G_Tanker

Green Machine is based off stacked empathy defenders... even with just 2, you'd get 24% from fort + 16% from 2x maneuvers = 40% defense iirc. Not to mention both would get all the benefits of regen/recov auras & AB. (Empathy is a buffing set!)

I'm trying to figure out how to rebuild my softcapped fire/sr with FA, cp & energy torrent.. blerg, not enough powers!

I've done both dark/psi and storm/psi, they're both good.

I particularly like storm/psi.... freezing rain + tornado + psi scream has great ae potential.

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Don't read this sentence.

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Auuuuuugh.

... there's, like, tons.

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And Death Shroud? Heh, don't get me started.


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FYI, don't give up on Death Shroud. It's potentially your most efficient and most damaging attack. It's impact is subtle but quite massive.

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Yep. I stopped reading his post around there.

Deathshroud is pretty much my #1 power on low level scrappers/brutes. Of course I like teams... but anyhoo, it is slotted up and turned on while embrace I usually ignore till 14 or so.

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I'm trying to decide on FM/Inv or FM/WP or .. something. I have FM/SR. Perhaps FM/SD but it's overly difficult to softcap...

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Don't dismiss /FA. The two shields are easily as good as Regen's Integration and you get the biggest and quickest self-heal in the game with Healing Flames. Not to mention easily softcapped Fire Resist, plus an awesome self-rez.

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I have two /FA scrappers, I want a more durable one (ie: a defense-oriented char, or Invuln&WP that have both defense and resists)

I'm trying to decide on FM/Inv or FM/WP or .. something. I have FM/SR. Perhaps FM/SD but it's overly difficult to softcap...

Yeah, figured. Looking at the BS/Dark I io'd ages back, tempted to respec.

Definitely doesn't suck.

I was just playing with the WP #'s and not liking what I saw... do you think you're going to be able to withstand the same amt of punishment?

I'm trying to decide between fire/inv and fire/wp .. I have fire/sr, and he's great... or perhaps an elec/inv brute...

For bs or katana;

Laser Beam Eyes
Energy Torrent

Both cause redraw, correct?

Ugh. I went to reply and realized I was nerf baiting stone armor for enabling the 54 boss ae farms.

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My goal is to be able to solo spawns of all Bosses in AE for example, without going squish. Can Fire stand up to that kind of punishment? Also if anyone could post some good builds for either of these on a moderate budget, it would be appreciated.

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I think you could do it with either - and on NEITHER would I recommend getting in melee range. Energy Torrent & Throw Spines. 3-4 bosses is enough to give you a really, really bad day.

Again, spines/invuln might be a better option if you're trying to stand up to that kind of punishment.

Also, if you're building a spines/fire, don't try to softcap defense (might not even be possible) ... go for recharge. My attack chain is something like buildup, fiery embrace, torrent, throw spines, ripper, and it's all up for the next group. I enjoy clearing CIM walls solo, but I would not dream of trying to melee those folks. Whereas on a dark armor, I can wander right up into the middle of them and spine burst, and the fear will take half of them out of the fight. (Note: You have to fear them before they see you or the surgeon will buff them to protect from it, or whatnot.)

If you want a good softcapped farming scrapper, IIRC ehina's spines/invuln is pretty much softcapped to smash/lethal and can reliably tear apart anything with that damage type. A little slower than a /dark or /fire, but a *lot* safer.

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I think, and this is after experience with a purpled-out spines/dark who hit 50 in three weeks, solo, that spines/fire is the better option.

The survival tools offered by fire and dark (in this situation) are roughly the same, except /dark's are endurance intensive (33 end for dark regen being the big one). Fire costs less end and offers another end recovery tool, it gives you a bonus Build-Up power and its damage type is less resisted. You will find Dark Astoria, for example, far more fun on a spines/fire than on a spines/dark.

They have similar holes and in a large part of PVE content, /fire may fall behind /dark's general utility and survivability tools, but I really do feel like /fire does everything /dark does, without pants.

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Er... in what world are their survival tools roughly the same?!

/Dark is much more survivable. /Fire has more damage.

Which is to say;
Dark has an easier time getting off an alpha due to stealth (COD), has two tools to reduce incoming melee damage (OG/COF), and has a more powerful but less reliable heal. It is a more endurance intensive set only for COF and the heal.

Fire ... well, you can still sneak for an alpha if you had to (jump in or stealth io) but it's not as forgiving. You have no way to control melee damage over dark (both get energy torrent, which sort of counts) and the heal does ~48% of your life when slotted and is more reliable (if slower to recharge) than dark's. You get a second buildup, which is awesomesauce. Consume is also worth a mention; refill the blue bar and do more damage.

