Bubbawheat

Cerulean Archer Is my favorite of the moment (Trick Arrow/Ice Defender),
but I also really like the look of Ghoulish (Necro/Storm Mastermind),
and then I would also love to see Burnt Matchstick (Fire/fire... well, everything) as a caracature.

Man, I'm an altoholic. >.>

OOh, I've got 100 merits too. I just got the rularuu bow the other day, and now I have to get the talisorian bow ^_^

Yep, as soon as I get her lvl 25 origin title.

These are funny, I don't know how good mine is, although it is actually *my* cat

Eksplor Badge Here

Not too many action shots in here, I don't tend to be screenshot happy.

Ghoulish Ghoulish Ghoulish

Cerulean Archer

Ding! ... Crap, it's not i12 yet

Ghoulish

Silly? Yes.
Fun? Yes.
9 more levels and she'll be complete

[ QUOTE ]
Happy Birthday Creepy!

[/ QUOTE ]
Creepy?

Better Living Through Technology: Robotics/Trick Arrow Masterminds

Mace Mastery (Black Scorpion): This was typically the preferred way to go before the added Epic pools since it is the only patron shield that is defense so it stacks with the protector bot bubbles even if it's only smashing, lethal and energy. Web envelope is a wide area immobilize, and it has -recharge that will stack with any pacing of the turtle: recharge slow procs you have, but with the slows from glue arrow and Oil Slick Arrow isn't absolutely necissary, and it causes redraw. Never took Mace Beam Volley as I went nonviolent so I won't comment on that. Web Cocoon is a single target hold that is very useful if you use Ice Arrow. Using this with Ice Arrow can stack to hold a boss or it can hold two lieuts. Slot it the same way as Ice Arrow. New with I13 comes power boost, available at level 44 after taking one other Mace power. Trick Arrow doesn't get as much utility out of this as other sets, but it will enhance Enangling Arrow's immob, Flash Arrow's -To Hit, Ice Arrow and EMP Arrow's Hold, and Acid Arrow and Oil Slick Arrow's -Defense, possibly one or two more, but I'm not positive on them so I won't list them.

Leviathan Mastery (Captain Mako): This is nice if you like the shark effects from what I've heard. I won't go into detail because I only know what I can read from paragonwiki. School of Sharks is a cone immob and DoT, Bile Spray is a cone DoT, Shark Skin is the resistance shield, Knockout Blow is an extreme melee damage with knockup, and Spirit Shark Jaws is the single target hold, also with DoT. This seems useful if you want to add some more damage to your controls, and if you like sharks.

Soul Mastery (Ghost Widow): This has Night Fall, a cone attack with -Acc, which stacks nicely with your defense. Dark Embrace, the resistance shield. Soul Tentacles, a cone immobilize with damage that doesn't interfere with the knockdown from Oil Slick, and with a little extra range will be about the same size as Night Fall. Oppresive Gloom, a PBAoE stun toggle. And Soul Storm, the single target hold with DoT.

Mu Mastery (Scirocco): This is an electric themed set which could conceptually work with the robot angle, and it has Static Discharge, a cone attack. Charged Armor, the resistance shield. Electrifying Fences, a DoT immob with -KB. Thunder Strike, a Melee stun with knockback, and Electric Shackles, single target hold with damage.

Chill Mastery: This has an Ice blast, an AoE sleep which you could pair with Poison Gas Arrow, Hoarfrost - a click max +HP power, it does include a defense toggle that will stack with your protector bot bubbles, and it comes with Hibernate - which can be a useful "oh crap" button, though it won't necessarily save your pets, and it shuts off all of your buffs to them.

Charge Mastery: This is another electric themed set which could be a match with the robotics like Mu Mastery. It has the same cone attack, melee stun, and single target hold, though the hold is moved to the beginning of the set. And instead of the others it has Surge of Power - a short term resist buff like Electric Armor's tier 9 power. And EM Pulse - which is similar to EMP Arrow with a stun instead of a hold, damage, -regen, and bonus damage to robots.

