Luminara

[u](Section 1 - History and Mechanics)[u]

Archery in Issue 11! It's sharper! It's pointier! It's sticki-... er...

*quietly slips into the Lumiverse and hides all of the Archery pr0n*

Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.

>.>

*cough*

To say that I'm excited to be writing this new Archery guide would be an understatement. I absolutely love Archery! *explodes with glee*

>.>

<.<

*hands out towels*

Sorry about that. Just wipe it off, it won't leave a stain. I think.

*cough*

Archery has had a rough road to travel over the years. Introduced with Issue 5, it was met with mixed reception. The concept was sound and well received, but the implementation left many feeling underwhelmed and the bugs that followed it off of the test server made many others even less enthusiastic about the powerset. In addition, the endurance costs were comparatively higher than the norm for blast sets. By the time Issue 5 had settled in, Archery had fallen into the same gutter as its sister, Trick Arrow, with only the occasional passerby stopping to give it some spare change.

Time passes, as always, and with time comes fixes and rebalancing. Critical bugs were resolved, such as Ranged Shot preventing any other power to be used for several seconds after firing, and a sweeping review of the endurance costs was underway by the time Issue 7 was in the beta phase. By the time Issue 7 made it to the live servers, there were almost no bugs left in Archery and it was hailed as the most endurance-friendly blast set available. Nevertheless, it still didn't gain widespread appeal, primarily due to the animation times and the fact that the damage output was almost all Lethal, a poor late-game (and PvP) damage type due to the tendency of critters (and players) to have Lethal resistance by then.

The only remaining complaints that any players are likely to have about Archery are the predominant damage type (Lethal) and the potential for higher damage intake due to the lack of a specific damage mitigation secondary effect. I can imagine that some will have minor quibbles with this or that power, or dislike the animations, but Archery is about as close to being on even footing with other blast sets as it's likely to get at this point.

Regarding the animations, Archery is the least flashy powerset in the game. Other than Blazing Arrow and Explosive Arrow, there are no dazzling light shows or pretty colors, it's just a bunch of sharp, pointy sticks and a bow. But the animations are fluid and graceful, beautiful in their understated elegance. From the character poses and movements to the trajectories of the arrows themselves, it all comes together perfectly. BackAlleyBrawler really went all out with these animations, and it shows.

<ul type="square">[*]Redraw
For a very long time it was also believed that weapon redraw hindered the powerset. It wasn't until BackAlleyBrawler finally clarified that all weapon sets have draw times built into each attack that it was finally and completely understood that there was no redraw penalty. With or without a weapon drawn, the animation times were the same.

Of course, with the emergence of Issue 11, many weapon animations have had the extra time removed... whether this will lead to the old weapon draw myth becoming true or not remains to be seen. Archery won't be affected, though, because it also had its animation times reduced across the board, to half or less of their previous lengths in most cases. With or without an imaginary redraw penalty, Archery is much, much faster in Issue 11 than it ever was in the past.

On a related note, Brawl for Archery blasters uses the Kick animation (from the Fighting pool). Fun to watch and it doesn't redraw your bow, but bear in mind that it's also significantly slower than the standard punch animation for Brawl (nearly three times as long, 1.83 seconds versus 0.67 seconds), and has a pause at the end when your character is settled back into the "ready" stance.
[*]Corpse blasting
"Corpse blasting", or having your attack hit a critter that has already been defeated, used to be relatively common for Archery characters that teamed frequently. This was an unfortunate side-effect of the animation times (though, in truth, like many things in the City of * world, it tended to be something that we only noticed when it happened several times and forgot about when it only happened once or twice in a day, like missed attacks. perception plays a very large role in how we play this game, and in an environment of fast-paced combat and constant movement, an extra 1.5 seconds can often be blamed as the source of all of our problems, from that unexpected defeat to accidentally double-tapping a critter). This will be much less of an issue with the reduced animation times, so don't hesitate to queue up your attacks in the middle of frenzied combat. You'll no longer be any more or less likely to shoot a corpse than anyone else using one of the other blast sets. Which is good, because the complaints that the corpses were filing with the developers were piling up. Few things are worse than having to deal with upset corpses whining about being used as pincushions.

Additionally, the first patch after I11 went live included tweaks to Archery's animations that should have removed any delays between when an attack hit and when the damage occurred, thus further reducing the tendency for corpse blasting.
[*]Beneath the surface
All blast sets have what are known as "secondary effects". Energy Blast has a Knockback secondary effect. Radiation Blast has a Defense Debuff secondary effect. In Archery's case, the secondary effect is enhanced accuracy, above and beyond the standard bonus for weapon sets (weapon powers, as a rule, have a small accuracy bonus. this is not true for all weapon powers, such as temp powers or veteran rewards). A single Accuracy TO (Training Origin) enhancement is enough to put an Archery attack very near the accuracy cap when facing +0 critters (an Accuracy TO offers a 7.5% buff, Archery's inherent accuracy is 1.155 and the base chance to hit a +0 critter is 75%. (1.155 * 1.075) * 0.75 = 0.93121875, or 93.12%. the game's accuracy cap (you can't make any attack more accurate) is 95%. the streak breaker kicks in at 90%, and any miss when you have 90% or higher accuracy in your attacks forces the next attack to hit. note that the streak breaker works off of the lowest accuracy in the attacks that you've used in a set period of time, though, so you may still miss when you think you should've hit if you recently used an attack with a lower accuracy. for more details... ask Arcanaville or someone else with a big brain. trying to explain the complexities of the streak breaker would be an entire other guide, one that i'm not qualified to write!).

The additional accuracy is controversial, though, as it is seen as a poor comparison to the damage mitigating secondary effects of other blast sets. It could be argued that the ability to hit foes more often is, effectively, a form of damage mitigation, as it does permit one to defeat foes more quickly, but the argument loses strength when enhancements stronger than DOs (Dual Origin) are considered. By mid-game, most players are slotting SOs (Single Origin) or better, and Archery's accuracy bonus loses its impact in comparison, in all but the most extreme cases. Nevertheless, this is what Archery has, and this is what we have learned to work with as Archery players.

Since Archery does have higher than standard accuracy, characters can rely less on Accuracy enhancements or turn entirely to powers or IO set bonuses that offer Accuracy or ToHit buffs, which in turn allows the player to slot for other attributes or pick up other damage mitigation powers. Whether this is sufficient compensation for a lack of a damage mitigation effect for the secondary, I can't personally say. I find it perfectly reasonable for my play style, but you might not.

Archery has a very good mix of single-target and multi-target (AoE and cone) attacks. Whether you're fighting one critter or many, you've got something useful. It also has very good range on all of its powers. Archery's shortest range is in Fistful of Arrows, and all of the other powers have ranges of 60' or greater. The higher than average ranges allow Archery to fit into a "pure ranged" attack style very nicely, and can be leveraged by the player as extra breathing room for those times when it's necessary to exercise the better part of valor (run away).
[*]DS
DS, or Damage Scalar, is a newer method of calculating the damage of attacks. The old method, BI (Brawl Index) relied on the use of Brawl as a baseline and tended to be inaccurate (especially where powersets were shared by ATs, such as in Archery's case). DS, on the other hand, is very precise because it takes the base damage scale value for a power and multiplies it by the appropriate modifiers to achieve the result. Where BI could only estimate damage, DS can tell you exactly, to the tenth of a point, how much damage an attack will deliver (discounting critter buffs/debuffs), at every level, for every AT on an individual basis.

Because damage scales according to level, AT and position (ranged or melee), I will be listing the base DS for attacks instead of giving straight damage numbers in this guide. The calculation for determining your exact damage with an attack at every level is as follows (per Iakona's PDS guide):

BaseDmg - [BaseDmg * LvlMod * ( 1 - AT_Mod )] = Damage

BaseDmg is variable, increasing at every level from 1 to 50. The variable is expressed as a negative number (which will result in a positive total at the conclusion of the equation).

LvlMod is variable, increasing at every level from 1 to 20. It remains constant from level 20 to 50.

AT_Mod is determined by taking the DS for an attack and multiplying it by the appropriate positional Damage modifier for an AT. All attacks in this guide use the Ranged Damage modifer for each particular AT.
DS * AT Ranged Damage mod = AT_Mod

BaseDmg, LvlMod and the Ranged Damage modifers are all located in Iakona's Power Data Standardization guide.

For those players less interested in having precise damage numbers, DS serves as a relative means of determining which attacks are going to benefit you most in certain situations. Using the DS values, one can easily tell that some attacks "heavy hitters" and others deal less damage. This can assist you in deciding which attack is appropriate at any given time. Using Blazing Arrow, a high DS attack, on a critter with less than 10% of its HP remaining, for instance, tends to be somewhat less than optimal (unless that critter is an Elite Boss or Archvillain) when a low DS attack would do the job just as well.
[*]Accuracy and ToHit
Arcanaville explains it much better than I do, but the basic principle is that accuracy is a factor of many different things, and each of them has a specific place in the way it's calculated. A ToHit buff is different from an Accuracy enhancement, but the same as a Defense Debuff, but not quite the same if the target has resistance to Defense Debuffs, and so on and so forth. The whole calculation is disturbingly long and makes my ears shoot mayonnaise, so I won't cover it here. If you're interested in understanding the complete complexity of Accuracy, have a look at Arcanaville's Guide to Defense.

What I will do is give some basic calculations so you can see the effects of Archery's base accuracy and why it's a positive benefit.

The following examples all use the 1.155 Accuracy that most of the Archery powers have, and don't account for the possibility that some critters might have +Defense or apply ToHit Debuffs to you. I want to keep this as simple as possible, it's just an analysis of Archery's base accuracy and how it interacts with Accuracy enhancements, ToHit buffs and differing critter levels.

Let's say that you're a level 4 Archery character fighting +0 critters in a warehouse mission. Against +0 critters, you have a 75% chance to hit, which the game translates to 0.75. Your attacks have a base accuracy of 1.155.

1.155 * 0.75 = 0.86625, or roughly 87%.

Now let's say that you slotted 1 Accuracy TO into each of your attacks, fighting the same critters. An Accuracy TO will make a power 8.35% more accurate.

(1.155 * 1.0835) * 0.75 = 0.93858188, or about 94%.

Now let's compare that to a power from a different powerset, which has a standard 1.0 accuracy.

1.0 * 0.75 = 0.75, 75%.
(1.0 * 1.0835) * 0.75 = 0.812625, 81%.

As you can see, Archery's inherent accuracy bonus really makes a difference, even at the very early levels of the game. The base accuracy makes even the small benefit of a TO very noticeable and worthwhile, whereas other powersets require the player to slot more heavily for accuracy or rely on other powers to help them hit, or they just miss a lot, then log into the forums and post that accuracy was nerfed.

There's some skepticism over whether Archery's accuracy retains that value at higher levels, because by certain points in the game, SOs or better that offer higher gains are easily available and most players are making use of them. The question at that point mutates from "How much am I getting from this secondary?" to "Is my secondary doing anything to help me at all?" or "Does my secondary provide damage mitigation comparable to that of other blast sets?".

A power with a 1.0 accuracy, slotted with 1 Accuracy SO, would have a (1.0 * 1.33) * 0.75 = 0.9975, 99.75% chance to hit a standard +0 critter. An Archery attack with the same slotting would stand at (1.155 * 1.33) * 0.75 = 1.1521125, 115% chance to hit that same minion.

However, both of these attacks are "capped", meaning the game cuts them off at 95%. You can never have higher than 95% accuracy, even if you have higher than 95% accuracy. The game simply ignores the extra and factors in a base 5% chance to miss, no matter what buffs or debuffs you're using. So the Archery and non-Archery players are on even ground against that +0 critter, with just that one SO.

But when they both start facing higher level critters, things change a little because the chance to hit critters drops as critter level increase in relation to player level. Next, I'll show the results of both Archery and 1.0 standard accuracy attacks against +1, +2 and +3 critters, with a single Accuracy SO. You have a 65% chance to hit +1 critters, a 56% chance to hit +2 critters, and a 48% chance to hit +3 critters.

First, Archery.
+1: (1.155 * 1.33) * 0.65 = 0.9984975, 99.85%, capped at 95%
+2: (1.155 * 1.33) * 0.56 = 0.860244, 86.02%
+3: (1.155 * 1.33) * 0.48 = 0.737352, 73.73%

Now the standard 1.0 accuracy attacks.
+1: (1.0 * 1.33) * 0.65 = 0.8645, 86.45%
+2: (1.0 * 1.33) * 0.56 = 0.7448, 74.48%
+3: (1.0 * 1.33) * 0.48 = 0.6384, 63.84%

Archery pulls ahead as the critter levels increase, easily staying at the accuracy cap against +1s and remaining as accurate against +2s as standard powers are against +1s. When we get to the +3s, both of our theoretical characters start to get frustrated by misses, but the Archery character will miss less frequently.

That's with a single Accuracy SO (or, of course, anything roughly equivalent). Many players tend to slot 2 Accuracy SOs because of the difficulty of hitting +2 and higher critters, so let's examine that next.

Archery.
+1: (1.155 * 1.66) * 0.65 = 1.246245, 124.63%, capped at 95%
+2: (1.155 * 1.66) * 0.56 = 1.073688, 107.37%, capped at 95%
+3: (1.155 * 1.66) * 0.48 = 0.920304, 92.03%

Standard 1.0 accuracy attack.
+1: (1.0 * 1.66) * 0.65 = 1.079, 107.9%, capped at 95%
+2: (1.0 * 1.66) * 0.56 = 0.9296, 92.96%
+3: (1.0 * 1.66) * 0.48 = 0.7968, 79.68%

With 2 Accuracy SOs, both characters are rampaging juggernauts against +1s, and they're going to have roughly the same results against +2s. But the +3s are suddenly a problem for the standard character, while the Archery character easily maintains a comfortable level of accuracy. In fact, the standard character's accuracy has dropped to below 80%, which means he can miss 3 times before the streak breaker forces a hit (see Arcanaville's guide for a more comprehensive explanation, but the basic function of the streak breaker is to award players with a "free" hit if they miss a certain number of times, determined by their accuracy), whereas the Archery character will typically get a forced hit after only one miss (typically, i say, because like everything else in this game, the streak breaker uses more complex rules than it seems on the surface).

Taking only Accuracy enhancements (or IO set bonuses) into account, the results show that Archery's attacks will tend to require less of a focus on enhancements (or bonuses) to get the same effect as attacks with standard accuracy, or allow the Archery character to hit critters more frequently and reliably and force the streak breaker to kick in sooner and more often. Slotting one fewer enhancement can mean more slots for defensive powers, or the ability to dedicate slots for special IOs that offer ways to improve your survivability (such as procs that cause status effects on critters). Slotting eqivalent enhancements, on the other hand, translates to defeating critters more easily and faster, cutting down on the amount of overall time spent in combat. Less time in combat means you're affected by fewer status effects and take less damage over time than the characters with attacks that have standard accuracy, and that also improves your survivability. Whichever way you prefer to view it, Archery's base accuracy is helping you. Whether or not it's helping you as much as another secondary is something each player has to decide for him or herself.

So what about ToHit buffs?

ToHit works differently from Accuracy. Where Accuracy is multiplied by the base of the power, ToHit is added to the base chance to hit. As stated earlier, your base chance to hit a +0 critter is 75%, or 0.75. If you have a 10% ToHit Buff affecting your character, the 10%, 0.10, is added directly to the base 0.75, giving you an 85% chance to hit that critter, and that's without taking any Accuracy enhancements/buffs or Archery's inherent accuracy into account.

An attack with standard accuracy: 1.0 * (0.75 + 0.10) = 0.85, 85%.
An Archery attack: 1.155 * (0.75 + 0.10) = 0.98175, 98%.

As you can see, ToHit's end result is similar to Accuracy, but smaller buffs are required to achieve that result.
[*]Going deeper into Accuracy and ToHit
At the end of this guide is a complete list of different final accuracy results for Archery attacks using various slottings of Accuracy enhancements and ToHit Buffs. The tables cover all three ATs, critter levels from +0 to +3, 0 through 2 Accuracy SOs, and 0 through 3 ToHit Buff enhancements in Tactics (and Targeting Drone, for Archery/Devices blasters). Aim (defenders and blasters) and Build Up (blasters) are also covered, but only with 0 through 2 Accuracy SOs, not with ToHit Buffs (because Aim's buff is so high that its default value is sufficient for practically any situation; and Build Up is only slightly more than 1% higher than Targeting Drone, so players who want to slot it for ToHit can get a very good estimate of its effects by referring to the Targeting Drone tables; and because i'm so tired of running all of the different calculations that i just can't do any more. i wasn't even going to include Aim or Build Up when i started, so be happy that they're even included at all). If you know what level critters you'll be fighting most of the time and want to get an idea of what to slot or whether or not to use Tactics/Targeting Drone, a quick look at the appropriate table will tell you what you need to hit your preferred final Accuracy with Archery's attacks (excluding Ranged Shot and RoA, as they have different base Accuracies than the other powers).

PvP slotting and various effects are also not covered, but not because I'm avoiding PvP in this guide, but because the base chance to hit players is very close to the base chance to hit +3 critters and as such, the percentages listed for +3s in the tables will give you a very close approximation of your final accuracy in PvP. You will, in fact, have a slightly higher final percentage than what I've listed for +3 critters, so those numbers are, as far as I'm concerned, satisfactory for PvP substitution.

The tables also do not account for any debuffs on either you or your target(s). I created the tables so players who wanted to figure out the best way to slot based on the powers they selected would be able to get an answer quickly and easily, not to cover every conceivable combination of powers in the game. Use the tables for that purpose, deciding how to slot, whether or not you want to use ToHit powers and how to slot those to achieve your preferred level of Accuracy against various critter levels or in PvP, nothing more and nothing less.

Why did I choose SOs as the baseline for the calculations? Well, there simply isn't any easier baseline to use. I didn't want to use common IO values because there's no specific IO level that "everyone" uses, and IOs increase in value as they increase in level. I couldn't do the numbers using level 50 IOs because that would've excluded everyone below 47. Nor could I use the level 30 IO values because I suspect that many players are going to eventually slot higher level IOs when they can afford them, which would in turn make the tables just as useless. I certainly couldn't use IO sets or set bonuses because there's no way to be sure everyone is going to be using IO sets. SOs, however, have a set value that can be used as a reference point, and that value is going to be exactly the same for level 50 characters using +0 SOs as it would be for level 25 characters using +0 SOs. Additionally, SOs are almost exactly the same value as level 25 IOs (33% for SOs versus 32% for IOs), so the reference point crosses over into IOs smoothly at that level.

The tables aren't going to be useful to everyone, thanks to IOs. A year ago, those tables would've been the end-all and be-all of Archery slotting for accuracy, but these days the range of options and possibilities are so vast that it's nearly impossible to cover them all. I wish I could make tables for every level of IOs and set bonuses, but I don't know if I could even finish something that massive. It would definitely take several months, and I just don't want to put that much time into that much math. I'm sorry, but even my adoration of Archery can't be stretched quite that far.

Still, for those who do want exact Accuracy calculations using higher level IOs, IO sets and set bonuses, or other ToHit Buffs, you can find your own results very easily by referencing Arcanaville's guide and using the equation she gives. A simplified version of that equation would be...

(1.155 * 1.A) * (0.THB + 0.Base_Hit_Chance) = Accuracy%

1.155 is Archery's native accuracy.

1.A is the total value of your accuracy buffs, from enhancements and set bonuses, expressed as a decimal value, 0.A and added to 1. If you had a single Accuracy SO in the attack, which gives you a 33% increase, then the actual number for the calculation would be 1.33, or 0.33 added to 1.

0.THB is the total ToHit that you have, expressed as a decimal value. If you had a 10% ToHit Buff, then you would enter 0.10 in that spot.

0.Base_Hit_Chance is your chance to hit a critter or player. 0.75 for +0 critters, 0.65 for +1 critters, 0.56 for +2 critters, 0.50 for players (PvP) and 0.48 for +3 critters.

Accuracy% is the final result of the calculation, with the decimal moved two places to the right. That's your final Accuracy percentage. So if you had a final result of 1.05392, your Accuracy would be 105.39%.[/list]

[u](Section 4 - Trick Arrow/Archery)[u]
What? You didn't really think I was going to write an entire TA guide without giving some special attention to my favorite combination, did you? The whole reason I'm even doing this, that I can do this is because my main is a TA/A, of course I'm going to talk about it.

TA/A has historically been the most popular type of TA. The two powersets were designed at the same time and share the same thematic concept. They were built to be used together, and that hasn't been lost on the players. Originally, many of us also played the two sets together because we thought weapon redraw was an issue, but even with that proven to be untrue, TA/A remains a very common choice simply because the powersets share the same general animations and make it easy to get into character. Very few other powerset combinations engender the passion and enthusiasm as TA/A, it's just rewarding on so many levels and in no small part due to the way the sets combine to make a whole.

