Blue_Fenix

Bug/Mistake - the Scrapper version of Entropic Aura from Energy Aura (and possibly for other AT's, haven't checked) is applying NEGATIVE 11% global recharge when set to zero targets in range.

So, good news - new edition of MIDS is out! Includes EA changes, Time, Beam Rifle, and other such fun stuff!

Bad news - I think I found a mistake - Energy Aura's Entropic Aura power is applying MINUS 11% recharge buff when set to 0 targets in range. I'm not sure how to communicate this to the devs of MIDS, actually - anyone know what I should do?

So, mids is updated (woo!) and I'm crunching numbers on my KM/EA build...

First goal - soft cap everything except Negative and Psi.

Second goal - global recharge, recovery, and other such bonuses

Final goal - High survivability and ST damage so I can attempt some solo AV's and pylons

I have no Incarnate plans for this character at the moment - I want to make him awesome sans Incarnate before I start layering that on. I'm also only semi-rich (Purples for a hold or fear set? Sure. Purples like Hecatomb or Armaggedon? Lolnope.)

Here's what I've got so far, building with no purples and no clue what I want for my epic pool: It's got my softcaps (or within a fraction of a % thereof) without depending on Energy Drain hitting, and 66% global recharge. However, there's only SIX slots left for the remaining 4 power picks, Burst and Spring Attack are underslotted (assuming I want to use them at all), and three of my main ST attacks are only 5-slotted.

I'm guessing damage proc's would be good to add to the attacks. I'd also like to replace the Aegis slots that are over-slotting my passives with other bonuses elsewhere, but I've no clue how to get that much Fire/Cold defense any other way.

Also, strangely enough, this build does NOT need Tough and Weave! Energy Cloak fills in for Weave, effectively (unless its defense value goes down in combat? I don't think it does). On the other hand, adding in Weave or Maneuvers might allow me to dump/replace a couple sets for more recharge or other such bonuses?

Ideas? Epic pool suggestions? Any advice at all is appreciated!

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.95
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Kinetic Melee
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Quick Strike

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (13) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (13) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (15) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (15) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage

Level 1: Kinetic Shield

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (3) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (19) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (34) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge

Level 2: Body Blow

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (9) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (9) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (11) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 4: Smashing Blow

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (5) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (5) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (7) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (7) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 6: Power Siphon

• (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge
• (17) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge
• (17) Adjusted Targeting - Endurance/Recharge
• (23) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
• (23) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff

Level 8: Dampening Field

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
• (25) Aegis - Resistance
• (50) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance
• (50) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance

Level 10: Power Shield

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (19) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge

Level 12: Entropic Aura

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 14: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (27) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 16: Energy Protection

• (A) Aegis - Resistance
• (27) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
• (48) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge

Level 18: Burst

• (A) Eradication - Damage
• (29) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge
• (29) Eradication - Damage/Recharge

Level 20: Combat Jumping

• (A) Defense Buff IO
• (21) Defense Buff IO
• (25) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 22: Super Jump

• (A) Unbounded Leap - +Stealth

Level 24: Spring Attack

• (A) Eradication - Damage
• (31) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge
• (31) Eradication - Damage/Recharge

Level 26: Focused Burst

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
• (39) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
• (39) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
• (42) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (48) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 28: Energize

• (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• (37) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
• (37) Doctored Wounds - Heal
• (37) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
• (39) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance

Level 30: Energy Cloak

• (A) Defense Buff IO
• (40) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (42) Defense Buff IO

Level 32: Concentrated Strike

• (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage
• (33) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance
• (33) Crushing Impact - Damage/Recharge
• (33) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (34) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (34) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 35: Energy Drain

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (43) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
• (43) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge
• (43) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge
• (46) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge

Level 38: Confront

• (A) Mocking Beratement - Taunt
• (45) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Recharge
• (45) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Recharge/Range
• (45) Mocking Beratement - Accuracy/Recharge
• (46) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Range
• (46) Mocking Beratement - Recharge

Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Empty

Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Health

• (A) Miracle - +Recovery
• (42) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery

Level 2: Hurdle

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Stamina

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
• (40) Endurance Modification IO
• (40) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End

