Muon_Neutrino

I think by 'farm-capable' Ian meant 'able to safely solo at x8', because that's not exactly a common ability. If you're more of a support type, or don't have good multi-target soloing sets or whatever IOs you might need, it could be rather difficult to get through x8 rikti missions without faceplanting continually.

Heck, we've already *got* a pair of ATs that can easily build as ranged damage/mitigation - both VEATs. it could happen.

My stormie is /dark, and I found it to be a very strong combo. TT and life drain complement storm quite nicely - it's just a pity life drain comes so late. The single target damage isn't anything to write home about, but the AoE output is quite good - especially with how TT keeps foes inside FR without stopping them from falling over.

I'm pretty sure the resistance cap for pets is 90% regardless - not that 90% isn't enough in basically all situations.

Regarding the tohit, it actually does appear that both stoney and singy have a -25% tohit penalty, so they operate off a base of 50% instead of 75%. This isn't usually as noticable given earth's defense debuffs and the fact that singy ignores most defense and has accuracy boosts on two of his powers, but it is there. Presumably, it's intended as a balance to their very high toughness.

1. Tough target defeat specialist (vs. boss, EB,AV,even GM) -solo
Can defeat a single tough target most quickly, alone (admittedly requires a high level of survivability as well.)

Some sort of MM. I'm not familiar enough with all the nuances, but probably bots or thugs primary and dark/poison/traps secondary. Honorable mention to an IOd-to-the-gills ill/rad controller, but I think the fact that it's so much cheaper to do it with a MM that puts them over the top.

2. Team tough target defeat specialist (vs boss, AV/even GM) -assisting/enabling
This teammate would help the team defeat a tough target most quickly (defensive capability not necessarily important, offense may be)

Rad/sonic or cold/sonic defender, hands down. If you want to help defeat a single tough target most quickly, it's debuffs you want, and oh my god the debuffs those two combos bring. You could also try TA, traps, or storm for the primary, but mostly it's a good debuffing primary combined with sonic secondary that's the winner here.

3. Large group defeat specialist -solo
Can defeat a large group most consistently and quickly, alone

bots/something (storm or dark would work well, I think) MM, or electric/shield scrapper/brute/tank. Solo, you want a combo of survivability and damage.

4. Team large group defeat specialist -assisting/enabling
This teammate can make defeating large groups fastest most consistently (defensive abilities not important, offense may be)

Kin/sonic defender. Fulcrum shift + howl, and you've probably done more to speed the death of a group with two powers than most combos can do by using every power they've got. And that's easily up every single group.

5. Tough target survivability specialist (vs. boss, EB,AV,even GM)- solo
Can stand against a tough target the longest, without help (offense capability not considered, assuming never ending enemy attack)

Obviously a stone/dark tank, although a perma-PA illusion controller will also work (but might not hold aggro as well).

6. Team tough target survivability specialist (vs. boss, EB,AV,even GM) -assisting/enabling
This teammate would make surviving tough targets for a long period easier (offense capability not considered, assuming never ending enemy attack)

For this you want either defensive buffs or offense-lowering debuffs. Bosses and EBs are barely even speedbumps for a team, and AV/GMs heavily resist -tohit and slows, so for debuffs you'd be looking for -damage and possibly -special. In that case, my vote goes for a heavily IO'd cold dom character of any stripe. Perma-benumb, shields, and frostwork and almost anything would be helpless to do any damage. Could even make it a cold/sonic defender to stack the -res even more.

7. Large group survivability specialist -solo
This combo can withstand a large group attacking them the longest (offense capability not considered, assuming never ending enemy attack)

Again, pretty obviously a stone/dark tanker. Bots/traps (or similar) tankermind might be able to come close, but just for straight-up no-frills toughness I'd have to pick the tank.

