TopDoc

Just got Rocketeer badge today for launching the Warburg rocket 10 times. Here's the stats on the rockets...

Biological Mutagens
PBAoE, Ally +Regeneration, +Dam
This strike widely disperses beneficial mutagens. Friendly characters in the area of effect gain increase regeneration and damage abilities. You may only use this ability once.

Chemical Burn
Ranged AoE Foe -Res(All), -DEF
The toxins released in this strike lower the Accuracy and Damage Resistance of all hostile targets over a considerable area of effect. You may only use this ability once.

[Yes, the short and long descriptions are inconsistent concerning -DEF and Accuracy.]

Nuclear Blast
Ranged AoE, Extreme DoT(Energy), Foe -End, -Recovery
This unleashes a devastating EMP strike over a wide area of effect, draining Endurance from foes. Robotic units are especially vulnerable to this effect. You may only use this ability once.

I just posted a little guide HERE.

I thought being defeated by another player made you lose a key to them, but that may not be the case. (Note that a new update went in this morning.) I played during lunch today. I had 2 keys and was taking my third scientist to her destination when I ran into a Brute (Bound Imp on Freedom). I was defeated as I was teleporting away, I assume by him. I went to the hospital and was planning to give up and head back to work, when I noticed I still had 2 keys. Unfortunately I didn't think to check my combat log to see if he got in the killing blow. So I ran back, defeated Imp this time (didn't get a key), he rez'd maybe with Soul Transfer, but I led the scientist to the destination and got my 3rd key.

It looks like you forgot about ED. I see several places where you advocate putting 4 slots worth of something in a power. That 4th slot does almost nothing. You can definitely find a better place for those slots.

The Henchmen go down a level when you start getting more. The Battle Drones are -1 level when you get the second one at level 6, and are -2 levels when you get the third at level 18. Similarly, the Protector Bots are -1 at level 24 when you get your second. To compensate for this, you should probably slot them with extra Accuracy. I recommend 1 extra SO or equivalent per level down.

You're slotting Equip Robot pretty heavily for END Reduction. I wouldn't bother. Between summoning all your bots, Equipping them, and Upgrading a few, sure you're gonna be out of END. But just rest, finish up, and start the mission. If your bots are dropping all the time and you're constantly resummoning and Equipping them, then I could see maybe adding a slot. But if you rarely need to resummon and equip your bots, don't bother with so many slots in Equip.

Captrops could use some slots in Slow. Trip Mine and Detonate could use a slot in Accuracy.

I also HIGHLY recommend Leadership. I'm playing in an all-MM team and we all have it. We mow stuff down. To pay for the toggles, you'll need to slot them a little with END Reduction, and Stamina with 3 END Mods is also recommended.

I've done this a few times (still working on the Rocketeer badge), and someone was asking, so here it is...

1) Prepare for Warburg. There will likely be hidden Stalkers waiting to gank you if you play during a busy time. Stop in at Siren's Call and pick up some IR goggles. Load up on Accuracy Inspirations. Turn on Tactics, or find a friend with it.

2) Head to Warburg and find the tunnels. Every time I head to Warburg, the map is black. I assume that's intentional. Clear off enough of the Fog of War so you can recognize where you are. I recommend installing the maps from vidiotmaps.com. On the middle of the east edge of the island near a large tank, there's an entrance to the tunnels. You can head in there and explore if you have Stealth. There's also an entrance slightly north of the map center, and one somewhat south-west.

3) If you're a Stalker, just AS people till you have 3 keys. If you defeat someone with a key, you get one. Maybe camp a tunnel entrance, an Arachnos fort, one of the payload glowies, or the final launch pad glowie. Then skip to Step 7.

4) Look for a scientist (lab-coated person) in the tunnels surrounded by Arachnoids. Defeat the Arachnoids around the scientist. Click on the scientist, and one of the options will be to have him follow you. When you select that, you will get a waypoint on your map as the destination for the scientist. This is one of the mini Arachnos forts.

