Survivability
Survivable - [ser-vahy-vuh-buhl] - Adjective. Able to be survived. Capable of withstanding attack. This is a game mechanic explanation mostly for people that either don't know or people that would like a better explanation of certain things. Most of it is understood or known, but if this helps one person with one bit of information, it has done its job. I just turned off my spellchecker for this forum. If there are grammar mistakes, make fun of me if you like.
1. Overview
2. Damage Mitigation
2a. Aggro Control
2b. Team Buffs
2c. Enemy Debuffs
2d. Control
3. Defense vs Resistances
3a. Defense
3b. Resistances
3c. Number Comparison
3d. Additional Comparison
1. Overview (from a fairly experienced player).
Only the strong survive. Kill or be killed. These are the basics of life according to certain people paid a lot more than me. They are also the basics in City of Heroes and City of Villains (CoX). To kill things, you need to do damage. To do damage, you need to survive. To survive, I want to take a moment to give my take on damage mitigation (DM), defenses (Def) and resistances (Res), and line of sight (LoS).
2. Damage Mitigation (my definitions and opinions).
Prevention and reconstruction are the basics of DM. DM is a term in reference to preventing or reconstructing damage. There are four major forms of DM: aggro, team buffs, enemy debuffs, and control. I personally favor prevention more than reconstruction. Some of the more mysterious enemies have an attack called Mapserver Disconnect and this attack can make or break a healer and potentially increase the amount of debt you have to wade through.
2a. Aggro control is as easy as a tank or brute spamming taunt. These archetypes have a higher survivability than the other archetypes in CoX so it makes sense you want the enemies to attack them. Aggro control also includes killing enemies and avoiding their area of interest. Killing enemies simply involves killing them O.o Whodathunkit. Scrappers, Blasters, Brutes, Stalkers, and Corrupters are more known for this. Their area of interest is their aggro bubble , or how close you can get to them without them initiating an attack.
2b. Team buffs are any powers that increase the survivability of the team. The main buffing characters are defenders, controllers, masterminds, and corruptors. Team buffs can increase defenses, resistances, accuracy, damage, speed, and overall effectiveness (regeneration and recovery rates for example).
2c. Enemy Debuffs are any powers that increase the survivability of the team while decreasing the survivability of the opponents. The main debuffing characters are also defenders, controllers, masterminds, and corruptors. Secondary effects from any power that hinders the opponents' effectiveness are also considered debuffs (like a Warshade lowering enemy recharge rates for all of their powers). Enemy debuffs include lowering defenses, resistances, accuracy, damage, speed, and overall effectiveness (regeneration and recovery rates for example).
2d. Control involves any powers that either prevents or hinders the enemys ability to attack. Control varies from debuffs in the sense it can completely put an end to a team taking damage. Controllers and dominators are most well known for this.
With a good mix of aggro control, buffs, debuffs, and control, the survivability of a team increases greatly.
3. Defense vs Resistances (a comparison).
When selecting a characters powers that deal with def and res, its good to know the difference between the two. Some power sets are mostly defensive (Super Reflexes) while others are mostly resistant (Electric Armor). The main difference comes in the number of attacks they take.
3a. Avoiding attacks are the basis of defense. An enemies to-hit varies depending on the level difference and type of enemy. The defense cap is set to 60% and an enemies to-hit floor is set to 5% (more on this in a moment). It can be kind of confusing, but once you get the hang of it, youll notice you can always get hit with a defensive type of character at least 1/20 times no matter what.
3b. Resisting damage is the key to a resistance power. Go figure. The resistance cap is different for each type of character, the highest being a tank at 90%. For resistance based characters that have no defense, even level minions still have a 50% chance to hit.
3c. So which is better? It depends. In the following situation, well assume were fighting an even level minion with a to-hit of 50% (hell hit you ½ attacks). The attack hes using is Energy Sword (a hypothetical attack with both an equal energy component and a smashing/lethal component both deal 100 damage). We are going to compare a Defensive Tank with 35% smashing/lethal defense, and a resistance based character with a 35% resistance to energy and the enemy gets 20 attacks. Please note that because the attack has 2 parts, the game will check for both giving defensive sets the advantage over resistances. Ill show how when we compare them separately:
*Defensive Energy: 50%-0%= 50%. 1 out of 2 attacks.
*Defensive Sm/L: 50%-35%= 15%. 3 out of 20 attacks.
*Defensive Overall: The defensive set will take 300 damage total out of the 20 attacks. 3/20 attacks at 100 damage per attack brings us up to 300 damage total. Because it checks for both energy and smashing/lethal defense, it goes to smashing lethal on this one, because 35% is better than 0%.
*Resistance Energy: 100-35= 65 damage per attack.
*Resistance Sm/L: 100-0= 100 damage per attack.
