Gavving

My City of Heroes directory is in Program Files. For the instructions to work I had to select "Program Files" when prompted to select the new directory. The Updater automatically wanted to use C:\Program Files\City of Heroes\. If I choose C:\Program Files\City of Heroes\, the updater would want to look in C:\Program Files\City of Heroes\City of Heroes\.

Looks good. I think I'll end up keeping Aim in the build until the later 40's when I can get Tactics in the build and start getting the IO's slotted up.

But that build doesn't have Mind over Body armor... I think I'd want that to help decrease spikes. So when I end up getting tactics, I'll probably respec out of aim which will allow me to move manuvers in that spot and have a slot open for Mind over Body.

Are the chance of hold proc's worth it?

Zetaboard seems to work. Thanks for the ideas. Although it'd be easier to read if you could repost it.

Ok so I started my Kin/Energy many years ago. Pre-ED in fact, as the current build he's on has Hasten 5 slotted (from back in the day when Hasten was 6 slotted). I've gotten used to playing him with Hasten, and with Siphon Speed usage it's almost always on.

The problem is actually more slots than I know what to do with now that he's getting into the 30's. The below build is a pretty basic IO build, but I'm trying to plan out where I want the extra slots to hold the Proc's and Uniques. Did I forget, miss, or hose it up?

Also, can you stack the Hold% proc in multiple powers and have it be worth doing?

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Max: Level 40 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Kinetics
Secondary Power Set: Energy Blast
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Siphon Power -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(7), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 1: Power Bolt -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(9), Dev'n-Hold%(37)
Level 2: Power Blast -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(5), Dmg-I(5), Dmg-I(9), Dev'n-Hold%(37)
Level 4: Transfusion -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(7), Heal-I(11), Heal-I(11), Heal-I(23), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 6: Siphon Speed -- Acc-I(A), Slow-I(25)
Level 8: Energy Torrent -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(13), Dmg-I(13), Dmg-I(23), Posi-Dam%(34)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(15)
Level 12: Speed Boost -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(17), EndMod-I(19), Winter-ResSlow(19)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 18: Inertial Reduction -- Jump-I(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Increase Density -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A)
Level 24: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A), ToHit-I(25)
Level 26: Transference -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(27), EndMod-I(27), EndMod-I(29), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 28: Super Speed -- Run-I(A), Clrty-Stlth(34)
Level 30: Power Burst -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(31), Dmg-I(31), Dmg-I(31), Dev'n-Hold%(37)
Level 32: Fulcrum Shift -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(33), RechRdx-I(33), EndRdx-I(33)
Level 35: Explosive Blast -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(36), Posi-Dam%(40)
Level 38: Nova -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(39), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Oblit-%Dam(40)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance

Just to throw another log on the fire...

O2 in the long run is much better than Gale. You'll end up getting it if you team at all for any reason. And I wouldnt put it off much past teens or 20's, you'll want the status effect protection for your teammates.

Pretty much everything else has been said. Snipes are timeconsuming to activate and wasting time on a miss, interrupt, or LoS loss is a pain.

Slot End-reduction early on in Snowstorm and Steamy Mist. Later you can swap them out and only have one End-Rdx after Stamina and SO level enhancements. Snowstorm really doesn't need 3 slots. The -recharge effect is not enhanceable, and one -slow will slow stuff down enough that can be slowed down.

Your going to want more slots in Hurricane. You don't really need 6 slots for TT. It's duration is already long enough to easily stack it, 4-5 slots is generally ok.

Stamina by 20 is a great goal, but on a Storm/Dark build to do it you have to push something thats pretty good off until post 20. Hurricane, Steamy Mist, or TT are all ones that I flip flop on. Or just take all 3 and all the prereq's and get Stamina at 22. I've done that before.

Nukes on a toggle based defense defender are difficult to pull off effectively in my opinion. You crash and lose all defense toggles. Stuff that you didn't kill then starts trying to wack you. the -tohit in Blackstar makes this better, but still, I never used it solo, and never used it in teams because I didn't want to deal with the crash and not being able to do something needed. There's some ideas in this thread on how to deal with that though (PBU, stacking disorients, etc). I played with it, still have it on my active build, but it's going away next respec.