------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 2% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 2% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 2% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 2% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 2% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 2% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 2% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 2% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 16.75% Defense(Smashing)
• 16.75% Defense(Lethal)
• 12.38% Defense(Fire)
• 12.38% Defense(Cold)
• 9.25% Defense(Energy)
• 9.25% Defense(Negative)
• 3% Defense(Psionic)
• 9.88% Defense(Melee)
• 6.13% Defense(Ranged)
• 7.69% Defense(AoE)
• 7.65% Max End
• 4% Enhancement(Heal)
• 34% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 66.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 135.5 HP (10.12%) HitPoints
• MezResist(Held) 2.75%
• MezResist(Immobilize) 13.2%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 2.2%
• 30% (1.67 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 1.26% Resistance(Fire)
• 1.26% Resistance(Cold)
• 1.26% Resistance(Energy)
• 1.26% Resistance(Negative)
• 5.5% Resistance(Psionic)
• 10% RunSpeed

Go talk to the contact. There should be two options, "Complete the current mission" and "Abandon the current mission". The abandon one should be the same as what you can do on the mission window. The 'Complete' option, on the other hand, acts as if you succesfully finished the mission - it gives you the reward and lets you move on to the next mission in the arc. To prevent abuse, however, the auto-complete feature can only be used once every three days on each character.

I heard a rumor that there were a few power changes, buffs, and nerfs in I21 that didn't make it into the patch notes. Specifically, someone mentioned a change to Kinetic Melee's cone power, Repulsing Torrent.

Can anyone confirm or deny this for me, or point out any other stealth changes?

So, first thing - this guide is awesome. I've tried this myself (not CEBR, but a very similar strategy) and had fun and success.

What I'm wondering now is what's the 'next best thing' for characters who have little to no AoE available (e.g. my Kinetic Melee/Energy Aura scrapper at level 15-ish)? Primarily I'm looking for fast XP, as I can inf farm on any number of other characters.

I strongly suspect the answer is lone bosses, combined with many of the same strategies we have here. Yeah, it's not nearly as fast, but at low levels bosses die pretty fast and each gives several % of a level in one kill.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for posting this, I hope you keep expanding and updating it. The underground trial is HARD right now until more people figure it out.

The main thing Afterburner does is increase the Flight Speed *CAP*. This is not terribly helpful for hover (although it also gives you a big +Def bonus, which could be used as a panic button along with purple inspirations, I guess), but the speed that the Fly power grants is greater than the cap by default. Thus, using Afterburner along with Fly results in about 20 MPH or so extra speed.

Paragonwiki.com has a lot of the info you need to figure this out.

Let's say I've got a tricked-out level 50 character that I want to farm with. I know AE farming is pretty popular for various reasons, but what about farming outside AE? My main goal would be to get a reasonable rate of drops, including salvage, recipes, and shards if possible.

Obviously, you can just take tips and radios and run those at very high difficulty, but is there a better way to get missions with specific enemy groups? For example, Arachnos and Carnival of Shadows can be nasty, but Council are a piece of cake.

Are there any other considerations for farming outside of AE? Tips and advice?

Thanks!

From the I21 Patch Notes (http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/p...011_live.php):


"POWERS

Blasters

Devices - Gun Drone can no longer be interrupted while cast.
Its Defiance buff has been adjusted to match the new total cast time."

First off, thanks to everyone for the info, it really helps!

Hello folks...

Assume for a moment that I'm crazy and want to roll up a scrapper that can solo an AV. Maybe that's just the ones at the end of certain arcs, maybe the ones from higher level TF's, I dunno. What I need to know is, what do I need to know? Is there a guide or anything with all the info in one place? I've searched the forums to no avail.

Here are the basic questions I'm wondering about:

-How much DPS is needed to overcome AV-level regeneration and resistances? Is there a clear-cut number of "your attack chain must do at least X DPS or you FAIL"?

-Does http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Envenomed_Dagger make a significant difference by debuffing the AV's regen?

-Defensively/mitigation-ly speaking, how good is good enough? Soft-capped defense? That plus a self-heal? Are resistances, regen bonuses, or mez output of any significance? I've heard of Fire Armor as a set for AV soloing and I just don't comprehend how that works with it being such a squishy set.

-Are there any other considerations I may not be aware of? Some subtle build quality that makes the difference?

Thanks in advance for any input or links you may provide!

Update #6

NOTE: This update is blatantly incomplete but I need to post it now before I shut down my computer for the night. Will fix tomorrow.

Days so far: 10
Remaining days: 40
Level: 33
Average Levels Per Day: 3.3
Outlook: Nuclear

IC:

Paragon, the City of a Thousand Heroes. What a place for a crook like me to hide from his crimes. My first step was a new outfit, something that would hide my face and maybe provide a little padding. Next, hair dye - I can't just chop off my wings, but coloring my feathers and hair differently is the next best thing. You'd be surprised how many people completely overlook the wings in a city with so many metahumans.

As soon as I was confident enough in my disguise and litany of fake names, I started pickup mercenary work around the city. Turns out even the heroes need extra muscle on occasion, and enough of them aren't too particular about the source or price. I started building up a network again and researched Crey's operations in my downtime.



OOC:

Hey folks,

Although I've been playing for a long time, I just got a Corruptor to 32 for the first time tonight and picked up Inferno, the only Tier 9 Nuke with an Endurance Crash I've ever had.

What's your strategy for using and slotting these kinds of powers? High recharge seems like a good idea, along with the usual Accuracy and Damage boosts.

I know you can pop a blue pill to deal with the end crash, and certain powers (such as Heat Loss from my /Cold Domination secondary) can help too. But even with those, your contribution to the fight will be pretty limited after setting one of these off.

So how do you know when it's a good time to nuke? And does the way you use these powers vary depending on which AT (Corruptor, Blaster, Defender) you're using it on?

Update #5

Days so far: 9
Remaining days: 41
Level: 31
Average Levels Per Day: 3.44
Outlook: Up and down like a roller-coaster

IC:

The glowing light in the Blood Coral faded away along with the Leviathan's presence in my mind. The power was gone, and I dropped to my knees amid the remains of my enemies. A fierce pain shot through my head. My mind was my own once more, and I could finally see the true horror my ambition had wrought.

I retreated from that scene mentally, drawing inward to calm my thoughts. A new memory bubbled up to the surface - a conversation. No vision, just voices, mine and a woman's.

*****

"It's all my fault," I said.

"No, no it isn't," she said, "You didn't do anything."

"Exactly!" I shouted at her, "I. Did. NOTHING. I could have warned someone, or called the cops, or, or, something. Their blood is on MY hands now."

"No, love, listen to me," she said, and I could feel her hand on my shoulder, "You didn't do this. It was the other doctors, the Crey corporation, they're the ones responsible, right?"

I couldn't answer that, not through the tears.

"You're a healer, remember? That's why you got into this in the first place, to help people, to make a better world. You're a healer, love, not a killer. I know you."

*****

The flashback ended and I wondered if she was right, not to mention who she might have been. I heard cars and sirens and knew I couldn't stay and weep any longer. I fled, not just from the scene but from the city and that island and myself. When I finally stopped to catch my breath and consider, I realized I finally had a clue to my past. The Crey corporation.

I couldn't stay in the Rogue Islands any more, not after that show of power and the number of factions who would be at my throat. I decided to track down the main Crey labs and offices to see if I could dig anything up, and I'd look for a new place to rebuild my life in the mean time. It was time to visit Paragon City.

OOC:

Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is, I'm continuing to enjoy this character, this journal, and the journey, and I've had a few people comment that they're following my progress, so that's cool. The bad news is, I lost my real-life job this week. Unemployment paperwork and job hunts, here I come! At least I'll have more time to play?

Since changing alignment to Rogue, I've mostly been teaming up with folks in Paragon, with the occasional solo mission. I've run a Sister Psyche and Citadel TF this past week, as well as some radio and tip missions. A few lucky drops (such as Steadfast Protection +3% defense recipe) and a tiny bit of marketing (buying high-end recipes and crafting the IO to resell) have made it fairly easy to keep my build kitted out with Common IOs and a couple of useful proc's, as well as build up a little nest egg for future investment or building.

New powers recently include Benumb (which is quite handy for dealing with Bosses), Recall Friend, and Resuscitate. I'm a bit torn on that last one, as it fits the character but doesn't see as much use as I might like. So many people carry wakies or have other rez powers these days, it hardly seems worth talking. Perhaps in a later build I'll drop it for something from my main power sets, I dunno.

I'm closing in on 32, which means Inferno, and then 35 and 38 will bring my last two major powers (Sleet and Heat Loss). After that, I'm really not sure what to do with epic pools, as I have almost no experience there. Any advice?

Update #4

NOTE: Update #3, above, has also been edited to add the IC part I had planned but didn't get around to writing before.

