Psylenz
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Posts
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Quote:Many characters enhancements go stale, especially in long play sessions leading up to the SO level enhancements.Originally Posted by Firewasp
Anyway back to the Defender. Last night I was in a mission with my level 17 scrapper. There were three others on the team. Two Defenders and one Controller. One of the Defenders cast a FF shield on me which is nice. The other Defender had no buffs for me being a dark Defender. As we were fighting, my health was going down pretty fast (we were fighting purples). I checked my defense stats to see what percentage my shield was. The Deflection shield was at only 15%. This was a level 20 Defender. This 15% is the unslotted base. So I look at his info. He trained only two of his PRIMARY powers??? Which were of course unslotted or not used at all. Most of the trained powers were the blasts. He should have rolled a Blaster that has these powers as a Primary. Which as you know are 20% more damaging then the Defenders Secondary blasts.
Hero speak with forked tongued. I don't believe defenders are primary killers but I do like the blasts for the debuffing as you described. Cones, Target AoEs, and special one-shot stuns or sleeps can be invaluable.Quote:Originally Posted by Firewasp
When my FF/Dark Defender reached 50 (never killing a thing to get there as he was pure player support as he should be), I respeced him to kill stuff. He was horrible! New players see the Defender and think, why should I play a Blaster. The Defender has all the blasts that a Blaster has, but I can heal myself. This is a huge mistake as those blasts they are thinking of are 20% less damaging. For the most part a Defenders blasts are not designed to do damage. They are debuffing blasts. Lowering the defense, accuracy, regeneration, etc.
This has been demonstrated to the community by the "Buff Me, BUFF ME" SG on Guardian, the "Triumphant Defenders", and the "Repeat Offenders" and we thank you for your observation of the multiple defender supremacy.Quote:Originally Posted by Firewasp
Now there is an exception to this as the title states above. If you have a team of Defenders with certain Primaries and Leadership, the stacked buffs will bring damage to an extremely high level. This team of Defenders could fight +6s with ease and wipe them out in a fraction of the time that even Blasters or Scrappers could do. Plus the team wouldnt get a scratch. Their defense would make a Tanker drool. I once tried to organize 7 others to try this, but they all thought it was a joke from the start and the team broke away before we even started. I have spent hundreds of hours studying this and building an epic team of Defenders.
If you have an all defender team, the defenders will HAVE to blast to arrest anything. I can attest the best formation is for the defenders to cluster like an angry swarm and envelop everything relentlessly. Staying in AoE heal range and FF or sonic dispersion buff is a learned facet to this attack style. -
First, I compliment you on your duo choice. Few defender cousins mix it up as well as a Dark miasma and a stormy. Your duo has multiple ways to set up piles and piles of foes to debuff and defeat rather quickly with tar patch and freezing rain being the features. Storms can definitely close the door from behind on groups herded with toggle pulls into tar patch. Storms can corner pull, too. Setting up shop near far corners or walls is another good battle ground. This duo is full of win!
Power specifics: your duo has too many good 'oh crap' powers to bother with Black Hole. You could have a use for it on a solo build.
Freezing rain, stops foes in their tracks. Hurricane, Fearsome Stare, and Howling Twilight can crush incoming aggro. Even gale will buy you a few precious seconds of time to regroup.
Speaking of Howling Twilight, I slot that sucker for maximum recharge and then stun to your tastes of generic IO or sets. Just remember any accuracy portion in a Stun IO is wasted. Howling Twilight is AUTOHIT. It's a great tool to deal with the groups you will cluster for the slaughter. It's also great for add on groups. It's also got a big -regen factor which your stormy partner has none of in your boss/AV/GM fights.
I Would love to add a forcefield defender to your potential trifecta to complete the "Can't Touch This" squad. HA. -
Quote:I intended to show my agreement and emphasize the areas we agreed on, not to show anyone up. We can line up 10 parallel gospels on the merits of Gang War to encourage optimization. I couldn't begin to count how many times I was urgently staring at the gang war icon so that I could activate it in tight bloody battles, so that the tide would turn.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
This is more or less what I was trying to say. Recharge is more important than accuracy, which is more important than damage. Damage helps the taunt in that a high damage target moves up the aggro list faster, but really? You need to connect first. And you want this up as often as possible, so recharge should be the primary focus.
I still maintain that you should try to fit the uniques that won't go in your other pets. That's an extra 5% defense and 10% resist all. Maybe not much, but on top of everything else, it's amazing. -
I would not suggest this technique for two basic reasons:
The first tier minions can do a lot of damage. The arsonist for one is a major AoE contributor, the robots have the full auto laser assault, the necros first tier like to get in melee, between you and the foes, mostly.
The second reason is bodyguard. You would lose a lot of bodyguard protection being down 3 first tier minions out of your total 6 pets.
You can try it without respeccing just by not summoning the first tier to test your playability. I have no doubt that some builds will handle paper missions and other riff raff with ease, but bosses, endless ambushes (such as longbow), and foes your mastermind set is susceptible to will show the weakness in this plan.
