Local_Man
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Quote:I vote for "thingey"Originally Posted by Golden Girl
My guess for the next one would be "fragment". -
Quote:I'm hopeful . . . since both Martin and the publisher have officially announced the publication date. Plus, he is even missing out on flying to Hollywood to watch episodes of the miniseries so he can finish it up. If he doesn't get it done, he will be missing out on a HUGE opportunity to sell books. Interest in the books will be high with the HBO series.Originally Posted by Ironik
I'll believe it when I see it. At ComiCon last year his editors said they'd have it by Christmas. A month ago he said he was pretty sure he'd make the due date. Uh-huh.
In his previous explanations of how he has been writing the books, he said that he has been moving chapters between books. He claimed that some of "A Feast for Crows" was moved to "A Dance for Dragons." I would not be surprised to learn that the same problem has happened with this book -- a lot of it had to be re-worked because what he was writing was more than what he could put in the book. I am hoping that the long, long time between books was, in part, because he has already written much of what will go in Book 6.Quote:He also has some prime oceanfront property to sell you. In Montana.
While I enjoyed Book 4, I agree that is was the worst of the series so far . . . it went too far afield. Still, it had some good parts of the plot, especially the last few chapters. Even though it was the worst of the series so far, it was a heck of a lot better than a whole lot of other SF/Fantasy I have read. I hope that this one is a lot tighter and moves the story along. I hope George has a good editor. -
Quote:That's reason #1, but a far distant reason #2 is that you want to make sure you do some damage to any foes attacked by the confused foes to get that bonus XP that you didn't earn.Originally Posted by Quasadu
Any time I see a mass confuse hit a spawn, damn right I dive into it, but it's got nothing to do with aggro or xp loss. It's because most (or all) of the enemies are mezzed! What better time to attack them?
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Quote:Also, she doesn't she have the Ruby Slippers at the end, calling into question whether it was all a dream?Originally Posted by Ironik
I'm with you there!
Cooper is in an early version of Alice in Wonderland (with W.C. Fields and Cary Grant!) but I can't tell from the description if it's a Fantasy or just a dream.
On a similar note, that last bit is one of the things that makes me think that The Wizard of Oz is technically neither a Fantasy nor a true Musical in the sense that musicals exist in their own little world. One can argue that both the Oz parts of the film and the song before the tornado are just part of Dorothy's imagination. That's just splitting semantic hairs, though, since WoO has all the aspects of both musicals and fantasy films. The "it was a dream" thing just means you get to have your cake and eat it, too, when it comes to genres. -
I might have another one:
Lucille Ball. She was a pretty big time movie star (and drop-dead beautiful) before she went on TV. -
Quote:The way you wrote up this question is somewhat confusing. I'm guessing that you are asking if the IOs that provide a pet buff like the Sovereign Right +10% Resistance to Pets proc works for Controllers? Is that it?Originally Posted by SlackTech
Firstly, as I know it will be asked (or may be referred to snarkily), I did try to use the search engine to find an appropriate forum thread, but couldn't find one. This might be due to my extraordinary (super?) ability to be incompetent with using the forum search engine.
Secondly, I have tried researching Paragonwiki and City of Data, but couldn't find the answer/s I seek.
So, it leads here. Since GR, I can finally roll trollers and play red-side (thank you, GR!). I have two now, and throughly love playing them. However, on both character's builds, I have used 2-3 (don't have the builds here with me) of the pet damage IO bonuses (and the Sov proc) .
I've never had need to question the usage of these before, as it's clear that MM henchmen get the bonuses (and this is easily confirmed by checking the combat attributes for the henchmen/pets). As I can't check pet combat attributes on a troller, and the character's combat attributes don't seem to mention it, I ask what I hope is a simple question - do these bonuses work on troller and villain PPP pets (that is, non-MM pets/henchmen)? Obviously if they don't, I'll do a new build up for each character, rip the IOs out and put them in SG base.
Again, apologies if this has been answered previously, and thanks in advance for any information.
The answer, if that is the question, is: Yes, the Sovereign Right +10% Resistance to Pets, the Expediant Reinforcement +10% Resistance to pets, Edict of the Master 5% Defense Bonus for Pets and the Call to Arms +5% Defense bonus for Pets all work on Controller Pets (except Phantom Army, who is unbuffable and invulnerable).
