BunnyAnomaly

Hi friendly stalkers

This is more of a heads up and an unhappy face too.

Chilling Embrace has an unfortunate, unexpected (to me!) effect with how it interacts with being Hidden.

When you enter the Hidden status due to not attacking in the last 8 seconds and have no aggro, Chilling Embrace suppresses so it cannot draw you out of this state.

When you enter Hidden due to Placate or Stalker's Guile: Chance to Hide, it continues to tick and will break the status almost immediately. Even with an attack queued after either of these effects, it only has a 50/50 chance of critting because the Hidden status is ended before the attack even starts.

Much to my disappointment I have had to remove Chilling Embrace from my build because the Stalkers Guile: Chance to Hide is worth more than the slow to me.

I simply can't imagine playing a Fiery Aura tank without Burn & Fiery Embrace. If you are going to skip that you might as well not play a Fire tank to begin with because the set is otherwise lacklustre. Consume is also a fantastic power because not only does it give you all your endurance back but it also gives 100% endurance protection (so long as you hit I think 2 targets with it or so) which means Malta sappers become a triviality.

If I had to skip two powers from a set, I'd probably choose Dark Armour and skip the self rez and Cloak of Fear. Slotted properly you aren't going to be dying and by most accounts the CoF is an endurance hog with a relatively superfluous effect.

The entire BU argument above by Arcanaville is flawed because it doesn't necessarily resemble actual gameplay. It is all well and good to average the damage out over its recharge cycle but do people actually play this way?

For this to be true the following assumptions must be made:

1. That you are fighting continually without break or pause.
2. That you activate BU every time it is available, regardless of circumstances.
3. That you attack cycle and target selection are the same irrespective of you usage of BU.

It should be fairly clear to see that these assumptions are most certainly false.

1. A buff that lasts 10 seconds cannot be averaged out across its entire as this is not representative of how it is used in gameplay, nor how combat actually works either. Every moment spent moving between mobs without BU active will raise its effectiveness beyond Arcanaville's calculations.

2.
(a) For a ranged attacker especially, one will use BU prior to aggroing / engaging the mob hence the activation time doesn't matter.

(b) A melee attacker may choose between reaching the enemy first before using BU (in which case they do lose DPS during activation) or use it prior to attacking (in which case they lose some of the duration of BU whilst entering their engagement range). The effects for melee are thus going to be on personal preference of choice and the speed of which they can move from outside an enemies perception radius to within their own combat distance. It would be further complicated by the presence of ranged attacks (preferably AOE) which could be used mid-combat jumping into the mob and likely put them into the same ballpark as Ranged - where it can be activated prior to engagement, immediately followed by an AOE attack, at the conclusion of which they are in melee range.

3. Build Up is almost always going to be followed up by the heaviest AOE attack possible when engaging a mob of enemies. Because of the change in our behaviour and attack selection it will amplify total damage greater than what is predicted by a standardised attack chain.

The only instance where these calculations are to hold true is where the underlying assumptions are true. A very simple exercise is this - Put your hands up if you are fighting 100% of the time, without pause or break between mobs, activate Build Up regardless of circumstance or timing and never alter your attack chain to leverage the uptime of Build Up. If that's you, then those calculations are the ones to use.

Energy Melee
Energy Blast
Battle Axe

Are the first that spring to mind :x

to answer the OP:

For incarnate trials

When there are defence debuffs around

If you mysteriously gain 55% damage, check your settings on Fury and Rage

So many strange choices that I can't make sense out of.

This is what I'm almost at right now. Flight is there for concept reasons, as is my selection of Pyre instead of Soul but you might be able to use some of the general slotting choices I have made to help you. As for your endurance issues, I have only viewed your final build which you said you were leaning towards, but slotting Consume for End Mod might help, considering that is its purpose. Having it well slotted with a very high recharge will refill you quite easily and solves all the end issues.

Roughly speaking you gain ~25% s/l defence and lose nothing significant.


Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.957
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Super Strength
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Punch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Fire Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(11), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(27), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 2: Haymaker -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 4: Healing Flames -- Dct'dW-Heal(A), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(31), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(34), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(36), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 6: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(25), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(25), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 8: Knockout Blow -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(9), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(9), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), EndRdx-I(40)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50)
Level 12: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 14: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(15), RctvArm-ResDam(15), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 16: Plasma Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(17), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(19), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19)
Level 18: Rage -- Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(A), Rec'dRet-Pcptn(21), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 20: Consume -- P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(39), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(43)
Level 22: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(23), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(23), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 24: Blazing Aura -- Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(A), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(37), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Armgdn-Dam%(40)
Level 26: Fly -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 28: Burn -- SBrutesF-Rech/Fury(A), SBrutesF-Acc/Dmg(31), SBrutesF-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 30: Temperature Protection -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(31), GA-3defTpProc(40)
Level 32: Foot Stomp -- SBrutesF-Dmg/Rchg(A), SBrutesF-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SBrutesF-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(33), FrcFbk-Rechg%(34), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 35: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 38: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 41: Char -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(42), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42)
Level 44: Fire Blast -- Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(A), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(45), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Apoc-Dam%(46)
Level 47: Fire Ball -- Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(A), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Ragnrk-Knock%(50), EndRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Rise of the Phoenix -- HO:Perox(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 0: Born In Battle
Level 0: High Pain Threshold
Level 0: Invader
Level 0: Marshal
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(46)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(43)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon
Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface
Level 50: Pyronic Total Core Judgement
------------

With a 2 minute play in Mid's I hit 77% s/l resistance before my choices had to well and truly be specialised and unwieldy before it would get any much higher.

Set bonuses just favour defence so much more than resistance - I don't think it's really worth trying for.

I don't really have any problems with large numbers of enemies on my SS/Fire brute (Footstomp recharge is under 6 seconds) so I wanted to get the buffs front loaded. I think that's the core choice?

I ended up moving to assault to try that and I might, if it continues to underwhelm, try out support to see if the constant -10% endurance cost is worth it, and the toggle 12% defence seems better than everything else anyway.

If I zone with my assault core active the buff icon and toggle stay permanently on, however it never generates stacks of +damage. Weird :x

-post removed

see below

Anything/Anything if you have the inf for it.

If you are set on Electric Armour, Super Strength synergises quite well with that (faster recharge in the armour, endurance recovery tools in the armour) and brings a lot of AOE damage and mitigation. The key weakness of SS is the Rage crash which may or may not bother you.

RE: the Anything/Anything comment. Stack defence through IOs. Stack +recharge through IOs. Get Tough & Weave and you'll be nigh indestructible.

As for what is "most welcome", I'd always prefer a support class on my teams but perhaps that's just me.

Removed because of bug found in Mid's code, thanks Codewalker for the tip!

I've taken this down because without reading the whole thread I don't want people to just see the numbers and go with that.

Blaming astronaut deaths on Powerpoint is so mindboggling it deserves just this one sentence.

Back on top, Nature Affinity sounds interesting and I wonder how it will visually synergise with Plant Control.

Please don't limit what colours people can do. If you are so afraid of someone making yellow water and that it is going to be the death of COX, people have for years had broadcast/team chat and could have spoken of far worse things to ruin your game. It didn't happen then it won't happen now.

If it bothers you so much and you find this person, just don't team up with them.

If you just play the game, sell your stuff when you find it, you will comfortably earn (without exaggeration) billions.

I did it myself - after I stopped bothering with flipping on the market and I just did a bunch of hero tips and 50 content.

It's so easy to make money you just play your character and you'll be right.

I kind of wish that the Hybrid had more of an affect on a character. Right now the passives are very minor and the toggled effects, while nice, forcibly detoggle and go onto cooldown.

Once I unlocked the Hybrid slot I felt a sudden sense of disappointment because it was not going to be anything that added either thematically or mechanically (at any significant level) to my character.

The passives in particular are a problem - +10% damage or +20 hp/s of regen is just so... bland.

Stone Armour.

But yeah, I can't really recommend it at all.

This may just happen to be my first post in here.

Why Cardiac?

Neither of those sets are particularly endurance hungry and FA in fact gives consume which will put you to 100% every minute (or less with adequate slotting).

As a brute the extra resists are on the low side. I think you'd get a lot more out of something else.