Dragonkin_EU

It's a very long hard slog with most Tanks my fire / fire only really felt good post 35 when I actually had My defences maxed a decent number of attacks and the End to run them. Before that it was painful, very painful it's one of the reasons a lot of people are dropping their tanks because they seem to get nowhere very fast.

On the flip side once you get to a mature build its good, very good you'll solo invincible with ease can hit several levels above your weight and if people know what you're capable of be exceptionally popular for teams. It's worth the effort believe me.

Welcome

Heh, i'm slowly weening myself of CoV i'll be around too, sorry I missed you all in the same team I've teamed with KO and J and we generally whip through missions with ease it would be interesting to see an all tank 8 man team in action again.

1) Duration 90 seconds, recharge 4 seconds, animation time suckky...

2) Yes it has a preventative effect so dropping it on your group before a fight is useful and it has a minimal and undocumented stacking effect according to some of the US forums, so having two Empaths drop it on one person may help.

3 It really depends on the team you can keep it perma on all 7 teammates but you'll be doing very little else the smaller the team the easier it gets, the best advice I can give is figure out which teamates need it most (e.g. blappers) and which opponents require it (e.g. CoT). As a rule of thumb I drop it on people if theres time before a fight if I know we're facing a mezz heavy mob and that my team knows to give me a CM or ZZZzzzZZ when they're stunned.

Oh and it's the bane of any Stalker in PvP

I'm 44.5 as Tri at the moment, finding it a real struggle due to RL and poor pick up teams managed to get 1/2 a block in 5 hours play and 4 blocks of debt.....

Going to get there tho sleep is optional!

All of the debate about healing will keep rolling we have lower heals and now require to apply them more often, a pain in the butt but livable with.

My biggest loss was the change in hasten and recharge times for RA, this single power could turn the tide in any fight we could buff before a ruck and everyone could let rip with no regard for conservation of End, use it in a fight and we would literally turn the tide, it was rare that a team that was on minimal health and no end would die after its application and everyone would be at full by the end of the fight ready for the next mob. Now... It's still useful but with the 13% End reduction and other changes for ED i.e. more people slotting End reductions it has lost a huge degreee of its potancy people don't call out for it as much and if I shout for a gather those that think they are ok will ignore the request, this combined with the fact that the recharge times on it means that I only get it once every 2 to 3 fights and usually half way through means it has gone from being a staple power sought after by nearly all to a situational one at best......

On a better note though I am finding the Regen Aura to be exceptionally useful, the effect it has is such that it takes a huge amount of pressure off my healing, odd I know but true I compared the total amout I healed in two similar fights and with the application of Regen Aura my total healing required went down by approximatly 25% this can be a huge bonus in my appliction of buffs and occasionally dropping a blast out. In my opinion it is the dark horse of the set as you rarely see its use, I know I was unimpressed with it pre ED now it has a large but very subtle effect on how you play.

just my 2 inf...

I'm on pretty much constantly with my En/En Stalker just shout on SG chat if you need a hand, the only time i'm out of a PvP zone is when I can't find anyone to zzaap...

@ Deluge, That may have been me that nailed you if so I apologise (but not much ) the only way I could actually do anything was to take out stragglers and strays. You certainly made my life difficult 7 deaths from you alone verses about 1/2 a bar of damage.

@ Nefarious, At one count you had 14 villans vainly trying to pound you into the floor, as you calmly demolished them....

I'd also like to know where in the AT decription it says that as soon as you use AS every hero turns and blasts you to pieces as a power, thats certainly how it felt. Still just wait till we get some SO's and a little payback See you all next time.

Ok first thing is you need a travel power, mobility is a key point to nailing your opponent if you can't catch them you can't kill them this especially true for a close combat AT like scrappers. Out of the powers TP has the best getaway capability and shock value but requires some sloting and possibly hover if you want to use it well this works well with TP foe but a lot of people are getting wise to that trick and sorting defences against it. Flight is one of the most useful movement powers but also requires slotting as it is on of the slower methods, Air superiority is also useful as a lead up to this.

I don't know much about Dark def i'll leave that to others who no more, with the Katana You may ant to consider slotting 3 Acc and 3 Dam as accuracy is lowered in PvP all except Divine Avalanch put 2 to 3 acc and the rest def and put it on auto this will significantly increase your survivability in a fight.

I think looking at your build you will need to throw a lot of attacks to drop someoneas you don't get access to you serious hits till 26+ so a bit of defence or control in the form of TOF may be very useful.

Ok, i'm sold on the no defences way, all i'm going to take initially is Entropy Aura to stop me being nailed by status effects.

Any opinions on whether stamina is worthwhile? I understand that due to the sporadic bursts of fighting in PvP it's not really worthwhile, although I can see the uses of 3 slotted health to top up my green bar as I run and hide.

