Illumancer
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Posts
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Quote:Yes! Dreams can come true! Statesman was a tool and an utter *****. Though it's my personal suspicion that he's not actually dying, but just faking his death so he can continue being history's greatest villain from the shadows.Originally Posted by Vitaee
Not going through entire post to see if anybody else mentioned these but....
First, anybody else say "WOOHOO!!" when they read it was Statesman who died??
Secondly, ever consider that Statesman's death is not THE death hinted at by the title of the arc?? Maybe this is like Harry Potter where Harry needed to die so that Voldemort's death would be permanent (dear HP fanatics, I know that's not entirely right, but I'm summarizing). If you remember the CoH comic books, Manticore killed Statesman to win the favor of Prometheus (dear CoH fanatics, Iknow that's not entirely right, but I'm summarizing).
Also, tell me if I missed something, but the title of the arc is "WHO will die?" and not "ONE will die". Why then do so many sound as if there's only one significant death in this arc??
Seriously, what does it say about a guy when every other version of him ever encountered has been a meglomaniacal, evil, murderous *******? The only real difference I can see is that the Paragon version managed to keep everyone fooled... -
Quote:True that on the different styles. I only brought up TF since the question of secondary effects came in. Going onto other powers though, the -10% recharge is not why anyone uses ice sword. Or at least, I wouldn't expect it to be, since it is very minor.Originally Posted by Rush_Bolt
Well, see, that's your problem.
You keep using Total Focus's animation time as the baseline. It's not. It's an incredible outlier.
Look at all the more common (and more readily usable) ones:
Power Thrust: 1s
Charged Brawl/Energy Punch: 0.83s
Havok Punch/Bone Smasher: 1.5s
Shocking Grasp: 1s
Fire Sword: 1.33s
Mind Probe: 1.17s
Stop looking at TF/TS as the only Blaster Melee worth taking. Or at least quit using it as a strawman.
Also, stop thinking that a Blapper would walk into melee against foes seriously dangerous in melee (your 2 +4 Cim boss example). No smart Blaster, or Blapper, just walks in. They pick off at range then hop in to take a quick attack of opportunity with a melee attack that tends to outdamage the blasts, second for second.
And finally, what's too dangerous for you is exciting for someone else.
Different playstyles I suppose. I guess for the same reason not everyone plays fire/mental or ice/mental (not to mention that that would be a very boring world). -
Quote:Well, yes. You use powers dependent upon the situation. When you mainly stay with a ranged attack chain, you can alternate your powers depending upon which enemies need what to finish them off.Originally Posted by Rodion
A lot of people seem to play with an inviolate attack chain that they repeat incessantly. I attack more situationally; I watch how many hit points my enemies have and often use an attack that reduces the number of opponents in the most efficient way, which may involve using a lower damage attack out of sequence on an enemy that will be eliminated by that lower damage attack, instead of continuing to cycle the main attack chain on the current target. That may also mean attacking with a hard-hitting melee attack in the middle of a ranged attack chain if the opportunity presents itself (a target has the amount of hit points that the melee attack will take it out of action). This isn't as hard as it might seem because you can change targets during power activations, mouse over targets to see their hit points, and queue attacks.
Many melee attacks have a secondary effect (stun, for Energy). Total Focus will stun most LTs outright. That and Stun will stun most bosses. Bone Smasher stuns 60% of the time. Mezzing or KBing enemies provides mitigation that raw damage does not. If you do this properly, you can deal with larger spawns.
If you have a blaster with high ranged defense you use your mezzing/KBing melee attacks to deal with mobs that move within melee range. Since the melee attacks do more damage, they put the mobs down faster even if the mez effect doesn't happen to fire (as with Bone Smasher).
If you just want to always push the same sequence of buttons in all situations, yeah, you don't want melee attacks. Just hover and repeat until they're all dead. But if you want to pay attention to the situation and take advantage of synergies that you have with team mates, melee attacks can be very handy.
For example, let's say I'm a Fire/Energy blaster teamed with a Dark/Dark scrapper. Once the scrapper's got a boss in Oppressive Gloom, your blaster's Total Focus or Stun will stun the boss in one shot. This can be very handy, especially for things like Master Illusionists which spawn lots of other nasties.
