Dinlek

I'm trying to design a low-budget KM/Elec with decent survivability and damage. I'm not expecting to solo any task forces, but it'll serve as a good starting point for a slightly better build.

I'm new to slotting, though, and I'm not sure if I've even chosen inexpensive sets. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. What I'm curious about at this point...

I only have 31.8% defense to smashing a lethal, which is a bit lower than I'd like. I'm having a hard time trying to squeeze in more defense without going for more expensive sets, however. Even more unfortunate is the fact that I don't have perma-hasten...it would be nice to have, but at this point, I don't think I'm willing to sacrifice much defense for it. If anyone can give me some suggestions on where to cut the slack out of this build, I'd appreciate it.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.942
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Technology Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Kinetic Melee
Secondary Power Set: Electric Armor
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Quick Strike -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Charged Armor -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(31), RctvArm-EndRdx(33), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33), RctvArm-ResDam(33)
Level 2: Body Blow -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 4: Smashing Blow -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(17), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 6: Power Siphon -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(7), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(7), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(9), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(9), GSFC-Build%(11)
Level 8: Lightning Field -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(39), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(39), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 10: Conductive Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(34), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(34), RctvArm-ResDam(34), RctvArm-EndRdx(37)
Level 12: Static Shield -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(15)
Level 16: Grounded -- ResDam-I(A)
Level 18: Burst -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(19), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(21), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21)
Level 20: Energize -- Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(A), Mrcl-EndRdx/Rchg(23), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg(23), Mrcl-Heal(25), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Mrcl-Rcvry+(27)
Level 22: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(40), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(40), RctvArm-EndRdx(42), RctvArm-ResDam(42)
Level 26: Weave -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(27), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29), S'dpty-Def(29), S'dpty-EndRdx(31)
Level 28: Lightning Reflexes -- Run-I(A)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I(A)
Level 32: Concentrated Strike -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(50), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 35: Power Sink -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(36), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(37), P'Shift-End%(37)
Level 38: Power Surge -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(43), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(43), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Aegis-ResDam(46)
Level 41: Zapp -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Ball Lightning -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg(45), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), Det'tn-Dmg/Rng(46)
Level 47: Maneuvers -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(48), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48), S'dpty-Def(48), S'dpty-EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(31), EndMod-I(42)

Awesome, thank-you for the insight. Pain really seemed like an interesting secondary to go with, because it's heal-and thus action-heavy. However, soloing on one was a major pain. Conversely, Masterminds just felt a bit too much like backseat driving.

Dropping the demonlings sounds like a pretty interesting idea when it comes to being focused on healing, it's certainly something I considered doing in teams on my Bot/Traps.

MM used to be my favorite archetype, before I rediscovered the undeniable joy of beating the everloving snot out of people.

Now, I'm tempted to try out the different pastures of a more support-oriented character, which led me to Corruptors. However, since I love to roll up my sleeves and solo when the desire strikes me, I'm thinking I might go Mastermind once more instead.

I've come to these two sets, ones that I've never played before but seem both interesting and powerful. To start out, I'm going to embarrass myself by asking some stupid questions:

1) I seem to remember the lvl 6 and lvl 32 equip powers changing so that you don't have to use it on every minion individually, is that true?

2) Do therm's shields work the same way? Or do you have to shield every pet individually?

3) Is shielding 7 Teammates plus 6 pets as tedious as I fear it may be? I've heard that Thermal is a very...demanding set. That's part of what intrigues me, even though the idea of spending 40 or so seconds out of every 4 minutes shielding gives me twitches.

Now, for some slightly less stupid questions (and a switch from numbers to letters)

A) Between Pain and Therm, which have a greater impact on your demon's survivability? Can either set help DM solo hard targets (ie, AVs?)

B) Between Pain and Therm, which is more useful in large teams? Pain's extra healing seems amazingly helpful, but resist shields can't be denied, I wager.

iii) Which is more fun*? This is obviously an extremely subjective category, but I'd love to hear some anecdotes regarding your experiences with these sets, teaming or solo.

I've been looking around at the plethora of DP/ threads, but there are a few questions I'm having trouble finding answers for.

