Bakta_hero

So sorry for taking this long to reply.

- Leadership means you're within range of your pets. My own playstyle had me more often in the back, using poison for various effects. As those are drains your sta too, I found little or no use for leadership.

- Should you want to take leadership then yes, I'd pick Manouoever over Assault anyday. Ninjas are amongst the hardest hitting mobs.

Few things I find myself disagreeing on.

First of, because there are not often two empaths in the same group. And while the odds to find one out of two who is a decent empath are fair, odds that one of the two isn't a aura rocker are pretty slim. for one, I won't be wasting any buff over a a-rocker, the fella is useless in the first place.

Fort : Add my vote to the 'let circumstances decide' vote. Whoever takes the most beating/deals the most damage is first, then working the list down.

- Special note re all-tank team : lol!.

AB : I still don't see the point of slotting it beyond 3rch. Basic recovery is 800%, out of experience, a blaster will have to wait 0.something more if you use it on him without end rec.

[ QUOTE ]


Force Field is actually a pretty good set. Kinetics, on the other hand... a lot of Defenders like it, but how can you defend your team when you only have one power that increases resistance, and a token amount at that? Plus most of the "good" powers need enemies nearby, and they need to hit that enemy to take effect and they only work in a small area of effect around that enemy? Wonderful. "You're nearly dead? Great! Go stand next to that thing that's trying to kill you and I'll heal you!" It's like some sort of sick joke.
-
I feel nothing but pity for Kinetics Defenders and Corruptors, struggling to get teams on their quest to 50 only to find out that they're completely unwanted on things like the Statesman and Lord Recluse Task Forces. Maybe they can form a support group with Regeneration Scrappers or something.

[/ QUOTE ]

ROFL

Can you write a guide about that?.

Got the title for you "Why you should never, ever play a Kin Def"

please *bamby eyes*

* Off to explain coworkers, why coffee exploded on the screen*

I've been pointed out some glaring slotting mistakes in the first guide, they are corrected in this version :
Pve Patronless Ninja/poison MM [I 10], v1.1

6) IO and sets.

You may believe me or not, even though this is a very costly one, my own build is very close to this one and I spent 0 minute farming. There was some luck involved (I found the sovereign Acc unique at the end of a mission) . The rest came from the market. The each non-set IO has been picked up on the way in 45+ missions. I sold the rest of them to a vendor to fund the remaining. The big difference is that I still do not have LotG's unique.

With stamina still being a premium on this build, my starting idea was to go for Endrec, then were status protection and resistance in that order.

6.1) The unique that we need.

There are two IO that, imho, are needed the rest being gravy. The first I mentioned above : Sovereign Right's +Resist unique, it gives a +20% Res (all but psi) in a 20' radius. The second being Edict of the Master's defence bonus. When your ninja is within range, two shield, one deep purple and one red, appears over him. When I looked at the prices, they were in the 20~30 m range.

As for the rest, I picked mostly sets for +rec and +def whenever possible.

6.2) Those that we do not

Achilles Heel's special (-20 Res. proc) is wasted I think on this kind of build. I have it on mine, yet after doing all the number crunching, and after some field testing with it, it doesn't proc often enough that I feel a difference anyhow.

Although I found two purple IO, there were never a doubt in my mind that those were far too costly to obtain so I never looked into them. If you're interested, I may offer another build including them, do not ask me to compute it's cost though.



7) Tactics

There are few simple basic ones, tried and true, that suited my play style on my way to 50. By no mean should they be thought of as alpha and omega. I truly hope someone else got some others to mention.

I keep the pet-all button on the lower bar, that way I can order them in BG, Passive or Attack mode as required very quickly.

Unlike the fire forget and read a book type, (like bots/FF if taken to the extreme), any nin/psn fight is a clickfeist. Do not forget that your powers are mostly ST, there is no need for you to be at close range (unless you want your procs to be enforced)

I use some easy guidelines as reminder :

- Your initial position should be behind your minions at the start of every fight. At the very least behind one minion.
If it moves and it's not as weak as a wet kitten, debuff it.
Re-apply SF whenever possible.
The longer the battle, the more likely you'll have one stray ninja fighting at the other end of the map. Keep your battle short and tidy, regrouping is not a sin.
Always switch back to BG mode right after a fight

This one works perfectly well with Murphy''s law applied to pets : Whenever you want your fight not to spread, one of your minion will go exploring on it's own.

Whom I pick up first relies mostly on layout or who attack Oni back, and the presence of specific mobs (like flamethrowers, sappers). After that I usually pick the mob who is the most hurt/is main trouble and sick all my minions on him. Rinse, repeat until area is clear. By pickling mobs one after another you lessen risks of minions running amok

To my experience, it's not a good idea to send all of your pets on aggro mode to start a fight. The way one starts a fight will often dictate how it will turns. This lead to my first specific macro mentioned above :

7.1) The BG pull.

Basically, you send your chosen pet (pet goto, aggro mode) where selected, SF him on the way if you have it. The pet then opens the battle with a critical, you'll love oni's crittage, whatever hits back will trigger BG mode and the rest of your minions will join the fray. The you join in and start debuffing, whatnots.

This works well solo in most situations. It requires a good idea of the lay of land.

Some boss/EB/etc. fights are too risky for this to work out (bloody Valkyrie). So here comes your dumbest mode :

7.2) Mujiks!.

Park your pets behind, sneak in to target a minion nearby said EB, send your pets to their doom when safely back. Rinse repeat until your choice EB/etc.. only remains. Whenever I can I try to avoid using it.

In some occasion you'll be able to split or pull only one side of the room, in which case a variant of the above section is used :

7.3) The Hello-Kitty pull

This one requires you has some means to avoid aggro range, be it stealth or a received invisibility. The mechanism are a mix between the two tactics above : Park your pets out of range, but not too far, sneak in and use Weaken on your target, run back like heck while activating BG mode. Even if you're hit, the odds of being even moderately wounded are remote. If your attack miss...just run faster. An advanced form of this pull is to have one of your pet on aggro (usually Oni) on the way once BG mode is activated.


As the battle progress you will wish to send your pets against one mob (by using your attack mob), whittling the opposition one member at the time, while you keep the remainder buffed, held etc. This tactic has the advantage to wipe out each pet's aggro list and send them toward your target. In some case the list isn't wiped and you'll have a straggler. Try to avoid them at all cost, the simplest way is to get back your minions on passive mode, then to reinitiate the fight on your term.

Another long winded guide by yours truly.

5) Build

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1,30
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php

Manchu: Level 50 Natural Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Ninjas
Secondary Power Set: Poison
Power Pool: Concealment
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Call Genin -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg:50(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx:50(3), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx:50(3), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(5), BldM'dt-Acc:50(7), BldM'dt-Dmg:50(7)
Level 1: Alkaloid -- Dct'dW-Rchg:50(A), Dct'dW-Heal:50(5), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(9), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(11), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg:50(19), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:50(37)
Level 2: Envenom -- LdyGrey-DefDeb:50(A), LdyGrey-DefDeb/Rchg:50(9), LdyGrey-DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx:50(19), LdyGrey-Rchg/EndRdx:50(33), LdyGrey-DefDeb/EndRdx:50(37), LdyGrey-%Dam:50(40)
Level 4: Weaken -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb:50(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg:50(17), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx:50(34), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx:50(36), Acc-I:50(37), RechRdx-I:50(40)
Level 6: Stealth -- DefBuff-I:50(A)
Level 8: Train Ninjas -- RechRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(11)
Level 10: Swift -- Run-I:50(A), Run-I:50(50)
Level 12: Call Jounin -- Achilles-ResDeb%:20(A), SvgnRt-Acc:50(13), SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(13), SvgnRt-Acc/EndRdx:50(15), SvgnRt-Dmg/EndRdx:50(15), SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg:50(17)
Level 14: Invisibility -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 16: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 18: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(A), Mrcl-Heal:40(46), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:40(48), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg:40(48), Mrcl-EndRdx/Rchg:40(50), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx:40(50)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg:50(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(21), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg:50(23), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc:50(42), P'Shift-End%:50(43)
Level 22: Smoke Flash -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(23), RechRdx-I:50(43), EndRdx-I:50(43)
Level 24: Super Jump -- SprngFt-EndRdx/Jump:50(A), SprngFt-EndRdx:50(25), SprngFt-Jump:50(25)
Level 26: Oni -- SvgnRt-PetResDam:50(A), SvgnRt-Acc:50(27), SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(27), SvgnRt-Acc/EndRdx:50(29), SvgnRt-Dmg/EndRdx:50(31), SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg:50(33)
Level 28: Paralytic Poison -- EoCur-Acc/Hold/Rchg:50(A), EoCur-Acc/Hold:50(29), EoCur-Hold/Rng:50(34), EoCur-Acc/EndRdx:50(34), EoCur-EndRdx/Hold:50(42), EoCur-Acc/Rchg:50(45)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(31), RechRdx-I:50(31)
Level 32: Kuji In Zen -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(33), EndRdx-I:50(46)
Level 35: Neurotoxic Breath -- P'ngTtl--Rchg%:50(A), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow:50(36), P'ngTtl-Rng/Slow:50(36), P'ngTtl-Acc/EndRdx:50(39), P'ngTtl-Dmg/Slow:50(40), P'ngTtl-Acc/Slow:50(42)
Level 38: Phase Shift -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(39), RechRdx-I:50(39)
Level 41: Antidote -- EndRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(48)
Level 44: Noxious Gas -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(45), RechRdx-I:50(45), EndRdx-I:50(46)
Level 47: Elixir of Life -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 49: Acrobatics -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Supremacy
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]+4,5% DamageBuff[*]+0,95% Defense(Fire)[*]+0,95% Defense(Cold)[*]+1,88% Defense(Psionic)[*]+3,13% Defense(Melee)[*]+8,75% Defense(Ranged)[*]+8,75% Defense(AoE)[*]+20% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]+9% Enhancement(Heal)[*]+1,5% Enhancement(Held)[*]+17,5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]+2,5% Enhancement(Slow)[*]+5% FlySpeed[*]+90,4 (7,5%) HitPoints[*]+7% JumpSpeed[*]+MezResist(Confused) (Mag 7,15%)[*]+MezResist(Held) (Mag 8,25%)[*]+MezResist(Sleep) (Mag 8,25%)[*]+MezResist(Stun) (Mag 8,8%)[*]+MezResist(Terrorized) (Mag 3,85%)[*]+11,5% Recovery[*]+8% Regeneration[*]+1,26% Resistance(Fire)[*]+1,26% Resistance(Cold)[*]+1,26% Resistance(Toxic)[*]+1,26% Resistance(Psionic)[*]+5% RunSpeed[*]+PBAoE (20ft) Pet +Res(All but Psionic) 10%[/list]