Those procs are especially nice for Controllers with a secondary that can hit their pets with Resistance or Defense Shields.
I use both the Sovereign Right and the Expediant Reinforcement +10% Resistance bonus on my Animate Stone for my Earth/Rad and Earth/Storm to add 20% extra Resistance to an already high resistance pet -- it makes Rocky almost unkillable. You can see that they are working because the little resistance Icons float around them. (I think there is another way to verify it, but I don't recall off hand and I can't get in game to check.)
When you say "pet damage IO bonus," do you mean the Soulbound Allegence Chance for Build Up proc? Yes, that one works, too. If you watch the pet window, you can see the build up icon show up (especially for Phantom Army or Fire Imps, since there are three of them).
I use the Soulbound in most of my several sevel 50 Illusion controllers in Phantom Army. -
Quote:With a Hami-O in the last slot to otherwise cap the damage and increase Accuracy, I think so. If you use SW the way I do, constantly and quickly in the Blind-SW-Fire Blast-SW attack chain, you are firing off SW twice every 4-6 seconds. That adds up to a LOT of chances for that Build Up to hit.Originally Posted by Scene_EU
Ah good to know - I wasn't sure if the proc was worth it or not in PGA
Is the buildup proc worth it in SW? -
I played around with your build for a couple of minutes. Fireball is a must . . . Fireball+OSA is just awesome, and that gives you three ways to light the slick (Fireball, Fire Blast, Origin Power). This version has a LOT less defense and Resistance, but you seem to want Leadership so I left it in. I have the Medicine Pool on mine.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.93
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Controvascene: Level 50 Technology Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Trick Arrow
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Spectral Wounds -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Build%(3), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(3), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), HO:Nucle(37)
Level 1: Entangling Arrow -- GravAnch-Immob/Rchg(A), GravAnch-Acc/Immob/Rchg(7), GravAnch-Acc/Rchg(7), GravAnch-Immob/EndRdx(9), GravAnch-Hold%(9)
Level 2: Blind -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(11), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(11), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(13), HO:Nucle(13), Dmg-I(27)
Level 4: Deceive -- CoPers-Conf/Rchg(A), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(15), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(15), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(17), CoPers-Conf%(17)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 8: Superior Invisibility -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(19), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(19), RedFtn-Def(21), RedFtn-EndRdx(21), LkGmblr-Rchg+(23)
Level 10: Glue Arrow -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 16: Poison Gas Arrow -- FtnHyp-Sleep(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(29), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(29), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(31), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(31)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(31), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(33), S'bndAl-Dmg/Rchg(33)
Level 20: Acid Arrow -- AnWeak-Acc/Rchg(A), AnWeak-Acc/DefDeb(34), Achilles-ResDeb%(36)
Level 22: Ice Arrow -- BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(A), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(23), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(25), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(25)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-EndRdx(34), RedFtn-Def(34), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 26: Spectral Terror -- Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(A), Abys-Dam%(37)
Level 28: Disruption Arrow -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 32: Phantasm -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), HO:Nucle(39), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(43), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 35: Oil Slick Arrow -- Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(45), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(45)
Level 38: EMP Arrow -- BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(A), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(40), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(46), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(46)
Level 41: Fire Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(48), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(50), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50)
Level 44: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Dmg/Rng(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 47: Group Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(37), Mrcl-Heal(39), Mrcl-Rcvry+(39)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(40), EndMod-I(40)
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I have taken Cardiac (Endurance Reduction) with all of my */Storm controllers. It makes a HUGE difference. The Damage Resistance helps, also. Your build looks like it could use it. So far, I have Cardiac on my Earth/Storm/Fire, Ice/Storm/Earth, Ill/Storm/Ice. I plan to get it on my Grav/Storm/Ice.
While some of the enhancement from the Alpha slot goes past the ED cap, you get the most benefit from the Alpha slot for powers that are not slotted to the cap. Very few powers are slotted to the ED cap for EndRdx, so it tends to help a lot.
