New Dawn

I can cos its not half as long as others have been.

Taunt appears to work so much better on the STF than it did in RV XD but nvm that i have seen stonetanks permataunting lose aggro on 52 praetorian AVs. The Psionic ones may -rechg you anyway and if its a machine then they may seemably resist taunt so if psi and machine you would get babbage whom i have had the most trouble holding out of any without much actual trouble :P but i have seen a granite tank lose aggro on infernal for an instant which sadly was enough. Thing is, everytime a new patch comes in ya need to go and reinspect it all and a real sense may just be a virtual sense. The higher ya face then the more taunt ya need or atleast some duration overlap time (team acts on second taunt) and when ya talking more than one who could be spread then its nice to have plenty duration. Try your tank taunting every 17 seconds for a feel.

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As for Dark Melee...My experience does not match Shannons. The cone for Shadow Maul is very small (level 1-14 I think it hit multiple enemies about 6 times total) and the animation is kind of long and really embarassing looking if you miss.

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I have had plenty of herding experience. I have had 6 foes around my icetank once with CE on just one of em (there was actually 10 foes stacked in one spot). I never have probs multihitting with Shadow Maul i am afraid and its great if ya can do it cos how ever many you hit your obviously doing more damage per endurance than normal.

The scale of damage increases only slightly per level and in some cases a 52 Infernal can be worse than a 54 Black Scorpion if ya get my drift all depending on team. Taunt not only serves as a means to taunt far away at speed, reduce herding times, or as a means to not need to unmess a perfectly debuffed group, but to keep areas of damage as far from team as necessary whilst also lowering dps upon ones tank as well.

An AV that one might find worth kiting would be a 52 Infernal particularly cos of his cone and pbaoe which can stack and easily teamwipe but AVs like Siege or Tyrant who both have whirling hands (worst pbaoes going) which aint upto much then kiting may be only of real benefit if someone else in team is somit like -2 to -3vls or more. I know Id much rather have live blappers giving it some than dead blappers with me giving it some.

Melee damage from blasters tends to be 30% greater than ranged and either way more than what our tanks tend to do. A tauntless granite tank surrounded by 6 blappers fighting an AV with just a stormie would be a no no whereas a kiting granite tank with 6 blasters and a stormie should normally easily have a thumbs up.

Amazes me 2 years in that so many people havent seen a kite and so many people who may of got to see someone try for one saw it get messed. After a messed version on say Babbage ofc the run in and gank method will be successful as the Pbaoe alpha has most likely already happened.

Taunt adds flexibility with AVs by allowing for damage mitigating formations which can most certainly help the certain defender types that may more easily be often quickly dismissed as inadequate.

My firetank can keep Lusca's head and 2 legs taunted whilst teams can blast a leg with no defender or controller needed She only gets hit by spit due to range and has toxic res upto 80% due to healing flames being stacked.

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Im afraid I wouldnt. Success is so "in the balance" in a STF that a tauntless tank is a liability a team cant afford.

I would possibly accept a tank with taunt if there was no other tank around (or there was allready a tank with taunt) and the rest of the team was largely, or completely, STF built, but only with tredidation.

Sorry, IMO, taunt is a requisite for STF, and good luck to you trying to get into a team without it.

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Id rather a tankless team without it or people using the reverse kite formation about AVs.

I think ya will find what ya looking for in what ya have chosen in archery energy and first respec is at 24 or any level with a freebie respec or vet respec.

The praetorian AV pbaoes are either at a certain hp level so ya could of backed off past 60ft at an exact point or its cos the tanker/greatest threat etc is in range of it with you.

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Could you do a funky "horns of the ram" pinning manuever between you if you were both well trained?

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Would most likely have the untargetted by TK foes removed from the cone range of TK.

Your attack chain is end hungrier than your toggles so whilst ya havent got a 6th slot on your attacks you would do better to add a end slot before end slotting toggles. Id also imagine run speeds in swift being better than quickness.