<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data chunk into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MHDz;4501;1166;1556;|
&gt;-KEETMOVS@0@.\!\A]T"7KH&amp;A%?&gt;J"GMNXVNTB*(`ZV9U6F8VUET9#D[@80]-MW2%D&lt;VJ;L]KQP$DV
H;X;D&lt;&amp;8XOI.UFF=M]I&gt;LFT)5[\AO_/KJ(:OR]:[[DK6[.BN[AZQI9;TIJN7UU9&gt;B^CMKND=5-*KJ_J
C6LI95VWU452ZS&lt;J/EWXNVDDW3W&lt;ML6U0OW6(KY;J%T9#)9&gt;KZ_";OB03G0 ?2J66\*I:9JWLW^?Y[
7SSTO.&gt;,M['/&gt;MY"N`A!,#MIVKYM/S7&lt;&amp;+DJ,&gt;8PT7GN".;\&lt;CR4]8`R0A$IXLS0(I`V,V(W7$(&gt;YZK
O%6U7`9?U:Y:-OU3OM9*#)&lt;8GC!WX&amp;##"%R:C]GOXM;:M&amp;Y,_+P%V0B2T]F/C5++)N=685@RLLQQ!3$
?T3VK7;X.U"JXSY:OP&gt;=:OO9SN9K+;Z`:$YQF&amp;AP7%1 .&amp;.SU/X^IBPIV=&gt;+2.&lt;&gt;M]1L],XBA$SNX]"C
?S;&amp;,X&amp;W$L12\QV#C5`9/5WX.O69M#PKUI@KELMEE1]\_JKF@'7T6IW0B[A(\&gt;BU*[&amp;Q)-*1TZ($IQG
9?G&lt;=1LOC#1F22B/75=TS_)?*UAVG/F&lt;X6`?&gt;FG=O&amp;'W6H%(`M'4"`7[]WF-1AW^TC6VFZ\&amp;W5M0*=5
:-1WE5:U'DI/A[BS/#)DMNC&gt;Y^NB+&amp;7S)KB3LH15-.")&amp;WW$X:!(4@TOU`^HG&lt;5+%3P5+^MVK"L&lt;PY '
ZF*,ZA3N;P!T4&lt;XF?H$=6R1G4J=`\=,('/&lt;'`_U2?E.\$"'-([2\MWN_R[SHMVK4,/F&gt;;;Z4&lt;XNZMGB
6V$4&lt;$GA.)X:!T:CP4=9:7$O@?]&gt;M;4W"&amp;94'P`#2^'LLG3&lt;&gt;77!R\/*Z;-+'@H14D8@]Q;"6R3.J;S
C#"87"#.A(9;/!1UBM5;^!2EL%B7:S@"M6S/*BE3BQA$PL4IE&amp;;\L+&gt;2S0\Q^MC'G6B\(+.`6R#A](+
$QC&lt;AB4G4_B-`6T(&lt;8HA1/4C`C]Y@XU.E`%8F7&lt;&lt;+/OJP\&amp;$^D@H?!;;&amp;MJ;E5+M&gt;.9_[C9;6*G`6PO
@$\P0Z"/N$M9"Z+S'J84I;^(D)1]EJ\N,N4@HEB&lt;J+E&lt;9&amp;OU2E9G`?56&ampC]=95CX&lt;U6&amp;N&gt;&lt;00Y9$X(
Q/32-UO$#Y^`C]:CVT&lt;W&gt;JM#'/G)B/S_`&amp;39SUGZ*#V6JPZMZ$?JN8XR(Z"^\CR*Y".$GA-VWW9H^2N
Z&amp;BVT[=.OC#/YVX;L/)&lt;&gt;Q(]".9LLPF$HY-))9S;S,."S;U+LLA'\;KX'E7MU`R9WJ_N@YP[&amp;=!P\LZ
)?AV4:I_C!9S^@^O%IPJTO02?7"ZW&amp;EQ$S^O0]]:#YW^9M+Z2-/4B07T5MP-UZS?W?'$&gt;#(Y;BWSX6L
9\1_81(3PV#&amp;@NZ]DJB3SJ7$^/7XA&lt;K@.=3[5&lt;'"G-&gt;')OHWTFK1.T+_4_.W[L)\1.(:P'RPX[X&lt;6YZ
@E=!B=?NS8!ADO^,$&amp;'-2,H,K,^?F_#6IW\/U_";2)D?Y&amp;1DT_&amp;8=6C"(&lt2A2%!F*'$6!XFC!3 KI?!
S3E\!:NE80-8()B:L4D1)&amp;@2%%D***Q1*"(=I,(1;X7KZ_^`Y&amp;-!W``
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
</pre><hr />

There are some wasted bonuses here, dmgbuff e.g., that cannot be helped. The choice between filling in a Health set vs. a Def set boiled down to the +rec special and AoE defence that worked well with Performance shifter.

About this version : I utterly goofed up when writing the basic slotting under poison powers. This version has those mistakes corrected and more information under each power added. Really sorry about the mistakes, I need to slot my proofreading power.

The Patron-less Ninja/Poison MM.


Content :

1) Ninja line
2) Poison line
3) Pool powers :
3.1) Travel power.
3.2) The must have
3.3) Personnal choice
4) Patron Power
5) Build
6) IO and sets.
6.1) The unique that we need.
6.2) Those that we do not
7) Tactics
7.1) The BG pull.
7.2) Mujiks!.
7.3) The Hello-Kitty pull



Recommended readings :

- EvilRyu's guide.
- Haidou's guide on bodyguard. Understanding BG mode is essential for a MM.
- Any good Bind guide of your choice.

Basic setting : This is one of my many MM, me going Pikachu on them, whom I played mostly solo. It's basic theme is : No attack from the primaries, a mostly pve build as I play lean hours, and no patron powers. The last being more due to the fact having a patron would be unbecoming for this MM, based on Sax Rohmer's books. Having no patron means one has a lot of free slots to spend, and a good deal of pool powers to choose from.

Set pro and cons.

Pro

It's a solo beast. Poison is the best Single Target (ST from now on) debuffer that is; the set has one weak power only. Heroes/EB are putty in your capable hands (with one or two exception)
Ninjas are fast and furious. This is both a blessing and a curse, but no battle ever is boring or tedious. This is the way it should be, I noticed that the longer the fight, the more often it could spin out of control, with much frustration. I can't say the same about my Bot/FF, but I love reading a good book too.

Con

Ninja are high on offence but rely on defence to avoid being hit. Once they're hit, health drops fast, mostly true for genin, Alkaloïd is not the best heal around.
It's not a set for the faint hearted nor control-lazy. One learns very early in life that genins/jonins tends to wanders off faster than the roadrunner; it's not to everybody's taste.


On binds and macros.

I wrote my own macros using Curveball's guide mostly. I have to use macros (family reasons), but binds are better as they free up some space on the power bars.

Before we get to the meat of building, slotting and tactics, let's get over the binds. I'll not go over them in depths, there are a lot of good guides on the issue, but will mention some that are ninja specific.

First and foremost. If you haven't done it by now, edit your follow button from Aggressive to Defensive. Bodyguard (BG) is a must for Nin/Pois as you don't have a self heal.

A valid pulling tactic involves you debuffing your mob of choice before heading back to your, out of sight, ninjas. You'll need a bind or macro for them to 'Stay' (stay + passive).

As you as you get Smoke Flash (SF) and jounin/oni, you'll want to reapply it as soon as possible (for something known as crittage, cf. below). And later on, as you'll want to use Noxious Gas optimally. I'd recommend to make one that just 'target' each of jounin/oni nominally so you can use either smoke flash or Nox Gas, or Heal without having to toggle through your pets. I use a macro which has the added advantage in this case that as you'll need to hit it twice to apply SF/NG/Alk as required, I just do it once to select my pet then the appropriate power.

Your life changes markedly once you get your Oni. I found the following tactic to be especially handy : Send him, on aggro mode, near (within 30' but not at melee) the mob you want extra-crispy, keeping the rest on BG mode. I'll explain it further in the tactics chapter. Mark one of your jounin for the task, the first one you got, before that for the same purpose.

On Bodyguard :
This mode allows you to share the pain, literally cf Haidou's guide, allowing you to take but 25% under this condition.

On PvP :
My own experience with PvP is far too scarce to be of any help. I know the accuracy mechanics are different (2Acc are required on each attacking power), but that's it. You'll have to look elsewhere, sorry.

1) Ninja line

I'll not even consider the various bow powers here, this ninja MM doesn't sully his hands. To keep stuff tidy, I'll not mention set until further below, in the IO section.

On summoning : Each minion summoned comes on Follow+Defense mode, aka Bodyguard (BG).

Call Genin

Call 1- 3 genin according to level. End cost : 19.5
Recharge : 60s

Your basic cannon fodder, they serve two purpose. First to saturate the field and take some aggro off you. Second to take hit from you. If anything keep them on BG mode as often as possible. Slot them full as soon as possible, if only for IO down the road.

Basic slotting : 3dmg, 2 Acc in any order then 1Rch.
Genin can slot other forms, like KB, run and disorient. The first two are not what you want, keeping your fights fast and tidy is a must. The last doesn't procs often enough, in my experience, to be noticeable.

Train Ninja

End cost : 16.3 rch : 6s
Range : 50 cast : 2.37s

Your first training tool. To be used at the start of a mission. Early on, you don't have enough pets to buff that others will have to cool their heels on you. Once you start to get your 4th, think of using it on the fly, setting up for battle or on the move if you're in a team.

