OhGodtheRats

Giving this a slight bump, because it's cool and I started working on my entry today.
-jared

I don't know. The sleep power might be a nice alternative when it comes time to set up traps like crazy. I'd imagine putting a mob to sleep then setting up everything fairly close to them. Then again, with Sonic's natural debuff....it might not be worth the effort.

By the by, I've leveled my Ice/Traps toon a bit more and I've decided to put him back on the shelf for a while. I enjoy my Rad/Traps character too much and, since I'm trying to limit the amount of toons I play regularly, it would be goofy of me to make a new one just to capitalize on the crazy SLOW IO's you could slot in the build. I like the toon a lot and will most likely bring him to one of the Trapper nights sometime down the road, but I figure if I'm going to start building up a new toon it'll have to one with completely different powers. To me the joy of new stuff outweighs the joy of the super slow movement build of death.
-jared

Edit: I still have faith in the build, and if anyone else on the Trapper squad wants to do it, I've got a small stack of SLOW IO's (low to midlevel) in my character Kaijukore's inventory. I was planning on giving them to my Ice/Traps character, but now....if any of you guys are serious about trying it out, they're yours for the taking. Just let me know.

The other boost with leadership (and again, you have to grab it for theme reasons not because the numbers are the best) with that when a Stalker uses the top power, Vengeance, he boosts the teams damage something crazy. Like 35% as opposed to the 18 or 20 you get from a Corrupter or mastermind using it. So there are advantages to a Stalker having leadership, if only to give his team a 35% damage boost the moment one member dies.
-jared

Actually, if I had the infamy most of the powers could hold two damage procs. But no. That's a pipe dream. I'll be happy if I can get the slow Damage Procs for caltrops and Ice Storm, since Ice Storm is really elemental caltrops anyway. So Impeded Swiftness: Chance of Smashing Damage will be this character's holy grail...only he'll want a couple of them. :sigh: The -recharge might also be nice and I see it on the black market with some regularity. And I also won't be collecting any complete sets for the slows. Since you get the +Slow Set bonus by 3 slotting most of the Slow IO sets, I plan on having all my Slow powers (which should be a total of 6 or so) have half of one and half of another. Which, unless my math is goofy, will mean a +20 to +36 % to all my Slows. No defense bonuses, but I think the super slow gimmick will make it worth it.
Marquis...the urge to create an alt was too great for me to resist. If you succumb two, we shall be brother trappers in Ice and slow the world to a stop together. It'll give me someone to squabble over the Slow sets with.

By the by, the only other primary that would work particularly well (if you have the invention focus in mind) would be Sonic. It's got multiple stuns that'll be able to stack with Seeker Drones, if you're so inclined to boost those bonuses. It also has a sleep power that, if you slot with Induced Coma, stacks really well with all the Trap sets I mentioned. Motormouth has some inventing to do I think.

Dwayne Dibley? Do you have the teeth for such a name?

And yeah, I've been playing 5 months and I've only gotten to see the Cap Trial twice. The problem is finding people who've got the time and who also want to do it. I'll be adding you to my globals the next time I log in.
-jared

Well there's the problem. I assumed it lasted 190 seconds (or so...like a lot of shield buffs) and instead it only lasts for 60. SO by the time I was done buffing all the Henchman and the team, I'm sure it was already starting to wear off. 30 seconds later when we got jumped...yeah that explains a LOT about why the Ruin Mage totally knocked us around like ping pong balls.

Cool. Now I know its for quick use and not for regular buffing. That definitely works for me.
-jared

I wish I could remember his name, but I teamed with a stalker that had the full leadership pool a while back. I think he was Claws (since the endurance is pretty light compared to the other sets). While it was a little weird, it worked well with a stalker that wanted to play well with others.

At least, I thought so.

By the way, after writing that Traps Invention Guide/Rant, I convinced myself that a Ice/Traps Corrupter would be golden with inventions. I set him up on Union last night (to the horror of creating yet another toon). He's only level 6 but he already has 4 powers that take Slow Movement Sets. Once I snag a couple more holds, it SHOULD synergy with Trap IO Sets in a pretty snazzy way. Particularly when I get Icestorm or whatever, which sounds like just a buffed up version of Caltrops anyway. I'll do my best to get him up to speed....the double xp weekend coming up (again) should make that pretty easy to do.

