Maelwys

IIRC it's fairly endurance heavy and has a long recharge. It does decent damage though and Knockdown.
My Inv Tank never needed to slot it for taunt duration, invincibility and taunt kept aggro well.

I have it 6-slotted: 1Acc/3Damage/1EndRed/1Recharge... perma-rage will let you skip a second accuracy SO.

If I was using it as a Damage mitigation tool I'd probably slot it Acc/Rech/Rech/Endred/Endred so it was up as often as possible, the knockdown effect is very handy when you're tanking non S/L damage mobs.

I'd agree with Okton that Grav/Sonic would probably have the worst synergy, but neither are bad sets.

Apart from Mind, Gravity is the only primary that won't let you benefit from putting sonic's anchored -res debuff on your pet (Mind doesn't have a pet, and Sing will repel them out of the Effected Area).

Gravity has got fairly good damage output... but it's smashing damage, which is more heavily resisted.

Two Endreds, plus 3 Resist/Defbuff would be optimal.

I'd slot Weave as a priority, since you'll get more use out of stacked Defence and Tough's base resists are pretty good. I can't see you having many endurance problems once you get Energy Absorbtion though!

They're both 0.32 Endurance per second rather than your armors' 0.26 Endurance per second.

To be honest, either will be good mitigation... but I'd say that Aid Self would definately win over just Tough.
If you were taking Tough AND Weave (to get you close to the 45% defence "cap") then you'd have a contest.

I think Weave + Tough could be better than Aid Self, when combined with Hoarfrost/Hibernate. The reasoning being that whilst Aid Self is a very good mitigation power for defensive toons, Ice Armor has no shortage of HP replenishment (Hoarfrost returns a huge amount and Hibernate is essentially a full heal).

A normal Ice Armor build can hit around 31-35% defence to Smashing/Lethal/Energy/Negative Energy. Weave's 8% defence would stack with this, roughly meaning they'd get hit half as much by those types of attacks. Assuming the Ice Tanker regularly uses Energy Absorbtion in the middle of herded mobs, this could easily close the gap to the 45% defence soft "cap".

[ QUOTE ]
Im not sure if you factor in PB's inherent. Put him/her in a team of 7 tanks, for instance and things may be rather different?

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't factor it in... since "a toon versus another toon" implies the toons would be duelling each other.

[ QUOTE ]
Not quite sure if any of you remember FFM's arena duel against FG. A PB vs a AR/Fire, the AR/Fire won guys.... the AR/FIRE WON!! O.o

[/ QUOTE ]

Bah... AR gets that nasty disorient beanbag thingy, that must have done it...
That or he was hiding a voidslayer rifle behind his flamethrower nozzle...

[ QUOTE ]
No other area allows you to have a higher level minion than yourself

[/ QUOTE ]

In PvP or PvE or Both?

I think Shivans would qualify for both... Strong Elite Boss pets, and both sides can get them.
They're pretty much like a mini heavy, except you don't lose the use of them after you leave the pvp zone.

If you got as much influence/experience for killing Bloody Bay firebases as you did for RV turrets, and shivans only worked in Bloody Bay... would there be as many complaints about shivans as there are about heavies?

In PvE there are several instanced missions where you can get the temporary use of a "pet" EB/AV/Hero... and then there are Mastermind tier 3 pets which IIRC are always scaled as one level higher than the MM.

Hammer, if you feel that annoyed with PvP at the moment then taking a break is probably for the best, to let things cool off a bit. Whilst I know many of your coalition friends would love to see more of teaming with them in PvE-land, you might find you begin to enjoy PvP again if you concentrate on a different toon for a while. I know I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of that Rad/Sonic...

[ QUOTE ]
I was just curious if you just went all out blapper (Squid/Human) vs an Ice/energy who would win that one?! y'know?!

[/ QUOTE ]

The Ice/Energy, no contest.
Even leaving the base damage difference aside, the blaster has loads of slow/recharges and disorient attacks.
The only chance the PB would have would be in light form, if the blaster's daft enough to stay in melee range.

GRATS Shads, it's about time!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

EDIT: Also curious to know does the Ice/energy blapper do more damage than a PB?

[/ QUOTE ]

Err..is this a trick question?

