Gilia

I can see this being hard to decide. For teams, trials, tfs, if you were going to trick this guy out I'd say you have got to do Mind/. However, for a lightly IO'd build or soloing, Plant/ is going to be better.

I'm going to have to go with the above, however. If the concept really is just a confuser, a Mind/ Dom is going to hit it on the head a little better. With a Controller, you have to "suplement" the concept quite a bit with those exotic looking secondaries .

Just have to look into your context is all. Macbooks stopped supported 64-bit WEP when the majority of universities in the USA still used it as the standard. Then in the ultimate switcharoo, they have been about 3 years behind on most instances of WPA2-Enterprise, the current standard in private schools.

I've worked with and owned macs. I'd never even consider getting one for gaming.

The game's down, so I can't look at this. I've always done ctrl+left click, so I'm not sure if shift will work for this as well.
Just because you're going over so many game terms, it might be worth nit picking this. I believe it's ToHit (as opposed to Accuracy) that blows through Defense.

Just an inconsistency, because up t this point you've categorized the sets as "Ranged Defense," rather than simply "Defense."

You accidently wrote Recharge IO there.
I feel you may want to make this even more general than it is. On heroes that I don't put the health +recovery procs, I usually do 4 slots in Stamina, and I could see this necessary being the case with newer players.


I really, really like the guide over all. The only content change I think you ought to make is to give more love to S/L Defense builds. I don't know where you could give it said love. The only one I noticed missing that I have used to soft cap for S/L is Enfeebled Operation for immobilizes.

You'd want to (re)cast it anyway. Auto Turret's defiance is 39.6% for 14.5 seconds. That's like the best part about it...

Yeah, it's only like 92% of the damage Aim offers (at least if you start counting post cast), but when you consider the incessant whining about a lack of BU it's really a surprise people don't count the Defiance numbers.

Timb Bomb is 52.8% for 16.5 seconds. Trip mine is 26.4% for 12.5.

If you play smart, run ahead on teams, etc, you can turn those puppies into a good chunk of burst damage without much detractor. Yes, Aim + BU are easier, simpler, etc, but as it were Blaster's require about the most finesse and forethought of any AT anyway.

In CoV days, if there wasn't a Brute on your team, there was some buffs and some controls for you. So I'd flip off Hide and Scrap/Brute for them.

In GR days, you are a Scrapper with fewer AoEs and lower max HP. On a tightly packed team of, I believe it's 5, you will out do the Scrapper's ST damage because of your passive. So do that .

This is the power of quoting out of context. The developers said nothing like this. The comment was that in a single PBAoE power, the damage potential would increase with KD instead of KB. PBAoEs have the effect of radial knockback, scattering enemies virtually regardless of how you handle it. Sure, you can stand to the side and fire them to the other, but they will still scatter.

Ranged knockbacks (yes even targeted AoEs for the few who are still in la-la land) don't cause radial knockback. The only way to get them to is, you guessed it, stand in PBAoE position, either with a Targeted or by jousting a cone.

Find a post where the developers said ranged knockbacks rein in damage, or for Pete's sake stop taking what they say so far out of context. You might as well flat out lie about what they said.

Just to expound, lest the ignorance has lent itself to lysis:

The devs didn't say knockback would rein in damage, one dev said turning a melee power's KB to KD would increase damage.

...and because dead horses deserver a good whooping

Ranged knockback when used even semiintelligently can add oodles of damage potential, specifically by mitigating incoming damage and keeping enemies against a wall or in a corner. Energy Blasters have known this to be true for years. I can't believe it's still debated after all this time. Enemies who are not mezzed in some manner will run around and run away. Knockback used inapproriately can slow things down, of course, but at least with PBs you've always been restricted and should have gotten some idea of how to play the game before you rolled out.

I can actually name that team easily and I play on it quite frequently: a task/strike force with a members built well enough that they split up into small groups or solo to clear more efficiently. Anything you do solo can be done then.

Then on steam rolling teams, on my Arch/Dev Blaster I'd just hop to the next group if RoA was down and lay a toe-bomb Time Bomb if it was up. Steam rolling teams can handle the handful that survive.

I agree with the notion that Time Bomb is a lot more out of place in Traps than it is in Devices. However, the common forum idea that it's useless stems from a measure of value that would deem any power that couldn't simply be mashed out to be worthless. More power to button mashers, but it's not the universal measure.