5) Turn off your travel powers. If you leave them on and get too far away, the waypoint will disappear from your map, and the scientist will stop following you. You then have to go back and click on him again. If this happens too many times, he may not follow you even if you click on him. You CAN sprint, but don't go much faster than that. Keep an eye on the Scientist, as they tend to get hung up on scenery.

6) When you lead the scientist to a base, he'll give you a key. That fills in one of the circles you have up top in your Navigation Window. You need to rescue 3 scientists and get 3 keys. Note that Stalkers may camp the Arachnos forts waiting for people to get keys.

7) After you get your third key, you get 3 new waypoints on your map. These are the control stations which determine what type of nuke you get. I believe you can have 1 of each type of nuke, but please correct me if I'm wrong. If anyone has stats on the nuke effects, please post here. These 3 waypoints are in the tunnels, and are glowie computers. You only need to click 1, so pick the one you want, run to it, and click it. That will give you a launch code. Watch out for Stalkers camping them.

8) After getting the launch code, you have to actually launch the missile. You will have a final waypoint on your map, which is on the surface and slightly east of the map center. This is the launch station. You have 5 minutes to do this. Be prepared for Stalkers camping the launch pad glowie. Click the glowie there, and watch the missile launch. Congrats, you have a new 1 use temp power.

9) Repeat this 10 times and you have the Rocketeer badge. Note that you'll have to use up your rockets in order to get new ones.

Buffer Overrun and the people in it have gone through many incarnations.

As it mentions in my last post to this thread, we hit 50 nearly a year ago. Most of us started playing alts. We recruited from time to time, even had a short revival where a new bunch got to 50, but the era of nightly BO teams has long since passed. I still play my Illusion/Rad, but only for Hami raids and badge collecting.

When I5 came out with Sonic Defenders, some of the BO people went to Protector and we created a Tank Mages SG. That's all Defender, with 2 FFs, 2 Sonics, and 4 Kins. We hit 50 on that a couple weeks ago, and it's mostly died.

In between, lots of the BO people got City of Villains. So we started a villain group on Justice and levelled up to 40 using mostly Rad Corruptors, with a little protection on the side from Cold and Sonics.

Currently, there's a few of us playing Masterminds on Justice. It's another SuperTeam concept, involving 6 Necro/Dark and 2 Robo/Traps Masterminds, and everyone takes Leadership. Unfortunately, there's not many of us playing. We're level 18-19 right now and usually play weeknights, but there were only 4 of us last night. If you're interested, join the "Buffer Overrun" global chat channel and ask around. Maybe make up a Necro/Dark MM on Justice and you can join us.

When I made up Buffer Overdose (the villain version of Buffer Overrun), I considered using equivalent powersets to Tank Mages. Tank Mages use all Defenders, 4 Kins, 2 Sonics, and 2 FFs. The problem is that buff sets are Secondaries for Corruptors. You don't get Speed Boost till level 20, and Fulcrum Shift till 38. That's a long time to wait.

Your team would definitely need some sort of protection. I recommend about half protection, half Kins. You don't need more than a few Speed Boosts to have your END recharge faster than you can use it. And once you get Fulcrum Shift, 2 Kins can keep you damage capped.

FF isn't a Corruptor Secondary. I recommend a couple Ice/Colds. They fit the theme, and also cover everyone in ice. Add in one or two Ice/Sonics and you'll be all set.

BTW, I found out that the Protector Bot bubbles are very minor Defense buffs. I've seen some people say 3.5%. Silly me, I was thinking they were somewhere around regular FF bubbles. Oh well. In my Radical Banished Pantheon (RBP) SuperTeam above, the Protector Bots should be slotted for ACC and DMG, and only for Defense if there are spare slots. After all, they mainly go on Henchmen, and what Mastermind cares if his Henchmen bite it.

The RBP started hitting 12 last night, so it's time for the second set of pets.

Name: Radical Banished Pantheon

Shard: Justice Villains

Overall Theme(s): All Masterminds, mostly Necro/Dark with some Robo/Traps.

Backstory: TopDoc of Buffer Overdose was looking for some magical types to make an Arcane Raid Teleporter for his high tech villain base (all the tech ones were too big). The Circle of Thorns woldn't do it, but he managed to find some younger Banished Pantheon Death Shamans who would.