Heat Mastery: This has a single target ranged attack, bonfire - a location AoE with massive knockback. It's difficult to use properly, but can be quite useful for damage mitigation, especially if you can send foes flying into a corner. A ranged AoE, a single target hold, and Rise of the Phoenix - a useful self-revive with added damage and stun.

Field Mastery: This has a resistance armor, a single target ranged energy attack, a cone knockdown/damage, ranged AoE attack, and a short term resist buff similar to Invulnerability's tier 9 power.

And there you have it. Hope you enjoyed.

Special Thanks to Azucar for help fine tuning the guide, and Luminara for helping in all my early posts asking questions about build and strategy help.

Concealment pool is one way to go, it gives some added defense, you can stealth missions with the first power and flash arrow without your pets. You can get grant invis to make your pets invisible too (though IMO the duration is too short to be that useful) It can take defense sets, so if you are going for +recharge, you can stick a Luck of the Gambler +recharge here. Note: if you take invisibility (not stealth), it will shut off all of your buffs to your pets, including Supremecy, Leadership, and any pet aura IOs

Fighting pool isn't too bad of a choice if you want to aim for a high defense build by taking Weave. Also, Tough can take the steadfast protection IO for an additional 3% defense even if you never turn the power on. And Weave can take defense sets, so if you are going for +recharge, you can stick a Luck of the Gambler +recharge here. The downside is you have to pretty much waste a power choice on either Boxing or Kick, both melee powers where you should never be in melee range if you can help it.

Flight gets a quick mention for the coolness factor that if you get group fly, the robots activate rockets on their feet. There are other benefits to help keep your bots together better, and group teleport is also another option worth mentioning for some use in battle.

Leadership is useful for added defense, damage, and/or accuracy to taste. Vengeance is an amazing power if you team, but remember you can't use it on a fallen bot. Also, it can use up quite a bit of end, but this isn't as much of a problem as other sets as /TA tends to be end light. Also if you are slotting for +recovery as I suggest here, it shouldn't be much of a problem (I run 2 leadership toggles). Slot for end reduction. Tactics is useful if you PVP for +perception. Maneuvers could take Gift of the Ancients for +recovery (2) and +max end (4) and/or Luck of the Gambler's +7.5 recharge, and a second LotG gives not bad +regen.

Medicine pool is very useful. Take Aid Other for sure. Bots are resistant to some status effects and have good defense with the protector bots bubbles so Stimulant isn't that necessary unless you want to use it on teammates. Aid Self depends on your playstyle. Take it if you prefer to tank yourself and use bodyguard mode for survivabilty. Skip it if you send the bots in ahead to take the aggro themselves. For slotting, Doctored Wounds is a less expensive choice to get some +Recharge (5). Miracle can get you +recovery (2) and both Miracle and Numina's have the +recovery procs, but they are expensive.

Presence is useful if you're trying for a high defense build to pull the aggro to yourself and away from your bots, though /Force Field and /Traps have a much easier time getting a very high defense.

And travel is pretty much up to your taste so I won't dwell on it. Blessing of the Zephyr is useful for any travel set to get +Ranged Def (2) and +AoE Def (3). Also, one note from Luminara, whose build uses swift, hurdle, and combat jumping for movement and took Jump Kick from the leaping pool, six slotted with Kinetic Crash for some lovely set bonuses: +run speed (2), 3pts Knockback Protection (4), and +7.5% recharge (6)

Now for the more nitty gritty, the trick arrows. Each and every one is useful, and with a nonviolent build freeing up a lot of powers in your primary, you should have plenty of room to take every one. Some are more situational than others, and there are several different ways to play /TA, so even though several arrows could be optional, it's also just as useful to take all of them.

Entangling Arrow: Your required power. It's a basic immob with improved accuracy and a pretty quick recharge. It's useful early on for damage mitigation, and it's useful late in your career for immobilizing AVs. Not too much in the way of IO sets here. You could go with 5 Enfeebled Operation for it's +recharge (and later gravitational anchor if you want to spend the money for it), but I'd just give it 1 acc and 1-2 immob.

