Deceivius

The time I've noticed it have always been around the corner, pulling the baddies my way. Completely breaking line of sight. There's no chance a stray AoE could be coming my way, because I'm completely away and around the corner from what I'm pulling with the Seekers.

I'll try to see if it's a proximity thing. But, that doesn't make sense to me.

I've noticed something on my Bots/Traps. When I set up all my traps around the corner, away from line of sight, and put my bots away with a goto (still in defensive), I'll use my Seeker Drones to pull my foes to me.

Most of the time, the bots do nothing, and wait for the foes to attack me. No problem.

Sometimes, though, the bots immediately run around the corner as soon as the Seeker Drones are attacked, causing me to have to hit "Defensive/follow" over 9000 times just to get them back in my protective area.

What's causing the inconsistency? Is it a proximity thing? If I summon the Drones too close, are the bots more apt to respond, than if I were to summon them out of their aggro range?

I'm pulling my hair out here trying to figure this one out. I would prefer for them to not run to the mob at all, just let the seekers pull them to the bots.

Any explanations?

You're not too bad off with Thugs/thermal. It's not going to solo AV's as well as, say, Bots/Traps, but it will be able to get the job done. You've got Bodyguard mode to keep you safe, and your AoE heal will be able to keep the thugs healthy, not to mention keeping you safe. Judicious inspiration use, using Provoke to keep the AV's attention on you, using Heat Exhaustion every time it's up, and you'll be all set.

Heat Exhaustion is -regen, -damage (50%), so the AV will be hitting you much lighter than he was, not to mention your Bodyguard mode keeping you at roughly 85% damage resistance (please correct me if that's wrong). But, if the AV drops aggro on you and goes, say, for your Bruiser, then you'll be able to spot-heal with Cauterize. With the shields, your pets will be a little more sturdy for taking any AoE's on top of the damage taken with BG mode.

And no, the Enforcer's leadership auto-toggles don't affect the MM itself, but it does affect the rest of your pets.

For a good opener, I'd suggest Gang War, then Heat Exhaustion, then Melt Armor, Provoke. Keep Provoke on auto so that the AV/Hero keeps aggro on you.


To your other questions, /Dark *can* solo AV's, but not as well as /Traps. Even with the nerfs in recent memory to /Traps, it's still a significant AV-soloing secondary. Bots are fairly sturdy and mostly all ranged, so most people tend to choose them. The Assault Bot does have -Regen in his plasma blasts, but it's not reliable and I wouldn't count on it. Thugs will out-damage nearly everything in single target damage. The only thing they will fall behind on is if you can keep an AV immob'ed in one of the Assault Bot's burn patches.

Don't be discouraged! I've soloed AV's with my Necro/Dark, and it's not even specced for AV soloing. You just need to know how to use the buffs/debuffs/aggro to your benefit. Good luck!

You can only hit someone with a pistol so many ways... and not enough to justify using it as a melee weapon.

What's next? Just because you can use an M-16 in close quarters combat, and we have rifle but attacks and bayonet attacks, but that doesn't justify using an M-16/Assault Rifle to create a melee set.

Just because they used pistols in an unorthodox fashion in Equilibrium, it doesn't mean they should do that in this game. It's a ranged attack set, get over it.

Pet's attack recharge cannot be affected, one way or the other, by any source now. So, if something applies -recharge to them (be it an enemy or what have you), they're immune. If something applies +recharge (i.e. speed boost, slotting with IO's to "cheat" the system) then it won't affect it.

I know that before, people could use Def Debuff/Recharge IO's to get pets to attack faster and so forth, but that went out the window with that patch. It was stated that this was to help pets cycle through their attack chain properly, and I have noticed a difference in cycling their attacks.

Hope that helped.

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That's about the silliest thing I've ever heard. You always put Noxious Gas on your Tier 3 pet. ALWAYS. The debuffs from Noxious Gas on a Tier 3 is nearly double that of a Tier 3, and your Tier 3 will stay alive longer. If that means using GoTo to send my Lich into melee, then that's well worth it for the massive debuffs he'll dole out. Added bonus, the Lich actually stays put.

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As far as I know... putting Noxious Gas on a "boss" pet doesn't make it debuff any better than putting it on a "minion" pet. It should debuff the exact same. It shouldn't matter.

Now, I've only ever had it on my Bruiser, since I've only ever gotten Thugs/Poison up that high, but honestly, I really don't think it makes a difference. Anyone else ever heard of this?

Gah... I knew about the +/- recharge not being affected in pets, but I simply forgot. Brainfart! I might put a smashing proc in the commando, or just slot him for damage. I might need the slots to put the pet auras in, so he might just be accuracy and damage.