The BP were impressed with Buffer Overdose and wanted to join. TopDoc did a few experiments, and determined that a large team of Necro/Dark Masterminds with a couple Robo/Traps on the side for Defense definitely qualified as a SuperTeam. (They needed the Robo/Traps for alpha defense and status protection.) They did a little recruiting for other technophilic Necromancers and necrophilic (or whatever) Roboticists, and went out to make a name for themselves.

Group Make-up: 6 Necro/Dark Masterminds, 2 Robo/Traps Masterminds. Everyone has Assault and Tactics. Everyone concentrates on team buffs and mob debuffs. Personal attacks are not needed.

Combat Strategy and Power Combinations: The Protector Bots (slotted for Defense before anything else) should be able to maintain bubbles on every henchman. All 62 of them. Add in 2 Force Field Generators for more Defense and status protection. Add in 6 stacked Shadow Fall for probably capped Invisibility, more Defense, and capped Energy, Negative, and Psi resistance.

Everyone has Assault and Tactics. Even the lowest Henches will be able to hit mobs, though the level adjustment may prevent them from doing significant damage versus much higher conned enemies.

Send in the Henchmen to open combat. The Dark MMs immediately follow with heals if needed, 6 stacked Tar Patch (Slow and -RES), and 6 stacked Darkest Night (-DMG and -ACC). The mobs run in VERY slow motion, wiff a lot, and take tons of damage when hit. /em dance till the henches defeat everything.

The team will have about 70 targets (chars + pets) at high levels. If mobs have the same limits on number of targets that players do, even the biggest AoEs will only hit about 1/4th of us. At mid levels, it will probably be safe to just Team Teleport the entire mass of us right into the middle of mobs. We'll have some Group Flyers in case we need to deal with flying threats or high Knockback mobs.

In PvP zones, it'll be a slaughter. We'll see everything, thanks to 8 stacked Tactics. Almost no one will see us, thanks to 6 stacked Shadow Fall. We'll teleport on top of people, there will be a burst of lag as our Henches attack, then we teleport on.

We started playing these characters last night. Anyone can join, the more the merrier. We're only level 8, so you can still get in on the ground floor. Just give a yell on the "Buffer Overrun" global chat channel for an SG invite.

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Most of the Tank Mage (see previous post) regulars hit 50 on Tuesday night. My Kin/Electric, Tanker Wannabe, was 193 hours old. It was a blast. Herding as many Invincible mobs as the agro limit allows, nuking all the time, standing in the middle of mobs as they uselessly flail at you.

The most amusing thing was in the Eden trial. At the end, we cleared the lake around the Titan, freed the heroes, and defeated the Titan. Then we got rushed by the rest of the room. That's a huge room with a lot of mobs. But we took them all down.

We'll play our Tank Mages from time to time, but we've moved on to the BP team above.

Nope. I think there are some recent comments about Flight, Hover, and Hurdle being the only powers significantly affected by ED. But I've got a Kin to hit 50 with (tonight), my "record every mission" scrapper who's in the middle of the 40-45 missions, my post-I6 post-ED BS/Regen solo speed level test, and a new Necro/Dark SuperTeam to get started. So many things to do, so little time.

Here's the quick version of my Movement Guide for ED... Don't slot any movement power with more than 3 slots of the same thing. Hurdle can't reach capped Flight Speed. Then again, neither can Fly! And 3 slotted Hover is ... just meh.

This is a PowerAdventuring method of fast solo XP. No exploits, just fast efficient mission completion.

I've gotten very nice XP/minute using the Warburg buff/debuff heroes/villains missions. I had a level 37-38 DM/Inv Scrapper who was out of missions, and I thought I'd try grinding XP there till I hit 40. Of the 4 missions, the last one has the fewest mobs. That's important because they're Defeat All. Running it on the middle difficulty for +1 mobs, I'd get around 15 mobs and a boss, plus the nice Mission Completion bonus at the end. I could do a mission every 6 minutes or so, which worked out to a level every 4 hours. At the high end, I think that's pretty fast.

