Candlestick

This has got to be the absolute, bestest, most amazing idea ever posted on the suggestion boards.

+1 for BRB!

Lightning Rod has now been confirmed to have a recharge of 3 minutes.

What. The. Hell.

I mean seriously, the coolest power in the set, and what many people hoped to be the redeming value of the set... And it has a Nuke recharge.(BI has been apx to around 7.1 btw, so not exactly nuke levels)

What. The. Hell.

Elec/Elec went from being the coolest sounding set for brutes in i7... To being the worst.

Thanks guys.

Positron, any word on the SWAT forces? As stands, they make Longbow Spec-Ops look like lvl 1 Hellions in comparision and will turn off many players from doing Mayhems.

Please tone down Swat forces.

Longbow and Circle of Thorns don't have ANYTHING on swat. And considering those are the two hardest enemys in the game, thats very, very bad.

In another thread I showed how my corrupter took five minutes just to kill two white minions. This is wrong no matter how you cut it.

Reduce their special effects such as the glue, flash bangs and morters. Allow them to use them ONCE per battle and thats it. The stacking of these debuffs means you may as well just shut off your game, cause there is nothing you can do.

Everything needed to figure out binds is in this amazing guide.
Complete Guide to Binds

That said, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! WHen you broadcast for SG's you are basically taking in every crappy player that wants to join. The absolute best way to recruit is to simply team with people. If you like them, than ask if they need an SG to join.

My guess is the Aggro thing as well. Pokevote for pets, which will work in PvP.


....It will also help aliviate the MM's "role" issue in PvE.....Bloody MM's and their "Gold-plated Pets"

You pretty neatly wrapped up the entire crux of the problem Logarithm. It also greatly helps explain the disparity between epic pools.

For instance, a CoH Troller lacks major forms of damage. So to balance this out, the epic pools give them a form of damage.
Now look at the CoV dominator.
They have decent damage and decent control. Because they don't lack a major component in their AT, the Devs, at a loss for what to throw in, put in stuff they already have(Damage, Pets).

The stalkers on the other hand, since they are much more specialized, recieved epic powers that will help balance out some of their weak points.

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anything /nrg or /electric will detoggle and mez me in 1 hit everytime

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That's not the blaster's fault.

It's yours.

Where is your mez protection? If you're not /SR or /nin you need a non-toggle buff.

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Yes, your right, popping insperations should DEFFINITLY be the balance point in PvP and the Devs should ASSUME that all players will be fighting with 1 Breakfree, 4 Yellows, 10 Reds and 5 Purples on at all times.

Sounds fair to me.

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Nobody should have to get tactics and FA simply because they need to combat one AT in PvP with the catch that if they dont get these powers to combat that AT then they will be totally uneffective in PvP altogether.
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To be fair, Tactics is not required at all to combat Stalkers. I play my Brute exclusivly in Warburg, so I combat Stalkers as well as all of the other AT's. When I suspect that a Stalker is around, I simply pop 2 yellows and bam! No more hide.(and those premtive 2 yellows are the only way I am going to whack through their toggles anyways )

For difficulty of foes to defeat in PvP, I actually rank stalkers as number 3. For me, the list is...
1. Blasters
2. Spine Scrappers
3. Stalkers
4. Trollers
5. Corrupters

So yeah, can't say I am sympathetic. (Although to be fair, after the WW nerf, I may not be quite so scared of Spine Scrappers and Blasters)

I have to agree that with the current information being revealed to us... This sounds absolutly terrible. Hopefully when i7 hits test we can get enough public outcry IF this is actually as bad as it seems. Or perhaps it will be addressed in a later patch.. Bottom line, I am not a fan.

STOP HIJACKING MY THREAD! Seriously. I could care less about my grammer on a web forum, nor do I care if said person criques my grammer. It doesen't matter. What I do care about is City of Villians players that are morons and play like the above mentioned charaterisitics. Comment on that, not howz ich spell, or getting angry at people getting angry at howz ich spell.

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Cute. I would like to point out however that you used "than" 9 times, and 8 of those times incorrectly. Very distracting. You meant "then" in all but one spot.

then: followed by ("heal up then pull")
than: compared to ("an AV is tougher than an elite boss")

But it was still a fun post.

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i no ennglesh gud. Sorry bout that, despite my status as a history major and the 20,000 essays in my future...I still suck at english.

(orginally posted in Archtypes and Powers section, but I thought it would make a good guide to)

I just feel like ranting, whining, and just generly being a sour-puss and decided that I would type up all the things that I hate CoV players doing. I have orginized this by AT, and have spared none. If you find yourself in this list... please stop...please?

Masterminds- Ah Masterminds, that wonderful class that was supposed to be the psuedo-tanker for CoV. But lets list the bad MM player traits.
1. The "Pets are made from gold" MM. This MM treats his/her pets like they are the most precious thing in the world. Nevermind that they can just be resummoned back up, the MM refuses to put their pets in anything that could be resembled as danger. They will NEVER take the alpha, and will instead insist that the Dominator or Corrupter do it, provided they have no Brute(and if their is a Brute, than they scream at them to tank).

2. The Linebacker. This is the MM that insists that whatever you do, their pets are going to be there to block it. Doorways, Bosses, it does not matter, their pets will swarm over the place and prevent you from going anywhere.

3. I don't use my secondary on teammates....EVER. This is the MM that refuses to ever use heals, debuffs, bubbles on their teammates. Doesen't matter if they have Alkoloid, Darkest Night, Tar Patch, they won't use it. They only bubble their pets and heal their pets.

Brutes- The big boys of the party, these Brutes tend to suffer major role-problems and are highly confused at what to do with themselves.

1. The "Girly-Men"(best pronounced with a strong austrian accent) These are the brutes that refuse to take aggro. They will never take an alpha strike, and will instead wait for the Dominator to alpha, die, be rezzed by a corrupter with Mutation and Fallout, use another AoE and die again. Only THAN will the brute go in and whack a few guys before the team suffers a wipe.

2. The Suicidal Sadists. These brutes have it out for both themselves and their team. They invariably rush from the last mob, halfway down on health and with a 1/4 a bar of end, straight into the next mob. Their teammates, just finishing up the +3 Carnie boss that 1-shotted the /Thermal(who is still dead), are than forced to run to the aid of the brute(now screaming H34L!!!11!) and than of course... are wiped out.

Dominators- AHAHA! Sorry, Dominators amuse me and yet I feel sorry for them at the same time.. Read on.

1. Ground Kisser- This dominator type is the most common Domintor there is.. Somehow, most dominators tend to end up like this, despite their best efforts. They use their AoE Imbolizes before the Brutes and MM's have gotten enough aggro and than turn 90% of the mob onto themselves and quickly bite it, despite the 2 sets of thermal shields on them and the 2 heals that came the split second after the dominator aggroed everything and went from green to black in under .2 seconds.
:: Disclaimer, this effect is practically part of Dominators. It happens to the best, and really should be exempt from the "Bad players" part. Poor poor dominators... I feel for you, I really do. ::

2. The Blaster(well 65% of one). .....1 Immobilze and 9 attacks... Need I say more?

Corrupters- Another class with a serious role problem.. They just don't know what they want!

1. Aggro Magnet- Think Dominator. This is the corrupter that alphas with Fireball than runs straight in to hit Fire Breath. And their a /thermal of course, but only cause it has a self heal. Dead in .2 seconds.

2. 50% an AT. This is the corrupter that only uses 1 side of their class. They either go all Blasts, with only their first tier secondary(which of course, is unslotted), or they go all secondarys, and only keep their first tier primary(again, unslotted).

3. I don't use that Tool in my Belt. This is the corrupter, that although having a very benificial team power(Cauterize, Shields, Speed Boost, Darkest Night, etc) absolutly refuses to use it on anything less than an AV fight. And than only when you tell them to. It doesen't matter how many times the team dies, the corrupter will not use the power that could potentially prevent them from dieing.

Stalkers- Those guys who you just kinda want to punch in PvP, and sometimes in PvE, if you could only find them.