[/ QUOTE ]

Possibly not....

Although I love my squiddy... his ST damage doesn't come close to blaster level, let alone NRG blapper level.
At least, not when he's soloing. With Cosmic Balance buffs on big teams, it can be another story...

I'm currently trying out a new Fire/Ice blaster, haven't quite gotten used to it yet (it's barely two days old)... but from the build I've got planned they look to be fairly safe to solo, and great at ranged damage.

I'd say that the Sonic, Fire and Ice primaries would be the best ranged damage sets... Electric and Energy secondaries appear to be uncontested in ST melee damage, and Fire secondary wins at AoE damage.

[ QUOTE ]

Yeah. Anyone remember how much fun the rv test was? When they had about 3 or 4 instances of the zones and instant level 40's?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm... I never got around to joining in during that RV-testing-event.

I think they should have that instant-level-to-40 thing on the test server all the time (as an option)... it'd help people test out potential new alts, and you PvPers might end up with a bit more competition.

You're right on the 23.6 number, but if you're nearby you can surpass the cap. Numbers are here.

I seem to remember a certain flying, red-costumed "Legendary Lightning Count"... Last January I was just
starting on my first toon and they were the first player to talk to me (apart from the broadcast yuppies!)

Big grats from my then-level-8ish katana/regen scrapper, who'd just figured out how to get to "The Hollows"
(the HARD way, via Skyway!). It's certainly been a long road... I think you were mid-20s back then!

We're all too busy hitting stuff to mess with all that "typing" business...
The last time I let my scrapper near a keyboard he tried to blugeon something to death with it!

A Force Field Defender can put you past the 45% defence soft cap by themselves to all but Psionic... therefore if you were PERMENANTLY tag-teamed with one, taking weave would be overkill.

If it was a controller, you'd be at 30-35% defence so weave could be useful to bring you closer to the "cap".
Personally I'd rather just take "Tough" and another attack power though, fire tanks are made to do damage!

'Course you have. Just not when Light Form isn't up...

I've soloed several +5/+6/+7 bosses on my Scrapper before, but after chatting with Morty in-game he revealed that the Boss in question was a Crey Power Tank which have 50% resistance to Lethal damage.

Now I don't know about your Peacebringer, but my Scrapper would certainly have a hard time causing noticeable damage to a +7 Boss under those conditions. 8% power effectiveness I can just about handle (Focussed Accuracy, Build Up and Crits will let me overcome his natural regen) but if that 8% effectiveness is combined with 50% mob resistance to my damage type?

No thanks... I'd get bored trying to tickle him to death.

Good Luck with the TF folks! Be cautious though, I've been beating on Rularru for the past week or so... your empath might be kept on their toes unless you can grab a few trollers or a Dark Defender!

Many Rularuu do lots of Psionic damage, the Eyes grant an extremely high PBAoE allied ToHit buff, the Wisp bosses have a power like "Sonic Cage", Brute LTs spam single-target heals on each other and I seem to remember that all ranks of Brutes are very resistant to Taunt effects.

I've only done the actual TF once before, on a Regen Scrapper. It's a fun story, just a bit long.

The below is pretty much what I'd go for, could swap in "Conserve Power" if you find you need it.
PvE accuracy slotting, but attacks are 6-slotted so you could fiddle about with the enhancements.