I'm not sure what level range the Warburg missions are for. I know my 50 can't get missions there. I'd guess the range is 35-45.

I didn't want this thread to fade into obscurity, so let me breathe a little life into it...

I had a En/En Blaster that was level 40 when I stopped playing her a year ago. That was about a month after Snipe posted his guide. My build was pretty similar to what he recommended. Then I started doing Super Teams, making guides, and various other things. I've finally started playing my Blaster again, though it'll be on and off as I still have other things to do.

First order of business was an ED respec. I used my freespec and came up with the following. This is Miss Ion. She was my original "try to do every mission" character, though I missed a few. That meant lots of soloing against minions. I've got a scrapper that is 37 and has actually done every (non-expansion) mission, and I will likely use the Scrapper to continue missions. That means Miss Ion can do more teaming, AVs, etc.

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Blaster
Primary Powers - Ranged : Energy Blast
Secondary Powers - Support : Energy Manipulation

01 : Power Thrust acc(01)
01 : Power Bolt acc(01) dam(3) dam(5) dam(13) recred(31)
02 : Power Blast acc(02) dam(3) dam(5) dam(11) recred(19) endred(25)
04 : Build Up recred(04) recred(13) recred(15)
06 : Power Burst acc(06) dam(7) dam(7) dam(11) recred(23) endred(25)
08 : Sniper Blast dam(08) dam(9) dam(9) recred(23) endred(36)
10 : Hasten recred(10) recred(15) recred(17)
12 : Hurdle jmp(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14) runspd(34) endred(36)
16 : Aim recred(16) recred(17) recred(19)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21)
22 : Power Push acc(22) recred(31)
24 : Stealth endred(24)
26 : Bone Smasher acc(26) dam(27) dam(27) dam(29) recred(37) endred(40)
28 : Hover fltspd(28) fltspd(29) fltspd(31)
30 : Conserve Power recred(30) recred(37)
32 : Nova dam(32) dam(33) dam(33) recred(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Power Boost recred(35) recred(36) recred(37)
38 : Total Focus acc(38) disdur(39) disdur(39) disdur(39) recred(40) endred(40)

A lot of these changes are for ED. Everything gets 3 slots where it's important. Super Speed is capped with 2 Run Speed Enhancements. Nova and Sniper Blast are meant for use after Aim+BU, so no need for Accuracy. Plus Sniper Blast has inherent Accuracy, so I can still use it in combat very effectively. Total Focus is slotted for Disorient.

Most of my attacks have a Recharge and END Reduction. If I'm up close using my best attacks, I shouldn't need to use Power Bolt except when Hasten is down. My attacks will recharge fast. But that can cost a lot of END, hence the END Reduction.

Yes I slotted Total Focus for Disorient. With Power Boost, that means I can keep a boss out of the action for 30 seconds. Worse case, without Hasten or Power Boost, I can still keep a boss chain stunned. For dual boss spawns, I can stun one, then ideally keep the other one bouncing till I TF it. Note that PB lasts 15 seconds, so I can get in 2 TFs if I use PB after Aim and BU. If I can't defeat 2 bosses who are stumbling around for that long, I don't deserve to be here.

I expect I'll be a blapper most of the time, thanks to the long duration and somewhat short recharge on TF. It'll give me a reason to use Inspirations, which those of you fighting at long range don't have. Power Burst and my melee attacks have a much higher Brawl Index. At worse, I'll have to Rest from time to time, but the recharge on that is very short these days. I expect this will be faster than more conservative range-only builds. I'm all about Speed.

I've already done the respec, but take a look and let me know what you think. Yes Conserve Power is gonna get one more slot. I put an extra slot in Power Push to play with Knockback Enhancements.

[ QUOTE ]
...but the intent of directive 2 was to state my belief in the importance of archtetype/class balance. I cannot abandon that belief.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can. I stopped believing that long ago. Sure it's a good general rule for PUGs, because that's what most people have heard and believe. But that doesn't make it true. I've been playing in Super Teams of my own creation for over a year, and none of them ever included a Tank or Empath. Take a look at the Buffer Overrun link in my sig, and check out the videos from long ago.