Similarly, things like Paragon Protectors and Fake Nemeses go into MoG/Unstoppable or PFF when they get low on hits. If you have two mezzing attacks you can hit them when they get to a little less than half and they'll be stunned and unable to go MoG/PFF. You can finish them off withou wasting all that time waiting for the PFF to go down or MoG to end. So, a Sonic/Energy blaster with Screech and Stun or a Fire/Energy blaster with Stun and Total Focus can save themselves a lot of time and grief by stacking mezzes.
Having the mez effects on the melee attacks gives you more tactical options. You don't just have to gut it out trading shots with the enemy hoping you'll last longer than they will.
Also, depending on your build, you can get a lot more out of messing/stopping enemies with powers like char or frozen touch (though it is melee as well, making it somewhat obnoxious).
Maybe my perspective's a little skewed, being fire/ice. And becaues I run with superspeed/superjump. Ice patch gives great group control, frozen touch and char hold bosses, especially when combined with aim. Seriously though, I would NOT want to rely on a power with a 3.3 sec casting time for a stun. Especially if it's melee and if you need an additional power to lock them down; you'll take a hit or two during that time. When you're trying to solo two +4 Cimmorean bosses, that's more than enough for them to kill you dead.
Maybe things are different in the /energy world where you don't have a second quick and reliable hold. *shrug* But if a melee power with that long a casting time's what you're relying on to hold down a high level boss... Seems dangerous to me and not worth the risk. -
Quote:Even con or what level?Originally Posted by Fulmens
Pretty much this.
On a fire/elec or fire/en I can hit BU, Aim, and come close to eliminating a boss before they wear off. -
Quote:Okay, that is a compelling argument for those two powers or for charged brawl/havoc punch. I'm not sure I'd personally use them given the setup time (which is nontrivial and obviously higher for melee powers than for ranged) and increased risk/damage. Is there any argument to be made for the other powers, such as fire sword (longer cast time for worse results than the four powers above), any of the ice melee, total focus, or thunderstrike (3.3 sec cast time)?Originally Posted by Panzerwaffen
Are you aware that Flares & Fire Blast both do less damage for their animation time (DPA) than Energy Punch or Bone Smasher from Energy Manipulation or Charged Brawl and Havoc Punch from Electricity Manipulation?
Base DPA at level 50
Flares: 63
Fire Blast: 51
Compare that to:
Energy Punch: 131
Bone Smasher: 96
So, Energy Punch or Charged Brawl does over TWICE the DPA of your second best ranged attack, which is Flares. Bone Smasher or Havoc Punch do about 50% better damage. The only attack you have that does better DPA than your melee attacks is Blaze. An attack chain incorporating your melee attacks will do significantly higher DPS than using only your blasts.
Plus, which has already pointed out, Fire Blast has an atypically good ST attack chain to begin with. Other sets will benefit even more from using their melee attacks. -
Quote:Please explain with numbers instead of making a generic statement. What's your build? What are the numbers on your ST chain?Originally Posted by Nemu_
It's true. I could abandon all my melee attacks....
If I like killing things half as slow....
And be 1/4 the wrecking machine that I am if I had my melee attacks. -
That's a very fair point for blaster primaries with weak single target chains like AR or sonic. But psi has a pretty great ST with four attacks with fast animations plus the benefit that you don't need to spend a half second to second getting near a guy.
Compare that to the melee powers in fire or ice which are significantly weaker. And unless you can get a one two combo like with bone smasher/energy punch or havoc punch/charged brawl, I still don't see the point, especially when you consider that such attacks are only really useful vs bosses or stronger, since minions and lieuts die quickly enough to other attacks.