I have had this bug happen to me as well, fighting or rather stealthing past several groups a mob of three Marcone for no reason start shooting pistols at me.

The second one was fighting a group of Skulls in a team of 6 the two brutes engaged the mob of 6 I ran round the side and went to AS the red leut at the back and before I could activate AS the entire group aggro'd and faceplanted me. I had done noting but move and had no auras up except my hide.
As far as I know the group had no AoE's as there were no Bone Daddys and the group were only level 9's

It has been noted on the American forums as well althought irregularly.

I'm now on my third attempt at doing a stalker, and I'm having a bit of difficulty I'd like to focus mainly on a PvP build but need to have the ability to level ok to get there.

So far this is what I think I'm going to head towards, I'm level 8 at the moment so hopefully theres plenty of time to correct any mistakes I have made.

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Exported from Ver: 1.6.8.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://home.comcast.net/~SherkSilver/index.html)
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Name: Grotesque
Level: 17
Archetype: Stalker
Primary: Energy Melee
Secondary: Energy Aura
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01) --> Energy Punch==> Dmg(1)
01) --> Hide==> EndRdx(1)
02) --> Bone Smasher==> Acc(2) Acc(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5)
04) --> Barrage==> Dmg(4)
06) --> Assassin's Strike==> Acc(6) Acc(7) Acc(7) Dmg(9) Dmg(9) Dmg(11)
08) --> Build Up==> Rechg(8) Rechg(11) Rechg(13)
10) --> Teleport Foe==> Empty(10)
12) --> Placate==> Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Rechg(15)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(15)
16) --> Entropy Shield==> EndRdx(16)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Assassination==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------

At this point i'm a little lost as I understand Stealth is required for PvP and a secondry movement power is also useful but I would normally get the fitness tree past this point. I have been asking other stalkers that I meet and many say that getting at least some defence is required but I have never found it to be that useful especially the higher I get in level.

Any help would be appreciated.

Congrats mate its well deserved.

A tip I have found, if you need to solo or are in a damage lite group throw a Flashfire, Fire cages then run in with Hot Feet.

Thats it.

You just watch the mobs melt, I took a Fire / Kin from 8 to 14 in 3 hours just hunting around the Hollows doing this, Smoke while moderatly useful just was not needed as between these powers you effectively lock a mob into place unable to do anything and watch them die, looking back I would rather have had CJ to get myself into the mob so I can get the most effective use of Hot Feet unfortunatly they are all End heavy so Stamina early is a must.

I'd go:

1 Char
1 Radiant Aura
2 Fire Cages
4 Radiation Infection
6 Combat Jumping
8 Accelerated Metabolism
10 Hot Feet
12 Flashfire
14 Superjump

This would provide a fairly solid lock (FF, FC) a buff (AM), a heal (RA) a debuff (RI they die soooo fast with this and HF) damage (HF) and movement both zonewide (SJ) and in mission and early on CJ.

Emp / Psy is a good concept in the terms of storyline, the Psychic healer is a comon theme to see and an interesting concept, that is origionally why I chose mine.

The psy set is unfortunatly not as focused as other sets in its abilities it has no overall power such as the debuff for Rad or -Acc for dark, its common used attacks don't have the slow effect it is noted for. It has some good single target 'soft' controls in that its main blasts have some nice secondary effects but thats as far as it goes, this combined with the limited number of power slots in an average Emp build (there are just too many other useful powers) and the reduced power of attacks means that they are normally the last choice on the list.

If your looking for a more offensive set of powers I'd go with:

Will Domination: Nice damage, fast casting and a reasonable recharge with the added effect of sleep, not the greatest of control effects as they wake up as soon as you attack again but your staple attack.

TK Blast: Faster casting and recharge but slightly less damage than WD with knockback instead of sleep useful as a panic 'get away from me' button but can annoy teamates if used a lot.

Psionic Lance: Huge range, and very decent damage when slotted and exceptionally useful at lower levels for pulling and when solo not so great later I found my playstyle changed so that I never used this attack and if I did it was interupted so I dropped it, however if you want firepower this is it.

Subdue: Recently upgraded so its now a moderately useful power ok damage and a chance of immobalising a decent addition to your attack chain and semi useful in setting up containment for a controller.

Psychic Scream: A massive cone effect and ok damage as well the only reason this is below Subdue is the aggro it can draw the slow effect is barely perceptable too (as opposed to not at all).

If you want a slightly more Control slot up the secondary effects of your powers above (except the snipe) and add:

Scramble thoughts: Quick to cast and the damage is almost not worth the effort but slottted with a few disorient durations this power can be an effective control having your target staggering round while the team pummels them.

Out of the rest of the set Psionic Tornado adds a form of control in knockup and but I have never found it very effective and gets me killed fast from the AoE. The olny power I suggest you stay away from is Psy Wail it's a decent enough power with reasonable damage and an added safety button of disorient but the End downtime is an absolute killer as being Emp nearly all of your primary powers are rective and require you to have End.

Hope this helps some.

There simply isn't room in most fire builds as you need some form of knockback protection in either Acrobatics or Hover and Stamina is pretty much nesesary due to all of the toggles you will run, this combined with the Auras you have to take and some attacks leaves very little room for manuvere.

That and the power doesn't give much as the protections it offers are covered by other powers in the set.

Probably the only reason I'd slot an End Red is that my attacks chew through blue being a fire / fire, I know slotting an End Red in them is more efficient but I prefer to cycle my AoEs faster and be more accurate so that I can grab aggro. So every little helps especilly in a prolonged fight.

I suppose it all depends on how you slot in other areas. I believe that the changes to the Inv set is still under test in the US with the recent patch I'll post a link as soon as I find something.

I'd six slot Invincibility an End Reduct and a couple of to hit buffs, I'd keep taunt single slotted I only tend to use it to pull stragglers off squishies and keep AV's attention and as you can only affect 5 targets I'd go with recharge so you can spam it if required.

If you have any slots left Scorch is a good bet according to the American boards it gives a better DPS than GFS not sure how but... I also find it useful as a quick attack to fill a gap in my attack chain.

I did set the build up to exemp pretty well it works ok in PvP zones as I have taken the powers I really need as soon as I can and slotted them up asap, I spent some time in the Hollows and Striga over the weekend and it felt pretty good even at those levels.

I rarely use hover anyway so the slot really doesn't matter I think I may drop an End Red in and key a bind so that I can swap from fly easily, I think I will keep fly slotted as it is generally so sloooooow that and being able to out run other fliers in PvP is very useful.

I don't really see the point in slotting Health as Heal Aura and Regen Aura can usually cover my own needs, if anything its being 1 or 2 shotted that kills me not much that Health can help with.

Overall the only thing I feel the need for is some measure of control / damage so slotting knockback may help but I really hate doing it to the scrappers and tankers on the team so I try not to use it unless pressed. Unfortunately Psi doesn't give much in the way of either so I'll stick with what I have.

I'm using an updated for ED Fire / Fire ED build and can solo exceptionally well in invincible, I recently came down a notch due to being told that unyeilding gives less bosses and so I complete missions faster.

If anything I die on teams, any team mission with more than 4 players puts the spawn size up to a point where my tanks defences won't hold and so I faceplant. A Lot.

Any AT dips into ancilliary power pools, tanks are the only AT that are forced to to stay alive, and this leaves very little room for anything 'fun'.

It takes an exceptionally good team to keep me alive and an amazing one to keep me standing against an AV, I become pretty much the sole focus of a teams defender trying to keep me alive, I've noticed that this is the case as well with my Empath any 'old skool' tank who trys to tank an entitire mob of reasonable level becomes my sole focus, and god forbid we should stry aggro another mob.

I'm not asking Statesman to put me back to the Burn machine of I4 but we do need something extra! I'm always tring to think of extra powers I can take to keep me alive longer, but this simply is not feasble in an already exceptionally tight build just to make me feel like i'm not a dead weight in my team.

I put Triage through his paces last night taking out several AV's (Sk'ed) and soloing for a short time this is what I found.

I have to admit that speccing out attacks was painful, I am absolutely unable to solo anything now, it took me 3/4 of an hour to clear a small CoT grey mission with green bosses and a white minion takes me three to four cycles of ALL of my attacks, that includes brawl and Psy blast. I do however feel more useful in a team with the extra duties of healing and buffing so this may not be much of an issue, I think I might play around with taking a damage out of an attack and slottong a secondary effect such a sleep or knockback. This problem may not be so apparent with other secondary power sets that have a clear focus i.e. the cone attacks from Dark add considerably more control and the -Res seems a better option from Sonic.

The use of RA now feels totally situational, where as previously I would buff before every fight now it seems to pay more to use it mid fight when I can see everyone is running low, I think that 3 slotting for reduction only is very feasable but I have to admit to liking the psychological factor of everyones blue bar rocketing up and my team seemed to notice the effect a lot more too.

Endurance issues, well I didn't actually have any in a team, at all, ever... Solo I did rely on RA but only in prolonged fights. So I have my Stamina 3 slotted I think I could get away with stamina 2 slotted or even 1 slotted possibly with an End reduct in Fly if I was feeling daring.

I found myself using Regeneration Aura alomst everytime is was up the extra boost it gives is considerable in taking the pressure off my healing, topping up the stray minor damage inflicted. AP has now like Sugar said become my tank healer, one application of Heal other will heal 1/3rd of a bar at most and if the tank is taking a pounding this simply is not enough AP even base slotted will take the tank to roughly half, two or three slotted it heals nearly all damage which if the tank has all the aggro means that the team stays standing that much longer.

