zeldo
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Posts
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Here's a link to Heraclea's guide to WP aggro:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=127125
Quote:This is the way to go. It doesn't take 8 heroes to defeat the last critter in a spawn, and any hero should be able to solo the standard 3 critter spawn, so don't feel bad about leaving the team with 1 - 5 critters. Besides, everyone will have spammed every AoE available, so anything left shouldn't have much health remaining anyway.Originally Posted by Sarrate
Another tactic to put into your toolbox: making time to establish aggro. What do I mean? Well, instead of sticking around to the end of every fight, start leaving early and get to the spawn before the group does. When the spawn is mostly defeated, the group can (usually) take the punishment of a few stragglers. (Besides, while you're traveling to the next spawn, several of them could be taunted to you anyways.) By leaving at that point and heading to the next spawn, you've bought yourself a 5-10s buffer to establish aggro, regardless of what the team does.
Keep the map open; unhook it from the Menu window and move it off to the side. Now you can keep track of where your team is while you run around. By watching how quickly your team defeats the first spawn or two, you can start to predict how soon you can leave for the next spawn.
And with the map open, you can watch the critters you're herding/gathering/grouping and where your team is, and perhaps even get a good corner-pull where they can spam their freshly-recharged AoEs.
It's amazing how much faster the mission goes when the tanks do this.
You'll just have to keep an eye on the team's endurance or health, depending on which buffs are available to keep the steamroller going. -
Aw man, I just rolled up an Invuln/EM. Does this mean I'll rule, or that I'll suck?
Although, I changed the pom-poms to black with a yellow halo, which matches my costume. Here's hoping for the best!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddFBX9hwaOM -
I can't suggest a PvP build for Ice/EM, but I have two comments:
It may be better now, but Defense sucked in PvP because it's so easy to defeat with +Acc and +ToHit. And Ice has only one very slow recharging heal.
Energy Melee on the other hand has only two high-damage powers, and they recharge pretty darn slow and animate slow. During each's 3-second animation and 20-second default recharge time, your foe will have plenty of time to heal and smack you down.
Ice rocks in PvE though. There's a Tanker Guides thread at the top of this forum with some guides in it. -
Quote:It's funny how random it is. I was on an ITF last night with one other Scrapper (didn't look at his powersets), a Fire Tank and a Willpower Tank. The WP tank was apparently a Nouveau Fiddy without any enhancements, and died in nearly every spawn. The Fire Tank was a bit more durable, dying every 3rd or 4th spawn, and quit when we got to the control computer. He didn't have any KB protection, either.Originally Posted by Sailboat
Fully-slotted /SR with all the toggles and passives has 95% defense debuff resistance, which is huge.
By way of example, my MA/SR Scrapper is sitting at just over 45% to 47% to all 3 positions. I took point on two ITFs yesterday (yes, I got merits reduced for running them too close together). The Romans debuff defense...um...a LOT. They can tear apart most defense builds. But my defense never dropped below 42-44%, even when I was the only melee character left standing, surrounded by Romans and dark energy using Nictuses...Nictus's...Nicti? I didn't even bother to hit any purple inspirations, which of course one could carry for emergencies.
So I outlasted darn near everyone on the team, except that my AoE defense is only about 37%, and it only takes two or three of the Boss/EB AoE swipes to kill me, so when everyone else died and I stood there taking on the entire spawn with visions of "sole survivor glory" dancing in my head, 5 of those Roman bosses would do the spinny attack and cut me to ribbons.
What sucked, though, is I have Vengeance (and got MUCH use out of it), but even with it active and my defense at 97 - 115%, they still get those lucky shots in.
So now I'm fooling with Mid's, looking to add more AoE since there's so darn much of it in the ITF. Happily, I got a purple drop on the TF, so I have another 140 mil to play with now. -
Quote:I'll have to try out that stacked rage for no -Def crash thing.Originally Posted by Post_Apocalypse
Well, the - Def wont be an issue because when rage stacks there is no -def, also after lvl 26 an ice tank you can mitigate the end crash with energy absorbtion.
I have a 50 Ice/Stone and a 44 Ice/SS, and prefer the Ice/Stone.
Stone Melee and Super Strength both have two PBAoE powers, one a stun and one for damage. Fault beats Hand Clap because it just knocks 'em down so they stay within range of Chilling Embrace and Icicles. But Foot Stomp does more damage than Tremor, even without Rage.
Rage-boosted Icicles are a thing of beauty.
If you're very good at watching your blinking buff icons, you can Hibernate through the Rage crash... but you really have to make sure you have more than 25% Endurance, because getting toggle-dropped with -20% Def on top is a Really Bad Thing in the middle of a spawn.
I prefer the Ice/Stone for the sound and graphic effects - booms and bits of rock flying everywhere, and it's safe and steady with hold and stuns.
I play the Ice/SS when I want to go banzai wacko with high risk and high rewards. -
To be more specific on the frankenslotting:
Static Shield has decent frankenslotting (you are over the ED cap for Resistance, and at about 1.5 SOs for Endurance Reduction, which is better than the standard 3 Resist 1 EndRedux with SO slotting):
Quote:Trading one of the ResDam for another ResDam/EndRdx would give you two SOs worth of EndRedux, and still give ED-capped ResDamStatic Shield -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(17), TtmC'tng-ResDam(19), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(19), S'fstPrt-ResKB(21)
Grounded has pointless frankenslotting (No set bonuses; Unless you can buy and craft the Aegis and Titanium Coating for less than a plain ResDam, you might as well put 3 plain ResDams in there):
BUT - look at what you're getting, to see if it's even worth putting those slots and enhancements there (assume level 35 plain IOs):Quote:Level 8: Grounded -- Aegis-ResDam(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam(21), ResDam-I(23)
Grounded base resist: 12.5% Energy, 10% Negative
Default slot: 15.3% Energy, 12.2% Negative
Second slot: 18% Energy, 14% Negative
Third slot: 19.6% Energy, 15.7% Negative
And remember: with Charged Armor and Conductive Shield three-slotted for Resist Damage, you're already past the Tanker cap for Energy resistance, so buffing Grounded from 12.5% Energy to 19.6% gains you nothing, and the two slots to boost total Negative resistance by 3.5% from 43.4% to 46.9%.
So if you're not going for set bonuses, that's two slots you can move elsewhere, or slot a Steadfast +Def unique, etc.
For Lightning Field, unless you plan to turn it off and on frequently, all the recharge of Obliteration will be useless and very expensive. Mine is slotted thus, with the goal of cheap/affordable IOs, max accuracy, EndRedux, and Damage:
Cleaving Blow: Acc/Dam
Multi Strike: Dam/End, Acc/End, Acc/Dam/End
Scirocco's Dervish: Acc/Dam/End
With level 35 IOs, this exceeds the low end of the ED cap, with 81.2% enhancement to Acc, Dam, and EndRedux. -
Yep, I have two pages of character slots on Victory, where my own SG is. I make a toon, play it up until I either love or dislike it, and then delete it if I dislike it. Too many possible combos to keep every failed concept!
If I wind up really missing a certain combo, I can just make a new one.
I mean, what else am I going to do? Keep playing the same toon forever? PREPOSTEROUS! -
Didn't see it on the list and had to go looking for it:
Heraclea's The Complete Amazon: Themed WP/SS Tanker Guide I11
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=122859 -
You can't enhance damage past the ED cap, so you're either going to need +damage set bonuses, Assault from the Leadership pool, or to hire some friends to defeat what you're tanking.
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I think Super Strength sucks at the lower levels, because some of the common enemies (like Trolls) have defense to Smashing, and Super Strength does pretty crappy damage before Knockout Blow and then Rage.
Shield Defense is rough at low levels, because the click-status protection cannot be made permanent until level 22 with SOs, unlike the sets that get a toggle.