...

I would recommend Spines/Fire for easy farming and Spines/Dark for hard farming. Spines/Fire performs better than dark as long as you don't challenge it too severely. Dark is more adaptable.

Just my $.02, I have both.

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If you don't like the fact that there are going to be low level characters on some teams, then ASK before you accept the invite. Don't go in and give them what you think they deserve for trying to level up...

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Nah. I join the team, survey what's there, and if I'm clearly powerleveling lowbies, I drop.

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Why ranged attacks?

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Just like in Hamidon Raids, each Blue Mitos have to be attacked with ranged attacks. I can't find the exact values, but I believe Blue Mitos resist ~90% of all melee attacks damage, regardless of type.

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It's not resistance, as there is no such thing as positional resistance. Instead, they basically have capped defense.


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I'll pay closer attention next time we run this, but swear I've hit them with Smite and MG for 1 pt of damage, in other words there was more than just defense at work there.

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I also swear I've hit those little things for trivial dmg before...

I get much less moral indignation up than Panz around wiping a team that's 100% dependent on me to the extent that it's a PL. I empathize with the above... 50 joins a team of 7 <25's that immediately decide that this tank will carry them through levels and ramps it up... they get some free pl, then some debt. Especially given the rate you can get xp at, I don't view it as more than a slap on the wrist.

I'd go w/brute for the taunt aura and higher hp.

On the flipside, it might have a significantly tougher road to hoe than a scrapper due to the nature of opponents.

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I've been with the game long enough to have been part of all of the discussions about how tanks are made obsolete by so many other archetypes, yet a decent tank still makes the team safer than anyone else.

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I can't disagree with this in any way; a decent tank, on their own, has the single greatest contribution to overall team safety on any decent team.

However, in my experience,

A) Most tanks are bad. I generalize, yes, but in my experience, most tanks are bad. (I main tanked more raids than I can remember, fwiw). I'll further caveat with most forum-reading tanks are probably not that bad, the same way most forum reading scrappers aren't (shades of that leeroy thread). However, in my experience, most tanks are bad.
B) Most of my teams don't require such a high level of safety from one toon. When someone does die, it's usually a plus (woo! Vengeance!) not a minus. With stacking buffs and debuffs (which come from characters that can multiply damage instead of adding it) the tanker is a really unattractive option.

It is not to say that the AT doesn't function as desired, simply that I don't often feel the need for its desired function. Furthermore, in the early game, tanks defenses aren't high enough to really handly 8man spawns, and by midgame, the other support classes have come into their own and 2-3 stacked support toons = win. I started on tankers, and I still have a few, but no content requires them the way other MMO's require 'tank' classes.

This is also my playstyle (8man teams that are heavy on def/cont) so I realize I have a narrow view of what I 'need' for my missions.

Whoops, this got a bit long, I'm enjoying being able to use a laptop instead of the Iphone to type again (Bus has wireless!)... now if only work VPN would connect...

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You can have a lvl4, lvl22, lvl33, lvl44 team Together w/out sidekick issue since when you enter the mission, everyone is auto sidekick to level50. Call it auto level to 50, or use the term you seem fit.

What I'm looking for is a mission Arc, that is like that , but not a farm.

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Sign me up as interested in these. I'd love to run a mission arc with a group of friends from 5-35 and not have to worry about sks.

QR:
Brute
Brute

I've tanked itfs on scrappers. I've offtank positioned the healie nict on a blaster (and defender. And tank. And scrapper!) so it's not like a broot can't.

Buffs/debuffs rule the game.

Yeah, in some play since I've been invited to teams by a level 2 (?!) that is demanding "Need more 30+ for 52 boss miss, have tank & kin" ... of course the tank was level 13 and the kin level 15, but my eyes just about popped out of my sockets.

I think a better LFG system would be terrific.

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Sounds like it'd be fun to team with some of the Scrappers in this topic. Just walk into the mission map, say "Go!", and watch as the Scrappers run off in their own directions and clear out the map in five minutes, including the AV.

But, if you're having issues with bad Scrappers running off and getting killed, just roll a Rad/ Defender with Recall Friend, Vengeance, and Fallout. I mean, who said reckless players aren't useful?

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Gotta take Mutation too...

How else will you get to fire Fallout again when it's recharged?

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Recall Friend to port the body around.

My fire/rad has vengeance and fallout, but no mutation.

Insp combine makes wakies trivial.