/Dark and /Kin both seem to be decently powerful in both theaters, at high levels (with /Dark having the advantage in survivability, obviously), but I'm wondering about when they're paired with Dual Pistols.

Fulcrum Shift is, as always, amazing. And Siphon Speed is mana from the gods. However, DP is infamous for long animation times, which makes me think the benefit of Siphon Speed will be partially lost. Not to mention, while it's not as lovely as Fulcrum Shift, Tar Patch's -res seems to have the potential to boost damage a fair amount.

/Storm is hardly mentioned at all, but I think that delicate use of Hurricane might make up for the long root times on DP's attacks ('Don'tpunchmedon'tpunchme- *push*), Lightning Storm could also supplement the middling damage DP provides, and "following around a scrapper with gale on auto-cast" has to be the best way to make friends, ever. The lack of a self heal, though, makes me a bit on the sad side.

I'm a scrapper at heart (kill everyone and let God sort it out), so I don't think I can stand spending too much time buffing teammates, which is why I've settled on these three. Insight would be appreciated.

Hmm, I think I'll go with Earth/Fire, it seems like a very interesting combination. While I tend to prefer melee combat to ranged, I'd prefer to go Brute or Scrapper if I wanted to specialize in it.

I like the damage of fire, and I was hoping /Earth could provide a bit of control to supplement Flashfire, but Fissure and Tremor only have a 33% of triggering their respective controls on targets. While not bad, it's certainly not really good enough for what I'm hoping for from the set, I think.

Earth it is! I think it's official time for me to take my Earth/Storm 'troller off the shelf.

Thanks for the insight. It's not too hard to level up a character to 20-something and try it out myself, but I was interested in hearing what other people had experienced so I knew what I was getting into from the get go.

I have an interesting concept for a character that I just can't put down, but I'm stuck between these two powerset combinations.

Fire/Earth seems like an attractive combo. The extra control from Earth secondary can make up for the fact that fire has arguably less control that Earth primary, and the fact that Earth Melee has so much knock-up makes skipping the end-heavy fire cages an even better idea, which is always a plus. I have a Fire/Psi at 50, but I never got into him, I think in no small part to the fact that the secondary doesn't have much...smash.

Earth/Fire seems just as nice, though. Knock-down from earthquake coupled with the slow from quicksand makes a nice combo, and if I get quicksand low enough recharge I can use it to turn Stalagmite's stun into a pseudo-hold, instead of using stone cages. I have an Earth/Storm hero-side, but the damage is just...piddly. Soloing is nearly impossible, but with /Fire, I don't that'll be a problem villainside.

What I'm kinda worried about, though, is survivability. Fire/Earth's use of knockdowns, stuns and aoe holds provides pretty strong (though long-cooldown) control, and without /Psi's DP I have a feeling I'll be hurting a great deal, especially against mez-resistance mobs (see: entire ITF).

Earth/Fire also has a strong amount of control, but it seems as though it all comes from the primary. Is it difficult to get the recharge low enough that I can use an AoE control (QS + Quake; QS + Stalag; QS + Volcanic) on every large mob in teams?

Alright, I think I've settled on FM/SD.

Now, a final question: Is it true that Brute fury affects Fire's DoTs, but Scrapper crits don't? Any advantages about scrapper's I don't know about? (Other than, of course, the amazing scrapperlock).

EDIT: Found an answer, and in case anybody else was wondering: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...20&postcount=2

Ironic when Google Search returns more helpful results than forum search, methinks.

I'm assuming influence is a bit of an issue, but to be honest, I'm not really sure how much I have scattered across my characters.

At this point, I think I'm set with Fire Melee, thanks to Candlestick's insight.

While I'm not hugely fond of choosing yet another late blooming powerset combo (Fire/Psi Dominator back before they buffed Psi's early game? *shudder*), it seems like an extremely powerful combo...

I've been lurking around on these forums for the past few days, dying to use the 30-day return code to re-ignite my interest in this game. While I've enjoyed controllers, dominators, masterminds and soldiers/widows, nothing has matched up to the visceral joy of the scrapperlock.

To that end, I'm trying to decide between three combos.

FM/SD, FM/WP, and Kat/WP

My biggest problem is I'm not sure what these powersets offer now, but from what I've read I do have a vague image.

