEATs this issue too.

I just hope a full set is easier to unlock than the Vanguard stuff. I still have yet to unlock a full costume - without being able to do ship raids the closest I've came is all but 2 pieces on my scrapper.

My freaking head just exploded.

Mace brutes??? Oh well, even if not, battle axe is good enough for me!
Please, can we more info on what combos are available?

Villain EATs? That actually sound cool!!

/faint

[ QUOTE ]
Great move, Devs. Well done.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.

Please add:

*Ability to kick offline members
*Min team size for most tfs should be scaled down to 4-6 (except for LRSF, STF, ?LGTF?)

[ QUOTE ]
first

[/ QUOTE ]

There's nothing in the board TOS about this? Especially twice in a row?

*digs around*

We already had the rickrolling and diety-knows-what-else type of trollish behavior...do we have to sink into every forum stereotype?

So glad we don't allow image posting.

Re: The actual thread topic

That looks very cool, I love how all/most of the heroes have signature powers and colors.....can't wait until we get those!! Colors at least.

OK, sure, fine. That makes sense, they are intended for teams. That should stop the whole lowering vine count on the villain respec too shouldn't it? Not to mention single spawning the STF/LRSF missions. That always pissed me off and seemed really pansy.

Could we get all the 8 person TFs lowered please? 8 is tough to find, especially on certain servers in certain time blocks. I'd prefer 4, but 5-6 is less annoying than 8.

You may have inadvertently actually helped the farmers though. Now, assuming they have a character built to farm 8 person missions...they don't need 7 indefinitely - just for enough time to start th tf.

<QR>

I couldn't get on near as much as I wanted to, but I managed to squeeze in about 6 extra hours - for a total of ~14-17 hours over the course of the event.

dom: 13->22, 12->14
mm: 34->35, 38->39
brute 12->14, 12->14, 8->13
corr 14->15

I'm kind of glad I couldn't just sit on all day though - I did that for the first double XP event, spent almost the whole thing running WB missions on a brute - and nearly burnt myself out. I had to take a few months break after that, and to this date I still can't enjoy playing that brute.

I REALLY wish they had fixed that stupid Ouro exploit before this went live...market destruction was pretty noticeable. Oh well, hopefully all the new 50s who contributed nothing to the black market will spend all their money on 50 ios and leave the mid 30s ones alone .

[ QUOTE ]
I personally don't understand the mentality of "I must experience everything on every character." I'm thrilled that there is so much content that I can't experience it all. That just gives me incentive to do more alts. This is the only game I know where people complain that there is to much content.

[/ QUOTE ]

Right there with you. This is probably the first game I've ever seen people complain so much about having to "see everything" on one character.

This doesn't even realistically make *sense*. Because what it would mean is that you expect them to add *only* level 50 content (since you can't technically outlevel that) - which is just silly.

Wouldn't you rather see a different game when you play a new alt, not just the same thing over and over again (which it would be - because you obviously have to see *everything* on *every* character!)?

This game is highly supportive of alts, and I love it for that. I love being able to take different paths to 20 on different characters. One of the reasons I focused so heavily on villain side for a while was that I was SICK TO DEATH of the hero-side content - I always saw the same stuff. I could barely bring myself to play new alts (especially since street sweeping wasn't as beneficial as it used to be).

Now, with all the new hero side stuff, I can run just the new zones, run just papers, street sweep in perez, run the old contacts, tfs, or any kind of mix in between. We could still need more options in the 30-40 range (more low level RWZ contacts would help a lot here), but other than that we are doing pretty good.

I look forward to finally getting back to some OLD stuck-in-the-mud alts and maybe even getting some more 50s.

That being said, I think that adding everything to the flashback system (under the alternate menu suggested by another poster) is a great idea.

The puking fire screenshot was amusing.

Nice job man. I haven't tried solo yet, but now I'll have to try eventually with my thug/traps.

I know a duo of thug/traps & thug/traps or thug/ff will smash higher con AVs. (A team I run with a friend - 2 thug/ff & 2 thug/traps - that is the fastest I have ever seen any av/hero/whatever go down).

Awesome news, that's kind of what I was hoping. As opposed to some crazy pirates buying you guys and pillaging all, right down to the socks!

Psstttt. Epic villain archetypes, make patron powers less sucky, and shields, oh and maybe a graphics engine update .


Looking forward to the next year!

Huh, I guess I was never clear on where the ownership was to start with...I doubt it will really affect me, I'll react the same as always - if the game starts to suck, quit.

Hopefully this means we'll get some sweet new toys like an overhauled graphics engine (to appeal to the current crop of new hardware users) or something. Maybe even 2 separate engines so the folks on old machines aren't left out - didn't DAoC run 2 separate gfx engines for a while?

[ QUOTE ]
i am curious why the Mu striker has 3 slots set for recharge reduction it was my understanding it had 15 minutes time. so why the set..

[/ QUOTE ]

Because with 3 recharges that comes down to about 7-8 mins? I like pets, I prefer them be out more than do a tiny bit more damage.

Wow.

Something to actually get excited about. I bet we'll surely see more mace tankers! (Especially if /mace got a 'lil tweak-lovin *hinthint*) I was sort of thinking I'd just let my interest in the game gradually trickle out (haven't been able to play in months due to new baby, and I canceled one of my accounts last month)...but alas, now I HAVE to find time.

Sounds like they are getting lots of re-use out of existing content (flashback) and using that allow budgeting more time for actual programming. Or somejunk. Anyway, can't wait for the beta .

Nice to see some activity in here, I hadn't even noticed! Here are my thoughts:

Re: _gyyv_

Looks like you've got some great #s out of yours, I may opt for a slotting more like yours when I can afford it. So far, with rage acc hasn't really been an issue, and I run in ruthless usually (for the larger spawns).

Re: 7thCynic

On my armors I'm slowly moving towards the (going off top of head so may have names & numbers wrong) Impervium Armor sets, for the 2.25% end bonus, so I need those 4 slots. I think currently I'm at 3/4 impervium in each, whatever that last piece is is really elusive/costly.