1. I have scrapper Hp right? These stalkers believe firmly that they can take an alpha. After all, their claws/regen in CoH could take an alpha no problem, why can't they just pop off AS on the boss before anyone else can interfere? Ends up very badly for the stalker, but luckly for the team, they generly have no clue what the stalker is doing and only look at their screens to see his bar go black suddenly.(which will prevent them from running in to save him and dieing themselves)

2. The Silent Scouter. This Stalker will run ahead of the team, not saying anything and will than proceed to scout out the ENTIRE 6 floor officer building map. While you are fighting and dieing to the +3 Longbow Ballista, the stalker is happily wandering around looking for glowies. Your only indication to this happening is 30 minutes into the mish, after many of the players are deep into debt you see "Mission Complete" pop unto the screen.

Well, thats it.. Thats all the whining for tonight... Now to study for finals that I have been putting off to post on this forum!

Hasten is pretty useful, and I have it myself. I did not get it till very late in my build, but I do like it. It is made even more usefull by the fact that I am friends with a huge amount of Kinetic players and usually team with at least 1, making Hasten near Perma. 2 Kinetics and it is Perma. 6 Kinetics and.... Well... It overlaps .

Ah, Stone Melee. That smash-tastic set that shakes the screen, makes cool noises and generly looks cooler than all the other sets. Unfortunately it has the reputation of being an endhog and subpar damage to Energy Melee and Superstrength. And this reputation is true. Stone Melee will not outdamage Energy Melee or Superstrength, but what it WILL do is make you the king of protecting yourself and your team using combinations of Knockdown, Holds and Disorients. Using Stone Melee, you can control the battle almost as well as a Dominator, while dealing tremendous amounts of damage.

Lets start off by taking a look at the powers.

Stone Fist This is a power that many people choose to skip, attracted to the more damaging Hammer attacks. However skipping this attack will cripple you unless you happen to have another fast recharging attack. Unlike most 1st tier powers, Stone Fist does moderate damage, inflicting as much as most sets 2nd tier power. Consdering its relitivly fast recharge time, this makes an excellent power to build up and maintain fury, as well as doing sizable amounts of damage. Be sure to take and slot this power well.

Stone Mallet This is your first major heavy hitter, and you have access to it at level 1. Like Stone Fist, this is practically a required power, doing very good damage as well as being the first power to show the real power or Stone Melee....Knockdown. Stone Mallet has a very good chance of knockdown and combined with other powers, can keep a boss flopping around the entire fight.


Heavy Mallet The 2nd part of your Knockdown combo, Heavy Mallet does about 50% more damage as stone mallet, and has an even greater chance of Knockdown. At low levels this attack can also 1-shot most minions on fury alone, although at higher levels you will need to combine it with other attacks to quickly mow through enemys.



Build Up Most people know about Build-Up and its benifits, so im not going to go into to much detail. Simply put, its a good idea and very usefull for taking down things that need to go down FAST.

Fault This, my brutish friends, is the true gem of the Stone Melee set. Now when you first look at this power, most people go "meh, no damage, its pointless...Im grabbing Hurl Boulder." Yes it does no damge. However, this attack is the deciding factor in what allows Stone Melee brutes to take an alpha strike for a team of 8 with +2-+3 mobs AND SURVIVE. This is actually a very short-ranged AoE attack, not a Player Based AoE attack. It causes instant Knockdown to everything(thus giving you some extra breathing room) as well as a 100% Mag 2 disorient. This is massive. This basically allows you to hop in a mob, take the alpha, than put 90% of the mob out of the fight for 10 seconds. On bosses, use this to keep the bosses knocked up while waiting for your Mallets to recharge. Its this power that allows us to become the Controllers for brutes, and makes Stone Melee one of the safest sets to play. The recommended slotting by me would be 2 accuracy and 2 disorients. This gives you enough breathing room to allow the rest of the team time to wail on the mobs and cut them down before they aggro on you again.

Taunt Honestly, the only Brutes that should even consider this power is Energy Armour brutes, due to the lack of an aggro aura. All other sets contain an aggro aura and need no more aggro. Unless you plan on being a cruddy tank, don't get this power.

Seismic Smash Ah Seismic Smash, how I love you. For a upperdamage power, this has a very fast animation and deals excellent damage. And it has a 100% chance for a Mag 4 Hold. Mag 4 holds bosses. Need I say more? With this power you can keep a boss out of the fight even better than with knockdown, as well as dropping its toggles. Fighting against a Spectral Lord with chill of the night up? Seismic Smash it, no more Chill of the Night.

