Ace___

  takes up a lot more space in our storyarc files than a single space would.

You'd save us a lot of bytes if you could change it to not use 5 bytes where 1 (maybe with double quotes around the outside of the whole string) would do.

One way to make the mission architect more powerful without too much work (for the developers or us) would be to add two simple mission goal types:

And: This would not actually do anything except complete immediately when two other specified goals are both complete

Or: This would not actually do anything except complete immediately when the first of two other specified goals completes

Either of those could be used to trigger other goals (including further And or Or goals).

These two would let people set up cause an effect between the goals that actually do something in far more complex ways than they currently can be

If you wanted to make it considerably more complex you could also include the following goal:

Not: This would be considered complete while the specified other goal is not complete. When that other goal is complete it would be considered incomplete.

Obviously this last one would have to come with warnings about making combinations that prevent a (required) goal ever triggering and the game itself might want to check for such a scenario occurring with a required goal and then failing the mission (if such a check is possible to code).

That warning aside this one lets the wise designer change the order of events as required: For instance A then B can trigger C which triggers D while B then A can trigger D which triggers C.

In algebraic terms: A and not(B) triggers anotb. anotb and B triggers ab. ab or D triggers c which triggers C while B and not(A) triggers bnota. bnota and A triggers ba. ba or C triggers d which triggers D. Overall this particular sequence requires 8 (I almost forgot to count the 2 not goals) of these goals that don't do anything themselves, but each will take many fewer bytes to define it than the goals that actually do something.

That might seem pretty complex, but I worked it out on the fly as I typed it (and I'm presuming I didn't mess it up). Combinations of these goals to set up to achieve the sorts of things people will want to do could and no doubt would be published in guides, saving people time working out how to use these new goals.

Note the interaction of Not with triggering. Once the Not has triggered another goal, even if that goal is an Or or And it won't turn incomplete if the Not becomes "incomplete".

[ QUOTE ]
Siphon is a great power. The defender version will drop an even level enemy's damage resistance by 30%. Disruption field does 30% and the damaging sonic attacks do 20%. That means you can drop a target's damage resistance by 80%. Getting a boost to gross damage by your team on your target of that much is pretty excellent. Even just 30% is great. Sure a 10 point attack doing 13 doesn't seem like much. But taking out an enemy faster over the course of your defender career adds up. And when that 100 point blaster attack does 130, you notice.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to dispute taking this power at all - let alone calling it "great". The question is when do you use it? If you cast it on the boss first you've missed the chance to debuff the entire mob before a lot of your team's first aoe attacks. If you don't you've missed the chance to use it on the boss before it's down to about 60% health anyway. From a purely mathematical point of view it makes little sense when you can use an aoe attack to start and then wail on the boss with actual damage that gives a 20% -res anyway (for less time, but then nothing short of an AV lasts very long in a fight really). And Siphon has an activation time of over 2s, which is a relatively long gap between the activation of other far more useful powers. Given that your other attacks debuff for 2/3 of what this power does, it's virtually redundant over 90% of the time. Almost whenever you use it you'd have been better off using a damaging attack or something else entirely. Against an AV it would be worth using because the fight will last a while. When soloing it is obviously more useful for the same reason (and because you get to use it before all your other attacks), but still even when soloing it will only have a marginal edge over starting with damage from the off when fighting very tough opponents.

A little maths to make my point:

Counting 1 as the average damage from one of your damaging attacks and assuming that each debuff from a damaging attack only lasts long enough for the next 2 attacks:

Without siphon your dmg goes like this:

1+1.2+1.4+1.4+1.4+1.4
for totals:
1, 2.2, 3.6, 5, 6.4, 7.8

With Siphon:

0+1.3+1.5+1.7+1.7+1.7
for totals:
0, 1.3, 2.8, 4.5, 6.2, 7.9

Great, but the vast majority of mobs don't last until the 6th power activation, and Siphon actually has a slower activation time than most of your damaging attacks, which in practical terms reduces the speed of damage after it, and the above maths only applies to give you an advantage against the tougher mobs in the nice controlled soloing environment where no attacks will hit before the siphon.

In short as the power stands now I'd pick Barrier first. Of the 6 powers to pick from during levels 1-4 Siphon is by far the worst.

