Two_Dollar_Bill
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Posts
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Joined
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It's fairly easy to soft-cap a Crab Spider's positional defenses, not so easy to soft-cap Smashing/Lethal. You've made some serious sacrifices to squeeze every bit of S/L defense out of this build, and ended up well short of soft cap. I would really start over and look for positional defense IO sets.
A major feature of all Soldiers of Arachnos is Leadership. They get superior versions of the normal Leadership pool powers AND they enjoy very high bonuses from the Leadership pool itself... as good as Defenders in some cases. I strongly recommend taking all of the Tactical Training powers (which are superior versions of Maneuvers, Tactics and Assault) and urge you to consider the regular Leadership pool as well.
I'm not sure if you really want to fight in melee or if you just needed mule powers for three sets of Kinetic Combat, but it does seem like you want pets. This is one of my own (unused) builds that has loads of pets and soft-capped ranged defense. You may not want to run Super Jump 24/7 like I do, but it may still be useful as an example of a pet-heavy build.
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If you have a secondary that involves targeting pets and teammates for healing (i.e.: Pain Domination) I think there are advantages to being able to hover/fly since you can always position yourself exactly where you need to be in order to play healer.
Other than that, unless you have some specific combat application for it, like Team Teleporting yourself and your demons into melee, I don't think it matters in the slightest. Just take the travel power that seems most fun and thematic. -
Having a melee pet as an anchor for Sonic Disruption is convenient, but it hardly makes or breaks the character. If I find that I really need more -Resist on ranged foes, I can always issue a Go To command and make my Assault Bot engage them at close range. (Actually I might debate the notion that Robots have no dedicated melee pets... as often as I catch my Battle Drones charging into the fray.)
The much-maligned and often skipped Sonic Repulsion is a boon for ranged pets like Robots since you can bounce unwanted melee attackers harmlessly away.
One thing I do miss in Sonic is a healing power. Fortunately, Robotics has Repair, which I use to keep the Protector Bots functional while they repair my other minions. Overall I think Robotics and Sonic have good synergy, even without a dedicated melee pet.
Some of the more fragile primaries like Ninja or Mercenaries I would not attempt. I think they really need strong heals to go along with other damage mitigation tactics. -
This isn't going to be another "Sonic Sucks / Fix Sonic" thread is it?
My Robot/Sonic Mastermind is fairly new and will probably hit 40 tonight, but I can see him reaching 50 and starting iTrials soon(tm).
My earlier /Sonic Corruptor did NOT get to 50, largely because I realized that it would be much more fun to solo if I had decent pets to place my anchors on. I have indeed had more fun soloing with this character, and find him to be a real asset to teams as well. In particular, now that he's higher level and teaming with a lot more 50's, there are a lot of people who already have soft-capped defenses and appreciate the resistance buffs.
Are Masterminds really that squishy? With bodyguard mode and all my pets bathed in a healthy aura of resistance buffs, I don't really feel all that squishy. The status protection of Sonic Dispersion helps a lot too. Getting constantly perma-stunned and held is really what makes my characters feel "squishy", and my /sonic characters don't suffer that fate.
Is Sonic Resonance better than Thermal Radiation or Pain Domination? I have a Thugs/Pain MM that I enjoy playing, but he's not so awesome that I quit trying new combinations. Ultimately, I like Sonic for reasons of concept and because it is rare, not based on a careful mathematical analysis of its min/maxing potential. The only secondary I cannot play because it feels so horribly weak is /Poison. I don't have that feeling with /Sonic. -
One of the first considerations for any Sonic Resonance build is endurance. Keeping Sonic Dispersion and Disruption Field going all the time takes a massive bite out of your resources. Everything is slotted for at least some endurance efficiency, and I have attempted to squeeze in +Recovery and Max End wherever I could.
My Mastermind is pretty durable due to low aggro and bodyguard mode. It's his pets that need protection, and he only gets into trouble when they get destroyed. So, instead of maximizing the Mastermind's ranged defense with set bonuses, I am trying to keep my pets alive longer. The Protector Bots can cast better bubbles and I included the defense and resistance uniques in Battle Drones. Photon Grenade and Liquify are both configured for crowd control rather than damage. Heal Other and Repair are both slotted for serious use.
There are some situations that are just extremely bad for Mastermind pets... the sabotage portion of Lambda Sector comes to mind. I'm hoping that the Celerity stealth proc will allow me to tag along and provide buffs if I have to go petless.