Flash Arrow: One of the optional arrows depending on your playstyle. It is an autohit (and unresisted) -perception, and minor (~4%) -to hit. The -to hit is small, but useful stacked with your defense from the protector bot bubbles, and the -perception can be stacked with any stealth for essentially invisibility, and this is a non-aggro power so firing it will not break stealth. Still, it is a situational power that is useful in many situations, but not ultimately necissary. Recommended slotting is 4 Dark Watcher's Despair, that gives you +health (2), +recovery (3), and +recharge (4). Note: do not slot any procs in this power, they will draw aggro if they go off

Glue Arrow: One of your very effective means of AoE damage mitigation. It's a powerful slow, getting near the slow movement cap for even-con minions without resistance, and it will stack with Oil Slick Arrow's slow later on, and it should be slotted for recharge all the way. You can slot 5 tempered readyness if you're going for +recharge, but you're sacrificing a lot of recharge in glue arrow in return. I recommend 2-3 recharge and Pacing of the Turtle: Chance for recharge slow. Impeded Swiftness: Chance for Smashing can add a little damage as well. If you want to use it against EB/AVs, you might want to add an extra 1-2 slots for slow as they will be more resistant.

Ice Arrow: A single target hold, simple enough. Unfortunately, the recharge and duration mean that it takes a lot of slotting to make it very useful. If you take it, slot it heavily for Acc/Recharge/Hold. I have it, I use it as a great form of mez protection, but even well slotted, it will only stack on a boss for a few seconds. I recommend early on using Basilisk's Gaze which will give you +Recovery (3), +Recharge (4) and +Regeneration (6) as well as having another Chance for Recharge Slow proc, though this set caps at 30. Lockdown is also useful to max out the Acc/Recharge/Hold and it has a useful proc: Chance for +2 mag hold. This would give you an early chance to hold bosses before you get your patron hold. And again I'll mention the purple set Unbreakable Constraint: get 5 for the +recharge if you've got the money for it. Another fun option is to slot it with 1 acc and the rest procs: Neuronic Shutdown: Chance for Psionic DoT, Ghost Widow: Chance for Psionic, Unbreakable Constraint: Chance for Smashing, Impeded Swiftness: Chance for Smashing, Basilisk's Gaze: Change for Recharge Slow, Lockdown: Chance for +2 mag hold, and Pacing of the Turtle: Chance for recharge slow. Haven't tried it, but it could be great fun.

Poison Gas Arrow: Your next very effective means of AoE damage mitigation. It's a powerful -15% Damage (and -dam is always unresistable) and a 50% chance for sleep. This is a great opener in the early levels combined with glue arrow. The 50% sleep will help minimize the aggro and when the bots wake them up, the bots now have the aggro. It's best to slot this for recharge. If you want to go with sets, Call of the Sandman can get you +health (3), +max End (4) and +recharge (5), as well as having a chance for a self-heal proc. Though it's not that useful as this is often a good opening power. Induced Coma: Chance for Recharge Slow is useful, and stacks with Pacing of the Turtle: Recharge slow if you have that in glue arrow. And Fortunata Hypnosis is one of the cheapest purple sets. You can get +recovery (2), or +recharge (5).

Acid Arrow: Your first def/res debuff. This is your first power that will start helping take down EB/AVs. It's a very small AoE so don't rely on it hitting more than one target often. Slot for some accuracy and def debuff, the recharge is fairly good to begin with so slotting for more isn't a priority, although if you want to spread the debuffs around as much as possible, recharge is the way to go. the -res also stacks with Disruption Arrow. Recommended set slotting: Touch of Lady Grey for +Health (2), +recovery (3) and maybe +regen (4). Achilles' Heel: Chance for -res is useful here too. And there's Positron's Blast: Chance for energy, and Touch of Lady Grey: Chance for Negative Energy for some bonus damage. Also, you can frakenslot with Targetted AoE to help get the most Acc/Rech, just avoid anything with damage as it will be pretty much wasted here.

