Madam_Enigma

[ QUOTE ]
You're probably wondering why I didn't take into account oil slick arrow as much, well it's simply because the recharge is 2min. That's up maybe every second group. Emp arrow is practically useless unless you stumble across an AV but even then you risk losing ALL of your other debuffs simply because lack of end.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really much of an issue. Slap 3 recharge enhancements into OSA and it's up plenty often enough. As for TA doing nothing but debuffing... It's got a very healthy mix of debuffs, soft control, and hard control. Poison Gas arrow will frequently sleep half to all of the enemies it hits. Glue arrow nukes the enemy's movement and recharge rate. Things with flamethrowers and shotguns may as well be held if you snag them with entangle arrow since they can't hit you at mid range. You get a single target hold and an aoe hold too. BTW with emp arrow... The period of no end recovery isn't that long. Nor do your debuffs fade just because your low on endurance. They are fire and forget. Once out they have zero additional end cost.

[ QUOTE ]
What I'd really truly love is some risk for reward type attitude for /ta. It simply doesn't compete in real situations compared to dark. Not only am I in the mix of everything and constantly shooting, I have to try and heal each of my pets with aid other? I bet anyone in there right mind would trade flash arrow of uselessness for a heal arrow or something. Now I'm not saying nerf /dark cause that's just stupid and is the easy/obvious way out of the situation. Instead I'm asking to reconsider /ta as a set to buff, or just simply change. If it doesn't get any sort of attention well literally all /ta's should just re-roll as a /dark, not only do you get to heal all of your pets, you get another pet that will help you heal/debuff.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, I have to disagree. First off all TA does very well on it's own. It actually doesn't need a heal. Nor would a healing arrow make any sense. Think about it. If someone told you "I'm going to fire an arrow from my bow at you, and it will heal your wounds upon piercing your flesh" would you believe them?

Against AV's a TA is still useful beyond using one arrow. Flash arrow will debuff the AV's to-hit by the same amount as rad or dark. Why? While the others have higher base debuffs, TA's to-hit debuff is unresistable. All three will debuff the AV's to-hit by about 5%. Maybe 10% at most. While doing that (easy to perma) TA is also likely imobilizing the AV, reducing it's damage, nuking it's power recharge, and reducing it's resistance. In short if your /TA mastermind is relying just on EMP arrow in AV fights, their not contributing all they can.

Come to think of it, my /TA mastermind has to resummon pets less frequently then the MM's I've got who can heal pets. I've also got a TA/A defender who does a dang good job keeping teams on their feet without a heal. Aid Other is handy, but not required.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
To gain access you must do one of the Patron's Arcs first. First, find Arbiter Rein in Grandville. He'll lead you to a Patron.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow,...I had no idea. So, the fact that I'm about to turn level 50 probably means I'm pretty much screwed

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to see Arbiter Rein, Facemaker and Gorgeous Glenda added to your contacts list, as well as a pop-up when these guys become available (that's level 20, 30, and 40). Likewise I'd like to see your cape mish get a pop up too, because it's easy to miss your level 1 contact going active again.

Just my 2 tickets.

[/ QUOTE ]

For SoA at least, your SoA contact refuses to let you do his next arc until you get a patron and do their first arc at 40.

[ QUOTE ]
Not sure what the consumption is but I have the +end accolades factored.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try going into the combat attribute window. You can view (and monitor) both end recovery and end usage. I almost always have both being monitored.

Edit to add: Just to point out, right now if running Death Shroud, my 3 shields, and the stealth power I'm using over 1 end/sec.

[ QUOTE ]
QR

I really haven't felt any significant advantage from dwarf form on my WS.

Maybe it's because I move in stealthed and open with Gravitic Emmanation(excepting a Q/V which will get a Gravity Well before I use Emmanation)

I then proceed to Mire/Nova blasts/Human blasts/Stygian

And the fuzzballs take care of anything that may have been neglected.

When there's a boss toggle on inky and then open with Gravitic.
This keeps me incredibly safe, and I still have the Option of using Eclipse should I want to.

[/ QUOTE ]

For surviving a large alpha strike, dwarf form (slotted for resistance) beats out human any day. One reason I don't open with grav wave is because it sometimes scatters enemies instead of tightly grouping them.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hehe, oh that one!! My nephew loved that game for its violence.

[/ QUOTE ]

I love both. My current challenge in The Darkness is to try beating the game on normal eating only the minimum required number of hearts. Already beat the game, so now I'm trying to see if there's a different ending if you don't max out your darkness level.

[/ QUOTE ]
I doubt there's a different ending since the game follows the comic-book story, and we all know where that story arc went...

