Emgro

I'm looking at rolling up a new alt since my most recent main has hit 50+1, and am wondering whether a MM is a worthwhile choice for a character to use in the endgame. Normally I'd just ask people in-game, but on my last four Apex/Tin Mage TFs, I haven't seen a single MM.

Do MM pets have the survivability to be even vaguely useful against 54 enemies? I've noticed that against the AoE heavy AVs like Scirocco, many of the melee pets evaporate quickly, but that may have been a flaw of player direction (failing to keep them behind him/being unable to do so thanks to brilliant pet AI) rather than a lack of potential.

I'm mostly looking at the MM as valuable on such teams for their buffs and support, rather than leading the proverbial damage charts, but I know a Corr (my last char) can do both quite well. I'm not adverse to having the ratio shift a bit one way or the other, but it'd be painful to lose ground on both.

I'm thinking of doing Necro, with the most likely secondary being /Pain, followed by /Thermal or /Dark. Are the melee pets more likely to be ineffective in the new 54 content than ranged? Most of all, is it any fun?

I'll ask my VG if they'd be interested in filling any of the roles you've come up with. Should be able to roust up a few more.

Last week, I ran a pickup ITF since nobody else wanted to start one.

1st random invite: Cold Corruptor
2nd random invite: Rad Corruptor
3rd random invite: Kin Defender

At some point the Stalker said something about how it was the best run ITF team he'd been on all week. Nothing like randomly getting the best force multipliers in the game all on your team.

While I would be interested, I'm not sure I'm in a position to supply any of the requisite roles for this scenario other than generic character gone crazy.

I don't think anything ignites Tar Patch.

OSA from TA? Yes, yes it does. That's how my DP/TA Corr does it.

On a tank or brute, I like to frankenslot a lot of +Acc into my aura since I think the taunt only applies if the damage connects. Not sure about that, though.

I rolled a Mercs/Poison, and I regretted it. The Spec Ops are simply pathetic; their DPS is not up to the standard of the Jounin or Death Knights, and their randomly applied, long cooldown controls are not nearly as effective defensively as the benefits given by the Enforcers or the ProtBots. If you replaced Spec Ops with Thugs' Enforcers, Mercs would suddenly become a very solid set off that alone.

No idea how good or bad the demons are, so couldn't say.

So, from looking at this thread, the ideal AE buster toon designed to adapt to as many buster-buster missions as possible would be a Fire/Cold Corruptor with the Leadership Pool, primarily for Tactics and Vengeance.

This, if memory serves, offers several vital tools:
-Recharge protection
Strong defense boosts
Some unique flavor debuffs from Cold that are rarely resisted directly
A primary damage type that is not heavily resisted, except by one armor set
A kickass -Res -Def power that can't really miss
Vengeance to protect against cascade effects from characters getting unlucky/surprised/burst-DPSed and causing the whole team to fail due to defensive buffs falling apart

And a flashy nuke, because when all else fails, blowing yourself up in a wall of flame is extremely satisfying.

In a fit of bizarro, I just realized you could purposely slot a build like this to have ED-level acc enchancements in your single-target attacks in order to specially target uber defense enemies. Doesn't high base acc benefit more from boosted To-Hit from Leadership: Tactics?

Nota bene: Obviously this is a team-support toon, not a solo one. In case anyone thought I was suggesting that a bubbler was a great solo char.

Also, nobody has suggested a VEAT instead of the straight-eight def/corr/troller setups? I would think the better leadership toggles, mind link, or pets/omega maneuver would be welcome additions for the bizarre, highly artificial situations you'd encounter in AE challenges.

Electric Blast is half of a one-trick pony build. So you're basically riding around on half a pony while Sonic rides by on a whole trick horse, and somewhere you can hear Fire and AR and Ice ride by on motorcycles.

Is it useless? No. Is it less effective than most sets, somewhere along with Psi? Yes.

Needs red boots.

I'd go for Sonic Blast/Dark Miasma. Mostly because I don't like bubble sets, and you can never go wrong with Dark Miasma. Also, I'm told Sonic Blast is good for soloers due to Siren Song, but I've never been much on soloing.

Everything in Dark Miasma is useful solo, while Sonic's bubbles are irrelevant alone. Siren Song from the blast set is useless on teams, while Torrent isn't exactly team-friendly either.

You're oversimplifying that one.

Batman would be that guy that comes late, leaves early, or just plain doesn't show up. And you never have a full party, because whenever Batman's there, Bruce Wayne isn't.

Game is great, if a bit easier than it used to be. Server is quite active, RP is middling active but feels like less than it used to be.

AE farming is mostly over. While still possible, it's more a question of using powerful characters to kill lots of tough enemies reasonably quickly than the old creating easy combinations of enemies that generated massive rewards. You can find the occasional AE farm, but they are more about the convenience of the AE to provide immediate missions with lots of enemies rather than especially good risk/reward ratios.

I'd go for damage on BFR; with the IO recharge available today, you're likely to benefit more from an extra pseudo-attack at endgame than a little more hold stacking. My Ice characters usually slotted BFR for a bit of both before IOs, but that was a while ago, so that may have changed.

I love Frost Breath, but after about five AR characters I find cones comfy and friendly, rather than awkward.