Btw if anyone in the Demolition SG sees me on as "Lizard Moon", please send me an invite. I'd prefer to give my lowbie prestige to the group if I could.
-jared

Edit: Btw as only a phantom member to the theme nights, I totally waive my right to the Sky Raider free jetpack mission if the team fills up. Love the team, but my attendance is like a boomerang sometimes. Just wanted to say that now in case there was some issue with too many trappers in the near future. : )

Thanks for the advice guys. Right now Prof. Lazarus is using a combination of Siphon Speed, Combat Jumping, and Hurdle to get around. The only times I wish I had SuperSpeed is when I'm either travelling through an enemy-free void or when I'm travelling in a zone with enemies that'll eat my face the moment I try to siphon speed from them.

By the way, can anyone tell me how "Increase Density" works on a practical level? I've found it great for freeing immobilized/held/stunned allies, but using it as a shield buff left me....wanting. I think first impressions were just negative. Check this out.

I snagged Increased Density in my RP group because we kept getting knocked around by Ruin Mages left and right. I was planning on taking it anyway, but a little team pressure gave it an earlier priority (they're friends so its cool). I spend a moment buffing everyone with it. Just as we're about to charge, a ruin mage justs over a fence and knocks every single one of us down. It was....embarrassing as I'd just said how this should help us out. I did find that by double-buffing someone in the "knockdown zone" of the Mage seemed to make them kind of immune to the quakes, but....
I'm not sure how this works exactly. Or how to use it best. Right now I'm using it not as a shield to keep up but as something to throw on the team the moment immobilizations/holds/knockdowns start happening. The text also says that they stack, but do I really have to double or triple stack Increased Density to keep people from being knocked around?

-jared

(Btw one team member said that Ruin Mages do Knockdown while Increased Density only protects from Knockback and Knockup (as in thrown in the air, not pregnancy). I'm thinking they might be right but if that's the case, I'm not sure why Increased Density seemed to help after double-stacking it.)

Private Dancer, I'm so very glad you joined our all-trappers team. So very glad.

See you monday.


On topic, only because I had this traps power until I respec'd out of it:
Triage Beacon is nice, but it's only going to save your bacon if you slot it like crazy and keep the fight to one place. While keeping a fight localized is part of the traps package (you actually will do better than most builds when fighting in narrow tunnels and small rooms), Triage Beacon just seems....a waste to me.

That's my 2 cents, as everything Private Dancer said is spot on.
-jared

I can clarify that. Yes, everyone who goes on the mission gets the jetpack at full duration(or, at least those who click the glowie box) while inside the mission. There's like six in there if memory serves. Also know that you can't get more than one. If you try to, you just make it so that no one else could have gotten that particular jetpack. So on a full team, someone might win out if someone experiments with this.

(Billy Horrorshow did this with some TLF friends about a month ago, was one of my favorite missions so far.)
-jared

Edit: Also if memory serves this mission is timed, so going back again to "refill" isn't going to be an option.

If it helps, my trapper is only level 23....and due to dxp and teaming hasn't gotten his Cap contacts just yet.

-jared

PS: I got bored today and typed up way too much info on Invention Sets for trappers.
The Inventive Trapper (jared was bored today)

Considering how we got a new recruit that's very excited to join us (level 35 Ninja Mastermind/Traps) looks like we'll have a full team of horrible traps (and mini-trappers, as my friend calls his caltrop-throwing ninjas). Look forward to it.

-jared

Edit: I'm putting together that IO Trapper guide, one question: Is the Mastermind Poison Trap take sleep sets while the Corrupter one only takes Holds? I remember there's was a bit of confusion Monday when we talked about this and the Wiki might be a little wonky on the topic.

Thanks for clearing that up, Sitriel.

So yes, count me in as one of the people willing to take part in this regularly. If I can make it to the weekly theme nights more often than not, I'm sure I could swing this.
Send me an email in-game or a message here on the forum when it's officially on.
-jared

Ummmm. Yeah.

Low-fi version....hurts. It hurts a lot, mostly because we all play the game and KNOW how good those visuals should be. I tried to get the original link to play, but after 15 minutes of it trying to load something, I figured it was broken. Either that or I had been sucked into a time machine to a time when internet video took an eternity to load (probabbly 1999 I think).