I would just footnote this.. I believe there is one thing a Son/Son Corruptor still does better. On a very small team (like a duo or trio), they should put out more damage. IIRC once you get to 4+ the -res modifier's big enough that unless you're somehow sans any damage-focused ATs, the Defender contributes more through them.

I played a DP/Sonic Corruptor to 50. Honestly the early game was very slow going. It was pre-GR and I seemed to virtually never end up teaming with Brutes who could maintain aggro. The stacking debuffs and good damage you can do with DP/Sonic makes you a mob magnet.

Though you probably would not be surprised that this turned around in the 30's, especially picking up the tier 9s. Liquefy is way better than a lot of forum-goers give it credit.

I would recommend the combo. It's not too end heavy. Sonic isn't a very busy set, and I'd say DP can take advantage of that, switching ammo and positions as needed. The +res combined with Chemical rounds's -dmg stack nicely if that kind of mitigation is needed. Of course you're talking about some pretty tough enemies to notice that, and avoiding the extra debuff on your threat makes fire rounds more appealing a lot of the time.

I went with Dark Mastery to really emphasize my own resists and damage output. I didn't see any easy way to get reasonable defenses without sacrificing powers I wanted, though now with inherent Fitness it may be viable.

My second choice would be Dark Blast. Like you said, it has the heal. Combining it's -ToHit with your +Res helps for survivability too. TT could immobilize mobs inside Liquefy without negating the KD. I just didn't go this direction because I didn't want a crashing nuke with a toggle dependent secondary. Also, the idea of being able to turn off KB in DP was just so appealing. I wouldn't want to accidently Torrent enemies out of Disruption Field or Liquefy.

It's both actually. I think with the way mez resistance works, it's not very good in toggles because it will suppress anyway. It's most often found in auto powers.

[Acrobatics]
Edit: Just to note, -2 means it should protect you from one standard (mag 3) hold effect. The resistance on it causes you to shed that effect more readily. However, two holds and you should be a sitting duck. IW not only covers more mezzes, but it's mag 10! That means it'll take 4 standard holds to get you.

That's a good point and worth mentioning. The short comings of otherwise awesome sets should always be kept in mind. It didn't jump out at me on this build because there was more than a +45% global accuracy bonus AND Focused Accuracy.

Yeah, I don't think it's that important for Kinetic Melee either. The 100% critical on Burst is too tempting most of the time anyhow. My current Stalker won't take AS till 38. I took it at 6 or 8 on my ElM Stalker and will respec out of it for i19 until down the road.

/Mental and /Ice both get their second melee attack then.

I don't think Quick Sand from the Tanker epic would be too bad at all. Tankers do get the same Ice Patch, too.

I get the impression you're comparing this to PRIMARY tier 9s. This would be a level 38 power, not 32. The damage is about the same as Mental's tier 9, with KD instead of stun. It seems appropriate to me.

I like the idea and would like to see an Earth Blast primary and Earth mastery ancillary! The lack of thematic pairs is the only problem I see off hand, but as you said we're on Blaster secondaries and there's not much in the way of obvious themes.

Will Power uses typed defense (like Smashing, Lethal, Energy, etc) rather than positional (melee, aoe, ranged). Gaussian's and Blessing of the Zephyr are both slot effective for positional defense, but not so much typed defense.

Since you have KB protection in Indomitable Will, you don't get very much out of BotZ in Combat Jumping. I'd drop the two extra slots and put an LotG:+Recharge in it.

Similarly, I'd replace the 3 LotG:End/Rech with LotG:+Recharge. These are expensive, but worth it. They only cost 2 Alignment Merits though. If you make this change, you'll be well enough over the ED cap on IW, Heightened Senses, and Weave that you can drop the plain Defense IO (it'd only net you 3% defense enhancement anyway).

If you still feel thin on slots, drop the End Mod in Physical Perfection. You have so much recovery already, and it only adds 5%.

Kinetic Combat is your friend. It's expensive, of course. If you replace Smashing Haymaker with it and put it in Shadow Punch, you'll increase your S/L defense. Which "is a good thing."

Siphon Life is decent for self healing, but the IOs you have in there aren't so hot. The Theft of Essence proc is mostly a waste, as it should fire on average every 5th time you use the power. Touch of the Nictus doesn't add any damage and has relatively low +recharge. If your attack chain has holes in it (as I'm guess it does if you're considering Shadow Punch), I'd rather see Siphon Life with 4 of Kinetic Combat (sans the proc) and 2 Heal/Recharge pieces in it.