On the other hand, you'll be above level 20 far longer than below, and only you can define "fun" so give it a try. -
The build itself looks decent, but the IO selection puzzles me. You don't get any set bonuses from slotting a single IO of a set, so you might just be making your build more expensive with the single TtmC'tng-ResDam in Resist Physical Damage, and particularly the Zephyr in Combat Jumping.
I'd dump the Zephyr and stick Stealth's Kismet there, and put an End Redux in Stealth -- if you plan on using Stealth while fighting, etc.
On Temp Invulnerability, I'd swap one of the Resist Damages for a Resist/End Redux, since you're at about the ED cap with 3 solid Resists + the End/Resist.
The EnManip-Stun% in Unstoppable will only have a chance to proc on *you*, not your enemies. Swap 'em for Recharges, or regular EndMods if you really want endurance. -
My own experience -- which may or may not match your playstyle and preferences -- I took an Elec/Ice up to 35 or so before deleting it. I was hoping that Ice Patch would be a good panic button and keep critters in Lightning Field... but it was slow and I got bored.
It would have been fun to get to the holds, and add in the Immob and Hold from the Ice epic. But still, slow arresting of critters. Just deleted a Shield/Ice at 28 for the same reason. -
Quote:When you say tough, do you mean difficult to play, or resistant to damage? I'll make a WP/SS too, since hey, multiple character slots, and Heraclea's guide is inspirational!Originally Posted by Airhammer
Here is my build for Elec/SS that is live on Virtue. Personallu I would go with Willpower/SS though. Elec can be tough and I didnt take Rage until very late in build because I wanted my resistance and recharge working well. As a 60 month vet I was able to skip combay jumping.
For this specific Heroine though, I wanted a damage aura.
My builds are all fairly cheap builds, since I spend more time making alts than farming. I got the Blessing of the Zephyr -KB recipe from a merit roll, otherwise it wouldn't be in the build!Quote:Originally Posted by Rodion
I've got a SS/Electric Armor brute, and it works pretty well. As an experiment I tried to maximize melee defense, but it didn't work out. It definitely helps (only 26% melee defense), but it would be much better if it were against Smash/Lethal.
I tried working out a tanker build that maximizes S/L defense, but I can't get much more than 36% without seriously compromising playability (and it's pretty pricey with all those Kinetic Combat sets, though if you use Smashing Haymaker you can easily get 26% S/L which ain't bad -- I've included that below).
Looking at your numbers, you've only got 56% resistance on S/L and Fire/Cold, and no defense to speak of. My Fire tank had similar numbers and was pretty squishy until I got Tough. A lot of attacks have some S/L component, so getting Tough makes a big difference in survivability. You might drop Power Surge and Hurl and pick up Boxing and Tough instead.
You might want to have Rage slotted with at least two recharge.
The crash in Power Surge is pretty severe. It's nice to have, but if you've got good defenses to begin with you'll rarely need it. I'd get it at 49 and just put one recharge in it.
My experience with the Brute is that I almost never get knocked back (I also have Fly). You don't need the expense of the -KB IO.
The build below has 78% S/L, 56% Fire/Cold, 90% Energy, 43% Negative, and 54% psi damage resist. It has 27% S/L defense. If you subscribe to the theory that damage resistance = 2 x defense, then this build effectively has 130% S/L damage resistance
. It's relatively cheap, and could be made much better at great expense by using Kinetic Combat instead of Smashing Haymaker.
Whenever I find a Kinetic Combat recipe, I cheer because selling it will fund an entire build!
I'll take a good look at those defense builds, and maybe go that way. I play Super Reflexes extensively, and figure that 25% defense is only enough to keep me alive half the time, which is why I went for +Recharge for more punches. I might have Power Sink recharging quickly enough to sap everything around me. The build had enough +recharge that Rage was perma with one recharge; I should re-order power selections to make sure I lose Rage when I lose the +recharge though... if it matters.