It's a gimmick like the petless mastermind. -
New maps for user created content is always good.
Tweaking sound effects to improve player experience is also good.
We had a level 50 Rikti AV spawn in our Level 42 mission in the RWZ. Not fun. -
3 Recharges, 1 Acc, and proc to your delight is my suggestion.
Gang War is a one-of-a-kind power. It looks like damage, but it's really taunt. The best taunts need accuracy. This taunting cloud of minions absorbs tons of aggro and negates the nastiest alpha strikes. -
I admit I haven't read word for word the posts in this thread, but what I would propose as a 'buff' to defenders is not a straight damage boost, but a boost in the secondary effects of the defender blasts and the primaries to a degree to set them apart from controllers. I know that already many effects can cap stacking defenders, but it would certainly help single and duo defenders on solo or on a team.
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Other recent events have caused me to believe the apocalypse is upon us, so yeah, pigs and Granite tankers can fly.
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First, at level 18, you need a bind/macro that will do a pet command by name to set him to follow/passive right before he gets in trouble. You can use gale to your advantage to take some aggro off the lil fire bug first while in bodyguard mode. At level 20, you get a big debuff tool in hurricane. Again, they TRY to shoot you but can't because you debuffed their accuracy. At level 24 you get your second enforcer which means double the leadershio goodness. At level 26, Bruiser comes along and grabs aggro like a politician at a fund raiser. He gets in closer to the foes than arsonist does and takes a lot of grief off the fire bug. Level 18-24 is a bit of a rough time but it's getting better all the time.
Keep on stormin'! -
Storm, Dark, and Poison all require assessment and targetting and placement above and beyond just reapply buffs and debuffs. Something left out in the previous posts is the vast amount of synergy between thugs and poison once level 38 is achieved. The noxious gas debuff on your bruiser makes him a debuffing machine! Noxious Gas is the Anti-Adrenalin Boost. You can hold Ms. Liberty, Positron and other named Heroes due to the magnitude strength of the hold. In addition, the hold has its special animation; who doesn't want to see Ms. Liberty puke?
All in all, all three are very strong secondaries for the Thugs. I would try them all
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Quote:As far as I know, you are correct about the tohit check. Split purpose IOs are the way to go to increase accuracy. I should think Acc/End IOs would be very popular for this power. Using Procs is a good way to go, too; damage with the hold make Choking Cloud formidable. Needless to say, the more slots you can spare for choking cloud, the more you will appreciate its value.Originally Posted by Norty_Morty
AFAIK, it has to do a to-hit check, so while you cannot directly slot pure accuracy, sets with an Acc component do make it hit more reliably.
I haven't tested this for about a year, but I don't think they can change this behavior so ealisy without removing the to-hit check.
If they HAVE change it, I'd sure like a reference.
-Morty -
While Illusion/Storm does have 3 Phantom Armies, a Phantasm, and a Decoy Phantasm, Bots/Storm has six pets with knockback to go with the Storm secondary.
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I would add two teensy observations of the Forcefield set. Repulsion bomb adds a lot to the fun of knocking down the foes. Second, insulation shield does have an endurance drain protection feature which is so much noticeable against the Mu and the Malta sappers.
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I didn't mention the damage slots in Neutrino Bolt, but I know a lot of Rad users slot ranged damage proc's in the power since it fires like a sub-machine gun. It's another trick in the widely diversified Rad/rad arsenal.
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I agree with the original poster. I wouldn't take the concealment pool on a Rad/Rad defender. Swap one of the powers out for Fallout, start the leadership for the other open slot. I would most assuredly take EM Pulse, Neutron Bomb, and then level 38 would be at your option, but I like the nuke myself. Another leadership power would be good, too. If you really need stealth I would get a run/jump proc and put it in sprint.
By the way, when you get the chance, Lingering Radiation and Aim could use some slot loving. -
Thugs/Dark is a solid choice. Perhaps your new friend's corruptor will bring a /Cold or /Kin for more AoE buff/debuff.
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One of the most powerful duos I have ever enjoyed being a part of was a Necro/Storm with a Bots/Storm. Masterminds don't have sonic, rad, kinetic, but storm has big big debuffs that let AoE attacks become game-breaking. The plus of Bots and Necro is that attacks are never fully debuffed or resisted. The Necros play inside while the Bots provide the long range artillery support.
I do think an arguement could be made for testing Necro/thermal and Bots/thermal. -
Quote:Quite true, this character darted in and out of melee range at a frenetic pace. I am sure it's an acquired taste in playstyle.Originally Posted by Garuta
Mr. Enigma, we're shooting for general usefulness, we basically want to be able to stomp anything that's in front of us, though with some effort probably. And personally, I picked willpower and regeneration because I've come to loathe downtime :P Quick recovery + stamina on top of hefty recharge bonuses should let me chop away without end.