That said, I certainly agree that you can't just throw a team together with whoever accepts your invites. That way lies madness and debt, at least for large teams. If you want to get away from the "1 tank, 1 empath, 6 others", you have to do it in an intelligent manner. You need to figure out how to limit incoming damage to a level you can handle. There are many ways to do that.

[ QUOTE ]
It's possible to have the Tech Raid Teleporter in the basic Plot, so feel free to do so. Just because it's hard, doesn't make it impossible! Tetris is fun!

[/ QUOTE ]

Hard and expensive, as someone else pointed out. But I must admit that you're right. I hadn't even considered using Defense rooms to fit things in because of the cost.

The smallest raidable base with Arcane Raid Teleporter costs X. Moving up to the next plot to put in a Tech Raid Teleporter costs 3X. Squeezing things into the smallest plot by using a Choke Point is 2X. I can't justify doubling the Prestige cost of the base just to use a Tech Raid Teleporter.

[ QUOTE ]
... while the Raid Teleporter will cost your SG 75,000 Prestige, and will require a 3x3 Teleporter Room or larger to house it! It's a big one!

[/ QUOTE ]

Only the Tech Raid Teleporter requires a 3x3 room. The Arcane one fits into a nice cheap 2x2 room.

This one little thing has a REALLY MAJOR consequence. It has caused a LOT of arguments about the minimal base required for raiding. If you use an Arcane Raid Teleporter, you can have a raid capable base on the smallest plot size, requiring something under 2 million Prestige total. If you use a Tech Raid Teleporter, you need to go up to the next larger plot size, which is several million more Prestige.

My tech oriented VG has a high tech base with tech Energy, tech Control, tech work benches, tech Basic Telepads, and an arcane Raid Teleporter.

[ QUOTE ]
when I hire a defender to come on board my teams, it is not for their damage.

[/ QUOTE ]

When I design Super Teams, I include exclusively Defenders or ATs with Defender secondaries precisely because of their contribution to team damage. Small teams get more bang for their buck from a Blaster, I'll grant you that. But large teams get more bang for their buck from certain Defenders, and are usually safer as well.

Since we're both on Freedom, let me just say the following... Please look for Blasters and Scrappers when you want more damage. And please recruit Defenders that mainly help defend your team. I'll happily take the other Defenders. :-)

Lots of good advice, so I'll add a little of mine. Of course you've already covered some of these.

* Communicate. Yes, you already said it, but it deserves saying again. Kinetic Defenders have a strong heal that is mob centered, so it's useless if people run far away from mobs. Many characters get AoE Sleeps, which are disrupted if people use AoEs. Invuln tanks have no Resistance to Psionic, so they need a LOT of help tanking Carnies. Call before you use a Big Nuke, so several people don't waste them on the same group. Go over basic tactics, and make sure everyone knows their role in the team.

* Designate an opener. Everyone follows the opener and the opener initates combat. Usually it's a tank, but it could be a Mastermind (CoV), Controller (Phantom Army) or whatever. That one person determines how fast the team moves from one group to the next, so make sure they're competent.

* Invite Kheldians. Make sure you ask them how they are slotted, because they can play several different roles (often in the same mission). I've got a level 48 Peacebringer, with heavy slotting in Dwarf and Nova forms. That means I can tank and blast very well. I can also play a ghetto healer with max slotted Glowing Touch and every Medicine Pool power. You won't find that sort of versatility in any other AT. Kheldians have on average been around longer and know the game better than non-Khelds.

* You can usually add Defenders and Controllers without a problem, even up to the max team size. Sure you'll be facing more mobs, but your entire team should be stronger as a result. And larger teams have a bigger XP multiplier.