It sounds like we have pretty different playstyles, especially considering you have hasten! I have hasten on my ice/ss, and it does make things quite different for SS - more double rage stacking for one thing . However, I'm quite happy with my dps and end usage, and don't have any free power slots anyway, so hasten is quite out for me.

I agree that Dark Obliteration would be pretty counterproductive, I hate knockback for the most part. I have a hard time with cones on brutes too, since I'm not big on jumping back out of a mob, then back in (although I do this all the time on my ice/psi dom). Especially on this guy I just want to stand in the middle and beat on things. I suspect Tentacles may be a better immobilize than Electric Fences though, as it's size is very small and unenhanceable, but you can crank the cone up a bit.

I've debated respeccing into AS a number of times, and may still do it. But I do love the look of pretty much all the SS attacks.

I think I'll also do a test-copy-respec to try out a more tanky build, with tough like yours, but I doubt I'll go that way on live, just no need.

Re: Hagakure

Here's my reply when he PM'd me exactly the same questions:

Heh, you assume that I pvp at all, I don't, sorry man.
I can make some general suggestions though. I'd say don't even bother until you get perma rage (22 & 3 recharge SOs, or perhaps earlier with IOs or early SO drops).

1. I like the standard SS attack chain. Just take all the attacks except hurl. My cycle is like jab/haymaker/jab/punch/jab/ko or something like that, basically jab in between other attacks.
2. With 3 tohits in rage, you really don't "need" to slot acc for pve, but you probably would want to for pvp. However, if you follow any of my io slotting suggestions you'll probably wind up with at least 2 SOs worth of acc.
3. I hear the pvp folks like using 2-3 kb prot ios, so have at least 8-15 mill to spend on them, I forget how much they cost now. Also make sure you've got something to slot them in - Combat Jumping or CoD will do.
4. That's a huge debate...I wouldn't say one is innately superior. I think many prefer OG in PVE. However, most folks lack fear protection, so CoF may be superior in PVP. However, it's base acc is pretty low. Rage + 90%ish worth of acc from IO slotting will be as good as it gets, which is pretty decent. Maybe stack it with the fear from the presence pool if you are really hard core, check around on the forums, I never use that stuff.
5. If you want to buy a stealth IO I guess you can skip the power, but I specifically wanted it for that 3.75% def and ability to slot kb prot ios in it. Def doesn't matter much in pvp, so you might not need that. Stealth won't hurt though. I think it stacks with a stealth IO too, so that would give you invis level stealth.

Kin/elec duos are great...I'm currently working on a dual-box team, ran the Positron TF over the last couple of days (with just the 2 of them), working through the faultline arcs currently. Level 16.

If you've got a friend you play with often, and want to make a sapper, I'd encourage trying to rope that person into doing a sapper duo with you - 2 SCs will drain most anything. It was quite easy to bottom out EBs, although I haven't tried an AV yet .

I like most everything, with 2 complaints:

1) Why is the new SF not for 40-45 or 40-50? Villains have NOTHING 40-45, which, I think, combined with the lack of a "straightforward" TF like many of the hero ones, results in a very serious dearth of the SF reward recipes.

2) The [Admin] BSNAOTOEHCG&#*&<$(*&(*&UE*EU SPAM SPAM SPAMALOT junk is really, really, really annoying. It shows up in every single one of my tabs. Screwing up all kinds of stuff I'm watching. People complained about it all through beta, and I know it's a pain to change, but it's even more of a pain to deal with. Please fix ASAP.

Other than that, good work so far.

Glad to be of service. Coincidentally, I'm working on an ice/psi and checked out your guide. I can tell that we have different slotting strategies for both brutes & doms already, but that's OK! I love variety.

I was thinking that IOs would make it almost possible to play ss/da without stamina...I would 6 each attack and make sure 60-80% end reduction was included in the bonuses, possibly favoring mixed sets more than full sets. Getting more +end would help that +17% recovery get closer to the 33% of 1 so'd stamina.

Still, I'm too addicted to speed to give up my stamina yet. Plus, hurdle/swift really helps with combat mobility.

I kept CoF until 36ish, then dropped it for OG, dropping it and acro allows me to run all the rest of my toggles and go nuts and still do fine with end. Things will be much better when I can get those last 3 Impervium Armor IOs I need for +4.5% endurance.

I'm working on a dark/dark stalker & a 34 ma/dark scrapper though, because I do love CoF, and want some characters who can really run it and get the most out of it. Not having Death Shroud on either of those chars makes CoF make more sense for me, helps a lot with picking things off at my own pace.

Let me know how the stamina-less thing goes!

Wow, that is insane man, my head almost exploded from just glancing at this. Awesome work, thanks!

IV. Build
IVa. The Build

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.20
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Jab -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(7), T'Death-Dam%(21), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- ImpArm-ResDam(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(11), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(13)
Level 2: Punch -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(7), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), T'Death-Dam%(40)
Level 4: Haymaker -- F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(15), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(34), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- SprngFt-Jump(A)
Level 8: Knockout Blow -- C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(29), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 10: Obsidian Shield -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Dark Regeneration -- Acc-I(A), H'zdH-EndRdx/Rchg(17), H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(39), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 18: Rage -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(19), ToHit-I(21), ToHit-I(23), ToHit-I(39)
Level 20: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(29)
Level 24: Murky Cloud -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), ImpArm-ResDam(25), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(25), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(27)
Level 26: Cloak of Darkness -- EndRdx-I(A), Krma-ResKB(27)
Level 28: Hand Clap -- RzDz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(A), RzDz-EndRdx/Stun(42), RzDz-Acc/Rchg(45)
Level 30: Death Shroud -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(31), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(31), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(40)
Level 32: Foot Stomp -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(33), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(33), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(33), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 35: Oppressive Gloom -- Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(36)
Level 38: Soul Transfer -- Dsrnt-I(A)
Level 41: Electrifying Fences -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(42), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(42), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(43), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(43), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(43)
Level 44: Mu Lightning -- Entrpc-Acc/Dmg(A), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Entrpc-Dmg/Rchg(45), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Entrpc-Heal%(46), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Summon Striker -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg(48), BriL'shp-Acc/Dmg(48), RechRdx-I(48), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Recall Friend -- Range-I(A)
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]+6% DamageBuff[*]+2.5% Defense(Lethal)[*]+1.25% Defense(Energy)[*]+3.75% Defense(Psionic)[*]+11.3% Defense(Melee)[*]+1.88% Defense(AoE)[*]+6.75% Max Endurance[*]+14% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]+3% Enhancement(Immobilize)[*]+20% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]+101.2 (6.75%) HitPoints[*]+Knockback (Mag -4)[*]+MezResist(Confused) (Mag 2.75%)[*]+MezResist(Held) (Mag 5.5%)[*]+MezResist(Immobilize) (Mag 9.9%)[*]+MezResist(Sleep) (Mag 3.3%)[*]+MezResist(Stun) (Mag 1.65%)[*]+MezResist(Terrorized) (Mag 2.2%)[*]+16% Recovery[*]+10% Regeneration[*]+0.95% Resistance(Fire)[*]+0.95% Resistance(Cold)[*]+1.88% Resistance(Negative)[*]+2.5% Resistance(Psionic)[/list]
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data chunk into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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</pre><hr />

