Captain_Karate

Still got one Rulu-Shin costume left? I'll take it. My global is @Block-head

You will definitely want some knockback protection, since right now you have none. You could take acrobatics since you already have two leaping powers, or just slot either a steadfast protection:-kb in either tough, or fire shield, or a karma:-kb in one of your defence powers.

Two travel powers is a bit overkill. SS grants some stealth, but SJ is more useful in vertical type areas. If I had to choose one, I would probably take SJ and use syphon speed to get a movement boost. You could also stick an unbounded leap:stealth , or celerity:stealth io in sprint if stealth is an issue for you.

Fulcrum shift is overslotted in my opinion. 3 accuracy? Missing one or two enemies is fine in a big mob, and you have some global accuracy bonuses from the purples you do have slotted. You'll likely be damage capped all the time anyways with a few misses. I personally have mine slotted with 1 recharge io. But I have enough global recharge to have it double stacked all the time. If you want to devote any more slots, make it two recharge io's to have it up every 26 seconds(for a 45s duration buff). So it will likely be double stacked at some points when syphon speed is active.

I would drop the leadership powers you have now. Add maneuvers for more defence. My typical slotting for maneuvers, weave is Lotg:recharge speed, Lotg:defence, Lotg: Def/end. Combat jumping I just slot with lotg:recharge speed, since the end cost is pretty minor on it.

Slotting hotfeet for outright damage is not the way I would go. I personally have mine slotted all with procs(5 damage procs and 1 -res). The endurance cost is pretty high for it though, so if you don't have enough global recharge to have transference up a lot, you could consider 4 slotting it with damage procs, and then 2 endurance reduction io's. You have the recharge down to 13.79s on transference, which should be manageable.

If you want some more durable pets, consider putting the defence, and resistance bonus procs in for pets. Edict of the master: def, Call to arms: def, Sovereign Right:res, Expedient reinforcement:res, and the soulbound allegiance: build up are nice. I don't rely on my pets for too much damage, but I did stick in a nucleolus hami-o in mine as the 6th slot for a bit more acc/dam against tougher enemies. Just 4 slotting expedient reinforcement or call to arms set though is a 6.25% recharge bonus, so that's an option too.

I recommend getting fire blast slotted with decimations. It's some more global recharge for you, and it's a good single target damage power. I usually spam char, and fire blast on bosses to keep them held and whittle them down while the imps do their thing.

Rise of the phoenix has an obliteration: damage slotted. I would personally go with a recharge io, but if you must have a damage there, put in a generic io. heh

I rarely team outside of incarnate trials, so getting an ally rez is not high on my priorities. I am not against getting it per se, and I can see where it would be highly useful, but I'm not sure I want to get rid of siphon life. Twilight's grasp has a fairly long animation in my opinion, and usually my first panic button is to use siphon life, and then twilight grasp, to get me the rest of the way to full health. I've died enough times now mid activation after rapid burst damage to not rely on Twilight's Grasp as my go to heal.

And most times in incarnate trials, people with rebirth just pop it when ppl die, or else they go to hospital immediately. (this makes vengeance practically useless for me on incarnate trials, but i do still take it for pve use). Actually...I could swap howling twilight for vengeance. So it's a choice of when a teammate dies...do I softcap everyone's defence for 2 mins etc...or do i bring him back to life and stun the mob?

I am an idiot. lol. I totally forgot about Soul Drain. Blah. This is a glaring omission considering more damage was the point. I replaced Howling Twilight for Soul Drain, and slotted it with the Obliteration's that were previously in Blackstar. Had to move some more slots around, but it's looking a lot better dps-wise.

I made some changed to the build for more dps.

Dark Blast: Changed from 4 Dark watcher, 1 Nucleolus, 1 Lysosome to 6x Decimation. I use this so much, the proc should be firing a lot.

Gloom: Changed from 4 Dark Watcher, 1 Nucleolus, 1 Lysosome to 5x decimation, and 1 Nucleolus.

Fearsome Stare: Changed from 5 Glimpse of the Abyss to 5 Unspeakable Terror, and 1 Glimpse of the Abyss proc.

Nightfall: Changed from 4 Dark Watcher, 1 Positron's Blast Proc to 5x Positron's blast, 1 Nucleolus.

Stamina: Changed to 4 slots, and Perf shift:end, Perf Shiftroc, 2x perf shift end/x.

Dark Servant: Changed from 5 Cloud senses to 5 Dampened Spirits, and 1 Cloud senses proc.

Oppressive Gloom: Changed from 5 Stupefy, to 5 Absolute Amazement.

Blackstar: Got rid of this power, and replaced it with Howling Twilight. I got the extra slots for the other slotting changes from this power, and having a player rez is useful.

All in all, my defence dropped 3% across the board, Hasten's recharge is still 1.5s from perma(1.5s doesnt matter to me. lol), and my global recharge without hasten is still 101%. Damage should be ramped up considerably now, and even moreso with Reactive Interface. I'll start working on crafting a T3 Musculature, depending on how fast I kill mobs with the above changes.

Here's the build for anyone interested.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.952
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

DARK ASCENTIA DPS: Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Nictus-Heal(A), Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(5), Nictus-Acc/Heal(7), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(7), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(11), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Decim-Build%(43)
Level 2: Gloom -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(19), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), HO:Nucle(42)
Level 4: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 8: Shadow Fall -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 10: Dark Pit -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(23), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(25), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(25), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(27)
Level 12: Fearsome Stare -- U'spkT-Acc/Rchg(A), U'spkT-EndRdx/Fear(13), U'spkT-Acc/EndRdx(13), U'spkT-Fear/Rng(15), U'spkT-Acc/Fear/Rchg(15), Abys-Dam%(48)
Level 14: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(43), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(45), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(45)
Level 16: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(29), Posi-Dam%(29), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), HO:Endo(31)
Level 18: Petrifying Gaze -- BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(A), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(31), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(33), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(33), HO:Endo(33)
Level 20: Night Fall -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(37), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Posi-Dam%(40), HO:Nucle(48)
Level 22: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(34), LkGmblr-Def(34)
Level 26: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 28: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(43)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Dark Servant -- DampS-ToHitDeb(A), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg(46), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(46), DampS-Rchg/EndRdx(46), DampS-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(50), Cloud-%Dam(48)
Level 35: Life Drain -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(36), Thundr-Acc/Dmg(36), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 38: Oppressive Gloom -- Amaze-Stun(A), Amaze-Stun/Rchg(39), Amaze-Acc/Stun/Rchg(39), Amaze-Acc/Rchg(39), Amaze-EndRdx/Stun(40)
Level 41: Dark Consumption -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(42), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Dark Embrace -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(45), S'fstPrt-ResKB(50)
Level 47: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Soul Transfer -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 50: Musculature Total Core Revamp
------------
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(3)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(A), P'Shift-End%(3), P'Shift-EndMod(5), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(50)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run

I'll have to investigate it a bit more. If you don't have an endurance issue playing aggressively, then I shouldn't either. I'm fairly active...running around lining up my cones, holding/immobilizing etc, but it's more on the control/containment side than killing side.

I could do either, and I don't mind changing my build for more dps(I just don't want two, but I have no trouble using some of my existing enhancements, and modifying the build). I looked around for a mid's build that was more dps than debuff, but didnt find one to my liking. Would you mind posting your build, so I can take a look at it, and compare it to mine?

I ended up taking Cardiac.

I'll probably take Reactive interface for some more damage to all my attacks, and Clarion Destiny for the stun protection.

The only difference is the level the toon could slot the enhancement. So lower levels are a bit more desireable because they can be slotted earlier.

Works for me!