* Everyone pulls their weight. If you find someone who seems to be standing around a lot, hardly using their END, that's a warning sign. I have a little script I wrote that can parse a demo file and tell me how much damage people did in the last mission. It isn't perfect, given that you only see damage that happens near you. But it can give you a real good idea. Last night I teamed with a level 50 Blaster who did less damage than his Emp Defender SK. Fortunately he left before I had to kick him. Of course I don't rate people on damage alone. If I see a Tank that jumps in and keeps most of the agro, I don't care how much damage he does. If I'm blasting mobs who aren't fighting back, I don't care how much damage the Controller does. On the other hand, if I see a high damage Defender who is causing problems by not Defending the team, he's out.

* Don't be afraid to invite SKs. In general I try to make a team all right around the same level +/-1, but I'll fill it up to get good balance, more support, or specific powersets with SKs. After level 27 or so most chars have all of their important powers well slotted with SOs, and can make a significant contribution in high level teams.

* Don't invite someone just because you're asked to. Low level chars do not belong in AV missions, even if they are the SG mate of someone in the team. Don't fill up the last spot in a team with a Blaster when you really need a Tank.

* Knowlege is power. If you don't know how to handle a situation, ask. If you do know a good way to handle a situation, tell. Accelerate Metabolism from Radiation Defenders and Controllers protects against END Drain from Sappers and Carnies, so I always try to have a Rad in the team when doing those. Dark Defenders have PBAoE Psionic Resistance, just what you want when facing Psi heavy mobs. DE Quartz Emanators are kryptonite to SR Scrappers and Ice tanks. Voids and Quantums can kill Khelds really quickly, so make sure people know to target them if there are Khelds in your team.

* Learn tactics. If you don't know why people do things a certain way, ask. Observe. There are many places where multiple mob groups are tightly packed, but you can easily pull one group at a time if you bother. Know when to charge, and know when to pull. Know when to yell RUN!

* Momentum. Keep things moving. It may take a while to form a team, but try to keep things moving after that. Give people time to sell and level, but don't just stand around for 10 minutes while 1 person buys a whole new set of SOs and combines them. It's fine if multiple people want to take a longer break, but don't hold up the team for 1 person.

* Do appropriate missions. I'll put a team together to do one or two of my own AV missions, but then I'll do whatever people have. XP is XP. Know the difficulty settings, and adjust them as needed.

Yep, we recently started playing again. Most of our villains hit 40 in Buffer Overdose, so we've gone back to Tank Mages till the villain level cap is raised. We'll probably be playing Monday-Thursday evenings in big teams. We're on Protector. If you're interested, look us up. Unfortunately, we'll probably be doing some of the high level trials and task forces soon, so you won't be able to participate unless you already have a high level char or can catch up REALLY QUICK.

[ QUOTE ]
OMG!! Double repulsion field + 4 repels!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, no. We don't use any form of repulsion in PvE. Many of the best Kinetic powers are target based buffs, including Transfusion(heal), Transference (END), and the biggie Fulcrum Shift (damage). We teleport right into the middle of mobs and stay there.

[ QUOTE ]
I remember this discussion from when the change was made to bring aboard ill/rad controllers to join the rad/rads. Was it because you needed someone else to take the alpha? Or high level mezzing issues? Or the mission difficulty?

[/ QUOTE ]

Alpha and mezzing. From about level 20 and on, it's really hard for a big team of all Rad Defenders. The mob alpha strike can frequently blow you away, even if you open combat with Radiation Infection (RI, a ToHit and Defense debuff). After all, you aren't going to affect every mob in a group unless they're pretty close. And if a single mez lands on the opener, perhaps from an undebuffed mob on the sidelines, down goes RI, and the second volley finishes them off. You can't turn down the difficulty enough to avoid this.

By opening combat with Phantom Army every time, the mob alpha is wasted on it. We could then do rad debuffs and Controller AoE holds more safely. The Controllers were also nice for pets. Thanks to Accelerate Metabolism (AM), the Controllers could get out lots of pets. And again thanks to AM, the pets were massively buffed. Pet Controllers did more damage than Defenders.

