Unthing

The movement side effect was there to remove the 'Unknown Command' thing.

I prefer the Police Drone outside the Indy port station, he's slightly friendlier, although his sense of humour is a bit off.

Okay, one thing in that confirmation thread is certainly true. The tricorder stays there, but the animation goes. So you will have some green.

This is how you do it.

Firstly make a directory called COH_text on your C: drive.

Tnen make a text file called aid_other_power.txt using Notepad. Put this in it:-

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V "+down$$powexec_name Aid Other$$bind_load_file C:\COH_text\aid_other_emote.txt"


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Make another text file called aid_other_emote.txt
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V "+down$$emote burp$$bind_load_file C:\COH_text\aid_other_power.txt"

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load CoH and type
/bind_load_file C:\COH_text\aid_other_power.txt


How does it work?
It makes it so that the V key acts like a movement key ( specifically down ), so that CoH recognises when it is pushed down and when it is released. However on both events it loads the other bind, so it does one action ( activating Aid Other ) when you push it down and another ( activating the Burp Emote ) when you release. Because the second action is an emote it overwrites the animation for the tricorder. I chose Burp because it looks like the Sonic attacks.

It isn't completely reliable, but it does hide it most of the time. The other thing is that it will make you go down. No problems for my character, but it means it may cause problems if you try it when flying.

I also use a similar method to bind pressing the X key to Deflection shield and releasing it to insulation shield.

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I also consider Medicine from the pools. With every member in shields you will be the only fragile one in the groups. You can use Aid Self in the PFF.

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This is an interesting point. I often think about how I'm the only one without Shields around me (with the exception of Dispersion Bubble) and yet I don't too often take too much damage. Perhaps it's just down to the good team. I can appreciate the use of Aid Self inside a PFF, and I've considered it numerous times, but that silly animation always makes me decide against. This char is purely a concept hero, to the point of semi/pseudo RP, and that prevents my choice of Medicine.


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There is a fairly involved way of binding Aid Self and Aid Other so that it plays an emote ( most of the time ) instead of the Tricorder animation by emoting on a key release. I think it only work on interruptible powers. I can't remember exactly how to do it, but it uses a bind file.

IIRC I have Aid Other bound to a burp and Aid Self bound to a back flip.

I'd probably slot the toggles at different levels.
Assuming nothing else changes I'd go:-

Level 12: Dispersion Bubble -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(13), DefBuff(13), EndRdx(25)
Level 22: Maneuvers -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(23), DefBuff(23), EndRdx(25)
Level 24: Tactics -- EndRdx(A), ToHit(36), ToHit(36), ToHit(37)

The main reason is that I'd think you'd want Maneuvers to be up and running at full strength ASAP. As a bubbler it adds more to your team than the to hit buff from Tactics. The 12.5% to hit buff from tactics is pretty good by itself too.

Howewver this is based on my experiences as a FF/Son. I have Hasten running and also use Aid Other, so my build is more end hungry than yours, you may be okay. I think you'll have enough information to be able to make an informed decision at level 24 anyway, unless you team with kinetics lots...

The flight speed increase to swift is very very small. I wouldn't bother putting extra slots in it unless you have some particular IO plans. Swift is only really much use for boosting run speed.

I've not got Howl on my defender, I have it on a Corruptor though. It is a good power, but I think if you get it you should 6 slot it. If you are using it as a debuff I think you need to slot 3 recharges for perma -res. I got Siren's Song on my defender. It is fun and very useful solo, although it is pretty situational.

I was planning on getting the single target stun power at level 35. Whether it's a better choice than Assault I don't know, but it is probably going to be more fun.

My FF/Sonic is my favourite defender. He makes most difference to a team of most of my toons, works with pretty much any teams playstyle and is a good jack of all trades ( buffs, blasting, heals, survivability ).

The most memorable moment I've had with him was when I was on a team with a regen who had just joined the team who I was trying to persuade to tank a massive group of reds/purples. He thought we were trying to get him killed. He went in a barely lost any health. A few days later he teamed with me again. I don't think he recognised me but he said something like 'YAY bubbles!' when I started bubbling everyone up.