I like the music and from the Low-fi I think that I might like it...its just too...low. No offense, but you did ask for our feedback.
-jared

I think it would be awesome. I tried to do my 1st Respec mission with a group and it went very, very poorly...but mostly due to personality issues with one member and his addiction to racial slurs. None of my characters "need" a respec, but it would be nice as you can always rearrange something for the better (like ditching that early minor attack that was really only useful until level 12). I'm not sure about when to do it regularly, but if there's a time I'd love to see it done.

Hell, I just wish there were regular times for people doing strike forces on Union. This would be the next best thing as I know a LOT of people who are frightened of this respec mission something fierce. Send me a tell if you see me on, I'll be there.


By the way, does the respec mission only help out the one character, or does it help out everyone in the party that qualifies for said respec mission? Like, does everyone get a respec if they qualify or is it only for the leader? I'm cool with either way, I'm just curious.
-jared
globaL: Billy Horrorshow

Thanks for the help guys. Right now I've got Endurance reducers all over the place, plus I've avoided taking some of the scarier attacks until I can afford them endurance-wise. (I'm not picking up flamethrower until after Stamina). It's weird, but more of my builds are leaning towards fitness...not just because of stamina but because getting all those cool powers so early means I use them and end up standing the endurance-free fairly often.

Back to the other topic: So siphon speed doesn't stack with the speed boost of Super Speed? Or, if it does, it hits the speed cap pretty quickly so that I won't notice a big difference?
-jared

Ok guys, I can't make it to the Stalker team this week, mostly because I need to face the fact that I've been playing too much and haven't spent enough time painting. Since that's, you know, my job....I'm going to take a few days (at least) off. DXP weekend swallowed my soul and fed the addiction flames a bit too much.

Of course I'm (mostly) joking....I'm just going to be too busy to play until the weekend at the earliest. See you then.
-jared

I think it really comes down to being practical. Mael's example is kick-[censored] optimal, but really it comes down to how much infamy you have kicking around...because last I checked most of the regen procs were selling for something in the crazy millions. For good reason.
-jared

Just to clarify something, the reason the above works is because those set bonuses give different numbers. In this case, 4, 8, and 12 to regen. Avernal had this to say:
[ QUOTE ]
Just bear in mind it's the bonus that has the five stacked limit, not the specific set. So you can have 12% regen up to five times, from any set that grants that particular bonus, but after that it doesn't matter what set you use; any further 12% bonuses would be giving you nothing. (So it's good to check for sets with similar bonuses to what you're after but without the 12% regen at this point)

That said, different percentages are counted as different buffs, so you can have a 12% regen bonus five stacked AND a 10%, and an 8% so on so forth. Adds up very nicely.

[/ QUOTE ]

He's suggesting that the arms race to defeat Hide isn't one-sided...there are options available to stalkers besides just hoping hide won't be seen through. And besides Stealth, the Power pool ability. If you can hit the stealth cap, then you've done as well as you possibly could to stay hidden.

Btw what is the accuracy buff cap? Is there one?
-jared

I have a regen Stalker and I might be able to help a little.

The answer is yes. I have fast healing slotted with 3 health and it is rather golden. Throw in the regen bonus from Health slotted 3 times with more Healing and its pretty good. But the fun doesn't stop there if you're willing to look into the new Invention Sets and want even more Regen. While unique enhancements are great, they're rare and very expensive on the Black Market. The cheaper alternative?
I'm almost done with my goofy Invention Sets for Dummy FaQ, but for regen boosts in Melee builds....Regen Scrappers and Stalkers really get the best regen options of all time. Set bonuses DO go over the enhancement cap. So instead of trying to complete one set or spend all your infamy on a rare, try just to slot two from a set in your powers. For example, all your healing powers can take either Numina's Convalescence or Triage Invention Healing Inventions. Both those sets give a regen bonus right off the bat, even if you only slot two from the set in the same power. Triage give only 4% regen bonus while Numina gives a whopping 12%...but its harder to get. So, just focusing on your Regen, you can do the follow:
By putting two Triage each in Health, Fast Healing, Integration you get a 12% Regen bonus on top of the inherent bonuses your powers give you.
By putting two Numina in health, Fast Healing, and Integration, you get a smooth 36% Regen bonus on top of everything.
Even better, if you have 4 slots in all those powers you can put both two triage and two numina in all of them to give yourself an inherent 42% regen bonus. The joys of set bonus stacking.

