Mr_Grumpums

I've never had trouble building Fury on ITFs with my Claws/Elec Brute, even with a tanker around. It uses lots and lots of attacks instead of Taunt.

My Axe/SR Brute mostly runs solo. I dunno why.

Thunderclap should be pretty easy for you to use. Just lay down Quicksand first to lower enemy defense in order to offset its lower accuracy. You could also use it right after Stalagmites to stack the stuns on top of each other to mez enemies that have resistance to stun. I get bosses that way all the time.

Usually I just hold off on nukes or click powers that drain all endurance unless I have, or am able to mix, two or three Blue insps. If my toon is about to die, then I won't really care if it'll run out of endurance later as long as it lives through the fight.

I could see an Earth/Earth Dom playing like a BLAPPER (i.e. a Blaster who focuses on its melee attacks), but not a Blaster. Almost all of its attacks, and ALL of its really strong attacks, are melee. I see it as kind of a squishy Brute with Control more than a Blaster.

It's still a fun Dominator to play. Mine is at lv 31, and I love it. I'm looking forward to getting Rocky at lv 32 so that my Dom has something to draw aggro off of him. I really want to go for Soul Mastery for him later on so that I can get Soul Drain and Dark Consumption on top of Aid Self.

Earth is a great control primary for teams, but I always feel like using it solo is a waste of the huge area controls at Earth's disposal combined with its lovely defense debuffs.

My Earth/Thermal is a great support toon, and a very capable solo troller, though it doesn't blow through missions like a Fire/Kin. An earth pet with Forge and both resistance buffs is a wonderful way to deal damage and grab aggro away from my squishy controller while it lays down holds, mezzes, debuffs, and heals for Rocky, along with the occasional Fire Blast or Fireball from the Fire Mastery Epic Pool.

My Earth/Storm is just plain fun. It's like a swiss army knife of control with some great damage thrown in, as well. I found it to be a whole lot like my Plants/TA controller in that there are SO MANY nice AoE powers at your disposal that it's very hard to use them all before at least one recharges. Also, it's a controller with highly visible powers, which I like very much.

When I play my DM/Nin Stalker on a team, I have it attack the toughest thing in the mob with Assassin's Eclipse and then start attacking any enemies that are a) nearby or b) threatening the squishies.

When I play my Elec/Regen Stalker, I have it open up with AoEs out of hide or Assassin's Shock the biggest enemy as needed, and run away only is in imminent danger. I like my Elec/Regen, but it isn't as durable in the middle of a big melee as my DM/Nin Stalker is.

Kat/WP is very nice. Make sure to get Rise to the Challenge and Divine Avalanche ASAP in order to maximize your survivability, and get Fitness on top of Quick Recovery for maximum Regen/Recovery.

Either character would be fun, though.

I think that a lot of it is the whole "We earned it, so why do they get it for free?" mentality. I was a little miffed about that too, for about five minutes. After that I stopped caring either way. I guess it means that there will be a lot more Kheldians zipping around Atlas Park and Outbreak, and more Widows and Soldiers scampering around Mercy. I, for one, think that might be a good thing. I like teaming with well-played Kheldians, and have learned to tip-toe away from the poor ones before they bring the wrath of an entire map down on their heads. VEATs are easier to play than Kheldians, and have nice powers that boost the team, so I don't mind at ALL seeing more of them in PvE.

I rarely see either Khelds or VEATs in PvP these days, anyway. Khelds were never really effective in PvP, and the changes to Defense has made Fortunatas and Nightwidows into glass cannons again.

I have this set as a Defender, and I personally think that it's kind of hard to mess up unless you don't know how to handle kinetics. Solo, use Siphon Speed and Hasten while spamming Fulcrum Shift and RoA. On teams, it's the same except for that you need to extend you buffs to your friends.

Of course, defenders have the Psychic Mastery Epic, which makes using RoA and your buffs much, much easier.

I would drop Super Jump and Combat Jumping for Inertial Reduction, which is built into your secondary, and pick up Assault or Tactics. Inertial Reduction is an unrestricted Travel power, which opens up several tactics for a ranged character. Also, Tactics could be used before Focused Accuracy, opening up another power slot in the 40s.

I'd also drop Ranged Shot, since Kinetics requires you to be fairly close to the enemy in order to get the most effect for yourself and your melee team mates. I thought about using it with Stunning Shot to take out lieutenants, but I eventually decided that I could deal more damage by using Blazing Arrow and Aimed Shot in the same time it takes to even use Ranged Shot once.

My experience with Explosive Arrow has been a tough one. At times, I've loved having it to prevent enemies from attacking while the team tore them apart, but other times I've cursed it's KB component that kept me from being using it, lest I bounce enemies everywhere and wreck the chance at a big boost from Fulcrum Shift. Some people who use Archery skip the power entirely. I'll leave that up to you.

Hope something I posted helps!

I like my Assault Rifle/Energy Blaster a lot. I skipped on the melee attacks in order to get Aid Self early, and use Boost Range and AR's cones to wipe out big groups of enemies at once. I love Full Auto with Boost Range for clearing enemy groups.