*Resistance Total: The resistance set will take 1,650 damage total out of the 20 attacks. Because of the 50% attack rate, 165 damage for 10 attacks will yield 1,650 damage.
3d. Additional Comparisons mainly involve the to-hit floor, mez effects, and strategy. The enemy to-hit floor is 5%. So no matter what, the enemy will always have a 1/20 chance to get a hit in. If a character has a 60% defense to a damage type fighting an even level minion (50%-60%= -10%; in reality, 50%-60%= 5% because of the 1/20 cap). Most mezes/holds/immobilizes has a damage type associated with them. Its more difficult to stack holds on a defensive based character than it is a resistance based character. The resistance based character will still get hit half of the time, where the defensive character will get hit much less. This gives the defensive based character a huge advantage in most circumstances. With targeting, most defensive sets wont have to worry about minions. Bosses have a much higher to-hit ratio than the others ranks. Killing them becomes priority. Once you make it to the higher levels, resistance based characters will want to kill minions first, so theres one less source of damage to worry about.
I would like to thank everyone that has helped me in my reign of terror, and for all of the useful information Ive read through the forums during my many trials and errors. I felt it was my turn to give back to everyone that has given me so much. I wrote this to squash some of the things Ive been seeing or hearing lately. People that think theres no point to a character that uses force fields as a power set, or those that take force field and dont use half of the powers. Or the misconception that controllers just stand there and dont do anything. There is no bad build in CoX, they all have a purpose. Ive played every type of character imaginable up to level 30 except a corruptor and stalker, and these are the things Ive noticed most people dont know or the common misinterpretations. My favorite teams are balanced ones where each individual player understands his or her role within the team. I usually try to avoid teams where controllers and scrappers think they can tank. Or an overeager blaster that likes to initiate groups. As a tank or brute I like to set the pace and maintain the aggro. Go too fast and the teams get killed. Go too slow and the teams get bored. As a scrapper or stalker, I like to focus on the biggest threat to the team and take it out as soon as possible. As a controller, dominator, defender, corruptor, or mastermind, I like to use my characters to accelerate the survivability of my team. I dont care to solo, and I thoroughly enjoy the team building factors involved in larger teams. For those that have played with me, I like to spam a lot of chat and bigger usually means I can get away with saying more idiotic stuffs . If you disagree or have a correction to anything, I would prefer a private message.
Survivability
Survivable - [ser-vahy-vuh-buhl] - Adjective. Able to be survived. Capable of withstanding attack. This is a game mechanic explanation mostly for people that either don't know or people that would like a better explanation of certain things. Most of it is understood or known, but if this helps one person with one bit of information, it has done its job. I just turned off my spellchecker for this forum. If there are grammar mistakes, make fun of me if you like.
1. Overview
2. Damage Mitigation
2a. Aggro Control
2b. Team Buffs
2c. Enemy Debuffs
2d. Control
3. Defense vs Resistances
3a. Defense
3b. Resistances
3c. Number Comparison
3d. Additional Comparison
1. Overview (from a fairly experienced player).
Only the strong survive. Kill or be killed. These are the basics of life according to certain people paid a lot more than me. They are also the basics in City of Heroes and City of Villains (CoX). To kill things, you need to do damage. To do damage, you need to survive. To survive, I want to take a moment to give my take on damage mitigation (DM), defenses (Def) and resistances (Res), and line of sight (LoS).
2. Damage Mitigation (my definitions and opinions).
Prevention and reconstruction are the basics of DM. DM is a term in reference to preventing or reconstructing damage. There are four major forms of DM: aggro, team buffs, enemy debuffs, and control. I personally favor prevention more than reconstruction. Some of the more mysterious enemies have an attack called Mapserver Disconnect and this attack can make or break a healer and potentially increase the amount of debt you have to wade through.
2a. Aggro control is as easy as a tank or brute spamming taunt. These archetypes have a higher survivability than the other archetypes in CoX so it makes sense you want the enemies to attack them. Aggro control also includes killing enemies and avoiding their area of interest. Killing enemies simply involves killing them O.o Whodathunkit. Scrappers, Blasters, Brutes, Stalkers, and Corrupters are more known for this. Their area of interest is their aggro bubble , or how close you can get to them without them initiating an attack.
2b. Team buffs are any powers that increase the survivability of the team. The main buffing characters are defenders, controllers, masterminds, and corruptors. Team buffs can increase defenses, resistances, accuracy, damage, speed, and overall effectiveness (regeneration and recovery rates for example).
2c. Enemy Debuffs are any powers that increase the survivability of the team while decreasing the survivability of the opponents. The main debuffing characters are also defenders, controllers, masterminds, and corruptors. Secondary effects from any power that hinders the opponents' effectiveness are also considered debuffs (like a Warshade lowering enemy recharge rates for all of their powers). Enemy debuffs include lowering defenses, resistances, accuracy, damage, speed, and overall effectiveness (regeneration and recovery rates for example).
