SoilentGreen

I've looked at various sets and how they would fit in a planned rebuild of my WS--I've come down to a purple set in one mire and likely an obliteration oin the other. However, I'm wondering if there might be something I'm missing there. As for Fluffy...I'm a little perplexed with this one. Any set recommendations?

Not only is it possible, but it's quite possibly faster and better than any other farmer I've used or come across. Everything dies before they even know you are there.

My level shifted, Spiritual-slotted, purled Arch/MM destroys 8 man level 53 spawns in basically one shot (minus bosses which take a few more hits). I have Aim, BU and RoA up for every spawn (about 20 seconds or so for all to recharge). The key to survivability? Kill everything before they even know you're there. I run in stealthed, hit aim, bu and roa...cue up psw...roa and psw hit at virtually the same time, anything left standing gets explosive arrow and single target attacks until dead. It's pretty ridiculous.

When I do get hit, i hit my Aid Self (up every 5s or so) and fill up 500+ points of HP.

I usually run a Dreck/Boomtown map full of Battle Maiden Warriors and clean it up quite quickly in AE, and do the BM map for drops. I never slow down, never die and rack up the rewards. I can do S/L ambush maps as well running Tough, Temporary Inv. and Force of Nature (plus a handful of lucks) I can keep churning out the kills and not worry about safety.

The other great part is this 'farm toon' is also great for TFs and other game activities.

I can use accolade clicks while in Dwarf and Nova...this one little change would definitely help bring the PB up a notch...how about it devs--throw the PB a bone and let us click build up in the forms?

With the WST, what are the limitations for earning multiple "notices" ?

the penalty and inconvenience for dying in this game is so, so tiny that it wouldn't matter to me. in fact, people quite often volunteer to be 'veng fodder' to benefit the team in a greater way than they could just playing their character.

If the WS were able to slow the PB enough with the blasts from nova, it might give him enough time to slow down the incoming damage and heals enough to get a victory every so often...theoretically.

you are underestimating diminished returns...your resists won't get all that high even with a full Eclipse buff.

Even with Eclipse you'll run into the awesomeness that is diminished returns.

all things being equal, no. but if the build was just right and the to hit rolls didn't go the PBs way...maybe 1 out of 20 or so.

Despite efforts to improve the AI on this power, I find that it is still far too unreliable for my liking.

You may ask "why are you bringing this up now?" Well, the simple answer is my rekindled interest in a number of 50s (including my PB and WS) due to the advent of the Incarnate slots/powers.

There are a whole bunch of things I would like to change about PBs, and most of them are covered in other threads. The thing with Seekers still puzzles me...the recharge is incredibly high for how unreliable they are. Sure, when they connect with your intended target (ha...) they do good damage. But the practical results vs. the hypothetical outcomes of using them really show a big gap in the 'balances' that the devs included in this power. They basically get the 'nuke' treatment in terms of recharge and they cost a big chunk of end...and a lot of times, even if opponents are closely grouped, they'll do very erratic things like not attacking, waiting to attack after they've had a snack and attacking a weird targets that you didn't intend.

RoA...no question about it. With the Alpha slot and set bonuses, its recharge is down in the 15s area. Beautiful.

BU + Aim + RoA + PSW all hitting at once. Huge damage, no crash, repeat a few seconds later. Now that's a nuke I think we can all appreciate.

you could always use your 'heal other' clone....oh wait, wrong half of the AT.

from what i recall fluffies carry over the buffs you have when they spawn. so they get some hasten, eclipse etc. for some of their life.

Put a vote down for the 'Huntsman' build.

I'm at work so I don't have an exact build for you, but I've invested quite a bit in mine and find that this is a well built toon that can do it all. Thanks to the inherent fitness line, I was able to rearrange a few things and fit in a traditional full 'huntsman' build along with some of the perks of a Bane (shatter, crowd control, hide and placate).

The only issue I really had was with endurance even with both uniques and stamina (running 7+ toggles), but thanks to the Alpha slot that problem has gone away.