Days so far: 7
Remaining days: 43
Level: 26
Average Levels Per Day: 3.7
Outlook: Busy

IC:

This is where my story gets twisted. A friend of a friend put in me in touch with Vincent Ross, an ex-member of the Legacy Chain bent on revenge. At first, this was just a standard snatch-and-run, picking up some sort of Coralax artifact for him, but things got complicated.

It turns out the Blood Coral he sent me to find has some serious mojo behind it, the kind of power that gets into your mind. Something in my subconscious tried to tell me this was a nuke waiting to blow. I should have listened; instead I got caught up in Ross's own special brand of insanity. We put together a ritual that let me contact the mind of the Leviathan, an incredible, ancient beast powered by the metaphysical remnants of a dead god. Don't ask me how that works.

Nothing went as planned. Nothing ever does. I made it out alive and with most of my brain intact, as far as I could tell. And even better, I had a link to the Leviathan's power ready to use when the Legacy Chain came calling. Two hundred of their mages and warriors came down on me and Vincent, and I made the worst mistake I can remember. I called upon the power stored in the Blood Coral to save myself.

For five long minutes, I literally held the power of a god. That was all the time I needed to burn down my foes with cold fire, freeze them into submission, and thwart their petty magics with my own. Two hundred members of the Legacy Chain assaulted me. Two hundred died. I hovered over our urban battlefield and watched them fall before me.

And I enjoyed it.

OOC:

Over the last few days I've been catching a few hours of play here and there between work and spending time with my friends and girlfriend. Fortunately, I've managed to complete some interesting solo content in that time, as well as jump on a few good teams (including one Sister Psyche TF), bringing me up to level 26 in only a single week of play time. Leveling will be slower from here on out, I expect.

In the last few levels since getting Artic Fog, my build hasn't progressed too much. There are enough powers in my two sets that just don't appeal to me enough or aren't very practical (the snipe from Fire Blast, Snow Storm, Frostworks, etc.) that I've been able to start dipping into power pools a good bit. So far, I've got Hover, Fly, Hasten, Aid Other, and Aid Self. Aid Self has turned out to be a real boon for both solo and team content, and this is the first time I've really had a character that took it and made good use of it. I think I'll take Resuscitate and Recall Friend eventually, as I've got enough room in my build and those powers will add some good teaming utility.

I know, I know, "Take leadership for support!" you tell me, "It increases teh defense and teh DPS!" Yeah, well, I've done the leadership thing. It's popular, because it works. That said, I felt like going a different direction here. In fact, my power choices have given me fresh ideas about Blue Fenix's backstory, as I've already started showing with the whole medical supplies thing in Update #3.

In fact, I'm loving the way this character's personality and story are evolving to match some of the content I'm running. The Bobby 'Ears' paper mission and the Vincent Ross story arc provided some great character development opportunity and inspiration.

I've changed alignment to Rogue now, and I'm starting to run content in Paragon City. I've also got a new costume (which reminds me, I haven't posted any screen shots yet! Oh no!). I've also got my main build slotted out with Common IO's. I probably won't bother with sets at all for now, except maybe a couple of important procs/specials like the Steadfast +3% defense and Perf Shifter: Chance for +End.

Up next: The grind to 32, in search of Benumb and Inferno, two powers I can't wait to try out!

Any of those primaries and secondaries will do fine. There's really not that much variation in damage output between those attacks. For the defense, Invuln will have more resists and defense, but WP gets more regen and the Quick Recovery power for easy endurance management.

Regarding AT, I'd say Brute or Scrapper are about equal to each other. There's some subtle differences in damage and protection numbers, but nothing worth getting worked up about. Tankers, on the other hand, have substantially better survivability at the cost of damage. A Tanker's damage DOES contribute to his team taking down foes, especially with the 'Bruising' -resist on their first tier attack. However, a Tanker's most common role on the team is as a damage sponge to help keep everyone else alive, and it doesn't sound like that's what you're after.

In general I think there's a need for guides that take into account many of the more recent updates to the game. There's a ton of power sets where the most recent guide is either pre-IO's or only shortly after IO's were released.

So, as I've looked through build options for Corruptors (currently running a Fire/Cold and loving it), I've noticed that Scorpion Shield seems VERY popular for builds that want to softcap defense against Smashing and Lethal.

As far as I can tell, there's no other Patron or Epic Power Pool shield that provides +Def. All the others are Resist shields. Does this mean Scorpion Shield is the best of the Shields for Corruptors?

What about a build that isn't aiming for such high defense scores? Are the other shields just as viable as Scorpion for a build that isn't totally tricked out with the perfect IO sets?