Digito

From personal experience I can tell you if you don't have any paticular aversion to Masterminds, Bots/Time gets very, very powerful on its own. Although admittedly Bots low level damage isn't all that stellar, prior to 32 I'm not sure about its soloing speed. I've also heard Demons/Thermal is extremely powerful solo, not to mention survivable, but that's a combination I'm less experienced with.

So just kind of eyeballing over Dark/Dark, am I right in assuming that at permadom levels the combination would be well and truely insane? I mean, /Dark has so so many good powers in it, on top of what's basically Negative Energy Footstomp. It's hard to imagine it being anything less than the destroyer of worlds.

I've heard some pretty stellar things about /Time, although most of my /Time experience comes from a mastermind. Chrono Shift is an amazing power, you get a lot of +recharge, +defense, -recharge debuffs, a good PBAoE heal over time, the list goes on.

It's probably what I'll do for my own dual pistols fix, although I'm sure others can go into more detail on Time's strengths and weaknesses.

Ahhh, right, Drain Psyche has a crapton of -regen and -recovery too. But it looks really hard to get to perma level. My biggest concern with Psi is what looks like reletively low damage at the lower levels, although I've heard good things about Psychic Shockwave.

So in continuing my personal quest to try more AT's that aren't Scrappers, Brute's or Masterminds, I've decided it's about time I gave Dominators a try after hearing about how insanely awesome Permadom is, and it seems like a good long term goal to be able to work towards. I could have sworn I made a topic about this some time back, but I got sidetracked with other things and I can't find the thread, so maybe I'm just imagining it... anyways!

So from my understanding, a Dominator is about two things. Controls and Damage, and they're really, really good damage dealers. Also the Fire APP is insanely awesome. That's about the extent of my current knowledge of them.

I do know Electric Control is a really good primary, and IMO also looks very very cool so I'm pretty sure that's what I want to go with. The secondary though is proving a bit tougher, Elec/Elec is a strong sapping combo as I've heard, and aside from fitting thematically also happens to look pretty cool. Elec/Psi however I've heard has even better end-sapping, along with Drain Psyche. On the other hand, I sort of worry about Psi's lower damage early on, and I do kind of like how Elec Assault's powers look a bit more. (Although telekinetic thrust looks like a very fun power.) So I'm just wondering how Elec Assault and Psi Assault stack up compared to each other, I guess. I'm also open to the possibility of other secondaries though, and I'm sort of assuming Doms are a bit like Scrappers in that they're pretty much all awesome if you build and play 'em well.

Aside from figuring out the secondary though, I'm also wondering about the first couple of powers. I can probably work out a basic build myself, but is the single target immob worth bothering with? That's the last question to come to mind right now, so thanks!

Hrm. The survivability of the combination isn't what's worrying me quite so much as the endurance usage. I realize Power Sink is pretty godly for a TW character, but given Regen doesn't have that... is Quick Recovery (And Regen itself only having a single toggle) going to be enough, or am I going to have to figure out how to get more endurance from somewhere?

So some time back I was contemplating how to get a Regen fix over in the Archetypes and Powers forums, and then I got distracted by horrible horrible alt-itis. So now I decided to go ahead and actually make a Regen this time, and a thought crossed my mind.

Initially I was thinking Kat/Regen. I mean it's effective, it's kind of a classic combo, but in light of the new sets coming out (And having done an old fashioned melee powerset to 50 last time) it also seemed like it wouldn't be much of a playstyle departure from what I'd already done. And then it occured to me I've never tried TW, I've never really even thought of trying TW. I played it to like level three in the beta, but never really looked at the numbers or played it far enough to have an actual attack chain. And I've heard things about TW, delicious glorious things. And Defensive Sweep seems like a fine variant of Parry...

On the other hand I've heard TW/Regen doesn't work that well because when you're in momentum, the last thing you wanna do is stop and heal. Inversely I also heard that it works well because while in momentum you have functionally no redraw. So I realize it might not be an ideal combination, but it seems in theory like it'd still be an effective one with plenty of high end potential. But well, the amount I actually know about TW basically boils down to "It hits like a runaway locomotive and guzzles about as much end gas as one.". So I don't suppose anyone could give me a bit of a rundown to how the two powersets might work together and anything I should watch out for? My only really major concern is less about survivability and more about if I'm gonna have enough endurance, because I've heard TW absolutely chugs the blue bar.