Frostwork is an eh power to me. It requires some slotting to be effective in my experience, but its nature as a single-or-few target defensive buff means it will rarely be a power that saves the team, while still being useless solo. I'd sooner spend the power slot on the Leadership or Jumping pools.

Either go for the softcap, or take the hopping about pool and get some defense and mez protection if you don't already have it.

Also, dammit, Silas, your post made me read your guides, and your guides made me want to alt again. Must say no to Fire/Cold Corr. Although I really need to make a DP/something Corr at some point, my TA/DP defender is unpleasant.

Omega Maneuver. "Hai guyz, the bomb is shiny and talking to me! Come look!" The taunt effect is bloody hilarious.

Full Auto. Yes, it's four seconds of being rooted for a crashless baby nuke with a thirty-second or less recharge. It's also one of my favorite sound effects, though I wish I could get a Column chain-gun.

As previously stated, Warshade is a great power. Shift-buff-shift-kill-shift-restart-repeat. I especially like Nova form's cone attack; the targeted blasts of dark spraying out is much cooler than just a random barrage of flying crap.

Almost everything in Storm; Freezing Rain for effectiveness and Lightning Storm for visual appeal.

Earthquake remains a favorite of mine, if only because of the pain it used to cause players back in the old days when nobody wanted to fight Circle between 10 and 20. When not everybody had -KB IOs, and Hover was harder to take early when you needed lots of powerslots for Stamina, Ruin Mages probably caused more near-wipes than anything else. I like the animation, and the effect is pretty damn handy, for -defense even when the KB is useless.

There's always Fallout, for being slightly bizarre (one of the only original powers that targeted a dead ally), OSA for being really bizarre (how do you fit all that oil into a little arrow?), the old Thousand Kicks MA animation, and finally, the mostly useless yet hilarious Minion Bomb from MM traps.

I can be cool too, y'know.

*eats a donut out of a paper napkin, then throws it into the fire*

Hello, gentlemen. And ladies.

*leers*

Why does that not seem the same?

Herp derp derp, got my AR/Storm to 50 and am working through the Incarnate opening stuff.

Trapdoor was literally a pushover. I used Hurricane to blow him off the platform into the lava, then slowed him down and kept pushing him under. Was beautifully villainous, except for the part where I let him off at the end.

My AR/Storm hit 50 yesterday. I am satisfied with the character overall, but would say that while AR is great, Storm is just not the best secondary.

There is some good synergy, actually; AR's long animation rootings and short-range cones are much safer with Hurricane, and Storm offers plenty of ways to compress foes to get them into your cones in the first place. AR's commonly-resisted lethal damage pairs well with a strong -res power like Freezing Rain. Ignite remains awesome on teams or against EBs/AVs and such, and is still a useful defensive power.

Both sets are AoE heavy, meaning you'll perform well on large teams fighting enemies that don't melt immediately, giving you time to actually drop your debuffs and cones. On fast-moving teams, your inability to fire off more than two or three powers in five seconds is a liability. Solo, you have exactly two single-target power to chain, possibly three if you like snipe a lot.

Endurance management is a continuous challenge if you're a toggle fan. You'll be running Steamy Mist all the time, along with the Leadership toggles if you roll that way, and possibly Snow Storm and Hurricane. Firing off a full chain of FR+FA+Flamethrower+Buckshot+M30 eats up about 78 End unslotted. With my current slotting, FR+FA+Flamethrower can be fired off about every 28 seconds for 40 END alone. Feel like tossing off Lightning Storm or Tornado? There goes another 30 or so END. Getting Scirocco's Power Sink really helped my build, even though everything has a -END cost in it.

In terms of raw offensive power, it isn't as potent as Fire/Dark, but it's still pretty rude. Scourging Snipes hit for 400-600 damage depending on buffs/debuffs, and FA is roughly equivalent. The long range of Sniper Rifle and Full Auto are surprisingly useful, despite the oddities of long cones. Sticking a Range enhancement in Flamethrower is a good idea, possibly Buckshot as well.

For slotting, I went heavy offense once Steamy Mist and Freezing Rain were good to go. Many of the Storm powers require only a couple slots, if that, unless you're looking for cheap IO sets.

So, is it fun? Tons, especially on a big team against a challenge. Is it the best build ever? Nope.

If you're on Virtue much, send me a PM and I'll take you on a mission and show you how the tricycle handles.

I am of the opinion that adding more non-interactive NPCs to the D is not in any way beneficial, and their presence is a pointless irritation.

The vendors? Useful. War Witch? Useful. Tailor? Very useful. Desperate Guy/Turndown Girl? Amusing every so often, and not really in anybody's way.

Parking a small herd of pointless furries on stools filling up one of the bars? Bad. Just plain bad.

I have recently suffered from Scrapperlock on my AR/SS Corruptor, which is not a good thing for the rest of the team. Suddenly binging on three high-KB powers does not make an ITF team happy. On the other hand, it is how you stay alive without softcap defense from IOs.

I'd argue a /Poison Mastermind could be very, very helpful.

Why? Masterminds provide alpha eating minions. In the infamous 30 ninja stalker mob, a couple of MM pets will eat many of those opening attacks before they explode harmlessly. Poison is self-explanatory; more solid debuffs, and a rez, something a cold/FF/kin/traps Corr/Defender lacks. It also provides one of the most bizarre anchored debuffs in the game.