Wilfred

After Fly, superjump will be more fun than three weasels and a pair of very tight trousers, mark my words!

Heal aura, heal other, three heals three recharge
Recovery aura, three end mods (the dark blue ones, NOT the light blue end reduction ones) three recharge
Absorb pain, pure heals
Rez, recharge
Clear mind, range
Combat jumping, jump height
Fortitude, three recharge, then the rest is pretty much up to the user: I go three recharge, three def
Superjump, jump height
Recall friend, range
Hasten, recharge
Proton volley, 1 accuracy three damage
Superspeed, run speed
Regeneration aura, recharges
Cosmic burst, 1 accuracy, three damages (when poss - 1 acc and as many damage as will fit, but no more than three)
Stealth, end reduction.

Golden rule when slotting; never more than three of one kind, unless you're slotting for an effect that is massive and want to squeeze a tiny bit more juice out of it.

Righty, sounds to me like the Leaping pool is for you. It's fast, doesn't need slots at all and gives you much of the versatility Flight gives - Superspeed is absolutely ace but doesn't shine until you've got all of paragon's little superspeed shortcuts figured out. I'd take Superspeed as well, for hasten and in-mission speed, plus that super-valuable stealth component, which combined with recall friend and stealth will make you a favourite on Taskforces for your ghosting capabilities.

As far as attacks go, I'd go for Proton Volley and Cosmic Burst. Everything before Irradiate is a little too light on the damage to bother with unless you're a hardcore debuffer, and irradiate and electron haze may bring more aggro than you can take.

Looking at a level 30 build, I'd be taking, in order:

Heal Other, and six-slot it
Neutrino bolt, because you have to, but don't slot it
Healing Aura, and six slot it
Absorb pain, and one or two slot it, looking to slot it a little better (three heals) during the 30's
Resurrect, no slots
Clear mind, no slots
Combat jumping, no slots
Fortitude, six slots
Super Jump, no slots
Recall friend, no slots
Recovery aura, six slots
Hasten, three slots
Proton Volley, four slots
Super speed, no slots
Regeneration aura, no slots (look to three-slot this with recharge in the 30's)
Cosmic burst, three slots (look to four-slot it in the 30's)
Stealth, no slots.

If you haven't installed the test server, do it now (instructions are on stickied post in Training Room forum on these boards), copy the character across a couple of times and try out the respecification on test before applying it on the live servers - you can see then how well you get on with it.

To expand further - at level 30, you've had 28 slots to play about with. Assuming 5 for Heal other, Healing aura, fortitude, and recovery aura, that leaves you eight slots to play about with for the rest of your powers. If you've taken hasten and stamina, that's another four slots down the pan, and if you've taken regeneration aura and slotted that for recharge, it's another two slots gone, leaving the build I'd have chosen with a grand total of two slots at level 30 to spend on attack powers. Hrrm.

On the plus side, in the 30's slots rain from the skies like happymanna.

It's difficult to wangle in attacks on an empath before about 28 without making some tough choices about leaving powers behind...

Do you have a preferred travel power - do you have stamina, hasten, leadership, recall friend, any of these? Need to know some personal preferences before I can work it into a build

Sorry to derail Brimmy, but gotta ask a quick question of dipstar...

No temp Inv. on a tanking tanker? Even left completely unlotted, it's nearly a third of the two most common damage types (and they really are common) removed immediately - three-slotted for resistance you're looking at over 45% resistance just with one toggle

I'm not sure how stone compares with Fire for end usage (I have Inv/fire), but the toggles can be a fair drain. If you're just running Invinci, TI and Unyielding post-stamina, you'll be fine with one End reduction slotted in each toggle and one per high-endurance attack (Stone Mallet and Heavy Mallet, I'd guess). If you plan to run Tough as well (I have Tough & Weave running) you'll want two end reductions in each toggle and one per attack, if you wish to fight with as little EndRec support as possible.

I originally popped two end reduction SO's in each toggle as a way of getting an extra taunt enhancement into Invincibility, and was so impressed at the increase in fighting time I got out of it, carried on with it!

I run my attacks 1 accuracy, 3 damage, 1 end, or for AoE's 2 acc, 2/3 damage, 1 end. The extra accuracy is just to help with gauntleting.

Krom popped up on these very forums not too long ago and said... anyone remember me Dunno whether he reactivated his avccount past that month, though...

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I'm sorry you feel that way m8, but perhaps not posting at all is less inflammatory, as a comment like that basically says "you're a n00b, I can't be bothered replying, but I'll exercise my sarcasm instead".