Hurl Boulder One of the "Meh" attacks of the set. This power has an incredibly long activation and is simply not effective in the heat of combat. Its only uses are a pulling tool and to knockout flyers. Thats it. The damage, since it is rarely boosted by Fury, is not that great. I recommend skipping this power unless you really like it for concept.

Tremor Oh yay! Im lvl 32! I can get my big huge massive AoE attack that....sucks.... Yes folks, Tremor is truely lackluster for a lvl 32 power. The damage is very low, around the same as Stone Fist, if not even lower and the animation takes forever. Its one saving grace is that it is a largish AoE and it causes knockdown. If you want it, take it, but don't feel pressured, as it is most deffinitly not a required power.

Now on to tactics...
Knockdown, Knockdown and Knockdown If you haven't figured it out yet, Knockdown rocks. Use this to your advantage and pick on bosses. Typical strategy is to run into a mob, hit Fault, find the boss and start flipflopping him like a ragdoll. Begin with a lighter attack like Air Superiority, than Stone Fist, Stone Mallet, Air Superiority, Stone Fist, Heaby Mallet, than finish it off with a good Seismic Smash. This combo will prevent the boss from doing ANYTHING, as well as doing a sizable amount of damage, or just straight up killing it. This is esspessially usefull against those bosses that will kill you in a heartbeat if they do get an attack off, such as Carnies and Succubus.

Slotting Stone Melee is an endurance hog. Like no other. You NEED to slot at least 1 Endurance reduction in every single attack, including Seismic Smash. I also recommend 2 acc in every single attack, simply because an attack missed is endurance wasted. After that, stock in the damage and you are golden. Recharges are not really that needed, the powers recharge slowly, but still fast enough to keep a good attack chain going.

Lets move on to Secondarys shall we?

Energy Armour Most people tell you that the best secondary for stone is energy armour simply because of the endurance recovery in it. I disagree. Stone Melee truely needs aggro to properly build fury, as it is after all, the most end efficiant way to build your damage. And Energy Melee offers no aggro managment, and in fact decreases aggro with Energy Cloak. From my experiance, it also can't take aggro very well, and is the most 'squishy" of all the brute sets. This will most likely be fixed in Issue 7, but it is still a frailer set.

Fire Armour For Stone Melee, this is an all-around good set. It offers decent protection in the form of 2 shields, aggro managment and AoE damage in Blazing aura, and an endurance recovery power in Consume. Its only major flaw is the lack of Immobilization and Knockback protection, but this can be fixed with a quick trip to the Leaping pool. I recommend this as a good set to go with Stone Melee. *Disclaimer* You MUST take Acrobatics as your Knockback protection. Fault requires you to be on the ground to use it, and Hover obviously will not allow this.

Invurnerability Another good all-around set, Inv offers great Smashing and Lethal protection, and decent, though small resists to everything else, barring Psi. It has access to Dull Pain, and some Defense boosting abilities in Invincibility, as well as an aggro tool and accuracy booster. Another secondary that gets my stamp of approval(not shocking as I am one!)



Stone Armour This set provides a decent mix of Defense and Resistance through most of its career, than gains access to Granite Armour, which effectivly makes you... The deal. However, Granite Armour slows the already slow Stone Melee attacks, and reducers your damage. This can mean pain when you want to be dishing out damage, but all things come at a price. This set gets my stamp of approval, if you can manage flicking in and out of Granite.

Dark Armour This is the secondary for those who hate Circle of Thons and Carnies. The only set to offer Psi damage, it should not be overlooked. It does come at a steep endurance price and the same knockback problem as Fire. If you make sure to slot plenty of endurance reducers in your armours and attacks, and shut off shields you don't need, Dark Armour is not to bad. It gets my stamp of approval, provided you can maintain your endurance.

Well folks thats it, the guide to Stone Melee, so go out there and SMASH .

Well so far I am lvl 30 with my Stone/Inv brute. While I do notice some EM brutes outdamaging me, its not a significant amount. I still deal out massive amounts of damage, while knocking everything flat on their [censored] with FOUR knockdown effects(2 Mallets, Air Sup, Fault), And of course the whole reason why I picked stone is still there. It looks the coolest. By far. Nothing beats the graphics and sound of stone melee, it just feels brutish.