Standoff

OK, that's already 4 times the response of my first go. So far we have:

1) Son of Santa: 26 Dark/Dark Scrapper
2) Omega Maximus Prime, 30 Peacebringer
3) Alice Travers, 30 slightly dubious Peacebringer
4) Tommy Saf, 50(?) Scrapper
5)
6)
7)
8)

Mass auto-exemping is looking like the order of the day.

Let's try organising this one again, only at a time when an Hami raid isn't going down.

As ever level range is 23-28, we need 5 to start, and are all welcome - sign up below if interested!

1) Son of Santa: 26 Dark/Dark Scrapper
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

Gah - a shame! But...this does give me chance to catch up with Moonfire! It's an ill wind, etc...

Hopefully see you both weekend after next.

That all looks pretty solid to me. Something you can easily fiddle with when you have the power is the Explosive Blast slotting; as the main use of this is (I gather) an AoE "get out of my face!" button, you might swap the damage Enhs for an extra Acc and KB_Dist. That way you can be more confident it'll have the desired effect.

As you say if it turns out some aspect doesn't suit your playstyle you can always tweak things as you level through the build.

Happy blasting!

[ QUOTE ]
Hidden in their own caves of wisdom(?), the biggest n00bs in the game return to the mainstream to show the world that faceplanting can be fun!

[/ QUOTE ]
More appropriate word substituted.

Current playing Standfast, a level 6 Warshade...

Ah - there's a Hami raid at that time is there? That explains a lot.

lol No worries - a shame I couldn't make the Saturday run myself, but that's no reason everyone else who was up for it couldn't go ahead and enjoy the pwnage.

Will pick it up sooner or later, and hopefully see everyone on next Saturday's jaunt!

Not a chance.

It's very organisable, as we can see by last night's runs where two teams turned up at the prearranged time. Unfortunately this seems to have cleared the decks of wanting to do Moonfire over the weekend, at least for the time being; just one of those things.

Hmmm - looks rather like the two teams going down yesterday evening have satisfied all current demand.

That being the case gratz to yesterday's crews, and I officially announce this TF run abandoned.

Another weekend, another TF (and once more unable to hook up with Killer/Chill's outing because of date clashes) - this time off sorting Council problems in Striga.

The level range is 23-28, we need 5 to start, and are all welcome - sign up below if interested!

1) Son of Santa: 26 Dark/Dark Scrapper
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

I'd agree with that Okton said; the Stand build has Health because it dates way back, and with Flight/Hover on board taking Hurdle as an alternative didn't seem necessary.

Fun's the whole idea, so it would be good to get Whirlwind back in if you can - how about dropping one of the melee attacks, moving other powers down a bit, and getting WW in the 20s?

If not that, maybe Power Push, given that Whirlwind (to a degree) does a similar job to it anyway?

Or, finally, once you're in your 20s and can see how end lasts once Stamina's fully slotted, you might decide you can get away without Conserve Power. In my experience I only needed CP for long AV slogs when there were no +REC buffs to be had.

Gratz Okty! Something less controllery next time?

Surprisingly not - I have had to go double Acc with my 40s villain, but don't recall having had any problems with Stand. Perhaps there are more DEF-based opponents on the villain side?

I have to admit Energy Torrent was no more than middling with that slotting; it was taken as "nothing much better on offer at that level" pick, and courtesy of ED I had a few spare slots to put in it.

As I already had Power Push for reliable soft control (ET's KB only works when you don't want it ) I put damage in, as that made it a bit less annoying for tanks when I was using it teamed. Best used hovering over the crowd so you knock down rather than back, but used very infrequently for all that.

Happy to hear you found the thoughts of some use, MrT; if you want a look my final Standoff build's further down this email. While you've gone for the Hasten but no Fitness (so slot lots of EndRdx) route, I've gone for Stamina but no Hasten (so slot lots of Rechg).

It's some way from perfect, and in particular I took Total Focus way too late - I realised that as soon as I finally got it, but until then I'd been in a "blaster, not blapper" mindset and had avoided it on principle.

Still, as I don't/didn't exemp very much with Stand it didn't seem particularly useful to respec it earlier at that point.