The last time I played a Mastermind with healing pets was years ago, and it was widely believed that you should NOT slot them with healing enhancements. The theory went that the pets would only use their heal if the target could benefit from all of it, and if their heal was too big they simply wouldn't use it until it was too late. Is that still the current conventional wisdom? I might try replacing the second +Def IO in Protector Bots with a Heal or Stun.
Although I do have a /Sonic Corruptor with Liquify, I'm never really certain what the best slotting for it is. Due to its glacial recharge speed I tend to save it for emergencies.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.951
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Doctor Legion 50d: Level 50 Technology Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Robotics
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Resonance
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Pulse Rifle Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(3), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 1: Sonic Siphon -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Pulse Rifle Burst -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(5), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 4: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(7), Zephyr-ResKB(7), EndRdx-I(40)
Level 6: Recall Friend -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 8: Photon Grenade -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(9), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(9), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(33), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(42), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 10: Battle Drones -- EdctM'r-Acc/Dmg(A), EdctM'r-Acc/EndRdx(11), EdctM'r-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), EdctM'r-Dmg(33), EdctM'r-PetDef(42), SvgnRt-PetResDam(43)
Level 12: Protector Bots -- EdctM'r-Acc/Dmg(A), EdctM'r-Dmg/EndRdx(13), EdctM'r-Acc/EndRdx(13), EdctM'r-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), DefBuff-I(43), DefBuff-I(43)
Level 14: Equip Robot -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Aid Other -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Numna-Heal(17), IntRdx-I(46)
Level 18: Aid Self -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Numna-Heal(19), IntRdx-I(48)
Level 20: Sonic Dispersion -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(21), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(21), ImpArm-ResDam(34), S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(34), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(37)
Level 22: Sonic Barrier -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(23), ImpArm-ResDam(23), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 24: Sonic Haven -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(25), ImpArm-ResDam(25), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 26: Assault Bot -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx(27), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx(27), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), BldM'dt-Acc(45), BldM'dt-Dmg(45)
Level 28: Disruption Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(29)
Level 30: Sonic Repulsion -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Upgrade Robot -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 35: Scorpion Shield -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36), EndRdx-I(48)
Level 38: Liquefy -- BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(A), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), BasGaze-Slow%(39), RechRdx-I(46), Dmg-I(46)
Level 41: Repair -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), EndRdx-I(50)
Level 44: Teleport -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 47: Grant Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), EndRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Long Range Teleport -- RechRdx-I(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Supremacy
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(29)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(15), EndMod-I(15)
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On Justice, iTrials always form in Pocket D. I guess we're just weird.
The ability to instantly teleport to the tiki lounge from anyplace seems more convenient than having a store or a crafting table.
As previously mentioned, Port Oakes is very convenient to get to the Black Market from Pocket D, and Talos is not bad. And that's just for people who don't already have /ah. If someone simply must craft in Pocket D, in a room full of incarnates there is bound to be someone with a portable workbench.
It might be difficult to change the culture of a server, but I suspect that some of the smaller iTrial runs could still be formed just out of people willing to come to Pocket D. -
I have a limit of about 2 sewer runs before I become bored and wander off. There's no way I could live in there and make that my whole game, as the original post suggests. City of Heroes is just too big and interesting to be limited like that.
It can be quite difficult to get a full-sized RED sewer going, and so if I notice one trying to start I will often join for a couple of runs, even if my character is 50 and has all the badges. Just being a good villain citizen.... -
Obviously there are things Crabs cannot do well (like healing teammates), but I'd say their only real kryptonite is defense debuffs.
1. Know the things that can debuff you.
2. Rapidly kill the things identified in Step 1.
3. Keep your combat stats on the screen so you can see what your defenses are.
4. When you see your health and/or defenses dropping, pop a Good Luck, etc.
You can take on the worst of the defense debuffers as long as you don't plunge in too crazily. If you see your defenses failing you can boost them before the cascading failure sets in. -
So, your objective is to make a ranged-combat Crab Spider with soft-capped defenses all around. Most of the IO sets that improve melee defense are for melee attacks, which you don't have. Instead, you've taken four copies of Shield Breaker and slotted them in ranged attacks. This has had the unfortunate side effect of rendering most of your ranged attacks quite feeble with only base damage. This strikes me as a bad tactic. You're nerfing the whole focus of your character (ranged combat) to protect yourself from something you don't plan to be doing anyway (melee). I think either of the following tactics would be better:
A) Give up on soft-capping melee defense and slot at least your big attacks like you mean it. If Suppression, Frag Grenade and Arctic Breath are well enhanced for damage, you can blow things up before they get into melee with you.
B) Drop at least one of the weak ranged attacks that you won't use anyway, and get a melee attack that you hope you won't have to use. Arm Lash is great and you can slot it with Obliteration for 3.75% melee defense (better than Shield Breaker). Slice can be slotted with Touch of Death (same).
If your AoE defense drops too low as a result of losing some Shield Breaker, you can change your Fortification to 5-slotted Aegis (4.69% AoE defense). -
Two responses! Thank you both for your feedback. If nobody bothers to criticize my builds, I have to wonder if they're too perfect to be improved on, or too awful to salvage.
I've had this character since before The Great Nerfing (Issue 5) and what I've always enjoyed about Dark/Dark is the large toolbox of useful control and support abilities. While DPS is nice, I realize that it's really not one of the strengths of this character. This was driven home recently when one of my friends started a Dark/Dark Corruptor. Clearly outclassed in the DPS department, I decided to focus more on the things a Defender is really best at... and here we are.
High defense is not actually critical, but defenses have good synergy with to-hit debuffs and I'm a believer in soft-capped defense. There's a huge difference in safety between real soft-cap and just being close. Thunderstrike, Stupefy and Cloud Senses are all good IO sets that I don't regret having. Still, I've been playing this character with a mostly-complete version of this spec for the last week, and I've discovered that ranged defense is great when soloing, but on a team (which is how I really play my Defenders) AoE is more useful. I tend to get hit most when I get in close to use Twilight Grasp on teammates.
The IO sets I would need to switch to to maximize AoE defense (below) are not nearly as attractive, so I am working on a revised version with far more mediocre defenses but better recharge and hopefully better control.
Cloud Senses > Siphon Insight
Thunderstrike > Ruin
Stupefy > Razzle Dazzle
In terms of attack chain, the three damaging attacks I've got seem to work okay. Gloom is always a solid attack. Drain Life does nearly the same damage as Gloom (when slotted as a pure attack) with the same recharge time. The healing is a fringe benefit but it helps, especially since I don't have enough recharge to spam Twilight Grasp without pause. Tenebrous Tentacles lags a bit behind in the speed department but that can be fixed.
As far as Hasten goes, I rarely use it. Not that I have anything against recharge.... The 74% global +Recharge on this build is actually better than the 6-slotted perma-hasten of the old days. I'd just rather have a lot of different abilities/attacks to cycle through than to spam the same two or three powers as fast as I can push the buttons. And ultimately, I retain enough RPG sensibilities that I would not consign my darkness-based character to go through life with bubbly glowie yellow hands.
Admittedly, teams don't really value the Dark Miasma Defender as a "healer", but there are still situations were I find myself healing like mad and wishing Twilight Grasp were faster. A mere 0.7 seconds could be the difference between life and death!
Using level 30 IOs, Theft of Essence and Touch of the Nictus grant the same enhancement values, and similar set bonuses. The Theft of Essence IOs were just a lot quicker and easier to obtain, since 30 is the top end for that set.
I might consider purples or Hami-O's if they are not too steep, but I generally avoid them so I can keep all of my alts in more common IOs. -
My favorite character for incarnate trials is my Crab Spider, and he doesn't even have enough single-target attacks to make an attack chain. Still, when we were doing the TPN last night, after some trial and error, we divided the raid up into an outside team for the Telepathists and two inside teans for clearing the terminals, where AoEs are still just fine.
I'm not bothered by the idea that different trials require different skills and tactics. -
As long as you have your IO set bonuses, your taunt with no accuracy slotted should still be fine. If you exemplar below that point, your taunt may become unreliable, especially against the most powerful targets. If you exemplar a lot, you may want to slot it with some accuracy.
IOs and set bonuses that grant % status resistance are pretty dubious, even for a squishy character that can get crowd controlled. All they do is deduct a fraction of the duration from how long you are held/slept/stunned etc. Crab Spiders are largely immune to crowd control anyway.
Having said that, I do have the Aegis Psionic/Status Resistance IO slotted in Fortification on my Crab Spider. I needed five slots of Aegis to get the AoE defense bonus and I felt that 3% psionic resistance was more useful than the End/Rech IO. -
My DDDD has had a fairly conventional Debuff + DPS build for years now, but I have decided to do something a bit different and experimental.