I created this guy, and I'm loving it so far, but I had a question about slotting procs.

I have 1 Achilles' Heel proc free'd up from a respec on another toon, and was going to put it on this MM, and wondered if it was best served in the Spec Ops or what. I know that you can slot Lady Grey in each pet, and plan on it, but just wanted to know what's best.

Also, are there any good procs to slot in the Commando? I know he does KB with Slug, and -Def in his attacks, but anything else? Is it worth slotting a KB proc (Chance for Smashing, Chance for +Rech, Etc.) in Commando?

I'm pretty sure I've got /TA down on slotting and power choices, but any advice is appreciated. I'm planning on going stamina-less on this toon, which will free up slots.

I consider myself fairly experienced with /Storm, since I had a fairly high Ice/Storm controller, but I wanted to know what sort of synergy was in store for me.

I've always tried to get in to Dark Blast, but never could. So, this is my foray in to it.

I know there's obvious synergy with Tenebrous Tentacles + Freezing Rain, since TT doesn't negate KB, but is this survivable? I plan on taking the self-heal at 26, which I'm sure will help.

Is this going to be an endurance hog? Is it a a better teaming or a solo corruptor?

I was able to resist the temptation to call myself "Dark, Stormy night" :P

Any feedback would be appreciated!

The running in this game is ust way, way, way out of hand. I can understand wanting to get out of burn patches, and the likes. But, running halfway across the entire frackin' map just to get away from some DoT, or debuffs (whatever the trigger might be) is just plain ridiculous.

The worst offenders seem to be Freak Tanks and WarWolves (or any sort of Werewolf model). The Wolves are immune to slows and have extra Immob protection, which makes them incredibly hard to keep in place.

If you aren't lucky enough to take them out before their run-code kicks in, then you have to wait until they come back from their jog across the entire map to defeat them. Move on to the next spawn, and you'll get surprised by the same Werewolf who is suddenly back.

I can understand why there is a need for a run code, but this is just incredibly excessive. There is no good reason why they should be running across an entire map. I know there is always the "well, just use crowd control" mentality, but that's not a good excuse for what seems to be buggy code. Or maybe WAI code. I dunno.

This is just a personal pet peeve of mine.

Great guide! I plan on using it to plan my Illusion/Rad controller soon...

One thing, though... Accelerate Metabolism doesn't improve ToHit, it never has. It won't accept +ToHit sets.

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SAMURAIIII TECH!!


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Freaking awesome!

Alright.... two questions, since they pertain to pictures I've seen in this thread:

1 - Are the Fly emotes working? I see quite a few people using the flying poses, and I haven't read a single thing stating that they're working....

2 - What's the /em for the robot dance? My Bots/Traps MM is *dying* to try this one out....

I'll ask this question here, since I wasn't able to go through the 60+ pages in the other thread:

Do -res debuffs affect the power of the blast? Like with the Vet attacks, you can't enhance their damage through any buffs, but a -res debuff will increase their damage in a non-direct way.

Anyone used this yet enough to know the answer?

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It's a guide designed to make PuGing the Cap strike force possible for anyone

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OH! It's for everyone. Well, everyone except for MM's and Doms cause LOLZ TH3IR DMG SUXXORZ!

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In terms of getting invites: Yep, it sucks to be you if that's the only toon you have over level 20.

But, of course, there is nothing stopping a dominator or mastermind from actually forming a team and leading it if they have the sufficient stealth/TP skills - In which case this guide will help them recognize their weakenesses and plan around it.


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I also take great issue to the post (sorry, didn't see who said it) that said that the only good secondary that MM's have is /Dark.... has that person every even seen what the rest of MM secondaries do?

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I didn't say it. It's a good idea to actually read a thread before shooting off automatic responses.

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/Traps is amazing, and I'd take a /Traps MM over a /Traps Corruptor any day. The MM can take a hit much better than a Corruptor, and their damage is roughly even. Edge = MM.


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I have a 50 mercs/traps, and I can atest to the fact that you're wrong - A corruptor/traps, a rare as they are, is superior when maled down to level 20.
The main reaon is because the attacks they do have hit a lot harder than what the mastermind has access to offensively at this level (only 3 minions, 1 lt, and tier1 upgrades).

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/Poison is also a set that makes Corruptors cry with their sheer number of ST debuffs.

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First off, you don't NEED debuffs that strong to complete this TF.
Second, the mastermind forums are full of people crying about how underpowered poison is, how they think /dark can do everything just as good but in AoE form. To some extent they are both right and wrong, which is why poison remains virtually unplayed except as a PvP toon.