Slotting : It recharges rather quickly compared to Kuji In Zen, only 1 Rch and 1 Rdx if you must are needed. It takes just over 50s to improve them all.

Titbits : If you want to know the specific bonus/power your ninja gained from each training, just r-click the appropriate icon and read the "info".

Call Jounin

Call 1- 2 Jounin according to level. End cost : 19.5
Recharge : 90s

Now we're talking. When they're not using their ù$@!# wan***ing wrist-crossbow, they are an impressive close combat fighting machine. Unlike genins, their function is to be on offence as often as possible. Alas some of them like to play with their crossbows, you can't help it. Smoked, they either go for crits or placate, making it a fast fight. As with Genin, you'll want to slot them as soon as possible

Slotting : 3dmg, 2Acc, 1Rch or 1Conf later on.

Applied with Smoke flash or with KIZ (cf below), Jounin procs place or confuse. Unlike Genin, the proc is noticeable (50%), but it's not a fight breaker.

Smoke Flash

Smoke one pet for 10s, giving it 54 stealth End cost : 30
Recharge : 20s Range 100

Is to ninja what fort is from empaths. Use it generously as soon as it recharge. Basically it'll enable a mob to crits on his next attack. As such you'll want to use it either on your Oni, or on a close combat Jounin sometimes. It play a crucial role as a fight opener (cf. 7.1) BG pull below) as stealthy ninja score criticals

Slotting : 2Rch, 2Rdx, alternatively. You may want a range in it.

Oni

Call 1 Oni. End cost : 19.5
Recharge : 120s

The last and most formidable of your pets, some considers it your pocket dominator. It makes more and takes more damage than your other minions. As such he's often the one you'll want to start a fight, to make sure you won't grab aggro if you can't. With Kuji In Zen, he'll be able to hold, breath fire, use AoE fire rain and sword to get thing done. He's your first target for Alkaloid and SF. Please note that the End Redux means both you'll use less stamina summoning him, but that he'll too use less when using his powers.

Slotting : 3Dmg, 2Acc, 1Rdx.
Oni can slot other form of enhancements (hold comes to mind). According to my own testing, slotting such enh doesn't makes your pet use a power which makes best effect of that enh more. In the end, Oni being your killing machine, I reverted back to Damage enh.

[Kuji In Zen]

End cost : 22.8 rch : 10s
Range : 30 cast : 2.37s


Your last line of buffs. More often than not, you'll want to pop a blue once you're done. Please note it's range is less than Training and various summons (who each can be used up to 60 range). Should you have to recast in battle, mostly for jounin and oni, you will want to summon them closer.


Slotting : 2rch, 1Rdx

And now, for the treat.

2) Poison line

This line takes quite some time to bloom, not because the nicer powers are far down the line, quite the contrary, but because you'll want to slot your primary line over them. There is one power that you'll both love and hate, the mandatory one. There is no such annoying thing than to activate Alkaloïd and see it land on a dead minion. Let's first cover the one power I chose not to pick.

Poison Trap

End cost : 16.3 rch : 80s
Range : 0 cast : 4s (interruptible)
Effect :
Target : end –10%
Hold : mag 3 (4s) sleep : mag 3 (11.9s)

Available at 35, this power create a nice looking green ball at your feet. Should a mob pass by, it'll create a cloud. While it may be a valid tactic in a group, when or if someone else is doing some herding, it's a bulky tool solo for so little return. It's long animation time, and the fact it's interruptible prevent it's use in a fight where one has so many better things to do instead. The one tactic I can think of with this one would be along a "Hello-Kitty" pull, cf 7.3, should this power's recharge be boosted slightly.

Back to the list :

Alkaloïd

End cost : 16.3 rch : 4s
Range : 80 cast : 1.53s
Effect :
Target : toxic res 15% heath 24.2% (misleading number here)

Sigh. This will be your main healing tool, and it's a slow animation one. The heal is close to medic line in effect. The end cost/heal isn't that bad though, it's just that until you have started to seriously slot your debuffs, you'll be forced to cycle it over and over during a fight. Writing this, I ponder the benefits of slotting this over the debuffs first. I think that' it's benefits outweighs theirs until one gets SO, but it should be worth doing it the other way around.

Slotting : 2Rch, 3Heal, 1 EndRec any way you prefer, it'll never prevent your minion to gets it too late.

Evenom

End cost : 13 rch : 12s
Range : 70 cast : 1.33s
Effect :
Target : -22.5%Def (all) -30% Res (all)
Regen –50% Heal resist

Your first nasty debuff. If you succeed, it'll stick for 30secs and debuff target's res., def., regen. and health. The visible result is a purple downward shield that one may miss. I'll recommend to get a clock and look at your combat log to see if it failed or not.

Slotting : 1 Acc, 2Rch, 2 Debuff (def) and 1 Rdx.
Slotting more than one Acc is useless in a single target power, as long as one solo. The end result is a 77% of hitting a +3mob (cf paragon wiki). Should you go into a EB+ fight, then a accuracy inspiration is all what needed.

As with primary line, I'll discuss sets in the IO section.

Weaken

End cost : 13 rch : 16s
Range : 70 cast : 2.07s
Effect :
Target : -22.5%Dmg Debuff -11.3% to Hit
Special –74%

Your second and very nasty debuff. This is the one tool you must keep on an EB/AV/Hero at all times. The special means each and every self buff, protections, or side effects (like knock back) are severely reduced. As with Evenom, it'll stick for 30s. The recharge time being slightly longer, I'd advise a different slotting

Slotting : 1Acc 2Rch, 2 Debuff (to hit) and 1 Rdx. Until you hit 40+, then add one Acc and remove a Debuff

Those two comes together for me. As with Evenom, make sure you see if you succeeded or failed and when. The reason I add another Acc at 40 is that you fight more and more EB+ type of mobs.

Neurotoxic breath

End cost : 13 rch : 30s
Range : 60 cast : 2.67s
Effect : 20s duration
Target : Hold mag 2, 3.6s -63.5% Rch redux
Slow movement power – 63.5%


This odd power is available early but will come into force later as you don't have enough cover to use it before you get your Oni, while it works great with a Jounin too, they do not have a AoE power which means that you'll draw some aggro to you. It's main issue is it's range 60', taking you within mobs range. Once you get your Oni, who usually has used at least one AoE attack by the time you launch it, the issue happens far less often.

Slotting : 1Acc 2Rch, 1Rdx, (1Slow, 1 Range or 2 Slow)

Elixir of Life

A.k.a. "How are we feeling today M. Muller?". This barfing gem is your rezz. It'll resurrect an ally, but after 90s will switch off all his toggles powers with a puking animation. Just make sure your ally is in the know, or if you don't like him just say nothing. It cannot be used on your pets, alas.

Slotting : 1 Rch

Antidote
End cost : 6.5 rch : 4s
Range : 70 cast : 1.53s
Effect : 90s duration
Target : cold res +7.5% Toxic res +15%
Status effect mag –7.79 (all)

This is your +Res vs mind powers. While it give a small cold and fair toxic resistance, where it shine is it give a –7,8 mag on stun, immob., sleep, hold, fear and conf for 90secs. There are few EB+ mobs that will require more than one application of this power (Inferno's mom, the tree-hugger in Eden or Sthrenoss (sp) comes to mind). It's cheap and has a fast animation too. It's best used before a fight on status rich mobs (Succubi are now your.. naw, I won't say it) and kept on allies at all times whenever you know you'll face status effects mobs. Note the toxic resistance, it does help in some arcs.

Slotting : 1 Rch, 1 Rdx

Paralytic Poison

Your personal single target mag 3 hold. With it, and if your Oni feels like using his, boss can be kept held for a whole fight very early on.

Slotting : 2Acc, 3Rch, 2Hold. It's recharge time is 16s unslotted, so one can use a Rdx or gets another Hold instead.

The last one is :

Noxious Gas

End cost : 22.8 rch : 300s
Range : 30 cast : 2.07s
Effect : 45s duration
Target : Def -20% Res -30%
On some occasions : target 1000 mag hold for 4 s. [u]Odds for this gem to happen is under 1% per 0.5s while power is in effect[u]

This little gem is pet targeted. When activated its create a 30' AoE debuff zone around your pet of choice, the debuff effect being an overall –20%Def and –30%Res. On humanoid it "may" give a small timed hold. When it happens, it's great, but do not rely on it.

I do have one issue with it. By the time you have access to this power, any battle not involving EB+ mob(s) is just a speed bump to you. It's long recharge time (still 150s with 3 SO on) makes it very situational for something that's already a very safe fight. Tactically, you may want to save it for a 'big' fight knowing it'll make a difference then, and pray for the hold. I chose the casual approach, if it's on before a fight by all means use it. In some arcs (e.g the one where you have to fight Valkyrie twice, the Roadrunner-whatisname, Mynx and on in the same map), it's best to save it.

Slotting : 3Rch, 1Rdx.

3) Pool powers :

This is where I went bargain shopping.

3.1) Travel power.

I went thematically and wanted to be Lagville efficient so I picked up Super Jump. As Hasten is almost a must should one want to chain use Alkaloid, Super Speed is a valid choice too.

3.2) The must have

As stated above : Hasten and the Fitness line. Hasten mostly for the reason mentioned above, but also when fighting and EB/AV where you want to be able to re-apply your debuff as soon as possible once they wear off or fails to hit. Fitness because all these click powers are costly when used (cf Tactic chapter).

3.3) Personal choice

One line I chose early was going stealthy. The reasoning being simply that if I couldn't heal myself, and I chose not to go Medicine, then let's stack the odds in my favour otherwise. So I picked up : Stealth (always on in a mission map), invisibility (always on outside), and phase shift (a very good "Oh shift!" button).