IVb. Build notes

*I'm currently level 44, following this plan.
*I'm missing 1 Touch of Death , 3 pieces of impervium from the "ideal" build that you see here. This doesn't affect the guide at all, but is worth knowing if anyone wonders how I managed to get all the set pieces already - I didn't!
*The lvl 49 power is kind of up for grabs, I had swift in there originally for combat mobility, but opted for Recall Friend to help out with getting SKs around. I may still get swift, who knows.

IVc. Build Variations

*Numina's +regen/recovery or miracle +recovery in health and/or Soul Transfer - I'd like to get a Numina's for each of these, but that seems doubtful pre-50 due to costs.
*Fighting Pool instead of punch/handclap/something - this is possibly a respec build, although doable with only jab for 5 levels. Going for ST damage &amp; tanking ability. I'll probably test it out just for kicks on test, to see how high I can get resists &amp; defenses. I honestly think dark can make a pretty good tanker build with IOs.

V. Playstyle
Va. Specific enemy groups

Hellions:
*Bosses can be tough in the beginning because you have no fire resist, but I didn't run vicious until DOs, so you shouldn't run into too many if solo.

Skulls:
*No problems here.

Snakes:
*Primarily lethal damage, this is about as easy as it's going to get.

Family/etc.:
*Those running LTs in the early game are REALLY annoying, but that's the case for anyone without a hold/immob. Other than that, just be careful of the bosses with holds until you get Obsidian.

Goldbrickers
*These guys are one of the tougher enemies in this range due to their stacking -res. 2-3 hits of this and one hit from a boss or lt will put you in a world of hurt. I would just go all out and hope to get them before they got me. Usually not an issue unless running on higher difficulties.

Trolls:
*Mostly smashing damage, nothing to see here.

Lost:
*The bosses &amp; LTs are much less problematic for dark in the early game due to the early availability of status protection, but their attacks still hit hard.
*The prevalence of ranged damage also means that you may be hurting more than normal, due to how long I suggest putting of Murky Cloud.

Luddites
*Mostly lethal damage, nothing too serious. Also not very many of them in missions, a non-issue.

Scrapyarders:
*Demolitionists could be painful - IF you decide to stand in their burn patches. No real issues here.

Longbow:
*No issues until high 30s when the nullifiers start using their -res debuff. Also at that point Spec Ops get their end drain - this is a problem for some, but not for us. Murky offers pretty good protection from end drain, so unless I get 2 or 3 of them draining me, I never notice.
*The web grenade slows are an annoyance, but nothing too serious.
*The Ballista EBs can be very tough, but hey, what do you expect from an EB?

Arachnos:
*The Night Widow smoke grenades -percep that annoys me so fiercely on other characters is a non-issue for ss/da with rage+shadow cloak +percep stacking.
*My only real annoyance with them pre-40 is all the lightning attacks from the various Mu guys, those will add up to a noticeable end drain, so I always aim for them first.
*40+ the Bane Spider bosses have enough DPS to kill you, more so than any boss previously encountered. You just need to be more careful, and liberally apply hand clap when your attacks aren't doing enough knock down.
*The stealthing LTs also aren't as much problem as they could be with all your +percep. What is annoying is that they get their AS double dmg attacks even if you see them, and even if you hit them first apparently (what's probably happening is they are starting their attack animation before mine, so that's fine). I aim for the bane LTs first in missions with them, usually hitting them with a KO blow or Hand Clap before they see me to avoid the AS damage.

Freaks:
*If you get enough of them, they can stack disorients and break your status protection, but this is pretty rare. Also, freak tanks can be tough on your blue bar pre-stamina due to their hp &amp; smash resist, but SS's constant knockdowns usually keep things in check.

Cot:
*Lack of slow resist means Earth Thorn casters are target #1. Which is pretty much my rule for any character versus cot...nothing sucks like being slowed and stuck. Behemoth LTs can be tough to hit with their Invincibility up, but rage is usually enough to keep you smashing just fine. None of the bosses worry me.

Tsoo:
*All the siphon speeds &amp; powers are massively annoying. Thankfully you can keep hopping with cj+hurdle at a decent speed until you get up 3 or 4 stacked on you. KO blow Sorcs the second you are in range - the less annoying porting and healing the better.

Devouring Earth
*Smash cairns first, duh. This should be a given, but just in case...
*The bosses can be tough because they are very knockdown/back resistant. Dark regen usually makes it just fine though you may need to use it twice per boss.

Crey:
*Nothing particularly tough about crey - Power Tanks do dish out a lot of energy damage (our biggest weakness), but I haven't had a problem with them: knock downs + handclap keep their attacks to a minimum. Handclap also comes in VERY handy in preventing Paragon Protectors from activating their god mode power: just stand next to them, hope OG hits (it usually will with one acc + rage), and then handclap them when they get to about 25-30%. You should then be able to finish them off before they stand up
*The slows from multiple Cryo Tanks can cause your rage to cycle improperly - this would have been much more of an issue in the past where you might not have slotted accs into the attacks, but in this build you'll have enough +acc from IOs to get by for the 10-20s that rage is delayed for. Plus, you've got enough bonus +recharge that this is often a non-issue.

