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Hmm.. that is interesting. My experience is that the Longbow guys totally ignore my pets and fire directly at me. I can jump up on a rooftop or something like that, and that usually works, or maybe get a car down to a sliver of health, and try to lure them over near it.
But otherwise it's hard to survive, especially if my teammates expect me to tank for them. -
Quote:Yeah. I don't really buy that explanation much. I think it's just that they realized how over-the-top powerful surveillance would be for an MM. The LRM sniper power might also be easy to overkill with, since your henchmen keep you from getting properly beat up after you launch it?That can't be it. Mace Mastery anyone? It may have caused problems, but it is still doable isn't it?
Or what about weapon/shield/mace?
I guess I just don't see it being a huge issue if they already did it once.
Anyway, I don't understand why Chill Mastery and Heat Mastery don't have you drooling enough already. How great it must be to suddenly be able to survive Mayhem missions! -
I've been trying to get someone to tell me ever since i-17. Either nobody has gotten a DS/Traps MM up to 38 yet, or they just don't care about our suffering. I'd say your best bet is to try and find one in game and ask them.
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I might be wrong about personal Force Field now that I look at it. There is that last line:
"Specific power instances were altered to eliminate duplication of powers." -
Am I dreaming?
Here it is in the extended patch notes:
Quote:http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/pat...patch_not.htmlPOWERS
Ancillary/Patron Powers
Ancillary Power Pools are now available to all characters that reach Level 41, regardless of Hero or Villain status.
Once a Patron Pool has been unlocked as a Villain, it remains unlocked even if you later switch sides.
Patron and Ancillary equivalencies are as follows:
Scrappers get Stalker Patron Powers, and vice versa.
Tankers get Brute Patron Powers, and vice versa
Blasters get Mastermind Patron Powers, and vice versa
Defenders get Corruptor Patron Powers, and vice versa
Controllers get Dominator Patron Powers, and vice versa
Specific power instances were altered to eliminate duplication of powers.
So now every MM can get personal force field (via Force Mastery), not just ones who take /FF. Or go with FlameMastery as your ancillary, and get Rise of the Phoenix, or Cold Mastery and get Hibernate. I wonder how long it will last before they start to change it? -
I'm thinking it's probably deliberate. They want us to test the game, but not get a sneak peak at Electrical Control or Kinetic Melee.
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Quote:Yeah, putting the Touch of Lady Gray chance for negative damage proc on the Tier 1 pet is kind of helpful too. It's nice to see a reasonably big number pop up every now and again (compared to what you normally see).Also I picked up a -resistance IO and that appears to have helped some. Frankenslotting IO's that benefit the pets may be the key to making this work.
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Thanks for advice about the binds. The stupid medic insists that he is a Brute. Despite the numerous times he faceplants.
Won't help much against exotic damage though, unfortunately. -
It shows up in their attributes if you have their power details open, but I'm told that doesn't mean anything. I think you'd almost have to time them in order to be sure. (Like time a certain attack or power that they regularly use.) I haven't really noticed a difference, so I unslotted it from my henchmen.
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Quote:I'm mildly surprised to see that there aren't any Ninja/Force Field guides for Masterminds available. Worse, there aren't any */Force Field guides for Masterminds available. So I'm going to have to throw this out to the community.
Wow. I didn't know there weren't any. I think I'll set one up pretty soon then. My favorite MM ever is probably my Ninjas/FF.
Quote:6-slotting Force Bolt with Kinetic Crash instead of a Ranged Damage set
I like putting the Devastation: Chance to hold proc on it just for overkill.
Quote:Avoiding use of Personal Force Field, since it will put you into OnlyAffectSelf mode and cut off your Pets from Supremacy.
Quote:Adding Maneuvers and Grant Invisibility, both slotted, along with the Edict of the Master +DEF IO to softcap even the Genin, turning them all into */SR Pet Scrappers with NO GET HITSU. Then stack Tactics, Assault and Stealth, plus the Stealth IO in Sprint into the build along with those choices for some real NinjaNinjaNinja action.
Concealment: Mostly took this for thematic correctness. Grant Invisibility does not allow your ninjas to do critical attacks. They have to have the stalker power they get with the Level 32 - "Kuji in Zen" in order to do stealth criticals. But Grant Invisibility would add to their stealth so they could sneak up on people more easily.
Medicine: The set is basically unplayable without Aid Other to refill your ninjas' health. It usually heals over half their health bar.
Fitness: Jumping is the only kind of travel that isn't slowed when using Stealth. So I like to take hurdle.
Travel Power : I used flight on my last build, but I'm considering Leaping this next time in order to have a thematically correct melee attack..... just for the thematic correctness though. Hover is great for keeping melee dudes from attacking you while you follow your henchmen around to keep them inside your Dispersion radius.
Quote:Resisting the urge to Tankermind, since Bodyguard Mode is going to be one of the few ways to bypass Pet Defenses.
Quote:How useful (really...) is Global Recharge reduction to a Ninja/FF where so many of your powers are either long duration buffs or toggles? There really aren't that many click powers in Ninja/FF.
Quote:Is Force Bubble just so good that Repulsion Field is a wasted power pick (at Exemplar Levels 33+)? Or do these two powers complement each other and have different tactical uses that need to be appreciated?
Quote:Is Detention Field really all that useful? If so ... in what situations?
Quote:What powers beg to be Frankenslotted ... and why? To what advantage?
Quote:I presume that bubbling a team-8, plus 6 pets of my own, will pretty much require having Stamina. What would have to be sacrificed to make a Stamina-less build viable? I'm thinking the Concealment and Leadership Pools would fall into the "no go" category if Stamina-less, right?
Snapshot does almost no damage at all, but it's highly accurate and has a super-fast recharge, which makes it a great place to put procs. Such as Devastation: Chance to Hold.
Quote:What are the best ways to employ Repulsion Bomb? How should it be slotted ... and why?
Quote:Rather than looking for a Build ... I'm looking for a list of "do's and don'ts" for Ninja/FF. What are the "must have" powers and slotting choices for them ... along with the "avoid at all costs" powers that do not return on investment. And yes, I'm wanting to play one of these after Going Rogue goes Live, even with the 2m/4m refresh on the Grant Invis and Bubbles
If you're doing concealment, go ahead and take Ethereal Shift. It's rad. Your henchmen go ethereal with you, and continue to draw whatever aggro they had provoked prior to using it. You can save your team from a total wipe, heal your henchmen, and even summon more of them while shifted. Just make sure and activate it a good while before you're about to die. Otherwise it might activate too late after you're already defeated.
Try to get your Jounins' defense up to the 45% soft cap if you can. Jounin have 14% natural defense. Your bubbles do 11% - slottable to about 16.5% Dispersion Field adds 7.5%, slottable to 10%. If you take the Edict of the Master +5% def proc, that helps too.
14 + 16 + 10 + 5 = 45%
Mace Mastery is the best Epic Pool because the Web Envelope Immobilize include fly protection (your Jounin can't stab fliers very well with their swords.) And Power Boost will add about 6% or so to the defense provided by your bubbles, helping you get your ninjas up to soft capped defense easier.
You'll want to slot for AOE protection, so you can stand close to your henchmen without getting killed by all the AOE's that get fired at them. -
Quote:For traps, I would definitely say Thugs. Put a couple defense enhancements on your enforcers, and the two +5% defense procs, and together with FF generator you can have your whole team at soft capped defense. They'll be harder to kill than most tanks. (Though unfortunately you yourself are still pretty squishy.)Originally I was considering a thugs or demons /storm but I decided to go with traps. So erm, yeah. Well, nobody responded anyways.
So a demons or bots MM. What would you all recommend? I have had several bots MMs, and I like them, but I was wondering how demons stack up. I'm guessing they'd have better single target damage and control, with bots still getting better aoe?
Edit: oh wait.... you were comparing Thugs/Trap with Bots/Trap (not thugs/trap with demons/trap)......... hmmm hard to say which is better, but the Protectors will put shields on you if you go bots, which probably helps in PVP to keep you alive. -
Quote:I think the only real problem with this whole set is just the insane recharge times. On a set where you can't buff rech, and you can't control when Spec-Ops/Commando powers will be used, well.... the "balance" formula for how to set recharge times needs to factor that stuff in.
Now imagine that the Bruiser's recharge times for Foot Stomp was 4 minutes and KO Blow was 3 minutes.
Ahh, this is what we have with our Commando.
Imagine the Enforces only buffed with Leadership once a minute for like 10 seconds.
Woohoo, hello Spec Ops!
I think the various control effects that happen would be a good balance for having no inherent defense, and small damage outputs, if they fired predictably and frequently enough to be useful. But, what real use is a power that is just as likely to hit a henchman with 2 hp left as it is to hit a boss at full? You spend 99% of your time receiving no benefit at all, and and on those rare occasions where it shows up, you've probably already popped your purples because you didn't know it was coming.
It's funny, but I'm probably more likely to take the power now just to see if everyone's criticisms are right or not. I'd best hurry.... don't want to miss the freespec we'll (probably) get when GR comes out. -
Quote:Brutes can't use broadswords, and tanks barely deal any damage, so I'd say broadsword/shield scrapper. You're really going to be happiest if you have a good damager with you, I think. On the other hand, the Shield/Axe tank gets a lot of benefit out of phalanx fighting if they team with you, cause she can stand by the demons for added defense. (She'll want to stand by the ember demon anyway, for heals and resistance buffs.)When going rogue goes live, I'm going to be making a Demon summoner, and would like input from those of you who've played the class already on what would best complement its powers.
My partner knows she wants to go with the shield set, but hasn't yet decided on the class or other powerset. From your experience, which would go best with Demon Summonging: a Shield/Battle Axe tank, a Broadsword/Shield Brute, or a Broadsword/Shield Scrapper? -
Quote:The level 1 power has a dumb looking animation (for both). So, if you go brute you can skip that first power. IDK. That's a big selling point for me.Im going with the hammer.... Now Im just deciding if I go Brute or Tank..
Quote:Really?
I was under the impression that from a strict DPS comparison standpoint, WM pulled ahead vs. Single Targets a well.
For the OP: Even if we disregarded everything else - Crowd Control's base performance alone makes WM the better of the two IMO.
True, except if you take into account the procs you can slot to it. There's Stupefy 20% for KB, and Absolute Amazement 33% chance to dramatically lower the target's toHit. (It's a purple, but often sells at a cheap price... as purples go.) -
My ninjas/ff is a lot of fun. Once you get the Jounins' defense up near the soft cap, they're pretty tough. Only trouble is you have to stand near them to keep them buffed, so you'll get hit by a lot of AOE's that were meant for them.
I can't imagine playing the set without some way to increase their defense. Increasing their resistance won't help them much. So, the only really viable sets are: FF, traps, or dark. Some people enjoy poison or TA, but I get tired of having to re-summon pets. -
How bad is the -25% ToHit penalty? Is it too severe to make the power useful? I'm just looking for solutions because I've noticed that my Jounin are basically powerless against flying/hovering enemies, and I'm not sure I want to take Mace Mastery just to be able to put them on the ground (with the immobilize power from that set, which inflicts fly protection.)
Are there any better solutions? -
What does that mean? It's in the list of effects that taunt imbues. Does it make the range of all their attacks shorter? Does it make them vulnerable to ranged attacks? Does it make their ranged attacks less accurate?
What does it do? -
Quote:Yeah, I really can't see taking traps without Medicine. Triage beacon helps, but it won't keep you alive under serious fire, and the Ember Demons healing powers are, at best, only a good backup to being able to heal your own pets.I guess you did take offense.
Wasn't factoring out Body Guard or factoring it in because it benefits everyone regardless of the build. I know where your going with the whole resistance plus body guard is even less damage.
I can jump back with the comment You will get hit more and in some cases you will have NO resistance or Defenses of any great value to fall back on. So you will be worse off then a player with Defense Caps and no resistance. You will NOT able to heal your pets fast enough or keep them alive long enough in big fights. Yes without a doubt if you stick to mobs your only protected against your fine sort of, sometimes. Body Guard only goes so far.
Of course, I think in terms of Murphy's Law. I like to build around the extreme situations where a team wipe is imminent, and ask myself how I can avoid it. -
Quote:The way I've found to get around the Endurance issues is don't take a lot of attacks from your secondary. Instead focus everything on your auras. Get the damage proc for Chilling Embrace (Impeded Swiftness Chance for Smashing Damage) and then get as many damage procs for your Icicles as possible.
It is only at the High Levels where Ice really shines as a set. It is one of the most powerful aggro magnets in the game, and carries one of the strongest mitigation powers, energy absorption. Slot it for endurance modification and you'll sap most mobs dry of their endurance with just two swipes.
However, EA is also the set's downfall. Ice is great for mob combat, as EA drives the high endurance consumption the armor sets need. However, without mobs to fuel EA, an Ice will run out of endurance in short order. So the set isn't such a good armor if you are looking to take on solo targets with a budget comprised of SO's.
Even if you did softcap using IO's, you'll still have "issues" with endurance management. The only sets that uses more endurance on native values are Stone Armor with all of it's stackable armors turned on, or Dark Armor with all of it's aura's turned on.
This is where Hibernate comes in. At full tilt, Hibernate can put you back in the fight quickly, recovering Endurance and health at incredible rates. It is far from just being a phase power.
With the kind of defense an Ice tank has, you can usually just herd all your foes into melee, and then just stand there and let your auras kill them. Only using attacks occasioinally if you need (or want) the mitigation, rather than as a primary means of damage.
Quote:There are certain players who refer to Ice tanks that activate Hibernate as "Hibernoobs"
Best thing to do when you meet this players is throw them on ignore and find a different team. -
If I slot say, a Stupefy 20% chance for knockback (From Stun sets) to my Ice/Stone tank's Stone Fist power, which has a 10% chance to stun, does that mean it will fire 20% of the times I hit with my attack, or 20% of the times my stun is successful (so 2% of the times I hit with my attack.)?
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Quote:I guess that is the downside. It's also another reason not to roll in the 30-34 range. There's just too much junk in that group. For me, it is always either 15-19, or 35-39.T
"at the very least you'll be supplying the market with 10 or so IO's "
90% of the recipes I didn't want sell for less than what they do at the NPC store/quartermaster....what's the point of putting them up for sale when no one is buying them (and yes I've put up a few recipes for like 5 influence/infamy and nothing was sold over a good week)?
15-19 still has a lot of junk in it, but it's the best to roll on when you're still level 20. That way, junk or not, at least it doesn't cost a lot to craft it. -
Another good reason to skip Genin. Why endure the tedium of resummoning and maintaining twice as many FF's?
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Quote:That is actually a really good basis to consider. With my Ninjas/FF build, the only attacks she has are Snap Shot, Force Bolt, and Sands of Mu. That could get pretty boring. Better off not attacking at all most of the time, rather than doing little snippets of damage (or drawing loads of aggro with Sands.)My 2 cents. I'll never do another /FF mastermind. Sure it is great but I was so bored most of the time. When I finally got my patron powers I at least felt like I was playing but it still was very boring for me. I like to be active beyond just directing the pets.
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I like Random rolls because they're like Christmas. You get a lot of nice procs you probably wouldn't have been willing to spend the inf to get, but they're nice to have. You need a lot of alts with different AT's in order to enjoy the full benefit though.
That's what the specific purchase advocates are ignoring, I think. Sure you'll usually spend more than 250 merits in rolls before you land on a Numina's proc, but it's not like all of those rolls are just wasted rolls.
Quote:Nobody is going to complain if you list them for too cheap. I got a kinetic combat (don't remember which one) doing a 35-39 Merit roll once, and not knowing its value, I just listed it for 5 inf. Thank goodness nobody was trying to lowball.I fill up my market slots on bronze rolls with characters then start with gold rolls. I simply don't sell the enhancements nearly fast enough to keep up with ticket generation unless I delete all but the most expensive bronze rolls, which would end up defeating the purpose.
Or... if you really don't want to sell them, just make them and drop them in your SG's storage bins, and tell all your SG-mates they're free to take. -
Paragonwiki actually has a page on this. http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Attack_Mechanics
My intention here is to break it down so that it is easy to understand and apply, so you can always know what your enemy's chance of hitting you is, and what you have to do in order to minimize their chances.
You can always check your predictions by purchasing a "Power Analyzer" temporary power at Wentworth's, and using it on an enemy. Just at the part that says "last hit chance" while they're fighting you to see what the final probability calculation is coming out to.
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The game's calculation is: HitChance = Clamp( AccMods × Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) )
The terms meanings are:
HitChance: - The total likelihood of hitting. (Never greater than 95%, or lower than 5%)
Clamp: - If the result of the calculation is greater than 95% or lower than 5%, the "Clamp" function will automatically set it to 95% or 5% respectively.
AccMods: - This is what Accuracy enhancements change. The accuracy of each power you have is usually somewhere between .80x and 1.20x. If you slot accuracy enhancements, the number goes up. A 1.20x Accuracy means you have a 6% chance to hit opponents with soft capped defense, rather than the normal 5% chance.
BaseHitChance: - This is set to 50% for mobs and 75% for players. If they're higher or lower level than you, then it changes. There's a table on the wiki page above.
ToHitMods: - This is what Aim and Buildup powers boost. It is also what ToHit debuff powers reduce. Putting Accuracy enhancements on a power does not change this value, nor do the global accuracy bonuses you get from set bonuses. The value only changes when you use an actual ToHit Buff or Debuff on it.
DefMods: - This is your target's defense.
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When we talk about soft capping defense, we're only talking about the last part of the calculation.
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods )
You can see that Debuffing an enemy's ToHitMod has the exact same effect as increasing your own defense. The best example to work from would be a Dark/Archery Defender. We'll say he has no enhancements.
If he's fighting an enemy of his own level and turns on Shadow Fall (5% Defense bonus), then hits his enemy with Darkest Night (18.75% ToHit debuff) and Fearsome Stare (Also a 18.75% ToHit debuff), and then follows up with Twilight Grasp (6.25% ToHit debuff)... he will have put himself at the soft cap for his defense against that enemy.
The total of the ToHit mods would be 18.75 + 18.75 + 6.25 = 43.75%
His defense bonus is 5%
So: Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 - 43.75 - 5) = Clamp(1.25) And the Clamp function will then adjust that 1.25 up to the minimum value of 5%
Now, if the enemy had an accuracy bonus, like 1.20x (which is standard for bosses), then his odds of hitting would increase up to 6% instead of 5%. That's true no matter how high your defense is. Bosses always have a minimum of 6% chance to hit you.
As a second example, let's consider a super Tank who has buffed their defense up to the 45% soft cap, but doesn't have any ToHit debuff powers.
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 - 0 - 45) = Clamp(5) Clamp doesn't adjust the value, because it's already at the minimum of 5%.
There are a few things to bear in mind.
1) - Although ToHit debuff has the same effect most of the time as adding to your own defense, this does not take into account the fact that many enemies have debuff resistance. Arch Villains especially have a very high debuff resistance.
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Archvillain_Resistance
For example, if the Dark/Archery defender above were at level 20, and fighting a level 20 AV, then the AV's ToHit Debuff resistance would be 0.70. Instead of his debuffs adding up all together to be 43.75%, they would only add up to 13.125%
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 - 13.125 - 5) = Clamp(31.875) In this case, the Clamp function just leaves the value alone as 31.875%. If the AV has an accuracy bonus of 1.20x then that would increase the final chance of hitting up to a 38.25% total likelihood of hitting you. He'll still miss you just about 2 out of every 3 times he attacks, but not 15 out 16 times, like before.
The Super Tank with 45% defense would clearly be better off in this battle, so long as the AV has no way to debuff his defense.
2)- When fighting enemies that have Buildup or Aim powers, the bonuses for those powers are ToHit bonuses, which means they directly counter your ToHit minuses, or your defense.
So, if a custom Electric Blaster, with an Aim power that boosts their ToHit by 37.50%, your soft capped defense isn't going to save you. In the case of our Dark/Archery defender, the total ToHit value is now -43.75% + 37.50% = -6.25%
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 - 6.25 - 5) = Clamp(38.75) If it's a boss with 1.20x accuracy, then their chance to hit you will be 46.5%. Almost 1 out of 2.
In the Case of the Super Tank with 45% defense, he fares no better than the Dark/Archery Defender.
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 + 37.50 - 45) = Clamp(42.5)
If it's a boss with 1.20x accuracy, then their chance to hit you will be 51%. A little better than 1 out of 2.
Conclusion: Buildup and Aim are very powerful powers if you want to defeat an enemy's defense.