8. Team large group survivability specialist -assisting/enabling
This teammate can help the team stand against a large group the longest (offense capability not considered, assuming never ending enemy attack)

For a *single* large group, I'd probably have to pick an earth-rad controller. Mondo debuffs and a nearly endless rotation of AoE controls make this a winner.

For both this category and number 6, I'll also give a nod to a FF/dark defender. Single-handedly soft-capping the team's defense while also immobing the baddies in place (and applying -tohit on groups) can do a lot.

9. Tough target control specialist (vs. boss, EB,AV,even GM)
Power combo that can most consistently stop a single tough target from dealing damage (offense not considered)

Unfortunately, in this game 'tough target control' is an oxymoron. So, since you can't really *control* AVs/GMs, I just have to fall back on 'stopping them from doing damage', and thus the answer is the same as before, a perma-benumb cold dom user.

10. Large group control specialist
This combo can stop a large group of enemies from dealing damage most consistently (offense not considered)

For the same reasons as given in number 8, again I'd have to give the nod to an earth/rad controller.

11. Tough target stacking specialist (vs. boss, EB,AV,even GM)
While often diversity on a team often preferred, the more of this specific archetype primary and secondary, the better when fighting a single strong foe

Rad/sonic defender. One is great. Two or more are even better. It takes a *lot* of stacking before you reach the caps on the debuffs these guys bring.

12. Large group stacking specialist
While often diversity on a team often preferred, the more of this specific archetype primary and secondary, the better when fighting a large group

Unlike for number 4, you don't really need more than one kin. For this one, I would probably pick fire/rad or fire/storm controllers or corruptors. Lots of stackable AoE damage and AoE debuffage.


In general, there aren't very many villains on this list. More or less, this just reflects the differing design of the ATs between the two sides. The hero ATs are just more specialized than the villain ones, so of course they show up more often on a roster of 'best specialists'.

... any relation to the starcraft commentator of the same name?

Unfortunately, you picked a *very* end intensive combo, simple as that. Fire epic for consume is a perfectly reasonable choice. You could also go ice epic - since you can't heal yourself either, hibernate could fulfill two needs at once (and it becomes available at 41, not 47 - a big plus).

If you haven't already, frankenslotting your stuff for as much end reduction as you can fit in would help. If you're willing to drop a 4th slot into your single target bubbles, you could put in a bunch of end/res enhancements and cut down on the pain of rebubbling your team. Also, it couldn't hurt to make sure you've got some end reduction in your most spammed click powers too - a lot of people don't realize just how much endurance these consume. Getting at least an SOs worth into char and ring of fire would help, and fire cages, of course, needs as much as you can give it.

If you could post a mids build for your current setup/plan for the next few levels, we could look at it and see where any improvements could be made.

I don't think that AVs inherently resist mez resistance debuffs. According to the wiki page, AV resistance covers -runSpeed, -recharge, -endurance, -tohit, -defense, -perception, -regeneration, and -recovery. No mention there of resistance to mez resistance debuffs, so that 86% shouldn't apply. The level scaling should, but not the inherent AV debuff resistance.

And I've never heard of AVs having inherent 100% mez resistance. As far as I know, AVs scaled down to EBs keep all their abilites - just losing the extra HP/damage/etc. I've fought plenty of PToD EBs on my dom, and I have a feeling I'd have noticed them having 90% mez resist. After all, I can hold them whenever the triangles are down, and I wouldn't have been able to do that with half duration holds, given that I need to stack 3 of them.

As far as I understand things, the AV in your example should have ended up with -74.5% mez resistance. Of course, I'm no more sure that I'm right than you are. Someone needs to test this stuff.

When power customization came out, I decided that an angel would probably be a hypothetical empathy/fire blast defender with everything colored white and gold. Holy fire, healing people, etc, etc.

Ice storm and blizzard both list a 100% accuracy bonus, but that is misleading. The power that has the acc bonus is simply the power that summons the pseudo pet that deals the actual damage. For some reason, many pseudopet summoning powers list this 100% accuracy bonus. The pseudopet has a power that does the damage, and *that* power doesn't have any accuracy bonus.

