Kinetoa

I have a Ma/Reg, but to breathe some life into my returning to CoH, I am starting a new MA character.

I am trying to pick a secondary that, combined with MA meets the following criteria:

Good ST Damage (you can't be MA without accepting a role as a ST guy, so this is given)
Reasonable AoE Damage (doesn't have to be the best (its MA), but not meh-make-you-sigh-at-your-damage damage)
Pre IO Set Decked out survivability (Some soloing, self sufficient on teams)
Post IO Set Decked out def capping/etc (Would hate to actually get to that point be hard to cap)
Good attack chain flow, good scrappery feel

Pretty much anything but Reg is on the table. Looking over things, SD makes some serious sense to shore up the AoE aspects, but I also find Inv (particularly Invinc) neat, and think SR's quickness and concept feel is cool, oh and WP's fire-and-forget is differently good for quality of life...and.. and..

.. anyway, I am open to any suggestions!

Thanks for your time!

Thanks, this is some great info, and is exactly what I was looking for!

Thanks for the responses. I thought it might be possible with some arcane mix of stuff, but it's perfectly fine if it doesn't really exist.

I was just wondering which powerset combo would produce the most debuffing scrapper.

I think this could be good to work with from a concept standpoint, as well as being useful to survivability for both the player and team. Someone who was sort of a negator of power, things like -tohit, -defense, -end, -dmg etc.

Any thoughts?

Someone mentioned a recent MA buff in another thread. Is this documented or described somewhere?

I am coming back to CoH and decided to stop playing Brutes and start playing Scrappers again. Between my own expereicnces and discussions on the boards back-in-the-day, I was a little warry of trying MA again until I heard there might have been a buff.

I had a MA/Regen as my first real CoH char I played, and was thinking of trying MA again, but maybe with a diff secondary to mix things up.

Good Morning,

I do not have a build included here, because, frankly, I am need a little "out of the gate" overall assistance.

I am returning from a COH break, and am intrigued to play my DM/SD. It seems like the mix of ST damage from DM, AoE from Shield Charge, and the AoE buffage from both sets would be a great mix.

At 31, I am finding the art of the DM/SD to elude me a bit, and my results have been very uneven; it seems like apparently identical packs of mobs either are trivial or kick my butt.

I have some questions:

1) Does this combo make sense? How do DM/SD compare to other builds as far as the standard metrics: getting "softcapped", survivability, groupability, dps, etc.


2) I have been following the below approach to fights, and as mentioned, my results are very uneven from pack to pack, sometimes its trivial, then next pack I eat my hat.

Aggro a pack of mobs
Soul Drain to buff +DMG%
Siphon Life on Pack
Smite on biggest bad
Shadow Maul on biggest bad
(if low on end, Dark Consumption)
Repeat

I seem to have a long time between abilities, and my attack chain (such as it is) can derail and I have to use brawl or vet power to fill. I currently have my attacks 5 slotted as 3 damage, 2 accuracy SO's, except for SL, which is I think is 3 damage, 1 accuracy, 1 heal, so I wonder if some recharge is in order.


3) As I go to make a build (I will post it eventually), are there any ideas for power selection that are key pillars of success with this combo?

I think that Soul Mastery seems like a good choice for PP, but I have 10 levels to slog through first. Right now, I am focused on getting to 40's so I can even think about those kind of attack chains, etc.

Also, since I am 31, 32's power choice would be Midnight's Grasp, should I take this?


4) How do you deal with having to auto-fire SD's status protection *and* have hasten?

I really wish they would make all status protection toggles; this seems like a big quality life difference between powersets unless I am missing something.

As I mention above with my attack chain breaking down, I am thinking about hasten, but don't know how to square the autofiring issue.


Thanks for any and all assistance, I appreciate it!

Thanks for taking the time to post that.

How much would something like that cost? Just curious.

Also, I notice a couple of things, I would like some context on

1) You take swipe over strike, and I am curious because most guides (they could be old) indicate the opposite.

2) You do not take Eviscerate? Is there a particular reason? Wouldn't that hurt AOE damage, or is it crappier in reality than on paper?

3) You do not take Power Surge. I am reluctant to skip a T9 without reason. What gives with that one?

Thanks!!!

What is the base +Def of Invincibility with 10 mobs - its max effect?

Looking a MIDS I can't determine what it caps out at.

Thanks.

Thanks for the very usefully suggestions and explanations. I think I get it now.

By the way, how much inf does it cost to get to a 25% or a 30% kind of target?

Ok, so I have played COH for several years off and on, and while getting a few chars into 40's, I have never taken a char *all the way* to that land where you really get into end game IO's and work to complete set bonuses, and really try to cobble together capping things and the whatnot.

I am trying to pick a char to go to that place, and maybe on to the new incarnate levels.

After some research I think Claws/Elec has some really powerful synergy and has a good feel to the play so far in my teens of trying it out (all thought I die alot, which is why I started fiddling with MIDS to see where it led)

While fiddling I observed that the set gets you to 40%ish resist with SO's, but thats your whole kit and kaboodle right there (along with energize to cover the healing angle some)

Is high resistance and 25% hp every 2 minutes (pre enhancement) enough to feel badnews with no def or only Combat Jumping? Is having 40% be skimmed off the topic of incoming damage going to make up for hardly ever being missed?

Does one pick up enough set bonuses to compensate? I guess I don't like the idea of being 50 and dropping bombs on your market moms before I feel like my char is tough.

I suppose all resistance based sets have this issue, and am curious how it works out in practice. I am probably missing something, or too obsessed with defense, maybe?

Thanks for any insight.

I just came back for GR, having been away a year or so.

I, a Fire/Kin/Fire (since I dinged last night and took Fireball) got my first recent team last night at 40, with a group of mostly 50's just doing this and that missions in PI.

I was trying to follow what I felt was a logical flow of my role(s), but the pace was so fast I didn't get to one thing before the mobs were dead, or the next ability recycled.

What I would like to know (from veteran players) is what order should I prioritize all my powers for being the most helpful when things are going all nutso. Also, since FS and Transference are based on the number of mobs, I felt like I did not have a good understanding of when to hold off on activating to wait for the right mob count.

Here is a list of what I perceive to be my key powers/roles. I have listed them in order of my guess of team importance.

Fulcrum Shift (but when to hold for next pack?)
Control (Char ST, Fire Cages. Flashfire AE)
Transfusion
Keeping People Speed Boosted*
Transference (if teammates blue bars look sad)
Damage (Recasting Dead Imps, Hotfeet on, Fireballing)
Keeping myself Siphon Speeded
Keeping myself Siphon Powered

*Special Note on Speed Boost: It's a great buff, but people don't seem to care enough any more to sit still to get it, or at least no one seemed to notice if I cast it except one guy.

Should I throw the other things out the window to chase people down to give it to all 7 teammates every time it drops? This sounds like a real life job lol.

Any tips or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Maybe the Tankers should be more worried.

Even worst case, Scrapper damage will be similar/close, but now people can play something tougher and tanker like, without the wet noodle.

What would be the playstyle difference between a KM/WP Brute and a KM/WP Scrapper?

Just off the top of my head I recognize that the biggest difference is the Fury bar vs crits, but I have been out of the game for a while and could use some wisdom.

Thanks.

Anyone have any wisdom to share on Sonic/Sonic?

I couldn't find a guide, and wondered if there were any particular abilities to get/skip or any other things to look out for.

Thanks.

Something feels off about my bots.

I came back from a year lay off to my bots/ff (he's 33) and I swear I feel like I am a bit less powerful than I remember.

I had a tip mish to check out an Arachnos Base. It was extremely fiery and filled with Rikti.

I got to the end (the bottom of the 3rd level) and could not for the life of me figure out how to end it.

There are no NPC's to talk to, no more mobs to kill. There is a red triangle with ???? on it at the end area. That area is very much on fire, and I think I just can't see through the fire maybe, although I spent several frustrating minutes casing every inch of the room.

I don't necessarily want a magic solution, but I am afraid that there has been a mechanic introduced since I last played I just am ignorant of that I am supposed to do there or this may be proof its bugged somehow.

Any thoughts?

Three Questions

1) Can a WP get softcapped on defense?

2) In order to make a build that allows me to get Ball Lightening, I am looking at something like the below. I had to eschew one Single Target Attack (which is sad because they are all great), which was Jawbreaker. Was there a better choice? Is this notion sound?

3) I didn't take hasten, I just think I have enough attacks to make decent chains and putout some hurt. However, hasten does make sense with things in WM tending to feel long on cooldown...

Thanks!

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 48 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: War Mace
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Pulverize -- Empty(A)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Mind Over Body -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Empty(A)
Level 6: Build Up -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Clobber -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Whirling Mace -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Shatter -- Empty(A)
Level 28: Stamina -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Crowd Control -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Tough -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Weave -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Electrifying Fences -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Ball Lightning -- Empty(A)
Level 47: Heightened Senses -- Empty(A)
Level 49: Strength of Will -- Empty(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury

Well, so far so "so-so"

I am 27 and now have the attack chain of Smite, Siphon Life and Shadow Maul. I also have Dark Consumption, but that's on a very long cool down, is mostly for the end and not damage. Shadow Mauls cone is super narrow, so its barely an AoE.

Drain Soul is up next, and is also on a long timer, so I am viewing it as more of a buff as well, and less an attack.

When I do get Shield Charge it's on a pretty long timer until I can jack its recharge through the roof. I am finding this to be a definite uphill challenge on the AoE - and thus on holding aggro and feeling like I am contributing on packs. I wont really be able to have it make sense before those PP's.

You can really see the Single Target focus of DM. When I get to 600-750 range in DB, I already just eat bosses with Siphon Life.

I am really torn between pushing into the 40's to see if it works with the PP's or just rebooting the project. I think when I started this, I didn't quite realize just how long the timers on Dark Corruption and Soul Drain were, and that they' aren't really attacks that can be part of an AoE chain.

Thanks for the post and taking the time to work up a build. It looks really spot on, as far as the powers that make sense and I would want. Bravo there.

DM/SD appears to have this really great synergy on serveral fronts:

Defense + Self Heal
Defense + -ToHit
SD End use countered by End Tap
Two PBAoE + Shield Charge for great threat if tanking
SD's AOE Strength + DM's ST Strength & Self Sufficiency = Balance
As discussed, the ability to augment anyAoE hole with Patron Powers
(and I probably missed some!)

How hard is it to get Shadow Maul to work in packs? I really have traditonally hated trying to make it work, but in AE sized packs, I assume its going to hit some stuff.

I am super excited about this char to be honest, look forward to trying to make this work.

Hello.

I am thinking of adding a DM/SD to my list of tried out combos. So far I am just early levels. DM appears to be more ST oriented, but I bet Shield Charge + AAO evens that out.

So, that's the rub, I am curious if having shield charge is enough AoE to compensate for the otherwise weak AoE of the set.

I am looking at Dark Consumption and Soul Drain and not wrapping my head around whether the whole package of DM/SD does decent AoE damage.

It seems like, on paper, that DM/SD should produce a character that *feels* pretty powerful when fully developed, however, to me, I don't get that feel unless I can AoE a pack down like a bad bad man (and of course there's AE too)

Thanks for any thoughts.

Good Evening,

I know not everybody is out there doing AE, and it can be controversial, but I find myself on various chars doing a lot of PuG AE's and I am curious when it should be expected for a Brute to take that first cluster of alphas from a pack.

I have a 30 WM/WP Brute, and I find myself being asked to tank already, and the results are mixed. I need pretty decent healing or something out of the gate to allow time for RTTC to get ahead of the incoming dps curve. I see decked out 50 brutes doing it so easy its cake, and am just ignorant how one ends up there.

I realize I am only 30 and not a tanker, but I assume at some point I will grow into being able to handle these and I was curious what it takes, as far as def or res numbers, etc to be able to expect to tank well enough for AE PuGs.

Also, although I am concerned with WP, I am also curious about and open to opinions on the other secondaries and how and when you would expect them to tank well enough to accommodate this kind of role.

I guess what is confusing me is that now that I am high enough to have 3 slotted SO's into all the WP pool powers that really deal with incoming damage, I don't know where def/res is going to improve except with tough/weave, and then from set bonuses.

Are IO set bonuses needed to allow a Brute to tank in these kind of roles smoothly and confidently?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Thanks to everyone that responded.

I am liking (no offense to Dot Communist) Javelin's build better as it more closely aligns with the feel of the character.

I think I may shuffle it around a little for levelling, but both the slotting and the power selections and order are very helpful.

Any other thoughts?