Werner

I don't have one, but yeah, as best I can tell, the ONLY thing it does particularly well is hit like a truck. Emphasize the positive!

(OK, yes, I'm sure you could make a very survivable BS/FA if you wanted. It's just not its strength, I'd say.)

Cheapo frankenslotting can easily run around 90% recharge without hurting damage output. Add in Hasten, and you're well over the +131% entry fee at least while Hasten is up. And getting over 40% recharge out of recharge bonuses I'd consider fairly typical in even lowish budget IO builds. Don't Luck of the Gambler globals only cost 2 alignment merits? And 5% recharge bonuses are plentiful.

Typical for leveling? No, though I could be running it part time by the mid 30s, which is when I usually frankenslot my attacks. Typical for a level 50 with IOs? Seems like it to me. I don't know how typical players build their 50s, though. Maybe they just randomly slap builds together with no specific goal in mind? I don't know. Still, it seems like any player that cares about attack chains (and thus is reading about them on the forum) would also understand that they require a certain recharge, and understand how to build for the required recharge (at least at this level of recharge - building for a +300% recharge chain might be beyond their current understanding or budget or both, and if they achieved it, we could hardly call them typical at that point).

Is that how you read it? I read it as "Since Street Justice requires me to put in more effort, I was hoping it would reward that effort with more damage. I am disappointed that it does not." That seems a reasonable interpretation, and a reasonable comment to make. Even if my interpretation is wrong, you might think about how else you could interpret a statement before insulting someone for not thinking.

And in response to my interpretation of the original comment, it hasn't seemed to me that the game is balanced to reward effort. Low effort sets tend to perform about the same as well-played high-effort sets. I think there should be a minor reward for effort, but maybe it's for the best that there isn't, as it might push the powergaming crowd to specific sets much more so than it does today. I like the flexibility of taking a low effort set when I just feel like relaxing without feeling like I'm being penalized. I suspect the mythical "typical player" might feel the same.

Then gets you a Cardiac Alpha! Hardly a leveling solution, though.

Truth!

At the top end, the Brute will be a little more survivable while giving up a little damage, though it won't be huge difference. But the early leveling experience should definitely go more smoothly on the Brute. Willpower also has Quick Recovery, which should help with a common lowbie Brute issue, which is that chasing Fury destroys your blue bar, but not chasing Fury means low damage output.

I tend to prefer Scrappers, but Brute might really be the way to go for your first melee.

Katana/Willpower is a (the?) classic beginner's combo. It's easy to build, easy to play, and very survivable. Toggle up and go. About the only thing to remember is to hit Divine Avalanche every now and then. The combo also gives up nothing at the top end, so it isn't JUST a beginner's combo.

I don't think it takes much to exploit this, though. The very power you need is already in the set, Parry, and it's a power most people already take. Of course, it's all about how we set the numbers. Parry certainly doesn't fully negate a 20% unresistable defense debuff, and nobody says we have to make it +300% damage. The devs surely wouldn't go for something so extreme. Perhaps a toned down version would be workable.

The basic idea I understand, though. If we're buffing burst enough to make it really, really attractive, we're going to have to pay the piper somewhere. I suggested taking a DPA hit on most attacks, but we have a lot of non-damage possibilities being thrown around as well, which might be more interesting. In a very broad sense, I think a lot of us are thinking along the same lines. It's the details we're brainstorming.

On paper, my Katana/Dark can absorb 8381 DPS of enemy damage output at 50% to hit. I suspect I could get that over 10,000 with an I21 respec (it's an I19 build with incarnate powers thrown on top rather than designed in). Either way, the reality is FAR short of that due to the spikes and waves that characterize real world damage.

John Printemps tried to turn my personal spreadsheet into something usable (less eye-bleedy). Here is what I HOPE is the correct version.

Edit: Here's the original.

OK, yes, Parry is just melee/lethal, and it'll drop sooner than the debuff, so I'm definitely exaggerating "still soft capped". But it wouldn't be that bad, I think.

I look at the Parry as almost a freebie. I'm not wasting my Build Up on it; I'm hitting it before Build Up, and it does some damage. After Build Up, I'm going to unleash hell, such as Shield Charge, Whirling Sword, whatever I have. I might throw Shield Charge in later to cover the non-Parried time. I tend to wait with Shield Charge until I'm more fully surrounded anyway.

Shadow Meld is tasty, though. It's on the same 90-second recharge as Build Up, so you can always use them in tandem if you slot them with the same recharge. As for the long cast time, what happens if you trigger it in mid jump towards a spawn? I'm guessing it grounds you and is annoying?

In any case, give us a Build Up like that, and we'll find a way to abuse it unmercifully.

The idea has put a smile on my face. I suspect that means it's a bad idea.

Take a Broad Sword/Shield Defense or Super Reflexes with a high recharge build that soft caps without Parry. Now Parry, Build Up, and crush your enemies while still soft capped. Repeat frequently.

Yes, but you're using Disembowel more often. Two cycles, with two Parries and two knockups, takes 10.3 seconds. Compare that to the standard two-Parry chain, which gets two parries, a knockdown and a knockup in 9.24 seconds. It's almost a wash.

I agree that this could be very valuable sometimes. I don't look at it as 5% chance of sleep, but very high % chance of temporarily incapacitating a mob with annoyingly high defense or to-hit debuffs. Particularly when those are toggle effects, that's very powerful. I'm actually not a fan, perhaps BECAUSE it could be so very powerful. Definitely situational, though, so maybe it's not THAT bad, and you could certainly tune the % chance of the extra effect.

I'm still for burst damage, though.

I think you mean Dark Armor Sucks!

OK, my guess then is that both Mids' and the in game details are out of date. Scrapper it is! Sorry for the thread derail!

Ah, good! Is Mids' wrong, or am I reading it wrong? Mids' seems to indicate that it provides taunt protection to self, not that it taunts others. It doesn't show it allowing taunt enhancements. Let's see what in game says... I don't see a taunt or taunt protection when looking at the in game detailed info. Uh... are we sure about this?