Of course, one could make the case that you could need an extra ST attack if you're not running hasten, but in that case, I can't help but think you'd be better off with hasten instead of the attack. It'd do more for your build as a whole. -
Here's my best idea for a build.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Ice Blast
Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Medicine
Ancillary Pool: Flame Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Ice Bolt- (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage
- (3) Devastation - Damage/Endurance
- (5) Devastation - Damage/Recharge
- (7) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (9) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (34) Devastation - Chance of Hold
- (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
- (39) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
- (39) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
- (50) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (50) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (50) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
- (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage
- (3) Devastation - Damage/Endurance
- (5) Devastation - Damage/Recharge
- (7) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (9) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (31) Devastation - Chance of Hold
- (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
- (11) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
- (11) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
- (13) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
- (13) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (15) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
- (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff
- (17) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge
- (36) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
- (43) Adjusted Targeting - Endurance/Recharge
- (46) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance
- (46) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
- (15) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
- (48) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
- (A) Flight Speed IO
- (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff
- (17) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge
- (36) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance
- (45) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance
- (46) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance
- (48) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up
- (A) Winter's Gift - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
- (39) Winter's Gift - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
- (48) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%)
- (A) Healing IO
- (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage
- (19) Devastation - Damage/Endurance
- (19) Devastation - Damage/Recharge
- (25) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (25) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (31) Devastation - Chance of Hold
- (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod
- (21) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge
- (21) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (23) Recharge Reduction IO
- (23) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal
- (37) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Recharge
- (37) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
- (37) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
- (A) Lockdown - Accuracy/Hold
- (27) Lockdown - Accuracy/Recharge
- (27) Lockdown - Recharge/Hold
- (29) Lockdown - Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (29) Lockdown - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (31) Lockdown - Chance for +2 Mag Hold
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (36) Recharge Reduction IO
- (40) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (40) Recharge Reduction IO
- (40) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
- (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
- (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
- (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
- (34) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (34) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
- (A) Interrupt Reduction IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Lockdown - Accuracy/Hold
- (42) Lockdown - Accuracy/Recharge
- (42) Lockdown - Recharge/Hold
- (42) Lockdown - Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (43) Lockdown - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (43) Lockdown - Chance for +2 Mag Hold
- (A) Aegis - Resistance
- (45) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
- (45) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 1: Brawl- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
A couple of notes:
1) I don't know what his playstyle is, but I personally don't see the benefit of any single-target melee attacks. i'd put power thrust on auto for enemies that get close (and the hilarity) and not bother with any others. Ice has quite possibly the best blaster ST chain and with ice bolt, ice blast, and bitter ice blast he shouldn't need any melee attacks (and will do more damage without considering casting times).
2) I think devastation's a better set than thunderstrike for ranged single-targets considering that the 1/6 hold kicks in a lot and is INCREDIBLY useful. Better set bonuses too.
3) You may want to shift boost range for bonfire. Boost range lets you medicine people further and strike from more of a distance. Bonfire can be thrown on the squishies in the party to give them great protection vs meleers. Do not throw it near a tank.
4) I deliberately avoided purple sets 'cause I didn't know what your budget was. There's one luck of the gambler global recharge (200 merits and thus affordable). The sets in the travel powers can be swapped for others, but the winter lord slow will be useful.
5) Char and freeze ray give you two holds and ranged holds at that. Great for locking down a boss at the start of a fight.
6) Buildup and aim get a ton of slots because the set bonuses are nice and because they last 10 secs each on 30 sec recharges. Alternate between the two and you will never regret having them.
7) I've never used the medicine pool, so please take my suggestions there with a grain of salt. My thoughts are that a) he wants to be good on teams, b) blasters are better off killing their enemies or popping inspirations than healing themselves, c) the debt penalty's so low that dying occasionally with rotp isn't terrible, d) if a blaster needs to use stimulant on a team more than once every 5 secs, something is seriously wrong.
8) My flying blasters almost never touch the ground. So while swift gets a better run speed bonus than flight, if he's like me, he'll get more out of a flight io there.
Hope this helps! But again, I haven't run ice or energy personally, so your millage may vary. -
A couple of things have changed since 2005, mainly blaster attack standardization.
Flares used to have a longer cast time and was a weak power, but now the three strongest single-target blaster sets are Ice, Rad, and Fire.
Ice is very ST focused and thus synergizes very well with the aoes from a /mental secondary.
Fire is high damage, so I actually think it works really well with /ice for the additional control. frozen touch + char locks down bosses. Throw in aim and you're locking down +3 bosses, which is not bad at all.
Devices has a lot to offer, but it doesn't have build up, which is a real shame seeing as that's a power that makes everything else in your set better.