Alright! After more than a little tinkering in the character designer, I managed to come up with a Katana/Regen that I decided to go Scrapper with in the end. Seems like it'll be pretty fun, but I still have a couple of questions. Mostly regarding where to go with IO's when I get to that point. I know the ideal is a combination of defense and recharge, but with Katana should I shoot for Smashing/Lethal, or should I attempt to build for mostly Ranged/AOE defense? Bear in mind, I've never IO'd out a character before, but this seems like it's got enough potential to give it a try.

Fairly simple problem on my hands here, I recently came up with a concept for a Demons MM that'd go perfectly with either Thermal or Time no problem, the hard part is deciding between the two. Especially having never really played either to any serious degree.

Now I know Demons/Thermal fits extremely well, stacked Resistance and Healing with a couple very very nice debuffs thrown in for good measure, but Time's almost Willpower-esque style is pretty appealing too. I know Demons have no Defense to stack with it, but stacked Resistance + Defense + Healing sounds like a potent combination in itself for keeping everything alive, and I know Time brings plenty of debuffs to the party as well.

Therein lays one of the questions, just how much resistance can Thermal stack overall, and is /Time going to prove as absurdly hard to kill? I'm curious as to what either combination could accomplish. I've even heard Demons/Thermal can tackle some AV's alone, which sounds amazing.

Hmm... thinking about it more, I think I'll keep trying my luck with a Brute then, although with a different primary. It's kind of a toss-up between Katana and Claws. Kat/Regen seems like a classic, but I've heard amazing things about what Claws can do. I've given a little thought to SS too, but I already have an SS Brute at 50 so that seems a little redundant.

I haven't actually seriously played a Regen character in... well, the better part of forever really. But recently, after taking an SS/WP to 50 I've started getting the urge to give Regen a whirl again. Now I know it's considered by some to have some issues, but there's something about its style that just draws me to it. Also the fact there seems to be very few Regen characters right now is kind of a plus too.

However I haven't thought about playing it for so long that I'm not really sure what to do with it. One of the obvious thoughts is something like BS/Regen or Katana/Regen, as I understand those add a ton of survivability to a frankly slightly squishy secondary. But I'm not sure what the other powersets could bring to Regeneration. I'd certainly like to be hard to kill though.

There's also the matter of AT. Not really being a Stalker person, that would have make this decision a no-brainer except for Brutes now having it too, which is something I'm kind of torn on. On the one hand, higher max HP means Regen should be more awesome, but I did try an StJ/Regen to 18 and the idea of mixing a taunt aura with Regen seems... well, faceplant heavy to say the least. Even with the higher max HP. Plus Scrappers get Shadow Meld. But Brutes get Darkest Night. So that's kind of a hard decision too.

So I don't suppose some of the people still active with Regen could give me some tips or direction? I'd love to play a Regen that doesn't keel over at the slightest sign of aggression.

Hmm, sounds hectic but also very fun and very powerful. I wonder how /Rad would do in comparison?

I've been kind of torn between making a Beam/Rad or a Beam/Time myself. Time looks well balanced and fairly hard to kill if played correctly, but part of me does worry about combining what looks like a very active primary with an equally active secondary. Any high level Beam/Time's that can let me know what that's like? Both combinations do seem like they'd be highly effective, so I'm not terribly worried either way, but it would help me make a decision.

A very tempting thought I have to say, even though Virtue is my main server I might have to make some manner of MM on Freedom just to tag along on this. Although what powersets, hmm... decisions decisions.

Huh, I wasn't really aware BS had any super serious issues with it, although that might be because my only experience looking at the set is from the perspective of /Shield, which Katana can't do at all.

Err, not entirely on topic but I heard someone mention Shield could achive capped DDR, but I only see about 50% or so in Mids... how? I feel like I'm missing something.

Well, this all sounds pretty awesome really! So thank you for the advice! I do have one more small question, does Phalanx Fighting increase your defense at all when alone, or only when surrounded by others? According to Mids' it seems to increase defense slightly even when standing by yourself, and more if others are near you. And I'm a little confused as to if this is actually true or not...

Aaaanybody? I know I'm certainly not the first person to try this combination.

Well, I've never been the biggest fan of /Shield, largely as I've never been able to come up with a design that I liked the look or feel of. But one night I was tinkering with the character creator and finally happened upon a design that just screamed "I must do this.". So I am!

Now I've heard /Shield is a little squishy compared to others, and I know BS/ is considered slightly weaker than Katana, but I heard in another thread that BS/Shield is an amazing combination since they play off of each others strengths so well. I've also heard with IO's, Shield can become something of a nigh-invincible destroyer of worlds.

So I'm basically wondering how this combination will actually play, and what I could push it to if I tried to IO it out. I really like the design I've got, so I'd like to take this character to the highest level of power I possibly could.

So I intended to try a DP character for the first time some number of months ago, but never actually got around to it. After teaming with a couple of higher leveled DP characters though I decided I quite like the visual feel of it and that I might as well give it a try myself, which brings me to my main question.

Between the three AT's, which one should I go with for this? Blasters seem like they obviously have the most damage, but Defenders and Corrupters have more support powers, and a cursory glance at the possibilities makes either DP/Rad or Rad/DP seem like one of the more potent combos. (Resistance debuff to help with damage, self healing to a limited extent, sizable tohit debuff, among other fun goodies. Like AM.)

Obviously I'd like to be useful on teams to at least some extent, but soloability is fairly important to me as well. Furthermore I've never seriously played a Blaster, Corrupter or Defender before, so my overall knowledge of the AT's is a little limited. So I'm kind of hoping some of the more experienced folks here can give me a few ideas on where I could go with this?

Well, I initially had little interest in Kinetic Melee as a powerset, but then I saw the animations and pretty much instantly fell in love with it.

However I'm finding myself at kind of a loss for what to do regarding a secondary. I know /SR can be absurdly tough to kill, especially if you throw Weave and Aid Self into the mix, but /WP is pretty tough as well and feeds into my Quick Recovery addiction. (I don't have a problem! I can stop any time I want to! Honestly!)

Still, with all the debate going on about KM I'm a little uneasy and having a tough time deciding between the two secondaries, I'd love being able to solo on X8 and I know /WP is crazy strong in mob fights but I find myself a little worried about KM/WP's ability to survive fighting against that many enemies at once.

KM/SR on the other hand sounds freakishly hard to kill at the high levels, even just running on SO's. Quickness sounds very, very nice too...

So yes, I'm finding myself very torn between the two choices, and conceptually speaking either of them would work so I have no paticular preference there. What do you guys think? Bear in mind that while not aiming to be a hardcore farmer, I'd like be to able to solo on X8 fairly consistantly with this guy (Or at least X6 or so) preferably without constantly kissing the floor. I like feeling unstoppable.

And hey, if there's an especially good suggestion for a secondary that I'm missing, I wouldn't mind hearing it!

Huh. Even at 27 I've found I can solo pretty consistantly at X3 or X4 if I'm careful, albiet at +0. Maybe that's just a difference in builds though?

So I recently decided to make a VEAT for the very first time, a soldier, and wouldn't you know it they're kinda fun!

Before I knew it I hit 27, and at this point I've started doing more research on just what I might wanna do with this character. The problem is, there are so many things that just look so good that it's difficult to decide what exactly to take. I want Tough/Weave and the pets and the AOE's and the Tactical Training and Leadership and...

Yeah, I doubt I'm the only one who's ever had this problem, so I think I could use a little help in narrowing down what to take for my Crab's primary build. One of the main things I've always wanted is to be able to solo on at least -1/X8 if not +0/X8. I've no idea how hard it would be to have a build that could do this though.

The other thing is that I have no idea if that would even be possible without IO's, as something I should mention is that I am utterly broke redside. In fact, part of me is kind of hoping a Crab would make for an at least passable inf maker so I could start funding various IO projects, both for my Crab and for other characters, since I know they're rather AOE oriented and fairly tough to kill.

So yeah, I'm certainly open to advice and direction here. With this many good powers it's honestly tough to decide on anything.