Frostweaver

Yah, I agree, I am thinking of using my vet respec to get some of the single target-things, like the single-target immobilize and perhaps AS.
I am sure that at level 30, the whole 'fire cages+hot feet thing' will completely rock, but at level (15 now) it's either extremely expensive (You need to pop a tray of purps to stay alive against -1 crowds of council in Boomtown) or You scrape up a LOT of debt.

Does anyone have any ideas of ways of making a fire-storm at low levels more.... useful to a team? ways that don't involve hot feet or fire cages? (I might keep fire cages as a way of keeping baddies clustered, but hot feet is GONE until I have some way to survive 'the herd')

Or I might just keep it as is (It's similar to your build but not exactly the same) and start begging like Oliver twist for teams :P
I just HATE having to rely on teams. at 15, the hollows has dried up, and getting a team in SC or sky is like pulling teeth. Most people don't start teaming again until level 22

Thanks for saying that, Matt.... I was going to put up an almost identical post.

I DO wish they they would change a few of the powers of the 'ninja blade' to make it different from the katana, also.

First of all, Most Ninjato were more-or less disposable. They were often made of low-grade steel and were not an honor weapon. the 'blinding powder' in the Ninja defense set would often be stored in the extra length of scabbard.

First of all, a ranged attack 'throw your sword' would probably not be out of line. similar to what claws have available. the 'slashing multiple opponents' attacks should probably remain gone, since often a ninjato was ruined and blunted after a very short time.

anyway, I doubt any of it would happen, but I am pleased someone else mentioned the 'true' ninja sword.

I have to agree.
Truthfully, The missions that come from contacts seem larger and/or more complex than those that come from the newspaper/police Radio. I often have only an hour or so, and I want to run paper missions so that I can finish the mission before I have to go. On the other hand, if I have several hours, I am far more interested in running a story arc because the missions seem to have greater salvage/rewards/exp for their completion, and potentially a fun story to read while flying on auto-pilot to the mission.

I also tend to avoid the "RU want 40 misteam?" idiots (No offense, Evil_Sprout) Because, frankly, I am an elitist, and I feel that if someone cannot respect my language, they don't respect anything else, including their teammates. I could care less about perfect grammar, lack of typos, etc. But THE WORD IS YOU! NOT U! You aren't on a cellphone so stop being so flipping lazy. It's not cool, it's not elite, it makes you look like a mentally deranged jackass.

I kinda wish you'd put in a tactical guide for each level plateau (6, 12, 18, 24, 32, 42+)
Right now mine is at level 14 and I am having Boucoup problems trying to get her anyplace. Was your build oriented more towards a respec, or towards someone levelling up the hard way?

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Great guide! Thnx. I'll take your words into consideration as i level up my tank. It's nice to see that with I9 out i will no longer have to take acrobatics, which just another toggle to drain my end. Now if only i could find a way to get around not having to take combat jumping for the immobilize resist...

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Yah, you can take Burn for Immob resist instead. I mean...when do you care about being immobilized... when you are moving around, right? if you are moving around the mobs that are fleeing the burn patch isn't going to make a whole lot of difference. If you are stuck against a wall fighting a horde, who cares about being immobilized? If you really need extra aggro management, grab taunt.

well, My favorite all-time tanker is an ice/fire fire and so, in all truth, taunt seems like supreme overkill.
Without taunt a single FSC plus icicles plus CE roots the aggro so firmly to me that when I team tank I need to turn icicles off if there is a non-ice tanker higher level than I am, because there isn't a snowball's chance that once I get aggro anyone short of an illusion controller's PA is going to pull off the aggro (I wish I had whatever taunt aura they are using!)

a simple fireball seems to be amazing for pulling aggro off of the squishies that have managed to pick up the stragglers

Is there a way to vary this a bit for a more 'tanktrollerish' version with frozen aura? I am not particularly wedded to the epics (I usually use energy for focussed accuracy and nothing else)
I am not an influence monkey, so I tend to run with the sets I find rather than optimized sets, and a lot of the unique and proc stuff probably won't make it's way into the build for quite some time. can this build run well sidekicked?