Disruption Arrow: The next debuff. It's a location AoE -resistance that stacks with the -res in Acid Arrow. It's somewhat slow recharging and can't take sets. It helps to take mobs down faster, and useful for EB/AVs as it's unresistable. Slot it for 2-3 recharge, maybe 1-2 end reduction if you're taking a lot of pool power toggles.

Oil Slick Arrow: More or less the best power in the set. It's a great debuff, -def that stacks with Acid Arrow and slow that will stack with Glue Arrow, it does great damage (and technically a pet for nonviolent concept characters), and it does damage mitigation with its knockdown - keeping enemies on their butts and not attacking you. This is a location AoE debuff that spawns a targettable pet called "Oil Slick Arrow". Your bots will light it 80%+ of the time as long as they are attacking enemies in it, and 95%+ once you get your final upgrade. Also, any teammates with AoE fire or energy powers will light it as well. If you don't want to take the chance, there are ways you can light it as well. If you are magic or technology origin, you can use your origin power to light it. A useful macro is "/macro OSA "targetcustomnext Oil Slick Arrow$$powexecname XXX" where XXX is the name of any fire or energy attack. Also, if you have an energy damage proc in Acid Arrow, it has a chance to light it only if the proc fires. Note: an energy damage proc in Oil Slick Arrow will *not* cause it to light itself. Slot it for +Dam and +recharge. 2 Positron's Blast will get you +recovery. For procs, you have the same choices as Acid Arrow: Posi: energy, and Lady Grey: negative, and Achilles' Heel if you want to stack as much -res as possible on EB/AVs, and it even takes slow sets if you want to add another Pacing of the Turtle: Recharge Slow to stack -rech as much as possible. You can also go with 5 Posi's Blast (or eventually Ragnarok, the purple equivilent) for +recharge.

EMP Arrow: An optional power or must-have power depending on who you ask. It is the best AoE hold in the game with improved accuracy, no end crash (its downside is a large end cost, and a short period of -recovery, but you can still pop a blue insp), a 50% chance for an additional mag that will hold bosses, and damage to robots. My problem is the extremely long recharge. If for some reason you're struggling with aggro management, take this power. If you've got everything covered already, IMO you don't really need this. I haven't spent much time with this power, so I'm not sure the best way to slot it. 1-2 Acc, then end reduction and hold to taste.

Pulse Rifle Blast/Pulse Rifle Burst/Photon Grenade: The three pulse rifle attacks in your primary. They deal less damage and cost more end than is useful in the long run. Burst or Blast can be useful in the earlier levels to put out some extra damage, but remember that this does cause redraw with your bow.

Battle Drones: Your first tier pets, simple enough. When you have all three out, they are two levels lower than you so remember to slot enough accuracy to compensate. I recommend Blood Mandate Acc and Dam for 2% recovery, 2 slots any Acc/Dam, and your choice for the last two slots. Sovereign Right or Edict of the Master auras are a possibility, and putting them here means you will never lose their bonus when you malefactor down. Another option is Explosive Strike: Chance for Smashing, or any other Pet/Knockback procs you like. I'll also mention Kinetic Crash if you're aiming for a high recharge build, but you sacrifice some of their utility since it needs 6 slots for the +rech.

Equip Robot: Your first equip power. Slot one or two end red.

Protector Bots: Your second tier pets, and where it gets tricky. They are a jack of all trades and there are many options for slotting. They grant defense, they heal, they stun, but never forget that they still pack some damage, so give at least 2-3 slots for Acc/Dam. The rest is to your taste. Defense is a definite possibility, increasing overall survivability both for yourself and for your other bots. One slot for heal can be useful as well to give their heal a little more oomph. Slotting for stuns is also a possibility, keeping the stunned mobs out of the battle for a longer duration. One slot for end reduction (or at least a ??/end set IO) is useful when they get their second upgrade as they will definately run out of end on occasion. I recommend Blood Mandate Acc/Dam and Acc/Dam/End, for 2% recovery, then the rest to your taste.

Note: The protector bots' force fields are a lower priority power, so if you are constantly on the move, not all of your bots will have their bubbles all the time. If you notice that you don't have all your bubbles, just pause for a few moments before the next group to allow them to throw out all their bubbles.

Repair: A full heal and some end recovery for a single robot. I had it for a while and enjoyed it, but eventually respecced into Aid Other and haven't looked back. Even with 3 recharge reductions, this just isn't up enough to be useful. Aid Other is so much more helpful and can be spread around, and can be used on teammates, which Repair can't. Also with Aid Other you end up cursing a lot less if your heal goes off right after a protector bot heal.

Assault Bot: Your heavy hitter, love the Assault bot. And when you get the second upgrade, love him even more. I again recommend two Blood Mandates for +recovery, Explosive Strike: Chance for Smashing. Also, if you want to go for a purple set, this is the where to put them. I will also mention that some people will skip the first upgrade in favor of the second upgrade because flamethrower has a lower DPS. That's all up to you. And to do this easily, summon your drones and protector bots, then hit the first upgrade, then summon the Assault Bot and hit the second upgrade.

Note: If you are reading an older guide, including this one before the edit, you will see suggestions to slot Performance Shifter: Chance for +Recharge. Do not do this as pets no longer benefit from +Recharge bonuses.

Upgrade Robot: Your second equip power, simple enough. One or two slots for end red.

Better Living Through Technology: Robotics/Trick Arrow Masterminds

Part 1: Robotics

Part 2: Trick Arrow

Part 3: Pool Powers

Part 4: Epic Pool Powers

Part 5: Alpha Slot

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of Lasers and Arrows. This is a guide to the Robotics/Trick Arrow Mastermind. If you're looking for a less-used, but still potent powerset, you've come to the right place. While robots are one of the two most popular primaries, along with Thugs, Trick Arrow is pretty much the least used secondary for a mastermind. Don't let that fool you, a /TA mastermind can still be quite a force to be reckoned with. And without even having to dirty your hands by doing any damage yourself. Throughout this guide I will be recommending some choices for IOs. It's hard to find a focus for set bonuses when looking at IOs for Bot/TA. If you go with a no personal attack build (which is typically popular and useful) then you have no need for +damage since it does not carry over to your pets, many /TA debuffs are autohit so you have no need for +Accuracy. It's also not too useful/easy to go for +Def or +Res. +Recovery seems to be a good choice to me, and I will point out some of the best sets to get +recovery throughout this guide. Many sets give +Recovery with only 2 IOs so it's less expensive. Another good (yet also more expensive, both in inf and in slot usage) set bonus to shoot for is +recharge to bring your slow recharging arrows up faster.

There are a few downsides to playing a Bot/TA. First is that it can be slow leveling, especially early on. The robots' damage really blossoms after you get your Assault Bot, and explodes once you get your final upgrade. /Trick Arrow is also somewhat slow blooming, with a lot of debuff that do a little on their own, but slowly start stacking together to become pretty powerful. That said, it can still be a good set even before then, but it can be difficult if you're having trouble finding your own niche. Poison Gas Arrow and Glue Arrow are your best early forms of damage mitigation. A personal attack early on (with the option to respec out of it later) is an option for extra dps. I would recommend Pulse Rifle Burst for the knockback to help a little with mitigation. Photon Grenade tends to draw a lot of aggro to yourself, which isn't a good thing until after you get your extra bodyguards and/or extra defense. Robots do their best damage at range, and that's where you should keep them as much as you can.

When you start getting into the high level areas, another weakness is mez. You do have a few options available to yourself for protection. One benefit is always the fact that even if you are mezzed, your bots often aren't and will keep doing and taking damage for you. Another option is control. If you take, and slot, Ice arrow you can deal with mezzing Lieutenants, and at later levels for bosses you can stack it with your patron hold and/or EMP arrow (which has a 50% chance of holding bosses on its own). Another option is to go for a high defense build, slotting protector bots for extra defense, taking Mace Mastery for the defense shield, and taking Weave from the fighting pool and/or Stealth/Invisibilty from the Concealment pool and/or Maneuvers from the leadership pool.

