Jim_G

Okay, you are new to farming so I have a some basic comments that should help. There are many viable methods, I am going to describe one that has worked very well for me. I learned it watching other farmers, primarily on the Cray Cyborg map which is very popular.

First of all, I should mention that farming can be so effective that it is likely to alter your experience of “normal” content. After you power-level your husband’s characters the normal content might seem slow-paced or underwhelming. This is a major reason farming is disliked by many experienced players. Farming should be used with caution. It completely breaks the illusion of “I am a superhero” and turns it into “I am a gamer who is manipulating a piece of software for maximum output.”

Farming an AE map has a different pace and tactics than standard content. You are basically standing in one area, using your AOE powers, and gulping inspirations constantly. How you play your character is more important than the specifics of your build. Many people use macros to change useless inspirations into the ones they want. Many players turn off bosses since the “xp to effort” ratio isn’t as good for them. You want to find the right balance in difficulty levels, where you are fighting the maximum level you can kill safely while still getting lots on inspirations.

Now let’s consider why your build doesn’t matter as much as your behavior when you are a fire/fire tank. It is trivially easy to reach 90% resistance to fire damage while still in your 20s. In the AE you can pick maps with mobs who do only fire damage. With 90% res and a moderate amount of defense you can handle a X8 +1 map easily. I have a fire/fire tank around level 30 (he won’t be for long) and am doing X8 +3 maps using just IO and SO enhancements. He doesn’t have any +def powers yet, but gobbles enough purples that most of the time I am at the +def cap AND he has 90% res to fire. On X8 maps the inspirations come in so quickly that a lot of the time I am at the damage cap as well. I always hit the ticket cap with those settings.

I am at work and can’t really look at the details of your build, but as long as you have 90% res to fire and your AOE powers are slotted up then you should be able to farm just fine using the above tips. You might want to dedicate your second build to farming for convenience, but that is up to you.

As others have mentioned, /traps, /rad, and /dark are all very strong sets when paired with Fire.

My personal favorite is traps because 1) high-level defense is extremely powerful (and soft-capped is positively delicious), and 2) I mainly solo so the mez-protection is quite valuable. In fact, I think that the more you solo, the most I would lean towards traps.

I agree traps can look like a slower set than it really is. There is rarely a need to set up a little personal kill zone with lots of Trip Mines. Poison Gas Trap is a brief group hold that should give you enough time to set up a trip mine, then use your Fire AOE attacks to clean up the survivors—or just use your fire attacks in the first place since they are high-damage attacks. I occasionally set up kill zones for difficult single targets, and it is quite nice to have as an option for appropriate use.

I would say that /dark might be a little easier since /traps does have a few things that can go wrong. Trip mines can be interrupted, so if you are in a large group of critters an attack can get through despite your defenses and PGT. You don’t have an instant heal, instead you have a beacon that you need to stand near which increases your regeneration.

One thing you might want to keep in mind is that most mezzes are ranged attacks. That means even if you are in melee range the most dangerous attack might be ranged. As you probably know as your defense goes up each additional point becomes more valuable ( 40% def gets hit twice as often as 45% def). If you get to 45% ranged you are in a great position to minimize mezzing.

I hate getting mezzed myself and play solo a lot so I usually go with a /traps corrupter just so I can get mez protection. I also like to level quickly so I tend to play at -1 / X4 – X8, so there are a lot of mezzers I have to contend with. If you are playing at +2 / X1 you are in a different strategic situation and powerful melee attacks might be your greatest danger.

The attitudes of the devs (and policies of the customer service staff) has definitely changed. In the first few month after AE I was one of many people who had their MA missions removed because I said something like “good xp and tickets from this basic freakshow farm.” At that time simply using the word “farm” in the mission description was against the rules and would get a warning from customer service.

In case you haven’t experienced it, you can get from level 1 to 15 in a single +3 X8 mission in the MA. Even a good team of low-level heroes is at best, oh, 10% as fast as being powerleveled. It is usually worth it to me to pay for this service at least until level 22 when I can get SO enhancements. I really wish the discrepancy were not so great, but it is an emergent phenomena of how powerful level 50 characters are.

I understand that it’s sometimes very difficult to give a verbal description of something which is easy to understand when you see the user interface. I hope that is the case here.

I notice that there are many posts along the lines of “I have read all the details twice and I still have some questions.” This worries me. Most casual players don’t want to read through anything at all. The devs need to come up with a system where a new player can easily understand what options are available to them and make reasonable choices.

I have a fire/traps hero corrupter that I’ve been very happy with who just hit 41. Almost all the builds and discussion here on the boards assume that your corrupter will take a red-side patron power, but my toon is definitely a hero and I am hesitant to send him questing off to the Rogue Isles. I took Power Mastery as my epic somewhat arbitrarily, but would like to know other’s opinions on the epics since I am happy to respec to something else.

I mainly solo at +0/X(2 to 4) since Fire/Traps has so much AoE goodness.

I wish there were a power that simply raised your positional defense a few percentage points, since I’d really like to get this guy to the soft-cap and that will take a lot of IO slotting. Oh well. All the ancillary pools seem designed to raise smashing/lethal resistance. If I were a Mids expert my epic choice might be influenced by how easy it is to slot for increased defense, but my Mid-foo is weak.

I presume it’s too late even with a respec to change over to red-side and pick a patron power over there, correct? I would consider doing that if the patron powers are a lot better, but I think it’s too late now that I was impatient and selected an epic.

Thanks!

Redraw is not too bad, and generally speaking I set whatever traps I want to use before I pull out my pistols. Depending on the circumstances this might just be Caltrops, or it might be a full Seeker Drone/Poison Trap/Acid Mortar/Trip Mine sequence. That debuffs everything nicely then out come my guns.

Organicide, congrats on leveling-up to your new job!

Yes, you can get complete positional defense at the soft-cap, which for me is one of the most attractive things about this build. Let us know how you like this character when you IO him out. I am considering restarting my Traps/DP defender (currently just at level 30) as a DP/Traps corrupter for the extra damage, but this is a tough call.

Well, I appreciate the questions, but if you are having trouble understanding how IO sets work in builds I really don't know how to go about explaining it in a way you will understand. At the same time, you seem to have a grasp f why it's a good thing to soft-cap your S/L def, so you do understand some of the underlying mechanics.

I suggest you review these good explanations of set bonuses on the paragon wiki and on here the boards:

http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Invent...nt_Set_Bonuses
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=121255

If you have specific questions after that, we probably can help.

Okay, it's always kind of tricky when someone asks for a build that meets just one criterion since you don't mention how attached you are to particular power choices.

Below is a build that you would probably want to tweak, but it softcaps all positional defense so E/N doesn't need to be capped. It does raise your E/N defese to 42.1% so it's an improvement. It also has a much higher recharge than your build at 153%, and if you are hoping to solo content this is a tremendous benefit to your damage output.

This is not my build, I found it over at http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=257293& .


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Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.94
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Technology Defender
Primary Power Set: Traps
Secondary Power Set: Dual Pistols
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Caltrops -- Posi-Dam%(A)
Level 1: Pistols -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Dual Wield -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(9), FrcFbk-Rechg%(9)
Level 4: Empty Clips -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(5), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7), Posi-Dam%(11), Achilles-ResDeb%(11)
Level 6: Acid Mortar -- ShldBrk-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(A), ShldBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(17), ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(19), ShldBrk-Acc/DefDeb(19), Dev'n-Hold%(21), Achilles-ResDeb%(21)
Level 8: Force Field Generator -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), GftotA-Def(23), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(23)
Level 10: Swap Ammo
Level 12: Poison Trap -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(13), Lock-Rchg/Hold(13), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(15), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(15), Lock-%Hold(17)
Level 14: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Bullet Rain -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(25), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(27), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), Posi-Dam%(29), FrcFbk-Rechg%(29)
Level 18: Seeker Drones -- DampS-Rchg(A), DampS-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(33), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg(34), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(34), DampS-ToHitDeb(34), Acc-I(36)
Level 20: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(36)
Level 22: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), GftotA-Def(36), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(37)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), GftotA-Def(37), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(37)
Level 26: Tactics -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(39), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(39), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(39), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(40), GSFC-Build%(40)
Level 28: Executioner's Shot -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(31), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), FrcFbk-Rechg%(33)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 32: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 35: Piercing Rounds -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(43), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dam%(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 38: Hail of Bullets -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-%Dam(43), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(46), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(46), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 41: Charged Armor -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(42), Aegis-ResDam(42)
Level 44: Power Sink -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(48), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(48), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(50), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(50), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(50)
Level 47: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 50: Spiritual Total Core Revamp
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(25)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A)
Level 10: Chemical Ammunition
Level 10: Cryo Ammunition

I really have two suggestions:

1) I want to have steampunk skins for my robots. It would make me MUCH more likely to buy the new steampunk expansion.

2) Let the community develop them for you! I thought the contest for creating new zoning screens was great. The current robot skins are just textures in the PIGG files on our local machines, right? Or rather, the skins for ALL critters are graphics within the PIGG files. This whole "you can't modify the client" rule seems mainly to be blocking hundreds of artists who would love to give you free content.

I notice that you want damage, but you didn't mention whether you were planning on mainly teaming or soloing. In case you don't know, Defenders gets a substantial damage boost when they are solo or on small teams. From http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Inherent_Powers#Vigilance:

"In Issue 17, in addition to the endurance discount, Defenders gained a variable damage bonus based on level and team size, with the largest bonus for being solo and level 20 or higher. A defender on a small team or by himself has more freedom to concentrate on his enemies, which allows him to increase his damage output by up to 30%. Each additional team member reduces this bonus, to a minimum of no buff at all at three or more teammates. Vigilance can be monitored as "Endurance Discount" and "Damage Bonus" in the Combat Attributes window."

There's a chart at that URL which shows the exact level of damage bonus if you want to take a look.

When comparing Defender and Corrupter damage levels this needs to be taken into account. The good news is if you are mainly going to be soloing your damage level will be much higher, culminating in +30% damage from level 20 on up.