actually I disagree a little about the frozen aura thing depending on how you use it.
Point 1: Icicles is NOT an always-on power. Yes, it's highly useful but it's very very situational. You don't use icicles and FA at the same time.
Point 2: frozen aura WILL save your bacon when fighting certain mob types that are absolutely Brutal against defense-based tankers... Devouring earth are highly resistant to ice patch's knockdown and can tear through ice armor like it's make of tissue paper, but surprisingly enough they don't seem to be particularly resistant to sleeps, and CE won't wake them up. The same seems to hold true with the rogue Vanguards and Ruularu and many other mob types. as well that seem to easily pierce icey armor

So basically that makes FA a situational tool, but the situations where you are going to need it, unless you are amazingly versatile at never chosing missions with mobs that debuff def, use guns, swords, or self-buff accuracy, are very, very common. It takes situational awareness and a very non-passive tanking style, but it's a tool that can make some missions that are gawdawful rough for an icetanker merely moderately challenging.
Point 3: you take hits. No matter what you do, you still have a base 5% chance of getting whacked by something. FA gives you the one thing that Ice tanks value above everything else....Time.
Frozen armor gives you time. Chilling embrace gives you more time. and Frozan Aura gives you the time you may need to recharge your endurance absorption, or your aid self, or your hoarfrost... slowing enemies down is at least 60% of any ice tanker's build philosophy.

And please don't assume I haven't played with it. Frostweaver has been actively tanking since I2 (yes, she was an ice when Ice wasn't cool, and very successful at it) so I definitely know the synergies involved and have played with them extensively. and I have frozen aura and use it frequently (heck, back in i6 it was the only real protection I had when soloing orange herds)

Point 4: It is a soloing tool. Unless you are on teamspeak with your entire team and can yell louder than everyone else, it's a true waste to use it unless you hop to a group of mobs you aren't fighting, frozen aura them, and then hop back into your herd. Doable, I have done it lots when some stupid blaster manages to fireball the wrong crowd, but it's a VERY hard tactic to perfect, and it's even harder to know when to use it.

I still think that for a Tier 9 power it should have some lingering effect when it wears off, though, say a -speed or -rech for a while or even a -def? (they glitter and are easy to see?)

The most important point though is that frozen aura can very easily stack or be made perma with a few sleep durations and recharge enhancers. it provides an amazing crowd-control tool if you know how to use it, including that statesman-despised 'fighting statues' situation. Frozen melee is, for the most part, a single-target set, and if you are fighting tough enemies, frozen aura can play to it's strengths and keep almost everything perma-locked.

(Not to mention some of the 6-slot IO sets for sleeps have totally rock set bonuses that most tanker sets don't get! (can we say Lethargic repose or call of the sandman?)

Necroposting is fun!

Umm, there is a reason now for thugs MM's to take a pistol skill or two, a very very good reason. some of the ranged IO sets have some amazing bonuses that can help your pets, but you need something to throw the slots into.

Why do Villains need dark, somber colors? just a facial expression or a tweak can turn a 'hero looking' costume into a 'villain looking' costume with no problems.
Look at classic flashy supervillains.
Loki, Boom-Boom, The white queen, the green goblin, Bizzaro, mysterio (1st costume) the shocker, Firefly, Pyro, The Blob, and just about any villain from spider-man, batman, the green lantern, or superman before 1980.

often there's nothing to set them apart from heroic (and rather stupid or color blind heroes at that) costumes.... and if there is something, it's often a single item like a skull on the belt or a creepy face...or even a facial expression.

Heck, look at the Carnies, the goldbrickers, or the sky raiders. Villains to the core garbed in bright, recognizeable colors.