You really need to take status protection into account. These days, a single unbuffed Tanker with Taunt probably isn't going to cut it for a Super Team. Tank status protection was recently reduced. Higher level mobs use more status effects. Many minions have single target status effects, though they may be on a long timer. And many higher ups have AoE or cone status effects. At higher levels, you need decent status protection for the entire team and extra on the tank if you want a real Super Team. Otherwise, mez heavy mobs will eat you alive. Break Frees aren't an option in large missions or Task Forces unless you want to take a lot of extra time running to stores or hitting up friends to buy them.

The original Buffer Overrun with Defenders didn't cover this well enough. Tank Mages has 2 FF and 2 Sonic Defenders with Dispersion bubbles, and 4 Kinetics with Increase Density if needed. Buffer Overdose has dispersion bubbles and AM to reduce what gets through.

Higher level mobs do disproportionately more damage. They also have higher damage ranged attacks and more AoEs. You need some form of damage mitigation, again beyond a single unbuffed Tanker with Taunt. At the high end, it only takes a couple attacks from the wrong mob to take down a squishy. A pair of Freak Tanks launching grenades can take out a whole team of squishies. Team buffs are better than mob debuffs, due to the max number of targets limitation.

Again the original Buffer Overrun with Defenders didn't cover this well enough at high levels. In Tank Mages, everyone has high Damage Resistance and Defense. Buffer Overdose is lighter on defenses than Tank Mages, but they make up for it with Rad debuffs.

These days, I'd say most Super Teams should have at least 1 Force Fielder or 1 Sonic. Ideally both, with decent healing on the side. They provide status protection and damage mitigation.

It's best to design Super Teams with solid mez protection and damage mitigation in mind. It's a sad thing to cut through early missions like a hot knife through butter, only to be cut to pieces as you get into higher level missions.

Name: Buffer Overdose

Shard: Justice/CoV

Overall Theme: Illegitimate child of Buffer Overrun and Tank Mages.

Backstory: A villain named TopDoc researched the various hero Super Teams, and came up with a villain Super Team to fight them.

Group Make-up: Each team should have 1-2 characters with Defense (Force Field Mastermind or Cold Domination Corruptor), 1-2 with Damage Resistance (ideally Sonic Corruptors), and the rest Radiation secondary Corruptors. Fire is the recommended Corruptor primary for PvE, or Ice for PvP. Leadership is REALLY highly recommended for everyone.

Combat Strategy and Power Combinations: It's a lot like Tank Mages and Buffer Overrun combined. Play in big teams. The characters with defensive powers buff the team, Rads use Accelerate Metabolism, Rads open combat using debuffs, everyone AoEs, finish the bosses, move on.

See the link in my sig for Buffer Overrun; we use that site for Buffer Overdose too. I founded this SG 4 hours after the CoV head start opened (when I hit level 10). The core team got up to level 40 about a week ago, and the SG has slowed down a lot. We've got a raid ready base and not much to do with it. The core players have started low level villain (for content), gone back to Tank Mages, or are playing other heroes. It'll perk up again with the Cathedral trial and level 50 content.

Name: Tank Mages

Shard: Protector/CoH

Overall Theme: Massive offensive and defensive buffs

Backstory: A Defender named "Tanker Wannabe" got tired of sitting around LFT, so he decided to make a SG of all Defenders that only teamed with each other.

Group Make-up: All Defenders: 2 Force Fields, 2 Sonics, 4 Kinetics per team. Any Secondary. Leadership is HIGHLY recommended for everyone.

Combat Strategy and Power Combinations: Play in big teams. The Force Fielders and Sonics bubble everyone, giving most everyone capped Damage Resistance and a huge Defense bonus. The Dispersion Bubbles and Increase Density from the Kinetics gives everyone massive status protection. This turns everyone into tanks.

The Kinetics Speed Boost everyone, giving massive END Recovery, Movement, and Recharge Reduction bonuses. They use Siphon Power and later Fulcrum Shift to give everyone capped damage. Everyone takes mainly AoE attacks slotted for Recharge Reduction, and casts them as fast as possible. The huge damage output is what earns us the name Mages.

Playing on this sort of team is a unique experience. We use Group Fly and Team Teleport. We teleport from group to group, using AoEs to wipe out the minions and get agro, then herding the surviving Lts and bosses.