Probably the most typical comment made about TA/A is that it's a slow soloer, at least for the first few levels. The early levels tend to be somewhat more difficult for TA/A, and indeed for TA in particular, than other powersets due to the nature of the recharge times set on the debuffs. In their efforts to prevent some powers from being stacked, and balance the powers, the developers ended up creating some powers that are very unfriendly when you don't have a significant amount of recharge buffs (enhancements, Hasten, IO set bonuses, Speed Boost, etc.). When taken into account along with the fact that so many different effects are sprinkled all over the powerset, it makes early leveling a bit of a challenge. You are, essentially, forced to choose between waiting for a power to recharge, using a different power, or plowing on and hoping for the best. Once a sufficient amount of +Recharge is available, the problem almost disappears and the difference is rather dramatic, but it does cause many players to abandon their TA/As early on.

As such, my first bit of advice is to either be mentally prepared to progress a little slower and learn to give yourself time for your debuffs and controls to recharge, or pick up Hasten very early and either plan your build around that or plan a respec to drop it when you reach the early to mid 20s (when you can acquire Recharge Reduction SOs or level 25+ IOs). Getting the recharge times in your primary under control will be the single biggest factor in your leveling speed, more than anything else that you do. Personally, I did not take Hasten on my TA/A, nor did I wish I had, I was well aware of my own capabilities and knew that I could take some damage, and thus pressed on instead of waiting for my debuffs to recharge when I was soloing. When I did get up to 22 and put Recharge Reduction SOs in my powers, I had learned how to determine which powers I'd need for most situations and treated the improved recharge times as bonuses, granting me an extra margin of safety when I needed it. If you don't build around Hasten, you'll learn the same things. If you do build around Hasten, you may not need to. The choice is entirely yours, there's no shame in having Hasten and no blame if you don't have it.

Get Blazing Arrow early. Don't put it off, don't try to talk yourself into picking up another power from TA or a pool, get Blazing Arrow early. Once you see how much damage it deals, you'll realize why it's important.

Get Acid Arrow the instant it's available, and put at least 2 Accuracy DO or IOs into it. This is going to allow you to ignore Accuracy issues and speed up your leveling speed nicely, and it's very welcome on teams at this stage of the game.

You should be well into your chosen pools by now. If you're picking up the Leadership toggles, keep your eye on your endurance bar. If you're attempting to build a Stamina-less TA/A, start adding one slot to every power for an Endurance Reduction DO or IO, and plan to either build around IO sets with some End Reduc, +Recovery/End set bonuses or heavy use of End Reduc SOs to offset the endurance that you're going to be using. TA/A is very fast these days, it's going to be very easy to accidentally drain your blue bar dry and leave yourself in a pickle.

You might feel compelled to work your way into the Medicine pool. As I said in the Power Pools section, it's not mandatory, but if you find that you need Aid Self or you're playing frequently in situations where you honestly think Aid Other could make a difference, don't feel like you have to avoid them. And on the other hand, don't feel like you have to take any of the Medicine pool if you're not in need of it. If you feel that your debuffing, controlling and blasting is sufficient, that it's doing enough for you and your team, then you're fine without the Aid * powers. No-one is going to know your TA/A better than you, and no-one can tell you what you have to have in order to play your TA/A your way.

If you've decided to use Flash Arrow for its ToHit Debuff, consider also picking up Maneuvers or Grant Invisibility and slotting for Defense if you're building your TA/A with team defense in mind. Like Flash, neither of these powers provides a significant buff, but using Flash in concert with a +Defense power is going to give you more overall damage mitigation than either would alone. As several notable posters have pointed out on many occasions, every point of +Defense or -ToHit has a greater net effect than the last. Between Flash and a +Defense power, if you slot them you'll be causing critters to miss 13-15% more often, and since critters only have a 50% chance to hit, it does start to have a noticable effect.

Don't go completely crazy with picking up pool buff powers, though. You are a TA/A defender, not a buff-bot. Picking up some buffs is perfectly understandable and reasonable, but don't try to turn your character into something else, take pride in being a TA/A and in that you defend yourself and teams with debuffs and controls, and poking out the eyes of your enemies with your sharp, pointy sticks. Never allow yourself to be pushed into a corner where you feel like being a buffer is the only way to play.

You should also, by the mid-20s, develop a sense of how much debuffing and controlling you actually need to be doing, both for your solo play and for teams. One of the biggest mistakes that new TA/A players make is attempting to use all of their debuffs and/or controls and spending so much time doing so that they gradually ignore their entire secondary and end up shooting themselves in the foot. Flash + Glue + PGA + Acid + Disruption + Ice might be fine for a team that's having trouble, but if your tank isn't in need of constant babysitting, or your team is defeating spawns before you can even finish debuffing, or you find that some of your debuffs are wearing off solo before you can defeat a standard 3 critter spawn, stop trying to do everything and only do as much as is necessary. It won't be easy in pick-up groups, but even in that kind of chaotic environment, one or two missions will give you a very good idea of how much "work" you have to do and how much blasting you can do. There's nothing at all wrong with starting out heavy, using everything at your disposal, then slowly easing off until you find a sweet spot where your team is moving along smoothly and you're still left with time to do more than spam debuffs. Similarly, there's no reason for you to use all of your debuffs when you're soloing, unless you're trying to solo something extremely dangerous. Learn your personal limits and find the right combination of minimal debuffing and controlling to give you the pace you want.

At any rate, you are not required to use multiple powers and play keep-up with other powersets. The core of TA/A is flexibility, the ability to have a general understanding of how much damage mitigation is really needed and apply just that, to know just when enough combat debuffs are enough and not waste time or powers trying to out-perform someone else. You are not exclusively a debuffer or mini-controller. You are not a gimped blaster. You are a TA/A defender and you can debuff, control and blast, and do them all in the same fight if you play to the strengths and capabilities of the sets, and then do them all in the next fight, and the next, and onward. If you or your team is moving quickly, balance your debuffs. When I say balance, what I mean is if your team doesn't need all of your damage mitigation, try to use powers in concert to provide a specific amount that's roughly equivalent to the damage mitigation in the other powers. Glue + Flash for one spawn, Flash + PGA for the next, for example. If that's enough, don't waste another debuff that you could use to keep the team or yourself moving at the same speed through the next spawn. If your team is struggling or taking its time, or you are, use more debuffs. It's okay, because you're likely to have time for them to recharge or nearly recharge before the next spawn. Use Acid on everything that you can. Use it on anything clumped up first, and if there are no clumps, use it on a boss.

What you're doing at this point in your career as a TA/A is learning the tactical tricks and developing your team/solo intuition for later. As you play, you'll become more confident in what amount of debuffing is right, how much damage you or teammates can take, how quickly everyone wants to move, and that really comes into play in the later levels. Pay attention to your HP, your teammates HP, your progress speed, your powers' recharge times and how effective each one is, and talk to your teammates. If you know you won't have Glue recharged by the time the team is ready to tackle the next spawn, and you feel that it's going to be necessary, speak up. One of the biggest mistakes TA/As make is keeping quiet because they're afraid they'll get kicked, or don't want to be made fun of or yelled at for slowing the team down. You are doing your part, it's not your fault that a power has a longer recharge time, and you'll do more good than harm, for yourself and your team, by talking to them.

From the mid-20s onward, you'll really start to pick up speed as a soloer or bring your best to teams. With SOs or the equivalent, your powers will be recharging well within the needs of a team or as your solo pace determines, and you'll be able to mitigate more damage when needed or blast more often at other times. If you went into the Medicine pool, you'll even find that you typically have time to fill in as an emergency medic if you really want to.

Picking up Oil Slick at 26 is something that you won't regret. Get it right then, don't wait. This is as game-changing for us as getting PA is for Illusion controllers. Get it and dedicate all of your slots to it at 27 and 29, and one slot at 31. It's worth it. If you've worked out an IO build that lets you get by with 4 or 5 slots, give it one more anyway. There are damage procs that you can put into it and you won't regret those at all, especially if you've decided to use it primarily as a Slow or Defense Debuff.

From there up to level 32, you should be moving along at a nice clip, or really starting to feel that you've come into your own as a teammate. At 32, you'll feel like a small deity if you pick up EMP Arrow. It's quite literally something that you just don't believe can be as good as it is until you've used it a few times, and then you're almost afraid that the hand of Dev will come down and smite you if you overuse it. Yeah, it's that powerful. It can literally completely save even the worst team from itself, and it can totally turn the hardest missions into a breeze. You need to use it intelligently, though, because the first time that you fire EMP into a spawn two seconds before the blaster runs and nukes everything, you'll feel like you just swallowed your heart. Use it when you can, but use it when it's going to be most useful, not when it'll be wasted.

It's another six levels until Rain of Arrows, and it'll be a relatively slow six levels because you're starting to encounter critters with some Lethal resistances. Stick it out. Get on teams when you can or feel like it, just don't give up because that bright spot at the end of the tunnel really is the end, not a train. Getting RoA is just as thrilling and empowering as getting OSA or EMP. It's like having three birthdays a year and getting everything you want each time. 6 slots ASAP, ignore everything else to get it fully slotted. If you have Aim and intend to use it in conjunction with RoA all the time, 1 Recharge Reduction SO or level 25+ IO in RoA and 3 in Aim will get you there. If you're willing to use RoA without waiting for Aim to recharge every time, or skipped Aim, 2 Recharge Reductions. Having RoA gives you yet another boost to both your combat abilities and your confidence, and you've definitely earned it. Enjoy the fruits of your labor.

By level 40, you've got all of your major powers slotted, or should, and you'll be able to solo some very difficult spawns by using all of your powers at the right times and in the right ways. EMP + Disruption/Acid + OSA + Blazing on OSTarget + Aim + RoA = barbecued critterkabobs. Makes you feel powerful, doesn't it. That's because you are. But don't get overconfident. The most challenging part is still ahead. From this point on, you'll be encountering more status effects, more Lethal resistances, more Slow- and Immobilize-resistant critters, and you'll start facing Elite Bosses or AVs. You are going to get hurt. You are probably going to be defeated several times. Don't get discouraged, get determined. Go to Bloody Bay and get a Shivan. No, don't sit there and tell me that you can't, I've done it myself with my TA/A, before the animation times were reduced, so I know darn well that you can. Use the Flashback capabilities to stock up on some temp powers, like the Warwolf Whistle. Go to Warburg and get Hyperphase. You won't be able to conquer every mountain in the game solo, but you will be able to confront and move some of them, and you will be able to get friends to help you with the others.

And you will reach level 50, and celebrate your induction into the ranks of other proud level 50 TA/As. Even then, you may decide that the fun shouldn't end. By all means, keep playing your TA/A. Keep refining your combat techniques and strategies. Keep working on your ideal IO build. Keep teaming with friends. Go visit the Hollows and give the lowbies some help by using your non-damaging debuffs on the critters there. Collect badges. Go back to your favorite missions through the Flashback feature and relive your best moments. Discover new ways to use TA powers and share them with the rest of us. Or start another character, maybe even another TA or Archery character. Both sets are addictive, once you get hooked, it's hard to play anything else. And once you have a level 50 TA/A, it's hard to stop playing that at all!

"To strive
To seek
To find
And not to yield."
Lord Alfred Tennyson, [u]Ulysses[u]

These are the watchwords of the TA/A defender. This is our mantra and motto. Never forget it. Never yield.

TA/A Leveling Build
This is a template for TA/A players to use as a basic starting point for creating their builds. I've left several power selections blank, those are for you to pick up your pool powers. There's room in this build to get Stamina by 20 if you want it, and have your travel power at level 14. The APP choices were also left empty, as you may have a particular preference for your APP, or even decide not to bother with an APP at all.

Flash can be regarded as interchangable with Entangling. Select whichever one you prefer.

You're not required to select these powers in this specific order. If you see something that you feel would be more worthwhile to your play style at any given level, certainly do make some changes! Nor is this slotting a must, the slots have been allocated based on power availability, how useful slots are to a given power and how many powers are in need of slots at any given level.

Specific enhancements have not been entered into the build. Use the enhancement suggestions in this guide in concert with my Archery guide for that. I left the slots empty because I know that some people will want to slot with IOs and IO sets as quickly as possible, whereas others will decide to use SOs while they're leveling and save up influence for a single, sweeping respec into their "final" build.

Slots can be moved around as necessary or desired. I deliberately underslotted the attacks by 1, and gave all of the pool power spots 3 slots in order to leave some flexibility in the build for changes. If you want 6 slots in your attacks, move slots out of the empty pool selections. If you're picking up a pool power that you need more slots for, move slots out of some of the other empty pool spots. The basic slot outline is designed to be applicable to as many different play styles as possible. Swap them around to fit yours.

This build is also designed to be both solo and team friendly. If you intend to team primarily, feel free to swap some of the attacks with debuffs or pool powers if you wish. If you prefer to solo, you may wish to work on developing a full attack chain earlier and put off taking one or two of the TA powers until later.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.30
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php

Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Trick Arrow
Secondary Power Set: Archery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Flash Arrow -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Snap Shot -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Glue Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(3)
Level 4: Aimed Shot -- Empty(A), Empty(5), Empty(5), Empty(9), Empty(17)
Level 6: Ice Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(7), Empty(7), Empty(9), Empty(23)
Level 8: [Empty] -- Empty(A), Empty(15), Empty(37)
Level 10: Blazing Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(11), Empty(11), Empty(13), Empty(19)
Level 12: Acid Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(13), Empty(23), Empty(43)
Level 14: [Empty] -- Empty(A), Empty(15), Empty(36)
Level 16: Poison Gas Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(17)
Level 18: [Empty] -- Empty(A), Empty(19), Empty(37)
Level 20: [Empty] -- Empty(A), Empty(21), Empty(21)
Level 22: [Empty] -- Empty(A), Empty(34), Empty(37)
Level 24: Fistful of Arrows -- Empty(A), Empty(25), Empty(25), Empty(31), Empty(31)
Level 26: Oil Slick Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(27), Empty(27), Empty(29), Empty(29), Empty(31)
Level 28: [Empty] -- Empty(A), Empty(40), Empty(42)
Level 30: [Empty] -- Empty(A), Empty(43), Empty(43)
Level 32: EMP Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(34), Empty(34)
Level 35: Disruption Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(36), Empty(36)
Level 38: Rain of Arrows -- Empty(A), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(40), Empty(40)
Level 41: Aim -- Empty(A), Empty(42), Empty(42)
Level 44: [Empty] -- Empty(A), Empty(45), Empty(45)
Level 47: [Empty] -- Empty(A), Empty(48), Empty(48)
Level 49: Ranged Shot -- Empty(A), Empty(50), Empty(50), Empty(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance



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Contributors
Very special thanks go out to:

Trickshooter and Rush_Bolt, who very graciously donated their time to assisting me in corrections and revisions. These two players have been just as active and involved in TA and Archery since the powersets were initially released, and they know at least as much as I do, if not more. Without their collaboration on this project, this guide might never have been completed. It most certainly would've taken me much longer to finish, and there would've been numerous errors.

Goofy_Parrot for his groundbreaking original work with Trick Arrow. GP wrote the very first TA guide and was one of the most outspoken and ardent proponents of the powerset, the tester who gathered most of the initial information and the organizer of the first large scale testing of TA by players. Had GP not been so involved with TA when he was, I doubt I would've been nearly as involved as I've become, and I certainly never would've taken it upon myself to test powers or write a guide.

Iakona, for his work on the Power Data Standardization project, the foundation upon which this guide was built. Literally. Without the information on scalar values and how various power attributes are calculated, this guide would be little more than a collection of basic power descriptions and shaky guesses.

Castle, for putting up with my endless questions and badgering for more information with an equinamity and kindness that I've found to be rare and special, and for his perpetual ability to see my obsession with sharp, pointy sticks with a sense of humor and share that with me from time to time. And, of course, for the work he did in implementing TA and Archery as powersets, and going far beyond that to make them better.

BackAlleyBrawler, for making the beautiful animations that I fell in love with. More, please!

And finally, to all of the players who read and used my original TA/A guide, who PMed me in search of information and advice, who asked questions on the forum, and who played these powersets. Nothing else would've mattered, no other contributions would've been of any import, if it weren't for you, the people who play the powersets. It was you who kept me active in the pursuit for more information and interested in the powersets long after I would've moved on to something else, and who keep me coming back to my TA/A even when I'm distracted by some new shiny. Thank you for keeping me in a state of perpetual honeymoon with Trick Arrow and Archery. I hope this guide is, in some small way, compensation for that precious gift.

[u](Section 3 - Building and Playing a TA)[u]

Pool Powers
Good pools to pair up with TA are Concealment, Medicine and Leadership. Concealment works very well if you pick up Flash Arrow, allowing you to gain the benefits of full Invisibility by using Stealth, as well as granting your teammates or friends full Invisibility to stack on top of Flash Arrow's perception debuff, and you don't have to spend the power choice to get Invisibility. As noted in Flash Arrow's notation, even a Stealth IO is a good thing to have if you're taking Flash. Concealment is good even if you don't take Flash Arrow, and can't afford or find a Stealth IO. This is a pool that I really like for TA.

Medicine fills the one "hole" in TA's capabilities, giving you access to a heal that you can use on teammates, as well as one for yourself. There's also Stimulant, a very much appreciated buff power that frees allies from status effects, and Resuscitate, an ally rez. Overall, it's not a bad pool for TAs. It's not a critical pool, but you probably won't be disappointed if you go into it.

The Leadership buffs are very complimentary to TA's debuffs, and not actually all that bad in and of themselves. Assault adds a bit more damage to your attacks, and when you factor the results with your resistance debuffs, it's quite worth the endurance cost. Maneuvers gives you a nice bit of defense to supplement Flash Arrow's ToHit Debuff, although like Flash Arrow, it's not so much that you'll miss it if you don't pick it up (it's more of a case of a lot of little bits adding up. alone, neither Maneuvers nor Flash Arrow will be exceptionally good, or even very noticeable, but together, they begin to add up to some decent protection, especially if you slot them). Tactics is the skippable option in this case, something that most players would find surprising. Acid Arrow's Defense Debuff is simply so many magnitudes better that the only two reasons to take Tactics as a TA are for PvP or if you expect to be facing Stealthing critters frequently (Ghost Widows, or Knives of Artemis, for example). Vengeance rounds out the options, and it does offer some nice buffs if you get a chance to use it.

Several people have spoken of using Teleport Foe to great success with TA, specifically Flash Arrowing a spawn and using TPFoe to grab them one at a time, and Teleport is the only travel power that isn't affected by Suppression.

Flight, Leaping and Speed are always popular pools, with useful tier 1/2 powers and a travel power at tier 3.

Your travel power choice is entirely up to you. You might want to take Hover/Fly so you can keep your distance from critters without any risk of them getting close enough for melee attacks. You might want Super Speed for the +Stealth buff so you can get the most use out of Flash Arrow. You might prefer Leaping, or Teleportation. Or maybe you're building a "natural" character and will stick with Sprint and Swift/Hurdle. It's your choice, no one travel power is the "best", there's only what works best for you. If asked, my opinion would be that Hover/Fly or Super Speed would be the ideal choices, for the reasons stated above, but keep in mind that I did my 50 levels as a pre-I7 TA/A with no travel power (i'm HURDLE HAPPY! ), and I don't regret a single second of it.

The only pools that I don't recommend are Fighting and Presence. The Fighting pool has Tough and Weave, but the lead-in cost is a wasted power pick (you really shouldn't be in melee range as a TA) and the endurance costs of these powers are moderately high for what they do. The Presence pool's Fear powers (tier 3 and 4) may seem attractive, but they have extremely unpleasant stats. The durations are short, the recharges are long, the endurance costs are comparatively high and they're both mag 2 (with a 30% chance of +1 mag on Intimidate). They tend to be "flavor" choices for practically anyone who doesn't have a Fear to stack with them, and TA builds don't typically leave much room for "flavor" powers.

APPs/PPPs
Some people plan out their builds all the way to 50, others prefer to pick powers as they go. Either way, from levels 41 to 50, you'll have a new choice of powers, the APPs (Ancillary Power Pools) for defenders and controllers, or the PPPs (Patron Power Pools) for masterminds. These special pools are like the 10 "regular" power pools, but each AT has a smaller number of these pools available (different pools for each AT) and they typically offer powers designed to flesh out weak areas of the AT or extras to give the player new ways to play the character. Like power pools, you must choose one of the first two powers in a pool before you can access the third, and at least two powers in a pool before you can access the fourth. Unlike power pools, you can only choose one APP/PPP, so make the choice wisely.

Which APP/PPP you choose is entirely up to you. You may feel that you need more control, or you may feel that some extra damage output will be just the right addition to your character, or you might want a certain type of resistance or defense. Or you might even decide that you don't want any of the APP/PPP powers, and that's fine, you're not forced to take any of them.

Masterminds will find that their choice of PPP, if they decide to opt into one, will be based on aesthetics (what they look/sound like), when certain powers become available within each PPP, what damage type the player wants and how quickly they animate, because the PPPs themselves are essentially all the same, they only differ in minor details such as those I just spoke of. Each PPP for masterminds has an "armor" (a toggled resistance or defense power), a cone attack, an AoE Immobilize and a single-target Hold.

Defenders and controllers get a wider selection of powers in the APPs and should decide what they want based on what they feel are the weak points of their builds, what would be the most fun or simply what they feel would be most useful. As with masterminds, there is no requirement that you select an APP, all ATs can skip APPs/PPPs and instead choose more powers from their primary/secondary/pools if they wish. The APPs offer a variety of powers, such as Holds, buffs, "armors", attacks and more. I won't be covering any of these, though, because the sheer number of powers available and all of the different ways that each may be useful for a TA is quite literally another guide in and of itself.

All TA players who are interested in researching the APPs/PPPs and getting some ideas for their builds are encouraged to download Mid's planner (linked in the first section of the guide), which covers all of them for all three of the ATs.

Stamina
This is one of the most frequent questions asked, not just of me, but of any TA with more than a few levels under his/her belt. Do you need Stamina?

Honestly, the only one who can answer that question is you. It's no different from asking if you need Hasten. Some people love these powers, some hate them, but most of us recognize that they're simply that, powers, and whether we use them or not is entirely dependent on our needs for each of our specific characters.

I will set forth the following opinion, though: a few months ago, it was a given that Stamina was not necessary for TAs. Not necessary, but not entirely unwelcome either. An option, no more and no less, that some players chose to opt out of and had no issues or regrets. However, a significant part of what made TA friendly to Stamina-less characters was the simple fact of the animation times being long enough to allow more endurance than average to be regained while powers were being used. The new animation times may impact that, and players who previously had no problems playing Stamina-less TAs may now find that they aren't have as easy a time as they previously were. I don't honestly know how these animation time changes will affect general endurance usage for TA players, but just looking at the new numbers, I can see right away that it's very likely that Stamina will become somewhat more important for TAs from this point onward. You will be using more powers in the same period of time, and that means using more endurance.

On the other hand, we also have special IOs and IO set bonuses that can reduce the dependency on Stamina, or eliminate that dependency altogether. There are a couple of special IOs that grant +Recovery, and many sets give small +Recovery bonuses that can add up to quite a healthy amount overall. There are also a number of sets that offer +Endurance as a set bonus, increasing your actual Endurance total by small amounts. As with the +Recovery set bonuses, the +Endurance bonuses can add up to an appreciable amount, especially if you also acquire the available Accolades that increase your Endurance total.

Furthermore, nearly every IO set includes one or more enhancements that offer an Endurance Reduction aspect. If you're using set IOs to enhance specific aspects, instead of chasing the bonuses, you'll frequently get "free" enhanced values, like Endurance Reduction. It's often not much, but for a relatively endurance-friendly set like TA, it's also often just what's needed.

My recommendation, therefore, would be to consider how you expect to play your TA (or already do), your available inf* (or what you expect to gather while playing) and how you want your build to shape up. If you're content to take your time and/or play in relaxed team environments, you can likely skip Stamina with no concerns. If your funds are limited, but you've got room to go far enough into Fitness to get Stamina, then it might not be a bad idea to do so. If you can afford to pick up a few IOs to get some bonuses or happen to luck into a special +Recovery IO or two, then skip Stamina and use those.

At any rate, I do recommend having some means of +Recovery for your TA, or increasing your total endurance total and reducing the costs of some of your powers, because I do expect the newer, faster animations to mean TAs everywhere are going to be burning through endurance faster than they're used to, especially when you remember that you're also going to be using your other powers (i suspect that TA/As are going to be hit the hardest, as both of their powersets had their animation times cut). You can always respec out of the Fitness pool if you feel that it's unnecessary, or sell your IOs, or respec into the Fitness pool, or purchase/find those IOs when necessary. It's not hard to make the decision on your own, simply monitor your endurance usage through the course of your average gameplay.

Hasten
Hasten provides roughly the same effect as having 2 Recharge Reduction enhancements in every power, but only for the duration that it remains active. When that duration ends, you lose the Recharge buff until Hasten has recharged and is used again.

Hasten isn't a required power for TA characters. It is useful for the powers with longer recharge times (Oil Slick Arrow and EMP Arrow), but it isn't necessary for the other 7 powers in the powerset. Alternatively, it can be used to save 2 slots in all of the powers that you would normally put 2 Recharge Reduction enhancements into, but as I stated, the buff will be lost when Hasten drops, so be prepared for that. I don't recommend relying on Hasten as your only source of Recharge Reduction for your powers. If you do choose to take Hasten, it's best used to supplement your enhancements and reduce recharge times on powers with long recharges. For the majority of your powers, powers like Glue Arrow, Disruption Arrow, Ice Arrow, PGA and Acid Arrow, 2-3 Recharge Reduction SOs or common IOs are (in my opinion) a better choice than Hasten, as they allow you to create more managable and predictable recharge times for these powers (which is an important and special part of playing a TA).

Also of note is that it is possible, with the appropriate Recharge Reduction IO set bonuses, to get perma-Hasten. There are arguments both for and against this. The primary disputes over building around perma-Hasten are that, first, by the time you've built up enough +Recharge to get Hasten recharged as soon as it expires, you've already got better than perma-Hasten in total +Recharge; and second, that builds designed around perma-Hasten are often extremely weakened in key areas, with various powers being slotted poorly for their actual intended effect(s) in order to attain perma-Hasten. On the positive side, the +Recharge cap is 400%, meaning you can, at absolute best, get powers recharging in 1/5th of their base time, so building up to perma-Hasten is not without merit. Additionally, +Recharge tends to be the most useful buff for TAs, as many of the powers are reliant on reduced recharge times in order to function at peak efficiency (being able to use them again as soon as possible).

I have not taken Hasten for my TA/A or Fire/TA characters. I have created theoretical TA/A and Fire/TA builds that could get Hasten on perma status (up to or over 110% +Recharge from IOs and bonuses), but at that point, I noticed that adding in Hasten didn't have much of an impact on the final recharge times for my powers, certainly not enough to sacrifice a more useful power in order to take Hasten (in my case and opinion). Shaving a few seconds off of a power's recharge time didn't result in enough of a difference to make it worth the investment, and certainly didn't justify the the unusual and potentially less effective slotting of nearly every power.

At any rate, it's a decision you will have to make for yourself. If you want Hasten, take it. If you don't think you need it, don't take it. If you're asking for my opinion, then that opinion is that it may be useful, if used appropriately, but it isn't necessary or even exceptionally strong for TA, unless you intend to skip slotting Recharge Reduction enhancements or building around +Recharge set bonuses from IOs.

A somewhat common and obvious use of Hasten is to take it early in the game, when you don't have access to SOs or the equivalent and can use the +Recharge for some of your early powers, then respec out of it later, after reaching a point where you can slot Recharge Reduction SOs (again, or the equivalent), which frees up a power choice for something else that you want. Some players decide to keep Hasten, others respec out of it and never miss it.

TA tactics
Issue 11 changes the playing field for TA. In the past, TAs had to constantly account for the animation times and adjust accordingly. Forethought was a constant companion to the good TA player. Now, a "faster and looser" approach is possible, but it's never a bad idea to try to think ahead and plan accordingly. Of key importance is the fact that your powers have long(ish)(er) recharge times. Unlike toggle-based powersets, TA players have to learn when a power is best used or saved. That Glue Arrow that you used on that spawn that was defeated 5 seconds later won't be available to you for the next spawn unless your team is, well, as slow as if they were affected by a Glue Arrow. Always pay attention to the pacing of your team, or your own pacing when solo, and learn when to use each power to its greatest benefit.

Critters tend to deal less damage with ranged attacks than they do with melee attacks. And since all of the ATs that use TA have lowish HP (hit points) and very little in the way of defense or resistance, keeping those critters at range so they aren't using melee attacks is a generally good idea. Use your arrows to accomplish this. Tossing a Range enhancement or two into powers with shorter ranges, like Glue Arrow, isn't a bad idea either, as it allows you to generally average out the maximum ranges of your powers and avoid "spawn dancing", or running into and out of specific ranges to use specific powers. Powers like Entangling Arrow, Glue Arrow, Ice Arrow and/or Oil Slick keep critters out of melee range, so use them for that purpose when necessary. You'll dramatically improve your soloing capability and speed simply by not allowing critters to run up and violate your face with various blunt objects, and you certainly don't want to be on the front line when you're on a team, with larger spawns of higher level critters.

Again, remember that Oil Slick Arrow isn't just a damage power. Learn to use that Oil Slick Target as a focal point for your other debuffs and controls, and as a soft control in itself. Since Oil Slick is location-targeted, it's very easy to pick a spot and centralize your debuffing and controlling abilities. It's a good practice to utilize, especially since you can ignite that slick at any time before the duration expires and still benefit from the full Oil Slick Burn duration.

Solo, your opening salvo should be based on spawn size, difficulty setting and AT. For those soloing at Heroic, if you find yourself using many of your TA powers twice or more on each spawn, changing the order in which you use your powers or which debuffs/controls you use may help you speed up your progress. Monitor your progress and speed and look at what each power is doing for you in comparison to what you need done. If, for instance, you decide that you can withstand a higher amount of incoming damage, you may decide to stop using Poison Gas Arrow and Glue Arrow, instead controlling one or two critters just long enough to get Acid and/or Disruption into the spawn, then switch to attacking. For higher difficulty levels, you will eventually learn how much damage you can withstand and adjust your tactics to give you a comfortable amount of protection without spending more time than necessary on debuffing and/or controlling. This will also allow you to avoid wasting powers on spawns and having to wait on sometimes lengthy recharge times.

<ul type="square">[*]Defenders: Ice Arrow provides an immediate 33% damage mitigation when facing a standard spawn of 3 critters, ~2% more than Poison Gas Arrow, but it's important to remember that Poison Gas Arrow also has a chance to sleep any minions or underlings in the spawn, which offers additional damage mitigation (potentially 100%, if the spawn consists entirely of underlings and/or minions), so spawns consisting solely of underlings and minions are generally best approached with Poison Gas Arrow as your initial assault once you've leveled up to PGA. Larger spawns devalue the mitigation provided by Ice Arrow, so again, you're likely to get the most and most immediate reduction in incoming damage by using Poison Gas Arrow. However, the Sleep in Poison Gas Arrow is ineffective on anything above minion level, which makes Ice Arrow an excellent mitigation tool when your spawns have lieutenants or bosses. Therefore, it doesn't hurt to check your spawns, keep an eye open for extremely dangerous lieutenants and bosses and plan accordingly to take them out of combat first, then deal with the less dangerous foes. Crey lieutenants, for example, tend to be rather unpleasant to fight, so it's best to put them on Ice right away and worry about their compatriots afterward.

If you skipped or decided to delay taking PGA, open with Ice Arrow. It's your second highest source of damage mitigation (as long as it hits) for the initial return volley from a spawn, as it takes one minion or lieutenant out of the equation instantly. Solo, you might find yourself favoring Ice Arrow over PGA anyway, and that works, too. My soloing approach typically opens with Ice on the strongest, or closest critter, then Entangling on the second and Glue or PGA on the one that I just Entangled, thus stopping one foe dead in his tracks and creating a buffer zone between the rest of them and me.

Glue Arrow is also an excellent choice to follow up your alpha strike, as it will delay the next volley of incoming fire and give you more breathing room.

If you picked up Flash Arrow, feel free to use it at any time. Using it as your opening attack is safe, as it doesn't immediately aggro anything, but the ToHit Debuff value is small enough (in my opinion) that you're not going to see much difference if you use other powers first.

Once you've got your alpha and Glue or PGA into the spawn, you can either use Entangling and/or Ice to stack some more damage mitigation, or you can move on to your other debuffs. Some defenders prefer to use both Acid and Disruption before attacking, others use only one of these debuffs to save time and get to the "pwnz0ring mobs" part of the fight. Use one or both, whatever you feel comfortable with.

Oil Slick Arrow makes an incredible alpha, once you've leveled up far enough to acquire it, but remember that it's not going to be available for every spawn (unless you're deliberately waiting for it to recharge). If you're going to plan your strategies around Oil Slick Arrow, plan around its recharge time and the bug that prevents it from igniting on occasion as well. Nevertheless, the Knockdown factor alone makes it exceptionally good for opening combat. Foes that spend all of their time bouncing up and down are foes that cannot attack.

After level 32, you've got the most debilitating alpha strike power available, EMP Arrow, but the very long recharge time and Recovery Debuff that it imposes on you makes it much less than optimal for soloing. Save this for unusually large spawns, spawns with critters that you expect (or know) will give you a difficult fight, or that final room on the map, where the "boss" critter is typically waiting.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Controllers: Ice, Entangling and EMP Arrow will all set up Containment for you, which in turn permits you to slot and use your primary controls as attacks. Poison Gas can set up Containment, but it's random. For spawns of more than 3 or 4 critters, spread out the controls to lock down more critters or use your AoE Immobilization (if available) and use your TA debuffs for support. Controllers are likely to rely a bit less on either the TA controls, if they aren't being used to set up Containment, or some of the TA debuffs, such as Glue and PGA. It shouldn't take you long to assess your needs and figure out which you want to focus on, the controls or debuffs. Using both will usually be overkill on all but the hardest or largest spawns.

Until the pet Avoid bug in Oil Slick Arrow is resolved, you're likely to have problems with this power if your pet(s) enter melee range. You may find it more efficient to use OSA as a debuff/soft control instead. Alternatively, you can use it in areas where your pet(s) won't typically end up in or near the slick (large warehouse rooms, for example). You can also use it to double your progress speed by using OSA to barbeque one spawn while using your other powers on another spawn.

EMP Arrow is far superior to most of the controller primary AoE holds, so plan to pick it up if you use AoE holds. In fact, plan to pick it up even if you don't typically use AoE holds, it's one of the absolute best emergency powers you'll ever have or use. If you have room in your build, take both your primary AoE Hold and EMP Arrow. If you only have room for one, base your decision on whether or not you exemplar frequently (or intend to exemplar). Players who like to exemplar should stick with their primary AoE Hold. Those who don't can safely respec out of it (if they ever had it) and take EMP Arrow in its stead.

Earth controllers can ignite OSA with Volcanic Gases, and Fire controllers can ignite OSA with practically all of their primary powers. Gravity, Ice, Illusion and Mind controllers, however, lack any Energy or Fire damage with which to ignite the slick, so those planning characters with these primaries, and who want to be capable of igniting their own Oil Slick, should consider choosing Magic or Technology for their origin. The starter power for these two origins can ignite OSA. Otherwise, you'll have to rely on teammates, temp powers or the critters themselves to set it on fire.

Illusion/TA controllers merit a special entry. The Illusion primary has fewer controls than other controller primaries, so the additional control powers from TA supplement the ones in Illusion very nicely. TA's debuffs also compliment the primary, as they work well in concert with the unbuffable Phantom Army. Ill/TAs who build around Phantom Army will do quite well using their debuffs as their initial sequence. Ill/TA controllers who prefer to save Phantom Army, on the other hand, gain a tremendous benefit from using Ice and Entangling Arrows as their starters, as this allows them to slot and use Blind as an attack instead of a Hold.

Also of note is the dual perception debuffs available to Fire/TA controllers. Flash Arrow and Smoke are identical powers, as far as the stats and effects are concerned. The combination is very effective and should render you completely invisible to spawns without any Concealment buffs. It also works pretty well in PvP, as perception debuffs work somewhat differently from Concealment buffs.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Masterminds: In most cases, you're probably going to get more mileage out of the TA debuffs than the controls. Neither the debuffs nor the controls are exceptional in the hands of masterminds, but the debuffs are going to be an asset to your minions more than the controls. The TA debuffs will help your minions hit more often, hit harder and take less damage. That's not to say that the controls are useless, but instead, better used as tools to deal with particularly pesky critters and/or control the flow of combat better.

As with controllers, using Oil Slick Arrow as a mastermind can be, due to the pet Avoid bug, an exercise in extreme frustration. The tips for controller OSA usage apply here. Additionally, many mastermind minions use attacks with Energy or Fire damage, and the Oil Slick Target does con as an enemy to your minions, so be cautious in your placement of OSA. If your minions get within aggro range and you don't have them in passive mode, they will attack the target and possibly cause an unintended ignition, as well as potentially waste precious combat time by attacking the Oil Slick Target instead of the critters in a spawn.[/list]
Teaming, you should focus on your AoE debuffs at the beginning of combat, followed up with appropriate controls and/or attacks to assist your team as needed. If you're teamed with a reliable tank or scrapper, targetting through them will tend to give better results, meaning more critters affected by your AoEs. If your team is experiencing difficulty with spawns, try changing the order of powers that you use. Flash Arrow might provide the extra bit of help when used first, or you might Teleport Foe a critter to a location near you, hit it with Glue Arrow, then pull the rest of the spawn into the Glue patch. TA is a very flexible powerset with a wide variety of tools, so don't be afraid to experiment and find the right combinations for different situations and teams.

IOs (Invention Origin enhancements)
This is something I've been asked very frequently since these new enhancements were introduced, "Which IOs would you recommend for my TA?"

The answer is, I won't. Not out of arrogance or wanting to keep a special build secret, but simply because there is such an incredible range of options available that there is no one recommendation that's going to be right for everyone. Whereas one TA player might want more damage, another might decide to focus on +HP and +regen. A third may choose to use IO set bonuses to build up Stamina-level +recovery. A fourth may prefer to mix and match various set IOs to maximize various attributes for their powers. Yet another may want IO set defense buff bonuses. And that TA over there is seriously looking at the +movement bonuses, and that one over there is trying to get all of the "proc" (programmed random occurrance. procs are special IOs that do something useful once in a while, randomly, when you use a power) IOs that he/she feels would be beneficial for his/her build.

The list of possibilities and potential combinations is nearly endless, and it's just not possible to make a single all-encompassing recommendation that will be beneficial to every player. It's all up to you. IO sets are just like costume options, a way to personalize and customize your characters.

My best advice is to look at your build, planned or current, and determine exactly what's going to benefit you the most. You might notice that you have some weak points that special IOs and/or IO set bonuses can shore up. You might be satisfied with your build in general and choose to pursue some bonuses that expand your capabilities or highlight some of your current abilities. You might just pick bonuses based on what sounds like the most fun. You might even look at all of the various options and decide that you're satisfied with SOs and common IOs. The point is, it's your character and your needs that have to be met. IOs won't make you "uber" or turn your TA into something more than what you, the player, make it. What IOs will do is let you expand on various aspects of your character's abilities, or focus on specific abilities to enhance them, or even out a build, or free up a power selection or three, etc. IOs are options, and only you can know what options are best for your character.

One good tactic with set IOs is to mix and match from different sets. You can effectively gain the equivalent of extra slots by creatively using the different IOs. For instance, EMP Arrow's recharge is quite long, which would normally warrant slotting it with 3 Recharge Reduction enhancements, but doing that would require you to give up the ability to slot Accuracy or Hold Duration unless you had access to HOs. Set IOs allow you to creatively work around that problem. By slotting Accuracy/Hold/Recharge IOs (level 30-45) from each of the 4 available sets, then filling the last two slots with one Accuracy/Recharge and one Accuracy/Hold (level 30-45), the enhanced values for EMP Arrow end up at 95% or higher for all three of these attributes. That's like having 9 slots in the power!

Alternatively, you can use fewer slots, saving them for other powers, and still end up with about what you would've had if you were putting 6 regular enhancements into a power. Using the same example as in the previous paragraph, you could simply slot those 4 Accuracy/Hold/Recharge IOs (level 30-45) into EMP Arrow and stop there, leaving 2 slots free to put into other powers and still ending up with a respectable ~75% buff to Accuracy, Hold Duration and Recharge Reduction, slightly better than you would've had if you'd 6-slotted the power with standard SOs or common IOs.

The real strength of IO sets isn't just the set bonuses or procs, it's flexibility. Utilize that flexibility to meet your specific needs, be it more slots to spread around, higher enhanced values across the board or set bonuses.

If you've come up with an IO build that you like but want feedback about, post it here or in the appropriate AT forum. I and many other TAs will certainly be interested in how different builds with IOs look and may work, and new ideas for using IOs in TA are always a good thing because they can spark discussion and further refining, or give other TAs ideas for what IOs they may want to use.

