Gemini_2099
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Posts
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Joined
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Thanks for the help all.
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What is the mag stun of Total focus from the corruptor epic power mastery pool? Is it mag 3 just like the Defender epic power mastery pool, or has it been changed to mag 4? I looked on the Red Tomax site and searched the forums with nothing coming up conclusively.
Thanks in advance. -
Take care everyone, it is cold even in Florida. o.O
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PVP in this game has always been driven by fun, not by rewards. It honestly wouldn't take that many resources to fix PVP...simply revert many of the PVP changes, and watch the players come back.
Base raids might be harder to tackle, but I am not too familiar as to why that is so complicated it hasn't been addressed by now.
If they are able to polish up the 1-50 content in small pieces while working on the Incarnate content, that would be very good to satisfy those that like the Incarnate system, and those with alt-itis. -
Trip mine, for blasters, is pretty much why you would take Devices as a secondary in a nut shell, but with that said:
Cloaking device + stealth IO makes for a very stealthy character without needing to even dip into the stealth pool or super speed pool. Being able to position yourself to put down mines and then unleash AoE's is a huge advantage for offensive potential but also reduces the amount of damage you would take in return.
Gun drone is really cool, and a vast improvement over auto turret.
Caltrops, and web nade are good tools, but nothing unique to make Devices stand out. Smoke Grenade, Targeting Drone and Taser I think need to be updated for the current state of the game.
Time bomb, probably needs a reduction in interrupt time, and casting time, but other than that is fine as a situational power. -
If you are starved for powers I think dropping clarity for Aim is a good idea as it has been suggested already. As for sonic cage, it depends on your play style. It is surprisingly used more often in solo situations because it is single target intangibility, but as it has already been pointed out, it has its uses in team situations as well.
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Wow..thank you for the information everybody. *Runs to load up CoX on his computer*
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Now that Castle is gone, I am very optimistic about the future of CoX PVP.
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Which IO set will make my snipe hit the hardest? Thank you in advance.
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Quote:Sonic Resonance could use a buff, but I have found it is very tanky, which surprisingly allows you to solo due to the shield. You don't appreciate the tanky nature of the shield 20-30, but once you start to approach 40, and also combine it with other shields, or start building IO set bonus defense, its solo capabilities starts to take off.Originally Posted by _Nanu_
It's funny while Grav/, Psi/ blasters, and stalkers are consider kinda bad in PvE they are some of the top performers in PvP land.
Storm/Elec good concept toon but the damage just isn't there. I could never finish anything dark armor related. Pretty sure sonic resonance is suppose to do something, that set need a buff bad.
PBs are too cool to make the list.
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This is a problem that is similarly linked to stalker problems, and before Castle left he stated it would take time, and there is no easy fix. Even if you are in invisibility, and deceive wears off the target deceived will come to attack you. It is very iffy if the other mobs in a group come attack, but I suppose invisibility helps with it somewhat. My best advice is to keep the target Deceived with another application as it applies fairly quickly.
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Concept plays a big part in what I find to play with as well. And you can further refine your concept with power pools, and epic pools, but for right now a new player should focus on trying the different AT's and power combinations.
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Quote:EA's energy cloak works better than stalker hide in some aspects. How about porting it to stalkers first please?Originally Posted by Redd Rumm
I hate EA' energy cloak!! ewwwww a stealthy brute. they need to port that secondary to scrappers where a little stealth would be useful.
its brute smash! not brute hide ! -
Yeah Dark Armor Stalkers are awesome now with the recent changes, and DB's also provides some help in terms of knockup from sweep combo, knockup from Vengeful, and knockup from One Thousand Cuts. Extremely survival combo now that Dark Armor stalkers can leverage Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom from stealth.
/EA brutes are very cool as they play like what stalkers should be.... with precision, and minimal aggro. -
I agree with the poster above that empathy is underrated as a buffer, and its strength is playing it as a buffer with the heals.
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I believe if enough magnitude is increased, you can even cage bosses. Of course, that isn't a good idea if you have taken down the boss' HP down half way, as it will regenerate fairly quickly during the duration of the cage.
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Quote:When I did Dean MacArthur's, and Leaonard's, respective arcs I was blown away, as I had no knowledge of what to expect heading into both of them.Originally Posted by Crystal_Smoke
Couldn't agree more. In my highly subjective and entirely personal opinion, Cooling's arc and the previous 'mirror' arcs, especially Dean MacArthur's and Leonard's, qualify as awesome. In fact, I don't think our new intro arc to the Incarnate system compares at all well.