All Set IOs are Level 30 for exemplaring purposes. This means that some of the enhancement values are rather low. Twilight Grasp has less than 57% accuracy bonus, and Tenebrous Tentacles is worse. This is mitigated by set bonuses unless I exemplar below 27th level, and then I can't hit the broad side of a barn.
I have soft-capped ranged defense. Using Vengeance will soft-cap Melee and AoE. Does a character who can debuff an enemy's accuracy through the floor really require soft-capped defenses? Probably not, but I'm curious to see how survivable this is. Anyone have any thoughts on how much defense is enough?
I dropped Night Fall in favor of more single-target damage. Modern teams just blow things up too fast. By the time I'm finished with some combination of debuffs and control powers, there's nothing standing but two or three half-dead bosses that aren't even worthy of Night Fall.
Lots of stun in the form of Howling Twilight, Dark Pit and Oppressive Gloom. In actual practice, I normally debuff a group rather than stunning it. Still, the double-whammy from multiple stun attacks can be a life saver. Many people skip Dark Pit but I like having a stun other then Howlight Twilight.
Six-slotting Stupefy for ranged defense bonuses has the side effect of giving Howling Twilight and Dark Pit knockback procs. I'm hoping there is some crowd control benefit to the knockback, but if I decide to lower my ranged defense below soft-cap, these will be the first things to go. The knockback proc in Oppressive Gloom does (rarely) save me from unwanted melee attackers and will probably stay.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.951
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Shadow Caller 50c: Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Theft-Heal(A), Theft-Heal/Rchg(3), Theft-Acc/Heal(3), Theft-Acc/EndRdx/Heal(31), Theft-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 4: Teleport -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(7), Zephyr-ResKB(50)
Level 6: Howling Twilight -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(9), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(9), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(37), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(37), Stpfy-KB%(39)
Level 8: Recall Friend -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 10: Hover -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(11), Flight-I(11)
Level 12: Fearsome Stare -- Cloud-ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(13), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(13), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Cloud-%Dam(40)
Level 14: Dark Pit -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(15), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(15), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(40), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(42), Stpfy-KB%(43)
Level 16: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(17), Posi-Dmg/Rng(43), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43)
Level 18: Petrifying Gaze -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(19), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(19), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(45)
Level 20: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21)
Level 22: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(23), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(23), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(45)
Level 24: Shadow Fall -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25), LkGmblr-Def(25), LkGmblr-Rchg+(45), EndRdx-I(50)
Level 26: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(27), LkGmblr-Rchg+(27)
Level 28: Tactics -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(29), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(29), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(46), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(46), GSFC-Build%(46)
Level 30: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Dark Servant -- Cloud-ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(33), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(33), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Cloud-%Dam(48)
Level 35: Life Drain -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(36), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 38: Oppressive Gloom -- Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(A), Stpfy-KB%(39)
Level 41: Dark Embrace -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(42), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Soul Transfer -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Long Range Teleport -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Dark Consumption -- EnManip-Stun%(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(7)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(21), EndMod-I(31)
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In my hypothetical perfect MMO all characters could achieve the maximum level of power and ability through casual play. Only skill would set players apart. There would be no high-priced uber loot and nothing that required hours of grinding away at specific tasks. We actually did have that system for a while, before Hami-O's came along. But that's not to say everything was perfectly balanced in the pre-Hami world either. In that hypothetical perfect game, all the customization available from IOs would be built in to the powers and would not require crafting or trading.
However, in the game was actually have to work with, I do like the IO system. I like the level of customization it provides, and I don't think that the uber loot is too extremely damaging to balance. Certainly not as bad as Hami-O's used to be. The style of gameplay has changed, and not always in ways I like, but I don't blame the IO system for all of that. -
You suspect that Serum may be a big part of what being a Crab is all about, and you skipped Suppression? I encourage you to take Suppression and see what you're missing.
I have a melee Crab Spider with soft-capped defenses and 50% smashing/lethal resistance. He doesn't have Hasten and his Serum is nowhere near permanent. He takes damage very slowly and infrequently 95% of the time. Very few attacks get through, and those that do are considerably reduced in strength.