4) Patron Power
This is a what if as I chose not to go down that road. Should I decide to pick one, my choice would be guided by this PP's shield and maybe one control like power while avoiding picking AoE attacks if possible

A quick review on these lines :
Leviathan Mastery : Needs two powers to get the shield. School of Shark cone has a nice immob which can be used along with Neuro breath. The shield is S/L/C only, making it a weak contender (unless you want to pvp, ice/energy blasters are in fashion currently).
Mace Mastery : The shield can be picked right from the start, it covers S/L and Energy and give a +res to toxic. A solid pve or pvp contender. One can go dowxn this line as Web Cocoon goes well with your own hold too. Strong contender.
Mu Mastery : Charged armour compares with Mace's one, this set can too offers something nice in terms of control (shackles are yummy!). Strong contender too
Soul Mastery : Covers negative instead of energy. I don't see those as often in the high end game. Otherwise decent too.

Same reply as with Tumbleweed . Forgot to go back to check slots before IOs. Disregard it, it's crap.

If you needed a proof of that overslight, here you are.

My build is pve, I'm pretty sure it's written somewhere with attached reason too. My pvp experience is good enough for tied up lemmings, nothin above that level. I'll leave it to others.

Would I go Pvp, it's a different kind of beast. 2 Acc will be required.

I realize I forgot to go back and change the basic slotting before writing down my build. Please discard most of it and look at the build instead. One Acc is indeed needed if one use SO

That said. I never slotted 2 acc in any of my ST attacks, that's overkill. Your unslotted to-hit base chance are :

- 75% on a white, down to 48% on a red.

Adding the aggregated Acc from sets, we're already at max on a even critter and up to 68% on a red. With but one Acc in a ST power we're at 96.9%, meaning we're at cap too.

source : Paragon Wiki

Without IO's Acc set we're down to 77% on a red. Im'm happy with that.

Without taking into account some critters's powers vof course.

On Antidote : Where did you found the second rch???.

Envenom : This is one of the few difference between my current build and this one. I do have one Acc in my current one and it's enough to hit red reliably.


Re Alkaloid : You're correct, a +EndRec is needed, my bad.

Spamming your attacks is the best way to get yourself dry. That's why I advised to get them timed in your head, or to make sure you know whether or not you hit or miss. And get a clock. I have one.

The issue is not with minion/lt fights, it's with EB+, we agree?.

Noxious Gas : When it's on I use it right before a fight on a jounin. I found it more useful then not to use that much.

[edit] : Smoke Flash. It's a matter of tactics. Early on, I spammed it as soon as it came up. I find now that I have enough opn my hand to make sure mobs are debuffed that SF goes to the backburner. Beside, the difference sin't that great if you take into account recharge time : From basic 30end, I'm down to 21.1, you'd be around 15. That's about 6 end over a 20sec period. As with Acc, I think you're overslotting, as you think I'm underslotting likely .

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If following true furu-tsusarada-do (The Way of Fruit Salad) a Defender should be good humored, witty, and devastatingly effective. Healing powers are neither forbidden nor required.”

[/ QUOTE ]

When are you gonna open up the Furu-Tsusarada-Do Dojo?

[/ QUOTE ]

Wouldn't that be kudamono-saradajutsu-Dojo?.

Add me to the crowd who thinks that, while nice, this is overpriced for value if you compares with previous online add-on.

I can understand you have to deal with a minimum transaction fee and maybe has to sell, whatever, at this floor price.

I can too understand that you wanted this in time for this event, and has no time to create further content, gravy, or whatever.

Yet the overall feeling, and the reason I'm still on the fence about buying, is an unwillingness to being ripped-off.

You guys never let us down before, this would be a sad precedent. If you gave us your word that folks with access to this would have futher content down the road that requires further testing and currently cannot be uploaded right now, I'd be taking all this in a much more friendly manner.

Cheers.

Here is my Ninja Poison, no patrons allowed [I10] guide.

7) Tactics

There are few simple basic ones, tried and true, that suited my play style on my way to 50. By no mean should they be thought of as alpha and omega. I truly hope someone else got some others to mention.

I keep the pet-all button on the lower bar, that way I can order them in BG, Passive or Attack mode as required very quickly.

Unlike the fire forget and read a book type, (like bots/FF if taken to the extreme), any nin/psn fight is a clickfeist. Do not forget that your powers are mostly ST, there is no need for you to be at close range (unless you want your procs to be enforced)

I use some easy guidelines as reminder :

- Your initial position should be behind your minions at the start of every fight. At the very least behind one minion.
If it moves and it's not as weak as a wet kitten, debuff it.
Re-apply SF whenever possible.
The longer the battle, the more likely you'll have one stray ninja fighting at the other end of the map. Keep your battle short and tidy, regrouping is not a sin.

This one works perfectly well with Murphy''s law applied to pets : Whenever you want your fight not to spread, one of your minion will go exploring on it's own.

To my experience, it's not a good idea to send all of your pets on aggro mode to start a fight. If possible keep as many of them as possible in BG mode. This lead to my first specific macro mentioned above :

7.1) The BG pull.

Basically, you send your chosen pet (pet goto, aggro mode) where selected, SF him on the way if you have it. The pet then opens the battle with a crit, you'll love oni's crittage, whatever hits back will trigger BG mode and the rest of your minions will join the fray. The you join in and start debuffing, whatnots.

This works well solo in most situations. It requires a good idea of the lay of land.

Some boss/EB/etc. fights are too risky for this to work out (bloody Valkyrie). So here comes your dumbest mode :

7.2) Mujiks!.

Park your pets behind, sneak in to target a minion nearby said EB, send your pets to their doom when safely back. Rinse reapeat until your choice EB/etc.. only remains. Whenever I can I try to avoid using it.

In some occasion you'll be able to split or pull only one side of the room, in which case a variant of the above section is used :

7.3) The Hello-Kitty pull

This one requires you has some means to avoid aggro range, be it stealth or a received invisibility. The mechanism are a mix between the two tactics above : Park your pets out of range, but not too far, sneak in and use Weaken on your target, run back like heck while activating BG mode. Even if you're hit, the odds of being even moderately wounded are remote. If your attack miss...just run faster. An advanced form of this pull is to have one of your pet on aggro (usually oni) on the way once BG mode is activated.

As the battle progress you will wish to send your pets against one mob (by using your attack mob), whittling the opposition one member at the time, while you keep the remainder buffed, held etc. This tactic has the advantage to wipe out each pet's aggro list and send them toward your target. In some case the list isn't wiped and you'll have a straggler. Try to avoid them at all cost, the simplest way is to get back your minions on passive mode, then to reinitiate the fight on your term.

Another long winded guide by yours truly.

6) IO and sets.

You may believe me or not, even though this is a very costly one, my own build is very close to this one and I spent 0 minute farming. There was some luck involved (I found the sovereign Acc unique at the end of a mission) . The rest came from the market. The each non-set IO has been picked up on the way in 45+ missions. I sold the rest of them to a vendor to fund the remaining. The big difference is that I still do not have LotG's unique.

6.1) The unique that we need.

There are two IO that, imho, are needed the rest being gravy. The first I mentioned above : Sovereign Right's +Resist unique, it gives a +20% Res (all but psi) in a 20' radius. The second being Edict of the Master's defence bonus. When your ninja is within range, two shield, one deep purple and one red, appears over him. When I looked at the prices, they were in the 20~30 m range.

As for the rest, I picked mostly sets for +rec and +def whenever possible.

6.2) Those that we do not

Achilles Heel's special (-20 Res. proc) is wasted I think on this kind of build. I have it on mine, yet after doing all the number crunching, and after some field testing with it, it doesn't proc often enough that I feel a difference anyhow.

Although I found two purple IO, there were never a doubt in my mind that those were far too costly to obtain so I never looked into them. If you're interested, I may offer another build including them, do not ask me to compute it's cost though.

5) Build

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1,30
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php

