Gilia

Interesting and easy! This clearly isn't ready because there's powers missing. They could be a travel power and its prereq, or with some shifting around they could be CJ, SJ, and Build Up.

It's just to show how easily a Bane can get nuts-o defense. This would give you soft capped S/L and Ranged, even when CD is surpressed. Melee and AoE aren't far behind.

Most of these sets are really cheap, too. Positron's is probably the most expensive right now, but it's not adding any defense. It's just an awesome targeted AoE set that's a little low on recharge so it's nice to have a few.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Example: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Bane Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Bane Spider Training
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Single Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Bane Spider Armor Upgrade -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(13)
Level 2: Burst -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 4: Combat Training: Defensive -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(13)
Level 6: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 8: Heavy Burst -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(15), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Posi-Dmg/Rng(17), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17)
Level 10: [Empty]
Level 12: Venom Grenade -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(19), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), Posi-Dmg/Rng(21)
Level 14: [Empty] -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Health -- Empty(A), Empty(23), Empty(23)
Level 18: Frag Grenade -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(25), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(25), Posi-Dmg/Rng(27), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), FrcFbk-Rechg%(29)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(29), EndMod-I(31), P'Shift-End%(31)
Level 22: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(31), EndRdx-I(33)
Level 24: Cloaking Device -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(33), EndRdx-I(33)
Level 26: Wide Area Web Grenade -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(34), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(34), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(34), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(36), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(36)
Level 28: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(50)
Level 30: Surveillance -- ShldBrk-DefDeb(A), ShldBrk-Acc/DefDeb(40), ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(43), ShldBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(46), ShldBrk-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(46), ShldBrk-%Dam(50)
Level 32: Mental Training -- Run-I(A)
Level 35: Bayonet -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(36), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 38: Call Reinforcements -- C'Arms-Acc/Rchg(A), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg(39), C'Arms-Dmg/EndRdx(39), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), C'Arms-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(40), C'Arms-+Def(Pets)(40)
Level 41: Soul Tentacles -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(42), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(42), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(42), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(43), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(43)
Level 44: Dark Obliteration -- SipInsght-ToHitDeb(A), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(45), SipInsght-Acc/Rchg(45), SipInsght-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(45), SipInsght-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Summon Widow -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx(48), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx(48), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), BldM'dt-Acc(50)
Level 49: Wolf Spider Armor -- ResDam-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Conditioning
Level 1: Ninja Run
------------

I agree with this.

Honestly, if you're going to team most of the time, do Necro. If you're going to solo/small team do Ninja. The -ToHit that you and the Lich would put out seriously increases the survivability of your team. The damage is so low though that soloing will feel like a chore. I played Necro/Pain to 50 and soloing was an absolute chore.

Haha, /superhero high five
No problem.


Power Push IS useful for control. That's all though. It's nice because it will knock back most bosses, whereas something like Taser will have to be stacked to stop a boss. I found Power Push to be a waste as a Blaster because if you're going at someone ST, between your three main STs they will spend most of their time flying anyway.

Explosive Blast just isn't as good as Energy Torrent. It's not even close. If you had to pick one, it has to be Torrent. So much. The only "problem" with Blast is that between ET and EB you can really scatter whole groups, especially if you do EB secondly. That will everyone elses' AoEs less effective. If you know how to play KB and walls (and you can sneak with your stealthing to get positioned every time) it's pretty good.

Caltrops will still have a lot of uses. Like, when running away or herding you could cover a door way with them. You could throw them at the feet of a squishie support toon who doesn't have KB to keep them alive. Etc, etc.
In that case, take Targeting Drone and respec out of it later.

Umm... That's exactly what he has in his build. It's in hover.

Many enemies see through Stealth. If you want to toe bomb them (sneak up and Trip Mine) or be able to ninja on past them... you will need Smoke Grenade.

That's true. I just read this thread through and the call for "show when and how Stalkers are better than Scrappers" was answered thoroughly both in terms of math and situation.

Moreover, the argument that Scrappers will out damage and survive a Stalker means Stalkers are useless is immensely flawed. Why's that you say? Because it's been proven over and over that Brutes will out damage and out survive a Scrapper... with one exception. A Scrapper can burst damage on the first mob. Oh, what do you know? That's what the Stalker does better than the Scrapper.

If the argument held any water at all (to denounce Stalkers in lieu of Scrappers), it would follow that you should never roll a Scrapper again in lieu of Brutes. Scrapper's only scrap of dignity left would be that they are moderate in both ST burst and AoE/large team/survivability/etc. So why ever roll a Scrapper again?

Again the argument makes no sense. Mazel tov on making more Scrappers, Stalkers, and even Brutes.