With the amount of Inf you have, you can get soft-capped defense, a few uniques and a big boost to recharge and accuracy...and you're left with a toon that is tough as nails and does very good damage.

OK...I hadn't heard whether or not it is a temporary thing...

Has there been any discussion about post WST opportunities for earning Notice of the Well etc.? I know you can earn it in various ways, but this makes it SOOO much easier to earn for multiple characters.

I was reading through this page

http://goingrogue.na.cityofheroes.co...lpha-slot.html

and I'm wondering...the 'level shift' portion of the rare ability...does that mean if I'm fighting 53s now it would be like fighting 52s if I have the level shift? Do enemies con lower to me if I have that?

So, with the new Alpha slots, I've found new joy in playing my Arch/MM blaster. And I know they are two seperate powers, but they hit at pretty much the same time, so...

Run in the middle of a group, fire off Aim/BU (while stealthed) trigger RoA and queue up PSW. Watch everything but bosses die.

With the ED diminished with the uncommon Spiritual Alpha slot, do it again 15 seconds later.

Awesome.

Having PvP'd with my PB for a good 3 years or so I can say with quite a bit of confidence that you'll always find the offense "lacking". I've tried so many builds and, in the end, the damage modifier on a PB is just too low. You can have plenty of steady, quck re-charging damage and throw procs in all you want, but you just don't have quite the "burst" damage of other ATs.

That said, I've still had a great time, gotten plenty of kills, been killed plenty and most importantly had fun.

In its current format (PvP), I use a nova-heavy build and hover blast most of the time from long range. The human and dwarf powers are supplementary and are useful for being set bonus camels etc.

I love giving SB. It makes my team better.

The end.

Any reason you didn't take Hasten? I could see it if it was for thematic purposes, but it really does make things for an Arch/MM so much faster.

Also, why not just get a Stealth IO (not too expensive and/or easy to earn with Merits etc.) and drop Invisible altogether by stacking it with Stealth?

The extra slot in subdual and mind probe seem to be wasted as well.

I'm not fond of your slotting in Drain Psyche -- it's almost not worth it if you don't have it up more often and don't either have a lot of end mod or regen in it.

I'm also a little curious if you are building toward something with the sets you chose?

1) If I slot a human power with set IOs, will set bonuses carry over to Dwarf/Nova form?

Yes.

2) Would slotting Dwarf form attacks with damage procs increase damage better than damage IOs would?

It depends, but the short answer here is probably "yes". Provided your build has enough recharge where there is no downtime between any of the 3 Dwarf attacks you'll probably get more overall damage with procs. Of course, you could have an extra proc in each and have decent damage slotting once you're 50 and go musculature instead of cardiac with the Alpha slot.

About your AoE...you're going to be limited at best. Proton Scatter and Luminous Detonation are pretty weak so your AoE is going to be relatively impotent....especially with no Solar Flare. You'll need to be a single target specialist unless you give in and go Nova.

The way I'm looking at Incarnate slotting right now (until we can get to the higher levels where ED doesn't affect it as much) is "what do I need more of in each power" or "what frees up the most slots on a particular build"?

I could go either way on a blaster ... all my powers (for the most part) have near ED-capped damage. If I slotted the damage Incarnate buff then I could free up a slot in all my attack powers (unless I've got sets in them, but that's another story). As it stands right now, a damage buff (even uncommon) won't give me that much more of a punch in my attacks. However, it might free up slotting to where I can round out my character better. The same goes for recharge.

To be honest, Archery/Anything is a good combo -- as long as the secondary has build up.

Arch/EM is a good combination because it provides some really good AoE capability along with some strong single target damage. In addition, once you get up to the higher levels, you can use boost range to enahnce your survivability and make powers like Fistful of Arrows (cone) even more effective. You can basically wipe out an entire spawn before they can get in range to fight back.

My preference, however, is to couple Archery with something else that will give you even more AoE ability ... that's why Arch/MM is such a popular combo (along with Arch/Fire). It affords you two additional AoE's (if you want them) along with a good Purple mule set in World of Confusion.