Similiarly, you've skirted your damage by enhancing Soul Drain that way. You already have a ton of +accuracy. If you really want to keep that accuracy bonus, replace it with Scirocco's Dervish or (my preference) Obliteration. They both have the same +9% accuracy.

A Kismet +6% Acc would be awesome in Combat Jumping. Because it's actually +ToHit and not a global Accuracy bonus, it would stack fantastically with your +Acc. I actually don't think you need all the accuracy you have, FWIW.

Anyway, this isn't an optimal or super charged build or anything, but staying true to your power choice with the tweaks I'd make at a glance you'd end up with something like this:
With your last two power picks and totally expendable slots in Focused Accuracy, I'd consider picking up Maneuvers for another LotG:+Recharge, make up more than the accuracy lost from Gaussian's and plop another PS:Proc into Quick Recovery to almost cover its endurance cost.

That leaves one pick, and probably 1-3 slots, depending on how you put Maneuvers and Focused Accuracy. Hasten or Assault would be my picks probably.

The problem is you "decide" long before you go against a group of enemies. You don't get to change your build based on the damage of what you'll be fighting. Even if you did know, the incoming damage will change rapidly.

I don't actually understand how this thread has gone on so long. Was the original +Regen hypothetical value really +200 HP/s in this spread sheet? How in the world could it be just as easy build wise to get 200 hps as it is to get 5% defense? By comparison, using 5 slots to use the +regen procs, a Numina's: Heal, finish enhancing Health and get another 10% (From LotG or Entropic, what have you), only represents about an increase of 10 hp/s on Scrappers. The same 5 slots used for Guassian's get you 2.5% defense. That's almost the best slot:+regen ratio against a middle of the road slot:defense ratio.

Anything better will be centered around a specific power (RttC, IH, etc). Is the question really to skirt slotting on a key +Regeneration power in your defensive powerset or to softcap? If that's the case... use those numbers from actual builds. Even if you want to use pretend builds... imagine a Tanker who doesn't slot RttC with 10 mobs in range and 45% defense vs a Tanker w/slotted RttC and only 40% defense. There may just be a case or two in the game where Bunny has a point.

I've seen on a few other threads that Bunny likes to insert irrational values into mechanical formulas to try to make a point... but all it does is disconnect the arguments founded in hypothetical situations further and further from the actual game. Even when the math is completely wrong and the values inserted are irrational, the argument continues.

Sure, if you know the DPS coming in, and you could achieve a ton of +Regen with the same amount of slots that it takes to get a wee bit of defense, then he might have a point.

We had a similar discussion in another thread about how good IH really is. I made the case that with DP it's just as good as a crashless tier 9, because in order for such a power to match the mitigation of DP+IH you have to be taking so much damage already that you'll be dying quickly. I think this is the sort of case Bunny is trying to make across the board. However, the problem is with crashing tier 9s, it quickly turns on its head. The initial DPS required for something like Unstoppable to match DP+IH only leaves ~8 DPS. Anything much above the 53 DPS that IH+DP can mitigate, and any crashing tier 9 is better. In other words, with lower incoming DPS, +Regen can shine, but it quickly falls apart when the +Def and +Resists are "comparable" and the DPS rises. Comparable in the sense of the same number of powers or slots devoted to a particular form of mitigation.

Anyway, there are no myths about Defense. The claim In the spreadsheet is beyond dead wrong. The math behind this was done a long time ago by folks more suited for it using more realistic numbers.

Please read:
Arcanaville's Guide to Defense 1.10
Arcanaville's Scrapper Secondary Comparisons (from before IOs)
Dechs Kaison's Guide to the Softcap

Oops! Yes, I was incorrect, but for a slightly different reason. The situation in which a Corruptor does 50% more is with Vigilance at 0%. My mistake. However, I was not referring to the damage boost from Scourge alone -- I was referring to how it multiplies (otherwise) final damage.

Statistically, Scourge will be a 30% increase to damage, if all your attacks were evenly paced and for the same amount of damage. As you say, it will sometimes kill them and the damage will be wasted anyway. So against even level minions, sure, call it 20%.

In that case, I agree with you. With no teammates, a Corruptor will only do about 20% more damage. With a full team, anything +level and/or not flooded with minions, the Corruptor will do close to 50% more.

And, again, any powersets leaning heavily on psuedopets with the same base damage will draw the damage closer. Damage contribution will also draw closer with sets using different -resist values (Sonic, Rad, Trick Arrow).

