Siolfir

I was on Guardian redside tonight without any issues, but there have been cases where a specific zone had problems on an otherwise functioning server before.

I'd still lean towards a connection/routing issue along the path between NCSoft's datacenter and your connection, though. It's a more likely scenario.

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The more random the proc is, the harder the set will be to use in a reasonable way.

If you add a chance for knockup/down, energy blasters still have to plan around the chance for knockback, because knockback will still happen sometimes.

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Did you not read my post?

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you just plan on a KB happening and then when its U or D you can be "pleasantly surprised"

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So yes you would have to still plan on KB but the point is that it would not be as vital to do all the time and it would also make the set more team friendly and easier for new players to pick up and not tick every body off.

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Against a single target, yay? But single target attacks aren't that bad for Energy Blast anyway; you can use Power Burst to push stragglers back into crowds and Power Bolt and Power Blast have a fairly low chance for generally low magnitude KB anyway.

In an AoE, it's a better chance to scatter than it is now, since you not only have the %chance for the secondary effect, but then the effect itself may or may not move the mob. That's why it'd be worse - it's more random in where mobs end up.

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On my Kin/ Defender i got a Scrapper's Head Splitter to 400ish and he criticaled... 800 easy

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*sigh*

Okay, since we're back at this again...

Blizzard damage cap: 400% (pseudopet, uses the +300% maximum instead of the normal +400% maximum for Corruptors)

Blizzard, damage per tick: 3.34 Cold, 3.34 Lethal, 6.67 Cold while Scourging, total of 13.35 per tick with Scourge.

Damage per tick at damage cap (possible easily with Fulcrum Shift), while Scourging: 53.4

Ticks per second: 5
Number of seconds pet exists: 15
Total number of ticks: 75

Total theoretical damage: 4005 damage per target

Maximum number of targets: 16

Total damage per power activation (ie, click), theoretical maximum: 64080.

That's a little better than 800.

Sheesh, at least try to use Assassin's Strike; it can do 2641.55 damage on a damage-capped double-critical. Blizzard has to Scourge on around 30% of the ticks to outdo that.

And this has nothing to do with the DPS question. For that, I'd agree that it's likely to be a Fire/Elec Blaster or possibly a proc'd out Rad/Kin Corruptor - Radiation Blast can take a lot of procs, Neutrino Bolt has a very fast cycle time, and Kinetics means you're not sacrificing any damage slotting for them and are still likely to run at the damage cap.

(edit: and no, I haven't bothered to figure out best theoretical DPS chains for those builds - it's a guess based on performance expectations)

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Ok. Im leaning towards a brute or scrapper... are the equal?

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Generally speaking, yes. Brutes have a few more hit points and deal a higher damage with built-up Fury (within 1-2% figuring a 10% critical rate on the Scrapper), but some secondaries (Fiery Aura and Shields, both of which have +dam buffs) will help Scrappers more than Brutes and push them ahead on DPS once they're factored in.

There were a couple of threads comparing the different primaries available to Brutes and Scrappers in the Scrapper section; look for "The results are in" by BillZBubba - the first thread had specific chains listed by different posters for high recharge builds and the second thread had just level 50 common IO slotting.

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They're labeled the same as a DE "Monster" which are nothing like an Arch Villain" or "Hero". So yeah, they're mislabeled

The Arachnos Flyer is labeled "Transport"

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I was referring to the number of hit points and damage output being that of an AV/Hero (as opposed to the label itself) on the Flyer, but apparently they're only equivalent for a "Monster" in an instanced mission.

So yes, I was wrong but only half of the time - instanced Monsters (such as the ones I mentioned) are treated by the game as if they're AV/Hero rank.

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Question, brutes or scrappers for AV's and what powersets?

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Neither, really; buff/debuff ATs - particularly ones with good aggro absorbers such as MMs or Illusion Controllers - can do it the easiest. But both Brutes and Scrappers can do it in a variety of powersets. I think the generic answer is Ill/Rad Controllers or Bots/FF MMs, although I tend to lean towards /Traps or /Poison for the extra debuffage.

Counting temporary powers and inspirations, pretty much anything can solo an AV.

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Paladine is a god. I think it'll take more than police drones to take him out...

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Yeah, like actually getting him in the game in the first place.

I only checked the thread to see if someone was going to comment on that... since it's been done and the answer's already out there, I'm out.

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Random roll, as they say, is random- I've seen 3 rolls of which two were a "big 3" item, I've seen 16 rolls where nothing was worth more than 100 thousand.

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Edited to reflect my experience.

