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Posts
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Quote:Delay tactics if you wish and definitely get Freezing Rain. It's the uber power of the storm debuff set, even nicer than hurricane....
Due to endurance problems at level 11 (maybe they'll get better at 12 with DOs), I'm thinking of skipping Tactics and getting Freezing Rain. Any ideas?
Do you team mostly or solo? Gale is your friend. Blow your foes off their feet in the direction you want the robots to kb them into a wall. You want this practice for when you can drop freezing rain on them so that foes melt in a corner or against a wall or obstruction. Especially solo, the solution isn't NO gale, it's MORE gale. Robots don't mind the knockback in gale nearly as much as human teammates do.
Life as a Bots/storm really picks up intensity at 12, with your first protector bot and DOs, 16 with your freezing rain, 18 you get the third first tier bot and maybe Repair is available. (But I might delay that, too, since you want stamina and hurricane by level 22.) 20 is stamina, 22 is hurricane, 24 you get your second protector bot, 26 your assault bot... it just keeps getting better. 32 is a crowning achievment when uber AoE control meets Uber AoE robot damage. -
I started an EC/elec assault dom to see what the hubbub was about with EC. I am inexperienced with dominators, not usually my cup of tea. I like the playstyle and new powers, especially static field, very much with EC, but I felt it could use some AoE dmg with it; so, I quickly rolled an EC/fiery assault dom so I could get fire breath. I don't mind the ticks of the fire DoTs on targets in the static field since it is a 'sticky' patch and reapplies every 5 seconds. I do wonder how Combustion would play with that. The other power coming up in my doms' builds is the AoE confuse. It seems the confuse with a teammate mind controller drove me nuts more than the scatter of knockback since the targets ran out of static field so that when the confuse wore off they weren't in the 'sticky patch' to get re-slept.
The patron/APP powers are a ways down the road, but deciding Linked minds vs. sleet/ice storm vs rain of fire/fireball/fire shield will be a delicious dilemna. -
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You can always do the alternate build available at level 10 without burning freespecs/respecs.
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Short and sweet:
Mastermind primaries: necromancy or demon summoning
Secondaries: Thermal or dark
Mix and match as desired. -
Quote:It wouldn't hurt to have a dominator, corruptor, or even controller teammate now with some group management powers. Lackey up something at least level 22 with SOs and you can really go at it. The dominator/controller would feel free to use the AoE immobilize without overwhelming return fire. Plus, you have a single target heal to patch up any return fire he does get. And as the previous poster stated, with the AoE immobilize or hold, the Thugs will quickly burn them down.I have a 50 thugs/poison. If you take Black Scorpions patron AoE immob, combine that with your breath, fire them at the beginning of a fight against a large group, then after the alpha all you have to do is stand back and watch while your thug's AoEs burn them down.
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Quote:You have a few choices. You can gut it out and take the powers you want later. You can re-roll your character, or you can hang on until level 10 and start an alternate build with the powers you really want at level 10. Good luck...
I just started leveling in the rogue area but I think I already screwed up choices. I have my kin heal and took subdue and psionic lance instead of siphon power or siphon speed.
By the way, Kin/psy has historically been the path which less folks choose, but it has shown itself to be quite viable. -
I am sorry if I was unclear, I did mean n00bs, not new people in my original rant. New players for the most part are polite, ask questions, and are open to teaching moments whether they are goof-ups or profound innovations.
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I don't dispute that one bit. I started in May of 2004. It was right after the game went live. It was my first MMO ever. I was green. No doubt.
I know there is an influx of new players, and I am not trying to slight any of them. The new style of attrition I am seeing is more pervasive than the inexperience of our new players. Having consecutive wipes isn't bad if the team is trying new tricks, adapting to new foes or maps. I am more concerned by the march of the lemmings where the teams try to suffocate their foes with additional piles of bodies with no adaptation or learning. -
I have noticed a trend that started in City of Villains that seems to have intensified with the new Going Rogue content with the influx of new players. I think it would be best to compare it to the tactics that the opposing sides used in the Civil War. This is a generalization of course, so shoot me after I get this out. The older way of playing, when debt meant more in the earlier issues of City of Heroes, tended towards completing the mission with the minimum of casualties. Tanks would pull aggro off teamates. Scrappers would finish spawns before aggroing the next whole room. Teams would play to the buffer and debuffer's strengths. It was more like the coordinated attacks by General Lee of the South with outnumbered forces usually.
Now it's more like General U.S. Grant, a war of attrition. Wipe in room one. Wipe in a tunnel. Maybe four wipes to complete a mission, and then the team leader says, 'Good job.' Wakies are necessities. Pulls mean instead of fighting the whole room at once, the team fights all of the room at once in the previous room that was just cleared. Say what?
I am not crying over dying more than other teammates. The whole team keeps wiping. Progress is measured by completing the mission, and defeats are just part of advancing the content. Maybe team leaders could be given a new inspiration from the mission contacts: ritalin for the ADHD players that just want to run in, pull with a nemesis staff blast, or the level 12 tank that runs around a tunnel chamber full of ghouls. Hello? Ghouls are easier to kill, spread out with focused fire and knockback has come back in fashion.
Am I totally out of the loop? Has the day of tactics given way to the fact of blind keyboard mashing? -
They do some dark self-heal with the second upgrade. I agree, though, I wouldn't worry much about slotting for it when you have acc, dmg, and some end maybe to slot for.
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Quote:The dual weapons that Mangle uses look so cool.You're thinking of [Claws.Shockwave], which is indeed brokenly good.
He appears in the Independence Port jail break. -
Yes, Monstrofo, Thugs/Poison level 50s do indeed exist! With the poison masterminds, you get a rhythm from past experience and from the hair-raising feeling on the back of your neck when to spam envenom, weaken, and paralytic poison. (If you don't have hasten, you will want it for noxious gas.) Flamethrowers get weaken, AoE damage guys get weaken, anything you want to two shot or one shot from Bruiser gets envenom. Paralytic poison goes on the earth thorn casters ASAP. I am sure you know the drill. I just want to reassure you, it does make a difference. I saved it for last, but your neurotoxic breath is special with its chance to hold. With this power, paralytic, noxious gas, and a patron hold, you will fear no bosses.
Bruiser is the de facto best fit for noxious gas, he takes the melee fight right to the spawns and can debuff the toughest groups to ridiculous easy mode. The MAG hold is high enough to hold Heroes, even Statesman, or Archvillains such as Lord Recluse. There is a 1% chance to hold each time noxious gas ticks, but it ticks twice per second on each spawn in the area of effect around your pet for the duration of the effect. Immobilizers from your patron arc do well here, too.
I didn't worry too much on my poison masterminds about my role in the team. I told them I wasn't a primary healer, but I would spot heal. Elixir of life and antidote come in handy on teams, too. This is a plug again for the secondary build solo vs. team. You don't need Elixir when soloing. So once on my Robots/Poison, we faced Aurora Borealis on a small island in Nerva. I said, team you take everybody else, my mastermind will deal with Aurora Borealis. It was a rousing success. That -regen in the Assault bot helped, too, but stacking -regen from envenom did most of the trick. Dare I say, it's almost a stalker role on a /poison MM, you go after the heavy hitters. With Thugs, even robots and demons, they all are heavy hitters with the poison debuffs. -
I am a lunatic, but I took two mastermind pet enhancements and four Pacing of the Turtles in my Demon Prince. That slow set has some accuracy, some damage, some slow, some end reduction, and the set bonus for accuracy isn't shabby. I felt that big slow aura on the Prince would make a big effect, along with all the cold attacks that have slow secondary effects as well.
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I wouldn't suggest using tornado each and every group or spawn, but the more you use tornado and get a feel for how it mechanically works, the more you can assess situations where it will greatly impact your mastermind's success.
Here's a for instance: the corner office conference rooms sometimes have a spawn in there. Traditional thinking says, pull them out. Stormy thinking says, 'block the door with hurricane and drop a tornado on them.' When they attack you the minions will react through the door while the tornado debuffs/stuns the spawn over and over. Eventually, especially solo, you will find yourself pulling groups after you into such cubbyholes aka stormy rooms of doom. -
Forge on the AoE minded arsonist isn't a bad idea either.
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I highly recommend crack the whip for grabbing aggro, taking the alpha shot in bodyguard, plus the extra -resistance.
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Kin/elec defender (or the flip for corruptors): end drain on top of end drain
Sonic/sonic defender/corr: resistance debuff upon resistance debuff.
Kin/rad defender (or flip for corruptors): the defense debuff allows kin siphons to hit with more regularity. This type of function also applies to Earth/Kin controllers. -
Mangle started in the Rogue Isles as a captured villain in the PPD jail. I never thought of him as a stalker, but then I never could figure out what he was or what powers he used. He uses a dual wield blade, but he throws them at targets for great damage, and he also does claw damage in melee range. His biggest nemesis is the cardboard box he could never decide how to start attacking.
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I would put in a word for you kinetic teammates, too, since all their heals, buff, debuffs are siphons and have accuracy checks.
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I would suspect Thugs/thermal should do very well. Not having done that specific combo, but I have done thugs and thermal separately before. Forge on the Bruiser would be interesting to see indeed!
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My Demons/thermal went hero and took the Cold Mastery. I like the AoE sleep its a good way to 'filter out' too large of spawns. There is some bug with power selection order, so you might want to check out which powers you want before going that route.
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Quote:My first level 50 villain was Robot/Poison. I loved the single target debuffs, they recharge quickly. Neurotoxic breath doesn't get the credit it should. Paralytic poison isn't shabby either. It isn't as good a fit with Assault bot with the Noxious Gas as on Thugs' bruiser, but it isn't impossible to work either.I must say I am also surprised there aren't that many people using /Poison. A heal, 4 debuffs, 1 buff, and 2 holds is pretty nice. Plus it's a MM only power, so it must be designed to cover almost everything u need. I imagine the lack of def would be the only issue.
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Poison doesn't have anything as weak as flash arrow or entangle arrow. It is single target, but it definitely can bring down tough targets early on.