I picked the Munitions Epic so that I could use the LRM Rocket at the start of a fight and immediately end it with Full Auto or Flame Thrower. I also like using Cryo Freeze Ray in conjunction with Ignite on bosses.

It's a fun Blaster, but I wouldn't take it into PvP.

I'd make the decision on a character by character basis.

Elec Stalkers have AoEs that can crit out of hide for a 50% chance. This can be awesome on teams, as I've discovered with my Elec/Regen Stalker.

Assassin Shock, however, deals huge damage to one enemy, and I mean HUGE! It's almost always a 1-hit KO on anything other than a Boss, and even Bosses can be taken out in one shot. Against certain enemies, like endurance sappers, being able to take out one really annoying enemy can be more important than getting a crit off of an AoE, and your AoEs are still there for after you've killed the most annoying enemy in the mob.

My Elec/Regen alternates between AoE openings and Assassin Strikes as the situation warrants, and I've not yet found cause to regret picking the power on it, or any of my other Stalkers.

I have a friend who has an Elec/Dark, and she uses the Knockback from Lightning Rod and Thunder Strike for mitigation while she toggles on Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom. On good teams where mobs are destroyed within a few seconds, though, she focuses on damage.

I like my Spines/Elec fine. I really think that it would have caught on much faster as a farming toon, except for that Electric Melee was imported at the same time, and people love their Elec/Shield Scrappers for farming due to the high level of AoE burst damage and the ability to softcap defense. They don't take as many hits, and their Primary's attacks have exotic damage.

In other words, an Elec/Shield is a brand new kind of Scrapper, and a Spines/Elec is so similar to the many Spines/Fire Scrappers out there that people who already have one would probably rather not bother with it.

The first toon I rolled to lv 50 was a DM/DA Scrapper named Mormegil. It was made in Issue 1, deleted, remade in Issue 3, and climbed all the way up to level 50. It survived the Soul Drain Debuff and numerous other game changes before it settled into its current build in Issue 15, which I feel is even more fun than back when you could make Soul Drain perma. It's got IO bonuses for high recharge and recovery, so Soul Drain comes up fast, and Dark Consumption and Dark Regeneration are almost always ready when needed. Cloak of Fear and Touch of Fear, along with Oppressive Gloom, keep enemies at bay while ST attacks pound enemies into mulch.

With my current build, I can Fear EBs while punching their lights out, recovering Health and Endurance faster than I lose it as long as I avoid killing Minions in melee who are stunned or feared. It's a lot of fun, and the only thing that stops me from rolling a DM/DA brute is the lack of Epic Pools that offer Conserve Power or Physical Perfection.

DM/DA is definitely an endurance hog, but it's a lot of fun if you play it right. In a VERY personal, non-mathematics-related opinion that I'm sure I'll be called an idiot for in less than five posts of this thread, I can't picture myself pairing anything with Dark Armor other than Dark Melee. I just like the combination.

Claws/Elec or Claws/WP is what I would recommend. Claws/Elec is a little harder to play because it has fewer passive powers, but it has a PBAoE damage aura and the awesome looking Electric Armor animations (I get a lot of comments on the coolness factor of my Claws/Elec). Claws/WP is just a plan old unstopable killing machine. Walk into a group, fight until you win, repeat until level 50. :P

I like my Battle Axe/SR brute, too, especially after getting the awesome Rikti Axe. It walks into a group and kills them all with a gigantic piece of glowing metal that loosely resembles a weapon, often without taking so much as a scratch. It took me a while to get it properly invincible, though, since I had to wait until level 32-ish to get both Weave and enough IO sets to softcap my defenses.

Super Strength/Willpower is the Jungian Brute Archetype, I'd say. Massive damage, good protection, and almost never slowing down to recover or heal.

This thread makes me want to make a static team consisting of either all /Devices blasters or all Traps/ Defenders.

Most of the /Devices Blasters I've played with will lay down 4-5 mines before pulling a group. Now, imagine that everyone on your team drops 4-5 mines. That would be 32-40 mines lying in wait for enemies. My inner pyromaniac is laughing maniacally and howling at the moon just thinking about it.

The Traps/ Defenders wouldn't have anything close to the amount of follow-up damage as /Devices Blasters, but they'd have 8 Force Field Drones, 8 Triage Beacons, 8 Acid Mortars, and 8 Poison Traps to fall back on while opening up with what firepower they do have. If a few of them have Assault Rifles, using Web Grenade and Ignite on 8 enemies will likely take them out of the fight, or even using all of them on one enemy, should it be an EB or AV.

*eye twitch*

Kheldians are unique in that many of their strongest combos require them to switch forms. Other combos don't require you to change forms at all.

I've found, however, that I'm not very good at figuring any of them out without lots and lots of debt, which I try to avoid when teaming.

Have a really cool power combo that you use a lot and don't mind sharing? Post it here!

Mine are pretty mundane, I'll bet.

I personally like to use Nova Form in room with high ceilings to drop the Dwarf form directly into a mob. Teleporting into a big group while in Dwarf form is more survivable than some things, but there's still a couple of seconds after 'porting in during which you can't move, which makes positioning harder, and prevents a Peacebringer's Dwarf form from using its White Dwarf Flare PBAoE power at all until you finally touch the ground. Dropping right down from Nova form, after a little practice, lets you land right into a group which has already been partially knocked down by Nova's AoEs, leaving you avalable to taunt, engage in melee, or heal yourself really quick.