While I have a couple of characters slotted to Tier 4, I find that Tier 3 (which gives you the level shift) is good enough. I haven't yet explored the Incarnate stuff in I-20, so I can't say anything about those. -
Quote:Maybe you just plain prefer to play scrappers. One of my regular buddies has twenty-something level 50 characters, and only one is a controller -- and that one was kind of PL'ed up to make a full team of Fire/Rads. He just doesn't like controllers -- they don't fit the way he likes to play. He loves scrappers and has a ton of them.Originally Posted by OutaControl
I guess my complaint is that CoH is over compensating. Like all game progressions, just make things not work and call it new and inventive content.
a spine/regen scrapper used to be all the rage, I hate mine now.
a fire/kin controller was all the rage but Mine sleeps though half the content now.
an Empathy healer could write his own ticket, it was my first level 50, I can hardly find work for mine, only STF seems to even want one. with instant death one-shotting bosses why bother with a good healer since no healer can save you from the one shot death
The game has gravitated away from squishy characters, the AE farms want tanks and tough scrappers and don't even bother bringing a healer.
Squishy teams can still work, an all rad team still rocks but I find playing a katana/willpower scrapper much more fun since I can almost tank with him and he never sleeps on the job. I like playing the scrapper more than tanking because as a tank, if I can't hold aggro I feel like I'm letting people down and the tank aggro limit is VERY easy to reach in ITF or LGTF.
For me, nearly half of my twenty-something level 50 characters are controllers -- I love 'em. -
Quote:On a LGTF or ITF . . . you are on a team. Let your teammates do their jobs -- let the tank go in first to draw the aggro. Use your pets. Use your teammates. And use your secondary. Sometimes you can provide more benefit to the team buffing and debuffing than being in the front line doing damage.Originally Posted by OutaControl
Mezz first... it sounds so simple, Why couldn't I have thought of that myself?
Maybe it's because my Mezz doesn't work like it used to. If I fight a more classic opponents, say from the portals in PI my Mezz seems to work like it's supposed to. Flashfire gets 95% of them and you can char the rest.
But compare that to LGTF or ITF opponents. now my mezz doesn't work worth **** . Flashfire at best hits 3/4 of them or less. Char and cindars NEVER Hold bosses unless I'm extremely lucky or I've put like 6 applications of char on them ( assuming I don't die before then). Now move on up to APEX and MAGE opponents... all bets are off.
I do run +4/8 AE farms but I've used a highly selective opponents that can't sleep or hold anything.
I've noticed a few fire/kins using tough & weave and earth mastery... I've never tried such a build. how does that type of setup fair for sleep/holds?
Those TFs were designed to provide certain challenges. The ITF foes have mez protection, but Slow powers are very effective. The Rikti have lots of mez. Part of the challenge is that you have to adjust your tactics to the situation. (Those TFs are already easy enough.) What you are asking for is to be able to mez foes all the time while preventing them from mezzing you. That would make it all too easy. -
I put the Sandman proc in Mesmerize on my Mind/FF, but I've never gotten around to testing how good it is. I thought that seemed like a good place for it since the character doesn't have a self-heal and uses Mez a LOT.
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I don't have Mid's available at the moment, so I can only look at your build.
A general comment first: You are level 3. Before worrying about an end-game build, try playing the character for a while. Learn how the powers work and what is most important. You may not need that much Defense, and might be able to devote more slots to Recharge. (My Ill/TA does not use Defense.) Especially solo, you can handle most groups with PA drawing the aggro and Deceive controlling any foes who look at you funny. Phantasm's Decoy also draws a lot of aggro, and Spectral Terror provides continuing AoE control. I find my Ill/TA is more of a strategic take-your-time kind of character than a plow-through-and-kill-anything-that-moves character. But maybe your playstyle will be different.
To me, the most important attribute/bonus to look for is Recharge . . . you want PA out as much as possible. It also helps recharge your controls and debuffs faster. If you slot for adequate accuracy, you won't need to get Nerve . . . Spiritual is the clear choice for the Recharge.
If you are looking at a solo build, you will need a bit more damage here and there. Getting a couple more slots in Blind with some Acc and Damage is important. The Baz Gaze set on its own is good Recharge but could use a little bit more enhancement. (I always take Blind at 1, SW at 2 and Deceive at 4, but I suppose it really doesn't matter.) Getting your damage to cap or near cap can be important . . . a sliver of health can make the difference between dropping the foe now or letting the Illusory Damage from Spectral Wounds, Phantom Army and Phantasm's Decoy heal back.