Necro/Dark MM, have a Shaman, make it female as most Shamans in our history happen to be female and are inclusive of Wiccas and then call it Dark Willow and hopefully never get Genericed.

Bruisers dont have to have handclap neither unless you give them the upgrade to it.

Traps Poison trap is enough for fast AV/Hero dropping, EMP arrow not so good as duration doesnt anyway near meet the recharge which sucks really but still probably nice in many ways for some of the first secs of the fight.

I'd choose buckshot over M30 for greater kb control so i spread as little mobs about as possible cos spreading mobs would likely lower other peoples dps by putting enemies outside of their cones. Or to put it simply, what would you rather use before autofire?

Solo you can play to be optimal almost all the time cos you can choose your terms but when teamed you dont always get your best terms but id rather look at the "how a build is meant to work" with as little outside power picks as possible and play to it so that there is a huge gap between one toon and another and out of my brutes dark/dark is the most fun to play.

I have a almost pure dark/dark brute. Well i have combat jump super jump and acrobatics. Your build has to match how you play or get to play. Mine herds, builds fury fast cos of the near death experience at herdpoint then heals and then cleans up. Worst thing i have faced is the SWAT team in a Mayhem mission who reduced my accuracy better than what CoT do. 6 slot dark consumption and then 6 slot dark regeneration and work on keeping fury up (in teams i have been thru a mission with almost a perma full bar) and go with a kill or be killed attitude.
Great fury is great damage per endurance and keep it up by herding ahead just enough for team to come and before mobs are fully finished go get some more, in fact you never hang about to clean up, merely start the fights with aggro control and do a bit of good damage.
I wont show people my builds not that it matters cos getting the most out of them is playstyle but my shadow maul which is a multihitter and my dark regen and dark consumption are my main powers that were 6 slotted asap.
Elite bosses whom i have ran out of end on whilst solo i have merely gone and ran into more mobs and dark consumed then fought them whilst fighting an elite boss. Also i had taunt early and tanked GMs off the bat with no res slots in my build using nearby mobs to leech my heal from.
There is something you should be aware of though and thats your limitations, in some teams other players can lower your survivability or increase it and when solo there is a optimum level of enemy that your build and playstyle gives you your best xp/time with.
Fury increases your damage per endurance. Dark Consumption is better end recovery than stamina providing it hits, I could be low on end running into the next mob but right at start of next mob is best time to recover end before they all acc debuff me silly. Dark regen puts back hitpoints no matter what the type of damage and recharges fast and death shroud and shadow maul multihit.
Debt can come from bad timing and bad dynamics and so not necessarily a bad build.

More than 3 slots of any enhancement in any given power gives a seriously severe reduced return in comparison to the first 3, so much so its practically never ever worth slotting more than 3 slots of anything so that means 7 of your slots can better serve you elsewhere, as for power order or power choices thats entirely down to you and id rather a co-robot/ff talk that part thru with you anyways. The shields are slotted early imo as the the types of enhancements that go in them prior to SO stage make little difference. The equip robot and upgrade robot could do with end slots to have you producing and upgrading all bots within the end bar as best possible.

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and stamina is still required

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I gave my rad rad a bit of a rethink last night with the new Inventions and i got my end consumption way down, so it could be how ya slot the rest of the build that matters. Mids planner doesnt allow for an attack chain planner with toggles running and so I kinda had to work it out on excel. I have yet to do my TA which tends to lose end too much when I have accidentally left flight on or in teams where enemies are fought in spread groups but her EPS will definately drop making her staminalessness even easier.

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Have found in teams though that AS'ing the bosses works fine if the rest of the team is already drawing some of the aggro. Just keep placeting and pummelling after the initial attack wave.
Works for me!

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From the times they were on test some people worked out that the moment the enemy flinched from seeing brutes or MM + pets go in that was the time to strike whilst some others striked early and got their butts handed to them.

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With max recharge on traps, it's beyond me how you can have any stamina at all after 40, without the fitness pool. :-p

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I've slotted a few +DMG into Empty Clips and Dual Wield, will that do any good?