When his health bar begins to move in the wrong direction, the list of suspects is short. Often, the problem is defense debuffs and the correct response is to pop a Good Luck before the cascading failure sets in. How much health you have is not the critical factor if you're waist deep in Praetorian Victorias or Cimeroran Traitors and your melee defense is -20%.
My advice would be not to worry about perma-Serum. Use it when you actually need it, which should not be very often. In many cases, the correct time to use Serum is before charging in to combat with an archvillain or a room full of psychic damage mobs, but it doesn't need to be permanent to be used that way. -
If you want a Crab that can "tank" you really need to soft-cap your positional defenses (45%). Right now you will take a lot of damage in melee that you don't have to. AoE is not as big an issue, but why take any extra damage if you can avoid it?
You can still squeeze a bit more defense out of Maneuvers (Pool) and Weave. And there is a lot of room for more and better IO set bonuses to positional defense.
For example, you have five slots in Fortification, but you are getting NO positional defense bonus out of it. If you just replaced the existing IOs with Aegis, you'd gain a very substantial 4.69% bonus to AoE Defense. Tough could give you the same bonus with a couple more slots.
Blood Mandate can give you loads of defense bonuses, but only if you slot your pets fully.
You could lose a few slots in other places to make this possible.
Serum is WAY over-slotted with recharge. That last recharge IO is only worth 3 seconds of recharge time. I don't feel this is a good investment.
Venom Grenade (and any power with all six Positron's Blast) is way over-slotted for damage. You could easily drop the Damage/Range IO and never notice any difference in damage.
Drop the extra slot you have added to Crab Spider Armor Upgrade. Plugging the holes in your positional defenses is more important that getting a trivial amount of psi resist.
Start saving your merits for a Steadfast Protection +3% Defense IO, and slot it in Crab Spider Armor Upgrade.
You have no knockback resistance. There are a variety of ways that can be done, but I think you'll regret not having it. -
So, I'd like this Plant/Poison Controller to excel at team support and be exemplar-friendly. The theory goes, if he can sustain a non-stop barrage of hard controls (hold and confuse) he shouldn't really need defense, resistance or a self-heal. Right now he's got such a vast array of controls and debuffs that I'm not sure how I will keep them all straight. But, I like the idea of having 5 holds slotted with Basilisk's Gaze, so I'm willing to try it.
I have never played with Plant Control before, and I have not played with Poison since CoV was new. This character is currently low level and doesn't even have most of these powers yet.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.951
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Green Revolutionary: Level 50 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Plant Control
Secondary Power Set: Poison
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Stone Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Strangler -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(3), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(31), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(40)
Level 1: Alkaloid -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Dct'dW-Heal(19)
Level 2: Entangle -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(7), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34)
Level 4: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(9)
Level 6: Recall Friend -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 8: Seeds of Confusion -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf(11), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx(11), Mlais-Conf/Rng(34), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg(36), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 10: Neurotoxic Breath -- P'ngTtl-Acc/Slow(A), P'ngTtl-Acc/EndRdx(13), P'ngTtl-Rng/Slow(13), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(48), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 12: Envenom -- Acc-I(A), DefDeb-I(15), EndRdx-I(15)
Level 14: Weaken -- Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(17), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 16: Elixir of Life -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Vines -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(21), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(40), Acc-I(48)
Level 20: Antidote -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A)
Level 22: Spirit Tree -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(25), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(25), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Dct'dW-Rchg(43)
Level 24: Stealth -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(27), LkGmblr-Rchg+(27)
Level 26: Carrion Creepers -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(29), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), Posi-Dam%(39), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 28: Paralytic Poison -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(31), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(31), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(43)
Level 30: Grant Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Fly Trap -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(33), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(33)
Level 35: Poison Trap -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(36), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(36), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(46)
Level 38: Fissure -- Acc-I(A)
Level 41: Seismic Smash -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(42), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42)
Level 44: Earth's Embrace -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(45), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(45), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Dct'dW-Rchg(46)
Level 47: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Venomous Gas -- DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(A), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(50), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(50), DarkWD-Slow%(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(23)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(9), EndMod-I(23)
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I generally save my Judgement attack for emergencies, and I like Ion because of the huge AoE that can zap all the foes in a large and confused pull-gone-wrong. Unless there is some thematic reason to choose something else (like Void for my Warshade) I always choose Ion.
Based on my own experience on Justice, I think Pyronic and Ion are approximately equal in popularity, with Void running a distant third.