Epic pool is to taste. I like the Psi pool for Dominate and Mind over Matter. Oh, one other note, Electric Fence in The elec pool is nice due to the -KB on it. It gives you 2 immobs quickly stackable, and then your target can't be thrown by tornado, allowing it to churn away. I liked it's utility, but in the end didn't like giving up a whole power for it.
GL

I like the slotting recommendations. But combining that with ED definitions makes it more difficult to scan through to read the information that as an experienced player, I'd be interested in your take on.

Alternately a newbie storm player may not care that much about IO Set slotting to begin with. So I agree to split up the content a bit into basic and advanced, maybe into different posts.

Also I'd consider including build recommendations. But include multiples, i.e. a lvling build to 20, then 32, 45, 50, or whatever. I know my build changed as I leveled a couple of times.

One thing I'd mention about O2 is the realization that it's presence does not make a Stormy a 'healer'. It'll barely make a dent in a tanker for one thing. It's possible to get 'O2 locked' where the only thing you can do is spam O2. Once your in that situation it's difficult to find time to activate your other powers to help stabilize the situation. Also, I can't count the number of times I've looked at the team window, realized someone was taking dmg that I couldnt easily stop, try to target them, then hit O2, only to see that they're already dead. Storm players focus is on the targets, not their team 90% of the time. That can make it hard to pay attention to the green health bars sometimes...

If you're auto-Exemp'ed down, and they keep it so you loose powers.... It would be VERY handy if they could add in the UI somewhere what level you took the powers at.

I've got builds that are years old, and I've no idea how I originally built them or what level I took stuff at for sure.

When I exemp down on a few of them, it's always a bit of a surprise what powers I have available and which I don't... heh.

A great idea would be if they could add an IO that would turn a single target buff into a Team buff at x times the cost, where x is the number of players in the team.

Speed Boost the whole team in one cast, that'd be nice.

But they'd have to make it so that only certain powers could take the IO, as you wouldnt want to turn things like O2 Boost into teamwide heals...

I think an original concern to not alot self buffing was the idea of the tankmage that the defender could become. In reality tankmage is easily doable with many AT's, so that concern isn't valid anymore.

Play a Storm/Dark defender because you want to blast and debuff. Play a */storm controller because you want to be a Controller. If your main purpose is to learn to use the Storm Summoning set to it's fullest extent, then go with the Defender. Controllers frankly don't need all of it's powers that much. Hurricane and Thunderclap are redundant for controllers most of the time. Tornado is used as a damage power when combined with -KB, and Lightning Storm is also used as a damage power and not as a defense/positioning power.

Additionally I love Dark Blast in that every offensive power you use, you're further enhancing the survivability of the team by debuffing accuracy. Usage of the cones with -recharge can make this effect be spawn wide.

Controllers rightfully focus on their primary, so do Defenders most of the time. For shear spawn controlling power the Defender (no matter what power combo) will not surpass a Controller. (well ok DDD has a good shot actually) But a Storm/dark has great debuffing, decent heal, a self heal, good pbaoe resistances, and near controller-like spawn handling abilities.

TT/Nightfall/Hurricane one bottleneck door, Freezing rain and snowstorm another spawn, lightning cloud and Tornado for whatever got through. Trust me, that is some serious chaos generating power. chaos=control in CoX. One of the things I love about the game.

It means apparently they didn't learn what they should have from story arc rating system in AE. At least there's no badges available here. Or are there?

That's something I've noticed as well since returning. When teamed, and the team finds itself in a bit of a bad spot - I have zero endurance issues. More than a few times I've looked at my bar during a battle, thinking I might need to turn some toggles off, and nope I'm full blue or close to it.

So the inherent works... And maybe possibly it helped me defend a team... But it's so rarely useful that I'd probably prefer almost anything else.

Oppressive Gloom is a good idea. Historically I've been against allowing things to get into melee range - that's what Hurricane is for. Hurricane works against keeping things in Oppressive Gloom range I'd think. Thus I never thought they'd work together.

