ColdSnapps

I tried this on the villain side, and found it to be a good bit slower than simply farming cash. The biggest problem redside is that you have to run to Nerva to respec... for a level 3, that means running from Kalinda to the Black Helicopter, then running diagonally through Cap au Diable, then hoofing to the respec agent in Nerva. The run alone was a good 10-15 minutes.

I purchased 8 50s and 2 45s for about 90k, and pulled out just over 1M influence after the respec. Considering the time spent shopping on the market, transfering the enhancements, leveling up to 3, running to Nerva, then transfering the cash back... it would have been several times faster for me to just blitz Borea missions and sell the recipe drops at the vendor.

Good thought for players who don't have a 45+ character to farm with, but for those with farmers, simple mission blitzing is the way to go.

YES!

But not in City of Heroes.

It's odd that there needs to be a "guide" for this. This was more or less the default mission path before The Hollows were implemented, except you forgot "grind in Perez Park from 8 until 11"

Cloaking Device was the final nail in the coffin for my 50 Fire/Dev.

With the +Defense buff removed from Combat Jumping and Hasten, Cloaking Device was my last remaining defensive power. That, too, has become ineffective. I've gone from having +26.5% Defense to +5% while in combat. Minions hit me twice as often on Test as they do on Live, and on Live it's hard enough for me to survive an alpha strike from a street group of yellow or orange minions.

- I have no status protection.
- I have no defense against combat attacks.
- I have no way to prevent or mitigate damage.
- My primary set has been severely reduced in scope by capping the maximum number of AoE targets.
- I have only three powers that can maintain my range "advantage." One is Web Grenade, one is Caltrops, and one is the single-target Hold in the Munitions EPP. It is impossible for me to maintain range.
- For this, I have been compensated with +200 hit points and an ability that lets me do more damage in the five seconds immediately preceding my death.

During Issue #1, I rolled up a Fire/Dev because they were deemed one of the best solo picks at the time. Since then, this powerset combo has evolved into one of the worst. Cold Snapps will be retiring when I5 is released.

As several other people have suggested, you can't pass off a general reduction in mob difficulty as a change specifically designed to bolster one particular powerset. It's just not going to be received that way. If Ice is the least effective Tanker powerset before this global change, it's likely to continue to be the least effective.

Normally, this is where I'd give my grand ideas about how "things should be." But I don't have an Ice Tanker, so I'll spare you the junk mail.

I am not at all impressed with Defiance. I understand that Defiance is meant as a "last ditch" combat effort, and we are not intended to fight at low hit points for extended periods in order to exploit the damage bonus.

However.

Given the reduction in defensive skills, I'm finding combats to be more polarized than ever. Either I'm winning, dominating the fight as I carve through minions before they can react, or I'm completely dominated, subject to chain-mez or taken to the ground in one shot from a boss or one alpha strike. If I am taken down to red hit points, my lack of defensive skills will ensure that I drop in a matter of seconds, and escape trumps Inferno as a reflex reaction.

With 6Def Cloaking Device, Hasten, and Combat Jumping, I used to have some small measure of confidence in my ability to stay alive against that last yellow minion who dodged the Trip Mine. Minions my level or +1 were only hitting me about a quarter of the time, so even at one hit point I could usually survive an attack or two while finishing off the mob. Now, white minions hit me 50-75% more than they did before, so I can no longer rely on those last few seconds to get the job done.

Really, my question is, when am I supposed to benefit from Defiance? Is it meant to help me solo, or is it more a grouping thing? Already, Defenders are beginning to debate whether they should heal Blasters or not... I can see a very real situation developing where Defenders delay healing me because they think I prefer to fight in Defiance mode.

It's nice to have a damage boost, but I can't see yet how this is supposed to give me a lasting survivability enhancement. If anything, I think you're encouraging new Blasters to fight at half hit points, which will inevitably lead to disaster and debt.

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If flyspeed had the same max as runspeed, why would anyone ever take superspeed?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because Superspeed is in the Speed power pool, a pool that 98% of all the heroes in the game are going to take anyway. Furthermore, it is the only pool skill available that grants us a level of stealth without reducing our speed or making us unable to attack. I take Superspeed on every hero I make at some point, even if I've already chosen another travel power at level 14. The stealth bonus and maneuverability in combat, combined with the fact that I'm already invested in the Speed pool on every hero makes SS a no-brainer, actual movement speed notwithstanding.

Excellent guide. One question, and it concerns Radiation Infection. As probably the Ill/Rad's most versatile debuff, have you explored the options available to you by six-slotting RI?