2d. Control involves any powers that either prevents or hinders the enemys ability to attack. Control varies from debuffs in the sense it can completely put an end to a team taking damage. Controllers and dominators are most well known for this.
With a good mix of aggro control, buffs, debuffs, and control, the survivability of a team increases greatly.
3. Defense vs Resistances (a comparison).
When selecting a characters powers that deal with def and res, its good to know the difference between the two. Some power sets are mostly defensive (Super Reflexes) while others are mostly resistant (Electric Armor). The main difference comes in the number of attacks they take.
3a. Avoiding attacks are the basis of defense. An enemies to-hit varies depending on the level difference and type of enemy. The defense cap is set to 60% and an enemies to-hit floor is set to 5% (more on this in a moment). It can be kind of confusing, but once you get the hang of it, youll notice you can always get hit with a defensive type of character at least 1/20 times no matter what.
3b. Resisting damage is the key to a resistance power. Go figure. The resistance cap is different for each type of character, the highest being a tank at 90%. For resistance based characters that have no defense, even level minions still have a 50% chance to hit.
3c. So which is better? It depends. In the following situation, well assume were fighting an even level minion with a to-hit of 50% (hell hit you ½ attacks). The attack hes using is Energy Sword (a hypothetical attack with both an equal energy component and a smashing/lethal component both deal 100 damage). We are going to compare a Defensive Tank with 35% smashing/lethal defense, and a resistance based character with a 35% resistance to energy and the enemy gets 20 attacks. Please note that because the attack has 2 parts, the game will check for both giving defensive sets the advantage over resistances. Ill show how when we compare them separately:
*Defensive Energy: 50%-0%= 50%. 1 out of 2 attacks.
*Defensive Sm/L: 50%-35%= 15%. 3 out of 20 attacks.
*Defensive Overall: The defensive set will take 300 damage total out of the 20 attacks. 3/20 attacks at 100 damage per attack brings us up to 300 damage total. Because it checks for both energy and smashing/lethal defense, it goes to smashing lethal on this one, because 35% is better than 0%.
*Resistance Energy: 100-35= 65 damage per attack.
*Resistance Sm/L: 100-0= 100 damage per attack.
*Resistance Total: The resistance set will take 1,650 damage total out of the 20 attacks. Because of the 50% attack rate, 165 damage for 10 attacks will yield 1,650 damage.
3d. Additional Comparisons mainly involve the to-hit floor, mez effects, and strategy. The enemy to-hit floor is 5%. So no matter what, the enemy will always have a 1/20 chance to get a hit in. If a character has a 60% defense to a damage type fighting an even level minion (50%-60%= -10%; in reality, 50%-60%= 5% because of the 1/20 cap). Most mezes/holds/immobilizes has a damage type associated with them. Its more difficult to stack holds on a defensive based character than it is a resistance based character. The resistance based character will still get hit half of the time, where the defensive character will get hit much less. This gives the defensive based character a huge advantage in most circumstances. With targeting, most defensive sets wont have to worry about minions. Bosses have a much higher to-hit ratio than the others ranks. Killing them becomes priority. Once you make it to the higher levels, resistance based characters will want to kill minions first, so theres one less source of damage to worry about.
I would like to thank everyone that has helped me in my reign of terror, and for all of the useful information Ive read through the forums during my many trials and errors. I felt it was my turn to give back to everyone that has given me so much. I wrote this to squash some of the things Ive been seeing or hearing lately. People that think theres no point to a character that uses force fields as a power set, or those that take force field and dont use half of the powers. Or the misconception that controllers just stand there and dont do anything. There is no bad build in CoX, they all have a purpose. Ive played every type of character imaginable up to level 30 except a corruptor and stalker, and these are the things Ive noticed most people dont know or the common misinterpretations. My favorite teams are balanced ones where each individual player understands his or her role within the team. I usually try to avoid teams where controllers and scrappers think they can tank. Or an overeager blaster that likes to initiate groups. As a tank or brute I like to set the pace and maintain the aggro. Go too fast and the teams get killed. Go too slow and the teams get bored. As a scrapper or stalker, I like to focus on the biggest threat to the team and take it out as soon as possible. As a controller, dominator, defender, corruptor, or mastermind, I like to use my characters to accelerate the survivability of my team. I dont care to solo, and I thoroughly enjoy the team building factors involved in larger teams. For those that have played with me, I like to spam a lot of chat and bigger usually means I can get away with saying more idiotic stuffs . If you disagree or have a correction to anything, I would prefer a private message.
My name is Beau and I approve this message.
Save Paragon one more time! http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index....ic,4877.0.html
Petition to end shutting down CoH:
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes