Dechs Kaison

I don't pretend to know what the devs are thinking.

But I will offer 3:2 odds against.

I was about to say "that build looks oddly familiar" before I went up and read your explanation. You've upped the budget considerably from what I use, I'm not sure what that'll do for you.

I don't have mids on me while I'm at work, but from what I can see it looks very solid. Basically all you're looking for is 32.5% defense; that's what I hit. If you end up with that, then most missions are going to be a breeze. I rarely ever use inspirations, so my difficulty is only set at +0/x8 for casual tip mission running. I can handle +2 with most enemy types, after that I need to use inspirations occasionally. I've solo'd one of the pylons in an Apex TF by using a single small purple inspiration.

You're going to have even more recharge than I do, so you'll be slightly more offensive as a result. I think you lost a little bit of +Max HP, but that shouldn't matter much.

Again, just knowing how my build plays and seeing the similarities to yours, I'm very sure you'll be pleased with this when it's done. The end result is a real monster of a character.

http://tomax.cohtitan.com/data/power...Soul_Tentacles
http://tomax.cohtitan.com/data/power...rous_Tentacles

They are far from identical. TT recharges in half the time and has a -tohit debuff, costs less endurance, and has a much wider cone.

Not so simple, eh?

I've seen this guy play, he's not kidding. Even on SOs (as I'm pretty sure that's all he puts in his characters), EK is living proof that there is more to survival than the softcap and hitpoints. Active mitigation and quick thinking can survive just about any onslaught.

Indeed.

Well, technically it proves that they can hit strictly greater than 23.5 DPS, but we all know the true damage output is still a great deal more, because these AVs fall quickly.

The simple fact of this conversation is that, right now, a team of defenders is arguably the most powerful thing in the game.

If you buff defender damage, you can take the "arguably" out of my last statement.

I must have been unclear. I said 8 man mobs. Which by that I mean x8 missions. Solo.

Believe me, as a warshade, you don't.

PBs can still be functional without, too, but they are definitely not on the same playing field as their darker cousins.

If I were you, I'd use the mechanics to decide. Scrappers get critical hits, which could be seen as either precision strikes or random fluctuations of power. A ghost reanimating a body of armor could "step on a leyline" and get a surge of power for a great strike once in a while. Brute fury can be explained two ways. One is "the longer I fight, the stronger I get" which is obvious, but the other I like is that he "rises to the challenge," gaining power by the number of foes attacking him. Does any of that help?

Sam, if you're that strapped for cash, I'll flip the coin for you.

Many issues with this. Working backwards.

The stalker cannot one shot a boss. Not even practically. Not even close. Most LTs cannot be one shotted at level 50.

Dull pain does just shy of diddly for a stalker. Once you have accolades, you're only a few % from the hit point cap. I know my /regen stalker and EA stalker cannot use their +HP powers to increase their HP.

And don't forget that all stalker defense sets miss out on one power because of hide. It would likely be the passive resistance power or even invincibility.

Not to mention that all the sets are pretty much balanced as is. My Dark Armor Stalker could stand in the middle of an 8 man spawn. I've seen regen and ninjitsu and SR stalkers do the same. What would be the big deal if an invuln stalker could too?

*Gasp* He's back!

Be careful that you get the correct T3 version. They all have minor differences, and I believe only one or two of the four are actually permanent.

Dual Blades is a perfect set to accomplish this, but there's another option I stumbled on as well.

Spines, set to metal spikes.

You just have to "look past" all the blades sticking out of your body. You get a lot of knives to throw and ones to swipe at the enemy.

Everything I play has to have some ability to stand on its own in the middle of a huge crowd of enemies. When things go south on a team, I want to know that I can prevent a teamwipe, even if that means I'm the only guy still standing. That limits me more by powersets than AT, though.

Next, I chose by what role best fits my character's concept. Since I roleplay a great deal, my characters have to "make sense" to me.

One of my characters was the pharaoh's bodyguard. Since the collapse of the Egyptian empire, he has not changed his ways and is still very much a protector of his friends, always putting himself between the blade and those under his protection. Obviously, this character is a tank.

The next character is the "equal and opposite" of the tank, the pharaoh's assassin. He is a master of weapons and a ruthless murderer. He doesn't care if you follow him, he doesn't care if you share the same goal. He only seeks challenge and overcomes it to grow his own strength. This was more difficult of a choice for me, since he could be either a brute, scrapper, or even stalker. In the end I chose all three, which also gave me the "master of weapons" feel I desired, since the primaries could all be different. Claws brute, Dual Blades scrapper, and Spines (RPed as a ****ton of knives) stalker.

My warshade is the only character where I developed a concept around an AT. I took a normal man, had him get abducted by Circle of Thorns, who then tried to possess him with demon and nictus to create a powerful beast they could control. The nictus is fighting the demon and the character is just trying to survive in the City with all the voices in his head... Bloody hell has this been a fun ride.

EDIT: The link is a very short story about the tank and his opposite. No more than a page or two. It serves as the prologue to the rest of the story that I plan to write...

Alright, I'm getting too much action against Dark Regen. I'll honor the old odds for anyone else, but any new bets will be made at 9:1 against Dark Regeneration.

Payout is reduced for bets against Dark Regeneration, but greatly increased for anyone betting for Dark Regeneration.

I lol'd.

Because it's true.

I know what's going on here. You used the "powexecname" bind. What you want to use is "powexectoggleon" which only allows the bind to turn the toggle on.

And I never claimed it was. In fact, the opposite is quite vehemently claimed in the opening section.

I just took exception to the way your comment was worded. Your statement implies that to be fun, a Warshade must be IO'd seriously. I merely contend that fun and awesomeness can be had without IOs.

I've always pushed for shorter times, as that would make the interruption much less likely and the whole AT a lot less clunky.

How to deal with it? I just repeatedly mash my E key, which is my "jump to dwarf" bind. This tactic has an extra benefit of automatically activating Dwarf Mire as soon as I do shift. The one bind is set up to use both powers.

So then, really, what you're saying is: You always use ear bud.

So should I put you down for 100m, too?

Entropic Aura no. But the change to Repulse sure seems to break the cottage rule. A PBAoE knockback aura has been changed to a PBAoE Stun aura. Anyone who had taken the power (1st mistake) and slotted it for extra knockback (2nd mistake) can no longer do so.

I mean, the core function as an AoE control aura hasn't really changed, but all the mechanics have.

Look at it this way: You're betting Dark Manipulation will not include Dark Regeneration. If you lose, that means you can make a blaster with Dark Regeneration.

Is that still really losing?