---------------------------------------------
01) --> Smite==> Acc(1) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(9) EndRdx(40) Rechg(40)
01) --> Focused Fighting==> DefBuf(1) DefBuf(13) DefBuf(13) EndRdx(17)
02) --> Shadow Maul==> Acc(2) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(9) EndRdx(37) Rechg(37)
04) --> Focused Senses==> DefBuf(4) DefBuf(15) DefBuf(15) EndRdx(23)
06) --> Air Superiority==> Acc(6) Dmg(7) Dmg(7) Dmg(11) EndRdx(34) Rechg(37)
08) --> Hurdle==> Jump(8) Jump(42)
10) --> Practiced Brawler==> Rechg(10) Rechg(11)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16) Heal(17)
18) --> Siphon Life==> Acc(18) Acc(19) Heal(19) Heal(23) Rechg(25) Rechg(25)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Touch of Fear==> Acc(22) Fear(45) Fear(46) Rechg(46) Rechg(46) Fear(48)
24) --> Quickness==> Run(24)
26) --> Soul Drain==> Acc(26) Rechg(27) Rechg(27) Rechg(43)
28) --> Dark Consumption==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Rechg(29) Rechg(31) EndMod(43) EndMod(43)
30) --> Dodge==> DefBuf(30) DefBuf(31) DefBuf(31)
32) --> Midnight Grasp==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) EndRdx(34) Rechg(34)
35) --> Evasion==> DefBuf(35) DefBuf(36) DefBuf(36) EndRdx(36)
38) --> Elude==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) DefBuf(39) DefBuf(40)
41) --> Focused Accuracy==> EndRdx(41) EndRdx(42) EndRdx(42) TH_Buf(50) TH_Buf(50) TH_Buf(50)
44) --> Agile==> DefBuf(44) DefBuf(45) DefBuf(45)
47) --> Hasten==> Rechg(47) Rechg(48) Rechg(48)
49) --> Super Speed==> Run(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Power Slide==> Run(1)
01) --> Sprint==> Jump(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Critical Hit==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
---------------------------------------------

[ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure if your other /regen powers can provide as much survivability as MoG (depending on the damage type, of course) especially against larger groups of foes (not wanting to start the whole flat vs proportional mitigation thing again). Capped defence is still a pretty impressive thing to have.


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh I agree capped defence is impressive, but honestly I wouldn't ever trade regen's healing ability for it. Not for a full three minutes, there's simply too much that can happen in that time. There are always attacks that you're never going to be able to avoid- between 5-12% of all incoming attacks when you fight on invincible. And with MoG you cannot heal that damage back until the 180 second duration expires.

If you save MoG for a Panic button then you'll use it when heavily under fire by multiple enemies. You'd be surprised how quickly multiple enemies can chip you to death through by sheer attrition, even when they're at the tohit floor. Ordinarily you could heal those small 'chips of damage' back via natural regeneration... but with MoG that's impossible.

My first toon to 50 (and the most fun 'soloing' toon I have) was a Katana/Regen, and I'm such an advocate of using Divine Avalanche that I've loaded it up with Hami-Os. He can get past the lethal/melee defence cap without using MoG, and I've tested his "survivability" long and hard in different situations.

When soloing I have never encountered a situation where I'd rather have capped defence but no regeneration/healing. On the very, very rare instances when I might die from encountering too many mobs... I would stack DA, or use two of the four purple insps that otherwise never leave my tray.

If they made MoG into a toggle power that turned off automatically after 180 seconds but you could detoggle yourself before that, then I would consider taking it. As it stands, I'm completely against MoG forcing me into three minutes of low HP, possible death and at best a long period of unnecessary downtime. If it came to a life-or-death decision and for some completely unfathomable reason I had no purples/greens... I'd far rather suck it up, hit Revive and spend a few minutes working off the debt. Besides, self-rezzing and smacking the ones responsible across half the map is so much FUN...

Popping a few small purple insps (or one large purple insp) will give you better survivability than MoG.

MoG does NOT need a nerf... But I wouldn't want a buff for it either... the reasoning is that if MoG got a buff then it would certainly involve the rest of the regen set being "rebalanced" around it.

IH + Hasten + Dull Pain + Reconstruction + Integration/Fast Healing/Health + 20% HP (Accolades).

That's way, way better than simply being at the defence cap for all but psionic, with 25% of your normal HP. While MoG is running you don't get any of those benefits... No thanks, I'd rather pick resilience (yuck!)

Below 25% Hp, it only takes a few hits to kill you. If you could activate MoG between your green bar dipping below 25% and your (presumably very numerous) foes queuing another attack, then using MoG could concievably be "useful". At least until your heals recharge.

Unfortunately MoG does not last for only one minute, it's a 180 second duration which you can't turn off. A /regen scrapper can normally boost their survivability well over and above the benefits of what MoG provides through healing potential and regeneration, so as soon as your heals recharge running MoG becomes detrimental.

I have seriously never been in a situation where I was completely out of useful insps, my heals weren't recharged and I was below 25% HP for more than a few seconds. When I'm fighting something so tough that it overcomes my healing potential, I'll usually be dealt a killing blow when I'm well above the 25% HP mark.