[/ QUOTE ]

Possibly, but there are differences. And he was constantly fighting against, and winning against the corruption in the comic. So I'm wondering if there are multiple endings. Many games I've played do stuff like that.

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, once you have six pets running around just grab the taunt from the presence pool. Thanks to everyone here, I use that power like mad, and it changes things immensely. Yeah, I take damage. And? I only take a tiny bit. By the time the mobs are down, I've regenerated that health back.

Seriously, get up to 24, grab presence, go to town.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not always wise, but it is a tactic. AoE sigs (Miss Liberty I'm looking at you) will shred you to ribbons with such tactics. Valkyre also has a NASTY targeted aoe... not sure why either since she's a meleer.

[ QUOTE ]
That's why we try to downshift (from Dwarf/Nova to Human) more than upshift...

[/ QUOTE ]

Aye, I'll start the cycle in dwarf form since it's much faster to shift from dwarf to human and mire then go human to dwarf to mire. Then I transform to nova mid jump since I would be doing so to leverage cones anyway.

[ QUOTE ]
One other thing I just remembered; PFF now suppresses when you click a glowy.

[/ QUOTE ]

True, but tell me this: do you need PFF 90% of the time? Is it something you must have because without it you can't survive?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
as long as we're comparing these two. I'd like to point out the innequalities between /TA and /FF for MM's. /TA deals way more damage and has infinitely more useful debuffs. While /FF only has bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles. What if the mob has deadly pin attack? You'll be missing your acid arrow beats deadly pin attack then won't you?

In the rock paper scissors of secondaries /FF only ever throws paper while /TA throws them all and volcanoe.

Back to the matter at hand. I like the way that /poison helps me deal with strong single targets by reducing the effects of end drain, slows, debuffs, mez and all other forms of nasty nasty that bosses and up toss at you like candy out of the worlds largest pinata. It's totally great for solo play with all of it's -special, -speed, -recharge and -regen and the hold it has is second to none. With all of those things in the poison set I almost never need to furiously spam heals on my pets.

Owait. I forgot, the set that has a more varied toolbox for damage mitigation has less healing, while he set that has one debuff on a long cooldown and a mixed bag of buffs has a lot of healing.

Funny how that all works out. It's almost like these things have some kind of mass or density or weight and they're sitting on some kind of seesaw or scale or something and they do that thing that weights on a scale do when they stack up against each other in equal proportions. What is that thing? I just can't remember.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fixed that for you

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll make my sarcasm more obvious next time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got it, but I didn't think the die hard 'healer' types would so I modified it to be more clear.

[ QUOTE ]
as long as we're comparing these two. I'd like to point out the innequalities between /TA and /FF for MM's. /TA deals way more damage and has infinitely more useful debuffs. While /FF only has bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles. What if the mob has deadly pin attack? You'll be missing your acid arrow beats deadly pin attack then won't you?

In the rock paper scissors of secondaries /FF only ever throws paper while /TA throws them all and volcanoe.

Back to the matter at hand. I like the way that /poison helps me deal with strong single targets by reducing the effects of end drain, slows, debuffs, mez and all other forms of nasty nasty that bosses and up toss at you like candy out of the worlds largest pinata. It's totally great for solo play with all of it's -special, -speed, -recharge and -regen and the hold it has is second to none. With all of those things in the poison set I almost never need to furiously spam heals on my pets.

Owait. I forgot, the set that has a more varied toolbox for damage mitigation has less healing, while he set that has one debuff on a long cooldown and a mixed bag of buffs has a lot of healing.

Funny how that all works out. It's almost like these things have some kind of mass or density or weight and they're sitting on some kind of seesaw or scale or something and they do that thing that weights on a scale do when they stack up against each other in equal proportions. What is that thing? I just can't remember.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fixed that for you

Probably the stormies. PvPers HATE storm. Hate it with a passion. Same with TA and Poison. Healing can be overcome fairly easily. But those three have tools which can seriously shut most down.

No, I suspect it's more that people get tired of getting taken down by me when they try it solo. Only thing I really have issues with is aoe happy blasters. Well, them and spine scrappers. Even dark regen doesn't scare me since I can debuff one's ability to heal and be healed both..

Yea, basiclly just replace "Nova" and "Tray 4" with the correct power and tray.

[ QUOTE ]
Hehe, oh that one!! My nephew loved that game for its violence.

[/ QUOTE ]

I love both. My current challenge in The Darkness is to try beating the game on normal eating only the minimum required number of hearts. Already beat the game, so now I'm trying to see if there's a different ending if you don't max out your darkness level.

