Faultline_EU

With a good tank holding aggro, Nova can dish out a lot more damage than human form can. That's why it's always my first choice on a team unless aggro is a problem when I tend to switch a lot instead.

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Odd, my attack rate seems to have slowed down a bit. I said get combat jump, for those moments you turn to rock armour. Stone skin will still help, but i've seen a stone tank without it taking foes +6 levels. I like the idea about the flying above a mob while taunting then turning GA on and falling into the middle of them. But i doubt ill get fly just for that.

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CJ won't stack with rooted as far as I know and there are not many occasions where I wouldn't be running rooted if not in GA.

Rooted doesn't slow your attack rate and you can't use CJ with Rooted or GA as far as I know? Stone skin is still useful to use with Granite as it maxes out the S/L resistance.

I was tempted to sign up as after almost three months with no internet (insert rant about BT and UKOnline here) I am supposed to be getting t'internet this Thursday! Unfortunately I have someone coming to visit on Saturday tho. Plus I'll probably have forgotten how to play anyway.

Still as delusional as ever I see PB.

Very well deserved!
Gratz mate.

Also, the crystals go bang in a big way when they die - don't be anywhere near them when that happens. Another room is good.

If I EVER get my internet connection sorted out I'll be sure to pop along.

I only ever use shining shield really and I think it is handy. I could drop the energy shield but to be honest I'm not sure what I'd get instead? Most of the powers I have left to take would need slotting to be any use and slots are something I can't spare. At least the shields give a nice damage resist even with the default slot and like I said, that can then save a couple of slots in lightform (lets me slot for recharge instead).

There is a thread about this on the US forums actually.

link

Some people seem fine with none of them, others want them all. Personal choice really I guess. I have a couple of the shields and it's handy to stack with lightform so you don't need to slot it for dmg res so early (or at all if you want to save slots).

I only have tough and can tank +2s and +3s easy enough but do rely on Tremor and Fault to seriously reduce incoming damage. Gets tricky when they attack at range and certain mob types will always be hard. Tough drains my end badly so I can imagine what weave might be like on top. Can see that being a problem as Fault and Tremor do more to keep me safe than I suspect Weave would and I wouldn't be able to use them much with no end....

AV's would be hard. Can tank 50% of them without GA as long as they are only about +1 but the rest just do too much damage.

The other armours are definitely usefull. I'll often exemp down to below level 20. Plus I love having brimstone and being able to do the Infernal mission without using GA.

Dawn strike is a lot less powerfull than other nukes and usually won't kill everything you hit. The aggro you end up with can be a problem so I use it less often personally. That's why I took seekers at 32 and dawn strike at 35. They may be stupid but you can use them more often than your nuke and don't have the downside of leaving you with no end..

Mag 4 springs to mind for some reason but I could be making that up...

Can I ask what your build plan is? It's just that you'll be lacking in damage slightly in human form.

Awww, see ya Tyl.

Best to activate them when you are stood right in the face of what you want to hit as they usually all score hits straight away then. A small tightly packed group is great because of the small AoE they have - mini Dawn Strike. Some people activate them before attacking a group but you have less control of where they go when you do this and often they float around for ages before picking a target or just decide not to attack at all. Can be ok if you are not too bothered what they get up to and just use them as a 'fire, follow and forget' power.

Slotting wise, I've got damage and recharge. Have seen some discussion on whether any acc are needed or not but I don't know to be honest.

Target a Lt or boss who is roughly in the middle of the group and then run or tp in. Hit Fault which has a fairly big AoE and should get the attention/knock down most of the group. Tremor straight after for the same affect. Check the situation whilst the Tremor animation is running. If the group is nicely packed, rinse and repeat - possibly taunting any bosses just to be on the safe side. If spread out a little I'll throw a taunt to pull in any small group of strays or if it's just the odd one, hit them with fossilize. Only when most of the group is dead will I try and do any damage with my big attacks.

For teams that wait for me to go in first I'll usually signal "Ready". For the more impatient lot, I'll tp in without warning to make sure I beat them to it and will often move onto the next group before the first is totally finished (as long as I know I can handle another group with no backup at all). All depends on the team and situation of course.

If you want to avoid using granite a lot you'll need to take advantage of the powers you have. I have all the armours plus Tough and I still need to use Fault and Tremor a lot to keep the mobs off their feet. In your case you'll be using ice patch for that so I would be tempted to take it as early as possible.

The slowing affect of your powers will also reduce the damage you are taking so take that into account. A power like Frost will be handy to a)get aggro and cause damage and b)slow a fair few mobs down. Consider adding some slots to extend it's range etc.. and maybe take it earlier? Of course I know nothing about ice melee so someone else may tell you it's a rubbish attack (the range does seem very short).

You might want to think about taking some powers later on. You only have one attack in the early levels so hasten will be of limited use (good for earths embrace tho I guess). Armours like brimstone or crystal are only useful in some situations whereas you might be better with a more general power like Frost which could be used in every fight. Minerals is not needed til almost the 40s in most cases so that could be taken later if you need to make room for things.

Like I said tho, I don't know much about ice melee so you might be better of getting advice from Tundra who I believe is stone/ice.

First thing you probably need to decide is if you want to go perma-granite or not. If you do go the GA route I suspect that without hasten, with few atacks and no recred in taunt you might struggle to do damage or hold aggro. If you decide to use the other armours I think you will struggle to be able to take a hit or herd a room full of bosses. Ice patch would help a lot but you left that to level 49.

Frozen aura might be a bit pointless if you are running mud pots at the same time. There are also a few slotting suggestions I would make (like how many heals to put into rooted or how many endred in each armour) but I think your powers need to be tweaked a bit first and then we can give some advice on slots.

All good advice so far. I'd add that before taking on a quant or void it's worth popping a couple of lucks and a breakfree if you have one. You can take them out without but why risk being one shotted/stunned. Also the voids shields protect them from energy attacks so time it to hit them when the shield is down (18 seconds from them activating it by my rough counting) to increase the damage you do.

Gratz on 50 btw Saiya. I've not forgotten that you want to go one on one with Faulty but I'm without an internet connection at the moment so it'll have to wait a couple of weeks I'm afraid.

Having taunt is half the battle, knowing how to use it is also important. Was on a team a little while back (2 tanks on it, I wasn't one of them) and people were dying every fight. The team leader kept asking the tanks to taunt more rather than scrank. One replies "I have taunt on auto". Great, that's the five you're already taunting with gauntlet aggroed then.....

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Your mudpots are a great place for team members to hide

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Next to the tank is not always the safest place to be, especially against some mobs. I remember when someone lured a few GMs to portal corp and I was stood around in GA throwing out the odd taunt to try and minimize the deaths. An SG mate (scrapper) comes to stand next to me to watch as well, just as one of the GMs throws something at me. He faceplanted straight away and I was like "yeah, wouldn't stand there if I was you mate..."

Seekers will hang around for 1 min but wouldn't recommend summoning them out of combat. They tend to just float around doing nothing much. Best to bring them out when stood right next to your target although I have occasionally activated them first before going in to attack a void in the hope that they will do something useful as I fight for my life.

Endurance on lightform is good - never really had any problems. Best to slot for recharge over endurance so it will be up when you need it.

Personal preference I guess. All I know is I had acrobatics from level 28 and took it for granted. I then did a respec at level 40 and had to take acrobatics at level 41 due to the changes I made. My first mish was against some Nemesis and I spent half the time being bounced around like a pinball. I was very glad to get the last 3 blips to 41 so I could take it again.

Useful link to all the powers here .

I would say get CJ and acrobatics - CJ will stop you from being immobed (always handy so you can get in close to use IS) and acrobatics is more for knockback protection than mez protection. I've died many times for not being able to pop an insp, hit something with IS or use reform essence as I was on my back.

Slotted up a bit, you can fire off taunt and be sure that your targets will be stuck to you for a little while whilst you focus on other things. It's also useful for some AVs (like Infernal). His melee attack is AoE and I've see it do some nasty damage to scrappers. It's much better to keep him taunted at range so he throws a few fireballs at you and the rest of the team is free to crowd round him and bash at leisure. Same principle applies to a few others as well.

It's just generally handy really.