The other point is that MoG is only available from level 38 onwards, and will see the most action in the 40-50 level range. What mobs are predominant in this range?

+ Preatorians (Psionic Clockwork, -defence spamming Preatorian robots)
+ Carnies (Lots of Psionic damage)
+ Nemesis (Vengence massive ToHit buffs)
+ Devouring Earth (Quartz Eminators massive ToHit buff)
+ Rikti (Lots of Psionic Damage)
+ Knives of Artemis (Lots of Caltrops, autohit damage)
+ CoT (Autohit Red Crystals and some damage auras, but mainly OK)
+ Malta (Could concievably be OK, though gunslingers have very high accuracy).
+ Crey (Radiologists could be troublesome, otherwise fine)

For the past few weeks I've been using my /regen to farm Rularuu missions in the shadow shard, soloing two-man level 53 Rularuu spawns. If I even thought about using MoG against them I'd be **flattened**, crazy tohit buffs and psionic damage aplenty.

Nova attacks are all standard accuracy, and Nova form unslotted only adds a 9% ToHit chance (nofuture.org)
With 2 Tohit SOs, that will rise to a 13% ToHit buff, which is considerably less than the 18% ToHit you get from unslotted Build Up... it's a much lower constant +Tohit buff than, say, /devices "Targetting Drone".

Certainly not on a BS or Katana scrapper, and I wouldn't personally take it on any scrapper. If the situation occurs in which I'm completely out of green and purple insps, under heavy fire, already used both my heals and IH isn't up... I'd much prefer to die, then use a wakey or Revive than use MoG and spend the next 3 minutes LOCKED at low HP waiting for a faceplant.

Have to say at no point in my Kat/Regen's road to 50 has he ever once been in that situation. If I was another primary and didn't have Divine Avalanche/Parry to fall back on.... chances are that if I dropped under 25% HP and was out of insps/clickyheals and IH wasn't running, I'm already dead.

[ QUOTE ]
Any other comment on the power, please bring it on!

[/ QUOTE ]

(ARRGH.... no use .... can't resist....)

MoG [u]SUCKS[u]!!

There, I feel much better now.

[ QUOTE ]
the first question that come to my mind is: when it's said this takes out the 75% of your hps, does it mean that you lose the 75% of the HPs you have in that particular moment, or that your are brought to the 25% of your total HPs (meaning that you would not lose any points if you are already under 75%)? I think the first one makes more sense, however I'd like to be sure...

[/ QUOTE ]

It sets your current HP bar to 25%. That means you can use "Dull Pain" and have extra physical HP available when MoGed. The downside is that the HP drop cancels out all the resistances you get from the power, and effectively makes you 400% more vunerable to Psionic/Toxic damage.

It's really better to think of MoG as a big Defence boost, with a debuff to Psionic and Toxic damage. It also halts any form of healing, including self-heals, outside heals, green inspirations and natural regeneration.
Autohit damage still has full effect, as does Untyped damage like that recieved from falling from heights.

Yes, your Green bar won't move at ALL except downwards.
I told you, MoG SUCKS...

(OK, OK... one of the other less-jaded Regen Scrappers will be along in a minute, nothing to see here...)

As Shannon points out the difference is that Golden Dragonfly is longer ranged, so you can easily hit a second foe standing directly behind the first one... with Ripper you have a wider angle but not as far a reach, so you could easily hit two foes standing beside each other.

To be honest I've always compared Ripper more to Shadow Maul, which is listed as a 45 degree cone. But cone attacks arc size varies quite a bit... my Dark/Spines Ripper is definately wider than my Kat/Regen's "Golden Dragonfly", but it's not anywhere near as wide as "Flashing Steel".

When I'm soloing Ripper will usually only hit 2-3 mobs maximum, even if I'm trying to line them up properly. In terms of damage, recharge + activation time, it's probably the best attack in my single-target attack chain. That's not to say I don't enjoy getting some "collateral damage" from it every now and then though...

Will be there as usual, mito bashing on 'Unit Omega' unless Red Noise gets grabbed for GM/Tank team duty.