This was almost enough to convince me to go with a Traps/Dual Pistol or Traps/Ice Defender instead of Fire/Traps Corrupter. Almost. The AoE damage of Fire is good enough that I was able to get to level 20 in Praetoria pretty quickly using a -1/X4 difficulty setting.

I am a big fan of /traps. It has status protection, a strong +def component, and with some IO work you can get to defense the soft cap.

I'm one of the Fire/ people you see running around, in my case Fire / Traps. I think part of the issue is that if I really wanted something besides Fire for your primary then there are good reasons to either choose a Defender or a Blaster. This is especially true since you can choose any AT and go red-side or blue-side.

Now that Defenders get a +damage when soloing or on small teams they are a more tempting than before. If there were such a thing as a /Traps blaster I would probably have chosen it over Corrupter. It's the status protection that I crave!

As you get a higher amount of recharge each additional percentage suffers from diminishing returns and becomes less valuable. The difference between 80% and 100% recharge is small in terms of actual seconds.

As you get closer to the defense cap, each percentage increase become MORE valuable. As you move from 40% to 45% the amount of damage (against even cons) drops by half. The math is a little tricky to explain, but basically you are going from taking 10% of the damage directed towards you to 5% of the damage, and that gives you twice the amount of survivability.

Many people point out that there’s a lot of cases were your opponents will have +to hit or you might be debuffed, so being a little over the soft-cap is generally useful. Of course, it’s usually pretty easy to eat a purple or two to be safe.

The only way to reset the mission difficulty is to visit the Field Analyst or Fortunata. In case you didn’t know you can simply buy a jetpack for a low cost at the market which makes getting around a lot easier. If you are hurting for cash just spend 20 minutes in the MA and get enough tickets to buy whatever rare salvage is selling for a high price that day—that will be more than enough for the pack with plenty left over.

Generally speaking I leave the difficulty set for my solo preferences. I *think* that when teaming the system only uses the first of the two variables. For example, if you are set to (-1 / X 2) then the system uses the -1 but ignores the X 2. Instead is takes into account the actual number of people on your team.

I agree, lots of low-level foes is the way to go since you have excellent AoE powers. I was in Praetoria until level 20 just doing regular missions so I can't comment on good farms.

The one trick I can give you is that once I had both the Acid Mortar and Force Field generator I pumped the difficulty all the way up to -1 / X 8 for a few missions that had lots of critters right at the start of the mission. I would eat three purples, fight one large group, eat three more, fight another, and then reset the mission. It was a little boring, but it let me gain large amounts of XP very quickly. And since you kill lots of baddies a lot of inspirations come rolling in.

If you are in Praetoria there was one mission in particular that was really useful—you start with a group of ghouls as allies. Sorry I don’t recall the mission or contact name offhand and I can’t look it up right now, but it should be easy to find the specific mission at the paragon wiki. For that one mission I actually bumped the difficulty to +1 / X 8 because the ghoul’s level is raised as well. The only trick is the ghouls run all over the place and it’s difficult to keep up. There was one boss ghoul that I usually followed around and kept alive for as long as I could, and when he died I would reset. It was a “high-risk high-gain” kind of situation but pretty fun.

This technique should work with any mission where you start out with allies.

It costs two hero merits for the LotG, so you can get a new one in just 4 days of tip missions. On all my toons that is WAY faster than it would take me to get 200 merits.

I agree that softcapped defense is spectacular. I have gotten so used to it on my level 50 brute that now I am spoiled and my L34 fire/traps corrupter feels squishy to me when objectively he is very durable. I find myself saying things like "I know that the mission is set to +0 / X8, but the character just doesn't feel SUPER yet."

I have a level 50 SS/SD brute. I run him at +1/X8 with no problems, and he's a blast. Reaching the def soft-cap is of course much easier with a def based character, and it makes him very safe. He does use a fair amount of endurance, but since you can get +end Numina and Miracle for just 2 a-merits this was not much of a problem.

I have a fire/traps at 30 right now. It’s one of the few secondaries which has mez protection and a +def buff that makes it feasible to get the softcap without spending billions. Traps is a somewhat “busy” secondary in that you are busy throwing out caltrops and such, but it’s quite manageable. The –regen of Poison Gas Trap is considered some of the best in the game for the occasional AV battle.

I’ve been running missions at -1 / X8 for a few levels now and it’s been great, although of course this takes lot of inspirations. I picked fire because I knew that the damage mitigation aspects of traps would permit me to focus on damage with my primary. Fire has good ST and excellent AoE damage. The trickiest part is endurance management, since I always have a useful attack and something I want to kill. An advantage to traps that isn’t discussed a whole lot it that many of the powers don’t require extensive slotting to be valuable, permitting you to get your damage slotted up early on.

Thanks for the excellent responses to my initial question about the length of the -regen. I am extremely happy that my initial impression was incorrect. I am mainly soloing at x8 ad it's been great.

BurningChick, how ARE you slotting up PTG? It might be a tough choice for me between damage procs and something that gives me +def. I would really like to get to the positional soft-cap on def if I can.