Chaplain_EU

The time has come, where i am now without toons I am prepared to delete on onion, and i need to move over to Defiant. Anyone in a similar situation, only reverse, would you consider a big Inf transfer? Lets say 10M? I have it readily available on Onion for anyone interested in the swop.

Contactable in game @chaplain

Thanks in advance for any kind offers.

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also for the taunt team, would regen scrappers with a taunt power be useful, i know they dont have as much HP but being regen means they are best for surviving hami attacks, and all scrapper sets do have a single target taunt in them.
just a suggestion

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From my experience as a healer to the hami taunter regen scrappers are ten times better than a tank and yes ive been in the hami tank team a few times.

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Can a regen scrapper get 3000+ HP when entering the bubble? No. Tanks are better. All you need for a hami-tank is a lot of HP nowadays, and tanks have way more than a scrapper. Regenners used to be used when IH was a toggle, since it was possible to perma dull pain and then tank hamidon with no support whatsoever. Since IH and DP can no longer do that, real tankers are way better.

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From my experience as a hami tank healer I agree fully with Shannon: regens scrappers are better than tankers thanks to the regen. Yes, having loads of HP helps, but only so much. However, I wasn't on Jiaozy's raid and I don't know how taunting was done on his version so my experiences are solely from the 'typical' raids.

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The regen means nothing when you have 3 empaths spamming Heal Other on you. The reason that regen was used pre-i5 was because they could tank hamidon with no support. Now, they need support to be able to do it so having more HP is more important than having more regeneration. Tankers get more HP, and so are better.

Look at the track record in i6 on Defiant. We used to use Mr ?, a claws?/regen scrapper to tank. Moving him into the bubble used to take at least 3 attempts, even with 10+ PA droppers grabbing the aggro. Don't forget, this is i5/6, so PA actually worked. He used to die a few times during the raid as well, causing problems for the clearing/holding groups.

Now lets look at the track record for when we've used Novocaine, an Invulnerability/EM Tank. Number of deaths moving him into the bubble? 0. Number of deaths during a raid? 0. Not only that, but we back him up with two Empaths usually, rather than the 5+ that Mr ? used to have.

I'm not saying that Mr ? and his team are bad players, as player skill isn't a factor in this. All the whole tank team has to do is green ring one power and keep firing it. Occasionally the Empaths have to group up for RA so they don't run out of end, but really that doesn't take any skill at all. Those are the facts. Tanks are better than Scrappers at tanking Hamidon at the current time. In the past Scrappers may have been better, but that is not the case now.

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It wasnt so much the regeneration but reconstruction helped and i dont know about defiant hami raids but on union you would have 6 empaths and only 3 then were not afk merely spamming heals at times when its not needed. You soon find out about whose afk when you have to move left and they stayed where they were. Also when it come to buffing the taunter they werent bothering when they should of. I soon knew who id wouldnt want supporting me i can tell ya.

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All this asside, it still takes a dedicated respec for a scrapper to tank hami, where a bog standard tank can do a better job. Vel, you last healed hami tanks pre ED i think, same time as me. When instant healing was a toggle etc.

Oh, and the first time hami went down, we had 2 healers on the hami tank, me and velinia, no requirement for a 3rd - let alone a 6th. Man whats with that?

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also for the taunt team, would regen scrappers with a taunt power be useful, i know they dont have as much HP but being regen means they are best for surviving hami attacks, and all scrapper sets do have a single target taunt in them.
just a suggestion

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From my experience as a healer to the hami taunter regen scrappers are ten times better than a tank and yes ive been in the hami tank team a few times.

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Actually the only reason Scrappers used to be picked over tanks was the misconception that an AoE taunt would be a bad idea. A Stone tank running rooted + 3 slotted health and a fast cycling earths embrace (prolly 2 or more adren boosts on him) has greated damage absorption. Whats more, it doesnt require a respec, since tanks generally take taunt, but your regen scrappers generally dont.

Yes, yes and yes! But i dont have a 50 blaster yet. 40 is the closest. PL ME PLZ!!!

Ok, but depending on when this gets going, im game. 20 man free for all? YES!

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I'm just sick of people saying is has poo range, it doesn't. Erhm you know u can jsut run behind an obsticle or wall when u see someone snipes you.

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You must have 'oonagi' or whatever Ross from friends prattles on about. Because i dont know how you might know how someone hovering 120 yards above you, outside of your view is launching a snipe...

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But nobody is standing still, what are the changes your whole change can outrange him? He moves in and still can do his powers.

If all is about 'ranged', why most blasters has best kills using their secondairies?

Simple example, a fire/nrg with aidself has very good chances against a ice/nrg without aidself.

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you're not going to melee me unless i want to melee you as well. combat jump + hurdle allows me to move fast, with the uber fast animation times i dont need whirlewind.

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Psydock, you do understand that you root yourself momentarily when you fire Bitter ice blast right? Saying you can outrange another blaster is a hell of a statement. Youd have to be doing something very special to be able to claim you 'won' a fight with an Ice/* because 'I outranged them'.

With an interrupt reduced Blazing Bolt, a fire/* could definately outrange an Ice and whats more, could be jousting you with a blaze to follow up, right about the time your feeling chipper the better range of Bitter Ice Blast.

Im running an Ice/Elec and being frank range has balls all to do with pvp for me. I have to worry about getting inside the range of other blasters before then snipe me. Ice's merits are with its quick animations. Ice/Elec can dispatch Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Bitter Ice Blast, Charged Brawl and Havoc punch all within the BU/AIM window.

If a blaster wants to play PvP Sniper then they sit up high, with hover on, where you dont think to look and they slap a phat Extreme damage attack on your head. So you eitehr engage them at half health, or patch up and go after them. Either way they start with the upper hand.

And 1v1 is completely different from team. Im thinking RV. By saying to people on this forum, that this sux, and that sux and the only real pvp plaster is x + y is making an assumption that the people asking for advice will enjoy your style of play. RV will be a good place for the ranged snipers. Think of the mayhem of an RV + AVs/Heros fight. Snipers with LRM also will have a lot of fun. Besides, finishing off the fight for yourself isnt always important unless you want the bragging rights. Taking someone to 10% health so your teamates can finish is perfectly acceptable.

Threads like this are guarenteed to run to pages because everyone has an opinion but as Plight points out, its what you do with it that matters.

Blasters certainly aren't easy characters to get results with in PvP. You do tend to have a to sweat a bit for your kills, especially in the Battlegrounds. So, point is, i wouldn't assume by taking Psydocks build as above that by some miracle, villains will crumble at the very sight of you. With the reduction in toggle drop chance in I7, you wont find many who are scared of taking you on. So, at least you will get lots of practice.

Thanks for the help guys. Crikey my build is tighter than the proverbial nats chuff...

I picked Shadow Punch first up, which you didnt take, so you benefit 1 power immediately. I find it a good fury builder at the moment, but I expect i can lose it when i respec later and take boxing.

Also - is there any major working differences between Dark Consumption and Consume? Consume has double the range apparently. However I know that Dark Consumption only costs 1 End. Which is pretty good.

I know there are people on the US servers using this in a stamina less build. Since both end recovery powers have a recharge base of 180 seconds. With 3 Recharge SOs, that just over a minute at 72 seconds recharge. If you stagger both powers, you could potentially fill your end bar once every 36 seconds provided you have 3 mobs around you.

I need swift and health anyway im pretty sure, so its only going to save me one power, but I may try taking dark consumption at 20, consume at 22 and then stamina at 24 should i feel its necessary.

Also - have you tried burn under midnight grasp? I imagine its far too situational to be considered useful? Might be worth a play on test when i eventually get that far.

Also - touch of fear. I cant work this puppy in earlier than 30 with my current shadow punch build. the 20%ToHitDeBuff is awesome. 20 second duration? Woot. 8 second recharge. WOOTTT!!! 1 Recharge SO and you are triple Stacking for 60% ToHitDeBuff. Add some ToHitDeBuff enchancement and we are talking over 100% ToHitDeBuff from touch of fear alone. Not to mention the 10% from most of your other fury building attacks. This could be a PvP monster so long as you dont die in the first 10 seconds. Also very very helpful vs EBs and AVs. Would love to work this power in early. If only i had a freespec... grrr.

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well im one of the only few illusion bubblers out there.. and I can say, no way in hell is PFF enough . Hami got silly high accuracy (near auto-hit) and will cut right through PFF. Plus you wont get 8 ill/FF trollers to drop PA in PFF

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Hamidon damage is untyped. No defence powers that I know of have defence against untyped. Yes his accuracy is good, but thats not the reason for him hitting you. hes just cheating!

H4X!

Happy Birthday Vel, and Green Jet incidently. OMG - THEY ARE THE SAME PERSON!!! Yikes.