It isn't for everyone. We have to stop and rebuff often. In fact we often just stand there in the middle of combat and rebuff everyone, ignoring the mobs attacking us. But it can get old real quick.

SKs can make a solid contribution. They don't need a movement power, thanks to Teleport, Recall Friend, Group Fly, and Inertial Reduction when needed. Most of the important powers (bubbles, Speed Boost, etc) are available at low levels. Thanks to all the buffs, SKs attack nonstop and hit almost all the time for capped damage, even with unslotted attacks.

See the link in my sig for Buffer Overrun; we use that site for Tank Mages too. I founded a SG around this concept several months ago. We got a core team up to around level 40 before CoV distracted us. But most of us have gotten level 40 villains now (see my next Super Team, Buffer Overdose), so we're back to playing our Tank Mages. This is my current Super Team.

Name: Buffer Overrun

Shard: Freedom/CoH

Overall Theme: All Radiation

Backstory: A hero named "Buffer Master" wondered what it would be like if enough Radiation heroes got together to reach Critical Mass.

Group Make-up: All Radiation primary Defenders or Radiation secondary Controllers. Ideally you want a few Illusion/Rad Controllers and a few people with Teleport & Recall Friend. Leadership is recommended for everyone.

Combat Strategy and Power Combinations: Play in big teams. Everyone casts Accelerate Metabolism. In a team of 8, that's +200% Damage, +240% Recharge Reduction, around base Super Speed, and a huge END Recovery bonus. Run around real fast, attack fast, hit hard, and go till AM runs out. Gather, recast AM (it's nearly perma without any slotting), and repeat.

Once you get the Rad debuffs (Radiation Infection, Enervating Field, and Lingering Radiation), make sure you open combat with one of them.

At higher levels, you need Phantom Army from the Illusion/Rad Controller to open combat.

See the link in my sig. I founded a SG around this concept a year ago, and had a lot of success with it. It's died down a lot, as I've moved on to other Super Teams.

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Resistances are somewhat out of the scope of this guide, but with regard to Quantum blasts from Voids and Quantum gunners, are you sure that the kheldian "quantum critical" is completely unresistable? It has always seemed to me that I take considerably less damage from quantum gunners when in the tank form than human form, although I've never actually checked the numbers carefully and its been a while since I've taken my kheldian for a spin.

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That's because you have a lot more HP in Dwarf Form, and you can also resist the part of the attack that isn't Nictus damage. Combined, you take what appears to be considerably less damage. But if you look at the numbers, you should see that the Nictus damage is the same in and out of Dwarf form.

Yes I'm still playing, though mostly villains in Buffer Overdose (see the Buffer Overrun link in my sig). I'm not aware of any changes to movement speeds. The HO change went live shortly after I posted the guide, but I've already commented on that. ED hurts Flight (Hover, Fly, and Group Fly) and Teleport since you can't slot them as much as you used to, but I think I already commented on that too. Other than that, I think the information here is still accurate.

Time for an update. It's possible for villains to defeat the Tank Mages. City of Villains specifically. I got into CoV Beta during the first round of invites. Other Tank Mages trickled in. We played CoV during the open windows, and Tank Mages afterwards. Near the end of Beta, we were hardly playing our Tank Mages at all. Now most of the Tank Mages are in Buffer Overdose, a villain group combining the ideas of Buffer Overrun and Tank Mages. Fortunately, we're near 40, so we may get back to playing Tank Mages.

Playing Tank Mages at high levels is pretty simple. Everyone buffs. Someone uses Team TP to move the team around to herd up a few groups. We do lots of Fulcrum Shifts, AoEs, and even nukes. Rebuff and move on.

The Tank Mage thread in the Protector forum went away because it got stale. Oh well. For future Tank Mage stuff, take a look at the Buffer Overrun link in my sig. Or use this:

BufferOverrun.GuildPortal.Com

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Unless the devs have fixed it (Hint,hint devs) The hole in is the NE corner of the map near where the water hits land.

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Devs, don't fix it till you fix the badge! :-)