In Mid's it should show the damage for each hit at level 50 (9.18). IIRC, in the game it shows if all of them hit (probably close to 150, but I'm not positive).

I believe it will return to the original target if there's enough mobs to jump around on. The jumps are 2 seconds apart. The same target can't be "jumped" twice within 5 seconds, so I'm guessing it would have to jump 4 times to end up back on the original target. It will return to past targets if there's not 16 to "max out" on. I doubt that it's likely, but it's possible.

If you cast it with only one target, it will hit them and stop.

I suggest you look over this thread here. It started on a different topic, but lead to the sort of thing you're asking about. If you're in a hurry skip to Arcanaville's posts.

...and because Scourge multiplies your damage and Vigilance is a damage buff, Scourge has a much greater effect. Even with Vigilance in full effect, a Corruptor should do about 50% more damage than a Defender.

The damage gap is much shorter with sets whose DPS relies heavily on psuedopets (like if you went TA/Archery or use Ice Blast), and Defenders can contribute more when comparing sets with varying -resist values, on teams that is.

The really nice thing about Defenders is the higher values in their shields, both for themselves and allies. If you have it in mind to soft-cap a support character's defense, Defender is going to probably have the easiest time doing so.

I did quote you. Several times. Scroll up.

Actually, logical fallacies are more than covered by my graduate degree. I own, and have read, more text books on the subject than any person really needs. I'm intentionally being simple because you strongly implied that you think slippery slope and strawman are the same fallacies. They are not. The distinction isn't subtle either. I find people on these forums throwing around such terms in such a way that they don't look smarter; rather, they appear more ignorant.

Your blanket definitions.

I never made the claim that damage procs should only be placed once all other options for useful slotting have been exhausted. You did. I was trying to explain to you that your line of reasoning was horrendously flawed. I only tried after Oedipus_Tex tried.

In my build mentioned, I tried to match Sleet to Ice Storm. Again, that's irrelevant. I never made any claims about the priority of damage procs. You did. My personal opinion and use of procs is based on a different set of qualifiers than yours. I haven't even shared them. No one asked. You, however, did share yours. I don't actually get how this is complicated.

Yes, you do seem to enjoy flip flopping on the matter when Caltrops are brought up.

Anyway, I am picking up on an unnecessary elevation in this disagreement. I apologize for the personal remark, but you appear to be unable to operate from a point of objectivity and at your current pace will turn solely to personal attacks. As such, I will just agree to disagree. For as is the case with anyone who is unable to face their own inconsistencies, there is absolutely nothing another person can do to try to persuade them otherwise.

That makes a bit more sense than what you said originally.
Emphasis mine. You said that that placing procs was the last priority, that they should only be placed when you have no other use for the slots. Since Freezing Rain is one of the most intelligent places to put damage procs, you couldn't be sensible and still believe that other psuedopets were a high priority. You already declared procs lose the "internal competition." You can't claim that of Freezing Rain w/o claiming it of every single power which takes less advantage of the damage procs.

Normally I let silliness like this pass but because you also said: I feel someone out there might benefit if you actually knew what these words meant.
You set up the premises from which we responded... and we only responded with their immediate corollaries/conclusions. That's called Modus ponens. It's not a slipperly slope.

Similarly, a Strawman is when you claim someone is arguing something other than what they truly are and then attack it instead. Notice, however, that above I quoted you... verbatim, and not out of context.

What you're trying to do is similar to arguing that "all drugs are bad, because they are an improper use of resources and it's unethical to modify ourselves as organisms in nature." Then when someone says "well, what about Aspirin and antibiotics?" you turn around and say "now, I didn't say that! Of course you can still take Aspirin!"

The person who asked about Aspirin knew you were being inconsistent and called you out on it. Then you back pedaled. The only "logical fallacy" here is your own regress argument. You set up the premises to argue conclusion A, which also dictate conclusion B, then demand greater justification for conclusion B than your own.

Now, based on your "no one" language and the fact that you have no idea if any of my characters have either of these powers, I assume you are referencing the impersonal you. If that is the case, you are seriously suggesting because "that's what people do," that your position is more valid. That's called an ad populace fallacy.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you actually meant me. Me, personally, I would not slot damage procs in Caltrops, but I might in Tar Patch. Tar Patch has a larger area, a -res, and will be up almost all the time.

According to what you said:
You shouldn't put procs in either of them. Neither will contribute as much DPS as procs in Freezing Rain, so clearly there's some other place to get that damage from.