Bot/TA is useful in many situations, it's viable solo and it's debuffs are useful on a team. Any way you play, you can find a use for Bot/TA. Now its time to dig into the powers quick and dirty with some Robotics basics. I won't go into much detail because there's plenty of other guides that will do that quite well. I'll just make a few notes on each of them.

((I feel like I'm starting to get back into the swing of things here in part 2. And if you like what you see, let me know, I like to hear what people think. I was able to throw in a little bit of game-related humor, I hope it's not immersion breaking. Thanks! ))

The rising sun snuck its way through the small gap in the blinds to find its way right to Celina's eye, waking her with a start. It was 7:30 in the morning, Saturday. Bah! Might as well get up, not really feeling very tired anyway. In fact, I'm feeling quite refreshed, better than I've felt in quite a while.

Eventually finding her way to the kitchen, she saw an unexpected sight, her bow and arrows were set up right in the middle of the table, seemingly waiting for her. As she picked up her quiver she didn't recognize all of the arrows in there. How did they get there? Did she make them and not remember? Grasping one with her hand, she took it out to get a closer look at it. Amazing, the tip was a perfectly shaped diamond, glimmering off of the bare 75 watt light bulb hanging from her kitchen ceiling, throwing a net of dancing sparkles all across her bare walls. A shiver went through her spine. But it wasn't a diamond, it was a perfect crystal of solid ice.

Celina cradled the arrow in her hands and slowly rotated it, gazing fondly from every angle taking it all in. It was a perfectly crafted piece of art. The shaft wasn't solid, it was a miniature self-contained cryo-machine creating intense cold and focusing it at the tip of the arrow, keeping that perfectly formed ice crystal cold. There was also something that looked like a range sensor, but what could that be for? Enough study! Celina wanted desperately to move onto the testing phase. She just had to see this new arrow in action.

Grabbing her jacket from the closet, she rushed out the door, slamming it shut behind her. Whisked off the floor from the breeze of the door was a small card. On that card was a simple picture of a blue archer, on the backside were three handwritten words: "Use it well."

Hopping in her car, Celina headed straight to the archery range. That's what she called it at least. It was a small empty field at the outskirts of Croatoa, blocked from sight by a line of trees, perfect to avoid all the firbolg running around. She would come out here when she had a new arrow to test, and she was itching to test out this fantastic looking arrow.

Warming up, she used several of her regular arrows for her practice shots. Hitting her target every time and hitting the bullseye more than once. Must be getting a little rusty. Feeling limber and way past curious, she pulled one of her new arrows out of her quiver, giving it another brief examination before stringing it on her bow. She lined up her shot, breathing in slow, controlled breaths. In. Out. In. Out. In. Pull the bow back. Out. Release. She savored the short flight of the arrow as it careered straight towards the bullseye. Shortly before reaching it's target there was a miniature explosion within the tip of the arrow, shattering the small diamond arrowhead of ice and releasing a fine mist of cryogenic liquid, covering the entire target in a large block of solid ice. The arrow fell safely on the ground mere inches from the target. Wow. After a short while the ice evaporated into the air, it must be some type of dry ice. Walking over to the target, she picked up the spent arrow. She could see more clearly the cryogenic delivery system and there was also a range sensor. That must be used to make sure it delivers its payload before it reaches its target. It was completely undamaged other than the ice arrowhead and emptied cryo-liquid. This might take a little bit more study before being able to recharge these arrows, but Celina felt confident she would be able to pull it off.

A cracking twig caught Celina's attention to the forest behind her. At first, she thought it was merely an animal, but then she saw what she wished was unfamiliar: the bulbous orange head of a firbolg soldier. She had come to this spot so many times she had thought it was hidden from the onslaught of the creatures that inhabited Croatoa. But there it stood in all its grotesque glory. She wasn't sure what she should do, she had her bow, and the arrows from the target, but she couldn't bring herself to possibly kill another living being, and besides her normal arrows all she had was the spent ice arrow. The rest of her trick arrows were sitting in the quiver halfway between herself and the pumpkinhead. She had to do something or she would die. She just knew it. She could see the flames in the firbolg's eyes grow brighter, he must be preparing to shoot fire at her. The fire is going to burn her flesh to cinders if she doesn't think of something, anything. What about last night? What if it wasn't a dream?