I think most of the playerbase has farmed to some degree at some point in their gaming career for a reward. Whether it's xp, inf, recipes, candy canes, incarnate shards/threads, going for certain badges, etc there's a lot of things in city of heroes that can only be gathered by players purposely doing the same thing a lot of times. Farming in one way or another is going to be a fact of life in any mmo. The major problem NCSoft would have, even if they didn't officially condone farming, would be alienating and losing those paying players who do like it.

Pick a number from 0-100. Say it represents the actual percentage of people who farm in city of heroes. Any number greater than zero is possibly lost revenue to them for no real return. Sure it might make the existing players who hate farming happier, but they are already paying regardless. So why risk losing other paying customers who choose to play the game differently than others?

I've got a D3 defender, and am torn as to which alpha slot to take. Right now I am considering either musculature, or cardiac. Musculature seems great because honestly most of my attacks are slotted to debuff. (Example: Dark blast and gloom are slotted with 4x dark watcher, 1x nucleolus, 1x lysosome) I do have tenebrous tentacles slotted for damage tho, and I spam it all the time. But ya...more dps wouldn't hurt, and coupled with the 30% damage buff defenders get while solo would sure be helpful. So taking into account my less than optimal damage slotting, the +33% would really be noticeable.

One the other side of the coin, my recovery is 3.29/s and my consumption is 1.69 with all my toggles running(doesn't include darkest night). I find in long fights, my endurance slowly starts going down. I do have numina proc, and miracle proc slotted in health, and a perf shifter proc in stamina. Eventually I shut off dark embrace and maneuvers and rely on my -tohit to act as defence for me. So...less endurance consumption is nice too. A quick look at Mid's is showing that my endurance discount for my powers is between 30-50% on most.

I was thinking of going with musculature, and then taking ageless as my destiny for the recovery boost which would kinda be good. But on second thought, I'll probably take Clarion to mostly eliminate getting stunned, etc.

Any recommendations?

I'll post the build in case anyone wants more detailed information on my slotting, etc.

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...61FC071E91EA42

For me, it depends on your playstyle. Sure...if you play ranged you are prolly going to consider it a waste, or skippable power. But I always play in the thick of things, so it's really useful for me personally.

LOL "Like a weenie". I see the point of playing at range, and why it would work perfectly with illusion, but I go against the grain I suppose, and charge right in there after the pets grab some aggro. I rarely die either, on 0x8, so I must be doing something right. I've been on some teams too, where there was some almost team wipes, but I am usually the last one standing, and end up defeating the mob so ppl can rez.

Once they get to 50, I drop a few billion to IO them, and have a kick butt toon of whatever archetype and powers. Then I use them on tips, radio missions, incarnate trials or whatever. The point for me...is not having to be mediocre. I don't enjoy "the journey". I like starting out awesome, and because I can, I see no point in delaying that for any longer than necessary. Different things, for different folks... I'm not saying my way is right, or even better...but it's what I enjoy, and how I play personally. This change to AE xp won't affect me much, other than the already mentioned increase in the amount of loading screens I see, which is bearable considering the reward I am seeking.

All this will really do for me, is increase the amount of loading screens I see. One mob, one ambush, and the second at 75% xp is still gonna cap my tickets, and level up my alts marginally slower than I can do now, which currently is 1-50 in 5 hours and change using my elec/fire brute on +4x8.

This change won't affect me, or my levelling, or inf generation much. I suppose that angers the coh "purist's" who think farming AE is evil or something, but I don't play this game to make THEM happy. lol. I've been playing for 6 yrs, and just don't see the point of grinding my way through 50 levels when I've already done the story arcs, and don't care much for the ''AE Lotto'' as I call it - wading through subpar arcs looking for decent ones. I'll just take my quick route to 50, and start playing endgame content - which is what I am interested in. Of course, I may not be the typical player, but then again, I don't want to be the typical player. :P

Can you post your Mid's build, if you have one? I just made a dark/dark defender today, and that video was awesome...

You're welcome!