Carnies:
*Their death throes end drains seem to get through Murky. Not horribly so, but if you are standing in the middle and kill 3 minions with FS, you'll notice it.
*The Strongman LT -acc debuff is pretty much neutered by rage.
*Since end use is one of the primary weaknesses of /DA (along with no kb resist (fixed by IOs) &amp; no slow resist), the Ring Mistress -recovery special attack can be pretty brutal. Use Handclap+OG before she can hit you with it, or just pop a blue.
*Master Illusionists are mostly just annoying, especially because the Phantom's cone blast will kb you commonly through 1 -KB IO. Not sure about 2. It's not too serious though, just makes killing them take a little longer.

Arachnoids:
*Toxic damage! Yes, it is very noticeable, but solo @ Relentless, the spawns aren't large enough to do serious damage. Plus, you've got dark regen... In teams, you will suffer if attempting to tank large #s of them, but just play smart and get them into OG range, and lock them down with Electric Fences.
*Spitter LT slows get very noticeable when fighting more than one, or when distracted by something else while they chew you up from a distance.
*Super Arachnoids will take a while to kill, but I don't have any serious issues with them, they aren't KD resist, so they usually only get off 2-3 hits. Those hits may take off 1/3 -&gt; 1/2 of your life though, so again, Dark Regen is your friend. By this point, hitting one target should fill at least half your life.

Knives:
*Mucho annoying because every enemy has caltrops, but not actually very dangerous. The bosses are a joke. To deal with the minions - jump close with OG get one hopefully 2+. If you get tropped, use a temp fly to get clear. The lts will almost always get off at least a web grenade, so that will ruin the temp fly strategy. You'll just have to run around real slow.

Malta:
*OG+Sapper = meh. Other than that, no issues beyond the standard.

Vb. Strengths

*Excellent DPS: Even though it's smashing, that extra 80% dmg from Rage means you'll still be doing fine against all but the most resistant enemies.
*Ability to stack disorients with OG, Jab &amp; Handclap. The jab+OG stacking is especially noticeable. Due to jab's fast recharge &amp; activation, you'll probably see at least one jab+og stun per boss fight.
*Perception stacking: See invis/stealthed enemies, laugh off Night Widow smoke bombs. Presumably quite useful pvp, especially with the new prevalence of stacked stealth.
*Stealth - useful for spawn splitting PVE, and I imagine it would help with PVP.

Vc. Weaknesses
*No KB protection: Fixed with 1-2 -kb IOs, or Acrobatics.
*Low toxic res: Not really noticeable until Arachnoids. It just means you play more carefully, maybe splitting pulls, and use Dark Regen more often.
*No slow res: Annoying when you've been web grenaded enough to stop your rage from cycling properly, but with IOs you should have enough +acc to survive that. More annoying when you get stuck under ONE set of KoA caltrops, which apparently bottom caps your run speed. Mostly just an incredibly annoyance, tolerable.
*The lack of an end recovery power means this build is not a choice for someone who wants to be able to solo every EB &amp; have a chance at soloing Heroes/AVs. I do think that as a duo with almost any corruptor, you will be able to take most H/AVs though.

Note that we SHOULD have weaknesses to balance out all the utility and power that /DA brings to the game. I'm in no way suggesting these should be removed.

Vd. Level by level generalizations

1-15: I'm a newb aren't I? Pre-Dark regen
At this point, you're pretty much like every other brute - 2 armors, status protection, and some attacks, nothing spectacular to distinguish you. This level range is beyond easy, but may take a little while, simply due to running out of end between spawns. Just stick to papers/mayhems and a contact or two (if you are gunning for badges) and you'll be clear in no time.

16-20: Dude, I totally didn't die!: Dark Regen &amp; pre-stamina:
You'll still be huffing blues and running out between spawns (depending on the level of IO slotting you invest in), but at least now you've got a life saver power - 3 targets will completely refill your health bar. Maybe you'll luck out and get a costume drop you can sell to fund your later IO purchases. After DOs, you should be doing contacts over paper missions for xp - there are usually at least 2x as much enemies (due to map size) in a contact mission versus a paper mission - not always, but usually in my experience.

21-29: Lots of punching: SOs, stamina, &amp; mass single target damage
SOs should start dropping for you around 19-20ish, so by this point you should have quite a few. Try to run missions against foes who drop for your origin &amp; save yourself some cash. You'll want to start watching out for the IO sets you want to. Start bidding on the 30+s if you can afford it and see good deals. You may also want to pick up pieces from some of the cheaper sets to tide you over. I know I did - I started at 26 (when I9 hit) and was completely decked out in cheap set IOs by 28. Eventually you'll replace these with more expensive ones so you can get decent set bonuses, but before that point it is VERY worth it to say, throw Focused Smite in all your attacks - I've found this to be the cheapest and easiest to get melee set with triples - and it provides a great return for the investment. Can't knock 2-3 extra slots worth of enhancement. Especially end red &amp; recharge.

30-34: Go go gadget pbaoes
My guide suggests picking up Death Shroud at 30: of course you can grab it earlier if you want, but I just wanted it before footstomp, so I put it off as long as possible. If even if you pick it up earlier, 32 is still where it gets good. Thanks to rage, even unslotted footstomp is sick fun. Throw a rech or dmg/rech IO in it to start, and go to town. Nothing here is really hard yet, except for the occasional Hero/EB. If you can't find a partner to help you with relentless heroes/EBs, no worries - you should be able to solo all the ebs on heroic. Just use the standard eb squishing flavor of a stack of purples &amp; reds.