Edit: Screenshot taken while trick-or-treating at the Motel of the Damned on Peregrine Island. You can see that Ion is not one single chain. It can branch and fork.
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The main thing I would say is... Crab Spiders are quite easy to soft cap and there is no need for a Gladiator's Armor +3% Defense IO! You could build several very good characters for the cost of that thing, and it's not needed.
If you switch Tough and Fortification to 5-slotted Aegis it will take care of your AoE defense. If you do care about melee defense, I recommend using Shield Breaker in one of your filler attacks. (The easiest way to cap melee defense is to have melee attacks, since Obliteration and Touch of Death both boost melee defense.)
Other than that, I would say it should work fine for ranged AoE combat. -
Congratulations on 50. Time to start shopping!
I think that your IO sets are all over the place, producing a random assortment of bonuses. If you focus your IO set choices on a specific goal you can generate some impressive results.
For example, my Empathy/Energy Blast Defender wanted really high +Recharge so I squeezed in as many copies of Decimation and Doctored Wounds as I could. My Dark Miasma/Dark Blast Defender chose all his set bonuses with an eye for Ranged Defense, going heavy on Cloud Senses and Stupefy.
I think your frankenslotting is inefficient. Although you can get higher percentages of bonus by slotting dual and triple IOs, using weaker low-level IOs like Razzle Dazzle and Kismet (both of which top out at 30) decreases your bonuses and negates the advantage. I think it would be more efficient to stick with one IO set for the whole power and get some useful set bonuses.
Some of you enhancement slots are basically wasted due to Enhancement Diversification. Specifically, the third IO in Resurrect and Stamina actually contribute a paltry 16% bonus. If you put one of these largely-wasted IO slots in to Rain of Arrows you could have 6.25% +Recharge from Positron's Blast. Likewise, with an extra slot in Stunning Shot could get you another 6.25% +Recharge from Stupefy. (Hindenburg's spec picks up a number of missed +Recharge bonuses like this.)
Healing Aura is another power that has been so over-enhanced that ED is consuming a lot of your bonuses. You could drop an IO slot (maybe two) from that power and never notice the difference in effectiveness.
Unless you can spam a power very fast indeed, procs are most useful in a toggle or inherent power that's always running because they will check for an activation every 10 seconds. So, as long as you are going to have the Miracle +Recovery and Numina's Convalescence +Regen/+Recovery, they will be most effective in Health. -
Serum greatly increases your hit points and makes it less likely that you'll be one-shotted by an Arch Villain that makes it past your defenses. I hear about people building for "perma-Serum" but I've never actually seen anyone play that way... popping Serum as fast as it recharges. I perfer to just use it (and inspirations) wisely as needed.
I don't use Hasten at all. I have enough attacks to keep myself busy with 86% global recharge bonus (considerably faster than the old pre-IO "perma-Hasten"). If you do want perma-Hasten, the usual route is to take the Spiritual Alpha slot and go crazy with set bonuses and Luck of the Gambler. I suppose you could do it without Spiritual if you had enough purple sets.
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My Crab's main spec is "tank-like" in that it is melee-focused and very durable but lacks pets. It does not have a taunt, but it does have the Leadership pool with Vengeance, which goes a long way towards keeping the team alive... except for that Blaster that I used for Vengeance.
However, I do have a secondary spec in which I try to have pets, and use taunt to keep them alive. It uses no purples but has capped positional defenses, 50% S/L resistance, and Provoke. The pets are not "permanent" and I tend to rotate through them rather than using all of them at once. The truly performance-oriented player could drop Recall Friend and take Hasten.
Unfortunately, this build is a few enhancement slots short of what I would consider optimal. Maybe when the technical issues are worked out and we get those extra three enhancement slots, a build like this will be ready for prime time.