For freezing rain/sleet, it doesn't really matter if you slot it with accuracy or not. It checks to hit 5 times per second, and you only need it to hit once for the debuffs to apply. For ice storm and blizzard, though, you want as many ticks to hit as possible, so you want some accuracy slotting in there. Personally, if you're slotting with SOs, I'd slot blizz/icestorm with 1 acc, 3 dam, 2 rech. Combined with sleet/FR, that should ensure a decent rate of hits. I wouldn't bother with any slow, though - if you're an cold/ice, you've already got slows coming out of your ears, you hardly need extra slotting for slow on attack powers.

Yeah. Make sure it's at even level, and let us know your level as well so we know for sure how strong the effect is *supposed* to be. While you're at it, maybe hit the AV with some sort of other debuff (infrigidate?) and then come back when he's an EB and hit him with it again so we can also test the 'downgraded AVs do/do not retain debuff resistance bit'.

I did a bit of number crunching, and I think that grav, earth, fire, and mind might all be able to do it with the earth epic. If powerboost affects benumb, then I think *any* primary with the cold secondary and primal epic could do it. Of course, that's all assuming roughly perma-hasten levels of recharge.

That's all theoretical, of course - I haven't done it myself, no way would I ever pour that much cash into one character. Regardless, though, it would probably take a minute or more to stack enough mag - so better have a good backup plan.

Well, in that case, it sounds like it's time to do some testing FOR SCIENCE! Anyone with weaken/benumb willing to buy a power analyzer temp power, go out and benumb/weaken AVs/downgraded AVs and record the results? I would, except I have no such characters.

AHHH.... That makes a lot more sense.

Ok, now I have to ask, though - what *really* is the -mez resistance floor? Because -93% mez resistance would make holds last something like 14 times longer (1/(1-0.93) = 1/.07 = 14.3ish?), and I have a hard time thinking they'd really allow it to be *that* powerful.

This wiki page says that the cap is -300%, but that seems ... highly unlikely. As the article notes, mez durations would be infinite at -100%, and negative at higher values. Since all it would take to reach more than -100% is to have two corrs/defs/controllers/MMs use benumb or weaken on the same target, I have a feeling it would have been noticed by now. So does anyone know what the -mez resistance cap really is?

EDIT: With the very long durations of the single target confuse powers, I wonder if it would be easier to perma-confuse AVs than it would be to perma-hold them. Let's see...

With 95% rech/confuse enhancement and 180% global recharge, confuse/decieve last 72.64 seconds and cycle in 4.77s (if my memory is correct on 2.5 seconds being their recently corrected animation time), leading to being able to stack 15 of them for mag 45. Overpower would add, on average, about another mag 2. The contagious confusion proc would only add another mag 2 on average. Darn, not quite. Their long animations are hurting them here.

Hm, I forgot about seismic smash from the epic. Let's see what that would do...

Well, assuming 95% hold enhancement and 95% recharge (and that you've got roughly 180% global counting hasten), seismic smash has a 29.06s hold and a 9.18s cycle time. It'd be able to keep up about 3 stacks, for an extra 12 mag.

...yow. Overall, that'd be about mag 57-58 stacked. It might actually be possible after all. Of course, that's assuming that everything is cast the instant it recharges, every time, but.... Add in a few hold procs (if you can without compromising hold/recharge enhancement) and you probably can actually perma-hold an AV with that. Assuming you can keep up the endurance, of course...

I'm not sure how to calculate benumb's effect, or even how strong it'd be for a controller. I *think* it'd be -93.15% at level 50, but somehow I have a hard time believing that it'd really reduce an AVs mag 50 protection to mag 3.5 as a 93% reduction would seem to imply. Do AVs resist -special? Is there a -special debuff floor? Has anyone tested to see if benumb actually reduces an AVs hold protection, and if so, by how much?