That, and being able to specify exactly what level recipe I want, are the reasons that I go for specific recipes when looking for rare/unique procs. I don't particularly want a level 40 Miracle +recovery, level 50 Numina's +regen/+recovery, or level 50 Luck of the Gambler +recharge. I want them available sooner than that, and it's easier to get merits on the characters that are already levelled up and IO'd out.

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Single hardest shot is an Ice/Kin Corruptor, if that's the only criteria.

Damage-capped Blizzard with Scourge ftw.

But typically "DPS" means something more long term than "damage per click".

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damage per second. i dunno how fast one clicks in 1 sec though.

prolly depends on your fingers...
And your mouse

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Oh! Well, if you're only counting 1 second, then it's 0.

The fastest activation for a damaging power is 0.83 seconds, which once you account for server ticks becomes 1.056 seconds.

Are we done with the semantics yet?

Single hardest shot is an Ice/Kin Corruptor, if that's the only criteria.

Damage-capped Blizzard with Scourge ftw.

But typically "DPS" means something more long term than "damage per click".

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I have somewhat softened my stance on SB lately and usually keep my mouth shut about it when on an outdoor map, on a non-melee character. Melee people still hate it as much as they ever did.

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Which melee people are these?

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Ones with junky computers and ones that don't know how to play.

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I am playing on a new computer, thanks, and I've been here for three years. You have never teamed with me. You know nothing of my playstyle.

I find your post unnecessarily combative and, frankly, rude. This type of post is one thing that makes these forums a lot less fun than they could be.

Pollice verso.

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I was saying that a bit tongue in cheek, but really, I almost never encounter people that don't want speed boost. I know some people don't like it but I don't think it's that common myself.

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The person you responded to is one of the ones that doesn't, and while many melee characters love Speed Boost, she doesn't... although apparently she's heading towards the light.

And to B_I: Take. Fulcrum.

You're not a Fire/Kin Corruptor who only has mobility, +defense IO set bonuses, and "moar damage" to deal with aggro, you're a Fire/Kin Controller - what isn't mezzed won't be able to kill you before you kill it, since the buff(s) it provides are simply insane. Quite simply, if you have any AoE mez on a Kinetic (Controller, Defender, or Corruptor) then aggro generation is never an excuse.

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Knocking them out of a taunt aura is still a better option than constantly firing at enemies that will kill you instead of who is tanking - that taunt usually lasts a little bit depending on the set - you want to attack the mobs that are aggroed to the tank/mm/brute/scrapper.

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I think you missed the point, which was that if you knock them into the taunt aura they aren't shooting back at you.

Hm, that's probably enough dogpiling on; a little bit of poking is fun, a lot of it becomes harassment fairly quickly.

In any case, I'm sure that the advice about the build is plainly evident in the sarcasm of the replies, and it serves no function to continue to badger someone over a build for an entirely different character.

So now let's get back to the business at hand: SB plz!

The only issue with Willpower is that Rise to the Challenge is the single weakest taunt aura available, so it'll be easy for your friends to pull aggro off of you.

But if they're both playing Corruptors, you may have better options available depending on what secondaries they're choosing. If one is playing Cold you can softcap any defense set easily, for example, and IOs aren't required for any of it. The much-maligned Electric Armor doesn't have any holes that a Thermal (or Pain) can't patch, and will provide passive +recharge with unlimited endurance. If one is playing Storm you may want to rethink playing a Brute altogether (j/k - it's not that bad with KB but they need to know how to use it versus just scattering things). Even if one is going to play a Kinetic, I still wouldn't recommend Stone unless you just simply like the idea, though - it will always perform worse offensively than any other secondary. Others may recommend it for "tanking", but with buffs any other set will survive just as well or better.

I'm not sure what the point of FA is in the first place; you can get better performance with a Kismet in Combat Jumping and global +accuracy bonuses ever since it was tweaked. I'd much rather fill the spot with a high DPA attack like Gloom, and something that'll help me stay alive better without requiring many slots like Darkest Night.

But, to each their own.

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I'll be skipping Hot Feet though, I can promise you that. If that's the one I'm thinking it is.... requires you to be on the ground to use.

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Hot Feet does indeed require you to be on the ground to activate, but once the toggle is on there's nothing preventing you from using it while flying.

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And it benefits from Containment. Which is just tasty.

[/ QUOTE ]Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm reading the Controller boards right, isn't it a large part of what MAKES Fire/Kin the powerhouse it is?

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Darn all those pesky aggro-drawing AoEs anyway! Skip 'em all!