If they wanted to make this non-situational they could have made it an aoe effect with relatively small radius (say 5 feet) and it would have been a usable power even if only half the effect radiated to the mobs other than the actual target.

Alternatively they could have made it (also) buff your own resistance (probably in a non-stackable manner). At least then it would live up to the "siphon" part of its name.

About Gravity Well:

It does great dmg and it holds. As I don't know which I want it for most in any situation, I slot it with at least one accuracy but then predominantly recharge, as that helps both reasons.

If you solo a lot I'd go with 2 accuracy first, as you don't want to miss the Void/Q.

Prospective rebuild at 32. Typing is difficult for me so I'll just invite comments and leave it at that.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name: Blood.Lust (Triumph)
Level: 50
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary: Claws
Secondary: Super Reflexes
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Strike==> Acc(1)Dmg(17)Dmg(17)Dmg(27)EndRdx(39)Rechg(40)
01) --> Focused Fighting==> DefBuf(1)DefBuf(3)DefBuf(3)EndRdx(13)
02) --> Slash==> Acc(2)Dmg(7)Dmg(7)Dmg(11)Rechg(27)Rechg(29)
04) --> Focused Senses==> DefBuf(4)DefBuf(5)DefBuf(5)EndRdx(13)
06) --> Swift==> Run(6)
08) --> Follow Up==> Acc(8)Acc(9)Rechg(9)Rechg(15)Rechg(15)EndRdx(31)
10) --> Practiced Brawler==> Rechg(10)Rechg(11)Rechg(37)EndRdx(43)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(12)DefBuf(34)DefBuf(34)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16)Heal(37)Heal(37)
18) --> Focus==> Acc(18)Dmg(19)Dmg(19)Dmg(25)Rechg(25)Rechg(29)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(21)
22) --> Hasten==> Rechg(22)Rechg(23)Rechg(23)
24) --> Quickness==> Run(24)Run(46)
26) --> Dodge==> DefBuf(26)DefBuf(31)DefBuf(31)
28) --> Agile==> DefBuf(28)DefBuf(33)DefBuf(33)
30) --> Lucky==> DefBuf(30)DefBuf(33)DefBuf(34)
32) --> Boxing==> Empty(32)
35) --> Tough==> EndRdx(35)DmgRes(36)DmgRes(36)DmgRes(36)EndRdx(40)
38) --> Elude==> Rechg(38)Rechg(39)Rechg(39)DefBuf(40)DefBuf(42)DefBuf(43)
41) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg(41)Rechg(42)Rechg(42)EndRdx(43)
44) --> Focused Accuracy==> EndRdx(44)EndRdx(45)TH_Buf(45)TH_Buf(45)TH_Buf(46)EndRdx(46)
47) --> Shockwave==> Acc(47)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)
49) --> Evasion==> EndRdx(49)DefBuf(50)DefBuf(50)DefBuf(50)

[ QUOTE ]
You can target almost any flat surface within range that you can see with the camera

[/ QUOTE ]

Sort of true. You can most of the time target most of the flat surfaces. However a LOT of the targets that you want to use to actually move around sometimes fail for no good reason. You can be tping across Steel and suddenly be unable to get away from the red circles. You can want to tp up to a ceiling overhead in a mission and your odds on being able to do so are, sadly, remote. You can be unable to get white circles on a surface from one place and then able to get white circles in the same place from somewhere else (which makes absolutely no sense at all). Short of TPing far above the city in a straightish line it is difficult to make 20 successive attempts to tp in natural use without seeing the red circles where they shouldn't be. You should be able to make any intuitive TP to any suitable surface, but sadly this is far, very far, from the case

I've not got my human WS very far (level 10) but I like teaming. I've found that in a team of 8 with 3 Defs/Tanks I'm about as solid as the tank. I can comfortably charge first knowing that a single heal will be enough to keep me standing (with no enhancements in my resist toggle yet). Sure the damage from a properly slotted Nova form is impressive, but our intrinsic power (only active while human) is not to be sneezed at. I'm guessing the best team for me would be something like 1 tank, 2 defenders (one with clear mind), 4 blasters. My resistance would be impressive and my attacks would be buffed by 80%. I plan to fully slot orbitting death - Probably 1 acc, 3 damage and 2 endred. Sure it's not going to be easy, but then I've played easy enough already. I have a 3 form PB for easy and my 50 is a spines/regen. Making a good build isn't just about how easy you make it for yourself IMO. It's about making the toon you want to make and still make it work as well as possible.

I'm caught in a quandary. There's a sort of gap between Radiant Strike and the next really useful power which really begs (imo) for some pool powers to help deal with Voids and Quants.

I'm considering two different approaches:

Super Speed and Stealth

or

Aid Other and Aid Self

Now for the analysis:

SS and Stealth:
+ No more risk of turning a corner and finding myself face to face with an already angry Q or V.
+ I can run through the bulk of "non-clear", "non-fight your way back to the exit" missions. And if I add Grant Invisibility, so can my entire team.
+ I can Alpha with Pulsar and then switch to BN to kick bleep.
+ I can travel at speed in my carefully designed human costume
+ The time taken to buff and switch to BN is probably about the right amount of time to let the tank get the aggro when fighting in a team.
- Once the Q/V has seen me SS and Stealth are very little help.
- My carefully designed human costume isn't so visible with Stealth on

Aid Other and Aid Self:
+ I can buff myself to resist the disorients before engaging a Q/V (if I see them in advance of the fight)
+ I can heal others.
+ I could get Resuscitate.
- I may not see the Q/V before the fight starts.
- I'm probably not going to be in human form when the need to heal occurs and we have another heal we can get.

I'm leaning towards SS and Stealth at the moment.

[ QUOTE ]
here's one for all the SJ'ers out there, I know I wished I had known about it earlier...

/bind key ++up (auto jump button!)

now you can auto run and auto jump and its almost like flying! Set it and forget it!


[/ QUOTE ]

A slight improvement on the above, I think:

/bind key "++up$$+up"

This will also keep you jumping, but if you see a roof you want to land on rather than overshoot, press the key again. You will immediately start falling, without turning off your jumping, so if you time it right you'll hit the roof and continue from there. With a little practice you'll find you can hit every convenient roof without wasting time falling into alleyways full of places to get stuck.

Note to stop you have to hit the key bound to +up (which is normally the space bar, I think), instead of the same button again, but that's no hassle IMO.

[ QUOTE ]
-You remember when graphic adventure games had a command line
...you wish they still did

[/ QUOTE ]

Heck yeah. I'd still play them if you actually had to be inventive to solve the puzzles.

You use the word "Heck"

The reason that I made an Ice/Rad Corrupter was because it fit the character concept I made years before CoH even existed, but having made it, it seems to have a number of roles. Depending on what you are fighting and the situation it can be any one of the following:

Blaster, controller, healer, debuffer, tank or puller.

And it also has the best team buff in the game (short of a defender's version of the same thing), in Accelerate Metabolism.

Breaking it down in the above order:

Blaster:

Ice Blast and Bitter Ice Blast are as good single target blasts as many. Frost Breath is a good cone blast and I recommend slotting it 1 acc, 3 dmg, 2 recharge. Ice Bolt, I would pass on - You have way too much to do to want to waste activation time on this negligible attack. Ice Storm – I haven't tried this myself, but I've seen it work badly with my powers. IMO If you must take this take it late in the game, say 32+, because by scattering the enemy it ruins your main role, debuffer, every time you use it. Then I'd keep it mostly for when the mob is already semi scattered or as a "hit this and run like heck" power. However, I have thought of one other use for it. After pulling you could probably stop the whole mob even getting to you around the corner, by dropping this in the right place, much like I've heard Caltrops can be used. For this reason I might try it myself. I'm currently level 33, so I might get it next.

Controller:

Freeze Ray is a usable hold when properly slotted (3 duration, 2 recharge and only 1 accuracy, because you shouldn't have too much trouble hitting stuff once the defense debuff is on, which I'll get to later). Bitter Freeze Ray is useful to get the lock on a Boss or AV as fast as possible and keep it there as much as possible. Its activation is pretty slow, as is its recharge. It's worth taking, but I'm not sure whether I'll ever find extra slots for it and it does a pretty good job of filling the cracks as it is with just the 1 accuracy. EM Pulse is probably as good an area of effect hold as any and given the solid duration, I recommend slotting is 2 acc, 1 duration, 3 recharge. I wouldn't recommend Choking Cloud, as its end cost is so high you'd be able to run it and not much else, effectively crippling yourself while it is on.