Re. ToHit buffing, I'd (as you can see ) put one in Build Up (+100% Dmg, +15% Acc base) rather than Aim (+62.5% Dmg, +37.5% Acc base) for best effect.


---------------------------------------------
Name: Standoff ED1
Level: 50
Archetype: Blaster
Primary: Energy Blast
Secondary: Energy Manipulation
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Power Bolt==> Acc(1)Dmg(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(7)Rechg(17)Rechg(21)
01) --> Power Thrust==> Acc(1)
02) --> Power Blast==> Acc(2)Dmg(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(7)Rechg(15)Rechg(19)
04) --> Build Up==> Rechg(4)Rechg(15)Rechg(25)TH_Buf(46)
06) --> Hover==> Fly(6)Fly(31)Fly(39)
08) --> Power Burst==> Acc(8)Dmg(9)Dmg(9)Dmg(13)Rechg(17)Rechg(19)
10) --> Sniper Blast==> Dmg(10)Dmg(11)Dmg(11)Dmg(13)Rechg(23)
12) --> Swift==> Run(12)
14) --> Fly==> Fly(14)Fly(31)
16) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg(16)Rechg(40)Rechg(43)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(23)
22) --> Power Push==> Acc(22)Rechg(25)Rechg(27)
24) --> Aim==> Rechg(24)Rechg(27)Rechg(29)
26) --> Aid Other==> Heal(26)Rechg(36)IntRdx(39)Heal(39)Heal(46)
28) --> Aid Self==> Heal(28)Rechg(29)IntRdx(37)Heal(40)Rechg(40)Heal(46)
30) --> Energy Torrent==> Acc(30)Dmg(31)Dmg(34)Dmg(34)Rechg(34)Rechg(37)
32) --> Nova==> Acc(32)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)Rechg(37)Rechg(45)
35) --> Boost Range==> Rechg(35)Rechg(36)Rechg(36)
38) --> Resuscitate==> IntRdx(38)
41) --> Shocking Bolt==> Acc(41)Hold(42)Rechg(42)Hold(42)Rechg(43)Hold(43)
44) --> Charged Armor==> DmgRes(44)DmgRes(45)DmgRes(45)
47) --> Total Focus==> Acc(47)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)DisDur(50)
49) --> Power Boost==> Rechg(49)Rechg(50)Rechg(50)

A misguided concept, as it's obvious that world conquest can only realistically be achieved via arcane knowledge and drawing upon the powers of Darkness.

But even so, gratz to Master Z!

Hmmm - interesting build; my En/En main's gone down the vanilla Fitness route, and with that plus strategic use of Conserve Power has no end problems to speak of.

Not having tried the double EndRdx slotting/no Fitness approach I couldn't give a definite yes/no on whether it's workable or not, but it looks like it's at least worth a try.

Whirlwind without an EndRdx or Stamina may be a bit ambitious, unless you restrict it to when CP's up.

More specifically on power choices, I'm not at all convinced Leadership it a top idea for blasters. Even with their 2xEndRdx they'll still be grinding into your already limited end, and if you take the 3 slots from them and put them into individual attacks you can more than make up the damage you drop.

Your CP slotting looks fine - it's only worth putting Rechg in there anyway, so take that to the ED cap and you're as good as it'll get.

I'd highly recommend Boost Range - with 3xRechg it's close to perma even without Hasten, and while its up your regular attacks have snipe-level ranges, and your actual snipe can hit things you can barely see to target. With Boost Range up you can snipe further than Nemesis Tirailleurs, which is immensely satisfying.

Power Push I found nice too, although less so than Boost Range. If it hits it's a guaranteed KB (assuming non-exotic mobs), which both gets the victim out of your face and lets you get another snipe in while he's climbing to his feet.

Never used Explosive Blast, aside from briefly on the test server (didn't like it at all), but IIRC it was more a knockback fiend than a damage dealer; if you want more KB in the build I'd swap Dmg to KB_Dist here, and maybe move a few slots elsewhere.

Losing or reducing Leadership's the obvious way of getting Range Boost and Power Push in, but of course it's your call.

We came, we saw, we kicked their Freakshow bottoms. Then they rezzed, and we kicked them again until they got the message.

The team was:

Boston Lab Monkey
Colonel Crane
Sugar Kane
Purotekuto
Son of Santa

and we stormed through the TF in less than 3 hours, with lots of fun but not a single faceplant!

Big thanks to all for turning out, and I may see about doing Moonfire or Hess in a week or so (assuming someone's unlocked the latter...).

OK, a few hours away from kickoff and we have:

1) Son of Santa: 24 Dark/Dark Scrapper
2) Purotekuto: 20 Forcefield/Psi Blast Defender
3) @ExtraGonk: Some AT at some level
4) Sugar Kane: 33 Scrapper

One short of the minimum 5, but close enough to balanced so far and if need be we can always mug someone to lend us an alt to make up the starting numbers.

See everyone at 8pm! (UK)

Missed the regular Saturday run on this (boo!) because of a fashionably late Christmas party (hurrah!), so to try to keep up with the rest of the gang I thought I'd have a go at organising my own outing.

Slightly short notice, but anyone on for this? TF level is 20-25, enemies are Freakshow.

Current team:

Son of Santa: 24 Dark/Dark Scrapper

Sign up here, or turn up by Sister P (next to IP hospital) at the time in the subject line.

[ QUOTE ]
Yup, as soon as a feceplant happens the finger-pointing starts

[/ QUOTE ]
I feel an ewwwwww! coming on here...

[ QUOTE ]
However, none of this is really of interest to anyone else.

[/ QUOTE ]
Not strictly true Bridger, but yes, we know what you mean.

Nice one Ducky!

Gratz on the 50, and good luck with the noob from Planet Kheldia!

As others have said, Stamina's a must for any vaguely normal Fire/Rad build, along with AM 3-slotted for EndMod...and you'll still run dry if you have most of your toggles up and are reasonably active on the clickies.

Choking Cloud vs Cinders: I found CC very useful when I first picked it up, at 28, but for me it became less and less so as I moved beyond the mid-30s. The problems are that as you get higher there are more and more mezzing mobs, each dropping your toggles every time, and CC does have a hellishly long recharge once it's gone down. For some missions (looking at you, Malta ) I found I was only getting chance to put it up after fights were over, then it wouldn't stay up for very long at all once the next fight started. Combine that with the fact that everyone's harder at that level, so difficulty settings are higher and mobs have a greater level advantage, and you find that even when up it's not having that great an impact any more.
Cinders was more consistently useful - a bit of a panic power to lock things down sharpish if they were looking iffy, but very useful for all that (Flashfire's more the bread and butter "ready whenever you want" mezz attack though).

Smoke I had in the early levels, respecced out in the low 20s, and didn't retake until 49 when I couldn't find anything better to take. It is a bit situational, and best used as a blinder than for its -Acc (which is feeble) - it can be very useful to throw at nearby groups if you think things might get untidy with your current fight, and as it's auto-hit and non-aggroing there's no downside to using it "just in case".

If you're planning to solo much after you're Imped up you might find Smoke useful there too - after getting it at 49 I now regret I hadn't had it earlier myself. That's because one of the fiddly things with Imps is getting close enough to mobs to drag them into their aggro range, but not so close you pick up aggro yourself and take the alpha. Smoke the mobs first, and you can get as close as you like to set the little darlings on their targets.

[ QUOTE ]
There`s a certain amount of playstyle in this (I like to knock em down fast) but, on a sheer numbers basis, if two tanks took on an identical scenario, one with hasten, the other with the extra defensive pool power, who would the numbers favour?

[/ QUOTE ]
I think it would depend a lot on the scenario; if there are lots of mobs, and/or they have high HP, the tank will need staying power and the high defensive powers may be an essential.

If there a fewer mobs, with high damage but lower HP, it's more useful to take them down quickly before they can get their strikes in so the high damage tank's better off.

To some extent I guess it's the old team tank versus soloer/scranker choice - do you want to be able to take an entire team's worth of damage while higher output ATs take the mobs down, or do a significant part of the takedown yourself at the expense of a bit of robustness?

(And before anyone posts, yes, I realise it's a continuous range of capabilities, not an either/or choice for offence/defence. )