But yes, being a blaster's all about synergy. About choosing powers that make the rest of your build work better, rather than for their individual effect. -
Quote:It would be nice if it actually worked like that. On rains, the procs trigger once every 10 secs. So on a 15 second rain of fire, it has two procs. Given that it has a 20% chance of knockdown per enemy each proc... Sadly, I don't think it's worth it. It would have been great (and horribly broken) if it made rain of fire into a damage dealing ice patch, but it does not.Originally Posted by Magma34
You are missing one very important part of Rain of Fire...Armagedon +chance for knockdown. While it is a purple, it is a very cheap purple (3-5mil) and it transforms RoF from a pain-in-the-butt mob-scattering agro-magnet into a good control power.
With a 20% chance of hitting every .5 seconds, whole groups of enemies will be flopping around like fish. Most won't even have a chance to get a shot off at you before flopping again. Over the course of RoF's 15 second duration, you should be able to wipe out the whole group with your AoEs. -
Hi everyone,
I've run a couple of blasters (my main's one at 50) and lately, I've been wondering, is there any reason at all to take the blaster ST attacks at 50? It's a whole different matter while you're actually leveling (not that I ever did) because some people might want additional attacks to firm up their single-target attack chain, but is there really any point to having any of them in your final attack chain?
Downsides:
1) You expose yourself to much greater risk/damage.
2) It takes half a second or more to set up the attack.
3) Most melee attacks have a strong smashing/lethal component and those damage types are the most likely to be resisted.
4) The damage isn't worth it.
I ask because my current attack chain is blaze (3.48 recharge and 1 sec cast), fire blast (1.39 sec recharge 1.67 sec cast) and flares (.76 sec recharge, 1s cast) with fireball, a hold, aim, or buildup thrown in there if there's a moment downtime.
Usually my attack chain goes build up, blaze, fire blast, flares, fire blast, blaze, repeat.
Base damage on flares is 63.2, base on fire blast is 92.6
Compare that to one of the most damaging ST attacks: total focus with a base damage of 212.3, and a cast time of 3.3 secs. Even forgetting however time it takes to set up a melee attack (half second to a second), within that same amount of time, you could hit a flares, fire blast, flares combo for a total of 219 damage. And that's the most basic of combos (not even pulling blaze or another power).
This is also ignoring that total focus has a large smashing/lethal component and those are the damage types most likely to be resisted.
Of course, the numbers are kinda deceptive here since fire has one of the best ST chains, but still. Even compared to bone smasher 144.6 at a 1.5 sec casting time, a single target ranged chain still stacks up well considering 1) you don't stay in melee and 2) the time it takes to set up the attack 3) once you've IOed out, your heavy power (blaze/bitter ice blast/proton volley) comes up often enough that you don't need a melee ST in your attack chain (mine's up every 3.5 secs).
Similar numbers hold true for any other primary with a decent ST chain like ice or rad, and compared to powers like havoc punch, or thunder strike. (I consider shocking grasp more a melee hold with a great damage bonus).
Now a case could definitely be made for an aoe melee attack like fire sword circle as that could firm up an aoe attack chain, but is there really any point to taking the melee ST attacks?
I don't mean to crap on anyone's favorite powers here, I'm honestly curious. Am I missing something? Is there any point to taking those powers? They seem to be all risk and no return for me. What are your thoughts? -
I just found the funniest thing in City of Heroes. I kid you not.
So there I was, passing through Steel Canyon when I noticed the orange sky. "Zombie invasion," I immediately thought. But to be honest, I've been fighting hordes of the living dead for weeks now and I'd had my fill. But there was a burning building and I didn't have those badges so I decided to go check it out.
Did you know that zombies will attack fire? They're very enthusiastic about it too, though being undead and combustible and all, they go up like a book of matches and are completely ineffectual, all in all. But still, you gotta give them kudos for trying.
And then the zombies wandered into the mass of Hellions just hanging around... Total chaos, and hilarity, ensued.
Apparently Paragon City's so amazing that even the living dead are civic-minded.
Seriously, if you haven't seen it and get the chance, check it out. It's the funniest thing I've seen in the game.
-Cilens