PvP (Player versus Player)
Now here's a sticky wicket. A year ago, I knew PvP with TA relatively well. I honestly have no idea how the animation changes affect TA in PvP, though, because playing TA in PvP in the past meant adapting to a very particular style of play. Lots of sneakiness, essentially acting somewhat like a ranged stalker, because the longish animations necessitated learning how to get the jump on other players without being spotted. These significantly quicker animations really open up a lot of new options in how to approach PvP, so this is a topic that's just going to have to be revisited in the future.

I can say this, however - in PvP, TA is a powerful disabler. It isn't the primary effects of most of your powers, though, it's the secondary effects. Entangling Arrow's Immobilize won't have much impact on most of your foes, but the -Fly and -Jump, aspects that tend to have little effect in PvE, suddenly become potent weapons in PvP. Flash Arrow's perception debuff can make you as difficult to spot and track as a stalker. Glue's -Recharge drives even the most patient Brutes to insanity. PGA's Sleep will cut through a bubbler's best efforts. Acid Arrow's DoT renders stalkers' ability to disappear completely ineffective. Overall, TA's various and comprehensive list of debilitating effects becomes a relatively strong arsenel against a very wide variety of ATs, and even good PvP players can fall to a good TA.

Your safest approach is to act from the shadows. You will find that you are at your best when you can creep up on your enemies without being seen and remain undetected for as long as possible, because all TAs are still low HP ATs with no status protections and very little in the way of defense or resistance. Most of the TA powers have no visible trail that can be traced back to you, so you can typically remain unobserved for somewhat longer than players using other powersets. This advantage can be strengthened by using a +Stealth IO, Stealth or Invisibility from the Concealment pool, or judicious use of Flash Arrow, or all of the above.

If and when you can identify another player's AT, make use of your powers in accordance to what would be most debilitating to that AT and his/her powersets. For example, debuffing the recharge times of a stalker isn't nearly as effective as rendering him/her incapable of flying or leaping away and hitting him/her with Acid Arrow. Or dropping a Force Fielder's main bubble with PGA's Sleep instead of trying to Hold or Slow him/her. As you grow accustomed to TA's powers and secondary effects, you'll develop a sense for when each power is appropriate and most useful.

Stay hidden, but also retain your mobility. Don't back yourself into a corner. Wherever you choose to hide, make sure you have at least one way to get out fast and which can't be blocked by a player. Correspondingly, consider slotting for some extra range in your powers. The further away you are when you use a power, the more difficult you will be to pinpoint, and the more options you'll have when choosing where to hide. If you have Invisibility, or Stealth (IO or power) and are willing to risk Flash Arrow expiring, you can stand in the middle of a spawn of NPCs quite safely. Skilled players, and ranged ATs, will still be able to reach you without as much risk, but attacking a player who's standing in the middle of a spawn will always entail some risk, and many players won't be willing to take that risk. Many others won't survive if they do.

For defenders, the Damage Debuff in PGA is unresisted in PvP... for what that's worth. Player damage and critter damage are done very differently in City of *. Essentially, critter damage powers don't use enhancements. Damage Debuffs are subtractive, meaning the percentage of damage that they remove is subtracted from the total percentage of damage that the attacks deal. Because critters don't use enhancements, their damage is always (barring outside buffs like Vengeance, or their debuffs on you) 100%, the base value. Players, however, do slot enhancements, bringing the total value up to as much as 200% or more (the base value plus the value of the enhancements). When a Warwolf smacks your hiney and deals 100 damage, it's because the attack actually deals 100 damage, not 50 damage plus the effects of 3 Damage enhancements. When a player hits you for 100 damage, that player is accomplishing that by using an attack that deals ~50 damage and which has been slotted with Damage enhancements to deal extra damage (and possibly other buffs). Even for those of us challenged by math, that's a pretty simple, and dismal equation. The net result is less than a single +0 SO's worth of damage subtracted in PvP, in PGA's case. Where you would be reducing that Warwolf's damage from 100 to 68.75, in PvP you would only reduce a 100 damage attack to 84.375 (again, presuming the attack was 3-slotted with Damage SOs and using a very simplified +100% damage from the enhancements). Sad, but true.

Defenders also get a bit more oomph out of Acid Arrow and Disruption Arrow in PvP. Both of these powers' debuffs are unresistable when used by defenders. As can be seen in Acid Arrow's power entry, defenders also get a bonus to Resistance Debuff in PvP.

Controllers can use the TA controls to disable multiple enemies, or stack on a single enemy in an attempt to break through moderate status protections, in addition to being able to use the debuffs in the same ways as defenders do (again, primarily the secondary effects). Masterminds will find that TA works for them in PvP much like it does in PvE, as means of directing the flow of combat and enabling their minions to become much more devastating to their foes.

Remember that TA is not Ice/EM in PvP. It's powerful, if used properly, but it's not likely to ever become the 1v1 FotM (Flavor of the Month, a term applied to builds which are typically selected only because they're easy to "win" with in PvP, or easy to level in PvE) due to the simple fact that it's not designed to be "uber". Regardless of which AT you're playing as a TA, you're still playing an AT with low HP and low base damage. Don't get overconfident and forget that. TA is a tactical powerset, not a brute force "pummel the poo nuggets out of everyone in sight" powerset. Use strategy, not dumb luck or reliance on the shortcomings of other players. The most powerful weapon in a TA's arsenel is the brain behind the keyboard.

[u](Section 2 - Powers)[u]

With those notations, let's now turn our attention to the powers themselves. In addition to the base stats for the powers, I am also listing the values for each variable according to both AT and the first level at which the power is available to the AT, and the level 50 variable for the AT. Please keep in mind that variables such as the durations of status effects increase with your level. Account for this when examining each power and attempting to determine exactly how a power is working at specific levels. I refer you again to Iakona's comprehensive Power Data Standardization guide.

All powers are listed in the following format:
Power Name
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: The earliest level at which a player can select a power, as determined by AT.[*]Effects: This entry outlines precisely what it is that a power actually does.[*]Recharge: How long it takes for a power to become usable again after it has been used.[*]Animation: The length of time it takes for your character to go through the act of using a power.[*]Duration(s): How long the effects of a power last. Note that a power's Duration begins at the end of the Animation, not when the Animation begins.[*]Range: The maximum distance that this power can be fired to, discounting Range enhancements or buffs. You may use a power at any distance between 1' (right under your nose) and the listed range.[*]Endurance: How much Endurance it costs to use a power.[*]Accuracy: For powers that have a hit check, this entry gives the base Accuracy of the power. To determine your actual chance to hit, multiply the base power Accuracy by the appropriate modifier for the critter level.[*]Accepted Enhancements: The types of enhancements that can be used with the power.[*]Slotting recommendation: This is the suggested enhancements and number of slots to dedicate to the power. For this guide, assume all enhancement suggestions to be at least SOs. HOs and level 25 or better IOs are acceptable substitutes.

The values of IOs vary according to level, schedule and whether or not they enhance multiple aspects of a power (such as a set IO that enhances Accuracy/Hold).

Certain powers can be used in lieu of enhancements, such as Hasten, as they provide the same benefit or net result as specific types of enhancements. Other powers, such as Tactics, provide a net effect that may be close enough for your taste, and as such can also be used as a substitute for specific enhancements.[*]Usable IO sets: The IO set types that a power accepts. The IO set names or specific IOs in a set will not be listed, because of the sheer volume of space that would be required. You can look up IO sets and which IOs are in each set with Mid's Hero Designer, ParagonWiki or Red Tomax's City of Data.[*]Notes: Commentary on a power, explanation of usage, existing bugs and various information.[*]Personal comments: My own thoughts on a power. Unlike the Notes section, this is entirely my own opinion about a power and not intended to be unbiased information.[/list]
Entangling Arrow
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: Level 1 (default auto-selected power for controllers and masterminds)[*]Effects: Immobilize (mag 3), -Speed (12.5% defenders and controllers, 10% masterminds), -Recharge (12.5% defenders and controllers, 10% masterminds), -Fly, -Jump, -Knockback (10,000%)[*]Recharge: 4 seconds[*]Animation: 1 seconds[*]Duration: Variable
*Base value: 15 seconds
*Defender: 15 seconds (level 1), 22.35 seconds (level 50)
*Controller: 18.75 seconds (level 1), 27.9375 seconds (level 50)
*Mastermind: 12 seconds (level 1), 17.88 seconds (level 50)
*Note: Only the Immobilize duration is Variable. All other effects remain at a set 15 second duration, regardless of level or slotting.[*]Range: 80'[*]Endurance: 5.2 (defenders and controllers), 6.5 (masterminds)[*]Accuracy: 1.2[*]Accepted Enhancements: Accuracy, Endurance Reduction, Immobilize Duration, Range, Recharge Reduction[*]Slotting recommendation: 1 Accuracy[*]Usable IO sets: Immobilize[*]Notes: This is a simple, basic Immobilize power. The additional effects of -fly and -jump make it extremely useful for situations when you need to bring down a flying enemy or keep a critter (or player) in one of your AoEs (Area of Effects). The Accuracy bonus also makes it rather nifty for lower level play, giving you a more reliable means of keeping critters at arm's (or bow's) length. The short recharge time allows you to "spam" it on critters that are resistant to Immobilization (such as Elite Bosses or Archvillains), which in turn means you can lock them in place when you need to. It's a very effective tactic against AVs that tend to run around like psychotic jackrabbits hopped up on meth (i'm looking at you, Shadowhunter and Diabolique!). The Immobilize will stack with itself, permitting you to Immobilize bosses and higher, but the other effects of Entangling Arrow do not stack with multiple applications (unless those other applications are from other TA users).

Defenders may choose to skip this. Controllers and masterminds are forced to take this power as their default level 1 selection (during character creation), but that doesn't make it a "lost cause". Controllers can use it to set up Containment, which will allow them to use their primary controls for damage, and masterminds will find it useful when critters ignore their henchmen.

As of Issue 10, the only bug with Entangling Arrow was a discrepancy in the Animation Time versus Activation Time. The Animation Time was 2.17 seconds, but the Activation Time appeared to be set to 2.67 seconds, so using Entangling Arrow on a target resulted in a 0.5 second delay before the target was actually Immobilized. Reports have indicated that the bug has not been resolved as of Issue 11, but thankfully, the delay did not increase to 1.5 seconds when the animation time was reduced to 1.17 seconds. Until the delay bug is fixed, keep that 0.5 seconds in mind and play accordingly. Controllers, wait 0.5 seconds before using a control power after Entangling, or you won't get Containment. Defenders and masterminds, give yourself an extra 10-20' when using Entangling to account for the distance that a critter (or player) can run before the Immobilization effect is applied.

The latest patch about to go to the live servers may have finally removed the Immobilization delay, but I haven't been able to coax anyone into testing it as of the night before the patch, so whether or not it's fixed remains unclear. Play it safe and use the tactics I suggested in the previous paragraph is the best advice I can give, even if it has been fixed by the time this guide is posted.
[*]Personal comments: As a TA/A, I like Entangling Arrow. The above average accuracy and long duration really help in the early levels and keep it useful in later levels, and in AV fights it can be invaluable if used well. It also brought a lot of extra survivability to my game in PvP and helped me stop some of the sneakier players from escaping once in a while. Because it's just an Immobilization, it's not a power that everyone will appreciate or choose, but I'm hanging on to it.[/list]
Flash Arrow
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: Level 1 (defender), Level 2 (controller, mastermind)[*]Effects: Perception debuff (-450', all ATs), ToHit debuff (6.25% defender, 5% controller, 3.75% mastermind)[*]Recharge: 15 seconds[*]Animation: 1.83 seconds[*]Duration: 60 seconds[*]Range: 80', 35' AoE centered on targeted critter[*]Endurance: 7.8 (defenders and controllers), 9.8 (masterminds)[*]Accuracy: Auto-hit in PvE, 1.0 in PvP[*]Accepted Enhancements: Accuracy, Endurance Reduction, Recharge Reduction, ToHit Debuff[*]Slotting recommendation: PvE - 1 Range or 1 ToHit Debuff if leaving it with only the default slot, 1-3 additional ToHit Debuff if adding slots. PvP - 2-3 Accuracy.[*]Usable IO sets: ToHit Debuff[*]Notes: Flash Arrow debuffs both enemy perception and chance to hit. The perception debuff is, unlike Stealth buffs, not canceled by actions (such as clicking objects). The perception debuff also stacks with Stealth buffs, so using Flash Arrow in concert with a Stealth IO, Stealth (pool power), Super Speed or any other means of concealment gives the player the same effect as full Invisibility.

Flash Arrow does not stack with itself from the same player, so don't waste your endurance or time firing it over and over again, it just doesn't do anything but reset the duration time.

The ToHit Debuff is relatively small, even after slotting heavily with ToHit Debuff enhancements, but at early levels you may find it helpful. If you're playing in a team with anyone who has Defense Buffs, Flash Arrow's ToHit Debuff works in concert with that and can assist in mitigating a significant amount of damage. Notably, the ToHit Debuff is unresisted (not specific to AT), in both PvE and PvP, so even though the value is minimal, it can be useful against foes that resist debuffing (such as AVs or other players).

The Perception Debuff can't be resisted either (for all three ATs), which gives it some real punch in PvP. It isn't a Placate power, it won't cause critters to lose their target or stop attacking, so the fact that it can't be resisted in PvE is more of a side note than an actual function.

As of the last time I tested Flash Arrow, there was a... curiosity in the way the critters behaved at times when it was used. Some long-time TA players noticed that some spawns hit with Flash Arrow would focus aggro on the Flash Arrow user, even if the player were out of line of sight when the spawn was triggered, and sometimes even whith a tank immediately Taunting the spawn as the trigger. Flash Arrow's debuff aggro appeared to be overriding all other aggro. Whether the issue existed at all was very hotly debated for nearly two years, until Castle stepped in and attempted to clarify how critter aggro management worked. When it was pointed out that the critters weren't behaving properly with Flash Arrow, he acknowledged that it was worth looking into and forwarded it to the appropriate department. Again, this has not been confirmed as a bug, it may be the fault of the players or teams (poor aggro management, critters moving out of the Taunt radius before the tank could Taunt, failure to sacrifice a blow-up sheep to the appropriate TA dieties), but it has happened to some players and is something you should be aware of and prepared to deal with as a TA.

As noted in the notes for Entangling Arrow, I am unable to test this at the time of writing this guide (account inactive), so the issue may or may not be resolved by the time you read this.

Also recently brought up on the forums is a side-effect of slotting Flash Arrow with the newer ToHit Debuff proc IOs. A player slotted one of these into Flash Arrow and found that he was immediately aggroed every time he used the power. This is because, as stated above, all debuffs generate aggro. Even though Flash Arrow suppresses its own aggro, it does nothing to suppress the aggro from other debuffs, including any from procs slotted into the power. If you intend to use Flash Arrow as a Perception debuff, do not use proc IOs with it.
[*]Personal comments: I don't like Flash Arrow. I gave it a long time to mature, and admittedly, I was using it back when it had a hit check, but I was one of those people who got nailed by spawns that just refused to play "Follow the Tanker" and it left me soured on this power. I am considering it on my Fire/TA, but I haven't completely convinced myself to give it another shot. Flash Arrow isn't bad, it's got a lot of versatility and usefulness built into it, but it just hasn't been a good fit for my play style thus far.[/list]
Glue Arrow
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: Level 2 (defender), Level 4 (controller, mastermind)[*]Effects: -Speed (90%) -Recharge (20%), -Max Run Speed (5.25), -Fly, -Jump, moderate Interrupt[*]Recharge: 60 seconds[*]Animation: 1.17 seconds[*]Duration: 30 seconds[*]Range: 60', 25' AoE centered on targeted critter[*]Endurance: 7.8 (defenders and controllers), 9.8 (masterminds)[*]Accuracy: Auto-hit in both PvE and PvP[*]Accepted Enhancements: Endurance Reduction, Range, Recharge Reduction, Slow (Snare)[*]Slotting recommendation: 2-3 Recharge Reduction, optionally 1-3 Slow, optionally 1-2 Range[*]Usable IO sets: Slow[*]Notes: Glue Arrow is a very nice AoE Slow that behaves in an interesting way. In addition to its standard AoE behavior, meaning it debuffs everything inside the radius when it lands, it also applies its debuffs to anything that enters the AoE afterward, as long as the Glue patch exists. Furthermore, any enemies entering the AoE are debuffed for 30 seconds, even if the Glue patch expires 1 second after they enter. All of this makes it a very versatile AoE. And it's even auto-hit. Get it, slot it, use it.

Be aware that Glue Arrow can only be used on enemies that are touching or almost touching the ground. If they're flying, or in the process of leaping, or even falling, Glue Arrow will fail to activate. And the -Fly is only applied to foes that are in the Glue patch or who come down low enough to be affected by it (like Caltrops, the "top" of the power is only a few inches high).

The Interrupt that I listed is not an actual mechanic of the power, but instead a side effect of how debuffs work. With each pulse (all powers with continuing effects create that continuation by renewing the power at set intervals), the debuff is re-applied and may, in some cases, interrupt any effects that are flagged as Interruptible (such as snipes, or a power from the Medicine pool). In Glue Arrow's case, the pulses are at 1 second intervals.

You can see above that Glue's speed debuff is 90%, which also happens to be the cap for speed debuffs. Against +0 critters, this power is as effective as it can get, right out of the box, with only a very few exceptions (primarily Crey * Tanks, which move significantly faster than most critters). So if you're almost always facing +0 critters, don't waste any slots on Slow enhancements, they won't make any difference. When fighting +1s and higher, the debuff is less effective, and you'll find that increasing the Slow with enhancements will improve the power. If you've got access to Oil Slick Arrow, that power also debuffs speed by 90%, and the debuffs of both powers stack. With Glue and Oil Slick together, even if you're not slotting for Slows, you should find that even +3 critters are almost at the -Speed cap. Anything above that is going to require slotting Slow enhancements in either or both powers to reach the cap.

In short, if you typically solo and leave your difficulty at the first or second setting, you probably won't need Slow enhancements. If you team or like to fight tougher opponents, or want to use it in PvP, you'll want to either stack it with Oil Slick or slot it with Slow enhancements. Even without Slow enhancements, it's a solid, appreciable speed debuff, but you'll get more out of it against +2s and +3s if you slot for Slow.
[*]Personal comments: This is one of the powers that I tend to use less frequently when I'm soloing (and i solo my TA/A far more than i team with her), but I refuse to respec out of it. If I find myself struggling, or being defeated, I'll typically try again with Glue and find that any given spawn wasn't as tough as it seemed before. It's also on my A-list for teams, often the first thing I use.[/list]
Ice Arrow
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: Level 6 (defender), Level 10 (controller, mastermind)[*]Effects: Hold (mag 3), -Speed (12.5% defenders and controllers, 10% masterminds), -Recharge (12.5% defenders and controllers, 10% masterminds), -Knockback (100%)[*]Recharge: 18 seconds[*]Animation: 1.83 seconds[*]Duration: Variable (use AT modifier for Ranged Sleep to calculate this Variable)
*Base value: 8 seconds
*Defender: 8.4 seconds (level 6), 11.92 seconds (level 50)
*Controller: 10.9 seconds (level 10), 14.9 seconds (level 50)
*Mastermind: 6.976 seconds (level 10), 9.536 seconds (level 50)
*Note: Only the Hold duration is Variable. All other effects remain at a set 10 second duration, regardless of level or slotting (yes, 10 seconds, and no, i don't know why it's not synchronous with the base duration value).[*]Range: 80'[*]Endurance: 8.5 (defenders and controllers), 10.7 (masterminds)[*]Accuracy: 1.0[*]Accepted Enhancements: Accuracy, Endurance Reduction, Hold Duration, Range, Recharge Reduction, Slow (Snare)[*]Slotting recommendation: 1-2 Accuracy, 2-3 Hold Duration, 1-2 Recharge Reduction[*]Usable IO sets: Hold, Slow[*]Notes: It's a hold. There isn't much more to Ice Arrow than that, it simply isn't one of the "special" powers in the game and certainly not one of TA's sparkling gems. It's useful for those who like or know how to use Holds, useless to those who don't or choose not to. Defenders should give it at least a fair run, as it does provide solid and reliable damage mitigation, something that's lacking early in a TA defender's career, but controllers and masterminds should give careful thought to whether or not they need or can find a use for this power. Controllers could use it to stack holds, supplement a control-light primary or as a Containment enabler, but it's not likely to make or break a character.