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/bind c "target_enemy_near"


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I have that on all my characters, except I use Q. E is generally a self heal. X is generally Build Up. ~ and shift are Aoes ( if I have 2 ).

Oh and T I have as my toggle on all powers button, so for say Miracinonynx my Claws/SR

/bind T "powexec_toggleon Focussed Fighting$$powexec_toggleon Focussed Senses" to put on Focused sense the first time it is pressed then Focussed Fighting the second.

For someone like my Dark/Dark Scrapper with about 8 toggles this bind is VERY long.

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anybody that kicks you for not having taunt is likely someone you are better off not teaming with anyway...

(kicking someone for being a poor tanker whether they have taunt or not is a entirely different story though)

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I wouldn't kick someone for being a poor tanker either. I would for being the cause of mass faceplantage. If someone scranks in the melee, drawing 2 or 3 enemies s/he isn't a problem, just not ideal.

I'm not looking for the perfect team, just a team that doesn't try and get me killed. Of course a perfect team is better, but only if it is more fun.

With Follow Up I'm not sure that FA is really necessary though, except for PvP. ACC + a little to hit buff is great and your attacks are very chainable out of the box. So much so I that I'm not sure I'm getting Eviscerate on my Claws scrapper. Strike and Slash are about the same damage in about the same time and I have a full attack chain with Follow Up, Strike Slash and Focus + movement.

My view on this is a tank who doesn't do a decent job of holding aggro is not a good tank. Taunt is a useful tool for this. The other tools a tank has are Taunt Auras and the secondary. Inv's taunt aura is okay, but not great. However it is also very late so make sure you learn to use gauntlet well.
AoE attacks, such as Whirling hands and combustion are good for aggro control. The single target attacks are less so, as you need to spread them out in order to get noticed by everyone.

One other thing to bear in mind. Invulnerability RELIES on having people in melee with you in order to get most of it's toughness against non S/L damage ( from invincibility ). If you skimp on the aggro management side of things, you will end up squishier.

I'm not sure about a taunting bubbler. As a bubbler you are always the squishiest on the team ( everyone but you gets deflection shields and insulation shields ). PFF does give you tank like defences ( 50% resistance and 50% defence ), but on the other hand, your dispersion bubble stops working on others, reducing other peoples defences from 39 to 23.

The other thing is that you don't have sleep protection, so don't use taunt against sleep using mobs ( Freak Stunners, DE mushrooms, Psi Rikti etc ). They could end up dropping your PFF ( 5+% chance depending on enemy level and rank ) at which point you will quickly faceplant.

However I suspect it maybe fun and it is only one power so by all means try it.

I think EM isn't that bad for AoE. Whirling Hands is fairly early at least at 16, although it does take some planning to fit in an attack at level 16 for a tank. It is the same as most of the other AoEs in damage, the exceptions being the Fire Ones and Foot Stomp from Superstrength.

I found that on my bubbler endurance wasn't much of an issue. It depends what other things you want to do when not bubbling. I mainly do single target attacks which are pretty cheap and healing which is a bit more expensive.

1 end red in the bubbles and 1-2 in attacks will probably be enough for you to bypass stamina. I only started having end problems when I started getting Leadership and hadn't slotted enough end reds.

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I retired Knightly Defender (lvl 30 FF/Psi) because of non-soloing abilitiy on my side. But roll another FF defender yesterday but the secondary is kinda unknown to me. And can't find any guide about it. I make a FF/Electric defender. Is there anyone tried that kinda build or any electric secondary user. Which attacks will go well with my primary.

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There's nothing particularly great in Electrical for a bubbler. It has good AoEs for close up in Ball Lightning and Short Circuit. The single target attack chain is sorely lacking though, only 2 attacks. I've only done is with Kinetics but I found it poor damage wise. I found it wasn't any good for solo. Good for teams though, with the end drain of Short Circuit and tyhe hold of Tesla Cage.

I would have thought Psi was the most damaging secondary, although somewhat power heavy, but my FF/Sonic can solo fine on Heroic last time I tried it. Maybe Sonic is better for single target damage than Psi after all.

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I know the lines above are exceptions, but I never saw something like that on CoV. Heroes are very selective, and if you don't know other players, you'll have a hard time. Unless you create a Kin Defender lol Now I am asked to join teams.