I also like to open up in Dwarf form as a Peacebringer, use White Dwarf Flare, and then go into Human form where I use Photon Seekers, with Solar Flare, Incandescent Strike, and Radiant Strike left available for any survivors. I prefer to activate Photon Seekers in the middle of a group because they have a much higher chance of immediately tagging an enemy and exploding for big damage.

On my Warshade, I like using Nebulous Form whenever possible while opening with the Human Form in order to more safely activate powers like Eclipse that draw lots of enemy attention. As a matter of fact, I almost always activate Eclipse like this. Nebulous Form is one of the best survival tools Warshades can have.

What made me come back to Peacebringers and Warshades was the change in their Inherent Powers, making them keep their effects even when transformed. For someone like me with a pretty good group of players I can count on to team with, my Kheldians are VERY powerful. I very often run on full or nearly full teams, so I usually have some really nice boosts to my attack, resistance, and mez protection that add to the boosts that my forms give me. There are times where my Peacebringer's Nova form's attacks can dish out more hurt than most blasters, and its Dwarf form can take more punishment than the tank. With a good mind for the number and types of buffs coming in from your team, making form and attack decisions as a Kheldian gets a little more depth.

Formerly, it was just "Nova form AoEs to Dwarf Form PBAoE to Human Form PBAoE and Photon Seekers". Now I can use more of my powers in ways that previously wouldn't be effective.

Would this work for a mac? If so, exactly how would I go about making it work?

-Mac Rookie Mr_Grumpums.

I think I'm probably going to go either Energy/Pain, Sonic/Pain, or Fire/Pain.

I slapped together a build (With Tough, at Gypsy's suggestion) on Suckerpunch, and it looked pretty cool. One of the good things about Fire is that you don't need to break your back to get the attacks you need. Skipping Fire Breath, Flares, Blazing Bolt, and Inferno doesn't hurt me too much, and it gives space for Tough, a patron shield, and Power Boost for a burst of ridiculous healing. I've heard good things about it in PvP as well. I already have a fire corrupter, though....

Energy/Pain looks like a safer build in Suckerpunch due to its knockback, but I worry a bit that the overall endurance expense will do me in, and I'm somewhat jaded on Energy due to my numerous attempts to make an Energy/Energy Blaster that never made it to the 20s due to frustration with numerous misses.

Sonic/Pain looks very cool. The Sonic debuffs would mesh well with /Pain's debuffs, and I'd have Shockwave and Siren's Song to keep too many enemies from hitting me. I'm bothered by the constant rooting its powers cause, though. I really like my Sonic/Mental Blaster, but I use the heck out of Combat Jumping when I'm a target of enemy melee by jumping into the air and using the attack animation at the apex of a jump, using the momentum to move just a bit while rooted. I dunno if I want to try the same strategy with a Corrupter who doesn't have as many Cone attacks and debuffs...

I'm trying to figure out what to pair with a /Pain Corrupter. After cranking a Thugs/Pain Corrupter up to level 28 and laughing maniacally the entire way, I'd like to see how the set fairs with its own dedicated attack primary. A little experimenting with my Blue Wisp tells me that I can apply Share Pain's damage buff whenever I want, such as right after using some purple inspirations so that I do'nt have to worry about being unable to heal myself. :P

Now the problem is picking a primary.

Fire/Pain is popular right now because of the combination of AoE debuffs, damage buffs, and AoE attacks.

Dark/Pain has less damage, and no Aim, but it has ToHit debuffs and another self-heal in top of your others.

Sonic/Pain would give Siren's song for easier soloing, as well as more resistance debuffs.

Energy/Pain would give knockback control and maybe decent damage? I don't know much about Energy since they redid it.

Anything I'm missing or just plain wrong about? What do you all think?

Howdy! I'm running a thugs/pain build right now that I really like at lv 22. The problem is that I'm having trouble fitting the powers I want into the build.

So I'm wondering what I should cut in order to fit everything else in.

I don't see ANY /Pain powers that I won't want to have at some point, and the only Thugs powers I'll want to skip are the attacks. I also want to get Flight, Hasten, one or two Leadership powers, Scorpion Shield, and Power Boost. It's too much! If I cut flight out and go for Super Speed, I'll be able to squeeze everything in, but I'd prefer not to give it up.

What should I cut out on my list?

I like my Thugs/Pain right now. It's level 22, and I just got Soothing Aura. I just put my pets on defensive and wander through missions, healing as needed while they drop enemies. It feels pretty sinister to just walk around while your minions go berserk around you, just healing them when they're on the verge of running out of steam so that they can go back out in a frenzy and maim themselves all over again.

My Necro/Storm is pretty cool, especially after getting the Lich and adding its control and mez power to my own. Enemy groups lose so much Tohit that they're basically blind while my pets walk in and destroy them.

I don't really have the patience for ninjas. Their AI is kind of stupid for assassins who wander in the shadows.