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Quote:From a defender perspective it may be different. But after thinking about it a lot, FF may offer more protection but it lacks sonic siphon (-res), and doesn't have liquefy which puts out -Tohit and -Def Debuff, as both help increase killing speed solo. Defense indeed is more desirable in several cases over resistance, but I don't agree with you that it is vastly better. I know X amount of damage I can take while with defense you are rolling the dice, and especially true if you have a sleep hole. The sleep hole matters a lot less on /Res shields IMVHO.Originally Posted by DrMike2000
Sure. But compared to say, Force Field (and I'm obviosuly thinking of Defenders here), Sonic Offers a lot less for the solo-er.
You don't have the personal safety provided by Force Bolt and Repulsion Field, because Sonic Repulsion needs an ally. (You do have the odd NPC helper, or vet combat pets, patron pets or temp power pets, but none of them are there on tap.)
Your 24% resistance (Defender numbers) from Dispersion keeps you much less safe than the 16% Defence from Dispersion Bubble. More incoming damage, and debuffs are not diminished.
You can't really leverage your offensive buffs (sonic's big bonus over FF) too well solo, because Disruption Field needs an ally.
And Force Field is never really touted as a strong solo-er.
Which buff/debuff set soloes worse than Sonic Resonance in your opinion, and why? I'm at a loss to think of any. I'm not trying to make out that Sonic is impossible to solo with, more that its strengths lie elsewhere.
/Thermal has warmth, but that is all it has solo wise till 35/38 for Heat Exhaustion and Melt Armor, and only one of those powers can be used against multiple targets (Melt Armor), and it is a small sphere.
/Traps has a lot of awesome tools to help soloing, but it is still very slow and cumbersome, so I would say it is the worst soloing set due to how inefficient it is in terms of time investment despite being "the safest". I have a level 50 AR/Traps corruptor and it no way it is an efficient soloing set in terms of time spent, especially in terms set up. Is it as bad as /Devices for blasters? No, but it isn't that much better. Especially with the nerf to poison gas trap.
/RE is the premier soloing set as it is amazing at the start, middle game, and the end. Only concern is to not kill the anchor first, but if your anchor dies (eg Lt) more than likely the minions are dead too, so it doesn't matter. Still the best solo set top to bottom.
/Cold matures late when it picks up Benumb, Sleet, and Heat Loss. It isn't a friendly solo set until you can pick up sleet (35) and Heat loss (38). Once it reaches that point it picks up the pace significantly solo.
/DM starts off really strong, but other than fluffy (38) its potency doesn't stand out as much late in the game and you have to rely on a heal that requires an accuracy check. Coupled with that it has become overrated it is not surprising either.
/Kin is a really, really late bloomer and the worst solo set till level 38 easily. It has a heal, but it requires you to be in melee range to receive the benefit of it when you have no defense, or res shield to protect you. But once it picks up FS it becomes a lot better solo wise, but still overrated as solo set, and underrated in a team setting.
/Storm is probably the second best solo set as /RI beats it out, but it has something to offer a soloist throughout the leveling process 1-50 and freezing rain is available at level 16.
/Trick Arrow, with the recent animation improvements, is underrated as a solo set, which is why I think it has passed /Traps now. It still is under appreciated on teams though.
/Pain I do not have much experience with, but I have heard it is a decent solo set, but I still wouldn't consider it better than Sonic Resonance, although if I do roll one myself I reserve the right to change my stance for this secondary. -
Quote:Sonic Siphon is end friendly, and the animation time isn't an issue given its range. It is very valuable against AV and bosses, or any other hard target.Originally Posted by DrMike2000
I really can't agree with this assessment.
Sonic is about the worse solo set of them all for buffing and debuffing.
Of the powers that don't require a teammate:
- Sonic Siphon takes up animation time and end that could be filled with another attack instead. Its therefore only useful against Boss class or higher when solo. Many other set's Res debuffs also apply other effects, eg Acid Arrow, Freezing Rain.
- Sonic Cage will slow you down. Its good as a panic button, but its situational.
- Sonic Dispersion. OK, this it good. But even slotted it gives you about 18% resistance as a Corrupter? 36% stacked with Tough. That effectively gives you as many hit points as an unarmoured Blaster.
- Liquefy. Great, but the recharge is a bit long.
So for plowing through a radio/tip mission solo, you're a low damage Blaster, just using your primary, with the bonus of mez protection. I don't think any other set does worse than that solo. When you meet the boss at the end, and maybe the odd time inbetween, you can pull out Liquefy and Sonic Siphon and get a bit more out of it.
I really like the set, and have four Sonic Resonancers myself, but I can't say it solos well. You can solo with it, sure, but other powersets bring more.
My one Sonic res Corrupter is Fire Blast/Sonic, and I enjoyed that combo quite a bit, but found it very lacking in personal protection. I really like Energy Blast/Sonic together, because of the defensive uses of Knockback.
Sonic Cage does slow down the rate of ambushes, and more importantly it is single target allowing your team to finish off the minions if you are having problems with a boss, and you lack a controller/dominator, so when the target emerges from sonic cage you can burst them down with all your effort. I would label sonic cage a must have solo tool while on teams it is too situational.