The AV debuff resistance is described on this page. Don't forget that the purple patch also applies. Also, info on AV mez protection (aka purple triangles).

Obviously, the purple triangles are retained by EBs downgraded from AVs. I've heard it said that downgraded AVs also retain the debuff resistance, but I haven't found anything definitive on the matter. AVs have inherent mag 3 protection, and EBs mag 6, to stack on top of the triangles.

EDIT: If you're thinking about holding an AV, I'm not sure if earth is the right set. The problem with earth is that it's single target hold has a much longer animation than some, making it hard to cycle it fast enough. With all your recharge, volcanic gasses would be near perma, and that might be able to make up some of the difference, but I don't know if it would be enough.

On the other hand, if you *can* cycle it fast enough, having stoney to absorb the hits while you go about stacking *would* be nice....

EDIT EDIT: With 180% global and 95 rech/hold in fossilize, I'm getting that you'd be able to stack it 10 times before the first one starts wearing off, for only mag 30 of hold. From some very dirty back of the envelope calculations, I think volcanic gasses might be able to stack about another mag 12 on average. As far as I can tell, overpower would add about another 1-2 mag on average. Slotted with 3 dam/mez, stoney might keep another mag 2-3 stacked on average, assuming he uses seismic smash every time it's up. That's only about mag 46 - you need 54 (that is all on an even level AV, too - it would be worse on a higher level one since the hold durations are hit by the purple patch).

I ran it for a few other primaries, and all in all, I'm not sure you'd be able to pull it off - I never got above mag 50 average stacked hold. I'm not sure how to factor in the overall contribution of hold procs, but I don't think they'd be enough. You might have better luck vs AVs specifically with the cold secondary - you'll want to confirm this, but I believe benumb can debuff the AVs mez resistance, making him much easier to hold. I would ask around on the controller forums if I were you - see if anyone has managed to perma-hold an AV, and if so, what their build looked like.

In that case, I stay quiet (or say 'not me' as well) and hope someone else takes the star. If/when nobody does and the team inevitably breaks up, I go off looking for a new one if I still feel like teaming, or go solo if not.

I am about the biggest introvert I know. MMOs appeal to me in general because it's social interaction on my terms, and if I don't want to deal with someone, I don't have to. I join teams for the more interesting gameplay and a bit of socializing on my terms, but I always know that I'm not actually *required* to deal with the other people and their issues. That's no longer the case if I've actually got the star, and in that case, the game very quickly stops being fun.

I *can* lead a team (not spectacularly *well*, mind you, but I *can*), but I don't, because for me, being the leader usually sucks all the fun out of the game. When I actually have to deal with people and their inevitable issues instead of simply companionably slaughtering stuff alongside them, it's no longer a game, it's *work* - and I'm selfish enough that I don't want to sacrifice my fun just to keep a team going for a bunch of random strangers who can likely find another team anyway.

I think in this case he's specifically talking about the 'force multiplier' ATs. A well-played tank is certainly an asset to the team, but it's not a multiplicative boost like that from a well-played character with a buff/debuff set. Granted, tanks are probably the AT which comes the closest among the non buff/debuff ATs (at least with some team compositions), but it's still generally not of the same magnitude.

MoG (at least the old player version which I believe the PPs use) gives about 70% defense to all. Even with a 15% debuff, that's still 55%, enough to floor anyone without tohit buffs. Yet, I've personally *used* tornado on PPs, and seen it hit them just fine. If tornado wasn't auto-hit, it would be floored at somewhere below a 10% chance to hit, even with the 1.3 acc. So, either it's autohit, or else it has at least a 50%ish tohit buff - either way, functionally autohit.

Another possible test would be to use the combat chat logs. I don't know if tornado's rolls (or lack thereof) show up in your chat window, but it would certainly be possible to use tornado on an enemy player and see if it shows up as autohit. Since those aspects of powers don't change between PvP and PvE, that would be conclusive.