Well, as you alluded to with mez protection, the "true answer" is going to come out in if the Huntsman out survives the blaster. Also, if the circumstances are something like "take down a single target," then a Huntsman built with stalker flavor will give the Blaster a run for her money.

Under most circumstances though, the Huntsman will lose. Their ranged damage modifier is 1 vs 1.125. Their build up is 80% vs 100%, and they don't get aim. Now, if you consider the Huntsman has access to 3 T.AoEs and a Cone before PPPs (which can add up to 3 more), the Huntsman could make a continual AoE attack chain pretty easily. That would give them an edge over Blasters whose primaries and secondaries both lack in AoE. So with a primary like Ice Electric or Psy and a secondary like Electric or Ice, the Blaster might lose.

Losing to AR though? AR has to its advantage the only chance the Bane had. It can also easily make a killer continual AoE attack chain. All the damage values are higher than the comparable powers, too. You may be right about DP though, at least with one of the secondaries I mentioned.

A Soldier's damage is much more comparable to a Corruptor... and that's a Corruptor with weaker debuffs.

What do you mean I missed with my mez? Power Push!
That's why I took /Energy. Because I love using KB as mitigation.

I agree with your sentiments about "Market Manipulation," but something to remember in short about this game's economy... people pay for convenience. You don't have to hit the market, the vendor, and the craft table if you're willing to sell cheap and buy high. With so much influence floating around, many long time players will do that rather than be bothered to run errands. That's not really manipulation, just taking advantage of the circumstance. That is, if you sell high and buy low.

Fire/Kin controller, Archery/Energy blaster, a Tanker or Brute with WP or Shield and then SS , Stone, or Electric Melee. There's other stuff too.

The thing to keep in mind is almost any AT can farm, and many builds can farm as well. The trick is matching the mission you farm, the team size / difficulty, and the cost of the build. On my Archery/Energy Blaster, I like Battle Maiden at +2/x6 no bosses and solo. If I were on a larger team against Nemesis or Freakshow, my SS/Electric Brute would be my first choice. Against Rikti, he doesn't fare so well.

Fire/Kinetics is so common because it can solo high numbers and high difficulty, with or without assistance. You would just want to avoid enemies with a lot of mez, or bring a friend to solve that for you.

Just to note... devices is "slow" because it lacks build up and trip mine/time bomb take time to lay. /Ice has little more than BU to add to your damage. He's absolutely right though, you want one of those two sets.

I'd recommend /Devices and say you make sure to take smoke grenade, cloaking device, and trip mine. Then you can sneak in and bomb enemies, and follow it up with Hail of Bullets or Bullet Rain. Not much will survive.

If you take /Ice just make sure you get Ice Patch, and you could take Freezing Touch to stack with DP's Suppresive Fire... and hold bosses.

I might mix up 4,5, and 6, but this is almost exactly what I would have said. That an Electric isn't weak ST, it's weak on AoE. With the VS it's ST is actually above average.

This isn't even close to true. A poor or inexperienced player will have trouble soloing on a Blaster (as they probably will on a Defender or Corruptor), but a good player will roll through the game without breaking a sweat as a Blaster. If you know how to play the terrain and AI to stay alive, why would you give up doing the highest DPS you could have solo? Granted some builds from other ATs will rival the DPS, but hit for hit Blasters will win out, AND they don't need any fancy build to do it.

It is true that most of the ATs will solo better if the player is brand new to the game... but it doesn't take much time before that flips around.

Hahahahaha! That's the funniest thing I've read in a long time. A 6 year old game rivaling the player base of many brand new games (See: Warhammer Online) has "nobody" playing. This is one of the oldest MMOs, with terabytes of data that can be mined for balance. If it feels like a ghost town, try another time of day or another server. I know Champion is dead from 2am-5am, so if I can't sleep and decide to get on, I get on Virtue. I've played many MMOs and done the same thing on those.

Again, if you or anyone else feels like their Brute was toned down then *good*. Too many people were saying Tankers would be replaced, and from a numbers stand point Scrappers would go, too. If we really want an MMO with 14 ATs, they need to be distinct AND balanced. That means pro's and con's. If you want an MMO that homogenizes survivability and damage, go check out WoW.

Pop the Force Feedback proc in there and it's even more amazing. Fire E.Arrow off after RoA, then see RoA pop back up much faster... oh and everything's dead.

Plus, as always, the trick to knockback is to learn how to use it... avoiding it isn't a good idea.

I love responses like that... not even reading the first paragraph of the OP.

As for the OP, if you're having a lot of trouble soloing you may want to try an AT that's got more leverage solo. Corruptors and Defenders can solo when built for it and played well, but you may want to play something else. If ranged is really your game, a Blaster would be my first recommendation.

I know this was earlier in the thread, but I agree 110% so I had to say something. With 10 ATs running around together, we need to accentuate their differences not homogenize them. Increasing survivability on Stalkers closer to Scrappers sounds like something the WoW community would promote. Eww! We like our diversity here though!

As a simple change, I would love to see Assassin Strike's damage increased out right. With BU and a couple Enrages, an easy boss should go down in one hit. What's the point in being a ST glass cannon if you can't take out a Boss in one hit?

Oh, and give the sniping PPP powers a higher critical as well. How could would it be if you could snipe out hard Lts without any extra support?

My main at Issue 18's release is a Brute, and I'm very happy to see some adjustments on them. As if it weren't bad enough that they out damage and survive scrappers, they also take it upon themselves to replace stalkers and tankers in team dynamics. If so many people weren't chattering on the forums that tankers were going to be replaced, and if it weren't for what seems more obvious but less talked about, that scrappers would be replaced, then perhaps brutes would have stayed the same.

As it is, mixing all the ATs, I'm really glad to see Brutes toned down a bit. A lower but easier to maintain fury bar was a perfect idea. It helps to make their role more unique without changing the flavor of their inherent.

Aura of Fear was mag 3? I'm just disappointed it took them so long to fix that...

Okay, just to clarify because I find statements such as these very misleading. Even level minions have a 50% chance to hit us. Anything over 45% only applies to certain enemies and provides faux defense debuff resistance.

The last 5% of defense will have the same proportional reduction in your damage taken as the first 40%. For example, if you were hit 100 times for 1 damage, at 0% defense you'd take 100, and 40% you'd take 20 and at 45% you'd take 5 damage. That's on average of course. The first 40% drops your damage by about 80%, 45% drops it by about 90%. So if you're looking at ratios, it sounds like a ton. The actual damage taken? That is, 5 instead of 20? Not that big.

Theoretically what you can "handle" will quadruple, but as a tanker at that point you might be trying hard to find something you can't handle at 40%. It's not like you're a brute ;-)

The same statement can sort of be made about resistance, but the last 10% doing as much as the first 80% is a little ... out there. In the same secnario, but replace defense with resistance of 0%, 80%, and 90%, the last drop is from 20 to 10. That's even less of a difference when you consider actual damage.

With resistance, you're not dealing with the purple patch as drastically (harder enemies having a higher chance to hit you) and it's its own debuff resistance. Defense is the name of the game when it comes to IOs, but purely on power picks you may as well max out your resists and pick up tough.

Excellent breakdown, Circuit_Boy. I just wanted to throw in the fact that one Kinetics Corruptor can keep all the Blasters at their damage cap. Extra */Kinetics wouldn't help anyway. Multiple Corruptors stay useful only as long as their power(set)s are conducive. Blasters always do what they came to do.

I'm curious what that means. Strictly speaking, an advocate defends on behalf of someone else, and an apologist defends their self. They're similar enough words that they reference each other in the thesaurus though.

As Circuit_Boy already showed at length however, Blasters can compete. It depends on style, skill, and builds, of course. That's about how every AT vs AT debate goes in the end.

-50% recharge and run speed. Chillbain is better than Web Grenade. The small damage on the others does not out weigh the benefits of Webnade.

The only real problem with Taser is that the primaries to stack with it have high activations for their short durations. If you bash Taser you're bashing many more powers, because it's one of the best ST disorients.

These two powers stack for an effect that's better than invisibility. The defense stacks with the -tohit, and you can sneak by Drones.

This is a strange request... You want it to be better than all the crashing Nukes from the primaries.

Defiance.

The nice thing about Devices is the powers synergize amazingly. Breaking them down one at a time is a very short sighted way to evaluate any set. Though I have to say, this is one of the more reasonable break downs in the sense that you are not trying to just homogenize all the sets.

The idea that every Blaster secondary needs to do the same damage, the same AoE, keep the same pace, etc belongs in other games. See: WoW. If the diversity was removed from this game, it would seriously undermine the spirit of it. There are so many options it's hard to believe people complain about what's available at all. If you don't like devices, don't play devices. There's lots of us who really do like it, like playing it, and are not big on the idea of it changing. So perhaps it's time to stop beating the dead horse.

Blaster's Psy Blast doesn't have a longer range than any of the other blast sets. It's Defender /Psy that has a longer range than standard (20' for most, 25' for snipe).

Along the lines of what's been mentioned, the BU+Aim attack would probably win it for the Blaster. Aside from Phasing, the Defender could have sets with holds. Now if a heavy debuff Defender, like Radiation, got close enough for long enough to gimp the Blaster, he'd probably win. Otherwise it's the Blaster.