35-40: Everyone looks drunk - I must be a mobile party!
Things get even easier with Oppressive Gloom. All those minions that really annoyed you - earth thorn casters, cot spirits, malta sappers, knives, tsoo ink men - whatever, just stand next to them. This works especially well when coupled with a travel power - zoom (in whatever manner you like) right up to them, so OG disorients them before they get a chance to attack. Enemies will quite often stumble out of OG range, but Footstomp can help a lot here - just hit it as they are about to get out of range, usually by the time they stand up, Death Shroud will have finished them. 38 usually isn't anything special for /DA - I took the self rez, but others won't, entirely personal choice. Continue grinding onward - leveling usually slows down a bit from 37-40, especially if you are solo. I'm not sure why this is - an experience gradient thing, or maybe the types of enemies &amp; specific missions assigned by the relevant contacts.

41-44: Things look good from the top - as far as I've made it.
The only thing hard here for me was the 2 hero/AVs that failed to scale back for me - at Relentless, solo, Crey &amp; Swan both spawned as Hero/AVs, and not as EBs. Biff was also pretty tough for me, I can't remember why, but I think I couldn't out damage his regen. 2 levels later I took out the other Arachnoid EB (Widdershins) at +2 just fine though, so it could have been a fluke. At this point you should also have a PP immobilize (I strongly recommend Electric Fences, see appropriate section) to help out with the drunks stumbling out of re-drunking rage.

45-50: Not here yet, will update when I am, but I don't expect much variation

VI. Links
Red Tomax's site
My Dark Armor &amp; affordable IO guide
Mid's Hero Designer

I. Intro
Ia. Background
Ib. Notes
II. Slotting
IIa. Super Strength: Non-IO slotting
IIb. Super Strength: IO Slotting
IIb1. Melee Attack Sets
IIb2. PBAOE Sets
IIb3. Dark Armor Non-IO Slotting
IIb4. Dark Armor IO Slotting
IIb5. KB Resist IOs
III. Powers
IIIa. Super Strength
IIIb. Dark Armor
IIIc. Patron Pool notes
IIId. Synergies
IIIe. Relative power effectiveness
IV. Build
IVa. The Build
IVb. Build notes
IVc. Build Variations
V. Playstyle
Va. Specific Enemy Groups
Vb. Strengths
Vc. Weaknesses
Vd. Level by level generalizations
VI. Links

I. Intro
Ia. Background

Looking through the guide list, I don't see anything specifically tailored to SS/DA (which I think is an awesome synergy combo), so I'm aiming to fill that void. My high level melee archetype background (for comparison purposes) is: 39 fire/stone tank, 35 ice/ss tank, 42 spines/da scrapper, 40 bs/regen scrapper, 35 ma/da scrapper, 32 kat/inv scrapper, 44 ss/da brute, 38 energy/stone brute, 33 elec/elec brute, 33 claws/sr scrapper.
So you can see I've got most of the primaries and secondaries covered to a good degree, so I feel my opinions are fairly informed.

This is also not so much a guide in some of the standard senses of "Do this, at this time and that at that point", but more one of my long &amp; rambling internal monologues organized and clarified for your browsing pleasure. I don't think anything is "hard &amp; fast" in building - heck, you don't even need stamina anymore (especially if you can afford the +recovery unique IOs)! I hope my thoughts on this wonderfully fun combo benefit anyone else interested or curious about it.

Ib. Notes

*For stuns (any control element), to affect a minion you need mag 2, lt mag 3 &amp; boss mag 4.

*All IO #s in this guide are approximates, and given at around level 40. Why "around"? Because the odds of getting an entire set of 40s are pretty low. For the most part, anything 30+ is good for set items. The bonuses for them being double &amp; triple (or quad in a few cases) type enhancements make up for them being low level. Why 40? Because you don't need 50s. Anything over 30ish is fine, especially for doubles &amp; triples. Not to mention salvage &amp; recipes are cheaper at lower levels.

*All power #s are from Red Tomax's site and/or Mid's Hero Designer. I rarely (if ever) find errors, so I'm assuming they are mostly correct by now.

*For the purpose of this guide I ignore the minute mez duration resists. Sure they're nice to have, but their value to me on a brute is basically nil, and therefore they have zero weight in deciding what sets to slot. This translates into sets with heavy mez duration resist bonuses being much less desirable.

*SBTM = Set Bonuses That Matter = exactly what it sounds like. No mez resists (see above), no debt protection, etc.

II. Slotting

SS has always had lots of slotting options, due to the goodness that is Rage. With i9 &amp; inventions, those slotting options get even broader. So, keep in mind that there are many ways to slot pre &amp; post IO, I'm just giving you what I think is the best option for MY playstyle. Since, it is MY guide after all :P.

IIa. Super Strength: Non-IO slotting

For an SS character, I've used a variety of slotting options, but rarely went past 5 slots because with the tohit bonus from rage, those slots were often more useful elsewhere. My usual slotting was dmgx2-3,rech,endx1. If I had room for 6, the last one would vary depending on how I felt about the attack chain in combination with any powers from the secondary I may or may not be activating. In the case of ss/dark, I would add an extra end red due to the heavy end requirements of /da, and change that to an acc once I started running on Relentless.

IIb. Super Strength: IO Slotting
IIb1. Melee attack sets: jab/punch/haymaker/ko blow

This is where it really gets good: as mentioned, now have a lot more options. Even though I may not have wanted that 6th slot before, I'll take it now if I can use it to get 9 slots worth of bonuses out of a power. With the addition of full set bonuses - at least one of which is VERY nice for a melee character, I opted to 6 slot all my attacks much earlier in the hopes that I might complete some sets. The set in question is Touch of Death - which has as it's 6th slot bonus a 3.13% melee defense bonus - which I view as primo. Crushing Impact is a VERY good set too, but the 6th slot bonus is 2.5% psi resist, something I consider much less useful than melee defense for ss/dark.