Healer:

Radiant Aura is not a brilliant area of effect heal, but it does have its advantages. It always heals you. It never misses, so you can slot it 3 heal and 3 recharge, to get it to go off more frequently than the Dark or Kinetics equivalents (that heal for more). I'd recommend binding a key that makes this go off automatically for all those times when you get held or stunned or whatever, as it is probably the first thing you're going to want to do when you can, and that is the fastest way to get it to go off. /bind h "powexec_auto Radiant Aura" should do. This setting is also useful if the team is taking a pounding. Mutation is not really a heal, per se, but it sure can help out. If you can find a suitable lull in the danger to your team you can use it to get your team back up to full strength again, so I recommend it. 1 recharge should do. If you find yourself having trouble keeping up with the incoming dmg, check that the mob is still largely debuffed.

Debuffer:

Radiation Infection is just awesome as a defense. Most people hit 90% of stuff 90% of the time, so as a defense debuff it's not as good, except perhaps in pvp, but that's only by comparison. It's still good for your entire team to never miss the AV. I'd recommend slotting this 3 accuracy debuff, 1 recharge and 1/2 defense debuff. The recharge is because the target of this tends to die a little fast and you want it up as much as possible.

Enervating Field is the first debuff to use during combat, because it activates quickly. It's endurance cost is not cheap, but 3 reduce endurance cost enhancements alleviate that. Again you want it up as much as possible, so a recharge reduction is worth investing in too. It reduces the dmg done by the targets and increases the dmg done to them (irrespective of any attacks being capped for damage). In a fast deadly safe team it is the latter which is great. In a not so safe team the former is great. But you get both regardless – how good is that?

Lingering Radiation is the last of the debuffs. While this has only one accuracy I wouldn't pull with it, but with 2 it should be safe enough unless the entire mob is purple. This is because it dramatically slows the targets it hits. If as a pull it misses a lot, the missed ones will rush over and kill you, and it won't stop or reduce the alpha strike (each shooting at you once immediately) either way. So you can pull and back up knowing that you have time to heal from the alpha strike long before the bulk of the mob gets to you.

The three debuffs are so draconian that I have been known to start an attack by triggering EF, RI and then LR in a row without having to back up, but you can be sure I have Radiant Aura queued for immediately after LR. However most commonly I use EF and RI and then break line of sight while I heal. Be cautious trying to open a fight with both if the mobs are significantly higher than you. The activation time of RI can get you killed that way.

All your ice blast attacks reduce recharge times and speed. Of these Frost Breath is probably the most useful, but without stats on how much effect it has I'd have to say I've never noticed the effect in action.

Tank:

Stick the debuffs on a bunch of yellows with a the odd orange thrown in and you can stand in the middle healing to keep you alive. In a team without a Brute or henchmen (that the MM is prepared to send in first – not as common as you might hope) you should be the one taking the most aggro, not only because you have big area effect powers, but because you can take it, because your heal never misses.

Puller:

So you can take the dmg, but you also have a variety of powers to pull well. See Debuffer above if you want the whole mob gathered for destruction in the sea of your debuffs. However, as you have a single target attack you can also pull off the odd enemy to thin the herd. In particular a debuff as a pull is really smooth if your team is clued up (i.e. They stay around the corner and wait for the debuffed mob to arrive all in one place, all well debuffed)

When to be what is largely common sense. If your team is finding the opponents dangerous, then you are Debuffer, Healer, Controller in that order. If they are finding it easy then you are Debuffer, Blaster, Controller (mainly to stop runners/porters).

Oh yeah, the best team buff in the game. Use it all the time that it will hit a large number of your team. Before battles and in the middle of easy battles give people a few seconds warning that you're going to use it. /bind alt+a "g Gather for AM" or something similar.