But it doesn't stop there if you want to be regen king. Since you're a melee archetype, there's a great (and only uncommon, not rare) invention set for Melee called "Pounding Slugfest". The bonus for only slotting two of this kind into a melee power is a 8% regen bonus. Since you probably have 5 melee powers by now (my lower level stalker only has 4 but that'll be fixed in a little while) you can get this bonus a maximum of five times for max bonus of 40% regen. AND this is on top of those regen bonuses I mentioned earlier for healing AND on top of the bonuses inherent to your powers.

So, in a perfect Invention Set build with Pounding Slugfests, Triage, and Numinas only slotted in pairs (not full sets) you can get a scary 82% regen bonus on TOP of Health, Fast Healing, and Integration. I don't know if anyone NEEDS that much regen, but dear god, it's easier to get than you'd think. Since you're not trying to collect sets you can simply snag the two "common" parts of the Invention Sets and ignore the rares....thereby beating the "gotta get them all" mindset and, well, kicking tail in regard to regen. (Funnily enough, this assumes your build only has fast healing, Integration, and Health. By slotting Triage/Numina in more healing powers your regen bonus would be even higher...)

By the way, I'm not an authority on Inventions or anything and my math might be off....check it out for yourself on the Black Market. The Set bonuses are there and with a little smart slotting, you can get something crazy put together.
-jared

PS: The Regeneration Rare in Numina is really worth the effort though. It give an inherent 20% regen bonus...AND if you place it next to another Numina IO that bonus jumps to 32% because of the set bonus. That means that, just looking at Set bonuses which so far don't have a cap as far as we know, you can get a 102% regen bonus on top of all your powers if you are lucky enough to get that rare numina regen enhancement. So. Very. Scary.

Damn, looking back on this, I hope I'm making sense. Inventions are great, they just take a bit of sorting out.

Edit: The flaw of what has been proposed here is that no Invention Healing Sets have more than one "pure" healing Enhancement. So you won't enhance the actual power as much as you would with two SO enhancements, but the set bonus applies to your complete regen, so I think it balances out. Ultimately its up to you. Even better, when people look at you in the info screen, they'll see your set bonuses. Which will literally just read: +Regen, +Regen, +Regen, +Regen, +Regen, +Regen, +Regen, +Regen (and +Regen, +Regen, +Regen if you're crazy and do both Numina and Triage).

Well, here's my first time using one of the Hero builders. This'll give a breakdown of what powers I bought when, but ignore the slotting in the fine details. I seriously used Invention Origins (Trap of the Hunter, Impeded Swiftness, and Karma) over the past 10 or so levels, particularly the Damage Procs for Snare Arrow and Glue Arrow (both of which did more damage than my "best" actual attack, as sad as that is to say). I only did the builder up to 36 or so, because that's the ultimate goal for me: A boy, his fire demon, and a very flammable oil slick.

+---------------------------------------------
+ Built with SuckerPunch's Online Planner
+ http://www.cohplanner.com
+---------------------------------------------
Name: Kaijukore
Level: 38
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Ninjas
Secondary: Trick Arrow
+---------------------------------------------
01 => Entangling Arrow ==> Acc(1),Immob(3),Acc(3),Acc(13)
01 => Snap Shot ==> Dam(1),Dam(19)
02 => Aimed Shot ==> Dam(2),Dam(5)
04 => Glue Arrow ==> Slow(4),Slow(5),Slow(7),Rech(11),Rech(11),Rech(13)
06 => Flash Arrow ==> ToHitDeBuff(6),ToHitDeBuff(7)
08 => Combat Jumping ==> DefBuff(8),DefBuff(9),DefBuff(9)
10 => Ice Arrow ==> Acc(10),Hold(25),Hold(25),Acc(34),Hold(34)
12 => Hurdle ==> Jump(12)
14 => Fistful of Arrows ==> EndCost(14),EndCost(15),Dam(15),Dam(19)
16 => Stealth ==> DefBuff(16),DefBuff(17),DefBuff(17)
18 => Swift ==> RunSpd(18)
20 => Stamina ==> EndMod(20),EndMod(21),EndMod(21)
22 => Acid Arrow ==> Acc(22),Acc(23),DefDeBuff(23),DefDeBuff(31),DefDeBuff(33),Rech(33)
24 => Train Ninjas ==> EndCost(24)
26 => Oni ==> Dam(26),Dam(27),Acc(27),Dam(31),Acc(31),Acc(33)
28 => Smoke Flash ==> EndCost(28),EndCost(29),EndCost(29)
30 => Disruption Arrow ==> EndCost(30)
32 => Kuji In Zen ==> EndCost(32),EndCost(34)
35 => Oil Slick Arrow ==> Rech(35),Rech(36),EndCost(36),EndCost(36)
+---------------------------------------------
01 => Sprint ==> Empty(1)
01 => Brawl ==> Empty(1)
02 => Rest ==> Empty(1)


By the by, the reason Enlighten Ninja (the level 32 thing) is got endurance reduction slotted twice in it is that, even though I only have one pet....if it dies, I immediately resummon a new one in combat and enlighten it while it's already starting to engage the enemy. Certain powers became much more useful later on, particularly Ice Arrow when I started meeting large scary werewolves that were immune to slow and immobilize...the two things my build used to survive as well as it did.

Since I said I'd mention it, the thing that kept me from getting faceplanted all the time was simple crowd control. So there's no real secret there. With Flash Arrow you can pull very, very well....with glue and snare you can use corners to split up incoming mobs. Ice Arrow was really used as yet another Immobilize (rather than a hold, which is what it is) up until the late twenties when those dame wolves started showing up regularly.
The Oni turned out to be a great pet for my playstyle. While it has some great fire katana attacks, it's a dominator that likes range and immobilizes/holds just like me. Plus, unlike me, it actually does damage.

I know a few people are doing this as well...I'll be curious to see how you guys design your petless little monsters and, if you get it, how the top tier pet works out for you.

I am a little sad that I have a pet now and don't quite get the "OMG what the hell?" responses that I used to, but this toon has really turned into my favorite. I think its because of the adrenalin/panic rush you get when you keep coming close to dying. Oh and the other secret to being the last man standing during a near team-wipe? Hurdle+Combat Jumping makes you the speediest jumper around. Considering how you should never be in melee (remember, you're really squishy as a mastermind without meatshields) this means that when things go sour you have an escape velocity that isn't suppressed if someone hits you, unlike superspeed, superjump, or fly. It also means that you can literally jump up into the rafters on any stage that has them. Using the environment is your friend. Besides corners, most stages (particularly arachnos bases) have great ceilings/walls for strategic plinking/debuffing from relative safety.

Ok I'll quit rambling. Thanks for listening and thanks again for proposing this challenge. Was a blast. And I have a feeling that Kai is going to be my first level 50, as sick as that sounds.
-jared

PS: If you do make a petless mastermind, you WILL surprisingly be able to find a team with a lot of ease. I put "No Pets. Sorry" in my search description and I still got speedily invited to teams whenever I logged in. I think people have a morbid fascination with builds with a deathwish...though eventually some teams just work. This particular toon formed a duo with a stalker that was golden, for instance. Only a handful of times did people go OMG GET SOME GOD DAMN PETS and, even then the rest of the team was cool with it. If you're playing your Blastermind right, people will SEE what you're doing. Debuffs, Shields, or whatever your secondary is becomes vital, and your teammates usually benefit just like your missing minions would have. With no pets you're free to get more Secondaries...and the seduction of Leadership pool powers just isn't there...so you ending up being a mastermind with more secondary powers than most folks have seen in-game. Hell, last night our team had a great argument concerning which was more useless: Me and my (now) one-pet build or a full compliment of Robots Mastermind who did nothing but stay out of combat while using Invisibility while his minions did all the work. Apparently the 2nd one [censored] off more players than a debuff-crazy kamikaze MM. Go figure.

And it was a great finale.

Now that I fixed my character (seriously, I had way too many power pools and far too few traps), I totally understand what you were talking about earlier: A lot of the annoying board layouts narrow tunnels, caves, etc. are so much easier with traps. Poor, poor Council. Hope to see you guys again next week.
-jared

You know what? This'll be a great finale to my gaming marathon. See you there (in just a little while).
-jared
@billy horrorshow