Consider first, six slotting RI with 3x Def Debuff and 3x ToHit Debuff. Keeping this active will bring most AVs' to-hit chance back down into the realm of reality for you... you'll see AVs missing you with moderate frequency, especially when you factor in defensive skills such as CJ/Hover, Hasten, and/or Stealth.

Adding these slots to RI also allows you to unsocket all of your Accuracy enhancements. In essence, you can swap out every Accuracy enhancement in your damage skills in favor of a Damage enhancement, giving your Spectral Wounds and Phatasms a bit more punch (I'd personally throw a 3rd recharge into Phantom Army). You can sacrifice at least one of the Accuracy enhancements in Lingering Radiation in favor of a Slow, or you can save the slot all together. Finally, you can afford to skip Group Invis completely, since you'll be getting an equivalent-or-better defensive buff through your ToHit Debuffs in RI.

I haven't done any AV-soloing on my Ill/Rad yet, but she regularly fights +3 and +4 Freak bosses at level 34 with a high level of success. RI is the key... it keeps me alive when the boss gets an attack at me, and it lets me cram damage into all of my combat skills while still maintaining accuracy.

Since we're in the realm of theory, how about 8 Kinetic/Psis? I'm not going to do the math on this, but hear me out.

First, you've got 8x Transfusion. Transfusion drains 20 endurance per shot, meaning that in the simple act of healing, your team could drain a boss's endurance to zero in one second. You don't need slots to accomplish this. With stacked Speed Boosts, even Archvillans would turn to mush before too long.

Siphon Power, here's your first stackable buff. +200% damage for all involved when all 8 Defenders cast it, and it stacks with itself once your recharge rate gets reduced. With Siphon Power, all 8 Defenders would stay at the damage cap for the entirety of every fight. Not to mention, affected mobs do almost no damage, ever, under any circumstances. Once we get chain-Speed Boost running, even AVs will hit the damage floor.

Increase Density acts as your status protection. Every few minutes, each Defender casts one Increase Density on the guy above him on the list, and everyone is protected.

Speed Boost... muahaha. This is your AM counterpart, the recharge reductor and the endurance recharger. The power of this skill would actually be limited by its cast animation... in theory, each Defender could buff all 7 of his teammates, creating a frenzy of hyperspeed warriors. You're at the movement cap, probably the recharge cap, and I imagine everyone has basically limitless endurance. It's annoying to have to buff 7 people every few minutes though, which is Accelerate Metabolism's biggest advantage over Speed Boost.

Fulcrum Shift, basically a Siphon Power that debuffs everything. 8 Fulcrum Shifts, and everything within 100 yards is fighting like a one-armed gimp.

Why Psi as a secondary? The early attacks are slow, but 8x Siphon Power means that you only really need one shot to take down anything you're fighting at low levels. Don't need to slot anything, etc. Psi gets its snipe shot early, useful for bosses. The biggest advantage is the reduction in the enemy's attack rate... so in addition to the damage debuff from Siphon/Fulcrum, enemies you hit will be attacking considerably slower.

The only thing Kinetics really lacks is a Defense debuff, which is a shame. I think Rad/* might come out better in the end, but nothing would reduce a crowd of mobs to a gibbering pile of mush faster than 8 Kinetics all dropping Fulcrum Shifts all at once.

When forming your group, be aware that pretty much any Blaster under level 39 will be one-shotted by a Kraken foot stomp. Instruct your Blasters to stay at range... tell them NOT to use their short range nuke on the Krakens. Ice/Fire Breath have slightly longer range than foot stomp, all Blasters should pretty much stay at the max range of their medium-range cone attack.

/37 Blaster, one-shotted twice last night.

Everyone must understand that this guide was written pre-Issue #2, when Smoke Grenade was still invincibility and Fire Blasters were capable of different things. It's not really practical to "hope someone else cleans up your mess" these days, particularly in deserted zones like DA.

I do this in Brickstown at level 36. I have contacts all over the zone... one near the hospital, two along the south wall, one on the east wall, and one near the train. It's a very simple matter to run to a contact and get 300% damage and 300% defense whenever I see a nice, juicy group of reds/purples spawn.

If you do a few missions from those contacts, they'll offer all insps. If you haven't done any missions, all you can get is Enrage, Luck, and CaB.

Can we all stop feeding the attention wh0re now? This entire thread is nothing but one long troll for attention.

Very useful, particularly for someone who hasn't seen BG's defense post. My 29 Blaster has Cloaking Device 6-slotted with Combat Jumping. I had planned to take Stealth as well, but I see they don't stack... thanks for the warning :P In reconsidering my defense, maybe Smoke Grenade is worth a second look, since I respecced out of it at 24. Certainly would be more beneficial for me to just retake SG than having to spend 3 skills to get Boxing, Tough, and Weave. Something to think about, I guess.