SI: This is a good place for a Luck of the Gambler +Recharge to go with the 5 Red Fortune. The 5 Red Fortune is good slotting for SI, but the endurance cost is still high. I run SI most of the time, but occasionally turn it off when in battle to save endurance. I don't rely on SI for Defense -- I slotted the Red Fortune set for the EndRdx and the Recharge bonus. The endurance cost is high enough that you should probably plan on getting a Numina Regen/Recovery and maybe a Miracle proc (easy to get with Hero Merits).
Phantom Army needs to be fully slotted for Recharge. A 5th slot with the Soulbound Dam/Rech will do it. I prefer a 6th slot for the Soulbound Chance for Build Up proc.
Acid Arrow: The damage done is minimal -- I mainly slot Acid Arrow for Recharge and Defense Debuff and procs . . . that Achilles proc is great.
As I said, I didn't go for Defense -- I don't have Leadership or Fighting. I do have Glue Arrow and Poison Gas Arrow. Glue adds some nice AoE soft control in low levels, which is something Illusion severely lacks. An AoE slow has its uses to keep foes from running away. PGA is a nice Damage Debuff and partial AoE control -- and a nice set mule for the cheapest purple set, Fortunata Hypnosis, with a 10% Recharge buff when you hit 50. Solo, PGA can filter out a group to reduce the number of foes you have to battle at one time while reducing the damage they do. It is not a great power, but certainly not useless and better solo than on teams. You just have to make sure you don't use PGA and Acid at the same time if you want to take advantage of the sleep. You can use Glue Arrow and PGA, then hide around a corner. As the foes who did not get slept slowly turn the corner, Spectral Terror can catch them, you can Deceive one or use Blind-SW to defeat another.
Oil Slick Arrow IS a Damage power, mostly. I slot it with 5 PosiBlast and a common Recharge in the 6th slot. It does a huge amount of damage when combined with Disruption and Acid.
I haven't tried the Villain PPPs on any of my controllers. I'm pretty happy with Fire Blast and Fireball on my Ill/TA. The key, again, is quick damage to be able to take down minions and lieutenants quickly before the Illusory Damage heals back. If you take Fire Blast (or Ice Blast), you can have a great attack chain of Blind-SW-Blast-SW that wipes out those minions and lieutenants quickly. Oil Slick Arrow + Fireball is a thing of beauty! An explosion of fire with a lingering BBQ. -
Quote:This is a really good summary of options, but I'd like to add a few more.Originally Posted by PirateCrew
So to summarize:
1) Actual mez protection, from...
a) Perma Indomitable Will through very high recharge (this is quite nice ^_^). Use any combination of IOs, set bonuses, Spiritual Alpha, and Ageless Destiny (new in Issue 20) to make this happen and it will help all your other controls and buffs/debuffs too. Watch out for enemies with recharge debuffs, either mez them or have enough recharge and recharge debuff resistance (from Ageless Destiny) to counteract them.
b) the new issue 20 Destiny slot has a "Clarion" option which lasts 120 seconds and recharges in 120 seconds once upgraded to Partial Core Invocation (third tier) or Core Epiphany (fourth tier). Due to the way this works, the protection is much lower than Indomitable Will's for part of the time, and there may be a gap where your attack toggles will drop if Clarion wears off while you have a mez effect on you. You'd have to retoggle hot feet after you hit the (now recharged) Clarion power - though it does act as a breakfree.
c) Acrobatics (minor hold protection only). Personally I didn't find this to be worth the power choice and endurance, since stuns and sleeps and double-stacked holds broke through it.
2) Mez them before they mez you. Learn which enemies have mezzes and control them first. Bosses, EBs, and AVs can still give you trouble though, or large groups where your 5% or higher chance to miss will often allow minion or lieutenant mezzers to take shots at you.
3) High defense against whatever mezzing enemies you tend to face. This is often ranged or AoE defense, but if you're in melee range of some enemies (Tsoo, Freaks, etc) then melee defense or smashing defense may be needed too. Unfortunately this is not always effective against Psi-type mezzes since they may bypass your ranged/AoE defense, such as Carnies and Council Vampyri. Indomitable Will has Psi Defense built-in though, so see #1a!