Basic slotting: acc/dmgx3/end/rech
Basic slotting totals: 33% acc, 95% dmg, 33% end, 33% rech

efficiency io slotting: focused smite x5 (acc/dmg, dam/end, dam/rech, acc/end/rech, acc/dmg/rech), kinetic combat dmg/end/rech
efficiency io #s: 60% acc, 95% dmg, 60% end, 75% rech
SBTM: +3% movement

Touch of Death #s: 40% acc, 95% dmg, 60% end, 40% rech, 20% chance of ~40 negative dmg (@lvl 40)
SBTM: 1.5% hp, 2.5% dmg, 3.13% melee def

Crushing Impact #s: 60% acc, 99% dmg, 60% end, 60% rech
SBTM: +1.13% hp, +7% acc, +5% recharge time

Mako's Bite #s: 60% acc, 87% dmg, 60% end, 60% rech
SBTM: +1.5% hp, +3% dmg +3.75% range def

From the numbers, you can see that you will take a 20% hit on acc &amp; recharge (compared to efficiency slotting) in order to pick up the coveted 3.13% melee def. You also get a random negative damage proc which hits for (apparently) the same damage regardless of the damage of the power it's slotted into. Therefore, I advise strongly to favor slotting ToD in your light attacks over your heavies: you'll use them more, so you'll get more procs, and plus the procs will do more damage relative to the power itself. To me, giving up 20% rech &amp; 20% acc on a heavy attack like KO Blow or Total Focus in order to get a proc that rarely goes off just isn't worth it - UNLESS you're going for a full set of ToDs for the stacking Melee Def or +dmg or something.

I've included Mako's Bite #s for the sake of completion, but I don't have any hopes of getting my hands on one of these sets at any time soon because of the expensive salvage (pangean soil &amp; hamidon goo) and because many of the enhancements themselves are very rare &amp; expensive. Plus, looking at the numbers, I prefer Touch of Death for my build. I take much more damage from melee attacks than ranged.

IIb2. PBAOE sets: foot stomp/death shroud

The PBAOE sets are sorely lacking IMHO. You've got 3, compared to the 8 choices you had before for melee attack - and one of them is of course an elite/rare set, which pretty much rules it out for most of us. Still, we can get a lot of mileage out of those two available sets: Cleaving Blow (4 slots) &amp; Multi-Strike (6 slots).

Cleaving Blow #s: 45% acc, 70% dmg, 20% end, 45% recharge
SBTM: 1% recovery, +1.25% energy def, +1% dmg

Multi-Strike #s: 60% acc, 95% dmg, 75% end, 40% recharge
SBTM: .945% fire/cold res, 1.88% melee/aoe def

Scirocco's Dervish #s: 67% acc, 89% dmg, 43% end, 48% recharge
SBTM: 10% regen, 3.13% neg res, +9% acc, +3.13% aoe/psi def

You can see that MS obviously wins out - but it has 2 more enhancements, so of course it does! How about adding to CB though?

Mixed slotting: Cleaving Blow x4 + MS x2(acc/dmg/end, dmg/end/rech)
Mixed #s: 65% acc, 95% dmg, 60% end, 60% rech,
SBTM: 1% recovery, +1.25% energy def, +1% dmg

So mixing the sets yields you +5% acc, -15% end &amp; +20% rech over just using MS. Depending on the type of power you're using - toggle vs. click, these two variations in 6 slotting will each have their uses.

As above, I've included Scirocco's Dervish numbers for completion, but they don't look very appealing to me for this build. Maybe if the proc is enough damage it would be useful elsewhere, but I still find the recipes &amp; salvage too expensive to bother.

IIb3. Dark Armor non-IO slotting

Don't do this. Dark Armor benefits immensly, even from the cheaper IO sets.

IIb4. Dark Armor IO slotting

For a basic guide to cheaply slotting Dark Armor, see my previous guide here [http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...=#Post8366960]. In that guide I favor a poor man's approach to slotting the armors, and in fact we'll get the same numbers here after slotting.

However, in this guide I'm going to suggest pursuing 4/6 from the Impervium Armor set if you can afford it, because some of you might not be poor.:
Impervium Armor x4: res/rech, res/end, res/rech/end, res
Impervium Armor x4 #s: 40% rech, 40% end, 56% res
SBTM: 2.5% recovery, 2.25% end, 1.88% psi defense

If you have the slots, and you've already fully slotted Obsidian Shield, picking up the last 2 pieces of the set for an extra ~6% psi res would not be a bad bargain.

IIb5. KB resist IOs

There are two options here - Steadfast Protection will slot into a resist power &amp; Karma will slot into a defense power. It doesn't matter which one you go with, as you can put SP in any of your armors, or Karma into CJ or Cloak of Darkness. The real choice is if you are going to spend an extra slot on it, or replace a less important slot, like end red in one of the armors, or jump in CJ with it.

I suspect most people will just replace a jump in CJ with Karma, but I love the added mobility CJ brings, and instead chose to add a slot to Cloak of Darkness and slot it there. I could have just added that slot to CJ, but in the end I opted to add one to CoD, as I figured if I wound up with another free slot somewhere I could complete the Karma set in there.

I strongly suggest doing whatever you need to do to get the cash to purchase one of these - most people get at least one costume drop in 30 levels (I had 3 or 4), just sell one of those. Not getting knocked around beats dressing up pretty, at least for me. Also, you have no need for fancy wings on a jumping character right? Slotting a kb resist IO allows you to skip Acro (Yes! It really does), at least for pve. For pvp you may either want 2 kb resist IOs, or acro. I could care less about pvp though. This is NOT a pvp build.

The only things that have knocked me back (all were at least +2):
*Master Illusionist's summoned Phantasms - the energy blast cone seems to get me about 40% of the time.
*Serafina knocked me back once - after standing in her hurricane the entire fight, I think lighting storm hit me and double stacked the KB or something.
*Longbow Ballistas - I can't confirm this, as I still had acro when I fought them, but I suspect they might be able to as well.
*Galaxy Archon - Once I got knocked back by their two handed blast
*Voltaic Tanks - thunderstrike

III. Powers
IIIa. Super Strength
Jab: 3.54 end, 2 rech, 1.92 BI, 10% mag 2 stun
Slotting: Touch of Death
Your basic fury building attack. The 10% stun also gives you the rare chance to stun LTs &amp; bosses when coupled with Oppressive Gloom. This happens more than you might think, due to the &lt;1.2s recharge on Jab you wind up with. Note: When fury is low, the Touch of Death proc will do more damage than Jab with 3 dmgs + rage, so it can be quite noticeable when just starting out a fight.