Yes, i knew that, shame they dont generate fury, but they are effected by Fury for the whole time?

Didnt see it mentioned already, but when we busted Hami for the first time, most people were struggling to wack 10000 Minkey for the Vanguard accolade. Now its down to 1000, surely there is no excuse for holders not turning up with this accolade? Makes a big difference and adds from extra material to your pants in prep for the landmark 50% etc Mito Spawns.

Mbar,

Having recently upgraded my box with a variety of new bits, i may be in a position to help you sort your rig and cheaply. I had some nightmarish problems with a DFI Lanparty board, but by the sounds if it, you wouldnt be interested in that! (Neither am i! Should anyone want one cheap - pm me - nothing wrong with it, except my ram choice!)

I have a 939 Althon 3500 which you could have for peanuts. Your PCI-E card will slot into a whole range of decent Socket 939 Boards. Some as cheap as £40 will cut the mustard.

Sounds like your current board isnt dual channel, be interested to know if your ram is a matched pair or not.

Cases, should you need one, well - mine cost £29 and is rated extremely highly by the nerdy quiet computer bunch.

All told, if practically what you need to get up and running is a new MB to fix your bios, and fancy a new chip while you are at it, these things can be done for Sub £100.

Its a shame to miss you from the game MBar, so - find a basic laptop and log into TS to discuss!

This will be my first brute, and I am anticipating enjoying it a lot. I designed this toon as the Energizer Bunny. Basically with 2 self heals, 2 endurance recovery powers and stamina i anticipate riding on a high fury wave all the way through the map without pausing. I hope.

Blazing aura is the centrepiece to my anticipated enjoyment. Seeing those number rise with the Fury bar seems like a lot of fun. Also, has the added benefit of ticking away while locked into the slightly awkward SM animation.

Build - 1st Number= level, last number = slots.

1 -Shadow Punch- 5
1 -Fire Shield- 4
2 -Smite- 5
4 -Blazing Aura- 4
6 -Shadow Maul- 5
8 -Siphon Life- 6
10 -Healing Flames- 5
12 -Combat Jumping- 1
14 -Super Jump- 1
16 -Plasma Shield- 4
18 -Dark Consumption- 5
20 -Consume- 4
22 -Acrobatics- 1
24 -Swift- 1
26 -Soul Drain- 5
28 -Health- 3
30 -Burn- 2
32 -Midnight Grasp- 6
35 -Stamina- 1
38 -Rise of the Phoenix- 1

Not researched patrons yet.

Any comments on sustaining good fury with this build? Any other tips?

Thanks in advance!

Chap.

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Aside from Rain of Fire - which I personally dislike - looks very good.

One thing, however:

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However, with mob scaling, it seems the AoEs really get quite poor.

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I'm not sure what you mean here, I'm afraid...

Aside from that, if you're not enjoying it, don't grind away. Find a different build and have some fun!

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Fight even level trolls or hellions on Cherry Hills in The Hollows. 2 AoEs slotted with training SOs is enough to kill the minions.

In Boomtown, 10 levels later, fighting vaz or council, the same 2 opening attacks do 50% damage to an even level. Even, caltrops and rain of fire struggles to finish them off.

Mob HP / resistance must scale, or we'd all be 1 shotting everything in sight with the advent of SOs. So we all look forward to SOs but its not like the villains aren't slotting up their SOs too

Well, people have said it already, but at least your sets have good synergy - knockback. Certainly your toon could be a great PvP tool. Keep a safe haven running for the ranged squishies. Its difficult to manage, but you see teams of masterminds doing it well in SC.

I dont agree that a defender is a second rate controller, which is my understanding of what you have written. They both are supposed to be quite different. I never rely on a controller for defence. Its a mindset which i have developed from experience. In fact, i am always suprised when I find a controller running out of his way to use a last minute aura heal / debuff etc.

Problem, as you know, with the bubble sets is that you have to frontload all your work and then for 4 minutes your reliant on the really poor damage of an unbuffed defender 2ndary. Energy has no great 2ndary effect and hence you no doubt feel like a spare part.

Run a rad/kin/dark/storm and you'll feel much more involved, by necessity, or you really are leaching. Below is just a snippet of what Nikta gets up to in a fight.

<ul type="square">Communicate with tank. Determine intentions. (Without a tank, you can herd quite nicely, within reason, you just cannot maintain agro!)
Debuff a Lt influenced by tanks taunts/damage auras. (Thats 2 toggle debuffs, potentially, 1 click debuff)
Position onself to benefit the effects of your PbAoE Hold Aura (Choking cloud, should you have it)
Open with Irradiate, further reducing the mobs defence to aid the team.
Commence nuking targets under the debuff influence. Possibly contributing 10-15% team damage on an average team.
Throw occational heal.[/list]
It could be argued that controllers can do the same. They can, but with less debuff effectiveness, not sure on the percentages. Also, in most cases, i have to assume that they could be more effective by choosing primaries. Most wont find room for all the 2ndaries a defender would normally take from the primary.

I have debated before that Offenders can do Corrupters quite well. Most dissagreed, but at least there you have THE SAME powersets, implemented in reverse with different base damage and scourge. Essentially however, then CAN be played the same and in some cases, especially with Rad/Rad they work the same. As in, you need to sit in your debuff and you nuke until they drop.

Defender damage will never be increased in my opinion to maintain what they think is a healthy gap between Corrupters / Defenders. Someone made a great suggestion in 'Suggestions' some time back about melee defenders. I think this is a great idea. Energy 2ndary from the blaster pool, or Electricity 2ndary would fit superbly well. Would require some rehashing of Epics though - which is why it wont happen

Techtower! Stick at your bubbler if you like PvP. If you dont, and want an Active PvE toon, then lets hook up online soon and ill take you out with Nikta in a duo and we can try some things out.

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There is a lot of arguing about empaths here. Empaths make a great addition to any pvp team...

Well, a well played empath anyways.

However, having an empath isn't the be all an end all.

We did very well in s4 having a rad/rad defender. We knew our strenths, and our weaknesses, and played accordingly.

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Of course! No arguement, and both Nikta and Chaplain are parked in SC a the moment. Nikta is more for solo pvp, chap needs a team. Also, Nikta doesnt do well when the zone is well populated. I can use my Debuff toggles, but I have to stay IN THEM with my target to be safe from stalkers and brutes, which is bloody hard. Small confined spaces and 1vs1's and Nikta is a lot of fun. SC is a toughy when its busy. I find Empathy less relevant for Hero vs Hero pvp because of the whole stealth stalker thing. CM was never asked for from a none squishy before the advent of stalkers. Now all i get in PvP zones is 'Triple Stack CM on my Pls!!!!'. Gets quite boring doing that. Especially when the buggers run half way accross the map before asking for it.

This isnt a whole debate about Stalkers vs Empaths. The Stalkers are just becoming defensive about the whole perception debate. The original point, is that an Empath, managed to provide 2 blasters with enough tools to down, repeatedly, an onslaught of 4 stalkers + 4 other assorted villains.

At lvl 18 I have;

Fire Blast
Fire Ball
Fire Breath
Fire Rain

Web Grenade
Caltrops
Targetting Drone

Swift
Health

Hasten
Superspeed.

By 28 I expect to add;

Blazing Bolt
Blaze

Trip Mine
Cloaking Device

Stamina

... and of course SOs.

Its just im not going to spend 10 more levels worth of time, on something which doesn't deliver what I expected when i set out. Obviously in the current guise its all about he AoE. Which on Cherry Hills is like self power levelling. However, with mob scaling, it seems the AoEs really get quite poor. Appreciating that SOs will make a difference, but then the Mobs seem to scale significantly, enough to match SOs from 22 onwards.

I just hoped, that Cloak + SS, Trip Mine, Fire Breath, Fire Ball, Caltrops, Fire Rain was going to be more than plenty to dispatch +2 minions. At which point im fullfilling my role in a team as minion basher. Scrappers and blappers can feed on the bosses.

My only stalker who is only a lowbie, is DM/EA. He may yet get binned as I can see the Shadowmaul getting you killed a lot in PvP. Maybe not from the guy you are beating on, but i'd certainly relish catching a stalker in the throws of a shadow maul with Nikta or Joust.

What i did enjoy was using Shadow Maul in PvE. I find it quite easy to use the cone. I target the furthest away mob, click the power so its primed and then position mobs inbetween me and the target. When im in range, the power fires. As mentioned about the Crit chance just isnt high enough to warrant using. In PvE, if you are considering being anything other than a Boss / Lt killer in big teams, it could be the route to death? I mean, lining up 3 minions for a decent shadow maul is time consuming. Most probably could have nuked a boss or a couple of Lts in that time.

I hate to delete toons, but my DM/EA might be going for something with a bit more PvP scope. Just not sure what yet. Really would prefer a weapon wielding stalker, so i guess Claws / katana here i come.