Sonic Dispersion has hold and immobilize protection, which the epic shields do not offer, and the villain epic shields also do not offer. Indomitable Will is arguably better than Sonic Dispersion, but it is only a click power that lasts 90 seconds, and not persistent like sonic dispersion. You have the option of shooting for IO set bonuses focusing on defense to compliment the shields for an amalgam of overall protection or even having other resistance shields to stack with sonic dispersion.
Liquefy recharge is long, but you don't need to have it up at every spawn given your AoE's mature by the time you pick up Liquefy anyways.
Blasters solo fine 1-25, but as many have said when they start go to beyond level 25 towards 50 they start to run into trouble. This is why many have to go pick up the epic shields or build defense up with IO set bonuses. How much damage you deal out starts to matter a lot less in 40+ range, but how much punishment you can take to be able to dish out more damage is paramount.
Before I started a Sonic Resonance character I accepted that the common wisdom that it wasn't a good solo set. But after trying it out myself I disagree completely, and have changed my mind. 1-25, it doesn't matter that Sonic Siphon is single target because your AoE's having been fully slotted out by then anyways to take advantage of sonic siphon if it were an AoE debuff instead of single target. Being able to survive long enough 40+ so you can dish out damage is too important to overlook. I am officially a convert.
One final thought, there are many tip missions where you can make use of applying shields to NPC's that help you on a mission map, or even use as an anchor to drop Disruption field on. Best part is your anchor is mobile, and not static which allows you to breeze through tip missions effortlessly while keeping your escort safe with your shields. -
Archery has the best synergy with sonic given these points:
1. Sonic Siphon is single target, and as a result it can unload a single attack chain during the duration of the debuff at significant range given sonic siphon also has good range. In other words, against bosses, or AV you can really bring the pain from a distance.
2. Fire may do more damage than archery, but archery has a smoother attack chain, slightly more accurate (gives you options for slotting), and most importantly end friendly. Being end friendly allows you to keep the anchor on your teammate a lot longer.
3. Biggest reason why I chose to roll an AR/Sonic corruptor was it was not only rare, and due to concept, but mostly because it has a crashless nuke. DP works too as it has been mentioned, but I think Archery has the best crashless nuke compared to AR/DP. Especially given it can be dropped on the same place where you drop liquefy for maximum effectivness. -
Quote:I like this idea, because despite what this thread shows, scrappers are really jealous of stalkers ability to control their crits with placate. It gives the archtype a tactical feel you can't pick up with any other melee.Originally Posted by Biospark
What if Placate received a reduction in its recharge based on the number of teammates you have. The concept being that the more people around the easier for the Stalker to distract enemies and go back into hiding. I am not sure how much of a cooldown reduction a full team would need to bring, but would this improve a stalker's team contribution despite the "shared aggro" concerns ?
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To be honest, if they were to remove the hold component, and in return increase the knockdown chance, or decrease the recharge time of the power that would be nice. Slotting up the hold is pretty much utterly useless, and coupled with the fact you don't know what has been hit with the debuff it is not surprising that Liquefy is viewed as mediocre.
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Quote:I want to say the hold component has a ToHit check, because the minor damage seems to hit reliably, but I will have to do some testing. I do know that power build up does work with Liquefy though, which is a good way to magnify its potency.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
The -ToHit (and -Defense) in Liquefy are exactly identical to Radiation Infection or Darkest Night. Liquefy is basically an unmovable version of those powers with 1/3rd to 1/6th the uptime that adds a small chance for knockdown (3% per pulse versus 5% in Freezing Rain, 8% in Earthquake or 9% in Ice Slick), a remote chance for a negligible hold (4 seconds long on minions only), and about 40 damage. The damage and hold, from what I can gather, are one-time and do not pulse. Some part of the power has a ToHit check but I'm not sure which part, I'd guess the Hold and Damage.
IMO Liquefy is "ok." It's not world changing and it's not terrible, it just is. If Radiation Infection had a 300 second recharge time and a small chance to knockdown I'd feel the same way.
[EDIT: Added sentence to end and corrected recharge time from 500 to 300] -
/Sonic surprisingly is a good solo set, but it doesn't mature until in the 30's when have enough slots to make it work. I suppose it has a reputation for being a poor solo set 1-20, but even then I have to question that as Sonic Siphon is one of the better out of the box powers you can have from level 1.
The reason why /Sonic is actually a good set late in the game is because you can take a lot more hits than normal which buys you enough time to unload all your heavy hitters (eg full auto). And because a lot of the powers are fire and forget, or situational, you spend most of the time blasting away. Liquefy increases your survivability when you need it the most against bosses or ambushes. -
A lot has changed actually, its that gradual changes that have taken place up till now may cause may cause a long time absentee being overwhelmed. Welcome back by the way.