But now with IO defense bonuses, Epic armors and stuff, going with Oppressive Gloom + Thunderclap + Dark Pit probably works great. And Hurricane at that point isn't really needed I guess. It's kind of 2 separate styles of play I think. To Hurricane or not to Hurricane.

[ QUOTE ]
Well so far I am enjoying AE +4 Boss / Hami globe missions and I am trying out a few builds.
currently I have a Lvl 50 Plant / Storm thats IO'd out that does mass destruction and holding the mobs tight.

[/ QUOTE ]

Err no thanks. My experience with my Storm was that on a AE boss mission was that I basically needed 2 skills. Freezing Rain and O2. Well maybe Steamy Mist was useful. Whee what fun. :-/

[ QUOTE ]
It's the difference between a team that goes "woo, we just barely survived that" and moving on, and the team which wiped. Then that team has to spend 5 minutes listening to some control freak Rad telling them we died when everything went because they believe as if everyone has nothing better to do then make sure they're doing whatever their flavour of Defender wants them to do.

[/ QUOTE ]
But maybe having some awareness about the capabilities and how some defender type play is a good thing. If you're a tank and can aggro half the map and live - then great go for it. If your a squishy that might need heals, then dont grab alot of aggro from non-debuffed spawns if your playing without an empath. A little common sense and a minor adjustment of your playstyle can cutdown on alot of dirtnap time.

Knowing how all the defender powersets work and why they work is important, eventually most everyone figures this out. A team that works with it's defender(s) and controller(s) is a team that just flat works better.

I personally would hate to wait until lvl 30 to get Hurricane. It's needed at the level you get it to help you defend a team and say alive solo in some situations. How this effects the build I can't say, as I'm not familiar with Sonic, but I'd even move Stamina up to lvl 22 to get Hurricane earlier.

Hurricane+corner= -kb (sorta)

Generally speaking though the effort to herd everything into a corner is greater than if you'd just killed everything without doing that. Sometimes you luck into it, but not always.

Cold is much more active in buffing and whatnot I'd think. Storm has one Toggle that you run all the time for buffing (Steamy Mist), so teaming with Storm is pretty low maintenance in that regard.

I played Dark/ and /Dark but not together. But both are great sets that do work great together. Lots of 'Pros' that have been covered already.

But just to mention the villians that have negative energy resistance are a royal pain. Pantheon, Banished, etc. On the plus side of that though Rikti dont have resistance to it and on things like Rikti drones Negative energy blasts just blow them up fast.

I'm in the same boat. I started a WM/SD brute and I like the character, and hitting stuff with a big hammer is great fun. But I'm new to brutes and would love to see some guidance specific to the build as well.

My thought:

Defenders have been kept at their current damage output because they stack so well. 2 Defenders in a team makes everything just churn easy and fast. 3-4 Defenders or Controllers using alot of defender powers can make everything super easy.

For example I did my first STF the other day in 1hr 20min or so (20min was the last mission). We killed Ghost Widow without even noticing. Team had 2 defenders, 2 controllers, 2 blast, 1 scrap, 1 tank.

Usually when I join a team the comment afterwords is, 'man that was easy', which tells me that my defender is a huge force multiplier.

So having our damage multiplier where it's at keeps the AT at good and well balanced, and not sliding towards overpowered...

(the only caveat here is that some prim/sec combos have almost no dmg bonuses available to them, and those combos are pretty weak when solo in that area. But they can't adjust the dmg multiplier for some power combo's...)

I'd say increase the healing component by 20% or so. That'd make it a reasonable heal when slotted for the amount of end and time it takes to recharge. Those with non-healing primaries care about the healing component of lifedrain, not the dmg component so much.

Why do they even let trial account users send email?

Trial account users should only be able to send tells to users that have them on their friends list, thats it....

For storm primarily the questions are: Gale vs O2 and Thunderclap or not.

Generally if you build with both Gale and O2 you'll either have to drop some blasts or skip some good storm powers once you take a travel pool and prep for stamina.

Thunderclap is a bit weak on it's own. A minion level disorient isn't all that great usually as minions are not much of a threat and die easy.

Stamina is a given.

As for travel powers, flight deserves consideration. Being able to hover around with hurricane just looks cool. Also being able to hover over the targets and summon a lightning cloud causes the knockback from lightning to be converted into knockdown.

As for epic pools, that's a personal choice, any of them can work fine. Personally I didnt like how the Dark pool powers synced with Storm powers, I was kinda blah on electric epic pool, and I dont find power build up to be all that great with storm/dark (maybe that's just me though). I went with Psi. The armor in that pool is great, and Dominate is useful. But even then the other powers in that pool arent that great with Storm either I think.

GL.

Thanks for the comments. I'd not priced everything out so yeah some of the sets might be a bit to expensive for what I was looking for.

As for the different sets in blast and gloom, I don't remember, maybe it was just to maximize the set bonuses. Question: is the buildup chance proc worth it? I pretty well spam Blast and Gloom normally, so I have a good chance at it going off I'd think.

Thanks alot for the posts on this, I was just trying to figure out a Set IO configuration for my Storm/Dark. Problem is I don't have huge amounts of inf, so purple sets are right out for now. So this is my budget configuration. Did I miss anything obvious?

Notes on build: I don't currently have Thunderclap, mainly because I don't use the darkpit/thunderclap combo. So I could swap it out for BlackStar, but then I wouldnt use it very often either, as I hate end-crash and have no way but blues to recover. Assault is an option, but I'm not sure I want another toggle... Either way that power slot probably just becomes a set mule for whatever works best.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Fujita Cat-5: Level 50 Mutation Defender
Primary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: O2 Boost -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:50(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(11), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(17), Dct'dW-Heal:50(50)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:40(3), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:40(5), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(15), Decim-Build%:40(40), Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(46)
Level 2: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(15), Acc-I:50(43)
Level 4: Snow Storm -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 6: Steamy Mist -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:50(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(7), ResDam-I:50(7), S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(13), LkGmblr-Def:50(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(31)
Level 8: Freezing Rain -- LdyGrey-DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx:50(A), LdyGrey-Rchg/EndRdx:50(9), LdyGrey-%Dam:50(9), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow:50(11), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow:50(21), Achilles-ResDeb%:20(29)
Level 10: Recall Friend -- Zephyr-ResKB:50(A)
Level 12: Hurricane -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb:50(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx:50(13), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx:50(21), DarkWD-Slow%:50(34)
Level 14: Teleport -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 16: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Posi-Dmg/Rng:50(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(17), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(19), Posi-Dam%:50(19), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(29), Acc-I:50(37)
Level 18: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 20: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(23), P'Shift-End%:50(23)
Level 24: Night Fall -- SipInsght-ToHitDeb:50(A), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb:50(25), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:50(25), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx:50(31), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(36), AirB'st-Acc/Dmg:50(39)
Level 26: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(27), RechRdx-I:50(27)
Level 28: Super Speed -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 30: Tornado -- UndDef-DefDeb/Rchg:50(A), UndDef-Rchg/EndRdx:50(37), UndDef-DefDeb/EndRdx:50(43)
Level 32: Lightning Storm -- Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A), FrcFbk-Rchg/EndRdx:50(33), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg:50(33), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg:50(33), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(34), Dev'n-Hold%:50(34)
Level 35: Life Drain -- Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen:50(A), Nictus-Acc/Heal:50(36), Nictus-Heal:50(36), Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg:50(37), Acc-I:50(39)
Level 38: Dark Pit -- Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg:50(A), Stpfy-Acc/Rchg:50(39), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun:50(40), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx:50(40), Stpfy-Stun/Rng:50(46)
Level 41: Dominate -- Lock-Acc/Hold:50(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg:50(42), Lock-Rchg/Hold:50(42), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(42), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(43), Lock-%Hold:50(46)
Level 44: Mind Over Body -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:50(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam:50(45), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(45), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg:50(45)
Level 47: Thunder Clap -- Rope-Acc/Stun/Rchg:50(A), Rope-Acc/Stun:50(48), Rope-EndRdx/Stun:50(48), Rope-Stun/Rng:50(48)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(50), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance