Katten

Bringing up a traps/ice now, it makes any team a pretty much unstoppable force. FFG+Poison is incredible, acid mortar takes em down without a thought from me, and caltrops+ice storm is an incredible way to keep the alpha broken after you send in seekers. (Everyone is trying to run away from death by 1's, but they are so slow... so slow.)

Freeze ray recharges way faster than I remember, excellent for snagging the first person to run away from your field of infinite doom.

I also like having triage. Right after the group snags one spawn, I send my drones to another, plant the mortar between them, set a triage down (radius and duration are huge) and proceed to pull all the spawns in sight to that area. Poison trap means everyone's puking, triage means everyone recovers from each new influx.

Seriously, traps... so great, and ice storm is a perfect match for caltrops.

I'd be interested in poison as well, I'd hoped cold domination would fill the roll (and by all means it does) but the fact that the set even has the shield powers bugs me. I absolutely hate renewing shields on a team regardless of powerset, but not doing it makes it feel to your team and to yourself that you're just holding out/not being a team player.

Storm has no -regen (easily the biggest factor when fighting AV's/GM's) I can't see a storm defender putting out the dps, even paired with sonic to be able to solo any real AV's GM's without outside assistance.

On a team, just freezing rain, lightning tornado and blast away, hurricane them in to a corner if a corner is available.

Yea, Katana is able to keep up due to low activation time.

I would say the biggest actual difference between the two are style (eastern vs western swordplay) and the ability to use /shield.

What combination of powersets would result in a maximum of those gaussians chance to build up? (BU Somewhat discluded since it's fire rate is low)

*edit* Roont (ruined), the IO is unique.

For failure, looks like follow up Gauss + focus deci is still fastest.

Spines can get a lot of mileage out of fire blast from the epic and ripper is incredibly high damage, I'm not sure of any of the numbers, but fire blast has at least doubled the effectiveness of my spines vs single targets.

It's helpful, I've been leveling a sonic/nrg now for a bit, and I can see sirens is going to be such a big deal that I'll likely keep it that way.

As for soloing, do you use Aid Self, or just health, or greens or is the sleep heal proc good enough to do the job when it's slottable?

I've got both to 50, and can say they play very, very differently.

Rad/MM is pretty simple, in the end you will be doing mostly one thing, and you will be amazing for it. Irradiate -> DrainPsyche -> PsyShockWave -> Nuke if necessary, neutron if not. then clean up stragglers and repeat shortly. It's like the AoE DPS build (but not DPA) and irradiate can really help a team stop missing (including ensuring you get your fully saturated DP). Follow with CB to detoggle lt's or finish off stragglers. But that's mostly what you will do in the end game.

Sonic/MM is the utility belt of the blaster world, so much so that you almost feel on par with defender sets sometimes thanks to such a wide variety of buff/debuff. At the same time for jack of all trades sets, the master of none does apply and now and then you will find yourself yearning for your AoE Specialists (farming) or your Single target survival DPS monsters, or your true controllers/defenders.

Seriously, there is almost no effect you don't have access to and no enemy resistant to all your damage (S/E/P) (except -def which the rad gets in spades) You can do decent Single target and AoE Damage, you have area sleep/area knockback/fear/stun/confuse/-res/-reg/-rec/+rec/+reg/single target KB/Slows/+dam/+tohit/nuke(w/ability to negate crash) and that's before your pools.

You will never feel left out on a team (as if you aren't contributing) but you also will never feel like the best on a team that only needs specialists.
You don't put out great AoE, you put out reasonable AoE, you don't do amazing ST without a bit to work the res of your enemy down, but you'll still be outdamaged by your team because they get the same benefit. You can lay down -reg, but despite intensity it is short lived.

So Rad/MM = Great AoE/Easier to saturate DP for crashless nuke/cool looks/t3 blast is a stun.

Sonic/MM = Jack of All trades / Master of none (you will never carve out a niche, except being ready for all fights).

That is an interesting goal, yes boost range works with teleport. The combination of the two is the fastest travel power in the game, and ninja run/hurdle is nearly as good as super jump for speed to make short movements.

2 long range nukes, not a bad idea. You should definitely take conserve power to get plenty of mileage from a single blue, that way you can use thunderous blast every time it's up.

I decided to make a character with the sole focus on single target heavy damage (I've played tons of AoE oriented character, but at this point, with so many AoE Blasters/farmers/ and shield bash and lightning rod, that's just not called for on a team anymore, so going blapping as a specialty.

So, right now I'm using sonic/nrg, which is great as far as numbers are concerned, but feels ridiculously clunky (I hate the lock down on sonic attacks). It also has a stun instead of a hold to stack, and benefits the team, and has an area sleep. (besides the -res).

Ice is a set I've never played before though, so it has that appeal. It also doesn't root you even while you're jumping like sonic (seems to), and it has several good single target attacks/holds.

So, which is the way to go? When I finally make it to level 50, in your opinion, would not taking sonic be regrettable, or would taking sonic just make me feel like slow/jerky forever.

(As in, is ice comparable in damage due to greater speed and a better nuke).

Also, there are not too many powersets I feel this way about, and unfortunately it doesn't happen often enough, but arrows and guns become more fun with each arrow/gun user added to the group.

It really just plays in to the whole volley fire idea, where as others(such as if I'm an elec scrapper playing with another elec scrapper, or rad blaster with another rad blaster) for some reason make you sometimes feel less unique/necessary.

So with that in mind, is there any medieval, or just arrows and guns flavored SG out there?

Just got Rain of Arrows (and all the way to fully slotted). Seriously guys, it's almost too good hahah, I use it on single targets as well as to annihilate entire spawns (as it perfectly times with explosive arrow) Anyone have a good stategy to deal with them running before the last tick hits?

27 levels of it, no RoA yet, and I just can't get over how fun it is to send arrows all around a room picking off people as they scatter (The best part).

I think perhaps it's the speed (is it really faster than other primaries though?) or just the fact that all the projectiles look the same, and end with an enemy getting stuck. Especially Snap shot->Aim Shot->Snap Shot->Fistful, it feels so right.

In any case it's a boatload of fun wherein before I thought it'd only be mildly satisfying like assault rifle was. (with the exception of AR Snipe, that is still awesome.)
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What sets put you in your 'happy place'?

I'm level 41 now and am going to start choosing fun power (Plenty survivable, don't really need to delve into sets too deeply) right now it's pretty much a toss up between power surge, lightning clap, or starting earth mastery for the eventual stalagmites.

A controllery power is appealing (I like knocking off toggles, instantly would be nice, sapping can keep them off after that)

Power surge looks awesome but does almost nothing at all for me (some neg energy resists and about 13% s/l, big whoop. But again, it looks awesome.


Sooo... How's lightning clap, does it provide good team damage mitigation? Is it more worthwhile than waiting until 47 for stalagmites?

Just gonna third tough, if you don't have it, get it. Tough for tankers isn't like tough for the other classes, a very solid 15% base s/l resist, puts you at about 77% with your other armors, and capped vs energy naturally. You'll be very solid.

The difference between having tough and not having it was night and day, I went from worrying about having my heal ready as often as possible and thinking I couldn't take alphas to being so used to not NEEDING to heal that sometimes I'd forget all together. Lately I've just been setting it to auto, enemies just don't hurt me enough and the heal serves as good regen/end reduction on auto.

Perhaps it's because I'm elec/elec and it kills a little faster, or the sapping is doing the work (wait, that's mostly just power sink and lightning field) I always though /ice was supposed to be higher mitigation anyway.

Oh yea, you mentioned a lack of endurance? That'll be coming from lightning field, tag an end reducer in it. Make sure to use your heal often (it's like half a conserve power) and using power sink repeatedly is good for you, it's an area taunt and it saps your foes, slot it up. I have my tanker with only 2 slots in stamina simply because I don't need more, even running all the toggles (including tough and often ninja run) no problems have come of it.

So, don't worry too much about elec armor being resistance, it is powerful indeed, leverage your ability to sap to detoggle all your enemies. And Get tough! there's no way you have it for the complaint to be there.

Aye, Shield Defense builds are cheap to start, they're just a bit expensive to perfect. You'll be pleasantly surprised how much mitigation Shield Charge and Lightning Rod give in knockdown, you will be farming before you are soft capped easily, so you can start building up your influence to pay for extra recharge and defense as you move along.

This may be wrong, but couldn't you get significantly more regen by building for recharge? you already have many recharge sets, broken right before the recharge, this would mean far more usage of energize... which adding both the frequency of the self-heal and the actual 30 seconds of high regeneration should be far higher effective regeneration.

Also, it's higher recovery via more energize end discount, and more use of power sink. All while improving your attacks further.

Though I can get onboard with the idea of a speciality build, this one seems like it could have gone a different direction.

Sonics just work in conjunction with other support types better than multiples than some of the other sets. Two is enough to cap all but tankers resistance, after the -res is the only trick they've got until liquify. People will still be feeling some pain from knockback and debuffs slipping through, and being unable to heal means despite being capped at 75% res, there will still likely be some downtime, and targets like AV's will still hammer you hard enough to kill (sonic cage can alleviate that if it's nearing team wipe levels).

In any case, A pair of sonics is plenty they will greatly increase the survivability of the team by enhancing the length of time heal support has to heal, regens to regen, defense based folk will have fall back etc, and you will be multiplying the benefits of damage buffs. It has so much more to offer in conjunction with a few other types.

I wouldn't say it sucks, but compared to SR you sacrifice higher rech/speed and full DDR for end recovery (and many brute primaries are end heavy) and a minor self heal (which means aid self not required in top end builds)
SR Pros:

Has Quickness (that's plenty of free rech, -slow in an auto, moar smash)
Has Scaling Res
Has 97% defense debuff protection (no cascade failure, ever)
Negligible end usage stacking mez protection

Cons:

No Self Heal (No self heal)
No supplementary recov tools

EA Pros:

Has a minor/moderate self heal (depending on saturation)
Has major end mod tools (You should never have end issues later in the game)
Has a cloak tool and an awesome tier 9.
Looks cool

EA Cons:
Lacks complete DDR, cascade failures can and will happen from time to time
Lacks slow resist / +rech
Defense power is combined with the cloak, so sometimes you will lose aggro without meaning to.

I've got a spines/fire, and elec/shield, and a bs/shield (no elec/not shield yet). I've gotta say, elec/shield just knocks everything out of the water. Spines/Fire (and /dark, /elec) Have a maximum point to what they are efficient taking out, at +0-+1, spines/fire is comparable to faster since there is no reason to ever wait, safety isn't an issue and you can roll the groups.

However, less noticeable at 52 and then very noticeably at 53-54, the telenukes prove just how incredibly ridiculous they are. Spines/fire at full fulcrum has slowed down, but it hardly even phases a elec/shield, the higher base damage means it scales much higher up with each +%damage and of course shields usually have the highest applicable damage buff (since FE is down half the spawns). Both LR and SC Also provide knockdown which means enemies often never get a shot off before they die, which is another a reason it scales up so well.

Playing with shields now and then just reminds me that shield charge/AaO is way overpowered compared to other the other secondaries (as far as AoE is concerned). The combination of a crashless nuke that is comparable to a blasters, and the huge damage buff, and the damage mitigating knockdown along with an already reasonable defense and even team buff is just over the top.

So I'm putting my vote in at spines/fire +0,+1 [] Elec/shield > +2

Hurdle + Ninja Jump, unless you have quickness it is far faster (and yes, it is totally bearable to do this and not take a travel power, especially if you have the booster jet pack, or any temp travels for those hard to reach places) that should save you the power pick you need.