Ah, yes. My current main (and easily my toon with the most expensive build) is MC/Energy/Ice Dominator. I figured you had love for Power Boost because I wouldn't want to give it up and that's with perma-dom. For me, //Ice was the clear option because I was also seeking AoE damage. For Dominators, it has Sleet though.

That's awesome about Terrify + Energy Torrent though. You may already have the best set up for AoE damage with those sets then (w/o giving up your safety of course). If Sleet didn't have knockdown I'd have to try it!

A quick side note: you might be interested in Widows. They use a kind of Claws, with defense based shields, have the stealth/sneak attack motif, and the Fortunata path gets some hard controls. You have to get a villain AT to 20 to make one, if you haven't yet.

I don't think SR blooms too late, though you will take 6 powers, up to level 35, building your defense.
Air Superiority will make you redraw your claws every time you use it. It's a good power, to be sure, but I don't know if it's good enough to justify that. Of course, if you take it as a prerequisite for Fly then use it to knock down tough bosses from time to time, there's nothing wrong with that.

It's really good that you picked up how awesome Build Up is so quick. This isn't quite how it works, however. It boost damage the same way that Fury and Enhancements do. It's not quite a force multiplier the way -resist, Scourge, or criticals are. The damage formula is something like (BaseDamage*(1+Damage Buffs))*Force Multiplier. Build Up is a Damage buff, so yours will look like (BaseDamage*(1+Fury+Damage Enhancements+Build Up)). Also the ToHit bonus on it isn't very high. I recommend just slotting it with two Recharges, and a third one if you have the slots.

Once you get some influence, if you have the ability to 6 slot build up it can take a set called Gaussian's Syncronized Fire Control which is great for SR characters.

Early on your Brute is going to be rocking out damage something fierce. That's because you have Fury, but you (like all other ATs with lower damage modifiers) start with higher base damage in your attacks. What this means is by the early 20's, you will notice you're doing less damage relative to your opponents hitpoints. From my perspective, it's a LOT less. You won't want to skimp on damage enhancements.

Your thoughts in this area look good. Once you have some influence, or if you work on alignment merits post level 20, you can buy a Performance Shift: Chance for +Endurance proc and put it in Stamina. I prefer to give it its own 4th slot. You can also look at Miracle: +Recovery and Numina's Convolesence: +Regen/+Recovery to put in Health.
Eh, people have different takes on this. I'd personally put it around level 22. I don't like click mez protection powers before Single Origin enhancements. Practiced Brawler is a click that lasts for 2 minutes. Until you get 2 Single Origin Recharge enhancements in it, you can't have it up all the time anyway.

This makes sense. I wouldn't put to much thought into when to take the powers in SR, to be honest. I'd take all of them but Elude when they become available, or shortly after. Then pick up Combat Jumping and/or the three powers in the Fighting pools as you find space in your build.

Air Superiority is going to have a much more noticeable impact for damage mitigation. If you haven't already, I suggest you pick up Mids Hero Planner. The reason Combat Jumping is so nice is you should shoot for 45% Melee/Ranged/AoE defense. CJ helps get you there. In fact, with one relatively inexpensive IO (Steadfast Protection: Res/Def) in Tough, you'll be almost there for a very inexpensive build. Once you get those levels of defense, Air Superiority's value as a soft control attack will drop significantly. While leveling, it might be nice to have though.

Like I said above, figure out when you want your attacks, take everything in SR as soon as you can. Delay for any travel powers, of course. Then when you have all that laid out, I would put Boxing/Tough/Weave whereever the open spots are.

Aid Self is a good idea, IME and IMO. The build might be kind of tight though.

It's probably early yet to do this, but if you pick up the Martial Arts Super Booster from the PlayNC store, you can get a permanent temp power called "Ninja Run" which is great for a "natural" travel power. If you go that route, you could get away with just one or two jump enhancements in Hurdle.

Also remember Quickness helps your run speed. Doing 2 slots in Sprint/Swift/Quickness would get your running speed up there for pretty cheap, and it wouldn't suppress and slot you down while fighting. It all depends on if you have extra slots or extra power picks in your build. If you're stretching slots thin, taking a travel power might be better, but if you've got a lot of lightly enhanced powers, then the "natural runner" thing might work better.

Good luck!

I would personally build for positional. There's not many powers that can sets with really good S/L bonuses. There's only one ST melee attack to take Kinetic Combat, for example.