zeldo

I'm going to have to try one of these all-scrapper TFs. I love flipping out and attacking everything.

I bet an all-scrapper LGTF would rock! Critters galore!

I take flight on nearly all my scrappers (and tanks and controllers...) and spend most of my time solo. It works just fine.

I finally got KO Blow six-slotted with Kinetic Crash, and spent some time wandering around Galaxy City after a Rikti Raid, punching level 1s and trying to scroll the screen out far enough to see how high they went.

I lold.

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In terms of End sapping, I would go with Ice/Elec. Or Fire/Elec due to Consume. In terms of synergy, I would go with DM for the Dark Consumption end drain and the heal (Siphon Life). If indeed it is an End Drain monster you wish to have, I would go with Elec/DM.

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Dark Consumption doesn't suck endurance from enemies, it sucks their life and turns it into your endurance. Ice/DM synergizes well for the other reasons you mention though.


Just the other day, though, I noticed Energy Absorption draining half the endurance from spawns, and wondered if Electric Melee could drain the rest.

I also suggest Dark Melee for the strongest synergy, unless you have a theme you've gotta stick to:

- Touch of Fear stacks with Cloak of Fear

- Soul Drain buffs the accuracy of Cloak of Fear and Death Shroud, and buffs the damage of Death Shroud for constant AoE while you punch other things

- Dark Consumption keeps your endurance topped off

- Siphon Life means Dark Regen is the panic/post-alpha heal, rather than your only heal, which saves huge chunks of endurance


I haven't found a combo that works as well as DM/DA or DA/DM. However, I have a DA/Super Strength tank that dinged 41 last night, and it's a ball of fun. Rage buffs the DA auras that need accuracy, and I slotted Kinetic Crash into every SS attack that takes KB enhancements, so I have 12 or 15 points of KB protection, including 4-slotted Kick as pre-req for Tough. I took those instead of the mitigation auras, and am happy with the increased damage resistance.

However, going for max resistance instead of DA's unique auras means I'm just a funny-looking Invuln.

I've actually never tried to tp someone in RV. My 50 is a dark/lolsr scrapper, so I've only been to RV... maybe 3 times? I still have a hard time finding my way in and out of the hero base and haven't mastered the pwnsrs-speek critical for success in PvP.

I'd say go with Stone/Fire now if you want to make and play a stone/fire now, or wait until I16 if you want to wait and make a stone/elec.

Or, you could pull out all the stops and get all crazy and make a stone/fire now, AND STILL make a stone/elec when I16 releases. That's almost too bonzo to contemplate though!!!

Go stone/stone with TP foe six-slotted for acc/interrupt. Now that everyone's rooted when they so much as look at another player, you can tp and smash them for wins and p0wnxers!!!!

While Focused Accuracy is running, there's a chance every 10 seconds that it will trigger.

So that could be 11 seconds before your next shield charge, or 1 second after.

Both.

Err, all four.

There are guides describing all those powersets; give them a read and see if a combo calls to you.

Or make 4 toons and try out each combo.

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Thanks for the advice all. Considering what you said, I think I'll skip buildup for fault, and drop stone mallet for fireball. Although I know Im gonna miss that burst damage, but ah well. That's why they call it sacrifice.

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Yep. But remember - you can have two builds. On a team, you'll be doing less damage than nearly everyone else, so give or take an attack and it won't really matter.

On your solo build, you can skip Taunt and probably something else, and fit in more attacks and Build Up.

Fault tip - slot it for accuracy and recharge. Regardless of how good or bad your defenses are, they can't hurt you if they aren't standing up. Between Tremor and Fault you can have angry critters bouncing all over while your team wipes 'em up. Plus, Fault has a 20' range, so you can topple a spawn as you approach, before they get an alpha attack ready.

Also, Energy Absorption has low(ish) defalt accuracy, but doesn't take accuracy enhancements. But you can slot Endmod sets that enhance accuracy, such Performance Shifter, and Efficacy Adaptor. I slot a pair each of endmod/acc/rech and endmod/rech, and it works pretty well.

Also, it's nearly useless to slot +Def in EA. The base defense is .6% and you can slot that up to .9 with three SOs... but that space is better used by recharge, endmod and acc. Or even an End Redux, since it costs 13 Endurance, and when you're that low is when you really need it.

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No offense intended, but I think you mean "moot" (an issue no longer needed to be considered) and not "mute" (unable to talk). I must admit I chuckled trying to imagine "semi-mute."