The most outstanding issue with Ice Arrow isn't really a bug, but a quirk of the way the game works. When you use a power that affects a critter, the effects are checked at the beginning of the animation. This is true of all powers that affect critters, whether they're straight damage powers, controls, debuffs or anything. In the event that your power misses, the critter AI is notified immediately, at the beginning of the animation. Prior to Issue 11, this caused a serious problem in the use of Ice Arrow, due to the relatively long animation time (3.3 seconds). It was not uncommon for a TA player to activate Ice Arrow and immediately be barraged by an alpha strike (and often defeated, or beaten badly enough to send the player running for the exit) because it missed. With the new, lower animation time, this should be much less of an issue, but you should still remain aware of this quirk of game mechanics when using this power. Aware and prepared to deal with it.
[*]Personal comments: Ice is my alpha in most solo situations. I've grown accustomed to TA's quirks, so I've pared down my attack sequence to the bare necessities. I like moving things along, and Ice as an alpha helps me do that. I dropped Ice on a respec, in favor of Stunning Shot because I thought the additional accuracy would give me more of an edge, but eventually I went back to Ice. The extra accuracy was nice, but not nice enough to sacrifice having a total mitigation power in the early levels if I had to exemplar. If I can Hold one critter, I instantly give myself an advantage and a focus for my AoEs, and given how TA is designed and works, that's gold in a bottle. For teams, though, I save this for after the debuffing, when I see a troublesome lieutenant or minion giving someone trouble or trying to escape its just and right tarring and feathering.[/list]
Poison Gas Arrow
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: Level 8 (defender), Level 16 (controller, mastermind)[*]Effects: -Damage (31.25% defenders, 20% controllers, 15% masterminds), Sleep (mag 2, 66% chance/critter (50% masterminds))[*]Recharge: 45 seconds[*]Animation: 1.17 seconds[*]Duration: -Damage 20 seconds, Sleep Variable
*Base value: 6 seconds
*Defender: 6.42 seconds (level 8), 8.94 seconds (level 50)
*Controller: 8.625 seconds (level 16), 11.175 seconds (level 50)
*Mastermind: 5.52 seconds (level 16), 7.152 seconds (level 50)[*]Range: 70', 25' AoE centered on targeted critter[*]Endurance: ~10.4 (defenders and controllers), 13 (masterminds)[*]Accuracy: Auto-hit in both PvP and PvE (note: the Sleep component is not checked for hit like attacks, it's a flat % chance to occur, checked when the critter is affected. it is not modified by anything)[*]Accepted Enhancements: Endurance Reduction, Range, Recharge Reduction, Sleep Duration[*]Slotting recommendation: 2-3 Recharge Reduction, optionally 1 Range, optionally 1-3 Sleep Duration[*]Usable IO sets: Sleep[*]Notes: PGA is one of the really nice powers in TA. It's gone through several different variations before becoming the power that we know and use now, and it's definitely the best it can be at this time. The damage debuff is very appreciable in PvE, and the Sleep was fixed very nicely in Issue 7.

This is a power that everyone can get a lot of mileage out of throughout a TA character's career. It is, however, primarily a "team power". Solo defenders and controllers aren't going to get as much out of PGA as teamed defenders and controllers, as they're more in need of balancing damage mitigation with damage dealing (something every player eventually learns is when enough mitigation is enough to survive and leave more time for BEATING THE POO OUT OF STUFF WOOOOOOOO!). Masterminds, however, certainly get some "bang for the buck" from PGA, since they essentially are entire teams. Between Bodyguard and PGA, a mastermind can reduce incoming damage to both him/herself and his/her minions quite nicely.

The AoE is not the lingering type, like Glue Arrow's. This is a one-shot, one time effect power. The graphic does remain for a while, but the effects only occur at the moment of impact, and only on whatever was in the radius. If something walks through the Poison Gas cloud 1 second afterward, it won't be affected. In that respect, it's not as good as a toggle, because toggles are continuous and can affect anything entering their AoEs, but you're also not paying the endurance cost that toggles carry and you're not dealing with the risk of critters leaving the toggle AoE either (since the debuff is on them and done) or a toggle dropping if you're mezzed. And, really, the radius is big enough to hit most or all of the critters in a typical spawn. Essentially all of the benefits of a toggled debuff with none of the downsides.

The Sleep function is nothing to sneeze at, either. While it is only mag 2, every minion or underling in a spawn has a 66% (50% masterminds) shot at being Slept. It's a very nice bonus for PvE. It's also worth gambling on in PvP, as it is auto-hit in that aspect of the game and gives you an even shot at disabling a pesky player just long enough to gain the upper hand.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Sleep function will be less useful in PvE teams, simply due to the typically chaotic nature of PvE team combat. Every critter that you do manage to Sleep is just as likely to be awakened 0.001 seconds later by one of your teammates. Don't freak out, PGA has already done its primary job of reducing incoming damage and did a little bit more by Sleeping that one or more critters, however briefly, keeping you and your team that much safer. But if you really just want to enjoy the choking animation (PGA's Sleep effect is a choking animation), whip it out solo and have fun with it. You couldn't find a safer power to play with in such a manner!

The only bug that I'm aware of with PGA is graphical. I've seen cases when some enemies are Slept, but don't display the proper animation, making it impossible to actually tell that they've been affected.

Special note: Defenders have a higher scale value for PGA than controllers or masterminds. Defender scale value for PGA is 2.5, while the scale value for controllers and masterminds is 2.0. Thus, 31.25%, 20% and 15%.
[*]Personal comments: PGA is another power that I rarely use when I'm soloing, but that's mostly due to habit and, as noted in the Ice commentary, because I've grown accustomed to TA/A and know how much of a beating I can take. I'm considering working it back into my combat sequence, what with the reduced animation times and potential with some proc IOs, but until I test it out, it's still mostly a team power to me.[/list]
Acid Arrow
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: Level 12 (defender), Level 20 (controller, mastermind)[*]Effects: -Resistance (20% PvE and 30% PvP defenders, 15% PvE and PvP controllers and masterminds), -Defense (25% defenders, 20% controllers, 15% masterminds), minor DoT (~0.3 point/second)[*]Recharge: 20 seconds[*]Animation: 1.83 seconds[*]Duration: 20 seconds[*]Range: 70', 8' AoE centered on targeted critter[*]Endurance: 7.8 (defender and controller), 9.8 (mastermind)[*]Accuracy: 1.0[*]Accepted Enhancements: Accuracy, Damage, Defense Debuff, Endurance Reduction, Range, Recharge Reduction[*]Slotting recommendation: 2 Accuracy, 2 Recharge Reduction, 2 Defense Debuff. Optionally (a very good and not terribly difficult option) 2-3 Lysosome Exposure (HO or SHO) and 2-3 Recharge Reduction.[*]Usable IO sets: Targeted AoE, Defense Debuff[*]Notes: Acid Arrow is one of the set-defining powers for TA. This is one power that no TA, regardless of AT, should ever pass up or fail to use as frequently as possible. Resistance debuff, defense debuff and a DoT that really puts the kibosh on anything that's interruptible. Don't ever skip Acid Arrow, and don't skimp on the slots. Six slot this power. The only negative aspect of Acid Arrow is that its AoE is much smaller than anything comparable. Recognize this and learn to use it efficiently. Look for clusters of critters to use it on, instead of the lone lieutenant or boss standing halfway across the warehouse.

In PvP, this is the one power that will make brutes and stalkers hate you in ways that you never imagined you could be hated. Properly slotted, you can put a serious dent in their defense-based protections or cut a nice bit out of their resistance-based protections, and the DoT (Damage over Time) is the absolute bane of stalkers.

Why the Recharge Reduction enhancements, since the recharge time matches the duration? First, because the AoE is small, and you're not going to hit everything that you want to most of the time. Second, because it really is a heck of a debuffing tool. You're going to want to use it on as many things as possible, and keep it up for as long as possible. And third, because it's easier to get it back onto a particular critter, like an AV, if it's recharging sooner and you can fire it again while the Defense Debuff from the previous application is still active. Just trust me on this, put at least 1 Recharge Reduction into it, and consider 2 or 3 if you can spare the slots. Get some way to reduce the recharge time, whether it's enhancements or IO set bonuses or Hasten, whatever, just do it.

To date, there are no known bugs with Acid Arrow. The small AoE is a source of never ending disgruntlement among some players, but as far as is known, the radius is intended, not a bug. Aside from the small AoE radius, Acid Arrow is just about as perfect as it can be.
[*]Personal comments: Love it, love it, love it. If I had to pick any one power from TA to take with me to any other powerset, Acid would be it. This is the one power that I rely on more than any other. I've even gone so far as to slot it with 3 Lysosomes and 3 Recharge Reduction SOs, because missing with Acid just ruins my entire day and not being able to use it again quickly makes me unpleasant to be around.[/list]
Disruption Arrow
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: Level 18 (defender), Level 28 (controller, mastermind)[*]Effects: -Resistance (20% defenders, 15% controllers and masterminds), minor Interrupt[*]Recharge: 60 seconds[*]Animation: 1.17 seconds[*]Duration: 30 seconds[*]Range: 70', 25' AoE centered on targeted location[*]Endurance: ~15 (defenders and controllers), 18 (masterminds)[*]Accuracy: Auto-hit in both PvP and PvE[*]Accepted Enhancements: Endurance Reduction, Range, Recharge Reduction[*]Slotting recommendation: 2-3 Recharge Reduction, optionally 1 Range[*]Usable IO sets: None[*]Notes: Disruption Arrow is a relatively simple power. It debuffs resistance, and that's really all there is to it. In a set full of powers that fill multiple roles, this one is shockingly plain and straightforward. The debuff is nice, so if you can fit it into your build it's worth picking up, but at the same time, it's not a critical power so don't fret too much if you decide to skip or respec out of it.

Using Disruption Arrow is relatively simple, too. Pick a spot and shoot it. You can fire it into the middle of a spawn, or fire it and pull a spawn into it, either way works.

Disruption Arrow's potential to cause Interrupt is much lower than Glue Arrow's, as the pulses come at ~5 second intervals. It's very unlikely that you'll ever see this occur, but it does bear mentioning.

An oddity of this power is that it can be fired in any direction, including straight up in the air, which in and of itself is a very amusing thing to do (also nice for role-players who want a "signal arrow"). One additional note is that, as of the last time I played (again, my account is inactive at the time of writing this guide), Disruption Arrow used the "old" Sonic graphics (white, nearly transparent rings). Players who experienced discomfort or illness when playing or teaming with Sonic characters may wish to avoid this power. And while you may not experience discomfort when using Disruption Arrow, you may find yourself on a team with someone who does, at which time you might consider refraining from using this power for the duration of that team.

Disruption Arrow only affects 10 targets, instead of the typical 16 for AoEs. I am uncertain whether this is a bug or by design.
[*]Personal comments: As a primarily solo TA/A player, I just can't get into Disruption. I always end up putting it into a build very late, if I take it at all. I know the debuff is worth the pick, but the recharge, the fact that it's anchored to the floor and the extra time it means I have to spend to use it just leave me feeling blah about it. I'd rather use Acid. If I've got a large enough spawn, something I can use Oil Slick or RoA on and feel like I'm not wasting either, then I'll use Disruption. Otherwise, I typically only use it on teams.[/list]
Oil Slick Arrow
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: Level 26 (defender), Level 35 (controller, mastermind)[*]Effects: -Speed (90%), -Max Run Speed (5.25), Knockdown (0.5), Interrupt (even if target is immune to Knockdown), Damage (3.34 Fire damage/second), -Defense (25%), Avoid (critters), -Jump[*]Recharge: 180 seconds[*]Animation: 1.17 seconds[*]Duration: 30 seconds (Oil Slick Burn duration 15 seconds)[*]Range: 70', 25' AoE centered on targeted location[*]Endurance: 15.6 (defenders and controllers), 19.5 (masterminds)[*]Accuracy: Auto-hit (Slow), 5% (Knockdown, checked every 0.2 seconds), 1.0 (Oil Slick Burn, checked every 0.2 seconds)[*]Accepted Enhancements: Damage, Defense Debuff, Endurance Reduction, Recharge Reduction, Slow (Snare)[*]Slotting recommendation: 3 Recharge Reduction, 3 Damage; OR 2 Recharge Reduction, 2 Damage, 2 Slow[*]Usable IO sets: Targeted AoE, Slow, Defense Debuff[*]Notes: This is a set-defining power in TA. OSA does so many different things, it's almost overwhelming. It's Glue Arrow on steroids and sixteen pots of coffee. It's the Swiss Army Knife of the TA powerset. Regardless of what's going on around you, there's almost no situation that OSA wouldn't be useful for.

The Slow is the same strength as the one in Glue, and keep in mind that you can stack Glue with it if you need or want to. Furthermore, you can use OSA to accomplish that by using OSA, then firing Glue at the Oil Slick Target. You can even drop a Slick, then Glue it, then pull a spawn onto it if you like.

Too many critters around? Set it on fire, they'll all start running. They don't tend to get far before either being defeated or turning around and saying mean things about you for burning them, but every second that they spend trying to get out of the burning Oil Slick patch is a second that they aren't spending punching you in the face. And since OSA is also a Knockdown power, even if you can't get it to ignite, you're likely to see most or all of the critters in it bouncing up and down so fast that they don't even have time to stand up, much less attack. Or insult you.

Some clever people even figured out that one can use an Oil Slick Target as a focal point for powers like Howling Twilight. At a Hamidon raid, no less!

There are just so many ways that Oil Slick Arrow can be used, and more are being discovered (or invented!) constantly. It's a truly unique power that provides truly unique usage.

The damage output from OSA, after slotting with 3 Damage SOs (or better) is easily enough to drop +0 minions with no other powers or assistance. Add in one or both of your Resistance Debuffs and you'll find that even tougher foes tend to "feel the burn". The Slow and Knockdown that OSA provides makes it even more powerful as a damage dealing power, as they provide a tremendous help in keeping critters in the burning oil. OSA makes Rain-style powers look like red-headed step-children. You can also extend the duration of OSA artificially by waiting until the last few seconds before you attempt to ignite it. If you set it ablaze at, say, 25 seconds, the slick will continue to burn for its full 15 seconds, even though the slick itself expires 5 seconds into the burn duration! Also, the damage is "pet" damage, so it should be equal for all ATs (3.34 base damage per tick).

The pulses from the Knockdown component come at 0.2 second intervals, so OSA makes a very powerful Interrupt tool. If it's ignited, the Fire damage pulses also come at 0.2 second intervals, a powerful DoT in anyone's hands, and one that also fully Interrupts anyone or any critter in the AoE.

The Oil Slick Target also occasionally attracts critter attention. Although unreliable (it has a -100 Threat), it can be useful and helpful when it happens. Monitor the behavior of your spawns, and when you see one or more critters turn around and try to shoot or stab the Oil Slick Target, go ahead and have a little giggle at the free damage mitigation you just got. In the rare situation where the critter actually ignites Oil Slick, you're authorized to laugh until you poo yourself. A little. Don't go overboard with it, we don't need poo-covered TA players giving the clean ones a bad name.

However, OSA isn't all roses and sunshine. There is, unfortunately, some fertilizer still stinking up the garden here. The most obvious caveat is the recharge time. Most players will have to settle for only being able to use it once every ~90 seconds (3-slotted with Recharge Reduction enhancements, no other +recharge buffs, about what i expect to be the average for players), which always feels too darn long for such a wonderful power.

Additionally, the Oil Slick Target can only be ignited by Fire or Energy damage. This can cause a problem for players who pick a primary or secondary with no Fire or Energy damage. Plan accordingly and pick either Magic or Technology as your origin if you intend to pair TA with one of those few primaries or secondaries with no Fire or Energy damage. You can use your origin power to ignite the slick. Alternatively, pick up and sparingly use temp powers that cause Fire or Energy damage.

Regarding the Defense Debuff component of Oil Slick Arrow, there has been more than a little confusion. Previous information indicated that it was 2.5% and slated for removal altogether. Recent conversations with Castle finally clarified the issue and verified that OSA does, in fact, debuff Defense by 25%.

The Defense Debuff is directly tied to the Oil Slick pseudo-pet, and as such remains a consistent 25% across ATs (but it can be increased via Defense Debuff enhancements). Pseudo-pets are not Controller pets or Mastermind minions, but instead untargetable, invisible (normally, though they do sometimes display buff graphics if the buffs on the player's character are transferred and have visible graphics) spawns that perform some or all of the actual effects of a power. Oil Slick is currently the one of the very few powers in the game available to players with a targetable pseudo-pet. Other examples of pseudo-pets include Twilight Grasp and Fulcrum Shift (and there are many more!).

Regarding the usage and slotting for the Defense Debuff, I'm still of a mind to say, "Don't bother" for PvE. It's high enough on its own to be quite debilitating in regular PvE play, even against nasty spawns like Vengeance-heavy Nemesis, and you do have Acid Arrow to back it up. Invest those Defense Debuff enhancements in Acid Arrow instead, as that power is available much more frequently and will give a better result over time. However, for PvP, slotting for the Defense Debuff and Slow isn't a bad idea, because they're both auto-hit. If you can lure or force foes into an Oil Slick, you'll be cutting their Defense and automatically hitting them with a reasonably good Slow, so it's worth buffing up these aspects of the power if you're going to rely on it in PvP.

The damage component of OSA has normal accuracy, it is not auto-hit. It does appear to be gaining the benefit of the Defense Debuff, though, allowing it to appear to have much higher than normal accuracy and typically resulting in very few missed ticks from the DoT. I've only seen a scant few +0 minions survive a burning Oil Slick, and in all of those cases, their survival was a result of a lucky Regeneration tick before they were defeated, not missed DoT ticks.

And now we get to the bugs. OSA has been absolutely riddled with bugs since the day it was created, to the point of driving poor Castle loopy. In addition to the current, existing bugs, it used to be possible to miss the Oil Slick Target on every attempt one made to ignite it, in spite of the streak breaker. That particular bug appears to have been smooshed in or shortly after Issue 7 (thankfully!), but two other very serious bugs remain.

The first bug is one that all TA players will eventually encounter, the ignition bug. When TA was originally released, and for many months afterward, those of us playing the powerset believed that the power wasn't intended to be capable of being set on fire 100% of the time. In fact, it is supposed to catch fire every time the Oil Slick Target is defeated with Fire or Energy damage, but it isn't. Sometimes, a TA player will play for hours and never get it to ignite at all. Other times, the same player will light it up on every attempt. It's a long-standing bug that has no obvious resolution, and one we all hope will eventually be fixed. The only known correlation is the number of things on a map. It tends to fail much more frequently outdoors or on maps with large teams. Solo players doing door missions seem to have higher ignition rates. The development team is still wrestling with this problem and there is no timetable for a resolution. For the time being, if you get even one ignition failure, just stop trying for a while. Logging out and back in has been reported to help sometimes, but there's really nothing that makes it 100% reliable right now.

The second bug is extremely detrimental to controllers and masterminds, the pet bug. For reasons unknown, the Avoid effect from a burning Oil Slick is affecting player pets and henchmen, so players' pets and henchmen run away from burning Slicks just like critters do. Worse, they then fail to respond to commands or follow the player for a significant amount of time, as though the Avoid effect is still in the area and affecting them. This bug effectively makes Oil Slick Arrow risky and unwieldy for pet- or henchmen-dependent controllers and masterminds. Even defenders who team with pet or henchmen using ATs are affected, indirectly, as the odd behavior is an inconvenience for not only the pet/henchmen user but the entire team. Nor are the effects limited to standard player pets and henchmen, this bug will affect any type of pet, including Shivans, Warwolves, mission hostages that fight on your side, etc.

A minor third bug exists, but is far from critical. Oil Slick Arrow doesn't display the Defense Debuff graphic (a purple shield with downward moving arrows) on anything that's in or enters it. Not on critters, not on players. This has been reported and will be relatively easy to fix, and may even already be fixed by the time this guide is released (i reported it to Castle, he knew exactly why the graphics weren't displaying and said he'd take care of it).

Lastly, not quite a bug, but Oil Slick Arrow tends to be a tad difficult for some players' computers, due to the graphics. Not really a TA problem, as there are many powers that have been putting a strain on graphics cards over the last few issues, but something to keep in mind.

And don't look for combat data from Oil Slick's damage effect in your log. The power, being part pseudo-pet, doesn't generate that particular log data. I can only speculate, but this is either due to pets not being linked to the chat code, or because the developers deliberately decided not to have Oil Slick Burn (the name of the pseudo-pet that deals the actual damage) send combat/damage data to the chat window (likely because spamming chat with 5 messages every 5 seconds would either drive some people insane or cause client instability).

Speaking of keeping things in mind, be judicious in your use of OSA when you're on a team. If the team is really moving along swiftly, don't waste it on a spawn that's going to be obliterated in less time than it takes for you to get it out and ignited. Use it as an alternate for Glue Arrow or save it for a fight that you expect to last long enough to really get the full benefit. It's really tempting to use it every time it's available, but it's not always the best choice.

Oh, and be careful if you're attempting to use Oil Slick Arrow with another power that causes Knockdown, such as Ice Slick. When you stack Knockdown, it becomes Knockback (because Knockdown is actually low mag Knockback (below 1.0)). Using two or more Knockdown powers together tends to send all of the critters flying out of that carefully constructed Knock* patch. It's a useful tactic for times when you have to retreat and need your exit path blocked to critters, but take my advice, it's generally a less than stellar idea when you're on a team. Teammates usually get a tad bit miffed when you send their targets to the farthest corners of the map.

And one last thing, always remember that OSA is more than just a damage dealing power. Yes, certainly, the damage that it deals is glorious, but never forget that this isn't all that it does. Expand your understanding of the power, don't let yourself get pigeonholed into using it as just a damage dealer. Use it intelligently and adaptively.
[*]Personal comments: Like every other "old-timer" in the TA/A community, I both love and hate Oil Slick. I love it when it works, I hate it when it's recharging or fails to ignite. I use OSA solo, I use OSA in teams, I use OSA against -49 minions (they only last about a second, if that, before they get knocked out of it (due to the level difference), but it's still fun!), I use OSA against AVs and GMs, sometimes I just fire it off for the heck of it. I'm always looking for reasons and new ways to use OSA.[/list]
EMP Arrow
<ul type="square">[*]Availability: Level 32 (defender), Level 38 (controller, mastermind)[*]Effects: Hold (mag 3, 50% chance for additional mag 1), -Regeneration, -Endurance (55% PvE, 20.838 PvP defenders; 40% PvE, 18.337 PvP controllers; 50 PvE, 16.67 PvP masterminds (masterminds do a straight point drain, not percentage, in PvE. all ATs do straight point drains in PvP)), Damage (moderate Energy damage, machines only, not Psionic Clockwork), -Recovery (self)[*]Recharge: 300 seconds[*]Animation: 1.83 seconds[*]Duration: Variable (use AT modifier for Ranged Sleep to calculate this Variable)
*Base value: 15 seconds
*Defender: 19.65 seconds (level 32), 22.35 seconds (level 50)
*Controller: 25.6875 seconds (level 38), 27.9375 seconds (level 50)
*Mastermind: 16.44 seconds (level 38), 17.88 seconds (level 50)
*Note: Only the Hold duration is Variable. All other effects remain at a set 15 second duration, regardless of level or slotting.[*]Range: 70', 35' AoE centered on targeted critter[*]Endurance: ~23 (defenders and controllers), 29.3 (masterminds)[*]Accuracy: 1.0[*]Accepted Enhancements: Accuracy, Endurance Reduction, Hold Duration, Recharge Reduction[*]Slotting recommendation: 1-2 Accuracy, 2-3 Hold, 2-3 Recharge Reduction[*]Usable IO sets: Hold[*]Notes: This Hold is one of the most powerful in the game, bar none. The recharge time is correspondingly long, of course, but the few negatives of this power (recharge time, endurance recovery penalty) are very minor in comparison to the positives. For what EMP Arrow does, it's well worth every slot you devote to it.

Why do I say that it's one of the most powerful Holds in the game? First, it has standard accuracy. A long time ago, the developers made a lot of changes to AoEs, one of which was reducing their base accuracy. All of the various forms of EMP were left at standard 1.0 accuracy, though. Whether they were missed or deliberately skipped is unknown. The second major selling point is, it's ranged. Every other Hold of this type is a PBAoE (Point Blank Area of Effect, meaning "all around your character, you're the middle point"), but EMP Arrow can be used from far away instead of sending the player to the middle of the spawn. Those two aspects make this power the single greatest AoE Hold that's available, period.

EMP Arrow is currently, and unfortunately, the only source of -Regeneration available to TA players, and it only lasts 15 seconds. In my limited testing against a Kronos Titan (in Issue 10), it's not enough to allow a team of 8 with no other debuffers to defeat a Giant Monster. I'm not certain if Elite Bosses and Archvillains still have the same regeneration as Giant Monsters, but if they do, well, even with Acid Arrow and Disruption Arrow assisting, don't be surprised (and try not to be offended) when your team goes looking for a Kin, Dark or Rad to help debuff.

It's possible to slot and use EMP Arrow as a "sapper" device, if one so chooses, but given that the duration of the Hold can be enhanced as well, and that EMP Arrow doesn't apply a Recovery Debuff to critters, it makes more sense (to me) to slot for Hold Duration because the endurance that you drain is going to start recovering 15 seconds later, whereas a Hold can be extended beyond that (and already has a longer base duration than 15 seconds for the Hold by the time you get it, regardless of AT). Another consideration is that there are no other Endurance Drain options in TA, so even with slotting for this, there's no way for a TA to fully drain a critter short of special IOs or specific powers like Power Build Up or Power Boost, or pairing it up with a primary or secondary with Endurance Drain abilities.

You should also be cautious of the Recovery Debuff applied to your character after using EMP Arrow. Watch your endurance bar. It is only 15 seconds, and despite not being able to recover endurance, you'll often find that starting with a full bar will permit you to continue to use your other powers relatively freely, but don't let yourself grow overconfident. If you're not paying attention, you may find yourself bottoming out your blue bar (this may be exceptionally risky for TA/As, given the sweeping reductions in animation times for both powersets) and in serious trouble. The debuff isn't a killer, but it is something you should always keep in mind. Keep a Catch a Breath inspiration available, or power like Conserve Power when you plan to use EMP Arrow, just for safety's sake.

Controllers will obviously get the greatest durations possible from EMP Arrow (especially those who get the Vanguard Medal and take Power Boost), but the base duration is so long that all TA players can get very nice results from it. The fact that it has an even chance to hold bosses just makes it that much better, and you can always toss an Ice Arrow into the mix to really put a lock on a pesky boss.

Oh, and this is downright nasty in PvP. With Vanguard, Power Boost or Power Build Up and slotting it with 3 Hold enhancements (or the equivalent), you can actually Hold a player for right about one full minute as a defender or controller. The other debuffs that it applies are good, too, but the Hold duration potential is just delightful.
[*]Personal comments: I actually skipped EMP until a respec. I don't remember if I was 50 or nearly 50, but I'd misunderstood the description and thought it was a full endurance drain power, so I passed on it until someone mentioned that it had no crash. Once I respeced into it, I spent a week pounding my head against my desk for doing without it for so long. It's simply the most amazing hold I've ever used or seen in the game, period. I save this for emergencies when I'm soloing, and I haven't regretted it yet. On teams, I alternate it with OSA to disable entire spawns (OSA on one, EMP on the next, regular debuffs on the third, OSA again, etc.), and once in a while I'll run off in a different direction just so I can EMP/OSA/Disruption/Acid/RoA/Fistful a spawn by myself, then stand there and /e drumdance while the critters roast and the teammates stare in shock. It's a nice reminder that Darks, Kins, Rads and Storms aren't the only defenders who can get away with that kind of temerity.[/list]

[u](Section 1 - History and Mechanics)[u]

A long time ago, in a galaxy...

...

Wrong intro! &gt;.&lt;

In the beginning, there was...

O_o

Bother and pie. Who shuffled my notes? *glare*

*rifles through a stack of papers*

Ah, here we go!

The Trick Arrow powerset made its debut all the way back in Issue 5. Trick Arrow was developed as one of the first new powersets since City of Heroes went live (coincidentally, it was also one of the first projects that Castle worked on (for which i continue to praise his twinkly toes, eternally) when he was brought into Cryptic's embrace. Yay for Castle and sharp, pointy sticks!). When Issue 5 landed on the shores of the test server, it was praised for its freshness and novelty, and lauded for granting another "natural" path for those who wanted to play "non-powered" heroes. Entire teams of Trick Arrow defenders roamed the test server, leaving only devastation in their wake.

The powerset was, ironically, deemed to be too good for its own good. Whether this was due to the actual values of the powers or simply an unfortunate outcome of having 8 TA defenders all working in concert, the developers determined that some changes would be necessary. At that point in time, 4 of the powers were location-targeted, which was deemed to be a bit too much "juggling" (having to switch between location-targeted and critter-targeted), so Glue Arrow and Poison Gas Arrow were changed to critter-targeted, leaving only two location-targeted powers (Oil Slick Arrow and Disruption Arrow). In addition, the recharge rates of most of the powers were increased significantly, making them impossible, for all intents and purposes, to "perma" (to keep them active at all times). Acid Arrow's damage component had a self-stacking effect, leading to an impressive amount of damage from a power that was intended to be a debuff, so that was also reduced and the stacking eliminated. The -Recharge in Poison Gas Arrow and Entangling Arrow were also removed because the set was stated to have "too many -Recharge effects", although the -Recharge was eventually returned to Entangling Arrow. Poison Gas Arrow's Sleep was horrendously broken, limited to a single target and occurring so rarely that some TA players never even saw it happen (those who did could count on one hand the number of times a critter was Slept throughout 50 levels of play).

By the end of the Issue 5 beta period, Trick Arrow had become a pale shadow of its original incarnation. It was an admittedly difficult powerset to play when it finally made the transition to the live servers. In addition to numerous bugs that hadn't quite been ironed out, there wasn't really much that TA could do that any other debuff/control set couldn't do as well or better. Glue Arrow, for example, had a 2 minute recharge, absolutely horrid for lower level play and only tolerable when it could be 6-slotted with Recharge Reduction SOs. When Enhancement Diversification made its way into the game, Trick Arrow was hit extra hard because much of its usability later in the game was due to the ability to 6-slot for specific attributes, such as recharge, and the powerset had been balanced around that.

The period between Issues 5 and 7 were a very dark time for Trick Arrow. Most players either shelved their TA characters in hope of someday being seeing improvements, or outright deleted them. 10 months after TA's debut, a mere half dozen or so players had made it to 50 with TA characters, and as far as I know, all of them were TA/A defenders (including mine).

With the approach of Issue 7, rumors of bug fixes and improvements to the powerset loomed large, and were soon confirmed by Castle. When Issue 7 finally made an appearance on the test server, several players took the initiative to organize a series of tests to fully examine the changes and fixes being implemented, the results of which were fully published and discussed in a thread of considerable length. The final outcome was positive. The changes to TA in Issue 7 made the powerset much more player-friendly and brought the basic values of the powers closer to a parity with other debuff/control powersets. Referencing Glue Arrow for an example again, the recharge time was brought down to a more managable level that allowed it to be used at least 50% of the time even in the very early game (a tremendous improvement, given that the previous recharge time limited it to 25% uptime without Hasten or Recharge Reduction SOs). Dedicated TA players and those with more than a passing interest in the powerset were pleased with the results of the changes.

Some bugs still plagued TA, though, and usability issues and comparisons to other powersets continued. The key point, however, was that TA was no longer referred to as "unplayable" or "impossible to level", except by a few hardcore anti-TA fanatics. Some others still felt that the powerset was poorly executed and/or simply didn't stand up to comparisons to other powersets, but in general, TA had become accepted by the players. As the months rolled onward, more TA defenders, controllers and masterminds began appearing on the servers. Seeing a level 50 TA was no longer an occasion nearing on the mythical, though it was still uncommon.

Fast forward 18 months. While there remain some outstanding bugs and issues, TA has changed very little today from what it became with the release of Issue 7. Some of the information about TA is as valid now as it was when that information was made available back when Issue 7 was released my previous guide, Sharp, pointy sticks and you!. While there haven't been very many changes since Issue 7, new information and clarifications of some of the mechanics of TA, in addition to what Issue 11 brings, warrant a completely new guide for TA players.

With Issue 11, the animation times have been reduced, in many cases so significantly that the difference is not only noticeable, but quite remarkable. The animation times of TA have long been one of the most discussed aspects of the powerset, with an overwhelming majority voicing the opinion that these animation times were the single greatest obstacle to the powerset being fully functional. Issue 11 addresses this complaint, in a very dramatic way. Every power has had the animation time reduced, in many cases to half, or even less, of the previous time!

So, why play Trick Arrow? Even with the new and much improved animation times, much testing will inevitably be conducted to see how TA measures up to the in-place standards (Rad, Dark, Storm), and there's no guarantee that TA will meet everyones' approval. Nevertheless, TA is a powerset that you either adore or abhor, there doesn't appear to be any middle ground. In my case, I've always had an abiding fascination with "bows n' arrows". I was never a fan of Green Arrow or Hawkeye, my love came from reading old Robin Hood novels and stories of my Cherokee ancestors. That love has never quite abated. To indulge in a moment of brutal honesty, though, I don't think I would've ever given TA more than a passing glance if it hadn't been for that "other" powerset (Archery) and a very incorrect belief that had been in the game for some years (redraw). Nevertheless, I have grown quite attached to TA since I started playing it, and I've never regretted the time I've spent with it, nor any of the TA character that I've created (or will create). Despite the numerous arguments, and even outright fights that I've gotten into on the forums, I still, and always will, consider TA to be a fine powerset that I enjoy on many levels.

And, quite frankly, TA is a beautifully animated powerset. It's graceful in ways that almost no other powerset achieves (as is Archery!). I believe most of us who choose to play TA do so because of its exquisitely fluid and wonderfully rendered animations. It's very much an "eye candy" powerset, not in the sense of being graphically flashy, but in its subtlety and perfection. Let's give a big round of applause to BackAlleyBrawler for that! *claps hands enthusiastically*

The purpose of this guide is not to create 10,000 "uber" TA players overnight, but instead to provide the most accurate and up to date information available, thereby permitting you, the reader and player, to make informed and intelligent decisions when creating and playing your TA. Suggested tactics, slotting, enhancements and so forth are quite simply that, suggestions, based on my experience with and understanding of the powerset. In the end, your TA is yours, and how you play, how many slots you put into a power, which enhancements you use or anything else is entirely up to you. Do what makes you happy, that's the whole point of playing this game!

<ul type="square">[*]Design
So what, exactly, is Trick Arrow and how does it work?

TA is a collection of debuffs and controls that are all targeted on enemies or locations by enemies, or where you want or expect enemies to go. There are no buffs or toggles in the powerset, everything is designed to debilitate and harm enemies. Some of the powers are direct copies of powers in other powersets, while other powers are entirely new and unique to TA.

The subject of TA and buff powers comes up from time to time, most frequently a request to replace one of the powers with a "healing arrow". It is, without question, one of the most questionable suggestions possible, yet it still pops up from time to time. I say questionable because a high velocity projectile embedding itself in someone's body simply doesn't tend to make one think something beneficial is going to happen. Shooting someone does not make them stronger, or faster, or better able to resist damage, or heal them. Not even super-powered characters in a video game. Nor are buffing AoEs appropriate to the pace of combat and tendency of players to spread out and move around quickly and frequently. That's why all buffs are either PBAoEs, enemy-targeted AoEs or single-target on players, because the nature of buffing requires either getting players to stand still near you, buffing them when they're close to an enemy or doing it one at a time.

The fact that TA has no toggles is also brought up from time to time. The developers have never commented on why TA has no toggles, but it really should be evident simply from a few moments of reflection on the nature of the powerset. How do you explain an endurance cost for an arrow that a Natural character shot across the room? Really, really concentrating on holding down a button on a remote control? Seriously, toggles simply aren't thematic or realistic for the powerset in the context of the game. They wouldn't fit three of the five origins and they wouldn't make any sense for some of the powers. Would it really make sense for Glue Arrow to emit a constant flow of sticky substance? For three hours?! Of course not. So the developers took all of the powers and made them clicks, appropriate for the powerset and as well balanced as they could in terms of strength, cost and usability.

On a side note, the actual balance work for TA is pretty amazing when one thinks about it. The developers had to, first and foremost, ensure that the powers had durations long enough to permit players to do more than debuff and/or control, but also keep the endurance costs in mind and not make the durations so long that the powers became too expensive to use (presuming that at least some of the costs were based on the average expected endurance expenditure using similar toggles), and at the same time not water down the strengths of the powers to the point of making them require stacking to be useful or rendering them useless via inability to stack. They did go a little off with the recharge times, but those eventually reached a reasonable point as well. Given that they were trying some relatively new concepts in design, at least as far as this game goes, I feel confident in saying that they succeeded.

As I said, TA works by causing enemies to have a harder time dealing damage to you or your team and contributing to the defeat of those enemies. The powerset has a very wide variety of debuffs, spread out through many different powers. This gives the player control over the amount of damage mitigation he or she ends up using, and allows the player to focus on what type of debuffing he or she wants to do, defensive or combat. In contrast, all of the other powersets that debuff tend to mix defensive (debuffs that mitigate damage) and combat (debuffs that increase your team's total damage output) debuffs in single powers. That in itself is neither good nor bad, it's simply how those powers work, but with TA, the player has more freedom and flexibility for how the enemies are debuffed. A TA in a team with another character that is providing mostly defensive buffs or debuffs is more free to focus on combat debuffing and controlling stray critters or contributing to the fight in other ways. On the flip side, a TA in a team with a combat buffer/debuffer can use only the defensive debuffs and controls, or choose to add to the combat debuffing as well and further improve the team's speed.

Because all of your powers are clicks, their effects are persistent. Even if you're hit with a status effect, or the critter that you chose as the center of your AoE is defeated, the debuffs and controls will keep working on all of the other critters that were originally affected by them. Nothing can run away from your debuffs, either. Once PGA reduces a critter's damage output, or Flash debuffs a critter's ToHit, or Acid's defense and resistance debuffs are on a critter, nothing makes the debuff stop except the end of the duration and possibly your defeat. You could even completely run out of endurance, but as long as there's duration time left on your debuffs, those critters will stay debuffed.

All of your powers will generate aggro (make critters want to attack you). There are actually very few powers that don't create aggro, so a TA isn't alone in this. Debuffs, controls, attacks, if it affects a critter, it causes aggro. More specifically, they have a Threat rating. Different ATs have different modifiers for Threat, and different powers have different levels of threat, and Threat is even dependent on how much a power affects a critter (primarily things like attacks, which generate Threat directly in relation to the amount of damage dealt). For a solo TA, Threat is generally irrelevant unless the player has pets or henchmen, and even then it's difficult to generate enough Threat to steal aggro from the pets or henchmen. A teamed TA, however, has to watch out for stray aggro (critters not focused on any of the teammates) and be cautious when using debuffs before aggro on a tank or tanking character has been firmly established. TA has to play by the same rules as everyone else, after all, so when a TA uses Glue, PGA, Acid or other powers, that player is no less subject to generating Threat than a player who uses Enervating Field, Darkest Night, Snow Storm or other debuffs.

TA does have one power that works differently with Threat and aggro - Flash Arrow. How exactly do the Perception debuff and Threat mechanic work together? Honestly, I'm not entirely certain. The developers have always kept the mechanics of most of the TA powers tucked away in a shoe box that they keep under Positron bed, and the last seven people we sent to peek into the box all melted into an icky goo. Then Positron yelled at us for leaving a mess and getting his boots dirty. &gt;.&gt;

Based on one of Castle's recent posts on how Threat works, though, I'd guess that at the moment that the Threat is generated from Flash Arrow, a command is issued to the AI that tells it to disregard that Threat temporarily. That would coincide with the behavior seen by some TAs, that of spawns aggroing on the TA player even when someone else triggers the spawn's "wake up and fight" behavior. It also makes sense from the design standpoint. If Flash Arrow automatically "wiped" the TA player's Threat, it could conceivably be exploited and used as an unintended Placate effect, even if it was only supposed to affect the Threat from Flash Arrow alone. At the end of Flash Arrow's duration, the Threat is presumably removed completely, otherwise the AI would trigger and send the spawn chasing after the player. Thus, anything that out-Threats the TA player should and is supposed to result in normal behavior, that being a tank's Taunt or AoE effect causing the spawn to aggro on the tank, or a blaster's high damage AoE (such as Rain of Arrows) creating a higher amount of Threat and forcing the AI to go after the blaster, etc.

Keep in mind that this is only speculation. I haven't specifically asked any of the developers to clarify the relationship between Flash Arrow's Threat management and Perception debuff, and I'm relatively certain that the length of the explanation would mean that they wouldn't have the time necessary to give it, so I'll simply put forth the above supposition and leave it at that.

Most of TA's powers are AoEs. This means they typically affect 16 targets at once (10 in Disruption Arrow's case), depending on how close together they are. AoEs have a radius extending outward from a center point, in a sphere or circle, thus the name, Area of Effect. With most of TA's powers, the center point of the radius is the target that the player hits with the power. Two of TA's powers are single-target, and two of them are AoEs that are location-targeted, meaning you click, then point to a spot somewhere on the ground and click again, and that's where the center of the AoE is. AoEs aren't limited to use on large crowds of targets, they can be used on as few as a single critter or player.
[*]PDS
PDS, or Power Data Standardization, is a newer and more accurate method of calculating the values of powers. Prior to PDS (which was initiated and introduced to players by Iakona, who did the vast majority of the work on the project), the values for various attributes of powers were typically obtained by guessing, stopwatches or even third-party tools like HeroStats, and tended to be imprecise (and just as often horribly wrong). With PDS, however, every aspect of a power, every part, can be figured out with precision. Status effects, buffs, debuffs, everything. This is good because there are many power effects that are dependent on variables such as level, position or AT. All Holds, for example, have a base duration that increases as your level increases, different modifiers for combat position and archetype. PDS allows us to determine exactly what powers do at each level and for every AT. Based on developer commentary, I believe PDS is very, very close to the tables that they use, which makes it even better for us, the players, who want to understand the powers better.

In this guide, I will be using base power values and expect the reader to reference the PDS tables located in Iakona's most excellent Power Data Standardization guide. By doing this, I can keep the guide shorter while still giving information that's useful and usable for all three ATs that have access to TA (defenders, controllers and masterminds). If, at any point, you would like to get more precise numbers than I have listed here, you can simply reference the base values given and cross-reference them with the appropriate Power Data Standardization tables for your AT and the power's effects. I will attempt to cover values for each AT as fully as possible, but darn it, Jim, I'm an Archer, not a mathemagician!
[*]Variables
Some of the effects of certain powers change as your level increases. The Hold durations of Ice Arrow and EMP Arrow are good examples of this, with very significant differences between their base level durations and the level 50 durations. In order to make it easier to read, understand and use this guide, I'm listing Variable stats for powers according to AT and the first level at which the power is available to the AT, and the level 50 stat for each AT. For instance, Ice Arrow is available at level 6 for defenders and 10 for controllers and masterminds, so I will give the level 6 and level 50 durations for defenders and the level 10 and level 50 durations for controllers and masterminds for Ice Arrow. The duration will increase as you level up, but I will leave it to you, the reader, to do the necessary calculations to figure out exactly what the duration will be for a given AT at a given level.

I am also including base value for Variables, which you can use in conjunction with Iakona's tables to determine the exact Variable value for your AT and level. The calculation is relatively simple:

(base value * Appropriate_AT_Modifier) * 1.your_level_minus_1

For example, if you are playing a */TA Mastermind and want to know the exact duration of Ice Arrow at level 42, the calculation would be as follows:

(8 (base duration of Ice Arrow) * 0.8 (Ranged Sleep modifier for Masterminds)) * 1.41 (1.your_level_-1) = 9.024 seconds.

As a side note, Holds use the Sleep modifier for your AT. In TA's case, they should all be Ranged, so for Ice and EMP Arrow, reference the Ranged Sleep modifier for your AT, not the Melee Sleep modifier.

For those looking for hard scalar data, you can very easily determine the scalar values by cross-referencing Iakona's guide with the power stats listed in this guide.
[*]Redraw
Weapon redraw has, for years, been considered one of the ultimate banes of players. Entire guides, including my own previous TA guide, dedicated entire diatribes on the vileness of redraw and how critical or worthwhile it was to avoid it whenever possible. The truth was only revealed a short few months ago, though.

There is no redraw penalty.

Let me repeat that. There is no redraw penalty. Every power has a set animation time, and that animation time is synchronized to the activation time (usually. there are odd cases of asynchronous animation/activation times, but they tend to be either bugs or deliberate timing variations "baked" into powers for specific reasons). In the cases where a power requires a weapon or item to be drawn (both literally, in the sense of animation, and figuratively, in the sense of pulling something out of a holder), the activation time factors in both the standard animation and the drawing animation. What this means is, with or without a weapon or item drawn, when you activate a power like this, the total time it takes before you can activate another power is always exactly the same. If a weapon attack took 2 seconds, you would be incapable of activating any other power for 2 seconds, regardless of whether or not the weapon itself was drawn when you started the attack or already in your hand.

Observant players will notice (or have noticed) slight pauses at the end of weapon attack animations (though many have been reduced or removed as of Issue 11, leaving only a few sets and specific powers remaining with the extra draw time added to already drawn weapon animations). Those pauses are there precisely for the purpose of equalizing the activation times for drawn and undrawn states of these powers.

So, feel perfectly free to combine TA with any powerset available to you. You are not compromising your ability in doing so.

TA's Brawl animation was recycled from the Kick power (from the Fighting pool) when the powerset was created, probably for aesthetic reasons since the developers knew that animation times weren't affected by redraw. It's a fun animation, a solid heel to the groin, but be aware that the animation time is 1.83 seconds, much, much longer than the normal Brawl time of 0.67 seconds, and part of that animation is a pause as your character returns to the standard combat stance, so fun is really the only positive thing this animation has going for it.
[*]Slows
Slotting with Slow (also referred to as Snare) enhancements does not increase the -Recharge. Recharge debuffs are always set, fixed values that cannot be changed by players.

The attribute -Max Run Speed is also separate from Slow and is a fixed, set value. Slotting for Slow does not increase this value. This is primarily a PvP-centric effect, as a means of preventing Slows from being completely nullified by easily available +Run Speed buffs and powers. What it does is reduce the speed cap of the targeted player(s) (temporarily, for the duration of the power), not cause actual Slowing, so the Slow aspect of the power has an actual effect. Also note that Run Speed is calculated, like many things in this game, in a somewhat confusing way, so while you might reduce a player's maximum run speed, that player could conceivably still have a Run Speed buff and appear to be shrugging off your Slow.

All Slow powers that you slot with Recharge Reduction enhancements will display Slow enhancement values in the tool tip when you look at them in your Enhancements screen. This is a bug in the tool tip display, not in the power or powers with Slow effects. The benefits of the Recharge Reduction enhancements are being properly applied to the power, they're simply being incorrectly listed as Slow in the tool tip. Don't panic, your powers and enhancements are working properly.[/list]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Time.

With Snap, Aimed, Blazing and Fistful all slotted with 3 Damage SOs, and running Assault, it takes 10 seconds to defeat a +0 minion using Snap/Aimed/Snap/Blazing/Snap/Aimed/Snap, whereas it only takes 8 seconds to defeat the same minion using Aimed/Blazing/Aimed/Fistful.

[/ QUOTE ]

According to your numbers, Snap Shot is better DPS. That means that it does more damage over LESS time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've covered the issues with Snap Shot more than enough already. The DPS looks better on paper, it doesn't deliver in practice.

A small update to the thread in general.

I got my first Shivan with Dancing Hawk last night. It's something I've never even attempted with Dancing Hawk before, simply because of a lack of interest. I'm one of "those people" who rarely use inspirations and almost never use temp powers. I always think there's going to be a time when I'll "need" them, so I try to save them for those times, and those times never seem to come. I always look for a way to accomplish things strictly through the "regular" powers.

But I hit a wall on the Serpent Drummer arc. The last mission has an Elite Boss, and I've never been able to defeat an Elite Boss as a TA/A. Except Alexander, or whatever that Warriors EB is named. Even he killed me once before I finished that fight. Every other EB in the game has absolutely murdered my TA/A, I had no chance against them.

After three attempts at this particular Elite Boss, I gave up in frustration. He destroyed Fusionette in seconds, and the Rikti fellow that was helping me didn't last much longer. Faultline was the only one to survive any of the attempts, and I think he lived mostly because he kept turning himself into a giant rock and pretending to be part of the cavern. Coward. *shakes fist*

I was about to give up on doing the RWZ story arcs as a TA/A (my original goal was to do them with my Archery/Energy blaster, Sand Wasp, but the grind from 38 to 40 was getting sooooooooooooo tedious that i just had to stop before i went mad. so i decided to run the story arcs with Dancing Hawk instead), but then I remembered the Shivans. I've read about how powerful they are, but I was really just hoping it could divert attention and tank for a bit while I and the three mission pets did the work of defeating the EB. So off to Bloody Bay I went!

I have to say, getting a Shivan as a travel power-less TA/A was shockingly easy. The turrets are resistant to Lethal damage, but they're not actually any different from fighting Crey Riot Cops, except that they don't chase you and bonk you on the head with nightsticks, or drop your toggles. I'm not a big fan of bonking and toggle-dropping, so I didn't mind these turrets at all. I attacked each of the outside turrets, brought them down to one attack's worth of health, then did the same to the inner turrets. Then another circuit to finish them all off, into the bunker to use the computer, and I was done.

Getting the meteor fragments was even easier, despite not having a travel power. Two Shivans hit me, the rest never even tried or didn't have time to attack before I was out of range (though, i did have a Stealth IO active, so that lovely thing might've just been doing what it was designed to do and keeping my pretty Cherokee bottom from being leered at by giant green glob monsters). Hurdling around the zone was, admittedly, slower than I liked, but since I was leveled down to 25, not actually slower than I expected and, in truth, still about as fast as flying.

I also acquired my 292nd badge for Dancing Hawk, Gunner. I've only ever farmed one badge, Illusionist, so I consider 292 to be another significant accomplishment for me. Rush_Bolt or Trickshooter probably have more, but I'm still pleased by this and hoping to hit 300 soon(ish).

I've seen some complaints about how hard it is to get Shivans. Let this be your assurance that you can ignore those complaints. Laugh at those complaints. A travel power-less TA/A did it, easily, there's no reason any other build in the game can't do it. And there's no reason why you can't.

Once I had the much vaunted Shivan, I made my way back to the mission in the RWZ. I summoned the Shivan right at the Elite Boss' feet, then moved forward far enough for the three mission pets to aggro, and the fight was on! Everything went pretty smoothly this time. The Shivan kept aggro off of me, but the Elite Boss called for reinforcements and I had to start hopping and getting out of sight to heal myself (i used the I9 freespec to get the Medicine pool back. not because i needed it, but because i want to work on my healing badges (already had Medic, halfway to the second one, might as well keep going!)). Instead of changing focus and trying to defeat the waves, I just worked on keeping myself alive and defeating the Elite Boss.

And down he went. My first solo Elite Boss defeat as a TA/A. Even if I had to use a Shivan to do it, it was still a great feeling.

Of course, with great victory comes great owieness. The last wave spawned a Rikti Heavy, Elite Boss rank. My Shivan was stuck in the terrain, Fusionette had gotten herself killed (again...) and Faultline was still pretending to be part of the cavern. The nice Rikti person who I'd saved earlier leaped to my defense, but the eleventy billion Rikti from the waves swarmed him while the Heavy blasted my spleen across the room.

By the way, if anyone finds a spleen, it's mine. And I do want it back.

Flush with the feeling of success, even though I died after the mission was complete (and that was a disappointment... i wanted to beat that Heavy so i could start progress on another badge. ), I decided to continue on and start the Gaussian story arc tonight.

First, those Vanguard can be brutal if you're not careful. I went into the first mission in full "EYE AAR ARCHERY/TRIK ARO BALSTAR LOL" mode and promptly got a swift kick to the hospital for my temerity.

Yes, I asked, my spleen isn't at the hospital.

When I got back, I wised up and started using my primary instead of trying to blast my way through. From that point on, it was business as usual for any average spirit of the Cherokee people who happens to be trained in the ways of the shaman and the hunter. Glue, PGA, Acid, lots of sharp, pointy sticks, next spawn.

Be warned, the Vanguard and Longbow are acting a little... odd with TA. Sometimes they're aggroing at the beginning of the Glue Arrow animation, which they shouldn't be doing. They're also not displaying the choking animation caused by PGA's sleep, so if you're relying on that, give yourself a few seconds to see which ones are just standing still, those are the ones that are supposed to be choking. Using any power after PGA seems to trigger the choking animation, so if you follow it up with, say, Flash or Entangling, you'll see it. I've already sent a bug report with the details to _Castle_.

It was in the fourth mission that I almost stopped and logged out. Another Elite Boss, and this one has been causing a lot of roaring and wailing on the forums for the last few weeks. The instant I saw him, the only thing I could think of was to give up, because he's reported to be almost impossible to defeat. It's said to be a bug in the downscaling from AV to EB that causes the EB to be, literally, an AV that's just labeled as an EB. At least, that's what I've been able to gather from the posts.

Being a TA/A, I was very seriously considering just stopping there and not trying to finish the story arc. As I've said, my history with Elite Bosses has been very bad, and I really wasn't feeling terribly excited about making several futile attempts to beat him. As much as I want to prove that TA/A can "cut the mustard", there's a limit to how far I'm willing to go, and fighting Elite Bosses is one of those things that reaches that limit. It's frustrating and, until recently, very unrewarding.

Then I noticed that little Shivan sitting in my power tray. I'd already forgotten that it was there, despite having gotten it just 24 hours earlier. Tells you how often I use my temp powers. &gt;.&lt;

I figured it was worth a shot. If the Elite Boss turned out to be impossible to beat, I could show off my 3-slotted Hurdle and 5-slotted Sprint while he was eating my Shivan. If my Shivan didn't lose half his HP bar in the first few seconds, then I'd stay and give this fight my best shot.

It seems I got lucky, though, and my Elite Boss wasn't buggy. His first hit on my Shivan barely scratched the big green boy, so out came the bow and away went the arrows. Despite my Shivan being knocked back frequently and sometimes far enough to take several seconds to get back to the EB, I never pulled aggro. The fight ended so flawlessly that I barely even got to heal my Shivan twice with Aid Other. That was actually the biggest letdown, I was counting on him taking more damage so I could make more progress on my second healing badge. -_-

At any rate, I'm pleased with the results of having finally gone to get a Shivan and used it to do some missions that would've been otherwise impossible for me. Other TA/As might have better luck due to different builds (Hover would probably make fighting EBs a lot easier, but i'm still adamant about not deviating from my concept, so no Hover for me), but in my experience, EBs were just that wall that TA/As hit and couldn't get over, under, around or go through. Shivans aren't nearly as difficult to acquire as some people think they are, not even for a silly TA/A with no travel power, and they make those impossible walls crumble.

Go make a green blobby friend. You won't regret it. Don't use it as a crutch, that's not going to help you be a "better" player or TA/A, but do use it to get through the rough parts of the games, like Elite Boss encounters, or when that nasty Council lieutenant turns into a boss warwolf (might as well be an AV as far as TA is concerned... rotten, nasty mutts).

Oh, and there's a 500 influence reward for my spleen. Payment will be made upon delivery.

[ QUOTE ]
Well Reasoned, Lumi. My 'final' build (when I am rich, old, and have 'thu arthuritis') has snap shot slotted (4 slots) for the +2.25 HP and in order to have the Hold proc handy... what do you think of this?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm actually planning something similar, but I'm using it for the damage and regen set bonuses on my blasters. 4/6 Devastation. I've got a planned Archery/Devices build that finishes up with 30% +damage, with Assault running, thanks to set bonuses. That's a -1 Damage SO on every single attack, pretty darn good!

[ QUOTE ]
I set it up so that all my attacks have a space for the hold proc, but is this utterly silly?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been trying out different Archery build scenarios for the last few weeks. High defense, high regen, high resistance, high damage... the more I play with the different options, the more I realize that the first question I have to ask myself is, "How much am I really going to benefit from this?"

The hold from the IO is mag 2, meaning it won't affect lieutenants or higher unless it's stacked with something else. So the first questions about that, to me, would be, "Do I really need to worry about holding minions?" and, "Is there a point to holding them if I'm capable of defeating them quickly?"

The hold proc can't be placed in the AoEs or cone, so that further limits their functionality. If you're focused on a single mob, you're capable of defeating it before any status effect would be useful, or you've already used a status effect to render it harmless. What I'm getting at is that it's not the mob you're attacking that you need to worry about, typically, it's all of the other mobs, and the hold IO just doesn't affect those other mobs.

So that would mean changing playstyle from "kill fast" to "spam single-target attacks on everything in sight, but don't kill anything". Given that it's a chance for a status effect, not a full-blown status effect, that means you're increasing your risk and potential for defeat by a significant factor. Solo, you're allowing mobs to survive much longer than they normally would, on the basis of hoping that they'll be held. In a team, you're pulling additional aggro that you normally wouldn't have and cutting deeply into your damage output, that damage output being why you're on the team in the first place.

So, are you going to benefit from having a 15% chance to hold a mob that you're already likely to be capable of defeating? Or, does it make sense to change your entire approach to being an Archery blaster based on a chance to apply a status effect?

[ QUOTE ]
I know they're ridiculously expensive, and maybe according to your logic above, maybe I should be shooting for more overall damage...

[/ QUOTE ]

It's your blaster. You play it, and anything that you decide to do with it should be based only on what you want and think would be fun.

For my blasters, I'm giving +damage a very serious look. My eventual goal with my Archery blasters is to be capable of defeating a +0 minion with two attacks, Aimed Shot and Blazing Arrow. The set bonuses will make that possible, whereas Assault alone still meant I had to use a third attack of some type (even Throwing Knives is typically enough to finish that minion!).

I'm also seeing a lot of potential for +regen and +HP, especially if you can get one or two Chance to Heal Self IOs into the single-target attacks. Goodbye Medicine? Maybe, maybe not, but it's an interesting route to go. Coupled with some decent resistances (Fire Shield or Charged Armor, perhaps with Tough to buff up the S/L defense a bit more), I think it may turn out to be a very good idea.

The defense bonuses appeal to me less because they either take a very significant slot investment that doesn't make sense for Archery blasting (why would i want to 6-slot a melee attack?), or offer such a diverse and weak selection that it's nearly impossible to build up a good defense total (yes, 1.88% energy or cold defense here and there is nice, but that won't stop the hail of gunfire coming at me!).

The Build Up IO is one I only recently started trying to fit into builds. I think it'd be exceptionally good for an Archery/Devices, but I'm leaning toward it just being a nifty extra for everything else. I'd have to experiment with it to see just how "good" it would be, and whether or not it would be more beneficial than a Heal proc, or simply saving that slot for another power.

The Chance for Energy Damage IO from Positron's Blast is looking incredible for Fistful and Explosive, but not for RoA. It just feels like a waste to put that proc IO into that particular power because it's already such a massive damage dealer that it doesn't need it. In the two lower damage multi-target attacks, though, it offers some really amazing return for the investment.

One thing that I've recently settled on is using Dam/Range IOs in Fistful, instead of a full IO set. I've already got Dancing Hawk slotted with 3 Centrioles in Fistful (did that waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when I7 was still new), and the difference between the "old" Fistful and how it is now with the HOs is so blatantly better that I'm always noticing how... icky it is not to have extra range in that power when I play my Archery blasters. I like IOs for this now because I can also pick up some extra set bonuses by slotting 4 from one set, then 1 Dam/Range from each of the other two sets. I'll eventually switch Dancing Hawk's HOs for IOs, just because they really are that nice for Fistful.

On the other hand, I want to avoid all Dam/Range in Explosive. That allows me to almost even out the ranges in my attacks, which means no more leaping/hovering back and forth.

I've been playing with the Toxic Damage proc in Ranged Shot for the last couple of weeks. It's... cute, but not terribly impressive or useful. Once in a while, it might allow you to defeat a +0 minion without additional buffs, but other than that, it's just set bonus fodder to me.

Basically, I'm asking myself where the holes in my build are and looking to the sets to fill them. Extra damage procs for Fistful and Explosive, extra range for Fistful, extra damage across the board and increased survivability. If it's a power that I rarely use, I don't want a proc IO in it unless it's just something cheap that I picked up for a set bonus. If a proc IO would benefit me, I want to put it into the power that I'm going to use very frequently. And if it's a proc IO that benefits me and is in a frequently used power, I want it to be something that's going to always be useful, not only useful on the random mob that I haven't finished off yet.

All of that said, if the Chance for Hold IO made the power that it was in crackle with electricity, I'd slot that bloody thing in Aimed Shot on every single blaster I have or will ever make and never regret it. I'm still upset that I can't have a real Zappy Arrow.

[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand why Snap Shot gets a bad wrap.

[/ QUOTE ]

Time.

With Snap, Aimed, Blazing and Fistful all slotted with 3 Damage SOs, and running Assault, it takes 10 seconds to defeat a +0 minion using Snap/Aimed/Snap/Blazing/Snap/Aimed/Snap, whereas it only takes 8 seconds to defeat the same minion using Aimed/Blazing/Aimed/Fistful.

The higher the con, the longer you're spending per mob. Every increase in rank at least doubles the time spent over the last rank, as well.

If you're lucky, the +0 minion won't get a regen tick while you're whittling away its HP, and you could shave off one use of Snap Shot, saving 1 second, but Aimed/Blazing/Aimed/Fistful still comes out ahead in time spent.

Additionally, in any situation where you can conceivably hit two or more mobs at once, Aimed/Blazing/Aimed/Fistful puts the longer chain with Snap Shot to bed. Given that spawns are almost always more than a single mob, it's not a stretch to say that the chain using Fistful instead of Snap is always going to put out more damage and higher total DPS.