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Not these days it isn't. CoH is very team happy.

The link for the Energy Absorption power is here

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The first two (even level) SOs in your armours give 20% of the power's base DEF, the 3rd gives 16% and a 4th would give 3%.

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Edited for clarity.

So for Frozen Armour or Glacial Armour

0 enhancements 17% defence
1 SOs 20.4% defence
2 SOs 23.8% defence
3 SOs 26.52% defence
4 SOs 27.03% defence

So the 4th SO would give you 0.5% defence. You are better off using the slot as a 2nd one in Combat Jumping or Hover, it would give the same defence but to all damage types.

@Shnyet
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It's my first Tank, and I'll be going for a Stamina-less build, but was wondering if Health was really useful on a Tank, because of their higher HP's, hence higher regen rates.

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Yes, Health noticably helped my Ice Tank. I even noticed the difference when I slotted 3 slotted it with DOs at level 19. It will be less important if you have someone healing you though, my Ice tank did most of his late teens and twenties in controllerless and defenderless teams.

I can't confirm anything but your logic, which appears to be sound.

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quite a few defender team buff powers give a bit of defence ( shadowfall, fortitude , bubbles etc ) or a -acc debuff ( Darkest night, Flash Arrow, Tenebrous Tentacles, nightfall, Smoke Grenade ), which stack with your armours to give the same result.

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Technically, team buffs that boost defence are actually miles better than Weave for an Ice Tanker, because despite the lower numbers per buff effect, at least they are of the stacking kind.
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(Super-Reflexes defences suffer from the other side of this equation, where Weave does stack with their other defences perfectly, but team buffs (with the exception of Bubbles which was specially modified to have a positional defence factor) are mostly damage-typed, and do not stack cleanly.)

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Weave does provide both full typed and full positional defence ( including Psi ).

I believe only team defence buffs that are specifically damage typed are the Force Field ones. Deflection Shield provides melee, smash, lethal. Insulation provides Ranged, AoE, Fire,Cold, Energy and Negative Energy.

Dispersion Bubble, like all other team buffs and Power Pool defences, provides Melee, Ranged, AoE, Smashin, Lethal, Fire, Cold, Energy, Negative Energy and Psi defence.

This was all the result of a patch to I6 ( I think ). Originally they were only going to add S/L defence to the power pools but were persuaded by the forumites.

Edit: I think it was I5 rather than I6

Originally Golden Golem was Energy mastery, mainly for Conserve Power. I didn't see the need for Focussed Accuracy.

I rarely did Malta content, although I did solo one of the arcs. I found that SS + follow, then Incinerate and Greater Fire Sword was enough to wipe out a sapper before you were drained.

In teams a hold is very useful. Confuse is better though.

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yeah i think he mis-typed that lol.

tank = many defences, limited attacks
scrank = limited defences, many attacks

is what i think is the general gist. and yes, by those standards, fire tanks are naturally more scrank-oriented.

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By the late 30s, a normal tanker build and a well built scranker build shouldn't be much different. The main difference is the way they are played. Most of my tankers fit in the many defences, many attacks category. My scrankiest tank is probably my Ice tank, not my Fire tank. That's mainly because SS is a very satisfying set. However he has all but 1 primary power and all but 3 secondaries.

There are some builds that are very defensive in nature, for instance Ice tankers with the fighting pool. These builds clearly will be different to a well built scranker.

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I think Eviscerate is worth getting. Everyone in my opinion should have a ST chain and AoEs to multihit with.

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I'd prefer a proper AoE such as Shockwave or Spin rather than Eviscerate. It has the same Cone size as Ripper from Spines which is a power I'm familiar with. Ripper is a no brainer must have power in spines, however it does more damage than Eviscerate ( because of the DoT ) and has great secondary effects. Also Spines is distinctly lacking in decent single target attacks. Claw on the other hand has loads.

From looking at my build, I have to choose between 2 of Slash, Spin and Eviscerate. I definitely want to get Shockwave.

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The ST attacks are always better used on ST than AoE attacks on any toon and Eviscerate is an AoE. If lots are attacking you or there are lots to defeat then you are better off with AoEs and if you can hit as little as 2 or more with Eviscerate most of the time then its the greater power.