Here's my build. It is team oriented. There's more stuff below it, including some "why this and why not that"

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name: Crystal-Girl (on Liberty FYI)
Archetype: Corruptor
Primary: Ice Blast
Secondary: Radiation Emission
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Ice Blast==> Acc(1)
01) --> Radiant Aura==> Heal(1)Heal(3)Heal(3)Rechg(5)Rechg(5)Rechg(7)
02) --> Frost Breath==> Acc(2)Dmg(19)Dmg(25)Dmg(27)Rechg(29)Rechg(29)
04) --> Radiation Infection==> TH_DeBuf(4)TH_DeBuf(7)TH_DeBuf(9)Rechg(9)DefDeBuf(27)
06) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(6)
08) --> Freeze Ray==> Acc(8)Hold(15)Hold(17)Rechg(17)Rechg(19)Rechg(25)
10) --> Enervating Field==> EndRdx(10)EndRdx(11)EndRdx(11)Rechg(15)
12) --> Accelerate Metabolism==> Rechg(12)Rechg(13)Rechg(13)EndMod(31)EndMod(31)EndMod(31)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Swift==> Run(16)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(21)
22) --> Hasten==> Rechg(22)Rechg(23)Rechg(23)
24) --> Lingering Radiation==> Acc(24)Acc(34)Rechg(37)
26) --> Bitter Freeze Ray==> Acc(26)
28) --> Bitter Ice Blast==> Acc(28)
30) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(30)
32) --> Mutation==> Rechg(32)
35) --> Ice Storm==>
38) --> EM Pulse==> Acc(38)Acc(39)Hold(39)Rechg(39)Rechg(40)Rechg(40)

Note there's a few slots yet to assign, starting at level 33, because I'm rethinking my original plan to slot up Bitter Freeze Ray.

Why Stamina? Because you need the endurance. It's that simple.

Why Hasten? Because all of your powers, including the toggle debuffs, need to be up ASAP and as frequently as possible.

Why Acrobatics? Because you are going to take aggro and lots of it. You can't do much to stop yourself being stunned (your main bane) or slept, except to make them miss by debuffing them, but you can stop yourself being held. IMO this is pretty much essential. Do remember to turn it off if your current opponents neither hold nor knock back. Remember the moment you are stunned/slept, hit h (or your chosen key) to make your heal trigger ASAP. The next thing to do after the heal triggers is slap the debuffs on or run, depending on the situation.

For ease of travel with SJ I use /bind a "++up$$+up" which lets you land on the rooftop or your choice while continuing to jump. I use A because I use E,S,D and F for movement.

Note the 3 endurance recovery in AM. These are just a good idea. Fast Endurance recovery rocks. It's what lets you blow 26 end on using Mutation mid-fight without having to worry about it and just keep on blasting and controlling with 4 toggles (though CJ is cheap – really cheap) going at the same time. Even with it you'll need blue inspirations every now and then, so I like to start each mission with at least 4.

These days I try to start each mission with at least 4 green inspirations to supplement my healing.

Why not Leadership? Because IMO you can't afford the endurance. Maybe later if I get a patron power that helps my endurance recovery I'll be able to get these. Maybe not.

Why not Aim? Well it might help with the damage I guess and the holds, but I tend not to miss anyway. Also from a purely efficiency point of view, it isn't up that often and then it is unlikely I could make the best of it. I consider it most effective if it is a good part of an alpha strike, but our first two attacks are both auto-hit. I might get it later, but I doubt it. The main problem I'd have with it goes something like this: In a team, I attack – EF, RI, Aim and before I can get the Frost Breath or Radiation Infection or Freeze Ray off, the anchor for the debuffs is already toast, even if it was a lieutenant. The time taken for the Aim would be too long. As it stands I often don't get the third power off with the debuffs on, and though this mostly happens when I can't find a Boss/Lt near enough to debuff as the opening move, it still happens quite a bit even with a Lt as the anchor.

Why not Aid Other? Because you already have a heal that recharges about as fast as it's activation time, and as an aggro magnet, you'd be interrupted a lot.

Why not Stealth? Well Stealth isn't much use without Super Speed and Recall Friend IMO these days. Certainly you don't want Stealth if you want to be the target, and you can heal yourself, so the last thing you want is to be the least obvious person in the team. Remember, everything that is likely to be hitting you is very likely to already be debuffed, so you are seldom in as much danger as other corrupters. I tend to die less than Stalkers and Brutes.

Grant Invisibility is, however, a valid choice IMO. As it increases defense, it stacks well with RI and spreading it around would certainly help the team. Note that the description in the planner by Sherk Silver is inaccurate. It is a click, not a toggle and there is no 30s limit. I may yet take it instead of Ice Storm.

Finally if you choose to follow my path or something like it, expect to be busy and have fun.