4) Mez resistance from special IOs, to reduce the duration of mezzes. Not effective by itself, but it does make low levels of mez protection (such as Clarion as it degrades) feel stronger by reducing the chance that mezzes will stack on you and overcome your protection.
5) a couple of Breakfrees, for when the above fails.
From my experience, this is roughly in order of effectiveness for what you're asking to do. I currently use 1a, 2, 3, 4, and 5 together on a fire/kin and ill/rad, and to a lesser extent on a plant/storm. It's not cheap or simple, but it works and I never buy breakfrees.
You also have the option to try a dominator...with enough recharge to have perma domination, you'll get a similar (better?) un-mezzable controllery experience from the primary powerset, but of course the secondary powerset choices are very different.
Good luck.
Tanks: If you are on a team, let the Tank do his job and draw aggro before you run in to control/buff/damage. Give him 1-2 seconds, and if he is a decent tank, he will draw the aggro of those mezzing foes. Don't try to race the Tank to beat him into the next spawn (which I see often).
Stealth: I like to use Superspeed + Celerity Stealth IO for full invisibility. Foes don't aim Mez powers at me if they can't see me. There are a lot of ways to reduce the perception of foes (which I don't use) from Smoke to Stealth. Invisibility also lets me run around the outside of groups, dragging my Imps into the group to draw aggro . . . so they get mezzed and not me. Then I can use Flashfire from range or even run in and use Cinders with less danger of being mezzed.
Timing IW. Sometimes it is more effective, if you can remember, to take IW off Auto and use it as a click power. If you fire it off just before an encounter, then your chance of getting mezzed is pretty low unless the encounter goes on for a while. -
Quote:George R. R. Martin has worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter in the past, so this is not his first time dealing with TV/Film. And yes, he was very involved and has put his "stamp of approval" on the series.Originally Posted by MentalMaden
If I remember the author is very involved in the series, so I'd assume they will stay pretty close to the source material. Sure changes will be made (there always are) but having him intimately involved should keep things from getting too out of control.
Book 5, "A Dance with Dragons" is due out this summer, mid July I think. I suspect that Martin has most of Book 6 written already.Quote:Originally Posted by Ironik
By the time the books are finished. LOL. Aren't you the cockeyed optimist! The series will have to write a new ending if it's a hit. Either that or hold off on new installments longer than BSG did.
Damn. I knew that looked wrong, but no spell check on my browser and I was too lazy to check. I'm normally a decent speller, but I have these senior moments . . .Quote:"Throwns"? Is that a combo of "throne" and "crown"? If so, I applaud your efficiency!
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Quote:It is MagicJ's personal term for his playstyle on */FF controllers, mostly. It is an aggressive playstyle that uses PFF and the Provoke power pool to tank, draw aggro and control. Even if you don't play that style, it was interesting to see what MagicJ could do with the set.Originally Posted by UnicyclePeon
What the hell is a Wartroller?
I vaguely remembered it had something to do with MagicJ when I saw the title, and I guess I was right, but do more than like, ten people maybe, even recognize that pet term? Also, I swore a Wartroller was Mind/FF but I saw some Illusion stuff. I suppose I should read the thread.
But I'm kinda a Slacktroller myself.
Lewis
I have a Mind/FF that I have very, very slowly leveled up on one of my secondary servers. It's a pretty fun build, but not fast. I have never had any character get Nukes in Warburg easier, though. Between confuse and PFF, it was amazingly easy. -
Quote:Actually, just look at my Ill/Rad guide and Luminara's TA guide, and you can get a pretty good idea for Ill/TA. My playstyle is pretty simple . . . send in PA, stand back and fire off my debuff arrows, then pick somebody to take down with Blind-SW-Fireblast-SW. If PA are recharging or if you just feel like it, throw out Oil Slick Arrow-Fireball. I have a macro I use to target the Oil Slick, so I just click Oil Slick Arrow-targetting macro-Fireball.Originally Posted by Straenge
Seriously, Local man.. you need to just take some time and make one good Ill/TA guide. After reading almost everything on the subject, you have given out the most and best advice overall. Hell, you could just copy and paste your Illusion guide and just add on TA, there really hasn't been much in the way of an updated guide for it anyway and I think it would probably help alot of people.