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Dark armour, Ninjitsu and super reflexes all have +perception. Throw in black scorpion patron power OR web grenade temp powers OR fly temp power OR fly travel power OR impale, the empath is owned

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Your quoting form theory. Im quoting from practice. Dont see many stalkers taking the time to fly, find me and execute an AS when 1) I can see them, 2) The blasters in my team can see them, 3) Interrupt on Fly is annoying, you have to be absolutely still to execute an interruptable power, hence i get a few more seconds to react, 4) Chap has Air Superiority. Which commonly lands the squishy stalker amongst my trigger happy teamates below.

Oh, and please throw in a Patron power in Sirens Call and see how much use that is.

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He didn't say patron powers, he said temp powers SNIP...

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Learn. To. Read!

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Throw in black scorpion patron power

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Point is - my empath build makes it Difficult hunting for Stalkers. 10feet is 10feet. TP Foe pulls you out of stealth. All these things you suggest are great! Stealth cap? Ill tell you exactly how many people are at the stealth cap in SC on union... Erm - Zero. Not enough team work. Not enough people taking Grant Invis.

So - i refer back to my previous post. Im quoting from practice. Indeed, spines stalkers immob is a pain. But 25 Break frees go a long way! (Prompting: 'iNsPirAti0nz R 4 n00bs! I'd So PWn yOu wi7h0ut Insps!!!')

I think everyone agrees that 1vs1 an empath is supposed to get owned by everything in sight. Please forgive my hearty broadcast laughter should you ever try it and fail!

Well, my Fire/Dev was a big departure for me, from my norm, single target boss killing stuff.

I took Fire Ball, Fire Breath and later on, Fire Rain, which suited my team make up. (Controllers, Rad defenders etc)

Anyhoo. At lvl 18, he just doesn't cut it. Really poor. I read pre ED guides which are completely Useless now (and should be updated or removed!) which talk about 2 shotting blues in Boomtown etc. Well - ED prevents this i think. Best i can do is fire off Fire Breath, Ball, Caltrops and Rain - then run. 50% of mobs drop. Ish.

In a team im finding the AOEs very lack lustre. They are good for about 25% health on a +1 Mob. Which is common.

I was looking forward to the Trip mining goodness. However all the guides refer to the 1 shotting mines of Pre ED. Which i would have thought is not relevant anymore. And, the rate at which my team moves through the map pretty much puts Mining at the solo side of things.

I hate to lvl a character to 20ish and then find out i dont like them, so i guess im appealing for a bit of reasurance that things will get better. Just rolled an Elec/Energy and my thoughts are that at least thats usefull AoE??

How are you guys playing yours and am i missing something? Just seems very boring, with little variation in playstyle.

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Dark armour, Ninjitsu and super reflexes all have +perception. Throw in black scorpion patron power OR web grenade temp powers OR fly temp power OR fly travel power OR impale, the empath is owned

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Your quoting form theory. Im quoting from practice. Dont see many stalkers taking the time to fly, find me and execute an AS when 1) I can see them, 2) The blasters in my team can see them, 3) Interrupt on Fly is annoying, you have to be absolutely still to execute an interruptable power, hence i get a few more seconds to react, 4) Chap has Air Superiority. Which commonly lands the squishy stalker amongst my trigger happy teamates below.

Oh, and please throw in a Patron power in Sirens Call and see how much use that is.

And how do you do that when hes flying invised above the blasters :P

Everyone talks about how to see Stalkers... But the stealth pool isnt for stalkers alone. The only thing i wish for, when playing chap is that all the people that scream 'CM/Fort pls!!!!!' would actually think of empaths when PvP respeccing and pick up grant invis!

It must have a mag level, because i hear one of the high lvl Heros sends you flying through any sort of knock back resist. It also explains why 3 break frees stop knock back.

Need to test this, however, whether its hitting through acro or nin or fire brutes dont have Acro, whichever way round it is, they dont have much chance to melee me. Looking forward to trying it at 50 with chap, as he has powerbuild up. Could be an amusing 5 block knockback!

ANyway. Off to St Albans for the weekend. Look forward to SCing some more when i get back.

Actually. It may have been my mistake. Instead i should say it eats Acrobatics. TOnight i wasnt having luck against brutes.

Nin Stalkers and Fire Brutes however still go flying it seems.

Just seems i was in an SC populated by Nin stalkers last night.