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Plus, if I remember correctly, Bat'Zul is one of the few AV's that doesn't have the purple triangles, so holding him is piddly easy with just 2 Doms (might be wrong on the # of Doms needed), but with enough debuffs, Doms stacking holds on the AV to perma-hold him, you've got one hell of a PUG team.


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Except you don't NEED to hold him for the brutes to survive.
A corruptor's mitigation is sufficient, and with their debuffs the target will go down faster.

If all you bring is dominators then you might have mitigation covered, but you're going to take a long time to kill both AVs.



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Then I guess it comes down to a matter of personal taste, then, doesn't it? Debuffs vs. Holds as far as Mitigation is concerned.

And in terms of keeping things alive and such, Brutes aren't nearly as good of alpha soakers as MM's due to Bodyguard. Their resistances aren't as strong at level 20 as a MM in BG mode. Plus, the MM has destructible soldiers that are a lot easier to replace than rezzing a team member.

And I wasn't pointing out that YOU said that only /Dark is the worthy secondary for MM's. I said, and I quote "(sorry, didn't see who said it)". So, the part about /Poison and /Traps part, that was more along the lines of responding to that post. Not a Quick Reply to your original post.

I just have a sincere dislike for people who only put together Corruptor/Brute SF's, because people who enjoy playing other AT's are left out in the cold. And while you might not be saying that this is the ONLY way to play (i.e. LRSF, as some people have wrongly pointed out), saying that this is a "guide" is just laughable.

It's hardly a good thing to encourage people to form min/max teams and to exclude people, even if it is in the sake of being the "quickest" way of doing things.

And didn't you just make a post saying you're tired of putting together Cap SF PUG's? If you weren't so picky, then you might be able to put together a team quicker than cherry picking things. Just saying.

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It's a guide designed to make PuGing the Cap strike force possible for anyone

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OH! It's for everyone. Well, everyone except for MM's and Doms cause LOLZ TH3IR DMG SUXXORZ!

I also take great issue to the post (sorry, didn't see who said it) that said that the only good secondary that MM's have is /Dark.... has that person every even seen what the rest of MM secondaries do?

/Traps is amazing, and I'd take a /Traps MM over a /Traps Corruptor any day. The MM can take a hit much better than a Corruptor, and their damage is roughly even. Edge = MM.

/Poison is also a set that makes Corruptors cry with their sheer number of ST debuffs. With just Evenom and Weaken alone, you're able to neuter an AV's EVERYTHING. A */Poison MM? YES PLEASE! Against AV's, I would argue that /Poison is just as good as a /Rad. Especially on a team.

Plus, if I remember correctly, Bat'Zul is one of the few AV's that doesn't have the purple triangles, so holding him is piddly easy with just 2 Doms (might be wrong on the # of Doms needed), but with enough debuffs, Doms stacking holds on the AV to perma-hold him, you've got one hell of a PUG team.

Playing to EVERY AT's strengths > min/maxing.

Epic Fail.

I recently had two really good experiences with AV's/Heroes that I soloed.

Numina:

I took her out with my Necro/Dark, on the second try. First try, I summoned her by the glowie, then got surprised after she summoned by some Spec-Ops. After a trip to the hospital, she was at full health, but still had the Achilles' Heel debuff, which meant she was mine for the taking

I summoned my Dark Servant directly on top of her, and then moved my pets in to melee, and they went to town. Hell, I barely had to keep my pets healed. The Dark Servant did that all by his lonesome! All that -ToHit kept my pets nice and safe.

Question, though.... does Dark Servant's Twilight Grasp have the -regen component attatched to it?

Dr. Quatrexin:

My Bots/Traps had little trouble taking out this pansy. I hadn't really tried to solo anything higher than an EB, cause I wasn't sure of my tactics.

He was around the corner, so I set up roughly 10 trip mines, two Poison Traps, and topped it off with 2 acid mortars before I finally pulled with Seeker Drones.

He came around the corner, proceeded to puke his guts up, and was perma-immobilized. Between the FF: +Recharge in my Assault Bot and the Achilles' Heel in my Acid Mortar, he went down with a quickness.

My Ninjas/Dark hasn't had NEAR the success, even with Dark Servant. But, then again, Serafina's somewhat of a stupid-face, though.