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From using Ripper, I'd say I'd be able to hit 2 or more enemies about 10%-20% of the time. It really is a rubbish sized cone.

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So only if your planning on PVP duels etc then skip eviscerate and keep to follow up focus strike slash 1.3 sec gap? follow up but that 1.3 sec gap is a problem id fill with eviscerate and use follow up a second later than normal.

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Follow Up Strike Slash Focus Strike works pretty well. The second part of the chain I can put an AoE in.

I'm not convinced that a scranker buiuld is that much different to a tanker build. You just act different.

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Anyway, I currently have a DA scrapper and a SR scrapper on the go, so I can make a good comparison. I have had Regen scrappers in the past, and TBH I found them squishy until you get into the 20's and get all your heals and clicks.

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Isn't that the case with all scrappers though. I have the same problem with SR/Claws at 21. The power that has made him less squishy is Focus. I have the 20s lined up for most of the passives.

Similarly I remember my Dark/Dark scrapper having real problems until he got stamina. Dark Regen, the main reason Dark is a good set, is too expensive to use when your endurance management is not up to scratch ( pre stamina and DR slotting ), so he was squishy until the mid 20s. However in the 20s he was tougher than an equivalent level regen until the regen got Instant Healing.

I'm not sure I understand you there. Are you saying that my lack of defence against AoE attacks means that when I'm in a good place to use Spin, I'll get mashed by enemy AoEs. If so good point..

Currently I am using an attack chain of Follow Up, Focus, Strike, Slash, whatever recharges next...

This works well with Hasten active, as I can repeat the chain but falls down quickly when it isn't on.

In a PM Zigzag told me that Follow Up, Focus and Eviscerate can chain together ( with a slight gap ) with Hasten Active. So I think that when I get Eviscerate and fully slot it ( level 29 or later I think ) I can drop Slash and use that attack chain. Strike should fill in the holes when Hasten is not active.

Although I did read somewhere that Eviscerate is not worth it as in just a little bit more time ( 0.33 s ), you can use Slash and Strike and it does more damage, this means I wouldn't have to respec

1. They say no one needs stamina. I wouldn't drop it. Shannon has and is happy with the decision.
Invulnerability costs less endurance than Fiery Aura. Both have the same amount of toggles, but Invincibility is a cheap toggle, costing about 80% of the others, whereas Blazing Aura is fairly expensive costing twice that of the others. It may have more to do with your secondary.

2. Fire Sword Circle is better than Combustion for damage but has a smaller radius ( the normal melee radius rather than the big one for Combustion ). As a result Combustion is the better aggro grabber, because it generally hits more people and recharges faster. However you are much better off getting both.
Fire Sword is about the same damage as Fire Breath but has a shorter recharge and end cost ( about 60% ).
I'm not sure, but I think Fire Swords don't have a redraw. I think they just fade into your hand at the begining of the animation.

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I would surely add at least 1 extra end-red for the blazing aura. The base is a 1.04 EPS toggle, makes a big diff. Consume i still would stick to 3rech/2acc/1endmod, my firetanker can regain full endurance from just 3 mobs with that slotting.


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Actually Blazing is a 0.52 EPS toggle, it's a 1.04 per 2 seconds. Either way it's worth 6 slots. If end is a problem you can always change them.

As for attacks. I would tend to skip Fire Sword on a tank, it really isn't necessary unless you want a completely full attack chain. Most of the time on my Inv/Fire I just Combust/Taunt and FSC. I then Incinerate and GFS Lts and Bosses if they venture my way ( which they tend to because I taunt them ).

My Fire/Fire has Breath of Fire which is one of the most fun powers in /Fire, especially when flying. But I'm the first to admit that it is one of the least effective powers in the set as it is too narrow a cone. He mainly has it because he is not allowed to use a Fire Sword ( concept ), which prevent him from having FS,FSC or GFS. One other good thing about Breath of Fire is that if you are a flying tank, you can Hover out of melee range and still uise Breath of Fire. It looks far cooler than just Taunting and does [a small amount of] damage too. I imagine it would be good againt Infernal. So only worth it for a Hover tank with a weird concept.