Punch: 5.2 end, 4 rech, 2.59 BI, 30% knockdown
Slotting: Touch of Death
You standard second attack. In the overall picture (which you can see via running herostats), this came out as my least damaging attack, behind Haymaker &amp; Death Shroud. However, I still want it a) to fill in holes in my attack chain b) for the occasional boss knockdown (very useful) and c) for a second Touch of Death set.

Haymaker: 8.53 end, 8 rech, 3.42 BI, 60% knockdown
Slotting: Crushing Impact
A great attack, good damage and a decent amount of knockdown.

KO Blow: 18.51 end, 25 rech, 7.42 BI, 12 sec mag 3 hold
This is supposed to have an accuracy bonus, but you know I never noticed it. It seemed to miss just as much as any other power (and I always had 1 more acc in it than other powers) before I capped my tohit. Could just be my perceptions though - it's an awesome power either way.
Slotting: Crushing Impact

Foot Stomp: 18.51 end, 20 rech, 2.96 BI, 80% knockdown
Slotting: Mixed PBAOE
I went with mixed slotting here because I feel that for as useful a power as this, having the 20% recharge enhancement boost far outweighs the 15% end enhancement boost. It translates to about 1.2 sec recharge vs. 1.7 end.

Rage: 5.2 end, 20% tohit bonus, 80% damage, -25% end when power application ends
Slotting: 3 recharge, 3 tohit

The set defining Super Strength power, IMHO. Sure, KO blow is great - but TF/ET are better. Footstomp is awesome, but you don't get it until 32. The hefty tohit bonus caps you vs. evens right out the gate, and so you can get by without slotting accs if you really want to. I wound up slotting accs just to complete sets, otherwise I probably wouldn't have bothered (my tank has no accs and does fine).

The final end drop can be tough to deal with, especially since you can't affect it with end reds, but you will learn to anticipate it and be fine - when the devs added power icons blinking before the timed out wow, that was handy. No more having to run a herostats timer! You do need to be careful, as this can easily get you killed if it takes you to zero end, drops your status prot, and you get held.

The -20% defense &amp; inability to affect enemies is also pretty killer BUT I feel it is a pretty fair tradeoff for the insane DPS you will stomp out. There are various ways of dealing with this - slotting cloak of fear for fear dur will help vs. minions &amp; lts, and the wise brute always knows when to run around a corner and wait.

I even got used to the glow. It looks kinda wonky stacked with Cloak of Darkness.

Hand Clap: 13 end, 25 rech, 9 sec mag 2 stun 50% chance mag +1
Slotting: Stupefy: acc/stun/rech, end/stun

A power I used to hate. Probably because I got so sick of my Bruisers using it to mess up enemies clumped nicely for AOEs. However, coupled with Oppressive Gloom it does reveal itself to be a gem. HC+OG will take a boss out of commission - this can be a lifesaver when you need to get of a Dark Regen, or to use right before rage drops &amp; buy yourself some time/room. Currently I only have two slots in it, and use it rarely, but I will be slotting it more in my 40s, especially now that I can pair it with Electrifying Fences. If you can spare 5 slots, you can get another 2.5% melee defense from Razzle-Dazzle or 6.25% recharge from Stupefy.

Taunt:
If you know you want Taunt, then take it. Me, I don't because I have no use for it. I primarily solo and have no use for taunting. Even when grouped, 2 enemy affecting auras + foot stomp do a pretty good job of capture agg.

Hurl:
Decent damage, but very long animation time is killer for a brute. I'd say just wait until 41 and grab a PP attack if you really feel you need a ranged attack. Really, you have better things to do with your time. I believe the term the kids are using these days is SMASH!!!

IIIb. Dark Armor

Dark Embrace: 22.5% resist S/L, 15% resist neg/tox, .2 end/sec
Slotting: Impervium Armor x4:

The end cost is negligible, but I always slot end reduces in /DA anyway, due to the large drains of running either Death Shroud or Cloak of Fear in addition to 3 armors, CJ, OG and/or acro. Yes, attacks are where you burn the vast majority of your end, but a little more end recovery never hurt. I've heard of people skipping end reds in armors these days, and you might opt to do that, but I think the 4 slot bonus for Impervium Armor makes the 4th slot worthwhile, if nothing else.

Yes, you could get up to 57-58% res with standard 1end/3res slotting, but I really don't find that 1-2% of 22.5% worth anything. I'd rather have the recovery, defense &amp; hp bonuses.

Death Shroud: .42 BI/tick, .52 end/sec
Slotting: Multi-Strike

I go with Multi-Strike here because the extra recharge you would gain from the mixed slotting is unnecessary, and because I'm going for as much melee def as I can, and that extra 1.88 helps.

Murky Cloud: 22.5% resist fire/cold, 15% resist negative/energy, .2 end/sec
Slotting &amp; Notes: Same as Dark Embrace

Obsidian Shield: 37.5% resist psi, .2 end/sec
Slotting: 1 end red

If you have the slots, I'd suggest going Impervium x4-6 after level 40, but so far I have had zero use for adding more slots to this (to 42). Note that unslotted it gives you more resist than your other sets do fully slotted. BUT, it is only singly typed resist, so that makes sense. Still, I've gotten so used to fighting psi damage mobs on other characters with zero psi def or res, that I just consider the /da psi resist a nice bonus, and haven't slotted it on a single /DA user yet. IF you can afford to slot it, you will notice the effects versus psi users.

Dark Regen
slotting: acc, Harmonized Healing x2 (end/rech, end/rech/heal), Doctored Wounds x2 (end/rech, end/rech/heal)
slotting #s:36% acc, 95% end, 36% heal, 81% recharge
SBTM: 1.5% recovery

The slotting above is from my guide. I'll eventually add a 6th slot, probably a doctored wounds heal/rech for the 1.26% fire/cold resist bonus. This power is probably the "rage" of Dark Armor - the best self heal in the game, bar none. Yes it requires heavy slotting, but think of how overpowered it would be if it didn't.