It seems to me like Kat/WP has the best early game, but possibly the least potential of the three. It seems as thought it's been given lower damage across the board to compensate for the defense bonus divine avalanche gets, but once WP is fully IO'd out, DA is probably a non-entity for anything but damage. That said, I'm pretty fond of the Katana's looks, but in 30 days, 3 months or a year, I doubt I'm going to be thrilled with any of the animations. Can an equally IO'd Kat/WP compete in damage with a FM/WP?

FM/WP seems like the middle ground. Stacking QR and Stam will allow me to use my high-damage attacks, and Fire's lack of mitigation will be made up for the fact that WP is extremely survivable with SO's, and even more so with IOs.

However, FM/SD seems like it may end up doing even more damage, with comparable defense. AAO seems like this era's Perma-Rage. However, I've heard that Shield Defense does run into trouble against mobs that can buff each other's accuracy (IE, Vigilance, Tactics using NPCs) to bypass the soft cap. Is that a huge problem?

To sum up my questions (and consolidate them a bit)

1) FM/WP vs Kat/WP: Can Kat compete with FM's single-target damage? Is DA's extra defense late-game worth it if it can't? Since Flashing Steel is pretty strong whereas Breath of Fire is mediocre, can FS+Lotus Drops compete with Fire Sword Circle?

2) FM/WP vs. FM/SD: The second will do more damage, even after Shield Charge gets rebalanced due to AAO, correct? Does WP provide more defense? Is it possible to IO out a FM/WP to take advantage of QR+Stam? That is to say, slot for more damage while a /SD will have to slot for end-red?

Thank-you all for the information. Really, I'm not surprised that night widow isn't the best for AV soloing, since it gets quite a bit more AOE damage than claws. While Claws/SR has Spin, Focus and Eviscerate, Night Widow has Spin, Eviscerate, Spine Burst and the Psi Cone (Psychic Scream), in addition to the team buffs.

The idea of a melee Fortuna sounds very interesting, though. Would you two mind posting your builds, or at least your power choices? I'd love to see them.

Hello,

I'm wondering what the primary differences are between a Night Widow and Claws/SR brutes (or scrappers, for that matter), particularly when it comes to fighting difficult enemies like AVs. I know that /SR has far more defense debuff resistance than Night Widows, which seems to be an advantage for them. Is there anything that gives Night Widows advantages over AVs that would make up for the lack of defense debuff resistance?

Thank-you in advance for the insight!

Thank-you for the advice, both of you. I'm thinking of just leveling up two controllers, a Ill/Rad designed for a bit of a "Jack of all Trades" approach, and an Earth/Storm for "team-based over-control".

I'm considering rolling a controller alt, and I've just come back after all the color-changing features on powers. Now that I can get rid of the dreadfull radiation green, the set seems much more charming. However, I have a few questions, and this seems like the best place to put them. I would greatly appreciate advice.

1) Fire/Rad has been mentioned as the better soloer, but between it and Ill/Rad, which is better for small groups/large groups/task forces?

2) What are Fire/Rad's main disadvantages when compared to Ill/Rad, and vice-versa.

3) While Ill/Rad's damage against large groups is obviously less than Fire/Rad's, how does it compare to other sets, like Earth/Storm (reknowned for low damage). Also, do PA or Imps benefit from containment?

4) If you have both, which do you enjoy more, and why?

These questions are addressed to anyone, I'm stuck between these two combos and I'd love some advice before I devote too much time into either set.

[ QUOTE ]
This thread makes me want to roll a Mace/EA just for the suck factor, but I already made an Elec/Traps :/

[/ QUOTE ]

My level 20 Merc/TA is strongerer and prettierer!

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.4006
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Level 19 Mutation Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Mercenaries
Secondary Power Set: Trick Arrow
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Teleportation

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Burst -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Entangling Arrow -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Slug -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Flash Arrow -- Empty(A)
Level 6: Equip Mercenary -- Empty(A)
Level 8: M30 Grenade -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Jump Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Flurry -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Teleport Foe -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Serum -- Empty(A)
Level 22: [Empty]
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Supremacy



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