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That's what I meant -- I was posting WAY too late. I'm surprised it came out as coherent as it did.

Yep, since Fire Cages can use AoE and Immob sets, it's easy to frankenslot Cages get max accuracy, recharge, and endurance reduction. Wouldn't I have to chase or otherwise deal with the ones missed by Cages anyway?

I hadn't yet thought about dropping it in those corner offices full of badguys. That'll be super useful on the heroside Respec trials, both for clearing the rooms and keeping baddies off the Core.

I'll have to practice bouncing critters between Bonfire and Repulsion field for some one-man ping-pong lolz.

A grav/kin was my first 50, after 3 years of playing an near-endless altitus.

How grav/kin works:

You get four single-target attacks, allowing you to take down bosses and lieutenants fairly quickly, and moderate AoE damage by spamming a Crushing Field slotted for acc/dam/rech+procs.

You get graphic effects you (and your teammates) can see through, which is very handy in caves and building maps. You get a pet that'll keep you safe, who will hold your foes while you're held. If you run into a room and didn't see the critters hiding right inside the door, Singy will begin Lifting, repelling, and holding them, while you take care of whatever had your attention when you entered. You can even stand *inside* singy to keep those pesky DE swarms off you.

When one spawn is nearly defeated, you can grab another from across the room and put them down in front of yourself or your team and save yourself walking time. In multi-level rooms, you can pull spawns down from the upper levels and put them on top of the tank or the debuff patches everyone else created.

It's a controller set that looks and acts just a little differently than the others. What is there to get?

I think all the Fire guides I've read think Bonfire is a crappy power good only for skipping... but doesn't the immob from Fire Cages cancel the knockback from Bonfire?

Bonfire looks like it does massive damage, and contained critters just standing around in it while Fire Caged... seems like a pretty good pair of attacks. It works to drop Fire Cages on critters standing in a Burn patch, too.

I'm comparing the stats in Mid's - it gives Bonfire a 45 second duration. So it'll be on the ground there, pulsing KB and damage for 45 seconds? And Fire Cages has a base 27 sec duration, but the -KB effect only lasts for 12 seconds, and it doesn't look like Immob enhancers lengthen the -KB time, but it'd be easy to re-apply the Cages before 12 seconds are up.

My Fire/FF just hit 32, and I'm going to respec and see how Cages + Bonfire + Imps works, and can't wait to add Repulsion Bomb to the mix.

I'll throw in my build, too. It's more or less like this, except that it's only level 49 right now, so no purples in PGA. I went with Fire Ball so that I don't have to bother targeting the Oil Slick to light it. Phantasm lights it half the time, so it's a semi-mute point.

I solo with this toon most of the time, with the occasional TF thrown in. But mostly solo - I'm trying to make a point of finishing every arc from every contact, and sometimes turn off XP so I don't outlevel anything.

Also, this is my current build, that I respec'd into at high level. At lower level, I had Air Superiority instead of Hover and used it liberally for damage, and Glue Arrow almost as soon as it was available. I had skipped Disruption Arrow until I realized it buffs the damage of Phantom Army and everything else.

I skipped EMP arrow on my solo build because even on the even-numbered difficulties, spawns barely number 5 minions, and I can defeat them (or stealth past them) easily.

I use binds like this to target the arrows and spawn pets:

lshift+lmouse "powexecname oil slick arrow"
lctrl+lmouse "powexecname disruption arrow"
f1 "powexecname Phantom Army"
f2 "e Secret Technique$$l This is not the ninja you are looking for...$$powexecname deceive"
f3 "powexecname Spectral Terror"
f4 "powexecname Phantasm"