I'm overall glad I re-specced in Leadership it's noticeable when multiple team members have it, the only thing I did not use was Vengance, thankfully. So I may eventually respec it out and slot Manuvers even at its much lower level.

Overall I'm please with the build it seems to operate well and still be fun to play, I do less damage but my attack cycle faster and even soloing I rarely felt seriously hard pressed admitedly I was picking and choosing my targets hunting around PI.

Post deleted by Dragonkin

Same here any day except Tuesday 6:30 onward Tri is 43.8 and freshly respecced.

It did help quite a lot after spending much time on test and the planner this is the finalised build I have settled on, I think....

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Exported from Ver: 1.7.0.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://home.comcast.net/~SherkSilver/index.html)
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Name: Triage
Level: 50
Archetype: Defender
Primary: Empathy
Secondary: Psychic Blast
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01) --> Healing Aura==> Heal(1) Heal(3) Heal(3) Rechg(5) Rechg(5) EndRdx(7)
01) --> Mental Blast==> Acc(1)
02) --> Heal Other==> Heal(2) Heal(7) Heal(9) Rechg(9) Rechg(11) EndRdx(11)
04) --> Absorb Pain==> Heal(4) Heal(17) Heal(17)
06) --> Resurrect==> Rechg(6)
08) --> Hover==> DefBuf(8)
10) --> Hasten==> Rechg(10) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
12) --> Swift==> Run(12)
14) --> Fly==> Fly(14) Fly(15) Fly(15)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16)
18) --> Recovery Aura==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(19) EndMod(21) EndMod(21) EndMod(23)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(23) EndMod(25)
22) --> Clear Mind==> Rechg(22)
24) --> Will Domination==> Acc(24) Acc(25) Dmg(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Rechg(29)
26) --> Assault==> EndRdx(26)
28) --> Tactics==> EndRdx(28) TH_Buf(36) TH_Buf(36) TH_Buf(46)
30) --> Fortitude==> Rechg(30) Rechg(31) Rechg(31) DefBuf(31) DefBuf(34) TH_Buf(36)
32) --> Adrenalin Boost==> Rechg(32) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) EndMod(33) EndMod(34) EndMod(34)
35) --> Telekinetic Blast==> Acc(35) Acc(37) Dmg(37) Dmg(37) Dmg(39) Rechg(39)
38) --> Regeneration Aura==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(40) Heal(40) Heal(40) Heal(42)
41) --> Vengeance==> DefBuf(41) DefBuf(42) Heal(42) Heal(43) TH_Buf(43) TH_Buf(43)
44) --> Dominate==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Hold(45) Hold(45) Hold(46) Rechg(46)
47) --> Mind Over Body==> DmgRes(47) DmgRes(48) DmgRes(48) EndRdx(48) EndRdx(50)
49) --> Group Fly==> Fly(49) Fly(50) Fly(50)
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01) --> Sprint==> Jump(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Vigilance==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> EndMod(2)
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The heals are pretty straight forward I should be able to maintain a decentregeneration rate on this and AP is slotted mainly to cap a Tanks health out ASAP or as an emergancy heal, Recovery Aura taken as soon as possible It may not regenerate as fast but you can practically hear the blue bars go Woooooossh as it activates.

I have tried to slot in an attack and CM pre 25 so I am useful in Bloody Bay and likewise Tactics pre 30 to help in Sirens Call, with the balence of my primary power set and an attack upto 38 and Warburg.

I am a little worried I lack firepower as I now only have 2 useable attacks and they are sub par at best, it used to take me a complete attack chain of TK blast WD and Psy scream to kill a white minion I think it will take me about 4 chains with my current attacks so I may be forced to rely upon the firepower of others and feel like a leech... If thats the case I'll slot out some damage and put in more secondary effects and time reducers to give me a modicum of control.

The final part of my build post 38 is something of an experiment for me I re-specced out my power epic and put in Psy as I don't believe I will need the End recovery and that the control Psy gives is better, this combined with Vengance for AV smacking (although I'm usually the one getting one shotted) is still a bit neboulous but looks good on paper.

Thanks for the help guys and I'll let you know how I fare.

So generally some good on regen, some iffy on target reduction on defence and Fire gets kicked in the nuts again.....

It helps immensly, I noted that my most useful buff RA only came up once every 2 to 3 fights when I initially played him and that trying to run perma hasten threw my timing completly out this was immensly dishartening.

I like AP as you state a safety net for when my other heals are down or if the team tank is taking a pounding, the extra boost that the heal gives can completely heal my target allowing me to concentrate on the rest of my team.

If you say that a 3 / 3 ratio helps I'll try it and see, where would you suggest slotting the spare slots from hasten?