So far, Paranoid Heroine is going strong at 25. Low levels always suck for Tanks, but in the teens she was able to tank for the Positron and Synapse task forces; Electric Armor's capped resists to energy made her more survivable than the level 50 stone and Invuln tankers (who were exemp'd to 15 and 20 for the TFs) against all those Clockworks and energy-using Lost and Circle of Thorns.
However, she needs a handful each of blue and green inspirations to solo Snaptooth. -
I agree with Silas. There's also some good build tips in the Elec/SS thread I started: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=203480
If you haven't used the Enhance tab in Mid's yet, it's a great way to see how your enhancements are adding up on a power. It's the rightmost tab underneath the two power set lists. Select it, then mouse-over a power, and it shows you how enhancement % is adding up, and when ED is capping enhancement values. -
Spiffy build.
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Quote:I'll have to look that up. It summons a pet, which might not have the Crit capability.Originally Posted by JanusFrs
And btw, I've always wondered if LR works with Critical Hit, does it?
If you want to just run in and lay the smackdown, doing nothing but attack, you want SR! You'll only have to pause every 120 seconds or so for Practiced Brawler to animate, and then you're off again! -
Quote:Not knocking your concept at all, but the coolest thing I've seen is a fire/shield scrapper carrying that eyeball shield from the Shard while blowing fire from his FACE.Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba
My fm/sd scrapper uses that shield. Both primary and secondary are tinted dark green/black. Looks awesome.
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Slotting all looks fine.
My tip: Hurdle goes better with Super Jump than Swift, and you move faster with Hurdle than Swift. And I believe SJ speed-caps with two SOs, so you can move a slot from there to somewhere else if you'd like. -
Your power choices are fine, depending of course on whether you actually like and use those powers.
My only tip: If you get a Kismet +Acc IO (it's a defense set), it matches Focused Accuracy's base ToHit buff. -
Quote:This.Originally Posted by Doomguide
The choice is full of win win, create and play both.
Buy more character slots if you have to. -
If you prefer clicking buttons to stay alive, go with Regen.
If you prefer turning on toggles, go with SR. SR also boosts your recharge and run speed, which I always appreciate. And when you get Elude, you'll be running around like crazy, Lightning Rodding everything in sight!
You can also go with Sheilds - there's a nifty elemental/electric shield, and tons of electric/shield builds floating around this forum. -
The sad tale of the Paranoid Heroine has led me through many alts and variations.
Initially a Dark/Dark scrapper, ("Quit looking at me!"), she was deleted in the 40's and replaced with a Dark/Energy Melee tank. I hoped the stacking stuns from Oppressive Gloom and the EM attacks would be uber mitigation... but herding with OG and spamming Energy Transfer seemed to kill me faster than the mobs.
I longed for the Soul Drain buff to Death Shroud, and love how auras keep ticking away when slows prevent normal attacks from recharging, and next went with Super Strength and Dark Armor. I loved being a Fluffy Glowing Cloud of Doom, but Dark Armor's hard enough on endurance as it is, and trying to Dark Regen after a Rage crash put me in the crapper quite frequently.
Plus, even as pimped out as I could manage, Dark Armor's weak energy resistance really soured me when I ran a LGTF. Sure, I tanked the Clockwork King without problem, but nearly everything else wiped me out. I got good use out of Soul Transfer, though...
But I liked Super Strength (that was my first time playing it), and decided to try it with Ice Armor. Then I'd have the health buff of Hoarfrost, endurance recovery, a sweet damage aura, and Paranoid Heroine could Hibernate when Rage crashed and everyone was out to get her. (They really are!!)
Except, I didn't anticipate the severity of the -def component. Man, that smarts when it hits if I'm not paying close attention.
So now I'm looking for an "optimal" primary to pair with Super Strength. I'd like:
- A self-heal
- A damage aura, since SS has only one AoE
- Endurance recovery, for after-crash refreshment
- Resistance-based, so the -def doesn't hurt so much
This left me with Fire, Stone, and Electric. I like Willpower and Invuln, but really want a damage aura on this specific toon. I hope to never make a Stone toon, so that left Fire and Electric. Since the pulsing of Blazing Aura gives me headaches, Electric it is!