To me, the biggest difference is the lack of a fast single target blast. Blind-SW-Fire Blast-SW is key to me being able to do single target damage quickly, which means that I have a better chance to leverage the Illusory damage in Spectral Wounds. Some folks are more pet-focused and don't worry about doing as much damage . . . just a different choice.Quote:Right now, I have APP Fire and definitely recommend it but.. working toward Villainy to test out Mu Mastery just to see how well it would do considering you get an extra pet, better shield (27% energy def vs. 20% Fire) and Ball Lightning to replace Fire Blast. Only difference between the two I see is Fire/Energy
Also I am curious if anyone has tried Group Invisibility + Celerity:Stealth Proc in Sprint for an alternate/team build. I wonder if it stacks and it will take care of that visibility downtime between casting GI.
I actually have the medicine pool on my Ill/TA, and skipped Fire Shield. I don't get hit much since I rely heavily on PA, Spooky and Deceive.
I had Group Invis on my Ill/Rad leveling up . . . and now I only take Group Invis as a second invis, mostly for a LotG Mule. I don't have it on my Ill/TA. As for the Stealth IO, it would work fine as long as you weren't too close to foes when you re-cast. -
The main focus for set bonuses in my opinion should be Recharge. Getting PA out as much as possible and being able to fire Oil Slick as much as possible.
5 Decimation for Fire Blast and Spectral Wounds is not too expensive. 5 Posi Blast for Fireball and Oil Slick (with an extra Recharge for Oil Slick). Then for Phantom Army, 4 Expediant Reinforcement with the Dam/Rech and Chance for Build Up from Soulbound (two more cheap purples). That gives you your 5 sets with 6.25% Recharge.
If you can afford it, 4 Gaze of the Basilisk in Blind, Flash and EM Pulse Arrow for 7.5% each. Blind can be finished out with some additional Acc and Damage, with an extra Acc/Hold/Rech for Flash.
5 Unspeakable Terror in Spectral Terror gives 5% Recharge. 4 Dark Watcher in Flash Arrow is another 5%. 5 Doctored Wounds in Aid Self for another 5%. A Luck of the Gambler Recharge and 5 Red Fortunes in SI. There is probably another "5%"er you can find. -
The books are fantastic, and I think that they can translate to a mini-series quite well . . . heck by the time all the books are done, it would be longer than a lot of regular TV series.
Robb Stark and Jon Snow are older than in the books . . . they are supposed to be 14-15 rather than the 17-20 look they have there. I understand why they were aged for HBO . . . they have some rather adult things to do, which would have been very tough to show with underage actors. Same with Sansa, who is supposed to be 12-13. So I'm expecting some changes from the source material, but overall, I was impressed.
Lothic, this beginning doesn't even come close to showing the level of complex intregue and great characters that show up in A Game of Throwns. The good guys are all flawed, the bad guys mostly have reasons for being bad, and the plot has unexpected twists and turns. I'm really looking forward to seeing Peter Dinklage as Tyrion, who has become one of my favorite literary characters. He's a guy who you can both love and hate -- a dwarf who turns his curse into a kind of weapon by being more clever than others. His character really shines more in later books, but you get to see a lot about him in A Game of Throwns. -
My suggestion: Add in Fire Blast and Spectral Wounds. It adds a lot of damage to your single target attack chain: Blind-SW-Fire Blast-SW. It makes playing solo much, much, much easier, and you can contribute damage on teams when all your other controls are out. Plus, you can use Fire Blast to light the Oil Slick when Fireball misses. My Illusion/Radiation guide explains why that single target attack chain is so good.
You can easily drop Resusitate -- it is sort of the booby prize of Rez powers. If you really want a rez power, buy the Temp version and then get the one from Day Jobs (Hospital and University, I think).
Personally, I think Flash Arrow is skippable. Solo, I have Sup Invis so I don't need it. On teams, they usually run in before I can get Flash Arrow off anyways and the ToHit Debuff is pretty minimal. I skipped Flash Arrow leveling up but added it in during my last respec. I'll be dropping it from my Ill/TA on the next respec to add Recall Friend. Since Illusion makes a great spy, adding Recall Friend is great for stealthing missions.