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Damage slots are worth more than anyother type of slot you can add to an attack. I took thugs to run around with guns in my characters hands and so thats what she does.

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I have been 2 bars from 50 on Union for several weeks now and probably can find a post several weeks back saying that I have been 2 bars from 50 for a few weeks. Not rushed for any reason cos no I wouldnt be the first.

Right under your post saying you was 35

2 bars from 50 way before March the 30th

I am rp, story content bound (badges on all toons) and control level last bit shall be of certain story content (and then i have truly run out).

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Some of us have a few 50s and our view and interest changes with each one. I had a toon that was never killed soloing all missions in all story arcs that can possibly be done (and before/without policeband it is possible) upto lvl 20 before COV came along which then meant i had to delete her to make room for my stalker.

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3 Spines/Regen Scrappers
2 DM/Regen Scrappers
1 Spines/SR Scrapper
1 MA/SR Scrapper
1 BS/Regen Scrapper

8 Shivans, 1 War Wolf and 1 Amy Wand.

Couldn't quite finish off Dr Aeon - took him really low on the best try, but couldn't manage it.

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Clearly lacking a Claws/SR with aid self.

I think endurance usage comes down to the dynamics of the team. You can go thru a mission doing very little damage per endurance to alot of damage per endurance. In large teams a round up and arrest will allow for AoEs thatll hit upto 10 or hit upto 16 which means each enemy hit for low damage adds up to great damage to group for little endurance. Round up and arrests are actually good for debuffers and teams as their debuffs effect as many as possible and the teams are more uber for it. I would say end slots would have to be in almost every power with upto 2 in the most commonly used.

Id also say with IO slotting and invention slotting it does get easier and with powermastery for conserve power easier still. Respecing out of stamina when you can get conserve might be easiest as you may find your builds level of efficiency will change with every team.

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I attempted 3 times.
In all of them people left after one hour of constant dying...

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I have attempted no times and have had a nice time playing instead

My work commitments have me working random times and therefore i couldnt even commit to turning up for anything.

I d certainly would want 50 ppl in it to win it and those that came to spam and not be very helpful, out of it, if no guarantee of that then my patience just wouldnt last.

I have been 2 bars from 50 on Union for several weeks now and probably can find a post several weeks back saying that I have been 2 bars from 50 for a few weeks. Not rushed for any reason cos no I wouldnt be the first.

Right under your post saying you was 35

2 bars from 50 way before March the 30th

I am rp, story content bound (badges on all toons) and control level last bit shall be of certain story content (and then i have truly run out).

Recharge time should actually vary within a range of times.

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i agree the invention system is the best thing to happen to CoX since i joined but my only worry is how long b4 ppl inviting u teams (high lvl) start asking if u have got these bonuses? its hard enough now bein a INV gettin invited to a STF..

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Try being an Ice Tank. Apparently a team that one of my friends was on tonight refused to believe that it was even possible to do the STF with an Ice Tank (OK, I died a bit, but we still did it).

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I dont like cries of doom!! Some people may think that just having a stormie for a defender on it would mean doom but to me its not. To me a team first has to gel, then every player needs to know about proper timing, positioning and how to get a good combined usage of their powers so that they can be a proper unit really. I dont do fun, I like people who are in it to win it and try to do what most people would readily give up on cos then you really get a sense of achievement and that to me is what is really worth playing for.

i remember doing a lvl 53 D.R.Support Titan and he knocked me into red hp in no time and then i clicked Elude. I finished him off in about 40 seconds after clicking elude and thought OMG elude is good only to see i hadnt actually clicked it.
So much uberness can come down to so much luck.

Team friendly to me is a stalker picking on the best targets and Assassin striking them and perhaps even going from AS to AS to AS if its frequency is good enough to outmatch total attack chain damage to the end bar when needed so in low levels AS to AS of good frequency is great if you can do it.

Might i suggest a fun/fun build?