How's this look for a semi-cheap build, focusing on recharge rather than defense? The Zephyr should prevent KB when I'm jumping around a crowd, and immobs that pull me down from flight will be canceled when I land (Grounded)... hmm, but that could make getting out of the Knives' caltrops tricky.
Level 14 so far, and going strong!
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Paranoid Heroine: Level 50 Mutation Tanker
Primary Power Set: Electric Armor
Secondary Power Set: Super Strength
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Lightning Field -- M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(43)
Level 1: Jab -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(19), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(34), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 2: Charged Armor -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(3), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(3), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19)
Level 4: Conductive Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(5), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(5), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 6: Static Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(7), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(7), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(9)
Level 8: Grounded -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(43), RctvArm-ResDam(46), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 10: Air Superiority -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17)
Level 12: Energize -- H'zdH-Heal/Rchg(A), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg(13), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(13), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(15), Zephyr-ResKB(29)
Level 16: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Knockout Blow -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(23), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(23), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(25), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25)
Level 24: Lightning Reflexes -- Run-I(A)
Level 26: Power Sink -- Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(27), RechRdx-I(27), EndMod-I(29)
Level 28: Rage -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg(31), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(31), Mocking-Acc/Rchg(31), Mocking-Taunt/Rng(33), Mocking-Rchg(34)
Level 32: Power Surge -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(33)
Level 35: Haymaker -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(36), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(39), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(39), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Erad-%Dam(40)
Level 41: Char -- BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(A), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(42), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(42)
Level 44: Hurl -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(45), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Fire Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(48), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
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Quote:I do believe I'm going to have to dream about trying that!Originally Posted by Silas
5 Armageddons (all but the DAM) and a FFB Proc in Footstomp = oh god I can't see, too many tears of joy
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Battle Axe. Do it for the puns.
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Quote:Originally Posted by cp2_4eva
Even against the council with now vamps or wolves. Just mainly smashing and lethal damage. It's starting to get annoying how squishy my tank is up to this point. So far I've taken all the ice powers I can except for permafrost (holding of til later) and in the fire powers just the first 3. I took fly and air superiority (because I like to keep the bosses of of their feet) Would combat jump make me that much more survivable at this lvl? I can respec out of the fly pool. I have a few vet respec available to me. Plz help.
Fly pool is fine. Can you describe how you have the ice powers slotted and what you have in them?
Have you used the Combat Attributes Monitor? If you open the Powers tab, it's at the tip of the list. Open that and browse to the Defense section. It'll tell you what your defense is with all your armors turned on. You can right-click an attribute and "Monitor" it -- this'll put it in a little floating window you can keep an eye on while playing.
I monitor Smashing defense, Energy defense, and a few other things. If you watch those, you can see why you're getting hit so much.
Tips:
- If your Smashing/Lethal defense is below 30%, you'll be hit more than half the time. Some of the Council machine guns do -Def, so once they hit you, they'll hit you more.
- Go buy 3 full sets (four IOs) of the Smashing Haymaker melee set, and put them into Scorch, Fire Sword, and Air Superiority. This'll buff your Smash/Leth def by 5.6%
- Get your hands on a Steadfast Protection Resistance/+Def; it'll buff all your defense by 3%. Put it in Hoarfrost. The easiest way to get one is to run an AE mission, then do level 10 Bronze rolls.
- Slot Frozen Armor with 3 Defense SOs/IOs and 1 End Reduction.
Doing this will put you your smashing/lethal defense around 36%, which is decent. At level 26, you should have just gotten Energy Absorption. Get two recharges into it so it's perma, and this'll give you a good defense buff with every spawn and really add to your survivability. ( I 4-slot with a pair each of acc/rech/end mod and acc/rech.)
All defense sets are late-bloomers, but at 26, you're almost there! A few more IO set bonuses will soft-cap you to smashing/lethal damage when Energy Absorption hits a few critters.