Celina threw both her hands in front of her, hoping something would happen, not knowing if it would do anything at all, but she was beyond any other possibilties. And it happened. Perfect crystals of ice formed in front of her eyes, seemingly forming directly from her fingertips. They flew directly towards the firbolg, striking him directly in the chest. Well, what she assumed was his chest. The fire in his eyes dimmed, he slowed his movements, but he was still coming towards her. She fired another blast of ice at the soldier. He slowed even further, but was still coming. One final blast and he slowed to a stop and collapsed on the ground. Irregardless of the danger, she rushed towards the body. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, do they breathe? She looked inside the cavernous pumpkin that rested atop the firbolg's body. The fire was still there. It was very faint, but it was still there, flickering gently in the center of his head. That was all the confirmation she needed. She grabbed her arrows and ran off as fast as she could.

On the drive home, she thought about what just happened. Did she really fire ice crystals from her fingers? It's not like that's something out of the ordinary in this city, but she never expected that something like that would ever happen to her. Celina always thought she would just be destined to be the victim. The scientist at the lab when the villains break in. She's not a hero. And those crystals, they looked just like the crystalline arrowhead at the tips of her new arrows. Were those created from her own body? What did this all mean? It was still early in the day, but Celina decided she should go home and sleep on it. There was just too much for her to think about right now.

When she got home, she walked right past her kitchen to her bedroom. Not even noticing the pumpkin pie resting directly in the middle of her table. Leaning next to the pie was another small card with the same picture of a blue archer on one side. And on the other side was written "Gratz!"

((This is my first post here, and my first real writing in quite a while. I appreciate comments and feedback, so if you like the story please reply, and hopefully I will become inspired again soon to write the next part of the origin story. Cerulean Archer is a Trick Arrow/Ice Blast Defender on Pinnacle, currently level 16. Hope you enjoy!))

Celina Artemis was a simple scientist and archery enthusiast. She spent many days well into the midnight hour fiddling with gadgets and gears, studying chemical compositions and mixing formulas. In her spare time when she needed to get some fresh air, she was never without her bow and arrow. Making her way to the archery range on many occasions. Firing arrows for hours on end. And when no one was looking, firing her... test arrows. Her other passion, creating new, improved arrows using her technical knowledge.

It was just another one of her research sessions. Deeply entrenched in a cryogenics book the idea struck her for a way to use cryogenics in her gadget arrows. Never one to let her thoughts catch up to her actions, she immediately went to the lab to experiment. Her mind was racing at the possibility to create an arrow to completely incapacitate a criminal without harming them. It could be an absolute boon to the overburdened PPD, helping to give them a leg up on all the villains roaming the city. Even with the extreme population of heroes, it seems like the villains still outnumber the good guys 10 to 1. This lab alone has been broken into more times than she could count.

An all too familiar crash rang out from the room next door. Not this time. Not now. She felt like she was too close to a breakthrough.

Footsteps coming closer. She had to do something, she let herself be the victim too many times already.

Darkness. The power must have been knocked out. A sharp rapping on the laboratory door made Celina start, knocking over some of her tools. Suddenly a burning sensation ran up her arm. Reeling back, she thought she had run her hand over the flame on the bunson burner. Her chest felt like ice as she realized that those outside must have heard her and now knew someone was here. Her mind raced through the possibilies of what might be on the other side of the door, for all she knew it could be vahzilok looking for spare parts. She couldnt' let that happen.

Through the dim, flickering light of the still lit bunson burner she could see the doorknob start to turn. Without thinking, she flung her arm out in front of her, maybe she could find a weapon, something, anything. What she did find she could have never imagined in her wildest dreams.