Cloak of Darkness: 3.75% def vs. all, +perception, resist immobilize, .2 end/sec
slotting: end red, Karma: KB protection

In addition to being the spot where I'm choosing to dump my kb protection, this is going to stack with our ~8% of melee defenses from set bonuses to give us ~12% melee defense, which is a very useful and noticeable amount. The extra immobilize resist &amp; perception is nothing to laugh at either. Nor is the stealth - I can often smash stragglers before the main spawns will even notice.

Cloak of Fear: pbaoe fear: 7.45s mage 3 stun @ 67% accuracy (.67 * .75 = 50% to hit even con) , 2.6 end/sec
slotting: (from my guide) Horror: acc/fear, end/fear (caps at level 30), Nightmare: acc/fear, acc/end, Glimpse of the Abyss: acc/fear, acc/end

Red Tomax's site lists this as a 7.45s fear, but in practice it comes out to less - because you'll be fighting +2-3s 99% of the time. This is why fear duration slotting comes in very handy hear - get the duration high enough, and no lts or minions inside melee range will hit you when rage drops. This saved my life more than a few times when herding during my late 20s/early 30s. Not required at all, but if you take it, at least 5 slots, and slot along the lines I suggest above. Also, even with rage &amp; 90% accuracy, this will still miss +2s noticeably. I forget exactly how the math works, but I think it's like (.50 + .31 (rage)) + (.50 + .31)* (.50 * .9) = 117% to hit even con.

Oppressive Gloom: pbaoes stun: 7.1s mag 2 stun, .16 end/sec
slotting: Rope-a-Dope:acc/stun, acc/stun/rech for 6% regen bonus &amp; better stun duration or Stupefy : end/stun, acc/end/etc. (any 2) for 2.5% recovery. Or, 1 acc or 1 stun if you can't spare a second slot. Personal choice either way.

Well, if you didn't take Cloak of Fear you took this. If you didn't take either, you shouldn't be playing /DA. This won't neutralize LTs like CoF will, but it will neutralize minions, at a TINY fraction of the end cost. Stacks very nicely with jab &amp; handclap, as mentioned in IIIc. No reason not to take it.

Soul Transfer:
This power is too fun for me to skip. I haven't even slotted anything into it yet. There's nothing like getting your butt kicked, then stunning everyone and smashing their skulls into powder. IMHO it's a great way to blow a power choice and save the 39-40 slots for more important powers.

But you might want boxing/tough instead of Hand Clap/Soul Transfer. And that's just fine, but I'll keep mine, thanks!

IIIc. Patron Pool Notes

For the purposes of this guide, go with Scirocco. His pool's aoe immobilize is the only one (at least according to my forum research, I only have one brute 40+ so I couldn't test any others) with the -knockback effect. If you're not taking handclap, just get whatever.

I was originally planning on just using Mu Lightning for a puller, but after using it for a few bubbles, I realized I really like the activation time &amp; damage, and opted for a full slotting. This is prompting me to consider dropping jab &amp; punch for an AS/Mu Lightning/Haymaker attack chain. I'll probably test this @ lvl 50.


IIId. Synergies
Rage + CoF: Rage makes CoF useable again. For me, without rage, even with IO slotting, you just couldn't get enough out of CoF to justify the huge end cost. Even with Rage &amp; 60% acc, it still misses noticeably on +3-4s.

Jab + OG: 10% mag 2 7 sec stun + mag 2 7 sec stun
Fairly common lt/boss stuns. Unfortunately KO blow is a hold, or else there'd be even more stacking fun.

Handclap + OG: mag 2 9 sec stun (50 % mag 3) + mag 2 7 sec stun
Easily stuns bosses/lts. Note that it takes mag 3 to stun a lt &amp; mag 4 to stun a boss.

(Handclap) + OG + Electrifying Fences: (41+):
Stuns all &amp; locks them in place. EF is the only PP aoe immobilize that prevents rooted foes from being knocked back. Even without this protection, it would still be great for locking minions drunkened by OG in place, but with this feature it allows us to handclap lts to senselessness to our hearts content. Unfortunately, EF won't lock down a boss with one application, so they still get knocked all over the place.

Resists + Melee defense (from sets): When solid melee defense (~17% total) is paired with good all around resists, you'll see a noticeable increase in survival. I'd slot +defense into Cloak of Darkness if I had more available.

IIIe. Relative power effectiveness

This is how most of my herostats logs look:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Death shroud 39793 17.8%
ToD proc 8448 3.78%
Elec Fences 6163 2.76%
Jab 56772 25.4%
Punch 32622 14.59%
Haymaker 39437 17.64%
KO Blow 40311 18.03%
Foot Stomp 39704 17.76%
</pre><hr />
*Death Shroud proves it's worth taking, if you have the end - and with all the +recovery, +max end set bonuses floating around, this is pretty doable.
*Jab does about as much as I expect, as it gets a massive amount of use.
*Punch is the low performer - but I still wouldn't drop it or trade it for boxing, as the knock down is incredibly useful. It IS probably worth swapping air supp for punch, if you don't mind changing the build order around a little bit. I'll be testing that soon.
*It looks like using the Touch of Death procs increases jab/punch damage by about 9%. Note that this is of TOTAL, not BASE. It's about 18.5% of base - this is a VERY noticeable damage boost, especially considering that you've got your enhancement soft capped at 96% or so. So with the procs, you've effectively got ~114% damage enhancement. Of course these numbers are only vaguely accurate, because the proc damage is the same, but Jab &amp; Punch are not. No matter, this still gives you a general idea of the value &amp; usefulness of the procs in low damage attacks.
*I was surprised that Haymaker came in the top cluster, as I only use it every 6 or so attacks. Just goes to show you what a great power it is.
*KO blow is actually higher than I expected too, as I don't use it nearly as ofter as I could.
*Foot Stomp, of course, manages to hold its own. This log was from a night of 2 person teaming, solo it comes out much lower, usually around half.