I think that the AoE holds are worth having . . . I don't use them much, but there are times that you just need everything to HOLD. I have both EM Pulse Arrow and Flash, but I use Flash less on this character than any of my other Illusionists (Ill/Rad, Ill/Storm, Ill/Cold, Ill/Kin). Besides, the AoE Holds are the only way to get AoE Containment for Fireball. (I know that the new Incarnate slots are supposed to include an AoE damage attack . . . I suspect that Containment will not apply, but if it does, that's even more of a reason to get an AoE Hold.)
While I know you want to keep the budget down (as I do on all my characters), you may want to consider getting two of the cheapest purple sets, 5 of the Confuse set for Deceive and 5 of the Sleep set for Poison Gas Arrow. It will make building the rest of the character much easier. -
One thing that make Ice/Storm interesting is the ability to debuff ToHit to a huge degree with Hurricane. Obviously, Hurricane and Arctic Air conflict . . . just like the AoE Immob and Ice Slick conflict, just like the knockback and Ice Slick conflict . . . etc, etc.
Hurricane means that you have a way to get out of tough situations if you need to. I don't use it very often, but it is nice to have and use every now and then . . . especially trapping foes in a corner or cul-de-sac. You don't really need Defense if the ToHit is debuffed.
I think a good choice is to go with the Smash/Lethal Defense shield from Ice or Earth, add a little bit more Smash/Lethal defense with sets, and then rely upon Hurricane and your other controls to fill the gap.
My attitude about Sleeps has changes a little bit lately, ever since I got one on my Ice/Ice/Cold Blaster. Flashfreeze will still be mostly useless on fast moving teams, but there are a few times when you can use it to stop an ambush or control a group over "there" while you deal with the group "here." It can also be used to weed out bosses from the other riff-raff, since the rest will be slept while the bosses will be aggroed. As a targetted AoE, Flashfreeze is certainly better than Earth's Salt Crystals which is PB AoE. -
Around here, we generally ask folks to take a shot at making a build, and then ask questions based on that build. If you don't know how to slot something, that's OK, just take a shot at it and then ask. If you don't have it yet, you should download Mid's Hero and Villain Builder from www.cohtitan.com.
On the Illusion side, I suggest you take a look at my Illusion/Radiation guide. The link is in my sig. It should give you an idea of what the Illusion powers do and what is most important to slot.
I understand wanting to be a "healer," but in upper levels, heals become less and less important. You will want to focus more on your control powers and your buff powers. (High level characters, especially Tanks and Scrappers, often have capped defenses . . . which means that they rarely need to be healed. Good Blasters, Controllers, Corrupters, Defenders, Dominators, etc, are usually pretty good at avoiding taking damage in high levels either through defense or using strategy.)
Besides, you may get a few snarky comments about "healers," as CoH is different than certain other well known MMOs and we don't need healing nearly as much as buffs and debuffs.
For an Ill/Emp, I would probably look at the Primal APP pool. Power Boost before your buffs will be significant. -
I use Cloaking Device + Super Speed on my Dual Pistols/Dev blaster, "Pepe LePewPew." When both are running, Combat Attributes shows 70 ft stealth, which is full invisibility against all foes who do not have +perception.
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Quote:I haven't done any formal testing (using herostats, etc.), but I have noticed that the Build Up icon shows up a LOT when PA are in battle.Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
Have you done any more testing with the Soulbound Allegiance proc? I'm leveling my own Ill/Rad (a possibly/maybe insane member of the Resistance... or maybe he's sane and likes to pretend to be crazy) right now and I'm planning on throwing it in there... wondering if it's worth it still.
My game time has been somewhat limited lately, and what little time I have has generally been either teaming with my buddies on WSTs or crafting. There are a few things I should test . . . but my desktop computer has a big problem so I'll be limited to my laptop for a little while. -
My Ill/Rad, "Area Man," is still my all time favorite and can handle most situations and always contribute in many different ways. He is kind of my Rennaisance Man.
My Elec/Shield Scrapper, "Ohm Depot," is always fun with capped defenses and the ability to wipe out huge groups with a "BU-Wham-Bam" . . . thank you, Ma'am.
My Earth/Storm Controller, "Ella M. Ental," can stand back and fully neuter large groups . . . I love the combo of Stalagmites-Freezing Rain-Quicksand, with a little bit of Earthquake thrown in at the end and the ability to "herdicane" to push foes into the area, and then Lightning Storm to zap 'em when they are helpless while Rocky runs around smacking baddies.