Here's my plan now that ED has hit. I'm currently level 40 (al-Shame on Guardian)

Exported from version 1.5B of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Regeneration

01 : Fast Healing hel(01) hel(21) hel(21)
01 : Lunge acc(01) dam(43) dam(45) dam(46)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) recred(5) recred(7)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04) endrec(15) endrec(15)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(11)
08 : Combat Jumping defbuf(08) defbuf(46) defbuf(46)
10 : Dull Pain recred(10) recred(13) recred(13)
12 : Swift runspd(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Integration hel(16) hel(17) hel(17) endred(19)
18 : Reconstruction hel(18) hel(19) hel(23) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(27) endrec(27)
24 : Boxing acc(24)
26 : Ripper acc(26) dam(39) dam(39) dam(40) recred(40) recred(40)
28 : Instant Healing recred(28) recred(31) recred(31) hel(31) hel(29) hel(29)
30 : Tough damres(30) damres(36) damres(37) endred(34) endred(36)
32 : Throw Spines acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Weave defbuf(35) defbuf(37) defbuf(37) endred(36) endred(39)
38 : Resilience damres(38)
41 : Quills endred(41) endred(42) acc(42) dam(42) dam(43) dam(43)
44 : Conserve Power recred(44) recred(45) recred(45)
47 : Impale acc(47) dam(48) dam(48) dam(48) recred(50) immdur(50)
49 : Build Up recred(49) recred(50)

This is obviously a plan based on respeccing. If I was starting from level 1 I'd reconsider the order of the slots, but it probably wouldn't change much. I'm not so sure about the last 3 slots in Hasten, but to be honest I can't think of anywhere more useful to put them.

First let me say that this is a great guide, with the possible exception of what do do for the last 3 powers.

It is no doubt true that resistance to Lethal is more prevalent than resistance to Energy at later levels, but according to your stats LBE has a base brawl index of only about 2.76. According to CoH Planner (that I have no reason to doubt), Impale has a brawl index of about 5.39. That would have to be impressive resistance to overcome that difference in damage. LBE does have faster animation, but it doesn't immobilize the enemy and I think I'd prefer the tactical advantage that gives. The faster recharge time of LBE seems irrelevant, as it is unlikely that you could possibly find an excuse to fit it in as frequently as it could go off and nor would you want to.

I have one question: Have you considered ditching the whole Fitness line once you can have Conserve Power 6 slotted? I think that allows you to have CP on for 90s and down for 72s. Making a rather broad assumption for the moment - that you could survive 72s without Stamina, this would allow you to add another two powers. If one of those was Moment of Glory, you could (depending on the opposition of course) sometimes pop it to cover the gaps in CP coverage. Unfortunately this isn't something I'm yet able to test, being at level 35 at the moment.

While Torrent is a pro-active approach to reducing the incoming damage, I think that it is situational in that I don't think you'd want to use it in a team, ever. Example of how this would play in a team: You knock them away then you don't need the pause because someone heals you - now the mobs are scattered and out of reach and the other scrapper and the aoe blaster are cursing your name.

I would get Quills twice before I'd get this once. Your whole build is aimed at being able to "stay in the fight" as long as possible. The longer you stay the more damage Quills does. Along the lines of the best defense is a great offense, this will reduce the amount of incoming damage, by helping to reduce the number of opposition. This becomes crucial once you've popped IH. The assumption is that it will keep you standing until it stops. If most of the mobs you were facing are also still standing at that time you are in trouble and I just don't think that with Spine Burst as probably your best attack on an overall dps basis, that you can stay far enough outside the mob to use Energy Torrent as a consistent way of dealing damage or reducing the incoming damage.

Overall, I think that I will probably try the following 4 powers for my last 4 (in this order)

Focussed Accuracy
Conserve Power
Quills
Impale

Once I hit 44, I will probably test replacing Fitness and SJ with Air Superiority, Fly, Build Up and Moment of Glory

Re Air Superiority This is IMO a great attack, entirely in keeping with our MO. Use it to keep the boss off it's feet while still within range and you are removing the main chance of being suddenly overwhelmed - A few times recently I've found I can't hit the button for Reconstruction fast enough . It's a pity that it's use will rely on being able to drop Fitness, which frankly seems unlikely.

If anyone out there wants a more offensive build for their first 24 or so levels, then they could do a lot worse than to replace CJ and SJ with AS and Fly as a start. Particularly as I'd consider AS as good a defense as CJ, at least in these earlier levels when you'll find more opportunities to use it.

