Soul_Stormer

focused accuracy also has a horrendous end cost, even slotted for it.

benefits for confuse powers:

malta sappers and gunslingers, longbow nullifiers, PPD protectors, rikti guardians, any longbow boss, CoT bosses and earth thorn casters, carnie illusionists and dark ring mistresses and steel strongmen, night widows and bane spider scouts and executioners, etc.

to the naive or uninformed: there are many enemies, especially in the high levels that can frustrate or slow down teams due to a variety of buffs and debuffs they cast, or some other special ability. confusing them flips those frustrations to benefits. best example i can think of is that nasty -resist AoE grenade longbow nullifiers shoot, which doesn't disappear when they are defeated.

only thing that sucks is when enemies aren't touched by players and we don't get the drops, but that's not usually a problem on teams, and solo you can control that with great precision.

wow, i'm in the minority.

every single character i have has super speed + combat jumping. super speed will put you close to the movement speed cap, and combat jumping will allow you to clear most minor obstacles with ease. once you know the game maps (and i started in 2004...), i've found this combination to be the fastest and most reliable way to travel.

i tried really hard to use just hover + siphon speed, which put me at the fly speed cap. i did it for years even, but the last respec on my main, i went for SS+CJ because i was sick of siphoning all of the time. i realize this is a outlier, but i can't stand fly as my only travel power. with all of the temps, any time i really need to have vertical movement, i have the pocket D jetpack, and then temp flight powers if i need more than 30 seconds.

ill/kin/stone controller- (soft-capped ) flash -> FS -> fissure -> seismic smash followup
ice/fiery/fire dominator- (just hit perma-dom) ice slick -> embrace of fire -> RoF -> fire ball -> fire breath
bane spider solider with mace epic- 'nough said
FM/DA/soul brute- effectively unkillable (i mean, he'll just rez and stun everyone ), plus fury fueled AoE death with death shroud + FSC + dark obliteration.

any thoughts? mistakes? extras?

any brute. heh.

i just realized the potential death machine my fire melee/dark armor brute will be. might not have fiery embrace or burn, but fire melee does loads of damage that isn't as heavily resisted, death shroud also deals exotic damage, high s/l/n/psi resist, and the awesomeness that is dark regen. and if i fall flat, my enemies will pay with soul transfer.

here is a build i put together. i purposely left out the numina unique to get a better sense of end drain. i'm not sure what else i can do with this build to increase my resists or defense without gimping powers. any ideas?

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

obsidian shield: Level 50 Technology Brute
Primary Power Set: Fiery Melee
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Scorch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(25), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(25)
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(3), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(13), RctvArm-ResDam:40(15)
Level 2: Cremate -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(7)
Level 4: Murky Cloud -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(5), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(15), RctvArm-ResDam:40(36)
Level 6: Build Up -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(39)
Level 8: Incinerate -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(9), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(11)
Level 10: Obsidian Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx:30(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(11), S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(13), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:50(34), Aegis-Psi/Status:50(37), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(40)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(39)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Zephyr-ResKB:50(A)
Level 16: Dark Regeneration -- Theft-+End%:30(A), Theft-Heal/Rchg:30(17), Theft-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:30(17), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen:50(19), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:50(19), Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg:50(21)
Level 18: Death Shroud -- Erad-Acc/Rchg:30(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(21), Erad-%Dam:30(23), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(23), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(40), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(42)
Level 20: Cloak of Darkness -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(43), LkGmblr-Def:50(46), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(50)
Level 22: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt/Rchg:50(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:50(36), Mocking-Acc/Rchg:50(39), Mocking-Taunt/Rng:50(40), Mocking-Taunt:50(50)
Level 24: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Fire Sword Circle -- Erad-Dmg/Rchg:30(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg:30(27), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(27), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(29), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(29), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(46)
Level 28: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(31), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(31), RctvArm-ResDam:40(37), EndRdx-I:50(43)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(31), LkGmblr-Def:50(33), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(37)
Level 32: Greater Fire Sword -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(33), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(33), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(34)
Level 35: Oppressive Gloom -- Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg:50(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun:50(36), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx:50(43)
Level 38: Soul Transfer -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(46)
Level 41: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(50)
Level 44: Darkest Night -- DampS-Rchg/EndRdx:50(A), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg:50(45), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg/EndRdx:50(45), DampS-ToHitDeb/EndRdx:50(45)
Level 47: Dark Obliteration -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(48), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:50(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(48)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I:50(A)
Level 0: High Pain Threshold
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I:50(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(34)

after trying out mobs both with and without OG, it definitely helps - mainly by keeping them disoriented, i take less damage, and don't run out of end as fast.

i guess scatter is worth the stun and -HP.

yeah, i'd prefer not to have to go energy mastery. i don't mind eventually going cardiac on him for the extra resists too. good to know its viable to go soul though with enough +recov.

how much bonus recovery (with 3 slotted stamina assumed) would be feasible after getting a theft of essence proc, if i go with soul mastery/darkest night?

i'm thinking cloak of fear might help me more than oppressive gloom. thoughts?

the long full capes are only available after lvl 20, and you have to run a couple missions to unlock them.

same thing with most auras, except they are only available after lvl 30.

long ago, i had leveled a fire melee/dark armor brute and recently logged him in and respeced into inherent fitness, as well as adding in tough/weave and changing from soul mastery to energy mastery for superior conditioning and physical perfection due to very high end costs with all of those toggles. and i do run all of them to stack as much defense as i can too (weave, cj and cloak of darkness).

thing is, since i went fire melee, it means that i do not have a stun to stack with oppressive gloom, a fear to stack with cloak of fear and no endurance management outside of the epic pool, and i know that i could increase his survivability more with darkest night (not to mention gloom would be great for concept). (note: he is designed as an angel of death with this flaming sword). currently, he has little problems fighting +0/x4, and i often grab two mobs to fight, but i end up draining my end anyway, mainly due to dark regen (which i do have 2 end redux in). so i either die by not using dark regen early enough (my fault), or bottoming out end-wise (which i can't always do anything about).

what are my best options considering the above? please consider SO/IO lite options as well as a heavier IO options. what should i shoot for too, as i could build him with more recovery, HP, defense and recharge?

current build:
scorch
cremate
BU
incinerate
taunt
FSC
GFS

dark embrace
death shroud
murky cloud
obsidian shield
dark regen
cloak of darkness
oppressive gloom
soul transfer

physical perfection
superior conditioning
laser beam eyes

hasten
SS
CJ
boxing
tough
weave

i agree prices on many things (non purples and pvp IOs) are slightly high for my tastes. but i realized capping prices on the market is a majorly bad idea.

so, look at the other side of the equation. i've thought for a while that the best thing would be there to be more supply instead. so some suggestions on the supply side:

1) every time someone vendors something, it appears on the market at some low value (based on rarity, etc.) - same thing maybe with deletion. this would need to be done without any patch notes/indication, or everyone would take advantage of it.

2) periodically, the market spawns recipes and salvage, weighted by both commonality and by demand. again, this would need to be done without players knowledge.

who knows, the devs might have already done something like this. and we'd never know...

everything else i've thought of requires larger salvage/recipe storage on players and higher drop rates, which are unlikely. especially since the whole invention system is OPTIONAL.

if you're complaining about salvage costs, especially common and uncommon, go run some AE missions, they don't even need to be farms, get a couple hundred tickets for about a half hours play time and either roll some common salvage drops (8 tickets a piece... pricey ) or just pay the 80 tickets for each uncommon you need. you can even buy rares too, although those are a little pricier, but not more really than the time to get 3 million inf from playing on a lvl 50, especially doing TFs/SFs.

we all know what it means if someone in game said "i'm level 51." we can click on them and confirm they are in fact, lvl 50(+1).

i think the point is that people see it and don't really understand what it means. we've already discussed what it means in game, and most of us on the board knows it, but the random in game player... i don't know. that's why i don't like it - because they might not know what it actually means. i guess it doesn't make much of a difference, but i don't want people complaining about raising the lvl cap: the devs aren't. they just figured out a way to have character progression without making all of the previous lvl 50 content trivial (well, at least we still get rewards like we're lvl 50 and can still die in the content... unlike if you really were lvl 55).

i took the web grenade, shatter armor and the blaster spider pet, and didn't look back.

when i first leveled my bane, i tried out the different blast to see if they were worth it. if you have zero ranged attacks (any you should at least have poisonous ray), then mace blast/beam (whichever it is) is not a bad choice. but the AoE blast sucks.

web nade is nice for too large a spawn and retreating, or just slowing them. bosses too -> gives you time to placate and re-hide or lay waste with whatever blasts you have. shatter armor has -damage resist so its a nice addition to your melee attacks (hits hard too! but not critical from hide) and the blaster is a good addition to call reinforcements.

only things i can see is that you don't need the heal IO in health and should put the slot in radiant aura if you need more healing, and maybe that Lady Grey Defense IO in radiation infection should be replaced with something from the set with more end reduction, as only the -tohit will help you survive longer.

i've beat him solo with a tricked out ill/kin, tricked out rad/dark defender, an SO'ed ice/fire dominator and a SO'ed bane spider soldier.

definitely being able to either defeat the bifrications quick (they are only minions) or leading him into the lava are good ways to defeat him solo.

the other reason for debt at level 50 is to give you a penalty to the influence/infamy rate at which you earn from enemy defeats.

i've tried to get into gravity a couple of times, so far my best shot was my grav/elec dominator. i tried grav/ice, got him to 50, but couldn't stand how slow he is after getting spoiled by fiery assault (i also have a general rule about not repeating powersets). i would have lvled my grav/elec, but the incarnate stuff kinda pushed me away.

the way i see it, the lack of useful powers in gravity for dominators (dim shift, propel) makes picking powers easier, not to mention opening slots for enhancing your secondary. of course, i play with a blaster mindset with dominators anymore, so i'm not so worried about locking everything down before unleashing the fury - i just lock down who i need to then proceed. the nice thing about elec (and fire) is that they are generally fast animating so the slow activations on gravity are balanced out.

i also really like having 3 ST controls - lift, grav dist, and crush. ST immobs are underrated imho.