Manchu: Level 50 Natural Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Ninjas
Secondary Power Set: Poison
Power Pool: Concealment
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Call Genin <ul type="square">[*] (A) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50[*] (3) Blood Mandate - Damage/Endurance: Level 50[*] (3) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50[*] (5) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50[*] (7) Blood Mandate - Accuracy: Level 50[*] (7) Blood Mandate - Damage: Level 50[/list]Level 1: Alkaloid <ul type="square">[*] (A) Doctored Wounds - Recharge: Level 50[*] (5) Doctored Wounds - Heal: Level 50[*] (9) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50[*] (11) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge: Level 50[*] (19) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge: Level 50[*] (37) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance: Level 50[/list]Level 2: Envenom <ul type="square">[*] (A) Touch of Lady Grey - Defense Debuff: Level 50[*] (9) Touch of Lady Grey - Defense Debuff/Recharge: Level 50[*] (19) Touch of Lady Grey - Defense Debuff/Recharge/Endurance: Level 50[*] (33) Touch of Lady Grey - Recharge/Endurance: Level 50[*] (37) Touch of Lady Grey - Defense Debuff/Endurance: Level 50[*] (40) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance for Negative Damage: Level 50[/list]Level 4: Weaken <ul type="square">[*] (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff: Level 50[*] (17) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge: Level 50[*] (34) Dark Watcher's Despair - Recharge/Endurance: Level 50[*] (36) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance: Level 50[*] (37) Accuracy IO: Level 50[*] (40) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 6: Stealth <ul type="square">[*] (A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[/list]Level 8: Train Ninjas <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (11) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 10: Swift <ul type="square">[*] (A) Run Speed IO: Level 50[*] (50) Run Speed IO: Level 50[/list]Level 12: Call Jounin <ul type="square">[*] (A) Sovereign Right - Accuracy: Level 50[*] (13) Edict of the Master - Defense Bonus: Level 40[*] (13) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50[*] (15) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50[*] (15) Sovereign Right - Damage/Endurance: Level 50[*] (17) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50[/list]Level 14: Invisibility <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 16: Combat Jumping <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50[/list]Level 18: Health <ul type="square">[*] (A) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40[*] (46) Miracle - Heal: Level 40[*] (48) Miracle - Heal/Endurance/Recharge: Level 40[*] (48) Miracle - Heal/Recharge: Level 40[*] (50) Miracle - Endurance/Recharge: Level 40[*] (50) Miracle - Heal/Endurance: Level 40[/list]Level 20: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod: Level 50[*] (21) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge: Level 50[*] (21) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50[*] (23) Performance Shifter - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50[*] (42) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy: Level 50[*] (43) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50[/list]Level 22: Smoke Flash <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (23) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (43) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (43) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 24: Super Jump <ul type="square">[*] (A) Springfoot - Endurance/Jumping: Level 50[*] (25) Springfoot - Endurance: Level 50[*] (25) Springfoot - Jumping: Level 50[/list]Level 26: Oni <ul type="square">[*] (A) Sovereign Right - Resistance Bonus: Level 50[*] (27) Sovereign Right - Accuracy: Level 50[*] (27) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50[*] (29) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50[*] (31) Sovereign Right - Damage/Endurance: Level 50[*] (33) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50[/list]Level 28: Paralytic Poison <ul type="square">[*] (A) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 50[*] (29) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold: Level 50[*] (34) Essence of Curare - Hold/Range: Level 50[*] (34) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50[*] (42) Essence of Curare - Endurance/Hold: Level 50[*] (45) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50[/list]Level 30: Hasten <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (31) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (31) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 32: Kuji In Zen <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (33) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (46) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 35: Neurotoxic Breath <ul type="square">[*] (A) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge: Level 50[*] (36) Pacing of the Turtle - Endurance/Recharge/Slow: Level 50[*] (36) Pacing of the Turtle - Range/Slow: Level 50[*] (39) Pacing of the Turtle - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50[*] (40) Pacing of the Turtle - Damage/Slow: Level 50[*] (42) Pacing of the Turtle - Accuracy/Slow: Level 50[/list]Level 38: Phase Shift <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (39) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (39) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 41: Antidote <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (48) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 44: Noxious Gas <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (45) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (45) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (46) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 47: Elixir of Life <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 49: Acrobatics <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Run Speed IO: Level 50[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Supremacy
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]+4,5% DamageBuff[*]+0,95% Defense(Fire)[*]+0,95% Defense(Cold)[*]+1,88% Defense(Psionic)[*]+3,13% Defense(Melee)[*]+8,75% Defense(Ranged)[*]+8,75% Defense(AoE)[*]+20% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]+9% Enhancement(Heal)[*]+1,5% Enhancement(Held)[*]+17,5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]+2,5% Enhancement(Slow)[*]+5% FlySpeed[*]+60,2 (7,5%) HitPoints[*]+7% JumpSpeed[*]+MezResist(Confused) (Mag 7,15%)[*]+MezResist(Held) (Mag 8,25%)[*]+MezResist(Sleep) (Mag 8,25%)[*]+MezResist(Stun) (Mag 8,8%)[*]+MezResist(Terrorized) (Mag 3,85%)[*]+11,5% Recovery[*]+8% Regeneration[*]+1,26% Resistance(Fire)[*]+1,26% Resistance(Cold)[*]+1,26% Resistance(Toxic)[*]+1,26% Resistance(Psionic)[*]+5% RunSpeed[*]+PBAoE (20ft) Pet +Def(All) 5%[*]+PBAoE (20ft) Pet +Res(All but Psionic) 10%[/list]


<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data chunk into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MHDz;4451;1150;1536;|
&gt;-KEETEOVS@4@.\!\A]\*7KH&amp;!$7;&gt;BIK3/-#)(BL(/I697H6*TM&amp;EHZ$T#0;Y]'2EQLDW9Z+IR$"O6
]1_)M?+YC-5]D;?8/JYN25^_1'_3ZZB&amp;K\DW7?\G:KLZV_4/6M*S&gt;E55Q??6EK+YG3?_(RX97_5_5AM
6L:OM/O,I9MMV)YS_+MF)-T]^S;%]6S_UJSUC1KWBWG8V:7JZO@G[\H#[L/VXY+^!5560M&amp;S[D^&lt;UB]
SS0`1,ZQ`,9:`K@(03`S6U5+(O_)!&lt;J#CN465QTCCO2&amp ;2N6GK(22!00G6Y.`JD!@GZ.](D#./."YRVO
63'[RKNJ9EOA%"Q&amp;PQ.&amp;'NP,"2"&lt;W67,QTBANM4YL Q&lt;?,`I$IZL?*\6:3&lt;[M0K)(L&lt;0R!9*?L'_
B7;Z9\?7L/BM&gt;9I]K]C(LV'K!OH%HC,PR?E!M*D;$G/0\;787(VJ=Q"%UC&amp;OK$WQF$4L@LD[O$'BSR'
:2TQ%'4F,E`@?'(F"R^L?L:];FD'!OF]F"-?NLK(&lt;G?E&gt;VHZVB5!^$7,*5Q4GP9%/J%#`T2IV&gt;?E=
2PQG2\D[&amp;42X0';IAF6+-\(&amp;`^4N$P1PKG$*$S\L5NO`22!`D/#Q9/9G`KC?HID(6W'NQ07"D1:!5*\
JX2HME!Z.D6M[:$QLT.H=#^A*);/U6Q9/F]:53"HB3/4WQ9EWHHX:#=LJHK#(P.3K67I&amp;#&lt;&amp;AT?8I&gt;Z
H5IG3&gt;7`+-?E$3]`CK&gt;@,:E5I&amp;E@A9*Q!P`=8&gt;,OE!40L4MA,/-YW^0]EDL_9[MN6C;'W3JP2ZZA#H?
$5BL%9(CT&gt;RCK+MPSXG_7+.UET`FW#6+]6)12GZB4-#UX&gt;UTZ&lt;:/!0BR%B!W&amp;L)=),ZEI.,J'%F`.*:
"1PP$=6KWF]@XN9S5:;&lt;BT"!H0?&gt;"&amp;2*]3)!0)^5*=]J.\F')SCA9N53!1&lt;D#F`=?!@?&amp;$!B&gt;NPI,B'
OY&amp;@#B&amp;*30AA,41@)V&gt;P84\I@)TYYT&amp;SJT8 &lt;+"A&lt;@N&amp;SVM?0XJPY;Y7/_^YV&gt;]AI:&amp;XN@$\P21@;49O
0&amp;@+KO5DZE"7NM,Q`^5BR9KQ,L"E1^!4%"4&gt;_5&amp; 4\N*O*X.35588$KZLRQ/9##%D2@3%NFX&gt;('R\0
EZUGILZ&gt;[X5L&lt;\L6(^/L-+-+'V?XJ.:JM1JWT;NK6:'`^CL_`407H7H944;M7Z;-J5U`X5T7J*]L$=_
JGGR@V\\Z8K$4/BTTP\"4&lt;\B67=W83"AF6]RW+(!W4=/'5U"R5S+LXKZ@`U/2U(.%**!-^LMOQ?*46L
'L0I!5XU-+Y$'WB76FUNXN9%Z&amp;OM@=7C&gt;+4K&amp;J=6+!AKQ?UX S;K-'7OF$^^\UDS'KV;([3!/A-#84B`
ZL,17DJEOGOKG+T0.%:%.?0T'M5H3FDRMI%.E-H+XQ?+O,`3#'($;@F'48+T?6YRCMM!B1/J18QU(7?
"C#G#4'!F1N?7SNTT*&lt;]#IOZ077\F$@:$]'Q\B-8'4`U8/1#U0]1"J!R6E%YC6E!T[2LCH*#GB:2332
*&lt;QG,9(\4HP41-*0SJ-\31&gt;7_T/A'O^"P``
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
</pre><hr />


There are some wasted bonuses here, dmgbuff e.g., that cannot be helped. The choice between filling in a Health set vs. a Def set boiled down to the +rec special and AoE defence that worked well with Performance shifter.

Content :

1) Ninja line
2) Poison line
3) Pool powers :
3.1) Travel power.
3.2) The must have
3.3) Personnal choice
4) Patron Power
5) Build
6) IO and sets
6.1) The unique that we need.
6.2) Those that we do not
7) Tactics
7.1) The BG pull.
7.2) Mujiks!.
7.3) The Hello-Kitty pull



Foreword : While EvilRyu's guide is a recommended reading, I wanted to expand and modernize it, taking into account IOs.

Basic setting : This is one of my many many MMs, me going Pikachu on them, whom I played mostly solo. It's basic theme is : No attack from the primaries, a mostly pve build as I play lean hours, and no patron powers. The last being more due to the fact having a patron would be unbecoming for this MM, based on Sax Rohmer's books. Having no patrons means one has a lot of free slots to spend, and a good deal of pool powers to choose from.

Set pro and cons.

Pro

It's a solo beast. Poison is the best Single Target (ST from now on) debuffer that is; the set has one weak power only. Heroes/EB are putty in your capable hands (with one or two exception)
Ninjas are fast and furious. This is both a blessing and a curse, but no battle ever is boring or tedious. This is the way it should be, I noticed that the longer the fight, the more often it could spin out of control, with much frustration. I can't say the same about my Bot/FF, but I love reading a good book too.

Con

Ninja are high on offence but rely on defence to avoid being hit. Once they're hit, health drops fast, mostly true for genin, Alkaloïd is not the best heal around.

It's not a set for the faint hearted nor control-lazy. One learns very early in life that genins/jonins tends to wanders off faster than the roadrunner; it's not to everybody's taste.


On binds and macros.

I wrote my own macros using Curveball's guide mostly. I have to use macros (family reasons, I never know which of the normal pc or the laptop is free), but binds are better as it'll free up some space on the power bars.

Before we get to the meat of building, slotting and tactics, let's get over the binds. I'll not go over them in depths, there are a lot of good guides on the issue, but will mention some that are ninja specific.

First and foremost. If you haven't done it by now, edit your follow button from Aggressive to Defensive. Bodyguard (BG) is a must for Nin/Pois as you don't have a self heal.

A valid pulling tactic involves you debuffing your mob of choice before heading back to your, out of sight, ninjas. You'll need a bind or macro for them to 'Stay' (stay +passive).

As you as you get Smoke Flash (SF) and jounin/oni, you'll want to reapply it as soon as possible (for something known as crittage, cf. below). And later on, as you'll want to use Noxious Gas optimally. I'd recommend to make one that just 'target' each of jounin/oni nominally so you can use either smoke flash or Nox Gas, or Heal without having to toggle through your pets. I use a macro which has the added advantage in this case that you'll need to hit it twice to apply SF.

Your life change markedly once you get your Oni. I found the following tactic to be especially handy : Send him, on aggro mode, near the mob you want extra-crispy, keeping the rest on BG mode. I'll explain it further in the tactics chapter. Mark one of your jounin for the task, the first one you got, before that for the same purpose.

1) Ninja line

I'll not even consider the various bow powers here, this ninja MM doesn't sully his hands. To keep stuff tidy, I'll not mention set until further below, in the IO section.

Call Genin
Your basic cannon fodder, they serve two purpose. First to saturate the field and take some aggro off you. Second to take hit from you. If anything keep them on BG mode as often as possible. Slot them full as soon as possible, if only for IO down the road.

Slotting : 3dmg, 2 Acc in any order then 1Rch.

Train Ninja
Your first training tool. To be used at the start of a mission. Early on, you don't have enough pets to buff that others will have to cool their heels on you. Once you start to get your 4th, think of using it on the fly, setting up for battle or on the move if you're in a team.

Slotting : It recharges rather quickly compared to Kuji In Zen, only 1 Rch and 1 Rdx if you must are needed.

Titbits : If you want to know the specific bonus/power your ninja gained from each training, just r-click the appropriate icon and read the "info".

Call Jounin
Now we're talking. When they're not using their ù$@!# wan***ing wrist-crossbow, they are an impressive close combat fighting machine. Unlike genins, their function is to be on offence as often as possible. Alas some of them like to play with their crossbows, you can't help it. Smoked, they either go for crits or placate, making it a fast fight. As with Genin, you'll want to slot them as soon as possible

Slotting : 3dmg, 2Acc, 1Rch or 1Conf later on.

Smoke Flash
Is for ninja what fort is from empaths. Use it generously as soon as it recharge. Basically it'll enable a mob to crits on his next attack. As such you'll want to use it either on your Oni, or on a close combat Jounin sometimes.

Slotting : 3Rch, 1Rdx. You may want a range in it.

Oni
The last and most formidable of your pets, some considers it your pocket dominator. It makes more and takes more damage than your other minions. As such he's often the one you'll want to start a fight, to make sure you won't grab aggro if you can't. With Kuji In Zen, he'll be able to hold, breath fire, use AoE fire rain and sword to get thing done. He's your first target for Alkaloid and SF. Please note that the End Redux means both you'll use less stamina summoning him, but that he'll too use less when using his powers.

Slotting : 3dmg, 2Acc, 1Rdx.


[Kuji In Zen]
Your last line of buffs. Unslotted, it has a recharge time of 10s and cost 22,8 per application. More often than not, you'll want to pop a blue once you're done

Slotting : 2rch, 1Rdx

And now, for the treat.

2) Poison line

This line takes quite some time to bloom, not because the nicer powers are far down the line, quite the contrary, but because you'll want to slot your primary line over them. There is one power that you'll both love and hate, the mandatory one. There is no such annoying thing than to activate Alkaloïd and see it land on a dead minion..Let's first cover the one power I chose not to pick.

Poison Trap
Available at 35, this power create a nice looking green ball at your feet. Should a mob pass by, it'll create a cloud which drains 10% of their End and create, unslotted, a mag. 3 sleep for 12s, hold for 4s. While it may be a valid tactic in a group, when or if someone else is doing some herding, it's a bulky tool solo for so little return. It's long animation time, and the fact it's interruptible prevent it's use in a fight where one has so many better things to do instead.

Back to the list :

Alkaloïd

Sigh. This will be your main healing tool, and it's a slow animation one. The end cost/heal isn't that bad though, it's just that until you have started to seriously slot your debuffs, you'll be forced to cycle it over and over during a fight. Writing this, I ponder the benefits of slotting this over the debuffs first. I think that' it's benefits outweighs theirs until one gets SO, but it should be worth doing it the other way around.

Slotting : 3Rch, 3Heal any way you prefer, it'll never prevent your minion to gets it too late.

Evenom
Your first nasty debuff. If you succeed, it'll stick for 30secs and debuff target's res., def., regen. and health. The visible result is a purple downward shield that one may miss. I'll recommend to get a clock and look at your combat log to see if it failed or not.

Slotting : 2Rch, 3 Debuff (def) and 1 Rdx.
As with primary line, I'll discuss sets in the IO section.

Weaken
Your second and very nasty debuff. If you succeed, unslotted it'll reduce mob's To Hit (-11%), Damage (-221%) and all of his special effects by a large share. This is the one tool you must keep on an EB/AV/Hero at all times. As for Evenom it'll stick for 30s.

Slotting : 2Rch, 3 Debuff (to hit) and 1 Rdx.

Those two comes together for me. As with Evenom, make sure you see if you succeeded or failed and when.

Neurotoxic breath

This odd power is available early but will come into force later as you don't have enough cover to use it before you get your Oni. It's another nasty one though, it slows travel powers by 65% on the average (fly being reduced 70%) and mob's Recharge redux by 65% too. It's main issue is it's range 60', taking you within mobs range. Once you get your Oni, who usually has used at least one AoE attack by the time you launch it, the issue happens far less often.

Slotting : 2Rch, 1Rdx, 3Slow

Elixir of Life

A.k.a. "How are we feeling today M. Muller?". This barfing gem is your rezz. It'll resurrect an ally, but after 90s will switch off all his toggles powers with a puking animation. Just make sure your ally is in the know, or if you don't like him just say nothing. It cannot be used on your pets, alas.

Slotting : 1 Rch

Antidote

This is your +Res vs mind powers. While it give a small cold and fair toxic resistance, where it shine is it give a –7,8 mag on stun, immob., sleep, hold, fear and conf for 90secs. There are few EB+ mobs that will require more than one application of this power (Inferno's mom, the tree-hugger in Eden or Sthrenoss (sp) comes to mind). It's cheap and has a fast animation too. It's best used before a fight (Succubi are now your.. naw, I won't say it) and kept on allies at all times whenever you know you'll face status effects mobs.

Slotting : 2 Rch

Paralytic Poison

Your personal single target mag 3 hold. With it, and if your Oni feels like using his, boss can be kept held for a whole fight very early on.

Slotting : 2Acc, 3Rch, 2Hold. It's recharge time is 16s unslotted, so one can use a Rdx or gets another Hold instead.

The last one is :

Noxious Gas

This little gem is pet targeted. When activated its create a small (around 10') AoE debuff zone around your pet of choice, the debuff effect being an overall –20%Def and –30%Res. On humanoid it "may" give a small timed hold. The issues with this power are twofold : First the AoE effect is small, so you will have to use it once your pet is within melee range otherwise it's wasted, but here kicks in the second problem. If you use it on a genin it often won't last long as genin will love nothing less than die for you. Repeatedly.

Slotting : 3Rch, 1Rdx./ It has a very long, 300s, recharge.

3) Pool powers :

This is where I went bargain shopping.

3.1) Travel power.

I went thematically and wanted to be Lagville efficient so I picked up Super Jump. As Hasten is almost a must should one want to chain use Alkaloid, Super Speed is a valid choice too.

3.2) The must have

As stated above : Hasten and the Fitness line. Hasten mostly for the reason mentioned above, but also when fighting and EB/AV where you want to be able to re-apply your debuff as soon as possible once they wear off or fails to hit. Fitness because all these click powers are costly when used (cf Tactic chapter).

3.3) Personnal choice

One line I chose early was going stealthy. The reasoning being simply that if I couldn't heal myself, and I chose not to go Medicine, then let's stack the odds in my favour otherwise. So I picked up : Stealth (always on in a mission map), invisibility (always on outside), and phase shift (a very good "Oh shift!" button).

4) Patron Power
This is a what if as I chose not to go down that road. Should I decide to pick one, my choice would be guided by this PP's shield and maybe one control like power while avoiding picking AoE attacks if possible

A quick review on these lines :
Leviathan Mastery : Needs two powers to get the shield. School of Shark cone has a nice immob which can be used along with Neuro breath. The shield is S/L/C only, making it a weak contender (unless you want to pvp, ice/energy blasters are in fashion currently).
Mace Mastery : The shield can be picked right from the start, it covers S/L and Energy and give a +res to toxic. A solid pve or pvp contender. One can go dowxn this line as Web Cocoon goes well with your own hold too. Strong contender.
Mu Mastery : Charged armour compares with Mace's one, this set can too offers something nice in terms of control (shackles are yummy!). Strong contender too
Soul Mastery : Covers negative instead of energy. I don't see those as often in the high end game. Otherwise decent too.

Appendix B:

The Non-empathy defenders Heal0rz.

We’re far off-shore here. While, for completeness’ sake, we will explore all possible avenues of green number’ support, Defenders are, by and large, called Defenders and not Heal0rz for a reason. In no way one can expect a FF to help the same way a Rad does, and neither is less valuable than an Emp, or Kin.

There are two kinds of Defenders to consider. The ones without Heals, and the ones with. The first kind needs a different set of tools to keep a team happy on their own: The medicine pool.

- The medicine pools covers single target heal, status protection, self-heal, and Resurrection.

Each and every of these powers compares unfavourably against their empathy’s counterpart. Longer recast period, longer casting time and most importantly, interruptible. The later meaning mostly that unless one is out of mob’s AoE range, one will provides little green support in a fight.

Yet my [u]gut feeling[u] here is that, with these tools, FF, Sonic and TA ((Now you have your healz Arrow ) will be better heal0rz than either Drk, Kin or Rad. I do not have any hard numbers to back up this claim, but you’ll get the reasoning further below.

Both FF and Sonic focuses on avoiding or lessening damage of almost every type that exist. These make a pretty powerful addition to any team in term of support. After the big three (their main bubbles) they’re free to pick any form of powers in either the primary, secondary or pool lines with team help in mind.

TA’ primary line requires a bit more attention, one has to pick more of it to be effective, but also offers more goodies like hold.

By and large, while making a heal0rz out of each of them can be done, they should best plan as heal0rz complement for a team. With both you and any of them, your team is really as safe as can be.

Radiation defenders have two heal0rz tools: AM and a AoE self centred heal. The first one is a great buff, the second is…meh. Med line can covers this. But, Rad are the debuff masters and, as such, draw a fair amount of aggro to themselves making them more prone to interrupt (maybe a interrupt redux enhancement can help here? Told you we’re in unknown waters here, considering to slot an interrupt !).

Dark and Kin, I’ll write off as heal0rz. Mostly because they focus on another aspect of team’s protection and are terrific at it. Both has the best AoE heal that is, almost on par with Heal Others, but each draws some aggro by using it.

If I was to pick a candidate for alt-heal0rz, I’d choose a FF/Drk with med pool, leadership and teleport as travel powers.

Before shutting up for good, let’s say a quick word on Non-Defenders Heal0rz.

Some people think that a heal0rz is one who piles as many safe buff/debuff on a team to make it more efficient (e.g. the Ill/Emp builds I’ve seen sometime). That mindset is prevalent in other games but does it apply in CoX? An honest answer is, it might. A more honest answer being, it might be more efficient than a team without, but pales compared to the real “power of the Heal0rz”*. A controller who choose mostly is secondary line knows that, when healing is concerned, he has only 3/4th the efficiency of a Heal0rz and lacks the secondary benefits given to a Heal0rz by his secondary line.

Whether or not a ‘support’ hero, compared to either a mainstream controller or a Heal0rz taking his place, is not a drag to his group would require some xp/min testing far too boring for me so let’s leave it at that, I've said my piece about that in the main post.

Ta.

*Voiceover by James Earl Jones (tm).

Appendix A:

The Healing of the Tank.

For the number crunchers out there:

Let’s say your Tank has 200hp, you have 100hp, both being in the low levels*. With neither powers slotted with Rdx or Heal, your HA will heal him each 10.03s cycle for 13.2hp while HO will cure 25.8 every 6.27s. And now let’s assume that, without any other means of self-healing or inspiration, you need to cure him of 60hp damage.

By this account it’ll take:
- HO only: 12.81s to heal him fully.
- HA only: 42.15s for the same effect.
- Using both as fast as they recharge: 10.57s. That’s 1HA plus 2HO applications in that order. And even then, the difference between this and the three HO applications above is under 2.30s.

As the difference between Tank and others AT grows with levels, HA’s meddling becomes more and more a liability.

*: I take those numbers as not far off the mark at low levels. If you fiddle around the numbers (Def’s hp being the one factor here one can use even if that is [u]highly[u] misleading), the end result will not change unless your health goes up to 160hp, an amount that doesn’t sound right to me, or lower to 80hp then it’ll take longer for your HA to heal a Tank fully. The point being, rocking the aura (HA on auto) isn’t a fast tool for healing a Tank. The fastest is shown above, and safest is by using HO and a HA on the side as finishing touch.

[ QUOTE ]
Two minor points: you refer to heals as a percentage of health.

for instance,

[ QUOTE ]

25.8% of your health is not 25.8% of a Tanker's health- in fact, if they've got Dull Pain running, it's a LOT less. (lilke 12%?)


[/ QUOTE ]

Good numbers for comparison, but maybe a little misleading.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'll insert an example to make it clear. It was intended to be as concise as possible without having to go in-depth into details.

[ QUOTE ]

Also, the /Elec and Power Build Up combo can 100% drain badguys -that's only one attack so by the time they get mad at you they can't do anything about it.

The End Drain is not so valuable in the first 40 levels, though. Basically if you've got another Elec on the team you can get good use out of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're not the only /elec advocate, but I have to point out, that's its a long way for a secondary line to be useful when any of dark, rad or sonic secondaries helps a team from day 1; a team will find a - acc/def/res more useful than the early drain you'll agree.

Thanks.

- Re : others def's primaries.

It's another ballgame. E.g Dark's healing does draw aggro and, even if it's the strongest AoE heal I can think of (on par with Kin), is a by-product as to where that Def really shines, same goes for Kin. That said, you're correct. If one has to be exhaustive, one needs to cover theses too. Off to work I go! (nts : work on your DDD more, slacker).

- Re IO: Please read my comments on AP. To me this is the main reason one needs a +regen' IO bonus.

- Re : Team size. It was irrelevant to what I had in mind. To me, in planning def's job, only team make up is. And to tell the truth, as a blaster I'd pick a FF, or sonic, with med pool any day over a emp .

- Re: medecine pool. Does a emp def needs to pick this line?, I'd say no. It offers little to this primary, makes you mind your movements (you need to be static) and range even more. But for other def's primaries, it might be a good point.

Everything you wanted to know about Heal0rz*, but were afraid to ask [I10].

Nice addition, if you don't mind I'll quote it in the relevant area.

As said, I'm electricity prejudiced so didn't look deep in that one.

Here is the build I made up to 41 loosely based on my own emp def then.

I chose not to include epics as it was irrelevant to the point.

Enjoy !

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,153
http://www.onthejazz.co.uk/hu/mhd.php

Heal0rz-41: Level 40 Technology Defender
Primary Power Set: Empathy
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Blast
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Leadership

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(3), RechRdx(5), Heal(9), RechRdx(25), EndRdx(29)
Level 1: Neutrino Bolt -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), DefDeb(17), EndRdx(40)
Level 2: Heal Other -- Heal(A), Heal(5), Heal(7), RechRdx(9), RechRdx(15), RechRdx(25)
Level 4: X-Ray Beam -- Acc(A), Dmg(7), DefDeb(11), EndRdx(39)
Level 6: Recall Friend -- RechRdx(A)
Level 8: Absorb Pain -- Heal(A), RechRdx(37)
Level 10: Resurrect -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(11)
Level 12: Fortitude -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(13), RechRdx(13), ToHit(15)
Level 14: Teleport -- EndRdx(A)
Level 16: Clear Mind -- RechRdx(A), EndRdx(17)
Level 18: Recovery Aura -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19), EndMod(19), RechRdx(21), EndMod(23), EndMod(23)
Level 20: Proton Volley -- Acc(A), Dmg(21)
Level 22: Assault -- RechRdx(A)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(33), DefBuff(36), EndRdx(36)
Level 26: Regeneration Aura -- Heal(A), RechRdx(27), RechRdx(27), Heal(29), RechRdx(37), Heal(37)
Level 28: Tactics -- ToHit(A), ToHit(31), EndRdx(34), ToHit(34)
Level 30: Cosmic Burst -- Acc(A), Dmg(31), Dmg(31), Range(33), EndRdx(34), RechRdx(39)
Level 32: Adrenalin Boost -- Heal(A), RechRdx(33)
Level 35: Neutron Bomb -- Acc(A), DefDeb(36), Dmg(40)
Level 38: Irradiate -- Acc(A), EndRdx(39), DefDeb(40)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)

were afraid to ask.

[edit] Fixed goof on Fort/AB duration, and extended comments on /elec.

After one times too many explaining why HA on auto was a bad idea, for so many reasons I could have no idea where to start with online, the idea of this little guide came to me. This is written mostly with Empathy Defender and, to a lesser extend, Controllers in mind. Not that I have in mind to stop the daily heal0rz’ threads on the defender forum, I love to read them way to much.

First of, the worst of the worst: Targeting a Tank, /follow him and rock the aura. Dear Cthulhu, where to start!?

1) A Tank usually will grab aggro, a good one do that at the start of every battle. If you’re following him, that will put you in a bad place.

With radio missions available now, odds that you’ll meet mobs with status effect AoE powers are good even in the early teens. The one thing controllers and defenders lacks is personal status protection. So instead of generating greens numbers you’ll spend time sleeping, being stunned or flat on your back in a hot zone. At later stages, when you meet AoE using mobs, it’s your own health that you’re endangering, so unless you’re working on your debt badge, stay [u]away[u] from the Tank.

2) You’re providing little or no support for your team.

Unslotted, Heal Aura has a 8s recast, with a 2.03 casting time and heals for 13.2% within a 25 radius; Heal Others has a 4s recast, a 2.27 casting time for 25.8%. Problems are twofold. First a tank will need a good supply of HA before his health will start not to be a problem anymore. As the above numbers shows, where one HO will get him a over a fourth of his HP within 6.27s, you’ll need 12.06s with HA to achieve a similar result, and the difference starts to show at later stages. Using HA is not the most efficient way to heal a tank. But that’s not the whole story! To keep the squishies healthy, you force them to be within 25’ of you. See 1) for possible team mates outcomes. All in all, by using HA on auto, you force everyone to take undue risks.

I’ll come back later on another HA on auto failing.

3) You’re focusing on the wrong part of the screen, if you’re even focusing at all*.

While, for many AT, the main screen is where one devotes most of his attention, team’s status is what should bother a Heal0rz. Usually on the bottom left part of your screen, it’s the team status that you should devote attention to. At first you’ll have but healz tools to play with, so only everyone’s green bar is what you’re looking at. Despite common wisdom, compared to other defenders, empath’s best heals are not AoE but single targeted ones so here is your rules of thumb : If only one team mate’s bar goes down, uses HO, otherwise use HA if you must at all.

*: That for some players who just /follow the tank, put HA on auto and go eat a sammish for the remainder of the mission while waiting for praises.

- In pvp and Hami raids, the points above do not apply.

Being a heal0rz takes a lot more work than it seems at first. But let’s go step by step.

First of, you need to empathise with others. Joking aside, you’ll be more efficient at being a good heal0rz if you know the strengths and weaknesses of your team mates. First rule of learning is to get a quick review of your team mate’s powers. Second, if possible is to have sufficient experience with said type, either by having teamed with one for a good bit, or better to have played one yourself.

1st example: A */regen scrapper has one main heal self, a health bonus power, and a regen power. It’s safe to assume that the first time his health bar goes down, he’ll take care of it by himself; should it take a dip twice quickly, it’s the heal0rz’s job to step in and heal the loony then, not before.

2nd example: stone tanks early status protection power makes him virtually immobile. It might be a good idea to throw a little Clear Mind his way if your group is on the move against status heavy mobs as insurance.

3rd example: Khelds, in squid form, are as brittle as can be (before eclipse for WS). Once you see one starting to blast like there is no tomorrow, it might be a good idea to start throwing a HO his way, taking those 2.27s in mind, so he can survive two hits.

You don’t healz an invulnerability tanker the same way you do a fire one, the same goes for regen and dark scrappers and on.

About Absorb Pain. It’s your biggest gun, and the recoils will hurt you. With the same casting time as HO, it cures (unslotted) 65.8% making it your late major tool for tanks. The downside is you take yourself -108hp, has a 100% res on heal, and a -100%regen. Before you have regen aura (+500% regen) take some care using this one, keep a watch on your surrounding, making sure you won’t get into some AoE effects (now HA on auto comes back to bite you) until the side effects (20s) wears off. If you’re under Reg Aura, AP and HO makes a good healing chain, those 108hp will hurt still.

Next, and most common misconception, a good heal0rz’s will use heals only as last resort not as first! Yes, true believers, preventing damage is a far better goal compared to restoring someone to prime condition. And luckily for us, heal0rz, empathy’s set is ripe with such tools. Let’s do a quick review of those pro-active tools:

- Clear Mind : With a long casting time, 3.1s, it protect anybody else from status effects for 90s. It has some proactive and reactive uses. In the early levels, it’s more stamina efficient to use as when necessary on squishies (just make sure they know your status message, ‘Zzzz’ usually, so you know whom to cm), and keep it on scrappers or toggle heavy team mates. Once scrappers and tanks get their status protection powers, you can ignore them for a good bit (that is unless there is a huge stacks a lot of status icons on their lines) and keep cm on other on a permanent basis if the mission requires. Khelds and other Defenders are your main cm’s users.

- Fortitude: Take it, slot it, pet and hug it day in day out. Unslotted it gives a +15% overall Def, +18.8 toHit Buff and +31.1% damage for 90s. Its casting time is like HO’s (2.27s), its recast of 60s (3 recharges SO brings it down to 30) means you can, and should use it often. There is no fixed rule as to who makes best use of it. As a heal0rz, your main objective is to keep your team green and relaxed, so at first start with the team mate who get hurts the most and work your way down; scrappers, khelds and blasters are usually a good starting point, but it depends. This is one power which must be used as soon as it’s refreshed, if your main target got it, use it on someone else unless you think it’ll drop soon.

I’ll cover the auras together below, let’s skip to:

- Adrenaline Boost: Giving a 800% recovery and 500% regenwith a high slow resist, this one should too be used constantly, right? Hmmm no. This last and impressive heal0rz tool on the line, to my experience, is more used reactively or as an emergency measure. First, it can always be used to cover someone who, for one reason or another, failed to get auras. Next, at this level, blasters and kheld gets their big guns. Each and every nova has a –recovery attached. Given the amount of aggro they’ve just generated, it’s a good idea to cover them with AB as soon as they’ve unleashed it. Caveat: make sure the blaster announces he’s nuking before he goes boom. Lastly, AB will cover the aura’s recharge gap (AB's recast is 300s, close to RAs 500s ones) so you may want to use it on your main damage dealer/tank too when they wear off. The last use is more efficient in small teams.

And to finish the first part: The Auras

There is little need to point out how good those powers are for a Heal0rz. These are the only powers you’ll need to write a bind or macro for. A first one to announce RA in 5 seconds, and another right before you start using both in normal case, plus a third one when you need to use them in the heat of a battle :
Something like :
‘Casting RAs on me, in 5 seconds’
‘Casting RAs’
and ‘Casting RA on tank. Close in folks’ will do the trick.

That way no one has ground to complain.

Just two side comments: First, make sure they’re on the same timer as soon as possible. No need to waste team’s steam hanging on you more than necessary. Second, if you have to use it near the tank, just make sure that, even as you read up to this part and knows it’s a stupid idea, you have RA out of auto. Those 2.03s are wasted for everyone and leaves you stranded in a hot zone.

So now, with pool being an exception which we’ll cover below, we have covered the basics. A good heal0rz knows his tricks of the trade, and can manage ahead of time who will get hurt, thus needs green. That should be about it, right?

Dead wrong of course! Your primary line is what makes you a decent heal0rz. To be greater, you have to expand your value for the team. There are a lot of ways a good heal0rz can help his team by using his secondary powers. In many occasions, the healing part takes place at the start of a fight, when alphas are launched, that will leave you with a bit of idle time right after before the second cycle of healz are required if any. This is when your secondary line kicks in, not only it’ll hasten any fight’s speed, a judicious pick and slotting of these powers will help your team’s fighting power too. In others words, even if mayhem and destruction a heal0rz craves not, a closer look at secondary lines will show that those powers can be used for more than that purpose.

There are, roughly, two kind of secondary lines: Those focused on inherent bonus, and those focusing on status.

- Electricity: Good to keep one’s stamina at top level (kind of), some powers have status effect attached. Not my favourite.
-------
[edit]. I've been pointed out that electricity stamina's drains is also a good path. A drained mob is no danger to your team.
-------

- Energy: This one offers KB’s only. I wouldn’t recommend it.
- Psi: Almost each power has a –rch attached to it. As with electricity, it’s not my favourite, but it will fit many themes.
- Arrow: Like Energy, this one offers little to a heal0rz. I wouldn’t recommend it either.

The ones I prefer are:

- Dark. All powers has a –acc attached, it has a immob attack and a stun. One of my favourites along with...
- Rad. All attacks get a –def attached. Some can really make a hole in mob’s defence, like irradiate which lowers it by 37.5% (alas it’s a pbaoe). Cosmic bust stuns any Lt on one shot.
- Sonic, with its –res attacks, along with an AoE sleep is a strong condenter too.

Slotting these attacks with but one related special effect SO when applicable, will make a huge difference for the benefit of your team in any given fight.

On pool powers:
- Teleport’s recall others a heal0rz must have…at the beginning. There is always someone who is working on his debt badge and leaves the team to aggro one whole room all by himself. As long as this happens keeping Recall prevents a lot of trouble. If your team has a WS, it’s less an issue. As soon as this tendency is cured, feel free to respec out of this power.
- Stamina isn’t necessary. It helps, but do not forget that defender’s inherent goes a long way to help here too. Should you be a controller then, yes, but then again you’ have a lot more option opens to you to mitigate damage.
- Leadership powers will help your team. Pick them; item. Vengeance, nah! A good heal0rz will not let his fellow faceplant, a dark side heal0rz… that’s another story. Please note when picking this that it’ll rarely affect tanks at start as they’re out of range.
- Hasten is handy, not mandatory but handy. Should you choose to pick it, then stamina’s value increases.

Some general parting words before talking builds for you, heal0rz.

- Never, ever be afraid to solo! I long held the belief that someone who isn’t able to solo isn’t able to pull his weight in a group. That comes from days when /regen scrappers could just clear a map without anyone’s help and complains that some others members were just dragging their xp/min down. After ED this might be not as true as it was then (*cough* get off the lawn young rascals!), yet the opposite remains yet to be proved, PVE wise, and it gives you another view which will come handy when in group.

- No, healz do not cause aggro, empathy heals at least, just demand proof if anyone tells you otherwise.

- In pugs, you’ll meet the dunce wall, at least once in your life, and the earlier the better. Meaning by that, as soon as your pug starts feeling safe because you’re such a good heal0rz, they start to push the envelope, go boldly where no one faceplanted before. Sometime you can handle it, sometime you cannot. If that happens, just make sure you tell everybody that this was too hot for you to handle, and please no repeat. If you can offer suggestion relevant to that situation, a criticism will go far further if positively worded.


As for Epic pools’ choice, I see two main contenders.

[edit] Should you pick /elec as secondary, the logical step here will be to follow with epic line for power sink, but take care it's an AoE.

The first, obvious, one is power epic if only for conserve power and power build up (using AP with this one on can made a heal0rz giddy). Temp Invulnerability goes a long way to protect one from S/L damage. I tried it for a bit of time but found that both CP and BU required too much attention and their long recharge time (600s for conserve power) was already offset by Recovery Aura.

After a brief stint with electric mastery, I switched to Psychic and never looked back.

Psychic has two status effect powers, one of which can be picked at start: Mass Hypnosis. This AoE sleep has one added bonus, it generates no aggro. You can use it either as an opener or as added group parking tool without worry. Properly slotted, it’ll recharge before it wears off. Solo-wise, along with its single target hold, Sappers are putty in your hands. It’s shield gives a –res vs psi attacks, a plus considering you start facing Carnies by then. Telekinesis you can skip or pick.

Dark mastery’s powers are, with the exception of its shield, PbAoE. If you’re teamed up regularly with a tank, you might consider this line too.

IO and the heal0rz.

IOs are fun tools, you can do great with them and you can do great without them. My very own heal0rz made 50 long before them, so I used the ‘got money to burn’ approach, not very wise.

At the time of this writing, the current market price for Numina’s regeneration/recovery recipe is 25M (add over 5M for ingredients), Doctored Wounds’ recipes sells between 200K and 4M. Unless your influence account is over 100M’ mark it’s unlikely you’ll ever be able to afford one full set. To tell the truth, I’m still fiddling with IOs. That said, I do recall the troubles I had early on so can give a pointer or two. So, where to go and what to look for?

Early on, it’s status protection and recovery which helps the most. If we take into account pre-level 30 sets, some can help a bit.

- Kismet, 2 slotted, gives +1.5% recovery, gift of the Ancient provide with +2%. Both can be used in fortitude, leaving two slots for other purpose (like Rech SO). This gives a 56% recharge and 45% Def bonus.

- Harmonized healing is nice too, 2 slots gives another +1.5% recovery while 4 slotted give a +3%heal. It’ll fit nicely in your HA.

After 30, money and luck are the main factors. Try to get some +%heal bonus and any regen bonus so you’re less worried about using AP.

That’s it. Now enjoy being a heal0rz.

Heal0rz build coming right up.