Does anyone know what the new recharge and base duration for Invoke Panic are under i5?

Incidentally anyone know what the old base duration was?

[ QUOTE ]
Looking at your build so far it is suffering from having a lot of powers heavily slotted and squeezing Fitness in early.

[/ QUOTE ]

DA eats end like a bleep, so why is Stamina at 20 a bad thing?

Sure I may have some powers before I have the slots to put in them to really make them effective, but the way I see it, get the best powers and prioritize the slots as they become available.

I will probably get Touch of Fear instead of Midnight Grasp. I figure it should make stopping the AVs easier. It's not like I won't have decent dmg output without MG, which I may take at 49 afterwards. Soul Transfer is, after all, a bit of a gimmick.

Anyway here is my current plan (so far):

(Excerpt) Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

01 : Dark Embrace damres(01) damres(13) damres(13) damres(15) damres(15) damres(17)
01 : Smite Empty(01)
02 : Shadow Maul acc(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) dam(5) dam(11)
04 : Death Shroud acc(04) dam(17)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(7) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11)
08 : Swift Empty(08)
10 : Obsidian Shield Empty(10)
12 : Hover endred(12)
14 : Fly endred(14)
16 : Health Empty(16)
18 : Dark Consumption acc(18) recred(19) recred(19) recred(23)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(25)
22 : Dark Regeneration Empty(22)
24 : Cloak of Darkness Empty(24)
26 : Soul Drain acc(26)
28 : Cloak of Fear endred(28)
30 : Provoke Empty(30)
32 : Intimidate Empty(32)
35 : Invoke Panic Empty(35)
38 : Murky Cloud Empty(38)
41 : Conserve Power Empty(41)
44 : Focused Accuracy Empty(44)
47 : Midnight Grasp Empty(47)
49 : Soul Transfer Empty(49)

I'm particularly curious over whether anyone thinks that the build will suffer particularly from not having a surprise attack element that SS or Teleport would give it. I fear I may have to replace Hover and Fly with Recall Friend and Teleport. However I have enough heroes with SS and one form of Stealth or another, so I'd rather avoid that. It's becoming a bit tired.

GhostCat, do you teleport in to attack?

I've been toying with the idea of writing a program to take the user's choice of priority of power and priority for slots and then optimizing - showing when they should take their powers and how to allocate their slots, but if I made such a tool I'd be stopping people thinking. At the moment I do this manually and your guide covers (at least) most of the things I would say about this. Guides like this one encourage people to think logically about their choices. Great guide.

I recently posted my Guide to Forming a TF:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#3170668

I'd appreciate it being added to the Catalog, please. Particularly as I don't think there is similar in the catalog (or elsewhere that I have found).

I have a 30 Mind/Kinetics. More and more I find myself in teams without a lot of damage. Here Terrify seems to be useful, at least with Power Siphon. It is fairly easy to get two layers of Siphon going, adding 50% to my damage continuously. I can hit everything in sight with Terrify. This does the same damage as about 5 ticks of Burn (rough estimate based on observation from playing with a Burn tank last night) while locking down the whole room. Also it easily renews before it expires, and when you hit the mobs with it while the previous one still has them, they don't seem to get the opportunity to attack then that I was expecting. Sure 5 ticks of Burn isn't much, but it is to the whole room and it does hold them well enough that often TD is redundant. So it often goes something like this: While the tank wades in I target the boss. One TD to keep the mobs near the tank. D the boss. Siphon, Terrify, D, Siphon, Levitate, Terrify, D, Siphon, Levitate, Terrify...

Currently I have Terrify with 2 Acc, so it recycles slower than Siphon. I'll be adding slots to it, Probably 1 more Acc and 3 recharge. Note that I don't have TK. I figure we have enough holds that are easier to use without needing an end drain that isn't.

I presume the "will not Reduce Accuracy" is a aimed at those clamouring for a nerf of controllers.

I don't think reducing accuracy is the way to avoid statue fights. Just reduce the area of the ae control attacks. This would not severely impact on the Controller's ability to solo (where the crowd being attacked would probably still nearly all be within the area). However when in a group the Controller would be unable to catch more than (say) 30% of the (much larger) crowd of mobs. While this would still leave the Controller a very serious force in a team, the rest of the team would still get to fight animated foes.