When she reached her arm out, the same arm that she thought she had burnt on the open flame, she saw what looked like diamonds fly out through her fingertips. But it wasn't diamonds, it was ice crystals. As she looked closer she realized that she had sealed the door shut by encasing it in solid ice. Curses rang from the other side of the door, then footsteps. They were running away. Her heart still racing, she went to sit down and collapsed. Her head was spinning. Everything went black.

"Celine. Celine. Wake up Celine."

A voice reached through the thick haze in her head, bringing her back into the world. What had really happened? When she could finally open her eyes, she saw Carl, her co-worker.

"Well good morning Celine. It looks like you went through hell and then some. I see we had some unwelcome visitors yet again. How can we be expected to do any serious research when this place is getting broken into every other week." Carl was a welcoming face to wake up to. He was the only other person that had been working at the lab as long as Celine. Like he said, how can anyone be expected to work with these kind of conditions.

Carl helped Celine up and she could look around. The lab looked pretty normal. Her experiment was knocked over, but there was no other damage. Looking at her hand, there were no burns, nothing. The door looked perfectly fine as well. Did she just imagine what had happened to her and she just got lucky. Maybe one of the many wondering heroes came by and distracted her pursuers.

"Are you ok Celine?" Carl looked into her eyes with an expression of genuine concern.

"Y..." Celine coughed, her mouth was incredibly dry. It was a few moments before she could bring herself to speak. "Y... Yes, I think I'm ok, just a little shaken up. I think I just need to go home, can you give me a ride?"

"Sure, no problem." Carl offered her his hand, and led her outside to his car. During the short ride to her apartment, she spent the time convincing herself that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. But she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong.

Despite the fact that it was the middle of summer, but she could have sworn that she saw her breath when she stepped out of the car. And when she got inside, she turned the heat on without even realizing it.

You know apple, you make this post look really weird to anyone not reading it in a threaded view(which is most people). Maybe you should limit your individual replies to PMs

I could be wrong, but I don't think that the game can easily be coded for pets with random powers. Pets with different powers within the same tier, yes. Mercs and Thugs have two different types of pets in the first tier, but they show up in a specific order every time. And yes, thugs have random costume pieces, so that part of your idea is good too.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I'm all for having an elemental and/or demon and/or monster set. I'm just saying based on what I've read from the devs that the random powersets would be difficult. It's still a fairly well thought out set that could work well just without the random powers part in it.

Interesting suggestion, although I don't think that a pet with random powers would work, I think that falls into power customization even though it's random and not player selected. Also, I'm sure some people would dismiss/resummon in order to switch out pets until they get two of the pet that's the least resisted on the map they are on.

I believe the best way to describe who can give purple drops are enemies that *con* 50 or higher. I could be wrong, but I believe that's right.

Move out of the way!

I admit it, the list from Lady_Jade's thread someone else compiled towards the end and I copied it without looking at each suggestion. If someone else wants to point out some of the most well thought out suggestions I'd gladly move them into the main list.

I'd rather not leave out any suggestions just because they seem less serious as long as they take the trouble to list every power in the set. If there are any less serious posts that are just vague descriptions, let me know and I'll leave them out in the next revision.

If you want to be nitpicky and not count pet names (and a couple other "creative" item descriptions), you're only taking out 4 from pic #1 and 10 from pic #5 on AOE. Still prolly good for third place. Congratulations to everyone. It would have been nice to see some honorable mentions for creativity. In my opinion, I saw a few that were really good shots with several items in them that were more interesting than some of the top three with less interesting pics with a lot of items in them. I'd do it myself, but I can't remember them and don't feel like sorting through all of them again. I PM'ed the owners of my personal favorites anyway

I know about the aura, looking forward to it, the problem is sticking with one long enough to get to 30 in the first place .

I would rather keep the head black and just add some red accents somewhere, similar to the red leaves, but different.

And thanks for the compliment

Yet another great feature slipped under the radar for i12. And hopefully it's well recieved enough that in i13 they retrofit it to older missions. Something like Jim Tremblor's arc, if you fail at rescuing Fusionette, then the next mission would be slightly different

If you look at another thread in this forum called "write the caption", there's some funny screens in there.