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Dotn't take Fulcrum Shift whatever you do, it draws more aggro than Darkest Night does.

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So do the AoE immobilize and Hot Feet.

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Poor impulse control is a sad thing....

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...but a great badge title, especially for a Kinetic.

As for Speed Boost, if you plan on soloing the only thing it does anymore is let the Fire Imps keep up with you while you're using Siphon Speed (and run off to drag back unwanted aggro faster than ever before). I'd still recommend it if you team, though.

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A scrapper (either Iggy_Kamikaze or Powerforge, I don't recall which) soloed the door mission version of Kronos, with video to prove it.

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And so has pretty much any AV soloer on the boards. The mission version of Kronos is *MUCH* weaker than the outdoor GM version (28k hp vs 73k hp, the mission version is basicly a mislabeled AV)

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I think it's labelled "Monster", which is equivalent to "Arch Villain" or "Hero". The same thing holds true with the Kronos in the RSF (which gives the badge but no merits) and the Arachnos Flyer in the STF (which gives the badge and merits).

It's not so much "mislabelled" as just a different label entirely.

Yes, the weighted rolls certainly made them more appealing to me. I still buy many proc IOs though, simply so I can set the level - I'm often getting them for characters other than the one I'm playing and don't particularly want to have to wait until level 47 to slot them.

Well, I didn't mention any of the other secondaries because your OP said, "I have definately narrowed the secondaries down to /Sd and /Sr."

I actually made a DM/EA over a DM/SR simply because I had multiple Kinetic Combat sets already, and could softcap Sm/Le/En - the most common damage types in the game - all by level 32. I wasn't going for AV soloing so much, though, and EA has the same compromise issues that SD does plus includes a Psi hole which can make some AVs problematic.

Here[/b][u][/color] is the planned build, although I already deviated slightly and swapped Hasten and Touch of Fear. She's only level 39 so far, so I haven't finished it yet. The global recharge is a bit low in my opinion, but you can still chain together Smite, Gloom, Siphon Life, and Midnight's Grasp without pauses so it should work. But defense debuffs and DE quartz emanators really suck.

Yeah, I've had a couple of conversations via PM, and I really did send him a "thanks" PM when the farming thread started (although I did it just so he couldn't say he had a thankless job... I'm evil that way ).

Notes on the thread so far:
- If you're knocking something out of a taunt aura, you're targeting the wrong thing.

- Yes, you can strategically use walls or corners to group things with knockback. It also lowers your overall damage since you spend more time maneuvering than the other sets.

- Scattering things when there aren't any walls available is bad; this means using attacks with low KB values, which are the weakest attacks in the set.

- Having the skill to play a set and not liking it due to the superiority of other sets while calling it a bad set and just randomly parroting "it's not a bad set, you're a bad player" are different things.

- Numerical superiority or inferiority can be used to decide "good" or "bad" sets; what they don't account for is "fun" sets. Energy Blast is a fun set, but it's near the bottom of the performance barrel due to concerns with scattering mobs slowing the performance down while attempting to manage the KB. Simply put, other sets that have the same strength attacks have better secondary effects.

Sarrate beat me to it already - Fire and Dark are good, but you probably want DM over FM on an /ElA.

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Personally, I went with /EA. Partly because I'd already soloed AVs with /SR and /SD, but also becuase brutes don't get Conserve Power in their epic pools like scrappers do, and /EA gets not only Conserve Power, but Energy Drain, too. Endurance management is one of the critical issues in fighting AVs, and it's possibly the most easily overlooked.

People who forget that brute /SR and /SD don't get Conserve Power the way scrappers do, will likely find themselves disappointed. Softcapped defense and a high DPS chain mean squat if you have to let up because you're running out of endurance, allowing the AV to regenerate lots of the damage you've done.

Dark Melee brutes may find some solace in Dark Consumption, but it's not nearly as useful or reliable as the tools provided by /EA.

Now EA is more vulnerable to defense debuffs than /SR or /SD, which can be a problem while fighting some AVs, and it's weak to psi and negative attacks, which several notable Freedom Phalanx and Vindicator AVs use. So it's by no means perfect for redside AV soloing.

But it does come equipped with the tools you will need to sustain a high DPS attack chain indefinitely, which is one of the keys to beating AVs. Brute /SR and /SD don't have these tools available, unless they're DM/, in which case the tool they have is inferior.

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the end drain isnt an issue at all.

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More specifically, it can be built around with IOs.

It's definately an issue to be considered when building, though - and I said as much in my first post.