The writer's strike seems to be over:

http://www.heroestelevision.com/writers-strike-is-over/

On set photos of Kristin Bell and Hayden (Poss. Spoilers):
http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6378

Episode 4 Global Trailer (again, poss. spoilers):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tCrRgaP9MG8

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Deceivius:
You know, the only thing I was trying to do was state an opinion. If someone can not do that with people on here coming back with rage and anger, whats the use of a opinion? Always, i'm just alittle angery myself due to having alot of my friends leave the game back in I3. Alot of people had Tankers and found that by I3 the fun was taken out of playing something they had worked on for ALONG TIME! (HOURS) That is why I posted what I thought, along with playing as long as I have. I'm not a Forums writer and I don't have alot of time to play even! So, you can think what you want, but ive been here and done that...so I CAN have my own opinion. OUT

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See, now this is a well thought out post where you're actually sounding intelligent, which makes people want to take you seriously. People won't take you seriously if you're coming off high-and-mighty claiming you're smarter than everyon (i.e. "My IQ is 180! I've read the Art of War). Noone likes that guy, and especially when he's rambling incoherently on some internet message board.

And you're more than welcome to state an opinion. That's what freedom is for, the ability to do what you want on things like internet forums, and so forth. But, you're jumping to conclusions that are unfounded, making accusations and calling names when it was unprovoked, and insulting the Dev team, who (despite most people's understanding) are really working hard to push new content for us to have fun with.

I'm not a robot. I have problems with "balancing" and "ED" just like everyone else did. Still do. I didn't like having to change in Isssues 3-6, but, hey I did. And I still enjoy the game, and still play it.

Give these powersets an honest chance, see what options are available to us and see if you can actually find something positive to say about them before crying dooooooooooom over a few screenshots. That's all we're asking.

I'm excited about these new powersets, personally. I don't even play melee types (mostly control and MM's for me ), but, the new animations they devs are cooking up, the ability to create my pirate scrapper/brute/tank/etc. I've wanted for a while, and a few other things keeps me hopeful.

People complaining that Controllers and Defenders need new powersets need to think that Scrappers and Tanks have been waiting longer than them for new powersets. All in due time. And Brutes/Stalkers are getting them just to widen the appeal, methinks.

I really like the idea of Willpower.... reminds of of John McClaine from Die Hard. Just keeps walking over that broken glass cause he's a *man*.

I also think that they blades look alright. Not overwhelmingly great, but, alright. Here's to hoping that different AT's will get different blades to use (i.e. Scrappers and Stalkers having different Claws skins).

And one request I would like is to actually have sheaths for these to be pulled out from..... I agree that pulling them out of a black hole of nothingness is kinda lame..... I mean, the Jounins get two Katanas on their backs, and Infernal keeps his Axe on his back. Can we finally get new back costume parts to go with these cool new powersets?

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So, really what we'll see is a new bunch of ENERGY/WILLPOWER Stalkers kicking people's butt in Sirens and in RV right? Great, figures and the Dev's will NERF Brutes and Ice Tanks! Wonderful, I pay for this? = <- This close to cancelling. Also, you would think that maybe we as paying customers might see a rise in level---like to 60 maybe! Whatever happened to the a 40, 50 base effect? At 20 you get CAPES, at 30 you get AURA's and from there nothing...ever? WHY? Am I smart enough to figure out what people "REALLY" want? So many questions and I don't care how long you've been on the Community: official forums, I have sat and paid and watched as most all of you have talked about these wants! WHAT HAPPENED, is my true question? Is anyone there? Is anyone really listening? HELLO...HELP ROBOTS have taken control of this world! I can't be the only true seeing one left, I can't be...can I? Confused in SoCal! I love this game, don't get me wrong, but I just expected more from this game...not less!

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I would seriously like to know why you think that this set will be overpowered. By what reasoning? And why do you think that Ice tanks and Brutes will be nerfed just because they're introducing Willpower to all melee AT's?

Your rambling incoherently. Remove head from sphincter, then post.

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Just watch...should I convey..Issue 3 my friend!

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What part of Issue 3 would you be referring to? The Devs balance things a lot more than they did back in the older issues, so there's a high likelyhood of this being balanced, rather than getting a nerf later (which you're soooooooo convinced of, apparently).

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Ok, Ok....Galactiman I'll sit back again and watch! Oh, and NO I don't need help pal, you don't have the IQ of 180, but thanks!

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Bragging about having an IQ of 180 on the internet is incredibly retarded. Do you honestly think that we care about your IQ?

Doom and Gloom in every post I've seen you make..... seriously, what color are the skies in your world?

Nice guide! Very fun to read, and I love getting Fly Trap into the guide with her/it's quips.

One thing, though: Power Boost doesn't affect magnitude. It just increases duration.

But, again, a nice guide!

I think one disparity of the redraw (other than the increased animation time, making some players moan and groan), is that most things that have a redraw tend to have an accuracy bonus attatched to them; i.e. Assault Rifle, or Archery.

I'm not suggesting this, because we already get Aim, and have a -def attatched to the /thorn attacks, but I think this might be one of the issues people have.