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Please don't misunderestimate me! That's not in the slightest how I meant it - I'm always sticking my nose in on kinetics builds and there's nothing I'd say that hasn't already been said

I'm trying to wean myself off of giving advice

It's the name that does it, Kin

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Sister Psyche is lvl 20 - 25

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I know that but still usefull to let people know what level my character I'd like to bring along is even if its just so you know I'd be auto exemped.

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I suspect Psygon's comment may have been in reference to the minor error in the first post, rather than a dig at auto-exemps

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Properly slotted with interupt SO its a very reliable heal, granted there is not a mob of 10 npc wacking at you.

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In which case no heal on earth could rescue /EA

I always thought the clicky and toggy mez protects had the exact same magnitude. You *can* stack clickies for higher mag, but not for long. I'd have thought the main reason that toggles are easier to get past is simply toggledrop potential.

*Starts to type; takes deep breath. Puts keyboard down gently and backs away from the PC.*

I'd think twice about whether you need the concealment pool - If you're not drawing aggro, PvE foes are never going to shoot in preference to teammates who are drawing aggro - most of the time you'll be above and behind the team, so there's very few situations in which Stealth will lessen aggro against you. Hasten really is invaluable in bringingyour standard heals, and especially Recovery Aura, back up more often.

Fitness is also an odd beast for an Empath - try a stamina-less built with a small team on test, I suspect with occasional RA's you'll find that you're usually well over half endurance. For everything else, there's masterc... er... catch a breath's.

Edit: On second thought, with eadership up and running Stamina may well be a necessity. Shame, as those three power picks would be well served elsewhere, but Leadership is an absolutely ace pool, and I would recommend holding onto it.

Aid self can be used in combat, especially if given one or two interrupt reductions. For a Def set, it's a very viable option to increase survivability.

Why explosive blast? For a pure empath, surely all that aggro is bad? I'd imagine something like the Snipe, so you can interrupt it if you're needed in the battle, or a quick-firing single-targetter for KBing anyone aggroed on you... I dunno really.

Cheers for the feedback chaps. Looks like Earth is the way forward - as much as Fire looks good, since I'm already /fire, I fancy something else for my Epic!

As I've got three power picks, I think I'll leave the immob out.

ps. Yup, know all about Invinci-taunt, have it 3 Def, 1 End, 2 Taunt!

Hey all!

My Tanker, Stronghold, hit SL40 lately - so I've started to look at epic sets for him.

My concept was to make him pretty tough with a high amount of taunting going on - I like to be active in my taunting and not rely on PBAoE's to hit who I want them to hit.

Now, he's Inv/Fire. I've left off REn and REl so far, I know they'd mitigate some of my weakness to non-S/L damage, but the numbers don't impress me enough. Apart from that, I have all of my primary set, as well as Tough and Weave - I figure to get as much Def in there as poss has to be a good thing.

I've Challenge and Provoke, Hasten and the fitness pool - all of which helps grabbing more aggro. On top of this, I have Combustion and Fire Swoord Circle, hopefully to grab a bit of aggro via gauntlet.

It seems to work pretty well, I can't solo for toffee but frankly never expected to be able to. I am tough and my teams are usually fairly safe.

Now my problem - Earth or Arctic mastery?

From earth, I'd grab Stalagmites, Fossilise, and Salt Crystals - as much for a bit of AoE control as anything.

From arctic, I'd grab Block of Ice, Ice Blast, and Ice storm - Ice storm in particular looks very good, I'd slot it 2 slow, 3 recharge if I got it.

I'm pretty evenly split between the two - my only other option would be using the three slots for REn, REl and maybe Breath of Fire or GFS - but that seems a tad mundane, to me.

If anyone has experience with either ancillary, or anything at all to tell me, speak now or forever hold your peas

Intimidate/Invoke Panic?

Ace tales. I'd say you're laughing with rather than at them - I'm sure they have a pretty good sense of humour (debt does that to people ) and are quite aware of the amusement they bring to any team!

Edit:

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Being a good Blaster means you learn from dying. You need to work out what you can go up against, what to take out first cos it mezzes you etc. It's about being a solo juggernaut and knowing your capabilities yet not being an aggro magnet liability in teams. It's about communication, it's about teamwork.

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And here was me thinking it was about hitting things a lot until they fall over, or I do!

... I'm really, really, really enjoying my brute. The sheer joy of one-shotting a +2, and being able to take out the whole final room of a mission spawned for two on Relentless in a matter of minutes just makes me happier and happier each time I log. This is my first really solo-capable toon, so I guess that has something to do with things, but long after launch, SMASH has lost none of its appeal at all.

I'm EM/EA, by the way, and the game got fun once I managed to respec into Aid Self! (The fact that I also got Energy Transfr around then may, I admit, have played some small role )

Bog off you, what can I say - I loves her

90%. Not sure what the Def cap is, though.

Still around out of sheer bloody-minded stubbornness