As soon as you start to factor in Lethal resistance, Snap Shot's contribution drops so sharply that it's disturbing. If you've never experienced the sheer insanity of plinking away at a Crey * Tank using a Snap Shot chain, try it. Clear your schedule, though, because you'll be at it for a good while.

What it comes down to is the difference between sustained DPS and burst damage and how the two function in actual combat. Using Snap Shot forcibly changes all of your fights into sustained DPS fights, and sustained DPS is really wasted on minions and most lieutenants, those are "burst kills". Using Aimed/Blazing/Aimed/Fistful blends burst damage and sustained DPS appropriately and keeps fights as short as possible for a */Archery.

The same holds true for blasters. I'll even go so far as to say that it's even more true for blasters, because the survival tools of defenders aren't applicable. Burst damage is critical, sustained DPS is only important if a fight is expected to last longer than a few seconds. A blaster's primary goal is, or should be, to finish that fight as quickly as possible. Snap Shot doesn't achieve that goal, it doesn't even live on the same street with that goal.

For either AT, extending the length of a fight is counter-productive. As a defender, delaying the outcome of a fight by using one sub-optimal tool means further extending the fight by being forced to make more use of all of your other tools. As a blaster, extending the duration of a fight lowers your survivability overall.

That's why I don't like Snap Shot. And why I continue to recommend that it be skipped when possible and not slotted when it's not possible to skip it. Sustained DPS is great for long fights, but sacrificing burst damage for sustained DPS means all fights are longer, and the truth is, it's just not necessary with Archery. Aimed, Blazing and Fistful make a perfect sustained DPS chain that doesn't force the player to sacrifice burst damage output.

[ QUOTE ]
Does targeting drone give bonus damage on ranged shot like it does with sniper rifle?

[/ QUOTE ]

No.

[ QUOTE ]
Seems like it should since both sets suffer from the same all lethal snipe damage and lack of build up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Archery has Aim. AR doesn't.

[ QUOTE ]
&lt;QR&gt;

Wouldn't this be awesome, and possibly even more efficient as a Corrupter?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, because they don't get the final high damage melee attack.

I did start a Dark/Kin after CoV was released (Electron Girl was created, played and leveled to 50 after ED and before CoV), and Scourge was certainly a nice bonus, but I deleted the character after I saw the PPPs.

[ QUOTE ]
What would be the plus and minuses of going Kin/Dark vs Kin/Sonic?

[/ QUOTE ]

Mostly the control. Sonic's control is on a shorter recharge, longer duration and can affect lieutenants, but it's also a Sleep, so anything that is affected will break out when taking any damage. Dark Pit affects only minions, has a long recharge and short duration, but doesn't break on damage and is available sooner. As a Kinetics scrapper, you're not going to be using the blasts or other abilities much, so all that really matters is the control.

Where's the scrapping? There isn't a single melee attack recommended, or even discussed.

Two thumbs down for a completely misleading title.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hi, i'm quite impressed about this defender,it inspired me this template based on disorient effect, any opinion?

[/ QUOTE ]

The Dark Mastery APP will give you the stacking stuns, but you'll lose out on the final high damage melee attack in the end, and by the time you get to 41, you're really going to wish you had it if you're playing in full scrapper mode.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes you are right, i want to mitigate the scrapper concept with some more control given by the stacking Disorient, plus, i am fashinated by the damage output of Siphon Power+Fulcrum Shift+Soul Drain+Blackstar...

[/ QUOTE ]

Fulcrum Shift alone will cap your damage in a spawn of 6 or more mobs, presuming you're in melee range when you use it, and that you have 3 Damage SOs or level 30+ IOs in Blackstar.

[ QUOTE ]
Do you think the stacking Disorient realy could work efficently?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sure, it can. Dark Pit and Oppressive Gloom are both mag 2, so they'll stack to stun entire spawns, including bosses. Not many */Dark defenders pick up Dark Pit because of the recharge to duration ratio, but it's certainly a workable build. If you get the recharge time low enough and the duration high enough, you'll have enough control to keep most spawns completely disabled with stacked stuns.

That said, this is really much more of a classic defender question/ You might consider posting the build in the defender forum and soliciting advice from other experienced Kin/* and */Dark defenders, who could help you fine tune the build more than I could (i really don't play any of my defenders as defenders, so to speak. my Kin/Elec is a scrapper, my TA/A is an offender, and my Dark/Dark is a "dark blaster with some control").

[ QUOTE ]
Hi, i'm quite impressed about this defender,it inspired me this template based on disorient effect, any opinion?

[/ QUOTE ]

The Dark Mastery APP will give you the stacking stuns, but you'll lose out on the final high damage melee attack in the end, and by the time you get to 41, you're really going to wish you had it if you're playing in full scrapper mode.

If you're comfortable with IOs, the following build will give you perma-Hasten (with 1 Siphon Speed active) and Dark Pit on a 20 second recharge and 20 second duration (so all minions in a fight will be taken out of the picture). Ranged attacks are slotted purely for the +recharge bonuses and not meant to be used (or used only when no other options are available).

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

EG Dark Blast: Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Kinetics
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Electricity Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Siphon Power -- Acc-I:35(A), Acc-I:35(3), RechRdx-I:35(5), RechRdx-I:35(17)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg:35(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:35(17), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:35(31), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:35(34), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:35(48)
Level 2: Transfusion -- Acc-I:35(A), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:35(3), Dct'dW-Heal:35(5), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:35(29), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:35(31), Dct'dW-Rchg:35(31)
Level 4: Gloom -- Decim-Acc/Dmg:35(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:35(39), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:35(40), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:35(40), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:35(40)
Level 6: Air Superiority -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:35(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:35(7), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:35(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:35(37), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:35(39)
Level 8: Flurry -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:35(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:35(9), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:35(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:35(37), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:35(39)
Level 10: Siphon Speed -- TmpRdns-Acc/Slow:35(A), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx:35(11), TmpRdns-Acc/Dmg/Slow:35(11), TmpRdns-Rng/Slow:35(34), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow:35(34)
Level 12: Dark Pit -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg:40(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun:40(13), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx:40(13), Stpfy-Stun/Rng:40(15), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg:40(15)
Level 14: Swift -- Run-I:35(A), Run-I:35(50)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+:35(A), RgnTis-Regen+:30(29), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:35(43)
Level 18: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:35(19), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:35(19), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:35(21), RedFtn-Def:35(25), RedFtn-EndRdx:35(25)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I:35(A), EndMod-I:35(21), EndMod-I:35(46)
Level 22: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:45(A), RechRdx-I:45(23), RechRdx-I:45(23), RechRdx-I:45(48), RechRdx-I:45(50), RechRdx-I:45(50)
Level 24: Speed Boost -- EndMod-I:35(A)
Level 26: Transference -- Acc-I:35(A), Acc-I:35(27), RechRdx-I:35(27)
Level 28: Increase Density -- ResDam-I:35(A)
Level 30: Inertial Reduction -- EndRdx-I:35(A)
Level 32: Fulcrum Shift -- Acc-I:35(A), Acc-I:35(33), RechRdx-I:35(33), RechRdx-I:35(33)
Level 35: Torrent -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:35(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:35(36), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:35(36), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:35(36), Posi-Dam%:35(37)
Level 38: Hurdle -- Jump-I:35(A)
Level 41: Thunder Strike -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:45(A), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg:45(42), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:45(42), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg:45(42), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(43), Sciroc-Dam%:30(43)
Level 44: Charged Armor -- S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(A), ImpSkn-ResDam/EndRdx:30(45), ImpSkn-ResDam/Rchg:30(45), ImpSkn-EndRdx/Rchg:30(45), ImpSkn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:30(46), ImpSkn-Status:30(46)
Level 47: Power Sink -- RechRdx-I:35(A), RechRdx-I:35(48)
Level 49: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]+2% DamageBuff[*]+5.4% Max Endurance[*]+32% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]+4% Enhancement(Heal)[*]+68.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]+1.5% Enhancement(Slow)[*]+3% Enhancement(Stun)[*]+94.9 (7.88%) HitPoints[*]+Knockback (Mag -4)[*]+MezResist(Confused) (Mag 30%)[*]+MezResist(Held) (Mag 30%)[*]+MezResist(Immobilize) (Mag 42.1%)[*]+MezResist(Sleep) (Mag 32.2%)[*]+MezResist(Stun) (Mag 30%)[*]+MezResist(Terrorized) (Mag 32.2%)[*]+6.5% Recovery[*]+10% Regeneration[*]+4.1% Resistance(Fire)[*]+4.1% Resistance(Cold)[*]+3.13% Resistance(Negative)[*]+2% Debt Protection[/list]


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If you'd prefer to stick with SOs or standard IOs, I'd recommend moving slots out of the ranged attacks, 6-slotting Dark Pit so you can have it up more frequently and the stun lasting as long as possible, and seriously consider replacing Dark Mastery with Elec or Power for Thunder Strike or Total Focus. Again, after working all the way up to the 40+ range with only pool melee attacks (and Sands of Mu if you have that veteran reward), the feeling of having a "real" melee attack in those last few levels is very rewarding.

:'(

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Luminara,
Have you tried this build with Total Focus instead of Thunderstrike? More mezzing and it doesn't have that "my big punch knocks every back" effect of Thunderstrike.

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I would consider it for a respec build, but not for a leveling build. Thunderstrike is the heavy hitter of choice simply because it's available at 41 and really, REALLY makes that last 9 levels so much more enjoyable. Waiting until 47, and not being able to fully slot until level 50, would take a lot of the fun out of a build like this. You deal with power pool melee attack damage output for 41 levels, then you get Thunderstrike and you really, finally feel like it was all worth it. You just won't get the same feeling of accomplishment, heck, JOY from waiting until level 50 to get that one big attack.

Respec build, though, it's entirely up to you. I don't think I'd do it, simply because I prefer the options in Electricity Mastery, but your build is all yours. If TF is where your heart lies, run with it.

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What I really wish for is a defense-based armor for Defenders to help with mezzing. Controllers get ice &amp; earth (and they get a direct mez-shield too). I don't see why defenders can't get a defense armor. It seems like it would go great with this build, especially with the -acc from dark. I bet getting mezzed is the single most annoying thing with this kind of build.

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You have no idea how much it frustrated me. I typically wouldn't be in much danger of dying, because of the combination of debuffs from FS and Siphon Power, Charged Armor when that became available and the relatively short durations that allowed me to fire off a Transfusion, but having to CONSTANTLY turn my toggles back on nearly drove me mad in the mid-40s. It was the biggest downside to playing this character. It wasn't dangerous, just insanely annoying.

Some of the IOs and sets have the potential to help, though. I'm definitely looking at the -KB IOs, which would let me drop Acrobatics. That's one less toggle draining endurance and having to be turned back on later, and holds really aren't the most common mez that you face in the later part of the game, it's stuns. It might also be possible to build up enough +defense between IOs and some pool powers, like Combat Jumping, to cut much of the mez problem out. I'm still working on figuring out the best balance of set bonuses, so I can't say what's going to work well yet.

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I am hoping this will get a response from the OP.
Been away for a bit and came back with Vet awards. Now that you can get permanent sands of mu, would this change your power choices or lotting in any way?
Or is the more attacks the better?

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Oh my word, I can't believe this guide is still alive. Electron Girl is, but I'm constantly surprised there are other people of questionable sanity who want to try playing a Kinetics scrapper.

To answer the question, I lean toward keeping the basics of the build, the pool attacks in particular, right where they are. Sands of Mu is a huge improvement on Flurry, but the recharge, even with stacked Siphon Speeds, is still longer than you're going to be able to fill unless you just spam buffs/debuffs. And as I've said many times, with the defender melee damage modifier being so low (0.55), you feel every second that you're not dealing damage.

There's also the issue of accuracy, which you don't have on Sands unless you're running Tactics, eating inspirations constantly or relying heavily on IO set bonuses. With Flurry, you know you're going to be landing those punches more reliably, which gives it an advantage over Sands.

I think IO sets will make more of a difference, but I haven't finished working out a theoretical build that I'm satisfied with yet, so I can't make recommendations at this time. Once I've figured out what bonuses are going to give the most benefit, I'll set aside some time for an update.

For now, "the more attacks the better" is as good as anything to go with. You lose nothing by staying with the basic build outline and simply adding the veteran reward attacks to your chain.

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The amount enhanced is 2 * SpeedFlying, so at level 50, you get the equivalent of +273% of flight enhancers.

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And in other news, reports of heroes slamming face first into buildings are pouring in from all over the city. Dazed heroes falling from the skies onto hapless pedestrains have been widespread, and the hospitals are reported to be rapidly filling up. Four heroes died after explosive detonation upon hitting skyscrapers in Steel Canyon. Fortunately, the buildings were not damaged in the incidents.

Tonight at 11, we cover the new terror on the streets of Paragon City, heroes with Jump Jets whizzing through our fair city, screaming, "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" as they rocket past pedestrians. And now, here's a word from our sponsor...

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Nothing irks me more than some tank shouting at the def to "just heal!"

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That's the point at which non-Empathy defenders stop healing, send the tank to a corner for a time-out, and take over the tanking.

Really irritates them.

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I'm sure I'll respec out of PGA later on, but it's pretty fun at level 8.

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Oh, I wouldn't go so far as to respec out of it. Again, at lower levels, it really makes a difference. After most of TA becomes available, its usage declines simply because there are better options. Why use PGA if the entire spawn is held, sometimes including bosses, by EMP, and will be completely incapable of responding for up to 1 minute (or more)? Why use PGA if the spawn is flopping around like fishies and struggling to get out of your burn patch after OSA goes up in flames?

Just alternating those two powers can carry most average teams through entire missions.

But then you get the really, insanely good teams, the ones who tear through +3 spawns in 15 seconds flat. Then PGA comes back into play, when you're alternating all of your powers in an effort to keep up. A raging team can make you REALLY sweat, trying to figure out what to do next when half of your power tray is still grayed out. That's when you start throwing PGA back out there. OSA on one spawn, EMP on the next, PGA and Glue on the third, Disruption and RoA on the next, etc.

It's just solo and the 28-40 levels that it's a bit bland because there are usually better options and teams are cruising along at deliberate paces. It's a good power in general, worth keeping. If Cryptic would add -regen to it like I keep telling them to (don't they know who i am? I'M THE *(!@$^&amp;(@#^ ARCHERY CHEERLEADERTROLL!), it'd be a power that's useful at every level and in every fight.

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Did they change Flash Arrow? I took it and blasted a bunch of groups and I was able to tag away at a lone guy while the friends stood around blinded....worked more often than not.

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The problem isn't specifically with Flash Arrow, it's with the aggro system. Flash Arrow is a debuff, which generates aggro. Aggro is queued, then processed in order. Since Flash Arrow is typically going to be used first, before any other action, it's going to be first in the aggro queue.

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You like Poison Gas but don't like Flash...

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I like PGA on teams, PvE, but I tossed it for soloing and don't even look at it when PvPing. I reached a point of saturation in power usage. If I spent time debuffing, my controls wore off before I was ready and I had to re-apply them or take the melee attacks. It was doing more harm, and resulting in more damage taken, than simply locking the critters down, using my -res debuffs, and blasting away. And post-40, PGA wasn't even worth bothering with. Spawns were flat on their backs from OSA, roasting and being cactusized with RoA, or standing there with stupid looks on their faces after EMP.

Early in the game, or when you're on a really mobile team, PGA is fine. It just gets less useful later in the game, when you're soloing, or on any team that gives your best TA powers time to recharge.

As for PvP, it's a waste of time. 50% chance to sleep, damage reduction equivilant to one yellow Damage SO. Feh.

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but my Poison Gas Arrow experiences today in a 6-8 man team showed that it generates tons of aggro itself.

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It's a debuff. Debuffs get aggro. If someone else has aggro, most of it will remain on that person, or people. But it's not Confuse/Deceive, and those are the only powers you can use that won't get aggro.

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Maybe I should Glue them first? Maybe Glue then wait for tank to engage, then do poison gas? I was trying to use it to help mitigate alpha damage on our tank. Couple of times I took a pounding, ate cave floor once... am I using it poorly?

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You shouldn't be opening combat for the team. That's the responsibility of the melee characters. All they have to do is take the hits for 3 seconds. If they can't survive for 3 seconds, they're either having build problems or the team is fighting critters too far above their capability. If they can survive for 3 seconds, you have all the time you need to get PGA out. Follow it up with Glue and you've got them dealing 30% less damage and attacking 25% less frequently, which gives the aggro magnets time to heal up, pop Respites, or even allow you to hit them with Aid Other if that's part of your build.

If you want to open, use OSA or EMP. But if you're opening with debuffs in an effort to spare your tank/scrapper, or your controller, expect a lot of pain and debt, and start looking for a better tank or scrapper. That's not what the first 7 powers in TA were designed for. Let someone else get the initial aggro, then debuff.

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I enjoy doing damage. As a result Blasters hold a favored position with me. Ah, an archery set for blasters awesome...now whats this I hear about lack of synergy with secondaries...oh no!

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It's the melee attacks. If you don't mind not being a blapper, or you blap intelligently (fire off your ranged attacks as opening salvos, then close to melee and restrict yourself to melee attacks), then a lack of synergy isn't really an issue.

Archery/Energy is a very nice high damage ranged blasting style. You get Build Up very early, you have the luxury of focusing on the Archery powers, and Aim solves any and all redraw problems (Aim instantly redraws the bow, so using it after Build Up, Boost Range, or Power Boost removes the redraw time).

Archery/Devices is extremely suitable, though it has a lower overall damage output at range due to the lack of Build Up. In trade, you get added control effects, and nearly all of the powers are set-ups, so you can use them before using Archery attacks and not have to deal with redraw. Drop Caltrops, plant a Trip Mine or three, then Web Grenade your chosen target and start firing arrows. And, of course, Taser stacks with Stunning Shot, so you have an option to deal with overly aggressive dates with bosses if you feel the need.

Archery/Ice is also relatively popular, due to the toggles and set-ups, which can be used in the same way /Devices powers are. Get your /Ice powers in place, then just fire away. Also gives you Build Up, for added damage.

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What is the comparison in damage output of the two arch types? Not the numbers I guess (just found some posts describing it), more seat of the pants feel (car/motorcycle enthusiast know what I am describing).

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There's really no comparison. The closest that you can get is Archery/Devices and TA/A, and even then, it's a very complex thing. TA/A can, at its absolute best and given sufficient time to set up, and when comparing only the use of single-target attacks, out-damage Archery/Devices. But that's after at least 41 levels and 2-5 times as long for getting the buffs and debuffs out to get the TA/A's damage up high enough to match or exceed the Archery/Devices blaster.

A TA/A can, certainly, deal out some very impressive damage. Once Oil Slick, Disruption, Acid, and Rain of Arrows are all available, a TA/A is definitely no slouch. But a blaster will always trump a TA/A in damage output simply because a blaster doesn't have to go through all the extra work to deal damage. Blasters can just do what they do best, crank out the pretty orange numbers, and move on to the next critter or spawn. TA/A doesn't do big numbers, TA/A does ludicrous amounts of small numbers that add up to big numbers.

I'd recommend Archery/Energy if you're thinking about a high damage ranged character, or Archery/Ice if you're expecting to be in melee range.

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And secondly, how bad is the redraw problem with blaster secondaries combined with archery?

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Totally dependant on play style. For a ranged Archery/Energy or Archery/Ice, there is no redraw problem. Aim solves it completely. For a blapper, using Archery for alphas and saving Aim for when you need/want to use Blazing in melee is suitable, but to be honest, Archery isn't meant for blapping and will never perform as well as other sets. It's a set designed for use at range.

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Helpful, very helpful. Thought I'll share a quote I found in the latest Issue of Blue Beetle, #7

Green Arrow: "Blow it up" is your big tip for the rookie?
Black Canary: This from the guy who fights everything from robots to aliens by shooting them with tiny sticks.
Green Arrow: Very Fast sticks. Fast and pointy!

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!

*dies happy*

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Blaster side here, Archery/Energy.
Wondering if you would recommend Hover/Fly (I wan't at least one toon to have fly, as I have always wanted wings.) or SJ/Acro for PvP. I know Acro and PvP have very good synergy, but I think its way overpushed to get it, as my troller does great without it. What do you guys think?

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It's up to you. Hover/Fly is great for PvE (it's not Holds that you generally need to worry about, it's Disorients and Sleeps), CJ/SJ/Acro is good for PvP. It's going to depend on what you want, whichever you enjoy more.

Hover/Fly in PvP will give you the option of going for long range blasting from places where opponents may not expect to find you. CJ/SJ/Acro will give you more escape options if you do get caught.

Personally, I am and always have been a Hover/Fly player. I just like blasting from the air. Dancing Hawk being the obvious exception.