I really like Illusion / Trick Arrow.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Ninja Surprise: Level 50 Technology Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Trick Arrow
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg(39), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 1: Entangling Arrow -- TotHntr-Acc/Rchg(A), TotHntr-EndRdx/Immob(43), TotHntr-Acc/EndRdx(45), TotHntr-Immob/Acc(46), TotHntr-Acc/Immob/Rchg(46), TotHntr-Dam%(46)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(11), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17)
Level 4: Deceive -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg(A), Mlais-Conf/Rng(5), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf(5), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx(9), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg(9), Mlais-Dam%(11)
Level 6: Hover -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(7), DefBuff-I(7)
Level 8: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 10: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 12: Superior Invisibility -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(13), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(13), RedFtn-EndRdx(29), RedFtn-Def(39), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(15), Flight-I(15)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(19), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(19), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(34), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(37)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Acid Arrow -- AnWeak-Acc/Rchg(A), ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(23), LdyGrey-DefDeb/Rchg(23), UndDef-DefDeb/Rchg(31), AnWeak-Acc/DefDeb(34)
Level 24: Poison Gas Arrow -- RechRdx-I(A), FtnHyp-Plct%(25), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(25)
Level 26: Spectral Terror -- Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(27), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(27), Abys-Fear/Rng(29), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(31)
Level 28: Disruption Arrow -- RechRdx-I(A), Empty(50)
Level 30: Glue Arrow -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Phantasm -- SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(33), Dmg-I(33), Flight-I(33)
Level 35: Oil Slick Arrow -- Posi-Dmg/Rchg(A), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg(36), UndDef-DefDeb/Rchg(36), LdyGrey-DefDeb/Rchg(36), AirB'st-Dmg/Rchg(37), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 38: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 41: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(42), Posi-Dmg/Rng(42), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Weave -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(45), DefBuff-I(45)
Level 47: Fire Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(50), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
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QR

No, "positional resistance" is not possible, without making significant changes to the game. Technically, there's no such thing as "positional defense", either, there's just Defense that happens to be called Ranged_Defense which helps to protect you from an attack vector that happens to be called Ranged_Attack. They could just as easily be called Fluffy_Defense, which protects you from White_Attack, and they would act exactly the same. We call it positional because most offensive powers have one of the three "positional" attack vectors, and because of how they're named.

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Standard code rant applies, but it doesn't seem like it would be that big of a deal to me. They'd just have to add 3 new damage types, Ranged_Damage, Melee_Damage, and AOE_Damage and 3 new resistance types to go with them.

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The majority of attacks are already classified as melee, ranged, or AoE. They'd just have to waste time adding the new resistance categories.

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I think the best would be mind/dark controller...if they ever let controllers use dark as a secondary. You could build one as a foe in the AE and I bet it'd be pretty scary in more ways than one.

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Isn't one of the Council vampire AVs a mind control/dark melee?

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D) All of the above.

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I started an Ice/Dark Melee tank yesterday to see how that goes. Got to 21 last night, and am really looking forward to SOs. Soul Drain + Icicles should be good fun.

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The question is: do I really need or want Cloak of Fear or Oppressive Gloom? As control powers, those powers simply failed to impress, when I had them. They were inaccurate, and ate my endurance or health with very little to show for them, and didn't appear to be helping to keep me alive anywhere near what Tough does.

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In my experience, Cloak of Fear needs Soul Drain to compensate for its lousy accuracy.

A fun thing to do is slot Oppressive Gloom with Stupefy: Chance for Knockback.

Your second build looks pretty spiffy, and is the same way I'm rebuilding my Dark/SS tank, currently at 39. I've thought about deleting it, but it's fun being a ball of light wrapped in darkness.

You're WAY overslotted for accuracy, particularly while Rage is up. You could replace a pair of accuracies from each attack with a recharge and endurance reducer.

I'd suggest looking up into the guides for Heraclea's excellent guide to Willpower/Super Strength. Even though it's geared towards heroines, it's just as applicable to heroes.

Here's the link:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....=3#Post10222410

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Ice / Stone is a total blast, with Energy Absorption providing the constant endurance Stone requires, and with all the AoE and auras, aggro management is no problem whatsoever. The only bummer is not having a self-heal outside Hibernate and Hoarfrost. Very tanky though.

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I've got an Ice/Stone in the 20s right now. After tanking my Invy/Stone to 50 and laughing at attempts to hurt my Stone/Ice tank for 30+ levels I figured I'd see what Ice/Stone had to offer. Glad to hear that it keeps getting better!

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Yep, it just keeps getting better! Things to think about:

Long bossfights: Energy Absorption doesn't pull much from a single foe, so remember to activate it before the rest of the spawn falls. I took Conserve Power at 41 for these situations.

The armors + EA don't quite get you soft-capped, but a few good IO sets will.

I have a soft-capped /SR scrapper that seems to get hurt much less frequently than this tank, but I don't know if that's because the Scrapper takes less aggro, if positional defense works "better" than typed, or if having Siphon Life in the Scrapper's 4-punch attack chain makes THAT much of a difference.

Pretty spiffy.