[ QUOTE ]
That sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. If I can break a couple of new monitors, it's all worth it

[/ QUOTE ]

Every time I take Poison Bloom to RV it starts out fine. I'll be happily going along slaying any single hero I come across. Then within an hour they all band together to hunt me down repeatedly. I wonder if it's because I keep winning?

[ QUOTE ]
Bodyguard mode would be too powerful if you could focus fire while still maintaining the damage mitigation. This is why "Attack my Target" while in "Defensive" mode, achievable through advanced controls, does not engage bodyguard mode.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know it doesn't allow bodyguard. But it doesn't put pets in aggressive stance. Just negates bodyguard. It then kicksback in once they go back to follow stance (usually at end of battle for some reason)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bodyguard only works with the pets in Defensive with these three modes: Follow, Go To, and Stay.

Attack My Target makes them aggressive thus dropping the bodyguard mode (but not changing the initial setting of defense to aggressive).

[/ QUOTE ]

This is only true if you use the default 3 commands. I use the advanced controls, so I can control which stance and order they have seperately. Defensive attack still isn't bodyguard, but they are in defensive mode. This means they wont run off and attack some random group that isn't in combat with me while I'm fighting. Actually, I normally only use aggressive stance in mayhem missions.

[/ QUOTE ]

I meant the advanced controls

[/ QUOTE ]

But you said that if you keep using a different pet each time to initiate combat then they eventually would no longer be in defensive. That's only true using the simple controls. Advanced controls don't change stance when you change orders.

[ QUOTE ]
Bodyguard only works with the pets in Defensive with these three modes: Follow, Go To, and Stay.

Attack My Target makes them aggressive thus dropping the bodyguard mode (but not changing the initial setting of defense to aggressive).

[/ QUOTE ]

This is only true if you use the default 3 commands. I use the advanced controls, so I can control which stance and order they have seperately. Defensive attack still isn't bodyguard, but they are in defensive mode. This means they wont run off and attack some random group that isn't in combat with me while I'm fighting. Actually, I normally only use aggressive stance in mayhem missions.

[ QUOTE ]
zombies and ninjas in particular really have a rough time until they get their 2nd upgrade skill at 32.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't see this. My ninja/poison had the most trouble pre-18. But then, that was back in issue 6 too.

[ QUOTE ]
Been there too, but my PB is human/dwarf. Stood in human formed and healed away. It was quite fun.

I find it is the subtle nuances of the khelds that separate them from all other ATs. Once these subtleties are mastered both khelds are very powerful in their own ways. What I appreciate most about the PB is its Jack of All Trades ability to fill a need at any given moment the team might require. Additional damage for a team is only part of what a PB brings to the table.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know what you mean. I love seeing the huge orange numbers when things go right with my WS. More so, I love it's versitility. The higher in level I get, the more roles I can pitch hit for.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Mid's must be broken then because mine says 5% base for some reason.

[/ QUOTE ]

5% is the unsuppressed amount. Once you attack it goes down to 2.5 or so.

[/ QUOTE ]

The person above me said that City of Data says the base is 7.5% though so either Mids is wrong or CoD is wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or I could be wrong, but it could be 7.5 base, then modified by AT modifiers.

[ QUOTE ]
Mid's must be broken then because mine says 5% base for some reason.

[/ QUOTE ]

5% is the unsuppressed amount. Once you attack it goes down to 2.5 or so.

[ QUOTE ]
thanks for more helpful advice

[/ QUOTE ]

Another tip, but it's not strategy really. As a /poison be prepared to seriously tick off heroes... to the point where entire teams will hunt you down while your solo. Especially late game.

I hear you. Now granted a mastermind can get by using just the default 3 basic commands. Alternitivly you can switch to advanced controls and drag each command into your power tray. Your still using macros and binds. Even the 3 basic ones are using macros. Consider for masterminds the following scale.

A poor mastermind never gives their henchmen orders.

An average one uses the initial 3 commands.

A skilled mastermind uses the advanced controls.

A truely great mastermind uses a complex bind and macro setup for complete controls over each pet.

Now how about a scale for kelds?

A poor multi-form keld uses no binds or macros and has to manually click the arrow to switch power trays after switching forms.

A skilled multi-form keld uses binds and macros to switch trays/forms on the fly among other things.

A great multi-form keld knows WHEN to switch forms and how to do all the various roles.

Notice how there is no 'average' keld. This is because kelds require more skill to play then other AT's.

I don't think quants were ever THAT serious of a threat. Even before nictus damage was resistable you just had to pay attention. Sure taking one out at low levels usually involved popping a luck or two, and maybe a couple enrages. But inspirations too are part of strategy. The only time a quant or void is really a 'kryptonite' is if it's a boss. And that's mainly due to boss level damage plus boss level nictus damage.