Psylenz, one thing you mentioned has me wondering: How would an assault rifle/energy blapper work? I mean, I know energy manipulation has some really powerful attacks, but all those cones in AR require positioning, I can only imagine such a character bouncing back and forth like the Trix rabbit gone postal or something. -
I myself have witnessed the power of the sonic/sonic, spines/regen.
Some others I can suggest that aren't as popular: Assault Rifle/Energy blapper/ Forcefield/Psy defender, Energy/Energy blapper (this guy was a genius with knockback)/ Gravity/Kinetic controller, Dark/Dark brute/ Ice/Cold corruptor - amazing synergy. -
Quote:Since as you say you have good control, I would suggest a Thugs/Poison (or even Robots/Poison) Mastermind to really dish out burst damage on the toughest targets. Masterminds do team well with dominators, and even the minor heal of alkaloid would be appreciated by the dominator.Originally Posted by Darksome
I really enjoy to play as MM. I had a Bots/Trap, Thugs/Trap and Necro/Dark.
Would be nice play a MM again... but... what MM should I go (Thugs/Dark)? Cause my partner already got some good Control -
Quote:This is one of the best suggested for all corruptor/defender I have seen.Originally Posted by ShadowNate
Dark/Dark Corr, Team Tank, Primary Mitigation.
Fire/Kin Corr, Primary damage dealer and buffer.
Rad/Rad Corr, To Ensure everything hits, every time. Secondary buffer/Debuff.
Sonic/Sonic, Everything we hit takes every ounce of damage. +Resistance and Status Protection.
Had this set up on a ITF, it was very game breaking.
I kicked around a concept of:
Kin/electric defender
Kin/electric defender
Son/Rad defender
Forcefield/Sonic blast defender
The double short circuit and ball lightning would drain most minions and lieutenants. Stack the transference to top off any needed draining. The fulcrum shifting would be nearly non-stop. The stacked sonic rings and ff bubbles would put the kinetics in God-mode. Ample siphon speed and speed boost would rev the team up for fast electric blasts, cones/AoE (howl, irradiate). The four man squad would be nuking and nuking relentlessly since the kins would cover the end crash with their transference rotation. Status effects should be covered by double the big bubble. The kins would stay in melee mostly, being good anchors for the sonic hula hoop of doom. Eventually two speed boosts would have liquefy recharging at a sick pace.
The amount of debuffing secondary blasts, the sappers extraordinaire, and amazingly quick recharging and safe nuking would make this team hard to stop even if they didn't have a fire/kin controller or AoE blaster in there.
I did do a Kahn TF once with an FF, a sonic, and a stormy defender as the only support cast. It went swimmingly. -
Personally, I am enjoying my necro/thermal. The shields and thermal heals are amazing mitigation for the puking, sword wielding crew. The summoned spirit does well with the shields, too. I am still in the low levels, but surely forge, melt armor will make the combo even more amazing.
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Quote:By the time you are level 22-25 you have a good number of slots and the comparison between SOs and DOs makes that even easier to decide. Having the last tier minion at level 26 is an important maturation point. I don't consider it necessary to wait to the second upgrade at level 32 by any means, however.Originally Posted by Slice and-Dice
I started a thread about an AV killer a few days ago and that got me to thinking: When should I ramp up the difficulty from EB to AV? Should I wait till SOs...IOs?
What's the lowest concievable level you all think could take them on?
When you post please post powerset combo -
Tank: Shield/War Mace
Scrapper: Martial Arts/Super Reflexes; Spines/Regen
Blaster: Fire/Energy
Defender (here I take liberties, since a storm/dark compares to an empathy/psychic blast as a Fire/Energy blaster compares to an Ice/Storm controller)
Storm/Ice - a newish combo but very effective
Kinetic/Electric - classic sapper
Dark/Rad - the rad blast makes a big difference on the usual darkity goodness.
Rad/Rad - stacks and stacks of AoE radioactive goodness
Empathy/Psychic blast
Forcefields/Sonic blast
Sonic/sonic
Trick Arrow/archery
Cold/ice or Cold/sonic, both are very ... nice
Controllers (I am soft for earth/*) Plant/* is very good, thermal, rad, and kinetic lead the way.
Brute - Electric/Electric is so flashy
Stalker - no preference
Mastermind - Bots/Storm I suppose is a pure NON archetype. Bots/Traps is more traditional. Oh, and it kicks major butt, too.
Corruptor - I like my Ice/Cold, Fire/Dark. I still think my antithesis for Empathy/Psychic blast would have to be my Assault Rifle/Pain Domination. Can you feel the love?
Dominator - Plant/Thorn Assault -
Quote:I agree with you, too. I didn't intend to be all inclusive.Originally Posted by Biospark
You forgot --> Tesla --> Short Circuit --> Short Circuit
or if your trying to take a nasty Boss out of the action;
Tesla--> SC --> Tesla --> SC
Nothing like locking down the biggest threat and less than 15 seconds into the fight having all the nearby villains standing around trying to figure out why they cannot do anything.