Blue_Fenix

I've seen some examples on the forums of Dominators controlling an AV even through the Purple Triangles of Doom, most famously with confusion on the solo LRSF that someone did with Mind/Fire.

I've got some questions though....

Is Confuse particularly easier to stack enough mag compared to Hold?

Can ANY Dominator perma-control an AV with the right build?

Does anyone have the actual math for how much control duration and recharge is needed to pull this off?

Any other tips or tricks on this topic?

Earth Assault is definitely the most melee-centric of the Assault sets.

I just hit 22 with my Dark/Dark dom tonight and picked up the PBAoE, Engulfing Darkness. This power is definitely a turning point for the set, as combined with Night Fall's cone, I finally feel like I'm doing real AoE damage. Engulfing Darkness has 2.0 second animation, which is nothing special, but it FEELS fast, which is great for me.

Overall, I'm very happy with Dark Assault. Thoughts on powers so far...

Dark Blast (T1 ST ranged): Nothing special, useful while leveling but I might not slot it in an endgame build.

Smite (ST melee): Solid fast-animating damage. Worth getting into melee range for even when it's your only melee attack

Gloom (T2 ST ranged DoT): Excellent DPA, delivered as a deceptive damage over time effect. This power may not feel like it's doing a lot of damage, but give it an extra second and it'll finish off a lot of things you thought you needed one more attack for. Use it on LTs and Bosses and watch the damage rack up.

Night Fall (cone, 60ft, 19 degree arc): Slightly underwhelming damage, delivered as DoT like Gloom but not as good. Definitely usable due to long range, but you can really feel how narrow it is. Some people may have trouble enjoying this power, but if you make sure to use it from as far away as possible, it'll do its job.

Gather Shadows (self buff): This is extremely similar to Power Boost from Earth and Energy Assault. The difference is, Gather Shadows has about 75% as much boost to your secondary effects in exchange for a 10-second damage boost of 34% (almost as good as Aim and about half as good as Build Up). This feels like a best-of-both-worlds compromise between Power Boost and Aim/Build Up.

Engulfing Darkness (PBAoE 15ft): Another GREAT power - slightly less damage than Fire Assault's Combustion, but with *2* second animation time instead of 3. Get it, slot it, love it. Some folks may complain about needing to get into melee range for this, but it's worth it.

I don't have the last three powers yet, but Life Drain looks like it will add some good survivability and ranged damage if you frankenslot it for acc/dam/rech/heal with as may triple and quad pieces as you can squeeze in. Moon Beam is a complete skip, on the other hand, unless you happen to love snipes or want to mule a cheap snipe set for set bonuses.

And finally there's Midnight Grasp - on paper, this is another great melee attack with a bonus immobilize built in. My only complaint is that they didn't see fit to give us an alternative to the hentai tentacles of doom, considering how Dark Control has a very different aesthetic.

Remember that in addition to respecs, you've got Build 2 and eventually Build 3 as another way to "fix" your build.

For both, it totally depends on your playstyle. In Dark Control, some people don't like the stun because it requires you to be in melee range - others LIVE in melee range and love it. Possess is likely unimpressive in groups, unless you're good at targeting it at a critical foe in a large group. But solo, Possess can be awesome, since it doesn't aggro and can let you whittle down tough groups before jumping in. Those are just some examples.

In Dark Affinity, Black Hole is probably the one completely skippable power. Fade and Soul Absorption are currently somewhat weak, but are probably going to be fixed in an upcoming patch (red names have already stated how they'll fix those powers, it just didn't make it through testing yet). All the others are very useful but, again, may depend on your playstyle.

I dunno about on Doms, but on Dark Melee charatcers, many people frankenslot for Acc, Dam, Heal, Rech, and End, using as many triples and quads as they can from various sets.

What OS are you on? Are you running the NCsoft launcher with admin privileges?

I'm loving my new Dark/Dark dom, but I was wondering about Fearsome Stare. I know terrorized enemies can attack back if you hit them, but I seem to recall hearing there was a limit on how often they can attack back. It was something like once every 3 or 5 seconds, even if they're getting hit a lot.

Does anyone have the exact info on this? It would help me to understand just how effective Fearsome Stare really is compared to other control powers.

Last I'd heard, /Dark Affinity was getting two fixes to Fade and Soul Absorption - Fade was supposed to be getting a longer duration, and Soul Absorption was supposed to get a bigger up-front bonus from the first target, along with targeting living enemies as well.

However, looking at the power details in the character creator, I feel like I'm seeing the old versions of those two powers.

Did the changes make it to live? Or are they coming in a future patch?

It's not just you. The new Praetoria content is DEFINITELY harder than the Paragon City / Rogue Islands content. Also, Defenders are one of the hardest things to solo, while Scrappers are one of the easiest, so that probably explains a LOT.

Hard to believe it's been nearly 6 months since this challenge. I realized I should probably post a final update just for the sake of closure. So, here it is...

Update #Final

I did it! I actually did hit level 50 with this character before the 50 days were up. Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly which day I finished on. I also feel a bit guilty, of course, that I stopped updating this and never finished writing the story.

Since then, I've done some Incarnate trials and tweaked out my build a bit. I've also been on and off CoH at various times, worked on other characters and projects, etc. But I am very happy indeed that I at least have a level 50 character now and got to see the endgame content.

In any case, thanks again to everyone who supported me in this, even if it was just a "Cool story, bro." I am considering doing another challenge and maybe IC journal again soon, but I'm not sure at this point what kind of character, challenge, etc. would be fun. Suggestions are welcome!

PB has more hard-hitting melee attacks and feels more like a scrapper in human form. Warshade feels more like a blaster/controller in human form.

Both are a bit squishier than Scrappers until you get the tier 9 (Lightform or Eclipse), at which point they become VERY hard to kill (assuming you've got the recharge to keep it turned on most/all of the time), but that comes at level 38, so, yeah. Neither gets protection from holds and such in human form, though at high levels you can mitigate that by building for defense.

Thanks for the info, everyone.

Resist sets such as Fire, Dark, and Electric are completely playable without stacking defense. They all get a source of healing and other tools to help you out. The trick is learning how to use ALL your tools, both active and passive, to mitigate incoming damage. For example, Dark has a funky but powerful heal and a way to stun minions.

I actually ran a Spines/Fire back before IOs, and had quite a good time. Tough and Weave helped, along with maxing out the heal and recharge on Healing Flames. You're also less vulnerable to defense debuffs and enemies with high to-hit than defense sets are.

Also, don't forget that there are some very easy ways to increase the survivability of any build with minimal investment. Slot the Steadfast Protection +3% defense, take good power pool powers like Combat Jumping and Hasten, and combine unneeded inspirations into purples that give you defense.

In fact, inspirations are so cheap at the hospital, there's no reason not to fill up your entire tray with purples, reds, and whatever else you need before heading out for a couple missions.

Is there a specific order the Incarnate trials are designed to go in? Or at least a general progression?

I know you CAN do them in any order you like, but obviously some are longer and/or harder than others. There's also the differences in how many people can go on each trial. Are the ones that allow bigger leagues generally longer and/or harder?

I guess I'm just comparing this to, say, WoW where endgame content had a lot of very specific progression and order to it. That is, you have to do dungeon X to get the key for raid Y, and you should probably have gear from raid Y before you attempt raid Z, etc.

Also, I know the info is available on the wiki, forums, and main site, but is there any actual in-game place to see information about the trials such as min/max league size? I get the impression a player who only plays and doesn't look stuff up online would have a very hard time learning how the trials work.

I don't see very many characters with Energy Blast, though that may just be my perception. I remember using it a very long time ago and not being very impressed. However, I was very new to the game at that time, so it's entirely possible I just didn't know what I was doing.

So, how does Energy Blast stack up against the other Blast sets?

Obviously, knockback is its specialty. Damage numbers look average. Only one cone and one TAoE (that comes very late in the set), but at least Energy Torrent has a very fast animation.

Is there anything significantly good or bad about it I'm missing? Does it pair well with anything in particular? What about the difference between using it on a Blaster versus a Corr/Def?

Hello folks,

I've noticed that there's a lot of people, especially with all the new free players, who don't totally understand Endurance. Either they don't know the basic mechanics, they don't have a sense of how much End various powers cost, or they don't know about all the tricks, IOs, and powers that can be used to help keep your blue bar full.

So, I think I'm going to take the time to write a comprehensive guide to Endurance Management for all ATs and playstyles.

To that end, I could use some help. Answers to any and all of the following questions would be appreciated:

1) Does such a guide already exist? Where?

2) What, if anything, did you find hard to learn or understand about Endurance when you started playing?

3) What are your best little-known tips for managing Endurance more easily?

4) What powers help with Endurance that people might forget about or not be aware of?

5) What powers or powersets do think need the most help with Endurance? (e.g. are "Endurance Hungry")

6) What powersets need the LEAST help with Endurance?

7) Anything else you'd like to suggest or contribute?

I'm thinking Dark/Storm could be a lot of fun. I am wondering, though, if any of Darkness Control's AoE controls have a -Knockback component (like a lot of the immobilize powers from other sets do), because that impacts its synergy with powers like Tornado.