I get so SICK of hanging out in the rogue isles and seeing yet ANOTHER dead-black garbed stalker, yet another all-red demonic brute, or another in a long line of steel-clad robotic masterminds. Hmm... I wonder how many gun corrupters wear a black or dark brown trenchcoat and fedora? (most of them)

I will go ahead and take some screenshots of costumes when the servers come back up of how to make bright, enticing villain outfits. The primary ways to make the costumes look 'villainous' without retreating into black or almost-black hues is to do almost exactly opposite of what the thread Originator suggested for most hero costumes. Garish and clashing colors look evil. So do non-symmetrical outfits, nasty facial expressions, and strange glows. Use blacks sparingly, but you can also (if you are careful) use them to make areas look shadowed or unpleasant.

one thing you might want to consider is that at level 50, you can often choose to 2 slot IO enhancements instead of 3 slotting them. you lose a tiny little bit of efficiency (usually about 10% on schedule A enhancements, less on lower scheduled enhancements) but you can easily save many slots this way, extremely useful for slotting out IO sets that you might not otherwise be able to slot, just for their secondary effects (anyone 5 slotted sprint yet?)

Do both stealths suppress when you start an attack? Or just the regular stealth power?

what I mean is, do you have a chance of NOT taking the alpha with stealth+a stealth IO?

One thing I wanted to add about Cobra strike... if you slot in a couple of disorient durations, you can RELIABLY re-hide and AS a second mob, such as a troublesome lieut, during their drunk period. Not terribly valuable during the later levels, since your other attacks can outdamage it, but between level 20-30 when you are finally starting to figure out what 'survivability' means it can prove invaluable.
It's also EXTREMELY useful taking out twin-spawns in RWZ. It's nice to be able to stagger the lut and then hit the boss with a second AS without it getting interrupted.

also you should look closely as of I9 at some of the sets that corrupters can slide into their caltrops... not only are the sets nice in and of themselves (worth the extra slots in caltrops) but the set bonuses some of them provide are excellent...

also, because the IO sets are greatly undervalued (something I have to put in my CALTROPS?) You can generally buy them quite cheaply, like sleep and sniper sets. Some of the ranged damage and melee damage sets can run you 10-20 million per enhancement.

If you take careful care of your timing, your pa can be up just as your end finishes recharging for the next fight.

Oh Man, I think you just had the greatest PVP Idea possible....One that would redefine the whole concept behind PVP....
PVP football!

The Rogue Isle Offenders versus the Paragon City Paranormals in a no-holds-barrred Game....

The 'field' would be a small Hazard zone, The ball Carrier would be automatically highlighted on everyone's Nav (although stealth could still be useful)

To 'score' the ball-carrier would have to click on an interruptable 2-second "Goal" glowie and a ballgame would be over after 5 scores on either side.

Heck, This could even be an SG computer thing if you really wanted it to be, although I'd prefer it to be open teams, with the winners getting some temporary ability that lasts for 1 week of real time.

In an attempt to foster better relations with the rogue isles, Hero corps has sponsored an event to drum up public interest....
Lord Recluse has agred, knowing that this will lull the good guys into a false sense of security while his minions work at securing Recluse' victory...

Well, some people have characters that are designed to use whirlwind effectively...despite everyone saying it sucks.

Of course, the difference is that whirlwind is something we have to build out entire character around using, and it's something you have to choose to take (it takes 3 power picks minimum to get it) and it's not a primary set power....

(little hint, I tried it with a scrapper at level 45...turns out it's an amazing defense for blasters... so why do so few blasters take it? I mean,90& of fire tankers and dark scrappers take acro and jump is arguably less useful than speed...)

so I figure MoG is kind of like 'whirlwind' in that, if you really want to use it, you have to redesign your character around using it. and your tactics. and your chosen enemies. and your playstyle


Okay, MoG is slightly less useless than defiance.... but look at it this way, at least it makes the decision about which powers to skip to get a good pool power easier.

Why does everyone keep saying "Dominators need a damage boost but not to Blaster levels"?

Our holds have pathetic, minor to moderate damage. Even at a blaster base damage they would do very, very little. Compare that to Fire sword Circle or Total Focus or several other blaster secondaries.