All the enhancements in this build cap out at level 40 for exemplaring purposes, but most people would use 50 IOs for added performance.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.951
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Tank Crab w/ Pets: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Crab Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Crab Spider Training
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Presence
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Channelgun -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(3)
Level 1: Crab Spider Armor Upgrade -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 2: Combat Training: Defensive -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(5)
Level 4: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(7), Zephyr-ResKB(7)
Level 6: Recall Friend -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 8: Suppression -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(9), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Posi-Dam%(43)
Level 10: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(11), LkGmblr-Rchg+(11)
Level 12: Venom Grenade -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(13), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Posi-Dam%(40)
Level 14: Arm Lash -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(15), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(15), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-%Dam(37)
Level 16: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(17)
Level 18: Boxing -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(19), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(19), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), T'Death-Dam%(36)
Level 20: Tactical Training: Leadership -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(21), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(21), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(23), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(23), GSFC-Build%(34)
Level 22: Mental Training -- Run-I(A)
Level 24: Fortification -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(25), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Aegis-ResDam(34), Aegis-Psi/Status(34)
Level 26: Frenzy -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(27), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(27), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Oblit-%Dam(46)
Level 28: Serum -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Numna-Heal(29)
Level 30: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(31), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(31), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Aegis-ResDam(33)
Level 32: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(33), LkGmblr-Rchg+(33)
Level 35: Web Envelope -- Acc-I(A)
Level 38: Provoke -- Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(A), Mocking-Acc/Rchg(39)
Level 41: Shatter Armor -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(42), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(42), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), T'Death-Dam%(43)
Level 44: Summon Spiderlings -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx(45), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx(45), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), BldM'dt-Acc(46), BldM'dt-Dmg(46)
Level 47: Call Reinforcements -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(48), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Summon Blaster -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(50), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Conditioning
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(17)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(5)
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Some previous Tank Crab threads:
Finally getting around to a " Tank " crab build need help
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=254576
Making a Tanker Crab
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=271340
Melee Crab?
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=276103 -
Why the lone purple IO in Wide Area Web Grenade? If you really care about holds, why not use Devastation in Channelgun and Longfang? And for the cost of that purple, why not invest in some Luck of the Gambler instead?
I am curious why you want full sets of Entropic Chaos in Channelgun and Longfang. The best set bonus is the 6.25% Recharge bonus, but you don't really see that benefit because you are way over the "rule of five" on that bonus. The heal proc is really lackluster, even if you plan to spam it non-stop, which you won't be doing since you have four AoE attacks to keep you busy. I like Devastation a lot better for this build, even if you skip the hold procs.
Slotting all six Efficacy Adaptor IOs in Stamina uses a lot of IO slots to buff useless things like accuracy and recharge. If you really want that 5% recharge bonus, you could get it by 5-slotting Red Fortune in Maneuvers (pool) and/or Weave and it would increase your defenses to boot.
If you are concerned about endurance, I would do more to discount the end cost of real endurance hogs like Maneuvers (pool) and not worry about the end cost of Combat Jumping.
You have slotted the damage resistance in Fortification way into the red (for enhancement diversification purposes) so that much of it is being wasted. Your other damage resistance power, Tough, is hardly slotted at all.
I am partial to the Aegis set for both of these powers because it can raise your AoE defense by 4.69%. You can slot the Steadfast Protection unique in Crab Spider Armor Upgrade, which gives you pretty trivial damage resistance anyway.
Knockback protection! You need it. Trust me.
And something I often say: If you simply must use that Achilles' Heel proc, why not put it in Channelgun where you can spam it rapidly at an ArchVillain and not in Suppression which is best for clearing away hordes of minions that don't need to be debuffed anyway.
Wolf Spider Armor gives you a pretty trivial resistance bonus. How about a movement power instead?
As far as defense caps go, I think AoE is important for the ranged AoE crab, but you can get by without capped melee defense if you stay on your toes. Aegis sets are my favorite way to get AoE defense, but Shield Breaker is also a good set for defense... and one of the few ranged attacks that can make you tougher in melee. Also, only one of your defense powers (TT:M) is currently red-lined for ED purposes. You can still slot the others (Pool Maneuvers, Weave and Combat Jumping) for higher defense and squeeze out a few more points for all categories. -
When I was running the sewer trial quite a bit, I made macros that pointed out to the team how to get the badges at each stage, and just played as if each run was a badge run, even if nobody expressed any interest in them. It might take multiple attempts to get the Vahzilok badge, but at least they were quick. If I actually needed the badge and there was someone on the team who always messed it up, I would leave the team after it was finished and get a new team. There never seems to be a shortage of sewer teams.
If your teammates are prone to bickering during a sewer trial, just complete it and get a new team. Just be glad the situation didn't come up half-way through Dr. Quarterfield's task force. -
Since one of your criteria is to avoid things you're bored with, I also recommend Sonic Resonance. Not a lot to micromanage, good status protection, and you can be remarkably tough for a "squishy" if you take Tough and a resistance power from your epic/patron pool. Best of all, it's rare and seldom used.