Blasters have an entire set devoted entirely to damage. 5-8 damage abilities at range, compared to maybe 4 that a dominator gets outside of holds. The damage of our ranged abilities doesn't come close if we stick to a ranged chain (and I constantly gripe at dominators that refuse to melee)

No final-tier nuke. trust me, even at blaster base damage, that final tier nuke makes a HUGE difference.

No Boost. Most get aim. Most blasters get aim+boost (and there is no way in heck a dominator, even under the effects of domination and an aim, and even a couple of reds, can pack the punch of a boosted nuke)

So, in short, even if we got the base blaster Damage we would still not be outdamaging blasters at range, and doubtful we would be outdamaging scrappers at melee either (except dark, but that's a special case cause dark scrappers have better controls than dominators)

If you want to 'even it out' then make domination not affect your damage output. In fact, a lot of people would love this change as it would allow them to work out a more 'stable' style of fighting, particularly against minions.


But I don't think giving Dominators a blaster's base damage would negatively impact blasters or corrupters in the slightest, and at least on LRSF and other SF's they would be desired for their nice damage output, even if their holds are... less stable than desired.
Blasters would still outdamage in range and melee, controllers would still out-control, Scrappers and brutes would still outdamage in melee and outdefend, stalkers would still pick off the bosses better, corrupters would still outbuff, masterminds would still outtank, Kheldians would still do...whatever it is Kheldians do.


Seems like a neat, elegant solution to me, Doms would be wanted for their single target controls and area damage

So, Now that I8 has come out, think you can update your guide?

Heh, I have never actually met another Earth-sonic and despaired of finding any guides or even lists of experiences you've had, or synergies that the sets possess.
A couple of important things to remember about Earth/Sonic:
The combination is capable of patching up a team that doesn't have a defender. or a Tanker. Or both.
Quicksand, if you have the room and a nice corner, is incredibly beautiful to use to set up a nice ambush. Set your QS on the corner itself, stand as far away from the spawn as you can and target the nearest mob, pop off siphon to get their attention and then run to the corner. They will come running and then slow as they hit the sand. Usually one mob will be in front, and when you see his head pop out from around the corner, hit stone cages. Instant corner herd, aggroed on you, easier to disarm an alpha by single-targeting for the basters or defenders, and only the one target that peeked her head out gets to take a potshot.

Earth/sonic also has some nice tricks that mature early, like in your early teens, maybe not for damage, but for control options I think it may be stronger than the majority of other synergies.
okay, well mind/ has more control, but no fun pet!

Anyway, thanks for writing the guide that will help me figure out what I may try to synergize at later levels. Well-written and hilarious.

How about the perfect solution....
The ability to 'Click off' buffs?

No kidding, I have tried to run the respec trial 7 times already, and because of the PUG's I get usually the team leader is a 25 that is set for maximum difficulty and refuses to be lackeyed because he 'wants more exp'

her husband would prolly object to her putting up a pic so all the fanboys could ogle

Dont' Look him up, He will try to pervert you to the idealsss of SSsel-ssacrificsse and perssonal Mortification to sssome freedom-desstroying code. The sso-called 'heroesss' all try to fill thisss Ideal of dessstruction of ssself and the artificssially imposssed sstricturesss of the Rule of othersss...

Chaosss, ssurvival of the fittessst, domination of the ssstrong over the weak...thessse are the only valuess that are worthy of being called 'universsal lawsss'.

Champion sserver....Virtue sserver... thessse are all the sssame , jussst remember to sserve the Masster that YOU choossse... whether the weak-kneed pansssy they call ssstatessman that allowsss all of hisss life to be dominated by the crying and whining of lessser beingsss, or the powerful lord reclussse who givesss promotion and advancssement to thossse who prove themessselvesss worthy.

-Serpent Queen, Champion server.

Umm...so nowadays what do you call a tanker that is not inv or stone that can still take all the aggro for an 8 person rugged spawn without support?
A fluke?